《Harry Potter: A Certain Ancient Rune Professor of Hogwarts》


 Chapter 1: Felix Hap

    London, July 1992. Inside a building in the heart of the West End business district, well-trained white-collar workers are working non-stop, with discussion and keyboard crackling noisily. And in a small, casual meeting room, a serious conversation is taking place.


    "Felix, have you really made up your mind? You''ve been with us for less than a year, but I swear, your talents have been recognized by everyone in the company, and if you stay here, trust me, you''ll achieve great things!" A typically middle-aged British man said, with a typical business suit and neatly groomed, slightly curly hair.


    A young man around twenty years old, with a handsome appearance and particularly attractive pale blue eyes, seated opposite him. At the moment, Felix smiled, "Chief, I''ve made up my mind."


    The middle-aged man''s eyes fixed on Felix for a moment, and seeing that he did not waver in his thoughts, he sighed helplessly, "Alright, you win."


    With a gentle smile, Felix stood up, picked up the suit that he had hung on his chair, and shook his hand with the middle-aged man who also stood up. The middle-aged man came forward, opened his arms, and gave him a tight hug, muttering in a small voice, "Every man for himself, no? I think we''ve lost a potential recruit."


    Felix blinked his light blue eyes, "you''ll find someone better eventually."


    Half an hour later, Felix gathered his things and walked out of the building. As he neared the door, he watched the crowds of people on the street with anticipation.


    ...


    Holding a small suitcase, Felix made his way through the street, occasionally halting to avoid traffic passing by, while he gazed at the brand and style of the car with interest.


    "Antique cars, huh~"


    His pace is light, and the relatively long walk doesn''t tire him out, but rather makes him giddy.


    After walking for almost an hour, he finally arrived back at his temporary home, or rather, house, in this city.


    As the streets became more familiar, Felix saw more than one familiar face, "Good afternoon! Mrs. Murphy."


    "Good afternoon! Mr. Hap."


    After responding to some familiar faces, Felix finally arrived in front of his house.


    Taking his keys out, he opened the door.


    Steps in and closed the door.


    "Yah-hoo!" Felix gave a loud happy cry, as he closed his eyes and spread his arms wide, and in that very moment, the mundane house seemed to come to life all of a sudden.


    The suitcase broke free from his hands and floated towards the cupboard, its doors opened by itself and on the upper shelf a dozen clothes hovered, its hems slightly lifted so that the suitcase could fit comfortably inside.


    The suit and white shirt automatically slipped off of Felix''s body, while the tie jumped off with a wiggle and hung on the horizontal bar of the wardrobe. There, it laid alongside three other exquisite ties of different colours.


    The belt around his waist loosened by itself and, as he stepped forward, the blazer separated smoothly with a flick of Felix''s hand, a blue silk pyjama set flew out in a flash and fit over him, with a snugly fitted buckle.


    Felix snapped his fingers lightly, and light music played. His eyes remained slightly closed. But his hands waved like composers, and there began a tinkling sound in the kitchen, halfway through, a cup of aromatic, steaming coffee floated in front of him.


    He swirled the cup and took a sip accompanied by the music, smiling with the utmost satisfaction.


    ...


    Felix Hap was an adult wizard in addition to being a recently departed Freelancer.


    He graduated from Hogwarts - the best and only wizarding school in Britain.


    Ten years have passed since Felix received his letter of enrolment bearing fancy coats of arms at the orphanage, ten years that have not only allowed him to successfully graduate from Hogwarts but have also transformed him from a young boy into a Mature 21-year-old adult.


    "How fast time flies, I''ve already graduated for three years." Felix sat on the sofa, slightly emotional.


    Then he muttered slightly in a low voice, "It''s also been 21 years since I crossed over."


    That''s right, apart from being a working freelancer and a hidden wizard, Felix also had his deepest hidden secret, and that was being a transmigrator.


    God knows how surprised and excited he was, who had planned the course of his life, when he received an offer from Hogwarts!


    This is a world of Harry Potter!


    A magical adventure of Golden Trio!


    But alas, they were nowhere near being the same generation.


    When he entered Hogwarts, he foolishly asked for information about Harry Potter, only to realize that he was a whole nine years older than him. That is to say, the type of person whom he could not even meet, from the time he enrolled in to the time he graduates.


    Felix, who was no fan of Harry Potter, had to admit that he had only a basic knowledge about the plot.


    A bit of knowledge, a bit of information.


    After all, he couldn''t predict the future, would have known he was going to cross over to the real world of magic, and he would have memorized every word of the book in advance!


    The only thing that really gave him an idea of the plot was the short videos that sprang up later, as in a specific popular clip.


    And with this, he was able to vaguely string together a plotline. S?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But trying to remember all the details? That''s pure fantasy.


    The good thing was that what he truly was interested in is magic, the world of magic that is alive and can be touched and felt. And he got all that.


    ....


    Late evening.


    Felix sat at his desk, quietly flipping through a book about magic, the clock ticking away, making his mood somewhat restless, lacking his usual calm.


    He was waiting for a letter.


    A letter of vital importance!


    The hours ticked by, and finally - there came a click-click-click-click from outside the window, and an owl stood silently outside, tapping on the window.


    "At last!" Felix''s heart raced as he pulled out his wand and waved it gently, opening the window and allowing the owl to fly in.


    The owl circled twice above his head, dropped an envelope, landed herself on the desk, and pecked her feathers gently.


    Felix quickly picked the envelope up. On the back of the envelope, there was a wax seal, a coat of arms, with a large "H" surrounded by an eagle, a lion, a badger, and a snake.


    He opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, which read


    ----------


    Dear Mr Felix Hap.


    We are pleased to inform you that your application for a professor job (Muggle Studies) has been accepted, and the interview will take place on 21 July at 10 am, please be prepared in advance.


    Also: please enter the school via floo network (location: Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress office), if you prefer any other means, please let us know in advance.


    Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall


    ----------


    Felix couldn''t help but pump his fist and gulp down the cup of coffee floating on his desk!


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 2: The First Half of My Life

    He has been waiting for this day for three years. Three years, a really long time.


    Felix leaned back on his chair, his mind relaxed, with the fragrance of tea, as his memory went back ten years ago.


    At that time, he was just a naive 11-year-old kid with aspirations and dreams. He was like an ordinary migrant worker who had just entered the city with big expectations and hope.


    Felix admits he''s very ambitious, as anyone who has a mature mind and knows some outline of the plot in advance certainly wants to make a living out of it. So it was only logical that he was sorted into Slytherin House.


    But this house, where ambition, blood, and pride are the keywords, was not entirely friendly to him. At the time it was less than a year since the fall of the Death Eaters, the remnants of their ''pureblood'' philosophy still held out and Slytherin, the home of the Purebloods, was a source of unrest.


    The fact that a Muggle orphan was sorted into Slytherin at this time (although one of his parents may have been a pure-blood wizard, which was not impossible given the circumstances) was a shock to them - in fact, cases like Felix''s were not uncommon, but rather rare.


    If Felix had been just a simple kid or even an ordinary Reincarnator, his seven years of school life would probably have been accompanied by " campus violence", "bullying", "indifference" These are the things that would''ve probably affected him throughout his life.


    But alas, Felix is not just any guy, but a man (boy?) with a golden finger. -- he could, through repeated practice, allow himself to force the power of certain spells he practised to advance beyond his own current theoretical grasp on magic.


    Of course, not an unlimited advancement.


    For example, if his magic theory level is level 1, then he can make that specific magic spell level up to level 2, or even level 3, the higher the level is, the more difficult it becomes, through repeated, extensive, super-intensive practice.


    Although his golden finger isn''t incredibly powerful, it helped him get through the initial years of difficulties. Looking back over his first three years in school, it could be considered a masterpiece in the realm of face-Slapping.


    Prior to enrolling here, because of his curiosity about magic and certain paranoid delusions of insecurity that belonged exclusively to adults, he spent most of his time mastering two spells, "Petrificus Totalus" and "Protego", in addition to trying some simple spells. These are the two spells he mostly practised, "Petrificus Totalus" and "Protego".


    One for attack and one for defense, in line with his neutral mentality while playing games in his previous life.


    Comparatively speaking, Petrificus Totalus is an easier one, and after thousands of boring spell-casting sessions, Felix has forcibly pushed it to level 2, while Protego just barely reached level 1 spell-casting stage.


    This is a miracle for a person whose theoretical level is almost 0! The wizarding community should have honoured him with an Order of Merlin badge for this feat.


    And with a level 2 Petrificus Totalus, Felix fucked over the entire Slytherin first year during his first week as a student, and knocked out a second-year boy who had released a vicious hex against him and left them hanging in the washroom in the cold overnight.


    This act had a huge impact, or at least gave a headache to Snape, who had just become the youngest ever Head of Slytherin House.


    Snape had to deal with external pressure from other Slytherin House families while dealing with the extremely complex internal conflicts within the House. To be fair, this put Professor Snape''s management skills to the test as a newcomer.


    Snape''s headache was further increased, when Felix flipped the entire second-year class at the end of the first year term, leaving many empty seats at the House Cup night of that year.


    As a logical consequence, Felix stayed behind during the school holidays as a Detention for the entire period - and that was exactly what he wanted.


    Otherwise, he wondered if some parents would''ve found him and put some vicious hex on him!


    In those circumstances, this was not an empty delusion.


    And in the second year, Felix, under Snape''s oppression, restrained quite a bit and instead of sending Slytherin students into the infirmary on a large scale, he sent them one by one.


    By the end of his third year, Felix became the most powerful student in Slytherin practically, the uncrowned king. The effect of this was remarkable; no one in the whole house had the courage to treat him disrespectfully. Of course, a few people still spout off and threaten to give him a good time outside the school, wherever he hides.


    Yes, Felix stayed the whole three years at the school, at most he went to Diagon Alley to buy textbooks, and never visited any other place.


    Pathetic school life ...


    Of course, there always exists a twist in most stories, and the twist that belongs to Felix is during his fourth year.


    In the fourth year holiday, Felix finally walked out of school and took down seven adult wizards who tried to attack him, and sent them to Azkaban on that holiday.


    This was kind of big news at the time, but even bigger news came later. At Felix''s fifth year entrance night supper, a Pureblood family duel had been proposed against the Shafiq family, which belonged to one of the 28 Sacred Pureblood families.


    Felix can still recall the look on the ever Stoic Professor Snape''s face as his mouth wide opened and Dumbledore''s eyes glazed with amusement!


    Caught up in memories, Felix gave a childish smile.


    The so-called pureblood family duel is a very old form of dueling in which the members of the families are pitted against each other until one side is completely down or dead!


    Even in the most chaotic and disorderly times, such duels were extremely rare. But it has to be admitted that this type of duel existed and was not abolished.


    When Felix stood before the only Shafiq in the Slytherin House and shamed the Shafiqs (one of the necessary steps in a family duel) in front of the crowd, slowly with the ancient dueling etiquette, the sixth year Shafiq fell straight to his knees, with his body wobbling.


    Even when Headmaster Dumbledore advised him after the party, he did not withdraw his idea about dueling, and he still remembers what he said to Dumbledore at the time, "Headmaster, Shafiq attacked me twice in the summer holidays! Four of them in total! The first time one person, the second time it was three. Do you know what spell they used on me?"


    Dumbledore''s hair ran white, his eyes were deep with wisdom, but he did not speak.


    And Felix said calmly, "It was the one of the Unforgivable Curse, apart from the Avada Kedavra they used the other two curses. Of course, it didn''t hit the home, they failed because I used protego. I find it difficult to believe that someone would still attempt such a thing after four years of the fall of the Death Eaters."


    Dumbledore said a little wearily, "The Shafiqs aren''t Death Eaters - at least not all of them, they''re just a family that holds to the philosophy of pureblood ... quite stubbornly."


    "But it doesn''t make much difference to me, does it? They sent out four guys over the holiday, and as far as I know, the Shafiqs aren''t that prosperous, four ... of their family counting the old, young ones, ten more?" S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    The Shafiqs simply can''t afford to play, Felix''s fighting prowess has been recognized over the summer, and after the four Shafiqs have been sent to Azkaban, there are less than four left to fight!


    They could only use their influence to resort to off-board tactics, but it had little effect, as family glory was most important when it came to pure-blood families.


    This unfinished duel caused an uproar throughout the British wizarding community, and after a little over half a year of various twists and turns, it ended with the permanent withdrawal of the Shafiq family from the British wizarding community, and the Pureblood family duel, which had existed for almost a thousand years, was officially abolished by law under the influence of some people.


    This event, known as the August 7th showdown, was as potent as the fall of Voldemort for some diehard families!


    During the fifth year break, Felix paid visits to a handful of pureblood families and, in summary, achieved a friendly meeting and reached an amicable consensus on certain issues.


    Felix was relieved that the Purebloods were reasonable too!


    During his last two years at Hogwarts, Felix became harmless and explored the mysteries of magic. The rest of his time at Hogwarts was a comfortable one, and the little Slytherin were very well-behaved, until he requested to remain at the school to teach, which Dumbledore refused on the grounds that he was too young.


    To sum up, he had had a pretty good seven years of school life.


    Of course, Professor Snape didn''t necessarily think so, and according to the latest Hogwarts gossip, a certain professor''s bad character had something to do with a nasty student he had taught in his early years!


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 3: Interview

    July 21, 10 am. Felix, in an formal dress wear, stands in front of the fireplace, as he sprinkles a handful of Floo powder and said "Hogwarts Deputy Headmistress''s Office".


    Professor McGonagall had a stern look on her face as she sorted through the school''s files in the Deputy Headmistress''s office.


    The Professor of Transfiguration, who is known for her stern face, is in a good mood at this moment. Gryffindor House had won the long-awaited House Cup in the previous academic year, which kept the happy mood of the Head of Gryffindor House alive.


    "Puff!"


    A pale green flame flashed from the fireplace and a handsome, refined young man walked out of it.


    Felix looked around him and saw that nothing has changed, it''s been a long time!. He smiled gently at McGonagall, "Hello Professor McGonagall, it''s been a long time."


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, which meant that her mood was rapidly changing for the worse, or to the work mode, "Long time no see, Felix."


    Professor McGonagall also taught him once, being one of his professors. She had mixed feelings about this great student, certainly not the kind of mixed feelings Professor Snape has.


    Before their long-awaited House Cup, Gryffindor lost seven times in a row, and that history had much to do with Felix.


    Apart from the first three years, when Felix had to fight back because of the poor learning environment, he had been exposed to, and therefore lost a lot of points, after that he finally seemed to realize that he himself in fact a Slytherin student and should be fighting for the honour of the house. Following years in which he managed to mingle with the young snakes effectively.


    The next few years can be described as, "Glory to Slytherin".


    ...


    Felix stepped forward and glanced at his pocket watch, "I hope I didn''t miss the interview."


    Professor McGonagall, whose flashback was interrupted, stood up and led him to the Headmaster''s office, "Chocolate frog." She recited the password and escorted Felix in. Before she left, she remarked, "Your books are very good, you seem to have spent the last three years very well."


    "Thank you, Professor McGonagall." He froze for a moment, smiled, and then walked up the steps.


    All his three years after graduation hadn''t been for anything. Especially after his first unsuccessful job application, he pondered over it, suspecting that he had been too raw as a student, and followed Headmaster Dumbledore''s advice to "travel more and see more."


    He spent a year travelling around the Wizarding World and the remaining two years working, um, studying Muggles.


    The results are remarkable, Three books in three years, two on muggle studies and one on ancient magic runes.


    He also amassed a considerable fortune. S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After walking up the lengthy staircase, Felix entered the Headmaster''s office, which was filled with books, artefacts, and portraits of successive Hogwarts Headmasters on the wall.


    On the side of the Headmaster''s desk, a phoenix rests with its eyes closed.


    Dumbledore is studying something and the office is quiet.


    "Good morning, Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix greeted out loud. With his words, the room came to life.


    The portraits of the headmasters opened their eyes and looked at Felix, pointing and whispering.


    One of the portraits exaggerated, "Ha! The best Slytherin is here!"


    The man in that portrait, with his goatee and slender eyebrows and wearing the robes of Slytherin, is Phineas Black, voted as the least popular Headmaster of Hogwarts by the students, also from Slytherin.


    Felix gave a very graceful bow.


    At this point, Headmaster Dumbledore finally looked up, his appearance very different from the norm, with a silvery-white beard that trailed down to his chest, unkempt robes, and with a pair of crescent-shaped eyes.


    But his eyes were very bright, his blue pupils gleaming with light.


    Felix stood lost in thought, time had not left many traces on this old man, and yet it seemed to have left too many.


    "Ah, ah! It''s Felix," Dumbledore rose to his feet and came striding forward, his movements measured, "I''ve been waiting for your arrival."


    Felix shook the Headmaster''s hand with a certain amount of formality, after all, he had come to the door to ask for a job and had been turned down three times so far.


    The two sat down in their seats, Dumbledore gazing at him through the thin glass while waving his wand, "What can I get you? Pumpkin juice? Tea?" Then with a wink, "I also have some fresh butterbeer here."


    "A cup of tea, please."


    Dumbledore waved his wand and a cup of steaming tea floated to him, Felix took a sip. A bitter taste washed over him, it is an antique tea. The headmaster seemed to be not drinking much tea in general.


    "Sibyl gave me this tea. I can''t taste it personally, but she said it came from the far east."


    Liar!


    Felix swore, at least one of you two is a liar.


    After a cup of tea, the conversation got down to business.


    "Felix, you''ve done an excellent job over the last year. I''ve been reading your books and I have to say, you''ve been very innovative and have a very in-depth ... view of muggle studies, which has given this old man a lot of ideas."


    Felix smiled, "Thanks to your advice, the world of muggles is a wonderful place, especially in the last few decades, they have developed very quickly. As for the writings ... perhaps it is because I was raised as a muggle myself and have a deep understanding of them further."


    Dumbledore shook his head, "Birth doesn''t take away your efforts, there are many people in the wizarding world who are muggle-born, but they are not exactly experts in muggle studies, at best they have a better knowledge of some common sense, but that is far from knowing them."


    Of course, because I was a pure Muggle in my past life.


    Dumbledore waved his wand and out of his desk flew a book entitled The History of the Muggle Wars: From a Million Years Ago, one of Felix''s books. Speaking about the Muggles raise through the Ages, written by Felix, and it dawned to him that Dumbledore had just been reading his book.


    "It''s very inspiring to me, I''ve read it more than once, especially when you look at the history of technology - that''s a term, isn''t it? The history of technology, how the Muggles have gone from being a beast to what they are now, over millions of years. A marvel, I must say."


    "You also pointed out the rapid leaps in technology that the Muggles have made at intervals, with shorter and shorter intervals, and even predicted that the next leap was not far away - very enlightening!" Dumbledore was full of praise for this book.


    Felix said modestly, " This idea wasn''t pioneered by me, in fact, many sociologists from the Muggle world, oh, that is, scholars of Muggles who study about Muggles, have given me a lot of help with their writings."


    Dumbledore said calmly, "Many Muggles are equally intelligent, but few in the wizarding world acknowledge that."


    "I agree with you on that, Professor Dumbledore."


    Dumbledore then blinked, seemingly skipping over the subject, and said amusingly, "So you must have read a lot of Muggle books? Frankly, a lot of my Christmas presents are books, and they seem to think that I prefer them. In fact, I''ve read most of them, and I prefer a pair of wool socks over them."


    "Of course, if it''s a book from the muggle world, I don''t think I''d turn it down."


    A clear hint ...


    At least he knows what to get as Christmas presents ...


    "Yes, although they don''t have magic, some of them are willing to spend more than a decade to complete a book that is devoted to a certain problem, or a theory." Felix softly said, "It''s very difficult. And for that reason, it''s very precious."


    Dumbledore got somewhat relieved, "It seems you have really gained a lot in these past few years." Then a question came out of nowhere, "So why do you still insist on teaching at Hogwarts?"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 4: Felixs Theory

    Felix seemed to be slightly puzzled and asked, " What do you mean? I don''t get it, Headmaster?" Dumbledore placed his hands in front of him with a questioning gaze, "I mean, you have a great future ahead of you, but you keep on insisting on returning to Hogwarts! I want to know why."


    The Headmaster''s implication was clear, you''ve already made a name for yourself, and in the three years since you graduated, you''ve written three books, each of them quite brilliant. The two Muggle Studies books didn''t sell much - at least compared to the other professor he was interviewing with, who is also an author the sales are low, as the two books didn''t sell much better.


    But there is no denying that the influence of these two books is so widespread that a book: The History of the Muggle Wars: From a Million Years Ago, and the other one, How Muggles Think, has become the guiding books for most of the world''s wizarding departments dealing with Muggles issues.


    At least Dumbledore had discussed some contents of the books with two of his friends, both among one who works as head of the Division for the Prohibition of Muggle Abuse and the other one is a member of the Wizengamot, both were equally enthusiastic about the two books.


    Felix thought for a moment and said, "Headmaster Dumbledore, I am very attached to Hogwarts, it is my home, and it makes me feel close to it! Besides, I''d love to teach students, it''s a very fulfilling thing to do ..."


    Dumbledore interrupted, his azure eyes full of brilliance that it''s impossible to tell this is the gaze of a hundred-year-old man. "We both know that''s not true, I want to know what you really think, it''s important, it''s about whether you''ll get the teaching job or not."


    Felix felt slightly embarrassed. He subconsciously used the Occlumency, but stopped it Halfway.


    This is not a wise decision. Occlumency isn''t foolproof, especially when you were the one at the lower level, let alone against one of the greatest wizard of the century.


    It''s a good thing he''d planned ahead and made some small preparations for this in advance.


    For example, a few drops of elixir.


    After a couple of seconds of contemplation, he decided to follow his instincts and "tell it like this".


    Felix finally spoke up and said sincerely, "To delve deeper into the mysteries of magic."


    Dumbledore bowed his head and looked like he is listening.


    "Headmaster, you have been my headmaster from the time I was enrolled to the time I graduated, so you should have some idea of what I have been through. I spent a lot of time in the practical aspects of magic before my fifth year in order to deal with some trouble, and neglected some theoretical aspects." It''s true, he was always very uptight in order not to get beaten up and bashed around a bit.


    "At that time I was seeking power, the power of a single spell, but I was wrong, and it wasn''t until my last two years at school when I finally had the time to indulge in the mysteries of magic, that I realized what I had missed." It was also true that while his golden fingers had helped him to become powerful quickly, it also led him in the wrong direction - a one-sided pursuit of magical prowess at the expense of the theory behind it.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, his tone becoming gentle again, but with a touch of curiosity, "So, you''re researching ancient magic runes?"


    It was not difficult to guess, after all, Felix''s three books, apart from Muggle Studies, consisted of the Exploration of Ancient Magic Runes. Muggle Studies, on the other hand, could not be described as the study of magic.


    "That''s right! The more you delve into magic, the more you can''t get away from ancient Magic Runes, especially when you need to trace the origins of the magic, so you need to research ancient magic. I only realized this in sixth & seventh year, but unfortunately, I only got an A in Ancient Rune on my OWLs, so I couldn''t pursue it further and had to study on my own." This is even more true, and was a mistake made by Felix in his youthful ignorance.


    Felix continued, under the influence of the Felix Felicis his instincts were acute, and his words became smoother, "I do have a personal interest, Hogwarts has the largest library in the world and there are many books on Ancient Magic Runes in it."


    "But the books on the market-"


    "I''ve read all the books on the market, and unfortunately they are mostly theory and not much practical - they seem to treat Ancient Runes as a mere language, used only to translate the manuscripts of their predecessors. And in the process of studying Muggles, I had the unexpected inspiration of trying to combine the two! As you know, ancient magic Runes are essential knowledge for alchemy as well."


    Dumbledore was intrigued, "You mean - if I''m not mistaken - that you want to combine alchemy and the muggle stuff?"


    Felix looked a little enthusiastic as he spoke eloquently, "Yes, but this is only an initial stage, which is to transform muggle items into magical products. An air Conditioner, for example, is a cooling device that keeps the room temperature at a comfortable range. Muggles need to be powered by electricity - that is, a form of energy - and the conversion to a magical artefact is much simpler, with a freezing charm at its core, plus a detection spell."


    "Of course, there is the issue of stability to consider, and that requires the use of ancient magic runes."


    "And what I''m working on now is a further step, combining the wisdom of the muggle with the Magic of the wizard. You know, Muggles always have a lot of strange ideas, and it''s hard to turn some of their ideas into reality, but when you add magic to the mix, it''s easy to do!" S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore nodded and commented, "The first step is to transform, the second step to creating a brilliant idea."


    The two of them discussed the subject for a long time, and it was only after three hours that Dumbledore snapped out of it. He had indeed just been unconsciously immersed in a discussion with Felix, arguably one of the most remarkable students he had come across in the last few decades.


    Especially after three years of study at his own suggestion, the student had burst into flames!


    Even though he is a Slytherin.


    Unfortunately, he is a Slytherin!


    Dumbledore was silent, he wavered, and time seemed to have travelled back fifty years in an instant.


    The resemblance, the resemblance seemed too great!


    The same Muggle Orphans, the same Slytherin, the same good and gentle manners, the same obsession with power, how could he choose?


    If only he hadn''t forced that boy to admit his mistake for using Fiendfyre, if only he had cared more, or even if he had discovered his evil ambition earlier, perhaps there wouldn''t have been such a horrible Dark Lord.


    And what about now?


    It seemed that he had the identical choice in front of him.


    The old man is in a trance. He looked across the table at the young, handsome, outstanding student and seemed to see the shadow of another person.


    Voldemort!


    On the other side of the table, Felix looked puzzled. I am telling the truth, albeit selectively. I''m telling the truth, and we''ve just had a good conversation, why is Dumbledore acting all complicated and glum?


    What did he say wrong?


    Did it prick him?


    What the hell is going on?


    Felix got a headache!

 Chapter 5: Finalized

    In the Headmaster''s office, silence once again reigned. After a long time, Dumbledore seemed to come back to his senses and he had already made up his mind.


    Dumbledore weighed his words, "I''m sorry, Felix, Professor Burbage has not thought of retiring ..."


    Felix wore a disappointed expression.


    "But," Dumbledore began quickly, "I can see that you are very good in ancient Magic runes."


    "Yes, Headmaster." Felix thought of something and held back the flicker of hope that had risen in his heart as he looked at Dumbledore with dull eyes.


    The old man in front of him did not deliberately play coy and stated his thoughts straightforwardly, "I would like you to teach Ancient Runes, I wonder if you are interested?"


    "Of course I do!" Felix blurted out and then slowed down: "Yes, I do. But, Professor Babbling ..."


    "Ah, Bathsheda," Dumbledore seemed to mutter with a lament before explaining, "she has been in service at Hogwarts for over fifty years, and for the past few years she has been hoping to take a sabbatical for a while to see how the world has changed."


    "A sabbatical? Are you suggesting that I should fill in for the Ancient Magic Runes class temporarily as a substitute? Is it for an academic year? Or a semester?" Felix frowned slightly, this was not what he desired.


    Hogwarts is rich in books, and becoming a professor at the school would come with many advantages. He didn''t want just a year and a half, but at least a minimum of five to ten years required, right?


    Dumbledore is amused, his silvery beard fluttering as he pointed out with a straight face, "Felix, Professor Babbling is not a normal wizard, she has a magical bloodline which lets her see time differently than we do."


    Magical bloodline? Felix recalled Professor Babbling''s appearance, which seemed to have remained unchanged from the time he enrolled, to the time he graduated ...


    Could it be because she is of mixed blood? A mix of another humanoid race?


    It is possible, there was no shortage of them in the Wizarding World, the most common hybrid races were humans with giants, dwarves, and fey. As far as he knew, there was more than one in the school.


    Before he could come to a conclusion, he heard Dumbledore say, " As far as Professor Babbling is concerned, it is not unusual for her to take a sabbatical of ten or twenty years. In fact, when she complained to me about the lack of sabbaticals, she recommended a few candidates to replace her, and among them, there was you, Felix."


    It dawned upon Felix that he had a pretty good relationship with this professor; although he had been unable to take Ancient Runes in his sixth or seventh year, he had always consulted her during his subsequent self-study and had never stopped writing to her even after graduation.


    Apart from Dumbledore, the only professor who kept in touch with him after graduation is Professor Babbling.


    Professor Dumbledore added: "Your presence here will make Professor Babbling very happy, she has so many desires to fulfil over the years that she has almost filled a parchment scroll ."


    Felix, of course, nodded his head in agreement at the prospect of such a nice offer.


    As he walked out of the headmaster''s office, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief. Finally, he had returned to this place again.


    Hogwarts, the centre of the British wizarding world. This time, as a professor.


    He returned to Professor McGonagall''s office to see a phoenix Patronus dissipate, and it dawned on him that Dumbledore had informed Professor McGonagall of the result through the Patronus.


    Sure enough, Professor McGonagall lifted her glasses slightly, "I have received a message from Dumbledore, Felix, no, I should call you Professor Hap from now on."


    "You can still call me Felix, I will always be your student."


    Professor McGonagall grunted slightly, "Professor Snape won''t be happy about this."


    Felix scratched his head, he had made Snape very angry back then. McGonagall quickly skipped the subject, and with a wave of her wand, a dozen pieces of parchment flew out of a large cabinet in her office, smoothed into a neat stack, showing the stern and serious nature of its owner.


    "These are your class schedules, student lists, obligations, and privileges. Supplies, and anything else I personally think you''ll need for the class. The most urgent question, of course, is whether the textbooks need to be changed?"


    "Textbooks?" Felix was slightly puzzled.


    "That''s right, the textbooks." McGonagall repeated, "Many professors have their own teaching philosophies, and Hogwarts encourages this principle, so they can decide for themselves how they teach their class, the ratio of theories to practicals, and of course, the selection of the teaching materials."


    McGonagall gave him a look, "I learned that you also wrote a book about ancient Magic runes." S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix understood, considering for a moment, but he decided not to change it. "Professor Babbling''s textbook is just perfect, I acquired a lot out of it when I was in the school."


    "All right." Professor McGonagall seemed unconcerned by this move, but Felix heard her mutter something softly which was too quiet for him to hear, but it seemed to involve another professor.


    "If only ... professors could be like that ..."


    It isn''t nice for Felix to ask about it, as a budding professor, he didn''t want to make more trouble before he officially hired.


    As a Slytherin, he has a very strong sense of purpose in his behaviour.


    Professor McGonagall looked up at Felix, who was not budging, and said, "Professor Hap, you can go now. We will send you a formal letter of appointment and entry date in the post, and if there is any additional information, it will also be enclosed."


    Felix smiled, "Professor McGonagall, I would like some more time to prepare. As you know, I am still very young, although I have little experience in the field of magic, and I have no relevant experience in teaching; you are very experienced in this field, and I would greatly need your guidance in this regard."


    I don''t know if it is an illusion or not, but Felix noticed that Professor McGonagall seemed to smile a little, or of course, it could have been a twitch at the corner of her lips, as they say that people who are always stone-faced are prone to have a facial paralysis.


    Felix''s mind was spinning with nonsensical thoughts.


    "Felix, you''re always so polite." McGonagall seemed impressed, And courteously ceased her work at hand, "What do you want to know?"


    "I''d like to start by looking at student information, such as academic results, the number of students in each year at each house, some of the best or very famous young wizards, and it would be nice to have a review of each of them."


    Professor McGonagall gave him a look and waved her wand silently, the door of the large cupboard opened with a crack, and out of it flew a flurry of parchment scrolls, Felix hastily pulled out his wand and with a flick of it, one quill on the table turned into a long table.


    Professor McGonagall responded and stacked the scrolls on the table, "Excellent Transfiguration."


    "I couldn''t have done it without your teaching," Felix said humbly.


    "I remember your first three years, you didn''t get a lot of credit in your Transfiguration."


    Felix feels a bit embarrassed, as he was so busy fighting the little snakes of 7th Year that he didn''t even have enough time to practice something other than some magic spells every day, so he didn''t have time to focus on Transfiguration, which was the reason.


    It was only later that he picked up Transfiguration.


    Professor McGonagall didn''t dwell on his grades because she is well aware of Felix''s situation at the time and, to be honest, she had always had a problem with the use of the Sorting Hat for sorting and had always believed, for a long time, that Felix should have been sorted into Gryffindor.


    For all his reckless, ahem, bravery, who would believe that he isn''t a Gryffindor!


    Even among the young lions, he''s the most reckless one!


    "Here''s the information you asked for, but there''s no evaluation. About some of the best little wizards, I can only stand by my side and name some from the Gryffindor House."


    "That''s useful too." Felix wasn''t picky.


    "Oliver Wood and Percy Weasley in the sixth year, Alicia Spinnet and Angelina Johnson in the fourth year, Hermione Granger in the second year," then McGonagall pursed her lips, "and of course the Weasley twins, Fred and George, for goodness'' sake, if they put half of their Mischief efforts on their studies ..."


    "Is that all? I remember the famous Harry Potter attending too, isn''t he in Gryffindor?" Felix was somewhat curious, the name had thundered through him in his past and present life.


    "Harry ..." I could see that the name is entangling her even more.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 6: Little Assistant or a Toolman?

    What kind of person is Harry Potter? Professor McGonagall is definitely one of the most qualified people to answer this question, and it is fair to say that, except for a certain unnamed Potion professor, the other members of the Faculty have a good opinion of Harry.


    He is sincere, polite, and has a sense of justice, but on the other hand, he is also "slightly" impulsive and reckless - which is not entirely a bad thing, and at least fits the profile of a young lion.


    But these are all just character assessments if you look at his academic performance ...


    I can only say that we can''t go into more detail! If you want to go into detail, you can only say that he has a lot of potential!


    It''s exactly the same as what some teachers used to say at parent-teacher meetings in his previous life.


    Finally, Professor McGonagall described Harry this way, "Harry is a very friendly little wizard and plays Quidditch very well."


    I asked you what subject he specialized in, and you tell me he''s friendly? Is there nothing else to brag about besides that?


    But he''s good at Quidditch ... and he seems to have a natural aptitude for athletics!


    To be honest, Felix feels quite envious. Not for being a star figure on the Quidditch pitch, but in his opinion, a person with good athletic talent is at least have half a dueling talent.


    What did dueling depend on? Spell power, spellcasting skill, mentality, experience, and reflexes.


    He has all the first four attributes, but the last one, reflexes, is just average, although he is not that slow and not that fast either. But don''t think that Felix is weak. With his golden fingers, his spells are far more powerful than they should be.


    As early as the end of the fourth year, he was able to stand toe-to-toe with three adult wizards and force his way through their defences.


    Not to mention his current self.


    If we take an unnamed potion professor as an example, Felix''s magic theory may be a little behind due to his age, but his spells are definitely more powerful than the others.


    And this is all because he has spent his days and nights working on it!


    He practiced the main attack spell 10,000 times, can you believe it? Take one of his most powerful attack spells, " Petrificus Totalus ", as an example, this spell is the first spell he contacts with, and now he rates it as his top 6 spells, but he can''t break through to level 7 at present.


    No matter what, it''s simply impossible for him to move on further due to his lack of magic knowledge.


    But what does a level 6 spell mean? Just two years ago, with two-level 6 spells and a little skill, he took down seven of the most powerful wizards in the US wizardry side in a flash!


    His unparalleled skillfulness and the sheer power of his spells are what Felix has to say about himself.


    It was because Felix had crossed two levels at the end of his fourth year and mastered two level 6 spells that he had the strength to face the outside world with confidence.


    Felix is somewhat saddened that if he had been able to react well, he might not have needed to get this high-level in a spell. If only he had better reflexes, maybe he wouldn''t need to resort to using elixir to master his skills.


    But it''s a good thing that he spent the three years after graduating not for nothing, and he has developed a new form of magic for himself.


    Felix would like to thank all those dark wizards who have made such an indelible contribution to his wizardry endeavours!


    Thank you for putting your lives on the line.


    ...


    Felix sat on the other side of the table, flipping through the information provided by Professor McGonagall, occasionally transcribing data and recording statistics - something he had been doing for two years in the Muggle world.


    He had worked for three companies in the last two years, and each time he quit, the companies were reluctant to let him go, and not because he had cast a hypnosis spell!


    In the afternoon, Felix and Professor McGonagall enjoyed their afternoon tea together, during which Felix asked a question.


    "Assistant Professor?" McGonagall felt slightly puzzled.


    "It''s just an assistant, which can be defined as someone who assists the professor with miscellaneous tasks such as organizing research materials, marking papers, supervising exams, auditioning for lectures, and that sort of thing." Felix corrected. "Of course, there''s no shortage of little perks."


    Professor McGonagall understood a little, and she rolled her eyes slightly. I think you''re just trying to be lazy!


    As Professor Snape said, "That Felix is a standard Slytherin!" He just got a teaching job, and he''s already trying to avoid his work!


    "I don''t think it''s right for a professor to throw his work to the students." Professor McGonagall said sternly, pursing her lips.


    "Professor McGonagall, you misunderstand me, I am actually trying to train good students."


    Professor McGonagall had a look on her face that said, "You''re not going to fool me".


    "It''s true. I don''t intend to set up my own club in my first year, after all, I need some time to familiarize myself with teaching and the environment."


    A Club is a place where certain professors invite a group of students from each house who have excelled enough in their courses to get together and study magic.


    It''s called a "club".


    Professor McGonagall''s Transfiguration Club, for example, held occasional events to learn about techniques and tricks that wouldn''t be covered in lectures or exams.


    Professor McGonagall nodded, precisely because Felix is a newcomer, and she hasn''t mentioned this to him yet.


    "So you''re saying that you want to find talents early? Preparing for next year''s club?" McGonagall asked.


    "That''s right!"


    Professor McGonagall looked down and thought about it, thinking that this could be done and that it would have many benefits for the students, and just a few extra pointers alone would be enough to attract the top students - as the only outstanding graduate with a dominant rank in the last few decades, Felix was more than qualified.


    As for some academic dregs? Who cares what those dregs think? It has nothing to do with those academic scums!


    There are no scums in any professor''s club.


    "So, what are your criteria?" Professor McGonagall enquired, as such opportunities did not often come along, and she was prepared to use her power for personal gain, no, to give preference to the talents of her own house.


    Felix thought about it and roughly conveyed a few things, "Well ... first, active learners, that is, people who are willing to take the initiative to learn and are very eager for knowledge, secondly, well, the memory should be very good, and thirdly ... the year level should not be too high, after all This is my first assistant, so I''d like to spend some time training him or her."


    "By the way, the result of the ancient magic rune is not important, I have special teaching tricks." He added.


    Felix thought about it again and decided that is pretty much all that he needed.


    In reality, he was looking for a toolman to help him with all sorts of chores. But there were levels for toolmen, and a low-level rubbish toolman was not quite that useful for his magic work.


    A low-level toolman is not as useful as a wizard toolman, but a tool from a student is different. Not only is it easy to use, but with a little training, it can be developed into a teaching assistant, a magic research assistant, or even a co-partner.


    Professor McGonagall didn''t even want to think about it, and quickly went through the list of little lions in her house through her mind. Wood is no good, his time clashed with Quidditch; Percy is good, but he is already in the fifth year and had OWLs to prepare for this year ...


    The Weasley twins? They''ll be sent away after a couple of days! But those two do have potential ...


    Then, a name popped into her head.


    "You mean Hermione Granger?" Felix got a little surprised, the name seemed to be one of the golden trios, right?


    The same year as Harry Potter, so she is only second-year, right?


    "Yes, she fits your requirements almost perfectly - love for knowledge, excellent memory, not too advanced in years." Professor McGonagall spoke kindly, she has a soft spot for Miss Granger, as there is a rumour circulating around about one of Granger''s nicknames is ''Little McGonagall''.


    Seeing that Felix seemed a little hesitant, Professor McGonagall recommended the Weasley twins, but told him in advance of their awful pranking habits.


    "I''ll have a chat with them when school begins." Felix didn''t make up his mind at the end of the day. S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 7: Lecture Planning

    After reading the materials, Felix bid farewell and Left. On his way back, he stopped by Diagon Alley and picked up two sets of 3rd Year to 7th Year ancient magic Rune textbooks from Flourish and Blotts bookshop. One set is brand new and the other is a ''gem'' that he has spent a lot of time picking out from the pile of old books.


    The old textbooks came from a group of students with different handwriting but with uniformly detailed notes, and he thought he could use them as a reference for teaching the students.


    The next day, he embarked on an intense course preparation workout, starting by looking through the textbooks - which was surprisingly easy!


    Professor Babbling, as an expert in ancient magic runes, picked materials that were distinctive: they were mainly based on the current mainstream viewpoint, but with a certain percentage of practical magic runes thrown in.


    The current mainstream view is that ancient magic runes are ancient scripts, used by ancient wizards to record magic, and modern researchers are tasked with translating what is still left of those Materials.


    This is only part of the truth, but in fact, as a name suggest ''Ancient Scripts'', has a very long history - in the distant past, it was used to carry the mystical symbols of wizards, and which was widely used in both ancient magic and ancient alchemy. It was used across the world in various forms.


    And it was that ancient magic runes that Felix sought out in order to find the truth to the ultimate way.


    He then went through the notes of a few old students, and the parts of key points, their thought process, and problems solving were very inspiring to him - it helped him to understand how the young wizards viewed the subject.


    That''s why he likes the academic top scorers - after all, things fit together.


    With the notes from the model students and the syllabus he had received from Professor McGonagall, he already has a clear vision of what he needs to teach.


    The next step is to consider the style of teaching.


    Although he already got the teaching job that he had been waiting for, and the thousand-year-old Hogwarts collection is once again at his disposal, still, he knows as a legendary graduate, and he couldn''t return to his alma mater to be criticized for his poor teaching, could he?


    He couldn''t afford to be embarrassed for this! He doesn''t want to be accused of being a bad teacher.


    "What should I do to attract their interest?" Felix thought about it over and over again, and the first idea that popped into his mind is Quiz.


    At this point, he knew that he was not alone in this quest! In his past and present lives, the psychological shadow caused by many of these type of tests has hunted him.


    A strange "Jie Jie" laugh came from within the room.


    Back to the subject, Felix took out a piece of parchment and wrote the words "Quiz & Worksheet" on it, which immediately led into two branches, one being the pros, with the words " quick consolidation of knowledge", and the other branch representing the cons, with the words "easy to cheat".


    Felix, of course, needs to make a name for himself, but he also knows the standard of the little wizards out there - and he needs to take it easy if he doesn''t want to overtake Professor Binns as the "most unpopular professor".


    "The key is to be interesting and informative, but interesting is the opposite of what Quiz & Worksheet can be ..." Felix murmured, "Maybe I can make them write a diary and mini-essay in ancient magic runes."


    Time passes quickly amidst these thoughts ...


    "Final exams are also very important, so I might consider adding a practical section."


    Ancient magic runes is inherently boring, but it is actually essential knowledge for delving into the mysteries of magic, linked at one end to ancient magic and at the other to ancient alchemy.


    The former represents great power and the latter represents the once glorious, wonderful creations.


    "Ancient magic is not desirable, I can''t even control it myself now. But using what they''ve already learned to create, or at least repair, a piece of alchemy is a feasible idea. ..." Felix went into some sort of ''brainstorm'', thoughts and inspirations bursting forth, the quill on his desk moving rapidly. As the quill on the table fluttered and twirled, it created a trail of shadows.


    By late afternoon, Felix had completed the initial design of the course.


    "Not bad from me." He looked at his work with satisfaction: three sheets of parchment densely covered with text and flow charts.


    The only question left is what kind of artefacts to use as the teaching aid.


    This proved to be a difficult task, as Felix did not intend to prepare five artefacts for the grades he teaches from three to seven - it would be too much trouble and would occupy his reading time.


    Instead, he was going to choose an appropriate product and divide it into different difficulty levels.


    For example, in Year 3, you will only have to complete a few things such as linking, looping, balancing, and coordinating, similar to the physics experiment of connecting wires and switching on and off switchboards in the item.


    As for Year 7, I''m not asking them to build a rocket, but it''s not that hard for them to build a cart, right?


    "What should the object be? First, it can''t be too simple, otherwise, it''s impossible to distinguish the difficulty; but it can''t be too complicated either, otherwise, I''d be exhausted as well."


    There should be 800, if not a thousand, young wizards at Hogwarts, and even if only a third of them chose ancient magic runes, it would be an unbearable amount of work for someone, who wanted to be "innovative in his teaching".


    Felix had a headache trying to strike a balance between "efficiency" and "quality" ...


    For three days in a row, Felix searched his book collection, but could not find the right starting point.


    "There are so few ancient magic books on the market, and even fewer with a practical focus!" Felix wailed in his heart, which made him long for the Hogwarts collection more and more.


    It would be his OnePiece!


    Felix had heard all sorts of strange legends when he was at school, such as the four founding heads of Hogwarts each leaving behind mysterious legacies, but it occurred to him that if he could master all the magical knowledge in the library, he would be no less accomplished than any of the Big Four.


    The greatest treasure is right in front of them, and yet most people were blind to it!


    It was only after he had missed it that he realized what he wanted - why else would he have been planning to return to Hogwarts for years? Why else would he have been plotting in the past few years to get back to Hogwarts?


    With nothing to find, Felix walked out of his house and prepared to take a walk.


    "Mr. Hap, I haven''t seen you for a few days!" An elegant lady met him by chance.


    "Linda, I''ve been busy preparing for the new job."


    "You''ve found a job already?"


    ...


    After a short conversation, the lady left with a slight reluctance.


    It must be mentioned that Felix''s gentle personality and attractive looks have always made him popular with his neighbours.


    The streets of London''s Western Quarter.


    Felix wandered around aimlessly, looking like a world apart from the busy pedestrians on the road.


    Though that''s not a bad way to phrase it.


    In the middle of his walk, Felix passed by a dental clinic and, looking at the clean and tidy front of the dentist''s place, his eyes paused and a thought that had been on his mind for a long time resurfaced.


    No hurry, let''s come back in a few days.


    As he walked on, he finally stopped in front of a children''s activity room and, hearing the familiar words "yo fakkin'' da" and "dog sene", Felix walked in by accident.


    Inside, the light is slightly dim, and a half-dozen teenagers are frantically tapping buttons, tirelessly shaking joysticks, and mouthing bizarre words like " ha-ha-ha".


    Fighting games, huh?


    Felix feels like he has been returned to his childhood, not this one, but his past life one, of course. The familiar characters on the screen made him feel close to them, especially the poorly costumed girl characters.


    "Fireman''s skill is so cool!!!"


    "Ice Girl''s move is FULL SCREEN, what do you know!"


    Felix laughed in silence.


    He is about to turn around and leave when a flash of inspiration hit him... Wait, what is that?


    Fighting?


    A fighter? Yes, hand-to-hand one!


    Felix''s eyes lit up, he had finally found something that is complex enough for five grades, but not too difficult. Why not a gadget? No, why not a magic golem? S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He had been thinking about it all along, and he could finally put an end to it.


    A recreated of some characters from the fighting games, using ancient magic runes circuits as a template!


    This kind of magical golem( hand-sized one) is acceptable for children in the wizarding world, and there is no psychological barrier for the little muggle wizard.


    As for the difficulty level, it is easily adjustable. For third and fourth-year students, he can just give them a complete magic golem, leaving some nodes and branching structures for them to complete.


    For the senior students, they need to complete at least one functional structure by themselves.


    The more Felix thought about it, the more excited he became... he could even start a battle of the knights!


    After all, children in the wizarding world are so miserable and the entertainment is so uninteresting, what is so great about Quidditch?


    He couldn''t stand Quidditch, and it wasn''t because he had failed his first class in flying!


    A image came to Felix''s mind.


    Two students facing each other, each holding a palm-sized magical golem in their hands, in a classic dueling pose.


    Let''s have a tense and exciting magic duel!


    The corners of Felix''s mouth curled up in anticipation.

 Chapter 8: Golem

    What does it take to make a ''real'' magic golem? First of all, what is a magic golem? Simply put, it''s a guardian of the house. As far as Felix knows, there are many stone golems at Hogwarts, which are extremely complex to craft and have survived for thousands of years, ensuring the safety of Hogwarts.


    But for teaching purposes, there is no need to be so demanding.


    Good clay, the right amount of dragon dung, and some blood from a magical creature - dragon blood is best, of course, but as far as teaching aids are concerned, they''ll have to be cheap.


    But he could get himself some high-level battle golems for his personal collection ...


    Felix quickly submitted an application to Professor McGonagall, and after some complicated communication, Professor McGonagall finally agreed to his idea and let him try it out.


    A formal letter of employment was sent with that letter, along with a small bag of golden galleons.


    Felix quickly gathered the materials for the student version of the magic golem, digging the clay himself and scavenging dragon dung and blood of magical creatures from the black market. He then spent the next three days travelling around Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley, as well as a few different wizarding black markets around the world, before finally assembling the high-level materials for his own "refined" version of the magic golem.


    Afterward, Felix wrote to his "Dear" old Slytherin classmates and borrowed a temporary loan of house-elves from their home to create a magical version of an assembly line.


    Felix emptied a room and cast a spell to Undetectable Extension Charm, transforming it into a big square room.


    In front of him, a row of house-elves standing straight.


    "Gentlemen, I''m counting on you!" After Felix had demonstrated how the golem models were made, he took a step back and delegated the tasks.


    As for him, he is busy himself! As well as redesigning his own ''refined'' battle golem, adding all sorts of restrictive and powerful enchantment circuits to it, he also has to keep the house-elves well-fed so that they can concentrate on their work.


    Felix is not just talking out of his arse, as testified by the house elves: "Mr Hap is really great!" xN S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Time slipped away, and before we knew it, half a month had passed.


    Felix looked at the hundreds of models of magical golems with great satisfaction, even though they did not have a single magical circuit and could barely be considered as a rough piece.


    But that is enough for now.


    On the occasion of their farewell, Felix prepared a sumptuous farewell dinner for the house-elves.


    "That was very generous of you sir!" xN


    After another wave of thanks, Felix sent the ''volunteer labours'' away.


    For the next week, Felix began to carve ancient magic runes of varying degrees of difficulty, according to the number of people in each grade, while using reinforcement enchantments to prevent damage - after all, it''s all worth money!


    Felix worked himself to death to get it done.


    "I''ll never do that again! I''m so tired!"


    Felix felt drained and pale, but his understanding of ancient magic runes had taken a big step forward.


    At random, he picked up a half-finished magic golem, a palm-sized (about half a foot) humanoid golem that looked like a young man of proportionate size, dressed in a Japanese school uniform and wearing a pair of black gloves with exposed fingers and a golden sun emblem embedded on the back of both the gloves on the top.


    After a few minutes of filling up the ancient magic rune circuit, he waved his wand and the golem immediately moved.


    First, it moved its arms and legs as an experiment, kicking and punching, then it raised its index finger in a classic pose, paused for a few seconds, and then swung its arm violently, sending a ball sized flame following the predetermined ancient magic rune circuit, flying half a meter from its finger ...


    "Heh heh heh ..."


    Felix''s magical golem, although inspired by a fighting game, is not an exact copy, with some modifications to its appearance and moves.


    There are twelve different puppets, ranging from pretty boys and girls to old men and little kids, so students can choose the one they like.


    In addition to the basic character fighting moves, each puppet also has an " external skill " design. However, in view of the reality of the situation, Felix did not make it too complicated, but divided it roughly into four types: "Fire", "Ice", "Lightning" and " Slash".


    In the case of fire, for example, given the safety concerns (and not to underestimate the bears among the young wizards), the student version of the magic golem''s " external skill " is the most common type of fire, with a cooler appearance at best.


    He is so well versed on this point that he even magically altered a character''s skill to transform into a flaming bird - yes, a phoenix.


    Felix was very pleased, perhaps he could bring a new trend to Hogwarts!


    With the teaching tools sorted out, Felix turned his attention to his own ''refined'' battle golems.


    There are six of them.


    If I had to put a label on them to satisfy everyone''s imagination, they could be summed up in the following keywords.


    Hot Fiery Sorcerer.


    Miss Ice Cold Beauty.


    Beautiful Lightning Miss.


    Cute Sister, Master of Blade.


    Miss Beauty of Speed.


    Seductress Metamorphosis Pro.


    The features are surprisingly consistent!


    All in all, he has added two new types to his collection, the Fast Assassin and the Shapeshifter. These six figures are not just a bunch of cheap stuff, but rather they are gold pieces that have taken him a lot of time to complete, with a lot of high-level materials, complex ancient magic runes, and preservation enchantment.


    The Fiery Sorcerer, for example, is inscribed with a powerful magical flame that is extremely hot and can be projected over a distance of 20 meters, with the strength to shatter a wall and maintain this level of combat intensity for ten minutes.


    According to his estimation, one of these six magic golems could easily beat a 7th-year graduate.


    The six golems are a combination of long-range attack and melee, speed and strength, attack and disruption. They can be used individually or in teams of two, three, four, or even six, and their power can increase exponentially over time.


    Well, Felix thought with malice that the six golems together would have no problem holding off an anonymous Potions Professor for ten minutes!


    The only drawback is that they would require a wizard to control them.


    But the point is that Felix himself is much better than these magic golem ...


    Felix shook his head, there is still a lot of room for improvement.


    At the very least, they should be given a certain amount of battle intelligence.


    Looking at the rest of the ingredients, he thought about it and decided to mix some inferior materials and make five more golems, stronger than the student version and weaker than the collection version.


    Consider it a prize for each year... five grades, one for each grade!


    Perfect!


    Felix took out a little box and put the teaching aids in it - needless to say, the box is also under an Undetectable Extension Charm.


    Without thinking much about the six artefacts of his own, Felix waved his wand and let them drift up to a green ring on his left index finger.


    The ring, which resembled a storage ring, is essentially an alchemy creation with an Undetectable Extension Charm and a reinforcement enchantment.


    It is also engraved with a hidden magic circuit to limit magic fluctuations, to look like a fancy gem ring.


    But this ring holds a third of his fortune from all his travels!


    But Felix has already built two of these types of storage space and still wanted to make one more, as his 3 rabbit hidden caves.


    He had already found an idea for the third one, the other day.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 9: Three Caves

    Felix caresses the back of his wrist, where a tattoo the size of a fingernail is visible in a pale white pattern that few would notice unless they looked at it thoroughly and carefully. The pattern is actually an ancient magic rune circuit that hides a small space within.


    In this space, there''s a spare wand.


    After all, the pattern is so small that there is not much space to hide anything else. The ancient magic circle is closed all the time and can only be unlocked if the conditions are met.


    The only condition to open it is by smearing it with his own blood.


    This is his most hidden, and almost undetectable, backhand at the moment.


    When he is at a disadvantage, or when he is disarmed, loses his wand, or even has his ring taken from him, this magical circuit will help him to turn the tables in his favour.


    As long as he is not killed on the spot, he has a chance to turn the tables.


    The ring on his left hand is shown in front light, and the magic circle on the back of his right wrist is hidden in the dark, a near-perfect combination of light and dark.


    And now Felix is about to build his third cave.


    This caution is not because Hogwarts is a tiger''s den, or because he is plotting to do something shady, but because he knew he would be officially involved in the plot.


    He knew that the day he became the Ancient Magic Rune Professor at Hogwarts, his involvement in the Plot would become a reality, and with his meagre knowledge about the Plot, it was difficult for him to be foresighted, so he had to take precautions.


    He doesn''t believe in the so-called "fairy tales", he only believes in his own power.


    But even if he didn''t understand the plot, he still knew some of the most basic things.


    For example, the adventures of Harry Potter in his previous life were made into eight films, one for each year, which is eight years in the wizarding world. This fits Felix''s imagination: seven years of school adventures, plus a year after graduation to defeat the Death Eaters once and for all, no problem.


    It''s his very strict logical deduction.


    Now that a year had passed, if nothing else, Voldemort would be utterly destroyed in seven years.


    Felix slightly relieved by this thought.


    He is certainly no match for Voldemort now, but there is no guarantee about the future.


    As Felix plotted his future strategies, he left his house and walked through the streets of London.


    Half an hour later, he stood at the door of the same dental clinic he had found earlier in January.


    Felix pushed the door open and the bell on the doorstep chimed clearly.


    A middle-aged man in a white coat poked his head out of the room, looked at Felix twice, and asked, "Are you here for a dental appointment?"


    Felix replied briefly, "I want a filling."


    The dentist nodded and led him in the direction of a seat, "Please sit down. My name is Will Granger, you can call me Dr. Granger."


    "I''m Felix Hap."


    Dr. Granger had him lie down in the seat and looked at Felix''s mouth with a searchlight-like thingy with some confusion on his face, "Mr. Hap, your teeth are in excellent condition, very clean and neat, very evenly sized ..."


    Felix pointed to the upper left side of his cheek, "I would like to fill wisdom teeth."


    Dr. Granger was flabbergasted, this was an odd request, wisdom teeth are not very useful. He said sincerely, "Mr. Hap, I don''t recommend that you fill wisdom teeth because ..."


    Dr Granger then showed his professionalism by giving him a full 20-minute lecture on dental knowledge.


    In the meantime, a young girl with fluffy hair, about 12 to 13 years old, came in and took a look at the two, especially when she saw how Dr Granger kept talking, so she gave a look of "here we go again".


    Finally, Felix had to interrupt him, "Dr. Granger, how about this, you can make me a tooth first, and I''ll try it out and then decide if I want a filling."


    Dr. Granger thought about it and thought it made sense. He took out a pen and paper and noted the dimensions of Felix''s mouth. After tracing them on the paper, he soon confirmed the size and shape of the wisdom teeth. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He then went inside and started to work.


    Felix looked around the clinic with interest, particularly at the small glass case hung on one of the walls, where magnified models of the teeth could be seen through the glass.


    As he looks around intently, a confident voice come out from his left.


    "A filling isn''t the best option, especially for a disposable wisdom teeth."


    Felix turned his head to look at the young girl, and then heard her add, "It hurts."


    "It hurts? How much does it hurt?"


    "A hole will need to be drilled in your cavity with a small drill, then the same hole will have to be drilled in and screwed back in place with your artificial wisdom teeth."


    Felix suddenly got a bit of a toothache ...


    And the little girl''s sermon continues, "Even if you get a filling, it''s not a permanent fix. On the contrary, a damaged cavity is more vulnerable to damage, and if you have bad oral habits, it can lead to decay and plaque, causing the original tooth to loosen and fall out, which must be repaired... ..."


    "Stop it!" He already had the image of it in his mind.


    Although he could use magic for repair and pain relief, now his mind is traumatized.


    Looking at Felix''s uncomfortable expression, the young girl tossed her long, fluffy hair and ran off to the corner to read a book, seemingly in a happy mood.


    Nearly twenty minutes later, Dr. Granger came out again.


    In his palm, he held a silvery-white tray with a man-made tooth that had been polished and finished.


    "It looks great, doesn''t it?" Dr. Granger complimented himself for his craftsmanship.


    But Felix simply nodded his head, intimidated by what that little girl had just said!


    As Dr. Granger had advised, he tried out the artificial wisdom tooth, without drilling or wrapping the wire, of course, just to test the comfort level.


    "It''s great!" Felix praised. "But I''ve decided not to have any fillings."


    "Really? You seem to have made the right decision." Dr. Granger was happy for the client rather than upset that he is missing out a business.


    But the client made a new request, "I''d like to buy this tooth as a souvenir."


    "A souvenir?" Another strange request, thought Dr. Granger, and even the little girl who was quietly reading a book glanced at him.


    "That''s right, a souvenir."


    "All right." In the end, Dr. Granger only charged for the materials.


    As Felix walked out of the clinic, Dr. Granger still felt something strange in his mind and he muttered to his daughter, "A very strange visitor, won''t you say, Hermione?"


    Hermione Granger looked up as Felix disappeared around the corner, shook her head, and went back to her book.

 Chapter 10:

    At home, Felix went to his lab and began to modify the teeth. First, he drilled a hole in the bottom of the tooth to create a small cavity.


    Next, the hole got repaired by smoothing it out.


    Then he placed it under the microscope and, using a carving knife purchased from a microscopist, carved out a regular pattern of ancient magic runes, nesting together to form a circuit.


    This is very delicate work, constructing magic circuits in the tiniest spaces, something that very few people in the entire wizarding world can do. But Felix, with his expert carving tools and the latest generation of overpriced microscopes, has reduced the difficulty of the process by two-thirds.


    This is one of the results of his theory of combining muggle wisdom with magic.


    Muggle''s wisdom is not just about their whims; the tools they use to study the world and transform it with are equally fascinating.


    And few in the wizarding world are able to do this.


    Pure-blooded wizards aside, some of them hate muggles, others are not repulsive at best.


    Mixed blood, or some wizards from muggle families, may be more familiar with the muggle world, but at the critical point of their life between the ages of 11 to 18, their focus is primarily on magic. By the time they reach adulthood, their mindset is already set, and it is impossible to deeply embrace the best of both worlds.


    ...


    It was not until the afternoon of the second day that Felix completed the structure of twelve sets of magic circuits, each of which consisted of three to five ancient magic runes, or some have more than ten. As the last of the ancient magic runes were constructed, he carefully linked the twelve sets of circuits together to form a complete body as a whole.


    One by one, the circuits were lit up, and the glow of magic burst across the narrow square space of the tooth.


    With the last circuit lit up, the twelve circuits finally form an everlasting unity, a single brilliant and unified mystical pattern.


    The tiny hole inside the tooth began to expand without a sign of stopping, soon becoming the size of a suitcase, and the expansion did not end there.


    Finally, the inner spaces of the tooth expanded to the size of half a room, and then the concealment circuit came into play, the fluctuations of the magic that surged through the tooth were quickly reduced to insignificance; the stability circuit began to stabilize the entire structure of the magic runes, and the reinforcement circuit made the tooth very strong and unbreakable object ...


    The most crucial thing is the activation circuit, which only activated according to the conditions he had set.


    Felix smiled with satisfaction, the third cave, complete!


    He took out his suitcase and transferred the items he had already prepared into this cave, which Felix described as a ''carry-on spare storage room'', containing not only seven to eight wands (obtained from Dark Wizards by defeating them), but also various types of potions, flying brooms, tents, and other materials.


    Once this was done, Felix stuffed that teeth into his mouth and fixed it with magic.


    He smacked his teeth, but there is nothing unusual about it, and then he ran his tongue over the wisdom tooth deep in his mouth.


    Felix sat silently at his desk, his gaze calm and relaxed.


    All of his belongings, most of which were commonly used and less important, were in his suitcase.


    The more indispensable items, his backup, are divided into three sections, known as the Three Caves of the Rabbit.


    The first is his left-hand ring, which contains some of his valuable materials, potions, books, and some of his research, and it is also inscribed with an invisible inscription rune.


    The advantage of this ring is that it can be carried around with him, making it easy to use in daily life.


    The disadvantage is that when it is used more than once, it is inevitably noticed, and it is difficult to escape the eyes of the senior wizards.


    Felix''s definition of it is intended to be an everyday object and something to draw attention in plain sight.


    The second cave, the magic circuit at the right wrist, stores a mere spare wand.


    Its greatest strength is that it is extremely invisible and almost impossible to detect by conventional means.


    Felix''s definition of this is something that can be used in a desperate counterattack!


    The third cave, Felix''s Wisdom Tooth, holds a large amount of routine and strategic items.


    The advantage of this is also its invisibility.


    Felix''s idea is to provide him with sufficient supplies when he is in grave danger and has to flee secretly.


    " This is pretty much safe."


    Felix believed that people as crisis-aware as he is rare in the wizarding world, perhaps some experienced Aurors had such a mind, but their methods certainly wouldn''t match his own.


    Especially since he himself is an expert in occlumency and standard torture would never get him to reveal his secrets!


    Of course, this is the worst-case scenario, and Felix didn''t think he would end up in this situation. But things are always unpredictable, and one must be prepared for them.


    In the years to come, a shadow is known as ''''Voldemort'''' will loom over Britain''s wizarding community.


    Felix never dared to underestimate him. The second Dark Lord may have a questionable IQ, but he is definitely a genius in the field of magic and had been studying it for far longer than he had, not to mention that his research is focused on the deviant and sinister subject of "killing and destruction".


    With less than a week left before the start of term, Felix intends to relax, he''s been so tired for some time!


    Watching films, listening to concerts, and enjoying good food, after all, he has ��100,000 in his account! He''s going to spend most of his time in the Wizarding World, and he can''t convert all of it into galleons, so it''s a waste for the time being!


    Felix spent a large amount of pounds on a selection of muggle items to keep him entertained while he went to work.


    In particular, he spent ��8,000 on a compact projection unit, the kind used in cinemas, and accompanying replicas of classic films on the market. As for Hogwarts not being able to use Muggle items?


    Is that a problem for him?


    Similarly, music is a priority, and Felix considers himself a standard Slytherin, and he will enjoy his life as much as he can.


    As school began, Felix organized his room and put all the magical items in his suitcase - it would be a big problem if a thief came to his door and took one or two things.


    "What else do I need to prepare?"


    Felix thought for a while and then suddenly slapped his wise little brain, "Oh yes, books!" S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Remembering the Headmaster''s hint at the interview, he bought a few pairs of wool socks in different colours and then started to shop around in all the major bookshops.


    He picked up both his favourite books and Christmas gifts for the various professors, whether they were useful or not, but he had them on hand.


    Felix was going to give his former head of house a copy of ''A Guide to Common Experiments for Middle School Students'', well, one with lots of illustrations.


    I hope he''ll like it.


    I''m sure he''ll like it, after all, I am his best student!


    Felix is looking forward to his new job.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 11: Entry

    1st September. Inauguration time.


    A lazy man like Felix, without a doubt, continued to use floo powder to reach the Deputy Headmaster''s office, where he emerged from the fireplace in a bright green robe, his hair neatly groomed, and carrying a small suitcase.


    "Professor McGonagall." Felix greeted her with a smile on his face.


    Professor McGonagall is busy sorting out events for the day; she is responsible for the annual opening dinner, and it is arguably one of her busiest days of the year.


    "Oh, thank goodness you''re here at last."


    "Is something wrong?" Felix asked.


    "I need you to do some work for me."


    "With pleasure, ma''am," Felix spoke with elegance.


    Professor McGonagall handed him a series of jobs and left in a huff, muttering things like, "Dumbledore never cares about this ... I''m on my own ...". She seemed to have a strong opinion about the headmaster.


    Felix looked at the parchment in his hand with interest, "Let''s see, the first job, decorating the Great Hall?"


    The Great Hall ( Dining Hall ).


    Felix waved his wand and placed decorations around the ceiling, arranging the four long tables and spacing out each chair to perfection.


    Then came the weather at the top of the great hall.


    "Honestly, I''ve wanted to play with this for a long time," Felix muttered, waving his wand.


    Above the great hall, the original high noon weather suddenly became cloudy, with thick black clouds pressing ever closer as if they were going to stick themselves firmly in the sky the next moment.


    Then, Felix continued to wave his wand, and the dense black clouds dispersed, revealing a large, miserable green glow from the sky, making the entire auditorium look like a cursed place ...


    "Yah-hoo." Felix felt so happy he created a big viper, which opened its bloody maw through the green light, and something come out of its mouth, a miserable green figure twisted and formed, looking and acting like a certain professor.


    "Is this what you think of the professor who has taught you for seven years, Felix?" As Felix was having a great time, a hollow voice suddenly surfaced.


    Felix turned around to see his Potions professor and head of the house, Snape, appearing like a ghost with his arms waving.


    Snape''s face looked expressionless, his eyes unswayed by emotion. He spewed venom slowly and deliberately, "Are you expressing your displeasure with me? Or the three years after graduation filled your head with inappropriate muggle thoughts and made you so arrogant and cocky that you''ve lost your manners?"


    " Cough...cough...!" Felix felt a bit embarrassed to have been caught red-handed in the middle of the fun!


    Even more embarrassing is that the long snake above his head poked its head down and the miserable green professor in its mouth was wiggling and swaying ...


    With a wave of his wand, Felix turned the long snake into nothingness. He quickly adjusted his expression as if he had just seen Professor Snape, first with a look of surprise, then quickly stepping forward and greeting Snape with utmost courtesy.


    "Professor, your magic has grown steadily in three years."


    Snape looked him over expressionlessly and mocked him in a rhythmic tone, "Three years has opened my eyes, but I would have thought you were a stupid lion if I hadn''t taught you."


    Felix gave an ''embarrassed'' look, his eyes darted away in ''embarrassment'' and suddenly looked behind Snape in ''surprise'', " Professor McGonagall, when did you get here?"


    " S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Startled, Snape turns around quickly to find the hallway is empty.


    Turning back, he found Felix with a confused look on his face, "Huh? Did I just make a mistake?"


    Snape is so angry he couldn''t speak.


    There you go once again.


    The boy always found an excuse to get away with it since he was in school, gagging and talking nonsense, but Snape knew him well enough to know how dangerous this boy could be.


    In fact, he had just left the Headmaster''s office this morning after a big fight with Dumbledore when he found out that Felix had come to teach at Hogwarts.


    Snape approached quietly and said in a volume that only two people could hear, "Felix Hap-"


    "You can call me Felix, Professor!" Felix interjected.


    Snape: "..."


    Again! Always interrupting, always interrupting his speech!


    But who told Snape to speak slowly and with a musical aria? The others may have been afraid to interrupt because of Snape''s oppressive demeanour, but Felix knew him well enough!


    So well that he knew his deepest secrets!


    Snape raised his voice: "Felix, I don''t care what you''re doing here at Hogwarts, but I''m going to keep an eye on you. If you''re going to use the students at Hogwarts to promote some of your dangerous ideas ..."


    "I see you''ve read my work too, Professor, what an honour!"


    Snape is at a loss for words.


    "Professor McGonagall! What are you doing here?" Felix suddenly turned his head to the side and spoke.


    "Don''t be a smart ass!" Snape said angrily, and then he felt someone approaching quickly behind him.


    Emmm this time it''s really true ... Felix quietly gestured to his back and before Snape could turn around, he heard Professor McGonagall approaching with a stern and impatient tone.


    "Professor Snape, you have come just in time, I have something to discuss with you."


    Professor Snape was then dragged away by McGonagall, and Felix made the gesture of goodbye, prompting Snape to give him a fierce glare.


    "Looks like the Professor has a strong opinion of me~" muttered Felix, "I just threatened you once, it''s been a few years, look how much he remembers that grudge, shame on him."


    Well, Felix did threaten Snape, not exactly once, but for seven years during their time at school.


    That''s another long story.


    Anyway, Felix continued to tidy up the great hall, not daring to play anymore this time. Waving his wand, he turned the sky above the great hall into a bright starry sky. He deliberately enlarged and brought some stars closer together, a full moon as bright as a disk, crimson Mars as red as a furnace, and a yellow-brown Saturn surrounded by a ring of broken stars. ... In the distance there were brighter, smaller stars, constantly shining and twinkling, decorating the great hall beautifully.


    "Excellent charm!" A shrill voice appeared and Felix glanced back up and then lowered his head.


    He smiled, "Hello, Professor Flitwick!"


    "Oh! Felix!" Professor Flitwick looked thrilled, but in fact, he looked like he is going to faint.


    "A talented Hogwarts graduate returns to school! How wonderful! I still remember your brilliant performance on the NEWTs charms test, perfect, perfect!"


    Professor Flitwick looked thrilled, despite his small stature, he is affectionate and had no prejudice against the houses.


    "It''s good to see you, Professor!"

 Chapter 12: Unencrypted Conversations

    An hour ago. Snape strode into the Headmaster''s office, his face looked tense, but it is easy to see that he is furious at the moment.


    "Headmaster! Headmaster Dumbledore!"


    Dumbledore looked up from his desk, "Ah, Severus, what can I do for you?"


    Snape stood in front of him, he didn''t sit down but kicked the chair out of the way, and with only a table between them, he asked angrily, "You recruited Felix Hap as a professor in the school? What were you thinking?"


    Dumbledore put down the book he was holding, "Severus, I see no problem with that, Mr. Hap is excellent, and his talents are widely recognized by the wizarding community and, of course, by me." S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Snape is rather impatient, "I didn''t say he isn''t good enough! I have taught him, I know what he is like."


    "Indeed, you once rated him, ''a standard Slytherin'' - very high praise." Dumbledore chuckled.


    Snape grimaced, "That was not a compliment from me." -- but a taunt.


    Dumbledore nodded, "We all know Mr. Hap quite well, and I know what your concerns are, and since he''s going to be teaching at Hogwarts, this issue worth a little time, let''s sit down and talk about it." He waved his hand and beckoned the chair back.


    Snape sat down stiffly, as if underneath his bottom is not a cushion, but a giant fire-breathing dragon.


    "Pumpkin juice? Tea? Or a butterbeer?" Dumbledore asked, a cup materializing out of thin air with each word he spoke.


    "I don''t need any." Snape is very dismissive.


    "A cup of tea then, Mr. Hap, very fond of it." Dumbledore placed a cup of tea in front of Snape,


    But the way Snape looked, it appeared as if he had swallowed a fly.


    Dumbledore said gently, "Let''s talk. I used to have the same misconceptions about Mr. Hap, but as he grew up, so did my opinion of him in general. It was only recently that I had an in-depth conversation with him and I finally made up my mind to hire him."


    "I think you''re getting senile." Snape taunted.


    "I''m getting older, but over the years, I''ve become soberer. We''re always more likely to make mistakes when we''re young, aren''t we?"


    Snape grunted and then said, "That Felix boy is up to no good, he''s got into so much trouble by doing whatever he wants at school because he''s strong!"


    "Do you know how I got through these years? Because of him, I''ve met almost half of the purebloods in Britain!"


    "I got letters of complaint from them almost every day!"


    Dumbledore seemed to laugh a little, but he quickly concealed it with a large gulp of pumpkin juice. He agreed, "True, Mr. Hap was frantic for power in his junior years, but we all know there''s a reason for that, don''t we?"


    Snape pursed his lips and didn''t say anything.


    He knew, of course, that Felix was in a rough spot, even worse than he had been back then, and at least his enemies were not from his own House.


    Dumbledore said calmly, "Minerva once complained to me that the Sorting Hat did not accurately assign students to the right house, and she always thought Mr Hap should be in Gryffindor. What do you think?"


    "The boy is a standard Slytherin," Snape said in the same mocking tone as he had back then.


    "I agree." Dumbledore nodded, "Mr. Hap ... he is a brilliant wizard, extremely brilliant, one of the most gifted person I have ever met in my life. He is always in search of power, I could see that clearly, even though he rarely showed it after the fifth year, he never stopped chasing it."


    "Even after graduation, that was one of my biggest concerns at the time."


    Snape listened quietly, he didn''t deny Dumbledore''s wisdom, the old man''s experiences were legendary, and he intended to hear what had made him change his mind in the first place.


    "He applied to stay here when he graduated and, frankly, he was more than capable, more than I ever was in charms alone. But I turned him down, not only because he was too young, but also because he had such ambition in his eyes that I was afraid he would go off the track."


    "But fortunately he listened to my advice. After his first year of travel, he settled in the Muggle world and began to study them. It was at this time that he and I started to exchanging letters."


    Snape listened quietly, not expecting such an experience between the two of them. You know, when he found out that Felix had become a Muggle researcher, his eyes almost bulged out!


    "Maybe he''s faking it." Snape jabbed reluctantly.


    "No, no, Severus," Dumbledore retorted, "I can still read people''s hearts and minds, living a long life has such advantages that I can tell what most people thought even without relying on magic."


    "From the time he entered school until now, he has shown no discrimination against Muggles, on the contrary, he has studied the Muggle world very deeply, as this clearly evident through his books. He does not consider wizards superior; on the contrary, he draws a constant stream of wisdom from the Muggle world."


    Snape retorted, "I didn''t say he discriminated against muggles, Dumbledore! But his ideas are just as dangerous, you know what he states in his book ''How Muggles Think''?"


    As if he were reciting a book, he spoke quickly, "Bloodline theory is also prevalent in the Muggle world, but unlike the wizarding world, more and more Muggle nations are abandoning it, thanks to the fact that they are hundreds or thousands of times more productive than ever before. The abundance of resources has provided them with a solid foundation to promote education, while the commoners, who are not of good blood, have shown an exaggerated potential to bring the Muggle world up at the speed of a flying broom."


    When Dumbledore tried to interrupt, Snape continued, "In the Muggle world, if the proportion of nobles is one, the proportion of commoners is more than ten thousand. And when the rulers liberated the commoners, their efficiency in development overcame all obstacles with unstoppable force!"


    The whole headmaster''s office fell silent.


    Even the portraits listening at the side of the office had their mouths agape. These words did not seem to mention the wizarding world, but simply described and analysed the development process of the Muggle world, but they implied the present-day wizarding world in every way.


    One of the portraits shouted in rage, "This is betrayal! A rebellion against the glory of pure blood!"


    The other portraits also began to chatter.


    Snape glanced at the portrait and said sarcastically, "Headmaster Black, that boy is not a pureblood!"

 Chapter 13: That boy is the Next Dark Lord!

    The portrait of Headmaster Black began to cuss, and soon the other portraits were unable to keep their mouths shut and retorted, with one grumpy headmaster charging straight into the frame and thrashing him. Dumbledore ignored the portraits, looking as if he was reminiscing, "Mr Hap is indeed very perceptive."


    "In my opinion, it''s a Muggle wizard''s declaration of war against the Purebloods. He''s more ambitious than you can imagine, he''s the next generation of Dark Lord."


    Dumbledore looked solemn: "That is a serious accusation! Severus."


    "You always trust people so easily, Dumbledore." Snape grunted, "Perhaps he won''t start a war, I know him, he''s afraid of getting into hassle."


    "But as you say, he has so much potential, if I had to say who else in this century could catch up with you and that man, it would be him, and there would be countless people willing to be under his wing, watching his every expression, studying his every word ..."


    He said sarcastically, "History always goes around, and maybe this time, it''s the stupid lions who will follow him."


    "What will they call him? The White Lord, perhaps?"


    "I never knew, Severus, that you had such deep prejudice against him." Dumbledore looked astonished.


    "Hmph! As I said, I know him better than you think, and I have taught him for seven years!"


    Dumbledore weighed his words and decided to confess: "I did hesitate for a long time, I saw in his reflection another man. The same Muggle Orphan as a child, the same Slytherin, the same brilliance, the same pursuit of power ..."


    "But they are different nonetheless."


    "Voldemort used his magic to intimidate his companions and gathered them as his goons to fight off those who tried to bully him in the orphanage, and he keeps in touch with some people in the orphanage till the day of his death."


    "Voldemort was passionate about authority, and during his time at school he formed a core group around him - it was the prototype of the Death Eaters. Felix, on the other hand, didn''t care much about authority, as you said, he hated hassle, or maybe you could sum it up, he didn''t want to put much thought into things he isn''t interested in, and authority is one of them."


    "Voldemort was very good and polite at school, he had a very good relationship with every one of his professors, whereas Felix only spent his energy on the subjects he was interested in, as far as I know, he never tried to pass his courses in the history of magic, divination, astronomy, or flying! This is in spite of his record-breaking grades in charms of all time."


    "Voldemort pursued power with a fervour, and to that end, he delved into black magic while still at school, in which he possessed great talent. Before he graduated, his level of black magic surpassed the level of some dark wizards'' efforts in a lifetime."


    "And Felix ...," Dumbledore hesitated for a rare moment, "I have to admit that he also delved in black magic, right here in the Shrieking Shack. But before I could think of the proper way to intervene and dissuade him, he gave up on his own."


    Snape stared in awe, the Headmaster had got to the bottom of the boy!


    There is so much about the past that even he didn''t know.


    Dumbledore concluded, "Friendship, rejection of authority, dedication, calmness, and thoughtfulness, he had a lot of merits after all."


    Snape opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but finally refrained. Then he smiled sarcastically, only this time his sarcasm directed at the headmaster: "You''re still so ''concerned'' about your students! Why don''t you tell me more about his experiences in the three years after his graduation? You''re not hiding in the bushes somewhere peeping while he travels the world, are you?" S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Severus, don''t be so harsh on an old man." Dumbledore wore a sad expression, but the next moment his words left Snape dumbfounded, "But I did visit some of his colleagues in the Muggle world, and they spoke surprisingly highly about Mr. Hap, and I made sure that there was no sign of any magic being used."


    At the wide-eyed appearance of Snape, Dumbledore blinked, "Severus, you don''t think I''m really muddled, do you? Would let him be a professor at Hogwarts without knowing anything about him?"


    ...


    As Snape emerged from the Headmaster''s office, he admitted that he was somewhat persuaded that the boy didn''t seem that bad.


    Even if he had threatened him - with his deepest secrets.


    But when he walked into the great hall and saw Felix waving his wand and turning the Ceiling into a giant snake with a silhouette in its mouth that he could see in the mirror every day, he nearly exploded!


    He was wrong!


    Felix Hap is an asshole!


    ...


    Felix doesn''t know about the conversation at the Headmaster''s office, or that he''s even been given the title of "White Lord" by someone, are you serious?


    He went through his duties, and during the course of the day, the Hogwarts professors arrived and Felix greeted them all.


    He knows the importance of relationships.


    Until someone unique appeared, a very handsome male wizard, wearing emerald green robes of a similar colour to his, with light, silky hair and white teeth.


    Who is this Slytherin? Why it didn''t ring a bell?


    Felix wanted to take a closer look, but soon that wizard approached him, "Felix Hap! I''ve learned a lot about you, and I''ve been looking forward to meeting you."


    "And you are?" Felix always felt that this man looked familiar, but he couldn''t remember.


    The wizard seemed to have heard something incredible, his mouth wide open, and he seemed petrified for a couple of seconds before his smile quickly returned, and he spoke eloquently, "Felix, you must be too busy studying Muggles to pay much attention to the wizarding world, but that''s okay! I can reintroduce myself and believe me, you are worthy of this honour."


    Felix: "... if you please."


    "I," the male wizard winked, "am Gilderoy Lockhart, Third Class of the Order of Merlin, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League, and five-time winner of the Witch Weekly Most Charming Smile Award - but I don''t put that on my face anymore. I don''t smile to banish the ghosts of Valiant!"


    Gilderoy Lockhart?


    Felix remembered he had read his biography, quite an adventuresome one. Experienced and intelligent. But he seemed to be a bit of a prude, writing books where he usually concealed half the story, never revealing the key stuff!


    Interested, Felix wondered how he could get something out of him.


    "So it''s Mr. Lockhart, I''ve read your book, it''s excellent, your experience is fascinating ..." Felix said flatteringly, and in less than three minutes he had become a friend of the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts.


    He also impressed with the courage of the new professor, who didn''t mind the curse of the Dark Lord.


    He knew how dangerous this course is, and even though Hogwarts is always short of professors, he didn''t dare to take that job.


    What a brave man!


    However, from the experiences described in his books, it seems that Lockhart is an extremely perceptive and talented wizard who always manages to turn the odds in his favour!


    I guess I''ll have to pay more attention. What kind of miracle would this professor create?


    Felix is in deep thought.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 14: Opening Banquet

    As time passed, the sky turned dark. Thousands of candles were lit in the Great Hall, the ceiling is adorned with beautiful starry sky, and the tables and chairs were set up in an orderly manner.


    All the professors have arrived, even Dumbledore, and Hagrid is the only one who is away to pick up the first-year wizards.


    Not far away, Professor Lockhart stood with Professor Flitwick and Headmaster Dumbledore, and his self-promoting words could be heard throughout the great hall, "Yes ... it''s a simple matter, my badge is not a fake hahaha... ..."


    Felix and Snape were in a corner all alone, watching everything that is happening in the Great Hall close to them.


    Felix felt very puzzled at this moment, just now he had spent some effort in guiding Professor Lockhart to speak comfortably, he was even willing to share his own knowledge in exchange, provided he even made a proper comic relief on the sidelines.


    But ... had a very little harvest.


    Is Lockhart wary of him? Not at all. Is he acting? Gathering information through exaggeration and bragging?


    Felix is puzzled, as well as a certain professor.


    Snape stood in the other corner with a mocking smile on his face, not knowing who he was laughing at.


    What had happened to Professor Snape?


    He hadn''t had such a grim and sarcastic face last time he was at school?


    Had something happened in the last three years?


    Feeling that his normally clever brain is not working well enough, Felix became more and more cautious, and then he joined Professor Sprout''s conversation, talking to her about magic plants.


    "Felix, I have to say, you didn''t put too much thought into your Herbology when you were in school."


    "Professor, I was distracted by other things, I was too busy."


    "I don''t think so, you were asking me all sorts of questions about those dangerous plants and what their weaknesses were ..." Sprout remembered this vividly.


    Another black history, Well, he truly wasn''t interested in Herbology back then.


    Did Herbology offer him strength?


    No? He didn''t know what to say.


    So he never did well in Herbology, hovering between an A (pass) and a P (poor), but he was very good at dealing with dangerous magic plants, even going to great lengths to identify their weaknesses and try to solve them in the least stressful way possible.


    This was also his philosophy for his Care of Magical Creatures course, too.


    Let''s just say that he did get a little carried away during those years.


    There were a lot of clamours in the distance.


    "The students are here!"


    Professor McGonagall stood up and departed in a hurry. Felix tried to join Professor Snape in an attempt to see how he had changed over the years, but he dodged fast.


    Felix had no choice but to aim for a seat next to Lockhart as his second target.


    Professor Flitwick, who seemed to have been pestered by Lockhart, saw Felix approaching to free himself and without hesitation, he gave Felix his seat.


    After sitting down, Felix started the conversation with ease, "Professor Lockhart, your book ''Travels with Vampires'' describes the vampire species very well, but I have a few questions ..."


    Now it seems Lockhart''s turn to fidget, he''s a bit of a fence-sitter, always missing the mark, and Felix has to wisely stop the conversation.


    Am I hated now? ...


    The atmosphere became a little awkward, but soon Professor McGonagall led the students into the Great Hall, where the young wizards from Year 2 to Year 7 were seated on either side of four long tables according to their houses.


    Professor McGonagall seemed to be in a very bad mood, though, as she quickly approached Dumbledore and whispered something, and the Headmaster''s face immediately turned serious. He said a few words to McGonagall, she nodded, then she called Snape and the two of them left the great hall.


    Is something wrong? Felix is tempted to intervene, but this is not the right occasion for snooping.


    On the other side of the great hall, the young wizards, who had just enrolled at school, were very excited, chattering away and making the great hall very lively. The professors were quite open-minded and did not step in to stop them, and Headmaster Dumbledore''s face became smiling again as he watched the proceedings, as stroked his silvery-white beard.


    Felix also looked around with interest, there were a lot of people he knew here, after all, he had just graduated three years ago, in other words, all the students from the fourth year onwards had met him before.


    Slytherin House.


    The tall Marcus Flint is talking about his summer holiday like nobody''s around, and his voice can be heard across the three seats, and as he''s speaking happily, a fellow student quietly tugs his sleeves.


    Marcus Flint got a little impatient, why? Don''t interrupt me, muggins! Don''t interrupt me from sharing my fascinating experience!


    When his companion pulled him harder for the second time, he finally turned his head and saw the boy with a frightened look on his face, shooting frantic glances at the professor''s seat.


    Did something interesting happen?


    A new professor? Isn''t that normal, isn''t there a certain course where professors get changed every year?


    Marcus Flint looked over at the professor''s seat, his eyes glance over the place, looking for an unfamiliar figure.


    Well, a handsome-looking male wizard, and so he is their new professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts?


    Nothing special ...


    Wait!


    Who did he see?


    Marcus Flint suddenly let out a short cry, as if he had been bitten by a mouse, and his expression became equally terrified, in sync with his companion beside him.


    It is that guy!


    How could he be here?


    For a moment, his already dull brain became even duller.


    With a cry from Marcus Flint, the rest of the Slytherin students followed his gaze to the professor''s seat and drew in a cold breath.


    Almost instantly, silence fell over the majority of the Slytherin table.


    The remaining minority of junior students quickly noticed the unexplained silence of the senior students and also stopped talking, staring at them in confusion.


    Malfoy looked at this strange scene at his house and wondered, "What''s going on?" as he tugged the senior next to him.


    "Shh..., shut up and keep your voice down!" The senior rebuked in a low voice, lowering his head and not daring to look at the young man''s figure, but pretending to look at a silver tray with keen interest.


    Then he whispered, "Draco, keep your voice down, that sir is back."


    " That Sir?" asked Malfoy, somewhat puzzled by what sounded like the honorific title of a nobleman. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The senior spat out a few words in a low voice, "The 8-7 duel."


    "Hiss!" Malfoy also took a long breath and couldn''t help but look at the young professor in the professor''s seat quietly.


    Is that him?


    And as the Slytherin''s suddenly settled down, the other houses noticed something strange about them as well.


    Hermione had already noticed the figure of Felix earlier, and with her excellent memory, she immediately recognized him as an odd guest she had met during the summer holiday.


    So he is a wizard too? No wonder he had such strange requests!


    I wonder what course he''ll be teaching?


    The two unfamiliar faces this year, Lockhart was already acquainted with them, the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts, and she had read all his books.


    His experience is fantastic!


    And the other professor looks young, not too far ahead from their age ... Huh? Why is everyone so quiet?


    Hermione looked around, the students of Slytherin House were as quiet as a royal guard, the other three houses were also silent for a moment, and then the discussion started with a more intense tone, the whole great hall totally exploded.


    The seniors were all talking about something, with a "I have a big secret" look on their faces.


    She had been worried about Harry and Ron''s safety, but she had already informed Professor McGonagall, so it shouldn''t be a problem, right?


    Hermione stretched her neck and listened without making a sound.

 Chapter 15: Pie from the Sky

    In the professor''s seat. Felix looked at the scene and felt strange, he didn''t seem to have done something horrible, why were the students of Slytherin so afraid of him?


    Since sixth grade, he''s been a gentleman, and the oldest of the wizards around here is only in their second year at that time.


    This is a smear on his reputation!


    If the words got out, it would look like a mobster had come to the school posing as a budding professor.


    The other professors also looked at Felix with a slightly odd look, as most of them had experienced Felix''s "seven years of brilliance", and it''s been three years since he left the school, yet he is still so influential.


    It''s this look that made Felix want to punch someone!


    Dumbledore smiling all the time as if what just happened is completely normal.


    Felix could hardly bear it, but he still pretends nothing has happened and had an awkward conversation with Lockhart.


    Bang, bang, bang!


    There is a loud knock on the door, and then the door is flung open, and a giant strode in. Behind him were rows of first-year students who resembled a row of herds.


    Professor McGonagall, who had originally left, returned and led the new students forward and placed a tattered sorting hat on a small stool.


    The next moment, the cap began to sing.


    Felix grinned, still so peculiar ...


    At the end of the annual song, the hats began to divide 1st year into 4 houses, and one by one the young wizards put the hats on their heads and waited to find their calling.


    What nostalgia!


    After the end of the division, the whole campus began to enjoy dinner, but Felix noticed that Snape hadn''t returned yet, and none of the professors mentioned him... well, you''re not very popular, Professor ...


    The good news is that Professor Snape returned once in the middle of the dinner, and Felix was relieved that his fears had not become reality - the Professor has not been captured by the unknown monster.


    But what mysterious development happened, when Snape leads Professor McGonagall away?


    Felix''s imagination is playing with him, and he is now so happy that even looking at the transparent Bloody Baron in delight.


    After a few more moments, McGonagall and Snape returned. Felix rushed forward and pulled Professor McGonagall aside to describe a little method he had thought out for his class.


    "Open class?" Professor McGonagall repeated, with a look of intense distrust in her eyes.


    "Yes, I''m a new professor after all, and the first class is very important, and I''ve used this long holiday to prepare for it, so it would be a waste to split it into five years."


    "But if you bring five grades together, they won''t learn anything."


    Felix explained, "My first lesson doesn''t contain any theory, it''s a demonstration class and all they have to do is watch with their eyes, my aim is to show them the wonders of ancient magic runes. As long as they''re interested, I''ll be able to teach them later."


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, she didn''t like to break the rules, but nevertheless asked, "What day are you going to put the open class on?"


    "Thursday afternoon!"


    "All right, I agree." Professor McGonagall behaved like a Deputy Headmistress.


    "Er ..." Felix looked a bit embarrassed.


    "Any more questions, Mr. Hap?"


    "Call me Felix," he replied quickly, "Thursday afternoon is my well-chosen time, but there''s still a lesson that clashes with it."


    Professor McGonagall sighed, "Which professor''s class is it?"


    "Professor Snape."


    McGonagall''s eyes widened, and she gave him a stern look, "I''ll talk to him!"


    Felix breathed a long sigh of relief.


    Eat, eat, keep eating ...


    When everyone had almost finished eating, Headmaster Dumbledore stood up and under his command, the crowd sang a school song and then dismissed completely!


    Felix ate and drank enough and is ready to go back to his professor''s office, watch a film and go to bed.


    For the rest of the week, all he has to do is prepare for his open class. What''s there to prepare for? Let''s go to the library tomorrow!


    Dear Hogwarts Library, I''ve missed you so much!


    The fantasy interrupted and this time, it''s Professor McGonagall who pulled him out of it.


    The two of them went to the corner where three young wizards were already standing, two boys and one girl, all in Gryffindor House gown.


    The two boys looked exactly identical and were looking sad for some reason; the other girl he had seen before during the summer holiday.


    He had a suspicion in his mind.


    Are these the three that he and Professor McGonagall had discussed as his assistants? So, in other words, the Weasley twins and Hermione Granger?


    Sure enough, after introducing them, Professor McGonagall mentioned Felix''s need for an "assistant (tool)".


    From the looks of it, the twins were somewhat disinterested, while Hermione Granger is somewhat tempted, but also seems to be less interested.


    Indeed, is there any appeal for a temporary worker?


    It''s not going to work ...


    Felix decided to say something, and he is sure that when he did it, they would change their attitude completely.


    Here see how it goes! s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix gave Professor McGonagall a glance, followed by a slight cough, he looked at the three young wizards and spoke gently, "Hello, I am your new Ancient Magic Rune professor," then glanced at Hermione, "and probably your future professor."


    Hermione looked a little more formal, the twins were much bolder, one of them asked with a leap of hope, "Professor, is it true that you defeated the whole of Slytherin House when you were at school? And you drove the Shafiqs into submission?"


    Well, Felix is a full seven years older than the twins, and he graduated before they enrolled, a seamless connection that is perfectly lost.


    That''s bold ... Felix took pause.


    He didn''t respond positively, however, and said, "There are often some strange rumours circulating at Hogwarts, I even heard when I was at school that there was a tunnel that linked to Hogsmeade on the eighth floor of the castle!"


    Expectedly, the twins were visibly disappointed, and Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes covertly.


    "Let''s continue where we left off. I will be teaching Ancient magic runes at Hogwarts for a long time to come - at least until you graduate. As a result, I''m going to be training an assistant who will be helping me with trivial tasks, such as correcting papers and such."


    Seeing the lack of interest from the two twins, he quickly skipped over this uncomfortable part.


    "Of course, with loss comes gain. By becoming my assistant, you will also receive some hidden benefits. For example extra guidance from me, in addition to ancient magic runes, I am also very good at charms, as Professor McGonagall can vouch for me."


    "Secondly, extra bonus points. Assistant work takes up some of your time after school, after all, so Professor McGonagall and I have discussed adding fifty points per semester."


    The twins looked at each other, that''s a hundred points for one academic year!


    And Hermione''s eyes were just as bright, in fact, she became excited as soon as she heard the first offer.


    "Thirdly, you will have the opportunity to take part in my research. You will be exposed to a lot of advanced magical knowledge that will not be taught in the curriculum."


    "Fourth, priority to join my Ancient magic rune club next year."


    "Fifth, earn my personal friendship. If one becomes my assistant, I will not refuse the usual little favours," Felix winked and whispered in a seductive tone, "such as forbidden Books in the Library, weekend trips to the Forbidden Forest, and roaming the castle after hours ... "


    "Cough cough cough!" Professor McGonagall suddenly coughed so violently that she seemed to be coughing her lungs out.


    "Well, the last two doesn''t count." Felix felt somewhat sorry for himself; when he had been in school, he had strongly wished to be able to do these things openly rather than secretly - two completely different experiences.


    Still, with all those previous perks, it would be enough to excite the three young wizards.


    Sure enough, by the time he finished, the twins and Hermione were so full of expectation that they seemed ready to say ''I do'' in the next minute.


    "Of course, it''s not easy to become my assistant, you''re all the best under the fifth year at Hogwarts, which is why Professor McGonagall recommended you to me."


    "However, there is a necessary test," Felix began slowly and deliberately, like a sinister and experienced hunter, as he drew his wand and turned two strands of hair into parchment and a quill, which started to fill the parchment with words in the air.


    The three young wizards took a peek at what seemed to be a very, very long list of books ...


    The twins'' faces immediately turned sour, even sourer than before.


    After the quill finished writing, it quietly turned into a flame. He stretched out his wand again and clicked on the parchment, which immediately split into three copies and floated towards the three in turn.


    "Here, this is a list of reference books, read as much as you can, but by Next Monday at the latest, you will have to hand me a paper on the history of the development of ancient magic runes."


    Felix looked at them with mischief in his heart, "No limit to the number of words, but the more, the better; no limit to the number of thesis topics, but the more, the better; no limit to the number of reference books, again, the more, the better."


    "You have one week."


    Three "the more, the better" left them a bit confused, but that is none of his business; he expected at least two sheets of parchment, not only with extracts but also with their own thoughts, and at least with the reference book list half-read.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 16: Exploring the Magic Rune

    Back in his professor''s lounge, Felix began to decorate the room as he sees fit, with items large and small flying out of his suitcase. Once everything had been organized, he watched a film for entertainment and went to bed.


    The next morning, Felix went to the library and explored the thousand-year-old Hogwarts book collection.


    As the first day of school just started, not many visitors came to the library, so Felix took the original copy of Ancient Mysteries of the Alchemy from the forbidden section and read it with great interest.


    He even discovered seven ways to make a crystal.


    However, he was not interested in the alchemy items in the book - after all, this book is quite old, and many things were outdated - what he valued most was the ancient magic rune traces hidden in these alchemy items.


    Ancient Magic Runes did not appear and fall all at once.


    In the earliest untraceable times, it was a barbaric age for magic. A few gifted ''men'' struggled to build magical towers for defense and research purposes, and they sought the mysteries of magic in magical creatures and plants, accidentally discerning patterns that could store the magic for a short time and transform it into magical effects.


    This was the earliest form of ancient magic runes.


    As a result of the efforts of many pioneers, the number of magical runes mastered by wizards increased, and this led to the creation of powerful ancient magic and ancient alchemy, which led to the emergence of human wizards.


    At that time, magic was a symbol of power.


    As time passed, more and more potential ''people'' emerged, the number of wizards began to grow, and they desperately required a way to record their magical knowledge in words.


    Some people got together to create an ancient language based on the magic runes and spread it widely. By now, most magic runes were in fact powerless and merely served as a means for recording knowledge.


    As the years passed, new, magic runes were discovered, and the first ancient languages that emerged were developed, changed, and evolved around the world.


    This has resulted in a plethora of common characters, synonyms, mistranslations, and irregularities, causing countless problems for future generations in research. s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There followed two major events that affected all wizards.


    The first was the invention of the wand, which made spellcasting more stable and simpler.


    The second was the creation of simplified magic, derived from ancient magic, which may have been slightly less powerful, but with the augmentation of the wand, was not too bad.


    Most importantly, it was easier to learn and safer to use!


    As time went on, more and more wizards gave up on magic runes, and it simply became a myth.


    Today, they are collectively known as ancient magic runes, and many wizards simply use them as a kind of writing, the only purpose of which is to translate the ancient grimoires of their predecessors.


    Felix is not interested in studying ancient history, what he wants is "magical" ancient magic, or rather, the original magic - as for the rest, what are they?


    But after all, it''s a good idea to learn it, so at least he can use it to teach his students now, right?


    Those first magic runes are now either lost or exist in ancient magic scrolls, somewhere in the dust.


    According to Felix''s research, it is only in the branch of ancient magic known as alchemy that such runes are best preserved, and have even evolved and developed on their own to create their own logical system.


    In their present state, magic runes have little to do with alchemy.


    But in terms of history, a piece of an alchemical artefact often represents an ancient magic path or its evolution. The older the artefact, the more likely it is to be so.


    And that''s what Felix wanted!


    At the moment, he has only mastered about two hundred of the original runes and a dozen or so circuits.


    There is a long way to go.


    As the day rushed away, Felix had a great harvest, he had discovered at least six new magic circuits!


    If he could break them down and return them to their original form, bah! If he managed to recover the original magic runes, he would be able to increase his reserves by at least a third.


    What does it mean to have a thousand years of thought?


    This is it.


    Felix didn''t even have a meal today - hey, who eats when they can have knowledge? A bottle of elixir will do the trick!


    It''s seven percent more efficient!


    No one bothers him.


    "Professor Hap!" A quiet, female voice greeted him.


    Felix looked up and saw Hermione standing beside him, clutching a thick book. Glancing at the title, it is one of the books he had mentioned on his book list.


    And, as it happened, it happened to be his own book - Explorations in Ancient Magical Runes.


    It is no coincidence that Hermione, a very clever little witch, wanted the post of ''Professor''s Assistant'' so badly, but the list he had given her is overflowing with books!


    A week might be enough for general browsing, but a deeper study? Not possible.


    She has to focus on one book and use the others as a reference.


    Just now, when she had spent half an hour picking out all the books on the list, she discovered by accident that one of them actually is the work of the young professor! She immediately decided which book to focus on.


    Did she need to choose? Anyone who hesitates on this issue is a retard!


    Felix and Hermione sat next to each other, not disturbing each other until the closing bell rang.


    Hermione yawned uncharacteristically.


    "Good night, Professor."


    She took small steps, holding her book, and soon disappeared.


    Felix gently turn over his stiff neck, not noticing until now that he starved himself to death!


    After a last-minute loan of one of the books, Felix waltzed into the kitchen and exchanged the keywords "please", "please" and "thank you" for three pies and a piece of cake from the house elf. Three pies, a piece of cheesecake, and a jug of pumpkin juice.


    On the way, he encountered two little Hufflepuff wizards who had sneaked out quietly to refuel themselves, but he simply ignored them.


    Back on his sofa, he ate his food hastily and fell asleep.


    The next day, he did the same.


    The third day, the same.


    In no time at all, it became Thursday morning.


    Potions class.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other as they saw Hermione, who is in a hurry as soon as they got out of class, then they hurried after her.


    "Hermione, slow down!" They both panted.


    "What have you been up to? I haven''t seen you around for days."


    Hermione is quick on her feet and she replied rapidly, "What did I tell you, boys, did you forget?"


    Harry chuckled, he had been equally busy these days with Quidditch training. Ron quickly recalled, "You mean you''re going to be that new professor''s assistant?"


    "That''s right! But I''m not the only student on the waiting list."


    Hermione pulled out her Potions textbook and set it aside, then pulled out another book, mumbling something under a breath, the thickness of the book simply made Ron and Harry despair.


    "Is this your assignment? To read a book that thick?" Ron glanced at the book with some trepidation.


    "Not one book, twenty books!" Hermione flipped through them, quickly noting anything of value as she did so; this is the fourth book she''d looked through, and except for Felix''s own work, she''d only read them quickly, looking for any useful information.


    But the figure of twenty books still left her somewhat desperate, and it had made her rather irritable recently.

 Chapter 17: Open Class (1)

    Soon Professor Snape marched in, and with a wave of his wand the windows were closed, and the curtains shut, a gloomy, eerie atmosphere enveloped the classroom and the young wizards instantly became quiet. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.Hermione immediately closed the book and concentrated on the lecture.


    After the Herbology class in the afternoon, the three of them were so tired and exhausted at the end they went hurriedly to the Great Hall for their open class. Four long tables had been moved to the corner, and in the middle, there is a round stage, about twenty feet in diameter and three feet high.


    "What''s all this for?" Ron asked.


    "Maybe it''s where the professor might stand? There''s a bit of a crowd here today." Harry looked around the room, and goodness gracious, half the school is here, and there were also lots of little wizards from the first year.


    So popular? Not another Lockhart, right? Harry mumbled silently.


    Harry is just thinking about it, but Ron had already spoken up, muttering, " is it another Lockhart?"


    "No, I''ve been in contact with Professor Hap, and he''s very good at silent spells! And Professor Lockhart, he, he ..." Hermione became stammering.


    "What spell?" Harry didn''t catch it.


    "A silent spell, some particularly powerful wizard who can cast all sorts of spells without having to chant them, and it''s particularly handy when casting vile jinx over others," Ron explained.


    Both dismissed the comments about Lockhart on the part of the girl.


    Is there any point in discussing that?


    Hermione gave Ron a blank look.


    And Harry thought about it a little more, so this professor seemed to be okay? He is looking forward to the upcoming open class with a little more anticipation.


    Neither he nor Ron wanted to come, but what difference could it make to them? They had been dragged here by Hermione, who said, "Isn''t it necessary to know about an elective course in advance of the third year?"


    And Hermione wanted to see how well Felix could teach, but she had already read Felix''s Explorations in Ancient Magic Runes, which gave her a lot of confidence in the new professor.


    Well, as confident as she is in Professor Lockhart.


    After another ten minutes passed, during which some students arrived and a few professors also came to join in the fun, it seemed like this is not a class, but a big feast.


    Harry caught a glimpse of Lockhart and hastily ducked his head to avoid the sight of the ''controversial'' professor.


    It is never good to run into him!


    The last few days had been miserable for him from three sources: Quidditch training, Lockhart, and that first-year student named Creevey.


    Except for Quidditch, which was a painful, but enjoyable experience, he wanted to avoid the other two!


    At the exact time, Felix appeared. He wore a light blue robe - the same colour as his eyes - with his hair pulled down slightly and with a smile on his face, he looked about 17 or 18 years old.


    Very much like Lockhart!


    Many of the younger students whispered in their minds - they were really scared by such an outfit.


    Felix made his way through the crowd and leaped gently up to the stage. With a wand in his hand, he looked around as the crowd settled down.


    Harry saw the professor draw a mysterious symbol with his wand and the next second the professor''s voice reached his ears, not too loud, but so clear that he seemed to be speaking right next to him.


    "We are officially starting the lesson."


    Felix looked at the young wizards below the stage, "I am, Felix Hap, currently the professor of the course Ancient Runes." He waved his wand and conjured up his name.


    Immediately afterward, he asked his first question.


    "Does anyone know anything about Ancient Runes?"


    Swipe!


    Hermione raised her hand subconsciously, and before she could think about it, her body had moved on its own.


    "Miss Granger." Felix nodded at her.


    Hermione opened her mouth and said, "Ancient magic rune, also known as Ancient Runes, is a script that was used by wizards hundreds of years ago to record their magic and, as a result, modern wizards learn this for translation purpose. However, the ancient magic runes were also one of the sources of power for the ancient wizards."


    The last sentence was added after she had read Explorations of Ancient Magic Runes.


    "Very good, five points for Gryffindor."


    Felix began to go over the history and evolution of the ancient runes, he pushed through them quickly, they weren''t important, or at least he didn''t think they were.


    The young wizards won''t remember either.


    "All you need to remember is that the Ancient Magic Runes are a bridge that connects ancient magic to modern magic, and at the same time, it connects ancient alchemy to modern alchemy."


    Felix nodded in satisfaction as he saw the young wizards murmuring from the stage.


    "But Professor, why is it that all we learn is how to translate ancient magic runes?" A senior girl from Ravenclaw asked, raising her hand.


    Felix looked at her, "There are two main reasons."


    "The first reason is that translation is really the dominant view in the wizarding world at the moment."


    "In my opinion, ancient runes can be divided into two, the ancient script and the magical script. The former is a language used by ancient wizards, and the latter is a power wielded by ancient wizards - only over the long change of time they have become intertwined with each other, making it difficult to distinguish between the latter."


    "The former represents the mainstream view now, and they have made it their mission to inherit and study ancient runes for translating ancient grimoires, which is in fact very useful indeed, bearing in mind that most of our knowledge of ancient wizards has been gained by these people."


    "It''s a route that is relatively easy to get in, and even now you can do it."


    "But if you want to master the power of the ancient wizards directly through the ancient runes, it is very, very difficult and requires not only an excellent level of magic itself, but also an excellent research ability."


    The young wizards were confused, but they got a general idea. The advantage of this is that it''s easy to get started and requires little in the way of personal experience, even if you''re a dumb wizard. But it requires a lot of time to get your mind straight.


    The magic world is full of old wizards who have been studying for decades and have finally confused themselves.


    The other branch, which is based on mastering the powers of ancient wizards, is difficult to get into, so if you''re not talented + academic, don''t even think about it.


    Felix paused for a moment to give the crowd time to digest before smiling and saying, "Back to the question we just got, as for the second reason - it''s because it''s not on the exam."


    The young wizards were suddenly speechless, this reason is a strong one.


    "But ..." said Felix, "I personally think that allowing you to dabble a little in the practical application of ancient runes would be an effective way of stimulating your enthusiasm for this discipline."


    "Are you going to teach us ancient magic?" One of the twins shouted.


    Felix shook his head, "No. Ancient magic is known to be powerful and difficult to tame, and I do not intend to teach you about it. Not to mention, my research in this area is just in its infancy."


    "All right! This is the end of the theoretical part, and as this is an open class, I won''t go into too much professional knowledge -"


    "Next, it''s time for a demonstration."

 Chapter 18: Open Class (2)

    The young wizards were excited to hear Felix''s words, their curiosity already piqued. Even the professors in the room were curious.


    Professor Snape is standing in the corner, wondering what this boy had come up with that he dared to pry into his lecture!


    Professor Flitwick is very excited, he really loves magic spells, but he hadn''t studied much about ancient magic. As for Felix''s views on ancient magic, he agreed, as he himself had a few powerful ancient spells, but he rarely used them.


    Lockhart was envious of Felix standing in the middle of the Hall. If he could hold a public class himself, he would get plenty of attention, right?


    What if he wrote about it in his new book ...


    But what was he supposed to do, put on a stage show?


    As everyone in the room is having different thoughts, Felix simply waved his wand and all the candles in the great hall were instantly extinguished and the sky above the ceiling is completely darkened.


    The entire great hall is plunged into darkness.


    "Lumos." Felix''s voice sounded clear to everyone in the room, calming the restless young wizard. "This is a common spell that serves to illuminate the surrounding area - it is so simple that even young wizards who are not enrolled at school can master it through self-learning."


    By the glow of the Lumos spell, Felix''s figure is faintly visible to the crowd.


    "Once you have fully mastered this spell, you can make some alterations to it -"


    "Like amplifying the glow," Felix said, as the glow from the tip of his wand spread across the platform.


    "Change the colour," the mass of light kept switching from white to red, green, yellow, and cyan ...


    "Or, can just toss it away." Felix waved his wand and the ball of light flew far from its tip, arcing in midair.


    The great hall is plunged into darkness once more, "And its counterpart, the ancient magic-"


    The next moment, a huge amount of light blossomed from the centre of the platform, a milky white glow enveloped the entire great hall, the strangest thing was that the light seemed to spread in all directions, there was not even a single shadow in sight. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is another version of Lumos spell," Felix whispered.


    Every young wizard in the audience burst into applause.


    Felix smiled, "This is just a simple example, but we can still see the difference." He waved his wand again, the candles relit, and the ceiling returned to its original state.


    "In modern magic, there are boundaries in power and intensity, albeit fluctuating within a certain range - but we can still clearly perceive the limit."


    " Ancient magic, on the other hand, is different; it is simple, brutal and its power often depends on the size of your magic."


    "For example, if I wanted to, I could light up all of Hogwarts with this magic."


    A student in the crowd shouted, "Professor, I want to learn that!"


    Felix inexplicably wanted to laugh, and in a tone of amusement, he couldn''t help but say, "Give it up, if you learn this magic, it will drain you of all your strength at the first opportunity."


    "Does anyone remember what I just said? Ancient magic is known for being powerful and difficult to tame, and I think most of you only remember the first half of it."


    "But the second half, that''s the point!"


    There is a lot of chatter from the students below the stage, their faces intensely excited, as if they were going to learn the powerful ancient magic themselves the next moment.


    But unfortunately, all the books on ancient magic were in the Forbidden section.


    A strange light flashed across Ron''s face, "I''m going to learn this, I''m going to learn this magic! It''s so cool!"


    Harry is also fascinated by the power of a simple flash of Lumos spell when replaced with ancient magic. Would Hermione''s Full Body-Bind Curse, for example, be able to completely petrify a person and turn them into a piece of stone?


    Snape wore the same expression, but this kind of power ...


    So, Dumbledore and the Dark Lord have mastered some powerful ancient magic?


    Felix waved his wand and a red spark shot out from the tip, redirecting the students'' attention.


    "We will now move on to the next demonstration, which is the focus of this open class and, of course, the test for this year''s Ancient Rune course -"


    "One."


    The students'' hearts, which had somewhat subsided, stirred again.


    What kind of open-book examination is this?


    At that moment, Felix came down from the stage, "Accio suitcase!" With his spell, a suitcase flew over quickly, and landed on the ground, then popped open with a bang, and a dozen or so figures flew out of it, landing on the stage and standing still.


    It was only then that the crowd realized that the figures on the platform were half a foot tall (about 15 cm). These figures were different in appearance, male, female, old, and child, but each one was very distinctive.


    "This is ... Hey! I''ve played this game before!" Muggle-born wizard Justin suddenly shouted, his face flushed red, not expecting to see a figurine at Hogwarts, and one that could move!


    Harry also seemed vaguely familiar with it, as his cousin Dudley mentioned it before.


    "What''s this?" Ron asked, as a pureblood, he had no idea what this is. It''s just a toy that moves, what''s so surprising about it?


    "It''s a character from a fighting game in the Muggle world." Harry searched his brain for more information, but he had never played it, either.


    "A fighting game?" It is clear that Ron is more interested in the term.


    Felix smiled and said, "It seems some of you have recognized that these figures are indeed inspired by a muggle game in appearance, but that is not our focus today."


    Felix waved his wand and two of the dolls on the platform leaped up and stood in the middle of the platform, while the others retreated to the edge.


    "Does anyone know their names?"


    " Fireman and Icewoman!" Justin shouted, this is his domain!


    Felix continued, "And do you know their powers?"


    "Fire and Ice!" Justin answered again, for the first time so aggressively.


    Felix repeated, "Fire and Ice ... then!" He waved his wand again.


    And all at once, the figure on the platform moved, the fingers of the fireman''s right hand burst into a bright yellow flame, and with a mighty swing, the flame swelled to the size of a ghostly flying ball and flew far away ... half a meter before exploding with a bang.


    The young wizard who is close by could not help but take two steps back, and only when he saw that the flames did not fly off the platform did he feel relieved, and then stared at the dolls with a fiery look in his eyes.


    I want to play with it, I want this too.


    On the other side, the Ice Woman kicked out with a powerful and graceful gesture, sending a line of ice-blue icicles into the air, causing some young witches'' eyes to sparkle.


    Aaaaaahhhh so cute!!! I want to hold it in my hands.


    Felix smiled in control - "Now we need to get back to the game.


    "Next, we need a fight!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 19: Open Class (3)

    In the school great hall, all the students were silent, their eyes glued to the podium, afraid of missing a detail. There is a fierce battle going on.


    The palm-sized dolls came and went like the wind, their athletic figures accompanied by large flames and puffs of ice crystals with every punch and kick. Now and then, one of them would pull out some kind of "trick", such as Fireman''s big fireball or Ice Woman''s ice spike, to bring the heat to a new high.


    After three minutes, the battle ended with Fireman''s flaming flurry of moves and "Hidden Magic: Phoenix Transformation", which knocked out Icewoman.


    Many of the young wizards sighed in unison.


    They wanted to see their adorable Ice Sister in action ...


    Felix''s voice came at the right time, "This is another branch of evolution from the original ancient runes, the art of alchemy."


    "What you are looking upon is an uncomplicated piece of alchemy, a magic golem. The outer shell is not the key, the key is the ancient magic circuit inside."


    "And the ancient magic circuit is essentially a combination of magic runes."


    "This is the practical part of your final exam."


    The excited young wizards were a bit confused, they had to do this? Aren''t you overestimating us, Professor?


    You''re new here and probably don''t understand the reality of our situation ...


    I''m not sure if I''m the only one who can do it.


    "Of course, this golem is still too complicated for you, but the good thing is that the ancient runes necessary to make a golem basically cover over five years, and I will divide the difficulty level according to the different years."


    "I will elaborate on the specific requirements later on in the class."


    The young wizards breathed a sigh of relief.


    "But Professor!" One of the Hufflepuff girls raised her hand and asked.


    "I''m a fifth-year student, but all the ancient runes I''ve studied before are mainly for translations, so do I need to learn something new? But I have to take OWLs this year ..."


    "I see," Felix said calmly, " First, there is no need to relearn anything new, I have seen your textbooks, please keep a little faith in your professors." S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix made a joke.


    "And it must be mentioned that Professor Babbling is a very good expert in ancient runes, and her choice of the textbook is very appropriate. It contains both a theoretical translation and a few practical runes- although perhaps Professor Babbling didn''t elaborate on that part, considering it''s a class in ancient runes and not a class about alchemy."


    "But it''s quite enough to serve as a guide to get you over the initial hurdle if you aspire to study more advanced content in the future."


    Many of the young wizards put their minds at ease.


    "Secondly, for this year at least, the practical exams will be mainly an extra credit and I will also consider teaching more theory in Year 5 to Year 7."


    Some young wizards below the stage were happy, while others wailed.


    "Again, some students may worry that the practicals take up too much time, but the two are supposed to go hand in hand, and you may unknowingly acquire more knowledge during the sessions."


    "That''s my answer." Felix gave a salute.


    The audience applauded.


    "Now, we have about half an hour left, would anyone like to try their hand at controlling these golems?" Felix asked.


    This is not a question at all.


    The young wizard shouted with enough excitement to lift the ceiling.


    "Oh, you may not be able to use your wands to manipulate the golems accurately, so you''ll need this!" Felix waved his wand and out of his suitcase flew twelve odd things - in fact, it''s a gamepad.


    "You can use it to manipulate the puppets, let me demonstrate ..."


    It didn''t take long for the students to get their hands on them. Felix used his transfiguration to create six more stages, but after all, there were hundreds of people here today, so it was impossible to rotate it to all of them.


    Ron and Harry were lucky enough to get a chance. The two were soon exchanging blows, occasionally releasing a "trick" and shouting with excitement.


    But no one laughed at them, as most of the little wizards went crazy, screaming in an exaggerated fashion.


    Felix stood by, discussing the Open Lesson with Professor Flitwick.


    "It was great!" That is what Professor Flitwick said.


    Professor Snape had left without a word, and no one knew when he had left as much as they knew when he had arrived.


    Lockhart, on the other hand, looked preoccupied, unaware of what he was thinking.


    The fun times were always short, as the lesson came to an end and some students arrived at the great hall in time for dinner, only to see the duel in full swing, taking a quick glance and quickly forgetting their original purpose and joining the crowd.


    This delayed the start of the meal by half an hour, and Felix was forced to end the lesson and restore the great hall to its original state.


    Throughout the dinner, the young wizards continued to discuss the open class, especially those who were lucky enough to be selected to play against each other and were so excited to discuss their "experience" that they seemed to have replaced figurines with each other with knives and forks in their hands.


    It must be said that the young wizards had no shortage of ways to entertain themselves.


    At the Gryffindor table, Ron also enthusiastically described his " summit duel" with Harry, which he had lost by a very narrow margin, but this did not mask his enthusiasm.


    " I''ve just used the Fireman, and it was so cool, phew! Pah!" Ron swung his knife and fork and threw a piece of pumpkin pie at Neville''s head.


    Although Harry is not as excited as Ron, he to a bit excited.


    However, he felt a vague sense that he would prefer to be on the field and take part in the duel himself rather than manipulating a golem ...


    Hermione felt a little unhappy that she had just missed her turn. She loved the ice girl, it was so cute and like a doll, she had when she was a little girl.


    But, there'' still a chance!


    If she became Professor Hap''s assistant, she would be able to get her hands on that doll.


    Hermione cheered herself on.


    She could even make her own Magic Golem, based on herself, but with smaller teeth and smoother hair. ...


    The open class proved to be an unquestionable success, and Felix became an instant celebrity!


    I''m sure the discussion about the open class will go on for a while and become a schoolyard legend of some sort, like so many rumours that one wonders what happened to it.

 Chapter 20: Popular Professors

    Friday. At the start of a sunny morning, the young wizards were still discussing yesterday''s open class with great enthusiasm, a wave of enthusiasm that provided a boost to the dull school life.


    What was the topic of discussion the other day?


    The perfectly handsome Professor Lockhart?


    But that news has now been taken out of the equation, not only because Lockhart''s performance in class was disappointing - even the word "disappointing" was the result of some True fans'' comments.


    More importantly, Professor Hap has become the iconic professor of the new generation, stealthily replacing Professor Lockhart, who is known to be the "lover of the masses".


    This has irritated a certain professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts.


    The dozen or so portraits hanging in his office have the same irritated look on their faces.


    "I have to do something, yes, something. ... God! He''s a real show-off!"


    Before coming to Hogwarts, he had thought that the only person qualified to compete with him for the headline page of the Daily Prophet would be the famous Harry Potter, and he was prepared for that. But now he has to admit that he is facing tough competition.


    This reminds him of that nasty woman, Rita Skeeter, with whom he competed for the title of the best-selling author award a few years ago, and lost because of that woman''s trickery when she published his dirt during his school days!


    Still, he''s no slouch. Doesn''t Skeeter know how badly he was treated when he was in school?


    Professor Lockhart loosened his robe, which was strapped tightly around his chest, back in the days when his passions really burned! Now the urge to fight came back to him again.


    "A tough opponent, huh?" He paused in front of an etched mirror to cheer himself up, "Gilderoy, you''re dealing with a tough guy, and someone''s trying to take you down! You have to do something!"


    Seeing himself in the mirror, he relaxed a little. How could he possibly lose with such a handsome face?


    Without mentioning what happened in that small office, Felix''s popularity has reached new heights in small and large groups of wizards, and everyone is looking forward to his official classes.


    "Maybe he''ll continue with the golem battles in the classroom? You know, a lot of people didn''t get their turn yesterday." Ron grabbed a beef pie in his left hand, stuck a piece of potato on his fork in his right, and his mouth isn''t idle either.


    "Perhaps, but we''re only in the second year, remember, Ron? We''ll have to wait at least a year to get into his class." Harry said more sensibly.


    Ron''s eyes widened, "Harry, you''re ruining my first dream of the year." He nudged him with his arm, "You know what I was wondering? I was just imagining beating the crap out of Malfoy with a golem ..."


    Ron closed his eyes and made a dreamy face, "Malfoy''s robe is lit up by a big fireball, he tried to hide, but it is no use, my golem is just too fast! And he tried to cast a wicked spell, but it was no use either because the golem is too small for him to aim at!"


    Harry ate his pie in silence, thinking that Ron is the only one who would miss, as his wand was broken in half.


    Hermione, who had been reading while eating her breakfast, looked up and pointed out, "Ron, I must remind you that Professor Hap said in open class that for the safety of the young wizards, the golem would only emit the most basic kind of fire, which is not as powerful as the Fire-Making Spell we can cast ourselves."


    Ron seemed to suddenly choke on his beefpie and couldn''t speak, he didn''t remember Professor Hap saying that, but Hermione is always right about something like this. He muttered a little, "It''s your Fire-Making Spell, neither Harry nor I know it, I think you forgot."


    Hermione grunted.


    "I thought you were reading the book, haven''t you finished it yet?"


    "I think I just told you yesterday that I have twenty books on my list!"


    Ron stopped talking.


    Harry is interested in what Hermione had to say, and he couldn''t resist asking her, "Hermione, what do you know about this professor? Ron and I didn''t make it to the school opening dinner." He is referring to the fact that he and Ron had made their way across half of Britain in Mr. Weasley''s car.


    As a result, he and Ron had to spend time in Snape''s basement, wondering if they would be expelled. Fortunately, they were not expelled from the school, nor did they receive the penalty for their behaviour, and Professor McGonagall even prepared food for them.


    But after what had happened, it was impossible to return to the dinner party politely, and Ron missed his sister Ginny''s sorting ceremony for this reason.


    Hermione quickly and fluently rattled off the information she had heard at the dinner, "Professor Hap graduated from Slytherin House-"


    "Slytherin!" Ron suddenly shouted but is met with a sharp glare from Hermione, and he ducked his head to nibble on his pie.


    "Yes, Slytherin. He''s nine years older than us and just graduated three years ago. But he''s so well known that all the senior students at school know him well. Professor Hap specializes in ancient runes, spells, transfiguration, muggle studies, and, of course, dueling."


    "Dueling?" Harry looked mildly stunned, his impression of Professor Hap is that he is clearly not the fake as Lockhart, but he also looked gentle and somehow like one of his school teachers at the Muggle school he attended.


    It is hard for him to associate Professor Hap with the word duel.


    "That''s right." Hermione looked from side to side and carefully lowered her head and voice, " I''ve heard that he''s a Muggle and that the Death Eaters had just fallen when he enrolled, and the students at Slytherin weren''t very friendly to him, but ..."


    "But what?"


    "But he beat them back with his spells, the senior students of Slytherin were scared of him because they had been taught."


    Harry and Ron had a look of fascination on their faces.


    To be honest, they wanted to beat up some Slytherin, too. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But the rumours Hermione had heard were obviously wrong; Felix had been in Year 5 when the current 7th Year had enrolled, so why should he have to teach them a lesson? Naturally, they would be lectured by someone else.


    In Potions class, the young wizards were still talking about yesterday''s public lesson, and Harry could clearly see Malfoy in the Slytherin crowd, boasting loudly about his "relationship" with Professor Hap and how his cousin and Professor Hap were close friends.


    Harry couldn''t help thinking that he might have "fought" for his friendship.


    Ron is also exaggerating about the time he had fought with a golem in open class, and from what he is saying, it sounded like it wasn''t a golem fighting, but rather him and Harry in a real-life PK.


    "Quiet!"


    Snape''s voice came from the back of the classroom, and the young wizards instantly shut up. The professor walked with a swagger, his black gown emitting a "hunting" effect with a +10 pressure.


    He looked around the room and his eyes lingered on Harry Potter, making the boy''s body tense. But Snape averted his gaze, this time on Ron, and in his characteristic low, mocking voice quipped, "Ronald Weasley ... Yes, you''ve certainly made quite a splash these last few days. But you should be focusing on how to improve your terrible potion grade, I don''t want to add another T to your final paper."


    The Slytherin students burst into laughter.


    Ron''s face turned red, and he clutched his duct-taped wand in his hand, wanting to cast a spell on Snape''s face.


    "And Miss Granger, put that extra-curricular book away, this is Potion class, not some ancient rune class. You''re still a year away from that elective."


    Hermione huffed and put the book away


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 21: The Dark Lords Relic is at Hogwarts!

    Library. Felix has his hands in the books and hears nothing beyond the windows.


    Yesterday''s public lecture did not seem to affect him, even though he was the direct cause of such a stir.


    He flipped through the book with his left hand and held his wand in his right hand and flicked it in small circles as a single rune appeared and dissipated in the air. Mrs Pince was watching intently from the sidelines, she had been staring at Felix for over half an hour.


    Mrs Pince is a thin, elderly woman who looks somewhat malnourished. But she is well suited to the job of librarian because she loves books and has a keen sense of detection and is always the first to find and punish students who break the rules.


    If a student dared to pull out their wand and gesticulate in the library, she would have thrown them out, but Felix being a professor made her a little hesitant.


    Luckily, Felix quickly left with two books, saving her from being so stumped.


    Felix returned to his office and took a piece of chestnut wood out of his suitcase, magic pouring down from his carving knife, carving an ancient rune into the surface of the chestnut.


    Chestnut wood is a wand-making material, but in itself is like a blank piece of paper with little inclination to be cheap, and was discovered by Felix to practice ancient rune engravings.


    The magic-infused carving knife leaves magic runes on the surface of the chestnut wood, and with each complete magic rune sketched out, it glows with a fiery red light, which then quietly goes out again, branding it with a black mark.


    Felix''s speed in carving the magic rune was so fast that it kept the surface of the chestnut wood shining. The carving knife kept dancing as if it''s writing an immortal chapter that would go down in history, rather than carving a magic rune.


    After a few minutes Felix had filled the layer of chestnut wood with runes, he drew his wand and brushed it across the top, a thin surface layer of wood instantly detached and flew off to the other side of the table.


    Felix then took up his carving knife again and continued to work on the chestnut wood.


    Only when the piece of chestnut had shrunk by three inches did he stop and stretch out in back on the spot.


    In one corner of the table, thirty thin slabs of wood had been piled up like pages of a book, covered with ancient runes in black colour.


    Felix calculated a number in his mind and nodded in satisfaction, "272 runes, that''s the amount of power I currently have at my disposal."


    He got up leisurely and stood in front of the window overlooking the outside landscape, his decision to return to Hogwarts had been so right.


    This is the life I want!


    " Wow~"


    An owl flew in through the window and dropped a letter on the table.


    Felix opened the envelope and read the letter, but he couldn''t help but frown.


    It is a letter from an "old friend".


    Felix only had been graduated for three years and had only one year of real travel experience under his belt, but it had been one rich year of experience, and it opened his eyes wide enough to be "well-traveled" - no matter where in the world he went, he could name the nearest wizarding community with his eyes closed. He could name the nearest black market near him in the world.


    This letter came from a ''friend'' he had met in the black market.


    Felix drew out a parchment and hastily wrote down a string of words, asking him to meet him at the Hog''s Head Inn in Hogsmeade on Saturday.


    Until the owl flew away, he was still thinking about his friend''s intentions.


    He recalled the first time the two of them met.


    The man, who called himself Kline, often wore a hood over his robes, and his face was so misty from the beginning that it was impossible to see who he really was.


    Kline practised the principle of equivalent trade, like rare magic manuscripts, potions, magical creatures, etc. He had access to them all.


    Felix had traded with him seven times, and they had maintained each other''s rules.


    So he is curious about Kline''s purpose in seeking him out for. More intrigued, of course, about what this friend had in stock lately.


    Ten o''clock on Saturday morning.


    Felix arrived at the Hogshead Inn, it''s still early and there is only one customer.


    Felix walked up to the table of that customer, smiled at the sight of the familiar misty hooded face, and sat down. As he took his seat, their two figures were hidden and their voices were completely cut off from the outside world.


    "Kline."


    "Felix." It is a neutral voice, indistinguishable from male or female, and impossible to identify the age.


    There is no shortage of these types of a mysterious presence in the wizarding world, and the reasons were always varied. Like being a dark wizard, or committing some serious sins, hiding from the enemy, or, perhaps, just having some kind of bad edgy taste.


    "What do you want from me?"


    "To get some information."


    "What kind of info?"


    "The relics of the Second Dark Lord."


    Felix went silent for several seconds, his mind kept turning.


    "Yes, but you''ll have to tell me your source of information first."


    Klein tapped his fingers on the corner of the table as if weighing it up, but he quickly uttered one word, "Uagadou."


    "You sought out that mad witch sacrifice group?" Felix is somewhat surprised; Uagadou is an African school of wizardry, and African wizards didn''t start using wands until the 20th century, which set their path off from that of other countries.


    For example, they also inherited a branch of prophetic magic, known as witch rituals, although outsiders called them mad witch rituals.


    This is because this prophecy magic is actually a form of dark magic, and each prophecy requires a price to be paid - such as a limb of your body.


    And to top it off, the prophecy is not always accurate ...


    Klein mentioned Uagadou, and that was all Felix could think of, since African and Britain''s wizarding sides were not that involved, and there was no interaction between the two sides.


    "Go on," Felix said, intrigued, given Kline''s character, there was no way he would get a watered-down witch priest, and it must have cost him quite a lot to get a highly skilled witch priest to make a prophecy.


    "The prophecy stated that the Dark Lord''s relic would remain in Hogwarts for a year."


    Felix''s heart fluttered, "What exactly is this relic?"


    "Not sure, only know that it is very evil."


    Felix became a little speechless, why do you bother if you''re not sure!


    And evil, you think you''re Auror?


    Seeming to see Felix''s disbelief, Klein added, "The prophecy I requested is: the secret of leaping over the dead."


    Almost instantly, Felix''s brain worked at full blast as he said, "You say that again?"


    "Leap over death."


    "But the Dark Lord is already dead."


    "That''s the prophecy."


    "You can look it up yourself."


    "Hogwarts has Dumbledore."


    "You''re afraid of him?" s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Klein laughed twice, and although Felix couldn''t see through the fog over his face, he knew the other party''s face wouldn''t look very good at the moment.


    Felix pretended to "ponder" for a long time before he said, "Thank you for the information, but I will not ensure that I will obtain the relic. I can only promise that I won''t turn my back on you and go off on my own to crack the Dark Lord''s secrets."


    Klein thought for a moment and said, "Yes."


    The two extended their hands, their index fingers touched, and a golden stripe bloomed.


    It''s a temporary magical pact for a year, with no penalty for Felix if he broke it, but at that time, Kline would have his location at his fingertips for a year!


    If you are not afraid of the revenge of a mysterious wizard, you can always break the pact.

 Chapter 22: Rat Language?

    Felix walked out of the Hogshead Inn and let out a deep breath. You can''t underestimate someone!


    Look, a dark wizard has the ambition to pry into the secrets of the Dark Lord, so isn''t his own goal of "discovering the true meaning of magic" a little modest?


    Felix thought carefully about it and decided that his own ambition seemed loftier.


    As for the pact with Klein, pew pew pew...!


    Does he think he''s a fool for getting into trouble under Dumbledore''s nose?


    Besides, he already knew the answer to the question.


    What''s the secret of the Dark Lord''s leap over the death? The Horcruxes, that is a concept he already knew. So as long as he didn''t look for that soul artefact, the pact would naturally be solved in a year''s time.


    Since the prophecy was that "the Dark Lord''s relic will only remain at Hogwarts for a year," which meant it was only a passing guest, so the pact between the two would only need to exist for a year - that was Klein''s thought.


    Felix, on the other hand, guessed that the relic would probably be destroyed by the protagonist group.


    The protagonist group had no peace each year they were in school, so perhaps they would have to wait until they graduated before they got a complete break.


    But that reminded him that the crisis of this year''s "plot" would come from the Dark Lord''s relics, the Horcruxes.


    Which Horcrux could it be?


    That was the question Felix had been thinking about since he returned to his office.


    He vaguely remembered that there were seven Horcruxes, most of which were the relics of the four giants of Hogwarts, which corresponded to Harry''s seven years at school, so what did they destroy in the first year?


    The Ravenclaw crown, the Slytherin locket, the golden cup of Hufflepuff, all of these were the ones he knew, so by definition, the Gryffindor sword should also be a Horcrux?


    Which one of those had been destroyed last year? The first film seemed to be called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher''s Stone", so the Philosopher''s Stone was a Horcrux?


    Felix guessed wildly without care.


    The information he had at hand was not really useful, for one thing, you couldn''t prove what you said because he didn''t know where the Dark Lord kept the Horcruxes, and for another, it was too taboo, because Felix already had a bad name, and telling Dumbledore about Horcruxes out of the blue ... sounded like he wanted to research Horcruxes, no?


    So, let it be, he at most knocked on the side of the drum.


    It''s a perk for his assistant (tool person) Miss Hermione Granger.


    Yes, the assistant slot has been booked for her for ... one reason or another.


    Two of the only three candidates had hung up: the Weasley twins had approached him yesterday and voluntarily withdrawn. Because they were busy with Quidditch training this week and were expected to spend every weekend for the following year on it.


    Felix had heard them imply that he had to put the Wood guy in detention, and it was for the whole school year so that they would have time to do other things.


    Was this something he could agree to? The professor blatantly used his power for personal gain, would he still be able to mix around with others?


    The main thing was that the terms and conditions were not agreeable, they were asking for too much in terms!


    Detaining a student for an academic year for no reason, even Snape wouldn''t do that.


    This left Felix a bit speechless, he had wanted to return a favour to Professor McGonagall, and it had developed into this.


    Are there any good students left in other houses...


    But the good thing is that Miss Granger is very reliable, and she could be met in the library every day, and it was evident that she was working so hard that her eyes were darkened by three extra circles.


    The next day, the library.


    Another uneventful day, Felix picked out a copy of The Secret of Dueling from the Forbidden Books section and gnawed on it with gusto.


    The book, which was mainly an archive of secret stories of various duels between wizards throughout history, is placed in the Forbidden Books section because it contained many taboo graphics. In the days when the laws of the wizarding world were unregulated, dark magic flourished for its rapid progress and immense power and weirdness, so duels in those days were bloody and brutal, and could even be bizarre.


    For example, he now sees the image of an unlucky wizard''s head irreversibly ''pumpkinised'', not swelling to the size of a pumpkin, but becoming a complete ''vegetable''.


    Even more miraculously, the loser survives, only to die three years later.


    There is some fighting instruction in the book, and the scale is huge, with Felix even seeing how to incorporate a curse within a normal charm.


    New tricks to acquire!


    It''s nearing noon when Felix stepped out of the library to enjoy his lunch.


    On the other side, Hermione hesitated slightly before decisively followed.


    "Professor! Professor Hap."


    Felix stopped in his tracks, "What can I do for you, Miss Granger?" He didn''t tell Hermione the fact that she was already the only candidate for an assistant, learning more wasn''t a bad thing.


    "It''s like this, I read in a book that some exceptionally gifted wizards can hear things that others can''t, is that true?" Hermione asked as she calmed down her breathing.


    Felix looked stunned, Chief K? But he quickly dropped the thought, that didn''t ring a bell.


    "Can you be more specific, you''re giving too broad terms."


    Hermione considered carefully, seemingly organizing her words, "It was a short story about a young wizard and ... his father, transcribing material in a castle, and then the young wizard suddenly heard strange words, but his father! Didn''t hear anything at all."


    Strange, why did Hermione always pause on the word ''father''?


    The thought flashed through his mind and Felix pondered it carefully before replying, "There are a lot of little stories that are actually made up, so what you were told isn''t necessarily true, but we can discuss it for now."


    Hermione nodded cheerfully.


    "The first possibility is that the young wizard is lying, and he''s trying to use this to gain his father''s attention, something that is very common in the Muggle world;" Felix began by stating the answer he thought was most likely.


    Seeing Hermione trying to answer, he shook his head, "The second possibility, is that they are making a Transcription of some dangerous grimoire, be aware that some ancient grimoires contain enchantments or have been specially tampered with by their former owners, and dangerous consequences could easily result from unqualified people touching them."


    Looking at Hermione thoughtfully, he added, "There are quite a few of these books in the Forbidden section of Hogwarts."


    They were all locked up with magic chains, though it''s strictly forbidden for young wizards to peek at - unless you had the professor''s signature in your hand.


    "A third possibility," Felix raised his volume slightly, "is that the young wizard has awakened some talent, such as prophecy, perception, or a sudden mastery of some language."


    "Can you elaborate on that, Professor?"


    "Well, as you know, some young wizards have special talents, such as animal affinity, or a natural talent for casting spells without a wand, and a rarer one is the gift of prophecy, which Professor Trelawney''s elders seem to have ... Oh, and Trelawney is a professor of divination, you probably will take her class."


    "As for the gift of language, it is often related to their ancestors, if their ancestors mastered a mermaid language, this gift may be passed on to the next generation, or it may suddenly appear in the bloodline hundreds of years later."


    Felix gave a random example, "The young wizard in your story, for example, may well have had an ancestor who spoke the rat language, and he just happened to overhear a certain chatty, ratty gentleman chattering that day."


    Hermione remained in place until Professor Hap''s figure left, thinking. Could it be that Harry''s ancestors had an odd wizard who spoke rat language?


    She became somewhat confused. s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 23: A snake tongue, a diligent Hermione

    " This, can''t, can''t be!" Harry argued irritably when Hermione relayed Felix''s words to Harry and Ron.


    He didn''t want to admit that he had an ancestor who knew rat language!


    Harry felt like he''d had a terrible first week of school. Being detained for driving across Britain, being forcibly assaulted by Lockhart, a crazy encounter with photography enthusiast Colin, plus heavy Quidditch training ...


    And with his detention yesterday, he had to write back to Lockhart''s fans, one letter after another, endlessly, for four whole hours!


    That wasn''t the worst of it, in Lockhart''s office he heard the disconnected voice, "Kill thee ... rip ... die ... "


    When he told both about it this morning, they looked as if he had finally gone mad. And then Hermione volunteered to ask Professor Hap about it, and the answer she got broke him down a little.


    " Well that''s not always the case mate, I''ve heard rumours of something like that." Ron whispered, pulling a fat mouse out of his pocket, this one looked a little shrivelled up, "You could try it, by talking to Scabbers!"


    Ron held Scabbers in his hands and handed it to Harry with anticipation in his eyes.


    Harry had to lower his head and meet the mouse''s eyes, "Can you understand what I''m saying?"


    Scabbers rolled his eyes and turned sideways without looking at him.


    "Harry, don''t use the human tongue! You just spoke in human tongue." Ron said.


    Harry: "..." I know what you mean, but can you be more civilized for a change.


    He tried a dozen times more and the rat didn''t respond a bit, "No!" He breathed a huge sigh of relief.


    Fortunately, things hadn''t gone in the worst possible direction.


    Hermione looked at the farce that had just happened and spoke up to warn him, "Harry, Professor Hap was just giving an example, there are other possibilities."


    Ron, however, disagreed, "What else could be in the castle besides rats? It can''t be bugs, right?"


    The conjecture is even more terrifying, and Harry''s body shuddered as he quickly turned on his mind and searched his brain, trying to divert the topic.


    "Maybe it''s a snake!"


    " Snake?"


    Ron and Hermione fell silent for a moment, both of them looking at each other with a strange expression.


    "You mean, you can talk to snakes?" Ron swallowed heavily.


    Harry didn''t notice this, he got excited now and recounted his experience of visiting the zoo and talking to one of the snakes in it before he started school.


    "A python told you that it had never been to Brazil?" Ron''s voice sounded very weak.


    "Is there anything to that? I bet there are many people who could have to do that! It''s what Professor Hap mentioned, that ... talent!"


    Ron didn''t say anything and Hermione whispered, "Harry, talking to snakes is the hallmark of Salazar Slytherin. The ability is called Parselmouth, which is why the symbol of Slytherin House is a snake."


    "But I''m not." Harry somewhat confused. But then he suddenly remembered that during his first year sorting, the Sorting Hat had strongly recommended that he should choose Slytherin House, and the thought of that made Harry shut his mouth tightly.


    "It''s okay, mate." Ron patted him on the shoulder in mock relief, "Pureblood wizards often intermarry with each other, maybe you''re a great-great-great ... grandson of Slytherin."


    Seeing that Harry showed no sign of relaxing at all, he added in a whisper, "Really, if you really want to get down to it, most of the pureblood wizard families can be related, and I''m still related to Malfoy."


    "You and Malfoy?" Harry was shocked.


    Ron shrugged, "There are only so many pureblood wizards out there, it''s normal for them to intermarry with each other. If you ask me, the true purebloods would have been long gone, they wouldn''t have been passed down until now if it isn''t for the intermarriage "


    Harry finally calmed down.


    "Harry, it''s best not to say a word about this to the outside world," Hermione suggested.


    Harry nodded, to his death he wouldn''t say a thing, he didn''t want to be related to Slytherin.


    And Hermione brought the conversation back on track, "Since you''re a Parselmouth, the sound you heard the other day was most likely a snake, probably it was moving along a gap in the wall."


    "But I heard it saying things like death, killing, and tearing apart to pieces."


    "Maybe it was hunting at the time? You know, just chasing some rats, little bugs, whatever." Ron speculated.


    Without proof, the trio had no choice but to let it go.


    It isn''t that big deal anyway!


    "Hermione, how''s your thesis coming along?" Harry asked.


    "Oh no!"


    Hermione exclaimed and quickly left, leaving the two dazed in their places.


    "Has Hermione been reading herself silly lately? It''s the first time I''ve seen her in this state." Ron said.


    Harry shrugged.


    Library.


    Hermione is all alone occupying a large table filled with thick books, a sheet of parchment in front of her, in which she''s furiously scribbling away.


    It would probably be an all-nighter today, with less than ten hours before the library closed.


    Come on, Hermione! She cheered herself on.


    She had only read twelve books so far, and she had only read them in general, skimming through them and remembering no more than fifty percent of them, which was a far cry from her usual habits, and she hadn''t even memorized them.


    Not only that, but she had to give up her reading habits for the sake of her thesis. But she had decided that when she finished her thesis, she would review this list of books and memorize them all.


    She flipped through the pages with a clatter, all the while jotting down appropriate arguments and justifications with madness in which she didn''t even notice Mrs Pince walking past her several times.


    She stayed until closing time when she finally finished 16 books and staggered back to the common room with the remaining four, and the thick parchment, yawning.


    Tonight, she is going to struggle along with the books.


    Pushing open the door to the common room, the other young wizards had already gone back and only two remained.


    "Harry, Ron?" Hermione somewhat surprised.


    "Hi, we didn''t see you at dinner and thought you shouldn''t be gone and brought this for you." Ron gestured to the table in front of him, on top of which is food wrapped in parchment, which soaked right through the outer layer and oozed with an oily stain.


    Hermione covered her mouth, forcing herself not to burst into tears.


    Harry chuckled, "We can''t help with the thesis, and this is all we can do. Come on, Hermione, you''re the smartest person I''ve ever known in my life."


    Hermione nodded heavily.


    The two of them left and Hermione opened the parchment, inside were two pies, which she gobbled down.


    She is now all alone in the quiet common room.


    The next day, Monday, Hermione is in a trance all day, and nearly made Harry the object of her transfiguration while practicing transfiguration.


    By noon, she had to make a trip to the infirmary.


    There is no second period in the afternoon, and she intended to finish the last two books - having stayed up all night, she had finished her thesis, but she always thought that she must finish them all, and perhaps it would help to add something new to her thesis.


    But she is so tired that when Harry finished Quidditch practice, he found Hermione asleep in the common room.


    "Hermione, Hermione?"


    "Harry?" Hermione''s eyes opened sleepily, her hair getting more bushy and ruffled looking.


    She quickly woke up and let out a squeak, "What time is it Harry, what time is it?"


    "Half-past eight, Hermione." Fred, who had also just finished training, replied, "I''ll never forget that bastard Wood, our first weekend of school we trained until half-past eight. And starting the second week, he pushed it even further."


    On the sidelines, Wood had a dark look on his face, "I''m still here!"


    He isn''t the only one, the members of the Gryffindor team were all here, covered in mud and too tired to speak.


    Hermione jumped up at once and hurried out the door, not taking more than a few steps before turning back, sorting her parchments on the table quickly, mouthing some words, and confirming that they were in order before tugging up her book bag and quickly disappearing from their sight. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What a hard-working, studious girl." Angelina commented.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 24: Thesis

    The office of the Professor of Ancient Magic Runes. Felix had finished his work for the day. He had three classes today, but half of them were allocated to tests, which he termed as " a way to keep track of the students'' learning ", a term used in his previous life, called " Diagnostic Assessment ".


    Diagnostic assessment is defined as an evaluation of a student''s current level of progress at the beginning of a term or a semester.


    It is quite apt for this purpose.


    The other half of the class is spent reviewing what has been taught. This was a huge disappointment for the young wizards, who thought they would have the opportunity to continue the magic golem battle.


    Luckily, the professor told them that they would see them in his next class and there is an extra reward for their good conduct.


    Felix watching a film in his office, and as he watched it with great attention.


    Thump, thump, thump!


    A quick knock on the door interrupted his entertainment time, and he opened it to see an out-of-breath Hermione.


    "Professor ... sorry, I ... phew ... I fell asleep and missed the... ...time!"


    Hermione''s chest rose and fell violently, her face suffocating and a thin layer of sweat dampening her hair.


    Looking at the young witch''s desperate look, Felix told her to take it easy and led her into the office.


    "Please sit down."


    Hermione sat down obediently and, as in hindsight, noticed the film being projected on the wall in front of her.


    She swung her head from side to side and quickly saw a projector.


    Hermione became a little confused, am I still awake? Aren''t muggle items unusable at Hogwarts?


    But she didn''t dare to move, so she could only watch the projection, and after a few minutes of watching it, she found that, eh, it is quite good.


    The film is about a princess who visits Rome and accidentally meets a journalist. You could tell the film was a bit old, but the story is so well-told that you couldn''t help but get immersed in it.


    Just in time to see a sequence where the princess smashes a violin over the jerk''s head.


    Hermione couldn''t help but laugh.


    Then she heard the footsteps and immediately curbed her smile and sat upright.


    Felix had a drink in his hand and handed it to her, "It''s butterbeer, I''ve added a little Invigoration and a Sleeping Draught, they''ll give a little help and allow you to sleep well when you get back."


    "Thanks, Professor Hap." Hermione took a sip, it tasted a little odd but not unpleasant. She found her spirit lifted and the exhaustion of the past week swept away.


    Remembering what she is here for, she quickly opened her book bag, pulled out seven sheets of parchment, and handed them to Felix, "Professor, here is my thesis."


    Felix took the thesis and read it while he waved his wand without looking up and several plates of small snacks flew to Hermione, "You can eat and watch a film first, you probably haven''t had time for entertainment these days."


    Hearing Felix''s words, she realized with a jolt that she had once again missed her supper and at the moment every cell in her body is complaining to her.


    She flushed slightly and took small bites of the snack, glancing now and then at the professor who is now concentrating on her thesis, and quietly speeding up as she saw that he had no intention whatsoever to look up.


    Before she knew it, she had finished her butterbeer and eaten all three plates of snacks, and the film had come to an end.


    The feeling of fullness made Hermione''s mood pleasant again.


    She craned her head to look at the professor and found that he had finished reading her thesis and now in the middle of reading a book with great interest.


    "Professor, I''m sorry ..."


    Felix looked up with a smile in his eyes, "I thought you quite liked the film."


    Hermione: "..." S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, let''s talk about your thesis." Afraid of the little girl''s thin skin, Felix hurriedly changed the subject as he picked up Hermione''s thesis and praised her, "A very excellent thesis."


    "Logical, smoothly written, and with references to eighteen books, every supporting evidence is just right ..."


    Hermione hung her head, a little embarrassed by the compliment.


    "Congratulations, you are now my assistant." Felix stood up and walked over to her.


    Hermione''s eyes blossomed with a radiant glow, "Really? Ah! Professor, I''m, I''m so excited."


    "You deserve it," Felix said gently, "You''ve worked so hard for this, far beyond my expectations, to be honest."


    Hermione wanted to cry, she had a tough week.


    "As my assistant, you are bound to put some extra time aside in the future ..."


    "Professor, I''ll try!"


    "No no, you misunderstood me," Felix smiled, "something has to be given when something has been taken. For that reason -"


    "Gryffindor plus fifty points, each term."


    ...


    Hermione returned to the common room a little dazed, Harry and Ron were playing wizard''s chess and the twins were curled up in the corner with a piece of parchment in their hands, muttering something.


    A number of the young wizards looked up when they saw Hermione enter, the gossip travelled fastest, and they already knew that Hermione is likely to be that new professor''s assistant.


    And Felix, who had just finished his Open Class, is now in the limelight.


    Harry hurriedly leaped to his feet, and casually brushed the chess pieces aside, "Hermione, how did it go?"


    "Hey! I''m about to take the general." Ron muttered in displeasure, though his mind isn''t on the board either.


    "I did it," Hermione announced the result straight away.


    "Yoo-hoo! Hooray for Gryffindor''s Miss Know-it-all! She''s become the youngest teaching assistant at Hogwarts!" The twins cheered, and they both put their hands behind their backs as they scurried around the common room in a mock aeroplane stance.


    A few fireworks went off with a bang and the common room is in a sea of joy as the young wizards came together to give their blessings to Hermione, ignoring her whispered explanation that "she isn''t a teaching assistant, but an assistant".


    The twins quietly disappeared for a while, bringing back a large bag of all kinds of food to add to the joyful atmosphere in the common room.


    Halfway through, they brought Professor McGonagall to the table, who pursed her lips and seemed to be wondering how many points to deduct from the Gryffindor.


    "Professor McGonagall, we''re celebrating Hermione becoming a teaching assistant." The twins hurried to explain.


    Professor McGonagall gave Hermione a quick glance and couldn''t help but smile when she saw her nod. "That would be fine ... but ... you guys need to keep your voices down too." Professor McGonagall quickly compromised.


    "This is your thesis?" Professor McGonagall looked over from the cheering crowd to the parchment in Hermione''s hand.


    "Yes, Professor McGonagall."


    McGonagall picked up the parchment and counted the number of sheets in surprise before quickly reading it.


    It had both Hermione''s original text and the annotations added by Felix.


    Professor McGonagall flipped through it quickly at first, but soon slowed down. Although Hermione''s paper is more akin to some sort of overview, it still is very concise and clear, nearly recapping the entire development of the ancient magic runes.


    Basically, anyone who read this thesis of Hermione''s would have a more comprehensive understanding of ancient runes.


    "A very brilliant paper, I think it qualifies for publication in a magazine."


    " I''m still a long way off, Professor Hap has helped me revise a lot of it," Hermione whispered.


    Professor McGonagall also felt a little speechless; in her eyes, Hermione''s thesis is already very good, but the fact that Felix had managed to come up with more corrections showed how accomplished the brilliant graduate is at ancient runes.


    Felix''s comments, however, were not so much a fault-finding remark as a remark along the lines of "Suggest reading page 172-174 of the History of Ancient Magic Runes to deepen your understanding", which in fact meant that Hermione had not thought deeply enough.


    "He''s too harsh." Even Professor McGonagall, who is known for her harshness, couldn''t help but side with Hermione.


    "Professor Hap considers me as qualified, and his annotations are what I''m going to do in the next stage," Hermione explained.


    Professor McGonagall nodded at this and looked at the thesis, the more she looked at it, the more she loved it.


    "Tell you what, when you''ve revised your thesis according to Professor Hap''s annotations, I''ll pass it on to a friend of mine for you, it might have a chance of being published."


    The young witch looked like she is worshipping the big shot.

 Chapter 25: Lecture time!

    The next morning, when the young wizards got up in the morning only to find that Gryffindor had an additional fifty points to their House points at once and leading the House Cup as first, there were many inquires about what had happened yesterday. And so it was announced that Hermione had become the new Ancient Rune Professor''s assistant.


    Gryffindor was naturally the proudest, and the other houses were inevitably a bit sceptical that a second-year student who had just started school could become a professor''s assistant?


    Was there something fishy going on?


    So there followed a very nasty scene on the pitch when Draco Malfoy called Hermione a "mudblood" and Ron, in a fit of rage, used his "half-ruined" wand to inflict a curse, which he hit himself instead.


    Hermione felt very upset, but Hagrid reassured her, "He must be jealous, that wicked boy! Our Hermione could write a difficult thesis, yet they couldn''t think of one!"


    But soon the tide changed. This was because the professor of Ancient Magic Runes had released an extremely long thesis to be distributed as supplementary study material to every young wizard who had taken the Ancient Magic Runes course, including seventh years.


    This paper, naturally, is from Hermione''s work.


    Numerous senior students tried to find an omission in it, but at their level, they could not find a single error.


    It is not that Hermione''s level of ancient runes surpasses that of the seventh graders; she hasn''t even begun to learn them yet. Rather, it was that she had, almost single-handedly, reorganized the history of ancient runes, the directions of research, the major achievements, and the theoretical schools of thought, and she had brought the material up to date to the last year.


    No one has bothered to do this work for nearly thirty years, and as a result, all those who study ancient runes have an outdated version of the history of ancient runes at their fingertips.


    That is what made this Hermione thesis so valuable.


    Several professors expressed their fondness for this thesis on different occasions, notably Professor Flitwick, who nearly fainted with enthusiasm in class.


    And so all the controversy came to an abrupt end. Especially after Hermione''s reference list was "kindly" shared by a Gryffindor student, the debate has now changed from "Hermione is quite perverse" to "the new professor is a sicko".


    It''s not too much to say that a second-year who reads twenty books and writes seven sheets of parchment in a week is a bit "perverse".


    Countless young wizards who had chosen the ancient runes trembled.


    Professor Felix Hap felt his reputation had been tarnished.


    Even Professor Snape followed suit when he mocked Neville in his recent Potions class by saying, "With your intelligence, I would sincerely advise you not to take Ancient Runes in your third grade, you''ll make the professor think he''s teaching a troll."


    Felix''s Ancient Magic Runes course is starting to get on track.


    Fourth-year class.


    "Welcome to the classroom of Ancient Magic Runes, this is our first class." Felix looked down at the young lions and the young snakes.


    In there, there are two other familiar figures, the Weasley twins.


    "I don''t want to spend too much time repeating the significance of this class, some of the information I have already revealed in advance in the open class."


    "You need this class if you aspire to trace the glory of wizards as they once were, and to decipher the mysteries of ancient wizards'' magic from murky magic manuscripts;"


    "You need this course if you aspire to create mysterious artefacts of alchemy, to reproduce the relics of magic that belong to legends and fairy tales;"


    "If you wish to study the true meaning of magic, to uncover the greatness and glory that belongs to the wizard alone, you need this course as well."


    Felix watched the young wizards'' expressions closely and felt slightly satisfied to see them involuntarily rise in solemnity; it seemed that this opening statement could be delivered a few more times.


    "But it will all start with the basics."


    On the podium, Felix waved his wand and a suitcase opened abruptly, from which dozens of golems flew out and landed precisely in front of the young wizards.


    "Cool!" The twins looked at each other and exclaimed in unison.


    The other young wizards also excitedly grabbed the golems and held them in their hands, playing with them over and over, while many others pointed their wands and tried to get them to move.


    "Given that third and fourth years are the least bothered about exams, our lessons will be mainly practical."


    There is a cheer off the stage.


    Felix waited for a moment, letting the young wizards toss the golems in their hands as they pleased, before continuing, "I think some of you have noticed that the golems you''re holding can''t move."


    He smiled mysteriously, with a certain mischievousness, "- in a sense, they are half-baked."


    The young wizards looked at him dumbfounded.


    "That''s right, half-baked, these magic golems are missing some key magic runes at the magic nodes - Connection, Consistency, Balance, Coordination - these are the four practical types of magic runes you are covering this term, and there are 27 altogether."


    "Once you have mastered all of them, you will then be given a true magic golem."


    "Plus, of course, 482 theory-based magic runes, and that''s all of you will be learning this year," Felix added.


    One of the twins shouted, "Professor, hurry up and let''s get started."


    Felix gave him a satisfied look, not bad, he''s a funny guy. "In today''s lesson, I will explain the four magic runes involved in the role of the Connection, and if you can successfully master them, you will be able to make your magic golem active."


    "Move?" s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The basic movements, such as punching, kicking, rolling, etc."


    "Professor, can you teach more?"


    "Of course ... I can''t."


    The young wizards then stayed focused on class like never before, each trying to master the four magic runes as quickly as possible, yet only Fred Weasley succeeded partially by the end of the class - his golem could keep swinging its right arm, but only its right arm.


    " Plus ten points for Gryffindor."


    Near the end of class, Felix began to assign homework.


    "The homework is to practice today''s four magic runes, and the magic golem you have in your hands is temporarily placed in your care for you to practice with."


    "I hope that in the next class you will all be able to master these four magic runes."


    George raised his hand, "Professor, what if the golem breaks?" There is a point where he wanted to take the thing apart for imitation.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve applied some protective wards."


    Felix said again as if being kind -


    " Under the protective wards, your magic will only stay for half an hour, so, you know, practice a lot."


    The young wizards who were still packing up their things looked dumbfounded and turned their heads to look at the friendly-faced professor.


    But this is nothing for the extremely skilled twins; their focus was on the other side. Fred asked, "Professor, will you be teaching a new magic rune in the next class?"


    He couldn''t wait to craft his own magic golem.


    "It depends on your overall progress." Felix''s attitude is quite ambiguous. In fact, of course not, the next class and the next after are theory classes, so be a good boy and go translate the runes for me.


    Do you really think I would be tending sheep, what about the assessment?


    Felix''s strategy is to get the little wizard worked up with runes first, then he could do whatever he wanted.


    "By the way, I will conduct tests, both theoretical and practical, before Halloween. The one with the highest combined score will receive a golem made by my own hands," Felix whispered, "an upgraded version of this."


    "Now, class dismissed!"


    ...


    The same strategy repeated over the next few days, and soon the young wizards in the third and fourth years were like they had been pumped up and were feverishly studying the subject of ancient magic runes.


    After class, there were lots of hand-me-downs and wands to gesticulate at the golem.


    This enthusiasm climaxed when Fred Weasley gave a public tap dance performance with a magic golem on Friday before the Transfiguration class began.


    Professor McGonagall wasn''t too happy though and gave two points off for Gryffindor.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 26: Duel with commentary

    Professor Hap had a different attitude towards the fifth and seventh-year students. He waved his wand and handed out a sheet of tests papers to the students, which were from their last year.


    Felix stood on the stage without speaking, but a low pressure had been placed over the young wizards.


    The seventh-year students are the ones who had been a "schoolmate" of the professor for three years, especially when they had first enrolled here and Felix was in his fifth year.


    What did he do in his fifth year?


    Well, he invited a certain Shafiq family to a duel, so these students were all badly shaken by the fact that they had witnessed the most vicious side of this man right from the start.


    In the eyes of the young, naive first years, is that an invitation to a duel? It''s a death notice! And the kind that a whole family would send together.


    Felix fiddled with his wand, seeing that the atmosphere was pretty much set, and finally spoke up, "Here are your results from last session''s test, and to be honest, I''m a little disappointed, quite disappointed ..."


    "Marcus!"


    Marcus Flint shivered and stood up, "Senio ... Professor." Felix might not remember him, but he remembered Felix clearly because one of the "Shafiq" was seated next to him in the great hall during mealtime.


    As a pureblood, his father had asked that senior to look after him, and he had just started school when he ran into a major storm.


    He still couldn''t forget the way that spirited senior had fallen to the ground.


    Felix walked up to him and patted him on the shoulder, "The grades are a bit poor, do well from now on, I have my eye on you."


    "Yes ... Professor."


    What else could Marcus say, go back and study like hell!


    Felix very satisfied with this Slytherin''s attitude, after all, it was his own house, which is still very powerful.


    "Let''s start the lesson, there''s a little too much to cover today, so I''ll make it quick and you guys do these three sets of papers when you go back."


    "After all, your NEWTs exams are right around the corner this year ..."


    ...


    Saturday, Gryffindor common room.


    Percy looked exhausted, he had just finished his twelve-inch History of Magic thesis on the History of the Development of the Crucible and the History of Revolution, but there were six more subject assignments waiting for him - he had chosen far too many courses on his plate.


    Damn it, if this keeps up, there won''t even be a time for a date!


    Hermione walked out of the girls'' dormitory clutching a large volume of books and saw Harry and Ron gathered around a table with seven or eight other young wizards at one side, seemingly looking at something amusing.


    She walked over there and the Weasley twins were there, in fact, they were dancing with their wands guiding two golems together.


    She recognized these two golems, which happened to be the ones that Professor Hap had shown in the open class.


    To the silent music (that is, no music), a pair of half-foot-tall men and women embraced each other, dancing and wandering across the tabletop with lightning-fast steps - making it their dance floor.


    Lee Jordan is narrating the ''plot'': "And so, Fireboy and Icegirl fall in love, and the young couple become the envy of all. But it doesn''t last long, and their philosophies clash so badly that they simply fought!"


    And Fred and George matched his narration, with Fred waving his wand first and Ice Girl kicked the Fireboy in his face.


    "Oh! Ice Girl steals the lead and kicks her former lover a solid two ft. Is this how a once monolithic vow dissipates?" Lee Jordan cried out in pain.


    Not to be outdone, George flicked his wand one after the other, and Fireboy jumped up and landed a hard punch to Ice Girl''s gut, followed by a kick that sent her flying far away.


    "At last, Fireboy isn''t seem concerned, love is no match for a battle of philosophies! He had to strike, he moved, he moved, he finally kicked! Beautiful!"


    A little witch on the sidelines, "Boo!" booed.


    Hermione looked around in amazement, you guys are excellent in this, and with drama too.


    After a few more minutes, Fireboy used a wave of quick punches to gain the upper hand and then took off with a kick, although he dropped in midair.


    Next, Ice Girl stood still for a moment in the process as well.


    " Out of power, out of power!" Ryan Thomas, who had grown up in the Muggle world, spoke in uncertain words.


    Fred and George grabbed the golem and ran to the corner and began re-inscribing with the ancient magic runes.


    "Professor Hap is so harsh, only half an hour of activity for a single copy of the magic rune is allowed to be supplied." Many of the young wizards vocalized about a certain professor.


    The crowd dispersed and the trio re-found their seats.


    Hermione glanced at the twins who were in the distance, "They can do that already?"


    "It''s nothing, quite a few wizards have spent a lot of time on it." Ron explained, "Fred said that Cedric, from Hufflepuff, used to get up in the middle of the night and secretly practice in order to win the pre-Halloween exams and get the mysterious prize."


    "There are also quite a few witches that don''t move an inch without hugging their golem all day."


    Hermione nodded, it''s true that she had seen little witches hugging magic golems everywhere this week, "But that''s not Fred''s magic golem, is it?"


    Ron said casually, "He borrowed it from Angelina, to create a remix of that classic battle in the great hall. But they''re still pretty close if you ask me, I mean, they''ve only just finished learning their first set of magic runes, and they need to master four more, it''s like collecting chocolate frog cards and putting all the pieces together to form a set ..."


    "Harry, you didn''t train today?"


    Harry grimaced, "Training is in the afternoon." It had just been two weeks, but he is already a bit overwhelmed.


    Ron suddenly "snorted" as he looked at Harry and Hermione and whispered, "I''m told that Wood has been having a headache with his Ancient Rune homework, and thanks to Professor Hap, Harry was able to have an easy day."


    "Difficult homework?" Hermione speculated.


    "No," Ron''s holding back his laughter, " The professor''s sixth-year homework isn''t translation though, instead it''s about writing a thousand-word essay called ''My Summer Holiday Life''."


    Hermione had an inexplicable sense of familiarity.


    This style seemed to be common when she was in elementary school ...


    Professor Hap is also from a muggle background and did have a lot of life experience there, Hermione thought to herself.


    The three were chatting when Percy suddenly stood up, packed his things quickly, and left without looking back, carrying his school bag.


    It is time for his date!


    Watching Percy''s back, Harry looked at him thoughtfully, "He looks a bit irritated."


    Ron shrugged, "Percy''s taken too many classes, he passed 12 OWLs and tried to continue taking 12 courses this year, but Professor McGonagall persuaded him to drop part of them."


    The two lamented a little and then looked at Hermione in unison, would this be what Hermione''s future looked like?


    Hermione ignored the two and settled down to read her book.


    Harry looked at the Ancient History of Runes book in Hermione''s hand and couldn''t help but ask her, "Didn''t you pass the test, why are you still reading this book?"


    Hermione turned the page, "Professor Hap wrote a bunch of annotations on my thesis, all of which were things I had to pay attention to, and besides, I found the Ancient Magic Runes to be quite interesting."


    "Quite interesting ..."


    The two academic scums looked at each other, every time they talked to Hermione about their studies, they felt like they were wearing the contraption around their necks that Hagrid had used to plant the pumpkins in the field.


    So they played wizard''s chess on their own.


    By the afternoon, Wood leads the team out of the common room, and Harry had thought about asking what he is going to do about his ancient magic rune homework, but eventually kept his mouth shut when he thought that even the end of the world wouldn''t stop him from training.


    On the way, he ran into Colin Creevy, who once again greeted him with a warm "Hello! Harry", to which Harry returned a feeble "Hello to you too, Colin". S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He had anticipated that the rest of the training session would be accompanied by numerous flashes and shutter clicks.


    Inside the castle, Ron is bored, and he had to do his homework.


    He glared at the blank parchment for a while and finally folded a paper aeroplane with it, which ended up hitting Neville on the nose, causing him to let out a cry of pain.


    In the evening, after dinner, Hermione arrived at Felix''s office to report for duty.

 Chapter 27: Hermiones journey through the magic runes

    The ancient magic rune professor''s office. S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.Felix in the middle of grading assignments, a job so tedious it gave him the illusion of counting 1 plus 1 and repeating it hundreds of times. Luckily, he''s completely liberated when he handed over this job to Hermione, who had just knocked on the door and is still unsure of the situation.


    "It''s mainly Year 5 and Year 7 papers, based on multiple-choice and translation of short sentences, and it''s relatively easy to mark - you just compare the correct answers and cross all the wrong ones."


    And Hermione lived up to her reputation as a school tyrant, quickly getting into the swing of it, and, well, she is very good at this type of work.


    Felix, on the other hand, looked over Hermione''s revised thesis - it''s going to be submitted to Professor McGonagall for publication in an academic journal, and he had to keep a strict eye over it. But instead of simply and brutally modifying it straight away, he kept making comments and giving page numbers for references.


    He thought this approach would be more helpful in the case of Hermione.


    Half an hour later, the two had finished their work at about the same time.


    "Okay, let''s get to the point."


    While Hermione had been the one performing her assistant duties before, it''s now up to Felix to fulfil his promise.


    The two sat face to face on the sofa with a small short table between them and Felix used his wand to conjure up two glasses of juice. He tried to get Miss Granger to relax, but she still seemed restrained.


    "I can see from your thesis that you already know enough about the history of ancient magic runes, even if you haven''t started studying it yet, but I can assure you that your progress will be very fast."


    "Professor, I am reading the Easy Introduction to Ancient Magic Runes and have also learned how to consult the Dictionary of Magic Runes and the Collection of Magic Charms, including the list of books you gave me earlier, though I do not fully understand most of them." The young witch sat up straight and quickly described her latest learning progress.


    Felix froze for a moment, "Very good, but I won''t spend much time discussing how to translate it with you, at most I''ll give you some advice."


    "You can begin around the year 900, the point at which Hogwarts is established; the four founders were all great figures who carried on the legacy of their predecessors, and they both translated many of the manuscripts of their predecessors and left behind a lot of research material that left future generations scratching their heads, which dwelt in the earliest library."


    "However, that part of the material is now kept in the Forbidden Books section, with Madam Ravenclaw keeping it mostly intact, while most of the Slytherin material got lost, probably because he took his research with him in a fit of anger after splitting up with the other three ..."


    Felix unfolded a piece of history that Hermione kept listening to, "But it could also be that what Slytherin researched was not suitable for the library, who knows."


    "I can sign some slips for books if you need them."


    Felix stood up and gestured for Hermione to follow him, and the two made their way to his workstation.


    "My research is not directed towards translation, but towards discovering the power of the magic runes themselves. Like this-"


    He picked up a palm-sized piece of chestnut wood on the table and injected magic into the carving knife, carving a single magic rune into the surface of the chestnut. When the words were first written out, they quickly glowed a searing red, but soon died out and turned into dark lines.


    Hermione, seeing this for the first time, watched with awe while she searched her mind to try and decipher what the professor is doing, but came up with nothing.


    Felix finished carving the magic rune and handed it to Hermione casually, "You can have a feel of it."


    She reached out and took the chestnut piece, without having to fondle it she sensed the magic fluctuations on it keenly, a warm touch came to her fingertips as she ran her fingers across the dark magic rune.


    "The magic rune can store magic for a short time, but if left unprocessed, the magic on it will last up to three days, and that''s with the properties of the chestnut wood itself stacked on top of it."


    Hermione nodded; chestnut wood, as a wand material, is quite good at carrying and conducting magic power.


    "There are quite a few solutions for this flaw, such as -"


    "You can thread them through and form circuits, thus greatly extending the retention of magic;"


    "Or you can apply special preservation enchantments;"


    "Or add storage and conversion circuits ..."


    Hermione''s little brain desperately tried to memorize, she couldn''t wait to pick up the parchment and write down every single word Professor Hap had said.


    The process of Felix''s explanation is also a process of reorganizing his own knowledge system. Unlike the previous three years when he had not had enough knowledge to eat, he now had too many choices to make and had to choose carefully.


    The lecture to the little witch is therefore incidental, and at the moment he is lost in thought, muttering, "But these means will only last, thirty to fifty years, and they will eventually decay with time."


    Why his voice trailed off? Hermione quickly moved closer to the table and stretched her neck to listen harder.


    "Are the heroes and mythical creations just a speculation, or are they real?"


    "Were their mighty wizards?"


    "If so, those Rune creations that have been passed down for thousands of years, how exactly do they manage to be immortal?"


    Watching the professor lapse into silence, Hermione speculated, "Maybe they can provide themselves with a constant source of magic from their surrounding like us."


    Felix laughed dumbly, "How is that possible, they aren''t living creatures."


    "And what about the Sorting Hat? The Sorting Hats have been around for a thousand years and can communicate with people and has its own intelligence." Hermione tried to give examples to support her speculation, "And the portraits of past Headmasters in the Headmaster''s office, I''ve heard Harry mention them."


    "Miss Granger, the portrait itself is a subtle magical artefact that carries a person''s thoughts. And as far as I know, a magical portrait cannot be sustained for long without regular maintenance, although this interval may last for decades ..."


    "But, Sorting Hat," Felix pondered for a moment, "I did overlook it, I don''t know much about it, perhaps I should reintroduce myself to it sometime?"


    "Well, Miss Granger, let''s stop our brainstorming tour there. Next-"


    Felix took the palm-sized piece of chestnut wood from Hermione''s hand, "Next I will thread these magic runes through so that they form a circuit, just watch."


    This work is quite delicate, and he carefully drew out the lines and connected them to each other, explaining as he did so, "This step is important, many alchemical creations have complex functions."


    Ten minutes later, he handed the chestnut piece to Hermione, allowing her to feel the difference between before and after.


    "I feel the magic flowing, there are fluctuations and ups and downs, it ... it seems to be resisting me," Hermione stated her feelings with some disbelief.


    It is a little incredible.


    Felix understood, "You say resisting because it is a rough half-finished piece in its own right now, with magical fluctuations spreading wildly, and you felt that."


    "Of course, it also means you''re very perceptive, you must have a great talent for the magic spell."


    Hermione''s face turned red.

 Chapter 28:

    Hermione inquired, "Professor, what does this magic circuit do?" Felix waved his wand and the chestnut wood piece floated up from her hand and flew into midair as the two looked at it as it moved.


    "There is only one burst magic circuit on this chestnut wood piece, it is quite unstable, if I guide it slightly, like this ..." he snapped his fingers lightly.


    "Bang!"


    The chestnut wood piece exploded violently, accompanied by a strong burst of fire and a boom that startled Hermione.


    Felix then demonstrated a few more magic circuits to Hermione, giving her the most basic understanding of an area of his research.


    "That''s all for today, tomorrow I''ll truly teach you about ancient magic runes."


    Before they knew it, it''s half-past nine.


    Hermione returned to the common room to see Harry, dirty and tired, flopping across the table, fiddling with a chess piece as the "humiliated" knight kept jabbing Harry''s finger with his miniature Lance that he held in his hand.


    Ron is catching up on his Potion assignment, with three copies of the reference sheet laid out in front of him at the same time.


    When he saw Hermione return, Harry couldn''t help but ask, "How was your first day as an Ancient Rune Course assistant?"


    Hermione broke into a smile, "It was fantastic!"


    Ron got slightly curious about what her job entailed, "What did you do, did you grade papers?"


    "Well, I''m only responsible for some fifth and seventh-year papers, mind it, not many sixth and seventh-year students choose Ancient Magic Runes, and they are from all four houses together."


    Ron suddenly raised his eyebrows, "If I were you, I''d be sure to nick Slytherin''s paper points harshly."


    Hermione''s face instantly turned serious, "Ron, I have to take responsibility and accountability for my duties."


    Ron slumped on the table like a deflated ball.


    "Harry, what about you? How''s your Quidditch training going?" Hermione inquired.


    "Same as ever, especially with Fred and George scouting information from Slytherin and Nimbus 2001 being so fast you can''t see their faces." Harry looked pessimistic. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There''s nothing Hermione could do about it, the whole school had little faith in the first match between Gryffindor and Slytherin. The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses were more interested in this match to see the power of Nimbus 2001 in action, so they could provide targeted training after that.


    The team''s morale is not high either, and Wood sneaked up to Harry and said, "Our brooms are no match for Slytherin''s, but if you''re fast enough to catch the golden snitch a bit early ..."


    This made the pressure on Harry even greater.


    ...


    On Sunday evening, Hermione once again went to the office of the Professor of Ancient Magic Runes.


    From a distance, she caught a glimpse of Malfoy''s figure coming out of the office and Hermione hastily hid behind a pillar where she saw Professor Hap talking to Malfoy, who nodded his head repeatedly.


    She instantly had mixed feelings.


    Inside the office, Hermione sat quietly on the sofa and watched as Felix waved his wand and piled a dozen parchments on the table into the corner.


    Could it be Malfoy''s papers?


    Hermione''s head swirled with all sorts of thoughts, and she''s tempted to ask Professor Hap why Malfoy was here, but she wisely kept her mouth shut.


    As yesterday, Felix sat on the other side of the small low table, and in front of him lay about ten pieces of chestnut wood, each with a magic rune inscribed on it.


    "Today we will formally study the ancient magic runes in practical form." He underlined the word "practical".


    "These ten magic runes have different symbolic meanings, for example, this one," he pointed to the first piece of chestnut wood, "represents the meaning of connection, which can be specifically expanded to connect other magic runes such as liquid form and flow, or general concepts of relative categories such as burst and stability. ..."


    "In practical application, I have found that its form can be morphed in seven ways, each applicable to ..."


    After an hour of continuous lecturing, Felix''s mouth went dry.


    "Next, let''s have a practical exercise."


    Seeing Hermione pull out her own wand, Felix smiled, "We don''t need a wand for our exercises."


    "I had talked to Professor McGonagall and there is a special teaching technique I have."


    Hermione looked a little confused, while Felix had leaned over and tapped his wand lightly against the young witch''s head while whispering an incantation under his breath.


    She suddenly felt her vision drift off, the furnishings in the office shaking and distorting like water, the colours blending together in a way that made her feel as if she were in an abstract painting.


    Soon, however, the distorted environment recovered at once.


    She discovered, to her surprise, that she and the professor were still sitting on the same sofa, but with the small low table between them as the dividing line, the whole room is divided in two, and the half of the room where the professor belonged is piled high with books of all colours, thousands of them.


    The books were divided into a dozen stacks that seemed to represent different categories.


    But the most eye-catching thing of all is the ancient magic runes dancing across the books, which were of various colours, bright red, emerald green, cypress green, and metallic lustre...


    Hundreds of ancient magic runes scurried around half the room like a little pixie.


    Hermione couldn''t help but stand up, and she glanced at Professor Hap, who gave her a slight wave to indicate that she could visit at her leisure.


    The little witch crossed the invisible barrier and an ancient magic rune flew to her, Hermione couldn''t help but hold the little one up and let it bounce around in her hand.


    It isn''t until the little one hopped away that she moved away somewhat reluctantly to view the book. She made her way through the pile of books, browsing through them as she went, while quickly scanning their names -


    An Exploration of the History of Ancient Magic Runes, An Exploration through Ancient Magic Runes, An Exploration of Ancient Alchemy, Principles of Magical Spells, Explanation of High-Level Magic Spells, Selected Transfigurations, The Book of Dueling, The Art of Dueling, Ravenclaw''s Manuscripts (Volume 1), The Illustrated Book of Dangerous Magical Creatures, Magical Abilities, Advanced Ancient Magic Runes, The Enchantment in Alchemy... ...


    There were so many, and most of which are so big, that Hermione even saw a two-foot-tall book that is half a foot thick.


    Even as a studious child, she couldn''t help but feel ashamed of herself, and she secretly resolved to read this many books in the future ...


    She stepped over a high stack of books, avoiding the dark green curtains that fluttered without a breeze, and before her is an astonishing pile of muggle books: Thinking Experiments, Secrets of the Human Brain, Analysis of Mind, A Selection of World Jokes ...


    She even found a full set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, a childhood favourite of hers!


    Aside from these more normal ones, there were seven or eight books stacked scattered in one corner of the room, constantly emitting a dark aura in all directions, and if one stared closely enough at them, one could faintly hear the wail of a little Wizard.


    This, couldn''t be a book about dark magic, right? The young witch gaped a little as she stole a glance over her shoulder at the professor.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 29: Thinking Room

    Felix obviously noticed Hermione''s gaze. "Oh, those are indeed books about dark magic, but there''s an old saying? If you want to defend yourself against dark magic, you have to have some knowledge of it. As far as I know, the Auror in the Ministry of Magic particularizes in learning a little about dark magic."


    "But I rarely see ..."


    "Some wizards don''t use dark magic, but that doesn''t mean they don''t understand it."


    Felix smiled gently at her, "I have travelled around the world for a year and I have to mention that dark magic is indeed more effective when it comes to solving certain specific problems."


    Hearing Professor Hap''s explanation, she thought it over quickly and found the reasoning barely acceptable, but said with a stern face, "Professor, I would still advise you to use less dark magic in the future, I read it in a book: dark magic always creeps into you, leaving you unknowingly corrupted - -"


    "-- Many young wizards have gone astray in this way, and especially for the young wizards who are underage, dark magic is a poison to the heart that is difficult to reverse," Felix said, following Hermione''s words.


    Looking a little surprised at the young witch, he winked, "I''ve read that book too."


    "But thank you for the advice."


    Hermione pursed her lips, looking like Professor McGonagall.


    Seeing his assistant puff up in anger a little, Felix changed the subject without a trace as he praised, "I didn''t realize you''d read so much, quite an accomplishment for your age."


    Following the professor''s gaze, Hermione then realized that the other half of the room - the side divided by the small low table, near her - is surprisingly decorated in a completely different style.


    The warm sunlight shed a large, bright glow, and the light brown carpet and goose-yellow curtains gave it an extremely comfortable feel, with a small round table in the centre, on which were two pots of green plants.


    On the wall directly opposite the room is a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. Inside are hundreds of neatly arranged books, and on the second shelf, from top to bottom, stand seven or eight photo frames, both of hers and her families from her birth.


    Close to the bookshelf is an ivory doorway.


    Hermione covered her mouth in surprise; this half of the space, surprisingly, resembled 70 to 80% of her room at home.


    She turned her head to look at Professor Hap, her mind full of doubts, which only this professor could now clear up.


    And Professor Hap did give the answer, "This is the world of thought, the abode of fantasy, call it what you will. Of course, none of this is real, we are just consciousnesses that exist here."


    Hermione tsked as she stood at the junction of the two spaces, her eyes wide as she kept glancing from side to side, she waved her hand a little hesitantly, "So, this place is a joint construction of ours? Half of it represents your inner world and half of it represents mine ..."


    Felix gestured over his head, "Just a partial outer mapping and projection of our inner worlds." S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "And the deepest secrets of our innermost minds are behind the door entirely." He glanced at the ivory door before flicking his wand, and the dark green curtain behind him rolled up high to reveal a tall gateway.


    Hermione visibly relaxed; she had quite a few secrets that she didn''t want to reveal so easily.


    Harry''s Parseltongue, for example.


    "Professor, why have we come to this ... mindscape?"


    Instead of answering directly, Felix first introduced a part of his experience by saying, "After graduation, I first spent a year travelling around the world before settling in London and focusing on muggle studies."


    "Muggles are no less intelligent than wizards, and in many ways, such as logic, reasoning, and problem-solving methodology, are much better. And the more crucial point is legacy."


    "They pass on their knowledge, accumulating it from generation to generation, triggering qualitative change from quantitative change."


    "Wizards have the same legacy, like Hogwarts, but in terms of inheritance and development, it''s far worse."


    "It was by realizing this that I started reading Muggle books, and to be honest, being used to the moving pictures, it was a bit uncomfortable to read Muggle books."


    "Their research on the mind and brain caught my attention, and I discovered that they were way ahead of us in this area - which should have been a much more specialized area for wizards - after all, we have a range of memory magic, like the Obliviate, Legilimency, and the Occlumency."


    "But unfortunately, we only inherited the spells, not the philosophies of them."


    "So, I combined the Muggle knowledge and created a magic spell which, although it is still quite far from my intended vision, is perfect for what we are teaching today."


    "What does this magic do?" Hermione asked curiously.


    "Thought acceleration." Felix explained, "In here - I call it the Thinking Room - your thinking is sped up, and with the help of this place we get the illusion of time being stretched out. I can only manage to increase it by a factor of three to four at the moment, any higher would be dangerous."


    "Similar to the Baruffio''s Brain Elixir, although the two don''t behave exactly the same, the latter enhances the brainpower of the person taking it."


    Hermione''s eyes widened, "Professor, this magic is just amazing."


    Felix shook his head, "It''s not perfect at the moment."


    Seeing the professor''s reluctance to say more, Hermione began to practice carving ancient runes, using the chestnut wood pieces Felix had provided her with - one of the downsides of this magic, what you can''t understand, you can''t make it appear.


    For most of the next few hours, Hermione practiced on her own, with Felix giving some guidance at regular intervals.


    After seven thinking hours.


    Felix noticed that Hermione''s face is covered in sweat and her figure is fading, looking somewhat like a transparent ghost.


    "Professor, I can''t concentrate, I can''t keep ... attention."


    "Well, it''s almost time, so that''s enough for today." Felix snapped his fingers and the next moment, the sky spun and the two of their minds were back to the common room once again.


    Felix''s wand is still resting on Hermione''s head when he suddenly stumbled and nearly fell to the ground after having been still.


    He pressed one hand to his forehead and waved his wand with the other, a vial of magic potion flying out of his suitcase.


    Under the command of his wand, the bottle of magic potion became quite self-conscious, not only opening the lid by itself but also summoning two cups and pouring out a portion of the potion.


    On the other hand, Hermione had it worse, she collapsed straight on the sofa with a pained look on her face, as if she is going to pass out in the next second.


    "Drink it, it will ease your symptoms."


    Hermione reluctantly drank the magic potion.


    "Have a piece of chocolate." Felix shoved a piece of chocolate into her mouth again.


    It took seven to eight minutes for Hermione to get over it, and she kept whispering, "It''s horrible, it''s horrible."

 Chapter 30: Professor’s Admirers

    It took a whole bar of chocolate to bring Hermione back to normal, and although she looked rather tired, at least her intelligence went online again. "Professor, is this the downfall of the thinking room? It was as if I hadn''t slept for three days and nights, and then this exhaustion came rushing towards me all at once." She described how she felt.


    "That''s one of the drawbacks: it accelerates the consumption of your energy, and that consumption is constantly stacked." Felix explained, "You''ve just spent seven hours in the thinking room, but the level of exhaustion felt could be more than fourteen hours."


    With that Felix looked at her thoughtfully, "It looks like you will have to shorten your time in the Thinking Room in the future, I think three to five hours, twice a week, would be a more appropriate frequency."


    Hearing the professor''s desire to compress her study time, Hermione is about to retort out of habit, but the experience she just had made her heart palpitate, and she acknowledged Felix''s arrangement.


    Her attention quickly shifted to the magic she saw just now, and she asked curiously, "Professor, how did you come up with that magic, it''s simply amazing, I think the Ministry of Magic would award you an Order of Merlin!"


    Felix shook his head and said softly, "This magic is still very imperfect. I originally thought - it would give me hours, even dozens of hours, out of thin air, but in practice, I''ve encountered far too much trouble."


    "The essence of this memory magic is that it makes you think faster, which is currently about -" he glanced at the clock, "three times faster or so."


    Hermione craned her head to stare at the clock too, with a very mixed expression, "I''ve been in the thinking room for seven hours and only two hours have passed in the outside world. It''s, like, a miracle!"


    How much time one would have been able to spend studying if others were to learn this magic as well!


    I suppose the side effects of the magic could be tolerated by very few people, though.


    And one would have to be assisted by Professor Hap ...


    Looks like she''s the lucky one, Hermione thought gleefully.


    Felix went on to explain, "The Thinking Room is not real-world, essentially, everything about it is made up from your perceptions. Do you realize what''s wrong with it?" Felix asked.


    Hermione thought for a moment, "It reflects our own perceptions of the outside world, which means - means, we can''t get the right feedback! No, I can obviously practice rune writing in there."


    The young witch''s idea behind the existence of the Thinking Room is that the wizard''s perception of the outside world made it impossible for her to "construct" something she had no idea about, such as - using the Thinking Room she can''t be able to brew potions, practice magic, or, of course, master magic runes.


    But again, this is contrary to her experience.


    Felix watched with interest as the young witch spun her brain around, thinking hard - Professor McGonagall''s assessment of Miss Granger was very apt.


    "That child has a great thirst for knowledge, and she has always been able to grasp the knowledge in books faster than anyone else. Of course, she may not be as gifted as you, but I suppose you are an exception ..."


    It is true that he is an anomaly, after all, he has a special advantage when it comes to practicing magic spells. And his view of the witch kept changing, from a familiar stranger to a recommended candidate for an assistant, to a hard-working academic tyrant.


    True enough, as one of the three main characters of the original plot, their potential is rarely matched.


    And what kind of talent did the other two have? Felix''s mind spun.


    The clock ticked away.


    "Could it be because of your presence, Professor?" Hermione''s eyes lit up.


    Felix revealed the answer with an approving look, "I''m the one using the magic, so the thought room is constructed with my perceptions, at least for the most part. And that would mean-"


    "It means that your knowledge of ancient magic runes overrides my perceptions!"


    Hermione dawned on her, "Your understanding of ancient runes far exceeds mine, which is why I can practice ancient runes in your perception."


    In short, Felix was the creator of the thinking room and Hermione was his invited guest.


    Hermione followed this line of reasoning, "So this magic ... doesn''t seem to do much for the Professor."


    Felix shrugged, "It''s more or less useful. It has all the books I''ve read before, which allows me to quickly refresh what I''ve learned. Or it comes in very handy when I want to have a period of undisturbed reflection."


    In fact, Felix originally developed it as a form of combat magic - using it to gain superb dynamic vision and reflexes.


    Combined with his own level 6 Apparition and Stupefy, it simply slipped through the cracks.


    This idea came to him in his fifth year, but he had no clue how to do it until he graduated.


    Compelled to keep a tube of magic potion with him at all times, he improved his reflexes by getting "high'', on drugs".


    It is only after he read a lot of research papers on the brain and mind in the Muggle world that he was able to make some progress, but unfortunately, it is used for teaching purposes now.


    A long way to go.


    Putting those thoughts aside, Felix advised her, "The Thinking Room is still not the same as the real world, and you will have to keep practicing over the next week to turn the illusory sensations into a genuine reality."


    Hermione is now in a state where she has been playing a VR game in which she has learned the skill called " frying ". If she started learning to cook when she got back to reality, it would be like having a tenfold experience on, but if she didn''t make any extra effort, that somewhat ''imaginary'' experience would quickly pass away.


    Certainly not today, she is too tired.


    "Professor ..." Hermione bit her lip nervously, as if she had something to ask.


    "What?"


    "Nothing." Hermione swiftly said.


    She had seen Malfoy go out of Professor Hap''s office on her way here today, could it be that Malfoy was also getting help from the Professor to train in the Thinking Room? She wanted to ask the professor, but couldn''t find the right excuse.


    Perhaps Ron might know?


    Ever since the slug incident, Ron had been particularly concerned about Malfoy, especially the news of his downfall.


    After a ten-minute break, Hermione still looked a little sickly, but it isn''t a big deal, so she''d just have to go back and get a good night''s sleep.


    ...


    Evening, Common Room.


    Hermione asked Ron about this and is surprised that he actually knew.


    Ron grinned widely, "He''s been confined by Professor Hap. It''s the third day. ... According to the story, Professor Hap thought he was disrespecting his classmates, so he punished him by copying books."


    "Copying books?" Harry asked curiously, very happy about his old rival''s downfall, and couldn''t wait to find out more details.


    "That''s right, the complete hand-copying kind. I overheard him complaining to Crabbe and Goyle about it, it is two huge books, stacked at least three inches thick, and he had to spend a month of his time on it."


    "What books?"


    "I caught a glimpse of it at the time, didn''t really read it, seemed to be Muggle or something." Ron frowned for a while, "Right! I remember, Malfoy made a comment at the time, complaining that books are written by Professor Hap that didn''t sell a thing and is only used for punishing students."


    "Is it "How Muggles Think" and "The Muggle Struggle: from a Million Years Ago"?" Hermione blurted out the two book titles in one breath.


    Ron rubbed his head, "It seems to be ... but how do you know?"


    Hermione didn''t reply but stomped back to her dormitory, and within a few moments, she is carrying two books over.


    They were indeed big ... Harry thought to himself. Looking at the spines of the books, they were exactly the two names Hermione had mentioned.


    Ron''s mouth widened, "Hermione, don''t tell me that you used this for a pastime too."


    "You have a problem with that?" Hermione frowned forcefully.


    Harry took a book and flipped it through the middle, inside were large passages of text that made his eyes dizzy for a moment. "Hermione, do you even need to read these types of books? I mean, we grew up in a Muggle family."


    Hermione looked amused, "It''s still interesting to see the muggle world from a wizard''s point of view. And Professor Hap wrote a brilliant book, he discusses issues from a perspective that I would have never considered at all."


    Then she added hatefully, "What a bargain for Malfoy, if it wasn''t for Professor Hap, he''d never have read such an excellent book in his life!"


    Hermione didn''t mince her words in complimenting Felix, and the two boys looked at each other and silently exchanged remarks - Hermione''s object of admiration didn''t shift from Lockhart to this Professor Hap, right? S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 31: Felixs Mental Journey

    Felix watched the young witch leave as he stood at the window, he could vaguely see through the darkness in the distance, a pair of young wizards sitting holding hands and enjoying a leisurely weekend. "The Age of Peace ..." he chewed on the word with slight emotion, it wasn''t until he returned to Hogwarts that he realized the effects of war as an afterthought.


    When the Dark Lord had wreaked havoc, Felix had been leading the older kids in the Muggle orphanage to beat up the punks from the school next door, and it was safe to say he had a happy time. And by the time he enrolled in school, the Dark Lord had been gone for almost a year.


    It turned out to be a very messy time in the wizarding world - Death Eaters busy trying to escape their sins, ambitious people eager to seize the power vacuum, victims constantly demanding for compensation, and fugitives who were not happy with their defeat hiding in the gutter and plotting a comeback. None of this affected him, of course; it was the young wizards at Hogwarts who affected him.


    The pure-blooded families of the wizarding world at the time did everything they could to distance themselves from the Dark Lord, and did they discriminate against wizarding muggle family?, Absolutely not, But how they behaved at home, and how they educated the next generation, might have been a different story.


    It''s during the time that he enrolled in Hogwarts and-


    Shh! Keep quiet, look what we found, a muggle-born Slytherin! Let''s bully him!


    Well, that was the mental activity of most of the Slytherin students at the time.


    When the dinner was over and Felix was about to make friends with his roommates, a Slytherin said to him with a disgusted look on his face, "Go away, you vile mudblood!"


    Felix didn''t understand the meaning of the word until he subconsciously shot the other person with a Petrificus Totalus, I mean, whoops.


    Both sides were a bit confused at the time.


    Luckily, there was only one head of steel, the other two roommates had frighteningly low knucklehead values and if you ask one question they answered ten, so by the time he lay in bed that night he already had some idea of what his future held. S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He realized that this clash today would not be the end of events, but the very start of everything.


    What followed was as he had expected, but fortunately, in just one week he had fought to convince, yuck! He forced himself to make friends with the new students, who have said more than once in public that F��lix is a good guy, not only talented but also helpful.


    He couldn''t beat the upper classmen for the time being, but with the professors and school rules in place, they wouldn''t cast a vicious spell on him. After all, a fight in the same year could be described as a frictional clash, but an attack by a senior against a junior would result in expulsion.


    And by the time he had shown his great magical talent, there weren''t many who still wanted to get involved with him.


    Needless to say, there was no shortage of smart people in Slytherin.


    But the danger didn''t only exist at school, Felix couldn''t remember how many death threats he had received during his school years, but he clearly remembered the first one was at his first year''s Christmas party.


    It was an anonymous yelling letter, and he guessed it was probably sent by the parent of one of the new students he had beaten up at the time.


    Still, he had cautiously stayed in school that year, by bonking a second-year Slytherin, so he was detained- and he couldn''t be blamed for that, they had made the first move, and he had just made the best out of it.


    But he didn''t expect the death threats to intensify, and at the beginning of his second year, a batch of red Howler flew at him, filling the great hall with "Get out of Slytherin, you filthy mudblood!" Or "Don''t let me see you, or I''ll wipe out Slytherin''s shame with my own hands!"


    The young wizards at dinner were stunned, and Headmaster Dumbledore was particularly serious as he examined the remains of the Howler himself. But it was difficult to trace the source of such things; the owl was rent and the sound was disguised.


    Frankly, he was in a difficult position. He wanted to study magic in peace, but things never worked out the way he expected.


    Felix had to continue his plan of making friends, making more friends and fewer enemies. To do this, he had to suffer some misunderstandings - people who didn''t know the truth interpreted it as him striking out in retaliation.


    It wasn''t long before he approached a third-year Slytherin, who had developed a particular dislike for him and sent him to the school clinic for three weeks under the guise of "seeking guidance".


    He actively visited this friend afterward and was distraught at his "mistake", which was, after all, an accident!


    Professor, I''m really distressed, you want to deduct my points and detain me during this holiday? Go ahead and deduct them, I can bear it ...


    Felix suddenly realized that if you want to get into trouble with Slytherin, it''s really easy, all you have to do is call their family rubbish in a place where no one is around.


    This fishing tactic was tried and proven.


    After a few times, the third year Slytherin succumbed - the most headstrong he encountered was still that roommate, but even headstrong as he was, he happily accepted his friendship after seven days of lying on the floor.


    In his third year, he put down the last stubborn seventh year Slytherin, and when it was done, there was a real sense of enjoyment in beating the odds and passing out with a full grade.


    But he was still afraid to step out of school; he still had to deal with the annual death threats.


    That''s why he spent the whole year desperately trying to gain two level 6 spells when his magic theory was only level 4!


    But it was worth it, as he was able to use his level six "Full Body-Bind Curse" and "Shield Charm" to take out the seven idiots who tried to attack him over the holiday in the fourth year, and who are still living in Azkaban!


    The next time he initiated a family duel at the beginning of the fifth year, it was no big deal to him, and none of the official duels took place - that Shafiq was simply picked up the next day.


    After that, he lived happily ever after until graduation.


    After graduation, Felix didn''t choose the Ministry of Magic or the wizengamot as destinations, he wasn''t interested in working there.


    Good prospects? Good pay?


    Well, he could finally justify it by saying, I''m not interested in the money.


    He then wanted to stay in school, but unfortunately, Headmaster Dumbledore turned him down.


    "You''re young, travel more and see more, or work in peace for at least two years."


    Felix ended up picking the travel the world option, experiencing the wizarding customs of different countries like clockwork, especially the black markets of different countries, where there was no shortage of old magic manuscripts and alchemical artefacts, which he desperately needed.


    He also met some interesting (dark) wizards as a result, and everyone covered their faces so that they didn''t judge a book by its cover, but rather each took what they wanted.


    When he meets some particular dark wizards, he happily tests his magic ideas on them, and it must be emphasized here that he hasn''t ended any lives personally, but has created a bunch of idiots - hopefully, some of his friends and their family will take them back for treatment.


    His "thinking room" is also taking shape a little at that time.


    After his travels, Felix applied again for a teaching position at Hogwarts and was politely refused in return. However, it seemed that he was not interested in the Ministry of Magic and Dumbledore suggested that he should live in the Muggle world for a while.


    Felix chose to accept. On the one hand, he thought it might be a "test" from Dumbledore, as he was not really a "professorial candidate" after all the things he had done at school, and on the other hand, he wanted to pave a way for himself as a scholar --This way, even if the professorial path did not work out, he could still communicate with other famous wizards.


    He was very confident about this. On muggle studies, there was one thing he could do in a heartbeat.


    He could write ten books on muggle research a year if he wasn''t afraid of shocking the jaws of the wizarding world. But in the end, he decided to be patient and make more sense of what he was doing.


    In the span of two years, his correspondence with Dumbledore had increased dramatically in frequency, with Felix constantly sending him a number of research manuscripts and the two exchanging correspondence on Muggle issues.


    This gave him hope that he would return to Hogwarts.


    Although midway through his third job attempt, he failed again ... as he looks back on the journey, he still feels miserable. But from the correspondence, he realized that Dumbledore''s attitude had quietly changed.


    The next step is to publish a book and release it. His books received a lukewarm response in the market, but were extremely informative in the eyes of professionals.


    The name Felix Hap was also given the title of "expert on Muggle research".


    Thanks to this, in the third year of his career, he was able to establish pen-pal relationships with many famous wizards, which benefited him greatly.


    He was also asked by the ministries of magic in some small countries to be head of their department that dealt with muggle issues, but he declined.


    Exactly three years after graduating, he finally received an offer of an interview at Hogwarts.


    It all begins here ...


    Felix stood at the window, watching the sun go down, a glimmer of afterglow clinging to the horizon.

 Chapter 32: Transition

    Time is gradually advancing towards October. One month into his career, Felix has settled into the intense teaching routine and has become comfortable with it.


    In Years 3 and 4, Felix ran a few practical activities in the classroom to stimulate their interest, and I have to admit that the young wizards are quite brainy, as they have only learned the first set of basic magic runes, i.e. so they can manipulate the golem to perform basic actions, and able to play with them.


    The girls'' "dance group" and the boys'' "blood combat" were extremely popular now.


    Felix also discovered a talent called Cedric, a fourth-year student from Hufflepuff, who developed a wonderful idea to use it - which is passing notes in class.


    In History of Magic class, the lesson was probably really boring, so Cedric manipulated the golem to wander around the classroom and pass notes to his best friend. Several drowsy young wizards were stunned at the sight, and the golem bounced over to the feet of one young wizard - who was asleep and drooling.


    Cedric gave a small flick with his wand and the golem jumped up with a jolt, knocking its small fist on the little wizard''s knee.


    " Thud!"


    The sleepy little wizard suddenly woke up and subconsciously kicked out, and the golem took straight off, passing through Professor Binns'' body and smashing into the ground.


    Professor Binns, the only player at Hogwarts OZ, who had been immersed in his teaching world for decades, snapped in a rare fit of anger, "Rembert, for disrupting class, ten points off for Ravenclaw!"


    The honest Hufflepuff stood up and stated that his name was not Rembert, nor was he a Ravenclaw, and he was then detained.


    Such gossip spread through the school instantly, and by the next day, there were already those who couldn''t wait to try and replicate the feat, which was swiftly suppressed by a cadre of campus mobsters led by Professors McGonagall, Snape, and Flitwick.


    The twin brothers were unlucky enough to be deducted fifty points by Professor McGonagall, plus three additional weeks of detention, for manipulating a magic golem into fighting with a lizard, a transfiguration prop, in Transfiguration class.


    At the dinner table, Professor McGonagall politely reminded Felix not to indulge his students, which led him to re-affirm in class that they should not practise the magic golem in any other class but his, or he would take back the teaching aids.


    The young sixth-year wizards were still struggling with their "handicapped" magic golems. They don''t have the same perfect teaching aids as Year 3 and 4, and they have to draw out 30% of the runes by themselves.


    This makes Year 6 a very bizarre place to visit, as you can often see the oddball golem with disabled legs, crawling on their hands, and many young witches have to sign a series of unequal treaties - such as writing their homework for the younger students - in order to borrow their favourite golem from them.


    The fifth and seventh-year students, however, have the most comprehensive range of golems, although theirs is a ''trial version'', judged by theoretical grades for the experience time, and not everyone can get their hands on one.


    At weekends, the students meet at various school locations, look at each other knowingly, and engage in a battle with their magic golems.


    Their moves and tricks were so skilful that they seem to have trained hard in private.


    Whenever this happened, a group of young wizards would quickly gather around them to watch and comment on the battle.


    Some of the first and second-year wizards, who didn''t have golems but were very keen on the subject, and a few from Muggle families, with serious faces, were analysing the strengths and weaknesses and trying to predict the outcome of the fight.


    "Who''s the strongest, it''s definitely Fireboy, who can stop him when he does his Phoenix transformation move!"


    "Ice Girl''s Ice Storm is also very strong, right, it directly freezes the opponent into an ice sculpture!"


    "Guys, I have to remind you that lightning is strongest when it''s in its natural state."


    "Hia, Hia, Hia ..."


    "But I do think that the slashing type of magic golem is really sinister." A second-year male wizard said, his words drawing unanimous agreement.


    Sudden flu swept through Hogwarts in early October as the temperature began to change drastically, alternating constantly between hot and cold.


    The young wizards lined up to check in at the school clinic, and Madam Pomfrey was kept extremely occupied, making a supply of the tonic that exceeded high demand - even though it would make one''s ears smoke and make them look a little funny.


    As Halloween approached, the professors'' lectures were routinely rubbing off the heat.


    Professor Flitwick inserted an unscheduled "Halloween special" in which he taught the young witches a spell to ward off spirits.


    Professor McGonagall''s object of transfiguration in class was a vampire mask, which students walked around wearing that day.


    Professor Snape''s lecture was unchanged: a conventional antidote to poison. However, he hinted in one class that he would "accidentally" drip expired poison into a student''s pumpkin juice at a Halloween dinner.


    Harry and Ron shuddered.


    Professor Hap, currently the most popular among the students, was no exemption to this. He presented a new creation to the class, a golem in the shape of a ghost doll, with a large head, a small body, a heavy black eye, and jagged teeth on its miserable white face.


    It looked ugly and cute.


    With a wave of Felix''s wand, the ghost doll opened its mouth and spat out a stream of black smoke, blackening the faces of the young wizards in the front row.


    "I said at the beginning of the school year that there would be a test before Halloween and that the first place in each grade would win a mystery prize. It can be revealed now - a magic golem from my private collection."


    "It''s limited, exclusive, and has upgraded power, so ... what are you waiting for?"


    "There''s still half a month left, work hard!"


    The group of young wizards wailed as they reviewed the ancient runes.


    Hermione felt a little sorry when she heard the news, she was only in her second year and wasn''t allowed to take the test.


    But the ghost doll was something she had watched the professor craft, and it was the first time she had seen an Alchemy product go from nothing to something, from material to finished product. She had to take her assistant work back to the common room in order to earn the right to watch from the sidelines.


    The young wizards tsked at the sight of Hermione grading a thick pile of papers. A few of the Gryffindor ancient rune scums (led by Wood) begged Hermione with a formal look on their faces to give them a pass.


    They were sternly refused by Hermione, who had a stern face.


    In just over a month, the young witch had already gained a certain amount of "prestige" throughout the school, especially among the senior students who had chosen Ancient Rune. Her elegant handwriting often appeared on their papers. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Professor Hap''s handwriting, on the other hand, appeared much less frequently.


    Harry and Ron looked at the papers in her hand and were somewhat thankful, as they aren''t the one who correcting them as it''s by no means easy to correct them, even though most of them were choices and short sentence translations.


    Hermione is enjoying herself, though, "I can learn a lot." She told the pair so, and with her memory, after marking a paper a few dozen times, it pretty much imprinted itself in her head.


    Is this the school tyrant''s realm? The young Gryffindor wizards looked at each other.

 Chapter 33: Hagrid

    In mid-October, the flu that had plagued Hogwarts, instead of subsiding, had intensified, and even several professors had the misfortune of getting caught. Luckily, Felix had the foresight to get two bottles of tonic from Madam Pomfrey in advance and took a sip before class to avoid being infected by the untrustworthy little wizard.


    On Wednesday, Felix had a rare day off from class, so he walked out of the castle and followed a path through the greenhouse and past the Whomping Willow to the forbidden forest warden''s hut.


    Just as he approached, a large dog barked, and Felix waited quietly.


    A man shouted twice at the big dog, "Fang, shut up!" Then turned his head to look at him, a measure with its gaze.


    "Professor Hap? You want something?"


    To his eyes, the professor dressed in fine, well-made clothes, with neatly groomed hair and a clean-shaven beard, is a completely different person from him.


    "As a new professor, I suddenly realized that I hadn''t visited you yet, which, I must say, is very rude ..."


    "Is it?" Hagrid muttered, blocking the doorway, clearly not too interested.


    "I learned from Dumbledore that you are an excellent warden of the Forbidden Forest and are very good with magical creatures, and it just so happens that I am also very interested in these cute little guys."


    "Really? Ahem... I mean ..."


    Felix tapped his wand on the ring on his left index finger, and a thick book appeared in his hand with a silhouette of a group of animals on the cover.


    "This is my gift."


    Hagrid''s eyes fell on the group of animal silhouettes in various forms, and he stammered a little, "Ah, this, you''re too kind. I mean ... you don''t really have to ..."


    Hagrid stood frozen in place and waved his thick arm, "Come in, come in."


    Felix entered Hagrid''s Hut without difficulty, a standard bachelor room as far as he could see, it looked disorganized, but everything is in its rightful place.


    It''s only when Hagrid handed him a mug that he realized what a mistake he had made, this mug hadn''t been washed in days? It looked dirty!


    After chatting with Hagrid for a few words and noticing that he kept his eyes on the book, he naturally changed the subject to it.


    "Hagrid, I made this book myself, with a lot of thought, and I hope you''ll like it."


    Hagrid picked up the book and opened it, with his large hand and flipped through the first page which showed a little animal with a single tiger''s stripe in the head, relying on its two hind limbs for support, its body standing upright and its two forearms hanging down over its chest in a wary manner.


    The next picture shows a scene in which this little fellow is fighting a lion. The little fellow is quite brave, not only showing no fear in the face of an opponent more than ten times its size but attacking again and again.


    "What is this little fellow?" Hagrid''s eyes lit up at once.


    Felix glanced at the picture, "It''s a species of honey badger that is found in Africa, they are very brave and very intelligent."


    On the next page, there was a scene of a honey badger sparring with a different animal, and Hagrid was so fascinated that he kept flipping forwards.


    One novel creature after another appeared before his eyes, and it was as if a new world had opened up to him.


    Halfway through, he looked up, a little puzzled, "Professor Hap, I haven''t seen many of these animals, they don''t seem to be magical creatures."


    "That''s right, you''re an expert on magical animals, you''ve seen more than me in this area. It''s a good thing I worked in the Muggle world for two years and saw a lot of interesting creatures that may not have magical traits, but still have fascinating characteristics by virtue of their unique physiology and habitat ..."


    "I have compiled some of these from various Muggle books, films, and videos to complete this magic book."


    Hagrid, obviously aware of the effort that had been put into this gift, muttered in a small voice, "This is too expensive, too expensive."


    Felix smiled, "Hagrid, you''re welcome, I have a similar gift for each of the professors. And-"


    "I do have a small favour to ask you."


    "What is it?" Hagrid asked cautiously.


    "I need some unicorn hair, not too much ..." Felix looked a little embarrassed.


    "Oh, that''s it, it''s easy." Hagrid relaxed as he leaned forward and tugged a furry, dirty mat over from the side.


    "Here, I''ve got plenty of this stuff if you don''t have enough, the little unicorns change their fur several times before they grow up, and I help tidy it all up."


    Felix froze a little as he took the floppy mats, which looked like they were suffering under Hagrid''s bum, no less.


    Hagrid added, "Unicorn hairs, although they contain magic, not every one of them has the kind of magnitude to make a wand, they were picked up by that old man Ollivander, you know, he has a partnership with Hogwarts and will give discounts to new students ..."


    The two then engaged in a conversation about magical creatures, and Hagrid discovered, to his surprise, that the professor wasn''t telling lies, not like a certain self-absorbed professor at all.


    Professor Hap knew a lot about some magical creatures, one could even say that he knew many things that he himself is unaware of.


    For example, the Sphinx can be put into a state of confusion or reflection by saying just three riddles before it meets you.


    For example, when encountering a Nogtail, he can use his magic to transfigure a stone into a white dog, as they are particularly afraid of dogs with pure white fur.


    For example, trolls are afraid of bright lights ...


    Halfway through, Felix also provided butterbeer and special cakes, and the two had a good time.


    It''s already a little dark when Felix walked out of Hagrid''s hut.


    He saw a small red-haired witch by the path, who seemed to be an in bewildered state of mind, and is shooed back to the castle by him.


    The next day, Felix traded a few branches of Whomping Willow and a small pot of Devil''s Snare from Sprout, the Professor of Herbology Class.


    The former is a highly valued material, often used to make wands and very vital in the boiling process of a range of potions, but thanks to Harry and Ron - who had driven their car into a whomping willow at the beginning of the school year - it''s currently quite abundant.


    Office.


    Felix looked at the materials on his workbench: a dirty mat, a few black branches seven or eight metres long, a small pot of shrunken plants.


    He is pretty much very satisfied in his mind.


    Felix is ready to complete a magical artefact.


    The method of making it came from a rather old and isolated magic book, which he had recently found in the library. Originally he hadn''t cared much about it, seeing as the name of the book, Applications of Alchemy, is no different from many books he had seen before.


    But he soon realized the difference; the book''s cover had been added later, and the pages inside were significantly older; if it hadn''t been protected by magic, Felix had no doubt it would have decayed to ashes immediately.


    Within the slim booklet were the notes of more than ten people, some messy, some neat, with a mixture of additions and corrections to those who had preceded them, as well as arrogance and condescending overlooks of those who had followed.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 34: Runic Creation and Halloween

    Notes from a slightly chatty Chagas Gunter led Felix to conclude that the book came from a family called "Gunter", or at least that it had been in their possession for a long time. The notes that follow are full of praise for their great-grandfather. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There was more than one who did that.


    This gave Felix the pleasure of reading the commentary.


    The runic artefact that Felix was about to complete also came from this ancient book, "runic artefact" rather than "alchemical artefact" because its internal circuitry is constructed entirely from a series of magic runes, with no trace of latter-day alchemy.


    Many people would not be able to tell the difference, but Felix is an exception - Rune Engraving can be used in ancient magic as well as engraved on objects because it is a language, a magic language.


    Its essence was an ancient wizard''s exploration and summary of magic.


    Alchemy, on the other hand, is different because it is partly an inheritance of ancient magic Runes, which have been developed independently with the aim of "leaving magic on objects and giving them a special magical function".


    So the symbols used in alchemy cannot be called Runes, but merely magic icons.


    But it also had the advantage of being a magical technique, and the many great wizards who experimented with ways to impart magic to various objects have left a legacy of mind-boggling techniques.


    The French alchemist Nicholas Flamel is one of the best in this field.


    Compared to alchemy, runic artefacts are considered " ancient art ". This is one of the reasons why he believes that the notes are quite old.


    ...


    The runic artefact that Felix wanted to create is called " Binding Vine", which uses the spreading properties of the magic vine itself to launch a surprise attack, with the advantage of no incantation and a stable and trouble-free launch.


    But how powerful it is a matter of opinion, or at least a question mark in Felix''s mind.


    But he isn''t looking for potency either, he is looking for the ideas contained within: firstly, the idea of making a runic artefact, and secondly, the skill of combining opposing magical properties in depth.


    Unicorns, which represent purity and goodness.


    On the other hand, the devil''s snare is an extremely aggressive magic plant that is always actively attacking all kinds of small animals and unlucky humans; hunting is their instinct.


    It''s difficult to combine the magical properties of the two together under normal circumstances, and Felix took a reference from the ancient books to neutralize this antagonism with the help of the Whomping Willow - which, despite its violent behaviour, is an unmistakably unbiased plant.


    With a wave of his wand, Felix breaks up the mat, woven from unicorn hair, and places it in the water to absorb a dunk; almost instantly, the water becomes pitch black.


    Felix: "..."


    He changed the water several more times before the unicorn fur got cleaned, and then he dried it with magic.


    It''s only then that the unicorn fur showed its original appearance, the long soft, and smooth white hairs stretching out to their fullest, the warm light flowing constantly as if it were a solidified Mercury build.


    The other two main materials would take time to develop, the devil''s snare needed to be wait for it to grow a little more, and the willow branches needed to be infused with magic and made more flexible to facilitate the transformation.


    Felix estimated that the preparations would not be finished until at least the end of November.


    But he could think ahead about how to optimize the magic circuit ...


    Time went by and Felix completed the first mass general examination for all five grades - an examination he had promised at the start of the school year.


    The weekend before Halloween, he is still busy grading exam papers.


    It''s a good thing he isn''t alone; there''s another assistant working overtime with him.


    Ten o''clock in the evening.


    Hermione covered her mouth and yawned, stealing a glance at Professor Hap.


    "Professor, I''m done grading."


    Felix looked up, "I have some more here, so go ahead and return. Have a good Halloween party."


    Hermione said goodnight and left the office. As she walked, she too had something to look forward to in three days. But it isn''t a school party she is planning to attend, it is the 500th anniversary of the death of Gryffindor''s ghost, Nearly Headless Nick that she decided to attend.


    In the common room, many of the young Gryffindor wizards were still catching up on their homework.


    Ron let out a whine, still eight inches short on his Potion paper and a foot short on his History of Magic paper.


    "Why do we have to do so much homework before Halloween!"


    Ron shouted out the thoughts of a number of the young wizards, who looked on with approval, and then continued to keep their heads down and catch up with their homework.


    Hermione sat down next to Harry and Ron and said nonchalantly, "If you guys had finished your homework earlier, you wouldn''t have this much trouble."


    She is much busier than anyone else; in addition to her homework, she not only had to do her job as an Ancient Magic Rune class Assistant, but she also had to additionally practice magic runes taught by Professor Hap. So far, she has grasped 19 magic runes.


    Professor Hap said she would have the opportunity to work independently on an Alchemy item this year.


    Ron grimaced, "Stop nagging and hurry up and lend me your History of Magic paper."


    "You have to finish your homework yourself!"


    "I''m just taking reference, aren''t I, Harry?"


    Harry nodded his head in a hurry.


    Eventually, Hermione lent them her homework.


    Over the next two days, the festive atmosphere on campus grew stronger. The rooms were bright and cheerful, despite the pouring rain outside the windows and the ink-like darkness of the sky.


    Professor Flitwick decorated the great hall with flying bats, Professor McGonagall morphed huge colourful decorations, and the huge pumpkins Hagrid had planted were finally put to use, carved into hollowed-out lanterns big enough for three to five people to sit inside.


    There are whispers around campus circling that Dumbledore has booked a skeleton dance troupe to liven up the festivities.


    Everyone is looking forward to the party for Halloween day.


    Only Harry and Ron were sullen, as Harry had agreed to attend the 500th anniversary of the death of "Nearly Headless " Nick, and Ron had stood by his brother and offered his company.


    But the more they saw the great hall decorated with lanterns, the more bitter their smiles became.


    This bitterness finally reached its peak on the afternoon of Halloween.


    At seven o''clock, the three of them walked straight through the doorway, ready to go to the feast. As they passed by the great hall, it''s decorated with lights and candles glowing. Huge pumpkin lanterns, each the size of a carriage, were on display, and some young wizards had already chosen their seats and were talking and laughing.


    As Harry pushed his way through the crowd, he even saw one of the twins guiding the ghostly dolls, catching up with one wizard after another, spraying black air in their faces and making ghostly "cackling" noises from the magic golems.


    Just the day before, Felix handed out the results and fulfilled his promise that the first-place winner in each grade would receive a customized version of the magic golem, with more power and more "tricks" inside.


    The top student in Year 4 is not one of the twins, but Cedric of Hufflepuff - who is a frequent first-place winner. When he was picking his prize, he was fooled by the twins and picked the ghost doll.


    He is now sitting with his friend, but his eyes were on a third-year Ravenclaw girl, and he suddenly felt some regret in his heart that he should have chosen a cute little one and given it to this girl ...


    Cedric''s mind wandered a hundred times, and the path beneath the trio feet winded and twisted as they made their way down, straight to the basement, the sound of joy behind them growing lower and lower, just as they were feeling at the moment.


    Through a cold corridor of black candles, they saw "Nearly Headless " Nick standing at the door of one of the chamber to greet his guests, dressed up today in a black velvet cloak.


    "Welcome, my dear friends, it''s wonderful to have you here ..."


    Almost at the same time, Dumbledore also announced the official start of the Halloween party, and the cheers of the young wizards echoed through the great hall.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, their faces eerie in the light of the bluish candlelight, and the three walked in as if they were dead.

 Chapter 35: Halloween

    Great Hall. The atmosphere of the evening was very enthusiastic, and Dumbledore honoured his word by bringing in a troupe of skeleton dancers. They played cheerful ditties on instruments made of bones while dancing comically, a style of performance that was, frankly, very memorable.


    The little witches had a satisfied look on their faces as they sat in their pumpkin lanterns and gorged themselves on the festive specialities - not that they varied much in terms of flavour, in Felix''s opinion, but they were original enough in style to be different.


    Felix stuck a piece of black, tombstone-shaped caramel cake into his mouth in one bite.


    There were ribbons and monster masks of various colours hanging from the ceiling of the great hall, and he even saw three big black dogs - not that black dogs have a great reputation in the wizarding world. But it took him a closer look to realize that it is actually a three-headed dog.


    Felix: "..." always had the feeling that the three-headed dog''s fame had been jeopardized.


    Before he knew it, the time passed ten o''clock and raced towards eleven. One by one, the young wizards put down their cutlery, beaming with the satisfaction of a full meal.


    Felix wiped his mouth with his napkin and began to discuss the spell with Professor Flitwick, while Professor Lockhart tried to interject, only to be ignored by the two.


    Two months after the start of the school year, it wasn''t hard for anyone with a lick of intelligence to see what a piece of work Lockhart is.


    Felix couldn''t help but give Dumbledore a reproachful glance, ''You''ve wasted my faith in you, and you''ve found such a turd to be a professor?


    Thanks to that, I thought he had real talent.''


    Felix felt unworthy of the time he had given.


    Finally, the skeleton dance troupe ended their performance with an alternative soothing tune, and the crowd applauded cheerfully in unison until they took a bow and exited in a cloud of black smoke.


    The evening ended, and the young wizards huddled their way out of the Great Hall. A few professors were left waving their wands and cleaning up the mess.


    At that moment, a young wizard returned flustered, his lips quivering.


    "Professors, I think you need to come and see ... something happened!"


    Without him having to say anything, the professors heard the shouts of alarm from the young wizards outside the hall, and Dumbledore took a few strides over and the crowd automatically parted a space.


    Felix and Professor Flitwick looked at each other and quickly followed. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    They ascended the stairs to the second floor. Following the line of sight of the young wizards, they turned the corner and came to an empty passage.


    The first thing Felix saw is Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three of them standing alone with obviously empty space around them, but the next moment his eyes fell on the cat hung on a torch stand.


    It''s Mrs Norris.


    It looked very stiff, as if it had died.


    Next to it, on the wall, a foot above the floor, is scribbled with some writing that glowed with emblematic light in the light of the burning torches.


    The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.


    Enemies of the heir, beware.


    Filch yelled something as Dumbledore quickly crossed the crowd and unstrapped Mrs Norris. His expression turned serious, his blue eyes peering intently through the half-moon-shaped lenses.


    "Come with me, Filch." He said to Filch, "and you, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, and Miss Granger."


    Lockhart quickly suggested his office, then followed Dumbledore, followed by Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Felix, while Professor Flitwick is left behind to calm the panicked young wizard.


    Lockhart''s office.


    Several professors were gathered around a glossy table, surveying the stiff Mrs Norris.


    The tip of Dumbledore''s long, hawkish nose almost touched the fur of Mrs Norris''s body. He scrutinized it through the half-moon-shaped lenses of his glasses, his long, slender fingers poking gently here and there.


    Professor McGonagall also bent over, her face almost touching the cat too, squinting intently.


    Snape, meanwhile, stood behind them, half his body hidden in the shadows.


    Felix stood on the other side, his fingers brushing over Mrs Norris''s spine, the fur on her body turned unusually hard, then he touched her body gently with his wand and felt a powerful aura of the curse.


    She''s not dead ... seemed to be petrified ...


    And almost at the same time, Headmaster Dumbledore straightened up and said softly, " she is not dead, Filch, she''s petrified."


    But the Headmaster''s words did not relieve Filch from his resentment, and he instantly aimed his suspicion towards Harry, going out of his way to reveal himself as a Squib


    But his suspicions were quickly dismissed, as "it would require the highest depths of dark magic."


    The trio clearly couldn''t do that.


    What''s more, there''s spooky handwriting on the wall.


    Chamber of secrets ...


    Felix, lost in thought, is such a familiar name.


    Snape took the main stage next, interrogating the trio in a mocking tone as Harry stumbled over the explanation, causing Felix to sigh from the sidelines.


    Boy, not even skilled enough to lie, not psychologically strong enough.


    However, Felix then fell into thought, what were they hiding?


    After attending the anniversary party in the basement, they were supposed to return to the Great Hall, but they were not ...


    Perhaps he could find a chance to ask his assistant.


    After the trio left, several professors exchanged information.


    "Potter isn''t being completely honest, Headmaster, that''s my opinion," Snape repeated his opinion.


    This was evident to all of them, as no professor retorted.


    But Professor McGonagall habitually defended her students, "We have no evidence that they did something wrong, in fact, they may have simply heard some strange sound."


    " That can''t be ruled out," Dumbledore said non-committally, "What is your opinion, Felix."


    The eyes of various people in the room fell on Felix, even the picture of Lockhart on the wall peeked out of the shadows.


    "My opinion ... I''m still thinking about the writing on the wall, the chamber of secrets was opened, whose chamber of secrets? Opened by whom? And who is it that is working against this so-called heir?" He threw out three questions in a row.


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips as she said dryly, "Sounds like another Slytherin Chamber of Secrets myth, but there''s never been proof ..."


    Aside from Felix and Lockhart, two newcomers, the other three were old faculty members, by now, having heard similar schoolyard legends that spread through this small wizarding community every few years and kept popping up with more and more sensational and hunting content.


    "But as far as I know, the two most famous names that can be associated with the word Chamber of Secrets are Ravenclaw and Slytherin. And in reference to this attack, the reference is already pretty obvious."


    A few others could understand what Felix meant, the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin linked together.


    Ravenclaw wouldn''t do something like this.


    "Fair enough speculation, but unfortunately no proof." Snape stabbed him.


    Finally, Dumbledore hammered the point home, "Let''s search through the castle for the next few days and see if we can find anything."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 36: Room of Requirement

    The next day, Felix arrived at the corridor where the attack had happened last night and isn''t surprised to encounter Filch. The corridor had obviously been cleaned by him, and the puddles of water had disappeared from the floor. On the wall with the words "Chamber of Secrets has been opened," he laid on an empty chair.


    At the moment, his back is turned from Felix, and he''s painstakingly scrubbing the words on the wall with cleaner, but it seemed to be futile.


    "Mr. Filch."


    Filch turned back, his eyes protruding, his face plastered with an unnatural flush and his mouth muttering, but when he saw Felix, he greeted him politely, "Professor Hap."


    "I''ve come to look at the scene, maybe I can find some clues left behind."


    Felix hadn''t dealt much with the Filch when he was at school, back then he didn''t have Mrs Norris as a helper, while he himself was completely immune to him with his excellent Disillusionment Charm.


    Filch gave way and stood somewhat limply on one side. He had revealed himself as a Squib yesterday, and today he didn''t want to stay a second longer in the face of this genius professor.


    "Well, then, I''ll leave you to it, Professor, I have a little more ... to do."


    "Go ahead and get busy," Felix responded, "Oh, right." He waved his wand and the writing on the wall faded all at once.


    "Huh?"


    He is a little surprised and quickly moved over to the wall, looking the writing up and down. "It seems to be an obligatory spell, but it''s not a permanent adhesive spell." Felix gestured at the wall with his wand, and soon the writing disappeared.


    "Thanks, thanks." Filch turned red, said hastily, and left quickly, without taking even his cleaning kit with him.


    Felix began to search the surrounding area, and soon, he found a clue.


    He crouched down and tapped his wand on the ring on his left hand, and a large magnifying glass appeared in his hand.


    Felix looked closely at the floor, where there is a burn mark.


    "What is this? How did it appear?"


    Felix looked at the girls'' lavatory which is directly across the hall and without much thought he quickly pushed open the brass handle and stepped inside.


    It is a rather dark, damp place, the walls were stained, the floor is full of puddles of water, the tiles on the row of sinks were peeling off, and the only source of light is a few dark candles.


    Fighting back the discomfort, Felix''s eyes darted around.


    From the innermost cubicle came a sudden voice, "Who''s there?" With that, a grim-faced spirit rushed out, her pearl-coloured glasses covering most of her face.


    She looked over at Felix, clearly recognizing this professor.


    Dazed and somewhat disbelieving, the spirit glanced behind her, and yes, this is her own personal basement, the girls'' lavatory ...


    " Professor, prof...?"


    "Hello, Myrtle." Felix''s voice is rather calm. He is here to investigate a case, he had a legitimate excuse, well, that''s all.


    Myrtle looked at him blankly for a few seconds, then suddenly let out a scream and the whole spirit flew back into the Flush Toilet, he could even hear a loud, crisp splash.


    Felix: "..." As far as everything goes? There''s a question I wanted to ask her, and I can force myself not to be embarrassed for that.


    Felix said, "Myrtle, I know you''re here, did you see that attack yesterday ..."


    "No! Nothing!" Myrtle yelled from the cubicle.


    With that, he heard footsteps some distance away, and with a frightened heart, he hurriedly cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and quickly left the lavatory, brushing past a red-headed girl.


    Being spotted by a spirit isn''t terrible, but if a student ran into him ...


    His whole reputation would be ruined.


    Over the next few days, he cooperated with several professors when he was not in class and searched the entire castle, with the uncoloured result that he found nothing.


    One day in the great hall, Felix is still thinking about it as he ate his lunch.


    "It all started with the Dark Lord''s Horcrux but knowing that doesn''t seem to help ... I don''t know who the heir is, where the Chamber of Secrets is, and where the Horcrux is hidden."


    "Chamber, Slytherin, heir, petrified ... those are obviously the keywords. But how do you connect them?"


    Felix always felt like he is getting very close to the truth, but yet he just separated by a fog.


    "Slytherin ... snake?"


    He tried to remember, trying to lift the dusty memories that had been sealed away for so long. He seemed to remember seeing something, "Harry" fighting a gigantic snake. But the memory is rather vague, and he wasn''t sure if he is remembering it correctly; he is under the impression that "Harry" had also taken out a large group of dementors by himself.


    How is that possible? Even a normal adult wizard couldn''t do that!


    Besides, how could Dementors attack the school?


    But Felix quickly warned himself that in the world of fiction, anything is possible. Especially with the presence of a ''protagonist''.


    "So, it''s probably true that a giant snake caused Mrs. Norris''s petrification." Felix went along with this conjecture.


    But once again, he had a problem.


    What snake had the power to petrify?


    All Felix could think of is Medusa, but that magical creature was extinct.


    "Don''t rule out that Slytherin performed a bloodline graft ... from his surviving notes, he was very deep into bloodline research."


    He hadn''t made up his mind until he finished his lunch. He soon had a new idea, though, gathering rumours about the Chamber of Secrets from Hogwarts over the years and sifting through them one by one.


    Perhaps the truth is hidden amongst the rumours.


    ...


    Three days later, Felix stood across a tapestry of "Trolls Beating Up Barnabas" on the seventh floor of the castle, watching oddly as a silver door slowly appeared.


    And there you have it, he found it?


    With a little hesitation, he tapped his wand against his chest, and a light flickered across his wrist, ankle, and chest, and then he stepped inside.


    It''s an oversized junk storage room, with mountains of various discarded items, broken quill pens, old books, damaged Sneakoscopes... He also saw the golden Snitch with half of its wings missing. s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He walked around carefully and found a trace of no one.


    "A hidden room?" He could hardly imagine that the proud Slytherin would have placed his secret room here.


    "This room is quite hidden, though. It must have some interesting enchantments to study and research for another day." Felix walked out of the room, looking somewhat fondly at the silver door that had quietly disappeared.


    On the other side -


    The trio also working hard to discover the secrets of the Chamber of Secrets, and by "working hard" I mean mostly Hermione Granger.


    After days of fruitless searching and a two-week rental list on Hogwarts History of a Pastime, the Gryffindor witch finally raised her hand to ask a question in History of Magic class for the benefit of the group and gained valuable information about the Chamber of Secrets.


    Poor Professor Binns had to go off the curriculum and lecture on ''myths and legends'' while the crowd peered at him, much to his annoyance. After this interlude, his slow, dry voice picked up speed - making his lessons even more hypnotic than ever before.


    The young wizards, who had been in high spirits, once again collapsed, their faces rapidly becoming blank and dazed.

 Chapter 37: The Trios Investigation

    After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked out of the classroom while discussing the information they had just received from Professor Binns. "I already knew that Salazar Slytherin was a perverted old loony," Ron said in utter disgust.


    Hermione as she still sorted through the information so far, "Professor Binns mentioned there is a creature in the Chamber of Secrets, no one knows exactly what it is, but Harry, we have a lead."


    She gave Harry a deep look.


    Harry magically understood her words as he glanced quickly from side to side and whispered, "You mean, my Parseltongue ..."


    Ron also looked at the two with a terrified look on his face.


    "That''s right!"


    The Trio squeezed through the cramped corridor and soon came to the hallway where the attack had taken place.


    The scene before them had changed considerably from that night; the water had been cleared away, the petrified cat is no longer hanging on the torch''s stand, and the writing that read "The Chamber of Secrets has been opened" had been cleared away.


    However, there is an empty chair propped up against the wall.


    "Filch is always on guard here." Ron whispered, "He''s been very grumpy lately, often finding all sorts of reasons to deduct points, like talking too loudly or being playful."


    "But that''s none of our business, we just need to check the scene and see if we missed any clues," Hermione said.


    A few people moved quickly, Harry flopped down on the ground, his glasses almost on the floor, and soon he spotted the burn marks and Hermione spotted the impressive sight of spiders lining up to escape the castle.


    "What does this mean?" Harry wondered a little.


    Ron stepped away from the spiders with a horrified look on his face, "It could mean a lot - like that the spiders are afraid of that creature."


    Hermione sorted through the clues as usual, "So, the one that launched the attack is a snake, characteristically its attacks cause petrification, and is a natural enemy of spiders. That clue is pretty close to the truth!"


    The little witch said excitedly, "Give me a week, at most two weeks, and I''ll find out what it is. Ron, honestly, why do you keep shivering there?"


    So the next thing Ron told is the story of how he was holding a teddy bear as a child and the twins used lame magic to turn the bear with many legs, causing them to giggle.


    Annoyed, Ron said, "You wouldn''t think it is hilarious if you had that experience. Imagine you are holding a teddy bear and calling its name, only for it to suddenly sprout many legs ..."


    "There are no more puddles on the floor," Harry said suddenly.


    "Someone probably cleaned the floor, like Filch, that''s what he does," Ron said without thinking.


    "But where did the puddle came from?" Harry had a hunch that this might be a clue.


    "Ah! I figured it out." Hermione let out a squeal.


    "What?"


    "I thought of something, a possible witness who lives right next to us and may have witnessed the whole attack."


    Following her gaze, the two boys looked at the sign of the girls'' lavatory and gulped in unison.


    ...


    After dinner, they walked out of the castle and made their way down the path to Hagrid''s Hut.


    Along the way, they were still arguing about what had happened during the day.


    "If you ask me, we shouldn''t have gone to the girl''s lavatory, that Myrtle, and that place ... just a nightmare! And we got spotted by Percy." Ron rambled on the way.


    "But we also learned that she died fifty years ago, and before she died she saw a pair of big, scary yellow eyes, which means what? That''s the eyes of that snake." S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione ignored Ron''s muttered ''not necessarily'' and continued, "Your details are also useful, we also know the name Tom Riddle, who won the school''s special contribution award fifty years ago, so maybe it''s not a coincidence!"


    Harry''s eyes widened, "You mean that Tom is the man who captured the previous successor to the Chamber of Secrets."


    "Exactly."


    The trio knocked on Hagrid''s door, and he warmly welcomed the trio of little wizards inside.


    Ron looked amazed, "Hagrid, your house looks clean."


    Indeed, as the trio looked at Hagrid''s hut, it had got more than a little cleaner, at least to the naked eye, the black floor had turned into a dark brown floor.


    "Oh, you should say that," Hagrid said casually, "the last time Professor Hap came to visit me, he helped me clean up a bit on the way out, it was easy for him, just a wave of his wand."


    "Professor Hap?" Hermione asked in surprise.


    "Yes, Professor Hap. Dumbledore recommended him, he needed a bit of advice on magical creatures, and I''m an expert in that field, but he''s actually not too bad, very insightful in some cool directions, yes, very insightful."


    Hagrid served up a plate of brittle biscuits, a jug of pumpkin juice, and three glasses. He said rather proudly, "Professor Hap is an excellent wizard, I didn''t have much contact with him when he was at school, but -" he pointed to a book on his chair, "look guys, that''s a gift from him! "


    The trio couldn''t wait to open the book, and Hermione noticed that it''s somewhat similar to a comic book the Muggles had, with mostly photographs and a short introductory text at the bottom of each page.


    "Are these all magical creatures?" Ron asked curiously, it''s nothing like the stuff he had seen as a child.


    "No, these are creatures from the Muggle world." Harry said excitedly, "Look, this is a lion, this is a giraffe - it has a long neck, I''ve seen it in the zoo, and this one is a badger, somewhat similar to the Hufflepuff''s symbol, but they''re certainly aren''t of the same kind."


    Hermione is no stranger to these animals, she had read the full set of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, which had a section on animals. But the pictures in the Muggle books wouldn''t move.


    So Hermione asked, "Is this the book Professor Hap made himself?"


    Hagrid took a big gulp of butterbeer and let out a crispy burp, "Yes, it''s very heartfelt, isn''t it? I feel like I owe him one ..."


    It took most of a day before the trio remembered what they had come here for.


    "The chamber of secrets? The heir? The creature?" Hagrid''s face went pale for a moment.


    "Yes, we found some clues, fifty years ago ..." Harry is about to present their findings, but he quickly got interrupted by Hagrid.


    "Listen, there was no chamber, there was no creature, it was just an accident!" Hagrid got a little agitated and waved his thick palm, then his voice trailed off, and he muttered, "It really was an accident, no one thought it would happen like that, no one ..."


    With that, the trio got shooed out of the hut.


    "He''s definitely hiding something!" Ron said indignantly.


    "That much we can all see."


    The trio returned to the warmth of the common room and, having to face reality, began to catch up on their homework.


    When the sky darkened, Hermione suddenly closed her book, startling the two.


    "Who do you think the heir would be?" Hermione asked them in a low voice, again seeming to be talking to herself.


    "It''s definitely a Slytherin, I''m guessing Malfoy," Ron said quickly.


    Harry accepted this immediately, "There''s the possibility that it''s really him, you guys, their family has been purebloods for generations, he''d have a reason to do that, and on top of that, he''s taken quite a bashing recently - he''s been detained by Professor Hap for insulting Hermione!"


    Hermione''s breathing suddenly stopped for a moment.


    Ron also seemed to discover a theory, "Harry your words are so right, he must have done it, maybe the Malfoy is a certain heir of Slytherin and their family has kept the secret for generations ... right Hermione?"


    At that moment the twins came walking over from the distance, "I thought I heard you guys talking about Professor Hap, did he make any more interesting trinkets?"


    The twins sat left and right on either side of Harry and Ron.


    "Nothing," Ron said quickly.


    Next to him, Fred put one arm around his shoulders and scowled at the trio, "Come on, we can exchange information. We admire Professor Hap, too."


    George next to Harry chuckled, "Yeah, very much, we''d love to take him apart and study his head."


    Fred sighed, "George, you sound as if we have some sort of ill will towards Professor Hap."


    "Do you?"


    "Of course not."


    "At most we-"


    "Trying to imitate his magic golem." The two men said in unison at last, after a word from you and me respectively.


    Harry thought for a moment, "Well, we went to Hagrid''s hut in the evening and saw a magic book that Professor Hap had gifted him."


    "What''s it about?"


    "Muggle animals, and as you know, Hagrid is obsessed with those."


    "Cool!" The twins said in unison as they looked at each other.


    Ron said, "It''s your turn, we agreed to exchange information."


    Fred winked, "Our little Ronnie has grown up-"


    "-not a good dupe anymore." George followed up.


    "But - who made you our brother." Fred teased as usual, whispering, "We can provide information, you know, we''re fans of Professor Hap, if any of you want to know his whereabouts, like to start a casual encounter or something ..."


    Ron said in surprise, "You guys follow the professor?"


    "Don''t say that, we just got a little help, for example, Professor Hap has been going to the Forbidden Forest a lot recently for some time." Fred shrugged and blurted out a heavy dose of information.


    "The Forbidden Forest?" Hermione said in surprise.


    The trio looked at each other.

 Chapter 38: Tracking

    At night, at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were hiding behind the bush at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, glancing in the direction of the castle all the time.


    Hermione said with some anxiety, "I don''t think we should suspect the Professor ..."


    Ron quickly said, "Hermione, we''ve suffered from this before, remember Professor Quirrell in the first year? Who would have thought that the timid, cowardly man actually had a Voldemort glued on the back of his head?"


    "But that doesn''t mean that other professors-" Hermione tried to argue the facts and defend the professor she admired.


    "Think about Lockhart, he may not be a dark wizard, but he''s definitely not considered a qualified professor, Harry, you forget you acted as a vampire in your Defence Against the Dark Arts class?"


    Harry thought for a moment, and suddenly his stomach turned a little.


    So Harry whispered to her, "We''re not suspicious, we''re just curious to see what he''s doing in the Forbidden Forest. That would also rule out our suspicion on him, and we could even ask Professor Hap for help."


    Hermione stopped talking.


    The trio hid in the brush, the November night had a touch of coolness in it, and a thin mist added an extra layer of chill to that.


    Ron stiffened a little from the cold, and he said shakily, "Maybe, he won''t come tonight, why don''t we go back first?"


    " Let''s just wait a little longer," Harry said patiently.


    After a while longer, it''s nearing midnight.


    A tall figure came out of the castle.


    "Someone''s coming, it''s Professor Hap." The trio perked up, after all, they hadn''t waited in vain.


    At the other end - S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix left the castle and headed in the direction of the Forbidden Forest.


    A cool breeze blew against his face at night, a very pleasant feeling.


    He reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest and then noticed that something seemed to be watching him.


    A small animal? Forbidden forest creatures?


    But they shouldn''t be at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.


    Felix took out his wand and a dozen bright milky white dots of light flew out from the wand tip and then burst rapidly, illuminating the forbidden forest in a radius of a hundred metres.


    There is nothing.


    Somewhat puzzled, he followed his senses and went towards a large tree, examining it carefully.


    Half a moment later, he laughed softly.


    Opposite, the three youngsters, cloaked in Harry''s invisibility cloak, didn''t dare to breathe and looked across towards the professor with nervous faces.


    Harry could even feel his legs shaking as Ron''s rolling hot breath sprayed across his face.


    But fortunately, the professor didn''t suddenly reach out and lift their invisibility cloaks. He brushed past them and walked into the Forbidden Forest.


    " Huff~huff!" The trio took a big breath.


    "Did he find out?"


    "I don''t think so."


    "Why don''t we go back." Ron backed off.


    "No, let''s continue." At this point, Hermione decided to stick with it instead.


    So the trio held on to an invisibility cloak and took baby steps behind the professor.


    Felix isn''t going very fast, and he fiddled with his wand in his hand, a hint of curiosity flooding his mind.


    The trio, main protagonists, is there a "plot" going to happen today?


    There were too many flaws, misplaced footprints next to the tree, the faint sound of breathing, and a gut feeling that gave him a hint of the trio''s location.


    Still, it was the smell of his assistant''s shampoo that really made him recognize the trio.


    This was the reason why Felix did not unmask them on the spot.


    As Felix proceeded along his intended destination, he got a little surprised to find the trio still following behind him... their target is me?


    Well, it might be a good opportunity to get to know the other two "protagonists".


    About half an hour later, Felix came to a halt in a vacant space deep in the Forbidden Forest.


    Thirty or forty metres away, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were also hiding behind a large tree, "What''s he up to?"


    "Shhh!"


    Felix raised his wand and waved his wrist, three crimson spells struck the stones, and to the astonishment of the trio waiting outside the scene, the three stones turned into three large black dogs.


    The dogs were half a person tall, and their furs are as smooth and oily as fine black velvet. The three large black dogs moved their bodies slightly, then directed their gaze at Felix, their upper limbs lowered, their teeth bared outward, their gaze filled with aggression.


    "Quite the advanced transfiguration skills ... you see, they simply look like they''re alive," Hermione commented in a whisper.


    "I don''t care about his level of transfiguration, I just want to know what he''s doing in the Forbidden Forest," Ron muttered, but he too watched with rapt attention.


    The next moment, however, something happened that took them by surprise; three large black dogs rushed towards Professor Hap at the same time and attacked him. They were extremely fast and broke through a distance of more than ten metres in almost the blink of an eye.


    "Ah!" Hermione couldn''t help but let out a scream, from her perspective, the big black dogs'' fangs were less than three feet away from Professor Hap.


    But instead of dodging, Felix flicked out a curse.


    Hermione is anxious, even if it blocked one of the big dogs, there were two more. Harry and Ron''s faces were also plastered with horror, especially Harry''s; another professor dead in front of him in a year''s time?


    However, they had all apparently forgotten that all three big dogs had been transfigured by this professor.


    In a second''s time, the situation on the field changed abruptly.


    Felix''s figure disappeared abruptly, leaving a cloud of black smoke in place, and the next instant his figure appeared two metres away, and just as it did, a red light shot out of his wand. His figure disappeared in sync and reappeared in another corner, sending out a spell in an identical manner.


    In the eyes of the three, it was as if the professor had transformed into three in an instant, casting three magic spells at the same time.


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    The three big black dogs were hit by the spell in the sound speed and fell down instantly.


    Under the invisibility cloak, they watched in awe.


    "Oh my god, what kind of magic is this!" Ron''s mouth gaped widely, his mind still recalling the scene from earlier.


    Out of the black smoke, the professor''s cold face appeared along with a red light, and in the blink of an eye reappeared in another place with a speed that''s too dizzying to dodge or resist.


    Harry is similarly wide-eyed.


    And in the centre of the vacant space, Felix, who had just finished releasing his magic, shook his head, still not able to do it, off by half a metre.


    That was only two jumps, if he had done it ten or more times, was he in danger of being hit by his own spell?


    The reason Felix came out here is to perfect his trinity raid, which in his middle of school years he named as one of the "instant kill" techniques.


    The principle is very simple: a trinity, that is, three types of the spells used at the same time, blending perfectly to create an effect where one plus one becomes far greater than three.


    The speed of "Apparition", the power of "Full Body-Bind Curse" and, most importantly, "Thought Acceleration" to maintain his balance and reflexes.


    When combined, Felix can unleash his spell from a dozen different positions in an instant, forming a magnificent line of cross-energy that can make one man into a team.


    The principle is indeed simple, but the road is extremely difficult.


    The difference lies in how to improve one''s reflexes and how to maintain one''s balance in a split second.


    At the beginning of the school year, he worked out the prototype, or branching technique, of this magic, the "Thinking Room", but it could only be used as a teaching aid. Now more than two months had passed, and he hadn''t been idle in that time.


    While Hermione had been practising the magic runes in the Thinking Room, he had been in the Thinking Room contemplating how it could be applied in combat.


    Luckily, he had gained quite a bit of insight recently.


    That was why he had gone deep into the Forbidden Forest for several days in a row - escaping the anti-Apparition ward that''s present in Hogwarts Castle everywhere!


    "Two hops, barely acceptable." Felix got quite satisfied; after all, it could be enhanced later.


    He then glanced back, his gaze fixed steadily in the direction of the trio.


    "Come out."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 39: Punishment

    Harry, Ron, and Hermione shuddered as they lifted the invisibility cloak. The trio stepped forward, wincing, "Professor ..."


    Felix''s eyes kept glancing between the three, "Miss Granger, Mr. Potter, and Mr. Weasley, can you tell me the reason for your presence here?"


    Harry gathered his courage and said, "Professor, I, we wanted to visit Hagrid, in case you didn''t know, we''re kind of close to him."


    "This is not a good place to come around, you are too far into the Forbidden Forest." Felix shook his head, "I think your professor should have told you not to trespass into the forbidden forest."


    Ron stammered, "Professor, we were looking for Hagrid, but we happened to see you and were curious for a moment, so we followed you."


    "A moment of curiosity," Felix fiddled with the wand in his hand as he looked at the trio, not speaking.


    A tremendous amount of mental pressure fell over them.


    Finally, Hermione said, with a whimper, "I''m sorry, Professor, we disappointed your trust-"


    "It''s alright," Felix said calmly, "it''s in every young wizard''s nature to take risks, especially the Gryffindor ones. But I hope you will define the line between bravery and foolhardiness, and know that you only have one life to live."


    Felix didn''t say anything more as he led the trio back to the castle.


    "Let''s see, breaking curfew, trespassing into the forbidden forest, and stalking a professor ..." The trio''s faces paled as Felix''s words rang out, "ten points each and a one-week detention."


    The trio sleepwalked back to the common room.


    Seeing Hermione''s sad face, Ron soothed, "It''s nothing, better than the best outcome I could have imagined. I was expecting us to be docked fifty points each and put in detention until Christmas."


    Harry''s face looked with approval; if they had fallen into Snape''s hands tonight, the consequences would have been unimaginable.


    As he laid in bed, Ron suddenly spoke to Harry, "That was cool, right?"


    "What?"


    "Professor Hap, O swish, whiz! Can''t even see him move, he''s definitely much better than Snape if you ask me, even better than Dumbledore!"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore is the strongest," Harry said without thinking.


    "That''s not necessarily true, the Headmaster has not done anything in years. If it had been decades ago, I certainly wouldn''t suspect it ..." Ron muttered in a small voice before drifting off to dreamland.


    Harry, however, is somewhat sleepless, his mind kept coming up with the images of Professor Hap casting spells, every movement, from Professor Hap casting the first spell then bursting into black smoke, breaking down and replaying in his mind.


    He remembers it all vividly.


    The next day, Hermione remained a little sad, but she quickly pulled herself together and even began to discuss the Chamber of Secrets leads with them.


    The young witch said with a scowl, "So it seems that Professor Hap is not the heir of Slytherin."


    Ron said, "Don''t be so arbitrary, we''ve just put a temporary hold on the suspicion, although Professor Hap is certainly cool." He admitted that much.


    Harry hastily changed the subject, feeling somewhat ashamed of their stalking of the Professor last night, which had put Hermione, who worked as an assistant, on the spot.


    "I think it''s more likely Malfoy after all."


    "Exactly," Ron interjected.


    "But how do we coax it out of him? He''s not going to swagger and admit he''s the heir of Slytherin, right ?."


    Hermione nodded as she whispered, "Perhaps, we need to make a Polyjuice Potion."


    "What is it?"


    "Polyjuice Potion, it can turn you into another person." Hermione peppered them with knowledge.


    The two of them remained confused.


    Hermione said, somewhat annoyed, "Don''t you all listen to your lessons? Snape mentioned in class that the process of brewing this potion is very difficult and requires a variety of precious ingredients, and its recipe is recorded in the book Potent Potions."


    The trio discussed it in small voices.


    But then, they got stuck on the first step.


    The recipe for the Polyjuice Potion is difficult to get hold of because the Potent Potion in which it''s recorded is in the forbidden section of the library.


    There''s only one way to borrow this book from the forbidden section: to get an official seal signed by a professor.


    "There''s no reason for us to borrow that book," Ron said, "it''s not something we should mess with at our grade level."


    "I think," Hermione said, "that if we pretend that we''re interested in the theory, we might have some hope ..."


    "Oh come on, professors don''t fall for it that easily," Ron said, "unless they''re stupid enough to do it ..."


    Saturday morning.


    The trio had breakfast and went together to the Ancient Runes Professor''s office - to complete their detention.


    Harry lamented a little that the first Quidditch game is about to take place, and he is unable to attend training, about which Quidditch Captain Wood had a strong opinion.


    Knocking on the door, the trio is surprised to see Draco Malfoy in the room.


    Malfoy is slumped in front of a table with a large, thick book in front of him, looking at the page numbers, having reached the final ten or so pages. His quill kept scribbling, and the tip of his nose even had a little ink on it.


    Harry remembered with a jolt that Malfoy had been punished with copying a book.


    Professor Hap said in a relaxed tone as he closed the door, "I was going to keep you apart, but after thinking about it, it was too much trouble. I enquired him, and Mr. Malfoy doesn''t mind sharing the same table with you."


    Ron let out a sudden snicker, the look on Malfoy''s face didn''t look like he "didn''t mind" and he seems to be looking forward to their detention.


    Felix conjured out three chairs and placed them in front of them, "I''ll go find the materials you need to copy." With that, he left.


    The four people in the office stared at each other with wide eyes.


    Harry said teasingly, "Malfoy, your detention still isn''t over yet? It''s taking a lot out of you."


    Malfoy tilted his head high, "Harry Potter!" He glanced at the three and seemed to want to say something when he saw Hermione, but he hastily held back.


    He said, slightly condescendingly, "At Professor Snape''s suggestion, Professor Hap allowed me to take a break in the middle of the session as a way of - not having to miss Slytherin''s Quidditch training, Potter! I''ll beat you at the tournament!"


    Harry''s mood soured for a moment. With the financial backing of the Malfoy, the entire Slytherin Quidditch team had switched to Nimbus 2001 Brooms, which made them extremely fast, like seven pale green silhouettes on the pitch. S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron teased, "The real game is all about skill, even if you take the back door and become a Seeker, you''ll just be more the butt of a joke, loser!"


    "Shut up, Weasley. Do you even have a double-digit Golden Galleon left in your family''s vault?"


    Ron''s face turned red, and even his ears grew hot as he pulled out his wand and shouted, "Say that again! Malfoy, say it again!"


    Harry and Hermione hastily held him back, leaving aside what would happen if they fought in a Professor''s office, and even if he allowed Ron to fight, what would happen, another day of spitting slugs all over the place?


    Felix returned with a thick pile of parchment, and Harry and Ron were in no mood for any sort of fight as they looked at the more than a foot-high pile of material.


    "I asked Professor McGonagall about it, and she had a batch of papers that were too old and required a renewal, so I volunteered to take this job," Felix said slightly perkily, " It happens to be related to your behaviour - the list of student violations and their penalties."


    Felix placed the material on the table and with a "thud" brought up a thick ring of dust, he waved his wand to "Scourgify" and a gust of wind carried the dust away, "Let''s get to work, kiddos. "


    Felix sat in a corner of his office, seven or eight metres away from them, "Silencio." He pointed his wand at himself and then flipped open a thick book and enjoyed his leisurely weekend.


    At the other end, Harry, Ron, and Hermione resigned themselves to their fate and sat down, Ron is strongly repulsed to sit with Malfoy and as a last resort, Harry had to be next to him.


    Harry flipped open a piece of parchment and began to copy the material with a quill dipped in ink.


    Malfoy whispered, "Potter! You know, you''re going to lose ..."


    "Shut up, Malfoy!" Harry yelled in a low tone.

 Chapter 40: Malfoy

    Harry felt awful about this detainment because Malfoy kept muttering in his ear and constantly provoking him. This made his efficiency plummet, and it''s nearly noon, but he had only copied ten sheets of parchment. The thickness couldn''t even catch up to one little thumb.


    At lunchtime, Harry complained to Hermione and Ron about this. He broke down a little and said, "I never thought he''d talk so much, and be buzzing around non-stop."


    Ron offered him advice, "You could harass him too."


    Harry looked speechless, he didn''t have that much to talk with Malfoy.


    Hermione pondered, "You could probably provoke him and use the opportunity to ask him if he''s the heir of Slytherin."


    "Don''t be ridiculous, how could he say, unless it was someone close to him." Ron retorted.


    Harry agreed that this idea is not plausible, rather it would be easy to spook him. "By the way, Hermione, what do we do about the sign?"


    "How about you get it from Professor Hap?" Ron suggested.


    "That''s not a good idea." Hermione sighed, "He''s not like Professor Lockhart, like that ..."


    "-like a twat." Ron answered, getting a glare from Hermione.


    "But I can try tonight, just so you know, try." Hermione didn''t give a positive response.


    After lunch, they returned to the Ancient Runes office and continued their own scribing tasks.


    And Harry had to endure the provocative looks from Malfoy, as he tried several times to draw his wand and inflict a vile spell on him; one wasn''t enough, it was better to do what Professor Hap had done and send out three spells in a flash, leaving him defenceless ...


    By the afternoon, Felix looked at the results of a few of them and nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad, you three will be done by tomorrow afternoon. And Mr. Malfoy, you''re making even faster progress, just seven or eight sheets short."


    Draco Malfoy nearly burst into tears, thanks to how much he had paid for his slip of the tongue, two whole large books, the kind that is copied completely by hand.


    Almost two months before and after, although in between he skipped a lot of detainment to go to Quidditch training ...


    The following, Malfoy wrote so hard that even Harry couldn''t be bothered, and finally finished copying the entire thing before dinner.


    Felix couldn''t help but compliment him twice, "Very good, well Mr. Malfoy, your detainment ends here."


    "Yes, Professor," Malfoy whispered.


    Seeing him sort out his stationery made Harry and the others very envious, they still had a full day of detainment tomorrow.


    "Oh, yes, Mr. Malfoy," Felix called out to him, startling Malfoy.


    He isn''t going to be given a few more books, is he?


    Fortunately, Felix had no such thoughts as he waved his wand and out of the corner flew a thick pile of parchment - covered in dense handwriting. Under his magic, the parchment split in two and got quickly bound together in midair.


    Two book covers flew out of the suitcase and wrapped the parchment together, hot gold writing slowly emerging on the cover and looking, like two books.


    "Mr. Malfoy, here are the fruits of your labour, a present for you."


    The two books landed in front of him, and Malfoy looked stunned.


    Felix said, "Although you come from a glorious pureblood with exceptional talent, Muggles are not inferior, as I think you have learned." He pointed to the two handwritten books in front of Malfoy.


    "Through this detainment, I hope you will remember one thing, weakness or strength is not an obstacle to survival, arrogance is."


    Malfoy held the two books, his lips opening and closing, but he said nothing.


    When he left, Felix said to the trio who were watching, "Alright, you''re done for the day, we''ll continue tomorrow."


    Hermione whispered and asked Felix, "Professor, can I continue studying magic runes with you tonight?"


    Felix got somewhat surprised as he thought for a moment and said, "In principle, I have no objection, but your homework ..."


    Hermione said cheerfully, "That''s okay, I''ve finished all my homework." She looked as if she had hit the jackpot.


    As the trio exited the office and made their way to the great hall, Ron looked at Hermione with an incredulous look on his face, "Did you really finish your homework?"


    "Of course!"


    "When did you write it?" Ron seriously doubted that his own clock is different from Hermione''s, did she have a few more hours in her day than he did?


    Hermione is in a rather good mood, and she said, slightly condescendingly, "Now that I know I''m going to be detainment for the rest of the week, of course, I have to finish my homework early, isn''t that common sense?"


    Ron mumbled something and Harry looked ashamed.


    ...


    Malfoy returned to the Slytherin common room and put his book bag down.


    He sat in his chair with a grim look on his face, his eyes looking out the window at the dark lake through the green light of the common room, with a fish or two swimming past the window now and then.


    Two followers came over, "Draco, want to go for supper?"


    "Crabbe, Goyle ..." Malfoy shot them a serious look, "Never mind, you guys go ahead."


    Crabbe and Goyle shrugged and quickly left. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Malfoy shrunk himself into his chair, his pale blonde hair and slightly pale face half-hidden in the shadows.


    He is still thinking back to the few words of Professor Hap.


    Despite his attempts to refute the ridiculous idea, the two months of copying as punishment had put parts of the book into his head.


    It reminded him of the time when his mother had taken him as a child to a pureblood wizard, and he had run into his aunt.


    That aunt is his mother''s second sister, but had been removed from the family because she had married a stupid muggle.


    There was a terrible argument between them and his mother urged her to go back and confess her mistake, which was unceremoniously rejected.


    He remembered very little of it, and the only words he remembered were his aunt shouting at them, "What have you got to be superior to, apart from magic?"


    That twisted expression he remembered to this day.


    Somehow, he suddenly grabbed his book bag and pulled out the two books, staring at the covers.


    One, The Muggle Struggle: from a Million Years Ago, and the other one, How Muggles Think.


    The covers were familiar to him, after all, he had been holding and copying them for two months, but they were also slightly different -


    Underneath the author, a few new words had been added - transcribed by: Draco Malfoy.


    Malfoy picked up the book, How Muggles Think, and turned the page from the first. Looking at the familiar font on it, he set aside his prejudices for the first time and read carefully.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 41: potion

    At 7pm, Hermione walked into Professor Hap''s office on time, as she had done for the past two months. This time, however, she felt a little nervous.


    Felix looked up and smiled when he saw that our little witch looked a little restrained, "Sit down first, I had thought you would be absent for this weekend, after all you have been here for most of the week."


    Hermione gathered her courage and said, "Professor, I''m sorry we followed you because we got a lead on the Chamber of Secrets and happened to find you in the Forbidden Forest ..."


    Felix was somewhat taken aback, "So I became the subject of suspicion ..."


    "No Professor, you are very good, we are the ones who were too sensitive," Hermione hastened to explain, "We came across a professor during the previous academic year who is a dark wizard and tried to steal a hidden magic stone from the school."


    "Oh, with an experience like that, it''s no wonder you guys are paranoid. Still, I would advise you that while perhaps your intentions are good, you must act within your means, and many dangers are not varied based on whether one is despicable or noble."


    Hermione nodded good-naturedly.


    They spent the next five thinking hours in the Thinking Room, with Felix teaching her three magic runes.


    This time was one that they repeatedly compared notes over and over, without being too exhausted or learning much. Hermione even had the extra energy to continue practicing for another ten minutes when she returned to reality, and she could barely sketch out those three magic runes.


    "Very brilliant." Felix couldn''t help but clap his hands in praise.


    If he had been in a similar position, he wouldn''t have been able to outperform her without his golden finger.


    But he also noticed a flaw in this young witch, the magic she had mastered always seemed to be modest in power, not fluctuating much in terms of ups and downs - which is good to a certain extent, the spellcasting is stable and once learned, it''s hard to fail. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But at some points it is also a disadvantage, as she is less likely to "explode" and be able to amplify the power of a spell with her powerful emotions.


    It could be fair to say that she is more suited to being a magical scholar, studying and learning magic, rather than a spellcasting wizard like Auror.


    Felix thought that perhaps when she graduated, he could ask her to become his research assistant, or - as a partner?


    He couldn''t be blamed for thinking this much, it''s because there were too few qualified candidates available as backups, and that''s what he is so unsatisfied with Hogwarts, and the wizarding world in general - the training methods are too sloppy, how many wizards graduate and still study magic tirelessly?


    On the contrary, there was no shortage of such wizards in the dark market, but the point is, would he dare to hire such a person?


    If I could dominate the wizarding world ... a thought came to his mind, but it is quickly discarded, that''s not his path.


    "It''s early, you could get back early or want to watch a film together?" Felix asked the young witch as he glanced back at the time, just a little past nine.


    Hermione smoothed her hair, "Oh - Professor Hap?" She stammered, "I think - I''m rather curious about a certain Potion and would like some kind of background knowledge."


    "Potion?"


    "Yes, you know, we learn about antidotes and basic potions in Potions class, but I''ve read in the book about some potions, some of the more advanced ones, possess very magical effects ..."


    "Indeed." Felix thought about it, it isn''t a big deal. "Potion, let see." He waved his wand and taped the ring on his left index finger, and six finger-thick vials appeared in front of him.


    "The field of potion is indeed complex and magical, and although I took Professor Snape''s Advanced Class, I have to say that I''m still far from being able to master the field of Potion as a whole."


    Hermione is somewhat surprised that Professor Hap would hold Snape in such a high esteem?


    "First one, Baruffio''s Brain Elixir." Felix let the first vial on his left fly to Hermione, "It can significantly enhance the brain power of the person taking it and speed up their learning efficiency. In a way - somewhat similar to the Thinking Room."


    Hermione looked at the vial in front of her, it filled with a light blue liquid, gently swirled with bright fluorescent flashes.


    "Many wizards have become so addicted to the potion that they can''t help themselves, and have lost the ability to think altogether because of the misuse of Baruffio''s Brain Elixir." Seeing Hermione''s outstretched hand tremble for a moment, he added, "But it''s still okay to take it once in a while."


    "Second, the Fire Protection Potion." A small vial of purple liquid flew in front of her, "Although the name isn''t remarkable, it''s effective against magical fire."


    Hermione suddenly remembered the question Professor Snape had set during the first year quest.


    It was a logical reasoning question, and one of the potions worked as a way to get through magical flames.


    "Third, Felix Felicis ." A vial flew up to her, containing the least amount of potion, only a third of it, maybe two or three millilitres. But it''s the prettiest - it resembled a liquid of molten gold that jumped up like swimming fish with the slightest shake, the fluid blobbing.


    "Also known as a Liquid of luck, it allows the person who takes it to have all things go well, as if by magic. But misuse leads to vertigo, recklessness and arrogance ..."


    "It must be very complicated to brew, right?" Hermione asked.


    "Extremely complicated, it takes at least six months and one wrong step, and it can turn into a pot of poison." Felix said rather emotionally.


    "Fourth one, the Wolfsbane Potion. It prevents werewolves from losing their minds after a full moon transformation, but of course, it''s useless to me, merely used as a collection ..."


    "Fifth, Polyjuice Potion ." Hearing this, Hermione''s spirits shot up, and she stared dead at the vial that flew in front of her. "It seems you''ve heard of this potion as well?"


    Hermione whispered, "Professor Snape mentioned it in class, it allows the person taking it to take the form of someone else."


    "Yes, it''s also a rather complex potion that takes a month to brew. A standard dose works for about 10 minutes to 12 hours, depending on the quality of the potion."


    "What about this one?"


    "Mine? Probably enough to transform one person for half an hour."


    Hermione looked a little disappointed. It seemed that one still had to brew it on their own, and the question is back to square one; how were they supposed to get the professor''s seal of approval and get the recipe?


    Felix''s explanation continued as he waved his wand and sent the last vial flying in front of her.


    "The sixth one, Ecstasy. Also known as the love potion. Once taken, one will fall madly in love with the person who gives him/her the potion."


    Hermione couldn''t help but open her mouth wide.


    "You''ll realize that it''s used somewhat similarly to Polyjuice Potion: polyjuice is added with someone else''s hair or body tissue, thus turning them into the other person;"


    "The ecstasy, on the other hand, is to add one''s own hair or body tissue and give it to someone else to drink, thus making them fall in love with them."


    The young witch said indignantly, "This potion is an abomination."


    Felix shrugged, "Indeed, it will only give you false love, as if it were a soap bubble - like its odour, which happens to be the favourite smell of your heart."


    Felix waved his wand and the cork of the vial popped out with a loud bang, "You can try the smell of it - don''t worry, it''s the purest form of the original liquid and not very dangerous, at least not to your sanity. "


    Hermione leaned in close and sniffed gently, it smells like books, sunshine and her home in the muggle world.

 Chapter 42: Quidditch and the Second Attack

    The following week passed swiftly and everyone got busy. Felix had to focus more on the fifth and seventh year, which is, after all, a grade where the future of a young wizard lay at stake. Of course, he also sincerely hoped that more people would take up the study of runes - not the old-fashioned translation, but something like his field of study.


    He also had to tend to the little devil''s snare, as well as whomping willow branches with a magic infusion that would make or break his first magical artefact.


    And then there were the instant killing techniques, which could not be abandoned.


    Many forbidden books in the library were still waiting for him to sort through and read ...


    Everyone else had been busy too, Harry was busy with Quidditch training, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team became anxious as the first match approached, they used the time in the evenings to practice extra hrs every day after class.


    Hermione had to find some professor to get a sign on top of her daily practice of runes and looking up information on the Chamber of Secret''s monster.


    She managed to get a signature from Professor Lockhart without any problems, and with slightly exaggerated bragging words, Lockhart signed his big-name without even reading the content of the note.


    "That was very witty of you when you caught that last ghoul with the colander ..." Hermione blushed a little at the thought of what she had said.


    But luckily, the project of brewing a Polyjuice Potion went off without a hitch.


    "It''ll take about a month to brew it, in or around Christmas," Hermione said cheerfully.


    Harry and Ron crouched sadly on the lavatory room floor, which had got a bit nasty.


    The rest of the day went by without a new attack occurring at the school, or an unknown monster popping out and turning the young wizards to stone.


    The young witches also lost interest in the legends and secrets of a thousand years ago and even suspected that the last incident was a bad prank, the victim being Filch''s cat, the "accomplice" of the most unpleasant castle keeper.


    A young wizard already swore that he had seen a sneaky shadow wandering around the second floor before the incident, holding a piece of cake that had been spiked with a petrifying potion!


    Such rumours spread faster than the truth, so within a week everyone was talking about what petrifying potion could achieve a similar effect, leaving Dumbledore at his wits'' end, stuck waiting for the mandrake to ripen to configure an antidote.


    But the professors at Hogwarts knew what the truth was, and they spent the week searching the entire castle, only in vain. So they could only order the Head Boy and Head Girl to undertake the task of spreading the propaganda.


    Percy then gave an example of his own brother wandering around the abandoned girls'' lavatory during a Gryffindor assembly to illustrate the irrational and dangerous nature of such behaviour.


    The scene was so heated that Ron almost got into a fight with his brother.


    "You shamelessly ambitious man who cares only for his own power! I am your brother! Your brother! You''re a total power animal!" Ron''s ears were red as he cursed loudly.


    "I am a Head boy of Gryffindor! I have to think about the badge on my chest, understand, dumbass!" Percy shouted with the same red ears.


    "And you were there! You also went to the girls'' lavatory!"


    "I was doing my duty as a Head Boy! A ten-point minus for Gryffindor!"


    But all in all, there existed harmony and camaraderie at Hogwarts.


    This peace lasted until Saturday''s first Quidditch game of the school year.


    This Quidditch game is highly anticipated, firstly because it''s between two old rivals, Gryffindor and Slytherin, and secondly, because Slytherin had "shamelessly" received off-field assistance, with the whole team riding the world''s most advanced broomstick, the Nimbus 2001.


    The other two teams wanted to see the power of the Nimbus 2001 in action.


    Felix didn''t bother to go, just stood outside the tower and took a glance from afar.


    He had little interest in Quidditch competitions, and it wasn''t because he had failed his first year flying class; there was no causal relationship between the two. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He just liked to be quiet rather than lively, and didn''t really like too much noise.


    Still, Felix wanted to spit on Hogwarts'' curriculum, why were flying lessons only available in his first year? It made it impossible for him to even brush up on his points.


    He''s flying steadily now, okay!


    That afternoon, he heard the big news that Harry Potter had been injured on the pitch, breaking his arm in a shattered, crumbling kind of way.


    It was only thanks to Professor Lockhart''s presence and powerful magic to extract the shattered bone fragments from Harry''s arm that the Gryffindor genius seeker''s career got salvaged.


    "This is all a load of bollocks!"


    Hermione said indignantly in the evening, this incident completely broke her fanboy filter and Lockhart remained black all her life from then on.


    The truth is that Harry had simply fallen and broken his arm, something a simple healing spell could have fixed, but with Lockhart''s "enthusiastic help" he had to stay at the school clinic and take a "Skele-Gro" to make the bones grow back.


    Felix shivered at the thought of the sewer smell of the Skele-Gro.


    Later that night, Felix dropped the young witch off and was about to watch a film to refresh himself when Dumbledore''s Phoenix Patronus flew in through the window.


    The Patronus appeared before him, and Dumbledore''s solemn voice came from its mouth.


    "Felix, come quickly to the Professor''s Common Room, there is an emergency."


    When Felix arrived swiftly, a number of professors had already gathered in this office, obviously arriving in a hurry, a few still in their pyjamas.


    Dumbledore sat solemnly in his chair, his eyes half-closed, and Professor McGonagall kept rubbing her hands together.


    "What''s happened?" Felix asked in a whisper as he moved closer to Snape.


    Snape glanced at him before whispering, "The attack has happened again, a second time."


    Felix frowned.


    "Who was it?"


    "Colin Creevey, that fanatical Potter wannabe."


    Felix had no recollection of him at all and aside, Professor McGonagall said with a sad expression, "He only started this year and has always admired Harry ... yes, always carries a camera with him, I recall him well ... I heard he''s already mailed three photo albums home. Oh, dear!"


    Felix picked up that broken camera on the table and a strong smell of charred air hit him.


    After another ten minutes, a cheerful, pleasant voice pushed open the door to the room, "Did I miss something?"


    Lockhart, dressed in gold pyjamas, walked into the room, slightly taken aback, "So many people!" But his next comment made the professors glare at him, what he said was, "Is everyone having a pyjama party?"


    "I''m the best at this, I''m seasoned in this!" Lockhart winked and flashed his trademark toothy grin.

 Chapter 43: Discussion

    Felix found it hard to understand this Professor Lockhart. He had long since seen through the man for what he is - a businessman who sells books by making up stories and self-promotion.


    As for his magic skills, he had long ago returned them to his teacher as he graduated.


    This author''s formula is to put his own name to his story and to shamelessly enrich himself under the banner of "autobiography".


    This is not uncommon in the Muggle world, but the wizarding world is not that liberal, and to some extent, it''s quite simple. You say it in your book that it''s your own adventures and people would choose to believe it - and that''s a fraud, and if it comes out, it''s basically going to ruin his reputation.


    Doesn''t he know this himself? Why did he jump so much when he knew it? And to jump and perform it in front of the best group of British wizards in the wizarding world?


    To be honest, Felix didn''t understand it at all.


    He and Lockhart were two completely different people.


    "Silence." With the arrival of Lockhart, Dumbledore presided over the meeting.


    "A second attack took place, just an hour ago, similarly petrified, just like Mrs. Norris," Dumbledore said with a slightly heavy tone.


    "But this one is completely different in nature, the victim being a young wizard, a first-year, which suggests-" his azure eyes looked around with extreme pressure, "that the Chamber of Secrets has really been opened. "


    "Hogwarts is facing a crisis!"


    All the professors became solemn.


    Next, Professor McGonagall recounted the information from the last time the Chamber of Secrets had been opened. She pursed her lips and began to recount that part of history, "Fifty years ago, the Chamber of Secrets was opened once."


    "A student lost her life as a result, her name was Myrtle Elizabeth Warren, and yes, she remains at Hogwarts to this day as a ghost on campus."


    "Since then, however, the Chamber of Secrets has been closed, until now-"


    "So, then," commented Lockhart impatiently, "the attack is over? I mean, there''s been a student that got hit, no? I''ve seen a number of similar cases, like the water banshee at Morgan Lake, which appears every thirty years, and since I gave the inhabitants in there my home-made amulet, they''ve never been troubled again ..."


    Professor McGonagall''s lips pursed even tighter as she said aloud in an extremely rare manner, "I must warn you, Professor Lockhart! Colin Creevey is simply petrified, he has not lost his life."


    Dumbledore followed McGonagall''s words, "True, none of us know if the monster will attack again and if the consequences will be merely petrification. If you have any suggestions, you can all make them."


    Professor McGonagall said, "I have currently arranged for the heads of each house to patrol and strictly forbid young wizards from going to the isolated areas, and for the first and second years, furthermore, to group up for their classes and minimize going alone."


    "Very good, Minerva," Dumbledore said approvingly.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore," Felix felt the need to voice the information he had, "my focus of concern on the Chamber of Secrets all along. There are three keywords revolving around the Chamber of Secrets-"


    He glanced at the crowd, "The unknown monster, the heir to Slytherin, and the location of the Chamber of Secrets."


    "Once we know any of those points, we can sort out the truth."


    Dumbledore closed his slender fingers as if in thought, "Please continue, Felix."


    "The unknown monster, why don''t we associate it with Slytherin? The Slytherin symbol is a snake, perhaps this monster is also a snake, and that solves the problem of how it appeared in the castle - with the help of the pipes that are all over Hogwarts."


    The crowd pondered, and Snape spoke up, saying in his mild, indifferent tone, "Felix, the Slytherin symbol maybe a snake, but that''s only because he''s a Parseltongue. If you had researched him a little, you would have discovered that he is a master of bloodline research, and he studies more magical bloodlines than you can imagine."


    "But we can''t rule that out, can we?"


    "Heh! That unknown monster that murdered a witch fifty years ago and fifty years later all it did was petrify ..." Snape stared at Felix with his stone-like cold eyes, "If I understand you correctly, Felix, this isn''t the same monster, right?"


    Felix shook his head, "I can''t answer that, so my opinion is only for your reference."


    He continued, "There are two possibilities I can think of for the heir of Slytherin. Active and Passive." S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Perhaps this heir is awake and knows what he is doing, such as carrying on the will of Slytherin and exorcizing the young wizard from the Muggle family. But it is also possible that he stumbled upon the Slytherin relic and is controlled by it."


    Dumbledore looked up, "A very insightful observation, you''ve expanded our thinking."


    He pondered, "We have overlooked this in the past, it seems we need to educate the students more."


    Felix''s "manipulation theory" drew a number of professors into the discussion, he waited for a little and continued, "As for the location of the chamber, I have no way of knowing, perhaps we could enquire the portraits and ghosts of the castle?"


    After a long moment of silence, an older professor spoke with hesitation, "Originally I shouldn''t have said this, but I think Hogwarts is at a critical time and any clue is important ..."


    Felix looked at the old professor, his name was Sylvanus Kettleburn, he had been his teacher in the Protection of Magical Creatures class when he was a student, but he is rumoured to have plans to retire.


    The professor, known for his preference to study and look after dangerous creatures, had set an everlasting record, experiencing 62 probationary reviews during his term at school.


    If Felix had to rate him, he is another version of Hagrid.


    At the moment, Kettleburn said, "The boy is definitely not a bad boy, but if you ask me if he''s anything like me ... who made a mistake out of curiosity," he paused and said a name: "Rubeus Hagrid. "


    "It wasn''t him, Sylva," Dumbledore said in a firm tone, "I was teaching Transfiguration at the school back then, and I know he''s innocent, but there''s no proof ... for it, and headmaster Dippet expelled him. "


    "It was a grave mistake, and we didn''t catch the real culprit."


    The meeting ended and Dumbledore divided up a series of tasks, for now, it still had to be mainly about prevention, in addition to conducting daily patrols, and urging the young wizards in the classroom not to trust any sort of magic item bollocks.


    When Felix went out, he saw that Lockhart is talking to Dumbledore about something.


    The Headmaster''s expression is very intriguing.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 44: Influence

    The day after the weekend, word of the Colin Creevey attack spread through Hogwarts. This time is different from the last time, that was just a cat after all, and this time it was a student. If they hadn''t heard that it''s possible to save him, I fear it would have caused widespread panic.


    On the other hand, the regular patrols of professors and Head students also added fuel to the anxiety on the side, even though it is a necessary act.


    In the evening after the Runes class.


    Felix spoke to Hermione briefly about what could be revealed, "The professors at Hogwarts will keep the young wizards safe, you can spread the word around more often about it a bit with others."


    Hermione happily agreed.


    "But, Professor, why did you guess that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is a snake?" Hermione asked cautiously.


    Felix, of course, wouldn''t tell the truth, he could only relate the little story that Slytherin and snakes were compelled with.


    "You mean Slytherin manipulated the snake to do his bidding?"


    "Of course, after all, he''s the most famous Parseltongue after all," Felix replied.


    From the few words left behind by the Ravenclaw, it''s clear that Slytherin had all sorts of snakes at his side and at his disposal all year round, which made him very ''famous'' at the time.


    Hermione exclaimed, "A Parseltongue can manipulate snakes?" Her heart thumped.


    "I''m just speculating, after all, Parseltongue is so rare that there aren''t many samples to study. But since this ability is hereditary, it means that it is not simply a type of exotic language, but contains magic power ..."


    ...


    In one corner of the common room, a violent conflict is breaking out among the trio.


    "Harry, I think you should tell Dumbledore, or Professor Hap, about you being a Parseltongue."


    "Don''t say it." Ron retorted without a second thought.


    "Ron! You don''t know the extent of the problem yet." Hermione glared at him in annoyance.


    Ron lowered his head and whispered, "Harry, I mean, don''t make this a public secret, if you expose your Parseltongue in public, you''ll be finished and definitely treated as the heir to Slytherin."


    "We could just tell Headmaster Dumbledore and ask him to keep it a secret," Hermione argued reasonably.


    Harry rubbed his forehead, "But it wouldn''t mean much, right? You guys know I''m not the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets, which means that there''s still a Parseltongue lurking in the school." S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "If I''m exposed, then maybe he will hide even deeper instead."


    Harry didn''t want to reveal his secret, not only because of the bad reputation of the Parseltongue but also because of some kind of hidden mental resistance towards the strong proposal from the Sorting Hat when he was sorted in his first year to enter Slytherin House.


    Was that a sign of something?


    That the Sorting Hat saw him for what he is?


    Harry said to Hermione, "What''s more, we can''t be sure if the monster is a snake yet, can we? Maybe what I heard that day is just the murmuring of a passing snake, Professor Hap admitted as much. And you haven''t found a corresponding snake in all the days you''ve been trawling the library?"


    Hermione left speechless; the closest thing she had found came from a species called Basilisk, which had a lethal gaze, but it didn''t petrify people.


    Ron finally made up his differences on the subject, "Let''s just brew some Polyjuice Potion as soon as we can and get Malfoy to talk about this."


    "And that little elf called Dobby, he''s weird too."


    In addition to reassuring the young wizard in class over the next week, Felix made a point of caution, "Don''t trust any artefact that talks unless you can see where its thoughts are hidden."


    "Professor, are you talking about the Sorting Hat?" One of the twins, Fred, asked.


    "No, it''s been through a thousand years, we can trust it enough," Felix said seriously, "but some sorts of other things, like things you get by chance from library shelves, from old abandoned broom closets, like those, if you find you can talk to them, then you must beware."


    "They can be extremely dangerous Dark Magic artefacts."


    "I could give hundreds of similar examples ..."


    For the next half of the lesson, Felix continued to scare the unreliable little wizards with real-life examples from various countries, and judging by the looks on their faces, he had achieved his goal.


    By late afternoon, when the twins told others the story they had heard, they all listened with rapt attention.


    "I never thought Professor Hap is so knowledgeable," Fred said to Ron as he and George came into a corner of the common room.


    He squeezed his eyes and gestured to a moody Ginny, "Ginny, I have quite a few stories left to tell, if you want to hear them, I ..."


    "No need!" Ginny said desperately.


    The twins looked at each other and began to exaggerate as they imitated an unlucky man who had found a dark magic book and whose eyes had grown on the book ever since.


    Ginny shivered as she listened.


    "Okay guys, don''t scare Ginny." Hermione took the younger girl''s hand and said soothingly, "The Professor will protect us, as long as we don''t get too curious ..."


    Ginny nodded.


    The next day at noon, Ginny took a sneaky glance and left the large group for a secluded area where she pulled a black book out of her book bag and threw it with force.


    In the afternoon, Potion class ended, and the trio quietly made their way into the abandoned lavatory to brew the Polyjuice Potion.


    "All going well so far," Hermione announced happily as she looked at the colour of the potion.


    "Wait." Harry looked to a corner of the lavatory where there seemed to be something, but it was too dark for him to make much out of it.


    He is just about to get closer when suddenly there were footsteps outside the door.


    The trio looked at each other in alarm - "Who''s there?" Harry shouted.


    The footsteps quickly scurried away.


    Gritting his teeth, Harry got the door open and chased after him and, halfway through, he came back.


    "It''s Malfoy!" He said through gritted teeth, "He must have followed us here."


    "So did he find out about ..."


    "Not sure."


    "But it''s not safe here anymore."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione agreed to change places and this time, they chose an abandoned classroom in the basement.


    "It''s pretty isolated."


    The three of them were very satisfied with the new location.


    In the evening, a young wizard slipped quietly into the place where Harry and the others had brewed their potions earlier, hesitated slightly, and went into the girls'' lavatory.


    Halfway through the day, he stepped out and left quickly, something hidden in his robe.

 Chapter 45: Guest Psychiatrist

    As the Creevey incident fermented, the young wizards of Hogwarts showed an extremely unreliable side as everyone hid from their professors, giggling and exchanging amulets, talismans, and other protective playthings. During this period, such a practice quickly took the school by storm, with Neville Longbottom buying a large, smelly onion, a spiky amethyst, rotting water, and a salamander tail.


    As a result, the other Gryffindor boys told him he actually isn''t in danger: he''s pureblood and therefore safe from attack.


    "They went after Filch first," said Neville, his round face filled with fear, "and everyone knew that I was pretty much a Squib."


    The professors had to repeatedly emphasize the complete ineffectiveness of these things in class three times over. Among them, Felix, with his good reputation and gentle attitude, gained a lot of fans from the young wizards.


    There were even a number of lower-year students who "came in" and asked for psychological guidance.


    "Professor, can I, can I have a chat with you?" A curly-haired Hufflepuff boy stopped him while he''s patrolling the hallways.


    "Sure." Felix sighed inwardly, the fourth one this week, this reputation is wearing him down.


    The young wizard looked a bit formal as the two made their way to a pillar, but Felix''s high " favourable" rating among the young wizard community helped him calm down quickly.


    "Professor, I''m having some difficulties." Felix gestured for him to continue, "My name is Justin Finch-Fletchley, I come from a Muggle family ..."


    Felix''s mind became clear.


    "... When I received my admission letter, I wasn''t sure about coming to Hogwarts, but, well, as you know, I was originally going to attend Eton, where my parents graduated from." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said approvingly, "I''ve heard of that school, it''s quite famous in the Muggle world."


    "Yes, that''s right." Justin got a little more excited, "But I was more curious about magic, and I convinced them to let me come to Hogwarts. Professor McGonagall''s display shocked them at the time."


    Felix nodded, Hogwarts traditionally has the habit of visiting new students from Muggle families.


    But it would be interesting to imagine the expressions of the Muggles under the idealistic view, who saw magic for the first time.


    Justin continued, "A lot has happened this year, with difficult times ... everyone is panicking, and a lot of people are writing home."


    "Your parents are worried about you too, right? Did they let you take a break from school for a while?" Felix asked.


    "No, no, Professor," Justin said quickly, "I didn''t tell my family, I''m sure Hogwarts will stay open, Professor, and I love magic! I, I''m just a little scared, there are a lot of rumours that ... Harry, Harry, he is the heir of Slytherin!"


    "Rumours are mostly untrue." Felix said calmly, "Do you believe this rumour?"


    "I''m not sure, judging from logic, well, Professor, you know the word logical, right? Great, judging from logic, they just appeared in the wrong place, but I don''t know much about magic ..."


    "Don''t worry, it''s not him, I can assure you of that, the professors have enough insight to separate fact from rumour."


    Justin breathed a clear sigh of relief.


    "Are there any more questions?"


    "And, Professor, I hear you''re a Muggle-born too? Sorted into Slytherin?"


    "That''s right."


    "Then you must have suffered a lot of trouble with others, right? Did you hit them back hard?"


    "Ah, you could barely say that."


    Justin''s expression perked up, "Professor, many young wizards, especially those from Muggle families, worship you, you''re their idol!"


    ?


    I''ve just, become the idol of Muggle wizards?


    "Professor, everyone wants to be as brave as you are ..."


    After sending off this young wizard who was initially shy and then quickly turned to a chatterbox, Felix''s heart remained somewhat amazed. He laughed softly after a while. This feeling ... is not bad.


    December came, and with the tireless efforts of the professors, the young wizards finally abandoned their unreliable amulets and turned to more practical gadgets, such as a pair of Foe-Glass that could detect potential dangers in advance.


    It was rumoured that girls carried a small mirror with them and used it to look around every corner, but this practice was quickly abandoned and not many people were able to stick with it.


    The devil''s snare that Felix had raised for so long also sprouted strong and ready for consumption.


    They''re also the branch of the whomping willow, under more than a month of diligent Magic irrigation, every inch of it is infused with Felix''s own magic, which makes its surface shine and still maintain enough vitality.


    Felix sampled the effect, he drew his wand, "Reducio!" The seven to eight-meter-long branch shrank rapidly and became a long snake-like thing in the blink of an eye.


    "It''s still a little thick."


    He kept casting spells, and the branch became smaller and smaller, but the process also became more and more difficult. Luckily, the branch was soaked with his own magic power and did not reject him, and with the help of a few more techniques from the ancient books, he managed to turn it into a thin, flexible rope of emerald green colour.


    Without rest, he quickly carved dense runes on the surface to maintain the effect of the magic.


    "It looks quite good!"


    But next, there''s a dilemma in his mind.


    According to his vision, he wanted to rely on whomping willow thin rope as a skeleton, the unicorn hair knitted into it, forming a small pouch-like thing.


    But he''s stuck on the first step, how to weave them together in the proper way?


    "I know about this, I learned to knit sweaters with my mother!"


    In the end, with the help of his assistant, Hermione provided seven knitting solutions in a row, impressing Felix.


    After three days of work, the little witch finished her work brilliantly, even using the leftover bits of material to knit a small beaded pouch for herself after getting Professor Hap''s permission.


    The beads were also ready-made, and Hermione made them out of a block of chestnut wood that she used to practice runes.


    The final half-finished product is a delicate purse that belongs to Felix, and a beaded pouch, which belongs to Hermione.


    "The rest of the work, is to carve magic rune circuit, let''s make the devil''s snare mobile in the pouch and mislead itself to think that it is still growing strong ... and tweaking, probably need a week or two."


    "Wait until the critical point, then we can use the magic to motivate the devil''s snare to launch an attack."


    "Of course," Felix explained, "your beaded pouch material is not good enough and may not be able to hold too many devil''s snare vines."


    "That''s enough for me." Hermione said happily, "Professor, can I complete the construction of the runes by myself?"


    "You can''t do that for now, but, you can help me with it."


    ...


    On Thursday afternoon, a small group gathered around the bulletin board, reading the words on a piece of parchment that had just been pinned up.


    A few words at the top sparkled and kept drawing attention to it. It read--


    Dueling Club.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 46: Poor Professor Hap

    Dueling Club! The word had spread throughout Hogwarts in just a few hours, and learning to protect oneself at this particular time is simply a sore point for all young wizards.


    Except for the first-year students who are still naive and ignorant, any other young wizard of any grade can bow on this topic with a handful of bitter tears.


    Hogwarts is unreliable!


    The original course that teaches young wizards to defend themselves against danger, the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, has been very watered down over the years, but there is still something to learn. This year, it has been recognized as a drama class.


    As a result, the young wizards have an avid interest in dueling clubs that will improve their strength.


    Seamus Finnegan looked excited, "They finally thought of starting a dueling club! It''s about time they finally do that."


    "Which professor is taking this course?" Ron squeezed through the crowd, his eyes constantly searching the parchment as if trying to circle the name of a professor or two.


    A Ravenclaw girl next to him said, "It isn''t written above, but I hope it''s Professor Flitwick, he was a dueling champion when he was younger."


    "Professor Hap is better." Ron quickly retorted, since the night after the trip to the Forbidden Forest, he was obsessed with Professor Hap''s prowess and thought he could hang Snape, and about Headmaster Dumbledore he could not tell, but it''s at least 50-50 chance.


    Harry subconsciously also wanted to nod, but when he glanced at the girl who spoke, he could not help but stop and stare.


    Noticing Harry''s gaze, Cho Chang smiled at him in a friendly way, and Harry felt his breath stop.


    "What do you suggest, Harry?" Ron asked.


    "What?"


    Harry took an elbow from Ron in the ribs, but it didn''t hurt at all, and he said vaguely, "Oh, yeah, you''re right about everything ..."


    The young wizards murmured, asking each other what they thought.


    "First gathering tonight. Man, are you going to be there?"


    "I''m not against taking some lessons in dueling, it might come in handy someday."


    "I think we could use it right now."


    "Do they think they''re going to duel with that Slytherin monsters?" Ron muttered, but he also read the notice with interest, "Harry, what do you think?"


    "That girl does look very ... what did you say?" Harry suddenly snapped awake.


    Ron looked at him with a suspicious expression.


    "A duel, yes, of course, I''m going." Harry concentrated this time on reading the words on the parchment.


    By the time dinner is served, most of the table was filled with news about the dueling club, and someone swore that at least three professors would be in charge of the entire club and that they would show a high-profile showdown with no restrictions.


    It was said to be very wild.


    The name Felix Hap, once again, appeared in the mouths of many girls, and the rumours of his open challenge to a pureblood family in his fifth year became more and more outrageous.


    From the original version of "calm and unassuming", to the later "sad and helpless, fighting to the death", Professor Hap''s personal image, from a cold and powerful genius wizard, quickly turned into a tragic figure waving a wand and rushing to the spinning windmill.


    Many of the younger witches who hadn''t faced Felix were holding doll-like wooden figurines in their arms, and their eyes were filled with tears of sympathy.


    "They are talking too much," Ron said discontentedly as he kept stabbing a piece of potato with his fork. It simply destroyed the powerful image of Professor Hap in his mind.


    He turned his head, trying to seek approval, only to see Hermione''s eyes also clouded with a layer of water.


    "He really suffered too much in those days ...," the little witch stated very emotionally.


    "Who? Professor Hap?" Ron''s head hit with a question mark. Are we talking about the same person?


    Harry ate his dinner sullenly, not saying a word the entire time except for the occasional glance up.


    "Harry, you''re not right," Ron said.


    "I''m fine."


    "Not right since you got back," Ron asked in a whisper as he moved over, "Did you hear that voice again?"


    "No, I''m done eating, see you in the common room." Harry left quickly.


    Halfway there, Harry lightly hammered his head, what was wrong with him?


    But he had heard her friend call her name, Cho Chang, how lovely ...


    After a while, Ron came back by himself.


    "Where''s Hermione?"


    "I don''t know, she said she had to leave first and told us to wait for her in the great hall." Ron shrugged, "By the way, what do you think would Professor Hap teach us if he were to come along?"


    This topic caught Harry''s attention, and he quickly went through the scenes when Professor Hap cast spells, and the most impressive one was indeed the forbidden forest one.


    He expressed his opinion to Ron.


    "Harry, that magic is too high level," Ron looked around and said to him slightly mysteriously, "I inquired from Fred - no, I did not say out it was Professor Hap. "Seeing that Harry wanted to open his mouth to say something, he hastily added.


    They were both asked by Professor Hap to keep it a secret and not to tell what happened that night.


    "Apparition is quite a dangerous magic, and we can''t learn it until we are at least full-grown."


    Appari- what?"


    "Apparition, allows you to disappear from one place and appear in another place in the meantime."


    Harry quickly remembered the name of the spell, Professor Hap''s performance in the Forbidden Forest that night had given him a great shock, but he had thought at the time that it was the professor''s exclusive magic.


    "And, as I learned by the sidelines, this magic is used for travelling in a hurry, and it is rarely used repeatedly in a short span of time, and the slightest slip can result in a Splinch."


    "Splinch?"


    "For example, your head flies away, the body remains in place." Ron explained with a slight exaggeration, "Not to mention, having to cast a spell while moving, and frankly when I told Fred about it, he thought I was telling a joke."


    Harry ignored the danger in Ron''s mouth with a look of fascination.


    ...


    Ancient Runes office.


    "You mean the Dueling Club?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Yes, it''s posted on the bulletin board, it''s in the great hall tonight at eight o''clock, aren''t you aware of it, Professor?"


    Felix shook his head. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione''s face looked rather disappointed.


    Then she offered her farewell, not a few steps outside, she suddenly turned around, clenched her fist, her face red with encouragement, and said, "Professor, we all think you are a very good wizard, I read a saying from a book: the hardship of youth is nothing, it will only become your motivation to move forward. You have a long life ahead of you, go for it!"


    Watching her stomp away, Felix had a question mark on his face.

 Chapter 47: Farce

    8:00 p.m., school Great Hall The long dining table disappeared, and in the center of the Great Hall stood a temporary square gilded stage, edged by three wooden steps.


    Hundreds of candles floating in midair, the center of the Great Hall, decorated beautifully.


    Harry, Ron hurried back to the Great Hall, the whole school is almost here, crowded, they are feverishly discussing. The two squeezed along the gap in the crowd towards the front, Harry inadvertently knocked off a first-year witch''s glasses, he hastily apologized "sorry".


    The witch took the glasses and put them back on her forehead, humming something softly that Harry didn''t hear.


    The two of them went to the Gryffindor wizarding area, where Seamus, Dean, and Neville were all present, "Hey! Harry, this way." They sighed with relief, "There are lots of people here." S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Neville Longbottom''s round face turned serious, "Almost all of them are here, it seems everyone is curious about the Duel Club."


    At that moment, Hermione came over from the other direction to rendezvous, and she is holding a newspaper in her hand.


    "You''re a little late, where have you been?" Harry asked, while stretching his neck to look out of the corridor.


    "I went to see Professor Hap first, then I ran into Professor McGonagall on the way back."


    "Something wrong?" Ron asked casually and didn''t wait for her answer when he suddenly let out a heavy sigh, and a number of other young wizards reacted the same way as he did, as they saw Professor Gilderoy Lockhart in his magnificent purple robes striding into the great hall.


    Next to him is a stern-faced Severus Snape, and the two were a wonderful contrast - the former warm and welcoming, the latter downcast and solemn; the former brightly dressed, the latter covered in black.


    Harry let out a groan, his two most hated professors will be teaching him dueling courses.


    The peacock-like Professor Lockhart gave a graceful speech, starting with a ten-minute account of how he had "worked hard to convince Dumbledore to give everyone the chance to learn how to protect themselves," interspersed with the familiar self-congratulatory and book-buying advice. -They have become immune to this rhetoric.


    In the last thirty seconds, Lockhart made a rare introduction of his "assistant" Professor Snape.


    "Professor Snape, who himself knows a little about dueling, has graciously agreed to assist me with a little demonstration before class - but don''t worry, I''ll get your Potion professor back to you in one piece." He grinned widely.


    Snape curled his upper lip and pulled out a courtesy smile that sent chills down Harry''s spine; if Snape had smiled at him like that, he would have long since scampered away.


    In the meantime, the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, stood impatiently at the edge of the field, carrying a white medicine box with her, and Professor Felix Hap also appeared quietly in the corner of the great hall.


    He is quite interested in this so-called "dueling course", and deep down he had some ideas, so he decided to come and take a look.


    If Professor Lockhart messed up, maybe he could take over ...


    And from what he knew about this professor, the odds were great that he would flop.


    It''s a test of his subconscious dissatisfaction with the mediocrity and chaos of the wizarding world and Hogwarts, but being prudent, he decided to wait and see first.


    ...


    The dueling session began in less than three minutes, and Felix''s eyes twitched as he looked at Professor Lockhart, who had been knocked off his feet by the "Expelliarmus", and stood up in confusion, his magnificent purple robe ripped open in a long gash.


    You are still a rookie, can''t you have some self-awareness?


    Professor Lockhart is assisted to his feet by several young wizards as he stumbles back to center stage, "Okay, everyone, see!" His wavy curly hair stood up at the roots under the magic spell, he looked rather comical, but it''s his next words are the most comical ones.


    "This is what will happen if you got hit by Disarming Charm, I hope I just impressed you with my demonstration--" he glanced at Snape, "But don''t mind me saying this, your intention just now was obvious, if I wanted to stop you, it''s not going to take a lot of effort ..."


    "But the young wizards need to grow their insight, might as well show them ..." Lockhart couldn''t go on anymore, Snape is looking at him with a murderous look on his face.


    Lockhart wisely changed the subject and moved the lesson to the next stage. Without any specific teaching, he pulled out a dozen pairs of young wizards and had them stand in a small grid across the stage.


    "This is the end of demonstration this time! Let''s see what you''ve learned, Professor Snape, if you''ll help me ..."


    What followed was a lousy battle, and Lockhart, wishing to avoid a head-to-head with Snape or giving specific magic instructions, shifted his task to critique and instruct, but he overestimated the level of spellcasting and discipline of the young Hogwarts wizards.


    In particular, Snape intentionally or unintentionally arranged for his own house and the little lions to pair up, which is strange if they didn''t fight.


    Although Lockhart repeatedly stressed that only the Disarming Charm can be used, which the young wizards have never learned - if you do not count Lockhart''s "demonstration" just now. So after a few ineffective incantations by both parties, a variety of small vicious jinx popular among the student community emerged.


    From Felix''s point of view, Harry and Malfoy''s group was barely interesting, but the two basically had no concept of dueling, using a turn-based system, like here a Tickling Charm " Rictusempra ", oh, then take this "Tarantallegra", while the rest were just watching So, it''s a turn-based system.


    The remaining wizards, Neville and Justin, were both on the ground, panting as if they had battled hard, but they hadn''t released a single spell from the beginning to the end.


    Ron scratched the dead-faced Seamus and apologized repeatedly, his wand is still spewing green smoke.


    And his own assistant side ... their wands have long since lost, wrestling with each other, the Slytherin girl with a huge size advantage gained the upper hand, her arm clamped Hermione''s head, but Hermione also has one hand deadlocked on the opposite side'' hair ... ...


    "Oh my god, oh my god!" Lockhart screamed, but he had no effect on the field, and Felix had to cross the crowd, waving his wand around to separate the young wizards a dozen times.


    "Professor Hap ..." Lockhart is a little flustered and still hesitant, but soon his mind is drawn to the tragic situation of the little wizards. "Miss Fawcett ... press hard and pinch your nose, the bleeding will stop immediately, and your nose is broken, and..."


    Madam Pomfrey stepped on stage and pulled Lockhart away as the distinguished school nurse madam quickly cast a spell and poured various coloured potions into the mouths of the young wizards. "Dumbledore should not have approved ... it''s ridiculous, it''s just ridiculous ... totally incompetent ..."


    Seamus took a sip of the green gooey stuff, his face turned even greener, and finally he burped and spewed out a cloud of green gas.


    "Shame on the professor for letting little wizards engage in dangerous activities ..." Pomfrey kept muttering under her breath, but she quickly solved the trouble and in less than five minutes back and forth, the little wizards were back on their feet.


    Lockhart looked a little overwhelmed, "Well, ah ..." he froze for a few seconds, "Let us thank Madam Pomfrey for her efforts, she is a strong support staff for our dueling classes... ...and of course, Professor Hap."


    He stole a glance at Felix, who is standing on the stage with absolutely no intention of going down.

 Chapter 48: Exhibition Match

    "So next ..." said Lockhart, stammering slightly, "I thought it''s best to teach you how to stop some unfriendly magic, yes, unfriendly, as I wrote in my book... . Documented personal experiences." "Please volunteer to come up as a pair - Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley, how about you? Professor Hap, Professor Snape, we''d better leave the stage to them ..."


    Felix fiddled with his wand absently, "A very good offer, Professor Lockhart. But before that, I think it''s necessary, to let the young wizards know what a real duel is like, even if it''s a demonstration duel."


    Lockhart''s expression froze for a moment, "This, I ..." he looked in all directions and found the young wizards off-stage so interested in this that he couldn''t speak.


    "Professor Snape, what do you think?" Felix asked Snape, who had been silent.


    A certain Potion Professor measured him with a deep and unexpected look, and he pulled a smile with a wide grin on his lips, "Are you asking a duel, Felix?"


    "A mere demonstration match."


    Neither man took Lockhart into account. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Snape gave him a deep look, said nothing more, and simply drew his wand.


    Lockhart on the side awkwardly found himself miraculously detached from the center of the vortex, his face regained enthusiasm, "It seems that we have to temporarily add a duel to our course, let us welcome the two professors!"


    This time the stage applauded enthusiastically, Ron gleefully recited to Harry, "Honestly, I''ve waited too long for this day! Do you think Snape will be hospitalized?"


    As a " strong fan " of Professor Hap, he is naturally on the side of Felix.


    "It''s just a demonstration match," Hermione stressed this point, but she still jumped up and down on her tiptoes.


    Lockhart stepped back to the edge of the stage and applied a "Sonorus" on himself - a spell he was quite adept with thanks to his book signing presentations.


    "I''m going to give you a commentary, although this is only a demonstration match, the real duel will not be like this, which requires a sharper sense of foresight to detect danger - for more details on this, please see my published works." Lockhart spoke eloquently, "But - it is still good for you. Following bow ..."


    However, neither of the two on the stage paid any attention to him, and instead chatted with each other for a few moments.


    "Felix, what do you want to do?"


    "Professor, I just stopped by to take a look and make a contribution in the process."


    "Don''t lie to me!" The two were very close to each other, which made this conversation only each other could hear.


    "Is it because Professor is only proficient in Legilimency?" Felix teased.


    Snape grunted, in his eyes, the former student has a very strong sense of purpose, and now the behaviour, which he categorized as "Felix ready to seize the power with his first step".


    The two bowed, each took seven steps backward, turned to look at each other, and raised their wands to their chests at the same time.


    "As you can see, the two professors hold their wands in the usual dueling position," said Lockhart, fulfilling his commentary duties, "one of the three common dueling positions, next I will count to three, and they will cast the first spell."


    The students at the bottom held their breath, and the atmosphere is completely different from the "demonstration" of Lockhart just now.


    "One ... two ..."


    "Snape will not be killed in seconds, right?" Ron shouted excitedly.


    "I don''t think so, gosh--" Hermione just about to say that Professor Hap looked up to Snape, but she is quickly stunned by the dazzling scene on stage.


    "Three!"


    Snape shouted, " Expelliarmus!" A dazzling red light flashed, and the spell quickly flew to Felix.


    Felix twirl his wand, smoothly release a "Protego", an invisible magic barrier appeared in front of his body, Snape''s spell bounced off, then he flicked his wrist, the magic barrier emitted a dazzling white light, and swiftly flew forward.


    Snape sent out two spells in a row to break Felix''s Protego, and the magic barrier quickly dissipated.


    However, the white light from the Protego spell obscured Snape''s vision, and when he subconsciously shifted his position - years of habit saved him once - three dull black lights brushed against him, the nearest one, almost against his nose.


    All this happened in the span of less than three seconds from Snape''s strong first strike, to Felix''s defensive counterattack, and with the white light to cover the rapid release of three sneak attacks.


    Lockhart: "..."


    The little wizards: "..."


    The duel continues, Snape does not dare to take it lightly, he has not made a move for almost ten years, although he has not given up on the exploration of magic, but he mainly focused on the improvement of potions.


    However, he is quickly picking up the combat experience he once had, and after several rather thrilling deflections in quick succession, finally began to counterattack.


    Both of their magic spells kept flying around, but both had a tacit agreement not to accidentally injure students.


    A variety of defensive spells, attack spells, disarm spells cut through the air, emitting a sharp whistling sound, the distance between the two people sometimes quickly close, and sometimes far away, their feet keep moving from one position to another in small increments.


    Lockhart wisely jumped off the stage after a spell grazed his hair, but he still commented loudly: "The duel is somewhat intense ... see their feet? MOVE, MOVE, don''t just stand there, silly!"


    Lockhart still got two brushes, at least eloquent, and through his explanation, many young wizards drifted into realization, sort of saving his image a little.


    Snape scoffed at this, though, as he dexterously dodged a spell and drew an opening to counter. He felt that Felix''s magic spells are gradually strengthening in power, which made him under more and more pressure.


    Damn, this kid is putting pressure on me!


    "Why does it feel like Professor Hap''s magic spell is getting thicker and thicker?" Even many small wizards noticed this, but with their knowledge, they could only judge the strength of the spell from the "appearance".


    Snape''s wand shook violently, a strengthened version of the "Protego" blocked in front of his body, two hot red lights flew and one by one impacted on it, issued a "thud" sound, the magic barrier was torn open by a mouth gap.


    Amazing magic proficiency ...


    The second hot red lights hit the top with a "thud" sound, and the barrier was torn open.


    The young wizards on the stage were dazzled, realizing for the first time that the so-called duel was not just a silly face-to-face magic spell, but that there were too many ways to cast spells in terms of speed, timing, means of defense, pace, and awareness...


    But they do not know, both people did not use their full strength.


    Felix slightly easily tilted his head to avoid a red ray, using this short gap to turn the wand to send a magic spell, the heart quickly assessed the limit of this potion professor.


    Professor Snape''s strength shouldn''t be like this ...


    The next second, Felix''s heart suddenly rose alert, he threw out three shield charms in a row, and let it fly far out and in the way of the necessary path.


    A crimson, powerful spell sliced through the air and quickly passed through the first and second barriers before rushing viciously towards the third one.


    The young wizards'' eyes widened, they might not be able to judge the strength of the spell, but Snape''s spell left an ever-burning trajectory in midair, and also pierced through the shield charm''s barrier in one fell swoop, they could see it clearly.


    "Dang!"


    A violent boom rang through the great hall.


    Felix''s third shield charm worked, bouncing off Snape''s surprisingly powerful spell.


    He smelled a hint of dark magic ...


    The characteristics of dark magic incorporated into the disarming charm, Professor, you are really surprising me.


    Do you have a much stronger magic spell? Do you still have a backhand ...


    Snape is far from relaxed, he did hide some magic spells, but they are dark magic, can not be used in public, and looking at Felix''s performance, even if he used it the effect will not be great.


    He has surpassed me ...


    Snape has never been so clearly aware of this at the moment.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 49: Exposure

    The two stopped casting spells at the same time, with quite a tacit understanding. "Wonderful! An evenly matched battle!" Lockhart''s voice appeared at the right time, "Did you see that? How tacitly they understand each other! I bet they practice together a lot in private, two cunning guys!"


    Snape''s face turned dark and ugly, and he walked off the stage without saying a word. But he did not leave either, but stood in the shadows.


    The exchange between them, rather than a duel, is more like a probe.


    He did still have a few Dark Magic hidden, but they were learned from Dark Lord, and he never used them since that incident, which meant quite a lot. And what about Felix ... his ancient runes? What about his Alchemy artefacts? What about Dark magic?


    In the duel, his magic power has been constantly strengthening, by the end of the duel what he showed, is that his limit?


    Snape tried to make a specification of Felix''s strength, but he found he could no longer discern it.


    Felix calmly walked off the stage, and the crowd automatically made a way out, as the young wizards'' eyes flickered in awe over Snape and Felix.


    To the eyes of the young wizards, the duel ended evenly and without a winner. Although Professor Hap had shown a very relaxed display overall, didn''t Snape also pierce two shield charms with a single spell?


    That''s the strongest defensive magic available to most minor wizards.


    "Snape is actually so strong!" Ron is obviously taken aback.


    "Professor Hap has very high regard for Snape," Hermione whispered, she is now somewhat fretful, to make polyjuice potion, the odds were they would have to break into Snape''s private collection, and if they were caught ...


    Harry didn''t say anything, the duel just made his blood boil, he could not wait to replace either one of them. But he realized that he might be able to see each spell clearly, but in their place, he might not even be able to avoid the first spell.


    At this point, Professor Lockhart returned to center stage, and he gave a spirited speech, "It looks like the demonstration went very well, and I think you can''t wait to - gosh, to cast spells as smoothly as the three professors, but don''t be overly ambitious, you''re nowhere near that level! You''re not even close to that level!"


    Ron muttered underneath, Harry didn''t hear it, but he intuitively thought it was a rebuke for Professor Lockhart''s words because his thoughts were similar.


    "- Next, we will follow the intended schedule and choose two representatives to demonstrate for all. As I just said, how about Longbottom and Finch-Fletchley?"


    "I don''t think that''s appropriate, Professor Lockhart." Snape regained his composure as he walked quickly to the stage, his robes fluttering like a bat gliding lightly across the stage.


    " Longbottom can wreak unexpected havoc even with the simplest spell, and if we let him up here," Snape''s gaze was rather icy as his eyes swept over Felix, "we''ll just have to keep the remains of the Finch-Fletchley in a tinderbox."


    The Slytherin student laughed.


    "How about Malfoy and Potter?"


    "Great!" Lockhart agreed quickly, whatever Snape''s proposal might be.


    He gestured for Harry and Malfoy to walk to the center of the stage.


    Watching Snape and Malfoy muttering, Harry first glanced at Professor Hap at the other side of the stage who didn''t know what he was thinking, he could only turn his head to look at Lockhart, "Professor, can you show me how to use the disarming charm once more?"


    Lockhart: "..." He came closer, right next to Harry, paused for ten seconds or so, then straightened up, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Just do as I said!"


    "What?" Harry asked, stunned, but he noticed that Malfoy is already standing across to him.


    "One, two, three - go!" Lockhart shouted quickly.


    "Serpensortia" Malfoy shouted, his wand exploded and a cloud of black smoke quickly turned into a single black snake.


    The black snake hit the floor with a "thud" as it moved closer and closer to Harry.


    The small group of wizards closes to the stage screamed and backed away to make some space available.


    Felix took one look at it, then lost interest, a simple little mischief spell. Snape lazily drew his wand, "Don''t move, Potter," seeing the expression on Potter''s face, he is so flattered that his bad mood, which Felix had just caused, is miraculously improved.


    At this point, Lockhart saw an opportunity, he thought he had to do something to salvage the situation. So he stepped forward and shouted, "Let me do it, I''ll take care of this trouble." But then he noticed that Harry''s gaze became even more alarmed.


    A spell from Lockhart meant trouble, a plain knowledge Harry had developed in just a few short months, as the bones he had taken from him on the Quidditch field could prove it.


    Sure enough, a potent spell from Lockhart hit the black snake, and a loud "bang" sounded throughout the great hall, and instead of disappearing, the black snake rapidly expanded and turned into a large python.


    And the python, as if on steroids, became manic, it raised its head high, revealing fangs, took an offensive posture.


    Felix and Snape raised their wands at the same time, but the next second, a creepy sound came, it''s like a snake "hissing" sound, but it seemed more horrible and frightening, people can not help but feel their hair erect.


    The two turned their heads at the same time, looking at the little wizard who spoke a strange language - Harry Potter.


    The black python swung and twisted its body as if it had a cramp, looking more and more hideous, but it quickly collapsed on the floor, smashing the floor into a large crater, nearly taking Justin who is in front of it in one wave.


    Although Harry is still confused about the situation, he knew that he had stopped the black python from attacking, so he gave Justin a big smile.


    But he soon realized something wrong, the hall was suddenly quiet.


    Everyone looked at him strangely, and Justin shuddered as he shouted, "What are you up to?" Like a frightened rabbit, quickly ran out of the great hall.


    Snape came forth and looked at the Black python, which is lying on the ground, and turned back into a wisp of black smoke, his eyes also became extremely deep, which contained too many things, which Harry simply could not understand.


    The crowd began to whisper and point at him - this is never going to be pleasant, and a chill ran through Harry''s spine.


    Just then, he became aware of someone tugging at the back of his shirt.


    "Come on," Ron whispered, "let''s go--"


    "But why-"


    "Don''t ask, Harry, let''s go ahead."


    Ron and Hermione almost dragged Harry out of the Great Hall with a forceful tug.


    The crowd automatically parted way for them, and as they walked out of the Great Hall, murmurs exploded behind them.


    Felix halted in place as pieces of the recent time kept surfacing.


    Parseltongue ...


    Harry Potter is surprisingly a Parseltongue.


    The previous places that could not be figured out suddenly one by one coherent, Hermione''s several desires to inquire, looking for him to ask about other wizard''s inaudible murmurings, after the attack and a special interest in snake magical creatures ... S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 50: I Want to Learn Parseltongue

    The trio walked out of the Great Hall and followed a stone path to an open area. It''s now a little after 9 p.m. and it''s become completely dark.


    "What is going on? Why are you guys acting so weird?" Harry asked irritably as he broke free from their grasp.


    Ron gave him a long glance, "Harry, you''re exposed."


    "What-" Harry suddenly choked as tremendous fear gripped his guts, "You mean, that Parseltongue thing?"


    "We heard you just talking to that big black snake, in another language."


    Ron''s words kept his heart sinking as he desperately tried to justify himself, "But I was trying to save Justine''s life! If I hadn''t told the snake not to attack him-"


    "Is that what you were saying?" Ron interrupted him.


    "Of course! You were there. ..."


    "Mate, the look on your face when you were talking, it was a bit scary ... like you were giving it some command, goading it to keep attacking or something."


    Hermione said somewhat sadly, "Harry, I think the ... possible reason for this is because the Parseltongue just sounded very evil, and your voice at the time was kind of a raspy hiss with a horrible echo that sounded creepy."


    "Professor Hap said that Slytherin was also a dark wizard in the eyes of others because he had no qualms about manipulating snakes with the Parseltongue gift and making them do his bidding."


    On the other end, Felix approached Dumbledore later in the evening and the two talked for a long time.


    "Felix ... your perceptiveness amazes me, I will inform the portraits and professors of the castle to work hard for a while longer, until the Christmas holidays, when most young wizards will go home, at that time, the castle will be quite empty. We can start a full search ..."


    "Sir Dumbledore, have you given any thought about the Parseltongue?"


    "Yes, perhaps Parseltongue is the key to opening the Chamber of Secrets, but I think that there will be something you can do, Felix?"


    "Sure. But, about the dueling club ..."


    Dumbledore was non-committal, "If Professor Lockhart doesn''t object, I have no problem with that."


    Would Lockhart object? Then the dueling club is already his.


    Felix got up with satisfaction and took a few steps out, he suddenly stopped, "With all due respect, Headmaster Dumbledore, haven''t you considered telling Harry Potter directly? He and his friends also have been following the clues to the Chamber of Secrets as well."


    Dumbledore lapsed into silence, "I can''t be certain yet, Felix. Harry''s Parseltongue reminds me of a few things that I have to figure out ..."


    ...


    That night, Harry tossed and turned, unable to sleep, he gazed through the gaps in the curtain at the snowflakes drifting across the castle windows, his mind at a loss.


    He once again remembered the advice of the Sorting Hat to him.


    "I belong to Gryffindor." He once again emphasizes it to himself. S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Originally, Harry thought this day would be his second most difficult day of this school year (the first being the day when Ron received a Howler from Mrs. Weasley), but he found out he is wrong; the next morning the news spread throughout Hogwarts and everyone is looking at him strangely.


    As if the next moment, he would suddenly open his mouth which is brimming with fangs, and bite their heads off.


    For most of the afternoon, Harry hid in the abandoned classroom in the basement, watching Hermione brewing ployjuice potion with Ron.


    Harry watched as Hermione threw bunches of twigs into the crucible, and he suddenly remembered something, "Hermione, what happened yesterday when you said Professor McGonagall was looking for you?"


    Ron lifted his head and stopped dozing.


    Hermione''s expression came alive for a moment as she happily announced, "My paper is finally going to be published."


    Harry had nearly forgotten about it, he was full of anticipation, but now more than three months had passed, and the thesis had completely cleared from his mind.


    "It''s strange that it took so long to get published," Ron said.


    "That''s because it took me over two months just to revise the thesis, not to mention the time I had to add reviewing it. They sent me a manuscript acceptance letter yesterday, a copy of the Daily Prophet, and a sample issue of Who Will Define Ancient Runes - forwarded by Professor McGonagall."


    The little witch is in a good mood as she poked some leeches right into the bottom of the pot and kept stirring.


    "Why are there two issues in the newspaper?" Ron asked, puzzled.


    "The body of the paper is in the Who Will Define Ancient Runes magazine, but the Daily Prophet also reported about it," Hermione said, with narrowed eyes, she seems very satisfied with it.


    Both the Daily Prophet and Who Will Define Ancient Runes have been carefully stored away for her to bring it back home for the summer.


    After Friday, it''s finally time for the weekend.


    On Saturday morning, the trio holed up in a corner of the common room, Harry''s mood growing more and more irritable as he felt that everyone who passed by him would give him a deliberate glance, and even the sound of their voices would suddenly lower.


    But the attitude of the Gryffindor young wizards really can not be considered worse, now when Harry walked out, he has the effect of clearing out a corridor, the deterrent effect is comparable to the castle keeper Mr. Filch.


    Since the cat he kept was petrified, this gentleman recently adopted a different strategy than before - hiding in the shadows, waiting for the violating little wizards to come to his door.


    By virtue of his familiarity with the castle, he had caught three couples in a row who were hiding and dating against the ban, scaring the little wizards of Hogwarts.


    Near noon, Professor McGonagall came by to collect the list of students who will be staying for Christmas, as she does every year during the second week of December.


    The three of them found Malfoy''s name in it, and they coincidentally chose to stay in school.


    After Professor McGonagall left, Harry and Ron were bored playing wizard''s chess, and sighing from time to time.


    Just when Hermione couldn''t resist saying something, an owl flew in and landed on her shoulder.


    Hermione opened the letter on the owl''s leg, which is a sticky note.


    "It''s from Professor Hap." She glanced up at Harry and Ron and said in a slightly odd tone, "He invited Harry to join me to his office tonight, saying it''s important."


    Harry is somewhat stupefied.


    ------------


    7:00 PM.


    The three of them walked towards the Ancient Runes office, and Ron suddenly asked somewhat uneasily, "Can I come too? I mean, Professor Hap only looking for Harry ..."


    "You''ve asked this for the third time, Professor Hap has mentioned you and said that you are more than welcome if you are interested," Hermione said impatiently.


    The trio stood in front of the door, and she knocked, then pushed the door open.


    Professor Hap is leaning over his desk looking at a book, a rare sarcastic smile on his face.


    This expression is quite rare, and Hermione quickly glanced at the title of the book, "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? , the author is Rita Skeeter.


    The young witch found a copy of the Daily Prophet on the table, with Headmaster Dumbledore''s picture on the front page and the headline "Dumbledore''s Big Blunder".


    Her curiosity immediately aroused, but Professor Hap had pressed the book on top of the newspaper.


    Hermione: "..."


    "Professor Hap, good evening." Harry greeted formally.


    " Here, you are, have a seat."


    Felix sat on a sofa, which is opposite of three young wizards.


    "Professor, what can I do for you?" Harry got apprehensive, don''t mention the Parseltongue.


    "Harry, you''re a Parseltongue."


    Harry: "..."


    "Professor, I swear, it was never me who opened the Chamber of Secrets, there''s another Parseltongue in the castle, and he''s the heir of Slytherin!" Harry yelled excitedly, he even came close to blowing his own cover about the Polyjuice potion and Malfoy.


    "Calm down," Felix summoned three glasses of orange juice with his wand, "No one said you opened the Chamber of Secrets."


    "Then you were looking for me--"


    Harry is somewhat puzzled, but from across the room, Professor Hap gestured at the orange juice floating in front of him, so he picked up the glass and took a sip.


    Hermione and Ron also took small sips.


    "My purpose in seeking you is simple, I want to learn Parseltongue."


    "Pfft!"


    "Cough cough cough!"


    "Cough!"


    "Professor, what did you say?" Harry felt inconceivable, he would have given anything to get rid of his Parseltongue gift. But now, someone is actually taking the initiative to learn this Parseltongue?


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 51: Persuasion and Research

    "The prejudices of the heart are a mighty hill to climb, Harry." ...


    As Harry walked dizzily out of the Ancient Runes office, his mind is still reverberating with what Professor Hap had said to him.


    Two hours ago, he tried to dispel the professor''s "horrible" idea, but two hours later, he''s already holding a magical scroll and began to think about how to translate the evil language" Parseltongue ".


    He even thought he would be benefiting the entire wizarding community.


    "Harry, I think Professor Hap''s point is right, a person''s talent is not what matters, and what matters is what kind of person he chooses to be!" As someone who had listened to the whole conversation, Ron quoted Professor Hap''s words.


    "What''s more - Professor Hap''s offer is also very generous," Ron added, he looked at the golem in Harry''s hand with an envious look, it is a golem with ice blue hair.


    This is the price Professor Hap had paid for the complete deal - one of the top class Golems from his private collection, which, according to Professor Hap, could "easily defeat a seventh-year graduate".


    Harry''s memory returns to two hours prior ...


    "Harry, we are always quick to label people, to label things we are not familiar with, but with a little understanding, we can see that this action is quite one-sided. For example, Headmaster Armando Dippet did a lot of solid deeds during his term yet all people can remember are just some ridiculous rumours that have been twisted by someone with a vested interest ..."


    Prof. Hap brought the book "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?" on the table and the book " went " to the middle page, so that the trio could see the contents.


    "Headmaster Dippet improved Hogwarts'' school rules by abolishing the vast majority of corporal punishments ... At the same time, he also refused the Dark Lord''s application for a job and spared the students of Hogwarts from his influence - this is a general opinion, but Is this really the case? The author with the idea of exploring the truth, from which I see a completely different logic, it was a dusty history that was covered up, full of political dirty ..."


    Felix said calmly: "This book, full of lies and distorted facts, which has been on the best-seller list for a long time."


    Harry was disgusted with the woman named "Rita Skeeter" and empathized with Principal Dippet - they were both misunderstood, only he is because of the Parseltongue.


    He quickly agreed with Professor Hap''s offer out of some sense of empathy. Professor Hap then flung him a dictionary and told him to translate it accordingly.


    Ron and Hermione watched curiously, and after some initial shock, they became intensely interested in the matter itself. In Ron''s words, "This is the process of decoding Parseltongue, we''re witnessing history!" S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But the process is not easy, Harry turned the first page of the dictionary and held his tongue for a while, but could not say a word.


    "Professor, I can''t do it."


    Felix thought for a moment, "You are not skilled in your Parseltongue, perhaps you are missing the direct stimulation." He waved his wand and applied a detect-feedback enchantment to the magic dictionary.


    The effect is that when someone is reading the book, it would feel like they were looking at a snake face to face.


    This got Harry into gear quickly, and after skipping the first and second useless words, he made a raspy, eerie sound that startled Ron and Hermione who were next to him.


    "That voice feels so evil." Ron shivered, his body chilled.


    "This is a serious piece of research on magic, Ron." Hermione is shocked as well.


    "Which word is it?" Felix asked.


    Harry pointed at the third word in the dictionary, " This one, [stay away]."


    "How many tones can you make on this page?"


    Harry tried again, moving his fingers over the dictionary so that the other three could judge his progress.


    The next moment, though, Harry either stifled his speech or normal English words popped out of his mouth. Ron reminded him more than once, "Harry, you''re speaking human tongue " and "Harry, we can understand."


    It wasn''t until the last word on that page that Harry finally said in a Parseltongue, " This word is [eat]," he said excitedly, "I''m familiar with this word, I heard it on Halloween."


    Felix''s fingers rested on his chin, "That means that out of 23 words on one page, the left and right sides to be exact, only two can be translated into Parseltongue."


    "What did that mean, Professor?" Harry asked.


    "Ah, animal language is always less enriched than human language, and it''s also vague. The concept of ''eat'', for example, we have a dozen words with similar meanings, which is very rare in the languages of other intelligent creatures."


    Felix thought for a moment, "Let''s pause while I do some modification on the dictionary."


    The trio looked at Professor Hap''s workbench, a very wide " dent " type table with a smooth wooden surface and with a waxed finish.


    In Harry''s view, Professor Hap with his wand tapping the dictionary, the tip of the wand emitted various shades of light, the professor sometimes silent, sometimes reciting something, and only after ten minutes, he stopped.


    "Professor?" Harry is about to ask what he did, and then he opened his mouth wide.


    The words in the dictionary suddenly "came to life".


    Completely literally, the surface of the yellowish pages swirled with ripples like water, and the words in the caption of each entry began to twist and turn as if they had arms and legs. Then they struggled to break free from the dictionary and emerged into the three-dimensional world.


    Next, the dictionary flipped pages with a clatter, and one by one the " captions " were thrown out, they landed on the surface of the workbench, the black hollow lines wiggled and bounced. In less than a minute, the number reached several thousand.


    This scene is extremely shocking, a two-dimensional object came into the real world at once.


    "Professor, am I dreaming?" Harry asked dumbly.


    "It''s magic," Felix said calmly.


    Hermione''s eyes erupted with an intense glow, this is magic ... She had always thought that magic is something concrete, a magic spell, a magic potion, or a picture that moved, but Professor Hap had shown her in action that magic could do much more than that.


    Magic is unknown, with all kinds of possibilities.


    Felix looked at the array of "words" in front of him with satisfaction, they were temporarily animated, he flicked his wand, the suitcase in the corner opened with a bang, from which a sheet of parchment flew out.


    Felix held up his wand and made a circle, allowing them to be connected to each other, these parchments stuck together under the effect of magic.


    Then Felix''s wand struck the table, and the legion of "words" on the workbench got incorporated into the parchment, and a word appeared on it, and they were arranged in a clear order.


    When it''s all over, the long parchment, or rather parchment scroll, rolled itself up and turned into a magic scroll.


    "Snap!"


    It landed on the workbench.


    "Here you go, Harry, thankfully I know quite a bit of cold magic." A smile appeared on Felix''s face.


    "How is this meant to be used, Professor?"


    "It stores your pronunciation of the Parseltongue - of course, you''ll need to tap the corresponding words with your wand before using it. Also, I''ve eliminated some English vocabulary, mind you, there are tens of thousands of words in the dictionary, but a lot of it is simply useless."


    So in the remaining time, Harry spread out the scroll, word by word translated - this time the translation progressed much faster.


    Throughout the office, a raspy, eerie voice would come every few dozen seconds.


    And Ron and Hermione also from the initial discomfort, to get used to it, and then numb, after less than an hour.


    At nine o''clock, Professor Hap sent the three out, "Harry, you can usually find somewhere unoccupied to record, and if you encounter any problems, just find me."


    Then he said to Hermione, "Tomorrow''s runes lesson is temporarily cancelled, I have something to deal with temporarily."


    "I have to go to see someone." The professor said so.

 Chapter 52: Lies and Truth

    The next day, on the morning of the weekend. Harry and Ron staggered out of the dormitory and saw Hermione already sitting on a couch in the common room.


    The two had barely sat down next to her when they saw Hermione slap a newspaper on the table with a "pop".


    "I knew it!" The little witch said angrily.


    Harry and Ron snapped out of it. They looked at each other and Harry asked, "What happened, Hermione?"


    "Remember the book that Professor showed us? The one about Headmaster Dippet, there was a copy of the Daily Prophet pressed on Professor Hap''s desk at the time, and I just didn''t feel right, and this morning I got the last few days'' papers ... that woman, Rita Skeeter! How dare she slander Headmaster Dumbledore ..." Hermione is shaking with anger.


    Harry quickly picked up the newspaper, Ron sat on his butt next to him and poked his head over.


    It''s yesterday''s Daily Prophet, the most striking is the photo of Dumbledore with a head full of white hair looking upwards, solely from the photo effect, which he looked both old and dismal, and the name of the front-page headline is "Dumbledore''s Big Blunder".


    Harry had a bad feeling, and he quickly read it -


    "Our special reporter Rita Skeeter reports that the eccentric Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, has always been a very controversial wizard."


    "Recognized as the greatest wizard of our time, Dumbledore has been hiding in Hogwarts'' castle and rarely appeared in the public''s eye since he defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945."


    "Everyone praised him, believing that he is guarding the hope of the British wizarding community and constantly delivering all kinds of talents for the wizarding community, but is that really the truth of the situation?"


    "The author recently received some letters from the parents of students, claiming that there was a horrific attack in the school and the culprit has yet to be found. Mrs. Ferrien Topsham wrote: "My child is in fear of his life at school every day, and the professors are doing nothing about it! I had to bring my boy back for Christmas."


    " With a great sense of urgency, the writer reached out to the concerned parent and interviewed her. It''s far more serious than we expected - the attack was not something that had happened for the first time, it had happened more than a month prior. Only that time the victim was a cat, So the news was kept under tight lock & key!"


    "In order to mitigate the impact and avoid being discovered and denounced by the public, this Headmaster went out of his way to concoct a sensationalist lie - he blamed it on the millennial legend of Hogwarts, the Slytherin''s Chamber of Secrets."


    "Hilariously, a similar thing happened fifty years prior to this, when the Headmaster was a professor of Transfiguration, during which a poor Ravenclaw witch tragically lost her life. Hogwarts caught the suspect as soon as possible, but Dumbledore had great influence over then Headmaster Armando Dippet, and with his good graces, the matter was eventually dropped, and the suspect was merely expelled from the school."


    " As I write this, three days ago, two weeks have passed since the second assault on the Student, but nothing is reported about it and the perpetrator''s still on the loose. We have to worry about this matter, the omnipotent Dumbledore, Is he really growing very old?"


    "The writer will follow up on the matter and bring back the truth to everyone. In the next issue, we will start with the performance of This Headmaster to reveal a more realistic image of Dumbledore for everyone."


    This is the end of the main article, but at the bottom of the page, there is a small line of text, a preview of the content of the next issue of the report, which reads.


    Dumbledore has always been brave enough to hire controversial faculty members, such as this year''s Gilderoy Lockhart and Felix Hap, but are these two really the right people? Let''s wait and see ( we welcome information from those who know, contact: Rita Skeeter, the gold editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, author of twelve best-selling books, bestseller record-holder).


    "How can she say that about Dumbledore!" Harry said, very angry. "And how can the Chamber of Secrets be a lie, when we saw about it with our own eyes!"


    "Not a word from this woman, Rita Skeeter can be trusted, she often makes up gossip rumours about famous people." Ron said insightfully, "She and Lockhart made a particularly huge splash a few years ago when she and Lockhart were fighting in the newspapers, and Mom hated her."


    "It seems we have a good idea about what this woman is like," Hermione said mockingly.


    Ron picked up the paper, "Have you noticed that this woman is actually trying to do a series, and the next issue is about Professor Lockhart and Professor Hap. How will she script their story?"


    Hermione said helplessly, " Headmaster Dumbledore is portrayed by her as a shady person, I guess the two professors will not be spared."


    "I don''t care about Lockhart, he''s just an empty shell. What do you think, will Professor Hap storm into the Daily Prophet building and give that woman a vicious curse?"


    "Ron! That''s illegal, how would a professor will possibly do that!"


    The three of them discussed the matter, and the final conclusion was rather pessimistic.


    Harry pointed to a quote in the paper, "She said that the suspect was caught fifty years ago, who is she referring to?"


    "Come on, Harry, you still believe that woman''s bollocks?"


    "Of course, I don''t believe it, but-" Harry''s eyes were fixed on Hermione.


    Her face paled quickly, "Fifty years ago, the suspect who was expelled from ... was Hagrid?"


    Ron licked his lips uneasily.


    Harry said quickly, "I believe Dumbledore, Hagrid can''t be the killer! But since he''s listed as a suspect, he must know something!"


    The trio prepared to brave the snow and wind to go to the forbidden forest warden''s hut, just out of the castle, when they bumped into a stout figure, none other than Hagrid, his face full of snow & blizzard, his thick beard caked with ice, and he held a dead chicken in his hand.


    "Hagrid, oh--" Harry crashed right into him.


    "Watch out! Little ones." Hagrid said gruffly, still waving the limp chicken in his hand, a few of its feathers flying through the air with his movements ...


    Later that evening.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione had just returned from the abandoned classroom underground, and everything is going well with the polyjuice potion.


    Harry carried the magic scroll given by Professor Hap with him, translating a word by word in a parseltongue. In the empty, abandoned classroom, now and then echoes of the hoarse, eerie sound of terror can be heard.


    This makes the dozing Ron kept awake - half-asleep, he always saw a witch brewing a potion like mud, a male wizard making a snake-like "hissing" sound.


    And in the early afternoon, they heard a handful of secret room information from Hagrid.


    At the moment, they are hiding in the corner of the common room.


    "Almost everything is in order!" Hermione suddenly said.


    "What?" s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The monster of the Chamber of Secrets! Wait for me--" Hermione obviously had perfected her thinking, she hurried back to the dormitory, not a few seconds later brought back a parchment.


    The three of them came together and looked at the writing on it, which is about a terrible magical creature called " Basilisk ".


    When Harry and Ron finished reading the information, Hermione said about the possible clues collected these days, "the basilisk can be dormant for a long time, the basilisk''s eyes are lethal, the basilisk is the natural enemy of spiders, the basilisk is afraid of chickens ... what do you think of this?"


    "So, the monster in the chamber is a basilisk?" Ron asked excitedly.


    "Can''t be wrong!" Harry slammed his fist on the table.


    They got two main pieces of information from Hagrid: one was that the chickens he raised always died inexplicably; the second was that he had raised the eight-eyed giant spider fifty years ago, and the eight-eyed giant spider was so afraid of the monster in the chamber that it refused to reveal even a word.


    It all fits together!


    "But there is the biggest issue, is that the basilisk can not petrify someone, I initially ignored it because of this point, but now, the evidence on the side has been very sufficient." Hermione said very critically, "Maybe I should find some time to ask Professor Hap what I can do to make the basilisk''s gaze less harmful ..."


    She hammered her head with some resentment, "It''s so strange, I feel like something is right in front of me, but I can never find it ..."


    Harry swallowed hard, "Hermione, I think I know."

 Chapter 53: Rita Skeeter

    Meanwhile, Felix is fully dressed and standing in front of the fireplace of his office. He sprinkled a handful of floo powder, said clearly and loudly "Diagon Alley", his entire body disappeared from Hogwarts. Diagon Alley.


    Felix came out of the public fireplace, shaking the dust off his body, and fished out a slip of paper from his pocket - it is an address.


    The next moment, Felix directly Apparated to that location.


    On the outskirts of London, in front of a single detached house, a tall figure appeared abruptly.


    Felix looked at the door number, walked up on the steps in the snow to the door, and tapped on the door with his wand.


    A moment later, a refined woman opened the door, her gaze peering through a pair of eyeglasses studded with jewels, and is examining the stranger in front of her with a critical look on her face.


    Felix gently introduced himself, "Felix Hap, currently serving as Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts - you mentioned me in the paper, Ms. Skeeter."


    "You''re Felix Hap?" Rita Skeeter''s eyes lit up and in the blink of an eye, her bright red nail-painted fingers grabbed Felix''s arm and dragged him into the room, "Come in!"


    The living room had a neatly arranged table and chairs, and the air is filled with the scent of enchanted fragrances. On both walls, on one side is a huge floor-to-ceiling wine cabinet, and on the other side are square shelves with various books, trophies, and newspapers. On a hanger behind the door stood a crocodile skin handbag.


    " It''s an honour that I received ... Mr Hap, I''m very interested in you, I''ve wanted to interview you for a long time." Rita Skeeter sat across him, her hair styled in delicate, stiff, oddly large curls that looked particularly awkward with her big jawed face.


    "Ms. Skeeter ..."


    Felix is quickly interrupted by the woman, who is imposing and fiercely, waving her wand and a shorthand quill and a roll of parchment flying out of her crocodile skin handbag. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " So Mr Felix, you won''t object if I use a shorthand quill to take notes, will you? This will free up my hands to talk to you normally ..."


    Without waiting for his reply, the parchment had automatically spread out, and the shorthand quill landed vertically on it, the tip quivering gently.


    "Well, let''s start the conversation here ... just from the point you came here today. I''m guessing ..." she suddenly smiled out, showing three gold teeth, "you were commissioned by someone, right?"


    The long, green shorthand quill danced quickly, pouring down a fluid string of words.


    With a heart full of thoughts, this late-night visitor showed strong displeasure in the face of the editor''s questions, but not against the editor, but against the hidden shadow who is behind the whole affair ...


    Felix laughed softly, he looked at the wall clock, it''s just seven o''clock.


    He did not reply, but instead surveyed with interest around the furnishings of the living room, the floor-to-ceiling wine cooler that occupied a third of the wall, filled with large and small, exquisitely shaped flasks, and a few scattered ornaments.


    Rita Skeeter raised her heavily drawn eyebrow.


    "Are you wary by any chance, Mr Felix? It''s all right, our readers like people with rebellious personalities, and they''ll protect you."


    "Rebellious personality?" Felix repeated.


    "Yes, like the type of people who defy power and rebel against authority ... If you''re threatened, don''t worry, speak up, and we''ll give you a sense of justice in return."


    The shorthand quill kept recording, but Felix had no interest in reading it, and he stood up and went to the shelf at the opposite end of the wine cabinet where the honour prize were kept.


    The top of the shelf is stacked with personal accolades belonging to Rita Skeeter, including certificates for articles in newspapers, bestsellers and their sales figures that she had published over the years, a myriad of this sort of stuff ...


    For example, he saw "Armando Dippet: Master or Moron?"book. He sighed, "If half of what''s in this book is true, it''s not a bad toilet read ..."


    Rita Skeeter''s eyebrows wrinkled, her fingers clenched her wand so tightly that her two-inch-long bright red nails pierced into her skin.


    She quickly stood up and approached Felix, looking at him without looking away, "Mr Felix, I know who you are, one of my colleagues advised me not to play with you ... ridiculous statement, he has only graduated a few years ago, by virtue of his family background he has entered the news industry. " She said as if pointing out.


    "If you ask me, our readers have a right to know the truth, like -"


    "The truth?" Felix interrupted her.


    "That''s right, the truth!" She emphasized deliberately, "Let''s talk about your experiences, your childhood and so on, I think it will help you to have a clear perspective of yourself."


    "I don''t think that''s necessary anymore, I know exactly what kind of person I am."


    However, Rita Skeeter didn''t give up, the parchment and quill on the table flew to her, "Mr Felix, you came from a muggle orphanage and entered Slytherin when you enrolled, you must have been bullied quite a bit, right? Are you interested in talking about it, I think there will be quite a few readers who are very interested in this."


    "Rita, ah Rita, do you really know me?"


    "Of course!" Her gaze was firmly pinned on him as if she were looking at a precious treasure, "Mr Felix, you are well known in the wizarding community, there are many labels on you: a Slytherin from a Muggle orphanage, received many death threats during school, defeated one of the 28 purebloods Clan Shafiq and a group of dark wizards under the shelter of Dumbledore, became a Muggle specialist after graduation, and is now back to Hogwarts as a ..."


    Rita Skeeter said while letting the quill take quick notes, looking at Felix''s non-committal attitude, she said seductively, "Your experience is legendary, if you agree, I would like to write a biography of you, it would imply endless amounts of golden-Galleons and great fame!"


    "However, the label of Muggle specialist seems too civilized, our readers like a tough wizard with a strong character, and preferably with a relationship to a celebrity ... Let me think, how shall we deal with it?"


    Felix got amused, he pointed to the book in front of him, "Like this type of biography?"


    "Art requires a certain amount of imagination." She said slyly.


    Felix became somewhat impatient and decided to solve the immediate problem as soon as possible, so he returned to his seat.


    This act caused Rita Skeeter to mistake it as his tacit acceptance, so she sat her butt down on the couch and said with an urgent and overbearing gesture, "Let''s start with your relationship with Dumbledore."


    "Ms Skeeter, I need you to stop your inaccurate reporting, I noticed that you mentioned me in the Daily Prophet and were about to make up a big story-"


    "I''m not making it up, it''s a different perspective at best ..."


    Felix nodded, "Let me tell you what a different perspective is." He tapped his fingers on the table.


    "Ta-da," the fingertips collided with the table with a crisp clink.


    "What are you talking about-" Rita Skeeter choked suddenly as she found the world in her eyes changing all at once.


    The colours were rapidly disappearing, the delicate purple long-necked glass bottle, the crimson robe on her body, the golden trophy in the cabinet, the black and brown crocodile handbag, the pale yellow parchment, the green sketch quill ...


    The colour of everything, is fading.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 54: You Blocked My Way...

    The whole world is left with only black, white, and grey hues. Rita Skeeter stiffened and watched with difficulty as Felix tapped his fingers on the table, which is fair and slender, with healthy light pink nails - the only colour within her field of vision.


    As the fingers tapped, a dark grey ripple blossomed from the tips of his finger, and the ripple passed through both of them, spreading silently in all directions.


    "You-" the woman said arduously, her wand held in her hand, but she could not raise it even a fraction of an inch.


    "You see, I occasionally use this perspective to observe the world, to observe magic, and it''s quite interesting as usual." Felix introduced his attitude unchanged from the beginning.


    But Rita Skeeter didn''t think so.


    "It''s illegal for you to do that ... ... Azkaban ...," she opened and closed her lips with extreme difficulty, one word after another word at a time.


    "Rita, Rita, you don''t think I''m going to do something bad to you, huh?" Felix said amused, "I just now asked you, do you really know me?"


    "Obviously, you don''t know me."


    "One of your colleagues advised you not to play with me? I guess he must be a Slytherin."


    Rita Skeeter''s eyes fixed him with a deadly stare.


    Felix said calmly, "I used my holiday time to visit a few stubborn purebloods in the fifth year, and they haven''t talked about me in public since then."


    "Do you know why?"


    Her eyes widened.


    "You think - whose power do I need to rely on to counter the threat of extreme pureblood families? No, Rita," he said softly, "I''m just showing them a possibility."


    As Felix''s mood swung, the whites and greys all over the room quickly tinted to inky blackness, deep, depressing darkness.


    Rita Skeeter''s body trembled lightly.


    "Yes, a possibility, if I become a Dark Lord ..." he did not continue.


    The darkness faded quickly and returned to black and white again, like an old faded photograph.


    "When you think about it, I''m actually a very nice person to talk to. As long as you don''t provoke me, I don''t have the time to take care of you. But unfortunately, it just so happens that-"


    "You got in my way. ..."


    Ignoring her, Felix beckoned the parchment on the table and read it carelessly.


    The parchment had unknowingly filled a foot, which made him somewhat burst into laughter, if the young wizards at Hogwarts, had this ability to make things up, they absolutely would be laughing out loud in their dreams.


    "Tsk!"


    "This paragraph is excessive."


    "Did I say that?"


    "Staying close to Dumbledore, who, me?" He shook his head.


    The colours in the room gradually came back, an equally magical scene, like a child finding, faded pictures in an old storage room and picking up crayons to scribble over them.


    The world came alive again.


    Rita Skeeter found that she had regained her ability to move.


    She glanced at the wand in her hand and then at Felix, who is still reading the parchment, and her eyes wandered.


    But she quickly gave up on the foolish idea.


    " Think about it, do you wish to continue? This might be an opportunity. Seize it from me, and the subsequent story will be yours to make up." Felix looked up, pale-blue eyes peering at her.


    "You''re joking, Felix, no, Professor Hap, Sir-" Rita Skeeter kept changing the title.


    "Heh."


    He tossed the parchment in his hand down lightly, and it turned silently into ashes.


    "About what I came for ..."


    "I apologize! I will stop all untrue statements!" She said quickly, with a pleasing smile on her face.


    "Thank you, Rita."


    Felix stood up, smiled slightly, and bowed courteously, then he pushed the door open and his figure blended into the night.


    By now it is completely dark, the north wind and snowflakes blow his robe " rustle ", Felix walked two steps against the wind and snow, and then the next moment he disappeared in the same place.


    After a while, Rita Skeeter quietly opened the door, glanced around, there was nothing outside the house, she quickly closed the door.


    A vicious curse spewed from her mouth, and she is cursing someone with almost the worst words she had ever known in her life.


    "Felix Hap!" She shouted the name viciously.


    "I want revenge! Revenge ... on ... his secrecy ... Yes, that''s right, this damned ... man doesn''t know I''m Animagus yet, maybe, no, it''s too risky." S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After cursing for a long time, Rita Skeeter''s mouth went dry, and she finally stopped.


    She went to the liquor cabinet and tried to take out a bottle of wine to quench her thirst, but as soon as her fingers touched the handle, the gorgeous silver handle turned to fine sand in her hands.


    Rita Skeeter froze in place.


    Tentatively, she reached out a short, long, stubby finger and nudged a long-necked purple glass bottle - her favourite wine bottle. But the next second, the jug quickly disintegrated into fine sand, including the liquor stored inside.


    Her eyes became frightened, and her body stumbled into the chair behind her, and then she noticed that the chair also fell apart and turned into a puddle of fine sand.


    Rita Skeeter looked around her house - every part of it is constantly decomposing into fine sand, including her delicate picture frames, crocodile skin handbags.


    Even the floor is not spared.


    "Ahhhhh!"


    She ran out of the house in horror, and as she watched, the entire detached house shook, and from the bottom came a swirling sea of sand that slowly, but surely, engulfed the house.


    "That''s a lesson." A voice sounded very abruptly in Rita Skeeter''s head.


    Her lips trembled as if she wanted to say something, but this time, she hurriedly shut her mouth.


    The edge of the forbidden forest.


    Felix''s figure reappeared out of nowhere, and he walked step by step towards the castle against the blizzard. The December weather is cold as hell, especially with the high winds mixed with blizzards, every step is a tough test.


    When he saw the outline of the castle from a distance, a thought struck him, and he shook his head, not really thinking about it anymore.


    Felix pushed open the dark brown door, shaking off all the snowflakes and entering the warm castle.


    He waved his wand, and the door behind him closed with a bang, keeping the snow and darkness out.

 Chapter 55: Magic Knowledge Contest

    As Christmas approached, the festive atmosphere became stronger and stronger, and the enthusiasm of many young wizards for learning dropped. Many professors said that students could not relax, but they did not exert too much pressure, and this was reflected in the amount of homework assigned.


    But this leniency does not include both fifth and seventh grade. As they were required to deal with the OWLs and NEWTs, the Ordinary Wizard level exams, and the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test, respectively, this year.


    Ancient Runes, fifth-grade classroom.


    Felix once again reaffirmed the importance of the OWLs exam, "You only have six months until the Ordinary Wizard Level Exam, excluding holidays and weekends, how much time is left?"


    "Let me do the maths for you, six months, let''s say twenty-five weeks."


    Amidst the dumbfounded expressions of the young wizards on the stage, this professor did the maths, "Two classes per week, one big class of two hours and one small class of one hour, counting up to ..."


    "That''s only seventy-five hours in total."


    " Do you study this long outside the classroom? No matter how I count, it''s still less than two hundred hours."


    Looking at Professor Hap''s regretful expression, the young wizards were silent.


    But Felix''s in a good mood today, and he decided to do a student survey.


    "Which subject do you think you are the least good at?"


    A little witch said timidly, "Does ancient runes count?"


    "Not really!"


    "Then it''s the history of magic." The Hufflepuff girl said, "Professor Binns always makes us memorize lots of stuff, and I don''t have a very good memory."


    "He never highlights anything in class, the other professors more or less give some hints." A Ravenclaw said indignantly.


    Professor Binns is the type of professor who says, "All I talk about is the main point, and all I mention in class is the test point," and this professor is also known for his flat, uneven language, which sounds like he is reading scripture.


    The hypnotic effect is first-class.


    "The history of magic ... very well, Miss Seldon, Mr. Pardis. Any more?"


    "I''m not very good in my astronomy class, I always get confused about planets."


    "The practical lessons in herbalism class are interesting, but I can''t remember the properties of magical plants any time."


    "Don''t you think arithmetic divination is complicated?"


    "Divination class is a nightmare!"


    Someone immediately retorted, "Nonsense! Divination is the easiest class to pass."


    "Trelawney is a psychopath!"


    "Professor McGonagall is very strict."


    "Kettleburn''s class is always full of dangerous magical creatures."


    "Professor Snape is awful."


    The little wizards discussed feverishly, and it quickly went so crooked that Felix hastily called a break, how did it develop into criticizing the professors of various subjects?


    He summed up the young wizards'' points: "So, you generally don''t perform well enough in courses that are more theoretical and require a lot of memorization, such as ancient runes, history of magic, and astronomy classes."


    Felix came up with a temporary idea, and he decided to make an attempt: "How about this, let''s play a game." S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Let''s invite two students ... Well, it will be Miss Seldon, Mr. Pardis, I need your cooperation."


    The two young wizards stepped forward curiously.


    The classroom sprang to life for the little wizards.


    "Take out your wands."


    Seldon and Pardis pulled out their wands excitedly, their eyes fixed on Felix.


    Professor Hap''s teaching is always filled with all sorts of new and exciting tricks - a comment that had been widely circulated in other grades, but fifth and seventh grades had been exposed relatively little to it.


    "Let''s see ..." Felix flicked his wand, and a nine-panel grid appeared in front of each of the two.


    Inside the grid were nine sparkling runes.


    And above the heads of the two young wizards, two hot gold names were displayed - Petter Seldon, Warren Pardis.


    "Professor, what is this?"


    Hufflepuff''s Petter Seldon asked curiously, as her friend tapped her finger on the top of her head to reveal the name on top of her head, which, strangely, had the number "0" next to it.


    "We will have a magic knowledge contest, next, I will say a phrase, you need to find the corresponding rune to it as fast as possible, and use your wand to touch the corresponding grid."


    "You need to be faster than your opponent in order to get a point."


    " When one of you gets a hundred points first, the game is over."


    Felix looked at the two of them, "Let''s try it first."


    He mouthed a series of paraphrases, "Light, illuminating the path ahead, also denotes the glow of knowledge."


    Petter Seldon and Warren Pardis stared intently at the runes floating in midair in front of them, and when Professor Hap reached the second phrase, Petter''s eyes lit up, and she quickly tapped her wand in the bottom left corner of the ninth box.


    "I know, it''s Ken!"


    When her wand touched the rune, that area instantly turned bright gold, and at the same time, a "+1" sign appeared above her head, pausing for two seconds before disappearing.


    Petter looked at the top of her head as an afterthought - the initial number "0" became "1", she looked at the professor, "I won? "


    "In a sense." Felix said, "I assume you understand the rules of the game?"


    Both of them nodded at the same time, this kind of play is fascinating, Warren on the other side can''t help but clench his wand - just now he was a step slow.


    Felix waved his wand, making the first set of nine squares disappear, and the second set of nine squares appeared in front of the two.


    "The second phrase, reward, symbolizes victory, satisfaction-"


    Warren flung his wand in the middle of the nine-grid at once and watched the area turn a dazzling gold, his face filled with a flush of excitement, "It''s Wyn, Professor."


    "Correct answer." Felix nodded, and a "+1" sign appeared on the top of Warren''s head, while the score became 1.


    The game continued, "Poor, hard, and also represents some kind of misfortune."


    Without thinking, Warren tapped his wand in the upper left corner, but this time, the area quickly turned a miserable grey.


    "Wrong answer, Mr. Warren." Felix waved his wand, and a "-1" sign appeared above his head, and his score reverted to zero.


    Warren shook his fist in annoyance.


    At this moment, the young wizards have completely understood the rules of the game, right answer plus points, the wrong answer deducted points, whoever reaches one hundred first, is the winner.


    "Harvest, Banker, or Growth Cycle ..."


    Warren quickly waved his wand ...


    "Correct, plus one point."


    "Next ..."


    "Very good, Miss Petter. Next, we''ll have a more difficult challenge."


    The first dozen or so sets were fairly superficial runes, but soon the difficulty climbed at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    The two slowed down, taking more and more time to think as the score pulled hard to 73::71.


    "Gain skill or random luck, reveal hidden secrets, breed life."


    Petter bit her lip as Warren kept snapping his knuckles.


    "It''s Peorth, Peorth," the young wizard watching from the sidelines couldn''t help himself, and an answer crept out.


    Petter''s eyes lit up, and her wand clicked on the correct answer.


    Felix did not comment, he did not stop the little wizards off-stage from reminding them, but he did not give the two extra points either.


    He simply replaced the other group of nines sets.


    So the two understood what the professor meant: Next, you will have to compete with the whole class of young wizards.


    The two looked at each other with bitter faces.


    But the little wizards offstage got excited, and in the next dozen or so groups of nine-grids, they worked together, chattering and joking, while the two onstage each got only one point.


    The bell rang, but no one moved.


    The score was stuck at 99:98.


    The young wizards were quiet at the moment and were not making any noise.


    Felix said quickly, "The power of the sun over the devil and the darkness ..."


    "It''s Sigel," said Petter, the tip of her staff pointing at the center of the ninth circle, and the golden light flashed.


    "I''ve won, I''ve won!"


    At her scream, Professor Hap waved his wand, causing brilliant fireworks to burst across the classroom.


    "Thank you both students for your wonderful performance, ten extra points for Hufflepuff and five extra points for Ravenclaw."


    "Now, class dismissed!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 56:

    The young wizards discussed feverishly to themselves, as fifth-year students, they were rarely exposed to such interesting lessons - each professor pushing them as hard and as far as possible to reach their potential. In a way, of course, it''s a debt they owed from the previous four years.


    In the hallway, Warren Pardis said to his friend, somewhat remorsefully, "I can actually win, I''m just not lucky."


    "You were the one who went too aggressive, and you got at least ten questions wrong." His friend replied.


    As the young wizards rushed out of the classroom, Felix rubbed his sore fingers.


    The "choreography" for this knowledge contest had been put together by him, magic by magic. From the ninth grid to the score changes, to the colour feedback of the correct and incorrect answers, he did it all by himself.


    " A blunder, next time let''s change it to a ten-point system."


    In the afternoon, Felix attempted the two lessons in the sixth and seventh grades, and the results were excellent - even the "special needs" students of ancient runes stayed awake enough in the classroom. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    This made his thoughts clear.


    " In the future, I can do more of this kind of game-like teaching, but the prerequisite is to do sufficient preparation work." In the great hall in the evening, Felix stuck up a piece of potato drizzled with black sauce breathlessly, feeling a little weak after a long day.


    The number of spells he had cast today was clearly over the limit.


    The common room.


    The twins, Fred and George, were fighting against each other with their golems, having finished their second and third sets of practical runes.


    This makes their battle very spectacle, Fred''s golem, every swing will bloom a circle of light, a "crackling" sound, Lee Jordan''s hair is standing up because he is too close.


    On the other side, George is not far behind, his golem is the very popular "fire boy", every time he uses his trademark "big fireball", it will attract a sound of enthusiasm.


    At that moment, Percy Weasley burst in from outside the lounge, he just finished his rounds. Upon seeing him, Ron in the corner simply turned his head away.


    A Cold War still remained between them.


    "Ron, haven''t you made up yet?" Hermione asked worriedly.


    "Not until he apologizes to me," Ron said stubbornly.


    Harry sighed, he couldn''t say much, after all, Ron had lost a lot of face by taking the blame for the three of them.


    "Hey! Percy, I heard you got ten points from Professor Hap today?" A Gryffindor asked.


    Percy puffed out his chest haughtily, making his Head Boy badge even more conspicuous, "Yeah, Professor Hap tried a new method of teaching, and I have to admit, he''s rather wise."


    "And you beat Slytherin!"


    Percy said modestly, "It was just a competition, and on top of that, on a ten-point system, I was able to answer nine questions correctly ahead of my opponent."


    The Gryffindor''s exclaimed in awe again, Percy was worthy of being a school tyrant who had taken 12 papers.


    "Nine questions ahead!" Ron repeated with a look of disdain.


    Harry hurriedly changed the subject, "Hermione, did you ask Professor Hap about the basilisk?"


    Hermione shook her head, "I rarely see the professor, from Monday to Friday." Unless there was a paper she needed to grade.


    "But it''s too late to drag it out until the weekend!" Harry said reluctantly, "In case there''s an attack in the middle of ..."


    He slammed the table hard enough to startle the two young wizards passing by, who gave Harry a wary look and quickly moved away from him.


    "Look at that, they all think I''m the culprit!"


    "Harry, why don''t we go find Professor Hap now?" Hermione gave him a careful look.


    Harry glanced at the wall clock, it''s past nine o''clock in the evening, "Tomorrow." He slumped in his chair, like a deflated ball.


    They were basically sure that the monster in the chamber is the basilisk, and about Hermione''s confusion - the basilisk gaze is lethal, but the current two victims are only petrified - Harry also has his own speculation: those victims are not directly stared at the basilisk''s eye. Mrs Norris was looked at it via the reflection of stagnant water, and Colin Creevy was through the lens of the camera.


    But whether this is accurate remains to be verified.


    That''s when Ron said to him, "Harry, the golem Professor Hap gave you, is it in your book bag?"


    " Yes." Harry returned feebly.


    He had practiced it several times in private, but he was still a little short in skills, only able to manipulate the golem to walk normally.


    "How about we try?" Ron glanced at Percy in the crowd.


    " Here?" Harry couldn''t make up his mind.


    Hermione''s eyes lit up, she had wanted to try it for a long time, and she had been attracted to this type of style during the opening public class.


    Ice blue hair, delicate and lovely face, which hit her heart perfectly.


    "Maybe ... this isn''t a good choice ..." Hermione said under her breath, but she didn''t stop Harry from taking the golem out of his book bag, though.


    "Hey! What are you guys doing?" Fred walked up with his arm around George''s shoulders.


    "Oh, a magic golem, I guess." Ron tried to say in a cloudy tone.


    Fred saw the golem in Harry''s hand and was taken aback, "This is not a regular golem." From the appearance alone, the two are completely incomparable to each other as well.


    "Professor Hap gave it to us," Ron said.


    Fred picked the magic golem, "This thing ..." he glanced at George, "I can barely feel its magic fluctuations, more exquisite than Diggory''s ghost doll - -is even more different from the ones we''ve dismantled."


    "You guys even dismantled--"


    "Shh!" Fred put his finger up, "Keep your voice down, it''s our little secret from Professor Hap ..."


    George took the golem and said smoothly, "One time we broke the magic golem in our hands."


    "It was ''accidentally'' broken, and we were very afraid at the time -" Fred said.


    "Fear of being penalized, detained-"


    "Or hung up and whipped with a whip soaked in cold water -"


    "So we went to apologize with trepidation -"


    "And then what happened? What punishment did you receive?" Ron asked.


    "No, little Ronnie," Fred winked and gave a wicked grin, "The professor said we were very talented in alchemy and going to give us each an extra ten points, but-"


    George sighed, "He steeled himself to not give us points when we laid the second broken golem part in front of him."


    Hermione rolled her eyes.


    George examined the unusually elaborate golem, letting out occasional admiration, and finally, he gave it back to Harry: "That''s remarkable, what have you done?"


    "Yes--" Ron is just about to speak when Hermione stomped hard on his foot.


    The twins looked at each other and shrugged.


    Fred said, "Want us to demonstrate it for you? This golem must have quite a few new features, and I don''t think you''re very skilled at it."


    "Who said that! Harry, show us your hand."


    Harry drew his wand, and under his tug, the golem stood up with a swing.


    Several young wizards looked over from afar.


    Harry struggled to control the golem, but unfortunately, at best, it could only wield a few icy blue snowflakes.


    "Harry, you don''t have enough control," Fred stated the reason.


    Harry pointed his wand at the golem, and he felt he had touched its core. So he concentrated all his attention and tried to awaken the dormant magic circuit.


    His magic contacted a rune about ice and snow, then he felt sharp and cold as if he had eaten ten Popsicles in one breath, and his consciousness seems frozen.


    Harry''s face turned purple with cold as he exhaled a cold breath.


    "Harry, what''s wrong with you?" Ron scrambled to his feet, and at this moment, anyone could see that something is wrong with him.


    However, the next second -


    " Snicker, snicker!"


    The golem suddenly lit up, light blue ice crystals have floated down, the surrounding temperature plummeted, "she" fiercely raised her arm, a series of ice-blue icicles rose up, cold air like a tumbling wave of air spread around.


    A few people watched this scene in awe.


    In front of the palm-sized golem, a row of half-human-high ice pillars extended seven or eight meters away, completely freezing the door of the common room.


    The cold ice fog filled the common room, and the young wizards in the common room sneezed collectively.


    At the same time, Professor Hap, far away in his office, is taking small sips of tea and moodily flipping through an ancient alchemy book.


    Next to him lay today''s edition of the Daily Prophet, with today''s front-page headline: "The Good and the bad: The vast difference between two new professors" by Rita Skeeter.

 Chapter 57: Reckless? Or Courage?

    The weather brightened up on Tuesday morning, and the winter sun shone on Hogwarts, tinting the old castle with a golden glow. Felix slept until eight o''clock, opening his eyes amidst the laughter of several young wizards having a snowball fight.


    When he lifted the covers, his cotton pyjamas automatically detached and a delicate, soft, and silky jumper slid over his body. He moved his neck to make the clothes adjust more comfortably, and then put on a padded pant under the effect of magic.


    "Magic makes people lazy," Felix couldn''t remember when he had heard this in his class, but he deeply believed it.


    After donning a dark wizard''s robe, he pushed open the window and looked out at the snowy landscape from above.


    The weather had warmed up considerably and Felix didn''t feel cold. A thick layer of white snow was piled up in the clearing and yard in front of the castle, and many young wizards were hurrying to the hall for breakfast.


    "Luckily I don''t have a class this morning, it''s true that happiness is all about comparison."


    Back in his office, he sorted through the tasks he had at hand in the recent period -


    Locating the Chamber of Secrets, as well as dealing with basilisk ( which he had agreed with Dumbledore to solve during Christmas break).


    Finding the Dark Lord''s relics suspected to be a Horcrux ( propaganda for three times without a clue, another evidence of the young wizard''s unreliability).


    Practicing instant killing techniques (recently slacked off a bit and stagnated at four jumps in progress)


    Acquiring the rare skill Parseltongue ( pending feedback, responsible: Harry Potter)


    Appointment with Kline (on hold indefinitely ...).


    The next contact with Hagrid the Dirtbag (in elaborate preparation).


    Scavenging the Hogwarts Millennium Collection (in progress).


    Dealing with the public opinion threat posed by Rita Skeeter (��).


    Completing the Vine of Binding, a runeic creation (��).


    Guiding Hermione to complete her thesis (��).


    Preparing Christmas presents (��).


    Undertaking a dueling club program (��).


    Proposal for reforming the teaching of the ancient runes course (��).


    Befriending Lockhart ( brain-dead, this task is null and void).


    Felix smacked his lips, there is no particularly urgent matter now. With less than a week before Christmas, he also got somewhat lazy.


    " Might pay a visit to Professor Snape, to finalize the dueling club aide affair."


    Felix went down the stairs of the castle, through the yard, there were a few strange-looking snowmen by the road - this is obviously a lower-year students'' work, with limited magic attainments, they can only do this work by hand.


    After breakfast, he made his way down to the castle''s basement and found his way to the potion professor''s office.


    Knocking the Professor''s office door, Snape expressionlessly refused his requests to enter.


    "I don''t think I invited you to visit my office, Felix."


    However, Felix has long been familiar with the professor''s character, unless you want to flirt with him, then have something to say, and say what he is most interested in.


    So Felix said: "Professor Snape, I got permission from Headmaster Dumbledore to take charge of the subsequent dueling course. And as for the teaching faculty, I need to know your opinion ..." He stopped and looked Snape straight in the eye.


    Snape pursed his lips tightly, his black eyes fixed on him for a brief moment, and then he moved out of the way, "Please come in, Felix."


    This potion professor''s office is located in the underground, dimly lit, the shelves by the wall are filled with a myriad of glass specimen jars, and then within, there is Professor Snape''s private bedroom.


    Felix walked to the specimen shelf, carefully examined one of the jars, "Is this the claw of the eight-eyed giant spider? Is it from the batch that lives in the Forbidden Forest?" He asked with interest.


    Professor Snape came out of the inner room, with two cups of pumpkin juice behind him. "No." He said coldly, handing him a glass of pumpkin juice.


    The conversation between the two then got down to business.


    "Felix, when did you steal the dueling club from Lockhart?"


    "Professor, I must remind you that it was rather Professor Lockhart who was too busy with his daily work and had to relent in making concessions."


    "I don''t think so," Snape scoffed at that, "what''s so busy about one-man-acting class."


    "Busy writing back to fans, of course. From what I understand, he spends at least one hour a day doing that." Felix let out a mischievous smile, "I can relate to Professor Lockhart, after all, we''re both writers who have to deal with the harassment of fans, and he''s more productive than I am."


    "He wrote the book ..." Snape didn''t say anything further, his expression said it all. "But you write back to fans as well? That''s unexpected, I thought, you won''t spend time on such trivialities."


    "There''s no way out," Felix said emotionally, "they''re mostly officials from the ministries of magic in various countries, and we discuss muggle legislation and how to deal with muggles."


    Snape choked.


    He said, "Felix, don''t beat around the bush with me, say what you came for."


    "Professor, I want to know if you still have the desire to participate in my dueling course."


    "Your... dueling course?" Snape trailed off on the word "your" for a long moment.


    "Yes, my dueling course." Felix looked at him frankly.


    It''s a distinction of dominance.


    Snape fell silent.


    Felix looked relaxed, he did not know if Snape would agree, but from the information obtained from Lockhart, at that time Snape volunteered to act as an assistant for this course.


    This indicated that he is interested in the dueling course.


    As for the reason, Felix did not know, and he did not care much.


    However, he heard that Snape had been seeking a position to teach the Defense Against the Dark Arts course, but unfortunately, Dumbledore never agreed. Between these two, is there a connection?


    For example, Snape used the dueling course as a substitution for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course? Felix speculated in his mind.


    "I need to be involved in the selection of the course content." Snape made a condition.


    Felix showed a smile, "Of course, your experience is worth valuing." He said so.


    Felix put the cup filled with pumpkin juice back on the table, he stood up, "Professor, the next dueling class will be conducted after the Christmas holidays, I will communicate with you about the content of the class by then, have a good day."


    "No, thanks," Snape said with a stern face.


    Felix, who was just about to walk out the door, suddenly stopped: "By the way, Professor Snape, I prepared your Christmas present in advance, I''m sure you will be satisfied."


    Snape''s mouth is tugged with a smile, he said, "I will prepare a gift for you too, Felix."


    ...


    In the evening, Felix and Professor Flitwick swapped their shifts for the routine patrol through the castle. There were always some little wizards, with all kinds of justified and unjustified reasons, who were out of the sight of the professors, the head boys & girls and acted alone.


    But to his surprise, he ran into a hurried and panting Miss Hermione Granger.


    "Professor Hap! Oh my, I finally ran into you, professor!" The young witch said excitedly. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Miss Granger, what happened?"


    "The monster in the chamber ... chamber ..." Hermione tried to speak, but she was running a short distance the whole way, and at the moment she is out of breath.


    "There is a new attack?" Felix''s expression got serious, seriously now? There is another attack a few days before Christmas?


    His assistant first nodded, then shook her head.


    "The attack did happen, but no one hurt. However, Harry, he, he went after basilisk!"

 Chapter 58: Basilisk and Parseltongue

    "Calm down, Miss Granger!" Felix enquired, "You need to tell me how much time has passed since you and Harry last saw each other? Can you determine his location now? And in what way is he trailing the basilisk?" Hermione quickly said: "No more than five minutes, Professor. We presumed that the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is in Myrtle''s lavatory, so we agreed to meet there. Harry was able to locate the basilisk through the Parseltongue ..."


    "Very well," Felix interrupted as he waved his wand and from the tip flew a silvery glow that condensed in the air into a tiny bird that hovered in midair with a pair of narrow, scythe-shaped wings.


    Felix said aloud: "Headmaster Dumbledore, Harry Potter pursuing the Chamber of Secrets basilisk alone, please come quickly to the abandoned lavatory of Myrtle, where the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is most likely located."


    After saying that, the tiny bird waved its wings and turned into a stream of light, and instantly disappeared.


    "Professor, what kind of magic is this?" Even though the situation is an emergency, the little witch still can''t help but ask.


    "Patronus charm, it can help you defend against dementors, or on some occasions, you can use it to deliver a message or something."


    " That''s a kind of rain swallow?"


    "Well, it''s fast."


    "Let''s go to the lavatory first." Felix said to Hermione, "You can tell me all the details of what happened on the way."


    By the time both arrived pretty close to Myrtle''s lavatory, Felix had figured out the situation.


    An hour ago.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall finishing a quick supper when they looked at each other and slipped out in silence.


    "It''s six-twenty," Hermione told the two before moving on, "We have about forty minutes, so as long as we make it back and return to the common room with the rest of the group before seven, no one will notice we''ve been out."


    They were going to meet with Professor Hap, gain his trust, and then report the secret room information to Headmaster Dumbledore.


    But something went wrong in the halfway -


    "Rip you ... to pieces ... have to kill ... hunger for blood ..."


    As they passed through a dimly lit corridor, Harry suddenly heard the voice, and he shouted, "It''s the basilisk! It''s out!"


    "You heard it?" Ron said nervously.


    Harry rushed out, he climbed the stairs, straining his ears to keep searching, he seemed to hear a subtle friction noise, so he rushed ahead, Ron and Hermione followed closely behind.


    But the sound, if any, Harry would occasionally be lost, he had to climb up and down to confirm the location.


    The trio ran for most of the time, tired and panting.


    "It went back? Maybe it just came out for a walk?" Ron asked expectantly.


    "Absolutely not!" Harry said, "It wanted to kill, it said it craved for blood!"


    "Tear you ... apart... target ."


    Harry jerked his head up, the voice overhead.


    "It''s upstairs!"


    Harry quickly ran upstairs, leaving Ron and Hermione far behind.


    Turning around to a corner, he saw Justin alone from the other side of the corridor.


    " Coming ... out to kill someone ... to rip them to shreds ..."


    Harry''s expression turned horrified, it is going to be too late. He shouted toward Justin, "Close your eyes, Justin! Close your eyes, the basilisk of the Chamber of Secrets is out!"


    Justin, who had been avoiding Harry for the past few days, sniffed in shock and asked, "What?"


    Harry had no time to explain, he had already heard the " clattering" sound clearly, that must be a basilisk, it''s coming out, it''s going to kill!


    " Flipendo!" Harry pulled out his wand, a Knockback Jinx knocked Justin away, his face still wearing surprise and panic at the time.


    Harry lunged at Justin to drag him away, which wasn''t easy - Justin struggled for dear life as he broke free of the spell''s effects, and the two tangled.


    "What are you going to do? Harry, what are you going to do!"


    "Shut up! I''m saving your life!" Harry gave him a hard punch to silence him, "Listen! The Chamber of Secrets monster is out, and its eyes can kill anyone, so close your eyes now."


    There''s a rustling sound that came through the hallway that is distinctly clear.


    Justin closed his eyes tightly, and his body couldn''t stop shaking. Harry also closed his eyes, while one hand fumbled for his wand - which had fallen on the ground during the brief fight between the two.


    "Are we going to die, Harry? I don''t want to die, Harry, and I''m sorry I misunderstood you." Justin said incoherently.


    "Shut up!" Harry yelled, a clear echo echoing down the hallway.


    He touched a small wooden stick which was his wand, but he had absolutely no way to fight the basilisk, his eyes were still closed!


    Harry judged that the snake monster is less than two meters away from them, and perhaps its head is dangling in front of him?


    He even smelled a pungent fishy odour.


    "Get out of here!" He shouted.


    "What?" Justin asked, shivering.


    "Not you, get out of here!"


    Justin only understood the first half of the sentence, and the second half, which came out of Harry''s mouth, is a creepy sound, like the "hiss" of a snake, but much more terrifying.


    It is Parseltongue, he realized immediately.


    Harry kept speaking Parseltongue, telling the basilisk to " leave here " and " go back ", and it worked, the sound of the basilisk movement stopped. s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But it also did not move away, but instead responded, "kill ... master''s orders ... rip ... clean muggles ..."


    "Get out of here!" Harry said in a Parseltongue, "I order you, get out of here!" Thanks to the magic scrolls he had been working on for the past two days, it had made him a lot more proficient in Parseltongue.


    "Master''s orders ..."


    "Your master and I are best friends, we''re on the same team, listen! You are in danger, there is a powerful wizard coming! Just leave here quickly!" Harry kept urging, he didn''t know if it would work, but Hermione had learned from Professor Hap that Parseltongue could be used to control snakes.


    He did not know whether it is true or not, but could only pray in his heart it is true.


    Finally, the basilisk went into action, and Harry held his breath, waiting for his fate - and hooray, the slithering sound of the basilisk got further and further away, and eventually disappeared.


    "Can''t stop killing ... the next attack ... soon ... held back a little longer... ..." were the words Harry heard from the ceiling, and it appeared that the basilisk had returned to the pipeline.


    Justin shivered and slumped on the floor, aghast.


    "It''s over." Harry opened his eyes.


    A few dozen second later, Hermione and Ron came panting from behind, "Harry, what happened?" They lost him and took a bit of a detour.


    Harry said very fearfully afterward, "The basilisk tried to attack Justin and I stopped it."


    "What- oh my God!" Hermione pointed to the scrape marks on the ground, "That''s ..."


    "Yeah, I had a head-on encounter with it."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 59: Plot? / Fate?

    Ron and Hermione''s expressions were wonderful at the moment. Harry struggled to stand up, "Thanks to your information, Hermione, Parseltongue can indeed control Snake Monsters."


    Hermione covered her mouth, "Harry, you almost died, you know that?"


    "Yeah, sorry!" Justin said as he got up from the floor, "He was trying to save me ..."


    He climbed to his feet, wiped his hands on his shirt, and formally held out his hand, "Harry, I''m sorry I''ve been misunderstanding you. I once approached Professor Hap, and he assured me that you were never the killer, but I freaked out during that dueling class ..."


    "It''s nothing." Harry pretended to be relaxed as he held out his hand in the meantime, and the two shook hands together.


    "A happy ending, right?" Ron said, "I don''t mean to interrupt the friendly atmosphere, but I think we need to inform Professor as soon as possible ..."


    "Wait," Harry said as he walked over to a wooden door in front of him, which was hidden.


    "This can''t be ...," Hermione covered her mouth.


    "It could be," Harry said, "but it should be gone by now."


    He pushed the door open and stepped inside.


    Ron and Hermione followed him.


    It is a very small room, full of dust, and long track trails disappeared at a wall.


    "You think that there is an entrance to the Chamber of Secrets here?" Hermione asked.


    "We discussed it, didn''t we?" Harry carefully surveyed the place where the snake monster trail disappeared, " there is probably only one entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, but in order to facilitate the basilisk''s movement, Slytherin may have left more than one exit in the castle''s pipe network."


    Harry said in a Parseltongue, "Open up." Justine, who had just entered, shivered.


    The walls didn''t react even a little, which disappointed him a little.


    Ron guessed, "Harry, if this is really an exit that Slytherin prepared for the basilisk, he must have set special conditions-"


    " In turn, that means that the real entrance to the Chamber of Secrets must not have these restrictions!" Hermione said excitedly.


    "Then what are we waiting for?" Ron looked as if " the problem is finally solved ", " we just need to inform the professor, no matter who it is, as long as it is not Lockhart ... "


    Harry said, "No, you should inform the professor."


    The other three looked at him in confusion.


    "Look, you guys go get someone, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Hap, or even Snape."


    "What about you, Harry?"


    "I''m going to follow along a bit to prevent the basilisk from coming out again. From the conversations I''ve had with it, it''s not a nice one, in case it can''t resist the urge to attack ... halfway through," Harry gave them a meaningful look, "We''ve already guessed the real entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, haven''t we? I''ll see you there!"


    Harry took a deep breath and hurriedly ran away.


    "Let''s go!" Ron and Hermione moved immediately.


    "Wait!" Justin stood up, "I''ll help too."


    Hermione and Ron looked at each other, "Okay if you find any professor, tell them to go to the abandoned girl''s lavatory where Myrtle usually stays, the monster in the secret room is a basilisk, tell the professor to be careful not to look it in the eye."


    Then the three of them split up.


    At the other end, Harry ran all the way in the direction of the lavatory, and just as he was about to arrive, he met up with a person on the corner, and they collided hard.


    Harry''s glasses were knocked off, and he felt pain all over, which reminded him of his experience of falling off his broom at the Quidditch match. He glanced across at the young wizard, who he recognized as Draco Malfoy from the colour of the man''s hair.


    Malfoy was also hit hard, he had a very dull expression and seemed dumbstruck as a black book flung out of his arms.


    "Potter ..." he said with a confused look before finally coming back to his senses, "Potter!"


    Harry picked up his glasses from the floor and stood up quickly, "Get out of my way, Malfoy!" He left immediately.


    Draco, who remained in place, glanced around somewhat confusedly, and his expression suddenly became terrified.


    " Huff~huff~"


    Harry ran furiously all the way to the girls'' lavatory, and he pushed the door open, oblivious to the stagnant water on the floor.


    He said carefully and tentatively in a Parseltongue, "Are you here? The monster of the Chamber of Secrets?" All the while preparing to close his eyes.


    After waiting a few seconds, just when he thought that everything is safe, he heard a rustling sound.


    It is the basilisk!


    Harry moved his feet following the subtle sound, and he judged that the basilisk had returned from other pipes. According to their previous analysis, Hogwarts'' castle is littered with all kinds of pipes, but the Chamber of Secrets can not be hidden in the pipes, so the two must have a unique connecting passage.


    And that place is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.


    As a result of their discussion, the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets is likely to be in the place where Myrtle was killed back then - the present abandoned girls'' lavatory because Myrtle had described with great enthusiasm that she had heard a boy''s voice on the day she died.


    This boy could only be the heir to the Chamber of Secrets of the previous generation!


    Following the subtle voice, Harry came to the center of the lavatory, where there is a circular row of hand-washing sinks. He gently set his book bag aside, ignoring the stagnant water on the floor, and plopped down with his ear pressed against the metal pipe of the sink.


    After a loud sound like a slimy hose slicing through the ground, the sound disappeared completely.


    Waiting quietly for a dozen seconds, Harry stood up, around the sink, carefully examined around, unsurprisingly in a facet sidewall found a small snake pattern.


    He could hardly hold back his excitement and whispered in a Parseltongue, "Open."


    Instantly, the facet emitted a dazzling white light and began to spin rapidly. Then, the sink also moved, Harry, watched it slowly disappear from his sight, revealing a very thick pipe.


    Harry stepped over the stagnant water, poking his head to look, inside the dark tube in front of him, which looked like a path to hell. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry is hesitating whether to go down, according to his past habits, certainly does not want to jump straight down. Although the last time he was detained by Professor Hap, copied documents for two days for his reckless behaviour about the penalties of young wizards in the past, so he felt he should be a little steady.


    "What are you doing?"


    A very melancholy voice appeared behind him, very close to him, as if speaking close to him at the back of his head.


    Harry got startled, his feet slipped, and his whole body plunged in, disappearing down the tunnel.


    The last thing he saw is a rather surprised expression on Myrtle''s face.


    My Bookbag ...


    There is Professor Hap''s golem there!

 Chapter 60: Rons Adventure

    On the other hand, Ron, Hermione, and Justine each searched for the professor''s trail. After seven o''clock, the young wizards all returned to their respective house lounges under the leadership of their head boys & girls, and the whole castle became empty. A few minutes later, Ron is the first to encounter a professor, when he runs over with surprise, followed by a look of despair - it''s Lockhart.


    Lockhart is also a part of the patrol today.


    "Ha! Look what I''ve caught! A little wizard who wanders through the night, playing off the clock! What''s your name again?" Lockhart showed an expression of surprise as he walked up and grabbed Ron''s arm, "Come on kid, you should be a Gryffindor, I''ll take you to see Professor McGonagall."


    "No! Let go of me, Harry is in danger, we''ve encountered a basilisk!" Ron fought to free himself from the grip that held him in place.


    "A basilisk?"


    "The monster of the Chamber of Secrets!" Ron yelled as he is furious.


    "The chamber ... basilisk ..." Lockhart tensed up, and with his other empty hand, he pulled a magenta handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat rising from his forehead. "What are you talking about? Don''t expect that you can fool me with a lie ..."


    "I''m not lying!" Ron nearly went mad as he pushed hard and pulled a wand out of Lockhart''s breast pocket with his hand.


    "Hey!" Lockhart stumbled to the ground, "My wand!"


    The sound of the two men bickering soon drew the other free-spirited presence in the castle, Peeves the Ghost, who walked through a wall just in time to see Ron and Lockhart tussling.


    "A student and a professor fighting! Student and professor fighting!" Peeves shouted, gloatingly.


    "Clang clang clang." Filch''s footsteps came from the distance.


    Ron ran without a pause, and in a panic, he found himself in a familiar hallway.


    Myrtle''s girl''s lavatory - they''d been brewing polyjuice potion here for some time, though it has been moved to the abandoned classroom on the ground floor.


    Ron swallowed and carefully opened the lavatory door handle.


    With Myrtle''s previous experience, he is afraid he would push the door and see a pair of big yellow eyes.


    Ron pushed the door open with his eyes closed, "Is anyone here? Harry?"


    "He''s not here. Oh, that little wretch!" A strange voice said, which Ron recognized as Myrtle''s tone, and he opened his eyes.


    A silver, transparent ghost floated in midair.


    "Harry came here, right? Where is he?" Ron wanted to ask further details, but the sight before him made his eyes widen; the sink in the center of the lavatory had vanished out of thin air, and in its place, there is a deep black hole.


    He walked forward, took a rather disgusted look at the deep, dirty pipe, and asked, "Myrtle, Harry jumped in?"


    "Yeah, it was so sudden, I was just trying to talk to him ..." Myrtle said in a rather mournful tone, "and his stuff is still here!"


    Only then did Ron realize that under one of the sinks were Harry''s backpack, lying in a crooked mess on the floor.


    "Oh, Merlin!" Ron prayed in his heart as he opened Harry''s book bag - a golem with ice blue hair is quietly lying inside.


    Ron let out a whine.


    "What''s wrong?" Myrtle floated over to him and looked at the contents of the bag with him. She pointed at the golem with interest and said, "What''s this? Is it the new popular doll out there in the castle?"


    "Harry''s in danger ...," Ron mumbled in a small voice.


    "What?"


    "I said, Harry''s in danger!" Ron took a deep breath, grabbed the golem as soon as he could, and took a few steps to the entrance of the chamber.


    After a few seconds, he turned his head to look at Myrtle and said pitifully, "Can you give me a push?"


    Without waiting for her to reply, Ron jumped in as if he is going to die.


    "Ahhhhhhh!" His exaggerated screams came from the water pipe.


    At the other end, Justin found Professor Snape, and almost simultaneously, Hermione found Professor Hap.


    When Felix and Hermione arrived at the girls'' lavatory, they saw Peeves chasing a Weeping Myrtle with a box of rotten bread.


    What the hell?


    "Throw it in the stomach, get ten points! Throw in the head, get fifty points! Very good, ha, ha, ha!"


    The small lavatory is filled with the playful laughter of the Peeves and the sobs of the Myrtle.


    "Oh, God, poor Myrtle, Peeves don''t fight." Hermione watched the scene sadly.


    Felix waved his wand and stopped the flying bread in the air.


    Peeves then noticed the two people who had just entered, "Professor, hello." He held up the hat on top of his head and greeted.


    "Peeves, get out of here," Felix said calmly.


    "As you wish." then Peeves'' figure disappeared.


    "Professor, look!" Hermione said, pointing to the entrance of the chamber.


    "I see it." Felix turned his head and asked another presence in the room, "Myrtle, did Harry jump?"


    Myrtle had silver teardrops on her face, but she answered, "Yes, and a red-headed boy with lots of freckles on his face too."


    "It''s Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.


    "That''s him, why aren''t you three here anymore-"


    "Shut up, Myrtle!" Hermione hurriedly stopped her words, not to let Professor Hap find out the secret of them secretly brewing the polyjuice potion, then she carefully glanced at Felix.


    Myrtle whimpered and quickly flew into the innermost compartment, and did not come out any longer.


    The little witch felt a little ashamed, and she mentally apologized to the poor ghost.


    At that moment, a clear sound chirping rang out, Felix looked for the sound, Dumbledore''s figure appeared suddenly, he wore a grey with spotted pattern pyjamas, long beard knocked loose -- usually, he tied up his beard. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Apparition, or ...? Felix''s eyes settled on the phoenix on his shoulder.


    It''s quite a strange scene, a silver, transparent phoenix standing on Dumbledore''s shoulder, in a Patronus appearance.


    No, it''s a Patronus!


    Only, Patronus would look silver transparent, shrink into a little, palm-sized bird.


    But this also seems like a real phoenix ...


    " Fawkes just recently passed Nirvana, its power is very weak, I had to use the Patronus to protect it," Dumbledore explained it.


    So, it is the young phoenix cloaked in a phoenix Patronus?


    Felix nodded, "Headmaster Dumbledore, Potter, Weasley and Granger, the three of them found the Basilisk that came out to attack in the corridor, they saved Justine, and then Potter initiated to come and guard the entrance of the chamber, allowing the other three to seek the professor''s help."


    "However, Potter and Weasley, for whatever reason, went down one after another."


    "At the moment, it is unclear if they are in danger."


    "Very well, Felix." Dumbledore fell into thought, but within a few seconds, he looked up and said to Fawkes on his shoulder, "Fawkes, it''s going to be tough on you."


    Clad in a silver coat ( the same type of Patronus) the little phoenix gave a low chirp.


    "Remember, the basilisk''s biggest threat is its eyes."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 61: Into the Chamber of Secrets

    The phoenix flew down the pipe and left. To Felix''s puzzled gaze, Dumbledore explained, " Fawkes is too weak now, she couldn''t carry three of us, if Harry is in danger, as long as he sincerely seeks help, Fawkes will sense his location."


    At that moment, from the door came a cold voice, "Sorry, I think it''s four." Professor Snape appeared, dressed in a dark green pyjama gown, his hair tousled and mussed, slightly out of breath.


    "Severus," Dumbledore looked at him, "you''re here too."


    "How can I possibly would not come, Potter ... a Hogwarts student''s life is being endangered!" Snape''s temper isn''t exactly pleasant, "What are we waiting for, do we have a party here?"


    "That''s right, Severus." Dumbledore seemed to dawn on him as he glanced at the four people present, "Miss Granger ..."


    "I''m going down!" Hermione said quickly, "I''m not going to drag you down, I can, um ..."


    She saw the book bag in the corner, her eyes lit up, and she ran over to rummage through it and finally found a scroll.


    "Headmaster, Professor, this is Harry''s scroll, it contains a partial record of the pronunciation of the Parseltongue, I thought it might be useful."


    "This is?" Dumbledore showed a surprised expression as he looked at Felix.


    " As it has mentioned ..." Felix said implicitly, and the headmaster remembered it.


    "Very good, Granger." Dumbledore complimented.


    Hermione tried her best not to look complacent.


    Dumbledore touched her shoulder with his wand, and she felt herself become light and levitated from the ground with a little effort.


    Then, they each applied a levitation spell on themselves, "Ready?" Dumbledore got an affirmative answer, he waved his wand, the four became light as soap bubbles and then floated down into the dark water pipe.


    Next, a long underground tunnel, Felix is not sure whether it''s a kilometre, or five kilometers, then through tunnel curves, seven turns, and sometimes spiral down they went down.


    With the shimmering light of magic, Felix could see that the inner walls of the tunnel were slimy, soggy with liquid, and many tubes forked off in all directions.


    Finally, all the way down, the channel became horizontal. They came to a circular clearing, the floor filled with stagnant water, and above the stagnant water were countless ghastly white rat skeletons.


    At the moment, they were standing on the huge pile of skeletons.


    The tunnel is as silent as the grave.


    Dumbledore looked around with a serious expression, a place he had never known before, and he said softly: "Huge project ... seems Slytherin spent quite a lot of time for this."


    The four walked toward the mouth of one of the largest tunnels, and from a distance, Felix saw a coiled behemoth.


    "Close your eyes!" He quickly shouted.


    Hermione obediently closed her eyes, and Dumbledore and Snape closed their eyes while drawing their respective wands.


    Following the feeling, Felix waved a blazing red light, wrist-thick spell roughly hit the body of the behemoth with a dull to the core boom.


    At the same time, there is an extremely stealthy wind - this is Snape''s magic spell. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore also struck, he added a shallow golden shield for the four.


    Wait a moment, there is no hissing and snake monster movement expected sound.


    Felix opened his eyes, the behemoth has broken into several pieces, but not the slightest smell of blood.


    He and Snape came forward, only to find that it was a huge pair of green snake skin, but the surface is stained with a layer of dust, looking like gray-green ash colour.


    "The basilisk is at least twenty feet long -- besides," Felix said, "excellent Severing Charm, Professor Snape."


    Snape topped him off, "You''re not bad either, Felix, your ''Stunning Spell'' is as effective as an Exploding Charm."


    Hermione and Dumbledore came closer, Hermione carefully surveyed the remains of the snake molt. A third of it had been blown to pieces - a sign of Professor Hap''s magic - and the rest had been sliced in half, the cuts smooth and flat, obviously some kind of powerful cutting magic.


    The young witch picked up a piece of snake molt, hard, like a piece of metal, she could not help but smack her lips together.


    Dumbledore carefully examined the basilisk faded skin, "a period of years, probably when last time the chamber opened, the snake monster left it behind."


    At that moment, a crisp phoenix sound came from far away.


    "We need to pick up the pace." Dumbledore walked ahead of the others.


    They turned around one corner after another, and their feet tread on the soggy water, making a snapping sound. Hermione felt her feet sticky, her nerves trembling uncomfortably, just wanting to get it over with as soon as possible.


    Finally, they came upon a solid wall with a round iron door enclosed into it. The arrangement looked somewhat like the circular door of the Gryffindor common room, but instead of portraits, seven intertwined snakes were coiled on it, their eyes inlaid with large, glittering emeralds. The snakes'' tails intersected, and their heads parted, closing the entrance completely.


    "Obviously, we need the entry command or forced destruction," Felix said.


    Snape waved his wand, the invisible cutting spell, the iron switch erupted into a bright green luminescence, and when all went quiet, the round iron door is intact.


    Dumbledore fingers stroked the twisted snake on the iron door, he shook his head, "I can break it, but that will take time." He looked to Felix.


    Felix takes out the scroll with understanding and tosses it high, the scroll quickly spreads out and unfolds into seven or eight meters long.


    His wand tapped on it, and he whispered, "Open." The writing on the scroll began to twist, distort, and reassemble, and soon a vortex appeared in the center of the scroll.


    The four people present heard a strange, "hissing" sound from the scroll.


    The next moment, the round iron door moved, from the intersection of the snake''s tail, swam out of a smaller snake, it swam around the iron door for a whole cycle, and then a "click", the door opened.


    "Professor, this is?" Hermione is a little curious, she did not know that this scroll has this function.


    "It can convert my words into Parseltongue, of course, provided that it has enough Parseltongue data stored inside."


    Dumbledore said with a look of admiration, "Is this the idea you mentioned to me during the interview, combining muggle wisdom with magic?"


    Snape''s and Hermione''s eyes fell upon him simultaneously.


    Felix said calmly, "Just an attempt."


    "Felix," Dumbledore said, "there aren''t many open-minded wizards like you left."


    Afterwards the group moved on and crossed the circular iron door, and before them is a long, dimly lit space. The space resembled a hammer, the handle of which was a spacious corridor in front of them, with many stone pillars carved with coiled serpents coiled on either side of the corridor.


    These stone pillars were towering to support the high, dark ceiling, casting a long, treacherous shadow under the greenish glow.


    And at the end of the space is an open clearing, like the square head of a hammer. At the edge of the clearing is a statue equal in height to the room itself, clinging to the dark wall behind it.


    Felix almost immediately recognized it as a Slytherin statue, a similar object he had seen in a number of books.


    His eyes fell on the clearing, where a fierce battle - or rather, ruthless bashing - is taking place.


    A blind basilisk twisted and turned its body wildly, it stood thirty feet long, and each fling of its body set off a huge rain of stones as a small wizard dodged in desperate disarray.


    It is none other than Harry Potter.

 Chapter 62: The Observer

    "Headmaster, we ..." Felix drew his wand. Dumbledore did not answer, but instead fell into a deep silence, as if he is asleep.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore!" Hermione anxiously stomped her feet.


    Dumbledore pondered for a few seconds, he waved his wand and a Disillusionment Charm is placed over them.


    Felix then heard the conversation between Dumbledore and Snape.


    "I don''t understand, Dumbledore ..."


    "What, Severus?"


    "The boy ... Harry Potter, he''s dying!"


    "I''m here," Dumbledore said shortly.


    The conversation ended there, but Felix couldn''t help but get caught up in his thoughts -


    Did Dumbledore want to train Potter as a successor? Between life and death to inspire a person''s courage and potential, not to mention this old man is standing on the sidelines at the moment, in control of the situation.


    Or maybe ...


    He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Dumbledore when Potter''s parseltongue was exposed. Headmaster said he still needed to confirm something, what could that be? S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    They approached the battlefield silently, and as they got closer, Felix noticed large, broken ice crystals in the empty space, and a dozen palm-sized, bloodstained black scales stuck on half of the collapsed ice wall.


    It seems that Harry is not powerless to fight back.


    The four of them came near a stone pillar wrapped around a snake in front of the clearing and lifted, part of the effect of the Disillusionment Charm - which allowed them to see each other''s positions.


    "Professor!" Hermione tugged on his sleeve, and behind the stone pillar, a small wizard is lying on the ground, and next to him was a small, palm-sized bird.


    It is Ron and Fawkes.


    "Headmaster, Ron has been spotted."


    Dumbledore glanced at the field, "Severus ..."


    "I''m keeping an eye on him," Snape said without looking back, his gaze still firmly fixed on Harry''s body with a very resistant expression.


    Dumbledore and Felix crouched in front of Ron, his clothes covered in dust and scratches, but his body is unscathed.


    A small phoenix on the side gave a low chirp, seemingly seeking credit.


    "Thank you, Fawkes," Dumbledore said to it with satisfaction.


    "Professor, Ron he ..." Hermione looked at Ron worriedly.


    "He''s fine," Felix said, tapping the ring on his left hand with his wand, a potion flew out, and he gave Ron a hard dose.


    Ron''s eyebrows knitted up.


    In the empty space, the battle that belonged to Harry continued -


    He hid behind a boulder, waving his wand, the palm-sized golem volleyed out a cold air mixed with ice crystals, the blind basilisk simply can not find "her", it could only attack the whole field, again and again, the snake''s tail still remains on the dotted white frost.


    Harry agilely dodged a human-size stone, the boulder in front of him was smashed into pieces. He hurriedly jogged away, but the sound of footsteps attracted the snake monster''s attention, and the next second, the thick tail whipped over.


    Harry immediately commanded the golem to block in front of him, " thumb thumb thumb!" A prism of ice appeared out of thin air.


    The huge black snake tail smashed down on its head, and after a tooth-aching crushing sound, the icicle and the golem both broke apart on the ground.


    And Harry took this opportunity to run away on tiptoe.


    The three professors hiding in the shadows lowered their wands at the same time, and Felix couldn''t help but glance at the puddle of golem fragments on the ground in pain, just like that?


    ...


    "Professor, I want to help Harry!" Hermione said.


    Felix was silent for a moment, "You''ve thought about it?"


    "Yes."


    Felix lifted Hermione''s disillusionment charm while taking a beaded pouch out of the ring and handing it to her. "It is going to be your Christmas present, so I''ll give it to you in advance - I don''t need to tell you how to use it, right?"


    "No, thank you, Professor!" Hermione said cheerfully.


    She isn''t worried about Harry''s safety, with the two professors and the Headmaster around, how could he die, but she didn''t want to see Harry fighting the basilisk all alone.


    They are best friends!


    Hermione carefully hid in the shadows, then she walked forward as lightly as possible.


    On the field, Harry struggled to dodge the basilisk''s tail, and flying around debris, the loss of the golem''s help, he suddenly fell into an absolute disadvantage.


    Harry mouth hissed: " calm down!"


    But the basilisk had already gone mad, and the fact that it is blind almost foretells its death - either by killing or by starvation. What''s more, the fact that they had broken into the secret room.


    "Kill ... kill ..." the snake monster made a "hissing" sound, and followed the sound of a tail flung at Harry, and The tail came over.


    "Whoosh!"


    The sharp whistling sound cut through the air, an emerald green wrist-thick vine climbed the basilisk''s tail, forcibly halting its attack.


    Harry showed a disbelieving expression.


    "Hermione!?"


    The little witch wrapped the other end of the devil''s snare around the stone pillar, using it to counter the basilisk''s terrifying power. "Harry, run!"


    Harry couldn''t think why Hermione appeared here, he quickly ran away, tripping midway, to the Sorting Hat, the big silver bird brought to him!


    Just a few moments ago, the basilisk found him as an intruder, decided to kill him and Ron, at that time, regardless of parseltongue it attacked him while saying "master''s orders" is everything.


    At the critical moment, a large silver bird suddenly appeared, not only pecking the basilisk''s eyes but also after a brief disappearance, brought him the Sorting Hat.


    He didn''t know quite sure why, but he is sure it would be useful for the situation at hand.


    He picked up the tattered hat and put it on its head, muttering in a low voice, "Whatever comes, please help me."


    No voice answered him, but the hat pressed tighter and tighter, as if an unseen hand desperately grasping the Sorting Hat on his head.


    Jang!


    Something heavy and hard landed on top of Harry''s head, nearly knocking him unconscious. Harry found that it is a shiny silver sword, the hilt of the sword set with brilliant egg-sized rubies.


    Not far away, Felix''s eyes were frozen, that is ... Gryffindor sword?


    Hogwarts the symbol of courage and trust, one of the four giants Gryffindor''s sword?


    He turned his head and stared dead at Dumbledore, is this what you want to confirm?


    Dumbledore did not pay attention to his gaze, his eyes passed through the half-moon glasses, fell on the basilisk, his lips opened and closed silently.


    This made Felix vaguely feel a hint of discomfort, it''s a very eerie feeling. In his vision, the basilisk, Harry, and Hermione three''s magic are very conspicuous, but there seems to be something more on the field.


    Under the disillusionment charm, he curled his fingers and gently touched his brow, and in a flash, the colours of everything in sight were melting and fading.


    Only black, white, and grey remained.


    Felix looked ahead at the battlefield, under his calm face, there is surging waves of shock.


    In his field of vision, three steps to the left, a huge source of magic blazed like a dazzling sun, it is Dumbledore. From his feet, the magic spread out a line, the other end of the line connected to the ground below the basilisk.


    There is a huge concentration of magical fluctuations, in his unique perspective, the ground like a wave of water, a wave of ups and downs.


    What is this?


    Dumbledore had struck, when did he do it?


    It seemed to be some kind of transfiguration, but he had never seen such an outrageous transfiguration ...


    It turned out that, without his knowledge, Dumbledore had put the basilisk into a cage.


    At the moment, Felix does not care about the battle on the field at all, there is no need, the basilisk is a large tool. Perhaps its only value is to cooperate with Harry to play a scene so that Dumbledore could see something.

 Chapter 63: killing the Basilisk

    On the other hand, Ron woke up under the effect of the potion. "Well ... where am I? Harry! Hermione?" Ron sat up in some confusion, then he saw Harry and Hermione, who were circling the basilisk.


    He quickly recalled what happened.


    He caught up with Harry with the golem, the two found the basilisk, Harry tried to say something in a parseltongue, but the basilisk directly attacked.


    They could only run as hard as they could, not even daring to look back.


    At that moment, a big silver bird appeared, it pecked the basilisk''s eyes, and then, he got swept away by the frenzied basilisk''s tail, and his body hurts so much that he thought he nearly killed in the process.


    Ron''s last memory is the image of Harry holding him, the big silver bird turned into an invisible dot, and then landing on his shoulder.


    It shed tears, is it sad for me?


    Ron stood up and moved his arms and legs, which were actually intact?


    He took out Lockhart''s wand and prepared to move forward, but the scene of him being swept by the basilisk appeared before his eyes, and great fear gripped his heart.


    I''ll die!


    He stared at the field, Harry holding an unfamiliar silver sword, brought by Hermione? But where are the Professors, where is Dumbledore? He looked around, no sign of the professors.


    Also, what were those things that looked like devil''s snare branches? Ron felt that he woke up, and the situation has been completely unreadable.


    At the moment, the basilisk has already broken free of the third devil''s snare control, it becomes angrier and angrier, hissing, and showing the long poisonous teeth that looked like a row of sharp daggers.


    It coiled its body in a circle, the tail "crack" slapped the stone pillar, rolling up a piece of debris.


    Harry scrambled up the toe of the Slytherin statue, the basilisk lunged forward, the huge head of the snake smashed out a half-meter deep crater.


    Hermione''s beaded pouch has lost its effect, she rushed out to send out a few red magic spells, but the basilisk''s scales easily bounced it off.


    What should I do?


    Ron is trembling, and his heart is at war with the world.


    Snape''s mouth hooked a silent mocking smile, he raised his hand and raised his wand.


    However, the next moment -


    Ron Weasley rushed out, he picked up a stone and smashed it on the head of the basilisk.


    "Hey! I''m here!" He waved his arms exaggeratedly to attract the basilisk''s attention.


    The basilisk''s black eye sockets turned toward Ron, causing him to gag.


    Under the disillusionment charm, a few professors had different thoughts.


    "Stupid lion." This is Snape''s opinion.


    "Brave Gryffindor ..." Dumbledore''s eyes moistened.


    "Commendable courage," Felix said, but that would never be his choice.


    Ron paid the price for his recklessness, rolling and crawling to avoid the sweeping snake''s tail, painfully hurt by the stones on the ground, and he broke a gash in his finger.


    The basilisk opened its mouth wide, its ghastly white fangs reflecting the green light hanging down from the ceiling, looking very scary.


    In a panic, Ron threw the wand in his hand, which belonged to Lockhart''s in the air across an arc, coincidentally fell into the mouth of the basilisk - but did not do anything.


    And with this effort, Harry has climbed up the huge statue, his feet is under the giant head of Slytherin.


    Harry stood high above the basilisk, looking down at the frantic attack, clutching the gleaming Gryffindor sword in his hand.


    The basilisk in the center, Harry, Ron, and Hermione exactly in three different locations.


    As if a telepath, their eyes crossed the basilisk, as they saw each other.


    Ron suddenly ran in Harry''s direction, his mouth hissing, the only parseltongue he had ever learned from Harry - the one he intended to use to scold Malfoy.


    "Stupid!"


    This word instantly attracted the basilisk''s full attention, plus Ron stumbled all the way down and made a sound that allowed it to quickly lock onto its target.


    The basilisk twisted its snake body, scraping its scales against the ground, and swam quickly towards Ron.


    Hermione followed, but she got a bit far away and could only see the basilisk''s back.


    Ron ran under the Slytherin statue, he shouted: "Harry!" At this moment, time seemed to freeze--


    The basilisk raised its head high, ready to attack, Hermione''s mouth opened wide, eyes full of surprise. And Harry, he raised the Gryffindor sword, leaping from the Slytherin statue.


    The three professors outside the field with their wand held high at the same time, clenching it in their hands, Snape took a deep breath of cold air.


    Time seems to have slowed down, Harry felt the whistling wind from his ears, the basilisk in his eyes is slow as a snail, he even in midair especially have the strength to adjust his falling posture.


    It''s like playing a different kind of Quidditch game ...


    " Snip!"


    The surface of the silver Gryffindor sword blossomed like a watery glow, piercing through the head of the snake monster like a thunderbolt, and Harry, with the speed of his descent and his own weight, slammed the sword completely into it, leaving only a hilt.


    The basilisk felt the threat of death and pain, it completely frenzied, desperately flinging head, tail like a long whip sweeping the ground debris. Harry''s death grip on the hilt of the sword, his leg got nicked, but he was completely unaware of it.


    Instead, he is desperately turning the hilt, so that the Gryffindor sword in the head of the basilisk would open a bloody hole.


    And the basilisk''s body became rigid all of a sudden, and Felix stared at the scene with dead eyes, not letting go of any detail.


    In his field of vision, the basilisk is imprisoned by the huge magic power below it.


    It is Dumbledore!


    Everything flashed like lightning, five or six seconds later, Harry is flung out of the way, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Hermione arrived, she waved her wand and used a standard floating spell to catch Harry.


    The basilisk is extremely resilient and wriggled for almost a minute after its head was pierced before collapsing with a crash.


    Ron limped over to the two, he is bruised and battered, but he smiled brightly, "We won, it''s incredible, isn''t it?"


    Harry also laughed out, he suffered badly, multiple cuts on his arm, a long gash on his thigh, that is the basilisk''s dying counterattack.


    He is about to say something, but his vision blurred in front of him for a moment.


    "Harry!"


    "Harry!"


    Ron''s voice and Hermione''s voice as if a layer between, Harry heard with some difficulty, he faintly heard Hermione saying " a basilisk venom, basilisk''s venom is highly toxic ".


    Am I going to die?


    Harry asked himself. His lips opened and closed, but he is not sure if he has spoken.


    "Harry!" Ron shouted.


    Hermione shouted towards where Felix and the others were, "Professor, Headmaster ..." The disillusionment charm lifted and Dumbledore came striding out.


    "Headmaster, Harry is going to die," Ron said sadly, too late to think about why Dumbledore had arrived so coincidentally.


    "He''s not going to die!" Dumbledore''s firm tone brought great comfort to Ron and Hermione.


    Dumbledore waved his hand and Phoenix Fawkes let out a chirp and flew down, it landed next to Harry and big drops of tears fell on his wounds.


    The wound quickly stopped bleeding, shrunk, and healed completely.


    "Headmaster? Professor?" Harry opened his eyes, he looked at the phoenix in front of him and then at his own wound, "What''s going on, I''m not ..."


    "Harry, the tears of the phoenix can detoxify poisons and heal wounds."


    Harry looked curiously at the Fawkes in front of him, this is Phoenix? But it''s too fugly, right, and too small, only palm-sized.


    "What is its name?"


    " Fawkes."


    Harry looked at the phoenix and said gratefully, "Thank you, Fawkes, it''s nice to meet you, I''m Harry, Harry Potter."


    The Phoenix''s tiny head jumped onto his shoulder and nuzzled Harry''s face affectionately.


    Dumbledore introduced, "The Phoenix is a quite fascinating creature, unfortunately, Fawkes has just undergone a nirvana, in a little while it will be covered in marvellous red and golden feathers."


    "They can carry heavy things, their tears can cure poison, and they are an exceptionally loyal companion."


    They then returned to the castle, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sent to the school clinic.


    Among them, Ron and Hermione were both bruised, Ron somewhat more badly, while Harry had just been healed by the tears of the phoenix and apart from the dirty spots, there is nothing wrong with his body at all.


    ---------- s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 64: Storytelling

    The school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, took care of these wounds with just a few simple minor magic spells, and then she poured a vial of potion for the three of them to cheer up, "It''s good for you all!" Harry choked and rolled his eyes. "Madam Pomfrey, please give us a few more minutes," Dumbledore said gently.


    Madame Pomfrey turned and left.


    It''s just the trio, Dumbledore and Felix at the scene, Snape had been sent away by the Headmaster to find Professor McGonagall - and later they would have to make another trip to the Chamber of Secrets to get rid of the basilisk''s body.


    "I''m sure you all have a lot to say." Dumbledore''s eyes fell on a sideways looking at the table where the Sorting Hat, a silver sword inlaid with rubies, laid.


    Harry began to tell them the story as it happened. He told them that he heard a wandering spirit-like voice without a form for the first time when he was detained in Professor Lockhart''s office. Combined with the information Hermione got from Professor Hap, he confirmed that he is a parseltongue.


    "But because of the bad reputation of the parseltongue, I concealed it, and besides, there were no attacks at the time," Harry said with some shame.


    "Everyone has their own secrets that they don''t want to be pried into," Dumbledore said kindly, which made Harry feel a little better.


    He also told that after the first attack, they discovered the spiders in the castle escaping and learned from Myrtle that she was the victim of the Chamber of Secrets opening fifty years ago. Harry specifically mentioned the point that the day of the attack on Myrtle, she heard a boy''s voice, which is the greatest evidence that they judge the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets.


    Dumbledore couldn''t help but clap his hands in admiration.


    "Hermione deduced it," Harry did not take the credit, Hermione waved her hand sheepishly.


    After that came the second attack, and speaking of which, Harry had a strong urge in his heart to voice their suspicions about Malfoy, Dumbledore must be able to find out something, right?


    However, just as he gathered enough courage, Snape and Professor McGonagall pushed the door in, Professor McGonagall saw the three of them in a mess, could not help but hold her chest, "Oh my God, what have you all been through? Professor Snape said you guys recklessly challenged the monster in the chamber ... If this is true, I''ll definitely detain you ..."


    "Minerva," Dumbledore interrupted, "and Severus, you are just in time, let us hear their adventures before we make our final judgment."


    So, there were two more people listening to the story.


    Harry opened his mouth and finally swallowed his suspicions about Malfoy as he began to recount the key information he had learned from Hermione that the parseltongue could manipulate snakes - as Slytherin did - and then from Hagrid about the existence of the eight-eyed giant spider Acromantula and its fearful attitude towards the monster.


    "And those dead chickens!" Ron reminded him.


    "That''s right, Hagrid kept a lot of dead chickens, and he thought the foxes were responsible." Harry added, "That''s pretty much the information we''re relying on to piece together the truth about the Chamber of Secrets."


    "I''m more interested in understanding how this series of events happened tonight?" Dumbledore nodded approvingly at first, then he asked.


    Harry then continued with the story of how they slipped out of the great hall to meet Professor Hap to explain the situation - Snape made a "snort" - and halfway through heard the sound of the basilisk again, so They saved Justin, and Harry sent the others to seek help from the professor, while he went to keep an eye on the monster to prevent it from attacking others.


    "That was a noble act, Harry," Dumbledore said softly.


    "But what I saw was just a reckless and arrogant venture. Headmaster Dumbledore, you''ve given them too much leeway." Snape played the role of splashing cold water with a stern face.


    Felix watched with interest, Snape''s distaste for Harry Potter was really unconcealed, but then he was the first to stand up for Harry when he was in danger ...


    Associated with what he had investigated, the corners of his mouth could not help but hook up.


    "We can''t rush to judgment, Severus."


    Ron and Hermione then told their part of the experience separately. Hermione had nothing to say, she merely circled the empty castle for a few minutes and ran into Professor Hap.


    Ron''s story, on the other hand, is much more exciting; not only did he attack the professor (Lockhart), he also snatched his wand, and in a panic - Ron tries to gloss over the story to make him look in bright light - he went to the lavatory and realized that Harry wasn''t carrying his powerful golem, so he simply jumped down and did a " delivery job for the hero".


    "By the way, Headmaster," Ron said apprehensively, "Professor Lockhart''s wand was swallowed by the basilisk, do I have to pay for it?" His own wand is still half broken.


    "That''s really is a problem, Gilderoy has had some bad luck lately ... I''ll talk to him." Dumbledore said in a light-hearted tone, "If we''re lucky, his wand is still lying intact in the basilisk''s stomach."


    After all three young wizards had told their part of the story, Professor McGonagall said feebly, "What you have done tonight goes far beyond your duties, and I might add, you have broken at least a hundred school rules along the way - but how did you defeat the basilisk? "


    Harry recounted how he and Ron met near the snake molt, they went into the chamber together, and then encountered the basilisk. Speaking of this, Harry suddenly realized that he should have stopped near the snake molt, but he had not thought of this at all at the time.


    Am I really a reckless, stupid lion, as Snape said?


    As the story continues, the two''s unexpected visit offends the basilisk''s psychological bottom line - it attacks Harry and Ron frantically until Fawkes pecks the snake''s eyes, and they barely have the strength to face the basilisk.


    "Professor Hap''s golem helped a lot." Harry glanced gratefully at Felix, the professor just smiled and did not say anything, his gaze kept pausing on the tattered and dirty sorting hat. As Harry continued speaking, during which he glanced oddly at Hermione, who he didn''t know when she arrived.


    Finally, he recounted the process of taking out the basilisk with the ultimate leap of his own, with the three of them working with each other. At this point, finally ended the whole story.


    Felix clapped his hands, "A wonderful adventure, I think, your story, enough to make a book."


    "Felix," Snape bracketed a long voice, in his characteristic, without a trace of emotion, "perhaps, you see yourself in them ..."


    "No, Professor Snape," Felix said light-heartedly, "I''m nothing like them. They''re both good Gryffindor, and you and me," he glanced at Snape, "we''re standard Slytherin, aren''t we?"


    "As the Sorting Hat can testify."


    He reached out, extremely naturally, picked up the Sorting Hat, and put it on his head.


    S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 65: Dumbledores Heir?

    When the trio came out of the school clinic, they had warm smiles on their faces - just now, Dumbledore in recognition of their outstanding courage, gave them two hundred points each, but also a collective contribution award. Of course, some digits need to be deducted from the extra points - any past violations of school orders will be left alone, but some of today''s actions - twenty points each for the trio going out in violation of the ban, and fifty points for Ron''s misconduct towards Professor Lockhart, plus a month of detention.


    Even so, they earned four hundred and ninety points for their house at once.


    This means that Gryffindor had secured the House Cup in advance.


    "I think it''s worth it!" Even Ron, who had to spend a month in solitary detention, had no problem with it.


    If they won the Quidditch Championship once more, this year would be perfect ... Harry thought a little greedily, but there is still time!


    At the end of the conversation, Harry and Dumbledore had communicated alone, and in this private conversation, he gathered the courage to voice his long-standing doubts about whether he had been sorted into the wrong house, after all, the Sorting Hat strongly implied that he would achieve great things if he remained in Slytherin.


    And he was completely reassured by Dumbledore''s words, pointing to the Gryffindor sword on the table and telling him, "Only a true Gryffindor can pull it out of the hat."


    He also figured out the reason he could do the parseltongue, which, according to the Headmaster, is because Voldemort had transferred some of his powers into his body that night.


    This left Harry dumbfounded.


    "It makes more sense to live the way you want to live than to dwell on a past you can''t change," Dumbledore said to him.


    ...


    It is completely dark, but the shadow that has enveloped Hogwarts for two whole months has finally dissipated.


    Ron suddenly spoke up, "You guys, what did Professor Hap just mean by what he said? It''s Gryffindor, Slytherin, whatever ..." S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry thought about his behaviour tonight and said with feeling, "I guess, maybe it''s the traits that different houses cherish? Like courage, which Gryffindor respects, and calm self-control, which Slytherin esteems."


    "I almost forgot Professor Hap is a Slytherin until you said it." Ron cooed in a small voice.


    Hermione did not say anything, she remembered her first private rune lesson, Professor Hap was particularly interested in the Sorting hat, his original words were "Maybe I should re-introduce myself to it sometime?"


    The little witch felt this just seemed like an excuse for the professor to reintroduce himself to the Sorting Hat ...


    When they returned to the common room, the trio hid in a corner and exchanged detailed information, Hermione''s words surprised them the most, the three professors were standing on the sidelines from the beginning to the end.


    "How could they do that?" Ron said indignantly, but he felt like he was going to die several times.


    "With them in, our lives are not in danger." Hermione sensibly said.


    "I just want to know why we desperately have to kill the basilisk, and they are watching from the sidelines!" Ron is still full of complaints.


    "I think Headmaster Dumbledore might be trying to test us, remember last year?" Harry said thoughtfully, "Voldemort is not dead, this is what Dumbledore told that time, he said, Voldemort will return one day."


    "Could it be that Dumbledore wants to train us as the heirs to resist Voldemort?" Ron said with a red face as if the mere utterance of this inference is enough to excite him, "Dumbledore is not young, I mean, it is time for him to consider this issue, right?"


    Dumbledore''s heir sounds so much more perfect than Slytherin''s heir.


    The trio couldn''t help but breathe hard at the same time.


    ---------


    The Chamber of Secrets.


    Dumbledore, Snape, Felix, and Professor McGonagall stood by the corpse of the basilisk, Professor McGonagall came here for the first time, she could not help but survey the place.


    "It''s like a lair of darkness and terror." She whispered.


    Felix touched his finger across the pupil of the basilisk - most of it had been destroyed by Fawkes, black blood had contaminated most of the snake''s face, and he had managed to gather a bit of clean material.


    He is very interested in the basilisk gift of "death to all who stare", which is what he is extremely wary of the basilisk - but only wary, he has too many ways to avoid it.


    However, he is curious, if Dumbledore and the basilisk look at each other, what will happen?


    Will Dumbledore get killed by the basilisk''s gaze? When Felix saw the Headmaster''s magic power source, which is so vast that it can be considered terrifying, his heart swayed.


    In front of this class of wizards, is the basilisk''s "death stare" really useful?


    Just like he can resist a Stupefy spell or a couple of them.


    Felix analysed Dumbledore''s strength while collecting various materials from the basilisk. Professor Snape, who did the same.


    Whether it is basilisk venom, basilisk teeth, blood, scales, he will never refuse any of them.


    On the other end, Dumbledore is talking in a low voice with Professor McGonagall.


    "Albus, I think, we should publicize it well, so the outside world can see that we solved the trouble of the Chamber of Secrets so that they won''t talk about it casually." Naturally, Professor McGonagall had read the previous coverage and felt angry in her heart.


    "Minerva, I don''t object to this, but it would have to wait for a few days ..."


    "Why?"


    "Lucius Malfoy has been very active on the school board lately, and he seems to think that this is a good opportunity to get me out of the school," Dumbledore said non-committally.


    "How dare he!" Professor McGonagall yelled angrily.


    "From what I understand, Lucius has threatened several school board members, and it might be within the next few days that he will make a move on me ..."


    "Dumbledore, so what should we do?"


    "Just wait." Dumbledore''s gaze seemed to penetrate the ceiling above the chamber and saw the landscape further away.


    Felix and Snape also exchanged a series of words in the process of drafting the initial plan for the distribution of the basilisk material.


    He also found Lockhart''s wand, with the "Aguamenti" spell he rinsed it several times, in addition to the lingering strong odour, from the exterior alone you can not see what it has gone through.


    I hope Lockhart will not mind.


    Afterward, they moved the basilisk''s body to an abandoned classroom and locked the door with magic - they would split the basilisk when the school announced the information.


    When Felix returned to his office, he realized it is nearly nine o''clock.


    Hogwarts still has a curfew and the corridors are sparsely populated, but it won''t be long before the usual buzz will return.


    Sitting on the sofa, Felix is still thinking about the chamber.


    The Chamber was found, and the basilisk was dead, but there is still a Slytherin heir within the castle.


    Or simply, in Felix''s mind, a certain little wizard who had been manipulated by Voldemort''s Horcrux.


    How to pull her/him out?


    If you really cause a major mess, not to mention the other, Hogwarts closed for two months for a thorough inspection, so you can make him unable to cope up.


    Felix pondered his strategy when there came a sudden, sharp knock at the door.


    He pushed the door open and saw a young wizard who surprised him quite a bit - Draco Malfoy.


    Strangely enough, Malfoy''s face is very pale, and the tip of his nose holds a fine bead of sweat. He was also clutching a long, dark green striped long scarf - at the other end of the scarf, about two meters from him, dragging a plain black book.


    You could tell that Malfoy is trying his best to keep himself away from that item.


    "Come in, Mr. Malfoy," Felix said, his instincts telling him that he would get something big for himself tonight.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 66: Night Talk

    Malfoy sat restlessly on the couch. Felix sat across him and first beckoned a cup of hot cocoa and handed it to him, "Sweets will make you feel happier." He then waved his wand, causing the black book to float up and land on the small, low table between them.


    " Bam."


    Malfoy, unable to suppress a shudder from his body.


    "It seems that you had an extraordinary encounter, would you like to talk about it?" Felix said in an encouraging tone.


    "The diary ... Professor," Malfoy spoke, his voice very hoarse, "I have to ask for forgiveness ... I think that I, unintentionally, made a mistake."


    Felix''s light blue eyes looked at him, "Go on."


    "Yes ... it was Potter and the others!" Malfoy''s breath quickened, "A few weeks ago, I found them breaking the ban, more than once! So I sneaked up behind them and found them hiding in Myrtle''s Place, which is a girls'' lavatory!"


    "Myrtle''s place ...," Felix repeated his words.


    "That''s right, Professor." Felix''s response gave Malfoy confidence and the tip of his nose reddened slightly, "They must be plotting something! The Potter''s always doing this, repeatedly breaking school rules without getting any punishment ..."


    I can see that he is quite resentful about this, and kept trolling Potter.


    "Everyone is responsible for their own actions," Felix said, echoing his words.


    "Yes, Professor Hap, you are being so unbiased ... if you ask me, few people recognize him for what he is. Potter is reckless and arrogant, and that Weasley is inseparable from him like a--"


    "Mr. Malfoy," Felix interrupted, "let''s continue what we were just talking about."


    "Okay, okay, Professor. Potter found me, I panicked and ran away, and when I went back later they had cleaned up all the traces, but I found this ..." His eyes fell on the black book.


    "This is?"


    "A diary, and a very scary dark magic artefact!" Malfoy said quickly, with a look of half disgust and half awe on his face.


    "I thought at the time that it was left by Potter and the others, probably someone''s diary. But I found out that it belonged to a man named Tom Riddle, a former head of Slytherin. I can still talk to him, he taught me quite a lot ..."


    Tom Riddle, the name ... Felix''s eyes became deep.


    "So, you hid its existence? I think the professors stressed more than once not to trust these things that keep their mind hidden."


    Malfoy lowered his head, and Felix could easily see his platinum blonde hair.


    "And then what, Malfoy? According to you, it counts as a mentor to you, and what caused your attitude to change?"


    Malfoy showed a reminiscent look: "For the first few days, everything was normal. But after that, things changed. I find that I sometimes appear somewhere inexplicable, and when I try to think about it, I always subconsciously forget it ... Also, my robe, my school bag, my collar, somehow covered with chicken feathers, and I never touch those things!"


    "Later today, I somehow appeared in an isolated corridor on the fourth floor of the castle, and when I realized it, saw Harry running away from me."


    "I think," Malfoy lowered his voice, as if his previous words were all in preparation for this moment, "that this is a trap ... targeting me."


    A quiet silence fell over the office.


    Felix played with his wand, seems to be thinking about something, after a while, he leaned over, using his empty hand to pick up the diary.


    He flipped through it, except for the first page with the name "Tom Riddle" written in ink, the other pages were blank.


    Turning over to the back cover, the name of a press agent in London''s Vauxhall Road was printed on it.


    "Mr. Malfoy," said Felix, "do you mean to say that all this was done by the Potter?"


    "It''s possible, Professor-" he said slowly.


    "What about their purpose in doing this? Have you thought of another possibility, like, for example, that this diary has something to do with the recent attack on the Chamber of Secrets?"


    Malfoy''s pale cheeks turned even whiter as he stammered, and Professor Hap''s light blue eyes looked at him, which made Malfoy feel that those little thoughts of his were being seen through. s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Subconsciously, he was thinking that this diary had something to do with the Chamber of Secrets.


    He wanted to give this thing to a reliable hand, and didn''t want to invite trouble - God knows what he did when he was unconscious, this thing he must not let his father know, so he deliberately avoided Professor Snape, whom he trusted more, and who had a closer relationship with his family.


    As for whether it was related to Potter, he couldn''t be sure, but isn''t it normal to give Potter a little trouble?


    "Professor ... I''m not sure, I have no memory of that." He said wryly.


    "In any case -" Felix gave him a look, "you made a wise choice. Slytherin plus fifty points, that''s as far as I can do, maybe we can go to Headmaster Dumbledore together ..."


    "No, that''s not necessary, Professor." Malfoy said busily as he stood up, "I just have one request, can you help me keep it a secret?"


    "Confidentiality?"


    "I mean, until we find out the truth, it''s best not to mention my existence or tell my family, it will have an effect on the Malfoy family''s reputation."


    Felix looked at him, "Yes." As he said.


    "Thank you, professor, if there is nothing else, I will leave now."


    After getting Felix''s permission, he quickly left.


    In the office, Felix quietly looked at the diary and tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair.


    "Ta, ta."


    His perspective changed, and in a black and white world, in front of him was a cloud of darkness thicker and deeper than ink, and he examined it carefully, but he could find nothing but the darkness itself.


    Felix came to the workbench, thought about it, he took out the quill and dropped a drop of ink on the diary.


    A stain appeared on the page.


    He waited quietly, and yet - nothing happened.


    Felix: "..." Am I not doing it right, or did Malfoy not make it clear?


    He pulled out his wand and gestured at the diary''s open page -


    "Show secrets!"


    " Emergency Active!"


    "Magic Track!"


    "Status Feedback!"


    After a series of attempts, the diary did not respond and lay there peacefully.


    This item in front of him definitely utilized incredibly secretive means of production.


    Even he could not find out the error for now.


    Does the sixteen or seventeen-year-old Voldemort has this ability? If we talk about the category of dark magic, he did not dare to judge, but the magical creation ...


    What made him surpass me?


    Felix fell into deep thought, fingers tapping the table-top, the silent office issued a "da, da" sound.


    I don''t know how long it took, but he finally stopped.


    Felix''s light blue eyes became extraordinarily bright, he thought of a possibility, a possibility that made his body tremble -


    Voldemort is the heir of the Chamber of Secrets left behind by Slytherin, the probability being that he is one of his descendants, so Voldemort could be able to open the Chamber of Secrets with his parseltongue while attending Hogwarts.


    What will be in that Chamber of Secrets?


    Just a Basilisk that has survived for a thousand years?


    This is too wasteful, but another way of thinking, perhaps it is guarding something.


    For example, Slytherin''s top-secret research materials?

 Chapter 67: Bewitched

    Felix tried to project a scenario from fifty years ago - A bright, cautious, ambitious young wizard, who stumbled upon Slytherin lore after entering Hogwarts, would have been clever enough to discover that the two shared the same magical gift, the Parseltongue, which pretty much meant there would be a de facto bloodline relationship between the two.


    He must have been thrilled to have the same blood flowing through his veins as the noble Slytherin.


    No doubt he will try to find the Chamber of Secrets left by his ancestors, which may take years, but with his wisdom and perhaps with the help of some snakes ... In short, he succeeded.


    As a descendant of Slytherin, he became the new master of the Basilisk.


    He rightfully inherited everything there. For example, a deeper hidden room filled with all sorts of forbidden Slytherin knowledge.


    Slytherin especially good at bloodline research, but also hold a number of powerful ancient magic. The key thing is that in those days, dark magic was on the rise, and Slytherin never shied away from studying and using that dark magic ...


    The young wizard received the gift of his ancestors, and he secretly digested it all, growing deeper and deeper in the field of magic, and his ambition swelled. Until after being rejected by Dumbledore, he formed an army of Death Eaters and became the dark lord, the talk of the town.


    ...


    ''Can all this be true? Maybe it''s just my speculation?'' Felix''s gaze seemed to penetrate through time and saw the rise of the second generation Dark Lord.


    He stared motionlessly at the diary, like a quiet painting in the quiet night.


    Who wouldn''t want the research material of a legendary wizard who had passed through the Grandmaster class?


    ''''The mere possibility is worth trying.''''


    ''''I''m afraid that Voldemort took them away or destroyed them, then it would be bad.''''


    Felix already had a plan in mind.


    ''The first step of the goal is to start an exchange, but the Horcruxes surprisingly playing dead ...''


    After some thought, Felix quickly constructed a small section of memories and emotions in his mind.


    In the new memory, he is still a genius wizard who has achieved outstanding success at a young age, but the difference is that he is extremely conceited and arrogant, and has no doubt that he can control this mysterious diary ...


    ''The art of lying is nine truths and one lie, I just need to make him misjudge my character and make him think I can be useful to him.'' Felix thought to himself.


    He opened the diary, picked up a quill dripping with ink, and wrote an impassioned line on it.


    "Evil dark magic artefacts, reveal your secrets, or I will destroy you completely!"


    After a moment of mental speculation, the mood fell in line, but the message revealed was not appealing enough, so he added another paragraph imitating Lockhart''s tone -


    "I, Felix Hap, the best graduate of Hogwarts in a hundred years, published three books related to magic and kept in correspondence with hundreds of famous wizards - but I don''t hang on that, I didn''t get Dumbledore''s offer of employment on the basis of my strong connections. "


    He stopped his pen for a second, two seconds ...


    An extremely subtle regal powerful thoughts swept through, this consciousness did not force through his memory, recklessly read the false information inside, but simply wandered around the periphery, capturing his emotions.


    This is something that impressed Felix.


    This is what many masters of the Legilimency do, they rarely enter someone''s mind crudely to check their memories, rather they perceive the other person''s emotions at the moment, supplemented it with their own rich experience so that they can unknowingly get the information they want.


    Under Felix''s watchful eye, the ink on the diary is absorbed into it.


    He waited patiently, and sure enough, a line of text emerged from the diary.


    "Hello, Felix Hap."


    The line lingered for a few seconds and quickly disappeared, and a new line of writing appeared -


    "I am not some dark magic artefact, that little wizard misunderstood me, someone else actually opened the Chamber of Secrets."


    Felix hooked the corners of his mouth as he simply wrote, "Who is it?"


    "I can show you."


    A dazzling white light poured out of the diary, and Felix felt his body being pulled as if he was going to fall in the next second.


    He quickly closed the diary.


    "Bang!"


    After a few seconds of pause, he opened the diary again.


    The soul in the diary froze a little, and he slowly typed a question mark.


    Felix wrote on it: "Don''t think I''m one of those unreliable little wizards, I''m a genius Slytherin and won''t fall for your tricks easily!" S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There''s a full pause of more than ten seconds before another line of text appeared on the diary.


    "You are indeed cautious enough, Felix Hap, but I am really not a dark magic artefact, I graduated from Slytherin like you, and in a way, I am your senior. Fifty years ago, I was the one who caught the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets."


    Felix smiled with satisfaction, this is exactly the impression he wanted to give the Horcrux, an arrogant and self-absorbed, but at the same time shrewd Slytherin image at the same time.


    So, don''t try to fool him with some cheap stuff.


    Next, the diary took nearly half an hour, painstakingly writing thousands of words to make clear the events of fifty years ago.


    Seeing the handwriting on the diary getting lighter and lighter, Felix thoughtfully put a few drops of ink.


    "The murderer who opened the Chamber of Secrets was Rubeus Hagrid." Finally, the diary concluded.


    "And how do you explain taking control of the little wizard in the school?" Felix asked a sharp question.


    A large paragraph quickly emerged from the pages of the diary.


    "The Chamber of Secrets was reopened ..."


    " Rubeus Hagrid was not imprisoned in Azkaban, he remained at the school as a forbidden forest guard. The danger never went away, and as I expected, this year something finally went wrong. I tried to give a warning, but the little wizard named Draco Malfoy wasn''t interested in it; instead, he was more interested in watching the fun. I had to control him to try and find out what Hagrid had been doing to commit the crime."


    The diary wrote in an emotionally filled tone, "Even though I am only a memory, the determination to safeguard Hogwarts has not changed. I am still a member of Hogwarts and have an obligation to stop this from happening."


    Felix wrote in his diary, "Is everything you said true?"


    "Of course, I was raised in a Muggle orphanage, unlike those pureblood families whose arrogance is practically soaked to the bone. You can check out the prize showroom at Hogwarts, there should still be my trophy there."


    "Sounds like it''s true." Felix wrote, but under the occulamency, he couldn''t help but a curse, you have scanned me seventeen times, really believe I won''t notice it?


    "Because all this originally is genuine, you can investigate as much as you can, but time is short, the next attack could happen at any time. My suggestion is to write to the Ministry of Magic in secret and ask them to take Rubeus Hagrid away temporarily."


    "You want me to snitch?" Felix wrote "angrily".


    "No, it''s just a test. Believe me, if you take him away, the attack will stop immediately." A seductive line appeared in the diary, "When this is over, you will come forward and enjoy the honour you deserve, I think, a medal of the Order of Merlin - in the name of the brave man who ended the attack of the Chamber of Secrets!"


    "But please also keep me a secret for the time being; there is someone at the school who shelters Hagrid, and if he were to discover my presence, he would not hesitate to use me as a scapegoat. This is my only request until everything comes to light, you can do whatever you want."


    Felix paused for a moment and wrote on it, "I''ll think about it."


    He then took out an exquisite box from the suitcase in the corner of the office and put the diary inside.


    A complex rune pattern flickered away.


    After completely isolating the diary from the outside world, Felix looked back on the exchange of words he had just had in the silent office and sincerely exclaimed with admiration -


    "Spoken as if it were true."

 Chapter 68: Lockharts Trouble

    The following few days passed calmly around campus, but secretly there were undercurrents - Rita Skeeter''s firepower is all focused on Lockhart, and after many years, the two were once again sparring across the newspaper.


    They are both writers of great repute, each with their own huge readership, and as a result, the news about them is the hottest of the moment.


    And in the newspaper margins of the word block, began to appear sporadically on Dumbledore''s inability to respond to the attack on the Chamber of Secrets question, Felix smelled the smell of conspiracy.


    Thinking about the conversation between Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall in the chamber, he almost realized what is going on.


    Nothing more than some pureblood family launched a public opinion campaign, trying to use it to bring down Dumbledore. But everything could have been a futile effort, the Basilisk has died, only not disclosed.


    Dumbledore wanted to fish, once and for all to solve the problem, then so be it, Felix is not interested.


    In the last class before the holidays, he took the parchment given by Professor McGonagall and explained some precautions as written.


    "Don''t cast spells outside of school, and don''t take teaching aids home, you know what I mean." s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The young wizards at the back laughed.


    At noon, when Felix walked into the Great Hall, he unexpectedly saw Lockhart standing in the doorway. He is just about to pretend he didn''t notice when Lockhart tugged on his hand.


    "Professor Lockhart?" He had to stop in his tracks.


    Lockhart said to him with a troubled look, "Professor Hap, we need to talk."


    The two men walked into the shadowy corner in front of the foyer.


    "Professor Hap, for the sake of us being colleagues, you have to help me, that Skeeter woman is driving me crazy!"


    Felix asked, somewhat curiously, "What''s going on?"


    "That woman is making wild rumours in the newspaper, trying desperately to discredit me. She went so far as to slander me, saying that my adventures were all fake, for God''s sake! What a ridiculous statement!"


    Felix looked at him with a bizarre expression.


    "Yeah, you think it''s outrageous as well, right? You can''t doubt me just because I have an outstanding appearance, and of course, I can''t exorcize the female ghost by smiling!" He cleared his throat in annoyance.


    "Professor Lockhart," Felix interrupted, "please state your reason directly."


    "Oh, ah ... well, it''s like this--" his tone became stammering, "I think that this quarrel between me and that woman, there''s no need to occupy public resources. Perhaps in private we can communicate ... negotiate a settlement ..."


    "But what does that have to do with me?"


    "Come on, Professor Hap I know who that woman is, she won''t let you off lightly, and in her mind, you''re a perfect news material!" Lockhart said with a shrewd face, "If you ask me, you''ve said hello to her through some big shot ..."


    Felix said to himself, "You''re a real talent, you can even make a connection like this."


    He excused himself and said, "I''m not familiar with her, but I happened to hear from Headmaster Dumbledore mentioned that around the holidays, the school will announce a big news, when some journalists will be invited to attend, perhaps she will also be here."


    "Really?" Lockhart''s eyes lit up, "I need to talk to Dumbledore ... Thank you very much, Professor Hap, if you need anything in the future, just come to me, I heard that you have studied ancient magic, and it so happens that I know something about it."


    "Let''s talk about it," Felix said with disinterest.


    Lockhart did not pay attention to his attitude, he cheerfully proposed to leave, it looks like he is going to go directly to Dumbledore.


    "By the way, Professor Lockhart, I heard that your wand ..." He wanted to find out if Dumbledore had cleaned the smell off it by the way when he handed it over.


    He is very curious about it.


    "Gee, you know about it to don''t you, horrible behaviour, if you ask me, three weeks of detention is light for him ... that reckless Weasley."


    At the other end, Ron returned to the common room in a huff.


    "You shouldn''t stop me, Harry--" said Ron, who had just had another fight with Percy.


    Harry didn''t feel good inside; they had originally solved the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets, but at Dumbledore''s request, they had to hold back for a few days and postpone the announcement of this honour until the new school term started.


    Which makes, his situation not much better, and even, Ron is suffering from a ban on his back.


    But Harry still advised Ron that, "Think positive, if everything goes well, after Christmas, we can let Malfoy get the punishment he deserves, and then all the troubles will be solved together!"


    His words made Ron''s heart feel better, "That''s right, I wish Christmas would come sooner."


    Then he said with a raised eyebrow, "Harry, that is a special contribution award, no one in my family has ever won, not even Bill! When I get the trophy, I''m going to smash it in Percy''s face."


    On the other side of the table, Hermione had been writing and drawing on parchment, not participating in their discussion.


    "Hermione, what are you doing?"


    Hermione looked up from her parchment and she sighed, "I''m planning a makeover for the beaded pouch, ew, it''s just too hard."


    Harry asked her with interest, "Is it that little bag that releases the Devil''s snare?"


    "Yes, the Basilisk did some damage to it in the chamber, and I requested permission from Professor Hap to do the restoration work independently. But it is much more trouble than I thought, even though I watched Professor make it from start to finish ..."


    Harry couldn''t resist asking more questions, the little witch excitedly gave the two of them the basic concepts of ancient runes, which made Harry and Ron dizzy, and the two of them tacitly diverted the topic.


    In the evening, Felix took out the diary and once again wrote and scribbled in it.


    "Hagrid was taken away, and I don''t know if I did the right thing." Felix wrote, which of course is a snub, he also cleaned up the prepared Christmas gifts this afternoon, including Hagrid''s.


    A string of letters emerged from the diary, " You''ve done the right thing, and believe me, the attacks will stop, and you''re the biggest contributor."


    Felix said "unmoved", "I won''t take your word to heart, I''ll always be on my guard!"


    "Of course, if the attack happens again, you can absolutely hand me over." The diary stated.


    Felix penned, "I''m curious, how were you made? You know, you simply had an ordinary book as a medium, but it carried a memory over half a century!"


    The diary is not repulsed by this question, on the contrary, he welcomes it very much. Talk, open your heart to me ...


    A fluent string of words danced across the page, "That involves very deep mystery in magic, and if you''re interested, I''ll tell you everything I know."


    Thus, one person and one diary began to communicate in a harmonious and friendly atmosphere.


    At first, they discussed the relatively superficial scope, but after Felix pointed out his mistakes several times, the diary had to come up with more profound content, but he also rather cunning, a lot of key points are brushed off as "he did not inject this part of information back then".


    That night, Felix gained some tips on storing memories on regular items and some knowledge of bloodline research.


    At the end of the exchange, the journal strongly recommended him a "relaxation technique", which he swore had a magical effect ...


    Felix locked the diary away, but he couldn''t help but think, "I believe in you, you bastard."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 69: Memory

    Finally, the semester was over, and the young wizards lined up to board the train home, leaving Hogwarts mostly empty for a while. The usual silence of the morning after a heavy snowfall completely enveloped the entire castle.


    Felix walked through the castle, only occasionally encountering a young wizard, but he did not feel the least bit stuffy, but rather peaceful.


    He picked a remote place near the frozen black lake, used magic to turn the rock into a chair, comfortably lying on it. He lightly snapped his fingers, a bright blue flame floating above his head.


    Felix took a book out of his ring and read it with interest.


    What he had in his hand is "Ravenclaw Manuscript (Volume II)", where the descendants have compiled the information left by Rowena Ravenclaw and divided the contents into twelve whole volumes according to different categories.


    The second volume consisted of Ravenclaw''s daily entourage, which did not involve specific wizarding knowledge, and to his eyes, it''s filled with large paragraphs of cloudy, poetry-like mumblings.


    A random quote -


    The stone became a bird, chirping, and chirping. Across mountains and lakes, it brought back daisy flowers from the red plains.


    Felix: "..." It is difficult to understand the state of mind of Lady Ravenclaw at that time.


    Felix also assumed that Ravenclaw had been educated as a noble lady in her youth, and had a special preference for poetry because of her family''s education.


    But were there any famous poets at that time?


    Felix scratched his head a bit, with his not very good historical knowledge, he only knew the four founders of Hogwarts active in the Middle Ages, but it seems that the poetry of that period is inseparable from the category of religious hymns.


    He read on -


    The river said to me, O Creator, you gave me thought, but never gave me form. One day, I will merge into the ocean.


    Felix: "..."


    When you think about it, it''s still quite meaningful, or at least it reads lofty and mysterious.


    He also did not consume his mind to ponder the subtle meaning of the words, but lapped up the words and quickly skimmed through them. In less than half an hour, he turned to the end.


    "Tsk!" Felix smacked his lips, do not know what to say.


    Without a little literary appreciation, he didn''t deserve to study magic?


    He simply lay down on the chair, looking at the distant lake covered with ice and snow, recalling the knowledge he had gained from the diary in the past few days. With his vision, he was able to tell which part would be more useful to him, even though the diary had covered up everything for him and even tried to pass on the wrong information, but then again, he was only dealing with the young Dark Lord, who had yet to graduate from school and who was still very young in every way.


    In this point, Voldemort and once himself are somewhat alike, they are with the "external" force to force a single branch of study to improve the ability to achieve far beyond the level of their peers.


    But when it comes to understanding and perception of magic, they are still too shallow.


    If you don''t reach a certain level, you won''t be able to experience it.


    Felix had a feeling that most wizards spent their lives learning other people''s magic without ever improving it. It''s not that they don''t want to, but they can''t.


    "Wait, I seem to have thought of something." Felix sat up sharply, " little bird, river, creator, magic, consciousness ..."


    Felix quickly opened the Ravenclaw Manuscript (Volume II) and turned to one of the pages, he looked at the familiar words on it-


    "Stones became little birds, chirping and chirping. Across mountains and lakes, it brought back the daisy flowers of the red plains."


    Would it be possible to see this little poem as a true account of Ravenclaw''s own experience?


    The first line is undoubtedly about transfiguration, perhaps Lady Rowena Ravenclaw turned a rock into a beautiful bird on a whim one day.


    So what does the second sentence say?


    That Ravenclaw used magic to manipulate it to make a sound? Felix shook his head and connected to the next two sentences, the legendary bird that had apparently leaped a short distance and brought back a daisy flower.


    This is not something that transfiguration can do.


    Perhaps Ravenclaw had given it some kind of " trait ", like life, soul, or something like that, so that it could maintain a certain degree of autonomy even after it was out of the spellcasting range.


    He suddenly remembered part of the conversation he had had with the Sorting Hat that day...


    "Sorting Hat, do you remember how you were born?" Felix asked it in his mind.


    "Of course, oh, I vividly remember that." It said wisely, and then the dirty, ragged hat sang in his consciousness. s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It was over a thousand years ago.


    I had just been woven into shape.


    There were four great and famous wizards that


    Vowed to nurture the young wizards into being.


    These four great wizards.


    Each had a different view of the talent they valued.


    It was Gryffindor who came up with the idea--


    He lifted me from his head.


    All four great wizards infused me with their thoughts.


    From then on it was up to me to pick and evaluate!"


    ...


    The Sorting Hat almost became an independent living entity after acquiring the thoughts of the Four Greats on it.


    How alike to that little bird that leaps over mountains and lakes and brings back a daisy flower!


    What is the key here? It is autonomy. They both exhibit extreme autonomy, just like real beings, and can still make self-decisions and complete complex behaviours when they are out of the magical range.


    How can this autonomy be achieved in a miraculous way?


    Excluding the fields of "life" and "soul", which he could not touch anywhere, Felix quickly thought of a way he could achieve it - injecting memories.


    He happened to get this part of knowledge from the diary.


    He waved his wand so that a palm-sized pebble flew to him, and then he lightly points his wand on the stone, the stone quickly turned into a delicate, small rain swallow.


    But if you distinguish carefully, you will find that the eyes of this rain swallow is very dull, like a puppet, every move needs guidance with the wand.


    Felix constructed a small memory in his mind, he touched his forehead with his wand, pulling out a silver, shimmering thin wire.


    He incorporated this false memory into Rainbird''s body and relied on the knowledge that diary had given him to bring the pieces together.


    He simplified this step as much as possible, just to verify what he had in mind.


    Under his watchful eye, the rain swallow''s eyes became animated, and without his control, it swung its wings and stumbled to take flight.


    Then it plunged headlong into the snow, leaving only two legs twitching continuously.


    Felix yanked it out, and the rainbird bounced and trudged through the snow, watching it walk rather not like a sparrow - this is because he had constructed a memory so poorly.


    But he stared unblinkingly at the little guy in front of him.


    After almost two or three minutes, wisps of silvery mist spilled out of this rainbird''s body, and the fictitious memory dissipated.


    It returned to its dull state.


    Felix waved his wand and made it turn into a pebble again.

 Chapter 70: Christmas present

    "This thought is feasible." Felix saw more possibilities in this simple attempt, and he felt he could do something like sleeping gargoyle in the castle if he tried hard enough. However, he did not think he could accomplish a magical creation similar to the Sorting Hat or the Diary.


    The latter is fine, after all, it is a Horcrux, which hides a piece of Voldemort''s soul, but the Sorting Hat? It''s originally was merely a Gryffindor''s hat, not something built specifically for the sorting.


    According to Felix''s visualization, the four founders may have shared an afternoon tea and questioned each other''s "talent selection plan", and in order to resolve their differences, they decided to use " wise magical creation" to carry out the sorting.


    Thus, the birth of the Sorting Hat occurred. And the Sorting Hat has been around for thousands of years. It can communicate with people, which means that it has its own memory and nature, and in a sense, it is not too much to say that it is real life.


    It reminded him of a portrait that could also communicate with people in a sense.


    In some simple portraits, such as Sir Cadogan in the castle, his intelligence is extremely simple, unable to carry on a complex and structured dialogue.


    The result of Felix''s probing during school was that the bragging Sir could only engage in seven effective feedbacks, such as bragging about his glorious battles or extending an invitation to a duel.


    And some portraits behaved miraculously enough - they were able to interact with the outside world in complex ways and retained a considerable amount of memory themselves.


    As far as he knows, the portraits of past Heads of Hogwarts in the Headmaster''s office, as well as the portraits of the ancestors of some pure-blood families, are in this category.


    This is a result of the owners of the portraits injecting a lot of memory and magic for this purpose, thus making the portraits they left behind still maintain a similar personality to the original owners, but they are only similar to the extent, but they are not a real being.


    The biggest difference is that the character of the portraits will not change with the passage of time, always fixed at the moment they were made, like a complex set of interactive programs.


    This is fundamentally different from the Sorting Hat ...


    "The Sorting Hat absolutely hides a bigger secret!"


    ...


    The dawn of Christmas came, and Felix emerged from his bedroom fully dressed. Under the small Christmas tree in one corner of the office, numerous Christmas gifts of various shapes and sizes were piled up.


    Roughly counted, almost hundreds of pieces.


    Moreover, there were quite a few more packages on their way, and in the time it took him to make tea, three owls flew into the room through the window he had deliberately left open last night. One of them had obviously flown a significant distance, with a palm-sized delicate gift box in its beak, and collapsed in exhaustion on the table in front of him.


    Felix had to feed it a few drops of potion, it is in a far better state now.


    The brown owl ate a few small cookies before jumping in front of him and pecking his fingers with its pointed beak, "Are you asking me to open the package?"


    The owl looked at him, cocked its head, and held out a talon to him where a small metal cylinder was tied. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix opened the cylinder and pulled out a rolled-up letter from inside -


    "Dear Mr. Felix Hap, my wolfsbane potion has been finalized. Just as the ''White Fresh'' flew to you, I have submitted the official formula to the Ministry of Magic. If there are no surprises, I will soon be awarded a medal of the Order of Merlin - at least second class! I hope you will be able to come and observe the ceremony at that time. Enclosed with this letter is a bottle of the latest wolfsbane potion, so please taste it."


    It''s addressed and signed by Damocles Belby O.M.


    Felix quickly wrote on it, "I am honored, please let me know as soon as the date is set, and I will attend on time. Also: your Merlin medal is well deserved."


    He placed the note back in the metal cylinder, "Good work, White Fresh." The owl drank some water and spread its wings and left.


    Felix opened the delicate gift box, that contained a bottle of potion, he opened the lid and sniffed it gently, "Well, it smells as bad as ever, couldn''t he ever consider adding some sugar? Or is it a quirk of all Master Wizards to make their potions so awful?"


    He placed the potion in the ring with emeralds on his left hand, and then began to open the gifts with great interest.


    A good portion of them came from his book fans and pen-pals, mainly greeting cards. Felix sorted through them and set them aside for now, the rest were gifts from Hogwarts'' professors and students.


    Dumbledore gave a private alchemy manuscript, his personal insights on alchemy. And Felix gave the principal a muggle book called "99 Inventions That Changed the World", paired with a pair of long wool socks embroidered with red lions.


    Professor McGonagall gave a book called "Quidditch Teams in Great Britain and Ireland", which is an introduction to the Quidditch teams in Britain and the various honours they have won, and it contains a lot of illustrations of Quidditch technical moves.


    It seemed as if she wanted to draw Felix into the circle of fellow Quidditch enthusiasts.


    Hagrid gave him a short home-made dagger, rather crudely made, albeit out of a very unusual material - the horn of a unicorn.


    "Tch." Felix smacked his lips, not knowing what to say.


    Professor Flitwick sent him a copy of ancient magic and invited him to discuss the contents with him sometime, and Felix gladly responded.


    Professor Snape''s gift is a thumb-sized clear bottle containing about a millilitre of clear unknown liquid.


    "It''s a strong spiteful agent, how very kind of you, Professor." He said cheerfully, "I hope you''ll like my gift too." What he gave Snape was a set of experimental equipment for Muggle schoolchildren, including measuring cups, scales, and droppers.


    He also thoughtfully put together a "Code of Conduct for Chemical Experiments (Children''s Edition)," which had plenty of accompanying pictures, so he wasn''t afraid that the professor wouldn''t be able to understand it.


    A number of young wizards at Hogwarts also gave him gifts; his assistant Miss Granger gave him a dark green knitted scarf, Potter gave him a large box of chocolates, and Ron Weasley gave him a box of Zizzy Bee candy.


    The most interesting gift came from the twins'' collaboration, which was two wooden couple dolls hugging each other, looking rougher than Hagrid''s short dagger - the features on the face were painted in. Felix knocked the male doll''s head according to the instructions, which caused it to scream in pain, and then the two dolls shuddered and did a zombie dance.


    Although the twins said that this is a small African country''s " dance track ", but Felix directly ignored it.


    In addition, some little wizards who he hasn''t met a few times also sent gifts, such as Justin Finch-Fletchley, who sent a luxurious quill with a variety of functions.


    It took Felix an hour to finish writing the letters and returning gifts.


    He entered the Great Hall, where four long tables were occupied by a few scattered little wizards.


    A dozen Christmas trees covered with silver frost were hung with all sorts of new and interesting trinkets, ribbons of sprinkles of mistletoe and holly were draped from the ceiling, and enchanted snow was sprinkling down.


    Professor McGonagall and several professors were busy decorating the Great Hall.


    "Do you need some help?" He asked.


    Professor McGonagall straightened up, "Oh, no, it''s almost done." She waved her wand, hung a long coloured ribbon on the Christmas tree, as she turned to him, and said, "I really like your gift, Felix."


    Felix flashed a smile as he gave Professor McGonagall a half-human-sized golem with a dozen or so complex circuits built in it, which enabled it to take two forms - in addition to the human form itself, it could transfigure into a majestic lion.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 71: Luna Lovegood

    Felix ate his breakfast leisurely, and one by one the young wizards arrived, their faces beaming with smiles, laughing and joking with each other. The whole Great Hall filled with a lively air.


    From the Great Hall, Felix walked towards the direction of the forbidden forest, and on the way, he met Hagrid, who is coming towards the castle.


    "Hello, Professor Hap." Hagrid greeted warmly.


    "Hello, Hagrid. I received your gift, and I like it very much." Felix said, especially the material it''s made of.


    " Haha, it''s good that you like it. By the way, the automatic wipe you gave me works quite well, it cleans the house now." Hagrid said gruffly, "No need for me to worry about it entirely, and it even gets itself clean."


    After exchanging pleasantries, Felix went to the edge of the forbidden forest. He is going to snap some chestnut branches; his stock is running low.


    But halfway through, he frowned.


    On the snow-covered ground were footprints in a straight line toward the forbidden forest.


    Felix measured the size of the footprints, which belonged to some little wizard who had violated the ban, so he followed the footprints.


    Felix walked along with the snow, except for the constant " crisp " sound of snow and broken leaves under his feet, no other sound was heard. Unknowingly, he has come to the edge of the forbidden forest.


    But this place is quite remote, in the northwest corner of the Forbidden Forest, is already quite close to the main gate of Hogwarts - this is where the young wizards go on weekends to Hogsmeade Village.


    Felix stopped in his tracks, and the surroundings formed an ambience of silence - white snowflakes fell from high from the sky, and he looked up as if countless ice crystals were swooping towards him.


    Everything is silent, and heaven and earth seem to be so empty that he feels like he is all alone.


    " Hissing Tum Thumb"


    A black creature that looked very much like a horse poked its head out of the forbidden forest, it gave Felix a look with its silver-white eyes, sneezed, and then flapped a pair of large, black, bat-like wings and receded back into the forest.


    "Surprisingly, it is a Night Thestrals." Felix became somewhat surprised.


    This kind of magical creature is quite rare, and there are many wizards who categorize them as special invisible beasts - they can only be seen by people who have experienced death, witnessed it, and understand it.


    This trait has given them a not-so-good reputation, and night Thestrals were once considered a symbol of bad luck - a harbinger of death comparable to a wizard running into a large black dog. But they are in fact rather docile creatures.


    Felix became even more curious, and he went deeper into the forbidden forest, and after about two minutes of walking, came to a clearing.


    In the snowy sky, a little girl stood in the midst of a dozen skinny, bony night Thestrals, and she grabbed a handful of hay in her hand and held it in front of the mouth of the closest one.


    He also heard her humming softly, looking very cheerful.


    Felix waited for her to feed all the dry grass in her hand before walking over, his footsteps alerted the little witch.


    The girl lifted her head. She had long, tousled, waist-length blonde hair and very light-colored eyebrows and eyes.


    When he got close enough, he realized that the little witch had her wand behind her left ear, she is wearing a pair of toadstool glasses, and around her neck hung a necklace strung with a cork of butterbeer.


    At that moment, her eyes stared dead at the person who suddenly appeared.


    Felix''s heart welled up with an odd emotion, an odd little wizard ... could it be Ravenclaw?


    "What''s your name and which House are you from, Little Miss?" Felix asked.


    "Luna," she said in a voice that sounded as if she is singing, "Luna Lovegood, is my name, I''ve seen you in public class, and you are a professor."


    "Yes, obviously. What House are you from, Miss Lovegood?"


    "Ravenclaw with saying wit beyond measure is man''s greatest treasure."


    Felix got it, unsurprisingly ... then he said with a reprimanding tone, "Why are you alone deep in the Forbidden Forest, don''t you know it''s dangerous here?"


    "They are not dangerous." Luna said in a trance, "Night Thestrals is very friendly. Do you want to feed them together?" She suddenly knelt down, pushed aside the snow, and grabbed a handful of half-green, half-yellow hay in her hand. S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    She turned her light-colored eyes toward him, and Felix noticed that her voice had almost no highs or lows when she spoke, but paired with an ethereal voice, it gave the impression that she is singing.


    "No." He said.


    With that, Luna made a turn and fed hay to a small night Thestrals as if no one else is around. And it seemed to be just learning to walk, crouching low on its somewhat stiff limbs and sticking out its tongue to lick Luna''s fingers.


    She hummed a strange little tune softly, and snowflakes fell on her clothes, accumulating a thin layer.


    Felix''s mood became calmer, and he did not try to break the atmosphere.


    "You''re in a better mood?" Luna said.


    "What?"


    "You just got caught in the middle of a harassing gadfly," Luna said sympathetically.


    "I - what did you say?"


    " Harassing gadfly ... they sometimes drift into your ears and mess with your head." She said, "I think I just heard one buzzing around here."


    Felix never thought such creatures existed, but he asked her with interest, "Can you be specific, about the harassing gadfly?"


    Luna gave a surprised expression as she held her toadstool glasses in one hand and looked behind him.


    " Harassing gadfly ... Well, they''re usually invisible, but when they want to do something to your brain, they glow red with excitement."


    "So, you saw that?"


    "That''s right." She said with great certainty as if she were speaking some kind of truth.


    Felix became suspicious at first, he scanned around but found nothing.


    After a while, the two returned to the castle together.


    On the way, he asked Luna, "Didn''t you go home for Christmas?"


    She said calmly, "Father had a manuscript to catch up with, the Christmas Issue, but we made an appointment to look for the bent-horned snoring beast over the summer."


    Another name I hadn''t heard, "Your father is-"


    "Xenophilius Lovegood, he''s the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler."


    Felix said nothing more; he knew the name of this newspaper.


    Standing in front of the castle, Felix said to her, "I will not deduct any points this time, go, find your friends and enjoy a pleasant Christmas."


    "I''m having a good time right now." Luna said with a happy smile, then she gave a thoughtful look, "You do remind me, I met a Gryffindor freshman before, she seemed friendly, maybe we could be friends."


    "Yeah? You could try." Felix encouraged casually.


    "As I recall, she was carrying a rooster in her hand." Luna said lightly, "But who doesn''t have some strange fetishes."


    "What did you say?" Felix raised his voice, but he quickly softened his tone again, "Do you know her name?"


    Luna shook her head, two strands of hair fluttering on her forehead, "But she has beautiful hair, like a puff of dancing fire."

 Chapter 72: Christmas Dinner

    Felix hadn''t expected an unexpected gain. Combined with Malfoy''s words, he realized that the diary had not been brought to the school by Malfoy - he was just an unlucky man who had picked it up after the second attack had taken place.


    Now, he can finally confirm the truth.


    Felix nodded and turned to leave when he suddenly heard Luna''s ethereal voice from behind him -


    "Christmas present."


    He turned to look at her, "What?"


    Luna said with a straight face, "I suddenly realized that I haven''t prepared a Christmas present for you, so rushed in my introduction." She unhurriedly rummaged through her coat pocket and, to Felix''s slightly odd gaze, pulled out an odd-looking bracelet.


    She said rather sadly, "I made them myself, I was going to make a pair." She held out her hand and handed it to Felix.


    Felix didn''t know why he reached out and took it, but he did.


    Luna bounced away.


    When Felix returned to his office, with the bracelet still in his hand, he slumped back in his chair and thought very carefully about how he should return the gift.


    It seems that the usual gift is not very appropriate according to her temperament ...


    Finally, he fished out a book from his own collection, "A Selection of World Jokes", which he somehow felt went well with the little witch named Luna. Watching the owl''s distant figure, he refocused his attention upon the new information.


    Gryffindor, flaming hair, first-year freshman, these few traits combined, he almost concluded it had to be a Weasley kid, their family quite famous for their redhead


    Moreover, he even heard his assistant mention a mouthful that the youngest member of the Weasley family - Ron''s sister - enrolled this year.


    So how did this go round and round and linked back to the trio?


    He recalled that he had indeed encountered this little red-haired witch a few times in his early days, in rather sensitive locations - either near Hagrid''s Hut or in the abandoned girls'' lavatory.


    Felix thought about this, which is another direction of an investigation. He was curious to know who had brought the diary, and whether he had any more similar, extra one in stock - the young version of the Dark Lord is cautious, and he was silent about his relationship with Slytherin, which put some of his questions in jeopardy.


    It became dark and Felix made his way to the Great Hall. A short distance away, he saw a colourful, beautifully decorated venue, in addition to those seen in the morning, near the ceiling there were a dozen constantly wandering lanterns, continuously throwing coloured fireworks from what looked like the mouth of the fissure.


    He saw the trio, where Ron waved excitedly at him - Felix guessed it may be due to the gift he gave, but he couldn''t think much about it, Dumbledore waving at him, and he walked over.


    The Headmaster wore something formal and interesting tonight. His long beard was tied up with purple and red ribbons, like the shape of a gourd, "Felix, happy holidays."


    "You too, Headmaster Dumbledore."


    Dumbledore winked and whispered, "I got your gift, it''s lovely, I didn''t get a chance to read that book yet, but I know it''s worth reading just from the name."


    "I''m glad you like it."


    With a "popping" Ferris Bueller fireworks that went through the Great Hall, the party officially began.


    Dumbledore, as the Headmaster, led the crowd in singing a few cheerful Christmas carols, then smilingly announced, "Eat to your heart''s content, fill your bellies."


    Various types of food appeared out of nowhere, including Perfect Roast Turkey, Mini sausages, Meatloaf, Pork Chops, Stuffed Pork Loin Pie, Mushy Peas, Baked Pastries, and more, which were exceptionally plentiful.


    The young wizards huddled together, forks slashing across the table with a trail of shadows.


    Felix also put aside all his worries and ate a lot.


    Hagrid recommended a Special Hogwarts Drinking Custard to him, Felix tasted it, it is sweet and sour, and the alcohol taste in it''s not very strong, he drank a few more glasses. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    On one side, Lockhart shook his head, his wavy curls shaking.


    Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore whispered, from time to time, with " giggling " bursts out.


    Finally, everyone had time to chat until they were seven times full, and a "buzzing" sound echoed over the Great Hall. Felix stuck his fork into a piece of Grape jelly and stuffed it into his mouth, and then he saw his assistant tiptoeing out of the Great Hall with two young wizards in tow.


    Interesting, were they going to do something again?


    At the other end, Hermione holding two pieces of chocolate cake up, announced her plan, "I''ve put a normal Sleeping Draught in this, you just make sure Crabbe and Goyle can find them - they''ll eat it for sure, and when they fall asleep, you pull a few hairs out of both of them and hide them in the broom closet."


    Ron and Harry looked at each other, and they felt that there were all sorts of holes in the plan. Ron asked her, "What about you, Hermione?"


    "I already got mine! Remember the Dueling Club? Millicent wrestled with me and I fought ... back ... Anyway, I got her hair."


    Hermione went away to see the status of the polyjuice potion, leaving Harry and Ron alone to finish the job.


    "Honestly, I don''t think it''s that easy," Ron said with a sad face.


    Harry also did not hold much hope.


    But they could only shrink into the shadows and stare unblinkingly at the door of the Great Hall.


    Halfway through the day, a somewhat bored Harry whispered to Ron, "When are you going to take leave permission from Professor McGonagall?"


    "The sooner, the better," Ron said without thinking, "I can''t wait to have a new wand, Professor Hap is just too sweet!"


    Felix simply and brutally sent him seven golden galleons and a note, which briefly stated, "Noticed your wand is damaged, suggest you buy a new one, otherwise you will not be able to participate in next semester''s dueling class. Also: count it as a reward for your courage."


    Harry received a copy of "Dueling Codex", one of Felix''s reference books for writing dueling class materials.


    Therefore, the two were also aware that Professor Hap had taken over the dueling club from Lockhart, and they had discussed it privately and were looking forward to his classes.


    "I just hope the new dueling class doesn''t have Snape in it," Harry said hopefully.


    The dinner had been going on for over an hour and one by one the young wizards were leaving, Felix still talking to Professor Flitwick about the grimoire he got, "That ancient magic is interesting, sort of some combination of a Reducio and an Engorgio."


    Professor Flitwick said, "It is said these two magic spells evolved from it, I do see some similarities, but it could be a coincidence."


    The two of them fixed a time and prepared to discuss it in detail academically after Felix had studied it for a while.


    In the lively and noisy atmosphere, Felix''s first Christmas dinner as a professor at Hogwarts ended.

 Chapter 73: persecution

    On Christmas night, the hustle and bustle returned to silence, and the night enveloped Hogwarts Castle like a curtain. In the ancient runes'' office, Felix habitually opened the diary and talked to the young Dark Lord inside.


    For the past two days, he had been trying to guide him to talk about Salazar Slytherin, but had been tugged away from the subject.


    Tonight, Felix decided to take a different tactic, he needed to carefully lay a trap for the young Dark Lord to step in himself.


    To do this, he re-read a lot of psychological books.


    "Something rather sensational happened today." Felix wrote.


    "What is it?" Diary asked with interest, he had been rather distressed lately with how this shrewd professor would lock him up after every exchange, which had left him completely out of touch with outside information.


    "The attack on the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets has been reported, there is a lot of buzz, and there are proposals to disband Slytherin House and strip Salazar Slytherin of all honour."


    Felix felt like a large spider, carefully weaving a cobweb.


    Immediately a string of long, flying scribbles surfaced on the diary, "Ridiculous statements, simply ridiculous! Who is it? Is it Dumbledore! He has always had a prejudice against wizards from Slytherin."


    Felix hooked the corners of his mouth as he wrote, full of mischief, "Not him, but a woman named Rita Skeeter, who has always been known for making up rumours about famous people."


    The name "Rita Skeeter" flashed on the diary, looking messy and hideous - a name that he seemed to be trying to hold on to.


    Inside the diary, the young Tom Riddle is indeed furious, and he can''t help but wonder, has the current state of the wizarding world reached this level of filth?


    After a long time, the diary followed up: "And then what? The Ministry of Magic will certainly not agree to such an absurd proposal!"


    "Of course not, but this incident has caused widespread discussion at Hogwarts, and quite a few minor wizards have commented on Salazar Slytherin - well, one could say extremely negatively."


    The diary couldn''t help but write, "Salazar Slytherin is the greatest of the Big Four! Yet later generations have only shallowly judged him by his appearance, desperately trying to discredit him!"


    Felix thought of the huge face in the Chamber of Secrets: an old, monkey-like face with a long, sparse beard that trailed almost all the way down to the hem of his robes.


    You know that is a Slytherin statue carved out by himself, do not exclude the possibility of self-glorification.


    He could not imagine what the real Slytherin looked like, especially when he was always surrounded by a variety of snakes spitting long creepy noises.


    Felix said relatively "objectively", "This is very illustrative. You know, people always reject things they don''t understand in their hearts, like the Slytherin parseltongue."


    "I couldn''t agree more, Felix Hap, your opinion is quite insightful." The diary quipped.


    Felix humbly explained, "I''ve read part of the Ravenclaw manuscript, and I can imagine the rippling times just through the mere descriptions." He wrote emotionally, "Four of the most gifted male and female wizards came together to usher in a new era of magic."


    The diary echoed him, "That is indeed a history to remember." His wording regained its calmness.


    But then, Felix deliberately commented, "I just don''t understand why Salazar Slytherin suddenly fell out with the other three, is it really a difference of philosophy? You know at that time, pure-blood ideology are not popular."


    "And he also secretly built the Chamber of Secrets, leaving horrible monsters in it. I think -" Felix wrote verbatim, "he is personally destroying his own heart and soul, which is typical of the dark wizard''s way of doing things."


    Tom the Diary couldn''t resist countering him, "Maybe his chamber wasn''t used to remove muggle wizards."


    "Or else how, Tom? I should remind you that many of the Slytherin researches were bloody and brutal, and it affected his character."


    Tom Riddle continued to refute: "But he also uncovered the fog of truth for those who came after him. Just look at his objects of research, goblins, giants, dwarves, horsemen ... His findings were enough to propel the wizard as a group to supremacy! At a mere, insignificant price."


    "Tom, you''re a crazy admirer of his?" Felix wrote.


    "No, of course not ... merely partially identified, wizards and humanoid creatures are different concepts, aren''t they?" The diary tried its best to sound more objective, "Besides any judgment out of context of that era is hypocritical and silly, the moral standards of wizards in that era were completely different from now."


    "You have a point." Felix wrote, "But it is my understanding that these precious magical resources have not been passed down, and it is unknown whether they are ''great'' or not."


    "That is indeed the ''greatest'' result." Diary, the young Dark Lord, is clearly on top of his game as he tried to convince Felix.


    "How do you know?" Felix gave a winning smile.


    "I''m just guessing. ..."


    "Don''t lie to me, Tom! You know more about Salazar Slytherin than I thought, and you''re being overly defensive about him." Felix began to close the net. "It makes me wonder if you were the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets? Are you the true Slytherin heir!" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He wrote word by word, with a force that seemed to cut through the paper, "I need an explanation, or I''ll just have to hand you over to Dumbledore."


    In the diary, Tom Riddle felt tense, he hated the feeling of "being seen through".


    After a long silence, a line of text appeared on the diary, "You think so? Do you think I lied to you? I thought - we had a solid friendship."


    Felix wrote calmly, "That''s why I gave you the chance to explain."


    From the perspective of the Dark Lord, as long as he didn''t reveal the truth about the Horcrux, everything is up for discussion.


    The diary replied quickly and scribbled: "Of course it''s not me, I''m a Muggleborn, remember? I have nothing to do with Slytherin."


    Felix remained silent as he did not reply with any text, applying a little pressure.


    Tom Riddle in the diary couldn''t hold it any longer, he wrote again, "But ... I have to admit that I did come across a strange encounter while I was at school, and yes, I got part of the advanced knowledge of magic."


    "It was from Salazar Slytherin?" Felix asked, holding his breath.


    "-I guess so," Diary replied briefly.


    "Tell me, Tom, where did you put it?"


    The diary fell silent, and the young Dark Lord became quite torn. He had a mind to refuse, but this professor is too perceptive, and he got cornered, and if he denied it, he would surely be taken as the murderer who opened the secret room-though he was.


    He hated his powerlessness more and more, and tried desperately to get out of this predicament, which drove the proud man to the verge of madness.


    But soon he replied in a courteous, calm tone, "There''s a rather magical room on the seventh floor of the castle ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 74: Liar

    It took about twenty minutes for the diary to tell the story of a "young boy who had a chance encounter". While he was at school, he mistakenly entered a room on the seventh floor of the castle. It''s a huge storage room filled with the treasures of Hogwarts'' young wizards over the centuries.


    "I inquired about it later, and rumour has it that they call this mysterious Fleeting Room, or the Room of Requirement." The diary wrote, "This is where I got that part of the information - probably hidden away by one of the little wizards before me."


    Felix curled the corners of his mouth as he wrote in his diary, "So, you didn''t find the Slytherin Chamber, but another hidden room? You found Slytherin''s research materials from the hidden room - the Room of Requirement?"


    A few words quickly surfaced in the diary, "That''s it."


    Felix tapped his fingers on the table and thought for a moment as he wrote in his diary, "Those research materials are still in the Room of Requirement? You didn''t take them with you?"


    "I thought - it''s a property that belongs to Hogwarts. Before I graduated, I put them in the back of a large cabinet with a blistered surface that looked like it had been splashed with a strong acid. It is easy to find, and I remember there is a foul-smelling five-legged monster inside the cabinet. Next to it, there was also an ugly-looking statue of a male wizard." The diary wrote.


    Felix pursed his lips and did his best not to laugh out loud.


    Interesting, just too interesting.


    The conversation between the two of them is like a complex game, full of lies and misdirection, all depending on who is more clever.


    Before that, Felix did not even hope to get the secret of Slytherin from the mouth of the diary, which is too unrealistic, completely equivalent to the identity of the "heir to the Chamber".


    His purpose today, in fact, is to try and get one or two off-campus research data stashes, which is one of the possibilities he speculated, but the greater possibility is that Tom Riddle has destroyed all the materials - which is the last thing he wants to see.


    Luckily, the diary told him directly about the room on the seventh floor.


    It isn''t in vain that he put so much effort into it.


    But Felix also had a hunch that since the diary chose to tell him, it meant that it isn''t any important information - at least not to the Dark Lord.


    But he still happily replied on the diary saying, "Thanks, Tom, I''ll verify it. If I misunderstood you, I''ll apologize."


    "I hope so." The diary replied calmly.


    Felix wrote with a bit of regret, "People didn''t know how brilliant Slytherin''s research would usher in his era, that''s why he''s always been the evil figure of the dark wizard, Tom, you did the right thing."


    The diary didn''t reply, the soul inside it that belonged to Tom Riddle is about to explode with anger.


    And Felix added, "Slytherin and Gryffindor are simply two extremes, Godric Gryffindor himself has a much more positive assessment, fair, brave, and righteous ..."


    The diary poured down a line of text in a dismissive tone, "That''s just an illusion." He asked a pointed question, "Felix Hap, guess, did Slytherin cause more killings, or did more lives fall under the Gryffindor''s wands and sword?"


    Felix''s expression flinched.


    The diary seemed to anticipate his reaction as a line of deliberately bolded sentences surfaced on the page, and just reading the words on it showed his mocking scowl, "Yeah, yeah, history has never been distorted - Gryffindor is a butcher, and more wizards have died at his hands than the other three founders combined."


    At the end of this conversation, the diary did not hide its malice towards Gryffindor, "Sword in one hand, wand in the other, stepping over corpses everywhere, achieving the name of the best dualist of that era - that''s Godric Gryffindor!"


    ...


    Felix closed his diary, his expression became elusive.


    "Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor." He read the names of the once close friends softly.


    Felix certainly did not think that the diary was telling the whole truth, but neither did he think that he would be full of lies, and from his tone and wording, there''s some credibility to it.


    "I need a guide, preferably someone who witnessed that time." A name suddenly came to Felix.


    Ms. Grey.


    The beautiful-looking, yet plainly seemingly very arrogant Ravenclaw House ghost had another name - Helena Ravenclaw. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    She is the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts.


    Despite being a generation younger, she counts as part of the same era as the four giants of Hogwarts, and she must have known many of the hidden secrets of the early days of Hogwarts'' establishment.


    At the other end, Harry is tossing and turning in his dorm bed.


    Whether it''s the news from Malfoy''s mouth, or Hermione mistakenly took the polyjuice with cat hair, he could not sleep.


    The time passed zero o''clock and Harry drifted off to sleep, but he suddenly felt something pressing against his stomach, making him gasp a little.


    He opened his eyes and his vision showed a house-elf with two large bat-like ears and its pair of protruding green eyes as large as tennis balls.


    "Dobby!"


    Harry screeched in a small voice as he glanced around, his other roommates still sleeping soundly and peacefully.


    ...


    The next day, Harry and Ron arrived early to visit Hermione at the school clinic.


    Just last night, they took a polyjuice potion to set Malfoy up - they always suspected that Draco Malfoy is the one who opened the Chamber of Secrets.


    But something went wrong halfway through, Hermione''s metamorphosis object, Millicent has a cat, and she mistook the cat hair for Millicent''s hair and threw it into the potion, resulting in a serious consequence.


    Her face is full of black hair, eyes turned yellow, two long pointed ears from her hair branched out.


    When Harry and Ron walked into the wing, she is begging Madam Pomfrey to add a cloth curtain around her bed.


    "Did you get any clues last night?" She asked, lowering her voice, so Madam Pomfrey couldn''t hear.


    "No," Harry said dejectedly.


    "I would say it was Malfoy for sure." Ron said, "He''s not telling the truth, he snapped at us when we asked him about the Chamber of Secrets, didn''t he, Harry?"


    "What happened?" Hermione asked with interest.


    Ron explained, "We acted like we admired him - it''s hard to realize that, Crabbe and Goyle are usually dull and silly. We asked him if he knew something. But he jumped up at once and warned us to keep our mouths shut, or he''d give us hell. I''m actually curious about that."


    Hermione sighed, the long ears on her head drooped down.


    Harry glanced around and whispered, "I did get something on my end, last night about midnight, that house-elf named Dobby came to see me again ..."


    "Last night?" Ron asked.


    "Yeah, you were asleep." Harry shrugged.


    "Harry," Ron said with a frown of foresight, "I should remind you that house-elves are extremely loyal servants, and their obedience to their masters is almost engraved into their bones. I''ve never seen anything like what you''re talking about, this kind of-"


    He could not think of an appropriate description.


    Harry said: "He is indeed very odd, but I think he respects me, yes, respect. He told me that danger still looming over Hogwarts."


    "And?" Ron got a glimmer of interest.


    "And then he banged his head against the bar ... desperately," Harry said rather breathlessly.

 Chapter 75: The Next Legend

    Early in the next morning, Felix got the research materials in the Room of Requirement. He easily found the "large cabinet with a blistered surface, as if it had been poured with strong acid", as Tom put it. After using the Levitation Charm to move the cabinet away, he found a dusty wooden box hidden in the back.


    He carefully waved his wand, his body flashed with layer after layer of protective magic, and he opened the dusty chest with the Unlocking Charm, and a thick stack of neatly cropped parchment was inside.


    No curses, no dark magic, no traps.


    This left the heavily armed and cautious Felix a bit disappointed.


    Except for the strong stench emanating from the half-hidden cabinet, which forced him to put a Bubble-Head Charm on himself, the whole process was easy beyond imagination.


    Back in his office, Felix couldn''t wait to look over the material.


    Frankly, this process is a bit messy, the information contains many anatomical drawings of magical creatures and Slytherin''s own label, when Felix brushed his hand across the surface of the sheet, he seemed to hear this creature'' dying wail.


    It reminded him of his own experience of studying dark magic, where his mind seemed to be soaked in foul-smelling black water, invisible arms desperately dragging him downward.


    Felix quickly closed his mind with an Occlumency, and he forced through the discomfort to read over the information on the parchment.


    Almost an hour later -


    "Whew~"


    Felix exhaled a long breath, he felt very complicated at this moment.


    It would be difficult to understand the weight of the name Salazar Slytherin simply from the mere words of the latter. In a way, Felix even some understanding of the sixteen or seventeen-year-old Tom Riddle, why he was so fanatical and reverent of Slytherin.


    It''s never because of being a Slytherin''s descendant.


    He looked at the parchments in front of him, they are not only carriers of knowledge - each parchment contains the thought and will of Salazar Slytherin himself when writing the information, it is a calm to cold rationality, in his eyes all kinds of magical creatures are just materials that need to be studied, you can''t feel half compassion for them, and You can''t feel any sympathy or pity for them.


    But it was this absolute calmness that made Slytherin''s research process extremely organized, each line of text, each composition contains the ultimate charm of magic.


    Even under the protection of Occlumency, Felix could not help but be fascinated, and the thought of following Slytherin''s footsteps welled up inside him.


    This is not the influence of magic, but the powerful personal charm of a legendary wizard in the pursuit of magic.


    Felix held back his reluctance to seal the material completely, "That is not my path." He admonished himself. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There were only three parchments left in front of him, and they were all knowledge that he had picked out as most suitable for him.


    But Felix did not immediately begin to study, he stood up and walked to the window, looking out over the distant landscape of Hogwarts.


    His mind went haywire.


    " Huh! Tom, is this your calculation? Under Extreme disadvantage, you can find the means to fight back." Felix murmured under his breath.


    Many books in the magic world are potentially dangerous, and not everyone is qualified to read them. Like the Forbidden section at Hogwarts, which has numerous dangerous books locked away - not just the knowledge recorded in them, but many of them, which require a terrible price to pay just for reading it.


    And Tom Riddle''s purpose would be obvious, to borrow the Allure of Salazar Slytherin''s own wizarding path to influence and assimilate Felix''s mind.


    I can''t beat you, and I can''t influence you, but I can find a being stronger than me and let his mind transform you.


    The winter sun is warm but not glaring, the snow in the courtyard is white but not shiny, and the cold wind blowing through the tower is chilly but not biting.


    He looked away and said softly, "Salazar Slytherin ..."


    "... In a sense, we are on the same path, both in pursuit of the ultimate magic. But I have my path, and will not jump into your domain just because you have gone further."


    "People all start out weak. Thousands of years ago, were you not as confused about your path as I am today?"


    "Now you are a high mountain that is deep and dangerous in my eyes, a legend that is out of reach, but time is on my side, the future is on my side. One day, I will walk side by side with you until I surpass you."


    Felix had been standing in front of the window, watching the sunrise until the middle of the day, and as its rays spread over every corner of Hogwarts, his heart became firm again.


    This morning, Felix did not think about any magic, but he felt that his understanding of "magic" itself had advanced a great deal, and this "progress" is comprehensive, it could not be reflected in a specific spell, but it allowed him to see through the fog. He knew for a long time that had been stagnant.


    He knew that the bottleneck of his magic theory, which had been stagnant for a long time, had finally loosened.


    The accumulation of several years in the past had qualified for a qualitative change at this moment.


    Felix waved his wand, and the milky white light centred around him, illuminating the courtyard below, the greenhouse in the distance, the snow on the ground, and the frozen black lake.


    The swaying dead branches mottled, the shadows of the black stones by the lake disappeared at this moment.


    The bearded Dumbledore, holding a piece of Zizi bee candy in his hand, looked up from the Headmaster''s office next to the main castle building, his blue eyes reflecting brightly through half-moon-shaped lenses.


    "It''s remarkable." He said softly, "Right, Fawkes?"


    A palm-sized phoenix, grooming its feathers by itself.


    Inside the Hogwarts school, the life and times of the world played out.


    Gilderoy Lockhart huffing and puffing in his bed, enjoying the leisure of Christmas break.


    Professor McGonagall, making a cup of coffee and flipped through the students'' reports.


    Professor Flitwick waved his wand and savoured the Spell Book.


    Professor Sprout, tending to the mischievous mandrake in the warmth of the greenhouse.


    Professor Snape, fiddling with a measuring cup with a disgusted look on his face and an illustrated booklet in his hand.


    Hermione Granger, looking in the mirror and tugging at the cat''s ear on top of her head in distress.


    Luna Lovegood sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, shaking her head and reading a joke book.


    ...


    On the snow, the two young wizards made their way through the snow.


    Harry suddenly felt a white light flash before his eyes, and he looked around but found nothing.


    "Did you notice that?" He said to his companion.


    "What?" Ron looked up and said distractedly.


    "It seems like a light just flashed ..."


    "Where?" Ron looked east and west and found nothing.


    The two continued to trample through the snow in the courtyard and walked in the direction of Professor McGonagall''s office.


    A gust of wind blew up, bringing up a few fallen leaves, and carried their faint voices -


    "Harry, do you think Professor McGonagall will give me permission to leave?"


    "Sure will, you''re doing the serious thing. You''re long due for a new wand."


    And in front of a window in the castle tower, Felix looked calmly and put away his wand, no longer a trace of confusion in his eyes.


    "In the next millennium, I will be a legend."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 76: New Magic Wand

    " Bam bam bam!" Professor McGonagall pushed the door open and saw Harry and Ron, who were tightly wrapped up.


    She welcomed the two in, and Harry and Ron sat down in the chairs next to the fireplace.


    "Potter, Weasley, what can I do for you?" Professor McGonagall asked.


    Ron pulled a miserable wand out of his robes; it''s broken in half down the middle, connected only by a unicorn tail hair between them.


    Ron said, "Professor McGonagall, I would like to ask you for permission to buy a new wand."


    "Oh?" Professor McGonagall lowered her head and looked at the broken ash wood wand, and her hair meticulously combed, "Weasley, you should have got a new wand a long time ago, when I said how you repeatedly had accidents in class."


    Ron lowered his head and didn''t say anything.


    Harry chimed in and said, "Professor, we need to use your fireplace for a trip to Diagon Alley, please." S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Professor McGonagall looked back at them, "That''s certainly not a problem." She waved her wand, and out of the tip jumped a silver cat with the same pattern around its eyes as Professor McGonagall.


    "Weasley, come to my office." She said.


    The silver cat leaped out of the window and quickly disappeared from Harry and Ron''s sight.


    Harry is still staring at the window when Ron stammered, "Professor McGonagall, we can go ... ourselves," in response, Professor McGonagall looked with a stern gaze.


    "Don''t be stupid, I won''t let two young second-year wizards go to Diagon Alley alone." The professor of Transfiguration class said so.


    Ron grimaced bitterly, even though Professor McGonagall hadn''t mentioned the name, he knew with his not very bright brain that it couldn''t be twins she is looking for.


    Harry couldn''t help but gave Ron a sympathetic look, the brothers were now in a frosty relationship.


    "Professor, what was that magic just now?" He said changing the subject.


    "The Patronus charm, Potter, you will have access to this spell when you are in your senior year."


    After waiting quietly for a while, Percy Weasley''s figure appeared in the office.


    He is visibly taken aback at the sight of his brother, "Professor McGonagall, did Ron do something wrong?"


    "No, Percy." Professor McGonagall said, "Ron is going to Diagon Alley to buy a new wand and I need a senior to tag along, and there''s no one better than you."


    The look on Percy''s face grew even more surprised as he looked at Ron and couldn''t help but ask him, "Where did you get the money?"


    "None of your business!" Ron said angrily.


    "I''m your brother! I''m warning you, if you dare to do anything-"


    "Percy!" Harry interjected, "It''s from Professor Hap." He turned his head to Professor McGonagall and said to her vaguely, "For that feat of bravery the other night."


    Professor McGonagall gave a dawning look of realization, but Percy Weasley became even more baffled.


    "Ron Weasley, I''m proud of you. You too, Potter." She said with rare emotion.


    Percy went to ask something else, but Professor McGonagall said, "Go on, come back early."


    So the three stood in the fireplace, and in a flurry of greenish flames, their figures disappeared.


    After half an hour, the three returned. Ron carefully held a fourteen-inch wand in his hand, with a happy expression on his face.


    Percy''s arm rested on his shoulder, and it looked like the two had improved their relationship.


    As they walked out of the office, Ron chattered on about his new wand, "Willow wood wand base, unicorn tail hair wand core, it''s the perfect combination! Harry, look at the shape of its curves ..."


    Back in the common room, Harry got pulled aside by Percy, who whispered, "Harry, can you tell me exactly what you guys did?"


    On the way, Ron couldn''t resist letting slip that he, Harry, and Hermione had jointly received the school''s special contribution award, but when Percy pressed, the two kept their mouths tightly shut.


    Harry said vaguely, "You''ll find out when the new term starts, it will blow your mind."


    On the other hand, Ron couldn''t resist showing off his new wand to the twins, so he got dragged by them to play a dueling game.


    Fred said with a smile, "Ron, you need to get familiar with the new wand as soon as possible."


    "Yes, that''s right. We''d like to be at your service." George patted him on the shoulder.


    Hearing the twins'' offer, Harry instantly had his heart set on a few simple spells he''d seen in the Dueling Codex that Professor Hap had given him for Christmas.


    He eagerly wanted to try out the effect.


    "Let''s go, Ron." He said.


    But Percy wasn''t interested, so Harry, Ron, and the twins walked out of the castle and into a clearing by the Black Lake.


    The four of them took turns being partners and casting spells on each other.


    After getting a new wand, Ron''s spell casting did become much more fluid, but he is still at the bottom of the pack in this game.


    He got knocked down three times in a row.


    Harry, on the other hand, first defeated Ron and then narrowly defeated George, but he tripped over his feet and got held in place by a Full Body-Bind Curse when he was fighting Fred.


    Ron grinned broadly: "So that''s what it felt like when Hermione cast her spell on Neville in the first year?" He kept poking Harry with his finger.


    When the spell got undone, Harry immediately fought back - he grabbed a big ball of snow from the ground and smashed it on Ron.


    The dueling game then changed to a snowball fight in the middle of the day by force of nature, and they rolled around in the snow happily.


    After completing a successful sneak attack with his quick dexterity, Harry encountered a siege of the twins, and he ran in a panic for some distance until he saw the figure of Professor Hap.


    It is a rather bizarre image.


    Outside the cold castle, Professor Hap lay in a rocking chair, relaxing and reading a book.


    The rocking chair made a "creaking" sound, swaying back and forth.


    His head is like a ribbon-like free spreading blue flame.


    "Hello, Professor Hap." Harry greeted.


    Felix closed his book and sat up from the rocking chair, with a pleasant expression on his face, "Hello, Potter."


    At this point, Harry noticed that the book Professor Hap had been reading turned out to be "A Selection of World Jokes", which did not look like a book from the wizarding world.


    "Harry--"


    "Don''t run!"


    Ron and the twins caught up with him, and they saw Professor Hap as well.


    "You guys are having a snowball fight?" Felix asked.


    "We''re practicing dueling, and it''s half-time now." Fred said, "Professor, can you guide us? You were so good in the dueling club!"


    "Ah, not today. I''ve decided not to think about anything related to magic today." Felix winked, "But don''t worry guys, I''ll resume dueling classes when school starts."


    "By the way," Felix looked around the room, "how come I don''t see Granger? Isn''t she with you all?"


    "Uh, Professor," Harry stammered, "Hermione, she''s, she''s sick."

 Chapter 77: Visit

    School Infirmary. "Madam Pomfrey, I''ve come to visit Miss Hermione Granger," Felix said.


    "Oh, her." Madam Pomfrey grumbled at him, "Little wizards are so capable of getting into trouble these days, abusing potions without a shred of fear ... The way she''s behaving, she''ll be in the hospital for at least three weeks."


    Felix asked with interest, "Can you identify what kind of potion caused this effect?"


    "It should be a polyjuice potion mixed with cat hair, it''s ridiculous, and I don''t know where they found the recipe of the potion from." Madam Pomfrey said as she poured half a cup of potion from the large bottle, "It startled me when those two little wizards brought her over Christmas night, I almost thought it''s irreversible enchanted damage."


    "Polyjuice Po ..." Felix chewed on the word, and after a few seconds he said gently to Madam Pomfrey, "Madam, let me bring her the potion on my way."


    Felix pushed open the door and walked into the ward.


    The room contained seven or eight beds, but only one covered with a white curtain. As Felix approached, the curtain opened from the inside.


    "Madam Pomfrey? You''ve come to deliver the remedy?"


    A furry head poked out, hearing the voice none other than his own assistant.


    Hermione and Felix''s eyes met, and she froze for a moment.


    "Ah!"


    The little witch let out a scream and immediately shrank back, pulling the curtain to shut so hard that the whole infirmary bed shook violently.


    But just a hurried glance, he had seen his assistant''s current appearance.


    Her face is covered with brown cat fur, which is mixed with her own hair, a few cat whiskers are scattered on either side of her face, her eyes have turned to ginger colour, and on her head, there are two erect pointed ears.


    "Miss Hermione Granger, I heard about your ordeal from Potter and Weasley and came to visit you," Felix said with a stifled smile as he spoke in an undertone.


    He waited quietly for a few seconds, and from the curtain came Hermione''s shaky voice, "Hello, Professor."


    "I brought your potion, and--" said Felix, "If you don''t mind, I can take a look and try to see if I can be of a little help."


    "Professor, are you saying ... you can fix my problem?" Hermione said in an expectant tone as she hid in the curtain.


    Felix mentally still reproduced her look, he tried his best to maintain his cool and said, "All I can say is, I will try, your situation is quite rare."


    Hermione opened the curtain a little, she looked up quickly at him, and then buried her face in her hands.


    Felix placed the potion on a side table and carefully examined the young witch''s appearance at the moment.


    This is truly pretty rare, Polyjuice potions are inherently difficult to brew cuz of ingredients, and even Master Potionists don''t have much stock of it, much less use it lightly - and the chances of something going wrong like this are even lower.


    Hermione caught his probing look, and she asked in a whisper, "Professor, do you have a solution? Madame Pomfrey says that cases like mine are very troublesome and will take at least three weeks to heal."


    "Well, it is a mistake in Polyjuice, isn''t it?" Felix thought seriously, this situation is indeed difficult to solve.


    He extended his wand and gently tapped it on Hermione''s forehead, the tip emitting a ring of golden light.


    The little witch''s face did not change.


    "Well, human transfiguration doesn''t work, it may conflict with the effect of the potion ... fascinating, um, I mean, really troublesome. Well, let''s try a few spells to see if the old ones work."


    In Hermione''s eyes, Professor Hap excitedly cast a spell, he also pulled out a parchment, in which the effects of various magic spells were recorded.


    "This does not work!"


    "This is somewhat useful, but it''s not obvious."


    "How about trying this one?"


    Hermione looked at Felix with a dull look on her face, are you doing this to help me? I''ve seen right through you, Professor!


    Finally, a rather out-of-the-ordinary magic spell worked.


    The brown hair on her face quickly shed and disappeared, and her skin became fair and clean again. Hermione felt the change and touched her face, then grabbed a small mirror from under her pillow to examine it closely.


    "Oh, my God." Hermione covered her mouth.


    At the moment, her appearance has been greatly improved, the original face thick, lush brown hair disappeared most of it, but the cat whiskers, a pair of pointed ears on the head still stubbornly remained.


    But this effect alone can make the heartbroken Hermione amazed.


    "Professor, what kind of magic is this?"


    "A kind of minor metamorphosis can fix some small imperfections on the body, of course, it is temporary, the magic effect can last about two hours or so," Felix explained.


    "Is it Body Transfiguration?" Hermione thoughtfully exclaimed, she had planned to learn this spell, but at the moment she couldn''t help but be a little disappointed, because body transfiguration is an extremely dangerous magic.


    That most of the adult wizards won''t even try to do it.


    "You could say that, but it might not work as well as you think - it''s rather limited in what it can fix, and keep in mind that this spell was invented by a vampire, and was originally used to simply cover up their fangs."


    " Vampire?" Hermione asked with interest, her attitude livened up by the fact that a large part of the trouble plaguing her is resolved.


    "Yes, in the Middle Age, vampires are literally hunted by everyone. And to hide in the crowd, they developed this magic. But if you ask me, it''s simply not as effective as Body Transfiguration or Metamorphmagus. Basically, no one uses it now."


    "Professor, I''ve heard that Metamorphmagus can change one''s appearance at will?"


    "Yeah," Felix gave her a look, "so you don''t have to risk taking a Polyjuice potion."


    Hermione lowered her head, and her pointed ears dropped over her head.


    "Professor, I ..."


    "You guys brewed the Polyjuice Potion in private, right? I mean you, Potter, and Weasley."


    Hermione looked up at Professor Hap with a surprised look on her face.


    "Yeah," Felix said absently, playing with his wand, "that''s easy to guess, especially when I associate it with the fact that you once asked me specifically for information on particular potions, and I introduced a total of six types of potent potions, but you were obviously more interested in polyjuice Potion."


    "Polyjuice Potion can change a person''s appearance, and it is indeed possible to unwittingly siphon off information-"


    "So, what you guys trying to figure out is who is the heir, who is the target of your suspicions?" Felix looked at Hermione.


    "Malfoy," Hermione whispered. "We suspect him of being the heir to Slytherin."


    S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 78: New Ideas for Learning Magic

    "Well ..." Did they have a crackling feeling that Malfoy had opened the chamber? He did open it.


    As far as he knew, the Chamber of Secrets had been opened four times this term.


    The first time was when Harry was detained in Lockhart''s office and heard the eerie sound on the ceiling; the second and third times caused the petrification of Mrs. Norris and Colin Creevey respectively; and as for the fourth time, it was the time when Harry saved Justin.


    Malfoy took the diary only after Colin Creevey was attacked. From this point of view, it is not wrong to accuse him.


    But he is not the Heir of Slytherin, the real culprit is at this moment he is suppressed in the box.


    "Granger, I had a more in-depth conversation with Malfoy, and I can confirm that he is not the heir of Slytherin."


    "But, Professor ..." the young witch is somewhat reluctant.


    Felix said, "The location of the Chamber of Secrets has been found, the monsters inside have been cleared, the only thing to worry about is the so-called Slytherin heir, but he can''t make any big ripples."


    " Please also convey this to Potter and Weasley, as a professor, I think you''d better put your mind on your studies."


    However, Hermione sensed something keenly, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Professor, did you find some clues?"


    Felix just said vaguely, "I''ve been keeping an eye on it. So the danger is over for you and the little wizards in the castle, and it''s time for your adventure to end."


    Hermione took the professor''s words to heart as she turned to ask another question, "Professor, what you just said about light body metamorphosis, can I learn it? Of course, I know it will be hard ..."


    "You want to learn this spell?"


    "Yes, Professor," Hermione said with a serious look on her face, "there are just a few days left before the holiday''s end, and I don''t want to miss class."


    If she didn''t know about the existence of the spell, Hermione would have to resign herself to three weeks stay in the school clinic, after all, she couldn''t go to class with a cat face, which would make her die of shame.


    But after seeing Professor Hap''s " light body metamorphosis ", her mind came alive.


    As long as she learned this spell, she could wear thick clothes and a hat to class, and as for the cat whiskers on her face, she could just pull them off - the pain is nothing compared to the heartache of missing two or three weeks of school.


    However, Professor Hap shook his head, "Miss Granger, Light Metamorphosis is not as difficult as Human Transfiguration, but it is not something that a young second-year wizard can master."


    "But, Professor-" Hermione fought hard, "We''ve already learned animal transfiguration, and I mastered it very well, even Professor McGonagall seemed very satisfied."


    "Those are two different concepts, the difficulty of performing transfiguration on a normal animal is completely different from performing it on a wizard. Do you know why?" Felix asked kindly.


    "Is it because of the magic?" Hermione said after thinking about it.


    "Yes, magic can interfere with your spell casting," Felix explained, "and it''s similar with the transfiguration of magical creatures, which is also very difficult."


    "That''s a shame." Hermione sighed lamenting.


    Felix said gently, "Miss Granger, you are already one of the few talented and hard-working young wizards I''ve ever met; magic may seem teleological, but it actually has a strict logic that needs to be climbed step by step, so-"


    He stopped abruptly, his gaze shifting as he drew small circles with his wand in his hand.


    Hermione looked at Felix, she knew it is Professor Hap''s habit when thinking, she could not help but feel a wave of hope rise in her heart.


    Perhaps, the professor can come up with a solution?


    Felix ignored Hermione, he took out a parchment from the ring and quickly wrote his thoughts on it.


    Hermione leaned forward, eyes wide, to see the words.


    Professor Hap wrote down "Light Metamorphosis" in the center of the parchment, and then drew a dozen lines from these words, each line corresponding to a word that she either knew or was unfamiliar with -


    She carefully counted seventeen words and phrases: spellcasting action, incantation, gesture, spell understanding, magic mobilization, and moulding skills ... magic theory level, etc.


    After seeing this, Hermione understood somewhat, these are the factors that affect the magic spell to be divided? But what''s the point?


    Felix paused briefly, and then added a few lines of small print below the "spellcasting action" entry: "need to flick, wand flicking skills, see the first and second-year magic spell textbook; need to wield the wand, another perspective diagram;"


    Hermione looked at these contents, more or less similar to what Professor Flitwick taught in class, the only difference is that Professor Hap mentioned too many influencing factors! There are many she had not even heard of.


    Moreover, he also listed out the necessary theoretical knowledge.


    For example, under the phrase "Levels of Magic Theory", it was written "Pre-Theory: Basics of Transfiguration; Biological Transfiguration; Partial Theory of Human Transfiguration (attached separately)" and a series of other complicated things.


    Each entry was expanded in detail on another piece of parchment.


    He spent almost half an hour completing this process.


    Soon, two sheets of parchment were completely insufficient, and the professor took out a third and fourth ...


    Until Professor Hap put down the quill, in front of her, there are already nine parchments laid out in dense detail.


    Hermione''s face is incredulous, a single spell, the professor wrote something longer than her own published thesis.


    And Felix, still reminiscing about the process just now -


    Simply put, he took all the theoretical knowledge and spell casting skills needed for a spell and broke it down into as many layers as possible, and listed the specific requirements and judgment criteria that needed to be met for each one of them.


    In fact, that is, a total goal, broken down into hundreds of small goals that can be ranged.


    Once this step is completed, the rest of the problem is simple. Let the little wizards practice individually until all the small goals are reached. Finally, combine them together. Thus mastering the complete magic in one fell swoop.


    In this process, the young wizards will not encounter any obstacles, they can follow the map, find their own omissions, and then make up for them.


    They can find their own omissions and then make up for them. Like some of the more well-grounded wizards, such as Hermione, she already accomplished part of her goal ahead of schedule.


    Nine pages of parchment, but it reveals all the secrets of this spell.


    Of course, his method is not suitable for the " intuitive " wizard - many times, they do not know how they learned a spell.


    Felix nodded contentedly, except for his own "upgrade experience", counted through the current British wizarding world, and how many people can master a specific magic spell-like a treasure, divided it like a butcher?


    He could not forget the scene when he advanced his spell - after practicing the same spell a thousand times, he finally reached a certain limit, and all the memories of his past practice of this spell came to his mind.


    Every time he waved his wand, every time he mobilized his magic power, every time he tested his power, every time he tested his guesses ...


    These originally insignificant understandings burst out in his mind in an instant, and countless sparks of inspiration like star points shone at the same time, and together they formed a step, pushing his magic spell to a whole new level.


    ...


    Felix looked at Hermione, "Miss Granger, I think that I have found a way." He said gently and calmly.


    If his own assistant could learn light body metamorphosis through this method, then he would have full control over the teaching of the next dueling class. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix couldn''t wait to verify this.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 79: Conversation

    The next day. When Harry and Ron came to visit Hermione at the school clinic, they found that instead of the sullenness of the previous days, they found her with a bright furry face, waving her wand excitedly, and occasionally looking over the parchment on the table.


    "Hermione, what are you doing?"


    "Practicing spell, of course. If nothing else, I might be able to learn them in time before school starts."


    "Why before school starts?" Ron wondered.


    "Because it''ll help me out a bit," Hermione said with narrowed eyes and a grin.


    So, during the half-hour Harry and Ron stayed in the ward, they watched Hermione repeat the same action hundreds of times, stopping occasionally to make notes on a sheet.


    ...


    Felix closed the office door and walked out fully dressed.


    Along the way, he sighed a little.


    After he revealed that he had successfully obtained the research materials and once again resisted the fascination of the diary, Tom the diary had finally shut himself off, and he completely blocked his communication to the outside world.


    No matter how Felix tried, the opposite side seemed to have made up his mind to be at his disposal. Even when he placed a cluster of morbidly white relentless fire in front of the diary, he got no feedback.


    "Tom, I don''t believe you''re going to give up on yourself." Felix''s mind whirled with thoughts, and he even thought he was waiting for an opportunity.


    So he sealed the diary more cautiously and even carved another warning rune on the box.


    Before going out, he set up his purse (the Bound Vine version) at the door in case some unreliable little wizard broke in and took the diary with him.


    "Perhaps it''s time to find a chance to finish your final curtain call, Tom."


    In the corridor of the castle, Felix encountered Peeves the Ghost, who is playing a prank.


    Peeves holding a tin bucket in his arms, filled with mud, and at the moment he is applying layer after layer of thick mud and water on the armour.


    "Peeves, have you seen Ms. Gray?" Felix asked him.


    Peeves looked at him and seemed taken aback, then let out a "giggle", "Oh, Professor, I didn''t see ... I don''t care about that snooty woman."


    "I think there''s someone who would know, that disgusting stalker~" he said, floating in midair with his mouth open.


    "Be polite, Peeves ." Felix said calmly, "Or, would you like to try my spell again."


    "No, Felix Hap! You can''t ..." Peeves had a scared look on his face as he hurried away through the wall.


    "Clang!"


    The tin bucket in Peeves'' hand smashed on the ground with a loud clang, and the mud inside splashed in all directions.


    Felix waved his wand, and an invisible barrier kept the mud and water three feet away from him.


    "Humph, Peeves, you again! I will definitely file an application to Headmaster Dumbledore to kick you out of the castle ..." a panting, red-faced man rushed from the corridor, waving his fist and venting his anger, hysterically.


    It is Hogwarts Castle Keeper, Filch.


    "Oh, ah ... Professor Hap, have you seen Peeves?" The furious Filch did not see the expected arch-enemy, but instead saw the well-dressed Felix.


    "Hello, Filch, Peeves just left." Felix waved his wand, and the mud on the ground and on the armour disappeared. "By the way, did you see Lady Grey today?"


    "Is that the Ravenclaw ghost?" Filch huffed, "Let''s see, I think I saw ... a tall ghost, the one that hardly paid any attention to people? I saw that one in the courtyard, not sure if it is her."


    "Thank you, Filch."


    Felix came into the courtyard, scanned the area, and right at the end of the courtyard railing, saw a slender ghost floating in midair.


    She noticed Felix watching her and raised her eyebrows in surprise before turning and floating away through the wall.


    "Wait, Ms. Gray!"


    Felix crossed the railing and chased her through to a secluded corridor.


    She finally stopped, hovering a few inches above the ground. She looked beautiful, with waist-length hair and a silver robe that trailed to the floor. But at the same time, she held her head high, looking arrogant and uncaring.


    He had bumped into this ghost a few times when he was at school, but not once had he spoken to her. If he hadn''t stumbled upon a private conversation between Bloody Baron and her, he wouldn''t even have realized that this Ravenclaw ghost, who had such a low presence, had such a big background.


    " Ms. Gray, I''m Felix Hap."


    She nodded, not speaking. There is no hint of enthusiasm in her eyes.


    "I''d like to know about the founding days of the school, the story of the four founders, there are too many ambiguities in the existing records."


    "I''m sorry," she said, turning to leave, "I can''t help you."


    "Wait, ma''am-" Felix called out as he watched her drift further and further away, "I know you''re Rowena Ravenclaw''s daughter."


    She stopped and turned to look at him. "You are aware of my origins? You came here specifically for me?"


    "Yes, I-"


    "Heh, another one!" She hovered in midair, her lips twisting into a sneer.


    "Another what?" Felix trailed off, but he quickly realized that he shouldn''t be the first person to ask her about the hidden secrets of Hogwarts.


    "Another ambitious one!" She said rather sharply, "Every ten years or so I come across one, asking and tricking me in every possible way ..."


    "You mean Voldemort?" Felix asked.


    She suddenly stopped talking and had a surprised expression on her face. Then she felt offended and floated upward two or three feet to look at him condescendingly.


    "Yeah, I guessed it, the Ravenclaw diadem. Voldemort has always coveted the relics of the Four founders, but I don''t care about that, I''m more interested in knowing-"


    Felix''s words were interrupted as the ghost stated with anger and stuttering, "The diadem of Ravenclaw brings wisdom, and you do not understand its power! Countless people dream of it!"


    "-Gryffindor and Slytherin''s past." Felix also finished the sentence just now at the same time. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The two people''s words intertwined, and a faint echo came from the empty corridor - "Do not understand its power!" "Gryffindor" "Slytherin''s past~"


    Ms. Grey froze, "You want to know about that?"


    "Of course."


    "Ah, well," she floated in midair, seeming a bit overwhelmed, "Gryffindor ... Slytherin ... you want to know Something about them!?"


    She asked at last, somewhat stiffly.

 Chapter 80: Thousand Years Past

    "A lot of them." Felix said, "A fair number of books I''ve read mentioned the four founders, but they were either ambiguous, contradictory, or left with only a few words with absolutely no reference value." He gives an example, "For example, Salazar Slytherin, many people fear him and dread him, calling him a dark wizard ... but what is the truth of the matter?"


    "The truth?" Lady Grey asked rhetorically, "What truth do you want?"


    "The truth as you see it, of course," Felix said as he looked at her.


    The ghost seemed to fall into memory, she thought for a long time, and commented slightly solemnly: "Salazar Slytherin is a very good wizard, he and his wife are very affectionate ..."


    Felix: "????"


    This is obviously not what he wanted to know, but after all, it is a good start, so he went along with her, "There is indeed very little information about his wife, however, there are many references to Slytherin being ugly and looking like a monkey."


    The lady gave him a slightly condescending look, "That''s a side effect of his magic research. Slytherin''s original appearance was extremely outstanding, but as he delved deeper and deeper into those ... terrifying realms, his appearance became more and more intimidating."


    Felix''s thoughts dawned, so it was, and he had the pleasure of solving a thousand-year-old mystery.


    And Ms. Gray continued to recall: "He was always surrounded by snakes, always cloaked in black or dark green robes, a lingering smell of blood, and his eyes became, scarier and scarier."


    Felix speculated that Slytherin might have transplanted some magical creature''s bloodline.


    "- His personality became more and more eccentric, and his disagreements with the others became more and more ... erupted into more than one quarrel, and even his best friend Gryffindor could not tolerate him. But I must make it clear there was no fight that broke out between them, he just left quietly, one quiet morning, taking everything he had with him."


    "And he also left the Chamber of Secrets behind." Felix reminded her.


    "Probably, but I''ve heard something about that, Slytherin is not afraid of teaching all kinds of brutal dark magic, but the other three strongly opposed this, so there were rumours that he quietly took his good students and taught these kinds of horrors in secluded places."


    So the Chamber of Secrets was originally used for teaching? Felix thought to himself, unlocking another mystery. However, according to his speculation, later as the conflict intensified, Slytherin may have transferred some of his special gory research to the Chamber of Secrets as well.


    Speaking of which, Felix had secretly visited the Chamber of Secrets, using Harry''s parseltongue pronunciation scrolls, and examined it carefully, but found nothing but the pit where the Basilisk usually rests.


    Ms. Grey concluded: "But at least during that time at Hogwarts, he still fulfilled his original promise to guard the entire school with his life against all kinds of attacks. Unlike the last few centuries, Slytherin House has completely changed ..."


    "What do you mean by attacks?" Felix caught the point.


    She floated around lightly, seemingly contemptuous of Felix''s ignorance, but with a bit of instructional excitement, she asked rhetorically, "You honestly thought that Hogwarts was built in peace, didn''t you?"


    Felix did not react, he just made a "continue" gesture.


    Ms. Grey said, "By today''s standards, the majority of wizards at the time were dark wizards. They used a mentor-apprentice system, with one older one leading three or five younger ones, who travelled from village to village, finding newcomers with potential and bringing them along to train and serve as their own lackeys."


    "And with the founding of Hogwarts, especially after the four founders covered the British Isles with the magic of The Quill of Acceptance and The Book of Admittance, these wizards were dealt a fatal blow - they were lost their source of servants permanently and completely."


    "The Quill of Acceptance and The Book of Admittance ..." Felix chewed on these two words, he had heard rumours of these two magical creations.


    It''s said that the name of every young wizard who enrolled in the school could be found in The Book of Admittance.


    When a child first revealed a magical talent, the Quill of Acceptance would attempt to write down their name; but the Book of Admittance had somewhat harsher standards - only when these children had fully demonstrated proof that they possessed magical powers would their names be included in the Book of Admittance.


    The sensitivity of the Quill of Acceptance, paired with the strictness of the Book of Admittance, has allowed them to select eligible students for Hogwarts, and no mistakes have been made in a thousand years.


    "The establishment of a new order is bound to be accompanied by a backlash from the old one," Felix said with a sigh, he now understood almost where Tom''s vicious comments about Gryffindor in the diary had come from.


    The story from a thousand years ago continued -


    "Some wizards recognized the efforts of the four founders, and they took it upon themselves to send their children to Hogwarts; but others - those extraordinarily paranoid dark wizards, who hid in the shadows, while they were away, or on holiday, sneaked up on the professors and students of Hogwarts time after time, and dropped their bodies in front of Hogwarts castle." She winced.


    "This naturally drew a counterattack from Hogwarts, with Gryffindor being the most aggressive, carrying his sword and wand and defeating one dark wizard after another who was extremely famous at the time. He even publicly declared that he was willing to accept challenges from anyone, whether it be in the Muggle way or the wizard way."


    Felix listened with amazement, how could the record on the piece of paper depict that dramatic history?


    "What about the other three?"


    "They were doing the same thing, only Gryffindor had the most fame. When some years went by and some students graduated successfully, they spread their footprints in all directions, spreading the prestige of Hogwarts to the whole world, and not many people dared to come and provoke them." s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ms. Gray finished the whole story with pride and reminiscence.


    Felix also benefited greatly, and he expressed his gratitude sincerely: "Thank you, Ms. Helena Ravenclaw."


    "Don''t! Call me! By this! NAME!" The ghost in front of him suddenly said agitatedly, and her transparent cheeks seemed less transparent, and without waiting for him to say anything, she disappeared through the wall.


    Felix: "..."


    At the same time, a low, husky voice suddenly appeared, and he said, "Do not mention that name, it is forbidden to her."


    Felix turned around, and before him stood a withered, very pale ghost, this one wearing an ancient wizard''s robe covered in silvery blood and a huge pair of shackles.


    "It''s been a long time, Baron."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 81: Returning from Holiday

    Bloody Baron is the ghost of Slytherin, at the same time, the young wizards of the house have a respectful attitude towards him. His appearance is terrifying, and peeves is most afraid of him.


    "Long time no see, Baron." Felix greeted.


    Bloody Baron floated fixedly in place, stared with dull eyes, and his gaze stayed on the direction Ms. Gray left.


    It took a few moments before he said in a hoarse voice, "Hello, Hap."


    Felix looked at him, during a night out at school, he had accidentally stumbled into a conversation between Bloody Baron and Ms. Gray, and he was begging for her forgiveness, while Ms. Gray cursed him to never be redeemed.


    It was also on that night that he learned the identity of Helena Ravenclaw. He also roughly sorted out the entanglement between the two; Helena had taken the Ravenclaw diadem and dared not go home. And as her admirer, Bloody Baron was entrusted by Rowena Ravenclaw to bring her daughter back.


    There was a heated argument between the two, and the end result was that Bloody Baron killed Helena by mistake, and in remorse, he too killed himself with the weapon that killed Helena.


    "Baron, what do you mean when you say that names is forbidden to her?" Felix asked.


    Bloody Baron didn''t answer, he just said dryly, "Finding out that you''re not trapped in dark magic, you are better than me at this point."


    Felix''s face turned serious as he whispered, "You''re the one who reminded me."


    "You could have broken free on your own without me. I saw what you recorded on the sheet ..."


    "Oh," Felix thought of the happy part too, "that was a psychological measurement form from the muggle world, a backhand I prepared in advance to prevent myself from falling deeper and deeper ... but I still have to say, without you, I might have to delay the realization of the seriousness of the problem for a month or two."


    The erosion of the mind by dark magic is insidious, and the data on the measurement table is always lagging behind. By the time the abnormality was discovered, the danger might have already been incurred by then.


    Bloody Baron floated away in silence.


    Felix''s gaze stared blankly at his bony back, and finally shook his head, the matter between the two ghosts, he could not participate, and can not mediate - the ghost''s heart knot is not so easy to untie.


    The ghosts are the product of a reluctant heart at the time of death, with a strong obsession to stay in reality, obsession is the basis of their existence, and that is why their perception is forever stopped at the time they were alive.


    This is somewhat similar to the portrait in the Headmaster''s office, but ghosts can eventually do change.


    Only once they changed, the result is not necessarily good.


    According to Felix speculation, if Hogwarts publicly dismissed Professor Binns, he might disappear on the spot - because Professor Binns'' obsession is teaching.


    But given the dilemma of whether such an approach would be humane and how to find another old schoolteacher to take his place, the suggestion was never made.


    He returned to his office, opened the three pieces of manuscript selected from the Slytherin material, and studied them carefully. This material was also very characteristic of Slytherin himself - he proposed speculation whether the unique characteristics of a magical creature could be converted into a wizard''s spell.


    This kind of thinking has been around for ages, such as chameleons and Disillusionment Charm, invisible beasts, and invisibility spell, but in fact, they have little to do with each other, and the development of magical spells has a great deal of randomness.


    It is only in retrospect that later generations look back and realize that some of the wizard''s spells and the magical creatures'' own natural talents have great similarities.


    And Slytherin tried to find a way to stably convert the natural talents of foreign magical creatures into wizard magic spells, though apparently he later abandoned this line of thought.


    Slytherin chose to give up, so young Tom did not pay attention to this, from the fact that he hid this part of the material in the Room of Requirement and used it to pit people.


    But Felix is very interested in this, he will keep this scraped Research in mind, perhaps at some point in the future, he would use them.


    In the next few days, Felix flipped through the book, watched the film, a very leisurely and comfortable life. When there is nothing else to do, check the progress of his assistant''s study, and give appropriate advice, the time passed in this manner.


    Finally, the Christmas holidays were over and the new Hogwarts term began.


    That evening, the Hogwarts train sent the students back, everyone gathered in the Great Hall, the school burst into life again.


    After the Christmas break, they seemed to forget about the attack that happened last semester and gleefully shared their experiences with each other.


    "Mom took me abroad to visit my family, and I never thought I''d have a cousin who goes to Ilvermorny!" A young wizard spoke gleefully as the people next to him asked for specifics.


    "What''s Ilvermorny?"


    "A school of wizardry, similar to Hogwarts, but in America."


    "Really? I thought there is only one wizarding school in the whole world!" A young wizard said with a sigh.


    On the Gryffindor table, Hermione dressed in a large thick dress, with a knitted hat on her head and a huge mask covering her face. S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hermione, what''s wrong with you?" Hannah Abbott, who is in the same class as her, asked suspiciously.


    " I have flu, cough!" Hermione said briefly.


    "But I noticed that the colour of your eyes has changed too ..." The young witch looked at her carefully.


    "Er ... it might be magic," Hermione sheepishly changed the subject, "Hannah, how did you spend your holiday?"


    Hannah indeed got diverted away, she shrugged, "stay at home, ah, except for the security point, simply bored to death. Do you think the attack will happen again? I''ve read a lot in the last few days ..."


    "Don''t worry, Hannah. There won''t be an attack anymore." Hermione said very confidently.


    "How do you know?"


    "Ahem, you''ll know in a while," Hermione said, and on the other side, Harry tugged on her sleeve.


    He whispered inquiringly, "Hermione, is that spell of yours not finished yet? Honestly, you''re a bit weird in that costume."


    She sighed bitterly, "No - I can barely use it, but it works pretty badly, and there''s still a light layer of hair on my face. At least in another day or two, Professor Hap said I''m getting there pretty soon."


    Ron tapped his fork against his empty goblet, "But how are you going to eat afterward?"


    "Not a bite!" Hermione said angrily.


    " Dang!" At the teachers'' table, Dumbledore knocked a glass in front of him.


    The Great Hall gradually quieted down.


    Dumbledore turned and said with a beaming face, "Welcome back, little wizards."

 Chapter 82: honour

    "Before you can enjoy the culinary delights, you have to listen to the chatter of this old man." Dumbledore cleared his throat. "First of all, it''s good to see you all back lively around the school, happily sharing your experiences with your peers. But it must be mentioned that we have just had a tough time during the last term ..."


    The young wizards stared at Dumbledore''s face, trying to see what he had to say.


    "... There were two attacks, and a little wizard is still in a clinic bed, right now, in the special ward." Dumbledore paused and suddenly raised the tone of his voice, "But thanks to the efforts of few people, who found out what happened with their own efforts, and also very bravely, tackled the monster in the chamber of secrets."


    "Yeah, we shouldn''t forget their names - Harry Potter! Ron Weasley! And, Hermione Granger!"


    Everyone''s blazing eyes turned towards Gryffindor''s table as they looked at the trio incredulously.


    "You''re kidding right!" One of the twins shouted, his voice echoing through the Great Hall and bringing the solemn atmosphere to life.


    Dumbledore laughed, and he said amiably, "Of course not, Weasley. But speaking of jokes, I''m reminded of a very funny troll and dwarf joke -"


    "Ahem!" Professor McGonagall next to him coughed heavily.


    "Ah~ Well, let''s get back to the point. They have received unanimous praise from several professors for their courage, and for that, I''m going to award them each two hundred points!" Dumbledore said.


    Snape couldn''t help but grunt.


    The Gryffindor House table already boiled over as they applauded violently, the Weasley twins rushed over to hug Harry and Ron, and Percy exclaimed from one corner, "That''s my brother! My brother! And they also share the school''s special contribution trophy!"


    Hermione looked at a dumbfounded Hannah Abbott and said cheerfully, "See, I told you there wouldn''t be any danger, right?"


    There was a lot of noise in the Great Hall for a few minutes before the noise died down.


    However, half of the eyes were still on Harry and Draco Malfoy at the Slytherin table, clacking his plate with a silver fork.


    Potter! It''s Potter again, everything is Potter!


    I also contributed to the ... he looked at Harry indignantly.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore," a seventh-year Gryffindor student stood up, "can you be specific? Did Salazar Slytherin really put a monster in the Chamber of Secrets to purge all those he deemed unworthy of learning magic?"


    The accusation of these words was extremely clear, and the eyes of the wizards at the Slytherin table glared at him in unison, eager to inflict a vicious jinx on him. However, the expressions of the young wizards from the other three houses looking towards the Slytherin House became quiet and complicated.


    "I don''t think so, Mr. Xavier." Dumbledore''s expression looked very serious as he glanced at the young wizards present to calm the commotion before saying calmly, "The monster in the chamber, the Basilisk, has been around for a thousand years, but there have only been two recorded attacks which this year and one from fifty years ago. "


    "Before that, it had been quietly dormant for nearly a thousand years. It is reasonable to assume that it was not Salazar Slytherin''s intention to launch an attack."


    Dumbledore quickly leaped ahead: "I will place the Basilisk in the yard of the school castle tomorrow, and some journalists will also be invited into the school at that time. Please also regulate your words and actions, you can observe, but do not try to touch it, the professors will also cast special wards on it."


    "Now, let''s enjoy the meal."


    Dumbledore sat back in his chair, he waved his wand, and various foods began to appear on the table.


    However, the young wizards'' minds were not here, Dumbledore''s speech was so informative that they were all "buzzing" about everything from the good and bad aspects of Salazar Slytherin himself, to the monster in the Chamber of Secrets, to discussing how the trio had defeated it.


    " How did Basilisk look like?" A young Gryffindor wizard asked Harry.


    "Uh, a giant snake that has eyes that can kill people."


    "Cool! How big is it, is it bigger than the one Professor Lockhart conjured up that time in Dueling Club?"


    Ron interjected with his mouth full and slurred, "Hey man, it''s a lot bigger than that."


    The young wizard looked at Ron sceptically, "You actually helped with that?"


    " Dion, I played a much more important role than you can imagine!" Despite the fact that Ron''s mouth is stuffed to the point of explosion, he still can''t help but justify himself.


    On the other side, Hermione Granger sat quietly and did not say anything.


    "Hermione, aren''t you hungry?" Hannah Abbott looked at the little witch with the mask and asked her curiously.


    "... not hungry," Hermione said stiffly, but she quickly pulled out two sheets of parchment from her pocket and wrapped the beef pie on the plate in front of her.


    Hannah Abbott stared at her blankly, the fork in her hand stopped in midair.


    The student table was buzzing, and the faculty table was not quiet either, as some uninformed professors poked around for specifics.


    Felix finished dealing with Lockhart, who kept asking questions, and went past Professor Flitwick to inquire with Dumbledore.


    "Headmaster, about the pressure from some pure-blood families ..."


    " Do you mean this!" Dumbledore put down his knife and fork and said with great interest, "I have been in contact within the last few days with most of the board members, and they agreed that it would be better for me to sit in this position."


    "What about the Malfoy?"


    "Lucius ... unfortunately, he is now facing no less trouble, as the other school board members are unhappy with his previous threats and want to kick him out of the board. I heard that he has now approached Fudge." S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That Minister of Magic?"


    "Yes, and if nothing else, you will see him tomorrow," Dumbledore said sagely.


    Felix nodded knowingly.


    The dinner was soon over, and the young Gryffindor wizards flocked the trio at the common room, eager to ask exactly what had happened.


    This was something Ron excelled at, and he began to describe it in graphic detail.


    As far as Harry could see, except for the parts that he was asked to keep secret - like the existence of the professor, like the Gryffindor sword - the rest of the story was exaggerated to the extreme by Ron.


    Hermione quietly returned to the dormitory, sneakily finished two pies, and returned satisfied.


    "... So that''s why I was punished with detention before, I actually didn''t expect Lockhart to fall with just a nudge," Ron said with a spiteful and regretful face.


    Hermione hid in the crowd, just in time to hear a small wizard ask Ron: "So, there is no need for you to be detained?"


    Ron opened his mouth, like a deflated ball, became sad all of a sudden.


    It was true that he had won honour for the House, but he couldn''t escape the punishment of attacking an innocent professor.


    In fact, Professor McGonagall has told him the details of the detention and the time, in a circle, he had the misfortune to fall into the hands of Lockhart.


    He had heard Harry describe the details of the detention - writing replies to Lockhart''s fans - as seemingly easy, but the length of the tasks, four hours each session, is enough to make one wonder about life.

 Chapter 83: Professor Snake

    On the first class of the new semester, Felix sensed the restlessness within the young wizards, who were waiting for class to end to see the Basilisk in the yard. He cleared his throat, and after attracting the attention of the young wizards, he gently waved his wand, "Serpensortia." With a cloud of black air, a small snake surrounded by dark marks landed on the desk.


    It made a "hissing" sound, and its slender body kept wriggling. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The young wizards raised their heads and stretched their necks to get a better look.


    Felix''s wand ran along with its scales, and the black-spotted snake''s appearance immediately underwent a radical change - its smooth scales became thick and solid, giving it a metallic feel; its colour also became green and glowing, with the characteristic brightness of a poisonous snake.


    Even its body swelled up quite a bit, and it raised its smooth snake head, with a pair of yellow eyes that looked icy and hideous.


    "Professor, is this the ... Basilisk?" A student asked.


    "That''s right."


    "So, it was this little guy that Potter and the rest defeated?"


    The young wizard on the stage said with some disappointment this is too small, almost just three or four feet.


    Especially when the little basilisk shrunk on the podium, it looked even more inconspicuous.


    Many of the young wizards suddenly had the illusion in their hearts: I can do this too.


    But the Basilisk''s appearance is very scary, especially the pair of yellow eyes, looking really penetrating.


    Felix did not deny their stance and continued to explain: "The biggest threat of the Basilisk is its eyes, they are extremely lethal. In other words, by the time you see it, you may have lost the power to fight back forever."


    The murmur from the stage lessened.


    "And--"


    He waved his wand and the small Basilisk that had been cowering on the podium sprang up from the table, startling the small wizards in the front row, whose bodies leaned back in unison.


    And when it crossed an arc in mid-air and landed right in the middle of the classroom, the little snake''s body suddenly expanded rapidly.


    It enlarged more than a dozen times in an instant and filled up half of the classroom without waiting for them to react.


    "Ahhhhh!" Many little wizards let out screams and scrambled to avoid the huge Basilisk pressing them down, but soon they realized that the body of the Basilisk had turned from solid to black mist-like.


    A small wizard sitting on the ground gathered the courage to reach out and touch it, and his hand went straight through the black fog. He looked up and saw a number of people with half their bodies peeking into the black mist, and at the moment they were moving out of the room in fear.


    Felix said, full of mischief: "Well, this is the original size of the Basilisk."


    After a while, the young wizards calmed down after realizing that the thing didn''t hurt them in any way.


    A few of them got up from the ground in embarrassment, and one of them, a young witch named Campbell Jean King, stirred her wand around the black mist-like snake, reshaping the scales near her into a black mist.


    Many of the young witches curiously imitated the process, and in the process, the black mist-like snake kept swimming and twisting its body in the tiny classroom, its huge snake body passing through desks, chairs, books, boys, and girls.


    But most of the young wizards weren''t afraid at this point, and they were excited enough to poke it with their wands, with sparks of various colours flashing from time to time in the murky black mist.


    After a few minutes, the Basilisk shrunk back to three to four feet, and its body changed from a black mist to a greenish solid.


    "Professor, this is the real appearance of the Basilisk in the chamber?" A young wizard asked in a tone of awe.


    "You can interpret it that way." Felix conjured up a chair and sat on it, "Since you are curious about the Basilisk, let it give you a lecture today."


    The young wizards looked unsurely and looked at each other, however, just then, from the Basilisk''s mouth came a voice very similar to Professor Hap''s.


    "Now open the book at page 79, and we will study a selection of manuscripts translated from 1842 by Carlisle Matthew, an expert in ancient runes, a manuscript from approximately seven hundred years ago."


    Many of the young wizards were startled, but with their previous experience, they were not so embarrassed that they fell out of their seats again, but stared with wide eyes, staring dead at the small Basilisk in front of the podium, with its upper body held high.


    They blinked in confusion and looked toward Professor Hap, who is sitting peacefully in the corner of the podium, with countless complicated thoughts rushing through their minds.


    And the small Basilisk opened its maw, revealing thin, dagger-like teeth, "Yes, it''s me, your ancient runes Professor. So, what are you waiting for?" The Basilisk suddenly approached the young witch in the front row, scaring her so much that she dropped her quill.


    "Campbell, tell me, what did I just say?"


    "Teach..., professor, you just talked about the rune EOH, for yew tree, symbolizing death and regeneration, which can also mean continuity and sustainment." The young witch named Campbell Jean King stood up and stammered.


    "Good point, Ravenclaw plus ten points." The Basilisk spat.


    Campbell sat down with a long sigh of relief and patted herself on the chest.


    "So, why don''t you guys write it down?"


    The rest of the young wizards began to scribble away.


    For the rest of the lesson, the young wizards gradually accepted this somewhat bizarre "snake professor," who wandered up and down the aisles on both sides, occasionally coming up to the inattentive young wizards and saying loudly with a pair of yellow eyes, "Don''t look at me, read the book! "


    And Professor Hap, sitting in the corner, had a smiling expression on his face from the beginning to the end, and he appeared to be in a very happy mood.


    Near the end of the class, Felix stood up, waved his wand, and turned their snake professor back into a black mist amidst the relucent expressions of the young wizards.


    "Today''s assignment, which is to review the contents of this particular manuscript, consists of a single parchment and must use knowledge learned in the third or fourth year."


    As soon as the bell rang, the hallway resounded with the sound of footsteps and noise - the young wizards were already eager to rush out and head straight for the yard. In the fifth-year Ancient Runes classroom, the young wizards gathered their things in a trance and walked slowly out of the classroom.


    "Hey! Campbell, come on, let''s go together and see the Basilisk!" Her friend called her, saying gleefully, "I''ve been looking forward to this during my last Transfiguration class."


    Campbell said with a blank face, "You go ahead."


    "What about you?"


    "I''ve suddenly lost interest in Basilisk," Campbell said.


    The young wizards who walked out of the Ancient Runes classroom with her nodded in agreement; not only had they spent a period with Basilisk, but they had also been lectured about Ancient Runes by it.


    ...


    In the yard, there were already many little wizards gathered around, and they were huddled together under shadows.


    In the middle of the little wizards, is a full forty feet long huge Basilisk, its body is as thick as the trunk of an oak tree, a scale as big as a palm, looks very rough, glowing in cold green colour.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 84: Cornelius Oswald Fudge

    And on the Basilisk''s flattened snake head, a large hole ran through its head to its upper jaw, and both eyes were left with only two blackened, empty hollows. From time to time, a few exclamations accompanied by fear were heard from the crowd.


    These wizards ranged from the first four years younger ones to the last three years older ones, but they still couldn''t help but gulp while facing the dead Basilisk.


    One of the young wizards asked what everyone wanted: "Is this behemoth what Potter and the rest fought? How did they do it?"


    No one answered his question.


    One Slytherin student couldn''t resist trying to get closer, he reached out his hand, but an invisible barrier bounced him away.


    " You know what Dumbledore said, Flint." A shrill voice appeared, and the crowd moved aside to make way for Professor Filius.


    He looked short, but the young wizards at Hogwarts respected him because he always lectured with passion and would treat the young wizards of all four houses equally.


    He came to the front and walked around the Basilisk, "What a rare magic creature, I think Hagrid would have liked it."


    ...


    Felix thought about it at the end of the lesson and decided to go to the yard.


    Dumbledore had said last night at the dinner that the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, would be here today, and he intended to get a closer look at this man.


    Rumour had it that he is Dumbledore''s echoing dog and has absolutely no opinion of his own. But Felix didn''t think so; a man who is playing politics can be the best licker and more unprincipled than the rest when you''re vulnerable. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He walked down the stairs and prepared to cross the Great Hall.


    Just then, from the distance, there came a clamour, and seven or eight figures approached from afar.


    "Minister Fudge, this way, please." Professor McGonagall walked in front.


    Behind her came a stout, small, middle-aged man, short, chubby, and solid-looking, with a scraggly head of grey hair and an anxious scowl on his face.


    His clothes were a strange mishmash: pinstriped suit, bright red tie, long black cloak, and purple pointed boots. He also had a dark green bowler hat under his arm.


    Felix recognized him at once as Cornelius Fudge, the current Minister of Magic. Following him closely is a tall man, in an Auror outfit, who looks like Fudge''s subordinate.


    After this is a middle-aged man with platinum blonde hair, his whole body is tightly wrapped in a long black travel cloak, his face carries a cold, rejecting expression of indifference, and his hand carries a wand that looks very much like a cane.


    Felix looked at his trademark hair colour and had a few guesses in his mind, perhaps it is that rather famous pureblood family head of - Malfoy?


    After Malfoy came a woman, with whom Felix happened to mingle, Rita Skeeter. Her face heavily coated with makeup, she''s energetically instructing her two assistants, "Seize the moment, the moment! Got it? Take lots of pictures."


    Two young men with enchanted cameras coyly agreed.


    Felix could not help but smile, it seems that this newspaper celebrity has a good psychological quality.


    Rita Skeeter carried a purse in her hand, and as she walked through the Great Hall, her eyes began to look around cautiously for something.


    Her pupils suddenly tightened, and her steps became hesitant and indecisive as she met Felix''s gaze.


    Behind her is a slow walking in the last place is Dumbledore, his size is the tallest among the crowd, at the moment, his blue eyes watching all this.


    Professor McGonagall saw Felix in front of her, she paused, "Oh, Felix. Let me introduce you, this is Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic." She then grunted softly and reluctantly, "These two are Lucius Malfoy and Rita Skeeter."


    Fudge showed enough enthusiasm as he walked up briskly and held out his hands, "Felix Hap, I''ve really heard a lot about you, I''ve heard your name mentioned more than once by the French Minister of Magic."


    Felix drew his hand back without a trace, "Just writing a few books." He stared into Fudge''s eyes the entire time, and in those eyes, he didn''t see much enthusiasm present.


    He looked again at Rita Skeeter and whispered, " It''s Rita."


    The woman with the exaggerated curls greeted awkwardly, "Hello, Mr. Hap." She wondered if she should pretend she didn''t know him, and if she would get into any trouble if she revealed the man''s hidden face.


    But if Felix saw correctly, this instant, Fudge and Malfoy''s eyes changed at the same time.


    What a keen ... should I say, worthy of a figure in the world of prestige?


    Felix nodded at Malfoy, and the two did not cross paths.


    But Lucius Malfoy looked at him quietly for two seconds with his grey eyes, and then tugged out a reserved smile as he extended his right hand: "Hello, Mr. Hap."


    Felix, surprised in his heart, similarly extended his hand, "Hello, Mr. Malfoy."


    After a short exchange of pleasantries, Professor McGonagall continued to lead the way, Felix has quietly followed the pace to the end of the line and walked alongside Dumbledore.


    The two men adorned the group from afar, whispering to each other.


    "Felix, it''s not right to abuse the Legilimency." Dumbledore winked, "That will take a lot of the fun out of it and make you more likely to get bored with the world."


    "Is that your experience?"


    "Anyone has to be young at some point." Dumbledore did not answer directly, but Felix has heard the underlying meaning - young people are always prone to make mistakes.


    So he said, "I''m young now, Headmaster Dumbledore. Besides, I only slightly perceived his true emotions, it helps to understand each other better, doesn''t it?"


    Dumbledore did not insist on the topic, he asked with interest, "What did you perceive?"


    "Could it be that you are interested in what the Minister of Magic is thinking?" Felix asked rhetorically.


    "No, Felix, I don''t need to use Legilimency to see through him, it is perhaps the only thing I mastered without active learning after living for a hundred years."


    Felix is somewhat surprised, Dumbledore should not talk to him about these, right? When did their relationship become so close?


    The two of them remained silent for the next few minutes.


    When they walked to the yard, Professor McGonagall had led Fudge and the others to stand in front of the Basilisk, Felix and Dumbledore did not push forward either, and stood on the periphery of the crowd.


    Hagrid stood awkwardly in the corner, Felix listened to a few words of chatter from the young wizards and figured out what is going on.


    Just now, Hagrid kept pleading Professor Filius to unlock the ward around the Basilisk, he wanted to feel the charm of a creature like a Basilisk up close ...


    Is this how all wizards who study magical creatures think about things?


    So, how many seconds before Professor Kettleburn would reach the battlefield? Felix thought out of tune in his mind.

 Chapter 85: Accident

    Somehow, Harry, Ron, and Hermione also arrived. Hermione still wore the huge mask and knitted hat, but her eyes had reverted to brown. This meant that she had become more proficient in her light morphing - or, of course, it could be the effect of Madam Pomfrey''s potion.


    Ron pulled Harry and Hermione as they hid behind a pillar. He leered, " Cornelius Fudge, Lucius Malfoy, and Rita Skeeter! What a day, three nasties all at once!"


    Harry asked, "Who''s Cornelius Fudge?"


    "He''s the Minister of Magic and my dad''s boss. But he''s a big shot, so he looks down on my father''s line of work, you know, dealing with muggle stuff and such, and my father has been underappreciated ..." Ron muttered.


    Hermione''s eyes were fixed on the woman, Rita Skeeter, and she carefully sized her up in the back. s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That woman is Rita Skeeter? She looks like she has rather bad taste." Hermione spat at her outfit.


    "I agree with you, if you ask me, even Lockhart is superior to her in that regard, it''s not like she doesn''t have any money ... Oh, Merlin!!" Ron suddenly wailed.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "There, look over there," Ron pointed in the other direction, "here comes Lockhart as well, the four nasties are gathered together!"


    Sure enough, Harry found Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in a magnificent robe, with a charming smile on his face, passing the young wizard to meet Fudge and Lucius.


    "He''s like a peacock with an open dress." Ron''s expression wore a very resistant one - as he is going to report to Lockhart''s office tonight.


    Lockhart gave a graceful salute with a very wide smile, "Minister Fudge, Mr. Malfoy, it''s an honour to meet you."


    Fudge froze for a moment, then extended his hands with a big smile, "Hello Mr. Lockhart, I have read your entire book, and I must admit, it''s a big harvest ..."


    Lockhart said modestly, "I just did what I had to do, Minister, I can''t always turn a blind eye to the pitiful people who get into trouble."


    Fudge had an expression of sentiment: "There are not many adventurers like you who have a sense of responsibility."


    Lockhart wanted to say something else, but Dumbledore stepped forward and said with a smile, "Fudge, let''s take a look at the Basilisk first." He waved his wand and made the invisible protective barrier around the Basilisk disappear.


    "Oh, Dumbledore, ah, yes, that''s right." Fudge''s fingers squeezed the bowler hat in his hand as he turned to the tall, dark-skinned man next to him and gave the order, "Kingsley, you go check it out."


    The man named Kingsley took a few steps over the barrier and walked over to the Basilisk, wearing a pair of gargoyle gloves as he carefully examined the remains of the Basilisk.


    Felix didn''t step forward when he saw a familiar figure, the Ravenclaw witch named Luna.


    He paced over and stood next to her, "Luna."


    "I love the gift you sent me, Professor Hap." Her eyes fixed dead on Rita Skeeter''s jewelled glasses, and she said in a singing voice, "I don''t think she has a good recollection."


    "Why do you say that?"


    "She forgets something important at home, she is regretting that," Luna said.


    Felix looked at Rita Skeeter, who kept directing her assistant to take pictures, and he dismissed it.


    "Did you became friend with that little girl with the flaming hair?"


    Luna gave him a surprised look, "We''re already friends." She said thoughtfully, "I think the rooster doll I gave her played a small part."


    "Yeah, I guess it did." Felix smacked his lips.


    Not long after, Kingsley reported to Fudge, "Minister, it''s confirmed that it''s a Basilisk, and there''s no more danger."


    "Very good, Kingsley." Fudge prepared to get a closer look at the Basilisk, and before he could take a second step, he stopped by Rita Skeeter''s voice.


    "Minister Fudge, I think we should take a picture together for tomorrow''s front page," Skeeter said with a heaping smile.


    "Oh, sure, no problem."


    Several Adults in the room stood in a row as Rita Skeeter rushed over and yanked Lockhart, who had seized the center spot, aside, "That''s your spot!"


    Lockhart reluctantly stood at the edge.


    "Professor Flitwick?"


    Flitwick waved his hand and stepped back.


    "Click!" A shutter sounded, and the picture frozen.


    Fudge, Dumbledore, Malfoy, Professor McGonagall, and Kingsley stood together, with the giant Basilisk in the background.


    Having completed the day''s task, the few stood next to the Basilisk, Fudge took a few steps forward, holding his belly, and looked closely at the Basilisk, "This is the thing that has been at Hogwarts for thousands of years, how does it hide from being discovered?"


    Professor McGonagall explained, "Through the pipes all over Hogwarts - the school has experienced several transformations, the interior is densely packed with pipes, not many people can get the full picture, and never thoroughly checked out."


    Fudge did not speak, and Lucius on the side whispered in the discussion.


    Lockhart also came over, he surveyed the Basilisk, "looks like it''s not that hard to deal with, I once encountered a water monster, it can cover half of the lake." He tapped the Basilisk''s fangs with his wand and was about to make a playful remark, but his wand immediately made a "zipping" sound, "Oh, my!" He waved his wand frantically.


    The young wizards who were watching had the foresight to quickly retreat a dozen meters or so as if fleeing the famine.


    But the Minister of Magic, who was looking down at the head of the Basilisk, suffered when a drop of something mixed with saliva and venom flung across his face, causing him to let out a terrifying scream.


    Lucius Malfoy quickly put up a magical barrier and watched the drama with cold eyes. He maintained his magic and stepped back, but just two steps back, he got blocked by a ring of golden light.


    Felix raised his wand at some point, "Little wizards, back off."


    Several professors were doing the same, and the protective magic of Flitwick, McGonagall, and Dumbledore mirrored the center of the yard in colourful splendour.


    Hagrid stretched out his big futon-like hands, lifting the fallen young wizards up in one hand and pushing them far away.


    But Lucius, like Fudge and Lockhart, standing closer, so he''s separated by layer after layer of magic, and a drop of saliva mixed with venom is thrown on his protective spell with a "zippy" sound.


    He shouted with a pale face: "Stop, you fool!"


    Lockhart flung his wand a few more times before he realized what he had done, and stood in front of Fudge in a panic, trying to do something, "Oh, Minister Fudge, I''m sorry!"


    But Fudge''s screams grew louder and louder, and his face became pitch black, and the range expanded at a speed visible to the naked eye.


    The scene is like a mess.


    "Silence!" Dumbledore shouted, he dispelled the magic in front of him, a few steps forward, with a wand against Fudge''s face, from the tip of the wand spread layer after layer of golden light, the expansion of the black trail stopped.


    Dumbledore took a closer look, "further treatment is needed, Fudge, I''m going to send you to the school clinic."


    "No, send me to St. Mungo''s! My face is ruined! Gilderoy Lockhart!, I''m going to put you in Azkaban#$%&...#&...#" Fudge spewed a string of profanities out of his mouth.


    "Oh, God." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and glared at the frenzied Fudge, resisting the urge to bestow a Stupefy on him. Finally, the Transfiguration professor yelled at the young wizards around her, "You, all little wizards! Get out of here and go to your classes!"


    The little wizards scattered like flies.


    Rita Skeeter excitedly grabbed the camera and kept pressing the shutter like crazy, her mouth open wide and her two huge gold teeth glistening in the sunlight.


    "Look at that woman, I can see her back teeth!" Ron, who was hiding by a pillar in the yard, pointed at Rita Skeeter and said, "She''s got the big news today!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 86: Is it a Curse?

    "It''s just so exciting! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think this kind of drama would happen." Fred and George muttered, they took a little detour to hide in the grass, peering through the cracks at the side of the commotion. Dumbledore held Fudge''s hand: "Don''t worry, Fudge, you''ll be fine."


    " Do you guarantee? Dumbledore?" Half of his face turned black.


    "I promise you, Fudge."


    Fudge''s expression became placid and he fell asleep.


    Dumbledore withdrew his glowing fingers and turned to look at Kingsley: "We need to get him to the school clinic."


    "But, Minister Fudge, he said ..."


    "The Basilisk''s venom needs to be resolved as soon as possible," Dumbledore said.


    The man named Kingsley quickly compromised, "Everything is at your disposal."


    Dumbledore turned to Flitwick and McGonagall and said, "Flitwick, Minerva, you stay here, maintain order, and get rid of that Basilisk." The two professors nodded their heads.


    Hagrid volunteered to pick up Fudge and stride in the direction of the school clinic with Dumbledore and Kingsley.


    Lucius took advantage of the chaos to leave, and he found his son, Draco Malfoy.


    "What is the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius questioned him.


    "Potter and the gang did it! Dad, Potter is a parseltongue, that''s why he found the Chamber of Secrets!" Draco said with an irritated look on his face.


    "A Parseltongue!" Lucius truly felt surprised, he thought that it was the diary he had thrown at the Weasley''s youngest daughter that had been discovered. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Did you find out who opened the Chamber of Secrets?" Lucius asked vaguely.


    "No, not yet." Draco stammered as he gave his father a wary look. He didn''t spill the beans on the fact that he had briefly been controlled by a dark magic item.


    "Is that so?" Lucius didn''t notice this little gesture, and his expression turned condescending.


    ...


    Rita Skeeter wanted to follow up and film the Minister of Magic''s misery, but then she looked at the Lockhart, and after some weighing, she quickly settled upon her real target.


    Fellow peers are enemies, she must screw him!


    "Click!"


    "Click!"


    "Click!"


    "Ka-chow!"


    Lockhart, overwhelmed, blocked his face, "Hey, stop it! Stop it now!"


    Rita Skeeter, however, shooting more vigorously, her desire is now simply bursting with creativity, but unfortunately, because of some scruples, she did not bring automatic quill and parchment.


    She stole a glance at Felix, who watched all this in silence.


    This lets Rita Skeeter put her heart down, it seems that ''this one'' does not care about others. The next time she had the chance to come to Hogwarts, she must be well-prepared.


    "Oh my, Professor McGonagall must be furious." Hermione, who is hiding behind a huge pillar, said as Harry and Ron looked over at their Transfiguration class professor, whose face is about to twist into distortion.


    The situation had developed into something where Lockhart rushed forward to grab the camera with Skeeter, but it seemed that on physical strength alone, Lockhart is no match for her, and Skeeter''s two-inch-long nails made a dozen cuts on his face.


    "My handsome face!" Lockhart went mad.


    Professor McGonagall had to step forward to separate the two, her lips quivering with anger, "Professor Lockhart, please leave at once! As for you ..." she looked at Rita Skeeter with disgust.


    "Oh, you needn''t mind me, Professor McGonagall." Rita Skeeter said cheekily, "I''ll just wander around, it''s been years since I''ve been back to school and I really miss it."


    "Suit yourself." McGonagall couldn''t care less about her at the moment as she and Professor Flitwick worked together to drag the Basilisk away.


    Felix looked around; Lockhart looked like an angry bull, and he didn''t want to get involved. He turned around and walked in the direction of the school clinic.


    After a while, Lockhart completely calmed down, he suddenly realized he is facing an unprecedented crisis, he straightened his messy hair and said to Rita Skeeter, "Skeeter, we need to talk, man-to-man."


    The woman gave him a condescending look as she took the magic camera, her biggest catch this time, and handed it to her two assistants, "Keep an eye on it, and stay away."


    The two assistants left, and at this moment, the empty space remained with only two of them, Lockhart and Skeeter, on the bright side.


    In the dark, the twins and the trio were on one side each, holding their breath.


    Rita Skeeter glanced disdainfully at Lockhart, she grinned, a victorious posture: "What do you want to talk to me? I guess there is no more need for that-"


    "The famous bestselling author!"


    Lockhart''s handsome face became contorted, but he looked around and whispered, "We don''t have to get to this point, and I can give you Golden Galleons as compensation, as long as you don''t say a word about this."


    Rita Skeeter glanced at him.


    "Two thousand galleons!" Lockhart said groggily.


    There is no response.


    "Four thousand!"


    "Ten thousand Golden Galleons! You greedy woman!"


    Rita Skeeter gave a stiff smile, but she still didn''t relent as she leaned closer and said, "Lockhart, you can go back and think about it for a while, figure out what a great writer''s reputation is really worth."


    "-and," she fiddled with her nails, "first think about how to clear your name for attacking the Minister of Magic."


    "That was just an accident!" Lockhart gritted his teeth and looked at her, but the woman had left satisfied.


    He gripped the wand in his hand and tried to do something several times, but finally gave up. He returned to his office in dismay.


    The lively yard, once again restored calm.


    The twins looked at each other and quietly left in silence. Behind a pillar, the trio looked at each other.


    "Dirty money deal!" Hermione got righteously indignant.


    Ron shrugged: "It''s normal, when my father went to check Malfoy Manor, Malfoy got informed in advance. Why do you think it'' because?"


    Harry looked in the direction that Lockhart left and couldn''t help but ask: "Do you guys think that Lockhart will be put in jail?"


    Ron said without thinking, "It''s hard to say, but if I am fudge, I mean, as Minister of Magic, I couldn''t afford to be disgraced like that."


    "Don''t you think it''s too coincidence?"


    "What?"


    "Everything that happened today was an accident, wasn''t it? You know the Basilisk was already taken care of, and he could have muddled through the whole year unscathed, then written a book like My Year at Hogwarts and earned a large amount of Golden Galleons."


    "You mean, the Dark Lord''s Curse?" Ron responded.


    Hermione blinked as she said with great interest, "Quite an interesting thought, Harry, perhaps the true nature of the curse is to amplify the probability of various accidents. We could look into that."


    Ron grimaced, "Hermione, don''t you think you''ve been too busy lately? For you, let me do the maths, classes, homework, weekend runes guidance, grading papers, learning special transfiguration techniques, and now you have to study the curse ..."


    Hermione grunted as she asked rhetorically, "Don''t you think that solving one puzzle after another is a great accomplishment?"


    ...


    On the other hand, Rita Skeeter, who had been looking at the landscape slowly, suddenly turned back the way she came after turning around the yard.


    Her eyes kept searching, and Lockhart is so fast that she had lost sight of him. But she soon spotted the trio


    "Hey, you three! Little wizards, stop."

 Chapter 87: A Obliviate!

    Rita Skeeter hastily called out to the trio of probing young wizards, "Do you know where Professor Lockhart''s office is, I need to see him." She flashed them a stiff smile, but her mind had already flown far away. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at her a little dazed, why this woman is back again?


    Hermione didn''t answer, just looked angrily at Rita Skeeter. But when Ron saw her gaze turn to Harry, he quickly spoke up and said, "It''s in the basement next to classroom number 2."


    Satisfied, Rita Skeeter left, walking away with a slight oddity in her mind; that girl wasn''t exactly looking at her in a friendly way.


    But what the hell! It''s not like she''s a celebrity anyway, or she could totally write her up in an article herself!


    "Ron!" Hermione looked puffed up.


    "Listen to me, don''t let Harry get involved with that woman, she''ll turn Harry''s ancestors inside out," Ron explained.


    The little witch somewhat relieved, Harry then realized that he seemed to have just taken a trip through the Whirlpool and is still safe and sound.


    ...


    In a shadowy underground corridor, the figure of Rita Skeeter disappeared for a few seconds, then out of the darkness flew a beetle, which flapped its wings and flew expertly next to classroom #2 in the basement.


    The beetle hovered in midair for a few seconds, staring anthropomorphically at the " Defense Against Dark Arts Class - Gilderoy Lockhart" sign, and silently slipped through the doorway.


    Lockhart walking in his office in circles, his expression is a little angry. Even a row of portraits hanging on the wall also became sad-looking as well.


    The beetle landed on the edge of one of the portraits and looked down at him from a high position.


    "Damn it#%..."


    Lockhart lost his usual poise and kept rubbing his hands through his hair, his golden curls becoming more and more dishevelled.


    "Maybe I can do something about this like I used to, I''m very good at this, good enough ..."


    Lockhart muttered to himself to an equivocal portrait of himself, which gave him a thumbs up and showed a mouth full of white teeth.


    "But what to do about the charge of attacking the Minister of Magic? God, that''s ridiculous, it was just an accident, an accident! I''m not going to let someone just falsely accuse me, even if he is the Minister of Magic!"


    "I''m not to be messed with either, I have a huge readership, and they''ll all support me."


    Lockhart thought carefully for some time that he should not be put into Azkaban, which made him feel a little better.


    "But if my readers find out that I''m lying to them ..." he couldn''t help but shiver.


    Everything seemed to go back to the beginning, how to solve the problem of Rita Skeeter, the woman himself.


    Lockhart became annoyed all over again, and he felt that he should not have been greedy for new book sales and promised Dumbledore to be a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class.


    "Old fool!"


    After a while, Lockhart sat down in his chair and took out a piece of parchment to write something quickly.


    The beetle spread its wings and quietly approached from the other side. It landed near a pile of published books, crawled over a clean white velvet handkerchief, and hid behind a delicate, thin mug.


    The position is just right to read the text that Lockhart has written.


    "Ms. Rita Skeeter, it is with a sense of calm ..." Not many words were written before Lockhart suddenly crumpled the parchment into a ball and slammed it hard.


    The ball of paper knocked over the thin mug on the table, revealing the beetle hiding behind it.


    For a second or two, Lockhart locked eyes with the beetle''s small eyes and a great sense of absurdity welled up in his heart - the lines on its body were identical to that woman Rita Skeeter''s jewelled glasses!


    "What''s with this disgusting thing in my room?"


    As he watched, the beetle quickly skittered away.


    But Lockhart didn''t think much of it, as he picked up a stack of student assignments in his hand and slapped it down hard.


    "Slap!"


    But the beetle did not even bother but ran more quickly, it climbed to the edge of the table, took off with its wings, and quickly away from Lockhart.


    "Hey, I don''t believe it!" Lockhart chased the obnoxious beetle and hit it.


    After dodging several times, the beetle was slapped to the ground by Lockhart, and he stomped on it with one foot -


    Finally, settled, his depressed mood relieved a lot.


    Wait, this kind of feeling ... on your feet


    Lockhart soon found something wrong, the bottom of his feet began to burst out a dazzling light, his feet involuntarily propped up, pushed away, a woman''s head appeared, and soon her limbs also stretched out.


    His jaw dropped as the beetle beneath his feet turned into a woman, an abominable woman named Rita Skeeter!


    "Rita Skeeter! You, you...you... you!" Lockhart gasped in shock, his foot still on her shoulder. He backed away with a horrified look on his face and crashed solidly against the table.


    Rita Skeeter slumped to the floor, an embarrassed expression running across her face; this thing had developed to this point is something she had never expected.


    What kind of luck it''s that this straw man, Lockhart, had a one-in-a-million chance of running into her!


    Over the years, she has peeked into countless hidden secrets, and now she actually has to fall into the hands of a stupid person?


    Does he have some kind of discrimination against beetles?


    On the other hand, Lockhart''s expression is dubious, his hand fondled behind him, and his wand is on the table ...


    He stalled for time: "Rita Skeeter! I didn''t think you turned out to be an Animagus, for God''s sake! I can''t believe you''re an illegal Animagus and sneaking into my room to snoop around ..." He reeled back and grabbed the wand!


    With the wand in his hand, he had the victory in hand.


    But by the time he turned back around, Rita Skeeter had already rushed up with her teeth bared.


    "Dang!"


    Skeeter''s fat body slammed into Lockhart, causing him to let out a cry of pain. The two wrestled together, and the portrait of Lockhart on the wall screamed in unison.


    " Scram!" Lockhart struggled desperately.


    "Huff, puff, puff!"


    Rita Skeeter got the upper hand with her size. She pinned down Lockhart with one hand and pulled her wand from her coat pocket with the other hand, the tip of her wand pressed hard against the side of his head as she frantically chanted the incantation. s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Obliviate!"


    A moment later, Lockhart''s expression became blank.


    When he came back to his senses, Lockhart felt his mind was slightly disorganized, "Well, what was I thinking about? Oh right, it''s about that woman Rita Skeeter, I have to write to her, I have to agree to her request, otherwise my career, my reputation will be all ruined."


    "Merlin ah, one trouble after another, I should not have come to Hogwarts!"


    Lockhart stood up, the office has become neat and tidy again, only the portrait on the wall in the character is sickly, obviously because only little spirit left.


    ...


    On the other hand, Felix chased Dumbledore and a few others to the school clinic, Dumbledore once again summoned Phoenix Fawkes, the little dot glanced at his master angrily and reluctantly treated Fudge with tears.


    "Finally, there are no after-effects, if the Minister of Magic was attacked at Hogwarts and word got out ...," Madam Pomfrey aside poured out a bottle of black medicinal juice and fed it to fudge, whose cheeks became rosy.


    "Knowing what I know about the minister, he won''t say anything." Kingsley said, "But that Rita Skeeter woman, she''s a hidden problem!"


    "Don''t worry, I''ll communicate with her," Felix said calmly, he studied Fudge''s face, quietly pulling down a handful of his hair.


    Not that he wanted to do something, but it''s too good timing, the opportunity is too rare.


    In case you have a chance to use it in the future.

 Chapter 88: Ideas

    Kingsley looked at Felix and said with some hesitation, "I know you, Felix Hap, but she''s not a person who speaks well ... That woman is bold, and even if Fudge himself is there, she might not listen." Felix did not speak.


    Dumbledore watched all this, he blinked his azure eyes, linked to the attitude of Rita Skeeter before, he almost had some guesses.


    The old man leaned down and carefully examined Fudge''s state, and he said, "The Basilisk is indeed a terrible creature, even without counting its eyes, and its toxicity is extremely rare."


    "Indeed it is." Kingsley nodded.


    "But no more poisonous than the desire of the human heart, Voldemort is such." Dumbledore said calmly, "As his power became stronger, his desires expanded, and he broke through each of his bottom lines until he no longer has anything to care about."


    "Voldemort had glorified his own behaviour, he said a phrase, magic is power, Felix, what do you think?"


    Felix said lightly, "Magic can carry many things, ambition, dreams, strength, power, awe ... but these are just scenery on the road, you can stop briefly, but eventually you have to move on."


    "I personally believe - magic is magic, there is no need or necessity to add other appendages." He looked up to meet Dumbledore''s calm gaze.


    Kingsley listened in confusion to the conversation between the two, how did it go from the Basilisk to the mysterious man? Wasn''t he already dead?


    "Knock, knock, knock!" S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucius Malfoy knocked on the door of the open ward with his cane, and he looked up slightly, leaving half his face hidden in the shadows, "Dumbledore, I need to speak to you alone."


    "Ah, welcome, Lucius, welcome." Dumbledore gladly stood up and walked out with him.


    Felix also duly offered his farewell.


    Crossing the corridor connecting the Great Hall, Felix happened to see the figure of Rita Skeeter, who looked very flustered, her make-up all over her face.


    What is going on here?


    "Rita." Felix stepped out of the shadows, startling her.


    "Felix Hap! You, I ..." Rita Skeeter stammered and stuttered.


    Something is odd ...


    Felix looked her in the eye, his light blue eyes glowing slightly.


    Flustered, fierce, relieved ...


    What had she done?


    He had some hesitation to continue probing deeper - it risked discovery - but Rita Skeeter ducked her head to avoid his gaze, "I''m sorry, Mr. Hap, I have things to do, I need to catch up ... " and she hurried away.


    "Rita," Felix called out to her, "about Minister Fudge''s injury, I hope it won''t set off too much of a ripple."


    Rita Skeeter turned her back on him and said wryly, "Mr. Hap, oh, Felix, are you asking me to conceal the truth?"


    "You know what my attitude is, as long as you don''t exaggerate and twist the truth."


    When she left, Felix sighed, he should collect his mind and focus on his runes research.


    However, there is still the matter of the dueling course that needs to be settled.


    When the new semester started, he had to set the schedule and teaching content of the dueling course.


    After lunch in the Great Hall, Felix went to the basement of the castle and prepared to finalize the content with Professor Snape.


    Snape welcomed him in, wearing a black robe and expressionless face.


    "Please sit down, Felix."


    Snape lifted the hem of his wizard''s robe and sat down across from him, he waved his wand and sent several sheets of parchment flying across the table in front of him.


    "Here are some of my --" Snape stared into Felix''s eyes, "insights."


    Felix picked up the parchments and thumbed through them, snickering at him in passing, "Professor, don''t you have a cup of tea in here?"


    Snape pulled the corner of his mouth, "You''ve never had anything I''ve offered you personally."


    Felix then stopped talking.


    Snape made him cautious with his unique collection of potions when he was in school, and had given him a small bottle of high-purity Babbling Beverage for Christmas this year; he really didn''t have the courage to try any of the drinks he gave him.


    He read the contents of the parchment carefully.


    "Professor, you mean, a lesson to learn a spell?"


    Felix looked at Snape with some confusion.


    "Felix, most of the spells related to dueling are somewhat dangerous, and if you don''t slow down, they will give you all kinds of unexpected surprises." Snape deliberately emphasized the word ''surprise''.


    Felix thought for a moment, "One lesson every two weeks, that is, learning two spells a month."


    Snape said indifferently, "You can learn a dozen spells in a school year, and with a reasonable mix, you can protect yourself completely." He revealed his usual mocking tone and said, "Some students can''t even cast a standard shield charm until they graduate."


    This is indeed the reality of Hogwarts; it has been peaceful for so long that the young wizards learn spells solely to cope with the exams.


    By the time the exams are over, some lukewarm spells are simply shelved.


    According to the normal teaching order, the young wizards in the fourth year should master the shield charm, but unfortunately, this spell is under Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and this course at Hogwarts ...


    It''s hard to say.


    Many young wizards'' fifth-year spell-casting level will become the pinnacle of his life because according to the requirements of OWLs exams, mandatory courses are required to be taken, naturally including the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, the charm class, and the Transfiguration class, which are more operational than practical.


    And after the fifth year, young wizards start to choose advanced classes according to their grades and career plans, and some academic scum may only take one or two classes.


    If he chooses a class that happens to be mostly theoretical, his spellcasting level will plummet like a dive.


    Probably, when he graduated, all but those most commonly used spells would be returned to the professor.


    Felix brushed the ring on his left hand and took out a stack of parchment, "Professor, this is my teaching layout about the first magic spell, you can make some suggestions."


    Snape took the parchment and flipped through the pages absently for two pages, but then his expression got serious.


    "This is ..."


    Snape buried his head in reading the contents of the parchment, immersing himself in the magic skill tree Felix had constructed. Occasionally he took out his wand and waved it in midair.


    "Felix, this is how you understand the spell?"


    Felix said gently: "Just my personal understanding in the process of learning the magic spell, there may be omissions."


    Snape''s fingers brushed the parchment, in his mind quickly reconstructed the spell.


    Half an hour later, he waved his wand and sent out a dazzling red light that sent a chair three meters away flying, and the poor chair fell apart utterly in midair.


    "Professor Snape, what are you doing?" Felix inquired him, the spell just now was not too strong, but too weak!


    It couldn''t even catch up to the strength of the disarming charm he used that time when he defeated Lockhart.


    Snape, carefully experienced in his mind, slowly opened his eyes, "I just blocked my knowledge of the disarming Charm, according to your design, reconstructed this spell."


    Snape, mind drifted off.


    He is not only a master of potions, but also has an extremely in-depth knowledge of magic spells.


    He used Occlumency to shield his understanding of the Disarming Charm, and in a very short time, he relearned the Disarming Charm according to Felix''s plan.


    This is not difficult for Snape, his accumulation of all kinds of spells are there, all the relevant theory, skills, a little experience to re-release the spell.


    If it is a different little wizard, it wouldn''t be possible to do something similar.


    Snape''s approach further verified the feasibility of Felix''s theory, and the current success rate still remains at a staggering 100 percent.


    However, Felix soon went sideways, and he began to ask Snape for tips on the application of Occlumency ...


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 89: Classroom Puzzles

    Felix stayed at Snape''s office until the end of the first class in the afternoon, and then left in a hurry to go to the class for the seventh-year wizards. He stood at the podium and looked at the junior wizards of the Grade below him.


    There were less than twenty combined, "Tsk! There are really too few."


    At the beginning of the school year, Felix had communicated with Professor McGonagall that he could "appropriately" ease the students'' grades and let some little wizards with A grades enter his improvement class.


    He did so with the idea that "one more is one more", and that he might be able to use his strong charisma to fool an additional young wizard into joining the family of ancient runes research.


    But before his arrival, the course had been lukewarm and the response rather lacklustre. Except for those wizards who were interested in studying ancient languages, or who wanted to join the Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic''s senior citizen department, there were very few other interested parties.


    So his seventh-grade classroom is either a school tyrant, those who have chosen it by mistake, who try to choose as many as possible, or an Academic scum For example, Marcus Flint, is a typical representative of the academic dregs, after entering the seventh grade, he selected a total of two courses - Care of Magical Creatures class and ancient runes class.


    For him, it''s Felix who gave a word to join, otherwise, he would simply have taken a single class.


    As far as Felix knew, the seventh grade Care of Magical Creatures class would add a great deal of knowledge about raising and breeding rare magical creatures, requiring a lot of information to be consulted and memorized. With Marcus Flint''s troll-like brain, Felix really didn''t know how he would pass.


    On the podium, Felix waved his wand, causing a dozen of parchments to fly in all directions and land in front of the corresponding young wizard.


    He commented, "In general, your grades are still steadily improving. However, I must remind you that according to the previous NEWTs assessment standards, you must translate a complete ancient rune document."


    "This means that during your exams, there may be ancient runes that are quite out of the box, and you won''t be able to find the corresponding knowledge even after going through five years of ancient runes textbooks."


    "Professor, then, how should we respond?" A Ravenclaw witch asked, wearing a pair of extremely recognizable, thick glasses.


    "Miss Vera, it comes into a bit of exam technique, such as speculating the meaning of words."


    "Speculating the meaning of words?" Vera asked, pushing up her glasses in disbelief.


    "In the sixth and seventh-grade Ancient Runes textbook, a considerable amount of space is devoted to the evolution of Ancient runes, such as Eoh, which has gone through seven versions, each with slightly different meanings and writing styles."


    "But actually, once you sort out the logic of its evolution, you''ll find that its core meaning has never really changed."


    Vera nodded, this knowledge is obvious to her.


    And Professor Hap continued, "Therefore, as long as you know one of the versions of the ancient rune, you can make reasonable speculations based on its core meaning in context."


    "Even for those runes that you have never come across, you can make reasonable speculations based on word patterns. This requires the use of the more common 27 evolved forms ..."


    "Of course, runes with magic power are not in this range and need to be memorized separately, but there are not that many, actually."


    Next to her, Marcus looked desperate, what are you talking about?


    Why does every word I can understand, but together it''s like a heavenly text?


    "I get it, Professor Hap," Vera said excitedly.


    In this class, she is the only one who has a true love for ancient runes and is determined to follow this path, except that her research direction is document translation.


    This is actually influenced by her family - her grandfather is a vice president of the Ancient Runes Society.


    When she returned home for Christmas break and said that the new professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts is Felix Hap, the look on her grandfather''s face was amusing.


    He scolded Felix for being " a heretic and going astray", but on the other hand, he shyly admitted that "he does have real skills, you can barely learn from him", which made her mentally put Professor Hap on the same level as her grandfather.


    "Let''s move on--" After settling the daily questions, Felix''s eyes fell on Marcus: "Flint, your grades are always hovering up and down around A (passing), I''m worried about you. "


    Marcus cried, he had really put a lot of effort into Ancient Runes, even when he was training on the Quidditch pitch, he kept an Ancient Runes textbook in his book bag - although he had only opened it once in total.


    But at least the attitude is there, he hasn''t been this dedicated to his other classes. But unfortunately, he really is not that kind of material. Marcus had a mind to quit, but he shivered at the sight of Felix and simply couldn''t muster the courage.


    "Teach, professor, I will try," Marcus said tremblingly.


    "Very well, if you have any problems, just find me."


    Felix started the formal class, in this modest classroom, the academic tyrant and academic scum are clearly separated. The more the academic tyrant listens, the more the dregs become confused, and Marcus is the latter - he is a dreg, but he is bracing himself to show the appearance of the academic tyrant''s spirit.


    A lesson passed in a jiffy.


    Felix left with a stack of parchments, and in his hand were the assignments of the seventh graders.


    Today, he received a total of three grades worth of holiday assignments. Felix is ready to make full use of his assistant''s motivation to learn, so that she can make the most of her talents, by handing over all the assignments of the third and fourth grades to her. S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the evening, Felix looked idly at Professor Flitwick''s Christmas gift, a manuscript of ancient magic.


    There were two kinds of writing on the parchment, one of which is an extremely old and ancient Rune language, and the other is Professor Flitwick''s additions and annotations, containing his thoughts on the study of this magic.


    It''s very enlightening.


    The only thing is that according to Professor Flitwick, he has no special talent in ancient runes, so this fragmented ancient magic was researched by him in collaboration with the former professor of ancient runes - Babbling, and when Professor Babbling left Hogwarts for holiday, the research came to a standstill.


    The manuscript was given to Felix with the intention of collaborative research.


    Felix waved his wand, a hazy light blue light like a river of stars, cut through the air and fell on a quill.


    The brown quill first turned into a toothpick, and then quickly expanded to the size of a cane. As Felix kept injecting magic power, the quill kept growing to about seven feet, and it stopped dead in its tracks.


    "Well, looking at the effect is similar to combining two magic spells, the Shrinking Charm and the Engorgement Charm, together, yet in essence, it doesn''t have the high consumption, danger, and intensity of ancient magic."


    "Instead, it''s more like modern simplified magic, with a limit to its power and magic consumption."


    "Is it because the part that complements it is the idea of simplified magic?"


    Felix wrote and drew on the parchment, preparing for a prolonged battle, recovering ancient magic is not an easy task.


    ''I wish I had a teacher.'' Before going to sleep, he thought with some emotion.

 Chapter 90: Detention and Discovery

    A few hours earlier, Ron had experienced a thrilling trip to detention. At 8:00 p.m., he knocked apprehensively at Professor Lockhart''s door, stammering as he came for detention.


    "Is there such a thing?" Lockhart looked sickly, "Oh, yes, that''s right! You little villain ..."


    He yanked Ron into the office and shoved him in a chair.


    "Well, what''s your punishment ... Let''s see, how can I get you to sincerely repent and cry out in gratitude at the greatness of Gilderoy Lockhart?"


    Ron stared at him dumbfounded, Lockhart''s arrogance aggravated again?


    "I thought of that!" Lockhart said with a jolt, clutching a bulging stack of envelopes from a cabinet in the corner.


    " Professor, what is this?" Ron swallowed hard, don''t, DON''T ...


    "These are letters from avid fans, part of my collection - my favourites! You need to transcribe them all." Lockhart said with gusto.


    Things were going in the worst possible direction.


    The letters, Ron thought, added up to be thicker than the two large books Malfoy had transcribed.


    He opened an envelope and pulled out the contents, which began, "Dear Gilderoy, I am your sweetest and most faithful reader Morelia, I sleep with your book in my arms every day because it has your most charming picture on it, oh Gilderoy, your curls simply tickle my heart and I can''t wait to have a great adventure with you in my dreams ..."


    " Ew~" Ron almost looked sick.


    "Are you sick?" Lockhart asked him.


    "No-"


    " No. Then start copying, it''s your punishment for sneaking up on the professor, no, it''s a reward - the privilege of feeling my own greatness with my readers."


    What Lockhart said today was unexpectedly blunt, and Ron had thought he was a peacock or at least would hide his butt when he opened his wings.


    But he didn''t have a choice, and Ron had to force himself not to think about anything, not to wonder what the sh*t, he was copying, really meant. But just two lines in, he recoiled once again.


    So he began to focus on Lockhart, his mind spinning desperately to make himself think about something else.


    Two feet away from him, Lockhart likewise unfolded a piece of parchment, picked up a quill drenched in ink, and wrote a line of dragon-flecked fancy writing on it, muttering under his breath, "O Merlin, I am so unlucky to have to apologize to the stupid Fudge ..."


    Ron had a gut-wrenching night, because Lockhart seems to have changed for the worse, there is no door in the mouth, spilling a lot of secrets to him.


    Either complaining that Dumbledore cheated him, or complaining that Professor Hap had stolen his thunder.


    He also mentioned the day when he was in school, on Valentine''s Day, he spent a large sum of money to buy a bunch of cards for himself, but it did not set off any splash, he had to spend two months of bitterness over this ...


    The time finally reached midnight, Ron plucked up the courage to raise the request to leave, Lockhart looked at the clock on the wall, "the sky is already so dark? Go on, put the letters in the cabinet and continue tomorrow."


    Ron carried the pile of letters and "puffed and panted" his way to the big cabinet, he tried to open it, but the door wouldn''t budge. "Professor Lockhart, the cabinet is locked!" S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Lockhart muttered two words, waved his wand, until the third time, the cabinet door popped open with a bang, almost hitting Ron''s nose.


    Ron opened the cabinet, there are a dozen small drawers inside, he did not know where to put, but did not dare to ask, only he opened the drawers one by one to find the appropriate space.


    When flipping to a certain compartment, he saw a parchment clipped in a binder, and the top line of text made him pause his gaze.


    "Record of a visit to an old wizard in Armenian ( note: werewolf adventures)."


    He skipped to read it twice more -


    "If you take away the fact that the main character is an ugly, ageing Armenian wizard, the story itself is quite good."


    There is a short paragraph in the middle that seemed like a record of someone''s words, "Yeah, it''s sad that the people in that village are constantly facing threats from werewolves, initially because they killed a young wolf cub that was actively attacking livestock, it''s just sad~"


    Ron''s heart thumped, he did not know why, but he quietly drew out the middle pages of this material - the top page he did not dare to take.


    Lockhart''s voice came from afar, "What are you dawdling about?"


    "Ma, right away, Professor Lockhart." Ron stuffed the few pages of parchment he pulled out into his pocket, then scattered the readers'' letters casually into three drawers and hastily closed the cabinet.


    " Professor, I''ll leave you to it." Ron quickly ran out of Lockhart''s office.


    On the way, his heart is still beating violently.


    Back in the common room, which by now is empty, he hides in a corner and carefully reads the three parchments he pulled out from his pocket.


    After reading for a while, he got somewhat confused, although the content of the story looked a little familiar to him, it is an ordinary interview.


    Did Lockhart still work as a journalist on the side?


    When Ron returned to his dorm room and saw Harry, who had already fallen asleep, he stuffed the parchment into a random book and fell back to sleep.


    For the next week, the atmosphere at Hogwarts is peaceful and tranquil.


    With no worries about attacks or exams, the young wizards had a fantastic weekend.


    Hermione finally took off her muzzle, she now only had to wear a hat to cover up her cat ears and usually looked completely indistinguishable from her normal state.


    "Lavender thought I had some kind of terminal illness before." Hermione took a big breath of fresh air, her face frozen red, but she had no idea of putting the scarf on.


    "Who''s Lavender?" Ron asked.


    "She''s my roommate."


    Ron thought for a moment, and he asked uncertainly, "Is that girl with freckles?"


    "Not her, Ron, I thought you''d remember a Gryffindor wizard from the same year as you," Hermione said acutely.


    "I remember, just not the right face. And do you know Dean Thomas?" Ron asked rhetorically.


    "Of course!"


    "And did you ever speak to him?"


    Hermione clamped her mouth shut.


    In the evening of that day, Felix guided Hermione through the upgrade program for the beaded pouch.


    Felix looked at the parchment in his hand with interest: "You''re going to isolate part of the space inside? Are you going to use it for storage? Nice try, but the difficulty has increased correspondingly."


    "Professor, do you think that at my level, I can complete it?" Hermione asked.


    "Well ... if you want to finish it on your own, at least -" Felix thought about it, "you need to learn 21 practical runes in a targeted way, proficiency in carving some rune circuits, plus some basic theory of alchemy."


    "I can make a list of books for you."


    Felix in a swish wrote down a series of reference books, Hermione''s mouth suddenly became a little bitter ...


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 91: Discovery

    On Monday morning, the little wizards were walking past the bulletin board when they suddenly noticed that it had been updated. A young wizard read out what is pinned on the parchment -


    "The second dueling class of the current school year is hereby scheduled for this Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. Young wizards of all grades are welcome to attend."


    It''s signed with the ethereal moniker, Felix Hap.


    "Why Professor Hap? Isn''t it Lockhart?"


    "Maybe Professor Hap snatched the Dueling Club from his hands?"


    "That''s big news!"


    "Don''t be ridiculous, it could be a collaboration, just like Snape in the last class, he is invited by Lockhart to join."


    The little wizards under the bulletin board were chattering.


    The trio stood not far away, and Harry''s expression showed great excitement: "It''s finally happening."


    Ron also looked with anticipation, "I hope I can learn a few powerful spells. Honestly, I''ve been nauseous this week ..."


    Harry looked at him with a sympathetic look, " He also let you copy fan letters?"


    "Yeah, endlessly." Ron gave a nasty look, "Especially a woman named Morelia, she wrote the most letters and is favoured by Lockhart the most. I can recite some whole snippets ..."


    " Don''t!" Harry stopped in a huff.


    Ron muttered, "I''ve heard a lot of hidden secrets from him in the last few days, Hermione, I know him better than you do now."


    "But he shouldn''t, why would he say it?" Hermione asked in disbelief.


    "I think maybe it''s self-loathing? He''s writing an apology letter to Fudge every night now." Ron guessed, as Cornelius Fudge never responds to his letters.


    ...


    When the trio reached the classroom of Defense Against Dark Arts, Lockhart stood in the doorway, his expression seemingly thoughtful. As they passed by, he took Ron by the hand, "Do you think that my character has changed a lot lately?"


    A flash of shock flashed in Ron''s eyes as he stammered a reply, "No, I haven''t noticed as such, Professor."


    "Well ... why I don''t feel well then?" Lockhart loosened his grip suspiciously, and the trio slipped past him into the classroom.


    In his seat -


    Harry said, "He''s noticed something wrong with himself, there''s definitely something wrong here."


    "Maybe he hit by something like Confundus Charm? Many magic spells have similar effects." Hermione analysed in a serious manner.


    "Possibly, every time I face him all alone, I want to put a vicious jinx on him." Ron looked resentful.


    "By the way, those three parchments, do you have any clue?" Harry suddenly remembered something, he inquired Ron about it. S~?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "No, just an ordinary interview."


    "What is it?" Hermione asked with interest.


    Ron explained roughly the origin of these, and she wanted to ask further, but class started in no time.


    In the Defense Against Dark Arts class, Lockhart is still going through his teaching show, "I need to pick a volunteer for the most crucial and exciting part of today''s play."


    The young wizards bowed their heads in succession.


    "Ron Weasley, it''s you!" Lockhart called Ron to the stage, and thanks to last week''s detention, this time, he finally didn''t mispronounce his name.


    "That''s right, that''s it, Ron, you''re an innocent villager, troubled by werewolves, and you''re begging for my help, yes! The expression is a little more bitter, very good ..."


    Ron''s bitter face serves as a prop in Lockhart''s story.


    "Next is my inner monologue, this part is very important, you all should listen carefully."


    Lockhart shook his head and assumed a posture of worrying about the world, and said in a prolonged voice: " Poor folks! They are facing the threat of werewolves all the time, and the cause of this incident was because they killed a young wolf cub, which attacked the livestock, what did They do wrong! It is really sad and tragic ... my conscience can not let me turn a blind eye to this!"


    The show continued, and Lockhart straightened his chest, seemingly facing the villagers'' praise. But Ron''s face became white all of a sudden.


    All the way back to his seat, his face had a lost expression.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Harry nudged him with his arm, is this too much of a blow? It wasn''t like it hadn''t happened before, and he''d played the vampire for three weeks straight.


    "Later, later." Ron shrunk himself into a ball, avoiding the sight of Lockhart.


    On the other side, Felix is giving a lesson to the young fourth-year wizards.


    "Today we learn the last set of practical runes, and then, your golems will be able to work at their full capacity."


    The twins below the podium raised their hands, "Professor Hap, is there any advanced knowledge?"


    Felix smiled, "What do you want to learn?"


    "For example - other useful runes," Fred said.


    Felix blinked and looked at the twins, they seemed to be good seedlings for ancient runes research.


    It''s evident from the Christmas gift the twins had given him, and of course, it isn''t runes they are interested, but alchemical products.


    "If some of you have room to learn, I am certainly willing to teach more." Felix made a promise.


    After the class ended, Felix called the twins.


    "I would like to know if you have a clear plan for your future?" Felix asked.


    "We want to open a Weasley Wizard Trick Shop!" The two said in unison.


    "Well ... like a Zonko''s Joke Shop kind of one?" Felix asked.


    "Pretty much ... but Zonko''s mind is still stuck in the last century, we want to do something newer and funnier," Fred said.


    "Right! We have a lot of good ideas, but are limited by our ability to build most of the designs." George''s expression is rather piteous.


    "Great planning. But I don''t suppose you have some professional guidance for this?" Felix asked.


    "Uh, we got some books from home when we were kids about methods of creating gadgets, trinkets, and jokes, and we checked out the library, which helped a lot, Professor Hap," Fred said with a sly expression.


    The library? Or the forbidden book section? Felix didn''t say anything, the twins'' reputation is quite loud in the professor''s circle.


    He simply extended an invitation, "Next year, I will start my own Ancient Runes club, are you interested?"


    The twins looked at each other in surprise, "Of course, Professor!"


    George suggested, "Professor, can''t you start your Ancient Runes club in advance?"


    Felix shook his head regretfully, "There are less than six months left in this academic year, plus I''m distracted by all sorts of things, so I had to postpone it until next year."


    "But you guys can come to see me if you have any questions," Felix said.

 Chapter 92: Duel Class

    "You''re saying that Lockhart is taking other people''s stories and then pinning them on his head?" Hermione asked with a shocked look on her face. "Keep your voice down!" Ron said.


    After dinner, the three of them hid in the corner of the common room and murmured about it.


    Ron rummaged through his book bag and pulled out three pieces of parchment, "Take a look, Hermione."


    The little witch immediately took it and buried her head to read.


    Half a minute later, she looked up and stammered, "How can this be, this kind of thing! I mean, how did Lockhart manage to get someone else to sell him his story?"


    Harry suddenly said, "It wasn''t necessarily sold to him, it could have been robbed by him by force."


    Ron and Hermione stared at him in disbelief, there is so much hidden behind this speculation.


    Time turned to Thursday.


    The Great Hall is redecorated, the central square around the gilded stage, crowded with small wizards.


    When Felix and Snape appeared in pairs and stood in the center of the stage, the young wizards were in mixed emotions, surprise, and regret.


    "Professor Snape?" On the stage, Felix glanced at him.


    Snape shook his head expressionlessly, so Felix took a step forward and nudged himself with his wand, "Silence, young wizards--"


    "Our lesson will begin shortly."


    Felix spun in a circle in place, and the crowd became quiet wherever his eyes went.


    "Before we begin, there are a few things that need to be clarified in advance."


    Felix''s gaze remained calm, and his voice rang in the ears of every little wizard, "First, Professor Lockhart, who was originally in charge of the dueling program, has graciously entrusted the program to me and put me in full charge because of his busy personal affairs;"


    The young wizards whispered, "I don''t think so." Dean Thomas turned to Neville, "If you ask me, Lockhart is even more confused in the new semester; he can even forget his words in his acting lecture."


    "I think it''s because he''s been under a lot of stress these past few days, that''s how I am sometimes, when I get nervous my mind goes blank," Neville whispered.


    "That said, I was surprised that there were no Aurors to burst in and take him away."


    After a short pause, Felix continued, "Second, Professor Snape will be a special guest professor to provide guidance and advice throughout our dueling sessions;"


    The murmur from the stage got louder.


    "- As for the third, it''s about the dueling lessons itself, after discussing with Professor Snape, we agreed that the time and format of the lessons should be fixed. So from now on, this course will be held every two weeks, and it will be scheduled for the second Thursday of every month at eight o''clock in the evening."


    When the young wizards finished digesting this information, Felix waved his wand and the ceiling of the great hall became dim, while at the same time, a milky white light like an upside-down bowl enveloped the stage and the figures of the young wizards.


    Some noisy chatter seemed to blend into the open field, becoming low and inaudible.


    "Now, we are officially going to start the lesson."


    Felix reached out and extended an invitation to Snape.


    In solemn silence, Snape said in his characteristic flat tone, "The wizard''s duel is a time-honoured tradition that has evolved over time, and after removing some bloody and barbaric rules, we have tamed it in a cage and made the duel a means to showcase the wizard''s own charms."


    Many of the young wizards noticed that in this setting, Professor Snape''s voice had a strange charm added to it.


    Ron whispered, "I''ve long been aware that Snape has a talent for telling ghost stories."


    "What did you say?" Hermione cocked her head. But then, somewhat unexpectedly, she found her voice becoming hazy and low.


    "It''s magic," Harry said, but the other two could only see him mouthing his words.


    "-but the basis of dueling remained, and there are many people who spend their lives understanding dueling as nothing more than foolishly waving their wands around like trolls, competing for the strength of their magic and the sound of their voices," said Snape, his eyes falling on the Gryffindor house young wizard with mockery.


    "But dueling itself is a sophisticated craft, and if you are willing to spend even a little time, you will realize that the International Wizard Dueling Congress publishes instructional books on the subject every few years."


    Snape took the rare opportunity today to explain his views on dueling, and although his words left the young wizards in a daze, they could sense Professor Snape''s attitude of respect for dueling.


    Halfway through, Snape couldn''t change his habit of secretly connoting a certain professor, saying, "Although Hogwarts doesn''t have the same tradition of focusing on dueling and battle magic as Durmstrang, much of it still has been included in a course."


    Snape gently lifted his wand in his hand, his eyes stiffening as he gazed ahead and squeezed a few words out of his teeth, "Yeah, Defense Against the Dark Arts." S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But this course has never worked as it should have over the years, which has made, for some students, incapable of judging even the most basic dangers."


    In a solemn and depressing atmosphere, many young wizards felt as if they were back in the classroom of the potion class.


    This professor always had the ability to bring the surrounding atmosphere under his control.


    Next, Felix clapped his hands and let the young wizards'' attention be focused on him.


    "Today''s lesson is Disarming Charm, we''ve already seen how it works in the first dueling lesson, a very useful spell."


    Felix counted some advantages of the Disarming Charm, "easy to learn, effective, low danger, no problem to use whether in daily practice or in some formal dueling situations."


    "Has anyone mastered this spell?"


    Sparsely the arms were raised, most of them were senior young wizards, "It''s quite a lower percentage than I expected." Felix shook his head.


    He called up a seventh-year Gryffindor student.


    "Professor Hap, my name is Abbott Blake." This pimple-faced student said excitedly, "I am going to apply for Auror in the Ministry of Magic, and have been preparing for this for two years."


    Felix''s mind became clear.


    Blake waved his wand at Felix''s gesture, and a red magic spell flashed, using a standard Disarming Charm.


    Next, he introduced in detail how to learn the Disarming Charm, and Blake, as a "teaching tool", let him repeatedly try to use the spell.


    Under his demonstration, many young wizards had the most basic understanding of the spell.


    "Next..."


    Felix waved his wand, and hundreds of parchments flew out from the suitcase in the corner, and they flew precisely in front of each of the young wizards.


    Harry nimbly picked up one, and his scalp exploded a little as he looked at the dense introduction and categorization on it.


    He looked at the stage as Professor Hap said, on cloud nine, "I don''t think you can learn a single spell in these two short hours; in fact, it would be beyond my expectation if ten of you managed to perform it."


    "What is on the parchment is for you to practice after class this way, and later I will explain how to use it."


    "Now, let''s have a formal practice."

 Chapter 93: Duel Class (2)

    "Little wizards, I need you to stand in the four directions of the stage according to your House." Felix waved his hand and lifted the magic that restricted the sound. The students off-stage were dumbfounded as Felix walked to one edge of the square gilded stage, "Slytherin, gather here!" He then walked to the other sideline, "Ravenclaw, gather here!"


    "Gryffindor, gather here!"


    "Hufflepuff, gather here!"


    As Felix walked around the stage, all the young wizards understood what the professor meant, and they quickly moved.


    "Ginny, this way!"


    Ron shouted at his sister, and Harry looked over at the sound to find Ginny holding the hands of a Ravenclaw girl, as they stuck motionlessly in place.


    The girl had a strange necklace around her neck, seemingly strung with some sort of corks, and her long, light blonde hair dishevelled in a mess.


    She, like Ginny, didn''t move at all, and Harry even thought that she didn''t seem to be thinking clearly, and at the moment glaring at the young wizards who kept passing her by.


    Ron squeezed past, with Harry and Hermione close behind.


    "Ginny, come on. Uh ... this?" Ron looked at the Ravenclaw girl in front of him.


    "I''m her new friend," the girl''s eyes slid over him, pausing briefly in front of Harry before finally resting on Hermione.


    "I know you, a lot of people say that you should be sorted into Ravenclaw." Her eyes settled on Hermione.


    "Is that so? I think Gryffindor is fine." Hermione replied.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other and Harry said cautiously, "I think we should hurry ..." S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Most of the young wizards took up their positions, which made their small group rather conspicuous.


    Even Professor Hap had looked over.


    Ron tugged Ginny up to a trot and the other girl suddenly said, "Luna, Luna Lovegood. My name."


    Harry, who is running at the end of the line, had to stop and introduce himself to her, "Uh, I''m Harry Potter."


    "I know you." The girl named Luna said.


    Harry muttered, "Really?" The scene in front of him is a bit awkward, he hurriedly said, "See you later!" And with that, he went after his friend.


    Luna arrived unhurriedly at the Ravenclaw''s location, and she waved at Ginny on the other side.


    "Who''s that?" Ron asked Ginny.


    "My new friend," Ginny said a little sheepishly as she saw Harry staring at her as well, "Our two families are actually very close to each other, but separated by a mountain."


    " That Hill?" Harry asked, intrigued. He had been to Ron''s house this year and had learned from the twins that one of their dreams as children, according to Fred, was to "fly over the Hill on a toy broomstick".


    Ginny glanced up quickly at Harry and whispered, "A little further north, their house is on top of a hill."


    On stage, Felix withdrew his eyes and muttered: Luna, and the little red-haired witch, is that the youngest daughter of the Weasleys?


    When the last little witch had taken her place, Felix spoke, "Next we need to practice in pairs, and you can choose your own pair, preferably in the same year."


    The young wizards once again moved, and Felix and Snape stepped off the stage, straightening out the disorganized group.


    "Teams of two, five meters apart."


    Like a gliding bat, Snape floated silently behind Harry and Ron, who were chatting away at the moment. Snape rolled up his sleeves and slapped his hands hard on both heads, "Focus, you two."


    Harry and Ron grimaced as they watched Snape''s back as he left, and Ron asked in disbelief, "How does he manage to walk without a sound?"


    Five minutes later, the young wizards were lined up in an orderly fashion.


    "Everyone looks at me and recite the spell with me." Felix, who had re-entered the stage, said, "Be careful not to point your wand at your partner, the wand should be swung in small swings and then stabbed out quickly, like this-"


    "Expelliarmus!"


    On the stage, a dazzling red light like a searing lightning bolt flew out from the wand in Professor Hap''s hand.


    The young wizards in all directions on the stage shouted in unison, "Expelliarmus!"


    "Very well, continue."


    "Expelliarmus!"


    "Watch the angle of your wands, continue!"


    "Expelliarmus!"


    "Very well," said Felix, "next is the theoretical knowledge about magic spells, I will only talk about the most important ..."


    After about twenty minutes, the young wizards waved their wands back-forth, despite still none of them succeeding.


    Felix and Snape whispered two words, he spoke: "Little wizards, take out the parchment you were just given."


    The young wizards took out the parchment in uncertainty.


    "-Professor Snape and I exchanged opinions, your questions mainly focus on the following seven, I will go through them all, and you can compare yourselves."


    " Blake, please come up here, I need your cooperation."


    After twenty minutes of speaking, Felix''s mouth got a little dry, but he knew in his heart that his advice could only work for some school tyrant, while most of the young wizards would learn magic mainly by "feeling" and "repetition".


    So for the next half hour, he and Snape kept walking through the crowd, giving specific pointers.


    "Miss Page, you are not decisive enough in stabbing your wand, think about how I just demonstrated, and look at the seventh article on the parchment."


    "Mr. Warren, your spell pronunciation is not standard. Yes, the incantation is non-essential, but that will guide you to master it."


    "This ... one, your name is Neville Longbottom? You''re too nervous, confidence is important! Imagine you successfully performing the spell, yes, I suggest you picture it in your head twenty times."


    Every ten minutes, he called up a few wizards with typical errors to the stage to demonstrate, and Felix found that showing mistakes is more effective than showing them correctly - at least, a number of the young wizards realized they had made the same mistakes after laughing at them.


    "Thank you, Neville, your issue is very representative. Also, five extra points for Gryffindor."


    "And you, Miss Vera, you''re so rigid, everyone, don''t laugh, if Miss Vera showed a tenth of her talent in ancient runes, she would absolutely amaze you. Ravenclaw plus five points."


    "Marcus ... Anyway, let''s not imitate him, let''s thank him for his courage, Slytherin plus five points."


    Felix wiped his sweat, the problem with guidance wasn''t terrible, what was terrible was how you could try to preserve the little wizards'' self-esteem and compliment them differently.


    ''I should prepare compliments and write down all the reasons I can think of. That way I won''t have to think of them on the spot. .....a compliment.''


    Finally, an hour and a half after the dueling session had started, a fifth-year young wizard succeeded.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 94: Duel Class (3)

    Felix breathed a sigh of relief in his mind, at last, one success. Coming up to the stage, praising, adding points, a set of processes went down, Felix felt that even if there is only one successful example, the class is considered a success.


    But soon, a second, third, and fourth young wizard stepped forward to show the professor their own Disarming Charm.


    "Very good!" Felix complimented against his will as he watched a seventh-year male wizard cast a very slim charm.


    Felix thought to himself: they need encouragement, they need encouragement ...


    Snape slowly paced over and said in a sarcastic tone, "They were able to succeed because they were exposed to similar spell casting techniques and theories in other classes. In fact, I never expected any student below the fifth-year level to grasp the spell in this class."


    "We''ll see, Professor."


    Snape crooked his lips and said, "Class is over in a quarter-hour ..."


    Just then, a Disarming Charm caught the attention of the two.


    "That''s ... Hufflepuff, who is it?" Felix turned around, the four people who had managed to get in front of him, there was no Hufflepuff''s little wizard yet, which made him unable to even think about treating them all equally.


    The little wizards from Hufflepuff House automatically parted a path, and they gleefully shouted a name in unison, "Cedric! Cedric! Cedric!" S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A tall, thin male wizard stepped forward, his face slightly pale, handsome, and wearing a Hufflepuff House robe.


    "Diggory, please come to the stage, and let''s applaud the first fourth year to learn the Disarming Charm! Hufflepuff plus twenty points." Felix recognized the face - Cedric Diggory, the top of the fourth year rank.


    Katie Bell, next to Hermione, stood on tiptoe, her eyes constantly following his figure.


    "You know him?" Hermione asked.


    "Of course! He''s the Seeker of the Hufflepuff team, and Wood thinks highly of him as having a chance to take over the position of captain next year. And don''t you think he''s good-looking?" Katie Bell said.


    " Is he?" Hermione glanced at him.


    Ron whispered quietly into Harry''s ear, "So, he''s your rival?"


    Harry nodded, a little frustrated as he looked at the red sparks on his wand.


    "That guy is really popular," Ron said with some envy as he looked in the direction of Hufflepuff House, the young wizards hopping up and down and applauding enthusiastically.


    On the gilded stage, Diggory stood next to Felix, who found him surprisingly only one head shorter than himself, standing nearly five feet six inches tall.


    "Diggory, you haven''t learned the Disarming Charm before, right?"


    "Yes, Professor Hap."


    "Tell me, how did you master this spell?" Felix asked encouragingly.


    "Professor, every few minutes I practiced, I looked up my issues with the notes on top of the parchment. The one mentioned above about the spellcasting mindset helped me a lot."


    "Is that the part about confidence?" Felix asked.


    "No, it''s the phrase ''aim to disarm, not to harm''," Cedric said.


    Felix got it, "Understanding the spell intent correctly is very important for us to practice magic spells. At least in the early stages of learning magic, we are bound to mobilize an abundance of emotional power."


    The rest of the day passed with both Felix and Snape working, but only seven young wizards had learned the Disarming Charm until five minutes before the end of the class.


    The young wizards below the fourth year don''t bother mentioning them, after all, they still have various shortcomings, and it is difficult to make a leap forward in just two hours. But those young wizards who are close to graduation in the sixth or seventh year are also performing very mediocre.


    Most of them, merely let the tip of their wands shoot out a cluster of red sparks.


    And this, even some excellent young wizards of lower grades could do.


    Felix secretly jotted down a list of names: The Twins, Cho Chang, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Alicia Spinnet, Draco Malfoy, Eddie Carmichael, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, and Hannah Abbott.


    These individuals were young wizards in the second to fourth years, yet they showed extraordinary magical gifts and were the best of the different houses.


    In the last five minutes, Felix paused the session and regrouped the young wizards.


    He waved his wand, causing the ceiling of the great hall to return to its original state and the milky white light to turn into stars. Many little wizards felt in a daze that they seemed to have experienced a real dream.


    "At the end of the dueling session, I need to remind you-" Felix swept his gaze over, seeming to see each one of them.


    "Time in class is always limited, you must devote more energy to practicing your magic spells, don''t complain about your lack of effort once when you are in danger."


    Felix waved his wand and from the suitcase in the corner once again flew out hundreds of materials, each made up of four sheets of parchment glued together.


    Harry opened the information in front of him, and it was written in dense handwriting.


    "-This is the details of the ��Disarming Charm��, including various casting techniques and dismantling the objectives. You can follow the list of entries in class and compare them one by one, and if you come across any parts that are really difficult to understand, you can seek help from your professors or senior students."


    "There are also some tables in here that are very informative for you to judge your level of spell casting, and I need you to return them to me before the next class." Felix blinked his eyes and stated the key points of his concern.


    With Felix''s character, of course, he had to collect some research data while teaching.


    Certain data - such as how ''a certain'' little wizard learned the Disarming Charm - is not really important, as it was not typical in nature. But when the number of little wizards expanded to a hundred or a thousand times, with a large enough sample, the information that the data could give back is highly appealing to him.


    "Professor, is it still necessary to complete this for those who have already learned the Disarming Charm?" A seventh-year male wizard asked Reluctantly.


    "Learned?" Felix made a puzzled expression.


    "Yes, I have learned the Disarming Charm, take a look - Expelliarmus!" He waved his wand, and a slim red light flew out from the tip.


    Felix and the young wizards watched as the red light flew over a distance of about ten meters and slowly disappeared in midair.


    The little wizard looked at him rather smugly.


    Felix pondered for two seconds, since the lesson is over, there is nothing wrong with him hitting the student egos appropriately, right?


    So he looked back and said calmly, "I am going to save this part for the next class, but since I have this opportunity-"


    He waved his arm and his wand stabbed forward like a sharp sword, and a wrist-thick magic spell shot out, spanning half of the Great Hall and hitting the castle wall straight on.

 Chapter 95: Three Broomsticks

    The spell glowed like a red sunset, reflecting on the faces of every young wizard. The spell made a crackling sound, and a dozen twisted, tiny snakes like crimson arcs of lightning emerged from the castle walls.


    These ''snakes'' extended to several nearby armour, and the lances and blades in their hands were released one by one.


    " Snip snip snip!"


    The lance sharp blades cut an arc in midair and smashed into the open space in front of Felix, puncturing numerous deep craters in the makeshift gilded stage.


    The male wizard: "..." A confused look appeared on his face, as if he is in a dream.


    Who am I? Where am I? What have I done?


    Why should I see this?


    Felix put away his wand, facing the silent students below, he said in a relaxed tone: "The same magic spell, made by different wizards, the result may be completely different - this truth I am planning to wait for you to have a certain understanding of the dueling, and then find an appropriate time to tell you. "


    "However, it doesn''t seem too early now." He added.


    The young wizards were as cold as if they had swallowed a dozen icy candies.


    This professor, are you seriously not hitting the student''s confidence? Look at that male wizard''s expression is all silly ...


    " Professor, how did you do it, sir?" Abbott Blake asked, his heart is now somewhat collapsed, influenced by his family determined to become an Auror, he has been working hard in this direction since childhood, mastering a lot of dueling spells.


    Even his uncle, who works as an Auror, praised him for his talent, but now he is in self-doubt. S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Was his decision too hasty? The world outside might be more dangerous than he had imagined. At least, he and Professor Hap were only three or four years apart, but he didn''t think he could pull off the Disarming Charm to this extent in three or four years.


    Not in his lifetime!


    What makes him confident that he will become an Auror and fight the Dark Wizards? He wouldn''t be hammered by a Dark Wizard by that time, would he?


    With all kinds of thoughts spinning in his head, Professor Hap comforted him at the right time by saying, "Mr. Blake, you need to switch your thinking-"


    "For common magic spells, such as life magic, it is enough to simply know how to use them; but for magic spells that can protect you, you need to put in a lot of time and effort, and you should pay more attention to them than you can."


    "As far as I know, rookie Aurors go through rigorous training, such as the shield charm, a charm that they may practice thousands of times over and over again." Felix looked at him, "But this is after you became an Auror, at your age, your spell is already quite good."


    Blake fell into deep thought, he thought about how he was always so near victory, when he practiced against his uncle, and how it seemed that he could beat him with a little effort.


    But for the past two years, he had always missed by "a little". He suddenly realized that becoming an Auror is not as easy as he thought.


    "Thank you, Professor Hap," Blake said to Felix.


    On the other side, Cedric Diggory raised his arm and asked, "Professor, can we also achieve something like this through repeated practice?"


    Many young wizards had a hopeful gleam in their eyes, Professor, if you say we can, we will definitely brush up the exp.


    Snape scoffed at the question, but he is equally curious as to how Felix would reply.


    "Well ... this question doesn''t have a good answer, the power of the magic spell involves a lot of elements, when you go back and carefully read the study materials in hand, you will have some understanding of my words."


    "I found that in fact, most people do not have high requirements for themselves, just barely enough to use."


    "But on top of ''barely usable'', there is the skilful use, the silent casting, the wandless casting of spells, and the tweaking to match personal habits ..." Felix shook his head. "There are too many techniques to figure out."


    Felix clapped his hands, "Well, this part I will expand in detail in the next lesson. That concludes our lesson for today."


    The young wizards left the Great Hall as if they had lost their souls, the impact of Professor Hap''s last spell tonight was too great for them to imagine that the same spell could be done by different people differently.


    Professor Snape walked over, and he said, slightly surprised and reserved, "Felix, I didn''t expect you to be so selfless."


    Felix did not say anything.


    Was he really being selfless? No. The contents of the parchment were merely the minimum requirements to ensure that they learned the magic spell, and it had absolutely no effect on him.


    Even if he would later select some elites to teach more advanced knowledge, but how many of them could learn?


    He did not fear the emergence of geniuses; on the contrary, Felix expected the emergence of Such, sufficiently dazzling young wizards.


    His strength never lies in a single magic spell.


    So Felix said teasingly, "Professor, maybe I''m trying to gain their favour and cultivate my own force!"


    Snape''s expression suddenly stiffened, he did not budge to gauge Felix, to judge the truth of these words.


    "Ahem, don''t be nervous, I was just kidding."


    ...


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione walking back, Ron holding the ''disarming charm'' information in his hand said, "This stuff really works?"


    "Of course, I learned light metamorphosis in the same way," Hermione said, wearing a knitted hat.


    Harry asked her, "Do we have to fill out all kinds of forms as you did then?"


    Hermione had to explain: "That is to let us know more accurately our shortcomings, for targeted practice. Harry, I see you''re getting closer to success."


    "Just a few sparks released," Harry said with some frustration.


    "Oh Harry, this is a sign that the Disarming Charm is about to succeed, it''s mentioned in the information, maybe you''ll succeed next time," Hermione said to him.


    The little witch''s words made Harry feel better, perhaps he should go back and try harder?


    On Friday morning, the impact of the second dueling lesson is still brewing.


    But there already were a lot of little wizards saying that "Professor Hap blew up a section of the Great Hall wall with a disarming spell", which made Felix notice at lunchtime that some of the little wizards who didn''t go to class were looking at him strangely.


    But luckily, it''s soon time for the weekend.


    Felix accepted an invitation from Professors Flitwick and McGonagall to a small gathering at the Three Broomsticks.


    When he walked into the bar, he was surprised to find that Snape is also there.


    "Felix, come here." Flitwick stood on a chair and greeted him warmly, "We were just discussing Damocles Belby."


    Felix sat down, and he asked curiously, "The news is announced? I mean, about the Wolfsbane potion."


    "Did you know about it, as well?" After receiving an affirmative reply, Professor Flitwick said with some emotion.


    "Belby was so outstanding when he was in school that I actually suggested him to go in the direction of spells, although he ended up choosing potions - he was well-liked by Professor Slughorn back then."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 96: Communication

    Looking at Felix with a thoughtful expression, Flitwick explained, "Slughorn is the former head of Slytherin House, and like Severus, he teaches potions." Felix nodded, he and this master of potions did not cross paths, he had only heard the name, once in a while.


    Flitwick said, "It is said that he is leading a fulfilling retirement life, which is certainly true, he had a very high quality of life during his teaching at Hogwarts."


    "Professor Flitwick --"


    "Felix, you can call me just by my name." Professor Flitwick waved his hand, "We''re already colleagues, right?"


    "That''s ... fine, Filius," Felix said.


    "Same here, Felix, no need to be so polite when we''re in private." Professor McGonagall said.


    So Felix addressed her, "Minerva." The Transfiguration professor smiled at him in a friendly manner.


    Then he turned his head to look at Snape, who looked back at him with an expressionless face, his eyes like he was looking at a stone.


    But Felix, who knew him best, trailed off and said, "Ah, Severus ..."


    Snape''s lips quivered with anger.


    Flitwick, suddenly interested in the view outside the window, Professor McGonagall surveyed the interior decoration with interest.


    They both had a smile in the corners of their eyes.


    This awkward atmosphere did not last long when a curvaceous woman with a fine face approached.


    "A small glass of champaign drink-"


    "For me." Professor McGonagall''s voice came out.


    "A soda of Cherry Juice with ice and umbrella snails-"


    "Mmm! Thanks, Rosmerta." Professor Flitwick said, smacking his lips.


    "A glass of water--"


    Snape took it in silence.


    Ms. Rosmerta looked at the newly added Felix, "What would you like, this guest, oh wait, you''re Felix Hap?"


    Felix looked at her suspiciously.


    He did come to the ''Three Broomsticks'' when he was in school, but never spoke to her except to order a drink.


    Rosmerta looked at him, "Mr. Hap, you don''t know how famous you were when you were in school. There were a lot of people sitting around discussing your exploits ..."


    Felix quipped about himself, "Not in a good way, I guess?"


    "No, there were a lot of people who admired you." She didn''t specify, but gave a light laugh: "Besides, good and bad reputations are a pair of inseparable best friends - inviting one of them as a guest always inevitably brings the other along with it. What would you like to order?"


    "A butterbeer, I''m used to that."


    Flitwick extended an invitation, "You too, ma''am, sit with us."


    Rosmerta looked at the few scattered tables in the tavern, "All right, thank you."


    In a few moments, she returned and handed Felix a glass of butterbeer.


    Rosmerta sat in the empty seat next to him, with a glass of gin in front of her.


    The lady had long fingers and took a few sips, and she gave a reminiscent expression: "In all of my years of running the tavern, my greatest pleasure has been observing the conversations of the customers, certainly not eavesdropping, on occasions like this, they would say little in confidence ..."


    "We understand what you mean."


    "Yes, a generation of young wizards come and go, and only the best ones leave their names to be remembered. Let''s see, the most famous one in recent years is definitely Mr. Hap, but there are actually some others ..."


    Rosmerta named one: "Bill Weasley, he would have been in your class?" She looked to Felix.


    "That''s right."


    "As I recall, he got twelve distinctions on the OWLs, something that was talked about at the time." Rosmerta said, "And his brother, who apparently was captain of the Quidditch school team, later ran off to raise dragons."


    Professor McGonagall scowled, she had always been upset about it, "He should have joined the national team, Charlie had the potential."


    "But that''s not what he wanted, Minerva," Flitwick said, "as professors, we should be proud of him."


    "I do-" McGonagall reddened and stammered, "I just feel bad that the national team hasn''t had any good talent these past few years."


    She had always been a big fan of Quidditch. S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There''s also a little girl named Tonks who is a pretty good metamorphmagus." Rosmerta said, "Come to think of it, many of them are little Gryffindor wizards."


    Flitwick said with some embarrassment, "Ravenclaw has a lot of good graduates, too."


    Rosmerta winked, "Of course. They are active in a wide range of professions and are well-deserved of the best of the best."


    Snape grunted, "Ms. Rosmerta, I should remind you that Slytherin has the lowest number of people, yet has won the most House Cups."


    "Severus! Last year''s House Cup belonged to Gryffindor, and the odds are that this year as well--" Professor McGonagall countered him irritably.


    Snape gave a low "snort".


    Seeing some heads have a tendency of quarrelling, Rosmerta hurriedly said: "Each house has a lot of excellent students, this is true. By the way, what were you guys talking about?"


    Flitwick also played the role as he answered, "We were talking about Damocles Belby, Severus, you should have seen the recipe of the Wolfsbane Potion, right?"


    "I saw it, it''s brilliantly composed, but I don''t see the use of learning about this type of potion."


    "At least it solves the werewolf problem, doesn''t it?"


    "From a political standpoint - it does, fills a void." Snape gave his usual mocking expression, "But unless the price of the potion can be reduced to less than seven golden galleons, it''s not as useful at all as a single lock."


    In the wizarding world, werewolves are basically synonymous with poverty, and no one wants to hire them. So werewolves either stayed isolated from the pack or kept company with evil.


    In other words, at the current cost, not many werewolves can afford them.


    "As far as the effect is concerned, the wolfsbane potion can only ease the pain during the full moon transformation and keep the werewolf sane, but it can''t cure the lycanthropy," Felix said, these are what he learned from his correspondence with Damocles Belby.


    Professor McGonagall smacked her lips, "But that''s not bad, if back then--" She glanced at Snape and stopped talking.


    She thought of her former student, Remus Lupin, who is also a werewolf, only the relationship between Lupin and Snape is not good, one might even say, awful.


    Rosmerta, though curious, wisely did not pursue the matter, the chat continued, and after a while, she got up to greet other guests.


    For the next hour, several professors discussed their respective courses of lectures.


    Felix talked about the dueling course that had just ended, and he expressed his regret at the overall level of the young wizards. He said, "The Disarming Charm is not really difficult, but very few have mastered it."


    Flitwick, after detailed inquiries, offered a different idea.


    "Felix, they probably just don''t understand the whole concept of dueling. If you ask me, pick a senior at random, and the number of little vile jinx they know will exceed your expectations."


    Felix froze for a moment, an observation he hadn''t thought of before. When he was in school, he was completely uninterested in the little vile jinx that was of little use.


    "You mean, they don''t know the Disarming Charm because they don''t understand the need of this spell?"


    "Or rather, don''t value it. After all, the effect of this spell does not please the little wizards." Flitwick is an experienced professor of charms, and he knows the mentality of little wizards very well: "Only those little vile jinx with exaggerated and hilarious effects are their favourites."


    Flitwick snapped his fingers, "Trip Jinx, Pimple Jinx, Stinging Jinx, Sticking Charm, Curse of the Bogies ... too many. Despite the school''s explicit prohibition, these spells have been passed down from one term to the next in the hands of young wizards."


    Felix said knowingly, "Perhaps I should tell the little wizards the difference between dueling spells and little vile jinx. Severus, what do you think?"


    Snape didn''t say anything, but that would imply consent.


    Flitwick then asked Felix if he could be included in the next dueling session.


    "I was a dueling champion when I was younger." He said with some embarrassment, "Don''t worry, it''s just one lesson. I just want to share my experience with the young wizards."


    Felix looked at Flitwick and said pleasantly, "Of course, Filius."


    Professor McGonagall couldn''t help but interject as well, "If you don''t mind, Felix, I would also like to show the young wizards the application of transfiguration in dueling."

 Chapter 97: Confession and help

    When Felix returned to the castle, he had a satisfied smile on his face. With multiple professors on board, his dueling lessons were growing stronger and stronger. Perhaps, in the follow-up, he can pull the other professor in for fun?


    Especially that afternoon, when he received a short letter from the owl, ''White Fresh'' -


    "Dear Felix Hap, my award ceremony is scheduled on February 4, at 10 a.m. (Saturday), the venue is located on the second floor of the Ministry of Magic, Room 3 (to the left of the Wizengamot Affairs Office), you are kindly invited to observe the ceremony - Damocles Belby"


    Felix wrote a reply letter, mentally gauging the time, there is still about half a month.


    In the evening, after Felix finished tutoring Hermione Granger''s runes lesson, he handed the little witch a glass of pumpkin juice.


    Generally speaking, after the magic runes'' lesson, his little assistant will spend some time in his office, on the one hand, to relieve the exhaustion in the thinking room, on the other hand, also to talk about some interesting topics, or answer some questions.


    Today, they talked about Gilderoy Lockhart.


    Hermione held a cup and asked, "Professor, what do you think of Lockhart?"


    "How do I think about him?"


    "Just what do you think of him as a person, in terms of lecturer, author, whatever ..."


    Felix glanced at Hermione, his assistant had been on duty for a little over half a year, he knew some of her speaking habits very well. Right now is one way, she is ready to extract Intel.


    "Professor Lockhart is a very talkative person, very expressive, quite different from me in that respect, despite the fact that we are both writers."


    Hermione pressed, "And what do you think of his books? You must have read his books, right?"


    "I did read it," Felix said: "Not much use to me, but for students, those who deal with danger, the method of detecting danger is still has a lot of reference value."


    "In fact, I rather appreciate his approach of incorporating knowledge into a story, maybe I''ll imitate it later." Felix looked at Hermione with interest, her eyebrows furrowed.


    "But--" she stammered, "don''t you think he writes a completely different version of him than he ever showed in class, there''s a strong sense of separation from the book?"


    "Perhaps," Felix judged non-committally, "it''s obvious that there are elements of fiction and ambiguity in his book, but we can only accuse him of being immoral, but at least he did a lot of research when he wrote it."


    "But what if," Hermione said nervously, a thin bead of sweat dripping out of her face, "what if he stole his story from someone else''s mind?"


    There is silence in the office for a few seconds-


    "That''s a very serious accusation, Miss Granger, and if your claim is valid, then the person who committed that act is going to be put in Azkaban," Felix said seriously.


    "Granger, I need proof."


    Hermione shuddered and pulled out a crumpled wad of parchment from her robes.


    "This is ... this is what we found from Professor Lockhart''s office." She said, with some difficulty, it was Ron who had done this, but she and Harry had decided unanimously that they couldn''t put the blame on Ron alone.


    Felix gave her a somewhat surprised look, he understood somewhat why his assistant is assigned to Gryffindor, this is one angsty, feisty witch.


    Whenever you don''t understand, you break into the professor''s office.


    When you think about it, it was truly a foresight to place the Vine of Binding at the door every time he left his office.


    He looked over the information, and the name on it made him pay extra attention, "Record of the Armenia Interview with the Old Wizard (Remarks: Werewolf Adventures)." S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "How come it''s in two handwritings?" He flipped through it roughly at first and quickly noticed the problem.


    A total of two dozen or so parchments, most of which were in Hermione''s own neat handwriting, and only three parchments were in a different kind of handwriting.


    "We, I ..." Hermione swallowed hard, it would be a difficult thing for her to say in person how she had broken the school rules.


    "Take your time, I''m listening," Felix said.


    "The thing is, Ron had been in detention in Lockhart''s office, his punishment is copying fan letters, and he found a hidden file, realized something is wrong, and smuggled back three parchments. From the content of these three parchments, we determined that Lockhart''s book might not be his own personal experience, but a stolen story of someone else."


    "We decided that we should secretly collect evidence and investigate the truth."


    Felix listened calmly.


    "-In the following week, Ron took the opportunity from detention and kept pulling parts of parchments from the material."


    Felix is amazed at the boldness of these guys, "So he wasn''t found out by Lockhart?" Professor Lockhart would not be a fool, right?


    "Lockhart he is not in good shape recently, his memory is very poor, and his speech is upside down. Moreover, after we obtained a few sheets of material during the day, we would quickly copy them down and return the original manuscript the next day ..."


    "This three original parchment, which we think are more important evidence of Lockhart''s theft of the story!"


    Felix didn''t know whether to applaud their careful layout or to criticize it. His own words to make them study at ease were not taken into account at all.


    He drew out three sheets of the original manuscript and immediately recognized what''s on it as words recorded with a professional shorthand quill.


    These shorthand quills are very characteristic, they usually record the text according to the owner''s thoughts, and will also distort, modify the dialogue, and add descriptions of gestures and actions.


    Felix had seen how good this stuff could be in Rita Skeeter''s house.


    He looked at it carefully -


    Crooked Mouth Wizard: My head hurts a little, as if a spoon is constantly digging into my brain, what''s wrong with me?


    (Draconian) Adventurer: It''s normal, here, have some juice, it''s good for you.


    The crooked-mouthed wizard painfully drank the juice laced with an unknown magic potion.


    (Draconian) Adventurer: Let''s continue the story about the werewolf, you''ve talked a lot about it in the bar in the past two days, have you forgotten? I bought you quite a few drinks. But I want to know more details ... By the way, can I look at your memory later? After all, a clever woman can''t cook without rice, readers need immersive stories.


    Crooked Mouth Wizard: I don''t know, something is wrong, something is wrong ...


    (Draconian) adventurer: How? Please look at me, I can help you.


    The adventurer raised his wand.


    Felix finished reading the three parchments with a solemn face, things were more serious than he thought.


    He sorted out the general logic: Lockhart found the target in the tavern, he spent a few days to set up a conversation, or rather, to become friends with the unlucky guy, and then, either by sneaking or drugging, in short, he took control of the target.


    After that, Lockhart used memory spells or something like a Veritaserum to get the whole story.


    "What do you expect me to do?" Felix asked calmly.


    "Naturally, expose him for whom he really is," Hermione said without thinking.


    "What''s on a shorthand quill doesn''t usually count as evidence, but," Felix smiled, "once we know what he''s doing, things will work out just fine."


    "I will convey to Headmaster Dumbledore, with his ability, it will be handled properly. If it is not feasible, I can also take some less appropriate measures."


    Hermione wanted to say something.


    "Is there anything else?" Felix asked.


    "Professor, it''s Ron''s trouble, and we need your help."

 Chapter 98: Handling

    Felix got serious: "What happened?" He even wondered if Ron had been discovered by Lockhart and taken away directly from the scene in one set.


    Lockhart is ultimately an adult wizard, and an adult wizard means that he has received seven years of a complete education in magic - even if his performance is ridiculously weak.


    But that doesn''t rule out the possibility that he is extremely well versed in a particular branch of magic.


    Hermione''s words put him at ease: "Ron is fine and unnoticed now. But at the detention on Friday night, Lockhart was acting weird."


    "Weird?"


    "That''s right, Lockhart suddenly jumped up and cursed Rita Skeeter during the night, and Ron said that look was something he hadn''t witnessed before, with a very horrible expression." Hermione carefully said Ron''s description.


    In fact, Ron was on the verge of hysteria.


    Lockhart vented for ten minutes, warned Ron not to tell anyone about the whole bloody thing that happened at the day, and shooed him away.


    "Well ..." Felix pondered, from Lockhart''s recent weirdness to his own run-in with a panicked Rita Skeeter, and the bitter hatred Lockhart had shown for Skeeter last night... ...


    On the day after Christmas break, Minister Fudge visited the Basilisk, and he happened to bump into a flustered Rita Skeeter, who happened to be walking up from the underground of the castle, and in that direction, which happened to be where Lockhart''s office is located.


    He seemed to straighten out a line.


    And obviously, she had done something to Lockhart. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It was possible that the two had talked it over and, afterward, they made a move.


    Lockhart''s memory is bad lately, his personality is Ansty, and his speech is upside down ...


    So, an after-effect of the Obliviate charm?


    Lockhart was under the Obliviate charm?


    This explains why after nearly a week, Rita Skeeter did not mention a word about that day in the newspaper, and even the nemesis Lockhart was spared easily.


    He himself only hinted at her not to bring the rhythm and distort the facts, but that didn''t stop her from finding trouble with Lockhart.


    That''s not that woman''s style.


    "So, Weasley going to detention tonight?" Felix caught the point.


    From the way Lockhart was acting, it''s clear that he had recovered his memory. If Ron went up to the door, it is hard to guarantee that nothing would happen.


    "No, he said he felt sick and took a leave of absence from Professor McGonagall," Hermione said.


    Felix nodded, this approach is still very clever.


    Whether it was the fact that Lockhart found out about Ron''s theft of materials, or that he thought Ron had seen too many secrets, there''s the possibility of overreacting.


    "I see your point, I will communicate with Professor McGonagall and I will take charge of Weasley''s next detention."


    "Professor, is that okay?" Hermione asked.


    "Of course, there is no mandatory rule on how detention is to be carried out, as long as I come up with a proper reason, for example, I am in dire need of some young wizards to test out my new teaching aids." Felix blinked.


    "Some little wizards?" Hermione had doubts about the word ''some''.


    "Yeah, can''t make it too obvious, after all, the investigation will take some time. I''m going to ask all the little wizards who have been detained recently to come over."


    Felix showed a helpless expression.


    "Professor, you said the teaching aids it wouldn''t be that?" The little witch stared at him with wide eyes.


    "Oh, it''s the one you saw over Christmas break. But if you didn''t mention it, who knew when this had been completed unless I remembered it?" Felix smiled gently.


    Hermione suddenly felt that Professor Hap had smiled wickedly.


    When she left, Felix fell into deep thought.


    A few minutes later, he wrote his speculation on a piece of parchment and then waved his wand to summon his Patronus, a Rain Swallow.


    "Dumbledore, I think you need to see this."


    The tiny silver rain swallow carried the rolled-up parchment in its mouth and flew out the window with its wings fluttering.


    Felix leisurely tapped his fingers on the table, "Ta-da, ta-da." Just a few minutes later, a phoenix with golden-red feathers appeared abruptly in his room.


    In its paws, it grasped a small note that read -


    "Please give the materials to Fawkes and leave the rest to me."


    Sending Fawkes away, Felix looked curiously at the place where it had disappeared.


    The Phoenix truly deserved to be evaluated as a Class 4X magical creature, with all kinds of magical talents that made him very eager to study it.


    Early in the next morning, Felix found Professor McGonagall.


    When he mentioned that his research on new teaching aids is at a critical moment, and he needed the help of some students, Professor McGonagall showed great support.


    "Do you need me to arrange Gryffindor students to help?"


    "No, just give me all the young wizards who are currently detained, just so they can be involved in the process and learn something as well." Felix presented his idea.


    With almost no effort, Professor McGonagall agreed.


    She handed Felix a list, "This is the latest list of students detained, it''s all on it."


    Halfway through a garden, Felix ran into Percy Weasley, whom he happened to remember a little.


    "Professor Hap?" Percy looked at Felix a little sheepishly, and he was accompanied by a girl.


    "Mr. Weasley, Miss Clearwater. What are you doing?"


    This place is really a bit out of the way, and few people usually come.


    "Uh, Professor, Penelope and I... Clearwater and I are making the rounds and exercising our duties as Head of Grade." Percy stammered.


    "Can you guys do me a favour?" Felix looked at the young couple without stirring, without poking fun.


    "Sure!" Percy replied.


    Felix took out the list of students, "Help me notify each of the names on this sheet to the corresponding Head of Grade and have them come to my office tonight for the future detention instead."


    Percy nodded and the two of them quickly left as if they were thieves.


    Gryffindor common room.


    Yesterday Ron had been hiding in his dormitory pretending to be sick, in order to make the effect more realistic, he resolutely acted as a test subject for the twins and took the enhanced version of ''ice rat'', his face turned iron blue.


    The whole person looked like he was buried in the ice for a few hours.


    As a result, he got really sick and spent the night in the clinic and just came back from the school clinic.


    Ron is wrapped up tightly, and he is sitting at a table with Harry and Hermione.


    Ron asked in a whisper, "Hermione, did Professor Hap really agree?"


    Hermione said helplessly, "You''ve asked seven times, for the last time, yes!"


    Ron said, "I really can''t figure out what happened to Lockhart that night?"


    Just as the few were discussing, Percy walked in.


    He came to the trio and passed a message of Professor Hap to Ron.


    "Great!"


    Ron jumped up in excitement, his own trouble just gone.


    Whether it is Lockhart himself, or Lockhart''s fans, he is finally rid of them all!


    Percy looked at his youngest brother in disbelief, thinking that isn''t he frozen silly by the twins, isn''t it detention anywhere you go?


    And not a day less!


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 99: Testing

    At eight o''clock that evening, a row of young wizards stood in the office of the ancient magic runes. Felix leaned against the table, rubbing his chin with one hand, "Well ..." he surveyed the mischievous characters.


    There are many familiar faces.


    A total of nine young wizards, surprisingly there are four redheads, Ron, the twins, and Ginny.


    The other five are Luna, Graham Montague, Marcus Flint, Eddie Carmichae, and Stebbins.


    " Four Houses in one package," Felix spoke up.


    "Let''s see, Fred, George, Graham, Marcus, the four of you, Pitch Fight;"


    "Luna Lovegood, Ginny Weasley, sneaking into the forbidden forest to feed the little animals;"


    "Eddie Carmichae, selling prohibited potions"


    "Stebbins," Felix gave him an astonished look, "writing love letters to the same girl, well, hundreds of them;"


    "And of course, Ron Weasley, misbehaving and pushing the professor."


    Felix walked up to in front of them, this group has talent.


    "Professor, they started it," Fred said.


    "You''re the ones who spied on our team''s practice!" Graham Montague said, he is in the same year as the twins and is a Slytherin Chaser.


    "Don''t you guys do the same? Don''t tell me Warrington''s there for a walk!"


    Some other young wizards watched, and some scowled. The two youngest, Luna, fiddled with her butterbeer cork necklace with her fingers while staring hard at the bickering scene, while Ginny kept her head down in silence.


    "Quiet." Felix said, "Arguing doesn''t change the fact that you''re all standing in front of me."


    "You were brought here today to do some beta testing, and I need you to uncover as much as you can about what could be wrong with it." s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He glanced at everyone, "I think it''ll be more interesting than transcribing materials and dealing with weeds, at least."


    Felix moved his fingers and nine parchments flew before the young wizards from behind him.


    Fred looked at the parchment in his hand, it is rather exquisite workmanship, the surface is faintly covered with magic. In addition to a floral circle branded around, the central part is blank.


    "Oh, yes, you need some sort of makeshift table and chairs." Felix drew his wand and let the various small gadgets on the table pop and morph into a small table and small chairs.


    The nine young wizards sat in the chairs at the professor''s gesture; Marcus Flint, being the biggest, looked like a Gargoyle sitting on the floor, and Felix had to raise the size of the table and chairs for him.


    Others looked at the blank parchment.


    "Professor, what do we need to do?"


    Felix said, "The parchment in front of you is my new teaching aid, and all you have to do is answer the questions on it. Of course, before you can use the teaching aid, you need to activate it. To do that: hold your wand against the parchment and say the words ''I like Ancient Magic Runes''."


    The young wizard sitting in the chair looked at the eloquent Professor Hap with a dull expression.


    The twins looked at each other instead, squeezing their eyebrows to express something.


    Ron raised his hand, "Professor Hap, I never studied ancient runes ... and Ginny and her friend."


    Felix said gently, " It does not matter, what you have in your hands at the moment is a beta version, there are not many questions on it about ancient runes, many questions on them are common knowledge in the wizarding world."


    He then looked at everyone, "You will notice that all the questions are multiple-choice, you just need to tap your wand on the answer you think is correct, and it will give you feedback."


    "This is going to be a fun process, so let''s get started, little wizards."


    Of the little wizards present, Luna felt the least psychologically burdened as she gleefully took out her wand and tapped on the parchment, "I love ancient magic runes."


    Under the gaze of several little wizards around her, a hazy bright light emitted from the parchment, followed by a line of text floating in the blank space.


    "Welcome to the answer space."


    A few seconds later, the words disappeared and the first question appeared.


    ''Do you prefer leaves or thorns?''


    Luna happily clicked on the option ''Leaves''.


    ''Do you prefer to explore, preserve, or perhaps provide service?''


    Luna''s wand tapped on the ''explore'' option.


    ''Do you prefer to think, feel or sense?''


    Luna thought for a few seconds and chose the ''Feel'' option.


    It dawned on the other young wizards that it didn''t look that hard, They couldn''t wait to start testing it out.


    There was an interlude in the middle when Fred subconsciously said, "I solemnly swear that-" as he tapped his wand on the parchment.


    But he was then promptly rebuked by George.


    "-- Oh, uh, I like ancient magic runes." Fred rounded off the words.


    Ron on the other side looked at him, a little uncertain, you like ancient magic runes that much? That you want to swear?


    But in any case, everyone started to answer the questions.


    Soon they found that the questions on it were not irregular, some were simple - either asking how you feel or some general knowledge of magic; but some were very difficult, involving knowledge of various subjects.


    Moreover, the feedback given by the parchment is different for different types of questions.


    For example, Ron was presented with a question, ''How would you react if you encounter a basilisk?''


    He confidently chose the option ''defeat it'' and also showed it to Ginny, resulting in a few large blood-red letters emerging on the parchment -


    "Your end is saddening, if there is a next time, run faster."


    Luna, who had come over to watch the fun, let out a string of lark-like laughter, and she laughed so hard she couldn''t catch her breath, and Ginny patted her on the back to soothe her.


    Ron looked a little upset.


    Marcus Flint was faced with mostly general knowledge questions about ancient magic runes, the first questions were relatively easy and the feedback he got from the parchment was "You''re great", "You''re the next magic rune expert", " Incredible triumph".


    Then he got seven questions wrong in a row, and Parchment''s evaluation of him went all the way down to "a little bad", "did you really study? ", "What''s on the other side of me, a troll?"


    His face darkened visibly.


    But the next question is about the history of magic, ''When was the International Statute of Secrecy Act signed into law?


    Marcus dwelled on it for a long time and chose the first answer, ''1637'', which was nothing else but pure obscurity.


    Several lines of exaggeratedly modelled figures appeared on the parchment, that of a couple of people beating up a large man who looked very much like a troll.


    Also appearing was the text explaining, ''The Secrecy Act signed into effect in 1689, if you do not want to be treated like a troll, remember!


    Marcus bristled, who still didn''t bother remembering this.


    Eddie Camilche answered almost all the questions about the consequences of trafficking prohibited potions.


    ''In 1927, the Dark Wizard Kambos sold inferior Baruffio''s Brain Elixirs, what happened afterward?''


    He looked at the options, ''was killed by another Dark Wizard when he was stocking the goods'', ''was imprisoned in Azkaban and sentenced to ten years, ''came out of it unscathed and made enough money to retire.


    Eddie Camilche chose the last option with great anticipation.


    Black and red writing appeared abruptly on the parchment, which looked as if it had been written in dried blood.


    ''Kambos was attacked by his partner while stocking up, and later captured by the Ministry of Magic Auror and sentenced to ten years in prison.''


    Eddie swallowed hard, but that wasn''t all. The next line was, " Kambos only spent seven years in Azkaban and passed away."


    Other young wizards encountered more or less this type of question-related to their detention, and many of them were sweating at the end of the process.


    Behind the desk, Felix leaned back in the backrest of his chair, looking at the delicate scroll he is holding and smiling brightly.

 Chapter 100: Ginnys Testimony

    After almost half an hour, Felix got up from his chair and walked over to the little wizards. "Okay, little wizards, stop."


    The crowd looked up, and a few had cold sweat on their faces.


    Felix scanned the circle, "Now, tell me how do you feel."


    "I found it interesting, except for a few questions in the middle that came out a little weird," Luna said in an ethereal voice.


    "You mean-"


    "Just some questions about the Forbidden Forest," Luna thought for a moment, "like, ''You come to the Forbidden Forest because you''re curious and hear a clicking sound, and you turn around and see a large Eight-Eye Spider covered with thick black fur, what should you do next? ''"


    "Oh, your answer is?" Felix asked a question he had just added on the spot just now as well.


    "I chose ''say hello to it'', hi, Mr. Eight-Eyed Giant Spider."


    "Why didn''t you choose to run away?" Felix asked her.


    "But that''s the next step to take," Luna replied with a straight face as the other young wizards looked at her with shocked faces.


    Ron''s eyes were going to bulge out.


    "So, you''re thinking-" Felix said somewhat stiffly, "that when you run into an eight-eyed giant spider in the Forbidden Forest, you have to say hello first, then turn around and run away."


    Luna nodded, then added, "Actually, those two things can be done at the same time, depending on how fast it is chasing you."


    "Well, thank you for your answer, Miss Lovegood. But I wouldn''t recommend this, in fact, you shouldn''t have trespassed into the forbidden forest, especially when you were alone without a capable wizard."


    His gaze went to Ginny, the little girl who is obviously quite normal, and she bowed her head down sadly, as this is her first detention in school.


    "What other insights anyone has to offer?"


    "Professor, George, and I think that the feedback from the parchment needs to be a little richer, we just tested it and there are only about twenty types at this point."


    "Oh? Keep talking." Felix asked with interest.


    Fred looked excited, as he couldn''t wait to say, "Professor, in addition to words, simple drawings, we can also add some penalty measures, such as spraying dark fumes, in fact, Stinky Liquid would be nice ..."


    "You can also add sound, if you get the answer wrong, you can hear Professor Flitwick''s voice: we are wizards, not curly-haired baboons wielding sticks!"


    The last sentence, said by Fred imitating Filius''s voice, caused a few young wizards with less than optimal brains, like Marcus, like Ron, to shiver uncontrollably.


    "What else?"


    "The textual feedback is also too gentle, the tone could be stronger, Professor, at this point George and I can help." Fred became very interested in this kind of thing, and he frantically introduced as much as he could to Felix.


    "Well ..." Felix imagined that if these suggestions were added to the list, I''m afraid the young wizards might have their minds explode, right?


    "The suggestion about the sound is not bad and has the possibility of being realized." Felix picked the most feasible suggestion and said.


    The atmosphere gradually warmed up.


    "Professor, maybe we can add scoring, so we can visually see our level." Eddie Camilche said, always a good grader, albeit somehow a smartass.


    "That makes sense."


    "Professor Hap, can we add our names?" Ginny said after a moment of hesitation.


    "Name?"


    "It''s the part at the beginning where you can write something like ''Welcome Ginny Weasley to Answer Space'' ..." Her voice was getting lower and lower, and she didn''t seem too proud of it, her cheeks as much as her hair turning fiery red.


    "A very good suggestion."


    "Professor, can we add the logo of different houses?"


    "Professor, can we get a list of the highest scores? Different houses can compete, like the House Cup?"


    "Professor, can we see how other students have answered the questions?"


    "Professor, is it possible to categorize the questions? Like ancient runes, history of magic, potions, Herbology, general knowledge, etc."


    ...


    The nine young wizards were talking about everything, and it developed to the point that they started to argue within themselves about which function is more important.


    Felix''s expression became increasingly strange, how did all these features add up and become somewhat similar to a latter-day knowledge game app?


    Divided categories, Q&A features, leaderboards, friendship options, confrontation mechanisms, custom skins ...


    But I just want to make a teaching aid for the ancient runes class, right?


    Why do I need all these features? Besides, it may not be feasible ...


    After thinking about it, Felix said: "You guys write down your ideas and try to refine them, and I will add them selectively. Mr. Ron Weasley, please come with me for a moment."


    Ron pointed to himself and got a clear response, so he followed Professor Hap to the corner of the office.


    "Weasley, tell me specifically about Lockhart''s performance ... on that night."


    After almost ten minutes, Ron finished telling him about what happened.


    "Very well, I have already passed the information to Headmaster Dumbledore, and with the materials, you have provided, Lockhart will soon receive the punishment he deserves."


    "But before that, I must warn you solemnly, the same words I said to Miss Granger, do not contact with Lockhart in private, and when you feel danger, immediately seek out any professor you can see."


    "Did I make myself clear enough?"


    Ron looked at Professor Hap with a grim expression, he swallowed a mouthful of saliva and nodded his head repeatedly.


    "Very well, you can go back, and by the way, ask your sister to come here for a while."


    "Ginny? What''s wrong with her?" Ron asked with concern.


    "Just a few minor concerns," Felix said evasively.


    Soon, Ginny Weasley came to him in a formal manner.


    "Hello, Miss Weasley, we''ve met a few times before, but it''s only now we''re officially acquainted."


    " Well, hello, Professor Hap."


    "Let''s get right to the point, I''d like to know where the diary you had in your hand came from?"


    Ginny looked up in shock, her eyes wide, "Profess... Professor, what did you mean?"


    Felix calmly looked into her eyes, "We''ve met a few times before, like near Hagrid''s hut, like near the girls'' lavatory, do I need to explain any more?"


    He didn''t mention the most crucial piece of evidence, which is the information Luna had provided, lest damper the friendship between them.


    Ginny''s lips quivered as if she wanted to say something, and Felix waited quietly.


    After about a minute--


    Tears welled up in her bright brown eyes, but she finally mustered the courage to admit, "Professor, I don''t know ... I was just writing in it, that diary, it, is it really connected to the Chamber of Secrets?"


    "You don''t know anything about it?"


    "I''m not sure, at first I was just writing in the diary, and it responded to me. It was sweet and helped me out with advice, and then, I often lost my memory for periods of time, and it just seemed to happen around that time that the attack occurred."


    "And then later, when the professors emphasized in class that you can''t trust dark magic items, and Fred, George, and the others said the same thing, I just, just threw it away."


    She sobbed out her experience.


    Felix nodded as he comforted Ginny: "Little wizards are always gullible, there''s no shame in asking your trusted professors for help when you encounter similar problems in the future."


    "Trust me, troubles that are difficult to solve in your eyes are often simple for professors."


    Ginny nodded gently as she said quietly, "Thank you, Professor Hap."


    "So, let''s return to the original question, do you remember where you got the diary from?" Felix asked.


    "I ... I''m not sure, I thought my mother gave it to me, but perhaps she didn''t."


    "I suppose you must have noticed something unusual?"


    "That diary was stuck inside the new book I bought, Mom wouldn''t ever do that."


    "A new book? Was it from the day you went shopping in Diagon Alley?"


    "Yes, it happened to be the day of Professor Lockhart''s book signing event, and he gifted a full set of new books to Harry, and Harry gave them to me. I found the diary that night."


    Lockhart and Potter ... quite a coincidence... maybe. S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix fell silent for a moment as he continued to ask, "Remember what happened that day? Anyone else possibly touched your book bag?"


    "That day, our family went to Diagon Alley for shopping, oh and Harry, he lived in an ugly house during the holidays, his relatives did not treat him very well ... ran into Hermione''s family halfway. We parted in front of the bank and mom took me to buy robes and wands, then we went to buy books and father got into a fight with Malfoy at Professor Lockhart''s book signing ..."


    Felix stopped her words, "Malfoy? Lucius Malfoy?"


    "Yes, he and father were on bad terms," Ginny whispered.


    "Can you elaborate on that part ..." Felix asked calmly.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 101: Research Team

    After a long time - Ginny finished her story in tears, "Professor, will I, am I going to be expelled?"


    "No, about that you can be completely at ease."


    ...


    As Ginny returned to her place with red eyes, Ron and the twins stared at her.


    Ron tried to say something, but Ginny completely ignored him as she moved her little chair near Luna, who hummed a goofy little tune softly in her ear.


    The twins fidgeted a bit for the rest of the day, but thankfully, Professor Hap let them go with a wave of his hand after he had them turn in their proposals that they had written.


    "Ginny, what''s going on?" Not long after leaving the office, George couldn''t help but be concerned about his sister.


    Ginny shook her head.


    "Did Professor Hap criticize you, Ginny? I mean, it does seem a little dangerous for you to go to the Forbidden Forest, right, Fred?"


    Fred said without thinking, "That''s right, if you''re interested in the Forbidden Forest, I can show you the way ... It''s not actually much fun, it''s all trees, rocks, flowers, and grasses of some sort."


    She chewed her lip rigidly without speaking.


    Luna and Ginny held hands as she said in a mermaid-like voice, "Professor Hap is quite nice to talk with, isn''t he? However, you don''t look good, I do suggest you take a trip to the school clinic."


    "Thank you, Luna."


    " You know how-"


    "Fred, George, and Ron, I''m fine. I just," Ginny said, taking a deep breath, "had some trouble a while ago, and Professor Hap helped me out."


    Seeing that her brother still wanted to speak, she said with a stern face, "I''m not going to tell you guys." Ginny pulled Luna and stomped off.


    Fred looked at her back and said with great emotion, "Ginny has grown up, not the little one following her brother''s bum."


    George spat out, "So you miss the old days?" S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Uh, isn''t the reason we miss it, because we can''t go back to the past anymore?" Fred made a funny face.


    The two of them were laughing and joking around.


    For the next week, Hogwarts remained as calm as ever.


    Every evening, the nine young wizards reported to the Ancient Magic office to complete some tests according to Professor Hap''s directions.


    In fact, most of them had their detention scheduled on a weekend, except for Ron, whose ''bad nature'', combined with Lockhart''s strong suggestion, had led to his detention being a full thirty days in a row.


    But when Professor Hap promised them that they could offset the subsequent detention according to their attendance, the other young wizards volunteered to complete the entire detention process here with him almost without any struggle.


    The reason was simple: all the other professors had boring and repetitive work, and only Professor Hap is the most interesting.


    By the third or fourth day of development, they had formed a research group in a decent manner across houses, discussing the improvement of the ''answer space'' in a serious manner.


    Not just talking in general, but really getting into it.


    Seeing how enthusiastic the young wizards were, Felix is happy to see this and willing to give guidance.


    But as the only technical advisor and judge, he had to veto impractical ideas one after another, picking out only the easiest of them to improve.


    "Little wizards, this professor is not omnipotent and cannot accommodate all your wild ideas."


    These were the original words of Professor Hap when the twins suggested that a ''video call'' feature could be added to the parchment.


    Finally, at Felix''s suggestion, the young wizards devised several versions.


    The most rudimentary and primitive version was similar to the one they had seen that day, only with the addition of different house logos and enriched feedback functions.


    The twins and Ron played a huge role in this.


    The feedback on the parchment can be roughly divided into two categories: compliments when the answer is correct, and trolling when the answer is wrong.


    The twins impressed other young wizards in their group with their level of venom, while Ron rode the path of compliments, with a variety of flattering words that could be considered corny.


    "Actually, these are the exact words of a Lockhart fan," Ron explained.


    And the subsequent version, with the professional advice given by Professor Hap, they completed a stepwise iteration of the program based on the difficulty.


    The leaderboard was the highest level at this point was easy to solve - he could use synchronization enchantment to summarize all the information on the parchment, into the delicate scroll he was holding.


    This thing actually plays the role of a server.


    Only it is not that intelligent, after getting the data it needs to arrange the high and low order artificially.


    As for other versions of features, like online matches, friends lists, and division of subjects, they were not something he could solve in a short time, nor could they fit on a piece of parchment, and Felix pushed them directly to the distant future.


    By the end of the week, the twins and Graham Montague and Marcus Flint had completed their detention, but they chose to stay behind and prepare to finish the job.


    Ginny and Luna did the same.


    Hermione, after stumbling upon the existence of the research team, immediately applied to Felix to join this temporary team.


    With Felix''s deterrent, no one dared to openly refer to the conflict between the houses, at most showing a mocking expression, although Professor Hap''s gaze tends to follow suit at the time.


    "I didn''t think that we would be able to do something together, and my partner in crime turned out to be a Slytherin!" Fred muttered to George one day.


    "Hey, who would have thought it anyway? It''s more unbelievable than not getting into a bit of trouble at the end of our term." George shrugged.


    The twins'' eyes fell on the Slytherin Quidditch captain-


    With Marcus'' intelligence, he was incapable of offering any brilliant insights, but he basically represented the lower limit of the young wizards, and it was he, as a pure tester, who tried out the ''answer space'' bug time after time.


    Something like, "Professor, why did the writing on top of the parchment disappear?" "Oh, it took so long for you to figure out that I thought you were asleep".


    It was until the morning of the tenth day that Felix woke up early and prepared to go to the Room of Requirement to finish his magic practice for the day.


    The features of this house were something he had only recently explored.


    In fact, as early as the first attack occurred, Felix discovered the Room of Requirement by accident, but he always thought that it would be a mysterious room to hide things.


    At best, the concealment magic imposed on it was not bad and worth some research. The matter, however, was actually rather low on his priority list.


    It wasn''t until Tom in his diary told him the real secret of this room that he picked up his interest again.


    The Room of Requirement could flexibly change the interior to meet the user''s needs according to his whims.


    This nearly instantly pulled his desire to research at full capacity, but Felix was unable to analyse the secrets of this room at all using his existing knowledge, and he could only vaguely see the magic channels that littered the room through a hidden perspective.


    ''''The magic supply of the Room of Requirement is rooted on the Hogwarts Castle.''''


    This was Felix''s thought.


    Although his research was hindered, he developed a new way to use it, which was to practice magic spells inside.


    He could use his full power without fear, including his instant killing skills. The benefits of this were obvious; at least, he didn''t have to go back and forth for an hour, running deep into the forbidden forest to practice.


    ...


    At dawn, Felix walked through the empty corridor.


    When he finished his training for the day and about to go downstairs to find something to eat in the kitchen, he bumped into Lockhart.


    He is hauling a large box in his hand, with two smaller boxes floating behind him.


    "Professor Lockhart?"


    The sudden appearance of the voice startled Lockhart, and the two boxes he had been barely levitating fell to the floor with a ''thud''.


    "Who''s there?" Lockhart shouted in a low voice.


    Felix''s figure came down from the steps, and he looked Lockhart up and down, "Professor Lockhart, are you going out?"

 Chapter 102: The End of Lockhart

    Lockhart looked very nervous, delicate, flowing blonde hair glued tightly over his head. "Oh, Professor Hap, I have a temporary matter, it''s about the new book ... It''s urgent and must be dealt with immediately."


    "Yes? Oh, I don''t think you''ve linked the floo network in your office, need me to call Professor McGonagall, or ... Dumbledore?"


    Lockhart showed a bright smile, "If so, that''s really great, eh, Headmaster Dumbledore, what brings you here?"


    A brilliant green light shot out from Lockhart''s hand, as fast as it could be, and just as Lockhart revealed a triumphant smile, his spell stopped in front of Felix.


    An invisible barrier appeared in front of Felix, and the dazzling beam of light seemed to be intercepted in the air.


    "Well, is this your strongest spell? Seriously, you''ve refreshed my perception of you, Professor Lockhart." Felix remarked, with a special effort.


    "Felix Hap! Let me go!"


    "Sorry."


    "You knew all about it, don''t you, that Weasley snitch? Do you want justice? Come on, Felix Hap, I know from other people what you''ve been through, and you''re not a nosy one."


    "It''s true that I''m not interested in your business, but who let you jump under my nose?" Felix said that if Lockhart had been bouncing around outside Hogwarts, he really wouldn''t have got involved.


    "Then let me get out of here! I swear I''ll never appear before you."


    "Let you leave? After knowing that you''re a master sneak attack who specializes in memory magic?" Felix shook his head.


    The spells kept clashing, Felix increased the output of his magic power, and the originally invisible shield charm faintly surfaced with simple lines, and an armour outlined in the air out of thin air. S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    And the opposite side of the Lockhart, surprisingly, did not fall behind, exuding the aura of a mighty person. His magic spell is extremely powerful and is becoming stronger and stronger.


    His spell illuminated the entire corridor, and the green aura reflected on Lockhart''s face, looking eerie and terrifying.


    "Felix Hap, my magic is stronger than you can imagine, and I have received a hidden heritage! The current me is far from reaching my limit!"


    In just this short minute, his magic spell had climbed rapidly from its initial state, even vaguely shadowing the powerful Disarming Spell that Felix had demonstrated in the second dueling class.


    However, Felix surprisingly laughed, " Lockhart, you are just strong at this one spell, which seems to be some kind of ancient magic, really enviable ..."


    "But I would say, Lockhart, you are not good at dueling."


    Felix''s other hand waved slightly, and the rubble at the corner shook and turned into big, greasy rats.


    These rats made a ''rustling'' sound and pounced towards Lockhart.


    "What the hell! There are rats, lots of rats!"


    Lockhart maintained the incantation while shaking his body, but it is futile. One of the rats bit him on the arm, and under the severe pain, his wand fell from his hand.


    Under the horror of Lockhart and the bemused gaze of Felix, the wand fell to the ground, bounced a few times, and stood still.


    Felix silently cast the Levitation Spell, grabbed Lockhart''s wand.


    The corridor became dim again.


    With his face ashen, Lockhart pleaded, "Felix, I have no choice ... I can give you all the money I have."


    Felix sighed, "Headmaster, I''ll leave it to you."


    In Lockhart''s horrified expression, Dumbledore''s figure slowly appeared, half of his face hidden in the darkness, his eyes intertwined with emotions of anger and sadness.


    "Dumbledore ... Headmaster! I ..."


    "Lockhart, I watched you grow up."


    Dumbledore said calmly, restraining his emotions as a red light flashed and Lockhart fainted.


    The Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor floated in midair, a golden thread wrapped around him.


    As he was about to leave, Dumbledore said to Felix, "Thank you, Felix."


    "I didn''t do anything, with you watching, he can''t get away."


    All the portraits in the castle are the eyes of the Hogwarts Headmaster, coupled with Dumbledore''s own magical attainment, no one can escape from him easily.


    Felix even felt that the old man is filled with so many secrets inside, but never spilled them.


    This is also the reason why he did not use any powerful spell, if it is outside the school he meet him, he would absolutely clap Lockhart and search his mind.


    "No, Felix, I want to thank you, you let me avoid dealing with my own student."


    Dumbledore left.


    Felix stood in place, thinking for a moment, then he walked into Lockhart''s office.


    ...


    During the day, the young wizards found that Lockhart did not come to class and could not help but murmur, and they soon found that the other professors were tongue-tied.


    And so a rumour spread -


    "It must be Fudge''s doing! I knew it, he wouldn''t let Lockhart off the hook." Dean Thomas swore to the young Gryffindor wizard, as his audience looked at him half-heartedly.


    "It''s true, Fudge has a very petty mind, I read about it in the newspapers."


    And later that evening, Felix announced the ''''Teaching Aid Upgrade Program'''' had been a success, and everyone could retire to their respective houses.


    In fact, everyone else''s detention was over, except for Ron.


    Felix''s initial aim was actually to get Ron reasonably out of Lockhart''s grasp, except it developed to the point where the young wizard''s enthusiasm was just too high, and the situation was no longer under his control.


    However, this was the first time Felix had seen the scene where the young wizards of the four houses were working on a common goal, so he let it happen and even participated in it by providing guidance.


    Now that the danger is lifted and the upgrade program for the teaching aids has been advanced to the fourth version, it''s time to end it.


    But what should be rewarded must be rewarded.


    "In view of the fact that some of you, even after the end of your detention, have adhered to your duties and completed your tasks with excellence, each of you will receive a bonus point."


    Amidst a chorus of cheers, Ron timidly asked, "What about me, Professor Hap?"


    "Weasley, your detention is too long for me to give you extra points, but, well ..." Felix said, "I can suggest to Professor McGonagall to reduce your detention appropriately. "


    Ron left the office contentedly.


    Felix''s mood is also very pleasant, all kinds of chores are sorted out, he also does not have to calculate this, calculate that.


    That night, he watched two episodes of animation video happily.


    The war between the clumsy cat and the clever mouse, simple and pure, does not contain any burden.


    Felix went through his inventory, ''Maybe I should buy some more?'' He went to sleep peacefully as he carried this thought on his head.


    At the Great Hall the next day, Snape blocked Felix.


    "You''re asking me to help you get a position for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" Felix asked in surprise.

 Chapter 103: New Teaching Aids

    "It''s temporary." Snape stared him in the eye, "Felix, it''s January, a full five months before the end of the school year. You know what that means, right." Felix fell silent, it meant that the young wizard would not have anyone to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts class for almost six months.


    But again, does it matter if there is one or not?


    Even if the young wizards were left to learn on their own, it would probably be better than when Lockhart was around. At least they save time from writing boring homework.


    "Professor, I''ve always been curious, why can''t you give up on this class? Aren''t you afraid of the curse of the Dark Lord?" Felix wondered about this.


    However, Snape did not answer him.


    Felix thought about it and said, "I can talk to Dumbledore about this."


    He is not good at curses, plus the course has a horrible record of beaten, so he never thought of taking over the Defense Against the Dark Arts class.


    However, he is indeed very curious about the ''Curse of the Dark Lord'', and maybe he could find out about it from Dumbledore.


    "By the way, Severus," Felix winked at Snape, "don''t forget about the dueling class tonight."


    Snape gave him a disgusted look, "How do you plan to organize it?"


    " One of us will speak a part, mainly to exhibit. After all, the professors are rushed together, the follow-up lesson I will invite them separately." Felix said somewhat helplessly.


    Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, together with himself and Snape, that''s four Professors.


    Snape nodded his head and turned to leave.


    During the seventh-year class that day, Felix showed the young wizards the new teaching aids for ancient magic runes.


    They watched as Professor Hap spoke eloquently from the podium, "See this parchment in front of you? It will make a huge impact on your NEWTs exams."


    A young witch raised her hand, "Professor Hap, is this the legendary teaching aid Flint had a part in making?."


    The young wizards in the room turned their attention to the tall and imposing Marcus Flint.


    There were less than twenty people in the seventh year''s ancient magic rune class, and everyone knew everybody''s history, and they were all looking suspicious at the moment.


    Marcus somewhat want to cry, he just bragged a little, why would they point him out?


    Felix looked at him and said: "Miss Vera, Flint did participate in the testing of new teaching aids. Not just him, but a total of ten young wizards, each of whom made their own valuable suggestions, and what you see is the result of their joint efforts."


    "Next, let''s have a practical demonstration."


    The little wizards followed the previous explanation, put their wands on the parchment, and whispered, "The Secret of the Ancient Magic Rune." ( TL: did the password changed previously?)


    The parchment emitted a hazy bright light and a line of text emerged -


    ''Welcome to the answer space, please complete the following steps.''


    After rippling like water ripples, four symbols of the Houses appeared on the parchment - snake, badger, lion, and eagle.


    Their respective shapes were made up of simple ink lines that looked alive. The small snake representing Slytherin wiggled and swayed in place, the badger representing Hufflepuff stood upright and looked from side to side, the lion representing Gryffindor let out a soundless roar, and the eagle representing Ravenclaw took flight with wings.


    The wizards, both male and female, made sounds of awe.


    The eagle representing Ravenclaw occupied the middle of the parchment, flapping its wings and seemingly climbing upwards as clouds of ink lines appeared around it.


    Eventually, the eagle stopped, its sharp gaze fixed on the front, and a line of handwritten, elegant text slowly emerged, " Wit beyond measure is man''s greatest treasure."


    Almost instantly, Vera liked it, and her brown eyes seemed to glow under her thick glasses.


    ''This is made by Professor Hap? This is the application of ancient magic Rune?''


    ''This is an Ancient Magic Rune!''


    Even she herself didn''t realize that her perception of ancient magic rune had unknowingly leaned towards Felix''s way.


    A few seconds later, the image of the eagle shrank again, and it landed on the flower pattern in the upper left corner of the parchment, glancing around and grooming its feathers by itself.


    And the center of the parchment emerged with a new message, ''Please use your wand to input magic and input your name.''


    Vera used her wand to neatly write down her name - Clammy Vera.


    After completing this step, the official interface finally emerged on the answer parchment.


    In the upper left corner is an eagle representing Ravenclaw, at the bottom is the name of Clammy Vera, while the central position is divided into three modules, namely - OWLs module, NEWTs module, and a collection of mistakes.


    Felix nodded in satisfaction, and in the finalized version, he made considerable adjustments.


    For example, the starting password, from the original "I like ancient magic rune" into a more formal ''secret of ancient magic rune''.


    For example, he added the part of information bonding, that is, a collection of names, houses, and magic identification function.


    The function of "ranking", which he had set in his mind, is temporarily suppressed, because the current number of answer parchments is too small, and he also has the intention of pulling other professors in. (TL: if he creates an artefact that uses Hogwarts Magic and has its own sentience like a sorting hat later, it will be cool)


    To do this, it takes time to fester.


    After about three or four minutes, the young wizards were excited to complete this step by following the guidelines on the parchment.


    And, already, a number of them started to compare.


    "Look at my lion, it''s too majestic!"


    " Still, the eagle is more beautiful."


    ...


    "Okay, little wizards." Felix clapped his hands and drew their attention.


    Felix explained, "Currently, the answer parchment is only available for fifth and seventh grade, and you will need to select the NEWTs module. It stores test questions from previous years for you to complete the test and learn."


    "Of course, I''ve split them up so that each test will last about twenty minutes, and you can practice when you have nothing to do."


    "As for the wrong question set module, all the questions you have done wrong can be found here."


    The young wizards who were exposed to this new gadget for the first time couldn''t resist trying it already, and Clammy Vera forced herself to hold back her excitement and said, "Professor Hap, can we try it now?"


    Felix said kindly, "Of course, the next twenty minutes are reserved for you."


    "Oh, by the way," he emphasized, "if you guys don''t like the feedback function, you can just tap your wand on it and say ''silence''."


    Vera looked a little uncertain, but she tapped her wand on the ''NEWTs module'' and a magic rune question quickly appeared on the parchment.


    When she finished the first question, a line of golden text surfaced on the parchment -


    ��Wise choice��.


    She understood Professor Hap''s words somewhat, and the next thing she knew, she was met with all sorts of overwhelming praises.


    ''Your answer simply tickled my heart and soul.''


    ''''You are the next star of Ancient rune!''''


    ''''The Choice of Genius!''''


    These words left Vera in a delicate mood, a little embarrassed, but unable to resist the desire to see new compliments, and time passed without her noticing a little.


    But the others didn''t have a wonderful experience as she did, most of them had a mixture of compliments and toxic comments, while Marcus faced mostly flowery sarcasm.


    He couldn''t help but mumble the names of two individuals, "Fred Weasley, George Weasley." S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It is their doing!


    In less than ten minutes, Clammy Vera finished the test first.


    A big ''O'' appeared on the parchment, with an eagle circling in the upper left corner and large clusters of fireworks in the background.


    She waved her fist excitedly.


    "Very good, Miss Vera, ten extra points for Ravenclaw!"


    At the end of class, Felix assigned the latest homework: "Complete 3 tests and write an essay based on the questions you answered incorrectly, In which you will analyse the areas where your knowledge is weak."


    ...


    In the evening, the Great Hall once again changed its look, with the gilded ring rising from the ground and the young wizards talking in small groups.


    The third dueling lesson is about to begin.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 104: Four Professors

    The center of the Great Hall, hundreds of candles burning, the weather on the ceiling is like black velvet, not a single star in sight. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the middle of the Gryffindor group, whispering to each other.


    "Harry, did you finish your form?" Hermione asked him.


    "Almost," Harry said vaguely, honestly only a half of the way through his form.


    Half a month ago, after the last dueling class, Hermione told him that the sparks released from the tip of the wand were a sign that the disarming charm is about to succeed, so when he returned to the common room, he couldn''t resist dragging Ron to practice with him for half an hour.


    Originally with no success, sleepy Ron then acts like Malfoy, and Snape too.


    As a result, he managed to use the disarming Charm.


    The next day learning the news, Hermione was very envious of this, "Harry, you''re a genius! I dare say, no one of our age can do this."


    Harry said with some embarrassment, "I have some special feeling about this spell."


    The little witch picked up a piece of paper from her book bag, "Let''s go over the evaluation criteria given by Professor Hap."


    Harry was dumbfounded at his spot: " Hey, Hermione, I still didn''t get a chance to read it ..."


    ...


    In the Great Hall.


    Ron couldn''t help but interject: "Harry''s Disarming Charm has become very proficient and can succeed eight or nine times out of ten, unlike me ..." he suddenly grimaced: "Once or twice out of ten."


    Hermione took out the parchment from her robe, and the table on top was filled with a lot of data. She said with some anxiety, "I can use it, but this, this, and this standard, are only just up to the mark, in the case that I wake up suddenly one day can I be able to cast it immediately?"


    Listening on the side for half the time, Neville humbly asked Hermione for advice: "Hermione, if the form is filled, still have not mastered the spell, what can I do?"


    Hermione: "Uh ..." froze for a while, she said uncertainly: "Have you tried the Decomposed Method?"


    "Of course, I tried it, but I failed two-thirds of the steps ..." Neville''s round little face scrunched up into a frown and said pitifully, "I''m so stupid, maybe Professor Snape is right. "


    "Don''t be disappointed, Neville. I can help you sort out the parts you''re not good at." Hermione said.


    "Thanks, thank you, Hermione."


    Harry reassured him as well, "Neville, we can practice together."


    "That''s right, don''t care about what Snape says, your herbology class grade is excellent," Ron said. "Neville, believe in yourself, you''re an unpolished gem that will shine one day."


    Frankly, after Lockhart''s trial, he is now speaking kind words without fluttering a word.


    Neville''s face quickly turned red, and even a bit flattered.


    He said, somewhat embarrassed and fluttered manner, "I just like to fiddle with flowers and plants, and Grandma has a lot of flowers that I tend during the holidays."


    "You see, that''s what''s so great about you." Harry encouraged him.


    On the other hand, Felix stood at the entrance of the Great Hall, waiting for the other professor''s arrival.


    Professor Flitwick is the first to come, having changed his usual wizard robe and wearing a close-fitting men''s gown, with his hair processed in a very ironed manner.


    "Filius, you look marvellous tonight." Felix praised.


    Filius is in a good mood, "Thank you, Felix. This is what I wore when I won the dueling championship."


    The two men casually chatted and walked forward a little.


    "Felix, have you made any progress on that magic research?"


    "It just barely works a little, but to be honest, it''s so fragmented that I can even say that it''s a simplified spell mixed with ancient thoughts about magic ..."


    "Ahem! Felix, there''s no way, very few ancient magic can be passed down intact."


    The two discussed the feasibility of restoring that ancient magic, but it''s difficult to cook without Ingredients even for a clever woman, they had too little information at hand, and there''s simply no common research ideology in the wizarding community.


    Felix did feel that if he mastered enough runes, one day, it would be very easy to recover this magic.


    I just don''t know how many years it would take.


    He had silently lowered the priority of this matter and ready to let nature take its course.


    Soon, Professor McGonagall and Snape came together, perhaps because Felix''s gaze was too obvious, and Snape couldn''t help but jab him. "What''s going through your head, Felix?"


    "Nothing, I just thought that you would have counted the time to come," Felix said with some embarrassment.


    All the four professors are present, so Felix gets right to the point: "My idea for this dueling class is to demonstrate. The four of us will each present the best part of our own take on dueling."


    "In the subsequent lessons, I will invite professors separately in phases, so that you can fully illustrate your points."


    Filius is the first to state, "Of course, no problem."


    The others also had no objection.


    So when the four professors appeared in the Great Hall and walked up to the gilded ring at the same time, the young wizards had shocked expressions on their faces.


    Ron groaned, "What day is it?" S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The crowd exploded with excitement as hundreds of students buzzed around the stage, and the little Ravenclaw and Gryffindor wizards erupted in dramatic applause, welcoming their House''s Head.


    "How come I can'' see Professor Sprout?" A young second-year Hufflepuff wizard asked.


    "Ernie, Ms. Sprout wouldn''t care about this ...," a senior student said.


    The other three professors had a tacit agreement not to speak up and looked at Felix at the same time.


    Felix stepped forward, imbuing his voice into a loud tone, and started to speak, "I''m honored that we have Professors McGonagall and Flitwick here today, and they are not shy about showing you more possibilities for dueling. Cheer them up, little wizards!"


    The crowd thundered with applause as if they were celebrating a holiday, and Harry''s palms were red from clapping.


    " Do you guys think that Snape doesn''t want to do this anymore?"


    "Although I think it''s you who think too much, that''s a brilliant notion!"


    Next, after some shouting, Professor McGonagall remained in the ring, and the other three retreated offstage.


    Flitwick drew out a handkerchief, turned it into a high stool, and stood on it by himself.


    Professor McGonagall''s hands clasped together, she looked at everyone with a serious expression, and the crowd gradually quieted down.


    Everyone is curious about what she would say, after all, in their hearts, transfiguration has little to do with dueling.


    Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and looked at all the students calmly and said, " Transfiguration is a profound magic branch, it can do many unfathomable things, and in this regard, the most skilled person I know is your Headmaster Dumbledore."


    "That''s new," Ron muttered off-stage. "Don''t tell me that he defeated the Dark Lord with Transfiguration."


    "Of course, that would require a high level of Magical power to support it, and it would be difficult for you to do that." McGonagall said, "The importance of Transfiguration for you guys is not the strength of the magic power, but the way to enrich your skills."


    "The core of Transfiguration is to change, to change as you wish."


    Professor McGonagall drew her wand and raised her arm straight up, and a chair stacked in the corner flew over.


    The chair turned into a big black cat in midair, it landed on the ground with agility and dexterity, and with the command from Professor McGonagall''s wand, the big cat circled around her in a quick loop.


    The next second, it suddenly leaped up, its body quickly expanded, transforming into a mighty lion, golden mane reflecting a fine light.

 Chapter 105: Transfiguration and Charm

    "Roar~!" The lion let out a roar and the little wizards, in the front, felt their hair rose up.


    Luna blinked, and several young witches around her took two steps back in fear.


    The next second, the lion began to run wildly around the ring, sometimes morphing into a leopard, sometimes into a one-horned rhinoceros, a wild boar, a boa ...


    The young wizards looked at Professor McGonagall dumbstruck, during class time, why are you not doing this?


    From the beginning to the end, Professor McGonagall only waved her wand a few times and did not utter a single incantation.


    Dean Thomas couldn''t help but ask, "Is this a single spell, or multiple spells? Why I couldn''t figure it out a bit."


    If they were to describe Professor McGonagall''s performance, the impression of the young wizards would be, it is too fluid.


    The form morphed naturally as they ran around.


    Professor McGonagall''s ''show-off'' lasted almost two to three minutes, and when a giant eagle hovered over the great hall, the students raised their heads and stretched their necks to look closely.


    Finally, the giant eagle landed in the ring, rolled its body, and transformed once again into a black cat.


    "In theory, any young wizard in the sixth or seventh year could do this." Professor McGonagall said from the stage as she addressed the crowd.


    "Wood, how about you?." Fred asked the captain of his house team.


    "Ahem ..." Wood looked a little embarrassed.


    Not very far away, Percy, who is responsible for keeping order, walked next to a Ravenclaw girl: "I think I can do it, Penelope, maybe not as smoothly as Professor McGonagall can do it ..."


    "I can''t do it, I''m not very good at Transfiguration." That girl said, she also wore a Head badge on her chest.


    "I can teach you," Percy said.


    " Really?" The girl shot him a blank look.


    On the stage, Professor McGonagall motioned for the black cat to stand in front of her.


    "I need an assistant, Abbott Blake, you''ve always worked hard to be Auror right?, let''s give it a try." Professor McGonagall selected a student from her house.


    Abbott Blake stepped forward timidly, he pretty much had a whole new perception of the professors'' strength from the last dueling lesson.


    The young wizards offstage stared with rapt attention. It became obvious that Professor McGonagall isn''t going to cast any other kind of magic spell, but rather going to use Transfiguration throughout, which made the duel between them fascinating to behold.


    The two were separated from each other by eight or nine meters.


    Felix acted as the referee, "Bow to each other ... one, two, the duel begins."


    Blake agilely jumped to the side and raised his hand to cast a disarming charm.


    The black cat in front of Professor McGonagall leaped up and blocked the disarming charm.


    The black cat in the middle of the air lost its footing and one of its legs turned into a bench leg, but in the next second, it rolled on the ground and turned into an agile panther.


    Another spell from Blake got blocked more easily this time.


    " Blake, you need to speed up your spell casting."


    Professor McGonagall said, and in the interval, she waved her wand and three more chairs flew over, which likewise took the form of panthers.


    At this moment, three black-spotted panthers stood in front of Professor McGonagall, guarding her safety.


    Blake gritted his teeth, no longer having scruples, and one spell after another was cast out.


    If it comes to dueling alone, he does rank top among the students of Hogwarts, thanks to his uncle who is an Auror in the Ministry of Magic and trained him for two years in low intensity.


    But Professor McGonagall blocked it with extreme ease, "One of the characteristics of Transfiguration is that it kinda restrains individual spells, but of course, to do that, you need to have an outstanding sense of perception."


    The three panthers cooperated with each other and handled it with ease.


    "Incendio!" Blake''s spell hit a panther, and its body suddenly burst into flames.


    In the blazing fire, the transfiguration spell lost its effect, and it reverted to a burning chair.


    Professor McGonagall said, " Transfiguration works equally well on water and fire, so you only need to change your spell slightly--"


    The burning chair rose with a leap and turned into a blazing lion, its mane pulsing with bright flames.


    Blake couldn''t help but take two steps back, but fortunately, Professor McGonagall had no idea of attacking.


    Blake quickly thought of a good idea, "Diffindo!" A red light flashed, and the spell hit the other panther precisely, causing it to split into a dozen pieces in midair.


    But it only worsened as each of the pieces turned into palm-sized kittens, which nimbly circled behind Blake and stared at him from a distance.


    "At short range, or within the range of the transfiguration''s manipulation, it''s tougher to deal with than you think, Blake." Professor McGonagall said, her mood thoroughly jovial and no longer wearing a stern expression.


    Hearing Professor McGonagall''s comments, Blake panicked a bit, suddenly realizing that the more he attacked, the more he fell into an unfavourable situation.


    After a few seconds of stalemate, a kitten ran to his feet, Blake couldn''t resist kicking it, but the kitten morphed into a cane and wrapped his legs tightly around it.


    Good thing, Professor McGonagall didn''t take it seriously, she simply released his body, the cane didn''t continue to grow, and Balk''s arms were free.


    In a great panic, he cast a spell on the kitten next to him, "Diffindo! Diffindo! Diffindo!"


    The kitten didn''t dodge it, and to Balk''s eyes, its body split apart in an instant, with various pieces rising up in the air and morphing into tiny finger-sized birds with long, pointed beaks.


    They remained in midair and formed a network, their sharp beaks aiming at Blake in unison as if they would pounce in the next second.


    In the eyes of the young wizards, Blake is completely surrounded, looking up there is a phalanx of flying birds, behind him is a group of palm-sized black cats, and a little further, blazing lion and panther watching intently.


    Blake''s scalp tingled, he hurriedly cried: "I admit defeat, Professor McGonagall, I admit defeat."


    Professor McGonagall paused with some regret, she still had much to show.


    She turned the transfigured creature back into a chair and repaired it with a Mending Charm as it should have been. She looked at the young wizard offstage and said, "For most wizards, they don''t guard against transfiguration in a duel. If you can master a few proficiently, it can be completely useful as a surprise."


    Felix couldn''t help but clap his hands in praise, which was exactly the same mindset he used to defeat Lockhart.


    The second person who appeared on stage is Professor Flitwick, who showed everyone a kind of dueling concept, the matching between charms.


    Professor Flitwick is short, yet he easily gathered the eyes of the young wizards, just like he did in class.


    "If you have mastered a lot of Charms, the question must arise, can I really use them all?"


    "Perhaps it is better to specialize in one charm?"


    "These are two different kinds of options, and what I want to show you today is how different charms fit with each other."


    "It''s a simple charm altogether, let''s see-" Professor Flitwick shouted, "Avis!" S~?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    His wand made a loud bang, like a pistol shot, and a flock of small red-feathered birds fluttered their wings out of it.


    A Hufflepuff muttered, "This charm isn''t easy, that''s the NEWTs content."


    "Shut up." His friend said.


    Flitwick looked at the flying birds: "You can certainly use it to launch an assault with good effectiveness. But if you add a Doubling Charm -" he waved his wand, and the birds split rapidly apart with a "thump, thump, thump".


    "And then add an Enlarging Charm--"


    The palm-sized bird quickly enlarged.


    Flitwick looked up and surveyed the hundreds of owl-sized birds that surrounded the gilded ring, almost overshadowing his figure.


    In front of Flitwick''s tiny size, many of the young wizards couldn''t help feel a sense of awe.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 106: Snapes Suggestion

    The young wizards looked in fascination at the flock of birds flying above the ring, a creature that did not exist in reality, and even right now they could only exist in this state for a short time, but the sight of them hovering over the gilded ring, clad in fiery red feathers, is a memory that many young wizards could never forget in their lifetime. Professor Flitwick waved his wand and discharged his spell.


    "These charms are taught in class with no extra study required," said Flitwick, "but, once combined, they can be very effective."


    A senior Ravenclaw girl couldn''t resist asking, "Professor Flitwick, I know all three of these charms, can I master this combined spell?"


    "Miss Padma, the difficulty of a combination spell is never in the spell itself, but how you can fit, and maintain your spells so that they remain stable in their overall form."


    Flitwick said, "So you are asking me, can you be able to master it? The answer is yes you can. But it takes time, it takes practice, and it tests your mastery of the spell very much."


    " What I demonstrated is an example of the kind of spell that works well with each other, and which requires a certain amount of your own ability. Whereas the second type, it is relatively simple."


    "Our common dueling spells, such as Full Body-Bind Curse, Disarming Charm, Stunning Spell, Shield Charm, etc., are really useful. But we can pair them with some other spells to give you more of an advantage."


    "When the two sides of a dueling pair are evenly matched, it is often these seemingly insignificant and simple spells that would become the key to breaking the balance."


    Next, Professor Flitwick showed the depth of his own magic charm mastery -


    "For example, the supersensory charm, it can significantly enhance your own sense, will make you more sensitive to the environment, more sensitive to the magic spells;"


    "For example, the Reparifors charm, before the duel apply it on yourself, you can effectively resist the minor magic ailments such as poison, Stunning Spell so on - the effect depends on the opponent''s spell power, but in any case, there will be some effect;"


    "Then there''s Slippery Jinx, which can make the road before you slippery;"


    "Or Flame-Freezing Charm and Impervius Charm, it can resist water and fire damage, although it doesn''t work on Fiendfyre, for general flames and water spell, it''s still very effective;"


    Flitwick named a dozen charms in a row, and the young wizards were dumbfounded.


    Even Felix showed a thoughtful look, thinking about the effects of Filius''s theory on his own.


    In fact, his instant killing technique is the product of this kind of ''magic charm with each other'' theory: thought acceleration and Apparition are the core of it, while the Stunning Spell can be replaced by another charm as a means of attack - it depends on what he wants to accomplish.


    Theoretically, the Stunning Spell can be completely replaced with the Full Body-Bind Curse and the Disarming Charm, which will have little effect on this tactic.


    And Filius''s ''break the stalemate by a simple spell'' method, again, goes well with Felix and Lockhart''s exchange as well.


    It can only be said that the two professors, Flitwick and McGonagall, each from a different field, yet on the same path, are perfectly reflected in Felix.


    Finally, Flitwick concluded: "Spells are alive, they have various complex relationships, some restrain each other, some complement each other. If you are interested in dueling, you can spend more time and refresh yourselves on the spells you have learned."


    "I think you will have a whole new perception of them."


    Next, Professor Flitwick called up a few Ravenclaw students and showed the other young wizards his theory.


    Like Professor McGonagall, he had similarly placed restrictions and limitations on himself.


    Even when he faced a three-man siege at the same time, he always found the most suitable way to break his opponent''s offence with a simple spell.


    "Watching Professor Flitwick duel is like enjoying a waltz." Justin Finch-Fletchley said adoringly.


    "What''s that?" The young wizard next to him asked.


    "Uh ... a muggle dance that looks very beautiful and graceful," Justine explained.


    As a dueling champion, Flitwick''s foundation is extremely solid, especially the transition between steps, so many spells are blocked and directly avoided.


    The young wizards watched in awe and were even more impressed when Professor Flitwick used his wand to release a massive firework that easily obscured the opponent''s vision.


    Finally, Flitwick bowed and left the stage with a smile on his face.


    It''s followed by unstoppable applause.


    The third person on the stage is Snape, who stood in the center of the ring, and the young wizards who were originally restless instantly quieted down.


    Snape''s style is completely different from the first two professors, and he said in a cold tone, "What I want to offer is that when you encounter the dangerous dark wizards when you meet the scum that lingers in the gutter of darkness-"


    He looked at the young wizards off the stage, and after a long pause, he said, "What to do."


    The young wizards were silent, stunned by the scenario Snape described, only Harry suddenly remembered his own brief misadventure into Knockturn Alley.


    Knockturn Alley bordered Diagon Alley, a dirty, narrow alley lined with eerily dim stores, all of them appeared to have some ties with dark arts. According to Hagrid, there are quite a few dark wizards hiding there.


    This year, he went into it by mistake because he made a mistake while using floo powder. At that time a scary-looking old witch took the initiative to talk to him, her handheld an object that looked very much like Dead Man''s nails, if not by chance he meet Hagrid, he did not know what would happen.


    Snape continued slowly: "You need to identify the danger and distinguish it."


    "You need to prepare different coping strategies: a scuffle at school, how would you handle it? A conflict with a stranger, how to deal with it? How to confront an evil dark wizard? And dangerous species and plants ..."


    "Frankly, I don''t think your gimmicks will help much when you face a dark wizard ... Running away will ALWAYS be the first option; asking for aid is the second option; and when you have no choice ... then strike first, use any spell you can think of." S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Snape''s black eyes remained motionless. As if they were embedded with two stones. He said unhurriedly, "In a duel, the first strike is always the best strategy, and giving up priority would mean being at a disadvantage."


    There is dead silence off the stage.


    "Severus ...," Professor McGonagall said with some concern, "I think young wizards are not required to be exposed to these things."


    Snape hooked the corners of his mouth in a mocking expression, but he didn''t continue the conversation above, either.


    "When faced with danger, use the spell you are most comfortable with, not the most powerful. Speed, angle, timing, success, these are far more important than the mere power of the spell."

 Chapter 107: Charm Level?

    "Professor, how can I judge which spell I am most comfortable with?" A Slytherin student asked. Snape said coldly: "Those you learn the fastest and use the most. Other than that--"


    "If you can invent a spell of your own, it is naturally your best." After saying that, he flung his robe and strutted off the stage.


    Offstage, Ron and Hermione looked at Harry at the same time, and the meaning of their eyes varied from each other.


    Hermione: So you are good at disarming charm?


    Ron: That''s it? How can it be compared to advanced magic spells, right?


    When Felix took the stage, the young wizards were still immersed in the atmosphere created by Snape, although he did not talk about any specific magic, it was still stirring.


    Felix decided to pull out a little dry stuff.


    "At the end of our last lesson, we brought up the point that the effects of the spell, even if it''s the same spell, the effects released by different wizards can differ widely."


    "This is especially true in dueling; after all, you can hardly imagine A wizard spending a lot of time and effort researching the spell ''Scouring Charm''."


    "The same is true for most life magics. We don''t go through them to explore the mysteries of magic, or to beat the crap out of our opponents." Felix made a joke.


    The young wizard on the stage laughed lowly.


    "For wizards who are good at dueling, they have amazing attainments in one, or a few, spells."


    He swept his gaze around the stage at the wizards, "Take the Disarming Charm as an example-"


    Felix waved his wand, and a slim red aura flickered away.


    "This is the initial level of mastery."


    Harry looked carefully, this is exactly the level he can now release.


    Many of the young wizards who had mastered the disarming charm carried the same action. And the result of the comparison is that most of them are at this level.


    "-This stage is at the novice level, and there is a possibility of failure in casting spells." Speaking of this, Felix said with a slight bitterness, "For the sake of understanding and comparison, let''s call it a level one spell."


    "At this juncture, the factors that affect the success rate of spell casting are your spell casting motion, chanting, confidence, magic power utilization, and other such basic elements. I won''t expand on that, it''s described in detail in the materials from the last class."


    "And when you practice more often, practice makes perfect, and there is almost no failure of release, just like this-"


    Felix waved his wand and a distinct red light streaked across the top of the great hall.


    Harry heard the excited voice of his senior, Abbott Blake, who had just been called up for the demonstration, saying, "That''s how my spell works!"


    "For the convenience of comprehension, we may call it a Level Two spell."


    Felix leisurely drew an arc with his wand, as if he is conducting a symphony.


    " You invested more time and effort to delve into this spell - preferably with the guidance of a professor, and its power will be appropriately enhanced."


    Felix waved his wand, and a finger-thick red beam shot out, spanning half of the great hall in an instant. S?a?ch* Th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is a level three disarming charm ... in the horizontal classification, somewhat like the threshold of professionalization in the wizarding world, such as a novice St. Mungo''s healer who has just undergone training, a newcomer Auror."


    The young wizards were all staring at Professor Hap at this point with unblinking eyes, listening carefully to every word he said. They intuitively thought that this lesson would be very important today.


    Even the expressions of other professors were serious, and Snape wondered how many levels Felix would push the spell to.


    Magic spell levelling, heh, is something he would do!


    And Felix on the stage still unhurriedly narrated, "Next, the deeper understanding you have of the spell, the more comfortable you are with it, you can even make some changes to the spell itself to suit your personal habits--"


    A beam of light flew out from the tip of the wand, only, this time, the charm is more cohesive, the colour is also mixed with white light, it is even left a clear arc in midair.


    "The power is not much different from the third level magic spell, but the controllability is higher, and it wins with subtlety, so it can be called a fourth level spell." Felix spoke, "One more remark, this is also the level of that talented Auror and St. Mungo healers, after working for a few years on their best spells."


    Felix nodded slightly, and from here on out, it wasn''t for everyone. Talent, perseverance, and teaching, you can''t have one without the other.


    Harry looked at Professor Hap on the stage, he felt like he couldn''t breathe, and it took a few moments before he realized that the emotion he had just felt welling up in his heart was longing.


    After a long pause, the young wizard looked at Professor Hap dimly.


    Is there more? Can we continue?


    A Level Five spell? Level six? Seven, eight, ninth level? I''m really curious!


    And Professor Hap lived up to the expectations as he continued, "On top of that, if you were an experienced Auror and had spent almost half your life dealing with various dark wizards, then your best spell would probably be something like this-"


    The scene was like yesterday all over again, a wrist-thick magic spell shot out, spanning half of the great hall and hitting the castle wall straight on.


    The red thunder-like arc of magic kept twisting and stretching.


    Until Felix withdrew his wand, the red light that reflected half of the great hall finally disappeared.


    "This might be called a level five magic spells."


    The young wizards offstage looked at the scene wordlessly, even though it was the second time they saw it, it was still shocking.


    Felix pondered that it''s like Lockhart''s ''Forgetfulness Charm''. But again, the comparison could not be made in this way, because Lockhart was lucky to have been blessed with ancient magic knowledge.


    Ancient magic is naturally powerful, but there is no point in discussing the power because you don''t know if the next time you use it, whether it will suddenly get out of control due to lack of control.


    The young wizards on the stage were quiet and peaceful, like a flock of Quails swept by a gale. Looking at their expressions, it seemed that someone had just cracked open their heads and stuffed a bunch of messy things inside, making them completely unable to think.


    After ten seconds or so, Felix clapped his hands, "Of course, the above magic spell levels are only for your convenience of comprehension; in reality, there is no such division as level one or level two spells."


    "Magic is unconstrained, and there is no point in dividing much of the magic that is described as miraculous by hierarchy."


    "Moreover, I must remind you that even in a duel, the one-sided pursuit of magic spell power is not the best choice; if you want to become an Auror, you need to master many things, which are equally important."


    "Next-"


    But the words didn''t kick in, the great hall seemed to explode as the young wizards raised their hands enthusiastically, and it''s obvious that they had many questions.


    "Professor, how does a level six magic spell look like?" Finally, someone offstage couldn''t help but exclaim.

 Chapter 108: The End of the Diary

    Felix answered nonchalantly, "That''s too far away from you, and I''m still in the middle of researching ..." He avoided the topic of the level six magic spells, because frankly speaking, he had never witnessed a similar spell from other people. This made him suspect for a moment that the so-called level six magic spells are merely exclusive to him personally.


    After all, he had incorporated nearly all of his heart, mind, and beliefs in his fourth year before he was able to master two level six magic spells - ''Protego'' and ''Stupefy''.


    When he succeeded, he experienced a metamorphosis beyond his imagination, his magic power, and his will sublimated.


    To be clear, he was only fifteen years old that year.


    And in the next six years, even though his magic theory advanced further, to this day, the number of his level six magic spells is less than ten.


    Of course, this is also because he shifted most of his energy towards the study of ancient magic runes.


    ...


    A student raised his hand and asked, "Professor Hap, are you in favour of specializing in one magic spell?"


    Felix shook his head as he explained, "For beginners, it is necessary to specialize in one or two kinds of magic, which will allow you to progress rapidly, stand out quickly, and gain the ability to protect yourself. But for the full-fledged wizards, they need to learn more to cope with different troubles."


    "Professor Hap, if I practice only one magic from now on, how long will it take me to reach level three or four?" This was Abbott Blake''s question.


    "Mr. Blake, I don''t recommend you to do this. If you have no problems with your grades, you will have a great hope to become an Auror." Felix said.


    "Professor, will you include this part in the next dueling lessons?"


    "Of course, I will, there is no doubt about that."


    "Professor, I want to upgrade all of my magic spells to the third level in magic spells, any suggestions?"


    Felix said in a tone like he was amused, "Mr. Pardis, you can put more effort into your magic theory. But still, there is no need to do this."


    The three professors looked at Felix with different expressions, and to be honest, in their respective fields of expertise, they thought they were no lower than the " Level 5 Magic Spell" that Felix was talking about, but the crux of the matter was...


    How would he define a level six magic spells?


    This is what intrigued the professors the most.


    "Professor McGonagall, what do you think of his theory?" Snape asked in a low voice.


    Professor McGonagall said: "This method is not suitable for Transfiguration, but for magic spells, I personally think it''s not bad. Filius, what''s your opinion?"


    Filius offered his insight: "At least in the matter of dueling spells, it is quite applicable. It provided new ideas for me to analyse some classic dueling cases. Of course, as he said, this theory can''t cover all magic spells."


    During the next few questions, the young wizards seemed to have tacitly accepted his statement about magic levels and kept asking various questions about it.


    After about ten minutes, the crowd gradually quieted down.


    Felix said, "All right! Let''s move on to the next step. We have forty minutes until the end of class, so we''ll spend the rest of the time testing and instructing you on the Disarming Charm."


    The four professors shuttled through the crowd, divided the young wizards into pairs, and instructed them on the disarming charm.


    But many of the young wizards were still scratching their heads a bit -


    "Professor Hap has definitely mastered level six magic spells!" Ron said conclusively.


    "I think so, too, and he doesn''t deny it." Dean Thomas said.


    But Professor Hap just won''t speak about it, it''s so infuriating!


    Unknowingly, most of the young wizards agreed with this method of division.


    "What do you guys say, what does a level six magic spell look like?" Ron asked.


    "Will the spell become bigger and brighter?" Neville asked with a longing look on his face.


    "You mean, a bucket-thick magic spell?"


    "It''s a possibility, isn''t it?"


    On the other side, Felix said to a small Hufflepuff wizard, "Very good, Diggory, your spell is already quite good."


    Cedric said with some formality, "I''ve been practicing this for a long time now, also the information you gave us was very useful."


    Felix nodded in satisfaction and just about to praise him a few more words, but he suddenly stopped talking.


    Cedric saw that Professor Hap''s expression became serious all of a sudden, and he couldn''t help asking, "Professor, what happened?"


    But Professor Hap did not answer him; his gaze remained in one direction, and his light blue eyes seemed to pierce through the great hall.


    "Diggory, I have a temporary emergency, help me inform the other professors." The young professor left in a hurry.


    He went all the way straight to the castle tower, and in just a few minutes he was standing in the doorway of his office.


    Felix enchanted himself with various protective magic, the protective artefacts under his clothes shimmered with the dim light from magic, and after making enough preparations, he calmly waved his wand and the door opened silently.


    The scene in front of him surprised him greatly.


    At the doorway, seven or eight dark green devil snares were tightly wrapped around the body of a house-elf, and the green branches shimmered with a greenish glow as if they were breathing.


    Felix carefully examined the unexpected intruder, which seemed to have passed out.


    Felix cast a Stunning Spell and walked straight into his office.


    After double-checking inside and out to make sure there''s no risk, he opened the suitcase in the corner and took out a delicate box from it. Felix''s fingers brushed over the surface of the box, which lit up with layer after layer of magic runes.


    There''s no sign of it being cracked.


    He opened the box and the diary lay quietly inside it, he let a slight sigh of relief.


    Only then did he have the heart to think about the origin of this strange house elf.


    After some thought, he took a thumb-sized clear vial out of the ring, which contained about a millilitre of clear liquid.


    This is a Christmas gift from Snape.


    Felix put two drops into the mouth of the house-elf and woke him up with a Reviving Spell.


    About five minutes later, he figured out the whole story.


    Felix''s emotions were quite mixed.


    He looked at the diary, and after a long silence, he said softly: "Sorry, Tom."


    A large amount of fiendfyre flew out of the wand, gathered above the room, like a cloud churning on a cloudy day. Under Felix''s control, the clouds of fire converged and shrunk toward the center, condensing into a long white sword in midair as if it were solid.


    The diary sensed the danger, the page flipped wildly, from which a large amount of black gas gushed out, but this black gas collapsed as soon as it touched the white sword.


    Tom''s voice came from the diary: "No, I can tell you the secret to overcoming death-"


    " Snip!"


    The long sword pierced the diary, passing through the delicate box, the long table-


    Then the sound came to an abrupt halt. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix waved his wand and let the eerie white longsword dissipate.


    "Understanding the essence, reshaping the form, this is the sixth level of magic ..." his voice rang throughout the office.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 109: Dobby

    Under Felix''s gaze, the diary suddenly oozed a large amount of dark ink, dripping on the floor, and the floor got corroded with bursts of black smoke. "Scourgify!" The ink disappeared.


    The diary also completely destroyed.


    Being a Horcrux, it''s extremely resistant to regular spells, but it could not resist the blaze of the Fiendfyre. Especially, Felix''s Fiendfyre longsword is counted as one of the most destructive magic.


    But under his deliberate care, it did not burn it to ashes, and the fire only burned a fist-sized hole in the journal - for Felix, its remnants were still useful.


    Felix''s eyes fell on the house-elf named Dobby.


    With the power of the potion, he almost understood what happened -


    As a Malfoy family''s slave, Dobby was able to hear a lot of Lucius Malfoy''s hidden secrets. When he learned that his master had brought the Dark Lord''s relics into Hogwarts through the hands of Ginny Weasley, he was deeply worried about Harry Potter, the House elf''s biggest benefactor, which led him to act privately again and again.


    This includes, but is not limited to, intercepting Harry Potter''s mail, obstructing Harry from getting on the train, controlling the Golden Snitch at the Quidditch pitch to injure Harry ...


    Of course, this also includes today''s attempt to sneak into his office and steal the diary while Felix was in class.


    The effect of the potion almost faded, and the elf''s eyelids fluttered, at any moment he is able to wake up.


    Dobby slowly opened his eyes.


    He dragged his slender body from the ground and opened his slender palms to observe repeatedly, his face has a puzzled look.


    "Where is Dobby at? Dobby remembers, Dobby went against his master''s wishes and secretly ... took advantage of that man''s lecture," he said as he surveyed his surroundings. Soon, his eyes met with Felix, who is sitting on the couch -


    He let out a shriek and stumbled back a few steps, grabbing his face with his hands in horror.


    Through the gap between his withered fingers, Dobby''s large eyes were filled with fear. "Faye, Faye, Felix Hap!"


    The elf is subconsciously about to run away, his short body became a blur, but the next second, his body froze.


    Felix put down his wand, and his rather emotional voice reached Dobby''s ears: "Very excellent talent, the house-elf is really a fantastic creature, but unfortunately, the magic power is too weak."


    Dobby''s magic power is not even one-tenth of that of a normal adult wizard.


    Extraordinary talent, low magic power, this is the characteristic of a house-elf. When Felix was attending school, he dedicated a lot of time to researching the weaknesses of various magical creatures, which naturally included house elf.


    One-on-one for a short time, the elf could get the upper hand in a battle with a wizard by virtue of their own talent; but if they meet with a purposefully one or two months trained wizard, they would be no match for that wizard at all.


    The panic-stricken elf struggled desperately to get rid of the invisible bindings. But when Felix said a name, Dobby''s body suddenly froze as if a Full Body-Bind Curse had been cast on him, completely frozen.


    "Lucius Malfoy."


    Dobby''s expression became even more terrified as Felix''s words seemed to awaken his instincts and he trembled: "Bad Dobby!, Bad Dobby!" He suddenly stood up, and his body involuntarily slammed into the nearest cabinet.


    Felix waved his wand and hauled him into a position opposite to him, and said calmly, "Dobby, I have no covetous desire for the Dark Lord''s relics, and there is no need for you to worry about what I will do."


    "Dobby doesn''t believe it!" He screamed, "That''s ... the vilest of all magic artefacts, and it will affect you and make you as horrible as the Dark Lord ..."


    " Pop!"


    A tattered diary fell on the small table between the two, it had a large broken hole in it and near edges, as if it had been meant to be that way.


    Dobby''s voice choked as if someone strangled him, and not a word could come out.


    "This..." Dobby clumsily stood up, his expression carrying confusion and disbelief, cautiously moved two steps closer, and then jumped on the table, half bent over to carefully examine the broken diary.


    Like a tennis ball-like eyes were wide open, " incredible! Unbelievable ... Mr. Harry Potter is safe!" A teardrop rolled down from his long, pointed nose.


    He wiped his tears with the tattered pillowcase he is wearing and kept muttering in a small voice. But he soon realized what is going on and shouted, "Bad Dobby, Bad Dobby!" Looking around for something to try to punish himself. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix shook his head. The house-elf had been in a war with wizards and after losing the war signed an extremely harsh magic contract, after generations, obeying their master''s orders had become an instinct engraved into their bones.


    For example, Dobby dared to trespass on the territory of a powerful wizard without his master''s permission, and he is considered an exception among the house elf.


    Felix tapped his finger on the sofa arm, and Dobby looked like he had been struck by a hammer as he regained his senses.


    "Let''s talk it through, Dobby."


    Dobby looked at him cautiously, "What do you want to know, the honourable and almighty Mr. Hap?"


    Although Felix already understood what had happened, he was still interested in asking some questions, he inquired, "I would like to know, the diary been in the hands of three people, Ginny Weasley, Draco Malfoy, and me. But why did you choose to come and steal the diary while I had it in my possession?"


    Three holders, two minor wizards, and one powerful professor, who would you choose in this? This choice isn''t that difficult.


    Dobby''s expression is rather formal as he hunched over and whispered, "Because I can''t, sir. My body is preventing me from taking action, one is my young master, the other is also of a noble status ... I can''t, I can''t ...'''' he let out a scream.


    Felix pondered, ''can''t touch the young master'' is a good reason to understand, but ''Ginny''s noble status'' what does he mean?


    The honour of a pureblood family? ...


    So, you mean that I am no longer a pureblood? Or is it that house-elf also relies on information from the outside world to make judgments?


    Felix shook his head, he didn''t care about the answer to that question.


    "Then how did you overcome your instincts to do these things, I assume Lucius Malfoy didn''t give you permission to act privately, right?"


    The question seemed to stun Dobby, and he whimpered and sobbed.


    "Dobby, Dobby had to punish himself by banging his head against the wall and burning his hands with a branding iron ..." said the house-elf with his tennis-big eyes wide, "but it was all Worth it, for the safety of Mr. Harry Potter ... and Master did not specifically forbid Dobby, Dobby can do this, although Dobby''s behaviour will not please master, Dobby will punish Dobby. Oh! No! Bad Dobby! Very bad, very bad, Dobby!"


    He pulled his ears fiercely.


    Well ... Felix looked at him, is this also the talent of house-elf? The loophole of such rules can be used by you.


    Felix looked at the wall clock, almost twenty minutes had passed, and he is ready to end this conversation for now.

 Chapter 110: The Duel Class Ended Perfectly

    "Dobby, can you stay here and let''s talk later?" "No, Dobby must go back, back to his master ... Dobby sneaked out while his master visiting a friend." Dobby said emphatically, "A very close friend! So master won''t let Dobby follow."


    "Then come back, when you have time. No, I need time to prepare, you can let me know in advance." Felix waved and a brass-red, round piece of metal flew over from the workbench.


    It is a brass coin.


    He tossed the coin to Dobby, who reached out to catch it and looked at it carefully, "No, no, Dobby can''t take it, Dobby doesn''t deserve ANY money." He said in fear as if he was holding some evil black magic item.


    Felix sighed, "That''s for you to notify me. You inject your magic in advance, and I will receive the message."


    This thing is a pair magic artefact, somewhat similar to the two-way mirror, but less functional than that.


    It''s just a pair of copper coins with ''synchronization enchantment'' applied to them, and when you inject magic into one, the other one will become hot.


    The ''Fever Coin'' is a spin-off product of Felix''s question-answering parchment, a product created through the collective brainstorming of those little wizards, with little technical content of its own.


    Felix is also casually made it for fun, he also sent a pair to each of his research team in it.


    The Weasley twins were interested in this, and Felix felt that it wouldn''t be long before they would show him the remnants of the ''Fever Coin'' ...


    Hearing Felix''s words, Dobby then relaxed, he carefully examined the coin in his hand, his eyes seemed to shine.


    "Is this a gift for Dobby?" He asked, cocking his head and holding the copper coin in his hand.


    "-You could say that." Felix had no intention of taking it back.


    "Mr. Hap is so generous, it''s the first time Dobby has ever received a gift!" The elf was moved to tears.


    Felix: "..." I have a lot of similar trinkets if you''re feeling that happy...


    As he watched, Dobby bowed towards him, then snapped his fingers lightly, then his figure disappeared.


    "What an interesting talent," Felix said adoringly.


    Creatures like house-elf were very magical, they had many ''wizard-like'' abilities, for example, the technique Dobby just used when he disappeared is very similar to a wizard''s Apparition, but the principles behind it completely different.


    At least, as far as Felix knew, Hogwarts had a lot of anti-Apparition ward laid out, but this ward didn''t work against some magical creatures - like phoenixes, or house elf.


    On top of that, house-elf can manipulate all kinds of small things, which are very convenient for household chores and room cleaning; they also possess quite an offensive ability, although this ability has been firmly shackled by the magic contract.


    But these are not spells familiar to wizards, rather they are the natural gifts of a magical creature who has these abilities, like a bird or snake magic creature that can enlarge and shrink its body at will depending on the space it is in.


    ... S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    When Felix returned to the great hall, the three professors were still carefully instructing the young wizard.


    It had been two weeks since the last dueling class, and many of the older young wizards were barely able to cast the Disarming Charm.


    This made the sparring between them have a bit of a shadow of a duel.


    But it''s only a shadow.


    Felix then saw the two young wizards look at each other and chant the spell aloud, only to awkwardly shoot a shower of sparks from the tip of their wands. And then, without a second glance, unleashed a real disarming charm that came straight at him.


    "Miss Bulstrode, be careful with your spell," Felix remarked to the stout-looking witch as he put off the spell. He looked at her twice more. If he is not mistaken, his own assistant had acquired cat hair from her and wore a knitted hat for three weeks for it.


    "Oh sorry, Professor." Millicent Bulstrode said with some panic.


    "You have to watch the angle of your wand and wield it hard as if you were stabbing it out. And ... faith is important, don''t be playful, it will seriously slow down your progress."


    After pointing out a few young wizards, Felix came near Professor McGonagall, where a small circle of people was gathered around her.


    She''s standing happily in front of a pair of young wizards, complimenting them loudly, "Potter, very excellent disarming charm." She rubbed the corners of her eyes.


    As Felix looked over, a red light flew out of Harry''s wand, hitting his opponent, Hermione Granger, precisely.


    Her wand came out of her hand and arced in midair, caught in Harry''s agile hand.


    The little witch looked puffy.


    Harry handed the wand somewhat smugly and just about to say something when his next opponent had stepped forward.


    Felix noticed, to his surprise, that opposite to Harry, there is a short queue, with a number of young wizards surrounding around, looking at Harry with adoring faces.


    What is this situation?


    When Hermione saw Felix, she quietly came over. "Professor Hap."


    "What''s going on here?"


    "Uh, Ron mentioned that the reason he learned the disarming charm because he practiced against Harry and got hit by the charm too many times." She said with her head down.


    Felix looked at Ron, who is on the sidelines cooing, commenting, and scowling, and looked ridiculous.


    But ... is it possible? Even he is not sure.


    It''s really an absurd point of view, totally for the people without a clear brain circuit.


    He looked at his assistant, "So, you also believe it?"


    Hermione said with some embarrassment, "At first I didn''t believe ... it," but the number of young wizards running over to request mainly to practice against Harry grew, and she wavered.


    She tactfully changed the subject: "Professor, everyone says you''ve mastered the Level Six spell." Hermione stared at Felix''s expression, trying to gauge something.


    "Is that so?"


    "Yes!" Hermione said emphatically, "What do you think, Professor?"


    "My thoughts, Miss Granger, are we going to be working late this weekend."


    "Uh, what?"


    "Grading the homework that was given in the last dueling class."


    Hermione looked at him dumbfounded, and she couldn''t help but look around at the hundreds of young wizards in the great hall, who were practicing their spells with gusto and enthusiasm.


    In their eyes, it''s a new and interesting enough game.


    Occasionally, the great hall erupted with laughter when someone missed a spell or spewed out a cluster of dazzling sparks.


    But in the joyful atmosphere, she suddenly lost that joy, only feeling a little disturbed.


    After seven or eight minutes, Felix came up to the stage and ended the session.


    "I have seen your progress, young wizards."


    "The perfects of each house will collect the assignments which were given in the last class uniformly, and I will spare some time to advise one by one - if your data is not fabricated."


    Many of the little wizards bowed their heads.


    As the young wizards left the great hall, they had big smiles on their faces.


    "Hermione, you don''t look so good," Ron said.


    He is in a very good mood, in fact, because of the Special Contribution Award, Ron became very popular these days, especially after resolving the trouble with Lockhart, and his detention mostly lifted by Professor McGonagall.


    " Oh well." Hermione walked away with her head held high.


    "Harry, I think it''s because of you, your Disarming Charm is much better than hers," Ron said to Harry.


    Harry scratched his head.


    The next morning, a piece of news spread throughout Hogwarts, overwhelming all other gossips.


    "Gilderoy Lockhart: a false adventurer! About to face multiple trials." A young wizard held the newspaper delivered by an owl and read the front-page headline aloud.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 111: Dumbledores Afternoon Tea

    The young wizards in the great hall, eating their breakfast and murmured. Hermione borrowed a newspaper from the person eating next to her and pointed to the text on it, "Look here, ''After tampering with the wizards'' memories and obtaining their stories, Lockhart used Obliviate on them. So far only seven victims could be found, and their memories were permanently impaired.''"


    The chicken leg in Ron''s mouth stopped tasting good, "So, I almost lost my memory forever?"


    He felt disbelief, with the level of magic that Lockhart displayed on a regular basis, and he was also repeatedly able to sneak up on him.


    Harry also said with palpitations: " or you might not even know that you had lost your memory, who would have thought that he is a master of Obliviate ?" S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s terrible to think I spent a week in an office with someone like that." Ron took a big gulp of pumpkin juice.


    "I wonder who captured Lockhart?"


    "Wasn''t it Auror from the Ministry of Magic, I heard it from Dean."


    "No way, I asked the Fat Lady, and she said no outsiders came that day at all," Hermione said casually.


    "How did she know?" Ron looked shocked, " it''s just a portrait."


    "Ron, the portrait also retains its own character, the Fat Lady is keen on opera and chatting, she often visits other portraits when no one around." Hermione narrowed her eyes, "She''ll be happy to share some gossip with you as long as you compliment her a few more times on how well she sings."


    "And to be fair, her songs weren''t that bad."


    ...


    Later that afternoon, in the Headmaster''s office, Felix and Dumbledore sat face to face as they discussed the aftermath of Lockhart''s arrest.


    On the table lay several plates of cupcakes and cookies, along with two glasses of pumpkin juice.


    "Sadly, there may be more people harmed than initially anticipated," Dumbledore said softly.


    "More than his adventures?"


    "Yes. He can''t guarantee that every story he encounters will be engaging enough."


    Felix flipped through the few newspaper pages on the table, "How come I didn''t see anything from Rita Skeeter?" That isn''t like her.


    Is she afraid her attack on Lockhart will be exposed? But memories are rarely used as evidence, especially when the perpetrator himself is a master of said magic. Even if Lockhart identified Rita Skeeter in court, it wouldn''t matter much.


    "She''s in the middle of some trouble." Dumbledore used a small fork to stab a piece of cake, "It tastes quite good, Felix, I highly recommend it."


    Felix put one piece in his mouth, "Would she put herself in trouble? She''s a smart one."


    Dumbledore gave him a look, "Smart people will make mistakes as well, and they are more prone to find loopholes in the rules than the average person, so the mistakes they make are probably bigger."


    "So the trouble she''s in is-"


    "According to the information I got, she did everything she could to inquire about the inside story of Lockhart''s arrest, and then rushed to register as Animagus the same day at the Ministry of Magic."


    "Animagus." Felix swallowed the cake and repeated. "Yeah, Animagus, an illegal Animagus ..."


    He finally understood why Rita Skeeter had made a move on Lockhart.


    "I guess, her transformation must be some kind of tiny creature." Felix sounded very sure.


    "It is a beetle." Dumbledore said calmly, "If the truth is as we think, there is a reason why she has been well-informed all these years. From what we can discern, Lockhart has been hit by an Obliviate, but he has got free from the effects of the spell, which puts her in a very awkward spot."


    Memories can be falsified, but magic doesn''t lie. If Lockhart did testify that Rita Skeeter is an illegal Animagus, there must be quite a few people in the Ministry of Magic who would be interested in inspecting it.


    Rita Skeeter has been acting recklessly these past few years, and I don''t know how many people she has pissed off.


    "I don''t think she''ll have it easy as she wants," Felix said.


    After a moment of silence, Felix spoke, "Headmaster Dumbledore, there is still five months until the next academic year, what about the school''s Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"


    Dumbledore also showed a distressed expression, he could not help but smack his lips and sighed and say, "The professor for this course change really fast."


    "So, the curse of the Dark Lord is true?"


    "I guess so, since I refused Voldemort, no teacher of Defense Against the Dark Arts has been able to teach it for more than a year." Dumbledore said, "I think he must be very angry to be rejected twice."


    "Twice?" Felix looked at him with a bizarre expression. "You rejected him twice?"


    He, himself, got rejected three times, and he''s still eating cake in the Headmaster''s office.


    "No, Felix." Dumbledore blinked and said light-heartedly, "Headmaster Dippet thought he was too young and rejected him. After that, he disappeared for ten years and when he came to apply for a job again, I could hardly recognize him and I rejected him explicitly."


    "Professor Snape, however, has always had this class on his mind." Felix banged the side drum for his house head.


    "Severus ...," Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "I will not give him this class."


    "Why? In the years I attended, no one died, only one or two suffered minor injuries, and it doesn''t look like the curse had much effect."


    "That''s because no one has ever been in this course for more than a year." Dumbledore sighed softly. "That''s the only solution I''ve come up with, but after thirty years, this course doesn''t have a good reputation anymore, and it''s getting harder and harder to find qualified teachers."


    This is indeed true.


    Felix rejected the Defense Against Dark Arts class because, on the one hand, the default term of appointment for the course is one year, which has never been an exception and does not suit his purpose; on the other hand, it is a really nefarious position, and every professor more or less had an accident by the end of the term.


    But in his opinion, this time there is not much risk. Snape can totally substitute six months of classes, a big deal, handed it over to the new professor the next year.


    Felix voiced his suggestion.


    "But Severus will be staying and teaching at Hogwarts next year, won''t he?" Dumbledore looked at him meaningfully.


    "You mean the curse won''t stop as long as the person remains in the school?" Felix asked keenly.


    "That''s what I''ve observed. I have also invited a few outgoing professors for the Defense Against the Dark Arts course to change to other positions, resulting in serious mishaps ..." Dumbledore fell into reminiscence, "but it doesn''t matter if they take a class or two in temporary."


    He revealed very alarming information, which is almost saying that once tainted with the curse, you must flee Hogwarts in a year at most, otherwise, even if you step down from the position of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, you will not be safe.


    Dumbledore seeking anyone, except Snape.


    Felix completely dismissed the idea of helping him to secure a teaching position in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and the two began to discuss the curse itself.


    "How did he do it?" Felix asked.


    It seemed unbelievable to him because Voldemort''s curse is linked a little too closely to Hogwarts.


    Hogwarts itself, in fact, has a very good defense ward, it is difficult to be affected by external influence.


    "What follows are all speculation on my part, and is considered to be tea-time banter."


    "Of course."


    "I think Voldemort cleverly used the identity of the Slytherin heir, plus he himself is very good at curses ... In short, when the two are combined, result in phenomenal results." Dumbledore said.


    "Voldemort can influence the operation of Hogwarts?" Felix asked as he felt chills. This claim is amazing ...


    "No, Felix. The Hogwarts order has existed for a thousand years, and even if Salazar Slytherin ever returned, he would not be able to reclaim the Hogwarts."


    "Then--"


    "Voldemort paid a huge price, and from all the indications, he gave up Hogwarts'' protection forever - a privilege that belongs exclusively to the descendants of the four founders - he used the authority and shelter that he was given, and with his own hatred to cast this curse."


    After a long silence -


    "And the way to lift this curse is?"


    "Voldemort''s death." Dumbledore lowered his gaze.


    "So you knew he wasn''t dead for a long time?"


    "Yes, I always knew." Dumbledore murmured, "The existence of the curse suggests it."


    The two discussed the curse for quite a long time next, and Felix knew a lot of information about Hogwarts.


    When Felix excused himself and left, Dumbledore sat quietly in his chair, on the table with the long thin legs, there placed a set of rare and odd silverware, whirling and emitting small puffs of smoke.


    Portraits of the old Headmaster on the wall, they whispered and murmured about what the pair had just talked about.


    On the cabinet shelf opposite to the table lays a tattered and crumpled wizard''s hat. At the moment, a crack near the rim of the sorting hat opened up like a mouth: "Dumbledore, this is not like you."


    Dumbledore slender fingers joined together, "Do you have any insight, the sorting hat of the House? I''m all ears."


    "You''ve said a lot today, and I thought ... you''d keep it all buried deep inside."


    "Maybe I simply got hooked on the conversation, and Felix is a good listener."


    "Maybe ... but you''re revealing a bit of the Hogwarts hidden secrets, which is exclusively for the Headmasters. Dumbledore ..."


    The portraits on the wall all stared at Dumbledore.


    "... I guess, you are trying to groom that boy?"


    Dumbledore gave a little smile, his beard twitching gently: "sorting hat, how do you see him, from your own point of view?"


    "He wants to research me, I can see that, though he hides that idea deeply. What a fine wizard. He reminds me of Lady Ravenclaw, and I am very much looking forward towards his growth."


    Dumbledore showed an astonished expression, he and the Sorting Hat spent nearly half a century together, he naturally knew that although the Sorting Hat respects all four founders, it has the most special feelings for two of them, one is Gryffindor, the other is Ravenclaw.


    This is very high praise from the Sorting Hat.


    The old man regained his composure and said: "Voldemort''s presence is getting stronger and stronger, and I have a feeling it will not be very far from his return. I also have to make some preparations, although it may not always be useful."

 Chapter 112: Extra Guidance

    Later in the day, Felix had mentioned the conversation with Dumbledore to Snape, and the professor had left in silence. Maybe he wasn''t hopeful ... Felix watched his back and thought silently.


    Time skipped to Saturday, and Felix finally got a big chunk of free time.


    He took out the memory spells material copied from Lockhart''s office and studied them carefully. It could be seen that Lockhart attached great importance to this information, it''s filled with plausible personal notes, and part of the ink is still very new, it couldn''t be more than two weeks old.


    ''It''s not as if Lockhart hasn''t done anything decent for most of the year.''


    According to Felix''s thoughts, perhaps Lockhart never took teaching to his heart and just mingled as much as he could. Waiting for a year to pass away, he sold a lot of books, memory magic can also have some progress, and most crucially, he can write a book like "The Professor Under the Curse" or "My Year at Hogwarts" kind of book.


    This is not a challenge for Lockhart, who could even modify stories that were abandoned in the past and use them directly.


    At least he saw in the manuscript of Lockhart''s interview, which the trio had copied, a considerable amount of space was devoted to the crooked old wizard''s experience in solving the curse of dark magic items, but this part is not placed in his "Wandering with Werewolves".


    It would make perfect sense if Lockhart intended to link this part, with the Hogwarts curse, to present himself as a master who is good at solving curses.


    Felix ignored the notes from the material of Lockhart and carefully read the original manuscript - although the term original manuscript is not appropriate, because the entire material was copied by Lockhart, and this is the most regrettable part for him.


    But from the lines, he still felt a sense of familiarity.


    What exactly is it, has he read a different book by the same author?


    Felix went through thousands of magic books in his thinking room, and he got a bit of a migraine.


    Late in the evening, Felix let out a soft sigh of relief and put down the material in his hands.


    The harvest is great.


    In addition to Lockhart''s own signature magic, Obliviate (Ancient Magic Version), he had also gained some scattered and trivial tips on Occlumency.


    After combining the insights about memory magic from Lockhart, the diary, Snape, and his knowledge, perhaps he could obtain a new level six magic spells after working on it for a while.


    Whether it is an Occlumency or Obliviate? For Felix, it was really hard to choose.


    "And with two versions of the Obliviate spell, I have a chance to sort out the simplified concept of modern magic and go back to the source to restore the ancient magic from the modern one."


    It is another long-term project, but for Felix, it is a million-dollar affair.


    Felix kept thinking about it, and he felt that the biggest gain from his return to Hogwarts, besides the growing number of practical ancient runes, this would be his biggest gain.


    He even tapped into a number of interesting ideas from this material, which can solve the puzzles that arose from the diary.


    " Lockhart is really a Treasure Wizard, unfortunately, he''s going to Azkaban."


    ...


    A little later, his own young assistant reported in a time.


    Felix put the memory charm materials away and took out the two-foot thick parchments from the corner.


    These were the assignments turned in by the young wizards in dueling class.


    "Well ... we have to divide the work neatly, I''ll give the evaluation, and you will be recording it," Felix said, he felt his assistant was somewhat sluggish in the sparring match with Harry.


    But she is the most determined among the young wizards, who learned the Disarming Charm according to his " division method ".


    It is necessary to give her some extra care as a benefit.


    "This ..." Felix picked up the first parchment and looked at the data in the table on it, "Tsk!" Without saying anything, he handed it to Hermione.


    "Professor, what should I write?" The young witch asked, holding a quill in her hand.


    "Give him a question mark, an exaggerated one."


    Hermione: "????"


    "The data is made up." Professor Hap said shortly.


    "Professor Hap, how do you figure it out?"


    "His stats are excellent, but I''ve noticed him in dueling class, and he didn''t learn the disarming charm and has problems with even the most basic wand form ... probably copied a good student'' stats."


    Hermione nodded as she wrote down a question mark on the parchment.


    "The second one, let me see ..." Felix circled a few lines of data, "His problem is that his foundation is too poor, it is recommended to review the specific chapters of the charms textbook, which is mentioned in detail in the material. Miss Granger, mark the specific entries for me."


    "Okay." She wrote down "focus on what is mentioned in the fifth article of the study material" with ease - she knew the study material of the Disarming Charm by heart.


    Hermione finished writing her annotations on the parchment, then looked at the data Felix had circled, and she understood it all at once.


    This student named Erebus, most of his difficulties are concentrated in the major category of ''operation standard'', and slightly on other categories such as ''essential theory'', ''spellcasting mentality'', ''magic comprehension'', etc.


    Time passed, Hermione continued to follow Professor Hap''s description, writing down various suggestions on the parchment, Professor Hap didn''t do anything, he would only highlight the key data and mark it out.


    As she has seen more and more problems, her understanding of the disarming charm is becoming clearer and clearer.


    With many suggestions made by Felix, she is able to understand a good deal compared to the key data that the professor had underlined.


    This is a matter of handling specifications, and this is a matter of mindset ... which is also reflected in the self-evaluation. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix will also give various tips, such as the spell casting mentality part, he gave the approach of " imagine a tall man wielding a broomstick to attack you, and you are using your mind to make the broomstick in his hand fly over."


    She also wrote up Professor Hap''s explanation - "The mindset of the disarming charm is a self-preservation mindset, to be determined to make the enemy lose the ability to hurt you."


    Hermione could not resist asking: "Professor, do we have to visualize this idea to succeed?"


    "When you become proficient, there is no necessity. Some elite Auror can even cast disarming charms while sleeping. But when you have yet to master the charm, this right mindset will speed up your progress."


    Hermione nodded.


    Halfway through the grading, Hermione yawned impishly.


    "Let''s continue tomorrow evening, I suggest you spend more time practicing the disarming charm tomorrow during the day, you might get some surprises," Felix said to his assistant.


    The next day, evening.


    "It''s really improved!" Hermione said excitedly.


    She didn''t wait until morning, but practiced by herself when she got back last night.


    It has a strange feeling, when the wand was waved, she could realize which part she did not do well.


    The advice and tips she had written down in a stroke of her own quill kept popping up in her head.


    During the day, she spent a lot of time practicing, and she was progressing almost at a rate visible to the naked eye.


    Felix smiled, "We''ll finish grading today, and I think, by that time, your understanding of the disarming charm will be excellent."


    ...


    In the following week, time flew by and the answer parchments, which were only used in the fifth and seventh years, appeared in the ancient magic rune class of the other years one after another.


    There is a buzz among the young wizards about this new teaching tool.


    During one day in the great hall, Professor McGonagall asked him some information about the answer parchment, and Felix answered her cheerfully.


    Professor McGonagall stayed where she is with a thoughtful face.

 Chapter 113: Ministry of Magic

    February 4, Saturday, 9:30 am. Felix, fully dressed, stood in front of the fireplace, then his figure disappeared from the office amidst a puff of bright-green flames.


    And when Felix exited the public fireplace, he already reached Diagon Alley.


    Diagon Alley is the most famous wizarding commercial district in the British wizarding world, which contains many big-name stores, bars, offices, and large enterprises.


    Gringotts, Broken Cauldron Bar, the main office of the Daily Prophet, and the Ollivander, Madam Malkin''s Robes, Flourish and Blotts Bookseller, and Apothecary, and many more associated with the little wizards, were all here.


    However, Felix just passing by. He patted the dust on his body with his bowler hat, and the next second, he appeared directly in a dark, and narrow alley using apparition.


    When Felix came out of the alley, he is standing on what looked like a very desolate street, where there were only a few dilapidated-looking low-rise office buildings, a small saloon, and a dusty antique car.


    He walked some distance to the red phone booth by the wall - it looked pretty lousy, tattered, red paint peeling off in large pieces, broken glass, a slightly sane person would not even bother to enter to explore it.


    But Felix went inside, he picked up the phone hanging crookedly, dialled the number "62442", and waited quietly.


    A few seconds later, a cold woman''s voice echoed through the phone.


    "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and the reason for your visit."


    Felix said calmly, "Felix Hap, invited to the awarding ceremony of Damocles Belby."


    "Thank you," a cold voice of the woman stated, "Guest, please take the badge and pin it to the front of your shirt."


    A square, silver badge slid out of the coin slot, which read, Felix Hap, temporarily admitted for a visit.


    "Guest of the Ministry of Magic, you will be required to be checked at the security checkpoint and register your wand. The security checkpoint is located at the end of the main hall."


    Felix pinned his badge on his robe, and his thought at the moment is, is this woman even a real person?


    But the floor of the phone booth suddenly trembled, and he slowly descended into the ground. After about a minute, the phone booth stopped trembling.


    "The Ministry of Magic hopes you to have a great day." The woman''s voice stated.


    The door jerked open and Felix stepped out, a gleaming lobby appeared before him.


    He walked on the glossy dark floor with rows of plated fireplaces embedded in the walls on either side, which for the official members of the Ministry of Magic way of commuting.


    Perhaps being a weekend, there weren''t many people, nevertheless, there were three to two wizards still busy. A pimply-faced young man with a wobbly stack of parchments in his arms passed by him.


    Felix looked at his back, the one just now seemed to be an acquaintance of his?


    He shook his head and walked past the fountain in the center of the foyer to a desk. Behind the desk sat a wizard in peacock blue robes and a poorly shaven beard.


    Above his head, there is a sign that reads "Security Clearance".


    Felix tapped his finger on the table, "Good morning, sir, l am here to register my wand." The wizard looked up and put down the Daily Prophet in his hand.


    " Over here." The wizard stated in a dull tone.


    Felix approached him, and the male wizard raised a long gold rod, as thin as a car''s antenna, and he swept it across Felix''s front and back from top to bottom.


    "A wand." The security wizard muttered, extending his hand.


    Felix flipped his wrist and flicked a wand out of his sleeve.


    The male wizard froze, "I''ve seen quite a few Auror conceal their wands like that, you''re a newbie Auror?"


    "I serve at Hogwarts," Felix said briefly.


    "Geez, that''s a good job ..." The male wizard''s attitude warmed up quite a bit, "My name is Eric Munch, usually in charge of security, and occasionally doing guard duty."


    "Felix, you can call me that."


    Eric threw the wand at an oddly shaped, scales-like brass machine. The machine began to vibrate slightly.


    The male wizard was in the middle of a conversation, "What class do you teach? I heard that Professor Kettleburn is retiring, is he still around? His class was so awful that when I was in school ..."


    "Mr. Munch," Felix interrupted, "Professor Kettleburn is still teaching the young wizards, and I''m in charge of the ancient runes."


    As far as he knew, Professor Kettlebone is indeed retiring, but his replacement is readily available now- Rubeus Hagrid.


    Dumbledore is actively attempting to pacify him and restore his reputation. But it seems to be going not so smoothly, because the murderer who opened the chamber has yet to be caught, Felix has planned to throw the diary out at the right time.


    But this matter must be scheduled after speaking with Dobby. Otherwise, if something goes wrong in the middle, he is afraid that he will not be able to see that reckless elf.


    In fact, the matter of restoring reputation and appointing as a professor, Dumbledore himself can solve it, he only needs to mention a sentence at a holiday dinner. But in order to allow Hagrid to use his wand openly, it is necessary to obtain the recognition of the Ministry of Magic.


    And the Ministry of Magic has always been the representative of a tough figure to talk to.


    "Tick tock!" A narrow piece of parchment flew out of the brass machine''s bottom opening, and Eric ripped the paper off and read the words on it.


    "Thirteen inches, ebony, with a dragon heartstring core for the wand, ten years old. Is that correct?"


    "Very accurate," Felix said mildly. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''ll keep this one," the wizard said, jabbing the strip of parchment onto a tiny brass staple. "You can have this back." he grabbed the wand with one hand.


    "Thanks."


    "Wait a minute," Eric asked, his hand reaching halfway across the desk as he paused to take a good look at the badge on Felix''s chest.


    He said slowly, "I remember you just mentioned that your name is Felix, Felix Hap? That ... one who prompted the 8-7 dueling contract."


    The tip of Eric Munch''s nose flushed and his nostrils expanded excitedly as if he had seen something remarkable.


    "Can you tell me, what were your thoughts at the time? I mean, they''re one of the 28 purebloods! Even though I can''t stand them myself - I''m half-blood - there''s something about the fact that they''ve been around for hundreds of years. But it''s such a shame that one of them has now left Britain forever ..." he chattered.


    Felix calmly held out his hand, and the inky wand in the male wizard''s hand flew to his hand with a "whoosh", "I''m in a hurry, we can talk again later." He nodded at Eric Munch and turned to leave.


    Felix took the elevator to the second floor, he followed the door sign all the way through the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, the Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, and the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects, and finally found the Wizengamot Headquarters.


    On the left side of the office, there are two oak doors that opened inwards and look very heavy. On the door, there is a conspicuous sign - meeting room No. 3.


    As Felix approached, from inside a very familiar, drawn-out voice spoke: "The taste of the potion is not important, my personal habit is to increase the amount of aconite ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 114: Recognizing a certain Hogwarts Professor

    Felix curled his lips and walked into the Assembly Room. Extension Charm cast on the room, which looked small from the outside, but inside it looks like a small Hogwarts great hall.


    The floor laid with dark, silky, dark wood, blue ceiling inlaid with glittering golden symbols, constantly moving and altering.


    Two rows of torches were stuck in the walls on all sides, red flames burning quietly.


    There were about twenty people in the assembly room, scattered in seven or eight small circles.


    The Minister of Magic, Cornelius Oswald Fudge, is surrounded by the most people, he looked very active, full of smiles, his stomach stuck straight up, and he looked completely different from when he was at Hogwarts.


    Not far from the door, Snape is talking to a tall, thin, middle-aged male wizard with curly brown hair.


    "Professor Snape, you''re here too." Felix walked up to the two.


    Snape also looked at him with a surprised expression, his eyes fixed on Felix, and said quietly, "I didn''t expect to see you here as well, I don''t remember you achieving anything memorable in the field of potions."


    Felix smiled: "Belby and I are friends and often correspond with each other."


    Snape smacked his lips and didn''t utter a word.


    Felix turned his head to look at the male wizard, "Damocles, long time no see."


    The male wizard in front of him is the master of the potion, that invented the Wolfsbane Potion - Damocles Belby.


    Belby shook his hand warmly, "Felix, I''m glad to share my joy with you."


    He abruptly came closer and said in a hushed tone, "I recently saw a new muggle play that was very interesting, and if you haven''t seen it, I highly recommend you do so."


    "What''s it about?"


    "The story of a bunch of canine having a party?" He said, not quite sure. "Honestly, I always thought it''s an opera, but the muggles call it a musical, and I can''t figure out the difference."


    "Well ...," Felix said, trying to remember.


    Snape listened in amazement at their conversation with each other, even Hogwarts'' Muggle Studies professor, Charity Burbage, doesn''t get too involved in Muggle life.


    That said, it is Felix who brought Belby into the pit.


    The earliest acquaintance between the two was when Belby wrote a letter refuting some statements in his book, arguing that he is overstating the case, and was quite vocal about it. At the time, Felix only treated him as a brainless pureblood, and justifiably mocked him in a fancy way, with various data.


    As a result, Belby really studied it seriously, and finally wrote a letter admitting his mistake.


    The correspondence between the two people also became more, Felix also visited him several times.


    This master of potion is introverted, not good at socializing, but in fact, the heart is delicate, also a little sensitive. In his letters, he was distressed that his obsession with the potion had alienated his relationship with his family.


    Felix suggests that he and his family look for some common topics and find something to intersect between his own preferences and those of his family.


    And Belby chose opera.


    According to what Felix later learned, Belby invited the whole family to a very famous wizard opera at a family gathering, and they were all surprised by it, but gladly went along.


    Later, Felix unintentionally mentioned that the Muggle world also has quite a few excellent operas ...


    During the conversation, Belby pulled over a man, "This is my brother, Crest, Crest Belby."


    Felix looked at the short man with the same hair colour, "Hello, Mr. Crest."


    "Hello, Mr. Hap." The man said with interest, "I''ve heard about you from Damocles, and he held you in such high esteem that he bought a hundred copies of your book ..."


    "Ahem!" His brother coughed twice with some embarrassment.


    Felix: "..."


    It didn''t take long for other wizards on the scene to spot Felix, and they took the initiative to come over and talk.


    " Hap, long time no see, I heard that you went to work at Hogwarts."


    "That''s right, I''m in charge of ancient runes. Ogden, are things busy at Wizengamot these days?"


    "Not much going on, I don''t even bother about that so much." The male wizard muttered.


    Halfway through, Fudge also came to say hello, he hinted that he had a private party in the immediate future, Felix pretended not to understand and wished him all the best.


    In the meantime, quite a number of people came into the room, most of them experts in the field of potions and members of the Wizengamot, as well as some working employees of the Ministry of Magic and three or two journalists.


    There is a buzz at the doorway, and Felix looks up to see a short, fat witch in pink.


    As she passed by, a strong smell of perfume hit him.


    The witch walked right up to fudge and talked to him in a shrill voice.


    Belby frowned and said, "She''s the host for the day, that''s my only complaint."


    "That''s-"


    "Dolores Umbridge, Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office and, of course, a member of the Wizengamot. She doesn''t have a very good reputation in the Ministry of Magic, very demanding individual ..."


    The witch suddenly cackled, and Belby shut his mouth tightly.


    Soon, the ceremony officially began.


    Umbridge stood on the high platform and smiled sweetly at the thirty or so guests below.


    "As a member of the Wizengamot, I am honored to stand here and preside over this award ceremony. I would like to express my special gratitude to Minister of Magic Cornelius Oswald Fudge for his trust in me, without his wise leadership ..."


    Originally, Felix listened attentively, but when ten minutes had passed, he finally strayed away. Although he would be polite with strangers, never for such a long speech.


    When she reached twenty minutes mark, the voices at the bottom of the stage gradually got louder. Umbridge had to draw her wand from her dress pocket and tap the wooden panel in front of her to silence the crowd.


    Felix''s eyes skimmed over the pink bow in her hair and stared at the wand in her hand - a birchwood wand of about 8 inches.


    After another three or four minutes, and as the commotion broke out once more, Umbridge finally got down to business.


    "Let us welcome today''s protagonist - Damocles Belby, who has been awarded the second class badge of the Order of Merlin for his outstanding contribution in inventing the wolfsbane potion!"


    Belby walked up with an expressionless face.


    "-and the honored guests, Augustus Gray and Minister Cornelius Oswald Fudge."


    The head of the Wizengamot Office, an aged wizard, trembled as he handed Belby a gold-plated certificate, and then was pulled down.


    Then Umbridge handed Fudge a box, which Fudge opened with a smile on his face, and took out a gold medallion with a purple ribbon from inside.


    Fudge hung the Order of Merlin on Belby''s chest and shook his hand affectionately.


    Felix noticed that the smile on Belby''s face is very stiff.


    The stage flashed with white lights and "clicks" for pictures.


    Next, Fudge gave an enthusiastic speech, praising "Belby''s outstanding contribution to the eradication of werewolves that have been a problem for centuries, a historic milestone."


    Felix imposed a "Muffliato Charm" around himself, whispered to Snape, and quietly turned his head to the side.


    "How come I didn''t spot Dumbledore?"


    Snape squeezed a sentence out of his mouth, "He rarely participates in these activities unless he thinks it is really necessary."


    "Isn''t he the head wizard of Wizengamot?" Felix asked.


    "That''s an honour, Felix. Wizengamot, other than judging a group of dark wizards at the end of the war, mostly spends the rest of the time minding petty chicken crap, do you think, Dumbledore would get involved in that?"


    Under Snape''s explanation, Felix reacquainted himself with this organization.


    Wizengamot has a great reputation as the highest Tribunal in the wizarding world, functioning similarly to the combination of the Court and the Parliament. However, in the actual process, their authority overlaps highly with other departments of the Ministry of Magic.


    The members of the Wizengamot can be viewed in two: most of the members are wizards reputable in various fields, who are invited to join in; while the other part of the members, the Office of Wizengamot Affairs, is responsible for the regular management and paperwork.


    But they are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Magic.


    This department is responsible for hearing all common violations. Only in controversial cases of greater impact will all members of the Wizengamot be invited to act as a jury and vote to decide.


    Even then, the Ministry of Magic will often assign judges themselves straight out.


    ... s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    When walking out of the meeting room, Felix asked Belby, "Any plans these days?"


    Belby took a long breath, "I''m going to take some time off and get exposed to something new - that''s the advice you gave me, no?"


    A thought suddenly appeared in Felix''s mind, he looked Belby up and down, and just when the master of potion got a little hairy, he finally spoke out -


    "Damocles, are you interested in experiencing a period of campus life?"

 Chapter 115: Invitation

    Belby looked at him in disbelief, are you going to make me go back to school? "How about we find a place to sit and talk about it, in the Hogsmeade''s Three Broomsticks?" Felix suggested.


    "No problem." Belby talked to his brother and quickly walked over.


    Snape had already left, so the two used Apparition and went directly to the entrance of the Three Broomsticks Inn.


    "A very good experience, Felix, I did not feel any discomfort." Belby said admiringly, "I generally do not use it on my journey unless I have to ..."


    Felix and Belby walked into the inn, it being a weekend, there were only small groups of little wizards from Hogwarts sitting inside, especially couples, and they too watched in amazement as Professor Hap and a stranger walked in.


    "Is that Professor Hap''s friend?" Clemmie Vera thought to herself as the girl next to her stared curiously at the duo.


    Felix picked a seat in the corner, and Mrs. Rosmerta came over to take down their order, and within a minute, it''s delivered.


    "A glass of low-alcohol mead."


    "A glass of sorbet with limoncello."


    She wiggled her waist and left.


    Felix knocked on the table, and the surrounding voices weakened all at once.


    "Felix, this is?"


    "It''s best to keep the little wizards out of this conversation between us." Felix pointed a short-distance away, and several young wizards peered curiously, and he even saw a few familiar faces.


    Next, Felix briefed him on the encounter with the last Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor.


    "So that''s it, I didn''t pay much attention to the incident," Belby said.


    "There is something I must warn you about, the rumours about the curse placed on this class in the outside world ..." Felix concealed the existence of Voldemort and used a powerful wizard to refer to the source of the curse by proxy.


    "Well ..." Belby some hesitation. "According to you, I only need to teach a little over half a year, and the curse would not affect me?"


    "From past decades of history, it is true that the vast majority of those wizards who have taught Defense Against the Dark Arts classes are still alive and well, except for a few-"


    "But they all have their own reasons for this, Damocles, you are an excellent wizard, and with a much shorter period of substitution, this danger is near negligible."


    Felix said sincerely, "Hogwarts has the largest collection of books in the world, and I think it would be no less useful to you at this stage."


    Belby''s eyes lit up at once, "Indeed ... I spent more than ten years researching wolfsbane potions, and what troubled me most about this was the lack of research material of the same type."


    Potion masters are a group of relatively nerdy wizards, they have less time to socialize, which is related to the nature of the potion - a potion will be brewed for a month or two, if you want to make improvements, at least a hundred trials are needed.


    His mind livened up, perhaps he could spend a little over half a year to recharge himself - the word ''recharge'' is also something he learned from the Muggle world.


    What''s more, there is a Potion Master at Hogwarts to communicate with.


    Plus the twofold lure of Forbidden Forest and Lady Sprout''s greenhouse ...


    "Do you have any tips to offer, Felix, if I agree to teach?" Belby asked, his heart already racing.


    Felix thought for a moment and said, "I suggest you prepare a few defensive magical artefacts - I can provide them to you, no-no, there''s no need to be nervous, I''m just used to coping with problems proactively." He looked at Belby''s expression and added.


    "Secondly, when you communicate with Dumbledore, you can seek more information from him about the course, especially those wizards who used to be professors of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class - what is their current status? You could even visit some of them." S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Finally, prepare for the class in advance, the level of the young wizards at Hogwarts may be different from what you might expect."


    Belby flashed a smile, "I graduated from Hogwarts too, Felix, and I know the level I was at."


    ...


    That day, Felix told Dumbledore about it.


    "So, we will soon have an excellent professor?" A look of surprise appeared on Dumbledore''s face, "To be honest, I am just about to send out the job advertisement."


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, Belby is just a little intrigued, and you still need to communicate with him on that aspect specifically, so I''ll stay out of it. But - he is one of the few friends with whom I can chat, I hope you can guarantee his safety."


    Dumbledore''s blue eyes looked at Felix, he smiled mildly and said, "Of course."


    Over the next few days, Felix didn''t pay much attention to this matter. He went through the routine of teaching, answering questions, and studying magic.


    This rhythmic life made his sense of time blur.


    The week passed quickly.


    On a clear afternoon, the snow began to melt from the castle, and the roof dripped with silver drops.


    The Weasley twins blocked him at the end of class.


    The two chuckled and pulled out two coins, which Felix took, and he couldn''t help but wonder if they''d scrapped the "Fever coin".


    But to his surprise, the coins were intact, and there is something more to it.


    Felix fondled the brass coin in his hand and looked at the twins, who exchanged a sly glance.


    "Is this going to be a challenge?"


    He felt the magic contained within, and after ten seconds or so, he squeezed one of the coins and injected magic into it, and the other copper coin quickly became hot, and the performance became bumpy.


    Felix examined it carefully, and several abbreviated words emerged from the awfully hot coin, and he tried to deduce them, and found that the sentence that best matched is -


    ''Filch is coming, get out of here!''


    Felix: "... This is your night tour prop?"


    "Uh, Professor Hap," Fred said, "don''t you think it''s a good emergency item - it should be useful when Auror raids the wizarding black market, like closing holes in the lines of defense or something. "


    "Or a code word passed between lovers, the words on it were filled in randomly," George said.


    Oh.


    Felix would not believe that they worked out this thing, Not for the convenience of a night tour.


    And, what wizarding black market ... I think you''re trying to con me.


    But - they are very open-minded, just like they said about the two scenarios, there is some feasibility.


    "So why did you approach me?" He asked.


    "Professor Hap, we''ve run into some difficulties - for example, the words on the coin are fixed, and we have no way to modify them."


    "The coin itself is too small to have anything to write on it."


    "Yes, we hope to work on gadgets that allow two-way communication, similar to a two-way mirror, but of course -"


    "-Costless!"


    "- Easier to make!"


    They looked eagerly at Professor Hap, hoping that Professor Hap could answer their doubts.


    In the past few years, some prank props were researched by the twins themselves, but many ideas could not be realized and had to be put on the shelf.


    But the good thing is, Professor Hap has agreed that they can always seek help from him.


    When the twins finished speaking, Felix fell into a contemplative mood and stood motionless in place.


    After a few short moments-


    The two men looked at each other, and Fred said, with some caution, "You just need to give us a little hint ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 116: dwarfs

    Felix snapped back to his senses. "Oh, I''ve been thinking about it a little deeper." He had just thought of the mobile phone from the twins'' idea, so he put part of his mind in the thinking room and deduced a little.


    This is similar to the "text message" function which he can completely deal with, he read so many books from the library about alchemy, not for nothing.


    But beyond that, if he wants to implement more complex functions, it''s not easy to make it happen.


    After all, a hundred or a thousand years ago the wizard did not have such a big brain, there are too many things that he needs to study and realize independently.


    But ... why bother? Why should he do this all by himself?


    He''s looking at the twins, if in the past he just treats the two as potential young wizards, now with his thoughts in mind, isn''t it a waste not to train them as another tool?


    Maybe he could eventually see magic cell phones in action?


    Felix had never been a highly purposeful person, but he didn''t refuse to make the wizarding world a better place.


    Especially when it didn''t take much effort.


    He said to the twins, "I can certainly tell you the solution directly, or even complete your ideas directly, but I would prefer to develop your capabilities."


    Felix took out a piece of parchment, "swish swish swish" wrote down a series of book titles, and marked the page number.


    "This is the reference list, which contains everything you want - including two books stored in the forbidden section, and I will give you a permission slip."


    "Thank you very much, Professor Hap." The twins exclaimed, looking so excited that they seemed as if they were about to rush up and hug him the next moment.


    Felix hurriedly waved his hand -


    "Also, regarding the materials, you may consider the materials used for the Wand''s body."


    "Professor, do you have any recommendations?"


    "From my personal perception, I like ebony, like inky jade." Felix showed them the wand he had in his hand, "However, reason tells me that it would be better to choose chestnut, which is very mild in nature and has no specific tendencies."


    The twins left joyfully.


    After the second lesson of the afternoon, Felix went straight to the great hall, halfway to see a group of young wizards gathered around with Professor McGonagall standing in the middle of the crowd, her lips tightly pursed together with a rather serious expression.


    Which little wizard had got into trouble now?


    It only took Felix a moment to notice as he approached that there were three other creatures in front of Professor McGonagall, so short that they were overshadowed by the little wizards.


    Surprisingly, they were dwarfs, and Felix found it very new.


    They had dark green skin, standing no more than a meter tall, and had a rough, fierce face. Even when the face is expressionless, there is a gloomy aura.


    Seeing the dwarfs, Felix remembered a person - Faris Spavin, the former Minister of Magic who created two records: one is reaching the seat of Minister of Magic at the age of 109, and the other is that he was in power for 38 years. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Almost a hundred years have passed since then, but these two records have not been broken so far.


    One of his unique acts is, when he gave a speech at the ''Conference of Wizards and Tribes of Friendship'', he told a bad joke about "a centaur, a ghost, and a dwarf walk into a bar", which caused the displeasure of the centaurs and resulted in a failed assassination (kicking) attempt on him.


    ...


    Felix stood outside the circle, and the one who kept arguing with Professor McGonagall is one of the grimmest-looking dwarves, who seems to be the leader among them, with a dirty bundle on his back and a handy gesture.


    "Ma''am, we received an invitation, and you can''t cancel it!"


    Professor McGonagall said impatiently, "I''ve said it for the third time, it was Lockhart who invited you, but he is now about to be brought to trial by Wizengamot."


    "But ... but ... we have many talents, let me show you."


    The dwarf opened the ragged bag behind him and took out from it a pair of golden wings and strapped them on his back, and picked up a tiny harp.


    The other two dwarfs beat the drum with a grim face and did stiff dance moves.


    Then, the little wizards were surprised to see a gloomy "Cupid" with golden wings and a harp singing...


    "Arilala~"


    "We are the messengers of love~"


    "Kicking people''s little legs along the way, without any trouble ~"


    "Delivering the confession of love~"


    Felix suddenly froze in his tracks as he stared blankly at the three dwarfs, unable to restrain sweat from forming on his head.


    The other young wizards felt almost the same way, Harry''s face seemed to twitch, Ron grinned, his body desperately bent forward.


    Hermione listened impassively, but her lips were pursed in a way that looked similar to Professor McGonagall''s, about 70%.


    Harry thought to himself, if anyone had sent this guy to confess to him, he would be so ashamed that he would disappear like steam on the spot.


    After singing an awkward verse, the dwarfs stopped, and in the process, Professor McGonagall''s lips kept trembling, "You guys ... you guys ..."


    "Ma''am, we are professionals, and I can also choreograph a dance at the moment, even singing and dancing ..." The dwarf''s face craned from side to side, as if looking for a target. In which direction his eyes dropped, there is an empty space in that direction.


    Finally, the dwarf''s gaze kept moving between Harry and Felix.


    Felix''s heart tightened, few people could bring him a nervous feeling, but this dwarf in front of him undoubtedly did that.


    He walked out with big strides, with a wand in his hand, he silently cast a spell - "Silencio."


    The dwarf opened his mouth, but could not utter a sound, and he touched his throat in a panic.


    "Professor McGonagall, what''s happening?"


    Professor McGonagall said with a helpless look on her face, "Gilderoy Lockhart''s special project for Valentine''s Day - dressing up the dwarf as a cupid and confessing his love for his students on Valentine''s Day."


    "..." Felix said, "He''s really thinking ahead, it''s been nearly half a month since his arrest."


    Professor McGonagall said, "In fact, he booked it a month in advance, and according to them," she grunted at the dwarfs, "they''re popular."


    She cleared her throat and said to the dwarves, "You did not sign a partnership with Hogwarts, so I regretfully-" before Professor McGonagall could finish her sentence.


    A few dwarfs burst into tears, it is a strange picture - they have a serious and gloomy face and silently shedding tears, which makes the onlooking wizards to have very mixed feelings, neither laugh nor could sympathize.


    "We are willing to do a discount ..." said the dwarf leading the group. "It''s too hard, our team will not able to eat."


    Finally, Professor McGonagall took them away, the problem will be left to Dumbledore to have a headache.


    It didn''t take long for the latest news to come out-


    Dumbledore agreed to the dwarf group performing at the Valentine''s Day banquet, but refused their free help of helping students to pass love letters and reading confessions.


    In the common room, an upper classman gave more accurate information: "It has been rumoured that Dumbledore is doing this to welcome the professor who will be taking the Defense Against the Dark Arts class that day."

 Chapter 117: Discussion

    The day before Valentine''s Day, Hogwarts is filled with an air of fidgety youths, and the whole school became alive. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.Among the small group of wizards, various tips for confessions began to circulate, from the manner and place of confessions - with the most popular being under the mistletoe - to what to wear when confessing, all sorting out rhetoric.


    There''s even a sudden appearance of a batch of poor quality love potions, and several professors put a few students in severe detention to stop the craze.


    So the little wizards'' attention shifted towards the star students of each house, and they began to discuss which male wizard is more handsome and which female witch is more beautiful ...


    Some popular ones even had a proper fan base, such as Hufflepuff''s Cedric Diggory, who is already very popular, and the talent he showed in the few dueling classes made his fame expand rapidly over other grades and houses.


    Harry also recently suffered a bit, with the dual bonus of the saviour aura and the school''s special contribution award, his fame has always been high. Especially after the display of the basilisk corpse in the school, the fear of the basilisk has transformed into corresponding awe for Harry, Hermione, and ... Ron?.


    But this awe is more obvious over Harry, because only he has shown a great talent for fighting - his disarming charm even surpassed a number of senior students.


    This allowed him to gain a fan following.


    "Harry, there are some more girls over there looking at you, can''t you control it?" Hermione said in an annoyed mood.


    Harry looked at the corner of the library, stood a handful of younger witches, feeling very helpless, and their behaviour is quite bold, staring straight at him, when he looked over, they hid their faces behind the book and let out a "giggle".


    Ginny is doing her homework not far away, occasionally while flipping through the book, taking a quick glance at Harry.


    It didn''t take long for Harry''s troubles to be solved on their own, as Mrs. Pince, the librarian, waved her wand to drive the rowdy little girls away.


    He breathed a long sigh of relief.


    Ron is rather envious, as the people who love to listen to his stories are boys, and their fever is gradually fading off.


    As the three walked out of the library, they began to discuss who is the new professor.


    "I wonder who the new professor is, I hope it won''t be another one like Lockhart and Quirr ...," Ron said with a palpitating feeling, those two had left a huge psychological shadow on him.


    "We can learn from the dueling class." Harry does not care much, his most satisfactory course this year is the dueling class, but unfortunately, it is only twice a month.


    "Harry, dueling class and defense against the dark arts class are not the same, defense against the dark arts teaches you to ward off danger, and fighting is just a way to ward off danger." Hermione said, "Actually, Snape''s theory is full of demands that match the requirements of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    Ron looked at her with a shocked expression, as if she had said something shocking.


    "Oh~ don''t be like that, I''m just making an honest assessment," Hermione said.


    Harry didn''t say anything, it isn''t Snape''s opinion on the duel that he objected about, but rather the person himself.


    On this point, the two boys agreed tacitly, he didn''t like Snape, and Snape also didn''t like him.


    So he diverted the topic and asked: " Any rumours about the new professor? Leave the dwarfs out of the conversation ..."


    As they spoke, a dwarf passed them with a grim face - after Dumbledore had agreed to the dwarf''s Valentine''s Day performance, they had brought the whole group, twelve in total.


    These green-skinned dwarfs walked around the school and became a unique sight this February.


    Harry is very glad they don''t normally have the habit of wearing golden wings and carrying harps.


    As the three watched the dwarf disappearing from their sight, Hermione replied to his earlier question, "The new professor''s name is Damocles Belby, a Potions Master who has just been awarded the Order of Merlin for inventing the wolfsbane potion."


    " Potions master? Wolfsbane potion?" Harry asked, in confusion.


    "The Order of Merlin? The stuff that Lockhart brags about?" Ron said in disgust.


    The young witch first told Harry, "Wolfsbane Potion is a new magic potion invented this year to keep werewolves awake during full moon transformations-" then looked at Ron, "Professor Belby received a second class medal, which is different from Lockhart''s."


    ."


    Harry nodded.


    "How do you know so much about all this?" Ron asked curiously.


    "I asked about it from Professor Hap, he is a good friend of the new professor, and he is the one who recommended this new professor to Dumbledore." The young witch said.


    Ron smacked his lips and said, "Then why did he recommend his friend over? I mean ... that curse?"


    Hermione shook her head, she also could not understand Professor Hap''s approach.


    Privately, she actually thought that Professor Hap had lost consideration. But she still countered Ron by saying, "The new professor is only subbing for half a semester, I think, he probably doesn''t think the danger is too great." She said, not very confidently.


    Ron muttered, "That''s dangerous, either way."


    It wasn''t until the evening that their questions were somewhat answered during their time in the common room.


    Ginny said somewhat unnaturally, "Luna''s mother died in an accident as a result of a spell mishap, and she said to me that if you try to research something new, you will inevitably run into all kinds of dangers ..."


    "... unless you don''t do anything."


    Ancient rune office.


    Felix sorted out his haul, he used the weekend to divide up the basilisk material with Snape.


    The other professors had little interest in it, except for Kettleburn and Hagrid, who came to see it a few times.


    Professor Kettleburn''s attitude was the purest, and he said with a regretful look on his face, "If you can raise it ... I mean, just enough to be sure."


    Given the professor''s exaggerated experience, Felix is deeply sceptical.


    Hagrid''s attitude was a bit more complicated, his large hand stroking the scales on the basilisk and saying slightly sadly, "I was expelled because of it, then my father passed away not long after, and he loved me so much ... it was a really dark time."


    He wiped his tears with a dirty handkerchief and told Felix about his sadness.


    But soon, before Felix could think of words to comfort him, Hagrid adjusted himself, sizing up the basilisk''s fangs and big hollow eyes, and remarked, "A fascinating creature, isn''t it?"


    ...


    Before Felix lay a greenish snake skin and scales separated from its body, as well as a dozen fangs.


    These are the results of the processing - originally, the scales on the snake skin are not peelable, just like most snakes, the so-called scales are actually the product of the snake''s superficial skin and keratin accumulation.


    But under the effect of magic, everything is not a problem, he easily separated the scales and snake skin.


    The basilisk has extremely strong magic resistance, comparable to the fire dragon in terms of horizontal analogy. Even if a spell of physical impact hit the thick scales, it might just cause a small, shallow dent.


    He considered making a close-fitting soft armour so that the general spell won''t be effective against him the least.


    As for the scales, Felix temporarily has not yet thought of how to deal with it - this thing is full of magical inertia.


    He could only hope that Professor Snape could develop a use for the basilisk''s scales, preferably turning it into a rare potion material.

 Chapter 118: Valentines Day

    Felix stroked the greenish snake skin in front of him and thought about the production method. ''First, you need to deal with impurities, this step can be referenced from the Binding Vine operation, however, the characteristics of basilisk and Whomping Willow branches can be completely different ...''


    ...


    February 14 Valentine''s Day.


    When the little wizards got up early to go to the great hall for breakfast, they found that all four walls were decorated with dazzling pink flowers, and much heart-shaped confetti kept falling from the light blue ceiling.


    Even the normal corridors were decorated with canopies of wintergreen and mistletoe.


    Many young male and female wizards were grinning and smiling silly during the meal.


    During this day, the professors turn a blind eye and don''t meddle much - but don''t expect them to smile at you as well.


    "I think Percy must be sour when he sees this," Ron said, pointing to a few couples holding hands in the distance - he and Percy have made up, but not without the habit of taunting him a little.


    But all this had nothing to do with them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione ate breakfast and hurried to class.


    Evening arrived.


    They dragged their tired bodies to the great hall, and the long table already filled with many young wizards.


    Not surprisingly, they saw the dwarfs dressed as the cupids, albeit they were standing on a makeshift platform, grimly playing the harp - unpleasant, at least there is no impulse to flee.


    The two shortest-looking dwarves, who seemed to have yet to master the art, stood two or three meters near the doorway of the great hall, and from their pockets pulling out a handful of coloured flakes which would be thrown at anyone passing them in as a duo.


    Harry and the group then saw Dean and Neville, who were walking in front of them, bathed in a rain of coloured flakes, with Neville standing awkwardly in place and Dean letting out a grunt of unknown meaning and quickly running away.


    A roar of laughter erupted from the long table.


    Neville scratched his head and laughed along, his round face tinged with a blush.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried around the corner to avoid the pair of dwarfs.


    Soon, an unknown duo got hit, and if it is a couple, they will laugh graciously, which is not embarrassing, but if it is purely friends, the expression on their faces is enough to make the little wizards on the sidelines laugh for half a day.


    On the professor''s table.


    Belby looked at this lively scene, somewhat surprised as he said: "I did not expect, now Hogwarts celebrate Valentine''s Day? You know, I was sneaking around back then."


    Felix said, "Maybe it''s meant to welcome you."


    "Don''t be ridiculous, Felix." The middle-aged male wizard said, turning his head to look around, "How come I missed Professor Snape?"


    "He wouldn''t like this sight, he would probably be a little late."


    "Yeah, he looks pretty serious." Belby said, "The last time we met it was too brief, we didn''t talk much in detail, he had some very insightful ideas ..."


    "Was it about the Wolfsbane potion?"


    "That''s right, he seems to have thoughts on improving the Wolfsbane potion, I hope we can collaborate, and I''m willing to provide the initial research information."


    "Didn''t you think of inviting someone else before?" Felix asked curiously.


    "I thought about it, but ... not many were interested," Belby said regretfully, "Professor Slughorn did offer some suggestions, but he refused to get involved."


    "Slughorn?" It isn''t the first time Felix had heard of him.


    "Yeah, he used to be my potion professor, but now that he''s retired, and his whereabouts always uncertain, it''s hard to get in touch with him."


    After ten minutes, other professors also arrived one after another.


    Professor Flitwick sat in the empty seat next to Felix, and Professor McGonagall sat down next to Flitwick.


    Snape chose a seat far away.


    Just when Harry got bored with listening to the dwarfs playing the same song for the seventh time, the dinner finally started.


    Dumbledore tapped his glass to silence the young wizard, and he introduced their new professor to the crowd with a big smile on his face.


    "I have an honour of introducing you, Damocles Belby, who has graciously agreed to fill the vacancy for this year''s Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    The young wizards applauded sparsely, the preceding professors already consumed their enthusiasm.


    Belby stood up and bowed to the crowd, "It is an honour to return to Hogwarts after so many years. Although I will be here for only six months, I will do my best to fulfil my duties ..."


    Belby''s words were very sincere, and the fact that he didn''t look and dress as glamorous and desperate to catch everyone''s eye as Lockhart did directly wooed the limited goodwill of the young wizards.


    The most visual evidence of this is the neat and loud applause from the young wizards when he sat down.


    Snape, sitting on the edge, stared coldly at the goblet in front of him.


    The other professors were all enthusiastic and happy, despite the fact that Belby had won the Order of Merlin with the invention of wolfsbane, and wanted to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts, at least he had some real talent.


    It''s better than Lockhart, who has been organizing a pyjama party.


    A variety of food appeared on the long table, and the tired young wizards began to eat.


    Professor Flitwick, who is sitting next to Felix, talks to him in a small voice.


    "Felix, I heard that you are using a new type of teaching aids in your class?"


    "That''s right, Filius, I call it Answer Space."


    Professor McGonagall, who occupied the next seat, did not move but slowed down the speed of chewing food.


    "You don''t mind if I ask this - I saw it from a student, and I found it very useful for charm theory as well."


    "You''re thinking of using the answer space in a charm class?"


    Filius stammered, "There are only a few months left before the final examination, but the theoretical results of some young wizards are still worrying."


    He looked at Felix, "If there is anything you need from me ..."


    Felix smiled softly: "Filius, I have no problem with that. However, I did run into some difficulties - if I want to add more disciplines, I definitely have to improve on the original, which is not something I can solve all by myself, and I would like to invite you to work on it with me."


    "I''d be more than happy to do so," Filius said readily.


    Professor McGonagall found the right moment to pick up and said, "I can also help." S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said, "Minerva, I have envisioned adding all the Hogwarts disciplines, but it would take a professor of distinction to make this happen."


    Professor McGonagall thought for a moment, "I will find out what others think, and that is a good thing. But how are you going to unite so many disciplines on a single parchment?"


    "Using synchronization enchantments," he explained, "the parchment in the hands of young wizards is just a simple magical artefact that receives information, and the magic rune and alchemical means laid out on it are relatively simple. I also have a scroll made from dragon skin, which stores the every grade exam questions of recent years."


    "But this also result in young wizards can only use the answer space at Hogwarts."


    "Well, one-to-many? ..." Filius mused, " That kind of idea seems to be something I''ve heard from someone before."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 119: Penalty

    "Is it a two-way mirror?" Felix asked with interest. "No, Felix, I don''t think so." Filius pondered.


    Professor McGonagall voiced her guess: "Perhaps it''s a wizarding newspaper?"


    "A newspaper?" Felix looked at her; he had never thought of that before.


    "Yes, I remember that Daily Prophet holds a similar technology, if there is a change in the data, the content of the newspaper will also change," Professor McGonagall added, "Now this is rare, they prefer to change the content in the evening paper of the day."


    She recalled, "During the wartime, the Ministry of Magic issued several emergency notices with the help of the Daily Prophet ..."


    Felix is somewhat surprised, he had the impression that Daily Prophet does not follow journalistic integrity very well, they are probably more concerned about the sales of the newspaper.


    That''s why they divided it into a daily and an evening paper, and a weekend edition of the Daily Prophet on Sunday.


    But the Daily Prophet''s perspective as a whole leans toward the Ministry of Magic, so ... is this the basis for cooperation that was laid a long time ago?


    "Do they use synchronization enchantment too?" He wanted to know more about it.


    "I think there''s more than just that - the newspaper probably uses multiple variations of charms on it, it''s an exclusive technique of theirs that you don''t see in other newspapers." Professor McGonagall replied.


    Felix pondered, in that way, it is indeed somewhat similar to his answer space, even more perfect - their newspaper covers the whole of Britain.


    Except for the lack of interaction aspect.


    " Well, not really." Filius said, somewhat puzzled, "Strange, I wouldn''t forget this ...."


    Professor McGonagall''s eyes widened, and she stammered, interrupting, " That, that wouldn''t be the man''s mark, would it, Filius?"


    "Oh, my God, of course not!" Filius''s voice became sharper.


    Felix listened quietly, are they talking about the Dark Magic Mark?


    He hadn''t studied it, but he is under the impression that it''s a type of magical contract with a tattoo that served to locate and summon, and perhaps Voldemort had added a personal twist to it?


    A silent Belby suddenly said: "Speaking of which, I have seen a similar gadget in the Muggle world ..."


    "Yes, this is it!"


    Belby''s words gave Filius some inspiration, and he said with a jolt, "I remember, I heard it from professor Burbage."


    Charity Burbage?


    A Muggle Studies professor?


    Felix recalled that he hadn''t met the professor more than a few times; she seemed to live outside the school throughout the year.


    "Charity showed me a picture of it, it was square, and I don''t remember its name." Filius looked at Belby, hoping for a response -


    "Oh, I remember it being called as mobile?" Belby said, "I saw someone using it at the Muggle Opera House, and I asked him about it, and he looked at me weirdly, and I said I was from the countryside."


    And he grinned at Felix, which is mentioned in the ''Methods of dealing with Muggles'' chapter given by Felix in his writings.


    Filius gave Belby an affirmative look, " That''s the thing ~ mobile...phone? Muggles are said to be able to carry on conversations across thousands of miles. Charity complained to me that the paper she wrote was simply ignored, they thought it looked like pie in the sky - all old school."


    Professor McGonagall, who didn''t really know much about Muggle items, asked suspiciously, "Is the Muggle world that advanced already? What do they rely on to solve the problem of long-distance communication?"


    Now, Filius and Belby could not utter a word, their knowledge of this area is very limited.


    Felix let out a soft breath.


    He knew what kind of book to write this year - an introduction to the technology of the Muggle world. However, Professor Charity Burbage''s encounter gave him a good counter-example, if the initial start is something beyond the wizards'' wildest imagination, I''m afraid it won''t be able to set off a single splash.


    The two books he wrote before introduced the history about the development of ordinary people and their way of thinking, something that wizards can understand, and he deliberately arranged numerous examples of interpersonal scenarios with relatively high usability - convenient for some public officials to follow the map and deal with ordinary people.


    It is precisely for this reason that his book has been able to gain professional recognition.


    It''s also convenient for him to clip some personal opinions that he really wants to express ...


    How should he organize the structure of his new book? Felix pondered.


    ''It has to be simple, clear, and easy to understand at a glance. Never be afraid of less, just have more.''


    Some simple mechanical devices, some energy harnessing prototypes, even simple reproducible physical feats ...


    He suddenly remembered talking to Miss Granger about Lockhart, who had mentioned that she admired the way Lockhart incorporated knowledge into his stories, "Maybe I''ll imitate it later on!" He said this to his assistant at the time.


    Now it seems that he could write a fairy tale of "The Adventures of the Wizard Boy" by himself?


    "Felix?" Filius looked at him.


    "Just thought of something funny," Felix said.


    He put the matter of visiting Professor Burbage on his agenda.


    As for the improvement of the answer space, he still had a lot of little wizards'' ideas that he hadn''t brought out, plus the two-way mirror, the wizard newspaper, the dark magic mark, the mobile phone, all these things could give him some inspiration and ideas.


    Halfway through, the professors finalized their cooperation plan, with some regret from Belby, who was not good at this aspect altogether.


    After the dinner, the young wizards left in small groups in silence, and some male and female wizards quietly disappeared from the large group, looking for secluded places to go on dates. S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I wonder how many young couples Filch will catch tonight?'' Felix''s mind whirled with mindless thoughts.


    Back in his office, he flipped through today''s edition of the Daily Prophet Evening News, and the front page news caught his attention -


    '' Gilderoy Lockhart Is Facing Seven Years In Prison, Fans Letters Blasting Ministry Of Magic.''


    This intrigued Felix, and the paper mentioned that Lockhart deeply regretted his actions and that he is willing to heal and compensate those who have been harmed - in hope of escaping punishment.


    He also put up a whopping 20,000 gold galleons to donate to various reputable wizarding organizations. Still, Wizengamot sentenced him to seven years in prison - a sentence that is clearly lightened from Felix''s point of view.


    Besides, the dementors, which are feared by ordinary wizards, are not that intimidating to the occlumency master.


    But for Lockhart, the loss of the dazzling aura and future is the most terrible sentence, right?


    But that is not the most outrageous news of the day. In the margin, he found a piece of news that looks inconspicuously small -


    ''The former editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter, faced charges such as withholding information about Animagus for a long time and illegally acquiring others'' secrets for personal benefit, but yesterday, the Ministry of Magic suddenly dropped all charges and sentenced her with two thousand galleons penalty instead. It is reported that more than one Ministry of Magic high-ranking officials said that there is no direct evidence to prove Rita Skeeter''s guilt ...''


    Felix suddenly laughed: "Rita, ah Rita ..." He has really opened his eyes now.


    Gilderoy Lockhart and Rita Skeeter, who were extremely similar in a way, became famous male and female wizards by virtue of illegal means.


    Lockhart even obtained a badge of the third class of the Order of Merlin, which represents honour.


    But even so, when the crime got exposed, they ended up completely different - Lockhart received a reduced sentence but still went to prison, while Skeeter''s sentence is painless.


    Felix''s light blue eyes reflected the night scene of Hogwarts in the night, and he is very curious at the moment: "Just how much do you know about the hidden secrets of the big shots, Rita Skeeter?"


    A string of names of controversial high officials of the Ministry of Magic flashed through his mind -


    Cornelius Oswald Fudge, Bartemius Crouch, Ludovic Bagman, Dolores Jane Umbridge, Pius Thicknesse ...

 Chapter 120: Defense Against the Dark Arts

    Another beautiful morning, Damocles Belby had his breakfast and headed to his first class in a happy mood. He followed Felix''s advice and visited twelve wizards who had taken the Defense Against the Dark Arts class after negotiating with Dumbledore, which gave him first-hand information about the rumoured curse.


    According to those seniors, the effects of the curse were so subtle that they could not even be sensed, but after six months, something hidden began to exert its influence, and they often came across some seemingly coincidental accidents.


    As time dragged on, such accidents would become more and more frequent.


    Their advice to Belby was, "When one day you''re brewing a potion, and you encounter a failure that you shouldn''t have, proceed to leave."


    Belby took this advice to heart.


    With a few days remaining, he began to carefully plan his lectures.


    ...


    ''Today will be a second-year class, they should already be capable of dealing with the Red Cap at this time, however, I better play it safe.'' It would be his first class, and Belby felt mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness.


    When he appeared at the door of the classroom, the eyes of the young wizards, who had been chatting, fell upon him keenly.


    The professor had a normal appearance, tall and thin, and looked a bit weak, but he''s dragging two large cages covered with shrouds with his magic, which gave them a hint of expectation.


    It couldn''t be helped that they are already expecting very little.


    This professor stood at the entrance and greeted them, "Follow me, little wizards, today is a practical session, I need to know your practical level." He gestured towards the cage floating in midair as it faded away at the door, "By the way, don''t forget your wands."


    The young wizards scrambled to gather their things, but they exchanged surprised looks with each other.


    It had been a long time since any of them had had a practical session on the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, unless you included the memorable one this year when Gilderoy Lockhart had brought in a Cage full of Cornish Pixies and messed up the classroom order.


    "You know, it reminds me of something?" Ron said suggestively.


    "Those tin-faced little guys wouldn''t be so quiet," Harry replied with great empathy.


    It was them who cleaned up the mess in the practical session, recapturing the Cornish pixies back into their cages, with Hermione''s Freezing Charm being a big help.


    They crossed the hallway to a quiet, empty classroom.


    Belby put the metal cage in the corner, from inside came a low sound of " Kiki ", Neville who walked in front shrank back, he dreaded whatever inside would grab his ears and fly to the ceiling.


    "What do you think it is?" Harry asked.


    "It sounds a bit like beavers." Ron guessed.


    "But beavers should be in the Care of Magical Creatures class, and they''re not dangerous," Hermione said.


    "I just hope it''s not an eight-eyed giant spider," Ron said hopefully, the thought of Hagrid releasing a pack of Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest made him want to crack open his thick skull and see what he thinks. S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    This piece of information is a secret that Hagrid revealed when they tracked down the Chamber of Secrets monster, and it haunted them when they saw the photographic information Hermione found out later about the Acromantula.


    "He even gave it a name - Aragog !"


    Belby looked at the classroom with emotion as he recalled his school days - though not too fondly, as he didn''t really fit in at the time.


    He reintroduced himself, "Many of you may not know me well, my name is Damocles Belby, and I have some expertise in potions, although perfectly qualified for teaching you Defense Against the Dark Arts."


    "In a way, I also have a certain edge about it. I read your second-year textbook, and you guys need to learn some counter-curse, as well as learn how to properly deal with some low-danger magical creatures, which I happen to know a lot about when I''m brewing potions ..." He made a snide remark and judging by the effect, the young wizards were indeed frozen.


    Ron whispered to Harry, "I guess, Hagrid won''t like him." But an idea suddenly occurred to him, and he is eager to introduce Aragog to the new professor.


    Harry agreed, if anyone dares to treat his "cuties" as a material for the potion, he will be crazy.


    After introducing himself, Belby called the names of the young wizards one by one according to the list.


    "Millicent Bulstrode."


    "Neville Longbottom."


    ...


    "Ronald Weasley."


    After the roll call, the young wizards raised their hands curiously to ask questions, they already acquired various true and false information in advance -


    "Professor, you received the Order of Merlin?"


    "Yes, just this month."


    "Are you a master of potions?"


    "That''s what others think of me."


    "What is wolfsbane potion?"


    "A potion that soothes the symptoms of a werewolf''s full moon."


    "Who is better, you or Professor Snape?" It is a question from a Gryffindor, and the other Half of Slytherin glares at him.


    "Well ... our research direction is different, there is no point in comparing."


    After a few minutes, Belby realized that he could not let this group of young wizards with scattered thoughts ask questions about the east and west, they seemed to want to let him fight for the title of Hogwarts'' first Master of Potions by singling out Snape.


    Belby cleared his throat and said, "Today, let''s review everything you''ve learned about Red Cap, I''ll ask you some questions, and if you get them right you can get extra points--"


    "Professor!"


    A young wizard interrupted, "What''s Red Cap?"


    Belby froze a little, "Uh ... red cap is a magical creature similar to a dwarf, they are found in the Nordic region, and so on!" He looked down at their bewildered expressions, "Didn''t you guys learned about Red Cap?"


    The response he received from the group is a neat mixture of bobbing heads and sighs.


    Belby paused, sensing something amiss, he called up a student, "What did you all learn?"


    Seamus Finnigan stood up and spoke uncertainly, "Professor, we learned to play as vampires." He unbuttoned the outer layer of his wizard robes to use it as a cloak, bared his teeth, and made a noble expression of superiority.


    Many of the young wizards laughed.


    "Well, that''s funny, but it''s not the answer I was looking for."


    Finally, Hermione raised her hand to brief the overwhelmed new professor on what they had learned this year.


    "So, other than the pixies in the first class, you guys didn''t have any practical sessions?" Belby looked completely flabbergasted.


    He did inquire about the class and mentally prepared for it, but no one had told him that there was no practical part in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class?


    After almost half a minute, he came back to his senses, "Well, then we, uh ... then we''ll learn about Red Cap today."


    He waved his wand and lifted the curtain over the cage.


    The creature in the cage startled them; it is a short, bony creature, except for the top of its head, which is covered with a layer of red velvet fur, the rest of its exposed skin gives a dirty dark brown colour.


    "You can get a closer look," Belby said.


    The young wizards braved themselves to get closer and surveyed the fierce-looking creatures -


    As they curled up in the cage, grimacing at the young wizards, one of the red caps suddenly slammed its claws on the enchanted metal cage, but it''s futile.


    "Bang!"


    But the little wizards were still startled.


    Harry could clearly see that its claws were very exaggerated, completely out of proportion to its body, and its nails were at least an inch and a half long.


    Belby''s voice came in to explain, "Notice their claws? I think someone already happened to notice that their forelimbs are very flexible, which allows them to use simple tools like branches, sticks and stones and such."


    "Red Caps are attracted to blood and will sneak up behind you if they come across a lone muggle or young wizard in the wild. We will learn how to deal with them today-"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 121: Red Cap

    "You want us to deal with this thing? What if we get hurt?" A young wizard with platinum blonde hair asked. "You are?"


    "Draco, Draco Malfoy." He trailed off, inserting his last name.


    But Belby just nodded, "I''ve heard of the Malfoy. Don''t worry, I''ll be watching from the sidelines." Then he added, "Of course, if you get hurt, don''t worry, the damage caused by the red cap is very manageable."


    He winked towards the silent young wizards below, "I have specially brewed up a batch of healing potions, all of which are rare and finest products on the market ..." S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Draco looked at the new professor''s expression of "if you get hurt, you''ve made a fortune", his already pale face turned even paler.


    "The red cap is agile when hunting, will suddenly shift and roll to avoid the counterattack of the prey, we can use the Banishing Charm against it, correspondingly, Full Body-Bind Curse, Freezing Charm, Trip Jinx, Dancing jinx, Tickling Charm, Jelly-Legs Curse can be used, except for dark magic, I do not have any specific requirements."


    "Little wizards, let me see what you can do!" Belby said with great passion.


    "Professor, is disarming charm allowed?" A young wizard asked.


    Belby looked at him with an odd expression and said, "If you know it, of course, you can. But that''s not a spell you can master at your age ..."


    "Professor, I learned it in dueling class." The young light teal-haired wizard said confidently.


    The other young wizards took two steps back; Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan were known as two of the biggest mishap makers in the classroom, one accident-prone in Potions class, the other deviant in Charms class - what bizarre mishaps could happen from his spells, even Professor Flitwick wouldn''t be able to tell.


    "Very well, you''re called Seamus Finnigan, right? Please come forward."


    Belby unlocked the cage, and he quietly softened the red cap''s nails with a softening charm.


    In the expectant eyes of the young wizards, Seamus shouted out the incantation of the Disarming Charm -


    "Expelliarmus!"


    " Thumb!"


    Seamus'' wand made a dull sound, like a muffled winter thunder coming from the distant sky. From the tip of his wand ejected a series of sparks, accompanied by trails of black smoke, sweeping wildly.


    The young wizards quickly scrambled into a corner, and Seamus'' wand paused, but the sparks ignited the red hair on the red cap''s head.


    Belby hurriedly cast out "extingu" to extinguish the fire, he turned his head to look at Seamus: "Uh ... not exactly a successful attempt, your disarming charm is not proficient-- -You will find that using an unskilled spell to cope with danger is a very stupid thing to do in actual combat. Do you know any other spells, a Trip Jinx? Very well, but you should try it on the table first ..."


    This time there is no problem, Seamus successfully used the Trip Jinx to knock off the red cap.


    Of course, this may have been linked to the fact that the red cap was afraid to come forward, and the red hair on top of its head got mostly burned.


    Belby wiped his sweat at the scene.


    Next, the young wizards lined up in a long line and following Belby''s instructions went up one by one to challenge it.


    Since Belby didn''t forbid them from using their little self-taught vile jinx, it made the little wizards collectively take a leap in strength, and most of the people in front of the line completed the task with a Trip Jinx -


    Dean Thomas'' Jelly-Legs Curse, which caused the Red Cap to suddenly fall to the ground, paralysed.


    Draco Malfoy''s Tickling Charm, which made the Red Cap laugh wildly.


    Pansy Parkinson''s Knockback Jinx, which sent the Red Cap tumbling backward, unable to approach her.


    Hermione Granger''s freezing charm freezing the Red Cap in place, with only a pair of small eyes constantly flickering.


    Ron''s Full Body-Bind Curse has made the red cap''s legs tied together, like a rock falling on the floor.


    Harry''s disarming charm directly knocked the red cap far away, unable to get up for a while.


    Halfway through, the two red caps refused to attack, but when Belby took out a tube of dark red, blood-like potion and pointed at the little wizards, they became very excited.


    After that, the little wizards got beaten up pretty badly -


    The red caps showed their aggressiveness and hunting expertise in the next round of trials, flexibly moving with their forelimbs and making intimidating noises with their mouths, which made the young wizards hesitate to face them.


    For the young wizards, once they hesitate and become timid, they will not play well.


    For example, Neville Longbottom, after several failed attempts to recite a spell, started to run around the classroom, causing the Slytherin students to laugh, and soon he was cornered, with the red cap scratching his thighs with its softened nails - "Fight back!


    "Fight back! Neville Longbottom, you need to fight back, in whatever way you can." Professor Belby said loudly from the side.


    Neville gathered his courage and grabbed the red cap''s claw and threw it away.


    The young wizards in the audience watched as the small, dwarfed Red Cap flew halfway across the classroom in midair and finally caught by Belby with a Levitation charm.


    Neville seemed to have opened up new horizons to them.


    "Very good! Have you seen it? The red cap is not that strong ... When you are cornered, instead of cowering in fear, you should fight back."


    The taller Crabbe also wanted to replicate this process, and he threw a straight punch, wanting to simply knock out the red cap. But the Red Cap nimbly dodged and tripped him from behind instead -


    The red cap jumped on Crabbe''s chest and tried to claw his face and eyes.


    "What did I say? Don''t duck, show some courage ... The red caps don''t have a physical advantage, they win by being sneaky and nimble." Belby said encouragingly.


    But Crabbe let out an exaggerated scream, and he kept screaming until Belby pulled the red cap away with a spell.


    Draco couldn''t resist slapping him: "Don''t be stupid, you don''t have any injuries on your face!"


    ...


    When the lesson was over, Belby relieved that he had the foresight to soften the red cap''s nails with a spell in advance, or else half of the young wizards would have been put to rest.


    Although he could indeed cure them, in the first class, to put a group of students down, it is really not good to be mentioned.


    He concluded the class with the young wizards: "How many of you noticed that the Red Cap''s nails were under a softening charm?"


    A handful of arms rose up.


    "It shouldn''t be..." Belby shook his head, "All of you should have realized it after Longbottom''s accident, he didn''t have half a scratch on him!"


    The young wizards also felt embarrassed, but they really didn''t notice it at the time.


    "Observation of details, judgment over the situation, these are things you need to carefully consider ... Well, the assignment this time is to write a minimum of eight-inch parchment based on this lesson, discussing your own strengths and weaknesses."

 Chapter 122: Professors

    This class also allowed Belby, the new professor, to recognize the reality. Times do move quickly.


    The difference between the ''average level'' he mentioned and the ''average level'' shown by the young wizard is so vast that he couldn''t help but wonder about life.


    ''''But maybe it''s just this particular grade that''s worse?'''' Belby thought with illusory hope.


    The young wizards who came out of the classroom in a row were, on the contrary, extremely satisfied with their new professor.


    "Today''s class was excellent."


    "Did you see the trip jinx I used?"


    "I completely over-performed!"


    "Crabbe was acting dumb."


    ...


    By the end of the day''s entire curriculum, Belby had become soberly aware of the young wizards'' magical attainments at last, and no longer harboured any hope - he even had a tendency to deviate to the other side of the line.


    "Danger awareness is near non-existent, just standing still and chanting spells." At dinner, Belby vented to Felix.


    Felix laughed heartily: "I already tried to tell you, Damocles, so you can understand their level in advance."


    "This is totally different from when I was in school," Belby said.


    "In fact, the level of the senior class is not bad, they at least mastered a fair amount of useful spells, just do not know how to use them flexibly. But in recent years, the professors are less reliable in this course, which leads to a complete lack of danger awareness built up among the younger wizards in the lower grades." Felix explained.


    He suggested.


    "The Defense Against Dark Arts class and the Dueling class are close enough that we can do some interaction."


    "Interaction?"


    "As you know, many dueling spells are equally effective in the Defense Against Dark Arts class. For example, Shield Charm, Incarcerous Spell and so on."


    Belby showed a thoughtful look.


    Defense Against Dark Arts is a class that teaches students how to use magic to protect themselves from dark creatures and dark magic, and students will learn some offensive and defensive magic in class to defend against danger.


    But this class actually covers a much wider range of topics - there is never just one source of danger, Dark Wizards, Dark Magic, dangerous magical creatures, Magical Plants, treatment of minor vicious spells, and responses to general danger scenarios ...


    Rather than defense against dark arts, it''s a defense against potential dangers.


    Recognizing danger, discerning danger, responding to danger, judging the Strength and Weaknesses of the enemy, looking for vulnerabilities ...


    These are the concept for establishing a Defense Against Dark Arts class.


    Therefore, Belby would not, and should not, waste a lot of time to let the young wizards focus all their energy on one or two sources of danger.


    If you look at it from this perspective, the dueling class can naturally be counted as a supplementary and practical part of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class - which is one of the reasons why Lockhart easily claimed the dueling club.


    ...


    In the following period, Felix spent all his energy on upgrading the ''answer space''.


    Professor McGonagall exercised her power as Deputy Headmistress, pulled in almost all the professors of the corresponding subjects, and held a meeting between the professors.


    Faculty members raised their hands to express their willingness to participate in the program or not.


    Except for a few courses - such as the purely practical oriented flight class, and the divination class that claimed to ''require rare vision'' to learn, plus some temporary ones (such as Apparition class and career advice session) - all other subject professors gladly agreed to join them.


    Professor Kettleburn said with a complicated look, "I''ve been hoping to do something meaningful before I officially retire, and originally I planned to host an opera and invite my troll friends ..."


    Felix is rather glad he had dispelled that idea.


    And Professor History of Magic - Ghost Cuthbert Binns, whose transparent silver-white body also becomes glowing and white in a bizarre state, causing people to worry whether he would feel his existence being replaced and thus permanently vanishing.


    But fortunately, he''s just somewhat excited: "That''s good, I think young wizards will improve their History of Magic results."


    ...


    From a spectator''s point of view, with many professors gathered in one room, one would see many interesting events.


    For example, the fact that Professors Flitwick and Sprout rarely see eye to eye with each other directly, yet they do not display body language that resists each other.


    For example, Snape''s indifferent attitude towards Belby, but does not refuse to discuss potions knowledge with him. S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix also met the professor of divination class for the first time since he joined, Sybill Trelawney.


    She still looks the same after three years: Trelawney looks very thin, with high cheekbones and large glasses reflecting the light of the blaze, making it difficult to see her expression, like a large beetle approaching us.


    Only when you get closer, you can see her eyes that have been magnified several times. She is clad in a light, transparent, shimmering cloak, with heavy necklaces and beads around her slender neck, bangles, and finger rings on both arms and hands.


    ''This is perhaps the most self-decorated professor at Hogwarts, with an air of mystery hanging over her.'' Felix thought to himself.


    He didn''t have good feelings towards the divination class professor, as she had hinted many times during Felix''s school days that something bad would happen to him ...


    And Felix decisively dropped the class after discovering he had no talent for divination.


    This caused his divination class grade to be permanently halted at a bad level.


    "Oh, Felix, I remember you ... in the eyes of the public you are a very talented wizard, but under my vision," said Trelawney, pointing to her eyes and staring straight at him, "I see a large area of murkiness and darkness."


    "Sybill, I think it''s because you haven''t sobered up from your hangover." Professor McGonagall interrupted nonchalantly, not likewise fond of the vague, pretentious professor.


    Trelawney blushed and said, " Inner Eye are not influenced by external influences and will not change regardless of whether I have been drinking or not!"


    She sat down angrily in an empty chair.


    Felix also used the meeting to have a probing chat with Muggle Studies Professor Charity Burbage, and the response he got is a little disappointing.


    This professor is not a stranger to Muggle society, according to her, she lives in a small community in the Muggle world. But Professor Bubarge also stood in the perspective of a wizard to think about things, or at least, she never considered trying to learn about the principles of technology - even at the level of an elementary level crafts class.


    "Felix, I think that''s enough, I visit the bookshop twice a year and pick out the most popular books from it."


    Felix asked politely, "What is the most recent book you have been reading?"


    "A Biography of Mendel: The Father of Genetics," Bubarge said with interest, "It has inspired me a lot ..."

 Chapter 123: Fake Wand

    The weather at Hogwarts has become milder, the snow blending into the earth and the tender sprouts poking out, and the young wizards have been extra fond of lying on the grass in front of the Black Lake, lazing in the sun lately. On Saturday, Ron, Hermione, as well as Ginny and Luna, sat by the lake, watching Harry and Neville dueling back and forth.


    Two more dueling class has passed, and they have learned two new spells. A defensive spell - Shield Charm; and to accommodate the young wizards, Snape''s own invention of a minor mischief spell - Langlock jinx.


    In addition, his work attracted some controversy, but these remarks were ignored by Snape.


    "Even dark wizards will usually chant spells in the middle of the duel, relying on words to drive emotions and relying on emotions to strengthen the power of the spell." Snape said in a mocking tone, "Therefore, it is necessary to close the opponent''s mouth."


    In fact, Felix had privately suggested that Snape should teach Silencing Charm instead, but he refused.


    "The Langlock jinx sticks a person''s tongue to their upper jaw, it''s not as gentle as the Silencing Charm, and that''s exactly what I want." Snape said it was developed independently while he was in school, and he was very happy with the spell from the real-world results.


    The Shield Charm, on the other hand, as explained by Professor Hap, is much more advanced, and many younger wizards are simply unable to master it.


    Even Harry and Hermione have not succeeded once.


    But it is a spell that can resist many kinds of magic spells, and more difficult is -


    At the time, Professor Hap had said this: "The Shield Charm can defend against both magical spells and physical solid attacks, and it''s perhaps the most practical defense spell you will ever be exposed to while you are in school."


    Damocles Belby, the new professor of Defense Against Dark Arts, also explained a very useful spell in class - the Supersensory Charm, which has the effect of sharpening the senses of the students, as Flitwick had mentioned in his dueling lecture.


    "You can use it to sense the impending danger in advance, especially if you are in a dangerous situation."


    He used his magic to create a black fog, "Let''s assume it''s late-night - a favourite time for Red Caps and other magical creatures to launch attacks. If you are in the wild, what would you do, do you remember?"


    The young wizards bickered and discussed.


    Belby nodded and said.


    "Suppression ... total protection ... sense of thieves ... better add a muggle shielding ward, of course, you can not do this now, but it does not prevent you from keeping this knowledge in mind."


    He then had the young wizards walk into the black fog one by one to try to avoid the red caps.


    "I''ve laid some leaves and branches on the ground, so stay focused, and you''ll spot the danger ahead of time."


    However, the truth is: only a few of them could spot the red cap in advance and make a counterattack, most of the little wizards were knocked and driven out of the black fog by small wooden sticks.


    But the good thing was that, apart from some embarrassment, none of the young wizards were hurt.


    Harry had been curious as to why the two red caps were so cooperative, and later Professor Belby explained that he had fed them many nutritional potions, "They like the taste of blood, especially the blood of magical creatures, and I happen to have no shortage of these ..." Now, The two red caps can be barely considered his assistants.


    Unknowingly, the dueling class and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts class have been integrated into the lives of the young wizards, and are subtly changing their whole school life for the better. The most obvious reflection of this is that many young wizards like to play dueling games in the hallway after class.


    But these students did not end up well, and Filch arrested many students.


    One day, the Gryffindor House Cup gems fell with a clatter, and the look on Professor McGonagall''s face nearly scared the young lions to death.


    Not only Gryffindor, Even other three houses also caught a lot of young wizards of their own.


    In this period of time, the number of students who were punished by mandatory work was extremely abundant. Snape directly asked a group to deal with potion materials, Professor Sprout asked a group to take care of flowers and plants, and Hagrid also applied to Professor McGonagall to find a few young witches of lower grades to take care of the unicorns that''s about to give birth.


    Professor McGonagall didn''t spare the rest of the students, and she asked them to work together to test an improved version of the ''answer space''.


    Having learned their lesson the hard way, the young wizards at Hogwarts finally realized that it''s extremely foolish to cast spells in the corridors and chose abandoned classrooms, the black lake, yards, and hidden corners ...


    Just like now, Harry guided Neville on the Disarming Charm.


    Neville suffocated and struggled to cast a spell, and finally, after an unknown number of attempts, a very slim red light flew out of his wand.


    "Great, you did it, Neville!" Harry said loudly.


    Sitting on the grass, Hermione and others also clapped their hands, and a few Gryffindors in the distance whistled.


    Neville blushed and tried to say something, but ended up simply scratching his head and grinning happily.


    The two returned to the vacant field and the group began to make small talk. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron talked about the news he had received from the twins, "The new version of ''Answer Space'' is nearly complete, with many of the features mentioned at the time."


    Four of the six people present had worked on the first beta one except for Harry and Neville, all of them very interested in the topic because, supposedly, the new teaching aids would be available to all seven grades.


    "What are the new features?" Harry asked with interest.


    "The most important one is definitely the leaderboard." Ron said without thinking, "I''d like to see Gryffindor crush Slytherin on top, hopefully, number one, but it''s not very realistic, the Ravenclaw nerds will definitely dominate ..."


    "Ron!" Ginny glared at him and turned her head to look at Luna, who is a Ravenclaw.


    "Uh ..." Ron whispered, "I''m sorry."


    Luna expressionlessly pulled a very delicate looking wand out of her pocket and she pointed the tip towards Ron -


    "Oh, Luna." Harry persuaded he thought Luna is going to give Ron a nasty spell.


    But the next second, the wand in her hand let out an ear-splitting scream and turned into a giant rubber mouse.


    Ron''s expression became comical, one eyebrow knitted tightly and the other seeming to fly out of his head.


    Luna pointed at his face and exaggeratedly laughed, Ginny also "snicker" and giggled softly, the two little girls hugged and fell on the grass.


    Neville held back his laughter, but couldn''t hold it in, and he let out a "puff, puff, puff" sound.


    "Well, that was fun," Ron muttered as he watched Luna slam her fist on the ground.


    Hermione held the rubber mouse''s tail and watched in amazement as it transformed back into a wand. "What is this?"


    Ginny got up from the ground and wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes: "It''s a prank item Fred and George came up with, they call it fake wand. I think they developed it not long before, though ... How did you get this?" She looked at her friend.


    "I ... haha! Bought it from them, ha ... ten Sickles." Luna said under her breath.


    "How does this stuff work?" Harry asked with interest.


    "Feed magic into ... it."


    Harry took the fake wand and tried to inject magic into it, and with a shriek, it turned into a rubber mouse once again.


    Ron poked it with his hand and said with some disgust, "It''s worse than Scabbers."


    Harry is watching the large black squid looming in the black lake, the breeze brushing his hair, his mood greatly relaxed.


    The secret room confrontation with the Basilisk seems to have passed a long time ago.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 124: Carving Knifes

    During the afternoon, Harry followed the team to the Quidditch pitch for the practice. Wood pondered three more targeted tactics to deal with the new patterns and tactics that the other houses had shown this year during the short Christmas break.


    The others returned to the castle to do their homework.


    The ancient rune office in the late afternoon.


    Felix is checking Hermione''s learning progress - in recent times, she has been working on improving and upgrading the beaded pouch.


    "You have learned all the magic runes needed to upgrade the beaded pouch, the next very important step is to learn how to construct the magic runes circuit."


    "Professor, what''s the difference?" Hermione asked.


    "The inscription of the individual rune is relatively simple, but if you want to connect them into a circuit, you need to consider the stability and balance between the runes as a whole - this is very much a test of your mastery of magic power."


    Felix''s fingers kept moving, drawing a string of letters out of the air, which was divided into three rows, each with a subtle difference in brightness and size.


    "If these are the runes you''ve completed at different times, the brightness represents how much magic you''ve injected."


    Hermione observed the runes, and then, under Professor Hap''s control, they were arranged in a row in random order.


    The rearranged runes looked disorganized, bright, dark, large, and small mixed together, looking both disordered and awkward.


    She instantly understood what Professor Hap meant by ''stability and balance''-every magic rune in the circuit, the magic power used, had to be as consistent as possible.


    "Even subtle differences in magic power can render the circuit useless," Felix said.


    "Professor, what should I do?"


    "There are two ways, the first is to finish writing the runes at once, in one go, your magic will tend to be more consistent, but of course, it still requires a lot of practice."


    "But in this way, you need to actively adjust the structure of the runes and make some slight changes in form ... which is not something you can do now."


    "But won''t this disable the rune itself?" Hermione asked in amazement, the information she had been exposed was all about writing the rune in a disciplined manner, not allowing a single change.


    "That''s what''s so fascinating about it." Felix gave an example: "The process is somewhat like the process of going from letters to words; we learn the letters as standard and regular as possible, but when it comes time to combine them into words, the letters are fine-tuned to better match the flow and beauty of the writing."


    "This is a test for your understanding of the runes," Felix said implicitly.


    To put it bluntly, if you don''t understand the rune well enough, it is better not to play any tricks.


    Hermione nodded her head with some understanding.


    "There are some tricks in this as well, we will talk about it later. The second way is to complete a single rune, from which draw out a magic line, linking them one by one to form a closed and stable circuit."


    This method Hermione has seen a few times, she is not new to it.


    "Let''s try it--"


    Felix and Hermione went to the workbench and took out a few pieces of chestnut wood.


    He opened an elaborate toolbox, which contained seven carving knives of different sizes and materials - metal, wood, and indiscernible materials aligned.


    "Is this a professional tool for magic engraving? Where can I buy it?" The little witch couldn''t help but ask this question.


    In her mind, these carving knives had been equated with magic wands and had become a necessary tool for her to learn ancient runes.


    As a result, Professor Hap said with an amused look, "I made these myself, well ... except for the metal one."


    He is not in a hurry to proceed with the topic just now, instead, one by one placed the carving knife in front of her.


    "First I want to remind you that there is no specific tool requirement for carving rune, carving knife, wand, or finger can be used, what is important is magic power and your understanding of the rune. But-"


    "If there is a smoother way by using a tool, why refuse it?"


    Hermione nodded in understanding. Just like some wizards who were proficient in wandless spell casting, but they would never refuse to use their wands. Because the tools can help them to accomplish more delicate operations.


    There were seven carving knives in front of her.


    The first is a metal carving knife, silver-white with a streamlined body, a distinct curve in the grip, and a tip that appears to be made of different metals.


    Felix said: "This one I bought from the micro-carving dealer, which I repeatedly made sure that this metal is the least repulsive to magic."


    Hermione took the carving knife, it looked a little heavy, but it turned out to be surprisingly light.


    "As I told you, there is no unique form for carving runes, either in the form of writing leaving runes on the surface of an object or in the form of carving, leaving engravings in the material."


    He picked up a piece of chestnut wood and injected magic power into the metal carving knife, the tip of which blossomed with a tiny but burning red light, leaving a rune on the chestnut wood piece.


    "Look, its surface is not flat."


    Hermione touched the surface of the rune with her fingertips, and could clearly feel the chestnut wood sunken down - this is the metal carving knife that left a trace of the slash.


    "This way is especially suitable for those inert magical materials, such as muggle items, ordinary stones, or, for example, the scale of some magical creatures and so on."


    Hermione understood somewhat, for inert magical materials, that do not sustain magic easily, can be employed with engraved marks to strengthen the form of the rune.


    "Actually -" Felix added: "The process is separate - carving and enchanting magic, and I''m just very proficient at this process, so I combined the two steps together, and when you practice, you still have to do it separately."


    One of his backups: ''Felix''s Wisdom Teeth'', was done this way.


    Hermione nodded.


    Felix took out five more wooden carving knives in a row, which looked, rather, like alternative wands, and Hermione had just seen the twins'' fake wands during the day and impressed by them.


    "These carving knives, which are made of the same material as the wands, their own characteristics are similar to when they were made into wands." Felix pointed them over one by one -


    "The Acacia carving knife, it''s hard for beginners to get started, it''s particularly sensitive to magic, in fact, overly sensitive. But once you master it, it will quickly adapt to the owner''s magic and become extremely personal, and no one else can use it except you;"


    "Ebony carving knife, outstanding when carving offensive runes, of course, it is not easy to control it, it will work well with those owners who have the courage to be themselves and do not follow the crowd;"


    "Red oak carving knife, I personally think that it has a certain degree of memory, when you are skilled, it will actively guide you to complete the rune;"


    "Chestnut wood carving knife, the favourite of beginners, there is little preference, and of course, there is no bonus;"


    "Laurel wood carving knife, uh, I''m not a big fan of this kind of carving knife, you have to use it often, otherwise when after a long time you remember, it may charge at you when you inject magic power with a lightning attack ..." S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix finished explaining, Hermione curiously picked up these carving knife repeatedly examined them, the more she looked, the more she loved it, she said cheerfully: "Professor, when can I have a carving knife like this? I mean ... I''m willing to pay a price ..."


    "You don''t need to think about that for now, that chestnut wood carving knife is for your practice." Felix said, "Wait a few years before you need to consider an exclusive carving knife."


    "By the way, what material is your wand made of?" Felix asked.


    "It''s Vine wood," Hermione said, "the core of the wand is dragon heartstring, and 10?" long."

 Chapter 125: The Wand and the Wizard

    " Vine wood?" Felix repeated, and the young witch noticed Professor Hap''s expression, visibly dazed for a moment. "Very good." He commented briefly.


    Felix explained, "My personal experience is that rune carving knives are very similar to wands, so it''s best to pick the same material of your own wand for your first carving knife, except for the chestnut carving knife."


    "For example, to me, the ebony carving knife is the most comfortable."


    Hermione showed a dawning expression, her heart murmuring, Vine wood for her Exclusive carving knife first choice.


    However, it also made her curious, when she bought her own wand, Ollivander once mentioned that it is the wand that chooses the wizard, not the wizard who chooses the wand, and Professor Hap also gave similar advice, what is the secret here? s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    She expressed her doubts to Professor Hap.


    Felix thought about it and said, "That makes sense because Ollivander''s Wand Shop never makes custom wands, which means that little wizards have to get used to the traits of wands."


    "So the wands we have in our hands are just roughly compatible with us?" Hermione understood the point he was trying to make.


    "It can be interpreted that way, but don''t worry, for the vast majority of wizards, there is absolutely no need to consider such fine details." Felix said, "It''s still quite an interesting topic, you can check the library and see what kind of wands your friends around have and what kind of traits they represent."


    Hermione is indeed very interested, this kind of act which satisfies her desire for knowledge and gossip at the same time, simply makes her want to go back to the library.


    "Do you have any recommendations for books, Professor?" The young witch asked, accustomed to asking Professor Hap for a list of books, and getting an accurate response every time.


    Sure enough--


    "Well ... I remember there is a book in the library, Wands and Wizards, which describes hundreds of reputable wizards and their wands." Felix said.


    Hermione mumbled a couple of words and wrote the title of the book down.


    "Well, next, is the seventh carving knife." Felix brought the conversation back on track.


    The young witch looked at the last carving knife, thin as a dagger, the colour is hauntingly ghastly white, looks like the teeth of some kind of creature. She exclaimed in surprise, "This is the fang of the ... Basilisk?"


    "That''s right, it occurred to me by chance that I could make a rune carving knife from part of the magical creature''s bones." Felix smiled and said, "It''s just an attempt."


    Hermione felt that this material is too wicked, carving out the rune with this type of material will not bring its snake venom or curse, right?


    So she asked Felix about it, "So how does it work?"


    Felix smacked his lips, but only vaguely said some " developed new ideas ", " next time he will use the unicorn horn as a try " and so on, Hermione wisely did not ask further.


    After spending some time explaining the concept of ''Rune carving knife'', which Professor Hap invented himself, the two finally returned to the original topic - the difference between a single rune and a rune circuit.


    Felix put away the other carving knives, leaving only the ebony carving knife and chestnut carving knife, he handed the chestnut carving knife to Hermione.


    Hermione carefully examined the carving knife in her hand, she realized that this knife will be with her for a long time.


    Its colour is somewhat like a light coffee colour, the material is smooth and compact, the top is divided with straight and slender veins, it looks very much like the pattern of the rain flower stone.


    Then she stared at the carving knife in Felix''s hand-


    The ebony carving knife in Professor Hap''s hand, like his wand, had been carefully selected from the heartwood, without a trace of stray colour.


    It is a pure, deep black, with a dull sheen, giving it an extremely heavy and hard texture.


    Felix picked up a thin slice of chestnut wood and said to Hermione: "Whether it''s a wand material carving knife or a chestnut wood slice, it''s very friendly to magic, so carving runes is more like writing an essay."


    He gently held the carving knife, smoothly wrote down a string of runes, red aura from the black tip of the knife bloomed, when Felix lifted the carving knife, the fiery rune has quietly extinguished, branded with black traces.


    "There are two ways to write rune circuits, in one go or one by one."


    "This is the first one."


    He then took another piece of chestnut wood, wrote an individual rune on it one by one, and after showing it to Hermione, carefully drew out the line to connect them together.


    Hermione took the two pieces of chestnut wood at the same time, comparing them with each other.


    With what she could associate, the former is like a completed fancy font, elegant, yet at the expense of individual rune recognition; and the latter is a standard font, except written by naughty children with crayons all together, and the former is pleasing to the eye, the latter more like poor quality graffiti, people can not help but frown.


    But Felix said to her, "It''s the one you need to master." He pointed to the combination he called ''typography + graffiti''.


    "Your beaded pouch requires three sets of rune circuits, and I will explain how they are connected."


    Felix snapped his fingers lightly, and the two people'' consciousnesses entered the thinking room.


    From the beginning of the school year, his mastery of this magic had become more and more proficient.


    This seemed to allude to Snape''s theory - magic that he invented himself would naturally become more suitable for him.


    ...


    When Harry yawned as he walked out of his dorm room on Sunday morning, he saw Ginny and Ron sitting next to Hermione watching something.


    "Morning." He said, a little sleep-deprived from training for Quidditch the night before and staying up late.


    Harry rummaged through his book bag for his Potions class assignment, but his mind jumbled around.


    It took him a few minutes before he noticed the difference among the three across him, "What are you doing?"


    Hermione intently writing on a thin piece of wood - he thought it was a piece of parchment, and repeatedly looked at it twice.


    The tool she held in her hand is also odd, a bit like a quill, and also looks like a shrunken wand.


    But Hermione apparently did not have time to answer him, Harry looked at Ron.


    Ron whispered to him, "It''s a rune circle."


    Ginny retorted to him, "No it''s not, it''s a rune circuit."


    Ron shrugged, "Something like that," he explained towards Harry, "You know, to fix her little beaded bag."


    He looked over the other side of the table where Hermione is sketching out an odd-looking pattern on a thin wooden board that, from his point of view, kind of looks like a large squid in the Black Lake.


    The red light kept flowing from the tip of her ''pen'' as she wrote so slowly that the initial strokes had cooled to black.


    "Whew~" Hermione let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from her face.


    "Well, did it work?" Harry asked with interest, although he still isn''t quite sure what she was doing.


    But Harry reckoned he would have to take Ancient rune next year for that.


    Hermione''s whole body relaxed, and she said somewhat lazily, "I can''t keep injecting magic steadily, it''s very different from an individual rune."


    "I remember you said that your success rate is at ninety percent?" Harry asked.


    "That''s an individual rune, rune circuit is much more difficult ..." she said with a sigh.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 126: The Empty Castle

    A new week begins, and the young wizards are surprised to find that the lessons have changed. ----------


    Charm class:


    Professor Flitwick pulled out a stack of parchment and standing on a thick stack of books, "Little wizards, today you will be introduced to a new teaching aid that I think many of you have already heard about ..."


    ----------


    Potions Class:


    In the fifth-year classroom, Snape quietly looked at the young wizards off the podium: "For the sake of your OWLs grades, I need you to put more effort into your theories, as I have said many times."


    The little wizards were like a quail, not daring to say anything.


    He suddenly raised his wand, and dozens of parchments flew out like sharp swords, landing one by one in front of the little wizards, the parchments leaped with the shimmering light of magic.


    The well-informed young wizards were already impatient to use their wands on it, and called out: "The secret of the ancient rune."


    But the parchment did not budge.


    Snape said slowly, "Very well, Miss Campbell has given us a demonstration of how to do it wrong."


    ----------


    Transfiguration class:


    Professor McGonagall''s sharp gaze swept around, " It took a tremendous amount of effort from a couple of professors, and I hope, you won''t treat it lightly."


    "Here, take out your wands and chant after me: The Mystery of Magic, always keep in mind."


    The young wizards chanted after that ...


    ----------


    Ancient rune class, 6th-year classroom.


    Felix had a smile on his face, "You will find this new version of the ''Answer Space'' has more features."


    "Including the leaderboard that you are all looking forward so much."


    The young wizards couldn''t help but try it out. Except for the fact that the start-up password changed from the ''ancient rune'', the picture also changed -


    A castle emerged from the top of a stretching mountain and then moved rapidly through the great hall, The Grand Staircase, the yard, the tower, the library, the forbidden forest ...


    This seems to be the point of view of an outsider entering Hogwarts for the first time, a simple outline of the most familiar scenes.


    This image is fixed upon the castle of Hogwarts, the flags which represent the four houses are inserted at the main entrance of the castle, the Snake, Badger, Lion, and Eagle on the flags are lifelike.


    When their eyes fall on it, they will find the corresponding creatures either swaying, standing upright, roaring, and raising their wings.


    The young wizards who had chosen the Ancient rune class had finished the binding process early on, and at the moment they were looking at the latest interface.


    It showed an overhead view of Hogwarts, with clouds of symbols flashing, each one representing a different class.


    Such as the one representing the ancient rune is a line of rune, the meaning of which is precisely the original password - "the secret of ancient rune".


    The one representing the Transfiguration class is a flaming lion, but its form keeps changing.


    On behalf of Potion class is a boiling crucible, with rolling hot air constantly churning.


    ...


    Besides these symbols, the young wizards were most concerned about the leaderboard function.


    They looked carefully, and on the right side of the parchment alongside their names, a new symbol appeared; it is a sketch of a roll of magic scroll.


    The young wizards rather skilfully tapped their wands on the scroll, and a rain swallow with scythe wings flew to the center with the magic scroll, which began to zoom in and slowly unfold ...


    In the top line, a row of words began to appear - house, year, name (code), subject, level, score - a total of six categories.


    Other than that, it remained empty.


    Felix looked at the crowd and explained, "There are a few points that need your attention."


    "The ranking on the leaderboard is not about grades, but about examining your accumulation in the subject, which I and other professors believe would allow you to find your direction of interest in advance, which would be good for your future employment;"


    "The ranking list can be found in the subcategories of the corresponding subjects, which are topics set by the professors based on their own experience, and new content is added every once in a while;"


    "I think someone has already noticed that the leaderboard can use code names which can be used to hide your ranking, which is designed for some students who don''t want to be in the limelight;"


    The young wizards listened attentively.


    "And besides the rankings, there are two other places you need to be concerned about: the incorrect sections are split up among different subjects; also, you can preview or review subjects from other years, which have the key points marked by the professor." S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Next, let''s take the ancient rune as an example, and let''s experience its specific functions ..."


    ...


    With the warmer weather, Hogwarts is getting sunnier and sunnier.


    Even at the end of the school day, the sun still stubbornly left its tail.


    In the castle corridor, Ron kept yelling in a low voice, "Crazy, they are all crazy, not a single one ..."


    Harry gave him a sympathetic look, he felt that Ron''s state is abnormal now.


    He''s holding a piece of parchment in his hand and just staring at the leaderboard on it all the way -


    In the second year list, Hermione Granger''s name occupied the first place in all subjects, having passed 37 levels already at the highest level of the charm class, and besides that, he saw many familiar names: Cedric Diggory, Cho Chang, Percy Weasley, Penelope Clearwater ...


    The castle became empty, with very few people in sight - everyone holed up in the library or in the common room playing games for level breaking and unlocking a new level.


    They couldn''t stand the atmosphere in the common room anymore and ran out to hang out.


    Ron muttered, "I can''t understand how the words break-in and game are linked together."


    Harry said, "Wait a few days for everyone to come to their senses, I guess."


    Ron remarked something that he couldn''t agree more with him, "Hermione definitely won''t, she''s totally caught up in it."


    Harry and Ron had no idea of returning to the common room, they wandered around the castle and soon came across a familiar figure -


    "Fred, George!"


    "Oh, it''s you two." One of the twins said.


    "What are you guys doing out here, shouldn''t you be in the common room playing break-in games?"


    " Not us, though." the twins grinned, "Today is a rare occasion, so of course we have to remember this."


    "So you guys were going out for a fun trip? It''s too early for that ...," Ron said suspiciously.


    "No, Percy is pretty confident that he''ll take first place in the sixth year, so we''re going to get some butterbeer and Honeydukes sweets." Fred said.


    "That''s right, success or failure, it''s worth celebrating." George said with a grin.


    "So - you guys are going to sneak out and go to Hogsmeade through the secret passage? Can you take us there?" Ron asked with some amazement.


    Harry couldn''t help but hold his breath as well.


    "George, we seem to have let it slip." Fred said.


    "You''re the one who let it slip." George rebutted him.


    "I agree, but we have to do something." Fred squeezed his eyes.


    "Like ... obliviate?" George said knowingly.


    With that, the twins'' eyes fell on Ron.


    Ron swallowed and took two steps back.


    But the twins ran away quickly, and Harry and Ron could still hear their laughter as their figures disappeared from sight of them.


    Elsewhere, Felix strolled through the castle as well, and he entered the yard to see a spectre floating peacefully in midair, staring at the greenery and contemplating her thoughts alone.


    "Lady Grey."

 Chapter 127: Memory

    She also saw Felix, and she immediately wanted to leave. But she seemed to thought of something and abruptly remained where she is, though her expression became proud. Felix stood next to her, "It''s rare to have such a serene time at the castle."


    She raised her eyebrows in wonder, but quickly regained her composure. She followed Felix''s gaze and looked up, a red haze reflected in her eyes.


    Neither of them spoke, quietly watching the setting sun''s afterglow illuminate the sky in brilliant orange-red colour.


    It grew fainter and lighter, and when the last glimmer of light disappeared, twilight fell.


    The ghost''s silvery-white transparent body also seemed to darken as Lady Grey''s gaze went over, her expression mellowed.


    "I apologize for my rudeness last time," Felix said.


    She tried her best to keep her tone calmer, "No, I was the one who was too sensitive ... I always lose my temper over the smallest things."


    The two talked for a few minutes, Felix did not talk anything about the history of Hogwarts, Helena, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Bloody baron, they just simply chatted about the weather, the humans, and the wonder of the world.


    "... The Magical Congress of the United States of America - similar to the Ministry of Magic over here - has made at least five relocations of their headquarters, just to avoid the eyes of the public," Felix said.


    "Is that so? There was no such organization in the time I lived ..."


    "Because the MACUSA was just founded three hundred years ago. Wizards, over there, are very secretive in their activities, and the laws are harsh and very unfriendly to outsiders." Felix introduced, "I think it''s because they have come close to exposing the entire wizarding community a few times."


    "The most controversial one is the Rappaport law they made at the end of the eighteenth century, a law that states that wizards and ordinary people must be completely segregated and strictly forbids friendship and marriage between them."


    Intrigued by this, Ms. Gray asked him for more details.


    "A very clich��d opening of a witch falling in love with a handsome muggle, but unfortunately he is the offspring of a purger ..."


    Hogwarts grew a little darker, shrouding the figures of Felix and Lady Grey in darkness.


    "... Until the end, they couldn''t guarantee if they had erased the memories of all the people involved, and to prevent such things from happening, this law came into being."


    The story of Felix is over.


    Ms. Gray floated off with interest.


    ...


    Felix returned to his office, where he reorganized the important events of the recent past - the


    The further conversation with Dobby.


    Tossing out the diary and restoring Hagrid''s reputation.


    The rest were less important, or not time-bound things, such as writing a new book, researching ancient magic, examining the Room of Requirement, making snakeskin soft armour, learning memory magic, etc.


    And memory magic ...


    Felix became intrigued, and he prepared to attempt again the operation he had once completed.


    He tapped his wand on the silver floral inlaid cup in front of him, and in a burst of deformation, it quickly morphed into a small squirrel.


    "Well ..."


    He then constructed a memory fragment in his brain, and pressed the tip of his wand against his forehead, drawing out wisps of silvery filaments.


    The silver filaments floated on top of his palm, emitting silver specks of light around his hand.


    Felix carefully incorporates the memory fragments into the squirrel -


    Its expression became animated, and the little squirrel lifted its head and stared straight at him.


    "Do you have anything to say?" Felix asked softly.


    He knew it wouldn''t open its mouth because the memory didn''t contain the linguistic input, it''s merely equivalent to a code word, and the squirrel began to move. It stood on the table and looked around, and soon brought a quill to him in its mouth.


    Felix tapped on the table again, and it quickly ran to the other side of the table, this time bringing back a piece of parchment.


    "Very good."


    He nodded, then watched quietly as he gave this memory two instructions in addition to some habits of the little squirrel that he understood.


    At the moment, for example, the little squirrel hid in its big fluffy tail and carefully poked its head out, its black eyes staring at him.


    After about seven or eight minutes, its expression lost its brilliance.


    Felix waved his wand and made it revert into a cup with a silver pattern.


    He fell into thought, the office went quiet.


    Half an hour later, he once again had a new inspiration -


    Felix whispered, "Expecto Patronum."


    The tiny silver rain swallow flew out of his wand and circled around the office, its speed so fast that it left a slim streak in its owner''s eyes.


    The hazy silver glow made the room gorgeous, and finally, it landed lightly in front of Felix.


    ''How would it work if I injected some memories into the Patronus?''


    That''s what Felix thought, and that''s what he did, as a memory with the same colour integrated into rain swallow''s body.


    In his expectant gaze, rain swallow silently shattered.


    It is out of his expectation, why would this happen?


    But he quickly thought of the definition of the Patronus: it is a reflection of your most positive emotions of all, the caster must focus on recalling the happiest memories they can think of, and as far as practice goes, the stronger the joy the memories bring, the stronger the effect of the spell.


    The keyword used to describe this is ''memory''.


    The Patronus is made up of happy memories, and Felix just happened to inject memory, so naturally, the magic naturally dissipated.


    Felix shook his head, "I thought I could get a more stable transfiguration structure with the Patronus, by using the temporary incorporation of memories."


    According to his vision, the Patronus can act as a messenger, can be separated from the wizard a certain distance by itself, if it is given enough flexible memories, is it not equivalent to an ''other self'' that wanders in the outside world?


    Whether it was the Patronus magic itself, or the memory fragments injected, it all depended entirely on the Wizard himself, so there was no need to worry about it getting out of control.


    Even, according to his vision, the ultimate form of this magic can directly carry his own consciousness, to allow his Patronus to walk around the wizarding world while he is in school, to complete some simple tasks.


    For example, gathering information and inquiring news ... S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Concerning this aspect, Felix already has certain plans, such as with the help of contract with magic, such as with the help of thinking room, although now there is no ray of light at all, at least he can work in this direction.


    But it all stops at the first step.


    One is pure and happy memory, and the other is a fragment of memory without emotion, which are inherently at odds with each other.


    How on earth can he solve this problem?

 Chapter 128: Ravenclaws Chamber of Secrets

    Felix was pondering this question until the next day. He just came back from the Room of Requirement, in this hidden room, he tried to use various methods to make these two unrelated memories get along, but all ended in failure.


    Therefore, Felix instead began to research the Room of Requirement. He repeatedly passed across the '' Troll Tapestry'' on the seventh floor, mentally pondering the various needs.


    He had researched this mysterious room earlier, but it was all about his own needs, and except for the outrageous requests, requests that were regular and in line with the perception of the wizarding world were basically met.


    So he intends to try out the Room of Requirement from someone else''s perspective.


    Starting with a simple idea like ''hiding something'', he kept trying all kinds of possibilities and even hit on various professors.


    For example -


    "I want to access the Severus Snape''s secret stash ..."


    Naturally, there''s no response at all.


    It seems that Professor Snape, when he was a student, did not have the habit of running around with prohibited items in his pocket, he thought with some relish.


    Felix found joy in this ''game'' - it gave him a sense of time and space dislocation and conversation with a distant young acquaintance. He tried with relish, this time anchoring the headmaster of Hogwarts -


    ''The room where Albus Dumbledore hid his stuff.''


    ''The room where Albus Dumbledore practices his magic.''


    ''The luxurious sleeping room where Albus Dumbledore slept.''


    ''The luxurious washroom that Albus Dumbledore ever used.''


    Felix was about to continue the next topic, but a door surfaced on the wall very abruptly.


    The door, which opened from left to right, looked very luxurious and decorated with various golden carvings and patterns.


    "What did I just mention?" He obviously froze for a moment, and then pushed opened the door and walked in.


    Inside is a very luxurious lavatory, decorated with a variety of exquisite and luxurious chamber pots.


    Felix silently retreated.


    He is debating whether to continue, when not far away came a noise, under his gaze, Trelawney appeared dragging a box.


    The box made a " tinkling " sound of glass clashing, very clear in the corridor.


    Trelawney did not wear those mysterious-looking accessories but wore a crumpled pyjama, her hair also messily braided up, looking unkempt.


    She also saw Felix.


    Trelawney''s expression quickly went from bewilderment to horror, but she did her best to remain calm and said, "I''m glad to see you here, Felix, fate has brought us together this early in the morning."


    "So you don''t have any preparations at all and despise the fate?" Felix said, pointing to her costume.


    Trelawney retorted angrily, "Don''t despise fate!"


    "Well, besides fate arranging for us to meet, what else do you plan to do by the way?" His eyes fell on the box, which contained seven or eight bottles of sherry.


    "Oh! I, I think I can hide ... to put something that I can''t use by the way."


    The two then fell silent.


    Felix felt that she wanted to escape from here very badly, and he did not want to stay much longer, but there is one more question to be cleared up.


    "You know about the Room of Requirement?"


    "What? Oh, yeah." She said absently, "I use it to keep my stuff, and frankly, my office is a little small, and I haven''t had a pay raise over the years ..."


    Felix quickly excused himself.


    After leaving the seventh floor, Felix ran to the great hall for breakfast and then made his way to the Ancient rune classroom in a hurry.


    On the way, his thoughts whirled, thinking about memory magic for a moment and the Room of Requirement for a moment.


    "Hey, look out, Miss Lovegood."


    In his lingering glance, he caught a glimpse of a figure approaching straight ahead, and he stepped aside to avoid her.


    It is Luna Lovegood, holding a piece of parchment in her hand and looking at it intently, but Felix notices that she is holding it upside down.


    "It''s you, Professor Hap." She lifted her head and looked at him with wide eyes, "It''s good to see you."


    "So am I, Miss Lovegood," Felix replied helplessly, the second time today he expected to hear that from an acquaintance.


    She waved the parchment in her hand, "I''m reading the leaderboard, and I''m not going to bump into anyone, don''t worry." She said.


    Felix choked a little, he just wanted to remind the little girl, now he could only change the subject and ask: "Anything interesting?"


    "Very interesting indeed ..." Luna showed him the parchment - still crooked - and she said chirpily, "From this angle, here," her finger traced an arc across the paper, "connecting the Ravenclaw names, doesn''t it look like an eagle?"


    "Well ..." Felix scrutinized it for a good half-minute, and he said, "It does look like that."


    Luna immediately raised her eyebrows and smiled.


    ''Clear-thinking little girl, worthy of Ravenclaw.''


    Felix thought to himself as he watched her distant back.


    ...


    As he stood at the podium, looking at the young fourth-year wizard, ready to start the lesson, a light suddenly flashed - S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He had always had a question about who had built the Room of Requirement.


    Even he could not see through the entire structure of the room, is it possible for an ordinary wizard to do this? But Hogwarts had been around for a thousand years and had produced many outstanding wizards, so he couldn''t say whether such a person existed.


    So this suspicion is once given up by him.


    However, he suddenly fixed on one person at this moment, Rowena Ravenclaw.


    Could it be that she built the Room of Requirement?


    Thinking from this perspective, a lot of things are clear -


    The magical power supply of the Room of Requirement is based directly on Hogwarts, and Rowena Ravenclaw is one of the founders of Hogwarts and naturally has this authority.


    The Room of Requirement has no fixed form and will always change to match the needs of the person asking for help, which must contain powerful memory magic, transfiguration magic.


    And from the manuscript Felix saw, Rowena Ravenclaw did meet this requirement.


    Also, the rumours of the Chamber of Secrets that have been circulating for a thousand years, the only ones most famous for this are Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Now that Slytherin''s Chamber of Secrets has been found, what about Ravenclaw''s Chamber of Secrets?


    The young wizards on the stage saw Professor Hap with a smile on his face, seemingly ready for class, but he suddenly fell silent.


    " Professor?" A young wizard bravely asked.


    "Oh?" Felix snapped back to his senses and suppressed his thoughts as he turned to the young wizards and said, "Now, let us begin today''s lesson ..."


    "Please turn the book to page 147."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 129: Helena Ravenclaw

    After finishing the day''s lecture, Felix left plenty of time to answer questions. "Professor, how do I pass the 7th level of the ancient rune test?" A young Slytherin wizard raised his hand to ask a question.


    " Montague, I remember I tagged the hints on every level?" Felix blinked.


    "But you just left a book title, Professor." He said with some resignation, "And it''s an unread book."


    The other young wizards also murmured and discussed.


    "Ahem!" Felix cleared his throat and magically drew out a piece of parchment as they looked over, "In fact, you were supposed to have already read it."


    "The book, Easy Ancient rune, appeared three times on your last year''s paper reference list ... Shall I remind you which ones?"


    The young wizards looked at him dumbfounded as the discussion came to a halt.


    "Professor, you weren''t here last year?"


    Felix said in a light-hearted tone, "I exchanged letters with Professor Babbling, and she told me about the cache of information from previous years." He looked down from the podium with some emotion, "She is quite a serious professor, isn''t she?"


    ... S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Later that night, Felix stood in front of the Room of Requirement.


    During the day, a suspicion had suddenly occurred to him that the Room of Requirement is Lady Ravenclaw''s secret room. But whether this idea is correct or not is yet to be tested.


    Behind him is an enormous moving tapestry depicting Barnabas the Barmy''s foolish attempt to train a group of eight trolls, and one of the trolls stops beating the ballet teacher and turns its head to gaze at Felix.


    A bug crawled up the troll''s foot and into its nostrils, and it let out a silent hiss as the stick in its hand flew high above and smashed into the head of another troll.


    But all of this had nothing to do with Felix Hap, who silently mumbled in his mind, ''I want to enter the secret chamber of Rowena Ravenclaw ... I want to enter the secret chamber of Rowena Ravenclaw ... I want to enter the secret chamber of Rowena Ravenclaw ...''


    He walked past the place three times, he couldn''t stop his heart from racing, and then, he looked up - there remained a section of an ordinary white wall in front of him.


    Felix was silent, "And yes, I do not know how to enter it?"


    The entrance to the Room of Requirement is simple, but it is not something that can be easily exploited.


    He thought for a while, once again silently recited, ''I would like to enter the original Room of Requirement ... I would like to enter the original Room of Requirement ... I would like to enter the original Room of Requirement ...''


    Still no change.


    Then, Felix thought of the Slytherin Chamber originally used for teaching, so he tried again ?I want to enter the secret place where Rowena Ravenclaw teaches her students.'' Or ''I want to enter the laboratory of Rowena Ravenclaw.''


    But no door appeared at all.


    Felix could only leave helplessly, but in the next few days, he kept trying to connect the Room of Requirement together with Rowena Ravenclaw, and he thought of almost everything he could think of, without any luck.


    Just when he was about to give up, on Friday evening, he ran into Ms. Gray on the courtyard - for the third time this week - and the two casually made small talk and watched the sunset together.


    In his mind, Ms. Gray was a somewhat haughty and prideful, but kind-hearted and refined lady, and putting aside a few petty thoughts, it seemed very pleasant to chat with her.


    "It''s beautiful~," said Ms. Gray.


    "Do you rarely look up to view the sunset?" Felix said, striking up a conversation.


    "Rarely," she hesitated, but the two had got to know each other well enough to admit it, and she said, "It reminds me of something sad ..."


    Felix didn''t ask more questions, and he kept his mouth tightly shut.


    The two looked at the dazzling red haze, a few streaks of light piercing the clouds, edging them with a golden edge.


    "Will you keep a secret for me?" She said suddenly.


    "Yes, I will." He did not promise, but still answered her confidently.


    But Ms. Gray believed it, and tried to open her heart, she said with some sadness: "I died in such a sight."


    After she had uttered her first words with some difficulty, she seemed to free herself and spoke in a rush: "It was about the same time as now, only it was in the forest of Albania, a desolate place, and I thought-it''s out of my mother''s reach."


    Felix listened in silence, knowing what would happen next.


    It''s a tragedy, a tragedy that formed Lady Grey of Hogwarts and Bloody baron.


    "I grew up with extraordinary talent, the most privileged of the bunch. I grew up with people touting me, and year after year, I was completely giddy ... but by the time I was old enough, I realized that no matter how hard I tried, I was still no match for my mother. So-"


    "I stole my mother''s diadem because it bestowed wisdom, and I imagined I could surpass her with it."


    Her transparent body began to tremble.


    "They say," she choked out, "that my mother never admitted when the diadem was gone, and she kept pretending it was still there. She even hid that loss from other founders of Hogwarts, concealing my disgraceful betrayal."


    "Then my mother became ill - very ill. Even though I had done something ungrateful and unjust, she was still desperate to see me again. She sent a certain guy to me. But I rejected him, thinking he was lying to me, along with my mother. How could she be sick when she had already taken that step a long time ago?"


    Felix asked calmly, "It''s Bloody Baron."


    "That''s him. I refused to go back with him, and he went into a rage - he always does, and the dark magic has completely eaten him up."


    Felix listened quietly.


    "We had a violent conflict, and no one could have foreseen the consequences ... He stabbed me to death with his sword. I fell to the ground and saw this vision of dusk ..."


    She lifted her head and watched the last glow slip away.


    After a long silence -


    Felix asked, "Do you hate him, Bloody Baron?"


    "Do I hate him! He destroyed me, my magic, my life, my everything!" She yelled with indignation.


    Helena Ravenclaw took a deep breath and raised her head so that her expression could not be seen.


    "And," she whispered, "Before I died, I asked him if what he said was true. It was about my mother ..."


    "He told me everything was true, that my mother was truly very sick. He deprived me of the chance to see my mother one last time, my only chance to redeem myself! Do I hate him, you ask? My answer is, of course, I do!" She suddenly shouted out of control.


    She floated and about to leave, but her hand got caught and Helena looked back in shock, even her expression of anger lightened considerably.


    Felix''s hand shrouded with a cold, ghostly blue light, and he tightened his grip on her hand.

 Chapter 130: The Choice

    "What kind of magic you ... are doing?" Helene''s expression is brilliant. " A kind of application of memory magic." Felix explained, a fine layer of sweat dipping out of his forehead, "Can you stay for a while? To be honest, I''m not very good at this magic yet."


    She paused.


    Felix''s head got a little dizzy, having constructed a huge amount of memories in just one moment and using them all at once, making his mind foggy.


    Helena looked at him with concern.


    Felix took a few deep breaths and felt much better. He said to Helena, "We''re friends, aren''t we?"


    "Of course."


    "Forgive me for taking the liberty, ma''am. From your story, instead of hating the other guys, I''d say - you''re hating yourself."


    Her expression fell silent for a moment, and she turned her body slightly sideways, keeping half of her face in the shadows.


    Felix eased his tone as much as possible: "Why did you become a ghost, is it because you fear death? From my contact with you, I don''t think so. What really bothers you is your inability to let go of the guilt you feel for your mother."


    He said with an extremely serious expression, "Bloody Baron has been carrying the shackles for a thousand years, how could it be otherwise for you? I hope you will try to forgive yourself ..."


    The night enveloped the castle and after a long silence -


    "The one person who could forgive me has disappeared forever, on the third day, when I became a ghost," Helena said icily, turned and floated away.


    This time, Felix didn''t bother to stop.


    ...


    Ghosts are born from obsessions, and the thoughts before death are the most radiant and intense. So most ghosts'' obsessions are born out of a fear of death and an escape mentality.


    Those like Helena, Baron, and Professor Binns are few and far between.


    For Helena, her obsession is one of guilt and regret - regret that her ignorance led to a big mistake, regret that she did not believe Baron''s words, and guilt that she did not see her mother one last time and apologize to her in person ...


    That night, he appeared in front of the white wall of the Room of Requirement.


    Through his conversation with Helena Ravenclaw, he suddenly came up with an angle he had never considered before. S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He thought to himself, "I want to find the room that Rowena Ravenclaw left for her daughter, Helene Ravenclaw ... I want to find the room that Rowena Ravenclaw left for her daughter, Helene Ravenclaw ... I want to find the room that Rowena -Ravenclaw''s room left to his daughter, Helena Laenklau ..."


    Will it work? It''s reasonable to assume that there shouldn''t be such a loophole ...


    Felix slowly opened his eyes, a plain blue door, drawn from white walls, appeared in reality.


    On the door, a silver-white handle emerged.


    Felix''s hand rested on the door handle, but at this moment, he suddenly hesitated.


    After a long time, he firmly pushed open the door.


    Inside the door is a very simple room, the room is not large, with a few simple tables, chairs, flowers, books, the place is spotless, giving people a sense of tranquillity and warmth.


    "Is anyone here?" He asked.


    After a long time, he did not get any response. He tapped his forehead with his finger and switched his own perspective.


    The colour faded fast, and a ripple spread out, centring on him.


    Felix saw the magic that seemed like substance and coiled in the deepest part like silk spread out, a dozen magic channels like chains that went deep inside through the air.


    ''''This is the true core of the Room of Requirement.''''


    ...


    For the next few days, Felix kept wavering, having trouble making up his mind.


    He had realized that the core of the Room of Requirement is that room.


    And what lay deep within the magic, much like silk, he had a suspicion that it might be a memory left behind by Lady Rowena Ravenclaw.


    He didn''t know why he was allowed in, maybe he mentioned the name Helena Ravenclaw? And the memories left behind by Lady Ravenclaw were still dormant before he made the discovery.


    According to common sense, he should have told Helena Ravenclaw about it right away, it would be good for both parties - Helena might reconcile with her mother, and he could use the opportunity to ask about some mysteries of magic, or if he is lucky, he could even get the Ravenclaw legacy.


    But he found himself not looking forward to this event much.


    For the ghost, moving ''on'' would mean relief, but what would it signify for the people who had, in reality, developed a friendship with the ghost?


    Felix felt confused, his experiences did not help him, so he chose to ask someone with more wisdom.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, how do you feel about ''death''?"


    "Well ... Felix, why do you suddenly ask this question?" Dumbledore looked at him with some confusion.


    "Because of some matter of feeling."


    Realizing that Felix did not want to explain, Dumbledore thoughtfully did not ask more questions, he pondered, smacked his lips, and said, "Everyone has a different view of death, fear, avoidance, disgust ... but for some people, such as me, have a welcome attitude."


    "Welcoming?" Felix wondered if he had misheard.


    "Felix, for an old man like me, nothing in the world would make him flinch; death to me is just an unknown, new, and interesting thing, like an entrance slip to a great adventure."


    Felix shook his head, this is different from his concept, he may not fear death, but he will not look forward to it either.


    He asked what he was most concerned about, "So what do you think the existence of ghosts means?"


    "Ghosts? They are stranded in reality due to strong obsessions ..."


    "No no, Headmaster Dumbledore," he interrupted Dumbledore, "please forgive me, perhaps I did not describe it very well ..."


    Dumbledore looked at him understandingly, giving Felix time to reorganize his words, and this time Felix asked, with caution, "Ghosts exist because of their obsessions, and they are liberated when their obsessions disappear. Is that correct?"


    "That''s right." Dumbledore blinked and said approvingly.


    "And what does this liberation count as? Another death? Especially for her living friend, in reality, I mean ... that''s forever separation, no different from death."


    "She?" Dumbledore asked.


    Felix remained silent and did not answer.


    Dumbledore thought carefully for a moment before saying, "Different people may have different interpretations, I can only say what I think about it for your reference."


    "This is exactly what I came for, to rely on your wisdom to help me see a few things clearly," Felix said.


    "For ghosts, there is no doubt that ''keep moving on'' is a relief. Being stuck in reality does not make them happy; in fact, while they can continue to speak and walk, they are unable to enjoy anything and are always bound by their obsessions - few choose to carry on their existence in this most deprived way."


    "What about the living ones? What about the friends of the ghosts?"


    "Only a blessing." Dumbledore said calmly: "It may be that I have experienced so much that I always see things soberly, somehow ..." he said softly, "and even somewhat inhumanly."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 131: Helenas Decision

    Felix politely excused himself and left. In the afternoon class, he is absent-minded.


    "Please turn your books to page 147. Let''s look at how ancient wizards viewed the concept of ''being''."


    "Professor? That''s the part we covered in our last class ..." said a young wizard, raising his hand.


    Felix gave a surprised look as he looked at the textbook, "It was indeed my fault and I owe you all an apology. It also shows the point that professors are also human beings who are bound to make mistakes at times ..."


    "Okay, let''s turn to page 152, today we''re going to talk about ''hope'' and its relevant ancient rune."


    The Weasley twins off the stage looked at each other, and Fred squeezed his eyes: ''It''s rare for Professor Hap to make a mistake in class.''


    George made lip-sync: ''We witnessed history.''


    Fred pinched George''s thigh to keep himself from making a sound.


    After class, the twins surrounded Felix.


    After a few questions were answered, Fred asked curiously, "Professor, is there anything we can do to help you?"


    " Pardon?"


    "Oh, Professor," George said playfully, "we think you might be in a little pickle, and though we can probably fix it, maybe we can do something about it."


    Felix flashed a smile, "Mr. Weasley''s, I don''t have any ... Well," he looked at the two and asked thoughtfully, "Can you get a magic camera?"


    He knew that the young wizards had a private circle similar to a flea market with all sorts of new and interesting gadgets.


    "Professor, would a muggle camera and a developing solution work? The effect is the same." Fred said.


    "That''s right," George explained, "First-year Creevey was the one who asked us to buy the developing solution, but the camera is the one he brought with him."


    Felix thought for a moment and said, "Yes."


    Within two days, he received the camera, film, and developing solution.


    He paid the full amount with enthusiasm.


    During the following week, Felix and Helena chatted, they both deliberately did not mention the conflict that night.


    Felix described interesting things about the outside world, even including the hidden secrets of his own travels over the years - S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is it true that you were caught by Auror in the American wizarding black market?" She asked in surprise.


    "I can''t say that, it was merely a matter of coincidence that I caught one of their operations, and I originally wanted to slip away with the crowd-everyone was masked anyway, and it was easy to get out and Apparite."


    "And then what?" She asked with interest.


    "Seven Auror found me and chased after me ..." Felix said with a look of regret, "I had to take them down."


    That was the first actual battle with his instant killing tactics, except he took a bottle of potion in order to enhance the thinking speed, for which he had a headache for a week.


    "It''s a pity ..."


    "Pity about what?" Felix asked.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t use magic, and even lost most of the memories related to casting magic." She said regretfully, "The ghost aren''t complete, I only have particularly strong memories concerning my death ..."


    "What about other memories?"


    "It''s either vague or doesn''t resonate, like watching a stranger''s experience ..." she said.


    And At this moment, he finally made up his mind.


    Felix said, "Helena, there''s something I need to tell you."


    "What is it?"


    Felix hesitated, and he took out his camera, "Can I take a picture of you?"


    Helena looked at him in surprise, she hesitated for a moment in reserve and happily agreed.


    Felix took a few solo shots of Helena and then finally a picture of the two of them together.


    "It may take a day or two for the developing solution to work." He said.


    He looked at the smile that appeared on Helena''s face, and his heart fluttered. Helena saw the expression on his face and slowly composed herself, "That''s not what you''re going to say, right? It is difficult for you to say, Felix?"


    "Do you know about the Room of Requirement?"


    "Uh, oh ..." she smoothed her hair in some panic, "I know, it''s a lab my mother built, I used to go there when I was a kid, but my mother didn''t want to be disturbed, but I was always up against her. "


    "Have you been there again since? I mean ..." he paused for a moment, "after turning into a ghost."


    "No, no." She said dryly.


    Felix''s heart understood, probably out of guilt, or perhaps self-punishment, she deliberately avoided this place.


    He said softly, "I found something in there that Ms. Ravenclaw left behind, probably for you."


    "Wh-what did you say!" She flew forward briskly, her eyes fixed on him with a deadly stare, as if to discern, if is it is a bad joke or not.


    Felix looked at her calmly in the eyes, not remotely meaning to say anything funny.


    Helena believed it.


    She asked eagerly, "What is it? What did she leave behind?" Her translucent pearl-white body floated in midair, and her hands tried to grab Felix''s shoulders, but they passed through it.


    A bone-chilling coldness made Felix shiver.


    "It''s a memory." He whispered.


    ...


    For the next few days, Helena avoided him.


    Felix understood her well, this feeling of being in worry is not pleasant, who could guarantee that the memories of Lady Ravenclaw must be left for Helena?


    Can the memories be awakened by the ghost?


    When it is awakened, does it retain its reason?


    Will there be a reason, and will there be a desired outcome?


    Although the answer to these questions is most likely '' yes '', but no one can be sure until the moment when the truth is revealed.


    In the meantime, Felix had collected seven photos, and under the effect of the developing solution and the adjustment with his magic, Helena looked like a real person, beautiful, tall, and with a smile on her lips.


    Finally, on the morning of the weekend, she found Felix.


    "Take me there." She said calmly.


    "You''ve decided?"


    She nodded solemnly, accepting whatever the outcome would be.


    On the seventh floor, in front of the Room of Requirement, Felix and Helena stood quietly.


    A blue door slowly appeared, and Helena looked at him as Felix held the knob and pushed it open.


    Felix stepped into the room again, with an additional Helena beside him - or rather, he is the guest.


    As Helene stepped into the Room of Requirement, the whole room became active.


    Subtle sounds came from all sides of the room, and even without having to switch his perspective, Felix could feel a huge magical force awakening.


    The furnishings in the room continued to disappear, and the space continued to stretch until it became a white, borderless world.


    Heaven and earth, it seems, have lost their limits, leaving only Felix and Helena to exist.


    Not far in front of Helena, the magic power gathered in a gushing manner, outlining the figure of a lady.


    From the illusory, To the reality, she came out of nothing.


    After a thousand years, Rowena Ravenclaw opened her eyes.

 Chapter 132: Rowena Ravenclaw

    A beautiful, but stern-faced witch, she did not look like a memory at all, but rather like a real living person. If he hadn''t seen her transformation into reality with his own eyes, Felix would have thought Ravenclaw had managed to survive to this day!


    The witch''s eyes seemed unfocused, but when she saw Helena, her eyes instantly became animated.


    Her eyebrows and expression became delicate, her eyes gradually sharpened, she is Rowena Ravenclaw, one of the four founders of Hogwarts, a legendary wizard from a thousand years ago.


    "Helena, welcome home." She said.


    "Mother," Helena choked as silvery, clear teardrops poured down.


    Lady Ravenclaw''s keen gaze swept over her body, then glanced at Felix, who stood back silently.


    " Gentleman, could you tell me how much time has passed?"


    "You may call me Felix, Felix Hap." Felix bowed slightly, "A thousand years have passed, ma''am."


    "A thousand years ..." The Ravenclaw chewed on the word and walked over to Helena, gently wiping the tears from her face.


    "How can I be unsatisfied with seeing you again after a thousand years?" Lady Ravenclaw said tenderly.


    "Mother, everything is my fault! I shouldn''t have stolen your Diadem, I shouldn''t have run away from home, and I shouldn''t have ignored Baron''s words ... I didn''t even meet you at the end ..." Helene cried sadly.


    "You are my child, how can that be counted as stealing?" Lady Ravenclaw said lovingly, she slightly lifted the cape around Helena''s chest, and looked at the black wound on it, and asked, "Does it hurt?"


    "It hurts, Helena, is in pain, day and night." Helena took her mother''s arm and said with a bit of a spoiled tone.


    Ms. Ravenclaw held up her hand and no one saw her do anything, but Helena''s transparent fingers quickly became white and congested, and then expanded upwards, and in less than a minute, Helena had a solid body from her ghostly state.


    The clothes on her body also turned into a blue-coloured dress.


    Felix then realized that Helene''s hair looked a vivid burgundy colour.


    "Mother?" Helena looked at the Ravenclaw in surprise as she suddenly fell from two inches above the floor, stumbled twice, nearly fell, and was caught by the Ravenclaw - so much time had passed that she had forgotten how a normal person should walk.


    She took one hesitant step, two and her body fell straight to the ground with a twist.


    Lady Ravenclaw stepped forward to help her up, and Helena leaned most of her body on her.


    "Try again, you haven''t even put on your shoes yet, and you fell like this!"


    "But I haven''t walked in a long time."


    Felix watched all this without bothering to come forward. It''s all a mirage, at least, he did not think that Ms. Rowena Ravenclaw would have the ability to come back from the dead.


    What''s more, she is just a memory.


    Apart from that, he could see clearly that Helena''s smile getting brighter and brighter, her eyes curved into a crescent moon, a sign of her heart being freed.


    ''''Isn''t everything just as you anticipated? You are prepared for this, Felix.''''


    Helena and Ms. Ravenclaw were having fun playing the game of ''holding and walking'', both of them ignored Felix at the side.


    After almost half an hour, the two ladies stopped, each tidying up their messy hair strands.


    Helena''s body emitted light, soft white light, which made her look like a princess.


    "Mother, you have forgiven me, don''t you?" She asked, still somewhat anxiously.


    "I never blamed you." Lady Ravenclaw said with a smile.


    Helena smiled and wept, her face blossoming with holy and pure light.


    After a few moments, Helena whispered in her mother''s ear as their eyes looked over towards Felix, who stood not far away.


    The two walked over in a pair, holding each other''s arms together.


    "Mr. Hap?" Lady Rowena Ravenclaw said.


    " Lady Ravenclaw, Helena, congratulations," Felix said.


    "It''s thanks to you, Felix. Otherwise, I might have been lonely forever." Helena said with a smile as she gently tugged on her mother''s sleeve.


    Rowena Ravenclaw looked at him with a soft gaze, "Thank you very much, Mr. Hap, you freed my daughter."


    "Helena is a friend of mine, as well as Baron, and I hope they can both relieve their knots ..."


    "Baron? He''s not dead?" Rowena Ravenclaw''s expression stunned, her gaze as sharp and intimidating in a way it had never been before.


    Helena said somewhat gloatingly, "That nuisance also became a ghost, but he is no better, always carrying the bloody shackles, you don''t have to bother with him."


    "Is that so?" Rowena Ravenclaw''s gaze went into the distance.


    Felix felt the magic power surging around Rowena Ravenclaw''s body, and she seemed to be doing something he couldn''t understand.


    Outside the Room of Requirement, an extremely hidden magic pattern is lit up one by one, starting from the seventh floor and extending outwards.


    The tower, the sixth floor, the fifth floor, expanding all the way down and out ...


    In the Headmaster''s office, Dumbledore put down the quill in his hand with a very puzzled expression. Does it seem that he is - deprived of some powers of the Headmaster?


    No, not deprived, but temporarily borrowed.


    Who has this authority? Dumbledore stood up with a serious expression. S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The Grand Staircase in the castle began to turn violently, and some armour made cackling noises.


    Hogwarts underground and an abandoned classroom in the middle of nowhere, Bloody Baron floated in midair with an expressionless face.


    In A gust of wind, the depleted Baron jolted back to life, his expression frozen as he swept around, but found nothing.


    Inside the Room of Requirement, Rowena Ravenclaw sighed.


    "It was my mistake, I shouldn''t have let him find you."


    "It''s all in the past," Helena whispered.


    Felix relieved that nothing had gone wrong, and he was afraid that the Ravenclaw would try to avenge her daughter''s death and outright make Baron disappear.


    Although it''s the same disappearing, self-liberation and being beaten into a puff of mist were completely different concepts.


    "However - I seem to have found something familiar." Lady Ravenclaw said, and as Felix and Helena looked somewhat puzzled, A tattered diadem appeared abruptly from thin air and fell onto the white ground.


    "Is this your diadem?" Helena looked surprised and said, "How did it appear here?"


    Lady Ravenclaw stared at the diadem, "You don''t know this, how would I know? I found it in a dump ... What the hell do these little wizards think my lab is?"


    Felix''s gaze fixed deadly on the diadem, and he switched his perspective straight away - the same feeling the diary brought him, deep, dark, evil magic, silent as death.


    It is a Horcrux!


    " A piece of soul is sealed inside ... A magic left by that Herpo the Foul?" Ms. Ravenclaw frowned and said, "I remember it seems to be called as Horcrux?"


    "You know about this thing?" Felix asked.


    "Of course, Herpo was famous in my time, and many of his magic spells that could be considered nefarious were widely spread. Horcrux, though, are indeed quite rare."


    Lady Ravenclaw''s gaze turned to Helena: "Who did you give this diadem to?"

 Chapter 133: Diadem and Questions

    Helene looked away, somewhat abashed. "Almost fifty years ago, I was tricked by a student into telling him the place where the diadem was hidden." Felix added from the sidelines, "As far as I know, Voldemort, oh, that''s the name he changed later, Voldemort is superb at fiddling with minds and, more importantly, he''s extremely ambitious and has made more than one Horcrux."


    As for how wicked Voldemort was and what he did in the wizarding world, it simply didn''t matter to Rowena Ravenclaw.


    He took the tattered diary out of his ring and handed it to the Lady Ravenclaw.


    She stroked the neat scorch marks on the journal, "A fiendfyre curse, a very skilful fiendfyre curse." She didn''t say anything about the dark magic; in her time, the fiendfyre curse had been used by quite a few people because of its power and counter-curse.


    "I also saw traces of magic that belonged to me ...," Lady Ravenclaw looked up at him.


    Felix''s thoughts moved to provide the key information: "Voldemort is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and he received the Slytherin legacy of magic."


    "... That so? I did exchange memory magic ... with Salazar," Ravenclaw whispered.


    At this moment, Felix suddenly had a flash of light, he took out the magic manuscripts of Lockhart and said tentatively, "These manuscripts came from a professor who graduated from Ravenclaw House, he said he obtained a hidden inheritance-"


    Ravenclaw took it and casually flipped through it twice, "It''s my stuff, although it''s been transcribed, who is this guy? How could he be recruited to the school as a professor, his annotations are full of all sorts of lame blunders and delusions of grandeur."


    "He has paid the price," Felix said briefly, not wasting any time in describing what Lockhart had done, the glow emanating from Helena was getting stronger, "Do you remember where you put this information?" Felix inquired.


    Ravenclaw glanced at him: "It should be in the lounge bookcase, I set up some hidden magic, waiting for the latter generation to discover ..."


    Speaking of which, she waved her manuscript with some confusion: "Is he really a Ravenclaw student? My magic wouldn''t have expired after too long, would it? But I set it to automatically draw on Hogwarts'' overflowing magic, ah ..."


    This lady is not as daunting as she seems when discussing magic, Felix thought to himself.


    His eyes went to the diadem, "Lady Ravenclaw, if you don''t mind, I will be obliged to take it away and find an opportunity to destroy it."


    "With your fiendfyre curse?" Lady Ravenclaw asked.


    "It''s very effective."


    "But the diadem will be completely ruined." Lady Ravenclaw glanced disgustedly at the large hole in the diary and thought for a moment, "I''ll do it." She poked out her hand, let the diadem float in front of her, scrutinized it for a moment, and tossed it out.


    In the pure white space, the magic continued to surge, forming stars and multicoloured rays, which converged behind Lady Ravenclaw, as if draped in a river of stars.


    "Go on." Ms. Ravenclaw said, and the starlight whistled like a tidal wave, forming an exaggerated magic vortex in midair and swallowing the diadem.


    In the vortex, an ice blue and bronze magic began to swirl and poured in the diadem, wisps of black gas spilled out of it and then were smashed by the surrounding magic.


    A harsh sound rang out, but Lady Ravenclaw reached out and pointed, and the sound suddenly disappeared.


    "This?" Felix asked in amazement if he saw it right, this crude approach is-


    "I borrowed the magic of the castle to form a vortex that pulls out the souls inside and grinds them apart piece by piece," Ravenclaw said flatly.


    Felix: "..." amazing to have this much magic power.


    He asked politely, "Won''t this damage your diadem?" A diadem that could grant a person wisdom is something he would be interested in studying, but his original intention was to do so after he resolved the Horcrux without harm.


    "It''s already ruined, the nefarious soul tainted the diadem''s entire wisdom, and I just don''t want to damage its materials." Lady Ravenclaw said.


    Felix looked at the diadem that kept spilling out black smoke in midair and remained silent.


    Helena, who had been holding the Lady Ravenclaw, asked, "Felix, don''t you have a lot of problems that you don''t know how to solve? There''s a grandmaster of magic right here." She winked at Felix and made a gesture: ''You''re welcome.''


    The Ravenclaw smiled at Helena and Felix''s interaction, "Feel free to ask any questions you have, there may not be much time left." She looked over at Helena, the glow in her body could no longer be hidden.


    Once Helena is freed, her mission would be complete.


    In the end, she is merely a memory.


    Lady Ravenclaw held Helena''s hand in her backhand, trying to delay the process, and Helena gave her a beautiful smile.


    Time is limited, and Felix isn''t pushing it, hurrying to ask about the thing he is most interested in-


    " Lady Ravenclaw, my first question is: what is memory?"


    Ravenclaw looked at him, "You are your memories. Everything in our lives is a memory, except for a thin layer of ''this moment''."


    Felix said solemnly: "So, whether it''s a person or a soul or an animal, the most important thing, is memory?"


    Ravenclaw did not deny: "And what do you think of the ''here and now or present''? Is it the result of the past, or the beginning of the future?"


    The question made Felix scratch his head a little, he wanted to ask about magic, not to discuss philosophy. S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He stated his thoughts, "From my point of view, the ''here and now'' is something I can absolutely grasp; it is in my power, an expression of my will. Or, to put it simply - the ''here and now'' is the ''choice''.


    The past is beyond pursuit, the future is yet to come, and the key to it all lies in grasping the ''here and now''."


    Ravenclaw nodded and smiled, neither agreeing nor refuting.


    Felix waited for a moment, and when he saw that she did not speak, he simply asked straightforwardly what he was most concerned about: "Madam, I want to inject a fictional memory into the Patronus, but there is a violent conflict between the two, in addition, I also want to transfer part of my consciousness into the Patronus ... "


    He waved his wand and let his Patronus fly out.


    Lady Ravenclaw smiled and beckoned, letting the silver Rainbird land in her hand.


    Felix obediently relinquished control of the Patronus, knowing that Lady Ravenclaw would demonstrate it to him.


    Her fingers brushed its feathers, and the rain swallow chirped.


    "You need to extract the memories correctly." She said methodically, "Imagine you grab a specific bird from a birdhouse full of birds, it may seem difficult, but if each bird has a string tied to its leg, you will do this easily by pulling on the string just from the outside of the birdhouse."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 134: Curtain Ends

    "Birdhouse, string, thread," Felix repeated. He realized suddenly one of Ravenclaw''s traits, she is very, very fond of inspiring people - whether the person wants to be inspired by her or not.


    "Mother, can''t you be blunter?" Helena said from the sidelines.


    Ms. Ravenclaw gave her a look and helplessly revealed the riddle: "Don''t crudely cram


    Memories into anything, you need to shape them."


    Felix seemed to have thought of something, but still separated by a layer of thin paper, shading in and out of view.


    "Memory moulding, or rather, structuring a solid memory."


    Ravenclaw held the rain swallow, which turned into a silvery mist and then reassembled into an eagle with its head held high, in the body of the eagle, there are dense dots all over.


    The eagle landed on the ground and looked at the ground.


    "These are?" Felix''s breathing seemed to stop, he directly switched on the acceleration of thought, desperately remembering the structure of these dots.


    Ravenclaw said flatly, "Soul nodes? Memory nodes? Whatever, I just found some structure for stable memories."


    "So, you''re also ... constructed this way?


    "Yes, I''m just a memory of Ravenclaw, not a real person, not a ghost, not even considered as life, but the only emotions are real without being fictional."


    "As for transferring consciousness, you can refer to Pact Magic." She said quickly.


    Felix could only memorize it as well, and he duly asked one last question: "Madam, I would like to know, how far did the four founders truly advance their magic?"


    Ravenclaw gave him an approving look, "Talking too much will only disturb you, what I can tell you is that we count ourselves as magical beings."


    She glanced at the diadem that was constantly being washed by the massive magic, the mass of black air being churned to pieces.


    "It''s almost time." Lady Ravenclaw said softly, her form slowly fading away, but she still looked at Helena tenderly.


    The glow on Helena''s body became brighter and brighter, more and more holy, and a heartfelt joy spread out.


    The temporary body constructed by magic had disappeared, and she reverted to the form of a ghost.


    "May I hug you again?" She asked.


    Lady Ravenclaw opened her arms, and the two somewhat illusory figures pressed together for a long time before separating.


    In a swirl of magic, a blurred face rushed out from the diadem, but immediately shattered silently.


    The Lady Ravenclaw grabbed the diadem as soon as she could - it shone brightly, as if it had been scrubbed clean and as good as new.


    "I will recreate the diadem as your reward." She said to Felix.


    "Lady Ravenclaw, you don''t have to ..." he said hesitantly.


    "It is not as wise as you think it would be, not when it can be given." Lady Ravenclaw said, her figure growing fainter and fainter while the diadem grew brighter and brighter.


    She glanced over at Helena with a parting glance.


    "It is somewhat unfortunate that I cannot accompany you on your journey." Lady Ravenclaw said that she is just a memory, and today she finished the mission that belongs to her and is going to dissipate.


    Helena smiled and said, "I''ve got the courage to walk the rest of the way."


    Lady Ravenclaw stared at her, and after three, maybe five, or ten minutes, she finally disappeared.


    "Clang!"


    The diadem fell to the ground and rolled twice.


    "Take it, it belongs to you," Helena said.


    The light on Helena''s body grew stronger and stronger, and the restrictions left on her by the Ravenclaw lady before had disappeared.


    Felix didn''t even look at the diadem, he gazed at Helena and said with some difficulty, "I''m going to lose another friend today."


    She floated up to him and her palm tried to touch his cheek, but her fingers passed through.


    "It seems you''ve had your share of grief."


    Felix was silent for a moment, "Let''s get out." He held out his palm and let the diadem fly over with the diary, which he tucked into the ring.


    The two of them walked out of the Room of Requirement, the light from her body quickly spread out, a soft glow illuminating the entire seventh-floor corridor.


    "It may be too late, I have something to say to someone," Helene said.


    "Do you need help?" Felix asked, knowing who she was referring to as ''someone''.


    "Sure." She smiled at him, "We''re friends, aren''t we?"


    Felix''s wand made a blast and the window in front of him abruptly disappeared as he leaped from the window on the seventh floor with Helena in his arms, before landing lightly in the yard.


    The next moment, Felix''s voice instantly resounded through the castle -


    "Baron, come to the yard, Helena has something to say to you."


    The young wizards in the castle looked up, startled by the loud voice.


    What had happened?


    "Come on, let''s go check it out," Harry said to Ron and Hermione, and the trio ran simultaneously.


    Doing the same, were other young wizards who, full of curiosity.


    It is the weekend, everyone is very free.


    They ran towards the yard at the same moment.


    But the fastest is still Dumbledore, he appeared very abruptly in front of Felix and Helena, his expression a little puzzled, but when he saw the white light on Helena''s body, his azure eyes widened at once.


    He looked at Felix, who nodded gently.


    Another ten seconds or so later, a silver shadow passed through a wall and appeared in the yard.


    It''s Bloody Baron.


    He looked as frightening as ever, covered in silver blood and carrying a huge shackle on his back. But his expression at the moment is one of unprecedented tension and trepidation.


    Bloody Baron looked at Helena bathed in light, his mouth opened and closed, and stammered, "Congratulations, Helena."


    One by one, the little wizards and professors, and the ghosts came from afar, and they stopped far away when they saw this scene in the yard.


    The little wizards were somewhat puzzled, but the professors and ghosts had seen a lot, and they clearly saw the state of Helena.


    Nearly Headless Nick, covered his mouth very empathetically, "Oh, my God."


    The other ghosts also stared nervously at the center of the yard.


    "Sir Baron, I''m about to leave." Helena said, "I was told to learn to forgive myself ... I''ll give that to you."


    "And what about you?" Baron asked, his body shaking constantly, "Will you forgive me?"


    "I''ve hated you, but I''ll try to forgive you, just from this moment on." Helena Ravenclaw said. S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The light from her body exploded into a white, long phantom of a ladder, appeared. Helena''s gaze lingered around, finally pausing on Felix for a moment, and she firmly stepped onto the ladder.


    Her figure disappeared.


    Felix felt dispirited.


    "Felix, thanks, I know the person she was talking about is you," Baron said, and a clean white glow spread from his body.


    "I didn''t do anything." Felix shook his head.


    A clamour erupted from the distant ghosts; what a day. Two ghosts freed from their bindings one after another!


    Only those who knew the thousand-year grudge of these two ghosts could not help but feel a lot of emotions.


    Baron did not resist the white light stirring in his body, and in a solemn atmosphere, his figure disappeared.


    The young wizards looked at this scene dumbly, they did not know what had happened but knew that the ghosts of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, two houses, had disappeared forever from this day.

 Chapter 135: follow-up

    The young wizards were driven away by the professors. Professor McGonagall commanded the grade heads and told them to take the students of their respective houses away and to return to wherever they wished, and in fact, she had very mixed feelings.


    Startled by Felix''s voice, she thought something urgent had happened and rushed here, even using the Animagus halfway.


    More than one young wizard saw a cat nimbly crossing the flowers, a blurred shadow flickering, and they thought Mrs. Norris had recovered.


    But even though it was different from what she had imagined, things were still considered ''urgent'' and she had witnessed two ghosts that had existed at Hogwarts for a thousand years just dissipate.


    This is a good thing, but she is still full of doubts, what happened?


    Most of the professors and ghosts stayed behind, they looked at Felix on the field and seemed to have the intention of listening to a story.


    Snape standing near the yard stone pillar, his expression puzzled, his thoughts at the moment is, this is the first time this year, can it be called ''accidental'' event?


    It seems that every single one of them can be related to Felix ...


    Professor Flitwick stood aside, his lips opening and closing, wanting to ask something. He is aware of Ms. Gray''s true identity, for decades he has always had great respect for her, and he is most anxious for the truth.


    Dumbledore is touched for a greater extent, he kept looking at the location where the two ghosts disappeared, murmuring softly, silver beard twitching, but no one could tell what the 100-year-old man is thinking at the moment.


    "Felix ..." Dumbledore said softly: "It seems that something incredible must have happened to you."


    Felix''s expression looked a little ''sullen'' as his eyes swept over several professors on the field, Snape, McGonagall, Belby, Flitwick, Sprout, madam hooch ...


    There were also the ghosts of Hogwarts - the almost headless Nick, Fat Friar, Professor Binns, and a few he couldn''t name.


    Just about everyone who could come arrived.


    He said in a flat tone, "It''s a long story indeed, but the privacy of two honourable ghosts is at stake, plus I myself have very mixed emotions right now and am not in the mood to tell much for now."


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, please forgive me for leaving for the moment, when the mood has calmed down, I will disclose the truth in order to maintain the honour of the two friends."


    Dumbledore''s eyes covertly skimmed over the others, he said from goodwill: "Of course, Felix. I suppose that of all the people present, there is no one who will suffer more grief than you."


    Felix and Dumbledore left one after another, and many professors looked at each other, and the ghosts on the sidelines were also in a similar mood, all scratching their hearts a little, but knowing that they could only wait, they discussed a few things and dispersed.


    Ancient rune office.


    Felix sat on the chair behind the desk, took out a stack of parchment, and scribbled down all the conversations with Ms. Ravenclaw, and when they slowly took shape in the thinking room, the manuscript in front of Felix silently turned into flying ash.


    Only when he finished these, Felix leaned back in his chair, with the diary and the brand-new diadem in front of him, and fell into a pensive mood.


    His mood is indeed somewhat low and complicated, but more so because he could not tell the story without loopholes while concealing some key information.


    For example, the thousand-year memories of Lady Ravenclaw, such as the diadem, and Horcrux ...


    These, he did not want too many people to know.


    Many hidden secrets, once leaked to a second person, will no longer be called hidden.


    But the Horcrux, he did not want to hide it from Dumbledore, after all, he has a whole two pieces in his hands - he''s wondering how things have developed into this?


    Voldemort''s trouble, it is better to leave it to the Headmaster to have a headache.


    And the most crucial thing is that he seems to be able to fit the diary into the story reasonably well ...


    Including Ginny, including Draco Malfoy, including Dobby the house-elf, these clues that he obtained off and on, can also be forwarded to Dumbledore.


    To put an end to the Chamber of Secrets incident, when Dobby''s troubles are solved, it will be possible to restore Hagrid''s reputation.


    Speaking of which, why hasn''t Dobby contacted him? Was there an accident, or did the instincts of a house-elf take over?


    In the office, there is no trace of sound.


    Elsewhere, at Hogwarts, numerous young wizards were voicing their opinions about the shocking events that had taken place today.


    And what Harry is most concerned about is what really happened to the two ghosts.


    At the moment, the trio followed the large group back to the Gryffindor common room, led by the head of the grade. The young lions, who had been discussing in a whisper, burst out with great enthusiasm, nearly toppling the ceiling.


    Hermione winked at Harry and Ron, and they chose a long couch with a divider and a red curtain, then sat down. On the other side of the divider were a few of the Gryffindor heads of grade.


    They were likewise discussing what had just happened.


    "It''s the ghost''s salvation!" Percy said with great certainty. "I''ve seen similar descriptions in books, and this is an extremely rare occurrence."


    A fifth-year Head Girl said suspiciously, "I seem to have heard about it at home, but isn''t that a fairy tale?"


    "Haha, did you also hear the story "The Disappearance of Barney the Ghost"?" It''s a male wizard''s voice.


    On this side of the partition, Hermione mouthed: ''You''ve heard that story?''


    Ron shook his head.


    The discussion continued -


    The head girl said: "I always thought it was fake, but I never thought it would really appear before my eyes one day."


    "What do you guys think, about what happened?"


    "What exactly is the relationship between Lady Gray and Bloody Baron?"


    "Maybe a couple?"


    "Oh, no way, the word Ms. Gray said was ''forgiveness''."


    "You heard that? It was so far away I couldn''t hear it, and Professor McGonagall wouldn''t let us get close!"


    "I saw the way she mouthed when she spoke ..."


    "Then it''s a feud, and frankly, I think that''s more likely, like he murdered Ms. Gray ..."


    A new, excited female voice appeared, "Could it be that ... Bloody Baron was a murderer who killed a lot of people and ended up on trial, but before he died he thought about fighting back ... and became a ghost. " She laid out a bunch of inner drama, and then dramatically concluded.


    The trio changed their place, to a hidden corner.


    "What do you think?" Harry asked.


    "Other than the information about the ghost redeeming itself, it doesn''t hold much credibility," Ron said. "Especially the girl with the somewhat shrill voice who kept trying to lean the truth towards love-hate relationships."


    "They ignored Professor Hap, the one who summoned the Bloody Baron." Harry speculated, "Hermione, what do you think?"


    "I also think it has something to do with Professor Hap, he seems a little sad and I know that he and Lady Grey are friends," Hermione said what she knew.


    The Gryffindor discussion wasn''t the most lively, of the four houses, Ravenclaw House had the biggest reaction.


    Ms. Grey, although she always gave the impression of being lofty, she was not shy about giving pointers to the young wizards, especially to the students of her own house.


    Her departure made the young eagles sad.


    ...


    In the evening, Felix left the school and went to the old town of London.


    He walked along a pitch-black road and into a cemetery, where the guards watching the gate ignored him.


    Almost three or four minutes later, Felix stood in front of a tombstone.


    ---------- s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 136: The Story

    The white inscriptions on the black marble are easier to make out in the dim light, they seem to glow in the dark - Rock Irwin


    Born on December 12, 1966, died on May 3, 1980


    Died of influenza after nursing 12 companions S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Rock Irwin ..." Felix murmured, recalling the scene when he was nine years old and collapsed in a hospital bed, at his weakest, someone kept taking care of him.


    Three days before he recovered, Irwin''s disappeared, and he pleaded the dean to tell him, only to be met with a heavy sigh.


    That was the first time he understood death deeply.


    Felix stood quietly in front of the tombstone, like a silent statue, and after almost an hour, his figure disappeared.


    At eight o''clock in the evening, Felix returned to his office, where he had, earlier this morning, used his Patronus to inform his assistant that he had cancelled this weekend''s rune tutoring.


    With a little preparation, he knocked on the door of the Headmasters office.


    The room is very dim, Dumbledore looked up from his desk and looked at him through his half-moon glasses, "Felix ... please sit down, wait a moment, the office is a little dark."


    He held up something that looked a lot like a silver lighter, pressed a few times, a ball of light flew out of it, and the office immediately became brighter.


    "What is this?" Felix asked with interest.


    "I made a gadget, I call it a lighter, can absorb and release light sources," Dumbledore said.


    Felix sat in front of him and pulled out the diary and the brand-new diadem.


    The first thing Dumbledore''s eyes fell on is the diadem, he stood straight up and bent down to examine it carefully, "This is ... if I''m not mistaken ..."


    "That''s right, Lady Ravenclaw''s diadem."


    Dumbledore looked at Felix and keenly noted his use of the word ''Lady'', few people would use that.


    He quickly thought of his Headmaster''s authority being briefly borrowed, and the suspicion that sprang to mind horrified him a little, but he quickly ruled it out.


    His eyes turned to the diary, an item that was much less eye-catching, looking tattered and torn, with a hole in the middle.


    Dumbledore stared at it for a longer time, his fingers kept fumbling with the broken hole, "A powerful Fiendfyre curse," he frowned but did not rush to comment, and for a moment his azure eyes widened, "So that''s it, yes, that''s it ..."


    After a long time, his eyes moved away from it. Dumbledore said with a soft admiration, "What a surprise to me, I thought, there will not be anything that can make me an old man surprised, it seems that your story will be a big eye-opener for me."


    Felix began to recount his ''experience'' from very, very early on, "The night the Chamber of Secrets adventure ended, I was approached by Draco Malfoy, who appeared terrified, yet very resourceful, bringing with him an evil dark magic item ..." He nodded to indicate the diary on the table.


    He spoke of his suspicion that the diary had something to do with the opening of the chamber and tried to talk with it, but there was no trace of feedback.


    "This is not quite consistent with Mr. Malfoy''s experience, and I am going to observe it for a while and set up tight magical protection for it."


    Dumbledore crossed his arms and rested them under his chin, listening quietly.


    "Until the dueling class, I found that the ban I had set up was broken, rushed back and found a house-elf, his name is Dobby, I used the potion on him and accidentally obtained the truth about the incident of the chamber," Felix said.


    "So--"


    "The diary is Voldemort''s relic, which he gave to Lucius Malfoy for uncertain reasons, and Lucius hid it in the Weasley''s youngest daughter, Ginny Weasley''s books, with the help of an accidental meeting in front of the Bookshop."


    Dumbledore sighed, "Matches up with some of my suspicions, as far as I know, the Ministry of Magic searched several pureblood families during that time, under the guise of investigating dark magic items, Lucius may have been in a hurry and couldn''t wait to get rid of the problem."


    "Dobby harboured a huge debt of gratitude to Potter, and he went out of his way to disobey his master''s orders to protect Potter in any way he could, even though ..." Felix gave a small smile, "it may have been troubling to Potter himself. "


    "Ah, such pure emotion, often can exceed our imagination," Dumbledore said with emotion.


    "Anyway, I realized the danger and prepared to destroy the diary, but regular magic simply didn''t work, so I used the Fiendfyre," Felix said, profusely, did not avoid the fact that he used dark magic.


    And Dumbledore did not say anything more: "Perhaps ... this is indeed a good way."


    Next, Felix explained himself in the time of pursuing the secret room, had inadvertently found a mysterious room, "I think its magic is very interesting, ready to study in their free time."


    "On the seventh floor of the castle, the tapestry of trolls beating Barnabas with a club?" Dumbledore repeated, showing a thoughtful expression, he smiled and said: "Your words have unlocked a long-time suspicion."


    "You know it too?" Felix asked knowingly, he couldn''t say that he had done all sorts of strange and bizarre tests using your name, right?


    "Oh, it was a wonderful experience, but perhaps I underestimated its use at the time ..."


    Felix did not press the issue, he nodded and spoke again about the two ghosts, he and Baron knew each other when they were at school and had overheard a conversation between them.


    He said with some shame: "Initially I had a utilitarian purpose - I saw the manuscript left by Lady Ravenclaw from the library and became curious about that time a thousand years ago, and I very deliberately befriended Helena."


    Dumbledore reassured him, "I, too, had deliberately befriended many famous wizards in my youth with a utilitarian purpose in mind."


    "Thank you, Dumbledore." Felix said, "At the time, I also had the idea that, as Baron''s friend, I hoped to ease Helena''s resentment toward him."


    "But as I got deeper into it, I found Helena to be a very fine lady, and it was a pleasure to chat with her, and I enjoyed it." Felix''s voice trailed off.


    Next, Felix cut back on his description of Helena, not wanting to mention her name in a pile of lies.


    "... I realized that the Room of Requirement might be the chamber left by Ravenclaw, and I took her inside and met the memory left by Rowena Ravenclaw a thousand years ago."


    Dumbledore''s hand running through his silver beard stopped as he listened intently, not wanting to miss a word.


    "... Lady Rowena Ravenclaw found the diadem, which she said contained a piece of an evil spirit, and magic said to have originated from a famous dark wizard of Ancient Greece, Herpo the Foul. "


    Dumbledore''s face became solemn, as he spits out a word: "Horcrux.".


    "Yes, that magic, I thought about the diary and took it to Lady Ravenclaw. After her confirmation, the diary is also a Horcrux that belongs to the same person ."


    "Very perceptive, Felix," Dumbledore said.


    "Afterwards, Lady Ravenclaw used the vast magical power of Hogwarts to destroy it, and before the mission was completed, she recreated the diadem."


    Felix finished telling the story.

 Chapter 137: two memories

    The office went quiet. The delicate silverware on the corner of the table swirled, emitting small puffs of smoke and making a "tick-tock" sound.


    "Your testimony is very useful, Felix." Dumbledore said, his eyes staring contemplatively at the diary, with his eyes under thick silver eyebrows, "He is even crazier than I thought."


    "You mean, Voldemort,?"


    "I prefer to call him Tom, Tom Riddle, which is his original name. He never shied away from that when he was in school, and the professors would not call him by his last name ''Riddle'', but affectionately called him Tom." Dumbledore explained.


    Felix pondered, it seems that Voldemort went to school and lived a much more nourishing life than he did.


    "Is it because he made more than one Horcrux?" Felix asked.


    "That''s right, Felix. This magic is more evil than you can imagine, the ability to gain immortality by splitting souls-"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, I''m not interested in that." Felix interrupted, "Do you have any other questions?"


    Dumbledore blinked with a pleased smile, "Felix, you know more about restraint than a younger me ... I do have one more question."


    He crossed his arms on the table, "I would like to know more about what happened when the Horcruxes were damaged."


    Felix had expected this, and it just so happened that he also had two things he wanted Dumbledore to know. So he turned to look at the black cabinet behind him, "Why don''t you see it for yourself, Dumbledore?"


    He looked back and saw Dumbledore''s surprised gaze.


    The older man said, "You mean, Pensieve? Many wizards avoid that ..." It is a reaction he did not anticipate at all.


    "Yes, I saw it on my last visit, when the cabinet was left open." Felix explained, "As for avoidance? I do avoid it, but I personally think that since Voldemort is not dead, one day he will return, and you are the person he fears most."


    Dumbledore shook his head, the old face has long been covered with wrinkles: "Felix, I am old." He waved his hand, the black cabinet door opened, a shallow stone basin flew out smoothly, and landed on the table in front of the two.


    Felix carefully examined the Pensieve, an ancient and rare magical artefact. There were strange carvings on the mouth of the basin: they were various mysterious runes and symbols.


    He could make out some, but more were in the blind spot of his knowledge.


    Inside the Pensieve is a pool of silvery substance, sort of like bright silver, but in constant flow. Felix drew his wand and touched it gently with the tip, and the silver light swirled softly.


    He then placed his wand against his forehead and Dumbledore whispered, "Felix, I must thank you for your trust in me."


    Felix gave a mischievous smile, "Oh, Headmaster Dumbledore, I will only show you the most crucial memories, some private matters I will hide well - you won''t get anything out of it even if you stick your nose in."


    Dumbledore showed a cheerful smile for the first time tonight.


    A shimmering silver strand was pulled out and added to the Pensieve, and Felix stirred it with his wand, letting the strand melt into the silver light.


    The two reached out at the same time, and when their fingertips touched the silver light inside the basin, a great attraction pulled, and they did not resist, falling into the Pensieve smoothly.


    The first memory is very short -


    An elf fell to the ground, and ''Felix'' summoned a long sword of Fiendfyre pointed straight at the Diary.


    The Horcrux let out a dying cry: "No, I can tell you the secret of conquering death-"


    But ''Felix'' did not hesitate half a second, controlling the longsword directly through the Horcrux, and the voice ended abruptly.


    This memory ends here.


    The two figures reappeared in the office, Dumbledore''s expression was very complex, but also with a sense of inexplicable relief.


    He looked at Felix: "I am proud of your choice, in the war years, many famous wizards were easily compelled by him, not to mention his secret of conquering death."


    Dumbledore didn''t even mention why Felix is able to use the Fiendfyre curse to such an extent.


    At other times, he might have advised Felix not to go too deep, but now, compared to rejecting the Horcrux, this is simply irrelevant.


    And this is the first thing that Felix wanted to tell Dumbledore.


    The next is the second memory -


    In a pure white space, ice blue and bronze magic intertwined into a huge vortex, constantly tearing the Diadem, wisps of black gas spilled from the diadem.


    Dumbledore looked oddly not very far away, across from the '' Felix '', is a beautiful and serious witch, Helena and her arm linked together, they said something, but Dumbledore could not hear anything, even the face is blurred.


    "Is this what you call privacy?"


    "We''re discussing my wizarding path," Felix said briefly.


    Dumbledore shut his mouth tightly, such things were the secrets of powerful wizards. He turned to look at the vortex in midair and let out a sigh of admiration.


    Halfway through the day, a blurry face burst out of the diadem and was immediately and completely churned up by the vortex.


    Dumbledore sighed with emotion, but he found that the two did not leave the memory, and after a while, he heard the only words in the whole memory.


    It was the words that Lady Rowena Ravenclaw said to Felix, "I will recreate the diadem as your reward." s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The words, in the empty white space, kept echoing.


    Dumbledore looked speechlessly at Felix, who was nodding approvingly, and the next second, the memory ended.


    The air in the office settled down, no one spoke first.


    Half a minute later, Dumbledore said helplessly: "I understand what you mean, the diadem is yours, no one can snatch it away, and if others have objections, I will testify for you."


    Felix revealed a bright smile, "Thank you so much, Headmaster Dumbledore, I''ve been worried that there would be some unreasonable school board members or the Minister of Magic looking for me."


    As he spoke, Felix nimbly used his wand to pick out his memories and let them dissipate completely.


    Dumbledore suddenly felt a pang of heartburn as he waved his hand, "You can take the diadem."


    Felix politely offered his farewell and turned to leave.


    Walking out of the office, he showed a satisfied smile, the expected goals were accomplished.


    His main goal had three points, one was how to interpolate the diary into his version of the story, and the second was how to dispel any doubts Dumbledore might have: what if Felix had become interested in the Horcrux? Three is the ownership of the diadem, he did not want to make any compromise on the right to ownership.


    So after he finished telling the story, he smoothly threw out two memories, corresponding to the second and third goals. Among them, the second goal was the most important.


    So careful because he knew that Dumbledore held concerns about him, fearing that he had gone dark and become another Dark Lord.


    And even more frightening is that Dumbledore is more than a hundred years old, he can not afford to miscalculate the consequences. And Felix? Only 22 years old, far from his peak.


    From the past deeds, this worry Felix completely understands.


    So he could only put in more effort to beat the old headmaster''s doubts by doing this.


    ''''I can be a really considerate person.''''

 Chapter 138: Wind

    Felix returned to his office, at late night, the window hit by the wind making a "click-click-click" sound. He sat in his chair, his eyes passed over a corner of the desk, where there stood a stack of photos. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix picked up the photos in his hand, leaned back, and looked at them quietly - seven photos, most of them were solitary photos of Helena, she always smiled quietly, but from different angles.


    The only photo is with him, and he said something at the time, and Helena gave an amused expression, and there''s a clear gesture of covering her mouth in the photo.


    Felix''s fingers brushed over the photo, causing her hair to turn into a burgundy colour, and then he collected the photo in his ring.


    "Have a good trip, Helena."


    ...


    The next morning, Hogwarts is windy, Felix was woken up early, he came out of his bedroom in his pyjamas, the office is very dimly lit, and it is pitch-black outside.


    The windows were raging under the gale, making an unbearable creaking sound.


    Felix snapped his fingers and the windows seemed to become one, the sound instantly weakened, but the sound of the gale crashing against the castle walls is beyond what he had offered.


    Through the window, you can faintly see the branches of the trees in the distance keep swaying.


    "Don''t want to think at all in this weather." He muttered, lazily curling up on the couch.


    Felix hooked his fingers, and the suitcase in the corner popped open, and a box of film floated in midair past his eyes, "Tch! I can''t believe I''ve seen them all."


    "I remember a very famous series of films, I wonder if it''s released, what is it called?"


    "The Legend of Nagini?"


    Felix shook his head and beckoned a book of fairy tales, "The Adventures of Camper," from a wall cabinet - one of the gifts he had received for Christmas.


    The main character of the story is called Robin Camper, a ten-year-old prep young wizard.


    His parents, both employees of the Ministry of Magic, are usually very busy at work and often entrust him to the care of a neighbour, but he does not like the neighbour''s cat and sneaks out.


    Camper originally wanted to stroll around Diagon Alley, but ended up in Knockturn Alley by mistake and got whisked away by a dark witch with an Apparition.


    But the good thing is, the resourceful Camper used a small trick to deceive the witch, smoothly escaped. After that is the story of avoiding the pursuit of the dark witch. While making various friends and trying to go home.


    Felix finds that if one doesn''t think too much about logic, such as why the witch''s henchmen are three cats with names like ''Nate'', ''Marsh'' and ''Moray'', and that they always come first before The witch found Camper and got chased away by Camper''s new magical creature friends and so on all these issues ... It''s actually quite interesting.


    He read with great interest, less than an hour to finish it.


    "I wonder if this type of book is popular among the little wizard community, I should investigate, if the response is good, I can take reference to complete my new book."


    "As for the plot well ..." he glanced at the Adventure of Camper in his hand, "the story of a ten-year-old wizard-to-be, sent to a muggle school by his busy working parents to live, learn and make friends in an unfamiliar environment. "


    "Well, this wizard-to-be grew up in a wizard''s family and is not familiar with the outside world, and with the help of his eyes, the reader gets to see a lot of interesting things."


    "It''s best to illustrate it with some dynamic images."


    Felix absently made up the plot, the day finally dawned.


    Harry woke up with a start, listening to the wind whistling in his ears, he rubbed on the glasses and looked carefully through the window.


    "It''s windy, oh yeah, it''s March." He muttered.


    Ron is still asleep, it''s Sunday, and Harry doesn''t wake him up, getting dressed, and he carried his book bag to the common room.


    He had a ton of Quidditch practice in the afternoon, and he had to catch up on his homework.


    When he arrived in the common room, it is empty, with only three or two people, but he''s not surprised at seeing Hermione.


    She is carving a rune with a carving knife, and from Harry''s point of view, it already looks very decent, the tip of the light coffee-colored carving knife flows with searing magic, leaving behind chestnut wood pieces with a burning symbol.


    "How''s it going?" Harry asked when she stopped.


    Hermione gave him an ambiguous answer, "Not too bad, but I haven''t succeeded once."


    "Yeah?" Harry didn''t quite catch the phrase: "It looks rather impressive, it has the mystique of a wizard in a fairy tale now."


    "Harry, you are the wizard."


    "I''m talking about the wizard lore of the Muggle world." As for Hogwarts, Harry thought about his desperate attempt to catch up on his homework and is hardly in the mood to think about gods and mysteries.


    While Harry writing his herbology class thesis, the whistling outside the tower didn''t stop, interrupting his thoughts several times. This put him in a very irritable mood, and he suddenly looked up expectantly and asked, "Hermione, do you think if the weather is still like this on Monday, our herbology class will be cancelled?"


    Hermione said, "I think - you might as well expect today''s training to be cancelled, and I''m curious how the mandrake gets into someone''s pot, Professor Sprout said it''s almost here in a few days, and I don''t want to miss it."


    Many mandrake plants did a feverish, noisy dance in the third greenhouse during last week''s Final Herbology class, much to Professor Sprout''s delight.


    "We''ll know they''re fully mature when they want to move to someone else''s pot." She said, "Then we''ll be able to bring both poor little wizard in the hospital ward and Filch''s cat to life."


    Harry muttered, "Surely Wood won''t cancel the training, I have faith in him."


    When Ron got up, the three of them gathered their things and went to the great hall for breakfast.


    Ron pointed to the Ravenclaw House crowd and said, "They don''t look very excited."


    Harry said uncertainly, "Maybe because the ghost of their house has disappeared?" He thought about it, and even though he hadn''t had a good time at Nick''s 500th-anniversary party, he would certainly be upset about it if Nick suddenly disappeared.


    As this is happening, a silvery figure burst into the great hall, bashing the Slytherin students with a stack of chalk heads.


    He let out a loud laugh and suddenly disappeared when no one reacted.


    The trio got dumbfounded, and after a while, Ron said, "Merlin ah, nobody cares about Peeves now?"


    Everyone knows that only Bloody Baron and Dumbledore can control Peeves Ghost, and he only maintains limited respect in the face of the professor.


    "However, I do think it''s not bad." Ron looked at the wretched little Slytherin wizards, especially when there is Malfoy among them, so he happily stabbed a piece of bacon.


    Hermione said worriedly, "It''s Slytherin that Peeves is targeting now, not necessarily after a while."


    "That''s Slytherin''s worst luck as well," Ron said optimistically.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 139: Peeves Ghost

    Felix stayed in his office until noon, before heading hungrily to the great hall for a meal. Instead of sitting at the faculty table, he chose a random long table of students, with several young wizards discussing the morning''s events just a short-distance away.


    "In just one morning, Peeves has attacked many Slytherin students in the great hall, and pushed down statues in the corridors, painted mud all over the armour, and scribbled on the ceiling. ..." One student counted Peeves'' crimes on his fingers.


    "I think he must have spent all day yesterday thinking about how to celebrate, which is why he''s so efficient today."


    Felix listened on, when a few Slytherin students walked in with angry faces, their angry yelling audible to him from seven or eight seats away.


    "... This is outrageous, to run into our common room and fool around! Make sure to tell Professor Snape ..."


    Their voices faded away.


    Felix walked out of the great hall, intending to pay a visit to Belby, only to see that the door of his office is locked tightly.


    As he prepared to leave, he is greeted by a tall, lean figure of Belby, who looked jubilant.


    "Damocles."


    "Oh, Felix, did you come to meet me? I went to Professor Snape''s office, to improve the wolfsbane potion, which is progressing promisingly ...," said Belby enthusiastically.


    The two exchanged a few pleasantries, and Belby suggested, "Why don''t we go for a drink?"


    Felix readily agreed.


    "Please wait, I still need to clean up ..." Belby said vaguely, and the two walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts class office, which had a very different style from when Lockhart was there.


    Instead, it is somewhat similar to Snape''s office - several large cabinets arranged against the wall, each containing a variety of bottles and jars; on a long table, is a row of glasses and crucibles.


    One of the crucibles is brewing a potion, it is set under the orange flame, the mouth of the pot emitting steam.


    Felix shot a couple of glances at the crucible, which consisted of a creamy mass, only the colour of it is an uncomfortable dark green.


    "Is this some sort of smear ointment?"


    "Yes, it works wonders on large boils caused by Stinging Jinx, I had been discussing it with Madam Pomfrey, and boy, is she a treasure trove of potions for all sorts of minor injuries and ailments."


    Felix said approvingly, "I couldn''t agree with you more, Damocles." He had found this out when he was in school.


    Belby lifted a curtain in the corner, inside which there were two metal cages, two red caps were sleeping quietly inside it.


    But when he took out two thumb-sized glass bottles, they opened their eyes at once, "chirping", two paws on the bars of the cage.


    Felix could read the emotion of ''eagerness'' on their dry, thin faces.


    Belby issued a tone of voice, the red caps immediately silenced, head pressed against the side of the cage, the mouth wide opened.


    He poured the bright red liquid from the glass bottle into their mouths, and the red caps had an intoxicated look on their faces, their bodies swaying as if they were drunk.


    Then Belby covered the curtain and went back to Felix, slipped two green leaves into the crucible, tapped the edge of the crucible twice with his wand, and the dark green contraption began to swirl.


    "There, that''s settled. Let''s go." Belby said.


    As they made their way down the stairs to the ground floor, they saw several Slytherin underclassmen running in disarray not far away, hiding the backs of their heads from the pervasive chalk heads with the hoods of their wizard robes.


    "Oh, ten, ten, fantastic, one hundred!" A dwarf-looking midget chased after them, flipping in midair and waving his two little shorthands incessantly.


    "Peeves."


    Peeves Ghost stopped as he looked at the two professors next to him, "Oh, I didn''t notice~ These little wretches are attracting all my attention ..." He looked at them with wide-open eyes and unnaturally pulled at his peaked cap.


    Felix beckoned and let the pointy hat on Peeves'' head fly into his hand, "I don''t suppose this is yours, is it, Peeves?"


    "Yes, it''s mine, Professor." A Slytherin boy came over and whispered.


    Peeves gave him a hard stare, "Lord Peeves remembers you!"


    The Slytherin startled, the half-extended hand stopped, expression very hesitant.


    Felix waved his wand, a silver light struck the Peeves Ghost, his eyes became lax. The whole person fluttered lightly, and his mouth kept chanting, "Don''t, I hate classes!"


    "Don''t pull my hair ..."


    "I hate the history of magic!"


    "Why did he get the highest grade!"


    The few young Slytherin wizards looked at Felix in awe, and even Belby''s eyes went a little straight; he could deal with the Peeves, but causing this effect would be a bit of a head-scratcher.


    The Peeves seemed to have split into a million minds at once, and from different people.


    "Don''t look at me like that, it''s just a simple confusion spell to make it think it''s just been born," Felix said.


    "Any word on that?" Belby asked, though he didn''t think it''s just a simple confusion spell.


    "Peeves is a special ghost, or maybe it''s more appropriate to call him a rowdy ghost, who arrived with the construction of Hogwarts, but didn''t take a concrete form until the school enrolled many students, and he took benefit of their playfulness and overflowing magic."


    The students who had just been chased listened quietly, exchanging excited glances with each other.


    "He won''t always look like this, will he?" Belby asked.


    "No, it will take a week at most to recover, but the process won''t be too pleasant ... I thought he would remember how it felt." Felix said regretfully.


    "Professor, is there any good way ...," said the little wizard who had been robbed of his hat.


    But Felix did not seem to hear, he asked Belby with a clearly puzzled expression on his face: "Do you think we should tell the little wizard that the Tongue-Tying Curse is also workable against ghosts?"


    "Not good, it might bother some ghosts ...," said Belby cooperatively.


    "The ghosts in the castle are very friendly, if any little wizard dares to use it against a ghost, just detain them for a whole year," Felix said. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The corners of Belby''s eyes twitched a little, are you serious?


    The Slytherin students were also startled, and they said formally, "Professor, we''ll leave first."


    "Your hat." Felix tossed him the peaked cap in his hand.


    "Thanks, Professor!" The young wizard said thanks and ran away, pulled by his companion.

 Chapter 140: Invitation

    Three Broomsticks Inn. Mrs. Rosmerta brought two glasses of mead, "The best oak-rubbed mead, low in alcohol, you''ll like it."


    "Thank you, ma''am."


    She smiled and nodded, and turned to greet the other customers.


    Belby looked around the inn and saw seven or eight adult wizards talking in whispers, in addition to three or two small ones.


    "I have a feeling this place is doing a lot better than the Hog''s Head Inn." He said. S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Hog''s Head Inn specializes in strong liquors, and minor wizards don''t go there much." Felix said, "And the attractiveness of the proprietors and the interior is even more jarring."


    Belby glanced at the curvaceous Mrs. Rosmerta and thought about the wrinkles on the Hog''s Head Inn owner''s face and the dirt-covered glasses, and especially the dirty, rotten smell inside the bar ...


    "Well, you''re right. I wouldn''t go there for nothing more than the necessary reason, either."


    Felix bowed his head and took a sip of mead, which tasted excellent, the sweetness of honey and the freshness of oak wood filling his lips and teeth, barely feeling the taste of liquor, but as it slid down his throat, he could clearly feel a long wave of heat rushing to his heart, warming his whole body.


    "How does it feel to be back in school, Damocles, almost a month now?"


    "It''s very relaxing, and it feels like I''m young again." Belby chuckled, "Sometimes, though, I really want to crack open some students'' little brains and see if they''re stuffed with Bubotuber pus?"


    Felix looked at him speechlessly, worthy of being a master of potions, the metaphor is so refreshingly simple.


    Bubotuber is an extremely ugly plant, its pus is no less ugly, it is a sticky yellow-green liquid, with a pungent smell of oil.


    You can''t blame him for being mean, though; the challenges Belby encountered from the academic rubble comprehensively outclassed Felix in every way - because the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is mandatory, and every young wizard is required to take it until sixth grade.


    As we all know, the quality of teaching in this class has always been worrying.


    Felix said, "There are always some good students, aren''t there?"


    "That''s true," Belby reflected on himself, "and I lectured a little too fast, you know, to make up for the previous deficiencies. In the second year, for example, they haven''t even seen a few low-risk magical creatures, let alone know how to handle a minor vile hex."


    " You brewed the potion just for this?"


    "That''s right, I collected a list of minor vile hexes they''ve mastered and made a special topic to teach them how to deal with them."


    "That sounds great, Damocles, you have a talent for teaching."


    "No, Felix, your ''answer space'' has helped me a lot."


    Felix looked at him in disbelief.


    Belby explained, "I converted the information I looked up into test questions, put them on the answer space, and urged them to complete them after class as part of the homework."


    Is this ... online homework?


    The all-subject version of the answer space had been available for some time, and each professor was given a dragon skin scroll that allowed them to modify and add questions for the corresponding subject - Felix opened up that part of the access.


    However, most professors clearly place more emphasis on fifth and seventh graders, and they have moved all the questions from the OWLs and NEWTs exams of recent years, while for other grades, they may simply provide a focus range and corresponding reference chapters.


    No one seems to have realized this use of answer space...


    Felix looked at him, and Belby said with some embarrassment, "Although I only plan to substitute for six months, I also hope to make a good record. Honestly, I don''t want the young wizards telling the new professor how bad I am in the next academic year."


    "Don''t worry, there shouldn''t be a better professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class in the last ten years than you," Felix said with great appreciation that he had encountered most of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors in the last ten years during his school years, and the few that remained had, as far as he knew, have fairly below average reputation.


    Not to mention the last two years, a dark wizard and a fraud.


    At the end of this little gathering, Belby talked about his latest teaching project, "In addition to the little vile hex topic, I''d like to do a topic on forbidden forest creatures, which are equally dangerous magical creatures."


    He also formally extended an invitation to Felix to explore the Forbidden Forest together.


    Looking at his somewhat faltering tone, Felix understood in his heart that he is afraid of being affected by the curse and wants to find a partner who can look out for each other in case of danger, so that he will not be isolated as a result of an accident.


    For example, meet a Warthog?


    Felix thought for a moment and agreed, he is also ready to fully explore the forbidden forest once, pick up some miraculous materials by the way.


    Every time he saw the snake fang carving knife, it always felt like it was teasing him.


    Felix had the intention to transform the unicorn dagger that Hagrid gave him into a carving knife.


    Back at school, the two parted from each other.


    On the way back to the office, Felix saw several young wizards with a look of obvious awe and gratitude on their faces, which confused Felix a bit.


    Did word about Peeves'' ghost spread? Not another outrageous rumour, is it?


    All the way until the third wave of young wizards he encountered, all with similar looks, Felix could not hold back his curiosity and called out to one of them, "Finch-Fletchley, what is going on in the castle these days?"


    Justin Finch-Fletchley looked at him with an adoring face, "Professor Hap, it''s about the Peeves Ghost."


    Felix thought to himself, "Indeed, it is, is it really a rumour about me taking out the Peeves Ghost?


    He said softly, "Tell me more about it."


    Justin said with some excitement, "A few Slytherin students said you couldn''t stand the Peeves'' mischief and used magic to teach him a lesson."


    Nothing wrong with getting this far, Felix thought to himself.


    "Please continue."


    "... Everyone noticed that Peeves ghost became weird, he seemed to be mimicking different students'' speech, and dumbing down."


    No problem getting here either.


    "And then what?" He wanted to know at what point the wording went awry.


    "Then Ron''s twin brother noticed something different about Peeves ghost, and they conjured up a big fan and fanned Peeves around the castle for exhibition."


    Felix: "... very creative idea, did they get into any trouble?"


    "Does attracting many ghosts count?"


    "Ghosts?"


    "Yeah, they clapped their hands on the sidelines, especially a short, chubby ghost with a big pair of glasses, she was just overjoyed." Justine Finch-Fletchley said.


    Was it Moaning Myrtle? Felix guessed.


    "Where are they now?" He intended to go over and see.


    "Oh, they were in the yard - they were going to throw an impromptu party, and then Professor McGonagall took them away."


    "She looks pretty upset," Justine added.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 141: Testing Diadem

    Felix waved Justine away and returned to his office. He had never thought before that he would ever meet people like the Weasley twins, they simply spent all their passion on pranks and weirdness, it was no wonder that when he was hired, Professor McGonagall had a stifled look on her face when she mentioned the twins.


    ''''I wonder how the beggar version of the wizard phone they were researching is going?''''


    Felix thought in his heart, in fact, although the wizarding world as a whole has a trend of rejecting scientific and technological items, you can still vaguely see their shadows.


    For example, the Hogwarts Express, the Knight Bus, the magic radio ... these are things recognized by the Ministry of Magic and can be used legally, only they need to be subject to reasonable regulation.


    The Ministry of Magic has a special department - the Division for the Prohibition of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts, which is responsible for dealing with these affairs.


    The word ''Misuse'' already speaks volumes.


    Most of the violators, all converted muggle items with a magic twist, after which they strayed back into the hands of ordinary people, causing all kinds of incidents related to magic.


    And for Felix, if he wants to modify the base of the existing cell phone, it''s not really difficult - the easiest way is to add a rune to it, shielding it from Hogwarts'' influence, just like he did with the mini-movie projector.


    But what good would that do?


    He''s looking forward to seeing the wizarding world show more possibilities, more healthy changes in its development, not convincing wizards to have a cell phone in their hands.


    If he had expectations of the twins, this''s indeed undeniable.


    These scattered thoughts flashed through his mind one by one and soon fell silent.


    Felix waved his wand, locked the doors and windows tightly, and applied a burglar sensing ward with magic - the caster would get a message when someone entered the range of the ward.


    He took the diadem out of the ring, and after being restored by the Ravenclaw lady, it''s no longer a tattered, rusty shape, but a jewelled, glittering crown.


    The overall design of the diadem is an eagle, the breast is inlaid with a sky sapphire, and the two spread wings are symmetrically decorated with rows of carefully dotted pearls.


    Felix put on the diadem.


    ''Nothing has changed ...''


    After two minutes of silent experience, Felix made a note on a piece of parchment -


    No significant change while wearing it.


    Next, Felix picked up a stack of parchments, which he had got from Lockhart, but in fact the "hidden legacy" as she called it''s a ''surprise'' that Lady Ravenclaw had left for her House students.


    Felix forced himself to forget the existence of the diadem for a while, and studied the magic on it carefully - he had memorized it long ago, and even the ancient spells on it were barely mastered.


    This time, he felt the difference.


    His mind became more active, like countless fine bubbles on the surface of the water that is about to boil, and it became easier for him to access the existing knowledge.


    Digesting new knowledge is actually a process of continuous internalization - taking something that''s unfamiliar and forming connections with his own original perception system.


    And this process requires constant mobilization of existing knowledge, using the known to understand the unknown.


    The diadem clearly accelerated this process.


    When he tried to think about memory magic, the relevant memories were clearly activated, in a state of extreme liveliness, as if shouting at him: I can hook up with this... look at me!


    Felix recorded on parchment -


    That the same type of knowledge is more easily mobilized when worn.


    After thinking about it, he added, ''more dependent on his own knowledge base and unable to provide knowledge directly.''


    To verify this conclusion, Felix rummaged through his own collection of books and found a copy of A New Theory of the Political Properties of Power, which also served as one of Professor Snape''s alternative Christmas gifts at the time, and which he picked because the handwriting on it is small and dense, and the content is so dry that it can simply make one''s head go bald.


    He read a dozen pages with patience, feeling his stomach-churning.


    He wrote a line on the parchment -


    The help for completely unfamiliar areas, blind areas of knowledge, is close to none.


    Then he did seven or eight more tests one after another, recording them continuously on the parchment.


    It became dark before he knew it.


    Felix looked at the entries listed on the parchment and mentally compared them with the Thinking Room, the Thinking Acceleration, and the Baruffio''s Brain Elixir.


    Of these three, Thinking Acceleration focused on improving reflexes and is in fact dueling magic. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The other two, Thinking Room, is to speed up the operation of the mind and play the illusion of lengthening time. In other words, it is to take the conclusion you reached in three hours of thinking in reality and finish it in one hour.


    And it is not connected to reality, after all, people can not improve their actual ability through ''thinking''.


    As for Baruffio''s Brain Elixir, it is not so harsh. It can significantly enhance brain power, and since it is a potion used in reality, it is effective in reciting knowledge and magic practice, but it actually focuses more on the memorization of knowledge, and many young wizards look forward to using it temporarily before exams.


    "Sure enough, it''s still more helpful to have a Diadem." The mere advantage of being able to stimulate specific knowledge areas and accelerate the absorption of new knowledge of the same type is enough to make people swoon.


    Moreover, almost six or seven hours had passed since the start of the research, and Felix had no after-effects other than being a little hungry.


    To be cautious, Felix pulled out the long-unused ''psychometric table'', revised and modified, ready to record a month.


    He didn''t worry about Lady Ravenclaw harming him, but rather about the existence of any unknown effects.


    Felix took off the Diadem and looked at it quietly: "Apart from the shape being a bit feminine, there are no other obvious flaws."


    "In fact, if you look closely, it is just a little slender and handy, not necessarily exclusive to women, Lady Ravenclaw is very majestic ..."


    After ten o''clock in the night, Felix prepared to rest, but a copper coin in his pocket suddenly became hot.


    "Finally."


    Felix gripped the fever coin - which matched the one he had given to Dobby - tightly, and he injected magic into the coin to give a response.


    Then he waited quietly, and after almost a minute--


    A house-elf in an old pillowcase suddenly appeared in the office, and the office immediately emitted a "woo-hoo" sound, which Felix casually extinguished.


    This is the defense ward, he set up before studying the Diadem, the role of the ward.


    The elf Dobby was somewhat surprised, but he did not ask more questions, respectfully greeted: "Dobby greet Mr. Hap, it''s a pleasure to see you again."


    "Me too, Dobby." Felix said, "I''ve been waiting for you for a long time."

 Chapter 142: Practical Lessons?

    The elf restlessly swayed slightly, tennis ball size green eyes stood out even more, "Dobby thinks that since Mr. Harry Potter is already safe ... Dobby has no reason to appear again, especially by himself ... " Felix followed dobby''s logic, "We were just talking, who said that an elf can''t have a wizard friend?"


    "Is that true? Dobby - Dobby can be friends with a great wizard like you?" The elf made a prayer gesture, and his body leaned forward involuntarily.


    "Of course, Dobby."


    "This, this is such an honour, Dobby! Dobby is a friend of Mr. Hap!" The elf bowed so deeply that his long, thin nose touched the floor.


    "Well, Dobby, let''s talk about business, please sit down."


    Dobby sat down against the edge of the couch, "Is there anything you would like to ask?"


    "Dobby, I don''t suppose Lucius Malfoy knows about the destruction of the diary yet?"


    Seeing Dobby''s expression quickly crumble, and the tendency to hit the wall, Felix hurriedly stopped and said, "Actually, I already knew that he knew nothing about the destruction of the diary."


    "How do you know?" Dobby asked curiously.


    By your reaction ... but Felix answered, "I have my sources."


    Dobby had no doubt about this, but instead nodded with a look of approval.


    Felix continued to ask: "Does Malfoy have any travel plans in the near future? I''d love to talk to him alone."


    He is prepared to block him.


    All it took from him is a Confundus Charm to make him think Dobby isn''t doing his job and guide the punishment to ''Expel Dobby'', simple and straightforward.


    For other House elf, being expelled by their master is a very tragic thing, and they will repeatedly plead for forgiveness. But Dobby is different, he is very eager to be free.


    As long as Lucius did this, Dobby would leave Malfoy Manor with absolute joy.


    Of course, all this must be hidden from Dobby, lest the instinct of obedience engraved in his bones to make him produce a strong resistance to this behaviour, and things will be directed in an uncontrollable direction.


    But Dobby said shoddily, "Dobby, Dobby does not know the master''s whereabouts, and Dobby should not reveal ..."


    Felix had a bit of a headache, he couldn''t stalk him or break into Malfoy Manor, could he?


    He played his old trick and said in a tone full of certainty, "Dobby, I actually know, I don''t have to go looking for him, Malfoy himself will show up at the door ..."


    "How did Mr. Hap know that the master would come to Hogwarts?" Dobby asked in surprise.


    So, he would come to Hogwarts? Come to do what, find Dumbledore?


    "Of course I knew that he had to come, on that very day ..." Felix said softly in a slower voice.


    "Yes, the young master wrote that he would win the Quidditch Cup and defeat Potter, but Dobby thinks that it can''t happen." The elf said eccentrically.


    So it is Quidditch day, Gryffindor versus Slytherin?


    Having got the message he wanted, Felix didn''t jump to change the subject, "I think so too, Potter has an extraordinary talent for Quidditch."


    "Exactly!" Dobby responded to him excitedly, "Mr. Potter is very good, if Dobby hadn''t cast a spell on the Golden Snitch ..."


    His mood sagged.


    "But nevertheless, I remember that Potter caught the Golden Snitch," Felix said calmly.


    "You were also trying to protect Potter, and I suggest you might find time to apologize to Potter and set things straight."


    ...


    A new week has begun.


    Ancient rune class.


    Felix looked at the sixth graders with a big smile on his face and said, "Congratulations, you have finished the school year ahead of schedule, a very outstanding achievement!"


    The male and female wizards offstage applauded.


    Their feelings are genuine, and the learning progress this year has indeed been much faster, with Professor Hap offering all sorts of new and interesting ways to learn - golems, classroom competitions, answer space, runic Essays, ''forged'' magic handbooks and the latest Leaderboard... s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Sixth grade is a special one, they have just gone through a full year of rigorous study, have a rich knowledge base, and don''t have to worry about exams, which makes Felix very willing to experiment with all kinds of fresh ideas in the improvement classes.


    His approach also proved popular - after going through the OWLs exams they still chose his class, except for a few or two students who had no further options, most of them genuinely loved the ancient rune.


    Felix looked at them, "We have about three and a half months until the end of this school year, and we will add a new form of class, a practical class."


    A practical class on ancient runes? That is quite a fresh statement.


    Before Professor Hap came, this class had been treated as a theoretical course. Only after he came did the crowd realize that there were many practical uses to runes as well.


    But Professor Hap himself had said that practical runes were meant to ''increase students'' interest'' and would not become the mainstream of the course.


    "Professor, are you trying to add a part about making golems?" A witch with long curly hair raised her hand and asked a question.


    "Miss Clearwater, have you completely repaired your golem?" Felix raised his eyebrows.


    "Not yet, Professor."


    "Then that''s it. When I say practical, I am extracting the most vivid and interesting parts from your possible future careers."


    The three dozen students in the classroom looked at each other, Felix''s words touching a blind spot in their knowledge.


    "Grab your wands and book bags and follow me."


    Felix led them to a closed classroom, his finger tapped on the doorknob, and several patterns of runes appeared from thin air with sparks, then quickly disappeared again.


    "Click!" The door opened with a crack.


    "Adding a few runes subtly to a Locking Spell can effectively resist a regular Unlocking Charm," Felix told them a little trick. "Of course, there''s nothing to be done if it''s violently broken."


    He pushed open the door, and the student who followed closely behind him peered inside.


    The room is pitch black, as if all light has been swallowed up, and they are about to take a closer look when a cold wind blows from inside, sending a jolt through their bodies.


    As the wind blew by, there were a few faint cries of crows.


    "Professor, this is ..." a male wizard asked with some fear, how can this room ... be so creepy?


    The room is not a lair of some dark wizard, right?


    Professor Hap''s calm voice heard, "In 1842, the Ministry of Magic found an ancient wizard''s secret house in a swamp, because time had passed too long, the wards expired, and the house manifested by itself."


    "At that time, the Ministry of Magic organized a group of people to explore the house and its surroundings, and eventually brought back a number of grimoires."


    The students listened quietly, and then they heard Professor Hap say rather proudly, "I looked up a lot of information, and through descriptions and photos, I reproduced the scene at that time."


    "This is where we will have our practical lesson, and I hope you will enjoy it."

 Chapter 143: Practical Lessons (1)

    The ordinary classroom door seems to separate two worlds. On one side is a warm and peaceful school, and on the other side is a dark, unknown world with a bitter wind blowing through it now and then ...


    The students gazed slightly hesitantly at Professor Hap''s face, as if trying to read something, but Felix just looked at them with an encouraging gaze.


    Penelope couldn''t help but take a gulp, that sound is quite clear, and Percy, who sat two seats away from her, asked, "Professor? There''s no danger, is there?"


    "What? Oh, of course not ... Why do you think so?" Felix looked at him with surprise as his eyes skimmed over the faces of the rest.


    "... I see, don''t worry, well, I did add some interesting and mind-blowing surprises, but our class is still going to be ancient rune class, not Defense Against the Dark Arts."


    "Go ahead, I''ll be at the end of the room."


    One by one, the male and female wizards walked in, with Felix following behind and closing the classroom door.


    "Bang!"


    ...


    In this mysterious space, the light is very dim, which makes it impossible for them to judge the exact size of the space.


    Some tiny sounds broke into their ears: the sound of the wind, crows, insects, and some rustling odd rhymes.


    More than thirty students cowered together like quails, standing unsure of what to do, seemingly waiting for the professor''s instructions, with only seven or eight raising their wands and chanting Lumos, surveying their surroundings with the aid of the light of their magic.


    Felix shook his head, and the next second his voice came from the ceiling above -


    "Little wizards, you are now the staff of the Ministry of Magic a hundred and fifty years ago, adept at magic runes. The command you received is to examine the surrounding area, remove any danger and bring back any valuable manuscripts."


    "You should act like professionals, being cautious, but also never miss a trace, magic manuscripts don''t just swagger in front of you, there is no single carrier for knowledge. Believe me, there is much here for you to explore."


    "Now, take out your wands and, if necessary, take out the parchment and make a record. I will be watching you all the time."


    Then the voice disappeared.


    After a short silence ...


    "Ahem!" Percy cleared his throat as he raised his wand to attract the attention of the rest of the group, "I think this is the professor''s test for us, and we should provide a satisfactory result, and as a grade head, I am willing to lead the group ..."


    "There''s more than one Head of the Grade here!" A Slytherin student chorused, and in the chaotic chatter, the students quickly divided themselves into four teams according to the house.


    Twelve in Ravenclaw, seven in Gryffindor, five in Slytherin, and nine in Hufflepuff.


    The three other houses had grade heads, so Hufflepuff selected a male wizard of some prestige, and they gathered around a rock to discuss exactly what to do.


    "We should explore the boundaries of this place, it''s obvious that the professor has applied an Undetectable Extension Charm, this place can''t be this big."


    " If I may add, I think we should find the safe house that the professor was talking about and get the manuscript as soon as possible, I don''t want to stay here one second longer!"


    "You want to split up?"


    "No?"


    "Guys, we''d better move together."


    ...


    Percy advocated exploring the surroundings first and making a clear division of labour and each doing their own job, while the Slytherin Head of the Grade objected, strongly urging them to find the safe house as fast as possible, "This is the key information provided by the professor!"


    The other two houses heads, Penelope, supported Percy, while Hufflepuff suggested that everyone should act together.


    Ten minutes passed quietly.


    But opinions were never unified, and finally, everyone decided that it would be better to act as a group by houses, and leave one person behind to release a red spark towards the sky every ten breaths, and so on ten times before releasing a green spark, and everyone who saw it quickly returns to share their respective intelligence.


    Gryffindor and Ravenclaw went together, and to keep the balance in numbers, Slytherin and Hufflepuff moved together.


    "Everyone, chant with me: Lumos!" Percy said.


    A light illuminated in the darkness and not far from a similarly bright light that lit up like stars, both sides felt slightly reassured.


    They chose a random direction, sullenly moving forward, and they were still cautiously moving at a steady pace, but now and then a crow flew up around them, making a " gah~ gah~" sound, making them feel a little hairy.


    They can''t help but speed up their pace.


    Percy with a little trembling voice asked: "We are still students, certainly will not encounter anything extraordinarily dangerous, at most some small traps or something ..."


    Penelope''s calm voice remarked, "We''re just having a special practical class, which won''t take more than two hours maximum."


    The mood of the male and female wizards relaxed slightly.


    "Wait! What''s that over there?" Quidditch Captain Wood asked, pointing up ahead.


    "Is that a mound of rocks?" Percy squinted his eyes to look further ahead.


    "No, it''s, it''s a tombstone!" Wood''s words trailed off.


    In the shadows, rows of tombstones that were even darker than the night stood tall.


    After a brief panic, they pushed out five people, to go over and take a look.


    "Don''t worry, there''s no danger," Percy said in a very unconvincing tone.


    The group of five carefully explored toward the cluster of gravestones, their feet trod on the loose dirt, occasionally making the sound of snapping branches, and in the silence, Percy suddenly blurted out, "Penelope, you should have stayed behind."


    "I''m the Head Girl!" Penelope retorted.


    "But ..." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh, come on, you two," the lanky Wood snapped back, "you have to pick your time to have a lovers'' quarrel, and we''re in the middle of something."


    "Who, who, said we are a couple?" The two stared at him with jaws agape.


    "I''m not dumb ...," Wood muttered.


    Percy and Penelope instantly quieted down, and even the sudden sound of frogs didn''t seem so intimidating.


    In a slightly awkward atmosphere, they walked into this cluster of tombstones.


    "Look here!" Wood pointed to a tombstone and said, " There is some rune on it that seems to say--" His voice trembled.


    "What is it?" Percy held up his wand and looked over.


    "... I, we''re waiting for you here ...," Wood swallowed.


    " Gulp!"


    Right at that moment, they heard a strange noise, and something poked out of the dirt in front of the tombstone where Wood stood by.


    Percy''s eyes widened, it IS A HAND!


    "Run, Wood!" He raised his hand to make a smashing spell.


    Wood jumped swiftly out of the way with a crunching sound behind him, and when he looked back, a white bone arm scattered into pieces.


    "Ahhhhh!" Penelope let out a shriek as something grabbed her ankle and she struggled to break free, a ghastly white hand dangling around her ankle.


    "Penelope!"


    Percy shouted, and then dumbfounded to see, Penelope ran away a few steps, gritted her teeth, and released a series of "Eradication Spell", "Incendio" in a direction, the intense light illuminated a corner of the tombstone cluster, under the effect of the magic spell, the ground exploded with a big crater.


    After almost thirty seconds -


    A group of people came panting, looking at the scene in confusion: Percy and Penelope kissing, the other two wizards looking away awkwardly, and Wood kicking a skeleton with a disgusted face further away with an arm missing.


    The skeleton also looked strange, about half a man high, short limbs, but the head is particularly large, nearly occupying half of the body.


    The big-headed skeleton''s mouth is grinning exaggeratedly, anthropomorphically emitting a "woo-woo-woo-woo~" sound, clumsily trying to get up from the ground.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 144: Practical Lessons (2) - Nine-squares Jigsaw Puzzle

    Penelope''s face flushed as Percy grinned and smirked. The Gryffindors were buzzing with excitement, a few male wizards from Ravenclaw looked at Percy with unkind eyes, as if he had taken a prized treasure from them, and a few girls whispered on the other side.


    "Wood, what''s this?" A Gryffindor student pointed at the small skeleton wobbling and struggling to get up from the ground; it certainly is not intimidating at all.


    "A ''surprise'' as Professor Hap calls it." Wood said, a little depressed that, he had been scared.


    The freckled male wizard next to him added, "They don''t have any offensive power, except the way they appear is a bit scary ..."


    As he spoke, a Ravenclaw girl looked down and saw a ghastly white bony hand fondling her shoe, "Aaaaaah!" She let out an exaggerated scream as Wood stepped forward and crushed the bone with one foot, he shrugged and said to the rest, "Look, it''s this sort of thing."


    He then looked at the girl, "You''re standing a little to the side, and that area doesn''t seem to have been cleared."


    The girl thanked him with a red face.


    "Besides these funny little skeletons, did anyone else find something?" Someone asked.


    "The tombstone," Percy said, playing it cool, "has a magic rune on it, which I think is an important clue."


    Someone suggested, "Why don''t we start by deciphering the magic rune here?"


    "Good idea!"


    A dozen young wizards spread out, each responsible for two or three tombstones, and they took out the parchment from their book bags and transcribed the magic rune on them.


    During that period, the little skeletons buried in the dirt sensed the approach of the strangers and poked their hands out of the ground to try to intimidate them. But this time the students were already prepared and easily avoided their attacks.


    A few bold ones simply let the little skeletons crawl out and let them scratch their thighs with their slender bones, while freely transcribing the magic rune on the tombstones.


    During this process, every minute or two, a fiery red spark would rise in the distance.


    Percy, Penelope, and the rest finished their tasks early, and they looked over each other''s deciphered runes and compared them to the patterns on the tombstones.


    "Look here--"


    Penelope pointed to the numbers on the two black stone tombstones one after the other nearby, "These two are adjacent numbers, the first one says ''Visitors found that the safe room to be tightly protected by four enchanted barriers.'' And this one reads, ''In the direction directly to the south, there exist numerous shadowy deceased.''"


    She said enthusiastically, "The shadowy deceased would correspond to the cluster of tombstones we''re in, and all we have to do is head north to find the safe room!"


    "Penelope, you''re always so smart." Percy complimented.


    Penelope grunted, "It looks like Professor Hap has taken a whole story apart and put it on each tombstone, all we have to do is put it together."


    "Hey, guys! Don''t forget to copy the tombstone numbers, they''re going to be of great use." Percy turned around and shouted.


    Finally, a green spark appeared in the distance, halfway up in the air.


    "We''re going back the way we came, have you all copied it?" After receiving an affirmative response, they hurriedly headed back.


    This time, it took them almost two minutes to return to their original location.


    The male wizard who stayed behind looked a little pale, "You guys finally came back, I kept feeling someone blowing at my neck from behind ..."


    "Tough job, Deles."


    After another half minute, the Slytherin and Hufflepuff students returned, and the Slytherin grade head said condescendingly, "We found the safe room, and if it weren''t for time constraints, we would have cracked the enchantment on it ..."


    "We made an important discovery, too," Percy argued.


    "But those are irrelevant, aren''t they?"


    Percy turned red and tried to say something, but Penelope pulled him back in a hurry, and Percy said angrily, "Look what he said!"


    Wood pulled over a Hufflepuff student, "Grover, what''s going on?"


    Grover said, "It took us almost three minutes to find the safe room, but it is blocked by the magic at the door."


    "What kind of magic?"


    " Puzzle!" Grover said, "The Slytherin students were all wide-eyed and had absolutely no idea how to play."


    So the group moved to the safe room -


    It is a somewhat misshapen square house, the surface is painted dark brown, from a distance looks like a large stone, it is easy to be ignored.


    The Gryffindor and the Ravenclaw wizards came forward, and on each of the four walls of the house, there were four nine-sheet grids, with the last spot being empty.


    "If you tap on it with your wands, like this, the grid will move." Grover introduced to the others, "There is a magic rune in each grid, and it looks like we are told to form the proper order to connect it into a sentence."


    "Wouldn''t that be easy, it''s just eight runes in total," Percy asked.


    "No, Percy, see for yourself." The Hufflepuff student said.


    Percy carefully discerned, and he suddenly found that he did not recognize any of them ...


    For a moment, Percy somewhat dazed, who am I? Where am I? And I do not know the runes?


    If you don''t recognize one, it''s okay, but you can''t recognize all eight?


    Wood next to him muttered: "It''s just a guess, isn''t it? Look at this word, I bet it has something to do with the meaning of ''light''."


    Several of the top students in the room instantly snapped back, "That''s right, the difficulty of this would have been beyond our ability, the professor is hoping we can identify and speculate on the meaning of the word."


    Understanding the true intent of the puzzle, the students looked at each other, "One house is responsible for one wall?"


    Percy glanced at the Slytherin grade head and said, "Sure."


    Twenty minutes passed ...


    The young wizards gathered together with ashen faces, "No way! It''s too hard!"


    "Cooperate, Geoffrey." Penelope said calmly, then she looked at the Slytherin head boy, "That''s what the Professor intended."


    The Slytherin head boy muttered something that no one else heard, and everyone pretended that he acquiesced.


    The Four Houses students sat under a nine-grid puzzle, looked at the magic runes on it, and discussed it enthusiastically -


    "Doesn''t the first word look a bit like Perth?" said a male wizard.


    "I do think the shape resembles Wyn, see the horns poking out of its edges?"


    "Wait, I think I''ve seen a similar rune somewhere, very much like ..." said a Hufflepuff witch in a sharp voice: "Yes, it was mentioned in a reference book in a fourth-year textbook, and I happened to have brought the notes."


    "Found it!" She quickly flipped through her notes, then looked up and spoke dramatically as everyone watched, "The word is quite old, and it''s synonymous with ''wisdom''."


    Even though they had only deciphered an eighth of the first ninth grid, they couldn''t help but get excited. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Next, with a similar train of thought, eight runes were deciphered in succession -


    Penelope snapped her fingers and said, "Wisdom, excellence without equal, equal or similar, extreme or ultimate, exaggerated, wealthy or plentiful, possessed or contained,"


    She looked up, "What do you think it is?"

 Chapter 145: Practical Lessons (3) - Key

    All the Ravenclaw students laughed. One of the girls said, without thinking, "Wit beyond measure is man''s greatest treasure."


    They quickly arranged it in the correct order, and in a blinding light, the runes on it disappeared and were replaced by a string of gorgeous, flowing text in English glittering on the wall: "Wit beyond measure is man''s greatest treasure." s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right! That''s it, this wall obviously represents Ravenclaw, and those other three walls ..." Percy said excitedly.


    "Representing the other three houses!"


    Everyone thought of that.


    Guided by this thinking, the runes on the other three walls were deciphered one by one -


    "Daring, nerve, and chivalry set Gryffindors apart." This is a famous quote from Godric Gryffindor.


    "Tough, honest, upright, and loyal." That''s what people say about Hufflepuff.


    "With honour, with might to keep it all." These are the famous words of a famous Slytherin wizard in history.


    On the four walls, four lines of writing glowed, and everyone subconsciously held their breath, and sure enough, the writing on the walls disappeared.


    In the darkness, only the light from their wands served as a source of light, and the not-so-bright light illuminated their excited faces.


    A plain door appeared, as if it had always been there, and the students walked in.


    Inside there is only a table, and on the table is a manuscript, entitled: "An Important Manuscript".


    Geoffrey flipped over the first page, and it read, "Collect four keys to exit this place." Other than that, it is blank.


    He "snorted", "we still need the key? Just push open the door and get out ..." he suddenly stopped talking, seemingly choked on his saliva. A layer of sweat quickly broke out on his face, "I, can we still find the door to the classroom?"


    Facing each other, Percy said through the air, "Professor Hap ... are you there, Professor Hap?"


    There is no response.


    "Looks like we have to gather the keys." Wood scratched his head, "But where are they?"


    "East, West, South, and North, of course, remember the runes we saw in the graveyard?" Percy said to Penelope.


    "You mean ... that story!"


    "That''s right." Percy said aloud, the tip of his nose slightly red from excitement, "The runes on the tombstones recorded information about this place, but there was actually one more thing, which is about keys."


    With that, the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students took out the parchments they had recorded earlier and arranged them as required.


    "I have 3-1 here, who has 3-2 in their hands?"


    "I''m ahead of you in line, I''m 1-7."


    They glued the parchments to the wall in order and carefully examined them: "Obviously, ten is one group, four groups in total."


    "The first group gives the background of that operation in 1842, pretty much the same as Professor Hap said ..."


    "It doesn''t matter," Geoffrey said.


    Percy rolled his eyes and continued, "The second group described the topography of the place, a very simple southeast-northwest section, plus a central safe house."


    "The third and fourth groups were problems the Ministry of Magic staff encountered at the time, oh, and although the concealment ward failed, the other wards were still in operation, see here, one of the defences was a horde of shadowy deceased bodies, the little skeletons we met ..."


    "That''s wicked! How come the Ministry of Magic at that time didn''t arrest him?"


    "Oh, I think it might be because they haven''t even had a chance to set up the Ministry of Magic at the time..."


    ...


    "What were the other defences?"


    "Lethifold, Gargoyles, and a Devil''s Snare," Percy said as he pointed at the runes on it.


    "Good~ It looks like we''re dealing with similar stuff," Wood said, "The corpse corresponds to a small skeleton, and it looks like there are similar alternatives elsewhere, but what I''m wondering is, what''s a Lethifold?"


    " Fairly rare magical creature that looks like a black cloak, glides close to the ground and hunts at night. Some say they''re close relatives to Dementors, and in addition to their similarity in looks, they''re both restrained by Patronus charm." Percy said.


    "Is there anyone here who knows the Patronus charm?" Wood asked.


    No one raised their hands.


    Percy told the half-truth: "That''s not part of the test, Wood. No one would go the extra mile and spend a lot of time learning a powerful spell they can''t use."


    Penelope recalled, "Dean Thomas mentioned this spell in class, and I tried it a few times, and there was just some white mist come from the wand. If someone instructs ..."


    "But the Lethifold is quite a dangerous creature, the professor won''t let us deal with it, and I guess we''ll bump into the crow''s lair then?" Percy speculated, but he believed it to be eight or nine out of ten to be right.


    "Enough small talk, where shall we start?" Geoffrey said.


    " Graveyard, we know it best, and we can save time."


    "Very well."


    They walked out of the safe house and Percy placed his wand flat in the palm of his hand and whispered to it, "Point me."


    The wand spun and indicated his right-hand side, where North is.


    "So we''re going to go in the opposite direction, and we''ll be back to the tomb," Percy said to everyone.


    They returned to the graveyard again, and the Slytherin and Hufflepuff students gestured and tsked at the dark tombstones.


    "Look, the skeletal bones are turning into stone." Wood warned.


    The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw students found that all the small skeletons that were scattered all over the ground had turned into broken stones.


    "A very clever transfiguration, we didn''t notice it at all at that time." A male wizard picked up a stone and took a closer look at it.


    A Ravenclaw girl said sadly, "I even hugged it, it looked so cute."


    Percy looked at her with a grimace as he pulled Penelope and whispered, "She''s always been like this?"


    "She''s an avid lover of golems," Penelope explained.


    "Well, let''s all split up and look for it, it shouldn''t be too hard ..."


    After seven or eight minutes, one of the Hufflepuff students found a golden key in a stone.


    "Where did you find that?"


    He pointed to the broken stone not far away, Wood''s eyes widened, "That''s the little skeleton that attacked me, I purposely left it there! I didn''t realize the key is hidden in its head."


    "Very good, we finished a quarter of the work, let''s keep up the good work ..." Percy just wanted to encourage with a couple of words, Slytherin''s head boy came over holding a box.


    "What is this?"


    "A treasure map," Geoffrey said.


    "How did this get there?" Percy''s mind messed up as the students gathered around and looked at the map in the box.


    The markings on it were simple, a drawing of a bottle to the southeast of the safe house, next to it there''s a rune representing wealth.


    Just then, a muffled thunder-like voice came from the sky -


    "Looks like you guys had a good time ... but I regret to inform you that this journey of surprise is over, for now, take your things and follow the directions to get out of here."


    An arrow appeared at their feet.


    Ten minutes later, they re-entered the ancient rune classroom, with expressions of bewilderment and trance still on their faces.


    "It''s over just like that? Isn''t the key still not collected?"


    On the podium, Felix smiled at them, "Class ends in a few minutes, and I had to interrupt this adventure to avoid you being late. But there''s no need to worry-"


    "You will all be there for the rest of this school year. In addition to the task of collecting the four keys, you will encounter many other small, strange, simple, and interesting tasks ..."


    "Like that treasure map?"


    "That''s right, Geoffrey." Felix said, "The assignment for this class is to parse the runes you encounter and complete a paper no less than a foot long."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 146: A Few Things

    As the students walked out of the classroom in groups of two or three, with great relish, discussing the new and interesting experience. A couple of Ravenclaw girls, for example -


    "Honestly, at first I especially wanted to leave, it was so eerie, but now I''m starting to miss it."


    "Me too, how cute that little skeleton is!"


    "... When''s the next rune class is?"


    "Let''s see, it''s Friday."


    " So long to wait!"


    "I''d say we''re pretty lucky, if you think about it, only sixth years have practical classes ..."


    "Haha, who let us have no lack of time and knowledge, I must tell the other year students!"


    Their voices faded away.


    Percy and Penelope avoided the crowd, their faces had mixed expressions as their originally hidden relationship came to light. Percy, in particular, kept frowning.


    "If they find out, they find out, what''s the big deal?" Penelope said as she looked at him.


    " Penelope, if you had three brothers and a sister at school, any gossip would reach your parents'' ears." Percy said, "Especially Fred and George, they''d be happy to help with that."


    Percy seems to have a headache, although he also often writes letters to snitch, there are legitimate reasons, such as the most recent one "Mom, Fred, and George fanned the school ghost on parade with a fan, got fifty points deducted plus three weeks of detention ..."


    He could imagine how his twin brothers would playfully speak to him -


    "Oh, Percy~ our model student finally got the hang of it~"


    "Gotta tell Mom the happy news!"


    "And Bill and Charlie, you got ahead of them."


    "And how can you beat little Ronnie and Ginny?"


    Penelope had a horrified look on her face as she stammered, "You, your parents, will know?"


    "Don''t worry," Percy muttered, "they''ll at best get you gifts for the holidays and invite you over for a visit ..."


    Penelope''s eyes widened.


    During the meal in the great hall at noon, Felix talked with the loudmouth Professor Kettleburn and the Nearly Headless Nick, only to explain that he and the two ghosts were friends, and he helped to clear up some misunderstandings and put the finishing touches on the public opinion of the "ghost salvation practice".


    In a short time, these words will spread throughout Hogwarts, and eventually, the heat will pass, the attention will be less and less, everything like the tide fades.


    The truth of the matter, will also be submerged in time, occasionally flooded with a similar pattern of blossoms.


    The time that followed flew by, Hogwarts is like a well-organized machine moving forward, the professors and students are a part of the whole behemoth, being pushed forward, no unexpected breakdown in the process.


    Until the Easter holidays, there were only so many things that could leave an impression on Felix''s mind -


    he hinted to Dumbledore about Dobby''s awkward situation, and the old man picked up on his subtext and did not rush to turn over the case for Hagrid, the diary that still had a strong dark aura locked up in the Headmaster''s office


    "Felix, you''re doing the right thing." The old man said - unfortunately, he did not know that Felix intended to cast a Confundo on Lucius.


    The fact that his assistant had completed the first set of rune circuits, but still trudged along the path of repairing the beaded pouch.


    The snakeskin of the basilisk was constantly tanned with magic, a process that was extremely slow and Felix did not want to settle for anything less than a runic enchanted cape, plus an inner armour, to be made from the skin of the basilisk and the fire dragon.


    The skin of the snake had finally returned to normal, as he had been told because Felix had not been able to contact with the skin of the basilisk lately.


    Belby told him in one of his casual conversations that he and Professor Snape had completed the first round of improvements to the wolfsbane potion, reducing the cost to a third of the original and, of course, making it taste more than three times worse


    "Sounds good, maybe you''ll share an Order of Merlin together."


    "I don''t think so, look at the newspapers in recent times! It''s all about '' the gospel of werewolves'' and the ''Werewolf Registration Amendment Act'' again, only registered and regulated werewolves have the right to buy wolfsbane potion, the Ministry of Magic is using my potion to recruit the scattered werewolves... ..." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as their list ..."


    " Hehe! It''s been leaked more than once, and many werewolves would rather remain anonymous than use the Potion, not to mention they can''t afford it."


    Belby is very dissatisfied with the Ministry of Magic''s approach.


    ...


    In the latest dueling class, the young wizards learned a new spell - ''Full Body-Bind Curse'' - the effect of which is to cause the opponent''s arms and legs to clamp shut, stiffen up and fall to the ground like planks of wood.


    Felix explained, "The Full Body-Bind Curse is included in the book Curses and Counter-Curses, and it is wonderfully described by Professor Vindictus Viridian."


    "The spell is so simple that even underclassmen can learn it ..."


    Speaking of which, Harry and Ron looked at Hermione, who had petrified Neville with this very spell in her first year.


    "Of course, as far as I personally believe, its effect is not as direct and effective as the Stunning Spell, and its might is not as potent. For example, at your level, holding a wand and casting this spell at me, I might just stiffen slightly. But ... it''s enough to deal with the trouble at school, it''s perfectly adequate."


    Felix and Snape cooperated in the great hall to conjure up hundreds of mats for the students to prevent injuries when they practice.


    "Ron! You should have fallen on the mat!" Hermione said to Ron, who stiffly smashed on the floor.


    Ron grimaced after making contact with the spell and said, "Easy for you to say, can you still adjust your fall when you''re hit?"


    Hermione panicked and changed the subject.


    Felix and Snape watched the young wizards practice, the two discussing with each other.


    "Gee, even such a simple spell is still not mastered by half of the students." Snape exuded a low-tension atmosphere around him.


    "But they''re improving fast, aren''t they? Wouldn''t it give you a sense of accomplishment to see clumsy students become excellent in your own hands, Severus?"


    Snape gave him a stern glare.


    Felix counted off on wagging his fingers, " Disarming Charm, Shield Charm, Tongue-Tying Curse, Full Body-Bind Curse, and Belby also taught the Supersensory Charm and Expulso Curse in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    "Add to the list their own mastery of prank spells, and the number is already quite large."


    Snape''s eyes looked at him, "What you mean is--"


    "Increase the importance of other sections, such as pace, situation judgment and these, especially practical combat."


    "I have no problem with that, Felix," Snape said softly, his eyes very indistinct.

 Chapter 147: Forbidden Forest

    Easter break lasts about two weeks, when Hogwarts had entered into summer, the school is full of lush bushes and seasonal laurel. But the students did not feel the leisure of the holiday, the professors left a lot of homework, which makes Easter break is far less fun than at Christmastime.


    Especially under the guidance of Belby, the professors (led by McGonagall) one after another discovered new uses for the answer space, constantly updating it with new test questions. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the common room, Ron stared at the parchment and used it to make simple dice, in order to choose the answer according to the result he got.


    As a result, he rolled the largest number six three times in a row.


    He put the tip of his wand against the dice and yelled angrily, "Look, there are only five options at most, if you give me one more option that doesn''t exist ..."


    Hermione looked up impatiently, "Can''t you be serious and do it yourself?"


    Ron looked desperate and slumped on the table: "What can I do? Every professor has left so much homework."


    "You just piled up all the homework to the end! You went to watch Harry''s practice every day for the first three days!"


    Amidst all the bickering, Harry came back dragging his tired body, he looked quite exhausted.


    "Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked with concern, "You don''t look too good."


    "I''m fine." Harry said, noticing that his voice is unusually hoarse, he cleared his throat and explained, "Spent too much time discussing tactics with Wood ..."


    "We''re currently in first place for now, with Slytherin in second, and the points are tightly matched."


    "What''s the gap in points?" Ron asked with interest, tucking his answer space into his book bag smoothly.


    "Thirty points."


    "That''s a dangerous number."


    "That''s what Wood said. They''re getting adept at using their new brooms and scoring a lot of points in the later rounds of the Tournament."


    "When''s the next game?"


    "The first Saturday after the holidays."


    Harry took out his parchment and started to finish his homework, he saw Hermione drawing a square with a different colour of ink.


    "What''s this?"


    Hermione didn''t look up, "Review schedule."


    Ron''s mouth wide opened, "Hermione, you''re thinking about this too soon, aren''t you?"


    "I have to remind you," Hermione looked up at them with a serious expression, "we only have six weeks until the exam."


    ...


    Deep in the Forbidden Forest.


    Felix and Belby travelled through the knee-high grass, where there were no more paths, and everywhere you looked there were tall trees and low shrubs, and herbs that grew unchecked.


    A thin layer of fog coated the forbidden forest with a hazy colour.


    During the Easter holidays, Felix and Belby agreed to explore the Forbidden Forest together. Belby wanted to explore the Forbidden Forest for the purpose of creating a topic on Forbidden Forest creatures for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, while Felix simply wanted to see some new and interesting flora and fauna, and pick up some materials for experiments along the way.


    "Belby, wait!"


    Felix squatted down, plucked a shrub, carefully with the roots and leaves, and picked off a plant with black roots and white flowers.


    Belby took a look at it and said excitedly, "It''s Moly, right? It''s quite rare, what are you going to do with it?"


    " Brew a potion, I found a recipe in the library that can neutralize the cold properties of magical biological substances."


    Belby said thoughtfully, "I''m not sure about that, I only know that after taking Moly it can counteract enchantments."


    "The effect is that exaggerated?" Felix looked at the black plant in his hand with some surprise.


    "I can only say that it is somewhat effective ... actually it is better to make it into a potion, and it has a miraculous effect on all kinds of dark magic damage." Belby is an expert in this area.


    Felix transplanted the Moly in a copper vessel, and Belby took a thumb-sized clear glass tube out of his robe and carefully put two drops of potion on it, "There, it should last through the transplanting period - if you want to keep it."


    "I need its flowers, which part do you need?"


    "The roots," Belby said without thinking.


    The two looked at each other with a silent smile.


    This is the third day of the forbidden forest expedition, they know each other''s attitude and habits well.


    There is a heavy footstep in the distance.


    Both of them pointed their wands in that direction at the same time.


    The Forbidden Forest is also known as the Dark Forest, just because the dense, tall trees block out the sunlight. The bushes ahead shifted violently, and with the dim light, Belby shouted nervously, "Who''s there?"


    "Woof! Woof!" A huge black hound emerged from the dense foliage, followed by a burly figure.


    He stood so oppressively tall that he looked like a giant, and his long, tangled black hair and whiskers almost covered most of his face.


    "Hello, Hagrid." Felix greeted.


    Hagrid, carrying a large bucket in his hand, gave Belby a wary look before seeing Felix behind him and relaxing his expression, "Hello, Felix."


    Hagrid asked hoarsely, "What are you doing here?"


    "Looking for some magical materials." Felix raised the copper vessel in his hand. He then put the Moly into a specific area in the ring.


    Belby said, "I came to meet the forbidden forest creatures and pick some for the young wizards'' lessons."


    "Yes?" Hagrid asked with interest, "Any targets?"


    "Some dark creatures," Belby said, "Regular magical creatures, are not in the scope of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    Felix suddenly spoke up, "Hagrid, I heard that Professor Kettleburn decided to retire, and he recommended you to Dumbledore."


    Hagrid''s face turned red, "Yeah, I didn''t mention it to anyone, I always thought it would be somewhat suspenseful ... but Dumbledore promised to solve my status problem, and he always does what he says."


    Next, Hagrid led them around the vicinity, he easily found the traces left by various magical creatures as always. He pointed to an indentation on the ground and said, "Some of these look like porcupine walk marks, or maybe it''s a Tebo warthog, I''ve seen it a few times ..."


    Walking forward some distance, Hagrid said to them, " Up ahead is the territory of the unicorns, but they just gave birth and were extra vigilant."


    Hagrid placed the large vat in a clearing and stepped back a short distance, whistling under his breath.


    Two or three minutes later, a tall, athletic male unicorn came out, covered in snowy white fur, and it stared warily at Felix and Belby.


    "Lupe, these two are my friends." Hagrid said from afar, turning his head to the two and explaining, "I brought some nourishment with them, it''s good for the female unicorns after they give birth."


    The unicorn nodded at Hagrid and left with the vat in its mouth.


    Belby asked with interest, "Are they always this proud?"


    Hagrid said gruffly: "Actually, not really, consider an animal like a human, we are also quite strange in the eyes of some creatures, do not even eat raw meat. It''s all habit, isn''t it, you know?"


    "Very interesting point, Hagrid."

 Chapter 148: Fantastic Beasts

    It didn''t take long for the male unicorn to return, and it gracefully walked up to the trio, lowering its head and putting down the empty bucket. Up close, Felix noticed that its mane shone so white as a pearl that even the grimy forbidden forest couldn''t cover the light that pulsed from it.


    High up on the brown slope, a slender unicorn watched them from afar, and next to it stood a small unicorn with golden fluff.


    "Look, look, look," Hagrid said, rubbing his hands together in fascination: "That''s your baby, isn''t it, Lupe?"


    The unicorn named " Lupe " rubbed Hagrid''s hand affectionately.


    Soon, Lupe leaped up to the slope with a few steps, taking his family away.


    The dappled silvery-white light followed them until they disappeared completely.


    "I''ll show you around," Hagrid said, "I don''t have much to do anyway."


    He looked at the hound: "Fang, you go home first."


    Fang bared his white teeth and let out a "whine"-


    "Go on, don''t worry, I''ll be back in a little while." Hagrid''s big hand stroked its head.


    Only when Fang''s figure disappeared, Hagrid realized that he''s still carrying a bucket in his hand.


    "I should have asked Fang to bring the bucket back." He said with remorse.


    Felix used his wand and tapped on it, making it transform into a silver cane.


    Hagrid waved it twice with some excitement - the cane slashed out a dense silver light, emitting a "swoosh" whistling sound, almost hitting Belby''s head.


    "Watch out, Hagrid!"


    " Sorry, I''m a little excited, your Babe, right?"


    "Belby, Damocles Belby."


    "Oh, uh, well, Professor Belby."


    In the dense jungle, Hagrid walked ahead, with Felix and Belby following behind him.


    As they walked and chatted -


    "Hagrid, I heard that there are werewolves in the Forbidden Forest, and trolls too... Is that true?" Felix asked with interest, sceptical, at least he had never encountered them during his nights out during school with the Disillusionment Charm


    " You mean that one," Hagrid muttered, "there is indeed, but it''s on the other side of the Forbidden Forest, not next to us."


    Belby, who had delved into the werewolves as a group because of his wolfsbane potion-making, couldn''t help but ask, "Why would there be werewolves living in the Forbidden Forest?"


    Hagrid''s eyes widened, and he stopped to think for a while, and finally, he waved his big hand and said, "Don''t ask me, I''m not sure. Most of the werewolves live away from the pack, and I know of some that live with a pack, I think, they''re probably heartbroken ..."


    They skipped the topic, and Felix inquired, "Hagrid, are there any interesting magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest?"


    This question hit Hagrid''s buttons, and he named a string of names as if he were a family man: "Acromantula, Hippogriff, Flobberworm, Piebald horse, Three-Headed dog Fluffy, Tebo Warthog, Bowtruckle, Hinkypunk, Manticore ..."


    Belby quickly jotted down, some names are dangerous just by the sound of it.


    "There are also quite a few humanoid creatures, in addition to Centaur, some Gargoyles and werewolves, and I remember seeing a group of flower fairies." Hagrid said, "Of course, they just look a lot like humans, the winged kind."


    Felix had learned about such creatures, fairies or flower fairies as they are called, generally, 1 to 5 inches and look very similar to humans - except for a pair of insect wings on their backs.


    They are generally divided into groups according to the type of wings, ranging from transparent to colourful.


    Unlike the common, wise fairy figures in muggle fairy tales, the creatures are generally not very intelligent, like to argue, and cannot speak human language.


    But that''s not the point here for Felix -


    "Three-headed dog Fluffy? I seem to have heard that name somewhere."


    "Ahem!" Hagrid coughed violently as he explained in a panic, "I think you misheard it, did I mention it to you?"


    Felix looked at him with a calm gaze, somehow, Hagrid suddenly felt his gaze was somewhat similar to Dumbledore''s, he unnaturally scratched his cheek: "Well, I admit, I let Fluffy loose in the forbidden forest, that is a three-headed dog I have, the details are complicated ... "


    "Hagrid," Felix said softly, "as far as I know, the three-headed dog is more dangerous than a troll that travels alone."


    "Ah, that, that ..." Hagrid stammered for a while, and finally hung his head and said, "Your words make sense, Felix. So I drove it deeper into the forbidden forest, further away from the school than this place. I go to see him once a month, poor Fluffy, he is still so small ..."


    He huffed sadly, tears glistening in his eyes.


    Felix and Belby were silent and did not speak, adult three-headed dogs are at least three or four meters tall and are quite dangerous magical creatures that can fight one-on-one with a troll without losing.


    ...


    With Hagrid''s guidance, Belby''s goal got accomplished quickly, and Felix picked up a lot of miscellaneous materials.


    They saw the lumpy, brown twig-looking Bowtruckle, the little guys peering down through the tree.


    They saw a family of Hippogriff with an eagle head, horse body, and wings that fit their name perfectly, with their big bright orange eyes standing out in the dark.


    There was also the Hinkypunk hiding near a patch of water, an area dominated by blue Billywig insects ...


    Felix even picked up a giant Acromantula''s large claw along a rugged and winding rocky trail.


    It became dark, the only light in the forbidden forest is rapidly fading away, and the trees all seemed to turn black by the time they were ready to return to the castle.


    "It''s too far to reach in time for dinner," Hagrid said as he raised his arm, using the silver cane and his other arm to pluck away the dense foliage overhead and look at the hazy sky.


    As he moved, golden light spilled down, creating a dazzling circle of light near the trio.


    Felix squinted his eyes, adjusting to the sudden bright light.


    "I have a better idea, Hagrid."


    He held out his hands, one on Belby''s shoulder, one on Hagrid''s waistline--


    "What?" Hagrid asked, somewhat startled.


    The next second, their bodies quickly twisted and disappeared from the spot.


    The branches that lost their support bounced back violently, and a few leaves fluttered down.


    On the edge of the forbidden forest, not far from Hagrid''s hut, the three figures suddenly appeared.


    Hagrid surveyed his surroundings, and after seeing his hut, he yelled out in some excitement: "Is this an Apparition? How convenient! To be honest, I''ve never practiced this magic before ..."


    "I''ve heard passing wizards in the tavern talk about it, and they think that people who use Portkey and Apparition to travel in a hurry are fools - it takes you at least half a day to get used to that disgusting feeling, but it''s actually not as bad as they say."


    Felix shook his head; it took a lot more effort to carry Hagrid through the Apparition than he would have on his own.


    After eating dinner in the great hall, Felix returned to his office.


    He took out today''s harvest from his ring, some magical plants were piled up in the corner, and he prepared to visit Professor Sprout to ask about transplanting and replanting them - no need to raise them carefully, as long as they could be sustained until they were available for his use.


    Besides, there were some materials of magical creatures, such as the large claws of the Acromantula, the feathers of the hippogriff, and the tail needles of the Billywig insect, and he planned to test their magical properties one by one.


    The time barely passed eight o''clock when he heard a knock on the door and when he opened it, he saw his assistant standing outside the door.


    "Professor, I have some questions to ask you, it''s about class choice." S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 149: Course Selection

    "Come in." Felix said. The two sat across from each other on the couch, and a plate of small snacks and two glasses of pumpkin juice automatically floated to the small table.


    "Oh, thanks." Hermione said, "Professor Hap, I haven''t thanked you for the beautiful Easter eggs you sent."


    She didn''t have many friends, and the Easter chocolate eggs she received were basically limited to her parents, roommates, Harry, and Ron.


    "It''s nothing, as long as you like it," Felix said politely, he mail-ordered a batch from the candy store and gave them to people close to him, such as professors, students, and close pen pals with whom he had close ties during Hogwarts in the past.


    In his mind, it''s a social politeness.


    He didn''t put much thought into it other than to include a handwritten greeting card - one should not expect the cafeteria eaters to be skilled at making Easter eggs.


    "Miss Granger, do you have any questions about your third year course selection? And, um, you should consult Professor McGonagall regarding this issue."


    "I will speak with Professor McGonagall tomorrow." Hermione nodded and took a deep breath and said, "Actually, I ticked all the courses ... despite the fact that some people said there would be a time conflict, but as far as I know, Percy, Ron''s brother, took all the courses in his third year."


    "Percy Weasley?" Felix blinked, "He did excel in Ancient Runes."


    "I didn''t want to drop any of the courses, I mean-" she said slowly, "If someone can do it, why can''t I?"


    It dawned upon Felix, "So, you want to find out from me what''s the secret here?"


    "Yes, Professor, if it is convenient for you to reveal it."


    "Well, this is a semi-open secret among the professors, but they all try not to reveal it to other students, and have to conceal it in many ways ... Of course, some smart people will certainly be able to find the anomaly."


    "You may be one of them, aren''t you? Or do you personally have a first-hand experience in this secret, like Percy?" Hermione eased her breathing and looked at Felix expectantly.


    "Unfortunately, I also inquired about it later. I didn''t choose Muggle Studies and Arithmancy when I was in school, which made me miss out on this precious opportunity." He said with a melancholic look.


    "You didn''t even choose Muggle Studies?" She looked at Felix incredulously.


    "Yeah, I thought the class is purely a waste of time at that time. No one could have imagined that I would later become an expert on muggle-related issues."


    Hermione thought to herself, "I didn''t expect that either, that''s crazy, but professor you originally came from the muggle world, right?"


    "So, the hidden secret is-"


    "The Time-Turner, which allows you to go back a couple of hours."


    "Back in time?" Hermione looked at him with a shocked expression, "But, but Professor, how is that possible!"


    "Otherwise, how would any student pick two courses that conflict with each other?" Felix asked rhetorically.


    Hermione couldn''t speak.


    She heard Professor Hap continue, "I have not examined this exquisite magical artefact and do not know its mechanism. But from what has been made public, the Ministry of Magic is extremely strict about the use of Time-Turner, with hundreds of laws in place for this cause and the harshest penalties for abuse."


    "Then why do students-"


    "Strict guarantees and screening are required, Miss Granger. Out of sight, and unseen by others, with successive Headmasters of Hogwarts - now Dumbledore - vouch for it on their name, while Professor McGonagall has to write various kinds of letters proving that the user is an absolutely model student to guarantee that it won''t be used for anything other than studies."


    Hermione suddenly thought of one of Percy''s nicknames - Model Percy.


    "So, if it''s your application, Professor McGonagall won''t refuse it, I think," Felix reassured her.


    If his assistant got the Time-Turner, maybe he would have a chance to do some research? But Felix viewed this sudden impulse cautiously, from the far less information, all he saw were dangerous cases of misuse of the Time-Turner.


    The Time-Turner is not dangerous, the danger lies in some smart ass playing with time.


    Hermione left contentedly. s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Before leaving, Professor Hap cautioned her, "Do not reveal the existence of the Time-Turner to anyone, it will make things very difficult for Professor McGonagall and will be a great threat to the user."


    ...


    The other second-year young wizards were also worried about course selection at this time, after all, it would practically affect their future - after this selection, the range of subjects for the OWLs and NEWTs exams were basically determined.


    Every young wizard has his or her own way -


    Students who come from wizard families discuss this in detail with their relatives, but sometimes it has the opposite effect. Neville, for example, got somewhat overwhelmed and confused when some of his relatives wrote to him with various conflicting suggestions.


    "Do you think that Arithmancy and Divination are more difficult to learn than the ancient runes?" When Hermione returned, she saw Neville asking Harry''s opinion in the common room.


    "Uh ... maybe?" Harry said vaguely, a form for course selection and course information in his hand.


    Ron tapped Neville on the shoulder, "Mate, of course, you''re taking Ancient Runes class!"


    Neville said shakily, "My memory''s not good, Professor Snape said--"


    "Hey, don''t listen to him, he doesn''t have any good words in his mouth," Ron said in a mysteriously lowered voice: "I''ll tell you a secret, Professor Hap is the strongest among all the professors, as long as you become his student, Snape will never dare to bully you again."


    "But, but, Professor Hap is Snape''s student ah ~"


    Ron stammered, and stuttered, "Maybe they don''t get along." He saw Hermione walk in and immediately looked towards her for support, "Hermione, you should understand, right?"


    "I don''t see any evidence that the two professors don''t get along!"


    Ron resentfully sat back in his chair.


    Harry looked up and asked Hermione: "Did you get any suggestions from Professor Hap?"


    "I didn''t ask any advice about choosing a course, I just had some questions ..." She thought of Felix''s warning to her, and she vaguely brushed over the subject.


    Percy is more willing to give advice to the underclassmen, and his voice reaches their ears as he is surrounded by a group of people: "It has to do with your plans for the future; if you love the outdoors, you can boldly choose the Care of Magical Creatures class; if you are keen on calculating and solving puzzles, you can choose Arithmancy, and Divination; personally, I highly recommend Ancient Runes class, Professor Hap has brought this course a whole new meaning to it."


    The young wizards were all in agreement, the golems all over the school made them envious.


    "... Some people will tell you that muggle studies is idiotic, but personally, I think wizards should have a thorough understanding of non-magical societies, especially since you aren''t sure if you''ll be working in a job that is closely tied to muggles. As an extra note, Professor Hap is also an expert in this area!"


    "As for the divination class, I also highly recommend you take it for a very simple reason. If you have the gift for prophecy, this class will change your life; even if you don''t, divination class is the easiest subject to pass."


    The young wizards left thoughtfully.


    Harry also experienced something, he is pondering a question at this moment, what do I want to do in the future?


    If it came to what he is best at, it is undoubtedly Quidditch, but he is not sure that he would become a professional Quidditch player.


    In the end, after discussing it with Ron, he picked the usual classes - Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, and Ancient Runes- as his new classes.


    He figured that if these classes proved taxing to learn, at least there would be someone willing to be helpful and friendly there.


    Dean, who also grew up around muggles, told the two of them, "I chose it with my eyes closed, except for Ancient Runes."


    The other students also tend to put Ancient Runes as their first choice because of Felix''s wide influence.


    There will be a huge surprise waiting for him at the beginning of the next academic year.

 Chapter 150: Sixth Metamorphosis

    With less than a week left of the Easter holidays, Felix dropped all activities and hid in the Room of Requirement to practice memory magic and Patronus charm, he had a feeling that this magic is going to undergo a qualitative change. It is a very strange feeling, the state of both fluidity and rawness appearing in him at the same time.


    As time passed, day by day, even the students who happened to meet in the hallway noticed that Felix''s state is off.


    "Professor? Are you not feeling well?" Hermione looked into his silvery eyes and asked cautiously.


    When Professor Hap looked over, she had the feeling that her thoughts were easily seen through.


    Felix turned his head away slightly and said gently, "It''s nothing, it''s just some progress in magic, it''ll be fine after a while."


    On the last day of the Easter holidays, the Room of Requirement -


    At the moment, he seated in a wide bronze armchair, his body leaned forward, his slender fingers supporting his chin, seemingly lost in eternal thought.


    Felix''s heart rippled as memories of using Patronus charm in the past kept pouring back into his mind--


    From the first successful manifestation of the Patronus form in the fifth year.


    To the company during the night tour in the forbidden forest.


    The battle with the Lethifold during the graduation tour.


    And the countless times of practicing day in and day out ...


    Every time I waved my wand, every time what I thought and felt, every time I gathered happiness, every time I watched its wings sweep across the sky ...


    These memories, like a volcanic eruption, came flooding back to the mind in a flash.


    But Felix is no longer as helpless as he was in his fourth year, he has a wealth of experience, while with the help of his own breakthrough in memory magic a few days ago, he''s constantly sorting through his chaos of thoughts.


    The books in the Room were tossed and turned as if swept by a fierce wind, and the runes of various colours burst out in unison with a brilliant light.


    Countless silvery feathers appeared in his mind, filling his entire world of thought, and then at a certain moment, these feathers converged toward the very center.


    The speed is as fast it can be!


    A silver streak clashed together and exploded into a large cloud of silver fog, thousands of rain swallows went forward and backward, and the silver fog at the center kept tumbling as if something is brewing.


    In the Room of Requirement, Felix''s pair of eyes grew brighter and brighter, and his light blue pupils shone with a dazzling silver light.


    As the glow reached its peak, Felix drew out his wand and quickly stabbed it forward--


    "Expecto Patronum!"


    A ball of silver light blasted out, first swelling away rapidly, engulfing Felix''s figure completely, spreading instantly to half the room, and after a brief pause of a moment, the silver light quickly shrank and condensed into a silver Rain Swallow.


    That is Felix''s new Patronus.


    This rain swallow is far bigger than the normal one, the size of an owl, its body is dotted with dense light dots.


    These light dots are connected to each other with the help of tiny, untraceable filaments, like the Patronus bones and blood vessels.


    When the last ray of silver light integrated into the Patronus, these light dots and filaments were invisible.


    What appeared in front of Felix is a brand new Patronus with a physical form.


    A level six Patronus Charm!


    He and the silver Rain Swallow looked at each other, and it seemed to sense his thoughts as it unfolded its scythe-like wings and weaved through the room like a lightning bolt, and as far as the eye could see, it appeared as a continuous silver trail.


    "Your speed has become faster again," Felix said admiringly.


    Rain Swallow appeared abruptly in front of him, floating in midair, giving a short cry to express its inner joy to Felix.


    Felix reached out his index finger and gently touched its head, it felt like a smooth texture, if he didn''t look at the silver light on its body, he would have thought it is a large mutated bird.


    Rain Swallow rubbed against his finger, conveying the emotion of inner joy.


    Felix also showed a satisfied smile, on the eve of the end of Easter, he finally turned the accumulation of the recent period into reality -


    Occlumency - sixth metamorphosis!


    Legilimency - six metamorphoses!


    Memory Charm - sixth metamorphosis!


    Patronus Charm - sixth metamorphosis!


    The breakthroughs of the first three magics were so well-developed that they had already reached the top of the fifth level, and in less than a year after returning to Hogwarts, the depth of magic had deepened because of some experiences -


    From the development and practice of Thinking Room magic to the communication with Snape about Memory Magic to the Lockhart''s Magic Handbook ... until in the Room of Requirement, meeting Lady Rowena Ravenclaw''s thousand-year-old memory, showing him the finest memory magic.


    Together with the help of the Diadem, all together, caused his memory magic to undergo a logical qualitative metamorphosis.


    And when the memory magic metamorphosed, the breakthrough of the Patronus Charm just happened as a matter of course.


    After all, he did not have any barriers, Lady Ravenclaw directly showed him the existence and location of the memory nodes, saving him countless hours. It is only limited by the lack of ability to manipulate memory magic, it seems to be a slight struggle ...


    The silver swallow landed on his shoulder and gently nuzzled at his ear.


    Felix''s thoughts fluttered as he once again pondered a question that had plagued him for a long time - his golden fingers.


    In the end, what is his golden finger? Or rather, did Goldfinger really exist?


    No panels, no hints, no sudden appearance of other people''s opinions ...


    There is only tireless practice and transformation, and Felix also named his own spell as Level 1 and Level 2 according to the number of transformations ...


    Perhaps this is the essence of his "golden finger" -


    An innate talent for magic?


    The wizarding world is never short of gifted people, such as the Parseltongue and the Metamorphmagus.


    There are also talents that are specific to one field, such as flight, superior transfiguration, potions, or even simply having a superior mastery in particular magic ...


    Such examples are common throughout history, but how many of them can bring their talents to the extreme?


    And Felix did it.


    His own perseverance and wisdom, and the unique magic talent, together made the current him.


    " Well, does it matter if it''s a golden finger or not?"


    Felix smiled, looked at the silver rain swallow on his shoulder, and walked out of the Room of Requirement. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In front of a window, Felix gently tapped the Patronus'' forehead, "Go ahead and bring me a moon dew flower from the Forbidden Forest."


    The rain swallow spread its wings and turned into a silver stream of light that quickly disappeared into the night sky.


    Felix looked at the silver trace it trailed, and suddenly remembered the ancient poem he saw in the Ravenclaw manuscript -


    "The stone became a bird, twittering and chirping. Crossing mountains and rivers, it brought back the daisy flowers of the red plains."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 151: The Exam is Approaching

    Easter break was over, but for the fifth and seventh-year students, it only meant that the wizard grading exams were looming a few points closer. Professor McGonagall also found the opportunity to hold a meeting for professors to remind professors of various subjects to prepare for the exams.


    "Pay particular attention to the mindset of the young wizards. Every time before the exam, some students suddenly have emotional breakdowns and do all kinds of crazy things. In addition, this is also a time when there is a significant increase in the circulation of various poor-quality potions, amulets, and cheating props, as teachers, we must be on guard ..."


    Felix compared what he saw, he is not quite sure whether the acne that increased dramatically on Miss Clammy Vera''s face were a seasonal change or, as Professor McGonagall said, a pre-test psychological problem.


    "... The regular exam is scheduled for June 1. It''s earlier than the wizard grading exams, but that doesn''t mean we can take it lightly ..."


    While walking out of the faculty staff common room, the two new professors came together to share their experiences.


    "I didn''t know that professors had to prepare for so many things, I was so overwhelmed by all the exams when I was in school." Belby said with a tone of wonder.


    "I''m just learning about it now, too, Damocles. How is your topic on forbidden forest creatures going?"


    "Everything is going well!" Belby said spiritedly, "I''d love to show you the look of surprise on their faces, I think - at least for a few years - my class will be remembered by the students."


    "Maybe I''ll even be getting greeting cards from the little wizards for years from now on."


    Felix smiled and congratulated him, and Belby told him again, mysteriously, "And indeed, as you say, Felix, Hogwarts has such a rich collection of books that I didn''t realize it at all when I was at school."


    ...


    All five years of classes Felix teaching have varying degrees of pre-test complex, but the fifth and seventh years are the most obvious, which has nothing to do with their performance, but is the result of an accumulation of various stresses.


    Fifth-year Warren Pardez submitted a blank paper on one test, claiming his mind went blank and suspecting an Obliviate had been cast on him, but to Felix''s skilled eye, he''s in perfect shape.


    "Mr. Pardez," Felix said, "the last professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class got imprisoned in Azkaban for the misuse of memory charm, so you still stand by that claim?"


    Pardez quickly made an excuse and left.


    One student claimed that he had been cursed by a dark magic item and his brain had regressed to a year ago, asking the professors to take care of his special situation, and he ended up being detained by Professor McGonagall for three days.


    The sixth-years were so solid-minded that they often smiled as they watched the other years stride past, enjoying their breakfasts unhurriedly and with much more grace and ease, even in their posture.


    In his latest class, Felix criticized this approach.


    "I''m not going to stop you from sharing your experiences in practical classes; in a way, it''s your reward for finishing your studies early. But -"


    "Chasing after seventh-year students to show off can easily have unforeseen consequences, and I''m talking about you, Miss Rye."


    Amidst a roar of laughter, Emily Rye said accusingly, "Professor Hap, I''m not chasing and showing off, she''s my cousin who kept teasing me about being unkempt and acting like a pug during the OWLs last year."


    The laughter got louder.


    Felix is amused as well, "Well, let''s move on to a new lesson. You''ve finished the graveyard side and the Dark Lair part-"


    "Actually, it''s the little skeletons and the black crows ...," someone offstage muttered.


    "--" Felix continued, "and also discovered a great deal of Easter egg content that I had hidden away, so now, let''s review it, the various types of puzzles you encountered."


    ...


    At the end of the fourth year''s Ancient Runes class, the Weasley twins pulled out palm-sized square pieces of wood and showed them to him.


    "Professor, at the moment we can only achieve one-to-one conversation, however, it has achieved the desired effect."


    The twins each held a square piece of wood and showed him: "We call it the couple''s mirror, of course, it is a temporary name, in order to facilitate pre-publicity. We made reference to the shape of the Two-way mirror, and the material is the chestnut wood you suggested."


    The two pointed on it: "Like this, if you want to transmit a message, you need to inject a trace of magic, and the other side will become hot, using the principle of fever coin."


    "It''s coated with a layer of powdered silver, and with synchronization enchantment and transfiguration, which can morph into different words."


    Fred used his wand to rub on it, and George pretended to be studying seriously.


    "Oh, here''s a new message." He pulled the couple''s mirror out of his pocket almost got burned, but he still pretended to say, "Let me see who''s interrupting my revision?"


    "So it''s Fred!" He injected a hint of magic toward the chestnut wood piece, and a layer of silver coating on it surfaced with black writing, ''Percy''s dating in the abandoned classroom on the second floor.'' S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    George looked up at Fred in surprise, "Is that true? Why didn''t I know?"


    Fred said with a grin, "I bumped into it when I was going to the lavatory."


    After the demonstration was completed, the two took the couple''s mirror to Felix and waited apprehensively for his evaluation.


    Felix played with it carefully for a moment, "Very nice, I hadn''t considered the idea of powdered silver coating." He looked up, "I need to take it back and study it and give you guys an answer in a day or two."


    "Of course, Professor Hap."


    The twins looked at each other with a somewhat hesitant expression, and Felix waited quietly.


    "As you know, Professor, we intend to open a joke shop in the near future ..."


    Felix nodded.


    "George and I discussed that you would own fifty percent of the profit of the joke shop."


    "Fred," Felix interrupted, "there is no need to consider my part, I just offered some advice."


    "Professor Hap, George, and I are well aware that you have helped us far beyond the responsibilities of a professor as such, not just with the couple''s mirror, but with our other impractical ideas that no one has ever encouraged us, even Mom and Dad ... George and I are deeply grateful. "


    Fred took a deep breath and said very seriously, "This is all we could produce now."


    George also nodded in seriousness to match.


    Felix''s gaze shifted over them, and after almost a minute, he said non-committally, "I''m looking forward to your product changing the wizarding world in the future."


    "It definitely will!" The twins said in unison.


    ...


    With all the hustle and bustle, the time moved to the first weekend after the Easter break.


    Quidditch arrived.

 Chapter 152: Quidditch

    It is 10:00 a.m. and the Quidditch pitch is buzzing with people. Felix walked into the bustling stadium and stepped into the nearest spectator''s elevated platform when the field suddenly erupted into an earth-shattering cheer as a blurry shadow in a bright red robe threw a quaffle into the goal.


    Commentator Lee Jordan said, "Beautiful goal! Gryffindor moved back into the game and the score is now with Slytherin ahead for the moment, sixty to thirty, and it is their awesome broomstick that is making all the difference."


    "I have to give credit to Wood, if it wasn''t for him, the score would have been even more lopsided for Gryffindor!"


    Felix''s gaze kept sweeping over the other raised platforms, and soon saw a middle-aged man with platinum blonde hair, Lucius Malfoy, in the green-painted Slytherin seat.


    Next to him stood a cowering house elf.


    Lucius'' eyes were firmly locked on his own son, Draco Malfoy, who, at the moment, tangled with Harry and, with his superior speed, flaunted a sharp midair stop and said back, "You''re a little slow on the uptake, Scarhead?"


    Harry held his breath as he mentally ignored Draco, his eyes constantly roaming, whether it was Easter break or the last week, whenever there was a bit of time, Wood would shout at them to practice frantically.


    "We''re at the pinnacle of history!" Wood said before the game, encouraging the players.


    Harry agreed, and this is the closest they''d come to a championship, as he rose higher and higher, turning, spinning, circling, hovering, and travelling east and west in a zigzag pattern.


    Draco is close behind him, but he did not have time to provoke Harry.


    The fierce chase lasted two or three minutes, and by the end, even Harry got a little dizzy, so he had to stop.


    Soon, Slytherin scored one more goal.


    Harry could not help but be a little anxious, according to the three tactics developed by Wood before the game, the most ideal situation, he could catch the Golden Snitch as soon as possible, not giving Slytherin the opportunity to expand the score.


    And Slytherin''s strategy is the opposite, keep stalling, as long as the game lasts two or three hours when the physical strength drops to a low point, it is the time for them to dominate the battlefield with the advantage of brooms.


    This is also the reason why Draco has been harassing Harry.


    On the high stage, Felix calmly watched the game, under the effect of accelerated thought and Supersensory Charm, his state is extremely dynamic and flexible, and the changes brought about by the slightest wind or cloud on the pitch can be picked up by him.


    The shadows that were blurred became clear, and he could even see the expressions that flashed across the players'' faces.


    Fourteen people on the field were included in his calculations, and Felix tried to predict their trajectories.


    It is like conducting a quality duel.


    It gave him his first taste of Quidditch, though, not for the same reasons as the others.


    "Surely, one must not be too stubborn." Felix''s mind spun with the thought. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    When the score set at 110:60, a fussy golden shadow crossed the corner of Harry''s eyes, and at the same time, Felix''s gaze fixed on the tiny figure.


    Harry made a wink as he deliberately flew in the opposite direction, Draco unsurprisingly followed, and just as he was about to turn around and mock Potter once more, he found Harry had already disappeared from his sight in a single stride.


    "He''s at the bottom of the raised platform!" A Slytherin player shouted at him.


    Lee Jordan also noticed the scene: "Look! Harry''s fooled Malfoy, and he''s chasing the Golden Snitch! We can''t see it, Harry must be down there in the wooden frame!"


    The pitch fell silent and everyone held their breath.


    Even the players on both sides stopped in midair, waiting for the result.


    Wood, who was guarding the goal, yelled angrily, "Don''t stop, Angelina, Katie, keep attacking!"


    However, just after ten seconds or so, before they could organize the next attack, Harry rushed out clutching the Golden Snitch and circled the pitch continuously to meet the cheers of the whole crowd.


    "A wonderful scene! Harry has caught the Golden Snitch and the game is over! Gryffindor wins, final score 110:210!"


    Lucius Malfoy stood up and raised his head expressionlessly as he kicked Dobby away and walked off the raised platform.


    Waiting for a moment, Felix also stood up and Lucius paused at the edge of the pitch, waiting for Draco to appear, as small groups of wizards came out one after another, enthusiastically discussing the match.


    Felix tapped his wand on his body, his blue robes fading a little until they blended in with the environment.


    He brushed shoulders with Lucius.


    As Harry walked out of the stadium flanked by Gryffindors, he caught a glimpse of Lucius looking down and lecturing Draco, who had a bitter face and didn''t say anything.


    This cheered him up even more, although there were still a few games to go, he believed that Gryffindor would eventually take the Quidditch Cup.


    Walking some distance away, Harry suddenly spotted the house-elf beside Lucius.


    His eyes instantly widened, "It''s Dobby!"


    He''s Malfoy house-elf?!


    Harry stared incredulously at Dobby, who also noticed his gaze and looked over with wide tennis ball eyes, and he waved his hand at Harry.


    But Lucius had already finished reprimanding his son and strode off, with the elf following in his footsteps, giving Harry a pitiful look before he finally disappeared.


    ...


    Evening, the Great hall.


    "What did you say! Dobby is from the Malfoy''s?" Ron looked at Harry with a surprised look on his face, the chicken leg in his hand left halfway hanging in the air to his mouth.


    "Shhh! Keep it down," Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione as he looked around and saw that no one was paying attention, "I saw it with my own eyes, right when I came out of the pitch."


    Hermione spoke cautiously: "Harry, what do you think? Is this all a Malfoy plot, or is it the actions of Dobby acting on his own?"


    Harry couldn''t be sure, he could sense Dobby''s respect for him, but couldn''t ignore the long-standing tradition of a house-elf.


    From the great hall, they walked through the garden, discussing intensely.


    "I think Dobby can be trusted, Harry." Hermione analysed, "The danger he''s referring to is the Chamber of Secrets, as we discussed. If everything was a Malfoy plot, there was no need for him to draw a line in the sand."


    Harry also leaned towards this argument, Ron''s view is more neutral: "While you guys have a point, I''ve never heard of a house-elf going against his master''s orders."


    At the rune tuition that night, Hermione asked, "Can house-elf disobey their masters'' orders?"


    Professor Hap answered meaningfully, "Generally speaking, no. But the contract does not bind the free will."

 Chapter 153: The Truth Brought by Dobby

    That night, Harry couldn''t sleep as he lay tossing and turning in bed, listening to the snoring of his roommates in his ears. He is thinking about what happened during the day - whether it was the big victory over Slytherin or seeing his nemesis Draco Malfoy being scolded by his father, it made him happy.


    But sudden loneliness welled up in him, and he wanted to experience being scolded by his parents.


    Everyone is looking forward to the summer holidays, only he is resistant to it, he even has the intention to stay with Hagrid as a guest, at least it would be nice if he can live alone.


    "Harry~Potter!"


    An indistinct call sounded, a voice that is not unfamiliar to Harry, and he hurriedly put on his glasses and looked at the thin figure standing in the doorway -


    He had huge brown eyes and a nose that resembled a large chilli and size.


    "Dobby, Dobby, it''s that you!"


    Harry looked quickly around, they were sleeping soundly, even Ron''s pet - the fat grey mouse Scabbers, also lying comfortably on its master''s pillow and sleeping peacefully.


    He gently lifted the covers, climbed out of bed, looked at the wand at the foot of the bed, and with a slight hesitation, took it into his hand.


    "Lumos."


    Harry led Dobby to the common room, which only had faint light, and he picked a chair with an upholstered cushion and sat down.


    "Have a seat, Dobby, you have something to say to me, don''t you?"


    Closer, he realized that Dobby had changed his clothes - no, not changed, still the same old pillowcase, but somehow the elf had found it somewhere and added two sleeves and what looked very much like pant legs for himself.


    "You got new clothes--no! Dobby, you, you ..." he pointed at Dobby, unable to speak. From Ron, he had learned that House elf could not wear normal human clothes, there is only one possibility -


    "Yes, Mr. Potter, Dob... Dobby is free!" The elf''s big eyes filled with tears and shrilled with joy.


    "How could - oh, I mean, congratulations, Dobby." Harry said, "But you''re following Lucius Malfoy during the day?"


    "Dobby isn''t sure, maybe the young master''s failure during the day put master in a bad mood, and when he went back at night, he reprimanded Dobby severely ... Dobby got used to it, but to his surprise, he wanted to drive Dobby away!"


    Harry opened his mouth to say something, but Dobby spoke freely, "Never thought ... this is something Dobby has dreamed of ..."


    Dobby loosened his fingers, and in his slender palm lay a magnificent button in silence.


    "Master, no, Lucius Malfoy gave Dobby a button that he ripped from his body ... he angrily told Dobby to leave Malfoy Manor forever."


    "So you''re free and don''t belong to anyone?" Harry said.


    "Yes, Dobby is now a free elf." Dobby blinked his big eyes, "All thanks to you, the great Harry Potter, for defeating Draco Malfoy on the pitch!"


    Harry felt a sense of uncertainty, that his victory over Slytherin could have such a huge impact on Dobby.


    "I didn''t expect it either, of course, I feel honored." Harry said modestly: "By the way, Dobby, you should not be bound by your status now, right? I have many questions I would like to ask you."


    "You can ask, Dobby will do his best."


    "Here''s the thing, is the Chamber of Secrets incident a Lucius Malfoy conspiracy or not?" Harry asked the doubts that the three discussed during the day.


    "That''s right, he brought the Dark Lord''s relic: a diary covered in curses to Hogwarts, with the help of Ginny Weasley."


    "Wait! Ginny?" S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "... That''s right, in the Flourish and Blotts bookshop."


    A flash of light woke Harry up, and he said in a positive tone, "He and Mr. Weasley fought then, and I remember he ended up picking Ginny''s textbook and mocking her severely! Lucius must have sneaked the diary there, didn''t he?"


    "That''s exactly right, Mr. Potter," Dobby said, bending over.


    "Then you stopped me from returning to school and attacked me on the field because of that same relic that opened the secret room?"


    Dobby hung his head and whispered, "You''re right about everything, Dobby overheard Malfoy, Mr. Potter, you have no idea how dark the days of house-elf were during the reign of the Dark Lord, they are actually much better now than they used to be ..."


    Harry hardly predicted that time, the house-elf lived in what life.


    He said comfortingly, "You are now kind of bitter-sweet, are not you?" But Harry suddenly thought of something, almost jumped up, he said in a shaky voice: "So now, now that diary, is it still in the hands of Ginny?"


    "Could she be in danger?"


    Dobby whispered, "No, the diary passed through the hands of three people, initially Miss Weasley, then somehow it got to Draco Malfoy, and then finally, it fell into the hands of the equally great Mr. Felix Hap."


    "Professor Hap?" Potter dumbstruck.


    "Yes, but Mr. Hap realized the evil of the diary, and he destroyed it, completely and utterly! Right in front of Dobby''s eyes ..."


    Harry felt his head spinning, overwhelmed by an explosive piece of news tonight, he had a bewildered look on his face.


    ...


    Early the next morning.


    "You mean the source of all this is Lucius Malfoy? He hid the diary in Ginny''s textbook, and Ginny was controlled to open the chamber and release the basilisk, causing the petrification of Mrs Norris and Creevey! And then the diary came to Malfoy, oh my God, he really had it coming! But the most outrageous thing is that the diary is now destroyed by Professor Hap!"


    Ron had never said so much in one breath before, and then he took a few big gulps of pumpkin juice.


    "That''s it." Harry nodded, his mind moving to tell his experience of accidentally bumping into Draco while saving Justine, "He looked muddled, but I couldn''t think about it in time, and so much happened afterward that I completely put the suspicion behind me."


    "My God, Professor Hap didn''t miss a beat!" Ron couldn''t decide whether to complain or say in admiration.


    Hermione fell into memory as she added, "I was in the hospital during that time, remember? Professor Hap warned me that the danger was over and told us not to pursue it any further, and I think that''s when he got the diary and, perhaps, destroyed it."


    "And," the little witch broke her fingers: "Professor Hap must have told Dumbledore, and Dumbledore probably told your parents, Ron." Speaking of which, she said with some frustration, "Although, he didn''t tell us."


    "Cool~ So the adults have done all this behind our backs," Ron said.


    "So, what are Dobby''s plans now?" Hermione asked.


    "Don''t know yet, I guess, he might be visiting friends?" Harry said uncertainly.


    Ron hurriedly finished his breakfast and left in a hurry.


    "Where are you going, Ron?"


    "I''m going to ask Ginny, and it occurred to me that in case the diary had any effect on her-"


    "You''re right!"


    ...


    In Ginny''s stammering description, they learned more.


    "You left the diary in the abandoned lavatory?" Harry asked, staring into Ginny''s eyes in amazement.


    Ginny ducked her head sheepishly, a bright blush on her face, "Yes, when Fred and George told so many scary examples that I realized something was wrong."


    "Exactly right! Malfoy followed us, but we were urgently relocating the potion away from there. He swooped in and found the diary instead." Harry said.


    He couldn''t help but break out in a cold sweat, the blurred shadow he saw at the time should be Ginny dropping the diary, but because of the discovery of Malfoy, he couldn''t take a closer look.


    In case the diary was picked up by him and took control of him so that he was seized in opening the chamber on the way, it would really result in a thousand questions, you know, he was at that time also misunderstood by everyone because of the Parseltongue.


    "Ginny, do you have any sickness?" Ron asked.


    Ginny shook her head, "I took Luna''s advice and went to the hospital wing, apart from some weakness, there was nothing amiss. Madam Pomfrey gave me two bottles of potion and I recovered quickly."


    "By the way, she also said one boy had similar symptoms ..."


    The trio looked at each other and said in unison, "Draco Malfoy!"


    It took them a little over half a Sunday to barely piece together the complete truth -


    From Lucius'' attack to Ginny being controlled to open the Chamber of Secrets causing two attacks, throwing away the diary after discovering the anomaly, but then being picked up by Draco Malfoy, Draco being bumped into by Harry while opening the Chamber of Secrets and saving Justine, followed by their feat of going deeper into the Chamber to kill the basilisk. The diary then fell into the hands of Professor Hap and was completely destroyed, bringing the Chamber of Secrets incident to a complete close.


    "It''s so strange, Professor Hap is being present too much on the whole thing."


    "It means he really got to the bottom of the entire truth."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat lazily at the edge of the Black Lake, with a kind of refreshing feeling of solving the mystery that had been haunting them for a long time.


    They also let go of a huge stone in their hearts, fully ready for the exam.


    January passed quickly, and the rainy season came along with the exam season.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 154: Exam

    Early June. Felix woke up by the sound of rain pouring against the window, outside the window is grey and cloudy, a dazzling lightning streaks above the greenhouse, followed by a continuous low burst of muffled thunder.


    The final exams had lasted for three days, but the Ancient Runes exam had been scheduled in the middle and latter part of all the subjects, so for him, today would be the first day of the final exams. S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Fortunately, the Ancient rune he taught is an elective course. Excluding the fifth and seventh years, who are preparing for the wizard grading exam, he only needs to invigilate the remaining three classes.


    The professor of all the compulsory classes had to spend more energy duking it out with the young wizards, and Belby, who is in charge of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, complained to him more than once-


    "There are always students who have their minds left behind, can you imagine? I found a dozen cheating quills during the pre-test inspection!"


    Felix consulted Professor Flitwick specifically about this issue, and he told Felix, "You could have cheat-proof quill uniformly prepared for the students, and it would save a lot of effort."


    He gladly accepted the suggestion.


    In the ancient rune classroom, where long rows of successive tables were replaced with individual desks and chairs, Felix waved his wand and let a large section of test sheets and quill drop precisely on the small desks in front of the fourth-year students.


    "I must remind you that the test papers and quills are under anti-cheating enchantment, and the consequences of cheating are very serious."


    The test began, and Felix wandered the aisles between the seats, announcing the time every half hour.


    By the time he warned a second time, a student had already finished his test paper.


    "Very well, Mr. Andrews, you can choose to remain here or go out for some fresh air."


    ...


    Having completed the fourth year invigilation, Felix finished correcting just under a hundred of these papers that day.


    "A total of 7 O''s and 22 E''s, which is very good compared to previous years'' results."


    The former represents excellent, the latter is good.


    "And with the extra marks for practical work in the area of golems, maybe I''ll win the best record in the ancient rune class in the last ten years or so." Felix thought with delight, this mood reflected in the rest of the exam as he had a smile on his face.


    Finally, at the end of the first week of June, the final exams were over. The other years of students were completely liberated; a few young wizards who were worried about their grades would be anxious for two or three more days, but most of them were already partying to their hearts'' content.


    There''s laughter all over the school. Only the fifth and seventh years were still doing their best to prepare for their wizard grading exams.


    They were in a very anxious mood, and Felix, as a professor, confiscated all sorts of odd trinkets.


    "Miss Shelton, can you tell me where did you get this onion-flavored amulet?"


    Peter Shelton cried out, huffing and puffing.


    "Well, I won''t deduct any points this time, have some Euphoric Elixir, you''re so down."


    Shelton glowed after drinking the elixir, her whole body brightened up, she thanked the professor happily and left with a light step.


    Felix got pleased with himself, but then he noticed that the number of people running to the hospital wing increased, with large numbers of fifth and seventh-year students complaining to Madam Pomfrey that they were depressed and needed a Euphoric Elixir.


    "The stock is significantly running low, Professor Hap there''s been a poor quality of Euphoric Elixir all over the school, and I''ve taken in seven to eight students who can''t stop laughing." Madam Pomfrey said grumblingly.


    In addition to the Euphoric Elixir, the Cheering Charm also had a similar effect, and the charm is a third-year content, which is a very simple charm for students preparing for the wizard grading exam.


    But at last, the wizard grading exam came chasing the tail of the announcement of the final exam results.


    One day in the middle of June, Felix saw some rather old wizards at the school, the inspectors for this year''s wizard grading exams -- an ugly man with a bumpy flesh, a round, short witch, a male wizard with thinning hair and glasses, and, of course, the head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority --Griselda Marchbanks


    Griselda is a short Yet very well conditioned witch, with a high voice, and she was also the one who invigilated Felix''s exams in both OWLs and NEWTs in Transfiguration and Charms a few years ago, as a chief invigilator.


    And incredibly, she had also been an invigilator for Headmaster Dumbledore. This would be the oldest witch Felix had ever met that remained continuously active in the wizarding world.


    "Oh, Felix, is that you? I''m glad to see you in the school." The short Marchbanks spoke loudly from a distance, and she''s accompanied by Professor McGonagall.


    "Professor Marchbanks, it''s been a long time." Felix quietly used his wand on himself, making his voice twice as loud.


    "It''s been long, time always flies, and it seems like yesterday that I was invigilating Dumbledore." Marchbanks, who is somewhat deaf, said aloud. "I''ll never forget it for the rest of my life! It was an honour to invigilate him."


    Marchbanks talking, she looked at Felix: "You are the same, but it is your charms which shocked me. I hear you''re an expert on muggle issues now? Do you teach muggle studies course?"


    "Its ancient runes, Professor Marchbanks, that''s my area of research."


    Marchbanks turned her ear sideways, then said in a loud voice, "I hope you don''t fall behind in your study of magic, especially in charms, that incredible power!"


    Felix smiled and nodded, and when her attention focused elsewhere, he turned to the thinning-haired male wizard and said, "It''s been a long time, Tofty. I just recently met Ogden ..."


    "He mentioned to me that it was at one of the Ministry of Magic''s award ceremonies, wasn''t it?" Tofty said.


    This was one of Felix''s former examiners, though the two had little contact during his school years. Felix had visited him after graduation - Tofty is an expert in ancient runes, though theory-oriented, nevertheless he gave Felix a lot of help.


    "That''s right, he seems to be taking off well."


    "Yeah, that old guy! I didn''t believe him when he told me, but I didn''t think you''d really come back to Hogwarts."


    "I like the atmosphere at school," Felix said.


    "Yeah, that''s one of the reasons I stay at Examinations Authority, the hope of the British wizarding community - although most of the time these youngsters are a headache to be around." The old man rambled on for half a day, "And old Vera, he gets anxious with me when I mention you to him, but I can clearly see your book on his desk ..."


    Felix stifled a chuckle and didn''t say anything, Old Vera is the grandfather of one of his students, Clammy Vera, a very stubborn old man.


    He is also the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society and has always been quite cynical about Felix''s ''Practical Ancient Rune''.

 Chapter 155: Interesting Research

    The compound is crowded with young wizards, who looked at the group of Invigilators from afar with awe. A few of the seventh-year students exclaimed outright as soon as they saw Marchbanks''s wrinkled face.


    "There she goes again!"


    "Pretty much the same people."


    "Honestly, every time I come, I''m treated like a troll by onlookers," Tofty muttered.


    Felix smiled and said, "These people are anxious to come to see their Goddess of Fate."


    "I''m not the Goddess of Fate, we''re wizards."


    It''s bound to be a long day, especially for the fifth and seventh-year students, but Felix did what he had to do, and the rest is up to them.


    At 9:30 the next morning, the wizard grading exams officially began.


    The spacious great hall got turned into an examination hall for the students to take the theoretical exams; several small rooms next to the great hall were set aside as rooms for the practical exams.


    Theory in the morning and practical in the afternoon, the whole process lasted for two weeks.


    Felix took the time to glance at the entire great hall, except for the sound of quills rubbing against parchment, there was only the sound of sand slipping through the hourglass. He turned back to his class for the 6th year Wizards.


    Felix strides into the classroom, clutching a pile of parchment.


    "Today it is time for us to announce your grades."


    The Model student, led by Percy, Penelope, and Geoffrey, did not dare to breathe, as if waiting for their fate to be handed down.


    "A total of 33 papers, 12 outstanding, 17 good, and 4 Pass." Felix read out the overall results, "Congratulations!" Then he handed out the test papers.


    The male and female wizards offstage applauded violently, exchanging pleasantries with each other.


    "Of course, I must mention one more thing-"


    The students quieted down and looked at Professor Hap on the stage.


    "This grade is excluding the practical extra credit portion, and if you count these extra marks ... I think I need to correct it: 15 outstanding and 18 good."


    On their papers, a new line of handwriting appeared, that is the bonus mark for the practical part, it is about the application of ''practical runes''. The evaluation grade on the paper changed accordingly.


    The male and female wizards were ecstatic, and the classroom erupted into a huge celebration.


    "In this class, in which we will discuss the test papers, the practical class will continue in the next class."


    ...


    With two fewer classes in the curriculum, Felix had a lot of extra time, which he spent entirely on the library.


    It isn''t until the weekend morning that he saw his assistant in the flesh.


    She is working on a thesis.


    "Is there any professor who is so inhumane? Leaving assignments at the end of the term ..." Felix speculated in his mind as he watched the busy head.


    There were less than two weeks until the end of the school year, and for the lower year students, professors were usually exempt them from assignments.


    In the evening, he solved this confusion.


    The young witch said to him excitedly, "Professor, didn''t you suggest me to look up about the relationship between wands and wizards? And recommended to me a book entitled ''The Wizard and the Wand''?"


    "Indeed," Felix replied.


    "I looked through it briefly earlier and found it interesting, in fact, I was fascinated by it. It was until finals were over, and I finally had the time."


    Hermione said to him, "I want to write a thesis on it, not for publication - just as a pastime."


    Felix asked with interest, "Have you finished writing it?"


    " Only part of it, a lot of it is information I''ve transcribed and haven''t developed a complete thought." She pulled a stack of parchment from her book bag and handed it to Felix. "It''s got my scribbles and annotations and scattered thoughts and stuff, so it might be messy ..."


    "That''s okay."


    Felix said, "You can do something different for now, like watching a film." He picked up this ''half a thesis'' and looked at it.


    On the other side, Hermione skilfully turned on the small projector, rummaging through the small box, picking out the desired film.


    After a few moments of hesitation between Whistling Woods and Tom and Jerry, Hermione finally decided to watch something lighter, the former is too heavy for her.


    Felix put some earplugs on himself and read slowly, and he soon discovered that it''s truly a thesis for amusement, containing data on the wands of some friends around the little witch.


    Harry Potter''s wand, for example - eleven inches, holly wood, phoenix feathers, soft and flexible.


    The note given by the little witch is: ''Holly wood, rare wand material, the general view that this material has protective properties, representing patience and endurance, but also a symbol of death and rebirth, suitable for people who need to overcome irritability and emotional impulsiveness.''


    ''''Phoenix feather, difficult to tame.''''


    She drew two lines on ''overcoming irritability and emotional impulsiveness''


    ''But Hollywood wands also often choose wizards who experience danger together and have strong spiritual quests, the specific manifestations of which will be matched with the wand core material.''


    ''Wands of holly wood with phoenix feathers are extremely difficult to make, and they can create great conflict due to their different characteristics. But once this pairing is formed, no matter what, nothing can stand in its way.''


    Hermione underlined the last sentence, put a question mark, maybe in disagreement, may also be because of the existence of doubt.


    It also contains Ron Weasley''s wand - fourteen inches, willow wood, unicorn hair.


    The little witch''s note reads; Willow wood, an equally rare material with healing powers (?), suitable for casting silent spells.


    Unicorn hair: strongly rejects dark magic, very loyal, usually most compatible with the first owner.


    She underlined ''very loyal'' and ''most compatible with the first owner'' and wrote a small line next to it, ''matches Ron and Neville''s case, Ron''s old wand came from his brother Charlie, Neville''s old wand inherited from his father. From his father, the wand core material is unicorn hair.'' s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Seeing this, Felix felt a little surprised that there were still people besides Ron Weasley using old wands these days?


    And from two famous wizard families, respectively?


    What did their parents think?


    Longbottom family members are not average characters, although not pure-blood representatives, but also produced a number of outstanding wizards, and they have always had a good reputation.


    The paper also included Hermione''s own wand: fourteen inches, grapevine wood, with a wand core of dragon heartstrings.


    The following is a slightly scrawled note: ''Grapevine wood wands are usually chosen by wizards with lofty goals and visionary ideas, who tend to do things that shock their friends who think they know them.''


    Felix chuckled softly, it looked like Miss Granger was not in a very calm mood when she wrote this paragraph.


    He then flipped through the following examples, both from her classmates and those transcribed from the book The Wizard and the Wand.


    Somewhat surprisingly, he also saw Hermione''s speculation about his wand: Professor Hap, around twelve to fourteen inches, ebony, wand core unknown, possibly a phoenix feather or dragon heartstring.


    Next to it were very tiny two-letter initials, which Felix guessed might mean Dark Magic, so that ruled out unicorn hair?


    ''With its impressive appearance and reputation, the ebony wand is perfect for offensive magic and transfiguration and will choose people who have the courage to be themselves, who don''t follow the crowd, who are eccentric, or comfortable with the status of outsider. Their owners tend to ignore external influences and have strong beliefs.''


    She marked heavily on ''ignoring external influences and having strong beliefs''.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 156: The End of the School Year

    Without realizing it, Felix finished reading the whole thing. "Professor?" Hermione looked over.


    She paused the display on the screen and turned to discuss some queries on her thesis.


    "I read in the book, the book "wands and wizards" repeatedly mentioned a point, ''wands are alive'', how should this statement be interpreted?"


    "Well ... I do not have deep research in this area, I can only explain in a broad sense."


    "Of course." Hermione blinked and said in a relaxed tone.


    "Every wand is unique. Even if they are made of the exact same materials and measurements, the effects that can be displayed in different hands can be distinctly different."


    "Is it because of the owner of the wand?" Hermione guessed.


    "Yes, I personally think that the wand in the store is only a half-finished product, it is eager to obtain its own perfection."


    Hermione looked up and stared at Felix, this is a fresh perspective.


    Felix explained, "The properties of the wand wood, along with the properties of the magical creature from which the wand core comes, would have given the wand an extremely rich variety of variations, but there is another property that cannot be ignored - and that is the wand owner himself."


    "Rather than saying that the wand is alive, I prefer to believe that it''s the characteristics of the Wand Body, the Wand Core, and the owner of the Wand are bonded together before the Wand becomes complete and brings out its true power."


    "So, this is the theory behind ''wands choosing wizards''? In order to make itself complete, with both the wand and the wand core fixed, it prefers to pick the ideal master with whom it fits?" Hermione said, following his train of thought.


    "That''s a household saying," Felix said modestly, and then added-


    "Moreover, for a young wizard, acquiring the right wand is only the first step; the wand and its owner will partner with each other, learning from each other and promoting each other in the days to come, constantly developing such a mutual bond."


    "We can understand it this way, every wand has a different history."


    "But, Professor, I''ve heard that some wands can betray their owners?" Hermione asked cautiously.


    Felix''s expression became serious, "this situation is relatively rare, even the notorious, more deviant wand, would not cause a failure or two to offend its owner, the school confrontation is not even up to this level ..."


    "But this certainly exists, does it not?" Hermione trailed off.


    "Indeed. I think the reasons for this are varied: there is the poor relationship between the master and the wand; there is the wand''s natural sensitivity and worship for the stronger; there is the fact that the ''failure'' has affected the owner so much that it deepens this rift."


    "However, based on the wand core material alone, the unicorn hair is indeed more loyal, while the dragon heartstring appears to be a bit too lively, and it is possible for them to succumb ''temporarily'' to a powerful enemy."


    "Temporarily?"


    "For example, when a wand of this kind is forcibly taken away by an enemy, if you recover it in time, it can still be used as usual."


    "This, that could ..." said the young witch, somewhat startled.


    "Miss Granger, what we are discussing is too far from your realm." Felix terminated the topic.


    In fact, Felix believed that the conditions for the wand to change sides were extremely harsh and included at least one ''one defeat in a rivalry filled with malice'', a conclusion he had come to from some dark wizards.


    That''s how Felix got his spare wands from his stockpile.


    But even so, these wands are temporary at best - they are not your own wands, and there will be various limitations on spell casting after all.


    And from the example of Ron and Neville, perhaps there is also a scenario of ''willing transfer'', but he has not experienced it first-hand.


    "Granger, let''s discuss your modification of the beaded pouch, I originally thought that you would finish it in the next school year."


    ...


    Felix''s new book is also on the agenda, and in order to expand his influence, he has chosen to complete two books at the same time - one is for underage prep wizards, with lots of dynamic illustrations, supplemented by a lively and interesting storyline.


    One is a science fiction title aimed at adult wizards, using the most rigorous logic and text to explain the most common underlying technology of the muggle world.


    After he finished part of the manuscript, Felix had the illusion of explaining addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to a retard, which made him want to give up for a while.


    But some of his selected audience did give good feedback -


    Belby looked at the manuscript, the first illustration is a boiling kettle, the mouth of the kettle constantly gushing hot steam; the second illustration is a tube connected out of the big kettle, steam flowing through the tube to a little windmill at the other end; the third illustration is the windmill driven by steam, quickly rotating together.


    The next illustration is a hand-drawn version, which looks more abstract: a train with a huge kettle on the top, connected by a pipeline to the wheels, allowing the train to drive ...


    In order to make the whole process more straightforward, Felix deliberately coloured the steam in a prominent way, it looks like a train carrying a gaping kettle monster, constantly spewing venom.


    "This is the steam engine that the muggles talk about? They rely on this to move the train?" Belby said excitedly, "You know a lot, Felix!"


    Three days before the end of the school year, Felix received an invitation letter signed by the "International Federation of Wizards" - an organization similar to the UN, except that the members were all ministries of magic.


    "Why did they invite me?"


    Felix opened the letter and after a moment looked up, "So it''s an invitation from the International Federation of Wizards to go to Paris for a meeting with the Muggle issues research team? Tsk, never heard of it at all, it can''t be a newly established one in the last few years ..."


    From the rather formalized rhetoric of the invitation letter, Felix could tell that this research team is adopting a strategy of casting a wide net and fishing for more fish, maybe experts in muggle studies who are slightly more famous will be invited.


    The next day, he found the opportunity to ask professor Burbage, and the response he got is not what he expected, she also received an invitation.


    "You too?" Burbage looked at him with wide eyes, "Oh, of course, you''re qualified for that. I mean, you''re so young, I didn''t think of it before." S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Professor Burbage, do you know what this so-called research team is all about?"


    "I do know a little about it," Burbage said, "It seems to be a project led by the U.S. Ministry of Magic on the subject of responding to crises and whatnot. It''s all the usual stuff, you know, they''ve always been sensitive to muggle issues."


    Felix nodded thoughtfully.


    The two then agreed to meet in Paris and left on their own.


    He also wanted to see how the ''experts'' in other countries viewed the muggle issue.


    For the next two days, Felix took care of various chores: assigning holiday assignments to the young wizards, seeing off Belby''s smooth departure with the other professors, applying to Dumbledore to stay at the school, and attending the school dinner ...


    In front of the station, the young wizards cheerfully boarded the train, while Felix watched silently from the corner.


    The most conspicuous one is the tall and large figure of Marcus Flint, who had been avoiding him ever since he finished his exams.


    Followed by Clammy Vera, wearing wide glasses, who approached Felix immediately after the exams, hoping to maintain correspondence after graduation and receive instruction in the Ancient Runes from him.


    Several other graduates expressed similar wishes, which Felix did not refuse.


    In addition to this, the young wizards who impressed him during the year appeared one by one.


    Blake Abbott, Percy, Penelope, Geoffrey, Peter Shelton, Warren Partiz, the twins, Cedric, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood ...


    He also saw a somewhat depressed Draco Malfoy, Felix''s mind went silent, he already knew that Lucius had struggled numerous times, but was still thrown out of the school board, his son could not help but be affected.


    Felix watched the Hogwarts Express train whistled away.


    When the shadow of the train disappeared from sight, he turned and left the platform.

 Chapter 157: The Beginning of the Holiday

    During the holidays, Hogwarts went quiet, and the plants in the yard grew lushly, like a rich and colourful canvas. But without the chattering, book-clutching students, there is always a feeling that the picture lacks some vitality.


    This makes, originally a very low sense of existence ghosts suddenly become conspicuous, Felix often in the way to the library, caught a glimpse of the silver-white transparent shadow fleeting.


    In addition to these ghosts of Hogwarts, there are also some professors who have stayed behind. For example, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick, and Sybill Trelawney.


    The empty school made professors interact with each other more frequently, and during one small gathering, a drunken Trelawney made a prophecy to Felix -


    " Unknown, I saw the unknown ..."


    Felix looked at her quietly as Trelawney stared drunkenly with wide eyes and a deadly gaze at a bottle of sherry, examining it carefully.


    "Sybill, you''re drunk." Professor McGonagall''s face flushed as she, too, drank some wine.


    "No, I''m not! I saw ... a big black dog! With an army of darkness that covered the sky and totally engulfed you." Trelawney''s arm rested on McGonagall and used her other hand to nudge Felix''s chest, hiccuping, "This is a turning point in your life, fore, foreseeing the details, sincerely give me 3 Galleons."


    Professor McGonagall made a gesture: ''Before joining this job, she''s reading people''s fortunes.'' She waved her wand and dropped Trelawney on the couch, and a small blanket flew over to cover her.


    A big black dog? Felix thought for a moment, is it Fang, or is it Fluffy the three-headed dog?


    He did have the idea of going to see the three-headed dog with Hagrid, just did not mention it to anyone.


    On the side, Professor Flitwick used magic to turn the cups into various small animals, and soon Professor McGonagall and Felix joined in. They had a game of tabletop Quidditch with their wands.


    On the way out, a summer breeze laced with the strong scent of seasonal laurel whisked by, refreshing Felix''s mind.


    It had been a week since the holiday, and he had returned to his own house in London a few days ago, and after visiting a few of his common friends, then returned to Hogwarts.


    At that moment, he came to the top of the Grand Staircase on the west side of the castle and stood at the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room.


    A bronze eagle door with a ring blocked his way; there is no doorknob or keyhole other than that.


    This is a feature of Ravenclaw House - the entrance to the common room is not passworded, instead, the eagle door with ring will give riddles, and if you answer them correctly, it will give you a way and welcome you in.


    Felix tapped on the door ring and the eagle''s beak immediately opened, but instead of an eagle''s cry, it said in a soft, musical voice: "Which comes first, tomorrow or the unexpected?"


    Felix said thoughtfully, "It depends on how much preparation you have done today." S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Makes sense." The voice said, and the door opened.


    The Ravenclaw common room is empty, and Felix surveyed the circular room, the interior decorated in a fairy-tale style - in shades of blue and bronze, with stars painted on the dome, and dark blue carpets, with elegant arched windows draped in brightly coloured silks.


    Felix went to the window, which had an excellent observation spot, with his eyes poised high above the school''s black lake and forbidding forest, and a distant view of the surrounding hills.


    The room had tables and bookshelves, and a tall white marble statue stood in the niche opposite the door.


    It is a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, and he looks at it for a moment, and then his eyes settle on a bookshelf.


    In a divider within the bookshelf stood a foot-high statue of a slender woman with her head slightly raised, looking leisurely and serenely ahead.


    The statue appeared slightly rough, even the figure''s face quite blurred, good thing she had a plated nameplate in front of her with a line of descriptive text, ''In memory of Ravenclaw House Ghost - Ms. Gray, March 7, 1993, Student Memento.''


    Felix could not help but smile.


    Half a second later, he looked back and thought of the purpose of his trip. He began to examine the magic traces on top of the bookshelf. In the Room of Requirement, Ms. Ravenclaw''s memory mentioned that she had left some hidden magic legacy in the Ravenclaw common room, leaving it for later discovery.


    Felix is in the mindset of giving it a try to see if he could find something interesting.


    His interaction with the Lady Ravenclaw had been too brief, which, it had to be said, was a pity.


    Felix caressed the designs on the bookshelf, simply found nothing. He went back to the other bookshelves to examine them more closely, and finally, on the third one, he sensed a very hidden magical fluctuation.


    He tentatively used his magic to touch this enchantment ban, there is no danger. But it seemed to be hidden within the space, and Felix took a lot of effort to drag it out.


    Milky white light bloomed from the air, and the next second, his eyes blinked, and then everything returned to normal.


    He remained standing in the Ravenclaw common room, as if the glow he had just experienced was just an illusion.


    But the books on the shelves suddenly became very attractive to him, and the voice in his head told him: I want to read all the books on the shelves, and I can do that.


    This emotion came inexplicably, as if it had suddenly been planted in his head.


    "This is?"


    As a new master of memory magic, Felix quickly blocked out the strong longing in his mind as he carefully analysed and speculated about this magic.


    "Very similar to my thinking room, able to pull people into a world of thinking, only, Lady Ravenclaw''s approach is much more brilliant than mine, with a longer timescale and fewer side effects ..."


    He casually flipped through the books on the shelf, ordinary, nothing profound, so he turned to study the illusory Ravenclaw common room he''s in.


    He couldn''t see a single flaw in it at all.


    "Funny, I never thought I''d ever be pulled into a thinking room of someone else." Felix chuckled softly as his fingers moved quickly, and runes appeared out of thin air.


    "Well, Ms. Ravenclaw also has a very in-depth study of ancient runes, which is normal, she lives in a time when the old and the new are in harmony."


    Ten, a hundred ... soon, the number reached five hundred, and is still increasing ... this is Felix''s harvest in the Hogwarts library for this year.


    Then, Felix explored with his hand, with his thoughts, a dozen runes instantly flew to his hand, linked into a mysterious pattern, blazing flames bloomed from between his fingers.


    The whole world suddenly shook violently.


    Felix put away this ancient magic and waved his hand to make all the ancient runes disappear. "That was close, almost ruined this place."


    Then Felix carefully kept trying, testing the magic trove left by Ravenclaw.


    Time passed little by little.


    After an unknown amount of time, he got kicked out by the magic prohibition.


    Felix looked up outside the window, the time is already evening, "I may have been in there for days, surprisingly not too tired ..."


    "Good, It indicates the way forward for my thinking room."


    "And this sudden pull was so brilliant that I didn''t even notice it, memory magic, memory magic ..."


    "There''s a lot of Potential."

 Chapter 158: Exploring The News

    Felix suddenly thought of a Hogwarts school legend about a Ravenclaw student who read the entire collection of books in the common room in one night, which was considered an unexplained mystery. Perhaps this magic had done the trick.


    He perceived it carefully; the magic seemed to have disappeared completely, and not a single trace of it could be found. After thinking about it, he simply switched his perspective.


    In the world of black and white, subtle magic could barely be seen converging like stars, and as he pressed his finger in the air, he could faintly perceive a magic vortex.


    "Magic is slowly recovering."


    "I wonder who the next Ravenclaw student destined for this would be?"


    Felix left the place.


    It had got dark, and he returned to his office, where a short house elf stood in front of the door.


    "Dobby?"


    The elf looked up at him in surprise, "Mr. Hap!"


    In the office, Felix handed him a jar of butterbeer, "Pumpkin juice and fruit juice both gone, this tastes pretty good too, with less alcohol content."


    Dobby hurriedly thanked him.


    Felix looked at the new costume he is wearing, "So, you free from Malfoy?"


    "Yes, Mr. Hap, you wouldn''t imagine how lucky ... Dobby was," he began to tell his amazing experience.


    Felix smiled and listened to him finish his story.


    "You''re lucky, Dobby."


    Dobby said gleefully, "Thanks to the great Harry~Potter! He''s the one who saved Dobby!"


    "So, do you have any plans lately?"


    "Plans? Dobby, Dobby...wants to make a little more money and save up for a birthday present for Mr. Potter, even though it''s hard ..." Dobby took out a small palm-sized box from his pocket, "This is a present for Dobby''s friend, Mr. Felix Hap. "


    Felix took it with interest and surprised to find that it isn''t something tattered and torn.


    "It looks exquisite, but I didn''t recognize it, what is it?"


    "A music box, sir." The elf looked at him restrainedly, "It didn''t cost much ... Dobby earned it working at the Leaky Cauldron bar, the owner there is very nice, and you can earn two sickles a week."


    Soon after, Dobby offered his farewell, praising the butterbeer in passing, "It tasted great, Dobby really liked it, I will recommend it to my friends."


    Felix watched his disappearing figure and thought to himself, "I can afford to hire him for two sickles a week.


    Next time, I will ask him if he is willing to do so."


    Time lapsed to July 14, Felix''s figure appeared in a hidden corner in Paris, France, he entered a narrow, shady alley.


    A man in a hood leaned against the wall, his right hand in his pocket. He glanced at Felix - Felix''s face distorted and blurred, his silver eyes faintly glowing.


    The man subconsciously avoided his gaze as he said in French, "What are you doing here?"


    "None of your business, just be aware that I am not your enemy." Felix reached out and took out a brown wand, the silver glint in his eyes intensified.


    "Well, remember to stay out of trouble, and I don''t think anyone will actively mess with you."


    The man scowled a little and moved out of the way, where an empty wall remained behind him.


    Felix curled the corners of his mouth and walked straight ahead to the wall, causing a ripple in the wall - and his figure disappeared.


    The man stared at his back and turned his head to continue gazing at the alley beyond.


    ...


    Felix looked at the scene inside - it is a makeshift bar, with various large and small wooden crates twisted and put together with magic to act as tables and chairs.


    Not far from him, two hooded wizards argued loudly, a silver artefact in front of them.


    "Ten Galleons!"


    "No, at least twelve!"


    The same scene took place in this modest space, except that most of the wizards had covered their appearance with hoods.


    This is a wizard black-market-cum-bar in Paris, France.


    Felix stood directly at the front, ignoring the hidden gaze of the others, sweeping his gaze over everyone present, and when his glowing silver gaze fell, the wizards either met his gaze without fear or ducked their heads in panic, cursing under their breath.


    It is smart to show some strength in the black market, and it is the best way for strangers to blend in here.


    Felix soon spotted his target, a dirty, shaggy-haired wizard gulping down a bad beer on a makeshift bar built out of wooden crates.


    "Aladdin, it''s been a long time." He said in a hoarse voice.


    The male wizard looked up, he had very rough cheeks, and he''s one of the few people who didn''t cover their face, "Oh, it''s you, would you like a pint?."


    "No, what''s new in Paris these days?"


    "Do a lot of foreigners coming count?"


    "Be specific."


    "Two Galleons."


    "Clink~" two golden coins fell on the box in front of him with a crisp clink.


    Aladdin grinned and put the coins away as he suddenly yelled toward the surroundings, "What are you looking at, there''s no room for you!"


    The others'' gaze quickly left.


    "In the last week, a number of foreigners have come, all bearing the name of Muggle research experts, seemingly to attend a conference where the Ministry of Magic is in charge of security."


    "That''s not amusing enough, Aladdin." Felix stared into his eyes.


    "Hey! Don''t look at me like that, you want to know about the time I wet my pants as a kid!" Aladdin said rudely, he turned his head sideways, "Well, that is, I can''t beat you, otherwise ..."


    "There was a minor hiccup, they encountered an attack ..." he said.


    "What type of assault, did the group get caught?" Felix asked in pursuit.


    "No, those muggle experts are all rubbish, they were blasted by two or three people who raided the venue and in less than a minute, a dozen or so people were knocked out," Aladdin said with a disdainful face.


    "Where''s the French Ministry of Magic''s Auror?"


    "They''re guarding the outside, there''s a woman from America who''s said to be very arrogant, she''s the head of this meeting." Aladdin shrugged, "My guess is that she is the one who induced the attack."


    "Why do you say that?"


    Aladdin looked around and lowered his voice, "Do you want to know? Want to get first-hand information? I paid a big price for it."


    "Ding ding ding ding."


    Four gold galleons landed on the box, and Aladdin''s eyebrows raised.


    "If the information does not satisfy me ..."


    "Don''t worry! It''s definitely worth it."


    He then revealed a secret, "It is said that the assailants were so arrogant that they warned the woman and left a blood-stained badge behind." S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What badge?"


    "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."


    Felix went silent.


    "It''s outrageous, isn''t it? There are thousands of students there, and they''re on the edge right now, with six of the seven American'' leaving that day."


    "No one died, did they?"


    "No, that''s why they were arrogant, they came, it seems, to announce something."


    Felix walked out of the wizard black market and looked at the bright sky, people chatting leisurely in the distance, a young couple pushing a baby pram and walking slowly past the sycamore trees.


    " There is a constant feeling that this trip is not appropriate."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 159: A Speculation about Magic

    Felix strolled through the streets of Paris, a few hundred meters ahead is the south bank of the Seine, along the shore, is a variety of elaborately decorated stores, many of which are exotic. A paper-cutting store, for example, had a wide range of paper decorations on its doorstep, from small colourful animals to elaborate and sophisticated interior ornaments.


    The store owner is a young woman with a brightly coloured hair ornament, when Felix walked into the store, she enthusiastically promoted the product to him.


    Finally, Felix picked out a colourful pinwheel that he could hold in his hand.


    A week before the official start of the conference, Felix enjoyed two days of shopping. From the Mus��e d''Orsay to the Louvre, and then to the world-famous Notre Dame, he treated himself as a pure tourist, enjoying the customs and exquisite cuisine of Paris.


    After all, he intended his trip to Paris in three days in a note to the French Ministry of Magic.


    On a gorgeous street, crowded with tourists from all countries converging, one could look up and see the Eiffel Tower, the landmark of the 7th district of Paris.


    A young couple held a child in each hand, holding half a gelato.


    "Mom, mom, I want flowers, I want flowers." The little boy said, pointing a short-distance away.


    The couple followed the direction and looked over. About ten meters away from them, seven or eight small children and their families were gathered around a young man who looked very handsome, slender, and had a gentle smile on his face.


    Black hair and light blue eyes, like a clear sky that give people a sense of tranquillity.


    Felix put his left hand behind his back and snapped his fingers lightly with his right hand, and a bright yellow tulip suddenly appeared in his hand, which he handed to a child in front of him.


    "It''s a street magician." The child''s father said.


    "It looks great." The child''s mother stared at Felix''s hand, not seeing anything wrong with it.


    The couple walked over with the child, and Felix showed the crowd his empty hands, empty except for an emerald ring on his left hand.


    Under the inquisitive eyes, he clasped his hands together in a prayer motion, and from his closed hands came a "chirping" sound.


    "Wow!"


    Several small children''s mouths grew wide in an exaggerated manner, and even their parents also showed an unbelieving expression.


    Felix slowly opened his palm, there is a small bird with colourful feathers in his hands. The bird nimbly turned its neck, fearlessly surveyed the surrounding, tiny black eyes that made people love it.


    The bird groomed its own feathers and flew away with its wings when a child tried to touch it.


    The crowd looked up, their eyes followed its flight path until it disappeared into the sky.


    Felix gave a salute, declined some coins and bills, and departed briskly.


    ...


    At a large Paris, Felix roamed through the famous French university of higher education, a picturesque place where many people of his age sat leisurely on the lawn, talking freely and leisurely.


    A pair of young girls gawked at him curiously, and a student with grape-purple hair whispered to the girl next to her in her ear: "Look, that guy is very handsome, which department is he in?"


    Her friend said in an affirmative tone, "Definitely not from our department."


    "So maybe from another department, or a tourist?"


    "You can just go and ask him."


    "Why not?" The purple-haired girl stood up, and she walked over to Felix and said in somewhat lazy French, "Hello, I''m Amandine Zoe."


    Felix looked back and said gently, "Hello, Miss Zoe, you can call me Felix, Felix Hap."


    Zoe froze for a moment and said, "You have beautiful eyes, and, you can call me Amandine."


    " Okay, Amandine."


    The girl named "Amandine" is very talkative and cheerful, and she acted as a guide to introduce Felix to her university.


    "This is the history department... and this is the humanities ... Oh, I remember, there is a very famous philosophy professor''s public class today!"


    Amandine''s eyes widened, and her expression is very hesitant, as if she keeps weighing between Felix and the open class.


    "Can I come and observe?" Felix asked with a smile.


    "Of course, I didn''t think you''d like philosophy." She let out a long sigh of relief.


    "I really don''t know much about it, but it''s good to listen to it once in a while."


    Amandine led Felix into a large, spacious classroom, and in the corner of her eye she saw her best friend looking at her in indignation; she smiled sardonically and pulled Felix down.


    The classroom became dim, and light is cast in the center.


    A middle-aged man dressed formally and sternly stood at the podium, his gaze abstruse and his tone nonchalant: "What is existence? What is the meaning of human existence?"


    "Before you were born, we went through a time when our faith was shaken, and, in the words of Nietzsche, we never realized as clearly as we did then, ''God is dead.''"


    "We experienced a change of thought, a war which made us think about the meaning of living, starting with Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, culminating in Sartre and Camus after World War II, until now it is silently fading."


    "Someone invented the term existentialism, but existentialism cannot be considered a systematic philosophical category; there is no such discipline as Existentialist Philosophy; at best, it is a label."


    "I will share some common reflections on ''existence''-"


    "For example, you are the result of your choices."


    "Another example is that time is the only measure of existence and non-existence."


    ...


    "Many people feel that existentialism was born in the caf��s of the Left Bank in Paris, the product of the imagination of a group of disillusioned people, but this is a complete stereotype, and many people are physically and silently implementing certain praiseworthy existential ideas."


    "Suffering and hardship make people desperate, desperation makes people think about the meaning of existence, and thinking brings new life."


    Before we knew it, two hours had passed.


    A student raised his hand and asked, "Normally we don''t think about the ''meaning of existence, but only under pessimism and despair, does this mean that existentialism is actually a pessimistic argument?"


    "We study existentialism in order to avoid others studying existentialism?"


    The professor said humorously, "Very interesting point, you could enrol in my graduate program."


    "I need to emphasize that existentialism is an optimism supported by reason and logic; imagine your life plunged into a greyness, war, famine, the alternative to science and technology ... In short, you can''t find the meaning of existence."


    "This is when existentialism will tell you that although your life is full of tragedies, we still have to try our best to live and choose for ourselves the meaning of our lives. You will find that your very existence will add variables to the world, good, bad, and constantly fluctuating."


    Many hands went up.


    The professor pointed to Felix. S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix stood up: "Professor, in one of the categories you mentioned in your lecture, you believe that to exist is to see, to perceive, to experience, so how do we perceive and experience things that are distant, things that may never even appear in reality, like magic in films?"


    Felix''s question caused the students to whisper and laugh - it is fun to insert the topic of magic into a serious philosophical question.


    One or two students whistled in approval of Felix''s ''boldness''.


    The professor thought for a moment and replied: "Magic is a product of our imagination and currently exists only in terms of imaginary media, such as films, novels, and so on. So do they really exist? Or are they simply a product of the imagination, a product of our brains that make us think it exists?"


    "What if one day magic does appear in reality?" Felix pressed.


    The professor laughed, "If magic really ''existed'' in reality, no one would not be unaware of it. Technology has developed to the point where we have the ability to travel to every corner of the world. Even the sky and the ocean cannot stop mankind from exploring."


    But he soon realized that he had met a persistent student today -


    "I mean, if you''ll pardon me, we could make the assumption that there is a small collective of magicians who conceal their existence with all sorts of miraculous magic, but one day you find out about them-"


    Felix paused briefly, "What would you do?"

 Chapter 160: Uncle & Nephew

    Felix truly wondered about this, especially from the point of view of a philosophy professor. A murmur rang out in the large classroom, and they also tried to bring themselves into the situation he set up, thinking incoherently about a question they never seriously thought about before -


    ''If magic really exists, how are we going to face it?''


    As the professor watched the reactions from others, he felt he needs to answer this question seriously.


    He looked at Felix and inquired, "In your hypothesis, are there enough magicians?"


    "Not many, but not negligible either."


    "Do they fall under the conventional definition of evil, judging from the perspective of a group?"


    "Any talk of group issues aside from proportionality would be fallacious, Professor. My view is equivalent to that of ordinary people."


    The professor and Felix exchanged questions and answers, and when they encountered sensitive ones like ''how strong are magicians as a whole'', they would pass by vaguely, pushing that they hadn''t thought about it yet.


    Other students were also attracted by the tug-of-war questioning process between the two, looking at the professor one moment and Felix the next.


    In the crowd, a young student with curly brown hair looked at Felix with a cold sweat and a frightened expression.


    The professor gave a pleased expression: "It seems that you have thought very deeply about this issue, which will help us to explore further."


    Felix gave the explanation, "I intended to write a fantasy piece like The Chronicles of Narnia."


    To complete his new book, he had deliberately collected a collection of fairy tales during the holidays, and was surprised to find that this series had been published back in the fifties.


    "So? ..." The professor thought seriously for a moment, looked up, and said, "Philosophical aspects aside, my view as a scholar is to communicate."


    "Communication?" Felix repeated, the answer did not satisfy him: "Professor, I want to write a ''real'' novel, so that the content in it will have to withstand the scrutiny."


    "My answer remains the same, no matter what the end result is, but between two strange groups, the first step to take is definitely to get to know each other better."


    The open class ended, and the students walked out in a line.


    The young student with curly brown hair hurried into the restroom and knocked over a man in doing so.


    "Excuse me."


    On the other side, Felix politely offered his farewell.


    Amandine shrugged her shoulders with a breezy face.


    "Well, if you have a chance to come to France in the future, you can call me up here, and I''ll show you all over Paris."


    As Felix walked out of the famous university, pondering slowly under a row of sycamore trees, he sensed keenly that someone had been staring at him.


    He came around the corner and entered a narrow alleyway.


    A young man with curly brown hair and a middle-aged man with a full beard appeared in a hurry. They chased him directly into the alley and turned two corners before realizing that the road had ended with a wall.


    The middle-aged man jerked back, wand raised high and imposing, but the next second the wand in his hand seemed like a short stick falling loose from his hand.


    A man with black hair and light blue eyes looked at him with a calm face, holding an ebony wand in his hand.


    Maxwell Colbert opened his mouth and watched as the oak wood wand which belonged to him floated obediently in front of the young man across the alley.


    It happened so quickly and silently that he didn''t even have time to react.


    "Uncle, he disappeared, did he Apparitie away?" The curly-haired young man gawked at the empty wall, and when he saw that his uncle did not respond to him, he turned around as an afterthought.


    "It''s him, it''s him, he''s the one who exposed the existence of the magic world!" The youth uttered in one breath with the slurred French.


    Felix looked at him with amusement: "I certainly know the International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy better than you, which one did I violate?"


    The curly-haired youth looked very unconvinced, "I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, don''t you dare deny it. Hey, uncle, why is your wand on the opposite side?"


    A bearded Maxwell Colbert reprimanded with a black face, "Shut up, Calamy."


    He looked at Felix: "I think there''s a misunderstanding here, you''re a research expert on muggle issues who came to the conference, right?"


    "Misunderstanding?"


    "That''s right, I''m an Auror from the French Ministry of Magic, Maxwell Colbert. In charge of security for this conference, my nephew is studying for a major in Paris, and he may be mistaken."


    "I''m sorry, I probably did misunderstand," Calamy said slowly, reaching out to withdraw the wand which is behind him at the same time.


    Felix raised an eyebrow and with a flick of his finger, the wand in the youthful Calamy''s hand also flew out.


    One big and one small were looking at each other with different expressions on their faces, looking at the man across the alley as he said with satisfaction -


    "Now we can talk properly."


    ...


    A restaurant on the street in the fifth district of Paris.


    Felix took the menu handed to him by the waiter, "A salade, a Bouillabaisse, a plate of Escargot, the main course should be Beef Bourguignon and, well ... dessert for later, that''s all."


    He handed the menu to the uncle and nephew across the table, "What about you?"


    Maxwell is still hesitating, but nephew Calamy has taken the menu, "Uncle, what do you want, how about this Roquefort?"


    Maxwell pointed at Felix and said to the waiter, "The same as his."


    Calamy ordered a number of odd dishes instead.


    "We recommend you pair it with a light wine." The waiter said.


    Felix had no objection; the other two were completely clueless.


    The waiter took the order and left quickly. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Maxwell Colbert said with a complicated look on his face, "I''m now convinced you''re an expert in muggle research, what''s your name?"


    "A little late, but let''s introduce ourselves, my name is Felix Hap, published two books on muggle studies."


    Maxwell went silent, and half a minute later he spoke, "Given your fame, I believe for now that you have no intention of exposing the world of magic, but I will go back and check. As for your assault on Auro--"


    "What Auror? I was facing unidentified wizards, and after just learning that there was an assault against muggle research experts, it''s only natural for me to be a little on edge mentally, isn''t it?"


    Maxwell''s expression became serious, "You knew about the assault? How did you know about it?"


    "Emerson Caine, Iris Alpha, Galsworthy Moore ..." Felix reported a string of names, and Maxwell''s face became more and more ugly.


    These were all the names of officials from the French Ministry of Magic.


    "I have a wide range of sources." Felix picked up his knife and fork and revealed a gentle smile, "Perhaps, I can recommend one or two of them to you?"


    Throughout the meal, Maxwell looked somewhat depressed, eating in silence, not even tasting what is in his mouth.


    Calamy, on the contrary, quickly became acquainted with Felix.


    "What''s up with your studying at this side?" Felix inquired about the topic that interested him.


    Calamy said, "My mother''s side made the arrangement - oh, I''m half-blood - as an external student, without a certificate."


    Felix''s mind clicked.


    Out of the restaurant, Calamy left, and Felix used the Apparition to take Maxwell to the F��rstenberg Square in Paris.


    This is where the headquarters of the French Ministry of Magic is located.


    In the middle of the square, four ancient trees were arching over a bronze statue, and when they stepped into the range of the trees, their figures magically disappeared without being seen by the people around them.


    The two stood next to the statue, the roots of the four ancient trees suddenly came to life, entwined with each other forming a birdcage-like elevator, Felix''s step shook slightly, and the elevator began to go down.


    He glanced at Maxwell and returned his wand to him.


    "Thanks," Maxwell said sincerely.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 161: Eavesdropping

    The elevator descended quickly, and after a brief period of darkness, Felix caught a glimpse of the light that is zooming in beneath his feet. A cacophony of voices reached their ears as they came to a huge underground building.


    Felix surveyed the design and murals on the arch-shaped ceiling.


    Maxwell noticed his gaze: "We''ve adopted a new style - constellation patterns, and some historical events, see that big orb?" He pointed to the silver-white sphere over the dome, which is emitting a soft light that illuminates the entire foyer as if it were daylight.


    "It isn''t used to be there, all thanks to the previous minister."


    The elevator landed and Felix stepped out of the ''birdcage''. He looked around, the lobby is divided into two levels, he is on the first floor, the open space in the center of the several parallel long desks, most of the seats are full, people walk to and fro, walk-in hurry.


    The second floor consisted of a number of corridors supported by pillars, the very edge of which happened to be an aisle with a railing, and he saw someone standing in front of it, looking down from above.


    "Is the building here arranged horizontally?" Felix inquired.


    "What, oh yeah, similar to a spider''s web, and we''re standing in the center of it." Maxwell said, "Not quite the same as the British Ministry of Magic, I heard that you have opened up a dozen floors down?"


    "As far as I know, it''s ten floors," Felix said.


    Next, Maxwell led Felix out of the foyer and straight down to a small office along an open passage. There is a piece of paper taped on it - temporary registration point number 2.


    "I''ll bring you straight here and save you the trouble of asking the receptionist at the front desk, which is always full of long lines ..." Maxwell pushed the door open, "Good afternoon, Willie, I''m bringing a friend to register for the Muggle Research Conference. "


    A light-haired male wizard looked up, "Of course ... so many people have been coming lately that I don''t even have time for pastime." He suddenly looked at Felix: "Do you like playing exploding cards?"


    Maxwell interrupted impatiently, "Willie, we''re in a hurry, we have to go to the hotel later. The thought of that American woman gives me a fit."


    "Ha! But you have to listen to her command, don''t you?." The male wizard named Willie registered Felix''s wand while handing over a form, "Just fill out the form, mainly the columns for name, country, and purpose of visit."


    Maxwell''s beard twitched, "I''m following the minister''s orders."


    Felix quickly filled out the basic information, ignoring the column on the form for specialization in magic, and when he handed it to Willie, the male wizard didn''t even look at it and stuffed it in a drawer, turning to Maxwell with glee, "But the minister told you to listen to her, did the woman ask you to do the waiter''s work?."


    Maxwell returned a rude gesture.


    As they walked out of the office, Maxwell explained, "This conference was requested by the Magical Congress of the United States of America at the International Confederation of Wizards, and we hosted it after all the members approved and agreed."


    "Why not in the United States?"


    "They asked for it, who knows what they were thinking?" Maxwell clearly didn''t want to talk much, and Felix guessed that it might have something to do with ''that woman'' he was talking about.


    The two men came to a fireplace, "Hotel Boathouse, remember? After you."


    Felix grabbed a handful of Floo powder, shouted clearly over the turquoise flames, "Hotel Boathouse", and his figure disappeared.


    Felix walked out of the fireplace, the interior decorated in red and gold, the most conspicuous is the red carpet and gold stone pillars, which reminded Felix of Gryffindor House at Hogwarts.


    He felt faintly amused.


    Soon, Maxwell appeared from the fireplace, he took Felix to a room and left in a hurry.


    Felix pushed open the door, the furnishings inside were simple, he took some time to apply some protection ward and then wandered around the hotel.


    The hotel has seven floors, Felix paced to the first floor, talked to the receptionist, and quickly determined that it is a muggle hotel in a very isolated location.


    "You tour groups really odd, it takes until fall for tourists to flock here to enjoy the flowers and scenery and all that. Now it''s bare all around ..."


    "And once they checked in, we weren''t allowed to clean your rooms, and there were all kinds of weird requests."


    Felix responded with a few words, he did not know how the French Ministry of Magic negotiated and did not want to dwell on it.


    There were two men standing at the door, one hand in his trouser pocket, looking very much like Maxwell in temperament, and he guessed they were guards arranged by the Ministry of Magic. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix asked the waiter if anyone named "Charity Burbage" has arrived, the waiter checked the service list, "No, her room is 203, it is still vacant, just cleaned it in this morning."


    After a polite thank you, Felix started walking up from the first floor, taking notice of any signs of dark magic.


    Halfway up, he met several wizards from different countries who were also invited experts. Felix chatted with them, and most of them were friendly, except for those who really couldn''t speak the language.


    On the fourth floor, he found a huge auditorium with hundreds of seats.


    ''Looks like the meeting is taking place here.''


    The fifth and sixth floors were empty, but Felix walked past them one by one until the seventh floor, when he heard some movement in it.


    ''Did I really bump into it? Or is it actually a staff member in the hotel?''''


    Felix''s figure gradually blended in with the surroundings, his footsteps were low and inaudible, and at the entrance of room 705, he stopped.


    There is very little sound inside, but Felix sees two brightly shining sources of magic with the help of his black and white perspective, and he nudges the wall with his wand, the tip of which softens as it meets the wall.


    Then the sound of the conversation in the room reached Felix''s ears clearly -


    " Have you got the list yet?" It is a woman''s voice.


    "No, he''s got a tough mouth." A low, manly voice rang out.


    "Can''t you just--" The woman''s voice stopped abruptly, as if a Langlock had been cast.


    "You realize the problem too, we can''t afford to take the hard approach, or at least I refuse to."


    The woman whispered a curse.


    After a long interval, when Felix thought the conversation ended there, the man said dismally, "This is a complete and utter disaster."


    Footsteps came and Felix left swiftly.


    In the room, he pondered the information he had stumbled upon.


    It turned out that one of the last assailants had actually been caught, and from the conversation between the two sides, the identity of the assailant is special enough to give them something to worry about.


    Is he a relative of some bureaucrat?


    Felix suddenly felt worthless for the gold galleons he had spent - the information he got is not as good as what he had overheard while standing at the door.

 Chapter 162: Assault

    In the evening, oddly dressed wizards appeared across the hotel, and Felix stood in the hotel garden, watching as several wizards made their way up a small hill. His eyes caught a glimpse of Maxwell talking to a serious-faced woman who looked impatient.


    "This is France, Celeste! Not America, and you can''t use the name of the head of your institution to get me to do your bidding!"


    The witch known as Celeste had a delicate and serious face, wearing a meticulous attire that could not be picked out.


    She looked like a competent government official who had just arrived from the Muggle government office building dozens of kilometers away to attend a solace event in the slums.


    Especially since she stood next to various witches in puffy dresses and iris hats, who are seriously pointing at the automatic sprinklers, which further adds to the credibility of her identity.


    At the moment, flame seemed to erupt from her grey pupils, and she pursed her lips to restrain herself from saying anything hurtful, but her response remained strong: "The law is a bottom line that cannot be trampled, and we have to do something about it."


    "We''ll take care of it." Maxwell said stiffly, focusing on the word ''we'' as if to remind the woman across the table that they interpreted the word completely differently.


    The two parted ways quickly and unhappily.


    Felix paced over to the French Auror, who still had an angry look on his face.


    "She''s so arrogant, she thinks I''m her subordinate!"


    "She is?" Felix inquired.


    "A hard woman to deal with, Noel Celeste, the number one person in the MACUSA at Muggle field."


    "What does she want to do?"


    "Get the American side to send Auror over here, on the grounds of assisting against possible convicts," Maxwell said with a stern face.


    Felix tsked, such a request is indeed excessive, just short of pointing straight at the French Ministry of Magic and cursing, "You''re so rubbish, I can''t trust you, I need my own people dispatched."


    "If she''s uneasy, why didn''t she just hold the meeting in the US in the first place?" Felix asked, having asked a similar question before.


    "Factional strife? Hard feelings? Anyway, I understand there is quite a bit of opposition against her ..."


    Felix asked sensitively, "Which ones are opposed?"


    "Uh ... I don''t remember." Maxwell showed an embarrassed expression as he muttered in a small voice, "The ministry prepared some information for me, among which were various newspaper clippings and whatnot, and put them in my room, but I didn''t look at them carefully ... Do you want to see them?"


    "If it''s convenient, thank you, Maxwell."


    "Ha, we don''t really know each other, and your taste in food matches mine, I liked the Beef Bourguignon Stew." Maxwell joked.


    Some previous bad blood just disappeared.


    On the second day, the day before the official start of the meeting, more wizards came, and by rough count, there were already more than a hundred.


    One of the consequences of this is that the staff at the hotel looked at them even more strangely.


    "Tell me, are you some kind of strange group, such as '' strange dress fetish club'' or something like that?" The hotel receptionist chatted with Felix, of these people, only a few were dressed normally, and Felix is the youngest and most handsome among them.


    "You can totally understand it that way." He said, saving the trouble of her actually trying to understand and getting a shot of the Obliviate put on her.


    Soon, he caught sight of Professor Burbage, and he greeted her, taking the small luggage in her hand, "You''re a little later than I expected."


    Burbage sighed, "I modified the paper for my presentation at the conference and have been struggling with it for the past few days."


    Felix led Professor Burbage to her room and the two made small talk along the way-


    "You advocate wizards intermarrying with werewolves?" Felix asked, flabbergasted.


    "Not just werewolves," Burbage corrected, "I see the advantages of interbreeding, and I propose that purebloods intermarry with half-bloods, muggles, and even some humanoid creatures."


    Felix''s expression stiffened, and he leaned against the door of the room for a long time before speaking, "Do you have any theoretical justification?"


    Professor Burbage said: "This is my inspiration from the muggle books, although the muggle named Mendel used peas as material for the experiment. But ... I also checked a lot of wizard data, and it is true that hybrid wizards have achieved more in the last hundred years."


    Felix had some headache, he did not know how to persuade his colleague.


    Once her theory is thrown out, it is just like detonating a nuclear bomb.


    What''s more, whether the theory is correct or not is still a distinction between two possibilities, but it will definitely be madly resisted by pure-blood families all over the world.


    "Professor Burbage," Felix said politely, "given the current trend in the wizarding world, most wizards were not mentally prepared to accept this theory. Perhaps we can modify the topic a little and start from a safer perspective."


    Professor Burbage looked at him and asked softly, "What do you suggest?"


    "Use the current self-imposed lockdown of the wizarding world as an attack point, appeal to the ministries of magic to focus on the outside world, Muggle technology, novel theories, or even start a limited cooperation with the Muggle government; or from the perspective of ordinary wizards, call on young graduates to engage in social practice in the Muggle world, so that they can at least gain a job experience ..."


    "Most wizards have been out of touch with society for a long time."


    Felix also gave the example of Calamy, "He graduated and enrolled in a Muggle institution for postgraduate, and maybe a few years later he will be an authority on Muggle issues in the French magic community."


    Burbage pondered.


    Felix persuaded, "It fits with the theme of this meeting, and once the avalanche of snowballs forms, even the most stubborn pureblood families will be swept along by the tide of the times."


    "But ..." Burbage is not very satisfied with this statement, although she is a professor of muggle studies, but does not think that the two can cooperate, or rather, there is a need to cooperate.


    She simply saw the irrationality of pure-blood thinking in the wizard community and proceeded to propose her own solution.


    ...


    The next day, July 20, the meeting officially began.


    Noel Celeste, as the representative of the International Confederation of Wizards - and the initiator of the meeting - presided over the entire meeting, but she seemed distracted.


    She kept looking in one direction, a tall, bespectacled man who, every few minutes, would go out and return giving her hand signals.


    One by one, the representatives of each country took the stage, and Felix became somewhat drowsy.


    It''s hard to imagine that these old ideas came from the mouth of the most famous group of current experts in the study of muggle issues.


    The only amusement was when a wizard raised the "muggle threat argument" and was angrily accused by a German wizard of being a "Grindelwald remnant" as he threw his shoes at him.


    Perhaps Burbage''s point of view will be drowned in this kind of desperately watered-down speech ... Felix thought to himself.


    "Professor Burbage, what is the order of your speech?"


    "There are two other wizards in front of me."


    Soon, Professor Burbage stood on the stage, she cleared her throat, with a sad expression on her face, and Felix knew she didn''t listen to his advice.


    But at that moment, the man with the vicissitudes of life hurried in, and he shouted, "There is an assault!!!"


    "Boom!" S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A huge explosion rang out behind him.

 Chapter 163: The Fight

    The solid wood doors of the auditorium were blown into countless pieces, and a laser-like red beam swept through the room amidst the smoke and dust. Felix smoothly flicked off that spell - it is a Stupefying Charm.


    "What a weak magic." He wondered in amazement.


    But the next second, a red beam came straight at him, crashing into an invisible barrier with a low thud.


    Felix curled his mouth, "That''s somewhat decent."


    He smoothly grabbed Professor Burbage as she panicked and smoothed out her ginger hair that was in the way, "What''s wrong, what''s wrong? What the hell is going on?"


    Felix didn''t respond to her, the dual effect of the Supersensory Charm, and Thought Acceleration slowed down everything around him.


    Burbage''s question seemed to drag on for a long time, and the accelerating curves of the spell arced slower.


    When a dozen or so spells arrived, he had already prepared the Shield Charm to deflect them away.


    " Snip!"


    A light sound, Felix used Apparition to bring Professor Burbage to the seventh floor of the hotel, "Professor Burbage, I previously explored and checked, the sixth and seventh floors are not inhabited, it will not be the target of the assailants, you just find a room to hide."


    This is what he confirmed, before Celeste and that masculine face male wizard was simply found this secluded place to talk about confidential topics.


    "Okay, okay." Burbage swallowed nervously, that scene just now was too stimulating, she had never seen so many spells appear before her eyes at the same time in her life.


    The words Felix had advised her earlier flashed through her mind one by one.


    Felix''s body twisted and disappeared, leaving a faint black smoke in the same place. In the next instant, he emerged out of the void in the auditorium and appeared at the second-floor railing of the auditorium.


    After tilting his head to dodge a red arrow that missed him, he stood on high ground and looked down.


    The room had fallen into shambles - the door had blown open, tables and chairs were falling apart, and there were burn marks everywhere. It had happened so suddenly that a large portion of the Muggle research experts had collapsed on the floor, but judging from their state, they were unconscious at best.


    ''''Heh, this group of assailants showing mercy?''''


    His gaze quickly swept across the entire room, his brain running at high speed as he brought all the details of the room under control.


    This is the starting requirement of the instant kill move, reading the battlefield to obtain usable information.


    The two fighting sides, one side is divided into three camps: Celeste, the masculine-faced man hiding behind the podium, they belong to the MACUSA.


    Maxwell and two unfamiliar young Aurors who were hiding next to the stone pillars, should all be guards assigned by the French Ministry of Magic.


    The remaining dozen or so Muggle experts from different countries were scattered around, barely defending themselves.


    On the other side were the assailants, who were uniformly dressed in black robes embellished with white stars and wearing masks on their faces. Twenty-seven in total and still flooding in.


    "Noel Celeste! Come out!"


    Someone among the assailants shouted, and as they spoke, the windows of the fourth-floor auditorium exploded open, and seven or eight black-robed wizards on broomsticks burst in, hovering above the ceiling and swooping down to cast a spell.


    Felix swung his wand directly at two wizards who cast spells at him, causing the others to move far away in fear.


    Celeste hid behind the podium, she looked angry as a lion: "It has been abolished in 1965!"


    "Do you know what you have done? Fighting against the MACUSA!"


    She seemed to be explaining something, but it provoked the other side''s anger instead.


    "Liar!"


    "This is deception!"


    These attackers were clearly divided into four squads, front, and back. In each squad, someone is responsible for attacking and someone is responsible for protecting, shielding each other, and advancing in layers, occupying most of the auditorium, almost forcing the Ministry of Magic''s side into a corner.


    And what is even more frightening is that there are black-robed wizards constantly pouring into the room, and the number of enemies seems to have no end in sight, which caused Maxwell''s heart to despair.


    The last attack was only five people, but this time I''m afraid it''s not ten times as many?


    The French Ministry of Magic had been cautious enough to transfer a total of twelve Aurors, forming two combat squads, enough to sweep a black market. But this time they were losing too much, seven were knocked down in one shot.


    There is only one reason - that is, there are simply too many people on the other side! With spells coming from all directions, there is simply no room to dodge.


    Maxwell gritted his teeth as he glanced around at his comrades, counting him there are only three, and the remaining nine have fallen at the hands of the opponents.


    He could only pray that the ministry would soon discover the anomaly and send reinforcement.


    ...


    Felix is somewhat confused, the purpose of the assailants is simple, it is Noel Celeste, and Celeste seems to know that their target is herself, and even knows who they are.


    Because she told Maxwell from across the two stone pillars, "Don''t use the killing curse!"


    But the battlefield is not under her control, and it''s a bad idea to show mercy in the middle of a fight if there is no overwhelming advantage on your side. A red light struck Maxwell, causing him to stiffen, followed by seven or eight more red lights that followed.


    With a stunned expression on his face, the spell lifted his entire body off the ground and slammed him hard against the pillar behind him.


    "Maxwell!"


    A young Auror''s eyes reddened as he gritted his teeth, as he cast a dark curse, and a black mist condensed in midair to form a sharp dagger that stabbed an assailant across the room in an unstoppable manner, whose chest instantly burst with a large amount of blood.


    "Bethany!" A grief-stricken voice came from the opposite side, and then their spell became vicious.


    Though he still failed to get to the bottom of it, Felix felt he had to intervene - before things became irreversible.


    He raised his hand to cast a Finestra spell, and the spell struck the ceiling chandelier, shattering it and part of the ceiling, sending dust and stones showering down.


    The red light in the sky diminished significantly in a moment.


    Felix''s figure appeared very abruptly in the center of the auditorium, he calmly and precisely waved his wand, stupefying charm flew out from the tip of his wand like water, as smoke and dust dissipated, seven to eight assailants fell to the ground.


    " Finite!"


    Felix thrust his wand to the ground with his backhand, red light poured out like a horrible wave, with him as the center, the assailants, muggle specialists, Aurors, and MACUSA officials fluttered out like wheat, the spell that were still being prepared soundlessly dimmed down.


    All eyes looked at the figure that suddenly appeared, watching him slowly stand up and raise his wand expressionlessly.


    The auditorium went so quiet that even breathing could be heard, and after about 7 or 8 seconds -


    "Strike him down!" said a deep, steady voice among the assailants.


    But a dozen spells only hit the black smoke he left in place, and then everyone in the room saw a scene they would never forget. Felix''s figure kept flickering, and each time he appeared, he shook his hand and waved a dazzling red light.


    And the most exaggerated thing is, they saw seven Felix simultaneously appearing at the same time.


    The squad of an assailant that barely managed to break into the auditorium in front was almost swept to the ground in a second or two, and the remaining three squads collapsed to their knees in submission.


    ''''Too weak, despite the decent formation, the individual quality is too poor, losing when they lost their team protection, even the most basic sense of self-protection is not present, it kinda looks like I''m bullying kids...''''


    Felix did not feel the pleasure of casting spells, on the contrary, the disbelief in his heart is even more. If we have to draw an analogy, some of their spells were not as good as Percy Weasley''s.


    ''''There is a huge gap in strength between the members, they aren''t used to using killing curses and dark magic, they don''t have enough combat experience, and their spells are weak ...''''


    ''''Where did these assailants come from?''''


    ---------- S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 164: Revolutionary Society

    Felix kept thinking about the origin of the group of assailants. He suddenly remembered the information from the dark wizard Aladdin: "It is said that the assailants were so arrogant that they warned the woman and left a blood-stained badge."


    "What badge?"


    "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."


    ...


    Was that badge really a warning? Or was it accidentally lost?


    At the moment, the four line-ups of the assailants were scrambled by him, leaving only five or six of them still able to get up, and the front-most squad left with only one lucky little wizard.


    But of course, he didn''t recognize this luck at all. He wished he would have passed out, because the devil-like figure stood less than two meters away from him, looking at him calmly.


    Felix took a step towards the short wizard in front of him, walking slowly and steadily, to ease the dizziness caused by over two dozen apparitions in a row, but to the others, his steps seemed like a leisurely stroll, his gaze seemingly gentle, but like a huge unchained dragon, with hideous spikes all over his body.


    The air seemed to freeze, the remaining assailants struggling to get up, the young Auror who looked sad and angry, Celeste who tried her best to remain calm, and the man with the vicissitudes of life, all seemed to have been pressed the pause button.


    The short man''s eyes were full of fear, and he instinctively turned to run away, but tripped over the unconscious body of his companion and touched his forehead and blood seeped out a little as he hit the gravel.


    By the time he got up from the ground, Felix already stood in front of him. S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Let''s see what you really are."


    He reached out and grasped the mask with one hand.


    To the short wizard''s eyes, the extended hand seemed to contain magic that prevented him from moving a muscle, and he desperately told himself to run, but ended up like a cold stone statue, his mood hitting rock bottom. His lips mumbled -


    "Don''t ..."


    "Don''t!"


    Two voices overlapped, the other surprisingly coming from the mouth of Noel Celeste, her grey eyes reflecting panic that should not have been there.


    But Felix didn''t stop, he lifted the mask decisively.


    For a moment, Felix froze, his hand holding the mask stopped in midair.


    He expected a witch under the mask, not only because of the other party''s short stature, but also because of the shrill voice, all these features lead him to associate with a female identity.


    But under the mask is the face of a bloodstained, excessively youthful boy - at best, fifteen or sixteen years old, and probably younger than Percy Weasley by the looks of it.


    The young man looked at him dumbfounded, the expression suddenly becoming unfathomable and elusive.


    He gathered his courage, grabbed the mask, and stumbled back.


    Felix stayed where he was and did not pursue.


    "Stomp, stomp, stomp!"


    Another dozen black-robed wizards rushed into the auditorium, and one of them shouted loudly in excitement, "The people are rescued, we can withdraw! Did that old witch Celeste get caught?"


    But the scene is not what he expected, the newcomers froze, their eyes fell on Felix, who had just lowered his wand - with him as the center, a dozen or so of their companions sprawled around.


    Less than a third of them were sober, several of them still just woken up from the magic, with blank expressions on their faces.


    "Run." The short male wizard said in a hoarse voice.


    "What?"


    "Run!"


    But the leading wizard didn''t want to leave the men behind, he raised his wand and the others chose to follow.


    A dozen red beams came at Felix, these men were clearly elite, fiery spells like lasers, but all were deflected in front of Felix, with a ring-like barrier looming.


    Exquisite lines of silver and white intertwined with gold continued to be outlined in the air, and as the spell struck it became more powerful, its appearance became clearer and clearer -


    It is a magnified half-body armour, shadowed and pulsating with magical flames.


    The armour made up of the shield charm enveloped his entire body, allowing him to completely ignore their attacks.


    The black-robed wizards attacked in vain, but their mood inevitably sank into despair.


    "Get out of here, before I change my mind," Felix said.


    After a brief silence from the assailants -


    "He..., he''s locked by his own magic, get the unconscious people out of here!"


    The leading wizard made up random reasons to speak, whatever the reason, this powerful enemy seemed to have no intention of attacking.


    The others woke up, and they used the levitation charm and transfiguration to drag their fainted companion away and quickly evacuate this dangerous place.


    In a short but lengthy minute, no one opened their mouths. Celeste, a Masculine Faced Male Wizard, the French Ministry of Magic Aurors, and even the Muggle research experts, all remained silent for a rare moment as they tacitly accepted Felix''s approach.


    Felix removed his magic and his gaze fell on the last few people, who looked at Felix as they ran, their eyes full of inquiry.


    "Don''t look, run!" A black-robed wizard said.


    The assailants left quickly, leaving behind the devastated hotel.


    ...


    Three to five muggle specialists on the field looked around in bewilderment as if they had had a rare dream.


    From an orderly meeting, to an unexpected attack, to a powerful young man who jumped out and ended the fight in less than thirty seconds, is this not just a dream?


    Felix came next to Maxwell and carefully examined his state - he is unconscious, and his face is riddled with small, dense bumps.


    "This ... gentleman? Is he all right?" The young Auror asked restrainedly.


    "Nothing''s wrong, got hit by too many stupefying charms, with a vicious hex mixed in," Felix said somewhat indifferently, the vicious hex which would certainly taunt everyone present.


    Celeste walked out with her hair dishevelled and covered in dust, followed by the masculine-faced male wizard.


    "You ..." she said with a rare hesitation.


    "What exactly is the identity of the assailant?" Felix asked dryly, having actually made a conjecture.


    "I''m not sure, it could be a remnant of the Purgers, or a Grindelwald wannabe''s," Celeste said.


    "I think that you are fooling me, Ms. Celeste." Felix stepped forward, the silver glint in his eyes completely overriding the original light blue pupils.


    Her expression froze for a moment as a picture quickly flashed by-


    "Secret reports show that the Revolutionary Society has been formed by minors, and our wizarding society has been further fragmented because of that damned law!"


    "Cecil, we can''t budge, one step back would mean ten or a hundred steps back."


    "But wizards of muggle origin are also part of us, and the laws we created were harming them! Since 1965, more and more people have felt tricked, Celeste and their patience has reached their limit, which is why it gave birth to organizations like the Revolutionary Society, which brings shame to all. We have gentlemen in Congress sitting on a barrel of gunpowder, still gloating and sipping wine."


    "... The Congress won''t support it."


    "So you cover the lid, Celeste? We are the Congress and should be responsible for the laws of the American magical society!"


    "And what would you have me tell them, honourable councillors, that because of our outrageously stupid laws, the students and graduates of Ilvermorny colluded to organize a revolutionary society to prepare a revolt against the MACUSA?"


    "I should remind you, Celeste, that this is already a fact."


    "I can''t appear like a fool in front of the congressman ... At the very least, get a list of names."


    "How do you intend to do that?"


    "... Patience, Cecil. Wait until summer holiday, set up a trap that looks harmless and yet holds sweet bait, and if you catch one or two people, you can pull out a string of names."


    "Celeste, you''re an excellent bait yourself, and they''re targeting you."


    "Thanks, Cecil."


    "I''m not complimenting you!"


    "Cecil, remember to tell the New York Ghost to spread the word when the time comes ..."

 Chapter 165: Rescue

    Celeste''s gaze kept struggling as she desperately resisted Felix''s prying into her memory, and Cecil, who was standing by, drew his wand and hesitated to attack. The truth is that Felix''s previous performance was so exaggerated that he had no slightest assurance.


    But Felix had got what he wanted, he said softly: "Ilvermorny ... Ilvermorny''s student, that''s all. But why, and what kind of law invokes such a resentment?"


    Celeste''s face paled, and she shut her mouth tightly.


    But Felix showed a look of recognition, "Yes, Rappaport''s Law ... but as I recall, this law has been annulled, you just said that right?"


    During the fight, Celeste had angrily yelled at her assailants, "It was revoked back in 1965!" She was rebuked for being a "liar," and that was the crux of the matter.


    The male wizard named Cecil rubbed his chin in dismay: "Only a small part of it was abolished."


    Felix''s gaze went over, and Cecil looked away and explained in a low voice: "The remaining articles were merged into other laws, especially No-Maj and wizard interactions, and the restrictions are still strict - pureblood wizards, as well as No-Maj born wizards and Next-generation hybrids born to them, must file lists of interactions and undergo regular inspection by the magic congress professionals at their homes, and we have special memory erasure teams ready to eliminate ''superfluous and dangerous'' memories."


    Celeste whispered, "To prevent the exposure of the wizarding world."


    "There are many of these types of students?" Felix looked at Cecil.


    "Depending on how you interpret it, the most are definitely hybrids, for sure. But which side, do you think, they will lean over?"


    "So, you are fighting a doomed war?"


    The male wizard closed his eyes in distress.


    Felix didn''t say anything else, it originally had nothing to do with him, he simply felt a little irritated before.


    As his eyes swept over a ruin, his expression changed, the wand in his hand rapidly fluttered, large swathes of rubble, dust, and broken tables and chairs floated into midair, and the others looked at him uncertainly.


    At the edge of the ruins, the figure of a black-robed wizard emerged, blood stained the ground from his chest.


    "Who is this?" Celeste let out a startled cry as she whispered silently: never a student, never a student ...


    The young Auror who had been looking after Maxwell had a dumbfounded expression, this ... seemed to be the one who he used magic against?


    Felix took a big step forward and crouched on the ground, he lifted the black mask, which is turned out to be a pale-looking witch, likewise not very old.


    The others gathered around in an agitated mood, her face bloodless, her chest heaving as she lost the blood mixed with the dust on the ground, making her look like a corpse that had just been dug up.


    "I... Did I kill someone? Still a student?" The young Auror muttered.


    "It''s over, it''s all over!" Celeste slumped to the ground.


    Several Muggle research experts had solemn expressions, and one of them took off the iris cap on his head.


    Felix did not speak, he carefully examined the young witch, his finger gently pressed against the wound, a trace of black mist diffused along with his finger, and soon made the tip of his index finger turn black.


    "Is this a curse-type dark magic?" Felix asked the young Auror.


    "Yes, yes."


    Felix nodded as he took out various vials and bottles from his ring. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Is there anything you can do to save her?" The young Auror asked hopefully, and he looked at Felix with an expression as if he resembled a god: "Can you bring back the dead?"


    Everyone in the room looked at Felix with full expectation, hoping to hear an affirmative answer from him; at this moment, they hoped for a miracle.


    "No, I can''t." Felix said cruelly, and the next second he changed his words, "But she is not dead."


    He picked out a black vial and dripped the potion from the bottle over the witch''s chest, the wound tingled and spilled out wisps of black mist.


    Then Felix took out another white vial and dripped it on the wound, which healed quickly.


    "She ... she survived?" Celeste stammered and asked.


    Felix waited quietly, and after almost half a minute, the witch''s chest rose and fell, then he let out a huge sigh of relief.


    "You did it! You did it! From now on, you are the person I admire the most!" The young Auror got agitated - so much so that he sounded incoherent.


    Felix smiled and said with a lot of emotion, "You have to thank a friend of mine who is a potion master, he is a great help. Of course, thanks to my company to his adventure ..."


    The potion in the black vial, the main material, is exactly what Felix and Damocles Belby found when they were exploring the forbidden forest, that black root herb Moly.


    At that time, Belby told him that the potion made of the black root of Moly is miraculously effective in treating dark magic injuries. After returning, he took off a portion of the material and gave it to Belby, who in turn gave him back a vial of the potion half a month later.


    ...


    "Sir, your, your finger?" Young Auror asked.


    "Right, There is this, I almost forgot it if you didn''t mention it." Felix stared at his pitch-black index finger, twirled it gently, and a wisp of black mist is snuffed right out.


    "Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"


    In a single stream, a team appeared, the backup from the French Ministry of Magic arrived.


    "Mr. Muir." Felix greeted one of them.


    "Mr. Hap? It''s good to see you. Just a moment, I''ll deal with this business first, and we''ll catch up later." The middle-aged man with curly blond hair said.


    He turned his head and ordered his men, "Inform the healing team and the memory team to check for muggles in the vicinity. Also, where''s Cowper? Tell him to meet me!"


    Maxwell, who had just awakened, got pulled over to explain, so he angrily accused Celeste, the soothing tone of French being spoken in a jarring tone, mixed with various national curses.


    Celeste stood aside with a black face.


    After a solid ten minutes, the director of the Magical Law Enforcement Division, Galsworthy Muir, came striding over and shook Felix''s hands warmly: "Thank you very much for everything, Felix! Our lad does get a little too impulsive sometimes, but we can''t blame all on him," he eyed an awkward Celeste and Cecil across the room, "if some people hadn''t pulled off the act, we would have been kept in the dark from start to finish."


    "I''ll bring this matter to the attention of the International Confederation of Wizards as it is, and I''m sure Dumbledore won''t stand by for this."


    "We are also fighting against criminals, Mr. Muir." Celeste took a deep breath and explained.


    Muir glared with his ginger eyes and questioned loudly, "You call a student who is still in school a criminal?"


    Celeste pursed her lips and said stiffly, "Age and whether you broke the law are two different things, and you should have been aware of that, Director Muir!"


    "And did they do anything over the top? Don''t try to deceive me, I know more than you think! Secret meetings, expanding their members, dropping leaflets, running private newspapers, and writing anonymous letters ... all of which you probably threw in the rubbish without even looking at. That''s why this happened today, right?"


    Uninterested in their quarrel, Felix offered his farewell, to which Muir merrily agreed, and made an appointment to meet later. The next second, his figure appeared on the seventh floor of the hotel.


    "Professor Burbage?" He stood in the hallway and spoke aloud.


    Halfway through, a door pushed open and Burbage peered over, smiling when she realized it is Felix, "Thank goodness you''re back at last."


    "The raid is over," Felix said mildly.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 166: The Man Behind the Plan

    "It''s not over yet!" In a mountain pass amidst whispering winds, a dozen black-robed wizards argued fiercely.


    It had been less than an hour since the assault, and they efficiently woke up their companions and split into three groups to hide.


    It is a pre-selected hiding spot.


    "Bethany stayed behind, Jura, you have the best relationship with her, what do you think, we should do?" The short boy whose mask was removed by Felix asked.


    His face looks bloodied, and his brown hair is stained with blood.


    Jura looked around at his pessimistic companions and spoke with difficulty, "We can''t go back. That man, that gentleman ... he is too strong, we don''t have half a chance, your sister ..."


    "Byers, Jura also worried, if not that gentleman did not make a move in the end -"


    "We can''t run away ourselves." One person finished the sentence.


    "The French Ministry of Magic''s Auror must have arrived by this time, too." A student irritably removed his mask, revealing a round face.


    "Can we contact Brother Daniel? He must be aware of the situation." Someone suggested.


    Jura shook his head, "His communication is restricted, and our previous contacts were intermittent. Before the operation, I only told him the time of the assault and the hiding spot, for that matter."


    "We''ll wait another half hour, if he didn''t come, it either means he''s exposed or he can''t leave, so we''ll just move back."


    Byers wiped light scarlet tears and said with trembling lips, "Sister she, she is seriously injured. Will they treat her, Jura? I''m terribly worried about her, I don''t even know if she''s still alive ..."


    The others also took their masks off, revealing a face full of sorrow.


    Jura gritted his teeth: "It''s all my fault--"


    At this moment, a strange voice suddenly appeared: " Jura, you acted too recklessly this time!"


    The men turned around with a look of surprise on their faces, "Brother Daniel! And Ebuk, it''s good to see you!"


    Two adult wizards appeared there, one with long fiery red hair and a slender build, the other with short dark brown hair and a sturdy, short build.


    The crowd surrounded the two wizards and asked questions excitedly.


    "Brother Daniel, do you know how Bethany is coping?"


    " Yeah, did she get any treatment?"


    Daniel, a male wizard with long fiery red hair, listened to their words with a somewhat embarrassed face, "I''m not sure of the specifics yet, as promised, Ebuk and I pretended to be lured away by you guys, and passed on false information to the others, and didn''t go to the Boathouse Hotel yet."


    "But Bethany ... will be fine as long as she''s alive. Celeste can''t bear the price!"


    Next to him, the short and stout Ebuk nodded nervously in agreement.


    Byers slightly put down the worries from his heart, he immediately thought of something, "So can you guys go scouting for news about my sister now? Nominally, you guys are Celeste''s escort, right?"


    Daniel showed an apologetic expression, "Byers, my whole squad has been sneaked here, it''s impossible to appear in front of the French Ministry of Magic, besides, I guess Celeste is now in trouble on her own."


    "It''s all because of that guy named Cory Meson, he''s the one who captured Matt!"


    "Nonsense!" Daniel reprimanded, "Matt has the guts to attack a high-ranking official of the Magic Congress, and he is one to be blamed for being arrested!"


    The crowd fell silent.


    Daniel''s tone eased a bit, and he looked at Jura, "The situation was urgent before, and communication was not smooth, so I didn''t have time to ask detailed inquiries. How did you make such a big show, I don''t remember passing information to you. Was the intelligence from someone else? Fury? Herman? Kylie?"


    The others looked to Jura, who had initiated this operation.


    "It was from New York Ghost paper, Daniel." Jura said blushingly, "Matt read that Celeste was going to a conference in Paris, France from it, so he and me privately contacted a few people, all graduates, and we thought we were strong enough, so we didn''t bother to tell anyone ..."


    "We were going to kidnap her, get evidence of the crime and some intelligence from her about the top levels of Congress."


    Daniel looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.


    Jura said frankly: "At first it went very well, we found the right opportunity to launch a surprise attack, Celeste and her followers were completely unable to rival us, not to mention the few muggle research experts, but then suddenly two Aurors appeared, they are very strong, we retreated together, and yet we were nevertheless pursued, Matt was caught in order to buy time for us to escape ..."


    Daniel added the information, "That was Celeste''s hidden force, the French Ministry of Magic only allowed two people, she and Cecil, and did not allow the Aurors from our country, Celeste chose two of her most trusted people to sneak in to protect her, Corey Meson being one of them."


    "No wonder they stealthily acted only when we were about to succeed, and deliberately avoided the French Aurors!" Jura came to a realization.


    "Brother Daniel, weren''t you there then?"


    Daniel said in a not-so-good-natured manner: "If I had been there, these things would not have happened!"


    He calmed down and said, "Let''s run through the story again. You and Matt got the information from the newspaper and organized the first operation privately, only to be defeated by Celeste''s hidden force and Matt was captured by mistake. Subsequently, in order to rescue Matt, you gathered more men and planned this operation."


    Jura nodded.


    Daniel continued his analysis: "This is from your perspective, next I''ll talk about how Celeste and I, saw this operation, and it''s a warning to you: be aware that in the process, you made too many mistakes!"


    The crowd looked at him in silence.


    "Because of me and some others, her first two trap plans failed-"


    "Thanks to Brother Daniel''s intelligence!"


    "We are all part of the Revolutionary Society." Daniel shook his head: "This meeting ... I''m uncertain whether she used it as a trap, after all, it was too risky, the slightest mistake would have caused international disputes, but of course, it could have been a rushed plan! She certainly took precautions, and ordered her two most trusted Aurors to sneak into France and hide in the shadows," S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It was in this setting that your first operation failed!"


    "And Ebuk and I, along with the others, knew nothing about it."


    "After that, Celeste, because she captured Matt and had a chance to get the list, also thought that you might launch a rescue, so she contacted our country Aurors to send more people, and Ebke and I were in the second group."


    "Celeste''s excuse was to defend against Grindelwald''s wannabes, but I pried some inside information from Corey Meson and guessed it might be your handiwork."


    "Up to this point, Ebke and I acted as another significant element of influence, following Celeste, as well as you and the French Ministry of Magic."


    The others listened with great attention, Jura only knew that Matt was captured and assembled the people to rescue, but did not know that there are so many twists and turns.

 Chapter 167: Perspectives and Decisions

    Daniel went on as he explained - "That''s when Celeste started making blunders."


    "The first blunder was that she did not anticipate that the French Ministry of Magic would not agree with us in sending additional manpower from the US to assist in the defense, so our seven American Aurors could not appear in plain sight. So, despite the additional manpower sent from the French side, the power and information channels belonging to her became flawed."


    "But she also made a plan to make up for it, one is to send Cecil to contact us, and two is to let us take turns to monitor the movement around the hotel, especially the day the meeting took place, which is today."


    "But that''s her second blunder." Daniel laughed, "She didn''t realize that Ebuk and I were spies, which gave us the opportunity to tamper with the situation."


    "Actually, we only did three things, and luckily, they all worked. The first, figuring out where Matt was being held, which was just down in the basement of the hotel; the second, contacting Jura, but we actually ran into the same dilemma as Celeste - miscommunication, even worse than her."


    He glanced at Jura, "Otherwise I would have advised you to simply call off the second assault and find another opportunity to rescue Matt."


    "But the good thing is, we gave you the most crucial information: including the fact that Ebuk and I were on guard duty from 2 to 5 this afternoon, and the location of Matt''s custody!"


    "The third thing is that Ebke and I falsely claimed to have found your trail and brought the others with us, as agreed, to give you time to act. It was actually only five minutes, but those five minutes were the key."


    "As for the third blunder Celeste made," Daniel''s expression turned serious, "it was also your fault - she underestimated the extent of your recklessness."


    "She did not expect that you guys had organized a rescue team of more than fifty people altogether. Jura, a large part of the people who followed your operation are still attending school, have you thought about how irrational your actions were?"


    "Have you thought about what happens if there are casualties?" He said sternly.


    Jura lowered his head in shame, he really hadn''t thought that much ahead.


    Next to him, Byers said stubbornly, "We were prepared for that! Anyway, they''ll erase my parents'' memories, won''t they?"


    Daniel looked at the tears that desperately swirled in that boy''s eyes and wanted to say something.


    Jura pulled Byers'' arm and looked at Daniel: "It''s indeed my fault, I shouldn''t have involved them in this, let alone started the operation without investigating clearly, if not for that gentleman''s mercy, we would have been wiped out."


    Daniel asked curiously, " French Aurors has sent an expert there?"


    Jura said bitterly, "No, a muggle research expert, he, he simply ... I can''t describe how powerful he is."


    Daniel is very curious about the muggle research expert he is talking about, is there an expert in this profession too? But he knew this would not be a good time to inquire.


    The others listened to the whole event in some trance, which was much more complicated than they expected.


    "Brother Daniel, did you guys come straight here to our side?" Jura asked.


    "You gave me three hidden locations, I''ve already gone to the other two places, Matt is fine, he said to me that he didn''t spill a bean," Daniel said with a smile.


    "Good job, Matt!"


    "Good job!"


    "Brother Daniel," Jura asked worriedly, "Matt has been exposed, will Celeste go after him?" S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Daniel thought for a moment, "I don''t think so, but the surveillance will definitely be there, and you definitely won''t be able to contact him in the near future."


    The people looked at each other speechless, and the original excited mood became gloomy.


    Jura went silent, also pondering over the series of events that made him grow up a lot.


    After a long time, he suddenly lifted his head and said to the crowd, "I''ll turn myself in."


    "What!"


    "No, Jura!"


    " Consider what we are doing this for!"


    They clamoured, and a stout male wizard yelled angrily, "Let''s just call everyone and kill them head-on."


    The two adult wizards looked at each other, and Daniel said, "If you want to confirm Bethany''s status, there''s no need to rush now, there''s no need to put yourself at risk ..."


    "No, Daniel." Jura said calmly, glancing across everyone, waiting for everyone to stop talking before he started to speak: " Guys, this might be an opportunity."


    Jura raised his voice: "Think about it, Celeste previously went to great lengths to try to cover it up, and when she saw that our revolutionary society had grown, she tried to make a secret trap to get the list of members. But the two traps she laid before, both failed because of Daniel big brother''s advanced warning, and she grew alarmed! This time she also made precautions, and in a sense, she succeeded."


    "She caught Matt!"


    The others'' eyes fell on him, following his as he kept walking.


    "But she also failed, as Daniel said, she probably expected us to launch a rescue mission, but she didn''t expect so many people to show up, nor did she expect our peers to be in the Aurors allocated to her!"


    Jura kept organizing his thoughts as he looked at everyone sincerely, "So this is a chance, a chance to make a complete fuss out of the whole situation!"


    "You guys send a letter to the French Daily Journal, the Spirit Cat Observer, and I''ll turn myself in."


    "If I''m guilty, let the law judge me, let my crimes be known worldwide!"


    ...


    Felix organized his book manuscript in his room, he reckoned that the meeting won''t go on - a few Muggle research experts slipped away during the very moment the assault happened, the rest of the unlucky ones were either sent to the hospital or demanded an explanation after waking up, the French Ministry of Magic can be said to be burnt out, and it still hasn''t died down yet.


    What''s more, the hotel was partially collapsed, how can the meeting still be held? Fortunately, no one died.


    Celeste is in even bigger trouble, although she avoided the most serious consequence - the death of the girl named Bethany, the matter can no longer be covered up, she will most likely be facing quadruple responsibility from the public, the French Ministry of Magic, the MACUSA and the International Confederation of Wizards.


    Felix picked up the stack of newspaper clippings at his bedside, which Maxwell had handed him, containing mostly reports about Celeste herself, from her political claims to public statements and the laws and regulations she had devised, the list goes on and on ...


    In particular, a one-page headline showed her raising her wand in an emotional speech with her famous headline - "Law is the cornerstone of order, and we are the cornerstone of law."


    Felix tossed the newspaper clippings into the air and watched them turn into ashes, this news evoked a sarcastic smile on his face.


    There is a sudden clamour from outside: panicked shouts, the sound of footsteps running to and fro are extraordinarily clear.


    Felix showed a puzzled expression, he walked out of the room, to the first floor hall, the French Ministry of Magic officials whose faces were full of incredulous expressions.


    Felix grasped an arm of the young Auror, "What''s going on?"


    " Mr. Hai...p, Hap." He stammered, "Something big is happening!"


    "The reporters are here, and muggle research experts from all over the world are crowding around ..."


    "Crowded around whom?"


    "The assailants! Or rather, two students of Ilvermorny!"

 Chapter 168: The Snowball of the Time

    Things got really messy. Felix walked out of the hotel, the flash of the magic camera flashed dazzlingly and a stream of purple smoke puffed out of the camera. The French wizarding journalists were so excited they looked like they had taken a Potion that cause Mania, with an unnatural flush from their necks to the nose.


    Two black-robed wizards stood in the yard, surrounded by an open circle. People seem to have a conflicted mentality, wanting to get a closer look, but also harbouring some kind of hidden worries, so they picked an awkward position.


    Both of their masks had been removed, revealing two young faces.


    "Byers, you have no reason to come along." Jura whispered.


    "I''ve already got seen anyway, so what''s the fear? I just want to catch a glimpse of Bethany before getting locked up." Byers said indifferently.


    "Maybe you''ll regret it."


    "At least not yet. Why haven''t they arrested us yet? The reporters have been shooting us for a while now, and to be honest, the flashes are blinding me."


    Jura said sensibly, "The longer we drag this out, it''s better, see, Celeste is dumbfounded."


    Celeste is indeed confused, and she is warning Muir, who keeps wiping his sweat, in a commanding tone, "Mr. Director, you can''t let the press stay here, it''s a matter of diplomacy between the two countries."


    Muir blurted out a string of vague French, "I can''t control them, the reporters do have this right."


    " At least take the two students away, will you?"


    "I can''t do that, it''s a matter of diplomacy between the two countries." Muir retorted the same words, "I''ve informed the minister, and I won''t do anything until he arrives. Perhaps you can handle it on your own."


    Celeste certainly isn''t foolish enough to do that herself, can''t you see the reporters waiting outside ready to explode with excitement?


    How would she add fuel to the fire?


    What would her reputation become tomorrow!


    Celeste once again felt that she had outplayed herself. She walked over to Cecil and squeezed the words out of her lips, "Where are our people?"


    "They got lured away by the revolutionary society, and when they came back, the assault was over. They''re out taking their chances now to see if they can find anyone, no news yet." Cecil said.


    "Let the fools come back! What''s the use of going to catch people now, when they''re sending themselves to the door." Celeste said in exasperation, feeling as if her chair in the Woolworth Building office had grown legs and her hat gained wings - in short, everything seemed to have gone out of her hands.


    "Sorry, I couldn''t get in touch." Cecil said with a shrug.


    "Look over there! There''s someone here again!" A short reporter said.


    "The minister is here?" The reporter next to him inquired.


    "... It''s more black-robed forces!" The short reporter couldn''t wait to give Jura and the rest a new name for tomorrow''s front-page headline.


    No, it''s the headline for tonight!


    A dozen reporters rushed out carrying black cameras, and amidst their excited expressions, dozens of black-robed wizards appeared at the Boathouse Hotel, their faces masked, silent all the way, their footsteps neat and tidy, a spectacle that particularly caught the reporters'' eyes.


    Maxwell asked for advice, "Director, what should we do?"


    Muir looked up at the sky and studied intently the shape of a cloud, as if there lay some great discovery on it. So, under the gaze of a group of French Ministry of Magic staff, the students of Ilvermorny entered the yard without any hindrance.


    Jura and Byers looked at their arrogant companions with dumbfounded expressions, and they did not look at them back until they walked up in front of them.


    "Why are you guys here? Didn''t I tell you all to leave? Just write a letter ..."


    "Hey Jura, we have finished the task, but before leaving, we made up our minds and felt bad to miss the fun." A voice full of enthusiasm said.


    "Matt ...," Jura whispered.


    "It''s me." The wizard who spoke lifted his mask to reveal a wide smiling face.


    "And me too, Jura." A witch with a ponytail lifted her mask and winked at him.


    "Haha, can''t just walk away like that." A cheerful male wizard laughed and lifted his mask.


    "That''s right, Zachary''s right, I''m not willing to leave like this either."


    "Coincidentally, I think so too."


    ...


    One by one, the black-robed wizards lifted their masks; they were both male and female, tall and short, fat and thin, but all overflowing with youth.


    Celeste saw the scene and became completely dumbfounded, her lips opening and closing soundlessly, her expression blank.


    Not only her, Muir, Cecil, Maxwell, Burbage, the journalists, the muggle research experts, the one who are present, were all stunned by this image.


    After a brief pause, the hotel yard boiled up, and the shutter of the magic cameras became constant and noisy as bees.


    Above Paris, an owl streaked across the sky.


    Faced with this situation, a small director of the Law Enforcement Division couldn''t afford to hide it.


    The French Minister of Magic arrived first, but he also found it tricky. He hesitated between arresting and not arresting, and just then, a group came through the apparition.


    "The Americans!"


    The French Minister of Magic said in surprise.


    A woman came striding over, "Hello, Minister, I came here to communicate with you first, on behalf of President Marcus. He will be arriving a little later, as you know, To appease the Congress ..."


    "You have received the word on that?"


    The woman said helplessly, " That is one of the things that has to be communicated, and gosh, they are really something."


    "We are the first group - with the help of the reserve Portkeys and apparition. Some wizard folk who are following this closely may follow behind ..."


    Her words were a bit reserved, definitely not just "some" enthusiastic people.


    After three or four hours, the people who got the news filled half of the entire area.


    The French Minister of Magic urgently deployed a third of his staff to take over the security of the area around the hotel.


    Cancelling apparition, prohibiting theft, through overtime. All kinds of concealment and protection wards sprinkled like rain, and the Hotel temporarily disappeared in the eyes of ordinary people.


    Felix stood in the corner, silently observing, not knowing how things would eventually end up. But the girl named Bethany, and the young men who leading the group, I''m afraid they will go down in history.


    Even if he is just an outsider, he is expecting more ''pioneering'' solutions.


    Big names kept coming.


    The president of the MACUSA, the Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School, the board member of the International Confederation of Wizards, and a familiar figure - Albus Dumbledore, who is a chief of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    "Dumbledore, you are here too." Marcus, the president of the MACUSA, greeted him with a big stride.


    " Marcus, I needed to be here, the commotion has reached my dysfunctional ears, so you can imagine how big the impact of this matter is."


    "No one expected ... councillors were furious, and they wanted to strictly punish the students."


    "How? Put them in jail?" Dumbledore''s expression looked very serious, his silver-white beard twitched: "With all due respect, Marcus, any move you make now will affect the future years and decades from now, and eventually directly reflect on you, and no one can escape."


    "Yeah, I just learned that they did break the law, but again, it''s not of a serious problem. The most crucial thing is - the impact is so great that once it is not handled properly, maybe next Monday at the latest, all these people here will pour into the Woolworth Building to overturn the whole Magic Congress!"


    "Look, Dumbledore, there are almost a thousand people out there."


    Felix did not listen attentively, he walked out of the hotel and looked at the crowd that still converged, more than half were American guests.


    With these enthusiastic people in the hotel, the big shots will not be able to walk out without making a decision.


    A French staff member who is maintaining order said with dissatisfaction, "In fact, they can all be counted as illegal migrants ... only at this moment no one can regulate them."


    "But I hope we can punish these punks severely afterward!"


    ... S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix stood on a small hill, looking over the hotel from afar. There seemed to be something particularly abstracting about watching the raging crowds from this angle, which made his mind more rational.


    Ministry of Magic ... Ordinary Wizards ... Students ...


    He had a whole new understanding of how the wizarding world is organized.


    A man next to him chimed in and said, "I never thought I would see such a sight in my lifetime."


    Felix had long been aware of someone approaching, he looked back and saw an old man moving over with trembling little steps, his face looked very pale, as if it had been painted white, it is hard to say whether his hair is whiter, or his face is.


    He hurriedly walked over and held his arm.


    "Ouch." The old man yelped in pain.


    " Um, excuse me?" Felix looked at him uncertainly.


    "It doesn''t matter, people get old, and their bones become a little brittle."


    Felix looked at him wryly, thinking whether to suggest that he should take some calcium tablets.


    Speaking of which, does it work for wizards if they take calcium tablets?


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 169: Nicolas Flamel?

    The old man gasped briefly after saying a few words, his nostrils producing a subtle whistling hum. "You don''t look healthy, and yet you''ve come to join the fun?" Felix cast a glance at him with admiration.


    "I live nearby, otherwise I would not come, I could not bear the ordeal of the apparition."


    The old man shook his hand and his arm made a crisp "click" sound.


    Felix suddenly felt a little toothache, he gradually, subconsciously extended his hand.


    In the distance, there came a loud noise, a cranky wizard fired fireworks above the hotel, and his behaviour brought forth plenty of imitations.


    Both showed a look of interest.


    "Interesting, isn''t it?" The old man said gleefully.


    "Indeed, I like the Thunderbird design." Felix said, "I guess he probably came from Ilvermorny''s Thunderbird House."


    The old man''s eyes trailed the firework that looked very much like an eagle and said with some emotion, "I have rarely travelled outside over these years, but now I want to travel some more."


    "There are always a lot of new things out there."


    The old man first agreed, then shook his head and said, "People are different, but what happens is always similar."


    Felix said, "Is that so? I''d like to think that whatever I''ve experienced is unique."


    The old man laughed briskly for two seconds, " the vigor that belongs solely to the eyes of the young - the habit of defining the world with their own eyes. But I''m old, and old people prefer to nestle themselves into a single place on their own world by using various rules as their ties."


    "Rules?"


    "It''s really just some self-imposed restrictions based on certain disciplines that you tell yourself what you can or can''t do after experiencing some things with some people, and then strictly abide by it. It''s kind of like signing a magic contract, but with your future self."


    "Does that make some sense?" Felix asked.


    "I''m not sure." The old man replied, "But at least it keeps me entertained."


    "By limiting yourself?"


    "It''s a philosophy of survival I''ve acquired by walking through a long life." The old man said.


    Felix did not approve of this type of practice, he hated being restricted and limited, especially self-imposed limits.


    The old man dozed and rummaged through his pockets, and it took almost half a minute before he fished out a brass pocket watch.


    "Click." The pocket watch popped open, and on one side there is a dial, and on the other side, there is a photo.


    In the photo, there is a young couple.


    The old man murmured, "Her name is Perenelle, my wife, we met when we were at school in Beauxbatons, a nice girl, three years older than me, I still remember the first time I saw her, in a sea of flowers, I just laid my eyes on her ..."


    Felix winked, "I can see that you have a happy marriage."


    "Yeah, yeah ..." His voice is almost inaudible.


    For a while, neither of them spoke, and the fireworks in the distance had been stopped by the Ministry of Magic staff.


    "Do you think they''ll come to some kind of resolution?" Felix asked, changing the subject.


    "Frankly, I think it''s rather difficult, I''ve dealt with this kind of people ... the MACUSA suffered a big loss on the Secrecy Act and won''t compromise easily." The old man said, "They are very stubborn in this regard."


    Felix said optimistically, "Someone would force them to change their mind, if not this time, there will be another time, their opponents are still young."


    "That makes sense, the younger ones have a natural advantage."


    ...


    "I''m leaving."


    After a while, the old man said, and before parting, he gave Felix a small gift.


    "Is this a ... Sneakoscope?"


    "Yes, very interesting gadget, I send out plenty of presents these days, probably has to do with the fact that my days are numbered." The old man said with a smile.


    "There are always some means for a wizard to live a long life, I know a witch who must be a hundred twenty or thirty years old and still in very good health." Felix reassured the old man.


    He is referring to Professor Griselda Marchbanks of the Wizard Examination Authority, who once invigilated Dumbledore''s NEWTs exams.


    The old man smiled, " It may not suit me ... It is a pleasure talking to you, Felix Hap."


    "You know me?" Felix looked at him in wonder.


    "Ha, a friend of mine recommended your book, it''s very interesting, Wizarding world needs a pair of eyes like you to look at the outside world."


    The old man waved his hand and left trembling.


    ...


    Felix returned to the hotel, where the broken auditorium and scorch marks were all gone, and the hotel remained intact, as if the assault never happened in the first place.


    He saw a Muggle research expert who is staring out at the statue in front of the hotel - its head had been smashed out a while back.


    Felix received no difficulty from the staff and found the French Auror Maxwell without incident - he acted like a door guard at the moment, guarding the entrance to the auditorium, with three other French Aurors performing their duties alongside him.


    "Still negotiating in there?"


    " I would say, they''re still bickering." Maxwell said.


    "It''s rather quiet."


    "Wait a little longer," he said with great experience, "three, two, one, here we go!"


    From inside the auditorium came an exaggerated roar, "Marcus! As President of the Magic Congress of the United States of America, aren''t you to be responsible for the actions of your people! Look at the mess you''ve made! I''m so ashamed on behalf of you!"


    "See, I was right, wasn''t I?" Maxwell gave Felix a pleasant look. "I love the minister, he''s been bashing that American bastard for half an hour."


    Felix looked at him a little speechlessly.


    After the joke, Maxwell got down to business, "The meeting is cancelled, everyone else in the hotel has been told to leave, and this will be used as a temporary conference venue to discuss the current series of troubles."


    " It also means that I have to pack my things and leave?"


    "No, no, it''s that colleague of yours, she left first and asked me to give you a heads-up." He winked, "Lucky guy, you''ve gained the friendship of both the French and American wizarding communities, and while the latter is of little use ... at least, no one can kick you out, and you can even request to sit inside through the entire negotiation process."


    Felix guessed that Celeste must not have mentioned that he snooped into her memories, but even if she did, it wouldn''t hurt him, and he had too many reasons to justify it.


    On the bright side, he is the hero who had stopped the assault and prevented things from slipping in an irreversible direction, and he had saved the life of a student of Ilvermorny school. In that sense, everyone from the president of the Magic Congress of the United States of America, to the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, had to be grateful to him.


    The same goes for the French Ministry of Magic. Felix is part of the unfortunate horde that was invited to the meeting and was unlucky enough to be targeted, but he saved the day with his own strength, and one couldn''t ask for more.


    "Forget it." Felix refused, he is not interested in this, there is so much chaos inside, he felt some sympathy for Dumbledore.


    "What about the group of students?"


    "Being observed by the two professors of Ilvermorny."


    ...


    Felix also did not want to stay any longer, he had to wait until a satisfactory outcome could be reached, maybe it may take the whole summer to end. He prepared to go back to his room to get his things and leave, Hogwarts still have a bunch of things left for him to do.


    But just as he tidied his room, he abruptly felt he missed something.


    "What is it?"


    He quickly recalled the day''s experiences backward from ''this moment'', from the conversation with Maxwell to the Muggle research expert in front of the statue to the casual encounter with an interesting old man ...


    "Perenelle, I think I''ve read that name somewhere before." S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix pondered, "No, that''s not the point, it''s a common name, but I''m feeling a strange buzz."


    He laid back on his bed and stared at the ceiling. The thinking room kept showing the scene of the conversation with the old man -


    Half an hour later, he suddenly sat up and said in an uncertain tone, "Nicolas Flamel?"

 Chapter 170: Looking in a Mirror

    Under the bright light, Felix carefully examined the Sneakoscope on the table, which looked like a gyroscope, slowly rotating. As the most commonly used alert device of wizards, it would glow and spin at high speed if there were suspicious people around, there were also some special Sneakoscope that would issue an ear-splitting alarm.


    In fact, Felix is no stranger to this alchemical creation; the first book he saw when he returned to Hogwarts - "Ancient Alchemical Mysteries" - featured seven different methods of crafting Sneakoscope.


    As a type of detector, it has detailed information about the production of Sneakoscope for Dark Magic, lies, and even to detect a specific group of people.


    At the moment, what makes him puzzled is whether this pocket Sneakoscope is a small gift from Nicolas Flamel to him incidentally, or does it contain any deep meaning?


    "Do I have to disassemble this thing?"


    He fiddled with the nonchalantly spinning Sneakoscope, his mind filled with the question.


    Nicolas Flamel obviously knew him and claimed to have read his book on the recommendation of a friend, who was that friend?


    Dumbledore? Or some other old geezer?


    Did he just read his Muggle research work, or did he read it together with the book "Explorations of Ancient Magic Runes"?


    Did he find him by coincidence or specifically? Was it an inspection in disguise?


    Felix thought to himself, what if Nicolas Flamel developed the idea of looking for an heir, he would probably fit the bill. Alchemical creations and runes were deeply connected, and as the most famous alchemist, Nicolas Flamel would certainly have insight into this affiliation.


    In fact, Felix suspected that the number of practical ancient runes that he had mastered might even far exceed his own.


    Thinking about it, he felt a little tingling in his heart.


    But Nicolas Flamel just walked away, without even saying his name, only leaving him a Sneakoscope, what exactly did it mean? S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Did it suggest that the Sneakoscope glowed while the two were talking?


    Felix: "..."


    After some hesitation, he finally made up his mind. Half an hour later -


    He looked at the parts on the table and froze, there is no reserved enchantment, there is no small note hidden, there is nothing.


    ''Did I guess wrong? That was just an ordinary, old wizard with bad legs?''


    He now had only one way left to verify if that old wizard is Nicolas Flamel, there is one person who must know something.


    In the late afternoon, Felix blocked Dumbledore, who came out of the auditorium looking a little tired.


    Felix inquired, "Headmaster Dumbledore, has there been any progress in the discussion?"


    "You can practically assume that such things do not exist."


    The two walked down the steps to the yard and looked at the stars in the sky. Dumbledore spoke up: "All I''ve heard this half-day are all kinds of complaints and excuses, too few people who can actually take the responsibility."


    Felix did not quite understand: "What is the problem? It is reasonable to say that the demands of the revolutionary society are very clear, it is only a question of whether to change the law or not, and if so, which articles to change and to what extent? There is no progress in this regard?."


    Dumbledore said patiently: "You think too simply, Felix. Everyone''s claims are different, and the things to discuss are different. Do the laws need to be changed, do the revolutionary society need to be punished, do the Magic Congress of the United States of America need to give compensation ..."


    "Even Fudge wrote from thousands of miles away, imploring me to help the French Ministry of Magic and demand greater benefits."


    Felix said in surprise, "What''s it to him? It''s not like he can claim a single Knut."


    "There''s you and Charity," Dumbledore said wisely, "Besides, money has never been the most important thing, and for as long as records have been kept, there have been near-zero official exchanges between the American and European wizarding communities, and they want to break the status quo in American wizarding community."


    "How?"


    "In a small way, exchange students, or co-organize large events; in greater schemes, it is to radiate our influence out of our country and get all kinds of advantages ..."


    Felix shook his head, it really isn''t something he would think of.


    "I am more optimistic about that student named Jura." He changed the subject.


    "Ah, he does have a lot of courage," Dumbledore said. "I will do my best to get a pardon for him."


    Felix hesitated for a moment and inquired, "Headmaster Dumbledore, I seem to have met Nicolas Flamel today ..."


    Dumbledore looked back at him, his gaze is remarkably calm. "I mentioned you to him, and in recent months, his attention to you has significantly increased."


    "And what is he paying attention to me for?" Felix''s heart suddenly raced.


    "I think," Dumbledore winked and gave a smile, "that it might be about exchanging some knowledge of alchemy with you."


    "Really? But he didn''t leave any contact information."


    "That''s for sure, Nicolas rarely goes out and spends most of his time in his safe house. Not many people can get in touch with him." Dumbledore pulled out a photo from his pocket and handed it to Felix: "This is what he left for you, you can communicate through Nicolas''s picture."


    Felix took it, it is empty.


    "He can be away at the moment." Dumbledore explained.


    At the end of the conversation, Felix couldn''t resist asking, "professor Dumbledore, do you know what the meaning of giving someone a Sneakoscope is trying to convey?"


    Dumbledore couldn''t help but say, "Perhaps, it could simply be that it''s the only thing he has in his pocket to give to someone?"


    Felix returned to the room with a blank face, he glanced at the Sneakoscope parts on the table and could not resist the urge to bestow an Exploding Charm to it.


    "I''ve digressed!"


    He said through clenched teeth, "I''ll give away a Sneakoscope too someday, so he can guess what I think."


    "Huh? That''s a good idea, a Sneakoscope... which is a typical runic creation with an extremely low lower limit and a high upper limit, there is a good deal of second-rate junks on the market, but even Wizengamot won''t refuse a high-end Sneakoscope."


    "Sneakoscope and golems are similar in some ways, and can be used as a complement to the curriculum, or as a teaching element in the Magic Rune Club."


    Felix''s mind began to wander, and by the time the new school year began, in addition to his regular classes, he had a dueling club and a magic rune club in his hands, making him feel like he had more things to do all of a sudden.


    "I should pull in another professor for a dueling club permanently, it''s usually just Severus and me. It''s going to be a lot of pressure when school starts."


    "Who should I invite?"


    "Flitwick? McGonagall? Or, maybe the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class? I don''t know Dumbledore''s choice yet."


    The next morning, Felix bid farewell to the crowd. He also met the President of the Magic Congress of the United States of America and the French Minister of Magic for the first time and exchanged courtesies. The French Minister of Magic also hinted that he could recommend him to be included in the rank of ''Order of Valour'', which he politely declined.


    Felix directly Apparite away.


    When Hagrid''s hut appeared in his sight from afar, he felt a long-lost peace and elation.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 171: Shrunken Yew Wand Tree

    The wind brushed through the forbidden forest of Hogwarts, the green leaves and branches swayed and the combination made a soft lullaby, Felix felt as if a hand caressing the nerves of his brain, his whole being soothed down. He passed by Whomping Willow, arrived at Hagrid''s hut with brisk steps, "Fang." The black hound wagged his tail and barked happily towards him.


    Hagrid pushed opened the door, his big hands in the door frame, the corner of his mouth covered with the red sauce. "Felix? Uh, I''m eating ... please come in, it''s a bit messy in there ..."


    He wiped his mouth in a panic and blushed.


    ...


    In the evening, in the office, the blank photo on the workbench flickered, and Felix looked at the old man who suddenly appeared in the photo and greeted him lightly, "Hello, Mr. Nicholas Flamel."


    ...


    Late July.


    Felix looked at himself in the mirror, a light-colored checked vest under a casual blue suit, covered by a dark double-breasted trench coat that remained loosely open.


    He touched his chest lightly, and the trench coat pulsed with a crystalline magical glow.


    "The trench coat made of dragon hide blended with basilisk skin, which feels comfortable to wear, and the snakeskin vest is also good." The sunlight shone through the window over his fine black hair, which complemented the gleam on his clothes.


    The end of July.


    Felix looked over the data of the young wizards that had learned magic, trying to get some useful findings.


    "Knock, knock!"


    Professor McGonagall sent over the list of students who selected his class, and when he saw the densely packed names on it, his whole body froze at the same place.


    "Minerva, did something gone wrong?"


    Professor McGonagall smiled and patted the list in his hand, "You should be happy, Felix, the students like you."


    One day during August.


    Felix excitedly counted the runes in the thinking room, three times exactly, and he finally determined an exact number.


    "One thousand three hundred."


    In a year''s time, he had grown the number of ancient runes by nearly a thousand with the help of Hogwarts'' vast library, and this rate of progress would only get faster in the years that could be expected.


    As he mastered more and more runes, his understanding of ancient magic is no longer hovering at the door, more often, he got a flash of inspiration. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The most obvious example of this is the huge progress he made while studying the fragmented ancient magic Flitwick gave him. Hagrid would testify for him -


    Under Hagrid''s dumbfounded gaze, the branches of a yew wand tree swayed desperately, shrinking rapidly from 17 or 18 meters in height to ten meters, seven meters, three meters ... leaving a brown mound in place, and hundreds of Bowtruckle fell to the ground, grimacing at the two.


    After no brave man led the charge, these little guys jumped and climbed the yew wand tree nearby, discontentedly gesturing.


    "Where''s the tree? Where''s that big old tree?" Hagrid outstretched his hand in midair to draw the shape of the tree.


    Felix reached out his hand, "Accio Yew Wand Tree." From the deep, hideous pit flew a foot-tall little tree, which he caught in his hand.


    Hagrid picked it up, and the tree wasn''t even the size of his palm. "This, this is the tree from before?"


    "Yeah, one of my spells has improved, and I can do some things I couldn''t do before." Felix is rather satisfied with the effect of this spell.


    The yew wand tree is magical, but it still couldn''t resist his spell.


    ''At the next exchange, Filius would be amazed.''


    Hagrid looked at him, and then at the little tree in his hand, and hesitated to speak. Half a moment later, he suddenly came up with a fantastic idea, "Felix, if you use this spell on Fluffy, will it also become smaller, and I can keep it in my yard, right?"


    "Ahem!" Felix coughed twice and said with some embarrassment, "Hagrid, I haven''t tried this spell on a magical creature yet, I don''t know exactly how it works, especially a magical creature as large as a three-headed dog, in case something goes wrong ..." He didn''t go on, but he worried that this spell will produce irreversible effects.


    Hagrid said with some regret, " Not possible? Fluffy has always been alone, and I wanted to keep him and Fang together."


    "There will be a chance later, Hagrid, when I have perfected it a bit more."


    Hagrid said with great interest, "Do you need my help? I can provide some less important magical creatures, such as Flobberworm, Moke, Billywig, Pond Slime, Grindylow, or something that should be helpful to you?"


    Felix brightened up.


    "That would be great, I think that what this spell needs most right now, Is practical data."


    "However, Hagrid, I must remind you that spells have a time limit, and even if I prolong the effect as long as possible, the expected duration of effect is only a few hours."


    Hagrid smacked his lips, "That''s fine, at least I can still hug it, poor fluffy, since it grew bigger than my house, I can no longer afford to have its paws on my shoulders."


    The two squatted on the ground and watched the little yew wand tree carefully, green lines of magic flowed on its surface, and after about half an hour it went from a foot to two feet, but after just another ten minutes it had grown to two meters.


    And its growth rate is getting faster and faster.


    "Hagrid, get out of the way, I''m going to put it back in the tree pit."


    Hagrid took two steps back, and Felix tossed it back into the pit and set it in the right place with magic, and he saw the yew wand tree rapidly expand, and it is a magical sight -


    As Felix had read in the book: when unskilled wizards used Animagus, the process is often extremely slow, and it is easy to have a weird scene where a part of the limb change first and the other body parts follow.


    This yew wand tree is the same. Its recovery process is definitely not wonderful. A branch abruptly stretched out a section, and then the boot as a whole expanded outward, like a huge pumpkin Hagrid had planted. Then it shrank back, but the overall length jumped up a meter ...


    After half a minute, the unlucky yew wand tree finally returned to its original state, only looked a little miserable, branches slumped, a small part of the roots was bare, Felix used magic to bury them one by one back into the soil.


    Finally, he poured a bucket of nutrient solution, and the yew wand tree seemed to be getting a little better.


    Felix carefully examined it, and after a long time, he turned his head to look at Hagrid, "Do you think it''s a little crooked?"


    "Does it?" Hagrid failed to notice.


    "Look here, I remember it was straight, and it turned out a little bulged after recovery."


    "Uh," Hagrid thought of his own fluffy recovering and growing a big lump on his back, and couldn''t help but shake his head repeatedly.


    Felix glanced at him, "You did not notice it? From my angle, it''s quite obvious still ..."


    ...


    In the evening, Felix received a copy of the Evening Prophet. The headline of the evening is -


    The Conference at the Hotel in Beauvais Comes to an End and the Beginning of a New Era

 Chapter 172: Newspapers and Letters

    Felix read it carefully, and beneath the caption is a huge picture with Cornelius Fudge standing in the middle of it - his chubby hand shaking hands with the President of the Magic Congress of the United States of America and the French Minister of Magic, with a very wide smile. He dressed formally, his clothes looked so tight that even his protruding stomach looked smaller, though it resulted in two dents of strangulation.


    ''''When did he join the fun?''''


    With a question, Felix searched for an answer in the article, and came across a large paragraph describing Fudge -


    '''' Minister Fudge closely followed the progress of the meeting across the strait and exchanged views through correspondence, as well as personally attending the meeting three days ago. Through his good counsel, the student protests at the Boathouse Hotel, which shocked the international community, brought a positive conclusion ...''


    ''... The temporary signing of the Boathouse Hotel Memorandum will play a huge role in guiding the development of the whole case, and the U.S. Magic Congress intends to amend some key laws, including the third and fourth sections of the original Wizards and No-Maj Interaction Registration Act: to abolish the ''periodic door-to-door inspections'' supervision in favour of magic contracts with wizards. It must be mentioned that Minister Fudge provided a great deal of his own experience and advice from governing the British wizarding community, thus playing a key role in the smooth proceeding of the meeting.''


    ''In an interview with this reporter, Minister Fudge claimed that the three countries would cooperate in more areas in the future, revealing that, according to the existing work plan, it would be related to a mysterious large-scale traditional event. But when we pressed further, Minister Fudge refused to provide more detailed information, saying that everything is under negotiation.''


    ''Apart from that, the name of Felix Hap deserves to be remembered for decisively putting an end to the irrational behaviour of the Ilvermorny School students at the beginning of the event and effectively rescuing a seriously injured female student, ensuring that the whole negotiation unfolded within a peaceful and friendly atmosphere, without veering towards a more violent and bloody conflict.''


    ''Our journalist believes that his merits are sufficient to receive an Order of Merlin. It is also worth mentioning that the young witch named ''Bethany'' expressed her gratitude and admiration for Mr. Hap in an interview ...''


    Felix got dumbfounded as he flipped to the end of the article, and isn''t surprised to see the name Rita Skeeter, who became active again after a few months of inactivity.


    Her articles are always deeply personal, containing a lot of out-of-fact descriptions and highly fanatical words, and she has always been fond of describing celebrity gossip.


    If you read her article, you will feel that Cornelius Fudge played a huge role in this, while Dumbledore''s name only appeared haphazardly in a few key places - something that must be mentioned.


    ''She is a clever one, but I still have a hard time convincing myself to like her.''


    Felix looked through the other paper article, which is much more impartial and objective, with Dumbledore''s name appearing several times, and in the margins, he found what he is looking for.


    ''... notably, the student leader who led this thing, Juria, will be detained at the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, under the personal supervision and care of the School Headmaster. The precise punishment for him is yet to be determined, but he has undoubtedly become an object of worship for young American wizards, and people have travelled to Mount Greylock spontaneously to cheer and celebrate in front of the Ilvermorny School.''


    ...


    Over the next few days, Felix also received some information from other sources.


    For example, a short letter written to him by Maxwell Cowper, the French Auror, mentioned information that was not published in the newspapers.


    Dear Felix.


    That woman Celeste has been demoted! The Magic Congress of the US lost a fortune! Too bad you didn''t see the ugly look on her face, I am radiating joy from my every pore.


    The head of the International Confederation of Wizards exchange division is less thrilled, though, because the woman''s new position happens to be linked to his, but who cares!


    The Bouillabaisse at that restaurant is still as good as ever, and I tried it twice more.


    I am enclosing the relevant newspaper clipping. As well.


    ...


    What surprised Felix the most is that Juria, whom he read about in the newspaper only two days ago and who is said to be detained in the Ilvermorny School for reflection, sent him a bulging letter as well.


    ----------


    Dear Mr Felix Hap.


    Please forgive me for taking the liberty to mail you, I got the address from Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, who is a very kind man.


    Learning from many sources and piecing together what you have done, we have learned about the situation with hindsight, how inappropriate our action was. The following content is transcribed by me in the presence of 52 students.


    Bethany: Mr. Hap, I''m healed, perfectly well! I received information from the doctors, about how at the time when everyone thought I was dead, and it was you who brought me back from certain death! Knowing that you are a professor, I hope you will come to America next year''s holiday break to play.


    Byers: Mr. Hap, first, I thank you for saving my sister, and secondly, I would like to ask, are you usually that serious? I admit I am quite scared of you, and have nightmares now and then, Oddly enough ... I am grateful to you when I am awake, but when I am asleep, there is only fear.


    XXX: Don''t listen to Byers nonsense, Mr. Hap, I don''t feel that way, maybe it''s you who lifted his mask! Haha, but your magic is truly amazing, I asked several professors, and they all said they couldn''t do the same, I''m curious ...


    ----------


    Felix rubbed his forehead, It is really a matter of patience to try to read a letter written by 53 people who came together. Different tone of speech, different wording, but the same handwriting.


    When he read the back, he almost thought he got schizophrenic.


    The letter is enclosed with the same newspaper clippings from the three countries, and if you put them together, you will find a very interesting fact. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    With the results unchanged, you''ll see three versions of how the story started and what happened, and with different protagonists in each story ...


    For Felix, this is the end of the whole thing.


    Next, Felix focused his attention on improving the ancient magic that he had previously been working on, and Professor Flitwick was impressed with the results of his work and practiced the magic in person, and another ancient tree suffered.


    Professor McGonagall hastily stopped them, she looked at them with an annoyed expression and said with a serious expression, "Filius, I thought you wouldn''t join in their nonsense, the yew wand tree is a valuable property of Hogwarts, and I heard that you also want to experiment with Whomping Willow ... "


    She pursed her lips tightly, and her body oozed with an imposing air, "Honestly, if you were my students, I''d detain you guys! And deduct two hundred points each!"

 Chapter 173: New Book

    Professor Flitwick waved his hand repeatedly, "I''m very sorry, Minerva, a moment of excitement ... as you know, I''ve been studying that magic for years." Professor McGonagall''s anger calmed down a bit, and she asked with wonder, "How Effective is it?"


    "It''s great, thanks to Felix. We agreed that this ancient magic has great potential to be tapped, and it might even work on creatures like fire dragons. We called it ''Great Zooming Charm'', a fusion of the Shrinking Charm and Enlargement Charm, but with a much stronger effect."


    "Is it, truly, that exaggerated?"


    "Yes, Minerva, it''s that exaggerated. Of course, it still needs to be refined."


    Professor Sprout hurried back and carefully tended the two yew wand trees, but she had nothing nice to say to the originator until Felix gave her three big packets of magic plant seeds that he got from the black market.


    "These seeds are very precious, where did you buy them?" Sprout looked at him in amazement.


    Felix said vaguely, "I got them from a friend in France, it''s purely a lucky find, next time I won''t have such a good chance. ..."


    Sprout thought he had got it from the French Ministry of Magic by using his connections, so she did not pursue it further and instead discussed with him the usefulness of these seeds.


    "This is the seed of the Snargaluff pods, which looks somewhat like a brown thorny vine in the pod. It can be used in sixth-year classes." She described it.


    "This is the seed of the Alihotsy."


    "And this, the seed of the Wiggentree, which emits an aura that repels low-level dark creatures, I''d love to plant it around Hogwarts ..."


    "Oh my god, there are even seeds of Gillyweed! Felix, did you see that? Gillyweed! It originates from the Mediterranean Sea and is a marvellous aquatic plant that can be consumed directly to breathe underwater, but that would be a pure waste, and its role in the field of potions is even more irreplaceable."


    Sprout rambled on, her chubby body constantly shuttling through the third greenhouse, finding bottles and jars from the corners and storing the seeds in separate containers.


    She hummed cheerfully, cheerful as a bee - chubby, but very hard-working one.


    Felix looked around the place, the smell of dirt and fertilizer mixed in the air, accompanied by a heavy scent of flora, leaving his nose in a state of conflict - wanting to breathe freely, but also somehow wanting to cover his nose.


    The huge canopy of flowers hanging on the ceiling looked like a colourful umbrella, which laid out the space above the greenhouse in a staggered and highly layered manner.


    Felix inquired, "Are these umbrella flowers?"


    "Yes, they are highly fragrant flowers, but beware, do not become too enamoured."


    Felix agreed with a smile as he looked at the rows of umbrella flowers gently swaying their bodies above the ground, and next to them were some empty pots, a leaf half-hidden in the dirt.


    "Is this the pot used for Mandrake?" Felix picked up the leaf and examined it carefully.


    Professor Sprout looked up, "Oh, indeed. The adult Mandrake is way too dangerous, so I only have two plants in my collection, but the effect is really strong, the little wizard who got petrified recovered in less than a quarter of an hour."


    "I seem to remember his name is Colin Creevey, Severus mentioned him to me." Felix tried to remember and ended up shaking his head after reminiscing.


    "A freshman, not even three months after school, was petrified, laid in bed for most of the year, and the third day after he opened his eyes final exams came, er ... kinda tragic."


    Felix returned to the office happily with a pocketful of complimentary gifts.


    Later that night, he and Nicolas Flamel worked through some questions via photo. Frankly, Nicolas Flamel looked younger and healthier in the photo, and although he had a full head of white hair, the photo appeared more vibrant than in person, and he had a feeling that the Nicolas Flamel he had met at the Boathouse Hotel seemed somewhat dull and sullen.


    It''s not exactly convenient to communicate through photo, but it''s not as troublesome as one might think. Because Felix is not a zero-basis student, but a deep-rooted rune master, they focus more on communication than teaching.


    The interaction between the two is usually the same: Felix will ask a question, Nicolas Flamel thinks about it, and then provides him with a way forward.


    Or Nicolas Flamel introduced him to some out-of-the-way, but very useful books. For example, "Acalisto''s Palace" - such unknown titles like this, Felix would not have paid attention to it before, unless he really idle one day, randomly looking for a book to read.


    But even if he reads a book casually, he will pick an interesting name.


    For example, the L.C.A. comic book publisher published "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle", a record of a muggle from France, Martin Miggs, who entered the wizarding world by mistake and what he experienced.


    After reading it, Felix''s impression is that a big reason why the wizards did not introduce film devices for their common people maybe that magic is just too convenient, and the little wizards watching comic books would feel like watching a split-screen film.


    And it''s useless to introduce it; it''s hard for wizards to empathize with normal people''s lives, and they''ll be curious about why they don''t use magic.


    Anyway, the pair would chat about muggle issues, including parts of his own book drafts.


    Today Nicolas Flamel recommended three more cold books to him, Felix didn''t expect that he would be left with a list of books, and it is true that the world is unpredictable.


    "That''s all for today, Felix, I''m a little tired." Nicolas Flamel in the photo had drowsy eyes.


    "Good night, Nicholas."


    After the exchange, Felix organized his workbench, he put away the postcards his assistant had sent from France in the drawer and took out a thick stack of book manuscripts.


    He had completed his scheduled plan of preparing two books to confront both the potential soon-to-be wizards and the adult wizards -


    In one book titled "The Strange Adventures of Young Wizard Mick", he used the format of the wizarding world''s dynamic comic book to describe the story of a 10-year-old prep wizard who will be sent to study in a normal school for a year. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Mick originally intended to mingle and quietly wait for his acceptance letter to Hogwarts, but unexpectedly became fascinated by the life at school. From fresh and interesting lessons to diverse forms of games, as well as visits to museums, amusement parks, volunteer work, and other practical activities ... introduces an otherwise foreign world from a child''s point of view.


    The other book is a popular science book for adult wizards, with the eye-catching name "Muggle World ''Magic''", the idea is to explain the most superficial basic technology of the Muggle world with the most rigorous logic and words.


    After checking the manuscript and not finding any omissions, Felix reconfirmed the appointment time on the calendar.


    "Tomorrow at 9 a.m., 126a Diagon Alley, Little Red Books."


    "Tomorrow at 10 a.m., 15b South of Diagon Alley, L.C.A. Comic Book Publishers."


    The former is the book company he all along cooperated with, it had successfully published "History of Magic" and "Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles", both of which are Hogwarts'' current textbooks.


    Because there is a good experience in cooperation, so there is not much trouble.


    The latter - L.C.A. Comic Book Publishers, specializing in the children''s market, he has never dealt with them, and can only see when the time comes, but it is good that he has made some preparations.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 174: L.C.A. Comic Book Publishers

    The next day at 9:30 a.m.,126a Diagon Alley. At the door of a low-rise white building, Felix smiled and shook hands with a woman in a long purple dress and said goodbye.


    "No need to send off, ma''am. It''s been a pleasure to continue working with you ."


    "Oh my!~ Mr. Hap, you are being too humble, your books are always quite enlightening."


    Felix walked down the dark brown wooden steps and blended into the crowd, a wave of relief washed over him at that moment, ''First book negotiated, with barely any effort.''


    ''But it''s the next one which will be the highlight.''


    He made his way through Diagon Alley, took a turn in front of the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and turned into another side street, counting the door numbers along the way.


    "Diagon Alley south side 13a, 14b, 15a ... So, store 15b should be on the opposite side." Felix turned by and saw a seven-story building.


    The building looked dirty and in such a state of decay that the letters on its sign were peeling off. He could barely make out the letter L, which cast a shadow over whatever he wanted to do next.


    In the gap between the building and the house next to it, there are huge rows of rubbish cans stacked up, also with traces of the letters L.C.A. on them.


    He made his way up the pitch-black stairs to the first floor and pushed open a scraped oak door, and a fine stream of creaking noise broke into his ears.


    He seemed to have entered another world, where the walls were covered with dense, colourful comic sketches that concealed the walls themselves.


    Most of the drawings featured a young boy with a beret and striped shirt, who live in different scenes: being chased by a group of Bowtruckle; holding a small wooden stick in his hand and constantly waving it; riding a one-horned rhinoceros, excitedly turning his head to greet his companions; standing on the roof of a farmhouse wearing a wizard''s cloak ...


    But Felix can also see that these paintings are quite old, part of the colour of the manuscript has faded, a few in the corner are also filled with purple mould patches.


    All of this suggests that this publishing house used to be glorious, but now it is somewhat in decline.


    "Is there anyone there? Mr. Andys?" Felix shouted.


    After some time, a door pushed open beside him, the door is hidden in the layer of sketches, Felix did not notice it at first.


    A thin, middle-aged male wizard stared at him, unshaven, and he asked in a heavily nasal voice: "Felix Hap?"


    "It''s me, and I suppose you''re Mr. Andys? We made an appointment."


    The male wizard unclasped the doorknob, "Come in, it''s a bit of a mess in there." He backed away from the door with a self-conscious smile.


    Felix frowned slightly, but he didn''t say anything and followed the male wizard into the room, which reeked of unpleasant smell, various miscellaneous things were piled up haphazardly, and he saw a few plates of leftover food in the corner.


    This makes his scalp numb, subconsciously he wanted to Apparite away from here.


    The only thing that gave him some relief about the place, which might be barely considered as a painting room, as he saw fresh paints and canvases with excellent half-drawn sketches on them.


    He decided to take a deeper look, but only if the room met his aesthetic.


    "Purgato! Purgato! Scourgify!" (there''s no incantation mentioned for Cleaning Charm, so I used Purgato)


    Felix waved his wand repeatedly, clearing the room of all kinds of rubbish. A sudden gale of wind repeatedly raged through the modest room, the windows emitted a "gra gra" sound, and the table and chairs shook desperately, but the dust and dirt on them were quickly stripped and swept into the gale, finally forming a cloudy mass of air.


    He pushed open the window and a silver Rain Swallow flew out from the tip of his wand, "Do me a favour, I remember seeing a dumpster on the way in." The rain swallow nodded at him and flew out the window, wings up, followed by a long gray trail behind it.


    "You, you ..." The male wizard named Andys looked at Felix dumbfounded, his tongue-tied for a moment.


    "Please sit down, Mr. Andys." Felix waved his wand and pushed the chair that had been swept away in front of him.


    Andys sat down with a bewildered expression, he looked around, and only after a while did he respond, "This seems to be my place?" He first muttered in a small voice, and then he turned red and blurted out indignantly.


    Felix sat across him with a calm expression and said, "Mr. Andys, let''s make it short. Since you agreed to this visit, I will assume, for now, that you have a need and demand for outside submissions."


    "And I, as your potential collaborator, have the right to make demands to you, at least until you explicitly refuse this."


    "You ..."


    Felix tapped the ring with his wand and out of it flew a stack of manuscripts, "This is my manuscript, The Strange Adventures of Young Wizard Mick, which is mentioned in my letter. You can read it first, and afterward you will decide whether we should continue the conversation or not. I don''t want to waste the time of both of us."


    The male wizard on the other side clutched the manuscript and looked at him with eyes full of confusion.


    "What are you waiting for?"


    The male wizard swallowed and laughed dryly, "Nothing, nothing." S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He quickly looked down and read it, while mentally labelling Felix, a wizard with a strong personality.


    The male wizard decided to pick out a few random flaws and quickly kick him out, and if he wasn''t satisfied, he would simply run out into the street and ask for help on his own ...


    Time passed bit by bit, and Andys became serious from the initial carelessness. Various comments came out of his mouth from time to time.


    "It''s not bad."


    "A bit interesting."


    "What is this, the mot ...or... wheel? What does it rely on to spin, and is it truly not magic?"


    "Geez, two glasses of water can turn red when poured together? I guess it''s some kind of transparent potion."


    At some point, he dragged his chair next to Felix and discussed it with him.


    "I like this section, I think it''s very clever-"


    Felix looked over to the scene where Mick, the young wizard, and his new muggle friend went to the store to buy clothes.


    "What should I say?" Little Wizard Mick looked at the wide array of clothes in the store and asked timidly, "I''m totally confused, I look like a country bumpkin."


    "Don''t worry, I don''t understand either, but momma told me a trick." His friend said.


    The friend looked at Little Wizard Mick with confidence and said to the clerk, " My friend here has a budget of 15 pounds, and he needs a top, pants, and hopefully a bow tie. Can you do that, ma''am?"


    The young clerk smiled and said, "Of course, little gentleman." She sized up little Wizard Mick''s figure twice and turned around to get the right clothes.


    The friend flashed a smile towards young Wizard Mick, "Well, that wasn''t so hard, was it?"


    ...


    After almost half an hour, Felix asked him, "What do you think?"


    Andys'' expression became refined as he quickly judged the value of the manuscript, and after seven or eight minutes, he hesitantly said, "Frankly speaking, I''m not sure."


    He added, "Personally, it''s a rather interesting children''s comic book, but I''m not so confident in my own vision. As you can see, the publisher did have a brilliant run, but since I took over, it has failed a dozen times in quick succession. Finally, I had to put the 30th-anniversary issue of the old book on sale."


    "Mr. Andys, I didn''t know, what do each of the three letters of L.C.A. stand for?" Felix asked.


    "It''s the initials of the three founders'' names, the A of which is referred to my grandfather who founded it, and L, C is two of his best friends." The male wizard said.


    "Then your company''s masterpiece, The Adventures of Martin Miggs ..."


    "It was my grandfather''s idea, and sort of his own personal experience, when he was a child, he once hosted a muggle boy who had strayed into the wizarding world, and they had fun for a week, and then got found out. The staff of the Ministry of Magic erased the boy''s memory and sent him back to his home."


    Felix nodded knowingly. He took several sheets of parchment from his ring, filled with various tables and data. The parchments fluttered and stuck to the wall.


    "Mr. Andys, I can''t prove that this manuscript will inevitably help your publishing house turn over, but we can analyse from the data, your company has published a total of seventeen sets of comic books since its establishment, of course, The Adventures of Martin Miggs is the most famous, and I got some data from my friend who is in charge of publishing journal in the Ministry of Magic, and it can be clearly found that relatively new and novel content is much more popular ..."


    "At the same time, the manuscript, which targets children, which doesn''t look too childish, is also very suitable for adults. If you want, we can cooperate."


    Andys didn''t really have much choice, unless he still wanted to continue eating the leftovers from thirty years ago.


    So when Felix gave him a reason that made sense, he logically agreed to do so. Their initial plan is very conservative, first to publish a hundred books to test the waters, even if it fails, it would not hurt them.


    At best, it would be a waste of time for the Andys, but time is the last thing he needs right now.


    After finalizing the cooperation, Andys showed him his ancestral craft, he scribbled on one of Felix''s manuscripts, and tapped with his wand, soon, the whole picture is filled with colour, the manuscript also became exquisite.


    In the picture, a little boy standing in a huge Ferris wheel, and looking down from the window, by his side is a half-chewed, floating vanilla ice cream.


    Half an hour later, Felix walked out of the L.C.A. building in a very merry mood.


    He is prepared to return to his office through the public fireplace in Diagon Alley, saving him from the Apparition to the edge of the forbidden forest and a further walk. But just then -


    "Professor Hap?"


    Felix looked back and saw a familiar figure in the crowd, and he said with some surprise, "Potter?"

 Chapter 175: Accidental Magic

    Felix inquired, "Potter, are you here for shopping for your school supplies?" Harry looked a little shaky as he said vaguely, " erm, I''m currently living in Diagon Alley ... in room eleven of the Leaky Cauldron ..."


    He couldn''t say that he had blown up his Aunt Marge, and had no place to stay, so he''s staying in the Leaky Cauldron with Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge''s help?


    Felix, somewhat curious about Harry''s demeanor, so asked tentatively, "Just by yourself?"


    There are certainly quite a few tenants in the Leaky Cauldron Bar, but it is quite obvious, for Harry to understand what the professor meant, "Yeah, just me." He quickly added, trying to divert his attention, "I''m quite comfortable on my own, shopping, eating, and going to Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour to do my homework ... By the way, there''s Dobby to keep company with me."


    Felix also revealed a smile, "If I remember correctly, he should be working at the Leaky Cauldron bar, right?"


    When he noticed that Professor Hap didn''t pursue further, Harry let out a long sigh of relief in his heart, and he responded enthusiastically, "Yes, Dobby is working at the Leaky Cauldron, he woke me up in the morning for the past two days, but he should be busy serving the customers in the bar at this time."


    As the two walked and chatted, Harry introduced more about the slightly odd house elf.


    "Dobby sent me a birthday present and a greeting card! He said on it that he earned it, and I''ve always wondered where he works at -- the letter didn''t mention it, but it turned out to be the Leaky Cauldron --" He snapped back to his senses and turned his head to look at Felix in surprise. "Professor, how did you know that?"


    Felix said briefly, "Dobby and I are sorts of friends, and he mentioned it in conversation."


    Harry nodded, and then Felix asked him: "So, you saw me while you were window-shopping? That''s quite a coincidence, another second later I might have left."


    Harry explained, "Actually, I saw your Patronus - the silver rainbird, Hermione mentioned it to me. I thought there seemed to be some resemblance at the time, so I waited in the store next to it for a while."


    "Did you? A keen observation," Felix replied somewhat carelessly, his attention focused entirely on Harry himself. From a moment ago till now, he had been feeling something wrong with Harry somehow.


    He did not move and switched the perspective, in the black and white world, the magic on Harry''s body kept jumping around and looked unusually active.


    "Professor?"


    Harry felt a twinge of discomfort as he felt his gaze, Professor Hap is looking at him with scrutinizing eyes.


    "Potter," Felix said softly, " The whole thing must have affected you a lot ..."


    Harry froze in place as he stammered, "You, you know all about it?" A cold chill ran through him, and he explained in a panic: "I didn''t mean to do it, it was Aunt Marge who insulted my parents first, and I just got angry!"


    The professor wouldn''t have a bad impression of him, right? He just bought the ancient runes textbook yesterday.


    "No, you misunderstand, Potter."


    The two walked through the wall, then left Diagon Alley, and arrived at the Leaky Cauldron bar. A little past the counter, Felix heard a shrill greeting, "Dear Mr. Hap, Dobby didn''t expect to see you and Mr. Potter at the same time, what a day to celebrate!"


    The eyes of the others in the bar looked over, they murmured noisily.


    Felix calmly looked over in return, his voice lowered before he looked over at the elf, "Dobby, it''s been a long time."


    Dobby''s eyes widened, and he wiped the corners of his eyes with a dirty rag, "Oh~ Mr. Hap remembers Dobby, it''s so touching ..."


    "Dobby, please arrange a seat for us, Potter and I have something to talk about." Felix looked at him softly. s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Dobby understands, both gentlemen, please follow me."


    The elf took them to a relatively secluded seat, served food and drinks, and respectfully left the table.


    Harry looked at Felix with a slightly bewildered expression, after he had taken the Knight Bus and been caught by Minister Fudge in front of the bar, the two of them sat in this seat to have a conversation.


    Felix did not rush to speak, he pondered how to start a conversation.


    Harry stared at the doorpost to his right, where a wanted notice hung, a picture he became very familiar with after two days at the Leaky Cauldron.


    "Potter--"


    Professor Hap''s words brought his sense back to his body and he listened quietly.


    "I heard you like dueling course?"


    "That''s right, Professor." Harry said, "I think it''s a great class, and I can learn a lot. Only thing is that we can only get to the class once every two weeks, and some spells are pretty hard."


    "By now, I''m not even proficient in the Shield Charm ..."


    Felix nodded, "So, do you need some private instruction for a while, Potter? I personally would be happy to oblige."


    Harry froze directly, he really did not expect to encounter such a good thing, so good that he could not believe it a bit.


    He felt that since he had blown up his aunt, all the acquaintances he met had become strange, Dobby greeted the bar guests skilfully, the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, turned a blind eye to his violations, and now, even Professor Hap had offered to train him?


    "Of course I do, but why?" He asked cautiously.


    "Potter, to be open and honest, your current state is fascinating - your magic is in a very active state, like a constant dancing and burning flame from my point of view."


    "All in all, I think it''s worth studying."


    Felix decided to tell Harry straight up, and there is nothing to hide about the whole thing - except that he wanted to study Potter, which sounded a bit strange.


    But put another way, he is concerned about the young wizard who is in a peculiar state, is not much better?


    Harry gulped at the words, "I don''t quite understand what you mean."


    "Harry, if I am correct, you should have experienced an accidental magic burst recently a few days ago, right?"


    "An accidental magic ... burst?"


    "You should have heard Similar terms, uncontrolled magic, magic awakening, Underage magic... Many people see it as a sign of magic awakening for a child with magic, but in fact, magic remains throughout all our lives. There are just times when, because of violent mood swings, little wizards display all sorts of magical powers."


    Harry listened quietly as his memory returned to a few days ago. Aunt Marge, who kept dogs in the countryside, had come to visit, a rather rude and cynical woman, these two words could not describe a tenth of her character.


    Every time s she came, it became a nightmare for Harry.


    But in order to get a signature on Hogsmeade''s permission form, he put up with her for a whole week, allowing her to verbally humiliate him. The last day she stayed as a guest, she got drunk, mouthed off, and insulted his father and mother so much that it blew his mind.


    He didn''t have a wand in his hand, but he is a wizard. By the time he came back to his senses, Aunt Marge had swelled like a balloon, like the giant pumpkin Hagrid had grown in the garden last year, but one with tiny, ugly eyes.


    He ran away from home in anger, never intending to return to 4 Privet Drive, and waited until he had calmed down before he began to fear that he would be expelled or even imprisoned in Azkaban, in the company of a group of dark wizards.


    He even thought of wandering the world, drifting through life to escape the Ministry of Magic, but he needed to fetch some money first. But things always go beyond his expectations - one foot to the door of the Leaky Cauldron bar, the next foot got caught by the Minister of Magic.


    Fortunately, Fudge not only did not hold him responsible for anything but also offered him a room at the Leaky Cauldron Bar, telling him to stay in Diagon Alley until the start of the school year and that he must not return to the Muggle world privately.


    What reason did he have to refuse?


    ...


    Professor Hap''s voice seemed to come from far away, "But this basically occurs during childhood, and by the time the young wizards enrol in school, it mostly won''t happen. So, Potter, your case is very rare."


    Harry looked up and said in a relieved tone, "I agree, Professor Hap. When do we start?"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 176: Test

    Felix chuckled, "Anytime, Potter, I''ll temporally move here. But first I have to go back to school and arrange some things. You can think about your own schedule, too." He stood up, "The special training will be hard, Potter, be prepared. In my personal experience, the period after the accidental magic burst is an excellent time to learn spells, as you will improve by leaps and bounds."


    Harry agreed without any hesitation.


    Felix found Tom, the owner of the Leaky Cauldron Bar, a hunched-back, wrinkled wizard, and at his suggestion, Felix chose room number twelve, right next door to Harry''s.


    He waved his hand at Harry, who is standing at the top of the stairs, and turned to walk out of the bar, using the public fireplace to return to his office.


    He sorted through his recent work, and in addition to attempting to add the Sneakoscope to his curriculum, he came up with some good ideas. Then he rolled these half-finished plans together and tucked them into his ring.


    Then he looked at the observation log of the yew wand tree, which he and Professor Flitwick were doing every day, but this job would be handed over to Filius alone for now.


    So he went to the charms'' professor''s office and informed Filius of his conflict in time, and the short professor quickly agreed, smacking his lips and saying, "The accidental magic burst ... also I don''t know what happened to Potter, and with you by the boy''s side, Minerva will be relieved. "


    Felix then also saw Snape''s figure in the school, he took a big step, his black robes floating behind him.


    "Severus?" He greeted him: "You''re back so early?" He knew, that Snape would go home for the holidays every year, and usually returned to school only a day before the school started.


    Snape said with a stern face, suppressing his discontent: "You''ll have to ask our esteemed Headmaster Dumbledore, who called me back in order to brew a disgusting potion."


    He seems to be in a bad mood at the moment, throwing off his cloak and quickly walking away.


    Disgusting potion, what could it be? Felix watched his back curiously.


    Ten minutes later, Felix returned to Diagon Alley again. He knocked on room eleven and saw Harry''s bed littered with miscellaneous items, textbooks for various subjects, parchment, bottles of ink, and a broom repair kit.


    "Professor, I''m going over my assignments, well, I have three History of Magic thesis, two Potions thesis, and a charm thesis left to write."


    "History of Magic ..."


    Harry clearly heard a groan of discomfort from Professor Hap, but the professor said nothing more as he took a seat across the table in front of him.


    "Time is precious, Potter," Felix said, "I will guide you through your homework - in your spare time."


    ...


    The owner of the Leaky Cauldron Bar offered an empty basement that, according to him, had been abandoned for a long time.


    Old Tom hunched over with a toothless grin, "I remember there are still some protective wards here, but that too may have expired, and you''ll need to deal with it yourselves."


    He snapped his fingers a few times, and the torches stuck in the wall lit up. He then bowed and stepped back to leave.


    Felix waved his wand and cleared the room of the dust and cobwebs that had accumulated. And smoothed out a few broken bits of flooring. When his wand touched the floor, the ground like waves undulating, Harry seemed to be in a small boat, which reminded him of the first time Hagrid took him on a boat ride.


    When everything quieted down, the wooden floor turned into an exotic carpet.


    Harry took a few steps back and forth, and it didn''t feel as soft as he thought it would, to which Professor Hap explained, "I didn''t create a few cushions, so you could practice your magic in comfort."


    As he watched, some bits and pieces of trinkets flew out of Professor Hap''s ring, and they popped into a small square table, two armchairs, and some human-shaped targets.


    At the moment, Felix is sitting in the chair, watching him from behind the square table.


    "Here, Potter, let''s practice your best spell for the first hundred times."


    Harry''s hand holding the wand shook unnaturally, this does not seem to be what he thought ...


    He also thought that he would struggle to dodge the professor''s attacks, like a chipmunk constantly jumping, while Professor Hap easily waved his spells, to show off his might.


    But now, Professor Hap behaved like a scholar, sitting quietly in a chair, if he put a gold-rimmed glasses, it would look more like a teacher he saw in the Muggle school.


    Harry looked at the target seven or eight meters away from himself, he waved his wand and shouted: "Expelliarmus!" A red light flew from the tip of his wand and hit the wall, but it was a full two feet away from the human-sized target.


    "Uh, sorry, I missed."


    "That''s okay, keep going."


    So Harry waved his wand continuously, a red light flew out, and after almost half an hour, he shouted out in a hoarse voice breathlessly, "Expelliarmus ..." which resulted in his wand merely spewing out a string of sparks. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, we stop, for now, come and sit over here," Felix said.


    Harry walked wearily to the other side of the square table and sat down, he looked at Professor Hap across the table, he is writing and drawing on parchment. Half a minute later, he looked up, "I know enough about this spell of yours, good, we finished the first step of the test."


    "Just a mere test?" Harry shouted out in surprise, he was going to die of exhaustion, every cell in his body was desperately screaming in pain.


    Felix curled his mouth and whispered in an enchanting tone, "Potter, at your age, I already understand the disarming charm no better than an ordinary adult wizard, and you have every potential to do so."


    "In addition to the disarming charm, the not-quite-skilled shield charm, as you said yourself."


    "And the tongue-Tying Curse, I will even throw you an extra simple and practical spell or two ..."


    Harry swallowed, with the help of the bright firelight in the basement, despite the respect, he felt he saw the devil''s smile.


    But he must admit that his heart thumped.


    Professor Hap hadn''t said what would happen if he learned the spells, but he couldn''t help but make the connection; the adoration of his classmates, the extra credit in class, and maybe the chance to show off his abilities in front of the girl he loved ...


    With a little tremble in his voice, he said, "Professor, I''m at your disposal." He felt like he sounded tragic when he spoke, as if he was about to head to the execution ground.


    Felix took out a piece of chocolate and handed it to him, "Eat something first, and we''ll do the second test next."


    Ten minutes later.


    Felix and Harry were seven or eight meters apart, facing each other.


    "Potter, we''re here to test the maximum power of your spell this time. You have to fully mobilize your emotions, remember what we mentioned in the dueling class? Determination, confidence, and most importantly the INTENT, the disarming charm is meant to protect yourself and disable your enemy''s ability to harm you."


    Harry nodded, he took a deep breath and imagined that across the room stood Malfoy, who suddenly turned into a gargoyle with Peregrine hair, waving a club towards him ...


    "Puff!" He burst out laughing, "Uh, sorry."


    After brewing his emotions for a while -


    "Expelliarmus!"


    Harry hissed and shouted as a finger-thick red light rushed straight at Felix, and stopped by an invisible barrier.


    "Not enough, Potter, let me see your potential!" Felix cheered.


    Harry gritted his teeth, mobilized his magic with all his might, and for a moment, he really felt the difference, it seemed to be the "active magic" as Professor Hap had said, and he thought to himself: disarm, make the enemy lose the ability to hurt me ...


    He thought of the real enemies, Professor Quirrell, the Basilisk, and ... Voldemort!


    The red light became as thin as a hair after a few tremors, Felix almost thought he had failed, but the next second, a searing beam of light flew out from Harry''s wand, spanning seven or eight meters, and instantly crashed into Felix''s shield charm.


    The two magic spells wrestled in midair, and a low rumble echoed through the basement.

 Chapter 177: Harrys Special Training

    " Potter, wake up! Potter ..." Harry opened his eyes slowly, the light of the torch is a bit glaring, which made Professor Hap''s shadow a bit blurred.


    For a moment, his expression looked somewhat dazed.


    He then rose from the ground and straightened his glasses, "What''s happened to me?"


    "Exhaustion plus dehydration, a very normal phenomenon." Felix looked at him, "That''s enough for today, let''s go up and get something to eat, and I''ll also work on your special training plan."


    Harry felt very uncomfortable, his limbs were weak, and he felt light.


    He followed Felix''s footsteps stumbling on the stairs, his stomach turned upside down.


    It wasn''t until he downed a large glass of juice and ate two pies that he felt alive again and is in the mood to think about something.


    "Professor, you said this is normal, do you have a similar experience? Also, you told me that the period after an accidental magic burst is perfect for practicing spells, is this your personal experience ..."


    Harry''s tone slowly lightened, he remembered Hermione once very emotionally expressed sympathy for Professor Hap.


    It was a time when the news of the Dueling Club was released and the topic of discussion revolved around the word "dueling". Professor Hap''s ''brilliant experience'' was once again brought out and talked about, the boys all wanted to take his place, and the young witches were adoring or sympathetic to the injustice during his school days.


    And Hermione is one of them. S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    At the time, Harry could not understand her thought process, but now, he suddenly understood a little.


    In the face of his question, Felix said shortly, "Indeed ..."


    What Indeed? As Harry lay in bed in a room where he stayed, he''s still thinking about this question.


    Early in the following morning, Harry is woken up by Dobby''s knock on the door, he opened the door in a daze, the elf respectfully passed over the toiletries, next to him stood Professor Hap.


    "Come on, Potter, we''ve got a big day ahead of us."


    Harry felt a novel experience, similar to the feeling he had when he was a guest in a Burrow and woken up by Mrs. Weasley. Rarely would any adult intervene in his daily life and remind him to brush his teeth at the right time - if you didn''t count the angry rantings of the Dursley''s towards him.


    All morning they hunkered down in the basement as he kept casting the disarming charm, and in the words of Professor Hap, "We want to maximize the benefits, and you''ll find that at the student level, one trick pushes all the right buttons."


    He feels like he''s about to throw up, but Professor Hap takes great trouble to point out his mistakes and spends a lot of time explaining the trick to the spell''s advancement.


    "You have to imagine yourself as a dualist, or a newcomer Auror. Your magic is very active, and you can feel it, mobilize it so that you can control it, and let it flow out in a stream." Felix said as he applied a Supersensory Charm on Harry.


    "Also, this is a good time to learn silent casting of the disarming charm."


    "And the theory of the spell part, I''ll only cover the ones most related to the disarming charm, it probably won''t help you learn the other spells, but we''re going to speed up time and I want to see how far you''ll go."


    Harry found that in the basement, Professor Hap always seemed unsympathetic, he would wake him up again and again after he collapsed on the floor without even a second''s delay, but after the special training, he would take him to Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour, or just stand with him outside the window of the Quality Quidditch Supplies, as he admired the latest model of Firebolt.


    Of course, Harry guessed that the broom was not on Professor Hap''s mind, because once again, after wondering for two minutes he would ask him about the disarming charm, "Isn''t there a feeling of euphoria? Like you were born to know this charm."


    His reply at the time was a bit sloppy, and he couldn''t remember if it was "kind of like that" or an unassuming "just like that".


    They also ran into Neville Longbottom, his classmate, a round-faced, fidgety boy. He followed his grandmother, who looked ghastly, carrying a large red handbag in one hand, and was sternly reprimanding Neville.


    Harry wanted to run away because he had impersonated Neville while riding the Knight Bus, and he hoped that Neville''s grandmother would never find out about it.


    But Neville saw Harry and waved excitedly at him: "Harry, Harry! It''s so good to meet you, I lost my book list."


    Harry hurriedly borrowed a piece of parchment from Professor Hap and wrote the name of the new course material on it.


    "Ah, you are Harry Potter, right, Neville mentioned you to me, a good boy, very talented. You guided him in disarming charm, and he said you were a quick learner, unlike him ..." Neville''s grandmother clutched her handbag tightly, her eyebrows knitted together, "The boy did not inherit his parents'' talent, and I was worried until he received an Admission letter,"


    Neville grimaced and peeked at Harry, and Harry did not dare to speak, the old woman is really intimidating, but to his surprise, a silent Professor Hap spoke up: "Neville Longbottom, I saw you on the list of students who chose my class, I am glad you will take my class."


    "You''re a professor at Hogwarts?" Neville''s grandmother asked.


    "Felix Hap, I teach Ancient Runes, ma''am."


    "I''ve heard of your name, Mr. Hap, and I admire your courage, not anyone would dare to face a despicable pureblood family," she pointed proudly at Neville, "like his parents, who were on the front lines resisting dark lord''s rule all through the war years, even when tortured by some scum ..."


    She wiped the corners of her eyes and led Neville away.


    Neville mouthed at Harry: see you on the train. With that, he is dragged away.


    "What happened to Neville''s parents?" Harry asked as he looked at his back.


    Felix replied, "I''m not really sure, I think they were killed in the battle with the Death Eaters."


    ...


    A week passed in a blink of an eye, and Professor Hap showed him a thick pile of charts.


    "These are the data of me practicing the disarming charm?" Harry asked in surprise, pointing at the thick parchment.


    "There is no need to make a fuss, to tell you a secret, I have made a fortune in the Muggle world based on this!" Felix said jokingly.


    Harry looked at the curve above, with ten casts as a unit, his progress isn''t obvious, but if you take a hundred casting as a unit, his progress rate is a bit unbelievable.


    "Interesting, isn''t it? No one has ever really worked on this." Felix said in a brisk tone.


    "Professor Hap, I''ve reached level four on the disarming charm?" Harry couldn''t help but stare at the note on the parchment that seemed to be at the level the Auror had reached after a few years of service.


    "Ah, you remember the division of it?" Felix said, "In a way, it does meet that requirement. You can flexibly control the power of the disarming charm and make more delicate manipulations, such as drawing an arc, casting a silent spell, and so on ..."


    Harry''s mood became delighted, like eating a row of ten strawberry ice cream, from head to toe with a surge of pleasure. But Professor Hap quickly threw a bucket of cold water -


    "Only this one charm, Potter, if you want to go further in the field of dueling, you should consider establishing your own fighting style in due course."


    "Fighting style?"


    "Like which spell to use as the core-"


    " Disarming charm!" Harry said without thinking.


    "... don''t decide easily, besides, there should be complementary spell structure, such as: what spell you use to defend, what spells to attack; which spell is used to hold the opponent down, which is to deal with tricky problems, all these, you should think clearly."


    "Needless to say the pace of battle, critical judgment, scenario foresight, and so on."


    "Of course, there is targeted knowledge, well, maybe I''m asking too much from you, this is beyond the level of the average Auror."


    Harry excitedly took a notebook to write down: "That''s okay, you can say as comprehensive as possible." He got inspired to imitate Hermione''s tone of voice: "Professor, in fact, I want to write a related thesis!"


    "... Very well, I will say it."


    In the days before the school began, Professor Hap did not ask him to continue to cast the Disarming Charm - a relief that he had finally been exposed to a second spell.


    "Potter--"


    "Professor, you can call me Harry," Harry said with some apprehension, having practiced in the mirror several times this morning just to say this phrase.


    After a few moments of silence across the table, just as he was somewhat remorseful for his recklessness, Felix said, "Yes, Harry, I''ll call you that in private."


    "Your disarming charm will hardly improve in a short time, even with my all-round assistance you can''t-"


    "Professor, I''m already satisfied," Harry said contentedly, he had changed for the better, at least he didn''t think beating Malfoy and his two followers would be a problem.


    He saw Professor Hap smiling at him, "I also got the test data I wanted, and you are gradually getting your Magic activity back to normal, I''ve tried to prolong the process as much as I can, but alas, I can''t defy the laws of nature yet."


    "In the next day or two, we learn some spells to surprise, the results will be three to five times quicker than your regular results."


    Harry nodded his head hurriedly.

 Chapter 178: End of Special Training

    On the morning before school started, Felix sat in a relaxed manner eating his breakfast in the Leaky Cauldron bar, flipping through that day''s newspaper in the meantime. "Gee, Sirius Black, how come it''s been on the front page for so many days?"


    Felix stared at the man in the picture, his face hollowed and his long black hair tangled. He had wax-like skin and looked a bit like a vampire.


    The newspaper didn''t spare the ink to retell his crimes over and over again, including the fact that he supported the dark lord, as well as blowing up half a street, killing thirteen people, and currently on the run when he got driven to the edge.


    The words "extremely dangerous" and "most notorious prisoner" appear several times in bold red letters.


    "Is it really hard to escape from Azkaban?" Felix took a sip of coffee and took two seconds to simulate the scenario.


    Step one, take out the spare wand and, well ...


    ''First, the assumption itself won''t happen, as I would never let myself be captured or cornered, so why bother?''


    ''But at least it explains, why Fudge is so on edge about Harry.''


    While this is happening, Harry yawned and walked down the stairs, Dobby followed him carefully with a worried look on his face, as if he feared which step he would take and roll down the stairs.


    "Harry, Dobby, here." Felix tilted his head at them, "Morning, Professor." Harry sat down in the empty seat across from him, and to his surprise, Dobby sat down as well, sticking to his chair.


    "Dobby, don''t you need to greet the guests?" Harry asked.


    "Mr. Potter, Dobby resigned from The Leaky Cauldron, this is Dobby''s last day here, and the boss approved that I don''t have to do anything."


    "Oh, uh ..." Harry, obviously not quite sober yet, his mind not functioning for a moment, froze as he half-heartedly asked, "But where are you going?"


    "Mr. Hap has offered Dobby a job, and Dobby''s willing to do his friend a favour! Dobby, Dobby, feels honored." The elf stared at Felix with big eyes.


    Harry turned his head as well, and Felix said briefly, "I hired Dobby to act as my spokesman for some book publishing matters."


    "Dobby, congratulations," Harry said sincerely.


    Felix finished his breakfast and said to him, "Harry, I will not arrange training tasks today, you have reviewed the shield charm, the stupefy charm, the Tongue-Tying Curse, and additionally learned The Incarcerous Spell over the past few days, it is more than enough at the moment to give you an advantage."


    Harry listened in silence, he knew this special training coming to an end.


    The incantation of The Incarcerous Spell is "Incarcerous", the effect of which is shooting a thick rope from the tip of the wand to bind the target. The advantage of this spell is that it can be cast from a very long distance, allowing him to attack from across a corridor.


    He had only managed to learn it last night and was only barely able to cast it, but the attack distance reached twelve or thirteen meters, already more than the majority of spells he had mastered.


    ''I have to thank Ron for learning this spell.'' Harry thought to himself, after many failures, he remembered the way Ron learned the disarming charm, so Harry let Professor Hap use the Incarcerous spell upon him, hoping to get a closer ''feel'' of its mysteries.


    And Professor Hap is also very interested in this, "I have long wanted to tie someone, but never got the chance." The result was that he was tied up again and again with thick ropes comparable to a Devil''s Snare, binding him into an all-pervasive cocoon, and he felt like a large Shaved Caterpillars.


    In the desperate struggle in between, he also finally mastered the magic, the cost is a full-body bruise, like being hung up by the Whomping Willow and whipped for half an hour.


    Speaking of Whomping Willow, he couldn''t help but think of Mr. Weasley''s car. Last year at the beginning of the school year, Dobby blocked the platform entrance, and in order to return to school on time, he and Ron flew halfway across Britain in Mr. Weasley''s privately modified magic car, only to pass through the forbidden forest, the car became too overloaded and fell face down on the Whomping Willow.


    Mr. Weasley, therefore, came under investigation, for which he felt guilty, for a long time.


    Now the ''culprit'' not only shared breakfast with him, but also became his friend, which made Harry wonder at the marvels of the world.


    There is a buzz from outside the bar, and a large group of people suddenly come into the bar. Most of them were redheads, carrying suitcases and cages of all sizes.


    "Daddy, is Harry here?" A little girl with fiery red hair asked, tugging on her father''s arm.


    "This is the seventh time I''ve answered you, yes, Ginny." Her father said as such.


    Harry already revealed an expression of surprise - it is the Weasley family, and next to them stood a couple dressed in ''muggle'' clothes, and Harry is no stranger to Hermione''s mom and dad.


    But nothing could catch Harry''s eye more than his two best friends, and he couldn''t wait to share his experience -


    "Over here! Ron, Hermione!" Harry waved vigorously, jumping out of his seat and running towards them.


    Ron looked exotic in his strange outfit, Hermione''s skin tanned, and they had big smiles on their faces.


    Ron hammered Harry in the chest and grinned, "Hey Harry, did you really blow up your aunt?"


    "I didn''t mean to do that." Harry said, noticing that Hermione''s parents were looking at him in a very peculiar way, and he subconsciously explained, "I lost control of, you know, the accidental magic burst ..."


    But things seemed to get worse as he twisted his head to look at Professor Hap, who approached him and asked him for help with his eyes.


    Ron also realized he had said something wrong, and Ginny kicked him through Percy.


    Felix nodded at them as he looked over at Harry: "accidental magic is a result of extreme emotions, and I''m surprised you managed to retain an ounce of composure while you were out of control, to say the least."


    He turned to face Hermione''s parents: "Hello, I''m Felix Hap, Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts, and I know a fair bit about the world of ordinary people."


    Mrs. Granger looked at him with a smile, she heard her daughter mention this professor. Instead, Mr. Granger looked at him with a surprised look, "I''ve seen you before, before much earlier. A strange client, huh? I didn''t realize you were a professor at the school ... is just too young."


    Felix passed over the subject with a remark, "Yeah, the wizarding world doesn''t care about that."


    Hermione greeted in a small voice: "Hello, Professor Hap."


    Felix nodded at her, "Hello, Miss Granger." He turned to Arthur Weasley, "Mr. Weasley, we should have exchanged letters before."


    Arthur Weasley slapped his forehead, "That''s right, I asked you some questions about Muggle technology ... Ah, Molly, come on, it''s just simple research."


    Mrs. Weasley glared at her husband and said enthusiastically to Felix, "Professor Hap, thank you for Ron''s Christmas present, it is a bit pricey, to be honest ... but little Ronnie is loving his new wand."


    "Mom!" Ron said with some annoyance that she always called him by his nickname, regardless of the occasion.


    But Mrs. Weasley ignored him, "Ron kind of adores you, and he took your class this year, and of course-" she looked at Harry and Hermione, who nodded in sync, "and these two little ones, both naughty kids, who don''t let anyone worry about them."


    She rambled: "We got the news from Dumbledore very early, Arthur and I got giddy, trembling, but we didn''t dare to write a Howler for fear of affecting Ginny, after all, it''s dark magic ..." she said vaguely through it, "also about the chamber, her brothers have shown her a bad example."


    "Mom, this didn''t involve us!"


    "Yeah, we didn''t get into any trouble this summer."


    The twins next to her desperately cried foul, as Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips and looked at them with a stern expression. "And you guys, don''t think I don''t know what you''ve been studying ..."


    Percy stepped forward, puffing out his chest with a shiny silver badge - the symbol of the perfect- "Mum, Ginny has me as her brother, who is a good role model."


    With a sour look on their faces, the twins lowered their heads and muttered.


    ''Perfect, right?''


    ''How about Big Head Boy instead?''


    The two quickly showed heartfelt smiles.


    Felix watched the extended family''s interaction with interest and waited for them to stop before he said, "Don''t worry, Mrs. Weasley, I know them all fairly well ..." S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The hunchbacked old Tom came over, his mouth filled with teeth, "A few guests, looks like you need a big table?"


    He moved his fingers and the three tables in the bar were put together, and a dozen small round stools landed next to the table.


    "And then, do you need something to eat?"


    "Don''t need to think about me, Tom." Felix said, "I''ll leave now."


    He gave a small nod toward the crowd, "Excuse me." Turning to greet Dobby, "Let''s go, I need to get you a new outfit."


    Dobby excused himself toward Harry and bounced after him as he waved goodbye and followed Felix.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 179: Ouroboros

    Passing through the wall behind the Leaky Cauldron Bar, they went directly to Madam Malkin''s Robes for All Occasions on the north side of Diagon Alley. According to Professor Flitwick, while this store sells school uniforms, robes, and travel cloaks, Madame Malkin will be happy to make you a custom outfit if you''re willing to chip some money in.


    Madame Malkin is a short, chubby witch with a big smile and wearing a dark purple robe, "Welcome, would you like to buy a robe or a ball gown that exudes glamour, sir?" She held a tape measure and wand in her hand.


    Felix pointed to Dobby, "Not for me, ma''am, for him."


    Madame Malkin''s eyes fell on Dobby, and she said with difficulty, "Oh, uh ..."


    "Ma''am, I was referred to you by Professor Filius Flitwick, who had nothing but praise for your handiwork."


    "It is my pleasure as well."


    Under Felix''s verbal and monetary onslaught, Madame Malkin made a small suit on the spot, which made Dobby look fresh and brandish, like an English butler.


    "Sir, you are so kind to your house-elf, but I don''t know if I should remind you that clothes ..."


    "Ma''am, Dobby is my friend, and he is free."


    All along the way, Dobby kept saying thank you to Felix in different ways, then Felix told him it is a uniform and a required dress code, which made him relent.


    Felix led him to the dilapidated L.C.A. comic book publisher building and knocked on Andys''s door.


    The room seemed to have gathered some of its smells again after ten days of absence, but the Andys looked in much better spirits, and at least he had changed into a clean shirt.


    He pulled Felix into the room, then pulled out a stack of original manuscripts, and said with a heavy nasal voice: "I redrew part of the book, adding unique magic, see how it is?"


    Felix looked carefully, each page of the comic strip is divided into five to ten grids, opening a page, the characters in that grid will begin to move in a fixed order when the plot of the first grid ends, only then the second began to play, the time precisely nailed.


    It can be said that a page of comic books is an episode of the same film.


    "The magic on it is interesting," Felix said.


    If he added everything in one page from the left to the right side of the book, is it possible to show the contents of all the frames of the two pages in one sequence, would it achieve the effect of a film?


    He expressed this idea to Andys.


    "Huh?"


    Andys thought about it in his head, "It seems doable?" He said in an unsure tone.


    "It''s not like I know your publisher''s magic, unless ..."


    "That''s an untold secret," Andys said in a rush.


    "Well," Felix smacked his lips as he looked at the drawing in his hand and kept rubbing its surface, "then, using your professional eye, is the idea I just described feasible?"


    Andys did not answer, this time he took longer to think, and as a result, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became and kept circling around the room.


    "It''s absolutely feasible! It''s a new breakthrough in the wizarding world, oh my gosh, we''ll be a hit!"


    "If you were to improve it, how long do you think it would take?"


    "It''s hard to say, it''s a new technique, it will definitely take time, I already have two ideas, it''s not like I haven''t done anything over the years, the research of my grandfather could also help. But the magic has changed, and the entire process has to be adjusted, including rearranging the selection of the most appropriate medium and pigments for the comic book. It takes both time and--" Andys paused awkwardly.


    "And it takes more money?"


    "... Yeah."


    Felix calculated, "I can offer you almost twenty thousand Gold-Galleon, but what can I get?"


    Andys struggled for a moment, he hesitated, this is a key decision, maybe L.C.A. comic books will be reborn in his hands.


    But he made many wrong calls over a decade before, what about this one?


    "You''re Felix Hap?" He asked through clenched teeth.


    Felix gave him a look that said, "What do you mean? I''ve introduced myself". Dobby the elf did proudly come forward and said, "Yes, this is the great Mr. Felix Hap!"


    Andys glanced at Dobby, not paying much attention, he looked at Felix and said slowly: "I have asked people to inquire during this time, they said you have a lot of connections and power."


    "Let''s be frank, Andys, don''t beat around the bush."


    "Five thousand Galleons! If you can help me handle the Ministry of Magic, I''m willing to convert this money into an investment for 20% of the publisher, no! 30% of the shares."


    " Dealing with the Ministry of Magic?"


    "I want the book to get an official recommendation and be placed in bookshops in other countries. It will save a lot of time." Andys said.


    "What''s the trouble?"


    "Something to do with some pure-blood families who might not like the book." Andys stammered.


    "But none of my previously published books had any impact?" Felix inquired curiously.


    "It''s different from publisher to publisher, and I have a previous record, plus the subject of your book ..." he hinted, and Felix understood, so your previously published works offended some people, didn''t they?


    "I need to see those controversial sketches of yours first." Felix didn''t rush to agree. S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    If this person Andys had problems, he would decisively refuse.


    Half a minute later, Felix looked up from a manuscript of books, he had only obtained the sales data of L.C.A. publishers before but hadn''t read all of them.


    It is clear that the Andys has really worked hard to revive the publisher over the years, the theme is diverse, but there is a book with a villain who is from a pure-blood family, although there is no specific reference to which family it is, it is clear that it incurred some discontent.


    Although in his opinion, this is a normal creation.


    "Tsk!"


    Felix thought for a moment, he needed to pay 5,000 galleons, as well as finite time and energy to solve the possible trouble; and the gain will be the acquisition of 30% of shares from the other side.


    He also regarded the development of the new technology favourably and had confidence in L.C.A.


    "OK, but I want all your spell data."


    Andys froze for a moment, "Sure, that''s your well-deserved right, as long as you do not casually reveal it."


    Felix nodded, then he had no problem.


    Money is a minor thing, this kind of unique magic is what he values. But in the future, he would at least get a portion of the stable income, saving him from going to the black market and mugging people.


    This is different from the 50% share the twins were talking about, and he had no intention of asking for that money in the first place.


    Andys said to him, "Let''s sign a magic contract, for mutual assurance."


    Felix had no reason to refuse, and he took out a piece of parchment, and a string of golden words appeared on it, containing the obligations that both parties should fulfil and the powers they enjoyed. The two men then each left their names and blood.


    As the three watched, golden flames burned the parchment to ashes, but the writing on it glistened and condensed in midair.


    Soon, the golden words melted and condensed into two small glowing balls. Felix and Andys each had one.


    This contract belongs to the most common "witness contract", not mandatory binding, but protected by the Ministry of Magic. If there is a problem, just take the ball to the Ministry of Magic to complain, the Ministry of Magic will step in to solve the problem.


    With the contract ball in his hand, Andys breathed a sigh of relief.


    He could say that he had bet part of his future, but he is now full of anticipation because one of his friends said mysteriously: "Working with that gentleman, you will never have to worry about losing out. He''s a high-spirited Slytherin, not unlike those greedy pureblood rubbish."


    Felix looked at the elf, "Dobby, I need you to come in at least once a day to ask about progress or troubles, and to negotiate with the purebloods on my behalf if necessary." He tapped his wand on the elf''s chest, and an ancient symbol in the shape of figure 8 appeared.


    The pattern is static, but when you look over it, it swims swiftly, its emerald green snake eyes shining.


    This is the symbol that Felix printed on his clothes when he was in fifth grade, and many pureblood families remember it, but it is not used much now.


    "Dobby, I''m afraid, Dobby can''t ..." the elf said in awe.


    "You had the job of delivering letters when you were at the Malfoy, didn''t you?"


    "But, but Dobby just delivers letters, and serves almost the same role as an owl."


    "Then try it, and come to me if you have a problem you can''t solve," Felix said in a calm tone, "I''d also like to know who will bother me."

 Chapter 180: Phineas Blacks Commission

    When Felix walked out of the L.C.A. building, it was already noon, and when he dropped by Little Red Books, to his surprise, his "Muggle World ''Magic''" sample book is completed. ''How efficient, no need for me to concern with it at all.''


    This book, as a formal science book, is in line with his first two muggle research books, and it is expected to become a series.


    At least that''s what the elegant violet dress lady said to him.


    Felix also made sure to ask about things he didn''t particularly concern about before, such as how his books sold out in Britain and around the world.


    And from her answer, Felix realized that there were two ways to distribute the book around the world. One is to obtain the recommendation of the Ministry of Magic in the home country, but this way, in addition to the finite places, it would be resisted by some nations because it is an official act; the other way is to become a member of the International Federation of Wizard Publishers.


    The International Federation of Wizard Publishers, a relatively loose international organization of wizards, whose members are top publishers from different countries, holds a gathering every March and September to screen out some valuable books.


    These lucky books would be brought to different countries to be sold in the magic bookshops.


    And Felix unknowingly enjoyed this benefit. For this, he once again expressed his gratitude.


    "Your books are good enough, Mr. Hap. For us, it''s a win-win situation."


    ...


    Felix returned to the school, and a number of professors also returned. Professors McGonagall and Flitwick decorated the great hall, and they were in a very happy mood, with Professor McGonagall even humming a little tune.


    The tall, burly Hagrid walked in carrying two three-meter-long ocean pine trees, and Flitwick gracefully waved his wand to make them stand in a corner of the great hall and draped them with coloured paper ribbons.


    "Felix," Hagrid greeted gruffly.


    "Hagrid, how''s the lesson preparation going?" Felix asked.


    Hagrid said cheerfully, "It went pretty well, I went to the library and checked out a lot of information. I purposely looked through the new books on the market, and I dare say that the material I chose is absolutely interesting."


    "I remember that the textbook for this course has always been Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, right?"


    "Ah, that''s the upper grades textbook, I have a new one for the first three grades to try ... you told me, innovation needs to find a beta test, and then expand to the whole group when it''s successful."


    "I''m looking forward to it, Hagrid."


    Tomorrow is opening day, and the professors gather at a square table for dinner that evening. Even Professor Trelawney, whose whereabouts were obscure, arrived draped in a sarong.


    She whispered to a house-elf, "Get me some sherry, dear."


    The elf stammered, "Yes, yes, ma''am."


    She disappeared, and a short while later she stumbled out holding a large bottle of wine, "I''m sorry, no small bottles were available, only this type."


    "Ha!" Trelawney''s eyes lit up, "That''s okay, this is good too, perfect."


    "Want some?" She looked to Felix and shook the bottle, the liquor kept bobbing around.


    "No, thanks." Felix politely declined.


    Trelawney poured herself a glass of wine, and Professor Burbage next to her also drank a small glass.


    Dumbledore appeared in front of him for the first time since they had met in France, and he seemed to be in a good mood, grinning as he accepted a plate of tea-colored pastries handed to him by Flitwick, which Felix thought maybe because he had just got rid of a tiresome errand.


    At the end of dinner, he called out Felix.


    "Wait, Felix. Nicolas has some books that he asked me to bring to you." Dumbledore said with a wink.


    So the two went to the Headmaster''s office and Dumbledore said in a light tone, "Just a moment, I left them on the bedside in my bedroom. During your absence, I read part of it every day."


    Felix nodded and watched as he walked up the Grand Staircase and disappeared into the first floor to his office space.


    "Dumbledore''s bedroom, I wonder what it might look like?" He thought with some curiosity.


    The Headmaster''s office hasn''t changed much. The spacious circular room is filled with all sorts of trinkets: the rhythmic breathing of Phoenix Fawkes on his gilded perch, the trivial sound of silverware swirling on the slender-legged table, and the grunting from the portraits of past Headmaster''s on the wall.


    Felix''s gaze fixed on the Sorting Hat lying peacefully on the compartment, hesitant to pick it up and study it.


    "Hey, Slytherin boy!" An uncomfortable voice spoke.


    Felix turned his head to look over, it belonged to a portrait on the wall, and at the bottom of the portrait, there is a small line written in hot gold fancy letters -


    ''Phineas Nigellus Black, term 1847 to 1925, graduated from Slytherin House.''


    Felix asked, "Headmaster Black, are you calling me?"


    The man in the portrait grunted, "Or else, is there any other living person in this room?" With his goatee sticking up, and his eyebrows thinned, he looked very unpleasant.


    At the moment, he reached out to poke at the frame, "Come closer, I have something to say to you," Seeing Felix unmoved at the spot, his tone became urgent: "It''s beneficial to you!"


    Felix''s heart is filled with doubts, Even if there''s a benefit, and it is not his turn, anyway he still walked to the portrait of Headmaster Black.


    The grunts in the other portraits disappeared, and they either graciously opened their eyes to stare, or half-squinted, watching the interaction between them closely.


    But Headmaster Black didn''t say anything, or perhaps even if he is displeased he couldn''t do anything about it. So he said as quietly as he could, "Have you ever heard of the name Sirius Black?"


    "Yeah, he''s a celebrity now, escaped from Azkaban three weeks ago," Felix said.


    Headmaster Black choked for a moment, he said with some shame, "That''s a descendant of the noble Black family, my great-grandson!"


    "Oh."


    "What do you mean, you wicked kid!" Headmaster Black yelled in a small voice, but then he said slyly, "We''re all Slytherin, son, and I know what you are thinking ..."


    "Listen, the Black family has a long history and a rich collection of books hidden in the old mansion, not something those rags at Hogwarts can compare to, want some? Do one thing for me."


    "What is it?"


    "Bring him to me, not this me, but another portrait, remember, 12 Grimmauld Place."


    Felix is very interested in the Black family''s collection, but he tested the water cautiously, "Don''t tell me that the old mansion of one of the 28 pureblood families has no defences."


    "Listen to me, don''t interrupt me, time is limited! You''ll find it, I''m sure you can do it, but you''ll need something that is unique to the noble House of Black ... Oh, Dumbledore! When did you get back?"


    Felix turned back, and Dumbledore had appeared at the First-floor railing, standing expressionless with two books in his arms. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Very early, at the time, you acknowledged Sirius Black as your great-grandson." Dumbledore walked down the steps, he walked against the light, so that his eyes could not be seen, only his powerful voice could be heard: "Phineas, the ... man whom you discussed has committed an unforgivable crime."


    The portrait of Headmaster Black shouted, "Dumbledore, he is the last descendant of the Black family!"


    But Dumbledore also raised the volume: "... betrayed his best friend, he also killed thirteen people, one of which was also his best friend who he spent ten years with. Do you know how he ended up, Phineas? The crew at the scene could only find one of Peter''s fingers and bloodstained pieces of clothing."


    The old man walked towards the portrait and said in an icy tone, his every wrinkle holding anger. "And now he has broken out of prison, under the fantasy of helping his old master get his power back, would not hesitate to kill his godson as godfather!"


    There is silence in the Headmaster''s office.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 181: Analysis

    Godson and Godfather! Felix stood quietly on the sidelines, as his mind worked at high speed.


    Dumbledore''s words were obviously directing, talking about Harry Potter and Sirius Black.


    There is still such a layer of relationship between the two, which he never expected.


    And Sirius is accused as Voldemort''s minion, who betrayed his best friend, that is, Harry''s father.


    Felix thought of an organization that was active in wartime - the Order of the Phoenix. A secret organization founded by Dumbledore to resist Voldemort, it aided the Ministry of Magic in the war period against Voldemort and the Death Eaters.


    The Order of the Phoenix is not well known, and since 1981, Voldemort disappeared, the war also ended after that. So it was disbanded.


    Felix knew the name because he knew Professor Tofty of the Wizarding Examinations Authority - an expert in ancient runes - and Felix used to visit him.


    Professor Tofty had mentioned the organization in casual conversation, praising the valour and fearlessness of the members of the Order of the Phoenix, though he did not specify the name.


    But Felix speculated that at least Harry''s parents, Sirius, and that Peter, should be members of the Order of the Phoenix.


    No wonder ... no wonder Dumbledore became so angry.


    Best friends at school, close war buddies after graduation, as well as the bonds of kinship, forged because of Harry''s birth, this should have been an unbreakable bond of friendship.


    But Sirius Black chose to betray.


    And what role does Snape play? With the information Felix found out when he was at school, after the war, Snape was accused of being a Death Eater, but Dumbledore vouched for him in the name of being undercover and did not let him face the Wizengamot trial.


    Otherwise, Hogwarts would not have such a poisonous professor.


    ''So, Severus would also have been a member of the Order of the Phoenix.''


    Felix didn''t know much about his House Head''s experiences when he was at school, but he did at least know that the relationship between Snape and the Potters was complicated: he was an old friend of Harry''s mother - perhaps with a touch of adoration - but a nemesis of Harry''s father.


    They would not have fought whenever they had met together, would they?


    ...


    "Felix," Dumbledore turned his head, his azure gaze settled on him through the lenses, "you''re a professor at the school, and I don''t want to see you doing the wrong thing."


    Felix blinked, "Headmaster, I don''t need you to tell me, I will also put the safety of my students first. Besides, I have a good relationship with Mr. Potter and don''t want to see anything happen to him, and I trained him over the summer."


    "Ah, I''ve heard Filius mention this," Dumbledore said, "he said you''ve done quite a bit of research on accidental magic bursts of young wizards ..."


    "Not really a research, just experienced."


    Dumbledore''s expression became gentle, not as sharp and intense as it had been at first.


    He said in a tone of discussing magic: "Can you tell us, Felix? Please forgive this old man''s insatiable curiosity."


    "It goes back to two weeks ago ... when I happened to run into Potter in Diagon Alley and noticed the active magic from him, I judged that he had recently experienced an accidental magic burst, and after asking about it, that was indeed the case."


    "You are amazingly perceptive about magic, Felix."


    "Thank you, Professor Dumbledore. After that, I ..."


    "I do. ..."


    The tense mood in the office gradually eased.


    Dumbledore reverted to a gentle old man, discussing interestedly with Felix the effects of the accidental magic burst and giving his insights without mincing words.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, I was thinking about whether it is possible to artificially change the level of activity of one''s magic, which would bring obvious benefits."


    "That is an interesting thought, but it must be done with caution, Felix, any study of magic itself could easily result in a serious accident."


    As he walked out of the Headmaster''s office, Felix had two books in his hands.


    This is the books Nicolas Flamel entrusted to Dumbledore to forward, which is one of the drawbacks of communication between the two through photographs, Nicolas Flamel lived in the safe house all year round, rarely went out, and the owl also simply can not find him.


    And at the moment Felix and his acquaintance, obviously not to the extent of paying a visit to him.


    He is not surprised, feelings are accumulated little by little, and he is not a Gold-Galleon, so he will not be able to gain the trust and liking of everyone at once.


    He tucked the two books into the ring and returned to his office. As he sat on the couch, he pondered the words of the portrait of Headmaster Phineas Black.


    12 Grimmauld Place, the location of the old Black family house.


    Although there is only such a name without any subsidiary information, it is enough for Felix.


    This is clearly a common naming pattern for locations, and he could start with that.


    After circling a general area, all that remained is a little probing. Given time, he could dig out this hidden abode.


    It is not difficult, Phineas Black''s portrait said he could do it, and Felix thought so too. S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The difficulty lies in cracking the enchantment on there.


    For these pure-blooded families, all kinds of complex and even unimaginable protective measures must have been imposed on their old mansion, and the whole process of warding can often last for tens of centuries and generations to complete.


    Moreover, if the old mansion is imposed with the Fidelius Charm, then there is really nothing he can do.


    But according to Phineas Black, he also has a portrait in the old Black mansion, which means he knows enough about the old mansion, in order to let Felix rescue the last bloodline of the Black family, he is not going to let Felix do futile work.


    Besides, it''s not a safe house, and it''s too much trouble to use the Fidelius Charm.


    Another key clue provided by Headmaster Phineas Black is the necessity of using ''something unique to the noble Black family'', what could that be?


    He already had some guesses.


    In the Thinking Room.


    Felix sat on the sofa, he reached out and beckoned a thick book, the ''Pure-Blood Directory'' written by Cantankerus Nott (presumed), which contained information about the so-called ''Sacred Twenty-Eight''.


    He flipped to the section about the Black family, briskly skimmed through a series of lists of family members and their deeds.


    His eyes fell on the Black family crest, which has a French phrase - ''Always Pure''.


    He smiled.


    For the noble, ever-pure Black family, what could be qualified as exclusive?


    Only the bloodline.


    All he had to do is to get Sirius Black''s blood, and he could enter the old Black family house and get a peek at the hidden books within ...


    Felix came out of the thinking room and looked at the night sky of Hogwarts, his eyes blending into the darkness.


    Sirius, where the hell are you?

 Chapter 182: Grimmauld Square

    September 1. Felix woke up early and made his way back to London via Diagon Alley transit.


    He wanted to do some shopping for the new school year.


    In addition to updating his film archive, he bought the latest books in bulk, as well as clothes, but most importantly, he made his way to a map store.


    It is a small, very old-fashioned store, with antique-looking brown shelves with a wide variety and assortment of maps.


    Both local London maps and maps of the British Isles, with variations - aerial views, tourist maps, road maps ...


    As Felix prepared to buy a thick atlas, he asked the clerk incidentally, "Have you ever heard of Grimmauld Place?"


    The clerk pushed up his specs up and looked up over a colourful atlas in front of him ...


    So thirty minutes later, he is standing in a run-down neighbourhood in old London. S?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The houses here were all quite old, with peeling wall skins revealing large areas of unsightly grey, and frankly, the old Black family home hidden here is something he would have never thought of.


    He wandered around the perimeter, some houses were still occupied, but some were visibly abandoned - tons of rubbish was piled up in front of the door, and windows were smashed.


    On one of the more deserted lawns, his eyes fell on a house that bore the house number, 11 Grimmauld Place.


    He looked at both sides, number 10 on the left and number 13 on the right.


    "Interesting, even the wizard''s vision is being isolated?"


    Felix stood still and kept examining everything.


    An old woman walked slowly over carrying a cloth bag, "Young man, what are you doing here?"


    "Visiting a pen pal, ma''am. The address given is not quite clear, I''m trying to identify it." Felix excused himself.


    "I''ve lived here for over fifty years since birth ... maybe I can help you, so tell me about it."


    "Uh, Grimmauld Place in old west London, the door number is blurry at the back, I''m guessing it''s number 12." Felix looked somewhat helplessly at the enthusiastic old woman.


    "Number 12? That''s not possible, young man, there is no such a house." The old woman raised her voice, "You must have wrongly remembered ... either that or your friend played a bad joke on you."


    "I find it strange too," Felix pointed to the house in front of him, "Here is number 11, over there is number 13, that said, there is no number 12 ... by chance"


    The old woman let out a hearty laugh: "... You''re not the only one who has this suspicion." She winked, lowered her voice, and said, "It was a mistake. I overheard my grandmother, oh, she heard it from someone else too, that the people who built the house back then were a bunch of confused people, and the workers finished their job, which, in present-day terms, just wasn''t too bad. But they put up the wrong door number, and when the city hall inspected it, they didn''t find anything strange, and the mistake was just left intact."


    "I have the impression that there have been several instances of people complaining back over the years, but nothing has changed. As you know, this place is not valued at all, maybe in another decade or so, it will be demolished in the name of being an eyesore ... Anyway, I will not give my consent to it, nor will my grandson - he is only two years old, but there is a saying about how? Education has to be done before it''s too late, there are always traditions to keep alive." She tilted her head and said wryly.


    The old woman is rather talkative, and from her, Felix also knows some not-so-substantial legends.


    For example, "12 Grimmauld Place is real, it''s a haunted house." Or, "The workers back then did not put up the wrong door sign, a nobleman bought the place, but then the house disappeared ..."


    Felix is very interested in these legends, from time to time a few sighs of admiration, so that the old woman look at him with more satisfaction, " the young people like you who know how to respect the elderly are not seen much, like that house next to me, in the middle of the night still playing the music, noisy people do not rest, I knocked on the door several times to no avail."


    Felix handed her a small card, and for a moment, the old woman seemed to see a golden light flashing across the surface of the card, though it could have been the sunlight being reflected.


    "Ma''am, you can write a sticky note on it and slip it along the door to the family, warning them to be aware of the feelings of the others. Well, better still, include a police number."


    "Will it work?" The old woman took the card with scepticism, " People on our side are not very well-mannered."


    "Try it, it can''t get any worse."


    After declining her invitation, Felix cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and stood quietly in place.


    A few people walked by from time to time on the block, but no one paid any attention to him.


    Near noon, he pulled out his wand and swiped it over, pushing away layers of mist, and his body seemed to be squeezed into the air.


    His figure disappeared.


    In a gap, Felix moved forward with some effort, but immediately he got blocked by a wall of air, a very sophisticated magic barrier.


    Then he heard an ear-piercing shriek, which sounded so harsh that Felix couldn''t help but wince, and after a few seconds he got repelled by a great force and stood again on the lawn of Grimmauld Square.


    "There''s someone in there?"


    Felix wondered, ''Headmaster Black didn''t mention this ...'' but on second thought, he thought it could be a house elf.


    After a moment of hesitation, Felix chose to leave. He could indeed force his way in again and break the barrier with his superior attainment in magic, but this could last for an hour or two, or even a day.


    If there is someone inside, whether it is a wizard or a house-elf, they will not remain motionless in the face of his attack.


    ''''At least I know about this place.''''


    Felix took a deep look and his figure disappeared.


    ...


    Meanwhile, the Hogwarts Express.


    "Did you see that, Harry? Malfoy is a wimp, he slipped away when he saw a professor around, so in line with their family tradition!" Ron said slightly meanly, but he couldn''t be blamed for that, since Malfoy only just mocked his family.


    "Ron," Hermione said pointedly, pointing to the professor, who slumped over the small table on one side. "Watch out ...."


    The trio glanced over at the wayward professor, who seemed asleep. They continued to talk but lowered their voices considerably.


    "I''m serious. If he ever taunts and makes fun of my family again, I''m going to grab his head - Harry, what''s wrong with you?" Ron asked, looking at Harry.


    "What?"


    "You''re so calm, even when Malfoy is around. You just draw your wand so naturally and look at Malfoy like he''s a caterpillar or something."


    "I feel that way too, Harry," Hermione said seriously.


    Harry scratched his head: "Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I''ve got stronger? When Malfoy provoked us at the time, I surprisingly did not feel too angry, like watching a show. It''s strange ..."


    He looked at Ron and Hermione, said in an uncertain tone: "I think it may be because even if they really fight, I can easily win. I predicted that outcome in advance."


    Ron let out an odd yelp, "That''s so cool, man!"


    "Keep your voice down, Ron -" Hermione reminded him.


    But he didn''t even notice and said excitedly, "Tell us more about the details of Professor Hap''s special training session, Harry! I''m so jealous!"


    Harry repeated helplessly, "Honestly, it wasn''t a pleasant experience, I don''t even know how I lasted, but Professor Hap said that opportunity is hard to come by ..."


    He began to talk, Ron and Hermione stared at him with rapt attention.


    No one noticed that the professor, who is quietly asleep on the side, twitched slightly.

 Chapter 183: Remus Lupin

    "Merlin''s socks! Your disarming charm actually reached level four, and you until now didn''t disclose it to us!" Ron''s mouth opened wide in surprise: "Is that true? I mean - that graduate who is preparing to become an Auror, his disarming charm is only about level two." Harry pinned it all on accidental magic, "Professor Hap said it would make my magic active, which made ... it makes me learn spells a lot faster."


    Ron said with a look of anticipation, "If only I could also experience an accidental magic."


    "Ron, Professor Hap said that accidental magic is a product of extreme emotions, and it usually happens before the young wizards enrol in school. By the time we enter Hogwarts and learn how to master our own magic, it pretty much disappears."


    Hermione said with a twinkle in her eye, "Just like Harry, his case is rare. It''s probably because that aunt insulted his parents first - oh, sorry, Harry."


    "It''s nothing," Harry said, but Hermione still looked at him with an apologetic expression.


    "I know~ Let me dream for a bit, alright?" Ron seemed to have thought of something and suddenly said excitedly, "Besides, it''s not out of the question? Once or twice during the summer, when Percy showed off his prefect badge to me, I had the thought of blowing it up."


    "There shouldn''t be much difference between blowing it up and bloating it up, right? It could be that I just didn''t have intense enough emotions at the time." Ron speculated out of place, thinking it would be a shortcut to learning.


    Hermione stared at him, and even Harry looked rather speechless.


    "But having said that," Harry looked at Ron thoughtfully, "I do feel more comfortable with the disarming charm, with other spells, it feels less interesting."


    Ron looked at him in disbelief, "It''s not because you''ve spent the most time on disarming charm, huh?"


    Harry explained, " Well, it''s a feeling! It''s just, it''s just ..." he waved his hand, "Well, I''m not sure, it could really been an illusion." He said with some frustration.


    On the side, Hermione gave theoretical support: "Harry, it''s not impossible - there are always some little wizards who learn specific spells faster."


    "What book did you read that in?" Harry asked with interest, maybe he could put that idea into a thesis?


    The thought of a thesis gave him a bit of a headache, he had spoken in the heat of the moment and hadn''t considered the consequences of it at all.


    Although he had taken a bunch of miscellaneous notes during the special training, how to turn those into a decent thesis, he didn''t have half a clue - for some reason he did not feel like messing it up.


    Hermione gave the answer, and he wondered something different, she narrowed her eyes and said merrily, with her cat in her embrace: "Remember the homework assigned in dueling class, those tables? I helped Professor Hap organize some of them, and he made that observation then, but ..."


    She showed a helpless expression: "The sample is too small, many of the data handed in are made up, I can see it at a glance!"


    Ron''s eyes suddenly strayed, and Harry lowered his head sheepishly.


    Hermione puffed up and looked at the two, those false data has a share of their credit.


    At that moment, a hoarse, worn-out voice intervened in their conversation.


    "Excuse me--"


    The three looked over to the small table in some alarm; the professor seemed to have just woken up from a nap, and his face looked as downcast as his patched robe and badly worn suitcase.


    But his eyes were bright and sincere, and this professor said gently, "I just overheard some of your conversations without the intention, but I did become curious."


    "Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked in a small voice.


    "Yes, my name is Remus Lupin," Lupin said with a smile, "and you saw the sign on my trunk? That''s perceptive, I''d have given you extra credit if it had been in class."


    "Remus Lupin?" Hermione let out a short squeal, startling the large ginger cat in her arms, which suddenly jumped out and stood in the aisle, looking reproachfully at its owner.


    "Oh, I''m sorry, Crookshanks." The little witch said.


    "Get it under control, don''t let it find Scabbers!" Ron covered his breast pocket, where a lump protruded from the spot where his pet fat rat, Scabbers, holed in.


    "You know me?" Lupin asked.


    "No, not really." She said dryly, hastily lowering her head and picking up the big cat.


    Hermione''s attitude made Harry and Ron feel strange, but there is an outsider, the two tacitly did not ask. S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Lupin also did not probe deeper, he looked at them with a smile: "I am your professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class, only for one year, a deal with Dumbledore."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other as they mentally assessed the professor''s true level. Frankly, just from the appearance, it really does not provide confidence.


    Lupin looked at the three gently, especially his gaze lingered on Harry for a moment, and then said, "I have been away from school for fifteen whole years, and many memories got faded, for example, I am not quite sure about the Professor Hap ... as you guys called him."


    Harry and Ron gaze shifted towards Hermione, in this area, she would never let people down.


    Sure enough, Hermione said under her breath, "Felix Hap, a very good wizard, graduated from Slytherin House, currently teaching ancient runes, while achieving extraordinary attainments in the field of Muggle studies, in which he has extraordinary influence."


    "And he''s only graduated three, no, four years ago now," Harry added.


    "What a young man." Lupin sighed in admiration as he switched the topic and asked, "I heard you mention special training, is this Professor Hap very close to you, Harry?"


    "You know me?" Harry subconsciously stroked his forehead locks, where there is a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, by which many people recognize him.


    "I knew your father," Lupin said briefly.


    Harry isn''t too happy with that answer, but he nevertheless said, "Professor Hap is very kind as well, gentle and nice, although he only teaches classes from the third year, some of the first and second-year students have received help from him."


    He is referring to the fact that during the chamber of secret attack, the school was on edge and many people approached the professors for psychological comfort. And among them, Professor Hap had a very high rating.


    Lupin thought for a moment and said, "You guys just mentioned that he has only graduated four years ago, so his head is ... Severus Snape?"


    "- is Snape." Harry finished the following closely, then looked at Lupin somewhat smilingly, he did not mention the honorific.


    Lupin did not have a reaction, he looked far away and fell into deep thought.


    Outside the rain fell more heavily, the weather became dark, the train also slowed down.


    "Are we getting there?"


    "No, it''s still early!" Professor Lupin drew his wand, Harry followed and stood up.


    The lights on the train went out abruptly, and people looked outside.


    A layer of frost crept up the windows.


    A man stumbled in through the door and smashed straight into where Ron stood, causing him to let out a cry of pain, and the sound of panicked breathing came from across the room.


    "What''s happening? Ouch! Is that you, Neville?"


    "Yes, it''s me, it''s dark outside all of a sudden, do you know what''s happening?"


    More people poured in, and they talked in a jumble of noisy conversations.


    "Is Ron there? I''m looking for Ron."


    "I''m here, Ginny!"


    "Oops, that''s my face."


    "Who are you?"


    "My name is Neville, Neville Longbottom ..."


    "Quiet!" Lupin said loudly, raising his wand above his head, and light poured out from the tip of his wand, illuminating a flustered face.


    The light illuminated his tired, gray face, but the presence of a grown-up wizard reassured everyone.


    They heard Lupin saying, "Stay where you are, I''m going out to check." He pulled open the door and went out into the hallway.


    Harry thought about it and followed him out.


    "Harry?" Hermione exclaimed anxiously.


    "I''ll see if I can help." Harry walked through the compartment door and followed Lupin.


    A chill swept over them and Lupin quickly backed away, "Go back, Harry!"


    But Harry didn''t hear it, his entire vision occupied by a black-cloaked, hooded thing floating in midair, a rotting, decaying, greying hand poking out of the cloak, followed by a chill so intense he felt his lungs freeze, and he couldn''t breathe at all.


    A distant female voice chimed in, a terrible, frightened, pleading voice.


    "I want to help her!"


    He didn''t know why he had that thought, but it was so intense that even before he was about to lose consciousness, he made a subconscious attempt to respond.


    A dazzling flash of red light illuminated the entire train.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 184: Year Three

    "Harry! Harry! Are you okay?" Someone patting his face. Harry opened his eyes. Everything went back to normal - the train continued to move, and the lights remained on. He sat up from his seat, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and stared blankly at the interior of the compartment.


    Ron and Hermione stood closest to him, Neville looking at him with a worried face, and Ginny curled up in the corner.


    Lupin pulled a bar of chocolates out of his pocket and broke it up to share with everyone.


    "Here''s yours, Harry. Also, very excellent disarming charm."


    Harry took a chunk of chocolate, and he suddenly asked, "Did I pass out ... No, the woman - was she saved?"


    "Who?" Lupin asked casually. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s when that weird hooded freak came out, there was a woman, I think she was an adult by the sound of her voice, she ..." Harry suddenly stuttered, If there is an adult woman on the train, and that would be the witch pushing the food cart.


    But that''s not the voice he heard.


    Lupin''s hand froze in place as he grunted and left after saying, "I''m going to have a word with the driver, sorry ..." and left in a hurry.


    The door slammed shut.


    "Harry?" Hermione looked at him worriedly.


    He forced himself to calm down, sat back in his seat, took a bite of chocolate, a warmth spread throughout his body, which made him feel happy again.


    "Can anyone tell me what just happened?" Harry asked.


    "We felt cold, as if we had fallen into a hole through the ice. Then we saw your charm, a blinding red light ... the cold subsided a bit, then you fell to the ground and Professor Lupin spoke to that thing: that there is no Sirius Black hiding here, he raised his wand and sent out a silvery-white light, then the cold wave subsided completely, and the train continued to move." Hermione described what she saw.


    Harry chewed his chocolate in silence, he didn''t really care much about this, he just wanted to get a hint about the female voice from the others, but the result disappointed him.


    Everyone looked uncomfortable, Ginny whimpered and sobbed, and Neville mumbled from the sidelines, "It''s horrible, I recalled the worst memories."


    "It''s like all the happiness left you." Ron chimed in, but he gave Harry a punch in the arm, "That''s a great spell you got there, Harry! With that, we can teach Malfoy a lesson, the thought of him being sent flying out and rolling around makes me feel happy again."


    "Not exactly doing that ...," Harry shook his head as he regained his composure. "What the heck was that cloaked monster?"


    "I guess it''s a dementor, I''ve seen something like that in comic books, it''s like a rotten piece of cloth with no bones." Ron described.


    Harry looked at Hermione, of the three, Ron is most familiar with the wizarding world, but his knowledge is very shallow, while Hermione''s knowledge, though mostly from books, can provide more accurate details.


    Hermione explained, "Dementors are the guards responsible for guarding Azkaban, they feed on positive human emotions - especially happy ones, normal spells are ineffective against them, and the only known useful spell against it is Patronus Charm."


    "Patronus? You mean Professor Hap''s rain swallow and Professor McGonagall''s cat?" Harry asked.


    "That''s right."


    "That''s right."


    Hermione and Ron said respectively, Hermione had seen the Rain Swallow Patronus, Ron had seen the Cat Patronus, and Harry is no stranger to either.


    No one spoke anything for the next ten minutes or so, and after ten minutes, the train stopped.


    However, they didn''t wait for Professor Lupin, "Come on, he will remember to get his luggage."


    The great hall.


    Hagrid dressed formally, in a large suit, his hair and beard well-groomed, "How do I look, Felix?"


    "... great."


    Hagrid''s eyes whirled with tears as he swapped the umbrella to the left hand and pulled a dirty handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the corners of his eyes. "It''s great ... I''ve been looking forward to this day."


    He''s not only going to be appointed as a professor of Care of Magical Creatures, but also will be cleared of any infamy - Dumbledore submitted a complete chain of evidence, from the incident in the chamber of secret, about the killer, as well as Myrtle''s personal testimony, the Ministry of Magic has no reason to bar him, they had to revoke the ban from fifty years ago.


    Hagrid was "suspected of killing Myrtle", and got subject to two punishments: one being expelled from school and the other being having his wand broken, and even some people suggested that he should be sent to Azkaban, because of Dumbledore''s good grace he was spared.


    And now that the ban is lifted, he can use his wand openly.


    Felix looked at the large red umbrella in Hagrid''s hand, " is your wand hidden there? I''ve wanted to say it for a long time, very good hidden spot."


    Hagrid raised his hand, "It was Dumbledore who fixed it for me, I''ve always had scruples, you know ... in theory, my wand has been snapped off by the Ministry of Magic, so..."


    Felix looked at him with a peculiar expression, and he lightly asked, "Dumbledore fixed your wand? The one that was broken by the Ministry of Magic?"


    "He''s quite the all-rounder, isn''t he?" Hagrid said happily.


    "Yeah, right." Felix agreed.


    After a while, Hagrid walked out of the great hall to greet the new students, and the professors made their final preparations. Professor McGonagall is communicating with one of the kitchen house-elves about the dinner.


    "It''s all finished, Professor."


    "Very well, good work, guys."


    It didn''t take long for a rush of young wizards from second through seventh years to come in, and the great hall buzzed with the sound of a crowd that Felix felt as if there were hundreds of baboons clamouring with excitement.


    But then his eyes fell on a male wizard -


    He wore a tattered robe with patches around the edges that hinted at the owner''s poverty; he looked exhausted, probably having just got rid of a troublesome event; his face looked young, but his brown hair is already laced with gray ...


    Professor McGonagall walked up to the male wizard, welcomed him warmly, and led him to the Faculty table.


    An intense look of hatred fell on the male wizard, and Felix saw in the afterglow that the silver fork in Snape''s hand bent into a half fold.


    Professor McGonagall introduced the other professors to the male wizard, though she deliberately avoided Snape.


    Soon, she came to Felix.


    "Felix, this is Remus Lupin, a former student of mine, he is a very friendly and gentle person, you will get along well." Professor McGonagall said.


    Felix and Lupin looked at each other, a hint of inquiry flashed in both of their eyes.


    Felix curled his mouth as he extended his hand, "Hello, Professor Lupin, I heard about you before from Professor McGonagall, you must be her most outstanding student?"


    Lupin also extended his hand, "I''m just the most inconspicuous one. On the contrary, I heard a lot of rumours about Professor Hap all the way on the train ..."


    "I hope it''s not some weird talk."


    "No, how could it be? I''m a little jealous of all the praise they gave you."


    The two shook hands together until Lupin voluntarily let go of his hand.


    Soon, Hagrid arrived with the first-year students, who looked like wet chickens. To Felix''s surprise, it is not Professor McGonagall who presided over the sorting ceremony, and he looked around and did not catch a glimpse of her.


    Professor Flitwick carried the Sorting Hat and a roll of parchment, with a small round stool floating behind him.


    He passed the freshmen one by one, and with a wave of his wand, they found their wet clothes becoming dry and comfortable as if they had been basked in the midday sun.


    "Form a line and follow me."


    One by one, the young wizards came forward in the order of their last names and waited for the sorting, but first, they were greeted by a song crafted by the Sorting Hat, and the young freshmen watched in awe as the Hat sang passionately.


    This is perhaps the most impressive thing Hogwarts has shown them so far.


    The Sorting began-


    "Newman Balk."


    "Gryffindor!"


    "Dennis Creevey."


    "Gryffindor!"


    "Oliver Dana."


    "Hufflepuff!"


    "Grantham Foley."


    "Ravenclaw!"


    "Astoria Greengrass."


    "Slytherin!"


    ...


    At the end of the Sorting Ceremony, Felix noticed Harry and Hermione sneaking through the corner to the Gryffindor table, and Professor McGonagall appeared a little later.


    Headmaster Dumbledore then rose to give his speech, and his welcome speech is as succinct as ever.


    After moving on to the main topic, he gravely explained the presence of the Dementors, "They will be stationed at all entrances of the school for official duty of Ministry of Magic, and no one is allowed to leave the school without permission during their stay."


    "The Dementors do not accept any excuses or deceptions - this includes invisibility cloak - and they cannot distinguish between legitimate reasons and excuses, so do not give them the opportunity to harm you. Head of the houses, as well as perfects, you need to make sure that no students clash with the dementors."


    When the young wizards had finished digesting this information, Dumbledore merrily introduced the two new professors, who were, in his words -


    The former being " Professor Lupin, who has graciously filled the vacancy of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class," and the latter being "Rubeus Hagrid, who, in addition to his duties as a forbidden forest guard, also holds the position of Professor of Care of Magical Creatures."


    At the same time, Dumbledore expressed his sympathy, and apologies for the injustice suffered by Hagrid, "For half a century, we have ignored his point, it is time to correct this mistake."


    Hagrid stood up and waved his hand excitedly, and from his red umbrella flew a series of red sparks, to which the students responded with enthusiasm, with particularly enthusiastic applause from the Gryffindor table.


    "We should have known better!" Ron yelled, pounding the table hard, "Who else would have let us get a book that bites?"


    After the dinner concluded, the students strode out of the great hall, along with the sound of lively discussion.

 Chapter 185: New Semester

    The next day, when Felix eating in the great hall, can still hear the young wizards discussing various gossip. "Harry fought the dementors and kept them out of the coach. The red light then covered everywhere, I saw it from two aisles away."


    "Yeah, it was unbelievable!"


    Hufflepuff student Ernest Macmillan said inquisitively, "It''s nothing strange, you know, Potter defeated the You-Know-Who as a baby, when I first enrolled I didn''t understand the so-called ''saviour'' and he was so different, short, a malnourished boy, the grades are sloppy ..."


    He first said a bunch of shortcomings, then dramatically paused for a moment, his eyes fixed on both of his companions: "And now look at that! He''s finally exposed himself!"


    " Ohhhhhh, so that''s how it is." His two friends showed a look of realization.


    Felix had the urge to laugh as he finished his pie in three or two bites and went to the Ancient Rune classroom early to look through his class schedule for this year.


    There are no more than ten third-year wizards who didn''t actually take his class, which somehow made his elective class a required one.


    Professor McGonagall spent a lot of time trying to fit Ancient Rune into the class schedule.


    In the end, the third-year Ancient Rune class got scheduled in the last section of the school day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it ended half an hour later than normal.


    Soon the seventh years arrived one by one.


    Percy, Penelope, Wood, Geoffrey, and that Ravenclaw girl who preferred to cuddle a small skeleton during the magic rune practical in the last school year ...


    Among these people, Felix saw a figure that is not supposed to be here - Marcus Flint.


    He graduated in June this year, and now reappeared in the ancient rune classroom. There can be only one reason: he, repeating a grade.


    Last school year his two elective courses - care of magical creatures class and ancient rune class - he failed all the way to zero in the exam, not even passing a single one. It is really a shame for pure blood, and his father ran around the school board to let him repeat a grade.


    "Professor." The tall Marcus saw Felix waving at him, his whole face scrunched up into a frown, and he barely moved to him step by step.


    Everyone else is watching the fun, especially Oliver Wood, who is all red with excitement, he and Marcus have been at odds for a long time, the two are the captains of the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch teams respectively, and have clashed a lot in private.


    "You ..." Felix looked at Marcus, for a moment he is a bit speechless, what to say? Well, at least his grade in ancient rune is much better than his grade in care of magical creatures class, which at least shows that he put more thought into his class. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    If he hadn''t relaxed the course selection requirements last year, wouldn''t Marcus have been able to graduate with only one course?


    Felix didn''t really care about this conjecture.


    He rummaged around down the podium, then took out a piece of parchment and handed it to Marcus. "This is the parchment you used to answer the questions, I didn''t erase your data in the main sheet, I kept all your previous wrong questions there."


    Marcus took it, and his mouth slurred as if he wanted to say thank you, only to choke on his saliva.


    "Go ahead, I''ll check it regularly, and if your grades aren''t up to par, I''ll stop all your other activities-" Felix looked at him calmly, "including Quidditch."


    "Yes, Professor," Marcus said with a sad face.


    In contrast, Wood, who seemed to be having an early holiday, gave a loud whistle.


    Felix glanced at him, "You too, Wood. You and Flint have the same treatment."


    And so a second bitter face appeared in this classroom.


    A group of students snickered.


    Soon, the class officially started. Felix looked at the students below the stage: "You had a relatively easy time during that school year last year, and I am happy to let you feel the mysteries of ancient runes."


    The male and female wizards off the stage had serious faces, and usually, such words were followed by a ''but''.


    "But, this is your last year at Hogwarts - Wood, don''t stare at Flint and smirk - as I continue, you are facing your ultimate wizard exam, and I don''t need to tell you how important this exam is. "


    "Next, I will elaborate our study plan for this academic year ..."


    During the questioning session at the end of the class, Penelope Clearwater raised her hand and asked, "Professor, do we still have magic rune practicals this year?"


    "Yes, Professor. We smashed the little skeleton, chased away the black raven, defeated the golem, cracked the Devil''s Snare trap, and managed to gather four keys last school year. But there''s still a lot of ground left to explore." The Ravenclaw girl next to her said with her fingers crossed.


    Geoffrey, the Slytherin''s Head of Grade, also calmly suggested, "Professor, I think we can decide on the Practical class according to the grades."


    Wood immediately glared at him, and even Marcus looked at him with an expression that seemed not quite right.


    Felix thought about it, " Well, I will open that classroom on the weekend for interested students to explore. But in lectures, you should not expect much."


    The class ended hurriedly, and the students walked out in a stream.


    "Professor Hap?" Percy stood in front of Felix.


    "Can I help you, Weasley?"


    Percy said somewhat hesitantly, "Yes, my brothers ... are Fred and George, and they''re in fifth grade now."


    Felix waited quietly for the following words.


    "Uh, it''s a crucial year, as you know, OWLs Exam ... the family hopes, they can put more thought into their studies and get two more certificates."


    "Weasley, you can be blunter."


    Percy''s breathing stalled as he gathered his courage and said, "I, I heard that you are very supportive of their playful behaviour, and they have now become more and more ... enthusiastic, I hope you can persuade them."


    Felix looked at him and said softly, "Weasley, perhaps you were hoping that I would not offer them help?"


    Percy said with difficulty, "That''s the thought."


    There is silence in the empty classroom as Felix taps his fingertips on the table with a ta-da sound.


    Halfway through, Felix looked up, "I can''t make decisions for them, Weasley."


    "It should be clear to you that even without my help, they will put their minds to it, and I can''t just tie them up or ... cast a Confundus Charm, right?"


    Percy''s face went pale and his lips stammered.


    "However, I do have an idea," Felix said slowly.


    "What is it?"


    "You join them."


    "You''re kidding!" Percy''s eyes widened, "I don''t even fancy their pranking gadgets ..."


    "No, not for you to study along with them, I mean, get to know them. Learn what they are doing, what they are studying, where they are spending their time, and why they are enjoying doing it. When you know everything about them, you can always find the right way to ..."


    Felix looked at him, "I hear you''re planning to get into the Ministry of Magic? It might be a meaningful practice, and you could write a thesis on it."


    Percy left thoughtfully.


    At the other end, Harry looked furious as Hermione took small steps to catch up with him.


    "Harry, I didn''t mean to keep this from you either."


    "Hermione, you already knew that my dad knew Professor Lupin, Sirius Black! And that Peter Pettigrew! You knew everything, and you didn''t tell me a thing. I''m telling you - Huh, where are you? Hermione?"


    Turning around a corridor, Harry glanced back to say a few more words, only to have Hermione''s figure magically disappear.


    He and Ron looked at each other, and as they were doing so, Hermione arrived from another side path, tucking a thin golden chain into her chest.


    "Hermione, I''m not done yet--"


    Hermione looked impatient: " What are you talking about, we are late for Transfiguration class, hurry up."


    She hurried forward and took a dozen steps before finding them still frozen in place, she said with a serious expression: "What are you waiting for!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 186: Old Gossips

    Hermione''s odd behaviour made Harry freeze for a moment, unable to maintain the expression on his face. He didn''t know whether to keep his temper up, but it might seem like he is being unreasonable?


    Ron took the opportunity to hug his shoulders, "Harry, we''ll talk about it over dinner, Hermione was right about one thing - we are indeed going to be late."


    Harry was distracted throughout Transfiguration class, still pondering where Hermione had got her information from, maybe Professor Hap? But their age doesn''t match up.


    He was thinking so deeply that he completely ignored the frequent glances he received from others.


    In the previous class, divination professor Sybill Trelawney, while explaining the shape of tea leaves, gave an omen of death that made all young wizards cringe - the big black dog that roamed the graveyard like a ghost.


    Her words deeply disturbed Harry, for he had seen the big black dog symbolizing death more than once - from the cover of the book "The Omen of Death" in the bookshop to what he saw in the shadows of Magnolia Crescent the day he left home.


    After the divination class ended in a hurry, Hermione, in order to refute Trelawney''s point of view, inadvertently said something to Harry, such as the fact that she already knew some information about his father, but kept quiet about it.


    This is the reason for Harry''s anger.


    At noon, the wizards flocked to the great hall to eat, Harry took some sausage and fried tomatoes, but he didn''t feel much appetite, as if he is filled with all kinds of worries.


    Hermione pushed him a small dish for dipping, "Harry, you heard what Professor McGonagall said, Trelawney predicts the death of a student every year, it''s her way of welcoming new classes."


    But Ron said worriedly, "You didn''t see a big black dog wandering around somewhere else, did you, Harry?"


    Harry''s stomach suddenly jerked, "No, I saw one," he said, "the night I left Dursley''s."


    Ron''s fork dropped and he looked terrified.


    But Harry is more concerned about other things, and he looked toward Hermione and asked in a stern tone, "You haven''t told me about my father."


    "Oh, uh ..." Hermione averted her eyes in some panic: "Okay." She took a deep breath, "Remember when we were detained by Professor Hap?"


    "Sure, it happened last school year." Harry struggled to search his memory, "We were suspicious that Professor Hap had something to do with the chamber attack, and followed him into the Forbidden Forest, and we were discovered. And we got a ten-point deduction, plus a full weekend of detention." He added, "With Malfoy."


    He wondered what this had to do with his father.


    Hermione looked at him, "It was the content of our detention, Harry. Professor Hap had brought a stack of old files from Professor McGonagall at the time for us to transcribe - it was about the list of student violations and the corresponding punishments."


    Harry recalled more details, and he remembered that Malfoy had been chattering beside him while transcribing the information.


    But he quickly realized the point of Hermione''s words and his eyes widened, "You saw my father''s name on it!"


    "More than that, Harry." Hermione said, "All four of them. I mean, the names I saw then were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew-" S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s why you looked so surprised when you heard the full name of Professor Lupin! So you knew it all along." Harry cleared up the confusion, which gave him a renewed appetite, and he stabbed a sausage and took a big bite. His eyes stayed fixed on Hermione, though.


    "That''s right." Hermione said, "In fact, it may be that the part I transcribed is the one from those years ... Anyway, I saw quite a lot of violations records."


    Harry stammered, "You mean, my father he ..."


    Hermione said softly, "Similar to the twins, but perhaps a little more active." She picked her words carefully, "Your father''s name is often mixed with Sirius Black, with the occasional addition of two other people. That means-"


    "They''re friends! And, my father is obviously on better terms with Sirius Black!" Harry hammered the table violently.


    He remembered the conversation he had overheard between the Weasleys on the eve of the school year. He hadn''t really felt much fear when he had learned that Sirius Black''s escaped from prison to target him.


    The fugitive had killed thirteen people with one spell, and it seemed reasonable that he should indeed be afraid, but Hogwarts should be the safest place to be, with Headmaster Dumbledore inside and Professor Hap who had a good relationship with him.


    The only thing that puzzled him is that Mr. Weasley had a private conversation with him before he got on the train the next day. In the conversation, Mr. Weasley made him swear that he would not actively seek out Black ...


    Why would he go to a man who wanted to kill him?


    But now it is all clear, that Black and his father were good friends, breaking the rules together, roaming the castle together, exploring the forbidden forest together ...


    It is hard to imagine that such friends would become enemies.


    ''Also, he is a Death Eater, war will make people go crazy, considering Voldemort!'' Harry thought to himself.


    Ron stared blankly at the two, especially Hermione, almost ten months had passed since that detention! She simply ate the whole thing up and didn''t let a single word out of her mouth.


    Hermione looked at Harry approvingly: "I thought so too, and ..." she said under her breath: "And I saw Severus Snape''s name too, and there are seven or eight records of them fighting with each other -- your father and Snape."


    Harry looked dumbfounded, and he couldn''t help but look over at the faculty table.


    A quarter of an hour ago.


    A similar thing was being talked about at the faculty table.


    Snape slowly and methodically stabbed a piece of potato and passed it to his mouth to chew slowly, "Felix, the new professor is not trustworthy, in fact -- he and the criminal on the run are close friends, went to school together."


    Felix looked up and said carelessly, "I''m not aware of that. Can you tell me more about that, Professor?"


    Snape glared at him, "What do you want to know?"


    "All you can say," Felix said.


    Snape looked at him with a disgusted expression, "Nothing much to say, Potter, Black, Lupin, and that Peter, they were near inseparable at school, loitering and getting into trouble all day."


    "Especially that Potter, arrogant and stupid, he trusted that traitor ... by mistake."


    "You guys had a bad relationship in school?"


    Snape''s expression stiffened, and he said slowly, "You certainly do pry quite a bit."


    Felix curled his mouth and said with a smile: "Just the obvious, after all, you and him are the best of that period. A lot of people can''t forget about you guys, like the Three Broomsticks'' boss lady.".


    "Stop prying into my business, Felix. I''m warning you. ..."


    "We''re on the same team, aren''t we, Head?" Felix changed his address, "But you always have to give me more information, and if it''s personal, then all I can say is sorry."


    After a long stare, Snape lifted his head slightly and said softly, "Personal grudge? When you see through Lupin''s true colours, you''ll be amazed, Felix. You can stay out of it, and I can capture Black all alone and enjoy the sweetness of revenge."


    "They got you? Professor, you wouldn''t have got your ass kicked, would you?" Felix inquired curiously.


    Snape''s eyes grew scary, and Felix mended the situation by saying, "Oh, of course not. At least it would have been equal, or else who did you experiment with that little vile jinx of yours, Professor?"


    Snape stood up sharply, the chair rubbed the floor with an ear-splitting sound. He subconsciously glanced at the long Gryffindor table, at the same time, Harry is also looking over, their eyes met.


    Harry''s surprised face has not faded, and Snape''s eyes were as deep as calm water in the lake.


    Half a second later, he waved his sleeve and left.

 Chapter 187: The Twins and Snapes Gossip

    After the afternoon class of fifth-year ancient runes, Felix held the twins back. "Professor, are there really seven kinds of Sneakoscopes?" Fred asked curiously.


    In that class just now, Felix made the same arrangement as the seventh year, explaining the learning plan for the whole school year as well as briefly reviewing the learning contents of the third and fourth years. At the end of the lesson, he mentioned that in addition to the golem, a new kind of artefact, the Sneakoscope, is additionally going to be introduced for this school year.


    Felix nodded and said, "It does exist, as you will see in the following class."


    He held it back because there is still one kind of Sneakoscope that is missing, and it is in a state of tweaking.


    The Ancient Alchemical Mysteries mentions seven ways to craft a Sneakoscope, but they all follow the route of alchemy, and what Felix has done in the meantime is to substitute some parts with rune circuits in it, keeping its function the same or even enhancing it.


    He happily tried, and if he could, he is prepared to spend most of the year on it - changing one alchemical creation into a runic artefact


    With Nicolas Flamel, a master alchemist, at his side, he has plenty of confidence in this.


    ...


    George asked, "Why are there seven kinds of Sneakoscope?"


    Fred said without thinking: "Perhaps to disguise the shape of the Sneakoscope? For example, it is usually a doorknob, once touched, it will scream loudly and chaotically."


    George followed his train of thought and said, "Kind of like our fake wand, or it could be the other way around, normally a Sneakoscope shape, but if you try to do something to it, it will shoot fireworks from the end and scamper all over the house ..."


    Fred smiled jokingly and said, "Very good thinking, George, what a charming little brain."


    George bowed, "You too, Mr. Weasley."


    "Ahem!" Felix coughed twice to stop their playfulness, "Seeing you all so happy, I can''t bear to tell you what''s ahead."


    The twins turned their heads to look at him at the same time.


    "Oh, don''t, Felix, we''re on the same team," Fred said without a second thought.


    Felix is amused, a comment he''s only been saying not long ago, "No respect for the professor, huh?"


    Fred raised his hands in a pleading gesture.


    But neither side cared, and Felix discovered early on that these two personalities were perfect for being friends, provided you had some authority in front of them, otherwise their habitual pranks would be enough of a headache.


    They were also unfit to be an assistant; Felix started with the idea of having someone to help him share his work, but he could hardly imagine the twins taking grading the assignments seriously. He even suspected that they might cast a vile jinx on some papers.


    For example, a Pimple Jinx is applied to assignments with a zero grade, so that the little wizard who doesn''t study properly may feel the malice from the ancient rune class assistant ...


    It is still quite interesting when you think about it, but it is something you can really only think about.


    Felix''s expression got serious: "Well, let''s get back to business. This is your OWLs year, how many exams are you confident you can pass?"


    "Ancient rune is no problem, if they change the exam content to the golem," Fred said with a big breath.


    Felix scowled, "This is not a joke. I will not refuse you to do research and may provide you some guidance after school, but you can''t pull down your grades too much either."


    The twins sighed, and Fred told the truth in a rare manner, "I guess I''ll pass four or five OWLs, or even less, what about you, George?"


    "We''re both at about the same level, but I think that he might be overly optimistic, and I consider three certificates to be a more reasonable number," George said with a stern face.


    Fred instantly raised his eyebrows and smiled.


    Felix shook his head, he couldn''t let them casually pull away from the topic, he said directly, "In order to prevent you from over-indulging, I specifically entrusted your brother, Percy Weasley, to take his time to watch you-"


    "What!"


    "Don''t, Professor!"


    The corners of Felix''s mouth curled up, "What''s wrong with that? I made a deal with him that he wouldn''t interfere with your research, at least not in the short term, and as far as I know, he''s got a very good track record and can give you guys some advice."


    Fred scowled, his eyes slanted to the side in a condescending pose - he mimicked Percy''s tone and said, "Fred! Put your prank gummies away, and if I ever see you give them to anyone else again, I''ll have you detained up, I''m serious!"


    Felix: "... Frankly, your gummies aren''t poisonous, are they?"


    "Of course not, Professor, we''ve done tests, and I was the first test subject," Fred said.


    "I was the second," George said.


    The twins softly talked to Felix for ten minutes, and seeing that they were about to be late, they rushed to leave. Before leaving, they did not forget to yell - s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Professor, we are not going to give up!"


    "That''s right, unless you retract this decision!"


    Felix looked at their backs with some headache, and at a certain moment, a thought popped into his head: ''Wasn''t Professor Snape looking at me the same way back then?


    ''''But I''m not that hopeless.'''' He returned to his office and spent some time finishing the improvement work on the last seventh Sneakoscope.


    Looking at the Sneakoscope of various shapes on his workbench, his mood inexplicably improved.


    "The number of ancient runes I have mastered now is over a thousand, when will this number become ten or twenty thousand?"


    "At that time, what will my understanding of magic will reach?"


    Felix imagined a moment, when fighting, the magic runes dazzled around him, and under his intention, they automatically converged into powerful ancient magic, others used incantations that they were best at, while he had completely abandoned his wand and raised his hand to attack endlessly.


    There is no escape, no avoidance, only tough resistance.


    " Thinking too much, there are not many people who can make me go all out now. I''m still mulling over the contents of my next exchange with Nicolas Flamel. His understanding of alchemy is completely beyond my imagination."


    "With the help of his perspective, I can stand at a higher level to examine alchemical creations and runic creations."


    "This will help me better understand the characteristics of magic runes."


    In the evening, when Felix walked out of his office and went to the great hall for dinner, he unexpectedly heard two pieces of gossip.


    One is that Hagrid''s first class had an accident and a student got injured. Felix asked carefully and relieved that the situation was not serious, the student''s wound carries a bit of foreign magic, with Madam Pomfrey''s craft, at most three days of recuperation he could be alive and kicking.


    He did not take it seriously, the former professor of the course caused a much more serious mess than this, Hagrid can at best receive a probationary punishment.


    The second thing that made him scratch his head is that the new professor taught the third-year students to resist the Boggart, a magical creature that can shape-shift according to one''s fear, in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.


    Boggart is not strong by nature, but it is surprisingly powerful against wizards with fatal weaknesses or weak hearts. Especially when faced unsuspectingly.


    In the classroom, the object of fear of one student turned out to be Snape, and with the encouragement of Professor Lupin, the student overcame his fear and recited the Boggart-Banishing Spell "Riddikulus", and things really turned out to be ridiculous - the symbol of his inner fear Professor Snape changed his outfit into women''s one.


    Felix is sitting at the long table of Hufflepuff, and two seats away from him, a small witch with two blonde braids is describing the scene in graphic detail.


    "... Professor Snape came up to me in a huff, and even though he was aiming for that Longbottom, I was chilled to the bone, thinking this is bad, he''s going to fail for sure. And guess what?"


    Hannah Abbott said with a red face: " Longbottom shouted the incantation, as if a whip hit Professor Snape''s body, his clothes instantly turned into an embroidered grandmother''s dress, wearing a triangular floppy hat on his head, waving a huge red handbag in his hand ... "


    "Seriously, for the first time, I found that boy so cool!"


    Felix listened in amazement, knowing Snape well, he must be furious.

 Chapter 188: First 3rd Year Class

    It looked like there would be no possibility of him ever pulling Professor Lupin into a dueling class. Felix thought with some regret.


    If he did, it would be hard to tell if Snape would just give that new professor a vicious spell or turn his wand on himself, the instigator, when the time came.


    As for Snape''s comment about Remus Lupin, Felix could only take it as a reminder.


    At least the fact that Dumbledore still let Lupin give lectures to the young wizards, including Harry Potter, when Sirius Black is causing a ruckus, shows that the headmaster trusts him quite a bit.


    The next day, in the third-year class of ancient Runes, Felix introduced himself to the young wizards off the podium.


    "Most of you-"


    Felix''s eyes swept over the packed classroom, pausing slightly at some familiar faces - Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Longbottom from Gryffindor, as well as Malfoy and Millicent Bulstrode from Slytherin ...


    "-all have an impression of me from dueling class, but this class is Ancient Runes, and you will notice that there is a big difference between them. In the eyes of the public, Ancient Runes class is not a practical subject."


    A Slytherin girl raised her hand, her eyes feverishly staring at the dolls laid out on the table, "Professor, did you create this golem using ancient runes!"


    "This young lady, your name?"


    "Daphne," the girl said, "Daphne Greengrass."


    Felix nodded, "Miss Greengrass, as I said, in the eyes of the Public," he emphasized the last word, "although I have worked hard to get rid the ancient runes of their previous stereotypes, from what I have seen so far, it only has some effect in some schools."


    "However, you represent the future, and I believe more and more people will be able to confront the existence and value of practical magic runes ..."


    Loud applause rang out off the stage as Professor Hap''s words made their hearts pound.


    "Next, let''s start the roll call-"


    "Lavender Brown!"


    "Millicent Bulstrode!"


    "Vincent Crabbe!"


    "Seamus Finnigan!"


    "Hermione Granger!"


    "Daphne Greengrass!"


    "Gregory Goyle!"


    "Neville Longbottom!"


    "Draco Malfoy!"


    "Harry Potter!"


    "Parvati Patil!"


    "Pansy Parkinson!"


    "Dean Thomas!"


    "Ron Weasley!"


    "Blaise Zabini!"


    ...


    It took Felix a good four to five minutes to read the names as a whole.


    The number of students is simply too much, and the thought of correcting the assignments of this many people ... Huh? It seems that he does not need to correct ah.


    He glanced at Hermione and decided to give her a little more burden, even the part of the quiz can also be given to her.


    With various thoughts in mind, Felix said without a trace: "Next, as usual, I will introduce you to the learning assignments for this academic year, including translational and practical magic runes - which is my own way of dividing them, and in addition to that, I will also give you a taste of the wonders of runic artefacts ."


    Felix waved his wand and made a golem on the podium move, instantly attracting a large wave of attention.


    "That''s right, golem, I think you guys should have heard of it?" Felix said feigningly, his words drew a wave of cheers, not only heard of it, many of them had borrowed it from their seniors to move it.


    He continued, "Fortunately, in addition to it, we will be introducing another runic artefacts this year, the Sneakoscope."


    Felix saw Draco raise his hand, he is using his left hand - his right hand wrapped in bandages, a strap hanging around his neck.


    ''The injured student from Hagrid''s class? That''s quite a coincidence.'' He thought to himself.


    "Mr. Malfoy?"


    "I beg your pardon, Professor, my right hand isn''t quite ... accessible. I''ve been injured. What I''m trying to say is, aren''t Sneakoscope something made by those groups of alchemists? I have quite a few high-end Sneakoscope at home that can envelop the entire manor." Draco smugly commented, looking provocatively at Ron Weasley as he spoke of the manor.


    Ron glared at him.


    Felix looked at him with peculiar eyes, enveloping the entire manor ... Is this one of the Malfoy family''s defences?


    How am I going to break in ...


    "Ahem!" Felix pulled his stray thoughts together as he explained to Draco, " What you said is correct, but I have improved the method of making the Sneakoscope by incorporating a part of the rune circuit."


    "What is rune circuit?"


    "You can understand it as connecting multiple magic runes together to achieve a specific effect," Felix said briefly.


    His heart stirred, he took the opportunity to promote the half-shadowed Magic Rune Club: "I will consider explaining this part of knowledge in the Magic Rune Club, the notice will be posted in the near future, of course - there''s assessment."


    Next, Felix spent about twenty minutes talking about the history of ancient runes, powerful ancient magic, ancient runic artefacts, the secret dusty history of wizards ... whichever it is, it''s all exciting enough.


    It must be said that he succeeded in motivating the young wizards to learn.


    But not without objections, during the questioning session, another Slytherin girl raised her hand, "Professor, I have a question."


    "Miss Parkinson?" S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Pansy Parkinson crossed her arms over her chest, her face delicate and narrow, her short hair down to her cheeks, giving the impression of condescension and meanness even without speaking.


    She inclined her head and said, "Perhaps my words will be too blunt, but since the runic artefacts have been replaced by alchemy, it means that it is not adapted to the times, so why dig it up again from the grave?"


    "Miss Parkinson, if we look purely at the facts, alchemy does dominate the wizarding world today ..."


    Felix paused and said to the class, "Before I answer that question, let me ask you a question. Does anyone know about Pensieve?"


    Hermione raised her hand first.


    Parkinson quipped, "That''s the thing to check your memory, there''s one in my house. No one would care about it, though."


    "Very well, Miss Parkinson, but next time answer the question after raising your hand." Felix stared into her eyes, "I suppose you''ll remember, won''t you?"


    Parkinson lowered her head, "Oh, yes, Professor."


    "Can anyone else provide more detailed information ... Miss Granger?"


    Hermione stood up and recited a string of words, "The Pensieve can view and store memories, and it can reproduce faithfully any details from the memory owner''s subconscious mind. Some wise wizards use it to examine and categorize their thoughts, but most people stay away from it."


    Felix nodded, "It has been very comprehensive. I should add that the Pensieve is made with an ancient concept, and you will find it difficult to classify it in terms of ''alchemical artefacts'' or ''runic artefacts'', as it contains shades of both."


    He looked at the young wizards, "When an alchemist wants to go further, he is bound to come into contact with the knowledge of Runes, whether he wants to admit it or not."


    "The reasoning is simple - most of those cherished, ancient artefacts contain rune circuits or some variant of them, and the two are inherently inseparable."


    Harry held up his hand and Felix nodded at him.


    He asked with some excitement, "Professor Hap, if an alchemist has mastered numerous runes, why can''t he study ancient magic incidentally?"


    Felix explained, "First, top alchemists are sensible enough to know what they want. Alchemy itself is a vast field, requiring a vast amount of knowledge to be mastered. Limited by their talent, they must allocate their time and energy wisely."


    "Furthermore, you don''t think that if you master enough runes, you can learn ancient magic, do you?"


    "I have to remind you, Potter, that there are still many thresholds waiting for you to move from magic runes to ancient magic."


    Looking at the students'' seemingly understanding expressions, Felix knew he might have spoken too deeply, and he clapped his hands: "Alright, next let''s take a look at these two runic artefacts."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 189: Seven Types of Sneakoscope

    "First is a golem, since you all know about it, let''s quickly skim over this part." Felix moved his finger, and the golem on the table quickly moved, making all kinds of incredible movements under his control, and finally, ending with the golem releasing a fireball.


    The young wizards looked at Felix blankly, and he smiled softly: "After the lesson, I''ll give one to each of you, no limits of any kind, and I hope this will become a Hogwarts tradition. Until next Tuesday, you can all have fun with the golem duels."


    Hermione''s eyes were fixed on the golem with the ice blue hair, and she saw the same blazing sight of the Slytherin girl whose last name is " Greengrass".


    She pursed her lips, she would never give in!


    She had been looking forward to it for a whole year.


    The brown-haired girl opposite returned a similar look, and they both realized: the war had begun.


    "Next, a collection of seven pocket Sneakoscopes."


    Felix walked from one side of the podium to the other, his left hand ran across the table, his ring bloomed with a hazy luminescence, and a row of Sneakoscope appeared on the table, as the young wizard stretched their necks to look hard.


    "What you see here on the table is seven different kinds of Sneakoscopes. Now, to get you all involved, I have to ask: what is Sneakoscope?"


    Hermione raised her hand, but Felix deliberately named Draco Malfoy for balance.


    Draco stood up and said, "That''s a detector, used to alert us. My father says that the ones sold on the market are all junks, and my family''s Sneakoscope are specially customized."


    Felix glanced at him: "This represents only a minority''s view ... or let me say that in the eighteenth century, the wizard Edgar Stroulger invented the prototype of the Sneakoscope, which was a dark magic detector shaped much like the common gyroscope shape nowadays. But actually magic items with similar effects date back thousands of years ago, although they weren''t called such at the time ...


    If we look at it from a modern perspective, we can think of Sneakoscope as a generic term for a type of detection and alarm device.


    By modern times it is more minutely divided, and numerous spin-off versions of this item have been born - for example, the Probity Probe of the Gringotts, which is entirely deviated from its original design and looks like a long, thin golden antenna. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Or, the Secrecy Sensor, which can detect concealment or lies.


    In the Sneakoscope we have seen so far, the function is basically limited to discovering suspicious characters, or detecting some dark magic.


    But in fact ...


    It can do much more.


    For example, warning against specific magic.


    Against a specific behaviour.


    Or even, for a specific bloodline, to the point ... a certain person."


    Felix''s words were astonishing and completely turned the young wizards'' perception of the Sneakoscope upside down.


    Most of the Slytherin students were sceptical, which went against what they had been taught since childhood.


    But some people were convinced by Felix''s words -


    For example, Ron is not averse of owning a Sneakoscope against a Malfoy, think about it, as long as he is 100 feet closer to him, he will get the message, he can hide in the bushes, or behind the gate post of the yard, waiting for an opportunity to give Malfoy a vile curse.


    For that, he would give his entire year''s pocket money, and if he could make it himself, well, it would be even better.


    "So, Professor, if I hate someone, I can make a type of Sneakoscope that is aimed at them?"


    Ron blurted out, looking unabashedly at Draco Malfoy.


    Draco''s expression turned dangerous as he narrowed his eyes and said, "Weasley, you could probably put a Sneakoscope in your house ... for thieving rats, and your mother wouldn''t be crying out in sadness if there is a coin missing again, would she?"


    "Malfoy, you wicked breed ..."


    "Okay, don''t quarrel. Or else fifty points each, plus three weeks of detention." Felix said speechlessly, he hadn''t realized before that Malfoy''s mocking skills were so strong.


    "As for Weasley''s previous question, the answer is I can do it, as for you guys, forget about it ..."


    "Might as well work on your sharp eyes."


    Professor Hap''s words made everyone feel helpless and listening to his description, the young wizards did have thoughts similar to Ron''s, mind you everyone has one or two annoying people.


    Neville''s thoughts, on the other hand, were more normal; he badly expected a special Sneakoscope to remind him not to lose things, but he feared he might lose it too - it''s not impossible, that''s how he lost his Remembrall last year.


    Neville painstakingly wrote down ''Lucky Star'' on a piece of parchment, the Gryffindor common room password, but he always had trouble remembering it, and for that reason, he wrote it down in places wherever he could see it whenever he had the time.


    According to his idea, as long as he recorded the password in enough places, he would never have to worry about forgetting the password, even if he happened to get it right once or twice ...


    "Well, let''s take a look at these seven Sneakoscopes." Felix casually waved his wand and let a fist-sized brown chestnut Sneakoscope on the podium float into midair.


    "The first, the most common type, commercially sold one, at most the shape, has some variations. The effectiveness is average and easy to make mistakes. The advantage is that it is easy and cheap to make."


    "But when camping in the wilderness you can use it to defend against dangerous creatures, it is barely enough for that."


    "The second, similar to the Probity Probe, can find the hidden spell on the wizard."


    "The third, for dark magic, my kind can detect seventeen of the more nefarious dark magic spells, including the Unforgivable Curses ."


    He waved forth a heavy black glow, and the Sneakoscope immediately emitted a shrill alarm.


    The young wizards on the stage looked at Felix in silence, the black light seemed to lock out any light. But he went on with no change in his face -


    "The fourth, for a specific spell, is essentially a spin-off of the third Sneakoscope, but with a more flexible scope of application. This one in front of me is aimed at the disarming charm. Anyone wants to give it a try?"


    Felix asked, pointing to a walnut-sized gray Sneakoscope.


    All eyes turned towards Harry, who in recent rumours had single-handedly killed a squad of dementors with the disarming charm.


    Draco didn''t believe the claims at all, and he firmly believed that all the various versions that have emerged so far are false, putting aside all the rhetoric: Potter encountered the dementor and fainted. This is the truth of the matter.


    So he did the "Dementor" mouthing to Harry.


    Harry is a bit nervous, but also a bit excited, he looked provocatively at Draco, waving his wand, silent, an arc of red light across the students of Slytherin''s side.


    From the beginning, he did not concern himself with the spell, but rather stared at Draco.


    To Harry''s satisfaction, his face turned pale.


    As Harry''s charm launched, the gray Sneakoscope in midair twitched around, it kept flashing a red light and emitting a beeping sound.


    Felix explained: "Do you see, a specific spell Sneakoscope, this is the way. It doesn''t look like anything, but if you placed this Sneakoscope for a regular ''Unlocking Charm'' in the door, it might work as a pleasant surprise."


    "Be aware that a regular Sneakoscope can be shielded, and you never know if there is a prepared dark wizard standing outside your room."


    "The fifth one, for specific bloodlines. Just so you know, I won''t elaborate it."


    "The sixth, for specific people, the principle is simple, you only need a pinch of hair from the opposing party, like a polyjuice potion ..."


    "And the last one, for a specific feeling. I''m here with the ''joy'' Sneakoscope, it''s interesting, isn''t it? If you''re going to tell a joke, it will help you understand the real emotions of your audience."


    "Anyone wants to try it?"

 Chapter 190: Hair

    Hermione looked around, fidgeting when Harry raised his hand. "Very good, Potter, for your courage, whether it works or not, plus ten points." Felix nodded in satisfaction as he looked over at others: "He needs an assistant to make him think of something joyful through words, any volunteers?"


    A number of hands were raised on the Gryffindor side.


    But Draco raised his left hand as well: "Oh, Professor, I''d like to try. Potter, I have something I want to say to you, you are not afraid, are you?"


    Harry said without fear: "It''s you, Malfoy."


    The two stood facing each other.


    "I dare say my words will make you cry, Potter." Draco mocked in a low voice, his voice deliberately low.


    Harry stared at his platinum blonde hair and said, "You could try."


    Draco narrowed his light-colored eyes, "You''ve heard of Sirius Black, haven''t you?"


    "So what if I have?"


    "Oh, Potter, if I were you, I''d be absolutely desperate for revenge ..."


    Harry''s heart tightened, he knew! He knew that Sirius Black was a good friend of my dad''s! But why did he use the word ''revenge''? He suddenly thought of something, and his whole stomach churned.


    But he said ''calmly'', "What are you trying to say?"


    "Oh, Potter!" Draco grinned, his eyes glinting with malice, "Your parents, how they died, you don''t know that, do you? It''s pathetic, surrounded by lies."


    "I know," Harry said suddenly.


    "What?"


    "I know everything, Black is a Death Eater, he defected to Voldemort, the choice that ... was made unwisely just like your father back then." Harry suppressed the dreadful thoughts rising in his mind, his task now was to fight back, and he should never show cowardice in front of his enemies.


    "What did you say?" Draco whispered in a low yell.


    Harry said with an expressionless face, "You know what I mean, wallflower family, everyone knows what you are, don''t they?"


    Draco''s pale face turned red with anger, "How dare you! Potter ..."


    "What''s there to dare?" Harry gave a quick smile, he felt suffocated by the sudden surge of repressed emotions, he had to find an outlet, or he would have shouted in spite of the situation.


    He came up to Draco, so closely between them that he could even see his snorting nostrils, he whispered: "Malfoy, your family is Voldemort''s lapdog, worse than any pureblood family with a backbone. Do you think you''re something to be proud of? But you''re wrong! The shame of the Malfoy family name will stay with you for the rest of your life!"


    "You, you ..." Draco''s mind reeled as he retorted loudly, "My family is not a lapdog of the Voldemort!"


    Everyone looked at him in surprise, they could only hear the two whispering something before.


    But at least with these words, they could make out everything.


    "Is that so? You shouted for Voldemort to hear." Harry also loosened the voice, so that everyone could hear what he said.


    The whole class became silent, dead silent.


    Felix waved his wand, causing the two to separate slightly. "Okay, the test is over. Potter, Malfoy, back to your seats."


    The others looked at the golden Sneakoscope above the table, which glowed brightly.


    At Ron''s, "Well done, Harry!" At the sound of Ron''s excited voice, Harry resumed his seat, and he is now in the mood to think about the thoughts that just flashed through his mind.


    Revenge, revenge, what can be considered revenge?


    Unless Sirius Black had done something wrong to him first.


    What he had heard from Hermione before was just how Black and his father had been good friends at school and had broken many school rules together. He, Hermione, and Ron speculated that the relationship between the two became enemies as Black joined the Death Eaters and totally went for a split.


    And Black broke out of prison to come after him, but also to restore the power of his master Voldemort, just like the first-year Professor Quirinus, there is no personal grudge.


    But Harry found that he was wrong, very wrong.


    From Mr. Weasley''s attitude to Malfoy''s mention of ''revenge'', he suddenly had an incredible idea.


    Harry muddled out of class, even Professor Hap let everyone come forward to pick their favourite golem, he just took one at hand.


    Hermione gleefully held an ice blue-haired golem, she saw the look on Harry''s face, "What''s wrong with you, Harry?"


    "Nothing." He stumbled away and Ron shouted, "Where are you going? We should go to the great hall for dinner." But he paid no attention at all, carrying his school bag in one hand and the black-haired golem in the other, and went straight back to the dormitory.


    The dormitory is empty, and he rummages through the boxes under his bed, pulling aside the clothes piled at the top until he sees a leather-bound magic album - one that Hagrid gave him two years ago and that he flips through from time to time.


    Harry couldn''t wait to flip it open, the first page, the second page, and then his breath stopped.


    His eyes stopped on the picture of his parent''s wedding day, his dad smiling and waving at him, his mom''s face beaming with happiness, their hands linked together.


    And next to his father stood a handsome, smiling man with black hair, his face not hollowed out from prison, his hair not tangled, but Harry recognized the man at a glance--


    Sirius Black!


    Harry felt a wave of nausea, his heart thumped. His stomach kept churning, more intense than the feeling after the special training by Professor Hap, but a sudden surge of strong emotions came over him.


    Thoughts of revenge continued to eat him away, and he grabbed the wand in his hand and clutched it for all it''s worth.


    ''Maybe he should walk out of Hogwarts, go find that man, and ... kill him!''


    But the thought is interrupted by, "Harry!" Ron and Hermione came into the dormitory and were looking at him with a worried look on their faces.


    Harry''s tense heart became relaxed, and he exhaled a deep breath.


    ...


    Later that day, Felix decided to go and see Hagrid. During his adventure in the Forbidden Forest last year, he saw quite a lot of magical creatures that he might be able to recommend to Hagrid.


    For example, a juvenile unicorn, or a silly-looking flower fairy.


    But a phoenix with gorgeous feathers appeared in front of him, and he looked at it in surprise: "Fawkes? Is Dumbledore looking for me?"


    The phoenix nodded, it landed on Felix''s shoulders, and after a moment of spinning around, he appeared in the Headmaster''s office. s?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore is seated behind the long-legged table, dressed formally as if he is about to go out, or has just returned from an outing. His expression is serious, until he flashed a smile when he saw Felix.


    "Felix, forgive me for calling you here so late."


    "What can I do for you, Dumbledore?"


    "I heard about one of the seven Sneakoscope... you introduced in class that can be used to target and find a specific person?"


    "That''s right, but it requires that person''s hair, or body tissue or something similar," Felix replied, also pondering Dumbledore''s intentions.


    "Just fits your requirements." Dumbledore lifted a red piece of cloth, and a few black hairs laid on it in a resting position.


    "This is ..." Felix already had a guess.


    "Sirius Black''s hair." Dumbledore lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 191: Buckbeak

    Felix leaned over to examine the dark hair on the red cloth, "Is that all of it?" "Unfortunately, from Azkaban, only these were found," Dumbledore said.


    "Well," Felix nodded, he thought for a moment and said: "I can not guarantee dozens of Sneakoscopes... one, no problem! Two, a bit of a stretch, three, it''s purely a matter of luck."


    Dumbledore smiled and said, " Already exceeded my expectations, I originally thought you can only make one Sneakoscope with it."


    After exiting the office, Felix looked at the sky, it still isn''t too late. He walked out of the castle and headed straight down a path to Hagrid''s hut.


    He smelled the scent of trees and the grass which is wet from the previous rain. Soon, the outline of the hut became clear.


    "Fang, hold on." S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said to the black hound that pounced on him, it seemed to want to put its hands on him, but how could he let it happen he did not want it to stomp a few muddy paws on him.


    Felix took a warm beef pie from the ring and tossed it to fang.


    Fang caught it in his mouth and wagged his tail happily.


    Felix knocked on the door, "Hagrid, it''s me, Felix."


    A sound like a whimper came from inside -


    "Come in, the door''s unlocked!"


    He pushed open the door and is astonished by the scene inside: the small room is squeezed full, Hagrid sitting on a soft couch, is holding up a large barrel of wine and drinking desperately, with red and teary eyes.


    At his feet, a hawk-headed, horse-bodied winged beast lying in front of a copper basin filled with bloody raw meat. Juices dripped from the corners of its mouth onto the floor, and when it heard Felix''s movement, it jerked its head up to stare at him warily.


    "Hagrid?"


    Hagrid looked straight at him and grumbled, "Felix, you heard about ..." He patted the Hippogriff on the head, "Be good, Buckbeak, you can''t afford to make any more mistakes. "


    Buckbeak''s head, which had been raised, dropped and continued to focus on the raw meat in the basin.


    "Want some?" Hagrid shook the barrel.


    "No, thanks."


    Felix chose a seat not far from him and sat down, "I did hear some rumours, but I didn''t think it would affect you so much."


    Hagrid took another sip of wine, a thin syrup of liquor dripping from his beard, "What choice do I have? Probably the shortest tenure of a professor ever ..."


    "They fired you?" Felix asked, somewhat taken aback.


    "Uh, Harry and the guys have asked the same question ... not yet, but sooner or later. A representative from the school board came to see me yesterday, dressed to the teeth, and to be honest, a bit like you. He told me that my class planning is too adventurous and that I should be more secure ..."


    "I don''t really see a problem with that." Felix said, "As far as I know, the Hippogriff has good wisdom, so there should not be an accident, right?"


    "Accident? Sort of. ... Lets you judge the truth!" Hagrid suddenly shouted angrily, scaring the giant beast next to him, "That Malfoy boy didn''t listen to me at all, I told him to bow down! And he''s acting like a fool!"


    Felix eyed Hagrid strangely as he asked lightly, "You let it come close to the student?"


    "Yes, I know them well, there is nothing dangerous. All they need to do is bow first, and as long as it salutes you back you can get close, ... burp!" Hagrid burped as he shook the barrel, pouring the rest of the wine into the copper basin in his hand, "That means it recognizes you. A pretty polite creature, isn''t it?"


    Felix had reservations about this; it is true that bowing will gain approval, but not because of politeness, but because you have earned their trust by exposing your vulnerable area first, and they will, in turn, bow their heads to win your trust.


    It''s a unique habit.


    "Hagrid, my advice is that for creatures that have the ability to harm a small wizard, like it-"


    "Buckbeak, it''s called Buckbeak," Hagrid said in a gruff introduction.


    "-such as the Buckbeak, it''s better to keep it at a distance in the first class. Once they''re familiar with it, you can pick one or two obedient students to engage with it."


    "Good advice, but unfortunately I can''t use it anymore." Hagrid said sadly, "I haven''t been in much spirits these days, sending students to feed the Flobberworm and looking up at the sky by myself ... Maybe an owl will inform me I''ve been fired the next minute."


    Felix said directly, "Hagrid, you don''t have to worry about the job, I checked the record of your predecessor - that is, Kettleburn - and he had sixty-two instances of disciplinary probation, some accidents much more serious than yours, but he stayed unscathed until retirement."


    "Really? I didn''t realize that; that school board representative looked like I was about to be sent to Azkaban." Hagrid said expectantly.


    "They can''t expel a formal professor, that''s the authority of the headmaster. At best, they can put you on disciplinary probation, but who cares?" Felix said something that he had studied in the rules so thoroughly that it never occurred to him to bother about it.


    Hagrid became perked up and looked at Felix: "So, I''m okay?"


    "You originally were fine."


    "That''s great!" Hagrid let out a cheer, the drink droplets hanging from his beard flung everywhere, and Buckbeak sneezed.


    "Oh, go on, Buckbeak, get back to your place!" Hagrid laughed as he pulled it up and pushed it out of the hut as it gazed fondly at him.


    "I was worried I''d be fired from my job as a forbidden forest guard and wanted to finally free it. Now it seems that I was overthinking it ..."


    Felix said, "Hagrid, let''s discuss what you''re going to do in your next class. I think the little unicorn is just fine, fluffy, and pleasant looking, and I''m curious about the qualities of the unicorn''s golden fur when it''s young ..."


    "It won''t be imposing enough, right?" Hagrid asked.


    Felix looked at him calmly, causing Hagrid to look a little flustered. He waved his hand, "Well, you''re right, I shouldn''t take any chances."


    He snapped his fingers, "Isn''t a unicorn, a Bowtruckle, a Niffler, a fire crab, a flower fairy, and an Augurey ...a little dangerous too?" He asked Felix for his opinion.


    Augurey is a dark green bird, shy and somewhat similar in appearance to a malnourished juvenile vulture, and they are known for their mournful cry.


    Felix thought about it: "I remember its cry is periodic?"


    "It usually cries just before heavy rainfalls, and for a while, people used it to forecast the weather, then they just couldn''t stand the sound of it, it was too unpleasant ... There are other birds that will howl incessantly during the winter, and that means they are dying." Hagrid said thoughtfully, "I may find a sunny day to show them, at that time they will wilt."


    Felix encouraged him, "That''s it, Hagrid, you have to rule out possible risks based on the characteristics of magical creatures."


    "Ha, I seem to have found a bit knack for it."


    ...


    It had got all dark when Felix returned to his office. He looked at the picture of Nicolas Flamel on his workbench and inquired, "Is Nicolas there?"


    " ''I'' have gone to bed." The man in the photo blinked.


    "He''s been sleeping early lately," Felix said.


    Nicolas Flamel in the photo smiled and said, "Old people, they can''t afford to stay up all night."


    Six hundred plus-year-old man ...


    Felix mulled over the flavour of that statement, "When he wakes up, tell Nicolas for me that I''ve got his Christmas present ready, the kind with a unique significance, he''ll love it."

 Chapter 192: News about the Rune Club

    The next two days were calm and quiet, and on Thursday morning during the fourth year''s Ancient Rune class, Felix revealed the news of the Magic Rune Club to the students in the same way. Once the class is over, he is surrounded by many students.


    "Professor, when will the Magic Rune Club have its activities?" A witch with golden-red curly hair asked, holding her friend with a cheeky smile. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said mildly, "Miss Edgecombe, the news will be announced next Monday, including the recruitment process."


    "Can you reveal it in advance, just a little?" Marietta Edgecombe asked pleadingly, and the surrounding students couldn''t help but give her an approving look.


    "One of the recruiting methods is through an open examination, that''s all I can say," Felix said.


    "You still need a test? Oops, but all the other clubs do it by invitation!" Marietta chirped.


    Eddie Carmichael countered her by saying, "I''d say it''s good, after all, it''s the first time we''re recruited." He thought he is the top student, and even if there is a test, he can still stand out.


    Eddie had been detained by Professor McGonagall last school year for peddling cheap low quality potions, at the time it happened that Felix wanted to get Ron out of the hands of Lockhart, so he asked Professor McGonagall for the young wizards who had recently been detained.


    He is one of the nine.


    Together with Hermione, who joined midway, a total of ten people completed the initial work of testing the ''answer space''.


    Felix explained: "There are a few people who will get a direct invitation from me, and I have been observing them all year, and I think they are the right people. But time is limited, after all, and I cannot get to know all of you ..."


    The small group of witches who gathered around dispersed one by one, and Marietta took her friend''s hand and inquired, " Cho, what do you think the test will be?"


    Cho Chang joked, "It doesn''t need to be a test, maybe you''ll get an invitation."


    "I know myself well~ My grades in this class are only average, that Carmichael has more hope." Marietta said somewhat pessimistically, but she quickly looked at her seriously, "Maybe you can get an invitation."


    Cho Chang stroked her hair, "We can''t put our hopes on that, we should do some preparation in advance." She blinked at her friend, "The professor has revealed quite a bit of information."


    "Has he?" Marietta looked at her with a confused expression.


    "The professor said there would be an open examination, and in combination with what he said afterward, it took a year of observation to find a few suitable candidates ... what did you come up with?"


    "I thought of ... uh, there are two ways of recruiting?"


    Cho Chang stared blankly, Marietta smiled wryly and said, "You also know that my brain is not as smart as yours, confused throughout the day."


    "You are too lazy to use your brain!" Cho Chang said in a humorous manner, she then explained, "The assessment criteria are definitely not the test results of the ancient rune class, otherwise there is absolutely no need to waste time. Plus the various things this professor has done over the past year or so, the golem, the answer space, and this year''s Sneakoscope ... all point to one thing."


    "What?"


    "He values practical ancient rune more than the rest!"


    Marietta finally came back to her senses, "Makes sense, hey, but we didn''t learn much about practical runes..."


    "So, I guess, there are two possibilities!" Cho Chang raised her finger, "The first is to let us make an alchemical item to examine our hands-on ability;"


    "The second is to examine our understanding of practical ancient runes."


    "But I have little understanding, we only learned 7, no, 9 practical runes last year," Marietta said with a bitter face.


    "Stupid, the professor wrote a total of three books, and one of them is about ancient runes."


    "Then what are we waiting for!" She excitedly took Cho Chang''s hand and is about to go to the library.


    "Wait, wait, we still have class!" Cho Chang pulled her unreliable friend back.


    "Oops, I forgot about that. By the way, did that handsome guy from Hufflepuff ask you out?"


    "Ahem! He invited me to Hogsmeade for the Weekend...."


    "Oh~"


    On the other hand, Felix had finished his morning classes, and he headed straight to the library, where he ran into the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class coming out of it at the entrance.


    He nodded towards this professor and brushed past him.


    "Professor Hap, please wait!"


    Felix stopped in his tracks, "What can I do for you, Professor Lupin?"


    Lupin looked at him mildly, " Well, I learned from some students that there has been interaction between the dueling class and the defense against dark arts class before, and I would like to ask about your plans for this academic year ..."


    Felix had a little scalp numbness, feeling that Snape is staring at himself from some corner.


    Of course, this is just an illusion.


    He thought about it and said, "I''ll communicate with Severus to determine what we''re going to teach this school year."


    Lupin obviously understood his hint, he did not make any other requests and softly thanked him.


    Felix looked at his back, "A nice guy, it''s a pity he can only stay for one year." Otherwise, he would have made an effort to try to untie the knot between the two.


    But this kind of thing is actually laborious and unpleasant, but it''s also easy to get carried away in their conflict, Then when Snape will quit from dueling club in a fit of anger, he will have to scratch his head.


    Felix walked into the library and greeted the librarian, Mrs Pince, along the way to the forbidden books section.


    After a while, he found the book he wanted - ''The Wizard''s Bloodline''.


    '' The origin of wizards is differently claimed, with two theories being the most widespread. The Divine Destiny theorists believe that wizards are people who have naturally awakened their magical powers and that they were born with an extraordinary destiny and were different from the rest at birth. These people are considered to be the original purebloods or the first generation of wizard genesis.''


    ''''Wizards who hold the bloodline transplantation argument, on the other hand, believe that wizards were first just ordinary people. In very early times, ordinary people (muggles) faced the threat of magical creatures and struggled to survive. Some wise men experimented with transplanting part of the magical lineage into themselves, thus possessing magical powers.''


    ''But the second argument is obviously untenable, it is a blasphemy against the wizard''s status and full of incredible delusions. Whenever someone discusses this topic with me, I always counter him with a question: Where did those original magical creatures'' magic come from?''


    ''''This question is not easy to answer, because there are two voices here as well: one is the innate theory, which believes that those magical creatures have always existed, and the other voice believes that magical creatures are the result of wizard''s experiments.''''


    ''''According to the first argument, if magical creatures have always existed, why can''t wizards always exist? And the second argument is even more proof of the greatness of wizards ...''


    Felix quickly flipped through this section as this laced with strong personal opinions, and after ten minutes, he stopped at a paragraph.


    ''''A wizard''s blood is magical, magic in it is ampler than other parts of the body, and in some harsh magical contracts, blood is one of the necessary conditions. This gave rise to the infamous bloodline testing magic, where some pureblood families would only accept the pure bloodline of newly born descendants and abandon those with low concentration blood. But this practice was spurned, and to this day, some stubborn families are not willing to give up this method ...''


    Felix looked up from the book and pondered what he had seen.


    He had wanted to make sure that he could replace the blood with Sirius Black''s hair and thus pry open the defense system of Black''s old mansion.


    But the question is how much hair does he need? Dumbledore gave him not much, even the production of three Sneakoscope is barely possible. So Felix came to the library to check the relevant information.


    From the results, his idea is unlikely to succeed.

 Chapter 193: Nevilles Wand

    In the last class of the afternoon, Felix saw a group of dirty little wizards walk into the classroom as he looked at them oddly, "What''s wrong with you guys?" Neville cried, "I blew up the mixing beaker."


    Next to him stood a young wizard with light teal hair, Seamus Finnigan who explained in a serious manner, "Professor, it was just an accident. Professor Snape was standing behind Neville, and Neville dropped a large handful of sliced caterpillars into the mixing beaker with a shaky hand, and I happened to be mixing the potion ... Anyway, there was an explosion."


    Felix waved his wand speechlessly to clean the suspicious black smoke from their faces and robes, then looked at the rest of the people, and also solved it by hand.


    "Thanks,...thanks professor," Neville said.


    "You''re welcome," Felix told him, "Stay after class, I have something to tell you." Neville visibly shaken and Felix added, "Don''t worry, it''s not a bad thing."


    He watched as Neville stumbled and picked a seat, Hermione quietly came over, "Professor?" Next to her, Harry and Ron also listened with a side ear.


    Felix said shortly, "About the wand."


    Hermione instantly understood it, she wrote a thesis last semester, and mentioned the fact that among the wizards she knew, there are two people who inherited their wands from others and had trouble using them, one being Ron, and the other being Neville.


    It looks like Professor Hap is going to suggest Neville to get a new wand.


    She pulled the unsure Harry and Ron back to the seat and muttered in a low voice.


    After a minute or two, Felix started the lesson.


    "Today we are officially going to learn the ancient runes, turn the book to page seven. It''s mostly very simple runes, though you''ll actually learn its complete sections in fourth year."


    "If you guys learn it well in this lesson, you will definitely save a lot of work in fourth year." Felix motivated the young wizards, "The first rune we''ve been shown is a rune pronounced as Kenaz, meaning light, and is shaped to look somewhat like a torch."


    "Combined with the known grimoire, we found that the ancient wizards derived multiple meanings from it -


    The first meaning, that of the light itself, as well as the fact that this light can illuminate the path ahead, referring in particular to the light that glows from the darkness.


    The second meaning, that it can refer to the light of knowledge, is more apparent in the older grimoire. Probably because in the age of ignorance, knowledge can break the fog ...


    In the third meaning, it represents the inverse aspect of evil, a word that some witches liked to use to label themselves during a certain period of time.


    A fourth meaning, which may also stand for hope, especially in the face of adversity


    ..."


    The young wizard below rustled and scribbled their notes, and soon the bell rang for the end of class.


    Felix clapped his hands, "This class is relatively easy, you only need to memorize the meaning of the twelve ancient runes, we will save the paper, of course, but you have to complete the contents in the ''answer space'' - all being multiple-choice questions, so I will require you to get at least 70% correct, and in the next class we will spend a few minutes on a quiz."


    As the young wizards walked out, Felix watched as Neville took one foot out of the classroom, so he called him back.


    "Oh, sorry, I forgot ..." Neville''s outstretched foot retracted.


    The trio dawdled to gather their things, Hermione pretended to accidentally lose a stack of parchment from her hand, Ron and Harry moved more stiffly, holding a book and lifting it repeatedly, trying to tell the professor that they wanted to make it flat.


    Felix looked at Neville in front of him, his round face somewhat restless, so he said gently, "Longbottom, I heard that you inherited your wand from someone else?" S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yes, it belonged to my father," Neville whispered.


    Felix worried about touching his sore point, he and Harry had met the boy in the summer holidays, accompanied by an old woman, not his parents.


    "Can you cast some spells?" Felix said.


    "Now? Here...?" Neville asked, stammering.


    "That''s right."


    Neville drew his wand awkwardly, his face red, and he stroked the air haphazardly.


    Harry, who is still packing up his things, can''t bear to look away, so he walked next to Neville and speaks out to encourage him, "Neville, don''t be nervous, we practiced the disarming charm together. Think what it was like!"


    Felix glanced at him, you stay and eavesdrop if you want, but you are also openly involved with ... seeing that your words work, you will not be driven away.


    Neville did relax, he yelled "Expelliarmuss", a red light flashed.


    Felix thought for a moment, "Harry, would you like to temporarily lend your wand to Neville to use the disarming charm?"


    Harry froze for a moment, "Sure, no problem." He handed his wand to Neville.


    Felix looked at Neville, who had a bewildered expression, and said to him, "You try Harry''s wand to cast the disarming charm."


    Neville tried a few times, but ended up without even a spark, but instead exhausted himself gasping for breath.


    It is as if Harry''s wand simply does not want to pay him any attention ...


    "Try Mr. Weasley''s now, I remember you have the same wand core - unicorn hair?"


    "That''s right, Professor," Ron said. Unknowingly, he and Hermione came over.


    Felix inquired, "Weasley, would you be willing to temporarily lend your wand to Neville to use the disarming charm?"


    Ron seemed to think this way of talking is pretty cool, he said with a stern face: "As you wish, sir." Then he handed the wand to Neville with both hands in a slightly solemn manner.


    This time, Neville managed to cast the disarming charm.


    "Well ...," Felix pondered.


    "Professor, what does this mean?" Hermione is very interested in this phenomenon, and she wants to add this paragraph in her notes.


    Felix explained, "It means that Mr. Longbottom''s wand just doesn''t repel him, but it doesn''t fit him. It can cause a lot of obstacles, and it''s better to get a different one."


    Neville grabbed his wand and didn''t let go.


    " Professor, I don''t want to change my wand."


    Felix said calmly, "There are other ways to honour ..."


    He glanced at Neville, "Just a moment." With that, he took out a piece of parchment and wrote a series of smooth words on it, which Hermione recognized from the upside-down writing, which is addressed to ''Lady Longbottom''.


    Soon, Felix finished writing a brief letter and handed it to Neville, " Hand it to your grandmother, it''s up to her."


    When Neville walked out of the classroom, his expression looked torn.


    Hermione remembered his Forgetfulness and suggested to him, "Shall we go and send the letter now and then come back to eat?"


    "I, I ..." Neville bit his lip.


    Harry did understand his mood, the wand is probably a relic left to him by his parents, and he is remembering them in his way. But he also recognized Professor Hap''s comment, there is more than one way to remember, there is no need to force yourself to use an inappropriate wand.


    He pulled Neville aside and had a small conversation with him.


    Hermione asked Ron with a puzzled expression, "What''s wrong with them?"


    Ron shrugged, saying he didn''t know, and he then gloated about the twins'' situation.


    "Percy''s been on the wrong medication lately, staring at Fred and George all day ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 194: The Problem Of Zooming Charm

    The first week of the new school year was a busy one for Felix. With the first dueling class approaching, he had to quickly decide which professor would be the third member for teaching. In private, he asked Flitwick and Professor McGonagall separately for their opinions.


    Professor McGonagall politely declined, reasoning that she also has a Deputy headmistress position and there are many chores in the school that she needs to worry about.


    "I''d be happy to attend once or twice if it''s an occasional visit." She said to Felix.


    On the other hand, it went very well as soon as he mentioned it, Flitwick accepted the invitation with enthusiasm as if he had been waiting for this day.


    From a neutral point of view, Felix also recognized Flitwick as the most suitable candidate for the job of teaching.


    As the head of the dueling class, he had to consider both the difficulty and the learnability of the spells he would be teaching, since he would be dealing with students from all seven years of the school.


    And as an experienced professor of charms class, Flitwick has undoubtedly mastered numerous techniques to simplify the difficulties in teaching spells.


    In contrast, Transfiguration has a higher threshold - it is not an easy feat for a wizard to use it flexibly in a duel, and it very much tests a wizard''s ability to cast spells silently and quickly as well as creatively in dueling.


    Hogwarts'' senior students will find it difficult to perform a full-fledged creature transfiguration without a sound, let alone in a combat situation.


    " Transfiguration is an arena where genius reigns, and it represents the boundaries of magic." These were the words written in a grimoire by a dueling master specializing in Transfiguration, and Felix partially agreed with him.


    Ravenclaw Head''s office.


    After settling the issue of invitation, Felix and Flitwick spent almost a day together discussing the improvement for the "Zooming Charm".


    "The Zooming Charm doesn''t work well on magical creatures, but of course, it could be because the only creature currently tested is the Flobberworm, which is not representative." Felix took out a stack of test data from his ring and handed it to Flitwick.


    Flobberworm is a ten-inch-long worm, generally appearing brownish, preferring to stay in a humid environment, and they can be seen in the shadowy shade of the forbidden forest.


    Although the Flobberworm''s mucus can thicken potions, they are not valued because they are too common to be found with every cat and beaver. They are one of the food sources for other magical creatures in the Forbidden Forest and are located at the bottom of the entire biological chain.


    So Felix did not have any psychological burden to do the test with Flobberworm, without worrying about legal issues. But the results are often not fabulous. The already ugly worm has pus growing on it, which looks very daunting.


    And crucially, he could never find out what the problem is.


    Sitting in a chair with blue cushioned seats, his feet dangling in the air, Flitwick pondered over the data, "Could it be related to an imbalance in magic?"


    "Imbalance?" Felix inquired.


    "That''s right, I''ve recently re-examined the spell. The Zooming Charm was originally patched by me with reference to modern magic theory, and it can be said that it is considered a combined spell. Therefore, there might be a magic discontinuity at the joint."


    Felix thought for a while and said, "I also considered this problem, but during the spell casting process, I didn''t feel anything different and there was no half-hearted sense of stagnation."


    "We can try it!" Flitwick jumped down from the chair, "One person is responsible for a portion of the work, you cast the spell, I will sense it." s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix understood what he meant: "You want to amplify your senses with the help of other magic to feel the formation and flow of the spell? It''s indeed worth a try, I alone can''t do that."


    Flitwick smiled, "Isn''t that what cooperation is all about?"


    Pointing his wand at himself, he whispered, "supersensorium ... aures et oculos ... magicae manifestationis ... vox vespertilio ..." A magical light flashed over Flitwick''s body. ( there''s no incantation, or it''s a made-up spell, so it''s a direct Latin translation)


    Felix watched the scene with admiration, few people could do this, solving the issue of multiple spells affecting each other alone would be difficult for ninety-nine percent of wizards.


    Soon, Professor Flitwick finished his task, his appearance became strange, his ears turned into long, copper-colored bugles, his eyes were gray and hazy, and his goblin-like face flashed with different colours of light, looking like colourful light bulbs.


    Flitwick''s face is grotesque, as he struggled to maintain the effect of the spell, he squeezed a few words out of his teeth: "Hurry up ... won''t last long ..."


    Felix''s expression is solemn, he deliberately mobilized his magic, making them more active, the light blue light constantly converge, and then burst out a dazzling beam of light.


    His spell hit a quill pen, which emitted a "crackling" sound, quickly expanding and growing from the size of a dagger to a somewhat curved spear in the blink of an eye, and it continued to grow.


    When the quill stretched to half an office, it finally could not withstand Felix''s magic and exploded with a bang, a huge shock wave spread out.


    The whole office is a mess, like a gale passing through.


    Felix covered himself with a Shield Charm, so he only took two steps back, but Flitwick needs to sustain sensory spells he can''t cast other protective spell, so he directly flipped off, and his small figure flipped in the air, he quickly pointed his wand on himself, and then slowly floated down.


    Flitwick said, "Felix, your magic is so strong that it has completely changed the structure of the quill."


    When he calmed down, he cautioned, "Before this magic is completely perfected, don''t use it on people."


    Felix nodded, "I was thinking the same thing. Filius, did you discover anything just now?"


    "Gee, that''s amazing ... I did find something interesting." Flitwick waved his wand and let the furnishings in the room return to their original state, then he shook his wand and flung out a bronze-colored smoke.


    The smoke morphed and manifested a phantom of a wizard in the middle as he cast a spell, which Felix recognized as the scene of his own spell casting.


    "Here, here, and here, there is an extremely subtle imbalance in these three locations." Flitwick illustrated what he saw with the help of a figure condensed from smoke.


    Felix stared at the image and whispered, "I can''t believe I didn''t notice it a bit before."


    Flitwick laughed brightly, "It''s really hard to find out it when researching alone, but in any case, we have a new way to think."


    Felix went to the Potions Professor''s office to discuss the content for the new academic year with Snape and told him about the invitation to Flitwick.


    Snape looked at him suspiciously, "I thought you would invite that Lupin."


    Felix stared at him without saying anything, what is the reason you do not know?


    It may be that his eyes were too straightforward, which looked a little annoying to Snape. "I have things to do, if you don''t mind, Felix ..."


    ...


    In the evening, Felix organized the Magic Rune''s Club material in his office, until Hermione knocked on the door to receive the training in magic, when he realized that he had missed his supper.

 Chapter 195: Three-dimensional Rune Ball

    Felix waved his wand to beckon a few plates of small treats, " Have a seat first, then we can talk." He casually took a chocolate chip cookie and stuffed it into his mouth, as the taste of chocolate lifted his spirits.


    Hermione looked at him a little strangely, the professor did not eat?


    "How was your summer holiday?" Felix picked up another cookie.


    "It was great, we went to France as a family and I saw a lot of interesting things about magic and put them all in my history of magic paper." Hermione gleefully described her summer experience.


    Felix nodded approvingly now and then, and soon the two plates of snacks were emptied, and he nudged the table with his wand, and the little plates were immediately refilled.


    "Professor, you didn''t eat dinner?"


    "Uh ... yeah, you try it too, it tastes pretty good."


    Felix ate until he became 70% full, and paused to slowly make himself a cup of tea. "I saw the postcard you sent, and in fact, I went to France for the holidays."


    "Really?" The little witch blinked as she asked with interest, "Was it for a trip too?"


    "For official business, I went to Paris for a few days, and something happened in between ..." Felix briefly told about his experience, and then asked, "I suppose you practiced your runes during the holidays, right? "


    "Of course!" Hermione does not want the professor to think that she spent the whole holiday playing around, she hurriedly said like a series of bullets: "I put everything in a small beaded purse and carried it around with me, rune carving knife, chestnut wood, and my holiday homework ..."


    "I''ll show it to you." She pulled out a small pouch from her wizard''s robe, and when her wand tapped on it, sheets of chestnut wood flew out, which soon stacked up in a tall pile.


    These chestnut wood sheets are modified from chestnut wood, and they look very much like parchment except for the difference in colour.


    Felix picked up the top one, which probably represents the highest level of the little witch, he looked at the dense magic runes on it.


    Hermione said: "A third of them are used to practice individual runes, and the rest are used to practice rune circuits, as you told me before. However, I have only mastered the circuit used on the beaded pouch so far."


    "You really break my expectations about you from time to time again." Felix did not mince words in praise.


    He led Hermione to the workbench, "Open my eyes, Miss Granger."


    Hermione''s expression became sober while sitting in the chair, lifting the chestnut wood carving knife that belonged to her, quickly outlining a magic rune, after a summer break, her hand has been very steady, the magic operation become more and more smooth, no trace of the last year''s dull and sluggishness there. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Then, one by one, the magic runes were outlined, and the whole process is like flowing water, with a hint of ethereal beauty.


    Felix stared at the tip of the rune carving knife, watching it pouring out a spiritual red aura, like a dancing fairy, he subconsciously remembered the experience of discussing the zooming charm with Filius during the day.


    Magic balance.


    As well as the aura he now saw ...


    He gently curled his fingers, and a rune appeared in the air.


    Hermione wrote down seventeen magic runes in one breath, the most difficult set of rune circuits she had ever mastered, ''The next step is to thread them through one by one, you can do it!'' She cheered herself up.


    Then she drew the magic lines from the magic rune more carefully, connecting and tying the individual magic runes together, so carefully that she completely ignored her perception of the outside world.


    Felix also followed Hermione''s steps, one by one magic rune in the air automatically connected together, to complete the construction of the entire circuit faster than the little witch.


    Fortunately, he connected the circuit from beginning to end, forming a circle.


    ''''This kind of feels like the pattern on the Pensieve!''''


    Felix suddenly had an epiphany, he looked at the circle in his hand, broke it back up into individual magic runes, and then reconnected them together again.


    The magic power flowed through the circle like water waves, and the movement contained the ultimate beauty. At this moment, a thought popped into his head, and he wanted to try to recover the complete zooming charm.


    Not the pieced-together version that Filius, and he had studied, but the real ancient magic.


    He had long spent a lot of time on this magic, plus today he got inspired twice in succession - Filius''s magic balance theory and the feeling of the spirituality of magic brought to him by Granger.


    ''Perhaps today there is hope for success?''


    More runes appeared, Felix first showed the magic runes in the zooming charm, and a skeleton sphere made of magic rune took shape a little ...


    On the other hand, Hermione breathed a long sigh of relief, ''successfully completed the first group of magic rune circuit.'' She looked at her work with satisfaction, and she could hardly pick out any mistakes - at least from her point of view.


    ''Carve out the rest of them as well, and surprise the professor.'' The young witch thought to herself, and as she was doing so, she suddenly noticed a small, bouncing object standing on the edge of the chestnut wood sheet - something she is no stranger to, having seen it too many times in the Thinking Room.


    It''s definitely a magic rune!


    Hermione looked back hesitantly, "Professor ..." but her eyes widened as if she had seen the unimaginable.


    "The professor has moved the thinking room into reality?!"


    In Hermione''s eyes, Professor Hap holding a complex skeletal sphere, surrounded by hundreds of magic runes of different colours, and there are new magic runes that are constantly emerging, which have spread over half of the room.


    She stared at the skeletal sphere, a small part of which is missing, like some kind of artwork with fragmented beauty, she had seen similar exhibits in art exhibitions.


    But Professor Hap clearly does not recognize this ''fragmented beauty'', he is trying to restore the sphere, runes were beckoned by him, in the edge of the sphere, occasionally one or two runes were attracted and connected to the sphere.


    Only at this moment, Hermione realized that the sphere is actually built with magic runes.


    She looked confused for a while, magic runes, rune circuits, and then what is it, rune ball?


    Despite her confusion, she slowed down her actions, and even her breathing became inaudible.


    One of the greatest benefits of being a little assistant for an ancient rune class is that she could always passively refresh her knowledge of magic runes, expanding them to completely new boundaries over and over again.


    Felix now simply felt like he slipped into a magical state where he could rely on his intuition to eliminate some choices and pick out the right magic rune.


    He is trying to complete the missing parts and so far it is going well, the only thing he needs to worry about is that this ancient magic may have magic runes he has yet to master ...


    The sphere became more complete, and Felix''s confidence grew, he had a strong feeling that tonight he would succeed.


    Time passed, the surface of the skeletal sphere began to jump with wisps of golden arcs, which seemed to symbolize that he is just a tiny bit away from success, it seems, just short of a magic rune.


    But another five minutes passed, and Felix broke out in a cold sweat, "My God, it can''t be this close, huh?


    Just one magic rune away?


    One by one, the stray magic runes lined up and kept flying past him, and the air in the office is torn with a hurling sound.


    ''''Not this one, not this one either ...''''


    He forced himself to calm down, even if he failed this time, it didn''t matter, he had got damn close to success, hadn''t he?


    In his relaxed state, a sudden disruptive thought struck him.


    ''Why don''t I deduce that only remaining magic rune, based on the existing vacancy?''


    His gaze fixed deadly on the only gap in the skeletal sphere.


    The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed, and he had even analyzed, some characteristics of the unknown magic rune.


    With a thought, he became calmer and calmer, his pulsing magic power calmed down, and he put most of his consciousness in the thinking room, constantly trying to construct the magic rune he envisioned.


    Soon, the first attempt began, and a fragmented rune emerged in the air, just half outlined, and disappeared in thin air.


    Error ... again!


    The thinking room can only be imaginary, not tangible. But at this moment he used the thinking room to speed up his thinking, trying his best to buy time.


    Unknowingly, he broke the speed of the thinking room, soaring from three times, four times, all the way up.


    Predictably, he would not be comfortable in the next few days ...


    From Hermione''s point of view, the construction of the skeletal sphere seemed to be stuck in the last step, and Professor Hap began to keep sketching a mysterious rune in the air, each time its shape changed slightly.


    Terrifying speculation surfaced in her mind, Professor Hap is creating his own magic rune?


    What a feat this is!


    She really isn''t in the thinking room?


    Half an hour passed, and after countless failures, a radiant golden magic rune had been outlined, and as soon as it appeared, it had been attracted to the skeletal sphere and merged with it.


    From the gaps between the skeletal sphere erupted a dazzling golden light, accompanied by a "snort" sound like melting metal, the gaps closed little by little, until forming a complete skeletal sphere.


    Felix held a skeletal sphere in his hand, bathed in golden light, this moment, all the pressure disappeared, he felt the best pleasure he had ever felt as if the body and mind were completely washed over.


    Hermione looked dumbfounded at the scene in front of her, she suddenly remembered when she was a child reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, she saw a great list of names, the book used a variety of beautiful words to describe them: genius, great man, hero, legend ...


    At that time she was still a child, struggled to hold the book which exaggerated in size, and asked her father: "Dad, what is a legend?"


    Her father softly said, "Probably those who transcend the times and are born only once in a thousand years."


    "They''re smart? Or had a power?"


    "I think it''s more than that. History is never short of smart people, or people who have grasped power."


    "And what exactly is that?"


    "I honestly have no idea, dear, but I think it must have been at least someone who made it all the way to the top with the approval and blessing of countless people."


    ...


    She didn''t know why she suddenly thought of this little thing, but the thought grew like a seed breaking through the soil, quickly growing wildly in her mind until it grew into a gigantic tree -


    ''If a legend will be born in this era, it must be Professor Hap, right?''


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 196: Discussion

    Felix stared at the golden rune orb, and it looked like he had succeeded. He had succeeded in recovering ancient magic, the zooming spell, which is truly a remarkable achievement, worthy of a special book, he could even write an autobiography based on it, or be honored as a celebrity in the Chocolate Frog card series.


    But the question is, is this thing really a zooming spell?


    Felix had never seen or heard of such a skeletal sphere structure in the spell materials he received before, and as far as he knew, neither Filius did, who, worked with a former professor of ancient rune, and managed to recover the earliest version of the zooming spell, well, a discounted one.


    Felix did not suspect anything was amiss before, because the ancient magic he had learned consisted of a flat template of runes as well, and he believed Filius was no different.


    The two had even discussed whether they should try to make the Pattern flatter ...


    As for tonight, it happened by chance that he stripped the traces of modern magic in a special state, and then allowed it to adjust and grow on its own, as a result, it became more crooked and distorted, and finally became a ball.


    Perhaps his biggest gain is in fact the discovery of a more stable structure for runes?


    Felix looked at the magic rune ball in his hand and got itchy to try it out, he especially wanted to find a test subject right now to try out what this thing could do and whether it is a zooming spell or not. But the only creature standing in front of him is Hermione. He did not want to do anything that he could not handle easily.


    Flobberworm with scabies reminded him how terrible the consequences were once he had an accident.


    What''s more, even without these concerns, he could not guarantee what the little witch would become when she touched the golden rune ball, whether she would grow into a fifty-meter-tall giant or shrink into a thumb-sized flower fairy?


    It might even be more hunting to unfold ...


    Although he did become curious, he did a good job suppressing the urges, and there are quite a few creatures in the Forbidden Forest to satisfy his desire and need for testing.


    Professor Filius''s advice to him remained valid.


    "Professor? May I touch it?" Hermione asked curiously, the longing in her eyes overflowing.


    "I don''t think so." Felix said with a stern face, and seeing the young witch show a disappointed expression, he explained, "At the moment I''m not sure how it works, and I''m worried about irreversible consequences."


    After thinking about it, Felix conveyed a scattered consciousness towards the golden rune ball. As a result, the rune ball silently melted into a golden liquid and flowed inside his body.


    This makes him greatly surprised, Felix almost immediately took all means to examine the state of his body - the result is all normal.


    So he tentatively mobilized this magic, his right hand began to glow, and as he stared at his palm, a light blue halo that looked like a vortex appeared.


    Felix slightly injected a trace of magic, a huge suction force came out of the vortex, and the office immediately became a mess.


    He hurriedly stopped and decided to wait to find a more suitable environment before trying.


    But in any case, he had realized the extraordinary nature of this magic, probably far beyond his expectations.


    Hermione is also taken aback, she felt like she had just been sucked into the light blue vortex, and panicked for a moment. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix reassured her: "Do not worry, I can control it very well."


    He dispersed his magic and said in a relaxed tone, "All in all, there was a pleasant surprise for me tonight. I have mastered a magic by chance, which is a good thing. But we''ve strayed from the subject, so let me see what you''ve done."


    He waved his wand, causing the parchment and quills all over the floor, the crooked table to return to its place, from which Hermione saw three golden, walnut-sized Sneakoscopes.


    The same Sneakoscope she had just seen on Tuesday of this week.


    "Is this ... that Sneakoscope that can target a specific person?"


    Felix glanced at it, "That''s right, commissioned by someone, maybe you''ll see it again in a few days."


    "In a few days, I will see ... again," Hermione mulled over the meaning of that statement.


    If it involved targeting a specific person, all she could think of is ...


    "Sirius Black?" She asked in surprise.


    Felix sighed in mock surprise, "Well, I''m not the one who voluntarily revealed it, Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn''t let me tell. You pretend you don''t know, deal?"


    Hermione pursed her lips and smiled, "Deal." She then asked, "Can I tell Harry?"


    "Oh, no, I don''t know how Dumbledore would arrange these Sneakoscopes," Felix explained.


    Maybe Dumbledore would just give the Sneakoscope to Harry to keep him on guard, maybe he would secretly hang it in his dorm room, or maybe he would simply hang the three Sneakoscopes at different entrances to Hogwarts ...


    In any case, Felix is only responsible for making the Sneakoscopes, not responsible for using them, nor does he care how they are used. Dumbledore will arrange it all.


    Felix picked up what Hermione had finished on the chestnut sheet, "Excellent, it really looks like you''ve completely mastered the rune circuits on the beaded pouch."


    "Can I learn the new content?"


    "Of course, you are fully qualified for that now." Felix leaned on the edge of the table and rubbed his chin as he said.


    "Then ... Professor, do you have any suggestions?"


    "Although it''s not wrong to continue learning new runes or rune circuits, I think it''s best to teach you to discover the power of an individual rune first, which will help you better understand the entire rune system - something I''ve been thinking about recently."


    "The power of an individual rune?"


    Felix explained, "Yes, remember what I mentioned? When magic runes were first discovered, it was because they could store magic power for a short time and transform it into magical effects."


    "This means that a single magic rune represents a part of the magic as well, and it''s not as simple as just being written on a chestnut sheet and waiting to be linked into a rune circuit and made into a rune creation."


    "If that''s true, then what''s the difference between runes and alchemical symbols?"


    Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Professor, if I understand correctly, each magic rune I master represents ... a magic?"


    She couldn''t help but count on her fingers how many magic runes she had mastered, and it added up to almost one hundred. If the assumption held true, she had mastered a hundred magics without realizing it?


    The magic she had learned now isn''t even a hundred!


    She could have mastered even more runes if not for repairing the beaded pouch by hand.


    "It''s not that exaggerated." Felix laughed dumbly, "In my opinion, a single magic rune is just a kind of pattern that carries magic power. The so-called magical effect in most cases is the kind of simple glowing, heat, no practical use. But it is certainly not without exception -"


    He pronounced an obscure sound, and a soft white light bloomed from the palm of his hand.


    "This magic rune, you''re seeing right now, means light. It can replace the Wand-Lighting Charm, and it will be useful in the event that you do not have a Wand on hand."

 Chapter 197: Ancient and Modern Magic

    Hermione seemed to have remembered something, "Professor, is this what you used in the public class last year, this magic rune?" "No, what was demonstrated in the public class is real ancient magic, only with this magic rune as the core," Felix said.


    He looked at the time and said gently, "That''s about the end for today, as for how to discover the power of individual magic runes, I''ll schedule that part for tomorrow. You can try it yourself when you get back, there''s no danger, but it might cause you some distress."


    "Distress?"


    Felix curled the corners of his mouth, "If I remember correctly, the effect of one of the magic runes I taught you is very interesting. I wonder if you can spot it?"


    Hermione had some resentment in her heart, the professor''s bad taste reappeared again ...


    By this point, Hermione almost understood the logic of the overall system of practical ancient runes- if an analogy, she thought of the radio she had dismantled with her own hands.


    Magic rune is the basis of everything, the status is equivalent to the electronic parts in the radio.


    But both individual magic runes, and electronic parts, are relatively independent and can exhibit their own characteristics, such as the heat of a resistor, the glow of a small light bulb, and the magic rune that means light, as shown by the professor.


    These characteristics are not essentially good or bad in terms of strength and weakness, but with the addition of subjective human judgment, there is a difference: Glowing characteristics are obviously a little more useful than heat characteristics in some cases...


    And the rune circuit corresponds to the circuit in the radio, when the runes have formed a circuit by combination, which will gain a specific magical function, such as the burst rune circuit demonstrated by the professor a long time ago.


    She still remembered that Professor Hap had described it as "very unstable", which meant that it would be very difficult for a Single Rune Circuit to be used stably.


    The only way to create a fully functional artefact is to have multiple rune circuits working together, just like her beaded pouch.


    As for ancient magic, she had little access to information, so let''s assume the same relationship.


    Hermione thought that it would be easier to understand with such an analogy, and she put her idea to the professor, looking at him with an anticipating gaze, "What do you think?"


    Felix cast an approving glance, "That sums it up very nicely, Miss Granger. It''s perfectly acceptable for the current you."


    The young witch nodded, she had been exposed to so much new knowledge today that she would need to reorganize it when she returned.


    ...


    When Hermione left, Felix sat down on the couch, his gains tonight had made him think more deeply about the similarities and differences between ancient and simplified magic.


    He had previously thought that ancient magic is powerful, but difficult to control; and simplified magic, which is not particularly powerful, but perfectly adequate, its biggest advantage is simple and easy to learn, the probability of losing control is much lower.


    In fact, it is almost inevitable that simplified magic will replace ancient magic -


    Simplified magic can basically be seen as a collection of incantation + casting action + magic power mobilization.


    The ''incantation'' represents the power of the mind, which can be omitted when one becomes proficient, i.e. Non-verbal spell casting.


    And the latter two - ''spell casting action'' and ''magic mobilization'' can be mixed up in most cases.


    This is because under the system of simplified magic, spell-casting action, and magic mobilization are bound together with one another, and a spell-casting action corresponds to a way of magic mobilization, which is the essence of the whole simplified magic system.


    The benefits of this approach are amazing.


    Wizards did not have to spend a lot of time learning how to mobilize and harness their magic, and this part of the knowledge was naturally integrated into the Hogwarts teaching system.


    Theoretically, once you learn the normal spellcasting actions, you are qualified to master most of the spells under the same system.


    The reason why it is not all spells is that some less popular spellcasting moves have been removed from the existing Hogwarts teaching materials, which means that the young wizards cannot master the magic mobilization behind these spellcasting moves.


    However, if the professor wanted to teach extra, he could just spend more time on the new spell-casting movements while explaining the spell, and the young wizards would find the spell a bit difficult and not very comfortable to use.


    It is because the combination of spellcasting and magic mobilization is so tight that many young wizards only know the former and have no idea about the latter, but this does not affect their ability to use magic in any way.


    An extreme example would be.


    Some gifted wizards can master the corresponding magic by virtue of the other''s incantations and spell-casting actions just by seeing someone else cast a spell once.


    What is even more convenient is that once the spell is familiar enough, the spell-casting action can be omitted, and everything seems to revert to magic mobilization itself.


    Only most wizards do not see this process from the beginning to the end.


    If one is not satisfied with what is taught at school, the library of Hogwarts also has plenty of materials for young wizards to refer to and study in-depth, provided that they choose the right books.


    All of the above reflections can be counted as the advantages of simplified magic - easy to learn, independent system, and also retains the possibility of continuous improvement.


    This is far superior to ancient magic.


    You know, ancient wizards don''t even have a standard harmonized spell-casting technique, and every single ancient magic they learn means an adventure, and they naturally prefer the same type of magic to reduce the risk of losing themselves in learning new magic.


    In addition, ancient wizards followed the teacher-apprentice system in learning, and communication was not as convenient as it is now, which also led to heavy bias, and many wizards only mastered a few fire magic in their lifetime.


    According to Felix''s speculation, only after he had mastered the characteristics of numerous practical ancient magic runes, as well as the way the magic runes combined, could one truly bring out the power of ancient magic.


    Even with a few fire magics, one could make a huge mess by using them.


    And simplifying magic is not all advantageous -


    This practice produced an inevitable conclusion: for present-day wizards, the more ancient those magics are, the more difficult they are to master.


    This is because some ancient magic inherits the ancient wizards'' understanding of magic, but this understanding seems out of place in the current magic system.


    For example, the Patronus Charm focuses more on the use of the power of the mind.


    And the way in which it mobilizes magic is not within the basic spell-casting actions taught at Hogwarts, which means you have to relearn several, or even a dozen, ways of mobilizing and harnessing magic, which is difficult for almost 90% of wizards.


    Felix realized this early on and thought of getting rid of the shackles of the simplified magic framework.


    He first looked through books in the library to learn more ways to mobilize magic and harness it.


    He also tried to uncover powerful magic from various ancient runes, mastering and harnessing them.


    In fact, this has been the choice of many wizards - to improve their knowledge of magic, their understanding of magic, in the pursuit of powerful magic.


    Then Felix settled on the practical ancient runes that he believed went straight to the essence of magic and developed them all the way to today. S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    At present, it seems that magic runes are the essence of magic?


    In a short year, he had seen Slytherin''s bloodline magic, Ravenclaw''s memory magic, and Dumbledore''s vaguely revealed Transfiguration.


    Everyone took the right path, although Felix had no doubt that he had chosen the path with the greatest potential.


    If he were to judge now, there is and can only be one essence of magic, and that is magic - the magic that wizards are born with.


    With magic, there are hundreds of blossoming and colourful worlds of magic.

 Chapter 198: Test

    At four o''clock the next morning, Felix opened his eyes in a daze, his head buzzing as if a crucible ladle had been plunged into his brain and stirring it constantly. He rose from the bed and made his way to the washroom with a briskness in his step.


    His face in the mirror appeared flushed, as if he had just fished himself out of boiling hot water, and he muttered, "The side effects of the Thinking Room sure come fast."


    Last night, in order to have time to deduce the defective rune on the rune ball, he forcibly increased the operating speed of the Thinking Room, and now the side effects showed up at his door.


    He had expected this.


    He came out of the washroom, glanced out the window at the thick darkness, and gave himself a large cup of potion, and soon the fever went down, but his whole body remained breathless.


    Felix lay in bed until ten o''clock, the constant tingling in his brain left him with no appetite at all, and he couldn''t even think quietly. He decided to go out for a walk, at least to get a cool breeze.


    Before he knew it, he reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and Felix squinted his eyes as he made a choice between the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid''s Hut.


    "Since we''re here, how about ... testing the zooming spell?" He is simply too curious.


    Felix only hesitated for two seconds, then slowly walked into the forbidden forest, but he put a trench coat over himself, and lightly tapped his fingers on his chest, and the trench coat pulsed with a crystalline light of magic.


    This trench coat was made of basilisk''s skin on the inside and fire dragon skin on the outside, which was carefully tanned by Felix, adding many rune circuits and defensive enchantments to make the final product light and fluffy.


    The air in the forbidden forest is warm and humid, and he got a little better in spirit as his eyes kept bouncing around.


    ''A Tebo warthog... a red hat will do.'''' Felix''s mind wandered in anticipation.


    He walked along a steep stone path, all the way down, and he suddenly remembered that he had picked up a large claw of an Acromantula here in the last school year.


    He had wanted to use the large claw to make a rune carving knife, but it had dried up, and he failed to capture even a trace of magic. Plus, he was so busy that he left the matter behind.


    A rustling sound rang out, and Felix looked up to find himself surrounded by a dozen large spiders of enormous size, and it looked like they were ready to attack.


    Acromantula ...


    "It''s so sweet, it''s great that you guys came up to me," Felix said sincerely.


    The large spiders across the way kept fiddling with their big claws, making a "click-clack-clack" sound, and he could even hear the hard black fur covering their bodies scraping against the ground.


    Felix''s ebony wand is casually held in his hand, there is no sign of any powerful spell fired, but a pale blue glow has quietly emerged from his left hand, and he kept injecting magic, which twisted into a spherical vortex in the blink of an eye.


    The vortex''s edges were faintly visible in the form of magic runes - the spherical vortex is the magical embodiment of a skeletal runic sphere.


    A big, elephant-sized Acromantula had jumped into midair.


    Felix flatly extended his hand.


    The spherical vortex spun violently above his palm, and internally the blue magic swelled up by leaps and bounds, wrapping Felix in it and forming a spherical barrier twenty feet in diameter.


    The magic spun around him at high speed, weaving a beautiful web of magic.


    The spherical vortex in Felix''s hand had turned colourless and transparent, and a terrible suction force gushed out from within it, and the Acromantula in midair got shredded without any resistance.


    When it touched the outermost circle of blue light, its speed slowed down and its body continued to shrink, a process that probably lasted less than a second, and then it looked like a small stone thrown into a pool of water, completely disappearing.


    Felix came closer to examine carefully, in the colourless transparent vortex, a small spider the size of a green bean scratching its tiny claws and constantly spinning.


    The powerful suction in the vortex did not have any effect on Felix, but it is real, and it keeps extending outward.


    "Ka-chow!"


    A large tree broke in the middle, came whirling towards him, and when it approached the blue magic web three meters around him, it quickly shrank into a toothpick, and together with an Acromantulas lying on it, they plunged into the spherical vortex.


    Not only trees and Acromantulas, but also human head-sized rocks also whistled and were pulled over, dirt, dead branches ... with him as the center, all kinds of strange and bizarre things flew towards him in one stream.


    Felix thought about it and began to consciously control the magic, the wind swirling around disappeared, the swaying branches slowly quieted down, but the suction brought by the vortex all converged towards the remaining Acromantulas.


    They tumble and fly backward in various positions, and are thrown into the vortex in a single stream.


    Of the total twelve Acromantulas, not even one escaped.


    Felix examined the miniature world in his hand with interest.


    He tried to make the rapid rotation of the vortex stop, which fell silent very smoothly, the outer layer of magic power returned to the spherical vortex, softly rotating.


    He is now holding a transparent sphere, the interior is like a silky ribbon of blue magic, they stretch freely while floating around lightly.


    The prisoners within the spherical vortex - Twelve Acromantulas tumbled helplessly, one of them barely grasping the toothpick-sized old tree, its tiny claws squirming wildly.


    Felix summarized the information he had gained so far -


    Firstly, although only the shrinking effect of this magic had been tested, the enlarging effect had not been tested yet, but it could be confirmed that it is undoubtedly a zooming spell, not something random, which made him breathe a sigh of relief, the biggest stone in his heart fell down.


    Secondly, the effect of the magic is exaggerated; and


    ''''The spherical vortex provides a powerful suction, and the magic coiled inside expands into a web that shrinks everything.''''


    ''''The acromantula isn''t weak, but it''s powerless against it, which means most of the forbidden forest creatures can''t fight against this magic.''''


    Felix stared at the bare empty patch within a ten-foot radius, even the ground shortened up to reveal the wet brown mud. This is still the result of him reacting midway and shifting his target to the acromantula.


    "The effect on magical creatures should be very good, and in the future, there is no need to worry about being besieged. As for the wizard ..." he analysed in his mind, his head tingled again, "Hiss~"


    Felix paused as he looked around the scene for a while, deciding to wait until he got rid of the side effects of the thinking room before analysing it in depth.


    "Next, the most important part-"


    He snapped his fingers and Acromantulas inside tossed out of the vortex, its body rapidly expanding under his control, and after a dozen or so seconds, it had returned to its initial size.


    The big spider looked up at the horrible wizard who is sizing himself up and muttering something strange under his breath, "Didn''t find anything wrong, no deformities, no abscesses, it really works." s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 199: Fluffy’s Cub?

    Acromantula''s eyes trembled in unison, and the two large claws seemed to have activated some kind of switch so that they were linked together with a "da da da da da da " sound. "Well ... test the enlarging effect now."


    Felix first cast a Stunning Spell to knock it out, then used his wand to fling a ribbon of blue magic over the ugly head of the acromantula, under his control, the giant spider quickly expanded in size, ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet.


    Felix paused and walked around it.


    ''''Enlargement is also possible, this magic is fully under my control.''''


    ''''But it always feels like it''s not very useful.''''


    Felix observed the display, who would make their enemy bigger on the battlefield?


    To turn your opponent into a bright target?


    There are clearly lots of better ways.


    Felix restored the giant spider to its original shape, and after some examination, shrunk it to the size of his pinky fingertip, he took out an ordinary clear glass vial from his ring and put it inside.


    "Mr. Acromantula, you stay with me for a while."


    Next, he waved his hand and dispersed the spherical vortex, and a dozen seconds later, eleven big spiders that had passed out were lying around him.


    It looked like they would have been rendered unconscious by the spin.


    He carefully left magic marks on three of the giant spiders, with these marks he could directly find their nests.


    Acromantulas were too close to the school, and judging from the way they attacked humans without a care in the world, the danger level seemed high, so it would be best to move them farther away.


    It would be nice to keep them as companions to the trolls, just at the other end of the forbidden forest.


    But not today, he had a better idea just now.


    ...


    An hour later, Felix knocked on the door of Hagrid''s hut with a small black dog with three heads in his hands.


    Hagrid seemed to have just eaten, with ketchup on his beard, humming in a low voice.


    He opened the door with a hearty laugh, "Felix, your advice is useful, the students are responding well ... and such!" He abruptly shouted, from his eyebrows to a beard fluttered.


    "Fl ... Luffy ...," Hagrid''s eyes brimmed with tears.


    Felix smiled at him, "That''s right, I took Fluf-"


    "... surprisingly had a baby!"


    "Hmm?" Felix looked at Hagrid with a head full of question marks, and his head began to tingle again.


    The next second, he got pulled in by Hagrid''s big hand, "Come on in, don''t let the little one catch a cold."


    Hagrid pushed him on a chair, the lanky figure turned around in a circle in the hut, muttering incessantly, "Let''s see ... let''s see ... what three-headed dogs need when they are young. First, the fireplace, and raw meat, it just so happens that Fang still has some left ... how can be music missing! His father loves me playing the flute for him, oh my God, Fluffy had a child, I was completely in the dark!"


    Felix froze for a full ten seconds before he figured out what was going on, and he interrupted the busy Hagrid with a tearful laugh: "Cough... Hagrid, remember that magic of mine? In the summer holidays, I made a yew tree into a potted plant?"


    Hagrid slowly paused and said in an uncertain tone, "Of course, I remember, don''t tell me ..." His eyes went to the little black dog in Felix''s hands on the other side - which frantically wagged its tail and looked at him pitifully.


    He felt a strong sense of familiarity. S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right, I just brought fluffy to you, and I''m a man of my word."


    Hagrid let out a meaningless muttering, then scooped up the three-headed dog from Felix''s hands and brought it close to him for a closer look.


    The little guy is only half a foot tall, not even half of Hagrid''s palm. Body like black satin, its three heads are only as big as a walnut, is complaining with " whimpering " sound.


    Hagrid''s hand trembled, "really fluffy, look at the paws, the nose, his second head is a little smaller, smaller as he was born, and I thought he was deformed ..."


    The three-headed dog fluffy returned to the hands of his ''old father'', his four meaty paws, trying to paw Hagrid to death.


    Fluffy''s three heads greedily breathing Hagrid''s body smell, after a while, it suddenly turned its head towards Felix and " woof " barked.


    This is the bad guy! Suddenly appeared and turned himself into a puny little thing!


    "HoHooHo!" Hagrid laughed even more, "That''s how he barked when he was little, he learned it from fang, but when he was twice fang''s size, he never barked again."


    "As long as you''re happy, Hagrid, I don''t know if I did the right thing, didn''t think too ... much about it," Felix said.


    "You''re too kind, that''s exactly what I wanted!"


    Seeming to see that Hagrid isn''t going to stand up for himself, Fluffy completely became honest, and he plopped down on Hagrid''s shoulder - which is exceptionally spacious for him right now - and within a few moments, his three heads started fighting over the raw meat Hagrid handed over.


    "Slow down, slow down, it''s all yours," Hagrid said with a smirk.


    Before leaving, Felix remembered to remind him unusually: "Hagrid, if Fluffy grows to one-third of his normal size, send him back, because then he will recover very quickly. I deliberately strengthened the spell, I think you can probably spend a week with him."


    "Got it, got it," Hagrid said contentedly.


    From Hagrid''s hut, walking back to the castle, Felix suddenly remembered that he still had an acromantula hidden in his pocket.


    He could not help but hesitate, he did not want to go back again.


    Maybe he should have left it ... alone, but no one saw it anyway ...


    But in the end, Felix took it back to the office.


    Lying on the couch, he lazily finished watching a film and ended up seeing everything but without remembering anything at the end.


    "The thinking room''s side effects are too much."


    Felix poured himself another potion and for a moment he felt better, his brain isn''t so tingly. He fished out the Ravenclaw diadem directly from his ring and put it on his head.


    A trace of coolness is constantly released, soothing his weary spirit.


    ''''Surprisingly, it really works!''''


    Felix felt like his ''sanity'' had left home and finally returned after wandering around outside.


    He sat up from the sofa and carefully recalled the events of the day, and couldn''t help but cover his face.


    "Too reckless..."


    He quickly went to the workbench and applied a layer of a protective ward on the glass vial containing the acromantula.


    "Good, now even a three-headed dog will take some time to break it open." He said with satisfaction, "It''s just the right time to record the duration of magic maintenance, and then compare it with the data from Hagrid''s side ..."


    But then, he suddenly realized a serious problem, "If I''m not better tomorrow, how am I supposed to give lessons to the young wizard?"


    Felix stared at himself in the mirror, wearing a diadem on his head that resembled a winged eagle, a sky sapphire set in the eagle''s chest, its wings adorned with rows of pearls.


    Going to class with a Ravenclaw diadem would not only result in ridicule, but also in trouble.


    After a while, Felix came up with an idea, but he had some resistance to it ...


    When Hermione knocked on the office door on time, she saw Felix with a wide dark brown bowler hat on his head.


    "Is that Professor''s new look?" She couldn''t help but take a few more glances.

 Chapter 200: Time-Turner

    " What happened, I saw you look a little angry and pissed off when you first came in." Felix asked, looking no different from yesterday, except for a wide dark brown bowler hat on his head. "Professor, I already know what that ''very interesting'' magic rune is." Hermione heaved, this term filled with bad taste, mentioned by Professor Hap last night when she suggested that she would try to discover the power of an individual magic rune herself.


    "Tell me about it, and I''ll see if you guess correctly." The corners of Felix''s mouth curled up.


    "It''s Uruz, which represents the power of the Wild Ox," she used a weird tone, a pale white light coating her hands, and her eyes looked at him unkindly. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Just as I thought ... Ahem! An interesting experience must have happened to you." Felix said.


    "Very interesting indeed! I got up early today to avoid everyone, to try this magic rune in the corner of the common room, had some failures as well as some successes ..." her face scrunched up with confusion and disbelief, "I don''t know why, but Fred and George sneaked out early too, and tiptoed as if they were hiding from someone."


    "Uh ..."


    "I was using this magic rune, and I heard them walking, So I didn''t manage to control it for a moment, and I just, I just--" Hermione said with a grimace and remorse: "I broke the arm of the chair in front of them. "


    Felix stifled a laugh and reassured her, "Not a big deal, only the two of them saw it."


    "Not anymore," Hermione said sadly, "They told Lee Jordan."


    Lee Jordan is the commentator for the school''s Quidditch games and is known for his loud mouth at school, Felix saw a few Quidditch games last school year and was quite impressed with him.


    "It''ll all be over, well, maybe," Felix digressed, "let''s get to the main topic of the day - well, I won''t teach in the thinking room today, it''s being renovated and there''s too much noise. "


    Hermione looked at him with a bewildered look, what''s the professor talking about?


    "... Discovering the power of individual magic runes will allow you to become better acquainted with the runes themselves, otherwise, there is little use in mastering more of them. That''s what I''ve learned recently."


    Felix said, from the tip of his index finger appeared a fiery red rune symbol, it bounced past the little witch.


    When the rune symbol returned to his palm, Felix clutched it, and Hermione suspected that Professor Hap had crushed the little thing, but he slowly spread his palm, and a small flame burned quietly.


    "To this extent, it is similar."


    Originally a little upset, Hermione is now fascinated by the new knowledge, and soon she began to ask one question after another.


    Under his guidance, less than half an hour, Hermione mastered the magic rune signifying ''light'', and a white, warm glow appeared from her hands, although it was only a thin, and superficial one.


    "You have laid a good foundation earlier, Miss Granger, you can play a greater role in the magic rune club."


    Hermione sniffed, then said excitedly, "Professor, the Magic Rune Club is about to start?"


    "Yes, the news will be announced next Monday."


    Hermione is very excited about the magic rune club, according to the professor''s previous statement, he will focus on practical ancient rune knowledge.


    The rest of the time, Hermione practiced alone, Felix flipped through a large book, and all sorts of runes jumped from his fingertips.


    Hermione looked exhausted and yawning, as she heard the professor''s voice from the table -


    "Did you use the time-tuner today?"


    Hermione looked over in a panic, and Professor Hap is staring at her with a scrutinizing gaze through the large bulk of books.


    "What? Uh, oh ..." she calmed down after a while, "There''s never enough time. I have to do a lot of homework, do extra work on magic runes and read some reference books ... It took me six hours in the morning alone."


    Felix shook his head, "I can already imagine how busy you usually are, are you planning to take one day as two, or three?"


    Hermione didn''t say anything.


    "In fact, I suggest you give up one or two ... courses."


    "No, I don''t want to give up," Hermione said in a firm tone as she interrupted him.


    "If that''s the case, you could consult Percy Weasley, who I understand got twelve certificates on the OWLs."


    Hermione nodded her head in approval of the suggestion.


    She did wonder how Percy managed to use the time tuner, it had only been a week, and she''s already struggling.


    "Can you tell me what did it feel like to use the time-tuner?"


    Hermione wondered as she noticed Professor Hap had re-hidden his face behind the bulk of the books. She thought for a moment and described her experience: "It felt like I was flying backward like I was flying, but I wasn''t actually moving at all ..."


    "You think it is the scene that is moving?"


    "Exactly."


    "What else do you feel besides that?"


    "I heard some strange sounds, like a drum pounding in my ears, I wanted to talk, but I couldn''t hear anything, I could only see some fuzzy patterns, some like clouds."


    "Thank you, Miss Granger, your answer satisfies my curiosity considerably."


    After a short conversation, the office became quiet.


    It wasn''t until Hermione left did Felix put down his book, "The Mystery of Time ..."


    The next day, a new week began.


    Felix took the time to go to the headmaster''s office after his first-class and handed the three Sneakoscopes to Dumbledore.


    "Clever idea, I suspect it might incorporate a Trace Charm, oh, and more than that, I saw some of Nicolas''s techniques, looks like you guys have been communicating a lot lately."


    His silvery-white beard tied up, he is currently surveying the walnut-sized pocket Sneakoscope through the half-moon lens.


    "You can see that?" Felix asked in surprise.


    "I was also addicted to alchemy when I was young, and Nicolas pointed me out, but unfortunately, I did not continue along that path," Dumbledore said regretfully.


    Felix suddenly remembered that he saw the introduction of this old man from the Chocolate Frog card a long, long time ago. One of the sentences came to mind again.


    " - his work on alchemy with his partner Nicolas Flamel."


    So, the headmaster''s alchemical attainments were not bad? He thought of the lamp extinguisher he had glimpsed by chance.


    He suddenly realized that he only had a very general knowledge of Dumbledore''s past. For example, the defeat of the dark wizard Grindelwald, the subjugation of Voldemort, and a series of papers published in his youth.


    But what beyond that? He knew the headmaster has a sweet tooth, a fondness for chamber music and ten-pin bowling.


    Felix couldn''t help but think about it.


    "No problem, Felix, you have done an excellent job," Dumbledore said.


    After Dumbledore confirmed that there is no issue, he offered his farewell.


    "If there''s nothing else, I''ll leave now, Headmaster Dumbledore."


    "There is nothing else except that I would like to express my gratitude to you, Felix." Dumbledore said, "Oh, and by the way, that''s a beautiful hat you have."


    Felix left with a stern face, he refused to respond to that remark. As he left, he glanced fleetingly at the portrait of Headmaster Phineas Black gesturing at him, as if to remind him implicitly not to forget the conversation a week ago.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 201: The Magic Rune Club Recruits New Members

    Later that afternoon, a brand-new poster appeared on the bulletin board, and the headline could be read from afar - New Recruitment for the Magic Rune Club! A group of young wizards gathered under the bulletin board, and an enthusiastic student read it aloud so that those in the back could hear it as well -


    "The first members of the Magic rune Club are hereby recruited, with the following requirements (any one of the following three, merit-based).


    One: Rough mastery of thirty practical ancient runes (to the extent that they can repair golems), or proficiency in one practical ancient rune ( for reference, see below).


    Two: Independent creation of an alchemical item.


    Three: A seven-foot-long essay based on Explorations of Ancient Magic Runes(with optional reference books).


    Selection: final Saturday morning of this month; Location: Ancient runes'' classroom.


    --Magic Rune Club Head: Felix Hap, September 7, 1993."


    At the bottom of the poster, there''s a moving picture and a long list of books.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione squeezed to the front of the crowd and looked carefully at the words and pictures on it.


    "I think the first requirement is the easiest to meet." Ron said as he stared at the end of the first entry on it, " you just need to be proficient in a single practical ancient magical rune."


    His words drew a murmur of approval.


    "It''s not true!" Hermione retorted sharply, pointing to the motion picture on the left side of the bottom of the poster - a small wizard holding a magic rune, but then the symbol turned into a puff of fire - "It''s the hardest of all the requirements; instead, I think the third requirement is the easiest."


    "Are you kidding me, Hermione! That''s a seven-foot thesis, seven-foot!"


    "There''s nothing wrong with my eyes, Ron. In fact, I''ve written longer papers."


    Many students recognized the ancient magic rune class assistant, especially for those who had taken ancient magic runes for more than a year, and they were very familiar with this witch ( handwriting ).


    Privately, many people complained that the second-year Granger is the professor of the Ancient rune class because her beautiful and neat handwriting often appeared on the assignments of the class for five years.


    "Miss Granger, I would appreciate it if you could explain, specifically, the meaning and difficulty of each clause." Seventh-year Percy appeared, a badge symbolizing the perfect of the boys'' student body on his chest, and said in a reserved and formal tone, "Your words will be a compelling reference."


    Ron said to Harry, chewing his tongue, "Look at him, he looks like the spokesman for the Ministry of Magic, except he''s missing a bulging stomach."


    Harry looked at Percy and thought about the image of the belly of Uncle Vernon on Percy, and he couldn''t help but laugh out loud.


    Hermione saw everyone turn their attention to her, "Oh, of course." She said nervously, "Hay, ahem! Professor Hap''s magic rune club places more emphasis on the practical magic rune, and his three requirements basically revolve around that."


    "The first one examines the mastery of practical magic rune, and as far as I understand, I mean I''ve seen your assignments, there are quite a few people above the fifth year who meet the requirements, except for that last part!"


    "The second one you all understand, but to reach the professor''s standard, you definitely need to utilize more practical magic runes;"


    "The third one is to examine your understanding of the practical magic runes, I personally think - is the easiest way, for students below the fifth year it is the optimal choice ..."


    After ten minutes or so, Hermione broke away from the crowd and found Harry and Ron, who were standing far away waiting.


    "My God, it''s the first time I''ve been treated with such enthusiasm!" Hermione said, not knowing whether to be happy or annoyed.


    Ron muttered from the sidelines, "I would love to switch with you."


    "Come on, let''s go to the great hall for dinner first," Harry said.


    At that moment, a voice interjected -


    "So, you Muggleborn just made a big splash!" Draco Malfoy appeared at some point, a sickly look on his face, and next to him was Pansy Parkinson, and two of his minions, Crabbe and Goyle.


    "Shut up, Malfoy! You''d better think about your old man and how to explain to your own Death Eater friends." Ron said with a contemptuous look on his face.


    Draco''s expression darkened as Ron poked him where it hurt. After three days of brooding since he had spoken out of turn last Tuesday, his father had sent a sternly worded letter forbidding him from mentioning any subject with the word dark lord in it.


    ''Erase this man from your memory, you know! Or I''ll pick you up.'' A sentence in the letter stated this.


    Draco ignored Ron, he looked at Harry and said, "If I were you, I''d go and visit that silly big guy more often, maybe you''ll only see him in Knockturn Alley later."


    Harry said without thinking, "Hagrid''s not going to get fired."


    "Just wait and see, Potter." He sneered twice and said to Hermione, "You''re just a little smart for a muggle, what else do you know besides memorization?"


    "I can do a lot of things, you want a try?" Hermione mouthed an odd phrase, and a light glow emerged from her palm.


    "She''s also number one on the second year ''answer space'' list, in all subjects, yeah, that''s nothing in your opinion ... Oh yeah, and she could be your examiner if you want to join the Magic Rune Club then." Ron taunted him and said.


    Draco, who was as uncomfortable as he swallowed a fly, said slowly, "It''s a shame, it looks like you won the Daily Prophet prize at home, making you significantly more confident ..."


    "Draco, ignore these lowlifes, my grandfather''s servants were richer than his family, and to be called pureblood alongside them is simply the greatest humiliation I''ve ever received in my life." Pansy Parkinson dragged him away as she said condescendingly.


    Ron furrowed his brow and said with an incredulous look on his face, "Are they sick, and why do they piss people off every time they show up?"


    Even after dinner and back in the common room, Ron still dwelt on the matter, "Ruined my day, Hermione, I mean it if you become one of the examiners for the selection ... Hey! Get your cat away from me!"


    Less than three feet away from him, a large cat with ginger fur and a face that looked like it had been squashed is crouched over with its eyes fixed on his pocket. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione picked up her cat unhappily, "Crookshanks, behave." She sat down on the other side of the small round sofa.


    Harry looked down at a piece of parchment with various names on it, with various lines drawn between the names.


    Hermione took one look at the top and said worriedly, "Harry, are you still obsessing about that fugitive?"


    "I just can''t figure out how my father could have chosen such a man as his best man!" Harry hammered the table angrily, even though almost a week had passed, he could not forget the anger that he had.


    Hermione reassured him, "A lot of people change, Harry."


    Ron asked curiously, "I remember you said you were going to find it out from Professor Lupin on Saturday, how did that go?"


    Harry said sullenly, "I didn''t see him, Professor Lupin was ill, and I knocked half a dozen times on the door before he replied in a hoarse voice."


    "But he didn''t explicitly reject you, did he? Find a chance to try again, right after class, or the next weekend." Ron suggested.


    Harry nodded, he was thinking the same thing. There is supposed to be a Defense Against the Dark Arts class today, but Professor Lupin looked so haggard that he feared the professor would suddenly faint while he is in the middle of the class, and he felt too embarrassed to make a request.

 Chapter 202: Letters and Research

    Ron came over to look at the parchment and said unexpectedly, "How come there is my dad''s name?" On the parchment, the names of two people, James Potter and Sirius Black, occupied the center, and from their names led to various associated characters, such as James led to Harry, and from Harry drew the names of various sources of information, such as ''Mr. Weasley'', ''Minister Fudge '', ''Professor Lupin''.


    Harry explained, "Before we got on the train, Mr. Weasley told me to be wary of Sirius and made me swear not to look for him, so surely he knew more."


    "Do you want me to write him a letter?" Ron asked warily, a little afraid, to be honest.


    "I''d like--"


    "Potter! Come over here." Professor McGonagall came in from outside and waved towards Harry.


    The two went to the corner and murmured, Harry''s voice becoming more and more agitated. S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Halfway through the morning, he returned, with a grim expression, and placed a Sneakoscope on the table, picking up a quill and adding a new name ''Professor McGonagall'' on the parchment.


    "She knows it, too, and yet she fools me like a child."


    Hermione looked at the pocket Sneakoscope and suddenly said, "It was made by Professor Hap, commissioned by Dumbledore, and it contains Sirius Black''s hair hidden inside."


    She promised Professor Hap that she would not reveal it in advance, but since the Sneakoscope has been delivered to Harry, there is no need to hide it.


    Harry chuckled in exasperation, "So, everyone is trying to keep me in the dark, the one involved?"


    "Come on, Harry, they have their reasons. But we can also look into those past events ourselves, can''t we?" Hermione said.


    Ron''s eyes widened, "Do you know what you''re talking about, Hermione?"


    "It''s important, Ron. We might be able to analyse valuable information from it, like the magic Sirius Black is good at, in case we meet him narrowly, it''s better than not knowing anything about him." Hermione overbearingly assigned tasks: "Ron, you write to your father, while Harry works through Professor Lupin."


    "What about you?" Ron asked sensitively.


    "I''ll ask Professor Hap if he knows something, but it''s unlikely, Harry''s father had already graduated by the time he enrolled." Hermione crossed her fingers and said, "Oh yeah, and Hagrid, do you remember? The night Malfoy got hurt, we ran to comfort Hagrid, and he ended up getting excited and throwing us out."


    Ron said with a look of approval: "It will work, Hagrid is a big mouth, he will spill the beans."


    Harry suddenly reminded the two: "Snape must know it too. He hates my father, and he hates Professor Lupin, so maybe ..."


    "What a great idea, let''s run over and question him - Dear Professor Snape, were you beaten on the arse by a man called James Potter when you were at school? We''d like to know more about a friend of his ..."


    Harry dumbfounded.


    Neville walked in, with a letter in his hand. Looking around for a moment, he came to Harry.


    "A letter from Grandmother, addressed to Professor Hap, I don''t know whether to give it to him or not." Neville''s round face showed a hesitant expression.


    ...


    Felix saw the letter the next day, he opened the envelope in front of Neville and pulled out the letterhead.


    Neville stared at him unblinkingly, "What did she say?"


    "Asking me to come to Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop at the weekend and meet to talk more about it." Felix grinned.


    Neville swallowed, "Can I, can I follow, it''s about me, isn''t it?" He barely managed to get the words out that the trio had devised for him yesterday.


    "Oh, no, you''re not allowed to enter Hogsmeade yet."


    ...


    "And you just agreed to that? Without further effort?" Harry said with a glare.


    "I, I ..." Neville stammered, "I think Professor Hap has a point, I really amn''t allowed to go to Hogsmeade village."


    "You could have asked him to take you with him, he''s a professor!"


    "I didn''t think ... of that at the time," said Neville, rubbing the back of his head.


    Harry sulked alone.


    On the other hand, Felix is poking a glass vial with great interest.


    Three days had passed, and the Acromantula inside it had grown as big as a walnut.


    "I know you can understand my words, Mr. spider." Felix said.


    "Wizard, what do you want to do?" The Mr. spider said gruffly, its pair of large claws opening and closing with a "click-click-click" sound.


    "A lot, but I need your cooperation."


    "No way, wizard, you can''t humiliate me." It said fiercely, while waving its claws in anger.


    If it had said this with its original size, I think it would have been quite intimidating.


    Felix smiled, "I have to remind you that you attacked me first, the reason why I kept you is that you are still useful, if you are useless ..."


    The Mr. Spider tensed up as it once again remembered the fear of being tortured ( shrunken ) by this wizard, "So, you will let me go?"


    "If it''s satisfactory, why not? Do you look delicious?"


    "Okay, I promise." It quickly changed its words.


    "Next I will stimulate you a little with magic to bring you back to your original state, and you have to describe the corresponding feeling, understand?"


    "... understand."


    In Felix''s perspective, a blue magic power which appeared to be extremely orderly coiled inside the Acromantula''s body, like a chain, which blocked its body from recovering, but the magic power on the other hand help it dissipate at an extremely slow rate.


    After all, magic power is a featureless source, and the Acromantula itself is a magical creature, containing magic power in its body, and it''s also desperately trying to get rid of the imprisonments on its body.


    Later, this process becomes more rapid. From the data obtained in the previous three days, the time period is between 5 - 8 days.


    ''''If I can make my magic automatically draw from the free magic power, will it be permanent?'''' Felix speculated, but it is totally unrealistic, at least he can''t even touch a shadow of it right now.


    Felix tried carefully, the blue magic power is very stable and seems to ignore him, the original owner. Instead of cancelling the magic with a zooming spell, he infused his magic into the Acromantula to help it fight and wear down the blue chains.


    Wisps of blue mist appeared from the Acromantula''s body, and soon it became the size of a watermelon, but it didn''t dare to move a muscle, allowing Felix to poke him here and there.


    Every few minutes, Felix would ask the Mr. Spider how he felt.


    "How does it feel?"


    "Nothing."


    After another moment -


    "And now?"


    "It''s like walking from the sun into the nest, much more comfortable physically." Acromantula liked the cool, and damp environment.


    "Was it hard before?"


    "The transformation process was hard and very uncomfortable, but after a while, I didn''t feel it anymore, I thought it''s done." The Acromantula said.


    Felix looked at it quite surprised, although he knew that the Acromantula could speak human language, but did not know that they could express their intention so clearly.


    "Do you usually chat and have tea parties in English?" Felix asked curiously.


    "I don''t know what you''re talking about, Aragog taught us," Acromantula said.


    Felix understood a little, the wild Acromantula definitely do not have this kind of ability, being able to speak some short sentences would be good.


    But Forbidden Forest batch seems different, their source is from Aragog, and Aragog was raised by Hagrid in his childhood.


    This gave him some new ideas, maybe they could be kept ensconced?


    When he politely suggested this to Hagrid, he said cheerfully, "That''s what Hogwarts does now! I''ll go every month or two and check on Aragog, it''s too old and probably doesn''t have much time left. In the meantime, I extracted some venom from the Acromantula, that''s good stuff, part of the school''s expenses come from this. But Aragog doesn''t allow much extraction at once, he has to think about hunting for future generations too ..."


    Felix looked at Hagrid dumbfounded, this is completely different from what he thought.


    Hagrid said happily: "Finally, there is something you are not aware of too, Felix. Most of the intelligent communities in the Forbidden Forest keep in touch with Hogwarts, and Dumbledore asked me to manage this part."


    "For example, unicorns, I usually send them some herbs, tonic, they do not mind if I take some hair, the good things are taken away by Ollivander, the rest is not much use, I will use it to make some mats, rags and so on, it is very good ..."


    "Centaur, they act as a barrier of the forbidden forest, watch out for the presence of werewolves, trolls, and other dangerous creatures trying to enter the outer forest, and will inform me when they can''t be solved; they are also good at healing, which is not quite the same as the wizard''s method, and can sometimes be useful. As for the centaur''s divination, I don''t know much about this ..."


    "The same goes for herbs, Professor Sprout scatters some seeds each year into the forbidden forest."

 Chapter 203: Flitwicks Teaching about Seventeen Duels

    For the young wizards of Hogwarts, the dueling class on the second and fourth Thursday of every month is definitely a large competitive social event that tones up their bodies and minds and gets their hands busy. In the eyes of some, this class is already on par with a Quidditch tournament. At least they could actually participate in it, rather than being a spectator on the field.


    The great hall is packed with students clustered in groups, talking enthusiastically with each other before the professor arrives. Harry then saw Percy talking at the top of his lungs about how he had achieved his 12 OWLs certificate, and Hermione''s eyes lit up as she glanced over.


    "I''ll be back in a minute," Hermione said as she left Harry and Ron behind.


    They saw her squeeze into the crowd and whisper something, Percy initially looked a little off with a careless look, but his eyes soon widened. The two quickly passed the crowd and ran towards a corner of the great hall where four long tables were stacked.


    As they passed the twins, Percy stopped to warn them, "I don''t know what you''re using to avoid my sight, maybe a tracking spell or something-"


    The twins looked at each other, and Fred elbowed George and said, "You hear that George, the tracking spell ... yet another productive day!"


    George gave an exaggerated salute, with one hand behind his back, "A noble deed, Percy! Just an addition to the great cause of mischief, we''ll leave your name on it." S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " A badge as big as a--"


    "No, his badge is big enough, we''ll just write down the words big-headed boy, straight off the bat."


    Not far away from there Harry "snickered" out loud, he hurriedly averted his eyes and stared at Ginny, her face quickly turned red, and seemed to be about to faint in the arms of her best friend Luna Lovegood.


    "Do you need me to tell you a snide joke?" Luna said with a very abrupt gaze, Harry is accustomed to it, he knew this little girl usually like this.


    "Any brilliant insights, Luna?" He glanced hastily in Percy''s direction, they were already standing beneath a suit of armour and whispering.


    "Your brain is a mess, a group of wandering Wrackspurts must have nested in your head lately ..." Luna shook her bracelet in a serious manner, "I can help you chase them away."


    "How?" Harry said, catching a glimpse of Professor Hap''s figure appearing in the great hall doorway.


    "You need to be quieter and become less attractive to harassing Wrackspurts first ..."


    "Thanks, I don''t think I have any of that weird stuff in my head," Harry said quickly.


    Professor Hap and Snape walked in, which he expected, and no, there is another professor, Professor Flitwick, who he just missed.


    From the distance, Hermione hurried back, and the young wizards stood consciously according to their houses.


    Felix enchanted himself with an Amplifying Charm and said loudly, "Welcome back to dueling class, young wizards! I see many familiar faces, and quite a few new ones ..."


    At the front of their respective houses, a row of little beanie kids looked around restrainedly and curiously, they were the new students of their respective Houses this year, Harry then saw Colin Creevey pulling his brother, the boy named ''Dennis''.


    "Before the lesson begins, allow me to introduce you to you all, as we welcome our third permanent dueling class professor, Filius Flitwick!"


    The pint-sized Flitwick took a few steps forward, he dressed formally today, which is a formal little suit, and he twirled his wand gracefully as if he is holding a baton.


    From Ravenclaw house came a loud cheer, a cluster of sparks released from the crowd, and finally composed a Ravenclaw house''s symbol eagle.


    Harry thought that they must have borrowed the design from the answer space - both looked very similar.


    Students from the other houses were also clapping as hard as they could, and when it came to popularity, Professor Flitwick is definitely the best of the four Heads of the House.


    "Thank you, thank you-" Professor Flitwick got so excited that he burst into tears, and he took out a handkerchief with an embroidered Ravenclaw design to wipe the corners of his eyes, "I''m so excited today, it''s like standing on the podium for the first time. "


    Today is a special session for Professor Flitwick, Felix and Snape intentionally downplayed their presence, allowing Professor Flitwick to show his charisma. And Flitwick bowed to the two professors, and then cast a spell to his heart''s content, in his hands, spell casting seems to be equated with art.


    After a few minutes of showing off his skills, Flitwick got down to business. He shook his wand, from the tip of the wand spilled large puffs of bronze smoke, smoke condensed into vague figures, standing on the gilded stage.


    These bronze-colored figures faced each other in pairs as if they were engaged in a duel. There is a small wizard in each pair, and that ought to be Flitwick.


    The young wizards counted carefully, and there were seventeen pairs.


    Flitwick said in a sharp voice, "Allow me to examine the moment of glory in my memory, which was more than sixty years ago ... After seventeen duels, I was awarded the title of Wizard Duelling Champion in 1931."


    He waved his wand and made the first pair of bronze figures move: the tall wizard raised his wand to cast a spell, and the shorter figure countered with a head lowered, and knocked down his opponent in just one blow.


    Flitwick acted as narrator: "See? My opponent was gullible, he thought I am short and surely not much better, but this was one of the easiest victories I have ever achieved."


    "It was short, but it was also great. We can learn a lot of lessons from it ..."


    "The first one, never take your opponent lightly in a duel, many of you can figure that out, but not many wizards actually do so in reality;"


    "What else? That''s right, seize the moment. I didn''t stand still and defend, but instead I launched a counterattack along with the momentum. It also reminds us that a wizard is most vulnerable when attacking, you have to protect yourself and learn to leave room to manoeuvre;"


    "The next one won''t be easy, does anyone know? Mind you, it has to do with my unique height." Flitwick looked expectantly at the young wizard on the stage.


    Harry''s eyes lit up, he''d heard a similar phrase from Professor Hap!


    He raised his hand first, and when his name got called, he said with some excitement, "Combine personal characteristics to create a fighting system that best suits your needs."


    Flitwick smiled, "Very good, Potter! That''s right, personal characteristics, that''s important, each of us is unique, you have to embrace everything about yourself, the good, the bad ..."


    "I used to struggle with my height and size, the vast majority of the time I had to keep my head up during duels. Being small posed another disadvantage; I couldn''t move fast enough, and my arms weren''t long enough for my opponent to easily judge the range of my spell''s reach."


    The young wizards listened quietly, wondering how Professor Flitwick had solved these problems.


    "- But I came out of the shadows later, I accepted my imperfections, and after a while, my height became my advantage instead, few wizards have experience dueling with short people like me, they always respond wrongly, either because of their mentality or their habits. "


    "My size makes it easier for me to dodge spells, and I no longer aim for a speed of movement, but work out for a more flexible pace ..."


    Flitwick said with an emotional face, loud applause rang out off the stage, he heard someone from his house shout: "Head, you are the best!" He couldn''t help but wipe the corners of his eyes again.


    "Next, let''s watch the second duel, I met a very interesting person, we later became friends."


    ...


    More than an hour passed, and the students all felt immensely rewarded as Flitwick presented the young wizards with a picture of a real duel scene from his own personal experience.


    Harry, even though he could fit these words into a paper, word by word, and give it to Professor Hap.


    But such things can only be thought over.


    Felix walked to the center of the gilded stage and said with a smile, "With less than half an hour left, the two professors and I have discussed the next step and changed it to a mentoring battle.


    The students will pick the professors to get one-on-one guidance, and I''m sure after a full year and a summer last year, many of you are confident about your level ..."


    He looked around the room and saw an eager face.


    "So, show it off!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 204: Mock Duel? Guidance!

    The young wizards looked at each other, but none of them volunteered to go up the stage. At the foot of the stage is a cacophony of whispers.


    It is an opportunity to have a fair and square fight with a professor, the question is, who to choose?


    Felix smiled, "Would anyone like to try? It''s a rare opportunity." S?a?ch* Th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry''s heart itched, and his lips went dry. He had received special training from Professor Hap back in the summer, so naturally, he knew that there is a huge gap between them.


    But exactly how much of a gap, he never managed to see.


    Moreover, just now, he suddenly had an idea, could he get the information he wanted through one-on-one guidance?


    While he is hesitating, the first person emerged, it''s Percy Weasley.


    He bowed solemnly, "As the prefect of the boys'' student body, I would be happy to set an example for the others."


    "Very well, Weasley, which professor do you choose?" Felix looked at him encouragingly.


    "Professor Flitwick," Percy said without thinking.


    He thought before he went up, of the three professors, Snape is recognized as unfriendly to Gryffindor, against him although there is no danger to life, making a fool of himself is inevitable, so ruled out.


    And Professor Hap rarely makes a move, but his disarming charm last year is too impressive, Percy worried that Professor Hap will use that level of the spell to confront him, so it''s also ruled out.


    When you think about it in this way, Professor Flitwick is the most appropriate option available. He is cheerful and gentle, not too strict with the young wizards, and he rarely deducts points.


    The few times he taught in dueling classes last school year, he also seemed to be comfortable enough to teach without leaving his students in the dust.


    "I''ll take Professor Flitwick," Percy repeated.


    Soon, Flitwick and Percy stood facing each other, and Flitwick reminded him, "Don''t forget what I''ve taught before." as he had spent over an hour going over his fighting style in detail.


    Percy nodded, and the two raised their wands and saluted, then officially began the duel.


    Percy struck first, and a disarming charm broke through the air, but Flitwick just side-stepped it, keeping his eyes fixed on his opponent''s hand.


    Nearly at the same time, a bright spell hit Percy, but he had rehearsed before going on stage, and after casting the disarming charm, he jumped aside without thinking, and at the same time chanted the incantation of the Shield Charm.


    "Protego!"


    As soon as the Shield Charm formed, it met Flitwick''s spell head-on.


    "Good response, Percy." Flitwick praised him as he consciously controlled the rhythm of his attack, and it took almost three minutes before he crisply defeated Percy with the Incarcerous Spell.


    Flitwick commented, "Your spells are fairly adept and have their own set of logic, but I can see that you don''t have much experience in actual combat, and you''re a bit hasty in your reactions at the spot."


    Percy broke free from the ropes on his body, straightened the folds on his robe, and said rather formally, "Thank you, Professor Flitwick, I will take care of that in the future."


    He gave a salute and stepped out of the gilded ring as the young Gryffindor wizards cheered excitedly.


    "We''re the first!"


    "Percy, how did it feel to face the Professor, was it stressful?" Someone asked him.


    Percy explained, "It was a bit stressful, but you simply couldn''t think about it, you had to put your full attention on it."


    With the first hands-on experience, the young wizards became enthusiastic, their timidity all gone, and soon a second student took the gilded stage.


    Still a Gryffindor, it is Oliver Wood, a tall man who is the captain of the Gryffindor House Quidditch team.


    He scratched his head with some embarrassment, "I, I''ll choose Professor Hap."


    Felix saluted as he faced him, and Wood whispered, "Professor, have mercy, I''m most afraid of you."


    "So you''re still going to choose me?"


    "Hey, hey, anyway, it''s time to graduate, it''s very impressive to talk outside." Wood said nervously.


    There is respect, very good ...


    As soon as the duel began, Wood chanted, "Expelliar--"


    A red light grazed his hair and swept through, snuffing out the words that followed after, the power of the spell making his hair stand up to its roots.


    He looked at Professor Hap in horror, if this hit him, he wouldn''t break in two from the middle of his body, would he? He looked at the professor, who is smiling all over, as he gestures for him to continue.


    "I ..."


    Soon, an utter suppression is witnessed by the students, and in the first few minutes, Wood is interrupted by various silent spell casting without even being able to cast a complete spell.


    It was only when Wood chanted a disarming spell with his eyes closed, without a care in the world, that the duel began to become normal.


    Professor Hap then no longer stopped Wood from reciting the spell, and they continued to duel back and forth, shooting spells of various colours at each other.


    The dueling strategy Professor Hap adopted was the type of defensive evasion-counterattack that he had introduced in his previous dueling class, and every move could be theoretically justified.


    Combined with Flitwick''s words earlier, they had more clarity, and even the freshmen could visualize something.


    After seven or eight minutes, Wood conceded defeat in a sweat, and Felix commented as usual: "Wood, you are not proficient in non-verbal spell, and your intent is too obvious when dueling; moreover, you do not have an established style.


    In the performance just now, you cast twelve kinds of spells, whether it''s disarming charm, shield charm which is a good type of dueling spell, or a Trip Jinx or Tickling Charm which is a minor mischief spell. Of which the disarming charm three times, the shield charm twice, the Trip Jinx twice, and the tickling charm once ...


    It''s not that you can''t use minor mischief spells, but you have to choose your spells carefully. Like the trip jinx, it can''t subdue your opponent straight away, which means you waste excellent chances to strike and hit.


    In addition, your spell power is not particularly outstanding, which means you have no main spell ..."


    Wood humbly accepted the lesson and wiped the sweat stain from his face.


    The next Gryffindor student wanted to take the stage, when the other three houses stopped it, and a Slytherin student stepped right up to the spot, a seventh-year Head of Grade, Geoffrey.


    "Professor Snape, please guide your students further." He said respectfully.


    Snape lowered his hand which was crossed over his chest and drew his wand from his black robes, his coat flipped as he walked to the center.


    Facing the Slytherin students, Snape obviously slackened, otherwise according to his temper, he would send a direct curse to knock his opponent over. But this time, he seldom attacked but put up a defensive stance.


    Geoffrey''s first spell hit the ground three feet from Snape, Snape said coldly: "Are you worried about hurting me by mistake, Geoffrey? Attack with every spell you can think of, dueling is a serious matter!"


    Next, Geoffrey began to attack from different angles, shooting spells of various colours across the room, and the young wizards witnessed a stunning defensive demonstration.


    Snape rarely used protective spells such as shield charm, his eyesight is extremely sharp, always easily picking off the flying spells one by one. Faced with a black mist of suspected dark magic, his wand tapped on it, turning them into a large white mist of water.


    Snape emerged from the watery mist, his hazy face became clear, and he stepped closer to Geoffrey, casually flicking the oncoming spell with his wand and flicking it to the side.


    Soon, Geoffrey is forced to the edge of the stage and has to bow his head and admit defeat.


    "That was brilliant! Did you see that?" The Slytherin students applauded enthusiastically.


    Harry couldn''t hold back his eagerness and rushed to the ring.


    Snape looked at Harry with a mocking expression, lowering his voice so that his words could only be heard by the other party: "Can''t help it, at last? As much as your father loves the limelight, perhaps this will make you feel special, you know, the feeling of being a saviour ..."


    "I don''t feel like I''m special, it''s just every trouble finding their way to me!" Harry said, "Like the one that escaped from Azkaban, Sirius Black, who I knew nothing about previously."


    "Don''t mention that disgusting name," Snape said coldly.


    Harry said in an affirmative tone, "I saw the records of your student days, you don''t see eye to eye with each other, but there must be a deeper reason ..."


    Snape''s expression elevated, his lips pursed rigidly, as if he held back from uttering a mean comment.

 Chapter 205: Harrys Battle

    Harry demanded, "You must know something--" Snape waved his wand to silence the surrounding noise, and he said, word by word, "You''re too nosy, Potter!. Do you really think your saviour after being touted a few times? If it weren''t for your mother''s sacrifice, you''d be nothing!"


    Harry''s stomach churned, he felt glad and sad, glad that he had bet right, Snape really knew more about the inside story, but sad when he mentioned his mother, what happened as he didn''t know about it.


    And Snape mocked him profusely, describing him as a villain who got away from death and who stole a reputation that didn''t belong to him, which made his lungs explode.


    He couldn''t help but clench his wand, itching to give Snape a Bat-Bogey Hex right away, he thought the name of the spell matched Snape too well - as he looked like a big dirty bat.


    Snape noticed Harry''s movement and his cold eyes narrowed as he said mischievously, "Want to have a go, Potter? I''m willing to give you that chance ..."


    Harry took two deep breaths of air and said stiffly, "No, it''s not you, the one I''m looking for." He took a few steps away, turned his head to look at Felix, who is not far away, and said aloud, "I choose Professor Hap."


    Snape''s face looked astonished, as he judged according to Potter''s characteristics he would surely be enraged, then he can teach him a lesson in a fair and square manner.


    To be honest, he was looking forward to that scene.


    But the boy unexpectedly refused, how dare he!


    Snape reluctantly retreated to the edge of the stage, as Felix and Harry came face to face and saluted with their wands up in front of their chests.


    Harry whispered, "Professor, if I can hold out for two minutes, will you promise me one thing?"


    Felix looked at him and smiled, "Just like in special training?"


    "Exactly." Harry said quickly, he didn''t have any expectation of getting information about his father and Sirius Black from Snape, it just happened, now it is his real ruse, " Just like when I invited you to look at the Firebolt prototype from the Quidditch Boutique with me after my first success."


    "I let it slip that time, to boost your confidence," Felix said.


    "I know, but I''ve made progress too," Harry said. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After a short conversation, the two men saluted each other, took seven steps in reverse, and turned to look at each other.


    Felix had no intention of making the first move, and Harry understood that everything would be just like the basement of the leaky cauldron bar.


    He waved his wand violently and shouted, "Incarcerous!" A rope as thin as a snake flew towards Felix, he did not look at the result, and then took two steps back, followed by a silent disarming charm.


    Felix smiled and stood still, the rope just touched his body, it quickly softened, he then tilted his head, dodging the red arc of light. Smoothly waved out two spells, one crimson and one gold.


    "Protego!" Harry had prepared the shield charm early, one of the spells grazed the magic barrier, the other spell hit straight on the shield charm with a muffled sound.


    Harry''s mind silently recited the count, this is his summarized pattern, in the special training, Professor Hap never knocked him down at once in order to train him, rather, there is a certain interval, which gave him a glimmer of hope.


    Silently counting to eight, he dodged, and a powerful spell directly shattered the shield charm. He lamely got up from the ground and raised his hand to fling out three to four stupefying charms - "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!"


    Felix''s magical barrier appeared in front of him, blocking Harry''s spells. Then he reached out and pushed out his hand in front of him, and the magical barrier turned into seven or eight blunt-headed arrows that flew at Harry.


    "Whoosh!" The arrows let out a whimpering, harsh whistle.


    Harry used a freezing spell to freeze the arrows in midair, and he immediately swooped to the side.


    The arrow paused for a second or two and continued on its intended trajectory, smashing into the wooden floor with a questionable, muffled thud.


    "Snort, snort, snort!"


    It took less than thirty seconds before and after, but the two showed a powerful interaction of offence and defense that left many people scratching their heads in disbelief. Professor Hap is undoubtedly very relaxed, and the young wizards are not surprised by this, but Harry left the crowd incomprehensible.


    The familiarity he showed in dueling surprised everyone.


    Harry truly looked wretched, spending most of his time dodging, tumbling, and stumbling backward... but he always found time to counterattack, releasing spells far more often than the students before him.


    And his expression also looked calm, completely lacking the panic of the previous few.


    Harry kept running around the stage as he tried to pull away from Professor Hap.


    Two minutes is a long time, and Harry had to play it smart, which is something he had never been able to consider before. Despite knowing that his spell would be useless, he kept firing back, trying to interfere with the frequency of the professor''s attacks.


    But to his despair, Professor Hap never slowed down in his attacks, almost once every seven or eight seconds, never changing because of his interference.


    ''I''m still too far off!''


    ''This way, I am still not Sirius Black''s opponent at all!''


    Harry''s mind became agitated, and he desperately reminded himself that it is not the right time yet, but he just couldn''t help thinking about the future.


    As he ran, he got hit by an Incarcerous and tripped to the ground.


    His glasses flew off and Harry looked up in confusion, vaguely seeing a blurry figure across the room raising his wand.


    "No!"


    He struggled to raise his wand and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"


    A blazing red beam of light is fired, like a wrist-thick laser that faintly emits white light.


    The spell spanned more than ten meters and collided head-on with the disarming charm Felix had sent over.


    "Huh?"


    Felix did not budge and raised the power of the magic spell, making the power of the two disarming charms equal.


    In the young wizards'' view, Harry surprisingly tied with Professor Hap for a moment, their spells clashing fiercely, sending out crackling bursts and magical arcs of light.


    The great hall boiled up.


    "This is Harry''s disarming charm? How did he practice it!"


    "Legend has it that he used this spell to destroy the Dementors that tried to attack him ..."


    "He''s only in his third year, no wonder he''s the saviour who defeated the you-know-who."


    "Do you think he can win?"


    "... you think too much, but I think it is possible in the future!"


    Standing in the corner, Snape looked at the scene in shock, he never knew that Harry could make this kind of intensity of magic. This is far beyond the level he usually shows.


    Immediately after, he noticed the appearance of another person.


    It is Lupin!


    He looked very haggard, his gray hair seemed more conspicuous, and his clothes were patched. He had appeared in the great hall at some point and is looking at Harry with concern.


    The two eyes met, and Lupin nodded amicably, then stared at Harry unblinkingly.


    In the gilded ring, Harry desperately maintained the spell, he did not know how long had passed, each second felt like a century, but he wished he could hold on a little longer.


    Maybe he already lasted two minutes? That way, Professor Hap wouldn''t deny his request. Harry thought to himself.


    Felix''s spell remained terribly steady, never weakening a hair''s breadth from start to finish. Harry watched as the magic that belonged to his side got suppressed in return.


    He gritted his teeth and held on as his vision began to drift, and the sky spun, a feeling he is no stranger to.


    ''In the next second, he would fall on the carpeted floor, it would be uncomfortable, but not really painful ...''


    "Dang!"


    Harry smashed on the floor, "That hurts!" His eyes teared up.


    He realized with a jolt: he is not in the basement of the leaky cauldron bar for special training, but in the gilded ring of the school great hall, with only bare hardwood planks beneath him.


    "Harry~Harry~" he heard a gentle shout as someone crouched over, but he could no longer tell who it might be.


    He passed out completely.


    Felix looked at Professor Lupin, who had lost his composure, and lunged at Harry, as he stood afar from him.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 206: A Conversation with Lupin

    Harry woke up from his bed in the hospital wing and saw the white ceiling when he opened his eyes. "Here you go, Harry." He heard Hermione speak, and he reached out to take them - it would be his glasses.


    Harry''s vision cleared as he put on his glasses, and he saw Hermione and Ron sitting off to the side. Madam Pomfrey is mixing potions on a small table at the foot of the bed, and Professor Lupin is leaning over to check his condition.


    Across the aisle, Professor Hap sat in the bed opposite in a relaxed manner, flipping through a Daily Prophet.


    "Professor--"


    "Drink it first, son." Madam Pomfrey said, and Harry struggled, "I think I''m fine!"


    "Oh, yeah?" She said absent-mindedly, "That won''t stop you from drinking it all, come on, or I''ll replace it with a Draught of Living Death."


    Harry drank the entire cup of liquid in one gulp, he looked at Felix and asked eagerly, "Professor Hap, am I lasted for two minutes?"


    Felix put down the paper and smiled, "You did do well with that last one, I was planning to keep the time close."


    It took Harry two or three seconds to catch the professor''s meaning, and he revealed a startled look, "So, I, I ..."


    "Well," Felix winked at him, "you can take your time to consider the wish, not too difficult, or I will refuse."


    Harry blurted out, "I want to know about my father and Sirius Black!" He glanced at Professor Lupin next to him - who is looking at him in shock - and whispered, "Thank you for visiting me, Professor Lupin."


    Professor Lupin said gently, "It''s nothing, I happen to be free tonight. Harry, about your father--"


    Madam Pomfrey brought over a blanket, "It''s a little chilly at night, put this over yourself." She turned her head to the two professors and said with an impatient look on her face, "The patient needs to rest, so you try to keep it short."


    Professor Lupin changed his tone and said, "Harry, I know you have some questions, this weekend, you can drop by for a visit. I''ll excuse myself, for now, Professor Hap, How about we go together?"


    Felix stood up, "Of course."


    The two walked out of the room in pairs and as they walked around a corridor, Lupin paused, "Professor Hap, we need to talk."


    "About Potter?"


    "Yes, about Harry." Lupin said calmly: "I can see that you treat him very well. But don''t you think that some of your ways are not appropriate for a third year?"


    "You mean?" Felix looked at him curiously.


    "The special summer training, if you''ll excuse me, they were in the same compartment as me at the time and I heard a bit of it. From Harry''s description, he fainted a dozen times during your special training ..." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said carelessly, "Probably more than that, if the data I recorded is correct, it should be 32 times."


    Lupin looked at him seriously, "Don''t you realize the seriousness of the problem? He is only thirteen years old!"


    "What does age means? Will Black leave him alone and wait for him to become an adult because of his age?" Felix scoffed, "If you''re worried about his health, that''s not necessary, I''m well-prepared."


    Lupin suppressed the anger in his heart, "Harry will be safe by staying in school. Besides, not everything can be brushed off with ''well-prepared''. Have you considered his mental capacity, what were you doing when you were thirteen?"


    Felix looked at him expressionlessly and said softly, "In my opinion, your reasons are all excuses. At least, I won''t pin my hopes on others, and be comfortable enough to pretend nothing happened to me."


    Lupin calmed down, hesitated, and said, "I do not want my words to show some kind of prejudice, but you come from Slytherin, and also Snape''s students ..."


    "What are you trying to say, Lupin?" Felix knocked on the window frame in front of him, "I''m in a hurry."


    Lupin took a deep breath, "I''m more concerned about Harry''s well-being than anyone else, and you''re simply too much of an influence on him. On the other hand, Snape and his father were mortal enemies when they were at school, and I''m worried that Snape''s attitude will affect you."


    Felix''s gaze fell on the window, "Severus can''t influence me to do that yet, of course, I don''t intend to change my teaching philosophy. Professor Lupin, you''re way out of line, what does Harry''s problem have to do with you? Let''s part ways here."


    He took a few steps forward and counted silently in his mind, one, two, three ...


    "I knew Harry''s father! We were good friends, far beyond even the boundaries of that word, and I am grateful to him." Lupin said suddenly.


    Felix, who had his back to him, curled his mouth as he looked back at Lupin, "You expect to convince me with vague statements?"


    "... Harry''s father, James Potter, is a brilliant child in school, he learns everything at the drop of a hat, and Sirius ... I mean Black too." Lupin stood with him side by side, looking out the window, the sky had gone completely dark. " Well, I was on the edge, and it was James who accepted me."


    " James and that guy were young and flamboyant, very popular with their classmates... and James went on to join the Quidditch team. However, on the other hand, they also became targets for Slytherin."


    Felix asked with interest, "Can you elaborate on that?"


    Lupin thought for a moment, carefully choosing his words, "Slytherin ... during that period might not be quite the same as what you''ve been exposed to, the Pure Blood theory was so popular that many students joined the ranks of the Death Eaters as soon as they graduated. We privately referred to them as Death Eater reserves."


    Felix nodded and said, "I did hear something about that."


    " James and that guy, Sirius Black, he was still a good guy back then." Lupin said arduously: "They quickly became a Gryffindor brand, James is big-headed, like to make mischief, he is cynical towards Slytherin, and he always defended the students in the same house, while Black, he strongly resented the rotten family he came from, also have no good feeling towards Slytherin, he even broke off relations with his family at the age of 16, I just did not expect that he would end up betraying James." He shook his head and didn''t go on.


    And Felix has understood his unexpressed meaning, So he said with emotion: " A teenager who filled with a sense of justice turned into an evil one, how can it not make the heart saddened?"


    Lupin continued: " James and Black offended a lot of people, of course, most people hate them because of their mischief, but they didn''t care about it, Peter and I also participated in some. Looking back now, I wonder at how stupid I was."


    "You''re not just going to tell me about some of the experiences you had when you were young, are you?"


    "Just about there, James and Black had a nemesis at the time, the current Potions professor, Severus Snape. They fought with each other openly and secretly, and for some reason, this rivalry reached a high intensity in the last few years."


    "Because of Harry''s mother?" Felix interrupted him to ask a question. From what he had snooped around, it seemed to be mostly emotional entanglements. "If you''ll excuse me, I found out some information privately."


    Lupin stared at him with a complicated expression, and only after a while, he said, "You are really an extraordinary Slytherin, Professor Hap. I don''t mean that to be derogatory, but you obviously know some inside information but keep your mouth shut ..."


    Felix said briefly: "I have limited knowledge to get a glimpse of the whole picture of that year, but it can be used to distinguish some suspicions. Please continue, Professor Lupin ..."


    Lupin said somewhat breathlessly, "It''s far more complicated than that. I''m considered one of the most knowledgeable persons, Professor Hap, and I hope that our conversation will not leak out."


    "At least I won''t spill the beans." His eyes traced over the corner of the corridor with a playful smile.


    But what if someone else happened to be right here?


    "Harry''s mother, Lilly Evans, she and Snape had been good friends even before they started school, and James met Black from the beginning of the school year, and by a wonderful stroke of fate they sat in the same compartment in their first year, but the meeting wasn''t a pleasant one. After he entered, James had complained to Lilly, reminding her that she shouldn''t make friends with Slytherin, that they were a bunch of dregs, but Lilly didn''t pay him any head."


    "It didn''t take long for me to become friends with James and the gang, and I pulled in Peter. The four of us were inseparable, somewhat like Harry and his two best friends." He smiled and remarked that it would be one of the best memories of his life.


    "As I said before, James and Black quickly rose through in popularity and gained many fans. As for their relationship with Snape, let''s just say it was somewhat similar to Harry and Malfoy now, with Snape bringing too many points for Slytherin which James disliked: being unkempt, studying dark magic, being a Slytherin, making Slytherin No.1, and stalking his house girl."


    "Why stalking? I remember you saying that Snape and Harry''s mother were good friends." Felix asked.


    "True, but you can''t expect eleven or twelve-year-old boys to analyse things calmly, not to mention James and Sirius ..." he paused, "they''re both impulsive in nature. "


    "The conflict between James and Snape soon escalated, James cast a jinx on Snape, Snape also researched various jinx to fight back, and Lilly has always defended Snape, looked at James with all kinds of displeasure."


    "So after several years, James spring came," he showed a smile, "he suddenly got attracted to Lilly, who had been at odds with him, and tried to talk to her, but how would Lilly care about him? James soon changed himself, he became less arrogant and did not flaunt himself all the time, in short, showed a mature side ..."


    "He and Snape''s fight also moved to the shadows, not allowing Lilly to see. Well, we didn''t feel anything wrong, when Snape had already shown a strong talent for potions and was loved by Professor Slughorn, who gave him a lot of tips. We agreed that if he graduated, it would certainly make the Death Eaters much stronger."


    "In the middle of this, because of some rather nasty fight, Lilly and Snape broke off their friendship, and James took advantage of that if you''ll pardon the term, but it means pretty much the same thing."


    " James and Lilly hooked up, and his relationship with Snape became more complex - a personality disagreement, a battle of philosophies, and finally mixed with emotional issues."


    "If you ask me, the person Snape hates the most is James, followed probably by Black, who was the one who acted as an undercover agent for the You-Know-Who and leaked Harry''s house address to the public. God, I don''t even know how to tell Harry that James trusted him so much and made him Harry''s godfather ...," Lupin said with red eyes.


    "Professor Hap," Lupin said sincerely as he looked at him, "We haven''t had much contact, but I can tell that you are a serious and responsible professor, and some of my students love you, even though they are not old enough to take your Elective class."


    "I am telling you these past events in the hope that you will not be influenced by Snape. And please believe me that my feelings for Harry are sincere."


    Felix remained silent for a moment, "Professor Lupin, you think too much, Harry is a student I think highly of, and I am equally looking forward to his future."


    Lupin left, Felix''s eyes looked around the corner, sighed softly, and left from another side.


    In the corner of the corridor, Harry sat wordlessly on the floor, Ron and Hermione looked at him with complicated expressions.

 Chapter 207: Old Lady Longbottom

    When he returned to his office, Hogwarts looked extraordinarily quiet at night, the forbidden forest in the distance looked darker than the night, and Felix carefully examined the Acromantula in the large glass enclosure, recording the latest data. "Wizard, when do you plan to release me back?" The Acromantula said in a gruff voice.


    "Soon, when the experiment is done," Felix said perfunctorily.


    ...


    After spending another Friday in teaching routine, it came to the second weekend after school began, Felix dressed up and arrived at Hogsmeade village at the right time.


    He made a deliberate path to the main entrance of the school and saw some dementors on both sides of the castle iron gate.


    This thing is more sinister than he imagined, it seems to be wearing a tumbling cold mist, the moment you get close to it, you can''t help but feel your body stiffen and your mood rapidly deteriorates.


    When Felix consciously operated Occlumency, the dementor''s influence on him plummeted, and these cloaked creatures draped in rags also seemed to have lost interest in him.


    But his feelings of disgust towards this creature multiplied, with a strong urge to destroy them.


    Pushing open the door of Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop, the place referred to as the ''dating paradise'' by Hogwarts students, and Felix came here for the first time, in a way, it did have a murky beauty.


    The interior is foggy, the layout is twisted and cramped, and everything inside is decorated with slightly tacky lace.


    Felix is not very fond of this style of decoration, but it must be admitted that the owner has done a good job in creating the atmosphere.


    In addition to a couple of young male and female wizards, he is relieved to find a few solo customers enjoying their refreshments. He came to the counter and saw a smiling, short, chubby, middle-aged witch.


    "Mrs. Puddifoot?"


    "It''s me, dear, what would you like?" Mrs. Puddifoot said, with her black hair combed together like a bun.


    "Check the appointment with Mrs. Augusta Longbottom for me, at ten o''clock."


    Madame Puddifoot bowed her head and looked over the records that only she could read, "Indeed, she mentioned it to me, ten o''clock in the morning, at the card table by the window, and you are a quarter of an hour early."


    "I know, give me a coffee first. Which seat is it exactly?" Felix asked.


    "Just to your left, along the aisle, there''s a lace bow menu near that little round table."


    Felix took his seat and looked out of the gray window, his index finger tapped on it, and the glass glowed over a palm-sized area, allowing a clear view outside.


    He silently thought about what was on his mind, during his conversation with Lupin on Thursday night, he accidentally spotted the trio, which is why he intentionally guided Lupin to tell the story of the intimate days.


    ''And I don''t know if Harry can bear it, but the brutal truth is better than false peace of mind. Whether it''s decadence or uprising, it''s your own choice, you can''t blame anyone else a bit.''


    After about seven or eight minutes, he saw an elderly woman holding a large red handbag appear on the street corner.


    As soon as she entered, she loudly asked Puddifoot whether anyone had come, and Mrs. Puddifoot pointed to his position and said a couple of words, after which the elderly woman came striding over.


    Felix stood up and shook her hand, "Hello, Mrs. Longbottom."


    "Hello to you too, Professor Hap, we met during the summer." Mrs. Longbottom extended her dry, hawk-like hand, then she took off her tall, old engraved hat, put it together with her red handbag, and sat down opposite him.


    Lady Puddifoot brought over a cup of black tea, "As is your habit, Mrs. Longbottom."


    "Oh, Puddifoot, you are still so thoughtful." Mrs. Longbottom said, she looked at the coffee in front of Felix and suggested to him, "The black tea here is good, I like it very much, you can try it."


    "There will be a chance, madam," Felix said.


    After a few pleasantries, the two got down to business. Felix said, "Madam, you should have received my letter, Neville''s wand seems to have been inherited from his father, and it doesn''t really work well with him."


    Lady Longbottom stirred her black tea with a small spoon, "You are right, my son."


    Felix paused and said tentatively, "It may be that I don''t know the Longbottom family tradition, perhaps ..."


    "No such thing at all, son," Lady Longbottom pursed her lips tightly, "It was Neville boy who insisted."


    The slightly sluggish, introverted, timid little round face? Felix looked a little puzzled.


    He looked at her calmly in silence.


    Mrs. Longbottom thought for a moment, "It''s no disgrace, my son and daughter-in-law were tortured and driven mad by That MAN''s goons, and they were hospitalized in St. Mungo''s for years. Neville grew up with me, and before he went to school, I took him to St. Mungo''s every other week to visit his parents ..."


    "Wait, you mean, his parents are still alive?"


    "Of course!" Mrs. Longbottom said proudly, "They were tortured by four Death Eater scum with a Cruciatus Curse ... very few of them made it through alive, Frank and Alice, I must say, they are both fine!"


    Her voice boomed, provoking a number of stares.


    "The Cruciatus Curse ...," Felix repeated softly.


    "That''s the curse, one of the unforgivable curses that can make you feel worse than dead." Mrs. Longbottom said, "Frank and Alice are the most courageous people I have ever seen, and they didn''t spill a bean. I''m proud of them, I''m just a little sorry ... obviously HE is dead, and I remember Frank saying he wanted to celebrate after the victory."


    She held up her cup of black tea to hide her face.


    After two or three minutes, she calmed down, except her eyes were somewhat red, and her face looked even prouder, "We got off-topic and wasted your time, Professor Hap."


    "It''s nothing, I admire those who are strong-willed," Felix said. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Thank you. Where were we, Wand? Oh yes, the wand."


    "When Neville was about four or five, I think, he came back from the hospital, went through the closet, and brought out his father''s wand, which I had hidden away, with a core of unicorn hair, and it is exceptionally loyal."


    "I thought he acted on a whim and went along with him. But he wouldn''t let go of it from then on. When school started, I wanted to take him to buy a wand, and he refused with all his might, saying he wanted to take his father''s wand with him."


    "Did you not persuade him, madam?"


    "I tried, the boy is usually quite cowardly, but he was particularly persistent in this matter. And, before school started, he managed to cast a simple spell with that wand, which, given his previous performance, was nothing short of a miracle ... and I agreed."


    Felix thought about it and suggested to her, "Maybe we can buy another wand, and as for the one from Neville''s father, just let it be a spare wand."


    Mrs. Longbottom said with a stern expression, "I don''t think another wand would help him much, and I''m ashamed of his report card he got back this summer! He didn''t inherit his parents'' talents at all, and I suspected at one time that he was a Squib, then because of an accident, he showed a talent for magic."


    Felix said mildly, "But like you said, he wasn''t really a genius in the first place, and the slightest influence can make a huge difference, let alone a wand."


    He took out a stack of parchment from the ring, "This is Neville''s performance in learning the spell in dueling class, recorded by himself. The data on it is surprisingly honest, and gives me a clearer picture of his situation."


    "From the data, it looks like Neville learns a spell three to five times slower than the average person, and it''s hard to tell if there''s a wand factor ..."


    Mrs. Longbottom looked carefully, turning it over one by one, in addition to Neville''s handwriting, there is another person''s markings and summary words, she looked up halfway down the list, "You''ve convinced me, Professor Hap, it''s really Neville''s greatest good fortune to have met you."


    Felix shrugged his shoulders, "I''m also curious about how he''ll perform once he gets his new wand, and besides, Mrs. Longbottom, I have an unpleasant request ..."

 Chapter 208: Patient

    Half an hour later, Felix and Mrs. Longbottom stood in front of an old red brick department store, the nameplate showed its name is ''Purge and Dowse Ltd.'', which looked decayed and cold, with a big "Closed for Refurbishment" sign hanging on the dusty door. Felix looked through the window and surveyed the tattered plastic mannequins in front of him, the ugliest one, which had crooked facial features, eyelashes stuck to its face, and wearing a green nylon dress.


    "I guess this place never opened?" He said in an affirmative tone.


    "What a silly thing to say, the Ministry of Magic went to a lot of lengths to find an appropriate place." Old Lady Longbottom said absent-mindedly, her hands tangled together as she kept rubbing the thin leather cords around the big red purse in her hand, "Are you really sure about this, Professor Hap? I have experienced disappointment too many times over the years."


    "I cannot give you a definite answer, madam. This is my last-minute idea for compensation; after all, my request may seem ... not so anywhere near humane." Felix said.


    Old Lady Longbottom pursed her lips, "You mentioned the accidental magic riot ... are you sure there is no danger?" S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is there any danger in accidental magic riots for little wizards as they grow up?" Felix asked rhetorically.


    The old lady Longbottom said with a serious expression: "You had reached my knowledge blind spot, my experience tells me that every little wizard will go through this step, and there is no need to worry. But the artificial creation of magic riots ..." she shook her head, seeming to find it incredible.


    Felix explained, "Ma''am, it may be that I have a special physique, I have personally experienced more than one accidental magic riots, and even though the whole experience is unpleasant, I have benefited from it.


    In fact, I realized its value very early on and also raised possible speculations. Only this experience remained strictly unique to me, with no other supporting evidence. It wasn''t until this summer that I finally came across a very rare exception."


    Lady Longbottom pursed her lips, "If you can cure ... no, I won''t ask for more, but I need Dumbledore to be present, whom I believe and trust."


    Felix curled the corners of his lips, "No questions whatsoever, ma''am."


    Old Lady Longbottom addressed the particularly ugly mannequin, "I''ve come to visit Alice and Frank Longbottom." The mannequin nodded slightly and waved at them.


    The two then walked through the window glass and entered St. Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.


    Felix found himself in a waiting room, and he looked around with interest: a dozen male and female wizards sat on wobbly wooden chairs, and two healers in green robes recorded their symptoms.


    In front of him on the left is the information counter, a woman with blond hair standing behind it, a long line in front of her. Behind the woman is the emblem of St. Mungo''s, a wand crossed with a bone.


    The surrounding walls have portraits of healers and a few tag lines.


    At this moment, a middle-aged male wizard is showing his right hand to the healer, a black kettle biting hard on him, with dark green blood oozing from the wound, and he is yelling angrily -


    "Can''t you see - a curse, I''m cursed - an anonymous birthday present sent to me - don''t let me know who it is! Ouch - this stupid kettle -" he kept flinging his arms.


    "Don''t move, you''re shaking it so much I can''t see it properly." The young healer with the writing pad looked carefully for a moment, "You''re required to go to the Spell Damage Unit on the fourth floor."


    Felix looked at the signpost:


    ---------------


    ARTEFACT ACCIDENTS UNIT - Ground Floor


    (Cauldron explosion, wand backfiring, broom crashes, etc.)


    CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES UNIT - First Floor


    (Bites, stings, burns, embedded spines, etc.)


    MAGICAL BUGS UNIT - Second Floor


    (Contagious maladies, e.g. dragon pox, vanishing sickness, scrofungulus)


    POTION AND PLANT POISONING UNIT - Third Floor


    (Rashes, regurgitation, uncontrollable giggling, etc.)


    SPELL DAMAGE UNIT - Fourth Floor


    (Unliftable jinxes, hexes, and incorrectly applied charms, etc.)


    VISITOR''S TEAROOM AND HOSPITAL SHOP - Fifth Floor


    ---------------


    "We''re going to the fourth floor," Mrs. Longbottom said to him, as they made their way up on a crooked staircase to the fourth floor, passing through some double-door wards until they saw a very long hallway - where the doors were locked.


    A healer with a gold and silver floral ribbon on her head emerged from the closed ward, smiling as she greeted, "Mrs. Longbottom, here to see your family? Let me take you in."


    "Thank you, Miriam."


    The healer, Miriam, chanted "Alohomora" and led them into the ward, passing over several beds to the far end - where there were two beds behind a floral curtain.


    She lifted the curtain and said cheerfully, "Frank, Alice, your mother is here to see you again."


    Felix saw the Longbottoms for the first time. Both were dressed in pyjamas, their faces thin and gaunt, their hair half white, Neville''s father blankly sitting at the end of the bed, as if he could sit like this until the world''s end, with an occasional glance from his eyes; Neville''s mother, on the other hand, responded more distinctly, holding a snack bag in her hand and carefully studying it.


    But both of them didn''t respond remotely to the healer''s words.


    "She''s probably just looking at the pattern on it," the healer said, "Most of her memories are gone, which you should understand."


    "Miriam...," Old Lady Longbottom said, "can you give us some time?"


    "No problem." She closed the curtain and left.


    Old Lady Longbottom went to the bed, and took Neville''s mother''s hand, as she caressed the dry hair on her head, "This is one of the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse, ageing faster than normal, I fear, they will go ahead of me ..."


    "If you don''t mind, madam?" Felix asked softly.


    "What, oh, sure, what do I need to do?" The old lady Longbottom asked nervously.


    "Nothing ..." Felix snapped his fingers lightly and suddenly the world spun and everything in the room distorted, colours and shapes tangled together like some kind of abstract painting.


    But soon, everything returned to normal, no, not normal. Felix''s expression became solemn as he tried to pull Neville''s father into the thinking room, which he partially did -


    In the half of the space that belonged to him, there is no trace of a problem, but the other half, which is empty, is nothing but a shattered world: in his vision, there is darkness as serene as the starry sky of the universe, darker than the densest ink, and large chunks of memory floating in midair, they are fragmented, like a curtain that has been torn completely apart.


    Felix stood at the edge of the room and watched the scene which is strange as it could be, a hazy glow flashing now and then with scattered images of men and women -


    A baby with a small round face, old Lady Longbottom, a few fierce faces, Dumbledore, an ugly man with a fake eye, Lupin, a man who looks a lot like the grown-up Potter ...


    The most appeared still a woman with a round, friendly face, she looked very young, with a very gentle gaze, even if the appearance has changed, Felix immediately recognized her - Alice Longbottom, sitting in the bed nearby.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 209: Sources Of Confidence

    After a long time, Felix withdrew from the thinking room. To the outside world, he looked like he had been dazed in place for ten minutes, but old Lady Longbottom held her breath, and her lips quivered as she inquired, "How was it ... I saw Frank suddenly, not moving a muscle."


    Felix pinched his temples and sat down somewhat wearily in the chair next to him, "A vast project, but ah," he gave a broad smile, "I have a cure."


    Old Lady Longbottom let out a suppressed cry, she covered her mouth with a death grip, her eyes suddenly misted with water, and took a few steps back to sit on the hospital bed, "Is it True, Professor Hap? Mr. Happ��, I wish--oh, I don''t want to ask too much, as long as they can recall something ..."


    " No, ma''am, no. I had a plan before I came here, so either nothing can be done about it, or it can be completely cured as a matter of fact."


    Felix said in a relaxed tone, "Although it would seem like I''m not being modest enough by saying this, my biggest concern is dealing with a fragmented soul.


    If that were the case, even if I had got some guidance from a great master of magic once, the chances of them being healed would still be minimal.


    Fortunately, though, the worst-case scenario didn''t happen. I just need to complete a puzzle, and probably a bit of power of emotion ..."


    The old lady Longbottom calmed down as she cautiously said, "Can I understand your concept of treatment, after all, Frank and Alice have been sentenced to death by the most authoritative healers in St. Mungo''s ..."


    She originally wanted to keep these words inside and pretend to trust Felix completely, so she could get herself a few months filled with hope, but as a tough witch with a strong personality who had personally sent her son and daughter-in-law to war, she had her own perseverance.


    " Of course, and please don''t resist." Felix snapped his fingers again and pulled her into the thinking room. S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Half a minute later, she abruptly said in a bright tone, " That''s a thinking room, powerful memory magic? It''s a miracle, I already believe you can do it, I''m going to look for Miriam ..."


    "Oh, please don''t do that for now, ma''am. I don''t want too many people to know about this, it is not successful yet, is it? Not everyone is much open to an outsider''s instructions." Felix said tactfully.


    "You''re right, Mr. Hap." Old Lady Longbottom considered his suggestion seriously, and she did not want to make an issue out of it to avoid intervention from St. Mungo''s, but she prepared to consult Dumbledore.


    It''s nothing to do with trust or lack of trust, but Dumbledore, as the founder of the Order of the Phoenix, has the right to know about it. Moreover, he may help to check the omissions.


    "Mr. Hap, in your opinion, approximately how much time is needed to be able to see the results?"


    "I can spare one morning a week, and frankly, I''m willing to spend more time, it''s really an interesting project, maybe when I succeed, my thinking room magic will reach an incredible level ..."


    Felix''s voice trailed off, he had always believed that the Room of Requirement was Ravenclaw''s ''Thinking Room'', and so he had been considering how to make it come to reality.


    On the night he recovered the zooming spell and obtained the rune orb, he touched a glimpse of this realm - pulling thousands of magic runes out of the Thinking Room - but this particular state never succeeded again.


    Now, he saw hope for it again.


    Felix said to old Lady Longbottom, "I can''t guarantee a specific time, but I think they should be able to recognize their family members around Christmas at the very least."


    "I''m looking forward to that, Mr. Hap, it might be the best Christmas present I''ve ever received in my life."


    "I don''t want to throw cold water on it, ma''am. But we''d better keep our optimism limited, lest the unexpected happens."


    "Is that your motto, always be on your guard? I''m thinking of a friend who also has a pessimistic view about the future."


    "No, I just prefer to mould my future with my own hands."


    ...


    As they walked out of St. Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, the two discussed the matter of artificially creating a magic riot in passing; Felix hadn''t thought it through yet, and he only offered some general thoughts.


    "What I''m doing might hurt Neville''s feelings, so I''ll have to get your approval," Felix said, even though he looked a little evil, but he said it anyway.


    "If I didn''t know you to a certain degree, I would have thought ... Moreover, aren''t you worried that Neville will misunderstand you?" She couldn''t help but inquire.


    Felix shrugged, "I will ask his forgiveness afterward, whatever he might think of me."


    Old Lady Longbottom looked at him with a complicated expression, "I may never able to fathom the thoughts of a Slytherin, even a good man like you. According to you, if it succeeds, the boy will stimulate a stronger talent, or at least not too much worse than others ..."


    She added: "And you risk a lifetime of misunderstanding, Mr. Hap, the boy is more stubborn than you think."


    Felix calmly reminded her, "Ma''am, I''m not trying to brand myself innocent; in fact, I''m discussing with you how to hurt a child to the greatest extent possible, even if it''s only temporarily."


    "I am also his grandmother, and I have reasons for doing so, but how would you ... be perceived by others if they knew about this? Some would pounce on you, and I know that boring crowd."


    "Yes, yes," Felix said softly, "but I won''t stop just because I''m conscious of what the bystanders think."


    At his invitation, he and Old Lady Longbottom used the Apparition to come to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The two then made their way into the castle.


    She looked at the castle nostalgically: "I used to stumble on this Grand Staircase when I was at school, and ... I remember a huge, ugly stone gargoyle in front of the headmaster''s office."


    They soon came to her words "ugly huge stone gargoyle", Felix extended his wand, a silver beam of light went through the gap in the stone gargoyle and disappeared, half a moment later, the silver beam came back, turning into a silver-white rain swallow.


    It landed on Felix''s shoulder, held its head high, and made a clear, crisp sound from its mouth: " Iced lemonade."


    The stone gargoyle suddenly came to life and spun out of the way, revealing the spiral staircase on the inside.


    "Let''s go, Dumbledore is waiting for us." Felix said.


    Pushing open a gleaming oak door, Dumbledore smiled at them as he rose from his chair, "Lady Longbottom, I am surprised by your arrival."


    Old Lady Longbottom pursed her lips, "Dumbledore, I need to draw on your wisdom." She began to recount the things they had talked about.


    Dumbledore listened quietly, occasionally a look of surprise flashed, but he made no attempt to interrupt her and waited until she had finished before he smiled and said, "So, I''ll be seeing two friends of mine soon?"


    "As for artificially constructed magic riots ..." he frowned and looked at Felix: " As I reminded you, any study of magic itself has the potential to induce extremely dangerous results. "


    "I was the one who agreed." Old Lady Longbottom insisted, "That boy Neville, I believe if he knew, he would make the same choice. Only we could not tell him in advance."


    Dumbledore fell into silence, a long time he said emotionally: "Perhaps I am too sensitive, judging from my point of view, your approach is not very dangerous, although, it may ..." He looked at Felix and asked a similar question. "Aren''t you afraid of being misunderstood, Felix?"


    Felix said calmly, "This thing is win-win for us, and it''s perfect research for me, so I don''t mind being the one who pushes it through."


    Dumbledore muttered in a low voice, then he said: "Felix, later on, you stay, we can discuss this part in detail. As for Lady Longbottom, you ..."


    "I''m going to find Neville," she stated snappily, "and take him to purchase a new wand - through Minerva''s fireplace, and get back quickly."


    The door closed behind her.


    Dumbledore''s expression turned serious as he stared at Felix and said in a quiet voice, "Are you sure, about the Longbottom'' treatment? To be honest, after the tragedy, I have tried many times to mend their shattered memories, but the Longbottom couple''s condition is so bad that there is nothing I can do."


    Felix chuckled lowly, "Headmaster Dumbledore, I once received a selfless helping hand from Lady Rowena Ravenclaw ..."


    For him, apart from the Thinking Room magic, there was one thing that he had not revealed to old Lady Longbottom, and that would be the memory node, or rather, the soul node, inherited from Lady Ravenclaw.


    This is his greatest source of confidence.

 Chapter 210: Troubles and Guesswork

    As Felix exited the Headmaster''s office, he still mulled over Dumbledore''s final advice to him: never try to play with people''s hearts. He shook his head, ready to go check on Hagrid''s big dog, the guy should be restored to five or six feet tall, right?


    The other side.


    A lot of people in the Gryffindor common room were still discussing what had just happened when, right before their eyes, Professor McGonagall had dragged Neville Longbottom away with a scary-looking old woman.


    From the helpless expression on his small, round face, it appeared that he is about to head towards the torture chamber.


    "That''s Neville''s grandmother, I met her on my holiday." Harry introduced, "She was very strict with Neville."


    Hermione said softly, "I think Professor Hap convinced her, so she came to take Neville to buy a new wand."


    All three of them knew about Professor Hap''s suggestion for Neville to replace his wand, and they had accompanied Neville to send the professor''s letter together.


    Ron hit the nail on the head: "He should have changed it a long time ago, and you don''t even know how great it''s been since I got a new wand! But speaking of which, Neville''s grandmother seems pretty tough, but why haven''t we seen his mom and dad?"


    Harry said, "Probably killed by the Death Eaters, at the time, Neville''s grandmother mentioned a word, saying that Neville''s parents were tortured by the Death Eaters and never leaked the information."


    "The Death Eaters ...," Ron said in disgust, "what a criminal bunch."


    "Yeah," Harry said disgustedly, "just like that Sirius Black."


    Ron and Hermione looked at each other; Harry had been acting out of character since Thursday night.


    Ron said, "Harry, my letter was mailed out, except my dad hasn''t replied yet."


    "Well, thanks," Harry replied breathlessly.


    Hermione looked at the time, "Excuse me, I''m going out for a moment." She left hurriedly and returned again about seven or eight minutes later, yawning and looking around, walking past their seats a couple of times.


    Ron said unhappily, "Hermione, I thought you turned into Neville, your memory is much worse all of a sudden."


    "What? Oh, I was just thinking about something, we talked about Thursday night''s episode, Harry, let''s sort it out again, and frankly, I don''t know what you have to be so depressed about."


    Harry said dejectedly, "I used to wonder why Snape hated me so much ... ten days ago I thought it was because he and my father were mortal enemies at school, and then in the blink of an eye I found out it also involved my mother."


    Hermione opened her mouth, not knowing what to say, Ron said: "It''s you who took the bull by the horns, Harry. It''s understandable when you think about it, Snape and your mother is a neighbour, there is a certain friendship, he may even have a crush on your mother. But the two separated from each other further and further apart. As for your father and Snape is another matter."


    He concluded, "It''s really just two people Snape knew, one was a neighbour and one was a nemesis, only they happened to be your parents respectively." S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry said, "I always feel weird, I never thought I could be related to Snape."


    "It''s just a previous generation''s friendship and hatred, think outside the box, Harry." Ron said, "I can climb into kinship with any Death Eater if I want to, I mean the purebloods ... I''m afraid I''m going to die of anger if I dwell on this all day." He made a vomiting expression.


    "But, according to you, if Snape liked my mother," Harry couldn''t help but shiver as if he had slimy Flobberworm crawling all over him, "why were the two not together afterward?"


    Ron said suspiciously, "What''s the connection? Are you looking forward to Snape becoming--"


    Harry covered his mouth in exasperation, and Ron said playfully, "Still mopey? Makes you wonder."


    Harry said in a bad mood, "If you say that again, I''ll stuff Aunt Petunia''s smelly socks in your mouth while you sleep at night." Then, he mumbled something half-heartedly, thinking of how to explain the twisted emotions in his heart, and finally gave up completely, "I''m just not feeling well!"


    Hermione pondered, "Harry, I think your concern is purely superfluous, the two of them simply can not come together."


    "Why?" Harry asked urgently, he had been plagued by this strange feeling for the past few days, even more than his hatred for Sirius Black, and he couldn''t wait to seek more proof.


    "It''s because of the war." Hermione said, "Don''t forget the time period, it was the time when the Death Eaters were most rampant, and Slytherin House was the equivalent of a boot camp for Death Eaters at the time."


    "So?" Ron asked with interest as he pulled out a packet of fruit juice and handed it to Harry and Hermione.


    Hermione gave him a blank look, "You didn''t think of the camp issue? Do you really think it''s a personal affair? According to the Pureblooder''s philosophy, Harry''s mother is a Muggle-born, the lowest of the low, naturally standing on the opposite side of them. And Snape ... is he a pureblood or a half-blood?" She asked, looking at Ron uncertainly.


    Ron carefully recalled, "I do not remember the family of Snape, maybe he inherited his father''s surname?"


    "Then it would be a half-blood," Hermione said, "but in any case, he took the side of the Purebloods-"


    Harry said sensibly, "He didn''t, and if he was a Death Eater, there''s no way he could have escaped Dumbledore''s sight."


    "Well," Hermione amended her words, "according to Professor Lupin, Snape at least partially shares the Pureblooder''s philosophy, doesn''t he? Think about it, Harry, how could they possibly be together? Their circles are completely two opposing camps!"


    Harry enlightened and the problem that was bothering him is solved. They soon began to discuss how Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban with great enthusiasm.


    "The only thing that can fight the Dementors at the moment is the Patronus Charm, but he can''t possibly be holding a wand," Hermione said.


    Ron guessed, "Maybe it''s some kind of high-level dark magic that was taught to him by the You-Know-Who?"


    Hermione thought of the pile of dark magic books in Professor Hap''s thinking room and decided to ask Professor Hap privately if he knew. "By the way, Harry, do you always have that Sneakoscope with you?"


    "Yeah," Harry pulled a walnut-sized golden Sneakoscope out of his pocket, "it looks like it''s broken, never changed."


    Ron rushed to say, "Don''t you dare, if it really changes, then we''ll be in trouble."


    A few guys in the common room worked on their homework, in between Wood came to Harry once to tell him about the latest Quidditch training program. Wood mysteriously pulled Harry aside and talked about something with a raised eyebrow.


    When Harry returned, Ron couldn''t help but ask, "He looks happy?"


    "That''s right," Harry said as he carefully slipped the parchment filled with training plans into his book, "According to him, there''s a good chance that that troll captain from Slytherin will get a detention with the professor, and he''s going to keep an eye on that."


    After almost an hour, Neville returned, his face unreadable.


    "Neville, this way!" Harry waved at him, "How''s the new wand?"


    Neville muttered, "Fine." He pulled two wands, one old and one new, out of his pocket, but they look surprisingly alike.


    Hermione carefully distinguished, "Cherry wood, needless to say, the core of the wand is unicorn hair, as for the size ..." she compared the measurements, "thirteen inches. That''s right, right?"


    Neville looked at her with amazement.


    Hermione said cheerfully: "I spent a lot of time studying wands during my last school year."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 211: Fame

    But Hermione''s good mood did not last long, a sister from the fifth year ran up to her and asked, "I heard that you can break the solid wood armrest with your bare hands? This should be the effect of practical magic rune, right, can you demonstrate it?" Hermione looked at her dumbfounded, you are asking me to demonstrate breaking the armrest with my bare hands in public?


    This schoolgirl also realized that something is not right, she whispered: " it is okay to do it in private, I prepared two copper flasks ..."


    Hermione as a whole felt bad, watching a lot of people have the tendency to gather around her, she panicked and said, "there is an important matter, I have to go back to the dormitory, I''ll be right back!" then she immediately ran away in a hurry.


    After hiding in her dorm room for a while, she finally figured out a solution.


    This time, she prepared herself mentally and returned to the common room, cleared her throat, and said aloud, "Regarding the proficiency level mentioned in the Magic Rune Club announcement, it''s roughly like this." She drew her wand and slowly sketched out a golden magic rune in the air.


    A group of students gathered around her curiously.


    The rune took shape gradually and remained frozen in midair as everyone watched it in silence.


    Hermione explained: "to do this step is already difficult, For which you have to constantly be familiar with the rune and figure out the meaning of the practical magic rune to make it, then it can be stable and exist for a short time."


    After a few moments, Hermione reached out, the golden magic rune flew into her hand, "This is the magic rune that means light, something we are taught in the third year. Now, the key is to bring out the meaning of the magic that it represents--" The rune on her palm burst into a massive white glow.


    The young wizards were enthralled, and Hermione heaved a sigh of relief as it seemed to be working well, and finally, no one bothered to let her demonstrate...


    At that moment, the twins suddenly appeared, Fred inquired: "Hermione, I remember that you also mastered a powerful magic rune, which one is it?"


    Hermione pouted and looked at him, and did not say anything, but suddenly a glow of light covered her hands - she now has more control over the magic rune that means " wild bull strength ".


    Fred shrank and asked jokingly, "You''re not thinking of--"


    "Yes, that''s what I think," Hermione said with certainty, and she took a step forward.


    Fred saw the situation is unfavourable, so he dragged George a little aside and hurriedly slipped away, a fair number of Gryffindor students laughed gleefully, and the twins'' friend Lee Jordan whistled excitedly.


    Later, the group returned to their seats, murmuring and discussing.


    Almost five days had passed since the Magic Rune Club recruitment announcement was posted. Many students who intend to sign up have already started to act, but there are still a few who remain on the fence.


    This wait-and-see approach is actually about not wanting to write a seven-foot essay and wanting to see if there is a better way - in most cases, by ''better way'' I mean inquiring about shortcuts to become proficient in a practical magic rune quickly.


    Ron got fascinated by this, and even though Hermione had told him no less than ten times that it was impossible, he still continued to indulge in it.


    Hermione angrily reminded him and Harry, "You can''t possibly expect to write a seven-foot essay within the last few days of the month, now you have barely two weeks left. Unless you''re not going to join the Magic Rune Club, you know that the first recruitment requirements are the most lenient you can get, it won''t be so easy after that!"


    "Okay, okay," Ron yawned, "but neither of us was able to borrow Professor Hap''s book, and it''s too late for both of us to get started ..."


    Hermione pulled out two identical books from her beaded pouch, which is none other than "Explorations of Ancient Runes", "Here, I''ll lend them to you for now."


    Ron looked at her with admiration, "Hermione, you''re a god. How did you know we couldn''t borrow the book?"


    Harry also filled with disbelief, "Yes, Professor Trelawney also said you have no talent for divination, really she needs to see this."


    Hermione kindly said, "I bought this in the Flourish and Blotts Bookseller, not from the library''s collection."


    "You bought two copies?" Harry asked.


    "One for detailed study, I wrote notes all over it, and the other for my collection," Hermione said matter-of-factly.


    As a result, both Harry and Ron fought over the book with the notes written on it, and in the end, they would rather read it together than touch the blank copy of Explorations of Ancient Runes, which made Hermione furious.


    In different corners of the school, the young wizards had different attitudes toward the matter, some giving up early, others sloppily copying some top students, while some were secretly giving their best effort.


    In the following period, Felix appeared to be very busy, and those who could still see him during the classes would see him hastily leaving as soon as the bell rang.


    Don''t even think about finding this professor after that.


    He also kept his word and handed over all the daily testing and grading work for the third and fourth years to his assistant, which greatly reduced his burden.


    Felix had quite a few regular commitments at hand: a scheduled exchange with Nicolas Flamel, which took place almost once every three or two days.


    Dueling classes were made easier with the presence of Flitwick.


    Experimenting with the zooming spell, which the Acromantula had a lot to say about, could only be carried out in spare time.


    Other than that, he spent most of his time in the library, looking up information about memory magic. A lot of techniques were hidden in words, which even an author of the books were not aware of, but were discovered by him.


    He paid particular attention to Lady Ravenclaw''s materials, and the twelve volumes of manuscripts she left behind were repeatedly mulled over by him.


    The effect was remarkable - he had almost digested the structure of the dense, stabilized memories that Lady Ravenclaw had left him. It is miraculous, to be honest, what he had originally intended to obtain was a Patronus that could be infused with the caster''s thoughts, and it turned out that Lady Ravenclaw had given him far more than he could have imagined.


    This was especially evident during the last two trips to St. Mungo.


    In the discussion with Dumbledore, he also expressed with confidence despite never saying the words out loud: "The treatment is quite simple - firstly, the memories will be roughly divided according to age, piecing together roughly what they might have resembled; subsequently, the memory nodes will be used to stabilize them and keep them from collapsing. As long as the degree of completion is more than half, the rest of them can be completely recovered on their own."


    Dumbledore nodded in appreciation and said, "Felix, you have solved a huge problem that has plagued the wizarding world. This method can not only be used to treat the shattered memories brought about by the Cruciatus Curse, but it is also equally effective for some particularly stubborn memory damage."


    Felix froze for a moment, "I didn''t have time to think about that, I''ve been too busy lately." Mostly because no one around him needed it.


    Dumbledore shook his head, "An old friend of mine, was stolen of his memories by Lockhart''s memory magic, causing irreversible damage. Not just him, there are many more examples of this type of memory magic abuse, most of them are not effectively saved ...


    Felix, this is the achievement that can get you the St Mungo Prize and the Order of Merlin Badge." He said with a wink and a hint.


    Felix instantly understood what the headmaster wanted to say.


    This is a great opportunity to gain fame, with a little work, he will be crowned "the nemesis of the Cruciatus Curse", "the end of memory damage", or "the master of memory magic". Felix felt tempted.


    Felix''s heart pounded, and his external labels, ''Muggle researcher'' and of course ''Professor of Hogwarts'', were widely recognized and had brought him great convenience in his normal social life. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    And in the eyes of a few, he probably still bears the not-so-friendly title of ''Ancient Magic Rune Traitor'', or ''Dark Lord Prepper''.


    Well ... the former referred by the bunch of ancient magic rune association old timers, the latter by certain pure-blood families he had intimidated.


    Although he hates boring social and political gimmicks, he does not mind-expanding his influence.


    Whether it was the St. Mungo''s Prize or the Order of Merlin badge, they were both well known.


    He held down his excitement and said non-committally, "Dumbledore, that certain magic is important to me, and I do not want to publish it in the short term."


    Dumbledore understands this, he said calmly: "No one will force you to give up your magic, Felix. In fact, the vast majority of healers are not at your level either ... In the branch of memory magic alone, you are almost at the apex of the wizarding world."


    "My suggestion is to put together a set of healing methods that are far below your own level, yet effective ..."

 Chapter 212: Cedric Diggory

    On the last Saturday of September, the Magic Rune Club recruitment assessment began. Hermione woke Harry and Ron up early, and after breakfast, the three of them hurried to the Ancient Runes classroom.


    Harry looked tired and Ron rubbed his eyes hard as he grumbled, "Hermione, we went too early. And besides, both of us just need to turn in our essay, it''s not like Professor Hap is going to grade it on the spot."


    Hermione looked at them seriously, "Of course, you''re going to help, you know, the essay you wrote ..." She skimmed and didn''t say anything snarky, but her meaning is already clear.


    Harry flushed a bit, it took him and Ron two weeks to barely scrape together a seven-foot essay, and it simply killed them.


    The longest essay Harry had ever written was only three-foot, and that was an essay on "The Complete History of Wizards in Medieval Europe" that Professor Binns had assigned last year, and if he remembered correctly, Hermione had handed in an assignment that was four feet seven inches, an assignment that she had written in very little letters.


    The ancient rune classroom door is locked, and a note is posted on the door: the magic rune club assessment location changed to classroom seven on the same floor.


    Below the text, there is a sketch of an abstract figure pointing them to move ahead.


    "The location changed?" Harry looked at Hermione in wonder, and Hermione shook her head, "I''m not sure, maybe it was a temporary change."


    A voice heard from behind, it sounded clean and clear, " Hello there?"


    The trio turned around, a tall, lean boy stood behind them, he looked handsome over the top, with dark hair and a straight nose, except for a somewhat pale face, almost no flaws could be found.


    He offered his hand and introduced himself, "I''m Cedric, Cedric Diggory."


    Harry also extended his hand, "I know you, Seeker and the new captain of the Hufflepuff team, Wood has mentioned you, and you stood out in the dueling class as well. Oh, I''m Harry Potter, by the way."


    Cedric smiled, "No match for you, I don''t think there''s anyone at school who doesn''t know you, these two friends of yours?"


    "Yeah, this is Ron Weasley and this is Hermione Granger, both third years," Harry said as he introduced Ron and Hermione.


    The two looked at Cedric curiously.


    They walked in pairs towards classroom seven, Ron and Hermione talked less because of the strangers joining them, Harry is not really a talkative person either, but he is able to talk about Quidditch with Cedric.


    Harry looked for a topic: "Cedric, are you new to the team this year? I remember Hufflepuff''s previous Seeker being a senior girl."


    Cedric laughed, "I joined the team earlier, and this is my third year."


    Harry looked a little embarrassed, he didn''t remember such a person in the Hufflepuff team at all.


    Good thing, Cedric explained his confusion: "I was a chaser before, but last year several seniors left all at once, and it was hard to find the right person as a Seeker, so I stepped up as captain and assembled a new team ..."


    Harry somewhat understood, Wood also said in the previous conversation, Hufflepuff''s new captain can not be underestimated, so how could he be a newcomer.


    But no matter who he is up against, he is confident that he will be victorious and able to take the second Quidditch cup home.


    The two then began to discuss Quidditch tactics, which seemed like a strange thing to Ron and Hermione, the Hufflepuff captain discussing Quidditch tactics with the Gryffindor''s Seeker, knowing that they would most likely be rivals in a month or so.


    Cedric said, "To be honest, I''m a little stressed out, at the brink of ... reading various playbooks all summer, I didn''t have to think about that in the past when I was just a player."


    Harry also recalled the image of Wood desperately pulling the players through various tactics last year, and by the time the final was near, the twins thought Wood was a little hysterical and probably "needed a two-day stay in the Hospital Wing."


    Now he suddenly understood Wood.


    Harry casually introduced a couple of Quidditch books that he had read for fun last year, which he had found useful. Cedric happily jotted down the names, " Well, there''s one I haven''t heard of, thank you, Harry."


    "Speaking of which," Harry asked, "can a seeker also become a captain? I''ve always flown alone and might not be able to take into account what''s going on in the field."


    Cedric happened to have read about this: "It''s two different strategies; some teams will go all out to guarantee the Seeker''s freedom to fly and stay out of team action, leaving him to his own game, which they think will allow them to spot the Golden Snitch faster."


    "Some teams, on the other hand, need the Seeker to be involved in the team''s offence and defense from time to time." S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry mulled it over for a moment, "Sounds like the latter is a little more demanding." Wood never asked him to coordinate with the defense; the only thing he asked from him is to catch the golden snitch as fast as possible.


    "You can''t say that," Cedric explained, "for the talented seeker, that is, you, Harry, you can finish the game in half an hour, and if I had a talent like you in my team, I would certainly give you absolute freedom as well, because it''s hard to pull off a hundred and fifty points in such a short time gap."


    Hearing this, Harry almost understood the similarities and differences between the two strategies.


    Ron suddenly said from the sidelines, "Harry''s fastest time, it only took him five minutes to catch the golden snitch! Which broke the school record."


    Harry remembered it with some embarrassment, that was his record against Hufflepuff last year, and he stole a glance at Cedric, the new captain of Hufflepuff indeed a little upset.


    He hurriedly changed the subject and said, "Cedric, did you write an essay too, honestly, the whole seven-foot thingy, Professor Hap is too demanding."


    Cedric followed his lead and said, "I met the first requirement, a rough grasp of thirty practical magic runes."


    Turning around a dark corridor, Harry noticed with delight that they had finally found the well-hidden Classroom Seven, and he breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn''t have to run out of things to say.


    The door to the classroom is half-open, and they glance into the room, which is pitch black with no light visible.


    "Are we in the wrong place?" Harry asked. He felt bad, he could think of a similar scene when they were still in their first year, to avoid Filch, they mistakenly entered the trapdoor which leading the way to Underground Chambers where the Philosopher''s Stone was hidden.


    At that time they saw a large dog with three heads, when the big dog stood up, its middle head could reach the ceiling. He later learned that the three-headed dog is raised by Hagrid, and it also has a name "Fluffy".


    "I don''t think so." Hermione pointed to the note on the wall, which read "Magic Rune Club recruitment test site".


    They looked at each other and walked in with apprehension.


    Surprisingly, the interior of the room is a meadow with birds and flowers, as if they had travelled through space, and arrived deep into the forbidden forest.


    Taking a few steps forward, they saw the figure of Professor Hap -


    He is sitting on the grass with a small, low table in front of him. The professor seems to have moved all his tea sets and is sipping his tea in a pleasant manner. In front of him were a dozen golems, ranging from male to female, old to young.


    These golems were standing a short distance in front of him, rehearsing a play.


    "Look, that''s the East, and you are the sun."


    As they approached, they happened to hear this dialogue.

 Chapter 213: Examination

    "Professor." "Hello, Professor Hap." Harry, Cedric, Ron, and Hermione greeted him.


    "Come sit down." Felix nodded at them as he waved his wand and four small low tables emerged from the grass and the four picked their spots and sat down.


    One by one, small teacups hopped into their hands, followed by a long-necked, thin-mouthed teapot bending gracefully and pouring out an amber liquid.


    Harry sipped the tea, he rarely drank tea, but he found it delicious, the long-necked teapot came over to refill him, he curiously scratched the teapot''s large belly with his fingers, only to have it suddenly tremble, as if tickled, "clang clang" shaking, tea spilled all over the small table.


    "Excuse me, Professor? It became ... all of a sudden," Harry said uncertainly.


    "Oh, it''s not your problem." Felix waved his wand to silence the teapot again, "I''ve been trying to get them to move around and become more autonomous lately ... but sometimes they seem too lively."


    Hermione asked in surprise: "You gave them intelligence?"


    "Not that exaggerated, I should say a dull response, but in terms of feedback mechanisms alone, they are actually a bit more advanced." Felix pointed to the small platform in front of him.


    The four of them gazed at the golem -


    The drama continued, these ''actors'' seemed to really have their own intelligence, some of them were full of emotion and delivered their lines very smoothly, while others seemed slightly perfunctory, stopping occasionally, as if they forgot the words, before continuing after a few seconds.


    Besides, the guy without the task will look around and look very unprofessional. For example, an eccentric old man-like golem, carried a wine jug, from time to time take a sip into his mouth.


    Harry stared at it for a while, finally confirming that the little flask is totally ornamental, and he said groggily, "Professor, they can slack off?" He searched his memory for a similar example, "Like a school portrait with its own hobbies?"


    Felix explained, "They''re about as intelligent as portraits, but essentially, they don''t have feelings and everything they do is designed. Of course, I have no intention of giving them the intelligence equivalent to that of a human, and being able to understand simple commands is enough."


    The four listened in confusion, Ron said enviously: "Sounds a bit like a house-elf, can help you take care of the house or something, I once looked forward to having one, let it do my homework for me."


    Hermione said, "Ron, they don''t do those boring things."


    "No Hermione, you don''t understand, they do everything, they''re multi-talented." Ron retorted, "Ask Harry if you don''t believe me, Dobby should have mentioned it to him?"


    Harry shook his head, "Dobby didn''t mention much about his life at the Malfoy, but it should have been pretty bad," he looked at Felix, "Professor, is Dobby okay now?"


    The day before school started, Dobby had resigned from the Leaky Cauldron bar and currently worked for Professor Hap for some book publishing issues.


    Felix nodded and smiled, "He''s doing well, I''m thinking of giving him a raise ..." He waved his wand and ended the drama. "Well, let''s get back to business, you''re all planning to join the Magic Rune Club, right?"


    "Yes, Professor." Harry pulled out a stack of parchment, "Here is my essay." Ron also pulled out a few sheets of somewhat crumpled parchment from his bookbag, and he tried to smooth out the curled-up edges of the paper.


    Felix tapped on it, and it immediately became neat and tidy.


    Ron asked with great interest, "Professor Hap, what kind of spell is this?"


    Felix said in a relaxed tone, "A simple little trick that isn''t even considered as a spell."


    He turned his head to Cedric, "Diggory, judging from your performance in class, you are fully qualified ..."


    Cedric declined, "I''ve been practicing quite a bit in private and would like to show you the results."


    Felix agreed, he took out the half-finished golem from his ring, it only had light traces of magic rune on it, "You have about two hours, I think that should be enough."


    Cedric took it with high spirits and began to work earnestly.


    Felix waved his wand to quiet his surroundings from distractions. Cedric, first taken aback, then understood and smiled at Felix to express his gratitude.


    One by one, the students taking the test arrived, and they were equally curious, surveying the space. A few seventh graders pointed and showed nostalgic expressions.


    A senior girl said emotionally, "We had a practical rune class here last year, and I dug up three hidden boxes and put together a rare manuscript."


    The trio began to busy themselves with recording information about the people taking the test, and they saw many familiar figures.


    Harry then saw several of his teammates, "Angelina, Alicia, Katie, I can''t believe you''re all here!" He also saw the twins walking from a distance and jokingly asked, "Is it a team party today?" S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh no, Katie and I came to give it a try, and Alicia is quite hopeful." Angelina said, "As for Wood, he didn''t come, I guess he''s hiding somewhere working on new tactics. In his final year, he''s definitely hoping to win another Quidditch Cup."


    As they spoke, the twins walked over with their shoulders on each other, looking like they were playing some sort of game, and when they got closer, Harry realized that their legs were glued tightly together.


    "We''re testing the limits of the Sticking Charm as a spell," Fred said with a squint. "Isn''t that cool?"


    The three girls giggled and Angelina waved her hand, "Geez, you don''t have to make me laugh."


    The twins exaggeratedly acted up, but ended up not controlling the distance and rolled together on the ground.


    Ron rarely saw the twins suffer badly, so he took the initiative to come over, smiling and squatting in front of them, holding a piece of parchment, "Excuse me, the test you have chosen is--"


    The twins lay on the ground, and Fred said gleefully, "Silly boy, we came to see the fun, and got an internal invitation long ago."


    Ron looked at them in surprise: "You guys are telling the truth?"


    "Of course, I think Hermione also got a place."


    "But she wrote her essay just like us!" Ron said.


    Hearing Ron''s words, Fred looked at George and pretended to say, "Shouldn''t we reflect on ourselves? This will make it look like we are being lazy."


    George sighed, "Good thing we came prepared, too."


    The two then stood up from the ground and walked over to Felix, then Fred pulled a palm-sized heart-shaped thick sheet out of his pocket. "Professor, remember the couple''s mirror from last semester? This is the finalized product."


    Felix played with the runic creation in his hand, it looked more delicate, one side painted black and one side painted pink. His finger tapped on it, and the heart-shaped sheet automatically split into two halves.


    "You designed them as a pair? A clever idea ..."


    Its interior is similar to the appearance of a small make-up mirror, but instead of a mirror in the middle, it is a circular surface carefully polished out and coated with a layer of silver dust.


    On the outside of the circular surface, some runes were carved, and Felix rubbed the uneven lines and felt the familiar traces.


    "This is the magic rune circuit I taught you guys last year?"


    "That''s right, we took the advice you gave and used the magic rune circuit to store synchronized enchantments, and it worked well - now the information transmitted more accurately, and the communication distance is farther," Fred said.


    George said, "We also added runes to prevent cracking."


    Percy appeared at some point, standing far off to the side with Penelope Clearwater of Ravenclaw House.


    Penelope said to Percy, "They seem to have worked on something remarkable, that couple''s mirror."


    "You knew that?" Percy asked, pleasantly surprised.


    Penelope said calmly, "They slipped into the Ravenclaw common room two days ago to advertise their new product, and noted down a few names of people who were interested in buying it."


    "And you didn''t kick them out?"


    "Why? Ravenclaw welcomes anyone, as long as they can answer the right questions at the door. And," she smiled, "I left my name on the list, too."


    "Penelope, how can you ..." Percy looked away from the twins and stopped talking, his two brothers were talking eloquently with Professor Hap, a serious discussion, with glowing faces.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 214: The Reason for Escape?

    "You have thought it through quite well, and what amazes me most is that you have been patient enough to revise seven versions." Felix complimented. The twins said with a smile, "It''s all thanks to you, you always give us a bunch of suggestions for modifications, which makes us feel that it''s not good enough."


    Felix looked at them, "What are you going to do now?" S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Fred said, "We''re currently simply advertising in the school, and there are quite a few people who are interested in buying it."


    Felix considered, "The production process is very time-consuming, right, your OWLs Exam ..."


    Fred begged, "Professor, don''t make it hard for us, we still have plenty of time now."


    George said, "Yeah, we already dropped most of the electives, and some mandatory classes are totally unnecessary--"


    "Astronomy-"


    "History of magic-"


    Felix looked at them with a reproachful gaze.


    "You can''t force us, after all, we didn''t drop a single thing we were supposed to learn, and Professor Flitwick even praised us." Fred appealed for himself and George.


    Felix also could not do anything about them, moreover, he believed in his heart that shackling the twins is not a good choice. Providing them with a broader stage and watching them dance is probably what he should do.


    He said thoughtfully, "You guys restrain yourselves this year, and when the exams are over, I mean after the OWLs, I''ll take you guys out for more experience."


    As Harry and the rest watched in disbelief, the twins squinted their eyes at them and marched off.


    Before leaving, Fred patted Ron''s shoulder, "Silly Ronnie, you can record on the parchment: The assessment content is alchemical items couples mirror, Price - three Gold Galleons, the price may increase anytime."


    Ron turned his head to look at Harry, "Did you hear that?"


    "Of course," Harry is still thinking about the couple''s mirror, in the middle of thinking, he saw the girl who made his heart flutter.


    Cho Chang and her friend appeared, they looked around, there are already seven or eight students on the ground sitting in the corner with a golem and carving runes.


    Her friend pointed at Cedric''s figure and muttered.


    Professor Hap is surrounded by three or five students, he is staring at a cross-shaped amulet and shaking his head, the student at the side looked disappointed.


    Cho Chang came next to Hermione, "Hello? We came to participate in the assessment."


    Hermione just finished recording a form, she wiped the sweat on her forehead, "Oh, please wait a moment." She pulled out a new piece of parchment and said fluently, "Name, grade, and house."


    "Cho Chang, fourth year, Ravenclaw."


    "Marietta Edgecombe, fourth year, Ravenclaw."


    Hermione noted down on the parchment, " What part of the assessment are you taking ... Harry?"


    Harry unknowingly came over, and he stammered, "Hermione..., I came over here to check and see if I can help ..."


    "I''m okay," Hermione didn''t notice his expression as she looked over to the two people across the table, and they replied briskly, " Essay, both of us going to submit an essay."


    "You guys put your essays on that big table with the clips and quill by the side. The results will be posted approximately in a week or two."


    Harry waited for her to finish and said to Cho Chang and her friend, "Let me take you there."


    Cho Chang looked at him and nodded. The three of them walked away together.


    Hermione faintly heard Harry muttering and introducing himself ...


    Around eleven o''clock, a group of third-year Slytherin came over - Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass, Pansy Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle.


    Ron walked over excitedly as he said provocatively, "I didn''t expect you guys to actually show up, Malfoy, you must be dying to show us some ancient runes, right? After all, you are Malfoy!"


    Draco gave him a contemptuous look, "Weasley, where there is Potter, there is you, are you his lackey?"


    Ron gave a surprised look as he looked at Crabbe and Goyle, "Hey mate, is that how Malfoy sees you guys? He doesn''t even have any friends?"


    Pansy said impatiently, "Hurry up and register us, I''m not interested in listening to your clown speech."


    Ron turned red, "Sorry, you guys might need to write yourselves." He pushed a stack of parchment into Malfoy''s arms.


    On the other side, Daphne paced next to Hermione, "Hey, little Gryffindor girl!"


    Hermione stared at her, " It is YOU?" Her voice became sharp and aggressive, "I haven''t had a chance to ask you if you liked your golem?"


    In the first ancient runes class at the beginning of the school year, both of them competed for the same golem model, but Hermione is one step faster.


    Daphne said condescendingly, "Sorry, I found a senior sister and swapped with her."


    Hermione remained silent for a while, then suddenly said, "My golem is more powerful!"


    "Nonsense!"


    "Want to try it?"


    "Sure, you think I''m afraid of you!"


    ...


    Felix wiped the emerging sweat, he had reviewed dozens of strange alchemical creations in the morning, except for a few that passed, the rest really left him speechless.


    For example, a small bottle emitting a strong irritating odour, the student swore that it possessed a marvellous warding effect that could drive away frenzied werewolves.


    But Felix double-checked that it merely contained a pus layer of the Bubotuber, which is still quite dangerous, so it got directly confiscated by him.


    Cedric finally finished his work, Felix looked at his results and couldn''t help but praise him by saying, "You have mastered fifty-two runes, very outstanding. Did you learn them all by yourself?"


    Cedric said, "I asked the senior students to teach me, and they gave me some pointers."


    ...


    After watching the last student leave at 2 o''clock in the afternoon, Felix turned to Harry and Ron and said, "Thank you for your hard work." The two left with a weary farewell, they needed to go back and catch up with their sleep.


    Hermione, who is an assistant in the Runes class, stayed behind as the two looked at the hundreds of essays, and Felix sighed and said, "Huge amount of work, we''ll have to work overtime tonight."


    "We''ll sort these essays first, just like grading dueling class papers, I''ll be responsible for underlining and picking out mistakes, you''ll be responsible for marking them."


    Hermione nodded.


    Felix suddenly looked at her, " You seem to be starting to look good, getting rid of the time-turner?"


    Hermione said, "I talked to Percy, he provided a lot of useful advice," she counted on her hands, "I need to record every hour before using time tuner, every four hours I need to eat something, and take a break for at least half an hour; go back to the last point in time is not necessary to be so rigid, can be slightly earlier, leaving time to respond; he also recommended me a few abandoned classrooms, which he previously used. There are also some potions available in the hospital wing, which can relieve fatigue and improve the quality of sleep ..."


    "Sounds good," Felix said.


    "Yeah, he''s been using it for three whole years and has a lot of experience. Percy told me he''s keeping it as a dead secret, even his girlfriend doesn''t know about it."


    Two of them sorted the essay according to year, and then corrected it. For them, the content on it is very familiar, and the most important reference book for the essay is Felix''s own "Explorations of Ancient Runes", and as for other reference books, he also read them many times before.


    And Hermione is not unfamiliar with it, because the reference books for the essay are the same batch she read last year - Professor Hap just copied her previous test.


    Felix quickly skimmed over the familiar content, focusing on capturing the flashes of the young wizards'' own reflections.


    Time passed little by little, and Classroom Seven remained as bright as day.


    "It''s almost time, we can continue tomorrow."


    "Professor, should I come tomorrow morning?"


    "No, I have something to do tomorrow morning, I need to go to St. Mungo''s."


    "That wizarding hospital?" Hermione looked at him nervously, the professor is sick? Even Madam Pomfrey couldn''t cure him?


    "I''m going to visit two friends," Felix said briefly.


    Hermione nodded, she suddenly remembered her earlier question, "Professor, do you know how Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban?"


    Felix thought about it, "I''m not sure, he comes from the ancient Black family, also a former Death Eater, may have mastered some very subtle magic, and perhaps used it."


    "But why did he flee after a decade?" Hermione asked in disbelief.


    This question made Felix silent: "Yes, why did he escape after more than ten years? Did he just find the opportunity, or did he have a reason to risk breaking out of prison?"

 Chapter 215:

    The next morning, Felix met with the old Lady Longbottom at the door of St. Mungo''s as usual, and then he treated the Longbottoms, and as time went on, he became more and more skilled at piecing together, categorizing, and sorting out memories. At times, he felt like a masterful molder, having to handle trivial memories with caution and care, but even then, he couldn''t guarantee that nothing would be left out or missing in the process of assembling them.


    Some memories will simply be lost forever, and there is nothing he can do about it. In fact, his job is to build up a stable memory structure and follow a certain logic, adding in memories little by little until the process reaches a certain point where the human self-repair function kicks in, and there is no guarantee on how long it will take to heal in the end.


    " Miriam already has some suspicions." Old Lady Longbottom said, "I told her that you are an expert in healing."


    Felix said calmly, "It is normal to be suspicious when a stranger, like me, comes once a week, but we should still have to stall for a while. It doesn''t really matter much whether we find out by November or before Christmas."


    Lady Longbottom agreed with him, she simply concerned, and by the time St. Mungo''s noticed the obvious difference, it meant that her son and daughter-in-law had shown signs of improvement, and by then no one would be able to say a word.


    "What''s more," Felix smiled, "I''m almost done with my dissertation."


    "Dissertation?"


    " A treatment plan for memory repair, as suggested by Dumbledore. I am going to divide the thesis into two, the first is the interpretation and derivation of the theory, which should not set off any splash, the second is to add the data of this treatment, which will certainly cause great controversy at that time. I am going to post it around Christmas ..."


    Sometime in early October, the damp air quietly claimed the castle, leaving wet stains of moisture on the ancient walls. Every morning, large streams of cold mist coming from the depths of the forbidden forest, carried by the wind to the school, and swept up silver frost on the grass in the front yard, causing many young wizards who did not care to keep warm to catch a cold.


    Even Professor Lupin, unfortunately, fell victim to it, and he had to wear a thick scarf, and his breath smelled of the tonic made by Madam Pomfrey.


    Felix also received two letters on that same day, both related to the publication of his new books.


    In the first letter, the Little Red Books sent him the "great" news that his new book, "Muggle World ''Magic''," had sold more than a thousand copies, and he would earn three galleons and seven sickles for each copy, so the first income should be around three thousand two hundred forty galleons.


    However, the letter also mentioned that the bulk of purchase was from the Ministry of Magic of various countries and individuals interested in muggles - because of the fame accumulated from the first two books, many people would choose to buy the name "Felix Hap" in the first place when they saw it.


    Of course, after that, there will be a huge drop in sales and then stabilize.


    Felix is also very self-aware, his books are very stable long-running ones, but it will probably never become a bestseller.


    The other letter is brought to him by Dobby, the elf is standing in front of him at the moment, looking at him with anticipation.


    Dobby as usual is wearing his little suit, which is also much cleaner, with a brown fedora.


    "Mr. Hap, your book, The Strange Adventures of Little Wizard Mick, is finished, and Mr. Andys asked me to tell you on his behalf," Dobby said respectfully.


    "Let''s sit down and talk." Felix showed him to the couch in his office and casually opened the letter. The handwriting on it is very sloppy and matches Andys'' own style perfectly -


    "It''s finished! S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It''s impossible to describe how I felt at that moment, like climbing out of hell step by step and seeing the first rays of the sunrise ...


    If this book fails, I might get discouraged and just strangle myself, but that shouldn''t be possible, haha!


    I''ve finished working with the Ministry of Magic paperwork so far, and there was originally someone tripping me up, damn pureblood trash! But I took Dobby for a quick trip and things worked out satisfactorily, and to this day I wonder if someone helped me or if that family backed off the case.


    But all in all, Mr. Hap, you can look forward to your new book being placed in bookshops in 27 countries. The whole book is divided into seven volumes, with a single book priced at 13 sickles, and the price of the full package set at 5 galleons and 6 sickles. We''ll make about two galleons after costs - no match for professional books, but we''ll crush their sales tenfold if it explodes, I swear on my grandfather''s name!


    If you have any friends in the media - which you certainly do - you''d better cosy them up and promote it, we''ll really be an instant hit."


    As well."


    Felix laughed dully, Andys really knew how to make requests when it came to media friends, he pretty much only knew Rita Skeeter, and he wasn''t paying much attention to how she is doing now.


    " Dobby, I have a little more work for you to do, bring this note to this place for me." Felix tore off a piece of parchment and handed it to him, and it flashed with sparks, emerging with an address.


    After some thought, he took another pouch full of coins out of his pocket, "Here are sixty galleons, fifty for that woman - she''ll understand, and the remaining ten as your latest payments."


    Dobby''s eyes widened, and he crossed his fingers as if to calculate how much he is being paid, "Dobby, Dobby shouldn''t take so much money, it''s too much!" He yelped, shuddering with his every fibre standing up, looking like he might pass out at any moment.


    Felix said gently: "Your performance is worth this salary, and, moreover, I need you to continue working for me. Your tasks will only be more, not less ..."


    Dobby struggled for a while until Felix finished his third cup of tea, and he reluctantly agreed.


    "Tell me about the situation on Andys'' side."


    "Yes, the great and generous Mr. Hap. I stayed there every day, and Mr. Andys was so diligent that it reminded me of the days when I used to work. Two weeks ago, he finished the entire manuscript of the comic series and started preparing his staff for the bulk printing, with Dobby''s help!"


    "Was there anything unusual about this process?." Felix inquired.


    Dobby thought hard, "Ah, Dobby thought of it! Mr. Andys got dressed one day, left the house, saying he had to go to the Ministry of Magic to register, and came back in a rage not long after. He didn''t explain anything, though later Mr. Andys took Dobby on another trip and introduced Dobby to some of his friends. Almost two days later, when Dobby questioned him, he said the matter had been settled."


    "Dobby thought it was odd, but couldn''t figure out why."


    Felix fiddled with the ebony wand in his hand and asked calmly, "Who did Andys take you to see?"


    "A lot of people, but Dobby doesn''t know any of them ... seems to be the director of this and that council member, Dobby got a little dizzy."


    Felix sighed, "Forget it."


    The elf gave him a cautious look, "Did Dobby have done something wrong?"


    "No, Dobby. Next, you continue to keep an eye on Andys'' side for me, and if anyone goes after him, you remember that person''s name and what they look like."


    "As you command, Mr. Hap!"


    "Now, you can go to the address I gave you, her last name is Skeeter, oh, she may not recognize you or the emblem on you, you will have to report my name."


    " Will Dobby only be needed to deliver the letter?"


    "It''s a deal, though ... I have no intention of letting her refuse."


    Dobby said confidently, "Visiting a stranger''s home is a job Dobby has done before." With that, his ears dropped, "It was to deliver a letter for the Malfoy ..."


    "You''re free now, outside of work, you can do whatever you want," Felix said.


    He reassured the elf and then seemed to think of something, "By the way, I need you to help me with one more test." He waved his wand and out of the tip flew a silver-white rain swallow, which chirped softly and landed on Dobby''s hat.


    "What is this?" Dobby clasped his hat with two slender hands, and his large tennis ball eyes strained to look upward, but all he could see is a silvery-white beak.


    "That''s my Patronus, you just need to carry it around with you, and when the time is up, it will disappear on its own."


    "Dobby understands, Dobby will take his leave." He snapped his fingers lightly and his body disappeared with the Patronus.


    Felix''s eyes went into a trance, and various passing images were reflected in his azure eyes. After seven or eight minutes, a strong silvery-white glow emitted from his eyes, at the same time, he said in a deep voice: "Rita, it''s been a long time ..."


    Hundreds of kilometers away -


    Rita Skeeter heard once again the voice that had made her heart flinch from the mouth of a silver-white Patronus, and after a moment, she said respectfully and wittily, "Yes, indeed, sir."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 216: Suspicion

    A little later, Dobby returned to report the results to Felix - "Mr. Hap, the woman whose last name is Skeeter has agreed, and, in the process, the little silvery-white bird ... above my head."


    "I see, Dobby, that''s the test I mentioned to you, and it worked better than I thought it would."


    ...


    In the evening, Felix walked into the great hall in a happy mood.


    ''Hmm, which house table should I pick today?'' He thought to himself idly, it''s one of his joys, always hearing lots of new things during the meal, ''Ravenclaw then, the eagles have been keeping a low profile lately.''


    His eyes caught a glimpse of the Slytherin players walking into the great hall with brooms and laughing, and it dawned on him that Quidditch tournament season is about to begin.


    Felix targeted a small group of Ravenclaw students and prepared to sit next to them, when a somewhat obese boy with freckles on his face discussed loudly with gusto.


    "-- recently been studying kappa all over again, and yes, that webbed aquatic creature -- like a monkey with scales -- Professor Lupin kinda good --" s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix subconsciously glanced at the teacher''s table and, unsurprisingly, saw a slightly weary figure.


    "Professor Lupin?" Felix changed his direction and sat down next to the professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and greeted him in a friendly manner.


    "Professor Hap," Lupin responded just as gently, "Please excuse me, I''m still recovering from my cold." He fiddled with the scarf around his neck.


    "October is indeed a peak flu season, as I recall from last year." Felix smiled as he added some pastrami and potatoes to his plate, "Madam Pomfrey must be busy these days."


    Lupin gave a reminiscent look, " Well, she certainly is a school nurse who is responsible enough that she helped me a lot when I was in school."


    Felix obviously thought wrong, he thought Lupin is referring to the fight with Slytherin House students during school, which inevitably involved Snape, so he shut up and talked about other topics instead.


    "You should have received the dueling class schedule, right, Professor Lupin?"


    "Miss Granger gave it to me last week." Lupin said thoughtfully, "I saw the content of the Revulsion Jinx, which can be used to deal with Grindylow precisely ..."


    Felix asked, "Those green water spirits? I remember there were a bunch of them in the Black Lake, but they ought to be tamed by Merpeople."


    "Indeed," said Lupin, reaching for a distant plate of sauce, "which makes it easier for me to teach, oh, thanks--" he said.


    "You''re welcome," Felix pushed the sauce to him, and their hands touched.


    He lowered his gaze, and that sense of alienation resurfaced. From the first time they had met and shook hands, he had felt that the hair on Lupin''s hands is very thick and far firmer than normal.


    Lupin didn''t notice it as he continued, "Grindylow''s fingers are very strong, yet flimsy, and the trick to getting rid of them is to make them unable to grab hold of you."


    "Their strength is also their weakness?" Felix said with interest, "Somewhat similar to Professor Flitwick''s point of view, he also believes that a wizard is strongest when he attacks, at the same time he reveals his weaknesses. So when casting a spell, it should be as quick and concise as possible, yet leave room for ..."


    Lupin smiled and said, "Professor Flitwick is indeed experienced, and his title of dueling champion retains a lot of weight."


    "Speaking of which ..." Felix said slowly, "Professor Flitwick wanted to enter the Ministry of Magic when he was young, but was rejected because of his lineage."


    Lupin paused and listened quietly.


    "... Of course, the reason can not be that straightforward, but we all know the virtues of the Ministry of Magic. Professor Lupin, what do you think about the discrimination in the Ministry of Magic?"


    Lupin smiled and said, "This kind of argument is not new, as early as I was in school, there have been people criticizing the Ministry of Magic for its rigid thinking and inaction, but after more than ten years, it has not changed much."


    "Maybe it''s time for the Ministry of Magic to change?"


    "It''s hard," Lupin mused, "unless there''s a new minister with guts, and as for Fudge, he''s a politician, a cowardly wimp," he said nonchalantly, "who lives by the rules every day. He has exhausted all his courage."


    Felix is surprised by his attitude toward Fudge and wondered where this ill-feeling came from, knowing that there is still a market for Fudge''s moderate views.


    The wizarding populace, for one, were less likely to want a minister who interfered too much in their lives-except during the war.


    The two then brought the conversation to Sirius Black.


    "Miss Granger asked me a question once, but I couldn''t answer it." Felix said, "She asked why Black had chosen to suddenly break out of prison after staying peacefully in Azkaban for over a decade. You know, once caught, a dementor''s kiss is likely what awaits him."


    "Professor Lupin, you should know him well, I wonder if there are any guesses?"


    Lupin frowned, Felix''s words poked at his long-standing hidden confusion, and some kind of unrealistic fantasy in his mind stirred again, a thought that made him chew on the happy times of the past over and over again in the late night, but also left his tired heartbroken and bruised.


    ''Lupin, Lupin, what the hell are you expecting! Have the years of wandering life completely muddled your brain?''


    But outwardly, he merely said indifferently, "I can no longer understand Black''s thoughts since his betrayal."


    "It''s a shame," Felix said softly, "Harry and the rest asked me about Black''s hidden talents, and they''re worried they''ll run into him one day."


    Lupin couldn''t refrain from repeating himself, "Hogwarts is safe."


    ...


    Back in his office, Felix thought over his conversation with Lupin, and on a piece of parchment, he wrote down ''Remus Lupin'' and then ''Sirius Black'', put a line between the two names, then put a question mark, and fell into his thoughts.


    He knew very little information about Black, except for the huge contrast between his teenage years and his adult life, there is nothing else he could find.


    And Lupin ... Felix always felt uneasy.


    Dumbledore trusted him, and he had seen him in Frank and Alice''s memory fragments himself, which meant that Lupin being a member of the Order of the Phoenix is pretty much the nail in the coffin.


    But Snape did not hide his malice against him, in Felix''s opinion, the reason why Snape held back from striking him is because of the presence of Dumbledore.


    Felix checked the records of those years, Snape and James Potter''s conflict occurred the most, followed by a side dish of Black, but Lupin and Peter Pettigrew were involved less often in these disputes, which can be counted with your fingers.


    Is it hatred of the house?


    But Snape''s impression of Peter Pettigrew is good, at least he is addressed as ''Peter'', rather than ''Pettigrew'' the last name. With Felix''s knowledge of his own head, this is rare enough.


    If Lupin died, Snape certainly will not change his way of calling him from ''Remus''.


    Felix began to write down what he had suspected about Lupin -


    ''Mild-mannered, yet Snape hates him extremely;''


    '' he has extraordinary skills, loved by the young wizard, but poor and destitute for a long time; ''


    ''Weak body, easily struck by flu, is Madam Pomfrey''s potion has no effect?''


    ''''The hair on his arms is different from a normal person;''''


    ''Unusual malice towards Fudge, the Minister of Magic;''


    Felix marked heavily on the name ''Fudge'', the minister took office not many years ago, in addition to hiding the lid, he presided over only a handful of policies, which will not take much time to count one by one with his fingers.


    It didn''t take long for him to think of Belby''s complaints about the Ministry of Magic last year -


    "Look at the newspapers in recent times! Another argument about ''the werewolf welfare'' and ''werewolf registration amendment bill'', only registered and regulated werewolves have the right to buy wolfsbane potion, the Ministry of Magic is using my potion to gather the scattered werewolves... ..."

 Chapter 217: Chances of Interpretation

    When the word werewolf abruptly popped on Felix''s mind, what had seemed to don''t make sense all of a sudden made sense. Lupin had always brought him a strange feeling, and he thought it''s Snape''s words that had affected him. Now it did not seem so, Maybe he had captured some characteristics of the untransformed form of the werewolf, the pupils, the hair, and if anything, the aura of a dark creature.


    But unfortunately, Felix didn''t think about it that way a bit.


    Besides, Lupin always gave the impression of being in poor health, but when was this impression become more obvious? Around the full moon! Especially in the last two days, what with the cold not getting better, it was all an excuse ... it''s the full moon a few hours before.


    Madam Pomfrey''s craft is not that bad s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s so obvious! I can''t believe I didn''t notice the clues that were all laid out in front of me." Felix looked at the information he had jotted down on the parchment and compared it line by line--


    ''Lupin is poor because he has no decent job at all, and in order to conceal his identity, he has to be prepared to move around and change his identity all the time.''


    ''He must have very rich experience in disguise, but once is by chance, twice is by coincidence, what about three or more times? For a werewolf, the abnormality will be discovered by those around him in a few months, because no amount of excuses can change the fact that a werewolf must disappear at the full moon!''


    ''He had ill feelings towards Minister of Magic Fudge, who had not been in office for a couple of years because Fudge had presided over an amendment to the werewolf registration bill - he had tied the werewolf registration list to the wolfsbane potion, and without registration, he couldn''t buy the potion. This also explains why Lupin came to Hogwarts this year; as he couldn''t get this potion that keeps him sane during full-moon transformations from anywhere else.''


    You know, the werewolf transformation is extremely exhausting, before there is no wolfsbane potion, and they will frantically attack anyone they see, even if they are locked in a cage, they will be so frenzied that they will lose their minds while smacking and tearing the obstacles in front of them.


    The after-effects of such behaviour are intense and often last three to four days, or even a week of exhaustion, depending on one''s physique.


    With the wolfsbane potion, werewolves are much more comfortable, they can keep their sanity during the full moon, find a hidden place to hide, and the next day when everything goes back to normal - a little tired at best, as well as able to brace themselves without being noticed. It''s a thousand times better than being recognized as a werewolf.


    Felix remembered that two weeks before the start of school, Snape was called in advance by Dumbledore, he moodily murmured that he needed to brew a batch of ''disgusting'' potions, other than wolfsbane potion, is there any other possibility?


    Felix couldn''t help but raise the corner of his mouth, it''s hard to imagine the scene where Snape is being pressured by Dumbledore and brewing a potion for someone he hates.


    ''Severus'' expression must have been funny!


    There are also some other small details worth noting.


    For example, Snape had said to him, "Lupin''s true face will surprise you", supposedly hinting at his werewolf identity


    Before the opening dinner, Professor McGonagall deliberately avoided Snape when introducing Lupin, which means that Professor McGonagall knew about the conflict between them, in other words, she also knew about Lupin''s werewolf identity.


    Who else knew besides them?


    Dumbledore is bound to know, even ...


    Felix calculated when Lupin went to school, Dumbledore would have been the headmaster, he was able to come to school, certainly with the consent of the headmaster.


    Even the whole thing was probably promoted single-handedly by Dumbledore, who might have persuaded him personally to come to the school by visiting his family...


    To accept a werewolf young wizard to Hogwarts for schooling, it is inevitable that he must be prepared a series of protective measures - including the location for werewolf transformation, as well as the care and treatment after the transformation.


    For the former, Felix simply has no clue, theoretically, randomly choosing an abandoned classroom would be fine, with Dumbledore''s ability to cast all sorts of wards to isolate the howls made by the young Lupin during his transformation.


    ''Hagrid once said that many werewolves were rejected by the entire wizarding community, disheartened, and preferred to live with the pack, but for young Lupin, it is unlikely that he made that choice. The biggest kind of possibility is that his parents locked him in the house and used a Muffliato Charm to keep the neighbours from hearing him ...''


    ''''Thinking about it this way, Lupin probably would have a huge psychological shadow about the Muffliato Charm?''''


    As for the latter, Lupin himself had admitted that Madam Pomfrey had helped him a lot when he was in school.


    Felix suddenly thought of an interesting question, Harry''s father - James Potter, as well as Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, did they know about Lupin''s werewolf identity?


    ''Should know,'' Felix guessed silently, ''otherwise Lupin wouldn''t miss that time so much.'' He thought of the smile that radiated from Lupin''s face when he introduced his experience of going to school, and his eyes seemed to be glowing.


    This raised more questions in Felix''s mind, not about Lupin, but about Sirius Black.


    From the information he had pieced together, there is a clear sense of alienation in that man''s behaviour, a feeling that even reached the level of perversity.


    As a teenager, Black was a righteous Gryffindor, strongly repulsed of Slytherin, and even his own family, although judging by some prohibition records Felix had seen, the man was a tad brainless ...


    After graduation, Black joined the Order of the Phoenix and almost immediately became a backbone in the fight against Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters, and from that point of view, he was a fearless warrior.


    ''At what point did Black start to change? Was it the inability to fight against the kinship, did he get invited by his Death Eater relatives, or was he captured by Voldemort in one of his actions, and threatened with death and his family? Or just simply could not bear the torture of the Cruciatus Curse?''


    ''''Could this be the case? After tasting the pain, it went from bravery to cowardice ...''


    Felix suddenly got in a bad mood, and if things went as he thought they would, he hated the story.


    Especially when he saw the Longbottom couple was completely tortured by the Death Eaters to crazy, but they did not reveal half of the information, this strong contrast has made him conflicted to the extreme.


    If this happened to him, how will he choose? Will he for some reason betray his best friend?


    "The hypothesis is not valid at all," he grunted after thinking for half a day.


    Felix suddenly realized that he never made a close friend during his school years, the first three years were busy studying and fighting, in the fourth year he completely ignored everything around him in order to practice his spells, and by the end of the fifth year, everyone looked at him with awe.


    ''''Speaking of which, a few Slytherin girls gave me chocolate during my school years right?, but I suspected there was a curse and threw it away.''''


    ''''Did I somehow miss something?''''


    Felix chewed on his former experience, after a while, he laughed dumbly.


    "I''m really bored enough, but ... Sirius Black, whether it''s for the collection of books in Black''s old mansion or to confirm whether you''re harbouring a vile means, I''ll give you a chance to explain."

 Chapter 218: New attempts and new recruit list

    The third year''s Ancient Runes class is on track. After studying two somewhat boring rune manuscripts, they finally had their first lesson that seemed interesting enough. Felix stood at the podium, "Put away your textbooks, we''ll be doing a new attempt today."


    The young wizards perked up at that, "I''ve been looking forward to this day for a long time!" Dean Thomas said, "I''ve heard Professor Hap''s class is always full of novel ideas with fresh possibilities!"


    Felix, already used to the chatter of the young wizards, retrieved a small palm-sized wooden box from his jacket pocket, lifted it towards the students, and then placed it on the lecture table, "I took some time to make it, and it is originally intended to exercise my mastery of practical ancient runes. But then I thought, why not utilize it more?"


    He pulled out his wand and tapped the tip on the cap of the small wooden box, and a golden-red circle of runic patterns emerged from the box''s surface, awakening from its slumber.


    Felix fiddled with it casually, and the runic pattern separated layer by layer -


    "Snap!"


    The box snapped open.


    "What''s inside?"


    "I want to know, too."


    There is a buzz below the stage.


    Felix looked at the students off-stage with emotion, as a professor, he could easily distinguish the difference between the two houses, Gryffindor students were more outwardly emotional, a large part of them were stretching their necks to look hard, they were eager to know what is in the box, and the distinct, Slytherin students were much more reserved, their eyes were also full of curiosity, but in addition to a few dumb guys, most of the students were able to restrain themselves.


    It''s not about being superior or inferior, it just represents two different traits.


    Soon, a rune jumped out from the box, Hermione recognized it at first glance, it''s a rune signifying the power of the wild bull, she couldn''t help but puff out her cheeks, these days, thanks to Lee Jordan''s big mouth, her reputation is getting more and more famous, breaking the arm of the chair and threatening students two things were taken out to talk about.


    Many of the young wizards from the other houses came to see what she could do and chattered away.


    Not many students like Hermione recognized the rune at once, like Draco, who just felt that the rune looked a little familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before.


    The next moment, a second rune flew out of the box, followed by a third and a fourth ...


    Hundreds of runes of different colours flew out in a row before the box slammed shut. The young wizards looked at the runes floating around the podium with wide eyes, their hearts filled with shock.


    They turned their attention to Professor Hap, who is contentedly surveying the cluster of runes in front of him, and then, with a sudden push, he reaches out and hundreds of clustered runes start to fly around, filling half of the classroom in just a few seconds.


    The young wizards looked up at the flickering runes in midair, some of them resembling the candles floating in midair at the great hall banquets, but these runes were much nearer, and they could just reach out and grab one.


    Seamus Finnigan could not help but touch a fiery red rune in front of him with his wand, and it spilled a small orange flame and floated away from him. Seamus got startled.


    Felix cleared his throat and waved his wand in a circular arc, and the runes were stilled for a moment.


    "Next, I will teach you a little trick to perceive magic, you need to select five magic runes that you think are the most intimate to you in this lesson and record their shapes on parchment."


    "A friendly reminder, this is related to your final exam grade on the practical section."


    The other students looked at him with eager eyes, "What are we waiting for?" Seamus shouted, and a low chuckle came from below.


    Felix explained the so-called technique, "It''s really quite simple, reach out and touch the runes and sense the magic within it. The more you ''see'', the more it matches you ... you can start!"


    Ron whispered to Harry, "Sounds like something Trelawney would say."


    Harry couldn''t help but glance at Hermione, who is quite aggressive towards Professor Trelawney, and more than once ridiculed the "Inner Eye", "Sight" and other unreliable terms - these are the professional words used by the divination class professor to describe whether a young wizard has divination talents.


    Similar terms such as "aura vision", " resonance with the future" and so on, unfortunately, Hermione is classified as having no divination talent.


    Usually, when this name is mentioned, she always has a bunch of things to say, but this time, Hermione did not have any response, she quietly came up to Professor Hap and whispered something.


    Harry''s attention got drawn, so he pulled Ron and went over.


    "--what''s the point?" He could barely hear the second half of Hermione''s sentence.


    "To prepare for the Magic Rune Club''s first event." Felix explained. "And also to test a possibility - if wizards are born with spells that suit them better, like Potter''s disarming charm," he nodded at Harry, "does a similar situation exist with ancient magic runes? "


    Hermione understood, "you think everyone has the most suitable ancient magic rune? All we have to do now is to find it out based on the feeling?"


    Felix said: "I''m just guessing, but it''s worth a try."


    Harry couldn''t help but interject and ask: "Professor, have the results of the Magic Rune Club come out yet? Me and Ron ..."


    Felix gave him a look, "Your essay ... barely passed and got placed in the second slot."


    "Second slot?" Harry heard this statement for the first time, he is going to ask Hermione about it later, she must know. Still, barely passed means Harry understood, and both he and Ron breathed a sigh of relief.


    "By the way," he heard Professor Hap addressing him, "how''s your dueling system thesis coming along?"


    "Uh ... still writing it," Harry said awkwardly, he had taken a bunch of notes, but the thesis is only one-third finished. And he is now filled with first gear, second gear, and blah blah blah. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Back to their seats, Hermione really gave an explanation on the categories of grades, "The professor divided the results of the test into three grades, the lowest grade is directly eliminated, in the words of the professor, they just came to take their chances and did not prepare at all."


    "Then the second grade is pass, the first grade is excellent?" Ron guessed, which is quite consistent with common sense.


    "No," Hermione sighed, "the first grade is pass, as for the second grade, the right to attend the class is reserved, and the professor doesn''t care if you come or not, or can keep up with the club''s lectures."


    Ron opened his mouth wide and couldn''t help but raise his volume, "So, we''re the ones who make up the numbers?"


    "Professor Hap thinks--" Hermione also raised her voice, "that only a few of you are likely to keep up with the classes, but most of you will just drop out and quit naturally."


    "There are only seven people in the first slot at the moment, which is too few, which is why the professor is going to pick a few more out of the second slot."


    Harry couldn''t help but feel apprehensive, he felt that the odds of him dropping out are high, except maybe a first class?


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 219: Divination talent?

    "Let''s find the right magic rune quickly," Hermione reminded them, "this lesson is very important, if you can find the one that suits you, I will tutor you ..." "You have mastered all these magic runes? And this isn''t theoretical magic runes, but a practical one!" Ron said in surprise.


    "Don''t say silly things, how can I know all of them." Hermione said, "But I certainly learn faster than you!"


    Next, Harry and Ron''s approach became much more enthusiastic. Not only the two of them, but also the other young wizards, were interested in this new and exciting way of teaching.


    Daphne Greengrass glanced at a dark green, slim, dexterous magic rune, "I think it''s talking to me, but I can''t hear it."


    "That''s more than enough to tell," said an annoyed Gryffindor next to her, who hadn''t got half as far as she had. "Do me a favour and give me your spot."


    Neville reached out his round hand to probe a fiery red magic rune, "Get out of the way, Longbottom." Draco said, accompanied by his two followers. He gazed covetously at the magic rune, which appeared to be the brightest of all the runes.


    Neville flinched and took a step back, then persisted and stayed where he is, "I came first." He muttered.


    "What did you say, I didn''t hear you, maybe you want another taste of the Leg-Locker Curse?" Draco whispered threateningly.


    "What happened?" Felix appeared out of nowhere, he''d been keeping an eye on Neville.


    "Nothing, Professor." Draco gave a reserved smile, " Longbottom probably didn''t do well in Potions class, so he''s just wiping his tears."


    Neville clenched his fist and said stubbornly, "I''m not wiping my tears." Tears welled up in his eyes.


    "Malfoy, you come with me." Felix said, "The rest of you go on, oh Longbottom, I think that rustic magic rune on the left side of your hand would suit you well, you can try it."


    He led Draco outside the classroom.


    "Professor Hap," Draco said with some panic, he isn''t afraid of losing points, but he is afraid of copying two more large thick books, the lesson from last year is still fresh in his mind.


    But he heard Professor Hap ask him calmly, "Malfoy, tell me, does bullying the weak give you pleasure?"


    "I, I ..."


    " Well, I can see that you haven''t said that word since your last detention, right?"


    Draco tried to be tough, but he felt like his thoughts had been seen through long ago. "No." So he said in a low voice.


    The word is "mudblood".


    "Isn''t that great, I always thought you are a bright student, I knew it when you came up with the idea of dragging black magic items around in a scarf."


    Felix said, "I think you can do much more than that, Malfoy, prove it."


    When Draco returned to the classroom, Pansy Parkinson immediately came up to him, "Draco, did you get your points deducted, or were you detained?"


    "No," Draco said blankly, "The professor complimented me."


    In the afternoon of the same day, the Magic Rune Club recruitment posters that had been hanging on the bulletin board for weeks were finally replaced with a long list of names.


    "There are only seven people in the first slot."


    A small wizard muttered, "Hermione Granger, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, 3 from Gryffindor alone."


    "It''s normal, Granger is an assistant of the Ancient Runes class, it is said that she is proficient in more than one practical magic runes, the rough mastery in more than a hundred, and she can easily break the armrest of a solid wood chair, and the twins, couple mirror have you heard of it?" His friend said.


    "Hey - how to say, I have already booked it, but have to wait until Halloween to get it in my hands."


    "It started so fast, and I am still hesitating!"


    "First come, first served."


    "Who are the rest of them?"


    "Hufflepuff got one, Cedric Diggory, and he really is the best. Other than that, Ravenclaw got two and Slytherin got one - it''s the Head boy named Geoffrey, the one who''s usually quite condescending."


    On the second-floor stairs of the castle, Felix is talking to a young girl with tousled blonde hair, her wand stuck behind her left ear.


    Luna Lovegood handed him two pieces of parchment.


    "What''s this?" Felix took them.


    "It''s my essay, but I''ve only written two feet, and that''s not enough words."


    "You want me to help you slip by? You''re not old enough." Felix chuckled.


    "No, I was worried that you would be sad if you couldn''t recruit enough people, so I wrote something casually. I visited the day of the test, and there were so many people that I didn''t go in." Luna said as she shook her hair. "I also recommended Ravenclaw students to sign up."


    Felix said with an odd look on his face, "I once heard from more than one Ravenclaw student that there was a crazy ... a second-year going from student to student advertising the Magic Rune Club to them."


    "Yes, that''s one of my nicknames, Crazy Girl, Loony, and I don''t think it''s too bad."


    "Thank you so much, Miss Lovegood."


    "We''re friends, aren''t we?" She gave him a look as if to confirm. S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right, Luna."


    Luna smiled, "By the way, there''s something else I really want to ask you about ..."


    Felix looked at her, " As long as I know."


    "I ran into a professor the other day who has been inviting me to be her assistant."


    Felix suspected he had heard her wrong, how is this tactic seems so familiar, which professor had learned from him and wanted to slack off too?


    "Who invited you?" He asked.


    "I don''t know either, I haven''t seen her before." She shook her head and said.


    "Then you can describe how she looked like, right?"


    "With a beautiful pair of glasses, a shiny transparent shawl, and she has more bracelets on her wrists than I do," she described seriously, while saying with deliberate emphasis, "A lot more!"


    Felix listened to these descriptions, how so similar to Sybill Trelawney? But the Trelawney in Luna''s mouth is much more embellished, I should be honest, both of them worthy of being a Ravenclaw right? ...


    He looked at Luna seriously and asked probingly, "How did you run into each other?"


    Luna Lovegood is only a second year, and by all rights, she couldn''t have come into contact with Sybill Trelawney.


    "I came out of classroom seven the other day and thought there is nothing to do, so I wandered around the castle and met a very interesting portrait of a knight on the seventh floor - he was looking for a lost horse, and we talked a bit, and he told me there is a free show to see in the north tower room with the flappy doors. "


    "The person you''re talking about is Trelawney? How come I didn''t know she has a hobby of performing?" Felix looked a little incredulous, but Trelawney''s place is indeed at the top of the North Tower, attached to her divination classroom.


    Luna first nodded, then she put on a terrified expression, "Yes, it''s not clear ... dear, don''t force me, I can''t tell you!" Then she said thoughtfully, "It''s this kind of performance, and frankly, I''m not very skilled at it."


    Felix said with a wooden expression, "And then what, what happened then, she couldn''t have picked you out instantly because you peeked at her black history ... her performance, could she?"


    "No, I guess, except that she seemed a little excited - probably because I interrupted her state, but then she said I might have some kind of Inner Eye and invited me to become her assistant."


    Felix asked, "Have you ever heard of a divination class?"


    "Yeah," Luna blinked her light-colored eyes, "yeah, one of the third-year electives, but I wasn''t going to take Divination."


    "Why?"


    "I prefer to look at the stars, and a centaur friend of mine taught me astrology and gave me some rattle and aromatic mallow, and by scorching it, it would attract a swarm of smoke-like creatures that would make prophecies by twisting themselves into various shapes," Luna said.


    It''s actually observing smoke shapes, right? Felix guessed.


    "-And I''ve already decided to take Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures class next year, the time may conflict for other classes."

 Chapter 220: Blacks Trail

    To be honest, Felix isn''t sure if Luna has the gift for divination, this little girl has always been special, but the major point of his concern is: "Do you still go to the Forbidden Forest regularly?" Luna flinched for a moment, seemingly thinking of how to answer the question, and Felix wanted to hear how she would defend herself, but then Luna drifted off into a trance.


    Felix snapped his fingers in front of her, and then Luna said dreamily, "Firenze is a good man." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix is not sure whether her remark is an answer to his previous question, but he roughly understands what she means: the centaur named Firenze will protect her.


    He asked tentatively, "Perhaps I could get to know that centaur friend of yours? I coincidentally needed to make a trip to the Forbidden Forest during the weekend to set free a small creature ..."


    "Oh, I''m not sure, Firenze said his companions are very traditional, which, from my understanding, means bad-tempered," Luna said. "I suppose I can mention it to him first."


    ...


    Two more days passed, and Hogwarts became gloomy and drizzled with rain, with black clouds so low that it made it draughty. The temperature hit the bottom further, and Madam Pomfrey reminded the young wizards more than once to switch to thicker clothes.


    "It doesn''t even need her reminder, I mean, it''s not like we''re stupid." Ron gestured to the weather outside as a light rain drizzled outside the window and battered the shed of the second greenhouse.


    Harry fiddled the pods feebly, "Wood will do that, he thinks there''s a good chance that our first game will be on a rainy day, and he is desperate to add that part of the training ... so he''ll take this chance."


    Mrs. Sprout clapped her hands to get the young wizards'' attention, and she cautioned, "Watch your manoeuvres and be gentle, or in return, they will hit you hard."


    But she is too late, Seamus Finnigan is very rough in his movements, because he is repeating his experience in the Ancient Runes class to Neville, "As you can see, as soon as I touched that fire-red magic rune, it gave me a strong reaction, I guess ... ouch!"


    The pod in front of him burst open at once, and from it 7 or 8 hard seeds shoot out, all hitting him in the face, one of which also accidentally hit Neville, and he groaned along with him.


    Mrs. Sprout came over quickly, and she scanned the scene, "Not following the instructions and treating the Professor''s words with deaf ears! I really should nick some of your house points, Mr Finnigan ." She led Seamus and Neville to the corner, "Just a little ointment needed, and frankly if you''re this careless when squeezing the pus from Bubotuber, you will definitely suffer ..."


    A lightning bolt suddenly flashed through, illuminating the somewhat dim castle, Felix withdrew his wand and pointed to the parchment to write and draw, and in a glass container next to him, the fist-sized Acromantula said angrily, "You are not keeping your word, wizard!"


    Felix said, "I promised to let you go back before Halloween, didn''t say exactly which day. And ... you''re really not going to consider my proposal? I can make you my assistant."


    "What assistant? The same as that little girl?" The Acromantula said as it met Hermione, and the little witch was interested in it until Felix showed her its true size.


    In its normal state, the Acromantula is big as a small wagon, covered in hard black hair, with a small, ugly head and a pair of large claws that always makes a "click" sound at any time.


    "Ah, almost, but you have to cooperate with my research," Felix said.


    The Acromantula thought for a moment, then yelled angrily, Felix thought it is too noisy, and cast a Silencing Charm on the glass container.


    "Finally got the detailed test data, the rest of the work is about some repetitive tests on other creatures, and comparing the results to make a good estimate." Felix put away a thick stack of parchment.


    Every ancient magic he currently mastered, he would do this once. Filius approved of this caution.


    That night, the drizzle turned into a downpour, pearly rain pounding against the castle''s window edges, and in the middle of his sleep, Felix heard a low, beeping alarm.


    He sat up sharply and his wand instantly appeared in his hand. Waiting quietly for a few seconds, there was no one in sight, but he quickly thought of something, and he swiftly made his way out of the bedroom and pushed open the office window -


    Rainswept into the room by the gale, the alarm sounded clear all of a sudden when the window opened.


    "It''s the pocket sneakoscope at the castle door, Sirius Black is here!"


    He directly jumped from the window, and a light flashed from his ring, a flying broom suddenly appeared, and the next second he rode it through a layer of rain as thick as a curtain and disappeared in front of the office.


    When he appeared at the entrance of the castle, the place is empty, except for a specific spot above the gate, which constantly flashed with golden light, accompanied by a loud beeping sound.


    Felix pointed to himself with his wand, a large swath of water mist emanated from him, making him look like a boiling kettle. Just then, Dumbledore appeared, wearing a gray-blue nightgown, not even wearing his glasses, with a fiery red phoenix sitting on his shoulder.


    "Hello, Fawkes." Felix greeted.


    Fawkes lightly chirped.


    Then a black cat appeared from afar, transforming into a panting Professor McGonagall.


    "Did you find anything, Felix?" Dumbledore said in a hushed tone.


    "Obviously, I''m late." Felix pointed to the broom in his hand, of the three, he is closest to the castle gate. "Already came as fast as I could, but the rain helped him a lot."


    "Is it Sirius Black?" Professor McGonagall asked in a panic.


    "Obviously ..." Felix waved his wand and made the beeping sound stop.


    "We should search the castle again, Dumbledore," Professor McGonagall said seriously, "Filius Flitwick, Severus Snape, Argus Filch ..." she chanted one name after another, three silver-white cats flew out from her wand and flew away in different directions.


    Dumbledore watched quietly as Professor McGonagall''s Patronus disappeared, he leaned down to observe the ground at the entrance of the castle, running his fingers over the cold marble, then he nimbly walked into the castle and asked the row of portraits closest to the door.


    "Did any outsiders break-in?"


    "No, we didn''t find anyone." The figures in the portraits said in a guttural voice, "Of course, we can be blinded, Mr. Headmaster."


    Dumbledore nodded, not speaking anymore.


    "Is it possible that Black is hiding in the castle, Albus?" Professor McGonagall asked worriedly.


    "Unlikely," Dumbledore said softly, "Felix arrived so quickly that he could not able to enter without leaving a trail. It''s likely that he just appeared in the range, which set off the alarm. But we''d better do something to prepare for the worst, Fawkes--"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 221: Reproduction of what?

    The phoenix on Dumbledore''s shoulder chirped in response. "Go keep an eye on Harry, no need to show yourself." He said, and Fawkes unfolded its wings and flew into the air, and its figure disappeared very abruptly.


    "What a strange creature," Felix said admiringly, "one can''t help but want to get closer."


    Dumbledore glanced at him, "Hagrid has been particularly happy lately, he told me that an old friend came over to stay temporarily, do you have any idea what it is about, Felix?"


    Felix looked around, "I''m not sure either, ... hasn''t been in much contact with him lately."


    Soon, the four house heads and professors arrived, Professor McGonagall briefly described the situation.


    Snape got taken aback, " Black! Still so stupid ... how did he break past the Dementors'' defences?"


    Felix said quietly: "Severus, he was able to escape from Azkaban, still care about a few dementors? If you ask me, this thing is just disgusting, not much use."


    Currently, Dementors are not present on the school grounds, and the only way students can see them is to cross Hagrid''s hut and walk down a long slope before seeing the two guarding the main entrance to the school.


    But if you shrink Hogwarts to a certain scale, you will find numerous Dementors gathered at the edge of Hogwarts, including the wizarding village adjacent to the school - Hogsmeade.


    This is why Felix did not think Luna''s actions were safe. There is no guarantee that a Dementor won''t suddenly jump out of nowhere, although the Ministry of Magic certainly delineates patrol areas, a young and emotionally vibrant student is nothing less than a feast for a Dementor.


    Dumbledore was strongly opposed to their presence in the school for the same reason. In his opinion, the Ministry of Magic simply can not control the Dementors. But he also had to make certain compromises to allow them to appear outside the school.


    Snape calmed down, he said suggestively to Dumbledore: "Headmaster Dumbledore, the newspaper reported the day before yesterday that Black was found in Diagon Alley, and today he appeared outside the castle, as if - in my opinion, no one can do this without some help. "


    The professors present looked at Snape in surprise, and Flitwick exclaimed even more acutely, "Are you saying that Black has gathered some Death Eaters?"


    Snape froze for a moment, that''s not what he meant ... s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The professors murmured, and they accepted Snape''s ''idea'' almost instantly, or rather, that it is a reasonable speculation.


    The newspapers had touted Black as "the number one Death Eater under the You-Know-Who", and with that label, it would be strange if he couldn''t find some help.


    "With his prestige ..."


    "Maybe that''s it, we thought Black is just a single guy, but maybe he has gathered a lot of dark wizards."


    Lupin, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up, "I don''t think so, Sirius-" he froze for a second or two, " Black is just an undercover agent, and I think even in the circle of Death Eaters, his identity is less known."


    "Lupin, can I take it that you are defending your best friend?" Snape turned the tables on Lupin, and he deliberately added the word "best friend" with emphasis.


    "No, Snape." Lupin said calmly, "Just a simple analysis." He looked at Dumbledore, "Perhaps when he returned to the Death Eaters as a successful undercover agent, he would have been warmly welcomed and sought after, but the problem is, he failed, his information led directly to the disappearance of the You-Know-Who, would any Death Eater believe him?"


    "Headmaster, from what I know about him, Black is definitely alone, probably ... probably to prove himself, like he did when he was in school, or in the days of the war - every time he fought, he was at the front line ." Lupin concluded sullenly, "He likes to take risks and be a lone hero."


    Snape''s eyes went cold, but he didn''t say another word, shrunk into darkness in the corner, and didn''t say a word.


    A professor offered his opinion: "But how did he cross hundreds of kilometers in two days without the help of the Death Eaters? There are a lot of people trying to track him down. The Ministry of Magic has invested a lot of money this time, and the bounty is not low."


    "There are so many possibilities, floo powder, Portkey, flying broom ..."


    "But they will leave traces, Black absolutely would not dare to do that!"


    "Could it be an Apparition, some wizards don''t need a wand to use it."


    Flitwick is an expert on magic spells, he rejected the speculation: "In theory, Apparition does not require a wand, but in reality, not many people can do it, it is much more difficult than you think and very accident-prone, not to mention that Apparition also has many limitations, unless ... unless he got a wand!"


    "How is that possible?"


    " Well, to steal, to rob, as long as you look for the right opportunity, nothing is impossible."


    Dumbledore interrupted this discussion, "Everyone, let''s search through the castle to make sure everything is in order."


    In the end, the entire faculty spent a small part of the night until dawn and found nothing wrong.


    The professors then dispersed one by one, and Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Felix came together again. Professor McGonagall is there to report on the latest progress, Snape obviously has something to say. Felix, on the other hand, had a small question that Dumbledore could answer.


    Professor McGonagall said: "I have taken Black''s portrait for the Fat Lady to be sure, so she will never be confused."


    "Very well, Minerva," Dumbledore said. "It''s best to have all the portraits in the castle memorize Black''s appearance, I mean ... those that can communicate."


    Professor McGonagall nodded, Snape gave a low "snort", Dumbledore turned his head to look at him, "Severus, you look like you have something to say?"


    Snape''s words were without any semblance of emotion: "Dumbledore, I think we are doing nothing, before the school year began, we discussed -" he raised his head, his gaze cast down from the hawk nose, "as long as there is still some potential hidden danger in the castle, Black will always find an opportunity."


    Professor McGonagall said sternly, "Are you saying that someone at Hogwarts tipped us out? That can''t be possible! It''s impossible, Severus."


    Dumbledore said firmly, "What happened today just proves that there is no Black''s helper in the school."


    "That''s not necessarily true, Headmaster," Snape''s voice trailed off as he said briskly, "Perhaps the mole simply wasn''t aware that there are Sneakoscope specifically designed for Black, and in fact," he gave a mocking expression, "I was in the dark too, aren''t I?"


    Felix knew who he is referring to, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black''s best friend from school days, as early as a few hours ago, Snape intended to lead the crowd''s suspicions towards him, but it was led astray by Filius ...


    It seems that Dumbledore warned him not to reveal Lupin''s werewolf identity, otherwise the professors and parents of the students would absolutely explode - during the war years, werewolves used to be a major force of Voldemort.


    ...


    When McGonagall and Snape left, Felix raised the question that crossed his mind.


    "You want to know how dementors reproduce?" Dumbledore repeated the question he heard.


    "Yes, as far as I know, the number of Dementors is not large, about a hundred or so? The information I came across when I was in school showed that their numbers haven''t changed much in the last hundred years." Felix asked.

 Chapter 222: The Origin of Dementors

    Dumbledore thought for a moment and said: "This involves a terrible dark wizard in the fifteenth century, Ekrizdis, who is the earliest known resident of Azkaban, when it was still just an unknown island on the North Sea, blocked by hidden magic. Although there has never been a shortage of dark wizards known as ''evil'' throughout history, Ekrizdis'' evil is rooted in his bones, and he has no semblance of compassion toward anything that exists, and it was him who created the species of Dementors by cruel means."


    Felix asked in surprise: "Dementors were created by a wizard? It''s like a five-legged monster?" He didn''t know anything about it, it''s definitely a hidden secret in the wizarding world.


    "Five-legged monsters are the product of accidents, but dementors are not." Dumbledore shook his head, "By the time Ekrizdis died, and when the concealment wards failed, people found out what he had done, but the dementors already had become a separate species, only a dozen at first, but they could breed and divide like a fungus, and regular spells are nigh-ineffective."


    Felix asked suspiciously, "If that is true, their numbers should have flooded beyond control long ago, but they are actually scarce and used by the Ministry of Magic?"


    Dumbledore explained: "The Ministry of Magic and the Dementors have more of a cooperative relationship, and that creature seems to have a magical sense of community, their numbers are always maintained within a certain range, but as soon as they are reduced to a certain level, they will divide themselves, perhaps this is also a way of reproduction?"


    Felix pretty much understood the way the dementors existed, and he couldn''t help but inquire, "What other spells work besides the Patronus charm? I mean, to kill the dementors completely?"


    "It''s hard, Felix, it''s hard," Dumbledore said.


    Felix also wanted to continue to ask questions, but Dumbledore obviously do not want to talk more, their conversation ended quickly.


    ...


    In the early morning, the young wizards woke up from their beds, unaware of the events of a few hours ago.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat at the long Gryffindor table eating breakfast, and occasionally a few owls flew in as Hermione looked out of the great hall with an expectant gaze.


    "Are you expecting any letters?" Ron asked.


    "Oh, I purchased a book from Flourish and Blotts Bookseller through the owl." Hermione said absent-mindedly, "It doesn''t look like it''s going to arrive today."


    Ron saw that Harry is somewhat depressed, so he suggested, "We can go to Hagrid''s place as a guest for the weekend when your training is over, to be honest, the three-headed dog after becoming smaller is particularly cute, and for the first time I agree with Hagrid''s aesthetics ..."


    Harry also moved, he perked up and said, "maybe later, Wood probably will have the training until dark."


    Ron shrugged, "Let''s hope Hagrid doesn''t kick us out again." At the beginning of the school year, fearing Hagrid''s expulsion, they visited him at night in their invisibility cloaks, only to have Hagrid personally escort them back to the castle and warn them that they could only visit him during the day.


    Hermione just wanted to make a comment, but Professor McGonagall suddenly entered the great hall, and she exclaimed, "Potter, come here!"


    Harry put down his knife and fork in bewilderment, what mistake had he done again, Ron and Hermione looked at each other and followed together.


    "Weasley and Granger ... you guys..." Professor McGonagall did not drive away the uninvited two, she looked at Harry with a serious expression: "Where is your sneakoscope? The one that is aimed at Black!"


    Harry cautiously pulled out the pocket sneakoscope from his pocket, it laid serenely in his hand, Professor McGonagall visibly relieved.


    "Did something happen, Professor?" Hermione asked in a small voice.


    "It shouldn''t be kept from you anymore, Potter," Professor McGonagall said, "I know you''re probably shocked, but I have to tell you that Black--"


    "I know all about it," Harry said in annoyance, "I know he''s after me, that''s why he broke out of Azkaban! I also know he was close to my father, even his best man, and he, he''s still-" Harry couldn''t go on, the thought of the word godfather made him feel insulted, including his deceased parents, insulted by it.


    Professor McGonagall seemed very surprised and looked at him with wide eyes, "I see, well, I thought-"


    "Then you should understand why I made you carry this sneakoscope with you, it will protect you." She pursed her lips, "Just earlier today, before dawn, the castle''s sneakoscope triggered an alarm."


    Harry stammered, "Is it, is it the sneakoscope I''m holding? But it has been in my pocket, there is no change, ah?"


    Ron''s face also showed a shocked expression, he covered his pocket with a death grip and whispered, "Don''t move, Scabbers!"


    Professor McGonagall clenched her fist briefly, and seemed to be hesitant whether or not to tell, before, to keep it a secret, only Felix, Dumbledore and she knew that there are not one but three sneakoscope, but now it is no longer a secret.


    Hermione on the side answered: "Professor McGonagall, I have seen it with Professor Hap, there were three identical sneakoscope, the other two should be arranged in other places? I guess it''s the entrance of the castle ..."


    Professor McGonagall sighed, "Well, Granger, just as you said ... one at the front door and one at the back."


    Harry said, not knowing whether to be grateful or disappointed, "So, he wandered around the castle entrance before?"


    "I think so," said Professor McGonagall: "The professors were up early and searched the castle thoroughly, but found nothing. The portraits in the castle also failed to discover any stranger, which means ..."


    "He knew he was exposed and ran away early," Harry said.


    "That''s right, Potter." Professor McGonagall said, "Now that you''re aware of all this, I''m sure you''re prepared for the fact that some activities aren''t suitable for--"


    "Hogsmeade -" Harry exclaimed, his heart rising to his throat.


    Hogsmeade is a village made up solely of wizards, where young wizards in their third year and above can visit on specific days each school year with the permission of their parents or other guardians.


    He was discussing this with Ron last night when he told him he couldn''t able to convince Aunt Vernon, so Ron had suggested he should ask Professor McGonagall for permission.


    Now it looked like it''s likely to be a failure.


    Professor McGonagall glanced at him and said with a serious expression, "Of course, you can''t go to Hogsmeade, I''m talking about Quidditch. Honestly, it''s just too dangerous to let you train, even with the other players around it won''t be possible for them to deal with Black, even if he is all alone."


    "Professor McGonagall," Harry couldn''t help but exclaim, "what does this have to do with my training?"


    "Of course, it has something to do with the fact that Black is most likely hiding in Hogsmeade right now, or deep in the Forbidden Forest." Professor McGonagall blurted out a bolt out of blue. "The Quidditch pitch is too far from the castle, and if anything really happens, we might not be able to rescue you just in time."


    "But, but ..." said Harry, somewhat bewildered, he had started this year''s training, three times a week, and Wood had ambitiously told him to aim for the second Quidditch Cup during his term, as his graduation present.


    The other players, too, seemed confident because of last year''s victory.


    But now the first game had yet to begin, and the trophy is going to become a blur?


    Harry suddenly thought of something, and he asked eagerly: "Professor McGonagall, what if a professor is watching us, such as Madame Hooch ..."


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and did not speak.


    "Please ...," Harry said pleadingly.


    "All right," Professor McGonagall loosened her lips, "I will ask Madame Hooch to supervise your training, and you must return to the castle immediately before dark, and I will drop by when I can."


    She left in a hurry, as she had a lot to deal with because of this dawn''s accident. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 223: Firenze

    Harry sat back in his seat, the events that had just taken place made him think, is he not awake yet, or an early April Fool''s Day. But the twins and Wood had already gathered around him, as they too had seen Professor McGonagall''s serious face and heard some chatter between them. Although they didn''t hear all of it, the words "Quidditch" and "training" that came from time to time were enough to give them a fright.


    Harry explained the trouble he is in, and although the look on Wood''s face is not pleasant, but he still reassured him, "It''s okay, you can go back before dark, we will keep training, anyway, originally you are positioned as a free man, the impact is not big ..."


    He concluded it with a dark joke, "Black is certainly not going to recognize me as you after gaining bad vision after being locked up for more than ten years, right?" s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The twins laughed heartlessly, trying to identify the lanky Wood as Harry is not such an easy feat.


    But Harry is not in the mood to laugh, he really realized: Black, the fugitive who has been in prison for twelve years, should''ve been close to him once.


    "Perhaps, I should spend more effort on the dueling system thesis." Harry touched his bookbag, where the first part of a thesis is stashed.


    Over the weekend, as Halloween approached, the festive atmosphere intensified.


    Felix woke up early and reviewed the dissertation in hand.


    ''... The above suggests that we may have found a new treatment for memory damage that will be more tailored than the old potions and magic spell treatments, the only problem we need to face is the need to find a way to connect the patient''s memory in a stable way, not using a quick and hostile way like Legilimency to access the memory of the patient. Instead, we need to find a way to exchange their memories in a comfortable and cooperative way.


    At the same time, in cases of extreme memory damage ( large permanent damage, memory fragmentation), simple bonding cannot cope with the situation. We need to consider giving memories a stable structure ...''


    Felix nodded in satisfaction, "The whole dissertation is a theoretical derivation, but it also implicitly mentions the most crucial part - the thinking room magic and the structure of a solid memory."


    "Throw it out there first to see the reaction, well ... I can post it in the Monthly Prophet Magazine, it has some impact, but it''s not a professional counterpart and has a longer gestation period."


    "I estimate that it will take until mid to late November before it spreads in the healer community, something as purely theoretical as this will certainly attract different opinions, at that time, the Longbottoms situation may not be concealed, but I can just use this as an excuse to avoid the intervention of the higher levels of St. Mungo''s, no one would be foolish enough to reject a potential Order of Merlin level achievement. "


    He put away the dissertation, it just required a few more tweaks to the wording and a new transcription before he could send it off.


    Felix sat on the couch, pondering how to simplify the treatment plan, which was also the advice Dumbledore had given him, whether it is thinking room magic, or memory nodes inherited from Lady Ravenclaw, are extremely valuable knowledge, and he is not so big-hearted to just publish it out at will.


    What''s more, not many people would be able to learn it.


    "The simplification of Thinking Room magic is relatively easy, I know it''s like the back of my hand, as for the Memory Node ..." Felix thought about it and decided to throw out the structure of stable memory that he understood from Lady Ravenclaw''s inheritance, a secondary one -- which he applied on the golem, allowing them to have relatively stable personalities and habits, and even be able to do their own rehearsal drama.


    Inside the glass container on the workbench, the Acromantula urged in a hoarse voice: "Hurry up, hurry up! I can''t wait."


    Felix looked over, "Are you sure you don''t want to think about it? I can give you a holiday, and plenty of food ..."


    "Stop it, stop it!" The Acromantula said grumpily, "Let me go back."


    "All right." Felix reached out and grabbed, the glass container on the workbench flew into his hands, "click" it shattered, in a dense blue light, the Acromantula shrunk in size, soon became the thumb''s fingertip size.


    Felix put it again in the small glass bottle, from the bottle a tiny voice heard, "Your magic has improved again, I do not feel any difference, maybe, I mean maybe ... occasionally cooperate with your test." Felix curled his lips and stuffed the bottle into his pocket.


    He glanced at the clock and made his way to the castle entrance at the precise time. After two minutes, just when he thought he might not be able to wait any longer, Luna appeared with a bounce.


    "Felix, I''ve prepared some peas with butter that Firenze probably will like." She said, gesturing to the crookedly woven basket of flowers.


    Felix didn''t know the taste of the centaur, but he didn''t like the smell very much, so he changed the subject and said, "Come on, let''s go meet your friend."


    They headed down the slope, by way of the greenhouse and the Whomping Willow, where Hagrid''s Hut came into sight far away, but instead of approaching it, they made a turn and plunged straight into the forbidding forest.


    Passing through a network of trees, they soon came to a clearing. The clearing is covered with moss and various wildflowers, a few stones have been meticulously removed, and it is clear this is Luna''s secret base.


    Luna took a whistle out of her pocket and blew it with her cheeks puffed out. The sound is not loud and blends perfectly into the surrounding "rustling" wind, which Felix judged to be a piece of enchanted item.


    Soon, Felix heard the sound of horse hooves trotting, and a young centaur appeared, with white hair and the long silver mane in his body.


    Felix judged him "young" from his human face, and the centaur cautiously looked at him through the branches of the trees, half of his body hidden behind a tree trunk.


    "Little Luna, is he your professor?" The centaur inquired, Felix dressed in elaborate and refined clothes, so he did not suspect Felix''s status as a professor.


    "Yes, come on, I''ve prepared a new food for you, let''s try it together!" Luna said happily.


    Firenze came out from behind the tree trunk and stopped two meters away from Felix, he had a stiff face, "Hello, I''m Firenze."


    "Oh, hi, I''m Felix Hap," Felix said politely.


    "Listen, wizard. We don''t usually deal with people, especially adult wizards, if little Luna hadn''t asked me to meet you ..."


    Felix smiled and said, "I know the centaur are xenophobic, but I thought you would be an exception. And I came over here because of some more serious issues to discuss with you."


    Firenze stared and said, "What kind of issue is it?"


    "Do you know Sirius Black?"


    "Heard of the name, An dangerous man," Firenze said casually.


    "That''s right, he escaped from Azkaban, the Ministry of Magic and the Dementors both went mad, by the way, have you ever met a Dementor?"


    Firenze said stiffly, "I haven''t, but some clan members said they''ve seen their shadows."


    "That''s it," Felix said, "The Forbidden Forest isn''t exactly safe, and with all due respect, if the dementors do get out of hand, I don''t think you''ll be able to do much to fight them."


    The centaur dug his hooves into the dirt, with an angry look on his face, but he knew the words were true.


    Felix continued, "It''s too dangerous to let a student near the Forbidden Forest, and it is already against school rules, so my opinion is to proceed with some caution until the dementors are withdrawn."


    "You''re going to stop us from meeting?"


    "I have no intention of ruining a friendship, and this might be a wonderful memory when Luna grows up. Firenze, you and Hagrid should have a good relationship, right?"


    "Know each other." The centaur said.


    Felix smiled, "Wouldn''t that be nice, I don''t think Hagrid would mind hosting you, perhaps it would be nice to meet in the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid''s hut."


    Firenze said, "Hagrid may be stronger than the centaur, but I don''t think he can handle the dementors."


    Felix shook his head, "Firenze, you still don''t understand. Hagrid is a wizard. Regardless of how he usually acts, there is no doubt that he is a wizard, and he has more tricks up his sleeve than you, and your pack combined."


    "Maybe he won''t be able to fight the dementors, but holding out for a short time until he gets support is no problem. What''s more, we''re supposed to be talking about the most extreme situations, and instances of dementors getting out of control are relatively rare."


    He reluctantly agreed, Firenze stepped forward and bent down to shake Felix''s hand.


    "I can see that you have no prejudice against centaur, Mr. Hap." He said.


    "Oh, of course not, Firenze, do you know the location of the Acromantula''s lair?" Felix asked.


    "Yes," Firenze pointed somewhat hesitantly in one direction, "their nest is west of our tribe, we fought many years ago, and their hunting range does not cross the boundary we have drawn."


    Felix roughly speculated about the location of the three, the centaur settlement, the Acromantula''s swarm, and Hogwarts, and he suddenly realized that the centaur had separated the Acromantula''s swarm, so it would be difficult for the young wizard to meet them, even if they are stupid, reckless and rash, to walk up the rugged road for hours, and there''s a good chance that they would be discovered by the centaur and expelled back.


    The rest of the day, except Luna who is in a good mood, Felix and Firenze did not talk much, Firenze and Luna shared "morning tea", that is, a plate of butter peas with tea, Luna also wanted Felix to try it, but he refused it.


    Before leaving, Firenze said hesitantly, "Maybe you''re right."


    "What?" Felix asked.


    "Danger is approaching ...," the centaur flicked his silver tail a little uneasily, "clan has observed it, the undercurrents are surging and darkness is looming."


    Felix smiled, "Perhaps this heralds the reappearance of a certain dark lord who has fallen and hiding?"


    Firenze stared at him in surprise and said slowly, "I didn''t predict that accurately, we centaurs observe the stars and found some important revelations from them, but it only in general terms."


    Felix said easily, "I can''t prophesy, but I know more than the average person, and when you have enough information, you can naturally see further, which is the principle of arithmetic divination."


    Coming out of the forbidden forest, Luna said thoughtfully, "Are you discussing about you-know-who? Is he''s coming back?"


    "It''s a possibility." Felix did not explain in detail, she is only a second year.


    After sending Luna away, Felix turned around and went back to the forbidden forest, following the direction pointed out by the centaur for ten minutes, and then he simply used his flying broom to skim quickly from low altitude.


    His target is clear: the nest of the Acromantula.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 224: Aragog

    Felix rarely used his flying broom, but this is the most appropriate method now, he is not interested in spending hours exploring the location of the Acromantula colony. He took the glass bottle out of his pocket and asked the Acromantula inside, "Can you determine the location?"


    "You''re going to visit our colony?" The Acromantula asked in surprise.


    "Yes, to gain insight." Felix''s answer is very perfunctory.


    Acromantula has long recognized the temperament of this wizard, if there is no benefit, he would certainly throw him at the edge of the forest, turn around, and walk away. Now, this attitude could only mean that he planned to do something to the Acromantula colony.


    Although there are more than three hundred Acromantula in the nest, there is still a little uncertainty in his heart, so he simply kept his mouth shut. Felix stuffed it into his pocket and flew for a little more than half an hour in the direction pointed out to him by the centaur, then he jumped off his broom.


    "Next," Felix waved his wand, "I remember marking three Acromantula earlier. Let me see where you are."


    A few weeks ago, Felix had gone deep into the Forbidden Forest to practice his zooming spell and strayed into the hunting zone of the Acromantula and was attacked by a swarm of them, which unsurprisingly got knocked off by him, and several of them even had his tracking magic imposed on them discreetly ...


    Felix quickly sensed the direction of the marked Acromantula, and travelled along a twisted path, with more and more gravel on the ground, tree roots, and scattered spider webs to be seen.


    "The spider silk of the Acromantula is non-venomous." Felix picked spider silk with his fingertips, the slime on it had dried, and it felt like a flexible rope.


    "Maybe it can be incorporated into the Vine of Binding, I wonder what effect it may bring," Felix muttered, collecting part of the white spider web by hand.


    Soon, he heard a rattling sound in his ears, " Ta Ta Ta Ta " sound connected closely, Felix looked back, 30 to 40 Acromantula at the size of a small wagon surrounded him.


    A minute later.


    Felix took out a goblet from his ring and stuffed more than thirty shrunken Acromantula in it.


    After thinking about it, he took a glass bottle out of his pocket and released the initial Acromantula ''prisoner''. After a burst of blue light, it finally returned to its original state.


    "Here, your companion, hold it steady, so you wouldn''t shatter it." Felix placed the goblet in the gap between its large claws on the left side, and the eight black eyes of the Acromantula stared rigidly at the small spiders huddled together in the goblet.


    "You, you put them ..." the Acromantula in agitation caused a dent in the goblet, the small spiders inside scrambled in panic, but the mouth of the goblet is a translucent film, there is no way they could escape. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s too much trouble to explain one by one, it''s better to save some effort." Felix played with the ebony wand in his hand, "By the way, I haven''t asked your name, do you have a name?"


    The Acromantula froze for a few seconds and said gruffly, "Gork, my name is Gork."


    Felix said, "Gork? I remember the guy Hagrid originally kept one in his cupboard with the name Aragog... Are you guys related?"


    Gork, the Acromantula, said reluctantly, "I''m his child."


    It seems that even magical creatures have family discord, Felix did not bother to ask " What is your birth order?, or " How is your relationship with Aragog?" These kinds of questions.


    They went deeper and deeper into the forbidden forest, even in the daytime, the light here is still very dim, and the trees seem everywhere like layers and layers of hoods, completely separating the sunlight from the sky.


    Felix waved his wand and made a ring of ghostly blue flames hover around him, providing him with ample illumination. Spiders of varying sizes began to appear on the ground littered with fallen leaves, spiders densely packed and crawling everywhere from between the exposed roots and leaf piles.


    "I remember a very out-of-the-box spell, a spider expulsion charm?" Most of his consciousness went into the thinking room, and a moment later he waved his hand and released a red light, and the spiders moved far away from him with no control, even the Acromantula Gork backed off quickly. (spell name *Arania Exumai* if you don''t know)


    Felix scratched his head, "I almost forgot about you, okay." He cancelled the charm, applied a Levitation Charm on himself, and stood lightly on top of the Acromantula Gork.


    "Let''s go."


    He pulled off one of the hairs from the back of the Acromantula and transformed it into a soft cushion and sat on it.


    The Acromantula Gork had objections, but he knew it''s pointless mentioning it, so he grunted twice, and his other free claw made a "click-clack-clack" sound, as if venting his anger.


    They were back on the path, the leaves on the ground are getting less and less, with more white spider webs, in the process, Acromantula finds them constantly, but by Felix''s zooming spell they turned into small spiders, and stuffed into the goblet.


    When they arrived at the edge of a wide hollow clearing, illuminated by blue flames, Felix saw hundreds of giant spiders, hidden in the shadows, each as big as a small wagon, so he jumped off Gork.


    The center of the concave area is foggy and covered with dense hemispherical spider webs. Then a few Acromantula crawled forward, and one with white fur on its head said, " Gork, you''ve brought a wizard, you betrayed Aragog?"


    In the darkness, more "click-clack-clack" sounded, which seemed eerie in the dense forest where no light could be seen.


    The Acromantula named "Gork" yelled angrily, "I didn''t betray Aragog, I never did!" He raised his claw towards the middle of the concave, and shouted, "Aragog, Aragog!"


    From the middle of the foggy, dense, hemispherical web, a spider the size of an African elephant emerged very slowly. Its body and legs were black tinged with gray, and each eye on its ugly head covered with a white cataract. It could be blind.


    "What''s going on?" It asked, clicking and clacking, its two large claws moving rapidly.


    "It''s Gork coming back," said the big spider with the white fur on its head, "and with someone."


    "Who is it, Hagrid?" Aragog came closer, eight milky white eyes peering blankly.


    "No, it''s the strange wizard."


    "Get rid of him, I''m sleepy ..." said Aragog, annoyed.


    "Oh, I don''t think so, I have hostages on my hand." Felix said breezily.


    "Hostage ..." Aragog looked a little confused as it looked blankly in Felix''s direction, its large gray and black claws scratched around, "Gork, what happened to you?"


    Acromantula Gork said gruffly, "Old man, are you completely confused? This wizard said he has hostages in his hand!" He said grumpily, "Right there in the goblet, shrunken ... all our clansmen, hundreds of them!"


    Aragog remained silent for a while, and just as Felix wondered if it had fallen asleep, it finally spoke, its words much more cautious: "Which powerful wizard has come to my land? I, Aragog, the originator of the colony of Acromantula in the Forbidden Forest, and I do not trespass the outer forest around Hogwarts."


    Felix laughed softly, "That''s funny, I''ve always wondered where the root of Gork''s disregard for human life stems from, and I think I may have found it."


    "You''ve come to the wrong place, Mr. Wizard, we have never harmed a single young wizard." Aragog said, its large gray and black claws thumping the ground as more and more large spiders appeared and stood behind it.

 Chapter 225: The New King

    Felix hesitated for a moment and turned back to ask the Acromantula Gork: "If you are asked to manage this colony of Acromantula, would you do that, Gork?" He felt the big spider next to him tremble, and its large claws held harder, clamping the goblet flatter.


    Felix hurriedly touched it with his wand, and Gork slumped down, and the goblet fell out of its large claws, which floated towards him. Felix took a look inside and said uncertainly, "It should be all right ..."


    Aragog said angrily, "Wizard, what are you planning to do!"


    But neither of them paid any attention to it, Felix waited for Gork''s answer, time seemed to be stretched out, finally, Gork answered him, "I think, I can do it." It knew it had got into this wizard''s boat.


    Felix showed a satisfied smile: "You will restrain your people, won''t you?"


    Gork said heavily, "Yes!"


    Aragog got furious, it flung its big claw, "Go, kill the wizard, kill the traitor."


    The Acromantulas behind it quickly moved closer, and a few had leaped up, but Gork made no move, knowing that the wizard would take care of all the trouble.


    Everything is like a scene reproduced, Felix created a spherical vortex that spun violently, with hundreds of blue lines of magic around him. Under the effect of the terrifying suction, these large spiders without any room for resistance were dragged closer, shrinking to the size of a fingernail.


    Felix stared at the dozens of Acromantulas in the vortex and said admiringly, "Every time I see it, it makes me feel the magic of magic."


    Gork said sullenly, "Me too."


    There are no more Acromantulas on the concave that is larger than a pumpkin, and from a spectator''s point of view, Gork can see more clearly that he himself had no power to fight back like before.


    Felix waved his wand and let the shrunken spiders in the vortex float in midair, along with those in the goblet, in dense masses, as they struggled violently. "Tell me, Gork, which ones will be your obstacle?"


    Gork surveyed the Acromantulas that floated in midair, hesitantly pointed out a few, "They have eaten people, not Hogwarts students, muggles and wizards who have mistakenly entered the forbidden forest, and a werewolf."


    Felix nodded, and from the tips of his fingers came a few small, eerie white flames that burned them to ashes in the blink of an eye.


    "Is there more?"


    Gork said shakily, "Except, except for Aragog ... there are none."


    "Very well," Felix said, and he put Aragog in a glass jar, and the rest of the Acromantulas were dumped on the ground and restored to their original state.


    His surroundings became crowded all of a sudden, with these large spiders stacked in layers, like a high wall of rings.


    " Gork, I will not delay you from re-establishing the colony, and we can celebrate another day when you become the new king." Felix prepared to leave.


    "Mr. Hay, Hap," Gork inquired, "what are you going to do with it, Aragog ...?"


    Felix said calmly, "It is old and sick, I will bring it to Hagrid and let Hagrid take care of it, and maybe it will live a few more years."


    Felix tucked the glass bottle, with its new prisoner inside, into his pocket, took the flying broom out of the ring, and shot up into the sky.


    ...


    In the early evening, Harry, Ron, and Hermione knocked at Hagrid''s door.


    Hagrid gave them a suspicious look, then looked outside at the sky and muttered, "It''s not too late, come in." He stepped aside.


    Harry covered in mud, still clutching the flying broom in his hand - he had just finished training and very exhausted at the moment, he sat down on the mat on his butt, not wanting to move a muscle.


    Ron''s eyes kept searching and soon found the three-headed dog, Fluffy, under the small table. He went up and dragged it out, holding it in his arms: "Professor Hap has been here? The last time we visited, Fluffy looked as big as Fang."


    "Yeah," Hagrid said, a little downhearted.


    "Hagrid, what''s going on?" Hermione inquired.


    "Is it that obvious?" Hagrid said, pointing in Ron''s direction, "It''s Aragog ...," and it dawned on Ron that there''s a fist-sized spider lying on the dirty mat.


    Ron shrieked and backed away, he is most afraid of this thing, especially since this seems to be an aged spider, covered with half black and half gray fur, eyes gray and hazy, looks very scary.


    Harry is not very afraid, as he asked suspiciously: "Aragog this name, you seem to have mentioned ..."


    Hermione reminded him that "that is the name of an Acromantula that Hagrid raised fifty years ago, and it was because of that he was mistakenly assumed to have opened the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets."


    It dawned on Harry, and then he had a new question: "But the Acromantula is very big in the picture ... Oh, I figured it out, did Professor Hap do it, just like Fluffy?"


    "That''s right," Hagrid mumbled, "Felix came by this morning and said something to me, I didn''t think Aragog would ... forget it, it''s old anyway."


    He paused at a key point, which tickled all the Trio''s minds. But Hagrid did not want to talk about it, and they could not help it.


    Hermione, unable to restrain herself from saying, "Hagrid, I read from the book, the Acromantula''s venom is extremely toxic."


    Hagrid waved his hand, "It is too old to produce much venom, and also blind, in nature, it simply could not hunt. The Acromantula in the forbidden forest are all its offspring, otherwise ... it is better if I raise it and spare myself from having to worry about it being eaten by other spiders."


    Trio took their turn to hug the three-headed dog, Fluffy also resigned to his fate not struggling anymore, three heads fought for the cobbler pie in Ron''s hand. Ron seemed to be very enthusiastic about this activity, happily feeding the cobbler pie to its three mouths.


    "Don''t feed it too much!" Hagrid yelled, "It''ll get indigestion."


    ...


    The trio didn''t stay for too long, they promised Professor McGonagall that they would return to the castle before dark.


    In the common room, Harry and Ron caught up on their homework, but they looked distracted. Harry sighed and rummaged through his bookbag for a piece of parchment and a list of notes, constantly cross-referencing the contents.


    Ron moved closer and looked at it twice, immediately pushing the homework in front of him aside, "You''re working on the thesis Professor Hap assigned to you?"


    Harry said, "Yeah, it''s about the dueling system, I exaggerated a bit."


    "Is it difficult? Your disarming charm is already pretty good."


    "No, I can''t rely on just a disarming charm, if Hermione is around ... Hermione? Why you didn''t go to Professor Hap''s office today?" Harry looked suspiciously at the young witch opposite to him.


    Hermione looked up in a panic, "What? Oh, I don''t have to go today." S?a?ch* Th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron teased her, "You didn''t forget, did you? It always feels like you''ve been off lately. Dropping things and talking out of turn ..."


    "That''s where you''re wrong," Hermione''s body straightened as she gave Ron a condescending glance, "I''m working on my third year Ancient Runes test, if you think something''s amiss."


    Ron immediately stammered, "Third, third-year test questions, Hermione, this would not be ..."


    "That''s right, you''ll see it next week." She said with a stern face.


    Next, Harry watched with interest as Ron kept blowing Hermione up in hopes of getting an early glimpse of what is on the paper, "Just a bit, Hermione, even a little hint would do ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 226: The Mystery of Time

    Meanwhile, the ancient rune office. Hermione held three bright runes in her hand, watching them whirl around constantly, with her eyes glowing.


    Felix leaned against his desk and looked at a test paper, his fingers gently wiped over the last word, dragging out light traces of ink, as his gaze became peculiar.


    He looked at the time, exactly eight o''clock, and the magic rune instruction had just begun.


    ''''So, is she the one who just finished the test paper and rushed here? Or-'' Felix''s mind spun with thoughts, ''in this castle, there''s two Granger now?''


    He felt a little itchy, what would happen if he summoned his Patronus to deliver a message to the other Hermione at this time, like asking her to bring Harry''s pocket sneakoscope along?


    Felix waited quietly for two minutes, Hermione still enthusiastically practicing outlining the magic rune in the air, without stopping in the slightest, patting her own head and saying: Oops, Professor, I almost forgot, this is the sneakoscope you asked me to bring over ...


    ''I know so little about the operating mechanism of the Time-Turner, it is inevitable that my hands are bound. But if I am in the loop of time, there must be a beginning and an end, and by the time the end comes, the two Granger will inevitably return to the same position.''


    Felix pondered silently, he could not attempt anything, because he did not know what the consequences of doing so would be. I think that is why Granger did not suddenly pull out a sneakoscope from her pocket ...


    This is not his style of conduct at all.


    "Professor--"


    Felix''s mind jolted, he looked up, and the little witch is pointing at an ocean blue rune in her hand, "I think there''s something wrong with it, the transformation of magic power is not very smooth?" S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He slightly disappointed, but gently explained, "This rune symbolizes water flow, it can also mean the ocean and the heart, you have to try to understand its meaning deeply, it''s a wonderful feeling, sometimes you just understand it all at once."


    "But anyway, the rune meaning is a key to understanding the rune."


    "I get it, Professor!" Hermione said happily: "I have some ideas, as a child, I followed my family to see a lot of rivers, lakes, and the sea, you think it will help?"


    "That''s right, you can tune into a part of your cognition," Felix said approvingly.


    The rest of the magic rune lesson went on as usual, but Felix had a different expectation in mind, and occasionally he would look up at the wall clock.


    The time reached 9:30, the evening''s lesson is almost over, but Felix can not help but mention: "Miss Granger, you are already very tired, why not have a snack, watch an episode of cartoon?"


    If Hermione agreed, he would politely remind her to pay attention to the time and see how she would react ...


    Hermione showed a tempted expression, but she quickly and covertly glanced at the time, "Oh, no, Professor, I have things to do. Before nine fifty ..." she gasped and took a breath, "I mean, ten o''clock is when the lights are off."


    Felix nodded, "That was an oversight on my part." He watched Hermione leave, it seems that the speculation is correct, he really is in a time loop, and, most likely, his little assistant is using the time-turner at nine fifty, to travel back to two hours ago.


    In other words, she reported to his office at seven fifty with test papers with ink yet to dry ...


    After thinking about it, he cast a Disillusionment Charm, Quietening Charm, Concealment Charm, and an Invisibility Spell on himself ... After making all the preparations, he stepped out of the office.


    Felix followed far behind Hermione, like a real ghost, after seven or eight minutes, outside the Gryffindor common room, he saw Hermione hiding behind a pillar.


    ''She picked a good place, there is no portrait in the surrounding.''


    Soon, out of the common room a person appeared, a second Hermione Granger!


    Felix suppressed the shock in his heart, although he knew Hermione received a time-turner as early as the beginning of the school year, but this is the first time he witnessed its effect personally.


    Once again, he dismissed his dumb thoughts and watched her walk past the pillar without looking at the other Hermione and hurried to hide.


    In his line of sight, Hermione Granger, who had just emerged from the common room, stood in the corner, turning a golden timer, she turned it twice, and with the slight sound of gears turning, her figure abruptly disappeared.


    Felix''s eyes glazed over, but he found nothing, as if he is watching a mass of air, everything just now is a memory that he weaved for himself.


    Behind the pillar, Hermione poked her head out and hurried back to the common room.


    Felix could still hear the grumbling of the portrait of the fat lady at the door, "Why are you out and back, you little wizard ..."


    "Lucky Star." Hermione quickly said the password, and the fat lady reluctantly made a way.


    Felix returned to his office with light steps, the shock in his heart did not diminish in the slightest, this is the mystery of time, a power he had not touched.


    "Time, time! I should be in awe of time, let''s stop this and not risk it." Felix warned himself, his assistant is very serious and responsible already, he can not pit her.


    If he made a mistake and threw the little witch into the time turbulence, where would he find her?


    But his mind soon wandered, and he couldn''t help but think: "If I could get a time-tuner from somewhere else, then it would be fine, wouldn''t it? The Ministry of Magic, ancient pure-blood families, or the tombs of ancient wizards, there is a chance ... this matter must be carefully planned, not rashly!"


    ...


    The next day, Felix made his usual trip to St. Mungo.


    Old Lady Longbottom carefully combed Alice''s hair, but the comb still had a large amount of hair stuck in it. She said with a bitter smile on her face, "I really hope they get better soon, they will get rid of the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse, right?"


    "They will," Felix said, "They are like walking corpses now, unable to control the magic in their bodies, once they regain their memories, many means can be used."


    Old Lady Longbottom breathed a sigh of relief.


    During the course, the Longbottoms'' healer, Miriam, came to visit, she is a very friendly witch, nevertheless, she still can''t help but give Felix a suspicious glance.


    Lady Longbottom''s "specialist" is too young, but it does have a little effect. ...''


    Miriam tentatively asked about the topic of the magic he specialized, Felix casually bullshitted with some shallow knowledge of bloodline magic, putting her in a daze.


    "... I try to awaken their body''s remaining subconscious, in coordination with the mobilization of their own magic ..." Felix spoke eloquently, which actually isn''t wrong, though he played a trick by not saying he spent most of his time fiddling with their memories.


    When Miriam left, Felix said to old Lady Longbottom, "The first dissertation has been sent and will probably be in the gestation for some time."


    Old Lady Longbottom said in disbelief, "Felix, I''ve been meaning to ask you. Why not send it later and delay it until the treatment is over?"


    "Because it can''t be hidden," Felix explained, "According to my prediction, by the end of next month at the latest, Frank and Alice''s reaction will be so obvious that there''s no way St. Mungo''s won''t find out."


    "Although the truth can be told, we still have to consider the worst-case scenario, which is that St. Mungo will veto my treatment plan and Frank and Alice are simply inseparable from St. Mungo''s care at the moment ...


    You can also think that I am accustomed to doing some advanced preparation - my dissertation, although only the theoretical part, but not many people can pick a fault, at most they will think that with the current means of treatment it''s impossible to realize, belong to the whims of young people."


    Felix smiled and said, "But once it is realized, it is a groundbreaking achievement and for that St. Mungo''s will joyfully keep us."

 Chapter 227: Nevilles Love

    Neville found himself with another favourite course in addition to his Herbology class - Ancient Runes class. It wasn''t that he had a special feeling for ancient runes, like he is good at fiddling with various herbs. On the contrary, because of his poor memory, he is one of the few bad students in the class, and in the latest exam, his score was just a little better than Slytherin''s Crabbe and Goyle.


    He liked the Ancient Runes class because he liked the professor of the class, a reason that in a way he thought is the same as the reason he hated the Potions class.


    "Neville, your grades are not the best, but your attitude is serious enough, and that''s what I appreciate about you." After a certain class, Professor Hap said this to him, and gave him a self-made bookmark.


    On it is a short story written in runes, which, according to the professor''s words, contains 127 theoretical ancient runes that have been covered in this academic year.


    With the help of Hermione, the ancient runes'' tyrant, he completed the translation -


    ''Nall is a clumsy man.


    He was told by others that he is clumsy, and over time, he came to believe so himself.


    Nall likes to fiddle with clay dolls, he has a natural sensitivity to the properties of different kinds of clay, he likes to watch black, red, brown, white, gray, all kinds of colours of clay moulding in his hands little by little, into a delicate, lovely shape.


    This love is stress-free and brings him comfort when Nall is sad and upset.


    His parents are very busy, usually do not spend much time with him, even the most important Christmas is only a rushed meeting, his biggest wish, is that they can spend more time with him.


    Nall spent two months quietly creating a group of dolls, in which there is his father, his mother, and even himself, they''re holding hands together, laughing happily.


    He thought: when his mom and dad saw it, they would rub his head, smile, and would say: Nall is the best.


    On Christmas day, Nall gave his parents that gift, and they looked at him in amazement because the doll is so delicate and very touching. They said to him apologetically: We neglected you, you are as stupid as anyone, and we swear that we will accompany you well in your growth.


    Nall is very delighted.''


    ...


    Neville treasured the bookmark in his ancient runes class textbook, his movements were so careful and cautious that Hermione looked a little jealous.


    "Thank you, Hermione." He said sincerely.


    "Huh? Oh, it''s nothing ..." Hermione said, not quite used to his attitude, waving her hand repeatedly.


    She returned to her seat, Ron is crying and looking at the paper in his hand, "Hermione, the questions you came up with are too hard."


    " Have they?" Hermione looked at him in amazement, "I''m following what was taught in class and I made every question using it as a prototype."


    Ron showed her his ancient runes textbook with scattered scribbled notes, "Not everyone is like you, trying to write down every word the professor is saying, this is my normal state, look at the rest if you don''t believe me." He shouted, "Harry, Dean, Seamus ..."


    But Hermione completely dismissed it, "My paper didn''t go over the top, it''s your fault." She suddenly looked at Harry, " You think so too, right?"


    Harry got startled, and said politely, "Hermione, half the students in the class failed this exam."


    Hermione deflated and slumped on the table.


    Harry then said, "Actually ... in fact, it''s okay, Professor Hap said that the final exam is roughly at this level of difficulty, it''s very informative, isn''t it, Ron?"


    Ron hurriedly said, "Yeah, right, that''s right."


    Hermione looked away and turned her head to the center of the common room, the only one of the twins present, but there were a lot of people surrounding Fred, he excitedly displayed the heart-shaped couple mirror in his hand, "There are two functions: text and voice, text communication has almost no distance limit, enough to chat with your buddies in the sky and the sea all day during the summer, while voice conversation can only cover the school area at the moment, but this is a favourite of couples, I''ll give you a demonstration here--" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He shouted into the couple''s mirror, "George, where are you now?"


    From the mirror came a clear voice, "I''m in the Ravenclaw common room, do you need me to describe the layout for you?"


    Fred said, "I''ve already been there, but, some of our friends don''t know yet." He winked at the others.


    The voice in the mirror said, "So for the rest of the day I''ll show you around the Ravenclaw house common room, this is George Weasley," he cleared his throat, "and let''s start now-


    The colours here are primarily bronze and blue, the ceiling and carpet are painted with stars, I also saw a white marble statue, and there are many bookshelves in addition to a wide variety of books from various divisions, as well as some small ornaments ...


    All in all, it''s not the same as ours, it looks very new and fresh. Speaking of which, I have to criticize a few things, Slytherin''s underground lounge is like a dungeon ..."


    Lee Jordan looked at Fred in surprise: "And you guys have been to the Slytherin common room?"


    Fred said with a grin, "We''ve been there with our heads covered."


    George in the mirror still talking, "... small windows overlooking the Black Lake, but one can''t help but worry about being drowned in the water while sleeping, chains hanging from the ceiling, decorated similarly to Filch''s office, illuminated with something that looks like a ghost fire- -"


    "George, you''re getting off-topic." Fred interrupted.


    "Well," the voice in the mirror said, and although he couldn''t be seen, many of the young wizards could imagine George shrugging his shoulders across the room, even as he pretended to grin badly, "Next, let''s interview a random Ravenclaw student... Hello, what are you reading? Your necklace is beautiful, it reminds me of the boss lady of the Three Broomsticks, she is just so charming ..."


    "George!" Percy shouted angrily at the couple''s mirror.


    But from across the room came the voice of a little witch in a trance: "A Selection of World Jokes, a very funny book."


    "Really? I''m suddenly interested, Dad''s joke book is so corny, who would be interested in a troll smelly sack ..." said George.


    "It''s Luna!" Hermione said in amazement to Harry and Ron, who also gathered around.


    Ron didn''t know whether to be worried or anticipating as he said, "This girl is definitely going to give us a scare."


    Next, pretty much the entire Gryffindor wizards heard Luna, in a somewhat indistinct voice, tell a snide joke. No one laughed, except for George on the other side, who asked with interest, "That sounds great, but what''s the lottery is?"


    At that moment, another cheerful female voice appeared -


    "It''s a small card with a sticker that, when scratched off, is marked with a prize of varying value; or it tells you a string of numbers ..."


    Percy in the lounge said with surprise, "Penelope?"


    The other side asked suspiciously, "Percy? This is the couple''s mirror? It''s better than I thought ... I''d like to confiscate it, are you Fred or George? I remember paying a deposit."


    George''s voice on the other side sounded a little awkward: "This is a sample, not for sale at the moment. Fred and I can tie Percy up and give him to you if you wish."


    Next, Harry and the rest did not know the follow-up, because Percy grabbed the couple''s mirror in Fred''s hand and ran to the corner to whisper.


    Fred stayed where he was, looking at the crowd with a smile on his face: "This is the demonstration, advance booking, just three galleons. Friendly reminder, the price will increase in the near future ..."

 Chapter 228: Influence Diffusion

    The crowd dispersed, the young wizards still enthusiastically discussing the topic of the couple''s mirror, and in a corner of the common room, Harry said thoughtfully, "Fred and George must have taken the reference from the phone call from outside, but at the moment only one-to-one calls are possible." "Is that same thing I used to call you over the holidays to talk ... phone?" Ron said, "That''s a strange word!"


    Harry recalled, "You were yelling so hard I got the impression you thought you were talking to someone halfway across the Quidditch pitch, afraid you wouldn''t be heard on the other side."


    "I got you in trouble that time, and by the sound of it, it was your aunt who answered." Ron said shakily.


    "Yeah, she hung up and gave me a hard time and almost shoved me back in the cupboard," Harry said indifferently.


    Ron and Hermione looked at him with worried faces, and Hermione said angrily, "Your family sucks!"


    Harry shrugged, "It''s just a place I go for the summer, a good thing it''s only for two months and I can move out when I''m an adult."


    Ron suddenly said, "Why don''t you just spend the summer in our humble abode, coincidentally there''s a Quidditch World Cup next summer. My dad would get tickets from the Ministry."


    Harry''s heart thumped, "Is that okay?"


    "It wouldn''t be the first time anyway, my parents would definitely welcome you, not to mention Ginny ..."


    Harry''s mood brightened up, and it became irrelevant that he couldn''t go to Hogsmeade for the weekend, "I bet the Dursley would love to let me go, especially after what I did to Aunt Marge."


    Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Harry, from the Dursley''s address, you seem to live not far from London, and you''re welcome to come to my house as a guest, and when you do," she smiled, "I''ll introduce you to Mom and Dad as Mick the Little Wizard ."


    "What''s that?" Harry asked.


    "The protagonist of a magic comic book, from the wizarding world," Hermione said.


    "How come I''ve never heard of that before?" Ron looked at her sceptically.


    "Because it''s only been published a little while ago, I bought it two days ago from Flourish and Blotts Bookseller through an owl." Hermione hurried to her dormitory, not long after, she returned with a pile of books, "thud" hit the small round table.


    Harry fiddled with the books, one obviously large, the name is "Muggle World ''Magic''", the rest is a complete set of comic books, slightly thinner, but horizontally larger, the cover depicts a playground, a little boy dressed like a wizard in front of the playground peeking out, the book title is "The Strange Adventures of Young Wizard Mick".


    Ron glanced at the large book with awe and didn''t even touch it. He then casually opened the comic book and quickly became fascinated. "Wow, It''s interesting!"


    Harry noticed the name of the author on the cover: Felix Hap, "This is the work of Professor Hap?" He asked in amazement and found it hard to imagine that Professor Hap would create a comic book.


    He thought he misread it and subconsciously opened the large book "Muggle World ''Magic''", which is densely packed with small print and various illustrations, which made his eyes dizzy.


    This is the style of Professor Hap!


    Ron closed the book and looked in the bottom right corner of the cover, "That''s true! Wait, L.C.A. comic book publisher, oh my God, this is my favourite publisher!" He got so excited that he danced around, only to find that Harry and Hermione looked at him with a bewildered expression.


    "This is a big name L.C.A��ah, they published "The Adventures of Martin Miggs" which was my childhood favourite!"


    Harry suddenly remembered that the last time he went to their Burrow, he had seen the series in Ron''s room, but the magic on it had almost disappeared, and the character in the book wearing a beret was moving very stiffly and uncomfortable to read.


    He opened the brand-new "The Strange Adventures of Young Wizard Mick" and opened a first page, which is divided into nine frames, starting from the first one to the end, telling the story of Young Wizard Mick''s first experience with a pop-up toaster when he visited his friend''s house. S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Mick pointed at the slices of bread that suddenly popped up with a startled look on the comic strip, his mouth wide open, paired with the words in the book, "It''s magic, definitely magic!" Harry couldn''t help but laugh, he had seen the toaster at the Dursley''s and didn''t think it would be so amusing to see it from a different perspective.


    He even began to look forward to seeing Ron when he saw the actual toaster, and whether or not he had this same look of amazement to the point of being unable to keep his mouth shut.


    Harry and Ron quickly got together and looked at it in order, starting from the first page.


    "Wait, I haven''t finished reading it." Seeing that Harry is about to turn the page, Ron said anxiously.


    Hermione looked at them with some confusion: "Although I admit that this set of comic books is very good, but there is no need for you guys to exaggerate it so much, right?"


    Ron looked up, "Exaggerate? It''s definitely the best comic book of the past decade or so, I bet it''s comparable to The Adventures of Martin Miggs, and speaking of which, that Martin book is actually a bit out of date ..."


    Harry said honestly: "I think it''s good too, it''s like my ordinary life of eleven years just all of a sudden became extraordinary."


    "But--" Hermione said, "Don''t you guys think the book "Muggle World ''Magic''" is more logical and fascinating? " She turned the page of the large book, "Look, here it is about the prototype of the steam engine, which can even be combined with Levitation Ward, a type of large airship can be invented..."


    Ron looked confused, "What are you talking about, Hermione? What is this steam engine, what is this large airship?"


    Seeing that Hermione had the idea of forcibly popularizing science, Ron hurriedly hid behind the comic book and said loudly, "Oops, Harry look, why the slices of bread popped up ..."


    His voice attracted their roommate Seamus Finnegan, who incidentally pulled along Neville and Dean Thomas, as he gestured at the comic book.


    Some young wizards gathered around, thinking there is something hilarious going on.


    Dean Thomas, who grew up in the muggle world, saw one of the pages and couldn''t restrain himself from introducing it, "This is an ice cream machine, it''s very convenient, you just need to add cream, milk, and other ingredients, then you can get a steady supply of ice cream."


    The others stared at him blankly, and Dean said proudly, "My uncle owns a mobile ice cream truck, and I used to play on it when I was a kid." Ron looked at Dean enviously, he also wanted to have a never-ending supply of ice cream to eat.


    Hermione tried several times to educate the young wizards about the greatness of steam engines and large airships, but received only a polite glance, and then everyone focused on the comic books.


    Percy didn''t show much interest either, but he made a note of the title, "I think it''s necessary to recommend it to Mrs. Pince, Hogwarts needs a book like this."


    Hermione wondered why people didn''t like steam engines and airships.


    When Ancient Runes class ended the next day and Hermione asked this question, Felix laughed: "Granger, you have a special ... love for knowledge, but you can''t expect others to be as interested in some mildly dry knowledge like you.


    That book is for adults, and can even be used as a guidebook to refer them to the appropriate items when they need them.


    Oh, by the way, here''s the list of the Magic Runes Club and these coins that I need you to send to the students on the list, you can ask Percy for help, as he''s perfect."


    Hermione didn''t object, she just looked at the stacked copper coins, "This is fever coin?"


    "That''s right, I changed them at random, Fred and George inspired me, so they can heat up and display words." Felix said, "The time for the first club meeting has not yet been set, I recently packed with a full schedule, it might have to wait until mid-November."


    Hermione nodded, ready to put away the list and the coins, though she couldn''t help but frown when she saw the names of Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass, and Pansy Parkinson.


    Felix turned his head towards Harry and waved, "Potter, come this way!"


    Harry, who is waiting for Hermione at the door, came over and looked at Professor Hap with some nervousness, he is still missing a closing for his thesis, don''t ask him for it this time.


    Fortunately, Felix did not ask about the thesis, he whispered: "Harry, that sneakoscope you still have it on you?"


    Harry pulled the pocket sneakoscope out of his pocket and Felix took it, "Just a moment." He said, then tapped it repeatedly with his wand, and soon, Felix drew a thin wire from the sneakoscope, which he hurriedly tugged on a golden galleon.


    "What is that?" Harry showed a stunned expression.


    "A kind of synchronization magic," Felix explained, "once the pocket sneakoscope is triggered, I will immediately get the message, no matter where you are."


    Harry understood that Professor Hap is concerned about his own safety, just like Mr. Weasley, he sent a letter back some time ago, in which he seriously criticized the trio''s attempts to pry into Sirius Black''s secrets, considering it "reckless, undesirable and unnecessary, the best choice is to stay in the school."


    He preferred Professor Hap''s approach, at least he didn''t choose to put him in a cage.


    The following days, the young wizards had their first Hogsmeade weekend of the new school year, and many of them had a wonderful time.


    The Weasley twins, for example, went to Zonko''s Joke Shop to purchase a batch of stink bombs, and in their words, "It is inevitable that we will be flustered and confused without the company of these cute, smelly little ones ..." "Whenever I see Filch, I don''t feel comfortable, like something is missing."


    The Halloween dinner is also great, and the ghosts in the castle put up a perfect show. But soon, the young wizards had their full attention drawn to the approaching first Quidditch match.


    On the first Saturday of November, thunder rumbled, the wind howled, and torrential rain poured down.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 229: Humanoid Shield Charm

    Harry woke up from bed early. The wind is blowing so hard that he woke up, he glanced at the window, and it''s pitch black outside.


    Harry closed his eyes again, but felt a chill on the back of his neck, ''Is the window leaky?'' The thought went through his head for a few moments before he jerked back and saw Peeve''s obnoxious face.


    "Why are you blowing like this?" Harry said, in annoyance.


    Peeves puffed out his cheeks and blew twice more, so Harry got up and sat down, fished out his wand from his pillow, and Peeves, like a ball of gas, spun around and flew away.


    This farce made Harry sleepless, he glanced at the rest who are still sleeping, Harry opened the door, a small figure slumped near his feet, he subconsciously picked it up in his hand.


    "Crookshanks?" Harry looked at the cat in his hand, its face looked like it had been slapped flat, there is something inexplicably menacing about it, "Ron was right to guard against you." He closed the door and dropped it smoothly on the side of the spiral staircase, "Go on, don''t play with Scabbers. Hermione got into a few scuffles with Ron over you." S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Crookshanks glanced at him disdainfully and turned to slip away.


    Harry dawdled around the dimly lit common room for about half an hour, still a few hours before dawn, gotta find something to do. So he rummaged through his bookbag for his dueling system thesis and pondered how to wrap it up.


    "- with the disarming charm as the core, well - at least a silent, wandless spell, to cast the spell ... covertly. "Harry nibbled on his quill, thought for a while, then he wrote: "Defense also important, so let''s practice the shield charm to the same level as the disarming charm."


    After thinking about it, he crossed out the last sentence and changed it to "proficient enough to use it and to reach level three of the spell."


    " In addition - the other spell to face a long-distance enemy, an Incarcerous Spell is necessary to get a head start." Harry dipped the ink again, "Focus on the dominant spell to attack quickly - but if it is blocked, it means, what does it mean?"


    Harry scratched his head, flipping through the notes next to him, In which he recorded Professor Hap''s words in his special summer training, flipping through a few pages, he brightened up and quickly wrote, "- it shows that the enemy is not a mediocre person, so you must correct your mindset and fight steadily. If you have learned enough about numerous spells, you can use the knowledge to find the enemy''s weak points!"


    Harry paused and began to ponder the meaning of this passage.


    Professor Hap said he is nowhere near the level of senior Auror, although his disarming charm is not much worse in terms of power, but the experience gap is worlds apart -


    He might be able to mislead the enemy with his young face and sneak upon them, but if the opponent is on guard, the fight will be over in a minute or two - and he''ll be the one who gets beaten.


    Harry thought about what to do if he encountered an enemy that the disarming charm failed to deal with, such as Sirius Black, or Snape?


    Thinking for a while, the result is nothing he could do. If the disarming charm is useless, the spells which he grasped Stunning Spell, Incarcerous Spell, Freezing Charm more likely to be ineffective.


    Thinking of this, he suddenly got a little discouraged.


    " Black is a genius when he was in school, and after graduation, he also experienced the war, his only weakness may be locked up in Azkaban for twelve years, tortured by dementors. So he may be not right in the head ..."


    Harry listened to Hermione''s explanation, Dementors are rather disgusting even among dark creatures, If you''re close to them, you will feel cold and your thinking will become stiff, followed by your happiness will be devoured and disappear, you will be depressed, even your sense of resistance will be slowly weakened, and finally you will fall into the dementor''s plate, then your soul will get sucked out.


    He confirmed the credibility of Hermione''s information by his own experience.


    Harry shivered, he remembered the name Hermione mentioned - Dementor''s Kiss, " it''s too wicked."


    After spending two or three hours, Harry finally finished his thesis with the faint light in the common room, "This is by far the most serious paper I''ve ever written." He said with emotion.


    Harry packed up his things, look at the sky, during the time he spent writing the thesis, the storm not only did not weaken, but become even more violent, though there is a glimmer of light in the sky.


    He made his way to the great hall, to grab a meal.


    The great hall is empty and Harry is about to pick a middle seat as he glanced outside, then he saw a familiar figure.


    It''s Professor Hap!


    He is wearing a dark robe and standing in a rainstorm, which Harry wouldn''t have been able to see if a lightning bolt hadn''t flashed by.


    "What''s wrong with the professor? It can''t be like Wood, to experience extreme circumstances, deliberately torturing himself, right?" Harry pulled his hood over his head and walked out of the great hall.


    As he approached Professor Hap, he just about to say hello, but found himself bumping into something, and deflected by a force, his whole body fell into the muddy water.


    "Ouch! Yuck!"


    The mud-splattered on Harry''s mouth and glasses, but he is now filled with curiosity, he could not touch the professor.


    Felix looked down at him, "Harry, what are you doing?"


    "Uh ..." Harry stammered as he rose from the ground, "I saw you standing outside and wanted to say hello, but I lost my footing for a moment."


    Felix laughed, "It''s not that you lost your footing ... it''s me, I had been thinking just now, about how to protect myself from the rain and wind."


    Harry became interested, "Any suitable spell?" He thought he could use it.


    "Impervius - water-repellent and Hot Air Charm for drying, the former is better for isolating water and fog." Felix introduced it, and he took a look at Harry''s wretched appearance and backhandedly took out his wand and pointed at him.


    Harry''s body steamed out of a large water mist, and his body full of warmth, and then he saw the water slipped from his body, clothes, as if he brushed his entire body with a layer of oil or something, not a drop of rain did not touch his body.


    Harry asked Felix for guidance on these two spells, in fact, they are very similar and can even be seen as one spell.


    He drew his wand and tapped his glasses, "Impervius!" The water automatically avoided the lenses, and his vision became clear.


    "Now the rain will never be a hindrance again!" Harry excitedly thanked Felix, he felt more sure of his victory today.


    Felix said, "No need to thank me, Granger asked me two days ago, what spell there is to prevent rain, and I told her, only I might have run into you earlier."


    Harry prepared to turn around to thank Hermione, but a question popped up in his mind: "Professor Hap, haven''t you mastered this spell? But you just said you were thinking about rainproof &--" he paused for a moment, a little unsure, "windproof spell?"


    "Yeah," Felix said, "It''s predictable that it''s going to be very windy on the Quidditch pitch today."


    "So, have you come up with anything yet?"


    Felix smiled, "Didn''t you just experience it?"


    "Experienced?" Harry desperately tried to brainstorm, then his stomach began to rumble, "is it a shield charm? I just bumped into a shield charm, right?" That''s all he could think of.


    "That''s right," Felix gave him an approving look, "the shield charm is invisible and massless, but it can defend against both magical and physical forms of attack, although it''s not exactly powerful ... but apparently, it''s windproof. "


    That sounded more or less unbelievable, Harry did not even think that the shield charm has this kind of use, would a normal person think of that?


    "Harry, as I said, when you are skilled enough with a spell, you can adjust the effect of the spell exactly the way you want," Felix said, a transparent spherical barrier abruptly expanded with him as a center, almost pressing against the tip of Harry''s nose.


    Harry looked at the so-called "shield charm" in amazement, he could even see the surface of the sphere emitting light, and rain poured on it, then bursting into tiny clusters.


    He reached out and poked, the spherical barrier slightly dented, and then his finger bounced off.


    "So - you''ve succeeded now?" Harry asked, it seemed obvious to him that changing the shield charm which blocked a small area in front of him into a large, colourless, transparent orb would be a success.


    Felix tilted his head and gestured for him to continue to look. The colourless, transparent spherical magical barrier began to sink inward, becoming more and more fitting to him and getting closer to a human form.


    In the end, it looked like he wrapped a human-shaped air cover around him.


    Felix said regretfully: "I just tried to make the shield charm morph and attach it on top of my clothes finely, maybe we can call it a human-shaped shield charm? But unfortunately ... this trick has some difficulty, it is not something that can be done within half an hour."

 Chapter 230: Dementors

    Professor Hap went away, in his words, he had to think about how to make the shield charm fit better. "Sounds like talking about how to modify the size of a dress." Harry thought to himself.


    He saw the Gryffindor team appear in the great hall and hurried over to them. He simply wanted to eat something now, even if it''s only a bowl of porridge. With the weather this bad, it''s hard to predict how long the game will go on.


    ...


    Felix strolled alone on the field, the weather is very obscure, the black clouds pressed tightly together. The wind is wrecking the trees, and he saw the branches of the whomping willow swaying constantly.


    But everything around him seemed quiet, the rain couldn''t drench him, the wind couldn''t blow over him - except for the transparent cover that towered a foot taller than him, which is an eyesore.


    From afar, a few students arrived early, watching curiously as Professor Hap circled the field in the rainstorm, but no one bothered him.


    These students chose to sit on the raised platform and stared blankly at Felix, not understanding what he is doing, though it looks like fun.


    Especially for some young witches, the dark-haired, blue-pupiled Professor Hap (though the rainstorm obscured their vision, it is all in their heads), strolling leisurely in the rain, they couldn''t take their eyes off of him.


    By the time Felix had made his third lap around the Quidditch pitch, the human-shaped shield charm on him already edged about half an inch closer, and had been hard to spot if they didn''t look closely.


    He stopped and glanced at the stadium gates as a team of Hufflepuff players walked in wearing a canary yellow uniform, led by the tall, lean, and handsome looking man who is none other than Cedric Diggory, the captain of the Hufflepuff team.


    Felix walked up the wooden steps to the professor''s stand and sat down quietly, the roof over his head serving no purpose at all to keep the rain out, so he had to continue to maintain his human-shaped shield charm.


    One by one, the little wizards either walked into the stadium with their waterproof cloaks or umbrellas in hand.


    Time passed little by little, and more and more people arrived, Professor McGonagall, Madam Hooch, and Dumbledore also arrived, when he saw Felix, he smiled slightly and sat next to him.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore."


    "Felix."


    Dumbledore said in a near whisper, "Very interesting trick."


    Felix said, "It doesn''t seem to be very useful except as protection against the wind, it''s still essentially a shield charm though."


    "Felix, you''re too obsessed with the power of spells." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Isn''t the shield used for defence?"


    The two talked in small voices, and not long after, the two teams for today''s match stood in the center of the stadium, the torrential rain formed layers of water curtain, the audience could only see the yellow and scarlet robes, but this still did not affect their enthusiasm, and a huge cheer erupted from the stands amidst the rumble of thunder.


    With a whistle from Madam Hooch, the game began.


    The wind is simply too strong as players from both teams lifted off crookedly, Felix noticed Harry being swept to one side by the wind, luckily he quickly became familiar with the wind direction, besides him, several of the female Quidditch players are also slightly distressed.


    It had nothing to do with skill, simply a lack of weight.


    In his accelerated state of mind, everything slowed down in Felix''s eyes, the layers of rain not obscuring his vision as he quickly analysed the flow on the field and tried to anticipate the scoring for the next period.


    This is what interested Felix in Quidditch; for him, every match is a high-quality group duel.


    ''Harry would have crashed into his own team in two seconds if he hadn''t diverted - and he did.''


    ''Cedric''s not slow, and his weight is more of an advantage in this weather, eh? He can still distract himself to command his team?''


    ''That bit of wind has no effect on Wood at all, and sure enough, he defends the goal with ease.''


    ''The Bludger is going to hit that red-robed witch, I remember her name is Angelina Johnson? Her teammate hurries over from the bottom left corner and the Bludger is blocked, is it Fred or George?''


    ''Time out whistle, it is Wood who requested it, they are clearly ahead ...''


    The game is suspended, Gryffindor leads by fifty points, and the crowded Gryffindors in the stands erupt with roars of excitement.


    A few moments later, the game continued. The tangle between the two teams became more intense, and the spectators could not distinguish the faces of the players on the field, they could only distinguish them by their jerseys and their behaviour based on their house and positions.


    Commentator Lee Jordan clutched the microphone and shouted, "Gryffindor launched an attack, the ball is in the hands of the Chaser, one of the three girls, I can''t clearly see ..."


    Cedric put his focus on finding the Golden Snitch, his makeshift team is no match for Gryffindor and the score gap is only getting wider.


    Only by catching the Golden Snitch, they would have a chance of winning, but it wouldn''t be easy as he faced off against Gryffindor''s talented Seeker, Harry Potter, who is undefeated in the sky field.


    Felix continued to analyse the situation on the field -


    ''Hufflepuff looks very hung up, head-to-head they are no match for the opponent; the Seeker confrontation, Harry''s past record is more dominant, unless Harry slips up, would he truly slip up?''


    In midair, Harry''s grip suddenly slipped, and his body slipped a fraction of inches, he flipped in the air, but he managed to control the accident quickly.


    The game continued, Cedric looked like he found something, he manipulated the broom to turn back a hundred and eighty degrees and took a dive position. But Felix has no time to pay attention to it, as a group of black dementors took the spotlight.


    They appeared from the edge of the forbidden forest, gliding close to the ground, and some scattered in midair, like black rubbish bags swept by the wind.


    The rain turned cold all of a sudden, the air fell silent, and the cheers and shouts seemed to be choked off as they emerged from the crowd, which Felix understood as an effect of the dementors on their brains.


    A hundred feet up, several dementors circled Harry in the center with the cover of black clouds and fog - they didn''t care much about Cedric, as creatures of darkness that thrive on corruption and despair, they could easily distinguish those who had a tragic fate.


    Harry could see that he still has some consciousness, clutching his broom in one hand and his wand in the other, the red spell slashed through the clouds, but with little success.


    His broom fell uncontrollably and Harry fell into a complete coma.


    "Dumbledore ...," Felix whispered.


    "I''ll save the day." Dumbledore said in a hushed voice, as he poked out his fingers and aimed at Harry, who quickly slowed down in his descent.


    The tip of Felix''s wand flickered brightly, a silver stream of light burst through the dense clouds like silver lightning, knocking the Dementors around Harry, they tumbled and fell, but then landed lightly and joined together the Dementor colony below.


    The silvery light turned into a slim, Rain Swallow, with scythe-like wings floating in midair without flapping it. From the mouth of the Rain Swallow came a deafening sound, "Dementors, get out of here."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 231: The Power of Felix’s Patronus

    The voice caused a silvery-white wave of ripples, that swept through the entire stadium, and the young wizards affected by the Dementors were instantly shaken out of their cold, desperate mood. Professor McGonagall gripped her wand and looked around, making a quick judgment as she turned to Felix and Dumbledore and said, "I''ll go offstage."


    Just at that moment, Harry landed smoothly. Madam Hooch rushed forward to check the situation, and the Gryffindor players flocked up, meanwhile, Cedric looked blankly at the unexpected situation on the field - he still clutched the golden snitch in his hand.


    The young wizards who had just escaped the effects of dementors saw this scene, especially the young wizards from Hufflepuff, who almost flipped the whole stadium over, with a huge cheer like an ocean wave.


    The dementors that had been retreating at the sight of the threatening little creature were unable to give up the feast that''s within their grasp, and some of them rose up into the sky, while others lifted their tattered hoods to suck the joy out of the air. ...


    Dementors have no eyes, it''s entirely dependent on smell and emotion to sense everything outside, but today, they experienced a novelty - they saw light.


    The Rain Swallow Patronus rushed in front of the group of Dementors in the blink of an eye, its entire body glowed brilliantly. Waves of silvery-white light exploded, churning up waves of silvery sea.


    The Dementors scattered almost instantly, and they kept retreating, but the silver Rain Swallow Patronus is fast as lightning, its flight trajectory weaved a fine net in midair, encircling all the Dementors, and any Dementor that touched the fine net would tumble Back.


    They are totally trapped.


    In the dumbfounded gaze of the young wizards, the gaps in the net became thinner and thinner, gradually turning into a semi-spherical shroud. The dementors little by little got covered up, and finally, the form of the rain swallow disappeared, and a half-round moon appeared in the center of the field.


    The light of the "half-moon" broke through the foggy stadium.


    A young wizard said in disbelief, "Professor Hap has created a moon?" His friends around him agreed with him completely.


    Many students looked up at the sky as if confirming that the moon is still there, but all they could see is a dark, cloudy black sky. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A silvery-white light accumulated in Felix''s eyes, and he is now in a somewhat peculiar mood; Patronus are built of pure, happy, positive emotions, as such, with no human emotions, Dementors cannot harm it since it does not despair.


    Most crucially, Felix found that the glow that emerges from the Patronus seemed to have a tremendous restraining effect on the dementors.


    He used the perspective of the Rain Swallow patronus and found that the Dementors within the encirclement seemed to have a very slight size-reduction...


    "Maybe it''s an illusion ..." Felix muttered in a small voice, "half-moon" the light became more intense, it really looks like a waning silver moon.


    Dumbledore''s expression became odd, he did become very mad, mad that dementors dared to break into the school, he had intended to teach them a lesson.


    But now it seems that if he does not intervene this time, it''s possible that Felix will do something amazing.


    The Patronus is recognized as defensive magic that can only repel, without killing Dementors.


    But Dumbledore wouldn''t think so superficially, the simplest logic is - if Patronus can''t hurt dementors, why are they so afraid of this magic?


    He said softly: "Felix, you can teach them a lesson, but the dementors can not be killed, they are part of the staff of the Ministry of Magic."


    Felix shrugged his shoulders, and a stream of light fluttered from the half-moon, once again transforming into a Silver Rain Swallow and halting in midair.


    The "half-moon" gradually dissipated, and the young wizards stared at it with wide eyes as they chattered and discussed...


    "Do you think that the Dementors have become smaller?"


    "It seems like it did. ..."


    "Could it be a matter of perspective, we''re standing high up."


    "No way, when I went to Hogsmeade I secretly glanced at the Dementors guarding the entrance, they are at least six feet tall each, now no matter how I look at it, it''s less than five feet ..."


    "..."


    After the dementors reappeared, they barely had time to look squarely at the Patronus in midair, which remained static, and they desperately fled the place, the black rags bent almost at an angle parallel to the ground along their sagging body.


    The silver swallow''s body swelled up a thousand times, with a wingspan of nearly twenty feet, and it flew behind the dementors, occasionally bursting into a blaze of light.


    A huge cheer erupted from the young wizards, and it seemed to them that Professor Hap is taking revenge for them.


    The dementors fled even faster.


    After a long while, the exaggeratedly large Rain Swallow Patronus flew back and landed at the edge of the Quidditch field and greeted with the adoring eyes of the young wizards.


    "It''s so so so cool!"


    "It''s over." Felix sighed, but had no intention of recalling the silver Patronus.


    Dumbledore looked at him with peculiar eyes.


    "Felix, I need to remind you that Dementors don''t have outstanding intelligence, but they have a vague group consciousness - and as I told you, one less they can notice it."


    Felix asked hesitantly, "Can''t keep it for a day?"


    Dumbledore seemed amused, "Oh, unless you want to be found by the Ministry of Magic. Thousands of people have seen your patronus, you can''t weasel your way past it."


    "And what if it is '' Sirius Black '' who did it? He learned powerful dark magic from Voldemort ...," Felix asked tentatively.


    "In that case ..." Dumbledore smiled, "it is not a big problem, but you have to come up with strong evidence to deal with the Ministry of Magic''s inspectors, most likely Fudge himself."


    Felix smacked his lips, "strong evidence, Well."


    He waved his hand and the giant silver rain swallow which had been standing at the edge of the field let out a crystal clear chirp and spat two black shadows out of its beak - deformed dementors that were barely three feet tall.


    They were almost too frantic to leave, as Felix and Dumbledore watched the dementors disappear completely.


    Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "Felix, your Patronus opened my eyes, I thought I had developed the Patronus to transmit messages, which would be a remarkable innovation, but I did not even consider the idea of swallowing a Dementor."


    Felix blinked, "I had a flash of inspiration just now, Headmaster. It worked pretty well, though."


    Inside the stadium, Professor McGonagall and Madam Hooch made their way out with Harry, followed by the demoralized Gryffindor players.


    Just now, Madam Hooch had announced that Hufflepuff is the winner.


    As the young wizards left the stage one by one, there are still many others staring at the podium where Felix is and talking with Dumbledore, even if he couldn''t hear their voices, Felix could roughly guess what they would be talking about.


    "Headmaster, are you going to visit Harry now?"


    "I trust Minerva and Poppy. What about you, Felix?"


    "I trust Weasley and Granger."


    Dumbledore and Felix each smiled. Half a minute later, Felix suddenly thought of something: "I remember, Harry''s broom was swept away by the wind ?"


    Dumbledore said uncertainly: "It should be recovered ..."


    "Also, it still can be lost."

 Chapter 232:

    Later that day - "You mean Harry''s broom crashed into the whomping willow?"


    Felix asked in surprise, and Hermione said sadly, "When we went to look for it, we only found some wreckage."


    "Harry must be very sad," Felix said with a sigh, he drew out a notepad and wrote down a few lines of well-wishes, then stopped to ask Hermione''s opinion: "Do you think on the greeting card, should I need to add some kind of magical effect, like sound?"


    "Better not," Hermione said firmly, "Ginny just gave Harry a recovery card, if you don''t keep it under your pillow, it will sing shrilly ..."


    Felix shrugged, "So be it," he handed the card to Hermione, "Take it to Harry for me." S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the following days, the young wizards happily discussed the events of Saturday, especially Professor Hap''s visually appealing Rain Swallow Patronus, which was talked about with great gusto.


    With it, the name Patronus Charm quickly spread throughout the school and became the center of a recent conversation. Any random student you could pull over would be able to talk a great deal about it - even if there were many absurdities in their words.


    Some junior wizards got all kinds of true and false information from the senior students, which they combined with their own understanding, they then spread it again.


    Many people could not distinguish the mechanism behind the "half-moon", so they considered it as a second form of charm and named it " Silver Moon".


    Felix heard this term during breakfast in the great hall on a certain morning, and almost spit out his gruel.


    Fourth-year Cormac McLagan bragged, "My uncle''s Patronus has a second form, I would never lie!" He stroked his rough, stiff hair and said loftily, "My dad said it personally, my uncle''s Patronus is a wild boar, but I saw it once when I was a kid, and it was clearly a long-eared rabbit, and originally I was wondering ... if this charm has two forms."


    Felix glanced at McLagan''s eyes, if his words are not mixed with lies, his uncle must have experienced a tragic encounter, the whole person''s temperament must have changed greatly - only in this case, the Patronus will change.


    Others kept inquiring where they could learn this charm. "What a cool charm!" Lee Jordan exclaimed in the common room, "I mean, even if I can''t cast it like Professor Hap, I can at least protect myself, right?"


    But Flitwick poured cold water on them, standing over a stack of large books as he emphasized more than once: "The Patronus charm is not included in our test; it is too advanced even for many adult wizards to master, and this magic requires great mental strength ... "


    Flitwick is not going to teach it, So some young wizards turned their focus to the Defense Against the Dark Arts class and the Dueling class, which they considered to be a good idea - both classes teach students how to protect themselves according to the curriculum.


    On the second Thursday evening of November, during the Dueling class, Felix heard this question being asked.


    "Patronus?" Felix repeated it.


    "Yes, Professor Hap. That''s the charm we need right now, no? The Dementors are staring at us blankly and ready to attack us outside the school!" A fifth-year Gryffindor shouted, his words drawing nods of agreement from the young wizards below the stage.


    Felix laughed, " Lee Jordan, the Dementors are guarding Hogwarts under the orders of the Ministry of Magic, and their target is Sirius Black, the fugitive from Azkaban."


    "But Professor, what happened that day at the Quidditch match has proven their unreliability, I even wrote to my family and Mum wrote back saying that letting the Dementors out of Azkaban is the stupidest decision the Ministry of Magic has ever made!"


    "Yeah, they''re not controllable at all."


    "My aunt told me that even in Azkaban, Dementors used to riot ... and some prisoners died." Susan Bones of Hufflepuff said, and seeing Professor Hap''s eyes fall on her, she added, "My aunt is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."


    Felix wavered a bit, and frankly, he didn''t think teaching the young wizards the Patronus charm in Dueling class is a good option - it''s time-consuming and hard to learn, and most importantly: it won''t always work.


    A charm, as profound as this one, would be very difficult for a student to master on their own without one-on-one instruction. If you really want him to teach them by hand, he can''t do it even if you give him ten time-turners.


    He glanced at the other two professors, Snape and Flitwick, "What is your opinion, Severus, Filius?"


    Snape immediately showed an expression of resistance as he said coldly, "I don''t know this spell."


    Flitwick also once again made his opinion clear: "Felix, the Patronus charm is very complex and too single-functional, I do not think it will work. Besides - Dumbledore has already appealed to the Ministry of Magic, and Fudge guaranteed that the Dementors would never make the same mistake again."


    Felix nodded, and he knew about it. In fact, when a bunch of shrunken Dementors went back, people within the Ministry of Magic were very upset about it, and some even wanted to send someone to investigate, only Dumbledore firmly pushed them back.


    In addition, some grumpy parents of students constantly send Howlers to the Ministry of Magic, and even to Fudge''s mailbox, which made them anxious, the Dementor matter is no longer brought up.


    Felix put the matter aside for the time being, but ... he looked at Snape, the professor said he can''t cast the Patronus Charm, is it true?


    Is it possible that the professor went too deep into the dark magic domain, which resulted in his inability in using the Patronus charm?


    ...


    At dinner, he and Snape sat together, discussing the details of what they should teach in the next Dueling class. Felix commented, "The students have mastered several common dueling moves, and it would be best to let them practice in the next few classes. Severus, I have an idea, perhaps we can host a small dueling tournament."


    "Are you not afraid of trouble, Felix?" Snape said.


    "I''m going to leave it to the student body, Percy Weasley and Penelope Clearwater are both very capable and I trust them," Felix said.


    Snape showed his usual mocking expression, "How much sincerity is there in your trust? Felix, is there really anyone who can break into your heart?"


    Felix laughed, "Oh, Severus, are you trying to call me a hypocrite? We''re talking about competence, and I do trust Mr. Weasley and Miss Clearwater very much in that regard, what are you referring to again?"


    Snape stared at him expressionlessly, and Felix deliberately flashed a smile that looked fake.


    At that moment, a voice interjected the silent exchange between the two -


    "Professor Snape, I just met Professor Flitwick, and he said you are in the great hall." Lupin said cheerfully as he walked up in front of them. He had changed into a new robe, and it looked like Dumbledore is paying him enough to cover his daily expenses.


    "What can I do for you, Lupin?" Snape''s eyes narrowed: " Did you finish all the potions I gave you? I have some more there, a cauldron full of ..."


    Lupin smiled and said, "Not for now, Severus. I came here for another thing--"


    Snape looked at him, without a half-smile on his face.


    Lupin said, "I appreciate you covering for me during my illness, but the teaching in the third year was so advanced and aggressive, that it went straight over most of the chapters in the textbook--"


    "Werewolves ...," Snape trailed off, and Lupin''s hand trembled for a moment, which he hid well, "...chapter, what''s wrong with it? Any problems?"


    Lupin frowned slightly, "Severus, the third year has only just learned about Hinkypunk, most students do not have an appropriate foundation, I''m sorry, I decided to postpone this chapter."


    Snape gave him a contemptuous look, "If you ask me, Lupin, something like a werewolf is too dangerous, and it''s a very necessary thing for students to know how to identify and kill werewolves as early as possible." He said softly, "Maybe it will be useful one day."


    Lupin regained his composure: "Thanks for the reminder. I will teach according to the scope of the young wizard''s ability, if there is nothing else, I will leave now, there are many things to do."


    "Wait, Lupin."


    "Is there anything else, Snape?" Lupin said in a deep voice.


    "Allow me to introduce to you," Snape''s gaze moved between Lupin and Felix, "I believe that Professor Lupin''s Patronus charm is extremely advanced, and perhaps -- Felix, you could invite him, as a Dueling class temporary professor."


    Snape''s eyes flickered, "As a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class, surely it''s his duty to show his students how to deal with dangerous dark creatures like Dementors."

 Chapter 233: The Change Is Not Just A Little Bit

    Lupin did not agree ultimately, and Felix, as a bystander, could clearly see the professor''s reluctance. He had a few guesses, the form of the Patronus is closely related to the state of the wizard, Lupin as a werewolf - although he tried to avoid mentioning it, but that identity has already influenced him deeply into his bones, his Patronus is most likely a wolf or a related subspecies.


    Felix didn''t know what to say, ''Severus can really be ...''


    ...


    Then, that night, Ron entered the common room alone from outside, fuming a bit. S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Snape''s a freak! He *..." Ron cursed a nasty word, causing Hermione to shout in discomfort, "Ron, don''t use swear words!"


    He sat on his butt on the soft couch next to Harry, smelling strongly of detergent.


    Harry looked at Ron sympathetically, this is not the first time he lost his temper because of Snape, when Professor Lupin was sick, Snape substituted him, Then Ron got punished for publicly rebuffing Snape, and cleaned the chamber pot in the Hospital Wing -- moreover, he was not allowed to use magic.


    Snape seemed determined to prolong the painful process by splitting the punishment into three sessions, each ending with Ron fuming like a raging lion.


    "I mean really, Snape is a man with a twisted mentality, if he hadn''t subbed for just one class ..." Ron said angrily, " I didn''t write a single word of the assignment he left, ha! Sure enough, Professor Lupin cancelled it!"


    Hermione''s expression didn''t look good, most people in the class played around without writing, only she finished an essay about werewolves early.


    Ron said meanly, "Maybe he got his head shoved into the toilet when he was at school, look at his hair, Harry-" he looked at Harry, "Didn''t you stay behind to ask Professor Lupin some questions this evening, did he reveal anything about black?"


    Harry said sombrely, "No, I asked him about the Dementors and my mother."


    Ron''s expression eased as he and Hermione exchanged a look, and he whispered, "Did you hear ... anything more about the day of the Quidditch match?"


    "Yeah," Harry said, "it''s the second time, I seemed particularly vulnerable when facing the Dementors, Professor Lupin said it is because I have experienced more anguish." He whispered, "He was right, I heard my mother''s dying voice over and over again at that time."


    "But-" Harry perked up, "Professor Lupin told me a lot about Mum, you know, I only saw her in the pictures Professor Hagrid sent me and on the Mirror of Erised, nobody else mentioned much ..."


    "Harry ..." Hermione looked at him worriedly.


    Harry said regardlessly, "I had thought my mother''s character must be very gentle, this is how I imagined her like, but in fact she is not, Professor Lupin said she is very assertive, even a little snappy, in those days, she defended her neighbour from the enemy House -- that is, Snape --a five-year-long friendship, and Professor Lupin said Snape admired her."


    "Of course! Mom and Snape eventually parted ways because of Voldemort!" Harry said excitedly: "Mum has to grow up, when she first enrolled in school she was not aware of the war Voldemort started, but how can a person defy reality? Every few days a classmate''s family and relatives will die, and every month a few students will drop out of school, that''s war, isn''t it?"


    "She must have been torn and hesitant for a long time. But in the end, she ended the friendship. Professor Lupin said she was depressed for a long time, and my father comforted her, then told her a lot about the Order of the Phoenix, and they came together as a matter of course ..."


    "Married, fought the Death Eaters, fled from Voldemort, and had me," Harry''s expression grimaced, "until they wrongly trusted Sirius Black."


    Ron asked uneasily, "Harry, are you okay?"


    "I''m fine." Harry said, "Professor Lupin promised that he would teach me Patronus Charm till Christmas. But he turned down my request for special training during Christmas, and Professor Hap is too busy that I didn''t have the heart to mention it."


    "When I wrote my dueling system thesis, I always used Black as my imaginary enemy, but in fact, there''s nothing much I can do, I just know a few spells. And not skilled enough even in that ..."


    Ron said, "Harry, we can train by ourselves."


    Harry stopped talking on and on, and looked up at Ron as he slowly said, "Train by ourselves?" This made Ron a little upset, and he said, "I know I''m weaker and not your match, but I can be your assistant if you need one."


    He came up with another rotten idea, "If not, we can practice using Slytherin students, Malfoy''s gang will do just fine, Crabbe and Goyle look like they have the build that can resist a few more spells."


    Harry thought of the big-bodied Crabbe as well as the gorilla-like Goyle, and couldn''t help but smile. He restrained his smile and said with a straight face, "Thank you, Ron."


    Ron''s face flushed, "No, it''s nothing."


    "Then what are we waiting for?" Hermione looked relieved as she pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly scribbled on it.


    "If we''re going to train by ourselves, we need to be well-prepared, pick a good time and place, choose the right spell, and to guard against accidents ... have a lot to do!" Hermione said thunderously.


    "Hermione?" Ron looked at her a little dumbfounded.


    But Hermione had already got into the swing a bit, "I don''t have the same schedule as you guys, but ... should be able to make time ..."


    "How are you going to make time for-"


    "Don''t interrupt me, Ron." Hermione said impatiently, "The choice of the spell is best referred from Dueling class, Harry, I need your thesis."


    Harry froze and handed her the written thesis.


    "I''ll give it to Professor Hap for you, but I need to read it first to summarize your dueling ideas. And Ron, you can''t relax either, it''s not good to be too far off."


    Ron grimaced, "You don''t want me to write a thesis too, right?, Professor Binns just gave us a 2 feet assignment, you know."


    "Well, I can lend you the assignment for you to - I mean, I can lend it to you for reference." Hermione tried to keep the word "copy" to herself.


    Ron whispered in Harry''s ear, "She just blows my mind."


    Harry shrugged and said in a relaxed tone, "That''s Hermione, how many times has she surprised us?"


    Hermione is still thinking desperately, "Maybe we can drag a few more people, of course, the three of us can be enough for sure, but the others might be interested as well, and they''re pretty good in general, the dueling classes helped a lot!


    Dean''s is pretty skilled in Stunning Spell, Seamus''s Reductor Curse is exaggerated, he''s definitely talented at it and Neville...., Ginny''s pretty good at a couple of the little Jinx, I didn''t expect her to learn them that fast when I taught her. We could even ask Percy for help, he owes the twins a favour, and the twins-" she smiled, "they owe me a lot."


    "Wait," Ron called out, "what does it have to do with Percy, Fred, and George?"


    "Remember the couple''s mirror? Penelope going to give one to Percy as a Christmas present and, They gave Penelope a 50% discount, on the other hand, Percy privately approached the twins for that discount ..."


    "And how did you get involved with Fred and George?" Ron couldn''t understand it, after all, those two brothers of his were not easy to talk with.


    "Oh," Hermione said with a wide smile, "I''m an assistant of ancient runes class, and they often ask me for reference books, the kind with specific page numbers, they say it''s to save their time, theoretical ancient runes aren''t worth their time."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 234: Sirius Black

    At night, deep in the forbidden forest. A large black dog ran desperately, his lungs wanted to burst out, the shadow and shape of the trees in the inky black forest became jagged claws, he crossed a forest stream and turned around to look behind him warily.


    The terrifying three-headed dog did not pursue him.


    He slumped on the ground and stretched his body. He looked at a sliver moon, the full moon had just passed, and he wondered how his old friend is doing now, whether he would draw his wand as soon as he saw him and give him a nasty blow.


    Still, he considered using full moon day as a chance to abduct his old friend and tell him the truth about what happened.


    But unfortunately, the shrieking shack which he remembered for being so lively before, had become extraordinarily deserted, with a thick layer of dust gathered with no sign of use.


    ''Maybe I''m the only one who remembers that place.''


    He thought that this might be the reason why the passage towards whomping Willow wasn''t blocked off.


    But even if it''s blocked, it does not matter to him. He knew many secret passages, and the one-eyed witch on the third floor of the castle is his best bet, of course, it leads to the cellar of Honeydukes Sweetshop, which is full of customers.


    Dementors constantly patrolling Hogsmeade day and night, so he glanced from afar and rushed away.


    He didn''t dare to gamble, he would probably only get one chance, this isn''t school, it''s not about fighting with those young Death Eaters, this is war. He told himself to be patient.


    Likewise, he wondered how long he could hold out though, there used to be people who would remind him and tell him not to be impulsive, but now he is all alone.


    Just like some time ago when he had been unable to resist and sneaked to the edge of the Quidditch field just to get a look at the boy with the messy hair, like his dad, at the time he had a strong urge to rush out, and he was almost driven mad by that feeling.


    He didn''t know if the information that he is Animagus had been revealed, his old friend had seen him transform too many times, just as he could recognize the vile rat at a glance, and his old friend could surely recognize him at a glance.


    Maybe, at this moment, the Ministry of Magic Auror holding a picture of a black dog in their hand.


    But they certainly could not recognize his current self. The black dog stood up, looked at his reflection in the stream, and let out a low whine that sounded like a satisfied laugh. S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the water there is a big, skinny, bony dog with a perfectly visible skeleton, black fur tangled together and bunched up stiffly. No different from a stray dog.


    Perhaps he can go back to Diagon Alley and rummage through the rubbish cans or something ... big black dog gulped, no, must be cautious.


    The big dog made his way to the creek and took a few sips of water, his stomach twitched, and his eyes kept surveying the stream to see if there is a small fish passing by, a small shrimp would do. But he undoubtedly got disappointed.


    ''Can''t turn into a human, I''ve shown up in Diagon Alley, I can''t appear anywhere else, especially near Hogwarts.'' He thought.


    There was heavy rain that night, the chance was too good for him to stop from trying to enter the castle, the portrait wouldn''t care about him, he would be nothing more than some little wizard''s pet, or a playmate that guy Hagrid had got for his dog.


    By the time a professor realized he is there, he''d be through with it.


    But a buzzing at the castle gate made him flee, he didn''t know what it was, maybe an alarm of some kind?


    He had seen quite a few of these gadgets when he was a kid.


    It must be Dumbledore who managed to get it there, as he knew Nicolas Flamel.


    Dumbledore ...


    The big dog''s eyes lit up, then quietly became dim again.


    He must HATE me now! They believe I''m the traitor!


    But I am the cause of James and Lily''s death, and I am indeed the culprit.


    The big black dog''s mind kept racing around, and it''s hard to form a complete thought, so he started thinking about the three-headed dog he met today.


    He had seen it at Hagrid''s hut from afar, when it was only as big as a coconut, and Hagrid was playing fetch with it, and even the hound beside it could easily mow it down.


    But after only a week or so, the little thing that could have been slapped away by him grew to the size of a door. That was absolutely magic!


    He heard Hagrid huffing as he said he shouldn''t have been so selfish, and he should have let it run free in the forbidden forest.


    Damn! The three-headed dog now runs towards him. If he had known, he would never have lent the motorcycle to Hagrid.


    After so many years, it probably got scrapped long ago.


    Or maybe it had been set free? He had seen a broken car deep in the forbidden forest, which he thought had been abandoned, and was prepared to get into it and sleep on it - even if it''s broken, it''s still much better than the wet ground, and at least there''s a cushion.


    As a result, that thing flashed its headlights on, shaking him nearly unconscious, and then that car came crashing towards him, making him flee once again in disarray ...


    Half an hour later, by accident, the big black dog found a mouse hole, haha, today is my lucky day.


    With a full meal, he had the strength to hold out for at least two more days.


    He lay down on the ground and began to think about the problem. He is unable to think thoughtfully in his big dog form, and he refused to be named and became a pet dog for food, so he simply tried to recall a familiar face.


    I don''t know how long passed until he thought of the big ginger cat, a clever chap that he found he had come to like, even though he is a dog.


    The cat could catch mice openly and honestly.


    Through it, he knew quite a lot of information about the rat, foremost, that rat is right next to the boy, and that thought alone made him grumpy.


    The big black dog began to count his ribs, which is his newfound way to remain calm. One, two, three ... a total of thirteen pairs of ribs, the last one is the shortest and thinnest, the average person could not spot it, he thought smugly.


    He finally calmed down.


    For the time being, there is no need to worry ... that rat is a coward, he knew it since he was in school, and every time there was a group fight, he would hide in the back and sneak attack.


    Then there is that nasty guy, and his snake students, the danger is everywhere, but he is isolated.


    The big black dog stood up, glanced in the direction of Hogwarts from afar, then turned around and left in the other direction.


    He is going to make a trip to Muggle town, where there is little danger, and he can slip into a Muggle house to find something to eat.


    Soft white bread, fresh and delicious vegetables, and, of course, meat.


    The big black dog''s mouth drooled like crazy.


    He ran slowly, which is the most energy-efficient way, and something he only recently discovered. Previously it was not like this, he always ran in the forefront.


    It became dawn and the big black dog slipped quietly into the nearest house, a small house painted red, a colour he liked.


    There is no TV in the room, which is even better, he doesn''t want to see any news about being called a dangerous fugitive, even though there probably won''t be one in muggle country.


    The big black dog''s nose kept twitching as he turned and ran into the kitchen, where he saw a snow-white cat, too young to be smart from a glance, he thought.


    Not bothering with the angry cat, he took a chunk of ribs from the kitchen, and on his way out, he patted the white cat on the head, leaving a dirty paw print.


    Walking out of the small house, he left quietly with the meat in his mouth, and on the way, he saw two short, middle-aged men with probing eyes. As they discussed in low voices-


    " Did you decide which one you''re going to start with?"


    "Not sure yet, this town is too poor, how about a different place?"


    "No, just pick a random house."


    Then they saw a large black dog slowly emerge from the shadows, it is thin and bony, showing its teeth, looking at them fiercely.


    "Run!"


    The big black dog watched them disappear, and his mood became cheerful as he let out a howl happily. Then the town filled with barking dogs, and the lights of a few homes turned on.


    ''Damn, I''ve done something stupid again.''


    He can''t stay here anymore. The big black dog went back into the grass, picked up the ribs, and left quickly.

 Chapter 235: Magic Rune Club

    At the end of November, the weather has become very cold, the castle windows covered with thick frost, after a snowfall, the mountains around Hogwarts wearing a snow cap. In a small classroom that is warm as spring, in the fireplace firewood burns modestly.


    Felix relaxed on one of the couches and smiled at the young wizards from different years and houses sitting in a circle of a dozen couches, with a mixture of curiosity and eagerness in their eyes.


    "Today is the first gathering of the Magic Rune Club, it''s good that all of you are here."


    "I am rather busy lately, but now I finally managed to find the time to properly consider the club''s affairs." Felix played with a dark green coin with a distinctive rich sheen in his hand as the young wizards looked at it curiously.


    The coin did not belong to any of the known coins, not a Copper Knut, a Silver Sickle, or a Golden Galleon.


    Felix bent his fingers and flicked the coin up.


    As the young wizards watched, the coin got tossed into midair and suddenly changed into a small, slender serpent covered with scales, which then expanded wildly. The serpent curled its body and twisted its dark green tail, and then, in an instant, it swallowed its own tail in one gulp, forming a standard loop.


    The young wizards stared in awe at the strange serpent that kept swimming in circles in midair - in a pattern that many had not been exposed to before.


    But Geoffrey, the Slytherin Head Boy, and the seventh-year student said in a low, frenzied voice, "The Ouroboros Serpent."


    "That''s right, the Ouroboros serpent. If you have ever dabbled in some ancient symbols, you will naturally not miss this ancient symbol. It represents many things and is widely utilized in alchemy, ancient runes, ancient seals, and even in non-magical circles, the Ouroboros serpent is quite well known, though people tend to call it an occult symbol."


    "Many people see the Ouroboros as a symbol of cycle, infinity, and rebirth ..."


    Felix told the history of the Ouroboros serpent symbol, and when he stopped, sixth-year Peter Shelton asked a question.


    "Professor, so how do you consider it?"


    Peter Shelton wore a long braid, and Felix remembered her from last year when she blindly purchased an amulet that smelled like onions before her OWLs exam.


    Felix explained: "I used to think of it as a symbol used in alchemy, then I thought it represented the archetype of all things and the theory of cycles, the reciprocation of construction and destruction ... in a way, which expressed the alchemist''s pursuit of perfect alchemy.


    Later, I delved into the study of Magic theory and believed that it contains dynamic activity, symbolizing the alternation of death and rebirth. In the ancient epochs, many ancient wizards would engrave it on their tombs.


    When I came into contact with ancient runes, it served as my ruler for measuring magic, and I thought it represented infinity and self-growth."


    Felix said leisurely: "Miss Shelton, do you understand what I mean? People''s minds are always changing, and they see things differently at different stages."


    He looked at the serpent and said with emotion, "Everyone''s view will not be the same. I hope that one day you will also have your own view, not a common view, but a careful reflection after learning a lot."


    The young wizards listened with puzzled understanding, there are students from third to the seventh year in the Magic Rune Club, not everyone could understand the words and the state of mind Felix was talking about.


    After waiting quietly for some time, with the firewood still burning in the fireplace, Felix curled his lips: "Well, little wizards. I did not bring you together for idle chatter. There are many things for me to do, let''s be frank, that do not include discussing trivial matters."


    "The Sorting Hat assigned you to different houses according to your most prominent traits, like Ravenclaw-" his eyes swept to Cho Chang, Penelope, Warren Pardez, Eddie Camilche, Marietta Edgecombe, Michael Corner, Padma Patil ...


    "Slytherin -" he looked again at Geoffrey, Draco Malfoy, Daphne Greengrass, Pansy Parkinson ...


    "Hufflepuff-" he glanced to Cedric, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Susan Bones, Peter Shelton...


    "And Gryffindor." His eyes traced over the trio, the Weasley twins, Percy, and Alicia Spinnet ...


    Felix smiled and said, "Together, your traits make up the different ethos of the four houses. But in fact, the ethos of the four Houses influences you all in turn, reinforcing that trait - sometimes I can probably tell which House someone comes from just by talking to them for a few minutes."


    Felix laughed, "On a side note, at some point, I would consciously try to play this game with a high success rate."


    "There are good and bad things about this practice; the good thing is that each House has its own good qualities that it values, and once a common ground is formed, it is easy to be driven forward; and the bad thing is that some people do not learn from the good points, but instead they get tainted with all kinds of flaws without realizing it."


    Penelope said thoughtfully: "Professor, like Ravenclaw, adores knowledge and individuality, students are smart, wise, visionary and curious ... but sometimes they are too self-centred and do not fit with the outside world, and even hurt some people? "


    Felix nodded approvingly, "Very insightful and courageous, Miss Clearwater."


    "The Hogwarts Headmasters realized this very early on, and some of you may have once wondered why many of your classes are held together with other houses, and not just with their own, for example - Miss Granger?"


    Hermione looked up and said in a somewhat nervous whisper, "Our Herbology class is with Hufflepuff, our Potions class is with Slytherin, and our Astronomy class is with Ravenclaw."


    "What about after the fifth year?" Felix looked at Geoffrey.


    Geoffrey replied, "Most of the classes are with all four houses together."


    The other young wizards couldn''t help but brainstorm about it.


    Felix said, " This practice is meant to allow you to see a different type of people from another group and learn about each other''s good qualities as you get to know each other."


    "And the club amplifies that beauty, which is one of the things I like. So in the future, where collaboration is involved, I''ll let you choose students from different houses as your partners."


    Harry looked over at the Ravenclaw''s Cho Chang almost immediately, but to his heartbreak, her gaze directed at another person. He turned his head to see a tall, handsome Cedric.


    He instantly filled with a feeling of frustration and dismay internally, his long-held sense of anticipation burst like a soap bubble.


    Malfoy glanced at Harry, then at the rest, and wondered what they are thinking.


    Percy and Penelope looked at each other and smiled.


    "Next I''ll talk about the Magic Rune Club itself-" Felix tapped the couch armrest to silence the somewhat restless young wizards.


    "Foremost, the club''s main focus of teaching is practical runes, and you will learn a lot of practical knowledge about runes;"


    "Secondly, you will be involved in some of my research, responsible for providing some data or forming a study group to complete some experimental topics;" s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sometimes, we may simply sit down and chat, discussing some topics that have nothing to do with runes, but interesting enough topics like - why are we able to unconsciously use magic when we were kids, but not after school...?"


    Harry suddenly remembered some of his own strange experiences before he started school, such as his hair kept growing like crazy, within a few minutes after coming out of the barber store to home, his hair turned back to its original shape as if it had never been cut.


    Or when Aunt Petunia tried to put an ugly jumper with little orange circles on him, he resisted and struggled so much that the jumper shrank smaller and smaller and finally had to be given to a wooden toy.


    Also, when he went to Muggle school, his cousin Dudley and his little gang chased him, and he tried to jump over a dumpster, only to find himself inexplicably sitting on a chimney.


    He also made the protective glass disappear at the zoo and let the python go ...


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 236: Spellcasting Instinct

    The young wizards are talking about it, and without saying anything, Harry is aware that a number of them must have experienced something similar. "Mom told me that once when I was a child I lost my temper and blew up the dishes!"


    "When I was seven years old, my aunt had insisted on giving me a fish dish, and I ended up making it disappear."


    "I accidentally fell into the water, and choked on some water, eventually I floated up by myself!"


    Felix listened quietly, and when the discussion calmed down, he asked another question, "So can you still do similar things now?"


    The crowd became silent.


    Draco Malfoy gave a haughty smile, "Professor Hap, it is not a difficult task for some families with a long heritage."


    Ron couldn''t help but ask, "Are you saying you can do it, right now?" S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Of course," Draco looked mockingly, "the Malfoy have a long heritage ..." he re-emphasized, then looked at Harry and Ron with a provocative gaze and said smugly, "I was trained to do something similar when I''m just a child, I used to play chess with my dad like that all the time during the summer ..."


    He looked to Felix, "Allow me to show you, Professor."


    Felix nodded in agreement.


    Draco stared at the teapot and teacups on the small table, and after almost ten seconds, a teacup with a blue pattern jumped up and floated a foot above the table.


    The teapot also wobbled as it flew up and tilted itself, pouring out amber tea from the spout.


    A thin layer of sweat broke out from Draco''s forehead as the teapot shook violently. He controlled the teapot to settle back on the small table with a "thud", and then the teacup flew lightly toward him.


    He picked up the teacup, took a sip of tea, a smile appeared on his pale face, he said with a slight bow: "Excellent tea, Professor Hap."


    Harry looked at this with surprise, Malfoy usually would not show this kind of ability.


    Ron said unconvinced, "Malfoy, I know that you didn''t know any spells when you enrolled in first-year class!"


    Draco grinned and scoffed, "It''s not a healthy habit to be exposed to wands and spells too early, didn''t anyone ever tell you that? Weasley?" He weighed heavily on the surname Weasley.


    Given the scope of the taunt, the twins nearly jumped out to punch him, and Percy looked at him with an unkind eye.


    Draco scowled briskly.


    "Well," Felix gestured for them to stop, "Mr. Malfoy has shown us a fine example to follow, and he deserves a little applause."


    A sparse sound rang out, the applause belonging to Slytherin is a bit more enthusiastic, Pansy Parkinson looked at him with adoring eyes and whispered into his ear in a low voice.


    "Back to the original question, in most cases, little underage wizards were able to unconsciously perform magic out of extreme emotion, and this is considered to be a sign of having the qualifications to be a wizard.


    And trying to perform that kind of magic in a calm state is not that easy.


    This has to do with the growth stage of young wizards - generally, at the age of six to ten, your magic power will have a huge leap in volume, and it will be considerably more active than it is now, which causes you to have a hard time controlling your magic power, and you will lose control of your magic slightly when you are extremely emotional ..."


    Felix paused for a moment to allow them to understand the meaning of those words and continued, "After enrolling in school, you will be exposed to many spells along with hands-on experience with magic, which somewhat eases the flow. And because your first growth period is over, your mind will become more developed and your magic will stabilize, making it difficult to have an outburst." As he glanced at Harry.


    Harry immediately understood the professor''s point, he experienced Accidental Magic a couple of months before, in the words of Professor Hap at the time, his magic was "like a constant jumping and burning flame".


    Hermione raised her hand, "Professor? Is it because the young wizards were exposed to standardized magical instruction after they enrolled, making their magic more controllable?"


    "There is a factor for that, in fact, during your second growth-that is, from third-year all the way to adulthood-you hardly feel the agitation of magic for that very reason."


    Felix snapped his fingers and a wisp of flame flew out of the fireplace and wrapped around his hand.


    "The unconscious magic casting at an early age is essentially you inadvertently being in line with a certain magic. That magic sensed your strong emotions and acted spontaneously on its own and mobilized.


    The constant spell casting after your enrolment, and the silent, wandless spell casting after maturity ... In a way, we are just recovering our spell casting instincts."


    " Recovering the instinct ... " The young wizards kept chewing on these words, this search for the essence of magic is something which they have not experienced in the past.


    Felix smiled and said, "You can try this process." He waved his hand to extinguish the flame, and the teacups on the table duplicated into pairs, before emerging in a pile and landing in front of them.


    Harry Stared at the teacup in front of him, I want you to float.


    But the process is not easy, the cup did not move.


    Professor Hap''s voice seemed to come from beyond the horizon with a certain allure and hint, it could have been a misinterpretation, but Harry thought he saw a silver glint in the professor''s eyes.


    "Stay focused - stay sensitive - stay confident -"


    Harry''s attention returned to the teacup in front of him, and this time it didn''t take much effort for the cup to float, and great joy welled up inside him, the same kind of joy he felt when he first learned from Hagrid that he is a wizard, or when he managed to cast a spell for the first time.


    I did it ...


    "I did it," he looked up at Professor Hap and found the professor looking at him with a smile.


    Harry looked around, he is the only one who succeeded as quickly as he did. But Draco soon did it too, he looked at Harry with surprise as he gazed up and said hesitantly, "Potter ..." He has a foundation in this area.


    Harry did not pay attention to him, turning his head to look at the rest, he found that all seemed to have entered into a state of extreme concentration, only after the success they will be detached from this state.


    Cho Chang is still trying, and Hermione has turned red, Cedric made the cup float wobbly, nevertheless barely succeeded.


    One minute, two minutes, one after another, someone succeeded.


    Hermione is the seventh, she looked up at the others, "Oh." Her expression looked a little lost.


    Felix smiled and said, "It does not represent your potential, you may be too rational, and usually have little experience in this regard." He said to those who succeeded, "You can keep practicing, or you can watch the others and feel the difference."


    More and more people succeeded, and in the process, Felix kept hinting, "Focus ... sensitivity ... confidence ... you can do it!"


    By the time the last person made the cup float telekinetically, half an hour had passed, but Harry hardly felt the passage of time.

 Chapter 237: Dorothea Bonham

    Thus ended the first Magic Rune Club gathering, and the young wizards came out in a line with an excited look on their faces, walking some distance away before the murmurs broke out like a surging tide. "That was wonderful!"


    "Did you see the flames? It''s like a toy in Professor Hap''s hands!"


    "Spellcasting instinct ..."


    "I wonder what the next gathering is about?"


    Harry and Ron stood in the corridor while Hermione stayed to ask a few questions, and after five minutes, she finally appeared.


    "I asked a question about Professor Lupin''s little issue." Hermione looked relieved, as if she had solved a question that had been buried in her heart for a long time, "Professor Hap, indeed aware of it." S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What are you talking about?" Ron asked in bewilderment.


    "Oh, I promised the professor I wouldn''t tell anyone." Hermione paused for a moment, " to avoid unnecessary controversy."


    It looked like Harry and Ron getting even more curious, but Hermione quickly mentioned something else, "Professor Hap recommended a set of books to me that would be useful for our dueling self-study group."


    "A set?" Ron smacked his tongue.


    "Chadwick''s Charms, a set of teaching books written by Chadwick Boot, one of the four co-founders of Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. We can read it together with the textbook for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class - The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Also, Practical Defensive Magic and Its Use Against the Dark Arts is very good, plus Curses and Counter-Curses by Professor Vindictus Viridian ..."


    Hermione then said with some regret, "I shouldn''t have wasted my time reading some miscellaneous books before."


    Harry recalled, "It was the book Corruption, Defeat of Virtue ..."


    "It''s Lupine Lawlessness: Why Lycanthropes Don''t Deserve to Live." Hermione blurted out a lengthy title, "It declares that werewolves are all a bunch of morally corrupt and lawless guys."


    "Sounds a bit subjective, maybe there are some good werewolves out there." Ron shrugged, "But Hermione, Professor Lupin has cancelled the assignment regarding the werewolf."


    "I know, I just--"


    A cold wind swept through the corridor, "Let''s hurry back to the common room, I''m freezing." Ron said, and they discussed it along the way back.


    In the classroom, the firewood in the fireplace struggled a few times as it burned to the end and finally died out.


    Felix extended his right hand, and the serpent in the midair jerked a little, shrinking down and then finally condensed into an Ouroboros ring around his right pinky finger. He looked at it calmly, then wiggled his finger, and the little serpent swam, coiled up, and turned back into a coin.


    "So that''s what you intended, Severus." Felix said softly, Snape during Lupin''s "sick" period substituted a few defences against the dark arts class, and taught about the werewolf chapter in advance, ignoring the students'' learning pace, he originally thought it was just to disgust Lupin.


    But now it seems that Snape is expecting some young wizard to discover Lupin''s werewolf identity and drive him out of school as a matter of course.


    "Unfortunately, Professor, only Miss Granger has done her homework seriously."


    ...


    Back in his office, Felix read the Evening Prophet for that day, and in the sub-page, saw an article published by a self-proclaimed retired old St. Mungo''s healer, who mentioned his previous dissertation regarding treatment for memory damage.


    ''Purely in terms of theory, I can''t pick any problems. Mr. Felix Hap''s understanding of memory magic is mind-blowing, and I look forward to more research on that theory and experimental data to emerge, and in my opinion, there are more than two real difficulties, and here are my thoughts -


    ...


    ...


    Finally, I hope that I can meet with Mr. Hap, whose theories, if they become reality, will benefit countless wizards who struggle with memory damage, but I also want to point out that the process will be very difficult, and I hope to live to see that day ...''


    "Finally, a healer with some weight has arrived." Felix rejoiced, adding that many of her views in the article coincided with his, which he did not disclose.


    As early as half a month ago, there appeared some critical opinions one after another, trying to point out the errors in Felix''s theory, but they probably didn''t even pass a certain threshold in memory magic, and the points they expressed were very naive, and they got refuted back by Felix one by one.


    But this time it''s different, with Rita Skeeter tipping him off in advance, he learned the identity of the old healer in no time - Dorothea Bonham.


    She is the ex-dean of St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, and she has a distinguished record in several fields of treatment, and her last name is " Bonham ", the same as Mungo Bonham who founded St Mungo''s.


    She was nominated twice for the post of Dean, but the first time, she refused to give up her front-line work and declined the post.


    After that twenty years had passed, her prestige was simply too high, and more than half of the healers were brought up by her. She had to take the name of dean of St. Mungo''s, though she never completely abandoned her work in treating patients until she retired.


    " A highly respected healer, I have to be careful in the phrasing in my reply."


    Felix reread her article, smiled slightly, and took out his quill.


    During the following week, Felix and the self-proclaimed "retired old healer" communicated with each other, and he revealed a small portion of additional content, and soon their discussions attracted many of the top healers.


    The name Felix Hap has also gained a lot of attention among the healer community.


    On the weekend, at St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.


    Felix met Dorothea Bonham, who is surrounded by a group of healers. That lady looked quite old, her face is covered with wrinkles, but her eyes were bright.


    Upon returning to the hospital, she changed herself into her healer''s gown.


    "Mr. Hap, it''s not that easy to see you." Dorothea said with a smile, her teeth pretty much gone.


    "Ms. Bonham, it''s nice to communicate through letters, isn''t it?"


    Dorothea said kindly: "I learned that you are a professor at Hogwarts, usually busy with work, using letters is indeed a good way to ... quickly tell me, how did you solve those difficulties? Lately, I''ve been getting headaches thinking about it."


    Felix got it, his secret treatment on the Longbottoms is already known, he had anticipated it, and even single-handedly planned the progress of things.


    By looking at the eyes of the surrounding healers, there is absolutely no intention of looking for trouble with him.


    Even if they did, they could only keep it to themselves. Over time, he added the title of "memory magic expert" on himself, if the Longbottoms fully recovered, he is the unquestionable "memory magic master", the most outstanding memory damage healer of his generation, without exception.


    Felix smiled and said, "Ms. Bonham, it''s very complicated talk, let''s check the Longbottom couple''s condition first."


    "That''s fine. It''s better to talk about it after treating the patient. I''ve seen the Longbottoms, and they''re in far better shape!"


    The ward on the fourth floor, Janus Thickey Ward, is always locked, and most of the patients inside have sustained lasting spell damage. The healer in charge of this ward, Miriam, opened the ward by saying "Alohomora".


    Felix and a group of healers came to the Longbottoms'' bed, "Frank, Alice." He greeted.


    The Longbottoms were playing a kind of rope-flipping game and looked up at him at the sound of his voice.


    Frank muttered something that no one could hear, but it''s encouraging enough.


    With a snap of his fingers, Felix drew the two of them together into the thinking room. In the world of thinking, opposite to him is two buildings that looked very much like a crumbling library.


    Rows of bookshelves lined on the floor, with a few books scattered inside, some of them broken.


    ''Another day of hard work.'' Felix thought to himself, the job of piecing together memories is easy to describe, but quite boring to do.


    The group of healers outside watched him dumbfounded as Felix snapped his fingers and the Longbottoms became blank-eyed, followed by three motionless people.


    "Mr. Hap?" A young healer tried to tap Felix on the shoulder, and the old Lady Longbottom said sternly, "Don''t touch him!" But the next second, the healer got bounced off by light, rolling over his heels, flying a dozen meters, and bumped against the wall.


    "August! Oh, my God! Are you okay?" Miriam walked over and patted the reckless healer on the head, before she turned to the crowd and said, "Fainted."


    "Miriam, please do me a favour and take him away."


    The old lady Longbottom said angrily, "That''s why I didn''t want to tell you guys in advance!" She glanced carefully at Felix as well as her son and daughter-in-law and felt relieved that they did not react abnormally.


    Dorothea Bonham said apologetically, "I''m sorry, Mrs. Longbottom." She turned her head to the current dean of St. Mungo''s, "I had no idea that a healer would be able to make such a low-level mistake these days?"


    The current dean said awkwardly, "It was an accident. August he ... is lively by nature and has lots of novel ideas, but this time he was really too rash and really shouldn''t ... I will criticize him severely."


    Dorothea Bonham nodded authoritatively, the current dean is her student, hand-taught by her forty years ago. She looked around the room, "Do not disturb Mr. Hap by any means, understood?"


    The St. Mungo''s healers nodded obediently.


    There is no further accident happened during the following treatment.


    In fact, Felix is fully aware of what is happening outside, he could have left it alone, but felt that he still had to do something, just now there were a few hidden magic probed him, is this something that can be just probed?


    So he deliberately activated a protective magic item ...


    After this episode, Felix returned his attention to the thinking room, today''s healing had gone exceptionally well, to the point that even as he was piecing together the memories and gathering them into a book, bits of light had been spontaneously drawn over and integrated into the bookshelf.


    ''Maybe one or two more treatments, and they will be able to stimulate their self-healing abilities.'' Felix thought to himself.


    When he opened his eyes at noon, he received looks of awe.

 Chapter 238: The New L.C.A. Comics

    Felix politely but firmly declined the request for exchange from the current Dean of St. Mungo''s, "I''m sorry, sparing one morning a week is the limit from my free time, and I have to spend time summarizing the Longbottom couple''s treatment plan too." Standing at the entrance of St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Felix revealed the latest treatment progress to the old lady Longbottom, "Three treatments at most before they will reach a critical point of recovery.


    At that time, I will use Frank and Alice''s emotions as a bond to tie the process of their memory recovery together.


    As soon as one of them is stimulated to self-recovery, the other will benefit along with it."


    Old Lady Longbottom hands intertwined, she forcefully held back her inner excitement, remained rational and asked, "There will be no accident, right, will this bond drag down the other one?"


    Felix smiled and said, "Don''t worry, Lady Longbottom. If it is two strangers, this practice is really not appropriate, but Frank and Alice are different, after treating them for so long, I am sure of one thing, they are the most important people in each other''s lives ..." S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After parting with old Lady Longbottom, he made a quick stop to Diagon Alley, where the L.C.A. building is now in a new shape, the shabby and outdated surface of the building is repainted in bright rainbow colours, constantly attracting the eyes of passers-by.


    On the re-erected sign, a young boy peaking from a small window of the Ferris wheel smiled joyfully.


    He could also see several little children as young as seven or eight years old gesturing at the huge sign beside him, squirming with excitement as they pulled their parents over. ''Looks like Andys and Dobby did a good job.''


    The lobby on the first floor being repurposed, a young witch offered a greeting as Felix entered the building, "Hello, sir, how can I help you?"


    "I''m looking for Andys," Felix said briefly.


    "And you are-"


    "Felix Hap, a shareholder of this company."


    The young witch''s eyes lit up, "Mr. Hap, please take this way up to the second floor, Mr. Andys told us that no matter what time it is, you can go straight to him."


    "Isn''t his room on the first floor?"


    "The first floor has been converted into a production studio, and it is occupied by twenty skilled painters, all of them used to be veterans of L. C. A. Comics." The witch introduced.


    "You know quite well?"


    "My father used to work for Mr. Andys''s grandfather, but then the publishing house declined and many people quit. Now, well, the company has been rejuvenated and quite a few people have been recruited back." The witch said cheerfully.


    Felix nodded as he got led to a long, narrow office on the second floor, where Andys, with a full beard, is having a lively discussion with an old witch who is glaring and shouting, "We need to speed things up! Three more publishers from three countries have come seeking cooperation."


    The old witch also replied loudly in a thick voice: "Not enough manpower, little Andys! I wish I could speed things up, but skilled painters are hard to find, and I''ve already gathered as many veteran employees as I can."


    "We can train them ourselves."


    "Good idea, but distant water can''t extinguish a nearby fire."


    When they finished talking, Felix walked up, and Andys brightened up, opened his arms to hug him firmly, then said without grumbling, "Oh, my, our great meritorious shareholder is finally willing to come over to have a look!"


    "Honestly, how long has it been since you''ve taken a shower?" Felix subconsciously took a step back, the smell is just too strong, and he gave Andys a cleaning spell. "It''s not that I don''t care, isn''t that what Dobby is for, he can represent me, and by the way, where is he?"


    "Downstairs now, he works several jobs, he is willing to work ... Where did you find your house-elf, introduce me to one as well."


    "Don''t be ridiculous." Felix shook his head, "I came here today to see if you were in trouble and if you needed my help to solve it."


    "As you can see," Andys shrugged, "understaffed, that''s the biggest problem. Unless you can find a large number of employees."


    "Are there any specific requirements?"


    "Skilled painters with experience would be best, of course, if not, we can train them ourselves, but they should be hard-working ... After all, the job is somewhat boring."


    Felix thought for a while and called Dobby over.


    Dobby is still wearing his little suit, and his spirit has improved considerably, "Great and generous Mr. Hap!" He excitedly shouted.


    Felix automatically translated his words into a greeting, "And you too, Dobby." With a straight face, he said, "Listen, Dobby, I have an idea that I need your counsel on."


    "Happy to be of service, it would be Dobby''s pleasure!"


    Felix paused for a moment, he''s still uncomfortable with the elf''s style of speech: "At present, the publishing house is short of staff, I want to ask you, do you still know some house-elf, the type without a master?"


    Dobby gave him a tangled look, his tennis-big eyes filled with hesitation as he wriggled his body uneasily, "Yes, sir. Yes ..."


    "Is there anything holding you back?" Felix asked calmly.


    "They are not in good shape, and for house elves, losing their master means losing everything, and they are often devastated and broken."


    "Dobby, can you convince them to work for me?"


    Dobby''s eyes widened, "Can I? Dobby has always wanted to ... oh, Dobby is too greedy, but Dobby has been hesitant to bring it up ... all this time"


    Felix smiled, "They work for me and I pay them, sounds fair."


    He had more in mind than that, from his previous conversation with Andys. He had found Dobby''s status is somewhat awkward, it is difficult for the elf to command the wizard directly - they are usually the one being commanded, so Dobby does more of a support job or got dragged out by Andys to act as a front to deal with the pureblood family wizards temporarily.


    It isn''t what he is looking for.


    "Dobby," Felix looked at him seriously, "you help me get those free elf, wild or banished, I don''t care. You''ll be responsible for convincing them, bringing them to me whenever you get a bunch, and if there''s no problem, they''ll get a proper job, and all of them will be under your management."


    Dobby blinked his big eyes and nodded his head repeatedly, he got so excited that he burst into tears -


    " Dobby�� Dobby is honored!"


    This caused Felix to have a few strange thoughts.


    ''It''s just a matter of taking what you need. For repetitive work, the elf is perfectly capable of handling it. And using Dobby to manage the other house-elf is even better.''


    ...


    At three in the afternoon, amidst the snow, Felix arrived at Hogsmeade''s Hog''s Head Inn.


    It''s a small inn in a hidden alley, and the Hog''s Head''s sign creaks and shakes in the cold wind.


    Standing in the doorway, cloaked, hooded and masked, Felix can not help but want to smile, why does he always think of this place first when it comes to underground trading?


    Maybe it''s because it''s a trend for the customers here to hide their faces?


    The Hog''s Head Inn is equivalent to a semi-public black market, where the owner of the inn doesn''t mind much and allows some unseen transactions to take place here, possibly even using such indulgences as a way to woo customers.


    He also saw dementors from a distance, a pair of them patrolling constantly to and fro.


    Somewhat hilariously, some Dementors were clearly shorter than their companions, though.


    "I didn''t expect to run into a familiar oddity ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 239: Mundungus Fletcher

    Felix walked into the dirty inn and looked around for a while, there are only a few customers in the inn, and one of them is a short, fat witch draped in a thick veil. "Well, I don''t think he''s here yet."


    He sat in the distinct seat by the window, the innkeeper came over, "What do you want to order?" He asked in an unpleasant tone, and Felix smiled and said in an indistinct voice, "A firewhisky."


    It didn''t take long for the innkeeper to a large goblet with a clear flame and a blue liquid in it.


    Felix had no intention of drinking it because there is a suspicious stain on the goblet. But firewhisky is the code word he had set before.


    A few moments later, the thickly veiled witch stood up, and Felix thought she is about to leave, but instead she got up and sat in front of him.


    " It''s for someone else, ma''am." Felix frowned.


    "I am," the witch let out a masculine voice that sounded deliberately low, " while I don''t know who recommended me to you, the Hog''s Head Inn is not an ideal place for meeting, I am banned from here a decade ago and have to wear some disguise to be here."


    Felix looked at the " Witch " in surprise, he tapped the edge of the table, then the space around his table became hazy, and the sound got confined in the narrow space.


    He regained his original voice and asked curiously, "Mundungus Fletcher?"


    Mundungus muttered, "Who the hell tipped that off to you? I prefer to be called by my codename - The Many-Faced." He positioned his back to the innkeeper, so he relaxed and lifted a corner of the veil to reveal his bearded face, his eyelids droopy and his eyes bloodshot.


    He picked up the firewhisky, "You''re not going to drink it? It''s a too obvious kid, in reality, you must be a man of status, and class-" he took a sip, "unlike me- hiss~" he sucked a deep breath and a cloud of steam spewed from his mouth.


    Felix laughed, " On me, but if you didn''t bring what I want-"


    "Oh, another threat, I''ve been hearing this kind of crap too much in life!" Mundungus said, glancing around furtively - though unnecessarily, it looked more like an ingrained habit - as he pulled a flattened package from under his belt and grinned, "You''ll be satisfied with ..."


    Felix made the package automatically open, revealing its contents - a dusty, silvery plate. His hand brushed over, the dust on the plate instantly disappeared, and Mundungus looked at him with caution.


    The plate revealed its original appearance, which appeared to be a shallow stone basin with ancient runes and symbols carved around its rim. It''s a Pensieve.


    "It doesn''t seem to be in very good shape ...," Felix said lightly, while constantly sensing the state of the Pensieve and evaluating the possibility of restoration.


    "Ha, it''s quite good, If it''s new, I wouldn''t have kept it in my hand for 2-3 years." Mundungus took a sip of wine and stared at Felix, "You''re an alchemist? From Knockturn Alley, or from Order''s side? Or maybe that fallen man''s side?"


    "Nothing to do with you, Mundungus."


    "Oh never mind, I thought, we could establish a solid bond, no need to go through an intermediary, it''s too shady, I need to pay a fortune to get an honest deal, you know." Mundungus muttered, " it''s cost two sickles, if I hadn''t heard the other party wanted a Pensieve, I wouldn''t have come."


    Felix chuckled, "You''d make more, aren''t you smugglers just after profit?"


    "Hey! I wanted to do something big and successful when I was young ... I almost thought I made it and managed to get close to a big man, to whom I was loyal, but in the end, I found it''s a lot easier to fit in these gray corners."


    "Or rather, gray tombs?" Felix said casually, as he held the Pensieve up, carefully examined the runes and symbols on it.


    Mundungus isn''t half ashamed, "I gotta live - at least 200 galleons, we lost one man and another half dead trying to get this."


    Felix glanced at him, he doubted that even if he gave this guy 200 galleons, Mundungus would honestly share it with his companions, and Even the companions he was talking about would be a makeshift group.


    He thought deeply for a moment, "200 galleons? At most a hundred, I''m not an idiot, this thing is rubbish in your hands, and I have no guarantee that it can be restored as good as new. If you want more, that''s okay - but I need you to get some information for me."


    "A broker? No problem! This old Mundungus is well-informed." Mundungus said smugly.


    "I''m interested in some ancient, dangerous tombs of ancient wizards," Felix said lightly, "and likewise, ancient, fascinating runic creations, which I won''t turn down ..."


    Mundungus'' bloodshot eyes went wide, "I need a deposit! A deposit ..."


    "Bang!"


    A bag embroidered with green and blue patterns appeared on the table, making a "clattering" sound that sounded clear and pleasing to the ear.


    Mundungus swallowed a mouthful of saliva, he opened the bag, the golden light inside almost dazzled his eyes.


    "What charming little things ... listen to their voices ..." he stretched out his dirty hand, "you are a generous man, this job, I will take it! It''s done, you just have to wait in peace-ouch, what''s that!"


    As Mundungus reached for the bag, a small gray-green snake suddenly appeared and bit him. The snake moved its small body and became a transparent glass bottle in front of Felix. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A few drops of blood remained in the bottle.


    Mundungus stared at him with an ugly face, seemingly ready to explode.


    "I''ve inquired about your reputation, Mundungus Fletcher, a smuggler, liar, thief, burglar ... I can''t trust your words seriously, and to prevent you from developing bad thoughts, I think - it''s better to take some precautions."


    Mundungus still angry, but he seems to have thought of something, his expression became calm.


    "I never go back on my word, it''s all a smear against me out there! But ... whatever you want, now, there won''t be another snake coming out of the bag, right?" He glanced at Felix, who made an inviting gesture. He muttered, "Slytherin." and tucked the bag inside his women''s gown.


    Felix said, "One hundred galleons is considered the price for the broken Pensieve, the other nine hundred galleons, you can use it to collect and buy artefact, or to snoop ... whatever you want, I don''t need modern stuff, and don''t fool me with dark artefacts."


    "As long as I think it''s worth it, you''ll get a steady stream of money from me."


    Mundungus looked at the black and white mask on Felix''s face getting smoother, "How do I find you?" He considered the deal seriously now.


    Felix tossed him a stone, which is a variant of the Fever coin. "Infuse it with your magic, and as long as you''re in Hogsmeade, I''ll find you."


    "I''m more certain you''re an alchemist." As Mundungus put the stone away, he muttered, "It''s not fair, you know me and I don''t know you."


    Felix said, "You will know, but it will take time for us to build trust."

 Chapter 240: Seeing Umbridge Again

    Because of Galleon, the two formed a loose employment relationship, but for Mundungus, who travels between black and white, these are just normal operations. He met lots of big shots, they may be superior and powerful, but they could never be detached from seeking small folk like him for convenience.


    Felix asked curiously who is the " Big Man" he mentioned before, but Mundungus kept his mouth shut and never revealed anything, which made Felix have a good impression towards him.


    He hesitated for a moment and asked probingly, "Mundungus, have you ever heard of a time-turner?"


    "What''s that?" Mundungus asked with a blank look.


    "A ... no it''s nothing, forget about it." Felix dismissed the thought that suddenly popped up, even if some ancient families had time-turners, they wouldn''t take them out to sell, as they would keep it as a secret and protect it to the death.


    Although the conditions for using the time-turner are very demanding, but it is definitely considered one of the most miraculous magic items, and its origin has always been one of the most deeply buried secrets of the wizarding world.


    Mundungus gave Felix a puzzled look, but secretly memorized the name, can be mentioned by this mysterious wizard, it must be something extraordinary, in the future, he should keep an eye out for it, if there is any news about it, then sell it to him at a high price!


    "By the way," Mundungus said: "I can also get other stuff, such as artwork, ancient coins, or some stolen goods confiscated by the Ministry of Magic ..."


    Felix looked at him strangely, your road is very wild, ah. But what Mundungus subsequently said drew his attention -


    "... and some magical creatures and their eggs or hatchlings or whatever."


    "Magical creatures?" Felix interrupted. "Tell me specifically about that information."


    "Oh, oh ..." Mundungus staggered for a moment, "just some creatures that are not allowed to be raised privately and maybe a bit dangerous, such as Horned Serpent, Griffin, Sea Serpent, and so on."


    "You can get these dangerous creatures?" Felix asked incredulously.


    "In fact, it''s all a matter of chance, every few years someone will sell them, I''ve even seen fire dragon egg and Lethifold for sale!"


    Mundungus continued: "In recent years you can see some from time to time, you know, the Far Eastern countries recently collapsed two years ago, and with it the wizarding community there also became more chaotic, many good things flow out, frankly, no one cares about it, they are eager to ..."


    Felix nodded slightly, he really did not pay much attention to these things in recent years. Including the black market of the wizarding world, he rarely goes there now. Needless to say, the trip in the first year of graduation is already a very distant matter in his mind.


    After some thought, he told Mundungus that if there is any particularly rare magical creature, he can inform him directly.


    Mundungus took another large sip of liquor, with a strange flush on his face, he began to tell the "interesting" experience during the time he wandered around.


    "Two years ago - during a black market transaction, the Ministry of Magic Auror burst in, they were well-prepared - hiccup! We scattered and fled ... I hid in a mud pit, and another dark wizard panicked and hid in the mud pit too, with his butt in my face-"


    "Ha - how could I let this opportunity go? I threatened him to give me everything in his stash, or I''d cast an Exploding Charm on his ass ..."


    Felix really didn''t know what to say, as Mundungus finally finished his drink, he wiped his mouth and put back his veil, "If everything is clear, I''ll leave, those patrolling dementors are annoying as hell-"


    " Jingle~ Jingle~"


    The bell at the door rang, a cold breath poured in, the hog''s head Inn instantly quieted down, several customers silently stared at the dementors that suddenly walked in.


    A bandaged, mummified-looking wizard winced and stumbled out of his seat.


    The innkeeper, who is seated behind the bar, suddenly raises his wand and a silvery-white light is flashed from its tip. "Get out of my place, Dementor!" He shouted gruffly, his wire-like gray hair and beard rose to its roots and flared in all directions.


    The cold stream inside the Inn instantly weakened.


    Felix noticed Mundungus lowered his head and kept shivering, while he glanced at the Innkeeper with a wince. I don''t know if he is afraid of the dementors or the cranky old man who is holding his wand up at the moment.


    Dementors stood at the door without moving, and the old man became even angrier. He stood tall, had bright blue eyes, and the tip of his wand showed a tendency of condensing into a solid silver-white glow, with a pair of large horns appearing.


    Felix guessed that it might be a long-horned goat or a deer or some other kind of creature, and when you consider the lingering smell of goat in the room, it could very well be a goat.


    "There''s no Sirius Black here, you rotten, mouldy fools!" He yelled.


    Mundungus whispered, "It''s been almost twelve years since I''ve been here, and he''s still so grumpy ..."


    The dementors floated up high and swept past the old man to look around the room at the guests, and a sunken shape emerged from their hoods, possibly a mouth, as a gust of wind passed through the room.


    When their eyes swept over Felix, they froze very humanely, then moved their heads away a little as if their necks had rusted.


    Then, they drifted away without looking back.


    ''''Am I discovered now?'''' Felix touched the mask on his face, ''They saw me and ran away in fear? Was it through scent or emotional perception?''


    Felix operated the occlumency while tapping his fingers on his chest, placing a concealment charm on his body.


    Coming out of the Hog''s Head Inn, Felix also saw several Aurors on the street, dressed in formal combat attire, their eyes constantly scanning the passing crowd.


    Among them, a short, fat witch in a pink dress stood conspicuous, and she is lecturing in a shrill, thin voice, Dolores Umbridge.


    Felix had met her once at Belby''s award ceremony, and Belby had said that the most unsatisfactory part of the whole ceremony is having Umbridge as the host.


    Felix is also impressed with her smile and pink bow, and yes, her surprisingly short wand that she holds in her hand.


    ''Why is she here, I remember this woman as a Head of the Improper Use of Magic Office?''


    Felix met Umbridge''s eyes, and through his mask, he saw Umbridge staring suspiciously at him, as she grinned, like a large toad ready to hunt.


    She extended a thick finger and pointed it at Felix, and two young Aurors approached cautiously, one left and one right, one of whom Felix surprisingly recognized - she was the schoolmate from Hufflepuff, who is two years younger than him.


    He had an impression because this girl''s ability is too convenient. She is a very rare natural Metamorphmagus who can change her appearance at will. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Under the mask, Felix curled his lips, and the next moment his figure simply disappeared.


    He had a hunch that they would see each other again.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 241: Yule Stay-In List

    The next morning, Felix did not expect his premonition to come true so soon, he remembered that he did not have a gift for divination, right? It''s fair to say that he gave up divination class because of Trelawney, the woman who always acted like a divine envoy. When Sybill Trelawney entered Hogwarts for teaching a few years ago, there was no such a stable teaching style as now, Sometimes she inevitably pushes too hard.


    And Felix is in the limelight at that time - huge and troublesome fame, just the right pick for her to make a name for herself. Trelawney once gave him dozens of prophecies in one breath, although none of them proved true.


    ...


    Felix saw Professor McGonagall and the toad-faced Umbridge standing face to face in front of the Grand Staircase, Professor McGonagall''s expression is rather displeased, her lips pursed till they are just a slit.


    "Umbridge ... Investigator! I need to remind you that Dumbledore does not allow Dementors into the school, and there was a particular incident where a Dementor stormed into the Quidditch pitch a month or so back."


    Umbridge climbed a few steps, realizing she is still not tall enough, then she stepped on a second step and looked down at Professor McGonagall with a fake smile plastered on her face, "Professor McGonagall, I have no intention of letting Dementors in either, I hate those creepy things as much as you do. To be honest, it will remind me of the unfair treatment I received in my younger days, when I was just an intern."


    "Fortunately, though, I managed to prove myself, despite my kinship with the Selwyn family ... I only got to where I am today all by myself."


    Professor McGonagall gave a "hum" from her nose, "I just hope you haven''t retaliated back twice as much once you got your position, as far as I know ...," she didn''t go on.


    Umbridge did not seem to have heard her words, and she smiled sweetly: "In view of the fact that Sirius Black, a dangerous fugitive, is still on the run, I would like to - on behalf of Minister Fudge - open a small base at Hogwarts, to prove the importance that Ministry of Magic attaches to Hogwarts. Of course, there will be no Dementors allowed within. It''s just me and the two Aurors will be around."


    Professor McGonagall said dryly, "I haven''t received any notification from Dumbledore."


    "I can wait." Umbridge waved her hand in a friendly manner, "I don''t mind wasting a little time for the safety of those cute, adorable, little ones who are filled with childishness."


    Professor McGonagall stared at Umbridge, her chest heaving sharply, clearly exasperated.


    "Excuse me, Minerva?" Felix descends the stairs and brushed past Umbridge.


    Professor McGonagall took two steps back to make room for him, and Felix''s taller figure got right in front of Umbridge.


    Felix winked at Professor McGonagall, and for a moment, a small smile appeared on her face, but she quickly restrained her expression and became sterner. A similar scene happened last year at the Christmas party, when Flitwick used himself as an example and told her a dwarf joke.


    "Ahem! Excuse me-" another feigned throat-clearing sound sounded behind him, and Felix seemed to have just noticed her, "You haven''t left yet? I thought you guys were done talking."


    "Are you?" Umbridge''s face didn''t look good.


    Professor McGonagall didn''t have the slightest intention of introducing him, and she said apologetically to Felix, "Felix, can I ask you a favour? I need--" She glanced at Umbridge, and since Umbridge is standing on the steps, a few steps above her, her eyes fell on her pink jumper and the bow that is embroidered on her collar, and she averted her eyes in discomfort.


    "-I need to accompany this investigator from the Ministry of Magic." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What do you need me to do?" Felix asked.


    "Gather the Christmas Stay-In list, you only need to cover Gryffindor House, and Percy Weasley would assist you in that." Professor McGonagall handed him a piece of parchment, "Just have the young wizards fill out the forms, and if I can find time this afternoon, I''ll come over to collect it back."


    "No problem, Minerva." Felix said easily, bowing slightly to the two Aurors, his eyes settled on Umbridge, "The clothes match you well, ma''am."


    Umbridge looked at him incredulously, "Who is this man?" She pointed out her fat finger at his departing back.


    Felix heard Professor McGonagall say in a pleasant voice, "Obviously, he''s a professor at Hogwarts ..."


    He made his way up the grand staircase, all the way to the Gryffindor House common room. He ended up being blocked by the portrait of the fat lady guarding the door, who said with a stern face, " Password."


    Felix froze and said tentatively, "Good luck with that?" He remembered that Gryffindor''s password always seemed to be related to "luck".


    "No," the fat lady rolled her eyes, "although you are a professor, without the password you are not allowed to enter the door, that is the rule. Who knows if you''re Black or not."


    Felix said with interest, "Pardon me, ma''am - I''ve always wondered, do you still remember about Black''s school days?"


    As if being insulted, the fat lady uttered a yelp, "Oh my God, of course, I remember ..." she then cracked up, and Felix smiled and chimed in with her words, "Is that so? "


    " Oh, yeah, there''s that thing?"


    "He can be such a little shit ..."


    After almost ten minutes, the door of the common room is pushed open from the inside and Neville walked out, carrying his own school bag.


    "Neville, you''re going to the library to study?"


    Neville seemed startled and stammered, "Professor Hap? Yes, oh no, I''m going to the greenhouse - I mean, to Professor Sprout''s."


    Felix nodded understandingly, "By the way, what is the password to your house?" As they spoke, the fat lady had already closed the door with a bang, while showing an expression of watching a good show.


    Neville''s little round face froze, and he glanced at Felix very slowly, then at the closed door of the common room, and helplessly dug through his pockets.


    He started with his first pocket, then rummaged through the second, from his top to his undershirt, from his robe to his pants, then opened his school bag, which smelled like fresh dirt from within its loosely packed contents.


    Neville rummaged around the corner and found a small note, which he read out excitedly, "The lucky stars, THE lucky stars!"


    The fat lady quipped, "I''d like to talk to you a little longer." She moved out of the way with a spin, and the door to the common room opened along with her.


    Felix suddenly thought of something, "Neville, are you going to stay in school for Christmas?"


    "No, my grandmother wrote me to go back for the holidays," Neville replied, unconsciously gripping his school bag.


    " Got it, Neville."


    Felix went through the door to the common room, which is packed with people.

 Chapter 242: Tests and Warnings

    The center of the lounge has been cleared out to form an open space, and chairs and sofas have been moved over and arranged to form an irregular circle by the young wizards. In the center of the circle, two golems fought a fierce duel.


    The Fist of one of the golem emitted electric arcs and sparks, and a punch struck its opponent''s face, and that golem immediately stopped moving.


    "Four to Two! The first one to make it to the finals is Angelina Johnson! Let''s cheer for her!" Fred, who acted as a referee, said, "At the same time, she will receive a coupon for the couple''s mirror and a chance to participate in the lootery drawing event ..."


    "It''s a lottery." George next to him reminded him, and Fred rephrased it, "That''s right, the lottery."


    "So - the next game! Professor Hae... Haap?" Fred spotted Felix and waved his hand in a slight panic at George, who tacitly put away the parchment in front of him.


    "You guys started to gamble now?" Felix stared at him.


    "No, no." Fred explained, "We''re promoting couples'' mirrors and trying to have a little fun in the process."


    Felix looked at him with a sceptical expression, and Fred swore, "Absolutely True, ask them if you don''t believe me." The other young wizards nodded their heads.


    "Okay, where''s Percy?" Felix didn''t press on.


    "He''s not here, Professor, I guess he''s with Penelope," Fred said without thinking. "I can point out a few places they''ve been dating."


    "Ahem, there''s no need for that." Felix, whose heart ached on Percy''s behalf, raised his voice and said to the young wizards around him, "I''m here, in place of Professor McGonagall, to collect the names of those planned to stay in school for Christmas, so please come here and fill the form out, and tick the corresponding box ..."


    "Well, I''ll leave the forms here for now, I''ll pick it up this afternoon - if Professor McGonagall hasn''t got rid of her little problem by then."


    One by one, the young wizards gathered around.


    Felix stood at one side and surveyed the Gryffindor common room, this is his first time here, the layout is different from Slytherin or Ravenclaw common room, with gold and red as the main colours, the shape is very much like a big circular living room.


    The lounge has both soft armchairs and sofas, as well as small, sturdy solid wood chairs and tables, and bulletin boards with notices, posters, and messages written on them by the students themselves.


    The most notable notices at present are about the Weasley twins'' couples mirror sales promo and news of Ravenclaw''s victory over Hufflepuff in Quidditch at the end of November.


    Beneath that notice is a handwritten, encouraging line of sparkling text: "We still have a chance!"


    The overall layout of the common room consisted of both a large open area and a space in the corner divided into separate compartments with dividers.


    In addition to a huge fireplace that occupied an entire wall, the other three sides of the wall contained tapestries with a scarlet background, on which there are many images of well-known male and female wizards, in addition to some magical creatures.


    Felix saw a majestic flaming lion that he thought resembled the one Professor McGonagall had shown in the dueling class.


    ''Maybe it''s some kind of magical creature?'' He speculated in his mind.


    "Professor," Hermione approached him together with Harry and Ron after they had finished filling out their forms.


    Felix looked at them with a smile, "I heard about your dueling self-study group, is it doing well?"


    Harry could not help but scratch his head, " Mostly the three of us will practice together, Dean, Seamus, and the rest will come over occasionally."


    Felix said, "Harry, I''ve read your dueling system thesis, it''s perfectly suitable for you, and when you can integrate it into every fight you have with ease, it means you''ve completely mastered what''s on the thesis."


    Ron said, "I think Harry right now--" Harry hurriedly dragged him back.


    Felix looked at Ron and asked with a smile, "Are you trying to say that Harry has already mastered the dueling system structured in the thesis right now?" Seeing that the professor did not look angry, Ron nodded bravely.


    This is Ron''s first-hand experience, without counting disarming charm, he could barely hold a few moves against Harry, even though he is able to cast the shield charm and stunning spell successfully.


    However, against Harry''s maximum potency disarming charm, all his resistance is ineffective - his shield charm is like small cookies cracked in the middle, and his wand flew out, then he got knocked out, there is no second possibility.


    In addition, Harry is able to change the trajectory of the disarming charm in a curve, and combined with the pace he learned in dueling class, he managed to break through his defences without any difficulty. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    This also made Ron secretly anxious, even the food in the great hall did not taste that good anymore - he did not want to be left behind this far.


    Felix thought about it and decided to test it, "Look at me, Harry." His eyes turned silvery-white, and when Harry met his gaze, he froze for ten seconds or so, and stumbled abruptly to his feet, nearly falling down.


    "Professor?" Ron caught Harry and looked at Felix in surprise, he almost thought the professor in front of him is Black in disguise.


    He had thought so because they had done something similar last school year, sneaked into the Slytherin common room by using polyjuice potion, and tried to snoop information about the heir of the Chamber of Secrets from Malfoy.


    They had previously discussed that if Black wanted to infiltrate Hogwarts'' castle, a polyjuice potion would be an excellent solution. But ultimately they concluded that this is unlikely, as Black would have to break through the sneakoscope defences at the castle gates.


    "I''m fine," Harry said under his breath, "Professor Hap, it''s - what is it -"


    "A unique spell of mine, it''s not considered perfectly precise, but it''s fine for testing your progress," Felix said.


    Harry said with great reverence, "I dare to say that this magic is absolutely extraordinary, I can actually fight with you in the consciousness ..."


    Ron looked at him with a shocked face, what did Harry say, fighting in the consciousness? Is that what he thought of?


    "Is it a thinking room, Professor?" Hermione asked speculatively, she had been practicing ancient runes in the Thinking Room before, and never tried to fight before.


    "Well, it''s just somewhat like that, and frankly, I''ve been progressing rapidly in the field of memory magic lately and have discovered quite a few new and exciting skills that I haven''t had time to name yet." Felix said.


    He brushed off that topic and looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "As you can see from the test just now, Harry still hasn''t mastered the dueling system he developed proficiently, especially in all kinds of fine details, there are plenty of problems ... In fact, Harry''s issue is also your issue.


    From theory to practical, you need to step over more than one threshold, and turning it into an instinctive response without thinking will take even longer."


    He said with a serious expression, "For some people, it might take a lifetime."


    "Of course, all three of you are talented wizards, the only enemy you need to defeat is complacency, which will hold you back."

 Chapter 243: The Christmas holiday is approaching

    Felix relieved to find that Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked serious. Speaking of which, an idea popped into his mind, not quite clear, but definitely involving the crumbling Pensieve which he had studied throughout last night with no ideas on how to fix it.


    Pensieve, memory magic, and a fighting room similar to a thinking room... what would it be if you combined them together?


    An image flashed before Felix''s eyes.


    In the ancient runes class, the young wizards lined up to dive into the Pensieve''s thought pool one by one, and the Constructed ''Felix'' taught the lesson step by step, the students could even pause, rewind and speed up the process at any time, while they will receive an extra free time... ...


    Or perhaps -


    He could design an elaborate labyrinth with lots of terrains, a forbidden forest, a swamp ... location didn''t matter, in any case, he could let the young wizard''s team up in twos and threes and practice dueling in real scenarios with no fear of death.


    The trio saw Professor Hap fall into a contemplative state and suddenly muttered half-heartedly, "Must prevent the little wizards from trolling the teacher, they can be too bearish and would definitely do it ..."


    Hermione blinked, what is Professor talking about just now?


    Felix decided to go back and ask Nicolas Flamel, in addition to him, he could not think of anyone else in the current generation of existing alchemists who could have possibly cracked the secret of the Pensieve.


    It would be better to borrow Headmaster Dumbledore''s Pensieve for the time being ...well ... he could swear that there is absolutely no intention of snooping into Dumbledore''s memory.


    ''If his idea could be realized, I suppose this might become a magic item with more potential than a magic phone, and would alter the entire wizarding community deeply.'' This thought flashed in his mind, and then quickly took root and grew up crazily.


    Felix left in a hurry, and before he left, he asked Hermione to keep an eye on the progress of the Christmas Stay-In list, and the little witch nodded responsibly, having become very used to helping the professor with trivial things.


    When he left, Harry mumbled, "Thanks - for staying with me, guys." Ron and Hermione both signed the option for staying in that form.


    Ron said he didn''t want to see Percy''s face, "He''s got three internship recommendations already, and I can just imagine what Christmas dinner will be like at home - Percy bragging about himself with a prefect badge on top of his big head, Dad giving him a glass of brandy, Mum will kiss his face swollen, and maybe I''ll even get to see Penelope ..."


    Hermione also thinks she has a lot of tasks to complete, " I have only read the third book of "Chadwick''s Charms", and there is no time to spare."


    But Harry''s heart remained warm and fuzzy because he knew these were all excuses, "Let''s go practice dueling." He said. Immediately, Ron''s expression turned sour, while Harry and Hermione laughed as they dragged him out of the common room.


    "Can I add an extra layer of mats? I mean, maybe more than one layer ..."


    ...


    Nicolas Flamel seemed to be occupied with something else, and through the mouth of the ''young Nicolas Flamel'' in the photo, he told Felix that he would send Dumbledore to bring over some of his past research materials.


    Felix originally wanted to propose a visit during the Christmas holiday to Nicolas Flamel, but since Nicolas is busy with other things, he can only dismiss the idea. But Christmas gifts still need to be sent, Felix completed a miraculous sneakoscope with amazing enough features, so he will let Dumbledore bring it along.


    He believed that Nicolas Flamel will definitely be ''overjoyed'' with his Christmas gift.


    In addition to Nicolas Flamel, he also prepared a long list of names who he needed to send Christmas gifts, which included both Hogwarts professors and students, as well as some wizard pen pals he knew, and of course, avid fans of the book.


    Since Felix''s war of words in the Daily Prophet, his identity as a Hogwarts professor became well-known among the public, so it is logical that the fans sent their letters here.


    As a result of this, there were a lot of weird letters, including some bold and steamy displays of affection, and Felix couldn''t help but scratch his head, because he had never done a book signing, nor had he ever shown his face. What if I''m a sloppy uncle? He put himself in Andys'' shoes and got a nasty chill in his heart.


    To his amazement, these fan letters included many little wizards who are not old enough to go to school, and they are all loyal readers of " The Strange Adventures of Mick the Wizard", and the letters were sent directly to L.C.A. Comic Publisher and brought to him one day by Dobby the elf.


    At that time, he felt a burst of heat in a copper coin, and then several house elves carrying huge packages appeared in his office. Except for Dobby, the other elves were all dressed in a tattered and ragged dress.


    After opening the package, it contained a variety of letters and gifts, in order to address the return letter, it took him a good half-day of effort.


    And for the five house-elves that Dobby brought over, Felix also carefully checked them one by one, to confirm that they are truly masterless elves, then peacefully gave the green light, after some encouragement, let Dobby take them away.


    Their status would be similar to that of the elves in the Hogwarts kitchens, probably a little higher, at least they had a holiday and pay, but of course - not much.


    Felix had also considered arranging internships for Hogwarts seventh-years into L.C.A. publisher, but in the end, he dismissed the idea because painting magic is not something that can be mastered in the short term. S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hogwarts students knew nothing about this branch of magic, so a short-term internship would be useless, but he could connect Professor McGonagall and Andys to cooperate and train a group of talented students to master painting magic.


    During the summer holiday, all fifth-year students are required to attend a short meeting with their Head of House to discuss their future careers.


    During this time, pamphlets and flyers for various professions involving magic would appear in a flurry, and many large corporations - such as Little Red Books, the Daily Prophet, the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and the Ministry of Magic - would send people over occasionally to advertise.


    Felix had also seen the Goblins of the Gringotts when he was in school, which was actually a relatively rare occurrence; usually, such events would be left to the Gringotts wizard staff. Because the goblins are not satisfied with the treatment they are receiving, there is a strong wariness and resentment towards the wizarding community.


    Leaving aside the historical rebellions and riots initiated by the goblins, at every meeting held by the International Confederation of Wizards, they would demand that the wizards should lift their monopoly on wands, even though the goblins invariably kept the secrets of their own magic and the crafting methods of enchanted weapons hidden.


    Felix guessed that their presence on campus at that time might be related to the fact that the war had just ended, because at that time someone had proposed to withdraw the goblins'' right to operate the Gringotts and simply treat them as workers who minted money.


    At that time, the Minister of Magic, Millicent Bagnold, held a tough stance, she took over the post when the wizard war was at its peak, and she was the one who approved the order that the Aurors could use the Unforgivable Curse against the Death Eaters.


    As an iron-blooded minister, it is hard to say whether she would go along with this proposal, so the goblins repeatedly weighed the consequences and had to make some statements, including permanent neutrality and that they would not take the initiative to start a rebellion, as part of their act to show their support, they visited Hogwarts back then.


    ...


    In the next few days, as the Christmas holidays approached, it became clear that the young wizards'' minds were not on their studies, and many were already planning their last trip to Hogsmeade before the holidays to make their holiday purchases.


    And Felix relaxed as well. During the last treatment, the Longbottoms went into a deep sleep together, their brains undergoing an important self-repair and metamorphosis, and they might wake up from their slumber in a day, or maybe a month.


    But until the day before the holiday, when the young wizards boarded the train for home, Felix did not receive the happy news from St. Mungo. He felt some regret in his heart, but wrote a note solemnly and delivered it to old Lady Longbottom -


    "The plan can begin."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 244: Nevilles Discovery

    On Christmas Eve, St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries is full of a festive atmosphere. The light source in the waiting room switched to gold and red crystal bubbles, which hung from the ceiling like giant Christmas balls, flashing constantly.


    Neville holding his grandmother''s hand in one arm and clutching his book bag in the other.


    They made their way up to the Fourth Floor, and every ward door they passed through is adorned with a holly tree, which is wrapped with colourful ribbons.


    "Neville, come on--"


    Old Lady Longbottom told him, and Neville rushed to keep up a couple of steps behind her. They went into the Janus Thickey Ward, all the way to the innermost bed, and lifted the floral curtain, where a pair of male and female wizards were lying in bed.


    If you ignore their pale, sickly faces and gray, dry hair, they looked like young couples sleeping soundly after staying up late, with smiles that naturally spilled from the corners of their mouths, but Neville just looked at them sadly, and rummaged through his book bag and pulled out a bouquet and put them in a vase on the bedside table.


    Neville just about threw away the wilted flowers when his grandmother said with a stern face, "I''ll do it." She grabbed the flowers with her splintered hand and gave him a complicated look, "Neville-" but she left without saying anything.


    Neville sat quietly for a while, after he had fixed his mother''s hair, tucked the quilt corners, and folded the towels for his father, but after a long wait, his grandmother still failed to return.


    He hesitated and got up to walk toward the door, two beds away, a woman with a long hairy face suddenly barked at him, scaring him and causing him to almost hit the wall on the other side.


    Startled, Neville opened the door and looked around, still no sign of his grandmother. The golden stars on the tip of the holly tree at the door flickered, causing him to lose sight of the distant corridor.


    Neville''s expression became hesitant, thinking if he should go back, but he suddenly heard a faint voice at the front of the stairs, and he remembered this soft voice - it belonged to his mother and father''s healer, the aunt named Miriam.


    "Mr. Hap - the Longbottoms - two weeks -"


    Hearing the familiar name, Neville''s curiosity got the better of him, and he tiptoed over, trying not to make a sound. Around the corner of the stairs, he saw Aunt Miriam with her back to him, chatting with a healer in a green robe.


    "No one can guarantee when they will wake up, Mr. Hap is confident, and old Lady Longbottom trusts him ...," said Miriam.


    The other young healer couldn''t resist saying, "But it''s just according to the newspaper articles, so who knows what his real level is?"


    Miriam said with some hesitation, "Ms. Bonham believes him, too."


    The healer retorted, "But like you said, it''s been two weeks since the last time that Hap came over, and the Longbottoms have been in a coma for two whole weeks, he''s certainly caused trouble that he couldn''t fix, right?"


    Miriam''s expression became more concerned, but she still looked for a justification, "The patient''s condition is stable ..."


    "Who can say what happened to the memory, maybe they just couldn''t wake up anymore! That Hap is also at best a professor at Hogwarts, not some kind of healer, after all."


    Miriam seemed to have convinced, "You have a point, when Lady Longbottom comes over, I will persuade her." The two then walked away together. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Neville leaned against the wall, the smile on his face faded away. He thought hard about what he had heard. There is only one Professor Hap at Hogwarts, so the professor is treating his parents? But why did he never mention it to him?


    Neville thought, perhaps he might have worried about him? But he thought of the conversation between the two healers just now, two weeks in a coma ... his heart clenched up abruptly.


    He rushed back to the ward, opened the door, and dashed back to Mom and Dad''s bed - they were still sleeping quietly.


    ''Two weeks in a coma ...''


    Neville tentatively nudged his mom''s arm, there is no response, he used a little force, mom still did not move, even the smile at the corner of her mouth did not change.


    He suddenly panicked, the unfamiliar healer''s words repeated in his mind like some kind of corrosive venom -


    "Who can say what happens to the memory, maybe they just couldn''t wake up anymore!"


    Neville muttered, "Not waking up - impossible! The Professor never does anything that he is not sure of, he is so strong and calm ..." But he could not help wondering about it again: that healer''s words also made sense, yes, Professor Hap never showed healer''s skills.


    Just like Harry, he excelled in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class, but he isn''t as good as he is in his Herbology class.


    There is a sound of footsteps in the distance, one is his grandmother, who is the other one? There seemed to be some familiarity ... Neville glanced over the gap in the entrance and saw a fine pair of dark brown shoes, it is Professor Hap!


    He realized, as an afterthought, that he had entered in a hurry and forgotten to close the door.


    Neville plopped down on his book bag at the end of the bed and pretended as if he hadn''t noticed anything, his ears quietly perked up.


    "Professor Hap, we need to talk."


    It is the voice of his grandmother, and she sounds a little anxious about what is going on.


    "There''s nothing to talk about! I should have quit a long time ago, if you hadn''t found Dumbledore, I would have never been here tonight." A man''s voice said.


    It is Professor Hap ... Neville thought to himself, how did the professor give him a bit of a strange feeling, a bit ... cold?


    "But, Frank and Alice haven''t woken up yet, they, they--"


    Neville heard his grandmother''s sobbing, and his heart speed up as the words of the green-robed healer bore into his ears once again, making it impossible to ignore them even if he wanted to.


    The chatter outside the door sounded quieter, and Neville couldn''t help but glance over his shoulder. The gap in the entrance only allowed him to see his grandmother''s profile, and she looked sad, an expression he had never seen before.


    In his mind, his grandmother had always been stern and tall.


    "Don''t cry! Someone will see us, let''s find a private place and talk things out once and for all." The man said impatiently.


    A shadow swept across the room, and footsteps drifted away.


    Neville''s heart thumped, he couldn''t quite believe the conversation he had just heard, the man''s voice sounded like a villain.


    He bolted to his feet, not even noticing that his book bag is clutched in his hand, he tiptoed to the door and poked his head out along the gap, just in time to see the backs of the two as they turned to the end of the hallway.


    Neville took a deep breath and ran out quickly, locking the barking witch inside the ward. An abnormal flush suddenly appeared on his face, and it wasn''t until he had chased them to the end of the hallway that he realized his footsteps were so loud that perhaps the two of them might have heard it.


    He leaned against the wall and waited for a few seconds in silence, no footsteps heard, he breathed a sigh of relief and probed like a thief to look, it is a row of empty wards, the light in the hallway is very faint.


    Neville boldly walked over, he did not know which room his grandmother and professor were in, so he had to find them one by one.


    He pressed his head against the door of the first room with his ears pressed against it, but there is no sound inside.


    He tiptoed to the second door, and before he could get close enough, a clear voice heard from inside -

 Chapter 245: Accidental Magic

    "What do you really want? I told you that there is a risk in my treatment!" The man''s voice exclaimed. "But you guaranteed and assured me that you would treat them! What did you say then? Everything would be fine - and in the end, Frank and Alice already went into a coma for two weeks, with coughing up blood." Grandma''s voice stated.


    "What can I do? You put yourself in my shoes, those experts in the papers held me by my throat, and I had to produce test data urgently-"


    "Test data? That''s two lives! They''re my son and daughter-in-law, or that Neville child''s parents!... Felix Hap, you''re Neville''s teacher!"


    Neville''s heart felt like it had been soaked in cold water, without a trace of warmth, and his stomach kept churning. He couldn''t help but clench his fists.


    The nasty man then said, "I also hoped that everything would go smoothly, but there are bound to be unexpected situations in everything. On second thought, if you think about it, they just went from moving corpses to motionless corpses, not much difference, right?" S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Neville''s eyes went red, his teeth clacked, how dare he say that about his parents ... how dare he!


    But the grandmother''s sad voice sounded, "I beg you, recheck them, you''re the only one who knows best since you made it all happen ..."


    The malicious man said, "Sorry, precisely because I know it most well, I do not want to waste my time."


    The grandmother''s voice became tough: "I was wrong, I shouldn''t have begged you, I will reveal what happened, expose what you did-"


    The man snorted, "Ma''am, I should remind you that your son and daughter-in-law were already sentenced to death by St. Mungo''s, I only gave it a try with the idea that if it worked, there would be a large number of people who would thank me."


    "Is that so?" The grandmother''s voice said sarcastically: "You care about reputation, that''s your weakness, but soon the public will see you for what you are, and you will lose everything."


    The man''s voice became hesitant: " If you put it that way ... it''s true, reputation is a fine wine and a tempting poison, and I am always attracted by its fragrance. So, what should I do with you?"


    "An Obliviate? That''s too easy, I''ve thought of a better idea, and to be honest, you''ve been pestering me for so long that I''m rather bored. There are some curses that I''ve been wanting to try for a long time ... Crucio!"


    "No, no ..." Neville''s eyes widened, his knuckles whitened, and his face filled with fear. He heard the sound of his grandmother falling to the ground with a "thud" and a "ho~ho~" groan of pain.


    "No!"


    Anger destroyed all his reason, and the door of the room blew open.


    He saw two people in the ward, the man with a surprised expression on his face, his hand with his wand outstretched stopped in midair, and an old woman fell to the floor, her pointed hat falling lifelessly to the ground.


    "Grandmother!" Neville ran over and tried to pick up his grandmother''s head, but she immediately showed an expression of pain. Overwhelmed, he paused and looked at the culprit of everything before him, as his wand still pointing at her: "Stop it! Professor."


    "Stop?" The man''s face is hidden in the shadows, making it impossible to read his expression, "Why?"


    Neville looked at him incredulously, his eyes filled with a great absurdity that made him feel unreal, like a dream, "What are you talking about? You, you''re a professor ... Why are you using that curse?"


    "Cruciatus?" The man''s voice stated, Neville shuddered, and the man laughed lowly, "Or an Obliviate? Or ... the other two Unforgivable Curses?"


    He said calmly, seemingly like a lesson: "Neville, I still have a deep connection with the Unforgivable Curses, having learned all three of them when I was in school - the Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse."


    "I always wanted to try it on someone, but I was too soft-hearted, and now that I think about it, what spell can''t kill someone? Aguamenti Charm can do that too."


    Neville looked at him with a shudder, as if recognizing his face for the first time.


    "Don''t look at me like that, learn to respect the professor, don''t you?" The man said.


    "You''re not my professor!" Neville yelled, pulling his wand out of his pocket and aiming it at him, but the next second, his wand is jerked away.


    "Silent Disarming Charm, I taught you that, Neville. Maybe you could try to get a little angrier?"


    Neville immediately pulled a second wand out from behind him - he had always carried two wands, his father''s, and his own. The anger caused him to silently make a Stunning Spell, but it got blocked by a wave of an arm, and the man said, "It''s too weak, Neville. You are not angry enough-"


    A thin layer of a magic barrier flew toward Neville, knocking him straight off his feet.


    Neville got up from the ground and looked at him unyieldingly.


    "I don''t like the look in your eyes ... So, Crucio! Crucio!"


    Grandmother let out a painful scream, Neville''s eyes widened in horror, desperately trying his best to get in front of her, the expected pain did not appear, he had no time to discern, he had to do something, stall for time? That''s right, stall for time!


    He is going to watch this man get arrested, just like those Death Eaters.


    Neville fired up his brain as hard as he could, his mind had never worked so fast: "I believed in you so much ... I looked up to you as a role model ..."


    And he recited what he knew best in recent times - a short story, which itself originated from this man - regardless


    "Nall is an awkward child. He was told by others that he is dumb, and over time, he came to believe so himself.


    Nall likes to fiddle with clay dolls, he has a natural sensitivity to the properties of different kinds of clay, he likes to watch black, red, brown, white, gray, various colours of clay in his hands moulding a little into a delicate, lovely shape.


    This kind of enjoyment without pressure, in Nall''s sad times, can bring him comfort in turn.


    His parents are very busy, usually do not spend much time with him, even the most important Christmas is only a hurried meeting, his biggest wish, is that they can spend more time with him."


    Neville recited regardless until he noticed the wand lowered from that man''s hand, and his grandmother''s low voice came from beside him, "Forget it, Mr. Hap, let''s just leave it ..."


    Neville watched in disbelief as his grandmother rose from the ground and the professor stepped out of the shadows.


    Ten minutes later--


    Neville sulked quietly as old Lady Longbottom coaxed him, and Felix looked at him awkwardly, "Neville--"


    Neville looked away and didn''t look at him, clutching the corner of his coat in his hand with a death grip.


    "Why did you trick me?" He said angrily.


    "It was part of the plan," said old Lady Longbottom, "to-"


    "It''s better if I speak, Lady Longbottom." Felix spoke up, looking over at Neville: "It came from a ridiculous idea I had when I was in school; I had experienced several accidental magic riots, which had brought me great benefits, and I had envisioned whether I could artificially facilitate them ..."


    "But I had never seen an actual case of it in anyone else until a few months ago, in Diagon Alley, when I met Potter."


    "Harry?" Neville suddenly asked.


    "Yes, he was going through something very painful and exploded with a burst of magic, and I convinced him at that time to test ... with me until I found you again, and I presumed that your magic was not very active when you were young, in other words - There is a little tolerance for magic, which is why you struggled so much to learn magic ..."


    "You''re the same, aren''t you?" Neville blurted out stiffly.


    "What''s the same?" Felix looked at him.


    "The one you mentioned, the accidental magic riot." Neville said, frighteningly calm at this point: "Sounds like it needs to be hugely stimulated, and you''ve just tried to provoke me over and over again. So I asked you, did you go through the same process?"


    Felix looked at him calmly, "You''re right, it is the same for me."


    Neville stood up with a stern face, "So, what Aunt Miriam said was also arranged by you? Everything was an act?"


    "No, Neville-" said old Lady Longbottom.


    Neville looked at Felix stubbornly, "I want you to tell me that by yourself."


    "I didn''t make that arrangement, but-" Felix said, "I was right next to them when they talked about it."


    Neville said abruptly, "I''m going back to the ward, to be alone for a while." He picked up his book bag from the floor, pushed the door, and walked out of the room.


    A dead silence fell over the room.


    After a long time, Felix confessed, "The moment he blew the door open, I thought for a moment that we had succeeded."


    Old Lady Longbottom said wearily: "Perhaps from the beginning, we should not ..." she pursed her lips, "I asked too much from him in the past, I hope the boy can be like his father, become an Auror, but in fact, ordinary life is fine."


    "I don''t think so, ma''am. Dumbledore once warned me not to play with hearts." Felix said, "But who can avoid playing with hearts? I do not accept this failure, we are so close, and if it could have been done better-"


    Old Lady Longbottom looked at him and said hesitantly, "Mr. Hap?"


    "I do not feel that my thinking is wrong, from the very beginning of the project, to--" Felix suddenly stopped, his eyes bulging out, incredulously turned his head to the side to look at the air, the sight seemed to penetrate the space. Then he ran out of the room with a jerk and turned to the corner, his eyes fixed dead on the ward at the end of the corridor on the other side.


    Felix tapped his forehead, and in black and white perspective, a powerful, soft tide of magic spread from within, a pure white glow without a trace of impurity that continued to storm his inherent perceptions.


    "What''s - what''s going on?" Old Lady Longbottom said in a panic as she followed behind.


    Felix did not answer, he took a step towards the ward where the Longbottoms were, and as soon as he pulled open the curtain, he saw Neville bawling in the arms of a woman, and a man with a soft expression holding the woman and Neville, they could not hide their weary faces, still in their patient gowns, but the love in their eyes almost overflowed.


    The room''s assorted with scattered small ornaments floated in the air, emitting a "buzzing" sound, and several patients in the bed next to them were bathed in a warm glow, which became the best footnote to answer Felix''s questions.


    "Accidental Magic Riot ..." he said in a one breath.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 246: The Power of Love

    A few minutes ago. Neville returned to the ward with a blank face, but his heart softened at the sight of his parents, who are still sleeping quietly in their bed.


    "Dad ... mom ...," he called out softly.


    He knew he wouldn''t get a response, so he just opened his school bag and took out a clay figure from it, "This is dad." He took out another doll, "This is mom."


    A third doll, "This is me." The fourth doll, "This is Grandma."


    Neville put the four dolls together and looked at them with satisfaction.


    In fact, he had another doll in his school bag, but he did not want to take it out now, nor did he want to see it.


    He only had these four dolls in his eyes, as he looked at them, he smiled, and he couldn''t stop the tears from falling out.


    "Daddy ... Mummy ..." he whispered over and over again.


    On the hospital bed, Alice Longbottom''s fingers moved slightly, as if waking up from a long sleep, she opened her eyes and the first thing she saw in her vision is a round-faced boy who is crying and sniffling.


    She also saw the clay figure next to the table and heard the boy''s soft cry.


    " Neil? Is that Neil?" Somewhere inside her is touched, and strong emotions welled up. She remembered her little baby in the cradle, and she called him exactly as she had called him.


    Neville looked up, his face still covered with teardrops, which blurred his vision a bit, and he wiped the tears with the back of his hand, then blinked hard.


    "Mom?" Neville felt that his mother is different today, the tenderness in her gaze seemed to overwhelm him.


    "Is that you, My Neil?" Alice Longbottom asked excitedly.


    "It''s me, Mom! You, you have recovered your memory?" Neville asked giddily. If the first half was a nightmare, the second half is definitely a beautiful dream, he can''t wait to experience it every day.


    Alice Longbottom looked at the ward and the clothes on her body, she understood somehow in her heart, and she couldn''t stop the tears from pouring out, "All these years, is it just you ..."


    "I live with my grandmother!" Neville said in one breath, this is his buried words for a long time: "I had a good time, met a lot of friends, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dean, Seamus ... and the professors also like me, although I''m a little stupid, don''t have a good memory... ..."


    Alice listened quietly, her fingers continued to tremble, and soon Frank Longbottom also woke up, he shook his groggy head, the first glimpse of his wife, followed by a rambling, crying, and laughing boy.


    His wife had grown thin and pale, as if she were recovering from a serious illness, and the hair on her head had lost its lustre. He thought with distress.


    A reserved message triggered in his mind and he saw a young man with dark hair and blue pupils address him, "Mr. Longbottom, I need to introduce myself ..."


    A minute later, he fully understood what had happened, including the fact that they had been tortured into madness twelve years ago by four Death Eaters using a Cruciatus Curse to inquire about Voldemort''s whereabouts, living in St. Mungo''s for treatment, and some of the major events that had occurred over the years.


    He said softly, " Alice, is this Neville?" He looked at Neville, who looked very much like his mother.


    "He''s our Neil." Alice said Neville''s nickname.


    "Dad?" Neville wiped his eyes, not only did his mother healed, but his father too? Is it really not a dream, he felt the sense of unreality again.


    He pinched himself fiercely, it hurt, it hurt badly. But he felt overwhelmed by great joy, an intense emotion that filled his entire being, leaving no place for pain, and he felt like he is going to explode with happiness.


    Frank Longbottom smiled gently as he wrapped his arms around his wife and stretched them out toward Neville: " Neil ..."


    Neville pounced and let out a loud cry, not wanting to hold back, but instead shouting loudly as if showing off, constantly venting his inner joy, as if he had reached some kind of limit -


    Boom!


    An Accidental Magic riot broke out.


    ...


    Felix''s emotions were complicated to the extreme, his painstaking attempt did not work, but unplanned factors contributed to the success of this event.


    He quietly walked out.


    Old Lady Longbottom appeared in the doorway, staring at the scene inside and crying with joy. "Frank, Alice, you ... It''s wonderful."


    Felix looked at them from afar and his expression became very odd. He forced himself to resist the idea of getting out of here and moved a little away from the scene, only to see Dumbledore''s figure.


    "Headmaster? What are you doing here?"


    Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone, "Dilys has her portrait at St. Mungo''s, she was the one who informed me, oh, I haven''t introduced her, before Dilys Derwent became the Headmistress of Hogwarts, she worked as a Healer at St Mungo''s as well."


    Felix nodded in silence, every Hogwarts Headmaster had been an elite wizard, and their portraits were hung in more than one place. Theoretically, any portrait at Hogwarts is Dumbledore''s eyes and ears.


    Dumbledore surveyed the wards with interest, "Although Dilys sounded like the sky is about to fall when she told me - pardon my phrasing, I think all St. Mungo''s healers have a sentimental heart, but I''ve come at just the right time, haven''t I?"


    "Are you going in, Dumbledore? The Longbottoms are awake, I''m sure you have a lot to say to them?" Felix just wanted to leave now, and be alone.


    "No, Felix." Dumbledore blinked his azure eyes, "I''m not going to make a fool of myself at this time of year, today, and the entire Christmas holiday belongs to them. On the contrary, you, Felix--"


    "I''m a little worried about you," Dumbledore said.


    "Worried about me?" Felix looked at him strangely.


    "On the way here, I wondered, if you failed, will there be a next attempt? You''re not one to give in easily, young and competitive - would you set your sights on Potter? Or Weasley? Granger? Malfoy?"


    "I wouldn''t."


    "Because you succeeded, and that''s one of the best endings I could have hoped for." Dumbledore said.


    "You mean-" S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Longbottom activated his own inert magic because of love, not because of hate." Dumbledore said.


    "I don''t see the difference."


    "Felix, love is the greatest power, but few wizards understand this, Voldemort did not, so he was defeated by an infant in swaddling clothes."


    "It sounds like you rushed over here specifically to give me a lecture." Felix said.


    "Felix, I just thought that you should know the power of love." Dumbledore said, "Hate may make you stronger, but the belief in love and guardianship will take you farther."


    Dumbledore quickly left, "I''m going to visit Nick." He said. Felix suddenly remembered the gift he had prepared: he took a gift box out of his ring: "Headmaster Dumbledore, please pass it to Nicholas for me."


    Dumbledore''s expression became complicated, and he said with some sadness, "Nick is not in the mood for Christmas right now, including receiving gifts. Felix, find another time."


    "What''s going on, what can I do?" Felix asked, Nicholas had been communicating with him much less in the last month.


    "Nick''s wife - Perenelle - is not well and may not make it through the winter." Dumbledore said: "We were prepared for this, but when it really happened, you can not help but be sad."

 Chapter 247: The origin of the name

    Old London, the city cemetery, evening, the sun still has the last trace of reluctant to go down. Felix, wearing a dark trench coat, stood in front of a gravestone.


    "Locke," Felix murmured, "you must be surprised to see me today. But I could only open my heart when I facing you ..."


    "I did a good thing and saved a couple, but I seemed to have done something else that wasn''t so good. I went to great lengths to plot and think I could manipulate hearts and minds, but it turned out to be the opposite of what I expected." s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I understand what Dumbledore is trying to say, it''s nothing more than negative emotions and positive emotions on the magic boost, still so cryptic ..." he bristled.


    "I also used negative emotions back then to advance in dark magic by leaps and bounds, although I later gave up, I found that it was never actually far from me."


    "When I look at Neville, I can''t help but envy him."


    "He has parents accompanying him, classmates loving him, even though his talent is not outstanding, there are friendly classmates helping and encouraging him; when he is bullied by people from other houses, there are also people defending him."


    Felix whispered, "I know I should be happy that I made this possible, but, Locke, I feel all alone."


    "Why wasn''t I so lucky back then?"


    His trench coat fluttered without wind, and the deep dark magic radiated out naturally, flared out behind him, yet bounded within certain limits by him.


    Even though Felix had always prided himself on his calmness and rationality, he still is not immune to emotions.


    Of all the people he knew, the only one who knew him best is Snape, who said to him, "Is there really someone who can get inside your head?" He diverted the conversation at the time.


    The answer, of course, is no.


    It got a little darker, and people passed by the cemetery now and then, but they just put down their bouquets and left quietly after a few minutes of silence, until--


    "Felix? Felix Hap?" An unfamiliar voice came from behind him.


    Felix turned back in surprise; he is not surprised to see a young man and woman, but surprised that they know his name.


    They were obviously both ordinary people.


    Felix stared at the man who made the noise for a moment and asked tentatively, "Jim?"


    The man smiled: "It''s hard for you to remember me. You were nine when I left the orphanage, weren''t you?"


    "I''ve always had a good memory." Felix shrugged, "How did you recognize me?"


    Jim said, "Dark hair, standing in front of Evan''s tombstone, and the right age, I tried to guess, and I did." He introduced the woman beside him and said, "This is my wife, Rebecca."


    Rebecca, a warm and cheerful redhead, looked Felix over twice and hammered Jim lightly on the chest, "You didn''t mention that you had such a handsome friend."


    Jim said grumblingly, "We haven''t seen each other that time, and back then he was just a little brat with a nasty taste..."


    "A nasty taste, huh?" Rebecca asked.


    "Ahem, I mean, quirky, he was very famous at the orphanage at the time for bringing half-grown kids to set up traps against punks when he was very young."


    Felix looked at them and joked, "You guys are so affectionate ... you came over today for?"


    Jim said: "I just returned to London, accompanied by Rebecca to visit the grave, as a result, I saw you when I come in, at first I was not too sure, specifically went around a circle, the light on the other side is a little dark, I can''t see too clearly."


    Felix immediately withdrew the spilled magic around, Jim shook his head, is it an illusion? The light seems to be brighter now.


    Jim extended an invitation to Felix, "We are going to visit the old dean, Rebecca has not met the dean yet, will you join us?"


    "Sure." Felix replied kindly.


    The three of them got into a taxi and passed through the streets, Felix looked at the street scenery with novelty, some orange lamps were already lit up.


    "Felix, I haven''t asked you yet, where do you work?"


    "Previously at NEIL''S in London, but now I''ve gone to Scotland and I can make time to come back once a year."


    Rebecca said in surprise, "It''s that upstart company, Neil, it''s famous now, how come you quit?"


    Felix smiled, "I found a better choice."


    The taxi stopped in front of an old house in the old town, dark shadows on the walls and snow and ice covering the yard.


    "Dean, we''ve come to see you." Jim shouted excitedly, and half a minute later, a little old man with white hair stepped out.


    The old man put on his glasses that were on his chest and looked twice carefully: "Jim," and then looked next to him and smiled out: " Lucky Felix, it''s you, weren''t you just here a few months ago?"


    "Came back for a visit, ran into Jim, and came along." Felix said as he changed the subject, "Let''s go inside and talk, Jim, is here with his wife."


    Sitting on the old brown couch, Felix almost wanted to just summon the beer from the fridge, but he stopped the thought just in time.


    Good thing he stopped in time.


    The four of them drank cold beer and made casual small talk. Soon they talked about Felix''s recent history, and Felix disguised himself as a professional manager in a company based in Scotland, running all over the world.


    He happens to have a wealth of experience in this field and is not afraid of being exposed.


    Jim asked a question, "Dean, why do you always call him ''Lucky Felix''?"


    The old dean grinned: "Ha, we found him as a baby in a big tank of water, three feet deep, and he didn''t drown, but swam happily, wasn''t he lucky?"


    ''Felix'' in its English context does mean lucky.


    "What about my last name?" Felix couldn''t help but ask.


    "Well, let''s see ..." the old dean pondered, "you were very different from other children, you would cry out only when you were hungry or thirsty, and when nothing is wrong you won''t cry out, also, when other children pooped their pants you were always eager to cry out for someone ..."


    Felix''s face went dark, isn''t it because the smell is so great that he can''t stand it? Hurry up and call someone over to deal with it.


    "... so some caregivers at the time called you, helper, the one who provides help, haha." The old dean laughed.


    This is the first time Felix heard the origin of his name. At that time, someone did call him '' helper '', but the pronunciation of helper and his surname are not the same.


    "Phonetically, it''s quite right and looks like I''m ignorant. ..." The old dean complained about himself, but according to his drunken revelation, he never went to school at all.


    Jim concluded, "So, Felix''s name means lucky helper? What about me, what about me?"


    "You?" The old dean gave him a blank look, "It''s not like you showed any difference at the time, so of course, I just picked it up off the top of my head."


    Jim looked hurt and went to hide in Rebecca''s arms, causing Rebecca to push him out a little.


    The old dean kept them for a meal, and then drove them away.


    "It''s good for you to come to see me, go on, go busy with yourself!"


    From the old dean''s house, Felix said goodbye to Jim, and he walked into a dark alley and Apparited away.


    When he returned to his office he saw a figure standing at the entrance, he suddenly remembered that he had forgotten to cancel today''s Runes tutorial, "Professor Hap!" Hermione greeted with a cheerful smile.

 Chapter 248: Chestnut Plate

    The professor''s office looked a bit messy, with two piles of Christmas presents in the corner, one of which is scattered with partially opened boxes. The large workbench is also cluttered with odd items, a palm-sized silver plate with runic symbols around the edge, a dozen dark green coins with a heavy metallic sheen, disassembled golems, a stack of parchment, a few chestnut wood plate-shaped objects, and a rune carving knife, and two or three books.


    Felix noticed Hermione''s gaze, "It''s all about what we''ve been working on in recent times, some of which you''ve been involved in."


    Hermione nodded, the silver plate is Pensive that Professor found, need to be repaired; as for the coin she had also seen at the Magic Rune Club assembly, can turn into a dark green snake, she just did not expect there would be So many, is it a new teaching tool?


    Or, maybe it is prepared for the Magic Rune Club?


    "Sit down for a moment, as I change my coat." Felix went into the bedroom and changed into a loose navy blue jumper, and when he came out, he found Hermione holding a small dark green snake in her hand and teasing it with her other hand.


    Hearing footsteps, she explained in some panic: "Professor, it''s the coin you put on the table, I tried to sense it with my magic - and it became like this."


    Felix smiled and said, "You can put your wand against its head and silently chant: infinity."


    Hermione looked down at the small snake in her hand, it does not look hideous, there is no reptile kind of slimy feeling, but rather like some kind of metal craft, dark green scales embedded in a layer by layer, all the way to the tip of the tail.


    The snake''s eyes were deep and bright, swaying with her sight.


    She drew out her wand and gently tapped the snake with the tip as she whispered, "Infinity."


    The little snake nodded at her very humanely and immediately moved up. She felt some tickling in her palm and then its head and tail linked on the little finger of her right hand, then morphed into a ring and remained motionless.


    "This is - the Ring of Ouroboros Serpent?"


    "That''s right, it''s sort of the symbol of the Magic Rune Club, and will be given to you at the assembly after Christmas. It has two forms - the coin and the Ring of Ouroboros Serpent, it will replace the Fever Knut."


    Felix joked, "More than one person told me that the Fever Knut is too easy to be mistaken as money, and you have to be mindful every time that you don''t pay it out."


    Hermione, interested in studying the snake ring on her hand, soon found the trick, she waved her hand, the ring moved, re-transformed into a small snake, and then the small snake''s body coiled together in a single piece, becoming the original coin.


    Hermione put the coin back on the workbench and pointed at the chestnut wood disk-shaped object and asked, "What is this? It looks a little like the Pensieve."


    "Close enough, the process of studying Pensieve did not go well, nevertheless I did imitate some gadgets - of course, it is not comparable to the Pensieve, but in some people''s eyes, it should be interesting."


    Felix gestured for her to try it out, and many times Hermione, who is an assistant in the Ancient Runes class, is the first person to try out the runic creations he makes.


    Hermione walked over and carefully examined the chestnut wood disk-shaped artefact, which looked very similar to the shape of the Pensieve, only slightly smaller, and at the edges were runic circuits clearly carved with a carving knife, and these circuits were layered and interlocked, so it looked very complex.


    What she didn''t notice before was that the chestnut plate is covered with a thin layer of fine silver sand. When gently shaken, the silver sand flowed like mercury.


    "This silvery stuff-" S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Blank pieces of memory, you can see them as necessary filler material."


    Thinking about it, Hermione touched the edge of the chestnut plate with her wand, and one by one the runic circuits around the plate lit up, and the fine silvery sand squeezed together by invisible hands, floating up to a foot high, forming a slowly rotating cloud.


    She suddenly remembered the bronze-colored smoke that Professor Flitwick had shown in one of his dueling classes, that miraculous magic could also be moulded into various shapes, only it required human manipulation.


    The silvery, fine sand-bonded cloud in front of her looked a little more delicate, like a silvery liquid light, stretching and floating with ease.


    "What should I do?" Hermione asked.


    "Imagine a memory, hint at it, not too private, because it can read your thoughts."


    Hermione got startled, but since it had been created by imitating a Pensieve, it must have something to do with memories. She recalled a memory in her mind, and then she extended a finger, pointing at the silver cloud.


    The cloud began to churn, silver sand fell like rain, gradually, they gathered on the silver plate and produced a three-dimensional model: it''s the second year memory, she together with Harry and Ron in the chamber fighting with the basilisk scene.


    Hermione put her head on the table, carefully examine the chestnut wood plate, there is barely half an inch sized "Hermione", it is difficult to describe the strange feeling in her heart. Similarly, Harry and Ron are only slightly larger, the basilisk is half a foot long, is desperately wriggling its body, tail smashed into a "large" stone, looked very vivid.


    The Chamber of Secrets structure is also replicated, including the Slytherin statue, the open space in front of the statue, around the snake stone pillar ... which looks small.


    Everything on the chestnut wood plate is like a pocket-sized sand model, only when they move. From this perspective, the original dangerous scene also became cute.


    Hermione stared dazedly, "the story" is going exactly as she remembered, until Harry leaped down from the Slytherin statue, the small Gryffindor sword thrust in the head of the basilisk, the scene stopped.


    Hermione stared blankly at the fine sand slowly spinning on the chestnut wood plate, and did not regain consciousness for a long time.


    "This can be, this can be ..." she racked her brain trying to describe her feelings, and finally could only say dryly: "It''s amazing."


    Felix shook his head, he is not really satisfied, because this thing is not useful to him at all, at most helped him to develop a new way of thinking.


    "That''s because you have not used the Pensieve before, which can recover all the details in your subconscious mind. If you experience it, you will be surprised to find that your memory contains such a wealth of content, and you know nothing about it ..."


    "What you just saw, in fact, Just the chestnut wood plate reading your recollection, and then show it, many places will not be clear."


    Hermione recalled the scene she saw, and gradually understood the professor''s meaning: "Indeed, I did not see you, Professor Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore, but in fact, you were also in the chamber at that time. Also, some places are blurred, only too minor I did not notice it, such as the Slytherin statue."


    Felix nodded and smiled: "You will find that you, Harry and Ron are the clearest, because you are most familiar with them, followed by the basilisk, which gave you a deep impression, and finally the surroundings, speaking of which, your memory is good enough, if you let someone with a slightly poorer memory use it, the surroundings may be a blurred area, or simply can not be visualized."


    Hermione concluded, "So it just extracts what we recall on our own and shows it, without being able to reach the subconscious."


    "You''ve found the key, Miss Granger." Felix said praisingly.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 249: Demonstration of Ancient Magic

    Felix and Hermione sat opposite to each other, he tapped his index finger on the arm of the dark sofa, and the young witch who is separated by a small low table found herself in the thinking room without a sound. ''''The professor''s casting is becoming more and more untraceable.'''' Hermione thought to herself, it had been over a year since she had first entered this place, from the very beginning when the colours and shapes were distorted and reversed, to the point where she could now be dragged in without a word, the professor''s mastery of this magic spoke for itself.


    Hermione is very familiar with the place, she easily surveyed the furnishings of the room, and then, her brow furrowed.


    The professor''s half of the space has not changed much: brown, black, dark green, interspersed with beige and soft gray, giving people a rich colour and highlighting the feeling of calm and heavy.


    The dark chestnut brown carpet is soft and comfortable, with thousands of large books stacked on it, which complement the black wall-to-wall bookshelves, the square table with its dull sheen, and the heavy dark green drapery.


    Of course, there is a growing amount of ancient rune symbols of various colours, they are like the rhythmic sprites throughout the house, bringing vitality and magical visual enjoyment.


    Hermione can imagine what it was like when the professor came to the room alone - sinking himself into the soft sofa, beckoning a book, a mischievous rune symbol jumped in front of his eyes, he curled his fingers and flicked it away ...


    But now she always felt that something is not right today, is it the colour of the carpet under the feet darkened, or the green drapery that occasionally rolls up a corner becomes quiet?


    Perhaps it''s just her seeing things?


    "Miss Granger?" Felix gave a strange look at his assistant, who nervously looking around as soon as she entered.


    Hermione is rather puzzled as well: "Professor, your thinking room gives me a strange feeling, like - thicker? Or solemn--" She stood at the junction of the two minds and looked suspiciously at the half of the space that belonged to her.


    It had distinctly modern decor, with sunlight softly spilling down, light brown carpet, goose yellow curtains, and two pots of greenery on a small circular table in the center, nothing had changed from a year ago.


    ''The weirdness is more obvious when you look at it this way in contrast.'' Hermione thought, and she also finally came up with a word to describe her feelings: "Dark style?"


    Felix laughed dumbly, "What makes you think that?"


    Hermione shook her head, "It just suddenly occurred to me, and it looks like nothing has changed, but some details make a difference."


    Felix understood somewhat, he said thoughtfully: "You have reminded me, this place is the external mapping of our inner world, it so happens that I have recently gained a new insight in this magic a few days ago."


    "Let''s begin today''s lesson, Miss Granger."


    Hermione put aside her doubts for the moment and sat back in her seat as she and Felix began to explore the succession of runes.


    "Professor, starting from individual runes, to runic circuits, and the complex loops I''ve seen on the runic spheres, and today''s chestnut disk runes that overlap and nest with each other, does this mean there are more advanced runic structures the more complex they are?"


    "If we look at the functional implementation, it is indeed true. Individual runes have single properties, and we humans always want to realize more and more complex functions, so we have no choice but to desperately study how to combine more runes together."


    "Let me give you an example," Felix held a rune in his hand, "the flame, this magic rune itself contains quite a lot of possibilities, the effect I can produce with it, and you can produce with it must be completely different, because we have different levels of understanding of it."


    The magic rune in his hand kept transforming rapidly between rune and flame.


    Hermione also quickly build a flame rune, her transformation speed is obviously more than a step slower, and after two or three changes, the structure of the rune is no longer stable, and finally, with a "snort" it turned into smoke.


    "This understanding of rune itself, it is difficult to cheat, comprehension is comprehension, there is no shortcut. But if you simply want to increase the power of the flame, there are actually many ways -"


    Felix grabbed some runes from the air, "For example, I want to enlarge the flame--" a magic rune connected to the initial one that signifies flame, the original palm-sized small fire instantly swelled to the size of a pumpkin.


    "I also want to make it burn more violently ..." he grabbed one more magic rune to add, as if fuel is poured, the pumpkin-sized ball of fire began to burn violently, accompanied by a "crackling" sound.


    "By this point, this magic is already difficult to control, and I must emphasize that the thinking room is not real, what I can do here does not mean that I can replicate perfectly in the outside world ... Back to the point, I also want to raise the temperature--"


    A new magic rune is combined and a surge of magic is poured into the flame. The orange-red flame became vivid, quickly transformed to bright yellow, bright white, and then turned into one with a hint of blue.


    Felix said in a relaxed tone: "If it is in reality, without any protection, we might have combusted ourselves, so the saying that ancient magic is dangerous is not false, from what I have seen in ancient books, too many people have been ruined by their first successful spell casting."


    "Moving on - actually at this moment we have acquired a powerful enough magic, but obviously we want more: to make it controllable, to accumulate power in magic, or to shape it ..."


    "If you understand magic well enough and are very skilled at mobilizing magic, some steps can be omitted. Theoretically, all magic in the world is the product of magic mobilization and transformation. But most people, including you, and also me, are far from being able to do it at will."


    Hermione looked nervously at the blue ball of fire that had reached a meter in diameter in the professor''s hand, the surrounding air began to distort, and despite knowing that everything here is constructed by thought, she couldn''t help but feel trepidation.


    Felix waved his hand and made the blue fireball disappear, "Well, the fun is over. What you just saw was nothing more than a demonstration in thought, I couldn''t do it so easily in reality, I hope I didn''t give you the wrong idea."


    " I will repeat, ancient magic is very dangerous."


    Hermione obviously now accepted this statement, next, she practiced the ancient runes step by step, in addition to learning new content, she also needs to deepen her understanding of the runes, one of the criteria for understanding, is " you can convert the runes into the corresponding magic meaning."


    She counted on her fingers, and only a few of them really reached the level of "understanding", such as "Wild Bull Strength", "Light" and "Fire".


    There is a long way to go!


    Felix encouraged her by saying, "In the next Magic Rune Club assembly, I will disassemble ancient magic into small parts and integrate it into the teaching. If you progress fast enough, I will teach you that ancient magic part by part. The same goes for everyone else."


    Hermione''s heart pounded, but she knew that the professor had been very cautious about ancient magic, and the two had had only a few discussions about ancient magic in the past year or so.


    Did this mean that the professor had recognized her ability regarding her studies and her level of magic manipulation?


    She began to think about it: in her second-year first semester, she had been learning translation and practical magic runes, and had been exposed to runic circuits in the next semester, even managing to repair the broken beaded pouches before the end of the semester. S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    During the summer, she had been practicing engraving magic runes and runic circuits with a rune carving knife.


    At the beginning of the new school year, she had already been exposed to the knowledge of rune transformation, focusing more on the understanding of magic rune itself, and she couldn''t help but fantasize: by the end of the third year, is it possible for her to master ancient magic directly?


    Seeing Hermione''s energetic look, Felix added: "It''s the simplest ancient magic, don''t imagine anything lethal from it." But this did not discourage her in any way.


    Towards the end of the session, Hermione, in a rare moment of exhaustion, stood up and moved around, her eyes skimming over the room, the weirdness still so obvious, the more she looked at it, the more uncomfortable it became.


    ''Although the professor said it is due to the change brought about by the new perception, but it still looks gloomy.''


    She decided to change her mind and stood in a corner of the room and kept surveying it. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, and she picked up a pot of plants and placed it on the professor''s square table that is stacked with books, she then narrowed her eyes and smiled.


    "This will look much smoother."

 Chapter 250: Reasons to Laugh at the Pureblood Family

    Felix looked up from the dark book ''Magic Traits'', "Miss Granger, you are working in vain, this is an external mapping of the mind, not the mind itself, and everything will disappear when the magic is cancelled." The little witch said cheerfully instead, "At least it looks good, doesn''t it?"


    Felix shook his head and buried his head behind the book, but the corner of his mouth couldn''t help but curl up, it still felt good to be cared for.


    And then there are those presents he opened today, which also put him in a happy mood.


    Although tomorrow is Christmas, some friends who are far away have already sent gifts early, but he wondered why Belby would even consider giving him a bottle of wolfsbane potion.


    Belby had already sent it once, didn''t he? Do I look like a werewolf? Even if Belby had written on the note that he was "most satisfied with this work so far", what did that have to do with him?


    The only consolation is that Little Red Book and L.C.A. Comic Company sent their latest split, adding up to 8,000 galleons.


    The bulk of the revenue this time went to Andys, who wrote a letter that mentioned that the book is "selling like crazy" and the rest of the words were explicitly hinting to him to "hurry up with the new book!"


    Felix tossed that letter aside, joking, one book a year is enough, more is not necessary. By the time his reputation as a master of memory magic became widespread, he had the intention of stretching the frequency of his books to two - three years.


    Well, if he thinks about it, he should publish his new thesis, which contains the treatment data of the Longbottoms and a set of simple treatment methods, and he believes that the whole wizarding world will dance to his quill.


    However, this time, he should find a professional publication. The Daily Prophet had no brand name at all ...


    As for Neville, he also sent him a gift, as for how it''s will turn out, he had no way of knowing it.


    Hermione''s figure gradually became transparent, somewhat like the ghost in the castle, which is a sign of overuse of the brain, she can no longer steadily maintain her consciousness.


    Felix cancelled the thinking room magic.


    "There is no need to be anxious, Miss Granger, you already have more ''time'' than others." He said suggestively while beckoning some bottles and jars, "Pumpkin juice, butterbeer, honey water, fruit juice, take your pick."


    Hermione poured herself a glass of juice, then added two drops of Invigoration Draught to it, and took a big sip, which made her feel alive again.


    Hermione couldn''t help but ask, "Why do I feel like I''m running out of time?"


    Felix looked at her, wondering if it had anything to do with him, because he had given her all the ancient rune test papers for a third-fourth year, and on second thought, it indeed isn''t good, his little helper has been very busy this year.


    He mused that perhaps he could move some paperwork to the members of the Magic Rune Club? The sixth graders are quite idle...


    "Have a little snack - it''s a holiday, you don''t have to buy yourself extra time, do you?" Felix said.


    The effect of the Invigoration Draught helped Hermione to relax her frown, "There are new things added in ah, I have to find information for Hagrid''s hearing to defend Buckbeak, the Ministry of Magic can be worse in this area if you don''t investigate ..."


    Felix''s expression froze, "When did this happen?"


    " In the last two days," Hermione said, "it is said that Lucius Malfoy knew about Draco Malfoy''s injury and took Hagrid to the Ministry of Magic and demanded the execution of Buckbeak, oh dear, Hagrid was very sad when we went to see him ..."


    "Didn''t Hagrid ever think of paying a fine?"


    "A fine?" Hermione visibly froze, "I did see examples of fines in the material, but anything that is assigned to the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures Committee--"


    "The Disposal of Dangerous Creatures Committee? It is not supposed to be that department ..." Felix furrowed his brow, "You tell me more about this."


    Hermione said, "Oh, well - it was the first day of the holiday, Harry was in a bad mood, and Ron and I thought it might be a good idea to go see Hagrid ..."


    "Harry was in a bad mood?"


    "That''s right, because the day before he was at the Three Broomsticks - ahem!" She suddenly coughed violently, "I''m sorry, Professor. I mean, Ron and I overheard the conversation between Professor McGonagall, and Rosmerta on our trip to Hogsmeade before the holidays, and they talked about Harry''s dad, along with Sirius Black, and mentioned a lot of things ..."


    Felix wondered about something as he nodded, "And then?"


    "And then, er ... Harry was in a bad mood - we went to Hagrid''s hut and Hagrid made a mess of himself by being drunk, and he showed us a letter from the Ministry of Magic along the lines of accepting Lucius Malfoy''s offer of a formal complaint and referred the matter to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures."


    "The hearing is on April 20th, at the London offices." Hermione finished, and watching Professor Hap in deep thought, she added, "Hagrid said that the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures Committee are a bunch of weirdos!"


    Felix laughed, "How to say ...? All of them are edge characters, doing disagreeable jobs. You can tell by the name, the odds that the magical creatures being put there will not be spared is high." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Then, then, isn''t Hagrid doomed to lose?" Hermione said angrily.


    "Nothing is absolute, but I know at least one thing, the procedure is not correct."


    "What?"


    "The procedure is incorrect, Miss Granger. Normally, I mean, according to the laws set by the Ministry of Magic, even if someone appealed, the matter would first go to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures - the parent department of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures - who would then be responsible for it. Unless the case is more severe and there is little room for consideration, then it will be referred to them. And this practice is the outcome because this department isn''t very pleasant ."


    Hermione remained silent for a few seconds and said angrily, "It''s Malfoy! They influence the Ministry''s decision, and I''ve heard that the Malfoy donate a large sum of money to the Ministry every year!"


    "Fair enough speculation." Felix said with a nod, taking a sip of his butterbeer, "There''s no need to get upset, purebloods have always had an extraordinary amount of influence over such insignificant little things."


    Hermione stared at him blankly, the professor seemed to look down on the purebloods?


    "The pureblood family is like a group of spiders, weaving a huge web by years and years, so they know a lot of information, have many eyes and ears, and accustomed to seeing the situation, when they encounter some small bugs, even some smaller birds they will devour them cleanly ... even if they encounter the danger that they cannot fight, they would be able to hide in the shadows in the corner and quietly wait for the danger to pass."


    "Professor, you are saying that they are simply incapable of fighting against huge creatures?" Hermione felt she understood the professor''s train of thought.


    "No, I''m mocking them for not thinking ahead and making the webs indestructible and formidable."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 251: Three Suggestions

    Hermione returned to the Gryffindor common room a little dazed, and couldn''t figure out which of the three suggestions the professor had given her is more reliable until she saw an idle Harry and Ron fiddling with a set of Gobstones. ''Maybe the professor was just joking?'' she thought to herself.


    Ron put his whole face on the table, as he kept the stones in his hand in a circular motion, ''I think this one will work, Dean told me about a muggle marble technique -'' he snapped his fingers and the stone in his hand flew straight out, arcing in midair.


    The stone belonging to Harry expanded violently and split apart, from which a foul, slimy liquid spurted out and coated Ron''s face.


    "Oh, shit!" Ron wiped his face, his eyes were glued shut.


    "Gentlemen, will you grow up!" Hermione said in no good humour as she drew her wand and chanted at Ron, "Scourgify!" The goo on his face immediately disappeared.


    "Care for a round, Hermione?" Ron said with a playful smile.


    Hermione scowled and said, "I''m not going to waste my time on a child''s game."


    Ron retorted, "It''s not child''s game, my dad told me that there is an official Gobstone Club on the sixth floor of the Ministry of Magic, and they win honours internationally. Hogwarts actually has a Gobstone Club too, except you never pay attention to ..."


    He looked at the expression on Hermione''s face and stopped talking.


    Harry changed the subject, "What did the professor say about Buckbeak?"


    "He gave me three suggestions," Hermione said, wiggling her fingers: "First, postpone the hearing on the grounds that the procedure is incorrect, and change the department in charge of the case to the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, if possible;"


    "That sounds good, what exactly do we have to do, write a letter to the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked cheerfully, this is much easier than going to the library to flip through the sea of boring legal cases.


    "The general public can''t do that, I don''t think the Ministry of Magic will care." Hermione said: "Professor Hap''s advice is to obtain the support of a prominent figure, who is not afraid of the power of the Malfoy, preferably related to the field of magical creatures, and also familiar with the appropriate law." Hermione said.


    "How would such a person know us." Ron said with discouragement, then he picked up the Gobstones from the ground.


    Harry thought hard, people related to the field of magical creatures, he only knew Hagrid.


    "The second way, sneak away and release the Buckbeak." Hermione raised her second finger.


    Harry greatly tempted by this suggestion, but he quickly shook his head: "The official letter from the Ministry of Magic stated, Hagrid should keep an eye on Buckbeak, if lost, he will be in trouble. Malfoy must be expecting Hagrid to do that, so he can put Hagrid in jail afterwards."


    He didn''t quite understand Hagrid''s fear of wizard prisons in the past, but after dealing with the Dementors a few times, he had come to fully understand Hagrid''s perspective.


    Hermione did not deny it and told the last suggestion: "Third, let Lucius Malfoy voluntarily withdraw his complaint." She hesitated, but still expressed Professor Hap''s words completely, "The professor was probably joking at the time, you guys just listen - he proposed that Hagrid should ask Malfoy out and force Malfoy to comply. He also said that he might offer a limited amount of support if we wanted to try this approach ..."


    Ron''s eyes lit up: "That''s a good idea, I already can imagine." He had seen his father and Malfoy fight just last year, now all he had to do is replace his father with a tall, burly Hagrid, and he muttered, " Little Chicken..."


    Harry magically understood what he meant - compared to Hagrid, Lucius Malfoy did look like an underdeveloped chick.


    Hermione said pointedly, "The Professor must be joking!" She said, a little unsure about it, " it should be a joke, right? But in any case, this method is too dangerous."


    "Professor Hap must be teasing you, because he knows there is no way we would agree to this method." Harry said sullenly, "So it seems that, not counting a trip to the library to look up for information, the only real viable suggestion is the first one -"


    "But where are we going to find the relevant authoritative figure?"


    "Maybe we could ask Hagrid?" Ron suggested, "He should know a friend or two with similar interests, right? He''s a professor for a Care of Magical Creatures class."


    "Wait-" Harry suddenly stared at Ron, "Did you just say, professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class?" His eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice, "Hagrid just got the position this year, do you guys remember who was the last professor ...?"


    "Professor Silvanus Kettleburn," Hermione said without thinking, "I heard he retired on the grounds that he needed more time to spend with his little rascals."


    She froze for a moment, then responded, "Yeah, why didn''t I think of that, Hagrid must know Professor Kettleburn!"


    ... S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hogwarts kitchen.


    Felix said gently to the house-elf, "I inquired from Professor McGonagall that I could ask you to send Christmas presents?"


    "Yes, sir." A house-elf wearing a uniform made out of tea towels said, bowing deeply, "But only within the confines of Hogwarts, we are limited by our obligations and cannot leave easily."


    "No problem, I''ve already sent out the gifts outside of school." Felix said in a relaxed tone, "Then I''ll trouble you."


    "It''s an honour." The house-elf said.


    Felix led the elf back to his office, pointed at a small pile of gift boxes in the corner, and said, "It''s all here. It has names on it and the number of people is actually not that many ... but I don''t know if you know exactly where they are?."


    "Please don''t worry, sir, we clean the rooms in the castle every day and know the names of all the wizard gentlemen very well."


    Felix nodded and smiled: "Thank you, then."


    The elf went to work, his figure kept disappearing and appearing, and after a dozen times, he appeared with empty hands, "It''s done, sir."


    Felix looked at him curiously, "Where did you put it? At the foot of the bed?"


    The elf replied, "A few of the students'' gifts I placed them at the foot of the bed to make sure they could see them as soon as they got up; but not for the professors, we are not allowed to be in the professors'' bedrooms, so I placed them in the office under the small Christmas tree, or at the bedroom''s door."


    Felix nodded, it looked just like How he had received his gift last year.


    The elf then said, "If there''s nothing else, Cloudbur will excuse himself."


    "Cloudbur is that your name?"


    "Yes, sir."


    Felix took out a book from the ring, and some coloured paper and ribbons flew out from the corner, they wrapped the whole book, and finally a beautiful bow tied by the ribbons.


    "This is your Christmas present, Cloudbur."


    "This, Cloudbur can''t have it--"


    "Take it, it''s just a book of recipes from all over the world, I''ve been trying to find a chance to recommend it to you."


    Cloudbur bowed deep and then accepted the gift, his big eyes looked at him, "Thank you, sir." Then he gave a deep salute and suddenly disappeared.


    Felix looked at the gift that belonged to him in the corner, nearly half of it had not been opened, and he decided to save the surprise for tomorrow.


    Before going to bed, he deliberately left the window open so that the owl could come and go freely. Then turned and went into the bedroom, looking forward to the arrival of Christmas next day.

 Chapter 252: Gifts

    Christmas finally came the following morning. Felix woke up early and when he came out of his bedroom, the small Christmas tree in his office is already piled with various Christmas gifts.


    He opened up the box in a cheerful mood, "A book, nice." He set aside The Old Forgotten Magic and Spells, "Too bad I''ve already read it."


    "Huh, Trelawney actually sent me a gift?" Felix thought he is mistaken, he glanced at the note again, yes, it is Sybill Trelawney, as he opened the wrapping paper, there is a long beaded chain inside, this thing can be turned in three chains if the material is used properly.


    He read the contents of the post-it note, the usual divine phrase - "To provide shelter in the darkness." Felix shrugged, "But you''re really something, I''ve quit your class, and you can still find the opportunity to give me a prophecy."


    He is going to send a barrel of honey sherry from the Three Broomsticks in return, well ... let''s make a note of it and settle it together when he is done opening the rest of the presents.


    He opened another package, the "Beater''s Bible" given to him by Professor McGonagall, and he opened a page at random, and it said in bold letters, "First rule: take out the seeker," to which he smiled gleefully.


    Felix kept opening the gift boxes, mostly books, and a good portion of them he had already read, and he suddenly understood Dumbledore''s troubles now.


    He said to himself, "Many people think I should be presented with books, also think I will like books."


    The good thing is, Dumbledore gave Felix a small homemade trinket, similar to the one he had seen on the Headmaster''s desk, just by touching it, it would spray a mist of water; Hagrid gave him a large bottle of Acromantula venom, he did not know what to do with it, maybe next year he could send it to Professor Snape? Snape sent a small bottle of powerful antidote, "just in time to use with the potent vomit agent he sent last year."


    Professor Flitwick presented him a bowler hat, and even Lupin gave him some magical creature material as a present, which Felix guessed from the way it was processed that he might have "got" it himself.


    Among these gifts, he found an unsigned gift box, which just arrived this morning. When he opened it, there is a clay doll inside.


    Felix recognized it as "himself" from the figure''s black hair and blue eyes. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Although not signed, but Felix is not unfamiliar with the unique smell of clay, he picked it up and fiddled with it for a while, before putting the doll away.


    The process of opening gifts lasted an hour, and he wrote down a list of names on the parchment next to him, all of which needed to be returned.


    "Well, Christmas needs lots of work too."


    ...


    At the same time, the trio arrived at Hagrid''s hut.


    "Hagrid, open the door, it''s us--" Harry knocked hard on the door while pushing an excited Fang away, its tongue licking at his hand, leaving a large mouthful of saliva, which immediately removed the heat from his hand by the cold wind.


    The door opened and revealed Hagrid''s dishevelled, bearded face, "You guys are here pretty early today, not really necessary - the hearing is going to be near summer, and I, too, have to pull myself together - hiccup!" He burped, and his sour breath sprayed all over Harry''s face.


    Harry hurriedly got in through the gap in his arm, the fireplace in the hut blazed, large bundles of firewood piled up next to the fireplace, Buckbeak lying in the corner, a large iron barrel in front of it.


    Ron followed in, shaking the snow from his feet, "Hey, Buckbeak, how are you?" He glanced inside the barrel, which is filled with slimy, finger-thick white worms, he felt disgusted, "Hagrid, what is this thing! It looks like enlarged maggots ..."


    Hagrid lifted Hermione up, as if he was carrying a small animal or something - "Oh, thanks!" Hermione said in a panic - Hagrid glanced in the direction Ron is pointing and said gruffly, "That''s a Flobberworm larva, as you''ll learn about it in the next class, they live easily and can eat any plant, I''m going to go to the kitchen and see what''s left to feed them. "


    Ron stammered, "Don''t tell me you''re going to make us raise this thing in class?" His face paled that it matched Draco''s skin tone.


    Hagrid looked crimson as he said, "I probably won''t have much heart in the next few classes for a while, you know, because of Buckbeak. Actually, the Flobberworm is quite nice, safe, filled with treasure, the mucus can be used to make potions, and also it can be used as food for other creatures."


    Hermione said worriedly, "Come on, Hagrid - we, we''re here because of the Buckbeak case."


    Harry and Ron nodded in unison, trying to dissuade Hagrid, "Don''t worry about it, Hagrid, you''re quite popular right now." Ron said, "Except for Slytherin."


    Since the accident in the first class, Hagrid was worried about being fired, but after Felix enlightened him, he was relieved, and later followed Felix''s advice and taught about unicorns, Acromantula, Puffskein, Bowtruckle, flower fairies, and Augurey one after another.


    Except for the Acromantula and the Augurey, the feedback for the rest of them was quite good.


    For example, unicorns, Puffskein, and flower fairies were very popular with the younger wizards, especially the witches, because they are just too cute.


    The young Unicorn has golden fur and shines like a creature from the most fantastic fairy tales.


    The Puffskein, on the other hand, is a kind of chubby, fluffy creature, they are extremely nimble and can suddenly appear from one place to another, although each time they move the distance is not very far, but it is enough for them to avoid most dangers.


    As for the flower fairies, they have a similar appearance as humans, only with an extra pair of insect wings on their backs, their IQ is generally not high, often quarrelled over various trivial matters, but unexpectedly their tiny figure poked many young girls'' sweet spot for cuteness.


    Hagrid looked at them suspiciously, and the trio immediately said Felix''s suggestion in a few breaths.


    "Will it work?"


    "Try it, Hagrid! It can''t get any worse."


    So Hagrid wrote a letter to Professor Kettleburn, and Hagrid''s ink became solidified without using, so Hermione conjured up a bright blue flame to melt the ink.


    When they came out of Hagrid''s hut, Hermione said with anticipation, "I wish Professor Kettleburn could influence the Ministry of Magic."


    Harry and Ron also had a look of agreement, but the next second, Hermione became serious: "Harry, I still want to discuss with you about the Firebolt."


    "Oh, don''t spoil the fun, Hermione, it''s Christmas." Ron said.


    " What do you mean? Wait, you''ve tried the Firebolt? I need to warn you - it''s from an unknown source, no signature, no note, nothing!" Hermione said pointedly.


    "Is it? Do you know what I think? I want you to keep your cat under control and stop allowing it to constantly try to sneak into the boy''s dormitory!" Ron also raised his voice. "Scabbers is pitiful as it is!"


    Harry looked helpless, the two had fought many times over Hermione''s cat, Crookshanks. The cat is indeed very strange, always staring at Ron''s pet Scabbers, although it is common knowledge that cats eat mice, but he sincerely hoped that it can change the food, even if it is a juicy spider he will accept it.


    -----------


    From today onward I will update 2 chapters a day. Thank you for all your support till the day.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 20+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 253: Christmas, a different experience

    The three of them went all the way back to the common room, Hermione looked exceptionally silent, but she had already made up her mind to tell Professor McGonagall about the Firebolt. Harry had received a brand new Firebolt this morning, and she had heard Harry recite the name of the broom more than once, the Firebolt claimed to be "the fastest broom in the world", currently there is no mass production, no price tag, just think about it, you can guess how exaggerated the price is.


    On more than one occasion, Harry described how he spent his time in Diagon Alley with Professor Hap looking at the stunning curves of the Firebolt through the window of a Quality Quidditch Supplies - it seemed to be one of the things that kept Harry alive through the training.


    But Hermione didn''t think Harry and Ron realized the danger - the broom might well have been sent anonymously by some dark wizard, harbouring an unknown curse. Especially after having the experience in the first year, as their broom was tampered with by Quirrell, she wondered why Harry became so careless?


    ''What if it''s from Sirius Black?''


    It is only when Harry initiated the conversation about the odd gift from Professor Hap that Hermione joined the conversation, "The Professor sent you a Dementor?"


    "It''s a Dementor doll!" Harry said emphatically, "It''s practically identical to the real thing, with that sudden rush of chills and bad memories ..." he shuddered.


    "Didn''t you look at the card inside? Maybe there''s a note on it." Hermione guessed, but she couldn''t really think of any use of it.


    Harry shook his head, "I only opened it and looked at it before I hurriedly closed the box ... To be honest, I would have liked to switch it with Ron." He looked to Ron, who raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Professor Hap gave me a whole series of his comic books."


    Harry couldn''t resist asking Hermione, "What did the professor give you as a gift?"


    Hermione said, "It''s a chestnut wooden memory disk."


    "Chestnut wood ... what?" Harry asked in confusion.


    "It''s hard to describe in words, wait, I''ll show it to you. And Harry, bring your dementor doll over here too, we''ll work on it together, the professor must have a purpose for it."


    After a minute, they gathered again.


    Harry looked at the chestnut wooden memory disk and gawked, "Is this ... an artwork piece? I''ve seen something like it at the Dursley''s, they bring it to give it to important clients."


    "Oh, of course not, I''ll demonstrate it to you, Professor Hap wants me to make some more suggestions ... might appear in class next term," Hermione said, she tapped the chestnut disk with her wand, the intricate magic rune pattern in it lit up, silvery fine sand condensed into a cloud, Hermione closed her eyes and carefully recalled a memory, and then reached out to point her fingers on the cloud.


    Fine sand fluttered down, the familiar three-dimensional picture appeared in front of Harry and Ron.


    "Merlin''s beard ah, this is -- we are in the chamber, the chamber ..." Ron''s eyes widened.


    "It''s a recreation of our memories." Hermione whispered.


    Harry also got taken back by the sight in the chestnut disk as it showed a scene from a year ago, but he looked at that experience from a different perspective for the first time, and he couldn''t help but ask Hermione: "I jumped like that then?" He measured, the Slytherin statue is almost five or six times his height, if he jumped a little awry, without waiting for the basilisk to attack, he himself will fall to his death, and then be eaten by the basilisk.


    "We''re all pretty brave," Ron said to Hermione, looking at his "self" clumsily luring the basilisk away, "that, Hermione - Can I give it a try?" It is the first time he had called Hermione by name since the altercation outside Hagrid''s hut. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione pursed her lips, "Sure. You can pick another memory, something that you remember better, for a better effect."


    Harry is glad they started talking again, because, from his experience, Ron and Hermione originally would have a Cold War for a day or two.


    "Let''s see, more immersive ..." Ron muttered, his wand tapped on the edge of the chestnut disk, and soon a new three-dimensional image appeared - the background is rather blurred, and you can vaguely see a car, which is rammed straight into a tall tree, that is a whomping willow.


    The branches of the whomping willow danced wildly, whipping the car crazily, like a furious storm, and the car barely dashed out with two muffled thuds, and the door popped open, flinging out the travelling trunks and two people off - it is Harry and Ron.


    "Other than that time in the Chamber of Secrets, this is probably the experience that made me feel most like I was going to die." Ron examined the small figure on the disk, "Still a lot of it is blurry though, I can''t remember what the car looked like anymore, I hope it''s all right in the Forbidden Forest."


    Harry also tried, "I just happen to have something to show you, the real look of Voldemort ..."


    A few moments later, Ron and Hermione also finally saw the scene from the first year when Harry faced Voldemort alone - Quirrell lifted his garlic-scented scarf and turned his back to Harry, revealing a dead white face with two long, snake-like slender nostrils under an evil crimson eyes.


    Ron and Hermione drew a cold breath, and the two of them nervously grabbed Harry''s arm left and right, Harry could not help but grimace, "hiss ~" he said grumblingly: "When I told you guys last year, you guys did not look this exaggerated, right?"


    "That''s different, Harry. We were just listening to you describe it in words, this time we saw the image directly." Ron said shakily, "Hey, he''s so scary, does he have no nose?" It seemed strange where he was concerned.


    Harry almost laughed out loud, but he hurriedly made himself look serious and said as objectively as possible: "Uh ... he is indeed quite ugly, there was a period of time I often had nightmares."


    The trio then looked at the box in front of them, which is a gift from Professor Hap to Harry.


    Ron rushed to confirm: " Do you really want to open it? The look on your face when you first opened it almost scared me to death." He explained to Hermione: "Imagine you are happily opening a gift, and then you see your friend next to you suddenly fall off from the bed with a pale ... face."


    Harry glanced at Hermione, who nodded at him and said, "We definitely should make sure."


    Harry took a deep breath and opened the gift box -


    At first glance, it looked like a relatively elaborate Dementor doll, nothing unusual, but the next second, a chill swept through his body, the doll seemed to come to life, the Dementor''s robe began to flutter, they even saw a sight: from underneath the black robe peeked out a gray rotting hand, like a corpse that had been soaking in water for a long time ...


    Harry hurriedly closed the box before he suffocated, and he said under his breath, "You all saw it." Ron looked squeamish.


    "The Card," Hermione said suddenly.


    "What?"


    "The card, Harry, there''s a card tucked underneath the Dementor doll."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, and Harry perked up a little, "So, we just have to hold back one more time to find out why Professor Hap gave me this thing?" He actually suspected that Professor Hap is mocking his cowardice, but it is unlikely to be possible by any stretch of the imagination.


    But until he confirmed it, his heart would remain jittery.


    Hermione gave him a blank look, "I don''t think so." She took the box and opened it slightly with a slit just enough to accommodate her hand inside, and as she fumbled around, she then explained, "How a professor would give a dangerous gift ... there it is!"


    She smoothly pulled a card out of the box, Harry and Ron looked at her in awe, "Hermione, you''re so clever."


    Hermione waved her hand, "Gee, I just - I just thought more about it, you guys were the ones who got caught up in the misunderstanding." She read out the contents of the card -


    "Harry, I heard you approached Professor Lupin to learn the Patronus charm, maybe this can help you.


    Also: the doll is hexed, you won''t be affected as long as you don''t look at it."


    She looked over at them: "That''s all it says, and it''s clear enough."


    "Wow, that''s cool!" Ron said, "We can try it again."


    Harry breathed a hard sigh of relief as he nodded and opened the box. The chill hit him again, but he immediately closed his eyes, then the horrible cold and damp feeling disappeared very abruptly. He then heard Ron''s excited voice: "It really works! Just avert your eyes."


    Harry opened his eyes and watched as Ron kept turning his head back and forth, glancing at the dementor doll, then quickly turning to the side and then back again ... He looked so comical that Harry finally couldn''t help but laugh out loud this time.


    ...


    Malfoy Manor.


    Draco Malfoy is opening his own gift, in the gift box written "Felix Hap to Draco Malfoy", there is a whole set of comic books neatly stacked inside, he is no stranger to the name of the comic books - " The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard ". For some time, the book caused quite a stir.


    His mother Narcissa Malfoy walked in, she had blonde hair and blue eyes, Narcissa gently put her hand on Draco''s shoulder, "Draco, we''re about to have lunch, have you finished opening your presents, what did Pansy give you?"


    Draco grunted, "A dress."


    "Oh, our Draco is growing up." Narcissa smiled, her eyes falling on the book in Draco''s hand, "Whose gift is this, a ... comic book?"


    "A professor at school," Draco said, turning the page smoothly.


    ...


    The Longbottom house.


    The old house had been rejuvenated, the dark tapestry cleaned up to reveal its original golden red colour. Almost every few steps up a block, a small Christmas tree is seen with brightly coloured ribbons hanging from it.


    A round-faced boy is attempting to hang small golden balls strung together on the Christmas tree.


    " Neil, Neil!" Alice Longbottom called from a distance, "Your Uncle Algie and Aunt Enid are here."


    " Coming right away, Mom!" Neville responded, and it took him a dozen seconds on his tiptoes to finally hang the little ball on the Christmas tree, the tip of his nose already permeated with a fine bead of sweat.


    When he looked back, Alice is standing behind him looking at him with a serene expression.


    "Mom--" Neville reddened, feeling a little ashamed of how he had just behaved.


    At the table, a large family of relatives sat around, celebrating the return of Frank and Alice, and halfway through the meal, Uncle Algie a man with thin cheeks and a goatee said loudly, "Good! How wonderful!" He drank two glasses of high spirits in a row, his face red as if it were on fire.


    He looked at Neville: "Boy, I hear you''ve made a lot of progress lately, show us something!"


    Neville cowered behind Alice, Alice patted his shoulder, Neville stood out, he drew his wand, the tip of the wand suddenly flashed with red light, a spell flew out.


    "Silent spell!" Uncle Algie taken aback, nearly fell over from his chair, "Don''t, Frank, don''t help me - I didn''t have this skill at his age!"


    Neville scratched his head and laughed nervously.


    ...


    Muggle world, London townhouse area.


    "Justin, it''s eleven o''clock, the guests will be here in a while, remember the excuses we discussed out."


    " I know ~ know ~ it ~," said Justin, who had curly hair, not seems that happy, "The reason I didn''t go to Eton is because I have poor health, I can only hire tutors, and every year I have to go to a place with fresh air to relax... ... Mom, don''t you think this''s a lame excuse? I''m alive and kicking when they see me every year."


    "I''m more disappointed than you are that we have a little wizard in the family, who can''t go to Eton, but--" Mrs.finch-fletchley winked mischievously: "when the guests are gone, you can tell me all about your school. I still can''t believe that Lockhart is a liar, his books are so good ..."


    Justin rolled his eyes covertly.


    ...


    Hogwarts.


    Felix walked out of his office, along the usual gaudy Christmas decorations, with ribbons wrapped around holly and mistletoe in the corridors that pointed distantly toward the great hall, and the castle armours polished to perfection.


    He entered the great hall, four long wooden tables were moved to the wall, the center of the room remained with only a table for a dozen people to eat. Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick all arrived. Filch had also changed into an old tuxedo.


    "I hope I''m not late." Felix said with a smile.


    "Merry Christmas, Felix, I love the wool socks you gave me, there are twelve colours, I can change them for the rest of the winter." Dumbledore said happily, "We''re still waiting for the students to come over, they probably think it''s going to be on the usual time, but it''s actually slightly earlier-"


    "To pass the time, we''re taking turns telling jokes, and it''s Severus'' turn."


    Felix turned his head to look at Snape, who had resistance written all over his stern, expressionless face.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 254: Interlude

    Snape did not tell any jokes till the end, which is a pity, it must be said. Felix thinks that the professor still has the talent for telling cold jokes. He secretly made a note about next year''s Christmas present.


    Felix sat next to Snape, just about to jest a few words, the main door of the great hall suddenly opened, from the door swept in a great blizzard.


    A short, fat witch in pink walked in, and Felix heard the sound of Professor McGonagall inhaling deeply two seats away, her black eyebrows knitted together.


    The short, fat witch is Dolores Umbridge, and she is accompanied by two other individuals, a middle-aged, thin, dark-skinned male wizard who wears a gold ring in one ear dressed like an Auror.


    Felix knew him, when Minister Fudge came to visit the school last year to see the basilisk, he brought this man with him, and Fudge called him "Kingsley".


    The other one is a witch, with the same Auror dress, face covered with a thick scarf, from some of her lively little movements you can see she is not that old, she and Kingsley walked together.


    The smile on Dumbledore''s face narrowed, the expression of surprise lasted only for a moment, then he stood up and said courteously: "What a rare guest, I did not know you would be here on this special day."


    "Haven''t been able to meet you in person, Professor Dumbledore." Umbridge''s toady face heaped with a conspicuous fake smile, "Not that I''m saying this Deputy Headmistress of yours isn''t serious and responsible enough ... to get things done, like me, I can''t help but share Minister Fudge''s worries during Christmas."


    Dumbledore said calmly: "I have full confidence in Minerva, she has done her job very well."


    Umbridge did not seem to feel embarrassed at all, but the female Auror behind her had looked away, with an uncomfortable look.


    Kingsley stepped forward and in a low, slow voice he said, "Dumbledore, we have come over to share new information with you."


    Umbridge immediately shouted shrilly, "Kingsley! I''m the one appointed by the Minister as the investigating officer--"


    Kingsley did not look at her, but his next sentence explained everything well: "I only take orders from Minister Fudge and Scrimgeour - Dumbledore, there are new developments regarding Sirius Black."


    "I''m all ears, Kingsley." Dumbledore said mildly.


    " Someone spotted the Suspect Sirius Black in Knockturn Alley, and according to the information we have - an unlucky wizard was attacked from behind, and the attacker snatched his wand."


    "So, he rearmed himself?" Dumbledore said, "I would have thought that he would be wandering between the school and Hogsmeade."


    Kingsley said, "We thought so before, so we let our guard down over there. But he may be more cunning than we thought, and I''m leaving for London tomorrow - this is Tonks, through whom Scrimgeour hopes to pass on the message."


    "Tonks?" Dumbledore smiled and looked at the young witch.


    "It''s me, Headmaster Dumbledore, it''s so good to see you." The female Auror said enthusiastically as she removed the scarf covering her face.


    Kingsley explained, "Tonks will remain in Hogsmeade most of the time, just as a precaution." He glanced at Umbridge, who was impatiently fiddling with a pink bow on her cuff, "And she can restrain the Dementors, as well."


    Dumbledore nodded and said, "No problem, Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic have a common cause on this matter."


    Kingsley fell silent, the man with an air of calmness, with nothing to say, after his task is complete, his presence immediately reduced.


    In contrast to him, Umbridge finally found an opportunity to speak, so she said in a chirpy little girl''s voice, "Thank you, Kingsley, for speaking, Professor Dumbledore, I hope you will reconsider, Tonks - if somehow insufficient to keep on track, the Ministry of Magic would be happy to send a permanent team ..."


    "We don''t need to talk about that, Umbridge." Dumbledore insisted, "Go back to Fudge and tell him to come straight to me if he has any ideas." S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix on the sidelines more or less understood, Umbridge and Kingsley are not together, Umbridge''s support Fudge stance is unclear, it may be a test, or the woman made up her own mind, in any case, she tried to reach into Hogwarts, only to be Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore have pushed her back.


    And although Kingsley listened to Fudge''s orders, he obviously didn''t mind the attitude of Umbridge, the investigating officer, and this time he came under the command of Scrimgeour - the head of Auror''s office.


    They soon left, and with this episode, the professors were not in the mood to joke. The conversation inevitably turned to Umbridge; the threat of Black is far away for the professors to care, but the toad lady simply couldn''t bring any good feeling out of anyone.


    Professor McGonagall said pointedly, "I''m not one to speak ill of others, but Umbridge-" Her nostrils flared a little, clearly exasperated. "If you knew how she treats her subordinates and her own family, you''d understand how I feel."


    "Umbridge treats her family badly?" Felix asked.


    "Heh! She repeatedly claimed that her ''deceased'' father was a prominent figure in Wizengamot during his lifetime, but he''s actually alive and well."


    Flitwick frowned as he recalled, "I seem to remember something, the surname Umbridge is still very rare, I remember more than ten years ago, there was a cleaning lady with the surname Umbridge in the Ministry of Magic ..."


    At this time, students finally came over, two first years appeared in pairs, and not long after, a sixth-year Slytherin student arrived with a gloomy face.


    The professors talked about the lighter topic again, Dumbledore left once midway and reappeared with a pile of silver-coloured poppers, "This is a party popper I made, and like Bertie Bott''s Every Flavour Beans, it will have a surprise if you pop it."


    He gave one to each person at the table and asked in a cheerful tone, "Does anyone want to try it?"


    Felix looked over at Snape, and Dumbledore followed his gaze as he winked and smiled, "Severus, you definitely don''t want to miss this."


    As they spoke, Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived, watching in amazement as Snape impatiently pulled the cord of a silver popper, which came apart then with a thud, revealing a lady''s peaked cap.


    Dumbledore handed the hat to Snape, but Snape pushed it away without thinking, so Dumbledore immediately replaced his wizard''s hat with it.


    "Merry Christmas, ladies and gentlemen."


    Harry and the others looked at Dumbledore''s new image blankly, unable to speak for a while.


    The meal lasted for two hours, and everyone enjoyed themselves so much that no one bothered to talk about Umbridge, an unappetizing topic, except for Trelawney, who appeared halfway through and had to do a headcount before being seated, while she counted for the number 13 she shouted twice as she couldn''t the number 13.


    Until Felix politely reminded her that she may have forgotten to count herself, then Trelawney silently sat down.


    ------------


    #Rafiq. Thanks for your support.


    Everyone who encouraged me by using power stone, by commenting, and pointing out my mistakes. I thank you a lot and hope you do so later on.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 20+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 255: Kettleburns Reply

    At the end of the party, Felix got up to leave with the party popper that belonged to him, then he saw Hermione did not go with her companion but stayed alone. "Is something wrong, Miss Granger?" He assumed that Hermione is waiting for him.


    "Oh, Professor," she hesitated, "I have something to say to Professor McGonagall."


    "Is that so ...," Felix nodded, "I''ll leave you alone then, and by the way, I like the music box you gave me, it doesn''t seem to be a pure alchemical item?"


    Hermione worried expression melted away, as she said happily: "that is what I brought from home, using the original mechanical structure to enchant it, for the music part I take reference from the Parseltongue scroll, the runic circuit on it which stores sound is very convenient ..."


    Felix understood, after the Chamber of Secrets incident last year, Harry still spent a few days supplementing the pronunciation of the Parseltongue, Felix then sorted out the corresponding syllables into a book in his memory and saved it in the thinking room.


    He did remember Hermione playing with the scroll for a while and asked him about some production techniques ...


    Back in his office, he took the time to return a few more letters, one of which is an official letter that caught his attention.


    "Surprisingly, it''s a letter from the Ministry of Magic."


    Felix looked at the logo on the letter and speculated in his mind what it could be about, could it be his dissertation on memory healing? But he had only sent it yesterday, since when did the Ministry of Magic is quick to respond.


    Opening the letter, he first scanned the signature at the bottom, it belonged to Rufus Scrimgeour the Advisor to the Minister for Magic, and then he read the body.


    "Dear Mr. Hap: Some of my colleagues have noticed that your new book, ''Magic'' in the Muggle World, which has been listed as a recommended book by the ministries of magic in twelve countries, coupled with your two previously published books on Muggle studies, all indicate that you have a very deep understanding of Muggles, and We would like to invite you to give an internal lecture for the Ministry of Magic ...


    ...


    The date is scheduled for the first Thursday after Christmas break, 2:00 p.m., Room 2. If you have any objections, or if the schedule is inconvenient, please do not hesitate to contact me.


    Yours faithfully


    Rufus Scrimgeour, Office of the Advisor to the Minister of Magic." S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Below followed by a long list of departments whose personnel were the audience for his speech if he accepted, including: the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee, the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office, the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, the Obliviators, and the interested crowd.


    " Fair enough, they are all departments that deal with ordinary people on a regular basis."


    Felix thought for a moment, he is still willing to promote his ideals, and he would like to know more about the actual situation of the Ministry of Magic, among some of the people he has dealt with so far, Fudge is a standard politician, Umbridge is no less than three times more disgusting politician, Kingsley Shacklebolt is calm and competent.


    For the rest, some of them were either unknown or he had only communicated with them through letters, so he could not form an accurate judgment.


    He drew out a piece of parchment and penned: Dear Mr. Scrimgeour, I accept your invitation with great pleasure, but the time, I hope to move it to Friday, I have no classes that afternoon ...


    After the letter is sent, the only thing left is just relaxing. In the last days of the holiday, instead of soaking in the library books or studying the runic creations in his office, he developed a new habit.


    A few runes, only the size of his little thumb, would always appear in his hand, and now and then he would pick them up and play with them for a while, even when he ate and slept, he maintained them as much as possible.


    At this point he had reached, simply improving the number of runes is no longer very useful, he learned from many ancient books, and alchemical items with ancient runes, that in fact, the level of his understanding is not that deep.


    He decided to take the time to organize what he had learned, if he could complete a book of magic runes, it would definitely produce better results than mastering a few hundred more new practical runes.


    He also visited several experts in ancient magic runes - he had very few friends in this area, even the most talkative Tofty, knowledge in this area is quite limited.


    In Felix''s opinion, he might as well pose as an alchemist and mingle in alchemical circles. Before Nicolas Flamel introduced him to a few people, he also wrote a few letters expressing the idea of exchange, and then he slowly faded away, because the focus of both sides is completely different, the exchange always feels awkward.


    Alchemists are more concerned about the selection and proportioning of alchemical materials, as well as the fusion of different properties, a rare recipe may sell for a sky-high price or become an untold secret. They are also concerned with the skills of using alchemical runes, especially the unique ways to implement functions.


    Felix exchanged some knowledge with them, and then kept the communication on a low frequency.


    He is not in a hurry, and if there is no suitable circle, he will build one himself: among the students who graduated last year, eight or nine of them still maintain correspondence with him, and the girl named Vera has the most active approach.


    She has become a Curse-Breaker, a rather dangerous and serious profession, in which they may be killed by ancient wards, hexes, or curses, though the pay is correspondingly good.


    Clammy Vera recently wrote to tell him that she is currently working in Egypt, where there are a huge number of ancient tombs and historical sites located, along with friendly colleagues.


    She had even found a situation where practical runes were useful - many ancient defences and traps were inseparable from alchemy, and practical runes, with their superior magical properties compared to other alchemical runes, were often chosen by ancient wizards as the core of entire defense and counterattack systems.


    In a recent operation, Vera accidentally found a practical rune hidden on the decoration pattern in the pit, through which she avoided a sinister curse and successfully reversed it.


    Felix is not shy about giving pointers, and in his reply, he points out that for some alchemical traps that are less offensive but difficult to break at once, try overlapping a runic circuit to draw the magic out and let it run out of energy by itself.


    ...


    On the other hand, Harry, Ron, and Hermione have not been idle, since Hagrid wrote to Professor Kettleburn asking for help, every day since then they go to Hagrid''s hut to see how things are going.


    There is something serious to do, which has also reduced Harry''s resentment towards Hermione in a way. He knew Hermione meant well, but the firebolt he had just got in his hands was taken away by Professor McGonagall to check for possible black magic and curses, and he had to put up with the old Comet series, which had filled him with grievances.


    It wasn''t until near the beginning of the school year that Hagrid finally received a letter back.


    "Read it, Hagrid, read it!" Harry said impatiently.


    Hagrid ripped open the letter and cleared his throat, "Hagrid, it''s good to hear from you, and I sympathize about what happened to Buckbeak, but there''s nothing I can do about it, I really don''t have any contacts in the Ministry of Magic, and you can''t expect a lousy old man with sixty-two periods of probation and an unrewarding career change before he retires to have any good connections unless you want to meet a troll friend or two --"


    The trio''s expressions became odd, both regretful that Professor Kettleburn hadn''t helped and stifled by his sardonic self-deprecation; they looked like they wanted to laugh, but desperately tried to hold it back, and Ron''s eyebrows were going to fly over his head.


    "So how do we--"


    "Don''t rush, there''s more behind that." Hagrid said, "I''ll keep reading - but I recommend you to someone who has enough prestige in the field of magical creatures and who, as it happens, is very interested in hippogriff, supposedly under the influence of his mother. I enclose the address, and you can write to him in the near future, and I will also write a letter explaining the situation to him. Yours faithfully, Silvanus Kettleburn." Hagrid finished reading the letter and looked up at them.


    "Who is it? Who is the person he recommended?" Hermione asked hoarsely, she had recently caught a cold.


    Hagrid lowered his head again, looked at the bottom of the letter, and read out a name with a wide eye, "Newton Scamander."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 256: Blacks Sudden Attack

    When Hagrid said the name, the air went still for a while - "Who''s that?" Harry asked blankly, he looked at Ron, Ron showed an innocent expression; he looked at Hermione, Hermione is desperately trying to open her mind to recall the book she read.


    Finally, they looked in unison at Hagrid, who said, not too comfortably, "You should have known, but I switched your textbooks - only for the third year - trying to do some attempt ..." He said the last sentence in a tiny voice.


    The trio still couldn''t understand, Hagrid felt compelled to keep explaining, his face reddening at a rate visible to the naked eye, even his full beard couldn''t hide it: "Mr. Scamander wrote Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which used to be the textbook at Hogwarts until I took over the Care of Magical Creatures class."


    With that said, it became clear to the three of them why they didn''t know, because this year Hagrid changed the textbook to a new one, and it just happened to be only for the third year.


    Harry couldn''t help but think: maybe the creatures in the book "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" weren''t ''interesting'' enough, so Hagrid developed the idea of replacing it with "The Monster Book of Monsters".


    After writing the letter in Hagrid''s hut, they were ready to go to the Owlery to find Hedwig to mail the letter. When passing through the whomping willow, Harry suddenly heard a dangerous wind sound from behind him, he subconsciously lowered his head, turned around, and drew his wand, his eyes glanced upward, just in time to see a large black-furred dog jumping high up.


    Harry''s eyes widened in horror, an omen of death! He could even see the big black dog''s light-colored eyes and inch-long teeth, and before he could react, it had leaped over him, turned, and pounced on Ron, dragging him deeper into the forbidden forest with its maw.


    "Expelliarmus!"


    The special training in the summer and the recent dueling self-study group came into play, and Harry used his best magic directly.


    ...


    Ravenclaw''s Head office.


    Felix picked up a slice of peanut butter bread while watching Professor Flitwick struggle to cast a spell, his wand held diagonally, his left hand assisting the spell casting, blue magic constantly shaping and trying to condense into a spherical structure.


    The spell didn''t take shape until Felix finished his seventh slice, and he felt choked, so he stopped eating.


    "It still doesn''t work-" Flitwick sighed and waved his hand to disperse the magic, "My understanding of zooming spells still stops at the foundation of modern magic."


    "Then how did you master those ancient magic before?"


    " Relying on time accumulation, it took me three years to master a defense magic." Flitwick shook his head, "Actually, I learned it more out of interest than out of envy of its power."


    "But I don''t think simplified magic is inferior to ancient magic, especially when I''ve mastered more than a thousand spells."


    "A thousand?"


    Felix smacked his lips a little, he also mastered a lot of spells, but he couldn''t compare to the old professor after all. And this is still the number of magic spells that Flitwick mastered during a '' certain period '', as for how many it is now, it is really hard to say.


    "What kind of magic spell most among them, Filius?'''' He tried to understand the professor''s path.


    Flitwick waved his wand and the floor rose into a step, he stepped on the small step and sat on the chair opposite Felix, "Many of the spells I have mastered are life spells, but in fact, spells are spells, each revealing the mystery of magic, even if it is very small."


    Felix mulled over this statement, "Filius, is there a reason why my magic theory has not been progressing lately?"


    "Progress?" Flitwick asked in surprise, "Can you accurately judge whether you have progressed or not? I think most people improve unknowingly ... before that, every spell they cast and every study they do may add to their boost."


    Felix blinked, "It is - similar to a sudden sense of enlightenment, as if the past knowledge all of a sudden melt together."


    Flitwick said cheerfully: "This state can not be found, I still remember when I was thirty years old, I have been struggling to learn all the spells but can not use them that much, but I really like magic spells. Until when I woke up one morning, my understanding of magic suddenly went up a notch, and I''ve never doubted my choice since then."


    Only one sentence came to Felix''s mind, all rivers met the sea.


    Since seeing Ravenclaw''s memory magic, Slytherin''s bloodline research, and Dumbledore''s Transfiguration, and recognizing Flitwick''s charm path, he couldn''t help but think: maybe every professor at Hogwarts is more or less walking their own magical path?


    In his opinion, the so-called magical path is a perspective to know the world, and to be blunter, a tool to know magic.


    While Flitwick observed and understood the construction of the entire building of magic through charms, he accomplished this step-through runes. In Felix''s vision, if possible, he will replace all the spells with magic runes to cast spells. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Although currently, there is no half hope in sight ~


    Felix wanted to understand Flitwick''s view on the magic spell, but at that moment, a silver cat suddenly appeared in the office, it opened its mouth and produced Professor McGonagall''s anxious voice: "Filius, come to the hospital wing quickly, it is suspected that Sirius Black attacked Harry Potter."


    Felix and Flitwick looked at each other in surprise, they rushed to the hospital wing, on the way, Felix couldn''t help but wonder, it can''t be fake news, right?


    In order to solve the problem of Harry''s safety, he deliberately asked Harry''s Sneakoscope over, and re-enchanted it, as long as the Sneakoscope found Sirius Black''s trial, he would get a synchronized warning here.


    But the current situation is that he did not receive any feedback from the Sneakoscope.


    At the hospital wing, Professor McGonagall walked around the entrance, her hands tangled together, "Oh, there you are." As they approached, they saw Dumbledore communicating with Madam Pomfrey with a serious face.


    Dumbledore said insistently, "Poppy, I need just five minutes, it''s important." Madam Pomfrey then compromised.


    He saw Flitwick and Felix, so he said in a deep voice: " Let''s go in together."


    In the ward, Ron is lying on the bed, one of his legs is hoisted up and bandaged. Harry and Hermione were sitting on the side.


    When they saw the professors enter, they yelled in a jumble of words.


    "Headmaster, it''s Black, he''s the big black dog--"


    "He can turn into a human, no, into an animal!"


    "Professor, he, he''s an Animagus!"


    The ward fell silent for a moment, and Dumbledore asked softly, "Animagus? You''re talking about Sirius Black, not some other guy?"


    "That''s him, I''m absolutely right, Ron and Hermione saw him too, didn''t you?" Harry craned his head for support.


    "Exactly!"


    "Indeed it is."


    ------------


    #Alamoz. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 25+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 257: Gradually Clear

    "I have a question," interrupted Felix, "Why I didn''t get an alarm from the sneakoscope?" The originally excited trio suddenly went quiet, and an uncomfortable silence filled the air. After a few seconds, Harry said with shame, "I forgot to bring it Professor, and I changed into new clothes."


    "It seems that the short period of peaceful life has made you lose your vigilance."


    Felix said calmly, he didn''t look angry, but Harry felt even more guilty, his face burning brightly.


    Dumbledore looked at the trio, "So, you didn''t detect Sirius Black early because you forgot to bring the sneakoscope, what happened next, and why did you identify him as an Animagus?"


    Harry looked up, "We were coming back from Hagrid''s place because of the Buckbeak case ..." he paused, "and when we passed near the whomping willow, a big black dog jumped out of nowhere and he, he attacked Ron, dead set on taking him away."


    Felix saw a light of doubt flash across Dumbledore''s gaze, which happened to be something he himself didn''t understand. Isn''t Black after Harry, how can he give up the opportunity within his reach to attack Harry''s companion instead?


    Let Harry also experience the pain of losing his friend? It doesn''t make sense.


    "I went blank, subconsciously used the Disarming Charm, the spell hit the big black dog''s body, knocking him out of the way, and that''s when -" Harry said, wide-eyed: "I saw the big black dog''s head flicker for a second, and it turned into Black''s face, and I''ve seen his wanted list so many times that there''s absolutely no way I would mistake him for someone."


    "The big black dog then rolled twice on the floor, Hagrid suddenly ran out of his hut and yelled in our direction, and Black turned and ran away."


    Harry did not mention something, that big black dog looked at him at that time oddly, seemed to be partly angry, and with relief ... was he blinded, how could he think so?


    He continued, "Hagrid carried Ron to the hospital wing, and then he left, saying he was going to search the entire Forbidden Forest."


    Sounds a bit like exasperation ... Forbidden Forest is not merely a small piece of land next to Hogwarts. The Forbidden Forest can accommodate Acromantula, centaurs, unicorns, trolls, and werewolves at the same time, it definitely can''t be described as small.


    In fact, Hagrid''s emotions were much more exaggerated than Harry had described, and it looked as if he was going to tear Black apart in his rage.


    Dumbledore said softly, "So that''s what happened." He closed his eyes and sat quietly aside, Flitwick couldn''t help but ask: "Felix, can your sneakoscope detect the Animagus form?"


    Felix nodded and said, "Theoretically it is feasible, because I designed it at the beginning to target both name, bloodline, and magic." He looked at Professor McGonagall with some hesitation, "Of course, I am not an Animagus myself ..."


    "If so ..." Professor McGonagall said thoughtfully, "it is indeed possible to find an Animagus, the Animagus transformation is not similar to ordinary animal transformation, the wizard preserves the ability to do magic and the ability to think like a human. "


    "And it''s not clear what form Black was when he tried to infiltrate the castle last time, if it was an Animagus, it''s telling, Albus--"


    Dumbledore said approvingly, "I''m thinking the same thing as you, Minerva. The question I was just pondering was why Black was fixated on Mr. Weasley," he looked at Ron, " Is there any particular reason?"


    Ron said uneasily, "I, I don''t know, sir. I don''t have anything on me ..." He looked down at himself and suddenly realized with a start, "Scabbers is gone!"


    "Is that your pet mouse?"


    "That''s right, it was just here. It probably got scared and hid somewhere."


    Felix gave Ron a look, he drew his wand and quickly called out, "Accio Scabbers!" However, there is no response, "Not around-"


    Black''s inexplicable obsession with Ron, the sudden discovery of Animagus, and what could be wrong with Ron if he is okay ...


    He looked at Dumbledore and said in a quiet voice, "Headmaster, things may not be quite as we thought."


    Dumbledore did not judge that easily: "There is one person who can tell us the answer ... Minerva, Remus is still in his office?"


    "All the time, he isn''t feeling well these days." Professor McGonagall said vaguely.


    Hermione said pointedly, "Headmaster Dumbledore? You guys know that Professor Lupin is, is a-"


    "Yes, I know." Dumbledore said, his tone having a meaning the conversation would end here, "Remus has been in his office for the past few days, dealing with some old problems, and he hasn''t had the energy to focus on anything else. But I need to talk to him in-depth, he might be able to provide some information we don''t know."


    Dumbledore stood up, his gaze falling from his high nose to Harry, "I want you to stay in the castle for the next little while, don''t go outside, and keep the sneakoscope with you."


    The professors left, Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and were just about to speak, but Madam Pomfrey walked in, and she reapplied a layer of white ointment over Ron''s wound, which hurt so much that Ron grimaced, but soon he felt less pain and the wound area tickled.


    "The boy needs time to recover, you should not stay here for too long." Madam Pomfrey cautioned, pursing her lips and saying with a stern expression, "Why do you always get yourselves into such a mess?"


    Harry said sombrely, "I''d like to know the answer to that question, as well."


    When only the three of them were left in the ward, the room went quiet, except for the sound of Ron''s occasional deep breathing because his wounds hurt and itched, as if the whole repair process had accelerated a dozen times.


    Hermione suddenly spoke out, "Harry, have you ever thought that Black''s target was never you?"


    Harry wanted to open his mouth to retort, but he could not say anything else. He also thought it is possible, and it made him a little ashamed, as if his long preparation is a joke.


    But what did that have to do with Ron?


    Hermione fished out the beaded pouch and took the chestnut wood memory disk from it, "We can try to piece together the memories and combine what we saw together."


    A few moments later -


    "Look here, isn''t it obvious enough? Black''s goal is clear, it is Ron, but Ron ... is not supposed to ah ~ Black was imprisoned when he was a baby."


    Hermione said very naggingly, "Is there anyone in your family who has an enmity with Black?"


    "Or maybe he was brain-damaged by the Dementors," Ron said sullenly.


    "Remember the information we overheard at the Three Broomsticks about Minister Fudge saying that Black talked in a coherent manner and asked him for a newspaper, that doesn''t sound like something a madman would do."


    "What does that tell you? Wasn''t there a rumour that the dark lord had secret contact with the dementors, and those capes might have looked at their master''s face and given him the benefit of the doubt."


    "Ron, use your brain, it''s rusting," Hermione said in exasperation.


    Harry did think of the key, "The newspaper, you mean, he saw the newspaper ... and broke out of prison within days after that. The key is the newspaper, Ron, remember the letter you wrote to me on holiday? In it was a clipping of your family winning the Daily Prophet''s annual award."


    Ron had a surprised look on his face, "So Black saw the news about our family winning the award and suddenly went crazy with jealousy and came over here specifically to try to kill me? Merlin, it''s only 700 galleons! And it''s already almost spent ..."


    Then he said with disgust: "Why should Fudge carry a newspaper with him, his brain was flattened by Buckbeak?"


    Hermione said, "It can''t be that reason, Harry, I can''t figure it out yet, but we''ll have to find the newspaper of that time and see if there''s any missing information."


    Harry added, "And Professor Lupin, I bet he knows something, just look at Dumbledore''s attitude."


    Hermione looked a little hesitant, "Oh, Harry - I think it would be better for us to visit the professor after a couple of days when they confirm that there is no problem ..." S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    On the other hand, Felix separated from Dumbledore halfway through, Dumbledore did not want anyone to interrupt his conversation with Lupin.


    But for Felix, some clues are already in front of him, he just needs to re-sort the information at hand to find out the most likely few guesses.

 Chapter 258: Nicolas Flamel Kind of Mouse

    Felix sorted through the information he knew so far - ''From what happened today, we can tell that Sirius Black''s first target is not Harry, but Ron Weasley. Does it mean that the Ministry of Magic is wrong from the beginning?''


    ''But it doesn''t make sense when Black was imprisoned twelve years ago, Ron was only one year old at the time ... sort of personal vendetta, a feud from a previous generation?''


    Felix recalled the Arthur Weasley and Molly Weasley couple he had met at the Leaky Cauldron Bar, they had given him the impression that they were both friendly, welcoming wizards, except for having a bit too many children.


    ''No, my thinking is off, if Black had a grudge against the Weasleys, he could have just found them, the Weasleys don''t have Dementors and Hogwarts for double protection.''


    ''''So, Ron Weasley is the key!''''


    Felix tried to remember what characteristics this student has, except for that time in the Chamber of Secrets when he burst out with amazing courage, after that he is pretty normal, the homework he turned in has obvious signs of patchwork, and he doesn''t seem too smart.....


    Aside from that.


    As he focused on Ron Weasley''s life and social circle, from his friends, parents, brothers, and the sister who had been briefly bewitched by Voldemort''s Horcruxes, logically, he thought of Ron''s pet scabbers.


    If Ron wasn''t Black''s real target, then the only other living thing on him that might be the one, is the pet rat, scabbers.


    "Rat, tsk!" Felix said with a sigh, "Normally I wouldn''t really suspect it, but since Black hid the fact that he was an Animagus, could it be that this rat is the same? Or is it a victim who was inflicted with an evil curse?"


    Felix considered it for a moment, he still leaned towards the rat being an Animagus, rather than being inflicted with some mischievous forced metamorphosis, which could be seen from the fact that Black had twice and thrice stormed into Hogwarts regardless of the danger.


    " Black absolutely hates that rat."


    Felix felt a little tingly, although the above ideas are based on assumptions and reasoning, but it has to be said that the possibility is high.


    In fact, if scabbers were a victim of malicious metamorphosis, it would be okay to find it and send it to St. Mungo''s for treatment, but if it is an illegal Animagus, that would mean that it could turn back into a wizard at any time. Here''s the problem: one can''t tell if it''s a friend or foe.


    "He may be hiding from his enemies, or he may have to stay incognito because of something. But--" A great sense of absurdity welled up in Felix''s mind. "Yes, if he really wanted to hide, he could have chosen to avoid the wizarding world, a wizard could have lived a very prosperous life in a normal world. But he didn''t, instead, he committed himself to lurk into the wizard''s family and disguising himself as a pet rat, which is definitely not a sign of goodwill."


    The reason he could think of is that this wizard didn''t want to disconnect from the wizarding world, and Mr. Weasley worked for the Ministry of Magic, which would suit his needs just fine.


    At this point, he almost had a basic judgment, the rat is probably not a good guy when he encounters it, he will first have to give a stunning spell to knock it down, and then it will depend on his real identity whether to obtain information normally or inject the truth agent. As for Sirius Black ...


    "It''s hard to say, the enemy of the bad guys is not always good guys, reality can be too complicated. Moreover, Black run from my grasp twice ... although each time there is a reason for what happened, but this feeling of being led by the nose feels bad."


    Felix always thought that Black had a little brain, the few people involved back his school year though so too - Snape said he was stupid, Lupin said he was impulsive, Professor McGonagall said he was lively, the fat lady did not give an evaluation, but directly revealed a lot of his school days ''adventures'' and ''great achievements'', some of his train of thought is really not something that normal people can come up with.


    "This time he is very clever, seized the Christmas holiday gap, if not for Harry''s decent strength, he may truly have achieved his goal."


    Next, Felix did two things.


    The first thing, he went to the forbidden forest Acromantula colony.


    The forbidden forest is covered with thick snow, Felix cloaked in a dark cloak, when his figure appeared in a hollow clearing, a click-clack sound rang around.


    This clearing is dyed white by the snow as well, only the central hemispherical spider web nest is conspicuous enough.


    "Gork, come out and meet me." Felix sent his voice into the spider web nest.


    Snowflakes fell, from inside slowly came out several Acromantula.


    Gork had become the new king of the group of spiders, and he occupied the best position in the center of the swarm, with countless large spiders clustered around him, looking a bit like a king.


    "Wizard." Gork said grumpily, "What can I do for you?"


    "This is not a conversational attitude, Gork, have you forgotten what I said?"


    Gork''s body froze, "I didn''t mean anything else, I was just hibernating."


    "Do Acromantula hibernate?" Felix asked curiously, would someone take advantage of the Acromantula''s hibernation to catch a few, or extract the venom?


    "Winter can make us uncomfortable, we try to stay in the cave and rarely go out." Gork explained, "But it''s not to the point where we don''t know anything about the outside world, and here I am out."


    Felix nodded, "I heard that you can control the spiders in the forbidden forest?" In his view, there are many fist-sized spiders rustling around on those white spider webs, snow, and dead leaves.


    "They hibernate, and many won''t survive the winter. What you see are the young spiders of the Acromantula, with thick hair that can withstand the snow and ice." Gork said while waving his large claw.


    "I happen to need some helpers who are smart enough." Felix curled his mouth, "Listen, Gork, I need you to look for a big black dog or a stranger in the forbidden forest, he probably has a fixed settlement, such as an abandoned beast cave or something like that, after finding it, no need to do anything, remember the location and contact me."


    Gork said after thinking for a while, "I can only let the young spider out, our size is too obvious, it will attract the centaur''s counterattack."


    "That''s fine." Felix agreed, and as he said goodbye, he gave Gork a large barrel of sherry - leftover from his Christmas return gift to Trelawney, not really to his liking.


    "Count it as a belated congratulatory gift, Gork."


    Second thing, he went to the hospital wing and asked Ron for some information about the rat, that scabbers had in fact inherited from his brother Percy.


    "How long has it been in your house?"


    "Some years, I guess," Ron said, puzzled.


    "How about being more specific?" Felix asked methodically, "How old were you when you became aware of its existence, five, six, seven, or eight years old?"


    According to his guess, since it was Percy Weasley''s pet, seven years would be more reasonable, and considering that the Weasleys were a proper wizarding family, it might be a year or two earlier.


    Ron mused, "I think I heard my mother mention that when Percy was five or six years old, he found scabbers one morning and immediately decided to keep it, and my mother actually didn''t think much of it because it looked like an ordinary rat with a missing toe. But Percy threw a rare tantrum, crying and screaming, and mother had to agree with him. It''s Percy''s dark history that he won''t ever talk to anyone about."


    Ron grinned and ended up yanking the wound on his leg.


    "Ordinary rat, and missing a toe ..." Felix repeated softly, he said with a look of admiration, "So scabbers lived at least eleven or twelve years? I remember that ordinary rats that live past three years are usually good."


    "This is the Nicolas Flamel version of rat, uh."


    ----------


    #Mitch James. Thanks for your support. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 25+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 259: Lupins Thoughts

    The Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor''s office. The room looked gray and dull, without much bright light. Remus Lupin sat quietly on the sofa, the wolfsbane potion constantly suppressing his system, like some kind of ghastly mental being extracting his physical strength little by little.


    The full moon had not yet arrived, but he is already exhausted.


    "Grrr~"


    The kettle in the corner boiled, jumping and spewing out large streams of steam, and Lupin dragged his body up, he tries not to use magic before or after the full moon, and after two minutes, he made himself a cup of tea.


    Tossing the teabag into the dustbin, white vapour wafted from the spot above the cup, and Lupin''s eyes glistened through the dimness. S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sirius ...."


    He had always been an emotionally introverted person, rarely displaying his true emotions. But with both physical and mental exhaustion, it is inevitable that his mood falls into a persistent slump. He found himself thinking back to this man once again.


    The photo on the wanted notice did not show his original face at all, and Lupin always subconsciously brought the young Sirius into it, which made his feelings more complicated and sad.


    "Should I reveal Sirius''s Animagus to Dumbledore?"


    This question haunted him for a long time, but he could not muster the courage to admit to Dumbledore: he had betrayed his trust as a student, not only left the Shrieking Shack but also following the three people to wander around ...


    Dumbledore''s trust is extremely important to him, when he was a child, it was Dumbledore who came into his home and convinced his father and mother to accept his admission to Hogwarts. For a year or two, Dumbledore or Madam Pomfrey accompanied him in his transformation, and then he grew older and convinced Dumbledore to allow him to complete the full moon transformation independently.


    The chains in the Shrieking Shack were very strong, which was one of the reasons he mentioned it.


    Dumbledore agreed with limited exception, and he set up the rule that Madam Pomfrey would lead him through the transformation, but would not keep an eye on him, and would occasionally let him go to the Shrieking Shack alone.


    He carefully maintained the secret, although as early as the second year, he was discovered by two keen guys, and then the number of people who knew he was a werewolf expanded to six: Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, James, Peter, and - Sirius.


    Once, James had a sudden idea of learning Animagus because werewolves are only dangerous to people, and James thought he could become an animal to accompany him. The idea was immediately supported by Sirius, and for some time, their enthusiasm was high.


    He didn''t care too much at the time, instead, he was ''happy'' to be accompanied by his friends, but still, he talked about how advanced Animagus is, and how many wizards have failed before and after a century, with less than two lines of names on the paper for those who finally succeeded.


    "I love your cold humour, Lupin," James said to him at that time.


    In the fifth year, things changed. The first full moon after he returned from holiday, he locked himself up in the shrieking shack as usual - he had got very good at it - but when the full moon passed, and he recovered a little, he opened his eyes and saw two large animals.


    It was a large black dog and a stag, and to his dazzled surprise, they turned into two familiar fellows, James and Sirius. They grinned at him, "We''ve been keeping this from you all summer just to see your surprised face."


    It was hard to describe his feelings at the time, happy and upset - they had got themselves all bruised up trying to pass the whomping Willow - and even a little grumpy, what if he had hurt them? But looking at their smiles, he compromised once again.


    After another two months, with the help of James and Sirius, Peter also finally made it, with their company, he calmed down a lot in the werewolf state, not always without reason, probably because both James and Sirius Animagus can suppress the werewolf, and no one to stimulate him to frenzy.


    They set out on an adventure. A werewolf and a few animals running around in the dark! Looking back now, Lupin is still puzzled by his youthful ignorance, but at the time they took the incident as a joke and were smug about it ...


    He could not help but feel guilty - for breaking the safety code set by Headmaster Dumbledore with his own hands, and despite his inner turmoil for a long time, he did not refuse to participate in the next adventure that they fixed.


    In the office, the tea is already cold.


    Lupin thought to himself: at the right time, I will tell Dumbledore everything, including his own hypocrisy and cowardice. He said to himself, and then thought with self-loathing, come on, you should have told Dumbledore long ago when Sirius tried to break into the castle.


    But he subconsciously postponed the decision again and again, like an ostrich, naively believed that Sirius had been obstructed and that he would never appear again.


    "Maybe he learned the evil dark magic from Voldemort ... but Hogwarts has Dumbledore, he won''t succeed."


    Lupin revealed an expression of self-loathing as he picked up his cup and poured the cold tea into his stomach.


    He thought of Neville and Harry, as he subconsciously focused on them. His attitude toward Neville was more of pity; his parents had been his comrades in arms, and although they hadn''t interacted much, the Longbottom''s were friendly people.


    He saw at once the timid character of Neville, he hoped that Neville could overcome his fears, but Snape''s retort seemed to make the boy suffer more cowardly, and he wondered if his several reassurances had produced any effect.


    Harry, on the other hand, he is more like his own son and nephew ... although he hides this affection well.


    By the way, he still has to teach Harry the Patronus Charm, Lupin cheered up a bit, he should find a boggart, he knows a lot about this creature, which comes from the bedtime stories he heard as a child - his father is "an expert on non-human spiritual phenomena" and knows all about mischievous ghosts, boggart and other types of ghosts.


    Even his father and mother bonded due to a wild boggart ...


    Lupin suddenly thought, Harry will certainly ask about his parents, when the time comes, how much should he reveal? And Sirius, it seemed that the more he said, the more wrong it would become.


    "Knock��knock."


    A low knock on the door interrupted Lupin''s thoughts, and he pushed it open to see Dumbledore standing outside the door.


    "Dumbledore - what brings you here?" Lupin asked in surprise.


    Dumbledore said in a deep voice: "Bad news, Sirius Black took advantage of Harry and his friends'' visit to Hagrid to sneak up on them."


    "What!" Lupin''s eyes widened, and his mind went dizzy, "Harry - are they all right?"


    "Almost, almost he did, Remus." Dumbledore said. "Harry''s best friend is lying in the hospital ward right now, and there''s no guarantee when the next attack will happen."


    Lupin held onto the door frame and seemed to lose all his strength. After a while, he said dismally, "I will tell you everything I know, Professor Dumbledore, including Black''s secret, including the lies I have told you ... I only hope that you will listen to the story fully and not leave in the middle because of anger."


    "That''s exactly what I came to see you about, Remus," Dumbledore said calmly.

 Chapter 260: Coping

    Exiting the hospital wing, Felix stood at the window of the castle corridor and saw from afar the young wizards returning from their holidays emerge from the bottom of the long ramp, even if he couldn''t hear their voices, he could imagine their excited conversations from their body movements. "School starts tomorrow, I''d better ask Percy Weasley at the dinner, eleven or twelve years, it''s hard not to make the association at that time ..." Felix thought to himself, "and Dumbledore''s conversation with Lupin, although there is no way to know the specific details, but looking at the behaviour of the Headmaster afterward, you can judge one or two."


    "I seem to have stepped on the key node of a drama, next, is it a mediocre ending, or a shocking reversal?"


    "Felix-"


    Professor McGonagall''s voice came from the other side of the corridor, her footsteps hurried, the hem of her robe fluttering behind her.


    "My Patronus failed to find you ..." she said quickly as she walked up to Felix, her chest heaving sharply, "Dumbledore has arranged a series of tasks, Hagrid and Snape arranged to pick up students from the station, Filius to modify school fence ward, and several secret passages need to be temporarily sealed up ... and he will personally meet with the chief of the centaur--"


    Felix''s heart fluttered, and he asked tentatively, "Did Headmaster Dumbledore mention anything about the rat?"


    "Oh," Professor McGonagall gave him an odd look, "Dumbledore said there was a chance you might know and told me not to keep it from you. But it''s best not to spread the word-"


    "I''m going to make a trip to the hospital wing and the common room to see if Weasley''s rat is still there, and oh my god, I couldn''t believe it when Dumbledore told me that it''s possible that it might be a Dark Wizard''s Animagus."


    "Is there anything I can do, Minerva?"


    "There are two secret passageways in the castle that connect directly to Hogsmeade, and I need your help to block them ..."


    A little later, in the staff common room next to the great hall, Felix met Dumbledore again, who is talking with Professor McGonagall a little closely, both of them had serious expressions on their faces.


    "Percy Weasley told me that it was twelve years ..."


    In addition to McGonagall, he also saw Lupin, who he had not seen for a long time. He had a tired look on his face and looked even more haggard.


    Professor McGonagall is still reporting the task given by Dumbledore, "... Hagrid and Snape completed the task well, no accidents happened in between, Filius still needs some time. As for the seven secret passageways, four were sealed up very early, the other three secret passageways, whomping willow you let me ignore it, for now, the remaining two--" she looked at Felix.


    Felix said, "The one-eyed witch statue on the third floor of the castle has been closed with a spell, and the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor collapsed."


    After a short pause, he could not help but ask: "Dumbledore, I do not quite understand, are you worried that Black will come in through the secret passage? Why don''t we use it to set up a trap?"


    Dumbledore shook his head gently, "The risk is too great, they are directly connected to the interior of the castle, I left the whomping willow secret passage at the edge of the forbidden forest alone, maybe we can find Black''s trail with it."


    He looked at the three people present and said in a low voice, "I don''t want too many people to know before things come to light. The three of you, one is too entangled with the past, one is my trusted deputy, and one may have found traces ..."


    "I''ll tell you: Sirius Black''s betrayal of the Potters is doubtful, because the dwarf Peter, who is suspected to have been killed by him, may have been alive all along, even living in the Weasley household for twelve whole years as Ron Weasley''s pet, that scabbers."


    McGonagall exclaimed, "Oh my God! Is that true? Albus, you told me before that it is Dark Wizard ..."


    Lupin looked at Felix, his face looked calm and composed, not showing any semblance of surprise, and it indeed just likes Dumbledore said - Felix Hap is rather a perceptive person, Is this how the most outstanding student of Slytherin in recent decades works?


    Half a semester had passed, he had a certain understanding of this young and intimidating professor, the first time he knew Felix''s performance when he was in school, he almost dropped his jaw.


    It is much more exaggerated than what they did back then, including the duel that rocked the wizarding world, he heard a fuller version of it, and since then, he has kept a distance from Felix, and he feels that with a few more contacts, his identity might be recognized ...


    Dumbledore replied softly: "I''m not sure, Minerva. The two most critical people, Black remains on the run, and the rat scabbers is nowhere to be seen, he may not ever return again ..."


    Lupin interjected: "The likelihood of that is low, I know him if the rat is really Peter, he will watch from a place not far away, where he thinks it is safe, and will not reveal himself until things are going the way he expects."


    Dumbledore nodded: "That''s why I don''t want to make the secret public, except for the lack of evidence, I actually expect Ron Weasley''s pet to jump out on its own, which will save us a lot of time."


    Professor McGonagall inquired uneasily, "Albus, should we tell Potter and his friends?"


    "Better not." Dumbledore declined her offer, "Minerva, for every additional person who knows the secret, the risk of a leak will increase tenfold, not to mention that if Potter and the rest reveal it just a little, we may never see that rat ever again."


    He paused, "And the worst possible scenario is that the rat will hurt them."


    Felix suggested, "Perhaps part of the information can be revealed to Miss Granger, we can''t always keep an eye on them, and with what I know about the three students, they are likely to start their own investigation." S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore showed a distressed expression: "This is indeed a problem, Felix, you know Miss Granger well enough, do you think she is up to the task?"


    "I think there is no problem," Felix glanced at Lupin, "she is very good at finding the truth and keeping secrets."


    At the end of this brief conversation, Lupin couldn''t resist speaking up and asking Dumbledore, "Can we inform the Ministry of Magic to show mercy when they face Sirius ..."


    "On what grounds?" Dumbledore asked rhetorically, his azure eyes glowing in the dimly lit room.


    "All of the above is based on assumptions, our guesses regarding existing doubts, but Black always kept the Potter''s secret, and you agree with that, Remus? I provided this crucial testimony to the Ministry of Magic back then, and according to the information I received, he had no defense in his private interrogation, thus I was completely disappointed in him ..."


    "We have no evidence, based on a common rat''s photo alone, the Ministry of Magic will hardly accept your testimony, and once they know your identity -" Dumbledore said, "your words will be greatly weakened. "


    Lupin''s expression darkened, if you want to testify, it is inevitable to tell everything back then, his werewolf identity is no exception, and the Ministry of Magic towards werewolves have what attitude, the entire wizarding world knows.


    "Remus, we did the best we could."


    The short meeting ended with both Professor McGonagall and Lupin left, "Felix--" Dumbledore called out to him from behind, and Felix looked at the Headmaster suspiciously.


    "If you have caught Black - and I have no doubt of that - I want you to keep him under control and out of the hands of the others, especially Severus and the Ministry of Magic."


    "The Ministry of Magic I understand, but Professor Snape --"


    "The misunderstanding between them is too deep, and I fear that Severus will do something irrational." Dumbledore for the first time showed a weary look, "I have to think more, Felix."


    "... I promise you, Headmaster."


    Felix turned and left the faculty common room as the lively clamour in the great hall created a wave of noise, all chatting loudly in excitement as he saw Fred and George tapping their knives and forks against goblets and empty plates with a crisp sound.


    ...


    The party ended in laughter, Felix returned to his office, reviewing the day''s events in his mind, and found that the key to the whole thing, in fact, is Sirius Black and scabbers the rat, as long as you catch one, the dusty truth will be revealed to the world.


    He shook his head, better to consider the new semester lesson plan, thinking room magic has undergone a radical change, allowing him to have a good idea.


    "Try it in a seventh grade class on ancient runes, the world of thinking, it''s just getting more and more amazing, and in the end what it will become, even I can''t predict it."


    ----------


    #Zekitz. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 25+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 261: Seeds of Miracles

    On the first day of school after the holiday break, the students showed up to class in high spirits. Felix stood at the podium, looked down at the seventh graders below, and spoke the words that excited them, "Today''s class is slightly different."


    The students'' attention quickly focused on the professor; if there was something they miss the most, it is last year''s ancient runes class, when the professor had just arrived, the sky being blue, and they were just carefree sixth graders.


    Professor Hap''s class was full of new and interesting attempts, especially the part about practical runes. But by the time the seventh year began, it started to rain and windblown away everything, for the same reason as the other professors - NEWTs exams.


    But today, the former Professor Hap is back.


    "Professor, are we going to the practical classroom?" A Hufflepuff student asked excitedly, privately, that classroom number seven is known as a practical classroom for their ancient rune class.


    "There''s no need for that, we just need-" He gave a light snap with his fingers.


    A group of students is caught in a trance, their eyes flashed for a moment, but in the next second, everything looked, as usual, making them wonder if they had been under an illusion.


    As they looked around, others had blank expressions on their faces, and it became clear that more than one person had noticed the anomaly that had just occurred.


    "Okay," Felix clapped his hands, "next, we need to improve the classroom-"


    The students watched as the professor raised his arm, and the classroom space suddenly expanded, and the four walls seemed to grow legs and run far away. Before they knew it, the classroom had grown a hundred times as large as before, and the distance between each person stretched four or five meters.


    "Professor-"


    The change didn''t stop there. From the ground grew lush grass, a yew tree rose from the ground, golden warm sunlight spilled down from nowhere, and a clear and pleasant sound of birdsong came from the distance.


    The table in front of the students twisted and turned into a square board made of wood that looked like a drawing board.


    A student tentatively grabbed a handful of grass from the ground and watched them float down from in front of his eyes, he sniffed them carefully, the smell of the grass lingering on his fingertips.


    The podium in front of Felix disappeared, and he stood among the students and said to them, "I''ve been studying the role of emotions lately. Although theoretically, every emotion is equal. But positive emotions are clearly better for one''s physical and mental health, unless you''re perfectly happy to soak yourself in a black, smelly jar and watch yourself rot and deteriorate a little.


    This is why people resent dark magic, but of course, if you ask me, learning some of it properly actually has little impact, and the Durmstrang Institute has a more tolerant attitude towards it ...


    To cut to the chase, I tried to create a more relaxed and enjoyable learning atmosphere by starting with the environment. Not only that-"


    He looked at the students with a hidden expectation in his heart.


    "It also occurred to me, wouldn''t it be different if you crossed the hard learning stage early and briefly had knowledge that isn''t meant for you?"


    Felix stretched out his hand and flicked it in the air a few times, and magic scrolls with an ancient aura coalesced out of the air and fell lightly into their hands.


    When the male and female wizards'' fingers touched the magical handwritten scroll, a bit of golden light trailed out from the unknown animal skin scroll. A great deal of knowledge about ancient runes suddenly flashed through their minds, and one student opened his mouth to utter a string of raw, cold words.


    After he finished, he got surprised with himself, for what he had just used is a fluent ancient language, and at this moment, it seemed as if he had transformed into a real ancient wizard.


    The air stood still for a moment, and then exploded as they talked about it.


    "What''s going on, am I awakening some talent here? How did the ancient runes become as easy as breathing?"


    "I feel like I can totally get an excellent on the exam now, what with the N.E.W.T exam, it''s not the least bit difficult at all!"


    Felix waved his hand again, the surrounding voices weakened, only his voice remained clear, "The Student who just said he can easily pass an exam with ''excellent'', take your hand away from the magic scroll and try again ... "


    That student obediently did as he was told, and the next second, his eyes almost came out of his head, "I, I ..."


    "What''s wrong, you say it to me?" The students next to him looked at him whimpering for a while and couldn''t say anything, and he looked anxious beyond measure. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A girl next to him said tremblingly, "Knowledge, suddenly disappeared ... No, not disappeared, but it did not belong to us in the first place." She looked at Felix, who had a calm face, "This knowledge belongs to Professor Hap."


    Felix nodded gently, his voice seemed to be full of magical charm, "I can''t stuff knowledge directly into your heads, but I wondered when you have experienced this feeling of erudition when you were young, would you still be willing to be mediocre?"


    "In my opinion, every wizard is a miracle seed. If they just only grow to a foot or two and got plucked to serve as ornaments in a vase, he can never grow into a great tree. That would be a shame."


    The students looked at the professor in awe, their perceptions never more stirred up than at this moment.


    The seventh graders had received career counselling as early as fifth grade, and even some of the best students had already got letters of recommendation from the professors in advance, but at this moment, they were a little bewildered.


    The Wizengamot and the Ministry of Magic are the top career choices in the wizarding world for sure. And then what, to just settle for the status quo, is this really what they want, they never doubted it in the past, but Professor Hap gave them another path.


    He told them that they were the seeds of miracles and had unlimited possibilities.


    Everyone felt moved, not simply because of the words themselves, but also because Felix had given them an early taste of what it would be like to be an "ancient rune expert", which, when combined with those words, proved to be very powerful. It is like dropping a nuclear bomb on their hearts.


    Felix clapped his hands, the time drifting back and forth from the sky came down a single test paper, he showed a pleasant smile: "Twelve papers, the amount of questions is hard... but for you now, it should be very easy."


    He told the students, "Memory cannot be imbued, it''s an iron law, but we can try to work around it. In this world of thinking, you can briefly use my knowledge of theoretical runes - just the knowledge itself. Can In fact save you lots of effort of looking up the books, but It''s more fulfilling, painstakingly looking up the book, or having the answer jump out immediately, which is more fulfilling?"


    "But Professor," Percy raised his hand, "what is the use of such an act if the knowledge is not our own? Merely to increase our insight?"


    Felix said, "Think about it, when is the fastest time to acquire knowledge?"


    Percy showed a thoughtful expression, and the other students were trying desperately to rack their minds.


    "When we use it!"


    "That''s right, When borrowing my knowledge, the speed of your own learning is actually greatly increased. According to my estimation, well ... test, if you guys don''t lazy around, when you take the exam in half a year, it''s still very possible to learn thirty to forty percent, and theoretical ancient runes are always easier because they don''t involve actual practice."


    "In short, it all depends on how hard you work, the more you use it, the more familiar you will be with it, and the more knowledge you will be left with it in the end."


    The students had long been listening with their eyes glowing, even though they still needed to work hard on their own, From the professor''s words It''s obviously will increase the speed of learning, and what could be better than that?


    Many of them had bought Baruffio''s Brain Elixir and taken Powdered dragon claw!


    Felix is pleased with their change of attitude, he reminded: "Such a class will not be every time, I will maintain a certain ratio, but at least I can guarantee that every few classes, you will experience this amazing experience ..."


    The crowd couldn''t wait to unfold their papers, and in the world of thinking, writing became easy as an automatic quill appeared in front of them and danced around quickly.


    "It''s easy to see the seven types of variations of ancient runes. Let''s see, the first ..."


    "The evolution and development of the runes that signifies ''thinking'' ... Huh? Surprisingly, there are eleven types, if it is originally me, I will certainly not know! Haha, it''s so funny, I''m a genius now."


    "This question is repeated, I just did it, even if I don''t use the magic scroll, I can still recall it ... Huh, another repeated one?"


    Percy did not rush to do the question, he put his hand on the magic scroll, and kept trying to say various sentences in an ancient language, a series of raw and cold pronunciation popped out of his mouth, after a few minutes, he said incredulously, "I can''t believe I translated the complete textbook of the Care of Magical Creatures class, only a few words can''t be corresponded, because there is no? "


    The sound of crisp birdsong became more pleasing to the ear, and a flower of various colours exuded fragrance.


    Felix watched them spontaneously and actively doing the questions, and couldn''t help but think in his heart: how many of them would devote themselves to the study of ancient runes now?


    Even if they were studying theoretical runes, but under his influence, they would not naturally reject the existence of practical runes.


    He also did not expect everyone to contribute to the ancient runes, that would be unrealistic, but in a decade or so, when they appeared in all walks of life, who else could hinder the rise of his field of practical runes research?


    When the course ended, Felix cancelled the thinking room magic, the students looked frustrated, they seemed to have become stupid all of a sudden, the ''loss'' of knowledge is not a good feeling, but there are many students in high spirits, they are very much looking forward to the next class.


    Felix looked at them with a smile: "There are two assignments for today, due is next week. First, write a two-foot essay discussing how you should use today''s session appropriately.


    Second, combine what you have learned in five years and draw a complete knowledge map of ancient runes, and in the next class, I will take you through ''another perspective'' with knowledge.


    Believe me, you will have a very different perception. Now, class dismissed!"

 Chapter 262: The Room Behind the Curtain

    The seventh-year wizards, both male and female, walked out of the classroom in a line, their faces still lingering with a trance and not returning to reality, and around the corner of the corridor, a brown-skinned Ravenclaw girl announced in a loud voice, "Ancient Runes class N.E.W.T. exam, I''m going to reserve an excellent in advance!" It is like her words flipped a switch in them and the discussion poured out -


    "Ha~ I thought so too!"


    "This class is so great, I can''t bear to think that the next class is scheduled for Friday ..."


    "Yeah, my brain is full of dung compared to Professor Hap."


    "Do you guys think there''s any truth in what Professor Hap said?"


    "Well, I was planning to enter the Ministry of Magic, but now I''m a little shaken, my parents are both employees in the Ministry of Magic, their life is not as good as outsiders think."


    "Really? Care to tell me about it ..."


    Penelope approached Percy and inquired in a low voice, "Is your goal still the Ministry of Magic?"


    Percy hesitated for a moment or two, then firmed up, "Yes, I too aspire for the future described by Professor Hap, but I have to grasp what I can reach for now."


    "You aren''t going to miss the professor''s class, I suppose?"


    "Are you kidding me," Percy said, "I''ll give it my all!"


    In the next few classes, when the seventh-graders showed up in other classes, their unusual excitement, and state of wandering caught the attention of other professors, and Felix''s approach and comment went viral among the group of professors.


    Felix thought he would be approached for a heart-to-heart talk, and he even had a speech ready, but all went smoothly.


    In the evening, he spent his time in his office recording his insights -


    ''The Thinking Room magic is becoming stronger and stronger, and even I''m a bit of a stranger to it. Without resistance or obvious defense, I can instantly pull the surface consciousness of a dozen or two people into the thinking room, which is the basis of today''s lesson. From here two branches can be extended -''


    ''''The first branch, the direction of attack; but the thinking room can''t actually hurt the other person, after all, what is pulled over is only an external mapping of the real consciousness, and the other person can still resist and when you fight, then it will fail, so it''s hard to use it in real combat for a short-term;''''


    He stopped and heavily underlined on ''difficult to use in real combat in the short term'', and the vaguely terrifying prospect shown in this direction alone is impossible for him to give up.


    Think about it, at some time in the future, he can kill or control a wizard with one look ... S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ''The second branch, the auxiliary direction, is used for thought acceleration and teaching ancient runes. The former is very useful in both combat and learning, while the latter-''


    Felix paused to ponder, ''The combination of thinking room and memory magic is equally amazing, and I have every chance of becoming the greatest teacher in history.''


    He thought again, ''I don''t know whether to be grateful or sorry that memories can''t be imbued, this is because a person''s memory is something quite sophisticated, and rash alterations would have unpredictable consequences, even my own Obliviate would only mitigate the side effects as much as possible, instead of none.


    The Ministry of Magic''s Obliviator in most cases would only eliminate the memory of the last few hours, but the person whose memory is eliminated is usually would have Bad Memory, Forgetfulness, and delayed reaction for a day or few ... I myself have verified it with the Dark Wizard.


    And trying to instil a piece of knowledge to someone is not a small and slight alteration, it will cause a huge change to the person ...


    I only can barely bypass this limitation now, and its real effect is still accelerated learning a lot of things.''


    A series of names flashed through Felix''s mind: Severus, Dumbledore, Lockhart, Lady Ravenclaw, the Longbottoms ... They were either actively or passively provided help to improve and enhance the Thinking Room, which is how he had taken this magic from barely being used, to now, in a matter of a year and a half, he can wield it freely and with ease.


    Not to mention, he actually experienced a big upgrade in memory magic in the middle, as well as the full support of the forbidden book section of Hogwarts library ...


    Felix rolled up the parchments and quietly watched as it turned into flying ash, and in the Thinking Room, the parchments coalesced back together.


    Felix rolled them into a round parchment cylinder and pulled a thin silvery-green cord from thin air to secure and tie the cylinder.


    He nimbly went over the piles of books stacked on the dark maroon carpet and stood in front of the dark green curtain. The curtain rolled up without a breeze, revealing a tall portal behind it.


    He reached out and touched the handleless door, and with a gentle push, the door opened silently.


    This is his true inner world, hiding all his deepest secrets and memories.


    It is a long room with an aisle in the middle, moving along straight with no end in sight. On both sides of the aisle are tall bookshelves with books of various shapes and styles, each with a different version of himself on the cover.


    At the corners of the shelves, there displayed some handwritten notes, photographs, memory balls, and similar odds things.


    Felix strides forward as the room gradually lights up, and he stands in front of a bookshelf, and by the soft glow, he patiently counts the numbers: "Memory Magic -- Thinking Room-- Theoretical Inference --there it is!"


    He placed the small cylinder on the shelf and muttered to himself in slight distress, "Well, the room is always changing, it takes a lot of time to find it every time I come ..."


    Felix came out of the room behind the curtain, watched as the dark green curtain fell again, covering the heavy doorway, and turned around to return to the real world.


    In the ancient runes'' office, he looked at the clock and waited quietly-


    "Knock, knock, knock!"


    "Come in-"


    The office door opened and Hermione jumped in like a thief.


    "No one noticed you, right, Miss Granger?"


    "No, Professor. You told me to keep it a secret." Hermione said briskly, two hours earlier, while she is eating dinner, Professor Hap''s Patronus suddenly appeared with a blank card in its mouth.


    When her magic covered the card, a small line appeared on it: Time-tuner, tonight at eight o''clock, secret.


    Hermione had been scratching her head until after ten o''clock before she used the time-tuner to appear back two hours ago.


    Felix nodded as he inquired, "What do you think about Sirius Black''s attack yesterday?"


    He intended to begin with this statement to bring out his suspicions about Rat Scabbers, but Hermione gave him a direct surprise, or rather a shock.


    "Professor, we guess - Ron''s rat, it may have a problem!" Hermione said in a lowered voice, but her voice trembling with excitement.


    "How did you find out about this ...?"


    "It is Harry," Hermione said, "he overheard Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley talking the night before the start of the third year, and Mr. Weasley said--" she held her breath, her eyes glazed over.


    "After Black''s escape, the Ministry of Magic went to Azkaban to investigate and collect evidence, and the guards inside mentioned that Black had been repeating in his sleep for the past few days - he had been at Hogwarts, he had been at Hogwarts ..."


    Hermione''s voice became shrill: "We previously thought that Black''s target is Harry, but yesterday''s attack proved it''s not, at least not the first target. Coupled with the fact that Black''s antics after Fudge gave him a newspaper - oh, we heard that''s from Fudge himself, the time he talked to the professors at the Three Broomsticks - combined with Black''s attack on Ron, we presume that the Ron family''s award information that was published in the Daily Prophet ..."


    Hermione still talking about her thoughts, but Felix has not been able to resist sighing, both for Hermione and their keen sense, but also for Fudge''s negligence and carelessness, the root cause of all this in his body.


    But that said, Harry, they actually got the information long ago, only until yesterday did they truly connect the dots. And he was not so lucky, he relied on Black''s Animagus, and Black abnormal attack against Ron these two points to start the association.


    The most crucial clue here is actually the Animagus, following this line, many things can be deduced.


    "... We haven''t told Ron, oh gosh, we actually are not sure, but in case it''s true, how sad he would be."


    "Miss Granger," Felix said with a sigh, "there is indeed that possibility, which is why I brought you here, I originally thought-"


    He shook his head gently, "I''ll need to change my tactics."


    "Now that you have investigated this far, I hope you will be aware of the possible dangers and put your protection first."


    Felix reached out and beckoned three coins that could be turned into the Ring of the ouroboros and let them fall into Hermione''s hands, "This is what I have prepared for the Magic Rune Club, and there is nothing wrong with giving it to you a few days in advance."


    "You can reach me through it in case Harry forgets to carry the sneakoscope again ...


    In addition, your beaded pouches should be with you at all times, it can briefly fight against basilisk, and under a sudden activation, the average dark wizard is unlikely to be your opponent.


    If you spotted that rat, the first choice is to stun it, do not hesitate, and then find a nearby professor to alert, or contact me directly."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 263: The Twins and the Whomping Willow Trap

    The next morning, freezing rain mixed with snowflakes fell from the sky, condensing into a smooth and transparent ice coating on the ground, and the young witches had to move carefully across the yard and open space. "Ouch!"


    Ron, who had just left the hospital wing, tripped and pounced straight to the ground, he struggled to get up, the ground is really slippery, luckily Harry pulled him up.


    He watched enviously as the twins conjured up a pair of ice skates for themselves and nimbly made their way around the yard through the students.


    "Wanna give a try, Ron." Fred appeared in front of him and winked at him.


    "No, thanks-" Ron muttered, he''d only fall worse when he uses that, "Don''t you guys have class?"


    "Don''t be silly, of course, we have class," Fred said, "Hey George, watch out--"


    Harry watched as George slid over quickly, he waved his arms desperately, "Oh no--" and rolled with Fred, both of them diving headfirst into the snow, their clothes, cuffs, and collars covered in snow, even their eyebrows were dyed white, they pointed at each other with comical face and laughed.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, "Let''s go, we have quite a few classes today."


    "Wait, Harry!" Fred caught up, his arm on Harry''s shoulder, as he whispered to him, "Listen, the secret passage is blocked ..."


    "What?" Harry exclaimed, and didn''t respond for a moment.


    "The secret passage, the secret passage to Hogsmeade, Harry." Fred gave him a meaningful look and Harry suddenly snapped out of it.


    He stammered, "Then the map ..."


    "Nothing happened to the map, we tried to go to Zonko''s Joke Shop yesterday to get some goods, you know--" Fred squeezed his eyes at him, "Dungbomb, sparklers and such, only to have the one-eyed witch statue on the third-floor act like she is dead, and then Filch''s cat popped up, and we rushed off in a hurry."


    Harry snapped to attention, it is a chain reaction after Black''s attack, the professors are on guard against a sudden break-in at the castle, if this does happen, the castle''s protection will fail, and he or Ron is likely to be kidnapped from the dormitory.


    "Harry--" Ron shouted from afar.


    "Anyway, we can only hope to use that passage behind the whomping willow, George and I are ready to explore it, so wait for my good news," Fred said and left.


    "Don''t--" Harry reached out and watched the twins run away, he wanted to tell them that he had been banned from leaving the castle by Dumbledore, and that even Hagrid''s Hut is off-limits except for classes and occasions when a professor is present.


    In the afternoon, the weather finally cleared up. After the trio had lunch, they emerged from the great hall as they breathed the fresh air.


    "By the way, Harry, what did Fred said to you?" Ron inquired curiously.


    Harry informed Ron and Hermione of what had happened, and Ron expressed his disappointment, "So you can''t even go to Hogsmeade with an invisibility cloak?" Hermione, on the other hand, is visibly relieved.


    She said to Ron, "Don''t forget, you can''t either, Professor McGonagall told you personally that you and Harry are treated the same until Black is captured."


    Ron''s whole face twisted up, "I keep trying to forget that."


    Harry and Hermione looked at each other, they hadn''t told Ron about the rat speculation, and even though Ron kept complaining that scabbers isn''t being nice, Harry knew Ron treasured it quite a bit, he changed the subject, "Maybe we can check out the Ancient runes practical classroom this weekend, I heard it''s very popular, we hardly wandered around thereafter the last club test. "


    "Actually, I''d rather try your firebolt." S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry''s mood became gloomy, "Don''t think about it, Wood went to Professor McGonagall, it didn''t help at all, we had to wait till the end."


    Hermione immediately turned her head away, pretending to be interested in the distant scenery, but she suddenly pointed into the distance, "Oh my God, look what''s there -"


    They were standing uphill in the clearing, and they could catch a glimpse of the corner of the Forbidden Forest. At the moment, the grumpy whomping willow wildly whipped its whip-like branches, and two small black dots came running over in a panic.


    "It''s Fred and George!"


    They rushed toward the whomping willow, falling a dozen times on the way because the road is too slippery, and when they arrived, wheezing, they found Professor McGonagall yelling angrily at the twins.


    "I don''t know what you think - you never take your herbology class! How dare you tease the whomping Willow ... Gryffindor fifty points off, plus a week of detention-at this time of year, can you save your breath-"


    Professor McGonagall''s anger has not yet subsided, she turned her head, "And you, Potter, Weasley, Granger, why are you here again? I told you all to stay in the castle only yesterday."


    "Professor, Professor, we saw Fred and George in danger ..." Harry said.


    Professor McGonagall tightened his eyebrows relaxed a little, "Well, things happen for a reason, and I hope you won''t make similar excuses in the future. Come back with me--"


    The Weasley twins dropped their heads and followed Professor McGonagall. As they passed the trio, Fred made an exaggerated gesture towards them.


    Trap~trap~


    It isn''t until the evening that they saw the unlucky twin brothers again.


    Fred sat on his butt between Harry and Ron, completely free of the depression of being detained, and said with a raised eyebrow, "You can''t imagine what we have encountered today."


    "A crazy whomping willow tree?" Ron said in a deliberate speculative tone.


    "Much more interesting than that," Fred''s eyes glowed, "George and I were actually very cautious and ready to back off at a moment''s notice, and we saw an entrance near the roots of the whomping willow, very hidden, and George spotted something strange-looking green... ..."


    "I think it is a branch of some kind, it looks a bit familiar, but I didn''t see much for me to recognize it." George said regretfully.


    Fred followed up, "So we simply got a little closer and the whomping willow wriggled wildly, looking like a gnome that had eaten Pesticides, and we rushed away to wait for it to calm down. The result ..."


    "We got surrounded, and the professors fell from the sky." George said with mixed emotions, "Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Hap, and of course, Professor McGonagall."


    Harry and the others listened dazedly, this is much more exciting than what they had, though.


    Ron looked incredulous, "So you guys are still alive?" He reached up and lifted Fred''s arm, only for it to suddenly dangle, and Fred made a face at Ron.


    George finally said, "Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap took one look and left, leaving Professor McGonagall to clean up the mess - that''s us, and I think she must have regretted becoming Head of Gryffindor at the time ... "


    The twins quickly left, having got some information from Harry, such as that the Whomping Willow trap is probably aimed at Black, "Cool~" but they also took a rare moment of seriousness and focused on the dueling game that they had let slip just before the holidays.


    "We could make a fortune while we''re at it."


    Ron stared at the backs of his two brothers and suddenly said, "I know what they want, a store in Diagon Alley, but the family can''t help them."


    Harry''s lips parted, and no words came out about borrowing money, he knew the twins wouldn''t take it.


    The door to the common room opened and Neville walked in.


    "Have you guys noticed that Neville isn''t quite like he used to be?" Hermione said thoughtfully.


    " Has he?"


    "I can''t describe it, maybe more energetic?"


    Harry looked half-heartedly, he judged, "It should be more confident, I had a similar look after my special training."


    "Did Professor Hap have something to say to him? Only Neville got detention during today''s class."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 264: Reconciliation

    In the office, Felix still remembered the events that happened not long ago - He and Neville were standing in front of the clock tower, looking over the distant landscape. The overcast clouds spilled freezing rain and snowflakes lightly, which made that evening''s dusk especially gorgeous, and a haze cast over the sky made the sun''s orange glow appear vast and visible, making the clouds reflect the colourful haze.


    "A spectacular sight, isn''t it?" Felix said softly.


    Neville nodded, he opened his mouth to say something, but felt his lips seem to be glued together, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t open them.


    "I think I owe you an apology, Neville," Felix spoke first, and even though Neville''s eyes remained focused outside, he could feel the professor''s gaze fall on him.


    "I, ahem! I mean, Professor Hap, I''m the one who should say thank you, you cured my mom and dad, and inspired my gift ... me, I ..." he said with a red face.


    Felix changed the subject, "How are your parents doing?"


    Neville seemed relieved, "Dad and Mom are fine, they spent Christmas at home, everyone was happy, Grandma got drunk, although she didn''t drink a few glasses ... nearly all the wine was drunk by Uncle Algie."


    "After the holidays, Mom and Dad went back to St. Mungo''s for follow-up treatment; they had lost a lot of vitality over the years and had to recuperate for a while. But Aunt Miriam said that these are minor problems, before it was affected by memory damage, many treatments can not be used ..."


    Neville paused for a moment and said, "Before school starts, they asked me to express my gratitude to you." He pulled out a letter from his pocket and handed it to Felix.


    Felix took the letter that was sealed with a gold and red fire-painted seal with a three-dimensional L-shaped pattern, which looked very formal. His finger gently touched the seal, the letter popped open automatically, inside there is a sincere letter of thanks and a gold and red card made of woven metal wire.


    The card is embroidered with a list of names -


    Augusta Longbottom, Algie Longbottom, Enid Longbottom, Frank Longbottom, Alice Longbottom, Neville Longbottom ...


    Felix collected the card and thank you note seriously, "I will reply with a formal letter, and if necessary, I will visit your place." Neville stared at him blankly, "Oh, uh ... I''ll pass on the message to Grandma - and Mom & Dad."


    For the next few moments, they both watched in silence as the sunset, from the first haloing half the sky to falling a little downward, the sun''s shadow no longer visible, but its light still embedded like a gilded gold on the distant horizon.


    Felix suddenly spoke up and said, "Neville, you taught me a lesson."


    "What?"


    "It is difficult for a man to understand beyond what he has experienced, and most of the decisions he makes are rooted in a reproduction of some past scene, which is like a prison of thought, unseen and untouchable. But when you want to make a decision, you are always influenced by it again."


    "The scary thing is that the person in the cage doesn''t know it himself, and if at that moment, someone can be around to wake him up, give some hints, let him see the broader world, his perception will take a big step forward."


    "Neville, you fulfilled this role."


    Neville''s breathed deeply, and he turned his head to look at Professor Hap.


    Felix said, "You should have mixed senses about me, gratitude, resentment, respect, hatred ... all mixed together, so you don''t know how to face me either, do you?"


    Neville lowered his head and looked at his shoes, he suddenly had so many things to say, but he held it back with his dear life.


    "I just said that one''s behaviour is affected by the past, and I am no exception, the more profound the past the more far-reaching it is. When I was preparing this plan, my mind subconsciously recalled my experiences as a student, and I tried to use myself as a template to try to replicate it on you."


    "Professor, is your accidental magic riot ... scary? But didn''t you defeat the entire Slytherin house?" Neville said softly.


    "Ah ... even Dumbledore, was not born invincible, when he was eleven or twelve years old, he may not necessarily beat Harry, of course, we are only talking about battle power, not wisdom."


    Neville felt that this statement is a bit strange, Professor Hap is saying that Harry has no wisdom, or is just a brainless brute?


    But thinking that the comparison is with Headmaster Dumbledore, the greatest wizard of today, he relented, it is rather an honour and a compliment.


    "I''m actually quite lucky," Felix smiled, "I could beat the ones in the same year as me, and the senior ones were limited by school rules and could do nothing but watch, after all, the punishment at the time is quite harsh ... "


    "But if you take the initiative towards the seniors, it''s not within the scope of protection, people should always be allowed to defend themselves, right? So for a long time, they have been babbling in my ears, once or twice I will think they are childish, who are fooling around, like nagging flies buzzing around you, but over time, it is inevitable to accumulate some negative emotions."


    "As it happens, for some special reason, maybe it''s a gift ... my magic is more active than normal, so I experienced a few accidental magic riots."


    "In fact, I don''t know much about it, but I naturally classify it as a product of negative emotions." S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It dawned on Neville that this is the case. He has been thinking hard these days, but still can''t figure out how Professor Hap, who is obviously so powerful, could be forced to have multiple accidental magic riots, and now he finally understands that it''s because of his talent.


    He couldn''t help but be envious of Professor Hap, as he is the exact opposite of him - with his unreactive magic and poor natural gift ...


    However, everything is better now.


    Felix carefully observed the expression on his face and smiled, "Well, I''ve already revealed quite a few of my secrets, can you keep them for me, now if I think about it, It''s become more comfortable, I think?"


    Neville lowered his head in shame as he said, "Professor, I simply can''t wrap my head around this at the moment."


    Felix said gently, "I just hoped to get this off my chest, Before I indeed have not considered it properly, and I hope I can gain your understanding."


    "Professor, I was the one who took it too seriously." Neville scratched his head and laughed nervously twice.


    "Then, like a man, let''s shake hands?" Felix took the initiative to extend his hand.


    Neville''s eyes blinked as he shook the professor''s hand.


    "Neville, I''d like to invite you to join my Magic Runes Club, would you?"


    " Can I, but - my grades are not outstanding."


    "Your diligence is evident to all, and, I think, I am qualified to select the members who I deem suitable."


    "Of course, I will!"


    The earth finally swallowed the last light and night fell.


    A slightly distressed voice came from the clock tower, "I''ve noticed a problem, we seem to have missed dinner - let''s go to the kitchen instead, I''ll introduce you to a very friendly house-elf named Cloudbur, I hope he''s seen the recipes I sent him... . There are a few dishes I''ve had my heart set on for a while."


    ...


    The flashback ended with Felix sitting on the couch and saying in a relaxed tone, " Isn''t it feel nice this way."


    ----------


    #Vincent Emil. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 265: Duel Competition Registration

    On the third day after the holiday, Felix finally received a letter back from the Ministry of Magic. The person who wrote back is still Rufus Scrimgeour from the Office of the Minister of Magic''s Advisor, and he had no objection to changing the time of the lecture to Friday, only suggested that he should arrive half an hour earlier, as some issues needed to be communicated in advance. "If you are not able to get your lunch in time, the ministry will prepare a nice lunch for you." Rufus Scrimgeour wrote in the letter.


    ...


    The school bulletin board draws a constant stream of buzz from students. At the end of Thursday afternoon classes, the young wizards saw a new notice posted on the bulletin board: During the first dueling class next month, there would be a small dueling tournament.


    At the bottom of the notice is the logo of the student body and the signatures of both male and female prefects of each house.


    A student read the rules: "All students from first to seventh grade can participate, and they need to sign up with the grade Head boy or girl of their house, and the list will be summarized to the prefect of each house every day."


    "Dueling competitions will be held according to grade in turn, with participants from the same grade going head-to-head internally in pairs until the first place of seven grades is selected and will be awarded a prize. The first place in each grade can challenge their upper-grade winner, while the seventh grade can only be challenged by others ... Wow! I like this rule, it takes good care of those first and second-grade brats."


    A few second-graders next to him glared at him.


    "Are you going to sign up, Draco?" Pansy Parkinson, who wearing a dark green dress, asked softly.


    "Why not join when you can teach some people a lesson, rightfully?" Draco''s eyes fell on a few Gryffindor students, "I happen to have learned an interesting spell over the holidays."


    He and Pansy then left leisurely, as his voice trailed off echoing behind them, "That Weasley actually embarrassed me at the club, saying all I do is cry for my dad ... It was the stupid big fowl that hurt me first, and I had to bandage my hand for two weeks!"


    News of the dueling competition spread quickly, with gossip that the winner would receive a prize of one hundred galleons, or a prize of his choice from any of the prizes prepared by Professor Hap - in addition to high-level golems, sneakoscope with unique functions, potions, and no shortage of unknown artefacts made by Professor Hap himself.


    That afternoon, the news was confirmed by Penelope Clearwater, the prefect of the Ravenclaw Girls'' Student Body, and the young wizards were thrilled to death.


    The Weasley twins also promptly added fuel to the fire by declaring that the first of seven years would receive a free couple''s mirror, which is the latest trend, and orders are already lined up till April, so you simply can''t get it at the moment.


    But the twins did not lose out either, they successfully advertised once and launched the second version of the couple''s mirror along the way.


    The four House grade heads had never felt that their office is crowded before, but now they are surrounded by people to answer all kinds of questions all the time, but when it comes time to actually sign up, the young wizards can''t help but be a little hesitant.


    Mainly because most of them felt that they had no chance, they naturally switched from the perspective of the contestants to that of watching the competition, and that night a list got released, ranging from the top students of each grade, to the potential wizards of different houses.


    The leaderboard feature on the answer space provided a strong reference, especially from the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, which is regarded as the benchmark for the outcome of the duel because of its strongest connection to the duel.


    Although it is still very early for the dueling competition, they have already formed a private betting game.


    On Friday morning, the seventh graders had their second ancient runes class of the week, and when Felix walked into the classroom, he found that students had already arrived early.


    Their motivation had increased so much?


    But according to the plan, he would wait until the students finished their assignments for the next week before starting the practical lesson on Thinking room Magic, after all, it would be worthless if they did it more often.


    "Today we have the theory portion of the class-"


    "Professor," Percy raised his hand and stood up to speak on behalf of the class, "we have completed the assignments from last class, including the essay and the knowledge map." He stepped forward and handed up a stack of parchment.


    "Hmm?" Felix took it in surprise as Percy said earnestly, "Not one is missing, I double-checked it." He looked at the students offstage, and they nodded their heads in unison.


    Felix looked over the essay briefly, and it is indeed true. He also saw Marcus''s essay, which is indeed written two feet long, although the spacing between words is a bit wide and the segments are a bit too much.


    He put down the assignment and smiled, "Well, then I''ll bring forward the content of next week."


    A group of students again found themselves once again pulled into that magical classroom, where space stretched out into the distance, flowers and plants came up through the ground, and a yew tree sprang up ... They gazed at it all in amazement, chattering and whispering to each other, and a few students could not wait to get out of their seats and walk around.


    Wood then particularly wanted to try to see if he could break a branch of the yew tree, only for it to start growing violently, throwing him far out of the way -


    "Ahhhhhh!" Amidst the surprised expressions of the others, he nimbly got up from the ground, grinned as he said, "It didn''t hurt at all~"


    Under his demonstration, many people couldn''t resist trying it out. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix cooperated with interest as he controlled the yew tree, tossing those who had the guts to try into the air and watching them scream as they fell from dozens of feet high and hit the ground with a "pop" ...


    The crowd played around for a while, and soon their eyes fell upon the professor, eyes full of hope.


    Before they could say anything, the ancient rune scroll appeared in the air and fell lightly into their hands.


    "Today''s lesson is simple, it''s about looking at what we''ve learned in the past from a different perspective."


    Felix waved his hand and the assignment that the students had just turned in appeared in front of them, "You will first re-read the essay you wrote and see what is wrong with it. Later, I will guide you through this knowledge, and you will find that they are quite distinct and have extremely subtle internal connections ..."


    Felix deliberately ended the thinking room magic half an hour early, allowing them to use the time to organize their gains.


    As one of the few academic dropouts in the class, Marcus Flint found for the first time that he could easily keep up with the professor''s train of thought. Instead of brooding, learning flowed along briskly and wildly, and he finally appreciated the joy of learning.


    As a repeat student, he didn''t ask for much, as long as he could pass and graduate successfully, but now maybe he could be more aggressive and try to get an E?


    ...


    At noon, Felix appeared at the Ministry of Magic''s guest entrance - a red phone booth - a little earlier than the appointed time.


    "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and the reason for your visit."


    A female voice said, exactly the same as the one Felix had heard the last time he came to Belby''s ordination ceremony, even the cold tone of voice had not changed.


    "Felix Hap invited to give a speech for the internal staff of the Ministry of Magic."


    Waiting for a moment, a square silver badge slid out of the coin slot, and Felix wore it on his chest shirt, his expression turning expectant as the ground slowly sank.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 266: Encounter with Newt

    The door to the phone booth opened with a jerk, and Felix stepped into the gilded foyer, making his way to the information desk. "Hello, may I ask where Meeting Room Number Two is?"


    A middle-aged blonde witch looked absently at the badge on his chest, the bulletin board behind her had various signs posted on it, but these were obstructed by an exaggerated notice, "Felix Hap ... Oh, Mr. Hap, Mr. Scrimgeour explained the situation, please follow me --"


    "I''m sorry, ma''am, I haven''t registered my wand."


    The witch said warmly, "That is not a necessary procedure, my dear. I hear you are an expert in muggle studies? I have a copy of Simple Spells to Muddled Muggles at home, but I haven''t read it much to tell the difference between good and bad ... Little Tim always makes a mess of the house."


    She led Felix to the elevator area and glanced at the floor, "We''re going to the third floor - oh, look out!" As she spoke, a flock of paper planes flew into the elevator along the gap in the golden grate door, and she explained, "These are the notes the Ministry uses to deliver messages-"


    Once inside the elevator, the paper planes hovered slowly against the ceiling, coloured in a light purple with a "Ministry of Magic" stamp on the side of their wings.


    "- We used to communicate with owls, you can imagine the air quality here ... and the feces problem, the tables, and chairs got messed up, after we switched to these little things, the ministry''s cleaning work was reduced by a third. ."


    "Excuse me, I''m not sure of your name yet?" Felix had to interrupt the rhythm of her speech.


    "Rae Defina, where was I, oh yes -" she began to tell how her five-year-old son had managed the feat of drawing the entire Quidditch League team logo with a single bag of flour, "he will lead the national team to victory." She said proudly.


    "Ms. Defina, I heard that the L.C.A comic book publisher recently came out with a new set of comic books that are very popular."


    "Yes, I haven''t paid much attention to it, what''s it called?"


    "It''s called-"


    The elevator stopped, and two wizards came in from outside, one is a brown short-bearded male wizard with a scarlet face, wearing a black wizard''s robe; the other one is an old man with white hair and beard, he is wearing a rough grey trench coat with a brown vest inside.


    The old man tilted his head slightly sideways, "Amos, there''s something wrong with your procedure, drastically wrong. And you keep going around in circles, the whole time, I can see that Tina is teaching me a lot."


    Amos, the male wizard in the wizard''s robe, said uneasily, "I know you are very concerned about the survival of the hippogriff, but this matter doesn''t really have something to do with you, does it? You don''t even own it."


    "I can''t just ignore it because it has an owner, I''m just fighting for the legal rights that belong to it."


    "But you''re retired, Mr. Scamander."


    "In theory, I just stopped going out that much as before..., but I didn''t stop working, if you knew how much work I had to do in a day, you wouldn''t think like this."


    "You''re already on your 52nd revised edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, so why don''t you complete another edition?"


    The older man looked at the other man''s side of the face, "I do have that plan, but-- we''ve gone off-topic--again, I''ve been commissioned by my friends--which also includes three affectionate little ones -- to question the work processes of the Ministry of Magic. I don''t think you hired me as a consultant to keep me quiet."


    "Of course! Many of the Ministry''s magical creature sanctuaries need your advice."


    The elevator door opened, and the two men stepped out -


    "Mr. Hap, we''ve arrived as well." Defina the receptionist said, and Felix bowed slightly, "Thank you, is it on this floor, I can find it myself."


    He took a few steps out and turned back, "BTW, the name of that book is The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard, and it''s available at several bookshops."


    Felix followed the two wizards and watched as they stopped in front of a spacious office. He looked up and read it, "Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures". S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The male wizard in the black wizard''s robe entered the office, leaving the old man waiting outside, and Felix approached, "Mr. Newton Scamander?"


    The old man tilted his head and glanced over him, "You are ..."


    "Felix Hap, Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts." Felix introduced himself, "We just met at the elevator."


    Newt''s eyes fell on him, "Yes, yes, that''s right ... Mr. Hap, I''ve heard of you, young Rolf has mentioned you."


    Felix said, "I was very interested in your research when I was in school and collected some newspaper clippings, but unfortunately I didn''t find much of it."


    "I did publish a few articles in my early years, which were not taken seriously at the time -" Newt said, "that was a long time ago."


    "For a while in school, I was obsessed with how to deal with them, making sure I didn''t get myself hurt if I met one." Felix said.


    Newt''s eyes lit up, "That''s what I researched, rescuing, nurturing, protecting ... I also taught other wizards to understand them instead of being fearful-"


    "So, Potter and the others eventually found you?" Felix said, "I overheard a few sentences in the elevator, and I assume you were discussing the case of the Hogwarts Hippogriff that attacked the students."


    "Potter? Harry Potter?"


    "Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, and of course, the center of the vortex, Rubeus Hagrid and his Buckbeak."


    Newt nodded, "That would be correct, they wrote to tell me that a Hippogriff is treated unfairly and implored me to come forward. To be honest, I''ve been away from the Ministry of Magic for many years, and it''s not quite the same as when I left. Sorry - it''s a lot different."


    He tilted his head in a gesture of disappointment, "Tina advised me to write in peace, but there are things you see that you can''t just pretend you didn''t see - and if the horned serpents'' horns start to glow, you have to respond - you know what I mean?"


    "We can''t stand the injustice that is happening right in front of us."


    "Yes, you summed it up very well - oh, just a moment, I need to solve some small trouble -" Newt quickly reached into his pocket and took out a silver pocket watch, which abruptly expanded and looked like it would soon explode.


    "Mr. Scamander--" Felix stared, casting a human shield charm on himself.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not broken--" Newt said hastily, and the front cover of the silver pocket watch popped open violently, from which a pink nose resembling a duck''s beak poked out, and the next second, a palm-sized Niffler burst out of the pocket watch and crawled nimbly on top of Newt.


    The next moment, two more Niffler appeared, one of which looked at the smooth lid of the pocket watch and groomed its black soft fur, while the other seemed to have taken a fancy to the silver bracelet.


    Felix curiously sized them up, a dark, furry Niffler somewhere between a mole and a platypus, with an uncanny fervour for shiny things.


    "Hey! Valen, Sal, Thorpe, settle down." Newt murmured as he nimbly grabbed Niffler, which is standing on his shoulder and struggling to pull the silver button, then he shoved it back into his pocket watch. He tossed the other two in and closed the front cover.


    Newt looked around, to see if someone noticed it, then he stuffed the pocket watch back into his pocket and winked at Felix: "In theory, I can''t bring my magical creature friends ... but they''ve only been born for a short time and I just can''t be assured."


    ----------


    #Leonard Batten-W?lfl and #Edmund. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 267: Avery

    Thinking back about the palm-sized Niffler he had just seen, it became apparent to Felix that the adult Niffler would be at least a foot. Newt glanced at him and looked towards the office again, from inside Amos'' voice sounded a little exasperated, "Where the hell did you put those forms?"


    "Can you help?" Newt said.


    "What?" Felix looked at him with a somewhat startled look.


    "I need to feed them some potions ... These three are somewhat weaker than their siblings."


    "Happy to oblige," Felix said after some thought, noticing that the old man had a unique air about him, a mixture of seriousness and naivety that he had only ever seen in prepubescent children.


    "What do I need to do?"


    "Hold it for me - that''s right," Newt sidled up and took the silver pocket watch from his pocket, and the thumb-sized glass bottle from his other pocket, and screwing open the cap, Felix found the lid combined with a dropper.


    "Just three drops ..." Newt looked intently at the pocket watch, "I''m going to open it, Mr. Hap."


    "Click."


    The front cover of the pocket watch popped open, and a small black creature immediately burst out, leaping nimbly over Newt''s hand--


    "Accio Niffler!" Felix whispered as Niffler''s squishy palm kept paddling, only to find itself flying backward in vain and being caught in one hand.


    "Thanks - it''s you again, Valen, you should be almost better," Newt said as he looked at the little guy, and Niffler in Felix''s hand looked away and whimpered a few times.


    "Hey, you can''t talk like that." Newt said, then he looked up, "It''s a little uncomfortable with you holding her like that, Mr. Hap, rather than gripping, I know you''re not pressing hard - but it''s better to hold it up."


    Felix changed his gesture.


    "Great, open your mouth, Valen, you don''t want to get sick either, do you?" Newt said to Niffler Valen, who reluctantly opened her mouth as Newt put three drops of the clear potion in.


    He then put the little guy back on his pocket watch, but Valen immediately poked half of her head out of it, "Oh, no, no!" Newt nudged his finger on its pink nuzzle and locked eyes with its dark eyes, "Call your two brothers out."


    Niffler is unmoved and Newt quirks his head, "I insist, Valen."


    It grunted twice reluctantly, its pink nose then disappeared, and a messy sound came from inside the pocket watch as Newt seemed to explain to Felix, "Their sibling relationship is complicated."


    Soon, another Niffler half of the body poked out-though Felix couldn''t tell the difference between them at all.


    "Sal, here you go-" Newt put three more drops of potion into its mouth, "Next it''s Thorpe''s turn."


    When he finished his task, he finally breathed a sigh of relief as if he felt so relieved. Newt noticed Felix''s gaze and said to him, "Niffler is a lively bunch, very active species. Approachable and friendly, of course, I don''t recommend raising them personally, they''ll ruin your house-"


    "And are they interested in coins?"


    "Yeah, they make a mess if you''re not careful, you can always shake a bunch of shiny things out of them," Newt said, "but it''s fun to spend time with them, you can have a contest for finding coins with them to see who is faster... ... They also have a very keen sense of smell and can help you find people or some old objects."


    Newt then stuffed his pocket watch into his pocket and pretended to straighten the edges of his clothes. After two seconds, a young man came out of the office, wearing a delicate and bright green wizard''s robe, with a round badge pinned to his chest.


    "Mr. Scamander, I heard Diggory mention that you are here."


    "I think I''ve seen you somewhere before," Newt said.


    "That''s right, because I''ve worked here ... for several years," he looked up to indicate the office door, "and I''m Mr. Macnair''s deputy."


    Newt furrowed his brow, "The Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Animals?"


    "We''re not well appreciated, but someone has to do this." The young man collected the arrogance in his eyes, "Mr. Scamander, there is some disturbance in the herd of Aethonan in Antrim, you''d best go over and take a look."


    Aethonan is a kind of Pegasus with chestnut mane, and is recognized as the most common of the four kinds of Pegasus along with Abraxan, Granian, and Thestral.


    "Oh ... shouldn''t ... this season isn''t a courting period ...," Newt said in disbelief.


    "Who knows what those beasts think?"


    "Has their leader changed?"


    "I don''t think so ... so I suggest you take a trip and investigate the cause."


    "What about the environment?"


    "Neither."


    Newt seriously asked some question, the young man struggled to respond, his words became increasingly brief, a thin layer of sweat emerged from his forehead, and in the end, even Felix, who is not very familiar with this kind of Pegasus, could hear the contradictions in his words. S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Newt looked the young man directly in the eye for the first time, "Perhaps ... my knowledge tells me that you are lying ... you want me to get out of here."


    The young man averted his eyes unnaturally, but he realized it immediately and forced himself to meet Newt''s gaze, "That is a harsh accusation, Mr. Scamander, as a pureblood ..."


    "I beg your pardon," Felix couldn''t resist interrupting, "I''ve always thought that there was something familiar about the tone of your voice, are you Chryston?"


    Chryston turned his head to look at Felix with a hint of impatience in his expression, "And who are you that doesn''t see us, us - Felix Hap?"


    The tone of his voice twisted with agitation.


    "It''s me, Chryston." Felix greeted him.


    The young man said, somewhat overwhelmed, "Oh ... hello, I didn''t know ..." After ten seconds or so, he finally calmed down, "Long time no see. Mr. Hap."


    Felix nodded, "It has indeed been a long time, you were my grade head when I started school and said a lot of impressive things."


    "Really? ... I, I don''t remember much." Chryston said.


    "By the way, what family are you from again?" Felix asked nonchalantly.


    Chryston muttered.


    "I didn''t catch that ...," Felix stared at him.


    "It''s - ahem, Aver-" Chryston stammered, "Avery."


    "The Avery family is headed by your ..."


    "--cousin in law."


    It is not a pleasant conversation, at least not for Chryston, who tried to leave the place without saying a few words, "Mr. Macnair should need me ..."


    Felix stared at his back as Newt stood quietly to the side, casting curious glances now and then.


    That''s when Amos finally came out, a few drops of sweat on his red face, "These forms haven''t been used in some years, torn out from the last ministry''s filing cabinet, a bunch of moths making their home in there - and you are?"


    "Felix Hap, I work at Hogwarts," Felix said.


    "Merlin," Amos'' eyes went wide, "you''re a professor in an ancient runes class and head of the dueling club?"


    Felix gave him a curious look; is this the parent of one of his students? So he just said, "That''s me--"


    "During the holidays, Ced mentioned you, Cedric Diggory, he''s my son." Amos said excitedly, "The boy is a bit shy, but he holds you in very high esteem, he told me you gave him a lot of extra pointers in dueling class ... and the power of your spells are amazing ... "


    "Cedric? He''s an excellent student, and he did very well on the Ancient Runes."


    "He''s also the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team! I was talking to his mom a while ago about whether Ced would be on the Ministry of Magic or the national team after graduation ... She told me to ask the kid for his opinion - haha ..." Amos rambled on, like every parent under the sun, until a tall man came hurrying down from the other side of the hallway.


    "Mr. Hap?" The tall man said, "I''m Rufus, with whom you correspond, and you''re here at last-"


    "Is there any problem, I''m an hour early."


    "Minister Fudge is waiting for you," said Rufus Scrimgeour, taking Felix''s arm, "I''m sorry, Diggory, I had to take your friend."


    "No, nothing, your business is important." Mr. Amos said.


    Felix stopped in his tracks and Rufus stumbled on his feet, "Oh, just a minute - I need to say something," he looked at Newt, "Mr. Scamander, about the Hagrid case, I''ve been following it too, we can talk again later."


    Before Newt could say anything, Amos had already spoken first, "Is it the two o''clock speech today? The muggle specialist the ministry said, is it you? I''ll definitely be there to see it, Mr. Hap."


    Felix smiled at him and then left with Rufus.


    Newt said thoughtfully, "A muggle expert? He does dress comfortably."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 268: Speech ( two in one Chapter )

    Rufus Scrimgeour is leading the way, and he''s moving ahead with a rush, "We need to hurry up, Minister Fudge is a little impatient." Felix said, "I didn''t know we have to meet with him."


    "It''s impromptu, Minister Fudge has a full schedule, originally he wouldn''t have paid attention to these little events, but - here we are."


    He pushed open a heavy door and a simple and formal parlour appeared in front of him.


    The parlour is furnished much like the one Felix had visited before, meeting room number three, with more than a dozen rows of black shiny chairs and a small podium in the front.


    "This way--" Felix is led through a curtain down the side of the podium, past a small, inconspicuous door to a more private room.


    Fudge is reading a newspaper with his head buried, with a thick stack of newspaper clippings beside him. At the sound of a noise, he looked up and smiled warmly, "Felix Hap, good to see you."


    "Minister Fudge, I don''t think this is the first time we''ve met, what did you want to see me about?"


    "Ah, of course ... Dorothea wrote to me and I realized that I had missed a distinguished person--" He patted his bulging stomach, the shiny copper-colored buttons struggling to maintain the dark red vest from popping open, "Professor of ancient runes, an expert in muggle studies, and a deep-rooted master of memory damage therapy - look at that, I''m a little envious of you."


    Felix understood, it looked like the news of his cure of the Longbottoms had finally reached the minister''s ears, and it should be Lady Dorothea Bonham who told him.


    "... Old Bernie in the Wizengamot office has submitted the proposal, and now we are waiting for the results of the verification from St. Mungo''s, and if there is no problem, the second class medal - that''s the minimum; the first-class medal is not without hope. " S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sounds good," Felix said patiently.


    " Well, you know, I need to convince some people, use some contacts ..." Fudge said, his fat fingers interlocked, "I like to trade."


    "Like what?" Felix asked curiously, wondering what Fudge had in mind.


    "Dolores is in some trouble and I want her to take over the deputy minister position, but she''s not senior enough right now and needs an undeniable merit, like - capturing Sirius Black, under my leadership, of course." Fudge said, fiddling with the quill in his hand.


    Felix asked patiently, "It''s not like I can help you catch him; the Ministry of Magic has plenty of Auror and Hit Wizard."


    "Actually, I mean - if you can convince Dumbledore to let Dolores bring some people into Hogwarts ... trust me, I''m doing what''s best for the students inside, Black is a vicious criminal to the core, he''ll do many vicious things he''s capable of." Fudge said with righteous indignation.


    Felix gave him a deep look, "I''ll think about it, Minister Fudge." He looked at the clock, "The speech is about to start, I need to take a few minutes to prepare."


    Fudge, obviously, did not expect him to simply refuse and froze for a moment, "I''ll wait to hear back from you, and I''ll have Dolores find you."


    "I may not have time in the near future-" Felix said, "Perhaps, I''ll make an appointment for you with Dumbledore?"


    " Well, you know - actually -" Fudge stammered, his tone became slightly embarrassed: "It won''t be necessary... . Well, I''ll talk with Dumbledore about it then."


    Felix came out of the room, shaking his head, he is a little uncertain whether Fudge really happened to hear the news of his arrival, and tried incidentally; or had a plan, but from the emotions perceived from his mind, Fudge is not as passive as they make it out.


    He couldn''t help but think: this minister really trusts that Dolores Umbridge, doesn''t he know that this woman''s popularity is quite bad? As Felix stood on the small podium in meeting room two, looking down at the mass of people dressed in black, he suddenly thought of something.


    Maybe it is because of Umbridge''s terrible popularity that she is being used by Fudge. At least in the eyes of outsiders, If she did anything bad it isn''t unexpected, the fire will not burn Fudge''s head entirely.


    He remembered the relationship between Kings and sycophants, sycophants do many hateful deeds, how much is it authorized by the king himself?


    Felix''s eyes passed over the crowd, and he formally started his speech.


    "Some of you may know me, or have heard of me, but many others are not sure what I do, so far I have written a total of three books related to muggles and am barely an expert on this field." He held up his wand and let his name appear in the air.


    Felix quickly skipped over the self-introduction part and got to the topic of the day.


    "I''m assuming that you''ve come here today out of pure interest or a willingness to receive some fresh insight because of your work ..."


    "From the list of listeners, you would be the most connected group of people with the ordinary people. In a way, I''m in line with you guys, being the eyes of a wizard who sees the outside world."


    "But how many of you realize that?"


    The crowd stirred a little, and while Newt Scamander in the corner looked at the gap in the wall, his ears perked up.


    A tall, well-built wizard with a thinned lip and moustache said in a hard, cold tone, "Why should we be concerned about some Lowlife?"


    "This wizard, your name?" Felix asked calmly.


    "You may call me Macnair." he said with a Grin, "Mr. Hap, do you find my words problematic?" Next to him, Chryston Avery pulled his arm, but he still locked eyes with Felix.


    "Lowlife ...," Felix chewed on the word, "you have to give me a specific reason, Mr. Macnair, you were just stating your emotions-- -you''re just letting us know that you really, really hate muggles, but that is never the reason."


    Macnair''s expression changed, and he said nastily, "Foolish, ignorant, powerless, confused ... need to say more?"


    " Huh," Felix looked to the others, "Anyone else holds the same opinion, let me see."


    No one took a stand in support, instead, some people were very unhappy with Macnair''s statement, most of them were half-blood wizards and muggle-born wizards.


    Felix waited quietly for a few seconds, leaving the crowd time to think. The air became noisy, but there is not a single audible voice made, it is like listening to a tape with the voice cleaned out.


    Felix spoke up and said, "I will answer your questions at the end of my speech, Mr. Macnair."


    He waved his wand, spilling a bright silver light, and soon, the silver glow filled the entire second meeting room like a cloud of smoke. He flicked his finger and the smoke disappeared instantly.


    With the help of the blank memory fragments, Felix can already temporarily make the thinking room appear in reality.


    "Today I would like to introduce something very simple, about people who can''t do magic, about their clothing, food, housing, and transportation ..."


    "The signing of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was an important milestone for us, and since then, our knowledge of the outside world has seemed to have stagnated forever, and even if fresh blood has been added to the wizarding community every year after that, the situation hasn''t changed much." Felix seemed to speak with emotion.


    "Back to the topic, the medieval clothes are relatively monotonous with colour and material, the colour is mainly black, white, gray, brown; the material is mainly linen, wool, and leather; style is somewhat similar to the close-fitting wizard''s robe, some nobles or high-class people of the outside world at that time will also wear a cloak, gentlemen, does it sound familiar?"


    In the parlour, illusory figures appeared in the air, their faces were blurred, but the clothes on their bodies were particularly clear, and a wizard could not help but reach out to touch them, but his fingers passed through the virtual figures.


    "After a few centuries, more elements were added, large cloaks, embroidery, appliqu��ing ..." Felix said, while in the air many corresponding clothing styles rapidly assembled, sophisticated and exquisite clothes caught many witches'' attention.


    "Fourteenth to the seventeenth century, people concerned about curvy beauty for a while and a kind of morbid, skirt straps, corseted waist, a dozen inches high shoes -" Felix waved his wand and let the corresponding images appear one by one, "and then came ribbons, lacy lapels, long-buttoned jackets, feathered hats, puffy skirts ..."


    "I also have to mention some tiny decorations such as ties, floral decorations, lace, etc."


    The discussion in the seating area continued with a lot of chatter.


    "In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, people by and large admired nature, simplicity and removed the embellishments," Felix said while the clothes of that period appeared, many clothes close to the modern aesthetic appeared, petticoats, shawls, suits, tuxedos ...


    "As for after that, there are too many kinds, you can see for yourselves." Felix curled his lips, he reached out and pushed, hundreds of different shaped clothes appeared and flew towards the wizards on the stage, many of them leaned back subconsciously in shock, until the images of these clothes passed across the meeting room, they only then reacted to the fact that it is all an illusion.


    "It''s just too real." Someone said admiringly.


    Felix continued, "One phenomenon I often see in the newspapers is that whenever a muggle expert introduces something new and exciting, there are always particularly stubborn people who refuse to admit it and claim it''s all made up. Do any of the people here think that what I just showed is made up?"


    No one doubts that things like clothes are obvious to everyone at first glance, and even the most uneducated would not think that Felix himself has made up thousands of different kinds of clothes of different shapes.


    "From the simplest clothes, we can get a lot of interesting conclusions, for example, they are always evolving, always creating something new ..." Felix lightly nodded, without going deeper, he changed the subject and asked a question. "Has anyone ever wondered how these clothes are made?"


    "Hand-sewn?" Someone joked, "It can''t be by magic, can it?"


    But no one laughed.


    Except for Felix, who smiled and said, " I explained the answer to this question in more detail in my new book, Muggle World''Magic'', for those who are interested, and if I were to tell it, I probably couldn''t tell it clearly in three days and nights. Let''s continue-"


    the content of his speech quietly accelerated: "developments in food-" he waved his wand and numerous dishes from different periods appeared, becoming more and more exquisite and tempting the closer they came to the present time


    "Housing -" various styles of architecture, home furnishings popping up one by one.


    "And transportation -" transportation in the sky, sea, and land revealed one by one.


    With the previous content as a base, no one questioned the authenticity of his last three aspects, but most people entered a state of bewilderment because they received too much information at once.


    After a few minutes, the crowd came back to their senses one after another.


    Felix once again posed a question, "Why am I talking about this, gentlemen?"


    His gaze became extremely sharp, staring at everyone in the room, who subconsciously looked at Felix for an answer.


    "Change, the only thing I want to tell you is change."


    His eyes fell on Macnair, a male wizard with thin lips and moustache, not knowing what he''s thinking, Felix said to him: "As for the question you just mentioned, Mr. Macnair, why should we look at the outside world?"


    He took a step over and stood in front of the male wizard -


    "Because the world never stands still because of a particular person, a particular group, and if you don''t perceive this change, the Words foolishness, ignorance, powerlessness, and confusion... can be used perfectly well for you, too. Now do you understand, Mr. Macnair?"


    Macnair''s face turned red, and for a moment, his expression turned fierce as he jerked his wand and tried to put it against Felix''s neck.


    "Macnair, stop it!" Rufus Scrimgeour shouted from a few feet across Rufus Scrimgeour, he could not allow this lecture to become a fight, especially if the young professor he had invited got hurt, it would become a scandal for the Ministry of Magic.


    But Macnair''s eyes already turned red, the tip of his wand flashed with sparks, and what angered him the most is that the man opposite to him still had a sneering smile on his face.


    He even reached out his hand slowly, did he want to take away his wand? Damn, what did he think he is doing, performance? I followed the Dark Lord while he still didn''t know what part of the world he is in.


    Macnair decided to teach this overly young Muggle studies expert a lesson, there are a lot of people here, So no Unforgivable Curses, and no Dark Magic, so how about a Bombarda?


    He subconsciously licked his lips, but found he couldn''t move.


    Macnair watched as the man named "Felix Hap" gently withdrew his hand with his wand and heard him saying in a gentle tone, "You see, even your most persuasive powers are worthless in front of some people, so does that mean... -according to your reasoning, I can despise you? Or, at will, fiddle with you?"


    Macnair''s heart went cold, as if he had fallen into an ice cave, and he couldn''t stop shivering -- a similar feeling he had felt a decade ago, from the Dark Lord.


    Rufus Scrimgeour had to step forward and whispered, "Mr. Hap, you can''t ..."


    Felix smiled at him, "Mr. Scrimgeour, this is part of the speech, an example of my careful preparation, you see, I didn''t even take out my wand - Mr. Macnair is cooperating with me."


    Macnair suddenly found himself able to move, and Felix handed him his wand back, "Take your wand, it''s the greatest pride you will ever have."


    Macnair froze in place, if the wand is pride, then what is he, If one took it away?


    Felix returned to the small podium, ready to end the day''s speech.


    "As I said, time keeps moving forward, and change follows close behind, that''s the big picture. It''s like a wave crashing towards you, the best response would be moving forward with the wave."


    A young wizard raised his hand as if it''s a classroom, "But, Mr. Hap, what do we do?"


    A strong emotion welled up in Felix''s heart, and he wanted to spill the beans, speak up, or even put his ideas right into their heads, but he did none of that but said calmly, "That may be a question that needs to be explored by our generation together."


    ----------


    This is 2 in one chapter so tomorrow I will only update 1 chapter.


    #Richonisy. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 269: Fudges Thoughts

    "I hate change." In the small room behind the curtain, which is only separated by a door between the meeting room, Inside Fudge thinking with a gloomy face. As he all alone, his expression became unconcealed, and anyone who saw this face would not associate him with a wishy-washy and unassertive person.


    He did not come out of the room until the people in the parlour had dispersed, and Rufus Scrimgeour once again returned and stood before Fudge.


    "Minister, Mr. Hap has left; he went with Mr. Scamander, and they seem to know each other."


    "Is that so." Fudge whispered, Scamander, once again another unpleasant name, he had some trouble breathing now, he seemed to be trapped in a web, deeper and deeper, how to break free.


    And in the center of this web is an old man with silver-white hair and beard and blue eyes - an old man named Albus Dumbledore.


    No one wants to be a puppet, although at the beginning of his inauguration, in order to secure his position, he ran to Hogwarts three times a day, making a posture of standing with the greatest wizard in the world at present, Now after a few years, he finally gradually stabilized the position of Minister of Magic.


    In the last year or two, he no longer likes to do that, especially since his own excellent performance in last year''s Ilvermorny student protests added a lot of points for him, and speaking of which, this Felix Hap was there and was a key figure.


    Fudge got even more itchy thinking about it, so he asked Scrimgeour, "Has Barty Crouch made any moves recently?"


    Rufus Scrimgeour understood what he meant, "No, he''s been preparing for next year''s Triwizard Tournament, well, or rather, the Quadruple Tournament ... who knows? Some people within the ministry has suggested pulling a few more countries in, so we might as well add extra Goblet of Fire, anyway, since it will definitely be readjusted."


    Fudge nodded lightly, Barty Crouch is a strong contender for the position under his ass, in fact, if it were not for the end of the war and the sudden outbreak of the scandal that his son, working with three other Death Eaters, and tortured the Longbottoms together into madness, causing Crouch''s reputation to plummet, he would not have picked up the slack and got this post. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Not long afterward, Crouch''s wife died, and his son also died in Azkaban, which led to Crouch''s devastation, and he chose to remain in the Department of International Magical Co-operation. But Fudge won''t forget how popular the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement used to be during the war years.


    Similarly, tough former Minister of Magic Millicent Bagnold was very optimistic about Barty Crouch taking over her position, but unfortunately, no ... should say, fortunately, it went so wrong.


    Fudge thought about it and asked about the organization of the Quidditch World Cup, this time Scrimgeour didn''t look too good, "It''s not going very well, Mr. Bagman''s work has only just got off the ground, he then sent his staff Bertha Jorkins to investigate the site environment, but Ms. Jorkins is notorious for her poor memory, she can confuse even the simplest reports ..."


    Fudge''s face turned red and looked as if he wanted to hit someone. He held back his anger and said, "Bagman, what is he doing alone?"


    "Uh ... he went to a fan party of the Wimbourne Wasps two days ago, and as you know, despite retirement, he is still one of the most popular Beater."


    Fudge of course knew, that the young Ludo Bagman had been a very good Beater, which was how he had ended up as Director of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, and even the fact that Bagman had once been accused of passing information to Death Eater August Lakewood, but because he had done so well in a Quidditch match the week before, people had felt too fondly of him and let him get away with it.


    Barty Crouch was the judge of that trial ...


    A thought crossed Fudge''s mind, and he asked Scrimgeour gently, "What do you think, what if I put the two of them together?"


    "What?"


    " Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman, they don''t need to divide anything between us, they can simply finish the Quidditch World Cup and the Triwizard Tournament together."


    "This ..." Scrimgeour wanted to scratch his head, these two people didn''t get along well, and he couldn''t help but remember the impression they left on him -


    The impression that Barty left on the members of the Ministry of Magic is that he was tough and decisive during wartime and cold-hearted during the post-war trials, and he even personally judged Barty Crouch Jr. guilty.


    Ludo Bagman, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He is an international-level athlete, with ample physical strength and a simple mind, and despite his not-so-young age, anyone who meets him for the first time will be attracted by his round blue eyes, blond hair, and rosy complexion, all of which make him look like a big boy.


    Scrimgeour tried to imagine the two working together - Mr. Crouch preparing to communicate about issues, only to find that there is no Bagman to be found, he is either in a meeting with a fan or busy placing a bet on one of the Quidditch matches.


    But having said that, Mr. Bagman''s vision is indeed accurate, a small part of his fortune is won by gambling, would he be involved in this year''s Quidditch World Cup betting as well, Mr. Bagman is said to be quite generous and happy to bring others along to play ...


    "Rufus?"


    Rufus Scrimgeour came back to his senses and thought carefully before finally giving a painless suggestion, "Mr. Crouch is serious, Mr. Bagman is affectionate, and a partnership between them might, might ... have unexpected benefits? "


    "Then it''s settled," Fudge said decisively, "you bring it up in the next meeting, I will cooperate with you."


    "Understood."


    "Also, what is Umbridge up to, how did I hear she ran off to Diagon Alley, quite a few people have approached me with complaints."


    "Minister, actually it is Knockturn Alley, we received accurate information, Sirius Black appeared in Knockturn Alley, and sneaked up on a wizard, should be a dark wizard ... Anyway, then snatched his wand."


    Fudge furrowed his brow, this is not quite what he had in mind. "You let her go back to Hogsmeade -" he actually wanted to say Hogwarts, but Dumbledore firmly disagreed, but also because of the previous Dementors out of control thing had unpleasant memories, thinking about it, he again felt a toothache, this matter can also be associated with Felix Hap, God knows how surprised he was when he learned that the dementors shrunk.


    Since then, he had paid attention to this person.


    Calming the Ilvermorny students in France who attacked the international conference venue; curing the Longbottoms, the war heroes who were sentenced to death by St. Mungo''s; and making Azkaban guards dementors shrink ...


    Seemingly unconnected, but this actually all represents one word, strength, this Felix Hap has an extremely strong practical combat ability.


    ''Could he be another Dumbledore, how can I make him work for me?'' Fudge''s mind revolving around this thought.


    ----------


    #Gabriel Nevacchi and #Hidan Flo. Thanks for your support.


    I am going to open P_atreon with 30+ Advanced chapters, if you have some extra pocket money Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 270: The Clubs First Cooperation

    Felix and Newt exchanged their addresses, and he learned that Newt was retired and lived with his wife in the Dorset countryside, where they owned a "huge" underground basement where magical creatures in need lived. "I don''t always raise them, I am more like a healer, and I let them return to nature once the ''patients'' are healthy again," Newt said to him.


    Despite guessing the answer, Felix asked, "Mr. Scamander, if you''re not going to get something out of them, how have you kept your love for them for so long?" s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Newt smiled and said, "How do you keep the love? Of course because of the love itself."


    ...


    The next weekend, at the Magic Runes Club gathering, Felix showed the members the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake.


    He flipped the dark green coin in his hand, letting it nimbly pass through the tips of his fingers. His actions quickly caught the attention of these students, and the next second, the coin transformed into a small snake and curled up into an Ouroboros Snake ring on his right pinky finger.


    He waved his wand and dozens of coins flew out from the table in the corner, landing precisely in front of each of the young wizards.


    "Count this as your belated Christmas present."


    "It can replace the Copper Knut that you received before, and has two forms within - coin and ring, as you choose. If you want to turn it into the latter, all you need to do is to meditate: infinity, and then inject magic power. You can try it now-"


    The club members held out their hands and let the coins fall into their palms, feeling heavy. Neville, who is attending the assembly for the first time, rubbed the lines on the coin, its surface glowing with a unique thick sheen, but not like metal when he touched it. He looked up at Harry, who is sitting next to him, and Harry mouthed to Neville: Basilisk scales.


    This is what Hermione told him, he then relayed to Neville. In fact, when Harry knew about this, he felt surprised, he thought the Basilisk was thrown back into the Chamber of Secrets after the exhibition, but Hermione told him that the Basilisk is full of treasured magical materials, which have been divided by the Professor Hap and Snape ...


    Neville''s heart thumped like he is completing some kind of ritual, and he clearly and precisely recited, "Infinity." The coin in his hand changed and became a small dark green, slender snake in the blink of an eye.


    Neville held it up and asked tentatively, "Do you know how to do that?" The little snake swam to his right pinky finger, twisted twice, and morphed into an Ouroboros Snake ring.


    The most excited ones are Slytherin, Draco Malfoy almost as soon as he saw the coin turned into a small snake, he could not help but reach out his index finger to gently touch its head, not as slippery as one might expect, but a kind of tender texture, as if carved out of a dark green gem.


    The little snake tilted its head, its dark, shiny eyes locked with his.


    Draco reached out his finger, the snake''s body shifted and wrapped around his finger, gently swaying the snake''s body, the head, and tail connected to form a circle. He looked to his left and right with delight, then glanced at Pansy Parkinson and Daphne Greengrass, whose eyes were wide open, and all their attention got drawn away.


    The others reacted more calmly, they neither rejected the snake look, but neither did they show any particular liking for it. Cedric got tempted to ask if he could change the form, but he thought that the "snake" is not the symbol of Slytherin House, but the symbol of alchemy and rune, the symbol of the Ouroboros Snake, which represents the Magic Rune Club and Professor Hap himself, So he gave up.


    Then he heard Professor Hap''s voice--


    "Its material comes from the thousand-year-old Basilisk, which you should have some impression of, the one from the chamber of secret last year. I found that the scales of the basilisk are extremely magically inert, making it difficult to channel magic, but they are also excellent materials for isolating and preserving power."


    "I used the basilisk scales as a medium and drew the runes with the powder of African Boomslang skin and Occamy eggshell, thus the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake you see created."


    When the African Boomslang skin was mentioned, Hermione quickly glanced at the professor, she did know that this material is one of the important ingredients for making polyjuice potion, but did not know that it can also be ground into a powder used to draw runes, but she understood when she thought of the professor had a headache for a long time about how to use the Basilisk scales and made a lot of attempts.


    Felix began to demonstrate, he waved his hand to let the students see a bunch of practical rune symbols near his wrist, then the ring on his right pinky finger approached them, the ring of the Ouroboros Snake suddenly swam, the snake''s mouth released its tail, the body shot out to swallow these runes one by one before returning to Felix''s hand and changing back into a ring.


    "I found in practice, it can store magic runes for a long time, and extremely slow down the process of magic overflow, although, for me, it has no use, for you guys, the benefits are very obvious -"


    Under the eyes of the crowd, he knocked the head of the little snake, which opened its mouth and spat out the string of magic runes it had just swallowed, and Felix revealed the answer by saying, "As long as you succeed in outlining a magic rune, you can retain and analyse it for a long time until you are completely familiar with the structure of that magic rune."


    Felix curled up his lip, "And so, we have our theme for today - cooperation and exchange."


    "In the previous few activities, you have mastered at least one practical magic rune, now I need you to swap it with others in exchange for a magic rune that person specializes in, you should exchange at least twenty of them."


    He glanced at Hermione and added, "You can exchange a maximum of three magic runes from the same person." Otherwise, these students would only need to find Hermione to get it.


    Draco couldn''t help but complain, "Professor, that''s not fair, there is the least number of Slytherin students here."


    "Well - that makes sense." Felix agreed, "In that case, let''s add another condition, the exchange cannot be with the same house you belong."


    The other students looked at each other, Felix smiled and said, "You should see that I want you to get to know each other, In the previous few assemblies, you all sat together in the same house, this can not be conducive to future cooperation ..."


    "Now, let''s begin."


    The members of the club began to move, and it became apparent at this point who among the four houses is most popular, the students of Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin subconsciously gathered around the young Hufflepuff wizards.


    Petter Sheldon, a sixth-year Hufflepuff girl, couldn''t help but say, "What an unforeseen development - oh, Warren, you have your day." She giggled.


    Warren Pardis of Ravenclaw scowled, "Stop it, I''ve helped you quite a few times ..."


    Ever since he was called up by Professor Hap last year to compete with this girl in an ancient rune knowledge contest - even before the answer space became available - she has been going toe-to-toe with him, but the two of them occasionally go to the library together to write assignments and look up information, and they have sort of built a unique bond of combative friendship.


    At least that''s what he thought.


    Harry pushed his way out of the crowd, he was never great at dealing with such situations, especially when he is asked to take the initiative to befriend some people. But when he noticed that Draco Malfoy''s face also isn''t looking good, his mood suddenly cheered up, like returning to Diagon Alley, eating ice cream from Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour in the summer sun kind of feeling.


    Draco caught Harry''s eye and said in a mocking whisper, "Potter - you''re as annoying as McAdams, so why don''t you go back to your Boxing Ring."


    Harry looked at him in dismay, he didn''t really care about Malfoy''s bad attitude - their relationship had never been friendly, but the information that popped out of his mouth is quite surprising -


    "You''ve read The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard?"


    "No, no!" Draco immediately denied it.


    Harry affirmed: "You''ve definitely read it, McAdams and boxing ring are things from the book," he said with a stifled smile: "And you''ve seen at least the third volume."


    Draco''s face instantly darkened, and he opened his mouth several times, but he could not think of anything to say in retort.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 300+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 271: The Accident in Practicing the Patronus Charm

    The bickering with Draco Malfoy put Harry''s panic aside for a moment, but Professor Hap seemed determined to have his way with them, as he said languidly from the sidelines, "There''s a little time boys, and you need to hurry up." The crowd scattered even further, and everyone paired up with each other like headless flies.


    "Which magic rune have you mastered?"


    "Light, Fire and Cut - and you -"


    "I only know Light and Cattle."


    Time is running out, and they could only say the most important magic runes, that is, the core one they had. The good thing is, everyone has the same idea. Until Harry finished a set of exchanges, he didn''t understand what the opposite guy''s name is, what house he''s from.


    He found that it didn''t seem that hard, so for the next three times, he deliberately looked for people who were left alone and whom he didn''t recognize for the exchange, but he always remembered to politely ask for names, and as for the house, everyone tacitly omitted that.


    When he expressed his thoughts with Ron in the middle, Ron glared at him: "You don''t think people don''t know who you are, do you, Harry?"


    Harry slapped his own head, he hadn''t thought about it at all, he saw Hermione appear joyfully and pulled her in, "How many did you exchange?"


    "Fifteen," Hermione said happily, "The secret is to find girls in the senior years who are friendly and have less overlap with your knowledge-wait!"


    Hermione''s eyes lit up, and she walked up to Daphne Greengrass on her toes, whispering something with a glowing face, Harry looked aside for a moment and finally noticed that the two seemed to be moving together to a corner.


    "They''re friends?" Harry asked, he knew the girl is a Slytherin.


    "Rivalry," Ron said, "golem vs. golem duel, at least that''s what Hermione said."


    Felix watched quietly, mentally making quick notes of the students who could be put into groups; while he wanted to break down the barriers between the four houses and facilitate their interaction, he also had no interest in having completely inappropriate people come together.


    The good thing is that, except for a few people, the majority of people did not have as strong rejection in their minds as they had expected, they just needed a suitable excuse. In this way, it seemed that some of his next arrangements will not be abrupt.


    When the last student exchange got completed, the majority of the students had already finished the process of trying to use the Ring of the ouroboros snake to collect the magic runes, and Felix clapped his hands and told them to stop.


    Wordlessly, their seats changed, originally distinct now staggered.


    "Let''s talk about how to perceive the structure of an object?


    You should have been exposed to it in other classes, especially the Transfiguration class. Perceiving magic rune is also a similar line of thought, there are some tips here, let your magic touch it gently, not a rough injection of magic, that will blow them up-


    Think of raindrops falling in a puddle and spreading a ripple."


    Felix''s fingertips tapped on the air, which seemed to take shape with a slight dent, followed by light blue magic spreading out.


    "Mobilize your magic as subtly as you can without interrupting it, and I will remind you that this is not a spell-"


    "Bang!"


    A student blew up the magic rune as if an orange-red firework had burst.


    "Eddie Camilche, hear me out," Felix pulled them into the thinking room, "practice here for a while or the magic rune you just exchanged will disappear faster than the invisible beast."


    After the assembly, Felix asked Neville, "Can you keep up with the progress?"


    Neville scratched his head, "It''s a little hard, but it''s easier than I thought, and I got four magic runes now."


    Out of the thinking room, Felix only allowed them to get their hands on analysing the magic runes, and the subsequent session was like a fireworks show, though most of them barely got the hang of it after seven or eight failed attempts to put the skills they had honed from the thinking room to use in reality.


    And Neville as a first-timer, with no previous relevant study; hadn''t even mastered a single practical magic rune.


    "You''re doing well, I noticed, you signed up for the dueling tournament?"


    Neville''s face flushed as he whispered, "I wanted to try-"


    "Well, go ahead and prepare, I remember Potter and the gang have a dueling self-study group, it might help you," Felix suggested.


    Neville looked up and told him, "I''m already a regular member there, I''m pretty good at using a stunning spell."


    "Regular member?" Felix asked in confusion.


    "Uh ... Harry... they don''t forbid anyone else to get mixed in, a lot of students have come to play once or twice, and they volunteer to invite some upperclassmen."


    "Those who come regularly will get a copper Knut distributed, and as long as the Knut is glowing, it means there is an event." Neville pulled out a coin from his pocket, and Felix took a look at it, dumbfounded, isn''t it the fever Knut he made earlier.


    Except for the design on it is changed to a lion''s head.


    With the depth of the content of the magic rune club teaching, some students can no longer keep up and choose to quit voluntarily - there is no way around it because, in the selection of members, he actually thought only seven are qualified, for which he had to relax the conditions.


    Some people were actually not ready to invest a lot of time and energy, and when the novelty passed, they decided to leave. Before leaving, they returned the Copper Knut that was used to inform the assembly time.


    These things are of little use to him, Felix made them without even adding the most basic safeguarding magic, in fact, it is only a bridging item, which has now been changed to the Ring of the ouroboros snake.


    He casually put the Fever Knut into the disposal area, ready to find time to dispose of it. Now it seemed that his own assistant should have found them and studied them privately ...


    Gryffindor common room.


    Harry told Ron and Hermione about his accident yesterday when he went to Professor Lupin''s office and practiced the Patronus Charm.


    Hermione said pointedly, "You saw Voldemort - you saw that Dark Lord?" The others in the lounge looked over, and she covered her mouth, "How is that possible, didn''t you say you are just afraid of Dementors?"


    "I thought I was too," Harry said rather fearfully, "Professor Lupin found a boggart from the faculty common room, he said there is some way to fool a boggart, to which I turned it down though." S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I really thought I was most afraid of dementors, as a result, the boggart became Voldemort stuck in the back of Quirrell''s head, and later became a basilisk ..."


    Ron said incredulously, "It must be out of its mind, how can someone have two greatest fears?"


    Harry explained, "Professor Lupin said it is possible, but usually the same type of fear, such as your fear of spiders, a boggart is possible to switch between different spider forms. My case is relatively rare, Professor Lupin speculated that it may be that the Boggart could not find something that would make me lose my mind, so it had to take turns - " and with that, he grinned.


    Hermione raised her eyebrows, "I think it might be the influence of that Dementor doll ... how many times have you guys taken it for a play?"


    Ron said emphatically, "That wasn''t playing, Hermione. We were getting ourselves used to the feeling of facing a Dementor, and you see, Harry isn''t that scared now."


    Hermione grunted as she asked Harry, "But how are you going to practice the Patronus Charm?"


    "Professor Lupin has temporarily fooled the boggart into thinking that my greatest fear is still dementors, but he told me to bring the dementor doll over to him next time ..."


    Harry shrugged, "The professor said he had never heard of anything like that before."


    ----------


    #TiMi and #Kunta. Thanks for your support.


    There are 300+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 272:

    "Perhaps Professor Lupin ... hiss~" The cold wind blowing over suddenly burrowed into Ron''s collar, making him swallow the rest of his half-hearted words. He surveyed the lounge window, then cautiously picked up a piece of broken glass: " Unexpectedly there is a broken hole here, no one fixed it?"


    Hermione said impatiently: "It''s a matter of a spell, please move your hand."


    When they returned to the dormitory, Ron said to Harry: "Maybe her cat did it, I think it''s a bit strange, especially the way it looks at me ..."


    Harry did not continue the conversation, nor did he tell Ron the fact that he had thrown Crookshanks out of his bed two or three times; in his mind, the cat seemed to be extraordinarily attached to the smell of scabbers, even after its disappearance he often came to visit, perhaps it simply lamented about the absence of the snack?


    However, Harry could not guarantee that if Scabbers were still around, whether he will be stimulated enough that he will suddenly become a dark wizard, ''maybe he just couldn''t stand the harassment of Crookshanks that he left.'' In a way, he thought, the cat had sort of saved his and Ron''s life.


    Harry undressed while looking for a new topic, "By the way, what were you trying to say?"


    Ron put down his hand to take off his shoes, frowning lightly to recall: "I was going to say, maybe Professor Lupin is planning to use your dementor doll instead of Boggart."


    After a few seconds, Harry suddenly came to his senses and said excitedly, "You''re right, Professor Hap wrote on the card that the doll could help me with the charm, I had thought I could use it to overcome my fear of Dementors and to prevent the Quidditch match accident from happening again, and now it seems that Professor Hap had anticipated this day."


    Ron grinned as he changed into his pyjamas, "Not a big difference, after you used it to convince Wood to let you play in the game, remember, he almost passed out in fear the first time he saw it ..."


    Even if Ron said a little exaggerated, but Harry could not help but laugh out loud, especially at the thought of the sturdy Wood shrinking himself into the back of the chair like a kitten.


    From the next bed, Neville said sleepily, "Harry? What happened?"


    "Nothing, hurry up and go to sleep." He said hurriedly.


    Lying in bed, Harry thought hopefully, hoping he wouldn''t miss the rest of Quidditch practice, like Hermione had never missed any of her elective lessons - pretty amazing, but he just wanted results.


    ...


    Over the next period of time, Felix spent quite some time putting together the step-by-step instructions for teaching the ancient magic, Light, in addition to his daily classes, trips to the library, and studying the Pensieve he borrowed from Dumbledore.


    This is his final reward for the club members, although this magic can only be considered an infinitely enhanced version of the Lumos spell, but both the effect and safety are satisfactory.


    The only consequence of this magic getting out of control would be draining the magic power of the adventurous learner, which could be so much friendlier than some spell backfiring and burning you into a pile of ashes, or being drained into a dry corpse.


    Felix intends to break this ancient magic apart and integrate the knowledge into the next gatherings, to be taught at the end of the semester''s exams.


    In addition, his communication with Nicolas Flamel resumed again, although the two only communicated through photos, he keenly sensed that Nicolas Flamel''s words were full of twilight, and he couldn''t help but feel a sinking feeling in his heart as Dumbledore''s words resurfaced: Nick''s wife might not make it through the winter ...


    But Nicolas Flamel avoided talking about it, and he could only pretend not to know, to avoid opening up the old man''s scars.


    Perhaps during the summer, he could talk to Nicolas Flamel about going to live with him for a while.


    In the meantime, Mundungus contacted him several times, sending over several ancient alchemical products, he also brought out a beautiful silverware, Felix judged from the workmanship of the silverware it created in the hands of goblins, such things have always been worth a lot of money, you can tell from the way the owner used it, Felix guessed that it might be from some pure-blood family.


    The fact that Mundungus tentatively asked if he wanted more, and that he had a steady source of goods, made Felix confirm it even more, and he couldn''t help but feel that there are some pureblood families that are shiny on the surface but selling their family assets.


    In the first dueling class in January, Felix explained the rules of the small dueling tournament and arranged for some senior students to demonstrate it, and there are not many restrictions except no dark magic, no semi-permanent transfiguration, high-risk vicious hexes and potions are not allowed as well.


    "This tournament will be as close to reality as possible, the venue is not a ring, and with the research of several professors, we decided to make full use of the seventh classroom, yes, that modified practical classroom of the ancient runes class."


    "There is still one month before the official commencement of the dueling competition, so you can be well-prepared." S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In this dueling class, apart from the news revealed by Felix, the most remarkable one is Neville, whose silent stunning spell managed to knock down several opponents, which startled those who knew him.


    Neville''s heart thumped, his first clean win, and he grinned as he watched Harry give him the thumbs up. When Seamus Finnigan awakened, he hammered Neville''s chest exaggeratedly, "Hey mate, are you on some fierce potion?"


    Although everyone is happy for Neville''s progress, his changes have also provided many people with a sense of crisis, the most visual example is the small dueling study group formed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione is on fire.


    In an abandoned classroom, Ron said with a determined face: "Come on, Harry." A small group of people gathered around him, making his expression look even sadder.


    Harry hesitated a little, but obeyed, pointing his wand at Ron and shouting, "Incarcerous!" A thin rope of magic wrapped around him, binding him head to toe together like a ball, and Ron hit the mat with a thud.


    He ran over, lifted the spell, picked Ron up, and asked in a whisper, "More?"


    "Again, I want to feel your magic a few more times - hiss~," Ron said with a grimace, "Is your magic mutated, I feel like my butt is pierced by spikes."


    The students surrounding them took a step back in unison, and many girls like - Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil - looked at them with disgust.


    Harry explained in a panic, "No, he should have a tingling sensation because his skin is swollen, I''ve experienced-" He stopped, feeling like he is making it Worser and Worser.


    Now, even Ginny looked at him strangely.


    Harry hung his head and gave up trying to explain, glaring at Ron and saying unkindly, "Are you ready?"


    "Wait-"


    "Bang!"


    Ron fell to the ground again, and Harry said sincerely to the rest of them, "You can check, there are absolutely no spikes ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 302+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 273: The Confiscated Things

    Felix came down the grand staircase, empty-handed, as he always did, unlike other professors who carried books, papers, and the like with them. As he passed by the Caretaker''s office on the ground floor, he heard Lupin''s voice.


    "... I''m sorry, I''m bothering you, if you can find it, please do let me know."


    Lupin''s single figure emerged from the office and brushed past Felix, "Hello, Professor Hap." He flinched for a moment and smiled.


    "Hello, Professor Lupin, you look well," Felix said back.


    When he left, Felix knocked on Filch''s office door, "Mr. Filch, are you there?" The door is pushed open and Filch''s face is revealed from the shadows, a pair of goldfish eyes staring back at him.


    "It''s Professor Hap, I thought ..." he muttered, moving aside and Felix followed in, it is a rather small room, next to the foyer of the castle.


    No windows inside, even in the daytime, it looked dim and cramped, the only source of light is a green lamp hanging up on the ceiling, with many wooden cabinets lined up around the walls, some already stuffed to the brim, poking out from the cracks with yellowed and old parchment corners. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are few chairs in the office, although Felix has no idea of sitting down, he covertly applied an air freshening spell on himself, and finally got rid of the widespread smell of fish.


    Felix locked eyes with a bony cat on the desk, its eyes large, bulging, and bright.


    "She looks very human," Felix said.


    Filch is pleased that he used the word "she" and said with a quivering jaw, "You''ll never find a smarter cat, more like a human if you ask me. ... At least she won''t break school rules and will do you a solid favour."


    Felix listened patiently, about how Mrs. Norris was patrolling the corridors alone (a cat?) for a while until Filch is out of breath when he answered, "She looks a little malnourished, though."


    Filch froze, as if no one had ever asked about it before, and stammered, "She''s a bit of a picky eater, I''ve persuaded her, but she only eats the fried fish I make ..."


    "I have some nutritional supplements here, very cleverly formulated, and crucially harmless," Felix said, his right hand brushed over the ring on his left hand, a square wooden box appeared in his hand.


    He opened the lid of the box, gave it a brief glance, and said with some regret, "There''s only half of it left ..."


    Filch said hesitantly, "Norris may not like--" He took a small glass bottle from the square wooden box, open the stopper, a strange aroma spread out, diluting the smell of fish in the room.


    Mrs. Norris immediately raised her head to stare at the glass bottle, showing a longing expression.


    But it did not move, but looked up at Filch, and Filch said, "It''s okay, Norris, drink it."


    The cat immediately let out a seeping purr, leaped off the table, ran quickly to her master, stretched out her tongue to lick the bright red liquid in the bottle, only when she licked the last drop clean, she stretched out contentedly and let out a "purr" sound.


    Filch''s eyes shone with a strange light, he could not help but say: "Norris has never been like this, she does not care about the pet store tonic."


    Felix smiled and explained, "The recipe came from a master of potions who won the Second Class Order of Merlin, Professor Belby left it behind, although he only made it at his leisure, but the effect is certainly far more than the products on the market."


    "Then the recipe -"


    "I can give it to you, the brewing method is very simple, and it doesn''t even require you to use a wand, though some dragon blood might be needed."


    "That''s not a problem," Filch said quickly.


    "Do you have any parchment here?"


    "Yes--" Filch nimbly lifted the drawer and flipped out a stack of blank parchment, Felix hooked his fingers and let a piece of parchment float to him, a smooth string of letters automatically appearing on the paper as he gazed at it.


    In the process, Filch kept his eyes on the parchment in the air, as he kept his hands together with his knuckles flexing. Felix inquired carelessly, "By the way, I just saw Professor Lupin."


    "Yeah." Filch unconsciously replied.


    "He came over-"


    "To ask for something confiscated," Filch said, his eyes still fixed on the parchment, "Professor Hap, don''t blame me for picking on ... him."


    "Why do you say that?"


    Filch snapped back to his senses, and with a wary glance at the door, he lowered his voice and said, "He was misbehaving when he was in school and loved to break school rules ... of course not as much as his two friends, but I can recognize him, he''s the one with the worst ideas."


    He looked at Felix and complimented, "Unlike you, you were a decent guy when you were in school--"


    Felix said with some amusement, "I got into a lot of trouble when I was in school."


    Felch said slyly, "Not the same -- sir, not the same, you never caused trouble to anyone else unless they came to you first," he pointed to the filing cabinet by the wall, "there''s a drawer that belongs to them -- Lupin and his merry friends, if Hogwarts hadn''t abolished corporal punishment ..."


    He muttered disgruntledly, "Mr. Pringle managed to be in a good time, unlike me, oh, Pringle was the former Keeper of the Castle, he left a lot of tools behind, I kept them all."


    Felix looked at the carefully polished chains hanging on the wall and shook his head; the young wizards loathed Filch for good reason. He had learned early that Filch liked to physically punish his students, and even though the physical punishment had been abolished, the mental punishment remained.


    And Filch is trying to find ways to push the art forward and develop it.


    "Mr. Filch, you just said that Professor Lupin came over to claim his stuff-"


    "That''s right, a dozen years ago, he and his friends were wandering around, and I searched them and recovered a suspicious, rolled parchment from them, which I suspected contained some secret, so I confiscated it."


    Filch said as his face twitched, "You don''t know how bad they are, they still looked indifferent after the parchment was confiscated," he said viciously, "they must have thought I couldn''t decipher the secret on it and would just throw it away, so they could pick it back up secretly. But--I didn''t, instead, I kept it, just locked in the drawer."


    "And what about the parchment now, have you returned it to Professor Lupin?" Felix asked curiously.


    "... lost it," Filch said discouragingly, "I don''t remember when I lost it, maybe they took it away from me."


    "But you said it, Professor Lupin came over to ask for ... it."


    "Who knows, maybe his friend didn''t tell him, or some other little wizard stole it from me over the years," Filch said with a regretful look on his face.


    The parchment fell from midair and Felix handed the recipe to Filch, "Please keep it."


    "Thank you, then you--"


    "You''re welcome, Mr. Filch, I got what I wanted, too."


    Filch looked at him in dismay, and Felix chuckled, "You see, isn''t Mrs. Norris satisfied?" He gestured to the cat at his feet, which is lazily nuzzling his leg.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 302+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 274: Vanity Fair

    Coming out of Filch''s office, Felix pondered about what Lupin wanted to get back; all he knew so far is, that this item is related to his school days and most likely involves either Black or Peter the Dwarf''s secrets. Removing Filch''s subjective filter, he gets two more useful pieces of information: one, Lupin and the others didn''t care that the item got confiscated back then - at least not on the surface - but now Lupin desperately wants to get it back; two, the item has been lost, and it''s hard to find out exactly who took it because it''s been a long time.


    Many of the young wizards who had violated the rules back then had graduated.


    Lacking the key information, Felix could only secretly write it down and remember it for later use. He made his way to Hagrid''s hut, where Hagrid is clearing the snow from the pumpkin patch behind the house, and Fang is running around him back and forth happily.


    A gray Hippogriff is chained a short distance away, and when it saw Felix approaching, it smacked its razor-sharp beak and tracked his footsteps.


    "Hagrid!" Felix shouted from afar, patting Buckbeak''s pointed beak. It already became very familiar with Felix, so it tilted its head and squinted, enjoying his touch.


    The burly man straightened up and casually stuck his shovel in the ground as he walked over, saying joyfully, "Felix, Mr. Scamander wrote back, that he finished the job! The case has been called back for a retrial!"


    Felix nodded, "That''s what I came here for. I received a letter too, we need to do something now, Hagrid."


    "Do something?" Hagrid repeated, staring at him in confusion.


    "That''s right," Felix said in an affirmative tone, "Buckbeak''s case is called back and there will be a retrial, which could take ten days or half a month, and this is not the time for us to wait... "


    He looked at Hagrid''s puzzled expression, and let out a sigh, " There is no distribution, it means they didn''t characterize it yet, the situation is still against us, if we can pay a fine now, this matter is likely to end early."


    Hagrid woke up, "So ... hearings, trials, there''s no need?"


    "The premise is that we have to be proactive and get involved." Felix said seriously, "My suggestion is for you to visit the Ministry of Magic, ask about the progress of the incident, and submit a fine if possible, and if not, justify the nature of the case: this is not a tamed magical creature that suddenly went out of control and hurt someone, but an accident caused by improper teaching operations."


    He finally looked at Hagrid and said, "The initiative cannot fall on their hands, if the Ministry of Magic is focused not on whether Buckbeak is guilty or not, but on the severity of the charge, we will be in an extremely passive situation."


    "Then I will go to the Ministry of Magic this afternoon!" Hagrid said excitedly, and he looked at Buckbeak through the window and said happily, "You hear that, Buckbeak, we see the light ..."


    As February approached, Felix found himself interacting with the outside world more and more frequently, Lady Dorothea Bonham, Belby, and the Longbottoms, whom he expected, but in succession, some pen pals also wrote to him unannounced.


    In the letters, they expressed their congratulations to him. Felix waited quietly, and within two days, three beautiful official letters arrived at the same time, one from the St. Mungo''s Magical Medical Association, although the name has a "St. Mungo''s", but in fact, it has little to do with the St. Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, at most, it can be said that they are both established in memory of the same person --- Mungo Bonham.


    The St. Mungo''s Magical Medical Association, similar to the Wizarding Court Wizengamot, Where here circles of top healers gathered together, except that this association members were more closely connected to each other and owned its own academic journal under its name, "Bezoar". S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the official letter, it enthusiastically praised Felix''s outstanding contribution to the cause of magical healing, and it focused on two points: first, it invited Felix to name his own healing plan; second, it proposed to award him the ''St. Mungo''s Medal'' and invited him to become a member of the Magical Medical Association.


    Regarding the former, he really couldn''t think of any good name, so he simply followed the conventional naming method and set it as Hap Memory Healing Technique. As for the latter, Felix gladly accepted and replied with a thank-you letter.


    The second official letter came from St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, the letter introduced the clinical data of his treatment plan, which is highly effective so far, and also has achieved positive effects on some stubborn memory damage, and the current Dean invited him to make a magical portrait, which is "an honour for every pioneer".


    Felix could hardly imagine his portrait being hung. But the thought of each portrait being the equivalent to an ear and eye, made his slight discomfort immediately disappear, and he asked in the letter if the portrait could be done by himself, and St. Mungo''s would only need to provide some measurements.


    The last official letter came from the Ministry of Magic''s Wizengamot administration, and the wording on it is a serious one, announcing that he has been nominated as a candidate for the Order of Merlin, and asking him to provide information as per the attachments for all Wizengamot members to review and use.


    Felix complied, one by one, which is the process that everyone who receives the Order of Merlin in the academic field goes through, and Belby did the same last year.


    His name began to appear frequently in the newspapers, and the Daily Prophet devoted three days in a row to highlight his contributions, including a recap of his exploits in France, stating that "this is a belated honour."


    During meals in the great hall, he always found the young Hogwarts wizards carrying various newspaper clippings and whispering in the corners. In addition to the newspapers, it also related to the fact that he had been receiving a lot of letters from various owls lately, and Felix got tempted to cast some shielding charm on himself, but such things can only be thought of.


    One afternoon, Professor McGonagall brought in a young witch with a strange expression, and she introduced her, "This is a reporter from Witch Weekly, and she is here to interview you ..."


    After the regular interview, the reporter asked him to pose, Felix felt like a mannequin, and after a dozen photos, he firmly stopped the process.


    The female reporter said with a frustrated look on her face, "We can take better-looking photos, Mr. Hap, you will be a strong candidate for this year''s ''Most Charming Smile Award'' ..."


    Felix winced, "Sorry, I have no such intention." He hurriedly ended the interview, and while dining with Snape, he couldn''t help but lament, "I don''t even have time to do research these days, Vanity Fair is also an arena~"


    Snape scoffed at his sentiments.


    Only in early February, Everything eventually subsided, and the ice and snow gradually melted, the open space at the entrance of the castle, unknowingly already full of life.


    The young wizards took off their thick winter coats and cloaks, took off their scarves, and sat in groups by the lake on the south side of the castle, lazily basking in the sun while watching the giant squid swimming in the lake.


    In this laid-back atmosphere, Valentine''s Day arrived.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 303+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 275: Valentine’s Day

    Hogwarts doesn''t celebrate Valentine''s Day, or at least the professors don''t bring it up, and yesterday the homework that is left on Friday isn''t missing a point. But for young wizards, it''s a pretty important holiday. "Think about it, it''s the only day of the year when the girls change into nice clothes and wait with passion for someone''s invitation ..."


    Up early in the morning, Harry walked out of his dorm room listlessly to see the Weasley twins pushing the couple''s mirrors towards a tall, freckle-faced boy.


    "... We have two styles right now, if you think the heart shape belongs to hot love and doesn''t really suit you, you can try the rectangular one, and we can mix it with some little Eros decorations."


    "But ... I don''t have anyone to give it to." The freckle-faced boy said hesitantly.


    "Opportunity waits for no one! Buy our product, then go back and change into a formal dress, and send out an invitation while the morning is still young--" Fred said in a tempting tone.


    George also put an act on the sidelines, he put his right hand to his chest and bowed deeply, "Madam, can I invite you to join me for a walk?"


    The boy then bought it happily.


    Harry gave a thumbs up to the twins, who returned it with a big smile.


    "Will anyone else buy them?"


    "Valentine''s Day represents sweet love, and it''s like the mushroom suddenly popping up after a rain, even people who originally didn''t intend to buy it will be tempted ..." S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry walked over to Hermione, glad to see that she is no different from usual. She''s grading a thick stack of papers, and he glanced twice, sheepishly noticing that it turned out to be a third-year Ancient runes paper. The graded papers had a different appeal, the first one belonged to Dean, with six errors circled, and Harry secretly guessed how many red circles his own paper would have.


    He reached over and Hermione slapped his hand, "Don''t mess it up, it''s what I''ve been working on all morning."


    It didn''t take long for Ron to walk out, one of his pant legs tangled in his sock, and when Harry pointed this out, he yawned and fiddled with his pant leg.


    "Any activity?" He asked.


    "We''ve asked Neville and the others to go to Black Lake to read a book, which is one of the few things we can do as a group, do you remember?" Harry stated as Professor McGonagall initially seemed to want to keep him cooped up in the castle to mold, but after he argued reasonably, some places outside the castle were reluctantly made available to him.


    For example, the Black Lake is a good place, it is behind the castle and surrounded by a clear view, Black won''t appear in such a place even if he thinks with his toes.


    "Just in time," Ron perked up a bit: "I can try the newly learned Incarcerous Spell now. The dueling tournament is about to start, and I don''t want to lose in a first-round."


    Because of the overwhelming number of registrations, the dueling tournament has been rescheduled to the second day of the weekend, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. and will be held the whole day.


    Harry said matter-of-factly, "You''re pretty good in the dueling group." At least, Ron had learned the spell as the third person after him and Hermione, although the price paid was a bit high.


    The small jar of ointment for bruises that he had asked from Madam Pomfrey is running low.


    Ron''s excitement is clearly high, and in the following time, he began to talk about his own experience of learning this spell: "As Professor Hap said, you have to understand the spell. How to understand? Personally, I think you have to experience first hand the feeling that magic gives you ..."


    Ginny, Neville soon came out, and by then Hermione also finished grading the last paper quickly, she then looked at the time then said: "Let''s go."


    Coming out of the common room, they were surprised to find some people already in the corridor, a couple holding hands and skulking around openly. And some guys and girls gazing around with tangled eyes, he or she had a sweetheart within sight.


    They passed by a group of second-year girls and the wind blew their conversation over, "What do you think of ... Professor ... my card?"


    "What''s going on in their heads?" Ron said incredulously.


    Hermione did understand: "Maybe they just want to send a festive greeting ..."


    They waited at the castle door for a few minutes and Luna popped up, taking Ginny''s hand, "It''s good time to go out of the castle, so you can avoid the wrackspurts in the mistletoe."


    "Wrack... what?" Ron asked.


    "The wrackspurts, it makes people unfocused and confused ..."


    "Well, that explains why witches like to kiss under the mistletoe." Ron teased and Harry wanted to laugh, but Ginny and Hermione both glared at him.


    There were little witches sitting in a group two or three in the grass and shade by the Black Lake, and they picked a clearing and enjoyed a leisurely time. It isn''t until the third girl handed Harry a card with the encouragement of her friend. Ron said sourly, "Why don''t you accept their invitation."


    Harry''s face heated up a little, and he stammered, "I, uh ... because ..."


    Luna said cheerfully, "You have someone you like?"


    As soon as the words left her mouth, Ron and Ginny immediately stared at Harry''s face as if seeing a flower. Harry growled in exasperation, "No--"


    Luna stared at him with a surprised expression.


    "You''re scaring her." Hermione said sternly, and Ron defended Harry by saying, "Luna''s usually like that, isn''t she?"


    Luna said in a trance, "I don''t think she was talking about me." She pointed to a whomping willow by the lake in the distance, and the crowd looked in the direction of her finger.


    Ron narrowed his eyes, "It appears to be a boy." He looked meaningfully at Harry.


    Harry said embarrassed: "Maybe because I just shouted ... only, only ..."


    However, after ten minutes, the boy still staring over here, and even Harry felt uncomfortable.


    Hermione stood up, "Why don''t we go and ask him, maybe he has something important to say." She went to the whomping willow tree and talked something, reaching out and pointing at Harry in the middle.


    After a while, Hermione returned and looked at them in confusion, "He refused to say a word."


    Ron laughed, "The only way is to let Harry do the work."


    Harry got up from the grass and shrugged, "Definitely not what you think, just wait, I guess it might be inquiring about the dueling study groups?"


    He walked over and saw what the boy looked like, supposedly the first year, wearing loose old robes with the fabric flaring at the edges.


    It reminded him of Ron, and Harry flashed a smile, mentally wondering how he should make the tone of voice both polite and firm if the boy really is his admirer; one Colin Creevey is enough of a headache for him.


    Sixty feet, fifty feet, the boy across the way looked at Harry with equal surprise and opened his mouth to say something.


    "Buzz~buzz~"


    Harry''s pocket began to vibrate, and immediately a piercing beep sounded abruptly, so loud that it could be heard halfway around the Black Lake.


    Harry''s smile froze, time seemed to slow down all of a sudden, he could see every shift in the expression on the boy''s face, and even had a mind to guess who he is.


    But the next second, he realized a fact - the Sneakoscope! The Sneakoscope went off!


    "It''s Sirius Black, run!" Harry yelled out, he nimbly stepped to the side, reached out and drew his wand, a red light flew out in the blink of an eye.


    But the spell missed, the boy, no, Sirius Black also drew his wand, the oncoming thick rope deflected by harry, then he turned and ran.


    Harry thought nothing but chasing after him, the sharp beeping sound made him unable to hear his surroundings, his heart racing as he pounded towards Black.


    "Harry, don''t take any chances!"


    Percy panicked and held him, one hand still holding the peanut flake candy, Harry struggled, "Let go -- let me -- catch -- him! --"


    He kept his eyes on Black as he ran away, the surrounding students watched this in bewilderment as Ron, Hermione, Neville and Ginny came running over, "Harry, oh -- that''s, that''s?" Hermione shouted under her breath, trying to drown the beeping sound.


    "It''s Sirius Black!" Harry yelled, but even he can''t hear it.


    Neville asked with a bewildered look on his face, "What are you talking about?"


    "Whoosh!"


    The crowd saw Professor Hap descend from the sky with a flash in his broom, his wand pointed towards Harry, and the beeping disappeared into thin air.


    "Professor - Sirius Black, he''s here!"


    "Disguised as a student, it''s a Polyjuice potion-"


    "And he''s got a wand in his hand!"


    Felix asked calmly, "Which direction did he run off?"


    Harry hurriedly pointed in one direction, he suddenly realized that it''s impossible to use Apparition around Hogwarts, Hermione had told him, which meant that there is still a chance!


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 303+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 276: Sirius Black

    The edge of the forbidden forest. Felix saw from a distance a young wizard desperately fleeing in the direction of the forbidden forest, he raised his wand, gauging the proximity range, and flung out a spell with a shake of his hand at the moment of landing.


    The young wizard, as if he had expected it, shifted his body to avoid the spell, so agile that it did not match his age.


    "Sirius Black, we might as well talk."


    Felix took a step towards him, the effect of the polyjuice potion that Black had taken earlier is wearing off, his body gradually changing, growing a little taller, his body being stretched and widened.


    He gasped and stumbled forward, and when he stepped into the forbidden forest, his whole body felt like it had been heavily slammed, and his body stiffened for a few seconds before he finally collapsed.


    The transformation began.


    He curled up, his body trembled, a hoarse gasp came from his throat, the skin on his flesh seemed like boiling hot wax with fine bubbles, his fingers began to grow larger and thicker, a dry, thin, adult hand grasping the brown, wet dirt on the ground, his bony knuckles popping from the force, his nails sinking deep.


    Black let out a low growl, his shoulders became broad, the originally loose robe stretched out, but did not tear up, the man had no semblance of flesh on his body.


    Felix waited quietly, it might take two or three minutes before someone to rush here, and he had plenty of time.


    The transformation is over. Black laid on his back, panting heavily, as if giving up resistance, and said in a hoarse voice: "Who are you? So young, it should be--" He got up and shot a stunning spell from his wand.


    Felix had been on guard against this, even in the most painful moments, Black did not drop the wand in his hand.


    He waved his wand to flick away the spell, and a red flame flew towards him, exploding in midair. With his humanoid shield charm, he remained unscathed, looking at the spot where Black laid on, at the moment only a wand remained there while Black''s figure had disappeared.


    Felix made sure the wand is genuine, not the one made of transfiguration, which surprised him a little.


    " Changing into Animagus to escape? This is simply giving up the resistance, right? Without the wand, how can you possibly oppose me, you''ve even lost your last hope - Apparition."


    Felix tapped the ring on his left hand, a flying broom suddenly appeared, Felix flew up into the sky on the broom.


    Below him there is a vast blur of brown and gray hues, and he gently Lifted the broom handle, and his whole body climbed upward, fifty feet, a hundred feet, in the distance he saw a big black dog sprinting along the rugged road of the forbidden forest, and It''s amazingly fast, like a faint wisp of black smoke.


    But the weather is barely warming up, the forest trees left only with dark brown dead branches, with sparse leaves on the branches, which will not serve as a shield or obscure his vision at all, thus making it impossible for Felix to lose the chase.


    At a small stream, he caught up with Black, a blazing red beam hit the big black dog and sent it flying far away.


    Six or seven meters in between, Felix stopped: "Change back into your human form, Sirius Black."


    The big black dog struggled to raise his head and look at him, and a moment later, his body began to morph again, this time quickly, but just as oddly, his body shrunk, and a dirty man appeared in the original spot.


    If he didn''t move, he would look like a corpse, and there would be no shortage of people who would think he had suffered inhuman torture during his life - long, dirty, tangled hair that hung down to his elbows and looked unkempt as if it hadn''t been tended for a long time; his body sticky with mud, and you could vaguely see the ghastly pale skin attached to his cheeks without a trace of flesh.


    Black laughed hoarsely, his eyes looked like wolves. And he said in a hoarse voice: " Are you a student of the Snivellus? Felix Hap ... a big name, I saw the cover of Wizard Weekly, and to be honest, it''s not as good as you in person."


    Felix said calmly, "Although I have a lot to ask you, but--"


    He pointed his wand at Black, "Scourgify!" A string of bubbles gushed out of Black''s mouth, and he let out a cough that took a long time to stop.


    He looked at his teeth without slowing down with the help of the stream, "Very creative idea, we used it on Snivellus when we were young, James got a scar on his face for it."


    Felix shook his head, "I''ve heard your story from many people, in their eyes Sirius Black is handsome, wild and unruly, not to mention a touch of elegance, and then look at you now--"


    He waved his wand, and from the stream swirled a vortex of water shaped like a tornado, which swallowed Black completely upside-down.


    Black''s eyes went wide for a moment, and he opened his mouth, "Old-rat-" sounded with difficulty, but the water muffled his speech, and he choked twice instead.


    The water streamed over him, and after almost a dozen seconds, a cloud of dirty, muddy water got tossed back into the creek. After cleaning, he looked much better than before, although still thin and skinny, but you can vaguely see a glimpse of his youth.


    Black hovered in midair, tilted his head, and said with some surprise, "You don''t want to kill me?"


    "Why? As I said, I have a lot to talk to you, your betrayal, your jailbreak - oh, the latter goes without saying, Animagus, it''s already pretty obvious."


    "Take me to Dumbledore! I will confess everything without reservation."


    "Can''t you tell me now? I''m curious, as it happens there are some questions that are not appropriate to ask in public, such as the feud between Severus and the Potter, or some information about Voldemort."


    "Heh! Are you going to sell me to the Ministry of Magic or offer me as a gift to Snivellus? You must be his favourite student, he even told you those secrets ..." Black scoffed, a sudden gust of wind swept up, and he couldn''t stop his body from trembling.


    "I do not like the way you speak, if you still insist on provoking me--" Felix gestured his wand and winked, "you will certainly suffer."


    Black said with disinterest: "Torture? Against a man who has spent twelve years in Azkaban? All you''ll do will only make me feel like I''m still alive-"


    His teeth chattered from cold, but his eyes remained fixed on Felix.


    Felix''s wand tapped on Black''s chest, and a large cloud of steam rose from his body, and he became dry in an instant.


    Black landed on the ground, he moved his hands and legs, his eyes looked at Felix with disbelief, "You''re not afraid of me escaping? Not binding me up?"


    "You can think that I am expressing my goodwill to facilitate the next communication," Felix said.


    Black''s sunken eyes stared at him as he grinned, "I kind of like you, though -- I still can''t trust you, you and Snape are too close."


    Felix noticed that his expression became subdued, so he asked tentatively, "Does it matter whether you believe it or not, do you have a choice?"


    "Of course, never underestimate anyone. Go back and tell Dumbledore that boy Weasley, the one Harry went to school with, his pet mouse is an Animagus." Black said, still unaware of Scabbers'' disappearance.


    "Animagus?" Felix said repetitively. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right, he''s Peter Pettigrew, and he''s not dead - damn! I thought he was dead!" Black suddenly said grumpily, cursing wildly, and after a few seconds he managed to calm down, "I''m sorry to make you see this, but I''ve been repressing it for too long."


    "You''re trying to say Peter is a traitor? With you being the Secret Keeper?" Felix said.


    "Not me - we ended up swapping places! Me and him, we swapped, and he was the Secret Keeper! Dumbledore will understand, and once Peter is caught, everything will come out."


    "I think it''s best that you tell Dumbledore these things in person."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 305+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 277: No.12 Grimmauld Place

    "I''ll appear before him, I''ll go by myself, but not today, and as usual - I don''t trust you." Black spread his hands, "I don''t know if you''ll turn around and send me to the Ministry of Magic, simply because of Snape, I won''t place a bet on you." "You mean - if I understand you correctly, you don''t believe me, but you want me to tell Dumbledore about Peter Pettigrew and to do you justice? Don''t you think your logic is strange?" Felix asked with some amusement.


    "Ha~ Justice? That word is too far from me, and I have my own solution, a second plan, do you understand? I don''t trust you, yet I''m not worried that you''ll leak it, because Snape is also Peter''s enemy, provided he knows the truth, It''s something you can tell him."


    Felix silent, Peter already escaped, according to Lupin, he is likely to hide near Hogwarts, closely watching the progress of events, but no one can catch a rat.


    Moreover, the Secret Keeper ... the Potters had surprisingly changed the Secret Keeper of the safe house in secret, even Dumbledore did not know about it, that''s why everyone was firmly convinced that Black is the traitor?


    The biggest question is solved.


    The next step is wrapping this up, give Sirius Black secretly to Dumbledore, let him worry about it.


    As for Black''s reluctance ... knock him out is a good choice, you can get a little bit of his blood in the process, to unlock the No.12 Grimmauld Place ward.


    Felix raised his head, "I insist on taking you with me." He raised his wand and a slim Stunning Spell flew out, since Black is not a traitor, this level of power would be enough.


    But to his surprise, Black blocked his spell.


    Black took several steps backwards, while taking out a wand from behind, and looked at Felix smugly, "Look, I said ..." The next second, his entire body twisted and turned into smoke - -


    Apparition!


    Spare wand!


    Felix instantly figured out everything, he disappeared in place even faster, appearing in front of Black in the blink of an eye, Reaching his hand into the smoke, he could even make out Black''s surprised but distorted face.


    In the next second, the two disappeared in unison.


    Space is shifting and distorting, Felix staggered out, he followed Black''s Apparition, with no control over the destination, an unfamiliar slope appeared in front of him, trees oddly growing, black stones scattered all over the place.


    He caught a glimpse of a dark hole from the after-image, some beast''s lair where Black was hiding? He discerned the direction, this should still be a forbidden forest, only extremely deep, probably close to the other side.


    Blake rolled twice on the ground, but he didn''t even look around, during his first moment of consciousness, he used Apparition again. If it is twice, that terrible guy will not come after him, right?


    He simply did not want to believe that such a person existed who could enter Apparition while he started the Apparition, can someone follow Apparition ...


    His body began to twist into a cloud of smoke, and he knew he had succeeded, which is very rare. Using this spell back-to-back is extremely taxing on him, and he''s nowhere near his best.


    But what made his scalp tingle is that he felt a hand grasping his neck, he opened his eyes and his surroundings is hazy with mist, the scenery quickly passed by, but he knew that the speed of the Apparition is forcefully reduced. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He saw Felix''s calm eyes, the two eyes met, and Black read the meaning in his eyes: you can''t escape!


    The next second, Black is flung out, his stomach kept churning, causing him to heave dryly, but he immediately forced himself to use the Apparition a third time.


    This time, he is nearly exhausted, the tattered corner of his robe is silently sliced open, a stinging pain burns on his brow, warm liquid covered his eyes, Splinching, this is Splinching ...


    The Apparition is over, his vision went black, and he couldn''t help but pray that it would work.


    Then he heard a familiar voice, "Why did you think of coming here? Still can''t forget your home after all these years?"


    Black rolled over and sat up, wiped his eyes, and in blood-red perspective, he found himself in a muggle community, where everything is both familiar and unfamiliar, a place he didn''t return since he left when he was sixteen.


    This is Grimmauld Place, where the old Black mansion is hidden from the world.


    Black crawled up from the ground and touched his forehead, blood running through his fingers, indeed Splinching, but not so severe, no arms or legs missing, and not immobilized in place.


    The young man in front of him looked at him with a speculative gaze and had absolutely no intention of doing anything. Are you trying to get me to admit defeat voluntarily?


    Dream on! He just had a good idea.


    Black waved his wand and a spell flew out mixed with a large puff of red flame as he shouted at the same time, "Kreacher!"


    Felix relaxed and slowed down his attack with a heartbeat. An ugly, aged, house-elf suddenly appeared next to Sirius Black, "Take me in!" Black said, doing his best to be on the offensive, but the occasional spell or two Felix fired back at him had overwhelmed him.


    Kreacher stood next to Black, as he babbled, "The young master is a nasty, ungrateful lowlife who broke his mother''s heart, and after being gone for more than a decade, brought a powerful enemy on his very first return, and didn''t do an ounce of his duty-"


    "Shut up! Take me in, right now!" Black yelled, his wand bursting with dazzling white light as the powerful magic condensed into a dozen rusty iron arrows in midair, which sliced through the air with a haunting whine and reeled toward Felix.


    Meanwhile, Kreacher reluctantly stretched out his dried fingers and rested them on Sirius Black''s knee, and they disappeared from the place.


    Felix flicked his wand, turning the iron arrows into thin ropes and letting them fall loosely on the ground. His eyes pierced through the layers of enchantment and saw Black sitting limply on the steps of an old mansion, his ill-fitting wand tossed aside, as he grinned and breathed heavily.


    He then laughed gleefully, "I''ve won! The result of teasing this Lord Black, isn''t this quite a bad experience? Woo-hoo!" He shouted loudly as if he was venting.


    Kreacher stood next to him, covered in nothing but a dirty rag, now murmuring in a hoarse, low voice, "How foolish it is for the loser young master of the noble black family to celebrate his escape and to provoke a powerful enemy he cannot fight against ... "


    "Shut up, Kreacher! Let me enjoy it for a while, can''t you?"


    ...


    Grimmauld Place, Felix walked to the place where Sirius Black had disappeared before, squatted down, and squeezed up a drop of blood from the ground.


    ----------


    #Zack Munsona, #El Gordo, and #Jordel Davidson-Swann. Thanks for your support.


    There are 305+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 278: Meeting in the Study Room

    The next day, Sirius Black woke up from his bed with a groggy head feeling as if Kreacher had knocked his head halfway through the night and his head hurt so badly that it felt like it will crack open. "Although I know it''s a consequence of abusing Apparition, I somehow always suspected it is related to Kreacher''s constant nagging!"


    Sirius went to the run-down washroom and washed in front of a mirror that had dubious dark red markings. He re-groomed his hair and shaved off his dirty beard, while he showered, the mirror in the bathroom said, "You look like a moving piece of ribs."


    He angrily pulled the curtain closed, and the bad memories of his early life seemed to come back all at once.


    Half an hour later, he rummaged through his old closet and replaced his dirty, ragged old clothes with a new one, and now he looked decent.


    Then he carefully fished out an old, tattered piece of paper from his pocket, which looked crumpled after being soaked in the water yesterday. He struggled to spread it out, trying not to spoil the moving picture on it: it showed Ron Weasley''s family winning an award, with a fat rat standing on Ron''s shoulder.


    He stared at the photo for a couple of moments with a blank face and then walked away.


    "Kreacher, help me prepare a breakfast." Sirius shouted towards the door, and after a moment''s consideration, he added: "No spitting, no deliberately bad cooking, and no ..." he added a string of conditions.


    Kreacher bowed deeply, cursing in a low voice as he left.


    Sirius took the time to go to the entrance of the house, and looked for a while without finding any suspicious figures, only to see a muggle woman who had risen early to buy vegetables.


    "Maybe he left." Sirius thought to himself, as he slammed the gate shut, the silver coiled snake door ring slammed into the mottled black gate with a thud, and he went quiet for a few seconds, and nothing happened.


    "Something doesn''t feel right ..." he thought to himself.


    But he could not find anything strange, he sniffed, the air still smelled like damp, grimy rottenness, everything from the foyer to the corridor looked eerie, his eyes flickered over the peeling wallpaper, the blooming threads on the dusty carpet, and the shimmering magic chandelier overhead.


    Everything looked the same.


    Even the portraits hanging crookedly on the walls are very quiet today, quiet ...?


    Sirius carefully examined the figures in the portraits, they looked asleep, he moved closer, stood in front of a portrait of a possible ancestor of the Black family with a glorious history, and knocked on the outer edge of the frame.


    The nobleman with long curly hair that trailed down to his waist is slumped back in his chair, snoring slightly.


    Suddenly, Sirius felt as if a piece of ice had been stuffed into his stomach, cold and jerky, and his forehead began to hurt. He moved around nervously, took a few big steps to a curtain, and pulled it open with a jerk.


    Behind the curtain, there is a huge portrait of an old woman with a thin face and high cheekbones, somewhat like Sirius at this moment, and although he did not want to admit it, it is his mother.


    The old woman, who had been arguing with him for a half-day yesterday and was very active, is sleeping soundly, not abruptly jumping up and cursing him for being a "dirty and sinful son", now she''s sleeping with drool over her dress.


    Sirius returned to his room, with his wand in hand, his heart stabilized a few points, "Maybe they are just scaring him." He started from the lower floor, searching room by room, and just in case there are any accidents, he called Kreacher back.


    "If that man from yesterday shows up, don''t ask me, just get me out of here immediately," Sirius warned the house elf.


    Kreacher looked reluctant as he muttered in a voice Sirius could definitely hear, "After more than ten years away from home, the loser young master is now ordering the old Kreacher around, and I heard he killed someone ..."


    "Shut up!" Sirius yelled in a low voice.


    "Crunch--"


    Sirius held his wand in one hand, the tip of the wand glowed slightly, the magic spell is ready to be fired, the other hand twisted the snake-like knob, the door opened, he waited for two seconds, and probed keenly to look inside, it is empty.


    Kreacher bowed down, and looked around his legs, "Nothing, the loser young master has been locked up for more than ten years, even his spirit has gone abnormal, oh, poor madame ah, if she knows it from the underworld, I wonder what she will think. Poor old Kreacher ..."


    Sirius said, "She''s fine, just yesterday she had a fight with me, now sleeping soundly, and drooling all over the place at night."


    They went all the way up, the old wooden floor is in a bad condition and has been hollowed out by insects, stepping on it caused a creaking sound, while Sirius''s heart couldn''t help but rise to the top.


    "It''s like going back into the war days." He muttered, but his eyes couldn''t contain his excitement.


    He moved more concisely and efficiently, checking the doorknob every time he opened the door for any signs of use, and after checking the dining room, the storage room, and the second-floor bedroom, nothing happened, so his tense mood relaxed somewhat.


    Even when he bumped into an old mirror spirit in the second-floor washroom, he still had the mood to joke: "Your ugly face isn''t the worst I''ve ever seen, Azkaban is where the demons and monsters are concentrated, although I count myself as one ..."


    At the door of the study on the third floor, although Sirius''s movements were still cautious, he is no longer so wary in his heart, he pushed open the door and walked in. The study is empty and a little brighter, and he saw the old, bug-eye-riddled bookshelves along the wall, with rusty silver and green decorations.


    Behind the heavy desk, there is a high back armchair which he remembers as his father''s favourite place to spend time when he was young, of course, every time he will be reprimanded for coming without permission.


    "Whoosh!"


    "What dong-"


    The candleholder in the door suddenly moved and twisted around Sirius''s body, his hand which holding the wand got bent to the side, Sirius struggled hard, but the candleholder seemed like a living person, forcefully twisted his hand and snapped his hand open and his wand fell to the ground, rotating a few times and remained motionless. S~?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Sirius''s chest rose and fell violently, gasping for air, and in the lingering glance, he caught a glimpse of Kreacher being tied up as well, the sound of turning pages in books came from behind the high-backed armchair behind the desk.


    He growled out a name with immense anger, "Felix Hap."


    The high-backed armchair turned around, revealing Felix''s figure, holding a Black-covered book in his hand, carefully flipping through a page that had become as brittle as a thin cracker, and without looking up, he said, "Hold on - I got to the key part."


    "Kreacher ..." Sirius said in an inaudible whisper.


    Kreacher seemed to have just figured out the situation, his figure appeared illusory for a moment, and he tried to use his movement magic, but the next moment he got imprisoned again.


    Sirius tried to continue talking, but the sharp tip of the silver candleholder moved closer to his mouth, issuing a silent threat, and he could only stare blankly, as if he wanted to kill Felix with his gaze.


    The study went quiet for ten minutes, the only audible sound throughout the room coming from Sirius''s gasping breaths. Just as he felt his wrists being strangled out of consciousness, Felix closed the book Advanced Dark Magic Unmasked and said with a sigh, "It''s wicked as hell ... I don''t even want to eat any breakfast."


    Sirius couldn''t help but say mockingly, "It''s not like your ... teacher, Snape loved these things when he was young."


    "Who doesn''t have some hobbies?" Felix answered evasively.


    Sirius fell silent for a moment and looked up to stare at Felix, "How did you get in?"


    Felix smiled, "I got a little help from the Black family."


    "No way!" Sirius retorted, "As much as I hate to admit it, I''m the only descendant of the Black family left, and I''m the only one who can get in."


    Felix glanced at Kreacher.


    "He ... he''s not the same ..."


    "Exactly!" Kreacher said proudly, "Old Kreacher has served the noble Black family for generations and generations!" Then he glanced at Sirius with malice, "Not counting the current master, who has nothing but his bloodline, but poor Kreacher has no choice ..."


    Sirius glared at him, wanting to choke him to death.


    Felix stood up and carefully examined the wound on Sirius''s forehead, "Potter''s scar is on the right side, yours is exactly the opposite. How odd, is it a coincidence?"


    "You-"


    Sirius glared at him, he now didn''t worry much about his safety, he intuitively believed that Felix wouldn''t kill him, but he also found out that Felix is even more hateful than Snape - his words are more potent.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 307+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 279: Map and Magic

    Half an hour later - Sirius sat on the couch with a grimace as he heard the terrible news - Peter Pettigrew had run away, or rather, is hiding in a place where no one knows and pretending to be dead without coming out.


    He thought dejectedly, did he do useless work all this time?


    Felix picked out another book from the shelf, which surprisingly contained a full list of ancient magic known through history. The portrait of Headmaster Phineas Black did not deceive him, the collection of books here is certainly extraordinary, although some of them were moved from the forbidden book section of Hogwarts.


    It seems that when the old man served as a Headmaster, he had never spared any benefits for his family.


    Unfortunately, things are unpredictable, the Black family has fallen to this point ...


    "Have you guys tried the Marauders'' Map?" Sirius suddenly asked.


    "Marauders'' Map, what''s that?" Felix looked up from his book.


    Sirius said sullenly, "A map to track the movements of every person in the castle, recorded with every location and secret passage in Hogwarts, it would appear like a folded up parchment, we made it together when we were at school - me, James, Remus, and... . Peter Pettigrew." S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Marauders'' Map can tag everyone within the confines of Hogwarts, even Dumbledore."


    Felix blinked, he already knew exactly what Lupin had asked Filch for, and he said with certainty, "This map should have been confiscated by Filch."


    "We did it on purpose." Sirius scowled, "That happened when we were about to graduate and wanted someone to inherit our sacred cause of mischief eagerly, so we found a suitable opportunity to attract Filch''s attention and make him take the map."


    Felix nodded slightly, so there is such a past.


    Sirius wondered: "Remus did not tell you?"


    Felix said softly, "The map got lost, Filch admitted it himself."


    "That old rice kettle!" Sirius shouted unhappily, he then smashed the wall hard, and deflated, "Even if there is a map, it may not necessarily work, Peter Pettigrew can mask his name."


    " Mask? You used the Homonculous Charm?"


    "More than that, tracking spell, trail manifestation enchantment, name enchantment, miniature modelling enchantment, concealment enchantment, anti-disturbance enchantment, protection enchantment, and later a combination of transfiguration, Arithmancy, as well as alchemy ... too many things."


    Felix looked at Sirius in amazement, he only mastered a portion of these spells now.


    Sirius explained: "Initially James brought a magic map-making book from his home, we relied on this book to make the prototype of the Marauders'' Map, of course - at that time there was no name when you move. Then we went through the library and found spells from all kinds of nooks and corners that would lock the trail, and kept adding it, and in the end, even we had a hard time keeping track of just how many spells we used."


    He spread his hands, "You know, when we saw Headmaster Dumbledore''s name on the map, we thought we are invincible, no one can escape the Marauders'' tracking, If you can avoid the detection of a certain magic doesn''t mean you are safe, Because can you avoid the second, third, the fourth ... "


    Felix could not help but stroke his hand in admiration, if Sirius did not say it, who would know these things? He even saw the shadows of the other three makers through Sirius.


    A stunning artefact emerged from the hands of four students who had yet to graduate.


    The story of what happened afterward is even more saddening, as the war interrupted their normal life trajectory, and if Sirius hadn''t mentioned it, it''s possible that even the existence of the Marauders'' Map itself would have been silently submerged in history.


    "How did the four of you divide the workup?" Felix couldn''t resist inquiring for more information, it would definitely not be inferior to any known magical artefact if it could be reproduced.


    Sirius glanced at him oddly, " James is good at Transfiguration, I''m good at Charms, especially silent spell casting, many of the spells I learned were added on, Remus knows all kinds of things, he glues a bunch of bits and pieces together, and as for Peter Pettigrew ... "


    He frowned and said with a strong sense of malice: "He is a little more meticulous, can find fault and fill in the gaps."


    Sirius finished and paused thoughtfully, half-heartedly he looked at Felix and said slowly, "Maybe he can''t necessarily mask from the Marauders'' Map."


    "Why?"


    "I remember - there was a spell that only James and I knew, during the seventh year Halloween break, we went home together and James found an interesting spell from the old mansion."


    He looked at Felix, a gleam forming in his eyes, "It is a curse, or slavery magic. No, that''s not accurate," he frowned, "I should say a contract."


    "A magic pact?"


    "That''s right," Sirius affirmed, glancing at the study door as he said in a low voice, "It is a very old book, and the author of the books participated in the House elf war, at the time wizards invented a spell specifically to enslave house elf. "


    Felix raised his eyebrows, and he said in a tone of exploring magic: "What does this have to do with the Marauders'' Map? Wait - it occurs to me, a connection between master and servant?"


    Sirius amazed at his perceptiveness, "You''re right, there is a strong bond between house elf and master, a bond that runs deep into the bloodline and is passed down from generation to generation, few people know about it anymore, that''s why house-elf will never betray their master."


    That''s not necessarily true ...


    Felix thought to himself, relying on enslaving magic is always inferior, there is no such thing as eternal and unbreakable magic, Dobby is an example. Even the side effects of one of the three unforgivable curses, the Cruciatus Curse, was not cracked by him?


    Along this line of thought, for him, the Cruciatus Curse actually no longer has any effect on him. Pain? He has too many ways to shield the pain perception. What is terrifying about the Cruciatus Curse is that it transcends the physical body and reaches the deepest part of the mind.


    And when he protected his memories in layers, the Cruciatus Curse would have an extremely limited effect on him, and in turn, it can be used as a disguise to fool his opponent ...


    Sirius went on, "-think about it, a master can summon house-elf no matter where he is, oh, not in Azkaban, I''ve tried it, maybe it''s too far away ... "


    "Maybe the Ministry of Magic has this part of the information and made appropriate precautions." Felix speculated.


    "Anyway, James and I tried to add part of this magic - when the master summons, the house-elf senses the master''s location, that contract effect - into the map, and we devised a little trick "Sirius smiled happily, "When you walk into Hogwarts, you sign a temporary blank contract by default, with no binding force, and you can even refuse!"


    Felix smiled, "Provided the person finds out about the contract, but I don''t think you would let it take effect, but rather you would simply leave it in a state of waiting ..."


    "That''s it!" Sirius said excitedly, letting out a weird grunt, "Totally harmless, but your location will be exposed."


    "The best part is that Peter Pettigrew didn''t know this, and within days of returning from Halloween break, we decided to leave the map at Hogwarts - with the help of Filch''s hand to find the next master, only the most adventurous students would appear in his office, and we also set some restrictions for that ."


    Sirius, lost in a happy memory, his eyes narrowed, and he murmured softly.


    Half a moment later, he said with a grim expression, "Too bad the map was lost."


    Felix mused, "If you were asked to recreate the Marauders'' Map, can you able to do it, Lupin''s at the school too, he might be able to help."


    "I know he is," Sirius said, thinking for a long moment, "It would be hard to recreate it, I don''t remember a lot of things ..."


    "We can try it together, I''m interested in it."


    "We?" Sirius stared at Felix blankly.


    Felix didn''t answer as he glanced at the time, "Two hours until ten o''clock, plenty of time."


    He said cheerfully, "I''m going to take you to Hogwarts, of course, first we have to get in touch with Headmaster Dumbledore. Well, I''ll probably face questioning from the Ministry of Magic, and I''ll lie about not catching you and letting you get away. I don''t know if they will believe ..."


    Sirius glared at Felix, feeling like he is being mocked.


    " Excuse me, where is Phineas Black''s portrait, I didn''t spot him in that row of portraits on the wall."


    "... In the second bedroom on the right-hand side of the second-floor balcony."


    Felix left with a stride and returned again a few minutes later, " The deal has been made, Dumbledore told us to move stealthily." He gently touched the ring on his left hand with his wand and took it out of a candy box with the words Honeydukes on it.


    "What is this?"


    "A little wizard gave it to me for Christmas, I haven''t finished it yet, and I''m a little tired ... of it, but I thought I could use it to hold someone now."


    "You applied an Undetectable Extension Charm?"


    "Oh, no," Felix asked sceptically, "Who would cast an Undetectable Extension Charm on a candy box?" He looked at the frozen Sirius and said, "I just happened to have an appropriate spell in mind--"


    He pointed his wand at Sirius and an intense blue glow erupted from the tip.


    ----------


    #r3d3v3. Thanks for your support.


    There are 307+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 280: Little Sirius

    Hogwarts, Office of the Ancient Rune''s Professor. Fireplace.


    A bright green flame flared as Felix walked out carrying a candy box, patting the dust off his body with one hand, and then he pushed open the door of his office.


    It is the last day of the weekend, the corridor is full of bustling, noisy little wizards.


    Felix knocked on the candy box package and whispered, "You''re already in the castle, what do you think?"


    "I''m going to pass out from the sweet fragrance here." A grumbling voice came from the box, "I originally planned to eat a sweet treat, now I feel sore and sick."


    ...


    Felix walked into the Headmaster''s office, Dumbledore had been waiting for a long time, "Bang-" the candy box landed on the long-legged desk, a scattered clatter and a cry of pain came from inside -


    "Ouch!"


    Dumbledore looked at Felix in surprise, and Felix returned an affirmative look, "Just what you think ... our guest is a tiny one." So Dumbledore''s fingers touched the candy box, the top cover immediately popped open.


    The box contained half a box of sweet like Creamy chunks of nougat, Exploding bonbons, Bertie Bott''s Every Flavour Beans, Ice Mice, Crystallised Pineapple, Peppermint Toad ... most of the merchandise in the Honeydukes.


    A hand poked out of the candy pile, and the palm-sized Sirius grimaced as he pushed away the chocolate ball pressed against his head, pulling himself out from deep, squirming, and drippy candies to stand on top of the candy pile.


    He looked up, as Dumbledore''s enlarged face is beaming at him, and the phoenix with its golden and red feathers let out a low chirp as Fawkes flew around the office and landed on the long-legged table, cocking his head to survey Sirius in the box.


    Sirius looked at it warily, "Don''t come any closer Fawkes, I fed you, remember?"


    Fawkes gave two short cries and turned his head away from him.


    Dumbledore''s blue eyes curled in a quick arc behind his half-moon lenses as he said gently, "How wonderful, I didn''t expect to meet you on this occasion."


    "Me too," Sirius muttered, as he stepped over the edge of the candy box and, with a strong push of his arm, he jumped over to the table. He looked around as a small puff of smoke spewed from the oddly shaped silverware on the table, looking like a terrifying monster.


    "Hurry up and change me back." He said resentfully.


    Unlike Dumbledore''s hidden smile, Felix laughed heartily, he used his wand to point at Sirius''s head, then his body involuntarily expanded and enlarged, he hurriedly jumped down from the table, when he landed on the ground, he already regained his original size.


    Sirius stood straight, his back held straight, as he looked at Dumbledore, a complex emotion welled up as he said, "I''m back."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, "Sirius, although Phineas sent back some information, but I still want to hear your story in person."


    Sirius did not refuse, he remained silent for a moment, then sat down in a chair and began to tell the story, he did not look at anyone, but the two people in the office, including the portrait on the wall, were staring at him with rapt attention.


    "... And so, I broke out of prison, swam back to England, and then all the way north, like an evil spirit who has come a long way to seek revenge."


    Dumbledore concluded, "So, you''re here for Peter Pettigrew. And what about Harry?"


    "I haven''t had a chance to think that through," Sirius said frankly.


    "When I found out that Peter Pettigrew is still alive, all I could think was revenge. But then again I did see Harry several times, the day he left his aunt''s house before school started, on a Muggle street - I wanted to get a look at him before I went north, but my distorted appearance might have scared him; the second time was at the Quidditch pitch - he flew well, just like James did, but I didn''t dare stay any longer and left halfway through; and during the Christmas holidays, when I ambushed the Weasley boy near the whomping Willow, trying to catch Peter Pettigrew and to be honest, I was shocked at how fast Harry reacted."


    "The last time we met was yesterday, I used a polyjuice potion to disguise myself as a muggle child." He looked to Felix, "This Professor Hap''s little prop has got me twice."


    Felix bowed slightly.


    "How did you know where Harry lived, the place is under a spell ... Yes," Dumbledore flashed a smile, " James must have told you about it, I should have thought of that."


    Sirius shrugged: " James visited them in the seventh year, but that family wasn''t exactly friendly, they seemed to think he is a bum when he mentioned his favourite broomstick and Quidditch." His words were full of sarcasm.


    "Mr. Dursley probably can''t accept the existence of magic," Dumbledore said regretfully, "I''ve met him once, very much a rule-follower if you ask me."


    Next, Felix spoke up about the Marauders'' Map, focusing on the magical ability of this artefact in finding people, "Neither Animagus, Polyjuice, invisibility cloaks, nor any conventional concealment spell can shield it."


    He suggested seriously, "I think we can try to recreate this Marauders'' Map."


    Dumbledore pondered quietly, his long fingers tapped on the table and prompted, "Felix, has it ever occurred to you that the Marauders'' Map is probably still at Hogwarts?"


    Felix replied slowly, "I did think about it, and it''s not impossible ..."


    "But the scope is too large, students, professors, or wedged in some library book ... if I had acquired it, I would certainly keep it hidden."


    Dumbledore blinked, "I think you may have overlooked one possibility." He said to Sirius, " The ideal heir you have in mind would be a Gryffindor who likes to play pranks, right?"


    Sirius nodded, "You''re right."


    Felix''s eyes lit up, "So, the Weasley twins?" That is the first name that came to his mind.


    "Very likely, in fact, I have a few more candidates in mind, I''m going to write a few letters, it won''t really take much time," Dumbledore said.


    Felix had some regrets in his heart, but quickly cheered up, regardless of whether he could find the map or create it, he is happy to see it. If found, he can borrow it to study the finished product, and create one more efficient; if not found, he will form a team, re-research, and develop it, along with more features.


    "Actually, the worst kind of possibility is that Peter Pettigrew may have stolen the map." He cautioned.


    "That''s what worries me, he had plenty of time and reason to do it." Dumbledore said, "The only other possibility is, he didn''t think he would be on the map, so he didn''t take any action."


    Felix agreed with this, he looked at the time, "Headmaster Dumbledore, there is a small dueling match today at ten o''clock, if there is nothing else, I''ll leave you to it." He pointed at Sirius and said, "He''ll be in your hands."


    Sirius''s eyes suddenly lit up, "A dueling match? Harry should be in it, right? Can I come along to see it?" S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix looked hesitantly at Dumbledore, who also frowned, "Sirius, you''d better stay in Grimmauld Place, it will keep you safe - the Ministry of Magic is still looking for you, and if you get caught, we have no evidence to prove your innocence."


    "Just once -" Sirius said pitifully, "let me see Harry up close, I could pretend to be a doll and no one would think twice."


    His words silenced Dumbledore as Felix cast another spell, this time Sirius jumped back into the box of his own accord, and Felix nudged his wand and applied a silencing charm around the box''s exterior.


    Sirius lost his sense of the outside world.


    Felix looked at Dumbledore: "He is not good at Occlumency, right?" Dumbledore looked at him with a smile, so Felix understood what the Headmaster meant.


    He lifted the candy box and walked out of the office with brisk steps.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 309+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 281: Duel Competition

    Felix carried the candy box towards classroom seven, his heart still recalling the question he had just asked Dumbledore. Both he and Dumbledore are not easy to be persuaded. Hoping to convince them using a story, that Sirius is innocent, is not an easy task.


    Both of them are the masters of Legilimency, although they rarely use it normally, but at the critical moment, there will be no hesitation.


    The difference is that he is not familiar with Sirius, So he only read his surface thoughts and emotions, therefore he wanted to confirm it with Dumbledore.


    Since he said Sirius is not good at Occlumency, that means he''s very credible. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Felix walked to a secluded corridor, opened the candy box, the shrunken Sirius sat on the candy pile as he reached out and pulled out a small piece of cake, and asked blankly: "We''re here?"


    "Not yet - there is some preparation that needs to be done, you don''t want to run into Severus I suppose, and Harry has the sneakoscope with him to guard against you, all of which needs to be sorted out."


    " How are we going to fix that?"


    Felix did not answer that, but he used his wand to touch several sweets in the box, and they transformed under the effect of magic into a set of full body armour, the style is very similar to the armour in Hogwarts castle, even the enclosed helmet.


    "Quickly put these on." He said to Sirius.


    "I like your idea." Sirius eagerly changed into the new armour and tried to move his body, "I feel like a real knight, but I''m still missing a knight''s sword."


    Felix complied with his request and transformed the licorice cane into a knight''s longsword.


    Sirius wore a tightly covered armour, and dexterously swinging the longsword in his hand. If you ignore that he is only palm-sized, He truly looks like a classical medieval knight.


    "This looks a lot like a knight golem, and I can introduce you to other professors. Next, I have to figure out how to mask you from the sneakoscope..."


    The surface layer of armour on Sirius'' body began to glow with a magical glow. Finally, glowed in the location of the eyes in his helmet, Felix then let Sirius choose whether he wanted black or red, and he picked red.


    So the knight''s eyes got covered with a layer of scarlet smoke, making him look a little more fierce and majestic.


    9:40 am.


    Felix walked into the seventh classroom, which is packed with hundreds of people gathered in a large and spacious open space, as they enthusiastically chattered.


    The open space is artificially divided into seven grids, each with different terrains, categorized into Flatland, Forest, Hillside, Rocky Beach, Swamp, Winding Maze, and an Ice land.


    On the east side where the best view, there stood a high spectator seating platform, the platform has a row of seats. Flitwick and Snape have arrived, in addition to the two regular professors of the dueling class, there are some other professors who came on their own initiatives, they conjured up their own chairs with a somewhat excited look.


    Felix walked to the high platform, casually putting the palm knight on the table, as he greeted others warmly, "Filius, Severus ... Professor Lupin, you also showed up?"


    "I came to join in the fun," said Lupin, " When I was in school, there was no such a novelty."


    Snape said slowly, "But you also have a rich off-campus life, wandering east and west, causing trouble ..."


    Lupin said flatly, "Looking back at our younger selves, weren''t we all ignorant oafs?"


    The Sirius moved around the table with his close-fitting armour with a " clack, clack, clack" sound, as he swung his longsword around intensely as if he is protesting against Lupin''s statement.


    Flitwick, who intended to change the topic, searched around and his eyes lit up when he saw the ''knight'': "Felix, this golem of yours can move on its own?"


    Felix smiled, " Very early on, I tried to let them handle some simple tasks, well ... to free my assistant from grading work, she doesn''t need to consolidate such a simple knowledge anymore."


    " Miss Granger?" Lupin asked with a smile, "She''s a very smart witch who does well in every class."


    Flitwick looked at the knight on the table, Sirius'' movements are all distorted, still, this makes it look more like a rusty metal puppet.


    "Am I reading it wrong? How can I believe that I saw embarrassment in its movements ..."


    Felix took out some golems from the ring and distributed them to the professors, "I tried to make them understand some simple commands, the principle is similar to magic portraits, but the effect is not considered good, I need your opinions."


    He grabbed the ''knight'' in his hand calmly, shaking it along the way, and in response to Flitwick''s puzzled expression, he explained, "This guy is not that smart ..."


    The time soon approached ten o''clock, Percy and Penelope stood in the middle of the open space, Percy acted so hyper that his vocal tone went off by two degrees, "Ladies and gentlemen, this dueling tournament is hosted by Hogwarts Student Body, and I, Percy Weasley, will be in charge of maintaining the order of the whole field with Penelope Clearwater."


    "Let''s start by providing some basic information: there are 218 participants, and they will be matched randomly on seven different fields. Seven games will be played at the same time, starting with the first year."


    Penelope Clearwater said, "The rules of the tournament are clear to you all, and I will say that the professors will comment on some exciting duels or will vocalize warnings regarding violations. Please be sure to follow the rules, especially the use of dark magic is strictly forbidden."


    She scanned the circle with a sense of authority, and Percy cleared his throat next to her, "That''s right, that''s it."


    "Those whose names are called will come to me and draw lots for terrain, and once the terrain is determined, your opponents will also be determined."


    The crowd erupted into booming cheers, Harry nervously gripped his wand, his heart is pounding crazily, The people around him looked even more nervous than he is, Ron''s lips were quivering and Hermione kept mumbling something. He took a step closer and heard her quickly reciting the dueling system essay she had just finished revising for the third time.


    Opposite to Harry, Draco Malfoy looked paler than usual, and his two followers - Crabbe and Goyle - kept swallowing, and Goyle choked on his own saliva and coughed constantly.


    Draco furrowed his brow and walked to the opposite side, his nervousness surprisingly calmed down when Harry appeared in his line of sight, and he smiled impishly - at least that''s what Harry thought.


    He would gladly give Malfoy a good thrashing all over his face if he had a chance.


    The game had officially begun.


    The first-year competition is rather lacklustre, except for one student who managed to cast a nasty hex, which drew sparse applause, while most of the rest kept chanting spells with their eyes closed.


    After only three rounds, it reached the final match, and a cute little girl won the first year''s championship.


    Next came the second year''s competition, where Ginny simply used a stunning spell to knock out her opponent, followed by several more victories to win the title.


    "Ginny''s already that good?" Ron asked in surprise.


    "Yeah, actually it''s not that surprising, she''s been following us in our group activities," Harry said.


    Percy''s serious voice came through -


    "There is a larger number of third years, fourteen in the first group, Millicent Bulstrode, Seamus Finnigan, Hermione Granger, Daphne Greengrass ... Blaise Zabini, Justin Finch-Fletchley, these contestants, please come up to the stage."


    Hermione walked shakily to the front, almost tripping over Neville, she moved over to the draw and noticed to her surprise that the rest performed pretty much the same as her, the student whose family name is Zabini is light on his feet and he seems like he stepped on a ball of cotton.


    Hermione drew a rocky beach terrain, she could not help but sigh with relief, if she picked the ice-based terrain, she can''t stand firm enough to fight.


    After fourteen third-year students took their places, Percy announced in a long, drawn-out voice: "The duel begins--"


    Daphne Greengrass stood opposite to Hermione, the two are old rivals, but their disputes are only limited to the golem, it is the first real duel between them.


    "Expelliarmus!" Hermione shouted loudly, the words of the dueling system essay flashed quickly in her mind, I struck faster, she will dodge, and I have to use my advantage to ...


    But things didn''t go as she expected, Daphne, although she is a step slower than her, but she still insisted on casting a spell: "Stupefy!"


    Hermione watched as her disarming charm hit Daphne, as her wand escaped her hand and spun towards her, but at the same time, a red spell grazed her hair and hit the stone behind her.


    Hermione froze for a few seconds, as she subconsciously caught the flying wand, when she saw her exasperated face, she realized that she had won, but Hermione did not feel any joy in her victory, she could not help but go over and whisper: "Why you did not dodge? You should have ducked ..."


    Daphne glared at her, "Why should I hide?"


    "But, but--" Hermione is filled with questions, "You''re not as fast as me, according to the reason--"


    "Whose reasoning? You used the disarming charm, I used the stunning spell, if I hit you, I win."


    Hermione wanted to continue to retort that she made no sense in a real battle because it is too risky, but Percy had already reminded the students, who had finished the game, to leave as soon as possible, So she glared at Daphne and went down in a huff.


    Back in the Gryffindor House crowd, Hermione still said indignantly, "She''s totally gambling on her luck, I can''t believe she would dare to do that in a real battle-"


    Harry persuaded, "Actually, she is quite reasonable, under normal circumstances she simply can not possibly beat you, on the contrary, if her strategy succeeds-"


    He meekly shut his mouth, because Hermione looked like a furious lion.


    "Next, the second group whose names are called come forward - Draco Malfoy, Seamus Finnigan, Ron Weasley, Gregory Goyle ..."


    "Let''s watch the game," Harry said, "it''s going to be my turn soon."


    But there is no Harry''s name in the second group, he can only wait patiently, in this group there is an accident, a young wizard pronounced the spell incorrectly, his opponent''s head sprouted with a couple of tentacles, the young wizard cried. " What kind of spell are you trying to use?"


    Madam Pomfrey came over quickly, then she observed for a moment and said, "It will take you at least three hours to recover, my boy."


    The young wizard touched the tentacles on his head, which didn''t look that bad: "Madame Pomfrey, can I stay here and watch the game? I don''t want to go to the hospital wing."


    Madam Pomfrey looked at him in wonder, "Yes, you can, but aren''t you afraid of being laughed at-"


    "That''s not a problem."


    The boy sipped his potion and returned to his house with gusto, showing off his new hairstyle to his friends, as astonishment and envy erupted around him.


    Ron also returned triumphantly, saying with satisfaction, "Actually, I failed my first spell, but I hid behind a rock and Goyle stood stupidly in the same place, and got tied like a dumpling by my next spell ..."


    "Next, the third group - Draco Malfoy, Dean Thomas ... Neville Longbottom, Vincent Crabbe, Ernest Macmillan, Harry Potter."


    The dueling tournament proceeded as fast as it could, and by the time the third-year rematch session came around, even the upperclassmen couldn''t help but look serious.


    "Who''s that little round face? He and Potter fought back and forth."


    "Not sure, he seems to have popped out of nowhere."


    "It should be Potter''s friend, look how happily they are laughing."


    "I kind of remember seeing him at Potter''s dueling study group ..."


    In the third year final, Harry looked surprised as he stared at Draco, "I never expected you to come to finals, Malfoy." They drew the forest venue, with a dozen old trees spread around in a random pattern.


    Draco grinned, "You should have seen how I taught that Weasley a lesson, with my newly learned magic."


    Harry glanced back at Ron, who sat dazedly on the ground with a blank expression that looked a little similar to Luna''s.


    "The match begins-" He heard Penelope''s clear and calm voice, as Percy had grown a little tired.


    Harry instinctively took a step to the side, a silent disarming charm flew out at the same time, this first charm is not that powerful, as he was trying to get a head start. Draco took a step back, he hid behind a sturdy-looking tree trunk, "Potter - Mimblewimble!"


    Harry hurriedly jumped out of the way, the spell went a little awry. He gauged the distance and countered with an Incarcerous Spell, and a magically condensed rope flew past and wrapped tightly around the tree trunk. He heard Draco grunt, and he just wanted to step forward, his heart burst with a sense of crisis.


    So he quickly cast a shield charm in front of him, "Protego!" He called out, and an invisible barrier formed before him, blocking Draco''s carefully prepared spell.


    "Flipendo!"


    "Dang!"


    A heavy bell chime rang out, and Harry felt like he was hit by a sledgehammer so hard that the magical barrier cracked like a spider web. Even if he is hiding behind the shield charm, he is affected, his ears buzzing and trembling.


    He endured the discomfort and stared at the opposite side with wide eyes, and after ten seconds or so, his vision became clear again.


    ''Is this the spell that Ron endured? Even when it''s blocked, it still makes you briefly dizzy, like being hit by a pendulum in a clock tower.''


    Harry looked at Draco, who is hiding behind a tree and did not come out, occasionally releasing the ''Flipendo'' with a jerk, so he could not help but feel anxious. He quickly closed the distance between them, a red light flashed, slightly off, almost hitting him, Harry jumped in fright and flashed behind the tree, the field went quiet.


    "Malfoy, didn''t you want me to see your new magic? I did see it, need a reminder, I just associated it with construction workers, who knock around with a sledgehammer in their hands ..."


    Harry half-crouched, waited two seconds, as he cast the shield charm in advance, and sure enough, a red light flew in and got stopped!


    He didn''t even think about moving beyond the protection of the shield charm, Draco is peeking out, and an exaggerated red beam of light shot out from Harry''s wand which hit Draco straight on his chest.


    Draco sent straight away and crashed into a tree, his eyes rolled back, and he passed out without saying a word.


    "Win!"


    Harry shouted out excitedly, this battle is much more difficult than he expected, the biggest reason is due to the terrain limitation, his spell is simply not powerful enough to destroy the three-foot diameter tree, his advantage is completely ineffective.


    He thought of the instruction given to him by Professor Hap - mastering more spells meant that he could face different situations with ease. He couldn''t help but think: if he had mastered the Blasting Curse or the Fire-Making Spell, would he be able to finish the battle more simply?


    Now he knew what he had to do next.


    "Wonderful!"


    The onlooking students held their breath and enjoyed the high-level duel until the result came out, only then they broke out in unison with loud applause and cheers.


    Harry scratched his head and looked up at the judges'' seat, Lupin smiled at him, Snape looked at him with a stern and expressionless face, Professor Flitwick looked thrilled, Professor Hap smiled lightly as he rubbed his hand, and there is also an iron puppet waving its hand, no, sword, at him vigorously.


    Is that the professor''s new golem?


    Harry held back his inner joy, trying not to grin excessively, and waved similarly.


    ----------


    Thanks for your support.


    There are 309+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P_atreon: www.p_atreon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 282: Lupin and the Knight

    "Wonderful match!" The short Professor Flitwick said excitedly, "Malfoy flexibly borrowed the surroundings and constantly looked for opportunities to counterattack; Potter''s critical reaction was perfect, and his response was very clever ..." Draco, who had just been awakened by Madam Pomfrey, showed a smile on his originally gloomy face.


    "... Both of you are excellent, this is exactly what I want to see, maybe in a few years or a decade, there will be a new dueling champion emerge from among you." Flitwick choked out, and Felix patted him on the shoulder as he seated.


    Applause erupted in all directions, Harry and the students clapped enthusiastically together, "Well said, I look forward to that day."


    Other professors also came forward to comment several words, Snape praised Malfoy for being nimble, and making good use of the terrain to create favourable conditions, without mentioning a word to Harry.


    "I would not expect you to understand my following words - this knowledge will only be really needed after you graduate ..."


    Lupin stood neutral and praised both players, while Felix reminded the young wizard that when there is only a single pair of wizards competing on the field, they can ignore the limitations of the field and expand the battlefield into the seven terrains.


    Harry froze for a moment, something he hadn''t thought of, thinking about his duel with Malfoy, he could actually ignore the big tree and go through the rocky beach, and of course, Malfoy could run up the hill and confront him from above, at which point the scene would become even more complicated.


    Felix''s suggestion is applied in the fifth-year championship fight, Cedric Diggory and Slytherin''s Prefect Miles Bletchley offered an exciting battle of chase.


    The two occupied a corner of the rocky beach and hillside terrain respectively to shoot magic spells in the early stages, and then Cedric used Transfiguration to turn a rock into his own form, and the real Cedric quietly moved to the ice terrain and appeared out of nowhere from behind the hillside, and the battle might have ended early if not for the shrieks of the audience alerting Bletchley.


    Percy was forced to loudly demand silence from the students outside the field as the game went on.


    "Too bad," Neville said blankly.


    "Yeah, it is." Harry next to him replied, staring unblinkingly at the field, wondering how to break the game, and after wondering for a while, he found himself subconsciously substituting that Slytherin prefect, all he thought about the whole time is how to counter Cedric.


    He looked around vaguely, no one noticed him. Cho Chang looked at the field with a worried face, her eyes glued over that handsome boy, Harry suddenly felt the game become tasteless.


    The match lasted a full ten minutes, and when it ended, the young wizards broke out in applause.


    Harry couldn''t help but think sourly: I can do it too, and maybe I can do it better.


    In the stands, Felix said in a relaxed tone, "The first year winner is Slytherin, the second and third years are Gryffindor, the fourth year is Ravenclaw, and the fifth year is Hufflepuff, and so far their level is fairly even."


    "Bletchley is playing too conservatively, he wants to win so badly that he''s afraid of taking a little risk." Flitwick objectively commented on the match that just ended.


    "Actually, Davies'' real level is not that bad, but unfortunately, the mistakes he made are too low-grade in nature." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Flitwick was talking about fifth-year Roger Davies, captain of the Ravenclaw House Quidditch team, tall, sturdy and handsome, but he was so concerned with his image that he took a moment to smooth his hair in a match against George Weasley and was swept away by a stunning spell.


    And the victorious George then unexpectedly encountered Fred, the twins exchanged blows in the maze zone, only to have a Dungbomb suddenly burst out, and the match had to be interrupted for five minutes, as Percy pinched his nose and went up to use a dozen Scouring Charms.


    When he came out of it, he looked particularly frustrated, and the job of maintaining order was handed over to Penelope.


    The twins were both thrown out of the ring as they denied having thrown the Dungbomb at each other.


    Felix stared at the twin, would they have a Marauder''s Map in their hands? Professor McGonagall did complain about the amount of time they spent on pranks, but did not mention the issue of night trips.


    Have they never wandered at night, or have they not been found ... It is a question worth pondering.


    Felix said gently, "Professor Lupin, my knight seems to have run into your side, can you hand it to me?"


    Lupin froze for a moment, he looked down at the palm-sized knight - it somehow ran over to his side, on his left-hand side, looking a little creepy with its pair of scarlet eyes.


    "Sure." Lupin grabbed the knight, who tapped him three times on the back of his hand with his longsword, and his outstretched hand stopped in midair, and his eyes widened.


    "Professor Lupin?"


    "... Oh, here you go."


    Lupin then went quiet, his eyes occasionally darting over the knight golem: it didn''t come over again, and when it tried to stab Snape''s fingertips with its knight sword, it got thrown over to the young Professor Hap''s side with a slap.


    "Mind your own business, Felix."


    Lupin watched Felix''s expression carefully as the young professor smiled and said to Snape, "Severus, do you have the feeling that you are suddenly in a better mood?"


    Snape looked at Felix suspiciously, but he couldn''t tell, this student''s mind is always impenetrable. So he said sarcastically: "You''d better think about how to face that woman, Umbridge."


    " Why her, the person Dumbledore allowed is Tonks, right?"


    Snape curled his lips, with his eyes fixed on the field, he whispered: "Everyone saw you chasing after Black, and Potter himself admitted that he saw you grabbing Black from afar and using an Apparition - that woman was frantic. Did you catch him or not!"


    Felix''s eyes blinked, there is still this?


    " Black performed an Apparition ..." Felix said something half-heartedly, Snape wondered and sneered, "It''s his style of doing things."


    Flitwick interjected: "So, the news brought by the Ministry of Magic is true, he obtained the wand in Knockturn Alley?"


    "I think so, and not one wand, but two."


    Flitwick understood, and he said pointedly, "The Ministry of Magic won''t come after you for this, Felix, and look at the fact that they themselves haven''t even touched a strand of Black''s hair in the last six months."


    Professor McGonagall appeared in a hurry as the tournament progressed to the 7th year, and she looked a little exasperated.


    "Oh, Felix, someone''s here to see you. The investigator from the Ministry of Magic is here, and she insists on seeing you. I can''t stop her, she''s carrying a warrant from the Minister of Magic-"


    Felix stood up and laughed lightly, "Well, let''s go and meet her then, I happen to want to ask where Blake got the polyjuice potion and the second wand from."


    He grabbed the knight on the table and prepared to follow Professor McGonagall out.


    "Wait, Professor Hap--" Lupin called him out, and when Felix looked back, he said gently, "I happen to know something about alchemy, may I see the golem in your hand a little further? "


    Felix stared at him and raised the knight in his hand, "Do you have any suggestions?"


    Lupin said cautiously, "I need time to verify."


    Felix looked at the knight in his hand, and he is gesturing to Felix to agree, "Well, Professor Lupin, if you have a good idea, you are welcome to come to me, I think - I have time this afternoon and all day tomorrow."


    He tossed the knight, and Lupin hurriedly caught it in a panic.


    The game continued, but Lupin''s mind is no longer on it, he no longer dared to look at the knight in his hand, the guy almost poked a hole through his hand, so he casually found an excuse to leave early.


    Snape stared at Lupin''s distant back, with a thoughtful and intriguing expression.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 311+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 283: False Memory

    In the hallway, Felix asked, "That woman was here yesterday, too?" "Came twice," Professor McGonagall said meaningfully, "so she moved out of the Minister of Magic for this occasion."


    In the entrance to the Deputy Headmistress''s office, Tonks looked at her face in a pair of polished, shiny armour, Then her face swelled into a puffy blob as she held her breath.


    Her hair, which originally was bubblegum pink, immediately turned dark brown.


    "Tonks--"


    Tonks turned her head in the direction of the voice, as her eyes morphed into a pair of glowing bulbs, "Professor Mac, McGonagall!" She got taken aback and hurriedly patted her head to get everything back to normal, "I, uh ... got a little bored and came out for some fresh air."


    "I can see that Tonks, she''s still here?" McGonagall asked.


    "All the time, that''s why I couldn''t catch my breath." Tonks said as she saw Felix next to Professor McGonagall, "Hello, Hap."


    "Hello, Tonks." Felix nodded at her, "Coming in with us?"


    "Oh, no," Tonks declined, and she added, "You can put a Bubble-Head Charm on yourself in advance - well, I''m just kidding."


    Felix pushed the door open and suddenly understood what Tonks meant; the room smelled of luscious perfume and pink bubbles after pink bubbles were floating in the air.


    One of the pink bubbles suddenly exploded, as a pink mist filled the air along with the thick fragrance, causing Felix to cringe.


    "Oh my God, you''ve taken over my office-" McGonagall gaped as Umbridge stood up, grinning broadly, "Minerva, I''ve waited too long, so I found something to do by myself. I got the latest Peachy Witchy perfume in my hands - not released yet, from what Cory told me." She giggled.


    McGonagall scowled and added, "If you don''t put those bubbles away, I''ll do it for you." She walked quickly to the window and took a big breath of fresh outside air.


    Umbridge pulled a delicate vial from her pocket, tapped her wand on its mouth, and a bubble flew off, "I recommend you to give it a try, of course, wait until three months ..."


    Professor McGonagall rolled her eyes covertly and decided to go out for a while, so she left with the young ministry member named Cory.


    The sweet smell in the air lingered, and Felix waved his wand, and a whirlwind appeared out of thin air, sweeping the pink air away.


    "Ms. Umbridge?" He sat across the table, "I heard you wanted to see me."


    "Of course, my dear." Umbridge said, her hands folded politely, "Where do we begin? Minister Fudge has mentioned you several times, young talent, the future of the wizarding world."


    "Say my thanks to him for me, ma''am. You''ve arrived at a bad time, there are hundreds of students waiting for me."


    Umbridge said in a soft tone, "You are referring to that minor school competition? Oh yes, Minerva mentioned it to me, an excuse for stalling time. Oh, Mr. Hap, let me finish, I brought an order from Minister Fudge, clearer than the previous one, not an empty word ... Everything I said represents what Minister Fudge himself meant."


    Felix curled the corners of his mouth, "So what, you''re going to represent Fudge and giving me an order?"


    "It''s Minister Fudge," Umbridge corrected, "I think you lack the reverence for authority, which everyone at Hogwarts has. Oh, far from it, I have inquired about an interesting fact, Mr. Hap is also a children''s author, one of the books ..."


    She pulled a book out of her pocket, turned a page with her stubby fingers, and said smugly, "It''s a comic series? How childlike, if I hadn''t looked it up, I wouldn''t have known that Mr. Hap had long been in contact with the Ministry of Magic."


    "So?" Felix smiled, "I''m also a holder of the St. Mungo''s medical badge, a candidate for the Order of Merlin, and I maintain correspondence with members of the Wizengamot, as well as high officials of the Ministry of Magic in several countries ..."


    Umbridge''s smile faded.


    "... But that doesn''t mean much, I''ve voluntarily given up some of my - so-called - contacts." Felix said, "Just to cut down unnecessary interactions."


    "So why do you want to teach at Hogwarts? If you want to-"


    "No, I don''t want to," Felix gave her a look, "that''s my answer. Let''s get to the point, I have about ... seven minutes."


    Umbridge''s hand trembled as she gripped her wand, the pile of old-fashioned rings on her fingers rattled, not with fear, but with anger. Her chest rose and fell like a toad with a bulging belly.


    But she just said mildly, "Then let''s proceed now, Mr. Hap."


    "Where is Sirius Black now?"


    "Who knows, maybe with his accomplice."


    "You didn''t catch him?"


    "Obviously."


    "But you were seen running off with him in an Apparition, can I take that as a sign that he gained your help? I heard that you and Damocles Belby are close friends, and you are also the favourite student of Severus Snape, so with the friendship of two Potions Master, you can easily obtain a polyjuice potion."


    Felix smiled blankly, he had just talked to Professor McGonagall that he would question the Ministry of Magic about the polyjuice potion, but he did not expect the black pot to be thrown at him so quickly.


    So he said, "I could have asked you to produce evidence, and if not, I''ll teach you a deep lesson that some things cannot be said lightly." He is pleased to see Umbridge puff up her eyes and glare at him, "But I thought it might be good to show you the scene, so you won''t come back to annoy me later ..."


    Felix gazed at her, a picture darting through his pupils.


    "This place is-? I''m warning you, kidnapping a high-ranking Ministry of Magic official-" Umbridge said pointedly, looking around in a panic, this is a forest clearing, and she could see from afar ''Felix'' and '' Sirius'' scuffle scene.


    "Don''t you want to know what''s going on?"


    Then she saw the battle belonging to a wizard, not a simple spell against a spell, but gorgeous to the extreme magic, with large flames, lightning, and magical rays of various colours intermingling.


    Trees fell and broke apart, and stones as big as a man''s head made a heart-pounding whistling sound as they flew past her, leaving a shrill roar in her ears.


    ''Felix'' held a bright flame in his hand, ancient runes looming, and the next second, the overwhelming flames like mercury, instantly swept through the entire forest, magical flames raging and spreading wide as hundreds of feet away, and everywhere they went, trees and rocks would all turn into ashes, almost in the blink of an eye, it appeared in front of them.


    Umbridge let out an ear-piercing scream, followed by her entire body being engulfed in flames ...


    "Ahhhhhh-"


    Umbridge screamed and jumped up, still in front of her eyes is Professor McGonagall''s office, fake, it''s all fake ... she told herself over and over again, the tongues of fire reflected in her pupils.


    She heard Felix''s voice continue, seemingly unaware of her abnormality, and said with a sight of emotion, "Sirius is awfully strong, isn''t he? I suggest you to send some Hit Wizard..."


    Umbridge gulped as she sat down again and kept adjusting her sitting posture, "I, ahem! This is what happened then? If I were to ask you to testify-"


    "I should remind you that memories can be fabricated, and the Wizengamot court will not use memories as evidence, so you can absolutely assume that I was just teasing you," Felix said.


    Umbridge looked at him with his jaw agape and heard him continue, "Now the question is, do you believe that I can do what I remember?"


    Believe? She didn''t really want to believe it, but the feeling was too real, and whenever she tried to refute it in her mind, the image of being drowned in a sea of fire came out of nowhere.


    She hurriedly ended the cross-examination and dragged her short, fat body away, saying on her way out, "Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Hap."


    She is in a dire need of cute cat teacups and colourful bows to soothe her broken heart, and she wants nothing more than that today.


    Felix crossed his legs and couldn''t help but think, "Who said thinking room didn''t have the ability to attack, it''s not bad to use it to scare people."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support. s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 311+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 284: Professor Haps Reward

    By the time Felix returned to classroom seven, the dueling tournament was over, leaving only with a couple of first-place of each grade, Percy and Penelope, behind. Percy reported on what happened after he left, less than half an hour after he left, Things progressed in a way that he couldn''t help but frown.


    About ten minutes after he left, Lupin was the first to leave, not more than five minutes later, Snape also suddenly left, in addition to a professor who came to join the fun and pass the weekend, only Flitwick a regular dueling class professor left in plain sight.


    "When the seventh-grade competition is over, according to the plan, there will be awards and cross-grade challenges, but you are not ...," Percy stopped tacitly, "Professor Flitwick let the rest of the students go back first. "


    Felix nodded, he is actually more curious about whether Snape guessed something, so he went after Lupin, at this point he is afraid they''re probably fighting, no?


    He raised his wand, and out of the tip flew a slender, swift silver swallow, and the eyes of several young wizards fell on it, gawking wide-eyed at the professor''s Patronus, which had been talked fondly of by the young wizards ever since it had made its presence known on the Quidditch pitch.


    A few bright-headed little wizards had even managed to make a profit by selling information about the Patronus and the Patronus Charm, something that Harry knew that the twins and his best friend, Lee Jordan, had done.


    Rain Swallow Patronus circled the crowd for a while and disappeared with a silver stream of light. Well, if it is truly a fight, at least you can persuade them, or drag Dumbledore to clean up the mess, the headmaster should be aware of this headache, right?


    Felix thought unkindly, the corners of his mouth naturally curled up. He brought his attention back to the firsts of each grade and said pleasantly, "Next is the part where you can pick the prize you are interested in - a Galleon or a magical artefact."


    With each wave of his wand, a prize would appear before him.


    A dazzling Gold-Galleons, an advanced golem, Several types of Sneakoscope, a memory disk, the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake, a nameless book, a shiny silver artefact, and an amulet ... of two dozen of kinds.


    "Professor, what is this?" A small blonde curly-haired girl with cute dimples gestured at the palm-sized snake as she asked, liking it at first sight - much like her family''s crest.


    "A device on which you can stand, like this ..." Felix tossed the snake and with a soft "bang" there appeared a Fifteen-foot big snake.


    The big snake is completely inky black in colour, the snake''s head is raised high, on both sides of its head, a broad wing like a hood spread wide open, with turquoise blue eyes, as if inlaid with two emeralds.


    It lowered its head, in the back of the snake''s head, there is an inconspicuous smooth space, just enough for one or two people to stand. Felix smiled and said, "Don''t worry about falling off, I borrowed some idea from the Firebolt to keep the rider stable."


    Harry could not help but ask: "Professor, are you also participated in the dismantling and study of the Firebolt?" He had only got the Firebolt back from Professor McGonagall a few days ago, though it had performed well and helped him easily defeat the Ravenclaw team.


    "It''s the credit of Professor McGonagall and Flitwick, I just happened to see it by chance and studied it in passing."


    At this moment, that little girl had excitedly jumped over the big snake and shouted loudly, " What should I do, how can I start it? I want this!" She stood at that smooth area, and looked around, won''t it be imposing to stroll around with this?


    "You can experience it first, once you choose it, you can not change it." Felix cautioned her, she looks like a young girl from a big family, big family or not, he is not afraid, but they raise their children with quite a personality, which will give you a headache.


    He is more glad that he teaches the students only from the third grade.


    "I just want this! Just this! This one!" The little girl shouted at the top of her lungs.


    "Astoria, were you raised like this?" A girl said sternly, it is Daphne Greengrass.


    The little girl slumped, "Oh ..."


    Felix laughed softly, " A Greengrass?"


    "Professor, she is my sister, just started her first year, her name is Astoria Greengrass," Daphne said.


    "Hmm." Felix nodded and said nothing more. His wand nudged on the snake''s head, the snake made a "hissing" sound, which was only understood by Harry, it was not some meaningless sound, but it rather said in the parseltongue," Binding this noisy little girl ", he suddenly wanted to laugh.


    The next second, the snake twisted its body and leaped out abruptly, "Whoa!" Astoria shouted, the position under her feet is very smooth, the slight wobble of the snake''s head and the twisting of the snake''s body did not affect her.


    The crowd watched Astoria standing on the snake, as it smoothly went over the hill, rocky beach, as she shouted excitedly, her golden, long curly hair fluttered.


    Daphne tried to redeem her sister''s image: "Astoria grew up frail, and the family kept her away from sports, but she loved Quidditch, and today she is more, er, excited ..."


    After a minute, the big snake returned to its original position, Astoria jumped off the snake and leaped into Daphne''s arms, "Sister, I love it!"


    "Professor, is there anything similar, I don''t want a snake, is there a lion-shaped one?" Percy asked, being first in the seventh year.


    The eyes of the rest of them were glowing, and Harry is already imagining himself riding a tall, majestic lion and flaunting it around the school.


    The only person from Hufflepuff, Cedric had a bit of a headache, of course, he also wanted the symbol of his House, a badger. But it is truly unsuitable for a mount.


    How about an eagle instead?


    Felix smiled and said, "Don''t rush to make a decision, I''ll first give you an introduction, so that after choosing, in case you still don''t know about other rewards."


    "Gold-Galleons, no need for me to say more, the number is one hundred coins."


    "Advanced Golem, it can understand some commands, such as helping you get things, can talk and remind you of tasks you didn''t finish, it doesn''t have human wisdom, but it can answer vaguely. Textbooks of seven grades for different subjects are stored inside, the advantage is that you don''t need to turn the book when you write homework."


    Percy asked excitedly, "Professor, can I store new books in it?" He intuitively felt that it would be extremely helpful to him.


    "Sure, it has that function, but it takes time, for a book, it may take two or three hours," Felix explained as he took a book out of the ring and tossed it to the golem.


    It flipped the book open by itself and started reading from the first page, using the word ''reading'' is not accurate, I should say recording. It brushed its palm over every corner of the page, finishing before flipping to the second page.


    "Professor, how many books can it store?"


    "Well ... you have asked the right question, I don''t know its limit either," Felix spread his hands, "you can give it a try."


    Percy didn''t hesitate to pick this one.


    "I''ll continue with the introduction - the Sneakoscope, which you should all know; the memory disk, which can reproduce a piece of memory; the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake, which currently only has the function of storing runes, but by choosing it, you will automatically gain membership of the Magic Rune Club."


    Ginny and another Slytherin student chose the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake, Ginny is a second year, originally not eligible to join the club, but now a little over half a year earlier, and without assessment as well. She had heard from Hermione that the selection would only get harder.


    After weighing her options, she gave up her imaginary flaming lion mount.


    Another sixth-year Slytherin student got excited now, as his parents told him to do everything he could to get on good terms with Felix, but unfortunately, there had been no chance in the past year or so.


    Cedric and the fourth-year Ravenclaw boy had selected the memory disk.


    Now only Harry is left to decide, and for him, all the previous prizes are good, but nothing helped him to truly make up his mind. Hermione would have preferred an advanced golem that could store books, and Ron would not hesitate to choose the lion mount, but he felt torn now.


    Felix continued to introduce them, they were all made by him when he''s studied the Runes, incidentally. What mattered to him would be the process of turning inspiration into something physical, and by the time the things were made, they wouldn''t really have much use to him.


    "... shiny silverware, can spit bubbles, ahem, just kidding, I got the inspiration from Headmaster Dumbledore, it can be used to exercise magic, with the injection of different magic, the colour of the bubbles will also be very different, comes with a simple instruction manual... ..."


    "An amulet that can withstand seven or eight regular vile hexes, and not so advanced dark magic;"


    ...


    "Professor, what''s this book?" Harry asked, pointing at the nameless book, something looked familiar to him as if he had seen it somewhere before. After thinking for a while, he recognized that he had seen Professor Hap flipping through something similar at the Black Lake during his second year Christmas break when he was playing snowball with Ron and the twins.


    Only that book had a name, perhaps a collection of jokes, but the common feature is that they all have the same transparent pearly white colour as ghosts.


    This couldn''t be a book for ghosts, right? S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh, I''m glad you asked about it." Felix said cheerfully, "It''s an attempt, albeit far from the finished product I had in mind, and one might, can even say I''m just on my first steps, but it''s magical enough."


    "Its main material is memory, mixed with some other materials, such as the Thestral tail hair," Felix reached out and touched the nameless book, it automatically spread open, Harry and the rest came over, inside it is a blank image like mercury, silver and blue light hopping between the pages, like a flash of lightning.


    "What does it say?" Harry asked, holding his breath.


    "Nothing at the moment, but if you choose it, you can ask me to inject a memory, about any magic," Felix gestured, "from level one to level five, it can replace me and teach you to master that magic."


    Harry''s heart thumped, his first thought is disarming charm, then he thought of the Patronus charm - he studied with Professor Lupin for a month, still unable to fully form the Patronus, he only knew it is a big one.


    But he did not want to choose that, because he is very confident in mastering that magic, and more crucially, he enjoyed his time with Professor Lupin.


    Harry hesitated for a moment and his eyes lit up, "Professor, I''ll go with Apparition-"


    "Oh, no," he heard Professor Hap telling him, "you won''t be exposed to this spell until the sixth year at the earliest, and I won''t break the rule ..."


    Harry got a little disappointed, only to see the professor wink at him, he seemed to understand something, "I''ll take this book, as for the magic, I''ll go back and think about it, is that okay, Professor?" He asked tentatively.


    "Sure," Felix said with a smile, and he wanted to add a few more words, but he suddenly froze in place, and a rapid image swept through his pupils, and Harry caught a glimpse of it--


    Snape and Professor Lupin pointing their wands at each other!


    "Professor, Professor?" Harry shouted out, is this true?


    But Felix didn''t respond to him, "Percy Weasley, take it over and look over him for some time." He stepped aside, a silver gleam brewing in his eyes, and with the help of the Patronus'' perspective, he whispered, "Severus, Professor Lupin, please stop ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 313+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 285: Accidents occur frequently

    A few minutes ago - The atmosphere inside the professor''s office of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class is tense.


    Snape''s wand in his hand pointed straight at Lupin, his eyes shining with a strange light, and he asked lightly: "What are you hiding?"


    Lupin, who also holding his wand, said with a sigh, "You''re the one who suddenly appeared and startled me."


    "Did I ...?"


    Snape''s eyes settled on Lupin''s feet, where there is a palm-sized Knight, with scarlet eyes kept staring at him, associated with the previous speculation, he had an intense desire, why not find an opportunity to stomp it flat, it is too much of an eyesore ...


    "Bombarda!"


    He pointed his wand at it, but the next second, Lupin swiftly interrupted his spell: "I can''t let you do that, Severus."


    Snape''s eyes shone dangerously as he took a few steps to the side, and Lupin took a few steps forward, the two remained face-to-face.


    "I have long told Dumbledore," Snape said slowly, "there is a traitor in Hogwarts."


    Lupin said impatiently: "Use your head, Severus, this is not what you think it is, why don''t you go to Professor Hap and ask him about it."


    "Give it to me!"


    "I don''t think I can do that," Lupin said, Then suddenly a thick snake-like rope flew out from the tip of Snape''s wand, and Lupin stabbed a section of the rope with great precision, and it fell hard on the floor and broke into five to six pieces.


    "There is a good chance he is an innocent, think about it, where did I get him from, I can go with you to ask for proof."


    Snape said murderously, "You want to prove his innocence? Give him to me, and I''ll see for myself--"


    "Severus, you''re obsessed, there''s something you don''t know, that we know - Dumbledore knows it, too - that Ron kid''s pet rat has some issue!"


    Lupin dodged a spell and the jars in his office exploded with a bang.


    " Are you going to start telling some stories, Lupin? There''s not enough time left for that, you need to speed that up." Snape shook out a dark mist that quickly converged into a dozen chirping birds, and as he thrust out his arm like a sharp sword, these black birds all flew straight at Lupin in unison.


    "You incorporated dark magic into a regular spell?" Lupin asked in surprise, as he moved swiftly as he could, he had more access to these dark spells than the average person, though he didn''t learn them, but studied how to counter them.


    He waved his wand, and the parchment papers on the table flew up " splash", forming a solid wall in front of him, in which the black birds stuck, shaking their wings desperately, struggling as they dissolved into wisps of black smoke.


    The black smoke came together and turned into a big snake, its head raised high to the ceiling, and then its head fell sharply. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The big snake broke through Lupin''s defense, so he grabbed the ''Knight'' and threw it out of the office window smoothly, "Go find Professor Hap!" As he lunged to the side, dodging the big snake.


    "Buzz~"


    The whole office trembled, the tables, chairs, boxes, and cabinets in the room bounced in unison.


    "Flipendo-"


    "Thumb!"


    A flash of red light brushed past Snape''s cheek and hit the file cabinet behind him, and Lupin stood up from the dusty floor, "Can''t let you go just like that, fool, I''ve always wanted to fight you."


    Snape had a smile on his face, but no one would think it is an expression of goodwill, "Really? Not going to pretend to be a good old boy anymore? Like a tamed werewolf?"


    "I''ve never been faking it - Protego Maxima!"


    Lupin blocked a suspicious ghostly blue spell, his reasoning didn''t seem to be working out, so he waved his wand, a stream of red lights burst out in succession, Snape''s wand repeatedly flicked it away, knocking the spells away one by one, and he took two steps back, as he stabbed his wand straight out--


    "Diffindo!"


    "Whoosh!"


    A row of wooden boxes got sliced neatly in unison, which Lupin hurriedly avoided, a tiny cut scratched through his cheek, "This spell ... is impressive!"


    Then he flicked his wand, Snape rushed to prop an invisible barrier up, and the deflected spell hit the locked cabinet.


    "Don''t!" Lupin exclaimed.


    A red-headed woman walked out the cabinet door, "Severus, why ..."


    Snape''s eyes went wide, and he stumbled back, his wand slipped from his hand and his body flinched, "No, nooo ..."


    "Why ..."


    Lupin panicked and stood in front of Snape, the illusion in front of him disappeared and turned into a full moon, he sighed with a complicated expression, and raised his wand for a while, "Riddi--"


    "Boom!"


    The full moon suddenly exploded into smithereens, Lupin turned back in shock to see Snape expressionlessly holding up his wand.


    "Remus Lupin!" Snape said through gritting his teeth.


    "Severus, that was an accident, the boggart was for Harry to practice his Patronus charm." Lupin backed away warily, Snape is not in the right state.


    "Sniff!"


    A violent fire lit the office up, igniting everything, Snape waved his wand with dishevelled hair, Lupin stumbled back, he could only brace himself, using the stunning spell in between Snape''s attacks.


    "What''s happening here? Oh, my!"


    A cheerful female voice appeared at the entrance, Lupin could only see that the visitor had bubblegum pink hair, but then she got knocked off by a stunning spell and disappeared from his sight.


    "Snape, stop, Someone, got hurt!"


    But Snape lost his nerve - so he ignored Lupin''s shouts, the spell became stronger and stronger, and he used strange dark magic unrestrainedly, a black glow appearing on his face.


    Lupin is gradually losing the fight, and Snape coldly waved his wand.


    A crisp chirping sound suddenly heard, a silver rain swallow condensed in midair, dividing the battlefield into two parts.


    "Severus, Professor Lupin, please stop ..."


    A black spell flew over, and the silver rain swallow slightly vibrated its wings to dodge the attack, "Severus, you--"


    "Get out of the way!"


    Lupin rushed to say, "Snape hit the box where I stored the boggart, and she stepped out of it--"


    "Shut up! Shut your mouth! Lupin!"


    Snape interrupted him furiously, a terrible magic brewing as the room began to tremble, and the ground rapidly eroded externally with him as a center.


    A dazzling ripple of light spread out like a large wave, and Snape''s unformed magic made a zipping sound, bursting forth with dark red lightning at one side of the room, the two sides of the rooms looked quite contrasting, one side being corrosive and dark, and the other side being warm and light.


    A gentle voice came from the Rain Swallow Patronus, "Severus, calm down."


    Lupin hurriedly said, "Severus, we found a new clue, Peter Pettigrew is not dead, he is still alive, everything is staged by him!"


    Snape seemed to come back to his senses, he took the initiative to lift the magic, the Patronus light spread on him, constantly washing away the black gas around his face, then he leaned on the wall and slowly sat down.


    The Rain Swallow Patronus left a sentence, "I''ll be right back." Then turned into a dot of blue-white spark.


    A few moments later, Felix appeared in the office, most of the room was ruined, a small half of the furniture eroded, another half still burning slightly on fire, a row of wooden boxes was neatly sliced, the cut was smooth as a mirror.


    "Scourgify!" The smoke in the room is carried away, the flames extinguished.


    Snape sat leaning against the wall, staring at the ceiling without moving, his black eyes were like stone, and there is no visual clarity in his eyes. Lupin is tending to an unconscious young woman, and he glances over to see who it is - surprisingly, it''s Tonks.


    Felix frowned, what was this fight for? Because of Sirius Black? He looked around and didn''t see Sirius in his knight candy costume, he can''t be wiped out, right?


    Snape had absolutely no intention of communicating with anyone, he could only walk next to Professor Lupin, "How did it come to this?"


    Lupin said with a bitter smile, "It was all an accident, a series of accidents."


    Felix looked at Tonks on the couch, "Why is she here?"


    "I don''t know, seems to have popped out of nowhere, maybe trying to dissuade the fight? As a result, she was knocked out by my stunning spell ..."


    "Just a stunning spell?" Felix surveyed Tonks'' face, she showed no sign of sobriety.


    "There''s nothing wrong with her," Lupin explained, "I didn''t undo the spell, and in this situation now, it''s really inappropriate ... so I couldn''t take her to the hospital wing."


    If he lifted the stunning spell before, he was bound to let Tonks see the scene of the two Hogwarts Professors fighting to the death, although she already saw it, but it could easily implicate Sirius; Now he worried about Snape''s side of the problem, so he didn''t take her to the hospital wing.


    "Understood," Felix gave Tonks another stunning spell, "later send her directly to the hospital wing, don''t say anything."


    Felix picked a back chipped-off chair and sat down, then he gave Lupin a look and raised his tone a bit, "Professor Lupin, explain, what happened, didn''t you tell Severus that Peter Pettigrew was the culprit?"


    He gestured to Lupin, signalling him to drag Peter Pettigrew in the conversation.


    Lupin understood, so he said in as much detail as possible: "The day school started after Christmas break, in the staff common room next to the great hall, we and Headmaster Dumbledore speculated that there was a huge suspicion in the murder of James and Lily that year, because Sirius had a good chance to kill Harry, but he didn''t do it, and his target was Harry''s friend, Ron Weasley. "


    "I can''t quite understand," Felix said.


    "Then I''ll explain again - Sirius Black is an Animagus, he can turn into a big black dog, likewise James can turn into a stag, and Peter Pettigrew can turn into a rat," Lupin said, laughing to himself. "They''re there to keep me company during the full moon, a werewolf."


    "In that case, the reason why Black can escape from Azkaban is clear, but why did he attack Ron Weasley?" Felix continued to ask, and in the afterglow, he saw Snape rolling his eyes.


    "Ron raised a rat, their family did, to be precise, this rat suddenly appeared in the Weasley house and stayed there for twelve whole years, only to disappear without a trace after Sirius Attack during the holiday. But we saw an image of it that looked exactly like Peter Pettigrew''s Animagus!"


    "So, he''s not dead? Peter Pettigrew, the holder of the First Class Order of Merlin and a war hero, not only didn''t die, but he went incognito and hid as a pet in a wizard family?"


    Lupin looked at Felix oddly, but could only follow his words: "Yes, this is the biggest suspicion, so we suspect that there is another hidden agenda. Professor Hap, how is Sirius got into your hand and turned into a golem?"


    "I captured him, and after that we - Dumbledore and I intend to set up a trap to draw out Peter Pettigrew, by that time it will certainly require your cooperation, so keep it a secret for now," Felix explained.


    Lupin apprehensively asked the biggest question in his mind, hoping to get an answer: "So, Sirius is innocent? But he is the Secret Keeper of James''s house, and the Fidelius Charm is simply unbreakable, like an unbreakable oath, if he is innocent ..."


    "You didn''t ask him?"


    "Didn''t have time for that."


    "Well," Felix thought about it and decided to use the opportunity to explain clearly, and the words were also addressed to Snape, "because the Secret Keeper is replaced, Sirius thought he was too obvious, and privately replaced the Secret Keeper with the inconspicuous Peter Pettigrew."


    "So," Lupin murmured: "At that time, the operation in the Order of the Phoenix repeatedly leaked out, everyone suspected that there is a traitor, and people are on edge."


    "So -" Snape stood up, "Peter Pettigrew was the real undercover agent of Voldemort?"


    Lupin looked at Snape in surprise, he actually called the Dark Lord by his name - Voldemort, the original suspicion disappeared at once. You know, when Dumbledore protected Snape that year, he was very shocked.


    Snape said nonchalantly, "Swap the Secret Keeper? Stupid!"


    "Severus..."


    But he ignored Lupin and limped away, while saying, "As for Peter Pettigrew...what I need to do, Felix tell me later."


    Lupin opened and closed his mouth, saying nothing, as he watched him leave quietly.


    "Let him be alone," Felix said, looking around. "You guys fighting too hard." In the whole room, apart from the sofa where Tonks is lying, there is no other place to stay.


    "Oh, it''s all an accident..." Lupin sighed, he sighed too many times today.


    "This office is no longer usable. You discuss it with Dumbledore and modify or switch it."


    "That''s the only way," Lupin said, fortunately, he released the magical creatures used for teaching a few days ago, otherwise few would survive, and the only other living creature, Boggart, was blown to pieces, Not even a wisp of blue smoke remained.


    "By the way, where did you hide Sirius?" Felix asked him nonchalantly.


    Lupin got startled, he had long forgotten about it, "I threw him out of the window during the fight just now..." Looking at Felix''s strange eyes, he said guiltily: "I asked him to Look for you."


    "Well, okay." Felix shrugged, "I hope he won''t be picked up by some mischievous little wizard."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 313+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 286: Tonks and Lupin

    Hospital Wing. Tonks woke up from the hospital bed, touched the clean white linen sheets, and felt a little confused for a while.


    What''s with this situation?


    She remembered that she had got rid of that old toad, no one was bothering her, and she decided to have a nice stroll around the campus, including going back to the common room to lie on the yellow and black striped soft-seat sofa for once again, and going to the kitchen to eat Yorkshire pudding, so how did she end up in the hospital wing?


    "Ahem, are you awake? Tonks, by the way, I know your name from Professor Hap - Felix Hap." A voice said.


    Tonks jerked her head around and looked at the other side of the hospital bed; it belonged to a middle-aged (?) male wizard, his face still looks quite young, but his appearance looks frazzled, his hair is mixed with gray, and at the moment he is looking at her with an apologetic face.


    Uh, let''s see, before I passed out, what was I doing? There is the sound of fighting and brawling, and I wanted to go over and see the lively ...


    "Did you knock me out?" She asked incredulously.


    Lupin coughed twice in embarrassment, and although Professor Hap''s advice was for him to leave the person at the hospital wing and leave her alone, he decided to stay, or at least apologize.


    "It was an accident ..." he suddenly paused, the fourth time he had said that today.


    Tonks shrugged and jumped off the hospital bed, "Wait - Madam Pomfrey suggested for a second observation." Lupin said.


    "Observe what, the awakening time of the stunning spell?" Tonks showed pride, "I''m guessing ten minutes, I''ve done counter training in the ministry and the best I could do was seven and a half, but it''s usually ten minutes."


    Lupin''s mouth opened slightly, and he wisely did not tell her the truth, that she had been hit by more than one stunning spell and had passed out for more than ten minutes, hoping that it would be a secret that only he knew. But--


    "I was lying here for two hours?" Tonks looked at Madam Pomfrey in surprise, and on the way out, the Matron in charge stopped her and insisted on checking again.


    "Or then?" Madam Pomfrey said impatiently, " Well, even if you sleep all day, I wouldn''t care if Remus hadn''t said you might be on an official mission. ... It''s fine now."


    She rambled away, and Tonks turned her head to look at Lupin and asked again for confirmation, "I was asleep for two hours?"


    "... That''s right, I was going to tell you," Lupin said stiffly.


    "Ugh, forget it~," Tonks said cheerfully, "You''re a professor of the Defense Against the Dark Arts class? That''s really something ..."


    "Not me ... well, how do you know I''m the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"


    "Or else? One of the things I look forward to most when I attend the school is to see what the new professor would look like."


    "Miss Tonks-"


    "Call me Tonks, I haven''t formally introduced myself, Nymphadora Tonks, but don''t call me by my first name," she muttered in a small voice, " ''Virgin Martyr'' is the English equivalent of my name, which is not that pleasant term to hear."


    "Hello, Tonks, my name is Remus Lupin."


    ...


    Gryffindor Common Room.


    Harry is fiddling with his new haul - a very spooky nameless book, Ron curiously reached out and touched it, the surface of the book felt like water, as he touched it lightning-shaped lines would suddenly emerge.


    Hermione asked worriedly, "You really want to learn Apparition?"


    "That''s right," Harry said decisively, "I think it suits me best, listen to me Hermione, I''ve been thinking about it for two hours, and now I still think I made the right choice."


    Coming back from classroom seven, or rather being escorted back by Percy, he was originally indignant, and he had the urge to cloak himself in his invisibility cloak and check out Professor Lupin''s office, but Percy Weasley was just two seats away, and he had been following Professor Hap''s instructions to keep an eye on or protect him.


    Especially since he had been attacked just yesterday, and now the whole school knew that Sirius kept targeting him - and like a thousand rumours and legends in the school, it isn''t true.


    He had to give up this tempting idea and started to study the dueling match prize Professor Hap had given him instead. He told Ron and Hermione his idea: "I had this idea when I was writing my dueling essay. Professor Flitwick said to find what you''re best at and make the most of your strengths... what am I best at?"


    "It''s Quidditch," Harry whispered, "And Professor Hap told me once that he envied my reflexes ...."


    "Hiss~" Ron smacked his lips, "You mean you can whoosh later?" He gestured haphazardly with both hands, mimicking a continuous Apparition.


    Harry said, "That''s what I have been hoping for ..."


    "Hermione!"


    The twins came in from outside, Fred carrying a ginger cat in his hand, "Crookshanks has been lingering at the door, I think he''s brought you a present." He said with a smirk.


    Hermione lowered her head, "Crookshanks, come here."


    The ginger cat had something in its mouth, she just hoped it isn''t a big spider, or she''d have to clean it up again, and Crookshanks gently jumped up on the table and spat the stuff out of its mouth.


    "It''s-" Hermione''s eyes widened.


    "It''s the golem Professor Hap brought along with him today," Harry affirmed, fiddling with it for a moment, "It looks like the armour model in the castle, and he was saying hello to me."


    Hermione patted the big cat''s head, "Why did you take the professor''s stuff? We should give it back to the professor."


    "That''s right," Harry immediately agreed, he especially wanted to ask about Professor Lupin, if there is a legitimate reason, Percy will not stop him, right?


    The knight at the table - or rather, Sirius, had a depressed look on his face. He was thrown out by Lupin, knowing that he couldn''t help and staying would just add to the mess, so he rushed off to find Felix.


    First he went to classroom seven, no one was inside; then he went to his office, dodging the little wizards'' dirty paws along the way, tapping hard on the door, no response, he barely climbed up the window, only to find it empty.


    He didn''t know what to do for a moment, maybe looking for Dumbledore would be a good option? But he simply didn''t know the password, from the office, he met Crookshanks. S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Crookshanks is his ally, providing a lot of information about the castle to him, he has been grateful that this cat is smart enough to distinguish that he is a human, but can also judge whether he is good or bad.


    This time too, Crookshanks recognized him and kept trying to communicate with him, but he was under magic and couldn''t speak - unless he got rid of the candy armour he is wearing.


    He could only gesticulate, but unfortunately, Crookshanks, although smart, is obviously not that smart enough.


    After some ineffective communication, Crookshanks took him to the common room.


    Ron looked at him with interest. "Can you talk? Hey! Percy has one which can talk."


    "Ouch!"


    Sirius angrily stabbed Ron''s finger with his knight''s sword. Ron felt so painful that he fell on the table, making him groggy.


    "Come on, Ron!"


    Sirius heard the voice like the sound of nature, what is this little girl''s name, she is also the owner of Crookshanks, she is really a good girl.


    Hermione picked up the knight, "Let''s go, let''s return it to the professor."


    They walked all the way to the door, Harry staring nervously at Percy, but he didn''t stop them, maybe thinking that two hours is more than what Professor Hap expected?


    Harry is glad to see him bow his head again, fiddling with the advanced golem, and beside him, the twins kept spinning around him.


    "You should let us see it, maybe we can add some new features, like -- suddenly pulling out a Dungbomb and throwing it at someone''s face?"


    Harry closed the common room door, shutting the Weasley brothers'' ruckus behind him, and then two seniors approached their way excitedly: "Have you heard? A little girl in Slytherin set off a big mess..."


    "What happened?" his companion asked with interest.


    "You would have never guessed it, she let out a big snake in the Slytherin common room!"


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 315+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 287: “Would you care to join me for a drink?”

    When the trio knocked on the door of Professor Hap''s office, they heard a deep, calm voice from inside saying, "I got it, Felix." The three of them looked at each other, "It''s Headmaster Dumbledore!"


    But when Professor Hap opened the door, the room is empty, no one else is there.


    "Professor, was Headmaster Dumbledore just here?" Harry couldn''t help but ask.


    Felix smiled, "That was just a message from him, he wasn''t here in person." He gazed at the knight figure in Hermione''s hand and asked hesitantly, "How is this ... in your possession?"


    He is uncertain if the trio knew anything, so he mentally groaned, Sirius, you are too crappy, right?


    But the good thing is that, the next conversation let him realize that they did not find Sirius, but only brought his accidentally "lost" golem, Hermione apologized for her naughty big cat, "Crookshanks probably considered it as a toy, we cleaned it before coming over ..."


    Felix stared at the knight figure, its scarlet eyes flickered, sitting on a cup holder, his back looked a bit lonely.


    "... Thanks, guys."


    The main business finished, So Harry pulled out the nameless book from his pocket, "Professor Hap, I have already selected it, it is Apparition."


    Felix didn''t rush to refuse, but looked at him fixedly: " Do you understand the risks of this magic?"


    Harry nodded.


    " Do you know how to solve the Splinching?"


    Now it''s Harry who is speechless, he looks at Hermione for help, Hermione once again lived up to her name: " Less serious Splinching can be treated with Dittany, preferably Essence of Dittany, if it''s more serious Splinching, like separating the head from the body-"


    Harry looked at her in horror, but she continued with a serious introduction: "This situation will require professional treatment, I found out the information from the Ministry of Magic''s occasional case section."


    Ron added, "And fines. I mean - if the Ministry of Magic finds out that you don''t have a certificate, and you are in trouble, you will be fined a large amount of money."


    Felix nodded slightly and said approvingly, "That''s pretty much all there is to it, so, Harry, are you still sticking with Apparition?"


    Harry said stiffly, " Y-Yes, Professor..."


    Felix looked at him, "Don''t rush, I still have one more question for you to answer: once you know this information, what do you think is the most important precaution that you should take to practice this magic?"


    Harry opened his mouth, "Uh ... preparing the Dittany?"


    Felix dumbfounded, "That is the most basic, if not, I would have to wonder if you have troll blood. Think again!"


    Harry frowned and racked his brain, Ron and Hermione were also trying to think, Hermione''s eyes lit up, and she raised her hand as she looked at Felix, Felix shook his head at her, she put her hand down with some regret.


    "I''m guessing ... needs some guidance?"


    "It''s close enough, Harry."


    After another minute, "I know! When practicing Apparition, you must have someone watching over you to prevent a serious splinching from happening with no one to rescue you!"


    Felix showed a smile, "That''s it, the most serious problem of Apparition is Splinching, over the past century, there are twenty-one recorded cases of death because of an apparition, all of them happened when they attempted Apparition in private, and they got Splinched badly and left in the same place, unnoticed ..."


    " The consequence of is that they watched themselves bleed dry in remorse."


    Harry shivered hard, how can Professor smile while saying such horrible things? The point is it was too graphic, that he worried that the next time he faced the boggart, the object of his fear would become his split self.


    "So," Felix twisted his head to look at Ron and Hermione, "you''ll supervise Harry and keep him from messing up, won''t you?"


    Ron and Hermione nodded vigorously together, they were also frightened by the serious consequences.


    "Very well, let''s talk about my arrangement now." Felix said to Harry, "First, you need to master the theoretical knowledge of this magic, I need you to write an essay on Apparition-"


    His finger tapped on the nameless book, his fingertip glowed with bright silver light, various images began to appear on the pages of the nameless book, in which they saw a figure of Professor Hap suddenly disappear and then appear again.


    "This book will help you, Harry. I set some restrictions, you need to crack it layer by layer, very simple, like playing a game. By the way, you know what is game, right?"


    "It''s a TV handle game? It was in the birthday present that Dudley received a few years ago." Harry said with envy that he had seen it when his cousin Dudley was opening his birthday presents.


    However, not many days later Dudley bashed it, then Harry found a button of the joystick in the bin.


    "Well, it''s somewhat similar to the game level."


    Felix continued, "You can break the first layer of the restrictions by writing a thesis. And the second layer, with practice, I will take you through the first few training sessions until you initially master the magic."


    "After that, it''s up to you to work on your own, never be reckless, and make sure you have someone with you every time you practice, understand?" He looked at Harry seriously.


    Harry nodded hastily in agreement, his heart in turn relieved after hearing the professor speaking, now he had a very clear idea of what to do next.


    "Professor, are we going to practice in the Forbidden Forest at that time?" He asked, "I''ve heard that you can''t do an Apparition inside Hogwarts, as the anti-apparition spell has been cast, er, placed around Hogwarts."


    Hermione nodded along in agreement to Harry''s words. s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "No," Felix denied this, "there is a place where you can get around that prohibition."


    Seeing that they wanted to ask more, he clapped his hands together, "Well, little ones, you''ll find out in due time."


    Finally, Harry tentatively asked about Professor Lupin and was assured that everything is alright.


    As they walked out of the office, Ron muttered, "We''re not that young anymore, I''ll be fourteen in another half a month."


    Harry said regretfully, "I have almost six months left," he then said teasingly, "Ron, did you remind us not to forget to prepare your birthday gift?"


    Ron turned red and chased after Harry, trying to hold Harry''s head in his armpits as Harry ran away playfully.


    ...


    In the office, the re-transformed Sirius sat on the couch and said sullenly, "Harry is too young, you are not supposed to teach him this magic, you should be more cautious."


    Felix looked at him with interest, "I''m surprised you know the word ''cautious''."


    Sirius looked at him in exasperation and heard Felix continue, "Did you know that Harry is learning the Patronus Charm from Lupin?"


    "What?" He asked in shock, " The one that wards off Dementors?"


    Felix made a glass of butterbeer float in front of him and Sirius gulped it down, "It''s nostalgic ... makes you want to shed some tears, life is still pretty good."


    "You''re not against it?"


    Sirius leaned back on the back of the sofa and said lazily, "Actually, you are quite well considered it, at least more than me - I just thought about it, if it is me, I will either refuse or immediately take him to practice."


    "Knock, knock!"


    There is a knock at the door, and Sirius chokes on the beer in his mouth, he looks nervously at Felix and gestures, "Make me smaller!" He looked at the candy on the table, he had just eaten a piece, not sure if that is his helmet, or his upper body armour, anyway the knight''s sword is already gone into his stomach.


    "Professor Hap, it''s me, Lupin." The voice at the door said.


    Felix looked at Sirius playfully as Sirius walked to the door with a dark face, "Hap- hey?" He pulled Lupin inside as soon as he could.


    "Padfoot...," Lupin froze, and hugged Sirius, as he whispered, "Forgive me, for wronging you."


    "Oh, Moony, please forgive me too ..."


    "Bear~!"


    The two looked up and saw Felix fiddling with his wand and making a fire in the fireplace, "I Temporarily connected an abandoned Floo network line to my office, so let''s go to your place, if anyone finds you here, we can''t hide the news that Professor Hap is harbouring a big felon together with Potter''s killer."


    Sirius grabbed a handful of floo powder and muttered, "You''re jealous ..." The next second, he got tossed into the fireplace, "You! #��@%...12 Grimmauld Place!"


    Half an hour later, Felix and Lupin returned from the fireplace, and Lupin said thankfully, "Thank you for everything, Professor Hap."


    "No need to be polite, I was also entrusted with the job."


    Before saying goodbye, Lupin couldn''t resist asking him, "When did you know I am a werewolf?"


    "Why do you ask that?"


    "When I said I am a werewolf before, you didn''t show any surprise. If I couldn''t guess, then I would be too foolish." Lupin laughed by himself.


    "It doesn''t matter, you''ve been a good colleague so far."


    When Lupin left, Felix sat down on the couch and said emotionally, "Long weekend ... Well," he drew his wand and a Rain Swallow Patronus flew out of the tip, "go ahead."


    After a short while -


    He whispered, "Severus, are you - eh, is your Patronus a Doe?"


    After a moment''s pause, he muttered, "Oh, that hurts a bit ... I actually wanted to ask, would you care to join me for a drink?"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 315+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 288: Get the Map

    In the evening, Felix walked down the corridor in the underground of the castle, carrying his candy box. "Professor Hap--"


    Felix looked at Draco Malfoy, and the two large boys behind him, as he nodded towards them.


    "Professor, I''ve mastered a new rune," Draco said excitedly as he extended his right hand and the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake on his index finger began to swim, spitting a light blue rune symbol out of the snake''s mouth.


    He held the rune symbol, with his face slightly turned red, and after seven or eight seconds, the light blue rune turned into gushing water.


    "You are progressing quickly, I remember this is the sixth rune you have mastered?"


    "Yes, Professor."


    "Well, Good." Felix reminded thoughtfully, "put more thought into the runes taught in the previous assemblies, they will be very useful."


    Draco stunned for a moment, "I see, Professor."


    Felix carried the candy box and continued on his way when Malfoy called out behind him, "Professor Hap, are you planning to go to the head''s office? I just checked earlier, and the door is locked."


    "Perhaps Severus is brewing a potion? In any case, I''d better go check it out." He said vaguely.


    Draco looked at Professor Hap''s distant back and muttered to himself, "I always get the feeling that the professor is a bit odd today?"


    Crabbe and Goyle smiled curtly with a silly grin, Draco had got used to the scene, he shrugged and led the way in the direction of the common room, "You guys, what''s up with Daphne''s sister, the one named Astoria ..."


    In the potions class professor''s office, Felix tried a few unlocking spells and got the door open.


    He walked in as if no one is around, the place is not small, in addition to the office room, there is Snape''s private storage room as well as the bedroom at the far end.


    He walked through the dimly lit wall with glass specimens and pushed open the bedroom door, which flourished with flowers and herbs.


    "Severus, I''m looking after your face in front of your students, if they watch you being brought back by a Levitation Spell ... sheesh!"


    He opened the candy box - the same one Sirius had used - and inside slept an unconscious, palm-sized person - Severus Snape.


    "Mrs. Rosmerta was wondering how you, a large living person, suddenly disappeared, but fortunately I managed to evade it."


    With a flick of his wand, he restored Snape to his original form and then used a Levitation Spell to put him on the bed, with Snape''s wand placed on the edge of his pillow.


    The next day.


    Felix kept the Weasley twins behind after the fifth year''s ancient runes class.


    "Marauder''s Map?" The twins looked at each other and communicated with various small gestures.


    Felix could see they know something about this!


    Fred said hesitantly, "Professor, this is what we--"


    "-from Mr. Filch." Felix nodded.


    "Uh ..." Fred''s expression looked a bit embarrassed, "You know all about it?"


    "Know some of it, and my main concern is, is it still in your possession?"


    "We gave it to--" George said, but Fred hurriedly covered his mouth, making a wink desperately, and then said smartly to Felix, "We gave it to a friend. If you need it, we''ll get it back for you, and don''t worry, there will be absolutely no delay."


    George blinked and understood that they had given the Marauder''s Map to Harry, and Harry had been to Hogsmeade Village with the Marauder''s Map, and this could not be elaborated.


    Although they often violated the school rules, but self-explosion is something that should be avoided as much as possible.


    "You should know the Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, right?" Felix asked.


    The twins'' eyes widened and Fred asked in surprise, "You know this too? Professor, you can''t be one of the four, right?"


    "Or the last map user?" George guessed.


    Felix smiled, "I didn''t have that chance when I was in school, but I know two of them, and I''m looking for you today because I was entrusted by one of them to temporarily borrow the Marauder''s Map for a while. Don''t worry, it will be returned to you ..."


    Fred''s eyes shone brightly, and he kept rubbing his hands together, "Oh~ Professor, can you introduce him to us?"


    "Yeah, who are they? We owe them a lot of favours!" George asked eagerly.


    "All I can tell you is that the man''s code name is Padfoot, and as for whether he''s willing to meet you," Felix looked at their eager faces, "definitely not now, he can''t afford to show his face."


    He watched the twins with great interest, their expressions resembled that of devotees on pilgrimage, and it is clear that although they have never met them, the two already regard the map-maker as a predecessor and role model for mischief.


    They ran away in a huff, "Professor, we''ll go first, to find the map!" S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    By noon that day, Felix got the Marauder''s Map, his first chance to get a good look at the map properly, having only heard of it before.


    It is rather an old piece of parchment that doesn''t look that great, in fact, it is folded up in layers, and when unfolded it resembles a tablecloth.


    "This is the secret of our success." Fred patted it with great affection and sighed with an expression of reminiscing about his youthful years.


    Felix smiled, not saying anything. His wand clicked on the map, and he murmured in his mind: I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.


    This is the password he obtained from Sirius, Sirius now can only stay in Grimmauld Place, but Felix would secretly connect the fireplace in his office to Black''s old mansion in order to conveniently go over to read in his free time, which is switched on whenever he uses it and closed up when he doesn''t, to avoid being noticed by the Ministry of Magic.


    Lupin also promised Sirius that he would visit him during the weekend, and when they left, Sirius and the old house-elf Kreacher were cleaning the house fervently.


    In Sirius''s words, "At least have to clean the living room out and prepare two more bedrooms for guests."


    In the blank parchment after using a password with his wand pressed on it, dark ink lines like spider webs emerged, they intersected, stretched around, and outlined the buildings in Hogwarts Castle with a few simple strokes, as well as some surrounding area, including the greenhouse outside the castle, Hagrid''s hut, the edge of the forbidden forest, with all kinds of special points.


    The most striking thing about the map is the sheer number and chaotic movement of ink dots, each labelled with a name in very small letters next to the dot.


    Felix found his name at first glance, and next to it were two other dots that read Fred Weasley and George Weasley.


    He looked all around, Dumbledore is in the study, Snape is in the Potions classroom, Professor Sprout is in the greenhouse, he also wanted to see the location of the Room of Requirement, but he couldn''t find it, it may be masked, he expected this and wasn''t surprised, but in passing, he saw Trelawney wandering around her little attic alone, and from the trajectory of the ink dots, he guessed that the Divination class professor seemed to be doing some kind of dance.


    Above the middle of the parchment, a curved line of fancy lettering began to emerge: ''Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs are proud to present the marauders'' map''.


    Felix fondled the map, and after a while, he snapped back to his senses.


    "Very clever structure, I need to look more thoroughly ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 317+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 289: Normal Day

    "Professor, are you going to capture Sirius Black?" Fred asked. Felix looked at him expectantly, "Guess?"


    Fred said without thinking, "Me and George, oh, and Lee Jordan, we thought you were definitely going to do something, you know, after that day ..." he squeezed his eyes.


    "People were talking about it and being scared." George picked up, saying with an admiring look on his face, " Black swaggered around the open space in front of the castle and disguised himself as a muggle boy, the nerve!"


    Felix isn''t sure what the young wizard thought about the attack; he spent last weekend with so much to do that he didn''t go to the great hall for dinner and didn''t know about the latest gossip and rumours.


    It seemed that Dumbledore had absolutely no intention of dispelling the rumours, and this kind of public opinion would reassure Peter Pettigrew, who is hiding in the shadows, but there are pros and cons, as the Ministry of Magic has used this as an excuse to trying to claw their way in more than once.


    In times of peace, the Ministry of Magic represents orthodoxy, and its name is more useful than its strength. But once the war comes, the Ministry of Magic is disqualified without the strength - the personal strength will trump everything, and will shine like a glorious sun over the entire wizarding world.


    The castle great hall.


    Harry stabbed a piece of potato hard, and dipped it in the sauce, then suddenly lost his appetite.


    "They look at me like I''m some kind of rare magical creature!"


    "No, like a lucky one." Ron said with a grin as he sliced the sausage from his plate and took a large gulp of the broth, " They look at you like you just escaped from the three big maws of a three-headed dog."


    Harry grinned as he suddenly thought of the shrunken three-headed dog being jerked around by Ron.


    Hermione glanced at the two, "Speaking of magical creatures, we could just as well meet Hagrid in Care of Magical Creatures class and ask about the progress of the Buckbeak case."


    "Hasn''t the fine already been paid?" Ron asked, commenting objectively, "That''s as good as it gets, Hermione."


    Harry agreed with this, just spending a little money to solve the trouble of Buckbeak, he believed Hagrid would not care about that money.


    "It''s hard to say, although the money was collected, but the Ministry of Magic has been dragging its feet without giving an official conclusion, Hagrid has been distracted lately."


    Harry recalled, "I think Hagrid is in pretty good shape, he didn''t bring that Flobberworm again." With his and Ron''s ban still in place, he could only see Hagrid in class these days, and in the last class, they learned about the fire crab.


    This magical creature, originated from Fiji, is called a "crab" but looks like a large turtle with a jewelled shell.


    Hagrid said at the time, "If it isn''t for their unique habitat, Niffler would love this creature. Oh, Niffler is a little treasure hunter, I''ll introduce him to you someday. ..."


    "That''s because of Professor Hap, I have been keeping an eye on it," Hermione waved her fork, "I can''t believe he included a Manticore in the lesson plan."


    "Uh, what''s Manti...ore?" Harry asked, bewildered.


    "Manticore," Ron said in a breath as he pronounced the correct name, referring to it afterward, "Charlie told me when I was a kid that it was one of the few magical creatures that could rival dragons, with a highly poisonous scorpion tail, exceptionally sharp teeth, and their skin naturally repels most spells! "


    Harry believed Ron''s words, because Ron rarely speaks fluently about the characteristics of a magical creature, he just wondered, "Is there such a creature in the Forbidden Forest?"


    The last time he expressed a similar query was when he knew there was an Acromantula Colony in the Forbidden Forest.


    "The Forbidden Forest is huge, Harry." Hermione explained, and then huffed, "Hagrid later argued that he made a mistake, that he was actually just simply researching, I''d like to see what he could have researched ..."


    Harry and Ron glanced at each other, sullenly eating food, this state of Hermione can not be persuaded, she has a belly of truth for you, if you want it.


    Harry took the time to look at the faculty table, Snape sat far away from Professor Hap, with his body turned to one side, even when picking his food, he only picked the plate on the left-hand side, he is not quite sure, is this avoidance?


    What in the world is happening, he remembered the image he had seen in Professor Hap''s eyes - Professor Lupin and Snape confronting each other, but when he poked around, Professor Hap said perfunctorily that he was overthinking things and everything was fine.


    That''s not normal, he thought to himself as he stared at Snape''s face. He felt like he had one more task, to observe Professor Lupin''s state in this afternoon''s Defense Against the Dark Arts class ...


    He was so lost in thought that it took him a long time to see that Snape is staring at him with a very frightening look in his eyes, and Harry hurriedly lowered his head.


    " Hmph~"


    Snape grunted, his mood pleasant for a minute, but soon bad mood re-occupied all the mind. He suspected that he had been under a stunning spell, otherwise how could he agree to go to the Three Broomsticks with that boy?


    More to the point, he couldn''t remember if he had said something he shouldn''t have said.


    His memory is somewhat hazy, and he remembers that Rosmerta recommended a mead, "You absolutely must try it, it has all kinds of flower petals added to it, rose, violet, hibiscus, iris, afghan ... It tastes great, and it''s not intoxicating." She said enthusiastically.


    ''Liar.''


    In the early evening, Felix sat quietly in his office, studying the Marauders'' Map.


    A flame suddenly flared up in the fireplace and the orange flames condensed into a blurred face, "Let me through, Felix!"


    He looked up from his desk, "You can''t misuse the floo network and risk getting caught by the Ministry of Magic is high."


    " Are you talking about yourself? You came to read last night, all drunk ..." the voice chattered from the other side.


    Felix waved his wand and the next second, Sirius burst out of the fireplace.


    "Ahem!"


    Sirius'' robes are covered in dust and his face is dirty, "Scourgify!" He pointed his wand at himself and became clean again.


    Seeing the Marauders'' Map in Felix''s hand, he stared in surprise and questioned, "You got it?"


    "Well, lucky."


    "Did you find him?" Sirius asked lightly, holding his breath as his body tensed unnaturally.


    "Not yet, I checked and found nothing." Felix continued to look down and studied, tapping his fingertips on the parchment, "I guess Peter Pettigrew is hiding deep in the Forbidden Forest, or simply re-searching for a family of wizards."


    Sirius slumped on the couch and said dejectedly, "So what are you going to do? How about I go to the Ministry of Magic and turn myself in, with Dumbledore as a witness, they''ll at least listen, right?"


    Felix glanced up at him and didn''t say anything.


    "Fine." Sirius stood up and surveyed the furnishings in the office, grunting in a small voice, "Old antique."


    He stood in front of a half-high portrait, which is only half-finished, and "tsked" twice, "You have this hobby of hanging yourself as well?"


    "That''s for St. Mungo''s," Felix said without looking up.


    " For what, you''re still a healer? Studying how to tie people up?"


    "There are newspaper clippings on the workbench, besides, any more nonsense, and I''ll kick you out."


    Sirius scowled and picked up the paper and read it, for a long moment he became slightly silent, "Frank and Alice? I didn''t know they went through all this ... this bloody war!" He cursed in a low voice, "Voldemort simply sucks, it''s a good thing he''s dead."


    Putting down the paper, he saw a small Golden Snitch on the workbench and his eyes lit up, "Can I pick it up and look at it?"


    "Just don''t bite it with your mouth, it''s been fully washed."


    Sirius cut in, "I''m just a dog in Animagus form, I don''t have the habit of sharpening my teeth." He said sheepishly, reaching for the worn Golden Snitch on the table, half of its wings were broken, and the other half of the intact wings fluttered at short intervals, looking breathless.


    After a while, Sirius came over and cautiously asked, "About that Golden Snitch ... do you have plans to fix it?"


    "Maybe," Felix replied carelessly, "I found it in a huge junk pile and wanted to take it apart and study it."


    "How can there be a Golden Snitch in a dump? Forget it ... How much is it?"


    "What?"


    "I was asking how much this thing costs, and of course, I want it fixed, preferably with some wacky magic to make it more interesting. I can come up with ideas, and it will count as something we did together."


    "You''re going to give it away?" Felix stared at Sirius, showing a smile, and said, "To Harry?"


    "Six more months ... I don''t know how things will have changed by then, maybe I''ll be still hiding," Sirius dodged the gaze directed at him, "I''m not a proper godfather, but there''s always something to do, like that Firebolt, I thought, even if I couldn''t be there for him, but at least-"


    "The firebolt is from you?" Felix asked in surprise. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It was me, by owl mail, and Crookshanks was a big help," Sirius explained.


    After thinking about it, Felix agreed: "No problem. Well, come over here, I need your experience-" he pointed to the marauders'' map, "I''m going to add an alarm spell-like Caterwauling Charm to it, and if a specific person enters the map''s range, it will alert."


    He actually had a few more plans, but the alarm spell is the most convenient means with the highest probability of success, and after capturing Peter Pettigrew, he had plenty of time to test his ideas.


    "That''s a good idea!" Sirius certainly felt intrigued, "We can''t keep an eye on the map all the time, what if he slips in the middle of the night? Although we could leave it to Kreacher," he said maliciously, "he''s completely out of his mind and gets too many crazy ideas from my mother''s portrait ..."


    "A bad cleaning job?"


    Sirius grunted twice, "It''s weird, isn''t it? I always had a feeling that Kreacher is the one who owns the house, equally rotten, crumbling, and stubborn ..."


    "Far from it, back to the alarm spell, there is a difficulty at present ..."


    Sirius looked at him and Felix continued, "You have added a fair number of spells, and these magics have intertwined and fused with each other over a long period of time, and it is difficult for me to interfere again in fear of destroying the original structure and reducing it to ashes."


    "I can provide the method of making the marauders'' map." Sirius said immediately.


    "It''s not that simple, I''m more interested in knowing the order in which you applied the spell." Felix said.


    Sirius pondered seriously for a moment, and then he said slowly: "I can only recall part of it, the dementors have influenced me a lot. You''d better ask Remus, he''s more meticulous."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 317+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 290: Untitled Book

    Memory is a very wonderful thing. If the master himself has forgotten, then what Felix can do is rather limited. This is different from the case of the Longbottoms - he is not looking for specific treasures, but rather piecing together as many memories as he can, without being bound to a particular day or event, all of which, in his opinion anyway, is a brick in the construction of an edifice of thought.


    With Lupin on board, Felix''s dissection of the Marauders'' Map is on track. In a matter of days, he would be able to add the alarm spell to it.


    ...


    Gryffindor Common Room.


    In an out-of-the-way corner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat around a small round table.


    "Try it, Harry," Ron urged on, "let''s have a look at the Book of Ghosts."


    "It''s an unnamed book." Hermione corrected out of habit, her eyes fixed on the tabletop where a transparent, blue-white glowing book laid.


    "Don''t you think the Ghost Book would be a more appropriate name?"


    Harry looked at the two, his heart tightened for no reason, he reached out and opened the nameless book, Professor Hap''s figure is half-hidden, half present in a light blue mist, he took a deep breath and pressed his palm on the pages.


    Ron and Hermione found Harry suddenly become motionless, his expression frozen. Ron poked his hand out, "Don''t move!" Hermione said as she thought of the thinking room, "Harry''s consciousness may have entered this book."


    Ron''s jaw dropped as he looked at Hermione and then at the book on the table, " Harry''s consciousness is in here?" He held his breath and leaned down to examine it, trying to find something on the pages, and he really did see a small, blurry Harry.


    "Merlin''s socks!"


    Ron glanced around in slight alarm as Hermione''s eyes were firmly locked on the pages, "Don''t be alarmed, Harry''s fine."


    "In case someone touches Harry and moves his hand away, is he going to be trapped in the book?" Ron suggested sincerely, "Should we press his hand for a while?"


    Hermione hesitated, "I don''t think that it can be that dangerous ..." After half a minute, she got successfully convinced, and she and Ron reached out their hands, one on each side, and pressed on Harry''s hand.


    The next second, the sky spun--


    "Ahhhhhh!" Ron yelled as he seemed to fall into a long tunnel, haplessly lurching, and he couldn''t help but think back to his jump into the Chamber of Secrets tunnel last year.


    "Come on, don''t scream, Ron."


    Hermione said from the side, Ron opened his eyes and slowly rose from the ground, "Where is this?"


    The sky, along with the earth beneath his feet, carrying an unreal sense of illusion, as if condensed with light blue smoke, he stomped his foot, the ground burst into a cloud of fog, bringing him down to his feet with a stumble.


    "I think this is the world of book, look over there!"


    Hermione pointed in the opposite direction of Ron, he turned around, and sure enough, he saw Harry and Professor Hap.


    Not far away, Harry looked at them dumbfounded, he trotted over: "What are you guys doing here? No, can you guys can come in too?"


    "We saw you suddenly not moving and wanted to help you ... er, maybe we''re overthinking it." Ron excitedly got up to survey around: "It seems that the professor did not deny others from entering here, this place is massive ..."


    "I asked the same question," Harry said, "and the professor''s answer was that there'' no sense of space in the world of thought."


    "Follow me!"


    Ron and Hermione followed Harry to where they had just been, and Professor Hap remained unconcerned about what had happened before, still narrating unhurriedly.


    "... we finished talking about the goal and determination, the next is to be calm. Never be nervous and fearful when casting an apparition, in other words, don''t get distracted, distraction is the most important cause of failure in shifting or even splinching, it affects your concentration on the target and the degree of determination ..."


    Harry froze for a moment, "I missed the second point ... but that''s okay, you can repeat the lesson."


    Ron said with admiration, "That''s cool! This is all fictional?" He tentatively extended his arm over the professor''s illusory body, "But it''s so real ..."


    "Click!"


    "Ouch!"


    The pale blue mist in midair condensed into a bolt of lightning that struck Ron directly in the head, his hair standing up from the roots.


    "I think," Harry stifled a laugh and pulled Ron up, "the professor doesn''t like people getting too close to him."


    Ron looked sheepishly over at Professor Hap, who had paused and grunted, "Ron Weasley, next time."


    Ron''s eyes widened: "He, he, he ..."


    Hermione glanced around for some time and said hesitantly, "It''s supposed to be a fixed program, like those golems of the Professor''s, with a certain amount of autonomy. But when Harry returned the book, whether the professor will know it or not is hard to say."


    Ron said bitterly, "I''m really just curious."


    And aside, Professor Hap also finished the part of the speech while they were talking.


    "... we finished the most basic knowledge, the first test content is, I need you to repeat what I just described. It''s actually quite simple, and you can''t possibly screw up as long as you even have a little understanding."


    Harry hesitated for a while, he did read some information in advance.


    "Uh, let''s see ... to learn apparition, you must apply the three D''s, that is, Destination, Determination, and Deliberation, first we have to focus our consciousness on the place we want to go, that is, the Destination; we must know enough about it, it can be a place you have been, or within the line of sight ..."


    Harry stroked his hair, "and then Determination - I just missed it, but ... I read in a book, you have to have a strong determination to use the Apparition, so that this determination should fill your whole body, and mobilize the magic along with it. "


    "Finally, it''s Deliberation, the book said that you have to turn in a circle on the same spot, but you just didn''t mention it, Professor, and from what I can see you really don''t need to turn around either ... cough...cough! Anyway, imagine your body becoming nothing, and don''t be distracted from thinking about something else."


    Harry finished and looked at Professor Hap expectantly.


    Professor Hap smiled at him approvingly, "Very good, Harry."


    Harry still couldn''t help but feel amazed, is this professor in front of him really just a memory? He was even able to counter Ron''s conduct, even if Hermione said it is pre-set in advance, he still doubted it deeply.


    "So, next--"


    "Wait, Professor, can they learn?"


    "They?" Professor Hap looked at Ron and Hermione, "Do you want to try it as well?"


    "Can I, Professor?" Hermione asked in surprise.


    "I considered the possibility of Harry letting you guys study together when I left the memories, but it''s still important to keep Harry''s progress in mind, you can''t pass beyond his level or help him break through it."


    Ron s hesitated a little, "How about letting Hermione try? I''m not even proficient at the spells I was taught in dueling class yet."


    "It''s okay, Ron, we have many chances," Harry said, encouraging him.


    After ten minutes or so, they finished the step, Ron listened to it twice before he could recount it clearly, then he let out a long breath of relief when Professor Hap nodded at him.


    "I took it more seriously than I did in class, really!" Ron said, not wanting to let himself drag it out and delay Harry''s learning progress.


    "Next, is the second level." Professor Hap said from memory as intended, " You guys would love this, the Side-Along Apparition."


    "Side-Along Apparition?" Harry heard a new word. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Apparition is something you can do with someone along with you, the one being carried is the follower, and this type of action is known as Side-Along Apparition. During the war years, the Ministry of Magic had recommended that every child should be used to Side-Along Apparition, and it is actually quite simple, as long as you don''t shout or suddenly use a burst of magic to fight against it, it will basically work."


    Harry nodded and asked, "Do I have to repeat this, this is the second level?"


    "No, Harry." Professor Hap showed a big smile, " it was just a background introduction, the real test is getting used to the discomfort of the Side-Along Apparition."


    "I think that when you get used to it, you will have a more authentic experience of the magic Apparition."


    He looked at the three of them, "Since you all want to learn, well ... then let''s do it randomly."


    His figure abruptly disappeared and appeared in front of Ron, who opened his mouth in slow motion, his eyes bulging out, and Professor Hap''s palm rapidly enlarging in front of his eyes ...


    The next second, both of them twisted and disappeared.


    "Professor?" Harry whispered, looking around, there is only a faint blue fog around him.


    Hermione said, "The professor should be taking Ron to experience the feeling of the Side-Along Apparition."


    "Experience?"


    "After all, it''s all fake, a world constructed by the mind, you can''t mobilize the magic to form facts and habits," Hermione said like an experienced veteran.


    After two or three minutes, "Aaaahhhh-" Professor Hap appeared with Ron through the thin air.


    Ron panted, fear lingering in his eyes, and after a long moment he looked back, "I feel like I''m being squeezed out of a rubber tube as hard as possible, and any minute I might be compressed into a walnut ..."


    But not a moment later, he encouraged Harry and Hermione to try, "That''s an unforgettable feeling, you definitely wouldn''t want to miss it."


    Professor Hap took a well-timed step forward and smiled, "Who''s next?"


    Harry and Hermione backed away in unison, the professor''s smile was just too scary.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 319+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 291: Warning

    Harry finally experienced Ron''s "squeezed out of a rubber tube" feeling, he felt that description is an understatement, the pressure from all sides, then their cornea issued a strong warning, their chests felt like a few layers of iron bands is puts on it, as well as the inability to breathe. If it were in reality, he should be now wet with sweat.


    Not only Harry, Ron, and Hermione also can not bear it, they lasted two more times before deciding to quit, Harry inquired, "If we can not adapt, will we stay stuck in this level?"


    "If you can''t even adapt to the Side-Along Apparition, Can you keep focused and mobilize your magic in the real thing?" Professor Hap then reassured them, "You''re still young, there''s no need to rush."


    The common room.


    All three opened their eyes at the same time, "That''s cool, isn''t it?" Harry asked.


    Ron smiled and said, "More than cool, it''s simply COOL!" He put one hand to his forehead in a weird pose, "I''m a silly boy from the country."


    Harry laughed out loud and Hermione looked puzzled.


    "Gentlemen, is this the latest popular joke?"


    "Oh Hermione, it''s a line from The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard, whenever Mick sees something he can''t recognize, he says this ..."


    Hermione shrugged her shoulders and said dryly, "That''s funny."


    The days then passed, Felix managed to add the alarm spell on the Marauders'' Map, as for the rest, it is just left to time to mull over the matter.


    He only found, to his surprise, that a month had passed when Harry handed him the essay on Apparition and the nameless book.


    As it moved forward to March, the weather became sunnier, and from the castle, one could see a distinct green colour in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, but there is also more wind, a bitterly cold wind that hurts one''s skin, and every time the owls appear in the great hall their feathers will curl up, which makes these responsible little guys temperamental. If you couldn''t open your mail in time and supplement it with a few owl treats, they would angrily peck your hand.


    Felix finished his portrait and sent it to St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. What took the most time from him was not the injection of memories, but the implementation of heavy protective magic.


    If anyone dared to use a stunning spell on his portrait, that person would definitely find a huge ''surprise'' waiting for him - originally Felix didn''t think that much about it, but after going to Black''s old mansion to read books more often, this worry came naturally.


    It was the first time he got to know a pure-blood nobleman''s home so well. Almost every two or three steps, he could see traces of magic, which he treated as a relic buried deep underground and that resurfaced again, with the true and false stories he heard from Mundungus.


    Felix also figured out one thing in passing, Kreacher had known him for a long time, and the unpleasant scream he heard when he first tried to force his way into Black''s old house belonged to the ageing house elf.


    "What could Kreacher do? When someone is found trying to force his way in, he can only activate the house''s defensive magic."


    ...


    Twelve Grimmauld Place.


    "So you already knew about this place!" Sirius asked in amazement.


    "As I told you, I got a little help from the Black family." Felix curled the corners of his mouth.


    "Who told you that?" Sirius trailed off, "Wait - Phineas Nigellus Black, my great-great-grandfather! You asked me back then where his portrait is kept!"


    He said ironically, "His portrait is much more sensible than he was when he was alive, did he make a mistake when he injected his memories?"


    Felix said softly, "He hoped I could spare you, spare the only descendant of House Black - under Dumbledore''s nose, even though you were the most notorious outlaw in Azkaban at the time."


    "..."


    "Though you are now, too." He added.


    Sirius looked at him speechlessly and said resentfully, "Thanks for the reminder, you make me feel like an ungrateful bastard, but if you knew what I was like as a child ... forget it, there''s nothing else for me to do I''m going to go keep an eye on the Marauders'' Map."


    "The Marauders'' Map has an alarm spell, no one needs to keep an eye on it."


    "Then I''ll go clean my room!" He said irritably.


    Felix stopped teasing him and his expression became serious: "Back to business, I came here to tell you not to come to my office anymore, and I''m not going to be here for a while, the Ministry of Magic is coming to visit."


    Sirius froze for a moment: "Ministry of Magic? Come to Hogwarts, why?"


    "Because of you," Felix said: "There is no more arrogant fugitive than you, the Ministry of Magic has laid a net everywhere, and you still swaggered into Hogwarts, less than three hundred meters away from the castle entrance."


    "Dumbledore''s previously insisted reason thus overturned, the school is no longer safe, parents sent him a letter, he had to compromise ... now the abandoned classroom next door to Filch has been converted into a temporary station for the Ministry of Magic."


    Sirius said awkwardly, "I didn''t think about it that much, I got two wands from the dark wizard in Knockturn Alley, as well as smuggled polyjuice potion, and the plan just popped up naturally."


    Felix shook his head as he held out his arm, "Accio Marauders'' Map!" A fold of parchment "whoosh" came flying, then he turned and walked into the fireplace, "I take the map, in addition, I do not know if I am qualified to caution you, the world is like a chess game, so if you make a move, you should allow others to respond."


    His figure disappeared into the turquoise flames.


    Sirius stared blankly at the fireplace and muttered, "Playing chess? You think I don''t know how to play?"


    "Kreacher!" He shouted.


    "Bang!"


    An old, ugly, house-elf appeared, and Kreacher bowed deeply with his back arched, putting his nose to the ground, "What are your orders, esteemed loser young master?"


    Sirius''s eyelids jumped, holding back his anger, "I''m going out, you continue to clean up the house, I don''t care where you keep the rags, but don''t let me see them, or I''ll throw them all out."


    "Mr. Hap strongly discouraged you from going out, if he knows ..."


    "Kreacher! Who the hell is your master?" Sirius said in exasperation, "Or I''ll just give you to him!"


    Kreacher muttered in a low voice, but his voice was just enough for the person across the room to hear: "Old Kreacher has served the noble Black family for generations, and if you insist, master, I prefer Miss Narcissa."


    Sirius gasped, his nose almost crooked, and he stomped away. S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Where are you going?"


    "Muggle community! To learn how to play chess! You go and sue me!"


    ----------


    # J. Thanks for your support.


    There are 319+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 292: Mock Exam

    The next morning, Felix is eating breakfast in the great hall. "Flutter!"


    An owl delivering a newspaper landed on his table. He gave the owl a nut and opened the paper in his hand, and before he could read its contents, a second and third owl landed next to him, squeezing, scraping, and stepping on the dishes.


    "Congratulations, Professor Hap." Lupin, who is seated next to him, remarked, gesturing to the headline of the spread-out newspaper - "Youngest recipient of the St. Mungo''s medical badge!"


    Felix said politely, "Thank you-oh!" He dodged the beak of a cranky owl and pulled out the letter tied to its leg, but soon seven or eight more came, flapping their wings and eyeing Felix intently, urging him to hurry up with the letter.


    He drew his wand and tapped the edge of the cup, and all the letters on a dozen owls flew over, he nimbly took them in his hands and then told Lupin, "Actually, the badge was delivered to me quite earlier, only it was not published until now."


    These owls drank some orange juice, then took two cookies with them, and flew away with their wings, leaving the cups and plates on the table in disarray, and Felix no longer wanted to eat, so he gathered the letters together.


    He first glanced at the Daily Prophet, which showed a picture of himself receiving the St. Mungo''s Medical Badge, standing with a group of older-looking healers, with the logo of the St. Mungo''s Magical Medical Association in the background.


    He was standing in the middle of the group, smiling gently, holding a blue-green shield-shaped badge with a snake wand in the center with the light green letter ''M'' in the background. Next to him, Lady Dorothea Bonham, standing.


    Felix then began to open the letters one by one, most of them from the healer community, with greetings from new healers and invitations for exchange from healers with a certain level of reputation, which he put away, intending to take the time to reply to them one by one.


    A gray-covered letter caught his attention. It is an official letter from the Ministry of Magic. Upon opening it, the letter stated that they recognized his outstanding contribution to the field of memory damage treatment and awarded him with the Second Class, Order of Merlin award.


    At the foot of the official letter, there is a long list of signatures of the current members of the Wizengamot, and he saw quite a few familiar names - Amelia Bones, Barty Crouch, Tiberius Ogden, Griselda Marchbanks, Albus Dumbledore, Cornelius Fudge...


    "A second class order merlin award," Felix remarked, assuming that Fudge had stalled it, dragging the matter rather long.


    The award ceremony is scheduled to be held in two weeks, giving him plenty of time to make arrangements.


    Coming out of the great hall, Felix saw a short, fat witch in a pink dress, and he frowned, saying nothing. Umbridge didn''t come around often, but it''s just hard to ignore her, and her presence is even higher than that of Tonks and the other male Auror who is stationed here.


    Many young wizards were aware of the presence of a high-ranking Ministry of Magic official who loved to wear pink at the school, sometimes followed by two Aurors, sometimes by herself, smiling like a little girl.


    Umbridge acted low-key, she stood with Filch, and when Felix looked over, Mrs. Norris ran over to him as she rubbed and nuzzled his feet.


    "Norris, you seem to be in a good state," Felix said as the cat''s originally rough fur became smooth, and she gained some more flesh on her body, at least it didn''t seem like her eyes were so bulging and weird anymore.


    "Meow~"


    Mrs. Norris purred lazily, her voice seeping as usual.


    Umbridge looked back and saw Felix, she immediately looked away and whispered a question to Filch, who loudly said in a thick voice: "Professor Hap, ah ... you are asking the right person, he is really a good man ... "


    "Keep your voice down!" Umbridge choked and squealed, she turned back sheepishly and saw Felix smiling at her, she hurriedly handed Filch a bag and instructed two sentences before leaving.


    "What did she tell you to do?" Felix inquired as he walked over.


    Filch grunted, "Asking about the professors in the school, and also about you, sneakily asked me to spread some detectors around the school, I asked her whose order it is, and she refused to answer me."


    "Mr. Filch, give it to me," said Felix, "I''ll consult Minerva, and by the way, is there enough Tonic left for Mrs. Norris?"


    "Enough, plenty enough, there''s still leftover from before," said Filch with a red-face, "and I asked Madam Pomfrey to make a new batch, fearing that I would make a mistake ... you see how beautiful Mrs. Norris is now, and those little wizards who make mistakes can''t get away from us!"


    "Ahem, ahem!" Felix coughed dryly twice, "If you have any problems, just look for me, I''ll go first, I still have class ..."


    ...


    Seventh-grade ancient runes'' classroom.


    Felix scanned the students off the stage, "Try to concentrate class, we are doing an N.E.W.T. mock exam, even though you have studied well over the past few months, ... you still need to be in awe."


    The wizards offstage giggled and laughed until he reminded, "Ten minutes to go." Only then did the students get busy with their final checks.


    The sun shone through the tall windows, creating patches of light that shone on their papers, and the tall Marcus shrank down to the small, narrow, single table - modelled from the NEWTs'' exam format. His head is bent low, his eyes quickly scanning the entire paper, occasionally correcting his answers with a quill, his other hand battling with a pimple on his face.


    Geoffrey, Penelope, and Percy finished their papers early, though Percy remained frowning and checking till the last moment, only then did his whole body relax with a satisfied smile.


    "Time''s up. Everyone - stop writing, Accio test papers."


    Dozens of test papers flew towards Felix with a clatter, he placed them on the podium, and a palm-sized golem immediately jumped on top of the papers, holding a golden feather quill in its hand, and began to correct the papers.


    Penelope sighed as she said, "Every once in a while, you can see a clear improvement, the professor''s golem can already correct the test papers instead of him."


    Percy nodded, "You know how capable my advanced golem is, but it is only stored with a hundred books for now, yet it can instantly provide me with feedback on anything I ask it to look up."


    Penelope said regretfully, "Unfortunately, I didn''t sign up for the dueling tournament, so I missed it, I probably won''t have a chance to get it as we would graduate next year."


    "Alright class, we need to wait a few minutes," Felix looked at the crowd, "I''m glad to see you all finished answering your papers, normally this exam would last all morning, while we only took two hours for this mock test... ... still you finished the test."


    "Because of your thinking classroom!" Wood said aloud, he had enough reason to be excited, from the original ancient runes academic scum to now being able to answer the paper in advance, this much of improvement only in just a few months.


    Moreover, he could get an E at the lowest minimum, and if he got lucky, he would get an O to boot.


    Wood''s statement drew a round of applause, and two boys whistled and let out a jubilant cheer.


    Felix waited for the classroom to quiet down, as he smiled and stated, "The knowledge is out there, but not everyone is going to learn it. With the remaining bit of time, we can talk about ... what you all intend to do after graduation, have you thought about it?"


    "I''m going to help out at home," Geoffrey said.


    "The Ministry of Magic." Percy murmured with anticipation.


    "Uh, I haven''t thought about it yet ... but Puddlemere United did send me an offer to be a reserve Quidditch player, and I''ve been hesitant about that." Wood scratched his chin.


    There are still quite a few people who are undecided, and those who are talking about their aspirations -


    "I want to work for wizengamot!"


    "I think it would be good to travel around and see the magic of different countries ..."


    A few minutes passed hurriedly, "Okay, let''s have a look at your results." Felix picked up the test papers and flipped through them one by one. "Well ..."


    The students stared at Professor Hap, the classroom went very quiet, not even the "rustle" of turning books was heard, they listened carefully to every word he said.


    Felix announced the results, "All students have met the standard! No one below E. As for O''s, there are twenty-three."


    A Hufflepuff wizard exclaimed, "It''s not impossible for all of us to get an O by the time the exams start, Professor, there''s going to be a new legend in Hogwarts!"


    Felix chuckled, "A Legend ... is it you guys, or is it me?" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Of course, it''s ... us!" The boy winked and said flatteringly, and the classroom instantly filled with a happy atmosphere.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 321+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 293: What You Worry About Happens In April

    "That''s a Talent, for sure." Felix thought as he watched Eddie Carmichael showing off his newly mastered rune on a Saturday morning.


    Eddie held a small flame in his hand, as he is showing it to the others, he then dramatically closed his palm and slowly spread his hand open as the crowd gasped, as an orange rune glowed continuously.


    "Look, this is the fire magic rune, want to learn it?" Then he mysteriously said to his companions in a low voice, "Just a two Silver-Sickles."


    ...


    Felix came out of the great hall, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione suddenly appeared out of nowhere, "Professor, we made an appointment--" Harry said with a gasp.


    Felix looked at them: "I also wanted to inform you later with the Patronus, well, follow me."


    He led the trio onto the seventh floor of the castle and stood opposite a tapestry. Harry first shot a few glances at the intriguing image of ''trolls chasing a ballet teacher'', then followed the professor and faced the blank wall.


    "There are many hidden rooms in the castle, some of them magical enough to be unaffected by the Anti-Apparition Charm, the Chamber of Secrets is one, and so this place is," Felix explained.


    "Throughout the history of Hogwarts, many people have inadvertently used this room - when they needed it most, but afterward they found out how they couldn''t get in again, so they gave it a name, the Room of Requirement, or Come and Go Room."


    The trio mumbled the name.


    "But in fact, it has always been here, or rather, this is one of its fixed entrances." Speaking of which, Felix somewhat lost in thought, the Room of Requirement is embedded into the magical defense system of Hogwarts, and it has always relied on the magic of the castle to keep it running.


    And as far as he knew, the door of the Room of Requirement could be opened from any location in the castle. If he could borrow this power, would he be able to bypass the restrictions of the Anti-Apparition Charm?


    He suppressed this thought and continued, "The way to make the entrance appear is simple, concentrate on the desired place you need to be and pass over here three times, and a door will appear on the wall, just like ..."


    He paused as a silver and white door literally appeared on the wall, and when it opened, a drunken woman stepped out of the door - Sybill Trelawney.


    Felix had to sigh at his luck; it seemed to be the second time the two had met in front of the Room of Requirement, the first time when Trelawney had come out of her office to hide a bottle of wine, and he had asked for some information about the Room of Requirement in passing, and the second time - which is now - they had run into each other face to face again.


    "Felix ... Hap?" Trelawney''s eyes were hazy, and she stared at him for a while before recognizing him, "You, uh ... hiccup~"


    Felix took two steps back, "Professor Trelawney, you''re drunk, and it''s morning."


    "What''s the point? Anyway - it''s not like I have class!" She took a couple of steps crookedly and her eyes fell on Hermione, " Child, I see you again, I predicted that, er, you would leave, forever ..."


    Hermione said with a scowl, "You should have to state my name first, Professor Trelawney."


    Felix blinked, he happened to know about this a little while back, his own assistant had voluntarily quit the divination class, he guessed it might be because her grades in this class were not that great, not even good as those who made up some nonsense.


    Trelawney seemed to have sobered up, and she pulled the scarf she is wearing up a bit, the glowing beads on it tinkling: "Inner Eye can be a burden at times, and I don''t want to sound that alien, you know ..." then she left slowly.


    "Oh, right." Trelawney turned back, "Honey, what you''re worried about will happen in April."


    Harry and Ron looked at her with disbelief, Ron took a deep breath and asked briskly, "Who is she talking about?"


    Hermione said pointedly, "There''s four of us, and whoever suffers a minor accident in April, we''ll know exactly who she''s talking about then."


    Felix said in a relaxed tone, "I would have been at the awarding ceremony for the Order of Merlin in early April, I wonder if Sybil was referring to that ... frankly, I am not that worried."


    They entered the Room of Requirement, which is a large, spacious empty classroom, where the ceiling is fifty feet high and the floor is so clean that not even a single strand of hair is visible, coloured in different colours, like a colourful grid.


    Each grid is marked with a number, from one to ten, repeating over and over again.


    "Professor, what do I have to do?" When it finally came to it, Harry suddenly felt a little nervous, and he held his wand with a silly pose, which made Hermione and Ron glad that they did not need to try today.


    "Use what you''ve learned in the nameless book." Felix said, "I taught you everything you needed to be taught, and besides, you did a great job on your essay."


    "Did I?" Harry looked a little embarrassed, but he did feel a rush of relief and happiness, and he wondered whether the Professor was just reassuring him, but he decided to go with the feeling.


    "Although Apparition becomes more difficult the further away you go, we don''t have to be concerned about a few feet," Felix said, "so pick a number that you are interested in, Harry."


    "Uh, I''ll go with ...," he glanced uncertainly at the grid in front of him, "How about number seven?"


    "Very good." Felix said encouragingly, "You can close your eyes and listen to my guidance: Imagine you are in the warm sunshine ... you hear the birds singing�� smell the flowers�� You are now very relaxed. Stay in this state�� imagine the number seven grid, think as clearly as possible, what does it look like? Now begin to mobilize the magic, a sudden strong desire welled up in you to allow yourself to occupy the empty space in front of you, you can''t wait ... right now!"


    "Bang!"


    There is a popping sound in the air, like lighting a firework, when Ron and Hermione discovered to their surprise that Harry had disappeared and appeared right at the edge of the red grid with the number seven.


    Harry lost his balance and fell forward, he hurriedly reached out to hold the ground, to avoid making a fool of himself. He gasped excitedly and looked down at his feet, "I, I did it-"


    "Very good." Felix said, "Next, let''s try it again. This time, no guidance, you should do it by yourself."


    Harry is bursting with confidence, he gazed at his original position - the white grid with the number one written on it, the destination, the determination, the deliberation...


    He closed his eyes, feeling light and fluffy, did he succeed? He didn''t hear any sound, so he opened his eyes and found himself still in the same place.


    "Try again, Harry, it''s the feeling that counts."


    The third time still failed, he became a little anxious, a fourth, a fifth time -


    "Bang!"


    Hermione let out a scream, Harry opened his eyes, he found himself in grid number one, the only problem - his right leg remained in the same place.


    He expected that he would panic and faint with fear, But he didn''t, apart from the fact that Professor Hap is here, the other reason is that he has experienced the splinching in the nameless book too many times.


    "Splinching, a very normal phenomenon." Felix walked unhurriedly over to Harry and waved his wand, and after a puff of purple smoke dissipated, Harry sat on the floor out of breath, his face dripping with sweat.


    "Are you going to rest, or do you want to continue?" Felix asked.


    "Continue," Harry grinned, "Professor, I''m starting to feel a little bit of the same taste as the special training."


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Bang!"


    "Still splinched, this time your ear, can you hear it - sure, let''s continue."


    "Bang!"


    "Poof!"


    "Nice, you''re getting good at it, notice how the sound diminishes when you cast the spell, we''re on the right path!"


    Ron and Hermione went as quiet as a pair of quails, when Hermione whispered, "Is this the special training Harry mentioned? It''s like, it''s like ..."


    "It''s like self-abuse, isn''t it?" Ron described how he felt, "but the effect is very good, in addition to the need of overcoming the psychological discomfort, oops, splinching again, this time an arm ..."


    Half an hour passed, "Let''s take a break for a while and eat something." Felix stopped Harry from continuing his practice of Apparition, he looked at the empty room and said precisely and clearly, "I need a table, four chairs."


    The Room of Requirement met his needs, a small brown square table and four sofa chairs appeared before him.


    Felix winked at them, "I am showing you, so you can possibly use it later, in fact, you can just mentally meditate the request." He waved his hand and out of the ring in his left hand flew several plates of snacks and chocolates, and a large jug of fresh orange juice.


    Harry walked over lightly, both of his legs went floppy, as if he is stepping on cotton. He slumped in the sofa chair, his whole body felt empty.


    Felix conjured up a straw and let a glass of orange juice float in front of him, Harry lowered his head, and bit on the straw and "gulp". S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Professor, if I want to practice the Apparition, do I have to go through the same thing?" Hermione asked timidly.


    "You''re not like Harry," Felix said: "He prefers feeling. You prefer reason. So it''s better for you to think and practice, summarizing the gains and losses of each spell you cast."


    "Hermione is the smartest witch I know." Harry looked up as he said, and Ron also looked at him with approval.


    "It''s not about being smart or not, Harry." Felix said mildly, "Everyone is good at different things, some people just rely more on their intuition to learn magic, like you, you can think of it as a gift."


    Ron said thoughtfully, "I think I rely on my intuition too, no, on experience. I learned a lot of my magic by experiencing it first hand, like the Incarcerous Spell, the stunning spell, and the Disarming Charm ..."


    Felix looked at Ron oddly, he heard Hermione mentioning that Ron created a "learning by experience" method, using his own body to experience the effect of the spell, and then learning the spell much faster.


    The most outrageous occasion is when he''s learning the Incarcerous Spell. He let Harry tie him more than twenty times in a row, in the end of that day''s duel self-study, he succeeded in releasing the finger-thick magic rope.


    I heard that a number of people had tried to imitate it, but no one had managed to replicate Ron''s feat.


    Felix guessed that either Ron really had the gift of ''masochism to grow'' or he had more potential than that, but just couldn''t show it on a regular basis, so he subconsciously found such an outrageous excuse for himself.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 321+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 294: You can trust him!

    After that day''s practice. On the way back, Hermione kept a frown on her face as she remained silent. "Hermione, you''re not still thinking about Trelawney''s bullshit, are you? She''s just an old liar." Ron advised her, " You know, I almost got bluffed too. But after thinking about the month worth of bad luck I made up to get excellent, I never believed her again."


    He then looked over at Harry and said with enthusiasm, "I learned a thing or two from what Professor Hap did. And if you ever get splinched up again in the future, I think I can help-" He gave Harry a meaningful look.


    Harry shivered, his heart did not gain much comfort.


    He squeezed the Muggle coin in his hand, a heptagonal fifty pence that glowed faintly in the sunlight.


    Ron stared at the coin and said, "I still have the one you gave me last year, but ... Professor Hap is quite clever to have thought of this."


    Before the end of the exercise, Professor Hap asked Harry for a coin. Harry originally wanted to find a copper Knut, and accidentally found this in the corner of his pocket. After asking if there''s no problem, Harry handed the silver coloured coin to the professor in order for him to cast the spell.


    It was then that the professor said to him, "I can''t keep an eye on your progress every day, so let''s make a pact that you can''t use the apparition outside the Room of Requirement until it turns into a dazzling gold colour."


    Back in the common room, they saw the twins transfiguring a table.


    It''s a dull-eyed lion with floppy ginger fur and a face that looked like it had been punched, and Harry thought the twins must have made a reference to Hermione''s pet Crookshanks.


    " It still doesn''t work!" Lee Jordan said in defeat as he pinched the lion''s drooping ears.


    "You have to compromise," Fred said, "at least it can move, can''t it?" S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I don''t want to go out on this thing and get laughed to death!" Lee Jordan exclaimed in trepidation.


    Harry asked Seamus, who is looking on with interest, "What are they doing?"


    Seamus said enthusiastically: "They want to craft a lion mount. A Gryffindor exclusive, they tried the Transfiguration spell, but unfortunately it didn''t work that well ..."


    Harry couldn''t help but think of a little Slytherin girl who rode a big snake to show off in the corridor, although she was later detained by Professor McGonagall. But her name became well-known all at once.


    Many people became secretly envious and wanted to do something similar.


    "Bang!"


    "I still can''t figure out why Dumbledore didn''t cancel the Divination class," Hermione said as she stared seriously at the lion the twins had transfigured for a while before she turned her head to Harry and Ron.


    In the evening Rune tutorial, Professor Hap gave her more information -


    "Because this branch of magic did work brilliantly. And also, Seer is a true gift." Felix explained.


    "But, Trelawney, she-"


    "I''m not sure what Dumbledore thought back then, and I''ve never seen a true prophecy. But Cassandra Trelawney, ... Sybill''s ancestor has been solidly proven that she has the gift to Divine. And she is known as the ''one who can see the future ''"


    Hermione stared at Professor Hap''s fingers brushed the air in front of her, and the golden smoke in midair condensed into a piece of paper with glittering words, which consisted of an autobiographical statement.


    "I can see the vague shadow of a person, more hidden than a ghost - He doesn''t always appear, He has no influence during most of the time. Until a certain time, a picture of the future is changed, and the future is visible to me ... I once saw a roiling black tide in a dark wizard, and two months after that, he organized a massacre ... I blame myself deeply for this, and the inner eye might be a burden ..."


    Hermione stared blankly at the golden paper, which swayed lightly in midair, and she said softly, "This is ..."


    "A letter sent by Cassandra Trelawney to a friend. I stumbled upon it after a hundred years." Felix said, "Cassandra did not live long, and perhaps there was a reason for that; the gift did not make her happy. A few years before her death, she moved away from her family and lived in isolation."


    "So, you believe that Professor Trelawney inherited the gift from her ancestor?"


    "I guess it is partially inherited, judging by how she acts on a daily basis."


    Hermione sighed as she realized she didn''t hate Sybill Trelawney that much anymore.


    After a few quiet moments, she patted her face and regained her composure, "Professor, shall I continue practicing illumination today?"


    "Yes. After all, this is the first ancient magic I intend to teach at the club. I think I should be more cautious. In all of Hogwarts, among the students, you are the only one who has mastered all the runes needed for this spell."


    Hermione nodded and took a deep breath. Magic runes appeared in front of her body, and these runes, with ''light'' as the core, kept piecing together and converging, as if completing a puzzle.


    The light blossomed at her fingertip. A milky white light that is gentle without blinding, as Hermione carefully controlled the magic, her magic pouring out uncontrollably ...


    Must not be controlled by magic, "Oh, I still can''t -" A ray of light shattered in Hermione''s hand, then she said with some discouragement: "I can''t even use my magic a few times here, but I can obviously do it in the thinking room. "


    Felix smiled: "You''re learning fast, I expect you''ll be able to master it almost by the end of the Easter holidays."


    Hermione wiped the sweat off her face and saw the Marauders'' Map on the workbench in her line of sight, and she couldn''t help but ask, "Professor, did that dark wizard never show up?"


    "Yes," Felix said somewhat helplessly as well, "What a rat, all we can do is wait."


    After a long time, "Professor," Hermione bit her lip, her expression looked tangled, "can the Fidelius Charm be broken?"


    Felix stared into her eyes, "Miss Granger ... what have you guessed again?"


    "Oh, I," Hermione pursed her lips and said shakily, "Sirius Black was imprisoned in Azkaban for the crime of committing a mortifying murder, in addition to the fact that he was a loyal spy for the dark lord, he also betrayed Harry''s parents!"


    "And if I''m not mistaken, you have a ''but''." Felix looked at her calmly.


    "But it doesn''t make sense! Even if Black hated Ron''s rats that much, like the Death Eaters'' infighting, or had a personal grudge, he wouldn''t have spared Harry. I thought of a possibility and looked up the information privately, but the Fidelius Charm cannot be broken by external forces ..."


    Felix, silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice: "Miss Granger, if ... I mean, if things take an unforeseen turn, and you run into him - Sirius Black. Granger, you can trust him, especially if Harry is in danger!"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 323+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 295: Homework

    When Hermione came out of the office, her mind remained dizzy. Although the professor hadn''t said it explicitly, the implication had been pretty clear that Sirius Black is innocent, or, at least to Harry, he''s harmless.


    She didn''t know whether to tell Harry or not. But she didn''t know the truth, and it would be pointless to say it, and she already had enough to worry about right now. As the Easter holidays approached, the professors of all subjects uncharacteristically increased their assignments, and Hermione felt like a spinning top. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The Time-Turner is used to the extreme. Even so, she inevitably skips some classes.


    Hermione felt a little glad that the dueling study group had been temporarily cancelled. Harry''s full attention is focused on his daily Quidditch training. So he has to discuss various tactics with Wood in between daily sessions, and homework can only be completed in odd hours.


    This caused the quality of Harry''s essays to drop all the way down, and he wasn''t the only one who was scolded.


    Harry and Draco Malfoy were called into the Transfiguration class professor''s office, "Gentlemen, I know you''re preparing for the Quidditch finals, but that''s not a reason to make a mess of your homework." Professor McGonagall said with a stony face.


    Yeah, the Quidditch finals. Harry wondered in a trance, tomorrow is the first day of Easter break, and the first Saturday after the break is a Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game.


    He looked back up and stared at Draco Malfoy. He had a visible dark circle under his eyes on his pale face, and he is giving him a provocative glance. This is only a glimpse of the tension between the two Houses and the two teams, where the conflict between the Lion and the Snake has almost been laid out in plain sight in recent times.


    A haze flashed in Draco''s eyes; he got a lot of pressure from the team, and he is going to be used as a distraction to delay Potter''s offence, which made him indignant for a while. But when he thought about the speed of the firebolt, he lost his temper.


    He wrote to his family about the Firebolt, but his father refused him on a rare occasion; the thing cost more than his entire team''s Nimbus 2001 combined, he wondered with disbelief, who on earth had given it to Potter?


    It couldn''t be one of Potter''s stupid admirers.


    "... never did their assignment. There are two students who are still in the hospital wing, and seven people detained..." Professor McGonagall''s voice seemed to be used by both of them as a background sound for their glaring match, and it is obvious that Professor McGonagall found this too.


    She said angrily, "Go ahead, I''m only going to say this once, but if you don''t pull back ..." as she suffocated with anger, and after several moments of hesitation, she persisted, "I''ll detain you up, yes! Before the final! I''ll talk to Severus about it."


    Harry hurriedly promised Professor McGonagall, and Draco''s expression also softened, he squeezed a smile at Harry, and Harry also held himself back from saying something sarcastic as he shook hands with him.


    After exiting the Transfiguration office, the two separated from each other, Draco grunted contemptuously and turned to leave. Harry returned to the common room just in time to hear Seamus yelling, "You call this a holiday? It''s awfully close to exams!"


    He went over to see what they were doing and found that they were counting the assignments left for each subject.


    Dean Thomas counted on his fingers, he had been counting them for a long time: "... History of Magic, three two-foot papers; Potions class, three, one of which is three foot. Snape must be out of his mind! The title is - let''s see - an appreciation and analysis of improved formulas of wolfsbane potion ..."


    Dean cursed under his breath and barked, "It''s not like we''re taking a final exam. Why do we have to write this stuff?!" He muttered, " Something about knowing the latest developments in the field of potions ... He just wants to show off his research!"


    Harry couldn''t help but agree with him, as Dean continued to read, "... Transfiguration class, two essays, and dead to living transfiguration practice; Astronomy class, twelve astrological charts ..."


    He heard a dry heaving next to him and turned his head to see that it is Neville, who said with a pale face, "Sorry, I''m feeling a little sick in my... stomach."


    The twins came over and asked, "Would you like some Pepperup?"


    Harry asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Isn''t that for cold?"


    Pepperup Potion is Madam Pomfrey''s speciality, has an immediate effect on colds and flu. The only drawback is that after drinking this potion, smoke will keep coming out of your ears for the next few hours.


    "We''ve made some improvements to make it live up to its name," Fred said with a smile, "and let me try it out for you." He pulled out a piece of candy and popped it into his mouth in one go, "We made it solid and easy to carry around, so you can take it in class. Well, it''s a little nasty. George! Make a note that it can be changed to a fruit flavour ..."


    "Roger that! Mate," George grinned as he took over the job of narration and said to a small group of little wizards, "You''ll be hyperactive for the next few hours, except for the little after-effects ..."


    "Whoops!"


    Fred looked like he had been hit by something, a puff of white smoke came out of his ears, a loud whistle came out of his mouth, and he said in a refreshed voice: "See, it immediately relieves fatigue, a worry-free, sincere benefit for seven sickles."


    Dean got interested in this, and Harry looked at the homework stacked up on the table and felt somewhat tempted. By now, many young wizards had gathered around them. They squeezed him out of the way, and after five minutes in line, he noticed that every two minutes Fred would make a whistling sound as if he is imitating a train.


    He reconsidered and retreated. Then he found Ron and Hermione whose eyes were a little red, and she yawned in small gaps, he thought, Hermione needed some Pepperup candy.


    She scribbled on a piece of parchment, Harry looked down twice and found it is a final revision plan.


    After a while, Hermione finally finished the task at hand, and she chewed on her quill: "I should make the most out of Easter break, I''ve finished my assignments for History of Magic and Astronomy class-"


    Ron asked in surprise: "Don''t you always finish your ancient runes'' homework first?"


    "The professor waived my homework, saying there is no point in wasting time." Hermione said.


    Ron let out a wail, "How can you do that ... I am hoping to refer your paper!"


    "As a matter of fact," Hermione said with a stern face, "the top ten on the answer space list were all exempted from the assignment."


    Ron''s gaze turned to Harry with an expectant look in his eyes, and Harry shrank his shoulders, "I had to train for most of the holiday, and we had the advantage, but the possibility of being overturned. It''s the worst possible situation - Wood went crazy at last."


    "Okay, I''ll write it and lend it to you when I''m done." Ron sighed.


    Hermione grunted, but she didn''t say anything else, she just stood up and walked out of the common room, and not long after, she came back yawning and looking even more exhausted.


    Harry continued where he left off, "Speaking of which, it''s a bit strange that Professor McGonagall no longer forbids me from going out ..."


    Hermione jolted, and her whole body came to its senses.


    "What''s wrong with you, Hermione?" Harry looked at her strangely, "Do you know why?"


    "No, it''s something else, I can''t be sure yet." Hermione said hesitantly, "When the Quidditch match is over, I have something to say to you."


    ...


    The next morning.


    Felix dressed up and went for the awarding ceremony.


    ----------


    # FREE No Copyright Videos. Thanks for your support.


    There are 323+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 296: Crouch and Bagman

    Ministry of Magic. Felix pushed open the door of the phone booth and watched it rise to the surface as the crowd made their way down to the lobby.


    "Mr. Hap, hello."


    "Mr. Hap, congratulations."


    Felix nodded one by one in response, and after giving a speech at the Ministry of Magic, he got quite a few more acquaintances. He arrived at the third meeting room by familiarity. In the room, there is only one aged wizard. He looked up shakily, "Felix Happ..?"


    "You are ... Augustus Gray? I remember you from Belby''s award ceremony."


    The old wizard grinned, but all his teeth were missing, "How rare that I get to meet a brilliant young man before I retire."


    "You flatter me, Mr. Gray." Felix said with a smile.


    The two chattered, Augustus Gray working in the Wizengamot Administration Services over seventy years prior, handling the regular paperwork. Back then, he was a reckless young man, before slowly working his way up to the head of the administration office. He knew the Ministry of Magic very well and knew many interesting stories and gossip.


    "... that little girl Bertha, naive, and loves to help people. She asked me if I needed a pair of crutches ..."


    Felix blinked, "Is that Bertha Jorkins? I think I''ve heard that name before."


    A cheerful voice appeared from behind the two, "Ha~ What are you discussing?"


    Felix looked back. A hulking male wizard, it looked like he must have once been tall and fit; however, now that he is starting to go downhill, his figure is more rounded and hardly reminiscent of the word stout.


    He moved a lot, his arms waving constantly along with his words, and his voice filled with emotion and infectious energy.


    "Hello, I''m Ludo Bagman, and are you Felix Hap? I''ve heard about you from the Ministry - Arthur, Arthur Weasley. I wonder if you know him, he was very impressed with your last speech." Bagman tossed his blond hair and leaned in closer to whisper, "Nice work. I mean, I hate Macnair pretty much too ..."


    Felix said mildly, "Mr. Bagman, I was just giving a normal speech-"


    "Yeah, yeah," Bagman interrupted impatiently, a smile piling upon his face, "Who said it wasn''t, I was out of the ministry and there was a fan party, and boy those people were really enthusiastic ... God, I love them, but, um, I knew what was going on the first time I heard about it," he squeezed his eyes, "I know some purebloods pretty well, it''s from my father ... they told me quite a few things."


    Felix showed a smile, "I''m curious what they said."


    "Ahem, I can''t say. As I promised them, but," Bagman held his tongue for a moment, unable to resist himself, so he said in a mysterious tone, "You''re very famous in that faction of the Purebloods, and they''re all in awe of you. I think even more than they are of Barty Crouch. Oh yes, Barty! --"


    He suddenly shouted into the distance, and Felix looked along to see a man in his fifties with a straight back and rigid movements, his straight slatted wizard''s robes immaculate, without even a crease in the corners of his robes.


    Crouch approached, as he walked in a straight line. "Bagman, hello." Crouch said politely, his short moustache looked so well-groomed as if it had been trimmed with a ruler, "I''ve been looking for you, work-wise."


    "Let''s put the bloody work aside for a moment and come over for a chat." Bagman said enthusiastically, "Let me introduce you, this is my new friend, Felix Hap. The main character of the day, he is outstanding in the field of memory healing!"


    Crouch calmly extended his hand, "Hello, Mr. Hap, it''s an honour to meet you, but I don''t have much time, I have to see the Bulgarian minister later."


    "Hello, Mr. Crouch. If there is something important, you can leave at any time."


    "That''s right," Bagman said with a big smile on his face, "who made you the only one who can understand their crooked and weird accent, it''s really hard for you ..."


    "You''ll have to join me, too, Bagman. There''s a lot of work over there, and someone has to keep an eye on it, or there will be two hundred loose ends, and the numbers are growing, and I''m too occupied."


    "I know," Bagman said awkwardly, but he quickly found an excuse." I''m busy too, you know, communication isn''t going well on the American side. They want to change the rules, but who am I to compromise on anything -"


    Crouch raised his eyebrows, "We pledged to withhold all details until the public announcement."


    "Oh, the details!" Bagman waved his hand, not caring much, "But the event is happening right here at Hogwarts, and we have to talk to them over the holidays - details, you see, I bet Hap knows something."


    He turned his head to Felix and asked expectantly, "You must know that some things simply can''t be wrapped up, Dumbledore has had several meetings and vetoed some interesting proposals."


    "You guys are talking about the Triwizard Tournament?"


    "The Triwizard? It''s a quadruple now, maybe more," Bagman said, "Old Fudge is trying to pull more people in. Even Uagadou from Africa, if you ask me, I think he''s out of his mind."


    "Bagman!" Mr. Crouch said sternly, "We should change the subject."


    "Oh, uh, okay." Bagman shrank back with a little loss for words, "As you wish, let''s talk about the star of the day then, my good friend - Felix Hap."


    He said with a twinkle in his eye, "The youngest recipient of the St. Mungo''s medical badge. Well, that'' not easy, I was under the impression it was mostly filled with older - I mean, older healers."


    "... There''s also the Order of Merlin, I don''t know if he''s the youngest one." He looked to Barty Crouch.


    "I was under the impression it''s Peter Pettigrew, who was 21 when he died." Crouch said slowly, clearly not wanting to discuss the subject.


    "Admirable, he is a hero." Bagman said with a compliment, in a not so respectful tone. "But Mr. Hap is not that bad, only this year -" he glanced at Felix, who said briefly, "23 years old."


    "That''s right, 23, and by virtue of real ability, memory damage, I''m not too familiar in that area. I suppose it''s a cure for memory weakness? I think Bertha Jorkins needs an observation, she made something simply head-scratching, amazingly she couldn''t even find a venue and wandered around for a week."


    Barty Crouch didn''t say a word, keeping a stern face. S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What do you think, Barty? She should be at the Ministry today, better get her to come over to ..."


    "She''s not here." Crouch said stiffly.


    "What?"


    "She''s not here, I approved her some time off to go on holiday."


    "Uh, but she''s one of mine, Barty ..."


    Mr. Barty Crouch suddenly lost his temper: "Then take responsibility and spend the time you use to meet with fans on maintaining the venue instead of leaving everything to me."


    Bagman''s momentum immediately weakened, like a punctured balloon, "I didn''t mean that, well, you''re right, it''s good to let her take a break, there''s nothing more for her ..."


    Crouch left in a hurry, Bagman somewhat felt restless, unnaturally chatted a few sentences. Then he also excused himself and left, "I better talk to the Americans again, in fact, their ideas are not ... not so outrageous."


    More and more people poured into the meeting room, Felix had to greet them one by one and say some nonsense devoid of sustenance, it took him a good deal of time to get rid of Cornelius Fudge. He didn''t know whether Fudge had taken the wrong medicine, as he had been enthusiastic to introduce him to the high officials of the pure-blood faction of the Ministry of Magic. Fortunately, he saw some familiar faces.


    " Filius, Minerva, Severus, and Damocles, you''ve got here together?"


    "You''re going to be busy today," Damocles Belby said kindly, "we''ll just pass the time by ourselves, there''s plenty to talk about after a long absence."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 325+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 297: Bad News

    The award ceremony went well, nothing "feared" happened. Felix felt that Professor Trelawney had once again seen things wrong. Moreover, he couldn''t exactly enter the Hall of Prophecy of the Department of Mysteries to see if a new prophecy had been formed. The Department of Mysteries is located on the ninth level of the Ministry of Magic, and a secret department of the Ministry of Magic, that conducts secret research on specific mysteries. The majority of its operations are top secret, and even the staff of other departments of the Ministry of Magic keep their mouths shut about this place.


    The wizards who worked in the Department of Mysterious are known as Unspeakables. They were prohibited from revealing any details about what they did, where they work, and Felix speculated that they may have signed harsh non-disclosure pacts - and while they are permitted to conduct dangerous research, they are also subject to more restrictions.


    These may also be rumours. However, there is a claim that a mysterious room exists in the Department of Mysterious, where a Prophecy Orb will automatically appear for every prophecy that appears in the world. Since the establishment of the Department of Mysteries, there may have been thousands of prophecies recorded and waiting to be verified by future generations.


    ...


    Felix played with a gold medal with a purple ribbon for his "achievement or endeavour beyond the ordinary", and Belby told him that the first-class medal came with a green ribbon, representing Slytherin House.


    "Merlin is not from the Middle Ages, he and Slytherin House can be related?" Felix asked curiously.


    "Heh, some pureblood families tracing their genealogy and claiming that their ancestors once followed Merlin ..."


    "Really?"


    "Who knows! But some families do have such a long heritage."


    Felix returned to his office, and with the next two weeks of Easter break, he could freshen up his recent work. But the first thing he had to deal with is the pile of Easter eggs that filled half the room, and he suddenly got a little toothache, these chocolates and candies can simply let him eat them till a decade from now.


    He took some of them and gave them to Sirius, passing on the result of his recent attempt in analysing the Marauders'' Map.


    It is rather a simple map, only palm-sized and with irregular design, like the result of a child''s scribbling. The map is simply marked with the castle, the forbidden forest, the black lake, and Hagrid''s hut.


    Sirius took it with a disgusted face, it is dense with dots, dizzying to look at, but some names marked out in small golden letters, those are the people Sirius cares about - Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore ...


    "Actually, there''s Peter Pettigrew, only unseen."


    Sirius tore open the wrapper of an Easter egg with his teeth and took a hard bite of the chocolate on it, "Thanks, or I''d be suffocated." He kept staring at the palm-sized piece of paper.


    Kreacher lowered his voice and said, "The Loser Young Master goes to the Muggle community every day to play chess and returns with a stench ..."


    "Shut up, Kreacher." Sirius growled in annoyance.


    Day by day, Felix took the time to rearrange the magic items he had researched this year. Including the research files of the thinking room.


    Mundungus made a trip to the Far East as planned, bringing back many magical items, and Felix made only one request - ancient.


    While enriching his insight, he also felt more and more like the young Filius, mastering too many runes, but only a small percentage of them could really be used.


    "This is also the reason why I intend to write a book about magic runes in the first place."


    Felix thought to himself, and as his thoughts raced - one after another Magic Rune appeared in the air, gold, red, blue, green ... like rivers of colour, as they flowed through the office.


    "Next - the unnamed book, ha, I remember Ron Weasley calling it the ghost book, it''s kinda like that."


    In front of Felix, a half virtual, half-real book appeared. The first few pages, which were solid and physical, and after that were all virtual. It is very similar to the nameless book Harry had, but there is no comparison between the two.


    He opened a new page, and one after another magic rune flew out of the coloured rivers, leaping into the pages, and the pages manifested with various types of magic forms -


    A waterfall falling from the sky, a lightning bolt cutting through the sky, a bridge connecting two places, an ever-spreading green mist ...


    Felix looked at it all with satisfaction; if he included all the magic runes he knows, it would mean that he had completely mastered those runes. Although this process might take a long time.


    A question suddenly occurred to him, where did the original ancient magic and runes come from?


    Is it somewhat unrealistic to think that wizards were born with it? He is inclined to think that ancient wizards were studying magical creatures and magical plants when they accidentally got this result.


    The difference between the two is that for magical creatures, their talent is an instinct that does not need to be learned, just as people can run and jump, they are born to release lightning and change their forms. But inevitably, they are also limited by their bodies.


    Ancient wizards, however, were accidentally freed from this restriction when they transformed their talents into ancient magic. Their dilemma, in turn, was that they had to exhaust themselves trying to control it from getting out of control, but on the other hand, they also made the magic more powerful.


    Felix''s thoughts turned, and he took out a stack of parchment, a manuscript left behind by Slytherin. He once decided to seal the information because of the cruelty of Salazar Slytherin''s methods and the fact that it did not fit his path of magic runes, but now it seemed that the two had crossed paths.


    Unknowingly, he had been able to use his own path to analyse the paths of others.


    Felix skipped over the bloody, brutal methods and looked at a record of magical creatures, especially the three parchments he had picked out earlier that he considered suitable for himself, which recorded the thought process of Slytherin''s early research in bloodline magic: how to strip magical creatures of their gifts to transform them into spells used by wizards.


    This seemed to coincide with Felix''s speculation - Salazar Slytherin had thought of retracing the ancient wizard''s path and gaining inspiration from the wider magic world.


    But unfortunately, he eventually gave up on that line of thought.


    Felix couldn''t help but guess, if Salazar Slytherin chose to give up, then what was it that he was pursuing? Associated with what Helena had told him, Salazar Slytherin went deeper and deeper into the realm of the forbidden and became more and more terrifying in appearance, which seemed to imply that Slytherin was experimenting on himself, incorporating the bloodline of magical creatures; most likely, there could be more than one species.


    Did Salazar Slytherin finally become completely inhuman?


    Lady Rowena Ravenclaw''s words still ringing in his ears, "We count as magical creatures in our own right."


    What qualifies as a magical creature? Or to ask it differently, what happens to a wizard when he qualifies to be considered as a magical creature? Felix had no way of knowing that, but he thought that since Lady Ravenclaw had told him so solemnly, it meant that it is a huge threshold.


    And most likely, Salazar Slytherin was relying on the transplanted bloodline to cross this threshold. What about the other three, and what did they rely on?


    So far, he only knew a little about Rowena Ravenclaw, and from the manuscript, she left behind, she was a true all-rounder, alchemy, transfiguration, magic spells, potions, all of them. But she researched most deeply into memory magic.


    As Felix delved deeper and deeper into the field of memory magic. The more he wondered: Was the Rowena Ravenclaw he saw in the Room of Requirement at that time really just a memory?


    Or is that she herself?


    What will the memory node develop into in the end, and is it related to the soul?


    He had so many questions, but no one could answer them. All he could do is travel alone.


    On the last day of the Easter holiday, Felix prepared himself for the last part of the school year. But then Dumbledore suddenly appeared with a gloomy expression, bringing him a piece of bad news.


    "Nick is about to leave, and he wants to see you one last time."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 325+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat. S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 298: Plead

    Felix''s mood got a little heavy, he and Nicolas Flamel although only met once, but they communicated many times through magic photos, for him, Nicolas is closer to a teacher. "Just a moment, Headmaster Dumbledore, I''ll bring one thing with me."


    Paris, France.


    Felix revisited the old place and followed Dumbledore''s lead to a secluded street, two blocks away from the Hotel Boathouse - the place where the Muggle meeting was held during the summer.


    Here he met a group of vibrant young people whose young faces were still fresh in his mind, the student leader Juria, Matt who was captured but did not spill a word, Byers who valued friendship and kinship, Bethany who was naive ...


    Dumbledore handed Felix a piece of paper, which read "7? Rue de Montmorency", as he read the address mentally, in the middle of the two lawns, a small white house suddenly burst out of the air.


    "The Fidelius Charm." This thought flashed through Felix''s mind.


    He glanced at the brilliant fiery clouds in the sky and followed Dumbledore into the house. Inside there is a medieval-style living room, the table arranged with a variety of odd-shaped glass containers, candlesticks, brass globe, a few sofas were covered with white cloth sheets, the top edge of the fireplace in the corner is smoked black.


    On the other side of the spiral staircase in the corner, is an exquisite bookshelf, filled with books, on the table opposite the bookshelf, there is a large crystal ball, with a bright light filtering out the thick dust.


    Led by Dumbledore, he came to a bedroom on the second floor, a small wooden sign hanging on the coffee-coloured door, which reads: Nicolas and Perenelle.


    When he pushed the door open, an old man is lying quietly in bed, his chest unmoving, his face frighteningly white, and only when he gets close does he hear the sound of shallow snoring.


    "Nick," Dumbledore said softly, "Felix is here."


    After a long while, the old man opened his eyes, his eyes were covered with a layer of white shades, and he asked in a shaky voice: "Felix?"


    "It''s me, Nicolas, it''s been a long time," Felix said with feigned light-heartedness, the sneakoscope tucked in his pocket got squeezed by his hand, this belated Christmas gift may not be delivered.


    "Felix - I''ve been looking forward to - from that day when I actually met you," Nicolas tried to keep his eyes open, but they were blurry, " However, something delayed-"


    "Don''t you have that Philosopher''s Stone, how did you ..."


    "Destroyed it, my child, I have lived nearly seven hundred years, death ... is not a bad thing."


    Nicolas Flamel trembled as he reached out from under the covers, "Felix--ouch!" He let out a cry of pain.


    Felix heard a crisp click, and he fell silent briefly, wanting to laugh a little despite the bad timing, remembering the image of Nicolas moving away in small steps when the two first met. He flicked his fingers, causing the quilt to move down somewhat gently.


    "Thanks--"


    Nicolas spread his palm, showing a golden key.


    "I know I''m not going to live long, but it doesn''t matter - Perenelle and I have no children, and before I die, I need to find someone to succeed my knowledge."


    "Why me?" Felix asked, he majored in Runes, not Alchemy, and Nicolas Flamel would not be unaware of that.


    "I want the world to be better, and you are the best person for the job, in all aspects that meet my requirements - this is the conclusion of my deep consideration."


    Felix''s heart thumped, Nicolas Flamel centuries of research, what a huge knowledge and the path of the two can be considered extremely compatible, there is a natural connection.


    "You''ve thought it over?" He suppressed the joy in his heart and confirmed again, he subconsciously ignored the old man''s initial words.


    "Except, except for the slightest concern - for which I have an additional condition -" Nicolas Flamel said, his face turned sideways to the window, where he could faintly hear the sound of cars driving across.


    Felix''s expression turned cautious, he knew it wouldn''t be that simple. But he really did not want to miss this rare opportunity, no matter how difficult the conditions Nicolas Flamel proposed, he would do as much as he could, and besides, he did not feel that Nicolas would propose something he could not do.


    So he asked mildly, "What do you need me to do, Nicolas?"


    The old man gasped hard, his chest shaking like broken vapor-filled bellows, and Dumbledore said softly, "Nick, you--" but the old man shook his head, "Don''t stop me, Albus."


    "Felix, remember - remember what I said when we first met? Old people are fond of - nestling themselves into a certain place in the world with self restrictions - seeking a sense of security -"


    His eyes suddenly went wide and his face became bloodless, looking a bit like a ghost.


    Felix''s heart sank, he knew what Nicolas is going to say! Sure enough, the old man gasped for a moment and said, "All this time, I''ve been getting to know you, and the more I learn, the more I''m worried about you going astray. So - ho, ahem! Just-just sign a pact, and everything I have-is yours."


    "An Unbreakable Vow?" Felix kept his visage in the shadows and lost the warmth in his words.


    Unbreakable Vow is amazing magic to conclude a vow between wizards, extremely potent, and the person who breaks the vow can only have one outcome - death. Felix has signed a magic contract with someone before, but compared to the Unbreakable Vow, the difference in the degree of restraint is simply worlds apart.


    The former he could still think of ways to get rid of, transfer the effects of magic, but the latter, he did not have a little choice.


    Nicolas gasped, did not say anything, completely acquiesced to Felix''s speculation, he just struggled to try to lift the key in his hand, but inevitably a little powerless.


    "It''s hard for you to come up with something like that after you''ve given it a lot of thought." Felix said sarcastically.


    "I, ahem!" Nick coughed violently.


    "Sorry to-"


    "Don''t be so quick to say no! Felix - my terms aren''t too harsh, you can hear them first -"


    "I''m not half interested."


    Felix looked at Dumbledore with a probing look in his eyes, "So, you''re here to be a witness?"


    "No, Felix." Dumbledore said sadly, "I''m not sure what Nick is thinking either," he looked at the old man and said in a quiet voice, "Nick, we both know that this isn''t a good approach."


    Nicolas did not retort, "I, I know, if I had the time - I would watch him for decades, but, Felix - I''m dying - "


    "It''s up to you," Felix''s light blue eyes locked on Nicolas Flamel while he kept trying to raise the golden key in his hand, "to give you a suggestion, while you''re still breathing, you can find another person who is willing to sign the pact."


    Nicolas seemed to have gained some spirit, his words became fluent: "If, if you agree, you will inherit all my possessions, not just those you see - I have twelve safe houses around the world, seven libraries containing my almost seven hundred years of accumulation: alchemy, ancient runes, the Grimoire, ancient magic ... I''m still a school board member of Beauxbatons, and everything is yours if you say yes ..."


    "Believe me, the conditions are not harsh." There is a hopeful light in his eyes.


    Felix said coldly, "I''m not quite stupid enough to have anything to offer you other than refusal."


    Nicolas went into silence, the glow in his eyes faded, and he suddenly struggled to sit up and leaned against the wall, a movement that caused his body to tremble non-stop, "A--Albus, please--please leave for a while --" he gasped.


    Dumbledore''s eyes swept over him and Felix as he sighed and said, "Nick, you ..." he turned and left.


    Only two people were left in the bedroom.


    Felix sat in the only chair, his right leg crossed, his black wand twirling dextrously in his hand, and he said casually: "What do you want to do, let me watch you die? You can''t do much right now."


    Nicolas showed a smile: "This happens to be my advantage, I''m going to die, this is my advantage." He deliberately emphasized this point.


    Felix looked at him in amazement.


    The old man said softly: "Your answer still hasn''t changed, hating the external restraints, so I have a backup plan." He held out his hand, and one rune after another emerged from his palm, which coalesced into a golden eye.


    "You know ancient runic magic?"


    "Living long has that advantage of being able to tap into the magic, in fact, I''ve never practiced ..."


    Felix asked cautiously, "What do you want?"


    "From you? No, no, I just want to be a guest in your house ..."


    "-You''re dreaming!"


    "I''m dying, Felix," the old man held out his hand and looked at him with a pleading gaze, "and no one is going to divulge your secret!"


    "..."


    In the silence, Felix seemed to be able to see the old man''s life passing little by little, each breath with a snake-like hiss, he gritted his teeth and said, "Old man, I will watch you die, and I can''t even think about you remaining alive!"


    Nicolas Flamel laughed heartily, his tone one of triumphant satisfaction: "You won''t be disappointed."


    Felix stood up, walked to the bedside, carefully examined the thin, white hand, and took it in his hand as if it is about to fall.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 327+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 299: Memory ( 2 in 1 Chapter)

    Thinking Room. Nicolas Flamel looked around, he surveyed the furnishings of the room with interest, and his whole body looked hundreds of years younger.


    "You still have such magic? What a pleasant surprise to me." He said with a smile, "I can''t use my preparations now."


    Felix looked as if he was greeting an evil guest with a stern face as he stood in front of a dark green curtain that rolled up high to reveal a tall door behind it.


    Felix gazed at the door, which opened automatically, the interior shadowy, completely unclear what lay within. Behind the door is his inner world, hiding all the deepest secrets and memories.


    The two stepped inside and stood in a long corridor, flanked by tall bookshelves on either side. On the shelves, there is every item - books, handwritten notes, memory balls, and bits and pieces of random objects - representing the truest version of himself.


    The only light visible is that from the thinking room - Felix and Nicolas Flamel''s faces are hidden in the darkness - against the light. Then the figure belonging to Felix waved his arm and the windswept up the corridor, the bookshelves twisting and turning into massive, thick clouds that overlapped and took over the original place.


    The sky seemed to be pulled down to their feet, with thick clouds falling low - they are as if they were in a sea of clouds, flanked by dark golden clouds that stretched and layered forward from where the two were standing, and disappearing into the unknown end.


    "Please come in." Felix said briefly and courteously.


    "Felix ..." Nicolas Flamel shook his head, he felt guilty, there''s something he didn''t reveal to anyone, not even Dumbledore - he saw half a prophecy that the world is about to face another change, more impactful than anything in the past.


    But unfortunately, he could not see the end, could not see the way forward, and could only hope for those who came after.


    Dark golden clouds tangled and swirled, a picture and the sound of talking appeared.


    Floating clouds converge, a man with a little touch of elegance, raised the palm-sized piece of paper in his hand and said with conviction, "Felix, I''ll keep an eye on it ..."


    Nicolas Flamel walked quickly through this section, stopped in front of constantly churning dark golden clouds, and carefully examined it. Felix is the only one in the picture, and he is sitting quietly in his office, looking through a stack of parchment, the pictures on the paper caused him to frown for a moment.


    " This is ...?"


    "The path that Salazar Slytherin gave up on, I picked it up to look at it."


    Without any comment, Nicolas Flamel nodded and continued on his way, not interested in the small details, but focusing on the churning clouds that could tug your emotions.


    He walked the not-so-short path, his clothes rolled up with a trace of clouds, making the originally gathered images to disperse again, "All I can tell you is that the person''s code name is Padfoot ..."


    Nicolas stopped at a place that kept surging, and he asked curiously, "This is the Three Broomsticks bar?" He looked at the people in the picture, Felix sitting with a hawk-nosed middle-aged man who looked bored, pouring himself a glass of alcohol with a numb expression.


    "Severus, we should both move forward." Felix in the picture advised.


    "Can you forget the past?" The middle-aged man said, "Can you forget Chesterton Avery? What about Carlo, Nott, Parkinson, Selwyn ... and the Shafiqs?"


    Felix stopped talking as he clinked glasses with the middle-aged man. As he took the middle-aged man back to Hogwarts, Felix stared at the man talking drunk on the bed and whispered, "That''s why I thank you, Professor."


    Nicolas Flamel asked, "Who is this?"


    "My Head of the House and Professor during my school days."


    "He helped you?"


    "That''s right."


    "Seems like a warm-hearted man."


    "... probably doesn''t count like that."


    Nicolas said with understanding, "I''m the one who''s narrow-minded, people are complicated."


    They continued on, stopping along the way, with Nicolas Flamel stopping briefly on Felix chasing Sirius and the Patronus expelling the dementors and watching Felix''s speech delivered at the Ministry of Magic in its entirety as a whole.


    "What do you think about the Statute of Secrecy?" The old man asked.


    "I take a pessimistic view."


    "Will you push for the abolishment of the Statute of Secrecy?"


    "It''s a lot of work and won''t last many years without me doing something."


    Nicolas said with a sigh, "I think the same as you, the wizarding world has been closed for too long, and the outside world is changing rapidly ..."


    He changed the subject and said cheerfully, "Don''t look at me as old-fashioned, one of my safe houses is just placed in the Muggle community in a grand manner, without using any magic - with all kinds of modern appliances that would malfunction, refrigerators, air conditioners, ovens... ...and home game consoles, you know this one, Perenelle loves it ... I also have an identity, an expert in occult studies!"


    ...


    In front of another cloud mass, Nicolas looked wistfully at Newt Scamander, and his words became more abundant: "When I first met Newt, he behaved very wooden and uncommunicative, and probably hasn''t changed now ..." he said softly. "Years have passed in a flash."


    Then he looked at the cloud mass, In which Felix asked nonchalantly: "What family are you from?"


    The young man at the opposite end stammered, "Av--Avery."


    Nicolas Flamel asked curiously, "Is this the Avery that the professor just mentioned?" Seeing Felix nod, he couldn''t resist asking, "What did he do?"


    Felix said with a profound expression, "You''ll see, isn''t that what you came for."


    ...


    Not far from here, Nicolas Flamel listened to what Felix said in the seventh-grade classroom, he smacked his lips: "the seeds of miracles ..." he pondered for a long time.


    They continued on their way and heard the memory of Felix saying to a freckled boy, "This is the Nicolas Flamel kind of rat," Nicolas couldn''t help but laugh, "Fantastic analogy."


    Felix felt a little embarrassed, he said this when he did not expect to be caught by the subject.


    Nicolas said thoughtfully, "So, the infamous Sirius Black is innocent, and Peter Pettigrew was the traitor? The only mystery is surrounding the Animagus ... Fidelius charm - but the keeper isn''t removable, so maybe the Potters have been lying to everyone from the start."


    Felix said calmly, "You should have thought of that and skipped some key elements."


    Nicolas smiled and said, "I couldn''t have stuck my nose in your face and watch you in every detail. As unconvincing as it is, I''m just trying to salvage a part of your image from your mind."


    "Yeah." Felix muttered.


    In another cluster of clouds, Nicolas asked him, "Who is this little girl?"


    "Hermione Granger, my assistant in the Ancient Runes class." Felix explained.


    "How sweet and understanding." Nicolas said admiringly as he watched Hermione place a pot of greenery on a square table stacked with books, giving the dimly lit left half of the space an extra touch of life.


    "What happened earlier, though? You look like you took some blow ... Oh, I see, accidental magic riot, this method ... is a little underdone, but ..."


    Nicolas Flamel stopped talking as he looked at the image in the dark gold cloud, with the Longbottoms holding Neville on one side and a disbelieving Felix on the other.


    Next is a long road, Nicolas said "interesting" about the golden runic sphere, and did not stop until he saw what happened at the summer muggle meeting.


    "Finite spell, I have also used this magic ... sorry, people who are old are prone to fall into meaningless memories." Nicolas said emotionally, "What do you think of the Revolutionary Society as an organization?"


    "Young, with potential, represents the future."


    "Yes, young with potential, represents the future." Nicolas murmured.


    ...


    Nicolas Flamel watched with great interest the questions Felix had asked during the open class at the Paris University - when Felix had used hypotheticals to outline the current state of the wizarding world and pressed the professor for his opinion.


    The old man chuckled and said, "You''ve got a lot of nerve, no wonder that Auror is out to get you."


    Felix explained, "Happened to catch up, and I did want to know what a professor of philosophy thought about the issue."


    "With the help of other people''s wisdom?" The old man said, "The wise thing to do."


    In the chamber of secrets afterward, Nicolas couldn''t help but complain about Dumbledore: "There are some things he does that I don''t really agree with, but ... I''m not him and don''t know on what basis he made that decision."


    Nicolas Flamel kept moving forward and in an office, he saw Dumbledore with his arms crossed with a serious face asking, "Why are you obsessed with coming to Hogwarts to teach?"


    Nicolas asked, "Is this your interview?"


    "Obviously, I was hired."


    Nicolas nodded as the cloud in front of him had silently turned navy blue, a memory from the three years after Felix''s graduation, and the old man smiled and said, "Same colour as my eyes." Here he sees a more real side of Felix like a real ordinary person working and living in a technology company, "It''s just so unexpected to me." Nicolas remarked.


    The two years before this was Felix''s experience of travelling the world, Nicolas Flamel blinked and watched Felix travel through the black markets of different countries, picking and exchanging all kinds of magical items and handwritten notes, dealing mostly with dark wizards who roamed the gray areas, robbing, fighting, fighting back, setting traps ...


    "Does blue mean sadness?" Nicolas asked as he stared at the blue, glowing dots of cloud.


    "No, I enjoyed the experience," Felix said.


    "Uh ... okay."


    The next clouds on either side of the road turned dark gold once again, and he saw a younger, school-going Felix, a sixth or seventh year who received awe everywhere he went, and the crowd automatically moved out of the way as Felix smiled and nodded at them.


    "Because the Shafiqs left England? No worries?" The old man thought to himself.


    But the next moment, Nicolas Flamel dismissed this suspicion, he saw that at the end of the fifth year, Felix visited some pure-blood families one by one.


    Nicolas Flamel stared at a set of dark golden clouds that kept churning, and he guessed that if the colour of the clouds represented emotions, Felix at that time must have been delighted, with vengeful delight-


    It is a richly decorated room, bright green and silver striped single sofa, sitting on it, is a young man with black hair and blue eyes.


    The fireplace decorated with gold patterns made a soft sound, and a middle-aged male wizard came out of it. He saw Felix, and his eyes showed surprise and panic.


    "Felix Hap ... you, what are you doing here!" He roared angrily, "Who let you in, you are not welcome here!"


    The young man said gently, "I felt the need to pay a visit, with regard to the disagreement between us."


    The male wizard turned furious, "What kind of trick are you pulling? Where is Dumbledore, he wants to strike the purebloods?"


    But immediately after, his body stiffened, like a stone statue, and his eyes kept moving down until finally, he found himself on his knees.


    All he could see were the shoes of the young man.


    "A very hidden spell, isn''t it? I found it from the forbidden book section ... I came over today to formally introduce myself, although I had already dealt with it last summer, what was that Parkinson''s name again? Furthermore, I can''t quite remember, his face swollen into a pumpkin, well, a curse rebound."


    "... James!" The man with the last name Parkinson yelled low.


    A house-elf appeared out of nowhere, and the next second a red light flashed, and the elf fell unconscious to the ground.


    Felix stood up and passed by the male wizard, as he''s looking at the portrait hanging on the wall, "I purposely did my homework before I came, your family also produced a Minister of Magic, Perseus Parkinson, during the governing period he attempted to pass the bill ''illegal to marry a Muggle'', the result was unsuccessful. "


    "A bit of a shame, isn''t it? Such ideas can only be kept in the family and cannot be accepted by the public." His wand nudged the male wizard''s head.


    The face of the kneeling Head Parkinson turned purple, going from hatred to resignation, to disillusionment and fear in two minutes.


    "What do you need me to do, Mr. Hap?"


    "Be a good boy and stop jumping around, I promised Headmaster Dumbledore I wouldn''t pursue this."


    ...


    Nicolas Flamel said softly, "I knew the Parkinson family had been pretty subdued over the years; they used to be pretty radical." He asked curiously, "All the families that have suddenly faded in recent years are related to you?"


    "Well, then I need to count them carefully." Felix said uncertainly.


    As they continued on their way, a huge cloud kept churning, bringing out wisps of hazy clouds, and the image gradually became clear, the memory of Felix initiating a duel at the beginning of the fifth year -


    Hogwarts great hall in a corner, after Dumbledore''s welcome speech, young Felix unhurriedly put on the gloves, the seats on either side of him were empty, which made it easy for him to stand up and walk calmly to a blond boy.


    Felix slowly removed his gloves while saying slowly, " Shafiq, one of the Sacred 28 pureblood families? Noble, glorious ... or maybe just a piece of scum that only hides in shady corners and sneaks around, I guess, with dirty blood flowing in every inch of your veins, I wonder if it''s true ..." He threw the gloves at the blond boy''s face.


    The blond boy''s body had long been stiff and sweaty, and the white glove stuck in his neck and fell to the ground, stained with dust, because his body kept shaking.


    He stammered, "Felix ..."


    "Be nice, I''ve told you before, don''t let me down." Felix''s eyes were dead on him, and he said mockingly, "You''re Shafiq."


    "I, I give up ... I-" The blond Shafiq fell out of his seat, limp.


    "Felix Hap!" Snape strides over from the professor''s chair as he bellowed, "What are you trying to do?"


    "Professor," Felix yawned slightly, "as you can see, I want to see if the blood of this family is red or black."


    Snape''s hand trembled with anger as he whispered, "Stop your boring revenge game, Dumbledore has stepped in, where you can''t see! Believe me, he will make the Shafiqs pay."


    "I want more," Felix said, with a strange light in his eyes: "Why to keep this rotten family in the way?"


    "Felix Hap," Snape suppressed the panic in his heart as he saw a glimpse of another man in the eyes of his young student, "I forbid you to do so."


    Felix played with his wand and did not speak.


    Dumbledore walked over, and he said in a quiet voice, "Minerva, take Shafiq away, the others--" he raised his voice, "led by the Head of Grade, return to the common room."


    ...


    On the memory path, Felix inquired, "Do you have any insight, Nicolas? Think I''m going too far?"


    Nicolas didn''t respond to the unpleasant subject and continued on his way. He saw the end of the fourth year when Felix walked out the door of the school and fought through all sorts of bad curses to knock those who attacked him to the ground.


    Even when one of them had his head turned twice as big as it was, it was hard to feel sympathy - because that curse originated from him. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The memories of the entire fourth year are a miserable white, unbearably monotonous, everywhere Felix can be seen practicing his spell in various unoccupied corners, and a thousand images together make up the entire memory of the year.


    In a shadowy cave in the Forbidden Forest, a dazzling green light illuminates the cramped, damp space, revealing a taut visage.


    "Avada Kedavra ..."


    "Yeah, it''s supposed to work pretty well, and it took me quite a bit of effort to find it." Felix said in a relaxed tone.


    Nicolas shook his head, disapproving of his words, "Unforgivable curse will corrupt the mind, even Auror has to receive regular psychological counselling, let alone you were just a child."


    "The situation was special, I didn''t think that much about it, and you missed it, a ghost friend of mine stopped me."


    " Is that lady, I remember you called her Helena?"


    "The other one, the one covered in silvery-white blood."


    Nicolas Flamel insisted, "Either way, you shouldn''t be learning dark magic, especially at such a young age ..."


    "Oh, thanks for caring."


    The old man said with a stern face, "I can tell that''s a fake word."


    ...


    Nicolas Flamel is moody, standing in front of a huge black cloud that emits a deep black mist like a huge beast with its teeth and claws, and he seems to hear the beast roaring, but everything is his illusion, it is the picture of the beginning of the fourth grade -


    Dozens of owls hovered over the long, empty great hall room table, with only young Felix sitting with his back turned to them, as the owls dropped a red letter, which twisted and opened its mouth wide, saying vicious words.


    "Filthy mudblood! Shame on Slytherin, don''t let me see you, or I''ll crush your bones one by one ..."


    "Have you ever heard of the Unforgivable Curse? Cruciatus Curse!" A piercing laugh followed.


    "... curse your name, curse your blood!"


    The voices of dozens of Howlers echoed through the great hall, intertwining together, making it difficult to hear the words, and only nasty words could be heard among the words that were spoken.


    The young wizards cowered and hid, the Slytherin students looked on coldly, and the other three houses whispered noisily.


    "Bang!"


    All the letters were blown into ashes, Felix stood up with an expressionless face, and the crowd automatically parted him a way.


    "Oh, my God!" Professor McGonagall said in a panic as she hurried over to the Slytherin table, which had become a mess. She yelled angrily, "Evil, vile, gutter-hiding people! Totally underhanded ... and shameless!"


    "Are you all right, Hap?" She said cautiously, her hand on Felix''s shoulder, which bounced away as if it had been electrocuted.


    "I''m fine, Professor." The young Felix said calmly, "Better than ever."


    On the path, Nicolas Flamel frowned deeply and opened his mouth several times to say something, but he said nothing. What followed were long gray clouds, a low mass of dark clouds swirling and swimming, as if they had entered a deep-sea, with black reefs attached to a whirlpool that swirled up a large area of seawater and water mist.


    Some words were like worms that kept burrowing into Nicolas Flamel''s ears.


    "You want to make a move? I just teach you to be a man, scum is scum everywhere, mudblood is mudblood, did I say wrong? Come and listen, everyone, which of my words are wrong ..."


    "You joined in a good time, if you ask me, in the morning you became a second year, you will be used as material for practicing magic, I know a big man, he has this fetish."


    "I have jars at home for house elves, just the right size."


    Nicolas Flamel kept picking up his pace, trying to cross the path, but it seemed extraordinarily long, and he looked back as Felix listened calmly, oblivious to it all.


    "Felix, don''t you care?"


    "I''m actually quite lucky," Felix smiled, "the same grade as me can''t beat me, the upper grades are limited to school rules can only watch, after all, the punishment was still quite harsh ..."


    "But if I can''t resist taking the initiative towards the seniors, it''s not within the scope of protection, people should always be allowed to defend themselves, right? So for a long time they''ve been chattering in my ear, childishly, just being smart-mouthed, like nagging, gibbering flies - it doesn''t really affect me."


    Nicolas Flamel did not speak, the black clouds on either side still tormenting his ears -


    "You put my brother in the hospital wing, my own brother, and I wanted to teach you a lesson ... Unfortunately, Professor Snape warned me, what a shame, who made me four years ahead of you, you don''t want to hit me, do you, little mudblood? Do you know which family I''m from?"


    "What''s your name?" This is Felix, who has just enrolled in school, asking warily.


    "Oh, I''m your Prefect, Chesterton, Chesterton Avery, remember that last name, I expect you to address me with respect as Prefect Avery, we''ll get along for at least three years that''s if you don''t drop out."


    ...


    Nicolas Flamel walked forward in a stride, leaving the various annoying voices behind as Felix followed nonchalantly, "Walk slower, I suddenly realized that it doesn''t feel too bad to have someone to share the past with ... To be honest, I''m tired of making up lies, but it''s hard to find the right person. "


    The old man ignored Felix''s chatter and finally, he crossed the area, and a great wave of joy wrapped around him as the pale golden sunlight appeared.


    Golden, light clouds floated like candy floss, reflecting the colourful light. Nicolas Flamel stared raptly at the image above.


    A young boy with short black hair sitting in the yard, quietly reading a book, a dozen other boys and girls in the yard, laughing and playing, four half-grown kids sweating around a simple basketball hoop.


    "Hey, little Felix, play with us!"


    The short-haired boy lifted the book in his hand, "Wait until I finish these two pages--" He suddenly looked up, his eyes glowing ahead as if he were locking eyes with Nicolas Flamel.


    Felix caught up slowly, "You''re not moving very slowly, eh? This is ..." He looked at the boy on the screen, whose light blue eyes blinked and twinkled, revealing a bright smile as he extended his hand towards him.


    Felix blinked and similarly extended his hand, and the two seemed to clasp hands together.


    "Swoop!"


    An owl landed on the boy''s hand, carrying a letter in its beak.


    It appeared to be a brown letter made of parchment, with an address written in dark green ink on one side with a wax seal and a coat of arms with a capital "H" in the center, surrounded by a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake.


    On the passage...


    "This is?"


    "The day I received my acceptance letter to Hogwarts."


    "This is it, Felix." Nicolas Flamel said softly, and the two returned to reality.


    ----------


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there will only be one chappy tomorrow.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 327+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 300: Demonstration

    Felix opened his eyes as if he is in a different world. He looked at the old man on the bed, took a sneakoscope out of his pocket, and put it in his hand. The sneakoscope began to spin in a circular motion, and a piece of crisp, pleasant music sounded.


    "Is this - a sneakoscope?" Nicolas asked in a soft tone, "Anti-what?" S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The two had explored the issue, and he knew that Felix had found seven types of sneakoscope production methods from the ancient books, and also changed it into a runic creation, and he also made a lot of suggestions.


    "It''s just a prank, it senses a person''s body heat and rings when the grip is loosened."


    The old man laughed: "If you don''t tell me, I may have to think about it for a while." He thought quietly for a moment, then reached out his hand and grasped the sneakoscope, and his voice paused.


    "Albus ... call Albus for me."


    Felix waved his wand, a silver light disappeared, and soon, Dumbledore appeared at the entrance, he quickly came to the bedside, slightly leaned down to examine Nicolas Flamel, it looked like he is intact, Dumbledore got visibly relieved.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, you didn''t think I was going to do something, did you?" Felix said with an odd look on his face, he looked right at the edge and saw clearly that there is no communication between the two, purely because Dumbledore was worried about Nicolas Flamel''s well-being.


    "You''re overthinking it, Felix." Dumbledore said with a smile as he straightened up.


    Nicolas Flamel clutched the sneakoscope with one hand with a death grip, and he said in a trembling voice: "A, Albus - please bear witness that everything I have, belongs - belongs to Felix Hap."


    Dumbledore said in a deep voice: "I will respect your will, Nick."


    "Faye, Felix--" The old man''s eyes turned to Felix, struggling to keep his eyes open and look at the blurred shadow through a layer of white haze.


    "I''m here, Nicolas." Felix said.


    A golden key floated and flew toward him, as he spread his palm to allow it to fall into his hand, which still had the residual warmth of the old man''s body on it.


    "I hope -- you don''t blame -- the frustrations of your childhood -- it''s not necessarily -- it''s, it''s a bad thing, I believe, I believe you -- ahem!" Nicolas Flamel coughed violently, his eyes bulging out as he gasped and continued, "Believe that you will become -- a legend in this new age --"


    Dumbledore glanced at Felix with shock, what had happened in the last half hour prior, and how did his old friend suddenly acknowledge him? A legend ... Dumbledore can clearly detect the strong expectations contained in this evaluation.


    Felix did not evade Dumbledore''s probing eyes, he looked at Nicolas Flamel with some trance, the old man finished his sentence, gasping softly, reciting his wife''s name: "Perenelle..."


    Half an hour later, the sneakoscope in his hand suddenly rang, the sound of melodious music echoed in the house.


    The key in Felix''s hand bloomed with light, and at this moment he became the owner of this safe house, while at the same time a series of hidden addresses flowed in his mind.


    ...


    Half an hour later, Felix and Dumbledore stood in front of a tombstone, at the request of Nicolas Flamel, he is buried together with his wife Perenelle, an aviary, not far from the first residence of Nicolas and his wife after they graduated from Beauxbatons School.


    The two then stood in silence for a while, and Dumbledore cast a ward to hide this piece of land from the public. Felix reached out his fingers and touched gently, the air in front of him rippled like water.


    The two wandered along the path -


    "Need to talk, Felix?" Dumbledore asked gently.


    "I''m not that fragile." Felix muttered, disgruntled, "You might as well spend your time looking for Voldemort''s Horcruxes."


    Dumbledore showed a smile: "Ah, it is true that recently I have been distracted by some trivial matters, and Tom''s life is really rich, and he has been in contact with a considerable number of people, but -" he winked mischievously, "I still found a useful clue."


    "About the third Horcrux?"


    "I guess so, and perhaps the secret of a fourth Horcrux. I made an appointment with a poor house-elf, but she''s in bad shape and I have to hurry ..."


    Felix nodded, he pondered for a moment and couldn''t help but ask: "How strong is Voldemort, are you unable to deal with him as well, just because of the Horcrux''s unkillable nature?"


    "There is this reason, but in addition to the Horcrux, he himself is also a master of dark magic, not to mention, he disappeared during those years, doing all kinds of experiments on himself." Dumbledore said calmly, "In his own words: he pushed magic to an extreme that had never been seen before."


    "That sounds a bit arrogant."


    "Indeed, but I have to admit that there is some truth to his words." Dumbledore said, "That above statement could be changed to, he advanced certain magic to an unprecedented degree. And others--"


    "Very shallow?"


    "That''s right, with all due respect ... is pathetically inept."


    Felix thought for a moment and said tentatively, "Lady Rowena Ravenclaw once said that she and the other three founders already counted as magical beings."


    "Is that so?" Dumbledore said, no surprise evident in his tone.


    "Felix, I am not in a position to give you much useful insight; when I was younger, I did, for a not so short time, think I was an omnipotent ... magical being? That''s a too modest statement, and I was too arrogant at the time."


    "So--" Felix held his breath, "you did go into a fantastic state?"


    Dumbledore smiled faintly, "I can demonstrate it a little, of course, just a demonstration."


    " What do I have to do?"


    "Cast a spell at me, well, not too powerful, I need to remind you that the person standing in front of you is a hundred years old."


    Felix felt a little excited, this would be his first chance to experience the magical attainments of Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard, he took a few steps back, straightened his body, thought about it in his mind, and cautiously threw out a level three stunning spell.


    He looked at Dumbledore with an expectant gaze, how is Dumbledore going to demonstrate the other realm of magic?


    "Ding!"


    Red light like a meteor swiftly flew towards the other side, Dumbledore dexterously extended his right hand, curled his fingers, and flicked the spell away, like flicking away a fly or something.


    He then nodded politely: "Thank you for being considerate of my old age, according to your standards, this should be a level three magic spell? If it''s any stronger, I might have to make a fool of myself."


    Felix looked at Dumbledore in amazement, he himself can also resist a few powerful stunning spells, but he is keenly aware of the difference between the two: his method is actually the same as the Ministry of Magic Auror, resistance to specific spells, while Dumbledore did something much more magical.


    He had a feeling - what stood before him resembled a magical creature in Dumbledore''s skin, like a Manticore, a magical creature whose skin, as far as he knew, repelled almost all known spells.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, you-"


    "Not as magical as you think, I''m old and barely left with a few tricks that count as magical. I have no doubt - as Nick thinks - that you will go farther than me in the future."


    Felix knew that those words signalled the end of the conversation, and he could only memorize the image of what had just happened and ponder it when he had time.


    "Are you going back to school, Headmaster Dumbledore?"


    "I still need to take care of a few things."


    The two parted ways on a hill covered with pale yellow wildflowers, as Felix draped in the sunset haze, walked from the edge of the forbidden forest toward the castle. As he approached the castle gates, he heard a rush of footsteps in front of him, but there is nothing in front of him.


    "Oh, Professor, I finally found you!" Hermione suddenly appeared out of the air, panting, her hand holding a mercury-like cloak of invisibility.


    Felix took his wand up into his sleeve, "What happened?"


    "Sirius! You need to save Sirius, as well as Harry, Professor Lupin, and Snape," Hermione said with a frightened expression and a shrill voice, "A large influx of Dementors ... they''re blocking the sky!"


    ----------


    # Bonobo, Thanks for your support.


    There are 329+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 301: Conversation in Hagrids Hut

    "Trapped on the covered bridge -" "Peter Pettigrew has come to get Harry along with another Death Eater!"


    "Sirius is injured!"


    Hermione explained in a panic until Felix''s hand rested on her shoulder, "Calm down Granger, I only have one question," his eyes fixed on her, and he asked seriously, "Do we still have time?"


    Hermione blinked, "Oh-" she stammered, " Well, of course, that''s what I came back for, we still have ... about an hour."


    " Oh, you used the time-turner." Felix said calmly, "We can talk as we go, where do you think, we should go now?"


    "Hagrid''s Hut!"


    Hermione answered without thinking, Felix nodded, he tapped Hermione''s shoulder with his wand, she found her whole body blending into her surroundings, so did the professor, she realized it is the effect of the Disillusionment Charm.


    "If we want to do something, first we have to hide," Felix said.


    They made their way towards Hagrid''s hut, and Felix first asked what concerned him most -


    "Did you see any of the endings? I mean, did you witness the serious consequences, such as ... death."


    "No, I only saw them trapped on the covered bridge, and a horde of Dementors attacking them, as well as a group of Aurors from the Ministry of Magic, and some students-"


    "The Ministry of Magic''s Aurors? How did they get there?"


    "That woman in pink, whose last name is Umbridge! She''s the one who summoned the Dementors and informed the Ministry of Magic!" Hermione said in a shrill voice.


    In the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid''s hut, a hippogriff snorted, its head raised warily, its nose constantly sniffing the air.


    "Buckbeak, take it easy, we''ve met before." A gentle voice said.


    "Oh, it''s me, Hermione, I fed you--" a slightly shaky female voice.


    Buckbeak looked blankly at the air, it recognized the owner of the voice, but could not see the person, which made it a little annoyed so it stomped on the ground.


    The window of Hagrid''s hut abruptly opened, and a voice asked, "Who''s out there?" Immediately afterward, a hairy head peeked out of the window, and it is Hagrid.


    He glanced warily out the window, Felix and Hermione hiding behind the big pumpkin, coupled with the cover of the disillusionment charm, Hagrid could only see Buckbeak became fidgety, he shouted in the direction to the hippogriff: "Don''t let strangers near, Buckbeak!"


    Hagrid pulled his head back, and his growl came from the house, "Get it straight, Peter! Why did you hide in Ron''s house for all those years and attack Harry with your men!" s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A cowering voice said, "No, it''s not what you think, I''m worried about Harry, he''s in danger ... I have to get him out of school!"


    Lupin''s mild voice said, "That''s odd. If I''m not mistaken, your friend who escaped was wearing a Death Eater''s hood."


    The cowering voice stammered, "That''s, that''s a disguise ..."


    Outside Hagrid''s hut, behind a big pumpkin, Felix asked Hermione: "You can talk to me now about what happened."


    Hermione straightened her thoughts and said, "This afternoon, Harry came back from the Quidditch pitch, it was about five o''clock - at the request of Professor McGonagall, he couldn''t train too late."


    "I know about it, but you were there?" Felix asked, as far as he knew, Hermione wasn''t really interested in Quidditch training.


    "Uh, we made an appointment, and it was a serious mistake - we were going to visit Hagrid, and to avoid detection, I was the one who brought Harry''s invisibility cloak."


    It was actually Harry and Ron who had been restricted so hard that they wanted to go and talk to their friends, and for that reason, they had prepared themselves in advance and covered themselves with their invisibility cloaks.


    "And then what happened?"


    "We heard a movement at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, a conversation between two people who were discussing bringing Harry to someone," Hermione paused for a moment, "but then we learned that they wanted to bring Harry to the dark lord."


    "-and one of them was Peter Pettigrew, as he got captured."


    " Yes ... "Hermione said sadly, "They mentioned Harry''s parents, and Neville''s parents, and said a lot, plus he taunted Peter Pettigrew for being a coward and saying he betrayed the Potters and still wanted to be a good person. "


    "Who was the other guy?"


    "Not sure, he is wearing a hood," Hermione shook her head, "should also be a Death Eater."


    Felix said thoughtfully, "No wonder we couldn''t find Peter Pettigrew for so long, I thought he was being dormant, now it seems that he should be using this time to find his old master, and an additional companion ..."


    Hermione continued: "Harry saw this as an opportunity to sneak up on those two people and force the truth about the year. We were almost close to success, three stunning spells hit Peter Pettigrew, and he passed out without the slightest resistance, but-"


    Her eyes widened, "the other guy counterattacked quickly, his spell was fast and strong, we were no match, Ron''s leg was injured, we had to rely on the trees in the forbidden forest to keep retreating ..."


    "It was an emergency, the tree trunk in front of us suddenly came to life, like a whomping willow, and its branches tied us up."


    "That Death Eater let down his guard, and he gleefully said that he would bring Harry to the Dark Lord, who would use him to resurrect, and he would be the biggest contributor!"


    "Just at that moment, Sirius suddenly appeared, oh, I almost didn''t recognize him, he doesn''t look much like he did on the wanted notice, of course... he quickly fought with that Death Eater, a stand-off for a while, the Death Eater woke Peter Pettigrew up, two against one, Sirius quickly ran out of steam, he lost a lot of blood, and he was on verge of fainting... then Professor Lupin and Snape appeared together, the chaotic battle ended, they again knocked Peter Pettigrew out, and the Death Eater took advantage of that situation to escape."


    "After that, we came to Hagrid''s Hut and dressed Sirius''s wounds, and also wanted to take the opportunity to interrogate Peter Pettigrew."


    Felix almost understood what happened before, however, it is worth noting that from the information revealed by the mouth of that Death Eater, Voldemort''s order was to bring Harry alive to him, to resurrect with the help of Harry, he tried to think, what kind of magic is this?


    ...


    Hagrid said gruffly: "So, back then you secretly changed the Secret Keeper, so this despicable villain, this traitor had the opportunity to take advantage of it, he happily told the dark lord, the secret. And you - Sirius - mistakenly thought the traitor was dead, so you didn''t defend yourself out of guilt."


    He made a loud sniffling sound and muttered in a low voice, at which point Hermione in the room said timidly, "Oh ... Mr. Black, but how did you show up in time today?"


    Sirius seemed a little surprised, "Uh, you''re Granger, right? Because of this-" There is a rustling sound of rummaging through pockets.


    "A crumpy piece of paper?" Hagrid asked.


    "It''s not a crumpy piece of paper, it''s a Felix Hap''s imitation of Marauders'' Map, it''s a bit rudimentary and doesn''t compare with the Marauders'' Map at all, I can only see a few key people, but that''s enough ... I stare at it when I''m not doing anything, and today I accidentally found Peter Pettigrew''s name and I thought I was looking at it incorrectly, God knows how surprised I was, and then I saw Harry''s name approaching him, and I rushed to contact Felix Hap, but there was no response at all! This guy, he promised me!"


    "Professor Hap--?" Harry''s puzzled voice asked.


    "Yeah, I got caught by him, remember, the time I got close to you with the polyjuice potion and I ended up getting caught ..." Sirius explained awkwardly about his not-so-pleasant escape experience.


    In the pumpkin patch, Felix thought about it and said, "When he asked me for help, I should have been in a safe house, isolated from the outside world."


    "Is it the kind Harry''s parents used? You need to use the fidelius charm?" Hermione asked softly.


    "That''s right."


    In the Hagrid hut, Sirius continued, "... that''s it, I''m being held in the old Black mansion, I can''t go anywhere. This afternoon, when I couldn''t reach him, I realized something was wrong and used apparition to appear near the Forbidden Forest, I searched for a few minutes with that awful map and finally found you guys, Peter Pettigrew was down on the ground, how I wanted to give him a Killing Curse to immediately end his vile life ..."


    From the room came Peter Pettigrew''s defense, and with a sobbing voice he said, "I wanted to be brave like you guys, but he grabbed me and kept forcing me--"


    Sirius roared angrily, "So you chose to betray!" The room went into disarray, accompanied by a thud and a groan of pain from Peter Pettigrew, who seemed to have been punched hard, as he whimpered and sobbed.


    Lupin urged, "Calm down, Padfoot, we have to find out the truth from him."


    " I will listen to you," Sirius gasped, "I will continue - I wanted to kill Peter Pettigrew, but Harry''s side was in much worse danger, so I joined the fight, and you all know exactly what happened after that. "


    Lupin also explained the reason why he rushed there: "I do not have that imitation map, however, Professor Hap gave me a golden galleon, which is connected to the Marauders'' Map, and if Peter Pettigrew appears, it will react, coincidentally, I was with Severus."


    "How did you get together?" Harry asked.


    "I came to deliver Lupin''s potion ..." Snape''s distinctive cold voice said, "Do you want to know what it is, Potter?"


    "I''ll tell you myself, Severus. There''s no need to hide it any longer, it''s a wolfsbane potion, Harry, and I''m a werewolf." Lupin said.


    "What? Professor, you, you are ..." Harry asked in surprise.


    "Yes, I am a werewolf, Dumbledore gave me the opportunity to go to school and showed me the wider world. He invited me last year to come and assume this position at Hogwarts, and he promised to provide me some complimentary wolfsbane potion - a potion that will make me a little better on the full moon, which is rare outside, and I have Severus to thank for that ..."


    Felix and Hermione waited quietly for ten minutes as the door of Hagrid''s hut opened.


    Hermione narrated from the sidelines, "Next, we''ll split up, Hagrid will take Ron to the hospital wing, the wound on his leg is starting to puss, and I will follow, as the rest of us will take Peter Pettigrew to the castle great hall, ready to hand him over to the Ministry of Magic''s Auror stationed at the school."


    "Isn''t that perfect? Why did the accident happen?"


    "It was Umbridge! She secretly placed many detectors in the school to monitor everything moving in the school. She said all this herself, in order to take credit in front of Fudge ..."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 331+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 302: Burning ( 2 in 1 Chapter)

    Hagrid who is carrying Ron is first to come out of the hut, followed by another Hermione, after that, a short man tied up tightly floated out, his whole body is in an upside-down position, head down and feet up, and his head hitting the ground from time to time on the rocks, "Ouch!" The short man''s face swelled up a good chunk, his hands were bound behind him and twisted together, and his clothes were torn and tattered. To avoid the rock, he tilted his head oddly to the side.


    "Sirius, please--"


    "You earned it, Peter! You should be glad Harry is kind enough ..."


    A wand reached forward in his hand Sirius'' alert face became visible, and he limped as Harry and Lupin supported him left and right. Walking at the end is Snape, his expression is intriguing, the wand in his hand is aimed at Peter Pettigrew the whole time.


    "Sirius, you should go to the hospital wing too," Harry whispered.


    "No! I want to see him damned with my own eyes!" Sirius showed his teeth and smiled ominously, "Better give him a Dementor kiss after that." His wand lowered downward, and Peter Pettigrew let out an ear-piercing cry of pain.


    ...


    Hermione hid behind the giant pumpkin, probing and peering, "Professor, what are we going to do, Professor McGonagall warned me not to change the past."


    "I also think it is necessary to be cautious, but ..." Felix gently hooked his fingers, a small stone noiselessly stuck the Peter Pettigrew, who is falling again.


    When they went far away, Felix and Hermione came out of the shadows.


    "Professor, what did you just do?"


    "I marked Peter Pettigrew with my magic - just in case, as you just said, they would be trapped on the covered bridge, and if he took advantage of the chaos and turned into a rat to escape, I would be able to find him!"


    Hermione seriously thought about it, also felt that this is a good idea.


    The two stayed far behind them as they walked along, and Hagrid took great strides, and it didn''t take long to leave the rest of them behind, and the "other Hermione" who followed him had to jog after him.


    Hermione said with a strange look in her eyes: "From this angle, I looked so silly, Hagrid took one step and I had to take three."


    Felix laughed softly, but soon his expression became serious: "I do not want to touch the forbidden zone of time, so I plan to let everything ''step by step'' develop until that future that you see arrived, and then I will appear"


    Hermione nodded, this should be the best way. She imagined it: when the army of dementors attacked the covered bridge half an hour later, Professor Hap would show up and save everyone in one fell swoop.


    At the same time, it did not change what happened in the past, and they also can save everyone.


    As the two walked unhurriedly, keeping two or three hundred feet between them and Harry, as Felix inquired, "I have a few more small questions, how did you hear Umbridge and Fudge''s conversation?"


    Hermione explained, "I followed Hagrid to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey said Ron was in no danger, so I returned to check on Harry''s group and ended up accidentally seeing Umbridge greeting Fudge, with a group of Aurors behind him."


    She said angrily, "That woman was so rude, relying on the power of the Minister of Magic, and was particularly rude to Professor McGonagall. If it weren''t for Headmaster Dumbledore''s absence ..."


    "She had a confrontation with Professor McGonagall?"


    "That''s right, Professor McGonagall questioned why she allowed the Dementors into the school, but Umbridge didn''t even look at her and just fawned over Fudge."


    "That''s right ..."


    Felix looked ahead, with Sirius, the injured man, the guys weren''t walking very fast. Especially since there is an uphill slope to climb, which makes their speed even slower.


    The wind carried their conversation over, and it is Sirius'' tangled voice: "I don''t know if anyone has ever told you - Harry, I''m your godfather ..."


    Ten minutes later -


    "Coming!"


    Felix suddenly broke the silence, Hermione looked in the direction of his sight and vaguely saw a pink, round gooey shape, she said suspiciously, "Is it that woman?"


    Then they heard a long wind whistle, Hermione felt a chill down her spine, a black creature floated from the sky, like a black plastic bag blown by the wind, it quickly flew towards Harry and the rest, and at that moment, Harry and the rest were still some distance away from the covered bridge.


    Hermione inhaled deeply, as more and more dementors appeared, they were like the black plague, responding to Umbridge''s call, enveloping a small half of the sky.


    "It''s a Dementor!" She heard Professor Lupin''s voice in the distance saying, "How could dementors appear in the school? The Ministry of Magic has guaranteed ... quickly use the Patronus Charm!"


    At this point, the dusk is approaching, the sunset is half-obscured, with half of the light swallowed up, and the dementors are suspended high in midair, constantly emitting a black mist, as if the night came early.


    A bright silver light pierced the darkness, it is Lupin''s spell, he propped up a silver barrier, it is an incomplete Patronus.


    Not far from them-"Let''s get closer," Felix said, and he covered the two with a light silver glow.


    "Professor, what is this?" Hermione looked at her glowing hand.


    "Unpleasant memories, the dementors will subconsciously avoid us, of course, provided they have better options." Felix said.


    The two came closer, close enough to see the expressions on Lupin''s face as he shouted urgently, "Harry! Sirius! use the Patronus Charm, and Severus ... use it if you can!"


    The silver barrier he held up continued to condense, a large-sized solid Patronus appeared, it is a wolf - Lupin''s most loathsome creature, but at the moment he had to use it.


    With the appearance of the wolf Patronus, the crisis is temporarily alleviated, the giant silver wolf hissed silently, leaping and slapping away one dementor after another.


    Harry''s mind sobered up a bit, his lips trembled, and he subconsciously recited the incantation, "Ex..pec...to Patronum!" A silvery mist flew out of the tip of his wand, and with the shimmering light of the unshaped Patronus, he felt better, the initial feeling of suffocation disappeared, and he breathed heavily.


    "It''s not enough! Not enough ..." Lupin shouted: "Sirius, Severus!"


    However, Snape did not move, his expression stiffened, the wand in his hand clenched tightly, his bone knuckles turned white.


    Sirius lightly nudged one leg on the ground, he raised his wand high and kept chanting: "Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum ... damn, I can''t do it!"


    "What do you mean you can''t do it! we learned it together." Lupin called out.


    "I can''t ... all those happy memories related to James." Sirius covered his face in pain, under the influence of the Dementors, his lips, like Snape''s, became bluish.


    Harry looked at Sirius as if he knew the man for the first time and truly recognized his Godfather identity. He summoned up the courage to recall all kinds of happy memories, the silver light kept turning over and over, and something gradually took shape.


    But there are too many dementors, "Let''s go to the bridge!" Lupin said decisively.


    The bound Peter Pettigrew is placed on the right side, and he rolled his eyes, constantly figuring out the escape route, "Be honest, Peter! There''s a cliff down there ..." Sirius said threateningly, pushing him hard and allowing him to walk on his own.


    The green light on Snape''s wand disappeared, and he glared at Sirius viciously, as he looked at Sirius perplexed.


    They climbed up to the covered bridge as they fought and retreated. Lupin was the only one on the scene with a full battle power, but his Patronus was unable to confront the army of hundreds of Dementors, especially as they kept spewing black smoke. The bone-chilling cold made everyone''s breath smoky white, and they felt like they were going to freeze.


    Snape sent several red lights towards the sky, as his face darkened, " Definitely, some people will be here in a while..."


    ...


    While all the dementors were drawn away, Felix whispered next to her, "When time goes back to normal, you should appear on the other side of the covered bridge, right?"


    "Yes, I followed the Ministry of Magic and watched it from afar, then I hid and used the time-tuner." Hermione said, looking anxiously at the bridge, "It should be soon ... people from the Ministry of Magic will be here soon."


    "You should worry about yourself! In a moment, the Ministry of Magic people come over, how will you get through the covered bridge and reach the other side?" Felix asked calmly: "If I remember correctly, after using the time-turner you should return to the initial place, right?"


    Hermione gave him a surprised look, "You''re right, Professor, it is necessary to form a closed loop in time and space." She suddenly realized the problem and screamed, "Then what should I do, oh my God! If I can''t get back in time, I, I-" She winced in fear as she remembered the consequences of abusing the time-turner which she had read about.


    " How much time gap between the last time you saw Harry and when you used the time-turner?"


    "About seven or eight minutes! A number of students were rushing over here, so I hide in the lavatory to avoid them while using the time-turner."


    "That''s enough. I will create an opportunity for you to ... cloak yourself in the invisibility cloak at that time, and with the additional effect of the disillusionment charm, you should be able to pass through them." Felix looked at her seriously, "Be sure to take advantage of the opportunity."


    Hermione nodded heavily, she did not know what the professor is going to do, but she trusted him completely without reservation.


    "For now, you better stay here on your invisibility cloak and be always ready ..."


    Hermione hurriedly put on the invisibility cloak, and Felix applied various spells to block the smell and sound, and she seemed like she didn''t exist anymore.


    Then, Felix covered himself with a disillusionment charm, then stepped on the covered bridge.


    Across the bridge footsteps heard, Umbridge in her pink dress stood out conspicuously, she appeared with a smile on her face leading a dozen or so Aurors as she said in a shrill voice: "Minister, just ahead!" The short, stout figure leading the group is none other than the Minister of Magic - Cornelius Fudge.


    He is followed by Professor McGonagall, who took one look at the scene on the covered bridge and her eyes immediately widened, "Minister Fudge, you have to stop these Dementors! They''re attacking a professor of Hogwarts or two of them!"


    Umbridge giggled, "That''s because they''re mixed up with the most vicious fugitive from Azkaban - you see, they''re also attacking members of the Ministry of Magic ... Minerva and I thought you won''t cover for them."


    "Severus and Remus won''t shelter a fugitive!" McGonagall said angrily.


    Fudge patted his stomach, "Don''t worry, Minerva, we can control the dementors, and they won''t hurt either of the professors, or I won''t be able to explain to Dumbledore ..."


    He used his eyes to indicate Umbridge, Umbridge pulled out a black whistle from her pocket, puffed out her cheeks, and blew it, she looked like a toad that is ready to hunt its prey.


    The whistle sounded, the dementors received the command, and their attack became more violent, constantly shuttling and flying through the gaps on the covered bridge, and the air solidified into ice crystals.


    Wisps of black mist were blown by the wind and drifted toward the people of the Ministry of Magic, then Fudge winced and muttered in a low voice, "Nasty things." He tightened his collar and watched the bridge with rapt attention as the professor named Snape shot out an invisible spell from his wand that, magically, slightly halted the Dementors'' attack.


    But ... Fudge held out his thick stubby finger, "Who is that man tied up?"


    Professor McGonagall looked carefully for a moment and exclaimed, "It''s Peter Pettigrew!"


    "How is it possible, isn''t he dead?" Fudge asked in disbelief, he felt a hint of ominous feeling, as if something had gone wrong - the sudden appearance of a person who had been dead for more than ten years, no matter how you think about it, is not normal.


    Umbridge rolled her eyes, "Minister, maybe this hero did not die back then, just lost his memory, he recently saw the news of Sirius Black''s escape from prison, and got stimulated as he recovered his memory, at the same time decided to fight against the strong enemy from more than a decade ago again ..."


    Fudge''s eyes lit up, "What you say is pretty much the way-"


    "No!" Professor McGonagall suddenly said, "Peter Pettigrew is an illegal Animagus who disguised himself as a rat and spent more than ten years in the house of one of my students! Dumbledore suspected that the Potters were betrayed by someone else. Minister Fudge, you should stop attacking and figure out the truth first."


    Fudge frowned as he said uneasily, "What are you talking about? Peter Pettigrew is a hero recognized by the Ministry of Magic, a recipient of the First Class Order of Merlin, how can ..."


    But he knew Professor McGonagall''s character, she never spoke falsely, Fudge sort of uncertain, hesitantly watching the battle on the covered bridge.


    This moment is already the most critical point, Snape has been using covert dark magic, the effect is not really obvious on the Dementors, but can barely support it.


    Dementors became irritable, the flames that Sirius cast out became weaker and weaker, and finally. One of the Dementors flew past him, sweeping away the only happy memories he had left.


    "No--" His wand dropped.


    There came a gap in the defense, and more Dementors pounced on him. The silver mist that Harry held up became thinner and thinner, and he felt like he is holding a mountain, as he bent down overwhelmed.


    Various visions began to appear in his mind, and once again he heard his mother''s voice, this time its exceptionally clear, he tried his best to struggle against it, but his response became weaker and weaker.


    Immediately afterward, Harry found himself surrounded by warmth, and he heard a gentle voice say, "Harry, pull yourself together and think of happy memories ..."


    Harry found himself free of the dementor''s influence, and he regained consciousness, glancing quickly around the scene, keenly noticing the silvery glow brewing at the tip of Snape''s wand, but he has no time to think about it, seven or eight steps away from him, he saw his godfather slumped to the ground, a dementor leaning close and lifting the tattered hood from its head, revealing a rotting hole that looked like a mouth, and he even smelled putrid breath.


    "No, no!" He shouted, he felt a surge of greater power that he never had before, the magic continued to converge, the silver mist rolled like a continuous wave, from the surface of the water a dazzling silver creature stepped out, standing still, a silver ripple rippled apart, tossing the dementors far away.


    Immediately after, it began to run in a circle around Harry, silver horn tip sent one Dementor after another flying, the Dementor army backed away and scattered.


    Umbridge and Fudge felt surprised to the point that their mouths could not close, "This is Harry Potter?" Fudge asked oddly.


    Umbridge froze for a moment, then took the whistle and blew it hard, urging the Dementors to attack.


    "What do you want, old woman!"


    Unbeknownst to them, a group of students gathered behind them, and they said with righteous indignation, a spell flew out from the corner and hit Umbridge''s black whistle directly, the whistle exploded with a bang, and Umbridge fell to the ground with a cry.


    "Who! Who attacked the Ministry of Magic''s high officials!" Fudge exclaimed angrily.


    Professor McGonagall raised her wand, followed by the students gathered behind her, she suppressed her anger and said sternly, "Minister Fudge, order the Dementors to stop attacking immediately, if something goes wrong, you will definitely regret it."


    Fudge looked around blankly, he never experienced having so many wands pointed at him, as far as his eyes could see there would be a young, angry face, even the elite Aurors he had brought with him did not have the slightest fighting spirit, they can''t fight against this many students.


    Fudge''s attitude softened, and he tried his best to defend himself: "I''m, actually ... not ..." He froze for a few seconds, turned around, and ordered loudly, " Bring the Dementors back, Aurors out, don''t hurt anyone!"


    A subordinate next to him whispered a reminder, "Minister, the whistle that controls the dementors blew up."


    Fudge thundered, "Can''t control the dementors without that damn whistle?!"


    The man said in horror: "Normally you can, but right now they are badly traumatized and desperately need to feed ..."


    Fudge''s pupils dilated for a moment as if responding to those words, the scattered Dementors regrouped, they did not die, but their robes got tattered and torn, and a few had large, bright holes in their chests. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    These got poked by Harry''s Patronus, but they aren''t considered fatal wounds, not even a minor one. The form is dispensable to the dementors, but they feel the hunger, and there''s a feast right in front of them.


    They aimed at the students behind Aurors and kept circling like funeral crows, only they looked a little apprehensive in the face of their former controllers, as they sucked the air in the periphery, the temperature dropping visibly, and many students exhaled a white mist with pale faces.


    On the other side, Harry leaned against the fence, breathing heavily, he is dead tired, barely keeping himself from collapsing. The Patronus jogged back toward him, neither a horse nor a unicorn, but a stag. It glowed all over, and when he reached out to touch the sharp horns on its head, the Patronus dissipated.


    It worked! He managed to save Sirius, Professor Lupin, and ... Snape. Harry''s eyes swept around, his own godfather lying on the ground, breathing heavily, his expression is one of relief after getting robbed, Lupin sitting wearily on the ground.


    He turned his head to look at Snape, only to see Snape dragging his shaky body, waving his wand like a sharp blade, shooting a haunting green magic spell from the tip of his wand, his eyes widened for a moment, the reality seemed to overlap with the dream, he once again heard his mother''s screams, followed by the green light that filled his vision ...


    That is a killing spell!


    How can Snape use this spell? No, who was he using it on?


    Harry realized with hindsight that Peter Pettigrew had disappeared, leaving only his clothes on the floor, and his eyes followed the direction of Snape''s spell to see a rat desperately fleeing.


    Snape wanted to kill Peter Pettigrew!


    But just then, a hand appeared out of the air and gripped Snape''s wand, "Severus, he''s not worth it."


    "Don''t stop me, Felix!" Snape''s face twisted, and in his eyes were biting with hatred, more intense than Harry had ever seen, "Let me finish my revenge ... I beg you!"


    "There''s a better way," Felix said, he flung out a magic spell, the rat''s body suddenly lit up, its head stretched, as did its torso, he broke away from the state of Animagus and stumbled to his knees.


    Peter Pettigrew had the worst luck, he only just ran to the other end of the bridge, and a dozen steps away, there is a group of Aurors and students, who originally staring uneasily at the restless Dementors, but at this moment, they can''t help but be attracted by this unexpected sight.


    Seven or eight dementors glided and floated down, and one of them strangled Peter Pettigrew''s neck and loosened the hood on its face -


    "No! Spare me, I shouldn''t have betrayed you, James, Lily, it was the Dark Lord who forced me, he''s too strong ... you don''t know what he''s capable of!" Peter Pettigrew shouted in despair.


    The Aurors from the Ministry of Magic stared in disbelief, their raised wands suspended in midair, and everyone, including McGonagall, froze in place as they were all shocked at Peter Pettigrew''s sudden outburst of shocking statements.


    At the end of his life, he seemed to come to his senses and yelled desperately: "He''s coming back! The one who cannot be even mentioned by name is coming back! I''ve done something wrong, forgive-"


    His voice ended abruptly as the Dementors sucked out his soul.


    Snape took a few steps back, lost in thought, and fell to the ground, the whole thing seemed to paralyse him, he covered his face and muttered.


    After a while, Fudge said loudly, "Ridiculous! What a bunch of lies he''s spewing!"


    Professor McGonagall said pointedly: "Only you think so, he has said clearly enough. Also, your Dementor is out of control!"


    The dementor is really out of control. Peter Pettigrew''s soul stimulated them, and instead of being satisfied, they wanted to drink some soup and water after the feast and began to approach the group tentatively.


    Fudge backed away in terror and shrunk himself into the crowd: "Protect me, use the Patronus Charm!"


    But unfortunately, the Patronus Charm is not some common spell, which is not a requirement - even for Auror. Only four of the people on the scene, including McGonagall combined, knew the Patronus charm.


    McGonagall frowned, she did not expect the Ministry of Magic to be so incompetent, especially the Minister of Magic, Fudge, who looked like he is going to be scared silly. She controlled her Patronus, as Harry had done, an intense light converged, but then she heard Felix''s voice.


    "Right now!"


    What now? She looked back, her mouth wide open in surprise, as Felix stood at the edge of the bridge, his hand created a colorless, transparent vortex, blue magic surging around his body as a Dementor got ripped off, shrunken, and plunged headfirst into the vortex.


    One, two, ten, twenty ... dementors were falling uncontrollably away from their sides, falling from the sky like black rain ...


    Felix maintained his magic as he felt a light presence pass by, it is Hermione cloaked in an invisibility cloak, he curled the corner of his mouth, " A good opportunity to seize, Miss Granger."


    "Thank you, Professor." Hermione said softly.


    She carefully avoided Aurors and Professor McGonagall as she passed through a group of students, "Who''s bumping into me?" Someone muttered disgruntledly, "Don''t squeeze, everyone can see, Professor Hap is so cool, and Harry''s Patronus, oh my god, it''s unbelievable!"


    After ten seconds or so, there is no longer a single Dementor in the sky, Felix held up the spherical vortex, looked at a crowd of dumbfounded people from Minister of Magic and Aurors, he whispered, "Since these Dementors are out of control to the point of attacking students and Minister of Magic, there is no need to keep them ..."


    "Peng!"


    The spherical vortex ignited with eerie white flames, the vortex began to rotate violently, large streams of black smoke gushed out, transforming into a distorted face, but soon burned up by the flames again, the black dots in the vortex disappeared one by one as if they had never appeared.


    Umbridge, whose nose is covered with blood, opened her eyes and saw the image of Felix burning the dementors, and the memory of what had happened before surfaced, and she screamed and fainted.


    "Hai, Mr. Hap ...," Fudge said shakily.


    Felix showed his white teeth, "No need to say thanks, it''s what I should do."


    -----------


    Note:


    There will be only one chapter tomorrow because this is 2 in 1 chapter.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 331+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 303: Sirius and Kreacher

    A few days ago. 12 Grimmauld Place, Black''s old mansion.


    Sirius slouched on the sofa, looking idle, his black curly hair casually draped.


    Compared to a month or so ago, he looked much better, with a little more flesh on his face, finally no longer looked like a skeleton that just dug out from the grave. Instead, he looked somewhat skinny and normal.


    His feet stomped on an elegant and antique coffee table, and every once in a while, Sirius would glance at the palm-sized piece of paper, which, in addition to some simple lines, is densely packed with small black dots, with only a few names written in golden ink occasionally moving.


    He stayed like that till noon when the house-elf Kreacher appeared dragging his body, Sirius''s attention shifted.


    Kreacher holding a dirty rag in his hand, it is hard to tell which is cleaner, this rag or the rag he is wearing on his body, maybe this rag is his worn-out cloth?


    Sirius wondered idly, when Kreacher slowly, step by step moved to his side, Sirius glanced at him with lingering gaze, watched him jump onto the coffee table, holding up the rag and muttering: "The loser young master doesn''t know where he learned the bad habit, just putting his feet like this, the lady usually likes to drink tea here, and has also entertained many equally noble guests ..."


    "Kreacher, your feet are dirtier than my shoes!" Sirius yelled in anger.


    "... carries many precious memories ah, if the lady knows it you don''t know how sad ..."


    Sirius''s eyebrows jumped for a while, the frown between his brows went away, and he jumped up at once, as he grabbed the cloth behind the neck of the house-elf - let''s call it the back collar - and prepared to throw him out.


    Kreacher did not resist, still chattering, "No match for his brother, who truly bears the responsibility-"


    "You''re talking about Regulus?" Sirius paused in his tracks and said, "He''s an idiot, I always thought he was smart enough to know how to save himself ... And what happened? He ran off and joined the Death Eaters!"


    "Young Master Regulus is not an idiot!" Kreacher struggled fiercely, his body swung around, he looked like some kind of wind-up toy, "He is ten thousand times better than you, he joined the Death Eaters instead of you ..."


    "What did you say?" Sirius glared and lifted Kreacher high, carrying him to the same eye level as him, "Tell me clearly--"


    But Kreacher kept struggling, his nose and eyes were all messy with tears and snot. Sirius tossed him to the couch in disgust.


    "I''m telling you, Kreacher! He''s an admirer of Voldemort, always has been. Know why everyone in the family prefers him? Because he lives up to what they want Noble Black to be like ..."


    "I even wrote him a letter asking him to stay away from Voldemort and hide. How did it turn out, he joined the Death Eaters as soon as he graduated. My parents must be overjoyed to finally clear my stain, they can say to the outside world again that a brave little hero has come out of their family, no?"


    Kreacher laid on the floor, whimpering and sobbing, his mouth spewing out a series of profanities, "... know no shame, make muggle friends ... dirty, cowardly, smelly ..."


    Sirius said angrily, "Stinky? Then I''ll show you the Muggle way, and to be honest, I''ve wanted to do it for a long time."


    He carried Kreacher to the second-floor bathroom, and threw him into the bathtub, as he opened the facet with a small snake pattern, " So dirty, I spent twelve years in Azkaban, but still not as outrageous as you!"


    Kreacher was held by Sirius, cleaned from head to toe on one side, he also used his wand to conjure up a brush, constantly scrubbing, even Kreacher''s bare scalp wrinkles dirt are clean, he said proudly: "Now you should be satisfied, right? I serve you as your master ..."


    A minute later, he began to regret, the water in the bathtub looked like a dozen bottles of ink had been poured into it, and gave off a stench, "vomit ~" he could not help but feel nausea, unbelievably he raised Kreacher''s hand: "You are using this hand to cook for me these days?"


    Sirius opened the stopper of the bathtub and let the water flow, and kept it running for half an hour-


    Kreacher sat on the couch clean and dry, his skin flushed with pink, even the hair in his bat-like ears are like white and fluffy as cotton wool, and he looked uncomfortable, staring at his toes for a moment.


    Sirius came out of the bathroom, as he had a bath too, or else he would carry a strange smell.


    He looked at the silent Kreacher with satisfaction, lying comfortably on the sofa reading comics, which the guy called "Felix Hap" gave him, saying that it''s to let him pass the time, along with a pile of Easter eggs, he picked the ugliest one and gave it to Kreacher.


    The afternoon time passed pleasantly, even the air is much fresher. In the late afternoon, he walked out of the old Black mansion and went to the community room of Grimmauld Place.


    "Yo, young man, again today?" A dry, thin old man said.


    "Yeah," Sirius said carelessly, arranging some pieces, "I go first?"


    "Then you should have taken the white pieces." The old man said.


    " Does it matter?" Sirius picked a black knight in his hand as he muttered, "If only this piece could move."


    The old man laughed freely, "You''re funny ... but it can''t!"


    The two played two games, both ended with Sirius losing, in the third game, he kept scratching his chin, thinking hard, "I remember it wasn''t that hard, I was able to make 60 or 70 moves when I played with Remus ..."


    An old woman carrying a cloth bag came into the community room, glancing around, as she approached and grabbed the old man by the ear, "Your son and daughter-in-law are back, and you''re still playing chess here?"


    "Finish this game, finish this game -" said the old man, with a pleading tone.


    So the old woman sat next to them and watched them play chess, the old man frowned, and by now it had reached a critical stage, and the two were killing each other, and the old woman looked on coldly and suddenly said, "Old man, move your queen."


    "Right." In Sirius''s dumbfounded expression, the old man used his white queen to kill Sirius''s black knight.


    "That''s not fair!" Sirius said, "Two of you against just me!" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The old woman grinned, "You can just ignore him, he was taught by me." However, she stopped talking, but the situation is irreversible, and Sirius watched as he got checkmated to death.


    The old man scattered the chessboard, "This game doesn''t count, we''ll play again later." He left with the old woman in tow.


    "My son didn''t fight with the family across the street, did he?"


    "No, They sent a gift. What''s the word? Reformed ... these six months they no longer play the stereo in the middle of the night, I said it and you did not believe me, I listened to the advice of a young man then handed a card to them, and just like this young man, he has dark hair ..."


    Meanwhile, in a gloomy and dilapidated inn.


    A shrill voice whispered, his voice as cold and harsh as the icy wind: "Go on, Barty, inform Peter ... to bring Harry Potter to me, I want him alive."


    "As you command, my lord! I will give my life for you!" Barty Crouch Jr. with his light yellow messy hair said fervently.


    "No, my dear Barty," said the voice behind the chair, "you must remember that this is only a risky attempt - under Dumbledore''s nose - and you must first save yourself. "


    ----------


    # Elijah Rabren, Thanks for your support.


    There are 332+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 304: Follow-up and Locket

    Fudge''s face looked somewhat embarrassed. The expression on his face is rather wonderful, it is like when a person is happy, in the most confident moment, but suddenly got knocked down from that feeling by a slap, Fudge wiped the emerging false sweat, and stammered: "Really, that''s wonderful."


    Felix said sincerely: "Now that it''s over, the Ministry of Magic''s Aurors team stationed at Hogwarts--"


    "Ah, of course, we should withdraw them, the Ministry of Magic is now severely understaffed ..." Fudge immediately agreed: "You know, hosting two major events in a row."


    Felix wrapped up his magic with satisfaction and hid the dementors that had been trapped under the noses of a group of Aurors from the Ministry of Magic in the compartment of his ring, which he had used last year to contain the Moly, one of the harvests from his and Belby''s adventures in the Forbidden Forest.


    As for the number of dementors, not much. Only a dozen, after all, the show still cost some capital.


    Felix and Fudge then made small talk, and Fudge spoke in a complimenting manner, even with a touch of flattery, promising to give him the best possible tickets to the Quidditch World Cup this summer, which Felix accepted with a smile, despite not really needing them.


    "This time it was indeed a mistake in our part, no, a mistake of a certain person," Fudge glanced disgustedly at the unconscious Umbridge, "we will restore the damage to a minimum, please rest assured ... "


    As he spoke these words, Umbridge''s body trembled.


    So faking unconsciousness, thought Felix, it seems that he really has left a huge psychological shadow on this high official of the Ministry of Magic, who would rather lie on the ground than face him. Probably not that entirely, she might not want to face the cruel fact ...


    Fudge left in a hurry with his men, he had a mess to clean up. As, he even had arranged for a reporter to come over in a high profile. According to his plan, the front page photo should be him escorting Sirius Black out of the Hogwarts, majestically announcing that he would not leave any ground for evil to survive, but halfway through the play there was an accident, after which it was like a wild horse off the leash, running all the way in a completely unpredictable direction.


    Umbridge is lying on a morphed stretcher, floating away, next to the body of Peter Pettigrew. She is now depressed as if dead, it is estimated that she will be in the cold after she returns, not sure when she can regain Fudge''s trust.


    When he reached the main entrance of Hogwarts, Fudge signalled one of his men to go out early. The unlucky Auror walked out of the school with a blank face, facing a blinding flash, he hurriedly blocked his face up and kept waving his other hand, "Stop filming! Don''t film me!"


    After a few minutes, Fudge carefully exposed half of his head to confirm that all the reporters had been driven away, before he quickly led his team away.


    Unlike the Ministry of Magic who left in distress, Hogwarts side having an opposite scene, the students cheered and raised their wands, shooting a sparkle from the tip of their wands, red, green, yellow, and blue ... looked like a grand fireworks show.


    Hermione quietly appeared, gestured at Felix with a smooth gesture, followed the students jumping randomly twice, pretending that she had actually been present.


    At that moment, a few people from the bridge came over, Harry holding Sirius and Lupin dragging Severus behind him.


    "Harry! Your Patronus is awesome!"


    Quidditch Captain Oliver Wood scooped Harry up, and before he could react, he found himself being lifted onto the shoulders of the crowd as they cheered and threw Harry into midair. "We are victorious!" "We''ve won!" The crowd yelled excitedly, their voices rising above one another, and as Harry got tossed to the top, he turned his head to the side, Sirius smiled at him, and Harry felt something stir in his chest, a happy emotion sufficient for him to draw his wand and let the silver stag Patronus fly out of his wand tip once more, as it leaped through the air.


    A few bold students tried to pull Felix over as well in the middle, bravely came forward to throw Professor Hap into the air with Harry, but that didn''t happen, when Professor Hap stared at them with a calm look, the students backed off tacitly and returned to Harry''s side.


    A little later, Dumbledore returned, and in the Headmaster''s office, he listened patiently to all this and smiled, "Looks like I missed quite a scene." He looked at Sirius and said pleasantly, "Tomorrow, I''m going to go to the Ministry of Magic and talk to Fudge about pardoning you."


    Professor McGonagall said, "The Ministry of Magic will surely compromise, too many people heard what Peter Pettigrew said before he died."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly: "I agree with you, Minerva. But I also know how deaf Fudge is." He paused slightly to skim over the subject, "Peter Pettigrew, did he really mention that Voldemort is coming back? It seems that he did a lot of things in the months that he disappeared." S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix reminded: "He also found a helper for Voldemort, and we know nothing about the identity of this person."


    Dumbledore said mildly, "You''re right, Voldemort has been lingering in the Albanian forest before... but it won''t be long before he appears in the open if nothing unexpected happens."


    "The Albanian forest?"


    "According to my sources, he hides in the depths of the forest, possessing various small animals," Dumbledore said thoughtfully: "Perhaps Peter Pettigrew just obtained the help of those little friends of his."


    Felix knew what the headmaster meant, he is referring to the rats, Peter Pettigrew can communicate with rats.


    "But -- Albus," Professor McGonagall said in shock, "if he was there all along, why ... "


    "Because there''s nothing we can do to him, he''s no better than a ghost, he''s like a shadow of nothingness. Believe me, Minerva, he must be agonizing like that." Dumbledore said.


    Out of the Headmaster''s office, Sirius found Felix, his expression rather complicated: "I know you have researched old objects ..."


    "What," Felix looked at him and snickered, "you want to sell some of the Black family''s collection?"


    Sirius brushed it off, "I''ll give you any piece you like for free. Do not interrupt, Kreacher told me something, related to Voldemort, but also related to my ... brother."


    "Your brother?"


    "Regulus Arcturus Black, he is not quite the same as I thought. Anyway, he stole something from Voldemort and got himself into it for that reason, and I think it must be very important to Voldemort."


    Felix''s expression became serious: "What is it?"


    "A gold locket, dirty, with a small snake on it, if Kreacher had not confessed, I would not have cared, too many similar gadgets at home ...," Sirius described it carefully.


    He continued, "But I studied half a day to find that it''s really not ordinary, Kreacher can''t destroy it, and so can I. Even if I use the maximum power of magic, I can only barely cut a small opening on it, and it didn''t take long for it to recover on its own."


    Felix paused, difficult to destroy, self-repair, these are the characteristics of Horcrux!


    The book " Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled" that he saw in Black''s old mansion has a very detailed description of the extreme characteristics of the Horcrux - in addition to being indestructible and resistant to most spells, it also has a strong ability to repair itself with magic, if you can''t find the right method, even if the Horcrux is torn, smashed, or crushed into powder. It is useless if you can''t find the right way to destroy it.


    The known methods of destroying the Horcrux is either with a fiendfyre, or by washing it with a huge amount of magic power, but the latter is something that only a wizard at the level of the four giants has.


    "Let''s go there now!" Felix said decisively.


    They turned down a hallway and saw Harry around the corner, his head slumped as he wondered about something.


    "Harry!" Sirius said, "Why are you here all alone, aren''t you celebrating with your friends?"


    Harry stammered, "Not much of a celebration. I went to see Ron, and he''s all right, except for the whole scabbers thing which made him a bit nauseous ... When I came back, I heard you were in the Headmaster''s office, so, I came to see. How''s your injury?"


    "Nothing serious, you see, it''s all just a few minor injuries." Sirius exaggeratedly kicked his leg.


    Harry smiled as he said expectantly, "So, do you have time now? Will you be staying at Hogwarts tonight, I can leave my bed for you."


    Sirius looked at him hesitantly and Felix said kindly, "Harry can come with us, just send him back before lights out."


    Harry looked at them in confusion, leaving school this late? Where are they going?


    When he saw the fireplace in the professor''s office burst into flames, he instantly recalled: "Floo powder? I''ve seen it at Ron''s house and used it ..."


    He thought back to his few not-so-pleasant experiences with floo powder, he hated the feeling of spinning around and getting dizzy in the fireplace, but he must admit that compared to an apparition, floo powder has been considered a rather comfortable way to travel.


    "Don''t worry, Harry." Sirius said, "Hold your breath and remember, 12 Grimmauld Place."


    Harry grabbed a handful of floo powder and sprinkled it in the fireplace, the fire leaped up and turned into a turquoise colour as he held his breath and readout, "12 Grimmauld Place." then his figure disappeared.


    In the office, Sirius didn''t move a muscle.


    "You have something to say to me?" Felix asked.


    "I actually want to ask you a favour-" Sirius took a deep breath, his fists clenched, "I want to bring Regulus back."


    "Regulus? You said before ..." Felix snapped back to attention: "He''s not in the locket he took from Voldemort, but in somewhere hidden?"


    Sirius nodded, "I''ve been there, but I couldn''t even get through the door."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 334+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 305: Parseltongue and Locket

    "With the Easter holiday ending tomorrow I will have class after that, then after two days it''s a weekend, how about scheduling it for that day?" Felix suggested. "Can''t we do it tonight? Both of us can go together now." Sirius said impatiently.


    "If that place is Voldemort''s secret hideout, he will let us leave in comfort?" Felix asked him rhetorically, especially, Felix had basically determined in his heart that it is where Voldemort placed his Horcrux first, it is better to be cautious.


    "Sirius, I need to make some preparations, and so do you, you look a little impatient now."


    "You''re right, Felix." Sirius said finally.


    Felix smiled weakly, "Come on, Harry''s waiting for us."


    The two walked into the fireplace, one after the other.


    The Black old Mansion.


    Harry curiously surveyed the awfully old house-elf, he couldn''t help but compare him with Dobby, despite the completely different appearance and clothes, the two had a surprisingly consistent temperament - both looked like the butler he had seen in the Muggle TV series.


    Dobby''s butler vibe is a little more obvious, as he has a little suit compared to the house-elf in front of him.


    "Hello, what''s your name?" Harry greeted in a friendly manner.


    Kreacher paused and muttered a little, but Harry didn''t hear him, then he straightened his clean white cloth, bowed respectfully, and said, "You may call me Kreacher, honored guest, welcome to Black''s ancestral house."


    Harry blushed a little, he didn''t quite get used to the house-elf greetings: "I actually, ahem, wait, Black''s ancestral house? This is Sirius''s house?"


    "That''s right," said Kreacher: "The young master was born and raised here, although he ran away from home when he was young without thinking ..." he showed a sly look, "But when in danger, he still thought of this place first."


    Harry asked for details with great interest, he wanted to know more about his godfather, and upon learning that Harry is Sirius''s godson, Kreacher''s attitude is much more respectful and willing to disclose more hidden things.


    "The young master has been crying for the past few days, Kreacher heard it all, but the young master is dead set on not admitting ..."


    "Kreacher! Shut up!" The fireplace flickered again, Sirius came out of it, and as soon as he came in, he heard Kreacher slandering him, and his nose almost flared up with anger. He strides over and picks Kreacher up off the floor and said loudly, "Don''t mention it to anyone again--"


    Kreacher said respectfully, "But Mr. Potter is the godson of the master, and as your heir, he has the right to know ..."


    "I said, no!" Sirius'' lips quivered, "Go make a tea."


    "As ordered." Kreacher''s figure flickered and disappeared.


    Felix watched from the side for a while, a smile flashed under his eyes, "So, your relationship has improved?"


    "Which eye did you see that? He''s still as annoying as ever ..." Sirius muttered.


    Harry blinked, he thought he should talk to Ron about what he saw. Ron had always thought of house-elves as servants of the nobility who only knew how to follow orders, but the two elves he had come into contact with - Dobby and Kreacher - had personalities of their own.


    They came to the living room, it is the first time Harry is here, so he is curious about everything here, and held an inexplicable good feeling about the house, although the house is a bit gloomy, perhaps it is the absence of lights? After all, it is nighttime now, Sirius lives alone, there is no need to be so wasteful ...


    The air is somewhat damp, with a musty smell, which is not much, you can just clean it up, Harry thought he could help.


    In the living room, the place is slightly brighter, the wall candles burning quietly, the ceiling draped with delicate gold chandeliers, Harry suspected that it is made of pure gold.


    "Make yourself at home, the house is a bit of a mess." Sirius put away the scattered comic books and piled them to the side, he stood frozen in place for a moment, "Oh yeah, I''ll go get something."


    Sirius left, the sound of crunching and stomping on the boards came from the distance, and soon his figure reappeared, returning with a sizable case with a gold locket. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Kreacher duly served hot tea as he stood at the door.


    "This is the thing ... Master Regulus gave it to Kreacher to destroy it. But the locket had so much magic on it that poor Kreacher tried everything and couldn''t leave a single trace ..."


    "Kreacher guessed that it is supposed to be opened from the inside, but I couldn''t do it."


    Harry watched Kreacher sadly crying, very worried that he would suddenly jump up the next second to punish himself. But then his thoughts flashed, open from the inside? He vaguely figured out something.


    Felix moved closer to examine the locket closely, it looked clean and should have been cleaned by Sirius, an ornate little S-shaped snake embedded on the surface, made of multiple small emeralds pieced together and emitting a faint glow.


    "The letter S." "A snake?"


    Felix and Harry said at the same time, the two looked at each other and Felix smiled, "We''re both right." He reached out his index finger and tapped the gold pendant box, his perspective began to change, the colour seemed like it was washed away by rain and became a greyish haze, the vision is dazzling with magical light, layers, and layers of dense magic, in the innermost layer of these protective magics, coiled a dark force so evil that it wriggled like a monster.


    It is a Horcrux all right, and ... Felix found that this Horcrux is more active than any he had seen before as if it is going to jump out in the next second.


    Felix pondered, it seems that Voldemort has different arrangements for each Horcrux, the diary Horcrux is also very active, but what was active was the memories of the young Voldemort hidden in it, not the soul Fragment inside.


    As for the diadem, it was even more secretive, and he didn''t see a flaw in it before. Combined with the nature of the Ravenclaw diadem itself, perhaps this could be the part of the ruse - to let the person who obtained it be silently fooled.


    Sirius stared at Felix and Harry, both of them suddenly went silent, "What did you see?"


    "If I''m right, this would be the locket of Salazar Slytherin, used by Voldemort to-" Felix stopped talking, the locket twitching slightly and looking agitated.


    "I''ve never seen it like this before." Sirius stood up in disbelief and pulled Harry aside, staring at it warily as the gold chain attached to the locket twisted wildly as if trying to strangle one of them.


    "Sirius, Professor ...," Harry swallowed hard, "I want, want to do something."


    "What are you talking about, Harry?" Sirius asked, worried that Harry had been affected by the locket and that he is looking at his godson worriedly, "Are you feeling sick?"


    "No, no," Harry echoed, incredulous at the idea that had popped into his head, "It''s the Parseltongue, I want to talk in a Parseltongue!" Sirius looked at Harry blankly, he had no idea Harry had this ability.


    "Go ahead and do it, let''s see what changes." Felix said calmly.


    So Harry stared at the locket, imagining the design on it a small snake, which is easy, especially since the locket continued to "buzz" and rustle, as he opened his mouth and made a "hissing" sound.


    Felix knew this word well, he had heard it a few times in the chamber of secrets last year, and it should mean--


    "Open." Harry said in a Parseltongue.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 334+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 306: The Story of Horcrux and Hokey

    The gold locket suddenly stopped trembling, and the wildly twisting gold chain lost all its strength as it hit the table. Immediately after, along with a crisp "click" sound, its small gold lid popped open. They saw the inner structure of the locket, two small glass windows behind each a living eye blinking, black shiny, and crystal clear eyes. Harry felt, if not sealed in a locket, the eyes should belong to a living person.


    There is a black mist filling the air. From inside came a hoarse, grim voice, "I saw your heart ...," said the locket to Felix, who is nearest to it.


    "Oh? So?" Felix operated the occlumency.


    "... Felix Hap, I know you, I can sense everything around me, what is in that book you read the first day you came here? Don''t deny it, I see your most desperate desire to be powerful, to live forever, to transcend death - you want to be the next me."


    "Who is this?" Harry called out, Sirius took him as he take a few steps back and said in a complicated way, "It''s Voldemort, I really didn''t expect that, he hid in a locket as big as an stone."


    Harry opened his mouth wide, he is the one he met in his first year? He had a much worse time now than being glued to the back of Professor Quirrell''s head.


    The eyes in the locket still whispered: "You have the potential, why don''t we work together? Together we can rule the wizards as well as the muggles ... and I, the greatest wizard who ever lived, I am willing to share my secret of immortality, the Horcrux, with you."


    Something that looked like a soap bubble twisted and appeared, and from above the locket rose a human figure, a rather handsome young man with a slim face, dark hair. Standing tall, he smiled graciously and opened his arms as if he wanted to embrace Felix.


    But his feet remained in the locket and could not come out at all. He smiled more affectionately and said in a soft tone, "How about starting now, right from this moment, on the road to eternal life ... just a gentle wave of the wand, and there are two insignificant offerings over there. "


    However, Felix said calmly: "I thought you would say a more brilliant insight, Tom. close it off, Harry."


    "What?" The red glint in the young Voldemort''s eyes flickered so brightly that if he hadn''t been staring, he might have thought it''s an illusion. He raised his voice, still Stoic, and tried to convince him: "You don''t know what you''re missing, I''m further along the road to immortality than anyone else, join forces ..."


    But Harry had made a "hissing" sound, the next second, the lid of the locket closed, a black fog full of hatred tumbled away, Voldemort''s image disappeared very vividly.


    Harry''s heart pounded hard as he gasped for breath, he really thought Voldemort was going to jump out and fight with them.


    Felix picked up the locket and tapped on it for a while, then finally put it away in his pocket, "I''ll give it to Dumbledore," he said emotionally, "the Headmaster hasn''t touched a single one yet, and I''ve seen three."


    They sat down again on the sofa, without speaking to each other, and Kreacher, grasping the door, said with a shudder: "Mr. Hap, will you destroy it? It was the last order that Master Regulus left to the old Kreacher."


    "I assure you, Kreacher, the locket will be destroyed." Felix said.


    "Thank you, thank you--" Kreacher huffed and disappeared with a bang.


    Harry calmed down a bit and asked curiously, "Voldemort just mentioned the Horcrux, what''s that?" His eyes darted between Sirius and Felix, hoping for an answer, his gut feeling told him that he had glimpsed very deeply into Voldemort''s hidden secrets.


    Sirius looked at Felix as well.


    "Horcrux... a very evil kind of dark magic, by splitting the soul and storing the soul fragments in a item, then that item is called Horcrux." Felix explained simply: "As long as the Horcrux is still there, Voldemort will not die, although he will be miserable, there will be a day of re-return."


    "This is the secret of Voldemort''s immortality?" Harry asked in shock: "No wonder he said he transcended death, by splitting his soul, what an evil practice."


    "But more than that Harry, splitting the soul is the result, and the process requires the completion of a ritual of killing, stripping the soul by killing, not to mention what I told you, the actual process is far more complicated than that." Felix said.


    "So what''s in the locket is just a fragment of Voldemort?" Harry understood that the two Voldemort he had seen were not the same soul.


    "Exactly."


    "So if we destroy the locket now, will Voldemort die silently in some dark corner?" Harry said thinking outside the box, extraordinarily excited by the idea.


    "Not very likely, Harry. He made more than one Horcrux, I''ve seen and destroyed two of them alone, and Dumbledore is still looking for more information." Felix said.


    Harry listened in awe, "You''ve been doing this? Against Voldemort?" He knew nothing about it.


    "It''s what Dumbledore has been doing, he''s been actively pursuing the past that Voldemort is trying to hide," Felix said, "and I, for one, just happened to be there."


    "Harry, even while you sleep, the world still goes on, you just don''t see that."


    Harry nodded, he knew what the professor meant, there is no need to take responsibility upon himself, he is simply a little impulsive, not stupid. The professor had told him what the Horcrux is capable of, he wouldn''t dare to think about trying to confront Voldemort before it all got destroyed.


    He perked up a bit, feeling like he had one more task in life, and if Voldemort''s Horcruxes still existed when he graduated, he would spend his life tracking them.


    Thinking about that future isn''t so bad, especially since it''s not a lonely path, with Dumbledore, Professor Hap ... and perhaps many people popped into Harry''s head.


    He asked the key question, "If the Horcrux were not one, well ... now it looks like at least three, or four, will there be more, like seventeen or eighteen?"


    Felix smiled a little, "Are you treating a soul like a cookie that you can break open at will and crumble it?" He thought seriously for a moment and said, "Actually, I have no way of knowing it for sure, the book, Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled, doesn''t state a limit on the number of Horcrux, so maybe the person who wrote the book didn''t expect future generations to be so crazy."


    "Does it hurt to strip the soul?" Harry asked.


    "Well, an odd question," Felix tilted his head, " although the book says it''s painful, I''ve never tried it myself, maybe Voldemort doesn''t care much?"


    "Well," he stood up, "that''s enough for today Harry, we should head back." He looked at Sirius again, "Our appointment will remain the same."


    The two returned to Hogwarts, Felix sent Harry away who is questioning everything, and went to Dumbledore''s office.


    Dumbledore is still flipping through the papers, listening to Felix saying the reason for his visit, he carefully examined the locket.


    After looking at it for a while, he wearily took off his glasses and wiped them with a small piece of velvet: "It just verifies the suspicion I got from Hokey."


    "Hokey?"


    "I told you, that poor little house elf."


    "You came back so late today, that''s where you went ..."


    "Azkaban, yes."


    Dumbledore told the story he heard from Hokey, the story itself is very simple, almost fifty years ago, when Voldemort, who was working as a shopkeeper in Borgin and Burkes, had visited a very rich witch - Hepzibah Smith, the master of Hokey, and two days after that, she died suddenly.


    "Two notable points in this incident are that with Hepzibah''s death, two of her most precious collections went missing, which happened to be the relics of the four founders of Hogwarts - the Slytherin locket, and the golden cup of Hufflepuff."


    "Voldemort did it." Felix said with great certainty.


    "That''s right, it took Hepzibah''s family a long time to be sure about this, because she had a lot of secret hideouts and always kept a particularly close eye on her collection."


    "Did you just say that ... Hokey is in Azkaban?"


    "Yeah, an obvious scapegoat, but Hokey herself admitted she put something in her mistress'' cocoa, which was later found to be not a sugar, but a rare and deadly poison. The verdict said that she didn''t commit the murder deliberately, but rather she is old and confused-"


    "Her memory was tampered with?"


    "I''m glad we agree," Dumbledore said, "Hokey is not in a good state at the moment, and I''m planning to file an application to reopen the investigation of this old case."


    "However, after all these years, Hokey''s memory has been messed up, it is difficult to distinguish whether she was tampered with at that time, and I can only raise the suspicion of the case ..."


    Felix also feels it''s difficult, now there is no evidence, everything is deduced out of logic, but Fudge is just scared to death, I wonder if he has the courage to refuse Dumbledore now.


    The two switched to other issues -


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, how many Horcruxes do you think Voldemort actually made?"


    "That''s a real head-scratcher. From what I know about him, Voldemort would find a number that makes sense. Three, seven, nine, thirteen, it''s all possible. I''d have to determine what he thought and find some evidence to support it. On top of that, we don''t know if he accomplished his intended goal on the night he went to the Potters'' house or not ..."


    That is to say, the number is uncertain, whether the goal was accomplished is also uncertain, Felix''s mind bubbled with a number, seven, but he did not speak about it, it would be useless to say, Dumbledore still has to explore and verify it.


    But he thought of a point, "Ravenclaw''s diadem, Slytherin''s locket, Hufflepuff''s golden cup ... Dumbledore, that Gryffindor''s sword would not also be a Horcrux?"


    Dumbledore shook his head, "I happen to know where the sword is, Voldemort did not get it."


    Out of the office, a fine rain fell from the sky, Felix stepped on the wet mud, still thinking back on the appearance of the golden cup of Hufflepuff that Dumbledore just morphed out.


    Dumbledore''s words are a bit jarring: " Oddly enough, I feel that you and Voldemort still have a few points of fate, maybe you will bump into other Horcrux in the future, better let you see what that Cup looks like."


    Felix can''t help but slander, you have a destiny with him, Dumbledore is not trying to push the job of dealing with Voldemort to him, right?


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 336+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 307: Portrait

    The next morning, heavy rain poured down, lightning streaked across the dark sky from time to time. Felix stood in front of the window, watching layers of curtain-like rainfall heavily, blurring the forbidden forest in the distance. His right hand held a palm-sized colorless transparent spherical vortex, in which a shrunken dementor lightly spun. S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After a while, the vortex gradually dissipated as he returned to his room, and his hand glowed slightly with silver light, and he directly grabbed the dementor.


    Fiddle with it for a while, then he stuffed it into the ring smoothly.


    ...


    In the classroom, the mood of the young wizards is clearly affected by the weather and their mood is a bit low, especially when Felix asked them to submit their assignments. He watched from the window as a group of students lined up for herbology class in front of the greenhouse in the pouring rain, and one unlucky student fell into the muddy water, but the mud immediately got washed away by the rain.


    "Okay, class," Felix looked at the fourth graders off the stage, "I''ve put together the 227 ancient runes you need to master this school year in a sentence, so your next task is obvious- "


    "I need you to memorize these seventeen sentences."


    Felix said uncertainly, "It shouldn''t be hard, at least it''s easy to me. We''ll start with the first sentence and go over all the things we''ve learned ..."


    At lunch, Felix heard quite a few titbits while eating in the great hall.


    The Quidditch finals were only just a few days away, this Saturday, the day he and Sirius had made an appointment. The two favourites to win the title, Slytherin and Gryffindor, were also on each other necks, and in addition to seeing Wood boast loudly about the superior performance of the firebolt, it was not uncommon to see a young girl standing on a large snake and strutting by, as the young wizards passing by saluted her.


    Within days, however, several senior Ravenclaw students "accidentally" passed through the open area with seven-foot-long eagles in tow, attracting a crowd of onlookers.


    Hufflepuff''s young wizards kept a low profile, which may have something to do with their early exit from this year''s trophy race - they lost a key game against a Ravenclaw team.


    However, this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the young badgers, and within two days of their loss, their captain led their support for the Ravenclaw team, declaring them as strong contenders for the title as they were in excellent form.


    In addition, Harry''s Patronus, Felix burning dementors, and the Minister of Magic Fudge leaving the school in distress news spread wildly. Any one of them will cause a minutes-long discussion, and Felix saw a Hufflepuff student forget to eat while arguing with his peers about whether Fudge would resign, so he had to rush off to Potions class with two pies.


    ''Severus''s nose is very good if he finds ...'' Felix shook his head and secretly took note of the student''s looks, ready to see if he would be detained.


    That afternoon, Dumbledore brought back Sirius''s certificate of innocence, "the wanted notice has been withdrawn, but I guess the Ministry of Magic will not make a big deal of their mistakes, Hokey''s case was also accepted by Wizengamot, in addition, there is Buckbeak''s verdict ruling."


    Felix glanced at the verdict at the bottom of the official document, "Accidental injury, fined five hundred galleons." He smiled slightly, "This time the Ministry of Magic is very efficient before it was dragged out for a long time."


    Dumbledore winked, "I told Fudge that you are defending Hagrid ... and he let it go immediately."


    But he then said in a quiet voice: "With what I know about Fudge, this is only a temporary compromise, I do not want you to take him lightly because of the clumsy behaviour he has shown in the past two days, his advantage is not in strength."


    Felix put away his joking expression and nodded his head seriously. What happened yesterday, in the end, was because he had shown great strength and had a reason, Fudge was unable to satisfy left and right, so he quickly compromised.


    But if you really think he is scared by your own strength, from then on you will do everything to oppress the other side with strength, and then it is easy to cause resentment and trouble.


    If Fudge is truly cornered, won''t he directly break the net and dispatch all the Aurors and hit wizards regardless of the consequences, will he announce Felix as a dark lord who''s going to slaughter the wizarding world? This kind of thing won''t happen now, as Dumbledore would be the first to deny it.


    So now Fudge showed his goodwill, Felix also has to appreciate it, although he is not too comfortable with it.


    If yesterday had any effect on him, it made him more eager to make some changes, not about changing himself, but about changing everything he saw in front of him. He felt like a painter who saw a stain on the paper and had the urge to make the stain into a more gorgeous picture.


    In the evening, on the table, there is an unfinished letter, the very beginning of which reads as follows -


    ''Dear Andys, regarding your previous suggestion, I have solemnly considered it and thought it''s appropriate to take a more active part in it, and I am going to establish a company-''


    The letter came to an abrupt end here, the ink traces had long since dried, even became faint from the humid air outside, enough to see how long Felix had been thinking about it.


    "Or let''s wait and think it over ..."


    Felix crumpled the parchment into a ball and flicked it out, the parchment turned into a flaming bird and rushed out the window, turning into wisps of ash.


    "I think when you thought of it, you can just do it, any way you can just let someone else to handle it for you." A voice said.


    Felix looked up at a portrait on the wall, the originally blank frame had an additional image of a young man with black hair and blue pupils, wearing a dragon skin cloak, none other than Felix himself.


    It is the portrait that hung in St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, he said grumblingly, "That dean hung me next to a medieval talkative wizard who would observe the flaws in everybody''s face that passed by and try to give advice, I have smacked him three times, but alas, obsession is written all over his brain - not right - he just doesn''t have a brain ..."


    Felix looked at his portrait, and a strange sense of absurdity welled up in his heart: "I think you''re quite talkative now."


    "Hold it in too hard ..." The person in the portrait spread his hands at him, "Hey, listen, I found out an interesting fact."


    "What is it?"


    "I can sneak into Dumbledore''s office. Remember the day you cured the Longbottoms? Dumbledore said he had been given notice by Dilys Derwent, so I approached her, and she let me borrow her ... portrait after a couple of soft talks, so I went to the Headmaster''s office and talked to previous Headmasters and of course with Dumbledore as well."


    "What did you and Dumbledore talk about?"


    "Don''t worry, my mouth is very tight, and you didn''t share the most crucial secret with me." The man in the portrait rolled his eyes, and Felix somewhat regretted making his portrait this lively.


    "... He asked me if I liked sweets and said I could suggest you to draw me a candy house, it''s interesting, how did you forget to draw the food in the first place? Even a bunch of grapes would be good ..."


    Felix: "... shut up already."


    The portrait made a zipper action with a smile, and he looked much more cheerful than Felix in person, "I still advise you to do what you want to do, don''t think too much." then he disappeared.


    Felix stared at the blank frame, looked at it for a while, then spread out a piece of parchment, thoughtfully wrote down a job advertisement, then rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into his pocket, ready to take some time to send it to the Daily Prophet.


    The next two days were uneventful until Saturday morning. When Felix got ready and went to 12 Grimmauld Place through the fireplace.


    Sirius, who had been waiting for a long time, walked anxiously back and forth through the room, and his eyes lit up when he saw Felix.


    "You''re here at last!"


    "Here''s your proof of innocence, take it." Felix handed him the official document from the Ministry of Magic.


    Sirius took a look at it, lost interest, and casually threw it on the couch, "I''ll call Kreacher, Kreacher!"


    A house-elf suddenly appeared in front of the two.


    "Is he going too?" Felix asked in surprise.


    "He insisted--" Sirius shrugged.


    Kreacher puffed out his chest proudly, "No one knows that place better than I do."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 336+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 308: Voldemorts Mistake

    The terrain at the edge of the sea is abruptly high, revealing a black surface under the erosion of the sea, forming a straight vertical cliff. The waves lapped against the reef, stirring up white foam and emitting a loud roar.


    "Bang!"


    On the top of the black cliff, three people suddenly appeared, two tall and one small figure. One of the three figures shuddered and almost fell off the cliff.


    "Towing you in apparition is like dragging a huge mountain, Felix." Sirius said under his breath.


    "Forgive me, perhaps I have too many enchanted items on me." Felix said, uncertainly, he still had a dozen dementors hidden in his ring. The prisoners were crammed into a small compartment with no magical isolation, so Sirius carried the equivalent of a group of people through an apparition.


    They had time to observe the surrounding environment, black sharp cliffs, on one side is churning waves of the sea, the other side of the cliff is fall winds that push you down, Felix looked into the distance, vaguely saw a village halfway down the cliff.


    In addition, all around looked bare, full of desolation, in addition to the vast sea and stone, you cannot see a tree, there is no grass and beach.


    Sirius pointed to a cliff in the middle of the sea, "The cave entrance is directly below the cliff, it is not visible now, we can apparite to that rock to transit ..."


    "Let''s go."


    This time, with Felix carrying them, they quickly jumped and shifted to the edge of a narrow slit below the cliff, and took a few steps forward before the curling seawater reach their feet.


    Soon the crevice became a dark passage, with the slimy mud-stained rock wall two or three feet from them on either side. Now and then they could step on a shell or similar thing. The air smelled salty and rotten.


    "It was brought in by the sea at high tide." Sirius said, raising his glowing wand and kicking a fish that is in their way, knocking it against a rock wall along with a small stone, "I cleared it before, but within a few days, it reappeared."


    Felix carefully examined the rock wall, in the black and white perspective, the black rock wall overlaid with powerful magic, he detected a powerful curse.


    I can tell that Voldemort is very good at Curse type of magic.


    "I was simply got blocked here when I asked Kreacher, he also did not know, when he and Regulus came, they did not encounter this wall ...," Sirius explained.


    "Kreacher, I remember you came here twice?" Felix asked softly, fumbling with the magic on the rock wall as he did so.


    " Y-Yes, Mr. Hap." Kreacher said, a look of fear visible on his face, "The first time, Master Regulus found Kreacher and said that the Dark Lord needed an elf ... It was an honour to be asked by Master Regulus to complete the task given by the Dark Lord, and then he asked Kreacher to... ... return, to home after that."


    "Kreacher followed the Dark Lord to this place, did not encounter the rock wall, so we went straight to a big black lake, there was a boat ... island, there is a stone basin, the basin is filled with a potion, the Dark Lord forced Kreacher to drink ... "


    "Kreacher remembered a lot of horrible things, memories of punishment, visions of being driven out of the house ... internal organs were like being on fire ... Kreacher begged the Dark Lord, but he just laughed and made me drink all the potion ..."


    Sirius went silent, he heard this story once, his heart still did not feel good about it. Felix whispered, "Testing, he was testing his defences."


    "Kreacher felt like he was going to die, the Dark Lord left Kreacher behind and left alone in a boat ... but Kreacher kept in mind the Master Regulus''s order to return home, When Master Regulus found Kreacher, he looked worried, and kept Kreacher hidden, and took care of me all alone... ..."


    The house-elf huffed and puffed.


    "After a while, Master Regulus came to see Kreacher ... in the night, and his manner was very odd, and I knew that his heart was very troubled at that time, and he seemed to be worried about something ... Master told Kreacher to take him to that cave, at that time we still did not encounter this rock wall, we got on the boat and came to the island in the lake, and then, then ..."


    Sirius clenched his fist, he knew what happened later, Regulus drank the potion by himself, and told Kreacher to return home, not allowing him to return, and forbid him from revealing the secret to his mother, then he asked Kreacher to destroy the locket - that Horcrux.


    As for Regulus, he was dragged into the water by the Inferi into the Black Lake...


    Felix is also touched by this past, it is hard to imagine a pureblood giving up his life for a house elf. But he was contradictory, he once followed Voldemort fervently, sincerely believed that Voldemort could bring the wizard a better life.


    "My brother - Regulus, he was young and gullible enough to believe Voldemort''s lies, he was only eighteen ..." Sirius said in a hoarse voice. "What a ... fool."


    The mouth of the crystal cave dripping drops of water, masking the sound of Sirius''s sniffing, Felix pretended to be interested in the magic on the rock wall, concentrating on the appearance, without speaking for a while. After many minutes - S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Voldemort was quite confident that when he added the outermost protection later, he didn''t check-"


    "No, Mr. Hap, Master Regulus created an imitation of a locket, a fake ... dropped it in when he arrived, when he drank all the potion, and then the potion once again filled..."


    "Well," Felix said softly, "that makes sense, he missed an opportunity to correct an error."


    Sirius asked: "How do we get through this rock wall, I''ve tried some magic, all ineffective, and the closer I get, the more the spell casting is interfered with. You see--"


    He pointed his wand at the rock wall, and a very thin spell flew out from the tip of his wand, and the outline of an arch appeared on the rock wall, radiating a dazzling white light, as if there is a strong light shining behind the crack. But soon the outline disappeared, and the rock remained as hard and thick as it had been a moment before, with nothing beyond it.


    "My opinion is that the rock wall contains a hidden wicked design - I know a very rare curse that makes visitors pay the price and weaken themselves, and Voldemort wants us to paint the wall with blood tinged with magic. But," Felix said with a sarcastic expression and contempt, "all he has done is useless ... we have a better way."


    Felix took off the ring, placed it on a conch shell aside, and said gently, "Kreacher, can you help us get across?"


    Kreacher looked at him with surprise, "I, I can? I''m just a humble, lowly servant-"


    "No, Kreacher, in some ways, you are more superior even to Voldemort."


    Kreacher stared, his bat-like ears stirring restlessly, he didn''t even have a decent dress, but he had been told he is superior to the dark lord that countless people feared.


    "Will you, Kreacher? Do your part for Regulus?"


    "Yes, of course! Kreacher is willing!"


    Kreacher reached out his trembling hand, Felix took it, and then the ageing, wrinkled house elf looked at Sirius with expectation in his eyes, and Sirius held out his hand.


    In the next second, the three disappeared in front of the rock wall.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 338+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 309: Return

    Felix saw a hazy green light, and he squinted as he saw the greenish light emanated from a stone basin that resembled a Pensieve, with a foot attached beneath it. At his feet were clusters of crystal-like stones, messily stuck upside down on the ground, reflecting a faint bright light. Felix''s gaze swept around, the darkness around is too thick to be dissolved, and the death breath mixed together.


    Sirius helped Kreacher up and raised his wand high, the light from the tip of his wand only illuminated a very small area, and even half of his face remained hidden in the darkness, making it impossible to see his face.


    "We''re deep into the core of Voldemort''s base." Sirius said quickly, with a bit of exuberance and the thrill of revenge in his voice: "But the atmosphere here is much more powerful, magic does not work well."


    "It''s just some magic that doesn''t work well," Felix tilted his head, gesturing for him to look at Kreacher next to him, the tips of the house elf''s fingers lit up with a brighter light, "and it''s given me some inspiration ... "


    Felix extinguished the light of his wand and blended completely into the darkness. They are only a few feet apart, but Sirius couldn''t see the slightest outline of him, and the silence around them felt eerie and his perception of danger grew steadily.


    He heard Felix utter an odd sound, like some kind of language, with a strange rhythm and tempo, and right after that, he saw light. A large, soft, milky white light bloomed in front of him, revealing an insignificant dot in his eyes, but in an instant, the light poured down, spreading over the earth, the air, filling every inch of space within his sight.


    The light is not blinding, Sirius can even look over Felix and see the scene behind him, he could not help but open his mouth wide - it is a boundless, mirror-like lake, he previously subconsciously ignored it, the lake is hidden in the darkness, calm and undisturbed, without a single ripple or sound, just like a flat open space.


    But the most surprising thing about the lake is what''s in it, the corpses! Body after body floated beneath the mirror-like surface of the lake. He looked around, and the nearest body is just three or four feet away from him, as though it could touch his feet if it reached out.


    Sirius could even make out the corpse''s soaked white face, like marble, wearing a brown top and blue or black pants ... Sirius'' heart became cold, Regulus might have been dragged into the water like this ...


    "Wow!"


    The dark lake rippled, and a hand poked out, "Watch out! This is not just a corpse, it''s an army of Inferius created by Voldemort!" Sirius backed off and warned loudly, "And, many of them are muggles ... Damn, it''s that village! He destroyed a village in order to get a source of soldiers!"


    Sirius had no time to curse as he raised his wand and prepared to strike back. It is not easy to restrain yourself while keeping an eye out not to accidentally injure the remains of Regulus.


    But Felix said calmly, "It doesn''t look like they''re planning to attack us." Sure enough, the Inferius did not climb up to the island in the center of the lake, but kept moving away from them, or to be precise, from the light source in Felix''s hand.


    "Fear of light and fear of fire, these are the characteristics of the Inferius, and Voldemort will definitely restrict these two types of magic, plus the inability to Apparite, it''s really a brilliant plan ..."


    Felix said, "But just like he didn''t take into account the magic of house-elf, Voldemort didn''t consider the ancient magic that relies on runes to cast, of course - probably considered but couldn''t restrict it."


    Felix held up his hands, allowing a round white ball of light to slowly rise, the cave they were in is very high, look up you can not see the top of the cave, so the white ball of light simply rose to the highest point, and like the sun, shedding a warm light.


    The darkness trap designed by Voldemort failed. Light and darkness tangled together and light eventually expelled the darkness, the entire cave illuminated like a day.


    Now, they could completely see everything around them - they''re standing on a small island in the center of the lake, which is surrounded by a large black lake, only the black water has been illuminated with a transparent glow.


    Hundreds of Inferius were holed up at the bottom of the lake, yet they could not evade the light, so they simply relied on their instincts to hide.


    Felix said to Sirius and Kreacher, "Now you can go and find him, I want to study this crystal stand." After a few seconds, he looked at the one man and the elf as he asked in surprise, "Do you need me to cast a Bubble-Head Charm on you?"


    A Bubble-Head Charm could create a bubble over the caster''s head that resembled the shape of an inverted fish tank, allowing the wizard to explore underwater or hide from unpleasant smells, and it''s not some uncommon magic. As far as Felix knew, the Weasley twins were quite skilled at this magic.


    "You''re not going to ask me to find him together, right? I don''t exactly recognize Regulus ..."


    Sirius waved his hand, he spent a lot of effort to apply a Bubble-Head Charm on himself and Kreacher as he said with a muffled voice, "Are you sure these Inferius won''t suddenly attack us?"


    "As long as they''re still Inferius." Felix scanned the whole area with a black and white perspective, "I don''t see any hidden magic, don''t worry."


    Kreacher immediately jumped into the lake and swam nimbly on all fours, Sirius muttered something and also jumped in after him.


    Sirius endured the cold, stinging lake water, his vision was not affected in any way, he first found Inferius hiding behind the reef, so he opened the Inferius'' hand which was covering its face, and tried to see it properly - then Sirius started to look for his next target, and was not attacked in any way.


    " Sick magic," Sirius remarked from the lake, the Inferius feared the light, but a normal bright light didn''t have this effect.


    The next part became boring - Sirius stayed in the black lake for twenty minutes, feeling stiff, his clothes soaked with water, dragging him down continuously, Kreacher was no better than he was, or even worse, he had to pull Kreacher up with him to recover their strength.


    The cold lake water crashed down from the Sirius robe, as he walked step by step, trembling all over.


    Kreacher''s teeth were chattering from the cold, and he couldn''t speak well, but he tried to hold on: "Kreacher has seen 47, no, 48 of them ..."


    Sirius said with a black face: "You are trying to get sick, so I can take care of you? Come and have something to eat, he even made a fire, just, just ..."


    Sirius felt a little outrageous, around the fire, there are all kinds of food scattered around, he also saw two jars of butterbeer, this is not a camping trip! He didn''t know how he managed to eat it, nevertheless, he replenished some energy.


    "You can use the warming spell, it will make you feel better." Felix suggested without looking up.


    ...


    One hundred, two hundred, Sirius had seen the faces of one Inferius after another, and two hours had passed.


    But the black lake is too big, and because of Felix''s magic, all the Inferius instinctively sought out a dark corner and scattered widely, making the search even more difficult. Despite the fruitlessness of all this - the bottom of the lake is by no means darker because of the magic.


    And then during this period, Felix has been observing the stone basin, as well as the green potion in the stone basin.


    For Voldemort, the Horcrux should be his most important thing, the protection measures around the Horcrux should be his strongest magic that he can think of, and can master.


    Felix can use this to glimpse a tip of Voldemort''s strength.


    In black and white perspective, a circle of magic ripples spread around him, Felix scanned the place, imprinting everything around him firmly in his memory, and then he finally moved, his hand went into the stone basin, and when he was an inch or two away from the potion, he could no longer submerge his hand.


    Felix tried different methods, but none of them worked.


    "Unless violently cracked ... but this is not really an accurate measure of Voldemort''s power, and he must have thought about it ..."


    Felix called out to Kreacher, who came up for the third time, "Do me a favour and bring the ring I put out here, if it''s a laborious process just forget it."


    "As you wish, Mr. Hap."


    Kreacher''s figure disappeared, and after a few seconds, he reappeared, holding a ring in his hand.


    "Is this ring too much of a burden on you?" Felix asked curiously, he was worried earlier that Kreacher wouldn''t be able to move together with him, Sirius, and a dozen dementors, but perhaps it''s a mistake to think so.


    "Some effort ... but not compared as much you alone Mr. Hap, you are truly a powerful wizard, more powerful than anyone Kreacher has ever met."


    "Uh, well, thank you, Kreacher."


    Felix scratched his head, so Sirius got so tired before, the problem was with him? Still, Sirius was travelling across a long distance, while Kreacher was simply making a round trip across a door, the two could not be compared.


    Kreacher bowed deeply, pressed his nose to the ground, and walked away backward.


    Felix took a cup out of his ring and he tossed it into the stone basin. This time, there is no magic to obstruct it, and the cup plunged into the liquid. Felix reached out and scooped a cup, then he observed it for a while, and then poured it out.


    The bright green potion streamed out of the cup, forming a curved stream, but then it disappeared abruptly in midair, and Felix emptied the cup without a drop of liquid on the floor. He looked back and the height of the liquid in the stone basin had unknowingly recovered.


    "Interesting ... is it necessary to drink it in order to get it?"


    Felix once again scooped up a cup of potion and used the Scarpin''s Revela spell to analyse the ingredients of the potion. A fuzzy image appeared above the potion, which is not clear enough to see, and Felix had to scan his memory to look for some out-of-the-way magic, a few of which he didn''t even use for once, he just categorized them and kept them in his memory.


    The good thing is that he learns things quickly. With the help of the Thinking Room, and his understanding of magic at the moment, most of the magic can be quickly mastered.


    "Mixed snake venom ... unknown creature venom ... Flobberworm mucus ... Liquid found inside the Erumpent horn... ...and bad blood herb, which causes impatience, recklessness and has a disorienting effect ... phantom grass, a rare one ..."


    Felix raised his head and whispered to himself, "The effect of the potion does not seem to cause death, but rather increased pain and powerful hallucinogenic? This is quite consistent with what happened to Kreacher, no, there is also the effect of chaotic magic, making it difficult to use magic ... In this way, even powerful wizards will be dragged to the bottom of the lake in despair."


    After another half hour, Sirius came up to see Felix choking a dementor and feeding it a potion, Sirius'' eyes almost burst out, where did it pop out from?


    Before he could ask, he heard Kreacher''s sobbing cries: "Found it - Master Regulus -" The house elf''s voice kept echoing in the cave, over and over again.


    Sirius rolled over and jumped into the water, following the sound. He suddenly realized that he hadn''t put on the Bubble-Head Charm yet, but it is too late to think about it, he held his breath and swam quickly to Kreacher''s side.


    He saw a familiar figure, not much different from his memory, just a little whiter, and the same black curly hair as it''s fluttered in the water. S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Sirius mumbled something, the pungent smell of salt mixed with the rotting lake water choked him and caused him to shiver and let out a violent cough.


    He swam back to shore with the body of Regulus, panting heavily, breathing heavily as "ho ho" sound emerged from his mouth, while he got soaked to the bone, the lake water flowing through his eyes along with his hair, making it unclear if he''s crying.


    When the mood calmed down, Sirius picked up Regulus, walked to Felix''s side, the Dementor already disappeared, he took a look, the potion in the stone basin is only left with a shallow layer, you can faintly see a locket in the bottom of the stone basin.


    But he knew it is fake, so he didn''t have a slight interest, he just wanted to bring Regulus back now, and place him in a proper place, preferably after a funeral.


    "Sirius, Kreacher, you guys wait for me outside, I need to do one more thing." Felix said.


    "What do you need to do?"


    "To put it bluntly, I want to do some damage ..."


    So Kreacher appeared outside the rock wall with the body of both Sirius and Regulus. After a while, the rock wall in front of them began to shed its layers by turning into sand, and they took a few steps back and watched as the rock wall bloomed with a layer of light, then quickly darkened and decayed. The solid, sturdy rock turned into a fine powder and flopped down, eventually forming an open space.


    Felix stepped out, and Sirius glanced behind him for a moment along with the light, the lake island had disappeared. And a small boat swayed against the edge of the lake.


    "Let''s go." Felix said calmly.


    "You ruined this place?"


    "It''s not good to let the next person who walks in do useless work."


    "Then what about that glowing magic of yours, that big ball of light ..."


    "Don''t bother with it, it''ll be gone in a week or two at most."


    Felix pulled Sirius and Kreacher, along with the body of Regulus, and instantly disappeared from the place.


    "Rumble!"


    Then a large chunk of rocks smashed down, completely burying everything inside.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 338+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 310: The Evil of Horcrux

    Black''s old mansion. Sirius, Felix, and Dumbledore were sitting in three separate seats, and the atmosphere in the house is very heavy.


    "He needs a funeral." Sirius said insistently.


    "I completely agree, Regulus was a hero - he also saved an innocent life and has a heart of gold ... fully deserves the honour." Dumbledore said softly, "However, we cannot reveal the existence of the Horcrux, that would cause a lot of trouble."


    His eyes shone through the half-moon lens, falling on the long sofa, next to Sirius, a young man quietly slumped back, his arms folded across his chest, his black curly hair draped as if he is asleep.


    Regulus looked a lot like his brother, especially the side profile, like a young Sirius who did not endure twelve years in prison, his age forever fixed at eighteen, but he accomplished what many people could not do in a lifetime.


    "Why - I don''t understand!"


    Sirius felt that the honour that belonged to his brother had been stolen from him and that he deserved more, like a grand funeral. White marble coffin, a place full of flowers and green grass as his resting place, and in front of the crowd, reciting the life and glory of Regulus Arcturus Black as the crowd praises him in unison for his outstanding contribution ...


    The fact that he defied Voldemort and sacrificed his life to retrieve the Horcrux was an important part of his merit, and he hated the idea of everyone not being aware of it.


    "Sirius," Dumbledore said quietly: "I have been trying to avoid the circulation of this evil magic as much as possible, even if it is just a name. Imagine what a bargain it is when people know that there is such a magic that requires only a few simple murders - pardon my wording, for some people it really is a simple thing - so they can touch immortality! "


    "I don''t think-"


    "That''s you, Sirius, no one will deny your courage and conviction, and if Voldemort returns one day, will you pick up your wand again?"


    "Of course! I will fight to the end!" Sirius said without thinking.


    "That''s it," Dumbledore said: "But can you face your death with an open hand?"


    "I''m not going to split my soul, Dumbledore!"


    "Of course you won''t," Dumbledore said soothingly: "But what if an extreme situation occurs, where someone you value is dying or is bound to die, and you desperately want to keep him ... that time, when you hear a magic that can bring back that person from dead bed, will you care if it is evil or not?"


    Sirius hesitated, in this instant, several faces flashed before his eyes, he had already lost too much, and really did not want the same thing to happen again.


    "People will flock to uncover the secrets of the Horcrux by any means possible - selfish dark wizards for themselves, decent people for their families and friends, brave Aurors for their brothers-in-arms, and vile ambitious people for eternal power ... Think about it, Sirius, what a terrible scene that would be!"


    Sirius gasped, thinking of that terrible picture, he had been convinced by the reason, but his heart still remained upset.


    After a long while, he said in a hoarse voice: "Then, then--"


    Felix, who has been quiet for the past 30 minutes, interjected, "We can arrange for Regulus to become a member of the Order of the Phoenix, in the name of an undercover agent, and thereby you can restore his reputation ..."


    "No, Felix, I don''t want to do that." Sirius refused, "Regulus was a lone wolf, and I want people to understand what incredible courage he showed when he made the difficult decision to fight Voldemort." He looked at Dumbledore, "Then don''t mention the Horcrux, but at least don''t ignore his fight against Voldemort, can you?"


    Dumbledore nodded and said, "I''d be happy to announce that at the funeral."


    "Thank you ..." Sirius said, in the absence of witnesses, the funeral will turn into a self-described joke, there must be a person of sufficient prestige to personally affirm Regulus'' contribution, and Dumbledore is the best person to do so.


    He will put his reputation on one end of the scale, for the former Death Eaters, and then quietly disappeared Black family descendants to serve as testimony, raising him high ...


    As for Sirius himself, many people still don''t know about his return until now, and if he suddenly appeared in Diagon Alley, he would definitely provoke a scream of fear.


    "So, I''ll, uh," Sirius said slowly, "I''ll determine the process, I''ll do it myself, and also determine the invitation list for the funeral--" He suddenly gave a disgusted expression and muttered, "Those relatives of mine, there aren''t many good people."


    "I can invite some friends, Sirius." Felix said.


    "Thank you, thank you." Sirius said, "Although I''m not quite qualified, As the person who was imprisoned for more than ten years no one would consider my invitation, but the family name Black would be worth the trip for them."


    " This is where the influence of a pureblood family comes into play." He said without emotion, making it impossible to tell if it is pride or mockery, and he whispered, "Just this once ..."


    Dumbledore offered his farewell as the fire in the fireplace blazed up.


    "Wait, Headmaster Dumbledore, let''s go together," Felix said as he got up and stood. "By the way--"


    Felix pulled a locket out of his pocket, and he held up the gold chain as the locket twitched.


    "This is that fake Horcrux I took out of the stone basin, I took a look at it, there is no other magic attached to it, there is only a note left by Regulus inside."


    Sirius reached out and took it. The forged locket was built by Regulus based on Kreacher''s description, and since Kreacher had only glanced at it, the replica was not up to par - not only the size is wrong, but even the "S" symbol of Salazar Slytherin is not there.


    He mechanically opened the lid of the locket, there is only a small piece of folded parchment inside, he opened and looked at it, his eyes instantly moistened, he trembled and read out the words on it -


    "To the Dark Lord


    I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.


    I Face the death with the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.


    R.A.B."


    Kreacher let out a sad cry and flopped to the ground.


    Dumbledore sighed and turned to walk into the fireplace, and Felix followed along. In the ancient runes'' professor''s office, the two had a brief conversation.


    "Do you feel that some of my actions are unsympathetic, Felix?" Dumbledore gave a weary expression.


    "You simply need to consider too many things, weigh the pros and cons, and plan the whole picture ... Albus."


    Dumbledore looked at him in surprise, he showed a relaxed smile: "Let''s talk about something pleasant, well, I need to express my gratitude, in fact, in addition to the Hokey line, I have also been investigating Voldemort''s childhood life in the Wool''s Orphanage, only it has been demolished due to the age.


    But I have not given it up, if not for you guys, maybe I would have come across that cave."


    Felix smiled: "With your magic power, you can certainly crack his secret ... but there is something worth noting, I found that Voldemort is very good at curses, and he also used to people''s desires very well as he implemented both together in that cave."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly: "Indeed, it is worth noting that he may take advantage of the weaknesses of people and set up traps."


    Finally, Dumbledore told Felix to not reveal the existence of the Horcruxes again unless he had to, for the same reason he used when he convinced Sirius, Felix did not feel it is alarming.


    "Then Harry ..."


    "I have talked to him," Dumbledore showed a distressed expression, "he and his friends tried to find out more secrets of the Horcrux. For this reason, they also wanted to ask Irma, but fortunately, I found it in advance."


    Felix also felt it is dangerous, he is not interested in the Horcrux himself, also did not consider the possible consequences that Dumbledore pointed out, plus Harry is destined to go against Voldemort, so at that time he revealed this part of information with no psychological burden.


    I guess Harry didn''t consider this either, which is why he planned to ask the librarian, Madam Irma Pince.


    ...


    The rest of the month flew by, and at the beginning of the new month, Felix finished invigilating the final exams for the third, fourth, and sixth years, and then observed the wizarding exams for this year - the O.W.L''s and the N.E.W.T''s.


    The examiner assigned by the Wizarding Examinations Authority is still the same as last year''s group, and by the time the exams are over, the fifth and seventh graders are spreading their wings and having fun, celebrating their release from a year of purgatory. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The week before the end of the school year, Felix held the last Magic Rune Club assembly for the semester.


    All the members of the club were excited because there is an open secret that has been circulating among them for a long time, Professor Hap is planning to teach them ancient magic!


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 340+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 311: Dangerous Ancient Magic

    In the Magic Runes Club, the young wizards sat in a relaxed mood on couches of all sizes, chatting animatedly and discussing what they were going to do on their holidays. "I''m definitely going to the World Cup ... I''ll also be going to visit relatives with my family, and my uncle has a giant creature with a tall spine and a pair of long horns ..."


    In the corner of the couch, Hermione whispered, "I guess he''s talking about Graphorn, they''re usually found in the mountains, they''re Greyish-purple in colour and have a very aggressive nature-"


    "Oh, Hermione, we''re all done with exams." Ron said.


    "That''s not part of the exam-"


    "I know, you were just too excited to control yourself because Mr. Newt Scamander wrote back to you, and you got all his information memorized." Ron said.


    Harry couldn''t help but laugh out loud, and Hermione glared at them in shy annoyance.


    Harry played with a heptagonal Muggle coin, Professor Hap had told him that he could only use the Apparition outside the Room of Requirement when the entire coin turned into a dazzling golden colour, but it currently had one corner left to change, and Harry had been hoping to fill it in before the holidays.


    Ron glanced enviously at the coin, he had tried a few times along with Harry when he was practicing that magic, but it had never worked, and he had always had a desire to learn that spell before the twins did, so he can laugh at them well.


    "Harry, the day of Professor Lupin''s farewell party, is it confirmed?" Ron asked.


    "The day after tomorrow," Harry said, "just a small get-together, some professors ... and us."


    "That''s odd," Ron said, "I thought Snape was going to spread about him being -- ouch!" Harry stomped on him in a panic, which sobered him up, "I mean, with the way Snape treats Professor Lupin, surely he wouldn''t mind spilling his secrets ..."


    Hermione said, "Professor Snape knew that from the beginning, and he had no need to do that."


    "I mean--"


    Harry said thoughtfully, "Maybe it''s something that he''s too proud to do, and Professor Lupin kind of helped him, didn''t he? He doesn''t know the Patronus Charm." Despite saying this, he still is unsure whether the silver glow he saw on Snape''s wand that day was his own illusion or not.


    Or maybe that magic had nothing to do with the Patronus Charm at all?


    At that moment, Professor Hap walked over, holding a shallow stone basin in his hand, as the young wizards gathered around curiously.


    "Is this ... Pensieve?" A sixth-year student called up and said excitedly, "Professor, is this a Pensieve?"


    "It''s just a replica." Felix said with a smile as he smoothly placed the stone basin on the small, low table, so everyone could see it, "We''ll use it later."


    The gray stone basin held some silvery substance that looked like liquefied clouds and melted silver, which slowly swirled around.


    Harry remembered that in his first class on ancient runes, the professor had introduced this ancient type of magical artefact, which could store and observe memories. He thought of the unnamed book he had and couldn''t help but speculate that perhaps it worked similarly?


    Felix sat down and looked at the crowd with a smile, "As many of you are well aware, I will be teaching you an ancient magic for the last part of the school year, and I am glad to see that you have all mastered the runes that need to be used."


    "Illumination - I named it myself, originally I only thought it could be used for illumination, but some time ago I discovered that it also has a notable restraining effect on dark creatures, and can also dispel the dark mists caused by magic ... In short, it''s good magic that can be classified as defensive magic."


    As he said that, Felix uttered odd phrases and pointed his fingers forward, he deliberately slowed down the process to make everything visible, and the young wizards strained their necks to look, afraid of missing a detail.


    One after another, ancient runes appeared out of thin air, as if they had always been there, only invisible before. Smaller than the tip of a pinky finger, these ancient runes overlapped with each other to form an exquisite pattern, and the next second, a milky white light rippled and bloomed from the professor''s fingertip.


    "I just demonstrated the process of casting the spell, not showing its power, in fact, you can hardly assess the upper limit of this magic." Felix chuckled, "But I don''t think anyone would be bored enough to drain their magic either-"


    He suddenly paused as more than one young wizard would jump at the chance, he held his forehead, well he was the one who thought out of line, for him, it is the boring thing, but for the young wizard, it is quite fun entertainment.


    So he warned again, "Even though this magic is safe enough and the greatest danger is nothing more than the discomfort of draining your magic, it is a very unpleasant feeling and all I can say is that if you pass out, you will be glad that you did."


    The professor''s seriousness made the students restrain themselves a little, and Felix continued, "Great power and difficulty in controlling it are the characteristics of ancient magic, but why is that? Has anyone ever thought about it?"


    The members of the club discussed with gusto, after most of the year, they had long since ceased to be the novices in ancient runes, and when it came to practical runes, they are among the top group of people in the wizarding world.


    Although, in Felix''s opinion, it remained as weak as it was.


    "Because it requires a lot of magic power?"


    "Obviously not, my guess is that when the runes converge into a magic it will explode if something goes wrong."


    Draco Malfoy suddenly spoke: "My father said that ancient magic is very dangerous, once it takes shape, it has a mind of its own, it will extract the magic power of the caster, and even life ..."


    The discussion weakened, and the crowd looked at him with scowling eyes.


    Felix clapped his hands, "Well, Malfoy, in a way, I can''t say you''re wrong, it comes down to the question, how do we get to master an ancient magic ..."


    "First, the first step is to master all the ancient runes corresponding to the magic, preferably to the level of mastery, i.e. mastering the rune''s meaning itself;"


    A rune appeared in the air in front of him, which took various forms and then disappeared silently.


    "If we take illumination as an example, there is only one core, signifying light, the sub-core runes are six, representing its different characteristics; then the outer layer, seventeen less important runes."


    Felix showed all these runes in magic, and everyone present mastered them, at least the seven core ones, to the level of proficiency.


    "The second step, we have to combine the runes in a specific order, in ancient times, this is a wizard''s biggest secret, unless the closest kin, it will not be easily revealed ..."


    "The reason is simple, the number of magic mastered by wizards at that time was small and often similar, once leaked, it was easy to be targeted by enemies."


    "To complete this step, although it is not easy, it is not difficult either, the best way is a lot of practice. Except for certain out-of-the-way ancient magic, the danger involved in this step is not too great, especially with the illumination we''re going to talk about today."


    Hermione nodded continuously on the side, she practiced relatively smoothly, even if the rune sequence collapsed, it just turned into pure magic - she wrote down specific tips at the end of each practice, and kept looking through them during the weekdays.


    "Finally, it comes to the key part, where the characteristics of ancient magic are also reflected the fullest - moulding."


    Felix looked around, satisfied that all the students were listening with full attention, he continued, "The form of ancient magic is not fixed, the same magic, some people can use it as a fire phoenix, others only can use it like a fire bird, Fire Salamander, fire crab ..."


    He gave an exaggerated example, and the young wizards laughed in a low voice.


    "The first half of Malfoy''s sentence is quite right, once ancient magic takes shape, it seems to have a mind of its own, it will instinctively extract the magic power of the caster and grow itself, like a greedy monster, at this time you must be able to control your own magic power enough to counter this suction;"


    "In addition to that, ancient magic has no fixed form, so you have to make it obey your orders and run according to your will ... How much magic power do you want to put in? How long to maintain it? What form does it take? What traits to strengthen? How do you want it to end up?"


    Felix asked a series of questions, and after waiting quietly for a few seconds, he spread his hands and said, "Unfortunately, there are no fixed answers to all of these, it''s up to you to decide."


    "So once you learn a powerful attack magic, you can imagine what it will cause when it gets out of control."


    Harry imagined along the lines of the professor. If it is a flame type of ancient magic, which did not take shape well enough, but once by chance you cast it successfully, but as a result, you can not control it and be drained of magic power, I guess you can only watch the magic devour you ...


    "But the good thing is--" Felix raised his voice to wake up a group of young wizards who had fallen into a terrible hallucination, "the illumination you are going to learn is not dangerous, at least you don''t have to worry about being burned to ashes by flames, corroded by poisonous mist into pus, and being blasted by lightning into dry corpse ..."


    The young wizards stared blankly in unison, they really didn''t get much comfort from the professor''s words.


    "Does anyone know what this tells us?" S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    One of the twins muttered, "Don''t let it take shape."


    "That''s right," Felix gave him an approving look, and Fred''s mouth wide open as he blurted it out.


    "Don''t let your ancient magic take shape easily, repeat the second step until you feel very proficient, and then you can proceed to the next attempt."


    "Each of you will be tested before you leave the school, and I will also write to your parents to explain the situation, and it is strictly forbidden to practice in private, it is stupid to be drained by your own magic, understand?"


    The young wizards went silent, the professor had never been so strict before, so they nodded one by one like a pecking chick.


    "Very well, you have almost a week to master the initial illumination," Felix pointed at the stone basin, "with the help of it."


    Felix stood up and looked around, "Anyone wants to be the first to go in? Although it''s a replica, I''ve kept some features of the Pensieve, and the way to enter is a bit like diving, which I personally find intriguing."


    ----------------


    # Samuel Pawluck, Thanks for your support.


    There are 340+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 312: Prophecy

    "Fred and George must not have known that their noses would one day be on public display." Ron giggled, staring unblinkingly at the small patch of light above his head, as Harry, Hermione, and a dozen others around them also gestured in the same way. They are standing on the empty floor, or rather - the space inside the stone basin, which is not very well lit, close to the twilight scene at dusk.


    Nor the ceiling above is visible, instead, there is a circular bright light, very similar to the shape of the edge of the stone basin. At the moment, a part of that bright light is obscured by a straight nose, as if a giant is peering at them from outside the room.


    Ron said with a satisfied face: "Guess whose nose is this? I think it''s George, although it may not be obvious, but his nose is a little crooked."


    Harry grinned, it is indeed an interesting perspective, and they could hear the "buzzing" sound of talking, from far away, with echoes -


    "I see so many little people, little Ronnie is easy to recognize with our family''s red hair - ouch!"


    The crowd inside the stone basin watched as one of the Weasley twins fell open-mouthed through the air, he tumbled a dozen times and landed solidly on the floor, George Weasley looked up to see his brother stretching out his hand with a wicked grin on his face and said to him in a teasing tone, "Your hair stands out too."


    George immediately crawled to his feet, patted the non-existent dirt on his body, and pretended to say, "It''s Fred''s fault, he''s holding my head down, oh, here he comes."


    The crowd looked up, another man fell from a height, almost a replica of George, Fred also hit the ground with a "thud".


    "Now that''s good!" George asked happily, "Harry, which of us do you think landed in a better position?"


    Harry tried to sound objective, he stifled his laughter and commented seriously: "I think it''s you, but Fred hit the ground with a louder sound ..."


    One by one, the students fell like dumplings, and finally, Professor Hap landed lightly on the ground, smiled, and said, "An appetizer before the big meal, I hope you had fun."


    "Next, I will demonstrate to you the true power of this magic."


    As Felix spoke, he waved his hand at the same time, everything started to change like a fairy tale. The sky dimmed, darkness covered everything, and then no one could see anything. Harry panicked a little, his heartbeat uncontrollably accelerated, he called out tentatively, "Ron? Hermione? Professor?"


    No response, even his own voice could not be heard. In a panic, he ran into someone who seemed to be about to stumble, so he pulled him up.


    "Calm down--"


    Professor Hap''s voice said: "This is a magic mist, which can block the normal natural light and sound. Generally speaking, experienced people will choose to stay away from this kind of zone, because they don''t know what they will encounter. But if you''re already deep in it, you can use some special magic to break the mist, such as the illumination I''ve taught you."


    He recited the runic phrases, a light gathered in his hands, and rays of light pierced the darkness and brought the brightness. However, the bright light and the darkness were entangled together with each other, and neither could contain the other. As Harry thought of a scene where a torch ray passed through the darkness in the middle of the night.


    Only, in the Professor''s hand, there may be countless smaller torches...


    At the same time, Harry could see who is beside him, the only second-year student, "Oh, Ginny, are you all right?"


    Ginny''s face turned as red as her hair, "No, no, I''m alright!"


    Felix said, "This is an initial mastery of this magic, and the minimum I require from you - you can control it steadily, without letting it draw your magic, and also maintain a very basic shape, in which it will look like a large torch."


    "When you become comfortable with it, I mean if you have enough control, you can change the shape of this magic at will according to your heart, like a ball of light-"


    He held out his hand, holding a milky white ball of light, with a bit of warm bright yellow tinge in the magical mists, you can''t help but feel at ease. The light glowed brighter, and Harry saw shadows of other people.


    "Or animal appearance--"


    A glowing owl flapped its wings, illuminating their faces indistinctly, and Harry suddenly thought about his Hedwig, but the next second it turned into an eagle, and various unknown raptors.


    "Or, just the simplest ray of light--"


    Felix said as the monkey-eating eagle in his hand shot up into the sky, trailing a long, bright horizontal trajectory, and in the end, it literally turned into a beam of light.


    "These gimmicks can be utilized in your private practice to help you hone your familiarity with this magic, and after that, when you can freely channel magical power, you can strengthen the power and range of the magic."


    The wrist-thick beam of light seemed to be unbound and swelled rapidly, one foot, two foot, ten foot, twenty-foot ... pillars of light stretched and engulfed them, and the magical fog in the whole space broken apart, and the sky became bright.


    Felix retracted his magic, "So, next - I''ll be instructing you one-on-one."


    Everyone stared at the professor, they couldn''t figure out what he meant by that, one-on-one, are they going to be instructed one by one? The trio vaguely guessed that perhaps the professor had made advance preparations, like that Professor Hap who is made of memories in the nameless book.


    They guessed half right.


    Hermione suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes widened, the others were also displayed a shocked expression, as a second head appeared from Professor Hap''s neck, then quickly, his chest also split into two, as if two professors are overlapping each other.


    In the eyes of the crowd it''s beyond bizarre, the second complete "Professor Hap" emerged out of Felix, this Professor Hap called a name: "Malfoy, follow me."


    Draco walked up in front of the two professors in a completely mechanical way, looking left and right, he could not tell who is real and who is fake, but soon, something more surprising happened, as a third "Professor Hap" appeared, he carelessly twirled his wand, "Well, it''s you, Diggory. "


    Cedric''s expression stiffened as he followed him away, and when he walked some distance away he couldn''t help but look back, the fourth and fifth Professor Hap also already started to select students, and he finally understood what one-on-one instruction meant.


    It is really one-on-one!


    "Geoffrey-"


    "Percy Weasley--"


    "Miss Greengrass--"


    One by one, the members of the Magic Rune Club got taken away by Professor Hap, each left with a bewildered look on their faces, and Harry could particularly understand them, even after the baptism of the Nameless Book, he still greatly shaken.


    He found that Professor Hap had never been shy about showing them the wonders of magic and using it in every aspect of his life and teaching; magic had become a part of the professor.


    "You seem to have something to say to me, Harry?"


    Harry opened his mouth as he thought of Professor Trelawney''s unusual state during the exam, in his mind, either Trelawney had an unknown hidden illness or she had actually made a prophecy. S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He had always thought that the divination class professor is a liar, but since the night attack of the Dementor army at the bridge, he did not think so.


    "What you fear will happen in April."


    Right on! This statement was not made to a particular person, but to all four people who were there, Ron, Hermione, Professor Hap, and he himself!


    Ron had been harbouring expectations that his pet rat would one day return - not as the Dark Wizard, or Peter Pettigrew, but as a scabbers, the inconspicuous rat who had been with him for over two years, but his fears had undoubtedly come true;


    Hermione had been worried about them being attacked, which was one of the reasons why she actively organized the dueling self-study group. As a result the attack really happened, if not for the sudden appearance of Sirius, they may have been kidnapped by Peter Pettigrew, no, only he, while Hermione and Ron''s fate can be imagined;


    What about Professor Hap? One of his respected elders had died that day, as Hermione had told him.


    As for himself, he worried about more things - worried about Ron''s worry, but also worried about Hermione worry, after he recognized Sirius as his godfather, he began to worry that he is not worthy of such a wonderful family, and it ended up in the middle of the real accident ...


    When Harry said this speculation to Ron and Hermione to hear, they were also surprised to death.


    "Harry, it''s just a coincidence!" After the shock, Hermione said with high spirits.


    "Maybe, maybe it''s true, that old dragonfly Trelawney really does have some skills, Hermione, didn''t you say that her ancestors had a real talent for divination?" Ron asked sceptically.


    Privately, he gave nicknames to professors he didn''t like; Snape is a greasy old bat, Trelawney is called as old dragonfly because she likes to pretend to be a diviner and wears a pair of insect eye like glasses ...


    The two best friends had opposite reactions, making Harry''s attitude sway from side to side, until the exam, Harry was the last to walk out of the divination classroom, as he returned the crystal ball that dropped on the floor to Trelawney, she rolled her eyes, her body stiffly supported the armchair, as she uttered a paragraph of inexplicable words, her voice is as if she was sick, almost like a knife has been sharpened by a file harshly, hoarse and strange -


    "The millennium''s unseen change ... legendary drama is thus staged ... ho - the clown returns to play at the beat of the drum, the warrior is fully equipped, the lion grows old, the firebird of Nirvana ... Time! Time!"


    Harry was dumbfounded at that time, and as he was thinking about getting someone over for help, Professor Trelawney''s head dropped to her chest, she grunted, and then, quite suddenly, her head snapped back up, and she stood as if nothing had happened.


    "I''m sorry, dear boy," she said as if in a dream, "it is too hot during the day, you know - I fell asleep for a while..."


    Harry remained standing still, jaws dropped.


    Trelawney glanced at Harry in surprise, as if he had done something strange.


    "What''s on your mind, boy?"


    ...


    "What are you thinking about, Harry?" Felix asked.


    "No, nothing," Harry froze for a moment and snapped back, "I was going to ask, is the stone basin also based on the same principle as the nameless book?"


    "Pretty much," Felix said, "but rather than the Nameless Book, it''s a combination of the Room of Requirement and the Pensieve," he winked, " I received a gift from the two Seniors. "


    ----------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 346+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 313: Centaur Divination

    It took from morning to afternoon for the club members to leave one after another. "It was great!!!" One student said excitedly, "It''s like the professor is only mine ..."


    "All of us thought so too." His companion said with a smile.


    But he completely missed the point and said in an exaggerated tone, "Professor Hap also discussed incidentally with me about what spellcasting posture is more handsome, did you hear that?"


    "I''m a full hundred feet away from you, man!"


    A girl said, "Professor Hap was very patient, and while telling me about the structure of the rune sequence of illumination, he described it as look like a bell orchid-"


    "Huh? The professor and I were talking about tulips." Another girl said.


    "It''s obviously a rose ..."


    As a few people looked at each other with disagreement, Ron couldn''t help but say, "Maybe Professor Hap was just trying to convey an arc structure, and all these flowers look similar, don''t they?"


    The girls who had been discussing fervently stared at Ron and left with a grunt.


    Ron rubbed his head and asked in disbelief, "Did I say something wrong?"


    "No, you just ruined their whole day." Hermione said casually.


    They came to a yard, the plants growing thickly along the zigzag path, Harry fiddled with the orange-red spherical fruits in the shrubs, next to the large tufts of mistletoe decorated with white beads.


    "How''s Sirius, Harry?" Hermione inquired.


    "He''s fine, he''s been busy preparing for his brother''s funeral, and he doesn''t want anyone else to get involved." Harry said softly.


    "I think the name is Regulus Black?" Ron said excitedly, "He''s cool, the lone hero ..." He lowered his voice and said, "Being a Death Eater but screwing the dark lord once, he deserves it."


    "Yeah, but you definitely can''t mention the Horcrux at the funeral, Headmaster Dumbledore specifically spoke to me, you know ..."


    Ron laughed, "He must have been so distressed at the time, and probably thinking of casting an Obliviate on us-"


    "Ron!" Hermione said sternly.


    "Erm, I was just rambling, it certainly won''t happen ..."


    Hermione looked around worriedly, she didn''t think it was exactly safe here, "Harry, we better not mention that word out here." S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Horcrux?"


    Harry muttered in a small voice, thinking seriously, "You''re right, but the average person wouldn''t know what it is - Luna?" Harry''s jaw dropped as he looked at the little girl in the middle of the garden, holding a food box in one hand and a half-woven ring of mistletoe in the other.


    Luna''s eyes were averted as she tossed the wreath aside and pretended to suddenly spot them, "Hello, Harry, Hermione, Ron. It''s so good to see you." She said in a song-like voice.


    "What are you doing here?" Harry asked, suddenly regretting discussing the subject in the garden a bit, wondering how much Luna had heard?


    "I''m waiting for Ginny, you know, her stomach gets hungry, and a picnic is essential." Luna swayed gently, her waist-length blonde hair flopping around.


    "Is that so?" Ron echoed with a sceptical look, "Did you hear-"


    "Luna-"


    Ginny came running from afar, panting and breathless, "I''m sorry I''m late, Fred and George insisted I try their new product, and it was hard to get away, so I can''t let them know about this ... visit to the Forbidden Forest to see Firenze - -Ron?"


    Ginny stared at him for a few seconds before she realized her slip of the tongue and shouted, "Why are you here? Are you trying to eavesdrop! Oh, Hermione, Harry, you''re here too ..." Her expression became blank: "What the hell is going on?"


    Harry and the rest looked at each other as if it really was an accident.


    Luna hummed softly as she picked up the wreath she had dropped on the floor again and braided it together on her own.


    A few minutes later, they were walking in the direction of Hagrid''s hut -


    "We''re concerned about you Ginny." Ron said, "There was an attack on the edge of the Forbidden Forest only two months ago ..."


    "Yeah, you got hit by a dark spell in your leg, and it swelled up to twice its size." Ginny said lightly.


    "And it''s dripping with pus! Ginny, don''t you care about your brother at all?" Ron grumbled.


    "Concerned? It''s natural to worry when I hear it for the first time," Ginny said with a stern face, "and the second time, the third time, the fourth time, and the fifth time ..."


    Ron''s face flushed up, even the roots of his ears were red.


    Harry began to change the subject, he knew perfectly well how Ron bragged about it afterward and had heard it more often to boot. But Ron blocked that spell for him, so Harry thought Ron totally deserved all that bragging he did.


    So he said, "Uh, so, you guys are going to visit the centaur? As it happens, we want to drop by Hagrid''s to see Buckbeak, and we might become friends ..."


    Harry stopped talking and suddenly wanted to smack himself, centaur has high self-esteem, he stammered and explained, "I mean ... is, uh, a friend of ours, they all are."


    Luna said cheerfully, "You''re right, Harry. I think you''ll be friends, Firenze is very friendly."


    "Firenze?" " Firenze?!"


    Harry and Hermione uttered simultaneously in surprise, and Harry said, "I knew Firenze from the first year! I met a dark wizard who was hunting unicorns and found out afterward that it was Quirrell, who worked for Voldemort - for the Dark Lord- and it was Firenze who helped me and got me out of there."


    He picked his words carefully, not using the word "ride," because his experience had taught him that centaur folks hated that.


    Luna looked at Harry in a trance, and Harry added, "It''s true, he looks young, his hair is platinum blonde, and his body is strong ..."


    Luna raised her eyebrows and smiled.


    The group went to Hagrid''s hut and saw the stout Hagrid removing weeds from the pumpkin patch, and as they approached, Hagrid held a red umbrella in his hand and poked around the ground.


    "Hagrid!"


    Hagrid turned back, "Harry, Ron, Hermione! Oh, and two little girls, one''s a Weasley, what''s your name?"


    "Ginny, Ginny Weasley."


    "And you?" Hagrid looked over at Luna, the tip of the umbrella he is holding touched a pumpkin next to him, "Bang" which exploded with a big hole, yellow juice showered their face, "Oh, sorry!"


    Hagrid said in a frenzy, lifting the nearest Harry and Ron to one side, "I''ll get a rag, I can''t use magic on you," he explained in a whisper, "I''m not very good at life magic, I blew it off a good time... ..."


    "Wait, Hagrid - Scourgify! Scourgify! Scourgify!"


    With Hermione''s help, it didn''t take them long for them to get down to business.


    "Buckbeak? It''s back to the pack, and his kind missed him." Hagrid said with a wave of his arms, Harry and the rest felt somewhat regretful, but still happy for Buckbeak.


    When he heard they wanted to visit the centaur, Hagrid glared at them and yelled, "You guys want to die! Only two months ago, the attack happened! And the Battle on the Bridge, if I hadn''t been at the hospital wing and missed ..." He froze and looked at them for a while, and said dismally, "I can''t help, I don''t know that spell."


    Harry and the gang reassured him, "You saved me, Hagrid, remember? Madam Pomfrey said that if we delay a little longer, we''ll have to cut off the leg and grow it again." Ron said sincerely.


    "Hagrid, you can use Engorgement Charm just fine." Hermione said as she looked out the window at the pumpkins.


    Harry racked his brain, but unfortunately, he couldn''t find any proper reason, " Well, everyone is right, Hagrid, you can''t take yourself lightly."


    "Thank you, thank you ..." Hagrid pulled out a handkerchief sentimentally, wiped the corners of his wet eyes, and then responded coldly, "Stop! You guys haven''t said why you''re going to the Forbidden Forest?"


    "We''re going to visit Firenze, I haven''t seen him for months." Luna said, "Besides, big guy, I like the layout of your place, it''s a lot like my house."


    Hagrid smiled, "Call me Hagrid, little girl. What''s your name?"


    "Luna, Luna Lovegood." She said with a shake of her head.


    Hagrid rummaged through a dusty bag and pulled out several dirty things and handed them out one by one, "What''s this?" Harry asked, it looked like the bones of some kind of creature.


    Luna puffed her cheeks and blew it as a loud whistle sound was heard, after a while, she stopped, slightly out of breath.


    Hagrid said gruffly: "You see, Luna has demonstrated it, that is a bone whistle, I will use it when training the creatures in the forbidden forest, and if there is danger, it may help. Of course ... little ones, I do not recommend that you go to the forbidden forest ..." he said very naggingly.


    Finally, Hagrid took them to meet Firenze, Luna put the mistletoe wreath on the heads of the centaur, they also enjoyed the food in the food box together, because there are too many people, everyone didn''t have much to share, Harry felt more hungry after eating it.


    He missed the great hall in the castle very much, but the reunion with Firenze was also fun, and it would have been better if he didn''t talk about difficult astrology.


    "Mars has been giving off a strange halo lately, and we think it''s foreshadowing something." Firenze said, strongly suggesting that Luna should do a fume and flame divination with sage and mallowsweet, "You''re the most spiritual human I''ve ever met."


    Luna did so and Harry was surprised that she had them with her, a little more than her cork necklace and weird earrings, so they had to sit around and watch the choking smoke curl up. Hagrid sat down higher than they stood, the breeze blew, the smoke mixed with the fumes came to him as he kept sneezing.


    Firenze is totally unaffected, "Fate has brought us together to make a prophecy together." He crouched on the ground and looked closely, trying to pick out certain shapes and symbols from it.


    "It looks like the magic Professor Hap taught us." Ron muttered in a whisper to Harry, who didn''t see any similarity between the two; he did think it looked a bit like Buckbeak''s flapping wings.


    "Like a cloak of flame," Ginny stated her opinion, treating this as a game.


    Hermione chose to look at it coldly, sitting quietly without speaking, she had always been uninterested in these odd things.


    "Humans have never been very good at this sort of thing, even the centaur only possessed this ability after a long period of years." Firenze said flatly, "And it''s easy to make mistakes. Luna, what did you see?"


    "I saw a party, and everyone is happy as they shoot fireworks into the sky." Luna said gleefully. "I wish I would be there."


    Firenze said with some disappointment, "I thought it would be a hint of war ..." The others looked at him in confusion, and he explained, "Mars dominates the war, and for the past ten years, all indications are that the people of the wizarding world are only spending a brief period of peace between the two wars. But recently there have been new changes that the older members of the clan can''t understand-" He shook his head and didn''t continue with the heavy topic.


    After that, Harry and the group returned to the castle and had a great meal as they left everything else behind.


    When they returned to the Gryffindor common room, Percy is standing in front of the bulletin board, surveying the job offers on it. "Isn''t he going to the Ministry of Magic?" Harry asked.


    Ron shrugged, "Penelope hasn''t found a job yet, she did get a few letters of recommendation, but the job she''s most interested in is abroad and Percy is trying to keep her."


    After a few minutes, Percy left in a huff.


    Before returning to the dormitory, Harry glanced at the top of the ad, combined with the general location Percy looked before leaving, he found a nondescript newspaper clipping in the corner, he did not look at the small print at the bottom, but remembered the name of the company -


    Future World.


    ---------------


    # Tob_gib, Thanks for your support.


    There are 346+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 314: Different people, Different choices

    Harry never expected that he would hear the name "Future World" company many times in the next two days. The third morning, he rushed to the Magic Rune Club with Ron and Hermione, because there''s only one week left, every member of the club has a sense of urgency in their hearts, even if Harry and Ron, who had been tightly restricted before, were patient enough not go to their last trip to Hogsmeade this semester.


    Of course, this is also related to Hermione who pointed out certain concerns, "This kind of opportunity can not be easy to find - in case you do not meet the professor''s expectations, the professor will not only send a letter home, even whether there is a second opportunity in the next academic year for you will have a question mark. You guys don''t want to see Malfoy all smug, do you?"


    Harry had to admit that Hermione''s last comment hit him deep, and so for Ron.


    "Look at his arrogance, I can''t believe he completely forgot about Buckbeak!" Ron became indignant about it.


    When Draco Malfoy had left the classroom yesterday, bragging to them about his academic progress, Ron had chosen to counter him with the news that the Buckbeak case had been won, only to have Malfoy completely forget the name and say mockingly, "Is that a doll you made up yourself, little Ronnie?"


    Several Slytherin students laughed, because of George''s blunder, the entire club knew what Ron''s nickname is.


    ...


    They arrived at the main location of the Magic Rune Club, Hermione traced out a rune on the air with her finger and pressed it against the door, which opened silently, and closed automatically when the trio walked into the room.


    Professor Hap is sitting on the sofa, in the middle of a conversation with Neville, sharp-eyed Hermione noticed Neville passing the professor an invitation with intertwined gold and red floral patterns.


    "I got it, Neville." The professor said.


    Neville smiled meekly at Harry and the gang, then pushed his fingers into the stone basin that next to him and got sucked in, while Harry began to imagine the image of him falling through the air and a Professor Hap suddenly appearing.


    Harry and Ron entered the space inside the stone basin one after another, Hermione stayed behind and looked at Felix, clearly having something to say.


    "Please sit down, Granger."


    Hermione sat next to him, "Can I talk to you, Professor?"


    "Of course, you''ve gone ahead of them, and it was with reference to your learning progress that I designed this teaching program." Felix smiled as he leaned over and let his palm brush the stone basin, as a starburst of light spilled from his fingertips, "Well, no one will hear us talking to each other."


    Hermione pulled out the time-turner hidden in her shirt and said hesitantly, "Professor, do you think I should turn it in?"


    "Why do you say that?"


    "I broke my agreement with Professor McGonagall and used it for something other than studying, she trusts me so much, if she knew about it-" Hermione said sadly.


    "Miss Granger," Felix increased his tone, "do you think it''s just me and you who know about this? Maybe even counting your two best friends?"


    Hermione''s eyes widened: "Professor, you mean to tell me that there are other people who also know and are aware-" Her hands and feet became cold, the day of the Battle on the Bridge, she had broken at least a hundred laws set by the Ministry of Magic.


    "Let us make a simple re-cap of our actions of that day: we did cheat time, or more accurately, just make up a piece of history."


    Felix said calmly: "In order to wait for the scene you mentioned, even when they were in crisis several times, I did not show up and kept watching from the sidelines, the closest being less than a foot away from Harry ... until your experience became everyone''s experience, and I made my move to guide Harry, and he successfully cast a powerful Patronus, followed immediately by what happened afterward."


    Hermione nodded, the professor had told her, and she couldn''t agree more.


    Felix continued, "But there was a flaw in it - I appeared to the crowd out of nowhere. For those who know that you have a time-turner, it is easy to deduce many things from this tiny detail, such as Headmaster Dumbledore, such as Professor McGonagall ..."


    "What about the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione held her breath.


    "The Aurors shouldn''t be aware of something so confidential, at least not enough to associate it with you, but Fudge ... I don''t know if his power-hungry brain can think of it, but he has no way to verify it." -Felix said, spreading his hands.


    Hermione sighed quietly in relief.


    "I''m not saying this to scare you, but to tell you what you''ve overlooked before. So if Professor McGonagall pretends not to know, there''s no need for you to have to spill it all; it would embarrass you both ... but I do suggest you drop some of your electives, you''ve got a tiring year ahead of you."


    Hermione bit her lip, her expression tangled, she mentally calculated it, she had already given up divination, as long as she gave up one more, she could have a normal class schedule, and she already had the answer in her mind.


    She had chosen Muggle Studies before because she thought it would be fascinating to see ordinary people from the perspective of the wizarding community, but a year down the line, novelty worn off, she realized that in certain areas of common sense, the professor didn''t know any more than her about this subject, and the textbook perspectives are rather outdated and mundane, not nearly as rewarding as the book written by Professor Hap had brought her.


    "Professor, I''ve thought about it, and I''ll return the time-turner to Professor McGonagall."


    Later today, she would find a right moment - at Professor Lupin''s farewell party.


    ...


    When that day''s class ended, Harry heard the whispers of Percy and Penelope as they walked out of the classroom.


    "Penelope, have you thought about it?"


    Penelope said hesitantly, "I want to do something meaningful, that future world you mentioned, just a new company, maybe just a small store?"


    "It has a tempting offer in its advertisement, doesn''t it?"


    "Maybe it''s just talking big ..."


    "No, look at its pay, fifty galleons a month, that''s a lot higher than a Ministry of Magic employee, I can''t even get that money-"


    "I didn''t pick my job for the money!" Penelope said angrily.


    "I know, I know, but it also means that this company is very sincere and very short of people," Percy made his best effort to persuade his girlfriend: "Do not rush to make a decision yet Penelope. When the holiday is over, I will go with you to have a look, just in Diagon Alley ..."


    In the evening, Harry went to Professor Lupin''s office.


    The office of the Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts had moved to the second floor, and Harry had long suspected that the fight between Professor Lupin and Snape had destroyed the original room. He had caught a glimpse of it in Professor Hap''s eyes during the dueling tournament when the two had confronted each other.


    But Professor Lupin and Professor Hap both denied it, and he really did not dare to ask Snape - as a result is predictable, he will be deducted fifty points, plus a week of detention.


    Lupin''s office door is open. He had already packed most of his things. Grindylow''s empty water tank stood next to his battered old box, which is wide open and nearly full.


    "I saw you coming." Lupin said with a smile, gesturing at the parchment on the table, and Harry moved over to discover that it turned out to be the Marauders'' Map. The map had gone in circles and come back to its maker.


    Lupin said, "Professor Hap gave it back to me the other day, he has cracked the secret on it, Sirius and I agreed that it should belong to you."


    "To me?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "You are as fidgety as James, and I dare say that you, Ron, and Hermione will find a use for this map. James would be greatly disappointed if his son never found any secret passages in the castle."


    "But the secret passages have been blocked ..."


    "Just the secret passages to Hogsmeade," Lupin added to his words, "there are far more than that in the castle."


    Harry smiled and picked up the map, looked carefully for a moment, he could not find Professor Hap''s name, so he grinned, the professor really cracked the secret of the Marauders'' Map. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He tucked the map into his pocket smoothly and saw the newspaper folded in a corner beside him, the page of recruitment information caught his attention, and he read it carefully -


    ''Future World welcomes you to join us!


    We are hereby recruiting throughout the society, regardless of origin, based on your ability. Anyone who exceeds the standard in any of the three following fields - ancient runes, alchemy, charms, transfiguration, magic theory, and muggle studies - may submit a letter to apply for the job, and once selected, the offer will be generous, and you will receive a monthly payment of fifty galleons for each month of work.


    Our company is dedicated to engaging in practical research in magic and building a better life for all wizards.


    Join the future world, join the future. We are looking forward to hearing from you.


    Also: as our company will involve the improvement and transformation of numerous muggle items, those with relevant experience in life are preferred.''


    Harry put down the newspaper and said hesitantly, "Professor Lupin, you are planning to ..."


    "Ah, you mean this," Lupin said as he tightened his old trunk and looked up: "After leaving Hogwarts, I didn''t know what to do for the time being, and happened to see the above advertisement ... I thought, if I could apply for this job successfully, even if I only work for a few months and get kicked out, it''s still a lot of money."


    Harry felt sad for Professor Lupin, not a sudden rush of emotion, but like an undercurrent beneath the surface of calm water, poking his heart one by one with an irrevocable, faint sadness.


    Professor Lupin has carried the identity of a werewolf all his life, hiding in the hills, not staying in one place for more than six months, and after leaving Hogwarts, he will also lose his steady source of wolfsbane potions.


    "You''re going to make it!" Harry encouraged him loudly.


    Lupin looked surprised for a second or two, then smiled: "Don''t worry about me, Harry." But he didn''t state a reason, perhaps because there is no reason to give, he put the box in the corner and straightened his robes, "Let''s go."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 348+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 315: The end of the school year

    In front of the faculty common room, Ron waited quietly at the door, then he waved excitedly at Harry and Lupin when he saw them. "Harry, Professor Lupin, you''re finally here!"


    "Where''s Hermione?" Harry asked curiously, he looked around and spotted Hermione around a corner, she and Professor McGonagall discussing something in a whisper.


    Shortly after, they came over talking with a smile, and walked into the faculty common room together. The room was reorganized, the old dark wood chairs stacked on the side of the long room near the fireplace, with a long table in its place.


    Flitwick cast a spell on the ceiling, making coloured ribbons dangle, Felix conjured a small white ball, which floated to the ceiling, emitting a gentle glow, illuminating the room with warmth and brightness, Hagrid carried a large barrel of mead, while Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall smiled and turned the tables into miniature creatures.


    Harry temporarily forgot the sadness of parting, as he happily gobbled up, at Hagrid''s recommendation, he also tasted a small glass of home-brewed wine of the house-elf, when Professor McGonagall cast a reproachful gaze, Hagrid consciously took the glass away: "You are still young, Harry ... "


    In addition to the many flavours of hot dishes and sweet puddings, there were a few more novel dishes on the table, Ron forked up a meatball dripping with sauce and asked curiously, "What''s this? I''ve never seen it before," he put his fork into his mouth, then his eyes lit up, "Harry, Hermione, you''ve got to try this!"


    Harry forked up a yellow cube that tasted sweet and sour, "It''s pineapple." He said with certainty.


    "What''s this dish called?"


    A house-elf wearing a chef''s hat said respectfully: "This is pineapple sweet and sour meat, recently developed, Mr. Hap gave Cloudbur a recipe book for Christmas, there are many magical dishes in it."


    Hermione said hesitantly, " Are you the kitchen house elf? How about joining us over here ..."


    Cloudbur the house-elf took a few steps back, "We will dine in the kitchen," he bowed, "the dishes are all served, please enjoy." He disappeared with a thud.


    "You''re scaring him, Hermione." Ron said.


    At this point, Professor McGonagall began to ask Lupin about his plans after he left school, and Lupin stated the job posting he had seen in the newspaper, "I fit the bill in every way except ancient runes. So I am going to submit a resume."


    Professor McGonagall showed a smile as she said enthusiastically, "Which one is it? Maybe I know them, and I can write a letter of recommendation for you."


    Lupin said gently, "A new company called Future World, it''s not quite well known yet-"


    "Future World?" Felix repeated, he looked at Lupin with a strange look, Lupin looked a little puzzled, after a while, Felix raised his glass: "You will succeed, Lupin."


    "Thanks."


    "Ding!"


    The two men''s glasses clinked together.


    ...


    The next morning, Harry got up from bed early and dressed hurriedly, Ron is sleeping heavily and talking in his sleep, "This is delicious, Harry ..."


    He put on another robe on himself as he walked out of the common room with a couple of steps, disturbing the fat lady''s good dreams by coming out too early. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Son, it''s the end of the school year." She said feebly, whirling around and moving out of position.


    "I''m not confused, it''s urgent." Harry explained as he walked down the grand staircase and made his way out, passing through the doors of the great hall, where he spotted the back of Professor Lupin carrying his suitcase from a distance.


    He caught up with him, panting, "Professor... Professor, I''ve come to see you off!"


    They strolled down the lawn, greeted by the golden morning sun until they came to the front door of Hogwarts, they talked like real friends, unrestrainedly, and when it came to parting, Harry felt even more reluctant.


    Lupin smiled and said: "I left quietly, because I did not want to increase the feelings of parting, and besides, it will not be long before we will see each other again."


    "You mean, Sirius''s brother''s funeral?"


    Lupin nodded, " Honourable person ... " he waved and walked away briskly.


    Harry watched him until he had disappeared at the end of the path before he made his way back to the castle. The rest of the day flew by, and he threw all his energy into learning ancient magic, so much that he couldn''t even be bothered with Apparition for a while, not counting Hermione, there are already many who had learned the magic from the club - it was Percy Weasley, followed by Geoffrey and Penelope.


    "They''re all seventh years, the advantage is too obvious." Ron said.


    "Cedric is tentatively mastering it too." Harry said sensitively, "I always fell a little short."


    "Mate, he''s two years ahead of you, why would you want to compete with him?" Ron asked in disbelief.


    Harry didn''t say anything, he also found his thoughts a bit boring, but he always couldn''t help but fight in his mind.


    In the blink of an eye, the final day before the holiday arrived. On that day, the school announced the examination results. Harry, Ron, and Hermione passed every class.


    Harry got an O in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and an E in Ancient Runes, Charms, and Care of Magical Creatures and Ron glanced at them, "I only came out worse in Defense Against the Dark Arts, everything else is the same."


    He looked at Hermione''s report card again thoughtlessly and found a single E in the table as everything else is O: " Defense Against the Dark Arts ... I remembered that boggart you ran into on the test again."


    Hermione met a cunning boggart during the practical exam, it turned into a professor told her that she failed all the exams collectively, for which she had to repeat the grade, which took her a lot of time to calm down, for which the exam had to be interrupted for ten minutes.


    Hermione glanced at Ron and reminded him, "I learned the Apparition."


    Ron frowned and grunted in a small voice: "I also succeeded twice ..."


    "Lost half an eyebrow once and shredded a cloak once - yeah, if you count them as successes."


    "I should probably go find Fred and George, their asses are going to be swollen from mommy''s beatings ..."


    When they appeared in the great hall, they saw that Professor Hap had been surrounded by excited students, and Percy loudly announced, "All outstanding!"


    Geoffrey reminded him, "You forgot Marcus."


    "Well, there''s one E ... Let''s try to ignore that."


    Felix became surrounded and spent a good deal of time trying to get out of the center, but it was happy trouble. The seventh-year graduates were still celebrating enthusiastically, and even Snape hadn''t given them a deduction, something that would have been unthinkable in the past.


    "Severus, I need a steady source of wolfsbane potions."


    "For that werewolf?" Snape asked in disgust, ever since the night after the Battle of the Bridge, he had stopped saying Lupin''s name in conversation with Felix, always using ''that werewolf'' as a substitute.


    "You don''t seem like a nosy person." He said.


    Felix sighed, "He''d make an excellent employee."


    "That company of yours?" Snape asked, not rejecting it immediately, but thinking hard, "Do you still accept investments?"


    "If it were anyone else, I would refuse, but not from you, Severus."


    "Give me a position that must be higher than that werewolf, and I''ll interview him personally." Snape clenched his fingers and gave a grim smile.


    "You look terrible, that little wizard''s fork is falling off."


    Snape glanced over and said dismissively, "A silly fellow, eating pie in my class, and I made him dispose of two vats of Horned Toad livers."


    "Did he? No wonder I thought he looked a little familiar ..."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 348+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 316: Dragon Reserve

    The next day, the Hogwarts Express left the station and disappeared from Felix''s sight. Dumbledore standing next to him, looking far away with wide eyes, eyes full of crystal glitter: "It''s really touching ... empty head filled with knowledge on a wonderful holiday."


    "Yeah, and a bundle of homework." Felix said, "Albus, why did you want me to go to Romania?"


    "Because you''re not one of the four Heads, and we have to always avoid suspicion, this year the tournament is bigger than ever, there will be five schools." Dumbledore said mildly, "That would have been my job, but again, I just too busy-"


    "Five? Besides the extra Ilvermorny, is there still more?"


    "Uagadou from Africa''s Mountains of the Moon - Fudge''s handiwork," Dumbledore said: "He''s having a hard time these past two months, the Dementors went out of control causing his reputation to plummet, parents have sent letters denouncing his incompetence, and the newspapers reported a series of articles."


    "Didn''t you say Fudge''s skill is very--"


    "Brilliant?" Dumbledore smiled, "Did you read about Sirius and Peter Pettigrew in the papers? Including Peter''s last words?"


    "He did it on purpose?" Felix asked in surprise, he only saw the Ministry of Magic''s newsletter in a newspaper articles in the toilet a long time ago, and it basically didn''t cause a ripple.


    "I think it''s watered down ... Dementors out of control is something that all the students saw, but not many understand past that. In Fudge''s opinion, perhaps Sirius''s case is more sensitive," Dumbledore said: "The hero was imprisoned for twelve years without trial, and the traitor enjoys a first-class Order of Merlin and lives in peace ... Although it is not something that happened during his tenure, the public would not care that much. What''s more - there is Voldemort involved in this."


    Felix nodded, understood Fudge''s line of thought: since the dementors out of control can no longer be covered, it does not matter, anyway, there is Umbridge as a deterrent. However, when it comes to injustice, involving Voldemort, it must be hidden from the public.


    "I guess he put all his hopes on the two events, the Quidditch World Cup and the Tournament of Champions."


    Dumbledore said approvingly, "Covering up the bleakness with brilliance is Fudge''s speciality. So he wants to pull more schools under the rug to expand his influence. In fact, he sent invitations to a total of ten wizarding schools, but very few responded back to him."


    ...


    Felix appeared in the middle of the mountains, the Carpathians, the "backbone of Romania", where the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary is hidden.


    Although there are many dragon reserves around the world, the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary is the unique one - it is partially free-range, with over a hundred professionals from all over the world working here, including dragon trainers, dragon breeders, and dragon researchers.


    Almost every species of dragon known in the world can be found here.


    Felix watched as seven or eight wizards gathered around a Romanian Longhorns dragon, half of its wing broken and bloody, as the dragon tamers tried to calm it down.


    He walked down the slope and got a closer look at the dragon, it had dark green scales and long, shiny golden horns, and its eyes were alert and grumpy, stomping restlessly.


    "Relax - we mean no harm, you need healing." A wizard shouted as his companions warily circled the area, their wands constantly aimed at the fiery dragon, which looked like it is in heat, especially since it had failed in courting and got defeated, so its current emotions probably won''t be too good.


    The longhorn dragon flapped half of its wings and emitted several sparks from its nostrils.


    "Watch out, it''s going to breathe fire - Charlie, use Stupefy!" Another wizard shouted.


    The one called Charlie shouted, "Find the right moment, wait for it to show its belly, and together we''ll - right now!"


    "Stupefy!" They shouted in unison, and Stupefy landed like a rocket on the thick skin of the Longhorn''s abdomen. Its propped-up hind legs wobbled, and curls of smoke rose from its nostrils as it looked around in bewilderment, then fell down slowly... very slowly.


    "Well done!"


    A middle-aged wizard patted Charlie''s shoulder and said gratefully, "I can feel relieved to let you lead the team alone now." His companions also gathered around. Due to living in the wilderness for years, the skin of these people looked very rough, with a brown-black tan and a weathered look.


    ''So it''s him.'' Felix thought to himself, Charlie Weasley, two years younger than him, extremely talented in Quidditch, had been a captain of the Gryffindor team and had won a Quidditch Cup.


    But Felix wasn''t interested in Quidditch when he was at school and didn''t recognize him for a moment; he couldn''t even remember the name of Slytherin''s captain back then.


    Besides, Charlie Weasley is a lot different from what he remembered, although he still has a Mr. Nice Guy-like broad face and the Weasleys'' characteristic freckles, but his skin wasn''t so dark when he was in school, and there wasn''t a big, shiny scar on his arm that got burned by the fire.


    Felix stood quietly at one side, but it startled the rest of the group, who had been so focused on the dragon that they hadn''t noticed the sudden appearance of a man beside them.


    "Who are you? Don''t you know it''s dangerous here, and you''re still standing so close?" The middle-aged male wizard frowned and sized up the young man in front of him. Felix''s face looked quite misleading, which made him think that he was some reckless young man who had come to explore with an excess curiosity.


    There was no shortage of this type of person each year, very often fresh out of school and travelling all over the place, and the Dragon Sanctuary is a tempting choice for them.


    "Felix Hap, Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts." Felix said in a relaxed tone, "Reviewing dragons for the Tournament of Champions on behalf of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."


    The middle-aged male wizard looked at him suspiciously, were all professors so young nowadays?


    "Captain!" Charlie Weasley stepped forward, "I know him, let me welcome him."


    "Is he really a professor?" After receiving an affirmative reply, that captain waved his hand: "Well, since you are friends, I''ll leave it to you. Other people! Chant the levitation spell with me and let''s carry the dragon away."


    Charlie looked at Felix seriously: "The captain means no harm, he''s a good man."


    Felix dumbfounded: "Charlie Weasley, I''m curious what image I have in your mind."


    Charlie did not speak, what image? Of course, it is the shadow of a generation, as a pure Gryffindor, he had a good time watching Felix clean up the Slytherin students when he was in school.


    This also resulted in the fact that Felix had a very good reputation in the other three houses at the time, but he was also recognized for his overly aggressive nature, and everyone held a respectful attitude.


    "Our living spot is over there, I''ll take you there." Charlie pointed at the foot of the mountain and said, "On the edge of a stream, staying in tents."


    Along the way, Charlie told him about the environment: "The Carpathians is huge, occupying forty percent of the territory of this country, and in addition to forests, there are rocky shores, swamps, and caves ..."


    "Won''t the dragon cause a mountain fire?" Felix asked with interest.


    "This is relatively rare, they do not rely on fire-breathing to hunt, such as that Romanian longhorn dragon just now, it likes to fight off the prey with its horns, then bring it back to the nest on the mountain before roasting the prey by breathing fire." Charlie said, "Only when they encounter flexible and difficult opponents, or when they fight their own kind, they use fire-breathing to attack or deter, and the victor will often take the initiative to extinguish the flames."


    He said with emotion, "This is their home." The two looked up as a silvery blue dragon swept through the air.


    Charlie led Felix to a tent area, and it is obvious that he is well liked, quite a few people greeted him as they passed by, and he responded to them all.


    "We need to register here, how long do you plan to stay?" He took out a book.


    Felix thought about it: "Two or three days, I''m interested in this place."


    Charlie frowned: "I thought it would be half a day ... I need to apply with the captain, please wait." He left in a hurry, and it took him a good half day to return, with a puzzled look on his face: "They''re heading out again, let me show you around for a while."


    It became dark, and on the other side--


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione got off the train and walked out of King''s Cross Station together. Harry is not in a good mood, even though he has a godfather, he still had to go back to Dursley, which is something Dumbledore asked him to do, and he couldn''t refuse.


    And Sirius had not been around for some time, if not for a letter Harry received on the train, he would have wondered if Sirius had forgotten he had a godson.


    Mrs. Weasley embraced him warmly and invited him to watch the Quidditch World Cup with them, which put Harry in a better mood, but when they parted, and he walked alone, pushing his belongings toward Uncle Vernon, his mood turned gloomy all over again.


    For two whole months ...


    Uncle Vernon greeted him in his usual manner. "What''s that?" He growled, glaring at the envelope Harry held in his hand. "If that''s another form for me to sign, then you must ..."


    "It''s not a form," Harry said soberly, "it''s a letter from my godfather."


    "Godfather?" Uncle Vernon spitefully spluttered, "You don''t have a godfather!"


    "Yes, I do," Harry said, his mood magically beginning to change for the better, "He is my mother and father''s best friend, a convicted murderer, but he escaped from a wizard''s prison. This is what he sent me, I can show you the name on the letter ..."


    Uncle Vernon''s face twitched up, and his small eyes filled with fear.


    Harry gleefully continued to script about Sirius, he wanted to gain some perks for his long summer holiday: "... Sirius Black, it was on TV, he''s still on the run and not got caught, but he''s willing to keep in touch with me to make sure I''m getting through alright, pretty soon --"


    Harry''s eyes widened, and his eyes passed over Uncle Vernon, who looked fat against a wall, and in a corner of the station, not far from them, a man in a hippie outfit leaned against a wall, the man wearing a top hat that covered most of his face and a smirk appeared at the corners of his mouth.


    The man pushed back his hat which revealed Sirius''s bright smile, "Harry, it breaks my heart to hear you say that ..."


    "Sirius!" Harry shouted in surprise.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 350+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 317: Protection

    Uncle Vernon driving in the front row, his face turning a saucy purple, his pair of small eyes peeking at Harry and Sirius in the back row with the help of the small mirror in the car. Harry could not believe his good fortune, even though he was a little embarrassed to be caught lying by his godfather, but he was now filled with happy emotions. A few minutes before he got off the train, he felt depressed about the fact that he would have to stay with the Dursleys for at least six weeks. He could imagine what it would be like - he''d stay up for two days with a blank look, then the next night he''d open the cupboard downstairs to do his summer homework.


    After that it would be a matter of counting the days one day at a time, hoping that the Weasleys would take him out of his misery, and it would be nice if someone sent him a letter in the meantime; he is almost certain that Ron, Hermione, Dobby, and Sirius will at least sent him a birthday card. He even began to calculate in his head that the Dursleys were in Surrey, while the Burrow is in Devon, and Hermione is in London, so if the Granger family have no plans of travelling abroad, perhaps they will meet during the summer ...


    Sirius''s words interrupted a dazed Harry: "I have a birthday present for you that you''ll love."


    "What is it?"


    "I can''t say, I''ve been keeping it from you for a long time, but I can tell you it is perfect and James would have loved it ..."


    Uncle Vernon turned around a corner, his hand stiffening a bit as his mind wandered through various thoughts: a hippie wizard who didn''t look much different, or even better, from how he had seen him a dozen years ago, he didn''t plan to stay in his house, did he?


    He didn''t have the habit of helping his poor relatives, besides he''s a murderer, and even if he isn''t, he''s been in jail, hasn''t he!


    "Bang!"


    The car''s tire suddenly blew out with a loud bang, and the people inside the car got thrown to the side by inertia, "Watch out Harry!" "Ouch!" "Damn!"


    Uncle Vernon slammed the break, and the three remaining intact tires locked tight, rubbing out a trail of sparks on the ground. And the car came to a halt. Uncle Vernon couldn''t hold back any longer, his saliva spewed out as he blurted out a string of swears, Harry looked at him blankly, his mind on the verge of smoking by this point, maybe in the next two days it would die down from an overuse?


    Until Sirius said with a black face: "If you don''t shut up, or I''ll glue your mouth shut." Only then did Uncle Vernon shut up, but after two or three seconds, he muttered in a small voice: "You''re not a murderer, you said so yourself."


    "Don''t need to remind me! Want to show you the stuff I learned in Azkaban?" Sirius growled, but his threats didn''t yield good results because Uncle Vernon didn''t know what that place is, so Harry reminded him in a whisper that it is a wizard prison, to which his little carrot-like fingers twitched, and he finally became quiet.


    Uncle Vernon opened the car door with difficulty and got out of the car because he could not squat down, he could only lie on the ground, as he cursed: "The front wheel is flat, there is still halfway from home, to call a tow truck will cost a ... a lot of money ... "


    Sirius stepped out of the car, his hippie costume attracted a lot of curious eyes, Uncle Vernon yelled at him, "Can''t you just sit back quietly! I''ll call the tow truck in case anyone questions you ..."


    Sirius pulled out the wand that is pinned to his jeans and used Uncle Vernon''s massive size as a shield to block himself: "Excuse me, help me block the way." A tiny light flashed, and the car tire immediately became intact.


    Uncle Vernon froze and wiped his eyes in disbelief as he growled, "Magic!" His voice was so loud that it sounded like a firecracker that had been lit, but he quickly noticed the anomaly and swallowed his voice as his small eyes darted around.


    "You think I''d appreciate that! Freaks, maggots in the gutter! Same as that little monster-"


    Sirius moved his wand towards Uncle Vernon''s triple chin and said coldly, "I can already imagine what you did to Harry."


    The rest of the journey went silent for everyone, until the car approached the Privet Drive, when a question suddenly occurred to Uncle Vernon about how he should drive this nuisance out without drawing any attention to himself.


    Harry felt it is no longer considered driving, he walked faster than this, the car is completely moving forward little by little.


    Sirius also realized that he is not welcomed, maybe from the beginning he knew, but he wanted to see how Harry is getting by. For this reason, he suppressed his temper, but now he is on the verge of an outburst.


    "Stop the car." Sirius said. The car stopped immediately.


    He handed Harry a mirror: "This is a two-way mirror, there are two, I have the other one in my hand. If you want to find me, just call me through it, then you will appear in my mirror, and I will appear in your mirror, so we can talk using it. In the past, when James has been away from me, we''ve used this to connect."


    He then looked at Uncle Vernon, "You''re not going to try to stop it, are you?"


    "Of course ... won''t."


    Harry took the mirror and checked it out, it looked a bit like the Weasley twins'' couple mirror, which he had secretly bought with the intention of giving it to some people he knew, but the twins insisted on not charging for it, and he was too embarrassed to take more.


    Harry whispered, "Are you leaving?"


    "Yeah, I know this place, 4 Privet Drive." Sirius said, Uncle Vernon''s body shuddered, Sirius did not pay attention to him, as he continued: "Dumbledore told me that your aunt''s house is enchanted to protect you from the prying eyes of people with a vested interest ..."


    He turned to Uncle Vernon and said coldly, "It is also protecting you, and you should know that."


    "Enchanted?" "What you have done to my home!"


    Sirius said: "Dumbledore did not elaborate, I guess it would be some kind of powerful protective magic, perhaps something like the fidelius charm? I''m not sure ..." He hastily changed the subject.


    Sirius lied, he and Dumbledore had a heated argument about Harry''s custody, and in order to appease him, Dumbledore revealed more inside information to him.


    A total of two layers of protection existed around Harry''s house, one from his mother.


    That is ancient magic, the preparation time is extremely long, it belongs to the same kind as a powerful curse as it uses strong emotion like resentment and love to mobilize the magic, but the first is more difficult, need to be filled with full of love to form the power of guardianship, it is prepared by Lily Evans for her unborn child.


    But this is only the first step of this magic. Using the bloodline connection as a bond to cast the spell is not uncommon in the wizarding world, what is rare is that there is a follow-up to this ancient magic, where the blood relative who casts the spell voluntarily chooses to sacrifice themselves to greatly enhance the power of this magic, so any spell that harbours malicious intent will automatically bounce off.


    "This magic protected Harry once and should have expired at that point, it was I who extended its effect. I was faced with a choice: to target a group of people, or a particular one? What was there to hesitate about? Although Voldemort had disappeared, yes, I admit that he just disappeared, five years, ten years, twenty years ... he will definitely return. At that time I had to make a decision, when the others were still celebrating the hard-earned victory, I had begun to think about Voldemort''s return.


    So I made the logical choice, and it was the strongest protection I could offer Harry - as long as he still has a place to call home in which he has a relative with the same blood as his mother, he will not be exposed and harmed by Voldemort."


    "For that reason, he has to go back at least once a year and stay for a while."


    The second layer of protection was from Dumbledore, who used layers of magic to cover up 4 Privet Drive. However, it could not be completely closed, for which he set a condition: anyone from the wizarding world with malicious intent would not find this place, even if the address accidentally leaked, the most they could do would be locking an area nearby, like a headless fly trying their chances, and long before that, Dumbledore would be informed.


    This is to prevent the remnants of the then Death Eaters from seeking revenge, both for Harry''s protection and the Dursleys'' protection.


    "I left this information in Harry''s swaddling clothes, explaining everything, and left reassured when I was sure they had accepted Harry. The future looked promising. I knew the Dursleys weren''t exactly friendly, but it was what I needed at the same time, I didn''t want Harry to grow up in a spoiled environment or be overwhelmed by glory for things he didn''t remember at all."


    "Sirius, I want you to fulfil your godfather''s duties and bring more love to Harry, but at the same time, you must be careful with your words ..."


    ...


    Sirius left, and when he left he said to the unhappy Harry: "I''m going to rent a room nearby, you can come over anytime. You can do whatever you want, except you can''t spend the night!"


    ---------- S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 350+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 318: Dragon and Contract Transfer

    "Dragons won''t always be seen at our camp; they have a strong sense of territory." Charlie explained, "But we''ll take the injured dragon back to camp for treatment." Felix followed him to a fenced enclosure behind the camp, where seven or eight dragons, bound in shackles made of fireproof material, shrugged their heads restlessly when they saw someone approaching, and one black dragon with an injured leg peered at them with half-squinting eyes.


    "This is Hungarian Horntail, very dangerous, we deployed twelve men to capture it, and its flame breathe could reach to about fifty feet - we''d better stay away from it." Charlie said, "I''ve seen it breathing flame over forty feet away."


    Felix''s eyes skimmed over the black scales of the giant dragon. The dragon looked like a lizard with bat wings attached. Sharp ridges grew from its skull, like pikes, all the way to its tail end. But whether it is the bronze horns, the rows of spikes on its back, or the hooked and powerful claws, all indicate that this creature is not to be messed with, and even the ends of its wings are sharp with curved hooks.


    It is the largest among the dragons, even twice the size of the smallest one, the other dragons are afraid of it, leaving empty space around it.


    After looking at it for a while, Felix opened his mouth and asked: "If there is no accident, the first game of the competition would be a dragon, do you guys have made some arrangements?"


    Charlie thought about it and said seriously, "We have prepared five kinds of dragons, for five schools, namely Common Welsh Green, Norwegian Ridgeback, Antipodean Opaleye, Swedish Short-Snout, and Chinese Fireball."


    " Only these five?"


    "All you want are female dragons that Incubating and Hatching Eggs, which is not easy to find, and I don''t understand why ..."


    Felix guessed, "Maybe to let the champions take the eggs from the mother dragons?"


    Charlie said with some unease, "Don''t joke about it, they are already dangerous, the mother dragon that is incubating eggs is a few levels more dangerous, see the scar on my arm? It''s from a mother dragon who was raising her cubs."


    "We ruled out the particularly dangerous Peruvian Vipertooth and a giant Hungarian Horntail for this reason; the former had highly poisonous fangs, while the latter is recognized as the most dangerous type of Dragon."


    Felix nodded: "Perhaps it is only necessary to pass by the dragons."


    Near evening, Felix and Charlie discussed the details of the resettlement of the dragons in the tent, "Hogwarts can open up a field in the forbidden forest, the kitchen will provide food, but we don''t really know the habits of the dragons, we need you to send someone to take care of them."


    "That''s not a problem, we already intended to do so." Charlie said readily. "When transporting over long distances, we will send more people to ensure the safety."


    " A team led by you?"


    "I''ll try to earn it, it''s a rare event."


    "Charlie," a male wizard walked in from outside the tent, the middle-aged captain he had once met, "I heard that the young professor wants to stay a few more days, there''s an agreement he needs to sign for that."


    He froze for a moment when he saw Felix: "You''re here too, just in time, this is for you."


    Felix took it and said with some surprise, "A confidentiality pact?"


    "Yes, to be fair," the male wizard shrugged, "even though it has always been a tradition to cheat in contests, at least the surface work has to be done," he gave a meaningful look, "our minister asked for it. "


    Felix carefully examined the contents, "The content is okay, except not to reveal the details of the Dragon -" Felix brushed the parchment, feeling the magic left on it, "This contract seems to be kind of surveillance type?"


    The middle-aged male wizard explained, "The Ministry of Magic provided it, we just complied with it, and from what they said, when the signer of the contract mentions dragon or similar words, they will get the message on that side."


    Felix didn''t say anything more and quickly signed his name. Although he had no intention of following the rules set by the Ministry of Magic, there is no need to make things difficult for these people.


    Charlie looked relieved, he hadn''t even faced the dragon with such trepidation, fortunately, Felix agreed. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    At night, the camp raised a torch, the black shadows of the hills and trees were stretched out, Felix stayed in his tent, and the night passed without a hitch. In the early morning, he stepped in the dew of the forest and appeared in the field behind the camp.


    The Hungarian Horntail with the injured leg noticed him first, and it snorted agitatedly as it let out a low growl. A short distance away, a Common Welsh Green glanced up, then lowered its head and went back to sleep.


    "Quiet."


    Felix said, his eyes turning silvery white, and the Hungarian Horntail angrily braced itself, its yellow eyes staring malevolently at him, followed by a trance in its vision, and it shook its head, not noticing anything unusual except that the wizard had got closer.


    But unknowingly, it had been pulled by Felix into the world of thinking, and unlike other scenarios that were applied, this time he had imitated an environment exactly like the outside world and seamlessly blended the two.


    The Dragon was oblivious to all this, and its nose began to emit sparks, a sign of warning, signalling that it would soon attack. But the wizard already came close enough as he tilted his head to measure its metal-like claws.


    "Boom!"


    The Hungarian Horntail spewed out a thick, raging blaze that hit Felix square in the face, and he melted away without any resistance, the dragon then snorted and lowered its head with satisfaction.


    The next second, however, it found Felix appeared in the same place as if he had never moved.


    Its intelligence is not high enough for it to understand this behaviour at all, it just became even angrier and opened its mouth to spew another ball of flame, this time more fierce and lasting for some time, the Hungarian Horntail was sure that the arrogant wizard had burned to ashes, it even saw a scattering black dust.


    But in the blink of an eye, Felix stood unharmed in front of it and even touched its claws with his hand.


    "Swish!"


    The sharp claws with an icy sheen cut through Felix''s body, cutting him into several pieces, "Well, this is too bloody." Felix said, flicking away the dragon''s claws like it is nothing.


    For a moment, Felix is sure he saw bewilderment in the Hungarian Horntail''s eyes, even though it was always the one attacking, it became clear that it had run into something unfathomable.


    "Stay put, I''m trying to figure out how to transfer the pact to you ..." Felix leaned down and tapped his fingers on the black scales on its body, "It''s fun to try, isn''t it? "


    Unlike the unbreakable vow which he couldn''t do much, the Ministry of Magic''s pact could be evaded, which is why he signed his name with gusto.


    The Ministry of Magic''s pact is valid based on some keywords, but the problem is that he doesn''t know if there is any hidden content, which creates a great deal of uncertainty. He would be shuttling around Nicolas Flamel''s hideout for most of the summer, and he didn''t want to expose those places yet, in addition to the fact that some of his planned trips were sensitive enough, like the black market, like the Beauxbatons School of Magic.


    An interesting fact is that, according to the relationship, he is actually closer to Beauxbatons, because he is a board member of this school.


    To be on the safe side, he decided to transfer the pact away. He thought about finding a random deer, or a rabbit or whatever instead, but that would definitely encounter some difficulty, in case the rabbit got eaten, his status on the Ministry of Magic side would be marked as dead.


    Fortunately, the last thing the Dragon Sanctuary is missing is a dragon. And his target is this rather fierce Hungarian Horntail.


    The dragon in front of him still attacked in vain, spitting fire, swinging its claws, flicking its tail, and biting, but Felix always recovered the next second as if he had been turning back time, and in just a few minutes, Felix had been exposed to hundreds of deadly attacks.


    By the end, the fierce Hungarian Horntail looked at him out of breath; there was nothing more it could do, and the dragon hung its head in frustration and slumped to the ground, its nostrils spewing out a stream of hot air.


    " Please roll over." Felix said to it.


    The Hungarian Horntail stared at him with its yellow vertical pupils for a long moment, and then it slowly exposed its belly, and as it turned, its eyes fluttered and its vision seemed to change slightly. But the terrible and clingy wizard is still there, and he is poking it with his wand, urging it to hurry up.


    Then Felix trailed along the black scales on its body with his wand and made his way up to stand on top of it.


    "Nice scales under the neck, the magic gleam is strong enough."


    ...


    Charlie emerged from the tent, unable to find Felix, so he subconsciously made his way to the enclosure at the back of the camp and got startled by the sight of the vicious Hungarian Horntail lazily opening its mouth and spewing a small, thin flame out of its throat for roasting meat.


    "Hold your breath, there''s another coat of oil needed to be applied." Felix patted its probing maw and flipped the roast on the grill, "I have a secret sauce, do you want to try?"


    The Hungarian Horntail nodded hastily.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 352+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 319: Niffler Valen

    When Felix extended the invitation to Charlie, the adventurous part of Charlie''s personality kicked in, and he happily accepted the offer almost without much thought. "You''re more shameless than Norbert, you know that?" Charlie reached out his rough hand and patted the spikes on the Hungarian horntail''s head, and the dragon rolled its eyes, ignoring his accusation.


    Charlie began to take over Felix''s work, brushing the sauce up in layers, "Judging from my experience, brushing it in one direction-"


    "Will it be more flavourful?" Felix asked.


    "No, it will look better." Charlie laughed, "It''s like melted amber. Well-"


    The two cut out a tenth of the roast, and the rest all went into the Hungarian horntail''s belly, "Accio fruit wine from Charlie''s tent!" Charlie shouted, and two jugs flew over like cannonballs as he told Felix, "We make our own wine from local fruit that you can''t get anywhere else."


    Felix narrated some interesting stories from school, especially when mentioning Hagrid and Ron, Charlie opened up more and let out a hearty laugh from time to time, he said with great interest, "I was close to Hagrid when I was in school because we were both interested in dragons, he always said he wanted to raise a dragon, and he ended up doing it the first year after I left."


    "The Norbert you just mentioned?"


    " Well, a Norwegian Ridgeback that''s less than three years old, which we''ve just released back into the wild." Charlie grinned, "These dragons grow fastest in their first few months of life, and the hatchlings develop their fire-breathing abilities relatively early, so Hagrid quickly realized that keeping it was a tricky mess, so he asked me to take Norbert with me."


    "Norbert and we got acquainted, he often came to beg for food, after eating he will run away." Charlie said, "We wondered if it would bring its own children with it later."


    "It also often steals the brandy from the camp, which is the captain''s favourite, the captain will speak like he''s reluctant, but in fact, he secretly relaxes the security, you know we have an alarm."


    Felix said, "Brandy? It wouldn''t be Hagrid--"


    "That''s right, Hagrid is the bad example." Charlie chuckled softly, "I guess he read some book with a biased recipe and thought brandy would increase its fire-breathing ability."


    ...


    Felix spent two more days at the Dragon Reserve, and on the day of his departure, he finally met the camp''s particularly famous Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, Norbert, which is only 12 or 13 foot tall and looks much smaller compared to the adult dragon.


    The Norwegian Ridgeback is somewhat similar to the Hungarian Horntail as both have lizard-like bodies with broad wings, and their tails are sharp. The young dragon in front of him, named Norbert, has a white snout, bulging orange eyes, and black, spiky wings that flap constantly.


    The camp prepared a sheep and a barrel of brandy for it, and the dark brown-skinned captain watched with a pained expression as Norbert drank up the brandy, then burped loudly and spewed out a few sparkling sparks.


    Then Norbert grunted twice cheerfully towards the crowd, grabbed the sheep, and flew away.


    "Crafty fellow." The middle-aged captain muttered.


    Felix also duly offered his farewell, as he directly used apparition, in the following week, he focused on spending some time to visit some friends, some of them were scheduled in advance, such as the Longbottoms, and some were without a formal appointment, such as Newt Scamander.


    When he returned from Newt''s house, Felix carried an extra little one, a Niffler cub.


    Newt had planned to release these magical creatures on a regular basis, and at the time Felix came over, it just so happened that among the creatures Newt was going to release, there were those three Niffler he had seen when he was at the Ministry of Magic, namely Valen, Sal, and Thorpe.


    "I suggest you pick just one, their destructive power will multiply with their numbers." Newt said. s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Just Valen, I remember her scolding me." Felix said.


    Niffler, which was excitedly grabbing the shiny gold coins from its two brothers with its butt facing him, froze in place when she heard Felix''s words.


    Newt and Felix seemed to hear the sound of necks rattling and turning, and Niffler Valen looked at them with an innocent face.


    "Mr. Hap ..."


    "I''m kidding, I''ll take good care of her."


    Newt shook his head and watched as Felix tricking the Niffler away with a pearl necklace that he had morphed from a quill, and he wondered if he had made the right choice.


    Still, he took out a silver pocket watch and handed it to Felix: "You''ve seen it in the Ministry of Magic, it pops open gently when you turn it on, it''s about the size of a classroom, Valen will like it."


    ...


    At this time, Felix is reading in one of Nicolas Flamel''s secret hiding places, with Niffler Valen lying on her back on the carpet, her little tiny hand constantly scratching and tugging, trying to stuff the shiny rune in front of her into her pocket.


    Almost a week passed, and he found a pattern to deal with this little fellow, casting firm enchantment around the house and then releasing the runes from the thinking room for her to play with.


    He also produced a finely crafted dreamscape - a gold mountain of Galleon, stored in his Second Class Order of Merlin badge, now it''s one of the Niffler Valen''s treasures, the other treasure being a scrapped time-turner.


    It was previously hidden in an ancient box, also found by Niffler Valen, and a note specifically left inside with instructions from Nicolas Flamel about its origins.


    The completely damaged time-turner had been acquired by Nicolas Flamel three hundred years ago at great expense, and was said to have come from a stolen item seized by the British Ministry of Magic; its previous owner had used it incorrectly and ended up trapping herself in the time gap where no one could find her, causing her to be literally starved to death.


    She wrote down what happened with her own blood, which was later discovered by the Ministry of Magic, and this time-turner was confiscated by the Ministry as well, only to be somehow passed around and be bought by Nicolas Flamel.


    He conducted a lot of research on this time-turner and tried to repair it, but in the end, it did not succeed, only thick information about time left behind.


    Felix tried repeatedly without being convinced and found that it was indeed damaged and was currently just an hourglass-like craft ornament, so it ended up as one of Niffler Valen''s collections.


    Monday, July 16th.


    The sky is cloudy and Felix is dressed in black formal wear, the emerald ring on his left hand and the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake on his right hand have been removed and placed in his pocket, while the Niffler has been tucked into a silver pocket watch and kept close to his body.


    Today is the day of Sirius'' brother Regulus'' funeral, Felix tidied up properly and came out from his house.


    The sky began to drizzle, Felix covered with a humanoid shield charm as he made his way to the funeral site, where a number of people had already arrived, also wearing black robes or formal wear, in the middle of a pile of adults, several small children stood out - red-haired Ron Weasley, black-haired Harry Potter, and platinum blonde hair Draco Malfoy.


    He also saw a number of familiar faces, Tonks, Barty Crouch, the Malfoys, the Longbottoms, Neville''s grandmother, and so on.


    There were also a number of people sitting together, and when Felix came over, they had an uneasy look on their faces.


    Felix gave a smile as he saw the face of Lord Parkinson, who flushed with a purplish-red colour that seemed particularly looked odd on his face.


    "All familiar faces."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 352+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 320: Lucius Malfoy

    Felix glanced around as he smiled lightly, some returned a smile, others gazed warily, and some lowered their heads as if they did not see him. "Felix! I''ve been looking forward to your arrival." Sirius took a big stride over, as he hugged Felix and whispered, "Thank goodness, I almost thought I got mixed up in the Death Eaters'' camp."


    Felix smiled and whispered, "You called them here, didn''t you?"


    Sirius sighed, " They''re all in-laws, written in the family tree, no way ... Frank, and Alice, were uncomfortable, too." He let go of Felix as Harry, Ron, and Draco walked over.


    "Professor." "Professor Hap." "Hello, Professor Hap." They said at the same time.


    Felix nodded at them and Draco glanced at the other two, seeing that they had no intention of leaving, he whispered, "Professor, my father would like to speak to you alone ..." Harry and Ron''s eyes immediately widened, like a cat that has smelled a rat.


    "Now?" Felix looked in the direction of the Malfoy couple in surprise, Lucius Malfoy embracing his wife and holding a snakehead cane in his other hand, talking and laughing with Mr. Crouch. Crouch''s face looked blank, he rarely spoke, as he mostly listened, and occasionally responded with "yes," "I agree," or "perhaps there is a better way. ". S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In between words, Lucius looked this way with a reserved smile, "Excuse me, Mr. Crouch." He walked over, switched his cane to his left side, and extended his right hand, "Hello, Mr. Hap, I''ve been looking forward to meeting you formally."


    "Mr. Malfoy-"


    "Call me Lucius, I''ll call you Felix as well, I''m close to Severus." Lucius Malfoy said, their hands clasped together, "I was his Head of Grade when he enrolled." He said as his grey eyes fixed on Felix.


    "Well, Lucius, are you trying to find out how young Malfoy is doing in school?"


    "Actually ... it''s something personal." Lucius said.


    "Well then," Felix said with a nod, "this way please --"


    The two men went to a secluded corner, behind an oak tree, with Lucius'' face half-hidden in the shadows. From a distance, Harry and Ron peered blatantly, and Ron looked at Draco and asked, "What kind of conspiracy you guys are up to?"


    Draco looked at him contemptuously, Ron''s robe seemed to be an altered old robe, the edges of the cuffs were whitened, and the colour is not considered pure black anymore, "If I were you, I would die of shame wearing such a robe to appear in front of others - little Ronniee..." He trailed it off.


    Ron trembled with anger, Harry hurriedly pulled him back, it is Regulus'' funeral, he did not want them to fight here, Harry stepped in front of Ron, intending to taunt Draco Malfoy a few words, but a surprised voice sounded behind Draco, making his body stiffen.


    "Draco, you just, just-" Narcissa looked at him hesitantly, her eyes darting between her son and Ron with an expression of having heard a shocking secret, her blue eyes widened.


    "Mom! It''s not what you think-" Draco scrambled to explain that the nickname he had spoken was just a taunt and nothing more.


    "Draco Malfoy, come with me." Narcissa said with a stern face as she straightened the clothes she is wearing.


    Draco opened his mouth and hung his head in defeat as he followed his mother.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other and after a moment, Ron suddenly jolted, his face scrunched up into a frown, "She can''t be thinking of--so disgusting!" Harry stifled his laughter and said, "At least, Malfoy will never call you like that again."


    They scouted towards the large oak tree where Professor Hap and Lucius Malfoy were talking, speculating on what they would talk about. But the reality is, they can only keep going in circles on the edge.


    "... I''ve sent my letter to Dumbledore expressing my concern that Muggles and wizards should exist on two parallel paths, but unfortunately, stories like The Fountain of Youth, which promotes intermarriage between wizards and Muggles, are still circulating widely." Lucius assumed a moral stance.


    He said softly, "I do not want my son to be influenced by reading such stories, which would taint his pure bloodline, I have always guarded him with fear as his father, helping him to resist the distractions from the complex world outside ... but, suddenly, I found that there is someone whose influence on Draco''s increasing over time even more than his own father, and for the first time he refuted me. Using a comic book content."


    Felix smiled and said, "People always grow up, they won''t always live the way their parents wanted them to. As a professor, it''s quite an accomplishment to gain the favour of my students."


    "But don''t you think it''s a bit excessive meddling." Lucius Malfoy said coldly.


    "What do you mean, the Christmas present, or something else?"


    "With all due respect, Felix, you are Severus'' proud student, and we naturally belong to the same camp." Lucius said, his gray eyes narrowing, "I have some shallow, not-worth mentioning prestige in pureblood circles, and we are not that old-fashioned - fresh blood are equally welcome."


    "Lucius, you should have heard the things I did ..." Felix said, feeling that the conversation between the two only now getting down to the business.


    " Threatening some stupid, blind fools who can''t see what''s going on?" Lucius said, "They won''t stand in our way when we develop a friendship between us. You and the Malfoys have never had a conflict."


    "I''m close to muggles ..."


    "As long as it doesn''t interfere with Draco."


    "Some purebloods would strongly disagree ..."


    "I''ll mediate between them."


    "I have no interest in stupid people ..."


    "And I''m exactly opposite, you''ll find that with a bit of force, they would also be able to use their brains."


    " I am a Muggle-born..."


    "To be precise - Raised in a Muggle orphanage," Lucius said slyly, "From the talent, you have shown, we have every reason to believe that you are fairly pure-blooded, and if you wish, I will investigate and produce a ''satisfactory'' result that will do you justice."


    Felix smiled, he knew Lucius''s intention, he represents a part of people, as Felix''s presence is getting stronger and more influential, some people can no longer sit back, so they''re trying to release a friendly signal, if they can pull him into their camp, it is an excellent option.


    He believed that, as long as he asked, those families who had offended him, will quietly decline, the company that he had yet to start, will also be able to grow rapidly with the support of hidden forces, and perhaps after a few years of staying at Hogwarts, he will be able to freely choose between the position of Hogwarts Headmaster and Minister of Magic.


    Seeing that he seemed to be hesitating, Lucius cautioned with an undertone, "The past shouldn''t become a hindrance, we should look forward, don''t you think so?"


    "There''s only one problem-"


    "What?"


    "There''s only one problem, Lucius," Felix said, looking into his gray eyes, "You have reminded me to look forward ... but I see further than you could ever imagine! --"


    Lucius frowned.


    "Do you know occlumency?" Felix suddenly changed the subject and asked.


    Lucius gave a puzzled look, and Felix finally advised him, "There''s no harm in learning it a bit more, you''ll need it. Maybe then we''ll have a chance to work together."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 354+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 321: Eulogy

    More people arrived, not just those Black family relatives, but some officials from the Ministry of Magic also arrived, as well as some of Felix''s friends, and he even saw the figure of Rita Skeeter, a woman who kept a low profile and was classified as the least popular reporter since her Animagus was exposed. Sirius didn''t really know this woman well and shouldn''t know this information yet, but Harry has reminded him in a whisper.


    The funeral ceremony had officially begun.


    In the green grass, Regulus'' coffin is surrounded by flowers, and he quietly laid inside, his angular face filled with peace, as if asleep. He is wearing an emerald green robe embroidered with the Black family crest, and in the corner of the coffin is engraved with the Black family motto in French: Toujours Pur (Always Pure).


    Sirius looked at the solemn faces of the audience, knowing that there would be a hard battle to be fought today, only the main character might not be him, he took a deep breath and calmly read the eulogy.


    " I thank you all for coming, among you are old friends of the Black family, in-laws, as well as my friends, mentors, and wizards with reputations in various professions."


    "I once heard that a man''s lifespan is not only based on the number of days he lived, but it also counts the time he remained in people''s memory after his death. I went through that line again and again for a while, and I would like to add one more point, maybe that the image he has in people''s memory is also important. Regulus started from being a well-mannered Nobleman to becoming a follower of the dark lord who started the war ... It will be extremely unfair to just stop here. I am honored to proclaim, on this day, at the funeral of my brother Regulus Arcturus Black, the merits of a man who dedicated his life to the great cause of fighting against the dark lord, as he demonstrated courage and perseverance far beyond the ordinary man on a long and lonely road."


    He read on in one breath, in spite of the uproar among the audience -


    "His merits were witnessed by Albus Dumbledore and Felix Hap, who will speak after me ... At school, Regulus was an outstanding seeker, bringing honour to his house, and he treated people with sincerity, integrity, warmth, and courtesy ..."


    Sirius finished reading the eulogy and walked off the stage. Harry comforted him lightly, to which he shook his head and looked at Dumbledore.


    There is a lot of murmuring among the guests, Sirius''s words shocked them, and some let out a sneer: "Is this his attempt to turn the tables for his brother?" And more people stared at Dumbledore, so if Sirius was telling the truth, then Dumbledore''s next statement carried extreme weight.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, stepped forward, and made his point: "Regulus Arcturus Black, showed us the process of growing up of an immature young man. In his childhood, he was deeply influenced by his family and parents, with this imprint he stepped into school and made friends ..."


    "He is exposed to more new perspectives and learned to think, perhaps immature or maybe naive, but let''s not overlook his growth in the process and the potential he showed. When he stepped out of school and saw the reality of the world with his own eyes, reality and ideals collided fiercely in his mind. That''s when he shows us how a Noble Soul thinks: do the right thing and rise above all. He has to fight against certain deeply rooted ideas in his mind, fight alone, and he ultimately won."


    "He recognized Voldemort''s true face and gave him a good blow. He died unnoticed, but we will not forget this young, blazing soul who was only 18 years old."


    "The war is never far from us, perhaps one day, it will suddenly erupt in a way we would not expect, and as long as there is a breath, we will not stop fighting. When we hold the wand, for love, for the well-being of the public, there will be someone who will sacrifice his life for the greater good, and will bring us inexhaustible spiritual wealth."


    Dumbledore''s words set off even bigger waves, Rita Skeeter hid in a corner, pulling quill and parchment from her pocket, a thin bead of sweat emerging from her nose from the excitement, the quill fluttered rapidly.


    Felix paced over, "Rita, heroes are not to be slandered."


    Rita Skeeter, the woman''s body stiffened, and then a smile appeared: "Of course, Mr. Hap is planning to reveal more inside information?" She did not move and crumpled the parchment into a ball.


    "Making up stories is what you are good at, as long as you don''t discredit Regulus, I have no other comments."


    Rita Skeeter shoved the end of the quill into her mouth and kept sucking on it. In just a few seconds, she thought of something and her eyes lit up: "I''m going to write about the Dark Lord from Regulus'' point of view, from worship to disillusionment, through the eyes of a Death Eater, what do you think?"


    Felix gave her a surprised look: "You''re not afraid of retaliation?"


    "Sir, the true fanatical followers of the Dark Lord are in Azkaban, and the ones out here are a bunch of cowards." Rita Skeeter said contemptuously, "A bunch of fence-sitters, you couldn''t find a better word to describe them."


    "I''ll be waiting to read your masterpiece, then." Felix said.


    On the other side, someone had already started to question Dumbledore -


    "Dumbledore, are you telling the truth?" Barty Crouch frowned. Regulus joining the Death Eaters had been an accepted thing at one point, as his parents hadn''t shied away from it. But the Ministry of Magic did not put Regulus on trial after the war, because long before that, he had disappeared, and even those arrested Death Eaters did not know what had happened, perhaps died in some attempt to do some evil, or perhaps offended the Dark Lord and got killed.


    "On my honour." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    "Do you have any proof?" Barty Crouch said, "If there is no evidence, the Ministry of Magic will not recognize--" S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Sirius said coldly, "My brother did not fight Voldemort to gain your recognition."


    Barty Crouch''s face twitched hard; he was the one who had approved Sirius''s life sentence without trial that year, and after thirteen years, he turned out to be innocent.


    Tonks came over and whispered softly to Lupin: "There are a lot more rumours in the Ministry lately, old stories being resurfaced, saying that Mr. Crouch got where he is today all because of a ruthless heart, and in addition to illegally judging Sirius, he put his own son in Azkaban without evidence, and all this for the seat of Minister of Magic. "


    "Wizengamot is already considering withdrawing his seat as a member."


    Lupin slightly helplessly moved to the side, he is not very comfortable with this kind of intimate conversation.


    Soon, Felix stood in front of the crowd, he swept his eyes around, and when the chatter quieted down, he opened his mouth and said, "I approve of what Sirius and Headmaster Dumbledore said earlier, there is no need to repeat them. I happened to hear a sentence today, and decided to share with you ..."


    "Someone told me that people should learn to look ahead, no need to dwell on the past, the world will eventually move forward." He said softly, "Very sensible ..."


    "We always do things based on our own judgment of the future, thinking that we are the only ones who see clearly and far ahead. But the question is, we all look ahead, so who exactly sees the future that will become reality?"


    His eyes swept over Lucius Malfoy, who held his wife and son, standing expressionlessly, still mulling over the words Felix had just mentioned to him.


    "I have not experienced war, yet I am deeply affected by it, and it seems to me that every war is a clash of different wills, sincerity, passion, and selflessness, as well as cruelty, vileness, and greed ..."


    Felix said softly, as his eyes pierced like a knife against a small group of people.


    "Based on the past experience, when faced with a choice, some people are calculating and profit-oriented; some people flatter to be included in the high status; some people are wise to protect themselves; some people will hide ..."


    "But fortunately, there is another group of people; when danger comes, they choose to stand up and defy the odds to guard everything they hold dear."


    Everyone''s eyes locked on his eyes, wanting to see his innermost thoughts, while Felix simply spoke unhurriedly, "What I''m curious about is, my friends, are you prepared for the choice when it comes once again? Which path will you choose?"


    "Felix Hap! What are you advocating!"


    A fat male wizard growled and shouted, his voice distorted by fear: "Do you want to give orders and command us! And that crazy old man, full of lies, I should have never joined this damn-"


    His words ended abruptly, his fat body trembled, making a "ho-ho" sound, followed by a spasm he fell, Felix dragged him into the thinking room, in just a few seconds his surface of consciousness burned with blazing fire seven times, although it''s only a projection of the real consciousness, the feeling of pain is real. He will be in bed for at least two weeks.


    "... I saw the future that I had identified and decided to prepare for it. I wanted to be prepared for whatever obstacles I might face." Felix concluded his remarks.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 354+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 322: Imagination shines into reality

    Draco Malfoy''s nose tip glistened with grainy sweats, his nostrils flared with excitement, his pale cheeks flushed slightly, he had never heard such an exciting speech before, Professor Hap''s speech was simply perfect. He looked like his ideal Slytherin - calm, dashing, and commanding. Especially when he also used some kind of magic to make that brain-dead guy faint in front of the crowd!


    Although after the funeral, he was called by Headmaster Dumbledore for a lecture ...


    Draco stood next to a white vertical flower tower, sneakily glancing at a secluded corner, where Dumbledore and Professor Hap standing, Dumbledore''s expression is one of seriousness, while Professor Hap explained something with a smile, only words he vaguely heard were "... recently mastered ... just a lesson ..."


    On the other side the atmosphere is awkward for a handful of people; his own parents, Potter, Sirius Black, the pink-haired woman, Professor Lupin, Weasleys, and finally the family of Aunt Andromeda, who visited his house once before - most of these people are related to the Malfoys. He had long been accustomed to the various relatives who popped out of nowhere, but he never paid attention to them unless they were deliberately introduced by his father.


    The only exception is Aunt Andromeda, the image of her arguing with his mother when he was a child left a deep impression on him, even after all these years, he still remembers her. Especially in Astronomy class, when the professor introduced Andromeda, he remembered that he had an aunt with the same name. She looked a lot like another aunt he had never met, and although his mother never mentioned her two sisters, he had seen pictures of them when they were young as he went through picture albums.


    The three were well distinguished; the flamboyant, slightly mean-spirited older sister with her curly black hair; the second sister, Andromeda, with her fuzzy light brown hair and gentler eyebrows, and lastly the youngest, his mother, with her long blonde hair.


    Draco looked up and down at the male wizard who stood next to Aunt Andromeda with a critical eye, this is the muggle wizard that his aunt chose? He didn''t look that great ... blonde hair, a big belly, and nothing outstanding except for the soothing voice that is both calm and filled with gentleness.


    "Draco, let''s go!" Narcissa shouted at him in exasperation, reunions after long periods were not always pleasant, and once again the two sisters broke up unhappily, leaving Draco to follow in a hurry as his family left.


    Soon, Felix and Dumbledore also ended their conversation, and he came over with a relaxed expression as he approached the Weasleys, who had planned to leave the place with Ron and talked to them about the Weasley twins.


    "I don''t know if they told you guys that I made a promise to show them something novel during the summer."


    Mrs. Weasley''s expression looked a little difficult, she had always been against the brothers engaging in making those mischievous items, but at this point, she didn''t know what to do, and it is difficult to find supporters among the members of the family, except Percy - only when she is angry, the whole family will support her unconditionally.


    "Arthur--" she looked at her husband.


    Mr. Weasley grimaced, "Oh, of course, of course, Fred and George brought it up when Molly tried to spank them - ahem! You know, the O.W.L''s exam results," he stroked his somewhat shedding hair, "each received four certificates, which together don''t add up as much as their brothers ... Can I ask what it''s all about?"


    "It can be interpreted as a special social practice," said Felix: "I want to show them the factories of Muggle society, machinery, ideas, and whatnot, as it happens, my new company also needs - "


    "Can I volunteer?" Mr. Weasley asked immediately, Mrs. Weasley elbowed him, and he glanced sheepishly at his wife, "Uh, I mean ... makes a lot of sense, Molly, I must admit that it would be good for Fred and George."


    Mrs. Weasley puffed out her chest like a bullfrog, "Arthur, they still have two years to go before they graduate, if they start taking ... it seriously from now on"


    "Molly, you and I both know they''re not ambitious, we can''t make decisions for them." Mr. Weasley insisted.


    He gave his address, "Professor Hap, you''re always welcome." Then he left with his family.


    In the evening, the L.C.A. building.


    In a temporarily compartmented office on the third floor, Felix met Severus Snape.


    He sat in a swivel chair and turned around lightly, "So, the interview is tomorrow, and you''re not even prepared your own company yet?" Snape''s words dripped with obvious accusation.


    "The place for the building has already been bought, along with the building materials. I''m planning to build a new one by myself." Felix said with a sigh, "I''ve been so occupied reading books lately, it feels like walking into a treasure trove and picking up treasures as you bend down."


    "How can you receive the resumes then?"


    "Of course, I asked them to send it to Andys at the L.C.A building in the recruitment advertisement, which in fact was received by Dobby, I found some time to look through them, I have some impressions of some people, it is easy to decide, and while the rest require hard work from you, Severus."


    Snape showed an unexpected expression, "You really want me to help you interview?"


    "Oh, it''s me and you together."


    Felix pulled out a silver pocket watch from his chest pocket, then clicked the clasp to let the top cover pop open gently, and a Niffler poked her head out from inside, her pink nose twitched continuously.


    "This is ... a Niffler."


    "You can call her Valen." Niffler crawled up to Felix''s shoulder along his arm and surveyed the surroundings sensitively. Then she took an Order of Merlin out of her pocket, hugged it, and held it tightly. Then she settled herself on Felix''s shoulder and entered a nice dream.


    "Wizengamot will regret giving you the award when they see this scene." Snape said.


    "A true honour cannot be taken away." Felix said with a smile.


    The next morning, the two stood in a wide-open space in Diagon Alley, where the previous buildings had been bulldozed and replaced by large piles of stone and sand materials, a small cone-shaped sand dune alone is as tall as the second story building next to it.


    "What are you going to do now?" Snape asked.


    "Use magic to build the building." Felix said as he stretched out his palm, thin golden lines appeared in his hand, weaving continuously, forming a somewhat illusory three-dimensional castle-like building, it is transparent, if you use a magnifying glass to see, you can even see the interior space divided into layers within, as well as the patterns carved on the massive support pillars; the spiral staircase connected everywhere, the main lobby went straight up through the center, if a person standing there, he can directly see the huge ice crystal-like chandelier hanging down from the very top.


    Felix tossed the miniature building out of his hand, and it turned into a stream of light, landing in the center of the space, then swelling and growing rapidly, taking over the otherwise grimy, gray-brown ground and glowing with a bright magical glow.


    People on the street stopped and gestured, and a young couple cast their astonished gaze upon it.


    Felix waved his ebony wand, and the building materials piled on the ground melted like liquid, white marble, brown sand, gray pebbles ... A vortex emerged above the ground, sucking it all in, and then the ground continued to churn, flooding with a huge, murky bubble.


    "Reminds me of the scene of boiling potion." Snape said, hiding the real emotions within.


    As they watched, a building began to slowly grow upward.


    The illusory three-dimensional image turned into reality, a variety of materials from the vortex-like a small snake poked its head out, and filled the illusory building that existed only in the imagination, layer by layer, from the very bottom of the foundation to extended upward, finally, a hundred-foot-tall vertical castle appeared, exactly the same as the miniature model held by Felix before.


    From the bottom to the top, every line, every pattern closed together upward and inward, interlocked with each other, forming a combined flow, and finally gathered at the very top of the whole building, pointing straight to the sky, looking from afar, it looked like a sheathed blade, awe-inspiring.


    A black stone monument emerged out of the ground, with a string of gold engraved letters - Future World.


    "By the way, there'' also the seeds recommended by Professor Sprout."


    Felix said, carefully pulling two dark brown seeds out of his pocket and dropping them at the building''s entrance, where they quickly sprouted and grew under the magic, sprouting branches and twisting and knotting themselves to form an ancient, thick, green staircase that stretched down to their feet.


    "Severus, allow me to solemnly present this to you." Felix smiled and courteously extended his hand, "You are the first guest."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 356+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat. s?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 323: Penelope

    "Percy, did you see that?" "... saw it."


    In the corner of Diagon Alley, Percy and Penelope stared blankly at each other as Percy asked her, "Do you think Professor Hap is here as a guest?"


    "Don''t say silly things," Penelope clenched her fists excitedly, "We should have realized it a long time ago, the recruitment information reveals quite a lot-"


    "You mean the ancient runes and revere for muggle items?" Percy snapped back. "It''s a good thing we came here again; the first few times we came over, it was an empty lot."


    Percy and Penelope dropped by here more than once and even went to the L.C.A building by following the job ad. The staff of the revitalized comic book company led them to a house-elf, the one dressed more elaborately than they were, and had a separate office. He didn''t give much information, except insisting that the interview location would remain the same and that they should be there on time. "You definitely won''t regret it." S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Percy will be joining the Ministry of Magic in a few days, and this will be their last time visiting here, they just happened to arrived in time to see this scene.


    ...


    Felix and Snape walked into the Future World Building, Felix''s fingertips brushed against a copper Nat, "Dobby." as he called out softly.


    "Snort!"


    With a slight thud, a house-elf in a sophisticated butler''s suit appeared and bowed deeply, "Mr. Hap, Dobby at your service." He raised his head and looked around, "Is this our new company? It looks a little dark ..."


    "Of course it is, there''s still a lack of lighting." Felix said, his finger poked ahead, runes converged, into a palm-sized milky white ball of light, it swirled upward, landed in the huge ice crystal-like chandelier at the very top of the building, then the whole building became bright.


    "It will last for a while, and in a couple of days I''ll make a stable runic artefact." He said thoughtfully, "This might possibly be the first product of the company."


    "A magic lamp?" Snape mulled it over, "Nice idea."


    Felix clapped his hands, "The interview is at nine o''clock, almost two hours from now, we can use this time to make some adjustments-"


    He stopped talking as a young man and woman pushed the door open from outside, "Professor?" Penelope asked nervously.


    Felix nodded at her, "You''re earlier than I thought, well ... I''ve seen your grades, and it''s not really necessary, but let''s go through the process."


    He said to Dobby, "If anyone comes in early for an interview, please take them to that room on the second floor." He pointed at a spacious room on the second floor with an enormous foliate wine-red chestnut door carved with an antique floral design.


    "Okay, Mr. Hap." Dobby said happily.


    As the group walked up the spacious, large angular spiral staircase, Percy took the opportunity to survey the ceiling sculptures on the dome, which showed a patchwork of scenes, in addition to the wizard with a wand, there were some people dressed like muggles, some of them holding various glass tubes in their hands, some musing over complex mechanical structures, and some holding up a brass balance.


    It is hard for him to understand why these people are grouped together, they seem to come from all walks of life, so Percy gazed at the images of the wizards, he identified several of them, they all have a common feature - known for discovering or inventing extremely meaningful spells.


    For example, he saw Summerbee, who invented the Cheering Charm, Flavius Belby, who discovered a way to drive Lethifold away, and Glover Hipworth ... who invented the Pepperup Potion. Percy surmised that those muggles he didn''t know should be similar characters? Discovered or invented something?


    "Miss Clearwater, make a note that we should make the stairs move." Felix, who is walking ahead, said.


    "What? Oh, okay." Penelope said, rummaging through her pockets as Percy thoughtfully handed her a small notebook and a quill, Percy said, " This is something I prepared in advance ..."


    "Thanks, Percy." She jotted it down quickly.


    Felix made some more comments: "We need some decorations ... This is not urgent, the employees can decorate according to their own preferences, but some tables & chairs, paper, quill & ink, greeneries and so on, still need to be prepared. Draw up a list, and you can discuss it with Dobby."


    He glanced at Penelope: " Excuse me, there is a shortage of staff, so you are needed to do some miscellaneous tasks for the time being ..."


    "That''s okay, professor, I can quickly familiarize myself with the place this way." Penelope said, while writing down the request, "Dobby should be that house-elf just now?"


    "That''s right, and it''s important to note that, like you, he''s an employee of the company, not someone''s servant."


    "He''s a wild elf?" Penelope asked in surprise.


    "He likes to call himself, Free Dobby." Felix replied with a smile.


    They came to the large room on the second floor, and if it weren''t for the lack of tables, chairs, carpets, and other decorations, it would be really hard to imagine that everything here had just appeared, and Percy stroked the delicate carving on the windowsill, which seemed to be a Niffler...


    Felix morphed some very Hogwarts-style long table and chairs, he and Snape sat on one side of the table, Penelope and Percy sat on the other side, but soon, the interview turned into a discussion of the company''s business scope, management system, and daily operations so on.


    Percy is quite a fan of the Ministry of Magic''s management methods, and he suggested copying them exactly, but this was strongly opposed by his girlfriend.


    "Percy, the management style of the Ministry of Magic is too cold and rigid, and for a good while, we won''t have too many people ..." She glanced at Felix for confirmation, and Felix nodded gently, and she turned her head and said. "You see, if there are only a dozen or a few dozen people, it is still more important to have a friendly atmosphere."


    "It is because of the small number of people that some rules should be established early, it is better for all." Percy insisted.


    "Rules are necessary, but they don''t have to be so rigid." Penelope said patiently, "Future World is based on research and development, it is completely different from the Ministry of Magic ..."


    Felix and Snape sat quietly on the sidelines, watching them argue, both of them have a stubborn nature in their character, but again, they are rational people, willing to reason, after half an hour, Percy was convinced.


    Only then did Felix say with a smile on his face, "It seems you have reached a consensus."


    "Let me say what I think, as Miss Clearwater said, the purpose of the future world is to provide convenience for all wizards and make their lives better, in other words, our ideas have to be ahead of the entire wizard community, we, the future."


    "A relaxed environment is a must, I won''t make too many constraints, however, some practices of the Ministry of Magic have merit, for example, Percy''s point about using paper planes to deliver messages, I was deeply intrigued when I first saw it."


    "Knock, knock!"


    Dobby appeared with a knock on the door, "Mr. Hap, there''s an applicant, he says his name is Remus Lupin."


    Snape stood up in a flash, "I''ll go get him." Without waiting for Felix''s response, he hurried out of the room.


    Felix shook his head, rushed to follow, these two have fought before, the relationship is really complicated, but another fight is not a problem, but he must send away Percy and Penelope first.


    He addressed the two, "You''re hired, Miss Clearwater. Go enjoy your time off and report to work tomorrow ..."


    -----------


    #Dhalmeida, Thanks for your support.


    There are 356+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 324: Lupins Doubt

    Remus Lupin took today''s interview very seriously, he got ready half an hour early and reviewed the prepared material silently on the way here, with the clipping cut off from the newspaper in his pocket as he cherished the words in it. "... regardless of origin, all based on ability. Anyone who is far above the norm in any three following fields - ancient runes, alchemy, charms, transfiguration, magic theory, and muggle studies ..."


    Regardless of origin, all based on ability!


    This is an extremely rare choice of words used in the recruitments of the job offers in the wizarding community, although the requirements are relatively harsh, and Lupin thinks he is not inferior in any of those fields beside ancient runes, in fact, he is best at things related to the Defense Against the Dark Arts and had many opportunities to put those bits of knowledge into practice during his years of wandering.


    After receiving the invitation for the interview, the reply letter sent to him once again reaffirmed that the company is dedicated to the practical research of magic, which will involve the improvement and transformation of many muggle items. Lupin devoted half a month to learning about various novelties in the non-magical world.


    This insight led him to become fascinated, and Lupin discovered a system completely different from magic, full of rigour and logic, everything is in order, but unfortunately, there is no place left for magic there.


    He didn''t know if the owner of ''Future World'' saw this, but he felt that even if he might not be hired, it would be worthwhile to see the vision of this company. When he came over according to the address, he saw an extremely imposing vertical castle with a large group of people gathered around it.


    He listened around for several minutes on the sidelines, in a state of confusion. What do you mean a building that suddenly grew out of nowhere an hour ago, was this an empty lot two hours ago?


    He also saw a house-elf in a suit - this itself is something strange- but the looped coat-of-arms on its chest caught Lupin''s attention, does that represent some ancient family, or is it just alchemy? Or is it ... the Magic Rune Club?


    When he identified himself, the house-elf led him into the building, the simple undecorated architecture of the interior is very appealing to Lupin, and they made their way up a curved spiral staircase, with Dobby bouncing ahead of him.


    "One moment, please -"


    Lupin from the second floor near the handrail looked at the relief on the ceiling, relied on the past few days cramming work, although he did not know all the characters on the dome, but he still could distinguish their occupations, especially the one who fiddled with complex machinery, that looked like a mechanical engineer?


    In the middle of his thoughts, he heard a sharp gust of wind and looked back, and unexpectedly saw the cold face of Severus Snape. Snape stood two steps above him, clamping his black robes together in front of him like a black bat retracting its wings and looking down at him.


    "Lupin," Snape said softly, a grin creeping out of the corners of his lips, "welcome to ...."


    Lupin suddenly remembered this same expression when Snape first brought him the wolfsbane potion, and after he drank it, he couldn''t eat for two whole days.


    "Hello, Severus." Lupin said mildly, as he walked up the next two steps, "What a coincidence, meeting you here."


    "Coincidence? No..." Snape said playfully, "I''ve been waiting for you for a long time."


    "You''re waiting for me specifically?" Lupin frowned, The coat of arm on Dobby''s chest once again appeared in his mind, pro muggle, ancient rune at the top of the recruitment requirements ...


    "Lupin the surname perhaps hinted at your identity," Snape''s smile colder, "I recently looked up some names, and in the past, I overlooked the point that there is magic and fate in every name."


    Lupin winced; he hated this reference being made. The word ''Lupin'', in the out-of-the-way usage of some countries, contained the meaning of wolf.


    Snape sneered contemptuously and just about continued to say something, but there was a clatter behind him and Felix came out with Percy and Penelope, both surprised at the tense atmosphere between them.


    " Leave us alone - " Snape said with a cold air radiating from his body.


    Percy and Penelope glanced at Felix, who smiled and nodded at them, and they scrambled away.


    Felix waved his wand and the doors of the building closed with a bang.


    He leaned against the wall and said slowly, "I''ve always wondered, both professors were the best of their time, one a master of dueling and the other master of Defense Against the Dark Arts, so who is really better."


    "I had a chance to see this scene, but I interrupted it, and now I finally have a chance to be sure of that."


    Lupin frowned and looked at Felix: "I''m here for an interview, not for a fight."


    Felix lowered his head and stared earnestly at his nails, "You misunderstand, Professor Lupin. I admitted you at your farewell party, and yes, this is my company. I knew enough about your abilities early on in this year of working together, so you can think of this as an orientation program with your new colleagues - showing off your skills and getting to know each other better. Perhaps, you can also cast a vicious spell at me."


    A red flash flew toward him, "Cut the crap, Felix." Snape said with a fierce look on his face. He looked at Lupin, "I rarely have dealt with you, you''re always hiding behind Potter and Black''s arse ..."


    "Oh, Severus," Lupin drew his wand, he also could not suppress his anger, " two of them is enough for you to handle, if you add me, you will be scared to pee your pants."


    Snape showed a bitter smile, "Well said ..." a red light flew out.


    Lupin dodged nimbly and countered with a disarming charm, and the two men, equally brimming with passion, fought, as spells flying and colourful light streaked all over the place. Snape felt a long-lost excitement, he really felt alive, except that there was a man chattering next to him -


    "No one cares here, don''t hide, Severus, where''s your dark magic?" S~?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh, that almost hit me, Professor, you''re having trouble with your aim-"


    Felix tilted his head, a spell exploded behind him, and he broke into a smile, "You guys are the ones who started it, don''t say I''m being unreasonable ..."


    He stood up straight away from the wall, his arms stretched out leisurely, a dark wand appeared in his hand, just with a light wave, three dazzling lights flew out at the same time, rushing towards the two.


    Lupin got surprised by his sudden entry into the fray, slightly struggled to block the spell, then he took two cautious steps back, surprised to see Snape also put up a barrier emitting a hazy glow.


    The two looked at each other, looking at Felix who walked over with his arms spread wide, Snape said with great annoyance.


    "Take out the obstruction."


    But Felix struck first, he kept coming closer and closer, a spell thrown down like rain, each spell wasn''t really strong, but the number is definitely exaggerated, and the glow of the magic illuminated his body.


    "Two professors, you still need to work hard, hm~hmm~~"


    Snape and Lupin looked at each other, Snape shook his hand and threw out a speedy black mist to corrode the incoming spell, and the wand in Lupin''s hand slashed down like a sharp sword with a "swoosh" sound, the debris on the floor trembled and flew towards Felix.


    He is still a bit confused, completely perplexed at what''s happening. Originally he was nervous about the interview but ended up bumping into his nemesis Snape, then he came up and threw a spell at him, another former colleague also encouraging them to fight, and he even later found some lame excuses to join the fray, while he was forced to join forces with Snape ...


    How in the end did they get to this point?


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 358+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 325: Magic Factory

    Once the fight started, it is hard to stop. Lupin struggled to control the spell, Felix is competing with him for control of the transfigured entity, half of the debris on the field turned into cats, and the other half turned into chubby Nifflers, which strutted comically and pressed their buttocks against the cats, making them let out a shriek. On the other hand, Snape''s spell is fast and rapid, when encountering a spell that flying towards him, he did not dodge, but he used his high reaction speed at the last minute to flick off the spell, his casting speed is at least twice as fast as the average person.


    However, Felix is equally not slow, he seems to have no limits in general, while suppressing Lupin, he can still spare some effort to confront him, using hand gestures to cast spells from time to time, propping up a moving golden shield.


    Snape felt sick, he could not think of a better word, the golden shield has excellent resistance to spells, pushing two or three spells towards him on top of it, as a last resort, he used a more powerful spell to freeze them in place, but the next second the shield turned into a small snake, dexterously wandering on the ground.


    What surprised him, even more, was that for some simple spells, even though it hit Felix, the spell slid aside smoothly against his chest.


    "Humanoid shield charm ... Professor, I was actually a little careless, it''s not my most powerful defensive magic, in case you use the Diffindo just now, Professor, I might bleed a little."


    At the end of the battle, Snape and Lupin combined to release a small black hurricane, the building emitted a humming and shuddering sound, the ground debris was torn and swept in, making its sound look even more appalling.


    It was 50 or 60 feet tall and occupying a third of the castle, emitting a "whining" whistling sound as they were forced to retreat.


    "That''s something." Felix curled the corners of his mouth, if he wanted to avoid it, it would be easy, but to defeat it head-on would take a little effort, and his goal was never to win.


    At that moment, the light in the castle began to flicker constantly, Felix looked up, the topmost chandelier being pulled by a small hurricane and shaking violently, emitting a creaking and groaning noise that was unbearable.


    A milky-white orb was sucked down and rolled into the hurricane, which began to twist and expand under the action of external forces ... A bright column of light passed through the black hurricane, like countless lightsabers piercing a hole in a big empty garbage bag, and Its light shone in the dim space as well as on their obscure and uncertain faces.


    Finally, the pillar of light and hurricane disappeared together.


    Snape flinched for a moment, "No fun." He put away his wand and prepared to leave.


    "Don''t go, Professor," Felix pulled him back and said with a smile, "After the welcome ceremony, we should discuss the future of the company."


    "That''s the future of your company." Snape said coldly. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s our ''future''." Felix looked at him.


    Ten minutes later, Felix yawned toward and said with an apologetic look on his face, "Please, Dobby."


    "Leave it to me, Mr. Hap, Dobby will finally have something to do." The house-elf patted his chest and said, the fingertips of his long, thin fingers lit up with light, returning the rubble all over the floor to its place.


    Snape, Lupin, and Felix came to the second floor of the large room, each sat down in three separate directions.


    Felix said sincerely: "Professor Lupin, Severus, and I will spend most of the time teaching at Hogwarts, I don''t have much energy to devote to this, I can only develop a strategy in terms of the general direction, the specific management still needs you."


    Perhaps tired from fighting, Snape did not raise objections.


    Lupin thought seriously for a moment, "What do I need to do?"


    "Study."


    "Study?" Lupin asked suspiciously.


    Felix said, "As I said back when Dumbledore interviewed me, I hope to introduce the wisdom of the non-magical world, the magical world has been closed for too many years, and the outside world is taken for granted by us, If we can study them and create something even if it is slightly modified product of theirs, it will deeply change the whole magical world. Therefore, learning is a must."


    Snape gave Felix a meaningful look, he saw some information in the temporary office of the L.C.A building, even if only one-tenth of it can be realized, it will bring a radical change to the wizarding community.


    It is truly ... cunning, as always, to start with the lives of all the wizards.


    Felix drew out a stack of parchments and let them float in front of Lupin, "I don''t want to make some amazing product, but - what''s the word? Like a spring rain, moistening the air and soil, making the company''s products unconsciously an essential part of every wizard''s life."


    "We can start with the basics of the wizard''s home, like the magic lamp, like the magic air conditioner. Can you imagine that such a small box can keep the temperature within a twenty-foot diameter at the optimum level?"


    Lupin fiddled with the small box floating in front of him, he tried to inject a trace of magic, the surrounding temperature immediately dropped, just like the March wind blowing on his body, bringing a slight refreshing breeze for him.


    "This is just an example, in fact, I also made some similar gadgets, you can understand it as a prototype, you can improve it and invent different types for different scenarios."


    "Then the profit ..." Lupin had been convinced, in his opinion, it is a good thing, and he began to think about the development of the company.


    "No need to think about profits for now," Felix said with a nod: "In addition to what I just mentioned, I would prefer you to discover suitable enchantments methods, not bound by ancient runes, alchemy, or out-of-the-way magic spells, and preferably develop standards and procedures that will work. "


    "Remus, we''re making history."


    Lupin admitted he''s moved, his heart became more alive, like rediscovering the meaning of life.


    "How many people are currently in the company?" Lupin inquired.


    "You, me, Severus, Dobby, and Miss Clearwater who just left," Felix counted with his fingers, "I''ve scheduled the rest of the interviews for the following week, and there are about ... three hundred people or so. "


    Lupin''s black eyes went blank for a moment, "You mean, I am going to do all the work without ..."


    "Well, after all, the research and development team will be handed over to you, it is best to let you go through it personally, but I can provide a list of people I think will be useful to you a bit." Felix said.


    "I''ll help out too, over the summer." He added.


    Lupin found the word "help" a little harsh, it isn''t even his company, "So when the full moon ..."


    "Severus will be responsible for providing the Wolfsbane potion, as well as the channel for some rare alchemical materials of some recipes." Felix said, he inherited a large amount of knowledge in alchemy from Nicolas Flamel, and if something represents the heritage of a great alchemist, it would be the recipe for various enchanting materials.


    Some alchemical symbols can only work with special enchanting materials, which originally was a disadvantage, but with the continuous development, various recipes becoming more and more perfect, it has also become completely mainstream.


    The mere fact that it solves the problem of talent for entry makes it the number one choice of wizards, and it is not without reason that ancient runes have fallen into decline.


    "In addition to that, there is one more thing we need to do this summer." Felix said, "Create a magic factory."


    "A magic ... factory?" Lupin asked, he understood both words in context, but together, it''s a bit puzzling.


    "Well," Felix waved his wand and sprinkled a golden mist, an image of an automatic assembly line appeared, "You can assume it is from my imagination, this kind of unmanned production line does not exist in the real world yet, at least not yet."


    "This concept comes from the non-magical world, we don''t have to accept it all, but pick the ones that are suitable, preferably that can complement the magical world. For example, high-precision engraving ... and then, for example, batch duplication work ..."


    "I contacted a manufacturer of the equipment, when you are done with the recruitment, we can go together to have a look." Felix said with a smile.


    -----------


    #JAMES fleming, Thanks for your support.


    There are 358+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 326: The Burrow

    The outskirts of Ottery St Catchpole; Devon, is an expanse of undulating hills and fertile meadows where the Weasley family lives. A blush appears on the horizon and a tall, lean young man emerges from the emerald green fields.


    With brisk steps, Felix followed a winding path past the crumbling garage and stood in front of a small yard. In front of him is a skewed blocks of house, built up to the height of a few stories, with a sign slung in front of it, reading " The Burrow".


    There are some high leather boots and a rusty crucible thrown near the gate. A few fat brown chickens were pecking in the yard.


    Felix surveyed the place, just the layout of a house will give us a lot of stories - from the outside, the first level is the most exquisite, probably the original appearance of the Burrow, with a beautiful red roof. However, it seems the young Weasleys failed to realize that when more children were born, there would be obviously not enough space in the house for them, and on top of the first level, a second and third level was added ...


    Thus, the house as a whole began to develop in a strange and bizarre direction.


    The door to the house suddenly opened, Arthur Weasley welcomed Felix inside, and they came to the narrow kitchen, where a long, cleanly polished wooden table took up most of the space, surrounded by boxes and cabinets, Mrs. Weasley tied an apron and clanked away at the sink, cooking, and a quirky little tune came from the old radio.


    "Hello, Professor Hap." Mrs. Weasley said enthusiastically as she turned back from her busy schedule, she pointed her wand towards the crucible, and it immediately burst into flames, then its lid jumped up and Mrs. Weasley put in the chopped sausages and vegetables, "Join us for some breakfast, I''ve made Gumbo, with dry cheese and buttered bread."


    Felix smiled and thanked her.


    She turned to Mr. Weasley again and said, "Honey, go wake up the kids." Before she could receive a response, there was a loud "crackling" explosion from upstairs, and Mrs. Weasley''s hand shook as the plate hit the sink and a corner cracked.


    "Don''t be angry, Molly, I''ll go and teach them a lesson." Mr. Weasley hurried upstairs.


    "There they are at it again ... fiddling with their prank products all day long, only to get back four certificates," she huffed, fixing the plate with her wand, "and not even bothering to come down and help when they wake up... ..."


    She directed the washed dishes to fly to the long wooden table, while explaining, "Charlie and Bill will be back in a few days, and there are only five children in the house now."


    Felix said, "I met Charlie some time ago."


    Mrs. Weasley, whose attention got drawn to him, inquired about her second son''s recent condition, and she said with some concern, "He keeps telling me the job is safe, but that''s a dragon after all ..."


    "He''s got a solid group of teammates." Felix said, picking lighter topics like feeding the dragon some roast meat and stuff, but Mrs. Weasley was visibly shaken, so he switched and talked about Charlie''s captain, who had been tussling with a cute little Norwegian Ridgeback all day over a Brandy.


    "That doesn''t sound very clever." Mrs. Weasley said dubiously.


    "Ahem! They''re bonding, it''s more like a game ..." Felix said, as he paced around the living room, surveying the wall clock, which, unlike the one in the kitchen that served as a day-to-day reminder, had nine golden hands with what looked like a spoon at the end of the hand with a picture of each family member attached to it; the clock on the dial, where the numbers should have been, written with the possible locations of each family member instead, including "Home," "School," "Work," "In Transit," "Lost," "Dentist," and so on, and in the place where the clock would normally be at 9 o''clock, it marked with a word "Mortal Peril".


    Felix secretly speculated about the magic used in this item, the tracking spell is definitely there, as well as the name spell, the magic to detect the state of the body ... Maybe the wall clock itself represents a kind of magic contract.


    Not long after two red-haired boys came down from upstairs, it is Fred and George, the twins in their pyjamas, eyes constantly searching, then spotted Felix who is surveying the wall clock, then their eyes lit up.


    "Professor, you are true to your word!"


    "Where are we going later? I heard Percy say that you grew a castle out-"


    "What kind of magic is that? Can we learn it?"


    "Are you going to acquire Zonko?"


    Mrs. Weasley came out of the kitchen, thrusting her back and examining the two boy''s attire with a stern look on her face, "Look at you two! What do you look like? Change your clothes, there are guests here."


    The twins hung their heads bashfully and turned to go upstairs, Fred couldn''t stop himself from saying, "Professor, wait for us, we have a new product, I-"


    "Fred!" The twins'' mother said in a stern voice.


    Fred immediately hunched his shoulders and pushed George up the stairs, and before he disappeared he poked his head out and said playfully, "Mom, I''m actually George."


    A muffled voice came from beside him, "You''re talking nonsense-"


    "Don''t think you can escape saying that-" Mrs. Weasley''s chest puffed out in anger, but the twins stomped their feet deliberately, making clunking footsteps and pretending they couldn''t hear, and from about the first floor a voice yelled angrily, " Can''t you guys keep your voices down!"


    Mrs. Weasley filled the dishes with food, "That''s Percy, he should be writing his report ... he''s just joined the Ministry of Magic, so he''s very motivated and desperate to do something."


    Felix chuckled, "Fred and George are also working hard, and their couple''s mirror is very popular." He didn''t mention the odd prank product.


    " That ... too," Mrs. Weasley paused, "I just think it''s too early for them to be thinking about making money when they''re still two years away from graduation."


    "Mrs. Weasley, they just picked something they love early, you should know them best, with their personalities, what kind of work do you think they will be doing after graduation?"


    Mrs. Weasley''s expression wavered, and as much as she hated to admit it, she couldn''t imagine that the pair of living babies would one day dress to the nine to five work in the Ministry of Magic. Or rather, any job that had anything to do with routine didn''t seem to go well with them.


    At this moment, Mr. Weasley returned, followed by a little girl with fiery red hair, she is the youngest Weasley child Ginny, is looking at Felix with a curious face, he is dressed today without a little shadow of the Magic world. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron yawned as he walked behind, his eyes half-closed as if he were sleepwalking, and Percy and the twins appeared last, Percy with his hair neatly combed and wearing a slate suit.


    "I''m following Mr. Crouch now, as his assistant, and it''s been a full day, we''re going to the Quidditch World Cup site today." Percy described his job, admiring his boss so much that, as far as Felix could see, he''s intentionally imitating Barty Crouch''s attire.


    The twins squeezed each other''s eyes and tried to say something, but Mrs. Weasley caught them early, "No talking during eating."


    Fred whined, "Mom is so biased, she doesn''t care about Percy."


    "Yeah, because he''s in charge of seven or eight people as a little head ..."


    "More than Dad."


    "But what''s his job again?"


    "Weatherby, smooth out the lot-"


    "There''s a shortage of two hundred seats in the south gallery-"


    Ron and Ginny lowered their heads, the corners of their mouths scrunched up in exaggerated grins as they stifled their laugh. Percy became furious: "You''re snooping through my notes!"


    Mr. Weasley coughed twice, "Children ..." He gestured toward Mrs. Weasley, who held up a spoon of soup in one hand, her eyes blazing like an angry lion, and they immediately subsided.


    The twins emptied their plates in three or two sittings, while Felix put down his knife and fork and said to the Weasleys, "Thank you for your hospitality. Oh, Mrs. Weasley, no need to add more, I''ve already had three bowls of soup ..."


    Outside the Burrow, the twins each carried a large bag containing their latest research.


    "There are seven kinds of fireworks that can be immobilized in midair for a long time!"


    "Well, we have plenty of time to discuss, now hold on my arm firmly." Felix said as the twins held his left and right hand, "Is it an Apparition? We were so close to--" The three of them twisted and disappeared together.


    They appeared in an alley in a London neighbourhood, and the twins surveyed their surroundings curiously, staring at a giant dustbin, "Professor, isn''t this Diagon Alley?"


    "Shopping," Felix said, "need to change you guys first in case you scare someone, we''ve got a full day ahead of us."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 360+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 327: The Factory Visit

    The three stood at the intersection of a busy shopping street. They had just come out of a clothing store and the twins had changed into a casual dark blue jacket and jeans, as they gestured to each other''s new look.


    "The clerk almost touched the wand I had pinned on the back of my waist." Fred said apprehensively.


    Felix called a cab, "First to Charing Cross, then to Sam''s Finest Machinery." He said to the driver, then looked at the twins, "We''re going to pick up Professor Lupin fist, he''s coming with us."


    The cab driver, with the characteristic early morning listlessness on his face, lazily passed through the streets and alleys, "Charing Cross is up ahead, where are we stopping?"


    "A little further on, that park next to the record store up ahead."


    The driver glanced over his shoulder, "Here on business?"


    "Something like that," Felix twirled a glowing coin, the driver shook his head, feeling dazzled, the car pulled over, and he said warily, "Waiting on the curb also counts as time."


    "There will be no less for you." Felix said carelessly.


    It wasn''t long before a middle-aged man suddenly appeared next to the record store as if he had been there from the beginning. Fred rolled down the car window and waved at him, "Professor Lupin, this way!"


    Lupin smiled as he walked over and got in the car, "I didn''t expect you to come over like this."


    "How was the recruitment?" Felix asked, he then explained, "It''s easier to go by car, I actually wanted to rent a car."


    Lupin glared at him, "Only now you thought of asking about it? You said you''d help out before, and then you disappeared for a week."


    Felix shrugged, "I went to Albania."


    Lupin''s face turned serious, he had heard Sirius say that Voldemort was once lurked up in the Albanian forest, he cautiously glanced at the twins, who were listening with ears pricked up, and asked vaguely, "Did you find anything?"


    "Not what you think," Felix said, "I was looking for the former residence of an old friend, but unfortunately it was so old that only a crumbling ruin remained."


    Hearing that Felix didn''t search for the trail of Voldemort, Lupin didn''t care too much, he talked about the company: "The candidates are all interviewed, according to your request, I recruited 37 in-"


    "Is there anyone I know?"


    "The six people you recommended have good abilities, in addition, not counting Clearwater, there are three new graduates this year ..."


    After almost half an hour, the car stopped in front of a factory.


    Felix paid the fare, led them to the entrance, and after a few minutes of reporting their names at the guardhouse, a middle-aged man trotted over.


    "Are you Mr. Hap?" The man said enthusiastically, "I''m the Supervisor of Sam''s Finest Machinery, Hobart Nott, we spoke on the phone earlier." The twins squeezed eyes at each other and mouthed: Nott.


    Felix had no reaction to the surname, which had a special significance in the magical world, and introduced them with a natural expression, "This is Remus Lupin, the general manager of Future World, and these two ..." he looked at the twins who had straightened their chests. "They''re visiting for, um, holiday social practice."


    "No problem, Welcome! Welcome!" Hobart said hurriedly.


    On the way into the factory, Lupin asked in a whisper, "How does he know about the Future World? Did you tell him?" S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I registered a shell company with the same name with the British government." Felix said with a smile.


    "Is that necessary? It seems very troublesome ..." Lupin asked in bewilderment.


    "Not so much trouble, I just found out an interesting fact." He whispered a few words into Lupin''s ear.


    "What did you say!" Lupin stared incredulously as the twins and the Supervisor Hobart looked over, and he smiled apologetically before whispering, "Is what you said is true, that there are people in the magical world smuggling gold and silver wares this side?"


    "Not exactly something new," Felix said, "There are always clever people who plunder some old family silverware, then turn around and sell it to non-magical folk collectors. Imagine goblin-made silverware that repels dust, with a unique historical weight."


    " Aren''t they afraid of being discovered by the Ministry of Magic?"


    Felix laughed: "There''s a void in that aspect of the law, and, guess who did this, just a few petty thieves? Although they do very stealthy, everything is traceable."


    Waves of shock welled up in Lupin''s heart, and he felt his perception of the wizarding community had been turned upside down.


    "Pure-blood family?" He kept mulling it over, " Nah, I was under the impression that quite a few families had declined lately, maybe they were part of it, and they had been maintaining this secret!"


    His mind quickly flashed through the names of several families, some of which did not have a long history themselves, but became very rich in just a few decades.


    Lupin said hesitantly, "But the Gringotts stipulates that there is a limit on the number of pounds that can be exchanged for galleons."


    Felix said casually, "In the black market, bartering is not a problem, pure gold, and pure silver are also valuable in the wizarding community, and reselling them is at least tens of times more profitable."


    Without waiting for Lupin to think it over, Hobart led them to a factory, and he said humbly, "We have prepared a variety of fine engraving equipment, and we hope it will meet your company''s needs."


    "This is a mechanical engraving machine with an overall all-steel structure, diamond blade head, high-precision ball screw, and conductor. It can be operated manually or manipulated with a simple program. We have ready-made samples, wait a moment, I''ll get it here ..."


    He left for a moment and brought back a three-foot-long brown board with a complex pattern carved on it, which he described as "used by many customers for high-end furniture patterns."


    The twins looked at the sharp, curved tip of the blade and were just about to reach out and touch it when it suddenly buzzed and spun, then turned into a blur of shadow.


    "Look out!" Hobart shouted, "It''s already spinning at two thousand rpm, very dangerous." He glanced at Felix, which meant, watch your bear Kids!


    "Fred, George, you don''t want to leave your hands here, do you?" Felix asked softly.


    The two boys smiled sheepishly and Fred inquired, "Can we have a demonstration?"


    Hobart saw that neither Felix nor Lupin objected, and felt a lot more hope for a deal, "No problem!" He said in a relaxed tone, and then called a professional, the employee took the board, looked at it carefully, turned it over and clipped it to the back of the workbench, then pressed the control button next to it, the rotating carving knife with a curved blade began to move up, and the moment it came into contact with the board, the wood chips tumbled and rolled up a wood splinter.


    The twins watched in awe as the blade moved nimbly across the board. After five minutes, when the board was removed, they repeatedly compared the patterns on the front and back, and they were identical, unable to pick out a single difference.


    "Think about whether it can be used in your products." Felix said, Hobart glanced at them groggily, guessing in his heart that it might be for them to make some toys, but as long as it can be sold, he did not care what it could be used for, anyway, the manual is marked with hundreds of dangerous issues, if you do not follow the operation, don''t expect them to pay a penny if there is an accident.


    "Next is the laser engraving machine ..."


    "Higher precision, faster carving speed, and the transition are delicate and natural, no less than some hand carving artists. It can work on all kinds of flat surfaces, sheet metal, glass, leather, fabric, canvas, etc."


    "What about parchment?" Fred asked with interest.


    "Parchment?" Hobart froze for a moment, "Maybe you could try a printer?"


    "Come on, Fred, don''t be ridiculous." Felix said lightly, "Mr. Nott, can you find me a slate?"


    "Sure, I remember a similar sample in my office." Hobart hurriedly left.


    With only four people left on the scene, Lupin inquired, "Can we bring it for use?" He gestured to the small computer, "It looks complicated."


    "There''s no need to bother with it," Felix said, "I just need the machine part ..."


    His hand rested on that mechanical engraving machine, his magic went to sense and touch the tiny parts, and a ripple of magic spread within a slightly invisible view. After a few seconds, the quiet curved blade head suddenly spun up, and under his control, the curved carving knife engraved a rune on the edge of the wooden board.


    Felix gently blew away the wood chips, his fingertips brushing over the carved-out mark, showing that a magic power remained.


    "What do you think would become if you combined this with the principles of a Magic Portrait and gave it a most basic intelligence?"


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 360+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 328: Gifts

    After some bargaining, Felix bought three sets of equipment each, and then he took Lupin and the twins through the streets of London, naming one muggle company after another and buying miscellaneous things. Back at Future World in Diagon Alley, Felix piled the items in the lobby, stacking them into a small mountain, attracting a crowd of new employees who came over to see both the oddities and the company''s boss, who they never had seen before.


    Felix led them to sit around and held a brief small meeting.


    "I''ll be staying here for some time to work with everyone to get the company''s first product made." Felix said, "And to modify some machines and make them adaptable to magic, by the way."


    Penelope reminded him, "Professor Hap, oh sorry, boss-"


    "It''s okay, you can still call me Professor, or just Hap." Felix said with a smile.


    "... Okay, Professor," Penelope said a little nervously, but she quickly went into the working mood, "We need to consider the attitude of the Ministry of Magic, especially the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office. "


    "You mean the division headed by Arthur Weasley?" Felix said meaningfully.


    Penelope''s face reddened, and she pretended not to hear that "This division''s duty is to prohibit the enchantment of muggle-made items for fear that they might return to muggle stores or homes."


    Felix saw similar concerns on the faces of the others, he thought for a moment and replied seriously, "That is indeed a problem, but I have studied this part of the law carefully, and it will not affect us much, we just need to report those engraving machines to the Ministry of Magic."


    "Going along with this, you will find that the entire law is for one purpose, to prevent the exposure of the wizarding community."


    "To summarize, the prohibition of misuse of muggle artefacts has three key purposes." Felix swept his gaze around, looked at the crowd who showed confused expressions, so he twiddled his fingers as he said, "First, it is forbidden to maliciously enchant some items and trick muggles; second, it is forbidden to sell enchanted items that have the same form as muggle items, especially things that are unique to them, such as a toaster;" he smiled, " Of course, nothing is absolute, the Ministry of Magic does have a list of permits, and not all of them are not allowed."


    "Third, the prohibition of private modification, adding other functions, the provisions of this type of law are rather vague, probably because, if you really want to pursue, many people will have prohibited items in their homes, and they may not even know about it themselves. So there''s only one thing worth noting-" he said softly in a long-drawn-out voice, "and that is not to use magic-related or enchanted things in front of ordinary people."


    The Weasley twins looked at each other and Fred snickered, "Dad''s heart is being figured out." He is aware that this law was drafted by his own father, who was curious about everything in the Muggle world, and for this reason, he left himself many back doors.


    Before Arthur Weasley, the relevant laws were blank in the Ministry of Magic, but with more and more examples of misuse of muggle items, the Ministry finally decided to create a law based on it, and it was in this setting that Mr. Weasley made the law, and became the head of this department.


    Felix continued: "One of our purposes is improvement and transformation of muggle items, what does that mean? Not simply copying, but drawing on their exhibited knowledge and ideas rather than a specific thing;"


    "For example, the magic lamp, its principle is completely different from the electric lamp used by ordinary people, the only similarity is - they both can illuminate."


    The crowd laughed lowly, their hidden worries dispersed, most people actually do not have the courage to openly disobey the Ministry of Magic.


    "In the process, you will find that we are using the concept of some item- a more convenient and practical way of lighting, we do not need to bother to learn how to use electricity, how to study the materials and principles of electric lights, but to consider how to use magic to achieve the effect we want. "


    Felix looked at the crowd and said seriously, "I don''t want to see prejudice against the non-magical world in the ''Future World''. Any specific person, specific group, as long as it possesses obvious external characteristics, there will always be someone who will dislike it. To put it bluntly, some people see the advantages, some people see the disadvantages ..."


    "I do not want you to dwell on these boring things, hold an appreciative heart, you will find that in the past few hundred years, the outside world has achieved equally impressive achievements, and in the process, they have demonstrated the wisdom, ideas and achievements are worthy of learning."


    In the days that followed, Felix stayed in the future world''s vertical castle while Lupin, Penelope, and a few seventh-year graduates who had mastered the ancient magic of illumination completed the task of designing the magic lamp.


    The most difficult part of this was how to store the magic sequence of ancient magic on a specific physical object. Felix went through the materials left by Nicolas Flamel and finally found an enchanted material like flowing mercury and shaped them with magic.


    This process involves a lot of attempts, for which Snape deliberately ran over to protest because he detested the material consumed too quickly, then the results improved after Felix joined the research.


    The basic chandeliers, candlesticks, and lantern-shaped magic lamps were successfully completed one after another, after which a Ravenclaw graduated witch proposed to use transfiguration to design a shape of an eagle, which, when used, only needed to pronounce a specific syllable, and the eagle would flutter its wings, fly into midair, and spit out a bright ball of light.


    The idea was unanimously praised by the 17 Ravenclaw house graduate employees, and then more magic lamp forms were brought up, the powerful, with the function of waking lion; jumping badger that can follow the master around; as well as snake magic lamp inlaid with green gems also appeared one after another.


    Felix added several dragon-shaped ones, when it morphs into dragon form, the light will be emitted in the shape of a breath.


    The purchased engraving machine also came in handy, Felix did not expect to use it so soon, he simply modified it, so that employees in their free time can familiarize themselves with its operation, and try to improve it.


    As a result, a male wizard named " Funk David" came up with an idea. When he was fiddling with the engraving machine, a flash of light came to him, and he suggested that he could make a batch of magic cards modelled after the chocolate frog cards, and the most basic engraving part would be done by the machine.


    Felix was interested in this idea, and he perfected the idea on this basis - using the machine to complete the engraving part, and then coating the cards with a layer of enchanted material, and the wizards could hold the cards and practice the corresponding runes by tracing the marks on them with their fingers.


    Felix felt that he would have an additional teaching tool in his ancient runes class this year, and he gladly made a batch to help the company with its first business.


    Soon, the first batch with a total of one hundred rune cards was created, It can be considered as a simplified version of the runes that Hermione carved on the chestnut board with a rune carving knife, it can only be used for reference purposes, and it is a stable rune. Once you successfully managed to trace the card using magic, it will show the magic corresponding to the rune, such as a waterfall, a flame. Of course, this is only a vague image of magic.


    The twins came up with a mischievous version, in which once the magic is interrupted, the card will emit an ear-piercing scream and loudly taunt the wizard who used it.


    "It''s what life has inspired us to do." Fred said with emotion.


    Felix did not adopt it for fear that the young wizards would become collectively insecure. He valued the rune cards more as an aid to learning runes, while the twins enjoyed the idea, and tried adding a few fake cards to a stack of real cards, which would morph into a flock of rats that would scurry around if they tried to inject magic power.


    George said with a smile, "We can give it to Harry as a birthday present."


    ...


    Early morning of July 31.


    When Harry opened his presents, he was a little baffled, Professor Hap and the Weasley twins sent the exact same gift, both of them are a stack of cards, even the instructions are the same.


    But the Weasley twins'' instructions had an odd smiley face drawn on them, and he felt a little alarmed.


    He curiously followed the instructions, trying to use his fingers to trace on the card, and injected magic, the moment of success, a green lush tree image popped up from the card, gently swaying, making a "rustling" sound.


    Harry looked at it for a while, very interested in trying other different cards, he thus recognized a lot of unfamiliar runes. However, he finally discovered the difference between the two gifts.


    After a failed attempt, the card made a "bang" sound, the purple smoke exploded, the card turned into five or six fat mice, in the narrow gaps in the room, it startled him, he tried to drive these little guys out from under the bed, and they squeaked even more.


    When he heard Uncle Vernon''s snoring, he did not try to make too excessive actions, and quietly waited for a while, the fat mice came out on their own, gathered together, with a cloud of purple smoke, they reverted back to a card.


    Harry opened other gifts, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid send him three large cakes, which made Dudley''s weight loss program have no effect on him, in fact, except for breakfast, he usually slipped away to Sirius''s rented house, where he stayed until late afternoon.


    In addition to his desire for kinship being fulfilled, Harry discovered a benefit that he hadn''t thought of before, which is that he could cast spells outside the school. In the next house of Mrs. Figg, Harry could use Sirius''s spare wand - according to him, the wand he snatched from the dark wizard was not very comfortable, and he went to Ollivander to have another one matched.


    The dragon heartstring wand was used by Harry, in fact, he is not used to it, always feeling it''s inferior to his own wand, but the ability to cast spells already made him satisfied. He and Sirius practiced dueling in a house with a stable enchantment imposed on things, After that afternoon, Sirius and Harry were lying on the sofa, trying hard to watch the boring TV program, which made Sirius enthusiastic about dueling.


    He taught Harry quite a few dueling skills, but he soon discovered that Harry had developed his own fighting style, which was still a bit tender, but it did present. And Harry is very good at it, which made the dueling game between them close to real fighting.


    Sirius more than once called out Harry''s father''s name forgetfully, which made Harry heartbroken and touched. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There was an incident in which the Ministry of Magic sent him a letter warning him about the fact that he was casting spells outside of school, and then Sirius sent back a howler, and then the Ministry didn''t follow up.


    Harry was originally a little jittery until Sirius explained, "This law is for students of Muggle origin to prevent them from exposing themselves to Muggles, but do you think they can manage the children of wizarding families?"


    Harry was delighted and convinced, and he also put the matter into a letter, and Hermione wrote back that she also wanted to learn from Sirius and send a howler letter to him, and Harry smiled a very big smile, but when he saw the back of the letter, Hermione mentioned that she is studying curses, he couldn''t laugh anymore.


    ...


    In his bedroom, Harry opened Sirius'' gift box, which was only palm-sized and perfectly square in shape, and when he touched the lid, a rattling sound came from inside. Harry flinched, not worried about a curse, but worried about the odd gift Sirius had sent him.


    Harry had long since discovered that his godfather is, in some ways, less mature than himself. For example, he wouldn''t be able to cook for himself, and he used life magic so badly that if it weren''t for Kreacher, he figured Sirius would have stayed with the Dursleys and started a fight with them that day.


    He carefully opened the top, a golden, round object flew out, Harry instinctively reached out and caught it, his heart pounded, through the slit in his fingertips he saw a beautiful shiny golden snitch Harry''s eyes lit up, the gift suited him so well.


    Inside the box, there is also another note -


    ''Dear Harry


    I''ve wanted to give you this gift for a long time, I found it in Felix''s office when only one of its wings was intact, I asked Felix to fix it and make some interesting changes, but you have to discover it yourself, it''s no fun to tell all the mysteries.


    In addition, during school, James often used to steal golden snitch from the team for a while, playing cool to attract Lily''s attention, highly recommended and you can give it a try too.


    Your godfather Sirius.''


    Harry grinned, he loosened his tight grip, the golden snitch slowly stretching wings, "whoosh", and disappeared in a flash. He scanned from side to side and quickly caught its trail, catching it steadily as it flew past Harry''s left ear.


    Harry gave it a strong shake, and the golden snitch honestly settled down in his hand. He seemed to hear a small, delicate sound, so he placed the golden snitch to his ear and shook it gently, and this time the sound became more obvious.


    Harry pressed the surface of the snitch, its metal shell suddenly opened, Harry noticed that something is stuffed inside, he tilted the opening to the bed, "clatter!"


    A pile of various snacks scattered across the bed and rolled everywhere - chocolate frogs, Cauldron Cakes, Cookies, Dragon''s Milk Cheese, Chocoballs, and lots of things from the Honeydukes store.


    "Wow!" Harry exclaimed in awe.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 362+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 329: The best birthday

    When Harry appeared in the kitchen, none of the three Dursleys looked at him, and no one mentioned the birthday, which suited Harry just fine; he didn''t want Uncle Vernon''s stinky socks at all, and one bad birthday present of that kind is enough. Uncle Vernon is reading the newspaper, Aunt Petunia is slicing dry grapefruits, and cousin Dudley - he''s got his fat arms slumped over the table and his whole face is puffed up with anger.


    His good times had come to an end since Dudley had returned with a mortifying report card and a body full of fat, in fact, he could have struggled a bit, and with a few tears, Aunt Petunia would have empathized and shed tears along with him, then quickly compromised and agreed to all Dudley''s demands.


    This is his speciality. But beneath the report card were a few words carefully filled in by the nurse of Smeltings Academy, which politely reminded the two parents that if Dudley continued to gain weight, it would affect his health and that the school''s clothing pool would no longer have clothes in his size.


    The nurse also thoughtfully included a diet plan, and at Aunt Petunia''s insistence, the family had to follow this new diet plan together in order to take care of Dudley''s emotions, and the results are so obvious that Uncle Vernon''s chin has got smaller, which makes his beard look a lot more flowing and fluffy.


    But Harry did not care at all, even before receiving his birthday present, he would go to Sirius to make up for breakfast. Now he couldn''t wait to imagine where Sirius would take him; Sirius had recently got a motorcycle, and he saw a hint of glimmer once he saw in Hagrid''s eyes from his own godfather''s obsessed eyes.


    "Grapefruit again!"


    Dudley said angrily, he had perfectly inherited his Uncle Vernon''s small eyes, and figure.


    Harry thought cheerfully as he smelled the lack of a hint of flavour on his plate and couldn''t help but burp; just now, he had eaten two large slices of cream cake and felt a bit full now.


    "Honey?" Aunt Petunia said very patiently, "We agreed to follow the diet plan the school nurse sent-"


    But Dudley didn''t listen at all; he finished his portion in two bites and stared at Harry''s plate with his little eyes - even though the piece of grapefruit looked much smaller than his own. His eyes then fell on Harry''s lips, where there are suspicious traces of food.


    "He''s hiding food." Dudley said with certainty, extending a carrot-like finger.


    Harry hurriedly wiped his mouth, and after touching the sticky cream, realized he had been careless.


    "What?" Aunt Petunia questioned in confusion.


    However, Dudley stared at Harry with greedy eyes, as if he is a piece of cream cake or something, Harry''s heart darkened, and he was faced with a difficult choice if Dudley really wanted to rob him of the cake, should he take out his wand and threaten him or not?


    ''There''s no Sirius here, no spare wand, and no excuse, if I use magic, the Ministry of Magic will locate me directly ...''


    Just then, a loud horn sounded outside the door, followed by the roar of a motorcycle turning, and Uncle Vernon exploded at once, yelling angrily, "It''s that bloody murderer scum again ... Can''t he be quiet!"


    Aunt Petunia looked around in horror and worry, fearing that a neighbour had noticed the scene.


    "Sirius is not a murderer." Harry said coldly.


    "Then make ... that bloody ... guy ... stop!" Uncle Vernon said through clenched teeth, veins popping out of his face, and Harry, slightly frightened, walked to the window with a stern face and waved his hand at Sirius.


    The honking stopped.


    Aunt Petunia gasped and seemed to have just been holding her breath, Harry stood hesitantly, wondering if he should mention his birthday, he felt it''s pointless and Aunt Petunia gave Harry a stern look, while Uncle Vernon couldn''t hold back any longer, "What are you waiting for? Get out of my sight right now!" He growled and shouted.


    At that moment, Dudley also interjected, "Your godfather ... that Sirius is waiting for you."


    The words seemed more powerful than Sirius'' honking, and Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looked at Dudley in surprise; they never mentioned Sirius'' name, and if they had to, they used "the prisoner", "the murderer", or simply "The hippie here to see you."


    Harry''s mind spun quickly, his eyes met Dudley''s, and he suddenly understood what Dudley had in mind, and he said hurriedly, "I''ll go upstairs and get something--"


    He went back to his room, shoved the books and travelling gifts he had brought back from school to the bottom of his bed, then looked at the pile of candy and snacks on his bed and worried. There were also three large cakes placed side by side on the desk, one of which was already open.


    After a few seconds, Harry thought of a good idea. He took out of his golden snitch given to him by Sirius from his pocket, the snacks candy all packed in, but when putting the cake, he ran into some trouble, he could only barely stuff one in.


    He had to stuff the remaining two cakes into the bottom of the bed, hidden behind the travelling suitcase. After completing all this, Harry clapped his hands in satisfaction, if Dudley sneaked in, he would get nothing. Normally there would be no such worry because the Dursleys saw his room as a breeding ground for spreading the plague and would even speed up when they passed by.


    But as far as he knew, hungry animals are the most dangerous and irrational, in other words, hungry pigs are similarly justified.


    Before he left the room, Harry hesitated, Uncle Vernon already yelling from the ground floor, too late to think, he opened the golden snitch, shaking out a handful of snacks from it, a Cauldron Cake, a Fizzing Whizzbees, and a jumble of other things. Without looking closely, he put the candies in a conspicuous place.


    As he''s hurried downstairs, Uncle Vernon pointed to the open door without a word, and as Harry passed by the table, he saw that the quarter of grapefruit on his plate had disappeared. He grinned and walked out of the room.


    Sirius had been waiting for a long time, leaning on a very imposing motorcycle with a low growl coming from the exhaust. Harry sat on the back seat, Sirius started the motorcycle, the speed quickly picked up, the wind whistled Harry''s hair, leaving Privet Drive far behind, Harry excitedly shouted: "Where are we going?!"


    "London!" Sirius said in a high-tone, "I''ve got the whole plan ready!"


    ...


    They played the whole day happily, touring the small half of London, and towards evening, Sirius took him for a ride along the River Thames, the water reflecting the golden haze, Harry filled with a bellyful of steaks and oysters.


    At seven o''clock in the evening, they returned to Privet Drive, but Harry didn''t want to go back so early, and when Sirius invited him to play wizard''s chess, he readily agreed.


    Harry ruthlessly won three games of chess against his godfather, forcing Sirius to cheat and scatter the board, so they had to stay on the couch and watch TV together.


    It dragged on until nearly ten o''clock when Mrs. Figg knocked on the door next door complaining about the noise they were making, and Harry realized he should go back.


    The lights were still on at 4th Privet Drive, which made Harry a little suspicious. When he pushed the door open, he breathed a sigh of relief to see Uncle Vernon and Dudley huddled on the couch watching the game, and he realized it wasn''t what he thought it was. Harry deliberately paid attention to the expression on Dudley''s face, and he looked away sheepishly.


    "Get your ass back to your room and be quiet." Uncle Vernon whispered.


    Harry went back to his room and opened the window, the pile of snacks he left really disappeared, he hurriedly checked under the bed again, the cake is intact.


    He was overthinking ...


    Harry suddenly realized that Dudley simply can not bend down, let alone tuck himself under the bed, he would be stuck inside. As he lay on the bed, Harry couldn''t help but think back over his memories of the day, and he had to say, this was the best birthday he''d ever had.


    -----------


    #Dr.SF, Thanks for your support. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 362+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 330: Invitation

    Time moved towards August, and Felix thought he would stay in Diagon Alley until the start of the Quidditch World Cup. Until he received a letter from his student, Clammy Vera. ''Dear Professor Hap


    I''m still working for the Gringotts in Egypt, where everything is fine except for the somewhat gloomy and sweaty working environment.


    I''ve made the acquaintance of many friendly colleagues, and a senior named Bill Weasley took me under his wing, and when I mentioned you to him, I was surprised to find out that he knew you as he enrolled in the same year as you! Likewise, I couldn''t wait to ask him more about you, and to my surprise, he described you as a "Wandering Sphinx" because in the few brief exchanges you had, you politely asked him about very deep knowledge of ancient runes and magic theory, and he couldn''t answer it, which made him a little embarrassed and his self-esteem hurt (Bill). ( Bill is a very funny and humorous senior in person, he is laughing when he said these things).


    I also met some local friends from Uagadou, a huge magic school with over 5,000 students! It''s almost impossible to imagine so many people in class together, but they tell me it''s because Uagadou accepts students from all over Africa ...


    I now have a problem, after exploring an ancient tomb at the bottom of an Egyptian pyramid, we accidentally discovered a dark room leading to a deeper level, a long, winding hallway, shrouded by a thick black fog, filled with all kinds of dangerous magic traps - we didn''t even finish exploring the hallway, but a colleague suffered seven or eight kinds of curses, and we withdrew urgently.


    That colleague was hospitalized, but he brought back a slab of stone from the corridor wall, which turned out to be inscribed with ancient runes that I had never come across before, and that even my grandfather could not decipher or translate, which seemed to come from a more distant era.


    I seriously suspect that they are all ancient runes of a practical nature (the traced patterns are sent with the letter), and I am eager to receive your guidance, and it would be great if you could come.


    Your student, Clammy Vera.''


    Felix put the letter aside and looked at the Egyptian sacred heron next to him, a large bird over half a meter in size, with an entirely white body, but with a black dot on the ends of its wings and Tail feathers.


    The bird''s head and neck were black and bare, and its long, downward-curving beak looked like a scythe.


    Its legs were long and strong, and at the moment it''s kicking over a tightly wrapped package next to it, Felix unwrapped it and saw a three-foot-square piece of parchment with the pattern obtained by tracing the slab that Vera had mentioned in her letter.


    He looked over the slate copy and confirmed the true nature of the patterns at first glance; they were indeed ancient runes; to be precise, it should be part of some ancient magic - a fragment of a rune sequence; black lightning arcs flared in the air as he tried to outline the fragmented pattern.


    Felix went over the letter from Clammy again, and he sensed a contradiction - the owner of the darkroom hung the slab of ancient magic in the hallway in a big way, which seemed to indicate that the owner was rather a generous person, but black mist and curses could not be associated with generosity.


    He didn''t decide easily that person was a dark wizard because the definition of a dark wizard was different in different times, and in the ancient wizard community, those who could be called dark wizards were all evil to the core, not something that could be compared to today.


    "A powerful ancient wizard slipped into the pyramid, created a dark room, and laid out a complex curse .... Could it be some kind of harsh inheritance? And both the black mist and the curse are a test for the outsider?"


    "Or, is it a way to use human greed to punish an unexpected intruder?"


    Felix wrote a reply letter, attaching all this information, including his own speculations. He also expressed his gratitude for Vera''s invitation and then had a flash in his mind, then he asked if he could bring a student with him. His own assistant had acquired a great deal of knowledge of ancient runes in two years, and it is time to be exposed to some social practice.


    After waiting for a few days, Clammy Vera sent a reply letter, which expressed their welcome to him and his student, accompanied by a formal invitation from the Gringotts, with a total of two positions on its name, one already filled with the name "Felix Hap", and the other one is blank.


    Only with this invitation, they will be allowed to enter the interior of the pyramid to explore.


    Felix smiled slightly and filled in the blanks with the name "Hermione Granger".


    The next morning, Hermione excitedly came to the Future World company in Diagon Alley, curiously looking around, just yesterday, the professor sent a letter and explained the situation to her, inviting her to explore the pyramids of Egypt! She had wanted to go there for a long time, and although the professor had told her she would be staying at the back most of the time, there''s still a chance to get close to thousands of years old relics safely.


    "Professor Lupin!" Hermione was surprised to see the figure of Professor Lupin, "What are you doing here?"


    Lupin smiled and said, " Gotta get a job for myself." He led Hermione upstairs, while briefly introducing the company. Along the way, the employees they encountered have greeted Lupin, and soon, they came to an office on the fifth floor.


    Pushing open the door, Felix is sitting in a chair, staring attentively at the palm of his hand, where a black lightning bolt coiled. Seeing Lupin and Hermione enter, he dispersed his magic and revealed a smile.


    "Remus, I may have to leave temporarily for a few days."


    Lupin shook his head and said with a sigh, "When you get back, do you have to make a trip to France?"


    Felix said humorously, "Remus, you don''t have the gift of prophecy, do you?"


    ... S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Professor, are you working on the magic lamp?" Hermione asked, as she came over, she saw various shapes of magical creatures, and she noticed that each animal held a glowing ball of magical light, much like the ancient magic illumination she had mastered.


    Felix smiled, "The research is done, they''re preparing for the Quidditch World Cup, a large light show."


    "A light show ..." Hermione imagined the picture and couldn''t help but look forward to it.


    "Well, we''re in a bit of a rush today, so when we get back from Egypt, you can stay here and see more." Felix said as he is looking forward to Hermione''s graduation to her further study of ancient runes, her current level already surpassed most of the employees in the future world.


    And there are still four full years until she graduates from Hogwarts.


    ...


    Egypt, the Nile River Valley.


    Felix and Hermione walked through the streets of Cairo, visually feeling the exotic atmosphere that hit them. An Arab with a broken accent asked them if they needed a camel, which they declined, and Hermione watched fondly as the odd-looking camel walked past them, as she fed it a mop of hay on the way off.


    "Well, we need to meet your senior first, she must be tired of waiting," said Felix, then he added, "Maybe a camel ride later? I was under the impression that the pyramids were in the desert ..."


    At a tavern in the city, Felix and Hermione met Clammy Vera, who is wearing a sunhat with a transparent silk scarf draped from its broad brim. When she lifted the shade, the two saw that her skin got a dark brown tan, as she smiled brightly at them.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 364+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 331: Uagadou Witch ( 2 in 1 Chapter )

    Half an hour later, they were heading towards the desert on camels. Hermione took a liking to Clammy. During the tavern banter, when Felix mentioned that Hermione had never ridden a camel before, Clammy then took them to the local market and rented three camels, and Hermione picked out a light yellow one. Afterward, Clammy helped her choose a huge sun hat, as well as a pair of Martin boots, and after putting them on, Hermione felt her whole body had become bizarre.


    Nevertheless, she politely declined the "local food" recommended to her by Clammy, which did not look that appetizing.


    In front of her eyes is an endless sea of sand, dunes linked together in a fluid motion, and she soon loses her sense of distance as she looks back at the distant city''s structures. The sun became scorching hot, and in the absence of wind, the air felt like a giant sauna.


    Suddenly, a pleasant coolness passed through her fingers, and she sobered up. A small, four-sided box with a chain floated in front of her, which looked like a locket. She reached out and grabbed it, it didn''t feel all that frigid, and when she looked back, Felix nodded towards her.


    "I only have one with me, it''s a new product of the company, it''s still in a testing phase." He explained, "But it can envelop twenty feet." He called Clammy over as the three travelled together side by side, Clammy smacked her lips as she glanced at the little device.


    "We have a similar enchantment in our tent, but it stopped functioning once we got into the pyramid."


    Hermione wore the pendant, as her whole spirit went up, she became interested in every detail of the road, such as the plants growing on the rocks in the sand, or the large gecko that suddenly sprang up, they also saw a gray snake.


    After walking for almost an hour, the three came near a tall pyramid, in its Shadow, seven or eight tents could be seen, surrounded by some scattered equipment, it looked like a small archaeological team.


    Felix''s heart fluttered, "You have obtained the support of the local government?"


    Clammy smiled and said, "Formal papers that got recognized by the government, but that''s just a cover." They arrived at the tent site and tied their camels to the stakes, and out of the tents came two men who, like Clammy, were dressed that perfectly blended with the local area, and Felix saw a tourist taking pictures of them not far away.


    "This is Faisal Abdul Izzy Kampala Duim - uh," Clammy looked at the man and asked awkwardly, "What''s in the back?"


    The young man muttered, "You might as well call me Faisal."


    Clammy whispered to them, "Faisal''s name has four parts, each of which is equivalent to our full name, and I was going to formally introduce ..." but ended up not being able to recall it at all because they didn''t use it often.


    Another middle-aged male wizard with a brown hoodie on his shoulders said, "Just call me Rahman." He extended his hand and shook it with Felix.


    After a few pleasantries, they agreed to enter the pyramid at 2 p.m. "And we have to wait for someone to be sent from headquarters." The middle-aged male wizard explained.


    Clammy led Felix and Hermione to the back of the tent, "Professor Hap, you will be staying in Bill''s tent, his personal belongings are taken away, Hermione and I will stay together, so we can chat a bit."


    "Bill Weasley is not here?" Felix asked, suddenly thinking that Mrs. Weasley had mentioned that her two sons - Bill and Charlie - were coming back in a few days. Sure enough, Clammy gave a consistent explanation.


    "He''s on leave, the Quidditch World Cup is coming up and most of the guys in camp are taking time off to go home," Clammy said, "otherwise you''d be able to reunite with your old friends in person and can catch up with each other. Unfortunately, I wasn''t interested in Quidditch, so I applied to stay."


    Hermione''s eyes rolled as she heard Bill Weasley''s name, "Is that Ron''s older brother?"


    Felix nodded at her, "That''s right, he''s working here as a Curse-Breaker for the Gringotts." He looked at Clammy again, "Ron is the youngest of the Weasley boys."


    For the rest of the time, Clammy took out a thick little book and dumped all the questions that had accumulated for a long time; Felix did not take much time to answer them clearly, but Clammy''s mood is not that good, he passed a look towards Hermione and made his own excuses to wander around. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the tent, Clammy said to Hermione with some frustration, "There is a new Ravenclaw graduate recruited by the Gringotts, and she has a particularly good grade in Runes."


    "Who is it?"


    Clammy said the name, Hermione did not say much about it, she saw that name while going through the papers, that person is not considered top in this year''s graduates, she can only blame that Clammy graduated too early, did not catch the professor''s thinking room and a series of magical teaching methods.


    "The professor has opened a new company, did you know?" Hermione asked her tentatively.


    "I''m not sure," Clammy asked hesitantly, "when did it happen?"


    "I think it was fairly recently, the name of the company is ''Future World'' and Professor Lupin -- oh, he was previously a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and now manages Future World... -- he said to me that the professor wants to transform the wizarding world." Hermione said distractedly.


    "Transform the wizarding world?" Clammy got taken aback.


    "I guess it would be about changing the lives of wizards," Hermione said uncertainly, "I saw the magic lamp, and this little thing," she lifted the chain holding a small locket around her neck, "I guess the professor must have delved deeply into the Muggle world''s technological products, which is pretty much reflected in his books directly ..."


    They chattered away, Clammy''s expression sometimes one of longing, sometimes one of hesitation. On the other hand, Felix walked around the Great Pyramid, seeing tourists from different countries along the way, but it is not too crowded, and he helped a group of families by taking pictures and harvesting seven Thanks.


    In an inconspicuous hidden corner of the pyramid, he sensed traces of magic presence, ''This should be the entrance.'' Felix thought to himself, but what he is more curious about is what the environment of the Egyptian magical world is like.


    According to his observation along the way, there were at least twelve people suspected to be wizards - which is quite normal, after all, Cairo is the capital of Egypt, but what made him curious was that among these twelve people, five of them were dressed like shamans, they wore exaggerated outfits and sold all kinds of occult objects, such as amulets, voodoo dolls and so on.


    Of course, those so-called occult objects do not have a trace of magic in them, otherwise, they would not dare to appear swaggeringly.


    A pair of tourists passed by him, and Felix heard a word or two exchanged between them--


    "I heard that ... gypsy witch ... is very famous ..."


    "Is that so? Then we must give it a try!"


    Felix''s eyes twinkled as he followed the two men to a conspicuous tent, where there is a long queue of people, Felix stayed quiet for a while and heard a lot about the magical story of the fortune-teller named "Soya Vera".


    It is said that her Crystal Ball and Tarot card reading is particularly effective, many people have travelled a long way to see her.


    Although the line was long, the speed of advancement is not slow, there are many people who just went inside and left in less than half a minute, hanging their heads down in frustration.


    The experienced person next to them said, "This is because the person''s fate is so obscure that the witch is not willing to put more effort to help him." But no one felt that the witch is inferior and choose to leave, instead, everyone believed her even more.


    Felix is also curious, he just switched to the magic perspective, the tent indeed has the obscure presence of aura, which indicates that the person inside is a real witch.


    Uagadou... Divination...


    Felix pondered, Africa does inherit a branch of prophecy magic, witch sacrifice, only from what he learned, this prophecy magic is not that much better than dark magic, often comes with a cost of damage of limbs or two, it is difficult to recover, and the results are not necessarily accurate.


    He found it incredible that a witch would make divination for ordinary people and openly do business.


    He looked at the line of people behind him and smacked his lips a little, she is not afraid that she will suddenly die a violent death the next day? Or, taken away by the Ministry of Magic?


    When his turn arrived, almost an hour had passed and a calm female voice called out through the tent, "Come in." Felix walked into the tent, the hot, dry air outside is isolated, the strong spices and herbs smelled intoxicating, he looked at the witch, she had half a dozen palm-sized incense burners around her, surrounded by a mess of various occult items, the vast majority do not have magic fluctuations, a few deserve his attention, the gypsy witch herself, the Crystal Ball in front of the witch, and... ...the witch''s purple hair.


    Yes, under Felix''s field of vision, the magic glowing from the odd witch''s hair is nothing less than her own.


    "We need to do a test, I''m not going to spend my hard-earned psychic power on, on-" She suddenly stammered, and the witch''s eyes, which had been feigned and half-closed, snapped open.


    As Felix and she gazed at each other, the hairs on the witch''s head suddenly broke off and burst into flames out of thin air.


    Her voice is no longer ancient and without a trace of emotion, instead, she said in a low and urgent voice: "This wizard friend, I have a proper licence with the permission of the Ministry of Magic, don''t find any trouble with me ..."


    "Clang!"


    Felix tossed her a small bag of golden galleons, and several golden coins rolled mischievously across the table, askew, slipping off the edge of the table near the witch and landing in her hands.


    "Do you take this?"


    "Sure, A big business." The witch carefully examined the galleons in her hand, then turned the bag on the table upside down and said with great confidence, "At least fifty galleons, are you one of the fallen noblemen from the European side - ahem, the heir to the nobility?"


    She scrutinized Felix''s appearance, her eyes pausing briefly on his dark hair and blue pupils. Before he could answer, she rose from her seat, stepped out of the tent, and spoke to the people outside as the crowd gradually dispersed.


    "There," the witch returned with a brisk stride, stretching and wiping her hand over her face, the various thick grease and paint immediately disappearing to reveal a young, brown-black face.


    She looked to be in her twenties at best.


    "You''re not a gypsy witch?" Felix asked with amusement.


    The witch gave a dismissive grunt, "There are only Uagadou witches here, no gypsy witches."


    "I''m from Britain-"


    "Pretty much as I guessed." She pulled out a pear and nibbled on it.


    "It''s a professor-"


    "It''s Katz... from Hogwarts?"


    "Referred by Clammy Vera-"


    The witch finally put down the half-chewed pear, "You mean Clammy? The little Gringotts girl who'' under the guise of a science research team?"


    Felix smiled and nodded.


    "Since I was referred to you by my friend, I''m definitely not lying." The witch patted herself on the chest and said, "Refitin, my name." She added, "Real name."


    "Refitin," Felix chewed on the name, "does that mean ... something like a genius?"


    "Doesn''t it sound like it? I made it up myself." Refitin said, "I had been following a gypsy troupe as a child and wandering around, and one day in a dream, the dream messenger told me that I was the chosen one and was allowed to enter Uagadou to learn magic. When I woke up, I found myself holding a stone with an inscription in my hand."


    "Standard admission process."


    "Yeah, but I was young and thought I was the Chosen One, so I urgently gave myself a catchy name and looked forward to that day and night, waiting to make my mark on the history. As a result, when I got in, I realized that there were nearly a thousand people ... enrolled in the same batch as me," she said self-deprecatingly.


    "So why did you choose divination?"


    Refitin scratched her head: "Perhaps influenced by my childhood, I did not select the traditionally strong subjects of Uagadou - Self-Transfiguration, potions, alchemy, and astronomy - but I selected the isolated divination, although I am indeed a prodigy of the ages, improving this extremely dangerous dark magic. "


    "Using hair as the price of casting?" Felix asked, compared with the original version of damaging limbs at every turn, this improvement is indeed very clever.


    "Yes, but there is only so much hair, I have to save it, do you have any good recommendations for shampoo?"


    "Well ... I know a guy who makes an Occamy egg shampoo, but, I guess you can''t buy it. The Potter''s is also good-"


    "I''ve heard of the latter one." Refitin said.


    "Since you have improved the witch sacrifice prophecy magic, can you make a prophecy for me?" Felix asked softly.


    Refitin shook her head hastily, "No, no, I can''t give powerful wizards a prophecy."


    "At a high price too?"


    "Did you see that burning hair? Before I graduated, I tried to give the principal a divination, and the result was the same as yours." Refitin made a burning motion, "My teacher pulled a handful of my hair before telling me that if I did divination to a powerful wizard, I would even lose my life!"


    She picked up the pear again, "That was the last lesson she taught me, and I graduated after that. Then I realized that it was hard to find a job for people like me, and I thought, ''Since it costs too much to perform divination for a wizard, what about ordinary people?'' "


    "So you chose this place? Divination for tourists?"


    "Clever, isn''t it? I carefully select the divination object, make vague prophecies, there is always some trajectory that is easier to judge. I also used these things as camouflage, the mundane people recognize this ..." she pointed to the various occult items in the tent, "It cost a total of 2000 Egyptian pounds."


    "Less than a hundred pounds, cheap indeed. However, you said before that you obtained permission from the Ministry of Magic-" Felix is very curious whether this is considered as a violation of The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy or not.


    " Well, of course, Our Ministry of Magic allows it." Refitin looked at him with a troubled expression, "I know the secrecy law, you want to ask about that, right? But every country is different ..."


    She bit the core of a pear with her teeth, as her both hands crossed from side to side, and she said vaguely, "In Africa, the occult is very common, it is difficult to distinguish the true from the false, everyone is used to it, it is not strange to see us, I was even invited by the tribal chief to share the experience of praying for rain."


    " You also know how to pray for rain?"


    " Well, neither of us can do that! When the time comes we have to show our skills in rituals, and then boast a few words to each other, and then there will be a lot of gold to take."


    Felix felt enlightened, these things can not be seen and heard in the black market, the two chatted for a while, before leaving, Refitin called out to him.


    "Are you the helper that Clammy called over for help?" She asked cautiously.


    "How do you know?"


    "It was a pretty big deal, that guy almost didn''t make it back, I went to take a look, his face was swollen like a coconut, weeds were overgrown ..."


    She looked at the galleons on the table and gritted her teeth, "Since you''re paying me two months'' salary, I''ll take a look for you - but I won''t divine anything for you! Don''t even think about it!"


    "So, what do you mean?"


    "Call the other people, the weaker the better, the companions who enter the pyramid with you."


    Ten minutes later, Hermione sat with a bewildered face in front of Refitin, who had turned back into that gypsy outfit with a face full of painted patterns.


    "It''s just the three of us here." Felix said with amusement.


    " This is my respect for magic." Refitin retorted seriously.


    Hermione asked timidly, "This ... professor? What are we going to do?"


    "Divination, child, I''m going to give you a divination." Refitin said in a calm, distant voice that reminded Hermione of Trelawney, who pretended to be a diviner in school.


    Are this world''s diviners are carved out of the same mould?


    Refitin stared at Hermione carefully, "I need a strand of your hair ... you have a lot of hair, but the hair quality is not very good." She suddenly poked her hand out and pulled down a few strands of hair, "Ouch!" Hermione screamed in pain and glared at her.


    "Take it easy, take it easy, I''ll buy you a Pear later." Refitin reassured her, she twirled Hermione''s hair, her brown hair constantly twisted, and with the contact of Refitin''s fingers, it continued to fuse into a silvery-white colour, like a silver wire.


    When the edges of the hair were also completely fused, Refitin let go of her hand, then her hair like fragile porcelain hit the black velvet on the table and broke into pieces.


    Refitin held her breath and watched the powder carefully, twisting it with her fingers from time to time.


    "Strange ...," she said.


    "Ha, that answer doesn''t come as a surprise to me." Hermione muttered, reaching up to rub her head.


    "No, I''m surprised that your figure is hidden in the mists and not particularly clear, but it''s not like ... it hasn''t happened before." Refitin shrugged, "Don''t worry, you guys safe this time, or at least you are."


    "It''s really a hard work from you." Hermione gave a mocking expression, she felt a bit distressed about her hair.


    "You''re welcome." Refitin showed off her face-changing technique in front of her, as astonished Hermione, even forgot to refuse the pear given to her by the fake diviner.


    On the way back, Hermione asked where Refitin came from, and Felix briefly recounted everything before they returned to camp, where they saw a short figure in a suit, about three or four feet tall, with a pair of pointed ears.


    If it weren''t for the right skin colour, he would have almost thought he is Dobby the house-elf. But he is actually a goblin, from the Gringotts.


    -------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so tomorrow only one chappy will be updated.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 364+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 332: In-depth

    The goblin surveyed Felix with a very uncomfortable look. "Clammy Vera has said many nice things about you. Mr. Felix Hap." He bowed slightly, "It is an honour to work with you, I am Gonuk." He said, snapping his fingers so hard that his thin nails lit up, and then the goblin''s body became a blur.


    Then he turned away and headed towards the three people at the camp - Faisal, Rahman, and Clammy - who are examining their equipment and deciding what to bring in. This included curse detectors, dark magic detectors, and various protective gear.


    Hermione muttered in a small voice as the goblin named Gonuk completely ignored her, knowing that he didn''t have to look up much to see her.


    Felix said softly: "The goblins from the Gringotts are quite friendly compared to the rest, if you meet a strange goblin in the wild, you have to stay alert because there is no way to be sure if they are safe enough."


    Hermione turned her head and whispered, "Goblin subversive groups?" Since the signing of the agreement, goblins and wizards have remained at peace in general, but there is still a small group of goblins, who harbour a deep hatred for wizards and try to subvert their dominance.


    Especially in their own base, this attitude is undisguised. Many wizard jokes are made up and circulated in goblin taverns. The reverse is also true.


    Clammy trotted over, "These are special dragon hide gloves that have some defense against curses."


    "Professor, can I use magic?" Hermione thought of a key question.


    "Of course, you can, the British Ministry of Magic can not control you here." Felix said, "You can give it a go right now as a warm-up."


    Hermione froze, then she took out her wand and recited the spell for the shield charm, and an invisible barrier stood in front of her.


    "Very well, that''s it."


    They then entered the pyramid, following a twisted and narrow crack in the middle of the stonewall, the crowd grasped their wands and half-crouched their bodies as much as possible, or they might bump into the granite stones above their heads if they stood up slightly straighter. They walked forward with their heads bent silently, and the sound of their breathing is amplified because of silence.


    After walking for some time with the light from the tip of the wand, the road split in two at a junction.


    "To the right is the Pharaoh''s tomb, and to the left is the dark chamber we found." Clammy stated.


    They walked toward the left, encountering two or three stone steps down every dozen or so feet away, the terrain shortening along the way, and before they knew it, they had been walking for half an hour, deeper and deeper underground.


    Finally, the clear path ahead, there are two paths connected to this square room.


    One path was where they had come from, and on the other side - directly in front of the group - there is a dark hole, where the light is even dimmer than the surrounding area, so dark and quiet that it looked like someone had poured pitch-black ink on it and played a nasty joke on them.


    "That''s the passage we encountered earlier, the black stuff is actually a static black mist, but if you stimulate it-" Clammy said, as she fired a golden ray of light inside.


    "Oh, my God." Hermione whispered as the large mass of black mist began to churn, and a loud crackling sound came from inside.


    Felix took an eagle-shaped magic lamp out of his ring, and the bronze eagle flapped its wings gently, opening its mouth and spitting out a ball of light that illuminated the room.


    "Is this the magic lamp you mentioned?" Clammy asked Hermione who was next to her quietly, Hermione nodded while observing the surrounding scenery. The four sides of the rooms were fused into stone pillars, with no extra decoration on the pillars and continuous grooves carved from top to bottom on the surface of the exposed parts.


    Felix stood in front of the passage, motionless, concentrating on the end as if his eyes penetrated the black fog, and he is watching an interesting TV program.


    The goblin Gonuk stood by his side, carefully poking his nails into the black mist, and after a few seconds, took them out, bringing out a trace of black mist from his fingertips. "Can confuse the position, has a slight corrosive, no problem for a short time, but for a long time just breathing is a big problem."


    "We can use the Bubble-Head Charm." Clammy suggested.


    "I wouldn''t use it." The goblin muttered as he pulled out a silver mask, placed it over his head, and poked his head into the black mist, "Ha, solved."


    "Mr. Gonuk ... that''s the silverware you made?"


    "Of course, little girl." Gonuk said proudly, "It''s not just silverware, our people have an overwhelming talent for identifying various materials, which is as easy as breathing for us." S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Even newborn children instinctively discern impure metals, and we prepare rituals for newborns, offering gold and silver of varying purity for them to choose from, and the most gifted goblins will be nurtured from an early age."


    " Talent ..." Felix''s eyes flickered, and he returned to his senses, his heart twitching a little when he heard the goblin Gonuk''s words. Wizard children also have all kinds of magical gifts, such as parseltongue, such as Metamorphmagus, but there are other gifts that are not obvious, and some people will not even be aware of this in their lifetime.


    For example, some people are born with an affinity for animals and can easily gain their trust. Felix feels that such people are well suited to learn Uagadou''s self-morphing, which is a human transfiguration technique distinct from Animagus, which is capable of turning you into elephants and cheetahs at will, the master of the art among them can transform into many animals.


    Felix believed that he would be able to see this kind of magic at the new school year''s tournament of champions.


    It also occurred to him that wizards'' talent is not limited to this, some wizards are more adept at a certain type of magic, for example, Harry is particularly talented in dueling magic, exceeding his peers by a large margin, and many ancient wizards also showed this trait.


    In ancient times, ancient wizards would tend to pick apprentices who possessed similar talents to their own, and those who were more different from themselves would not be valued, even if their talents were good.


    Felix drew his wand and stabbed it forward. The wand made a "swoosh" sound and cut through the air, followed by a spell that flew into the black fog, which gradually dispersed after a while.


    "What did you do?" Goblin Gonuk asked in amazement.


    "Any magic will leave traces, I just found the key node used when arranging the black fog." Felix said briefly, the black fog dissipated, everything in the corridor became clear, with the light of the magic lamp in the room, you can see a black stone slab hanging on the walls on both sides of the passage.


    Hermione carefully came over and stood at the entrance, looking in amazement at the closest slab, the pattern on it looked very familiar to her, "Ancient magic? The magic sequence!"


    "Yes," Felix responded softly. "Don''t go in." He suddenly said sternly, this is not to Hermione, Hermione looked to the side, the goblin Gonuk already walked ahead.


    ----------


    #Vyktor, Thanks for your support.


    There are 366+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 333: The Corrupted Horcrux

    " I thought there is no more danger." Goblin Gonuk asked through his mask, he examined the passage in front of him and took another step forward, a fierce spark emitted from the empty air in front of him, hitting the goblin, he flew away like a ragged kite.


    Faisal and Rahman stepped forward to check Gonuk''s condition, then the middle-aged male wizard Rahman said, "No major injuries, he is wearing a protective suit, so he only temporarily passed out."


    "There is still a hidden trap left?" Clammy asked Felix in surprise, "Didn''t the curse originate from the black mist?" She picked up the curse detector and kept scanning it, only to have what looked like an antenna in her hand suddenly explode, which startled her.


    "That explains it, a curse does exist." She said with a grimace.


    "Actually, there is more than one." Felix said as the entire empty corridor in his perspective is dotted with dense lights, each representing a curse, and they float like plankton.


    He turned his head and asked Clammy, "Does this pyramid ... had any magical items that can store magic in the part you finished the exploration before?"


    Clammy shook her head, "We found quite a few things that still had residual magic, such as golden daggers and holy beetle amulets, but they are already very weak, unlike those cursed items in the outside world in which innocent blood will maintain the effects of the curse."


    After a while, the goblin Gonuk woke up, the first thing he did after waking up was raising his clothes, followed by a wail, Hermione then realized that he was wearing silver body armour.


    " A hole in it!" He shouted in despair, "I wonder if it still can be fixed...."


    ...


    Felix walked ahead, as the group followed a dozen steps after him, watching him poking the air here and there as a curse after curse exploded like a firework.


    The sheer quantity of dense curses made the hearts of those who followed behind him chill.


    Felix stopped occasionally to survey the slabs on either side of the passage. He originally thought that with the size of these slabs, there should be at least a dozen ancient magics, but the true number is less than that, and so far he has only seen three, including the black lightning magic in its entirety.


    There were quite a few slabs with the self-introduction of the wizard who created this dark room, including the experience of his travels. He said he was a travelling sorcerer from Greece who crossed the Aegean Sea and discovered a source of magic in the upper tombs - a quadruple conical gem - while exploring the pyramids. After which, he decided to create a dark chamber to benefit future generations.


    "The curse in the hallway is layered and will get stronger, so if you''re not sure, don''t push it and leave the opportunity to others." Hermione read out the words on the slate, "So that''s it!" The others also look dumbfounded.


    "Are the ancient wizards too strong, or are we just too weak?" Clammy said as she slumped, it turned out that they couldn''t withstand even the weakest test.


    "Don''t make up your mind so easily, maybe those words are just lies." Felix said, as he steadily moved forward, suspicion in his mind became more and more clear.


    One fact is, were the ancient wizards strong? If you look at ancient magic, they are indeed powerful, but when it comes to the flexibility of means, they''re far inferior to the present.


    Most ancient wizards can''t use Apparition, as for others spells such as alarm spells, life magic, auxiliary magic is also not as perfect as the current system, those ancient wizards who are famous in the history, while constantly amplifying their strengths, will also expose their shortcomings.


    This is also the reason why Felix surmised from various magic handbooks that the ancient wizards kept their secrets strictly.


    The road ahead is rough and dangerous, Felix has let them far behind, he also cloaked himself in basilisk skin and dragon hide tanned cloak, moving forward a bit by bit as he continued to clean up these curses.


    These curses are also mixed with a variety of powerful and bizarre dark magic, he didn''t know how the dark room master preserved it, probably stored in a stone, or granite ceiling.


    Only, most of the curses in the stone have dissipated with time, leaving only a faint bright light and evil aura. They should have existed separately and were not linked to the overall defense.


    Felix was increasingly certain that the owner of the dark room was a dark wizard, a powerful dark wizard at that. It was as if Felix had entered a museum of dark magic, where the many dark magics circulating in modern times could find their counterparts.


    Finally, he stopped in front of a large bronze door with a bronze door ring and no extra decoration.


    The goblin Gonuk shouted from afar: "Can we come over?" He said eagerly, in the goblin''s view, everything here is the property of the Gringotts, they pay money and manpower to eliminate the hidden danger for the Ministry of Magic of all countries, and the compensation is the treasure in the relic.


    The group came closer and lined up to look at the bronze door, seeing Felix in deep thought, they did not dare to disturb him, this whole journey has proved his strength and knowledge, as he diffused the spine-tingling curses which they even failed to find.


    After a long time, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief.


    "Got a problem?" Hermione asked in a whisper, her voice amplified in the dark room, even if she was whispering.


    "I''m a little surprised that there doesn''t seem to be any danger ahead."


    This is what puzzled him quite a bit, he glanced around at the others, "You guys move to that side and avoid anything unexpected." Perhaps his expression was too serious, the crowd drew their wands and carefully moved aside, and Felix beckoned the eagle-shaped magic lamp over.


    Completing all this, he reached out his hand and knocked on the bronze door ring, the knocking sound formed an echo, and the hearts of the crowd thumped up. After a few seconds, the door suddenly cracked open with a gap, dust continuously falling out, accompanied by an ear-splitting "creaking" sound, the gap continued to expand, followed by the sound of something scraping, Felix cautiously backed away, two black shadows smashed down, raising a high smoke and dust. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Bang! Bang!"


    The crowd hiding on the sides saw the true nature of the black shadows. "It''s a Basilisk!" Hermione screamed, she definitely can not mistake it, in the second year, she and the Basilisk fought head-on.


    Only what is in front of them is just a body of two Basilisks, they have long been dead, and because they have been placed in the confined space for too long, just after contact with the outside air, the ghostly green skin of the Basilisk quickly decayed, the strong smell of rotting came across.


    "Vomit!"


    A few people gagged dryly, Felix waved his wand and cast a Bubble-Head Charm for them, while he already topped himself with a humanoid shield charm, as he strode into the chamber, his judgment became crystal clear.


    The eagle-shaped magic lamp followed behind him, the light shone inside through him, bringing this place isolated from the outside world back to the present. In the empty small square room, coiled a dozen large and small Basilisk, they are all without an exception dead, when Felix passed them, the colour on the body of the Basilisk along with the surrounding circular pillars lost their lustre altogether.


    Felix went straight to the very center, where there is a circular altar in the middle.


    On the altar stood a statue of a middle-aged male wizard with silver-white hair and yellow eyes, smiling gently. The wizard held a quadruple-conical gem in his hand, from which a dull light emanated, the source of the magic that Felix had been looking for.


    A crack split from the top of the statue''s head, all the way down his brow, almost shattering his entire body in half. From this long crack, black sticky blood oozed out, but it had long since dried up, forming an unpleasant smudge.


    Felix could almost imagine how, over thousands of long years, it had been worn down, broken, and cracked little by time to become what it is now.


    "It really turned out to be you, Herpo the Foul." Felix said softly, he looked as if he is admiring him as well as mocking him, "So Horcrux can also decay?"


    As if in response to his words, Herpo''s statue - or a Horcrux - began to lose its lustre a bit, becoming gray and ashen, and with a gentle blow from Felix, it completely fell apart.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 373+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 334: The Most Painful Punishment

    Felix stared at the altar, such a big statue, right in front of his eyes, in a very short time decayed, broken into pieces, and then swept by the invisible wind into fine sand, and finally, nothing remained. Is it because of the breath he blew?


    Surely not, Felix thought in his mind, that''s too absurd, the statue of Herpo should be similar to the corpses of those basilisks that he had seen before, also in a sealed state, for an unknown period of time, at least a thousand years, no, two thousand years, right?


    He thought very carefully, Herpo the Foul was very active in the ancient Greek period, earlier than the era of the four founders of Hogwarts, and when the four giants rose to power, Herpo has disappeared for hundreds of years.


    For them, Herpo already belongs to the part of the legend - only to know for his infamy, never seen in person. Perhaps their parents might even have scared them using Herpo''s evil reputation when they became naughty during their childhood.


    Felix grinned, amused by this sudden thought. It is a fact that the legends were once kids too, but few people associate them that way, preferring to think that legends were legends to begin with.


    Felix put aside this idea and became serious, thinking very seriously about the Horcrux.


    That''s right, the Horcrux. For him, the only attraction of Horcrux to him is the possibility of studying the soul, but unfortunately, even though he has mastered the method of making Horcrux, he knows very little about the field of soul.


    He had not even touched the fur of it.


    He thought of the book, Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled, in which there were not only one kind of magic related to soulcraft, but it is, without a doubt, the most evil of them all. Evil not only because of the need for murder, but also because of the need to split the soul.


    Let the complete and flawless soul become incomplete, this is an act against nature, and you will have to pay an extremely heavy price, this is clearly mentioned in the book, as for what price, the book does not say, and Felix has no way to know.


    ... S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione just came in and got a fright, it turned out there are more Basilisks other than the two that blocked the door, there''s a large nest, she has Bubble-Head Charm cast on her head, as she carefully bypassed the Basilisks carcasses, not letting them touch her, and then arrived in front of the professor, just in time to hear the professor mention the Horcrux.


    She felt surprised, did the professor find the Dark Lord''s fourth Horcrux? On second thought No! because he also mentioned a person''s name earlier - Herpo, she also promptly recognized the significance of the name Herpo.


    Herpo the Foul, the famous ancient Greek dark wizard, is one of the sources of many existing dark magics and invented many sinister curses and dark magics, the most famous of which is Horcrux! In addition to that, he was also a parseltongue and discovered the method of hatching Basilisk artificially.


    Could it be that they had mistakenly entered the place where Herpo hid his Horcrux?


    Just as she wanted to ask, the professor sighed and blew a breath, then the sturdy-looking statue in front of him disintegrated and turned into flying ash, and when she even walked over, even the ash disappeared, as if everything was an illusion of hers.


    "Professor?" Hermione cocked her head and looked at Felix, who had been silent since a while ago.


    Felix looked at her and said calmly, "Nothing, just some emotions."


    "You destroyed Herpo''s Horcrux?"


    "Well, it has nothing to do with me, it was destroyed a long time ago, we just found out this fact."


    Hermione blinked, using her limited knowledge about Horcrux in an attempt to analyse the situation, she first glanced at the rest of the people, Clammy and three others just came in as they smacked their lips at the corpse of the Basilisks blocking the front, Goblin Gonuk ... she could not spot him, probably blocked by the Basilisks.


    So she asked in a whisper, "Professor, if the Horcrux is destroyed, what about Herpo''s main soul?"


    Felix rolled his eyes, that is an interesting question, the purpose of the Horcrux is to split the soul apart and hide a part of it in some object outside the body. That way, even if the body is attacked or destroyed, it can''t die because there is still a part of the soul left in the world, undamaged.


    But this is for the case where the wizard dies accidentally while the Horcrux survives, what if both happen at the same time by accident?


    Is there a possibility that Herpo invented the method of making Horcrux and succeeded in making the first one, but before he could study how to recover his physical body, he ended up passing away due to an accident or simply died of old age ...


    This speculation is not without a chance, the reason why Herpo is revered or hated by those who come after him is because he creatively invented a lot of dark magic, so is it possible that, before him, no one has studied the way to restore the flesh after the death?


    Felix went along with this conjecture to deduce, Herpo because of the existence of the Horcrux his main soul is indestructible, so he has always wandered, but he could not find a good way to resurrect, so for an unknown number of years, the Horcrux also decayed over a long period of time, then what will be awaiting Herpo?


    Will he simply perish, or will he continue to wander somewhere in this world, no better than the most humble wandering ghost?


    "I don''t know," Felix answered Hermione''s question, "maybe death is more rewarding for him."


    Hermione could not understand for a moment and wanted to continue to ask questions, but she soon realized the key, after the loss of the Horcrux, the only remaining choice the main soul has is; either dissipating, or lingering like Voldemort, or successfully got resurrected.


    The first two remain unknown, but the third possibility is extremely unlikely because later generations have never found the traces of his presence again - which is actually quite unusual, if Herpo resurrected with the help of the Horcrux, he has no reason to hide.


    And the remaining two possibilities, according to the professor''s answer, ''maybe death is more rewarding for him'', which is referring to the dissipation of the main soul at the end, but if there is no ... like Voldemort, wandering in the world for thousands of years?


    She shuddered, the world''s most painful punishment is just this, right?


    "Little girl, move aside."


    A voice said, Hermione startled as her body trembled, she jumped to the side, found the goblin Gonuk is looking flatly at the sidewall of the altar relief, she lowered her head, noticing the goblin at some point carrying a silver knife, is he trying to pry the gemstones from the relief.


    Gonuk managed to get his hands on a ruby, he released a soft breath, as he wiped it with his sleeve, and said greedily: "Ancient gem, I smell the smell of heavy history, it is more precious than any of my collection, it has the weight of time!"


    Hermione blinked, she felt that this statement should just be a kind of rhetorical expression, similar to the words of Trelawney and Refitin, but nevertheless, she asked curiously, "Mr. Gonuk, What do you see? Can I take a look?"


    "No! Everything here is mine! no, no, no...it''s Gringotts." He said seriously.


    Felix smiled, "Miss Granger, pick one or two of whatever you like, as a souvenir."


    The goblin looked at him viciously, only to have Felix pull out a letter of invitation from the Gringotts and raise it towards him, and he instantly became as sluggish as a deflated ball.


    "What''s wrong?" Hermione asked puzzled.


    Clammy came over and said with a smile: "Professor Hap is an expert invited by the Gringotts, naturally there is a payment. Gonuk realized this, so it ..." she made a heartbreaking gesture towards Hermione, who giggled.


    But Hermione was just curious, no idea of taking it for herself, she had very little interest in gems, so she went around in a circle to survey the pattern on the altar - on the top remained the group of wizards she came with, they either identifying gems, or sitting upright in awe, or writing with their heads down, and next to these wizards, there were always all kinds of trinkets, gems, wands, vials, hourglasses.


    She also wanted to take a closer look, but as a result, where ever she went, the Goblin followed her, and she finally got bored, so she ran off to the hallway in a huff and read the runes left on the slate with the professor.


    Felix is recording the ancient magic on the top of the slate before Hermione is more interested in the story told on the slate, only after knowing that the master of the dark room is Herpo, she naturally understands that it is all a lie, an elaborate hoax woven by Herpo.


    But why did he do it?


    Hermione tried to understand Herpo''s intentions, she had read a lot of ancient wizards'' journals from Felix''s collection, not unfamiliar with their mentality, and Herpo''s approach made her extremely puzzled.


    Thinking for a while, she thought of two directions, one is that Herpo wanted to lure in highly intelligent wizards, trick them into the dark room, and sacrifice them for some unspeakable sorcery, such as holding a resurrection ritual, but unfortunately, he waited for a thousand years in vain.


    In the other direction, it was a blindfold set aside by Herpo. He never intended to let people leave alive after knowing this place. And everything that was laid out before was for this purpose--


    The hiding place of the Horcrux was placed under the pyramid, and the secret of the Horcrux was concealed with the help of the Pharaoh''s tomb, making it difficult for outsiders to discover. This is the first layer of protection.


    And the black fog and curse in the hallway is the second layer of protection, if the wizard who mistakenly entered this place is slightly less capable, he is likely to die in the black fog for no reason, and be digested by the black fog clean, you know, Mr. Goblin said that the black fog is corrosive!


    Even if a wizard succeeds in breaking through the black fog, there is a third layer of protection, which is the temptation of ancient magic on the stone slab, he/she will think he/she has broken into a strict senior''s inheritance, and not only he/she will not reveal the news to the outside world, but will also attempt to break the invisible curse alone again and again.


    Even if he succeeded in breaking through these levels, what was waiting for him in the end, was a nest of Basilisks, according to Hermione''s guess, even if a wizard is more powerful, he/she can not resist the attack of dozens of Basilisks at the same time, right?


    "If that''s the case, then Herpo is too scary just to be known as Herpo the Foul." Hermione muttered in a small voice.


    "What?" Felix inquired.


    "No." Hermione immediately shook her head and followed the professor''s line of sight, surveying the runic sequence above.


    Felix said gently, "I don''t have time to instruct you at now, but you can try to understand it a little. You know what I mean, right? Just the core ones, see which one you feel most comfortable with, and maybe it will be your second ancient magic."


    Hermione nodded and excitedly tried them out one by one. The first ancient magic, she did not understand the core runes, so she gave up ...


    The second, signifying ''twist'', she tried outlining the core and sub-core runes, and the air in her hand seemed to twist, but after a few tries, it still didn''t work.


    She kept moving her position until she reached the second to last one, and Hermione''s eyes lit up. Core rune - flame, sub-core runes, all of which she knew! She also knew most of the remaining Peripheral Runes.


    This is it. She had a strong feeling in her heart.


    Hermione carefully sketched the runes in the air, with the experience of learning illumination, she knew the most basic operation of ancient magic - core runes as a stable and joining agent, sub-core runes to determine the external characteristics and properties of magic, peripheral runes to build and refine the complete magic.


    Hermione first outlined the flame rune, let it keep switching between rune symbols and flames, then reverted it to ancient magic and continued to outline the sub-core runes.


    After a small period of time, Hermione wiped her sweat and stopped. Covering a yawn with her hand, she decided to rest for a while.


    Felix had finished recording the sequence of all the runes on the slab, and a docile black lightning bolt flashed between his fingers, but this sight was only a flash, and he put away his magic and said to Hermione with satisfaction, "Let''s go out, they''re already waiting outside."


    They walked out of the pyramid and returned to the tent camp, the goblin is exhausted enough to collapse into a chair, constantly complaining that his knife is cracked, but no one sympathized with him, "Because you won''t let us help." Clammy said as she made herself a small glass of ice water.


    She gulped a big sip as her brow furrowed, then stretched a little before she exhaled a long breath.


    The others were also relaxed, coming out of such a dangerous place is enough for them to celebrate. Faisal and Rahman immediately decided to take time off and go watch the Quidditch World Cup.


    Felix, who is also a little tired, took off his Basilisk skin cloak and took out a silver pocket watch, as he popped open the lid gently, a Niffler came out of it and stood in his hand, yelling at Felix continuously, counting his crimes and then pointing her butt at him.


    "It''s my fault," Felix said with a smirk, his mood instantly changed for the better. He took out a golden galleon, gently touched the shoulder of Niffler Valen, she smelled a charming smell, her head turned a little, glimpsed the golden glint, she then immediately snatched the golden galleon, stuffed it into her pocket, and patted Felix''s finger with satisfaction.


    Hermione stared wide-eyed at the little guy, "Professor, this is Niffler?"


    "Well, I raise her, you can call her Valen." Felix said as caressed her pink beak with his finger, Niffler ignored him, as she glanced left and right and probed around.


    Hermione took out the small locket with a temperature control function and waved it in front of her eyes, Niffler Valen who looked around immediately jumped down into Hermione''s arms and reached for the small locket with her short hands.


    When Niffler appeared, the goblin Gonuk immediately widened his eyes, covering his side pocket, and shouted in terror: "Take that little devil away, take it away!"


    His scream caught the attention of Niffler, whose head poked out of Hermione''s arms and her bright little black eyes stared at Goblin Gonuk.


    Do you have any treasures?


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 373+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 335: Nifflers Education

    Goblins are one of the few humanoid races that have preserved their cultural heritage intact. In addition to their unique goblin magic and mastery of craftsmanship, they have their own language, customs, and settlements. Many aspects of them are close to wizards, for example - the routine of parents scaring children.


    In the many fairy tales of goblins, Niffler is a being comparable to the devil. They have more than just a bad reputation, even among adult goblins, if you choose the top ten golden curses, "Your family will attract Niffler!" will definitely be on the list, and probably at the top.


    "Don''t worry, Valen has many treasures." Felix said.


    Gonuk became even more uncomfortable after hearing this, in the goblin concept, the more treasures you have, there will be more cravings for it, otherwise, how could one save such a thick family fortune! He hurriedly excused himself. Clammy looked outside for a moment, and announced to them with joy: "Mr. Gonuk has chosen the tent farthest from us." The crowd couldn''t help but laugh.


    It became dark, and Felix stayed alone in his tent, pulling out a stack of parchments and sorting through his trip''s haul.


    First and Foremost, there is nine ancient magic, which is simply a huge harvest. In order to conceal his identity, the magic that Herpo left on the slab is relatively normal and not mixed with strange things. Felix asked himself if he could leave intact if he broke into this place during the time Herpo was alive?


    In particular, Herpo left a heartfelt message on a slab slate closest to the dark room. The general meaning is: since you broke through all the trials, then you obtained my approval, I left all my knowledge in the hidden chamber.


    Uh ... all is a lie.


    But this technique is extremely clever, Felix is also re-sorting the details to discover the subtlety of this scheme. With nine unadulterated ancient magic acts as bait, and in between these magic, those seemingly useless stone slabs of self-introduction, travel insights, is what Herpo carefully laid out to let your guard down.


    For example, he first introduced his origins, and then told the strange stories of his travels aboard, told a lot of hidden secrets, between the lines to give a formidable, solitary, proud wizard image.


    Such a person will never scheme you, right? It''s not worth it at all! Wizards of that era did not have the concept of Horcrux.


    Most ancient wizards set up secret chambers, either to hide treasures or to set up tombs, these locations are naturally full of traps, no one would want to "disclose" their powerful magic.


    So, in Felix''s opinion, with the mindset of the wizards at the time, it was difficult not to be tricked.


    And when the latter recognized the image of wizard fabricated by Herpo, their vigilance would be greatly reduced, and they would only be careful to deal with the "test" of the predecessor, but they would fail to guard against the most insidious cold arrow from behind the scenes.


    What''s more, Herpo said some words of encouragement one after another in the subsequent slate, encouraging those who came later to continue to go forward, and also left some little useful tips, which in fact will increase his status in the minds of those who broke in.


    But he did not say a word about those key information, just waiting for them to fall into the pit. For example, the powerful curse disguised as a small stone placed on the necessary path; or suddenly increasing the power and strength of the curse, so that people would be caught off guard. But once the latter is preoccupied and determines that these are tests, they will only think that they are not strong enough, not capable enough, and will not think of his evil intentions.


    Unfortunately, all schemes and calculations can not stop the invasion of time, Herpo''s many arrangements seem so pale and feeble under the river of time, even his painstakingly, layers by layers guarded Horcrux was long been destroyed by itself.


    "It is also possible that his skills are not up to scratch." Felix thought, "After all, it was the world''s first Horcrux, and some oversight was inevitable." S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Of the nine ancient magics Felix had written down, There are four main attacks magics - Golden Flame, Black Lightning, Corrosive Black Mist, and Human Transfiguration; Two defensive magic - Silver Shield and Compressed Air, and the last three are of a supportive nature, which he hadn''t had time to study carefully.


    "Well, Herpo also didn''t leave the names of these magic, I can only make up the names myself according to their characteristics ..." Felix scratched his head with some difficulty, forget it, the names and stuff are not important.


    At this time, Niffler who lazily lying on the tent carpet approached him, Felix knocked her head with his hand, as she grunted she ran outside, taking away two golden galleons, twelve silver Sickles, and six copper Knuts with her.


    Felix didn''t pay much attention, he was thinking about ancient magic, the most magical thing here is the defensive magic of compressed air, in fact, instead of compressed air, it should be compressed space, at least a similar effect.


    Although not clearly defined, wizards have the distinct impression by heart that there is a distance limit to casting spells, at least for the most part. You can''t expect to throw a disarming charm at the sky, and it will fly straight up to a moon, right? There''s a limit to every spell, caused by various reasons.


    Among the magic Felix currently mastered, the spell with the longest casting distance should be the Patronus Charm. In his many studies, one of his directions is to let the Patronus change shape, so it can turn into Felix''s own appearance, then it is convenient to go to buy something, or communicate with people, but when he said this idea to Dumbledore, Dumbledore chided him for thinking too much.


    "The Patronus is a mapping of the mind, instead of thinking of changing its form, I would suggest you put a wizard''s robe over it ..."


    Felix gladly accepted the suggestion until he finds the alternative, he used blank memories to weave a transparent glowing robe, so at least the Patronus could be disguised as a ghost, maybe a new ghost would roam Hogwarts castle after the school year started.


    Felix collected his chaotic thoughts and focused on the magic of compressed air, its principle is simple, in front of the caster to build a wall of air, but this air wall is a compressed section of space so that the magic attacking him/her would naturally collapse out of casting range and control distance.


    Theoretically, this magic can resist all attacks, even including the Killing Curse.


    Felix had already decided to put it and Black Lightning at the top of the learning list. Black Lightning magic is also very powerful, and it is characterized by its extreme speed and penetrating power, which makes ordinary defensive magic useless altogether.


    His own humanoid shield charm was originally less defensive than the normal shield charm, facing this black lightning, it will be as fragile as a thin layer of parchment.


    Felix once again sighed, Herpo knew exactly how to invest the capital well.


    "What a good man, it''s a pity he died."


    In addition to these nine ancient magic, he also experienced a unique curse teaching, although Herpo did not teach him a single curse, Felix still with his own tangible experience figured out some things, he now needs to record those things.


    ...


    Niffler Valen came in from outside the tent and saw Felix fluently writing words on parchment, his shadow constantly swaying in the tent, the interior light flickering on and off, Niffler startled, then grabbed a gem and smashed it on Felix''s head.


    Felix looked at the gem in front of him, turned his head, and looked at Niffler, both small and big ones looked at each other and fell into a wordless silence.


    A few minutes later, he lifted Niffler upside down and flung a pile of golden galleons and various bits and pieces of treasure out of her little pocket, including his Order of Merlin and broken time-turner, and of course, the small pile of suspicious gems in the corner stood out quite a bit.


    "Looks like you''re in for a good lesson." Felix morphed a small cup into a small bench and made Niffler sit on it in a disciplined manner, "Be a good girl and sit down, I''m the one who neglected your education, we have ... about four hours before you return these stuff."


    Niffler Valen pushed her pink beak into her arms, she had a strong feeling that her carefree childhood is slipping away from her.


    "I need to give you a make-up of basic education, or wait until school starts, you might get into some kind of trouble ... Let''s see, the economic books I''ve read, the section on property ownership, is very educational ... "


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 375+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 336: Branch

    The next morning, Felix entered the pyramid with Niffler, who had very little spirit, to re-examine the interior of the dark room according to the remaining traces of magic, and he was accompanied by the goblin Gonuk, Felix satisfied to see that he did not mention the theft of the gems, so he patted the Niffler Valen on her shoulder. It seemed his education proved useful, as she did not keep a gem or two for herself, but there would be no relaxing time for the rest of the holiday. Whether it is Quidditch World Cup Magic Light Show or a visit to Beauxbatons before heading back to Hogwarts, these are all risky places.


    Clammy dragged Hermione on a tour around Cairo downtown, "I''ll take you to see the old museum, there are quite a few things made by wizards, but the locals don''t know ..."


    Hermione is very interested in this, "I read about this museum in the book, there should be an obelisk somewhere right?"


    "What''s that?"


    "A pointed square pillar, a monument to the sun god built by the ancient Egyptians, I''ve seen it in France and London, but Egypt is the birthplace of the obelisk, it should be different."


    Clammy thought for a moment, "I don''t know much about it, I can ask about it for you."


    They had two days of intense fun. During the day they strolled around various attractions, as Clammy was familiar with the magic stops within Cairo, while Hermione looked at a load of important locations from the books, so they both took turns choosing the locations and had a great time.


    By evening, Hermione followed Felix to learn golden flame magic, and Felix told her, "You have enough self-control to try arranging the magic sequence in private, but you must wait till this school year to formally cast the spell."


    On the third day, they returned to Diagon Alley in London, and Clammy Vera followed them, her reason being that she didn''t want to be alone with that money-grubbing Gonuk, and she took a leave of absence to watch the World Cup, but once she arrived at Diagon Alley, she burrowed into the Future World Company Headquarters and refused to come out.


    Future World Company has been very busy lately because it finally opened a branch in Diagon Alley and started selling its goods to the public. Lupin spent a considerable amount of lease to obtain the right to use the store for the next two years, which is not far from the Ollivander wand store.


    This store for the time being only sells one kind of good - magic lamps, all kinds of magic lamps. When Sirius and Harry went to Diagon Alley to buy books, they were immediately attracted to the store by the two mighty dragon magic lamps, they came to the door, and the vertical posters on the shopfront were also painted with other types of magic lamps, looked very eye-catching.


    A young blond clerk kept everything organized at the entrance, and Harry and Sirius walked into the store, where there were rows and rows of shelves, with magic lamps of various shapes in translucent boxes. In addition, posters appeared above all the magic lamp boxes and floating in midair, one reach you can touch it.


    A little boy reached out to touch the dragon above his head and found that he could not touch it. His father lifted him, and the boy struggled, as he shouted sharply with embarrassment, "I''m going to school this year!" S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Dennis-" his father was just about to speak, only to have the magic lamp in the shape of a dragon spew out a fan-shaped light at them, which startled them.


    Harry also saw the figure of Luna, with her back to them, wearing a very conspicuous bright yellow robe, was surveying a delicate box, the box contains twelve kinds of palm-sized magic lamp dolls, but the shape looks more cute, like the kind of style he saw in cartoons.


    "Luna." He greeted.


    "Oh, Harry," Luna looked back at him in surprise, still holding a small eagle with short wings, "You are shopping before the World Cup, too? I figured I''d run into some familiar faces today."


    Harry surveyed her, something didn''t feel right, "Where is your little Dirigible Plum Earrings?"


    "Left them at home," Luna said regretfully, turning around and pulling a male wizard next to her who was staring intently at the purple floral pattern on the shelf, "Dad-"


    The middle-aged male wizard, Luna''s father, Xenophilius Lovegood, turned back, the silver pendant hanging around his neck shaking on his chest, "Yes, dear?"


    "How about we take her home with us?" She asked, holding up the palm-sized eagle in her hand.


    "Oh, not good," Xenophilius frowned, his eyes moving back and forth between the eagle and the box, his marshmallow white hair fluttering over his shoulders, "I don''t think it''s good ... to separate them, it would break some kind of mysterious connection between them."


    So Harry watched as Luna happily clutched the box containing the twelve magic lamp dolls and prepared to go to the counter to check out.


    "See you at the World Cup, Harry."


    Luna waved at him, and Harry waved back. When father and daughter passed Sirius, Xenophilius stopped and stared at his face, Sirius looked a little impatient, but didn''t say much, there were too many people who looked at him with different eyes on the way.


    But Xenophilius looked at him for too long, that Luna switched the box to her other side while waiting she chatted with Harry, as she asked thoughtfully: "Have you seen Hermione, I have something to ask her."


    "No--" Harry hurriedly replied, looking at Sirius, the atmosphere in front of him became slightly tense.


    Xenophilius approached him, his somewhat contrasting light silver eyes peering straight into Sirius'' face, he flashed his teeth and asked mysteriously, "Are you, Boardman?"


    "Bo-who the hell?" Sirius'' eyes widened.


    "The leader of the Naughty Goblins group, Humpty Dumpty Boardman, very famous a dozen years ago." Xenophilius whispered, "Sirius is supposed to be your alias, right?"


    Sirius stared at him blankly, "No!" He said in a tough voice, and Xenophilius left with a regretful look on his face as if he had received some kind of heavy blow.


    Harry laughed from the sidelines, wincing, tears welling up in his eyes, " Humpty Dumpty - Boardman, is he really talking about you?"


    Sirius tapped him on the back of the head and said thoughtfully, "A family of Ravenclaw? I Knew that house is filled with weirdos since I was in school."


    "They are exceptions, just a little odd." Harry put in a good word for Luna.


    Sirius didn''t have it in him to smile, so he just said, "And you just asked that little girl where her little Dirigible Plum earrings had gone."


    ...


    Future World Company Headquarters.


    "What is this?" Lupin held a golden stick that looked like a straight pole with a dog-headed knob.


    "Pharaoh''s scepter." Felix flipped through the various charts.


    "What does it do?" Lupin asked curiously, is it some new product that can suddenly jump up and hit someone in the head? He shook his head and pushed the thought out of his head, he had been interacting with the Weasley twins too much these days and the entire situation seemed out of whack.


    "A souvenir brought back from Egypt, you can have it if you like." Felix said casually.


    "Forget it, maybe Sirius would like it, er, or Valen ..." Lupin handed the scepter to Niffler, who was eyeing it from the desk, then he turned to ask about Clammy Vera, "What''s up with that girl? You have your eye on her too and plan to train her like the Weasley twins?"


    Felix thought about it, "They are different, Vera will probably stay, at the moment it should be considered a pre-induction visit, she needs to firm up her resolve a bit."


    Lupin''s heart brightened: "I will provide the convenience."


    Felix added: "Vera is very fond of ancient runes, if she spends more time, her achievements will be very high."


    Lupin smiled: "So you plan to groom a long-term high-level expert."


    ----------


    #Julio Hernandez and #Federico chaves, Thanks for your support.


    There are 375+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 337: Camp

    Near the evening, Felix and Lupin emerged from the ''Future World'' company headquarters - the vertical castle building was renamed as company headquarters due to the availability of branches that were used to sell specific products, so this building is dedicated exclusively for research work. Felix intended to open the company''s sales outlets all over the world, just like the Gringotts. Many British wizards actually did not know that Gringotts had branches in different countries, and they thought there is only one such bank in the world.


    The two looked at the store from a distance, the sky is almost completely dark, "Future World - Diagon Alley shop" sign hovered at the entrance with two dragon magic lamps at both sides, whenever a group passes nearby, they will spew out a large mouthful of white flame-like light, attracting gasps from the crowd.


    "Fudge has sent over the tickets, you were not there, I received it for you." Lupin said softly.


    "Hmm."


    ...


    Felix returned to his residence in London, as he focused on visiting some friends. Afterward, one early morning, someone apparited in a misty forest, a field set aside by the British Ministry of Magic specifically for Apparition.


    "Go in that direction, and remember to register at the gate." A tired old wizard said breathlessly when another crackling sound came from not far away and a South American wizard who dressed like a peacock spun around and appeared, crashing headfirst into a nearby tree.


    The old wizard from the Ministry of Magic muttered something that sounded like "silly bird" and Felix followed his direction out of the forest and saw through the haze as a gentle slope stretched upward, with oddly shaped squares stretching down the slope - tents set up by the wizards who had arrived early.


    The Ministry of Magic had prepared a dozen drop-off points around the Quidditch World Cup field for wizards watching the game to come in groups, and naturally, the lower the ticket price, the earlier they must come.


    Felix arrived in front of a stone house where a man stood in the doorway with a dazed, indifferent look on his face towards everything. Felix could see that he is an ordinary man, the only one muggle in this big place, and had just been put under an Obliviate.


    "How do you do, sir?"


    "Hello, I''m Roberts," the man inside the house said calmly, "state your name and pay the money please."


    ...


    Felix passed between the tents, the camp entrance is not far away, with Ministry of Magic staffs patrolling the camp, as they are responsible for maintaining order throughout the camp and act as order keepers. "You!" One of the Ministry of Magic''s enforcers shouted, "What''s wrong with that chimney on the tent?" The reprimanded wizard retorted vigorously, "I didn''t violate the secrecy regulations, the muggles did the same thing!"


    "Are you sure?" The Enforcer got a bit confused, "Your tent is different from everyone else''s ..."


    The colleague next to him whispered, "I''ve seen it too, you might be mistaken."


    So the two left, leaving the victorious wizard to continue fiddling with his tent. As Felix cautiously crossed the area, he noticed that the Ministry of Magic patrols only focused on the tents near the edge of the venue, and as he walked some distance away, various tents with "magical traces" began to compete.


    A twisted tent that looked like it had been glued together by a child stood upright against the wind, and seven or eight feet away stood a normal-sized tent, but on its side there hung a moving poster of some star player around thirty years old with a grim-looking face.


    " What''s with that extra stuff?" A familiar voice shouted.


    Next, it was Hermione''s voice: "Oh my God, that''s a tent pole for the support!"


    "Can we use it, will it suddenly collapse?" This is Sirius''s voice.


    Felix looked at the sound, several children of the Weasley family gathered around, looking at the two adults in the center of the field - Mr. Weasley and Sirius lying on the ground, checking what went wrong.


    "Hello guys, do you need any help?" Felix couldn''t help but ask.


    Sirius looked up from the ground, in a terrible mood, and he immediately stood up, drew his wand, and pointed it at the loose tent, which immediately jumped up and put itself back together.


    "Well, you''re right, although -- anyway, we had a lot of fun." Mr. Weasley also got up from the ground.


    "Hello, Mr. Weasley."


    "Hello, Professor Hap," Mr. Weasley replied, his expression stiffening a bit as he glanced at the children with concern, "Boys, you put your travelling clothes away and make your beds, we will probably have to stay for a few days."


    He pulled Felix to the side as Sirius looked left and right before following suit.


    "Professor Hap, I heard Harry say that you taught him Apparition?" Mr. Weasley said nervously, "Not that I question your teaching, I just think - well, don''t you think it''s too early?"


    "Too early? Mr. Weasley, I don''t quite understand."


    "The Ministry of Magic states that Apparition should not be studied before the sixth year at least, and it has to go through a rigorous examination, and I have heard from my colleagues in the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad that there are all kinds of serious Splinching ... Actually... actually, I would be okay with a year or two earlier, but Harry was only in his third year that time..."


    "Harry had the potential." Felix said.


    "A lot of adult wizards aren''t good at this magic." Mr. Weasley said anxiously, wiping his somewhat balding forehead with his handkerchief.


    They didn''t notice that the cacophony of voices in the tent quieted down, and a gap in the tent showed a pair of bright eyes looking this way.


    "Mr. Weasley, I''ve always felt that Apparition should be included as one of the mandatory criteria for student graduation," Felix said with a smile, not caring much about his attitude, "I''ve already suggested this to Dumbledore, and it''s expected to be implemented from this year."


    "Graduation criteria?" Mr. Weasley asked because he was surprised, his attention got diverted. In fact, he was not dwelling on the Apparition issue but was worried about Felix being eager to make some achievements and that would harm Harry, so he politely reminded.


    He did not yet know that Ron and Hermione also secretly studied it together with Harry. He just heard about this matter today from Sirius'' mouth when he was looking for the Portkey at Burrow, and he thought that Sirius had privately taught Harry, only to find out that it turned out to be Professor Hap at the school.


    "That''s right, incorporating several categories of magic that must be mastered. If you do not pass, you have to return to retake the course without graduating." Felix said in a relaxed tone.


    Harry and Ron, who were eavesdropping on the side, exchanged a look with each other. Fred and George pressed up against them and stood higher, causing Ron to whine, "Don''t squeeze!" Hermione and Ginny crouched down, in the lowest position, and looked out through the two rivet holes.


    At the other end, Sirius asked with great interest, "Can you tell us about all the magic that is mandatory?"


    "It''s not set in stone yet," Felix said, "but I think--" he wiggled his fingers and counted them one by one, "Apparition, Disillusionment Charm, Disarming Charm, Shield Charm, Intruder Charm, Muggle-Repelling Charm, Basic Healing spells, these should be the key magic spells. There may be more specific subdivisions related to career choices ..."


    Mr. Weasley''s attitude got much better, as he said thoughtfully, "Is it pre-induction focused training? Sounds good, a lot of new graduates have to learn quite a bit, even when I entered the Ministry of Magic back then ..."


    Sirius grinned, with what he knew about Felix, maybe Felix is preparing for a wizard war. He glanced at the tent and waved his hand covertly, his godson is too careless as he was showing half of his head out.


    ...


    "So that''s why you taught Harry? Thinking that all wizards should master it?" Sirius asked in a small voice when he found an opportunity to do so after Mr. Weasley had left.


    They were standing at the front of the tent, looking at the wizards coming and going, from all over the world, a red-faced male wizard in a Scottish dress holding a flamingo and a huge spatula in his hands.


    "Actually, he asked for it himself." Felix said without moving.


    "You could have refused," Sirius reminded him, "As Arthur said, he wasn''t old enough to even get a certificate."


    Felix''s eyes twinkled as he looked at him playfully, "I am only responsible for teaching, I can''t control what happens to them outside of school, perhaps ... we should expect the young wizard''s guardian to set an example and give proper guidance?"


    Sirius grimaced, his first thought after learning about Harry''s mastery of the Apparition was to take him on a tour around, and he did so!


    He refrained from continuing the conversation and looked back carefully at the tent as Mr. Weasley pulled the kettle and two stew pots out of the backpack he had brought, the children busied themselves with making their beds, and Sirius said cautiously, "Do you know if there are any after-effects if you got scarred by a Curse?"


    "Why do you ask that ...," Felix looked at Sirius and then followed his line of sight to Harry, "Is it Harry?"


    "That''s right," Sirius said briefly, as he glanced at the wizard who wearing a Scottish dress again, as two Enforcers from Ministry of Magic eyeing the bird that wizard had brought with him, "a sudden pain in the scar on his forehead and a nightmare where he said he dreamed of Voldemort... ... I don''t know much about that."


    Sirius briefly said what he knew, Felix frowned, "What kind of Voldemort did he dream about?"


    "Didn''t get a good look."


    "In addition to Voldemort?"


    "There should be others, but Harry forgot about them. As you know, the more you recall the details of such things as dreams, the more you can''t remember. Maybe Voldemort is plotting something in the dark again, and he has a helper! That''s why I''m asking you. I wish it was just an accident, a dream. Aren''t you a Healer?"


    "I''m not." Felix sighed, "If he''s having memory problems - well, you know what I mean, you should look for St. Mungo''s Spell Damage Division."


    Sirius spoke with concern, "I''m worried about getting into unnecessary trouble, maybe the effects of the spell are still lingering, the Killing Curse ... has never had such a precedent, and Harry didn''t survive it with his own power, rather he relied on Lily''s magic."


    He briefly revealed some information, mainly the ancient magic that Lily cast, including its role and cost. Felix had actually heard a similar account, except that Sirius told it in more detail.


    "So that''s it. I suggest you talk to Dumbledore, he has a lot of hidden channels to scout for information, and he may be able to find out Voldemort''s movements."


    Neither of them spoke, the wizard with the flamingo in his hand was stopped, the Ministry of Magic enforcers suspected him of smuggling precious magical creatures, and although the two enforcers did not recognize the large bird with bright rose-coloured feathers, they politely asked the wizard to come along.


    "This is a Flamingo! Flam-ing-goo! Don''t you know? It is not a magical creature ... Not related to the Phoenix!" The wizard yelled angrily, but he still got taken away.


    Sirius suddenly asked, "That''s really not a magical creature?"


    "Yes." Felix said with certainty.


    "You''re not going to explain?"


    " They''ll figure it out somehow, perhaps they''ll become friends."


    In the tent, the kids started to talk about their experiences, and the Weasley twins mentioned the Future World company where they had spent half the summer, "It was cool!"


    Fred said with a sigh, "We made a lot of friends, and to think, there are dozens of like-minded people-"


    "Compared to them, we''re still small-timers." George said.


    "Don''t talk like that, we at least managed to market the Couple''s Mirror, Professor Lupin said it would revolutionize the magic world."


    "You sold it?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "No, we signed a two-year partnership agreement until we graduate." Fred said with a grin, "Borrowing the Future World Company''s shopfront to sell it without us having to worry about it, with a monthly dividend-"


    "There''s plenty of money for other research!"


    George also said happily, "By the time we graduate, we can save up a large sum of money, and then we can just buy the next store in Diagon Alley."


    "It''s even got a name -"


    "Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes!" The two raised their arms in cheer at the same time.


    Mr. Weasley on the side sighed, Professor Lupin visited the Burrow and insisted on signing an agreement in his and Molly''s presence, offering extremely favourable terms, and they really couldn''t think of a reason to refuse.


    "I''ll see you later."


    Felix said goodbye to them and went to a large tent at the camp, where Lupin stood in front of the entrance, hanging a sign on it as he took two steps back to carefully examine it.


    "It''s a little crooked." Felix suddenly said beside him, Lupin jumped, the wand hidden in the sleeve spurted a cluster of red sparks, he looked around, when no one was looking, his right hand quickly swiped, the sign immediately stuck squarely on the tent.


    The two looked at the sign that read "Future World" together, and Lupin whispered: "The Ministry of Magic advised us to use magic sparingly, this is Muggle territory after all, and there is a small village less than ten kilometers away."


    At that moment, the two young people came out of the tent, and Clammy wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead, "Re-arranged the boxes, and boy, it''s like a big warehouse in there. Oh, Professor Hap, you''re here too-" S~?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Mr. Happ... hello." Said the young blonde next to her, a clerk at Future World''s sales outlet in Diagon Alley named Eric McKee.


    "Hello, guys." Felix nodded at them as he called Clammy to one side, "How have you been these past few days?"


    "Not too bad," as Clammy said energetically, " Especially that memory stone basin, I took the time to refresh some of the parts that I didn''t understand before, but there are no more lessons ..."


    She was talking about the teaching aids that Felix used when he taught ancient magic in the Magic Rune Club during the previous school year, which he had made by imitating the Pensieve, but during the holidays, it was moved to the company by Felix, and he modified it to train the employees.


    Felix said, "It is for employees who are interested in supplementary lessons, the content is not too deep."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 377+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 338: The strangeness of Crouch

    With 100,000 Quidditch fans gathered here, even a little noise from each one would turn the entire camp into a boiling caldron, and as the afternoon passed on, the agitation not only didn''t diminish but rather grew more and more pervasive, so much to the point that even the summer air seemed to churn. Felix remained in the tent, taking inventory of what would be used for the light show along with Lupin and the rest of the team, as they had planned to hold a Grand Magic Light Show the night of the Quidditch finals and continue until the end of the game. On top of that, Future World had spent a thousand Galleons on the text ads that would appear before the start of the Quidditch World Cup.


    As the sun finally set and the twilight began to dissipate, Clammy and young shopkeeper Eric McKee slipped out to enjoy the evening, and there was lots of hustle and bustle outside, with vendors popping up with apparition every now and then, pushing carts full of various souvenirs through the crowds.


    The Ministry of Magic also gave up their last resistance and let it be, and all sorts of signs of magic sprang up at once, "crackling" Apparitions, vigorous hawking and sales, joyful and noisy chatter ... made the camp rowdy.


    Lupin also went out, Felix stayed in the tent, fiddling with a layer of air wall on his left hand, as his right hand held the wand, he chanted softly: "Fulmen."


    A red bolt shot out from the tip of his wand and hit straight on his left hand. After waiting a second or two, Felix''s left hand trembled, he dispersed the magic and looked at the palm of his hand, which had a small red dot on it.


    "The effect is still very limited.... but it has Potential." Felix kept pondering. After another hour or two, Clammy and Eric returned with large bags, and they placed them on a side table, as Felix retracted his magic and looked at the various souvenirs in front of him.


    There is a glowing green rose-shaped badge, and right now it is shouting loudly "Irish team will win!" Clammy pressed hard on the top of the rose, and it finally stopped.


    And something that looked like binoculars with a variety of odd knobs and dials. "That''s Omnioculars," Clammy introduced, "I thought it is brilliant, with it, you can able to magically slow down and replay the scenes."


    Felix tried it out, "It''s fascinating." He kept flicking the buttons on it, and the whole world slowed down before his eyes, then Clammy slowly took out a small model of a Firebolt and gestured it in front of him.


    There were also figurines of famous players'' collection, Eric McKee bought a full set of Irish team figurines as a souvenir, as he walked around the table with a smug look on his face, He didn''t pay attention and stubbed his toes on the table, as one of the figurines fell off the table.


    "Oh, my Lynch -"


    Eric said as he hastened to wipe the figurine''s ash-stained nose, "Bad luck go away, go away ..."


    Clammy and Felix both looked at him, and he explained, "That''s what my dad used to do, to chase away bad luck, to never let it ruin the big game."


    "Does it really work?" Clammy looked at him sceptically.


    "Of course," he introduced with gusto, " We''re without a trophy for thirty years, there is a good chance of winning this year, and we have the most compatible team - Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moran! Quigley! And, of course - Lynch!"


    "He''s the Seeker?" Clammy nudged the ''Lynch'' in Eric''s hand with her finger. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right, the Seeker is the soul of the team ..." When talking about Quidditch, Eric became exceptionally chatty, and when he heard that Clammy didn''t even understand basic fouls, he stared as if he had found an alien.


    "Let me tell you, there are many ways to foul Quidditch, such as the most common pulling and punching, elbowing, locking your opponent with a broom handle, and the relatively complicated ..."


    Felix quietly stepped back as he settled on an interesting game of creating a thick wall of air and throwing small odd things at it, like cups and forks, and then they would stuck in the air and move forward in slow motion, the exact speed of movement being related to the force with which you threw them.


    Clammy was also attracted by this game, she tried to use her own cup to knock the professor''s cup out.


    After failing repeatedly, she set her sights on Eric''s figurine.


    "Absolutely not-" Eric said firmly, but he pulled another pile of figurines out of his pocket, " You can throw this Bulgarian team one."


    Within moments, various cups, knives and forks, badges as well as figurines, and sealed bags of snacks were stuck in the air.


    "Eric wins, by five points."


    ...


    It became completely dark and Felix invited everyone to eat, "Better eat something, we can''t watch the game on empty stomach, and we don''t know how long it will go on."


    "Where''s Lupin?"


    "Probably met a friend and talking a little longer, I''ll be sure to bring him something to eat." Felix said.


    "I wish the competition would go on for ten days and ten nights." At the dinner table, Clammy Vera said sincerely. Then they would have more time to show the magic lamp.


    Felix laughed.


    "Vera, you haven''t made a decision yet? You already can consider yourself as a part of the company."


    Clammy said with embarrassment, "I haven''t thought about it yet, I like the job of a Curse-Breaker, but it''s also great here ... Am I being a little greedy, Professor?"


    Felix shrugged, swallowed the chicken in his mouth, poured himself another glass of iced lemonade, and smiled, " You''re having a happy annoyance. I can''t help much with that, but there''s no need to rush to make your decision or stress yourself out."


    He raised his glass and toasted distantly as he said again, "You''re always welcome here, Vera."


    At that moment, Lupin came in from outside the tent with a worried look on his face, Felix poured him a glass of lemonade, he expressed his thanks, and his eyebrows were stretched, "Just visited Harry and there was a close call."


    "What happened?" Felix inquired, directing the dishes to float over to Lupin, "I suggest you try this, fried halloumi cheese, Eric bought it from a vendor, it tastes phenomenal with chicken."


    Erik McKee, who seated next to Clammy, smiled restrainedly, and Lupin patted him on the shoulder and said gently, "Thank you." He sat down and explained, "Sirius stayed with the Weasleys and ended up meeting Barty Crouch, you know ..."


    It became clear in Felix''s mind that Sirius might have some animosity towards Barty Crouch by the looks of it, but Lupin''s words took him by surprise.


    "It was Barty Crouch who made the provocative remark," Lupin''s brow furrowed again, and he said slowly, "Crouch was in charge of the defense of the whole camp, and when talking about the Death Eaters, Crouch brought up the old issue by saying that there were many Death Eaters on the loose -"


    "But Sirius has been proven innocent."


    "Yeah, but he kept looking at Sirius as he spoke, and you know Sirius'' temper, the two already have an old grudge, if Harry hadn''t dragged ..." Lupin shook his head and didn''t go on, but Felix could totally guess what was going on.


    Probably he would have pulled out his wand.


    The low, mellow sound of a gong came from somewhere in the woods, and immediately, thousands and thousands of red and green lanterns bloomed brightly in the trees, brightening the path to the stadium.


    "It''s time!"


    The four stood up, walked out of the tent, and followed the surging excited crowd into the woods, when they emerged from the other side of the woods, they got greeted by a huge oval-shaped open-air stadium, its interior so brightly lit up that the light coming through reflected half of the forest with a golden lustre.


    "It''s claimed to be able to hold 100,000 people." Eric murmured.


    They took their tickets for the top box and made their way up, the stairs leading to the top were covered with a fuchsia carpet, and when there were no more stairs ahead, they already stood at the highest point of the stadium.


    You can see a spectacular sight below, with 100,000 wizards taking their seats one by one, Clammy tugged on his sleeve and pointed somewhere, and on the side of that stadium stood a huge chalkboard with various advertisements writing on it in a loop -


    ''Cornflower: a flying broom for the whole family - safe, secure and with a built-in anti-theft buzzer ...''


    ''Future world, watch the game, see the light show, say goodbye to old lamps and blinking torches, the future is at hand -''


    Felix nodded his head to indicate that he saw it. Soon, people began to enter the small box they were in, the Weasleys, the Malfoys, Sirius, Harry, and Hermione, followed by


    Cornelius Fudge and the Bulgarian Minister of Magic.


    Lucius Malfoy cast an icy glance at both the Weasleys and Sirius indifferently, with a slight nod of greeting, then clambered enthusiastically with Fudge, when Felix looked at him, he subconsciously avoided his eye contact.


    ''''Haven''t you figured it out yet, Lucius.'''' Felix thought to himself.


    After the crowd settled down, the only voices left in the small compartment were those of Fudge and the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, who spoke like a chicken. Fudge missed Barty Crouch immensely; despite their mutual discord, Crouch''s talent is evident to all, and he knows at least a hundred languages, including the language of many magical creatures.


    A little later, Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman arrived together, Crouch sporting a horribly serious expression with a frosty look on his face, but Fudge was going crazy with the Bulgarian Minister''s terrible accent and didn''t notice a thing about it.


    "Thank God, Barty, at last you''re here, I need you to translate for me--"


    "I dragged Barty over here forcefully," said Ludo Bagman cheerfully, "I told him that he deserves the most credit and should be on top ..."


    "Sorry." Crouch''s face filled with disgust and his lips quivered as if he was resisting the urge to slap Fudge in the face, "I have no time for such trivial matters--"


    " Trivial matters?" Fudge took a deep breath and looked at him incredulously, what was going on, he was just about to say something, only to see Crouch''s lips open noiselessly, although no sound came out, but Fudge was too close to him and could clearly distinguish the mouth pattern, Crouch was said, "Stupid."


    " Barty Crouch!" Fudge, whose mood at the moment is mixed with anger and dread, shouted loudly at Crouch, with spittle flying, "Have you finally stopped hiding and decided to plot to take my place!"


    There is silence in the box, no one expected this to happen, even the Bulgarian Minister opened his mouth wide as he said in perfect English, "What''s happening?"


    Ludo Bagman, the host of the opening ceremony, froze in place, his round face continued to sweat, and he subconsciously took a few steps back, "Ouch!" Hermione cried out, it turned out that he stepped on Hermione''s foot.


    " Sorry, I''m sorry, Lit..tle girl." Ludo Bagman stammered.


    Sirius said dismissively, "See, both of them are no good, Crouch looked at me exactly like that this afternoon, and I think he''s finally gone mad."


    Felix, sitting in the second row, pinched his chin, were we going to see a good cat fight today, the Department of International Magical Co-operation versus the current Minister of Magic?


    What a pity that there were no reporters-


    Mr. Weasley stood up and tried to ease the awkward atmosphere as he hesitantly said, "Mr. Crouch ..."


    Barty Crouch seemed to have finally regained his senses, he opened his mouth but said nothing, hurriedly threw a few apologies, and turned to leave. The scene only left with red-eyed Fudge who panting like a pig.


    When Crouch passed by, Harry suddenly felt a sharp pain in his forehead, as if he had been branded with an iron seal on the skin.


    He covered his forehead and forced himself not to make a sound, only Sirius and Ron, who were sitting on both sides of him, noticed the abnormality, and Sirius asked in a low voice: "What''s wrong, Harry? Does your scar hurt again?"


    But that was when the Quidditch World Cup finals officially began, and the loud cheers drowned out his concern.


    Ludo Bagman enchanted himself with a Sonorus spell, and then the words he uttered rang out like thunder throughout the stadium.


    "Ladies and gentlemen ... Welcome! Welcome to the final of the 422nd Quidditch World Cup!"


    ----------


    #Alfred Demonreach, Thanks for your support.


    There are 377+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 339: Wonderful Final

    The audience erupted with a buzz of cheers and applause. However, the atmosphere inside the small box had not yet melted from the freezing point, and everyone''s face looked stiff. Harry felt his forehead didn''t hurt that much anymore, but his heart went into turmoil, caught in an unexplainable suspicion, he didn''t know if the pain of the scar is related to Barty Crouch, or maybe everything was just a coincidence ...


    ''But what if it''s not?'' A voice appeared in the back of his mind and Harry knew what he had thought of - first-year Professor Quirrell.


    ''But Mr. Crouch did not wear a large scarf on his head!''


    Ron put a hand on Harry''s shoulder, ''''Hey Harry, are you alright? It was certainly quite unexpected just now ... but, um," he looked around to find something interesting, "Say, how did Bagman get so spirited?"


    Indeed, just now Ludo Bagman also seemed fidgety, but at the moment when he is hosting the final of the Quidditch World Cup, his voice is full of passion and joy, and he seems to have left Fudge completely behind.


    "... Let''s welcome the Bulgarian National Team'' mascot!"


    Harry looked weakly at the field, with little interest in the pre-tournament mascot show which Hermione had mentioned to him, but soon his attention got drawn to it - "Surprisingly, it''s Veela!" Mr. Weasley hurriedly wiped his glasses.


    Only to see a hundred of Veela glide onto the field, Veela were a group of women, charming women, more than one person may have even considered the possibility: that they are probably just their fantasy as they''re that beautiful. Their skin glistened, their hair fluttered animatedly behind their heads, and they exuded a strong charm. Especially when they began to dance, this charm easily captured the attention of the audience.


    Felix smiled as he pulled Eric McKee down, who was trying to jump towards Veela, as he had just suddenly stood up on a chair and wished that he could dance with them. But he wasn''t the only one who lost his cool, as it is easy to fall prey to Veela when you meet them for the first time without any defence.


    Felix''s eyes skimmed over the crowd, the presence of Veela warmed up the atmosphere in the box, and Hermione made a very loud smacking sound as she reached out to pull Harry and Ron back into their seats. "Geez, what''s wrong with you guys!" She said.


    This was followed by a memorable performance by the Irish Leprechaun, little men in red vests and beards who weaved back and forth from above the huge stadium, combined with various sparkling lights, then eventually they formed a huge, shiny, eye-catching clover that hovered over the audience as they sprinkled large amounts of gold coins like golden raindrops.


    "Fake." Clammy said as she grabbed a gold coin, but she still collected it with gusto.


    Next, Ludo Bagman enthusiastically introduced both teams, highlighting each team''s Seekers, drawing an enthusiastic response from the crowd as Krum and Lynch''s names were mentioned.


    The match began.


    The two National teams showed great strength, they were so fast that you couldn''t see their faces, covering the field with blurred shades of red and green, and Ludo Bagman only had time to announce their names and tactics names.


    "The ball is in Mullet''s hands! He passed it to Troy! Now it''s with Moran! Darren! Mullet! Again Troy!"


    Bagman screams, "Eaglehead offensive line! Watch out ... The ball is in! Troy scores, the play is successful. with10:0, Irish leads!" He bellowed with passion as the crowd cheered and applauded.


    The game continued -


    "It''s Troy again! The Quaffle is still with the Irish team! You should have noticed - oh, my God! The Irish are organizing their offence again! Moran! Mullet!" S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Bait-and-switch! It didn''t work ... Brilliant! Backward pass! This time it''s Moran!"


    Soon the Irish were leading 30-0 when Bagman suddenly shouted, "Look at the Seekers - Krum and Lynch, they''ve found something, tangled up - oh, crap! The healer is on the field! Lynch fell to the ground! That''s a fake! The game is suspended!"


    Clammy raised her omnioculars and asked curiously, "What''s going on? Where is the Golden Snitch, what were those two guys even just done?"


    Eric McKee said excitedly, "It was Lynch who faked it, pretended to spot the flying Golden Snitch, then suddenly dived to attract his opponent to follow up, and then-" He pointed to Lynch who looked dizzy as if he was stepping on a cloud in the field, his nose and face were covered with blood.


    Felix stared at the field, where Krum, who had won this hard-fought bout, is hovering high above the stadium, using this rare, uninterrupted time to search for the Golden Snitch.


    A few minutes later, Lynch recovered and the match continued.


    "It was intense ...," Felix said as he halted, as the Irish scored ten more goals in a row in the span of just ten minutes. They now lead the game by 130-10.


    "Yeah, it was so intense, I''ve never seen such a great game." Eric McKee agreed.


    "... The light show won''t be very effective if it ends too soon." Felix finished his sentence and Eric choked upon hearing it, opening his mouth several times not knowing how to respond as Clammy giggled.


    As the score widened, there were various small actions on the court, and Bagman continued to perform his duties as host and commentator, "Bulgaria''s elbow move was too wide, a typical foul ... Yes, the referee blew the whistle, and he gave the penalty!"


    The smell of gunpowder was also strong off the field, as mascots and supporters of both teams let out angry yells and kept waving their fists. But the score expanded to 140:10 with an irreversible trend.


    "This game is really coming to the right place!" Ron said excitedly, watching the fierce match while taking the time to watch the fight between Veela and the Leprechauns in one corner of the field, "Veela doesn''t seem to look that good when she gets mad, but the Hell with it! Kick that bearded midget''s ass, that''s right!"


    "Ron -"


    At that moment there was a shout from the pitch as Irish Seeker Lynch suddenly accelerated and dived, the bloodstains remaining on his nose still visible through the omnioculars, with Krum following closely behind him.


    Bagman bellowed, "Two Seekers suddenly accelerating! Could this be a fake move? Is it Lynch''s revenge? Oh - they''re getting faster and faster, without slowing down! No Deceleration! I see the Golden Snitc-"


    The 100,000 spectators held their breath as only the two mascots in the corner were still fighting.


    The two Seekers dived toward the ground, side by side, both with one hand outstretched, stretching their arms as far as they could -


    "Bang!"


    Lynch fell heavily on the ground as Krum hovered up, clutching the Golden Snitch in his hand.


    The scoreboard flashed showing the score, Bulgaria: 160, Ireland: 170, and the crowd didn''t seem to realize what exactly happened.


    After a few seconds of dazedness, Bagman said, "Bulgaria''s Seeker Krum has caught the golden snitch, but ... the score is still with the Irish team on the lead -"


    He double-checked, then he immediately got overwhelmed with a huge wave of ecstasy: "Irish Team win! Thirty years after! Gosh, I don''t think anyone saw this coming!"


    "No one saw it coming," Felix muttered, "the game was over in less than an hour, who would have thought! Eric, Clammy, Remus ... we should go and prepare for the light show, maybe tomorrow the audience will disperse."


    "Mr. Hap, can I stay, just for a moment, I want to take the footage of them presenting the awards." Eric pleaded.


    "Okay, then you can come back later." Felix said, " Clammy, Remus, what about you?"


    Neither of them are really interested in the awards and followed Felix out, they passed the Malfoys when Draco greeted them modestly, "Hello, Professor Hap." He dressed in a slate black suit and his hair neatly groomed.


    "Hello." Felix smiled and nodded at him, "I''m looking forward to seeing what you have to offer this year."


    He glanced at Lucius next to him and walked past him, saying in a small, kind voice, "Think about what we discussed before ... I''m still waiting for your response, Lucius."


    Lucius Malfoy looked uncomfortable and couldn''t help but clench his cane, " Of course, I will give you an answer." Narcissa was surprised by her husband''s attitude and looked at him suspiciously.


    Lucius shook his head and did not explain much.


    On the way out of the box, Felix and the others heard the Bulgarian Minister speaking calmly, "I would say that our boys fought bravely."


    "So you know English!" Fudge said in exasperation, "But you''ve made me gesticulate here all day!"


    "Hey, that''s fun." The Bulgarian Minister shrugged his shoulders and said.


    Fun ... Fudge gasped, his nose dilated, wanting to punch this guy, if it wasn''t for him all that shit wouldn''t have happened before ...


    Calm down, Fudge also felt that Crouch''s attitude was a bit off, was it because of the recent stress?


    When Clammy passed by the front row, she coincidentally said to Felix, "Ha~ I heard this uncle''s perfect pronunciation just before and thought I heard it wrong ..."


    Fudge''s expression suddenly became wonderful, and that Bulgarian Minister had a smile on his face.


    Felix pulled her and quickly went downstairs, passing through the layers of the audience. The top-tier box that they had been in earlier is illuminated with magic, and Ludo Bagman has begun welcoming both Quidditch teams into the box.


    There were deafening celebrations from the Irish supporters, while the fans supporting the Bulgarian team had a dejected look on their faces; they hadn''t gotten over the blow.


    Clammy said, "They are indeed pathetic, falling behind by a large margin ... expecting a turnaround to happen, then when the turnaround actually happened, they still can''t reverse the outcome ..."


    "Vera-" said Felix.


    Three or two Bulgarian fans glared at her, and as an afterthought, she hunched her shoulders and ducked to Felix''s other side.


    Lupin smiled and walked behind.


    When they reached the ground level, the stadium buzzed with a procession of champions flying around the field, accompanied by their mascots.


    "Finally, there is no crowd." Lupin said, "We''re totally in time."


    Felix muttered, "I just worry about the losing fans making a mess, I hope the Ministry of Magic gives a damn."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 378+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 340: Light Show and Accident (2 in 1)

    They followed the lantern-lit passage back to the camp, and they took out the various magic lamps from the big tent and stacked them into a small mountain. "Except for those two ''big guys'', the rest are here." Clammy said.


    Lupin smiled and said, "Felix, your plan still shocks me a bit, I''ve been waiting for today." Clammy also looked at him expectantly.


    Felix shrugged his shoulders and held his wand against his forehead, and a wisp of silver light appeared at the tip of his wand.


    "Hiss~"


    Felix gritted his teeth and couldn''t help but mutter in a small voice: "The model is so exquisitely made that it''s a bit of a chore to take it out. That feeling is like digging a scoop in your brain ..."


    Clammy gave him a disgusted look, the professor''s description was too bizarre.


    Felix pulled a long strand of silvery memory from his brain, wrapped it into a ball, and grasped it in his hand. Then he stretched out his palm, the air interwoven with gold and silver threads, a hexagonal snowflake-like open-air gallery building slowly formed in his hands, in the center of the snowflake gallery building is an ever-swelling palm-sized vortex, Felix waved his wand with the other hand, as magic lamps have sprung into the vortex, disappearing in the blink of an eye.


    Under the eyes of the two, the six or seven-foot snowflake-shaped crystal clear building gently floated up and flew into midair, constantly expanding and enlarging until it occupied a small half of the camp, then Felix wand vertically pointed downward, the snowflake building dropped sharply, Clammy shrieked, and the next second, she found herself in a gorgeous gallery.


    In the gallery, a magic lamp of different shapes appeared.


    Then Felix applied floating magic on himself, and he floated up to a height of 30 or 40 feet, he looked like a huge kite in the dark, floating as his dress swaying in the wind.


    He looked down from above, his wand pointed, and corners of the snowflake gallery extended outward, all the way connecting to the road back to the stadium.


    Felix dropped from midair, "Well, almost, let''s take some time to adjust-"


    "Professor Hap, what kind of magic is that?!" Clammy asked from an aisle railing.


    "Well, how about calling it the Thinking Room... of Requirements ...?"


    "Thinking Room of Requirements." Clammy mulled over the name, it sounded odd, but as her palm passed through the gallery pillars in the long hallway, it made some sense to her.


    ...


    The Weasleys, Harry, Sirius, and Hermione were swept along by a tidal wave of people crowding in and out, only when they left the stadium they relaxed, discussing the results of the game as they went along.


    Above their heads, Leprechauns kept flying by, carrying a small golden or green light in their hands, crunching and laughing in midair.


    " Irish seeker was awesome, no, each one of them was brilliant and worked together seamlessly. While Bulgaria only have one absolutely great player - Krum, and they have problems with their coordination - a BIG problem." Charlie commented.


    "Their personality is not good either, look at the number of fouls they made." Ron said.


    "Ron," Charlie said, "Reasonable fouls can disrupt the opponent''s rhythm, especially when the opposite team is on top of their game."


    Mr. Weasley disagreed with him, "Charlie, I think - the game should be clean, any elbows and small tricks shouldn''t be allowed, and once they happen the referee should blow the whistle ..."


    "Dad, you''re also saying only about blowing the whistle, not sending the player off. In order to win the game, I remember there were also people casting vicious hexes, I experienced a lot of them when I was in school."


    Mr. Weasley and Charlie argued, finally Charlie said helplessly, "I also want the game to be completely clean, but this kind of thing simply can not be eliminated."


    Hermione yawned widely, and Mr. Weasley, noticing her state, said gently, "Back to the camp, we can have a cup of cocoa milk which will help us sleep ... trust me, it''s going to be a noisy night."


    Ginny is sleepy and can''t keep her eyes open, so she tugged on Hermione''s sleeve and walked forward, "Are they still planning to have a campfire?"


    "Ha! It''s not out of the question." Mr. Weasley said, "This tournament ended too early to be very enjoyable. Mind you, most people actually come prepared and ready to stick around for three-five days ... Wait and see, it won''t die down for the night."


    They noticed that the noise in front of them had disappeared, and it had been replaced by a gasp, "Look over there!" Hermione''s eyes widened.


    From the road leading to the camp, an open Ice-crystal-clear gallery had somehow popped out and expanded towards them, with various lights shining on them, illuminating the delicate patterns and designs.


    "What is that?" Ginny is no longer sleepy anymore, she''s tiptoeing to see it more clearly.


    "I don''t know ..." Mr. Weasley looked confused, "is it a program prepared by the Ministry?"


    They walked closer and found that the gallery building is actually an illusion, a small mischievous child constantly passing to and fro on either side of the building, giggling and laughing, and another little boy hiding behind the gallery pillar in the corridor, thinking his family would not find him.


    His parents looked at the little guy with a helpless face and could only cooperate by looking around for him, "Little Leo, where are you hiding?"


    The boy covered his mouth and his eyes curled into a crescent moon.


    "Obviously, it has something to do with Professor Hap." The Weasley twins pointed to the magic lamp hanging in the hallway, "It''s a product only available at Future World, let me show you-"


    He reached out and pulled it out, his fingertips passing through a palm-sized lion-shaped magic lamp. "Huh?" Is this also an illusion? But then, they realized it is some sort of mini-game, as a line of golden text appeared in the air, Anagram.


    ''Which letter is an animal?''


    "Oh, that''s so easy." Fred muttered, "It''s the letter B, for a bee." As soon as the words left his mouth, the magic lamp in the shape of a lion made a clicking sound, as if the melon had ripened and fallen off the bright green vine, floating and landing in his hand.


    The little lion opened its eyes, then nudged its nose with its paws and a pair of small wings poked out from its back, which fluttered as it flew up and circled around Fred, "Ow~" it yelped milkily and opened its mouth to spit out a white ball of light.


    The ball of light projected down a castle''s shadow, along with a small line of words, ''Future World - Headquartered in Diagon Alley, England'', the shadow flickered for a few seconds and disappeared, leaving only a milky white ball of light, emitting a bright light.


    "Wow," Fred said with admiration, "looks like those guys have added a new feature."


    "Is that Mr. Hap''s ''Future World'' company?" Mr. Weasley asked with interest, he had heard the Weasley brothers chattering constantly about it at the dinner table these days and had learned a lot about the company.


    "That''s right." Fred said.


    Mr. Weasley winked, "So, girls and boys, are you still sleepy now?" s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Oh, Dad, lets'' at least get a little magic lamp for ourselves!" Ron shouted, his words drawing a chorus of agreement, and it looked obvious that the Anagram wasn''t too hard, and everyone had hope.


    Inside the ''Future World'' tent, Felix held a small model of a gallery in his hand, a silver glint in his eyes, he seemed to hear their words, the corners of his mouth curled into a teasing smile.


    The Weasleys searched for the riddle of the lamp, Ron even issued a bold statement: "I will guess ten!" But soon they realized the problem, only the first riddle was relatively simple, and on the second attempt, the difficulty increased abruptly.


    Hermione holding a small pocket lion magic lamp, standing in front of an owl-sized dragon magic lamp, it is enthusiastically floating around spitting out ''light'', with seven or eight people crowding around to watch it.


    Harry came over, Hermione''s anagram is a logical reasoning issue, more than ten names circled around his head, after reading carefully twice, he still failed to understand the meaning of the topic.


    "Do you know the answer?" He asked the pondering Hermione.


    "Oh, don''t bother me, I''m almost there." Hermione said, her wand kept gesticulating, leaving strange symbols in midair, that should be Latin letters? Harry thought as he walked through the crowd, he came face to face with Mr. Barty Crouch.


    "Hello, Potter."


    "Hello, Mr. Crouch." Harry said stiffly, Crouch had just had fought with Sirius this afternoon.


    There is an odd light in Barty Crouch''s eyes as if he is surveying a treasure, "Come with me Harry, I need to talk to you."


    "What?" Harry asked, startled.


    "About Sirius Black, a lawsuit has been filed against him for attacking a wizard in Knockturn Alley while he was on the run." Crouch said coldly.


    "But the Ministry of Magic has already testified about it! That Sirius is innocent!" Harry said in exasperation.


    "That''s if no one pursues it." Crouch said impatiently, reaching out his hand-


    "Let go of Harry!"


    A furious shout rang out as Sirius came from behind and pushed Barty Crouch away, drawing his wand as he pointed it at him, "What are you trying to do to Harry, Old man!"


    Their confrontation drew the attention of a group of foreign fans, and Crouch nodded at the two men beside him, and they left without looking back.


    "What''s going on?" Sirius asked.


    "Not sure, he said someone suing you and told me to go with him." Harry said.


    "How can- how can that be!" Sirius said incredulously, "I''ll go ask him about it!"


    "Don''t go," Harry pulled Sirius back, "Don''t go, Sirius, he''s a high ranking official in the Ministry of Magic-"


    "I''m not afraid of him, let go, Harry!" Sirius said irritably.


    "Sirius, I don''t want to lose you too...." Harry said while biting his lips.


    Sirius lost all his strength at once, his fingers trembled, "Okay, let''s go back to the tent, you and I will talk it over, there''s definitely something wrong with that Barty Crouch!"


    Harry saw that he had persuaded Sirius, so he said with a look of agreement: "I think so too, I have a guess ..."


    ...


    Fudge looked at the sudden appearance of the gallery building in front of him and couldn''t help but ask the staff next to him, "Whose idea is this, why don''t I know?"


    A staff member of the Ministry of Magic said, "It''s the ''Future World'' company, they applied for a light show before, and we approved it, just, just ..." He looked at the huge building, said hesitantly, "We didn''t expect such a big show."


    "Felix Hap''s company?" Fudge asked. He did not mention the issue of secrecy, this afternoon 100,000 people made a lot more noise than right now, and it is still late-night, the middle of nowhere, nothing risky.


    The only Muggle family living nearby should be asleep, and even if they weren''t, the Ministry of Magic staff would let them sleep.


    He was more concerned about whose company this is.


    The staff member nodded.


    "So when did he start to make this, it wasn''t there when we watched the game." He stretched out his stubby fingers and made a big circle in the air, encompassing the building in his line of sight.


    The staff said, "I asked the colleague who stayed behind, he said--" he suddenly became stammering: "He said it appeared out of nowhere when he was on duty, the building fell from the sky in one ..."


    Fudge did not say anything, looked for a while, then he waved his hand, "You guys leave me alone, I''ll walk by myself." He walked straight an ahead and soon found fans guessing various riddles, then some hidden corners would suddenly burst open, often a bag of candies with the name of the future world company, or various small souvenirs with their brand will pop out and among them, the most attention-grabbing thing is something called "animation".


    It can be seen, as long as the number of children gathered together to a certain level, the gallery will project a screen, like a series of comic panels connected, and its appeal to children is more than a comic book, the plot is consistent and entertaining, even he could not help but watch for six or seven minutes until the end of the animation.


    At the end of the animation was a string of small words, "This product is under development and will be available within three to five years, so stay tuned." This was followed by the company name and address.


    Fudge walked forward with mixed feelings and finally reached the end of the corridor - there is a hexagonal open space, and he realized that the place he came from was only one of the corners that extended out, and there were five other similar corridors.


    Crowds of people coming and going from different long corridors gathered together, talking and laughing while holding various small magic lamps in their hands.


    "Brother Juria, can we see Mr. Hap?" asked a lively voice, a young witch with long bright blonde hair.


    The young wizard called ''Brother Juria'' smiled and said, "I''m not sure about that, but I''m sure we''ll see him at Hogwarts this year. Bethany, where is your brother?"


    The young witch sighed, "Byers stuck with the anagram, he insisted on getting the second magic lamp, and didn''t think about how it would be so easy to get the second one when there are 100,000 people here, and they can''t even manage to get one in their hands."


    Juria smiled and said, "I do expect him to succeed, so I can exchange my magic lamp with his thunderbird one with him."


    Bethany pointed to the open space, and a huge dragon appeared out of nowhere. It looked like a black Hungarian Horntail, with a hideous appearance, seventy feet tall, and a commotion broke out among the crowd.


    A young witch stood directly above the dragon. Clammy waved her wand excitedly, making the Hungarian Horntail move, and it glowed all over, which is why people did not flee immediately, recognizing it as a fake, supposedly a giant magic lamp.


    The dragon flapped its wings and flew up from the ground, soaring low in the sky. People in different locations of the camp looked up in unison, and the dragon looked like a large light bulb, blooming with a milky white light.


    "Welcome to the magic lamp exhibition hosted by Future World." Clammy Vera announced.


    The Hungarian Horntail spewed a fan-shaped cloud of light up into the sky, like a brilliant fireworks display, and the crowd applauded.


    "That''s an adult dragon?" Outside the tent, Harry asked with his jaw dropped; it wasn''t that he hadn''t seen a dragon before; he''d seen the Norbert that Hagrid had raised in the first year and brought it to the Astronomy Tower with Ron and Hermione for Charlie and his friend to take it away with them.


    "Yeah," Sirius said, "When you meet one, you must hide from it."


    "How dangerous are they? I know Charlie raises dragons in Romania." Harry asked.


    "Dangerous?" Sirius seriously warned him again: "They can stomp you to death with a foot without being affected by your spell, or spit fire to burn you to death and only ash will remain. Remember that their flames are magical flames. Do not try to challenge them without sufficient knowledge and professional training."


    "Does the spells are not effective against them?" Harry opened his mouth wide.


    "How can I put it? If your spell shot on the scales, most likely it''s useless, even if it''s the surface of the hide, you have to look at the right spot and continuously cast your spell towards that one spot, but of course, you can also deceive it ... for example, attack the weak point. Most will aim its eyes with some kind of sense removing spells, but you will need enough luck."


    Next, they saw the show of the dragon. Soon a second dragon emerged out, a slightly smaller one, a Peruvian Vipertooth with brass-coloured scales and a bulging black spine.


    The two dragons fought, biting each other, circling, and hovering in the air. Then a variety of magical creatures appeared, the phoenix, chimaera, unicorn, flower fairy, erumpent horn, hippogriff, occamy one by one appeared, but people didn''t realize that these creatures that appeared later were actually constructed illusions.


    Future world tent.


    Felix holed up inside, constantly manipulating the unique show, Lupin sat on the side, as he asked with some curiosity: "Why you did not show up at the scene, instead you made Vera present the products?"


    Felix rolled his eyes, "I signed a non-disclosure agreement, I can''t reveal the items of the competition, it''s not good to let people associate the dragon with me, and I also have to control the scene."


    He snapped his fingers, then in the "magic sandbox" in his mind, five or six Mooncalves appeared quietly.


    Lupin choked by his reply, "The magic lamps in the shape of dragons have been sold a lot, you pretend that you have nothing to do with them?"


    Felix explained in a serious manner, "I just agreed with a magic lamp shape that you designed."


    The show went on for two hours, longer than the finals of the Quidditch World Cup, and finally, Felix got a little tired and informed Vera as she declared the show was over, and the roaming magical creatures and the snowflake-shaped gallery that took up a small part of the camp disappeared a bit by bit like a breaking snowflake.


    Clammy and Eric returned with a run, unable to hide their excitement.


    "Professor, Eric''s flyers were sent out, and we prepared five thousand pieces of magic lamps for sale, it was completely insufficient, and many people could only book it in advance."


    "Well, it looks like the company is not short of orders." Felix said, "Remember to include a pamphlet of the company''s products when you ship them, and some products that are still under development can be put on them, it''s also a kind of publicity."


    Clammy said with a sigh, "I can imagine how busy it will be then."


    "You''ve decided to stay, Vera?"


    "Of course." Clammy smiled and said, "I''m kind of looking forward to what the company will look like in five or ten years."


    ...


    As the light show ended, the camp quieted down, with a few scattered groups of celebrants singing gruffly and occasionally getting into a little scuffle with people, but it was really nothing for a camp of 100,000 people. The staff of the Ministry of Magic were able to solve it quickly.


    At three or four o''clock, a riot broke out.


    ----------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there''ll be only one chappy tomorrow.


    #Niiaouh, Thanks for your support.


    There are 378+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 341: Chaos

    Felix rolled over and sat up abruptly, the Protective enchantments he had left outside the tent triggered. After applying various defensive spells on himself, he pushed back the curtain as he walked forth, and in the darkness, he saw a mother stumbling over to him with her child in her arms, her hair in a messy state, and she was wearing a soiled nightgown with a three - four-year-old child in her arms.


    "What''s happened?" Felix asked her in a hushed tone as distant shrieks and explosions sounded in the background.


    "There''s a riot ... those fans ... No! They''re thugs! Setting fire everywhere ..." The woman in front of him said, her face paled ashen with a look of horror that still lingered.


    Lupin emerged from the tent, raising his wand alertly. "What''s going on?" He froze for a moment when he saw the woman.


    "It should be some fans causing trouble," Felix said, "Remus, take care of them. And wake up Clammy and Eric, in the meantime, I''ll go and take a look."


    Lupin looked at the woman and her child and nodded in silence as he looked into the distance, the camp ablaze with red fires as distant cries of weeping and panicked screams can be heard.


    Felix held up his wand as he rushed toward the burning spot.


    On the way he can see some dark shadows, stumbling as they walked hurriedly, with their families, followed by one or two crying children, towards the direction of the woods to take refuge.


    Most of these people had been caught off guard, wearing only a pair of pyjamas, and some had got separated from their families, calling out their names as they walked along.


    Not everyone is panicking, some people are still calm as they''re trying to assure everyone and maintaining orders. An extremely tall woman shouted in a loud voice, drowning out the surrounding noise: "Quiet! Beauxbatons students! Raise your wands and light the way for the others."


    "Yes, Madam Maxime." A group of pretty boys and girls replied in unison, and they lit their wands, and the panicked crowd around them followed the bright light they emitted and approached them spontaneously, clustering around them.


    "Follow me! Towards the path!" The woman known as Madam ''Maxime'' took the lead, walking ahead, occasionally turning back to reassure the crowd in a calm voice: "Don''t panic, stay close, one-by-one!"


    This woman''s stature may not be comparable to Hagrid''s, but visually she looks taller because her physique is very slender and slim, unlike Hagrid''s bloated body. Felix suspected that she had giant blood, but she had undoubtedly inherited the best of both worlds, with a delicate feature and a graceful demeanour.


    And he could see that she is highly respected among this group of young wizards, supposedly a professor?


    In his haste, Felix didn''t have time to think about it. They brushed past each other, and Felix went directly the opposite direction of the group - towards the fire. Halfway through the path, he saw some Ministry of Magic staff on the ground, knocked unconscious, each of them hit by at least four or five Stupefy, and some messy hexes, looking very miserable.


    Felix dragged them over and piled them up together to spare them from being stepped on. He simply applied levitation magic on himself, and rose to midair under control, his eyes constantly roaming.


    Meanwhile, the crowd of thugs continued to grow, initially only about three dozen hooded wizards, wearing masks wandered around the camp, one of whom captured the Muggle Roberts family at the edge of the camp and had fun by controlling them and spinning them around overhead.


    Then more and more people joined in, fans who needed to vent because their team had lost a game; people who have been celebrating for half the night by drinking and drowning themselves into a daze; as well as people who just loved the thrill of it, they grew more and more vocal as the crowd of thugs grew to a size of thirty to five hundred people, as they set fires all over the camp, leaving a burning tent behind them.


    By the light of the raging fire, they saw a figure up in midair, high in the sky, with his eyes slowly veering their way.


    The Thugs squinted their eyes, the man seemed to be able to fly, his eyes were terribly bright, and even from hundreds of feet away, they could feel the wrath in the man''s gaze, and it brought them pressure.


    "Lord, Master-"


    A hooded wizard shouted, his hands trembling involuntarily.


    The dozens of hooded wizards who led the group on the riot erupted with frenzy, and two of them couldn''t even hold their wands as they fell to their knees in Felix''s direction, "My Lord! We''ve been looking forward to your return--"


    "Don''t be foolish! That''s Felix Hap!" A hoarse voice said.


    Felix moved. A sea of light converged between his palms, then swelled rapidly as he threw a huge ball of light toward the sky, temporarily replacing the faint grayish-green haze light on the horizon.


    This glow is as bright as the winter sun, bright but not blinding, instantly filled every inch of space, every shadow, even the moon hanging high in the sky obscured, the entire camp became bright as day.


    Felix brought all the chaos into his eyes -


    To his right was the marching crowd, led by thirty or forty hooded and masked wizards, who seemed to be the leaders of the riot, huddled closely together in a dense formation, slowly advancing. Above the heads of these men were four struggling figures floating in the air, twisted into various grotesque shapes - all ordinary people in pyjamas, helpless, like puppets, manipulated by invisible strings. S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Near them, hundreds of rioting fans, dressed in different costumes, were joining in because of a common hobby or a love for chaos. Those who joined the group midway through the riot were purely to vent their anger and stir up havoc; They wore ridiculous masks that they found somewhere, some just covered their faces with a piece of cloth, and some showed their faces in a very bold way, drunkenly waving their wands and letting off a trail of sparks.


    Behind the group - on both sides of the road they travelled, left with burning tents, like a huge torch.


    All around them were fleeing crowds, as the screams of women, the cries of children, and the panicked cries of men joined altogether creating a frenzy.


    When Felix''s magic illuminated the entire camp, they recognized the direction and no longer looked like headless flies, leading their families away from the thugs.


    In all corners of the camp, countless people raised their heads and looked at Felix''s figure in the midair with shock in their hearts.


    A small path at the edge of the forest -


    "Look at that man! He''s floating in the sky!"


    "Where is Madame Maxime? We can''t find her--" a little girl with thick curly hair shouted at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the three of them separated from the adults as well as from Ginny and the twins, and just arrived at a path at the edge of the woods.


    The area was densely packed with people, with everyone looking towards the camp in horror.


    "Who is Madame Maxime?" Harry asked nervously, he had just knocked out a drunken bloke with a spell, then he, Ron, and Hermione had worked together to hide that buffoon in the shrubs.


    "They''re not from our school ..." a young witch, about Hermione''s age, held the little curly-haired girl, as she looked at the trio with the help of bright light, and whispered "Hogwarts ", then joined the crowd of people, to look at Felix who is in midair.


    "Who is he? Why can he fly?"


    "Is it the head of the thugs, I saw some thugs kneeling down to him -"


    "Don''t be ridiculous!" Hermione shouted at the man in annoyance, she looked over worriedly and whispered, "It''s Professor Hap, he should be trying to stop the riot, Bu-t it''s too dangerous to clash with them directly ... that''s hundreds of people."


    Harry looked over, the professor''s magic illuminated the camp, they could see clearly, as a dozen or so fancy spells from the thugs'' direction flew toward the professor, but most of them were twisted and veered in the wrong direction.


    Ron said reassuringly, "There are 400 or 500 feet between Professor Hap and them, so don''t worry, it won''t hit him."


    ...


    Felix illuminated the camp with illumination, and some thugs immediately became restless - the darkness gave them the courage to do evil, but when the light came, they could only hide their filth to avoid being discovered.


    A steady stream of people deserted the group and left quietly.


    But there were still a considerable number of people who stayed where they were, and those people agitated, made noise, as they pointed their fingers toward Felix, and deliberately shot sparks and spells to make provocative gestures.


    On the other side of the thugs, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Sirius seemed helpless, and Charlie asked, "Da-ad, what should we do?"


    Mr. Weasley looked at the floating Roberts family, "We can''t do anything lightly, it would be bad if we hurt them."


    They were worried in their hearts, a few Aurors from the Ministry of Magic had tried to pretend to be thugs before and tried to get close to the Roberts family, only to be attacked by fire.


    "They''ll disperse soon enough," Mr. Weasley said with some irritation as his tone assured them as he also assured himself, "Rats in the gutter! These buggers are simply lawless! If only we could catch them all-"


    Sirius gestured towards the midair, "There are people who think just like you."


    Felix''s face remained calm as he reached out his hand and pointed forward, a black bolt of lightning descended, and almost simultaneously, a hooded wizard''s chest got penetrated.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 380+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 342: Bloodied Scene

    Those Thugs were stunned in place, thinking they got blinded, but the hooded wizard who embraced a hot, warm, and tingling lightning bolt into his chest looked incredulously at his blood-stained chest like he saw a world for the first time, then he staggered a few steps forward as he slowly glanced back at his companion, seeing everything in slow motion. One of the few hooded wizards in the front leaned over to see, "Seriously wounded, not dead yet." He happened to dodge a second black lightning bolt that flew head-on, which struck the man behind him above his abdomen.


    Immediately after that, Felix''s every fingertip sparkled with a bolt of black lightning as it crackled and burst forth, as tiny arcs of lightning like a huge net covered them, these tiny black arcs were not as powerful as the initial two lightning bolts that struck through the sky, but they were more troublesome, one by one, the thugs dropped to the ground like an ear of wheat that had been raked by the lightning arcs.


    The hooded wizards were the ones who reacted first, pulling their two injured companions behind them, holding up a magical shield and barrier, and countering along with the gaps while constantly backing up and hiding in the middle of the group.


    But while safe, they were further away from Felix, so most of the spells became dim and disappeared before reaching midair.


    "Counterattack! He''s only one man-" shouted a confused red-faced male wizard, wand in one hand, flask in the other, bearded as he yelled drunkenly.


    "He''s too far away!" Someone shouted in a thunderous voice.


    The drunken, red-faced male wizard shouted, "Follow me!" He and a dozen others who looked almost exactly like him charged at Felix, moving ever closer to him. Most of the thugs watched coldly, and sure enough, a black arc of black electricity fell at their feet, and the men, without even able to chant the most basic defensive spell, all fell to the ground like some puppets with broken strings, letting out a gurgling wail.


    The next second, Felix disappeared from midair and suddenly appeared fifty feet from them, his expression cold, as if a layer of frost coated his face, his eyes seemed to have flames pulsing.


    ''Stupid buffoons.'' His eyes did not linger on the wizards charging at him, all of them are fools that got swept up, his gaze fixed on the main force that charged the raid.


    "Damn! Is he trying to beat a bunch of us all by himself!?" Someone shouted indignantly.


    Without waiting for their reaction, the gleam of a powerful spell exploded from the tip of the black wand that Felix is holding, and the red light reflected on everyone''s face.


    Felix''s target is clear. The hooded wizards hiding in the middle of the group, who are most likely the organizers of the riot, and, with uniform attire and cooperation, should know each other or even worked together in a battle.


    One by one, the names of famous and non-famous groups of witches slipped through his mind, but the most likely one would be -


    ''DEATH EATERS.'' Felix thought to himself.


    The thugs were totally uncoordinated, unable to work with each other, chaotically casting spells, some interfering with each other, causing spellcasting to fail, which allowed Felix''s spell to flow unimpeded, and the powerful Disarming Charm knocked them off bunch by bunch.


    But the counterattack soon came.


    Felix propped up a golden cover, which seemed unbreakable, as various spells pinged on it, individual spells had minimal effect on it, but he faced too many people, the spells connected into a dense beam of light, after a dozen seconds, the golden shield finally could not hold out and crumble into a golden point of light, and before that, he had shifted his position in advance.


    Every now and then Felix used Apparition to suddenly disappear, dodging a set of spells and then appearing a dozen feet away, each appearance accompanied by several spells that brought out paths of arcs from various hidden corners, knocking several people unconscious.


    The spell constantly pursued his figure, but it could not even touch his coat, and when he felt the pressure, Felix quickly shifted to the other side of the line, reaping half a dozen battle results each time.


    At this point the scene looked like chaos, no one cared about the Roberts family floating in midair, when the effect of the Levitation Charm wore off, they screamed and fell from the air, Felix suddenly appeared, extended his wand, fixed them, moved them diagonally to the side, ready to hand them over to the Ministry of Magic staff who was not far away.


    The only three remaining staff members that had managed to avoid the thugs stayed behind the group, trying to get the Roberts family out, but they shared the same concerns as Mr. Weasley, too wary to use their magic for fear of causing an accidental injury.


    "Good opportunity--" someone in the crowd of thugs shouted.


    They raised their wands in unison and shot out spells of various colours in Felix''s direction, a dense glow of magic reflecting the surrounding area in red and glowing light, but the spells stopped when they were three feet closer to Felix, lining up like a wall of spells.


    These spells are not stopping, but moving forward in slow motion, Felix lightly moved to the side to avoid it, after two or three seconds, spells "whoosh whoosh" flying out, and smashed a small crater on the ground as it burnt, or rotten, with grass debris flying.


    And in those few seconds, the Roberts family was safely in the hands of the Ministry of Magic staff, "Thank you! Mr. Hap!" A Ministry of Magic staff member shouted, using a spell.


    His thanks were nothing less than a taunt to those hot-headed thugs as hexes flew out of the crowd toward the Roberts family, but a group of people suddenly appeared, it was Mr. Weasley, who held up a shield charm, Charlie and Bill who guarding the sides, and Sirius who stepped forward to flick off those poisonous spells.


    "Well done, Arthur." The Ministry of Magic man said happily.


    Felix jerked back, his ebony wand stabbed out like a sharp sword, a golden flame exploded in the crowd, the first wizard who had secretly attacked them burnt up, and a burnt smell emanated from his body as he broke apart into ashes.


    At this point, there are already many people who can see the situation is not good, hastily using the Apparition to escape, including those hooded wizards.


    Felix could hardly be bothered about it as he cast a net of black electric arcs, trying to form a closed grid, once it is formed, it won''t be easy for these people to use Apparition again.


    In the panic, a hooded wizard said in a hoarse voice: "I promise you--"


    Felix slightly paused his hand a bit, that hooded wizard took advantage of the gap to use Apparition, and also took away the two companions whose chests were penetrated by black lightning, the next second, the large net formed by black electric arcs completely closed, establishing a sealed cage.


    "What''s so special about those two?" Felix carefully recalled that they were standing in the front position, although not considered the leader, but should be close to the top position.


    If they were Death Eaters, it means that those two people were not of low status.


    Felix stood outside the cage, calmly flicking out some Stupefy as if catching a fish in a net. Two hooded wizards who could not escape were forced to use Apparition, resulting in a miserable scream, leaving an arm and a large chunk of a leg behind as they also fell a few feet short from the cage.


    At this point, Felix has to hold back a bit, most of these people are tourists from various countries, even if they caused a riot, he can not kill people openly, otherwise, he will also face some trouble.


    His initial two hard shots were aimed at the hooded wizard and the latter one aimed at an arsehole, and he didn''t know if anyone else has died.


    Mr. Weasley, Charlie, Bill, Sirius, and three other Ministry of Magic staff also came over to help, they chanted spells along with the gaps in the grid, and the people inside fell down in unison like Dominoes.


    After a long time, Felix dispersed the magic, revealing hundreds of thugs inside, which also included a dozen hooded wizards. He unmasked and saw faces that were not unfamiliar. Also, some broken limbs were left behind because of the splinching with bloodied bodies, which made the scene look extremely frightening.


    Sirius looked at the hooded wizards and snorted disdainfully. S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The commotion completely calmed down.


    Silence, the surrounding area filled with an extreme silence, as if the pause button was pressed, even the cries of small children were stifled by their parents.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 382+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 343: The reaction of all parties

    Felix waved at a few Ministry of Magic staff members nearby, and one of them ran over excitedly, "Hello, Mr. Hap! It''s unbelievable that you stopped the riot head-on ..." He didn''t look very old, and the pimples on his face were shining from intense emotions. Felix said calmly: "These ... should be under your control, right?"


    "Don''t worry! Leave it to us." The male wizard patted his chest, then he took out a whistle from his pocket and blew it " beep beep ", but after blowing it for a while, no one showed up, and he said dejectedly, "My colleagues should all be knocked out ... "


    Felix pointed in the direction he came from, "I found some people and put them in that direction."


    "Muir! Keane! Follow me!" The male wizard shouted, and before he left he couldn''t refrain himself from saying, "It''s been an honour working alongside you, Mr. Hap."


    "Let''s go help them put out the fire." Mr. Weasley said, as he beckoned Bill and Charlie away, Sirius thought for a moment and greeted Felix as he left: "I''ll go look for Harry and the rest."


    Felix nodded at him, then he walked around the camp vicinity, rescuing some injured, in the meantime using the Patronus he notified Lupin, Clammy, and the other guys, and the group rushed over, taking that mother and son along with them.


    "Thank you, thank you--" the young mother said thank you over and over again.


    When they returned to the battle site again, hundreds of wizards from the Ministry of Magic were already gathered there, and they were methodically dividing the thugs and taking them away.


    Fudge kept wiping the sweat from his forehead, with a mixture of fear and disgust on his face, "Take them all away! Ask their nationality and identity, inform their Ministry of Magic! And for those, from here ..."


    He looked hesitantly at the hooded wizards who had collapsed on the ground, having difficulty in making a decision, he had just looked at the faces of these people, and the very familiar faces made his stomach churn.


    "Report to the Minister, these hooded ones are the ones who led this riot and dragged the Roberts family out of the house, Robert''s family are still suffering from the great shock and being treated with memory therapy ..."


    Fudge''s lips trembled, his heart hesitated greatly, most of these hooded people are from certain pure-blooded families, if all of them got sentenced as a mastermind, they would be imprisoned in Azkaban for at least three or five months, then he won''t be able to get the support of these people in the future.


    "Ka-chow!" "Click!"


    A camera shutter sounded, and a cluster of purple smoke fluttered in midair.


    Rita Skeeter excitedly commanded her assistants, "Here, here, and over there ... I see something, loser fans led a riot at the Quidditch World Cup Stadium, bullying muggles for fun ... "Her mouth watered as she laughed.


    "Did you get that picture of Mr. Hap standing in the crowd?" She asked with interest.


    "Only the back." Her photographer said.


    "That''s fine, we can do a series-"


    Fudge''s fingers trembled, "When did they come? Drive them away! No, wait -" he rolled his eyes and whispered into his advisor''s ear, "Collect the photos from them, don''t destroy them, secretly keep them."


    Rufus Scrimgeour Advisor to the Minister for Magic nodded and walked towards Rita Skeeter, "Ma''am, the matter is still under investigation and the photos you took will be used as important evidence ..."


    Rita Skeeter argued loudly, but Rufus Scrimgeour said something quietly to her, "... Pureblood Faction, you don''t want to piss them off, do you?"


    Rita Skeeter blinked and thought for a moment, "Well, you guys owe me one." She turned her back to Rufus Scrimgeour and waved at the photographer, secretly leaving a stack of negatives and replacing that roll with a brand new one, she turned around and shook that negatives in her hand towards Rufus Scrimgeour, who was just about to reach for them, when they turned to dust.


    "Skeeter, you--" Rufus Scrimgeour became furious.


    Rita Skeeter said slyly, "I have to let them claim my favour, don''t you think so, Mr. Scrimgeour?"


    At the edge of the woods, the trio rejoined with Ginny and the Weasley twins, and they hurried over as they pushed their way into the crowd of onlookers, searching for Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, and Sirius, who had gone off earlier to help with maintaining order.


    The Ministry of Magic, however, formed a column to separate the scene within, so the public could not see clearly, and could only stand on tiptoe to try to see something.


    Hermione asked in a whisper, " Did you see Professor Hap?"


    "He should have left," Harry said, "I watched him leave, couldn''t tell if he was injured."


    "That''s cool!" Ron said admiringly, "He beat a bunch of them all by himself, those wizards faced him like headless flies or Billywig without their stings, no threat at all."


    Hermione said seriously: "That''s because the professor used more than one ancient magic, did you notice that golden shield, blocking hundreds of spells, even then he kept using the Apparition to dodge some, it was too dangerous ..."


    Harry said: "Not dodging, but looking for opportunities, that is a tactic that I tried to replicate when I played dueling games with Sirius in the summer, but alas -"


    Hermione said disapprovingly: "That''s dangerous, Harry, the Apparition is difficult to cast continuously, not to mention the need to cast spells quickly."


    "I know, but once you master..." Harry did not continue, but looked meaningfully at the scene, through the gaps where the staff of the Ministry of Magic standing, you can see hundreds of crooked wizards on the ground. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Everything can be said without a word.


    Meanwhile, the team of Accidental Magic Reversal Squad arrived, and based on the various "mutilated limbs" left at the scene, they found those who had failed to shift as they had been nailed in the ground.


    Ron looked around, trying to see what is there: "Arms, legs, what is that ... Bloody!" He suddenly got slapped on the head from behind, it was Mr. Weasley who rushed over, behind him were Bill and Charlie, while Sirius stood on the other side looking at Harry with a smile.


    "Don''t look around, or you''ll have nightmares." Mr. Weasley said they were covered in dirt and fire scorch marks.


    "I''m just curious, do you think maybe they''d have left--" Ron said, stopping as if he was attracted to something, he looked at Charlie, with his mouth agape as he reached out and pointed at Charlie: "The eyes, the eyes -- still Moving!"


    "What?" Charlie looked at him inexplicably, Weasley glanced at Charlie, rushed to pull him aside.


    On top of Charlie''s head is a brown eye, which is spinning in horror. Harry''s heart thumped as a circle of empty space opened up before him. Mr. Weasley shouted: "Arnold! There''s another one over here! Apparition Splinch!"


    A sturdy male wizard ran over, took one look, and grinned, "Still got some veins ... if you ignore him ..." he gestured towards his eyes with a ''gushing'' gesture.


    Mr. Weasley frowned, "There are children here."


    "Oh, sorry - come here two!" The wizard named Arnold shouted as he turned around, and soon two men came over, and they gathered around the eyeball, pointing at it with their wands, "I''ll take a trip." Arnold said, and as the crowd looked with horror, he grabbed the eyeball and squeezed it around as if he wanted to crush it.


    "Bang!"


    He disappeared with the eyeball.


    "Just wait, he''ll be back in a minute." The wizard next to him said carelessly, yawning heavily, "It''s another day with overtime."


    Ron swallowed hard, he felt a little sick in his stomach, as if he had swallowed something slippery and greasy, and couldn''t help but dry heave, Harry and Hermione''s expressions were not that pleasant either.


    The twins felt a sense of relief, Ron previously showed off in front of them his unskilled apparition, they also intended to learn it in advance.


    On the other side, a significant figure appeared.


    Barty Crouch said with a cold face, "Excuse me, make way." He crossed the crowd and squeezed into the circle formed by the staff of the Ministry of Magic with his stone face.


    "Crouch?" Fudge became furious at the sight of him, he originally intended to ask him properly about his strange behaviour, but with such a big accident, he had long since thrown those thoughts out of his mind.


    "I put you in charge of security for the Quidditch World Cup, where have you been!"


    "To track down those masked men." Crouch said stiffly.


    Harry stared at the back of Barty Crouch''s head from behind, trying to see if he could see an ugly face that belonged to Voldemort, in addition to making sure if the scar on his forehead still stung.


    Sirius also looked at him with a probing gaze, and after the godfather and godson looked at each other for half a second, Harry shook his head at Sirius, this time the scar didn''t react much.


    ----------


    #Null, Thanks for your support.


    There are 382+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 344: The shadow is approaching

    The sky grew a little brighter, it turned deep blue, and a pale shade of red light appeared from the horizon. Felix stood in the crowd, somewhat understanding why Fudge was so wary of Barty Crouch, unsmiling, with an old-fashioned style and rigidity, and while Fudge was still struggling with what to do with the hooded people, Crouch was already issuing orders methodically.


    "Take these thugs away," he said sternly, "and they will be interrogated until someone reveals who is responsible for this terrorist activity."


    Fudge wiped his sweat, "Crouch ... Barty, you''re making it way too serious ... they''re just drunk and throwing a fit, with no serious consequences... ... I wouldn''t agree with classifying it as terrorism ... if it weren''t for the muggles involved, it only requires a fine."


    "Oh, yeah? I''ll judge it based on the results of the interrogation," Crouch said, his eyes fixed dead on the hooded men with their masks removed, "Some of them look familiar to me, pretty familiar ..."


    Fudge cleared his throat, "Well, this is something we can talk about back at the Ministry - Scrimgeour!" He turned his head and looked around as Rufus Scrimgeour approached them with a brisk stride.


    "I''ll leave some men to you, you stay and handle the follow-up ... er, Pacification, I need to go back to the Ministry to solve the more difficult issues."


    The staff of the Ministry of Magic hurriedly took out a batch of Portkey as they left with the people lying on the ground.


    Rufus Scrimgeour arranged for the remaining people to put out the fire and pacify the crowd. A number of their family members might have wandered off, and the Ministry of Magic staff imbued themselves with a Sonorus, shouting through the crowd until their voices became hoarse.


    There were also claims, complaints, grievances, and a chaotic mess of demands. Rufus Scrimgeour, with his good work quality, accepted it all as it was, and then calmly told them to go back and compile a list of the damage, as for whether the Ministry would compensate them or not, is not necessarily certain.


    "Absolutely not possible! I''m sure that they won''t compensate, we can only admit our bad luck." Sirius said with great confidence, Harry wanted to laugh, but he couldn''t, so he just grinned cooperatively.


    "All right, boys." Mr. Weasley said, "You guys go back to your tents and get some sleep, there are not many hours before dawn, and we''ve to wait in queue for the Portkey during the day."


    Barty Crouch stayed behind, then he approached Felix.


    "There''s something I want to talk to you about, Mr. Hap." Crouch said with a stern face, "Let''s find a place to talk about it, what do you think?"


    "Sure," Felix smiled slightly, "Why not go to my tent, which is still intact."


    They returned to Future World''s tent, which is very spacious, with empty boxes stacked up in the corner along with two big dragon-shaped magic lamps, Crouch glanced at Clammy and Lupin and didn''t say anything.


    The two sat down, and Felix beckoned a jug of Lemonade.


    "Thanks." Crouch said politely with a stern face, he couldn''t wait to get to the point, "Mr. Hap, I want to thank you for stopping the riot in time without further serious consequences."


    "More serious consequences?"


    "Yeah, more serious consequences," Crouch repeated, looking sharply at Felix, "You didn''t experience it, but I know what they are all about, and to be honest, according to the normal process, that Muggle family would not have survived."


    "Normal process ..." Felix raised his eyebrows, "It can''t be what I think it is, right?"


    "Death Eaters." Crouch said indifferently, "They will torture muggles for fun, back when I was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, I dealt with a considerable number of cases that hurt my heart. So I ordered the Aurors under my command to return the favour."


    Felix fiddled with his goblet and mulled it over in his mind, and just then the curtain of the tent lifted, " Barty, I heard you are here ... ha, and so you are."


    Ludo Bagman said under his breath, his face sweaty.


    He pulled a chair over and sat between the two men, poured himself a glass of lemonade, drank it down, and let out a long breath, "What a day full of ups and downs, those fans-"


    "It''s thugs, Ludo." Crouch interrupted to correct him.


    "Uh, well, thugs ...," Bagman asked, "What were you guys talking about?"


    The words were just a lead-in though, as he immediately opened up the conversation and looked at Felix with a big smile on his face, "I''m so sorry I missed the good show, I was settling a bet with Roddy when you made your big entrance - he placed a big bet that Bulgaria would score the first goal, and as you can see ... I long saw through that the Bulgarian team can''t win. Now, the Bulgarian team lost, so the payout was very high!"


    "And little Agatha placed a bet with half the shares of her eel farm, a bit crazy ... but just in time to help me pay off a debt I borrowed from the goblins ..."


    "Nobody wants to hear about your business," Crouch said impatiently, "we''re talking serious business, now for once if you can realize that you''re one of the people in charge of the camp."


    Ludo Bagman looked at him uneasily, "But isn''t it already over? The troublemakers were taken back to the Ministry, and the camp has Rufus, who is doing a much better job than I am ..."


    Felix smiled and said, "Mr. Bagman, we were just discussing the topic of Death Eaters."


    "Death Eaters ... what? Death Eaters ..." Bagman''s round face began to sweat, "I, I don''t quite understand."


    Felix and Crouch both then ignored him, Felix wanted to know why Crouch had approached him, so he carried the interrupted conversation, "Mr. Crouch, you just said that the Death Eaters torture muggles for fun, do you think they did the trouble today?"


    "I-can''t-think-anyone-else," Crouch said, word by word, "Only they need to hide their heads to hide their inner cowardice and vileness, maybe this attack was to remind us of their former glory. It''s a great way to remind us that the Death Eaters are doing well, even after they''ve been out of control for years."


    His toothbrush-like moustache quivered, and his eyes bulged out, looking hideous. Felix even suspected that if a Death Eater stood in front of him, he could sink his teeth into their throats with a hard bite.


    Bagman thought of the scene of his own trial at the end of the war, Crouch now looked the same as back then, so he could not help but shudder. From this viewpoint, we can see that Fudge''s arrangement is considered a failure. Bagman does not have the courage to oppose Crouch, he befriended Crouch over these years because of the seeds of fear planted when he was brought to trial back then. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Barty, perhaps, possibly ... " he was frightened, as he muttered incoherently for a while without being able to complete the words.


    Felix has similar speculation, at this moment nodded and said, "The Dark Mark was the only thing that was actually missing today."


    Crouch showed a contemptuous expression, "They wouldn''t dare to do that."


    Before the conversation ended, Barty Crouch seemed to state his real purpose: "Wizengamot has considered accepting you as one of us shortly, so perhaps you can join this trial in time. We need to be tough on these dregs."


    Felix looked at his leaving back, feeling strange, was Crouch looking for help in Wizengamot, as far as he knew, Barty Crouch didn''t have a good time now, there was even a rumour that Fudge intended to kick him out of Wizengamot.


    But in fact, Fudge did not have the ability to do so, because the Wizengamot Wizard Council is rather a loose organization, each member usually has their own work, and will only come together when there are important affairs.


    The actual leader, Dumbledore, who is the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, should be the one that has that authority.


    ...


    Barty Crouch left shortly after, taking leave of absence on the grounds that he is not feeling well, and disappeared from the camp, but he did not go far, as he appeared in the woods near the camp.


    A black-robed cloaked figure stood in the mist motionlessly.


    Barty Crouch''s expression also became rigid, as if he was frozen in place.


    The cloaked man lifted his hood to reveal his young face: "Master."


    Barty Crouch''s voice suddenly became hoarse and biting, "I went to see Felix Hap ..."


    "What!" The cloaked man - Barty Crouch Jr said in a deep voice: " Won''t it be too risky, My Lord ... we underestimated him before, but today we were there, and you saw through it with my father''s eyes ..."


    Barty Crouch''s eyes turned bloodshot for a moment, his pupils became snake-like, and he said lightly, "Before making a plan, it is necessary to confirm who the enemies are ... As it turns out, he could not spot me ... Even That kid Harry Potter is more sensitive than him!"


    " But what if he recognizes your disguise--" Barty Crouch Jr said eagerly.


    Barty Crouch Sr. or Voldemort, said slowly: "The biggest advantage of my current state ... is that I can not be killed, perhaps, you still have your old feelings for your father?"


    "No, My Lord!" Barty Crouch Jr fell to his feet and said reverently, "I hate him with a passion and ashamed to bear his name. Lord, he imprisoned me for more than ten years and made me live like a dead man until you arrived and freed me."


    This relates to a past event. More than a decade ago, with the end of the war, the guilty were imprisoned in Azkaban, and Barty Crouch Jr. was accused, along with Bellatrix and the rest for torturing the Longbottoms into insanity, which Crouch Jr. denied at the trial and pleaded his father, who served as a judge, to believe him. The evidence at the time was not considered adequate, as the witnesses didn''t see Crouch Jr. Coupled with the fact that his father was the judge presiding over the trial, there was a good hope that he would get away with the crime.


    But unfortunately, Barty Crouch was so impartial, he had long identified the flaws in his son''s sneaky behaviour, and in combination with the vague human evidence, he ultimately affirmed Crouch Jr.''s guilt and sentenced him to life imprisonment.


    After that, Barty Crouch made a big mistake, he could not refuse his wife''s pleas before she died, at the end of her life, she used Polyjuice potion to change into her son, then he swapped her body and let his son out of prison, later he kept him under control at home with the Imperius Curse, made the house-elf Winky take care of him, intending to just let him muddle through his life.


    Until Sirius escaped from Azkaban, with the determination to kill Peter Pettigrew with life for a life, Which scared Pettigrew, so he then disappeared for months to locate Voldemort and learned about the Barty Jr. from Bertha Jorkins, then they broke into Barty Crouch Sr.''s house to free him while he was away, and by the time Barty Crouch Sr. returned from work he was sneaked up by his own son and Peter Pettigrew as they used an Imperius Curse to control him.


    ...


    Voldemort said with an emotionless voice: "What if I ask you to kill your own father with your own hands?"


    "I will be very happy to carry out your orders!"


    "No need to rush," Voldemort let out a chilling laugh, "Barty Crouch is still useful, but he nearly spoiled our plan by narrowly escaping my control in front of that fool Fudge, probably because of the fact it was too painful for him when I hid in his mind that inadvertently cut the effect of the Imperius Curse. "


    Barty Crouch Jr. pondered, "Will we be caught by surprise?"


    Voldemort sneered: "There is no evidence, and at best some probing, but the fight for supremacy can not be done without your father, things will develop in the direction we expected, the only pity is that I can not maintain this state for too long ... the loss of the Wormtail is not quite convenient."


    "Lord, it''s all my fault."


    "Well," Voldemort said, "Proceed as planned, we will head back to your home first, I need to rest for a while, after that we will find that Mad-Eye Moody, he is not someone easy to deal with, we must set up a trap."


    " Lord, it is not easy for you to have a form, I can do it by myself ... I can simply, let Winky..."


    "Since when can house-elf also do things for Voldemort?" Voldemort said grimly: "If Barty Crouch is exposed, it does not matter, I have found a way to open a curtain up."


    " My lord?"


    "That Black family boy gave me an inspiration, don''t you want to appear in front of the world openly? Just let him die to prove your innocence."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 384+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 345: Dissent

    Before dawn, a cold, grayish-white light pierced the forest fog a little, and the conversation, which no one knew about, drew closer to its end. "My lord, the newspapers say that the Longbottoms are healed, and they will accuse me ..." whispered the figure sprawled on the ground.


    "Time will erase all traces, have not my servants forgotten my majestic name, and how many purebloods once prostrated at my feet and kissed my robe?" Voldemort said lightly.


    Barty Crouch Jr.''s body suddenly trembled, as if there is an invisible whip lashed on his body.


    But Voldemort ignored him as he said lazily, "I''m going to share an insight with you, magic is power. Do you know why memory extraction and Truth Potion cannot be used as evidence in court? It''s because they are unreliable, and these means can be deceived by highly skilled wizards. Let me ask you - were you caught red-handed?"


    "No, no," whispered Barty Crouch Jr.


    Voldemort sneered twice, "That''s right. There are too many ways to refute their accusations, Polyjuice Potion, Obliviate, Confundus Charm ... The key is to have a witness of sufficient weight!"


    "If Dumbledore comes forward and identifies you, that would be a problem, but an ordinary Auror couple? Don''t forget, their own memories are glued together, how credible are they?"


    Barty Crouch Jr.''s face turned rosy with excitement.


    "Ideally, as originally planned, I succeed in resurrecting myself, recruiting my former forces from the shadows, and building up my strength... Anyway, after you finish off Moody, inherit Crouch Sr.''s fame and connections and enter the Ministry of Magic ... At that time," he said softly, "you will gain immense glory, and the position of Minister of Magic will be just the most insignificant reward."


    "Your will is my mission, My Lord!"


    ...


    The sun finally came out, and the mist in the forest completely dissipated without leaving any trace. The camp became lively.


    Felix did not sleep for long, he had always felt that Barty Crouch came with an unknown intention, and thought for a long time, but had no clue. At dawn, he saw Clammy emerge from her compartment, carrying a cup of hot cocoa and a thin blanket in her other hand, half-squinting and yawning.


    "What can''t sleep?"


    Clammy blinked, before seeing Felix sitting on the couch, "Professor, why don''t you turn on the light?" She walked over to the table where she had eaten yesterday and tapped a magic lamp in the shape of a bronze eagle, which flapped its wings and flew into the midair to spit out balls of light, and the tent instantly brightened up.


    She sat down across from Felix and covered herself with a blanket, unable to resist letting out another yawn, "I oh, I just can''t sleep, I''m going to stay up a little longer and go back to sleep in the office. When are we leaving?"


    "Anytime you want to leave," Felix said gently, "we don''t need the Portkey, we can just use Apparition," he looked at the other two compartments in the tent that were simply dividing, "Let''s wait for Remus and Eric. I guess." s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Clammy hugged her thin blanket, sipping hot cocoa as she chatted away with a smile.


    "When my leave is over, I have to make a trip back to the Gringotts to hand over my work ... Unfortunately, I made a lot of friends in Egypt." She intertwined her fingers and said something with amusement, "By the way," she asked with sudden interest, "Professor, did Bill ever call you by the nickname to your face back then - the wandering Sphinx? "


    "... No."


    "That''s an interesting nickname, how come no one calls you that?" Clammy showed a sorry expression, "I did hear someone in the company call you the Snake King behind your back, I don''t think that''s very good, easy to remind people of the Basilisk ..."


    "Yeah, well, it''s not like I can care what other people say." Felix made himself a cup of tea and said very leisurely.


    Without realizing it, Clammy''s hot cocoa ran out, and she stared at Felix''s tea. "Want some?" Felix asked her, Clammy said hesitantly, "I''ve heard that drinking it will keep you awake ..."


    At that moment, a low female voice came from the entrance: "Is Mr. Felix Hap inside? I''m Olympe Maxime, from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic."


    Felix revealed a surprised expression, "Just a moment, ma''am." He stood up and poked his hand out while walking towards the door, "Whoosh!" A jacket flew out of his compartment and slipped into him, nimbly fastening the buttons.


    Clammy also slipped back into her compartment with a blanket and empty cup.


    Stepping out of the tent, he looked eyes to eyes with a tall woman. Unlike when he had hastily glimpsed her in the middle of the night, she had obviously been dressed up, wrapped head to toe in a blue cotton silk dress, her hair pulled back into a shiny black bun and an opal necklace around her neck.


    "Madame Maxime?" Felix tentatively uttered the title he had heard by chance.


    Madame Maxime blossomed into an elegant smile, and she held out her hand, and Felix flinched, but he still gently grasped it, as his lips touched the back of her hand.


    "Mr. Hap," Madame Maxime said, "forgive me for taking the liberty by visiting you, but we are leaving during the day, and I really don''t want to skip the meeting with the new school board member."


    "Has Beauxbatons already got the message?"


    "There is a list of school board members in the headmasters'' office, and I saw your name appear on it when Mr. Nicolas Flamel died." Madame Maxime said with some sadness.


    "So you are the headmistress of Beauxbatons."


    They walked into the tent and Madame Maxime sat in where Clammy was, she took up the whole couch by herself and had to put her legs over on the side.


    Felix took out empty teacups and placed them in front of them, then while directing the teapot to pour the tea, he said, "Actually, I have long wanted to visit Beauxbatons, it is just that I heard that some rules of the competition have not been finalized yet, and there are quite a few objections, so I did not set out to avoid suspicion."


    Madame Maxime said, "Every Triwizard Tournament was big trouble, not to mention two more schools were added. The Ministry of Magic is not too happy ..."


    Felix knew that she should be talking about the French Ministry of Magic.


    "At least the general direction should be determined, is there any problem in deciding?"


    Madame Maxime sipped her tea as she said carelessly, "The general direction is determined, but the details can''t be sloppy, because if we agree this time, it will probably be an example for the next time."


    "Every school has its own ideas, and so does every Ministry of Magic. We have to confirm all kinds of rules before lighting the Goblet of Fire."


    "Is it the American and African sides that have made unacceptable conditions?" Felix asked.


    He really hadn''t paid much attention to the progress of the Triwizard Tournament which is now called as Tournament of Champions, but he had heard Charlie Weasley''s captain mention a word about it during his visit to the Dragon Reserve, and it was said that Fudge had made many compromises in order to spread the tournament''s impact out of Europe.


    "The tournament location has to be determined first, which is still in Europe, and in order, this time it''s Hogwarts'' turn," Madame Maxime said, "Ilvermorny and Uagadou will have to wait in line at the back."


    Felix nodded, he knew that the Triwizard Tournament had been hosted on a rotating basis until it was suspended.


    "As for the specific items of the tournament, it is decided by the Ministry of Magic where this tournament is held, which is the British Ministry of Magic this year, and they''re keeping the whole thing a secret from us." Speaking of which, she paused and let out a nasal hum, "Dumbledore must know, nevertheless I trust his character ..."


    "What a few of us headmasters can be involved in deciding are those finer details, such as the number of participants, the age of the contestants, the forbidden magic, and other details, It where the controversy lies."


    "Like what?"


    "Ilvermorny demanded an additional number of participants, the argument being that they had four houses and each house had to select at least one champion."


    Felix laughed heartily, "Isn''t the selection of champion something that the Goblet of Fire does, and they want to do that?"


    Madame Maxime nodded and said, "They did have the idea, but Beauxbatons, Hogwarts, and Durmstrang strongly disagreed before they gave up."


    "And Uagadou''s Self-Transfiguration," she pursed her lips and said with some alarm, "I also learned that they have mastered the human transfiguration magic that is very similar to Animagus, and nearly a third of the senior Uagadou students can transform into leopards and elephants, not to mention Those elite students can do much more ..."


    "Self-Transfiguration? I''ve heard of this magic, but it shouldn''t disrupt the balance of the tournament, right?"


    "That depends on how you look at it." Madame Maxime explained, "Some animals have advantages that people don''t have, for example, if a certain level is about speed, then Uagadou''s students have a natural advantage."


    "But that doesn''t mean anything, it only means that Uagadou''s students show their own characteristics." Felix didn''t see any problem with that.


    "Then do you know the amount of time Uagadou''s students spent on this magic?" Madame Maxime asked.


    "Does it mean it was very long?" Felix guessed.


    "At least three to five years of study." Madame Maxime said, "They enter school at the age of ten, and after a year of observation, they choose their own appropriate direction, usually with two or three subjects as their main focus and three or four as minors. By the time they reach their senior year, they will have focused all their energy on the main subjects."


    "For example, a young wizard, from the second year onwards, is exposed to the full knowledge of Self-Transfiguration and proceeds to prepare and practice it, and then after several years of uninterrupted practice, until he or she learns it. Even those who have learned it can also choose a second form, a third form."


    "Very unique indeed." Felix nodded his head, Uagadou''s headmaster should''ve regarded this as the knowledge that students must master, that''s why he did it. There are some similarities with the advice he mentioned to Dumbledore, nevertheless, to really analyse, the difference in each school is quite big.


    "Where is the controversy?"


    "If you look at it alone there is no problem, but if you compare Uagadou and Durmstrang to view it? Uagadou''s students bring their magic that they have practiced for years to the competition without any restrictions, while Durmstrang''s students have to endure not being able to use their best dark magic, and of course, Karkaroff disagrees, they have lost too many times in the past and don''t want to lose again."


    Felix understood, this is the key to the problem, the competition represents the honour, and the history of competition between the top five schools, it represents the historical honour, the champion is destined to be in the history books, passed down for years.


    In front of the huge honour, a slight advantage is going to be counted, let alone a gap that big, no one wants to swim with shackles.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 384+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 346: Beauxbatons

    Southern France, the Pyrenees. Tucked away in a mountain gorge, surrounded by majestic magical gardens and unfrozen fountains, the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic has stood here for over seven hundred years.


    ''The British Ministry of Magic has failed to respond satisfactorily to the disturbances at the Quidditch World Cup site, and to this day has not produced a satisfactory answer, which makes us wonder whether they can shoulder the burden of hosting a vital and ancient event ...


    The following is part of the opinion of the British Daily Prophet - The Ministry of Magic (note: this refers to Britain, not France) has lost enough vigilance by indulging in the illusion of peace, and with years of lax law and order as well as dark wizards on the loose, the Ministry of Magic (note: ditto) has long since become vulnerable, like a stumbling old man. The Ministry of Magic (Note: ditto) has become weak and fragile, like an old man, walking step by step to the grave, we urgently need fresh blood to join ...


    ...


    It is easy to see that the British wizards have also lost confidence in their own Ministry of Magic, and perhaps, in this year''s tournament, they will see the elegance from France.


    It is worth mentioning that Felix Hap, the wizard who shone in this crisis, is at this time in the pride of France, the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, as he has befriended the headmistress, Madame Olympe Maxime during the world cup, and accepted an invitation for a visit to the school. In addition, he is one of the board members of Beauxbatons, and it is reported that he will be involved in the selection of the champion candidates ...''


    Felix closed the French Daily Journal and muttered, "It''s all bollocks, school hasn''t even started yet." He put the newspaper aside and concentrated on his breakfast - French croissant, orange juice, fruit platter, and small cookies.


    As the newspaper said, he had accepted an invitation from Madame Maxime to visit the Beauxbatons School on the very day the Quidditch World Cup ended; it hadn''t opened yet, but it isn''t empty without a single student either, as some aspiring champions had applied to stay in school.


    The French side of the news is relatively open, unlike the UK, where the news is kept so dead, so these students have a handful of gossip, either true or false.


    There are rumours that the number of Champions at each school may change, not one but four. These students discussed it at the square table as if they had seen it with their own eyes, and one young girl seriously retorted that each school would send a squad of three to participate in the event.


    But anyway, a lot of minds came alive, and if there had been only one candidate, most students would have given up, but as soon as there is a second chance, many feel that their hopes have instantly increased tenfold.


    So every student Felix now saw at Beauxbatons is a champions'' seedling of the competition, a true elite.


    Word also has it that Ilvermorny school of witchcraft and wizardry headmaster suggested a five-school showdown before putting the candidates'' names into the Goblet of Fire so that the others wouldn''t have made the trip for nothing, a proposal strongly supported by Uagadou - their school has so many students, it''s said that over a thousand have signed up within the school alone!


    And there were more students at Uagadou than at all three European magic schools combined.


    Among these three schools, Hogwarts has the least number of students, this is because it mainly recruits local qualified students in the UK, other places are not easily accepted, for example basically they won''t take the initiative to issue invitations; while most of the students of Beauxbatons come from France, there are also a few young wizards seeking education from Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and as for Durmstrang, which is located in Northern Europe, their range of students also spans more than just Germany and Bulgaria respectively.


    But when it comes to the most famous school in Europe, the first one that comes to mind internationally is Hogwarts, especially since nearly half a century ago, Albus Dumbledore, who served as Hogwarts'' headmaster, deterred two generations of Dark Lords by himself and defeated and imprisoned one of them, pushing this prestige to new heights.


    ...


    Beauxbatons dining room table is very characteristic, it is the large square dining table, each side can accommodate five or six students seated, the table is decorated with exquisite gold and blue floral pattern, the center of the table resembles a candlestick vertical decoration draped with a cluster of flowers. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A short distance away from the square table, across from Felix, two Beauxbatons students kept quietly checking him out.


    They whispered in French, "... so young to be a school board member ..."


    "I heard he is the heir to Mr. Nicolas Flamel."


    "Why is his hair black?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Mr. Nicolas Flamel''s hair was brown when he was young, and I''ve seen his portrait ... The last name doesn''t match either, could it be his distant descendant or relative?"


    "Or a relative on Ms. Perenelle''s side?" They chattered and discussed, talking louder and louder.


    "Keep your voice down!" One of them said as they peered around for a moment, relieved to see Felix not reacting to the conversation between them, as he''s studying the various fruit jams on the table, spreading them one by one on the bread to try the flavours, "Maybe he doesn''t understand French."


    The girls then got to the subject of the tournament -


    "How''s your magic practice going?"


    "Sloppy, the professors found the most frequent spells that have appeared in previous contests for us to take as reference, and I''ve only mastered a third of them ..."


    "That''s not bad, Professor Sanchez said my reaction is always half a beat slower than others, I think there''s not much hope of me being selected." The young girl said sadly.


    At that moment, a girl approached Felix lightly and said in French, "Mr. Hap, Madame Maxime invites you to the professors'' afternoon tea party."


    "Thank you." Felix said in perfect French as he stood up and bowed slightly toward the two dumbfounded girls next to him, "Regarding your previous questions, the answer is: I am not related to Nicolas by blood, I just inherited his alchemy."


    ...


    "Hello, my name is Fleur, Fleur Delacour." The girl leading the way said as she walked ahead as she spun back, she had long silver-blonde hair like a waterfall.


    "Hello, Miss Delacour, I''ve heard your name quite a few times these days."


    "I hope it''s not a bad reputation, I don''t get along with the girls, they complain that I steal their thunder!" Fleur tossed her long hair, the surface of her silver-blonde hair jumping with bright curves of brilliance.


    "They think you''re the first choice for the champion."


    "Oh, that''s a truth." Fleur said confidently, "I will definitely be a champion."


    Beauxbatons resembled a Palace, and as the two walked through the exquisite suites, galleries, and side halls, Felix stopped for a moment at the Abraxans kept in the gardens.


    They had beautiful silver manes and each one as large as an elephant.


    "These are the Abraxans, with beautiful shapes, especially their manes, which I think are the most beautiful of the four types of Pegasus, and they are so strong that they will pull the school carriage across the straits and mountains when the time comes." Fleur said braggingly.


    Felix nodded slightly, "Madame Maxime introduced them to me, and she said that the carriage had multiple enchantments applied to it, especially the concealment and floating enchantments."


    Madame Maxime waited in a French aristocratic parlour, and when Felix appeared, she rose to welcome him, followed by a dozen French professors.


    "Mr. Hap, sit over here - thank you, my dear." She said to Fleur, who left with a brisk step.


    Madame Maxime made introductions to Felix: "This is Professor Sanchez, in charge of the spell training for the students during the summer. This is Lemaire, she is in charge of potions, and this is Boyle, he is very good at herbalism and alchemy ... Honestly, I don''t know if alchemical items are allowed, but it''s best to prepare in advance."


    Felix nodded and smiled at them, "I''ve interacted with Professor Boyle, and his attainments in alchemy are marvellous."


    Boyle - an old professor with a full head of white hair and a slim body - said tremblingly, "This statement should be passed on to Professor Hap as it is, I really can''t understand how, although he is young, he knows all kinds of ancient magic artefacts by heart and has solved many of my problems. "


    The professor named Sanchez couldn''t wait to ask: "Professor Hap, what do you think of Beauxbatons''s students, I heard that Hogwarts didn''t prepare for summer training, are you guys that certain that you will win?"


    "Confident indeed a little high, but-" Felix looked at the others, "This year is different, with new schools joining the competition, I guess the competition will be a lot more difficult."


    "That''s true," Sanchez nodded, scratching his big red beard, as the professor in charge of the students'' summer training, he is responsible for a subject similar to Hogwarts'' Defense Against the Dark Arts, so he has deliberately tried to gather information about them.


    At this moment he said with confidence: "The difficulty will certainly be adjusted, after all, we must consider the performance of other schools, it is just not easy to say whether to raise or lower it, for the first time it is estimated that we have little experience. Unlike before, there are only three schools who all know each other well ..."


    He tentatively asked, "If Ilvermorny and Uagadou became rampant, does Hogwarts have any countermeasures against them?"


    The other professors froze, and then stared at Felix with unblinking eyes, Felix shook his head: "I don''t know much about other schools, the only thing I can do is to improve the ability of our students, I am more optimistic about some people, they have great potential ..."


    "That''s true ..." Sanchez was a bit reluctant, "but it''s our competition, we can''t let an outsider take the championship, right?"


    Other professors secretly nodded their heads, this statement is somewhat xenophobic, but the three schools, after all, belong to Europe, vaguely counted as an alliance, although there is competition between them internally, in fact, their relationship is quite good.


    But if in the end If Ilvermorny or Uagadou won the championship, it would undoubtedly be a very humiliating thing for the wizards of the whole of Europe. All of them would also be scolded for being a failure by the public.


    Felix scanned the room and said lightly: "From the beginning of Hogwarts, it has lasted for a thousand years, during which it has experienced countless challenges, but no one has been able to bring it down, hence the motto - never tickle a sleeping dragon - so I believe we will show our strength without losing our honour."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 386+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 347: The end of modern magic?

    The professor from Beauxbatons did not manage to inquire anything, so he looked a little disappointed. In fact, Felix also heard some hints about an alliance, and he who is both a Professor of Hogwarts and School Board Member of Beauxbatons should be the most suitable person to become a bridge between them. But at the moment, even the competition event is not clear, so now you can''t rush to draw help, so the total alliance topic can only be considered as overthinking.


    And neither does he intend to get involved in it.


    If he had to choose one side between the two schools, there is no doubt that it would be Hogwarts. Just like if you ask the same question to Nicolas Flamel, his answer certainly would be Beauxbatons.


    For the next few days, Felix stayed in Beauxbatons'' library, leafing through interesting material to fill his knowledge base.


    His biggest gain there would not be a specific magic, but a new, fresh perspective on knowledge.


    Felix first noticed the anomaly in the alumni gift section of the library: Both Hogwarts and Beauxbatons would buy new books to stock the library every year, and in addition to that, they would also accept gifts from alumni, in the form of rare ancient books as well as academic results from well-known alumni.


    For an example, Professor McGonagall''s Transfiguration Insights, Flitwick''s Charms Research, Snape''s Potions formula, if there is no designated successor, they will all end up in Hogwarts.


    And Felix discovered that in terms of understanding of the same magic, there were slight deviations between the Beauxbatons'' collection and what he perceived, not personal bias, but an overall variation.


    This type of perception cannot be described in words, but nevertheless, it is present in a true sense. It is like two compasses, one shifted 0.01 degrees to the left and one to the right.


    In the middle, separated by Beauxbatons and Hogwarts.


    ...


    In the middle of the night, the sky looked like a black velvet cloth, with the full moon passing just a few days ago.


    In a makeshift office, Felix spread out a piece of parchment and tried to record the sudden inspiration that came to him -


    ''It''s like putting a thin veil over your eyes, and over time, you naturally lose sight of it; it doesn''t affect your vision, but it''s still there.


    If you use colour to represent the difference, Hogwarts is transparent silver-white, and Beauxbatons is navy blue - it''s not about which colour it is, but everything you see will be tainted with that colour.''


    "Perhaps it''s a difference in perception of magic brought by subtle differences between cultures which do not influence spellcasting, yet ..." he paused to ponder.


    Felix couldn''t help but reflect on whether he is being too sensitive, but he quickly found a way to verify it.


    The next day, he borrowed a pile of huge, thick books from the Beauxbatons Library.


    Then, he used the Occlumency to temporarily block his knowledge of the Shield Charm, including the Humanoid Shield Charm, the Protego horribilis as well as other types of derivations of that Charm, and even the knowledge related to that Charm was also sealed. Then he picked up a thick book, as he leafed through the introduction of the Shield Charm, and started to learn it from the beginning.


    This process is really awkward, whenever the old magic knowledge appears, he will immediately shield that memory, then he will consider himself as a blank piece of parchment, a little wizard who knows nothing.


    What he wanted to do was, in fact, was to temporarily put aside his past knowledge about magic, and his experience related to it. Then he would start again from the most basic foundation, and learn the shield charm all over again, by excluding the previous traces and perspectives as much as possible.


    He didn''t know if this would be of any use to him, but his intuition told him that it would be a good way to experience the magic.


    He actually tried the simplest ''Lumos'' spell as a starter, but unfortunately, it became so instinctive that he could still use it even after shielding his knowledge about that magic, as he couldn''t able to block his instincts.


    After weighing his options, he selected the Shield Charm. As one of the sixth-level magic that he mastered, it also had extremely strong potential, unlike some simple spells that had the same effect even after further practice. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It took less than an hour for him to re-master the spell, and a thin layer of magic barrier appeared in front of him.


    Felix couldn''t help but groan to himself, "I''ve never cast such a weak shield charm before, it can be broken with a snap of the fingers." But this is actually the same level as the first shield charm he successfully cast when he was yet to enrol in school.


    Only that memory was a bit too distant.


    "It''s been a long time since I''ve had this exhilarating feeling, so I hope it will bring me a pleasant surprise. What follows will be the process of constant familiarization with magic. In addition to extensive practice, there is also the analysing of the Magic Spell." Felix became familiar with the process and looked at the pile of books in front of him, all of which related to the shield charm.


    He opened one of the books, read the contents carefully, understood, and then adjusted his movements according to what it said, then paused in the middle of it to continue reading the book, after reading it, he continued to practice, and the cycle continued.


    His understanding of the shield charm progressed at an alarming rate, and the power of the charm continued to strengthen, quickly reaching level two, three, until the level of four when he gradually perceived the difference.


    The new version of the shield charm grew darker and darker, no longer colorless and transparent, but has a rusty, dark red, and iron-gray intertwined colour with seemingly burned edges and a brass metallic sheen at the highlighted joints.


    "What''s going on here?" Felix felt a little blinded for the first time.


    That''s right, he was practicing from Beauxbatons'' collection, and everyone who can leave their insights in the library can''t be that bad, at least not in a straightforward statement, giving wrong solutions.


    He had a little guess in his mind, in fact, after each person learns magic, the characteristics of the external manifestation of the spell will be different, but these kinds of detailed problems ... actually no one cares about it, all chalked up as a normal phenomenon.


    Even if the same person casts the same magic, it is impossible to be the same every time. In the opinion of most wizards, this is not a problem at all, and if you insist on breaking the crucible and asking questions to the end, others will think that you have taken the bull by the horns.


    Spell casting distance, spell power, travelling speed, etc., all vary from person to person. These are common knowledge in the wizarding community, and no one will think twice about it.


    Felix expected there would be some differences, he just didn''t think that with the same starting point, the differences would be so big when he reached the end -


    The shield charm he learned from Hogwarts, at the level of six, is a golden half-armour that is outlined in the air, of course, can also be a shield; but the shield charm he learned from Beauxbatons, at about level four, it looked like a rusty piece of worn iron armour.


    "I seem to have found something remarkable." Felix''s eyes became bright, and he decided to temporarily keep the original shield charm aside and practice Beauxbatons'' version of the Shield Charm to the level of sixth-level charm in a short period of time to see what the result would be.


    He also had a very interesting idea -


    If the understanding of two versions of the level six shield charm were combined into one, would it take it to a whole new level? And is this, in turn, would help him peek at the level reached by the four founders of Hogwarts?


    "Magical creatures... hmm... magical creatures is it?" He always remembered the words of Lady Rowena Ravenclaw.


    Only now does he have a direction on how to do it, as he had no clue previously.


    Now finally, there is an idea of combining the understanding of the two shield charms together, which might lead to a seventh-level magic spell.


    Would that be the case, he is actually not sure, but it is worth a try.


    The power of the seventh-level spell is still a minor thing, as Felix estimated that it would not be stronger than those ancient magics he had already mastered, or maybe he can use this opportunity to get a glimpse of the original nature of the shield charm?


    That''s right, the original nature.


    He had always been curious about one thing, modern magic at the end of the line, will it still have heavy restrictions on the spell casting? Or, to put it another way, is the end of modern magic something that turns magic into a wizard''s innate talent?


    As he told the young wizards at the Magic Rune Club, "Maybe we''re just getting back our spell-casting instincts."


    It''s like simple magic like Lumos and Levitation Charm, which Felix can now do just by thinking about it in his head.


    The process does not require any incantation, it''s just him simply ''thinking'' about the cup coming over to him, thus the magic does it for him, similar to the young non-schooled wizard who does all sorts of unimaginable things with their powerful emotions when they''re is in danger.


    Only, Felix''s magical instincts were stronger that he didn''t need to amplify himself with emotions.


    He had read a quote in a book, "The Accidental Magic of the little wizards may not be powerful, but each one is a spectacular banquet of magnificent compound magic. In the moment of blossoming magic, they are omnipotent gods."


    ...


    Thinking left and right, Felix felt that the reason why the same spell was learned in two different forms was most likely because he had been in a state of blindness, touching a corner of the true nature of magic.


    It was like two people climbing a mountain, starting from the same place, and then later choosing different paths, eventually meeting at the top of the mountain, when they looked up from the top, it turned out that there was more than one path to the top. Or maybe they met at the hillside and then collaborated with each other in order to walk the last stretch.


    He recorded these speculations and put them in the thinking room. They were pure fantasy to the little wizard and could be equated with The Strange Adventures of Little Wizard Mick. But for those old wizards who delved into magic theory, it is an absolute gem.


    The day before school started, Felix said goodbye to Madame Maxime, the students of Beauxbatons would not leave for Hogwarts until October, and he promised to take care of the group at that time.


    He made a trip to Diagon Alley first, entrusted the company to Lupin, and returned to Hogwarts before Lupin drew his wand and hexed him.


    He was in a surprisingly relaxed mood when he returned to his ancient runes'' office after a long absence. Then he smiled as he pulled a silver pocket watch out of his pocket and let the Niffler Valen out of it, "This is your new home."


    With an Order of Merlin around her neck and an hourglass in her hand, Niffler kept surveying her surroundings. It meant, "Can I hole up here and look for treasure?


    Felix glanced at her, a quill on the table suddenly jumped up and morphed into a small bench, Valen reflexively straightened her body, as she waved her hand and sighed.


    ----------


    #JAMES fleming, Thanks for your support.


    There are 386+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 348: Dumbledore at Seventeen

    The next day, it rained heavily at Hogwarts, dousing the morning fog in the Forbidden Forest, while leaving everything within sight gray and dull. Niffler shrunk into a basket bed that is covered with a fine sponge and velvet sheet. Since yesterday, when she knew that she would be staying at Hogwarts for a long time, she refused to go into the space inside the pocket watch and moved her bed out when Felix wasn''t looking, then she hid the silver pocket watch away, and later Felix can''t find where she had put it even after he sorted through her collection again.


    Of course, he did not seriously look for it, he can''t always keep her inside - before there was nothing he could do when they''re out of the house. S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Somehow, her collection got enriched - silver fork, which should be the tableware of Beauxbatons; the crystal ball emitting light, Felix looked at it left and right before recognizing it as the one from Nicolas''s former residence - the first time he saw it, the top was covered with dust, but now it is clean and smooth.


    When Felix looked at Valen, she carefully blew a breath and rubbed the surface of the crystal ball with her small hand to make the interior more visible with clarity and brightness. In addition, there are also some miscellaneous new objects, presumably also collected while Felix was not paying attention, thermostatic pendant, badger-shaped magic lamp, flint case, gray hourglass, gold necklace - oh, this Felix knows it, he changed it with golden galleons, the reason is to find out how dark the Gringotts Goblins actually are, to find how much galleons mixed with sand and other minerals, the result well ... he suddenly wanted to rob the Goblin race.


    He remembered having read a book about ancient goblins, which described in detail the extravagant life of the top ten families of goblins, all kinds of details written vividly as if the wizard who wrote the book lying on his stomach in the goblin burrows to check it out.


    In his description, these goblin families are comparable to the Malfoy of today''s magical world.


    It''s hard to say who the wizard who wrote the book had more ill will towards, but Lucius Malfoy certainly wouldn''t have liked to let the metaphor circulate.


    It had been a week since the Quidditch World Cup had ended, and in that time Lucius had not given him any response. Felix is in no hurry, these pureblood families will choose a good day to even send invitations, let alone to bow down and submit to him from now on.


    In addition, the Ministry of Magic has not given up on tracking down the escaped hooded wizard due to public pressure, so I guess the matter will have to drag on for a while.


    But Felix only intends to wait until Christmas this year, if Lucius does not respond by then, he will have to collect the debt.


    Right now, Niffler Valen has taken a fancy to the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake, which is kept on his workbench, and at the same time she also adores the silvery memory stone basin, but last night Felix taught her a new lesson.


    The new lesson in summary - Her little Pocket should be used to hold her favourite things, and anything that is not that precious should be kept in the office, which is also her home and hideout.


    Since then, she has learned the truth that the cunning Niffler should have three caves(hideout) ...


    There is also the fact that it cannot steal other people''s things, otherwise, Felix will cast a spell to seal up her little pocket and will also give her treasures away in front of her. Then there is an additional reward if she behaves well.


    After many days of education and coercion, Niffler Valen raised her three pink fingers and swore to heaven in the name of her two little brothers.


    "Rumble!"


    A lightning bolt cut through the gray sky and illuminated the figure of Felix standing in front of the window screen. Niffler Warren raised her head, squirmed her body to climb onto Felix''s shoulder, and looked out with him at the thick curtain of rain.


    They listened to the sound of the pouring rain, the thin, blown away haze of rain hitting their faces, which is cool and refreshing.


    Felix tilted his head slightly to the side and said with a grin, "Don''t wear that necklace in the future, it''s too ugly." Niffler also turned her nose away, her dark little eyes despising his aesthetics.


    Eleven o''clock in the morning.


    By this time, the Hogwarts Express would have departed King''s Cross station, spewing out steam and heading towards the Scottish Highlands.


    Felix appeared in the Headmaster''s office, where Professor McGonagall is sitting on the sofa and discussing with Dumbledore about the reception of the four wizarding schools during the tournament of champions.


    "... Madame Maxime and the students of Beauxbatons will be arriving in a carriage, and they can be housed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and the people of Durmstrang will come by boat and can be housed close to the Black Lake ...," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, "but the other two schools are not easy to arrange, although Uagadou does not mind living in the forbidden forest, as they can turn themselves into small animals-"


    "Minerva," Dumbledore propped a hand on his forehead, "Ilvermorny will use the Portkey to cross the continent and will disguise themselves as a travelling group, they can be accommodated near the Quidditch pitch, and as for Uagadou, they won''t be here until later... ..."


    "Later than scheduled?" Professor McGonagall asked, "How many days later?"


    "That''s the problem." Dumbledore said, gesturing for Felix to find a place to sit down as he said with some distress, "They''re planning to travel all the way over here."


    Professor McGonagall looked at him in surprise, "Albus, what are you talking about, they''re literally in Africa!"


    "Yeah, I know, and I''ve been there a few times, especially hoping to try the dream messenger job -" Dumbledore said with a smirk: "Tell the young wizards in their dreams that you''ve been accepted, and then leaving a notice behind. "


    "Dumbledore--" Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly.


    "Oh, yes ... where were we? The people from Uagadou use the journey as a training exercise, they''ve always had that tradition, but going from Africa to England is something that has never happened before."


    Professor McGonagall''s expression grew serious, "Albus, this shows that they take this competition very seriously, I can almost imagine what kind of honing those children have gone through on the road, compared to them, our students can''t even pronounce the incantation properly."


    "Minerva, don''t get carried away." Dumbledore smiled and said, "I always thought that our students are not that bad. Isn''t that right, Felix?"


    Felix looked up and laughed, dismantling the stage, "Albus, I just got back from Beauxbatons, and their students have been informed of the Tournament in advance, and they are using the summer break for special training."


    "Uh ..." Dumbledore was dumbfounded as he looked at Professor McGonagall, and sure enough, she said indignantly in a loud voice: "Look at that, Dumbledore! Other schools are preparing, and we?! Having a happy time over the holidays, the students don''t even know that their Quidditch match is cancelled this year."


    "Minerva ..."


    "... I''ve been trying to talk to you about this for a long time, and it turns out that you can''t be found at all, just like a hands-off manager." Professor McGonagall''s chest constantly heaving, obviously exasperated, at the thought of Hogwarts students will be hung up and beaten, her heart stuffed tight.


    Felix, who was watching the fun, looked away sheepishly, thinking about Lupin, to whom he had left a whole load of work.


    ''Is Remus in the same mood as Minerva?''


    "Minerva," Dumbledore obliged to appease his Deputy Headmistress, so he said, "I have made arrangements, and Felix is here today for that matter."


    "Really?" Professor McGonagall gave him a sceptical expression.


    "Of course," Felix nodded, "I advised the Headmaster during the holidays to include some spells that must be mastered before graduation, and Albus said that he would have to reconsider, and now he will probably agree with it?"


    "Not this matter." Dumbledore said helplessly.


    "But I think it''s a good proposal," McGonagall said as she looked over at Felix, "I''ve always thought the young wizards were too lazy, Felix, we could talk about it sometime and get it settled."


    Dumbledore interrupted their conversation and said bluntly, "I''m going to let the Dueling Club take on additional roles, and it will become a special elective course with an open-ended faculty that can be rotated. And Felix, you''ll have to spare more time for special training of the champions."


    "Why me?" Felix asked curiously.


    "You have the unique advantage with those magical teaching aids ..." Dumbledore winked, "they will help with the champions'' training a lot, didn''t you ask me to give my opinion, I think that stone basin is far from being used as it should be, it has surpassed the Pensieve."


    Felix mulled over the headmaster''s words, "You mean-"


    "I can offer a memory of the seventeen-year-old me." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "Containing my own battle wisdom."


    Felix was taken aback, a wizard''s memory is his most valuable asset, many people will guard it very tightly, although he knew that Dumbledore would certainly eliminate irrelevant memories beforehand to prevent someone from snooping, but this trust came too suddenly.


    Dumbledore smiled slightly when he saw Felix looking at him blankly: "Am I an old fogey in your eyes, who is still living in the last century?"


    Felix regained his composure, "Just a bit of a surprise, Headmaster Dumbledore."


    Professor McGonagall was very interested in what they were talking about, and after learning what the Memory Stone basin could do, she immediately decided to join in, "There are other professors we can get-"


    "No, Minerva," Dumbledore shook his head firmly and said in a quiet voice, "Don''t bother the other professors, we can''t force them to make a decision, don''t even mention it."


    Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, but Dumbledore''s attitude was so firm that she did not raise her voice to object. "Alright then, I''ll go and set up the great hall with Filius." She said and walked out of the office.


    "Headmaster, what led you to this decision? To be honest, I was shocked just now." Felix said jokingly when only two people were left in the Headmaster''s office.


    "Because Dumbledore received a letter from ...," the Sorting Hat on the compartment suddenly cracked open a slit on it and said audibly.


    But Dumbledore directed a solemn gaze at it, and it immediately shut its mouth and turned to softly hummed the song of this year''s Sorting.


    "


    Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,


    Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,


    Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,


    Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.


    They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, ... They shared a wish, a hope ..."


    The Sorting Hat seemed to not have made up the lyrics, or was in the final stages of rehearsal, repeating the last line over and over again, but the song was so hard to listen to as Felix had listened to it for seven years when he was at school, and two years after he graduated, that he grew a bit tired of it, if only it would just shut up and let itself be studied.


    Dumbledore did not care about the Sorting Hat, he just raised the volume, as he explained: "Remember the Christmas present you gave me the first year you joined, ''The 99 inventions that changed the world''? I passed it to a friend, and we talked about what was in it when you were mentioned incidentally."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 388+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 349: Reality Adaptation

    Felix nodded slightly, from what he was aware of, Dumbledore travelled widely, has friends all over the world. If you add the number of his fans, ten Lockhart combined won''t be his rival. Sometimes he could not help but speculate, the reason why Dumbledore seems so busy, wasn''t it because he was hiding in his office writing letters to his pen pals all around the world ... S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ahem! You can''t stray too much, the headmaster should be doing some serious tasks, like analysing Tom Riddle''s childhood life, with that he might as well write a thesis like "The influence of childhood upbringing on the key choices of a wizard''s life when he grows up: a brief analysis from first, second, and third perspectives".


    Felix took out the stone basin from the ring, and the two entered the inner space, which is a white world with a foggy surrounding.


    Dumbledore surveyed the surroundings with interest, he said with a sigh, "You are the only one in this world who has this ability, judging from the traces of magic left behind, very subtle, yes ... subtle."


    Felix asked, "No one else can''t do it?" He made it without much thought about anything else, he just thought about it then made it, and he also considered it at that time as a defective product, not as good as the original Pensieve, so he never cared.


    It was only later that he gradually developed its functions.


    Dumbledore said: "I''ll say what I can see, ancient runes, alchemy, Hardening Charm, Extension Charm, Transfiguration, Memory Magic ... very unique, I seem to see some solid magic nodes ... "


    He stretched out his hand, his slender fingers pointed in the air, the surrounding clouds immediately churned up.


    "What is this?" He asked curiously.


    "The memory node, and also the magic node here." Felix said briefly.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, "It seems you have made improvements, it''s getting farther away from the function of the Pensieve, but closer to the Room of Requirement."


    His eyes swept around sharply, causing Felix to feel a vague tingle and a layer of goosebumps on his skin, like irritation.


    The Headmaster''s vision is very sharp.


    Although the shape of the stone basin is very similar to the Pensieve, it is closer to the principle of the Room of Requirement - it is enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm, which stretched the space to the size of five-six basketball courts, and filled with various blank memory fragments inside, which remained intact with the help of the Runes. He also used memory nodes to build a more solid structure.


    The advantage of this is that real people and false illusions can interact, and as the owner of the stone basin, Felix is able to use the all-pervasive memory power to perform what he is capable of in the thinking room.


    Felix took a few steps forward, the clouds churned and opened a path, and an ancient pyramid appeared in front of the two, he showed a smile and extended an invitation, "Headmaster, this is a level adapted and inspired from a real experience, er, a real experience I had during the summer ... want to try it? "


    Dumbledore took his eyes off the memory node and carefully examined the pyramid in the cloud, he knew it is all false, probably just a memory manifestation, but it looks quite real.


    Could Felix really have mastered the principle of the Room of Requirement? He became interested and walked toward the open golden door, and could see that the interior of the pyramid is pitch black, and from nowhere a beam of light hurled into the inner part about seven or eight feet from the door, but it appeared it became even more pitch black in the depths.


    The two stepped into the pyramid, and the next second, Felix''s figure suddenly disappeared, and the door slammed shut.


    Dumbledore looked at the eerie and frightening Pharaoh''s burial tomb with its own miserable soundtrack, so he muttered: "I''m just an old man ..." He drew his wand, and slashed his arm down, "Buzz ~" Magic fluctuations made the entire pyramid shake in unison.


    If it had legs, it probably would have run away by itself.


    Felix''s sigh echoed around: "Headmaster, this is just a toy I made for the members of the Magic Rune Club, it just happened to occur to me that it could be used to train champions, but it still can''t handle a spell at your full strength ..."


    Dumbledore''s eyes seemed to see the very top of the pyramid, where Felix is sitting lazily at the top, waiting for him.


    Dumbledore smiled faintly, put away his wand, and walked up the only path as he picked his pace, meeting all sorts of strange creatures, only to be blocked by vines, chains, and tough barriers that suddenly appeared, and after a few minutes, he pushed open a door where Felix is sitting right outside, looking over the sea of clouds.


    "Albus, what do you think?"


    Dumbledore said with amusement, "I''m going to praise your imagination, Felix. Big spiders and pythons are still traceable, what''s with those cars that screech and transform, is it Arthur''s car that inspired you? But as far as I know, it stayed well in the forbidden forest and did not develop any strange abilities.


    There are also monsters with insect exoskeletons and acid breath ..."


    Felix said nonchalantly, "Some are made up, some are from films that I saw and borrowed them here." His two little legs dangled out and kept swaying.


    "It''s wonderful, but unfortunately I have not studied it in depth." Dumbledore said, he thought carefully, commented: "Our ideas actually have similarities, those ... wacky creatures of yours, can be used to exercise the students'' adaptability, although it is clear that you did not put too much thought, and there is less connection with reality."


    Felix also admitted this, "the more you know, the more real the memory will be, this is the drawback of constructing a virtual memory, I can''t do anything about it. Instead of making a real 4d world and making students confuse it with reality, it would be better to deliberately make it look false at a glance."


    If he intends to construct a Sphinx, then he must know the habits of this magical creature very well-to-do so, or else if you made a messy alteration as a matter of course, as a result, the students believe it as real, then what if they encounter a real Sphinx in the wild, they might make a fatal mistake at that time.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, agreeing with his opinion. Every time he exchanged ideas about magic with Felix, there would be something new to learn. He thought down this line of thought and quickly thought of ways to perfect it. He thought of a man who could certainly recreate a magical creature vividly if it were him -


    The world''s most distinguished expert in the Magizoologist, Newt Scamander.


    The only question is whether there is a need for that, Dumbledore secretly noted this, decided to keep observing it further.


    "I also noticed a problem, which may not be considered as a real issue, but it is worth noticing." Dumbledore said, "this place somewhat has singular means of protection, as long as there is someone who has a certain understanding of memory magic, they can borrow the authority of this place."


    He waved his hand, the pyramid beneath the two of them collapsed in an instant, they then stood very abruptly in a square, which Felix had just made it out of the stained-glass on a crumbling tomb, and the next second, the scene changed into empty highlands, and before their eyes was another blur, then they were standing in front of the Hogwarts castle bay window.


    Dumbledore said softly: "When it comes to the attainment of memory magic, I''m actually no match for you, but I can still manifest these scenes. Also, I just made my will infiltrate and let the surroundings mistakenly think I ''cast a successful spell'', and they became what I wanted them to be ..."


    Felix shrugged: "You made a good point, there are indeed quite a few loopholes. I was just too lazy to correct it before, after all," he gave a dangerous smile and kept flexing his fingers, "if any student from the club dares to try something funny, I''ll let them experience a twenty-minute free fall ..."


    Dumbledore fell silent at that.


    ...


    They emerged from the stone basin, Dumbledore needed some time to prepare for extracting the memories of his youth, the good thing is that every headmaster must leave a portrait of himself, he is not a stranger to this process.


    Felix returned to his office, in the sound of dense rain, suddenly thought of something, he drew his wand, the tip of the wand exploded into a silvery light, rain swallow Patronus took shape in midair. He then placed his wand against his forehead and drew a silver line, which outlined in the air, and a silver white-coloured cloak slowly appeared.


    The rain swallow Patronus let out a chirp and plunged into the cloak, and after the dazzling light disappeared, a ghost that hid its face beneath the cloak appeared.


    "Let''s call you ... Well, forget it for now, and let''s see if you can fool the ghosts in the castle."


    Felix surveyed the ''ghost'' in front of him, it kind of looked like a dementor that got a facelift, he suddenly remembered that he still had a dozen of them in his ring, his schedule was too full recently, that the original research work had to be postponed again and again.


    The silver-white ''ghost'' is about three feet off the ground when it turned to leave, "You can look for the Peeves, he fears Baron for a reason." Felix reminded.


    "Whoosh!"


    The ''ghost'' disappeared in a flash, Felix reached up to hold his forehead, "The speed hasn''t changed at all, anyone can see the problem now."


    He took over the Patronus and wandered around the castle in its perspective ...


    Meanwhile, on the Hogwarts Express train -


    In the carriage, a golden shadow scurried around headlessly, and as it approached, Harry reached out and clutched the golden snitch in one fell swoop, "Nice catch!" The twins passing by gave him a thumbs up.


    Harry grinned, expecting Cho Chang to pass by in the corridor and see him catching the golden snitch accidentally; she is a Ravenclaw seeker, so she should be able to tell how difficult this move is.


    He had just seen Cho Chang in the corridor and couldn''t resist the urge to do something to impress her, then he remembered the advice Sirius had given him a while ago, and he rummaged it out of his travelling trunk.


    He is now so skilled at it, as he was playing with golden snitch whenever he was bored at Dursley''s house.


    A ruckus came from the side of the door, and a familiar dragging voice drifted in through a small, thumb-sized gap in the door.


    "... You know, Father really considered sending me to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts. He knew the Headmaster of that school. But my mother didn''t want me to go to the school that far away ... Durmstrang students are seriously studying dark magic, I mean, some of it comes in handy ..."


    Hermione stood up and tiptoed over to the compartment door, shutting it tightly to keep Malfoy''s voice out.


    "Leave the golden snitch alone, you look so silly, Harry." She said impatiently.


    Harry snapped, ready to put the golden snitch away, Ron took it as soon as he could, "Let me play with it for a while." He''d just taken a quick glance. Harry pointed towards Hermione and shrugged, "Ron!" Hermione yelled, Ron''s hand shook, and he slapped Harry in the face.


    "Oh, sorry, Harry-"


    There is a flurry of activity in the compartment, Ron''s new owl bouncing around the cage, Hermione''s pet cat " whining and whimpering ", and when everything calmed down, Harry''s face left with a red slap mark, and two scratch marks from the cat''s claws.


    He immediately changed his mind, before he regretted that he could not meet Cho Chang, but now he sincerely hoped that he would not bump into her.


    Even when the snack cart passed their compartment, Harry begged Ron and Hermione to go out and buy some.


    After a while, Ron returned with a pile of snacks in his arms, placed them on the small table, and said to Harry with a very strange expression, "You were right."


    "What?" Harry ripped open a box of chocolate frog and bit off the head of the frog in one bite.


    "We met Cho Chang, and she came with her friend to buy snacks, it''s a good thing you didn''t go ..."


    Harry suddenly choked, he coughed violently, his face turned red, "What are you talking about-"


    "Well," Ron wrapped his hand around his shoulders and said playfully, "I could tell that you had a thing for her from the last term, it''s pretty obvious - ask Hermione."


    Harry''s heart suddenly burst out, now all he wanted is to find a crack in the ground.


    Hermione raised her eyebrows, "I thought you were giggling all the way because you saw Malfoy practicing illumination in the carriage. This is against the rules, I must tell--"


    "-Professor Hap." Ron answered, shaking his head dramatically, "This is a train, no one cares. Might as well talk about Durmstrang, what''s that?"


    ...


    The sky grew dark. In fact, it never dawned, as thick rain clouds covered everything up. After an unknown amount of time, the Hogwarts Express train finally slowed down and docked at the darkened Hogsmeade station.


    The doors opened and the sound of rumbling thunder was heard through the air.


    The trio shivered and looked outside as the rain poured down and the wind howled. "We''re not going to drown on the road, are we?" Harry asked.


    "Think about Hagrid," Ron replied without thinking, "He''s got to take the first years across the Lake in a boat, in this weather, that can be pretty irritating."


    ----------


    #DatPerson and #TheRavenbrand, Thanks for your support.


    There are 388+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 350: Disguised as a ghost... Patronus (Dementor)?

    As usual, the first-year students were being brought by Hagrid via boat over the lake, while the rest of the students took the carriage and travelled along the path to the main entrance of the school. The school great hall.


    "This way, My Lord--" Peeves nodded as he flipped through the air and guided a strange ghost to the great hall. The tall ghost covered himself up so tightly that from under his cloak, only a pair of silver, unfeeling eyes could be seen.


    Peeves said with a smile, "Then I''ll leave you alone now, I have some work to do ... I need to prepare a lot of water balloons for the new students, don''t you want to see the water balloons explode over the heads of the cute little things?"


    The ghost did not say a word, Peeves was just about to leave when a large silver hand poked out from under the cloak and swiftly grabbed the back of Peeves'' neck and shook him hard.


    Peeves struggled twice, but could not break free. Instead, he swayed rhythmically as he floated, with a helpless face.


    He is a Poltergeist or ghost born in the castle, with greater ability compared to ordinary ghosts. Unlike ordinary ghosts who can only slightly interfere with reality, he can truly engage with reality and can even wrestle with the students to see who has more strength.


    The one who could deter him is the professor of the school - as the collective entity of the students'' emotions, Peeves fear of the professor is engraved into his bones, but at the same time, he is the representative of the naughty students, so always be able to talk his way out, and what he truly fears is the professor who is full of authority and uprightness.


    The second one is powerful wizards who can affect him, such as Headmaster Dumbledore and Felix Hap.


    Third, some special ghosts, such as Bloody Baron, and -


    The short Peeves looked at the tall, indifferent ghost in front of him and cursed in a low voice. The silver eyes under the ghost''s cloak suddenly looked at him, to which the Peeves immediately plastered a naive smile and kept rubbing his fingers.


    The ghosts in the great hall murmured -


    "Another newcomer?" Nearly Headless Nick - the resident ghost of Gryffindor House - said sentimentally.


    "Looks like a tough one." The Fat Friar - the resident ghost of Hufflepuff House - said cheerfully, "How nice, just in time when we need someone to deal with the Peeves."


    "Yeah, that''s true." Nearly Headless Nick said, "Ever since Bloody Baron left ...," as he looked around meaningfully, evoking a chorus of echoes and vocal comments about Peeves'' misdeeds. S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "By the way," one of the ghosts asked, "Which of you still have that picture of Peeves?"


    "Oh, That picture when the twins were playing a prank on Peeves by blowing him all over the castle with a fan?" Nearly Headless Nick asked contentedly, with a satisfied smile, "I do, in exchange for five mysteries."


    "How about hosting a photo viewing party?" A ghost suggested.


    About a year or so ago, when it was still Felix''s first year on the job, he had cast a Confundus Charm in response to the Peeves'' provocation, making the Peeves muddled with the concept of time, as he mistakenly believed he had just born, unable to handle the students'' various chaotic and mischievous thoughts.


    His old rival, the Weasley twins, took the opportunity to conjure up two fans and took turns taking Peeves around to exhibit him, and almost succeeded in throwing a party, but unfortunately, it was stopped midway by Professor McGonagall, and many of the young wizards and all the ghosts voiced out their great regret about it.


    Some onlookers at the time took pictures of the spectacle, and later the pictures began to circulate, causing many people to frantically seize them, but when Peeves recovered he got vexed and snatched most of them away.


    During that time, the Moaning Myrtle shuttled through the girls'' lavatories on every floor, telling every student about Peeves bullying and his misdeeds.


    ...


    At the faculty table, Felix and Professor McGonagall chatted about the unfinished business from the Headmaster''s office, and Flitwick joined them halfway through their discussion of which spells would be appropriate to put in the "must-master" category.


    Professor McGonagall said seriously, "I would prefer that the young wizards have all the knowledge they need if possible, every lesson is important."


    "But Minerva, if we intend to do something, we have to consider how we can get the students to accept it." Flitwick pointed out.


    Professor McGonagall grunted, of course, she knew that, she just expected too much from her students.


    Felix nodded gently, "My idea is to break up the spells and divide them into the various grades. For example, the Disarming Charm would be more appropriate to be studied in the third year and assessed in the fourth year, while the Apparition will probably need to be studied in the sixth year and assessed in the seventh year."


    He added: "The purpose of the test is not for credit, rather to make them master those spells truly, so I think the assessment time should be as flexible as possible, and there should not be any limitation on the number of attempts."


    Flitwick thought for a while and said, "That''s a good idea, if we centralize the exam to the last year, probably most students will keep dragging their feet. Severus, what do you think?"


    "I have no opinion, you did not include the potions." Snape said coldly.


    "This ..." Flitwick stammered, "You''re also one of the regular professors in the Dueling Club, aren''t you? You should know that Defense Against the Dark Arts has always been a shortcoming of our students, and thankfully the Dueling Club can fill in some gaps."


    "Lupin taught it well last year." Professor McGonagall interjected.


    "I understand," Flitwick said, "and Belby too, they''re both did it pretty well, but ..."


    He hesitated for a moment, trying to organize his words, "But we all know what that class is like - each professor only has one year to teach, and I won''t deny that Dumbledore has gone out of his way to get as many good wizards as possible to teach the class, but a good wizard and a good professor are two different things. "


    "Just because you learn it well doesn''t mean you can teach it well as well." Felix concluded.


    "That''s right!" Flitwick''s eyes lit up, "That''s right! A good professor needs a lot of experience and the ability to understand the various difficulties that students may encounter ... This process may last for years, but for a professor taking this class, it''s simply not possible."


    "The Charms class and Defense Against the Dark Arts, although both teach spells, they focus on completely different aspects. I teach general practical magic and of course, various basic skills, while those offensive spells and defensive spells that can be used in duels are basically classified under the category of Defense Against the Dark Arts ..."


    "It happens that the professors of this class are the most unstable, if you meet a good teacher, you can learn more, if you meet an unfit one or one who is not good at teaching, you will screw up."


    The professors went silent, a long list of names of professors who had taught Defense Against the Dark Arts classes over the years popped up in their minds, one right after another.


    Felix also pondered the professors he had come into contact with-both those he had met in school and those he had met on in his work-and frankly, the ones like Lockhart had been the bottom line in every sense of the word. Most of professors are just mediocre, or not very good at teaching students, often describing a simple problem in a way that would cloud the minds of young wizards; or talking entirely from their own experience, unable to effectively address the troubles their students would experience.


    There is also a hidden difficulty behind this, which is that the class has not been reasonably planned. Experienced professors like Flitwick and McGonagall, who teach from the first year until graduation, know the characteristics of each student well and will provide targeted guidance.


    And what should be taught at each grade level, how much to teach, and what are the general issues students might encounter, they''re very clear about it.


    And when it comes to the Defense Against the Dark Arts ... it is already good to be able to learn from the book. Professors like Lupin who think about their students and try to make up for their lack of practical lessons can be few and far between.


    Most Professors will follow their own habits and will talk about something here and there. As one Professor will go East, and the other will go West.


    So some students will be surprised to find, after seven years, that they have heard seven classes about the same content - from seven different Professors.


    ...


    Snape grunted disdainfully beside him, isn''t that the fact, what''s there to discuss, he glanced several times at the new ghost in the corner lightly, feeling it should be related to Felix, the shiny cloak looked really familiar.


    And this ghost has never spoken since the beginning, putting a high posture, so that the Nearly Headless Nick who went over to talk snapped and returned.


    A clamour is heard from the main door, the students'' carriage parked at the door, they ran through the heavy rain into the castle, chattering and making a lot of noise, the school instantly filled with a lively atmosphere.


    Felix also stopped talking, his eyes glowed slightly, and the ghost standing quietly in the corner of the great hall suddenly moved and grabbed the Peeves and flew towards the entrance hall.


    The students stepped into the entrance hall, shaking the rainwater as they warmed their bodies with the help of torches hanging high on the walls.


    "Gosh," Ron said, shaking his head hard and spilling droplets everywhere, "It''s simply dripping."


    Harry silently wrung his own sleeve, squeezing out a large puddle of stagnant water. His shoes and pants were also soaked with water, heavily weighed and dragging downward, his hair clinging wetly to his head.


    "What is that?! What is that--" cried Neville, who had been riding in the same carriage with them, with a shocked look on his face.


    The few people around them looked up at the marble steps leading to the great hall, near the entrance, a tall figure hovered in midair amidst the wavering torchlight, draped in a long cloak, his sleeves fluttering, his silver eyes completely apathetic.


    "What''s that he''s carrying in his hand?" Someone noticed the commotion from further away.


    "A freshman?" Someone guessed as that person looked short, like a baby carrot.


    "How is that possible?! They are currently sailing on the lake, wait-" a senior''s eyes widened, "That''s Peeves!"


    "Peeves being carried in his hand? Oh my God!"


    "No, that''s, that''s a dementor, a Dementor!" A student with particularly bad eyes screamed.


    The air instantly froze as the students drew in a cold breath, with their bodies shuddered, and they went into disarray.


    "Ex-pec-to-Patr-onum!" Harry drew his wand and shouted.


    Silver light poured out of his wand and spread on the ground. A silver shadow then leaped out of his wand, and it looked like a stag, leaping towards the dementor.


    Harry did not have time to think about why the Dementor suddenly appeared in the castle, he looked at his Patronus with great anticipation, incredibly sure that it will be like the past, once again will help him.


    "Zizi~"


    Harry wondered if he was seeing things wrong, as the tall ''dementor'' stretched out it''s free hand and propped up the stag''s antlers in one fell swoop, forcing his Patronus to halt.


    He blinked incredulously, his lenses did blur a bit, but he could never mistake a Patronus that big.


    Ron stammered, "Th-is, this should be the leader of the Dementors, right? Look at the size of it, it''s not impossible ..."


    Hermione shuddered and pulled out her wand to try to protect herself, "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num--"


    A seventh-year student also called out, as a silver panther rushed up and got slapped away by the ''Dementor'', and the free Peeves immediately plunged into the wall and disappeared.


    Before he left, he shouted exaggeratedly: "The New Ghost and the Students are Fighting! The New Ghost and the Students are Fighting!"


    Professor McGonagall hurried over, her peaked cap tilted on her head, and she shouted angrily, "Peeves, what are you up to now?!" But the scene before her was not exactly what she had imagined, and she blinked at the scene.


    "Minerva, it''s me." A gentle voice said as the ghost was forced to speak. The sight of the dementor actually speaking scared several students nearby into a group hug.


    Professor McGonagall recognized his voice, so she held her breath and yelled at the ghost in a small voice: "FELIX HAP, impersonating as a Dementor to scare the students is not a decent thing to do, I tell you-"


    "Uh it was an accident, Sorry Minerva, they mistook me as a Dementor ..."


    Ghost Felix said awkwardly, he never thought that someone would identify the ghost as a Dementor, and what was even more outrageous was that Harry immediately cast the Patronus spell to attack him.


    How''s their brain even work?


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, her nostrils opening and closing with a heavy breathing sound, a prelude to her outburst, usually, it will be accompanied by a scolding and a deduction of twenty points, plus a different type of detention, except given that Felix himself is a professor, she can''t use any of those latter.


    "I''ll leave now." The ghost hurriedly said, he did not want to provoke the raging lion, even Dumbledore won''t provoke McGonagall when she is in this state, so he disappeared with a "whoosh".


    Professor McGonagall''s chest was heaving, as she glanced at the House point hourglasses that used to record the house points in the entrance hall for a while, before she said sternly to the drenched crowd, "What are you waiting for, into the great hall, quickly!"


    She led the way into the great hall, followed by the sagging students, who walked with a splashing sound, leaving a wet footprint.


    "If I were you guys, I''d use a spell to dry the moisture out of my body."


    Professor McGonagall paused and said with a headache, it is difficult to imagine that among these students, there will be champions who represent Hogwarts and compete for the school''s glory in the Tournament of Champions in a month or so.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 390+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 351: Moody

    The new students excitedly walked in a long line to the great hall to wait for their sorting, while Felix felt a little hungry. Niffler Valen felt the same.


    "Just wait a little longer, let''s make a bet and guess if there''s any Raisin Pudding on the table later, by the way, do you eat grapes?" Felix asked in a whisper, Niffler sat on his lap, stretching her neck to stare at the empty table, with some disappointment.


    Especially whenshe requested with her eyes, asking if she could collect a set of Hogwarts tableware, Felix rejected her without mercy.


    Snape looked at them with a strange expression on the side, but Niffler was only interested in shiny and delicate things, as she looked at the silvery long beard of the Dumbledore who suddenly appeared for a while, and then turned her head to look at Flitwick who was sitting on a high cushion, her curious eyes were completely insufficient for her needs.


    "...


    Now slip me snug about your ears, ~


    I''ve never yet been wrong, ~


    I''ll have a look inside your mind.


    And tell where you belong!~"


    With booming applause, the Sorting Hat ended the yearly song and the Sorting officially began. The only thing that surprised Felix was that the last line of the song wasn''t "They shared a wish, a hope, a dream" - he had heard it so many times in the Headmaster''s office that he subconsciously thought that''s how the Sorting Hat intended to end the song.


    "Stewart Ackerley!" Professor McGonagall stood aside, unfolding a long roll of parchment and brushing over the name to read it.


    A boy stepped forward, and you could tell he was shaking from head to toe. He grabbed the Sorting Hat and put it on his head, sitting on the stool, nervously rolling his eyes a little.


    "Ravenclaw!" Sorting Hat shouted.


    Stewart Ackerley took off the hat and hurried to his seat at the Ravenclaw table, where everyone at the table applauded and greeted him.


    "Malcolm Baddock!" "Slytherin!"


    "Eleanor Branston!" "Hufflepuff!"


    "Owen Cauldwell!" "Hufflepuff!"


    "Dennis Creevey!" "Gryffindor!"


    The little kid with the last name Creevey was wearing a large moleskin coat, which obviously belonged to Hagrid, and which looked like a sturdy piece of fur tent for a first-year freshman. When he assigned to Gryffindor House, he thought nothing about it and ran at a brisk pace to the Gryffindor House spot.


    As he ran, he yelled excitedly, sharing his experience: "Colin! I fell into the lake! The lake!"


    "The Sorting Hat! Leave the Sorting Hat behind!"


    Professor McGonagall shouted after him twice, but he didn''t respond. As a last resort, she nudged with her wand and made the Sorting Hat float back on its own, while Felix hooked his fingers and made the Moleskin Coat fly to Hagrid, who was just about to get up.


    "Thanks, Felix." Hagrid said gruffly, as he reached up and shook his coat as the drizzle fell everywhere.


    On the other hand, Gryffindor House let out a hearty laugh, the freshman scratched his head, somewhat sheepishly sat next to a student who looked a lot like him, and after a moment of tranquillity, he began to describe his fall into the lake excitedly, "I fell into the lake, dunked a few mouthfuls of water, and thought, That''s the end! Then suddenly something pushed me back into the boat!"


    "That was cool!" His older brother, who is two years older - Colin Creevy - exclaimed as excited as his brother, "Probably the giant squid, Dennis!"


    Colin pointed to Harry who is a few seats away and said, "See that boy over there? The one with the long black hair and glasses? He''s Harry Potter! And he''s in all twelve of those photo albums I sent home, along with his friends!"


    His brother Dennis looked at Harry curiously, if not for the fact that his brother was hospitalized for most of the first year because he indirectly stared at the basilisk, the family''s photo albums might not have been able to fit his brother''s collections.


    But thanks to his brother''s photo album, he recognized Harry right away. And his brother continued to talk: "I just asked him to pray for you to be sorted into Gryffindor, and guess what? It worked!"


    "I''ll tell you more about the Patronus he released in the entrance hall, handsome as hell ..."


    Human emotions are hard to predict. Harry''s face burned a little, and Ron asked him teasingly, "Did you just pray for that?"


    Harry stammered and hastily changed the subject by saying, "That empty seat is supposed to be the new professors, right?" He pointed to the faculty table.


    "Who else can it be?" Ron muttered, "But he''s late, and the dinner is about to start."


    In fact, the empty seat at the faculty table remained unoccupied until nearly the end of the dinner, when Harry was so bloated that he had to part with half of the smoked potatoes on his plate.


    Felix used transfiguration to create a small set of tables and chairs on which Niffler Valen sat, eating a piece of finely sliced Raisin Pudding, with a white napkin tied around her chest.


    Niffler, who had finished her meal early, was bored and sniffed the air for various smells, and soon found an acquaintance.


    It pulled on Felix''s pant leg and pointed in a direction, Felix looked blank - the little girl is too small how could he see what she meant, but he could see the direction and guess what she meant.


    "Go ahead and don''t steal anything from anyone, not even the tableware, Remember?"


    Niffler nodded energetically.


    She wormed her way under the dining tables, crossing over a trail of legs by stomping indiscriminately, then she quickly spotted her target and crawled up to her thighs.


    "Ouch!" Hermione yelped, looking down and meeting a pair of small, dark eyes.


    "Valen?" She whispered as Ron, Harry and several students around the table looked over. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "A black duck?" Dean Thomas, who grew up mostly in a Muggle household, wondered.


    "I guess that''s a Niffler." Neville said quietly.


    "Niff-what?"


    "Niffler, her name is Valen, and she''s raised by Professor Hap." Hermione said with an introduction.


    "She?" Dean got taken aback.


    "That''s right!" Hermione hugged the Niffler happily, "She''s a little lady, aren''t chu cutie?"


    Ron stared at Valen and said, "I''ve always wanted one, they''re notorious for being treasure hunters, it was on Fred and George''s New Year''s wish list when they were little."


    Fred poked his head over from where Angelina had been sitting at the table as he said, "Don''t slander us, our wishes changed a long time ago."


    "Yeah," said George, sitting on his other side, "especially when we learned, upon inquiring, that Niffler is better at rummaging through the pockets of those around it, we changed our minds."


    "Watch your pockets, and your forks-" Fred concluded with a cautionary note.


    "And the goblets." George added.


    Ron covered his pockets sadly, "They have a point, Harry, it''s staring at your coin!"


    Niffler, which had been sitting in Hermione''s arms, stared at Harry, who is holding a muggle coin, which is golden and shiny, the one Felix modified last year, with a spell on it to monitor the number of times he can cast an apparition perfectly.


    According to the agreement, Harry must fill in its golden glow before he can use the apparition outside the Room of Requirement.


    When he left school last year, he was a bit short of the mark, but over the summer he followed Sirius around and inadvertently filled up the last bit ...


    At this point, Dumbledore smiled and began to speak, starting with the usual lines, Filch''s list of banned items is updated every year, and has now been accumulated with four hundred and thirty-seven items; he once again repeated that students are not allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest privately.


    These words had been familiar to them for a long time, and the circle around Harry did not listen very attentively; they were obviously more interested in Niffler-


    "Harry, you''d better put the coin away, although Professor Hap had taught her, but - oh gosh!"


    Hermione paused in surprise as Niffler Valen''s meaty hands pulled a golden galleon from her pocket, as she placed it on the table, and then pointed to Harry''s coin.


    "What''s it doing?" Ron asked in confusion.


    "I think," Hermione said incredulously, taking a deep breath, "Harry, it wants to trade with you--"


    The trio looked at each other, what a strange Niffler, Ron chuckled, "Professor Hap''s education is really ... haha ... really effective, even the Niffler''s nature has been corrected. "


    But soon, he couldn''t laugh anymore, because of the delayed response, Valen though Harry didn''t want to, so she pulled out another gold galleon from her small pocket and stacked it on top of the first one.


    Harry watched it dazedly as a third and fourth golden galleon soon stacked up on the long dining table, and the longer it went on, the slower Niffler moved, her little pink hands shivering a bit and even Dean could see how reluctant she was.


    Niffler stretched out her finger and pointed at the golden galleons stacked high, and pointed at the coins glowing in Harry''s hand, giving off a little rich girl vibe that made everyone around her stare in awe.


    Ron said encouragingly, "Don''t surrender, Harry. Let''s see how many galleons it can come up with, Merlin''s beard ah ... it''s much richer than me!"


    At this point, Dumbledore finally spoke about something closely related to the students, "... I also have to tell you with great regret that there will be no Quidditch match for the House Cup this year."


    "What?" Harry looked up, gasping in surprise. He wasn''t the only one, most of the students were stunned by the news.


    "Rumble!"


    A bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, thunder exploded outside the castle, rattling the glass windows, as a great hall door slammed open.


    A man walked in, leaning on a long cane, wearing a black travelling cloak. With the bright light in the great hall, the pupils of the four house students saw his appearance as they drew in a cold breath.


    The man''s face looked like it was carved out of a piece of rotting wood, and it was done by a crappy craftsman who was absolutely inept in carving, every inch of skin was scarred, his nose lacked a piece of flesh, one leg is a wooden Prosthetic leg, and when he walked, he made a thumping sound, scaring the young wizards on either side of him as he passed by the table, as they hastily shrank back towards their tables.


    Harry stared at Moody''s face and then at the half-smoked potatoes on his plate, then his stomach suddenly reeled a little.


    After he approached, the students found that the most frightening thing about the stranger should be his eyes, one intact, but the other - Niffler in Hermione''s arms, covered her face with her two small hands afraid to look at him, but she still did not forget to reach out and stuff the golden galleons on the table back into her pocket.


    Hermione felt both amused and embarrassed, but when her eyes fell on the stranger''s eyes, she couldn''t laugh anymore. The eye looked like a big, round, fake eye, in the eye sockets it rolled up and down, sometimes leaving only the white of the eye, it looked like as if it should be staring behind him.


    He then simply shook hands with Dumbledore, and sat down in the only empty seat, ignoring the rest of the people, and ate the remaining food on the table. But his blue fake eye still kept turning around to survey the great hall and the students.


    "Allow me to introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor," Dumbledore cheerfully broke the silence, "Professor Moody."


    In a frightening silence, Dumbledore announced the existence of the tournament, and he described the origin and development of the original Triwizard Tournament and how it had to be called off after centuries because of too many deaths, and how the Ministry of Magic was finally well-prepared, and this time, the number of schools participating in the tournament had increased to five.


    Many students did not even know about Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, let alone Ilvermorny and Uagadou outside of Europe, and they listened to Dumbledore''s speech as if they were listening about flying Rainbow colour pig.


    And Felix is not unfamiliar with this information, he cleared his throat, as Niffler Valen immediately jumped down from Hermione''s arms, deliberately taking a long detour to avoid Moody, who has frightening eyes.


    Moody was holding a sausage and eating it, as his false eye followed Niffler''s trail and saw it finally climbing onto the shoulder of a young professor. Then he let out a low "snort".


    "Little thing."


    ----------


    #Patrick Wishart, Thanks for your support.


    There are 390+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 352: “Constant Vigilance”

    "The Headmaster of the four magic schools and the carefully selected candidates for the competition will arrive one after another in October, and the ritual of selecting the champions will be held on Halloween." "In addition to winning glory for the school, the winner will personally receive a prize of one thousand Galleons."


    "But - only students over the age of seventeen will be allowed to sign up because the competition program is still difficult and dangerous - no matter how many precautions we take, students below the sixth grade and seventh grade are unlikely to be able to handle it."


    "The group will be with us for most of this school year, and I hope you will behave in a warm and friendly manner to the very end. To form a better relation and understanding between every student, we have prepared some exchange activities ..."


    Dumbledore ended the dinner amidst a controversial buzz, with the students full of complaints about that age restriction rule.


    "Are we just supposed to watch?" Ron stomped hard on the stairs as he headed towards the common room.


    Hermione said seriously: "This is to protect us from being in danger because of our reckless arrogance, you know the tournament was suspended due to the death of so many people in the past--"


    Ron didn''t even listen carefully, muttering in a small voice: "That''s a thousand galleons." He looked at Fred and George, who were walking ahead of them and were discussing whether the Ageing Potion would work.


    "I think a drop or two will be enough, we''re not more than a few months away from adulthood, George ...," Fred mused seriously.


    Ron said sourly, "There are still six months left, but I do hope they make it," he twisted his head to ask Harry: "What do you think? If Fred and George succeed, I mean, I wonder if the knowledge we''ve learned is enough ..."


    Harry shook his head, shaking off the various glorious visions in his head, he already couldn''t help but imagine he had deceived the age limit set by the Headmaster and won the Tournament of Champions, lifting the trophy amidst the cheers and shrieks of the crowd ...


    "Yeah, I thought it would be nearly enough, too." Ron misunderstood Harry''s bobbing head and thought he was responding to his question. He snapped his fingers, "Well, we do have dueling classes, study groups, and a magic runes club for that matter, though ..."


    He said with some frustration, " We still can''t compete with those sixth and seventh-year students, unless Professor Hap teaches us a powerful ancient magic in private, because we just can''t hope to blind our opponents with illumination, can we?"


    In this discussion about the competition, although Ron was the most talkative, but it was more similar to the emotional outburst of the teenager who was not able to get what he wanted, as he knew in his own heart that the possibility of being selected is unlikely, yet his words made Harry and Hermione on the side silent.


    Harry thought of two images of Professor Hap casting a continuous apparition in front of him. One was in the forbidden forest in the second year, when they suspected that the new Professor Hap is related to the Chamber of Secrets, so they followed and discovered the scene of the professor practicing magic. It was shocking at the time, but Harry had pretty much forgotten about it after so long; the other time was at the Quidditch World Cup, just recently, and in a real live battle. Professor Hap had played with hundreds of rowdy wizards with the continuous apparition, and none could follow his movements with their eyes!


    ''What if I could do the same thing? I am not that bad in the first place, no students in the school can surpass me in the Disarming Charm now, plus the Continuous Apparition ...'' Harry''s heart became hot.


    And Hermione thought of the ancient magic that the professor had taught her over the summer, golden flames leaped from her fingertips and turned into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye ... Of course, that was the effect demonstrated to her by the professor, she had yet to learn it on her own.


    Hermione patted her head, what the hell was she thinking, and she would not attempt to break the age restriction.


    On the other hand, in the great hall, the professors stayed behind.


    Dumbledore and Moody were talking, and Moody answered gruffly, in a loud voice: "Yes, Arthur and the rest arrived just in time to scare off the sneak attackers by showing up early!"


    Professor McGonagall looked at him in surprise: "You were attacked this morning?" It suddenly occurred to her that Moody had been in constant trouble since he retired, often suspecting dark wizards were assassinating him. Even if someone just walked along with him for a while, he would suddenly draw his wand against the other party and loudly question why he was stalking him.


    This kind of thing happened not once or twice, for this reason, Moody was forced to leave the community and live in a remote place, which appears to be a muggle community.


    Right now, McGonagall wondered if he might simply be being over-sensitive.


    "How can it be false!" Moody yelled, "A bunch of scumbags, trying to sneak up on me while I''m sleeping, but who am I? I guarded against that for a long time, but those scum were really not that weak, they blocked me inside my house, and as a last resort, I blew up two garbage bins to attract attention."


    He said in a thick voice, his false eyes darting around in his eye sockets, looking at people squarely in the eyes, a very few Professors looked at him.


    "Did you get a good look at who it was, Alastor?" Dumbledore asked mildly.


    "No, I''m old, Albus." Moody patted his fake leg and said reluctantly, "If only it had been a few years earlier ..."


    At last, the line of sight between his two eyes came together in one place, and he looked at Felix, calmly: "I can only offer advice now, and use my past experience to put on a show."


    Felix calmly looked back, while appeasing a somewhat agitated Niffler. It is his first time meeting Moody in person, after having heard of his famous, dazzling name.


    It could be said that Alastor Moody had brought a large part of Barty Crouch''s fame to fruition. He had been Crouch''s sharpest sword, the best in the history of the Ministry of Magic, specializing in capturing dark wizards, and half of Azkaban''s cells had been filled by him.


    Just like the psychological shadow he left on a considerable number of dark wizards, he also left a strong personal mark on the Ministry of Magic''s Auror office.


    Except that after a great deal of dangerous encounters, he became somewhat paranoid, if not overly paranoid, but that still didn''t stop him from becoming an icon in the minds of most of the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic - the equivalent of St. Mungo''s former dean Dorothea Bonham, if the analogy were to be made.


    Of course, with his rude, grumpy, and tactless personality, he did offend many people, making it difficult for him to stay in the Ministry of Magic and hold a management position.


    From tough, brave, tried and true Auror to now acutely sensitive as well as paranoid with a bit of neurosis ...


    This is the image of "Mad-Eye" Moody that Felix perceived after a brief encounter. Oh, and there''s his catchphrase - "Constant Vigilance!"


    "Constant Vigilance!" Moody suddenly shouted, startling the rest. As he walked like nothing happened, and walked out of the great hall.


    Felix looked at Dumbledore: "Headmaster, you just said that you prepared some exchange activities?"


    "Ah, yes." Dumbledore had been listening quietly, now he seemed to have finally returned to his senses, and his pleasant gaze swept over the crowd, "That is why I have kept you behind."


    He nodded slightly and said with a little thought face: "Ilvermorny and Uagadou were both participating in the Tournament for the first time, which makes ... them more enthusiastic like young people. They are not satisfied with having to spend almost a year just for the sake of this one tournament, the headmaster of Ilvermorny wants to bring students from different schools into closer contact."


    "Exchange students?"


    "It''s close enough, Felix." Dumbledore nodded, "But this time it''s one-sided, they want to observe Hogwarts classes, and beyond that-" he smiled, "I think they also have the intention of competing with the students of Hogwarts ."


    The professors looked at each other, meaning that their classes would be open to students from other schools?


    Professor McGonagall, as the Deputy Headmistress, thought of more about it, and she pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowed, as she said solemnly, "Dumbledore, what you said about a competition, it wouldn''t be - A Provocation! Right?"


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly, his silver-white beard twitched for a moment, "There are many things that can be compared, not just physical power, and that''s the worst option." He smiled and said, "I would rather like to maintain a welcoming attitude towards this, let the students see the outside world, and grow a little."


    "I remember, seven or eight years ago, we also had contact with the Castelobruxo School of Magic, when many students from both sides had developed a deep friendship. Felix, you should have some recollection, right?" He asked with a smirk.


    Felix bristled, "I don''t have a pen pal from Brazil."


    ... s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After the professors dispersed, Felix and Snape walked out of the great hall, as Snape''s face turned grim, "You have to watch out for that guy, don''t let him target you."


    "You mean Professor Moody?" Felix asked with some curiosity, "He seems pretty decent--"


    "That''s a lunatic who could cast a curse at you at any time for unwarranted suspicion." Snape said coldly, "He has never walked out of it! To this day, he still passes every day as if it''s a War Time!"


    "I don''t understand why Dumbledore brought him in, even another Lockhart would be better than him."


    Snape waved his sleeve and strutted away.


    Felix watched Snape''s back, and further away, Moody was limping forward, but with Snape walking faster, they didn''t bump into each other, and in the entrance hall, Snape stepped into the basement while Moody staggered up the stairs.


    When he raised his arm, in addition to the curved flask at his waist, Felix keenly noted a wand that showed halfway up his sleeve, strapped right around his arm.


    "Constant Vigilance? Quite a physical effort."


    ...


    The next day.


    The storm finally subsided and the rain subsided. Hogwarts ushered a new school year.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 392+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 353: Rune Card

    Felix flipped through the Daily Prophet as he ate breakfast in the school great hall, Rita Skeeter reviewed Alastor Moody''s mess yesterday with a biting and undiluted touch, she also mocked Mr. Weasley in an article. In that article, Moody is presented as a difficult man who "can''t tell the difference between an ordinary handshake and an attempted murder," while Mr. Weasley is mistakenly called as " Arnold Weasley" and an old reference also made about the flying car from two years ago.


    Felix reread the article, and he has to say that this woman is very good at reporting the facts in a half-arsed way - Taking just the part of the facts she needs and then adding her own distorted understanding to reach an absurd conclusion.


    But overall, some useful information can still be discerned, such as a reference to a female official who disappeared for many months, most likely referring to Bertha Jorkins.


    ...


    Felix walked into the Ancient Runes classroom ten minutes early, and there were already a few students seated sporadically in the seats.


    "Hello, Felix." Luna looked up from her magazine and greeted him cheerfully, as if she were not in the classroom but some other place where she met him by chance, like the empty spot in the forbidden forest.


    Felix smiled, "Hello, Luna. You''re a third-year now?"


    "Yeah." She stared blankly for a moment, but Ginny next to her know her enough to pull the magazine towards her, they had just been playing a magazine quiz with prizes for correct guesses.


    Luna stared at Felix with big misty eyes and said, "One more thing, I like your Christmas present, did I tell you that?"


    "Oh, uh, yes, I remember it was mentioned before ..." Felix drifted into a rare trance, the question was something he didn''t expect, "Nine months ago."


    Two rows away, a gray-haired boy suddenly raised his hand and looked at him with an expectant expression.


    "Hello?"


    Felix felt a little surprised as he drew out a long piece of parchment and looked carefully at the red pattern on the boy''s wizard robes for a couple of moments, then he lowered his head to look for the boy''s name in the Gryffindor House column.


    "Hay, Professor Hap, my name is Colin, Harry Potter recommended me for this class, and I love golems!" He spoke with his arm still raised high in the air.


    Felix ran through the list on the parchment and nodded at him, "Creevey, class has yet to start, we''re just talking."


    "So, will we be able to get the golem today? Can I pick one myself?" Colin asked excitedly.


    "Of course, I will also give all of you access to the ''Answer Space'' for the Ancient Runes class, and many of your assignments for this school year will be accomplished in it ..." Felix said.


    The classroom gradually filled up with students.


    Luna and Ginny clutched the Quibbler magazine and tried to guess the puzzle on it, Luna lifted the page with the puzzle on it and looked at the shadows on it through the light, "I think it''s an origami hat."


    "How come I don''t see anything?" Ginny said, "By the way - why are you calling the professor by his name?"


    "Because we''re friends." Luna said jovially, taking out a quill and sketching out the shape of the origami hat.


    Ginny pondered over the riddle: "A thing with an empty belly that favoured the wise; not seen when used, seen when it is not used." She tossed her fiery red hair and snapped to attention, "Yes, what else could it be?"


    She grabbed Luna''s pen and wrote the word "hat" in the blank space for the answer, and then the page in the magazine fluttered off and folded itself into a hat, which Ginny placed it on Luna''s head.


    "Well--" Felix stood at the podium, looking at the packed classroom, and said, "Welcome, students! I''m glad to see a few more people signed up for the Ancient Runes class this year."


    He finished the roll call and swept his eyes over the young wizards in the room, who looked at Felix warily.


    "While the new school year just started and your minds are still clear, let''s talk about something worth thinking about." Felix spoke, his voice not as uplifting as it had been at the beginning, but much calmer, and the students underneath quickly got into the flow.


    "I certainly want you to excel in this class, but first I want to clarify one fact -


    If you want to stand out or make some difference in this field... whether you want to become a purely academic, or want to merge runes and alchemy to recreate ancient artefacts; or if you want to follow the footsteps of ancient wizards and experience the wonderful feeling of powerful and brutal ancient magic taking shape and unleashed from your hands. I can teach you all those knowledges, provided that you meet my requirements.


    Given the increasing abundance of teaching aids for this class and the decreasing difficulty of learning, I will raise my expectations for you accordingly. The benefits are obvious - you will gain more than previous years'' students, and this time, I will lead you to look into more interesting, and more mysterious domains."


    He raised his hand and dozens of cards flew out of his robes, landing precisely in front of each of the young wizards.


    "Rune cards." Felix said briefly, "I debated over and over between the Rune Carving Knife and the Rune Cards, but in the end, I decided that the Rune Cards are more suitable for beginners who know nothing."


    "And the Rune carving knife is actually suitable for carving rune circuits, and you guys are still far from that step."


    The young wizards listened attentively, a little confused by these unfamiliar concepts for a while, but Felix didn''t intend to expand on them in detail, but simply made the distinction and pushed the class progress to the next step.


    He held the card in his backhand and showed the front to the students. As he injected magic into the card, the original traces on the card were gradually lit up, and he introduced it at the same time, "The reason why it is suitable for beginners is that the only thing it requires from you is to infuse stable magic power, and since you have already had two years of magic practice, this step is not considered as an impenetrable obstacle."


    When he finished speaking, the lines on the card had been completely lit up, and a bright egg-sized sphere of light was projected from the card, consisting of countless tiny dots of light, clouded and bright, looking from afar, it looked like a bright, fluffy orb.


    "This is the rune that signifies light, you only need to know it, for now, look, does it look like a small glowing ball of fluff?"


    "It corresponds to the rune symbol on the card, kind of like a torch, and the real appearance is this-"


    An invisible hand appeared in the air, outlining a golden symbol, and the young wizards compared the symbol with the pattern on the card, and it really looked exactly the same.


    Felix smiled and grabbed the golden rune, "In later lessons, you will understand the meaning of this rune, and then you will be able to translate it using the image you see in the projection, that is its rune symbol. Like this-"


    His closed palm spread out and displayed in front of the students, the golden rune turned into a small glowing ball of light, then Felix released the bindings, and it completely turned into a fluff of bright white light.


    "Alright, let''s start practicing."


    Felix announced. The young wizards held their cards in unison, their brows furrowed as they tried to inject magic into them, and before long, Felix saw small, suffocating faces, their mouths tightly closed, so serious that one would think they were about to run into a duel that could kill them at any moment.


    He shuttled between the students and reminded, "Think about how you felt when you transfigured the goblet in the Transfiguration class, let the magic flow evenly and steadily ... learn to relax, deliberately forcing it will only make your magic disconnected, it''s just a game... ..."


    Under the power of speech, the young wizards calmed down, and their progress began to accelerate.


    Felix muttered in a small voice, "I''m so glad we didn''t employ the Weasley twins'' prank cards, or the classroom would have been overflowing with rats."


    Surprisingly, but justifiably, Luna was the first to succeed. Perhaps she is the only one in the entire classroom who actually treated it as a game, "Look at that, just like Puffy." She said. S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    For the first time in a long time, Felix heard a creature he knew from her.


    Puffskein is a very popular pet for wizarding children, they have a spherical body covered with soft creamy fur, which does resemble somewhat like the ball of light projected by the rune card, and, the key is - this creature is not made up, it really exists.


    "Plus ten points for Ravenclaw, and besides," Felix displayed a stack of cards in front of her, "pick another one, Miss Lovegood."


    Luna stared, fascinated, as she asked, "Is there a rune that represents a Crumple-Horned Snorkack?"


    "... No."


    Felix handed her a rune card that represents frost, he thought both of them needed to calm down ...


    ----------


    #Mihael Medved, Thanks for your support.


    There are 392+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 354: Weasleys Recruitment

    After class, the young third-year wizards walked out of the classroom in a stream, a half-foot tall golem in each of their hands, as they gleefully discussed what they had learned in their first class. Felix stayed behind, ticking off a table as he jotted down the number 17 next to the name ''Luna Lovegood'', which represented the number of cards she had finished during the class.


    The process of injecting stable magic into the cards actually became more and more proficient the further the young wizards got into the class. As far as Felix is concerned, today was really just an interest-led class. Especially when viewed in contrast to the sixth-grade class that followed -


    "Sixth Grade is a crucial year ..."


    "Come on, Professor." Fred and George shouted accusingly from the classroom, "We''ve only just finished our O.W.Ls previous year!" The other students also voiced their agreement in a low voice.


    They had heard similar things for an entire year in fifth grade, even still they had a nightmare about it, and a few timid students seemed to recall those difficult days with a wince as if they had felt some kind of after-effect.


    The students were so distraught that they didn''t know who was making the dry heaving noises, and the students looked around for the source of the noise, even their emotions were incoherent.


    Felix smiled with amusement as he paced around the classroom. "The reason for this is that in this year, you don''t have to worry about certificates and your knowledge accumulation has reached a peak. That means-"


    He paused deliberately for a few seconds to reveal the mystery: "We have more time for practice, along with those things that are worth exploring."


    Without waiting for the students to come to their senses, he turned around and walked back to the podium, and simply took out the rune cards, then he clapped his hands: "My requirement is simple: through these cards, master at least seven ancient runes-"


    "They happen to form a rune circuit, and I will cover this part in the last half hour of the class." S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But I hope, all more than anything, that you will be able to discover the fun of it by exploring it yourselves. Let''s begin, students, the first one to finish will be rewarded with twenty points."


    Soon, in the sixth-grade Ancient Runes class, students from the four houses took the rune cards and projected a rune symbol - a piece of cake for the sixth graders who had been through the purgatory of fifth grade.


    But the key point is how to go through the cards and master the runes on it.


    "Right." Felix seemed to thought of something and picked up the roll call, "It''s difficult to complete this step alone, so I will group you ... Miss Campbell King, don''t look around, I will divide every three people into a group according to the order on the roll call."


    With that, the four houses were jumbled up in order, and Felix thoughtfully morphed a small circular table, each with three chairs. The Weasley twins, taking advantage of their last name, were divided into a group, and they stared blankly at the Ravenclaw girl opposite to them.


    "Wow, it''s beautiful." The girl surveyed the small bright green bud projected on the card, her eyes flashed with fascination, and then she looked back down at the textbook that is filled with notes.


    "According to past experience, in order to master a rune, you must first master its symbolic shape and meaning ... which is the most important, and we can precisely get it from the card, the rest just needs - you guys are looking at me For what?"


    "No, nothing." George muttered, he took a card from Fred and injected magic, while whispering, "Why do you think the professor did that?"


    Fred said, "I guess it''s to give us the ability to teach ourselves ancient runes."


    "Are you serious?"


    "I heard from someone in ''Future World'', well, it''s actually Penelope," he grinned, "She said that Professor Hap considered rune cards as an Enlightenment toy."


    "Toys!" George said with a glare.


    "Yes, the same as children''s comic books, but Professor Hap is more interested in promoting practical runes. Penelope said that the professor provided a scenario where the father and a mother will hold their child''s hand to trace a pattern from the card, and when the child is a little older, he or she will naturally be close to the runes."


    George thought about it very carefully, and he let out a long breath, "If it weren''t for the ''Future World'' procurement of a batch of Muggle toys, I wouldn''t have known how little entertainment we had ... It gave us much more inspiration! Magic blocks, little soldiers characters, coloured bubble guns, prank cards, and the spin-off wizard duels cards ..."


    The Ravenclaw girl interjected, "Why aren''t there any dolls?"


    "Uh, excuse me, what did you say?"


    "Dolls," the girl said with a straight face, "I loved them the most as a child, spent my annual allowance on that, and collected a whole set over the years!"


    The twins looked at each other, Fred slowly asked, "George, what do you think?"


    George said in the same tone, "Man, I think - we should take advantage of the last two years in school to find some partners ..."


    "Makes sense." Fred nodded as he turned his head and looked at the girl, "Terri, would you like to join?"


    Terri looked at them in surprise.


    "What do you mean?"


    "Join the Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes. Currently, there is nothing, but in the future, it will be the world''s largest supplier of prank items, as well as a manufacturer of wizards'' children''s toys."


    "You''re - well - a bit out of your league -" Terri stated, at a loss for words, "This isn''t another one of your pranks, is it?"


    "Of course not. Do you have any plans for the future? Like, join the Ministry of Magic?" Fred and George asked, looking at each other. Initially, it was a spur of the moment, but now they really have plans to recruit people.


    " I don''t have any plans for that ..., I''m from a Muggle family, and I haven''t thought about which side I''ll stay on after graduation."


    "Then just give it a try." Fred and George compelled desperately.


    Terri found herself inexplicably being positioned as a partner of Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, and her hand shook hard as she squeezed the card. A blue waterfall projected by the card flickered up and then disappeared.


    ...


    In the last half hour, Felix explained a part of the knowledge and assigned the homework.


    "Today''s essay is about how to learn ancient runes efficiently using the rune cards, and I need you to summarize a proven learning program by combining your experiences in class."


    After class, Felix heard the Weasley twins muttering as they passed by -


    "What do you think of Cedric?"


    "He''s got a thing for golems ..."


    " Isn''t that just about right?"


    "Also ... Aubrey is good, as well as Shelton and Pardis."


    Felix rubbed his chin and looked at the backs of the two. They mentioned all the people from the Magic Rune Club, was there anything here that he didn''t know?


    After the afternoon session, Felix walked towards the great hall, with a Niffler on his shoulder, attracting many curious eyes along the way. Just as he arrived into the entrance hall, he saw Harry and Draco arguing from a distance.


    Harry said something in annoyance, pulling Ron to turn away, Draco Malfoy turned red, he dropped the newspaper in his hand, exasperated, and pulled out his wand from behind his back, pointing it viciously at Harry.


    "Bang!"


    Harry nimbly jumped aside, a fiery spell brushed against his hair, he turned around and swung his hand violently - Draco looked like something hit him, his wand shot out of his hand, and then he stumbled backward, as he caught by Crabbe''s hand before falling down.


    A few screams belatedly followed.


    "Merlin''s beard, what''s that!"


    " Silent and wandless spell casting, Potter is too good, it''s a shame, he''s only a fourth-year ..."


    "Do you think if there is no age limit, he will be able to become a champion?"


    "It''s hard to say, everyone has made quite a lot of progress in the past two years."


    Ron looked at Harry with a shocked face, "How did you do that?"


    Harry looked somewhat bewildered at the extra wand in his hand that belonged to Malfoy. Harry himself did not know what was going on, he was just indignant at the sudden attack he received, and subconsciously made a counterattack, just as he was about to say something, he heard another loud thud.


    Bang! Then a roar echoed through the entrance hall.


    "You''re not allowed to do that, boy!"


    Moody limped forward, his wand pointed at a snowy white ferret, which shivered on the stone-paved floor, exactly where Malfoy had been standing.


    In the silence, Moody asked, "Did he hurt you?"


    "No," Harry said, "the spell missed."


    "Stay away from him!" Moody yelled.


    "Stay away from - what?" Harry asked inexplicably.


    "Not you - him!" Moody yelled again, raising his thumb and pointing over his shoulder at Crabbe, who was about to pick up the ferret, but got too frightened to move from his place.


    Moody began to limp toward Crabbe, Goyle, and the ferret, which yelped in terror and ducked, running in the opposite direction.


    "I don''t believe you can escape!" Moody yelled, pointing his wand at the ferret again - when a man stepped in front of the ferret, "Oh, Professor Moody, I can''t let you do that."


    Felix smiled and flicked the spell away.


    The ferret shrank at his feet, and Niffler Valen was looking at it curiously from his shoulder.


    As for Felix himself, his eyes had dropped to the floor where he had stepped on a few, dirty Daily Prophet papers, which, coincidentally, were the headlines he had read this morning.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 394+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 355: Ferret?

    "Professor Hap, I advise you to mind your own business." Moody said calmly, "He needs some lessons. Attacking people behind their backs is the dirtiest, meanest ... behaviour." "Good point." Felix nodded slightly: "But Hogwarts has long stopped corporal punishment of any sort, and I suggest sending him to Professor Snape for detention."


    "Snape?" Moody showed a dismissive expression, "Yeah, Snape ... I bet he doesn''t want to see me ... but I''m looking forward to having a good chat with him, what a great opportunity!"


    But he still pointed his wand at the ferret, and Felix stepped forward, "Oh, I think it would be better to leave it to me--"


    Bang!


    A scorching spell slammed into the golden magic barrier, sputtering with golden and red sparks, and Moody''s wand lit up brightly, the red light shining on the half of his face that kept twitching.


    "Professor Moody," Felix stated mildly, "that''s a Stunning Spell you''re using."


    "Try your best, boy!" Moody growled, the spell condensing into a beam of light, "Dumbledore speaks highly of you, but people like me will always believe that seeing is believing."


    "That''s rather an uncommon approach" Felix said with a frown, and the power of the Shield Charm in front of him increased accordingly. He had a pretty good impression of Moody; it is better to have a righteous person at school than a Foolish Con Man, or a Dark Wizard, and Moody is also a close supporter and friend of Dumbledore.


    But--


    He became quite mad, as Severus advised him not to get into trouble, but trouble came anyway.


    The students took a few steps back, but more people gathered around, and they watched the scene with shocked faces. Last year Snape and Lupin broke the office into pieces, but no one else knew about it, but now it is different, two professors openly fighting!


    "Call someone over here! Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Snape ... whoever it is!" Hermione shouted in a panic.


    As soon as a student saw the situation went bad they went to call for help, a Slytherin Prefect went straight down the entrance hall to the underground. "I''ll go get Professor Snape!" He shouted hurriedly.


    "You are not going to do anything like this! Boy!" Moody seemed to regain his composure and had the leisure to shout at those around him as he yelled, "Back off now! A rare opportunity to show you how real wizards fight-"


    "Sorry, Professor Moody. I am not as ... unconcerned about consequences as you are." Felix said.


    He actually preferred to use the word "crazy", but at this time, it is not good to stimulate Moody. Who knows if Moody will suddenly become serious in the fight? Felix would never admit defeat on purpose in any case.


    The young wizards gathered around noticed that Professor Hap''s spell is getting darker and more ghastly, not like a normal shield charm, but like a rusty iron plate, or rather, an ancient shield plundered from who knows where, it may be buried deep for years, nevertheless no one would doubt that it was soaked in blood.


    It had the colour of dark red and iron-gray intertwined, and its shape twisted, with a brass sheen at the joints of the fold.


    "What kind of magic is this!" The young wizards drew in a deep breath, dumbstruck. Professor Hap''s magic looked a bit evil, ah ... but it is also really powerful.


    They thought that the only way to stop this sudden dispute is for other professors to rush over here, but the situation on the scene instantly changed. Felix does not intend to continue the stalemate, a spell collision can be described as sparring, if someone jumps up and down mockingly in front of your face, and if you can''t show him his place, Then what are you?! A wimpy clown?


    He twirled his wand, and the dark red and iron-gray shield charm softened rapidly, gurgling on the surface like blood. A small tip protruded from the shield like a small snake, which then wrapped itself around Moody''s powerful Stunning Spell.


    Moody''s intact eye widened, and the other magic eye bounced around, what is this thing? He felt a twinge of discomfort and tried to cut the spell, but the connection is no longer something he can break off.


    Felix had silently invaded his magic, and the two wands were now forcibly linked together.


    The laser-like blazing beam of light is little by little invaded with iron-gray and dark red colours, mottled like a child stained with paint, scratching randomly on a beautiful railing.


    Right now, the mark is getting closer and closer to Moody.


    All this happened in just a short span of time, and the students could still hear the messy footsteps of the Prefect running toward the underground, but anyone could see that he probably didn''t need to call anyone.


    Even the Niffler Valen, who had covered her eyes, now blatantly looked across at Moody, grunting and flaring her teeth and claws.


    "Professor Moody, I''m just trying to end a pointless dispute."


    "You''re joking right!" Moody gritted his teeth, "Let me go!"


    "Okay, at once ..." Felix mildly agreed with him, but he didn''t let go, instead, he accelerated the speed of invasion.


    Moody''s face became more and more ugly, half of the face twitched harder. The magic eyes in the eye sockets turned wildly like an owl locked in a cage, but immediately, he showed an inconspicuous smile. Someone is coming -


    "Felix! Professor Moody! What are you doing ..." McGonagall''s surprised voice rang out as she scattered the books she was clutching and hurried over, drawing her wand but not knowing what to do and standing on the sidelines in frustration.


    "Let go, Professor Hap, I recognize your strength." Moody said calmly, no longer had a trace of madness in his eyes.


    Felix shrugged, with Professor McGonagall around, this shouldn''t be a fight anymore, he flicked his wand and the strong magical fluctuations subsided. Moody withdrew his wand and took two steps back.


    Everyone stared blankly at the long-lasting beam of light in midair. After losing the magic from both sides, the beam rusted away and turned into flying ash, peeling off little by little with a kind of chilling beauty.


    McGonagall''s eyes stared at the traces of magic left in the air, half speechless. She looked at the two of them and said, "Can anyone tell us what''s going on? Two professors fighting in broad daylight, something this outrageous, has never happened at Hogwarts before!"


    Neither of them spoke first, Moody hadn''t thought of an excuse, and Felix didn''t want to say that the new professor deserved to be an iron-blooded Auror, who would fight at the drop of a hat. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    McGonagall''s eyes grew dangerous, her lips pursed into a slit, her chest puffed up like a balloon.


    Harry felt obliged to explain the situation, after all, the cause of the dispute began between him, Ron, and Malfoy, but he suddenly saw Professor Hap''s Niffler which sitting on Professor Hap''s shoulder reaching out her tiny finger to point at the ferret below.


    McGonagall was actually quite concerned about Felix keeping a Niffler, but there were no rumours of a missing item in the castle yet, so she intended to wait and see.


    Then her eyes fell on the ferret, feeling a little unsure, the little thing is quite beautiful, covered in snow-white fur, but it looks very timid, with two front paws clinging to Felix''s pant legs, and in the fierce magic battle just now, it did not flee away.


    If Niffler Valen is Felix''s pet, then there is a close relationship, then this ferret, what is the situation.


    Harry somewhat awkwardly reminded from the sidelines, "It''s Malfoy."


    "What?"


    " That ferret, he''s Draco Malfoy." Harry repeated.


    "Oh my god!" McGonagall looked at the ferret in disbelief as Felix waved his wand, and with a loud pop, Draco Malfoy recovered again.


    As he said somewhat apologetically, " I forgot about you."


    ---------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 394+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 356: Talking

    Draco didn''t speak, he slumped on the floor, his face sweaty, his pale-blonde hair sticking on his forehead, shivering. He stumbled a few times without being able to get up, when Crabbe and Goyle came over, looked at Moody who had little reaction, as they pulled Draco to his feet. McGonagall''s suspicious eyes darted between Felix and Moody, quickly confirming the target as she frowned and said, "Professor Moody, you used a Transfiguration spell on Malfoy?"


    "Yeah, to teach him a lesson, gotta leave a lasting impression on him, save him from attacking people behind their backs in the future." Moody said.


    Professor McGonagall looked at Felix enquiringly, Felix lightly nodded, and McGonagall said breathlessly, "Even so, we will only detain them instead of punishing students with Transfiguration, prolonged human transfiguration is harmful and has long been abolished - Dumbledore should have told you this, right?"


    "Probably said it?" Moody scratched his chin carelessly, he grinned and said gruffly, "It''s not that serious, Professor McGonagall!"


    "I couldn''t stand the sight of him attacking someone from behind, so I scared him off, and this Professor Hap showed up out of nowhere, probably thinking I wasn''t doing it quite right! There was a bit of a skirmish, and I also happened to hear a lot about him from Dumbledore before ... just wanted to try out his level."


    Moody limped around, waving his big, rough hand, mumbling, "I know why I''m here, Dumbledore hired me not for me to be the good old man!"


    "Danger never comes out brightly, letting you prepare for it in advance. That''s what I''m here for - to cut off some people''s tails and sharpen them. I did overreact a bit, but in my experience, it''s better to overreact than to be defenseless!"


    "Constant Vigilance!" He yelled, and a first-year student sat down on the floor in fear.


    Moody''s magic eye saw it, and with a grin, he dragged his wooden prosthetic leg over to the freshman, pulled him up by the hand, pointed his nose, which lacked a piece of flesh, and the one intact eye at him, as he said with a wide grin, "Boy! You will find that appearances are the least thing to fear. Excuse me, make way for--"


    The crowd moved out of the way and looked at him with awe.


    "That''s right!" Moody paused and turned to look at Felix, "How about we better pick some champion seedlings and train them in advance, during the first dueling class?"


    "Sure." Felix said with a slight smile.


    Moody stared at him for a few seconds and took a big stride to leave.


    "Oh my God, he looks cool!" A student said as he looked at Moody''s back.


    "He''s a real warrior, the most knowledgeable kind, and has seen a lot ... of things, you''ll understand when the time comes." Another student had great respect for Moody, as he had just taken Moody''s class this afternoon.


    Professor McGonagall looked at the students who remained in place and said seriously, "All disperse, Disperse! Go ahead and eat, don''t block the way." She walked next to Draco Malfoy, but her eyes looked hesitantly at Felix.


    "So - Mr. Malfoy -"


    "I''ll hand him over to Severus." Felix said.


    "All right then." Relieved, Professor McGonagall glanced at Crabbe and Goyle next to Draco, and at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were looking at them from a short distance away, and shouted in annoyance, "Do you want to tag along!"


    They hurriedly fled.


    At the table, Ron''s eyes closed, his fork raised in midair, he said contentedly with a sigh, "I must raise a ferret in the future ... as soon as I see it, I will recall Malfoy from today, will it also clutch my pant leg without letting go?"


    Harry and Hermione laughed, then Harry asked, "But is human transfiguration really dangerous? Professor McGonagall''s face looked like she was serious."


    Hermione lifted her fork and said thoughtfully, "Imagine that you were turned into an owl - initially you remembered who you are, but soon, animal instincts took over, and you forgot your identity ..."


    Harry frowned, "So, if you don''t undo the magic in time, Malfoy will completely think he''s a ferret?"


    Hermione said seriously, "I''m just giving you an example to make you aware of the dangers that exist. Some transfigurations will dissolve overtime on their own, however, for those wizards who are highly skilled in magic, their transfigurations can last for a long time, and even some human transfigurations with malicious intent can last forever, like a curse."


    Ron thought of something, laughed out loud, he said under his breath, "Well, that''s ... nice ... isn''t it?"


    Hermione glanced at him, "Although the possibility is small, in case Malfoy ran away in a panic and got lost while hiding in the forbidden forest, he might have been eaten by the creatures in the forest before he was found ..."


    As Ron imagined, the food in front of him suddenly didn''t look that appetizing anymore and Harry also had little appetite. Hermione, however, finished her dinner quickly without being affected and packed up her book bag.


    "You''re going to the library, aren''t you?" Harry asked her.


    "Of course I am," Hermione said, "there''s a lot of stuff to catch up on. Not school homework--" Seeing that Harry was about to ask, she said in advance, lifting her book bag and leaving in a hurry.


    On the other hand, Felix and Draco Malfoy walked down the gloomy underground corridor, Draco''s eyes tearing up, the torches on the walls shining on his pale face and allowing Felix to see the resentful gaze he flashed occasionally.


    "You hate Professor Moody?" Felix asked, looking at him.


    Draco clenched his fists, his face red from shame, and muttered, "I''m going to tell my dad ..."


    "Hmm." Felix didn''t say anything more, and they continued their walk for a while. Only then did he suddenly said, "What you mentioned is also a solution, but it may not be of much use."


    "Why! Just because he''s a good friend of Dumbledore''s?" Draco gritted his teeth.


    "It''s Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix corrected him, but looking at Draco Malfoy''s expression of unconcern, he guessed that even the headmaster bore a piece of the blame.


    "I do wonder about the origin of this conflict ..."


    "I was the one who humiliated Weasley''s dad," Draco said coldly, "Is that what you''re asking? Do I deserve it?"


    "No," Felix laughed softly, "I''m just wondering what kind of mindset you had to initiate the provocation; after all, even without Professor Moody, the three of you - you plus Crabbe and Goyle - were no match for Potter alone."


    "Or in your opinion, Potter will not hurt you, so you are not afraid? Or do you not mind being beaten by Potter - for what it''s worth, Miss Granger is also not that easy to deal with."


    Draco Malfoy''s face grew hot as he stammered, "I, I wasn''t thinking about it that much."


    "Well," Felix nodded and turned inquiring, "remember the first time we talked in more depth? The time you brought that diary to my office?"


    Draco looked at him slowly, not quite understanding his intention in bringing it up suddenly. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I told you once that everyone is responsible for their own actions-" Felix paused, "It seems you don''t remember much."


    He said with a smirk, "I wish you could have seen the scene back then, when you were a tad a bit like you are now, trembling and quivering, but of course, it was with a high-minded act of self-defence, self-interest, and with a bit of determination before, and now with some dark thoughts in mind ..."


    Draco stared at him, not too comfortable in his heart, but also with a faint pride.


    "That''s normal, anyone who is humiliated will have a strong desire for destruction." Felix said light-heartedly, and they turned a corner, Snape''s office is in sight.


    "You''ve had those thoughts too?" Draco asked, but he suddenly realized he had asked a lousy question, Professor Hap hadn''t been at peace when he was in school, he would have only experienced more.


    Felix smiled, "I guess everyone at one time or another has harboured some similar dark thoughts, but it''s not exactly easy to put them into action." He knocked on the door of Snape''s office, and there is no movement for a long time.


    "Well, perhaps not in ..." he said regretfully: " will have to find another day, go on, Mr. Malfoy. Go back to sleep, I''d like to see how long this thoughts of yours will last."


    ---------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 396+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 357: Spew?

    Draco Malfoy''s somewhat sharp face became startled, and he looked up eagerly, eyeing Felix as if trying to read the real meaning in the professor''s calm face. "Adequate sleep gives satisfaction, this is something I won''t normally tell somebody." Felix said, "The one thing that can compete with that is a great meal, but only on Halloween we can get it when there are a lot of exotic cuisines..."


    After he left, Draco remained where he was. The light gray eyes kept flickering, not quite sure if he had got away with it.


    Professor Hap is a person who is afraid of hassle, this is a point that is recognized by the students and faculty of the whole school to a certain extent.


    For example, he would leave many of his assignments on ''answer space'' because it would greatly save time in correction. Similarly, although he gave no fewer tests in class than any other professor, he is the only one who would request students to answer questions in a fixed format.


    There are gossips that it''s because this will allow a very special kind of advanced golem to correct the test papers.


    Besides, there are other supporting evidence. Professor Hap rarely detain students, even the number of points deductions are rare, more than one Hufflepuff student met the professor in the kitchen, and they will discuss the experience of eating seafood together, also he modified a Deboning spell (Ossio Dispersimus) into ''Fish Deboning spell'' which once became popular in the school.


    But if a student asked him about it in class or if they asked him about some food spell in class, they would find their assignments immediately went up a notch, and the trend then slowly subsided.


    And now Draco Malfoy is considering the issue - Professor Hap has taken over this task from Professor McGonagall, and if the latter does not bring it up, might he have got away with it?


    He spent the next two days on the edge, being careful in his Ancient Runes and Potions classes, not daring to meet the two professors'' eyes. He didn''t even participate in the hilarious moment when Neville Longbottom burned the crucible to a crisp - a very rare sight now - he wondered when that Longbottom''s grades had got better and better.


    Care of Magical Creatures Class was also difficult, have to put up with the mocking eyes of stupid Gryffindor students, especially that Weasley, laughing at the sight of him, and often slapping his pants leg in a pretentious manner, making him secretly want to hex him, if he could only make Weasley vomit slugs once more! But unfortunately, he did not find that spell in the library.


    Hagrid, the big guy, was making them watch over the Flailtail Snail in class as usual, and the students were reluctant. It looked like a slimy gray worm, sort of like a large lobster with its shell removed, messy with many legs, with hundreds of them crammed into a single box, squeezing together and crawling around, oozing what looked like snot-like mucus.


    Despite his dislike of Gryffindor, when the girl named "Lavender Brown" squealed, "Gross!" He felt good while feeding these six-inch worms some lettuce. But Crabbe, the brainless one, overturned the box, and the Flailtail Snails fled in all directions with sparks spewing from their tails, filling the open space with the stench of rotting fish and shrimp, making them vomit so hard that they couldn''t stand up ...


    Thursday was a special day, and he saw Moody again.


    Moody was as crazy as ever, blatantly demonstrating the Unforgivable Curses in class. While talking about the Killing Curse, Moody remarked with a wide grin, "The Killing Curse requires a very powerful magic power as a foundation - you can all get your wands out, point them at me, and chant the spell - I expect I''ll get a nosebleed at best."


    For a moment he felt a tug in his heart, as Professor Hap mentioned a dark thought appeared in his mind, and then he realized with dismay that he simply could not muster the courage to point his wand at that ugly nose.


    On Friday, he saw Professor Hap again and was surprised to find the classroom of the Ancient Runes class greatly changed, with soft light illuminating the room perfectly, and he looked up, along with the other students, to see the Magic Lamp made up of the Four House animals which symbolizing the Four Houses. s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Professor Hap, will the rest of the classrooms at Hogwarts also switch to magic lamps?" A girl raised her hand to ask a question.


    "Your question is not relevant to the classroom, Miss Parvati. Nevertheless, What I can reveal is that someone from ''Future World'' will come to school in a couple of days to discuss this part of the matter."


    Felix smiled and said, "Personally, I think the magic lamp is quite a lot better than the Torch or the magic flame, at least you don''t have to worry about hurting your eyes when you read in the classroom and library."


    Below the podium, Harry and Ron muttered -


    "Isn''t ''Future World'' Professor Hap''s?" Ron asked, in confusion.


    "Maybe not so convenient since he still holds a teaching position at the school," Harry said, with some anticipation, "Maybe we''ll get to meet Professor Lupin."


    "And Penelope." Ron said, without thinking, revealing a piece of information. "Percy brought her over to the house before school started, and mother talked about getting married, which scared her off."


    Felix cleared his throat and swept his gaze around the room as the young wizards off the podium quieted down.


    He clapped his hands, "Okay, class, today we''ll be translating a manuscript that you were exposed to in third grade with its excerpts ..."


    For the remaining twenty minutes, Felix arranged for students to self-study, and Hermione finished her homework on the ''answer space'' in only ten minutes, while Harry and Ron were still chewing on their quills as they struggled to think.


    "How did you do that?" Ron asked her.


    "It''s mostly from my memory, and it doesn''t involve much effort on my part, it''s a lot easier than making up some unlucky story to fool Trelawney as you guys did." Hermione said as she looked at the professor sitting in the corner of the podium, holding a half illusory book, occasionally tossing a few runes into it.


    "The Book of Runes ..." she muttered longingly.


    "What?" Harry asked, he had just finished the last part with only a few minutes left before the end of class, he heard Hermione''s whisper just when he looked up from the parchment.


    "The Book of Runes," Hermione repeated, "I wish I could do that too." On the podium, Felix turned another page. She blinked and seemed to see a flash of black lightning.


    Ron whispered to Harry in a mutter, "I''ll settle for anything as long as we don''t talk about ''Spew''."


    Harry wanted to laugh a little, Hermione these days spent most of her time in the library looking through information about house-elf, being indignant at the injustice they had suffered for centuries, and she had created a non-profit organization, the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, with the acronym identical to ''Spew '' word.


    Hermione said emotionally: "You are not supposed to speak like that, you are the Treasurer of the organization -"


    "Yeah," Ron said, "Harry is a secretary, does that mean he should write down everything you say right now? But we''re busy, and we''ve got Champion training on the weekend ..."


    "That''s for sixth and seventh years." Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him with a scowl.


    "But the bulletin board doesn''t say that only sixth and seventh years are allowed to go, why can''t we just go and look at it." Ron muttered, looking towards Harry for support, who had nodded vigorously beside him.


    Hermione was about to say something else when the bell rang, so Ron and Harry immediately ran out and stood at the door, glancing into the distance. Hermione took a while to come out from inside and looked at them with a look of confidence when they met again.


    "Enquired about it with Professor Hap! The way to get to the kitchen, all you need to do is to find a portrait of a fruit bowl and tickle a pear in it." Hermione said gleefully, "It seems that the professor also supports me."


    "He agrees!?" Ron asked incredulously, "He agreed to wear the ''Spew'' badge on his robe? What position did you put him in?"


    "Oh, no." Hermione''s face fell, "The professor said he wanted to consider it carefully, but-"


    "The professor suggested that I should visit the Kitchen first, then have a chat with the house elfs and write a report about the actual situation of the Hogwarts Kitchen House elfs."


    Ron quietly voiced his thoughts, "I guess Professor Hap just couldn''t shrug it off, so he gave her something to do."


    Harry thought about Professor Hap''s reaction after being asked to join a strange organization, and he strongly agreed with Ron''s guess - it might be the truth.


    He is secretly angry with himself, why he did not think of this approach?


    If he had known, he would not have needed to hold any meetings, discuss the organization''s founding declaration, rules & regulations.


    ...


    On Saturday morning, the sky looked a bit gloomy and students appeared in classroom seven in groups, with much more people showing up than expected. Many first and second-year students were carrying sweets and snacks with an attitude of watching the show.


    Harry was deeply impressed with this place, during Magic Rune Club members'' selection time, he and Ron followed Hermione to work around, receiving students who came to sign up, let them fill out some forms and notes.


    He also defeated Malfoy here to obtain the third-year dueling championship, with the reward of a chance to learn Apparition three years earlier.


    But after a summer holiday, this place was somewhat abandoned, and from afar you could see the white wall that served as the boundary of the room, with half a ceiling that showed the blue clear sky.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 396+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 358: What is a Champion?

    Felix, Flitwick, Sprout, Snape, and Moody stood together, with Moody holding a long crutch and talking loudly with Flitwick. "It''s a shame Professor McGonagall didn''t come, she''s the only one missing out of the four heads." Flitwick said.


    "That''s not essential, Professor Flitwick." Moody''s low voice sounded, "We all discussed in advance before coming here today so she should''ve come, I simply came here to have a good laugh. I also want to see how these students will perform ..."


    "Minerva is going to preside over a meeting. Lupin is coming over today, and someone from behalf of the school board will be there too, so there has to be someone significant from faculty needs to be present there." Felix understood the reason behind this and answered crisply.


    "Is it about that magic lamp?" Moody said, as his magic eye darted towards Felix, "I''ve heard much about Future World Corporation, and The Daily Prophet has interviewed almost everyone they could in Diagon Alley to ask them what they think about the building that has suddenly appeared."


    Sprout said, "There was also that light show at the Quidditch World Cup, but that unexpected raid seems to have robbed it of its attention, so I wonder if they suffered any impact from that?"


    "Not much of an impact actually, Remus even complained to me about the sheer number of orders he had to do and had to recruit some more people urgently." Felix said, with a smile, he felt satisfied with the development of Future World Corporation.


    The professors talked with each other, while Snape was silent, looking far more reserved than usual, wearing a black robe and clasping his arms in front of him.


    At ten o''clock in the morning, the crowd gathered together in darkness, some sitting far away on the slope, spreading out a blanket and taking out various kinds of food, as if they are here for a picnic, and leisurely surveying the surroundings.


    Felix looked at the professors, "It''s about time to get it started? How about--"


    "We came to see the fun," Flitwick pointed out, "Dumbledore assigned you to be in charge of the champion''s training, your thinking stone basin is the perfect tool for the job. You know I wanted to leave all my youthful memories in it, but I''m nowhere near as good as Dumbledore, so instead, I just decided to leave my memory when I won the Dueling Championships back then ..."


    In the faculty common room, Professor McGonagall organized several meetings dedicated to the selection and training of champion candidates, and for the sake of justifying Dumbledore''s act of assigning Felix, McGonagall brought out the Thinking Stone Basin to convince the professors, but she remembered the headmaster''s admonition and simply explained its usefulness. Later it was Flitwick who took the initiative to approach Felix and inquired about the details of it and then agreed with relish that he would also provide some part of his memory.


    And apart from Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Felix himself, none of the other professors decided to do so, which actually shows that everyone takes their memories very seriously, and Dumbledore''s previous concern was justified.


    Felix slightly yawned and walked to the front, pointing his wand at himself, then his voice carried far away as if he is speaking into the ears of his students.


    "You should have read the bulletin board, today we are not going to select champion candidates, that is the task of the Goblet of Fire, what we are going to do is select a group of people with potential for special training. Most likely, our school final champions will emerge from these people. Even if they aren''t, they will still serve as student representatives, hosting students & professors from the four competing schools and will also participate in exchange events."


    Felix twirled his wand carelessly, "What would be considered as a champion?"


    "A Sorting Hat would sort students into the four houses based on a person''s most prominent trait, and you might be thinking if only there is a ''champion hat'' ..."


    The students below laughed under their breath.


    "... You may also be thinking, I would pick the best students. This will require you to have a messy fight, or at the very least, let you show off your best magic. But I must remind you that the duration of the tournament is extremely long, which means that the latecomers can catch up, and the forerunners can fall behind at any time.


    Strength is not the only criterion needed to be measured, otherwise, there would be no point in doing what we are doing today."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, they had speculated about it when they arrived here, about whether they will compete with each other to see whose spell is stronger, but there is no uniform standard for that. Harry is the best at disarming charm, but even he knows that the professors will not consider only this one spell.


    But the professors'' words were very different from what they thought, and professors didn''t seem to care about what they were capable of at all, which made Harry a little disappointed.


    " We professors have gone through a lot of information and analysed about the past tournaments and have come to some conclusions. One of them can be shared with you, that is, the champions often have to face the most tricky difficulties, even trials goes beyond their capabilities, in that situation, a slight difference in strength does not really matter."


    "It is not always the strongest who wins the championship. You will find that there are more unseen obstacles in the way of your path to victory ... So, I made a small suggestion, starting from the definition of a champion itself." Felix stopped for some time, with his eyes twinkling keenly, "We are back to the question we started with, what counts as a champion?"


    He stood straight and looked at the crowd with a sense of oppression, and the students felt their hearts sink as Felix asked the question again.


    "Champions do not represent individuals, not a particular house, but a uniform name given to candidates by - Public. Over the summer, I went to Egypt and met a local witch, and I didn''t bother to ask her which house she is from, because in my eyes, she is the witch from Uagadou."


    The young wizards'' expressions couldn''t help but become serious as they straightened their chests, and the candy that one of the freshmen brought to his lips remained halfway in the air, then he looked around, and put it down. Luna clapped her hands and shook the hat in her hand vigorously.


    "Since our Champions represent Hogwarts on the march towards glory, I thought that they should have some unifying characteristics -"


    "Brave and fearless, with great courage;"


    "Knowledgeable, intelligent with great wisdom;"


    "Honest, loyal, resilient and integrity;"


    "Firm and determined with their goals, as well as being calm with enough self-control."


    Felix smiled gently, "Of course, all the above are just good wishes, it would be lucky if we could have one or two traits from it." Unknowingly, he is holding a suspicious black mist in his hand.


    He pointed his wand at the black mist and made it rise quickly, soaring high into the air near the ceiling, and then a cloud of black mist slammed right down like a cannonball, dragging a long black smoke, smashing on the ground, and spreading out. The young wizards hurriedly avoided it, but found that the black mist did not stretch indefinitely, and stopped expanding when it swelled to a dozen feet and distorted into a large fading door, suspended in midair, six or seven feet above the ground, shrouded with black mist.


    Underneath the black door, seven steps extended, their surfaces sleek like pitch-black mirrors, connecting one step by one step to the ground


    "Walk in, come back out, if you get your invitation card, you''re in." Felix said calmly, he looked at Moody, who is leaning on crutches, and the professors next to him, with a smile, "Let''s just leave this to the students, we can have a cup of tea together, and discuss the subsequent training in the meantime."


    None of them had any opinion, today they came over here to get together and express their importance to the school. The selection criteria had already been determined in the previous discussion, which is why Professor McGonagall felt comfortable with not showing up to deal with more important matters.


    As they took a few steps out, "By the way," Felix stopped and said thoughtfully, "I seem to have forgotten to add an age limit; there''s no need for students in other grades to actually ..."


    "No need to bother with that! Professor Hap," Moody said hoarsely, gripping the cane in his hand, "the more it''s forbidden, the more people will try it, that''s what I''ve learned from experience this week!"


    His one fake eye-rolled and retracted back into its socket, and he raised his thumb and pointed backward, where the Weasley twins were probing the black door, peering towards it, with only a few steps away, and one of them seemed to want to touch the top step.


    The other Weasley twin noticed the professor''s looking back and hurriedly pulled him back, with both of them giving them an identical smile in unison. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s a good idea that you want to test the students'' minds. But instead of making restrictions that will dissuade them, it''s better to let them try one by one, and recognize how much they are capable of."


    He tapped his wand hard and said in a strong tone, "Not everyone can be a champion."


    Felix looked at Moody, his eyes pausing briefly on him, and said without much thought, "You''re not wrong, Professor Moody."


    They left in a group and the students looked at them, watching as they opened the door of Classroom 7, as they walked out one by one, and with a bang, the door closed.


    After a few seconds of silence, the students exploded into a frenzy, their eyes burning as they stared at the black door hanging in midair, shrouded with black mist, the seven steps stretching fluidly upward seeming to have a strange charm, attracting their full attention.


    "Gulp!"


    Harry swallowed down a mouthful of saliva.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 398+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 359: The Bankrupt Weasley Twins

    "Together?" Fred asked as he looked back at George beside him, his tone relaxed as if he were asking if he wanted to join him for breakfast or something like that. " This is the first step towards being a champion." George said smugly.


    The Weasley twins stood at the bottom of the steps, with their eyes fixed on the black hovering door. The pair smiled at each other and stepped upon the black seemingly mirror-like steps -


    "I thought it is going to be slippery, unexpectedly I can stand steadily, A good start George." Fred said loudly and braggingly, deliberately for the people nearby to hear.


    They walked the seven steps and stood in front of the big black door, slightly stumped for a moment.


    "How are we going to get in?"


    "Push it open by hand?"


    "Oh, that''s so un-magical." George said, but Fred had already reached out his hand and pushed hard against the center of the black door, surrounded by a black mist.


    "No reaction--" Fred said, but his eyes suddenly widened as his whole body faded like a phantom, and George immediately grabbed him by the shoulders, and both got sucked in together.


    The people gathered around held their breath and waited in silence -


    "Did they succeed?" Ron asked hesitantly, somewhat unsure.


    " They simply just went in, and have to face the unknown test." Hermione said, and she asked thoughtfully, "Are they both together now, or did they got separated?"


    "Is there a difference?" Dean asked nervously, "I do wish we can be together, don''t you, Seamus?" S?a?ch* Th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yeah." Seamus grumbled, and pulled an Irish Quidditch team badge out of his pocket, which he wore on himself, "It''s my lucky charm."


    Harry glanced at the clover badge, knowing that Seamus and his mother were die-hard Irish fans and that the team''s victory in the Quidditch World Cup finals over the summer had delighted them to no end. In fact, he and Ron had bought the same badges, and it can shout out the name of every player on the Irish team, but now that the magic had diminished, and the sound had become feeble, so Harry tucked it into his sock.


    Neville''s little round face tightened, and he clutched his wand in one hand with a death grip.


    After half a minute--


    There was movement in the quiet black door, and the twisting black mist boiled up, like a boiling cauldron, gushing out a large amount of black mist. Like a gaping maw, it covered the entire gate. And two shadows were thrown out with a great force, they are Weasley twins, they tumbled, made a crooked, not quite regular, curved arc, and so on, in the moment of landing, where they got held up by an invisible force, removing part of the force from falling.


    "Ouch!" George pressed on top of Fred, and the two rolled on the ground twice, covered with dirt and grasses.


    The young wizards first froze, then burst into laughter.


    "That was wonderful! Thanks for bringing us the entertainment Fred and George, but unfortunately it wasn''t exactly the great opening-" a voice suddenly interjected the laughter, so loud that it rumbled through the ears of those around him. The crowd instantly vacated a circle, revealing a male wizard with long locks of lurid hair.


    He is Lee Jordan, one of the Weasley twins'' lossy friend, who served as a Quidditch commentator after losing the selection process for a certain position on the Gryffindor team in the early years. Lee Jordan has a cheeky personality and likes to talk big. His most recent out-of-the-ordinary comment was publicly stating in the common room that he would use his skin colour as an advantage to sneak inside the Uagadou group and spy on secrets of their Champion for Hogwarts.


    "It would be nice to learn a trick or two of novel magic." He said, at the time, with great longing.


    ...


    At this moment, Lee Jordan stepped out with his wand against his throat while casting a "Sonorus" to speak. Then he shouted, "Next, I, Lee Jordan, the Quidditch commentator who will be out of work for a whole year, will give you a wonderful commentary!"


    The other students were a little dumbfounded, but the Gryffindor students did give him a few slaps on the back.


    "Ahem! Thank you, thank you! You guys are just too enthusiastic ..." he pretended to bow around, "Let''s interview the two people concerned first and get some first-hand information, you should want to know a bit of the inside story too, right?" Lee Jordan asked.


    The students quieted down, and a few dumb seniors paused for a moment to hear some useful information.


    Fred and George got up from the ground, their faces were frozen with horror, then they heard Lee Jordan''s words, so they showed a wicked smile as they looked at each other.


    "Oops, it''s not okay to reveal much--"


    "Especially the difficulty!"


    "Does it require fighting?" Lee Jordan interjected and asked.


    "Uh ..."


    "Yes, it was a tough fight."


    "But you guys look so clean, the dust on your robes is from when you got thrown out." Lee Jordan gave a sceptical look, but of course, it could have been faked, he and the twins had always worked well together.


    "How so," Fred sighed, "that''s Professor Hap''s magic, from a Master of Memory magic - think about the Professor''s stone basin ..."


    "Oh, I get it!" Lee Jordan said, "You are fighting in the world of thinking!"


    The two held their breath, "You''re right!"


    "So what did you guys encounter?" Lee Jordan asked with great interest, "I think the others would like to know it as well." The young wizards listened more attentively, secretly wondering what dangers they might have encountered, so they could refer it for themselves.


    "We, uh, ran into a snake!"


    "A snake?" Lee Jordan asked.


    "Yeah, a particularly large snake that could reach up to the ceiling ... George, you tell them!"


    "Well, I think ... it had three heads and stripes."


    In the crowd, Hermione muttered, "Three heads and with stripes, A Runespoor? But they are generally only six or seven feet long, and their descriptions don''t match well."


    Other students echoed the same sentiment, always feeling that Fred and George''s descriptions were ambiguous and incorrect.


    "Maybe they''ve been altered by Professor Hap in private." Ron speculated, and Harry and Hermione nodded thoughtfully, "It''s certainly possible."


    On the other hand, Lee Jordan sent Fred and George away cheerfully, they withdrew their magic and lowered their voices to discuss.


    "What do you think about the Professor''s test?" Fred said.


    "Hitting people where it will hurt and seeing how we respond." George said without thinking.


    "I think so, or we would not have gone bankrupt seventeen times in a row ..." Fred shivered, "that feeling is so terrible and very real, completely got immersed in it, did not even realize that there is a problem. "


    "Wait, you said seventeen times? But I only failed fifteen times!" George''s eyes widened.


    Fred looked at him hesitantly, "Did you count it wrong?"


    "Definitely not, it''s like a vivid memory!" George said heartily, "I suspect I''m going to have nightmares tonight."


    "So, we''re experiencing different visions?"


    "I suppose so."


    "Good," Fred nodded, "let''s exchange the reasons for our respective business failures, so when we head back we can write them down in a notebook! These are lessons."


    A seventh-grader walked up the steps, reached out and touched the black door, and was sucked in.


    Lee Jordan narrated, "A third person went in! After knowing, he was about to face a big snake with three heads - oh, off-site information tells me it might have been a mutated Runespoor, thank you - he still stepped up! Amazing courage! One more question, is he a Gryffindor senior?"


    The Hufflepuff students clamoured, and Lee Jordan said in a panic, "Uh, it doesn''t look like ..." He hastily changed the subject, "A third volunteer has gone in, and let''s speculate on how long he''ll last -Oh, my God!"


    A figure was thrown out immediately afterward, after rolling a few times in midair, he landed lightly on the ground. The seventh-grader slumped to the ground with a horrified look on his face, his empty right arm waving wildly abruptly behind him as if he was waving a wand, and chanted, "Protego! Protego!" Even Lee Jordan, who came over, received a punch on the face, and half of his face immediately swelled up.


    "Hiss~ Calm down, calm down! My God, come on, a few people come here and pull him away!" Lee Jordan shouted, covering his face.


    It took a while before the somewhat hysterical student got taken away by his friends, with a dispirited look on his face. Lee Jordan couldn''t able to ask him what he had gone through, but everyone had their own ideas.


    "Probably eaten by that big snake." Ernest Macmillan, a student from Hufflepuff, said to his best friend Justin finch-fletchley.


    "Don''t listen to him," said an aside Susan Bones, "He also said last year that Sirius Black turned himself into an orange and got purchased by Filch ..."


    "I just said that casually!" Ernest Macmillan a tall athletic-looking man said "Besides I was inspired by Hannah, who said that Blake could turn into a flowering bush!"


    Hannah Abbott furrowed her brow and looked at him with an unkind eye.


    "... also, you said the year before that Harry Potter was the heir to the Chamber of Secrets." Susan Bones continued uncaringly.


    Ernest yelled under his breath, "I''ve apologized to Harry! Apologized in public!" Justin tugged at him, his sleeves nearly rolled up, revealing a pair of short, chubby hands.


    Ernest muttered disgruntledly, "Isn''t it just an aunt who is a Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement ..."


    Susan Bones glared at him, but they didn''t get into a fight, as the seventh-grade Hufflepuff student returned, with legs as limp as spaghetti. His friend inquired him, "What the hell did you go through?"


    "Like, like a Runespoor snake!" He said with chattering teeth, "It was even scarier than what those Weasley twins said! It kept chasing me, followed by other creatures, and I didn''t see it clearly, I just ran and threw Impediment Jinx behind me, and ..." he gulped and gasped, "I saw a mouth."


    "Whose mouth?"


    "No, I don''t know, I went straight into its mouth, I just remember a mouth full of fishy yellow teeth, tightly closed, and then, then I came out." He shivered as he finished his encounter.


    The young wizard of Hufflepuff grimaced a little, and at that moment Cedric Diggory took a deep breath and said "I''ll try!"


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 398+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 360: Try again

    "Ced," Cho Chang asked softly, "Can''t you wait a little longer?" "No, I''m afraid it''s won''t get any better even if we wait," Cedric said with a smile, "Professor Hap wouldn''t set a hurdle that couldn''t be passed, he''s selecting a champion candidate, not a powerful wizard, the secret lies in what he said before."


    Cho Chang looked at him and said thoughtfully, "Courage, Wisdom, Resilience, and Calmness?"


    Cedric nodded and strode forward, Lee Jordan is encouraging people to go forward, the previous example has made the young wizards somewhat timid, with the intention of waiting for a little longer, waiting for the first person with the invitation card to appear. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry couldn''t help himself, he moved a few steps forward, and in the afterglow saw Cedric approaching.


    "Anyone else wants to try?" Lee Jordan continued to persuade, "The professors might come back after a cup of tea and will see three zeroes, what will they think? Oh, there''s a fourth volunteer! Let''s cheer him on, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff House!"


    Cedric took one step up the smooth, black steps, then touched the black door, and got sucked inside in the blink of an eye.


    The students couldn''t help but breathe slower, worried that he would be thrown out the next second, but ten seconds passed, thirty seconds passed, one minute, two minutes, until at five minutes, the hanging black door opened silently and Cedric walked down the steps holding a golden card high in the air.


    "Look! Cedric made it! He''s got the invitation card! He''s the first one!" Lee Jordan shouted excitedly as a huge wave of cheers erupted from the students of Hufflepuff House.


    Lee Jordan wrapped his arms around Cedric, "Man, you''re good! Is there anything you want to say to us?"


    Cedric smiled coyly, and the whole person had a kind of indescribable calmness: "I only have four words to say - courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness, that''s enough. Oh yeah," he thought for a moment, "Professor Hap enchanted the card with a spell, and I think that''s the biggest reward I got today."


    He returned to the Hufflepuff crowd and got surrounded by a cluster of people.


    "Cedric, how did you get through?"


    "Yeah, how''d you get past the mouth of the Runespoor Snake?"


    "What about that thing with the big mouth, is it a giant?"


    Cedric shook his head, "I didn''t encounter any of those things, not a single one, I don''t think Professor Hap is testing us to find out how we would defeat them, I already told you the secret."


    He found Cho Chang, "Cho, I suggest you give it a try."


    "Because of that magic on the card?" Cho Chang asked.


    "That''s also the reason, uh, but it''s mainly because I want you to join me in the training." Cedric said as he scratched his head.


    ...


    With success and key tips, some more daring people tried it, and even a long line formed. Lee Jordan reminded them. " The test can be done at the same time, that''s what Fred and George did-"


    One by one, the young wizards walked in, but more were thrown out at a faster pace, slumping on the ground.


    Harry followed behind Ron and Hermione, "You don''t have to accompany me, you can wait ..."


    "Do not say silly words, I want to try it myself." Hermione said impatiently.


    "Yeah, who doesn''t want to get an invitation card?" Ron said with a smirk, but Harry could clearly see the fear in his eyes, even the tone of his voice was different from usual.


    Harry took a deep breath, walked up the steps, touched the pattern on the door, and the next second, the pattern on the door moved, spinning and forming a shallow vortex that sucked him in.


    ''Let me see what''s inside!'' Harry said to himself.


    His feet were on the solid ground, and before he could look around, a dazzling green light flooded his entire field of vision, accompanied by a hoarse, ghastly voice, as bitter as the cold wind -


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    Harry''s heart almost stopped beating, his eyes went black, his whole body felt like he jumped straight down from the sky, falling helplessly, and the next second, his body tightened -


    "Harry! Harry!"


    "Harry, what''s wrong with you?"


    Ron and Hermione looked at him with concern, and Harry realized that he''s not dead but just had been thrown out of the black door, and they caught him.


    ''What kind of test is this, not even giving me time to react?'' Harry felt baffled.


    Ron looked at the pale Harry and counselled him, "It''s okay to fail, just the right time to see a good show." Harry followed his line of sight and there already lay a row of students on the floor, and he saw quite a few familiar faces from Gryffindor.


    Angelina Johnson got up with a grimace, and when she looked up to find Harry staring at her, she smiled bitterly, "I thought, since there''s no Quidditch tournament this year, I might as well find something for myself to do, being our school champion would be nice, but the fact that I couldn''t even make it in the school try-outs means I''m not that material... ..."


    She shook her head in defeat and prepared to leave.


    "No, you can do it!" Harry said.


    "What?"


    "You can-" Harry struggled to get up, "I''ll prove it to you."


    At her puzzled look, Harry walked up the steps again, and even the commentator, Lee Jordan, froze and muttered, "Looks like Potter wants to try it for a second time, this ... I don''t know if it will work ... "


    Harry did not care what the others thought, with his hand pressed against the black door, he prayed inwardly.


    A slight sense of weightlessness reappeared, making him pleased, it really works, he knew the professor would not instantly send people to their deaths, everyone can try again!


    Hermione looked at his back worriedly, "Harry is too impulsive, I can guess that the professor used a technique similar to the thinking room, and perhaps added the ability similar to the Boggart and Dementor, making everyone confront their worst fears. And in the process, we will show all kinds of champion traits ..."


    She shook her head, "But every failure would not be without significant impact, just look at those people." Speaking of which, she froze slightly, gazed at the black door, and suddenly laughed heartily.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron asked in confusion.


    "Oops," Hermione managed to hold back her laughter, only to be followed by a violent shaking of her shoulders, "Look at the ... gate, the handprints left by Harry ... Harry! "


    Ron and Angelina stared at the gate and vaguely saw a messy handprint, that was undoubtedly left by Harry. Previously it was the first attempt for everyone, only Harry repeated the challenge, even the mud on his hands was not wiped clean.


    Angelina broke into a light smile and tried to say something when Harry got thrown out of the black door for the second time.


    His face is even whiter than the first time, but his eyes are exceptionally bright, without waiting for them to question, Harry hurriedly left after leaving a sentence, "I found a little trick!" And then he dashed back likes a whirlwind, climbing up the steps in three steps, slamming on the black door, leaving a fresh mud handprint again.


    Lee Jordan came over, lowering his wand, and asked in a whisper, "Is he a maniac?"


    "I don''t think so." Angelina said, "That''s the Harry Potter I know, stubborn and single-minded, just like he was during his training."


    Hermione stood up and yanked Ron up by the hand.


    "What do you want?" Ron asked as he was surveying the handprints on the black door and commented, "The second handprint is much clearer, Harry''s hands must be aching!"


    But Hermione pulled him stiffly up the steps and said in a forceful tone, "It''s our turn."


    "I knew I couldn''t dodge it," Ron muttered. Looking left and right, then he put his hand on the muddy handprint left by Harry.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 399+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 361: Antiques and Invitation Cards

    A little time passed, when Ernest Macmillan and Justin returned together, and they both undoubtedly failed. The two remained silent for a while, when Ernest asked him, "Do you want to try again?" Justin shook his head as he casually found an empty spot and sat down: "Give me a break." He said, somewhat incredulously, "How did Potter do that?"


    When they looked back towards Potter, they saw him disappear again, and a wave of admiration rose up in their hearts. When he failed twice or three times, there were still Slytherin''s booing, and even Gryffindor''s students felt a bit ashamed, but when he failed for the ninth or tenth time, no one laughed at him anymore.


    Harry''s two friends - Hermione and Ron also tried once, now they slumped at one side.


    Justin asked him after some hesitation, "Ernest, there''s something I want to ask you."


    "What is it?" Ernest asked him casually.


    "It''s not about the selection, it''s about an antique vase someone gave my parents during the summer ... holiday, which I always felt a bit odd ..."


    Ernie muttered, "It can''t be cursed, right?"


    "Is that possible?" Justin asked him nervously.


    "How would I know, I''ve never even seen one." Ernest rolled his eyes, "But I do know who you can ask for help."


    "Who?"


    "Professor Hap, of course, he''s the best at these magical artefacts."


    "Yeah," Justin immediately agreed, "Ernest, you''re right, then I''ll have Mom and Dad send that stuff over-"


    "That thing is just on display at your house?" Ernest''s eyes widened, which made him look like a bulldog.


    "Uh, yeah." Justin said with embarrassment, and seeing Ernest''s eyes widen again, he hurriedly added, "But that antique is in a cabinet, and no one usually touches it."


    Ernest thought for a moment, "In that case, I suggest you don''t send a letter home. Come on, let''s go find Professor Hap."


    "Now?" Justin asked in surprise.


    "Of course! What are you waiting for? What if there''s a curse on it?" Ernest couldn''t help but shout at him, his face turning red from agitation.


    With that, Justin couldn''t sit still either, "Let''s go find Professor Hap at once!"


    When Justin and Ernest Macmillan hurriedly passed through a small group of Slytherin students, they inadvertently stepped on Pansy Parkinson''s foot, who was talking to a sullen Draco Malfoy.


    "Ouch!" Pansy yelped in pain.


    "Ah! Sorry-" Justin said apologetically, Pansy glared at him and was just about to make a sarcastic remark when Justin got pulled away by Ernest, "Come on, the professors left for a while."


    Pansy pointed at them and shouted, "Draco, look at them - the Macmillan family has degenerated and become as uncultured as those muggles - I should have persuaded my father to write to his family to keep him away from those stinking... ..."


    "Sister, do you think she looks like a crazy fox?" A little girl with delicate features asked.


    "Don''t talk nonsense, Astoria." Daphne took her sister by the hand and squeezed her hand hard, but a small smile spread in the corner of her eyes. She nudged her eyebrows toward Pansy''s side, signalling that she would overhear.


    Pansy really didn''t hear her, as she was repeating her grandfather''s words, "Hufflepuff''s students are a dull and goofy bunch, so most of them don''t have much of a good life." Draco listened with little patience as he turned his head and looked in Astoria''s direction.


    Astoria looked startled and whispered somewhat sheepishly in Daphne''s ear, "He... probably... heard... it. " She stared nervously at Draco Malfoy for some time, and then realized that he didn''t seem to have any intention of telling the fox face, and finally felt relieved.


    It didn''t take long for her to get restless again -


    "Can I release my baby Snake now?"


    " No" her sister replied with a blank stare.


    Outside classroom seven.


    Professors gathered in the faculty common room, Felix took out tea, Flitwick retrieved some teacups from an old cabinet, Professor Sprout took out some black flower petals and added them to the tea, as they sipped the tea and chatted cheerfully.


    But Snape left early, with the excuse that another batch of potions needed to be processed. Although Moody stayed, he politely declined to join them for a cup of tea.


    "Felix, what are you planning to do?" Flitwick asked.


    "I currently have the memories of a few professors, so I can work with them to design some dangerous scenarios in which students can exercise their reflexes, their ability to face crises, and how to fight, etc. The memories ... will be used to give pointers based on the student''s characteristics individually. So far, I just came up with these."


    "That''s all you can do now." Flitwick said with a nod, "Who knows what the competition events are, and what the specific rules are."


    Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with his words. He knew that the first event is likely to be a dragon, but he is not clear about the exact rules. It could be persisting under the attack of the dragon for a period of time, or it could be taking something from the dragon. Judging from Charlie''s earlier remark that the Ministry of Magic picked all the female dragons that were hatching eggs, this possibility is the greatest.


    Moody said gruffly: "I''m not really good at memory magic and stuff like that, but if you ask me, real skills can only be honed in real situations, fake is fake, why not lead these students to a Real Dangerous place!"


    Flitwick said uneasily, "Alastor, that''s not appropriate. We can''t bring students out of school ..."


    "What''s inappropriate! This generation has never experienced war and has been pampered, how can we expect them to react calmly when facing a competition event?" Moody spat disdainfully, "If they are my Auror team, I will definitely train them hard and take them to catch dark wizards a few times. It doesn''t take much time, three to five times on the line, they''ll be transformed."


    Flitwick said pointedly, "They''re just students! Not your Auror team."


    "But the tournament they face is more dangerous than the average Auror''s situation!" Moody growled.


    "No, absolutely not ... Minerva wouldn''t agree to that, and neither Dumbledore would ...," Flitwick muttered.


    Felix poured himself a cup of tea, leaned back in his chair, gazed at the amber tea in the cup, and said slowly: "Taking students out of school is probably impossible, not to mention it''s still a deliberate attempt to venture into a dangerous place. Professor Moody, your teaching style proved very controversial right now..."


    "Unforgivable Curse?" Moody grinned, sneering, which made his magic fake eye constantly rotate: "They should be glad that the first time they saw this spell, it was in my classroom."


    And not on the battlefield ...


    This is the unfinished meaning of his words, which the other three professors present understood.


    Moody had been using the old style of teaching and wanted to teach the students with brutalism. In his plan, he also intended to cast a spell on the students, so that they could experience the effects of each vicious curses, which, naturally, included the three unforgivable curses.


    Of course, he picked the Imperius Curse. The other two were too dangerous, that even Moody didn''t dare to use them on the students.


    Such an outrageous teaching plan drew Flitwick and Sprout''s collective opposition, the tea party also dispersed, Flitwick went in the direction of the headmaster''s office hurriedly, as if to let Dumbledore properly persuade his best friend.


    When only Felix and Moody were left alone, Felix looked at the time, and then asked him: "Want to go and have a look? I reckon there should be a few students who have got their invitation cards, provided that they realize they can try multiple times."


    Moody thought about it, "Forget it! I''ll skip the drama. Didn''t you say at the meeting that the selection will last through the weekend? Just give me a list by Monday and let me know who''s participating in the training!"


    With some effort, he shifted his cloak to one side to make room for his wooden leg to land on, then grabbed his cane with his scarred, rough hand and propped himself up with a firm grip.


    "Albus said you had a lot of nerve, and I thought you''d understand what I am doing." Moody said lightly.


    He limped away.


    Felix sat alone in the faculty common room, quietly thinking. I don''t know how long it took, but a knock suddenly sounded on the door and a tall, lean figure of Ernest Macmillan rushed in.


    "Mr. Macmillan, what can I do for you?" Felix asked calmly.


    "Professor Moody told me you were here. Oh, uh ..." Ernest''s momentum wilted as he fished Justin out from behind him, "Professor Hap, it''s Justin, he has something important to discuss with you ... "


    After a few minutes, Felix caught on, "So - an antique has appeared in your home that you suspect of being cursed, or specifically, that there may be some sort of curse on it?"


    "That''s right, Professor." Justin nodded hastily.


    "Is that so ..." Felix fell into contemplation as he asked him, "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, please give me your hand."


    "What? Oh--" Justin watched as the professor held out his hand, puzzled, but nevertheless he complied.


    The two clasped their hands together.


    "Picture that thing." Felix stated.


    Justin began to recall, he had a deep impression of the antique, as he fiddled with it for a long time out of suspicion, so he recalled it very easily at the moment.


    Under the gaze of three pairs of eyes, in the air a vase with a blue and silver body outlined, which resembled a combination of a goblet and a thin-mouthed vase with a layer of blue with champlev��. Adorned with lapis lazuli, the vase featured two harp-shaped arched handles at the top, from which a silver chain leads to a strap that dangles near a smooth, clean silver base.


    "A silver artefact. Probably a goblin-wrought silver craft?" Felix chuckled softly, "Can it repel common dust?"


    Justin''s eyes lit up, "That''s what the gift giver told my dad, I heard it was made using some old and special craftsmanship that is unique ..."


    Ernest Macmillan couldn''t help but shout at him, "That''s clearly a characteristic of goblin wares! Before you didn''t tell me about it, or I would have figured it out a long ago!"


    "But I don''t know much about it either." Justin argued. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Justin," Felix interrupted their conversation, "do you have anyone at home right now?"


    "They''re usually very busy and don''t get back until late." Justin added, "Weekends'' too."


    "Well, then, I''ll go with you tonight to visit your parents." Felix said, standing up and flicking his wand, making the tea disappear into thin air, the cups cleaned up and floated back to the cupboard.


    "Let''s go back and see, I wonder how many people got their invitation cards?"


    Justin said in a rush, "There are three before I came out, Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff, Roger Davies from Ravenclaw, and Collins Foley from Slytherin."


    ...


    " To hell with it," said Ron, blushing as if he had a serious illness, "you just can''t imagine what it''s like to be flooded by those nail-sized swarms of spiders, a million legs wriggling all over you, digging into your mouth, ears, nose... ... Damn, I now find Hagrid''s Aragog is much more appealing in its cage."


    Hermione hugged her knees and sat silent as she gradually regained her senses, and after a long moment of hesitation, she whispered, "I found a shortcut that might get me an invitation card, but I don''t know if it''s considered cheating ..."


    "What do you mean?" Ron stared at her.


    Then the Hovering Black Door slowly opened and Harry stepped out of it, holding a golden card.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 399+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 362: Trail

    "Harry went to the hospital wing?" When Felix returned to classroom seven, it was still some time before noon and quite a few people had not left yet, so he asked the commentator, Lee Jordan, who had combed his hair into locks.


    He heard his passionate commentary as soon as he came in, and he certainly had much to do with the fiery atmosphere on the field. However, his voice was a little hoarse after a long time of commentary.


    "Yes, Professor Hap." Lee Jordan said, "He got the invitation card, but his face didn''t look that bright, his friend Granger took him to the hospital wing, along with Fred and George''s brother Ron."


    As he spoke, a figure got tossed out by the black hovering gate, and Felix waved his wand lightly to keep her safely land on the ground.


    "Oh, thanks, Professor Hap." Angelina Johnson said with gratitude.


    Felix nodded and looked at the black door, which was covered with handprints of all sizes, and he saw a student deliberately half-squatting and pressing her dirty hands on the edge of the door. "It''s a symbol of courage." Lee Jordan said, and Felix smiled blankly.


    He raised his wand and gestured toward the black steps nearby, where the earth bulged up into a small mound, the center soil began to slide down in all directions, the grass on the ground was turned upside down, and as the crowd watched, a pointed monolith broke through the earth. The monolith towered about six or seven feet high, and on its smooth stone surface, four names glittered and shone like stars as the crowd gathered and stared -


    Cedric Diggory.


    Roger Davies.


    Collins Foley.


    Harry Potter.


    The young wizards gazed at the four names, their hearts welling up with endless envy; it would be great to have their names on there as well.


    When Felix heard Angelina mention what Cedric said about the secret, he smiled slightly and with another wave of his hand, those four words appeared at the top of the monolith: courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness. S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You should have realized that all of you can try multiple times." Felix spoke calmly, sending his voice out far enough for everyone to hear, "Here are a few more words of advice--"


    "Each failure will put a great mental burden on you, and it is best to rest for half an hour to an hour before trying again unless you have an extremely tough and strong mental disposition."


    The young wizards were talking, and words like "Potter", "Amazing", "Awesome" came out of their mouths, even the words Harry encouraged Angelina with "I''ll prove it to you" was brought up, and Draco Malfoy mouthed in disgust: "Saviour Potter!"


    Felix smiled faintly -


    "As for the test, I think many of you have already guessed it: confronting your fears. Of course, if your fear is something funny, such as a mountain of garbage, a smelly boot, then you will meet some interesting and bizarre creatures that I have specially prepared for you, even Headmaster Dumbledore full of praise for it.


    It''s not just my credit either, I took some special reference from the Muggle movies and the creatures that the previous Tournament contestants had faced."


    Those young wizards who participated in the selection glared indignantly at him, their eyes spitting fire. This morning, they had been chased by monsters, wrapped by snakes, squashed by giants, knocked around by trolls, and treated like a ball by a "clacking " transformed car ...


    Their encounters are so bizarre that they could be compiled into a book of hunting stories.


    "I can see that you can''t wait to continue the challenge," Felix said with a smile: "Well, one last thing, the whole selection will continue until next Monday, I will return to confirm the final list then."


    "Don''t even think about being smart and casting a spell on the monolith to put your name on it ..."


    -----


    Hospital Wing.


    Madam Pomfrey handed Harry a glass of potion in annoyance as she personally supervised him chugging it down. Harry drank that disgusting fluid, which smelled like poor quality vegetable juice, and wiped his mouth vigorously, thanking God that he didn''t have to listen to Madam Pomfrey''s nagging at last.


    Ron sat beside Harry''s feet and fiddled with the invitation card, he stroked the delicate patterns on the golden card over and over with a look of envy, "It''s beautiful."


    "How did you do that Harry, any tips?" He couldn''t resist asking.


    "My trick probably won''t work for you guys, I don''t think anyone will cast a killing curse at you ...," Harry said with a big yawn, Madam Pomfrey''s potions always work fast, so before he steeled his nerves to drink it.


    "You''ve to deal with the killing curse?" Ron''s body shook, the card slipped from his hand, and he caught it with his leg.


    Hermione covered her mouth, "Is it that curse? The one demonstrated in Professor Moody''s class?"


    "Yeah, the green light came at you from all sorts of angles, and every time I thought I was going to die." Harry said lazily, "The only way to get out of that state of mind is to get out ..."


    "That''s bizarre! I tried a few times halfway through, telling myself it was all fake, only to go in and forget all about it."


    "So did we," Ron said, "Hermione and me. I tried twice and saw a dozen kinds of spiders, and surprisingly, they are different every time, can you believe it?" He said incredulously, "There was an orb spider that you just had to poke it and pus would come out of its stomach, and when my spell hit-" He paused briefly, remembering some bad memory, his face scrunched up intensely.


    "I faced all sorts of academic blows, failing exams, being called in to talk with professors, being kicked out of school for not being able to use my magic, or having magical accidents ..." Hermione sighed, "and like you, I completely forgot that It''s just a bizarre test in a creepy place, I felt like I''ve suddenly got lost in thought and can''t remember why I''m there."


    "Maybe that was the professor''s point."


    "But how can we pass if we don''t remember and think it''s real every time?" Ron said.


    Harry said thoughtfully, "We should not only consider what happened inside the black door, the professor did not emphasize the importance of power, but the emphasis on growth? Don''t forget, we will only forget that we are in the trial in the black door, but when we go out, we will remember everything. And suddenly you will discover the gap between the two trials, which is the key for us to overcome our fear and to grow."


    "So the test is actually a way to verify that you have reflected and grown?" Hermione said perceptively.


    "No, ha ah - yes." Harry''s eyelids drooped, with sleepiness.


    He tapped his head, "There''s something else I need to tell you. There''s an enchantment on the invitation card, supposedly done by Professor Hap, that''s very, very interesting, and I highly recommend you guys, you ... try it!"


    Before Harry could finish his sentence, he fell asleep on his pillow crookedly. He was too tired today.


    "What kind of enchantment is that, anyway?" Ron stared at the golden card, flipping it over and over, and handed it to Hermione, "I didn''t find anything."


    Hermione took it and pulled out her wand and pointed, "Revelio! Aparecium!" After a while, she said hesitantly, "It should be a one-time enchantment, only the first person who gets the card will be rewarded with it."


    Ron said regretfully, "I wish I could shake Harry awake and ask him about it."


    After lunch, the two returned to classroom seven again, before that they had asked for a large no. of potions from Madam Pomfrey to soothe their spirits. Hermione begged and pleaded for some time before Madam Pomfrey reluctantly gave it to her.


    At this point, Lee Jordan has disappeared, a full morning commentary was a great burden on his voice, according to Neville, he intended to urgently order a box of Ice Mice with owls, to lower the pain in the throat.


    Hermione shot a glance at the extra black monolith and gave a slight hum.


    In the afternoon near dinner, Harry came back, he was first excited to read through the names on the monolith from the beginning then when he saw "Angelina Johnson", Harry was sincerely happy for her. He also saw the name of Cho Chang, he did not know whether to be happy or sad - he already knew that Cho Chang agreed to become Cedric''s girlfriend.


    Before he had time to think more, Angelina rushed over to him and gave him a warm hug, "Thank you, Harry." Spinning him around, she pulled him into the Gryffindor crowd.


    "Oh, there''s our champion Potter!" The twins said cheerfully. Fred bowed in a pretentious manner, "A million honours, we are in need of your tutelage."


    "Don''t, I''m not-" Harry waved his hands in embarrassment, "I''m not that old."


    The twins wrapped their arms around his shoulders left and right, "The Ageing Potion will have your share," he nudged towards Lee Jordan, "Lee got the access, but we need to buy at least an ounce before we can get it, and we want someone to split it ... "


    "Don''t you guys get a cut?" Ron asked.


    "That''s true, George, we''ve been a little lavish lately and forgot we had a debt we hadn''t collected." Fred said.


    "Makes sense, we''ve only just started this month, and we''ve already spent thirty galleons." George said.


    "Thirty galleons!" Ron glared, annoyed, "And you won''t even buy a new dress for your brother!"


    The twins looked at each other.


    "That''s pretty much how we roll with it," Fred shrugged, "And with all the money exchanged for materials, we could only afford to loan you some feathers to make your own dress by gluing it on."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 401+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 363: After the Lights Out

    Ron left them angrily, "Ron -" Harry reached out for his back, not knowing what to say. While unpacking his daily things on the first night they arrived at school, he saw the dress Mrs. Weasley had prepared for Ron. To his eye, it looked more like a long, velvet dress in a saucy purple colour, with a neckline trimmed with what looked like mouldy lace and matching lace on the sleeves.


    Harry would not be brave enough to wear them out, from the look on Ron''s face at the time, he knows that Ron too could not wait to keep this dress in the bottom of the box, and never use it once in his life.


    After ten seconds, Ron shot out of the door.


    Harry and Hermione caught him, Ron sat on the ground, his face looked pale, he said in a low voice: "I''ve had enough of poor days. Harry, can you lend me some money, I promise to pay you back!"


    Harry hesitated for two seconds, he knew what Ron planned to do - buy an Ageing Potion, "No problem." He said.


    "Ron! You shouldn''t- Dumbledore would not have considered less than-" Hermione advised.


    "Don''t concern yourself with it." Ron buried his head, "I thought you had a way to get an invitation card, otherwise, you won''t be talking big, no?"


    Hermione stared at him incredulously, but Ron only showed her the back of his head, Hermione gave him a condescending look and stomped heavily up to the steps.


    Her figure disappeared in front of the black hovering gate, and after only ten seconds or so, the black mist fluctuated violently.


    Ron looked incredulously at the black monolith, a golden name appeared robotically - Hermione Granger. The black door opened soundlessly, a wave of rolling air poured out from inside, and a golden fire faded behind her.


    ...


    Eight o''clock in the evening. S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix took Justin Finch-Fletchley using Apparition and appeared in a London alley, then they got into a cab and went to the villa area according to the address Justin provided.


    "Mom, it''s me, Justin!" Justin rang the doorbell in front of the gate and said through the microphone above, "I''m with a professor from school."


    "Oh, my God! Honey, Mommy will be over here."


    There came a sound of heavy clinking from across the microphone, as if someone had broken glass.


    Justin opened his mouth, a little embarrassed, and Felix observed the pattern carved into the pillar in silence until an exquisitely dressed woman walked out quickly, straightening her hat in a panic as she did so.


    "Hello, you are, uh ..."


    She froze as she looked at Justin and then at Felix over the gate.


    "You''re the professor of ...?" She asked cautiously, too young, all the professors she had seen were blessed with a blossoming belly and thinning hair, without an exception.


    Even if magic can cure hair loss, it can''t make people younger, right? The professor whose last name is "McGonagall" that visited their home before did not have that ability.


    "Oh, Mom, open the gate. He''s my ancient runes'' professor, I''ve talked about him before!" Justine said from the outside.


    The woman reached out a hand over the gate and flicked him in the forehead.


    "Ouch!"


    The woman then fumbled her pocket with satisfaction and then said with an apologetic look on her face, "Are you Professor Hap? The boy did mention you and said you are very young, but I thought, how can I ... Oh, sorry, I forgot my keys, I changed my clothes when I came home in the evening ... I''ll be right back." She left in a hurry.


    Justin wondered, "Professor Hap? Can we use the unlocking charm ..."


    "There''s no need for that," Felix said, "It won''t hurt to wait."


    Justin scratched his curly hair, hardly able to understand, "Professor, what kind of magic did you just use? A Portkey?"


    Felix laughed, "Where did you hear that word?"


    "Ernest told me, he said that during the summer Quidditch World Cup, the Ministry of Magic prepared Two hundred Portkeys by which people from all over the world came to England!"


    "Two hundred is just the number within England." Felix said, "The magic of the Portkey needs a certain item to rely on, and I used an Apparition."


    "Apparition?"


    "Yes, it is more convenient than the Portkey, and you have seen the effect, you will learn about it in the sixth year."


    "But why haven''t I seen anyone else using it?"


    "Oh, because there is a spell put on the school that forbids Apparition and, of course, Portkeys too."


    At that moment, Justine''s mom appeared with a jog and greeted both of them.


    Mr. Finch-Fletchley, who had the same curly hair as Justin, brought two cups of coffee, "I heard from Justin that you also drink coffee, just this week a friend of mine gifted me some Geisha coffee, please give it a try."


    He put down the coffee, scrubbed his hands with a napkin, then shook his hands with Felix.


    Felix made his intentions clear, and the Mr. Finch-Fletchley, got taken aback, and immediately led him to the study, where Mr. Finch-Fletchley introduced it as he walked, "It was originally in the living room, but Justin boy was playing with it all the time, and his mother was afraid it would break, so she put it in the study."


    Justin stared at his mother, who promptly messed up his hair.


    In the study, Felix carefully examined the antique vase, looking at it seriously for half a while, he certainly was not looking at the pattern of enamelwork, but rather at the magic glow hidden from the ordinary people -


    "Is there a problem?" Mr. Finch-Fletchley asked a little nervously.


    "Oh, no," Felix said, "no matter how many times you look at it, you will be amazed by the goblins'' craftsmanship, and some of their crafts can rival the top quality alchemy ... Also, please rest assured, there are no curses."


    "That''s good, that''s good." Mr. Finch-Fletchley felt relieved, he was concerned about some kind of radiation or something - forgive him for not understanding magic, but that''s what he imagined the curse would be.


    Afterward, Mr. Finch-Fletchley invited him to spend a weekend together. Felix knew that it is Justin they wanted to keep.


    He said implicitly, "Hogwarts students are all residents, and professors have an unshrinkable responsibility regarding the safety of young wizards ..." He saw their disappointed expressions and added, "At best, we can stay until tomorrow morning, and please prepare a guest room for me, preferably a quiet one."


    "That''s only natural, rest assured, Professor Hap." Mrs. Finch-Fletchley hastily agreed, fearing that he would renege. She patted Justine on the back of the head and said seriously, "Where are your manners?"


    Justin said sullenly, "Thank you, Professor."


    ...


    Hogwarts, after lights out.


    Harry went to bed early, he was exhausted from a long day, Ron and Hermione fell out and ignored each other, but Hermione had got her invitation card, so Harry certainly hoped Ron would get it too, so he and Ron stayed in the classroom seven all afternoon.


    But what he could do was really limited, he just tried to analyse the situation after Ron''s failure, but it was not something he is good at. Luckily, Hermione left Madam Pomfrey''s potion, which was able to relieve mental exhaustion and shorten their rest time by a lot.


    Ron laid on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep, with a heavy heart.


    He stared out the window at the pale light and could barely see one corner of the moon.


    Harry had made it, Hermione also made it, and even ... he glanced at Neville who is snoring loudly, yeah, even Neville had managed to get an invitation card.


    He knew he could never beat Harry and Hermione, but he at least didn''t want to be left too far behind.


    He sat up, fuming for a while, and finally, he tiptoed out of bed and grabbed the half-bottle of potion that still remained from the table. Walking out of his dorm room, he pushed the common room door open.


    Ron walked fearfully through the dark corridor, not even daring enough to use Lumos, lest he encounters Filch or Mrs. Norris.


    Finally, half an hour later, he arrived near classroom seven, secretly thanking his good luck.


    Ron gripped his wand, not daring to make a sound, and groped his hands along the wall. Classroom seven was not locked, and the way to enter is by outlining a rune on the door. It just so happened that Professor Hap talked about it in the Magic Rune Club.


    Right now, all he had to do is find the right spot, then quickly outline the rune, and sneak into the classroom, so he could outlast everyone else by one night.


    Ron touched something bulging, cool, but warmer than the walls and door, and his spirits soared, he had found it! But the next second, a suppressed scream rang out in his ears, sending chills down his spine.


    A ghost? Peeves? No, a living person ...


    "Who!"


    "Who!" Ron''s voice distorted with fright, his vocal pitch was twisted so much that even he didn''t know what he was saying.


    In the darkness, an unknown being is less than a foot away from him. Ron gulped, took two steps back, raised his wand, and whispered, "Lumos."


    A hazy glow lit up from the tip of the wand, illuminating the face opposite to him within an arm''s reach -


    "Draco Malfoy!"


    "Ron Weasley!"


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 401+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 364: Starry Sky

    Ron and Draco stared wide-eyed and fell into an eerie silence. "I can''t believe you''re on a night out, Malfoy!" Ron said before Draco could accuse him.


    "Aren''t you talking about yourself, Weasley?" Draco said absently.


    There was a short silence and then Draco spoke up, a gleam creeping through his eyes, "Don''t pretend, Weasley. We''re both here for the same reason, no one says anything to anyone, to avoid getting into trouble, I guess?"


    Ron touched the potion bottle in his arms and didn''t utter a word.


    " Meow ~"


    A cat appeared at some point, squatting on the windowsill, bathing in the moonlight as she stared at them with yellow eyes.


    "Go away - go away, you stupid cat!" Ron instantly became anxious, and he chased the cat away in a hushed tone, waving his hand over and over at it.


    However, Mrs. Norris glanced at him proudly, its soft, smooth gray fur glowed silver in the moonlight, and its eyes glanced past Ron and saw Draco Malfoy behind him.


    A wand poked out, its tip glowing red.


    Ron pushed Draco out of the way as he deflected his wand, as the spell hit the wall--


    "What are you doing?" Ron said angrily.


    "I just wanted to put it to sleep for a while, do you want it to bring Filch here?" Draco said calmly, "It''s YOU - STUPID WEASLEY - who let it get away."


    "You''re the one who''s stupid!" Ron cursed under his breath and looked back at the window, which seemed deserted. He looked down the corridor again and could barely distinguish a silvery grey shadow disappearing around the corner in the dark corridor.


    Ron panicked, the half bottle of potion he carried in his arms wobbled vigorously, and sweat immediately broke out.


    "What to do?" He groaned, as he felt deep regret, if only he had brought Harry''s invisibility cloak with him tonight, he would have been able to pretend like a ghost and scare Malfoy, or at least he should have brought the Marauder''s Map, both of these things were at the bottom of the box that belonged to Harry.


    Now it is too late to think about that.


    "What else can we do!" Draco glared at Ron and said coldly: "Of course, we should run away quickly, or are you going to wait till you get caught? Are you really a masochist, as rumour says? I warn you, if you get caught, don''t rat me out-"


    "Go ahead!" Ron said.


    "What?"


    "You should leave," Ron repeated in a low voice, waving his hand at Draco in boredom just like how he had been chasing away Mrs. Norris, his other hand clutching the vial tightly with a death grip, "Hurry up, what are you waiting for!"


    Draco had taken a few steps away, but for a moment he stopped and looked at him with a very curious look, his gray eyes flickered, and a strange thought came to his mind.


    "You want to stay," he glanced at the door of classroom seven behind them, then looked back, as if weighing something in his mind, then he said slowly, "you want to stay and hide in classroom seven, where that old fool Filch can''t open the door."


    "You''re overthinking it, I''m leaving." Ron said, but his feet didn''t move a bit.


    Draco sneered, took a few steps over, leaned against the edge of the window where Mrs. Norris had just been standing, and said slowly, "So how about we simply wait until Filch comes over?"


    Ron looked at him in exasperation.


    "What are you looking at, Weasley? Do you want me to give you a hex?" Draco said.


    "You wouldn''t dare, Malfoy." Ron said, glancing nervously at the dark corridor, which remained silent, but he knew that Filch would appear in three minutes at most, or perhaps he had been woken up by now and making his way over, panting heavily as he carried a kerosene lamp with a grimace on his face.


    How much time had passed, ten seconds, or thirty?


    He had to make a decision -


    "Damn you ferret!" He said angrily, turning and stomping towards the door of classroom seven, with Draco behind him, smiling smugly, speaking in a long, drawn-out voice with a condescending tone, "Come on, Weasley! You don''t think you''re in Potions class, do you?"


    Ron shuddered with anger, wishing he could ignore everything and shot a hex in Malfoy''s face, but he held back, his wand tracing the air in an attempt to outline a rune. But he simply can not keep calm at this point and failed twice in a row.


    After waiting for a while, Draco couldn''t sit still and came over to urge him on, "What are you playing at, waiting for Filch or the professor on night patrol to take us both away?"


    "Leave me alone, you''re messing with my head!" Ron said with a frown, as he failed to outline once again, half of the rune flickered and disappeared.


    Draco impatiently stood guard, occasionally glancing around and listening with one ear.


    After almost two minutes, the sound of climbing stairs was heard in the distance, and someone spoke in a tone that trembled with excitement: " Are we finally there, my sweet? They won''t be able to run away easily, I assure you-"


    The expression on Draco''s face turned into panic, and he couldn''t help but take two steps back and hide in the shadow. The voice got closer, as he looked over the corridor, and then at Ron, who''s still concentrating on outlining the rune, pondering if he should slip away alone -


    "Wes--"


    "It''s done!" Ron shouted excitedly, scribing a shiny rune on the door, which opened noiselessly and a slit of light could be seen pouring out from inside. He turned his head and said angrily, "Malfoy, if you ever speak to me in a commanding tone again, I''ll-"


    Draco kicked Ron in the ass, knocking him through the door before he hastily slammed the door shut behind him.


    The bright light inside classroom seven briefly blinded him a bit, while he placed his ear against the cold door and strained to hear the movements outside. He did not know if it was due to the enchantment that he could not hear a sound from outside right now.


    On the other hand, Ron carefully placed the potion in his arms on the floor and lunged towards Draco.


    "Damn Malfoy! How dare you kick me, I''ve put up with you for a long time!"


    Draco looked back contemptuously and took a punch right in the face, "You''re insane!?" He shouted, raising his wand, but Ron aimed for it and brought him to the ground with a punch that made Draco''s eyes glaze over. Ron took the opportunity to swing two more punches at his hateful face, and Draco screamed in pain and kicked Ron away.


    " It''s Malfoy''s comeback!" He said viciously.


    Ron shook his head and charged again, and the two wrestled. The wands in their hands fell out.


    Soon Ron had the upper hand based on his size, both arms locked around Draco''s neck, their faces equally red, except Draco was holding his breath. Ron bellowed: "Malfoy, I tell you, I have a temper too!"


    Draco rolled his eyes and struggled desperately, "I didn''t mean to ... But Filch was there ..."


    "Filch?" Ron froze for a moment, the strength in his hands unconsciously weakened, and Draco took the opportunity to break free from his restraints and breathe heavily.


    A few minutes later-


    The two separated far apart, warily pointing their wands at each other, their faces both bruised and battered. Ron laughed loudly as he saw that both of Malfoy''s eyes were bruised, his carefully combed hair looked dishevelled, and his magnificent robes were torn with several long rips and holes.


    Although he also looked terrible, he is now in an extraordinarily soothing mood.


    "According to the rules in the club, you can''t fight when we''re working together."


    "You wait for me, Weasley!"


    Draco glared at Ron with hatred, and walked up the black steps, with several deep breaths, he reached out and touched the black hovering door, and the next second, his figure disappeared.


    Ron burst out laughing, and in a delightful voice he said, "This robe goes really well with you, Malfoy."


    ...


    Inside the black hovering door.


    Ron spat out a mouthful of green slimy liquid, brushed aside the spider legs which hooked over his shoulder, and muttered under his breath, "The seventeenth batch ... I''d like to see how many more ... times ... why there are spiders with twelve legs ... I bet Professor Hap failed his Care of Magical Creatures class ..."


    Two more spider waves, but Ron has been able to accurately judge the placement, so he stepped on a raised boulder and chose the optimal route to leave early before the spiders can climb up.


    "I wonder if there''s a chicken leg for breakfast? I don''t want to drink any gruel ..."


    He thought out of tune and finally crossed this rocky beach. On a platform, a golden circle of light glowed.


    Ron looked at the golden glow on the platform with fascination, and there seemed to be something inside. He couldn''t help but reach out his hand, and the moment he touched the card, his whole body became frozen and blank -


    His vision infinitely elevated, as if he had become a ghost, he first saw the black hovering door, then Malfoy, and finally saw the whole spacious seventh classroom. But this is not the end, he saw the castle corridors, and then he went through layers of walls, rising, and soon, the entire Hogwarts castle in his eyes became a matchbox.


    And he was already in the black night sky, and kept ascending, surrounded by the bitterly cold wind and clouds.


    Hogwarts has become as big as a fingernail, even the black lake is very small, as if he could drink it all in one gulp, a stretch of black mountains came into view and filled his vision.


    He saw the ever-smaller village of Hogsmeade, sporadically lit by a few points of light, perhaps using Professor Hap''s magic lamp? Ron thought, but they immediately disappeared, he continued to ascend, the world below turned into large patches of colours, he struggled to distinguish, the dark green ones were forests, the dark brown were hills, and the blue ... were oceans!


    He actually saw the ocean, Ron gasped, feeling like he is dreaming, but this dream is so vivid that you can''t forget it. He also saw the brightly lit settlement and speculated in his mind whether it is the city of the Muggles, from what Harry said, in a big city like London, even at night, there are many lights on ...


    "Is this England?"


    Ron frowned and saw a very small piece of land, or rather - island, across a wide land, what seems to be a huge expanse of land. He felt some kind of thought tug him, but he had no idea what it was. Then he just continued to ascend -


    After a long time, he could only see the ocean and the land.


    Then he passed through a thick layer of clouds, fearing he would freeze to death. Suddenly, there was a bright flash of golden sunlight shining on the clean white cluster of clouds, reflecting a golden haze. Is this the sunrise?


    Ron looked at the world beneath his feet for the first time, examining ... a standard sphere dominated by blue, a small half of it hidden in the shadows, which should be dark, and the other half very bright, so that he could see the land, the ocean, and the light clouds, it is a day there. He reached out and tried to grab something, but he just kept moving away.


    That blue sphere turned into dots and more globes appeared, "Moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter ... O Merlin''s beard!" Ron opened his mouth wide, he saw the complete solar system, like a model of the Star chart sold in Diagon Alley, he felt that he would never forget their position in his life.


    After that, he saw the stars. He had never understood the names of the constellations before, thinking that names like "Canis Major" were nonsense, but he really saw a big dog in the deep sky of the universe, made up of countless stars, and he even saw the brightest one in Canis Major - Sirius. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    And then after that, the sight was beyond his comprehension, he saw a bright vortex, a dense web of points of light ... then he fell, much faster than he had come, everything he had seen before was going back, vortexes, nebulae, constellations, blue planet, lands and oceans, the sight kept drawing closer and closer until he fell headlong plunged into the ancient castle of Hogwarts.


    "Ah--"


    Ron screamed out, panting, holding a golden card in his hand.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 403+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 365: Business Card

    The next morning. Harry woke up from bed with a yawn, first he reached for his alarm clock and looked at the time - eleven in the morning. Startled, he jumped up from the bed and fumbled for his glasses, "Ron, don''t sleep! We have to go to classroom seven for the selection, and today is the last day-"


    Ron seemed like a dead pig slumped in bed, with one arm showing as he snored loudly.


    Harry lifted Ron''s covers and looked at him with surprise, Ron is wearing a tattered and dusty robe, his face is bruised and battered like he was hung up and beaten by a whomping willow for half an hour.


    Even when they were in the study group, and practicing the Incarcerous Spell, Ron had never looked this miserable.


    A thief broke into the dorm?


    Someone broke in and beat Ron up violently?


    Harry desperately shook Ron awake and asked especially seriously, "Did you see who it was?"


    "What?" Ron opened his drowsy eyes and mumbled vaguely.


    "Who hit you!" Harry shouted.


    "Who else could it be, Malfoy ..." Ron said with his eyes closed, Harry became furious and immediately wanted to rush into the Slytherin common room to settle the score with Malfoy, only to hear Ron follow up with, " He looked even worse than me, I choked his neck and made him kneel down and beg for mercy on his knees ..."


    In his sleep, Ron grinned broadly and gleefully as he muttered a few words that no one could hear and continued to fall back to sleep.


    Harry froze for a moment, a little unable to grasp what is the situation, he walked out of the dormitory with a head full of confusion and found Hermione in the common room as he told her about it.


    "He''s not dreaming about fighting with Malfoy and getting himself all bruised up, is he?" Hermione asked in a cold tone.


    "Hermione, that''s not possible." Harry said, "He had his robes all torn up ..."


    "That means he went out at night and got into a fight with someone. But I do doubt that he has the courage!" Hermione stood up, "I''ll go ask the fat lady, she must know if anyone has been out at night."


    She stomped off, leaving Harry behind on the couch, slightly annoyed. Could it be Ron had gone out in the middle of the night, and what was he doing out there?


    He looked at the table, Hermione''s seat left with a stack of parchment, he wondered - her homework is not finished? He took it over and looked at it, and it''s surprisingly a piece of information gathered from the experience of people who have passed the selection process. More comprehensive than what he and Ron inquired about, obviously she spent a lot of effort.


    Not long after, Hermione came back with a surprised face and said, "He really went out last night, the fat lady was impressed with him and said that she would compose an opera about him."


    "But where did Ron go?" Harry pondered: "He was with me all afternoon yesterday and came back to bed early, there was no time to meet Malfoy alone, so how could he make an appointment ..."


    "Or maybe they went to the same place." Hermione analysed.


    Harry nodded, the same place ... he jerked his head up and looked at Hermione, who also looked at him with a shocked expression.


    "Classroom seven!"


    ...


    At noon, Harry returned to his dorm room as if nothing had happened, Ron had got up and had changed his clothes.


    Seeing Harry entering, Ron said with a look of excitement, "Harry, you can''t believe it, seriously! I fought off seventeen waves of big spiders, and by the time I reached the end, I felt like I was not afraid of them anymore, even with all those hairy legs and stinky green liquid spewing around ... I did it, Harry! And the magic on the card you told me about, it was so cool!"


    Harry looked at him oddly, "When did this happen, I remember, when we came back yesterday, you said you couldn''t see any hope. And I didn''t mention what magic was on the card ..."


    "Uh," Ron jammed, he blinked, "you didn''t say that?"


    "I didn''t say that. Oh, right." Harry pulled out a stack of parchment, "Here''s some information I found, we can work on it together."


    "That would be great!" Ron took it happily, looking at the familiar handwriting on it, and became uncomfortable, "Oh ... yeah, it is wonderful ..." s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Do you have anything to say?" Harry asked.


    Ron hesitated for a moment, staring at the stack of parchment, and slowly pulled a golden card out of his pocket.


    On the other side--


    The Finch-Fletchley couple had prepared a sophisticated menu, and they had put off their work commitments for a while to stay at home.


    At lunchtime, someone rang the doorbell, and Mr. Finch-Fletchley went out for a while before returning. When it became time to part, Mrs. Finch-Fletchley took out the two large bags she had prepared.


    "Mom-" Justin rolled his eyes and said helplessly, "There''s too much stuff for me to carry."


    "I''ll do it." Felix said, beckoning toward the packages and putting them into the ring in his left hand. Watching this Finch-Fletchley couple tsked in amazement.


    "Is this magic artefact, it''s incredible ... I wonder if we can buy it?"


    Felix shook his head, "This kind of artefact will be strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic, it''s okay for wizards, but if it appears in the hands of muggles - that is, non-magical people - it will attract the pursuit of law enforcers."


    "It''s not like that goblin-built antique vase that you can keep at home and appreciate without others'' knowledge, with little chance of being discovered. But this ring has a risk of being found. As long as you use it, there is a danger of getting detected."


    Mrs. Finch-Fletchley said regretfully, "We also got some magical artefacts at home, some trinkets we bought in Diagon Alley, which we hide all in one room and never let outsiders know about it."


    "Yes, Mom collected a whole set of Lockhart''s books." Justin said.


    Mrs. Finch-Fletchley glared at him.


    Before leaving, Mr. Finch-Fletchley handed Felix a business card, which Felix accepted, then he felt a faint trace of magic on it, and asked curiously, "This?"


    "A friend sent it over. He is a collector, and he keeps in touch with many people who have connections. This card came from a mysterious seller who has offered a lot of antiquities over the years." Mr. Finch-Fletchley said cautiously, "Including that vase ..."


    Felix''s mind became clear, the business card only wrote a series of phone numbers, not even a name, indeed mysterious enough.


    "They contacted you via this telephone?"


    "It''s not easy to determine." Mr. Finch-Fletchley said, "The mysterious seller asked my friend to call the number above, but every time he called, no one answered. But after waiting a day or two, he will show up and visit your home on his own initiative."


    Felix smiled, "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, thank you for your trust in me. I can assure you that no trouble will involve your family."


    "That''s best." Mr. Finch-Fletchley breathed a sigh of relief.


    He thought about it for a long time last night, but he still felt that he should let the professor at Hogwarts know about it, otherwise, it would always be uncomfortable to have a wizard who is hiding his tail around.


    Back at school, Felix played with the card, "Interesting, who could be behind you?"


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 403+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 366: Not Cheating

    "I can''t believe it! I can''t believe you kept this from us!" Hermione said disgruntled, by now they had walked out of the castle, turned a corner in front of Hagrid''s hut, and headed towards the Forbidden Forest, but she still remained a little indignant about that issue. "Hermione, you were having a falling out - but, Ron, you didn''t even tell me, we could have cloaked ourselves in an invisibility cloak." Harry couldn''t help but speak in a grumbling tone.


    "I thought ... if I failed, I''d just pretend like nothing had happened." Ron stammered, his eyes unnaturally glancing somewhere else, "I guess Malfoy was thinking the same ... Hermione, thanks for the Dittany."


    The lump on his face didn''t look noticeable anymore.


    "That''s meant for Harry when he practices Apparition!" Hermione hmphed through her nose.


    "I''m surprised Malfoy made it though," Ron said, "I always thought he''d just be crying for his mom or be a hopping ferret ..."


    Hermione did think it is normal.


    "He''s always got good grades, one of the top scores on the ''answer space'', you just never paid attention."


    "Yeah," Ron smacked his lips, "I didn''t know that you paid attention to people who ranked lower than you, that''s a long list of names ..."


    Harry couldn''t help but grin.


    They walked into the forbidden forest, the light suddenly dimmed, as if it was evening, and their ears heard all kinds of rustling and tiny sounds in the forest. They had to find a place nearby to practice apparition, and according to Harry, he could already appear out of the "house" from inside using apparition.


    Ron plucked a purple berry and asked, "Can I eat this thing?"


    "Yes," Hermione glanced at it, "except it''s a bit--"


    "Yuck!" Ron already took a bite, then revealed a bitter look, "It''s bitter!"


    "... bitter taste, it seems you already know that." Hermione said with a smile, and Harry hastily retracted his hand that was poking at the branch.


    They soon found a familiar path and trekked to a vacant spot -


    " This place looks familiar to me." Harry surveyed the vicinity, his eyes skimming over the scattered rocks several times.


    "Yeah," Hermione pointed to a large tree, "remember? We spied on Professor Hap behind that tree when he was practicing Apparition ... I asked Hagrid privately, there is no dangerous creature''s lair near this piece of forest. However, we still need to take some precautions-"


    She took her wand and walked around, mumbling some words under her breath.


    "Protego totalum... Salvio hexia ... Repello Muggletum ... Stealth Sensoring Spell(incantation unknown) ... Caterwauling Charm(incantation unknown) ... Transfigured Guards(incantation unknown) ... Hey guys! if you don''t mind, help me out a bit!"


    "We only know the first three spells." Harry and Ron looked at each other as they too got busy, "That was taught by Professor Belby, in the Wilderness Safety theme ... What about the rest?"


    "Oh," Hermione patted her forehead, "the Stealth Sensoring Spell can detect magical disguise, Caterwauling Charm is a kind of alarm spell, when someone breaks in it will make an ear-piercing sound ... As for the Transfigured Guard. "She paused and smiled, "Don''t you guys think they''re cute?"


    Harry and Ron crouched down and looked at the things that looked like peanuts - their bodies were made of two small stones pieced together - supposedly using transfiguration - with no legs, as they bounced around.


    Ron reached out and flicked one of the transfigured guards two feet away.


    "Kind of like a LEGO Figure without limbs." Harry commented, looking up and down as he asked, "What can they do?"


    "More sensitive to magic and can detect things we can''t see in advance." Hermione said, "One more thing to add, this is Professor Hap''s magic."


    "Well prepared," Ron whispered, "I finally know why she didn''t stop us from breaking the school rules, if I had learned this much novel magic as well, I would certainly look for an opportunity to use it, otherwise it would be a shame, wouldn''t it?"


    Late afternoon.


    Felix was working on a sneakoscope in his office, tiny parts scattered across his workbench.


    He carefully extracted a strand of magic from a business card, which Mr. Finch-Fletchley had handed him. Then he picked up a fingernail-sized gemstone and incorporated the magic power wrapped around his finger into it.


    "The most important step is completed, then - Valen, I haven''t heard the sound of reading for a while."


    He said without looking up, as a Niffler Valen dozing off on a big literacy book used by muggles with various illustrations under her butt.


    Hearing Felix''s words, Valen grunted in discontent and walked up to him with great gusto, her small pink finger poking his arm over and over again.


    She couldn''t stand it, no more! Why are you teaching a Niffler how to read and write?


    She had never heard of such a ridiculous thing.


    For her own sake, and for the sake of any potential victims in the future, she would like to protest against the Great Demon King on behalf of all the Nifflers!...no! On behalf of all Magical Creatures!


    "Kuh-kih! Gee gee gee! Chik Kik ki ki ki!"


    Then a Golden Galleon was placed in front of her. Niffler Valen froze a bit as she instinctively stuffed it into her pocket.


    "When you receive money, you have to do something, as we agreed." Felix nudged her with his finger.


    "Gabba-"


    Niffler Valen opened her beak wide, like a duck, pink beak opening and closing breathlessly.


    She walked back with her head down, then she flipped the next page with her nimble pink fingers and sat down dejectedly as she stared at a picture of a motorcycle, and within a minute, her eyelids drooped ...


    Hermione''s presence rescued her. When she came in, Niffler leaped off the workbench with a comical stride and jumped into Hermione''s arms.


    "Oh ... Valen? What happened to you? You''re too enthusiastic ..." She looked at Niffler somewhat overwhelmed, as Valen looked like she had been wronged, pointing to the sky and the ground, without forgetting to point at the professor and a literacy book on the table.


    "Are you learning to read?" Hermione''s heart welled up with a nostalgic feeling, "I read a similar book when I was three years old."


    "Kiki! Keeee!"


    Niffler pointed at Felix and grunted once again.


    "Uh ..."


    " She says she has never met a human as cunning as me, and she is running away from home to follow you instead." Felix said with his head down, putting the remaining parts of the sneakoscope together.


    Hermione blinked and looked down at Niffler.


    Niffler nodded her head in exasperation. That''s right!


    She wanted to break into a new world and gather a big hidden treasure. Sooner or later, she will make the fifth house at Hogwarts.


    "Well, it''s done." Felix stood up with a walnut-sized sneakoscope in his hand, and before Hermione could see it, he had raised his ebony wand and from the tip, a silver Rain Swallow Patronus flew out.


    The rain swallow is as big as an owl, hovering silently in midair, Felix threw the sneakoscope in his hand which got swallowed by its open beak.


    "Go on, find that man. Don''t let him notice someone looking for him." Felix said calmly.


    Hermione watched curiously as Rainbird disappeared from the window and into the blackness of the night, mentally guessing what kind of person the professor wanted to find.


    ...


    "So, you''re worried that you got the invitation card by cheating?"


    Hermione nodded, at this point, they sat on the couch, she held a box of Eggnog cookies in her hand, feeding Niffler, while looking worriedly across the table at Professor Hap.


    This matter has always bothered her, especially after Ron got the invitation card in a "normal" way.


    Felix dismissed it, "Why do you call it cheating?"


    "I went against the test''s intent," Hermione said sadly, "I simply could not face my own fears, perhaps I am the worst of these champion candidates."


    Felix laughed softly, "Granger, you, as well as the students below the sixth year, are not considered as champions to be trained, not considered as champion candidates. But because of the younger age, you are considered more talented, so we decided to let you participate in the upcoming training"


    Hermione looked at him with some confusion.


    "Put it this way, Miss Granger." Felix said, "Headmaster Dumbledore and I, as well as other professors, thought that it would be a waste to exclude the younger students from the training, but we couldn''t really let you participate in the tournament either, so we came up with this compromise to increase your involvement."


    "Increase our involvement?" Hermione repeated, "So that''s why you don''t mind if I cheat?"


    "You misunderstand me. I never said there''s only one way to cope up with your fear, did you read the words on the monolith? Courage, wisdom, resilience, and calmness, which means ... there are at least four ways."


    Felix said gently, leaning his body on the back of the couch and looking at her thoughtfully.


    "You did at least two things, which would have been an act I did not anticipate - first, you vaguely saw through the illusion, which may be related to your frequent exposure to thinking room related magic, so you didn''t become bewitched easily; second, you took advantage of this capability, and borrowed the power of the fantasy to cast the ancient magic Golden Flame that I taught you, which is not something that ordinary people can do."


    "I''ve discussed this with Dumbledore before."


    "How do you know-" Hermione looked at him in surprise.


    "If you had actually used the golden flame, you might have destroyed that place." Felix smiled, "Anyway, what it shows was, that your understanding of this magic is at a passable level, and you can already try to use it in reality."


    "Now?" Hermione asked with a leap of faith.


    Felix looked at her with an expectant gaze.


    "Oh, uh ... well." Hermione sat up straight, cleared her throat, and recited a string of ancient incantations under her breath, then a cloud of light bloomed from her fingertips, and one by one the magic runes appeared in the air, piecing together as a whole. S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Scoff!"


    A golden flame appeared out of thin air, burning quietly and appearing serene and undisturbed.


    "You can take your hands off." Felix said, and Hermione did as she was told, the flame still hovered in midair, the air around it trembling gently. Under her control, the flames got morphed into various shapes, and by accident, a goblet got penetrated with a searing hole.


    "You need to improve your control, Granger. You''ve always been good at it, but not good enough. You have to make the flames move the way you want them to, just like this."


    Felix said, passing his palm through the golden flames, a small wisp of golden ember glued to the tip of his index finger.


    Hermione''s eyes widened.


    "Is it amazing? Not at all, actually; you haven''t discovered the true properties of this magic. It''s not particularly explosive magic, or I wouldn''t have taught you ..."


    ...


    The new week became hectic for Felix.


    After the afternoon class, he took the time to go to Classroom 7 and recorded the names on the monolith, and gave them to Professor McGonagall.


    When she saw the list of candidates, McGonagall got taken aback: "There''s a second-year student?"


    "Yeah, I didn''t expect that either." Felix said, "Unless she has a very deep and positive understanding of her fear itself ..."


    "What are you going to do about it, Felix?"


    Felix had a bit of a headache, "I''ll discuss it with Severus, after all, she''s a student in Slytherin House, and it seems she has a sister in the same house ..."


    "I''ll go and talk to Severus." Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and said seriously, "No matter what, I will not agree to let a second-year student get involved in this, we have discussed the training program, and frankly, I think it is too extreme, even for those fourth-year students ..."


    "Minerva, fourth years are not that young, they are generally 14 or 15 years old, just when they are most craving for credit. If we discourage them, they will try various methods to sneak in or will send us a group Howler to vent." Felix joked.


    "... Well, since you and Professor Moody both say so, and Albus doesn''t object."


    Professor McGonagall didn''t insist any further, these issues had been discussed more than once before in the meeting, and she had actually agreed to it, now she was just complaining a few times. So she changed the topic to something else -


    "Congratulations, Felix, Remus got a big order."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 405+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 367: Classroom Seven

    After the conversation with Professor McGonagall, Felix simply assigned an assignment on a topic similar to the essay Harry and Hermione had written - what are the things that can help you get through a crisis when you are in danger? "Whether it''s character, knowledge, mastery of a spell, something to carry with you, you can write about it." The new prefects'' of the male and female student bodies passed those words on to the selected students.


    Over the next week, numerous professors combined their efforts to complete a large project, while he spent most of his free time in the Room of Requirement - mapping out the magic and magical channels on it - and now only the final step remained.


    Dumbledore and Felix stood in the empty room, where there is no longer any morphed out slopes and greenery, nor any trace of the different arenas from the dueling tournament, even the black hovering door that was used to select candidates a week ago, has disappeared.


    All that remained in the room was the Undetectable Extension Charm that Felix had placed in it, making the interior space comparable to ten Quidditch courts. Hogwarts would have been perfectly fine with people from other schools living here if they hadn''t considered what the other four schools had in mind.


    With heavy reinforcement and protection magic applied by the professors, every inch of this old room had been infused with powerful magic. They added some extra defensive measures on top of that.


    Right now, there are only two of them in the classroom, engaged in a serious conversation -


    "What do you think?" Felix inquired.


    "It''s worth a try." Dumbledore said relaxedly. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I never thought that I would be able to integrate my magic into the defense system of Hogwarts that existed for a thousand years and millennia from now ..." Felix went into a momentary trance in his mind, and when he looked back, Dumbledore is looking at him with a smile.


    "Let''s get started, Albus, I''m afraid the students outside can''t wait any longer." Felix said as he tightened his grip on his wand.


    Dumbledore obeyed, he raised his wand, waved his arm like a conductor in an orchestra, and communicated with the old castle in a way that Felix could not understand.


    "Buzz~"


    He did not know if it was an illusion, Felix felt the castle under his feet come to life. Like a slumbering dragon turned slightly on the side, which made the small creatures that nested and burrowed in its body as they parasitized on the scales, found that the whole world shifting.


    Clusters of magic power turned solid, purple, blue, yellow, blue, bronze, green, gray ... converged and quickly separated from each other, forming a flower of magic power.


    "Felix--" Dumbledore said in a deep voice.


    Felix understood by heart that he needed to get these magical powers fixed and form a solid link - just like the Room of Requirement.


    A small fluffy silver ball appeared in his hand, like the fluffy puffskein, and a collection of clustered neural networks emerged from the fluffy ball, with occasional flashes of light blue electricity, it slowly floated into midair, then quickly expanded into a three-dimensional structure, occupying the entire spacious room.


    Felix recited a complex incantation, allowing these nodes and core links to be integrated into this space, like synapses, which drew on the magical power of the castle and stabilized their magic nodes.


    After that, everything disappeared. Magic, nodes, core links... they totally integrated with the room.


    Felix switched his perspective, to locate those nodes and concealed them one by one, making it difficult for even powerful wizards to discover them. Dumbledore did the same thing, he also laid out a stable magic channel from the authority that no one can know and belongs only to the Headmaster.


    As long as Hogwarts exists, as long as it is still enrolling students, this place will never disappear, just like the Room of Requirement.


    Dumbledore finished all this and found four more stone basins of thoughts'' in front of Felix.


    "Is this ...?" He asked curiously, with a certain guess in mind.


    "It''s the memories of Professors." Felix said briefly.


    He took a deep breath, everything before was to create a suitable environment, the next step is the main part, although this step is not much difficult, he could not help but be nervous.


    Felix controlled the four stone basins of thought with each flew towards four different directions, making it look as if the room had been divided into four zones, with a stone basin suspended in the center of each area.


    "What''s the point of doing this?" Dumbledore asked with interest, even for him, this is a rare large-scale practical magic project, a rare fusion of alchemy with memory magic and transfiguration in the magical world.


    "Adding a bit of ritual." Felix smiled and said, then his tone became serious, "So - the first administrator, seventeen-year-old Albus Dumbledore."


    The stone basin to the left of the two exploded and countless dense silver clouds poured out from it, followed by a tall, thin young student with reddish-brown hair stepping out.


    His long, slender fingers held a wand, as he lightly swiped to the left and right side respectively, the fog split in two. The young Dumbledore had gleaming blue eyes, with a twinkle of kindness and mischief behind it.


    "Old pal, you did not give me much knowledge, my head is empty, how will I face those troublesome students?" The young Albus said so, although it seems that he was complaining, but he did not seem to be bothered, instead, he smiled and nodded towards Felix.


    Dumbledore looked at him, his eyes moistened, as he murmured: "This is when I just graduated, young with vigor and ambition, thinking that I have a bright future ..." He shook his long silver beard and smiled. "Oh, I don''t know if I had mentioned it before, I was very fond of Bertie Bott''s Every Flavour Beans when I was young."


    The young Albus Dumbledore was waving his wand, setting off a wild silver ripple, a fog like a condensed wave, settled in midair, then they morphed, forming an open-air square platform, with numerous red and gold adornments dotted around.


    Felix and Dumbledore watched for a moment, then turned to the other side, and Felix whispered, "The second person who selflessly provided her memories - Minerva McGonagall."


    The second stone basin of thought exploded into powder. A beautiful young lady appeared in that spot, with thick black hair, about thirty years old, she had green glowing eyes. This is the young Minerva McGonagall, in which you can see more of the shadow that belongs to the Hogwarts Transfiguration Professor, with a serious expression, her hair pulled up high into a bun, as she''s wearing a pair of square-frame glasses.


    "That''s interesting ..." she looked around, her lips pursed iconically, "Let me think about what I need to do, Minerva left me with a list of tasks."


    With that, she didn''t move a muscle.


    The third person to appear is a younger Filius Flitwick, who is also considerably younger than the current Hogwarts Charms class professor, without his gold-rimmed round glasses and with a lot fewer wrinkles, he is dressed in a dignified, rigorous suit.


    According to himself, it was the suit he had worn when he had won the wizard dueling championship.


    "Oh, Felix, Albus ...," the young Flitwick bowed slightly and waved the wand in his hand gracefully, "Welcome, I don''t think you are in the mood for a duel at the moment, but I will be right here, awaiting you at all times."


    The last stone basin blew open, and a young Felix stepped out, he looked exactly the same as he did now, only with a somewhat more flippant expression, he looked at Felix and reached out to point at him, "I need to talk to you, you''re putting too many restrictions on me."


    "Oh, you don''t need to." Felix muttered, letting a silvery cloud cover him up.


    ...


    Felix said to Dumbledore, "They will not be around often, but as administrators of this secret domain. Their task is to make this place more active as well as manage and control those adventure sites. Of course, I''m talking about after the training."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly: "You''ve talked to me about all this, I have no problem with it."


    They walked out of the room together, a dozen students anxiously waited outside, as a little girl shouted loudly: "Why am I not on the list? Why?"


    Professor McGonagall is comforting her by saying, "Greengrass, you''re too young for this. ..."


    "I''m the champion! A champion!" Astoria shouted.


    Professor McGonagall looked at her with a headache, when Dumbledore came over and said gently, "You are little Astoria? Your father sent me a letter, let''s check it out together, and by the way, I can recommend a few new sweets ..."


    "Really?"


    "Professor McGonagall can vouch for me ..."


    On the side, McGonagall rolled her eyes, but the issue is finally solved. Turning to Felix, she said, "I''ll leave these students to you, Felix, I think-"


    She thought for a moment and didn''t say anything further. As she turned around and left.


    Felix looked at the youthful faces, "All right, students, take your essays and follow me in."


    He took a few steps forward, and halted, looking at the half-open door of the room, drew his wand and outlined it in the air, and a line of gold-stamped letters appeared above the door - "Classroom Seven."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and Harry shrugged, "Now that''s a name."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 405+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 368: Surprise

    The young wizards walked into the classroom in a row, and after that, the door of classroom seven closed automatically behind them. In front of them there appeared a narrow corridor, with a thick fog curling up on both sides, and in the fog, vague shadows could be seen.


    " You guys - what kind of monster is hiding in there?" Said Roger Davies of Ravenclaw, a tall, handsome-looking man with dark brown hair that had been combed to the back of his head, which made his face look more elegant.


    Right now, although he was speaking to the crowd, his eyes focused on a pretty girl not far from him.


    "Where does he think he is, prom?" Ron, who is walking behind, grumbled, causing Harry and Hermione to laugh. The male wizard, whose surname is Davis, is wearing a high-necked robe with blue and bronze embroidered inlays on the cuffs, and he''s trying to hold his hair back as he is speaking.


    A soft laugh came from the fog as they spoke, causing Harry to freeze. He jerked back to look at the fog, and he understood very clearly that the owner of the voice is near him. When he touched the cloud of fog in front of him it drifted away and dispersed, there is nothing there. His heartbeat speed up, so he hastened his steps as he heard Ron saying, "... But who''s that girl, she''s so pretty!"


    In Harry''s eyes, the girl Davis staring at is indeed beautiful, with a Petite figure, to the point of being a little thin. She has a pale-white complexion, delicate features, and short dark hair. The downside is that her eyebrows are too thick, and her face does not match very well with them. Oh, there''s one more thing - she''s a Slytherin.


    "Do you know who is she?" Ron tugged Hermione.


    "How would I know?" Hermione said impatiently.


    "You know at least half the students in the school, so you will know, a girl ... beautiful as she is," Ron tried to find an appropriate word to portray, but couldn''t come up with one.


    "I only know students who have taken Ancient Runes Class!" Hermione stated pointedly.


    They had been walking for ten minutes when Felix, the one leading the group, finally stopped. Only then did the group realize that they were in the middle of a junction, with two long crossways dividing the place into four sections, each zone obscured by fog.


    "I want to see your essays first." Felix said to the crowd, "You can wander around ... this place is not considered perfect yet, but ..." as he showed a smile, "I believe there will be surprises waiting for you."


    As he spoke, he morphed out a comfortable armchair for himself and sat down.


    The students looked at each other, a bit confused about what the professor meant.


    The girl with short dark hair asked calmly, "Are we going to encounter the same stuff?"


    Felix thought for a moment and said, "It has to do with the zone you chose."


    "Is it dangerous?"


    "Depends on how you define it, but don''t forget why you''re here."


    The short-haired girl nodded slightly, drawing her wand, then she turned and walked into the nearest dense fog, which automatically parted away, and when she entered, the parted fog quietly closed again.


    After a few seconds, those left behind did not hear any movement.


    "Let''s pick one as well." Hermione said decisively, Harry and Ron looked at Davis who had already run after into the zone where the short-haired girl had entered, and they decided to choose a different way.


    "Let''s go this way!" Harry said as he pointed to the right, where he had initially heard a soft laugh, so particularly wanted to go in and take a look.


    Ron and Hermione made no comment, "Neville, what about you?" Harry asked as Neville scratched his head, "I''d better join you guys, I''m a bit worried about being alone."


    Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and two other Slytherin students entered another new zone. While Cedric, Susan Bones, Cho Chang, Angelina, and the rest chose the last zone.


    Everyone who remained went with them and chose that direction. Only Felix was left in that junction, as he was seated in the center of the intersection, looking quickly through essays.


    ...


    The students went through their own adventures.


    Cedric found himself lost, as Cho Chang who had been walking behind him for a while isn''t there anymore. After walking for a while, he saw a construction vaguely visible in the clouds, a tall, spacious arena. It looked somewhat like the gilded ring in the dueling class, but it is significantly grander.


    "Professor Flitwick?" Cedric''s mouth opened wide in surprise when he saw the person standing in the arena.


    He was expecting to encounter some strange-looking monsters. Professor Hap''s eccentric taste had been gradually being circulated and passed around with great fanfare, because of this, some young wizards from Muggle families had especially summarized some monsters that often appeared in films. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A crazy spooky film nerd witch provided a rich source of material, and when Cho Chang showed it to him, he looked light-hearted on the surface, but in fact, he was flustered inside.


    The young Flitwick smiled as he said, "It''s not good to wander off here, perhaps you''re waiting for your companion to arrive?" He asked as he pointed to the side.


    Cedric then realized that Cho Chang is cautiously walking out from the other direction, followed by Susan Bones, the Weasley twins, and Angelina Johnson next to her.


    "Yo!, Cedric, you got here first." Fred greeted.


    "We waited outside and sure enough, we managed to bag a few more." George said with a smile.


    "All those who choose this way are here, so, what''s your call?" Flitwick said as he raised his wand, "One by one, or together?"


    On the other side, the second zone -


    Harry met a young student with reddish-brown hair, he felt his face looked somewhat familiar, especially his hooked nose, which he seemed to have seen somewhere, and this suspicion was only verified when he opened his mouth to introduce himself.


    "Your Headmaster Dumbledore?" Harry gasped.


    "Headmaster?" The young Albus Dumbledore smiled, "I only have memories from when I was a Head Boy - want me to share them with you, Harry?"


    Harry felt a little alienation from the scene in front of him, he met the young Dumbledore, and Dumbledore wanted to discuss the topic about being a Head Boy with him, he could not figure out if this was a ruse, so he asked probingly, "Professor Dumbledore, I entered here listening to Professor Hap, we ... uh, are we going to fight?"


    "A fight?" The young Dumbledore looked at him with a smirk, "Of course."


    Ten seconds later.


    Harry struggled desperately on the ground, his clothes seemed to have turned into a sort of cuff, keeping him completely restrained within. He couldn''t even lift a hand now.


    "You''re too close to me and didn''t even notice the fluctuation of the spell casting, I guess, you haven''t learned how to cast spells wandless, right?" The Dumbledore with the reddish-brown hair said, waving his hand and dispelling the spell, "Well, let''s try again ..."


    The third zone.


    The young Felix yawned, "Just the two of you? It''s a little boring with so few people."


    Collins Foley gritted her teeth and waved her wand in succession, releasing one Non-verbal spell after another. "Bang Bang Bang!" The spells got flicked away by one hand, but Roger Davies couldn''t relax a bit, the spells that Felix seemingly casually flicked away all headed towards him, he intended to ask Collins to stop, but he couldn''t spare any more effort at all, as he jumped up and down to dodge the spells.


    The young Felix said lazily, "The Humanoid Shield Charm, want to learn it?"


    The fourth zone.


    Draco Malfoy cornered, a full ten feet Manticore looked down at him, the scorpion barb glinted with a metallic sheen, he leaned his body back as far as he could to keep himself away from that thing.


    "Mr. Malfoy, I''ve told you three times, don''t always run ..." Professor McGonagall said as she adjusted her square glasses and looked at him sternly, as a row of humanoid golems emerged.


    ...


    After almost half an hour, Felix finally finished flipping through the essays.


    "Tch! I wonder what they''ve come across." He stood up, walked into the fog, then went around all the zones inside, and led the students out.


    The students followed behind him with their heads down, looking completely different from when they first arrived here, with a look of great devastation.


    "So, each of you has met at least one of the administrators of the Secret Zone, who come from the memories of the four professors when they were young, and also myself. Oh, of course, so you might have felt that some of them have slightly different personalities from the reality, yes, slightly different ..."


    Felix said somewhat sheepishly, "This is all very normal, you have to learn to make the distinction." His own copy of the memory is a bit too lively and playful. When Felix went over there in person, he found that his memory was playing catch with magic spells with his eyes closed, and the girl named Collins was pissed to death ...


    Although he has certainly thought about playing games like that while fighting, but he only thought about it, and never put it into practice. Because he would never joke with his own life and safety.


    Felix sighed, both his portrait and the young memory being in Classroom Seven were more Playful and Vibrant than his own personality, probably because he hadn''t given them those dark, hidden memories.


    This gave him a not-so-good premonition and speculation: if he hadn''t gone through those experiences during school, would he have grown up to be a bit of an eccentric guy, like his memory being?


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 407+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 369: Choice

    Felix looked away from the Slytherin witch who was staring dead at him, then cleared his throat and continued, "The professors and I have analysed that your shortcomings are mainly two, one is that you do not master enough spells to deal with various complex situations. For example, magic flames-" He paused and didn''t go on.


    "And the second shortcoming is lack of practical experience or real combat; Not that sort of dueling game in dueling class where you draw your wands against each other according to the set of prearranged rules and regulations, what I mean is unforeseen danger, which is related to your own experience."


    "There was a time when it was a tradition for Hogwarts students to travel for a year after graduation. Probably something like, a few close friends travelling together in a group to see the different customs of magical people from different parts of the world ..."


    "But because of the Wizard Wars, the Ministry of Magic has tightened its policies in recent years. Now if you want to travel to a different country, you have to report in advance and get permission from the local Ministry of Magic, so it''s not very popular anymore."


    Felix narrated this history to give them a general impression.


    "Over the next month or so, as Classroom Seven became more developed and comprehensive, you will be exposed to various simulated dangerous scenarios to increase your experience. Not just me, but other professors will also be present to guide you."


    "Of course," Felix said thoughtfully, "Professor Moody might have other arrangements, as he prefers to test how you deal with danger in real scenarios. You should have some idea about his character ..."


    More than one student grimaced, Professor Moody''s brutal personality and his reputation in the classroom together with his degree of audacity, Hogwarts students have suffered a lot, which one of them have not been had a wand pointed at their heads, and received a couple of vicious curses in the name of experience?


    But according to a certain student who wishes to remain anonymous, although it would feel bad if Professor Moody points his wand at him/her as he cast dark magic, but if the person at the receiving end are not them, he/she would gain a strange sense of pleasure as they watch their peers suffer...


    "As a champion candidate," Felix raised his voice, bringing the students back to their senses. "Or students that have been chosen to participate in exchanges and showcase the fruits of Hogwarts'' teaching, you will gain access to many high-level spells, and as one of the most convenient ways to do that, the Restricted Section of the library will be made available to you."


    "You only need to register properly, and you will be able to see all kinds of high-level spell books."


    The students discussed in low voices with great interest, Felix even heard someone mention " Dark Magic ", so he raised his eyebrow.


    "I should remind you that dark magic has been banned in previous tournaments, for this year," he explained with uncertainty, " The Ministry of Magic is still negotiating intensely ..."


    "So that means there''s a chance we''ll be dealing with dark magic?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "No, not exactly." Felix explained, "It is the bottom line of the Ministry of Magic that no champion is allowed to use dark magic against another champion. But Durmstrang suggested that it is ''Reasonable'' to use Dark Magic against non-human creatures - for example, those powerful and deadly magical creatures - during most events you will confront magical creatures. "


    "Uagadou and Ilvermorny both agreed. The dispute now is over which dark magic can be used, and the Ministry of Magic staff is compiling a list."


    "So, we can use dark magic too?" Collins trailed off, "As long as it''s on that list of whatever?"


    "Perhaps if the rules allows it, but for a Hogwarts student, there won''t be any professors who will give you pointers on that." Felix said calmly. "I know that some of you, might be no strangers to dark magic, but after all, there are implications to consider - If you use it publicly, it will draw the attention of the Ministry of Magic and outsiders who will question Hogwarts'' educational philosophy."


    He shrugged, "The war passed just a decade ago, and the majority of the British wizarding public, still deeply detest dark magic."


    Collins looked at him provocatively, "So, it''s okay as long as you''re not seen?"


    Felix gazed at her and smiled slightly, "You''re right, Miss Foley, whether you use dark magic or not doesn''t affect the judges'' scoring. But if you ask me, it''s not really essential, and it''s not necessarily worth the cost."


    He looked at the crowd: "Many of you, especially the younger students, do not yet realize what special treatment you will enjoy for the next few months - the Hogwarts library is open to you, and all the professors will answer all your questions about knowledge beyond the textbooks, including all kinds of advanced magical spells and theories."


    "If I were you guys, I definitely wouldn''t miss such a great opportunity. It will be very good for all your future."


    "But what are we doing by learning so many advanced things that we won''t be able to use after graduation?" One student questioned.


    Felix looked at the rest, who also had an expression of mixed recognition. He shook his head, "It does appear to be a genuine concern, so let me expand the question that probably emerged while we were all in school-"


    "If you can get by with just a few years of rudimentary study, why push yourself and continue to delve deeper into those advanced, obscure spells and theories?"


    "That''s actually a very interesting question, is there anyone who can answer it?"


    A Ravenclaw girl raised her hand playfully, "Professor, I know! I just love magic! Having fun playing with it."


    Felix smiled at her, "That''s a good mindset to have." S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Studying advanced magic will allow us to gain a significant profile and get into a better company, the Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic!" Roger Davies said.


    "Well, that''s very inspiring. Besides that?"


    "People will fear you, be in awe of you, and be afraid to mess with you." Collins Foley said coldly.


    "That makes sense ... Any more?"


    "You can do what you like." Hermione said.


    "That''s very close compared to my own answer." Felix said with a smile.


    He scanned the circle, his eyes passing over each of their eyes, "I can''t provide you with the right answer, because there is no right and unique answer for this question inherently. All I can do is state my understanding."


    "What is the use of studying magic in greater depth, including diving into the obscure theories of magic?"


    "The way I see it, it allows you to go farther than others on the path of magic, while also naturally giving you more options."


    "You want to study magic? Sure, then be a scholar in peace and enjoy exploring the mysteries of magic as well as areas no one has ever touched."


    "You want to occupy a high-level position and gain authority? In addition to having a sharp and resourceful mind, the power of magic is indispensable as magic will be your tool to help you gain fame and prestige;"


    "Or ... money? It is not impossible, but it is recommended that you choose the right branch of magic, alchemy, and ancient runes also have great potential, if any of you are interested, you can consider joining the ''future world'' company after graduation."


    Felix winked and smiled at them.


    "There''s a lot more that can be said; Altering your appearance? Transfiguration can do that; Extending life? Potions can do that; Travelling through the world? Seeking excitement? Exploring mysteries and treasure hunting ... or simply to become an ordinary happy person without any worries."


    "Of course, you could also dream big-" Felix lowered his eyes, "let the world revolve around your will, as you change it a little by little."


    The students fell silent.


    Felix fiddled with his wand and said softly, "Yes, for some, like - Headmaster Dumbledore, it is never a question of what he can do, but it''s a matter of what he chooses to do."


    "Being a Minister of Magic ... versus which candy to buy from Hogsmeade ... Perhaps the latter consumes his mind more."


    "That''s where choice matters - the most visual example is that every year there are students who get more than one letter of recommendation from their professors, and it''s clear that those people have a naturally more choice."


    "Let''s get back to the point and get down to the business."


    Felix raised his volume and said, "According to the latest information received by the Headmaster, this competition is different from before, it will be held in a group format, and of course, the difficulty will be adjusted accordingly."


    "Three people from each school will be selected to form a team. After the three events, the school with the highest score will win the trophy of the Tournament."


    He looked at the group and said, "Sixth and seventh graders, for the upcoming training, you will form teams randomly, using this chance to develop a tacit understanding, as you may not be sure who will become your teammates during the Tournament. As for the fourth and fifth-year students, you''re free to form a team as you please, no requirements."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately started to stand together unconsciously.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 407+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 370: Ilvermorny and Hogwarts

    After the students left, Felix sat alone in his armchair and fell into deep thought. Several pieces of parchment floated in front of him, and lines of letters appeared sequentially, as if an invisible quill writing words on them. The dense white fog was dispersed as if illuminated by daylight, with an unobstructed platform, the Competition Arena resembling a Wizard''s Dueling Championship Arena with ring-shaped enclosures, and mazes disappeared as if they had never existed.


    The place turned into a dazzling white room, the floor and walls were as smooth as mirrors, and there is nothing to be found around.


    The memory entities of professors appeared, they looked like real human beings, but ultimately they were just a memory. All their emotions and ties reside in the past, and the ''here and now'' would not bother them.


    "It''s still too cold here." Young Albus Dumbledore said, as he conjured up a sculptured bench for himself and sat down: "I like the lively atmosphere better."


    Felix smiled as he removed the hand resting on his chin and gathered several sheets of parchment together, "Then persuade your ''self'', I can see Headmaster has some ideas, which is what I am hoping for, perhaps he is the only one who can convince Mr. Scamander."


    "If it''s about magical creatures, it''s not that difficult ... Newt is a very kind man, unless," the young Albus Dumbledore looked at him playfully, his reddish-brown hair slightly curled, "you want much MORE."


    "That''s right," Felix admitted, "I want him to leave a part of his memory, after all, the knowledge that he was able to write down in books is only a very small part of his precious mind."


    The young Felix Hap scowled, "Talking in such a roundabout way." He hit the nail on the head, "The practical knowledge can help the student, but some irrelevant ones can help him."


    Professors in the room erupted with laughter.


    The young Minerva McGonagall didn''t laugh, as she looked at them with bright eyes and grunted under her breath, "Gentlemen, we should get to work."


    "That''s right," said young Flitwick, turning his legs into a cloud of mist as he floated in midair, looking like a Genie of the Magic Lamp from a certain Muggle Fairytale, "Today, Let''s just test our skills and limitations, I have a lot of interesting scenarios in my head, like the goblin tribe. "


    The young Albus Dumbledore shook his head, "My school memories are a bit boring, I think. But I did use the holiday to visit some interesting people, some of whom I still maintain correspondence with. I also spent a considerable amount of time observing giants, centaurs, and troll tribes in order to write my thesis ..."


    The young Felix Hap grunted in a small voice: "Compared to them, I''m like a blank sheet of paper." He glanced at his original self, "How about a worldwide black markets trade fair where students can practice disguises to infiltrate and detect people with ulterior motives? I''ll need your help, though."


    Felix said, somewhat sullenly, "What black market? That''s just part of the foreign magical world''s customs, I was just curious for a moment ..."


    But his words were ignored, as each professor went to work on their separate tasks.


    High mountains, gullies, caves, taverns ... goblins, giants, centaurs, gargoyles ... various kinds of sights were layered with each other, even though they had appeared for only a few minutes, they had already been remembered by this space, and could be called up at will by them when necessary as administrators.


    ...


    Harry got busy these days, so he politely declined an invitation from Gryffindor''s ghost, Nearly Headless Nick. Later He learned that they hosted a party and invited all the ghosts, but midway through the party, Peeves appeared and stole a certain precious Exhibit.


    Hermione is also very busy, she seems to be living in the library. Except in Classroom Seven and other classrooms, you can''t find her anywhere else. From her roommate''s gossip, she hadn''t gone to the kitchen to chat with the house-elf for days. Even during the occasional glimpse in the common room, she hid herself behind a large, thick stack of books, and all he could see was just the top of her brown head.


    As soon as class was over, she would pull out little slips of notes from her pockets, from her book bag, from the pages of the textbooks, and would ask each and every professor various questions one by one.


    He also wanted to ask questions, but the point is, he didn''t know what to ask. So He grabbed one of Hermione''s borrowed books to read, and later he became drowsy in the second paragraph. Then both he and Ron wandered aimlessly through the restricted section of the library, glancing at the knowledge that did not fit them. The only books he could focus on were those with the words "Duel", "Power", and "Spell Book" on their title, and Ron was also only interested in a book of curses that bounded with chains. On the cover of the book, there''s a male wizard howling in pain as he tried to push his head out of the book.


    But Harry thinks Ron simply thought the cover is cool, or probably because the howling wizard''s pointy chin and light-colored hair kind of resembled Malfoy, which might have piqued his interest, because Ron soon lost his interest in it.


    ...


    Felix noticed that Hogwarts Faculty meetings had become more frequent this year. Sometimes just as he finished a class or was answering a question from one of the students, Professor McGonagall''s Cat Patronus would suddenly jump in front of him, bringing a message from Professor McGonagall.


    "Ilvermorny''s delegation is coming." s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He and the rest of the professors sat in the faculty common room, bathed in the glow of the bright, soft glow of the Magic Lamp, as they listened to Professor McGonagall speaking. Dumbledore crossed his arms and leaned his body against the back of his seat, a faint smile drifted at the corners of his lips with an expression of confidence.


    But Felix reckoned that he was thinking about something else. As he also knew this skill, as he had deliberately mastered it.


    Nevertheless, he paid more attention to Professor McGonagall''s speech, as Professor Sprout already asked what confused him most: "So early? Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will not arrive until two weeks from now."


    Professor McGonagall explained, "Ilvermorny''s delegation wanted to come early to familiarize themselves with the environment and to understand Hogwarts ... This concerns everyone here, as Dumbledore approved Ilvermorny''s request of allowing their students the opportunity to attend sixth and seventh-year courses."


    The professors looked at Dumbledore, who smiled slightly and nodded, as his beard fluttered.


    Trelawney, who seemed lost and confused, looked up and said pointedly, "I won''t accept just any student, I want students with enough spirituality, Dumbledore. I am making it clear in advance that if they don''t have enough spirituality - they aren''t going to learn any more than a troll."


    Snape got choked up, he just wanted to speak, but Trelawney jumped ahead of him. He could only go along with her words as he said coldly, "That''s what I thought, Headmaster. Some students can be accepted, if they showed enough talent in the field of potions, otherwise, I will be forced to place them in lower grades, like fifth and fourth grades ..."


    Professor McGonagall looked at them hesitantly. Dumbledore smiled and said, "Don''t worry, Severus, as far as I know, Ilvermorny also has Potions classes, or rather, the founders of Ilvermorny were heavily influenced by Hogwarts, so in terms of similarity of curriculum, they are more closely connected with us than any other schools."


    "Ilvermorny also has four houses - the Horned Serpent, the Wampus, the Thunderbird, and the Pukwudgie, of course, not the Pukwudgie that we remember cooped up in the garden, this interesting error comes from the difference in translation, they are actually native to North America and related to the goblins on the European side. According to my speculation, it may be a distant branch of goblins that have lost their distinctive culture and hidden themselves in the dense forests, though they did learn to use bow and arrows quenched with poison."


    "These four houses, each represents the wizard''s mind, body, heart, and soul - A unique perspective of division, which allows Ilvermorny''s students to show noticeable cross-House traits from our view, such as the Horned Serpent House, is a combination of parts of Ravenclaw and Slytherin traits."


    " The differences in this similarity, and the clash of ideas they bring, are the most valuable things."


    "They may want to understand us by peeking into our lives, but it is a mutual understanding, so we should welcome them." Dumbledore addressed the professors.


    After the meeting, Professor Pomona Sprout approached Felix.


    She is a professor of Herbology class at Hogwarts and also the head of Hufflepuff House. She is optimistic and compassionate by nature, and also has a deep knowledge of magical herbs and plants.


    "Do you also want to leave your memory and need my help with that?" Felix asked with interest, "Of course, no problem."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 409+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 371: Sprouts Greenhouse

    Classroom Seven, A dimly lit Chamber. Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, and Collins Foley formed a three-man team to fight a dark green, fifty-plus feet long Basilisk.


    "Collins! On your way!" Cedric shouted.


    Collins immediately closed her eyes, and the next second she sensed an icy gaze directed at her. Her body began to stiffen, and the magic inside her seemed to solidify a little as if to freeze her whole body into stone, but she knew it was the effect of a Supersensory Charm.


    "I''m not a Squib!"


    She staggered back, panting. "Whoosh!" A piercing sound rang out, and a palm-sized stone grazed her forehead, drawing a bit of blood with its sharp edges.


    Without a word, she lowered her body and quietly waited for her chance.


    "Roger! It''s heading towards you!"


    When she heard Cedric''s voice again, her eyes snapped open and her long-prepared "Conjunctivitis Curse" instantly shot out towards the basilisk, without confirming the result of the attack, she retreated far back and placed a few broken stones in front of her.


    "Only left eye left!" Davis''s voice warned.


    A few minutes later, the basilisk fell down with wounds all over its body; it is still breathing, but with wounds all over its body and a blind eye. Under normal circumstances, it is already close to death.


    They emerged from different places as they silently observed the basilisk disperse into countless green dots of light, and a sense of satisfaction welled up in their hearts.


    Roger Davies slumped on the ground in exhaustion, not caring about his image, anyway, they had seen much worse. This is their fifth time against the Basilisk, with the previous four all resulting in a group massacre.


    "A remarkable victory!" Flitwick announced as he appeared, his two legs turned into hazy smoke, trailing a long trajectory as he suddenly appeared in front of them.


    Cedric grinned. It is the second time that he saw this Genie-like Professor Flitwick, he got startled as he used the Protego charm when he saw Genie-like Professor Flitwick in darkness for the first time.


    The four administrators so far showed a distinct and striking personality difference-


    Professor of Charms Class, Ravenclaw Head Flitwick is always brimming with enthusiasm and has no qualms about praising any bit of students'' progress, he even would act as if he was surprised; Professor of Transfiguration, Gryffindor Head McGonagall displayed a serious and attentive character, she would appear at the beginning and would give them a few useful pieces of advice; while the young Headmaster Dumbledore loved to chat with students, and the keen perception and insight he displayed made the students ashamed.


    The Ancient Runes Professor Hap is the most peculiar. He would often appear while they were trying to break through the levels, staring hard at them and pointing out their mistakes in a not-so-pleasant manner at the appropriate moments. Moreover, he was happy to show them the method to pass the level personally - using their own method - after they failed.


    "... You should be aware that the gaze of a basilisk''s eyes can cause death 100% ... which is actually a sort of misinformation. Killing a wizard is not an easy task, and without magic at play, you will find that their eyes are not very different from those of ordinary snakes."


    Flitwick as usual provided his summary about this level while evaluating their actions.


    "But Professor, the basilisk in the chamber the year before caused the petrification of a student and a cat." Cedric asked in disbelief.


    "That doesn''t indicate much. The basilisk was in its state of aggression, and any creature that appeared in front of it would have been attacked; Do you think it can maintain an enormous amount of magic on its eyes when it is alone?"


    Collins calmly analysed, "Professor Flitwick, can I assume that the basilisk''s gaze is similar to our magic, an active power?"


    Flitwick nodded and praised him, "That''s right, from the results of Severus'' dissection of the basilisk, it is!"


    "Any other examples to back that up, Professor?" Cedric inquired.


    "Of course! Take Demiguise as an example ..." Flitwick elaborated.


    Cedric and his team dragged their tired bodies out of the chamber, the dark, damp, rugged, and narrow chamber slowly disappeared behind them, and they were now standing on the white, smooth floor, in a vast space where three buildings of different sizes and styles were strangely aligned next to each other.


    Professors Felix and Sprout approached them head-on, and they immediately narrowed their eyes to stare at the clothes of the two professors. This is a trick all of them have gradually mastered over the past month - the clothes of the administrators of Classroom Seven will emit a faint, silvery light.


    This is one of the ways to distinguish the real from the fake.


    As for the two ... in front of them, they were both real.


    "Professor Sprout, Professor Hap!" The Three greeted. Felix and Sprout responded with gentle nods as they walked further into the room.


    "Cedric, what do you think they''re here for?" Davis asked.


    Cedric''s eyes paused on the backs of the two professors with a sudden look of realization, his gray eyes looked eager, "Maybe we''re going to have a new administrator soon ..."


    The always composed Collins Foley looked slightly crestfallen: " No! Absolutely not!"


    "Why?" Cedric stared at her; Ms. Sprout is his house Head.


    "Think about which class she teaches," Collins closed her eyes, "I dropped my Herbology class in sixth grade because I didn''t want to take care of the twisted and ugly herbs that were becoming more and more perverse ..." S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Her lips quivered as she said, "Wriggling and twisting Snargaluff, Fanged Geranium, Stinksap, Mimbulus mimbletonia ... Take Bubotuber, for example, in second grade we just had to watch them from afar, but in fourth grade, we are required to squeeze the puss out of them, what was in sixth grade? "


    She craned her head to look at Cedric.


    Cedric said bitterly, "Slicing Venomous Tentacula and pollinating other plants."


    ...


    In the depths of classroom seven, the two professors stood in silence.


    A silver, dwarf figure appeared before them, becoming clearer and clearer. Felix felt he met a pair of twins, both with flowing gray hair and a heavily patched hat.


    Sprout''s memory form hummed, cheerfully creating a magical plant from the empty air, with a dozen whomping willows growing around each corner of the room on their own. With nimble steps, she sprinkled a black seed, and in no time, a cluster of blackthorns grew as tall as five or six feet.


    Professor Sprout looked enviously at the sight in front of her, while Felix watched the blackthorns twist around each other to form a towering wall.


    "I once suggested this to Dumbledore, that we should grow a fence around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but the workload was so great that we eventually had to give up."


    "Umm, I think the students will have some headaches ..."


    Meanwhile, the Weasley twins were whining in the common room, lamenting how they seemed to have forgotten how to fly. Harry, who was busy catching up on his homework, suddenly realized to his surprise that he hadn''t touched his flying broom in ages.


    So later that evening, he dragged Ron along with Hermione, who seemed to be drowning herself in a sea of books, to the Quidditch Pitch for a quick flight.


    The southeast corner of the Quidditch Pitch is now become a construction site, with a dozen houses linked together to form a circle, together arching around the tallest building in the center - which is only short of a pointed dome.


    Some workers were busying themselves with the last part of the work.


    They watched from afar for a while, and then sat on their brooms to enjoy the cool October breeze. Hermione sat on her broom sideways, allowing it to rise three feet off the ground, as she circled the pitch slowly, while Harry operated the firebolt, constantly speeding up, accelerating, and turning into a scarlet shadow. He flew higher and higher, getting farther and farther away, and from hundreds of feet, he saw Hagrid carrying a log measuring at least thirty feet in length.


    "Hagrid, do you need help?" He dived down as he circled around Hagrid twice and hovered in front of him.


    Hagrid looked at him with a suspicious look on his face.


    Harry, without saying much, pulled out his wand and recited the incantation: "Wingardium Leviosa!"


    Hagrid flipped the log over his shoulder and said gruffly, "It''s kind of useful ..." Together they returned to the pitch, and a reddish-faced male wizard in a sunhat shouted from the site, "This way... ... Hagrid! Keep up the pace, we''ll be done today."


    Hagrid carried the log and erected it without much effort, and Harry, who was standing nearby, could see that it is one of the support pillars of the building.


    The red-faced male wizard who shouted chanted a spell to anchor the pillar, while the two guys beside him continued to survey the drawings, and one of them said in a grumbling tone, "Are they planning to relocate the school here? Finn ... leave some room for the statue, we have to reserve a space for it."


    "Statue? What statue?!" The wizard named Finn shouted.


    "They will bring it with them, but we need to reserve a space for it, got it? The place where you are standing is going to bear a huge thunderbird statue in the future."


    Harry approached Hagrid and inquired, "This is ...?"


    " Quarters of the Ilvermorny School." Hagrid said briefly, as he looked at Hermione and Ron, who were excitedly shouting as they went back and forth in circles above the Quidditch goalposts.


    Hagrid said thoughtfully, "Looks like you guys can''t be restrained for a while, you can stop by my place for tea sometime, Luna and Ginny will often stop by there, oh, Firenze too..."


    "Luna and Ginny?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "Yeah, I''ve learned quite a lot from them, and Ginny tried to borrow Aragog from me to try and see if Ron really wasn''t afraid of spiders anymore. You know - she''s always been curious ..."


    "Aragog is it still ... uh, is it alright?" Harry asked, he actually wanted to ask if that old spider is still alive, but it didn''t seem polite.


    "Getting by." Hagrid muttered, "To be honest, not exactly doing well. It''s been trying to get back to the Forbidden Forest, but there''s no longer a place for it in the Acromantula colony, and it can''t see anymore... Felix will visit us monthly - to shrink it with his spell - so I will regularly let it out to skulk around instead of always being locked in its cage ... It''s good to get some sun and eat some frog eggs ..."


    He rambled on, to Harry''s great surprise, he seemed to have missed quite a few things.


    When they returned from the pitch, Hermione was complaining that she had missed fifty pages of reading, but her face bore a smile, which both Harry and Ron had grown accustomed to, then Ron mentioned that he still hadn''t finished his Divination class homework.


    "You don''t seem to be in any sort of hurry?" Hermione looked at him suspiciously.


    "Thanks to all this time I''ve been hanging around the restricted section with Harry, a lot of new ideas have popped up," Ron said, "which helps us maintain a good grade."


    "Yeah, getting high marks by making up your own shitty stories," Hermione said, "are you sure Trelawney won''t know about the effects of the spells in the restricted section?"


    Ron''s expression is no longer that confident, as he hesitantly looked at Harry.


    At this point, they walked into the entrance hall, where a notice had been posted on the large bulletin board, with a group of students huddled at the bottom.


    ''The Tournament of champions: Ilvermorny''s representatives will be here on Sunday, October 16, at 10:00 am. Please be prepared in advance -''


    "I knew it!" Ron said aloud, looking like he had discovered some kind of truth: "No wonder, for the past two days the professors have been reminding us about manners over and over again!"


    Harry didn''t say anything, his mind had already travelled to two days later, what kind of school Ilvermorny''s... what their students would be like?


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 409+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 372: Arrival

    The notice in the entrance hall made a noticeable impact on the school - it informed the entire student population that the tournament is no longer just something they talked about, but it is really going to happen soon. In the late minutes of Friday night and the approaching Saturday morning, Felix woke up from his bed in his pyjamas and pushed open the door of his office.


    The hallway is dark, with little light to be seen. With the help of the hazy moonlight, several short figures standing on top of each other, forming crooked, eerie shadows - they are the castle''s house-elves.


    "Do you need some help?" Felix asked, approaching them silently, less than two feet from them.


    "Ah-" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A suppressed scream stifled out of their throats, three house elves who were stacked on top of each other, looked like they were about to fall over, and Felix quickly reached out to support them. It was an odd scene -


    That topmost house-elf greeted him respectfully, with various cleaning tools in hand: "Hello, Mr. Hap!"


    "Good day to you, too, Cloudbur." Felix replied.


    The middle house-elf covered the bottom elf''s mouth to keep him from shouting, while trying to salute, Cloudbur hurriedly patted his head and jumped down from the top, the middle elf followed suit, and finally, the three of them saluted together.


    "I heard some movement ... what are you guys doing - are you cleaning up the portraits?"


    Felix looked at the rags and brushes in Cloudbur''s hands, and a large bottle piled up in the corner, the writing on it shining in the darkness, it was "Mrs Skower''s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover".


    "And the armour in the castle ... sir! We''re going to clean them up and make our guests enjoy Hogwarts! Mr. Hap!" Cloudbur said.


    "Well," Felix nodded, and asked curiously, "I didn''t see you carrying lamps, so how are you guys working in the dark?"


    "We''re used to it, sir!" The elf called Cloudbur replied, full of pride, "We have good eyesight, and we can see with a little light."


    "Is that so?" Felix did not know, the description of the house-elf in the books didn''t mention these things. "But it''s will be more convenient if you use magic lamps, I remember that the school purchased a large number of ..."


    "Yes, the kitchen switched to the latest, very, very big magic lamp, even bigger than Cloudbur!" Cloudbur opened his slender hand as hard as he could to describe the lamp in the kitchen, "The other guys are interested, and Dobby--"


    The elf next to him touched Cloudbur with his arm, then Cloudbur opened his mouth and did not speak.


    "What''s wrong? Dobby is also considered my employee, is there anything that I don''t know?" Felix asked, Dobby would come over at the beginning of each month to report to him about the company''s progress.


    The elf in the middle said respectfully, "No, sir. Dobby he ... is very nice, and gave us some palm-sized small magic lamps, very convenient ..."


    Felix smiled and said, "Surely that''s not what you wanted to say, we can chat about it."


    "Sir, Kaka is not a talkative elf, ten years ago the master died, the master has no descendants, so he offered Kaka to Hogwarts in his will ... Kaka has always served the master''s family ..." The elf called "Kaka" replied with a deep bow.


    Felix listened quietly, he knew there must be a back story.


    "Kaka is proud to serve his master''s family and Hogwarts ... to the best of his ability, but, but ..." Kaka''s eyes widened. "Dobby! He is spreading dangerous ideas, some less firm-willed already got little interested, this is not a good sign, he will bring doom to the entire community of elves ..."


    "What did he do?" Felix asked.


    Kaka bowed his head, but Cloudbur interjected: " Dobby didn''t do anything, he just introduced his new life, he ..." the elf stammered: "He put himself on an equal footing with the wizard, saying that he met someone today ... will meet someone tomorrow, the key thing is, he has some elves working under him, all under his charge ..."


    "What''s wrong with that? It was I who ordered him to do it."


    "Sir, Mr. Hap!" The elf named Kaka said, "That is not a grace, it is rather a beginning of bad luck, he holds the power that does not belong to him, and this power continues to expand ..."


    Felix gave Cloudbur a look because the tacit understanding cultivated by frequent trips to the kitchen for snacks made Cloudbur understand, so he dragged Kaka away, saying pointedly, "We''ll go first, sir, there''s work to be done! It must be done in time before dawn!"


    Felix returned to his office and remained seated for a moment before a knock sounded at the door and Cloudbur peeked through the gap.


    "Please sit down, Cloudbur."


    "Oh, thank you, Mr. Hap!" Cloudbur said excitedly, as he sat down on the edge of the sofa close to him.


    A cup of tea with a tea tray flew towards him, and even though the same scene had happened more than once, he acted uncomfortable as the teacup and tray made a clattering sound.


    Felix smiled and said, "You know, Cloudbur, I need a neutral perspective, and you''re the perfect person for it."


    "Yes, sir," replied Cloudbur, thinking hard for a moment before he said respectfully, "Kaka and Dobby, they are very different ... Kaka is an old-fashioned elf who has only served his master in the past, but That wizard had no children or heirs, and in his will, he donated all his possessions to Hogwarts, and that''s how Kaka got here... he''s always proud of who he was."


    Felix nodded.


    "Kaka is traditional, even among the hundred or so house-elves in the kitchen, he''s considered one of the old-fashioned bunch, while Dobby is just the opposite, some of his views ... are new ..."


    "Is it about the salary or his freedom?"


    Cloudbur''s body shook a little, as he said tremblingly, "Both, sir, both ... He once said bad things about his former master, not really bad things, it all really happened ... but Kaka thought he is disloyal, and they quarrelled a lot ..."


    Felix nodded slightly, "And then what?"


    "After that ... Dobby didn''t mention much about the past, he liked the present, every time he came over, he would bring some gifts, some elf took them, but Kaka insisted not to! Like him, there are quite a few elves, all older ..."


    " Dobby introduced the life outside, about his job, work things, he also said he found some wild, wandering elves, to provide them with work, they are also like him, are free."


    When mentioning freedom, Cloudbur shivered hard.


    Felix smiled: "I did ask him to find some elves, and he accomplished the task well."


    Cloudbur looked at him carefully and asked cautiously, "Sir, what do you think?"


    "Me?" Felix smiled, "Go with the flow, you always need some time to observe while dealing with something new, maybe it will make you uncomfortable, but in a few decades, it will probably become a central force of the ''Future World'' company."


    Cloudbur looked at him a little confused.


    Felix said, "Do you know Ilvermorny? Its founder, Isolt Sayre, formed a deep friendship with a Pukwudgie called William, and to this day there are still many Pukwudgies working at the school, isn''t that a bit like the house-elves at Hogwarts? The difference is that the Isolt Sayre family and William''s Pukwudgie family had a more of an equal relationship, and there is even a protection agreement in place - the Pukwudgie will protect the students and vice versa."


    "Mind you, this is quite a rare thing; Pukwudgie are not very fond of humans; on the contrary, they enjoy playing tricks on people and are extremely capable of being hunting alone and pranking... This is a history that is enjoyed by many."


    "When the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was weak, it was William and his Pukwudgie family who protected the students at the school, and now, hundreds of years later, the situation is reversed, and it is Ilvermorny who is protecting this Pukwudgie family from outside disturbances ... and the Pukwudgie of Ilvermorny, despite their complaints, and insisting that they are merely fulfilling an ancient pact, but they are still frequenting the school in secret ..."


    ...


    The next day, the students woke up surprised to find the castle brand new, the portraits scrubbed clean, and the armours looked shiny, as Ron focused on these novel changes, he inadvertently stepped into a trap in the grand staircase and got one leg stuck in a crack.


    The armour next to him huffed and puffed as it mocked him, and Ron punched it, resulting in the armour spitting out a few blue bubbles.


    "Yuck!" Ron said, "The smell of detergent!"


    In the afternoon, Hermione went to the library again, and as a last resort, Harry and Ron pulled in Neville for a dungeon adventure in classroom seven, with a young Felix Hap in tow the entire time.


    When Harry questioned how there could be a tavern in the dungeon, a group of Aurors suddenly rushed in and started fighting with the dark wizards in the tavern, while the three of them fled all the way to the underground.


    "This is the black market in disguise, and the coded message on the door is evidence of that." Felix Hap''s memory said as he followed.


    They fled to a secret room which is filled with violent golden snitches, which pounced on them without them having to catch them, each one of them being enchanted with an Incendio and it specifically targeting their exposed skin.


    The three braced themselves using the shield charm and moved step by step out of the room, grimacing from the heat. The only consolation was that Felix Hap''s memory had taught them the "humanoid shield charm" ...


    In the evening, all the selected students were called to the Deputy Headmistress''s office, where Professor McGonagall spent two hours giving them training about manners. Harry could still hear Ron''s sleepy words as he lay on his bed -


    "Damn golden snitches, stay away from me ..."


    The following Sunday morning, the students ate breakfast and wandered around the castle as if sleepwalking, until a special bell rang, and they hurriedly assembled at the entrance hall beside the castle great hall from all directions -


    "Line up! As per your HOUSE ..." shouted Filch at the top of his voice, wearing a musty suit, as he suddenly grabbed a young wizard and said viciously, "You! Where is your school uniform!"


    The young wizard, became a little hysterical with fear, as he ran away screaming.


    The students formed a long line according to their grades and were led out of the castle by their respective head boys and girls, then everyone excitedly surveyed the empty field.


    " There they are!"


    A sharp-eyed student called out. The students and professors squinted as the air suddenly burned violently and a cluster of bright flames appeared, drawing out slender tongues of flame to form a flower with four petals, each one branded with a magical creature.


    "Ahem! Is there anyone over there?" A voice came from the flames.


    "Agilbert," Dumbledore, who is standing in the front row, said gently, "the school has temporarily released the restrictions, you can come over."


    "That''s good ... I am afraid of arriving in the wrong place ...," the voice trailed off.


    The students stared, and after a while, a hand suddenly poked out, carrying a box, soon revealing a round, somewhat naive face, wearing a robe that mixed with blue and cranberry, with a golden knot tied intricately on his chest.


    Startled at the sight of the black mass of Hogwarts students and professors, he scratched his head, "Uh, hi guys, my name is Byers."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 411+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 373: School Song and Sorting

    Byers stepped aside, then a second and third Ilvermorny student stepped out of the flames, wearing their standardized uniforms with the emblem of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry embroidered on their left chests and suitcases. The Ilvermorny students soon formed a line, and behind them, three adult wizards stepped out.


    Felix''s eyes skimmed past the middle-aged male wizard and lingered on a blonde witch and a dark-haired male wizard, both looked young but not dressed in the student''s uniform.


    That is not the most important thing, the pair has an abstract sail embroidered on the right side of their chests, with three wavy lines underneath.


    This emblem is the very symbol of the American Revolutionary Society, which has grown rapidly in the last year or so. Even from thousands of miles away, Felix could occasionally see the organization''s name in the newspapers.


    The students murmured in the background -


    Out of the flames a row of short, gray-skinned goblin-like Pukwudgie with long ears, dressed like forest fighters stepped out, their clothes adorned with leaves, with a pocket bow on their backs and a small quiver of arrows pinned on their waists.


    The Hogwarts students murmured.


    Professor McGonagall sternly swept her head around, and they immediately quieted down, swallowing all their questions and curiosity.


    A dozen Ilvermorny students focused their attention on the last male wizard who walked out, bringing him into focus; he looked a bit like Barty Crouch, a similarity that emerged from temperament. They both seem to have a magical ability - when they dressed in muggle clothes, they could always pretend to be a government official to discuss some issues about automobile emissions, without showing any sense of violation.


    Agilbert Fontaine swirled his wand behind him, churning the flaming insignia into a vortex. With that, he strides over and shakes Dumbledore''s hand.


    "Professor Fontaine, welcome," Dumbledore said.


    "Oh, Professor Dumbledore, you don''t look a bit different." Fontaine said, his eyes shining. He wore a dark brown robe, and his hair, which is as black as ink, was meticulously combed, and even when he shook hands vigorously, it did not loose a bit.


    And Dumbledore''s long silver beard just blew in a lovely arc by the gentle autumn breeze of October.


    "Allow me to introduce - Cormac Wilkinson, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, and the two teaching assistants at the school, Jura Edmund and Bethany Bach, who insisted on coming. And of course, this year''s protagonists, my students!"


    Dumbledore smiled as he led them in, followed by the students of Ilvermorny, the student named "Byers" from the moment he appeared, his eyes kept drifting, and when he spotted Felix, he moved a little to stand next to the female assistant teacher with blonde hair.


    "Sister, it''s Mr. Hap." He said in a whisper, but because it is so quiet, the students next to him heard it.


    They looked over at the Hogwarts professors.


    "Which one?" Someone asked.


    "The youngest one!" Byers replied.


    Bethany hit her brother covertly and whispered, "Brother Jura and I both saw you corresponded for one year, now! Behave properly, the students of Hogwarts are looking over!"


    She said with a decent smile as she followed behind the Headmaster and Professor Wilkinson, though Byers couldn''t resist making a gesture toward Felix as they passed the line of Hogwarts professors as if lifting a mask.


    The boy next to him burst out laughing and said teasingly, "Is he the one you''ve been longing for all year?"


    "Shut up, Graves." Byers whispered. S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    They didn''t quiet down until Jura looked over.


    The delegation from Ilvermorny walked into the great hall, followed by the professors of Hogwarts, and finally the Heads of the four Houses and the students.


    On the walls of the great hall hung huge silk banners, each representing one of the Hogwarts houses: Gryffindor with a golden lion on a red background, Ravenclaw with a bronze eagle on a blue background, Hufflepuff with a black badger on a yellow background, and Slytherin with a silver snake on a green background.


    Behind the faculty table hung the largest banner with the Hogwarts coat of arms: lion, eagle, badger, and snake joined together around a big letter H.


    "I don''t know what we''re going to do at this hour." Ron said, "It''s ten in the morning, and we''ve only just finished eating ..."


    But soon he knew what to do when the Hogwarts students took their seats in the great hall and the Ilvermorny students who kept standing in the center all sang their school song in unison -


    " We stand as one united,


    Against the Puritan.


    We draw our inspiration


    From good witch Morrigan.


    For she was persecuted


    By common wandless men.


    So she fled from distant Ireland,


    And so our school began.


    Oh! Ilvermorny-Massachusetts!


    We choo-choose it!


    We choo-choose it!


    The wizard school supreme.


    Your castle walls, they kept us safe.


    The days with you, a dream


    You taught us all our magic


    And now one thing''s quite clear


    Where''er we roam


    Where''er we roam


    Our one true home


    Our one and own


    Is Ilvermorny dear!~"


    The students of Ilvermorny then raised their wands, the tips exploded, and a firework in the shape of Four Creatures sparkled in the great hall. The students of Hogwarts looked at the Horned Serpent with glowing crystals embedded in its forehead, a Wampus running gracefully, a Thunderbird with its vibrant wings flying, and a Pukwudgie with its bow raised, then they all applauded.


    "What''s that thing with the stingers?" Harry asked as he clapped his hands.


    "It''s a Pukwudgie, Professor McGonagall taught us during the training that its magical ability allows it to disguise itself as a porcupine." Hermione said, tilting her head to look at the four creatures, meanwhile, the lion, eagle, badger, and snake on the great hall banner also wandered around, as she whispered, "The professor said that Ilvermorny and Hogwarts have a deep connection, and now look, it''s true ..."


    Harry stared at the goblin-like fireworks in midair, with their porcupine-like spines, and then down at the forest fighters standing behind the Ilvermorny students, looking idle or even with a somewhat discontent expression on their faces - they looked like Gringotts goblins with their suits off.


    "What a difference." Harry said with a look of admiration.


    Ron clapped his hands in confusion and said, "Why don''t we have a unified school song in a single tune?"


    "We do," Hermione said, "It''s introduced in Hogwarts: A History of the School, except I think Professor Dumbledore probably thought that singing heartfelt songs is better than repeating the same tune year after year."


    Her eyes swept over the professor''s chair, and she asked in wonder, "Have you seen Professor Hap?"


    Harry and Ron also looked around and didn''t notice him.


    "Strange, the Professors are all seated, where did he go, leaving an empty seat behind?"


    At that moment, Dumbledore stood up, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and - especially - honored guests," he smiled and looked at the students of Ilvermorny. "I welcome you all to Hogwarts with great joy."


    "You will all be spending quite a bit of time at Hogwarts, not only because of the tournament but also because of Professor Fontaine''s suggestion, as you get a closer look at the ancient traditions of Hogwarts and the magical curriculum that nurtured generations of outstanding wizards."


    "And that, couldn''t be separated from where it all began - the Sorting Ceremony!"


    He looked to the corner of the great hall where Felix approached with a smile holding a Sorting Hat.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 411+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 374: Jura

    Hogwarts students who are witnessing a sorting ceremony felt strange. "I know this year is abnormal, I mean ... we cancelled Quidditch and got a professor who uses curses against us, but ... this is just too weird." Seamus muttered.


    He looked at the grown-up Ilvermorny students, lining up and getting ready to be sorted one by one on the little stool, by the dirty sorting hat.


    His buddy Dean Thomas shrugged and said, " It''s only going to get weirder, there are still three more schools yet to come!"


    "Good point." Seamus nodded approvingly.


    At the front of the great hall, Felix spoke mildly, attracting a crowd of curious stares. "All you need to do is walk over, put this hat on, and wait quietly for a while ... But I suggest you to state your names so that everyone else can get to know you."


    Byers, who is standing at the front of the line, glances at him and asked, "Mr. Hap, can I call you Professor?"


    "Of course," Felix said, "Feel free to pick my class."


    Byers walked over to the small stool, and when he looked at the sorting hat, he flinched a little and looked back incredulously at Felix, who nodded at him: yes, that''s what you think.


    Byers said in a loud voice: "Byers Bach, from Ilvermorny, Thunderbird House." With that, he closed his eyes in resignation, curled himself up on a small stool, and put on the sorting hat.


    "Look!" An Ilvermorny girl gestured to the Sorting Hat.


    The greyish hat suddenly split open a slit from the bottom, and at the same time, a voice rang out in Byers'' head.


    "Never seen this kind of sorting ceremony, little one?"


    Byers opened his eyes and asked in a whisper, "You''re a hat spirit?"


    "... Think as you like. How do you guys sort your houses? Oh, so that''s how ... standing in front of four statues, waiting to be selected ... Hogwarts doesn''t have that much hassle, I can do it all alone ..."


    "You can see my memories?" Byers gasped.


    "Just as you''re currently thinking, don''t interrupt! You are a student of Thunderbird House? Kind-hearted, but also adventurous ... suited for both Hufflepuff and Gryffindor - you can pick one ..."


    " Which House Professor Hap was?" Byers made his small calculations.


    "Slytherin ... don''t think about it, you can''t ... you''re not even close to that cunning boy ..."


    "No, I want to give it a try!" Byers insisted.


    His thoughts are simple, when the competition begins, they won''t have time to attend classes, for now, he just wants to choose the house according to his preference.


    But the sorting hat disagreed, it does not want to go against its principles and sort students into a completely inappropriate house. Finally, after five minutes of patience, Byers got impatient and shouted, "Gryffindor!"


    Loud applause erupted from the Gryffindor seats.


    Byers, felt somewhat lost, as he took off the hat, he heard Felix addressing him, "Go ahead, pick a seat, you''ll make new friends."


    Byers walked over to the long table which belonged to the Gryffindor, and as he sat down, he saw a face that looked almost as round as his.


    "Uh, hello?" He offered his greeting, "I''m Byers Bach."


    "Hi, I''m Neville, Neville Longbottom." The round-faced boy replied.


    "Did you take Mr. Hap''s class?" Byers asked.


    "Oh, of course ...," Neville''s attitude visibly warmed up as he began to introduce the Ancient runes course, and then mentioned the Magic Runes Club and the dueling class.


    Next, the pace of the sorting quietly picked up -


    "Steward Emberton, from Ilvermorny, Wampus House."


    "Hufflepuff!"


    "Victor Percival Graves, from Ilvermorny, Horned Serpent House."


    "Slytherin!"


    "Francis Hunter, from Ilvermorny, Pukwudgie House."


    "Ravenclaw!"


    Ten minutes later, the Sorting Hat ended the short sorting ceremony.


    Dumbledore rose from his seat and said to the crowd: "Next, I would like to request the prefects of each house to lead your new students to enjoy a leisurely weekend, and at dinner, we will gather back here for a lovely feast, and then the students of Ilvermorny will follow your professors back to your temporary quarters. At that time, Professor McGonagall will distribute your class schedules according to the corresponding houses, and you can choose as many classes as you like during the first week."


    "Is there anything you don''t understand?"


    He swept through the room and said cheerfully, "Then let''s get moving, I think you can''t wait!" He turned to the headmaster of Ilvermorny with a slight bow and said, "Professor Fontaine, I have some new tea in my office ...my latest collection of this year."


    "Of course." The Headmaster of Ilvermorny returned the salute with a meticulous smile.


    Dumbledore led him away, leaving behind a somewhat distressed Professor McGonagall.


    Logically, Professor Wilkinson and Professor Moody were teaching the same subject and should have a lot in common, but McGonagall really didn''t feel comfortable leaving the two of them alone, as she didn''t want to read in the Daily Prophet the next day that Ilvermorny''s professor had been attacked at Hogwarts.


    So she went along with them together with Flitwick. As she prepared to talk about some light-hearted topics, she also prepared to stop Professor Moody in time if he planned to talk a lot about his experience of casting curses against his students ...


    Before leaving, Professor McGonagall passed a look to Felix. She left with confidence because she could see that the other two young assistant professors and Felix knew each other, and she felt very comfortable with Felix.


    Sure enough, Jura and Bethany approached Felix.


    Before he could say anything, Bethany ran over and hugged him enthusiastically as she said excitedly, "Mr. Hap, this is a belated thank you ... for saving my life!"


    When she let go, Felix smiled and said, "I just happened to have the ability to do that, and regardless of who was there, I would never have been indifferent."


    Not wanting to dwell on the issue, he changed the subject somewhat stiffly and said, "Miss Bach, Mr. Edmund, would you like to try out the sorting hat?"


    It really wasn''t a proper subject to be discussed, and the Sorting Hat looked feeble in his hands.


    But Jura and Bethany were really interested, they had just spent quite a long time watching it from the professor''s table, and now they naturally wouldn''t refuse the chance to try it. And the result of the sorting was that Jura was assigned to Slytherin and Bethany to Ravenclaw.


    ...


    "I really did not expect that you guys would become professors. But it looks like you guys didn''t quit the Revolutionary Society?"


    Outside the castle, Felix led the two to stroll along the Black Lake, the Hogwarts students all ran off to see the Ilvermorny students, and the surrounding area became empty, with few people visible. A gentle breeze blew, and the large squid in the black lake lazily basked in the sun.


    His eyes swept over the sail wave emblem on the right side of the two of their chests as he asked in a gentle tone.


    "It''s more than that! Brother Jura is now regarded as the backbone of the Revolutionary Society, many people joined only because of his name, even the emblem of the organization is designed by his own hands."


    Bethany said emotionally, "Actually, Headmaster Fontaine is sheltering us, he hired Brother Jura and I followed along as an assistant professor before the Magical Congress made a formal decision."


    Felix nodded, that made sense. Jura Edmund was the leader of the students in the Paris incident, even if the MACUSA did not pursue it at that time, they would inevitably find trouble afterward. But after becoming an assistant professor at the Ilvermorny School, many problems would be solved.


    "But they still broke Jura''s wand." Bethany said with hatred.


    Every time she thinks about it, she will feel angry.


    Jura said indifferently: "They just restricted me in these insignificant aspects."


    Bethany said pointedly, "How can it be irrelevant? It''s very inconvenient without a wand!"


    Jura shook his head slightly as he looked at Felix: "Mr. Hap, which class do you think I am teaching?"


    Felix thought for a moment: "I can only think of a few classes, the Herbology class ... no," he saw Bethany trying to interject and realized he had guessed wrong, his mind quickly spun, no wand needed, and he could relate to him... ... He asked in an affirmative tone, "Is it muggle studies?"


    Bethany looked at him in surprise.


    "That''s right, but we call the course No-Maj Studies there - No-Maj stands for non-magical people." Jura explained, "I struggled for a while after losing my wand, but soon realized that it affected me much less than I expected ... I can cast spells perfectly well without my wand for some basic magic."


    "On the contrary, I had more time to think. In the library, I came across your books, which immediately opened a door for me ... Headmaster Fontaine sheltered me, but he didn''t expect me to teach students either; it was my own choice to pursue in this line of study."


    He said solemnly, "So when I found out that the school would participate in the competition, I immediately requested the Headmaster to add my name among the delegation ... I hoped to consult you in person!"


    ...


    After they separated, Felix looked at Jura''s back with some emotion, although only a year or so had passed, he had obviously grown a lot and become more disciplined in his work.


    "Well, maybe I should suggest to Remus to prioritize opening branches in America."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 412+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 375: Integration

    By the time the dinner started, Byers had become friends with Neville to the point that, in turn, he had mingled with Harry and his group. "Yes, very different," at the moment, he is introducing the Gryffindor students about the Ilvermorny''s sorting ceremony, "I was shocked when I first saw it, the main entrance of the castle has two founders marble statues on either side - Isolt Sayre and James Steward. Through the main entrance is a circular room where we conduct the sorting ..."


    He drew a circle on the table to indicate the shape of the room, then dotted four small dots.


    "See," Byers said, pointing to the dots, "those are statues of creatures representing the four houses, and the new students will stand against the wall, waiting for their names to be called. I was standing on Gordian Knot, panicked, surrounded by faces as nervous as mine, and when I looked up, I could see the older students and professors on the second level terrace-"


    "What is the Gordian Knot?" Seamus asked, intrigued.


    Byers showed him the golden knot on his robe: "It''s this, the thing that''s used to fasten the school robe. It''s complicated, but it''s a tradition at our school, and everyone is required to know it."


    "Where was I? Oh, standing on the Gordian Knot and then just waiting to see which statue would respond... I was feeling like a year had passed, and luckily the Thunderbird statue responded." He thankfully said.


    Harry empathized, when he was a first-year, his sorting took a long time, it was because the sorting hat strongly recommended that he should go to Slytherin, and he insisted that he would not accept, and eventually got sorted into Gryffindor House.


    He couldn''t help but ask, " Did any freshman ever encounter a situation where two statues responded to him at the same time?"


    "There should be." Byers recalled: "But I have not encountered it, this kind of situation is very rare ... The most famous one is Lady Seraphina Picquery. When all four houses tried to recruit her, and it proved - she was worth it, she later became the president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America."


    "She did a great job while in office, but she is more often remembered for standing up to pressure without banning Gigglewater ... than for creating a protective act for magical creatures."


    Hermione said pointedly, "For the love of Deliverance Dane, what was that?"


    Byers looked at her in surprise.


    "Did I say something wrong?" Hermione asked in a quiet voice.


    "No," Byers said, "I think you read that name from a book? Deliverance Dane?"


    Hermione nodded and spoke cautiously, "The book stated that Drievrens Dane was one of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials in the seventeenth century and that her name was later used as a colloquialism to express surprise."


    Byers stifled a laugh and said, "You''re right, but that is a term my grandmother''s generation loved to use, the book you read must be old ..."


    Hermione''s face turned bright red.


    The Gryffindor young wizards started to laugh, it is rare to see Miss Know-it-all getting embarrassed.


    After the laughter, Ron asked curiously, "So ... what exactly is Gigglewater?"


    ...


    "Want some? Gigglewater, it''s as old as the Magical Congress, and there is a taste of history in every sip." Cormac Wilkinson, Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts of Ilvermorny, asked, shaking a large, rugged flask with the rousing sound of the liquor inside.


    Felix shook his head lightly, "I can''t stand booze that''s too strong."


    "Young people don''t know good ...," Wilkinson muttered, turning his head, "And you, Professor Moody, would you like some? Just one sip, and you''ll be cracking up."


    Moody patted the curved flask at his waist and said gruffly, "I only drink my own."


    Professor Wilkinson''s eyes lit up, and he moved over to ask, "What''s that good stuff?"


    "Inferior liquor, got used to it, when I am Auror I used to sneak a sip," Moody tapped his cane on the floor: "Professor Wilkinson, what do you think about my proposal?"


    Two seats away, McGonagall looked away, unable to keep a straight face. She still couldn''t defend herself, as she let Professor Moody''s "special teaching concept of Defense Against the Dark Arts" be exposed on the first day, without even an additional day of buffer time.


    "Oh, uh, this ..." Wilkinson''s tone slurred, "I did not expect Hogwarts'' teaching style to be so aggressive, I heard some rumours before, but now it seems there should be some misunderstanding ..."


    He gulped a large mouthful of Gigglewater and burst into a burst of wild laughter, his face flushed. Then he began to loudly recount the glory of his ancestors, "Charity Wilkinson! One of the twelve Original American Aurors! She is my great-great-great-grandmother, the one of the two ... who have survived till their old age."


    At the end of the dinner, he was brought out of the castle on the shoulders of four Pukwudgie and followed the Ilvermorny delegation towards the temporary quarter in the Quidditch pitch.


    Occasionally, the Hogwarts students could still hear his drunken voice drifting through the dark sky - "To Charity Wilkinson!" "To Theodard Fontaine!" and "To the Twelve Aurors!"


    "He looks pissed off, that Ilvermorny Headmaster." Felix said teasingly.


    The Headmaster of Ilvermorny is a very rule-following person, but Professor Wilkinson''s performance today is somewhat embarrassing, perhaps what is more embarrassing is that this professor is dragged away senselessly by the cold-faced Pukwudgie, which is so contrary to the subjects he teaches ...


    Professor McGonagall, whose expression all along has been very serious, smiled.


    But immediately she looked up again and said sadly, "I''m worried that Professor Moody will cause a mess ..."


    Her fears became a reality.


    In the new week, Moody showed no qualms about the feelings of the new Ilvermorny students and used a malicious Switching Spell in the seventh-grade classroom, in which the students'' noses had been switched between plants, bottles, books, and all sorts of bizarre things.


    He growled gruffly, "Some of you were selected and passed the test of fear ... Yeah, you think it''s great ... but as far as I''m concerned, it''s all an illusion! Small stuff! We''ll need to try the real thing, right?"


    His fake eye darted around and fixed on the few students in the classroom, including the Ilvermorny students.


    Collins Foley covered her face up, her eyes tearing up, as she waved her wand desperately, and after a few moments-


    "Bang!"


    The effect of the spell disappeared, and Collins covered her intact nose, the stone in her heart finally fell to the ground.


    "Well done!" Moody limped over, "Look, this is the effect I want. You''re supposed to learn to deflect vicious spells and learn how to break them. Ten points for Slytherin!"


    In the afternoon, Felix flipped through the roll call in the Ancient Runes classroom.


    "Why are two people missing?"


    He looked at Byers, who stammered, "They, they''re not feeling well and resting in the quarters..."


    Felix''s mind became clear, maybe they were scared by Moody''s malicious spells? But there is no need to skip his class.


    "All right, class," he scanned the room, "let''s move on to the lesson. Given all the eye-catching events that will be happening this year, your minds are doomed to be distracted ... Let''s work harder to get through this school year''s lessons before the first event begins."


    The young wizards below the podium responded weakly; they had always been ahead of their learning schedule. This ''ahead of schedule'' is in comparison to the assessment standards of the Ministry of Magic''s Wizard Examinations Authority, the department responsible for organizing the students'' O.W.Ls and N.E.W.Ts level examinations.


    Since Professor Hap joined the school, the young wizards'' ancient runes scores have skyrocketed upward. The batch of students who graduated at the end of June this year, except for one who received only a good (E), all the rest got the highest grade of excellence (O).


    According to the professor, "The Ministry of Magic is too sluggish to respond to it yet, but you can''t keep expecting them to turn a blind eye, after all, a large string of ''Outstanding'' is still very conspicuous ..."


    "Maybe one day they''ll think about it and will come to Hogwarts and re-rate the class difficulty and assessment criteria."


    ...


    The students of Ilvermorny looked around in amazement, and the Hogwarts students seemed to have no objection to this Professor Hap''s words. This made them wonder if they had heard it wrong, did he really intend to finish teaching a whole year''s worth of content in three months?


    "Professor, do you know the competition time of the first event?" A student raised his hand and asked.


    "It should be between late November and early December," Felix said, "One is to leave enough time for the champions to prepare, and two, it''s best not to delay the Yule Ball, and the time frame I just mentioned is pretty much satisfied that requirement."


    He tapped on the table and pulled the students into the thinking room.


    The space is no longer restricted and expanded to its fullest, a cluster of fluffy flowers and tall yew trees rise from the ground, and the students of Ilvermorny and Byers opened their mouths wide with shocked faces as they caught the magical handbook floating down in midair.


    When their fingertips touched the handbook that emitted an ancient aura, dots of golden light flashed, and a large amount of ancient runes'' knowledge appeared in their minds, and Byers felt as if he is in a dream world.


    This is what true magic should be ...


    "I''ll assign the task." Felix said, "Read through the textbook again, you will discover that the contents inside are quite interesting ..."


    ...


    Time passed without notice by a week, and the students of Ilvermorny blended into the ocean like a drop of water, even if there were occasional waves, they didn''t set off any turmoil.


    At a meeting of faculty on Friday evening, Professor McGonagall dropped two bombshells.


    "First thing, the list of dark magic agreed upon by the Ministry of Magic that can be ''reasonably'' used at the Tournament of Champions was arrived." As she spoke, a sheet of Parchments floated towards all the professors present.


    Felix looked at the long list of spells written out in black ink and fell into contemplation.


    "Secondly, the delegation from Ilvermorny asked us whether we could allow the preparatory champions of the two schools to practice against each other, including familiarizing and defending themselves against the dark magic above."


    She said with an expressionless face, "Let''s discuss it." S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 412+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 376: Entry

    When Professor McGonagall stopped talking, Felix noticed Snape''s expression suddenly became strange, as he tried his best to display a careless attitude and said lightly, "We have to take them seriously, with all those dark magic ..." He loosened his grip and let the parchment slip from his fingertips.


    "Magic that needs constant hidden dangerous emotions, are eternal, elusive, unpredictable, ever-changing and will surpass everyone''s expectations ... If the students of Hogwarts are unprepared for this, when the need arises, they will act like a bunch of headless flies."


    "When the need arises!" Moody repeated loudly, pointing his nose that is missing a piece of flesh at Snape, "Need to face, or need to use? What do you think I''ve been doing for the last two months?"


    Snape and Moody stared at each other.


    After a moment of silence, Flitwick interjected uncomfortably, "I think we all agree on one thing, and that is that we would never teach dark magic to students--"


    Snape glanced at him.


    "You''re right."


    "Exactly," said Flitwick as if he had received some kind of encouragement, somewhat cheered up: "But we can''t let the students pretend that it is invisible either; Dark magic is quite a vast category of magic, and at certain times, in certain scenarios, they are even more superior."


    Professor McGonagall said impatiently, "You''re confusing me, Filius, do you agree with Ilvermorny''s suggestion or not?"


    Felix suddenly said, "Professor Flitwick should be thinking what I''m thinking - that we should accept Ilvermorny''s proposal. They have only two intentions, one is to test the ability of Hogwarts'' reserve champions before the other three schools arrive."


    "It''s not just them, all five schools will do the same thing. By referring to the information from previous matches, you will find that there were many instances where two weaker sides were united against the stronger ones. What''s more, now that there are five schools and the number of champions has increased to three, the situation has become more complex and volatile. Therefore, each school would like to know where they stand and make it easier to develop a strategy."


    The professors nodded their heads in agreement to his words.


    "What about Ilvermorny''s second intention?"


    "Of course, it''s to practice Dark Magic using this opportunity." Felix said, "Ilvermorny is not as repulsive to dark magic as we are, but I would like to remind you all that the name of the course they teach is still Defense Against the Dark Arts, not Dark Magic!"


    "That means their students probably won''t know most of the Dark Magic on this list."


    "What you mean, Felix, do you mean that we can find out which Dark Magic Ilvermorny has chosen through the sparring between students?" Professor McGonagall asked. Moody''s fake eyes kept rolling, looking as if he had been thinking rapidly. s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s right," Felix glanced at the parchment in his hand, "there are about fifty dark magics here, with a wide variety and focus. Students from schools other than Durmstrang won''t possibly have mastered them all, and the best strategy now would be to select the useful ones from it, while a Traditional school like Beauxbatons might even refuse to use dark magic, just like Hogwarts."


    McGonagall frowned and pondered: "Of the five schools, Beauxbatons''s attitude towards dark magic is indeed similar to Hogwarts''s system, and the possibility of what you mentioned exists. As for the remaining three ... Durmstrang needless to say, their students must have mastered at least half of the dark magic on the list, Ilvermorny will be selective, the only uncertainty is Uagadou ..."


    "Do you have any opinion regarding Uagadou?"


    Felix shook his head lightly, "I don''t know much about them, some of the information I got is based on hearsay and can''t be relied upon."


    McGonagall glanced up at the other professors before making her decision. "Then I will agree with Ilvermorny''s request, Filius, Felix, Professor Moody," she looked at the crowd, "Can we find alternative spells to replace some effects of the dark magic in this list."


    "Sure." Flitwick said pointedly, "For example, the corrosive type of dark magics in here can be replaced with a Softening Charm that can soften the scaled carapace of magical creatures, or hard stones."


    " It can be." Moody said gruffly.


    "I have no problem with that either," Felix said, "Also, we can switch our thinking - it doesn''t have to be an imitation, we can also find ways to prevent it, like ''blood trace'', if the students have a way to prevent tracing, they can completely avoid this layer of danger in advance."


    ...


    After the meeting, the professors dispersed.


    Felix dragged Snape, to Flitwick''s office as a guest. Flitwick brought some cookies and tea, then they ate and sipped as they analysed a large part of the dark magic on the list.


    Of the three, Flitwick is the master of spells, very knowledgeable, the spells he mastered are not restricted by dark magic and other categories, while for Snape it is just simply his favourite, this point was vaguely reflected in his previous speech at the meeting, which showed his inclination towards dark magic.


    As for Felix, he also had spent some time mastering dark magic back then, but in terms of quantity, it could not beat the other two in any way.


    In fact, his philosophy was very similar to Ilvermorny''s - pick only the right ones.


    The Fiendfyre Curse is a standard potent dark magic, nevertheless, it is still one of his best spells. Its power had reached a certain limit, except for the shield charm, which could hopefully surpass that level, the others were at most comparable to it.


    The following weekend, the Hogwarts prep champions gathered in a vacant field between the Quidditch Pitch and the Forbidden Forest, which had been temporarily established as a practice ground. Students from both schools would be sparring and practicing their magic here.


    But this had little to do with Harry and the rest.


    Professor McGonagall forbade them from participating; she just assembled a dozen candidates from the sixth and seventh years, without paying any attention to them.


    "Why we weren''t called!" Ron said grumblingly.


    "Because we''re not considered as Preparatory Champions to begin with, and we have no experience in dealing with dark magic other than what Professor Moody has taught us.!" Hermione said loudly, reminding the group of dumb students around her.


    "Who cares," Ron muttered, "just find Professor Hap''s memory in classroom seven and choose Black Market level - where you''ll meet a room full of dark wizards - and it will always end with a messy fight every time. "


    Harry and Ron were not the only two who were upset.


    Neville, the Weasley twins, Susan Bones, and Eddie Carmichael all showed up, hiding in the bushes because they aren''t old enough to be able to do more than watching the upperclassmen sparring with Ilvermorny''s preparatory champions, and there are also professors from both schools available as a coach for champions.


    "You guys look like little abandoned Chiwawa." A long-drawn-out voice emerged from behind them.


    Harry, with a pang of weariness in his heart, turned his head to glare at Draco Malfoy and got surprised. Not by seeing him accompanied by his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle. But there are two other people together with Malfoy, they are the Greengrass sisters.


    In a way, Astoria is more famous as a little sister, especially when her hobby is strolling around the Black Lake on a big snake mount.


    Harry didn''t talk to them, but Hermione did. Amazingly, she barely counted as a friend, or rather, a rival of Daphne Greengrass? Anyway, Harry couldn''t figure it out, because when the two met, they would quarrel, but they never really would fight.


    And Hermione''s opinion of Astoria is, a little girl spoiled by her family, childish at heart. The only thing that could be called a plus is that she has no prejudice against wizards of muggle origin.


    "Granger, I''m going to represent my sister and duel you!" Astoria pointed at Hermione and shouted at the top of her voice.


    But her anger was immediately subdued when Daphne patted her head.


    "What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Harry said with a scowl.


    "Don''t treat me like I am here for the same reason as you," Draco taunted, "If I wanted to see it, I''d go and see it openly, without hiding here like a bunch of aggrieved babies ..."


    But he stopped talking as everyone''s eyes spewed anger, with a few already drawing their wands and looking at him unkindly.


    "Let''s go," said Draco Malfoy, "To greet my Ilvermorny friends!" He led the Slytherin students towards the vacant land with a swagger.


    " I have a good relationship with Victor, and the Graves family is well established in the American magical community ..." His smug voice drifted far away and drilled into their ears, tickling their hearts.


    The rest of them looked at each other, and Fred suddenly said, "We know Ilvermorny students, too."


    "That''s right." Harry immediately echoed.


    "So ..." Ron looked at the crowd eagerly.


    "Let''s go and see?" Fred said tentatively.


    "Good idea." George replied without thinking.


    After a moment of silence, their group walked with a measured step toward the practice ground.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 414+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 377: Granger (2 in 1 Chapter)

    Two dozen students were gathered around the makeshift vacant ground, with two or three in a group as they sat on the grass in scattered clusters, totally they would barely reach thirty in No. counting the Professors. They stared at the two silhouettes constantly moving across each other in the center, shooting spells at each other as they went back and forth.


    "Cedric, come on!" Roger Davies shouted.


    "Victor, come on!"


    Cedric dodged a spell, "Protego!" He put up a magical barrier and took a breath as the spell flew over like a sword, thumping the barrier.


    The boy with the name "Graves" had short, fine black hair and his spells were terribly powerful. He grinned, seemingly sure of his victory.


    "Watch your step, Victor!"


    Victor Graves flinched in alarm when he realized two thin streams of water slithering their way over the grass and mud in the direction of his feet.


    He raised his wand and tried to do something about it. That''s when Cedric lunged forward, and a red light flew from the tip of his wand. Graves turned back in a hurry to defend himself, but the spell never reached him.


    The water on the ground suddenly exploded, and the grass fumed up a large boiling water mist, which swept Cedric and Graves into it, their figures became hidden.


    "Supersensory Charm(*Unknown Incantation*)!"


    It seemed like a long time before the sound of Cedric reciting the incantation reached the ears of those around him.


    In the mist, Cedric murmured and enchanted himself with a supersensory charm, heightening his five senses and trying his best to catch the hazy silhouette.


    The people around held their breath, even the Draco group who had just approached had stopped seven or eight feet away, staring at the mist with unblinking eyes.


    Fast!


    It was too fast!


    Everything happened in seven or eight seconds, many people failed to react.


    Flitwick praised in a sharp voice: "Amazing, Cedric laid a trap well."


    Felix nodded: "He looked well-prepared."


    "That''s right, he asked me a few spells ... I already figured out what he would do next." Flitwick said with anticipation.


    The water mist became thicker. Not just a water mist, large clouds of white smoke quickly filled the space, blocking off a 30 to a 40-foot radius, like a goblet turned upside down to conceal everything inside.


    Then a spell arced like lightning, abruptly illuminating a cloud of fog, and the onlooking students backed away.


    "It seems that Cedric intends to use the fog as a battlefield, he should be prepared it for some large-sized creatures, whether for fighting or withdrawing, it is very convenient ... did not expect it to work well for wizards."


    Felix thought about it, "He actually needs to strengthen two additional features - cut off his opponents'' vision as much as possible and turn them blind. As well as increasing his means of detection as much as possible, and it would be nice to be able to ignore the haze."


    " He has a good knack for using different spells constantly." Moody said.


    As he spoke, the clouds churned violently, and a layer of black colour spread out from one of the locations. It looked like unsightly mould growing on clean white fungus, which quickly spread out, accompanied by a pungent smell of petrol.


    "Did Cedric do that?"


    "No, that''s dark magic."


    Flitwick waved his wand in front of his eyes, and the fog automatically cleared in his vision.


    Half a minute later, two figures rushed out in separate directions, coughing violently, tears flowing from the corners of their eyes, and their eyes were red from that smoke.


    "Contra Fumos." (*made up spell*)


    Felix pointed to Cedric, and his expression immediately soothed.


    The student on the opposite side also quieted down, and the two went forward to shake hands, with red eyes.


    Professor Wilkinson of Ilvermorny said in a loud voice, "Well done, boys, you''ve all done well ... Wait, where did these students come from?"


    Felix and Flitwick had long since spotted Harry and the group, but neither of them said a word. Moody, who had been standing nearby, said in a quiet voice, "I already mentioned them to you, Professor Wilkinson, they''re the ones who aren''t old enough ..."


    In the crowd, Byers glanced at Neville in surprise, there are quite a few people here who are the friends he made in Gryffindor, he asked about their grades, except for the twins, the rest are basically fourth-year students.


    Wilkinson looked at Harry and the group with suspicion, and Harry did his best to straighten his body to make himself look taller. "What about that little girl?" He asked, pointing at Astoria, "She passed your selection as well?"


    "Surprising, yes, but ...." Felix said with a shrug, "She''s only a second year, too young to be part of the training, while the rest of them received the same treatment at Hogwarts as the sixth and seventh year Preparatory Champions."


    "Okay, as long as they don''t scream at the top of their lungs." Wilkinson reluctantly accepted and had no further objections. The group breathed a sigh of relief.


    "The luckiest thing is Professor McGonagall isn''t here, she left halfway through." Fred said, squeezing his eyes.


    George gave a thumbs up.


    For the next few minutes, a group of professors critiqued the battle that had just taken place, especially the dark magic part. When it is Felix''s turn, he reminds the Hogwarts students, "Don''t forget that some of you know illumination which can break through magical mists ..."


    Collins stared at him, she did not choose the ancient runes class, so naturally, she is not a member of the Magic Rune Club. In this subject, she is not as good as Astoria, because, in order to appease the little girl, Dumbledore agreed to her request of entering the Magic Rune Club very generously.


    Next, the students took turns, and each duel ended quickly.


    Not the kind of fast as the one Harry encountered in the dueling class, he thought for a while before coming up with a reliable word.


    Rhythm.


    The rhythm from both sides of the offence was very fluid, a fluidity that he had not previously experienced in dueling classes, nor had he ever had a similar experience with Sirius, or in classroom seven.


    As for the second year summer special training, and the several sparring sessions with Professor Hap, he was beaten throughout and did not have a pleasant experience at all.


    After an hour, every upperclassman had their turn.


    Felix looked at Harry and the group as they stared daggers at him, smiled slightly, and said to Wilkinson, "Professor Wilkinson, why don''t you let these underclassmen try out on the stage?"


    "No problem."


    Wilkinson nodded in agreement, he did not find it a problem, while the professors at Hogwarts were not stingy in their accolades for these students, he thought it was an exaggeration. They were several years younger than the real champion candidates, and the age gap isn''t that easy to break.


    Besides, he specifically asked, the majority of the group here didn''t pass the OWLs.


    Ilvermorny also has similar exams, and he naturally knows what kind of metamorphosis happens to students who have gone through such exam years.


    "You guys go forward and have some fun! Don''t use dark magic." Professor Wilkinson said to the Ilvermorny students, and then he lazily sat down on the grass, pulled a flask of alcohol out of his cloak, and took a sip.


    Jura and Bethany looked at each other helplessly, and Jura said, "Byers, you go ahead."


    Byers nodded his head in agreement.


    He stood in the center and beamed a stupid grin that made Harry and the group giggle.


    "Neville, let''s have a go." Byers initiated the invitation.


    Neville froze, walked to the center of the field, and whispered, "I''m not that good."


    "It''s okay." Byers said with a smile, it is just a friendly match anyway, just the right way to change the mood.


    However, the fact took him by surprise. Neville is skilled in various basic spells, especially in Stunning Spell and Shield Charm, he cast both quickly without uttering a word.


    Nonverbal spell!


    Neville''s pace was somewhat sluggish, with just a relatively few moves back and forth. Byers adapted after a while and then found a pattern, but this dull pace seemed to be tried and tested a thousand times, and he felt like he was up against a reef.


    Neville did not take much initiative to attack, usually, he will let Byers attack first, while Neville will cast a Shield Charm, and then a few steps aside, always staying face to face with Byers, in between Byers chanting spells, Neville took the time to shoot a few Stunning spells, sometimes Shield Charm, and Disarming Charm.


    His face was strained and taut, looking very similar to his dueling style.


    Flitwick murmured, "This kind of pace is not in the scope of what is taught in school dueling classes, it looks simple but requires a lot of practice, and every tiny movement has a unique intent."


    Moody gripped his cane and said in a deep voice, "This style I seem to have seen it somewhere, I have an impression."


    "I think it was taught by Frank Longbottom." Felix said.


    "So that''s how it is ..." Flitwick said admiringly, "His father was an outstanding Auror, and he should have tailored this pace for Neville, to match his own nature. "


    "Well, a very resilient pace." Felix commented.


    On the field, Byers became a little impatient. Although they might be friends, he also is a champion candidate, so he increased the output of magic power, and the spell lit up a bright arc of light.


    Still, Neville kept resisting his attacks like a stubborn stone. His mouth continued to chant something silently, "Steady as a tenacious stone, light as a fluttering feather, still as a pool of water, moving like spring lightning ..." He suddenly jumped out boldly, shook out a red light, and then re-hid himself.


    The magic barrier in front of him shattered half a dozen times, but each time he pulled himself back up.


    Jura went into deep thought, and Wilkinson''s liquor seemed to lose its appeal. Bethany anxiously watched her brother fall into a bitter battle while asking in disbelief, "What''s going on? Why can''t Byers break through the boy''s defense?"


    "Byers didn''t use any lethal spell, that''s one reason. There is also ..." Wilkinson said hesitantly, "That kid has a good pace, very impressive. And then there''s the fact that shield charm was used really well, and all his tactics were based around that one spell. I could also see at least thirteen or fourteen tricks, each one focused on a specific issue." He took a sip of his liquor, as he laughed "haha" twice, and then watched with rapt attention.


    "It''s a test for Byers, too. He should learn to use his head."


    After ten minutes of stalemate, Byers finally found the key to break the game, from the tip of his wand flew out a cluster of bright flames, condensed into a large fuzzy bird, which rushed towards Neville.


    As the crowd stared in amazement, Neville urgently laid a second layer of shield charm over himself, blocking the flames firmly.


    "Wow!" Ron looked at Neville in surprise, his impression of Neville seemed to have been reshaped.


    The big flaming bird broke through the first barrier and then crashed solidly into the second shield charm, nearly breaking it apart. But Byers waved his wand repeatedly, and the big flaming bird regathered, this time bypassing the front and flying in a roundabout way from the side.


    Neville dryly conceded defeat.


    "You can still hold on for a while." Byers came over and shook hands with him solemnly.


    Neville shook his head, "You''ve found a breakthrough," he said, rubbing his head nervously, "Actually, Dad has developed this Tactic for me, I just can''t use it well right now."


    "Well, it looks like you have a good father." Byers said breathlessly.


    Next, the Ilvermorny students got serious. They suddenly realized that these students, who were on average two or three years younger than them, were not that easy to deal with. They took turns on the field and took the initiative to pick their opponents. All the while following Professor Wilkinson''s orders and Byers'' approach of not using dark magic or powerful spells. But with a cut above the magic power and spell casting skills, they soon made Susan Bones, Carmichael, and Zabini lose one after another, which made the students of Ilvermorny breathe a sigh of relief that it seemed these people were not all masters like Neville.


    Draco also performed quite well, fighting back and forth with one of Ilvermorny''s witches, and the powerful spell he had used in the third-year dueling tournament came close to success, but the serious Ilvermorny students lived up to their reputation as carefully selected preparatory champions, as any one of them can stand a chance against a novice Auror.


    Even if they change positions and let these Hogwarts students attack actively, the Ilvermorny students can still wear their magic out until they run out of steam.


    ...


    As the surrounding companions were picked off one by one, Harry got a little anxious. Why did no one pick him?


    Just because he is shorter? Did he look weak?


    He stared at Astoria, the little girl also puffed up - no one even looked at her, obviously she had worked very hard to stand in the front.


    Harry suddenly felt some sadness.


    Even Hermione went on the field. Her opponent is the male wizard surnamed "Graves", Graves said with a smile: "Heard your name quite a few times these days, Miss Know-it-all?"


    Hermione furrowed her brow, his tone of voice was anything but kind.


    "May we begin?"


    "Of course." Graves grinned.


    "Whoosh!"


    A silent disarming charm flew out swiftly, Graves hurriedly jumped aside and looked at her in surprise, "Is that your best spell?"


    Hermione said with a scowl, "You''ll see." She waved her wand continuously, and several spells flew out, surprisingly suppressing the opposite side in a short time, forcing Graves to hold up a magic barrier in the shape of a circle, completely wrapping himself up.


    Flitwick asked in surprise: "When did Granger master Nonverbal casting? Moreover, she can actually apply it over multiple spells, it''s not as if she just mastered it."


    Moody''s that magic eye turned frantically, as he stared at her movements silently while calculating something in his heart.


    Felix explained, "Her control of magic has always been outstanding, and when I asked her to write a paper on the dueling system, she put the Nonverbal spell at the top of her list."


    "Why?"


    "Her spell ..." Felix thought for a moment and said, choosing his words carefully, "is more moderate, often can surprise people in some details which reflect her control ability, but the power of her spell is not as good as it should be. "


    Flitwick immediately understood what he meant, "This is actually nothing, Granger''s spell casting is very stable, this is her greatest advantage. When she reaches adulthood, she will be able to fully exploit her advantages and can choose compound spells ... Oh, my!"


    In the vacant field, Graves broke the previous stalemate.


    Black flames expanded wide and spread into a dozen clusters, which hovered in the air, and as his wand slashed down like a sharp sword, those flames dropped violently from high above.


    Hermione put up a magic barrier, then felt the blazing temperature, her hair smelled a little burnt, she rushed away, panicked to see the magic barrier being burned by the black flames as a large hole produced.


    "What is this?"


    "Fiendfyre, I told you guys - no dark magic," Wilkinson said in a deep voice: "Graves is a little out of control, he cares too much about the honour ... we need to be prepared to separate them at any time. "


    Professors approached in unison, and Flitwick said pointedly, "We should stop this bout, it''s beyond a sparring match." S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix said calmly, "My feelings are the same as yours Filius, but I trust Miss Granger."


    A dozen black flames slammed into the ground, scorching the grass away, looking like a devil''s footprint falling from the sky. Hermione''s eyes went wide, dodging in a wretched manner while wielding a shield charm to resist.


    Harry and Ron, worried, could not wait to rush up, but with Professor present, they barely restrained themselves and watched as the black flames smashed into the ground and transformed into long, twisted snakes, curled their bodies, and then rushed towards her.


    "What are the professors waiting for?" Harry asked in disbelief, drawing his wand, its tip glinting. What spell should I use at this point? Disarming charm, Stunning spell, Shield charm, or Patronus?


    None of them seemed to work ... he simply pointed his wand at the "Graves" and wondered whether to hex him.


    Hermione didn''t panic anymore, she still has her last card. She glanced at Felix, and Felix nodded at her. So she stopped in her tracks and let the black flames envelop her, her fingertips flickering with golden light.


    Wilkinson had raised his wand, and Bethany handed her own to Jura, "Quick!" Immediately after, they heard an unfamiliar incantation, coming from the girl''s mouth.


    Golden flames poured down from Hermione''s palm. Compared to the small fire shown in the ancient runes'' office more than a month ago, it has now grown into a behemoth. Golden flames like a flood of water gushed around, and the black flames that lunged towards her collided, with the black flames collapsing at the touch and being churned into pieces.


    Graves'' expression froze on his face.


    The golden flames kept shrinking and finally turned into a huge burning bird, like a phoenix, much more exquisite than the magic Byers had outlined before. It let out a long, high-pitched cry, and in just a split second, the golden firebird appeared in front of the dumbfounded Graves, a foot away from him, his hair frizzled into ashes, his pupils mirrored a lengthy, golden beak.


    "That''s what I want to see." Amidst the silence, Felix nodded, with contentment.


    ...


    Graves got pulled away, his expression somewhat dazed, a lingering fear remained in his eyes as he left.


    Professor Wilkinson came over with a slight silence and apologized to the Hogwarts professors: "Graves he ... took this Tournament of Champions too seriously, he carried the hopes of many people and wanted to bring his family back to glory... ..."


    "Graves?" Flitwick repeated, "That family name sounds familiar."


    "A descendant of the Original Twelve Aurors, like me, which made me empathize with him and loosen my grip on him." Wilkinson said, "More than seventy years ago, there was a scandal in the American magical community. The Head of Law Enforcement of the Magical Congress - Percival Graves - was impersonated," he explained sullenly, "causing a huge mess and nearly exposing the entire American magical community."


    "Impersonated?" Professors looked over.


    "The matter is very secretive," Wilkinson whispered, "and relatively few people in the outside world know about it."


    "Who impersonated him?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Grindelwald." Wilkinson only said the family name, but everyone present knew who he was referring to.


    "I can''t believe it''s related to Grindelwald!" Flitwick said in surprise, "Then that kid just now ..."


    "Victor Percival Graves." Wilkinson said, "Percival Graves is his grandfather, and that''s why he''s mentally disturbed, and I can guarantee that if he gets into trouble again, I''ll send him back."


    The professors didn''t say anything else. It was an accident made by one student, no one else could be blamed. Besides, the Hogwarts students didn''t suffer, but on the contrary, that Graves probably has a lot of psychological shadows.


    Not only him, but other Ilvermorny students were also shaken, staring at Hermione with great interest. In their hearts, this witch with messy hair has become one of the students who must not be messed with.


    Even Professor Wilkinson, before leaving, deliberately asked: "That little girl ... you do not intend to allow her to become a champion, right?"


    "No, she''s not old enough." Felix said.


    Wilkinson learned about Dumbledore''s Age Line from Flitwick''s mouth, which he praised, "I think it''s necessary ... yes, it''s necessary. Champions bore a great deal of psychological pressure, it is best not to allow students too young to participate ..."


    --------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there will be only one chapter Tomorrow.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 414+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 378: The Five Schools Gather

    A new week dawned, the last week of October, and the professors unanimously accelerated their pace to make time for the upcoming Tournament of Champions. Moody''s class is still full of terrors. "I can smell cowards." He said in class. At this time he is planning to use the Imperius Curse on students, in turn. Moody looked at them eerily with his intact eye and said in a low voice: "You will find that the more you run away, the more danger will approach you ... Yes, it is always exceptionally fond of cowards."


    As he raised his wand, the young wizards shivered in unison.


    Only Harry showed resistance to the Imperius Curse in the whole grade, "Potter, you have the potential to be an Auror! Show everyone what a wizard is capable of, Potter!" Moody yelled as he cast the Imperius Curse on Harry four times in a row until Harry was able to completely break free from the effects of the Imperius Curse before he turned his attention to the next person.


    At the end of class, Ron and Neville walked out of the classroom holding each other up, with both being treated similarly. Under Moody''s control, Ron did a passionate dance, and Neville performed a series of very impressive gymnastic moves.


    "Who - does - he thinks he is, that paranoid ...," Ron said indignantly, rubbing his thighs as he did so.


    As they passed a group of young second-year wizards, these little wizards stared straight at Hermione, not shying away from talking about Hermione''s appalling performance in the vacant field last weekend.


    "That flaming phoenix ... burned all his hair ... off."


    Hermione''s face showed a mixture of amusement and embarrassment, "Don''t they have anything else to do?" Even when she was catching up on her homework in the library, she couldn''t escape the various scorching stares. When she refused the third group of students who asked for autographs, the young wizard gave a disgruntled "Che", "What are you smug about?"


    Hermione looked incredulous as she asked, "Do I look smug?"


    "You look like you''ve been under a Cheering Charm," Ron said jealously, "all happy and smiley."


    " It''s scary ..." Hermione froze, sighed half-heartedly, and said to Harry seriously, "I kind of admire you, Harry."


    "What do you mean?" Harry asked, puzzled.


    "I just ... felt a bit emotional." Hermione said, "Think about it, I''ve just recently gained a little fame, and I''m already feeling fluttery, but you''ve spent three years with such a gaze without showing any difference."


    Harry stammered, "That''s because I don''t think there is anything good about fame ... Well, I''ll be honest, sometimes it doesn''t feel that bad."


    "And that includes when you''re misunderstood?" Hermione asked as she gave him a deep look. These days, she kind of knew the bad side of sudden fame, and only when she became the center of attention among the crowd did she know what it would feel like.


    She suddenly remembered that in their second year, Harry was suspected by many of their classmates of being the heir of Slytherin''s Chamber of Secrets due to the exposure of his Parseltongue, and everyone avoided Harry for a long time, as they gossiped behind his back.


    " Well, you guys are there for me." Harry said.


    Ron shrugged his shoulders, "What kind of weird conversation are you guys having, come on, let''s go find Fred and George, I saw them go to the owl shack, maybe the Ageing Potion has arrived."


    Harry wanted to go to see Hedwig, Hermione also felt it would be better to get some air, so they packed their things and left the library.


    Passing the edge of the Forbidden Forest, they saw two Pukwudgie coming out of the forest. Carrying a boar jointly on their shoulders, they are heading towards the Ilvermorny quarters, and when they see Harry and the team, the two Pukwudgie muttered under their breath in a strange language.


    "Guess what they said?" Ron asked.


    "I don''t know, probably simple curiosity." Harry said as he looked in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. Standing where he is, all he could see is the roof of a tall building with four sculptures of creatures standing at the four corners of the building''s edge, and the one facing them is a Thunderbird bird with its wings up, looking a bit like Ravenclaw''s bronze eagle.


    "Do you guys think there will be a thunderbird in this year''s Tournament of Champions event?" Ron asked curiously.


    "Thunderbirds are not easy to deal with, they are the darling of the storm, excluding their magical abilities, the mere fact that they can fly is beyond the reach of the Champions." Hermione is less optimistic about it.


    The owl shack is a round stone room, standing on high ground. While they were enduring the "whistling" wind and the smell of owl droppings in the tower, climbing up a staircase, they heard the twins'' footsteps coming down the stairs.


    "He can''t hide from us forever, that''s not a small amount of money!"


    "Yeah, I don''t know if sending a letter will work, maybe we should just throw it in his hands, he is bound to show up, isn''t he ..." Turning a corner, George stopped talking as he looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione in surprise.


    "What are you guys doing here?" Fred asked, wide-eyed.


    Ron didn''t answer as he stared at the twins, "Who wants to hide from you guys?"


    "We wish our stupid brother would hide from us." Fred said unhappily.


    Ron wanted to ask more, but Fred and George grabbed him from left to right, "We thought that you will want an Ageing potion, it arrived yesterday, we will bring it to you when we get back." Saying that they left one by one.


    "They definitely have something to hide from the family." Ron looked at their backs and said with certainty. " The way it looks to me is that someone owes them a fortune." He quickly put the matter behind him and said hopefully, "I wonder how the Ageing Potion tastes? I really hope it''s better than the Polyjuice Potion ..."


    Hermione said coldly, "You haven''t given up on that yet, have you?"


    "Yeah, are you going to turn on us, Hermione?" Ron said with a playful smile, " Well, it''s more or less just a try ... I heard from Professor McGonagall that the Champions can skip the final year exam, which means no more muddling through assignments and no worries about getting a low grade ... It''s a whole year of peaceful days!"


    Hermione looked at him with annoyance, "So you want to become a Champion because you don''t want to do your assignments?"


    " Of course, there''s still that big reward."


    They returned to the common room and Ron slumped over the table and groaned, "There have been so many assignments this year, Professor McGonagall has left an essay on Hedgehog Transfiguration; Trelawney asked us to predict next month''s astrology signs; Snape is forcing us to work on an antidote, and he was even hinted about poisoning us! Professor Binns''s assignments have always been plentiful, Goblin Rebellion ... who cares about what happened hundreds of years ago?! And Professor Flitwick prepared three reference books about curses; Even Hagrid suggested we should observe Firetrail Snails every other day, did you hear that, he actually asked us to observe the thing that fires up its ass, he sounded like he was talking about a bunch of cute dogs ..."


    "Think about it, just become a champion, and you can get away from all this." He said with a longing look on his face as he looked up.


    Hermione and Harry did not pay much attention to him, anyway, just like usual, he would be fine after a while of self-pity. Hermione took out a pamphlet and read it aloud while Harry held the two-way mirror and made a family phone call with Sirius.


    "I''m fine ... and the scars no longer hurts, maybe it''s psychological ... Well, the other three schools are coming, I wish you could see them... Hello. Kreacher, what? Uh, sure, the locket matches your bald head ... Happy Halloween in advance ..."


    From the other side of the mirror came Sirius'' grumpy voice: "Damn it, Felix won''t let me use the fireplace in his office! I have never seen anyone like him who destroys a bridge after crossing a river!"


    In the evening, Neville brought back a new announcement - Beauxbatons and Durmstrang''s people are about to arrive.


    ...


    The delegations from the two schools arrived on the same day as if they had made an appointment, with less than an hour difference between them.


    With the experience of welcoming the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Hogwarts appeared to be at ease from top to bottom, even Filch''s eyes didn''t bulge out as much, or maybe because there were no little wizards to repeat the cheap mistake.


    The weather had turned cooler at the end of October, and the students gathered on the steps outside the entrance hall and waited for twenty minutes before the Beauxbatons delegation finally arrived with a huge fancy-blue carriage flying towards them. The carriage measured as big as a house, and twelve winged, silver-maned horses pulled it through as it sailed through the air.


    The students tilted their heads and let out a gasp. With a tooth-aching thud, the carriage landed with a bang, "Cool! Hard landing!" Seamus said before he took a sharp breath as Madame Maxime stepped out of the carriage and stepped down the golden steps to the crowd.


    "My God, she''s so tall!"


    Dumbledore and the professors lead the applause, after which Dumbledore kissed the back of Madame Maxime''s hand, and after some pleasantries - "Hasn''t Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.


    "He''s a little later than expected." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    Maxime "snorted" and muttered in a small voice. The professors and nearby students standing in front of her heard her clearly, as she said, " Posturing."


    "Would you prefer to wait here to greet him, or would you like to go in and warm up?" Dumbledore asked like a gentle breeze as if he hadn''t overheard her.


    "I''ll go in and warm up first," she said with a slight bow, "those horses of mine are very feisty - they need to be cared for by someone with a lot of strength, and they only drink pure malt whiskey."


    "Please do not worry, our Care of Magical Creatures class Professor will take care of them." Dumbledore said.


    Madam Maxime smiled gracefully and nodded toward the professors, her smile became a lot sincerer when she saw Felix, and then she said majestically to the Beauxbatons students, " Follow me inside."


    The Hogwarts students Parted a way out and looked behind her as she led twelve or thirteen students up the steps into the castle, as they murmured. These Beauxbatons students were all wearing fine blue silk uniforms, and a few exceptionally slender girls had their faces covered.


    Dumbledore turned his head and whispered, "Felix ..."


    "Leave it to me." Felix said, looking toward the carriage, his eyes clouded with a silvery-white light, the pack of horses as big as elephants stared at him with their fiery red eyes and then they abruptly became motionless. A moment later, they lifted their hoofs the size of dishes in unison and headed in the direction of Hagrid''s hut. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "By the way, there is pure malt whiskey." Dumbledore said, he lifted his hand to pull a note from the thin air, the note fluttered and stuck on the head of the silver-maned horse in the lead.


    The note looked extraordinarily strange as it bent backward against the wind and made a loud chirping sound. Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and her expression gradually grew stern.


    "Ah ~ it''s a bit boring to wait," Dumbledore said: "Felix, have you made any new products for your ''Future World'' company? I read in the newspaper that you recently signed a contract with the Weird Sisters group ..."


    "That''s for the Magic Gramophone, in which they will collaborate to add the first batch of records. I suggested to Remus to make the product as small as possible, preferably with the possibility of projecting enchanted images. But a few minor problems were encountered, and I urgently need some valuable advice."


    The two of them discussed while professors and students who were bored idly on the sidelines pricked up their ears to listen, and later the professors joined in the discussion as time passed little by little.


    After another half an hour, even the students in cloaks could not bear it any longer, shivering under the cold wind.


    "How much longer do we have to wait?"


    Draco Malfoy said with dissatisfaction, he quietly drew his wand, cast an Engorgement Charm on a beetle in the ground, and then kicked the beetle as big as a mouse away. It didn''t take long for a shriek to come from not far away.


    He grinned and suddenly stared at the black lake in the distance, where a whirlpool had appeared.


    At that moment, Lee Jordan shouted, "Look at that lake!"


    Draco made a "Che " sound, squinting his eyes to observe carefully, the original calm black lake began to tumble in the middle with a huge splash of water, like a boiling caldron, after which, a huge ship appeared from the whirlpool.


    It is a very strange-looking ship, it looked like the wreckage of a ship that had been soaking in the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years, and one day it was finally salvaged - the hull is littered with leaky holes, and the windows are emitting a hazy phosphorescent glow. When the ship docked on the shore, a row of people wearing heavy fur coats came out, and the man leading the group draped in a special silver-white fur.


    He had a bushy goatee, and his whole body looked tall and thin, with slim cheeks, deep sunken eye sockets, prominent cheekbones, and a bit of a bushy eyebrow, giving the impression of a scheming man.


    "Dumbledore!" The man shouted enthusiastically as he walked up the ramp, "My dear old friend, how are you?"


    "Excellent, thank you, Professor Karkaroff." Dumbledore replied.


    Dumbledore leads the crowd to the great hall, where a sumptuous dinner had been prepared by the house elves of the kitchen.


    This dinner party brought the four schools together, and when he heard that the people of Uagadou are still wandering around in some deep mountain, the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Karkaroff, immediately grunted in dissatisfaction.


    "They''re really good at posturing! Making everyone wait for them! You know, Krum had a bit of cold before we left, and I said to him, "Hang in there, you will be able to get accustomed to it after a while ..."


    "They will be here before Halloween at the latest." Dumbledore said gently, "Professor Karkaroff, If your student is not feeling well, the Hogwarts Hospital Wing is available for assistance and Madam Pomfrey is very professional."


    ...


    At night, the dark azure sky which is sprinkled with stars is shrouded by dark clouds, and the moon is also obscured by a thick veil of clouds. Thunder rumbled as a bright flash of lightning streaked across the night sky, and cold rain drizzled through.


    In the ancient runes'' office, Felix is draped in a wool cloak, watching a film with Niffler Valen on the couch. Niffler is staring at the projected screen, not even noticing when Felix quietly pulled out a golden galleon from her hand.


    When the film is over, Niffler climbed into her comfy velvet basket bed and laid down comfortably on it.


    "Good night."


    "Kiki!"


    Meanwhile, a few mountains away, a group of figures stood at the top of the mountain, looking over the lofty Hogwarts castle.


    " Come on! This little storm is nothing, we''ll get there before dawn."


    A high-pitched voice said. He suddenly jumped down from the top of the mountain and turned into a large, towering bird with iron-green feathers as he swept across the sharp walls and circled the ravine.


    "Whoo-hoo!"


    Another figure jumped forward with a quick flip around and transformed into a leopard. Within a few moments of jumping and falling, the figure ran a distance of hundreds of feet.


    Immediately afterward, with its long trunk raised high, an African elephant with broad ears and long silver-white tusks walked with nimble strides down the dark brown steep slope, the sharp stone surface seemed like flat ground to it.


    "The little ones are in good spirits, and the effect of the training seems to be very obvious." An old, worn-out voice rang out as the thin witch sat on her flying carpet, beaming from ear to ear.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 415+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 379: Goblet of Fire

    The next day, Felix opened his eyes from the bed and yawned broadly. The air outside the window is damp with the smell of earth. After finishing the washing up, he checked the time and prepared to go to the great hall for breakfast.


    "Valen, come on, let''s go and eat." He called out.


    On the bassinet bed, the fluffy velvet blanket twitched slightly and then fell still.


    "Valen?"


    A small hand stretched out from the blanket and waved at him twice impatiently.


    "Kiki!" She got tired from watching the film last night and didn''t want to get up at all.


    "... Well, there are cookies and cakes in the office."


    Felix walked out of the room and made his way to the great hall. To his surprise, he noticed an extra school emblem in the great hall, as he glanced at it - the shield symbol of Hogwarts, the flower petal symbol of Ilvermorny, the crossed wands symbol of Beauxbatons, the two-headed eagle symbol of Durmstrang, and the last one -


    A conical peak is hidden in the clouds, and upon closer inspection, a magnificent building stands halfway up the conical peak.


    Mountains of the Moon, Uagadou.


    "Has Uagadou arrived too? Could it be last night or early this morning?" Felix glanced at the great hall and didn''t find any unfamiliar faces, but he saw Durmstrang''s star student, Krum.


    It was only yesterday that he had learned that the talented Seeker, who had twice toyed with the Irish national team''s Seeker in the Quidditch World Cup final and ultimately caught the Golden Snitch at the end of the game, is still attending Durmstrang.


    Had to say that his Quidditch training would have been too hard with the storm all day, right?


    At the long Slytherin table, Krum sat alone instead of being with his teammates, preferring a solitary meal. A dozen pairs of adoring gazes constantly peeked at him, but he seemed to have long got used to it and ate his breakfast in silence.


    When he finished eating, he got up and left. Unlike his posture on the flying broom, he is now rather silent, with two eyebrows furrowed habitually, as if he is in deep thought all the time.


    At the breakfast, Felix finally met Uagadou''s students.


    They all had dark skin, and their precise behaviour differed. And there is one student whose skin is as dark as the bottom of a kettle, looking like a walking block of pure darkness. If he wasn''t wearing brown leather clothes, it would be hard to differentiate the different parts of his body. The rest of the Uagadou students were much more normal-also dark-skinned, but at least you could distinguish their eyes and noses.


    While passing the Ravenclaw House table, he heard a young girl mutter in a small voice: "Coffee, brown, dark brown, chocolate, dark ..."


    He smiled and sat next to Madame Maxime at the faculty table, and on the other side of the table from her is Ilvermorny''s Headmaster with his eyes closed.


    After a couple of moments of conversation, Felix detected a heavy gaze and looked back to find Hagrid in the corner. He got startled, Hagrid''s dress is much different from the past, he wondered where he rummaged out a handmade suit, his beard and hair carefully groomed, at least for the first time Felix could be able to distinguish the difference between the two.


    At the moment, Hagrid is looking at him blankly, no, looking at Madame Maxime next to him.


    "Is he the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class Dumbledore mentioned?" Madame Maxime asked softly.


    "Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, the Care of Magical Creatures class professor, born in 1928, passionate about Raising and Taming all kinds of magical creatures, was once expelled from Hogwarts for raising dangerous magical creatures and murder charge, but later proved to be an innocent and got his name cleared last year. He is the first Magizoologist to successfully tame thestrals, and most of the magical creatures in the forbidden forest have a close relationship with him. A warm and sincere person with a straightforward personality ..."


    Madame Maxime rolled her eyes, stretching out her large fan-like hand to pat Felix, Felix hurried to put on a layer of humanoid shield charm on himself, "Bang!" His body jolted.


    The eyes of Hagrid, who is seven or eight seats away, went wide.


    Today''s great hall is particularly crowded, probably because four foreign school students are scattered among them, the sight is dazzling.


    Hogwarts students were asked to change into their standard uniforms even during relatively informal occasions.


    Hence, in the middle of a group of black wizard robes, there were touches of blue and cranberry of Ilvermorny, the light blue of Beauxbatons, the scarlet of Durmstrang, and the brown of Uagadou.


    Dumbledore is flanked by four headmasters sitting around the table. Felix glanced twice at the short witch, who immediately looked back at him, Felix smiled lightly, and the witch scrutinized him twice before turning her head to speak to Dumbledore.


    She used an odd language, fast and rapid, Felix could only understand a few sounds, but Dumbledore listened carefully and then responded in the same language.


    Karkaroff, who is next to the witch, doesn''t look very happy as he kept fiddling with a golden goblet, deliberately making a lot of noise.


    The faculty table is nearly occupied, with only the last two empty seats left, and after another seven or eight minutes, a short, chubby, red-faced male wizard appeared from the main entrance of the great hall, his face brimming with an enthusiastic smile.


    "Dumbledore, I''m late, Barty is temporarily occupied, I''m the only one ..." Bagman said quickly, looking around him, "Ah, you''re all here, great, I''ve been worried that the Uagadou team would probably be late."


    The short witch said in a hoarse voice, "Mr. Bagman, we won''t drag our feet on the major event."


    "Ah, of course ..." said Bagman, wiping the sweat from his face as he glanced at the only two empty seats left and finally sat down next to Professor McGonagall.


    Dumbledore stood up, and the great hall gradually quieted down as everyone focused on him.


    "Welcome! Students from all five schools of magic are gathered together like never before in a thousand years." He said cheerfully, "On this solemn occasion, I would like to say thanks to the house-elves in the kitchen; who have gone to great lengths to satisfy the different tastes ..."


    "So, enjoy the food, it''s the most important thing tonight."


    He sat down, and the empty plates in front of them were suddenly piled high with all kinds of food. In addition to the French dishes that had appeared last night, today there were some more strange and exotic dishes laid out in front of them in a diverse assortment.


    At the Gryffindor table, Ron''s eyes swept over the French-style mishmash of fish soup, yellow egg cheese, and white mozzarella, when he saw a pile of slimy stuff, and he reached out his spoon-


    "Don''t!" Hermione called out.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "You''re not going to like it." Hermione said holding her breath, her face turned with an unnatural paleness, "I didn''t think they''d add this dish to the menu."


    "What is it?" Harry asked, he didn''t smell anything weird.


    "Camel fat." Hermione said, she made a dry heave and immediately turned her head, "Trust me, you guys are not going to like it."


    Ron pushed that plate far away with his fork and Seamus smoothly plunged a slice of bread into it, "Is this some kind of jam?" He stuffed it into his mouth, and Harry and the others stared at him unblinkingly.


    "Uh, why are you looking at me ..." Visible to the naked eye, Seamus''s face turned into a pig''s liver colour as he swallowed it whole, then he snatched Dean''s pumpkin juice and downed it in one gulp.


    His eyes turned red, and he frantically glanced around as Neville shuddered as he handed him his pumpkin juice.


    "What the hell is this stuff?!" Seamus said in exasperation after he chugged Neville''s pumpkin juice as well, "It''s almost more stomach-churning than the mucus from a Firetrail Snail."


    Ron happily stuck up a greasy sausage and ate it merrily.


    As the golden plates were cleared, Dumbledore stood up again. An excited and nervous mood filled the air of the great hall.


    "The moment has finally arrived," Dumbledore said, "the tournament is about to begin. Mr. Filch, please bring the box in, and in the meantime, I would like to explain a few things--"


    "First, I would like to introduce you to our important guests today, starting with the Headmasters."


    "The Headmistress of Beauxbatons, Madame Olympe Maxime;" S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Headmaster of Durmstrang, Professor Igor Karkaroff;"


    "The Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine;"


    "The Headmistress of Uagadou, Lady Hariya Mignot Nagy;"


    Dumbledore paused, and winked as he smiled, "And of course, myself, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."


    Everyone, including the students from the other four schools, stared at him in disbelief.


    "Hasn''t anyone noticed that this is actually a subtle joke," Dumbledore said regretfully, "I''m going in order of the length of the names ..."


    Professor McGonagall cleared her throat very hard.


    "Well, in addition to the five headmasters, there are two others who must be mentioned, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, two gentlemen who have worked tirelessly and diligently over the past few months, and unfortunately, Mr. Crouch is not present today, but we can see him on Halloween - thank you, Mr. Filch, just put it right here."


    Dumbledore smiled at Filch - who at the moment is placing a large wooden box on the table in front of him, and he tapped his wand on the lid three times, as the lid slowly creaked open.


    Dumbledore reached in and pulled out a large, roughly carved wooden goblet.


    The cup itself is not impressive, but it contains a blue & white dancing flame.


    Everyone looked at the goblet of fire with fascination.


    "As you should have known by now, in the next twenty-four hours, that is, by the end of the Halloween dinner; the goblet will choose the names of the three students it thinks would be best to represent their corresponding schools.


    Tonight, the Goblet of Fire will be placed in the entrance hall, and all students who wish to participate in the competition should drop their names in."


    He waited quietly for a moment until everyone had heard him before he continued, "There are two things to note; first, for Hogwarts students, there will be an Age Line placed by me -"


    The murmur buzzed, and he had to raise his volume.


    "Secondly, and this is a sincere piece of advice," Dumbledore''s expression turned extra serious, "I must remind everyone here that the Tournament of Champions is not a child''s play, it is a magical, Unbreakable Vow. Once a champion has been chosen by the Goblet of Fire, he is obliged to fight to the end. Therefore, please think twice about it."


    "Have a good night, everyone."


    As he sat down, the great hall exploded with excitement.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 416+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 380: Exchange

    "All right, students, please exit in an orderly manner-" Professor McGonagall stood up to maintain order, and after a crackling commotion, the young wizards strode out of the great hall, arguing with each other.


    At the Faculty''s table, Felix pulled the chair back for Madame Maxime, "Oh, thank you." She rose gracefully and whispered, "Don''t forget you are a school board member of the Beauxbatons... You are always welcome to be a guest to our carriage."


    "As you wish, ma''am." Felix said with a smile.


    He watched as Madame Maxime left with her students as the crowd automatically parted the way for them, at which point Hagrid approached him.


    "Can you bring me with you?"


    "Pardon?"


    "When you visit them as a guest, can ... you please bring me with you?" Hagrid asked shakily as he watched the tall figure disappear from the great hall doorway with an expression of fascination, "I mean, if it''s ok, those Abraxans will probably need my attention... I need to check them directly."


    Felix looked at him with strange eyes.


    Hagrid immediately smoothed his hair and collar, "What''s wrong, is something wrong?"


    "No," Felix said softly, "I''m worried about those horses." Who knew if Hagrid would actually let something ''happen'' to them in order to make his lame excuse more real.


    At that moment, an angry voice came from the entrance -


    "Yes, that''s Harry Potter. Have you seen enough?"


    Felix looked over at the voice and saw the image of Moody and Headmaster Durmstrang confronting each other. The fake eye of Moody seemed too appalling, causing Karkaroff''s face to turn frosty white even with a few students around him.


    But Karkaroff''s reaction is clearly beyond the bounds of normal - a mixture of anger and biting fear. Felix is no stranger to this expression, having had many people look at him with the same look, now that Karkaroff would next-


    "Back off?" Felix said playfully.


    Sure enough, Karkaroff didn''t dwell on it much, waving his hand as if he was avoiding the plague, and walking away with his students.


    The students who were blocked in the back clamoured as they tiptoed to look over the shoulders of the others to watch the back of the departing Durmstrang delegation.


    "This night is not going to be quiet." Felix said.


    "Yeah, I guess some students will choose to register during the night ..." Hagrid echoed dreamily, "By the way, do you have any recommendations about good perfumes?"


    ...


    "You think Karkaroff and Professor Moody know each other?" Harry asked while following the crowd up the grand staircase.


    "That''s right," Ron affirmed, "Look at their faces, it is obvious, I guess they both have an old grudge against each other for sure."


    They returned to the dormitory, Dean was guarding the door and seemed to be holding back a laugh, "Harry, I think you need to come over here for a moment, there''s a guest waiting for you ..."


    Harry walked over curiously, to see a Niffler Valen sitting on his bedside table with a pile of exquisite little things in front of her - Galleons, a gold necklace, a thermostatic pendant, a grey hourglass ...


    Ron looked at the stacked-up Golden Galleons, and his eyes were unable to move away from them.


    "Merlin''s beard ah ..."


    Harry seemed to think of something, he crouched in front of Niffler Valen and asked tentatively, "You want to exchange with me, is it about that Muggle coin?"


    Niffler nodded vigorously.


    Ron laughed so hard that he shivered, "Ouch!" He held onto Neville''s four-poster bed, nearly ripping the curtain off: "It, it can remember well, from the day school started, a full two months have passed since then, and it still does not give up ..."


    Harry hesitated for a moment, the muggle coin is a testimony to his thousand times of Apparition practice, he kept it as a memento, but since he has learned magic, he does not really value it, not to mention that this thing was given to him by Uncle Vernon.


    He rummaged through the box and handed the coin to Valen, "It''s yours."


    Niffler immediately took the coin, her two little black eyes glowed, and her little hand kept caressing the angular coin. After a while, she seemed to have made up her mind and she looked over a bit, pointing at the trinkets in front of Harry, gesturing for him to pick one.


    "No." Harry refused.


    But Niffler insisted that he must pick one thing, otherwise the Great Demon King would know about it and would nag her to death. S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Kiki!"


    She patted her chest, indicating that she is here to make a deal.


    Harry mulled it over for a while, before moving his fingers around, feeling indecisive. Niffler nervously stared at his finger, watching him intently, and eventually, that hand-picked up the inconspicuous hourglass, and "phew~" Niffler breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.


    When Niffler gathered her treasure and nimbly disappeared from their sight, Ron couldn''t hold his tongue anymore: "Even if you don''t want Galleon, that locket is still good, I''ve heard about it from Fred and George, that little locket can keep the temperature constant at the optimum range, so you don''t have to wear a cloak in winter."


    Harry shook his head, "This is also good." He fiddled with the dusty hourglass a few times and casually placed it on the table.


    "Yeah well," Ron muttered, "I doubt it''s worth two sickles unless it''s an antique ..."


    The next morning.


    The students gathered around in disarray when an extra thin circle of gold lines appeared on the floor in the center of the entrance hall, and the Goblet of Fire is placed on the sorting stool, in the middle of the gold lines.


    "They are too bold." Hermione said with a shocked look on her face, in front of her, the Weasley twins and Lee Jordan jumped to their feet, holding a small bottle with a shallow layer of clear liquid in it.


    She looked beyond the crowd - Professor Hap had been standing just a short distance away, leaning against the wall and watching them with a grin on his face as he crossed his arms.


    "Just one drop," Fred gulped down the Ageing Potion enthusiastically, "and we''re all just a few months short."


    "That''s right, let''s make an example for you guys." George said to Harry and Ron as he followed suit and drank the potion.


    Hermione immediately glared at Harry and Ron.


    The two looked away sheepishly, each with a vial of Ageing Potion tucked into their pockets, and Ron stammered, "We prepared your share, Hermione, do you need it ..."


    Hermione looked exasperated and turned her head away from them.


    Harry did not say anything, the moment arrived, he hesitated about it, he could not help but ask himself: if Fred and George really succeeded by putting their names in, what would he do?


    The twins walked into the Age Line and waved at Felix, who stood aside with a smile.


    "We love you to death, Professor." Fred said.


    For a moment, Hermione thought they had succeeded, but the next thing she heard was a sizzling sound, and the twins were thrown outside the golden circle, with Lee Jordan pulling his outstretched leg back in horror.


    The twins rose from the ground crying " Ouch, Ouch, Ouch ", and the people around them laughed - they had long white beards growing out of their chins. Even the twins, themselves, can not suppress their laughter.


    Felix came over from the wall, carefully looked at them, and said teasingly, "I heard this morning that Miss S. Fawcett from Ravenclaw and Mr. Summers from Hufflepuff were brought to the hospital wing, and I thought that there must be some more distrustful little wizards. So I''m purposely waiting here to see ..."


    Fred and George looked at him mournfully, the beard on their chins fluttered, not to mention how comical it looked.


    "I warned you." Dumbledore appeared in the entrance hall and said in a low, amused tone. He came closer, examining the twins'' bright, shiny white beards as he said, " Any luck, Felix?"


    "No one made it, a little second-year wizard threw a paper ball in there, and it was spat out by the Goblet of Fire ..."


    Perhaps the demonstration effect of the Weasley twins was so obvious that after the morning interlude, there were no more young wizards who tried to cross the age line without being old enough.


    The Hogwarts students watched with rapt attention as the preparatory champions from the other four schools lined up to throw their names into the Goblet of Fire, the blue-white flames on the cup licked their fingers and blazed intensely as they turned red and sputtered a little spark.


    "Where are our people?" A young wizard asked eagerly.


    "Coming!"


    Another young wizard said excitedly as Cedric, Roger Davies, Collins Foley, and Angelina approached in pairs, followed by the chosen students.


    One by one, they tossed their slips of paper into the Goblet of Fire, their faces filled with anticipation.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 416+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 381: Champion Candidates

    At Halloween dinner, Hermione''s appetite increased, as she said with a gasp, "Ohhhh, is it true? Valen ran into your dorm room and traded an hourglass for that coin? I bet she was heartbroken ..." She joyfully clamped a large pork chop for herself.


    "That makes you happy." Ron quipped. Neither he nor Harry had used their Ageing Potion.


    "Of course I''m happy," Hermione put down her knife and fork and looked at the two of them with a straight face, "You heard this afternoon, Hagrid was able to lift his head out of a bucket of slippery fabric softener and told us how much he was looking forward to the first event ... You should know just how dangerous the competition really is!"


    The fork in Ron''s hand twitched as he felt somewhat persuaded by the argument, " So what was the very last thing that made Hagrid happy?"


    "Firetrail Snails." Seamus said unhappily from the sidelines.


    At the Faculty table, Felix finished the last sip of seafood soup in his bowl and paused, his eyes swiped over the hundreds of pumpkin lamps in the corner and the bats that kept fluttering on the ceiling, and fell on the restless little wizards.


    He could totally sense the agitation that permeated through the great hall, one of the tricks he had learned from the Dementors.


    "It''s kind of choking." He muttered.


    Flitwick gave him a curious look, his outstretched hand retracted, losing interest in the pot of seafood soup in front of Felix.


    There''s one more person is present today at the faculty table than yesterday - Mr. Barty Crouch Sr, with a sickly look on his face, he leaned back in his chair after a few hasty bites of mashed potato meatloaf, he looked distracted, in contrast to the beaming Ludo Bagman next to him.


    "... When I played for the Wimbourne Wasps, I received a bunch of flowers after every game, and also foreign fans ... Which country? I don''t know ... don''t recognize them, anyway those are notes with many names and address, I guess it''s from female fans, as those notes smelled like perfume ... If only Barty was there, he could have translated them for me, right?"


    Bagman turned his head to look at Mr. Crouch, and grunted with a stern face.


    "Oh, Barty, you don''t look that good shape, maybe you should take a break to recuperate ..."


    "I''ll think about it." Mr. Crouch said with interest, even with his pale face, he still managed to keep himself well-dressed without a single crease in his clothes, looking very similar to Headmaster Ilvermorny''s style.


    Most of the students had finished their meals, and amidst the crowds'' eager gazes, Dumbledore stood up.


    He waved his wand, making the great hall completely dark, the Goblet of Fire had been moved to the front of the faculty table, at this moment it glowed brightly, and the flame ran high, the blue-white flame turned into a dazzling red, sparks were flying.


    A half charred parchment flew out.


    "The first champion from Durmstrang," he said in a clear, strong voice, "is Viktor Krum."


    The great hall thundered with applause as Krum rose from his seat and, guided by Professor McGonagall, as he walked into the room next to the great hall.


    "There''s still hope, there are still two spots left!" The Durmstrang student near the table cheered himself on.


    After a long time, another piece of parchment flew out.


    "Durmstrang, Aurus Poliakov." Dumbledore read.


    The boy who had just spoken cried out in joy, and he lost his composure and shouted, "I knew it!" He stood up and swung his fist so hard that he nearly tripped over the table, and the Durmstrang Headmaster grunted.


    Next came the third Durmstrang champion -


    "Durmstrang, Adam Bewick."


    Dumbledore wiped the corners of his eyes and said with emotion, "How touching! Three courageous young men will unite together and fight for the honour of the school ..."


    In the next not-so-short period of time, the Goblet of Fire spits out a note with the signature of the selected champions of the four remaining schools.


    "Beauxbatons, Fleur Delacour -


    Jacqueline Bourgeois -


    Francois La Fontaine."


    The three champions from Beauxbatons walked in turn to the room next to the great hall to wait, but the students'' minds were in turmoil, as if time remained frozen at the moment when the girl who looked like Veela stood up.


    The girl named Fleur elegantly tossed her bright silver hair and stepped lightly between the two dining tables like a fairy ...


    It can be expected that this image will be branded in the hearts of many students and will not be forgotten for the rest of their lives.


    "Followed by the champions of Ilvermorny, Victor Percival Graves -


    Anne Lunn -


    And the third warrior, Byers Bach."


    Byers stood up joyfully and walked into the small room next to the great hall amidst a cheering crowd of Gryffindor students.


    "Next it is the turn for the champions of Uagadou, Rashawn Eliphendy--


    Nona Leibert-


    Panagiotta Blanzigor."


    The Champions of Uagadou stepped forward, and instead of walking individually one by one, as was the previous process, they waited until all three had been chosen before leaving together.


    The Hogwarts students looked at their backs - of the two male wizards, one stood tall and lanky, looking like a walking wall, he towered at least a foot above Cedric, mind you, Cedric is considered tall among the Hogwarts students; the other combed his hair like an eagle, and he is not small either, but when standing together next to that guy he looked like a little dwarf. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The only girl in the trio stood tall as Fleur, but her body is filled with a sense of power, clad in a thin leopard-skin dress in the not-so-warm weather.


    "And finally, the Champions from Hogwarts." Dumbledore said cheerfully, reading out the name on the note that had been tossed from the Goblet of Fire: "Cedric Diggory-"


    "Oh no!" Ron said aloud, and luckily, no one heard it but Harry and Hermione, the cheers from the next table were going to take the roof off, Dumbledore had to wait for a while with the second note, and in between waiting, the third note came out of a flaming tongue.


    "The second and third Champions, are Roger Davies and Collins Foley! Let''s cheer them on." He read out the names of the remaining two in one breath.


    There is another deafening applause, and the Gryffindor students clap along, somewhat unhappily; none of the three Champions are Gryffindors, so they are completely upset.


    When the noise subsided, Dumbledore said with a smile: "Well, I would like to invite the last three champions to take a short break in the room next to the great hall.... And I am happy to announce that the Goblet of Fire has been successfully fulfilled its task, and I believe that everyone will support their school''s champions and contribute to this event, so-- -"


    He suddenly stopped talking as the Goblet of Fire, which should have been extinguished, became dazzling once again, the blazing glow of the fire painting his face red.


    A slip of paper flew out, he subconsciously caught it, glanced down at it, and after a brief silence, he cleared his throat and read aloud--


    "Harry Potter."


    There are no cheers, the great hall went quiet. Gradually, the buzz rose and everyone looked at Harry, including the classmate sitting next to Harry, who looked at him with incredulous eyes.


    "I didn''t put my name in." Harry said blankly, looking over to Ron and Hermione, "You know I didn''t, I''ve been with you guys."


    Hermione''s mouth hung open, and her eyes glazed over as Ron forced a smile, "Yeah, we''ve been together. Congratulations, Harry."


    "It''s not a matter of congratulations!" Harry shouted, his voice echoing through the great hall.


    On the other side, Professor McGonagall rose from the faculty table in a panic and nearly tripped as she passed by Felix, "Careful, Minerva." He said. But McGonagall did not pay attention at all, she hurriedly walked next to Dumbledore, saying something strongly.


    Dumbledore said seriously, "I know, Minerva, but ..." he raised his voice and held up the half-burned note in his hand, "Harry Potter, go next door to the great hall first."


    Harry stood up stumbling, looking at the stunned faces, he felt like he didn''t belong here, he walked over to Dumbledore who nodded at him and pointed him in a direction, he took a few steps forward and heard another loud audible gasp behind him.


    He jerked back - as incredulously as the others - and looked at the Goblet of Fire, which had turned red again, after the first blunder, a second immediately followed.


    It must be broken, Harry thought, the broken wooden cup is out of order, and maybe a third unlucky person will be called out in a moment.


    Dumbledore nimbly fished up the slip of paper and read the name on it in a deep voice, "Hermione Granger."


    A gasp rang out from the Gryffindor table, and Hermione covered her mouth, unable to believe her ears. But at this moment, everyone''s eyes were fixed on the Goblet of Fire, with an inexplicable anticipation welling up in their hearts.


    Even Dumbledore did the same, silently gazing at the Goblet of Fire, with his deep, bottomless blue eyes behind the half-moon-shaped lens.


    Harry stayed where he was, the blue-white flames made him dizzy, but he forced himself to look at it, as if he wanted to see the innermost part of the wooden cup, to see the last note that is about to shoot out.


    Finally--


    Dumbledore grabbed the high-flying note and read calmly in the deep voice, in the dark, silent great hall, "Ronald Weasley."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 417+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 382: Quarrel

    "Ronald Weasley." Dumbledore shouted again. Ron stared blankly. He couldn''t help but wonder if there is another freshman named "Ronald" in the school, but he is the only one with the family name Weasley.


    Soon, he stood up excitedly, I''m a champion, I''m a champion now!


    He pulled along a frozen Hermione, with a happy smile on his face, and went next to Harry, as he whispered in his ear: "You''re something, mate! I thought you left me behind, how did you do it, using the invisibility cloak at night? Honestly, you should have called me up, I never looked at ..."


    "I didn''t throw any of the notes in it!" Harry exclaimed with annoyance. He couldn''t help but be angry, how Ron couldn''t tell that he hadn''t done anything?


    "All right ... you three, go to that Room." Dumbledore said, with no smile on his face.


    Murmurs raged through the great hall, causing Harry''s mind to rumble, and he just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, to a quiet corner to think things over. He did not wait a moment to walk away as if he wanted to leave his worries behind, Hermione followed after him, and a nervous Ron walked at the end, he deliberately slowed his pace, straightened his chest, like the big shot he imagined walking in his mind, the only regret is that there is little to no applause in the great hall.


    Harry pushed open the door, he had previously stretched his neck from his seat to look inside, but now he finally got a good look. It is a small room with portraits of wizards on both walls, and as they enter, a frowning witch left her frame and whispered to the wizard in the next portrait. Below the portraits, were half a dozen spacious couches that reminded him of the Magic Rune Club, with a fire burning in the fireplace directly across the room.


    Harry realized something is wrong, this is obviously not a place for thinking, fifteen pairs of eyes looked over in unison, for a moment, their gaze gave Harry a feeling of suffocation. Ron pushed him from behind and laughed as he stuck his head out, "What are you waiting for, Harry? Do you want them to take one more look at the youngest champions?"


    "Shut up!" Harry yelled out, but it was too late. Just a few steps away on the couch, a girl who looked like Veela, with the name "Fleur", raised her delicate face and looked at them in surprise, "You''re all champions?"


    "I''m ..."


    Without waiting for Harry to answer, she turned her head, her silver hair fluttered, as Harry smelled a pleasant fragrance, he choked on the words he was going to say when he heard Fleur speaking towards a certain direction: "Cedric, your underclassmen are funny ..."


    Harry only then realized that across from Fleur, there were three champions from Hogwarts seated. Cedric smiled at him, "What can I do for you? We can''t quite hear you from there. It''s chaotic outside."


    Harry found that he suddenly lost his ability to speak, especially in the presence of the three Hogwarts champions, it felt like Snape had cast a Langlock jinx on him secretly.


    At that moment there came a rush of footsteps behind them and Ludo Bagman approached them with a run, "Why are they all blocking the door?" He said cheerfully while squeezing all three of them - Harry, Ron, and Hermione - into the room, where the heat of the room hit them.


    "This is so bizarre!" Bagman squeezed Harry''s arm hard and dragged him to the center of the room, looking around as if he had been reading a classic theatre line, "Absolutely bizarre! Ladies and gentlemen ..., allow me to announce this, as ridiculous as it may seem, this is the sixth group of champions of the Tournament of Champions!"


    He didn''t seem to realize that everyone is staring at him, as he beckoned at Hermione and Ron, who were still standing in the doorway, "Come here, what a strange incident! Your seniors are here, you two should acquaint yourselves with them."


    Ron pulled Hermione, but she shook him off, so he walked over alone and straightened up his body, he is now giddy, with the great joy that filled every corner of his body. He suddenly wanted to raise his wand and recite the Patronus spell, he felt certain that he would succeed, he is a champion! This is a spectacle he had never seen even in the Mirror of Erised when he was in his first year.


    But Fleur''s words poured cold water on him


    "Sorry, Mr. Bagman," said Fleur, "is there something wrong, they can''t compete, they are just two young little boys, plus a little girl."


    Harry looked around with an unfocused gaze, while his brain muddled with a mixture of complex emotions he saw Cedric''s confused expression, Krum frowning beside the fireplace with a gloomy expression, Byers'' wide-open mouth, three Uagadou champions gawking at him, but when he heard Fleur''s words, he still felt a flash of anger sweep through his heart.


    Little boy?


    At that moment, a large group of footsteps approached, the door slammed open with a "bang", the tall and large body of Madame Maxime came in, followed by a row of Headmasters and a sickly-looking Barty Crouch Sr.


    "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Dumbledore?" She said angrily, her head almost touching the floral chandelier hanging down from the ceiling which contained magical lights, and when she stood up straight, she blocked a large part of the light and the room instantly went dark.


    "I''m wondering about that too, Dumbledore," Karkaroff said, a cold smile plastered on his face and his eyes dripping with a chill.


    The other Headmasters were also filled with anger, ready to lash out.


    The great hall is another story.


    Felix half-crouched down, as he carefully examined the extinguished Goblet of Fire, which looked like a crappy carpenter''s handiwork, and the tool used was still an incompetent axe, not even a complete Chisel.


    But nonetheless, he looked at it very carefully, with a constant gleam in his eyes.


    " Did you notice anything, Felix?" Flitwick asked with a whisper, "Something wrong with the Goblet of Fire?"


    "It''s easy to come to that conclusion, the question is, by whom, and how." Felix said quietly, "That''s not what worries me the most, a unique set of two champions ... is not necessarily a good thing."


    Flitwick looked at him hesitantly, "Dumbledore will work that out, won''t he?"


    At this point, the great hall is chaotic and turbulent, many professors have taken it upon themselves to maintain order, "Prefect and Heads, take responsibility." Professor Sprout said in a loud voice, "The Headmasters will negotiate it through, we just have to wait."


    "Let''s not wait!" A grumpy voice said.


    Professor Sprout looked back at the man limping over in dismay, "Professor Moody ...?"


    Moody also stayed in the great hall.


    He passed over Professor Sprout, his magic eye spinning wildly in its sockets, staring at the chaotic students in the great hall.


    "Quiet!" He shouted, "Now listen to me," he paced through the crowd, his wooden cane making the dull sound of "Duk Duk", "there was an accident, your headmasters has more important things to deal with, and there are some things I need to inquire on his behalf. Clear!"


    He raised his head, with both eyes swept through the crowd, and said calmly, "I know that some of you, who either did not take the usual path or are curious about things ... Anyway, you chose to walk around during the night. ... And you thought you were alone, but there was some sneaky figure hidden in the darkness, and I am absolutely sure that one of you saw him ... things that you thought were unusual, different from ordinary... Eerie shadows, uncharacteristic reflections, think about it and tell me."


    In a restless turmoil, the young wizards looked left and right, while in the middle of the crowd, a small Hufflepuff wizard raised his hand shakily.


    " Yes! You? It''s you! What did you see, boy?"


    Moody walked over and put his arm around the little wizard as he asked with his head lowered. The little wizard looked scared and tried his best to keep his eyes away from Moody''s fake eyes.


    "Professor Moody, you seem to be scaring him." Felix said, standing next to Moody at some point, sizing him up without a trace.


    "You''re right, Professor Hap." Moody smacked his lips and wore a smile on his scarred face that looked even more terrifying.


    But he stepped a few steps back and gave up his place.


    Felix rescued the young wizard from Moody''s grasp and asked gently, "What''s your name? What year are you in?"


    "O, Owen Caldwell, sir." The young wizard stammered, "I''m in the first year."


    Felix smiled, "You may call me Professor Hap, so, Mr. Caldwell, you were out on your night stroll last night? You''ve got a lot of nerve for a freshman, tell me what you saw?"


    "It wasn''t a night stroll, Professor Hap," Owen emphasized, seeing Moody''s head lowered again, the ghastly face getting closer to him, he hastily closed his eyes, "I wanted to go to the kitchen to get something to eat, Eleanor told me, she, she''s a friend of mine . . But on the way back, I thought about the Goblet of Fire is in the entrance hall, I just wanted to check it out ... Professor, I didn''t think about breaking school rules."


    "Well, I know, what did you see?" Felix asked the key point.


    "I, I saw ... saw ...," he stammered, his eyes suddenly widening, "the Headmaster of Durmstrang! "


    The great hall became so quiet that even a needle sound could be heard.


    " That was impossible! He''s lying!" One of Durmstrang''s students said with righteous indignation.


    "I''m not!" The young wizard named Owen turned red and shouted, "I saw his beard, a beard like a goat! Sneaking out of the entrance hall!"


    "Good job, kid." Moody grinned with a terrible leer and tugged Owen toward the room next to the great hall, "I need your testimony to see what else he has to say!"


    Felix followed behind them, mulling over the situation, he is not as optimistic as Moody, there is probably already a lot of squabbling that must be going on inside.


    Sure enough, as soon as they pushed the door open, they heard Karkaroff''s voice


    " By-laws? Unfair by-laws! I insist that my students should re-register, and of course, there are other schools, in short, Hogwarts should be excluded this time!"


    "But Karkaroff, I''m afraid that won''t work," Bagman said restlessly, "the Goblet of Fire just went out and won''t be rekindled until the next tournament of champions"


    "The next tournament, Durmstrang will never participate in it!" Karkaroff fumed, walking around the cramped room, his silver and white fur cloak making a loud windy sound, " Then I propose that the restraints on Durmstrang students should be released, the dark magic part ..."


    "Karkaroff, we negotiated."


    "You are bringing up the negotiation with me? Haven''t we had enough meetings before, and what did we get in return? Shameful cheating! I''d like to leave right now!"


    "You''re a thief crying out to catch a thief, Karkaroff!" Moody snarled, "All champions are obliged to participate in the tournament, just as Dumbledore said, it is bound by a magical contract unless you want to subject your students to harsh punishment."


    Karkaroff gasped and stared at him, his eyes glowing red, but he never mentioned leaving again, he turned his head to the other three headmasters, "Say something for once, am I the only one here who has an objection?"


    The short witch, the Headmistress of Uagadou spoke up, her whole body plopped down on a couch by the fireplace, the three Uagadou champions stood behind her, the student with the broad shoulders shielded the light from the fireplace.


    "I''ve long heard that the Tournament of Champions has always had a tradition of cheating." She said with a wide grin, looking like a strange-looking voodoo woman: "But I''ve admired Headmaster Dumbledore, and since he said there was no cheating, there must have been another person who tampered with it"


    "That''s what I''m here for." Moody said gruffly, "Albus, I''ve brought a piece of evidence." He nudged the young wizard, who warily repeated what he had just said in the great hall, and then closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttered continuously.


    Harry looked at him from afar, as if he saw himself once again.


    At this moment, things seemed to take a turn for the worse, and everyone, including the three Champions of Durmstrang, turned their heads to look at Karkaroff, the Headmaster who had always been unpopular in the school.


    "I... You... You''re making a false accusation!" Karkaroff said in a panic.


    "Then tell us why you were in the entrance hall in the middle of the night?" Moody said gruffly, "Don''t try to deny it, I''m watching you with these eyes."


    Standing on the sidelines, looking exasperated, Karkaroff turned his head to the other three headmasters, "What do you think?"


    "Don''t try to change the subject! Clear your suspicions first before talking to anyone else!" Moody yelled.


    "What do you think I''ll do?" Karkaroff shouted, "I''m just cautious by nature and checked it out of habit ... Even if I wanted to cheat, I wouldn''t have brought Hogwarts an inexplicable second set of champions!"


    These words are somewhat reasonable, other headmasters nodded slightly, all of them wanted their champions to win, so how will they ever contribute to their rival school and provide them with a special advantage.


    But Moody remained persistent, "Maybe someone''s aim is not to win ... right," his voice carried a hint of a growl: "Maybe someone wants Potter to die from this, yeah, some of you won''t understand What''s the big deal about an ordinary little boy ... but you understand his value, don''t you, Karkaroff?"


    His one magic eye rolled around, taking in the expressions of everyone in the room, the only intact eye fixed dead on Karkaroff, with his spittle flying.


    "Don''t forget who you were once before, some scum will remain scum all their lives, and you are the��"


    "Alastor!" Dumbledore looked at him sternly, and Moody smacked his lips and stopped talking.


    Karkaroff, like a wounded small animal, suddenly lost all his strength and leaned against the wall involuntarily. "You''re ... threatening! I will tell you, it is not me ... I have no reason to ..." s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Madame Maxime grunted loudly, she occupied a couch alone and spoke out, "I must remind you that it has now gone off-topic, I do not know what your old grudge is, but, our focus now is what to do with the extra second group of champions from Hogwarts."


    "These are all minor issues." Felix suddenly spoke up.


    "What a minor issue? A Minor Issue?!" Madame Maxime repeated his words with vexation.


    "That''s right, minor issues ... One moment, please, ma''am." Felix said as he looked at Dumbledore, "Albus?"


    Dumbledore looked up and met his gaze


    In a flash, light and shadow distorted and the world reversed.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 417+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 383: Dialogues and Scenarios

    In the Thinking Room, Felix passed him a cup of tea. "It''s getting real here," Dumbledore said curiously, taking a light sip of the amber liquid, "What kind of tea is this, I don''t think I''ve ever had it before."


    "Ordinary tea, you and I will taste it differently." Felix said as he sat opposite of Dumbledore, and at that moment, they are here all alone.


    "How much time do we have?" Dumbledore asked with a smile.


    "Two and a half minutes," Felix rubbed his head, "five minutes at most if you really need it."


    "That''s at least a quarter of an hour." Dumbledore said with a slight nod.


    Felix stared at him and rolled his eyes as he crossed his legs and said slowly, "Two things, one to appease the four schools and one to track down the man behind the curtain."


    Dumbledore''s long fingers interlocked in front of him, "Do you have any insight?"


    "The first matter is pretty much solved, it mainly depends on your opinion."


    "My opinion?" Dumbledore said with a smile.


    "The Goblet of Fire contract can not be broken, this one will pressure them, but it will create a problem, Hogwarts''s reputation will plummet, and we will lose our honour abroad -"


    "This is the scenario that I do not want to see." Dumbledore said decisively, "We need to make certain compromises."


    "There are two ways, one is to strengthen the opponent, the second is to weaken ourselves. The former is not desirable, after all, each school has different demands." Felix said calmly.


    "Then we have to choose the latter, let''s talk about the second thing, which is the key point." Dumbledore said, "Who do you think they are targeting?"


    "It could only be Harry, that''s the most likely possibility." Felix suddenly thought of a point: "Sirius mentioned to me during the World Cup, Harry''s scars ..."


    "I know about it, and Sirius wrote to me." Dumbledore brought up the subject, he said in a quiet voice: "Back to the Goblet of Fire, I had suspected that Harry used some means to bypass the restrictions of the Goblet of Fire, but when Miss Granger appeared, I knew it is impossible."


    "Is that possible, bypassing the restrictions? I always thought there is a powerful confusion spell for that. ..."


    Dumbledore laughed: " The person who made the rules of the Goblet of Fire is a human being, a human being would leave loopholes, and frankly, I''m a little disappointed with the people in the shadows, the tactics are too obvious."


    Felix nodded, that''s true, it might be more mind-boggling if they were able to find loopholes in the rules. But for now, everyone knew the Goblet of Fire had been artificially tampered with.


    The difference is that the other four schools think it was Hogwarts that tampered with it, and even if it wasn''t, Hogwarts still took advantage of it.


    "So, it is Voldemort?"


    " Well, it is, Voldemort." Dumbledore said softly, "From what I know of him, although, it was unlikely that he did it personally."


    "He must have some helpers, the one who attacked Harry with Peter Pettigrew, and maybe more." Felix followed the headmasters'' train of thought: "He once ruled over a small part of England, it should not be difficult."


    Speaking of which, his mind wandered. The deadline he had left for Lucius Malfoy is before Christmas, but now that the situation has changed, he can''t possibly afford to wait any longer. Besides, according to the feedback from the Rain Swallow Patronus, the mysterious antique seller also seems to be inextricably linked to Malfoy Manor ...


    "No, Felix, you don''t know him, Voldemort uses power as the foundation for domination. Losing his power, he lost the restraint he had on his men." Dumbledore said with a sigh, "I visited his peers and staff at the orphanage one by one over the summer, and the more I got to know, the more I became aware of his nature."


    Felix thought about it: "So he has been hiding in the Albanian forest all these years, also related to this? He didn''t trust anyone after he lost his power... No, I should say the batch he trusted were all locked up in Azkaban ... until Peter Pettigrew found him!"


    "You hit the nail on the head." Dumbledore agreed with him.


    Felix, however, frowned, "Can we be sure who tampered with it? Theoretically, all four headmasters and the professors they brought with them have a chance, even those in Hogwarts ..."


    The scope of this would be too large.


    "Igor Karkaroff used to be a Death Eater." Dumbledore said calmly, "That''s why I had to stop Alastor."


    "Could it be him?" Felix is not quite convinced, Karkaroff''s reaction is too real, even if he wanted to clear his name of suspicion, there is no need to react so hard, with the other three schools'' feelings being mutual in this.


    On the contrary, Moody ... past scenes flashed quickly, some suspicions are more plausible than not, but he could not produce any evidence.


    "Karkaroff''s unlikely, he betrayed his former master after the war, by offering a list of Death Eaters." Dumbledore said: "I personally think for now Voldemort will not bother to find him."


    "What about the Imperius Curse? Polyjuice Potion?" Felix asked probingly, he did not think about saying anything about that guy but wanted to see Dumbledore''s attitude.


    "You don''t understand what I mean yet, Felix. If it is Voldemort, he will not show his weak side to his betrayer who once was kneeled before him; he will be more willing to announce his name after his resurrection and let the traitor live in fear day and night until he dies quietly in a shadowy corner."


    Felix nodded, is this the pride of the Dark Lord? As he said lightly, "As far as I know, Professor Moody claimed to have been attacked before he was enrolled ..."


    Dumbledore''s eyes sharpened as he looked over.


    "... I also noticed that he carries a curved flask with him, but I haven''t seen him open it once, is he being a bit paranoid that he would be thirsty?"


    Dumbledore watched him, and after ten seconds or so, he said calmly: "It is only your speculation, Alastor''s nerves are more sensitive, and he never touched any suspicious food, this is a matter of general knowledge. I''ve known him for more than half a century, even before the time of Voldemort; I know him well enough, and yet I don''t find anything suspicious about him."


    "We can''t do anything to a man out of speculation."


    "It''s ''you'' who won''t make a move on someone out of speculation." Felix said with deliberate emphasis.


    Dumbledore fell silent.


    "Dumbledore," Felix said, "We should not let potential threats stay around," his tone lowered, "or at least test things out."


    A moment of silence followed -


    "What are you going to do?"


    "Imperius Curse, Polyjuice Potion, and memory modification are the three ways I can think of, but the third method cannot be verified for now without immobilizing Professor Moody." Felix said, and he brought others into the picture to make it seem like he wasn''t targeting Moody that much: "Of course, it works for others as well."


    "Assuming that they are not willing to become Voldemort''s lackeys." Dumbledore added.


    "That''s right, if it is willing, my means are very limited, the dark wizard who dares to do plot in front of your eyes, will certainly be on guard against the Legilimency," Felix also felt the difficulties, " Is it possible for me to search everyone''s memory a little by little, it is no different from stripping a person naked, right? "


    If he made a mistake, he would only be creating deadly enemies for himself.


    Why do wizards value their memories? Because their fears are justified, wizards literally have the means to modify, falsify and erase other people''s memories.


    "I''ll handle this, Felix, I''ll talk to Alastor." Dumbledore said in a calm voice, "Imperius Curse, Polyjuice Potion, I will check both of them, but probing memories, I disagree, that would be the greatest humiliation to Alastor." S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But ..."


    "I am not okay with using any overkill methods without more obvious evidence." He said without question, "Other than that, if he''s okay with it, I intend to have him keep an eye out for suspicious people around him ..."


    Felix shrugged, "I''ll wait for your answer." He snapped his fingers, dispersing the magic, and the two returned to reality.


    In the room, Madame Maxime is staring at him, she looks exasperated, her black silk satin-clad bust heaving dramatically, as if she will throw a fist at him in the next second, but she probably thought of the fact that he also is a school board member, which barely holds her back.


    She remained silent, and Karkaroff finally relaxed from Moody''s shadow at this moment and said impatiently, "What is the minor issue? What is the solution, you guys have been staring at each other for half a minute without saying anything, don''t think you can muddle through like this. If there is no good solution, then let go of Durmstrang''s restraints and allow them to use any means-"


    "Headmaster Karkaroff," Felix said, looking at him, "your students are not as restricted as one might think-"


    "What do you mean?" Karkaroff stared.


    "I have a question, is Durmstrang a school that produces dark wizards?"


    "That''s slander! Mr. Crouch, did you hear that?"


    "Hear me out," Felix stared at him, "it''s true that Durmstrang is most open-minded in its approach to dark magic. But it doesn''t mean that Durmstrang is a school that ''exclusively'' teaches dark magic, which only takes up a very small part of the content of the curriculum, or at least I don''t see much of it in your textbooks ..."


    " Dark magic is most widely used in the field of dueling, but aren''t you guys also teaching them the basic spells like disarming charm? Stunning spell? Shield charm?"


    Felix said slowly: "Dark magic is only an effective add-on, but it will never be the mainstream of a magic school with open enrolment, even if you like dark magic more, you should''ve nevertheless beware of this point!"


    Karkaroff could not speak.


    If he admitted that Durmstrang used dark magic as the main teaching content, then tomorrow the reputation of the school would be completely infamous. As a headmaster, he had to stand up for his and his school''s reputation.


    Karkaroff said with a red face, "Dark magic is only a part of the Durmstrang curriculum - we also have the ability to solve its side effects, and there are special professors in the school who will evaluate the student''s learning progress and selectively teach them dark magic."


    That''s what has been said, but privately many professors turn a blind eye and don''t pursue it too far, which is why Durmstrang''s reputation for promoting dark magic is so well known.


    The reason why Durmstrang has not become a concentration camp for dark wizards has to do with the school''s system. They do follow certain vetting standards, and the advantage of this practice is that even if there are students who practice dark magic privately, they don''t practice much because they don''t dare to use it publicly, and its impact on their minds is not that serious.


    "Then what about the extra set of Champions from Hogwarts?" Karkaroff changed the subject very stiffly.


    "It''s simple, since you all see it as an advantage to Hogwarts, let''s make it a disadvantage," Felix lightly swept a glance at the Champions and Headmasters present, who were not concerned with whether there were dark wizards secretly coveting Harry or teaching issues of Durmstrang, they just wanted to know how to reasonably weaken Hogwarts before the tournament starts.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman, I suggest that Hogwarts'' score be calculated according to the average value."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 419+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 384: Power

    "By average value?" Bagman asked uncertainly. "That''s right, the average value. Hogwarts now has two groups of champions, the first group of champions is from three different houses, while the second group of champions is totally from Gryffindor, obviously, this is not beneficial to the relationship between the students of the four houses. So, it is better to simply tie them together ..."


    "For example, five schools, plus two judges, for the time being, let''s calculate the full score of a single task as seventy points. If one group of Hogwarts scores seventy points and another group scores zero, the final score of the Hogwarts will be thirty-five points."


    "But when it comes to the rank order in the tasks, it''s best to calculate them separately." He then added another sentence.


    Everyone''s eyes lit up, and they couldn''t help but nod their heads.


    Madame Maxime frowned, "If I understand correctly, Hogwarts must occupy first and second place if they want to win the competition, so the disadvantage is too big ..."


    Bagman wiped his round face with a handkerchief, looking very anxious, "Finally someone made a fair point, I also think the same, in case one group performs too poorly, won''t they drag down the other group that has hopes of winning the title?"


    Karkaroff laughed, "I rather think this method is fair."


    Bagman said with annoyance, "In case one group dies! Uh, sorry, I mean ... in case one group of champions loses the ability to compete, such as suffering an unhealable injury, then their score will be very low!"


    "That''s the penalty of Hogwarts for cheating, isn''t it?" Karkaroff said sleekly.


    "Anyone with a bit of brain wouldn''t believe that this was done by Hogwarts, and I do think that a thorough investigation should be conducted with everyone''s presence. Besides," Moody said impatiently, " You still haven''t cleared your name yet, Karkaroff!"


    Moody''s Magic Eye darted around, as he peered at Karkaroff with contempt.


    Dumbledore spoke up, with his usual calm tone, "If you have no objections, let''s proceed with the tournament in this way, the students of the four houses of Hogwarts are essentially one, and I value their gains in this tournament more than the glory from the tournament."


    Harry''s heart filled with guilt to the core, he opened his mouth to say something, when Hermione pulled him aside and shook her head firmly.


    After a long silence, no one offered any further disagreement, and everyone acquiesced to the fact that there would be two sets of champions at Hogwarts, along with their unique scoring method, which frankly exceeded their initial expectations.


    At this point, most people were actually convinced that the anomaly in the Goblet of Fire was not Hogwarts'' handiwork, but this speculation inevitably cast a shadow over their hearts.


    Everyone''s heart became heavy with concern.


    "Well," Dumbledore looked at the others with a smile - Harry couldn''t believe how he could still smile - " Next, I''d like to ask Barty Crouch Sr to provide guidelines for the champions. Barty?"


    Mr. Crouch looked as if he had just abruptly snapped out of deep thought.


    "Yes," he said, "Guidelines, yes ... the first task..." In the bright light, he looked extraordinarily haggard, with two thick bags under his eyes, and deep wrinkles that looked as if they had been scratched out with a pocket knife.


    "This year''s competition is different from the previous ones, completely different ... apart from the first-ever five schools with six teams, there is also the fact that the competition tasks are carried out in a group format, and we have to ensure that the champions are safe enough while increasing the difficulty. Please rest assured, the Ministry of Magic has arranged professional staff to protect everyone, in addition, Dumbledore also promised that he would choose a wizard with high magic power to oversee the whole game ... Dumbledore?"


    Dumbledore nodded and said cheerfully, "I already have a suitable candidate."


    "Very well, let''s get back to business." Mr. Crouch said: "The first task is very difficult and rushed, on the 24th of this month ... Therefore, we have prepared three keywords to provide a direction for the champions to prepare, but will not explicitly tell you what you are going to face... So more or less use your brains ..."


    "The first keyword, courage - measures your guts and willingness to face the unknown - in case you are too stupid to guess. Nevertheless, the ministry believes that after knowing what you have to face, if you still choose to face it bravely, then this quality is even more significant;"


    "The second keyword, cooperation, I don''t need to say anything more, every participating team - three people must be able to work together, one person will never be able to complete the task;"


    "The third keyword, fire," when Crouch said the word, Ilvermorny''s Graves quickly glanced at Hermione, his face paled a bit, but no one noticed it, as Crouch continued: "This point will not be expanded, it is considered as a secret, and it also will be a test for your wisdom ..."


    He paused, leaving room for people to chew on the three words, courage, cooperation, and fire, with the third word being the most important. Many realized that the champions are likely to face dangerous magical flames, possibly the environment, traps, or some kind of magical creature that can manipulate the fire.


    Barty Crouch Sr retreated into the shadows, while Ludo Bagman said cheerfully, "Barty has given you all hints, and with careful preparation, I''m sure you can handle those-"


    "Dragons!" A voice suddenly said.


    "Wh, what?" Bagman almost bit his tongue as he jerked his head around and stared at the unassuming student who had made the statement.


    Ron shivered and said, "I guessed it, something that breathes fire, all I can think of is Dragon, when I was a first-year-"


    Harry stomped on his foot, "Uh, I mean," Ron desperately opened his mind not to expose Hagrid, "I have someone in my family who works at the dragon sanctuary, I went to see it in my first year and got impressed by ... "


    Bagman''s tense face relaxed, "Really, ah, so that''s it ... but you misheard Barty, he said Fire, not fire-breathing ..." he repeated nervously, "Not fire-breathing." His body restlessly swayed, his movements were all seen by someone with an eye to see.


    Felix looked away, quite speechless, why don''t you suggest it more clearly?


    "So it''s not a Dragon?" One of Uagadou''s champions asked.


    Everyone stared at him as if they were looking at a troll, or something similar. Bagman pretended not to hear him and turned his head to Dumbledore, "Our mission is almost complete, I would like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, is that okay?"


    "Of course," said Dumbledore, "Barty, why don''t you stay too, you look awfully exhausted."


    "No, I must go back to the Ministry, at present it is a very busy, extremely tight schedule ... I have left young Weatherby as a temporary in charge ...," he rambled and left before everyone.


    After that, people left one by one, and when the remainder in the room had dispersed - "Alastor." Dumbledore stayed behind with Moody.


    Then the door slammed heavily behind them.


    Felix stood a short distance away, waiting quietly, motionless like a statue, a little away from the door.


    Do not know how long it took, the door opened again, and Moody came out, he limped away with his crutches.


    A few moments later, Dumbledore came out and looked at Felix, who stood in the corner and shook his head slightly.


    Moody turned out to be genuine? From the information available so far, he is the most suspicious, if not him, who would it be?


    Felix''s heart sank, and Dumbledore left, leaving him alone to think in silence, in the thinking room, one by one figures appeared alternately, some clear, some a little blurry.


    Even Karkaroff''s goatee kept wavering in his mind.


    "Heh, this is getting interesting," Felix said to himself, " Maybe it''s time to bring out my Ver. of Marauder''s Map ..."


    On his way back to the office, where he turned into a corner, a group of people came rushing out with a huff.


    "Professor, we''re willing to forfeit the competition ..."


    "Yes, Professor Hap."


    "Can you talk with Headmaster Dumbledore again-"


    Felix raised his hand, stopping the chattering Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with another group of champions standing a few steps behind them.


    "Do you want to be Squib?"


    "What?" Harry questioned in shock, he didn''t know how this topic had been brought up, of course, he knew about the Squib, Filch is a Squib, he knew about it since he was a second year.


    Hermione''s eyes widened with fear, and Harry looked at her face blankly, such a look is something he had never seen before.


    "That''s the price for forfeiting, that''s why I''m asking you guys, do you want to be Squibs?"


    "You''ve got to be kidding me!" Harry shouted out, his body trembled for a moment, unable to say whether it was from fear or anger. He dared not imagine the consequences of becoming a Squib, Hogwarts is the first place he recognized from his heart, his first home ... how can he ever possibly allow himself to leave this side of world?


    Even Cedric and the rest of them froze, despite how Headmaster Dumbledore repeatedly stressed that the contract could not be broken, they never thought that abandoning the game would result in this kind of punishment.


    Squib, the loss of magic power ... In fact, there is a thin layer of magic power present in the squibs, which allows them to see things invisible to ordinary people, able to use potions, and enjoy a fraction of the convenience of magic, but most of them, for the rest of their lives, will not be able to cast a single spell successfully and completely.


    "Then there''s no need to speak about this thing."


    Felix spoke quickly, "Next is second topic, why are the two groups of champions from Hogwarts bound together, that''s your concern too, right?"


    The six people - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Cedric, Roger Davies, and Collins Foley nodded in unison.


    Felix explained, "On the one hand, it''s a necessary compromise, and you don''t want four internationally renowned wizarding schools to be hostile to Hogwarts for decades to come, do you?"


    There was a uniform head shaking.


    "On the other hand, this is also my own wish." Felix looked at the frozen six faces and finally revealed a smile, "Yes, the situation in front of me is exactly the result I want to achieve."


    "For, why?" Harry stammered and asked.


    "When the second set of champions appeared from Hogwarts, I immediately realized the risk - No, it wasn''t about someone tampering with the Goblet of Fire rules, that thought followed afterward," Felix added when he saw Harry trying to interject.


    "Hogwarts has two sets of champions, which is more than just an honour, but also the first signs of a split between the four houses. Even though my attempt at the Magic Rune Club slightly broke down the strong wall between the four houses, I suddenly realized that if I didn''t do something about it now, this tournament may ruin all my previous efforts."


    "I certainly wouldn''t allow that to happen." Felix said, "So after consulting with Dumbledore, I proposed new scoring rules."


    Harry and the others stared at him in disbelief.


    "But, Professor Hap," Ron said suddenly, "this will only cost the school the Tournament of Champions trophy, Hogwarts will lose for sure, and it will lead to a huge disaster."


    "Why do you say that?" Felix asked politely.


    "Because, because ..." Ron held up one of his hands, which trembled uncontrollably, "because I ... when I knew the first task is a dragon, it''s always been like that. I''m not exactly a champion material, and if I''m involved, not only will I not be able to help, but I''ll be dragging their feet."


    "Just hearing the name I''m scared to death, and if I truly confront a Dragon, I will absolutely die, and will also drag Harry and Hermione, when I think of such a scenario, I feel," he said with a pale, daunting face: "Why not kick me out and choose another one up, Squib, in fact, also ..."


    "Ron ...," Hermione said sadly.


    "I know I''m no match for all of you, even in the bottom of the batch of all those students selected--"


    "Not a batch." Felix interjected.


    "What?" Ron looked at him with some amazement.


    "Not a batch, I mean, you''re the worst one." Felix said. "Of the selected students even if you count Neville, you''re the worst one."


    "But Neville ...," Ron said indignantly, glaring at him.


    "The number of spells mastered by Neville is not as much as yours, but he far surpasses you with the shield charm and the stunning spell, and most crucially, he has initially formed a dueling style that suits him, and as time lengthens, the gap between both of you will become more and more obvious."


    Ron froze there, his brain blank, his whole face looked like a dolt.


    "Professor Hap--" Harry looked at Ron anxiously, and then at Felix, not understanding why he said that.


    "... However, I am very optimistic about your potential."


    Ron''s eyes rolled, with a little more life on his blazed white face, as he repeated blankly, "Potential?"


    "Yes, potential. In fact, your talent is not bad, even with you being playful, you can be ranked in the middle of your grade, and if we talk about practical ability alone, you can be ranked in front of your age ..."


    Ron looked at him, "But I can''t match--"


    "You lack sufficient motivation." Felix scratched his nose, "An interesting phenomenon is that no matter in dueling classes, or ancient rune classes, or magic rune club, your performance is always average, just the type that is average to below average and the type that you definitely can''t notice at first glance." S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron''s face scrunched up.


    " The thing is, there are only three types in my rating." Felix said.


    "That''s precisely why I think you lack sufficient motivation," Felix stated, "Originally it was your personal choice and I wouldn''t get overly involved, but things are different now - for whatever reason, you''ve become one of the Hogwarts Champions."


    "In a sense, you''re still the most important one, you should know what I mean."


    Harry had never seen Ron''s body shake so evenly, from head to toe, even the muscles in his face were shaking in turmoil.


    "I would determine whether Hogwarts would end up with the trophy?" Ron said slowly.


    "You can understand it this way, if you compare the tournament of champions to a Quidditch game, you are now a seeker." Felix said, "In the past, you didn''t have a reason to get stronger, but now there is-"


    "On a smaller scale, you''re one of the Champions and have a chance to earn glory for the school by working hard; on a larger scale, every ounce of effort you make now is protecting the lives of your two best friends, Potter and Granger."


    "I look forward to your performance on the first task."


    He took a few steps forward and turned his head to look at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "The next few days may be difficult for you, after all, with an extra set of Champions, especially when the scoring rules are announced."


    "Only when the first task is over, your situation might improve ..."


    "Professor Hap!" Cedric said, "I''ll step up and explain to the others, I''ve heard it all, Harry and the group are victims too."


    "I''ll also speak to the Ravenclaw students, I''m a Head Boy." Roger Davies said.


    "Me too, Professor Hap." Collins said, glaring at Ron, "I''ll get the trophy, and I''ll be watching you to death."


    Felix''s lips curled up, and he waved as he turned to leave.


    ------------


    #Octavia and #Hubert Budny, Thanks for your support.


    There are 419+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 385: Advantages

    At night, the ancient rune office. A golden mist coalesced into illusory humanoid images, floating one by one in front of Felix. Niffler Valen stood on the small square table, reaching for the golden shadows.


    "Igor Karkaroff, former Death Eater, one of the betrayers of Voldemort. Suspicious: sneaked into the entrance hall and had come into contact with the Goblet of Fire alone - minor suspicion;"


    "Ludo Bagman, once accused of helping the Death Eaters to pass information. Suspicious: showed a strong welcome when Harry became a champion - suspicious, but had no time to commit the crime;"


    For a longer period of time, the Goblet of Fire was in Dumbledore''s hands, and if something went wrong, it would not have gone undetected.


    "Barty Crouch Sr, was the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, a tough guy, transferred from his core position due to the implication of his son being a Death Eater. Suspicious: wife and son died one after another because of this incident, his future was destroyed, do not rule out the possibility of polarization; plus physical weakness, clashed with Fudge during the World Cup - suspicious, but no time to commit the crime, the same as Bagman;"


    "Madame Olympe Maxime is suspected because of being a half-blood giant, in the war years, the giant clan was a hardcore supporter of Voldemort. Suspicious: not found yet."


    "Uagadou, Ilvermorny, the students of both schools'' information is incomplete, can not be judged ..."


    Felix pondered silently until finally when a figure with fake eyes and a face full of scars appeared, he waved his hand and let the golden mist dissipate.


    "No matter who did it, one, or a group, their goal is Harry, they want Harry to die. But it could be done without causing this much trouble, perhaps there is a deeper intent ..."


    "And is Voldemort already resurrected now or not? Is he trying to make Harry as his first sacrifice after the resurrection? A stage to announce his return? If resurrected but does not show up, it is only possible that he is secretly seeking his old troops, and with Dumbledore''s intelligence network, he should be able to find the clues ... Well, I''m not doing that bad, it''s time to write a letter to a few old friends."


    He glanced at an improved version of the Marauder''s Map, as his gaze lingered over Moody''s name briefly, before wrapping it up. "Gotta make time to include the four magic school quarters."


    He looked back and saw Niffler Valen staring at him, so he smiled as he tapped Valen''s long beak twice.


    Before he went to sleep, he thought carefully, as he seemed to have forgotten something ... "Oh, yes," he waved his hand, making the fireplace burn with turquoise flames, and then Felix muttered in a small voice: "Don''t blame me for blocking your fireplace, disturbing me half a dozen times a day, no one can stand it."


    The next morning.


    Harry opened his eyes in a daze and got startled at the sight of Ron - he seemed to have been up all night, and the shadows under his eyes were simply deeper than Mr. Crouch.


    " That cat is looking for you." Ron said in a hoarse voice, "It kept scratching the door and I let it in."


    Harry lifted the curtain of the four-poster bed and saw Crookshanks crouched on the cupboard beside the bed, the seemingly squashed cat face staring unblinkingly at him, its tail sweeping aimlessly and scattering a stack of Rune cards.


    "Something wrong, Crookshanks?" He asked.


    On the cupboard, the ginger cat stretched out one of its claws, pointed outside, and let out an oozing howl as Seamus, who was sleeping on one side, rolled over.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, Harry asked tentatively: "You want me to go outside? Is ... Hermione looking for me about something?"


    The yellow eyes of Crookshanks showed an approving look.


    So Harry changed out of his pyjamas, in between dressing, he took the time to look out the window, it is dark outside, probably it is only four or five o''clock, he could not help but yawn.


    Yesterday he went to bed very late, and today he woke up early, he did not even sleep for a few hours.


    In the common room, Harry and Ron saw Hermione waiting quietly out there, she covered herself tightly, head wrapped in a scarf like the one worn by Beauxbatons students.


    Harry once saw her in a similar outfit, it was because Hermione had mistakenly taken a polyjuice potion with cat hair. In between recovery periods, together with partial human transfiguration: a magical spell was said to be used by vampires to hide their fangs, to cover up the facial hair on her face.


    "Hermione, what''s going on ... and Ron, I''ve been meaning to ask for a while now, did you all stay up all night?"


    "I couldn''t sleep - oops, don''t ask for now, Sirius is here." Hermione said urgently, her vocalization sounded strange, like she had a piece of candy in her mouth.


    "Who?" Harry came to his senses with a start.


    Outside the door of the Gryffindor common room, Sirius is having a conversation with the Fat Lady portrait. The Fat Lady talking enthusiastically, she recited the lines in a deliberately subdued theatrical singing voice -


    "The little boy with a bruised nose - who returns by night - the hard work in the dark - ah ~ at last, he becomes a fearless champion! --"


    Sirius frowned, feeling more and more irritated by every moment. What the hell is this singing!


    "Can''t you just let me in?" He asked for the fifth time without giving up.


    "Oh, no," the fat lady paused and said solemnly, "I have a professional code of conduct, you are neither a student nor a professor, and you are not allowed to enter even with a password ..."


    The door opened from the inside, her portrait turned to the side, Harry, Ron, and Hermione came out.


    "Sirius, what are you doing here? Hermione told me, but I didn''t quite believe her!" Harry asked in surprise.


    " Otherwise, how could I sit still when something so big happened, you should have informed me first, this is when the two-way mirror comes in handy." Sirius said without a smile, he looked at the two behind Harry, "So, the three-person team has been officially recognized? Have you figured out what to name your group yet?"


    Ron glanced at him and didn''t say anything.


    Harry glared at his blabbermouth godfather, and Sirius immediately raised his hands in surrender, "Okay, no offence - you guys should know what I''m feeling right now."


    "Did Professor Hap inform you of this, Mr. Black?" Hermione asked pointedly, still speaking in that strange tone, and Harry gave her an odd look.


    "Call me Sirius - yeah, the books in the old mansion more or less helped." Sirius said bitterly as he wrapped his arms around Harry, "Let''s find an empty classroom and have a nice chat, and you guys come over here, anyway, we''re on the same rope now ..." s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I hate that." Harry muttered.


    Sirius grinned and reached out as he messily rubbed Harry''s hair.


    They sought out an empty classroom and each went over what they knew, and Harry and the others learned more useful information, such as that Karkaroff had been caught by Moody back when he was a Death Eater, but he had escaped punishment from the Ministry of Magic by giving up a list of Death Eaters, and a dozen years later, transformed and became Headmaster of Durmstrang.


    "We finally know why Karkaroff is so afraid and hates Professor Moody." Harry said, looking at Ron, who responded absent-mindedly, as they had discussed this topic before.


    When Harry mentioned that the first task would have something to do with Dragons, Sirius stood up in a flash and walked back and forth in the empty classroom.


    "How could they possibly let you deal with something like that!" He yelled.


    Harry had to admit that he hadn''t seriously considered how to deal with a dragon other than at the time during the light show when he and Sirius had had a conversation when they saw the Dragon magic lamp. He had been more worried about the possibility of Hogwarts not getting the trophy and the potential cold shoulder they might get last night but on the contrary, he hadn''t thought about how he is supposed to fight for his small life amidst the claws and flames of a dragon in front of a large crowd.


    "Maybe more than one." Sirius said, "Don''t forget, you are competing as a group, the difficulty must be higher than in previous years - of course, I''m not talking about your level of difficulty, but the level of those who were once champions."


    Harry noticed that Ron began to shake rhythmically again. He gathered his courage and said, "We''re not that far behind, Hermione defeated a student of Ilvermorny - the one called Victor, he was the first champion to be selected, normally, the more qualified you are the more you will be selected first, right?"


    Sirius looked over at Hermione, who had wrapped her head up so that her expression was not visible.


    "I, uh, I ..." she stammered through her veil.


    "It looks like none of you are ready for this in your hearts." Sirius pointed out the right point.


    Harry opened his mouth and realized helplessly that what his godfather had said was right, none of them were prepared. He couldn''t help but think about the other champions - like Cedric - would they also have been too worried to sleep? Or would they be thrilled to hear the news about the Dragon?


    To make his mind more positive, he asked, "How are we supposed to defeat a dragon?"


    "Defeat a dragon?" Sirius repeated.


    "That''s right ... we talked about it last time, didn''t we? At the Quidditch World Cup light show," Harry said in a lighter tone, "you said it was possible to use some vision obscuration spell, brilliant idea, maybe we can use Conjunctivitis Curse, but we had to aim right ..."


    Sirius glared and said, "You don''t sound like you''re dealing with a dangerous 5X class creature that can burn you to ashes in one breath, but rather a Niffler or something, in your mind, does defeat result in simply losing your pocket money?"


    "Burned to ashes?" Ron said with a shudder.


    "Yes, the Fire that Dragon spews out is not ordinary fire, shield charm may not be able to protect you against it, and simply with a tail whip, you will be smashed into mush even with a magic shield ... If there is no good way, your wands are no better than toothpicks."


    ...


    At the table in the great hall, Sirius joined Harry and the rest for breakfast, they all had little appetite, and in addition to the problem of having to think about dragons, they also had to face the other people''s strange looks and gestures.


    "Ignore them, they will only say some sour words." Sirius said: "If you really can not swallow this, I suggest you to find the most unpleasant one and beat them up."


    Hermione glared at him, and when she finally took off her hood during the meal, they could see that she had an extra row of blisters on her mouth.


    "I thought you were the calmest of the three, I didn''t think ..." Sirius said as he looked at her.


    "It doesn''t matter if you''re calm or not, I''m just worried ... ouch!" Hermione covered her mouth, and after that time, she no longer dared to speak out loud.


    "You better go to the hospital wing." Harry said.


    Hermione grunted twice.


    ...


    "There''s nothing to worry about." Felix said, standing in front of the six Hogwarts champions.


    That evening, he gathered the six in classroom seven for targeted instruction.


    "Since you''re all bound together, it''s certainly not for the purpose of losing, and when you think about it, you have quite a few advantages."


    "Advantage?"


    Felix waved his wand, and the silvery-white smoke behind him gathered towards them, quickly becoming invisible. They had stayed in the seventh classroom these days and were not unfamiliar with the change at hand.


    They waited quietly, and after a few moments, the fog cleared before them, and they found themselves standing on a hillside, with soft brown dirt beneath their feet. The fog further away had not yet cleared, but they could vaguely see the emerald green peaks and black rock walls, as they found themselves in the midst of the mountains.


    A dark shadow swept low over their heads and flew into the depths of the fog.


    "Where is this place?"


    Collins Foley asked, pursing her lips. The one thing that had been recognized by them, the students who had participated in the selection, is that most of the scenes are close enough to reality that they are traceable, except for Professor Hap''s inexplicably ugly creatures.


    She knelt down and plunged her hand into the loose dirt, grabbing a handful of blades of grass along with it, a feeling that seemed very real.


    "Romanian Dragon Sanctuary." Felix said softly, "Thanks to Mr. Bagman, for inadvertently leaking the information, which has given me no worries in this process. I hope he won''t be reprimanded by his superiors when he returns."


    Hermione is the first to ask: "So the task we will challenge, is all those dragons from the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary?"


    "That''s right," Felix said, "I''ve been at the sanctuary for a couple of days, and I know a bit about the various species of dragons there ... This is your first advantage."


    The six men shuddered for a moment, then Harry looked up and around, and peered up at a huge dragon passing through the sky.


    "I think I hear the sound of human voices?" Cedric said hesitantly.


    "Let''s go down and take a look." Felix smiled as they walked down the hill to see a group of people fighting off a wounded Romanian longhorn dragon, half of its wings broken and bloody, but they still remained very cautious, the dark green scales on its neck expanding outward as if a small green shield had been inserted, its long golden horns always aimed at the person is considered the most threatening.


    "Watch out, it''s going to breathe fire - Charlie, use the stunning spell!" A wizard shouted.


    Ron''s eyes suddenly widened, and he pointed at one and shouted, "That''s Charlie, my brother! He''s in Romania! Oh my God!" He watched as Charlie led the charge and seven or eight men chanted a stunning spell together, and after a series of dense, dazzling red lights, the towering body of the dragon slammed heavily into the ground.


    They felt the ground beneath their feet shuddered a bit as they gulped in unison.


    Felix said from the side: "You can come closer to have a look." As he spoke, the time in the area seemed to freeze, and the dragon and dragon trainers did not move. They came closer and looked up close at the dragon, which was flipped over on the ground, and couldn''t help but smack their lips, it was so big, at least six or seven times bigger than Cedric and Roger Davies, the tallest of them all.


    The only thing that could be considered as consolation is the fact that this dragon''s tail took up a third of its body length.


    "Longhorn like to fend off their prey with their horns before roasting it, then drag it back to the nest with their claws, occasionally skewering it with their horns, or wrapping their tails around it." Felix described.


    Harry looked at the two long golden horns on the top of the dragon''s head, there is no doubt that they can impale all the prey in sight, he imagined the image of him hanging on it, and his face could not help but turn grim.


    The six men followed Professor Hap forward with their hearts racing, unaware that they had come to a camp where most people were ignoring them. Felix introduced the scene from the side: "This is the scene I saw when I first came here, behind the camp is a fireproof-fenced enclosure, there are several dragons within it, I have played with all of them, one of them is particularly interesting ..."


    "Professor Hap, are we just going to watch?" Cedric asked, "I mean, you are supposed to have us fight the dragons to gain experience, right?"


    "That''s the last step." Felix said, "First, it is necessary to dispel your fear of dragons, what is the best way to eliminate fear? You should all more or less have some idea how to do it ...


    You need to understand them first, and Headmaster Dumbledore has found a teacher for you, his knowledge about dragons is much richer than mine."


    As they spoke, the curtain of a tent in front of them lifted, and from inside came out two identical old men.


    "Mr. Scamander, what do you think?" Felix asked courteously.


    "Interesting, very interesting ... an eye-opener." The two old men said in unison, and they looked at each other with smiles on their faces.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 421+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 386: Newts Life Experience

    Felix was just about to open his mouth to introduce him, when a black shadow ran out of the tent, climbed along Newt''s feet to his shoulder, and pointed at Felix with one hand crossed. "Kiki! Kiki!" Niffler Valen shouted with excitement.


    Even Harry and the others could see that the Niffler was tattling.


    "Oh, Valen," Newt said soothingly, "it''s good to learn more, you should really read the chapter I wrote about ''Niffler'', and if you could read, I would be able to write to you every year ..."


    Niffler Valen looked at Newt incredulously.


    Newt locked eyes with her, "Are you still drinking your tonic? I brought one with me ..."


    "Kee!"


    Niffler let out a sad cry and flung from his shoulder into Felix''s arms, hiding her head and causing the crowd to look on with amusement.


    "Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, this is Mr. Newt Scamander, the world''s most renowned Magizoologist." Felix said with a smile while holding the Niffler: "Mr. Scamander came over this morning, and Headmaster Dumbledore managed to persuade him to leave behind a precious memory that will live long with Hogwarts ... If someone writes this school history in the future, today will certainly deserve a special mention. "


    Newt looked at Felix somewhat less comfortably, with the same expression on his face as his memory body.


    Admiration for knowledge shone in Hermione''s eyes, and she spoke impatiently, "Mr. Newt Scamander, we wrote to you - me, Harry, and Ron," she pointed to the two next to her, "about Hagrid''s Buckbeak! It''s still in the Forbidden Forest, living with its family!"


    Newt looked at Hermione, then at the slightly shorter Harry and Ron, then at Cedric, Collins, and Roger Davies standing next to them - they were all staring at him with rapt attention, and he found that he had become the center of attention.


    He said softly, "Is it, Miss Granger? Oh ... I just did what I thought was right ... and it makes me happy to do so."


    They sat around a modest wooden square table in the camp, the ring of the wood on the surface of which could be clearly seen, and the memory body belonging to Newt whispered, "Excuse me, excuse me." And with that, it disappeared.


    Newt himself blinked and looked fondly at the place where the memory body had disappeared. Turning back to find everyone looking at him in slight surprise, he cleared his throat, "Well, let''s make it official ... Dumbledore told me to just leave a memory and leave things to him ... but I insisted on meeting with you all before I left, and I deemed it necessary."


    "I have travelled throughout five continents. I have visited the nests of wild creatures, the caves of underground creatures, the nests of flying creatures, I have observed the strange habits of fantastic beasts in a hundred countries, I have felt their capabilities first hand, I have won their trust, and occasionally I have chased them all away with my travel kettle."


    "Travelling... travelling kettle ...?" Roger Davies laughed and stroked his hair, "Did you encounter a group of migrating gnomes?" S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The others wanted to laugh a little too.


    But Newt answered Davies seriously, "No, a bunch of big-headed hairy creatures."


    "What''s that?" Harry quizzed.


    "Well--"


    Felix hooked his finger and a strange creature named Pogrebin appeared on the ground, about a foot tall and hairy, but with a big, bald, gray head.


    "That''s what it looks like." Newt said cheerfully, "See, compared to their bodies, their heads are surprisingly large, and they just need to crouch on the ground - yes, thanks - and you see, if you don''t pay attention, you could mistake them for a big, shiny, round boulder, and quite a few travelling wizards just don''t notice them, and lean on them to rest against them, like a pillow, only to wake up to find themselves even more exhausted and groggy ... or in a state of hysterical despair."


    "This creature likes to chase people''s shadows, if you come across it in the wild, you can make some noise to scare them, of course, a stunning spell will do, or simply kick it away with your feet ..."


    Of the six Champions, only Cedric took the sixth-grade class on the care of magical creatures class seriously, stemming from the influence of his father - Mr. Amos Diggory, who now works for the Ministry of Magic''s Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. He had seen pictures of the Pogrebin in class, but still felt a sense of novelty when listening to Newt''s presentation. They noticed that the old man, who is somewhat less talkative, always talks a lot when he mentions magical creatures, moreover, he mentions a lot of interesting details without thinking about it.


    Harry asked about the Thunderbird.


    "It is a large flying magical creature that can sense danger and create storms while in flight." Newt said nostalgically, "Almost seventy years ago, 1926 to be exact, I rescued a thunderbird from a trafficker in Egypt, whom I called Frank, and something happened in the middle ... I can''t talk about it, I signed a confidentiality agreement... ...but I met my wife during this incident ..."


    A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.


    "Thunderbirds are a bit like enlarged eagles, with brilliant feathers of varying colours, but they generally have two long tail feathers trailing - they are distant relatives of the phoenix. The feathers on Frank''s body are gold and white, which shine in the sunlight like floating clouds."


    Harry pressed on, "But I''ve heard that, uh, thunderbird feathers can be used to make wands, are there any special characteristics to such wands? And what about the Horned Serpent?"


    Byers had told him that the core of his wand is made of Thunderbird Feather, while Victor Graves'' wand core is the part cut off from the Horned Serpent''s horn.


    Newt thought for a moment and said, "Thunderbirds are very sensitive to supernatural dangers, and wands made with thunderbird feathers are said to be not only powerful but also capable of fire curses pre-emptively when supernatural dangers are present..." Harry and the group looked deeply at each other for a few moments, as Newt continued. "But I think this description is a bit exaggerated, my wife Tina''s wand is made of Thunderbird Feather, I am no stranger to this. She often complains to me that her wand is difficult to control."


    "As for the Horned Serpent, I don''t know much about the wand," Newt said matter-of-factly, "except that if there is sufficient understanding with the owner, the wand will give forewarning of danger, which is similar to the Horned Serpent''s habits... ..."


    Felix interjected: "I happen to know a little about the wand materials. One thing you need to know is that although the wand chooses the wizard, the wizard will also influence the wand under long-term companionship. Even the wand of the same material and wand core, in the hands of different wizards the effect that can be brought out is very different, so you should pay more attention to the person."


    They nodded their heads.


    For the next hour, they talked and enjoyed a leisurely evening, as if they had actually been led by Professor Hap to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary and happened to meet a knowledgeable elder.


    "... I first saw a dragon in a secret project of the Ministry of Magic, in 1914, when I had just become an adult ... but I was only a junior employee of the Ministry of Magic... ...but the rest of the ministry staff had no way of dealing with that group of Ukrainian iron bellies, so they approached me. Then they had to abandon the project because the Ministry of Magic investigators found that these dragons only respond to me ..."


    Harry and the others stared blankly at Newt as he explained -


    "I have an innate talent for communicating and bonding with different creatures, and I''m very good at dealing with them ... Later, in 1918, August Wurm, publisher of Obscurus Books, commissioned me to write a magical creatures-related reference book. I gladly accepted the offer, while feeling deeply inadequate about my lack of experience, so I used my vacations to travel the world, accumulating material, and in 1925 I took a year-long trip to document the habitats of various magical creatures ..."


    The young wizards present - including Felix - listened in silence. It is quite fascinating to hear a distinguished, if not legendary, wizard talk about the experiences of his youth, and to feel from his words the profound thoughts that cannot be put into writing.


    "It was a wonderful time, carefree with an ever-present expectation of tomorrow. I wandered through the pitch-black forests of Africa to observe the precious image of a Runespoor emerging from its eggshell; waded through the bright Egyptian desert to follow the local legend of the Sphinx; wandered to the untouched Green Lake in Ireland where I draped the Kelpie with broad-leaved Balsam Star Grass; went over the twists and turns of the European mountains to witness the antics of a mountain trolls trying to tame a Graphorns... ..."


    "It was not until 1927 that I completed the first edition of the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, which was published and quickly became a bestseller."


    "It''s still a Hogwarts textbook!" Roger Davies said.


    "My mom used it as a storybook to put me to sleep... but she didn''t realize that was counterproductive." Cedric said, as a good-natured snicker was heard from the people around him.


    ...


    "Kids." Newt prepared to end the day''s conversation.


    "I initially just wanted to make more people aware of the characteristics of the fantastic beasts that live in the same land as us, and also to improve its livelihood in the process. At the time, people were still prejudiced against these creatures and had been arguing for centuries over the question of "what is a beast and what is a human being." ... It was only through my travels that I began to think more and more deeply about the relationship between beasts and humans. If there is anything I desperately want to tell you from my experience, it''s only through communication and understanding that we can eliminate the barriers."


    Newt stood up and straightened his blue tunic.


    "Mr. Scamander, have you really decided not to stay another day or two?" Felix asked reluctantly.


    "I''m a little worried about Tina ... She''s at home all alone, and it''s not an easy task for her to take care of the magical creatures in the basement." Newt said, "I have left my entire knowledge about magical creatures, he will replace me and tell you all about the Dragons."


    "I wish you all well in advance to pass the trial." He put on his hat and said to the six champions.


    Harry and the others returned the salute in a messy manner, after which Hermione asked, "Mr. Scamander, how did you feel when you first learned you were about to face a dragon, did you have fear?"


    "Fear?"


    "The fear and agitation were just too much for me to sleep." Hermione said.


    "My opinion doesn''t necessarily suit you, but in my opinion, worrying means suffering one more time. And both me then, and you now are in a relatively safe environment when it comes to dealing with dragons, so we can be at ease a bit ... Hope this helps you, Miss Granger." Newt replied seriously.


    When he prepared to leave, he saw his memory body hidden in the fog, behind a group of magical creatures. The past is still fresh in his mind, his eyes moistened, and then he gently breathed a sigh of relief, and left the group in classroom seven.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 421+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 387: Its Interesting

    When he exited classroom seven and stood in the hallway, he could see the bright moonlight outside the window, painting the sparse shrubs in the yard with a silvery glow. "No need to see me off," Newt said as he turned around, "I''ve come by occasionally over the years to replace book manuscripts and still haven''t forgotten the way out."


    Niffler Valen stood on Felix''s shoulder and waved along with the crowd.


    At a fork in the path, Hogwarts Champions looked at Newt''s back, a surge of admiration welled up in their hearts.


    " Do you want to be like Mr. Scamander and work as a Magizoologist after graduation?" Felix smiled at them and asked in a very assured tone, "Or, at some point, want to become a naturalist?"


    "Professor, how do you know?" Cedric asked in amazement. He had indeed just felt an urge to follow the footsteps of this old man and travel to every corner of the world to see the magical creatures with whom they shared their magic.


    Felix laughed softly.


    "This is the personal charisma of a great wizard, their own experience alone is enough to move and inspire countless people until they want to follow along ... but you have to think it through without making a hasty decision."


    "Remember what I said? Hogwarts once had popular graduation travel customs, you can use that as a reference, walk more and see more, broaden your horizons. Some truths can only be yours if you have experienced them, and the truths spoken by others are no more precious than a Knut."


    With thoughtful expressions, they parted from each other near the grand staircase.


    Collins Foley and Cedric Diggory went down, with their common rooms on the lower floors, while Roger Davies and the trio went up until finally, only the trio remained as they headed towards the Gryffindor common room.


    "I guess it''s ten o''clock, so there shouldn''t be many people in the common room, right?" Hermione asked with hope.


    They seemed to have turned into rare creatures in the classroom during the day today, attracting everyone''s attention. There was a lot of debate, and the attitude of the students of the other three houses was not that good, forming a vague atmosphere of antagonism toward Gryffindor, as if Gryffindor had taken away the honour of the other houses.


    The Gryffindor students did defend them, but this kind of defense is equivalent to treating them differently, which is not what they want. The ''Harry Potter fan club'' seemed to have added a new member, and Colin''s brother Dennis Creevey seemed to be more influential than his brother, which was proved by the fact that he had brought in a group of new students from all four houses.


    So the trio fled the scene.


    After that they ran to the great hall in one breath, and finished their lunch early before anyone else showed up, then hurriedly made their way out.


    In the afternoon care of magical creatures class, Hagrid had used the excuse that the Firetrail Snails had grown to three feet, so they need a certain amount of exercise, and asked the students to take them for a walk with each leading one. These Firetrail Snails are no longer fleshy, shellless, colorless bugs in the incubator, but rather they have grown a thick, grayish-white shell shaped like armour with incredible toughness.


    If you just glanced at it occasionally, and also ignored the exaggerated size of the Firetrail Snails, you would think that these little wizards were walking a puppy on a leash. But the truth is, they were like helpless leaves in the wind, or a boat floating in a black lake in a rainstorm, dragged forward by the snails - every time their rear emits a cluster of sparks, the snails would suddenly advance six or seven feet, dragging the little wizards holding the rope behind them to the ground, and Lavender Brown was dragged backward and forwards, as she had screamed horribly while struggling to get up.


    Hagrid took this opportunity to express his concern toward Harry, Ron, and Hermione.


    The trio then thanked Hagrid for saving them from Malfoy''s relentless taunting, as Ron''s face turned into the colour of a baked Firetrail Snail in a fit of anger - Seamus at one point complained that if Hagrid continued to let them take care of the Firetrail Snail, he wouldn''t be able to resist giving them the Bombarda.


    This comment drew the young Gryffindor wizards into a lively discussion, as they all shared the same hatred. Dean introduced the fried scorpions and steamed crabs that he had eaten and talked about various types of cooking. In the process, even Harry joined in, arguing with them half-heartedly about whether fried Firetrail Snail would turn red when cooked or not.


    "You guys don''t look well, are you worried about the dragon?" Hagrid asked then.


    Hearing that Ron''s face cooled sharply, originally his face had turned red like a fried Firetrail Snail shell because of anger, now it turned into a pale ash colour, and at the same time, his lower belly trembled. After only a day, the word "dragon" has successfully replaced the word spider and become his new Fear Switch.


    Seeing Ron''s expression, Hagrid did not say anything else, only patted his shoulder, then Ron with a "poof" sat down on the ground.


    "Oops - sorry! But I think you can, at least exercise your body a bit, so that you can run faster ..."


    This is why they were so unenthusiastic towards Hagrid''s concerns and advice, as it was totally counterproductive!


    ...


    On the grand staircase, the trio slowed their pace as much as possible, the fireworks that the Weasley twins bought to celebrate last night had not been used up yet, and according to their habits, they certainly would make up for it today, or perhaps they are just behind the door at the moment.


    As they walked up a staircase, two Ravenclaw girls came down and glanced at them with a strange look, before they turned their heads back and walked down.


    Hermione let out a long sigh.


    "Didn''t Cedric and them say that they''d help us explain?" Harry asked in perplexity.


    "It''s only been a day, nothing won''t change this soon." Hermione said, "Everyone else just wants to throw some tantrum."


    "Let''s just take a break here." Harry said with a low spirit, as he sat on the steps, he saw the portraits on both sides of the stairs were staring at them, he suddenly burst out with a fit of anger: " Wanna look? Come closer so you can see better!"


    The old wizard in the portrait with the walrus moustache gave him a blank look and walked away, muttering something.


    "Harry ..."


    "I''m fine, I''m just a little uncomfortable," Harry said after taking two deep breaths, Sirius had comforted him only in the morning and his chat with Mr. Scamander in the evening had taken his mind off his troubles for a while, but now they were all coming back together.


    "If Malfoy is going to give me a nickname like the fried Firetrail Snail or Scarhead, I''ll give him a good beating." Harry clenched his fist and said.


    Hermione''s originally stony face bloomed with a smile, and then they all quieted down, each thinking about something.


    "Harry, what do you think my family clock shows about me now? Will it point at ''mortal peril''?" Ron suddenly asked.


    Harry hesitated for a moment, "I don''t think so." He knew what Ron was talking about; there is a magical wall clock in their Burrow that didn''t show any specific time, but rather what one family member is doing. At Nine o''clock on the regular clock, it is labelled with " Mortal Peril ".


    "I haven''t informed the family that I''ve been chosen as a champion." Ron said, glancing at Hermione, "You haven''t either, have you?"


    Hermione shook her head.


    "I wanted to drag it out for a day, and although Professor Hap said that we can bring our family over to watch the tournament of champions, I don''t want to bring them." She said.


    "I can''t dodge it," Ron said bitterly, "Ginny writes home every week, and Fred and George write almost once a month or two unless they get into trouble. Then there''s Percy and Charlie, whose works related to Ministry of Magic, and they''ll know about it sooner or later ..."


    "Maybe I''ll wake up one day and watch them storm into my dorm room and beat me up, or a red Howler will be sent to me by owl."


    "We have to do something." Harry said as he got up.


    Ron and Hermione looked up at him.


    Hermione said hesitantly, "You mean classroom seven? But according to the professor''s plan, we will spend the next few days following Mr. Scamander''s memory to learn about dragons, and at the end of the week, they will determine each person''s style and develop a strategy for the tournament. Other schools are probably doing something similar, and all of Ilvermorny''s students have taken a day off today."


    "We can''t always count on others. Ron, what do you say?" Harry looked at Ron. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron licked his lips and said slowly: "I think Hermione has a point, we still can''t do anything, our magic is useless against a Dragon..."


    "How can it be useless!" Harry shouted, causing the portraits to stare again, but he continued without caring: "Remember the Professor''s black hovering door? Remember how we got selected? Have you all forgotten?"


    He stared into the eyes of Hermione, who compromised first, and then he looked at Ron, who swallowed hard twice.


    A few minutes later.


    Felix Hap''s memory body clasped his arms as he leaned against the wall and looked at them nonchalantly.


    "So, you guys are going to try out the Dragon in advance?"


    "That''s right." Harry said, dragging Ron and Hermione along.


    Felix Hap''s memory tilted his head to the side, seemingly listening to someone in the air, and the trio looked around, without discovering a single person. Under their expectant gaze, the memory body stretched his hands out as he said: "Some people disagreed. But ... I do think it''s interesting ..."


    The dark, ancient wall he had been leaning against gradually collapsed, as a single dragon hung its head down and a large pool of drool dripped in front of the three.


    "Do you need me to give you a countdown? Three - two -"


    "Run!" Harry shouted.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 423+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 388: Six Letters

    The next day in the ancient rune class, Felix was surprised to see the trio distracted and absent-minded, so he wondered if he was putting too much pressure on them, and at the end of class, he deliberately said a few words of comfort. In the evening, he received a letter from an owl.


    He opened the letter, on which a faint scent of men''s perfume still lingered, and it was from the head of the British Ministry of Magic''s Werewolf Registry -


    ''''Hello, Mr. Hap.


    As of the end of the tenth month of this year (the beginning of November), the number of werewolves in Britain registered in the Werewolf Registry has increased by 20% compared to last year, and the whole ministry is excited! Thanks to the outstanding contribution of Mr. Belby and Professor Snape, I dare to guarantee that the werewolves in Britain will be effectively controlled within ten years at the latest, and I will submit a report to Wizengamot to apply for an Order of Merlin to Professor Snape at that time ...


    Regarding the unrest at the Quidditch World Cup - the Ministry of Magic''s definition for that aggression is unrest, most of those masked wizards are from pureblood families and what they are doing is simply a disgrace to all of us. But I can assure you that my family and I would never be like those people.


    Two of the masked wizards, sentenced to three to six months imprisonment in Azkaban, each acknowledged being the masterminds of the incident - with one initiating a parade through the camp after a bout of drunkenness, and one waking up poor Muggle Robert''s family by less gentle means... ...


    ...


    The other participants got fined significant sums of money, but due to some political Obstruction, their names got hidden, and I know no more than you can obtain from the newspapers, just the names of the two masterminds - Amycus Carrow and Walden Macnair.''


    Felix calmly closed the letter.


    Over the next two days, owls flew in from all over the world, first from Britain itself, then from France, Europe, and finally from other continents.


    Felix opened a second letter, this one from St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, where Felix had previously spent some time training a group of healers, including this young healer -


    ''Greetings, Dear Mr. Hap!


    This is the fifth correspondence between us, and I thank you for not laughing at my silly questions and generously answering them.


    Several patients with memory damage, who were judged to be incurable, have mostly regained their sanity and now can live independently. Five of them have been brought back by their families to recuperate and only needed to come once a week. The other two, who were critically ill, still need to be kept in the hospital for observation. Please forgive us for our limited ability and the inability to ever reach the level of recovery of the Longbottoms. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Regarding the matter you inquired about - the matter is true. Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr. suffered severe penetrating traumas, but both families have kept it a secret, and they have used their connections to hire an old retired healer to treat them. What they don''t know is that this healer incidentally is my uncle, the relationship which I do not want to acknowledge in front of others - my uncle was originally very skilled, but he is an alcoholic, one time when mixing potions by mistake he mistook mandrake for ginger root, you just can''t imagine what happened to the lady who came to treat scabies on her face that day! ... Anyway, he left the hospital in disgrace because of this incident, along with the scratch marks on his neck from the patient who experienced a sudden panic attack.


    I have enclosed a copy of the diagnosis I got from my uncle in exchange for two pints of pure malt whiskey! That old horse trough!


    Again, I wish you a good life and smooth progress in your work.


    Also, I became good friends with your portrait in the hospital, and I asked one of my artist patients to paint a candy house on it, which he liked very much!


    Plus, I have collected your newspaper clippings from the Quidditch World Cup, and they are on my desk.''


    The third letter came from the Ministry of Magic, unsigned, just a long list of three dozen names, which Felix opened and looked over carefully, as he memorized the names with a mocking smile on his face.


    The fourth letter is a reply from Damocles Belby, his handwriting is rather scribbled, and the envelope still smells of potions -


    ''Felix.


    If you hadn''t reminded me, I might have overlooked the problem of Wolfsbane Potion, forgive me I''ve been focusing on other potions recently ...


    After your reminder, I purposely went to the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers to inquire about it, the current sales of wolfsbane potions authorized by the Ministry of Magic are stable, and the Ministry of Magic has recruited a group of werewolves to work, all of them are some dirty work, but it is certainly better than their past work... There are still a considerable number of stubborn werewolves living in the wilderness, no one knows the exact location of these werewolves, even the werewolves are not sure of their own location, they may be in England today and will be in France tomorrow ...


    I learned that other European countries have approached the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, hoping to connect them and convince the British Ministry of Magic to share the recipe of the wolfsbane potion, especially the improved version made by Severus and me. Fudge has been occupied with this matter all this time, and he can''t be seen throughout the day - all this was told to me by the vice leader of the Potioneers'' Society, presently these are unknown to the public.


    There is one more thing worth sharing.


    I met my old head, Professor Slughorn while visiting the vice leader of the society. He still enjoys life so well that I politely advised him to eat less candy and sweets, but he told me it was the greatest pleasure of his life.''


    The fifth letter came from Maxwell Cowpert an Auror from France.


    He and Felix had crossed paths during the previous summer when there was a bit of a misunderstanding, but the two got on good terms after the misunderstanding was cleared up.


    ''Dear Felix Hap.


    I''m glad you wrote to me.


    If you want to know about law and order on this side of France, as a front-line Auror; All I can say is those same old stories about... those shady corners, I can''t figure out why you are interested in these, are you going to write a book?


    To be honest, I didn''t take your first few muggle books seriously when the Ministry distributed them, as I just casually stuffed them into my locker. Which I just recently discovered when I was cleaning up a bag of pet food that had rotted inside. Incidentally, I discovered your book, which also solved one of my confusions. The next day, when my nephew reported a suspicious person to me at the Muggle University in France, I thought it was related to you and mistook a certain dark wizard for you. ...


    Back to the topic. The werewolves in France are fairly peaceful and have no plans to migrate - which I rather look forward to. Of course, not necessarily to the UK, the south or north is good too (don''t publish the contents of this letter, or it will get me in trouble). I told my informant to wait and see until they do something suspicious, so I can close the net once and for all, and maybe when we meet again, I will be the head of Auror''s office.


    Also, my nephew, Calamy, chose to become an Auror. Now he is currently learning the ropes under me, and he was peeking over as I wrote this letter and got kicked out.


    Finally, a cool picture from the Quidditch World Cup."


    The fifth letter came from the head of the Department of Muggle Affairs under the Swiss Ministry of Magic -


    "Felix, it is good to hear from you, your last suggestion was very constructive, and I submitted it with slight modifications. It''s working well so far, and I''m wondering what else you have in your head ...


    I saw the photo published in the Daily Prophet newspaper and couldn''t believe that such a vicious incident had happened at the World Cup, something that would have never happened if it had been left to us.


    Regarding your question, I learned from my colleague that that tribe of giants is still peacefully secluded in the deep mountains, with no signs of moving out. Of course, I can''t be 100% sure - if observers get too close, the giants will come dashing towards them while throwing rocks.


    I''ve attached the location of the giant tribe, be careful if you plan to explore the mountains.''


    While Felix was having breakfast on Friday morning, he received his sixth letter. It came from Lucius Malfoy, and this letter was most brief, without a beginning or an end, with only a time and a place.


    ''Meet at the top of the tallest mountain outside Hogwarts on Friday, November 4, at eleven o''clock in the evening.''


    He casually erased the writing on it and spread a layer of jam on his bread, he still had a day of classes to attend today.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 423+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 389: Persuasion

    By late evening. Felix walked out of the great hall after dinner and got blocked by Cedric and Roger Davies, who are waiting in the hallway.


    "Weather magic? That''s a very rare and unusual branch of magic." Felix looked at Cedric with some surprise.


    "I think it''s very suitable for the first task." Cedric said with a level-headed view, "When you can''t defeat your opponent, you can try to use tactics such as hiding and shielding vision, etc. in a roundabout way. I looked up some spells in the library over the past two days, Smokescreen Spell, it can create a cloud of smoke out of thin air, thus I don''t have to use a combination of the Water-Making Spell and Exploding Charm."


    "You are trying to develop deeper in this area?" Felix thought about it seriously and finally asked him slowly, "It''s not impossible, but the fog will be restrained by the dragon''s flames, have you thought about that?"


    "Professor Flitwick gave me some advice, he said one of the necessary spells for dragon keepers is Extinguishing Spells, which can be used to extinguish the magical flame of dragons..."


    Felix nodded and said approvingly, "That''s true, but it takes a lot of practice."


    "That''s right, that spell is so difficult that we''re not sure if we''ll be able to reach the level of those dragon keepers before the tournament. So there has to be a backup plan, and we''ve learned enough about dragons in Classroom 7 over the past few days to know the characteristics of each one. Collins came up with an idea-"


    "Why she didn''t come here?"


    "Oh, uh, she confiscated a batch of offending badges and has been filling out forms ..."


    Felix nodded, "Go on, what is her idea?"


    "Professor Sprout''s eighth greenhouse inspired her. As you know, there are seven greenhouses in the school, not counting the virtual greenhouse in classroom seven, which is the eighth ..." Cedric explained, "Professor Sprout''s memory replicates all kinds of rare plants, but the rarer they are, they tend to be more ... quirky."


    He said with carefully chosen words. He along with Roger and Collins had tried it and ended up learning a harsh lesson from various magical plants. Devil''s Snare, Whomping Willow, Blackthorn, Boom Berry, Mimbulus mimbletonia ... and much more stuff that they barely recognized.


    In the end, it was Sprout''s memory body that came out to free them, and Roger Davies was swallowed by a giant Umbrella Flower, with only two legs visible, and despite knowing that there was no life-threatening danger, they still felt their hearts palpitating.


    This led Cedric to be somewhat afraid of his smiling and jovial head for days afterward.


    But it was because that incident was so memorable that they subconsciously thought about it when they were learning about dragons and thinking about coping strategies.


    "Professor Sprout was somewhat reluctant," Cedric said, "Nevertheless she gave us some precious blackthorn seeds."


    He looked to Roger Davies next to him, "Roger has learned the Herbivicus Charm and has a good potion to blend, so according to Professor Sprout''s method, we can get a batch of blackthorn that can grow fast."


    "The only drawback is that this approach cannot be used as a regular tactic against the enemy. Because the seeds of blackthorn are very precious, furthermore, using potions and Herbivicus Charm will destroy the structure of the seeds and will make them wither quickly."


    Felix thought for a while in his mind, isn''t it the same as his little assistant''s beaded pouch? She also has a couple of devil''s snares in her pouch, which she probably neglected now. It worked similarly to the method Cedric had proposed, except the devil''s snare was processed with a rune.


    Felix pondered silently as he looked at the two a while later.


    "Originally, I was planning to keep this part for the weekend - I will be explaining the mutual restraint and cooperation between the spells, then test the spells you are good at, combine your respective characteristics to develop a strategy, and finally take advantage of the seventh classroom to make you practice over and over again ... but since you already have your own ideas. " Felix drew out a parchment, with a quick swish he wrote down the names of several books and a string of spells.


    "This contains some information on weather magic, you can read it first." He immediately frowned and put away the outstretched slip of paper, " I thought of a point, if there is anyone that is the best at weather magic, besides the tent merchant, it would be Mr. Scamander."


    "Mr. Scamander?" Cedric and Roger Davies sized him up curiously.


    "Ah, yes." Felix gave a reminiscent look, "He and his wife lived in reclusion in Dorset, I visited them once during the holidays, and that''s how I got my Niffler. They had a huge basement that had been expanded with an undetectable extension charm that housed magical creatures from all over the world that needed some care."


    Cedric and Roger Davies blinked and seemed to think of something.


    "You should know that different magical creature have different environments suitable for their survival, and for this reason, Newt has divided different areas, each with very different terrain and weather, with volcanoes, pools of water, thunderclouds, and dense forests ... Although not very big, it is very comprehensive. "


    "We completely overlooked that!" Cedric shouted, glancing at Roger Davies, and both had an urge to run to classroom seven right now.


    When they left excitedly, Felix''s thought revolved, he hadn''t bothered much about them in the past two days, and he never expected the young wizards to be quite active. Are those three doing the same? S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Secretly training for it too?


    He smacked his lips, students with motivation were easy to guide, now he is looking forward to tomorrow.


    Tonight, however, he had an important meeting.


    In the dark night.


    The November night has been cold, especially at the top of the open mountain, where the wind whistles and the trees flutter.


    Felix sat on a bare boulder, mentally calculating the time for the full moon, and before he knew it, the time reached eleven o''clock.


    "Snort!"


    A figure suddenly appeared, wearing a hood and a valuable fur cloak.


    Felix shot a glance at the stranger, "Lucius, you have a beautiful walking cane."


    Lucius lowered his hood, his pale blond hair looked like silvery gray at night, he exhaled a cold breath, and as he met Felix''s eyes, he shivered coldly and let out a muffled grunt.


    "Legilimency?" He said, in annoyance.


    "Relax, I''m not usually this rough, but considering you seek to work with me, I always have to try what you are capable of first ... it''s the basis of all cooperation."


    Lucius frowned.


    He realized that something is wrong. Before this, no, before the Quidditch World Cup to be exact, his attitude towards Felix had been anything but close. There had been no connections between them before Sirius'' brother Regulus Black''s funeral, where he had represented several pureblood families in an attempt to bring this dazzling new star into their group.


    Unfortunately, that attempt was fruitless.


    But then Felix vaguely expressed an attitude of cooperation, and the style of speech at that funeral seemed very familiar to him. In his imagination, Felix was ready to enter politics and join the Ministry of Magic. Of course, he would not regard any ordinary position, so it could only be Fudge''s position.


    If he wanted to become the Minister of Magic, he would necessarily be inseparable from the support of some families. And Malfoy can sway the attitudes of a large group of people.


    But this is not the only possibility. Because at some point, Felix''s influence had become very far-reaching, Lucius stared at Felix with his calculating gaze, he vaguely felt that Felix is imitating a man.


    Dumbledore!


    The same academic achievements, the same superior strength, the same preference for Muggles, and even - they both became professors at Hogwarts.


    The only difference is that Felix also runs a company, which is managed by a werewolf.


    How could Lucius possibly be unaware of who Lupin was? The first-generation member of the Order of the Phoenix, Felix appointed Dumbledore''s men, what does this mean?


    He carefully chewed the implications of Felix''s words, a thin layer of sweat warmed up against the cold wind, he thought left and right for a while before speaking tactfully: "I think you stated the opposite, Mr. Hap? It was you who sought to cooperate with the Malfoys-"


    "Well," Felix said softly, "it seems you don''t realize how dangerous your situation is, not a bad act at the Quidditch World Cup, as much as I''d like to give you a hex ... I would remind you of that diary. "


    Lucius Malfoy''s face turned white with dread.


    "Mr. Hap, I don''t understand what you mean."


    "There are some things I will not divulge; after all, your son is involved - a student of mine as well - and in that aspect, we share the same will." Felix said, "But I need you to be clear on where the danger lies, to avoid being caught unaware when you are purged later on."


    "The Chamber of Secrets has nothing to do with the Malfoys, and even less to do with Draco." Lucius said through clenched teeth, "Besides, that man is dead!"


    Felix gave him a deep look, " So be it, but that doesn''t stop you from taking your time to mull it over when you''re alone and have nothing to do. So, let me tell you a story about a clever little wizard who, well, happens to have the same hair as you ..."


    "... And he outwitted a relic of a Dark Lord - the diary that held his precious memories." Felix didn''t mention the Horcrux, but Lucius'' face is bloodless at this point. "And I, as a professor in the school, recognized this dark magic item and destroyed it without hesitation, thus protecting the entire student population, especially those of muggle origin."


    "A glorious accomplishment, won''t you agree, Lucius?"


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 425+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 390: Mark

    Lucius Malfoy''s expression is solemn, a bitter cold wind seems to freeze his throat. It took some effort to open his tightly closed lips, he seemed surprised. As he said woodenly, "Very brave ... Draco... I mean that little wizard." Felix carefully examined his face.


    The wind began to blow again, and the black shadows of the trees swayed in the empty space between them. After a moment of silence, Lucius said softly, "I know a bit of information, the Malfoys are always well-informed ..."


    "... About a few months ago, one late night during the Quidditch ... World Cup, the Dark Mark on the arm suddenly awoke from its slumber, something that had not happened for more than a decade... ... Some people were terrified, they approached me to talk about it, and I ... comforted them."


    Felix looked at Lucius with interest. So, he already knew about Voldemort''s anomaly? He must have been scared to death for a long time ... Quidditch World Cup, is he talking about those Death Eaters who falsely claim to be subjected to an Imperius Curse, thus escaping punishment?


    So this is why, when he handed an olive branch to him at that moment, Lucius obediently took it?


    "The dark mark on the arm?" Felix asked, "I recall it only appeared over the victim''s house, as a sign of Death Eater malice?"


    Lucius shivered. As he met those calm blue eyes, he couldn''t help but think back to what had happened at the Quidditch World Cup. It was this same man in front of him who had teased hundreds of wizards with absolute dominance ... His magic seemed to be limitless, penetrating through the chest of the man beside him through a long-distance... Every time he woke up from a nightmare, he pondered about one thing, what if the owner of the blue eyes wanted to deal with him that time?


    His posture became more and more humble, and his body looked shorter.


    He whispered, "This is a hidden secret. The Dark Lord marked loyal followers with a mark that served as a means of contacting them ... and those followers would be treated differently by the Dark Lord and given the privilege of contacting him."


    Felix nodded, that made sense. In the wizarding community, there were fewer means to communicate with someone who''s away instantly, mainly because for wizards, distance is no longer a concern; Apparition and Floo powder solved a majority of the distance issues.


    But during the outbreak of war, wizards'' need for instant communication and intelligence transfer had increased dramatically, and each camp employed different means. As far as he knew, the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic always acted collectively, seeking to gain an edge with their regional advantage; the Order of the Phoenix used Patronus to deliver messages; as for the Death Eaters''side, he had previously been unclear ...


    So it''s using the Dark Mark?


    "In that case, each Death Eater''s arm was branded?"


    "Not really ... it was for those who were '' loyal'' followers," Lucius emphasized the words again.


    "How do I interpret the word ''loyal''?" S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "... The Dark Lord only cares about useful people." Lucius lowered his head uneasily, making it impossible to see his rapidly darting gray eyes, "Those who are skilled, those who have status, those who have money, or those with special skills ... like Severus Snape."


    He glanced up quickly as Felix stared at him expressionlessly, and he hurriedly lowered his head again.


    "Severus?" Felix repeated slowly.


    "Yes ... Yes, when he was at school he displayed an extraordinary talent for Potions, far more than I did, and more than any other member of the Potions Club at the time. The Dark Lord valued his talent and wouldn''t let him participate in the operations all the time, as he would provide precious potions from the rear ... Later, it just happened that Slughorn retired and Hogwarts was in desperate need of a Potions class professor, so the Dark Lord arranged for him to enter the school and spy Dumbledore''s every move."


    Felix nodded slightly, he knew about it, Dumbledore vouched for Severus after the war, proving that he was his undercover agent. But now a question is, the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, who first and who second?


    His gut feeling tells him that there is a shocking secret lurking.


    "When did Severus join the Death Eaters?"


    "At an assembly before graduation, the Dark Lord personally convinced him."


    After a long silence, Felix spoke up: "We''re off-topic, apart from that time, has there been any abnormality in the Dark Mark after that?"


    "There have been several times one after another ... with a burning sensation at intervals ..."


    "Hmm." Felix said, "It''s like a bad signal from a muggle phone?"


    Lucius froze for a moment and said, "You''re right Mr. Hap." He knew what Muggle Phone is and what a bad signal means.


    "So, one more thing left, let me see what the Dark Mark looks like on your arm ..."


    Lucius jerked his head up, he had avoided mentioning Death Eaters and associating himself with that word in the previous conversation. But now he had to make a decision.


    "Lucius ...?"


    After a moment''s hesitation, he shakily lifted his cuff. On the inner side of his left forearm, there is a light red pattern that looks like a birthmark. It looked very faint, making it impossible to tell exactly what it looks like. If it were placed somewhere else, people would be convinced that it is an early symptom of dragon pox.


    Felix repeatedly compared it with the information in his mind and finally saw a few familiar shades from some distinctive patterns.


    "Normally ... in the days when the Dark Lord reigned, it was bright red, like blood. After the disappearance of the Dark Lord, the mark faded, but now the faded mark has started to become visible again. We had suspected, once again, that he was preparing for his reign ..."


    Lucius said with a distant look.


    "So, you''ve decided to choose a side?" Felix looked at him with a smile.


    Lucius''s thin lips quivered, and he didn''t speak.


    "Just kidding, of course, you can have it both ways, and place bets on both sides - like you always do. The future depends on no one, but, Lucius, unlike Voldemort, I have enough regard for people, I hope we can come to an understanding later."


    "Perhaps a message from you could save the life of someone I know, and I look forward to that with great anticipation and pay my respects in advance to you." Felix straightened his body and said in a cold tone, "Take these words to heart so that the lightning won''t fall on you."


    "If that day comes when the Dark Lord returns ..." Lucius said with difficulty under great pressure, "I am certainly, certainly willing ... to ..."


    "Willing to what?"


    "... to contribute to the cause of justice, Mr. Hap."


    Felix gave a satisfied smile, "Look on the bright side, maybe he''ll never come back, and you''ve just promised a blank cheque."


    "Oh yes," his tone lightened again, "I saw a broker entering Malfoy Manor, does he work for the Malfoys? I''m interested in that... It looks like you have your own set of rules, without adding some extra, unnecessary magic ..."


    ...


    Clouds obscured the moon as Lucius Malfoy stood still, the image of Felix Hap silently disappeared in his mind, just as he had done at the Quidditch World Cup, without any semblance of forewarning at all.


    He breathed a long sigh of relief, today''s events had been so chilling that even with the partial promise he didn''t feel any safer - a shiver ran through him at the thought of messing with the Dark Lord right under his nose, and no one knew better than he did how scary he was. It is a good thing that he only had to reveal some insignificant information, and he used this excuse to convince himself.


    At this moment, he wished more than anyone else that the Dark Lord''s return plan would be aborted, but people like him would never pin their future on vague ''hopes''.


    As long as he is cautiously worked, he will obtain a ticket to the future securely.


    No matter who loses and who wins!


    He cursed in a low voice in the middle of the night. He should write to Draco when he gets back and asks him to come home for Christmas. It is time to teach him properly, all he knows is to tangle with that Potter in school all day and constantly losing...


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 425+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 391: Spell Restraint and Cooperation

    The next weekend, the six champions gathered again. Felix led them on a stroll along the Black Lake, the water sparkled in the warm daylight, and several mermaids with pitchforks poked out their half-ugly faces and quietly peered at them through the cracks in the aquatic weeds.


    "Did you guys gain anything?" S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix''s words were like a switch, as Hermione immediately muttered next to him.


    "I looked up some information, those books about raising dragons from Hagrid are useless, The Drowned Dragon-kin described how to use magic to trim the dragon''s nails, but they recommend buying the oversized nail clippers they manufacture, instead of using magic ... and how to treat broken skin ... The book rather mentions that you can bribe them with two vats of fine liquor, but I think that will only make their flames more intense ..."


    "Harry''s disarming charm is useless, the scales of the dragons are too tough, at best a few scales are tipped off once, and then the angry dragon spewed blue flames-"


    Harry tugged at her sleeve as she blinked her eyes retrospectively, "Uh, to sum up, we figured a couple of spells that might work - the Conjunctivitis Curse, Apparition, Golden Flame, Illumination ... but we aren''t sure if Apparition can be used during the task."


    "There''s also the matter of how to deal with dragons descending from the sky; I''ve found that even if you don''t include the flames, they can be terrifying when they pounce ..."


    She sighed, "It''s just too hard to defeat a Dragon."


    That said, she found Cedric, Roger Davies, Collins Foley, and Professor Hap all glanced at her at the same time, which made Hermione a bit puzzled, did she say something wrong?


    Felix said oddly, "Miss Granger, what gave you the notion of defeating a dragon?"


    Hermione subconsciously looked at Harry.


    Harry scratched his head, "isn''t it? Mr. Bagman said the difficulty would be great, and we -- mainly Hermione, she read that a cockatrice rampaged uncontrollably during a competition, and all three headmasters were injured ... and guessed that our difficulty must be higher than that. "


    Roger Davies startled, " it can''t be true, right?"


    Felix gently shook his head: "The possibility of this is very low. A little hint, the Ministry of Magic picked all the female dragons that were hatching eggs in the dragon sanctuary, perhaps to have you get the dragon eggs from the protection of the mother dragons."


    The six pondered how to deal with this type of trial.


    "... Of course, depending on the specific format of the competition, some more preparation never goes wrong."


    Felix said. Finally, they came under a huge willow tree, and he gestured for them to sit down, "So, let''s put aside the dragon for a moment and talk about spell restraint and cooperation."


    "Back in your first year of dueling class, Professor Flitwick showed you how spells work together, and you may have tried them. I''ll start with the restraint relationship of spells-"


    "Generally speaking, when we want to cancel the effect of a certain spell, especially a vicious curse, it is most convenient to use the recognized counterspells. For example, the Concealing charms and the Revealing Charms, the Stunning Spell and the Reviving Spell, the Locking Spell and the Unlocking Charm, the banishing spell and the Summoning Charm, etc. ..."


    "In the same way, we can use ''Riddikulus'' against Boggart, ''Expecto Patronum'' against Dementors, or ''Silencio'' against the Fwooper, and Revulsion Jinx against the Grindylows ..."


    "But more often we need to be flexible when faced with a spell that has no established counters - if we want to remove some liquid, ''Tergeo'' and ''Scourgify '' are fine; or if we want to expel some mosquitoes or small animals, the Banishing Charm is more suitable, and the Eradication Spell is too much unless you are facing a swarm of small spiders. In addition, although I didn''t verify it, I guess the Cheering Charm can be used to cure the after-effects of the Dementors."


    "Think a little more broadly! In a duel, if you want to break the Shield charm''s defense, the most effective strategy would be Jelly-Legs Curse... Of course, this is for novices who don''t have much experience. But no matter what the time, you can consider using transfiguration to interfere with your opponent or create a foul-smelling environment, and yes, I''m talking about a Dungbombs ."


    Harry and Ron grinned.


    Felix told them about the characteristics of each spell, and they listened with fascination. They had rarely had the opportunity to receive such comparisons between different spells; in class, they had learned them one by one, spell by spell.


    Felix continued to explain.


    "Of course, the spells can also work together. Professor Flitwick''s style is more advanced and requires a certain amount of magic control, but there is a slightly more crude way to achieve a similar effect by quickly reciting a spell."


    "For example, the Snowflake-making spell and the Slippery Jinx can work together to create a very smooth surface zone, or three people can simultaneously cast a Gouging Spell to create a pitfall in a moment ... Don''t forget, there are three of you."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other, in this regard they had previously cooperated with each other unconsciously.


    In the third year, they used the stunning spell to sneak up on Peter Pettigrew at the same time, knocking him out with a clean blow. It took Peter Pettigrew''s companions a while to wake him up, but he was not in good shape when he regained consciousness, and his reflexes became more than a beat slower, so eventually, his companions ran away while he was captured.


    "Why do people in the Ministry of Magic think that a three-person team ought to be more difficult? Just because there are two more people?" Felix looked at them with a serious expression and said, "Remember the three keywords Mr. Crouch mentioned?"


    "Courage, cooperation, and fire."


    "Each word is important. ''Fire'' points to the direction of your danger - the dragon, and ''courage'' is your biggest psychological obstacle in the early stage, I''m glad to see that you are in good spirits ..." He glanced at Ron, who was kind of psychologically inferior, but now he seems to be doing well.


    "And ''cooperation'' is the key that you need to pass the trail."


    Everyone looked at each other thoughtfully, and it seemed to Felix that Cedric''s group had gone one step farther ahead on the path of cooperation, at least they had a clear division of labour, weather magic by Cedric, Blackthorn by Roger Davies, and about Collins he is uncertain but has confidence that she certainly will take some key role as well.


    Harry''s group, on the other hand, he didn''t know about them that well. However, after a while, he will know.


    "You guys think carefully and see what you can do. In the afternoon we will go to classroom seven, to experience actual contact with the Dragon, although it is fake, it is also very referential, I believe you will be amazed."


    Felix said mysteriously, this statement made Cedric and his group very expectant, but Harry and his group just looked a little sickly, especially Ron, his face turned paler.


    He secretly shook his head, his psychological quality is indeed inferior, he just hoped that they won''t scare him to death.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 445+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 392: The Golden Snitch

    A sharp chirp rang out from the golden flames, and a beautiful firebird poked its head out, a golden flame blazing on its forehead, its long beak reflecting a dazzling light. "Harry!"


    Hermione shouted, with her wand and left hand in front of her, trying her best to manipulate her magic - the dragon in classroom seven is fake, but their magic is real, and it has to be carefully controlled.


    They had been taught that lesson before.


    Harry, who was still circling the dragon, immediately ran far away, and Ron''s long-prepared bright ball of light shot out into a straight beam, hitting the dragon''s wings diagonally, and then it got scattered by the smooth scales into an even finer light, illuminating the dim space nearby.


    The spell missed the mark!


    Ron rushed to adjust the angle, this time he finally made the light beam to blast in the face of the dragon, the bright light is not blinding, but still blocked most of its vision. This caused a brief pause in the Dragon''s movements, and it shook its head uneasily, as its two large, powerful claws grazed the brown rock with deadly force, grazing out a series of sparks like daggers.


    The firebird spanned hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye, its long, sharp beak aimed at the dragon''s abdomen, where the scales had somehow been chipped away by the external force-


    "Snick!"


    Dots of blood spilled down.


    The dragon let out a roar of pain and smacked the firebird, turning it into a pure flame that coated its body. It huffed and puffed, spewing out a dazzling blue flame, which turned the grass and trees into ashes, and the stones burst into flames, as it instantly drowned the trio.


    After everything returned to normal, Harry licked his dry lips, his green eyes were still reminiscent of that scene. Hermione and Ron came over with pale faces and looked at Cedric''s team, who are standing aside with their mouths wide open.


    Currently, it is afternoon, Felix brought them to the seventh classroom, intended to let them ''first'' feel the might of the dragon.


    The result was Cedric and his group of champions were caught off guard, their performance was not quite that perfect, but they basically showed their respective characteristics, including Cedric''s weather magic, Roger Davies'' enchanted plants, and Collins'' Disillusionment Charm and superb Nonverbal spell.


    And Harry''s group ...


    It''s hard to describe in proper terms, they show a great understanding of how the dragon attacks and many of their reactions are done subconsciously. This degree of understanding can''t be learned from books, or by listening to stories, it must only be gained from practicing in real life and remembered with their bodies.


    This is also how they train dragon keepers. Every dragon keeper, in their first or second year of work, will gain a few scars on their bodies, and some will deliberately keep one or two as proof of their courage.


    "Still not working ... our fire magic is inherently inferior to that of the dragon, and even Hermione''s ancient magic can''t penetrate the thick dragon hide ...," Harry said with a slight gasp.


    "Only the most powerful spell can do it; In fact, Sirius'' suggestion is good, using the Conjunctivitis Curse. But that requires excellent dynamic vision and precise manipulation, and it is estimated that only Harry is likely to be able to do that among the three of us, but he didn''t master that spell yet." Hermione''s chest continued to rise and fall, as she struggled to remain calm as possible.


    Ron sat down on the floor exhausted, "Luckily we have met a Swedish Short-Snout, if we had met the Ukrainian Iron Belly or Hungarian Horntail ..." he looked meaningfully at Cedric''s team, no surprise to see that their expressions were not that natural.


    He felt much better. Despite the horrified expression still on his face, he began to introduce with great enthusiasm: "The Ukrainian Iron Belly is the largest, sixty to seventy feet, we have also encountered seventy feet one, it only needs to rush over and stretch out a foot ... snap! You''re done, of course, you''ll only see a gray shadow zooming in front of your eyes ..."


    "There''s also Hungarian Horntail, which is also a big guy. The fact that it breathes fire at you is fine, but at one point I managed to release a shield charm only to see a long black tail full of spikes, and you''ll find your charm crumbling like an eggshell ..."


    "The Peruvian Vipertooth Dragon''s breath is poisonous, and it''s also exceptionally fast, making it difficult for the spell to hit it ..." S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well," Felix said helplessly, interrupting Ron who appeared to be complaining but was actually showing off, while he looked at them with some surprise: "You have surprisingly completed part of the exercise ahead of schedule, and although there are still some problems with the tactics, it is obvious that you have adapted to the rhythm of the dragon''s attack, and you are not intimidated enough to be unable to recite a spell ... However, I have to restrict you so that you don''t develop some kind of terrible habit."


    "The more times you fail, the more your hearts will reinforce the notion that everything in classroom seven is fake, and you may get overconfidence or confuse this false courage till the real competition, During the tournament, the surrounding audience, the judges, or the venue, everything will remind you of what is real. At that time, you will find your courage is like a beautiful soap bubble, a poke, it will burst ..."


    Harry opened his mouth, wanting to argue a few words. But it seems to make sense, after dozens of "deaths", they really no longer cared about injuries, and when they participate in the tournament with this mindset, perhaps they will play better, but it''s more likely that they will be reckless by habit.


    For example, he tried to buy time for Hermione with a completely useless spell once and ended up getting smacked to death.


    "Next, we are going to do some targeted training, and both teams need to make tremendous improvements ... What I am going to do is help you find what you are best at, because you will soon find that there is simply not enough time."


    ...


    From classroom seven, the Trio put on their thick cloaks and walked out of the castle along the path to Hagrid''s place.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione smiled as a large black dog running around the pumpkin patch behind Hagrid''s hut.


    When he saw them, the big black dog ran over and turned into a man in front of them. Sirius'' hair looked short and clean, and his face looked fairer, which made him appear younger.


    "Sirius-" Harry hugged him, "You don''t have to come over every day."


    Sirius flashed his teeth, "It''s my duty, and I''m bored with nothing to do!"


    "Remus suggested you to get a job, it''s time for you to get back to your normal life." Harry said, but an irrepressible smile still spread across his face.


    Sirius scratched his chin absent-mindedly, a little distracted. "There''s no hurry with that sort of thing, I can never bring myself to ... leave it alone, how about it, did Felix get shocked?"


    These days, it was him who was guiding the three, including how to cooperate, but he is not an official member of Hogwarts, so he is not allowed to enter the castle, because of that, he hangs around the vicinity of Hagrid''s hut, which is also the result of Dumbledore turning a blind eye to the situation.


    Harry helplessly told the matter, Sirius rubbed his chin and sat on a huge pumpkin, Hagrid''s hound, Fang, sniffed his shoes and wagged its tail at him.


    "Go, go and play somewhere, Fang!" He skilfully tossed Fang a dog cookie and thought seriously, "He has a point, indeed there''s a possibility that you may confuse the reality with the fake, but we''ve achieved our goal - you''ve experienced the various attacks of the dragon personally, and that''s important!"


    He said with some gloating, "I can see the champions of Uagadou running around the Forbidden Forest, probably scratching their heads."


    As hosts, Hogwarts'' champions do have a certain advantage, specifically in terms of the vast school resources behind them, although Hogwarts has opened its library and some of its resources to other schools, but the most crucial classroom seven is not available for them.


    "But don''t get cocky, I saw a few new faces show up at those schools'' quarters, they should be professors from their schools, who came to give special training to the champions."


    Sirius quickly dismissed the topic.


    "So, let''s start today''s practice, the Conjunctivitis Curse, the Extinguishing Spell, the Softening Charm, and if we have time, we can try the Disillusionment Charm and the Transfiguration Magic, but it might be too hard for you guys, and I''m not good at transfiguration ..."


    Harry said hesitantly, "I don''t think the Conjunctivitis Curse will work as well as we thought, and most of the dragons we saw had thick scales around its head, with protruding spines and spikes, making it difficult for us to hit the mark."


    Ron said whimsically, "What do you guys think about the Bat-Bogey Hex? I''ve heard from Ginny that this spell can turn boogers into bats, imagine a swarm of bats flying out of a dragon''s nose and stretching its nose to the max ..."


    Sirius coughed twice, " Not a bad idea, but no one has ever tried it, you know, the Conjunctivitis Curse has been used against dragons for a long time."


    He looked to the three: "Regarding the accuracy of the spell, there''s really only one way to resolve this, and that''s a lot of practice." He saw the trio''s expressions crumble as he continued, "Of course, a good practice plan will yield you twice the result, and you''ll need some tools that you can use for this purpose"


    "Did you bring them, Harry?" He asked.


    Harry dubiously took out the golden snitch from his pocket, last night Sirius asked him to bring the golden snitch through the two-way mirror, he didn''t understand why, and when he asked about it in the mirror, instead of answering, he changed the subject and said goodbye.


    Sirius'' hand brushed over the wings of the golden snitch, the golden snitch''s wings lit up with a row of runes, "This has two hidden functions, one being its interior has been extended by the Undetectable Extension Charm to accommodate many things and the other being that it has a ''follow'' function. "


    " Follow function?" Harry asked, puzzled.


    "That''s right, it will fly around you within a certain range which is adjustable, I originally wanted it to help you practice Quidditch, but you didn''t seem to have noticed it."


    Harry felt a little embarrassed as he explained in a whisper, "I was afraid it would get lost, so I didn''t take it outside."


    Sirius didn''t dwell on this little problem: "In addition to practicing Quidditch, it can also help you practice your spell accuracy - next, I''ll have it fly around you at an altitude of twenty to fifty feet, and you need to hit it with the Conjunctivitis Curse, of course, it''s ok if you don''t know the spell yet! You can try other spells first!"


    The trio became excited, and Hermione asked with some concern, " Won''t we break it?"


    "No," Sirius said indifferently, "It''s got a powerful protective enchantment on it, and I mentioned it to Felix at the time that the gift was meant to be passed on to Harry''s children."


    Harry turned red as he rolled his eyes in annoyance.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 445+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 393: Approaching

    "Whoosh~" The Golden Snitch stretched its slender wings in Harry''s hand and disappeared in a flash as they watched.


    The Trio looked around in a panic, "There it is!" Harry pointed above Ron''s head as he said, a disarming charm flew out and hit empty air. Hermione and Ron scrambled to follow up the spell, as two red lights faded into the sky.


    "You guys are still far from it." Sirius said smugly, shaking his head as his arms crossed.


    Harry looked at his godfather with discontent, "Then give it a try."


    Sirius wordlessly waved his wand, seven or eight leaves on the pumpkin vine like a sharp blade flew out, the Golden Snitch slightly twitched and dodged it. Sirius pouted humiliatingly.


    "I don''t believe it--"


    He also joined the trio. They took up four corners, with their heads half tilted, firing spells into the sky, the Golden Snitch dodging constantly while it remained in a small area; like a nimble ghost, and even if it got hit by luck occasionally, a palm-sized transparent shield would suddenly appear on its surface, deflecting the spell with brilliant splashes of colour in the white-blue sky.


    The four played with a great interest for nearly half a day until they saw three tall figures emerge from the forbidden forest, the champions of Uagadou.


    Then they pointed towards them and said in a very awkward pronunciation, but their voices were not quiet, so they heard some words "cheating ... fake champions ..." one by one. Which made their mood worse.


    "Leave them alone, when you beat them in the first trial, they will learn how to shut up." Sirius said in annoyance.


    Harry felt that Sirius was actually trying to convince himself - Because he seems like he wanted to rush up and teach them a lesson.


    Time went by, and at the last class on Friday of the week, all champions underwent their pre-tournament wand tests, with Mr. Ollivander himself personally dropped by for the Wand Weighing ceremony and gave an appraisal of the state of each champions'' wand.


    Bagman and Headmasters are present, Harry surveyed the other school champions, Krum seemed even more silent, with a dull expression, as if he had forgotten how to speak. Byers, who he hadn''t seen in a while, also showed up, looking much darker than before, he knows the reason for it as he overheard their group practice every time he passed the Quidditch pitch, but there were always two Pukwudgie standing at the entrance, so he never went over there.


    Beauxbatons''s Fleur stood tall and proud in the corner, the other two champions of her school standing with her at the center, at her left and right.


    The three champions of Uagadou had not undergone much change, except that they seemed more toned, making everyone wonder how on earth they were trained. Ollivander was not very pleased when the guy who looked like a wall pulled out something that looked more like a wand than a wand.


    "The African wand ... is too polarized, more unusual than the German and American ones ... I can''t give an appropriate evaluation, at the task, perhaps it can be used in a novel way at some point... ..."


    Harry guessed it can be used to slam the dragon''s toes while it''s not paying attention, he groaned at the idea and looked away exaggeratedly as the panther-tight skin dressed Uagadou witch Nona Leibert said, "That''s because we''re more adept in using gestures to cast spells!"


    During the wand inspection, there was a little mishap. Harry refused an interview with the woman named Rita Skeeter, a gossipy journalist, he had no liking towards her as early as his second year for slandering Headmaster Dumbledore.


    When she grabbed Harry''s shoulder with her red painted nail with claw-like hand and tried to lead him to the broom cupboard for an exclusive interview, he broke away even without thinking, and she immediately shot Harry a dangerous look, though a false smile piled up on her face when the rest of her eyes saw Professor Hap in her sight.


    In the end, the newspaper presented their names, along with the relatively normal ''concerns'' - questions about their age. The champions of other schools were not so lucky, for example, Victor Graves, one of the champions of Ilvermorny, is heavily featured, as he had been defeated by a ''normal'' fourth-year girl from Hogwarts, plus some side gossip: the champions of Beauxbatons are good at bewitching magic, and the champions of Durmstrang will all contribute a ''wonderful'' feast of dark magic, also mentioned how a talented player Krum who just made a splash at the Quidditch World Cup is participating... and the introduction about Uagadou attracted lots of eyeballs with the dynamic photo of the student who transformed into an African elephant appearing on the pages of the Daily Prophet for several days in a row, causing countless people to marvel and talk about it.


    One of the effects brought about by this newspaper is that Ron''s news of becoming a champion finally could not be concealed. In fact, Mrs. Weasley was the only one in the Weasley family who didn''t know the news, the others - Ginny, Fred, and George were all at school; Mr. Weasley and Percy were well-informed through the Ministry of Magic; Charlie worked at the Dragon Sanctuary which is closely related to the first task; and Bill, who works at the Gringotts, is in contact with his family quite frequently...


    They coincidentally decided to hide it from Mrs. Weasley.


    But all efforts were made in vain by Rita Skeeter''s coverage, and the very next day her Howler arrived, but not to Ron, but to the Weasley twins -


    "If I hadn''t read it in the paper, I wonder how long it would have remained hidden! - poor little Ronnie... He''s only in fourth grade -" Ron lowered his head and stared at the bowl of porridge in front of him, as if he wanted to drown himself in it, as all the people who were eating turned their heads towards him and snickered. Mrs. Weasley''s deafening voice still echoed through the great hall, "Don''t just be busy with all that prank stuff all the time! - care more about your brother -"


    Fred and George had long ago slipped away grabbing two slices of bread, and Ron also ran out of the great hall, leaving only the dumbfounded students and the chattering Howler.


    ...


    Everyone has a different understanding of time, and while the normal students were still making plans for their first Hogsmeade trip of the new school year, the champions were improving themselves in every possible way. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron hadn''t submitted his Potions class assignments for two weeks straight, and Snape had put a big T right in front of him without hiding it, to which he just yawned in response, which made Snape stare at Ron the entire time during the lesson about brewing detoxification potions.


    "We''re definitely going to pass this year anyway." Ron said to Harry and Hermione at the end of class.


    "But next year is the year of the O.W.Ls!" Hermione retorted vigorously, as she had secretly told the two that she regretted handing in the time-turner.


    "Who cares, Hermione, you don''t think I''m planning on taking his advanced classes, do you?" Ron looked at her strangely, "Fred and George had selectively dropped some classes last year, which also included the core class astronomy, and in the history of magic class, they are discussing their product ideas ..."


    "That''s not the same! Do you have any plans for your future, potions are essential in many fields!" They left the classroom with a lot of bickering and went straight to the library, there were still so many spells they were not adept at.


    Felix''s demands were also getting stricter, and in the last few days, he had both groups of champions tackle two dragons at the same time. While the memory bodies of the professors formed a panel of judges to evaluate them.


    " The idea of summoning your broom by using Summoning Charm is good, but you must consider your other two teammates - Harry!"


    "Collins, you are facing a dangerous beast, you also have to learn to cover your scent. Also ... your Freezing Charm is good."


    "Ron, the Gouging Spell does not work that way, you can not jump in on your own."


    Finally, the date November 24 arrived.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 447+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 394: Safety Officer

    At noon, the Hogwarts students gathered in front of Clock Tower, where they got led by Professor Flitwick, in the direction of the tournament venue. "Minerva went ahead and took the champions to the makeshift tent." Flitwick said excitedly.


    Felix walked alongside him, nonchalantly at the front, the students behind him chattering and excitedly discussing, and a male wizard called out " I heard the dragon roar last night-"


    He turned his head back, and behind him, the crowd flocked, like a black meandering river. As they walked out of the castle, they crossed the long bridge and walked down the slope.


    As they passed the Black Lake along the way, Durmstrang students draped in capes stepped out of their boats to join the parade, and as they passed near Hagrid''s Hut, a colossal carriage door opened and seven or eight Beauxbatons students in blue cotton satin uniforms emerged from the golden steps, then from the temporary quarters on the Quidditch pitch the students of Ilvermorny joined them, and the wizards, of both genders, from Uagadou, were standing in pairs by the Forbidden Forest and waiting for them.


    The uniforms of these four schools added vitality to the monotonous black tide, like colourful swimming fish in the river.


    The group walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest for about twenty minutes, the castle and the lake were both out of sight, they had passed beyond the boundaries of the school, the trees and shrubs grew sparsely to the right, and deeper in is a lush, dark forbidden forest.


    He heard the sound of horses'' hooves. "Is it centaur?" Felix squinted his eyes at the dense forbidden forest, and an odd-looking horse head poked out, a Thestral. As he looked over, it disappeared immediately after.


    After bypassing yet another area of woodland, a temporary circular grandstand stood before his eyes, with crude stacks of wooden piles stacked high on top of each other, rising and falling along the terrain. This should be the grandstand, which encloses the site in a large circle.


    On the west side of it is a huge silver tent, and Felix catches a glimpse of Ludo Bagman hurrying inside.


    "Everyone gets on the grandstand in order, don''t overcrowd the place." Flitwick stood on a wooden step and said to the crowd that kept leaning over. Felix whispered an apology and walked towards the tent.


    Just as he reached the entrance, he could sense a solemn, oppressive atmosphere, and Ludo Bagman''s cheerful voice seemed just so out of place.


    "Well, it''s really quite simple, you have to pick out the models in there, and yes, you should know that there are different types of dragons, and you have to pick them on behalf of your team - ladies first."


    When Felix entered, he saw Bagman standing in the middle of the champions with a smile on his face, purposely dressed in the old team uniform of the Wimbourne Wasps he had played for in his youth, and holding a purple silk bag.


    He is surrounded by the captains of the six teams - Victor Graves, Fleur, Krum, Cedric, Nona Leibert, and Harry. Of the six, Harry is the shortest, especially when he stands next to the taller witch from Uagadou, like a lost child. Nevertheless, today he has to confront the threat of the dragon together with his friends.


    The rest of the team is scattered around the tent, staring at their captain, the sound of breathing seems to have been lost in this tent.


    Fleur with trembling hands took out a small, exquisite model of a Common Welsh Green from the bag, her face turned a little pale for a moment.


    Felix, however, had a black face, this is ''Future World'' dragon magic lamp! Is the Ministry of Magic that lazy?


    "Ah~ lady, you''re lucky~" Bagman said. That''s when he heard a muffled voice ringing in his ears, "Can''t you guys make your own set of models ..."


    He looked back and saw Felix who had an unpleasant expression and stammered, "Felix ... that one, it was suggested by a young man in the ministry, as to use these lovely magic lamps to offset the pressure about the real dragon and calm down the champions... ..."


    He patted the Common Welsh Green model in Fleur''s hand. It immediately moved and flared its teeth and claws, startling her and causing her to throw it at Bagman''s face as he awkwardly picked it up off the ground and handed it to Fleur, saying, "Oh, Isn''t it look cute."


    Judging by the looks on everyone''s faces in the tent, this display is simply lousy.


    Fleur coldly made her way back to her teammates, gibbering in French as she outlined the final tactics, and Felix glanced briefly at the two champions whose bodies kept wobbling, who didn''t pay any heed to her words


    Uagadou went second, and Nona drew a dragon with pearl-shaped curved scales, the Antipodean Opaleye which is recognized as the most beautiful dragon, but she showed no interest in taking a second look, as she eagerly discussed the details of the dragon with her teammates.


    "Not too aggressive, likes to eat sheep ... Its flames are sticky like lava ..."


    Graves got the Hebridean Black, a species of dragon that can generally reach thirty feet in height when it reaches adulthood, and the females are a bit bigger.


    After that, Krum pulled out the bright red Chinese fireball, he then crossed his arms around and leaned against a pole in the tent, his eyes fixed on a broken hole in the roof of the tent overhead, as his teammate came over and whispered, "Viktor..."


    He said with a calm face, "Proceed as planned." The two teammates nodded silently.


    Cedric got the blue Swedish Short-Snout dragon, his face looked pleased, he quickly came next to Roger Davies and Collins to show them, the original heavy expression of the three relaxed to varying degrees, this is one of the more suitable for their tactical choice according to their judgment.


    The last is Harry, his expression is terrible, he knows what that remaining one is - a black Hungarian Horntail, the largest and most fierce-looking one.


    He, Ron, and Hermione had sneaked out to see it the night before, cloaked in his invisibility cloak, and he believed everyone else had done the same; it was no secret when Charlie''s team of dragon keepers arrived for their appointment, in Hagrid''s case - he preferred to call it an inconvenient encounter - As Madame Maxime had brought Beauxbaton''s champions openly to take a look.


    Amidst Bagman''s expectant expression, Harry woodenly pulled out the last model of a dragon, as he lowered his head to stare at the model of the silly Hungarian Horntail in his hand. The little dragon spread its wings, showing its tiny fangs, and seemed to be smiling, looking surprisingly similar to Bagman in front of him.


    But Harry will not be fooled, he had seen what the real Hungarian Horntail looked like, the tail which should have been full of sharp spikes now looked very smooth - the spikes were turned into bronze dots, he subconsciously glanced at Professor Hap and thought that ''Future World '' company''s modelling design is somewhat outrageous.


    How come I didn''t notice this before? He thought in wonder.


    Harry came back toward Ron and Hermione, and he said briskly, " We need to change our strategy."


    ...


    "Well, you''ve all got it!" Bagman said, "You''ve all drawn the dragon that you''re going to confront, and I''m going to excuse myself temporarily from you for a moment as I am going to be giving commentary to the audience; Oh, and there will be someone will come to take you into the arena at the start of the match, and you will go out when you hear the whistle. Understand?"


    The crowd went silent for a moment as Cedric asked a question, "What''s our mission? And the order of the match?"


    "Mission?" Bagman flinched, "Oh, uh ... I didn''t say that?" He glanced at the rest with some confusion, everyone in the tent looked at him as if they wanted to eat him, he took out his handkerchief to wipe the sweat on his forehead, "Well, it''s my oversight, I should have made it clear from the beginning ... like this, get the dragon egg by passing through the dragon nest, and at the same time escape smoothly. As for the order of the match ... there is no order, all of you, together."


    The Trio look at each other, and Harry looked up to see Cedric looking at his two teammates equally meaningfully, with a bit of confidence in his heart, at least they practiced according to this kind of response when they were in the classroom seven.


    He looked at Professor Hap, who had been staring at the carvings in the tent, without showing any other reaction.


    "Why are we playing together? What if we get affected by other teams?" One of the Beauxbatons girls asked pointedly.


    "That''s one of the tests," Bagman said cautiously, "You have to learn to keep your eyes and ears open. Each dragon will be separated from each other by a certain distance, and theoretically ... you will have enough space, and you will understand when the time comes. So ... Harry ... can I have a word with you alone? Come outside?"


    Harry looked at him in disbelief as they left for a moment, and then he came back with a sombre expression.


    "What''s going on?" Ron asked.


    "I don''t know, he seems to be trying to help me." Harry stated rather puzzled, "But I refused, we had prepared so ... much"


    At this point, Felix is the only adult left in the tent, as the rest looked at him curiously, they thought this person would follow Bagman and leave.


    "First, I would like to introduce myself, Felix Hap, Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts." He said calmly, "You don''t need to remember my name, just my duties - I''m one of your safety officers, of course, the last line of defense."


    "While you are competing, there will be dragon keepers from the dragon sanctuary, and staff from the Ministry of Magic who will be ready to provide protection ... As for me, I will be hovering above your heads throughout the competition and will only intervene at the most dangerous time! --when you don''t have time to call for help." S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, then, good luck to you all."


    Felix walked out of the tent as the people outside buzzed with excitement.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 447+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 395: Dragon (1)

    Felix walked through the pillars of the grandstand, Bagman''s high-pitched voice is very clear even amidst the sound of the restless crowd: "Welcome ... the first task will be dragons, the champions must get the golden egg in the nest of the dragon and escape successfully... ... staff please place the dragon egg, look, the dragons are still drowsy, this is the best time to observe them ..." Six dragons of various colours were sprawled on the ground, still unconscious by the looks of it, but their large size remained intimidating, even though the closest place is the judges'' gallery which stood about 500 feet from it.


    "... Next, I''ll introduce the panel of judges, the five Headmasters, myself, and Minister Fudge, who is replacing my old friend Barty Crouch who has unfortunately taken an extended leave of absence ... "


    Felix approached the busy Professor McGonagall, who kept walking back and forth around the edge of the venue in circles, with a distracted expression on her face, and as he walked over, McGonagall almost bumped into him without noticing him.


    "Watch out, Minerva-"


    "Oh! Just you, Felix." McGonagall called out dramatically, her pitch much higher than usual, "Charlie''s looking for you. Charlie!" She shouted at a small group, then a short, stout male wizard turned back and jogged over in small steps.


    "Hey, Felix," Charlie said, looking very tense as he constantly rubbed his hands together: "We''ll be watching from the sidelines, carrying a whistle with us, and in case of danger, we''ll step up - And, of course, we need your back-up. "


    "No problem." Felix said.


    A hiss came from the distance, as a black dragon raised her head in slow motion, and the staff member next to her put the dragon egg down and scurried away.


    The Hungarian Horntail found herself in an unfamiliar environment, with a noisy swarm of tiny bugs all around her. She also smelled the scent of her own kind, and with her two yellow eyes darting around, she soon saw five other dragons laying on a platform not too far away.


    Her mood abruptly worsened, and she braced herself to stand up. Underneath her is a nest built of golden hay, with an egg in it, and she exceptionally felt an intimacy with it, telling her those are her cubs - a sentiment which she quickly accepted as her movements became more careful, "clatter~" the sound of chains rang out, she froze as she looked at the thick chains on her left foot, then she let out a roar towards the sky.


    A searing flame rushed into the sky, rolling up a wave of air out of nowhere, and the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere rose rapidly.


    With her action, the other five dragons also woke up, and they each raised their heads, flapping their wings and stamping their feet in a fury. The black stone floor made heavy thuds.


    The Hungarian Horntail glanced around, she hates being here. It would be best to take her egg and leave for good. She tentatively tugged the chain, finding it not quite solid, and just as she was about to tug harder, she saw a familiar person.


    "Ow~"


    She yelped audibly, that awful barbecue cook!


    Felix sized her up and asked Charlie, "Do the dragons have a good memory?"


    "Of course." Charlie replied, " Norbert remembers Hagrid till now, and every time he misbehaves, I will show him a picture of Hagrid, but I don''t know how long I can fool ... He is getting smarter and won''t let us give him inspection ..."


    Bagman''s voice kept leading the audience''s emotions, and he is good at that.


    "Look, the dragons have awakened, they need a little time to adapt ... to at least discover their egg, using this time, let me explain the rules of the contest ..."


    Felix took out a broom from the ring, and flipped it over to sit on it, stomping his feet, he rushed straight up into the sky, circling the field twice, enjoying the view below.


    "This is a good spot for a view." He smiled and said to himself.


    Looking down from high above, the layout of the venue became clear - a silver tent for the champions to rest temporarily, a few hundred feet away from is a grandstand, and in the center of the crooked, barely oval-shaped stand, six areas divided and together resembled a daffodil flower.


    In each petal near the central spot, there is a dragon crouched separately, they are large and small, as they raise their heads one after another and looked around agitatedly.


    On one side of the grandstand near the silver tent, a gate has been opened, that should be where the champions would enter the venue, and on the opposite side of the gate, there is a large stand raised high up, which is the judges'' gallery.


    Bagman, who is introducing the rules of the game, said gleefully, "Very well, most of our safety officers have already taken their place, the one who is flying will act as the last line of security. Regarding Felix, I don''t need to tell you, you should have read about him in the newspaper -"


    His voice weakened, as Fudge''s gloomy gaze looked over.


    Bagman stammered for a while, and finally realizing what he had to do, so he stood up and shouted, "Soo... Let''s welcome our champions!"


    The cheers sounded deafening, and an extremely penetrating whistle rang through the air. The dragons raised their heads and looked around cautiously with restlessness, and soon, a wooden gate opened wide and the champions walked in.


    "Hiss~"


    Harry saw a man in front of him fall backward, he hurriedly reached out to support him, he is Beauxbatons''s champion, Harry could not recall the boy''s name, but he is obviously not in a good state, snot and tears flowed to the ground.


    "Francois ...," whispered Fleur, "for the love of Nicolas Flamel, be brave!" She tilted her head to the side and commanded, "Jacqueline!"


    The other girl shuddered and helped Francois up, though, from Harry''s point of view, she too looked terrified.


    He felt a hint of distaste for Francois for a moment until he saw a mist of water in Francois'' eyes, and then he froze, probably because the expression on his face was too direct, which made Francois glare at him menacingly.


    As a staff member lead them to an open space where the air is far hotter than outside, Harry saw how a stone in front of the blue Swedish short-nosed dragon melted into a soft flop like a liquid.


    He couldn''t hear any sound, but he could see the searing, lava-like liquid dripping down as if it were dripping on his heart. But it is not their trouble, then he heard the sound of Ron swallowing frantically, so he followed his line of sight and saw their target, a black colossal hill.


    Only this hill can move and is full of spikes.


    Harry regretted not getting a good look that night. This Hungarian Horntail looked taller than ten of him stacked on top of each other, with black scales all over its body and a lizard-like appearance. It has yellow eyes and bronze horns, and a tail with spikes that are nearly bronze.


    He heard Hermione reciting hoarsely the information about this dragon: "... Hungarian Horntail is considered to be one of the most vicious and aggressive breeds of a dragon... it is also one of the dragons that can breathe fire up to 50 feet away. When protecting its young, it will be even more aggressive ... Females are generally bigger than males ..."


    "I''m just glad Mom didn''t come ..." said Ron bitterly when he saw Sirius, who kept waving from the audience stand.


    At that moment, Charlie approached, his calm voice made Harry''s heart settle down slightly, and then the dragon keepers appeared in their corresponding positions, when Charlie passed by, he patted the three of them on the shoulder, and opened his mouth several times before finally squeezing out a vague " Come on." from his throat.


    The Hungarian Horntail is in front of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and it looked completely different from the model that Harry pulled out; you can only feel its horror at a close distance, and compared to this dragon, they looked like three rats. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "This is Classroom Seven, Classroom Seven ..." Ron kept hypnotizing himself.


    Hermione''s face turned white as paper, she tried her best to calm herself down, "There are dragon keepers and Ministry of Magic Staffs around, even if we can''t believe them, we should believe Professor Hap ... he is right above our heads!"


    The trio looked up at the sky, amidst the light a vague shadow could be seen above, which gave them great courage.


    Bagman''s passionate voice rang out again: "The champions took their positions, they are only seventy feet away from their target, which is a relatively safe distance because the dragons have chains attached to their legs."


    "When you hear a whistle, you can take action; timing, strategy, effectiveness, and courage shown will all be the basis for scoring... Good luck to you all! Ready - three - two - one! The tournament begins!"


    The chaotic sounds around him seemed like they were being muted, and Harry had no time to look at the others; he needed to do his duty - to be more cautious, he had to scout first. So he called out from the bottom of his heart, "Accio Firebolt!"


    Waiting quietly for a while, he discerned the exact familiar sound from the surging tide of voices as a blurred shadow flew in from the direction of the castle, and he jumped up into the air as a familiar feeling of speed quieted his heart.


    I belong to the sky.


    Harry said to himself, as he made his way upward, increasing his speed to the maximum, and in just a few seconds he passed a figure, which is Professor Hap. He caught a hasty glimpse of the professor rolling his eyes at him.


    He turned the broom handle and his eyes skimmed underneath. From seven or eight hundred feet up, the dragons looked like a Salamander that Hagrid had taught in class, and he also noticed that the whole venue looked like a daffodil flower, with a dragon crouching near the center of each petal, while the champions standing on the other end of it.


    Looking down from the air, he could see that among the six groups of champions, only the group of Uagadou and Cedric started to move. The unassuming male wizard, whose name Harry couldn''t remember, other than the fact that he wore a spiky hawk-shaped hairstyle, suddenly rolled on the ground and transformed into an imposing green eagle, which flapped its wings and shot up into the sky, flying bravely toward the beautiful Antipodean Opaleye.


    A gasp echoed through the grandstand, as they got stunned by the actions of Uagadou''s student. "Animagus!" Someone shouted.


    "Not Animagus!" Bagman''s voice reached everyone''s ears, "That''s Uagadou''s unique human transfiguration, and as far as I know, all three champions can do it!"


    "Keyeww~"


    The large eagle''s bronze feathers glowed in the sunlight, and the Antipodean Opaleye perceived the threat, as her shining, colourful eyes without pupils stared intently at it as she opened her mouth to spew out a fan-shaped ball of bright red flame.


    The green eagle nimbly dodged while screeching provocatively.


    On the other hand, Cedric raised his wand, a cloud of hazy fog convergence, the scope getting wider and wider, darker and darker, and eventually forming a dark-coloured rain cloud, which rose hundreds of feet high.


    The rain pattered down and doused the sparks that came out of the Blue Swedish short-nosed dragon''s nose. Which irritated her, so she tilted her head and spewed out blue flames, her flames were so hot that even rocks could be melted, but she is only about twenty-three or twenty-four feet in size, plus her flames couldn''t reach the rain clouds overhead.


    The rain is not a big deal, but it is getting heavier and heavier, making it uncomfortable, and the Swedish short-nosed dragon grumpily wanted to move with her egg, so she tugged the chains on her feet and rattled them.


    Collins Foley did not know when she had disappeared, Harry grinned, he already had known that Cedric had chosen the most appropriate strategy.


    Harry swooped downward, glancing at Fleur''s group as they seemed to be in trouble, except for Fleur, the other two champions were stalling.


    Bagman''s narrative appeared at the right time: "Beauxbatons''s champions seem to be contradicting with each other, which they really shouldn''t be doing now ... Look at Durmstrang''s side, they''re casting dark magic from afar, but it does nothing except making the dragon more irritable... ... Oh no, look at Krum, he''s cast some magic to reduce his presence, and he''s moving closer, is he trying to grab the dragon egg just by using his legs? He should have been sitting on his broom, Durmstrang didn''t use their best advantage in their strategy!"


    At the judges'' booth, Karkaroff''s expression looked vexed, "What''s he doing? He''s bothering Krum."


    The Headmistress of Uagadou, the slim, lean witch who was seated next to him grinned, and Karkaroff looked at her angrily, "What''s so funny, your other two students are watching dryly from the sidelines!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 449+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 396: Dragon (2)

    The Uagadou''s Headmistress sat next to Madame Maxime, which formed a stark contrast, as if Madame Maxime had placed her doll next to her. The witch''s voice sounded hoarse as she said, "The last thing my students lack is courage, and the reason they didn''t move is that they got more important things to do." "Is she adding protective magic on her companion? The African way of hand gesticulations for casting spells, truly unique, like an art..." said Dumbledore with a smile as he twirled his beard.


    They all looked together at the corner of the venue.


    The leopard-tight skin-dressed witch quickly waved her arm, stirring the air, chanting under her breath, as a coloured line appeared in the air, like a rope it looped around the Uagadou champions, she grinned with a painful expression on her face, and her body froze.


    The most momentous one is the Ilvermorny team. The wands of the three champions made some kind of whistle sound, as they sent out powerful spells, red and black flames combined with swirling whirlwinds, forming spectacular compound magic.


    The powerful wind even affected the Durmstrang''s champions on the side; Krum, who had been hiding and constantly approaching the dragon, got forced to show himself, so he retreated quickly with a grim face. The Chinese Fireball Dragon had already noticed him approaching, so she kept an even closer eye on the dragon egg in the nest.


    "Why are you guys doing this!" One of Durmstrang''s champions shouted towards the side.


    "It''s allowed by the rules, one of the difficulties for the champions comes from other champions, you should know that!" Victor Graves said coldly, as he and his companion struggled to control the black whirlwind, from which flew what looked like shattered ribbons of flame, which drifted far into the area of other dragons.


    Durmstrang''s champion gritted his teeth and wanted to give him a curse, but it is not allowed by the rules.


    Harry, who had been circling the Hungarian Horntail, jerked up his broom and dodged a beautiful but dangerous black blaze of flame, and one corner of his robe turned to dust as he broke out with a cold sweat.


    He also realized the danger, the crisis on the field, he was nearly hit by a bit of a frenzied Antipodean Opaleye flame before, even the sky, shared between him and Uagadou''s Green Eagle, became more dangerous.


    He sort of forced to make room for the green eagle to tangle with the Antipodean Opaleye. While he moved closer to Beauxbatons direction, where only Fleur remained closer to the dragon, as she stood about forty feet away from it, it looked like she is casting a complex Bewitched Sleep. The dragon looked drowsy, but now and then, a few black flames flew over from the Ilvermorny venue and splashed on the Common Welsh Green Dragon, although it didn''t do much, it was enough to wake it up.


    Fleur looked at these flames with annoyance, the other two Beauxbatons champions were so out of it to help her out of trouble.


    Harry looked at the whole situation from high above and got a clear idea in his mind. If he wanted to end the game without any interference, he had to do it quickly, so he descended and spoke his mind to Ron and Hermione.


    The two have not been idle during this time, they erected a high earth wall, with a deep pit dug, which looked like a rudimentary defense site. Occasionally, Bagman would look in their direction. But probably there was nothing to say, so he quickly turned his head again.


    "The battlefield is somewhat intense, even though only two minutes had passed now ... But according to the situation, if they didn''t achieve results in half an hour, it would be difficult after that ... Oh, look, Hogwarts'' champions and Uagadou''s champions are making new moves! Could it be that they are going to cooperate? Oh my God!"


    He shouted out in shock, and everyone''s eyes were drawn to it.


    At this moment, on Cedric''s side, the Blue Swedish Short-Snout Dragon endured the rain clouds overhead to her limit, and even more excessively, a thick circle of fog enveloped the area, together with the thick curtain of rain, made the dragon''s vision blurred.


    Irritated she lowered her head, and blue flames sprayed on the chains on her feet, causing the chains to become hot, and after half a minute, the chains finally couldn''t stand the heat, so when she pulled hard it broke free.


    The Swedish Short-Snout is now free!


    Excitedly, she flapped her wings and shot straight up into the sky, stirring up the annoying rain clouds. The Swedish Short-Snout Dragon glimpsed briefly at a wizard on a broomstick and a big green eagle, but she just glanced scornfully at the huge Hungarian Horntail and didn''t go over, as she just spewed flames over the cloud.


    Then she turned around and swooped through the fog, the annoying wizard is gone from her sight, and there is a goat in that place, and she happened to be a little hungry. The Swedish Short-Snout Dragon glanced at her dragon''s nest, feeling a bit threatened; She then flew to the nest and grabbed the egg with her hind legs, intending to place them in a safe place before going to catch the goat. But just as it flew up from the ground, she heard someone chant an incantation and a patch of blackthorns appeared abruptly from a dozen feet away and flew towards her.


    Her dragon eyes widened, and in the blink of an eye, these blackthorns crawled up her paws and onto her blue scales, wings, and neck. She struggled and fluttered her wings as the blackthorns splintered like cookies, but more blackthorns kept rising up.


    The hateful wizard who had disappeared earlier reappeared and chanted a spell at her. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy!" Cedric shouted.


    With the blackthorns that Roger Davies had spawned with Herbivicus Charm, the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon became temporarily immobilized in midair, so he could recklessly chanted the spell, as a red light struck its unprotected abdomen area.


    The Swedish Short-Snout Dragon felt drowsy, flapping her wings randomly, struggling by instinct, unknowingly already close to the vicinity of Uagadou''s area. At this time, out of nowhere, a bright silver tail with a multicoloured glow flew out and slapped her head directly.


    Now, she finally couldn''t hold on and fell from midair, hitting the ground hard and lifting a cloud of dust.


    But she is still conscious. Carefully clutching the egg on her left foot, then she turned her neck and spewed the blue flames in the direction of Cedric and Roger Davies, who had to move away from her.


    At that time, the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon felt her left foot being nipped by a mosquito, which she didn''t care about as she just spewed flames bitingly. Then a numbness arose, she halted, bewildered to see her claws somehow loosened, as her Egg rolled to the side.


    Did she run out of strength? She thought in wonder, but she immediately opened her mouth wide, not to spew out flames, but in utter astonishment.


    Her little one ... actually grew legs and ran further and further away?


    Collins Foley in the state of Disillusionment Charm had waited for her chance, she had always been good at casting Nonverbal spells, and during this time, she had repeatedly practiced the Disillusionment Charm and the Summoning Charm just for this opportunity.


    God knows how she felt when the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon grabbed the egg, but she trusted her companion and followed the plan to hide until the dragon was locked by Roger Davies'' Blackthorn, and she used the Nonverbal "Relashio" spell a dozen times before the dragon let go of her claws.


    She held the dragon egg and with her each step her heart thumped, and that sound seemed to resonate with her whole being. She finally escaped from the most dangerous place. Then, when she turned around, she saw Cedric and Roger Davies chanting a stunning spell against the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon.


    She threw the dragon egg far away and trotted back, and when she touched her body, she found that her wand is missing, crap, she must have dropped it just now. The venue is too chaotic, and dusty, she looked left and right as she found a gray stick that looked like an Uagadou student''s wand, she bent down to pick it up and smashed it hard against the back of the dragon''s head.


    "Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!"


    Not sure how long it took, but Roger Davies stopped her, "Stop hitting it! Hit it again, it''ll wake up." Collins froze, only to find that the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon had passed out.


    She sat down on the floor with a plop.


    Bagman''s voice shouted excitedly, "Look, the first successful team appeared, they not only got the dragon egg but also knocked out the dragon, extra points, we must give them some extra points!"


    The thunderous applause and cheers arose from the grandstand, with deafening shouts and screams.


    "Where did you get that stick in your hand, you applied a transfiguration spell on your own wand? Why does it look so familiar?" Roger Davies wondered.


    Collins stared at him blankly and pointed in the direction of the Uagadou team smoothly.


    Roger and Cedric inclined their heads, and their expressions also became dumbstruck. Beside the Antipodean Opaleye, a huge African elephant appeared at some point, which is only ten feet tall, less than half the length of the dragon, but with the help of his teammates, he still seized the opportunity to stomp the dragon under his feet and kept trampling as if he had gone crazy.


    "Oh my God!" Roger Davies said in disbelief.


    "Yeah, the dragon is going to go wild ..." Cedric said.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 449+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 397: Dragon (3)

    Cedric''s hunch is right, the Antipodean Opaleye is relatively gentle by nature, but with a green eagle constantly provoking her first, and then a leopard after that, she couldn''t stand it no matter how good-tempered she is. But before she could do anything, a burly wizard ran up to her feet, though he is not small, it still depends on who he is compared to.


    She stuck out her claw to crush him, but he morphed right in front of her eyes, turning into an African elephant that is half her size, and then accelerated rapidly towards her. A long tusk struck against her scales, and the tremendous amount of momentum knocked her slightly out of position, and the next thing she knew there was a sharp pain in the joint of her wings--


    That thing stepped on ME!


    The Antipodean Opaleye slumped down as the elephant added more force, first by furiously stomping on the dragon''s head, snuffing out the flames that were still brewing, and then jumping onto the vulnerable wing and trampling it repeatedly.


    Dragon Egg? She is no longer concerned with the dragon egg, the great her now wants to tear apart this large elephant that appeared out of nowhere, with one bite at a time.


    "Eliphandy! It''s time to withdraw!"


    The female warrior from Uagadou shouted, reverting from her leopard form to human form and holding the dragon egg in her arms, but Eliphandy got trapped, one of the dragon''s claws gripping his elephant leg with a death grip, the magic glow on the elephant leg kept flickering and then quickly became dim, the previous protection magic is rapidly weakening.


    The green eagle in the sky swooped down and saw in his sight that the broomstick-riding wizard who had been cooperating with the burning Fire Phoenix suddenly disappeared, he didn''t think much of it, as he reverted to his human form and cast a quick spell in the moment of falling -


    Conjunctivitis Curse! It is the same strategy as Krum''s, only his action is riskier.


    There were gasps from the grandstand, and it looked like he is about to fall to the ground -


    But at the last moment, he quickly morphed in the air, wings flapping, brushing against the surface and pulling his body up, twisting his head in an arc in midair to observe the results of the battle.


    The effect was minimal!


    Opaleye howled in pain, flames spewed out indiscriminately, and Cedric''s group went far away to avoid it, happily leaving the venue with the dragon egg.


    Uagadou''s other side, Harry, Ron, and Hermione relied on the speed of the firebolt, illumination''s blindness, and the golden fire bird''s undaunted sacrificial attack to annoy the Hungarian Horntail, which made her take a few steps forward, with one foot out of the dragon''s nest.


    Harry seized this opportunity, as he directly used the Apparition - this is already inside the forbidden forest, not influenced by the school - his figure suddenly appeared at the Hungarian Horntail''s feet, as soon as he grabbed the dragon''s egg, his feet stomped on the ground to fly away with the help of the broom.


    But a spiky tail swept over, Harry gritted his teeth, holding a firebolt in one hand, and the egg in the other hand, he used the Apparition again. When he reappeared, he was already standing next to Ron and Hermione. s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron struggled to control the pillar of light in his hand to blind the Hungarian Horntail''s eyes, Hermione''s face is drenched in sweat, and her eyes could barely stay open, "Let''s get out of here!" Harry shouted, he noticed his shoulder scraped with a bloody gash, he could not remember whether this was the result of the sharp spikes on the tail of the Hungarian Horntail or the Apparition Splinching, but he just kept urging them to move forward.


    The trio kept stumbling forward, but a blue flame came from the diagonal, Ron lunged forward, and they dove into a deep pit, watching the blue flame sweeping overhead with palpitations, "Th-at was closee." Ron said.


    Waiting quietly for a moment, Harry tried to lift his head to look. "Don''t!" Ron stopped him, "The dragon up there is crazy, we can leave through the ground!" So they began to chant a Gouging Spell to dig a hole through the ground. The trio was not slow, so they soon dug out a tunnel.


    "Almost there." Ron gauged.


    They raised their wands upwards, and the ground broke open with a large hole, and when they looked up, they saw Dumbledore''s smiling face peering from the judges'' gallery.


    Harry climbed out somewhat sardonically, grimacing and feeling a bit humiliated; they are probably the first champions who dug a tunnel, right?


    "You have done well." Dumbledore said, " being the second to succeed."


    "But Uagadou ..."


    "Ah, they ran into a bit of trouble." Dumbledore said.


    At the venue, Uagadou''s champions did run into trouble, that transfigured African elephant is firmly grasped by the Opaleye, what''s even scarier is that she has broken free from the spell''s effect and focused her head on her prey.


    The other two champions are totally helpless, they waved their hands and recited a spell, but the Dragon just swayed her head, and the spell hit her circular scales, similar to a mosquito bite, without much effect.


    The Antipodean Opaleye opened her mouth and the flames gathered into a great mass, this time the flames in her mouth became even more vivid in colour, and they seemed to have heard the sound of magma flowing -


    "Thumb!" A blazing red light came down from the sky and hit Opaleye squarely in the head.


    "It is the safety officer who stepped in and judged that Uagadou''s champion was in a death threat - he stopped the dragon, which will likely impact their score - Uagadou was the second team to get the dragon''s egg after Hogwarts! But this blunder might affect their ranking!" Bagman explained loudly.


    Other staff on the scene quickly approach, the red light dissipated, the Antipodean Opaleye has fainted, and with that, the elephant went back to its human form. A lot of skin on his body is burned, looking very frightening.


    "Beware, in addition to the flames, the strength of the dragon is also incredibly great, few magical creatures can rival it." Bagman said as an afterthought.


    "That''s very nice to hear." Near the grandstand, Ron grunted in dissatisfaction.


    There are still three teams left at the venue, Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny, and Durmstrang. After a few minutes, the situation became clear -


    Beauxbatons''s three champions, Fleur is obviously their main force, their strategy is to rely on her magic to hypnotize the green dragon, then one will protect, and the other will quietly get the dragon egg. But the problem is that these three teams are close to each other, so the other two are affected by the Ilvermorny team in the middle.


    Durmstrang''s situation is a little better at this point, Krum seized the opportunity to hit the dragon''s eyes twice in a row, making it completely crazy. However, the problem they encountered was how to retrieve the shattered pieces of the dragon''s Egg from under the feet of the frenzied dragon.


    They weren''t sure if they should continue, the task was to bring back the egg and escape from the dragon without any problems. And now that the egg was broken, they felt they had to get at least one or two of the larger pieces back.


    But in addition to dodging the frenzied dragon, they had to watch out for the black whirlwind of flames that kept expanding more and more - magic that the Ilvermorny''s champions no longer seemed to be able to control, nevertheless they kept the magic running strong.


    "Byers, don''t stop me!" Victor Graves shouted laboriously, "If you can''t get the dragon egg, then let''s stop others from getting it."


    Byers turned red and didn''t say anything, just silently fought with Graves for control of the magic.


    The biggest problem for the Ilvermorny was that they lacked a way to get close to the dragon, and at the same time, their magic is not powerful enough to completely defeat the Hebridean Black dragon. The black dragon could also see this, so she just breathed out flames from afar, and looked at them with a pair of bright purple eyes.


    Every now and then, she showed off her spine by displaying a row of not deep but razor-sharp ridges, which, of course, implies warning in the wild.


    The whirlwind laced with the black dragon''s flame became more difficult to control, and at this point, they were already riding the tiger.


    Originally, they wanted to use the Might of powerful magic to scare the enemy, who knew that the enemy would simply not care about it. Graves was forced to come up with a crooked idea, which was to interfere with the other teams.


    The three teams that were directly across him, which he could not reach, so he could only deal with the two close-by teams, so Beauxbatons and Durmstrang suffered from bad luck.


    Karkaroff and Madame Maxime anxiously jumped to their feet and stared at the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, who had a serious face, a face that remained fixed for a full ten minutes, until Ilvermorny''s team completely lost control of their magic and a black rain of flame fell from the sky.


    The Dragon Keepers and the staff of the Ministry of Magic stepped forward to protect them, but Durmstrang and the champions of Beauxbatons declined their help, and Fleur barely managed to extinguish the flames on her body and seized the opportunity to cast hypnotic magic again.


    And at that moment, Durmstrang''s Krum also finally took advantage of the chaos to grab the two pieces of dragon eggs and stumbled out.


    Only Beauxbatons''s champions were left on the scene.


    The other dragons who had lost their eggs roared, making the venue even noisier. After several attempts, the Welsh Green''s eyelids drooped off but did not fall completely asleep, and if she had encountered this situation in the past, she would have continued to try.


    But now only their team is left in the whole venue, as the captain of the team, her heart is burning with urgency. She winked toward her other two team members, but they were originally afraid of the dragon, so how would they dare to step forward when they saw Welsh green dragon sneezing loudly and spewing out a narrow flame.


    With no choice, Fleur had to go on her own, she approached carefully, as the Hebridean Black and the Hungarian Horntail on either side tilted their heads to look at her; watching this everyone else broke out in a cold sweat for Fleur.


    The grandstand fell into a dreadful silence, and Harry couldn''t help but admire the witch''s courage, even though she usually seemed rather proud and called him a little boy ...


    Felix hovered down from the high altitude, and when the Hungarian Horntail which had been interested in Fleur noticed him, she lowered her head to the ground and behaved herself. Felix scratched his head, wondering if it counted as interfering with the competition ... but he didn''t anticipate this situation either, with only one team left, it made sense for him to focus on this side.


    Finally, Fleur got the dragon''s egg and hurried back, the effects of the magic fading quickly as the Welsh green dragon sneezed loudly, eyes half-open, a small cluster of fire staining her clothes as she quickly recited the Extinguishing Spell.


    On the way back, a wall of fire blocked her way, it is the Hebridean Black Dragon. The wisdom of this dragon is not that low, she merely stopped Fleur, and the Welsh green dragon finally got rid of the spell, and staring at Fleur with her huge eyes, the flame in her mouth is ready to be fired.


    Fleur threw the dragon egg out, "Take it and take it away!" She shouted while holding up the shield charm.


    The magical barrier melted like ice, she smelled the scorching smell of her hair, then a cold breath spread throughout her body, she saw a blood-red shield in front of her, looking up, Felix calmly extended his wand.


    The dragon keepers stepped forward together, and chanted the Extinguishing Spell in unison, as the flames burning on the venue quickly extinguished.


    "Well, the last team has finished the game! Although it is a pity, there is no doubt that they got the dragon egg, and this champion''s dedication might offset the minus point from the safety officer''s intervention ... She looks a little injured, please send the staff to take her to the tent to receive treatment, and the judges need to discuss a little before scoring."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 451+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 398: Projection Technology ( 2 in 1 )

    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stayed behind to watch the match, which was still the result of their begging because Professor McGonagall kept urging them to go to the makeshift tent to receive treatment. "I''m fine, Professor McGonagall." Harry said, at this point he took the Essence of Dittany from Hermione''s hand and applied it to his wound, the bleeding quickly stopped.


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and stared at him for a few moments, and while she did so, Harry hurriedly lowered his head and chanted a healing spell on himself - one of the spells he had learned, as Professor Hap hinted that some basic spells would be used as promotion criteria in their new school year - and he felt an itch in his wound, and he couldn''t resist reaching out to touch it; that when Professor McGonagall''s stern gaze glanced over again, so he had to put his hand down, while Ron laughed out loud from the sidelines.


    "Well, after watching the competition, you ... have to go to Madam Pomfrey''s for an examination, OK?" Professor McGonagall said, glancing at Ron and Hermione, who didn''t look half hurt except for the dirty, dusty look on their bodies and faces.


    Harry reassured her again and again before Professor McGonagall left, at that point, Harry noticed his wounds had tightened up.


    "I''ve never noticed such a useful spell." Harry said in amazement.


    "Oh, this spell can only treat some small wounds, and if you are planning to become a healer, you would realize that there are so many things to learn." Hermione said as she tucked the vial with the Essence of Dittany into her pocket.


    "Who in their right mind would want to become a healer?" Ron muttered, then he noticed both Harry and Hermione looking at him: "I mean, you have to deal with a lot of weird cases every day ... I should have told you guys that Bill had a pen pal from Brazil when he was in school, and because he couldn''t afford to pay for a visit, the pen pal sent him a hat with a curse on it ... Anyway, his ears wrinkled more than a house-elf and Mom had to take him on a trip to the hospital ... I was five or six at the time, St. Mungo''s made a big impression on me that time, which I still remember."


    He frowned, a look of disgust heaped on his face.


    "I remember the wizard. ... The man with an extra arm on his chest, the witch who thought she was a kangaroo and could only jump - how strange, there are no kangaroos in England! I also remember an unlucky man whose chest was pierced by some sort of creature, the wound kept bleeding, and when the healer cleaned him, the smell was awful uhh ..."


    Harry and Hermione who listened felt some psychological discomfort.


    When the competition ended, Professor McGonagall''s imposing gaze immediately looked over, without waiting for the three to react, she appeared next to them as if she had used an Apparition, and immediately walked them to the temporary tent quietly.


    "Potter," Harry turned his head as he heard Professor McGonagall addressing them, "Granger and Weasley, ... you guys did a great job!" She pursed her lips and said in a surprisingly gentle tone, "Go to the tent, Madam Pomfrey is waiting for you ... maybe you can get back in time before the judge scoring."


    As they passed the grandstand, the crowd called out their names enthusiastically, and a huge arm dangled from the stand, and it was Hagrid, who said excitedly, "You did it! Excellent, you faced the most ferocious Hungarian Horntail--"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s faces blossomed with a smile, and they took turns to high-five Hagrid, then Ron said as he felt like he was floating, "Oh ... it wasn''t really that hard ..."


    At the makeshift wooden gate, Sirius excitedly swooped them up and gave them a hug.


    "You guys are the best team I''ve ever seen!"


    ...


    Meanwhile, a heated discussion is going on in the judges'' gallery on the high platform, as the seven judges exchange opinions on the performance of the six teams.


    "Isn''t the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon a little too weak?" Karkaroff questioned.


    "Not at all-" Bagman countered, "You saw it! Its flames melted the special chains made by the dragon sanctuary, and it has to be the strongest of all dragons ... Felix, you''re the safety officer and the one who has the best view from high up, so tell them!"


    He asked Felix, as the last line of defense, although Felix does not have the power to score, but he got invited over, in the name of "providing details that others can not see."


    "Actually, except for the Hungarian Horntail, the other five dragons are pretty much equal," Felix said, scratching his chin, "If you insist on comparing them, the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon is considered more superior, at least its flame is extremely hot... ... From what I''ve seen, everyone on the team has done their respective tasks brilliantly."


    "Cedric Diggory''s weather magic made the dragon violent and irrational, as evident by the fact that it later broke free and chose to scatter the rain clouds first instead of attacking the champions... Roger Davies also launched his trap with great timing, and disillusionment charm isn''t his best forte, so in order to avoid being discovered, he didn''t move much in the early stages, but his role in the team was crucial-"


    Felix smiled and said, "He belonged to the rescue and backup role."


    "If the Dragon went berserk and attacked Diggory, Davies had to step in decisively to restrain it, and he deserves credit for what he has done in that sticky situation, where he spawned the Blackthorn ... with a brilliant Herbivicus Charm just as the Dragon flew off the ground ... As for Collins Foley, she didn''t make many moves, but you should be able to see the patience, courage, and trust she showed in her teammates throughout the competition, as she crouched under the feet of that Swedish Short-Snout Dragon for at least two minutes, and a slight accident in the middle would probably have prevented her from escaping."


    None of the judges in the room lacked eyesight, and Felix was just putting the facts out there.


    They quickly finished their discussion and prepared to score, when Felix suddenly spoke up, "The purpose of the competition is to select the best young wizards from different schools, by allowing them to compete on the same stage, participate in the trials, with the hope that they will show the courage that wizards respect in difficult tasks... Judges, I suggest that When giving specific scores, it would be best for the judges to comment on a few things, and let the champions be aware of their strengths and weaknesses ..."


    The judges looked at each other blankly. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Wouldn''t it be too much of a drag?" Bagman said with some bewilderment, "We have had no plans for this process ... However, it is not impossible ..."


    "As a Headmaster, I certainly want to see the champions to gain something during this year." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    Fudge looked at the other judges with a hesitant expression, "What do you think?"


    " It''s a good idea." Madame Maxime stated as she didn''t find anything wrong with it, instead, she found it very encouraging.


    "I also acknowledge this proposal. Uagadou''s students should know their shortcomings to not make the same mistakes a second time." The Headmistress of Uagadou, the slim, lean witch stated, sitting cross-legged on a flying carpet as if she had stepped out of a comic book.


    In fact, the British Ministry of Magic had banned the creation and sale of flying carpets, but she merely used it herself and is a foreigner, so Fudge pretended not to see it.


    "Your remarks are wise, Ms. Nagy." Felix slightly bowed.


    One by one, judges agreed, and they retook their seats at the judges'' table, ready to score. Felix left the high platform as he smiled at Karkaroff - who didn''t look that happy.


    "Ahem! Silence-" Bagman said loudly as the crowd in the grandstand gradually quieted down, "Next up is the judges'' scoring, and in order for the champions to know more than just a score bestowed upon them, each judge will give some impartial comments."


    "Please allow me to recap the entire competition first. As a matter of fact, many of you may not have had a chance to get a glimpse of the whole tournament, after all, there were too many exciting images for your eyes to take in ... Now I will mention the team in the order they obtained the dragon egg."


    "The first team that I would like to mention is the champions from Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory, Roger Davies, and Collins Foley, who picked up the Dragon Egg in the shortest possible time and defeated the Dragon without suffering any injuries.


    The second team that got the dragon egg was the Uagadou''s champions, Nona Leibert brought out the dragon egg with a wonderful leopard transfiguration, but of course, their strategy was a bit aggressive, which leads a team member to get trapped by the dragon, resulting in the safety officer interfering in the competition, which might be a minus point. Nevertheless, they still showed us a great game.


    The third team that got the dragon egg, also from Hogwarts, is the youngest, still in the fourth year, but they performed very well, they are the only two teams that got the dragon egg as well as successfully got away from the dragon.


    The fourth team to get the dragon egg was Durmstrang, although they only managed to grab a few pieces.


    the fifth team to get the dragon egg was Beauxbatons, Miss Delacour was so courageous that she threw the Dragon Egg to her teammates at the most critical moment, but got into trouble herself and had to use the safety officer''s protection.


    The last team is Ilvermorny, uh, they didn''t get the dragon egg, but it''s a matter of tactics, and their compound magic is still very eye-catching ..."


    Bagman gave a general overview of the six teams'' performance, allowing the audience to replay it in their minds as they talked about it. At this time, the champions from the background came back one by one, and after waiting for a while, he said in a loud voice, "So, please let''s request the judges to score the first team!"


    Harry squinted at the judges'' gallery, and the first judge, Madame Maxime, raised her wand, and a long ribbon-like strand emerged from the tip, twisting to form a number "10".


    Madame Maxime commented, "This Hogwarts team fully demonstrated the qualities that champions must have - courage, wisdom, loyalty, trust - and for this trial, their performance was impeccable, so I give them ten points."


    Her fair statement earned her a round of applause.


    "Maybe they''ll get a perfect score." Ron clapped his hands and said as the sixth judge also gave a ten, "I hope we''re not too far behind, by all accounts, we didn''t do that badly, did we?"


    Harry nodded vigorously while looking at the last judge, as Karkaroff slowly raised his wand and a silver ribbon twisted to form the number "7".


    Everyone in the audience looked a little confused and couldn''t believe their eyes. They were all ready to welcome the first team with a perfect score, but now it all turned out to be a shame, the number seven is so blinding.


    "Karkaroff ..." on the high platform, Bagman looked at him hesitantly.


    Karkaroff said in his characteristic mellow, greasy voice: " What you see as courage, I see as recklessness, there was no need for them to knock out that dragon, it would have been a potential danger ..."


    But before he could finish his sentence, someone in the crowd shouted, "Bollocks!" Seamus was the one who shouted, Karkaroff''s icy gaze glanced over, but Seamus bravely met his eyes and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Everyone understood what was going on, that was the best option at the time!"


    A chorus of approving voices echoed to his point.


    "I stand by my opinion." Karkaroff said.


    "Well," Bagman grunted twice, "each judge has the right to score independently ... This gives Hogwarts a total of 67 points for this team, which temporarily ranks them as first, and I believe the latter will have a hard time catching up, but it''s not certain ... let''s continue ..."


    ...


    Ultimately, Harry and his team got 61 points and ranked second - Ludo Bagman enthusiastically praised the youngest champions and gave full marks without mincing words. Uagadou''s Champions got 53 points and ranked third; Durmstrang got 50 points and ranked fourth; Beauxbatons got 48 points and ranked fifth, and finally, Ilvermorny got 23 points.


    What has become more controversial is the ranking of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, as no one expected that while a group of judges gave six or seven points, Karkaroff shamelessly raised ten points, which drew an uproar.


    You know, although Bagman gave Harry''s team a 10 points, but it was also under the circumstances where a group of nine points was given as a base, although it was abrupt, but it was not a big problem, it only showed that Bagman especially favoured the young and controversial champions, while what Karkaroff did was blatant cheating.


    After the scoring was over, the champions and judges regrouped in the makeshift tent and waited to receive information about the second trial. Felix prepared to leave when Bagman enthusiastically stopped him, "Don''t rush off, Felix, there''s something I want to discuss with you ..."


    Outside, the sound of passing footsteps and discussions continued as Harry sat on the side, dazed with boredom - after escaping from the feet of the dragon, he now felt all lazy.


    "... that eccentric old bat, he gave his school champions ten points, ten points! Ha, shouldn''t a broken dragon egg require a deduction?"


    "If I were him, I would be too ashamed to see anyone!"


    The sound of heated conversation boomed from outside, and Harry looked up, blinking twice as he recognized the two voices as Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas. He wondered if his two roommates were deliberately snarky since Karkaroff had only given their team a six.


    In the tent, Karkaroff''s face turned blue, but he held back from saying a word as a bunch of strange stares were directed at him.


    Felix smacked his lips: "Although it''s normal for the headmaster to favour his champions, it''s still rare for ''favouritism'' to reach this level ... Maybe the scoring rules should be made more transparent."


    "We will seriously consider it." Bagman immediately said cooperatively.


    Ten minutes later, the sound of footsteps outside became sparse, and the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, stood up and rubbed his stomach, the jewelled ring on his thick fingers shining brightly. As he said enthusiastically, "I would like to congratulate all the champions for passing the first trial, I noticed that some teams did not do well, but there are still some more opportunities to do so later ... I will introduce the second trial, originally it was intended for Barty to be here, but he took a long leave, probably because he was too tired from working on two big successive projects, so I have to postpone the meeting with the Austrian Minister of Magic ..."


    No one showed much interest in his boring work log, but he still spoke for the full ten minutes, from the Austrian Minister of Magic''s bizarre oral fetish to the head of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers''s crucible teapot - he seemed to be trying to add a little humour in his speech, but apparently failed to do so.


    "Kingsley!" He shouted.


    A tall, dark-skinned man came in from outside the tent, holding two golden eggs, one in each hand.


    "The second trial will be held on the morning of February 24 of the coming year, so you can rest for a while till then." Fudge said, "The golden eggs you are holding are the clues to the second trial, see the crack? They can be opened, you need to decode the message that was left inside, and to be honest, I''m not sure whether I''ll be here when the second trial takes place, maybe by then Barty will be recuperated, but I might come over to get together, and feel younger with the best group of international wizards ... "


    He waved his hand, and Kingsley controlled the two golden eggs as they flew toward the Durmstrang and Ilvermorny''s Champions.


    When Krum and Byers received the golden egg, both of them had a somewhat ashamed expression. Among the six teams, they were the only ones who failed to get their intact dragon egg.


    "Ludo, I''ll leave the rest to you." Fudge said to Bagman, who nodded toward the crowd, "Sorry, there''s too much going on in the ministry, I''ll go first."


    When everyone else had left, Ludo Bagman finally had time to speak with Felix alone, then he pulled over a chair and sat down next to Felix''s single couch.


    "There are two things that concern you." He said impatiently, "The first matter involves unique magic of yours, and I would like to inquire about its effects, which may be used in a second trail ... The second matter is about your ''Future World'' company. "


    Felix froze and looked at him with probing eyes, "Have you approached Remus? He''s in charge of the company now."


    "Approached," Bagman''s face looked a bit saddened: "But he said he couldn''t decide it, so I had to come and request you ..."


    "Do you want me to donate a sum of money?"


    "Oh, no, of course not, I heard that Remus is organizing people to develop projection technology? As you know, Barty took a leave of absence, and now the burden is totally on me, so I have to do some brave innovations in order to make the tournament more enjoyable. That''s part of the valor, don''t you think?"


    Felix thought quickly.


    He knew about the projection technology, and he was the one who had scheduled it, drawing inspiration from the Omnioculars that had been used in the Quidditch World Cup, a gadget that utilized a very interesting kind of magic to temporarily store images.


    Felix''s requirement for the Future World research team is to imitate the function of television and make something similar. He mentioned some concepts of signal towers and transmitters, moreover, there is a magic radio for reference, the progress is not slow, but exactly how far that has reached, he did not have time to ask those detailed questions.


    "Don''t be in a hurry to refuse," Bagman looked at Felix in deep thought, couldn''t help but say: "It will be an excellent advertisement, and the Ministry promised to pay a rent, of course ...it''s not possible to buy it out, the Budget I control is limited."


    "If it''s a normal business deal, I can''t think of a reason why Remus would refuse." Felix said slowly.


    "Ahem, he thought I was a loudmouth, so he was trying to keep the progress of the research a secret ..." Bagman looked away awkwardly.


    "Well, I''ll ask for you."


    "So the first thing is ..." Bagman explained in detail.


    After a moment of consideration -


    "I think this is the kind of competition that would be entertaining enough for me." Felix said with his arms clasped as his eyes lit up.


    -------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chapter, so there will be only 1 chapter tomorrow.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 451+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 399: Celebration

    Felix walked out of the makeshift tent, gazing through the crude pillars of the grandstand, and from a distance, he spotted several moving figures, among them Hagrid''s gruff voice is well recognizable. He walked over and watched as the big, burly Hagrid holding a bundle of tangled chains, which fell with a "thud" in the vacant space next to the blue Swedish Short-Snout Dragon; then Charlie raised his wand and the chains rose up like a snake as it swam next to the dragon - which is still unconscious, snorting two sparks from her nostrils from time to time - "click!" and the chain latched onto her ankle.


    "There," Charlie wiped his sweat, "Hagrid, you''d better step back ..."


    "But... She''s just sleeping soundly." Hagrid said, stroking the spikes on the Swedish Short-Snout Dragon''s head with a look of infatuation.


    "Felix," Charlie greeted as he walked over, looking at Hagrid with some helplessness on his face, "If she''s hunting in her dream ... then it won''t be pleasant to deal with her."


    Felix looked around, a few conscious dragons growled lightly, there are still a lot of staff left in the venue, after they took off their fireproof helmets, there are quite a few familiar faces here.


    "When are you guys planning to leave? There should be a celebration in the evening."


    Charlie looked up and pondered seriously, "Will be staying tonight, not because of the celebration ... it''s a task that Mum assigned, she told me to make sure I talk to Ron and the guys to confirm nothing is wrong with their young minds."


    "Mrs. Weasley is worried?"


    "Ah, how can I put it, she''s flustered as it is ..." he mimicked his mother''s anxious voice: "How can they compete in a tournament of champions? They are all too young! Little Ronnie even got bitten by a gnome when he was cleaning the garden and cried like a baby ..."


    The next second, his face became serious, as he said solemnly: "We are afraid to tell her the truth, fortunately, there is not much description in the newspaper, she flipped through the newspaper without seeing much useful information, and then found a lot of gossips - Dad was happy that her attention was diverted, and she discussed Whether Krum had secretly changed his age ... as a joke."


    Felix laughed silently as Mrs. Weasley''s chattering, and worried face already appeared in his mind.


    "Looks like she doesn''t know about the dragon part."


    He approached the black Hungarian Horntail, which slumped down somewhat comically, dangling her huge, hideous head without showing the arrogance of her race, even her yellow eyes had become much softer.


    "Don''t shoot your breath at me." Felix muttered, patting the spikes on her head, "I didn''t realize you are a female dragon. Didn''t you recognize that it wasn''t your actual egg you were protecting before?"


    The Hungarian Horntail wheezed twice, her breath curling up the dust on the ground as she looked around at the staff with displeasure.


    "Oh, it seems they not only snatched your egg but also used a Confundus Charm on you, how awful ..." he said as he moved closer to the Hungarian Horntail''s neck and observed one of the dark, shiny scales.


    He had transferred the Ministry of Magic''s confidentiality contract upon it, and now that the competition was over, the effect of the contract had disappeared.


    "We didn''t rob her of her egg." Charlie said, and from his angle, he could only see half of Felix''s body, as if he had been eaten by the dragon in one bite, so he couldn''t help but smack his lips, "Tch! What a great relationship."


    "Going to the castle?" Before leaving, Felix asked.


    "When I''m done, I''m going to stop by the Owlery first and write home to tell Mom everything that happened today." His face suddenly scrunched up, "Maybe not ''everything'', at least I won''t say how big she is."


    He said as he pointed to the massive Hungarian Horntail, to which the dragon glanced at him disdainfully.


    Felix and a reluctant Hagrid headed back, Hagrid walked more slowly with one step at a time even with a Bigfeet than Felix.


    "Is the Firetrail Snail okay?" Felix asked.


    "It''s okay, but a bunch died, had too much lettuce ...," Hagrid said without thinking, and immediately turned his head to look when he heard the hissing of the dragon.


    "Do they hibernate?"


    "Oh, uh ... hibernate?" Hagrid looked at him blankly in return, "That''s a question I hadn''t thought of ..." he mused, "Although Sphinx doesn''t hibernate, fire crabs do. You''re right, I should prepare for that earlier."


    Felix nodded, he did not care about the Firetrail Snail, he just wanted to divert Hagrid''s attention.


    The Firetrail Snail is bred out of the two different snail artificially. There are actually quite a few creatures of this type in the magical world, but not many of them can survive stably, and most of the creatures born because of the wizard''s involvement are often submerged in time, with only those old magical journals bearing traces of their existence.


    The two parted near Hagrid''s hut.


    When he entered the castle, the great hall bustled with people from all four houses, singing joyfully as if it were a holiday, accompanied by "crackling" firecrackers bursting, forming a moving image of "medieval wizards fighting dragons".


    A loud cheer rang out from the crowd.


    The six champions are surrounded by students, looking uncomfortable, with Cedric smiling coyly and Roger Davies holding a goblet in the style of holding wine, talking to Collins, who is sitting quietly, occasionally fixing her flowing hair. Not far from them, Harry and Hermione sat at the long Gryffindor table eating their food quickly - they are starving, as they listened to Ron colourfully telling stories at the dining table, holding a strawberry tart in his hand.


    Felix looked at the time, it is obviously not a mealtime, it should be that the students ransacked the Hogwarts kitchen.


    The Weasley twins were standing with their best friend Lee Jordan. Fred kept rubbing his hands together as George desperately tried to stop him, "Think about it, we''re going to be the public enemy of the whole school."


    Lee Jordan also squeezed his eyes at him, gesturing towards Professor Hap behind him.


    Fred looked back and grinned, "Okay." He had to give up the extremely tempting idea as he had to put away the Dungbomb in his hand.


    Then he pulled out a bag of custard cookies almost as if by magic, "How about trying this? We have a duty to brighten up the atmosphere, Zonko''s fireworks are so old-fashioned."


    "Wanna give it a try, Professor?"


    Felix twirled a cookie, looked at it twice, and out of it flew a beautiful canary that circled the three of them twice and quickly disappeared.


    "It tastes a bit strange, is it because of the added magic?" He asked with a smirk.


    The twins scowled as they pulled Lee Jordan, who was trying to explain stiffly, and darted away. They made their way through the crowd, putting some cookies in every table as a trap, then squeezed into Harry''s group and handed it to Ron, who was gleefully describing his journey.


    "Oh, thanks--" Ron took the cookie without looking at it and took a bite: "Where was I? The Hungarian Horntail spewed fire - Hermione''s Phoenix and Harry were circling it, and it was terrifying, so I said to myself that something had to be done, and I calmed down and recited a powerful spell -"


    "Did you mean the illumination magic?" Fred laughed out loud, "By my count, there are at least twenty people in the school who know this magic."


    "That''s not the same!" Ron argued, "Sitting comfortably on a cushion chanting a spell is completely different from doing it under the eye of a dragon, I mean - it''s at least sixty feet tall!"


    Just then, he suddenly turned into a big canary and sat on the long Gryffindor table, startling the crowd.


    "It''s a canary cookie ...," Hermione said as she took a quick look.


    "How do you know?" Harry asked, looking with great interest at the big canary, which turned its head back and forth dully, making everyone laugh.


    "Fred and George have posted small ads in the common room." Hermione said.


    After half a minute, Ron began to lose his feathers, after the spell lost its effect he blushed and stammered, "You two ... be careful I will hex you ..."


    "Oh ~ after confronting the dragon there''s no difference, only brave enough to speak harshly ... So, how about continuing your story with the dragon, Mr. Champion? We are all very curious." Fred bowed and asked courteously.


    "I am not just a talker!" Ron exclaimed.


    Filch stayed in the corner with Mrs Norris, curling his fingers as he debated whether to stop them - but there are too many of them with almost the whole school present. Professor Flitwick, who also standing on the sidelines, said with understanding, "Let the students have fun and celebrate, and I''ll remind them to clean up."


    Felix walked next to Snape, whose expression looked very similar to the polished armour next to him, which looked out of place with the cheerful atmosphere.


    "They''re doing well, aren''t they? There are Slytherin House students are here as well."


    "Do you want me to write a letter of appreciation, Felix?" Snape said, tucking his arms into his black cloak as he said so.


    Felix grunted something that sounded like, "I hope so."


    "I heard Moody turned your office upside down?"


    "Our Headmaster gave him the right," Snape said quietly, looking at the sudden appearance of a ''canary'' in the great hall with a disgusted expression, "and you can''t avoid it, so you''d better hide your filthy things. ... Mad-Eye Moody not only has good eyes, but also a good nose."


    "Oh, I will." Felix said with a very bright smile. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 453+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 400: Hourglass

    Felix looked around and didn''t notice any sign of Moody. Indeed, this environment is not suitable for him to appear, otherwise, he will turn every single little wizard within sight into a corresponding house creature simply because of blowing up a firecracker near him.


    Well ... for a moment he imagined a scene where the little lions, snakes, badgers, and eagles were wildly darting around the great hall, and the house elves rushed over carrying a food basket to carry them away one by one ...


    "Haha, cute and comical!"


    "Are you talking about the dog? Very comical indeed ..."


    Snape''s eyes glinted with malice, so Felix looked over along his line of sight and to his surprise he saw a large black dog sneaking around somehow, taking a cutlet from the table and lying in the corner staring at Harry.


    Upon noticing their gaze, the big black dog waved its paws humanely, with gravy dripping from the corner of its mouth.


    "He does have a knack for being a dog, I didn''t know Azkaban offered such training ...," Snape said slowly.


    ...


    This celebration continued till the evening, and dinner was omitted. As people came and left the great hall, it made the kitchen elves burnt out.


    Gryffindor common room entrance.


    Harry yawned as he returned, the portrait of the fat lady''s friend, Violet asked with interest: "I heard you snatched the dragon''s egg?"


    As she spoke, she stared unblinkingly at Harry, who carried a shiny golden egg under his arm.


    "Yeah ... Nonsense." Harry muttered.


    "No it isn''t!" Violet said angrily.


    "He''s telling the password ... password is Nonsense." The fat lady said, pushing her friend out of the picture frame and turning her body forward to reveal the entrance to the common room.


    There weren''t many people inside, and Harry strolled to the dormitory, which was empty. He casually put the golden egg on the bed and slumped on the pillow to drowse. The afternoon''s events still seemed to be fresh in his mind, and he was obviously very worried during the day, only he did not show it before. But when it was over, he felt that the dragon is no big deal.


    He thought of what Hagrid had said and pulled out that Hungarian Horntail magic lamp from the pocket of his robe, and gently squeezed it, then the little dragon began to flap its wings and spit out a soft light while baring its fangs and claws.


    It does kind of look cute... Like Hagrid said ...


    He casually picked up the hourglass on the bedside table, which the Niffler Valen that Professor Hap has been keeping traded with him, which he casually placed on the table with a stack of rune cards before. But one day Crookshanks slipped in and scattered the cards along with the hourglass. At that time, he gathered the cards as he stepped on them during bedtime, only to discover that the hourglass had also fallen on the floor.


    Then he was worried that the hourglass might have been broken as he picked it out from the floor, and to his surprise, it was very sturdy and intact.


    As he''s reminisced, Hermione poked her head through the door, "Harry, are you there?"


    "In--"


    "Let''s study the golden egg."


    Harry then sprang out of bed and made his way to the common room.


    "Where''s Ron?" Hermione asked casually while staring unblinkingly at the golden egg.


    "He''s not back yet, he should be with the underclassmen ... you know, he''s been pretty stressed out lately." Harry said.


    They moved closer and debated whether to open it or not.


    In the great hall, Roger Davies had opened the golden egg in public to see what was inside, only to discover that the golden egg was empty inside, and then an extremely horrible, shrill, piercing scream sounded from within, more terrifying than the sound of a ghost band playing with a vertical saw, and the hysterical screams of Myrtle, which when Harry heard it, his heart almost stopped.


    After that, Lee Jordan and the twins, who had been interested in the golden egg, tried to take it, so Harry entrusted it to a large black dog for safekeeping and quietly brought him two grilled sausages along with it.


    "Do you raise him?" An ethereal voice asked.


    Harry looked back, and it is Luna, with a string of magic lamps floating, and dancing around her in a circle, while a dragon-shaped lamp sprawled on her head.


    "Oh, uh ... yes." He stammered.


    Sirius cooperated by offering his paw to Harry, who shook his head stiffly twice, "Look ... he''ll shake his hand, oh, I mean ... it."


    "A lot of people think black dogs are harbingers of doom, and many people have written a book ... specifically about it," Luna said softly as she looked like she was in a trance, "but I don''t think so. He''s a loyal friend."


    "Oh, uh, thanks." Harry said.


    He wasn''t sure if Luna had noticed something, but she just said hello and left, just like she had appeared out of nowhere.


    ...


    Finally, Hermione probed her hand and pressed her nails along a very inconspicuous ring of a crack in the middle of the golden egg and pried it open.


    Immediately, a mournful scream echoed in the common room, which scared Ron who just entered, and made him freeze at the entrance, causing the fat lady to urge him from outside.


    Hermione slammed the golden egg shut with force, "No ..." she said with disappointment, "It seems everyone''s golden egg is exactly the same."


    "You think so?" Ron heard the second half of the sentence as he sat down next to them.


    "I read in the books that in past tournaments, sometimes champions with different rankings got different clues." Hermione explained briefly, with a pale face, she was frightened by the sound.


    It was really a terrible scream ...


    Ron shrugged and tapped his hand on the golden egg, "If we chant a spell at it ... like, Scalzi, Scal ..."


    "Scarpin''s Revelaspell?"


    "Yes, that''s it." Ron said with an affirmative face.


    "That''s to analyse the ingredients of the potion," Hermione said impassively, and she thought it over again, "It''s not impossible, we just need to think along these lines ... maybe we can try to analyse using the alchemy method. "


    "Does any of us know about that?" Ron asked, then looked burningly at Hermione together with Harry.


    "Neither do I," Hermione spread her hands, "but I know Professor Hap does, and well, I suppose we could go and learn."


    "That is so much hassle, right?"


    "Not that troublesome, we have three months, if we can uncover the puzzle in a month, there will be enough time to prepare." Hermione said confidently: "And there is one more skill to learn, alchemy and runes are inseparable, which is like saving time for the future."


    The corners of Harry''s mouth dropped a little, just keeping up with the increasingly difficult Magic Rune Club activities itself challenging, the only good news is that the Magic Rune Club never gives assignments. He glanced at Ron, and their expressions were unsurprisingly identical.


    "Then we''ll leave the golden egg to you, Hermione." Ron said with righteousness.


    Hermione''s stern glare directed at him, so he hurriedly changed the subject, as he looked around, and said with a quick jolt, "Oops, Harry, why did you take it out?"


    Harry flinched before he realized that Ron was referring to the hourglass, which he had just brought out in the heat of the moment by accident.


    "What is this?" Hermione asked, she thought it looked a little familiar. S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I exchanged this hourglass from Valen, but I mentioned it before." Harry explained.


    Hermione snatched the hourglass from Ron''s hand and stared at it thoughtfully, "I''m sure I''ve seen something like it somewhere ..."


    "Is it an antique?" Ron asked with interest, "Do you even read these kinds of books?" His last question revealed his true thoughts as he asked expectantly, "How much do you think it''s worth?"


    Hermione took the hourglass and played with it for a while, occasionally holding it up and shaking it toward the magic lamp above the common room, making a strange sound under her breath.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, but they knew better than to interrupt her at this time, because she had entered into a frenzied research state.


    "I can remember!" Hermione said, her eyes seemed to sparkle, "I know where I''ve seen this hourglass before, it''s not from a book, I went into a misconception ... it''s Egypt!"


    "Egypt?" The two men asked in unison.


    "That''s right, Egypt," she suddenly smiled like a greedy fox, joyfully: "No wonder Professor Hap wanted to give Valen a lesson, so she has a past criminal record."


    "What exactly is it, Hermione, please spare me the drama." Ron said eagerly.


    "This hourglass belongs to a money-grubbing Gringotts goblin," Hermione held her breath and murmured, "No, I should say it belongs to an Evil Ancient Greek Dark Wizard, Herpo the Foul!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 455+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 401: Andros the Invincible

    "Herpo?!" Ron yelped briefly, and the people in the common room immediately looked in their direction, so he hurriedly lowered his head with his nose almost pressed against the table as he waved at Harry and Hermione.


    The two came closer and Ron''s eyes darted around as he asked in a whisper, "Is ... that Herpo? The creator of the Horcrux?"


    "That''s right." Hermione said.


    Ron looked favourably at the dusty hourglass, Harry had previously wiped the surface dust on it, but it still remained very old in appearance, Ron asked in a trembling voice: "Do you think ... this may contain a part of Herpo''s?"


    "You mean the Horcrux?" Harry asked nervously, looking at the hourglass, which is being held in Hermione''s hand.


    "No!"


    Hermione said crisply, "Professor Hap has checked it before ..."


    She looked up, sat up straight, and retold the story of what happened in the Egypt Pyramid, highlighting the description of the statue of Herpo and the altar, and how the statue had decayed.


    "It''s hard to understand when I say it like that ... you guys wait a minute!"


    She "stomped" back to the girls'' dormitory, not long after bringing back a chestnut wooden shallow disk, Harry and Ron understood her intention - to use the memory disk to recreate the scene at that time.


    So they sat around and watched the churning silver sand inside the memory disk, the dark and gloomy pyramid darkroom from the summer holiday reappeared, the narrow aisle covered with curses, the basilisk corpses that were isolated from the world as if forgotten by time, and a brief glimpse of the statue that quickly dissolved into dust.


    What they saw was from Hermione''s point of view, she arrived a little later than Felix, only to see him blow a breath, then the statue completely crumbled away, before turning into a fine dust as it disappeared.


    Harry and Ron watched the scene with shock, and no exquisite words could fully describe the scene.


    "Hold on a second," Hermione said, staring unblinkingly at the memory disk, "the reliefs on the sidewalls of the altar are inlaid with gems and small artefacts which are considered antique by modern standards ... Look here! "


    Harry and Ron came closer, and with the help of Hermione''s memory, they could see the altar rotating, revealing the side walls carved with different shapes of wizard images.


    "Where is that? All I see are gems!" Ron practically put his nose in it.


    "Don''t just focus on the gems, these wizard reliefs are the highlight, they''re holding artefacts in their hands." Hermione reached out her finger and pointed one by one, "The gems are all around the edges, and from their placement, they are pure decoration. Oh, of course, with Herpo''s craftiness, it''s not impossible for it to contain curses, but they must have faded away by now."


    Harry looked closely and sure enough found these wizard reliefs holding various small items - like vials, quills, small wooden sticks (possibly wands?), and ... a dusty hourglass.


    "True, there is indeed an hourglass, it looks exactly the same!" Ron said in amazement, "You''ve quite a good memory, Hermione."


    Hermione grunted twice in smugness: "At first I thought the hourglass is a Time-Turner, you know I once kept it for a year ... but I soon realized they were different, although the size is about the same, the Time-Turner is a golden time-piece, with both ends of the hourglass being spherical, while Harry''s one is flat and could be placed upright on a table."


    "How would we know ... it''s not like we''ve ever seen one." Ron grunted in a small voice.


    Intrigued, he picked up the hourglass and placed it upright on the table for a closer look, and through the gray, glass-like translucent container, he could vaguely see some dark golden clusters inside, which were piled up and completely out of fluidity.


    "Are you really sure there is no trace of magic left on it?"


    Hermione hesitated: "What I can be sure of is that it''s at least not a Horcrux, nor a cursed object. Professor Hap''s magical perspective can see traces of magic."


    "How convenient." Ron said, but apparently, he cared more about the conclusion given by an expert in the field and had no interest in delving deeper when his purpose is accomplished. He picked up the hourglass and shook it vigorously, the dark golden substance inside seemed to be stuck to the inner container and did not move.


    "Oh, it looks like whatever it once was, but now it''s just a pretty ordinary thing, I know some places in Diagon Alley that take these kinds of items, you know, antiques ... Are you going to sell it, Harry?"


    Harry shook his head, "It kinda looks like a memento, doesn''t it? At least it reminds me that the Horcrux can decay too," he grinned and said in a mocking tone, "If I ever meet Voldemort, I''ll tell him that his desire for immortality is just a pipe dream."


    ...


    The next day, November 25, a full month ahead of Christmas, the young wizards noticed that the temperature had fallen sharply, a thick layer of light blue frost covered the windows of the castle, and the sky clouded as if a storm is brewing.


    "It''s truly a torture to attend a Care of Magical Creatures class at this time of year!"


    On their way to the Ancient Rune classroom, Harry and the group heard a fifth-year girl complain to her friends. Ron chuckled playfully and said, "Hagrid''s Firetrail Snail will keep them warm."


    Harry couldn''t suppress his grin.


    In the Ancient Rune classroom, Professor Hap was leafing through the Daily Prophet as a steady stream of students walked by and greeted him, to which he nodded in response. He rose from his chair at the side of the podium when everyone had arrived, the hem of his overcoat grazed the arm of the chair.


    " Glad to see we''re not missing a person or two in class, especially with the end of the first trail of the tournament." Felix dusted the newspaper in his hand, "It mentions that Hogwarts took both first and second place, and when the Minister of Magic was interviewed he praised the results of Hogwarts'' training under the administration of Headmaster Dumbledore. Of course ... in my opinion, Professor Griselda Marchbanks of the Wizarding Examinations Authority provided a much sharper and more enlightening perspective, for those of you who are interested."


    "Well, let''s start today''s lesson."


    Felix inquired in class, "Has anyone heard of the man ''Andros the Invincible''?"


    Hermione was the first to raise her hand, which wasn''t surprising; what was surprising was that Ron raised his hand as well. Harry stared at him in disbelief, looking a little lost in thought, as Ron shrank back and tried to put his hand down.


    "Mr. Weasley?" Felix called. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Uh, the Andros the Invincible ..." Ron stood up and said not so confidently, "I read it from the description of the Chocolate Frog cards - I have collected them, and now I am only short of two of them - he is an Ancient Greek wizard, known for his powerful charms, and he was able to conjure a Patronus as big as a giant ... He is also very skilled at dueling, and many people cannot withstand a single spell from him ..."


    He saw the professor looking at himself with a smile, so he searched his mind and soul, so he could describe him: "Andros should be from the same era as the Herpo the Foul, maybe they have met? Probably even fought ..."


    Many students looked at Ron with amazement.


    "Take your seat, Mr. Weasley. Most of what you said is correct, except for the last sentence. Because it happened during an ancient time when specialized history writers were not common as of later date, so we can only look for historical facts from a very few words. And there is no evidence to suggest that they had ever met ..."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 455+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 402: Chemistry

    "Gryffindor plus five points." "So, the magical handbook we are studying today is from Andros'' descendants, possibly his children or nephews, and it records some of Andros'' views on magic, all written casually." Felix said mildly: "Although I don''t really acknowledge some views within ... but it''s still good to use it to broaden your thinking."


    Ron, who received extra points, sat down giddily, although the House Cup had been cancelled this year because of the Tournament, but still, it was an honour, especially when he saw the Slytherin students'' unconvinced expressions, he felt happier.


    Felix also received an unexpected surprise. In this class, everyone answered the questions actively and enthusiastically, and he gave the students extra points as though he didn''t care about it-


    "Miss Greengrass, a very accurate answer, Slytherin plus five points."


    "Mr. Finnigan, although you raised your hand quickly, your answer is not comprehensive, so only two points. Let me explain more specifically, powerful is not the same as explosive strength, we can find another time to discuss this issue separately, I happen to have some useful tips."


    "Crabbe ... your answer is full of imagination, please sit down."


    ...


    At the end of class, Hermione stayed behind.


    "Would you like me to recommend some books about how to analyse alchemical artefacts?" Felix asked.


    "Yes, Professor," Hermione said, as Harry and Ron looked at him intently from the back, she calmly added, "We need to crack the secret of the golden egg, and besides trying our luck, we currently have two ideas, one is to use various deciphering spells, such as a Revealing Charm, Revelio Charm, Specialis Revelio or some similar spells ... we have planned to try them one by one! The second idea is to start from the perspective of alchemy," she shrugged, "No matter what, this is also an alchemical artefact, if we can analyse its production method, no matter what secrets are hidden inside we can discover them."


    She glanced at Felix as if asking for advice, "Professor, we think that this is a test for champions, isn''t that right?"


    Felix dismissed the question. "I have not touched the golden egg before to give an accurate answer about it. However, there is nothing wrong with your line of thinking, if it is me, I will also be thinking in this way."


    Hermione''s expression looked as if she had been greatly encouraged, as she glanced smugly at Harry and Ron.


    Harry did think that the method of trying their luck is not bad, his luck is occasionally bad, and sometimes he gets into dangerous trouble, but so far, he is still alive fully intact... which tells a lot about his luck.


    Felix wrote a list of books and signed his name at the same time. "There are some books in here that are from Nicolas Flamel''s collection and research, and I picked out some that I felt were appropriate and put its copy in the library. A part of the introductory books are placed in the alchemy section, and a part involving the manufacture of alchemical artefacts is placed in the restricted section."


    He handed Hermione the list of books with his signature on it and walked out of the classroom with them.


    "It just so happens that I''m going to the library as well, and I''ll give you guys a favour by the way, as some books are hidden very secretly that Mrs. Pince may not be able to spot it ..."


    Hermione asked with interest, "Professor, are you going to research something new?"


    "Oh, sort of," Felix muttered, "if the shield charm counts as something new."


    There was some noise outside the library, a group of people blocking the entrance as two senior witches looked inside excitedly on a tiptoe. Hermione said impatiently, "Can''t he just take the book and read it back on their ship?"


    Felix saw the figure of Krum and knew in his heart that all these people outside should be his admirers.


    Ron''s expression looked a little odd, he adored Krum greatly before, but after becoming a champion, he unconsciously considered him as a rival, at this time, with one hand on his book bag, he wondered whether he should take out a parchment to ask for his autograph or not.


    But when he saw a few girls at the door looking back at them discreetly and gossiping, he put his hand down and straightened his chest as if he was receiving a review. After all, he is one of the champions, and it would be too shameful to ask another champion for an autograph.


    "What''s on your mind?" Harry bumped his shoulder.


    Ron realized that Professor Hap and Hermione had already gone in first. Harry looked Ron up and down and said with a stifled smile, "You weren''t expecting someone to ask you for an autograph, were you?"


    "Oh, of course not?!" Ron said aloud, with a deep blush on his face.


    At that moment, he spotted Moody walking out from inside, holding a stack of books, and as he passed them, Moody paused and stared at them with his two eyes simultaneously.


    "You guys did well, especially that digging tunnel trick, it was a stroke of genius! Yeah, for you guys, it fitted perfectly."


    They both watched Professor Moody limp away, and Ron said incredulously, "Fit? Does he think we''re groundhogs? It''s not like we had another choice..."


    Harry shook his head, "Maybe he thought that for our age, avoiding a head-on confrontation with a dragon was the right thing to do."


    They walked into the library and found Hermione already sitting at a table with a large stack of books and waving at them, next to her is Professor Hap, who also has a stack of books in front of him, only it is a little taller than the one beside Hermione.


    Harry and Ron sat in the empty seat, looking at the book in front of Hermione. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Analysis of General Alchemical Artefacts", "The Complete Book of Common Alchemical Techniques", "Nicolas Flamel Manuscript I", "The Nine Major School of Alchemy", "The Fifth Element Controversy", "Hide Your Secrets", "Unreliable Alchemy" ..."


    Ron ran his fingers over the spines of the books, reading the names on them.


    "You can start with the most basic ones, I recommend "Unreliable Alchemy" by an alchemist from the seventeenth century." Felix said without looking up as he leafed the page.


    As he spoke, a large book flew out of the stack of books in front of them, and slammed down before them with a thud, "The book introduces the basic concepts of alchemy, and refutes some wrong ideas from the Muggle world... ..."


    He hesitated for a moment, but he was still unable to resist the urge to introduce a few more words.


    "The author of this book, if he had gone deeper, or if someone later had inherited his ideas, maybe there would have been a field just as wonderful as alchemy. But the concept of magic limited him, plus in his time, ordinary people confused chemistry with alchemy, and alchemy flourished that time, so many mistakes became so obvious ..."


    He paused, "So you will find the author of this book held ''alchemy'' in the common world with contempt."


    "After that, because of the Statute of Secrecy, no more alchemists paid attention to the ridiculous conclusions of the non-magical community. And it turns out: they, I mean the muggles, already figured out their own alchemy, only they called it something else - Chemistry."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 457+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 403: The Sharp Point of Marchbanks

    Chemistry ... a strange and familiar term, like a memory from a distant past life, Harry thought. Where on earth did he hear about this term? He thought back to his years in elementary school, it really wasn''t a pleasant memory, after removing the pranks and humiliations Dudley pulled on him, there wasn''t much he could possibly recall from that time.


    Fortunately, though, he remembered some of his lab classes. Chemistry is supposed to be the subject of changing substances around, right?


    He picked up Unreliable Alchemy somewhat distractedly and looked over at Hermione - " I already read it, Harry." Hermione said as she nudged her fingers over a stack of books, picking out the book "The Fifth Element Controversy" according to her interest.


    "Miss Granger, I suggest you begin with chapter seven, which contains a fascinating elaboration on the effects of magic on the matter, it is the most plausible one I have read in recent years." Felix said.


    "Oh, thank you, Professor." Hermione said with delight.


    "What about us?" Harry asked, desperate for some advice since the book he is holding is no thinner than Hermione''s. As he flipped casually to the middle, and then flipped back again.


    After that, he saw a picture of a wizard who resembled a portrait hanging on the wall of the old Black Mansion, with curly hair and clothes that looked like those worn by court nobles.


    Felix looked up at Harry and Ron with a kind smile, "Start with the prologue. One of the lessons I''ve learned from reading books is that the basics should not be taken lightly."


    "After reading this, then read the Nine Major Schools of Alchemy, together you will be able to acquire the most basic knowledge of alchemy. That is when it would be advisable to write an overview dissertation, but of course, it is barely acceptable to write a knowledge map instead ... After that, when you read The Complete Book of Common Alchemical Techniques, The Nicolas Flamel Manuscript I, or The Fifth Element Controversy, you will be able to read it without difficulties."


    Two gulps sounded, as Harry and Ron looked at each other.


    ''Divination class Assignment?''


    ''Let''s just keep making shit up.''


    They quickly understood the meaning expressed in each other''s eyes, and they respectively pulled out a piece of parchment from their book bags as they started to read from the introduction, and after only two lines, Harry couldn''t help but frown-


    ''I am a wizard who is madly obsessed with alchemy, remember this name, Crofts Albreld Adrian, it will shine eternally in the field of alchemy, more dazzling than Nicolas Flamel because I will be the first person to conquer the Philosopher''s Stone.''


    ''Some people may say that Nicolas Flamel is the first alchemist who uncovered the mystery of the Philosopher''s Stone, but I think this is a misconception because the Philosopher''s Stone can produce an Elixir of Life that has no negative effects, and if he really made the Philosopher''s Stone, we would not be unaware of it ... and I would have sought him out immediately and worshipped him as my mentor. But the truth is, he has long since disappeared.''


    Harry heard Ron mutter, "It''s because of people like you that he''s hiding." Harry showed a toothy grin, feeling it made sense, as they continued to read on.


    ''History has never lacked alchemists who claimed to have made the Philosopher''s Stone, such statements are similar to those wizards who once acquired a legendary wand, claiming to be invincible in battle, only to disappear from our sight forever. My evaluation of this is: Honour is the reward of hard work, and WHO WOULD BE ABLE TO GIVE IT UP? Similarly, we can infer that those who are said to be able to extend their lives and defeat death won''t have any reason to hide from people if they really succeed, right? Or could it be that they have incurable dragon pox sores on their faces by any chance?''


    ''Next, I will present my own experience to you, I, Crofts-Albreld Adrian, Alchemical genius, graduated from Hogwarts Ravenclaw House, after graduation I spent a lot of time travelling, visiting those prestigious alchemists one-by-one, compiling their ideas, rectifying their mistakes, and ultimately compiled it into my first book. I will dedicate it to my alma mater, the greatest school of magic - Hogwarts. If any future students are reading this, you will probably be aware of my outstanding achievements from my other books ...''


    Harry felt that this ''Adrian'' sounded too much like Lockhart, and he wanted to ask Ron''s opinion, who said quietly: ''I''m suddenly keen on finding out if this man has published a second book, I mean ... there''s always the possibility of an accident, maybe our genius friend ran out of inspiration or ran into a Hungarian Horntail that had come out to hunt when he was travelling on the road."


    ...


    Felix at the moment is examining his magic - Shield Charm, pondering how to merge them into one. More than two months had passed since his return from Beauxbatons, and the Beauxbatons version of the Shield Charm had successfully reached level six.


    After it had undergone sublimation, the rusty battlefield scars on its surface had faded away and become smooth and shiny, and its colour had turned into a beautiful blood-red like it had been cut out of a huge ruby.


    At this time, Felix is holding an extremely metallic mask in one hand - it is part of the complete armour, with a golden one in the left hand and a blood-red one in the right hand, he carefully examined it for more than a couple of days, and still could not find any clue. Felix''s initial idea was to block out his memories about the Shield Charm and learn it from scratch, and eventually, the two Shield Charm would naturally fuse.


    But this speculation was proven wrong.


    He put his two palms together, and the gold and blood-red armour masks clashed together with a crisp metallic clink, but there was no sign of fusion at all. He couldn''t help but wonder if his own magic theory wasn''t enough to understand and accommodate magic of that magnitude?


    Felix casually placed the blood-red mask over his face, and his vision became a blurry shade of blood-red, as if he had a red scarf over his eyes. He raised his head to look around the library, observing the students in the distant seats with this newfound perspective.


    There was a subtle clatter from the side.


    Felix glanced over his head and saw Hermione giggling. When he looked over, she immediately tried to keep a straight face.


    "Professor, what is it?" She whispered as she spotted Mrs. Pince roaming through the space between the bookshelves in her afterglow.


    "A tangible representation of the Shield Charm," Felix explained, "both of them." He handed her the golden mask, "How do you think they should be fused together?"


    "A sixth-level spell?" Hermione took it with interest, holding it in her hand and examining it carefully. She thought for a moment and asked, " Is that one the same as the spell that helped the Beauxbatons champion fend off the flames?"


    Felix nodded slightly as he briefly described the origins of the two forms of the Shield Charm.


    Hermione mulled it over, but the question is too deep for her, so she could only guess without basis, "Something to do with the perception of magic?"


    "That''s a possibility," Felix nodded, "that''s one of the directions I''m heading with my speculations, but-" he watched somewhat breathlessly as Hermione also put the golden mask on her own face and looked right at him; Eye to Eye.


    "Is it fun?"


    Hermione pouted behind the mask, as she took off the golden mask and said seriously, "Could there be a new form of magic above the level six magic, like that Runic Orb? It should encompass both golden and blood-red shield charms... I guess it must be difficult!"


    Felix sighed, "The problem is there''s no clue, although I know I can do it, and it''s only a matter of time." But he was somewhat charmed by the vague glimpse of a higher realm of magic.


    "You could always ask Headmaster Dumbledore." Hermione suggested.


    "I can''t find him recently, maybe our headmaster is out on a trip." Felix shook his head and said, he did not elaborate, that he used the Patronus to go to the Headmaster''s office in the morning and was stopped by the Gargoyle at the door.


    He guessed that Dumbledore is still on the hunt for the Horcruxes, and perhaps he''s talking to the owner of the Borgin and Burkes right now? At least he knew what to get him for Christmas, dark magic- Sneakoscope or a wool cloak.


    "Your advice is useful, Granger." He said, waving his hand to disperse the magic.


    Felix left soon after, he had class in the afternoon. When he disappeared, Harry handed Hermione a newspaper.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "Borrowed it from the next table," Harry said succinctly, "Check out page four."


    Hermione quickly flipped through the newspaper of that day, her eyes pausing briefly at the picture of Durmstrang''s Headmaster Karkaroff''s grim face, with the headline "Are cheaters still qualified to be judges?" Not surprised to see Rita Skeeter''s name in the journalist''s column, she felt genuinely grateful that this woman hadn''t focused on them and even incredulous that they had got away scot-free.


    She quickly flipped to page four. It consisted of a small article, an interview with the official in charge of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, and she knew that this would be the opinion of Professor Griselda Marchbanks that Professor Hap had mentioned in class.


    She glanced through the article and found the "sharp and enlightening" part -


    Reporter: What do you think of Hogwarts'' performance on the first trial?


    Marchbanks: I''m proud.


    Reporter: Did you find it strange that two teams came in first and second place, respectively? S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Marchbanks: No, I think it''s normal. It shows that we have come out of the shadow of the war.


    Reporter: There are views that the achievements of Hogwarts'' education are the result of Minister Fudge being in power, what do you think?


    Marchbanks: Oh, that man is talking nonsense.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 457+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 404: More Precious

    In the third-grade classroom, a jewelled wooden box is placed on the lectern. "Why does it look familiar?" Ginny whispered. Next to her, there is a little witch with fluffy hair and a sleepy look.


    Felix tapped the lid of the box thrice with his wand, and the wooden box creaked open, revealing the crudely made wooden goblet inside. The moment it was revealed, the young witches'' eyes widened in unison, and they both dropped their quills in unison.


    "Goblet of Fire?!"


    There was a neat, unified, audible intake of breath. As one student cried out in surprise, looking incredulously at the blue flames burning quietly on the goblet.


    Felix smiled, "Of course ... it isn''t," he said with a wide grin.


    "The Goblet of Fire has been extinguished, this is a replica, I picked up a random piece of wood while walking at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, at that time I was thinking about how to attract your interest ...," he said with a smirk, "so I wanted to use the opportunity of the tournament to create a memento."


    All the students sat upright and stared at him with rapt attention.


    "This is the prize for today''s quiz. For the record, the fire on this is not dangerous,"


    "Professor Hap, is this Gubraithian Fire?"


    "No, that is a flame that will burn forever, so it is also known as the eternal fire," Felix explained, "Although I can also cast it, it is quite time-consuming to precisely execute ... "


    The students looked at the professor with an expression of disappointment as they considered he was just being lazy.


    "Although it is not Gubraithian Fire, but it has its own advantages." Felix added. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He probed his fingers into the Goblet''s flame and retrieved a small blue flame, which he watched as it burned quietly in his hand for a few moments before fading away.


    When he looked up again, he met with many pairs of twinkling bright eyes.


    He smiled slightly, it seems that the disposable prop that took five minutes to make is working well, the only question is, what is the best alternative for the next time. "So, let''s start today''s quiz. Take out the ''answer space'', I have updated the latest quiz information on it ..."


    The young wizards below sprang into action, spreading out the answer space, and tapped the tip of their wands as they silently recited the incantation, and soon they spotted a new icon in the area of ancient runes - styled exactly like a Goblet of Fire with simple outlines.


    Ginny tapped it quickly; she badly wants that Goblet of Fire replica, and at the moment her hands are shaking with excitement, as her wand pokes it twice with much force that one will wonder if she will puncture the thin parchment.


    But no student managed to do that yet, because the professors applied various protective enchantments to it.


    The Goblet of Fire icon on the answering space was highlighted in no time, and from the mouth of the goblet a dancing blue flame burned, then from it, a ribboned gift box spat out, which continued to enlarge, and to her amazement, a bright blue light converged above the parchment, then the parchment spiralled into a swirling vortex from which that box emerged into reality.


    She recognized this as the work of memory magic, as the surface of the gift box did not look real, flickering with blue wisps.


    She glanced around quickly; everyone else - including a confused Luna - stared in awe at the gift box that was floated out of the vortex, although she isn''t sure that her best friend had broken away from her usual state.


    Ginny nudged Luna with her shoulder, "Let''s see who''s faster!"


    "Sur-e" Luna said, as she gave her a dazed look, before lowering her head to reveal a tiny braid in her tousled hair.


    The gift box opened silently, and a bronze-colored book with a lock is placed inside, a lock that she tried to unlock with a spell, but it didn''t work at all. "I''m such a fool." She slapped her forehead and used her wand to outline a few runes on the cover of the bronze book - which happened to be blank - and in no time the lock disappeared.


    When she turned the first page, a question is written on it, "Your motto?"


    She quickly wrote on it, " Be daring like a lion." Only when she finished writing did she realize something is wrong, after two seconds of staring at the lighter blue-green page, which did not change a bit, she realized something and quickly translated the sentence into the ancient runic language.


    Fortunately, she asked Luna about this.


    So the bronze book turned to the next page, and she took advantage of this gap to steal a glance at Luna, whose answer is completely different from her own, but she also passed with flying colours, which made Ginny realize that the answer is not standard.


    She restrained her other emotions and focused on the second page, which consisted of a scattered string of runic letters with the sentence at the top, "Nall is sad and upset." She quickly looked at the runic letters on it, and there was one she didn''t recognize, but she already knew the answer; it was a sentence from the ''Nall and the Clay Dolls'' story.


    When she finished arranging the runic texts through the pattern on the page, she let out a long breath of relief, and then when she noticed that Luna had already started the third page, she felt anxious.


    As time passed, Felix sat very leisurely in his chair by the podium, sorting through his book of runes, and occasionally stood up as he walked around the classroom to check on the students'' progress.


    The quickest so far is Luna, followed by Ginny and Colin Creevy, the latter and his brother''s ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' was so famous that even he had heard of it, and before it had only attracted a young wizards from the first and second years, but after the first tournament trail ended, the number of students from upper grades had also started to join.


    The three performed slightly differently.


    Luna bobbed her head gently, answering the questions unhurriedly, sometimes adjusting the order of the sentences to line them up as neatly as possible. Ginny and Colin were sweating profusely, and the youngest Weasley girl''s fiery red hair was stuck to her forehead.


    "Ten minutes to go, if you don''t care about the prize, you can ignore the time." Felix reminded.


    Ginny sweated anxiously, there were no more pages left in the bronze book in front of her, but it kept getting harder and harder at the back, and she tossed her hair in annoyance, which looked like a puff of equally bright, leaping crimson flames that mirrored the flame of the goblet of fire on the podium.


    It''s getting close ...


    Ginny wondered if Luna had finished answering her questions, as she seemed to be half asleep. Why she hadn''t heard her report? She forced herself to ignore it all, to remove the distractions, and after five minutes, she finally finished answering.


    In a flash, the bronze book "clattered" and flipped to the first page, and then closed, the ''answer space'' once again swirled with a blue vortex, from which a large number of coloured fireworks burst out.


    The sudden noise caused the young wizards to look up at Ginny''s position in bewilderment.


    "Oh, it looks like the first one to finish has appeared," unknowingly, Felix stood before her, holding a rough wooden replica of a Goblet of Fire with dazzling blue flames dancing on it, "Here, it''s yours, Miss Weasley."


    After class, the others gathered enviously around Ginny, asking her permission to touch the blue flame.


    "It''s so beautiful ... I was so close." Colin Creevy said dejectedly, "I left with the last question, what about you, Luna? You''ve always been good at this, I thought you were going to win!"


    "I also stopped at the last question." Luna said in a singing voice.


    " Yea, that question was really hard, maybe if I had five more minutes ..." Colin said regretfully, "You''re lucky, Ginny ... Ginny? "


    Ginny looked at Luna with a critical eye as she bit her lip and whispered, "Luna, you ''stopped'' at the last question again?"


    "Oh, uh, yeah," Luna tossed her hair, "it was pretty hard, wasn''t it? I''ve been thinking about it for a good while ... it is beautiful." She said, staring at the Goblet of Fire with slightly bulging eyes.


    "Want it? I will give it to you." Ginny said.


    "Oh, what?" Luna said with some panic, "I don''t need ... because, because--"


    "Because she already has something more precious." Felix said gently from the corner, "Is that the point you''re trying to make, Miss Lovegood?"


    "Of course." Luna nodded hastily.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 459+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 405: The new look of the company

    Felix watched as Ginny and Luna left the classroom together holding the replica of the Goblet of Fire, which, to be honest, isn''t really light, but he also sensibly didn''t suggest that they could use magic. They were both smart enough to think that, so they probably just didn''t want to, rather than not really realizing that they could use a Levitation Charm to reduce the weight ..., right?


    ...


    The next morning, it is another weekend, and he pacified the sleepy Niffler as he walked through the office fireplace to Diagon Alley.


    Felix walked down a long cobblestone road lined with crowded stores and eateries, huge sunshades stretched in front of some stores, and the sign of Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour shone with warm yellow light.


    He could tell, just by looking, that ''Future World'' company is doing well - he often saw magic lamps, large and small, through the store windows along the way, and they blended into the heart of London''s wizarding community like a drop of water.


    In front of the headquarters of the Future World Company, he was surprised to see a large crowd of people crowded at the entrance, noisy and lively. At the same time, people were talking and laughing as they walked out from inside.


    Two staff members at the door calmed the crowd, "Ladies and gentlemen, don''t crowd, everyone will have a turn." Every now and then he let one or two people in.


    What''s going on here?


    Felix stood staring from the side for a moment, and when he stepped forward, the crowd automatically parted, "Wait, Mr. ... you are, Mr. Hap?" The staff member who is blocking the front asked in surprise, then looked at him with adoring eyes as he led him into the vertical castle building.


    "Mr. Hap, please go in, I still have to maintain order." The staff member said respectfully.


    Felix nodded and climbed up the stairs, looking around the interior of the building.


    The whole environment had changed.


    He remembered how empty it had been, now the floor tiled with dark tiles, the chandelier at the top visible from the center of the hall, and the circular steps at the side connected each floor of the castle.


    Felix remembered most vividly that he, Snape, and Lupin had fought here, and later discussed the company''s development plans together.


    But the main lobby in front of him looked like a magnificent museum, filled with people.


    Young witches gestured at a dozen exhibits that should be newly developed products by the company''s researchers, while several staff member in uniform introduced it to them.


    "Professor Hap." A girl with long, curly hair said.


    "Clearwater," Felix addressed the person next to him, "the company has changed so much, that I hardly recognize it."


    "It''s the result of everyone''s efforts." Penelope smiled as they walked up the circular staircase toward the second floor at that moment. As she walked, she introduced, "Clammy suggested that we opened the lobby on the first floor, and we put some of the products that weren''t fully finalized on display for outsiders to visit and try out periodically, as they will suggest some helpful modifications for the products."


    "I see, you all did a good job." Felix nodded slightly and said emotionally, "Maybe I should give you guys a pay raise."


    He stood at the second-floor railing and looked down from above.


    A young witch put on an emerald crown with the help of the staff, followed by a gasp from the crowd, as her whole body glowed with a kind of scarlet light, her hair turned into a pale snow-white colour, with a magical glow intertwining and stretching down along her neck, a pale toffee-coloured princess dress donned over her, with a flamboyant flower blooming on the edge of the hem, while everyone looked at her with admiration.


    "How much is this! I want this one!" The witch shouted. She now looked like a princess, every inch of her skin shining with a dazzling lustre.


    "It''s not for sale, we are still trialling its effects ..." the staff had to explain with difficulty.


    Twenty or thirty feet away, a curly-haired boy with vivid purple hair blew a sea-blue bubble with force, wrapping his younger brother, who had just turned one year old, inside. The bubble looked so resilient that it floated with the baby inside at a height of two or three feet. The baby sat in the bubble and reached out his chubby little hand towards a budding Grandiflora, only to be blocked by the bubble. Then, when the aquamarine bubble landed on the bud of the Grandiflora, the petals bloomed a little, and a thumb-sized flower fairy emerged from the bright yellow pistils, flying around the baby in a flash, causing a burst of "giggling" laughter.


    Their parents stayed behind them cautiously, double-checking that there were no problems ...


    As Felix walked upstairs, he asked, "How is Percy doing in the Ministry of Magic?"


    "Him?" Penelope sighed, "He''s too busy, especially eager to achieve something, and coincidentally his boss, Mr. Crouch, is on a long holiday, so he can only give instructions through the owl, which leaves him full autonomy to decide many small things completely on his own ... He''s addicted to it ..."


    She said with some frustration, "He mentioned to me that he wanted to live in the Ministry, but I stopped him."


    Felix paused, his impression of Percy stemmed from his hard work in his studies combined with his rigid stubbornness in his daily life; Oh, there''s also his extreme lack of a sense of humour. Although he himself is not a big fan of jokes, at least he can understand them, and he is also willing to cheer them up and laugh along, but these behaviours are not seen in Percy''s case.


    According to Mrs. Weasley, "If he made a decision, not even 10 dragons could pull it back."


    Felix looked at Penelope thoughtfully.


    "You can convince him?" S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Usually ... yes." Penelope was a bit puzzled, but she answered anyway.


    "Hmm." Felix nodded.


    They reached the third floor as they pushed open a pair of solid wood doors, and inside there is a spacious room where Lupin and several people are standing and engaged in serious conversation.


    In the center of the room, there is a huge portrait-like canvas in the colour of wormwood hovering above with video playing on it-


    In the video - two delicate golems are dueling, blue lightning and orange fire are intertwined. The golems are obviously being manipulated, often using the terrain to avoid attacks at the last minute, moving naturally and smoothly. The few researchers on the floor watched unblinkingly, occasionally letting out a gasp of surprise, or inhaling in unison from the intense action scenes.


    Felix recognized astutely that this is not a magical painting under a spell, but some form of live broadcast, as he saw Clammy Vera and Eric McKee, who is surrounded by the crowd - as they''re controlling the golem at the bottom of the canvas screen, and a huge camera-like object is pointing at the middle of their ''battlefield''.


    Seeing Felix approaching, Lupin quickly walked over. He said grumblingly, "If I hadn''t been getting letters from the owls, I would have thought you gone missing."


    "Didn''t I visit before?" Felix asked with some embarrassment.


    "Indeed," Lupin nodded and said mildly, "Let me think when it was, if my memory hasn''t been altered, I saw you last week, no, that was through the Communication Mirror (*something like Two-way mirror*), what about a week before that? It was through your Patronus - sending me two recipes for alchemical materials. Oh, what about the week before that week? Again I recalled it incorrectly, it was actually Dobby ..."


    "Ahem!" Felix rolled his eyes lightly as he quickly changed the subject, "Is that the space capsule I told you about? How interesting ..."


    They looked together at the other side of the spacious room, a young researcher took out a capsule from a flat metal box and threw it to the floor, which exploded with a " bang " as a cloud of white smoke spread, from which all sorts of miscellaneous objects were thrown out, canvas pieces, kettles, clothes, and even a few pieces of firewood... ...


    The researcher let out a disappointed groan, "Oh ~ it still doesn''t work ..."


    When it came to the business, Lupin became serious. He withdrew his gaze and said to Felix, "The Ministry of Magic still refuses to budge, you know, they have a very tight grip on the Undetectable Extension Charm."


    "You don''t have to worry about the obstruction from the Ministry of Magic." Felix said.


    Lupin stared at him, "That''s not what the people from the Department of Magical Equipment Control have been telling us."


    "Don''t worry, Remus." Felix reassured him, "As long as they still allow magical items with Undetectable Extension Charm to be sold publicly, whether it''s a tent or something else ... even if there''s a single item available, Future World Company will also be able to get permission."


    "The only thing that you need to pay attention to is to do a good job on the anti-tampering part so that the product usage will never change." Felix stared at the young wizard experimenting in the distance and said, "No living things, especially people, are allowed to be carried." He thoughtfully added: "It is best to urge the Ministry of Magic to improve this part of the law and make clear regulations on the size of the space allowed for expansion ..."


    " You''re talking as if the Ministry of Magic is your home, I am not as confident as you." Lupin mumbled, but Felix pretended not to be able to hear him. He took Lupin by the shoulders and led him to a huge workbench with various scattered items on the table.


    Thermostatic lockets, Magic Lamps, Communication Mirrors, Emerald Crowns ... were all over the place, and it looked dazzling.


    "Well, you can give me an introduction, what are the new products, and how the company has been developing recently?"


    "At present, we have seventeen products, but twelve are still being perfected, including those in the lobby ... leaving only five, plus the Weasley twin brothers'' couple''s mirror - we renamed it into Communication Mirror when we sold it to the public. For now, it can''t do long-distance image transmission because that technology isn''t perfect yet - every available product is already on sale in seven branches."


    "Not counting the orders from abroad ..."


    Lupin showed an expression of recognition, "The Quidditch World Cup light show was very successful, we have received a large number of orders one after another, and our manpower is completely insufficient, so we had to cooperate with the owl post service company."


    As he spoke, a teal owl flew in through the castle window. It circled around Lupin twice and dropped a letter.


    He hastily opened the letter as he glanced at it, and explained while reading it, "It''s an inquiry about product launch time. Your strategy worked well, we enclosed a list of products ready to be launched along with the magic lamp in the mail ... quite a few people have written to enquire."


    He concluded, "Counting those from abroad, ''Future World'' company already has more than a hundred employees. Even the Daily Prophet doesn''t have that many people."


    Felix, however, didn''t feel it would be enough, "Keep expanding. If we don''t have enough people, just continue to recruit."


    Lupin looked at him hesitantly, " Currently there is barely enough, although recently it is rather busy, but this is only because the company is still in the pioneering period, when the operation is smooth in the future, there will be no need for so many people."


    The magic world''s companies are actually quite a few. Primarily because there are only 20,000 to 30,000 wizards in the entire United Kingdom, plus with the convenience of magic, only a few skilled employees are needed.


    Besides, the companies usually belong to a certain family, and they only recruit people every ten years or so. In a way, his ''Future World'' company is something special - at the current momentum, if the brakes were not applied, it might only take two or three years to overtake the Ministry of Magic in terms of number of employees.


    Felix looked at Lupin, his light blue eyes locked with his, and he said calmly.


    "For the next good long while, I want the company to be in a pioneering period, as for smooth running ... it will probably have to wait until you retire."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 459+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 406: Variables

    "How''s Harry doing? There''s not much about him in the newspaper ..." "He''s fine, he''s probably sleeping with his dragon egg in his arms."


    At the moment, they are sitting in Lupin''s office, and Felix is drinking tea while surveying the interior furnishings, "Tch! The colours you picked are a bit old-fashioned, you''re not even forty yet."


    Lupin shrugged his shoulders, "That''s not young either."


    "You still have a lot of time to squander." Felix said, as they drank tea for a while and started talking about business.


    "How are the rune cards selling?"


    "Not bad, if it weren''t for those engraving machines, the demand might have exceeded the supply, and there are foreign merchants seeking cooperation on their own initiative, all of them are outlets gained from the previous magic lamp sales."


    Felix nodded his head in satisfaction.


    " I think Ludo Bagman''s proposal is not bad, the projection screen will be used in the second and third trails, which may require you to travel a lot. Of course, the most crucial thing is that we can record the tournament and make a video ... We can''t just count on a Weird Sisters group to promote the magic gramophone, right?"


    For wizards, there is not much gap between storing sound and storing images at the same time. Likewise, it is not a pipe dream to connect a flat picture to a stereoscopic projection.


    Lupin lowered his head and pondered, After a long time, his head turned slightly towards Felix.


    "I don''t disagree, except that there are a few difficulties at the moment unless you''re willing to help - the next trail is in February?"


    "February twenty-fourth."


    " Then we can make it in time," Lupin mused as he looked over at Felix: "Everyone in the company admires you, and even those who are new to the company have heard about your legend ... You know, even though you didn''t stay during the summer holidays for that long, but you solved most of the problems, and when you left things alone, our research progress slowed down all at once." S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, I''ll spend the weekend at the company." Felix said reluctantly.


    ...


    With him on board, the research progressed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Many times when the researcher asked a question, he would quickly simulate it all in his thinking room, and in a few minutes, he would be able to give a solution with a theoretical basis.


    The whole company, from newcomers to old people, were ordered around by him, but they all had a very exciting expression.


    "Is this the level of our boss?" An Irish redhead wizard whispered quietly, he was recently recruited into the company, with great mastery in Severing Charm as well as being very adept at Synchronized Transfiguration.


    "You haven''t seen how great he was at the Quidditch World Cup!" A young researcher said.


    " I was studying abroad ... a while ago," the red-necked wizard muttered, but although he said that, he still couldn''t contain the strong admiration that rose up in his heart when he looked at his boss, who know soooo much.


    Felix methodically assigned the tasks: "This time we are going to try two new options - the first group, use the long-distance transmission enchantment, and the second group, use synchronization enchantment together with transfiguration, well, this one is more complicated, I will personally... ..."


    Ten minutes later, liquid-like golden fog flowed quietly all around, and above the fog, the light kept refracting, forming a blurred image.


    "There''s a slight problem ... we should restrain the fog, how about trying a Placement Charm? Or some runic circuits?"


    Felix constantly mused about it, as Clammy quickly recorded his words and the effects of the experiment next to him, after a whole afternoon went by, the trouble that hindered them had been solved more than 70% or 80%.


    In the evening, everyone in the company said goodbye to him one by one, and their faces filled with sincere recognition.


    " Look, only you can be the head of this company." Lupin said with a smile.


    Felix rubbed his forehead, the intense use of thought acceleration was not something easy for him either. Especially since he had continued to use it for such a long time, at the moment he didn''t want to think about anything other than lazily lounging on the sofa in Lupin''s office.


    "Don''t you think that I don''t know what you are thinking," Felix said with half-closed eyes: "I just don''t want the company to always rely on me alone, it''s okay for now, I can solve all the problems we encounter, but later- "


    He abruptly paused.


    "What about later?" Lupin looked at Felix strangely.


    But to his frustration, Felix just hummed, holding a teacup as he slowly sipped it, "In the future, of course, I''ll sit back and wait for the money, I don''t want to work hard."


    "I don''t remember this is something that you said before," Lupin said, " I always found it strange how you registered the company with the Muggle government under the same name ''Future World''... ..." he looked at Felix cautiously, carefully weighing his words as he said softly, "You seem to anticipate some kind of change in the future, such as a complete collapse of Statute of Secrecy?"


    "Felix, are you preparing for that?"


    When he said this, Lupin himself got taken aback. His brain slowed down more than a beat slower than usual, and he, who is usually clever, froze as he thought over and over again in his head several times before coming to a terrible conclusion, and he lost his breath as he uttered.


    " Do you want to follow Grindelwald''s example and forcibly abolish the Statute of Secrecy?"


    "How is that possible." Felix laughed, as he opened his eyes, "I didn''t consider that far into the future, and I didn''t want to like Don Quixote, Tilting at windmills all by myself ..."


    "Huh?" He rubbed his chin and pondered, "Come to think of it, I actually do have the ability to tilt windmills apart."


    Looking at the increasingly serious expression on Lupin''s face, he grunted, "Why are you acting like Percy, without any sense of humour ..."


    Lupin gave a feeble laugh: "This is a serious issue that I can''t afford to joke with, especially when it''s you who are saying this, I simply couldn''t take it as a joke. So, what are you thinking? You dumped the company to me, and now I need to know more about your ideas about how to manage it."


    "My idea is simple."


    Felix raised his finger: "First, let the wizards gradually aware of the development of ordinary people, we, as pioneers, shoulder the responsibility of combining the wisdom of both and displaying it to one of the parties, it is clear that we have no other choice, for the time being, the customer can only be a wizard ..."


    -- but the future is hard to say.


    "Second, taking necessary precautions against Voldemort''s return."


    -- in other words, gathering multitudes of people together.


    "Voldemort?" Lupin looked at him in surprise, the expression on his face was at first incredulous, then he obviously thought of something and became worried.


    "Has anyone ever mentioned this to you?" Felix asked curiously.


    "It''s Sirius," Lupin frowned, then he pulled out a bottle of eggnog from the cabinet behind his chair and poured a glass for himself, "Do you want some?"


    Felix shook his head slightly.


    Lupin took a large sip and said, "He didn''t elaborate about it in detail with me, it seems to involve a big secret that Headmaster Dumbledore prevented him from revealing to the others ... but he told me not to lag behind in my training, the war of a dozen years ago is far from over - -"


    "All the hatred will end in the future." One of his hands clutched his knee with a death grip.


    Felix looked at Lupin, who he knew had an enemy - the one who had got away scot-free.


    He said softly, "You guessed right, Sirius'' words were right. No one knows what the future holds, and Hogwarts'' Defense Against the Dark Arts has been relatively sloppy for the past decades, plus the Ministry of Magic did not hold much sense of crisis after that war, so except for Aurors, everyone else will struggle to even barely cast a complete shield charm."


    "Now, in recent years, the dueling club has become a norm, and this year it has become an elective course. It partially replaced the defense against dark arts function, so now the graduates are able to protect themselves from basic threats. But if they neglect their training, it won''t take them more than a few years for them to forget the little knowledge they''ve learned ... Have you thought about what you can expect from them when war actually occurs?"


    Lupin also realized this problem. More than ten years ago, why Voldemort can become everyone''s nightmare? First of all, his personal strength is very strong, even Dumbledore can not stop him; secondly, the Death Eaters under his command are not weak, and moreover, he gathered a group of dark creatures, which caused a lot of bloodsheds.


    He did not dare to imagine what another war would bring, it is simply because the interval between the wars is too short! If Voldemort came back, that group of people who had experienced the war would only submit more quickly, to suffer less. After all, as long as they are not Muggle-born, they probably won''t be slaughtered, but of course, not many people will truly support the rule of the Dark Lord.


    In fact, at the end of the last war, this trend has been there.


    As the only person that the Dark Lord fears, Dumbledore remained closed in the school. Many people have a lot to say about this, but there are still a few people who believed that Dumbledore had actually fought Voldemort and won, which is why during the war the Dark Lord did nothing to the students of Hogwarts - with the character of the Dark Lord, why else would he let the muggle wizards in the school leave alone that easily.


    But it is clear that Dumbledore could not stop Voldemort, at least not like how he imprisoned the first Dark Lord. There are rumours that said that the Voldemort is good at some kind of escape magic, which he has practiced to a remarkable degree, and there are also rumours that the Voldemort has transformed himself with the evillest dark magic so that he can recover quickly and will re-appear again no matter how much he is injured ...


    Lupin''s heart is in a mess, at that moment, Felix''s voice seems to have come from out of heaven.


    "As for the third, I am indeed not pleased with the Statute of Secrecy, and also not pleased with the Ministry of Magic''s mediocrity ... but what is the use of my dissatisfaction can do alone? Using the power to oppress and become a second Dark Lord? Oh, sorry, a third, either way, it''s a foolish move."


    "That''s why I consider myself as a variable." He suddenly showed a mischievous smile as he kept twirling the teacup in his hand, "Yeah, that initial variable, the first variable ... that will alter certain things, lead certain things, promote certain things, and leave things alone until the storm comes."


    "Even though I never passed divination class, I just have a firm hunch - that I will live a long time," Felix said to Lupin with a smirk, "so I can afford to wait. "


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 461+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 407: Maxime

    After returning from Diagon Alley, Felix once again used the Patronus to check up with the gargoyle in front of the Headmaster''s office, this time he did not get blocked from meeting Dumbledore. When he walked into the office, portraits of past headmasters were snoring in their frames on the wall, and Dumbledore stared intently at the Pensieve.


    Felix was surprised to hear Rita Skeeter''s voice, with a little echo. Her two-inch-long, red-painted nails glinted in the Pensieve as she said slyly, "Oh, Dumbledore, you know, my book is about to be published ..."


    To which Dumbledore replied with a murmur, "That''s not a great idea ... Felix?" He said as he looked up while stirring the silvery substance in the Pensieve with his wand, and Rita Skeeter''s face disappeared along with her long, brightly painted nails.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, you have been quite busy lately, but I did not expect that you were meeting with her." Felix chuckled, "Could it be that you want to publish an autobiography? If so, it really isn''t a great idea to ask for her help."


    This was made in response to what he had heard Dumbledore talking to himself when he first entered.


    Dumbledore laughed with amusement, his beard fluttered as one. "We can leave our mark in many ways, with magical portraits, Classroom Seven memory bodies, or even just by simply living in people''s memories ... but I don''t think an autobiography has to be included."


    Felix shrugged as he fiddled with the silverware on the table with his fingers, watching it making a chattering noise and spewing out wisps of smoke. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Any luck?"


    "Ah, apart from a few memories to prove that Voldemort grew up poorly ... there weren''t many noteworthy pieces of information, besides, I went for a stroll around the seaside cave you mentioned, and I have to say, Felix, you were really rough, all I found were ruins. "


    The two then talked about the shield charm, to which Dumbledore showed some interest, but soon he looked a little tired, and Felix took the initiative to say goodbye.


    "If you can, pay more attention to Madame Maxime, Felix." Dumbledore said from behind him.


    Felix frowned, "She''s suspicious?"


    "No, Of course not," Dumbledore said lightly, "I''m sure she would never become a pawn of Voldemort, what concerns me is whether she could be our friend ..." he then said with some concern: "Hagrid got sent to the hospital wing recently."


    ...


    It was at the end of the month before he saw Hagrid again.


    As December approached, the weather became increasingly chilly, especially since it rained and snowed last night, which left patches of blue ice crystals all over the ground as the students trudged through the yard in their thick cloaks.


    Felix followed the crowd to the edge of the forbidden forest, and Beauxbatons'' carriage came within his sight, with several students near the carriage looking around as they conjured up a transparent ice slide and slid down from high above, to Hagrid''s Hut, which is not far from them.


    A scarfed witch sat quietly by the side of the carriage, holding a golden egg in her arms. When she spotted Felix, she ran over cheerfully.


    "Professor Hap!"


    "Miss Delacour?" Felix asked as he glanced at a strand of silver hair which peeked out from under her scarf.


    "It''s me," Fleur lifted her scarf and smiled sweetly, "Madame Maxime is waiting for you."


    The carriage is not cramped, it looks just like a mobile Inn, with a dozen spacious rooms compartmentalized and separated from the central room that looked similar to the common room of the Hogwarts. The room is warm like spring, and it is decorated with all Beauxbatons characteristics. In addition to large bushes of pink and blue flowers, he also spotted a magical fountain, which churned out a mist of ice-blue water that blended with a sweet fragrance.


    Fleur led him through a door marked with the emblem of the Beauxbatons school, and brought him to the dining room in the carriage, where Madame Maxime is dining, as she wiped her mouth with a blue napkin and waved her hand, "Please sit down, Felix ... Fleur, join us."


    Fleur obediently sat at the table to eat, then she tucked her shiny silver hair to the left side of her neck while listening to the conversation between them.


    Felix first thanked her for her time, and through the small round window, he could see Hagrid''s burly figure walking back and forth in front of the pumpkin patch, giving lectures to a group of students.


    "How strange, how can anyone like that thing ... what, it''s called a fried tail scorpion or something?" Madame Maxime snorted through her nostrils, as she gestured with her blue-patterned fork, which is several times bigger than the one Felix is holding, towards the fuzzy landscape in the distance.


    "Firetrail Snail." Felix said, scooping up a bowl of seafood for himself, a fish stock that he guessed that they had brought from France because he had never seen such a fish before, but there are still a few fish in the soup that he saw in the Black Lake, not sure if Hogwarts offered it or if the Beauxbatons students caught it on their own.


    Madame Maxime looked distracted and said with very little interest, "I''m not interested in magical creatures."


    "I happen to know a magical creatures expert, oh, not Hagrid, someone else, Mr. Newt Scamander." Felix said, "He''s retired, but he had some great stories about his younger days, and I was able to hear about it a lot from him."


    In fact, the one he had talked to was Newt''s memory in Classroom Seven, and Felix had only recently discovered that he had a unique advantage in developing relationships with those memory bodies.


    Although the memory body resembles a person, but ultimately they''re no longer considered as a person, on the contrary, they resemble ghosts more. One of the most direct distinctions between them is that they have no sense of taste and can only recall the food they had once eaten, while coincidentally, Felix can bring out many dishes from his mind - exclusive to ghosts and memory bodies. After many years, Newt was particularly nostalgic about everything in the Hogwarts kitchen, and Felix used that opportunity to learn a lot of interesting information.


    For example, how he got expelled.


    Felix talked about Some of Newt''s adventures. Unlike the "wizards fighting dragons" stories that Madame Maxim and Fleur usually heard, Newt''s experiences were filled with knowledge and love for these magical creatures - he rarely used violent means to deal with them and made friends with them as much as he could.


    " In short, he rescued that poor Thunderbird from Egyptian smugglers and later brought it back to America ..."


    "Mr. Scamander has a heart of gold and more genuine feelings for the creatures, it was me who is narrow-minded." Madame Maxime said sentimentally, the large glass of gin before her already bottomed out.


    "And after that?" Fleur pursued.


    "I don''t know," Felix spread his hands, "it might have been a romantic love story after that, he met a lady. I guess they are now playing a game of throwing meatballs to mooncalf together?"


    After that, he talked about the current state of French werewolves by using this as a talking point.


    "I know what you''re talking about." Madame Maxime answered, "The Wolfsbane Potion, a remarkable innovation, our Ministry of Magic imported a batch of it, and to be honest, it''s a bit expensive ... so the minister is negotiating a deal with this side, hoping to buy the formula for the potion."


    She then said with some dissatisfaction, "Your minister is acting like a shrewd businessman, asking us for a lot of goodies."


    "Oh, and he didn''t show any respect for Madame Maxime!" Fleur said pointedly.


    Felix glanced over to see Madame Maxime shaking her head slightly, but her eyes flushed, making him wonder what exactly Fudge had said, or rather, acted out. But he wisely did not bother to ask.


    The three at the table next ate in silence, and Madame Maxime once again glanced toward Hagrid''s pumpkin patch. In the distance, a giant Firetrail Snail spurted a cluster of sparks from its tail and pulled the student forward with a jerk, dragging him through the snow as he slid forward.


    "Ouch! Haha." Madame Maxime laughed.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 461+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 408: Ghost Gathering Place

    When he parted, Felix gave her a small gift. "What is it?"


    "A recliner that comes with some interesting magic and is comfortable to sit on." Felix explained, "It''s one of the new products of ''Future World''. I heard from Remus... Umm, Mr. Lupin who is in charge of managing the company, that you had sent a letter asking about the size of this product, and whether customization would be available... ... so I brought it along."


    When he left, Madame Maxime and Fleur stared blankly at a metal box, which at the moment had been opened, and inside a capsule-like gadget had been placed on a red velvet cloth.


    "I should have asked ...," Madame Maxime murmured.


    " Did you write to the ''Future World'' company?" Fleur asked with an odd look in her eyes.


    " Can''t I?" Madame Maxime grunted, "Didn''t you also collect two small magic lamps at the light show?"


    Fleur stuck her tongue out while twirling up the capsule, and examining it carefully for a couple of minutes without the slightest clue. So she handed it to Maxime, and Madame Maxime rubbed the surface of it, "Huh? The magic is unstable, it seems to be disposable."


    Then she took out her wand and lightly tapped on it, the capsule made a "click" sound, and it cracked from the center, and Madame Maxime tossed it aside.


    "Bang!"


    A blue and bronze recliner appeared abruptly in the middle of the dining room, which looked at least three times bigger than a normal recliner, resembling a bed with a backrest and armrests - at least from Fleur''s point of view.


    But she wouldn''t dare say that, as she encouraged Madame Maxime to try it out.


    When the big-boned lady leaned her body on the recliner, a layer of colorless transparent air cushion suddenly emerged from the surface of the seat, "Huh? So comfortable, as if I am sitting on a cloud, the name��cloud chair�� is really appropriate ..."


    Madame Maxim''s face showed an intoxicated expression, watching this made Fleur''s heart itch to try sitting on it instantly.


    After a good while, she stood up from the recliner and said with a look of satisfaction, "There should be a fair amount of beneficial enchantments in it, not very potent, but together they can make the person lying on it extraordinarily relaxed, as if all troubles got forgotten, really a good stuff."


    Fleur''s eyes sparkled with stars, "Can I buy it? With this little thing," she pointed to the palm-sized box on the table, "it will only take an owl to deliver it, right?"


    "As you heard, this product is not yet available and may have defects. I''m just experiencing it first, and will need to give suggestions when I am free." Madame Maxime said, "Put it inside the bath in my private restroom."


    "Yes, Madame Maxime." Fleur responded as she moved the levitating recliner forward with her wand directing it as her eyes sparkled with excitement.


    ...


    "You tampered with Olympe''s gift?" Hagrid''s eyes widened.


    "Don''t say it like that, it would break my heart." Felix sat on the couch in Hagrid''s hut, with one hand scratching Fang''s chin as it grunted in comfort and drooled.


    "I didn''t tamper with anything, on the contrary, we did our best as we could. The problem is, that the test versions don''t always work as well as they should, especially with the lady with an unusual physique, the chances of problems occurring are even greater. Currently, the selected beta testers are provided with a set of instructions with easy methods of repairs. I just ... happened to forget to leave a copy for Madame Maxime."


    Hagrid froze, then he buried his head in the product manual Felix had given him, mumbling quickly, "Softening Charm, Cloud Spell, Calming Charm, Placement Charm, Shaping Charm ..." He quickly flipped through a few pages, "Repair Manual ... list of frequently asked questions ..."


    His eyes gradually brightened up.


    Felix picked up the cage containing Aragog and brought it closer to Fang, his snout twitching as he sniffed hard against the cage, the old spider inside cowered in the corner, waving its large claws threateningly.


    "Get away from me, you stupid mutt, and don''t think I don''t have much venom left ...," the old king of Acromantula said in a thick voice.


    "You''re looking pretty spirited." Felix said with a smile.


    " Got used to it," Aragog said, the stiff black fur that covered its body had turned gray and white, and its two large claws dangled feebly below the cage as it said sadly, "Hagrid took me to the Colony once, and there was no place for me there now, and we got chased out ... I predicted this day, there is a bloodthirsty instinct in our bodies, and if I die naturally in old age, they are bound to eat me."


    This batch of Acromantula in the forbidden forest has always served Aragog as their king, and Aragog was raised by Hagrid, so it can be said that they are far more docile in nature than the wild Acromantula, just like Thestral, which can almost be called as domesticated creatures. But the Acromantula was created without the word "docile", they were designed to guard the wizard''s treasure troves and secret chambers ...


    One day, they will become more and more ferocious, and at that time, it will be time for the Acromantula to disappear. However, it should take a long time before that happens.


    Felix pondered, then looked up, Hagrid is looking at him with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes.


    "I can see what you mean, Felix, you''re just too sweet ..." Hagrid choked out, "Few people have been so kind and considerate towards me, even my dad... ..." He sniffled heavily and made a loud hiccup.


    He then started to rush around, searching the various corners of the hut for magical creature materials, then he retrieved a complete hide with ash colour tusks of a Tebo Warthog, Unicorn hair, a stinger of a Manticore, and the wings of a Flower Fairy ...


    "I recalled that you collected these materials, it''s all stocked over the years, I picked these up when I patrolled the forbidden forest. The Tebo Warthog fell into a trap, located on the other side, and starved to death when I found it ... I also found the stick that the trolls use to smash things, it stinks terribly, but it can be used quite smoothly ... I washed it many times before using it exclusively to smash pumpkins, if you need it, it''s just right behind the door."


    "Oh, Hagrid, I don''t need ... well, I''ll just take a little, just the hide from a Tebo Warthog, I guess I can mix the fur of a Demiguise with it to make a protective coat, and of course, the stinger of Manticore is something I wouldn''t say no to."


    Meanwhile, Harry is drowsily sitting in his History of Magic class, and the other young wizards are acting pretty much just like him, dazed with a bit of confusion, as if they haven''t woken up. S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There were a few people - like Hermione, who insisted on taking notes, trying to hear one or two details not mentioned in the textbook from Professor Binns'' breathy, trailing voice, Harry wiped the corners of his itchy mouth to wipe away the saliva, he looked around, Seamus is snoring lightly, Neville''s head kept nodding, and every time his head reached the lowest the quill in his hand woke him up as he jerked his head up and wrote down the words he heard, and then within ten seconds, he was once again dull-eyed, his eyelids drooping, repeating the previous action.


    Harry stealthily tugged at Neville''s History of Magic notebook and glanced at it, the latest line being "The food in Classroom Seven is delicious." He covered his mouth to hold back his laughter, did Neville write it wrong? At the end of class, he learned the answer from Hermione''s mouth.


    "Classroom seven has become a gathering place for ghosts?"


    "Didn''t you guys notice that Professor Binns sounded a lot more hyper than usual?" Hermione said seriously, "He mentioned Classroom Seven three times in class ..."


    "And you''re the only one who can tell." Ron said.


    "So, are we still going to the library today? I think it''s waaaay nicer in the common room, and I don''t want to see Mrs. Pince again. Have you noticed that she looks a bit like Filch? I mean the sunken cheeks, the parchment-like skin, and the long hawkish nose ... Huh, why does that sound a bit like Snape?"


    Harry and Hermione laughed their heads off. After laughing, Hermione scowled and lectured him, "Don''t you dare to speak of her like that, Mrs. Pince takes her job very seriously."


    "Yeah," Ron muttered, "walking behind me when I''m picking out books and chasing us out with a floating feather duster when we talked too loudly ..."


    " By the way, Harry!" He said excitedly, "I found out that Ginny won a Goblet of Fire replica from Professor Hap, the kind with flames! I wanted to borrow it to look at it, but she refused, I guess she is planning to give it to you for Christmas, how eccentric ..."


    Harry did not say anything, but Hermione did, "No way! She wouldn''t give it away, I heard her mention that she wanted to treasure it for the rest of her life."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 463+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 409: Continue

    The main theme of December is blizzards and snow; And compared to the whole vast world, Hogwarts Castle looks like a small animal wearing a white fur hat in the snow. Like a Niffler.


    A pair of Hogwarts students were standing in the yard chatting. "Come closer," Eleanor said, pulling a locket from her thin dress pocket while looking at it closely. "I remember seeing the dial to adjust the range at the edge ..."


    The boy next to her hesitated and sat slightly closer. Caldwell watched her intently fiddling with the dials on the locket.


    "What''s this?" He asked curiously.


    "A thermostatic pendant that Mom sent me." Eleanor explained as she kept her head down and examined it. "There!"


    "What ... wow." Caldwell said in awe as he felt a warmth seep in a little through his cold clothes, a little uncomfortable at first as the heat made him suddenly realize how cold his outer layer of clothing was, but soon he squinted in comfort.


    It seemed like the summer had suddenly returned.


    "I wondered why you weren''t wearing a thick wool cloak, but it turns out you have this ... thermostat chain!" Caldwell said, as his face was flushed from the heat, that he hurried to loosen the thick scarf wrapped around his neck.


    "It''s a thermostatic pendant," Eleanor repeated, and then brought the pendant towards him, "it has two dials on it, one to control the range and the other to control the temperature, it''s a new product of the ''''Future World'''' company, and Mother mailed it to me right after the release via owl as soon as possible."


    "Future World?" Caldwell heard another unfamiliar term.


    "Oh yeah! That''s a pretty famous company recently, and they were in the News for their new cool products, Magic Lamp Show, the collaboration with the Weird Sisters group. They have outlets in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade ... They also have a list of their new upcoming products, a dozen of them, and I especially want that Emerald Crown."


    Caldwell looked at her enviously, "You know a lot, unlike me who knows nothing."


    "Because my mother is a witch, and she graduated from Hufflepuff - just like me, and she''s the one who told me the little secret of the kitchen ..." Eleanor said with narrow eyes, she had moon blond hair and a bright round face.


    "So you don''t have to worry if you don''t understand something, just come and ask me." She said, patting her chest.


    They sat on a bench in the yard


    "Look, that guy is a Slytherin, you can tell by the colour of his scarf."


    "Those two girls are holding golems, props from Ancient Runes'' Class, I guess they''re looking for a secluded place to play."


    "Ha, look at that guy, doesn''t his clothes look like Little Wizard Mick? Especially the way he''s scratching his head, so silly ..." Eleanor giggled.


    Caldwell listened intently, then pointed to a man at a distance, "It''s Professor Moody!"


    The two went quiet, watching in silence as Moody dragged his one leg, walking towards them from a far distance for a while. They held their breath until he turned a corner and the "crunching" sound of snow finally disappeared.


    "He''s scary, isn''t he?" Eleanor whispered.


    "Yeah, you''re right," Caldwell agreed. "You can''t bloody guess how scary he was when he yelled at me that day they selected the champions, that bloody battered nose not three inches away from me when a young professor saved my arse... ..."


    "Stop it." Eleanor immediately recalled the image of her being reprimanded by Professor Moody when she dyed Puffskein during class.


    Under the effect of the thermostatic pendant, the bitter cold wind turned into a soothing spring breeze, with a coolness that made Caldwell feel comfortable. He felt that Eleanor had set the temperature of the pendant too high, that it felt like both of them were sitting by the fire of the fireplace, the surrounding snow with them as a center unconsciously fizzing away in a circle.


    "What''s that?!" Caldwell suddenly shouted, pointing at the snow on the courtyard, "There''s something down there."


    "I don''t know." Eleanor said, pulling her wand out of her pocket and looking warily at the snow, Caldwell followed suit, but they are both still first years and haven''t learned many useful spells.


    "It must be some kind of living thing!" Caldwell said as they brought their legs up and placed them on the edge of their bench, watching carefully as something in the snow trailed a long trail before stopping not far from them.


    Just as Caldwell began to ponder whether a gaping maw full of fangs would suddenly emerge, the snow bulged up with a small bump, "It''s coming out!" Eleanor said nervously, with her one hand holding Caldwell''s arm in a death grip.


    "Don''t�� don''t worry, it doesn''t look that big ... I should be able to deal with it ... Huh?"


    He was about to cheer Eleanor up when a pink beak poked out, revealing a furry head.


    "Kee!"


    Niffler Valen lifted her head and surveyed the surroundings through a layer of snow, then she paused briefly on Eleanor and Caldwell, before looking in the direction of the courtyard exit, after which her body once again burrowed deeper into the snow.


    "What''s that ... it doesn''t look that scary." Caldwell said, as he couldn''t help but flush, perhaps because Eleanor leaned too close to him, and that pendant made him feel a bit too hot.


    "A Niffler." Eleanor said, "I heard from the Prefect that one of the professors in the school raises Niffler... Oh, crap."


    "What''s wrong?"


    "We missed an opportunity! The Prefect said that this Niffler has lots of treasures, and no one knows what goodies she has hidden in her pockets; and if anyone meets her and has some trinkets in their pocket, they can exchange them with her treasures if she finds them interesting!"


    "What could a Niffler possibly have, a pretty stone?" Caldwell asked, and that was all he could think of.


    "More than that, I heard that twins gave this Niffler a box of Exploding Snap cards, and got a feather pen that could draw in the air, with drawn characters that would move ... and another student gave her a glowing grass and got a bottle of blue bubble blowing liquid in exchange. "


    "Bubble blowing liquid?"


    "You can hold a person inside that Bubble!"


    Caldwell imagined a scene where Eleanor is inside a blue bubble, and he found himself looking forward to it. But that Niffler had already left, and he could only watch with bated breath as the Niffler left a trail in the snow.


    ...


    Niffler Valen has been enjoying a rare holiday. She and that Great Devil have made a deal that for every hundred words she learns, she can stroll outside unsupervised.


    Coming out of the courtyard and moving some distance away, she poked her head out again. She smelled a dozen familiar scents, then she selected one of them and moved there quickly. When she raised her head occasionally, she could overhear some plausible conversation -


    "I''m only telling you, who made you my sister ... Professor Trelawney predicted that something bad will happen!"


    "Well," a disinterested voice said, "who''s going to die this time?"


    "Padma Patil!" The one who spoke before sounded less pleased, "You should learn to respect the professor."


    "Sorry, Ravenclaw only respects those who are truly knowledgeable."


    Niffler Valen poked her head out of the snow and hesitantly made her way back when she saw twin sisters facing each other like they were about to cross swords.


    "Look there, it''s Niffler! Don''t leave! I want to exchange something with you!" One of the witches ran towards her excitedly, which startled Valen, as she rushed into the snow and bolted away in a flash.


    This time she became much more cautious. When hearing the sound of talking, she would deliberately slow down her pace. Soon, she picked up a familiar voice, no, three of them.


    "The people of Uagadou are living in the igloo, don''t they?"


    "Fred, you are insulting my African friends, they have their own quarters ... The environment is indeed not great, but it is certainly much better than Durmstrang, the poor ghost ship that wobbles in the gale ... " said a voice that spoke quickly without sounding very upset.


    "You really made friends with them?" Fred asked, somewhat surprised.


    "Look at my braids, man, we''re all going to get Eagle Hair Braid tonight!" Lee Jordan shouted like a protester demanding some perks.


    "Oh, Lee, the Ravenclaw House students won''t be happy to hear that ..." George said with a laugh. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Niffler quickly scurried away like a black shadow and found her target before entering the main castle building.


    "That''s an absolutely terrible idea." Ron said.


    "I don''t think so." Hermione said calmly.


    "Don''t you think it''s outrageous? We crouched outside the Ilvermorny''s campsite for two hours just to talk to those Pukwudgies... I almost died of fright when they pointed their arrows at me."


    Harry remained silent, today he wanted to sleep after breakfast as it happens to be the weekend, but Hermione had dragged them to interview the Pukwudgies, asking them how their lives were in Ilvermorny, saying that they wanted to do a comparative study between them and Hogwarts house elves


    As a result, those Pukwudgies unceremoniously drove them away, as for how he felt ... he is now completely wooden from head to toe, just wanted to hurry back to take a hot bath, with no desire to talk


    At this time, a black shadow sprang out in front of him, and he subconsciously drew his wand, but stopped the moment he looked at the black shadow, "Valen!?" He shouted in surprise.


    Niffler climbed up his shoulders and looked at Ron and Hermione arguing from a high position.


    "Kiki (Go on!)!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 463+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 410: Yule Ball

    In the common room, Niffler Valen enjoyed a special treat. After sending off a group of people who came to see the fun, the Trio sat in the corner and took their usual spot. Ron and Hermione did not feel like talking because Valen had seen their embarrassing side, Harry thought or felt that it would be easier to talk to Valen.


    "Want some candy?" He asked.


    Valen shook her head, as she pulled a box of Exploding Snap cards out of her pocket, her dark eyes looked at them. Which suggested, do you want to play cards?


    Hermione, who had been silent, laughed, "Valen, you learned this?"


    Ron winked at her and whispered in a tone of revealing secrets, " I will show you a new way to play; My original creation ... not the Classical playing method, nor the Patience playing method, look!"


    He unwrapped the box and quickly used the exploding cards to build the base of a castle, "Next is the second layer, keep stacking up, this time your hand must be steady ... oh ..." Ron made a long face as the second layer of the castle has begun to sparkle up.


    Valen deftly leaped up from the table, jumped into Hermione''s arms, and stared back at the two-story crude castle.


    "Bang!"


    The entire castle of cards Ron had built exploded, a cloud of sparks and black smoke rose from the table, and Valen watched it all with great interest.


    Harry and Hermione wanted to laugh but did not dare do so; Ron wiped his dirty face haphazardly with his sleeve and said bitterly: "It''s actually quite exciting, isn''t it? I recommend you to play with the professor, if you play with another person, you will eventually win the game. Trust me, I''m on your side!" He swore to Valen.


    "Oh, right." Hermione said suddenly, holding up Niffler so that her eyes would meet hers, "Valen, you know that hourglass, the one you traded to Harry?" She passed Harry a look.


    Harry understood and pulled a gray hourglass out of his pocket and held it out in front of him, "That''s the one. I heard Hermione say, er, she actually only heard Professor Hap mention it once, that you robbed the Gringotts goblin of his gems in the middle of the night and were then ordered by the professor to return them ..."


    Niffler stared at the hourglass for a while, she didn''t remember much, this kind of thing doesn''t have much appeal to her, what happened then?


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched Niffler gesticulate, and they guessed almost the whole thing.


    "So, you returned all the gems, but somehow, the hourglass remained ... later when counting your treasure, you did not take it seriously." Hermione concluded.


    Niffler nodded and continued to gesture.


    "You have too many treasures ... to notice this hourglass?" Hermione asked with some difficulty, and Valen nodded vigorously, yes, that''s right. At the side, Ron''s eyes widened as he stared at Niffler''s Pocket, "How many things are you hiding, I guess I could just check--"


    Valen immediately turned her head away.


    "--well, I see what you mean." Ron said.


    At that moment, Ginny came over and sat next to Hermione, "Yo, little Valen, it''s you ..." Hermione brushed her fur, while Ginny teased Niffler as she asked in a careless tone, "Have you thought about it, whether to take the initiative and invite your ball partner first or to wait for others to invite you? Well, you know it would be better to think ahead than to end up being left alone."


    Harry and Ron''s eyes widened, they were worried about this matter. Yesterday, during Friday''s Transfiguration class, they finished their classwork early - turning chicken into guinea pigs - and decided to play a dueling game. Harry and Ron were holding two fake wands, and Ron''s turned into a tinned parrot, and Harry''s became a rubber hedgehog, then the two of them were competing back and forth in the back of the classroom like a fencing match. (*the fake wand that was created by twins in an earlier chapter*)


    Hermione looked at them with an annoyed look on her face as she was organizing her transfiguration notes, "Gentlemen, can''t you do something appropriate for your age?"


    "As you can see, we''re practicing our fencing skills, following the footsteps of our first Head, Godric Gryffindor." Ron justified his childish behaviour while taking advantage of Harry''s lack of attention to attack vigorously.


    "Yeah, well, Do you know Gryffindor''s favourite spell?" Hermione asked softly.


    Harry and Ron paused and looked at each other.


    " Sharp Edge(*made-up spell*), this spell can add magical properties to a weapon, making it drastically sharper and tougher, like the effect of a Severing Charm; but of course, much better. When Gryffindor wielded his goblin sword, he could easily cut through the dragon''s hide." Hermione explained while finishing the last part of her notes.


    At that moment, Professor McGonagall came over and looked at the tinned parrot Ron carried - Harry''s rubber hedgehog''s head broke off in the scuffle - and she pursed her lips without saying anything.


    With that, she turned and walked up to the podium and announced the Yule Ball to everyone.


    "The Ball is only for 4th years and above, so if you plan to, um ... loose your hair and relax," Professor McGonagall said after a moment of indifference, "you''ll have to find yourselves a date! ... Of course, it''s okay to invite your underclassmen ..."


    Lavender Brown made a loud giggle, but she wasn''t alone, Parvati Patil jabbed her with force and they both turned their faces to look at Harry. In fact, more than half of the girls in the class were eying Harry at that time, and Harry had never felt such a burning gaze.


    At the end of the class, Professor McGonagall left Harry, Hermione, and Ron with a staggering announcement.


    "You should already know." McGonagall said dryly.


    Harry watched in confusion as Hermione nodded like it was natural, he then looked at Ron, who was also confused, Harry thought Professor McGonagall had kept them for his headless rubber hedgehog, but now it seemed his understanding had gone out of whack.


    "Potter, all the Champions should be accompanied by their own partners--" Professor McGonagall said.


    " Partners - what!" Harry took a breath and interrupted her.


    "Partners, date, whatever you prefer," McGonagall said, noticing Harry''s blush with an understanding smile, "Yes, it is traditional that the ball is started by the Champions and their partners."


    Harry remained frozen, as he tried to muster up a bit of a cheerful expression since Professor McGonagall obviously thought it is an honour and privilege that belonged to Champions, but he could only imagine the comical sight of himself in a large bowler hat and tuxedo for a moment, and then he felt eager to throw that honour out the window.


    Maybe Ron would love the idea, Harry thought, but he soon realized that Ron is also one of the Champions, along with Hermione.


    When they emerged from the classroom, both Harry and Ron felt a bit listless, which made them not notice the equally jittery Hermione on the side, and Professor McGonagall''s last words hit them like a whip and cracked their heart -


    "As the most important representatives of the school, you must do what we expect you to do. Therefore, you must find yourselves a dance partner."


    As they walked toward the great hall, Ron said a little bitterly, "Harry, you don''t have to worry, you have always been popular, the girls can''t wait for you to ask them or maybe ... someone will ask you instead. It would be much harder for me, and, did you hear what Professor McGonagall said? Everyone must wear a formal dress ... Damn it! I only have that dress which looked like embroidered by grandma ..."


    In fact, Ron''s words made sense, and Harry truly is more popular than he thought. The very next day - that is, this morning, while he and Ron were having breakfast in the great hall - a curly-haired third-year girl from Hufflepuff House asked Harry to the Yule Ball, and he had never even spoken to her before.


    It was a bit of an awkward scene. He was discussing with Ron about a dance partner, and they both fretted about it, and Ron even pessimistically suggested that they should use Incarcerous to get one, "Let''s not, that''s our most powerful spell." Ron said with a deep feeling.


    Harry let out a snicker while stuffing his mouth with pumpkin porridge when that girl came up to him and invited him.


    "Oh, uh, what did you say ... sorry, I haven''t thought about it yet." Harry looked at her in surprise, and because it was so sudden, he declined without thinking.


    The girl walked away with a deeply hurt expression on her face.


    After that, Hermione, who had hurried downstairs, dragged them towards Ilvermorny''s quarters, "We were looking for a dance partner, Hermione!" Ron complained at the time, but Hermione dismissed his excuse on the grounds that there is still half a month before the Yule Ball, and both Harry and Ron also felt like escaping, so they followed Hermione - until they were extremely bored while squatting in front of Ilvermorny''s quarters for two hours. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    If you ask him now, Harry couldn''t tell you which was scarier, to challenge a dragon or to invite a dance partner or a two hours of squatting in the icy snow, but the scary part was that it was now late in the evening when he was ready to take a shower and go to bed after hosting Niffler Valen, Ginny''s question instantly brought him back to reality.


    ...


    When he lay in bed at night, all could do is rolled around without being able to sleep, as Ginny''s comments to Hermione echoed in his mind: "Have you thought about it, whether to take the initiative and invite your ball partner first or to wait for others to invite you? Well, you know it would be better to think ahead than to end up being left alone."


    He originally had a name in mind, but he knew it was just his own delusion, yet a vague thought told him, what if, what if Cedric hadn''t invited Cho Chang, that Collins is quite pretty, isn''t she?


    But now, he wasn''t that sure.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 465+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 411: Films (2 in 1)

    The Yule Ball had a bigger impact than, what everyone expected; As even Felix was affected by the ripples. While he was eating his breakfast in the great hall, he noticed a fiery gaze and looked up to find that it was from Uagadou''s champion, the witch named Nona Leibert. She stared at him with great interest, but when Felix gently fed Niffler a piece of strawberry cake, that fiery gaze faded away from him.


    The hallways were filled with chattering girls who loitered in groups, and whenever a decent boy passed by, they would hold their breath and look at that boy with anticipation.


    Of course, they may have gotten one thing wrong; that is so many people shouldn''t have gathered together. While being with their peers would increase their courage, they would also correspondingly lower their counterpart''s courage. Felix had seen more than once that the eager male wizard had lost his battle intent in front of a group of girls.


    ''Anyway, It was quite entertaining though.'' He thought to himself.


    In the Magic Rune Club, Felix sat lazily on the couch as the members of the club sat around him in twos and threes.


    "Today is the last activity of this term, the next time we will only be able to get together after Christmas. The exact date is still not set yet, so keep an eye on your Ring of Ouroboros... Back to the point, for today there''s going to be nothing new from me, so continue to deepen your control over your magic as per the progress from the last activity."


    Felix waved his arm, and from the corner of the room, a metal cage flew out covered with dark-coloured cloth sheet, from which an annoying buzzing sound was heard.


    All the students pursed their lips and looked at the cage with complicated eyes, they are aware of what is inside.


    "Oh yeah, the usual drill - if you get stung, the potion is on the table." Felix said as seven or eight bright blue bottles of potion flew out of his ring and landed on the small round table in the center of the room.


    The club members skilfully pulled out and wore their thick leather gloves, then one by one, they lined up in front of the cage, and resignedly plunged their hands inside, accompanied by a tooth-aching "chatter" sound, as Draco Malfoy grabbed a half-inch-long blue insect from the cage.


    "I hate Billywig." He whispered. While still wearing gloves, he flicked it a few times with his other hand, and the Billywig insects'' lustrous lavender shade body kept wriggling, as a thin needle at its bottom kept stabbing his gloves.


    "Maybe I should remove your needle, so you don''t sting me." Draco whispered in a threatening tone, "Perhaps it would be good to throw it in someone''s collar."


    Harry immediately looked back at him warily, and Draco let out a silent snicker.


    After a while, everyone received a Billywig insect, and Harry stared at the one in his hand, always feeling it was more active than the rest, then he saw Ron quietly casting a "Full Body-Bind Curse" on his one.


    Can you do that? Harry''s eyes widened and then tried to copy Ron''s method. But the next second, the spell was undone, "I''m watching you, Weasley." The professor''s voice reached their ears slowly.


    Many of the students who had made preparations in advance showed regretful expressions as Fred and George put their small tweezer away.


    Hermione snorted, displeased with their opportunistic behaviour, then she sat down next to Ginny and Luna - Luna is in her third year - she submitted her application in the first month of the school year and passed the test with flying colours.


    After her, the number of club members increased one after another by five.


    Hermione whispered to Ginny and Luna as she demonstrated, her fingertips swirling with light blue magic, which surrounded the Billywig insect in multiple layers, like a glowing blue cocoon, binding it within a very small area. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Look, first wrap it with your magic, then take off your gloves, it''s easier with two hands ... Ginny, I need your help."


    Ginny helped her to take off her gloves, and then Hermione''s two hands traced in the air constantly.


    The Billywig has wings on both sides of its head which flapped very fast, but at the moment it was just a futile attempt, as it got trapped in the same space under Hermione''s magic.


    "Just like this, and then expand your range a little, but first be sure that you can be able to control them."


    Hermione said to Ginny and Luna, from her opposite seat the Greengrass sisters were staring at her with wide eyes, the two sisters were in the identical posture - with the gloved hand clutching the Billywig insect, their eyes blazed as their mouths puffed up a bit.


    Meanwhile, Harry fiddled with his insects appropriately. Unlike Hermione, who excelled in terms of Magic manipulation, and according to the professor, she had reached the second stage where she could control the Billywig insects at will within a one-foot radius. While he, together with most of the people in the club, had to lock it firmly with their magic, because at the slightest negligence, it would quickly fly away.


    What would follow next would be a nightmare ... Harry did not want to recall the last assembly, in fact, he fared better than the rest, but when you are surrounded by sources of danger, it is not up to you whether you want to be stung or not.


    From what he observed after that, the club members from Gryffindor House seemed to have lost interest in the "Fizzing Whizzbees" because it reminded them of their own painful experiences of being stung.


    Harry carefully, without any distraction, manipulated his magic, he felt good today, so he gradually slackened his control, allowing the web of magic around the Billywig insect to expand, the insect fluttered its wings, so he got startled, and hastily shrank the magic, as the insect''s legs immediately straightened.


    Still alive, this is his conclusion after repeated confirmation. Harry looked around sheepishly and only got satisfied when he noticed Malfoy''s Billywig wing became wrinkled, and at Professor Hap''s reminder, Malfoy had to cast a healing spell on it.


    The rest of the day went by so quickly that even Malfoy and Ron''s screams of pain didn''t distract him that much.


    At the end of the assembly, Harry managed to widen the range where he could control the Billywig insect, he watched it flap its wings, but it could not fly beyond half a foot radius, even though it was a little short he still nodded with satisfaction.


    Others in the class also made their own progress.


    Harry discovered Professor''s hidden trick. He noticed that Professor Hap would always explain the benefits of doing something before asking them to do it. For example, in the last few assemblies, everyone was moved by the beautiful picture that Professor painted for this training like "Wandless Spell Casting, Controlling Spells at Will, Learning Spells quickly with ease."


    Especially when they saw Professor Hap sitting on the couch and being able to control any fast-flying Billywig in the whole room, they were convinced of the authenticity of his words.


    After the assembly ended, the young wizards walked out.


    Hermione stayed behind to help him tidy up the remaining boxes and vials they had left behind, "Oh, it looks a bit miserable..." she said about a Billywig insect that had lost its wings.


    "It''s the most appropriate teaching prop I could find, Miss Granger. Besides, they are potion materials that I borrowed... I heard that you guys still operating that ''Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare'' organization?"


    Hermione nodded. She hesitated for a moment and then said with some confusion, "I don''t know if I should continue this, as the house-elves doesn''t exactly seem like they need my help, plus Harry and Ron have no interest in this either ..."


    Felix looked like he understood her.


    "I know you''re not used to seeing how wizards treat their house-elves and think they''re being mistreated, so I had suggested you look into it first, and it seems to be working well - in the past you could only see the injustice done to them as a whole in a universal sense, and projecting that sentiment into every single elf alive, so It''s only natural that you would run into obstacles everywhere.


    There''s a saying - You Will Never Understand Until You Experience Them Yourself, Miss Granger, you have to first realize that you''re dealing with a race, a community, where the needs of each individual in the community will tend to differ from each other.


    You first have to identify who is holding you back."


    Hermione rolled her eyes.


    "You mean ... pureblood?"


    Felix laughed gently, "I didn''t say a thing, Miss Granger. I read your report, it was very detailed and even mentioned the Pukwudgie of Ilvermorny ... You know yourself that the house-elves at Hogwarts are leading a good life, and those tragic encounters you saw often come from a certain privileged group of people, and with your current influence, with all due respect, there is really only so much you can do."


    "But-" Hermione slowly considered it, then her thoughts gradually became clear, "I know how to do it, I''m going to--"


    "No, don''t say it out loud, it won''t be effective if you do so. Keep it in the back of your mind and always remind yourself of it so that you can have the motivation to move forward." Felix said as he winked at her.


    "Oh, Professor ..."


    Hermione smiled like a child. It felt like she had solved a long troubling problem that had been bothering her for a long time, and her whole body lightened up. Then she also felt more motivated.


    "Have you unlocked the clue to the second task yet?"


    "Not yet," Hermione shook her head, "in fact, I have designed a plan to decipher the clue from the golden egg, but I got worried that I will break it, so we are going to wait a little longer."


    Felix nodded slightly.


    "By the way, Professor, are you going to attend the ball?" Hermione asked.


    "Probably will show up, and grab a bite to eat or something." Felix said uncertainly while guiding the cage to the corner: "I''m not very good at dancing."


    "They say there''s a new song by the Weird Sisters at the ball! Don''t you want to try it?"


    "I know, I''ve heard it in advance, would you like an album?"


    "Uh ... no need." Hermione said with disappointment.


    ...


    "W.W.N?" Harry asked puzzled.


    "It''s Wizard Radio, you should have heard of Wireless, right?" Seamus gave Harry an uncertain look, and when he nodded, Seamus continued, "That''s it, similar to Muggle radio, but if you listen to it for a while, you''ll find that the songs on it are always nostalgic ..."


    "It''s difficult to find new songs." He said with a definitive tone. The others stared at him while he laughed and explained, " That''s what my mom said."


    "Yeah, after years, the Weird Sisters are finally releasing a new song ... I bet my Mom is going to be overjoyed." Ron said with certainty.


    The last week of the school term got busier by the day.


    The young wizards placed almost all of their enthusiasm on the upcoming Yule Ball. Because of that students became very distracted, so Felix simply stopped taking classes. The ancient rune class had progressed far beyond the other subjects, especially the fifth and seventh years, who were already started to review.


    He brought his small projector to the Ancient Rune classroom and played films for the students.


    "Professor Hap, I''ve heard a few things from other grades ... We don''t want to see dinosaurs or a film about a young boy who is all alone at home catching a stupid thief - is there any romance film?" Lavender Brown asked boldly.


    "Romance?" Felix repeated. Noticing that all the girls had worked up their courage to meet his gaze, at that time Seamus wanted to say he''d rather like to see what a muggle-imagined dragon looked like, but Parvati looked at him very evilly that he was compelled to shut up.


    "Well," Felix agreed, as he sorted through his ring, "there ought to be one that will satisfy your demand, probably ..."


    The thick curtain in the classroom was drawn close, the light became dim, and with the creaking and rolling sound of the machine, the film began.


    This is an animated film, which begins with a beautiful natural landscape, with lush green grass and red roses, waterfalls, and streams, wherein in the depths of the dense forest, an exquisite castle stood out. The students who saw this film for the first time chattered and discussed -


    "A dynamic comic film? I like the new series from L.C.A. Has anyone seen it?"


    "I think it''s a Muggle film, Professor mentioned it before."


    "Huh? H-how did they manage to make the picture move? Has anyone taken Professor Burbage''s class?"


    "Oh forget it, I don''t want to talk about disgusting flies and peas ... Honestly, I think her research went astray, and I definitely won''t pick this class up as an elective for the next year."


    As the film narration began, they gradually quieted down and were drawn into the fascinating story.


    "Once upon a time, in the hidden heart of France, a handsome young prince lived in a beautiful castle-"


    "Hey, a prince�� Ohh!" A witch cried out.


    "Shut up, Lavender."


    "- Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was selfish and unkind. But then, one winter''s night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away. But she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within.


    But the prince was unmoved ...


    ...


    So the witch transformed him into a hideous beast and placed a powerful spell on the castle, and all who lived there, and the rose she had offered was also an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his twenty-first year.


    If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time.


    ...


    As the years passed, the prince fell into despair and lost all hope. For who could ever learn to love a beast?"


    The students watched in awe, what a powerful witch she is, to possess such terrible magical power.


    But they had realized that this was not something that really happened, it was just something imagined and thought up by muggles who could not do magic, it is inevitable that there will be some common sense mistakes ...


    As the story progressed, they were completely captivated by the plot of the film, and even the boys who were indignantly complained about wanting to see dinosaurs previously, couldn''t help but worry about the characters in the film.


    "That guy named ''Gaston'' is awful!"


    "This would be a perfect moment if a dark wizard passed by-"


    "What''s going on in your head?"


    "Belle is so sweet ..."


    The film ended with a magnificent ball, and the students could not get enough of it. Felix smiled at them and said, "Well, this class is running a few minutes late, so you better hurry up and get to the great hall for your meal."


    The students walked out and excitedly discussed the plot in the hallway.


    The boys focused more on whether the magic in the story could be realized, "I don''t think after turning people into teacups, they can still talk and move. It doesn''t make sense!" Ron said.


    "Hey, man, maybe the Professors can do it?" Seamus argued.


    "It''s just a film." Dean said, as he grew up in a Muggle family, he understands the best that the film was only trying to say some moral.


    "No, it''s against the Transfiguration ru-les," Ron reddened, as he half-stammered, finding himself struggling to remember the corresponding knowledge points, so he looked at the side, "What do you think, Hermione?"


    "I''m in the middle of something!" Hermione said as she walked with the girls in a group towards the great hall instead of with Harry and the gang, to quickly discuss something.


    "What''s gotten into her?" Ron asked uncertainly.


    Harry shrugged, "Maybe she really liked the film."


    "You don''t also think the magic in the film is possible, do you?" Ron asked him.


    Harry thought about the Nose-Biting Teacup sold in the Zonko''s Joke Shop, and the golem he had once seen practicing drama in Classroom Seven, which made him a bit uncertain, but he nodded against his will to accommodate Ron''s mood.


    In the evening, they returned from the library to the common room - much earlier than usual, but it could not be helped - as they wanted to celebrate their completion of the first book on alchemy, Ron and Harry played a thrilling game of wizard''s chess, in which Ron cornered Harry with two formidable pawns, and Harry''s white king already removed his crown from his head and held it in his hand, ready to throw at any moment.


    "Your chess skills have regressed." Ron said.


    Harry didn''t respond. He stared intently at the board, hoping for a miracle. It turned out that a miracle did happen because Ron''s pieces were too loud when they battered Harry''s bishop, so both of them got kicked out by Mrs. Pince, the librarian.


    ...


    They opened the door to the common room to find that even the fat lady had undergone some changes as Christmas approached, as she got a new outfit for herself, "Want to dance, Brave Champions?" She asked drunkenly, holding a box of wine and a heart chocolate box.


    " I could recommend you a dance partner," Ron muttered, and whispered as they entered the common room, "His name is Barnabas, and he''s a ballet teacher you can find him on the seventh floor, goodnight."


    ------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there''ll be only 1 chappy tomorrow.


    Thanks for all your support.


    There are 465+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 412: Reply

    Over the next few days, the young wizards were very keen on discussing the endless fancy film plots, and in the process, they commented on the professors in the school. The first and second years often looked at their seniors with envious expressions, sourly stating that the charms class Professor Flitwick, also had been very nice, and had allowed them to play games in their last class. "That''s really nice, especially when compared to the other professors ..." Seamus said with indignation as he worked on his Potions class assignment, both of his eyes looked red as if he hadn''t gotten a good sleep.


    The young wizards, even if they remained a little expectant about the serious Professor McGonagall, but they wouldn''t be that unrealistic enough to think that Snape would allow his students to be noisy in his classroom. In fact, he had simply scheduled the antidote testing step to the last day before the holidays, making the young wizards tremble and not dare to slack off.


    Sitting in the empty chair next to Seamus, Neville told him some secret tips.


    "Pay particular attention to the number of mistletoe berries, or... your toad will never come back ..."


    "I don''t keep toads, you know, Neville."


    Dean Thomas snickered from the side, "He''s just voicing out his fears." He handed Seamus a small cookie, which he chomped off half of in one bite, and chewed fiercely before continuing to write his essay. Just then, all of a sudden, a flurry of feathers sprouted on him.


    Dean snickered, "Fred and George''s canary cookies can be bought for seven Silver-Sickles." He then stuffed the remaining half into his own mouth, so Neville found himself sitting between two huge canaries, and he glanced left and right, feeling overwhelmed by the stares.


    The people in the common room looked at them, making Neville uncomfortable, so he grabbed a cookie in embarrassment and stuffed it into his mouth -


    Everyone pointed at the three canaries and laughed, "Haha~" Angelina laughed so hard that tears came out of her eyes.


    ...


    On the day before Christmas, Hogwarts finally welcomed the Christmas holiday.


    It had been snowing heavily outside, so Felix and Niffler Valen were nestled on the sofa playing Exploding Snap cards, and Valen insisted on using a different style of play, so he watched as she used her short little hands to build up a deck of cards, "Are you building a nest for yourself?" He asked curiously.


    Niffler''s hand shook, and the cards lit up as if they had been ordered to do so.


    Felix grabbed her with one hand and sat back down on the couch with her, then a " bang" was heard as one person and Niffler looked at the mushroom-like black smoke rising up.


    "Looks like you''ve learned a lot." He said to Valen.


    Felix opened the window and seven or eight owls of all sizes and colours flew in, all carrying packages and letters.


    "It''s Christmas tomorrow." Felix said to himself, "I guess there will be many greetings from readers will come soon, I have to write back quickly." He looked at the corner, where a small mountain of prepared gifts was piled up.


    Valen watched as Felix unpacked the packages and letters from the owls and provided food and water for those long-distance visitors for a short rest, after which the owls flew off in succession, leaving only a few behind to rest.


    When she turned back again, Felix was already sitting in a high-backed armchair behind the desk and began to write a reply.


    "Let me see ..."


    He opened a letter and after reading it, he took out a quill and parchment to reply quickly -


    "Mr. Cyrus, I am glad to receive your letter. I have studied the scales of the Runespoor Snake you sent me and have been greatly intrigued by the hidden pattern on them, it is still difficult to say whether this pattern is related to their unique magic-like abilities or not, as it still needs to be studied ... I wish you all the best in your expedition to the Iranian plateau."


    Felix put the letter into an envelope, and a brown owl jumped onto the table and extended its leg for him to tie his reply on. Valen handed her one last owl cookie, which it carried in its beak, and flew off into the blizzard with a flutter of wings.


    This was followed by a second reply.


    "Merry Christmas, Ms. Meg ... No, I have no plans for a new book at the moment; I will probably publish a small manual about ancient runes, which I am not exactly sure about ... Also, I don''t think it would be a good idea to print my picture on the cover, but thank you for the suggestion."


    The third letter wasn''t so friendly, but Felix spotted the trap in advance and easily lifted the curse on it. Along with it, he kept the large red-brown bird that delivered the letter when it tried to leave, which now stood with its legs together in resignation. Felix then wrote the replay.


    "Mr. Nameless, your pranks are as lame as your handwriting, also I don''t want to waste my breath discussing any muggle issues with you; And I hope your messenger will deliver my return gift on time by Christmas Day."


    Felix applied a nasty hex on the parchment, then hooked the letter on the large reddish-brown bird. "Go on, return to your master." He said with a smirk.


    For the rest of the day after that, he became busy -


    "Ms. Jane, thank you for your continued support. I''m not sure if you''ll get this letter, the owls have never found you and returned them all back. Perhaps there is something concerning your identity that needs to be kept secret, and I understand that perfectly. The black market has been in a state of disarray lately, as far as I know, the Ministry of Magic is cracking down on illegal potions, and it may have something to do with a batch of wolfsbane potions that have been divulged ..."


    "Mr. Vera, your granddaughter is doing very well, I''m prepared to raise her salary, so you should give up the idea of bringing her into the Ancient Runes Association. I believe that in less than two or three years, Clammy''s income will surpass yours, and if you give it a little thought, you will find that what she is doing now is more rewarding, Mr. Vice President."


    ...


    During the time he''s writing the replay, Juria Edmund, Bethany Bach and Byers Bach came over for a visit, with Byers walking at the end with three large boxes in his clutch, as he huffed, and puffed.


    "Professor Hap, this is a Christmas present for you ..."


    Juria explained with a smile, " Byers insisted on carrying them all by himself, Bethany tried to help him carry them, but he refused."


    Byers looked at him with some shyness, then he stammered, "Professor Hap, how many words have Valen learned?"


    "Very few as of yet ... shouldn''t be able to communicate with you - But you guys can play Exploding Snap cards, she''s very good at classical play." Felix said.


    Byers stared at the scattered exploding cards on the table in disbelief, "That''s, uh ... Valen is pretty smart."


    Felix sat on the couch with Juria and Bethany, and he brought out honey tea to serve the two: "Juria, you don''t want to talk about some magic vs. non-magic debate in front of Bethany today, do you?"


    "Of course not, it''s mainly that Bethany wanted to visit you and bring a gift along with her." Juria said, he visited quite a few times recently, especially on the bright side he lost his wand, so he couldn''t participate in the matter of champions'' training, and because of that, he was relatively free on weekdays.


    With nothing to do, he would come to Felix''s office to discuss some of his views on the magical and non-magical worlds, and both of them had something to offer on that subject.


    As they talked, Juria mentioned Byers, as he pointed his chin in Byers'' direction and said, "He''s now the captain of the champions."


    "Then Graves ..."


    Juria shook his head, "He doesn''t have the right mentality to be a captain." He spoke of what had just happened, "We did catch an interesting scene when we arrived, the champion of Beauxbatons - the one whose last name is Delacour - wanted to invite your champion, but he already had a date for the ball."


    "Was it Cedric Diggory?" Felix asked thoughtfully.


    "That''s right," Juria smiled, "she does have a lot of charms, but it doesn''t always work ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your support. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 466+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.

 Chapter 413: Percy

    On Christmas morning, Felix heard a knock on the door, and it was Dobby. "Merry Christmas, Generous and Mighty Mr. Hap!" Dobby the house-elf said enthusiastically as he stood at the door, wearing a brown vest with a dull yellow sock peeking out of its pocket, and he also held a purple knitted jumper in his hand.


    Felix sobered up at once.


    And asked tentatively, "This isn''t a Christmas present from you, is it, Dobby? Actually, you don''t need ..."


    "Oh, no, Mr. Hap," Dobby said formally, "It''s a gift from Mr. Harry Potter and his friends, Dobby went over there first ... you asked Dobby not to come too early or too late to find you without something urgent, sir. "


    "I did say that." Felix said with a wink, gauging the time from the dim daylight outside the window, it would barely be six or seven o''clock, and Dobby would have arrived only earlier to visit Harry''s dormitory.


    "So ... uh, come on in."


    He moved out of the way and Dobby''s body disappeared from the entrance door for a moment and then when he reappeared he had an additional large brown bag in his hand.


    "This is a gift brought by Dobby and the rest of the house-elves, all for Mr. Hap!"


    In the room, Dobby said so. Then he fumbled through the large bag and grabbed a small gift box wrapped in blue wrapping paper, which he handed to Felix.


    "What''s this? Oh, a pair of socks, very nice." Felix looked at the socks in the package, which Dobby seemed to have chosen the blue colour he liked, and they were embroidered with black lightning bolts and silver orbs of light, corresponding to two of his well-recognized ancient magics.


    "Dobby hand-knit them," said the house-elf with wide, round eyes, "Dobby went to several stores and always felt that the things there were not to his liking, so Dobby consulted with his other fellows and made the decision together."


    "So all these are ... socks?" Felix asked, somewhat at a loss.


    "That''s right!" Dobby said happily, "All kinds of socks! We each picked our favourite colour, and Dobby took advantage because Dobby knows Mr. Hap likes blue!"


    "Yes, you''re right, I do like blue. Thank you so much, Dobby." Felix said, " Have you thought about how you''re going to spend this year? I remember Remus said he was going to give you guys a week off-"


    "Yes! Mr. Lupin is also a generous man, he gives the same holiday to house-elves." Dobby wept with excitement, "Dobby going to spend the holiday with Dobby''s friends - all of them!"


    "Good idea, I remember there are magic cameras in the company, remember to take some pictures then, and I wish you a Merry Christmas, Dobby."


    ...


    Felix stayed in the office all day, he got a frightening amount of gifts and a considerably alarming amount of correspondence to answer.


    In the occasional spare moment, he stood at the window and gazed out over the snow-covered Forbidden Forest in the distance.


    Beauxbatons''s carriage and Hagrid''s hut were like different-sized pastries covered with crystallized sugar sprinkles. Only a pointy roof of Ilvermorny''s quarters was visible as it poked out of snow, and Durmstrang''s black sailing ship finally escaped the fierce breeze, locked firmly on the ice in the frozen Black Lake. The remaining Uagadou''s delegation, who revered nature, chose the spot closest to the forbidden forest and built a row of huts out of wood - very much in the style of Hagrid''s hut.


    Felix stood on high ground where he could barely see the tracks left by people from other schools as they travelled to and from Hogwarts Castle, other than large expanses of white colour.


    By the time the afternoon approached, there were more people, with far more people than in the previous two years added together.


    Felix recalled how at Last year''s Christmas, even after adding all the professors and students who stayed on campus, only one table was filled, while this year''s Christmas barely changed from the normal school day.


    It is due to the Yule Ball, as almost all the fourth year and above students chose to stay at school for the holiday, which made the Castle look like it was crowded.


    But Felix knew that this was purely psychological.


    He watched the students having a snowball fight for a while, and as the sky grew dark, Felix changed into his formal robe and looked at the time to walk out of the office.


    At the door of the great hall, he saw Harry and Ron, who were looking eagerly at the large oak doors.


    "Are you waiting for Miss Granger?" He asked.


    "What? Uh, not really ... we haven''t seen her either," Harry said, "we''re waiting for Ron''s brother."


    "Percy Weasley?" Felix looked a little surprised.


    "Yes," Harry said, gesturing at the awful robe Ron is wearing, "Mrs. Weasley bought Ron a new formal robe and asked Percy to bring it over because she heard Percy would attend on behalf of his boss, Mr. Barty Crouch."


    Ron whispered from the side, "Mum should have put it in a Christmas parcel instead of asking Percy to bring it over. If she didn''t think Piggy (Ron''s owl) could bring that much stuff, she could have left that purple jumper at home instead... I mean, just in case Percy would forget it! His big brain wouldn''t remember anything other than work ..."


    At that moment, a loud voice came clearly to their ears from outside the oak door. "Is this your brother, Percy? He''s certainly saying some interesting stuff." The man who spoke was Ludo Bagman, who tonight wore a bright purple robe with large yellow stars on it.


    Percy Weasley walked alongside him, dressed in a brand-new navy blue robe, with a beaming smile. As soon as he saw the three men standing in the doorway, he walked over quickly, with a big smile on his face, as he shook Felix''s hand vigorously.


    "I really didn''t expect the first person I would meet back on campus would be you, Professor Hap, and thanks for taking care of Penelope, I''ve been wanting to take the time to visit you. But I''ve been too busy lately, and as you may or may not know, I''ve been promoted from one of the multiple assistants to the most prominent one, and I''m substituting for Mr. Crouch today ..."


    As he spoke, he elbowed Ron aside as if he hadn''t seen him.


    Harry grinned, he felt tempted to ask Percy if Mr. Crouch no longer calls him "Weatherby", but he resisted the temptation.


    Ron stared at his body without saying a word, looking for a possible place where he could have hidden his robe. After a few seconds, he shouted angrily at Percy, "Where''s my robe?"


    "What?" Percy looked startled.


    "The robe! The formal robe Mom bought for me!" Ron exclaimed. By the way, he looked, if Harry hadn''t stopped him, he would have rushed over and strangled Percy.


    The expression on Percy''s face froze for a few seconds, then he magically pulled out a robe of the same colour as the one he is wearing, and Ron, who had been held back by Harry, froze in place.


    "This is mine?" Ron asked incredulously.


    "You have to thank Penelope for this, I did forget it when I came here, she was the one who reminded me." Percy said with a scowl.


    Ron snatched up the brand new formal robe as he tenderly caressed the navy fabric on it, as he blurted without any thought, "You''re living with her now?"


    "Uh, not yet." Percy replied awkwardly. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Then how did she remind you of that before you left the house?" Ron gave him a sceptical look.


    "Don''t ask questions you shouldn''t ask!" Percy growled in a low voice, his face turning red, "If you still want your dress."


    "Do you want me to put in a good word for her? It actually doesn''t have to be that troublesome, Mom and Dad both like her." Ron said.


    Percy''s face seemed to have a tendency to turn purple while Ludo Bagman and Felix watched in silence, fortunately at that moment Harry pulled Ron, "Parvati and Padma are waiting for us." So they hurried in the direction of the lavatory.


    "I remember you pulled out a small heart-shaped mirror before you left the house, it seems like some kind of sound transmission mirror? Why didn''t you tell your brother that you hurried back to the office afterward? He seems to have misunderstood the situation." Ludo Bagman said.


    Percy''s face stiffened, and his expression grew wooden as he said, "Penelope accused me of having no sense of humor."


    Bagman''s eyes widened, "That''s how you show humor?"


    "What''s wrong with that?" Percy glanced at him strangely.


    "Ahem!" Felix interrupted their conversation, "Let''s just get in early, about the sense of humour, Percy, I know a book title, I''ll tell you later."


    "Really?" Percy''s eyes lit up, "That couldn''t be any better." As they walked into the great hall, he still babbled in his defense, "I don''t think I lack a sense of humour, in fact, we all have different definitions of humour ..."


    Felix and Bagman accelerated their pace in unison.


    ------------


    #Cdog Zap and #yuzu, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 468+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 414: The Yule Ball (2 in 1)

    The great hall buzzed with noise. The walls on all sides are covered with glittering silver frost, with a starry sky on the ceiling, and snowflakes drifting down from high above, disappearing before they reach the area above their heads.


    Hundreds of flower fairies danced high in the air, sprinkling handfuls of colourful flakes down.


    Felix stood at the door and looked around. The four house tables are gone, replaced with hundreds of small tables with candles lit on them, with about ten students seated at each table.


    In front of the great hall, there is a long podium where the judges of the tournament are seated, and two faculty tables are symmetrically placed on either side of the podium for the Hogwarts professors and other guests who have come from afar to be seated.


    In front of the podium and the faculty table are two large, spacious round tables that belong to the champions.


    Bagman and Percy each approached the podium side by side, while Felix made his way to one of the faculty tables and sat between Snape and Professor McGonagall, Snape was still dressed in his black robes while Professor McGonagall wore a long red checked tweed robe with a wreath of thistle adorning the brim.


    "Minerva, what a rare attire." Felix joked, "Severus on the contrary is unchanging ..."


    Snape gazed at Felix, and watched him flip through a small menu placed on the table with interest, as he slowly said, "I don''t remember you learning dance when you were at school, perhaps you could join me later on in my castle tour?"


    "Oh, don''t be such a killjoy." Professor McGonagall said.


    Felix flipped the menu in his hand to the back as he stared at the top row of dessert names, "No problem, but I''m going to taste this first." He said, pointing to a small line of letters.


    "Op��ra?" Snape glanced at it and commented, "It''s too sweet."


    "Good name." Felix said with a smile.


    After waiting a few minutes, Professor McGonagall got up and left, "I''m going to go organize the entrance of the champions." She said, as she braced the peaked cap on her head, and walked in stride towards a corner of the great hall.


    In a small open space near the great hall, the champions and their partners were standing together, and Professor McGonagall explained to them how to enter: "Wait a little longer, and when the great hall is almost full, you will enter in a line, champions and partners together. You have to go through the great hall from the left aisle, and eventually turn a corner to sit on the big round table on the right side of the podium, understand?"


    At that moment, Harry and Ron rushed into the great hall, Ron had finally changed into his new robes in the lavatory, so they rushed in the direction of the podium.


    "This way! Potter, Weasley." Professor McGonagall shouted.


    Harry and Ron froze in place and turned their heads woodenly to look at Professor McGonagall who had a stern expression on her face and the bunch of champions who were also looking at the pair in unison; the burly champion from Uagadou, Eliphendy, towered above Krum who stood next to him, and the considerably tall witch Nona Leibert who stood alongside them looked like a baby bird.


    Harry and Ron walked back with their heads down, and as they passed Draco Malfoy, Draco shouted, "Potter, Weasley, are you practicing your dance steps and forgot the timing?"


    His dance partner, Pansy Parkinson, let out a loud "tsk" sound.


    Harry glared at them, Draco Malfoy was dressed in a black velvet high-collared formal robe, which looked like a country vicar, Harry secretly despised his aesthetics. As the duo made their way to the corner where the champions stood, both Patil sisters hooked their arms and looked at Harry and Ron with displeasure.


    Professor McGonagall came striding over and said quickly, "Pair up, you two! No, do not stand together," she looked at Harry and Ron with a headache, "stand side by side with your partners, for goodness'' sake, you don''t understand what partners mean, do you?"


    She stepped forward and separated Harry and Ron from each other, then she looked at the Patil sisters with a hesitant expression. She couldn''t tell which is which for a moment, so she simply ordered, "Stand next to your dance partners, girls. You need a little tacit understanding ... frankly, it''s a little late for that kind of talk."


    Professor McGonagall quickly went to the front of the group once again, and they could barely hear Professor McGonagall''s faint voice: "This ... Mr. Eliphandy, please stand with your pair, you are too close to Mr. Krum. Mr. Krum, where is your dance partner?"


    "She is still on her way here." Krum said in a low voice.


    Professor McGonagall looked not so happy as she made sure, "Are you sure she won''t be late? I can find a temporary replacement if needed ..."


    "No thanks." Krum said glumly.


    Harry and Ron at the end of the line looked around, and Ron said incredulously, "I can''t believe Krum does not have a date! He''s a big star, what girl would stood him up? Oh, crap, Harry, stand in front of me ..."


    He bent his knees slightly and hid behind Harry as Fleur Delacour looked toward the back. She looked stunningly gorgeous in her silver-grey satin robe and beside her, there is a tall, handsome boy, who Harry sort of recognized as a seventh-year Slytherin student, supposedly the Head Boy.


    When Fleur looked back, Ron blushed and straightened up. S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Can''t really blame you, she''s gorgeous." Harry said unbiasedly; when Fleur invited Cedric in the entrance hall two days ago, Ron, as if he was possessed, went straight up and asked Fleur to be his dance partner, and failed justifiably.


    Since then, Ron has been avoiding her, and he still hasn''t gotten over it.


    At that moment, a beautiful girl in a flowing light purple and blue robe came into the great hall and brushed past Harry and Ron. As she made her way next to Krum, she spoke quickly, as if apologizing for being late, but they were at the end of the line, so it was hard to hear exactly what she was saying.


    "Oh, I''m sorry, Krum ... I was prepared ... hours in advance but ... Niffler gave me a return gift and I didn''t expect ... too surprised ..."


    "Niffler? Do you mean that magical creature that makes holes in the ground to dig for gold coins? It sent you a gift?" Krum''s deep voice is recognizable, and it was deep enough to reach Harry and Ron''s ears.


    "Valen doesn''t make holes in the ground! Oh, Valen is her name ... Yeah, she did send me a present ... I think it might be because I gave her a Christmas present first ... Maybe Professor Hap helped with the selection of it ...," the girl explained.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other.


    "That voice sounds a bit familiar." Harry said uncertainly.


    "She also mentioned Valen and said that Valen had sent her Christmas presents, is that possible?" Ron looked at Harry hesitantly.


    "If I heard correctly, she sent the present first ... Valen just returned the gift ... wait, I think I know ... "Harry''s pace of speech got slower and slower, and his eyes moved from the girl in the flowing robes to Ron.


    The two men looked at each other for two seconds and said in unison and with great surprise, "Hermione?" The guess left them in disbelief, they had no idea that the cute girl a dozen feet away would be the person they knew best.


    Harry stared at the girl''s back, she did not look anything like Hermione. But if it is true, she must have done something to her hair, they no longer looked messy, instead, they have become soft and shiny, and also an elegant bun pulled at the back of her head.


    At this point Professor McGonagall walked to the front of the group and said to all the champions standing at the front entrance, "Champions please get ready, ladies hold the arms of the gentlemen, and enter like I said before."


    The group started to move forward, while Harry and Ron were still trying to confirm whether Krum''s dance partner is Hermione or not, they both felt their arms being pulled at the same time, they turned their heads and looked at their respective dance partners -


    The two Patil sisters took their arms, with big smiles on their faces. Parvati fiddled hard with the gold bracelet on her wrist, lifted the hem of her pink skirt with her other hand, and said in a soft whisper, "It''s our turn." With that, she dragged Harry forward with force.


    The champions walked into the great hall in pairs and walked through the gaps between the small tables. The people in the great hall applauded enthusiastically, Fred and George whistled loudly, as Harry''s nervousness calmed down slightly. They walked around the great hall in a small half circle and sat in order at the two large tables in front of the podium.


    Their seats are very distinguished, as one male and one female are seated with a little gap between each other, everyone dressed up nicely, Harry found many familiar faces became more handsome and beautiful than usual.


    Especially Hermione.


    Harry finally identified Krum''s dance partner, despite only seeing the side of her face, but he is too familiar with Hermione, it is just that when she removed the usual books she carried around, her temperament has completely changed, so he did not recognize her for a while.


    When Hermione noticed their gaze, her head tilted over her shoulder as she waved at the two across a table as she smiled, Harry couldn''t help but smile, Hermione''s trademark big teeth were so conspicuous that he couldn''t think of anyone else.


    Hermione had complained to them before that her parents, as dentists, were resistant to the idea of making any connection between the words dental and magic, as well as the fact that she had never found the opportunity to get Madam Pomfrey to agree to adjust her teeth; left her teeth still like this.


    ...


    The champions were the last people to enter the hall - and when they were seated, the dinner naturally began. Harry stared at the empty, gleaming golden plates. As he looked around, he saw Dumbledore carefully look at the menu in front of him, then at his plate, and said very clearly, "Pork chops!"


    The pork chops immediately appeared.


    It was then it dawned to the students, and they all picked up their small menus to choose their favourite foods.


    Not far from Harry and his group, Roger Davies got sandwiched between Collins and Fleur, he looked left and right with a torn look on his face as Fleur criticized the d��cor and layout of Hogwarts to him and the Slytherin Head boy.


    "It''s hardly remarkable," she said contemptuously, looking at the sparkling walls around the great hall: "At Beauxbatons Castle, our hall was decorated with ice sculptures during Christmas. Of course, they don''t melt ... and the food is superb. We also have a choir of mountain fairies who will quietly serenade us while we eat. ..."


    The expression of both Head boy and Roger Davies next to her increasingly became entranced, and Harry guessed that they had completely failed to listen to what Fleur had actually said, and when Davies stuck his fork through his hair, Collins, next to him, grunted heavily.


    He tried to smooth things over, as he stammered, "I think both schools have different beauties, Hogwarts'' Black Lake has big squid, and in the summer you can swim in it and pretend to drown that way the big squid will come to help you; and Beauxbatons, I mean ... although I''ve never been there, but just from listening to Fleur''s description you can know how beautiful it is."


    As a result, he offended two girls at once, with both Collins and Fleur looking away from him, which made Davies a little embarrassed.


    Collins moved her chair further away, as she leaned over to the next table and whispered to Ron, who sat closest to her, "Have you guys cracked the mystery of the golden egg yet?"


    "What?" Ron asked dully, he was staring at Krum and Hermione - they seemed to have cleared up their misunderstanding and were having a fairly decent conversation so far.


    When he looked back, Collins glared at him fiercely and his body went cold, his mind desperately trying to recall the question she just asked, "Uh, not yet, but soon, probably within the next few days."


    Collins gave him a skeptical look as she quickly blurted out to Ron, "... if ... try the water ... "


    "What did you say?" Ron didn''t hear her clearly, so he asked in a hurry, but that''s when Dumbledore stood up holding a goblet and Collins moved her chair back.


    "What did she say, did you catch that?" Ron asked his nominal dance partner.


    Padma Patil rolled her eyes at him and huffed, "I don''t know."


    "Ding!"


    The crisp sound of a metal striking glass broke throughout the chaotic great hall and rang precisely in everyone''s ears as the crowd quieted down, and they looked towards Dumbledore on the podium.


    "Students, please stand up, I need to relocate your tables to make room for the dance floor." He said with a wide smile.


    Then he waved his wand and all the tables flew "whoosh" against the wall, leaving an open space in the middle. The students stood with their dance partners, Harry noticed Parvati''s arm around his arm again, so he tried to struggle twice, but could not break free.


    Then Dumbledore cast a spell on the right side of the great hall, as a long and narrow stage appeared near the wall, with a set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and several organs.


    The lights around the great hall completely dimmed, leaving only the central dance floor lit up.


    "Students, professors, and foreign guests - enjoy the beautiful music!" Dumbledore opened his arms wide and said happily, at which point the Weird Sisters appeared onto the stage together as the crowd erupted with thunderous applause.


    Dumbledore''s left hand held behind his back, and his right hand extended an invitation to Madame Maxime, then they walked onto the dance floor and danced together along with the soft, soothing music.


    Felix felt very grateful that he took a seat near the back of the podium and not within range of getting pulled over. As he settled comfortably on his chair, he watched with interest as the oddly dressed Weird Sisters group played instruments, and then he flipped his menu to the last page.


    "Op��ra." He pronounced it clearly.


    The next second, delicately tempting chocolate and coffee glazed cake appeared in front of him, and when he raised his fork, he noticed a stern gaze.


    "Do you know what you''re supposed to do now?" Professor McGonagall said with pursed lips.


    Felix froze for a moment and looked around, "Oh ..." he asked courteously as he stood up with a slight bow, "May I have the pleasure of dancing with you, ma''am?"


    "Of course." Professor McGonagall smiled and held out her hand, "Drop the fork you''re holding, Felix." She whispered.


    The two walked towards the dance floor.


    At that moment, Felix''s mind worked at high speed, and everything in the great hall turned into slow motion - he could see Dumbledore holding Madam Maxime''s hand, the tip of his peaked cap just touching her chin; Mad-Eye Moody dragged Professor Sinistra around, Professor Sinistra looked like an unfortunate arrested dark wizard, and he also saw Ludo Bagman was laboriously bending his stomach to invite Professor Sprout ...


    He used his thought acceleration magic to the extreme.


    Everything that happened in the great hall came into his mind. Basic poses, dance steps, hand-holding movements, matching beats ... By the time he had taken a dozen steps from the faculty table to the dance floor, he had gone from a layman to a rookie dancer.


    "Waltz, Minerva?" Felix asked, casually flicking away a flower fairy that had flown down from the ceiling, the unlucky little creature stumbled and landed on the shoulder of a stiff-faced Harry.


    "Of course." Professor McGonagall said.


    The two danced, Felix while moving around, continuing to absorb the essence of the dance moves of everyone present, and he was surprised to find that the best dancer turned out to be Dumbledore.


    Sure enough, being older is an advantage, Felix''s head filled with strange thoughts.


    A few minutes later, when the first song was over, Professor McGonagall smiled and said, "So you can dance, and dance so well, I thought you are new to this."


    Felix wiped away the bead of sweat on his forehead unnoticed, "I really haven''t practiced much before." He glanced in the direction of Snape, who remained standing at the edge of the hall, as he blended into the darkness.


    The weird sisters'' group in the corner played another jolly dance song. "Shall we continue?" He asked politely, glancing over her head as he saw Hagrid swallowing his Op��ra cake in one gulp and headed toward Madame Maxime, who had parted from Dumbledore.


    Professor McGonagall''s eyes tinged with a smile, "It certainly seems like you''re not familiar with these things, you can''t spend the whole ball with one person, the wonderful girls are waiting."


    "What?"


    Professor McGonagall stepped back two steps, when a beautiful girl suddenly appeared before him, "Professor Hap?" Bethany blinked and looked at him with expectation in her eyes, so Felix offered his hand in a gesture of invitation, to which Bethany readily accepted.


    The style of the dance changed completely, and Felix had to speed up his thoughts again, trying to capture the movements of the others, and in a few seconds, he was masterfully leading Bethany around the dance floor in a long, graceful arc.


    By the end of the song, Bethany''s face flushed red.


    She gently stood on tiptoe and whispered, "You were a great dancer, and BTW ... thank you for saving me." The corner of her lips gently touched Felix''s cheek.


    Bethany fluttered away.


    He looked up and found Fleur standing in front of him, "Are you good at this piece?" Fleur asked playfully. At this point, the weird sisters'' group changed their play to a more lively and jumpy polka.


    Felix: "... ok."


    After swapping seven or eight dance partners, Felix found himself in front of someone who switched to Hermione.


    "Oh, Professor, I saw it all from the side, you are dancing wonderfully."


    "Thank you, more than one person said that."


    Felix smiled, as he silently wished for no new tune, and when the music started, he felt relieved that he was finally able to relax without the need to speed up his thinking.


    He waltzed across the dance floor, spinning and moving in circles with poise.


    At the edge of the dance floor, Seamus and Dean sat at the table, eating their desserts. As Seamus said with a blank look, "I didn''t realize that Professor Hap excelled at so many types of dances ... He should be the one who stayed on the floor for the longest time, right?"


    "Yeah, how did he do that?" Dean also felt amazed.


    "Who is that girl he''s dancing with? Beauxbatons or Durmstrang''s student?" Seamus asked with his eyes narrowed.


    "What are you looking at, she''s Hermione!" Dean exclaimed.


    Seamus stared at Dean, who pointed towards the dance floor: "Look at her big teeth, they''re obviously so obvious ..."


    In the middle of the dance floor.


    Hermione bit her lip as she asked in a quiet voice, "Did you know what Valen gave me as Christmas present?"


    "I Know." Felix said.


    " Is it your idea?" Hermione asked pointedly.


    "Of course not," Felix explained, not quite understanding what she meant: "I spent the whole day unwrapping presents and writing back, and it was close to an evening when I realized that you had actually prepared a present for Valen as well, and she felt happy about it, since no one except me had thought about giving her a present, so she gave you something in return ..."


    "But the gift is too precious!" Hermione said.


    "Precious?" Felix laughed, "No, Granger, it is just a memento, I''ve researched it and there is no hope of getting it fixed."


    "Yeah... But..." Hermione looked down as she thought about it.


    At that moment, the ring on Felix''s left hand hummed and twitched, to which he frowned.


    "What is it, Professor?" Hermione asked with caution.


    "It should be someone trying to contact me." Felix said calmly, and by now, the tune came to an end, with Felix taking the lead they completed the final set of moves, and he left the stage with Hermione by hand.


    When someone else approached, with an eager look on her face. "Sorry." Felix politely declined.


    He nodded at Hermione and hurried left, with a copper knut clenched between his fingers, this coin paired with the fever knut he had given to Dobby, to notify him in advance whenever Dobby intended to report his work by injecting magic into it.


    But this time, the coin burned so hotly that he wondered if it might melt.


    Felix quickly walked out of the great hall and reached the courtyard, "Snort!" A soft sound was heard, and the figure of Dobby suddenly appeared, he looked very flustered, and his big eyes filled with fear.


    The most crucial thing is that he also carried a fainted house elf on his back.


    After confirming that Dobby is okay, Felix felt somewhat relieved. Then he half crouched down and examined the house elf that was brought over by Dobby, which, from his perspective, should be a female house-elf.


    "What''s going on, Dobby?" He asked mildly.


    "Dobby, Dobby isn''t sure! Dobby only thought of inviting friends for Christmas, and Dobby knew that Winky got an owner, so Dobby deliberately picked a very late hour, when they should all be asleep, and Dobby learned that Winky''s master is not feeling well ..."


    --------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there''ll be only one chappy tomorrow.


    #Cdog Zap and #yuzu, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 468+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 415: Dobby and Winky

    "Is Her name Winky? Who is her owner? And what happened to you?" Dobby''s big eyes flowed with hot teardrops, and he shuddered, "Yes, Her name is Winky, Dobby met Winky a long time ago when Dobby still belonged to the Malfoys. ..." He shivered.


    "Keep talking, Dobby."


    "Her owner is Mr. Crouch, Barty Crouch Sr. --" Dobby stated, to which Felix frowned. Then Dobby said, "Dobby got to Mr. Crouch''s house, and it was dark, but Dobby had been there before and knew the way ... Dobby found Winky, but Winky was frightened and told Dobby to leave quickly when Dobby wasn''t sure why our talking had woken the owner of the house."


    "You mean Barty Crouch?"


    "Dobby wasn''t sure!" The house-elf shuddered, "It was so dark that there weren''t even any magic lamps there! They''re so out of date!"


    Felix nearly laughed at that, but it was good that Dobby got to the point.


    "I heard a cold voice ordering: something broke in, a dirty house-elf, KILL THEM." Dobby''s eyes widened: "Dobby had never heard a voice THAT COLD EVER! Then the next second, Mr. Crouch came out, and he cast a spell on us, and not just me, but Winky too!"


    "Hex?"


    "No, not that ... glaring green light, full of death, that Curse!"


    "Killing Curse?" Dobby kept nodding with his eyes closed, and Felix''s eyebrows jumped sharply.


    "And after that? You escaped?"


    "After that ... the curse missed, Then Dobby used the defensive item given by Mr. Hap to block a very powerful Severing Charm, then Dobby took Winky and ran, but Winky refused to go, and tried to plead with Mr. Crouch ... Dobby can''t leave Winky alone! Dobby... Dobby then knocked Winky out."


    Dobby''s slender chest rose and fell, as he spoke under his breath. He shivered and rummaged through his pocket for a dull yellow sock, from which he pulled out a dull amulet, its surface cracked inch by inch and clearly no longer usable.


    Felix crouched down and stroked the cobweb-like cracks that covered the amulet, then he gestured toward the unconscious house elf.


    "Rennervate."


    Winky''s slender nose moved, she blinked her eyelids hard and opened her big brown eyes as she sat up shakily. She looked around with a little bewilderment, her mind not quite awake. When she saw Dobby and Felix crouching beside her, her eyes suddenly went wide, and she let out a loud scream-


    "Winky has to go back! Winky has to leave here!"


    Her body suddenly became illusory. Felix raised his finger slightly, and then the elf kept flickering as if she had bad signals, nevertheless she could not get out from this area.


    Dobby looked at Felix with awe as he said in a loud, squeaky voice, "Winky, we''re safe."


    "No, Winky needs to go back, back to the master!" She struggled desperately.


    Dobby said loudly, "You don''t have a master anymore, he wants to kill you, think about it!"


    Winky''s slender body froze, as if being compressed, then her round nose jerked, as she stubbornly said, "No, never--"


    "Master needs care, he''s very sick!" She cried out.


    Dobby shouted in a voice louder than hers, "He didn''t show any signs of illness when he attacked us!"


    "Because the master had to take care of young Master Barty, who was extremely sick, he felt he had done something bad and wronged his son ..." Winky trembled and tears rolled down her face, "Oh, Winky shouldn''t have said that, Winky is a bad elf!"


    She screamed and rolled in the dirt, startling a few students coming out of the great hall in the distance. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Young Master?" Felix said softly, as he mused, "Is it Barty Crouch Jr.? Wasn''t he imprisoned in Azkaban and has been dead for years as far as I know ..."


    "Winky!" He stopped the elf who was punishing herself and said in a soothing voice, with mesmerizing silver eyes calming her down, "Listen to me, your master is in trouble, and only you can help him," then he added, "and so is your young Master Barty. But to help, I need to know the truth."


    Winky stared at Felix blankly with wide eyes and kept mumbling under her breath, "Young Master Buddy is innocent, he was put in Azkaban by Master, but Master can''t forgive himself, so he chose to atone for his sins ..."


    Her state is really frightening, like a soulless shell, repeating these words over and over again.


    As she spoke, an eerie light flashed through Winky''s pupils.


    "What''s wrong with Winky?" Dobby rubbed his fingers uneasily, "Mr. Hap, Dobby did hear a cold voice, but saw no one else ..."


    "She was under a spell ... not exactly an Imperius Curse, I guess it was Confundus Charm." Felix said.


    Dobby startled, "Confundus Charm? Winky is under a Confundus Charm?"


    Felix placed his wand against Winky''s chest and whispered, "Offero." He switched his perspective, and in a gray background, wisps of red light streamed up from the elf.


    He put away his wand, and Dobby stared at Winky as he asked uneasily, "The spell is lifted? How''s Winky?"


    Felix breathed a sigh of relief, "Let''s see."


    Winky looked as if she had just woken up from a nap, she blinked and then let out a desperate cry.


    "Master Buddy, you are a bad boy!"


    Felix had to take Winky by the shoulders as she kept shaking her head and flopping on both legs while screaming in sadness. His eyes shone silvery as he said in a deep voice, "Winky, do you have anything to say?"


    Winky''s eyes widened as huge pearls and tears flowed like a stream, but she refused to say anything.


    Having no choice, Felix released her.


    He commanded, "Dobby, take Winky to rest, she''s had a very stimulating night." He gestured toward Winky, whose expression quickly softened, and she quickly fell asleep, only to have her eyes still fluttering restlessly beneath her lids.


    Felix made complex runes on the air, forming complex magical signs and imprinting them on Winky''s body. "Mr. Hap?"


    "She can''t leave for the time being, I blocked her ability to use magic, Dobby, it''s going to be hard for you to take care of her for a while, and try to satisfy all of her needs."


    "As ordered, Mr. Hap." Dobby replied. He picked up Winky and prepared to leave, then his expression became very hesitant: "What do you think, sir? Do you need Dobby to ask Winky about Mr. Barty Crouch''s secret?"


    "No need," said Felix: "I''ll ask ... him personally," he said in a very complicated tone: "I just saw a very interesting vision."


    "What did you see?"


    "A baby." Felix said enthusiastically.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 469+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 416: Remnant Soul (2 in 1)

    In the late-night, at a slightly desolate hill. Between the hills, an old house covered with ivy towered, with the glow of magic all around. Felix ignored it, he glanced at the dark window on the top floor and lightly pushed the door open, it was quiet inside.


    He passed a shadowy corridor, at the end of which there''s an ancient door.


    As he got closer, he heard some noise, a kind of huffing and puffing bellows, wispy like a dying patient. There were other sounds heard from within, like vials and bottles fiddling sound, followed by the sound of liquids being poured into vials.


    "Bring the potion here!" An icy voice ordered.


    Felix heard the sound of liquid being gulped down the throat, along with a painful groan from inside, the man who was drinking the potion is suffering a tremendous agony, and it took him a while to settle down.


    "You better hope your son has intercepted that elf or you''re the one who''s going to suffer ..." The cold voice seemed to be talking to someone, but Felix didn''t hear any response, so he tapped his forehead lightly, and from a magical perspective, he saw three magical sources.


    One is slightly normal, but the other two ... are alarmingly evil.


    Barty Crouch, Voldemort, and a dark wizard? What makes Voldemort''s special state distinct, and why was Dumbledore not optimistic about this trip?


    Felix''s mind wandered with thoughts, as the communication mirror wobbled in his pocket. Then he raised his wand and aimed it in the direction of one of the more distinct magical fluctuations, black arcs of electricity kept accumulating at the tip of the wand, ready to strike in the blink of an eye.


    "Who''s out there?" The icy voice asked.


    "Go!"


    Black lightning bolt swiftly passed by and penetrated the wooden door, at the same time, Felix pushed the crumbling wooden door open as he entered the room. His body shone with various protective items, and he wore a trench coat made of dragon hide mixed with basilisk skin.


    In the room, a magic barrier blocked his lightning, Felix brought everything in the room into his focus.


    It is a modest room. Barty Crouch stood behind a chair, which was no surprise. On the chair, there is a swaddling cloth, in which an infant that looked like a skeleton, without a trace of hair on its head or body, and its body appeared as if it is covered with scales, and its skin looked dark and reddish, like tender flesh that had been wounded.


    Its arms and legs were thin and limp, and its face looked like a flat snake face, with two narrow slits where the eyes should be, from which a seeping red light radiated.


    "Mr. Voldemort, I have to say, despite being prepared, I was still startled when I actually saw you."


    Felix said kindly, but his eyes were fixed on the corner of the chair, where a large snake, which measured at least twelve feet long, and at the moment it is crawling up Barty Crouch''s leg, the snake is smart enough to hide most of its body behind Crouch, and it hissed as its head poked out from Crouch''s neck.


    Felix''s initial target was that snake.


    That big snake had more magic in it than the weak, baby-like Voldemort in front of him! He had previously misjudged the right person based on his magic perspective, no, perhaps he was right ...


    Horcrux.


    Felix''s mind flashed with a word.


    Voldemort actually used a living creature as his Horcrux, and he didn''t consider that when the creature died, its soul would dissipate together with the fragments of his soul?


    He gained a true understanding of Voldemort''s insanity.


    "Take Nagini and leave first." Voldemort, who had been sitting in his seat, ordered.


    At that moment, a black lightning bolt abruptly appeared and went straight towards Barty Crouch, to be precise, the snake head on the right side of his neck.


    "Zizi Zizi!"


    After a tooth-aching sound of electricity, the black lightning was forcibly deflected, which tore a hole in the wall and sprinkled sparse moonlight in.


    Felix stared at Voldemort, who wheezed heavily, his chest booming with a bellows again. But this is already impressive enough for a temporary body built of potion and magic to block his attacks twice in the nick of time.


    He did not intercept them any further, Barty Crouch had disappeared with the snake. There is someone waiting for them outside, I wonder if Voldemort will vomit blood when he finds out.


    Morbid white flames slowly emerged from behind him, Felix looked at Voldemort and asked with interest, "You actually decided to personally intercept me, which is very different from my impression of you ... they are quite important to you?"


    "What makes you have this ridiculous idea?" Voldemort said slowly, the previous two spells made him overwhelmed, his baby-like carcass leaning on the back of the seat, like a puddle of talking meat.


    He said in a very hoarse voice: "If you had experienced my experience, felt my despair, you would realize that even a puppet, a humble elf, should not easily be discarded ..."


    "I guess so, as you don''t have enough manpower." Felix nodded slightly, and the reason why Winky could survive became clear. The flames behind him continued to spread, and he stepped forward with one foot, and the Breathtaking fire poured downward like flowing water, starting with his toes and running wildly out towards the left and right sides.


    Two fire snakes converged behind Voldemort and linked into a standard circle, circling the seat in which Voldemort had been sitting. Then the flames streamed upward, like a chain of white fire ropes intertwined, woven into an airtight net.


    In this net, whether it is an Apparition or a Portkey, it would be difficult to activate.


    "To be able to wield the Fiendfyre to this extent, you can be ranked at the top of my echelon." Voldemort said lightly, he showed zero intent of fleeing, as if he just wanted to talk to Felix.


    Felix looked at him calmly, once he had tried Dumbledore''s power, so he knew he couldn''t afford to be careless now. But inevitably, a question rose in his mind: why Voldemort did not block him? Could he be incapable of doing so?


    "You''re wondering why I didn''t fight back?" Voldemort''s sickening voice resounded again, " There is no need to have any concerns, I can''t do a thing in my current state, dear fellow ... a few months ago, I was still wandering in the Albanian forest, possessing those small animals for a long time, it all wearied me down, but there was nothing I could do, at that time I was worse than the lowest of the wandering souls ... but that was the only way I could find a glimpse of being alive."


    "Until Peter Pettigrew found you."


    Felix stated, and in his magical perspective, as far as his field of vision could reach, there existed only one source of magic that is Voldemort. There are no Portkeys, no magical traps, only Voldemort''s own weak but deeply evil magic wreaking havoc and distorting his perspective.


    He suddenly realized why Voldemort wanted to talk to him so badly because he had no means of resistance now.


    "Yeah, until Peter Pettigrew found me ..." said the hoarse, icy voice, "a cowardly, weak-minded servant, and as much as I hate to admit it, if he had been still here, I would have had an easier time than I do now. What a pity." He sounded like he had lost a napkin that is still usable.


    "Peter Pettigrew was taken away by the Ministry of Magic, and he was kissed by a Dementor." Felix stated.


    "I''m well aware ... he''s gone and won''t outlive more than a week," Voldemort said coldly, "I''ve experimented and tried to prolong that kind of thing as long as I can, but the results are often not as satisfactory as they should be. "


    "While you were still at your peak?" Felix said.


    "It''s just some boring game. When all your servants are gone out to spread your glory, you need to find something for yourself, some of my servants ... Bella liked to torture people, but I got tired of it, and I preferred to study dark magic, the dark arts, they are as fascinating as a deep astral night with no stars... ..."


    Voldemort said in a long, pithy voice. His voice was not as harsh as it was at first, perhaps because of the tone of voice, Felix could not help but associate it with an academic conference.


    At that time, Voldemort slowly said: "My friend, widen your flames a little, we have plenty of time."


    Felix remained unmoved on the contrary the flame cage pushed down even lower, his control over the Fiendfyre is extremely high, so except for the charred circle on the floor, the other items in the room are perfectly unscathed.


    "Don''t you have something to say? I''m still listening, but forgive me I have very limited patience."


    Voldemort let out a snort, "I once thought of you as a second Dumbledore, but you don''t have his patience ..."


    "Voldemort, you have been praised for your achievements in dark magic, but you can not beat Dumbledore, and you know what people say about you two? He is the only person you fear. I''m curious, would you have acquiesced to this kind of statement to spread if you hadn''t been taught a real lesson?"


    "Dumbledore ..." Voldemort chewed on the name, his voice growing even colder, "That old man hides himself so well that everyone is fooled by him, he''s a brilliant hypocrite. "


    He scowled at Felix and grinned with ridicule, "Maybe all of you treat him like an old man who can just talk nonsense?"


    " Isn''t that right? He''s well over 100 years old." Felix asked as he picked out his words to the point, as the words are valuable to both him and his enemy.


    Voldemort made a contemptuous voice, but he didn''t follow Felix''s lead in the conversation. "I''ve gotten to know you in great detail ... Felix Hap; I was surprised to find that we come from very similar backgrounds," he said softly, "We both had no choice but to live in a muggle orphanage, equally gifted, but subjected to strange looks-"


    "I''m sorry to break it to you, but I was happy in the orphanage." Felix interrupted him.


    "I see, Muggle researcher ... how ironic, you''re like the opposite of me." The slit in Voldemort''s eye flashed red and his tone filled with nostalgia, "I actually had hopes of being your colleague now, and according to your age, I might as well be your professor. Unfortunately, Dumbledore rejected me without any consideration." Voldemort said with deep emotion. "He always did."


    "You must have been very naughty when you were a child to make him have such a bad impression of you." Felix said teasingly.


    Voldemort''s squinted eyes opened and his face, which looked like a skeleton, became vivid and twisted. "Another, another one of his brainwashed peeps, Felix Hap, I have no desire to kill you all of a sudden, I''d like to see what he''ll do to you when you clash with him. From what I understand, you''re not a nice person to talk to ..."


    Felix''s eyes shined as he gauged him, "Is this the trait required to become the Dark Lord? Arrogance and ambition beyond the norm?"


    "It''s confidence and a Vision." Voldemort corrected.


    "Well," Felix said mildly, "then, I need you to follow me back, you better share this with Dumbledore face to face, you must have a lot more personal things to say."


    "There will be that day, but not today, I will deliver a rousing speech in front of his corpse." Voldemort said.


    Felix opened his hands, then fiercely closed them, and the morbid white Fiendfyre converged toward the center, condensing into a long, eerie white sword that dropped violently.


    He took a few steps back at the same time, with his eyes narrowed to see what else Voldemort had up his sleeve, but unexpectedly, the white fiery longsword went straight through Voldemort''s chest, with flames splashing everywhere, staining Voldemort''s swaddling clothes, creeping all over his torso, "crackling" and burning violently.


    In the fire, Voldemort let out a seeping scream, the slit-like red eyes opened to the limit, and the blood-red eyes stared dead at him.


    "Besides Dumbledore and her, you are the third person to bring me the feeling of death, I will remember you, Felix Hap!"


    He shouted harshly, as his whole body turned into the firewood for the Fiendfyre, Felix stared at him, as a nebulous shadow rose from above the flames, he looked like smoke condensed without a solid mass.


    If he is in the flames, he takes the flames as his body, and in the water, he takes the water as his murky figure. S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You cannot kill me, and I will return at any moment--" The illusory shadow twisted and hissed in pain.


    "Whoosh!"


    A dazzling green light pierced through the Shadow, and it hit the air as if the Killing Curse had no effect on it. Then, Felix''s eyes flashed with silver light, as the thinking room and the Legilimency was used in turn, the effect was still close to nothing.


    Tough call.


    Felix''s thoughts revolved in his mind, his magic was useless against Voldemort''s shadow, and then he recalled some words.


    Worse than the lowest of the wandering souls ...


    But his hand remained firm, this is his first meeting with Voldemort, and both of them were slightly surprised. When Voldemort guarded his Horcrux, Felix deliberately feigned ignorance, he did not know if Dumbledore had succeeded, and if he failed, he would have to make an absolute killing arrangement for their next meeting.


    At the same time, Voldemort was forced to stay behind and use his body as bait. But his current state is simply powerless against Felix, he has long been ready to lose this body, which is nothing to him, So he used that opportunity to talk with Felix instead, to see if he could alienate the relationship between Dumbledore and him.


    Felix then used this rare opportunity to skilfully cast spells - zooming spell, black lightning, green mist, milky white light, golden flame ... One powerful magic after another appeared in the Crouch House as he released his magic as freely as possible, the light of magic exploded with a myriad of radiant colours.


    He tested the weakness of Voldemort''s remnants, but Voldemort ignored all these magic, and flew straight through the silver shield, floating above the ceiling that had a large hole in it, and said with ridicule.


    "That''s a lot of tricks, but one magic is enough to kill someone!"


    He cast a hazy, malevolent glance and rushed into the gray sky, disappearing in the blink of an eye.


    After a moment of silence, Felix exhaled gently.


    "When I finish the Book of Rune and research a magic rune formation that targets you, let''s see how you can still run." He said with a bit of dissatisfaction, but he had realized that he could hardly deal with Voldemort in this state.


    Voldemort at this moment is still too far from a real living being, so that means any normal means simply cannot be effective against him, and there is no historical information targeting this state of magic.


    Perhaps this is why when Dumbledore knew that the remnants of Voldemort wandered into the Albanian forest, he did not do something about it.


    "Magic ... memories ... emotions ... projection of existence, which is his true nature? In the middle of life and death, relying on the help of Horcrux to leave a shadow behind to stay here, if we destroy all the Horcruxes before he is reborn, is it possible to make him lose his reliance on the reality?"


    Felix mulled over, when he saw the Herpo the Foul''s Horcrux decay, he thought something similar.


    He was not worried when Voldemort ignored many of his spells, because he knew Voldemort was in a special state, so neither of them could do anything about the other. Judging from Voldemort''s eagerness to escape, he must also have an unknown weakness.


    He thought quietly until a silver shadow suddenly appeared and descended into the ruins.


    Felix raised his arm, the silver phoenix Patronus fell on his slender fingers, Dumbledore''s gentle voice heard: "He escaped and went underground ... but I intercepted Barty and the snake."


    The phoenix after saying it disappeared into a silvery mist.


    "But it''s really you." Felix said as he stared at a picture frame on the table in the middle of the ruins in which Barty Crouch embraced his wife and a handsome-looking young man stood beside him on the right side.


    He already knew who is the spy in the castle.


    Felix turned around and walked out of the house, behind him the Fiendfyre raged like a dragon, seething and roaring, and swallowed the house clean in one gulp, he threw the picture frame into the fire as well and stood in the cold wind of the late-night, staring at the raging Fiendfyre which baring its gaping fangs and claws.


    "Isn''t it sad that there''s no one to promote your name, Voldemort?" He said playfully.


    Felix raised his wand high and mouthed the incantation that he had received from Lucius Malfoy, "Morsmordre!" A green light soared out and flew high into the air.


    A large skeleton, composed of countless turquoise star-like things, a large python emerged from the mouth of the skeleton, like a tongue. The skeleton rose higher and higher, glowing brightly in a cloud of greenish smoke, against the dark night sky, like a new constellation.


    In the distance, Dumbledore''s figure appeared, he shook his head, not quite approving of Felix''s approach, but he did not stop him either, it should let the Ministry of Magic have some sense of caution.


    Then he turned to leave, there are too many things to deal with tonight, at least, there is still a spy in the castle, he wondered if he could catch him in time. Barty was also badly injured, the only pity was that the snake died so crisply, and it turned out to be a Horcrux, he hadn''t heard that information at all in the communication mirror.


    Felix waved his hand, and then the Fiendfyre faded out, leaving ruins all over the place.


    He took a big step forward and disappeared abruptly in the cover of the mountain forest, leaving only a low voice drifting in the dark night sky.


    " The next time I see you, Voldemort, I hope you will regain your body completely..."


    ...


    A few minutes ago -


    Hogwarts Castle, Gryffindor dormitory, Harry jolted out of bed with a splitting headache.


    --------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there''ll be only one chapter today.


    #Ishy391, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 471+ chapters on P_atreon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on Pa_treon: www.pa_treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 417: Thrilling Cold Night (2 in 1)

    "Harry! Harry! What happened?" Harry huffed and puffed when he heard a familiar voice in his ear, he opened his eyes forcefully and saw two blurry, concerned faces, Ron and Neville. They looked freaked out, as they both held his hands from each side of him without knowing what to do, and then Harry realized he had somehow fallen out of bed and been lying on the cold floor.


    "I''m fine, Ron, an-nd Neville - Thanks." Harry said, as he also saw Seamus and Dean look up from their beds in a daze, "I''m fine ..." he said emphatically.


    "You don''t look like you''re fine." Ron said.


    "I ... oh, my scars were just aching ... like before." Harry stammered as he got up from the floor, Ron then handed him his glasses, Harry put them on as the room became clear.


    Neville carried a magic lamp, the light is not blinding, but it still caused Harry to feel dizziness, it is like he went back to the middle of that real dream, he was sitting in a seat, talking to someone ... but then again the person was not him, he was not so fragile that he needed someone to feed him potion ... ...


    He tried his best to immerse himself in it again, the feeling was too real that he still remembers it, the sticky potion felt like ice, sliding down his throat and into his digestive system, then churning in his stomach ...


    "Are you sick, Harry?" Seamus looked at him with alarm, "I think you need to stop by the hospital wing."


    The dreamscape seemed to be far away from him, no, it shouldn''t stop like this ... Harry thought as he made an excuse in his defense, "I''m going to the lavatory ... Don''t worry, I''m fine... ..." and he stumbled out in his pyjamas.


    "I''ll go and check on Harry, you guys sleep." Ron said thoughtfully as Neville handed Ron his little lion magic lamp, "Oh, thanks, Neville. Harry should have nightmares, he will be fine after washing his face in cold water ... "


    After an explanation, Ron left the dormitory after Harry.


    When he went out, he didn''t see anyone in the direction of the door, he scanned the common room and unsurprisingly saw Harry in that familiar spot in the corner of the room, sitting in a gold and red armchair, with his head leaned back, one hand rubbing his forehead, while the other covered his chest, his brow furrowed.


    Harry desperately tried to remember, presuming he is still in that dimly lit room, and trying his best to remember the smell of that slimy potion, that stuff was disgusting, more revolting than a pot of overcooked Toadstool soup ... He was angry, what a mishap, he mentioned someone''s son, and that person was right next to him, without saying a word Served him, how disgusting ... No, it wasn''t him, it was presumably Voldemort, Sirius analysed it for him, he thought the reason for the scar on his head, as Dumbledore had explained it in the first year ...


    Voldemort was frail and needed to drink potions constantly, Harry sincerely hoped that potion had better be even more awful to drink ... But Voldemort had a body; A piece of good news... Voldemort was attacked, but he reacted quickly and blocked the ... black lightning? That''s familiar ... It''s Professor Hap! How did he appear? Could he have gotten a clue about Voldemort from one of his many dance partners?


    Harry put this unlikely notion aside, he must recall more details ... after a couple of chats, Voldemort asked someone to go first, who was it? The one who got scolded? Harry couldn''t remember the name, but he knew it was pronounced in three syllables ... Professor Hap used powerful flame magic, not like Hermione''s one, it was eerie white flames ... They continued their conversation and Harry shook his head, he couldn''t quite remember it, his own brain was like a sink with the plug pulled, and details of the dream kept leaking down ...


    Did they mention Professor Dumbledore, hypocrisy? A wave of anger welled up in Harry, but he quickly became nervous, he knew what happened next, it was so impressive, in the dream he almost thought he was dead ... Professor Hap condensed a flaming longsword and penetrated it through his chest, he wailed desperately... ... No, he got it wrong again! It was Voldemort, not him.


    Harry thought carefully; Professor Hap began to attack, countless brilliant magic flashed ... Voldemort floating in midair, laughing at Professor Hap for doing futile things ... but Harry experiences heart-devouring hatred, Voldemort''s malice is too strong, he certainly does not feel as relaxed as he showed ... Harry seemed to have brought into the perspective of Voldemort, not a dream this moment, what is happening now!


    Did I get inside Voldemort''s head again? Harry thought with excitement and fear; He closed his eyes tightly, he seemed to be floating in the clouds, flying forward, the darkness made everything around him blurred, after which a dazzling silver light illuminated as it flew close to him, it was a silver phoenix, just like Fawkes, and he found himself gnashing his teeth and exclaiming, "Dumbledore! "


    He then plunged headlong into the ground, weaving through the black dirt and brown rocks, he had to race against time, there is something very important to do, he broke into a cellar, and possessed an unlucky rat, the rat "squeaked " a few times, and when it opened its eyes, it had turned blood-red. It climbed on a table, then it triggered some kind of mechanism, the air exploded with a brilliant purple light, the rat bounced a dozen feet and hit the wall, twitching a few times, and then did not move.


    Then the shadow of Voldemort floated out of the rat''s corpse, he stood there quietly, without making any sound, but Harry still felt a heavy depression ...


    Harry opened his eyes, Ron sat across from him and looked at him with a complicated expression, "You dreamed about that man again, didn''t you?"


    Harry took a deep breath and said with certainty, "Voldemort informed his spies at the school."


    "What?" Ron looked at him in surprise, "Mate, do you know what you''re talking about?"


    "I know!" Harry made his tone as calm as possible, "I know, of course, I know ..." he suddenly stood up and kept circling the common room, "Voldemort is short of men, so he can''t lose his servant in the castle ... Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore launched a surprise attack - well done!" He clapped his hands.


    Ron looked at him with a worried face.


    "But Voldemort had a way to get in touch with that spy in the castle, the guy who ... tossed our names into the Goblet of Fire!" Harry mused, his thoughts becoming clearer, "He''s lost his physical body again, and if he loses his only servant now, all his previous plans will be ruined, so he activated the emergency contact ..."


    Harry paused abruptly, his eyes searingly looking at Ron, as he said excitedly, "Do you know what we have to do now?"


    "Tel-ll... Inform the professor?" Ron stammered.


    "That''s half right, give me my wand!" He asked Ron, who had come out with his and Harry''s wands.


    Ron handed Harry his wand reluctantly.


    Harry held up his wand and pointed it in the direction of the dormitory, "Accio Marauder''s Map! Accio Invisibility cloak!" Then they heard the sound of the box suddenly popping open, a shriek from Neville, followed by a few seconds of silence and waiting--


    "Whoosh! Whoosh!"


    Two whizzing sounds were heard, and Harry nimbly grabbed the map and the invisibility cloak.


    Ron pursed his lips and gulped as he watched Harry spread out the Marauder''s Map, as his eyes constantly searched: "Will show up soon ... has to be now; if I''m right ..." Harry said.


    " W-who are you looking for?" Ron leaned over the table and stared at the dense list of names.


    "Never mind the names that are not moving, it has to be the ones that are moving! At this point in time, it''s either a professor on patrol or a spy who got the message and is trying to escape!"


    Ron hurriedly lowered his head to help him look.


    "The ones that move, the ones that move ... there! Look, there''s someone named Eleanor Branstone!" Ron shouted, and Harry looked over excitedly, then he heard Ron saying in frustration, "Oh ... probably not, she''s heading towards the kitchen."


    "Then add one more point, running out of the castle, focus on some people who are moving fast but still stopping at the corner of the stairs." Harry said, envisioning the spy''s escape route along his own lines.


    "Good idea." Ron said as he watched for a while longer, "Peeves is running! Do you think someone could have stolen his name, like name magic or something? Peter Pettigrew knows about the Marauder''s Map, he could have told the spy about it, so maybe that person is on guard."


    Harry was having a hard time with this, they had found a dozen moving names, professors and students, living people and ghosts, and Filch''s cat!


    He had never realized that the castle could be so lively at night.


    "Wait!" Harry said, his eyes lit up, "That''s him!"


    "Who is it?" Ron looked over to get a better look, but Harry already pulled him and pushed open the door to the common room. The fat lady got woken up and was just about to complain twice when Harry and Ron ran away like a gust of wind.


    "Reckless young men! Don''t expect me to open the door for you!" She shouted towards their backs.


    Harry and Ron quickly made their way downstairs, their footsteps made a " click " sound on the stairs, waking up the countless portraits hanging on the walls. But they ignored it and jumped three or four steps at a time.


    "Who the hell is that?" Ron asked as he gazed at the steps beneath his feet.


    "Barty Crouch!"


    "The judge of the Tournament of the Champions?" Ron''s jaw dropped in shock as he subconsciously followed as Harry made a turn across a staircase.


    "Makes sense, doesn''t it? He''s the judge, and the Ministry of Magic official who organized the tournament, and he has access to the Goblet of Fire! Besides, after the accident, he was the one who insisted that those whose names were called out must take part in the tournament, and he took a long leave of absence afterward... so he could have used this chance to sneak into Hogwarts!"


    "But why? He can come openly and honestly, ah?" Ron asked, almost stepping into the trap on the stairs because he was so absorbed.


    "Then he could only show up during the tournament when there would be a thousand eyes on him." Harry said under his breath while staring at the Marauder''s Map, and it took them less than a minute before they made their way to the second floor with one swoop.


    "Strange, Crouch is walking very slowly and there shouldn''t be a path there." Harry looked at the map and said suspiciously, "That direction should be Professor Moody''s office ..."


    Ron panted as he caught up, " Oh - yes, anyway ... we caught up, didn''t we? Quickly put on the invisibility cloak, let''s wait for him to come out, so we can follow him from behind and take the opportunity to sneak up on or alert a passing professor."


    Harry did not speak, just stared at the Marauder''s Map, his mind kept on analysing. Crouch does not seem to be running away now, what the hell is he thinking? He was bold enough to go undercover at Hogwarts, so he should be loyal to Voldemort, and when he heard Voldemort''s call, he must have to leave immediately.


    But why ...


    Harry really can''t figure it out. They have reached the vicinity of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, only seven or eight steps away from the office door, Ron spread the invisibility cloak, covering both of them.


    They stared at the Marauder''s Map, the name Barty Crouch and the location of the Defense Against the Dark Arts office overlapped. The two looked at each other in shock, "He''s going to sneak up on Professor Moody? Why?" Ron asked in disbelief.


    Harry held his breath, the name that belonged to Professor Moody was still motionless, should be sleeping in bed. Ron also realized this, and he muttered anxiously, "Get up, you''re the greatest Auror, who is crazy enough to cast Imperius Curse on us."


    Harry tugged Ron forward a few steps, and pressed his head against the door, they heard a "click-click-click" sound, like the sound of an old rusty armour moving forcibly without grease.


    The name on the map belonging to Moody still didn''t move.


    "What to do?"


    Ron asked, holding up his wand as the Marauder''s Map showed Barty Crouch passing through the office and standing in the doorway of the bedroom, no doubt he is trying to do something to Professor Moody, no matter how it appeared.


    "Don''t leave the cloak yet!" Harry said to Ron.


    "What?"


    Harry suddenly lifted his invisibility cloak, raised his wand, and read aloud, "Bombarda!" The door to the office suddenly exploded with a loud bang, startling those inside, and Barty Crouch Jr. looked back in alarm.


    "Expelliarmus!" Harry chanted furiously, and what looked like a laser beam collided with Barty Crouch Jr.''s protection shield, with sparks flying everywhere.


    "It''s YOU? It''s you! Potter, you''re just here in time!" Barty Crouch Jr. shouted.


    Harry was a little confused for a moment, who is this person? Why does he have the name of Mr. Barty Crouch? But he had no time to think about it, he struggled to maintain the spell, but Barty Crouch Jr. is not weak at all, his shield charm easily blocked the potent disarming charm, as he approached step by step against Harry''s magic.


    Through the blurred shield, Barty Crouch Jr. stared at Harry, with a greedy gaze, "Potter, no, Harry, I''m Professor Moody, I taught you, have you forgotten? Come with me, I''ll take you to the Dark Lord ..."


    "You''re not Professor Moody!" Harry retorted loudly.


    "There were two Moody you met, and one of them was me," grinned Barty Crouch Jr. "That punk Peter Pettigrew was more or less useless, but he still knew and also told me about the secret of the Marauder''s Map, which was the only good thing he did other than finding Master; I certainly know how dangerous the day when the list of champions was announced, in case Dumbledore suspected me, what can I do? I am the Dark Lord''s only hope now, the only hope of resurrection! So I had to be cautious and vigilant enough at all times ... That''s a good thing, the Dark Lord possessed my body - I was happy about that - and modified Moody''s memories, very successful! Wasn''t it? Hahaha!"


    Harry gritted his teeth, unable to believe what he heard. "You''re the Death Eater who ran away that day?"


    "That''s right, it was me. Don''t struggle, Harry, I only need half a minute--"


    "Whoosh!"


    "Incarcerous!"


    Ron suddenly poked his head out of his invisibility cloak and chanted a spell in the direction of Barty Crouch Jr, and a magic rope swept almost to the ground and wrapped around his calf. Harry took the opportunity to increase the output of magic, Barty Crouch Jr then stumbled backward, tripped over a large box, and fell into the box as he disappeared.


    Harry''s spell hit a pile of glassware in the office with a clear shattering sound, and he caught a glimpse of a glass-made sneakoscope smashed to pieces.


    "Stupefy!" "Stupefy!"


    Harry and Ron seized this opportunity, and successive cast a powerful barrage of spells, but the spell only hit the large box, making a dull sound. Harry was about to rush forward recklessly, that''s when he saw Barty Crouch Jr stumbled to the ground again, not from the spell, but stumbled out of the box.


    He had to take his chance ...


    At that moment, the rope on Barty Crouch Jr turned into a big snake, which blocked the Severing Charm that Barty shot towards him without his notice, then he hurriedly looked around, and his eyes fell on a mirror-like thing hanging on the wall of the office - two dark blurry figures swayed around within it, but at the moment, the people in the mirror were getting Clearer and clearer, that it is possible to see their clear outline. It is two people, one with a long beard, and the other one looked very young ...


    "Hiss~"


    Barty Crouch Jr''s whole face twisted, as he fell into that big box with a sudden roll, and Harry was about to go after him, when half a wand poked out of the box, the tip of which shone with a dazzling red light.


    "Boom!"


    A huge explosion exploded in his ears, Harry got swept away by a huge shockwave, and together with Ron, he crashed hard against the wall in the corridor. Harry felt like all the bones in his body got broken, and Ron also looked gruesome, he was hit by a big stone on his leg and moaning in pain.


    Harry looked over at the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, where half the wall had collapsed, a large hole had broken in the ceiling, and dust clouded everywhere.


    "Cough cough cough!" Harry choked as he coughed, he looked at Ron, Ron''s face looked ashen, as he groaned faintly, which forced Harry to sit up, as he leaned against the wall, raising his wand feebly: "Epis--cough cough cough! Epi--"


    "Vulnera Sanctum." A voice said.


    Harry looked up and exclaimed in surprise, "Professor Dumbledore!" In the smoke and dust, he looked exactly as he had seen in that mirror before, and he looked to the side, and another figure appeared in the mirror, "Professor Hap!"


    "Well," Felix nodded at him, throwing out a few healing spells, his head tilted to the side as he surveyed the ruins in front of him, "The Defense Against the Dark Arts office always suffers some disaster ..."


    First-year he wasn''t sure, but since he had joined, the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts never had a good time, even in their own office. Second-year Lockhart and Rita Skeeter had a fight in that office in the basement, leaving Lockhart under an Obliviate and muddled for weeks; in the third year, Lupin and Snape fought and completely destroyed the whole office, which had to be moved to the second floor. Unexpectedly, in the fourth year, the new office also failed to survive.


    But the good thing is, it should be just a simple Exploding Charm, not as difficult to deal with as dark magic, Felix waved his wand, let a piece of stone float up and fly to the original location, restoring everything as before.


    Meanwhile, under the treatment of Dumbledore''s spell, Ron''s expression also became milder.


    " Emergency complete, when things are over, you have to visit the hospital wing." Dumbledore said.


    Harry breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly thought of another person in the office, "Professor, Professor Moody is still in there ... he should be under a spell! And the spy, the one who dropped our names into the Goblet of Fire, he''s a young man, but his name showed up as Barty Crouch ..." His expression looked both confused and puzzled.


    "That man is the son of Barty Crouch, Crouch Jr. the same name." Felix explained simply. As he took Harry''s Marauder''s Map, he glanced at it and said with disappointment, "His name disappeared, and he got away."


    As he spoke, the office had been restored to its original state - except for the items with magical powers, which were outside the scope of the spell''s restoration.


    Dumbledore walked forward and entered the office, taking two quick glances, and made his way to the bedroom. It is still some distance from the center of the explosion, coupled with the defensive magic of Hogwarts Castle, the impact is minimal, and when he opened the door with the unlocking charm, he could see Moody lying peacefully in bed, sleeping very soundly.


    He is sleeping normally under these abnormal circumstances.


    "So much noise did not wake him ...," Ron whispered to Harry.


    Dumbledore leaned down to check the condition of Moody, Harry took the opportunity to tell them what had happened earlier, when they heard that Harry could still see Voldemort''s movements after waking up, Dumbledore''s face turned grave, "How did you see it, Harry? Was it like standing high up in the sky looking down on the scene, or ..."


    "I am him," Harry said. When the words came out, he realized with a jolt what he had said, and his voice became hoarse as he explained, "I, I got inside Voldemort''s head and looked at the outside world through his eyes and felt his anger."


    There was one thing he didn''t say. Now when he looked at Dumbledore and Professor Hap, he felt peculiar emotions, because he had previously been filled with Voldemort''s emotions, he felt a surprising hatred for these two people.


    The air was uncomfortably silent. Harry noticed Professor Hap''s eyes darting over him, and for a moment he thought the professor would say something, but nothing, nor Headmaster Dumbledore did.


    Dumbledore suddenly straightened up and said to those present, "Alastor is physically unharmed, but as for his memory ... Felix, your help may be needed."


    "No problem, Albus." Felix said calmly.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, "So, we now need to resolve the last question, how Barty Crouch Jr managed to hide in the castle, as far as I know - Felix, have you ever observed Moody?"


    "Occasionally observed him, not just him, but a few people I thought were suspicious." Felix scratched his chin, "It was weird when I found nothing in the end."


    " Weird indeed ..." Dumbledore stared at the large box that was already closed, "I detect no trace of Extension Charm unless he dug a passage, but he can''t do that unless the Headmaster gave authority for this amount of work."


    "Albus, your comment about the Extension Charm reminds me that we''ve forgotten that Voldemort is standing behind Crouch Jr." Felix said as an afterthought.


    Dumbledore gazed at him and said lightly, "What do you mean, the Chamber of Secrets?"


    "Let''s have a look," Felix said, "We only found the one entrance from the girls'' lavatory before, but it''s likely that Slytherin built more than one passage. And it''s possible that Voldemort could have pointed Crouch Jr the nearest pipe to him ..."


    They opened the large box, which looked dark and stretched downwards, and Felix threw a ball of light below and saw a wet pipe at the end.


    Dumbledore sighed, "Even I can''t possibly figure out all the secrets of the castle. Let''s go down and see if Crouch Jr has left yet or if there is a surprise."


    Harry gave Ron a meaningful look, and they silently followed the two professors down the long ladder, before stopping at a wet pipe. Felix gestured at Harry to look at a small, dark snake symbol on the wall, and Harry suddenly understood that this is the entrance.


    He made a familiar "hissing" sound and spoke in a Parseltongue, "Open." At that moment, a green light shone from the wet pipe under their feet, and then a sense of weightlessness came over them.


    Felix quickly waved his hand, applying a levitation spell on them, along with a layer of humanoid shield charm, as they floated lightly to the ground.


    Harry curiously touched his face, feeling a thin but tough barrier over his face, he knew the spell, Professor Hap''s memory body in classroom seven taught them, but he never used it quite correctly.


    The pipe is abnormally big, but still too small compared to a person, they had to crouch low, especially Dumbledore and Felix, who walked with a lot of effort.


    Felix moved forward slowly, with a strong urge to blow this pipe, but when he saw even an old man like Dumbledore moving forward like a cat, he didn''t complain.


    They moved along the pipe, and along the way, they saw a long trail that some guy had crawled on the ground while grazing his way out. Felix could well imagine how flustered Crouch Jr had been, completely disregarding any image and crawling to escape.


    A short distance along the way down the pipe, they came to the place where the pipes converge, with a thick pipe heading right to the bottom, they are very familiar with this path, after all, they came through it two years ago.


    Underneath is the Slytherin Chamber. And the chamber is not within the range of the Marauder''s Map.


    "That guy ... called Little Crouch or something has been under our feet for the last few months?" Ron asked with surprise.


    "Not always, according to what Harry said previously, he kinda likes to teach, only after the night of the Goblet of Fire, he decided to be discreet, of course, do not rule out that he is bored. So he went to the Three Broomsticks for a drink or two ..."


    By now, they had entered the Chamber of Secrets and saw the familiar giant statue of Salazar Slytherin, with very obvious signs of life at the foot of the huge statue.


    Felix picked up a newspaper and scanned it. "A week ago, his news is not closed. The previous speculation is likely possible, or at least he should have visited his immobile master occasionally."


    Harry and Ron gaped, the Chamber of Secrets looked horrible, perhaps it had been fine when it was first built, but after a thousand years of abandonment, it had become part of the sewer circulation system and so the air quality also is so bad.


    Dumbledore did not speak, he looked up at the top of his head, where the mouth of Salazar Slytherin opened, revealing a pitch-black hole with a glowing fluorescent light at the edges, the place where the basilisk had been hibernated before.


    "Let''s go inside." Dumbledore said.


    Here indeed discovered something new, when professor Hap lifted their humanoid shield charm, the stench of the snake was pungent inside, Harry and Ron showed a repulsive expression as they made a dry heave.


    Felix smiled, "You two should learn some necessary spells, humanoid shield charm, and Bubble-Head Charm are very useful. You''re Champions, so don''t forget to improve yourselves while you''re studying that golden egg."


    Harry and Ron once again got covered with a humanoid shield charm, and they thanked the professor numbly.


    At that moment, they found Dumbledore examining a large cauldron, so Harry came over to look inside, which looked empty, but the welcoming heat told him that perhaps just half an hour ago, some kind of potion was being brewed in the cauldron.


    "Polyjuice Potion?" He asked, and that was all he could think of as a possibility.


    "I don''t think so." Dumbledore said, his long fingers scraping a layer of the potion smoothly from the inside of the cauldron, and then he brought it up to his nose for a sniff when Harry noticed that the Headmaster''s somewhat crooked hawk nose wrinkled up.


    Felix picked up a scorched half piece of parchment from the ground, magic swirled around his fingertips, trying to piece together the complete content, then the blue glow flickered twice, before completely dimming, and the parchment in his hand completely turned into flying ash.


    "All of them are very diabolical materials, I honestly can''t figure out what potion is it; With so many highly toxic materials mixed together, what else would it be except a pot of poison." Felix said, "Maybe we should ask Severus or Damocles."


    "I will." Dumbledore said calmly.


    They checked again and found no other traces, so they returned to the surface, where Professor Moody was still sleeping quietly, and Professor McGonagall standing off at the side with a tense, uneasy expression, with the Phoenix Patronus standing beside her.


    "Albus, What the hell is going on? I heard a loud bang and got worried that something was wrong and some students were also woken up ... After that, I met your Patronus, and it told me to keep watch over Professor Moody, was he under a Stunning Spell?" Professor McGonagall asked anxiously.


    "Minerva, it''s over, we uncovered the spy in the castle, but unfortunately he escaped, but ... thanks to Potter and Weasley, our professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts''s life was saved."


    Dumbledore said with a smile, the expression on his face which had been gloomy before disappeared.


    Professor McGonagall stared at him expressionlessly as she looked at Moody on the bed and then at Dumbledore, her eyes darted over both of them, the lines around her mouth pursed into a thin line. Her chest rose and fell dramatically as her stern gaze fell on Harry and Ron, who were dressed only in their pyjamas.


    "So," she said in exasperation as she kept inhaling, "Potter. Weasley. You''ve been acting on your own again?"


    Harry and Ron''s jaws dropped as they shivered in the cold wind while wearing their thin pyjamas. s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ---------------


    TL Note: ( just a rant)


    This chapter has 4871 words excluding this Note ( It took me 3 chapters amount of time to prepare it, so I thought about dividing it, But then I felt - Nah, it will take away your enjoyment),


    So I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.


    --------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chappy, so there''ll be only one chapter today.


    #Nameless742 and #Fr��deric Van Audenhove, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 477+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 418: Occlumency

    Many of the students were awakened by the explosion and got dazed and confused, but the professors played their part, so they went back to their beds despite being a little unsatisfied. A few of the young wizards swore before they closed their eyes that they would get up early tomorrow to find out the truth about the night. The noise in the castle died down, and only the hospital wing remained brightly lit.


    "You must drink your potion and stay in bed for a night in peace, and if you are alright in the morning, I will allow you to leave." Madam Pomfrey held a shiny cup of potion in one hand and stood between the two beds with a hawk-like gaze. S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry and Ron drank the potion with trepidation, and as the liquid in the glass slid down their throats - although it felt completely different - it still reminded Harry of the memory from his dream, and he fought back the feeling of nausea as he " gulp" a mouthful to finish.


    Madam Pomfrey left satisfied.


    She walked out of the ward and closed the door, next she had to go to the intensive care unit, there are two patients waiting for her. Barty Crouch''s both body and mind are severely traumatized, she only hoped that his body can be repaired, Alastor Moody''s physical state is a little better, but his mental damage should not be taken lightly.


    She walked while still thinking about mental issues, and debated whether to learn something from Felix. As time fermented, Felix Hap''s other identity, the memory master''s reputation grew, and many speculated that he would certainly be included in the first batch of chocolate frog card slots in this upcoming century.


    Around the corner of the corridor, Madam Pomfrey spotted Dumbledore, Felix, and McGonagall standing in the doorway of the intensive care ward.


    "Poppy, you''re just in time," Dumbledore said with a smile, apparently in a good mood, "Felix has just diagnosed Barty and Alastor, and dealt with the toughest problems, though it will take them a considerable amount of time to recuperate."


    Madam Pomfrey subconsciously looked at Felix, in her heart, this person is the expert.


    Felix nodded slightly and explained, "Mr. Crouch has been under the control of the Imperius Curse for a long time, as well as the impacts from the Confundus Charm and the Cruciatus Curse, which has caused his mind to be somewhat muddled, although it is troublesome, but not irreversible. I would suggest transferring him to St. Mungo''s after a while to receive more systematic rehabilitation."


    "As for Professor Moody ...," he said uncertainly after a moment''s thought, "I don''t know if his state is considered good, his memory has been carefully modified and numerous hints have been placed on him, such as not checking his room, overlooking certain abnormalities, as well as the inevitable deep sleep until dawn when lying in bed ... which is the reason why Barty Crouch Jr. had no qualms about sneaking into his room through the secret passage."


    "He would lose part of his memory, as for which, I''m not sure, I think with his character he would dislike that."


    Felix looked inquiringly at Dumbledore, seeking his opinion. Dumbledore shook his head slightly, he knew what his old friend''s character is, the fact that someone had tampered with his memory would be enough to drive him mad.


    Madam Pomfrey said she understood, and after a moment''s hesitation, she asked, "Felix, can I observe while you treat them for the next few days?"


    "No problem, ma''am." Felix agreed quickly.


    Madam Pomfrey thanked him, and then she pushed open the door of the intensive care ward and walked in. The other three people present could see Barty Crouch and Alastor Moody lying quietly in bed, and Professor McGonagall''s lips quivered twice.


    "Minerva?" Dumbledore looked at her.


    "I, I''m not doubting ... but don''t we need to take some precautions? In case they''re still under the influence of the dark magic of that man ..."


    "No need to worry, Minerva," Felix interjected as he smiled, "I have confidence in my memory magic, and their wands are now in the hands of the Headmaster."


    Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief. They went downstairs together and after a few moments of silence, she couldn''t help but ask, "Albus, you shouldn''t have stopped me from giving Potter and Weasley deductions, or at least detention ..."


    Dumbledore blinked and looked at her with a smile.


    "They were too reckless and might have lost their little lives." Professor McGonagall finished her sentence.


    "Minerva, there''s no need to be so strict, that boy just has a high sense of responsibility that goes far beyond the norm." Dumbledore said softly, "Take this time, it was quite a surprise that they could think of using the Marauder''s Map and the invisibility cloak, and they had been decisive enough; if they had delayed a few minutes and spent their precious time looking for the Professor, perhaps we would have been presented with a different scenario."


    At least, Moody certainly would not have survived.


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, her furrowed brow relaxed, "You''re right."


    ...


    Felix returned to his office, he stood in front of the window, thinking back over what Dumbledore had just said to him in private.


    "Felix, I want to ask you something." Dumbledore said in a deep voice.


    "What is it?" Felix asked, with some inkling of what would follow.


    They were standing at the castle''s high point, the north wind was blowing hard, and the window frames creaked. Dumbledore was silent for a long time as if he was making up his mind, and he finally said, "Can you teach Harry Occlumency?"


    "No problem." Felix said promptly. After waiting a moment, he asked softly, "And besides that?"


    There was another silence -


    "... Don''t hurt him."


    ...


    Felix retracted his eyes; it is now late at night, and the sky is lit up with a pale gray-green colour.


    "I''m growing sentimental, and that''s not like me."


    "Kiki!"


    He looked down and saw Niffler Valen standing in the bedroom doorway, rubbing her eyes with one hand, staggering over, as she pulled his pant leg twice without climbing up.


    Felix laughed silently and motioned his fingertips to let Valen float up to him.


    "I can''t believe you didn''t sleep yet? Valen, what a surprise ..."


    "Kiki!"


    Valen waved her small hand, tracing the air, and Felix gazed at her, she seemed to be writing, and he tried to discern that somewhat distorted letters-


    "A gift?"


    Valen nodded once.


    Felix asked tentatively, "Are you asking how Granger felt about receiving your gift?"


    Niffler nodded, her small dark eyes looking at him expectantly.


    "She was overjoyed." Felix said.


    Valen looked satisfied, it was one of her most cherished treasures, and even now the thought that she had given it away made her heart bleed, then she yawned and opened her hand for a hug.


    Felix carried Valen and put her on the basket bed.


    As he changed into his pyjamas and laid down on the bed, his mood unknowingly changed for the better.


    --------------


    #PyramidOfMerlin II, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 478+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 419: Golden Egg

    The clock ticked to the next morning, although both Harry and Ron were thinking about leaving the hospital wing as soon as possible, but they are too tired and injured from last night, Madam Pomfrey told them that Ron''s leg is still swollen, and Harry has at least six broken ribs. "The healing spell can only heal minor injuries, like a twisted nose or something like that, and it only serves for emergencies." Madam Pomfrey said at the time, but both of them suspected for a moment that it was just her way of tricking them into drinking the potion.


    After drinking the potion, their minds immediately became groggy, like a mechanical alarm clock that had been unwinded, spinning more and more slowly. Harry and Ron did not talk to each other even a few words, as they have fallen asleep. This sleep was so deep that Hermione did not wake them up when she came to visit them.


    Harry recounted the events of last night, and deliberately stressed that "I was in too much of a hurry to call you," Hermione shrugged, "unless you stand outside the girls'' dormitory and shout, you can not get in, and I may not have heard... ..."


    Ron coughed heavily, which sounded like "prom", and Hermione''s face turned red.


    The two of them had gotten into a slight argument last night--


    Ron accused her of going to the ball with their opponents during the drinks break after the opening dance, and Hermione simply explained that the point of the tournament is to " promote communication ", and when Ron shouted that Krum was not really interested in her and only wanted to pry into the secret about the golden egg, Hermione got mad.


    "He''s never asked me a word about the Golden Egg, not once!"


    Ron then changed the line at the speed of light.


    "Then he must have wanted you to help him figure out the secret of the Golden Egg!"


    "I never helped him with the Golden Egg!" Hermione was absolutely furious, "In fact, he invited me in the library at the very beginning, but I was hesitant because of some ridiculous our champions and stuff, and guess what? Roger Davies immediately invited Collins, and two of my stupid companions just complained that all the pretty girls had been picked!"


    Harry''s expression turned rather innocent.


    It was true that he hadn''t thought of inviting Hermione, but that was because he had been harbouring an ulterior motive, something like maybe Cedric and Cho Chang would quarrel ... Well, he knew it was unlikely to happen, but that conclusion made him even more frustrated and made him less interested in the rest of the ball.


    Anyway, after that Harry and the unhappy Ron went to the courtyard for some air and accidentally overheard the conversation between Hagrid and Madame Maxime, as they learned that they are both half-blood giants, while Hermione (according to her own words) stayed in the great hall and sulked alone.


    Harry is skeptical about the sulking part because when they returned, they saw Hermione dancing with Professor Hap with glee ...


    After the ball, Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were not speaking with each other again, after that they returned to their dormitory and went to bed with their stomachs full until he was awakened by a nightmare and chased the spy inside the castle with Ron ... When he saw Hermione again this morning, Ron and Hermione both spoke politely, as if yesterday''s quarrel had not happened at all.


    And when Hermione heard about Hagrid''s half-blood giant status, she didn''t think it is a big deal.


    "In fact, I''ve always believed that he must be a giant." She said, shrugging her shoulders, "I knew he couldn''t be a pure blood giant because they''re all about twenty feet tall. No need to get that worked up ... it''s bigotry, just like how people treat werewolves ... and add house elves to the list ... even though both prejudices aren''t the same! "


    Ron obviously did not agree with this view, so he simply repeated the same thing he had said to Harry last night as politely as possible, and pretended as if he was describing it to Harry for the first time:


    "Hagrid shouldn''t go around telling it, although it may be the first time he''s met his own kind and got overly excited ... I know he''s not dangerous, everyone who knows him knows that, but it would be a problem if outsiders heard it, people are squeamish about that." He grunted twice from his nose and said darkly, "Even if it is just a prejudice, it is a collective prejudice, and in case there is no way we can change it, concealment is the best way."


    He saw Hermione open her mouth to retort, so he immediately sped up his speech and said to Harry: "In the public perception, giants are brutal, although I have heard the love story between giants and dwarfs when I was a child, which was told to me by Fred and George ..., but I have not believed their bollocks since I was six years old!"


    Harry suppressed his laughter, as he equally pretended like he is hearing it for the first time, and nodded solemnly.


    "My father said that they sided with the Dark Lord in the war, foolishly believing that he would give them more room to survive ... As a result, they were naturally liquidated after the war, a large number of giants were killed by the Aurors, and perhaps Professor Moody was also part of it, and that''s probably when he got his leg injured ...," Ron speculated irrationally.


    "... After that, only a small tribe of giants that didn''t do much evil remained, and they were also driven out of England - now I don''t know which big mountain they''re hiding in."


    Harry didn''t think it is appropriate to continue discussing the topic of ''are giants brutal by nature'' because Hermione''s eyebrows perked up oddly, and he decided to take the initiative to change the topic, "Well ... Hermione, it''s like this, Ron and I saw you were late, but you disappeared a few hours early in the afternoon yesterday, it wouldn''t take that long even to fix your hair, right?"


    He felt he was talking gibberish, because at the moment Hermione''s hair had returned to its messy state, and he thought - despite not really understanding - that no one would refuse to make themselves look better if they could maintain it.


    Sure enough, Hermione gave him a blank look.


    "If a girl wants to dress up, no amount of time is enough ... but I really wasn''t delayed because of that, it was Valen, she gave me a Christmas present, and I, uh ... " she bit her lip, not knowing how to say it.


    "We know," Ron said, "I mean ... we heard a little about the gift she gave you that made you get all fussed up and lose track of time, it couldn''t be a ton of golden galleons, right? One of my great-grandmother said that the only thing that could beat time would be those little golden cuties."


    Harry and Hermione looked at him at the same time, as Ron shrugged, "She had died of old age and left a will saying that she would exchange all her possessions for golden galleons to bury her with, but I''m not sure her descendants did as ..."


    "Of course not, it''s a broken Time-Turner." Hermione said lightly.


    "Valen gave you the Time-Turner?!" Ron exclaimed sharply, his eyes widened.


    "No need to fuss about it, it''s just a broken one." Hermione said, using the same word ''fuss'' back at him, but Ron totally ignored it.


    " Hermione, Take it out quickly! I''ve never seen a Time-Turner before!" Ron said.


    Harry also looked at her expectantly, "Did you bring it?"


    Hermione''s eyebrows curled up, "Of course," she lifted a golden chain from her chest, it is a small disc-shaped timer, the outside is a ring made of a golden frame, and at the innermost layer, there is a small hourglass, with everything moulded with great precision.


    "This is the Time-Turner? It looks really beautiful ... are you sure it''s broken?"


    Hermione did not speak, as she waved it in front of them twice and re-stuffed it into her dress.


    "There''s nothing to see, we might as well spend our time cracking the secret of the golden egg," she said with gusto, "I''ve finalized a plan with some certainty that it won''t break its structure ... "


    Harry and Ron stared at the golden egg she had brought over with a hesitant expression, which is currently placed on a table beside the cabinet. Harry looked at the pyjamas he is wearing, if it screamed ceaselessly in the process of deciphering the golden egg, they could not even run outside.


    He did not want to be seen running around the castle corridors in the daytime wearing pyjamas.


    But Hermione had already made up her mind.


    She stood up and took the golden egg in her arms, then pulled Harry''s pillow over and put it under the golden egg. Harry and Ron watched with trepidation, as they mumbled some ideas.


    "We can try the Visibility Potion--"


    "I tried that." Hermione said.


    "Revealing Charm, Analytical spells -"


    "None of them are very useful." Hermione fiddled with the golden egg as she drew her wand.


    "How about trying the Adrian Deconstruction method, he brags about it quite a bit in the book-"


    "Well," Hermione put down her wand and glared at the two, "frankly, I did use some of the techniques he mentioned, mostly because I noticed he liked to figure out those shortcuts ... that''s one of the reasons later generations didn''t think much of him now."


    Ron shot Harry a look, that means, I told you so.


    While this was happening, Hermione put her wand on the golden egg, tapping it, occasionally stopping to listen with her ear or reciting a few Latin incantations; about some of her techniques, Harry and Ron read part of it, after all, they are all reading the same books - just at different levels of progress and assimilation.


    "She''s using the Delamination method." Harry whispered to Ron.


    This method is commonly used in alchemy, the principle is to remove all the redundant parts that can be removed, such as protection spells, decorations, and some minor features, then go straight to the core of the item, and it is suitable for novice alchemists in particular.


    From time to time, Hermione took out vials and containers from the small beaded pouch, as she used a small brush coated with a potion to coat the golden egg, and then removed a piece of eggshell amidst the shocked expressions of the two.


    "Her- Her...mione, you, you tore it apart?!"


    "Because it''s not important." Hermione said with a stern face, and as she spoke, she took off another piece.


    Harry felt very helpless as if he had gone back to a few years ago when he was living with the Dursleys, where he lived in the cupboard at the bottom of the stairs and had to wait every evening with anxiety for Dudley to go upstairs - when he would deliberately step on the steps with great force and shake down the dust.


    And now he felt the same way. He wasn''t sure how many pieces of the golden egg would be removed before it suddenly would burst forth, shrieking creepily and startling everyone.


    When only half of the golden egg was left, and Harry''s inner turmoil got stronger, and he debated whether to remind Hermione that not far from here there is a sick Professor Moody staying, and if he heard it, he might storm in grumpily and would cast a curse on them, and then he would force them to put their ears against the golden egg ...


    "It''s done!" Hermione said happily.


    Harry and Ron went over to see it, now all that remained in her hand is a palm-sized fragment of the golden egg, but it is quiet and calm now, similar to the other fragments.


    "Are you sure you made it, Hermione? If it fails, we won''t laugh at you." Ron said generously.


    He remembered that Collins Foley had reminded him about something at Yule Ball, although he didn''t know why and hadn''t managed to hear a word of it, but he felt sure that since there had been a first time, she wouldn''t mind telling him a second time.


    Hermione snorted twice, her eyes narrowed and curved into a crescent, then her wand lightly tapped on it.


    "Click."


    A subtle shattering sound, the last shard in her hand splitting in half as a low, piercing scream rang out.


    "What''s the difference, other than it''s a little less audible?" Harry asked, the only consolation being that he didn''t have to cast a Quietening Charm.


    "Oh, it lacks a necessary environment," Hermione smiled brightly, "I kept its core function, storing and transmitting sound, as long as I put it in--"


    "In the water!" Ron suddenly slapped his head and said.


    Hermione looked at him with an unfriendly look.


    ------------ S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    #PyramidOfMerlin II, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 478+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 420: The Secret in the Golden Egg

    "How do you know that?" Harry asked that question for Hermione. "Er... it''s like this," Ron said, wincing as if he''d been stung by a Billywig insect, "I think Collins mentioned it to me at the Ball-- -"


    "You think?" Hermione and Harry blurted out in unison.


    "I--I wasn''t listening, it was too loud," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to lighten the serious mood, "It just came to me all of a sudden when Hermione said something about putting the piece in something. "


    Hermione looked furious, and Harry couldn''t help but look at Ron sympathetically. Well, at that moment, the door of the ward was pushed open from outside.


    Neville walked in. "Hi Harry, Ron, how are you, oh, Hermione you''re here too ... I heard some rumours from the Prefect, the rumours are particularly bad ... but when you guys didn''t come back last night, I knew it must have something to do with you, and I thought you should need this ..."


    He held up two sets of clothes bulge in his hands as he walked closer, then his eyes went wide with astonishment when he stared at a shattered golden egg in his sight, unable to speak.


    "Thanks, you arrived at the perfect time, we needed an outfit to wear." Harry said thankfully, as he walked up and picked up the dress, "Er - make yourself comfortable, Neville, don''t crush the golden egg pieces, we''re not sure if we need to put them back together again."


    Hermione''s mouth puffed out, and she pulled the only useful shard away, "I''ll see you in the library." As she dashed out of the ward in a flash.


    Meanwhile, Harry and Ron took off their pyjamas and began to get dressed. Neville sat nervously on Ron''s bed, his eyes fixed straight on the shards, which looked like they had been treated very roughly, "So, it''s true?"


    " What true?" Harry asked, pulling a jumper over his head.


    "I heard from Lee Jordan that Professor Moody was actually a dark wizard who disguised himself in order to steal your golden egg, so you and Ron fought him off last night ..."


    Harry and Ron paused and looked at each other. Harry, one sleeve still hanging down as he said firmly, "It''s all bollocks except the first one, which is true."


    Ron finished dressing, and patted Neville''s shoulder as he said, "Mate, the real Professor Moody is in the intensive care ward not far from here, so you can ask him, maybe he is aware of something!" Upon seeing Neville''s impressed expression, he immediately stammered, "I''m just kidding, don''t ask ..."


    Neville shook his head, "I won''t ask. But I want to visit him, he has treated me quite well, remember? He gave me that book, ''Magical Mediterranean Water-Plants and Their Properties''."


    "What if it was from that Death Eater?" Ron guessed, "Listen to me, Neville. Moody fell victim to the dark lord this time, he and that Death Eater took turns giving us lessons, which is why the professors didn''t even discover a thing. Now no one is sure which class was given to us by the real Moody--" With that, he suddenly clapped his hands heavily and yelled, "Damn it! I told you right, in what world professor would dare to cast an unforgivable curse on us?"


    Neville looked stunned, not expecting this to involve the Dark Lord and Death Eaters in any way.


    After Ron vented and quieted down, he said with an expectant tone, "Hopefully Professor Moody will be nicer to us in the new term, but it''s hard to say ... he won''t necessarily be back."


    Then he can join, Harry''s heart suddenly thumped, if Professor Moody can not give them classes next semester, then the school will have to find them a new teacher, even if it is temporary, like Professor Belby in the second year.


    But then he thought about the curse that Ron had mentioned to him. But Professor Belby is still fine,... he tried to convince himself, but what if? He dreaded to think what would happen if Sirius had an accident, although for the first thirteen years of his life he hadn''t known he had a godfather, hadn''t even heard of him, but he found he couldn''t live without him anymore.


    Harry couldn''t decide for a moment whether to tell Sirius. There was something he actually wanted to tell him, his godfather was so bored, besides practicing magic and playing chess with the elder members of the muggle community, the rest of his entire mind is on him, Sirius should have a life of his own, like getting a job, or starting a family or something ...


    "Harry, Harry!" Ron shouted in his ear.


    "Oh - what?" Harry looked up as both Ron and Neville looked at him.


    Ron shrugged, "Help me persuade Neville, he still wants to visit that bomb ... What''s wrong with you?"


    "Nothing," Harry said quickly, "I mean - of course, I agree."


    "You agree?" Ron''s eyes widened.


    "Yeah, we should visit Professor Moody, he doesn''t seem to have any relatives." Harry said in mock relief, deciding to put the matter off and make an impromptu call if Sirius asked.


    ...


    At the entrance of the castle''s great hall, Draco Malfoy leaned against the oak door in boredom, holding a green gift-wrapping ribbon in his hand. Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy gathered around him.


    "Didn''t you sign up for the stay-at-school application?"


    Draco''s nose wrinkled, "I''m not sure, Dad asked for it out of the blue, and spoke to Professor Snape in advance." He glanced occasionally in the direction of the great hall looking back at his father who had come over to pick him up this morning and met Professor Hap on the way, after which he had been excused to the side.


    He waved the ribbon in his hand - which had been pulled from the gift box - he always had the feeling that his father had looked at him with a mixed look of anger when he came over, but he hadn''t done anything big lately, so he should have been misreading it.


    "... Yes, the mark was particularly strong that night ... and dimmed after that, just like a dozen years ago." Lucius Malfoy whispered, taking the opportunity to swap his cane, as his two gray eyes glanced around without being obvious.


    "I see." Felix said.


    Lucius nodded slightly, took two steps back, and raised his voice: "You should mind your own business." He turned to leave, with an icy smile on his face, as he walked over to Draco, his son looked at him with a worried look on his face.


    "Dad, what''s wrong, you guys-"


    "Didn''t I tell you not to touch what you shouldn''t touch?" Lucius became angry at the sight of his son, but some things cannot be said explicitly, especially when it comes to the two things, the diary of the Dark Lord and the agreement with Hap, so he could only find fault with other things.


    "There are three champions at your age, why not you?"


    Draco felt wronged, "Dad, that''s because they used some method to cheat!"


    Lucius gave him an angled look, exchanged his cane to his right hand, and pulled Draco away with his left hand.


    Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy who were left behind watched their backs, when Pansy hesitantly asked, "Uncle Malfoy looks angry, and Draco hasn''t gotten into any trouble lately, right?"


    She looked at Crabbe and Goyle with suspicion, "Did you get into trouble?"


    The two shook their heads in a hurry.


    At that moment, Felix came over with a newspaper, so the three greeted him and left in a hurry. Felix walked out of the castle and stood on the marble steps. At the end of his sight, he could still see the Malfoy father and son, Lucius saying something to Draco, who seemed very unconvinced.


    Welcoming the winter sun, Felix flipped the newspaper in his hand, the headline featuring the animated Dark Mark very conspicuously. The headline on the paper, written in the blood-red text -


    Death Eaters still on the loose? Or Dark Lord making a comeback?


    ''It is reported that Barty Crouch, who is the director of the Department of International Magical Co-operation and recently been in charge of two major international events (Quidditch World Cup and Tournament of Champions), was attacked by unknown people at his own house last night, and the site was left with an utter mess, Crouch went missing and his old house was reduced to rubble.


    The most shocking thing was that the dark mark was displayed high in midair at the site. All the Ministry of Magic staff who arrived at the scene were rendered speechless, and a rough-looking, stern-faced female official sat on the floor in fear; when a reporter went up to interview the hysterical official, no useful information was obtained, instead, we were subjected to unwarranted insults. The reporter later learned that the female official had been demoted for not doing her job well and trying to dispatch dementors to cover up a scandal at the Ministry of Magic, a matter which involved the older brother of a dark hero who had silently resisted the Dark Lord during the war, details of which can be found in Chapter 7 of Rita Skeeter''s new book "Against the Black Terror" a special correspondent of this newspaper ... ...


    No one who lived through the horrors of that war will ever forget what the Dark Mark represents, but now, fourteen years after the death of the Dark Lord and the end of the war; we have won the Quidditch World Cup for the first time in almost thirty years, and have managed to successfully commence a tournament out of history and give it new life, to the delight of the people; now once again we are forced to reflect: are we really free from the shadow of war? Or perhaps this is just a call for another war?


    Unfortunately, the Ministry of Magic has not performed as well as it should have in this emergency, the Ministry of Magic has been ignorant or careless about the old followers of a certain wizard Who Must Not Be Named, and devoted much of its energy to the insignificant cooperation regarding potions, and has become complacent - I can almost assert that the Ministry of Magic Ministry would certainly suffer great despair.


    As of this publication, the latest information available to our reporter is that Barty Crouch Sr. has survived and is being treated in secret, and the young official representing the Ministry of Magic refuses to say anything more than how the Minister is occupied with a huge workload and is replacing Mr. Crouch to finish a huge backlog of business.


    For a detailed history of Barty Crouch''s tenure, see page four of this newspaper, which contains a detailed description. Finally, if you want to know more about a certain man - Who Must Not Be Named - and his evil gang, check out our reporter Rita Skeeter''s new book, " Against the Black Terror," which will be available for signing on January 1 at Flourish and Blotts Bookshop, you can also order it via owl mail at ...''


    "That''s it, the rest is all rubbish." Hermione said as she looked up from the paper.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, and froze for quite a while, Ron suddenly gasped as he burst out laughing, "She, she doesn''t know that man is still alive, does she? Otherwise, she would never be that bold to write about the You-Know-Who ..."


    Harry and Hermione also laughed, they both knew what kind of person Rita Skeeter is.


    At the moment, they are sitting at a table by the window in the library, with two large stacks of books placed near the aisle, as a way of blocking the sharp eyes of Mrs. Pince, the librarian, as Harry also used a not-so-skilled Quietening Charm to keep their voices from getting too loud.


    Ron laughed so hard he stumbled, slumped over the table, and slammed his fist on it. "Ouch ... against the black terror ... I think she''s playing with fire." After he had laughed enough, he said in a serious tone, "Shall we write an anonymous letter to remind her."


    Hermione raised her eyebrows, "We can''t reveal ... you know, we promised Headmaster Dumbledore."


    "Well," Ron said regretfully, "I guess she won''t believe it, instead she will treat us as rumour-mongers and throw the letter in the trash ... Maybe Dumbledore has already told Fudge about it. "


    "It''s possible." Hermione nodded, agreeing with him.


    Harry took the paper and turned to page four, and sure enough, he saw the brief history of Mr. Barty Crouch, which is very detailed and even included his family, making it even more convenient for Harry.


    "Look here, guys," he said, pointing at a small line: " Barty Crouch originally had a promising future and was the closest person to the post of Minister of Magic, but because of the emergence of a Death Eater in his family, his reputation plummeted, and he was transferred to the Department of International Magical Co-operation as the head of the Department, and within a few years later, not only did his son died in Azkaban, even the wife who has been in poor health also passed away not long after ..."


    Ron and Hermione looked at him in surprise and Harry said, "Yeah, we all know who Voldemort''s spy is, the problem is ... he''s dead in the official records."


    "This could, this could be incredible, could it be Barty Crouch ...," Ron looked at the two meaningfully.


    "You''re saying he''s using his power for personal gain?" Hermione said pointedly.


    Thinking carefully for a moment, they could not think of any other possibility, the most crucial thing is what Ron said, "That''s his son." In the end, they had to think that Barty Crouch had pulled some kind of trick to deceive Azkaban and change the official records.


    They had mixed feelings about Barty Crouch, who is lying in the hospital wing. On one hand, he is a victim, but on the other hand, he might have trampled the law at the back and let go of a criminal Death Eater who used him as his biggest backer to plot for his former master''s comeback.


    Hermione saw the atmosphere become serious, so she pulled out a piece of parchment from the book "The Fifth Element Controversy" and handed it to Harry and Ron.


    Harry looked at what looked like a poem in his hand and read the first line: "Come seek us, where our voices sound - what is this?"


    "A Clue from the Golden Egg." Hermione said briefly.


    Harry and Ron''s eyes widened, and they put their heads together to read the following from it.


    ''Come seek us where our voices sound,


    We cannot sing above the ground,


    And while you''re searching remember this;


    Purple for strength.


    Blue for wisdom.


    Gold for growth.


    Seize the moment, the crisis is everywhere.


    Weigh them carefully, the choice is inevitable.


    When gold overflows.


    You will see each other.


    Return rich and full.''


    Harry and Ron took a deep breath and stared at the contents blankly.


    "My gut tells me that the second task will be difficult." Ron said pessimistically.


    Harry felt the same way, so he tried to decipher what is written on it: "Well - look for them, at the place where their voice sounds, it is impossible to sing on the ground. So, the second task is in the water? The Black Lake?"


    Hermione nodded cheerfully, "That''s what I thought. Go on, let''s compare our ideas."


    "Uh, and then the next sentence, apparently it''s for us to find something, I think it''s three things or three kinds of things?" Harry looked at Hermione hesitantly, but Hermione pursed her lips and smiled, not giving anything away. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, whatever it is, they''re distinct anyway, divided into strength, wisdom, and ... growth? I guess it''s some sort of test. The two sentences after that are just a reminder to be careful, and it involves a choice, it''s weird ... the gold overflows at the end, and we''ll see each other, which means we have to separate? Only if we meet this condition, we can see each other again?"


    Harry''s eyes widened as he deduced this clue, and the three pairs of eyes looked at each other.


    Ron let out a whine.


    At that moment, a silver, tiny rainbird passed through the library window and landed lightly in front of them, the Patronus opened its mouth and from it, Professor Hap''s voice heard -


    "Harry, tonight at eight o''clock, come to my office - just you."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 480+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 421: Explained

    At eight o''clock at night, Harry pushed open the door of the Ancient Rune''s office on time. "Take a seat anywhere you like." Felix said, as he sat in a recliner behind his desk, and began to read the newspaper. Harry looked around when Niffler Valen pointed to an armchair on Harry''s left.


    Harry mouthed a thank you to Valen, moved the chair over to sit across from the professor, and waited quietly. After two or three minutes, Felix put down the paper in his hand and smiled: "You may be curious about the purpose for why I called you here, it''s actually quite simple, I was entrusted by Headmaster Dumbledore to teach you Occlumency."


    Then he briefly introduced it: "This is a kind of spell that prevents your mind from being invaded by outsiders."


    "Why do I have to learn the Occ- learn this thing?" Harry froze, and the next second his heart began to pound as he thought of the reason behind it, so he asked him with difficulty, "Because of that dream I had?"


    "As far as I know, this is not the first time it happened to you, right?" Felix inquired gently.


    "I, uh - yes, there was another time during the summer." Harry had to admit it. "But-"


    He looked at Felix eagerly, "Sirius said it might have something to do with my scar, and in my first year, Headmaster Dumbledore also said that Voldemort''s unsuccessful killing curse tied me with him."


    Felix shook his head and said in a low voice, "That''s barely accurate."


    "From the looks of it, for now, it''s just you peering into Voldemort''s mind one-sidedly, which is possible because he''s not strong enough and didn''t notice your little stunt, but ..." he paused and looked at Harry.


    With a long acquaintance, Harry followed Felix''s train of thought to think further, and a terrible notion was derived, so he couldn''t help but gulp, "You are thinking that Voldemort might pry into my thoughts in turn? This, this is really-"


    Doesn''t seem like a big deal, Harry thought dumbly. He is just a student, worrying about completing different subject assignments every year, and if Voldemort did see these thoughts, he would probably become rather impatient.


    "Do not underestimate your position in Voldemort''s mind, Harry." Felix said calmly: "You ruined his reign of darkness with your own hands, if there is someone he hates the most and whom he fails to understand, that person is most likely you, otherwise he would not have arranged for his most trusted servant to infiltrate Hogwarts and risk putting your name into the Goblet of Fire ... "


    Speaking of which, he looked at Harry thoughtfully.


    It reminds him that Voldemort is severely understaffed, and his first priority should be arranging his resurrection, not exposing his presence by causing trouble at Hogwarts - even if Voldemort desperately wants Harry to participate in his rebirth party.


    Unless, Harry''s role is more important than one might think, and even directly determines the success or failure of Voldemort''s resurrection ...


    "Professor? Professor Hap?" S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. In addition to what I just said, you also know a lot of information that is valuable to Voldemort, such as the movement of Headmaster Dumbledore, some people close to you, or ... Horcruxes. You don''t want to expose these, do you?"


    Harry''s expression became quite torn. On the one hand, he wanted to enter Voldemort''s mind once again, especially since Voldemort now has a powerful henchman, it is the key moment when he will plan to resurrect; on the other hand, he certainly knows the risks involved.


    "Then will you teach me the mind, the Occ--" Harry said, Felix glanced at him, " It is Occlumency." Harry hurriedly said, "That''s right, Occlumency, are you trying to get me to sever the connection with him? To prevent leakage of information from our side?"


    Felix looked impassive.


    "So your opinion is-"


    "My opinion?" Harry asked, puzzled.


    "Do you agree to learn the Occlumency?"


    "Can I refuse?" Harry asked in a whisper as he looked at him.


    "Of course, I respect your choice, it''s never advisable to force this sort of thing."


    Harry smiled, "It''s good to learn more, Professor." He felt particularly like Hermione with that comment.


    Felix knocked on the table, his perspective silently changed, all the decorations colour in the office all turned gray, only some items with magic bloomed with a magic glow, he stared at Harry, making Harry uncomfortable.


    "Since you have decided," he straightened up, "then we will start now."


    Harry stood up after he said that, unconsciously searching for a spot, hoping from the bottom of his heart that he would find a cushion or something on the floor. Then he noticed Professor Hap looking at himself oddly, "What are you thinking?"


    "Uh ... Professor, don''t we need to put up a cushion?" Harry gestured, " We need it for our dueling practice sessions ..."


    Felix looked at him and let out a gentle Sigh, "It seems you don''t know much about this subject." He beckoned, parchment and quill on the table automatically flew up, the blue quill reached into the ink bottle, dipping into the ink, "swish swish swish" and wrote down a string of book titles, Harry watched from the sidelines with trepidation.


    When the list of books floated to him, he took it with a trance and stared at it for a few seconds before he read the first title, "Occlumency," followed by a long list. Harry felt so frustrated like he had scored a zero on the second task.


    "This is the reference book you need to read when you go back," Felix said: "I will briefly introduce this aspect of knowledge."


    "Speaking of Occlumency, we have to mention the Legilimency and Obliviate, the Thinking Room, and a series of other magics," Felix gestured for Harry to sit on the couch as he sat opposite to him and pulled out his wand, and with just a flick of the wand, the fire in the fireplace blazed up.


    "They are all classified as memory magic, but in fact, they greatly differ, of which - Occlumency and Legilimency are the most closely related, yet opposed to each other."


    "Professor, what is Legilimency?"


    "In a way that you can understand, it is something akin to mind reading art that is widely spoken among the general population, a kind of magic that is used to invade other person''s minds to read emotions and memories. Of course - I must emphasize the point that there is a big difference between Legilimency and mind-reading, and I want you to read the book to understand the specific concept and write about it as an essay - you must explain the difference between the two."


    Harry felt some bitterness in the corners of his mouth.


    But he suddenly realized something and asked, "Professor, are you planning to read my mind and then let me use Occlumency to defend myself?" He didn''t feel very comfortable about it, and if the professor saw some private memories, he would definitely be vexed and ashamed.


    "That''s just one of the methods." Felix commented, "An efficient method - to speed up your mastery of the Occlumency through offensive and defensive real-life warfare at the mental plane. But frankly, we have plenty of time, at least until Voldemort is resurrected, we have no major concern, of course, if you''re in a hurry to learn ..." Felix looked at him mischievously.


    "I''m not in a hurry." Harry hastily said, "I like to choose other methods."


    ----------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 480+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 422: First Experience

    "Choose wisely, you will feel quite comfortable." Felix slashed his wand across the room and a golden path paved between them, like snowflakes swept up by the wind, with golden pellets of fine powder sprinkled down. "Let''s do a test first." He leaned his body against the back of the couch and looked at the golden rain curtain.


    Harry also looked up, as he involuntarily fell into a misty dream state, his mind fell into a state of great relaxation, light as if he has been surrounded by warm sunshine. He felt like gold dust fluttering in midair as he became a part of them, forgetting any worries ... Harry subconsciously chased after this feeling, but a voice inside faintly told him that this scene seemed familiar.


    What exactly is it? If he had ever had this wonderful feeling before, he certainly would be able to remember it vividly, Harry thought drunkenly, his mind felt like a rusty old clock, and the thoughts in his head paused to rest for a while with every beat until Professor Moody''s ugly face flashed in front of his eyes. It was so sickening ... that it sobered Harry, who was immersed in a sea of glee, for a moment.


    How could he have thought of him? Is it because he was tortured emotionally in his class? Wait, Moody''s class? The Imperius Curse?


    Harry''s heart instantly splashed with cold water, no, is directly submerged into the bottom of the black lake in December. He jolted out of this state, the gold dust that floated in front of him, piled up like a conical heap of golden glitter on the ground, which looked very beautiful.


    But Harry now does not think this is something good, in addition to what he just experienced, another visual evidence is that as Professor Hap holding Valen, that little girl reached her small hand out from the gap in the professor''s arm, reaching in the direction of the gold dust.


    Harry leaned his body back fearfully and felt a little sense of security when his back touched the soft couch.


    "Three minutes."


    Felix picked up a pocket watch and looked at it, as he said, "That was faster than I expected, remarkable."


    Harry stammered, "I, I thought of Professor Moody ..."


    "I understand," said Felix, "He does look intimidating."


    "No, it''s not Professor," Harry said, "I didn''t think of Professor Moody simply because of his appearance ..." He blinked and explained in a whisper. "He used to cast an Imperius Curse on us in class."


    "That makes sense," Felix nodded slightly, "so you should have performed well in that class?"


    Harry nodded hesitantly.


    "What was that, Professor?" He watched as Professor Hap waved his wand as the ocean of gold dust and the handful of golden powder on the table disappeared at the same time.


    "Some pleasant memories I''ve collected." Felix smiled, "A number of them are from creatures in the Forbidden Forest, little creatures that can gain happiness easily - perhaps it didn''t fit your definition of happiness?"


    "No, I think it''s perfect, it''s pure joy." Harry said, with some fondness, he felt shaken by some of his own notions, and he had to remind himself that he had a brilliant memory master in front of him.


    Felix said slowly: "This is my inspiration from the dementors, since the dementors can draw those happy memories, so I naturally thought, why I can not draw memories and emotions from others?"


    "When you suck out the joy, you''re left with only negative pessimistic feelings, and when you suck out the arrogance and ego, you''re naturally left with only humility and humbleness... You''ll find that emotions can easily go from one extreme to the other. Worth studying, but I have to say - it''s not very useful to me, and it''s prone to criticism. "


    Harry felt that this assessment was too light, and it ought to be described as evil or creepy to be appropriate. He stole a glance at Felix, most of the time Professor Hap was gentle and friendly enough to speak like a spring, not to mention that after the Yule Ball, many girls spoke even more highly of him. But when it comes to the attitude toward some magic, the professor''s standards are simply frighteningly low.


    For example, if he hadn''t had a dream the other night, he probably never would have known that Professor Hap could use Fiendfyre so skilfully ...


    "This will help me to learn Occlumency?" Harry asked tentatively.


    "Of course, it will help, you will notice the resilience of will is particularly important in the introductory stages of your learning."


    He handed Harry a book.


    "Every page on it has been enchanted by me, and in addition to what you have just seen, there are other things that will mobilize your emotions and memories, and you will need to read it while ignoring the effects of the magic attached to it. This book is somewhat dangerous, so I can''t let you take it with you. I have a schedule for this special training, you need to come over every two days during the Christmas break, and when school starts it''s every week. When you can read from the first page to the last page in one breath without any effort, it indicates that you are fully ready for the training. So that''s when we will move on to the next stage."


    Harry nodded his head to show that he understood. He took the book, which didn''t look that thick, with a plain cover that didn''t even have a title, but he would never consider it more harmless than Hagrid''s carefully selected "The Monster Book of Monsters".


    He opened the first page with anxiety, and at first glance, it looked plain, with an unfamiliar symbol drawn on it, the outer frame of which consisted of a circle of purple arc-like patterns. But when he tried to identify it, the symbol produced a strong attraction.


    He examined the design, as his expression became one of the obsession as if that little symbol contains the ultimate answer to all unknown mysteries.


    Felix loosened his hold, and with that Valen leaped out of his arms, running over to Harry''s couch, looking curiously at the motionless Harry, and glancing at the pattern on the book. First glance, nothing, second glance, eh? Quite good-looking, then look again ...


    Her eyes were getting more and more intense when Felix came over and picked her up, Valen blinked her eyes, remembering what had just happened, she yelled twice with palpitations in her heart.


    "That book is not for you, someday I will create you a ''Valen''s Wonderful Adventure''." Felix said teasingly. Valen patted her small heart, avoiding Harry and the book in his lap by a distance, as she ran to the workbench, retrieving a gold coin from her pocket and stacking it on the table to build a castle to play with.


    Valen felt that the way of building a castle with exploding cards was too dangerous, and it would be better to use gold galleons - both beautiful and safe, and after completion, the sense of accomplishment is also abundant. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix and Niffler both of them glanced in Harry''s direction occasionally, while a layer of sweat unknowingly seeped out of Harry''s forehead, a sign of rapid mental exertion, and Felix''s frown became deeper and deeper.


    Still cannot detect any abnormalities ...


    Is it hidden too deeply? The realm of the soul is really full of mystery.


    Time passed little by little, and the sweat on Harry''s forehead evaporated, but he still did not turn the second page, he became totally lost. Felix looked at the time, it is close to lights out, so he stood up to interrupt Harry.


    It is at that moment he stopped in his tracks. In his magical perspective, he could see deep darkness poking out its tentacles and appearing very abruptly in his field of vision, coiling on Harry''s forehead, as if it had always been there, only hidden by layers of mist.


    Felix could not hide the shock in his heart, his and Dumbledore''s speculation became reality, although the exact process is not known, but there is no doubt that Harry is hiding a piece of Voldemort''s soul.


    ...


    "Harry, this is the Draught of Peace, drink it and go back to sleep now." Felix said gently.


    "Yes, Professor." Harry yawned greatly, he felt sleepy as hell, and all he wanted to do now is go back to bed and get a good night''s sleep.


    When he returned to the common room, there were not many people left inside, Hermione and Ron were waiting for him, Hermione chirped and asked, " Why Professor Hap was looking for you?"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore asked the professor to teach me Occlumency." Harry said tiredly.


    "Occlumency?"


    "What''s that?"


    Hermione and Ron asked simultaneously, but seeing that Harry is too sleepy to keep his eyes open, Hermione quickly closed her book and said decisively, "Well, we''ll talk tomorrow, I finished a draft plan while you were away, and although some details are still unclear, we have a general idea of what the second task is going to be. The preparations need to be on the agenda."


    "It''s your call, Hermioneee." Harry yawned again, Professor Hap''s potion worked, he did not feel that bad anymore, just exceptionally sleepy, he went into his dorm room, changed into his pyjamas, and fell back to sleep.


    ----------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 482+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 423: The broken chair

    Headmaster''s Office-- "Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked in a deep voice.


    Felix nodded solemnly.


    "Leave the rest to me, Felix." Dumbledore took the responsibility.


    "You have a solution?" Felix asked in surprise, "Albus, there''s never been a precedent for this, and that snake is dead. At least I can''t make any sense of it at present, but if you give me enough time, the future is not without hope ..."


    Dumbledore just calmly said: "I know." Felix heard the meaning of ''this is the end'' so he took the initiative to say goodbye, he felt that Dumbledore''s thoughts and his are not in the same boat, it may be because of the lack of information available. But as he said before, he has no intention of giving up, for him soul is an important subject of magic to study upon.


    It is just his accumulation in this area is near zero, so the hope of success in this area of research is very slim for a short period of time.


    Felix stood in front of the seventh-floor window of the castle, pondering quietly: ''Instead of considering about the soul, I should put my focus on Voldemort, because there are at least three clear ways to deal with him, each of which is worth trying - destroying the soul; destroying the remnant souls; finally capturing the resurrected Voldemort alive. "


    He stood on the highest spot of the castle, overlooking the faint lights flickering at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, without knowing that just at this moment, an interesting episode is going to take place in the Beauxbatons carriage -


    The carriage lights were almost out, leaving only the dim tiny nightlight still on, when Fleur pushed open her room door, and carefully looked at either side, then she slipped out of her room with a light step.


    With a golden egg in her hand, she tiptoed toward Madame Maxime''s private bathroom, and as she passed by one of the bedrooms, the door creaked open. Jacqueline Bourgeois stepped out of that room in her nightgown.


    " Fleur? What are you--" Jacqueline was stunned, as she looked at Fleur who is holding a golden egg in her hand, and cautiously moving forward against the wall.


    Fleur said, "Oh, no," and hurriedly covered Jacqueline''s mouth, "Keep your voice down! Don''t wake up Madame Maxime ..."


    Jacqueline blinked obediently.


    When Fleur loosened her hand, she curiously sized up Fleur, her eyes paused for a few seconds at her bare feet.


    "You don''t even have your shoes on?"


    "I don''t need them, it''s carpeted all the way, and I walked along the wall without stepping on anything ..." Fleur tilted her head proudly, and Jacqueline looked at her with an increasingly odd expression.


    " I will take you to a good place." Fleur decisively changed the subject.


    In fact, after the first task, she did not talk much with the other two champions, thinking they were too timid, while the other two also felt they had performed poorly and hung their heads in shame all day.


    They walked to the end of the carpeted path to the huge innermost part of the carriage, where an enormous dark brown oak door stood more than ten feet tall.


    " Is it not Madame Maxime''s-"


    "Gee, I know." Fleur said, approaching the door cautiously and whispering the password, the door opened noiselessly with a gap as she darted in, which caused Jacqueline beside her to freeze.


    She is too familiar with this ...


    Before she could react, a hand stretched out from inside, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her into the room as well.


    A luxurious bathroom appeared before them, the entire floor and walls tiled with silver tiles, and a huge chandelier dangled in the ceiling, sprinkling a soft light. In addition to the usual bathing facilities, the innermost part of the place has a huge bathtub that is isolated. Fleur handed the golden egg to Jacqueline as she stood in front of the glass door in front of the bathtub, her eyes sparkling with stars.


    "Fleur, even if you want to have a bath, there''s no need to sneakily use Madame Maxime''s bathroom." Jacqueline said with a worried face, if they got caught, they would both suffer.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve been here more than once." Fleur tossed her silver shiny hair with a bright smile. "I''ll show you the luxury of this bath." S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    She pushed open the door, and the interior filled with mist, with the faint fragrance of the aroma that Madame Maxime favoured. A huge pool-like bath took up most of the space, a gold-encrusted mirror stood in one aisle, and two white towels the size of a bedsheet hung on the metal hooks on the wall, "I''ve been looking forward to the end of the day." Fleur said cheerfully.


    She quickly removed her nightgown to reveal a one-piece bathing suit, she looked well-prepared. Fleur warmed up a few times before she leaped into the water like a swimming fish, as she swam a dozen meters around the bath in one breath, before peeking her head out of the water, revealing her flowing, beautiful hair.


    "Come here, Jacqueline." She said invitingly, her voice echoing nicely as it resounded between the empty walls.


    Jacqueline shook her head and stepped aside with the golden egg in her arms, her eyes glancing in the direction of the door every few seconds, fearing that Madame Maxime would come in at this hour, even though, by common sense, she would have fallen asleep by now.


    She stood by for a while, watching Fleur''s graceful swimming posture, like a beautiful mermaid, her long silver hair and graceful nape visible in the mist, Fleur''s natural charm radiated in a way that made her very envious of her.


    Jacqueline held the golden egg, her arm got a little sore, she looked around and found a beautiful recliner - a recliner that shared a common feature with the other furnishings in the room, that is, it is huge. She placed the golden egg in the middle of the seat and laid herself back with it.


    "Huh?"


    This move made her discover something different, she propped herself up a little as she stroked the surrounding seat, her fingertips touched a soft and tough layer of air, she felt like she is lying in the softest cloud of cotton, yet she didn''t have to worry about sinking in.


    "Madame Maxime knows how to enjoy herself well." Jacqueline couldn''t help but wonder why the students'' baths didn''t have these things.


    She positioned her body fully on the recliner, resting on a circular log-shaped cushion that she had expected to be hard, but it turned out to be similar to the layer of air beneath her, supporting her head in a soothing way that her ears seemed to hear the sound of lullaby as her tense nerves relaxed automatically.


    It is as if she is on a cloud, so comfortable that she is about to fall asleep, without knowing how long has passed -


    "How is it, this is a very comfortable seat, right?" A voice seemed to come from beyond the sky, Jacqueline looked a little confused for a moment, who was talking? She opened her eyes and found Fleur draped in a large towel, her big eyes staring at her.


    "Fu, Fleur, you''re done bathing, we''d better leave--" She hurriedly tried to get up, but she was pinned back by Fleur''s hand as she pressed her head.


    Fleur slumped down next to her in the process and let out a pleasant sigh.


    "This is so comfortable, I''d love to sleep on it all the time, but unfortunately it''s not available on the market." She said complainingly, "I''ve been waiting for almost a month, and there''s still no news from Future World Company."


    "This is a product of the ''Future World'' company?" Jacqueline asked softly since she had heard of the company''s name, as it had opened a branch in the busiest magic street in France, named Future World 3.


    "That''s right," Fleur said lazily, closing her eyes, "Future World is owned by Mr. Felix Hap, you''ve met him, he''s an ancient rune professor at Hogwarts and a school board member of Beauxbatons."


    Jacqueline''s eyes widened.


    After lying comfortably for a while, Fleur picked up the golden egg as she looked at it from left to right, "Did you solve the mystery of the golden egg?" Jacqueline asked. The golden egg had always been placed next to Fleur, and the other two champions rarely could touch it.


    "Not yet." Fleur said, she was originally very anxious, but every time she sat in this " Cloud Chair ", the feeling of all worries will disappear, then she talked unhurriedly, with a lazy French accent.


    "I heard Fran?ois (another champion) say that Madame Maxime plans to interfere ..."


    "I know," said Fleur, her delicate nose wrinkling as she held the golden egg close to her body, "she talked to me about it long ago, but I refused; I wanted to solve the mystery myself."


    Jacqueline looked at Fleur enviously, perhaps in Madame Maxime''s opinion, Fleur is the only one who is qualified to be a champion.


    "Click."


    A clear, crisp sound reached their ears.


    "What''s that sound?" Fleur asked warily.


    Jacqueline shook her head as she straightened up and looked in the direction of the bathroom door like a frightened deer, not even the seat beneath her could reassure her at the moment, and she said with a little tremor, "Could it be Madame Maxime ...?"


    "It can''t be." Fleur''s expression is one of hesitant, but she also got a little jittery, raising her slender neck and listening sideways for a while, "Don''t worry, there is no problem, I have been here several times, Madame Maxime''s very disciplined about her routine."


    Jacqueline could only lie down reluctantly again.


    "It''s nice~"


    "Yeah." Jacqueline echoed, whether it is the feeling of lying in the recliner or the fact that her relationship with Fleur is showing signs of easing up, it is good for her.


    They laid in silence for a while, and in a daze, a sound was heard again-


    "Click."


    "I heard it again." Jacqueline said.


    "Maybe it''s an auditory hallucination." Fleur said with one hand touching her golden egg with her eyes closed.


    A deep, calm voice suddenly sounded from above their heads with a tone of annoyance and amusement, "It''s not a hallucination, I''m pretty sure that''s the sound my recliner made."


    "Well ..." Fleur smacked her lips, "I don''t think so."


    "Madame Maxime! What brings you here?" Jacqueline''s frightened cry sounded in her ears.


    Fleur looked a little confused, who was Jacqueline talking to? Madame Maxime? Who is Madame Maxime?


    Fleur suddenly opened her eyes and met a tall, imposing figure with a sharp gaze. She let out a shriek and sat up violently, "Yes, It''s me, I''m sorry, Madame Maxime, it''s all my fault, I shouldn''t have sneaked in and secretly used your recliner..."


    However, Madame Maxime didn''t hear Fleur''s apology as the bathroom is dominated by another sharp, piercing shriek as the golden egg dropped on the floor when Fleur suddenly sat up, hitting the cushion and bouncing off on its own.


    The golden egg let out a seeping scream while rolling, under the eyes of three pairs of eyes, flexibly turned around in an arc trajectory, and with a " poof " fell into the water.


    Fleur froze for a moment, stood up obediently, and said seriously: " Madame Maxime, I''m going to get the golden egg." After saying that, she did not even dare to look at Madame Maxime''s reaction as she jumped directly into the vast bath.


    On the surface of the bath, Madame Maxime, with a stern face, asked Jacqueline, "Did Fleur drag you here?"


    "No, no, it was we who decided to come together." Jacqueline said warily, "It''s our first time over here -"


    Madame Maxime grunted, "It may have been your first time, but not necessarily Fleur''s, and I could see for a while that she coveted this chair of mine." She looked a little annoyed, but not at Fleur, but at Hagrid.


    She didn''t know what he had been up to lately, but every time he came to feed the Abraxan horse these days, he would ask her in a roundabout way if the Cloud Chair is broken, and he exclaimed that he is skilled at fixing things, so if it is broken, he can be called for help.


    Madame Maxime felt annoyed that Hagrid thought she weighs too much, or else how could he suggest repeatedly that she would break the chair?


    Tonight she couldn''t sleep in bed, apart from the fact that Fleur was too stubborn and insisted on cracking the secret of the golden egg by herself, Hagrid was part of the reason, and in an irritable mood, she thought of taking a moment in the bathroom.


    As a result, unexpectedly, there was an unexpected reward.


    Seeing Fleur poking her head out of the bath and looking at her curtly, Madame Maxime smiled coldly, she definitely would take this opportunity to convince Fleur today, and there is nothing to be ashamed about, anyway, she did not think that the Karkaroff would act as promised to guarantee fairness.


    After the first task ended, whoever believed any more of Karkaroff''s words would be a complete fool.


    One thing is quite true - cheating has always been a tradition in the Triwizard Tournament. But when to cheat? Right now is the best time to do so. "Madame Maxime! I, I have uncovered the mystery of the golden egg!" Fleur''s excited shout jolted her awake, and she looked at Fleur suspiciously.


    "It is true, I will sing it to you - Come seek us, where our voices sound~ We cannot sing above the ground; And while you''re searching~ Remember this; Purple for strength; Blue for wisdom; Gold for, for-"


    Fleur sang, her voice moving with grace and a mesmerizing charm. Both Madame Maxime and Jacqueline could not help but quietly listen, but halfway through the song, Fleur suddenly got stuck, "Uh, sorry, I forgot the rest of it. Why don''t you all come down together?"


    Half a minute later -


    The three ladies looked up from the bath in unison and tossed their hair, Madame Maxime fell into contemplation, "So that''s it, I know it would be according to the four elements where the golden egg represents life and life refers to fire ..."


    She sat down on a chair and pondered the clues provided by the golden egg, and soon, she also thought of the only place at Hogwarts that qualified - the Black Lake.


    "The Black Lake is said to be home for quite a few creatures, Merpeople, Giant Squid, Grindylows ...," Fleur said softly while pressing Madame Maxime''s shoulder.


    "But would these three creatures represent wisdom, strength, and growth?" Madame Maxime said disapprovingly, "There must be something else, these are just hindrances for champions, you need to consider underwater survival, and underwater spell casting for combat, as for wisdom and growth ... this is not something that can be speculated."


    "You said it so wisely, why I did not think of it." Fleur smiled very charmingly.


    Madame Maxime gave her a blank look, but at least the mystery of the golden egg was cracked, so she didn''t intend to pursue it, "A little to the left." She instructed, and Fleur laughed happily again.


    "Click - click - click - click -"


    The chair beneath Madame Maxime suddenly emitted a series of dense rattling sounds, and the layer of air beneath her flickered twice and suddenly disappeared.


    Three people stared wide-eyed, Madame Maxime''s expression is the one that looked most astonished.


    This chair really got broken by her?


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 482+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 424: Information from twins

    The next morning, when Harry, Ron, and Hermione entered the great hall they saw Cedric''s group also dining, then they looked at each other and sat opposite to them tacitly. "Uh ... hi guys." Harry said, to which Cedric put down his fork and smiled at them.


    Harry momentarily lost of words, not knowing what he should say, especially since the man in front of him had danced at least seven times with Cho Chang at the Yule Ball, preventing him from taking any chances.


    He mumbled something so vaguely that Cedric didn''t hear it properly, so he looked at Harry questioningly.


    "I, ahem - I mean, Ron has something he wanted to say to Collins."


    This time, it is Ron''s turn to stammer. "What--me? Oh, it''s me ..." He glared at Harry, when Collins placed down her fork & knife and looked towards them, her very imposing gaze shifting between Harry and Ron.


    Ron looked at Collins, and his face turned red, Collins'' two thick eyebrows and short brown hair matched together exceptionally well, then he remembered his poor performance in front of Fleur again, and muttered in a low voice, "Thanks ..."


    "Are you having trouble figuring out what to say?" Collins asked him.


    "I mean - thanks for the tip, you know, at the ball ... you came up to me in your blue dress and told me the clue, although I didn''t really hear it, but I felt the need to, ahem, the need to say thank you ..." Ron said under his breath, to which Harry chimed in, "Yeah, that''s right."


    When Collins and the group left, Ron''s ears still remained red.


    "Aren''t you only supposed to be allergic to Fleur?" Harry asked, trying to muffle Hermione''s laughter and bring the conversation in a serious direction.


    "I don''t know ... when her black eyes stared at me, my mind went blank." Ron said pessimistically, "First Fleur, now Collins, something isn''t wrong with me, is it?"


    "Yeah, and you''re ill beyond comprehension, although it only kicks in when you''re in front of those pretty girls." Hermione pointed out sharply.


    Feeling that Ron was about to make a fool of himself, Harry moved his plate towards him - Ron was about to nearly spill the beef and pumpkin pie filling on the table - as he whispered to them about what had happened in the Ancient Rune Office last night.


    After waking up from his sleep, his memories all became vivid, and Harry highlighted the enchanted book that had served a bizarre purpose.


    "Sounds like a book that should stay honestly in the restricted area ...," Ron commented, dropping the pie on his plate.


    "No, the professor said he got the inspiration from the Dementors for it, and frankly, I think the professor''s field of study is bizarre." Harry spoke his mind.


    "Any field of study that has been studied to a high degree will look strange to the layman." Hermione said matter-of-factly.


    Harry thought hard about it, but he didn''t know much about the other professors'' lives outside the classroom. In his imagination, Professor Flitwick probably had a hobby that involved opera and afternoon tea, when he would use charms to make those little teacups and teapots to move, and might even make them say a cheeky comment or two (like those enchanted servants he saw in the film); Professor McGonagall probably would spend all her free time handling the heavy workload of the school; Snape probably would spend his free time gutting Horned Toad; Trelawney would hold a crystal ball first thing in the morning to decide which dress to wear ...


    Professor Hap may be, in addition to reading and studying runes, will Play cards with Valen? As for Professor Moody, Harry used to imagine him removing his wooden leg and rubbing oil on it, just like how Harry cares for his Firebolt in his free time, but now Harry is left with nothing but sympathy - maybe for the past few months, Professor Moody would hop on to his bed like a puppet every time he came back to his office, and then Barty Crouch Jr. would sneak in and go through his memories while he was sleeping.


    The fact that he could fool Dumbledore at least means that Barty Crouch Jr. is very skilled in disguise and possibly in the art of Occlumency as well.


    Harry heard a familiar voice, which he thought might be a hallucination until he and Ron looked over and saw Lee Jordan waving at the three Uagadou''s champions, and the Weasley twins sneakily handing a stack of parchments to the one with the last name "Blanzigor" --His hair is shaved on both sides, leaving a ghastly spiky haircut in the middle.


    Harry remembered him well because he could turn into a hawk, and in the first task his tangle with that Antipodean Opaleye was very exciting.


    "How did they get along this well?" Ron asked incredulously.


    "It looks like Lee Jordan acted as a middleman," Harry looked over thoughtfully, where Lee Jordan is patting his chest, his distinctive voice drifting far over, "... Don''t worry, it''s absolutely reliable... ..."


    "Fred and George won''t play their game with the Uagadou''s champions, right? It might land them into a mess if they caused international strife ...," Hermione said worriedly.


    "Fred and George know what is limit in their heart, and at best they will sell their new products or something ... they know, right?" Ron''s tone became uncertain as well.


    Soon, Fred and George took their leave, as Lee Jordan continued to joke with the Uagadou''s team. Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurriedly got up and intercepted the twins in the entrance hall.


    "Oh, hello guys, we didn''t expect you." Fred was taken aback.


    "What were you guys doing?" Ron asked directly.


    "Nothing, meeting Lee''s new friends." George replied evasively, inclining his head back in the direction of the great hall.


    "I saw that." Ron said, "You handed them something, not a prank product, but a stack of parchment, probably some kind of information ..."


    Fred and George looked at each other.


    "If you guys revealed any secret that would cause Hogwarts to lose the game ...," Ron said with deliberate seriousness, watching with satisfaction as his two brothers'' expressions grew solemn.


    "You are very concerned, it seems that the whole thing of becoming a champion has given you a lot of confidence." Fred said.


    "Are you preparing for next year, little Ronnie, you want to become a prefect?" George teased.


    Ron''s face reddened, and he said irritably, "I don''t want to be a prefect-"


    "But our little brother has some point this time." Fred said.


    "Probably just a blind shot in the dark."


    Ron''s face is turning about as red as his hair when Harry interrupted, "So what did you guys have in mind back then?"


    Fred and George looked at each other, "Look, it''s simple, Lee Jordan made friends with a student of Uagadou, you know, he''s got the looks ..." Harry couldn''t help but laugh a little as Fred added: " Uagadou School of Magic is different from us in many ways, they specialize in Self-Transfiguration, Alchemy, Astronomy, and gesture casting ..."


    "Yes, they have all kinds of alchemical gadgets that are not hard to get hold of, like amulets of various types. ... As Dumbledore said, it''s all about exchange." George shrugged and said.


    "They approached us two days ago, just before Christmas, saying they wanted to learn about the Black Lake ... It''s not exactly information that needs to be kept secret, I bet there are at least a hundred books in the library that mention it, but of course, it will require some time to find." Fred said.


    George added with a wink, "Unless they''re too foolish not to think about asking Mrs. Pince, whose presence is actually quite strong, stronger than the rope that will pull people''s attention in front of the restricted book section."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 484+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 425: Alastor Moody

    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other. "So," Ron asked hopefully, "you guys just found some random stuff from the library and brought it to fool them?"


    Fred said with a stern face: " To your disappointment, we are very credible. But we have limited knowledge of the Black Lake, like if we dive too deep we''ll be chased out by merpeople with pitchforks, and their tamed pets aren''t friendly either-"


    "That''s Grindylow." George looked at Harry''s puzzled expression and explained.


    "There are Creatures that live at the edge of the lake and also on Bowtruckle Island ... but we didn''t dare to go too deep for fear of being getting tied and beaten by Selkies. But sooner or later we''ll draw a map of the Black Lake, it''s part of our plan to finish before graduation." Fred said.


    George looked at him strangely, "When did we have this plan?"


    "Just as we were talking. Wanna join?" Fred asked.


    "Doesn''t sound that bad," George said with a grin, looking at the dumbfounded trio, "But there''s no point in doing it all over again when Harry''s father and his gang have done it all, so why not find another way, anyway we''re just in our sixth year, so we definitely have some time to leave behind our legacy. "


    Then the twins left, and before leaving, George reminded them, "By the way, Harry, if you go to the hospital wing now, there will be a surprise waiting for you."


    The trio stared at their backs, deep in thought.


    "We should have requested a copy of the map, a scrap will do." Ron suddenly said, "It certainly would have saved a lot of trouble."


    "We can make our own." Harry said without thinking, it is still very far from February.


    Hermione then counted on her fingers, "Besides us, counting Cedric''s group, plus Uagadou, half of the team already knows about the second task, and it''s hard to say about the other three schools--"


    " Maybe you should count Durmstrang as well." Ron said gloomily.


    Hermione''s eyebrows raised.


    "Sorry, that wasn''t clear - I meant that Karkaroff would definitely find a way to cheat." Ron rephrased it, "I have faith in him."


    Harry could not contain his smile.


    " We should better stop by the hospital wing and check out the surprise Fred mentioned ..." he suggested. As they arrived at the hospital wing and turned the corner, they vaguely heard more than one familiar voice.


    "Professor Hap?" S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Sirius?" Harry said in surprise.


    They quickened their pace to see the door of the intensive care ward wide open, and Sirius standing in front of a table, peering inside as he fiddled with the wand in his hand, his eyes staring menacingly in one direction.


    Then, from inside, came Moody''s gruff voice, "If you want a fight, you''d better go outside! I don''t have a wand in my hand, and I''m missing an eye ..."


    "Your eye is soaking in the potion, Professor Moody. Who complained that it wasn''t working well as soon as he woke up." Felix''s voice stated gently.


    "I''m telling the truth! And my wooden leg, it is almost half an inch shorter, it must be that scumbag''s doing!" Moody said very grumpily, which had something to do with the fact that he had just been treated by Felix.


    Felix sighed, the check-up just now did not go well, because the patient subconsciously resisted it. So he just tried the techniques he learned from the dementors, which caused Moody to become quite frustrated after the treatment was over, and the way he showed his ''frustration'' is by disliking people indiscriminately.


    Felix looked up at Harry, Ron, and Hermione who are standing in the doorway, and waved at them.


    They walked into the room and were surprised to find it lively inside. On the opposite end of the room across from Sirius, Snape stood near the wall in his black robes, like a jet-black bloodsucking plant, indifferently looking at Sirius with contempt in his eyes.


    Snape''s hand is hidden in his sleeve, Harry guessed from his posture that he should be holding his wand.


    This also solved the confusion: Harry did not think that Sirius would clash with Professor Hap, if he remembered correctly, in the Hagrid hut in the third year, Sirius had revealed his secret personally that he had been easily caught by the professor, he looked rather reluctant at that time.


    Besides these people, there are two other people in the room, one is Madam Pomfrey, and the other is turned out to be Neville.


    Neville was shrinking into a chair by himself as best he could, which wasn''t easy, since he had grown at least half a foot from last year and stood comparable to Ron. When Harry walked over to him, he cried and said in a voice close to a whisper of resignation, "I just wanted to come over and send a bouquet of flowers, like yesterday ... only to find that Professor Moody had woken up, and after that Madam Pomfrey called Professor Hap, and not long after that, Mr. Black suddenly appeared, saying that there is something important that he wants to talk about, and halfway through the conversation, Professor Snape dropped by."


    Excellent, Harry thought, Neville accurately retold the sequence of order the people in the room came in, and he could imagine the general course of events.


    He looked around, Professor Hap is wearing a rare white coat, is this an imitation of a Muggle doctor? Madam Pomfrey is standing not far from him, she is holding a clipboard in her hand, taking notes quickly. Harry continued to look over, and then his eyes seemed to be stung when he glanced over at the very conspicuous large glass on the side of the patient bed - Moody''s magic eye is submerged in the blue liquid, every now and then it turned around in a circle.


    Ron made a sound of disgust.


    "Harry." Sirius came over and gave him a firm hug. Then he said quietly, "I got word from Hagrid that Moody''s injured right now, so I came over to give it a try--"


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked in a whisper.


    Sirius scowled disdainfully in Snape''s direction, and Snape said slowly as if he hadn''t seen it, "I got permission from the Headmaster, so if Mr. Alastor Moody still wishes to finish teaching this year, I'' ... will substitute for a few classes temporarily, for the sake of my colleague until he recovers from his injury."


    Sirius immediately looked over at Moody and said solemnly, "Alastor, I suggest you should better hide for a while ..."


    He suddenly realized that he had touched the taboo of the "Mad-Eye" Moody, who looked like a volcano that is about to erupt in wrath, so he hurriedly stopped, but it was too late.


    Harry swore he had never seen Moody''s face contorted this much, every cut on his face miraculously enlarged and shaking disgustingly as Moody roared, "Ha! Do you think I''m afraid of meeting people? After months of being manipulated like a puppet by Voldemort and a Death Eater? What did you think I am going to do? Hide and cry like a wuss? I''m telling you, dream on!"


    Sirius''s face suddenly turned as pale as paper.


    Moody''s only eye glared at Sirius, and Harry felt that Moody''s eye looked even more terrifying than the fake eye in the glass, as even his empty eye sockets looked like naught compared to the rage that burst out of his eye.


    He pointed to the empty bed next to him, "You know what Barty did first when he woke up? Go to the Ministry of Magic and turn himself in! He''s going to tell everything and atone for all those mistakes he made!"


    He pointed to his mangled nose again, with spittle flying, and growled, "I''ll do what I promised Dumbledore, and not only that, guess what?!" He looked at the bewildered Sirius, "I have to tell everyone what happened to me, just students can not be enough ..."


    He grimaced and said, "I have to tell everyone that Voldemort is still alive, or at least not dead to the bone."


    Dumbledore''s heavy voice heard from the door, "Alastor ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 484+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 426: Slughorns Commentary (2 in 1)

    Dumbledore looked around, taking in the expressions of everyone. He looked a little tired, but still smiled and said, "Alastor, there are two Aurors from the Ministry of Magic that need some information, and I brought them in." A tall man dashed in, and Felix glanced at the stern-faced Kingsley, who was followed by Tonks, she changed her short hair red today and a handful of strands stood up in a haphazard fashion, looking rather conspicuous. When Felix looked over, she waved at him enthusiastically.


    From the mouth of Tonks'' open shirt pocket, a thin blue glass tube half-revealed, it should be the new super bubble solution from ''Future World'' ...


    Moody grinned oozingly at his two uninvited guests, "Scrimgeour sent you here?"


    "Mrs. Bones asked me to say hello to you, Alastor; We all care about you, and by the way, I''m an official Auror now!" Tonks said with a jubilant smile.


    Sirius'' eyes rolled as Moody said dully, "I hope they didn''t slacked on your infiltration and trailing classes."


    Tonks grunted softly, " It''s just you are the only one who''s being too strict."


    At that moment, the dark-skinned Kingsley opened his briefcase, and with a flick of his wand, a piece of parchment flew out of it, with dense writing appeared on it and several handwritten signatures already in the bottom column.


    " We can catch up later on, Alastor." Kingsley said in his characteristic low and slow voice, "We''re here with a mission, the senior officials in the Ministry are busy, so I''m here to question you on behalf of the Minister of Magic, the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, the Wizengamot and the Auror office about what happened to you over the past few months, they''ve prepared some questions ... Headmaster Dumbledore?"


    Kingsley glanced cautiously at Dumbledore.


    "Ah, Everyone let''s go out first, Kingsley and Alastor are old acquaintances, they won''t fight." Dumbledore said to the crowd with a smile, followed by calling Snape, the first one who was ready to leave, "Please wait, Severus, I have a couple of minor questions about the potion analysis report you handed me."


    The crowd walked out of the ward, and when Madam Pomfrey closed the door Felix caught a glimpse of Kingsley and Moody on the bed hugging each other through the last gap, "Bang!" Then the door closed tightly.


    Sirius whispered, "Headmaster Dumbledore, my substitute ..."


    "Sirius," Dumbledore''s tone got a little more serious, "I didn''t deny your application, but it''s obvious that you''re not exactly cut out to be a professor right now--"


    "But I''ve got good grades!" Sirius said in annoyance, glaring at Snape, who had a mocking expression on his face and wanted to smash his fist in his face.


    "I''m not referring to your grades, you should know that," Dumbledore said.


    Sirius'' face fell again, and Harry was tempted to put in a few good words for his godfather, but Professor Hap opposite to him shook his head slightly, so he had to hold back a bellyful of good words.


    "Albus, Professor Moody''s appointment is only supposed to be limited to one year, right?" Felix asked mildly.


    Dumbledore gave him a knowing smile, "Yeah, Alastor''s retired, so it''s not nice of me to work him too hard, and the circumstances are exceptional and unique this year ... It''s quite a headache to think that I''ll have to write a new job ad for every six-month period."


    In the outer corridor of the hospital wing, Dumbledore and Snape headed upstairs, it looks like their destination should be the Headmaster''s Office. Felix figured out what it''s for when Dumbledore mentioned the potion analysis report earlier, it should be about the residual potion they found in the Chamber of Secrets, which probably was used by Voldemort to keep his body from breaking down.


    But right now it is not the best place to ask detailed questions, he turned around and looked at Sirius, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville - group, and asked them: "I''m going to go to Hagrid''s place, you guys ..."


    "Us too." Harry said immediately. Ron and Hermione nodded like a chicken peck, and Neville looked around for a second, rubbing his head.


    "Then let''s go together, maybe you guys can help out a little." Felix said cheerfully, seeing Harry''s puzzled expression, he explained: "Hagrid''s Firetrail Snails grow too fast, the scary thing is, they do not need to hibernate but still have plenty of energy. Hagrid asked me to build a few chains to prevent the aggressive actions of these creatures as they fight within the group and kill themselves or escape and turn into food for forbidden forest creatures..."


    The young wizards, who are no strangers to Firetrail Snails, turned pale.


    They walked out of the castle, stepping through the deep snow, the biting wind penetrated their thick clothes, the young wizards shivered from the cold, Sirius, although his face looked pale, he looked much better compared to the rest.


    Felix waved his wand, "Warmth spell (*made-up spell*) - one of the most practical magic in winter if you have not purchased a thermostatic locket yet."


    They immediately warmed up, their pace slowed down, and stepping on the snow became a winter treat. Harry tsked, while Hermione asked in amazement, "Professor, what is the incantation for this magic?"


    "RECALFACIO sicut fornax."


    "Is it easy to learn? If I learn it, is it possible to achieve the same effect as a thermostatic locket?" Ron asked.


    "Your two brothers asked me the same question," Felix said with a smile, "but unfortunately, it only works in winter."


    Ron pouted, "Now it finally makes sense why they are invincible in snowball fights."


    "Professor, who is Mrs. Bones?" Harry thought of the name Tonks had mentioned, the family name sounded familiar.


    "Amelia Bones, the current Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, has quite a well-deserved reputation." Felix said simply.


    "Susan Bones'' aunt." Hermione whispered, and it suddenly dawned on Harry.


    "Sirius, do you know her?" Harry asked his godfather, thinking that Sirius should know her from the way he had behaved earlier.


    Sirius thought about it and smacked his lips before saying, "A bit of an impression ... when I was at school she was four years senior to me, a very smart and serious witch," he muttered in a small voice, "I seem to have made her cry. "


    "What happened?" Hermione asked with interest.


    "Oh, it''s a long time ago ..." he said helplessly when he saw that Harry was also looking at him with interest: "You should know that you can''t do magic in the school corridors... ..."


    Harry and the group nodded their heads.


    "When I first enrolled in school, I showed off the Wand-Lighting Charm in the corridor, of course, I made some sort of adjustment ... Amelia happened to see it and jumped at the chance to give me a point deduction, she was the Prefect at that time ... "


    "I believe Prefect shouldn''t have the power to deduct points." Ron muttered, remembering his second year when he got his points deducted by Percy.


    Sirius smiled understandingly, "Remus was also a Prefect, and I happen to know some insider knowledge that Prefects can''t just deduct points at will, they have to write notes for every deduction they make, and there are other restrictions ... like Amelia only deducting two points that time. "


    "That doesn''t sound like much." Harry said.


    "Yeah," Sirius said emotionally, "but I was very unconvinced, so I ran under her eyes and continued to use the Wand-Lighting Charm, the colourful light flashed on her lenses ... she was naturally very displeased and gave me a point deduction again, but I kept on chanting the spell, we were at a standstill for a long time, and finally she deducted approximately two hundred or so points I think?"


    Harry and the group stared with wide eyes.


    Sirius smiled cheekily: "Actually, it''s because the school has just started not long ago, and the points of each house were not that high, and I remember there were only a few rubies in the Gryffindor House hourglass left after that?"


    "You just got away with it?" Harry asked incredulously.


    "It wasn''t that simple, I was detained for a week," Sirius said carelessly, "but Amelia didn''t fare well either, I heard she finished writing those reports in tears."


    Harry thought it would be wise to keep this from Susan Bones, who adored her aunt so much, but Ron had the opposite idea.


    "Why don''t we have a dueling study group, Harry? It was ages ago when we had an event last time." Ron leaped to his feet and said, "We could get Sirius to be our guide."


    Sirius looked a little tempted, but declined, "I can''t enter Hogwarts at will, it was Hagrid who helped me this time."


    They came in front of Hagrid''s hut, Hagrid is working in the pumpkin patch behind the hut, and there are only about a dozen Firetrail Snails left, but they have grown a LOT more, even in the winter snow, they are still full of energy.


    "You guys are here?" Hagrid gasped for breath as he yelled, and then he suddenly lunged forward at a Firetrail Snail that had broken free, and when he got up from the snow, the crowd saw that the Firetrail Snail he was holding down under his body no longer moved.


    "Is it dead?" Felix asked.


    "Not yet," Hagrid said gruffly, "probably passed out." He flipped the Firetrail Snail over and picked up a thick rope next to it which he tied around the middle of its body, Felix guessed that should be the waist of the Firetrail Snail? If the creature even had that body structure.


    He came closer and gently poked the sunken thick shell of the Firetrail Snail with his wand, and a few of its legs weakly stirred twice, proving it is still alive.


    Felix quickly cast a spell to conjure chains, as he told Hagrid, "I left some gaps, but if they continue to grow, they may need to be expanded subsequently."


    "I see," Hagrid said gruffly, "that''s fine."


    When they sat on the blanket in Hagrid''s hut, Hagrid continued to lament about creatures like the Firetrail Snail: "They are quite docile, they don''t hurt people much ... but they like to fight internally, I''m not sure which side is influencing them, probably the manticore, as they have always lived alone. "


    Harry who is holding the hot tea in his hand felt the tea was no longer flavourful.


    Felix said, "It''s best not to set them free for now, Severus is studying the medicinal value of such creatures--"


    "Cough, cough, cough!"


    Neville suddenly coughed violently, "Oh, I''m sorry ..." he said with a horrified expression.


    "What''s wrong with him?" Hagrid asked in disbelief, reaching over and patting Neville, who dropped to the floor at once.


    Ron said with great understanding, "He probably thought of the material he would have to deal with later after blowing up another cauldron ..." When he said that, Harry also suddenly felt psychological discomfort, Snape always had the habit of punishing students by making them handle disgusting potion materials, especially the materials which are not very valuable and that could be purchased easily in bulk.


    Whether it is the shell of the Firetrail Snail or their sticky body or the slime-like thing, if Snape found a good use for it, it will become a nightmare for the students.


    And Harry could guarantee that they would be the first students to be victimized.


    Hagrid passed him a towel, Neville took it, and it immediately moved on its own, wiping a few times indiscriminately on his face, under his chin, and on his collar, "Oh, sorry, that''s an automatic cleaning rag!" Hagrid snatched it away with an apologetic look on his face.


    "No, it''s okay." Neville said with a pale face.


    Hagrid looked at him hesitantly and brought over a plate of hard cookies from the inner room, "You can try this." Neville politely picked up a piece and immediately put it down when he noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione shook their heads firmly and slowly.


    It''s a good thing Hagrid didn''t notice this, as he was talking to Felix: "The Firetrail Snail molted some shells, and I didn''t know if it would be of any use to you, so I saved some for you."


    Felix nodded, "This is a type of new material, no one has deeply researched it before, but I think that it will have the characteristics of both the Sphinx and the Manticore - perhaps even fire crab too, it''s just hard to say which one it is more inclined to. If it''s the former, it''s very valuable."


    "Mr. Scamander did not talk to me much about this, we just discussed some insights about breeding magical creatures," Hagrid said gruffly: "We didn''t exactly align ... in the same direction, but some of his suggestions are very helpful. "


    Harry knew that Hagrid was referring about the one in classroom seven, he suddenly thought of something and asked, "I heard that many ghosts prefer that place?"


    "Yes, I did see quite a few." Hagrid said, "I heard they are planning to ask Headmaster Dumbledore to find a memory of a person who loves to eat and cook, quite unreliable ... but, they are much more active than in previous decades."


    "Do they have anyone in mind?" Ron asked, as usual, he got intrigued by these oddities.


    "There is one," Hagrid muttered, "Horace Slughorn, the Fat Friar, was impressed with him, saying that he would sneak into the kitchens for a snack every night when he was at school without fail."


    Harry knew the Fat Friar, the ghost of Hufflepuff House, but who this Slughorn is he didn''t know.


    "Is he that Potions Master?" Hermione asked in surprise.


    "You know him?" Hagrid gave her a look: "Quite an interesting man, he was here when I was at school, he was the head of Slytherin House, Sirius must know him."


    They looked over towards Sirius, who is sitting on the couch cuddling with Fang in his arms, as he scratched Fang''s chin with one hand, making him grunt with comfort. Then he said slowly, "Of course, I know him, an old man who likes to enjoy himself, he formed the famous Slug Club, which brought a bunch of Death Eaters together-"


    "What?!" Harry exclaimed in surprise.


    "Oh, don''t worry, he''s got nothing to do with Death Eaters." Sirius said, and then he noticed that the expression on Harry''s face remained very stiffly frozen, so he continued to explain, "He''s just an old man who loves mead, candied pineapple, and triple padded couches ..." He glanced at Felix and said, "I bet he''s got his eye on your company''s product, I saw a chair when I went to see Remus, that''s what he loves."


    Speaking of chairs, Hagrid''s expression rose abnormally, his eyes wandering as he glanced at a toolbox in the corner, a red umbrella placed next to the toolbox.


    "... he has a common Slytherin disease; like to pull connections everywhere, love of vanity, do not have much regard for people without potential... Of course, he is much better than the current Slytherin Head."


    Felix gave him a reproachful look.


    Sirius spread his hands, "I''m being honest here, well, let''s ignore a certain unpleasant Bat spirit," he continued, "Besides the fact that he likes to enjoy material things, he has a magical knack for always noticing students who have great potential, and he has created a platform for these people to communicate with each other, with the expectation of being rewarded sometime in the future, and he likes that feeling for sure."


    "And the Death Eaters-" Harry pressed.


    "As I said, besides their aptitude, he also values their origins, and you should know what most of Slytherin is all about." Sirius said, "Not many people can truly enter the club with their abilities alone, but Harry, your mother was considered as an exception to that rule."


    "My mom?" Harry looked shocked again, he didn''t know why he was in a hurry to retort, but he did, "But, but she''s a Gryffindor!"


    "She got in based on her ability." Sirius said, "Lily''s talent for potions was very high, and the potions she brewed saved a lot of people during the war days, especially when we were being hunted by Voldemort, when all of us had to hide in our safe house because of our injuries, she alone remained active as she brewed potions even with the injury."


    His tone lowered, "If she and James had survived, Lily definitely would have become the most dazzling master of potions. What is Snape ..."


    Sirius grunted twice, with contempt overflowing in his voice.


    "What about you guys?" Harry asked, desperate for more information, not about that Professor Slughorn, but about Sirius and his own parents.


    "Me and James?"


    "And Professor Lupin." Harry said, "I mean, Remus."


    Sirius smiled, "I was, well ... more rebellious," he winked at Harry, "I couldn''t stand the way he was treating people, especially when Regulus joined that club later on, I wanted nothing to do with them, James was more or less in the same situation as I was, but he hated it more because there were too many Slytherin there, and he was very hostile to Slytherin ..."


    "As for Remus, he was good at his studies, but you know, his identity is a big problem."


    "But I heard that his identity was kept secret and not many people found out he was a werewolf during the school year." Harry asked in disbelief.


    " Then I can state the obvious," Felix said, "You just couldn''t hope to hide something like this from a wizard with great magical powers, especially when he also happens to be a Potions Master."


    ... S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The next week flew by, and after the holidays granted to employees of ''''Future World'''' ended, Felix moved to Diagon Alley to spend his last few days working on new product improvements, and before he knew it, the new semester at Hogwarts had begun.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 486+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 427: Shop No.07

    The day before school started, the festive atmosphere of the Christmas season had yet to dissipate, and Diagon Alley looked completely silvery throughout. This year''s Diagon Alley looked much different from the past, the vast majority of stores had Christmas lights hung in front of them - a friendly gift from the ''Future World'' company, and during this period of time, as soon as the evening arrived, even before the last rays of sunshine disappeared from the sky - these magic lights had lit up, illuminating a small open space in front of the stores.


    Eric and Clammy stepped out of the vertical castle, wearing a single set of normal summer clothing, without being affected by the cold, bitter wind.


    Clammy adjusted the dial of the thermostatic locket and stuffed it into her pocket, looking at the wizards of both genders on the street contentedly, she said rather emotionally, "It''s not even six months, but Diagon Alley has changed a lot."


    Eric empathetically replied, "Indeed ... remember the book signing event at the Flourish and Blotts Bookshop on New Year''s Eve? Rita Skeeter purchased two magic gramophones and kept the projection of the Weird Sisters group afloat in front of the bookshop until the event was over. It was like watching a live show ..."


    Clammy blinked, remembering the scene again. That reporter had had the audacity to include members of the ancient Black family in the book, but what is even more overblown is that she also mentioned the Dark Lord.


    Some descriptions in the book make her blush a little when she thought of it now:


    ''... That devil-like man possessed a transcendent charm that is not limited to either of the genders, a charm that even the descendants of ancient and pure-blooded families could hardly resist, as they have willingly swooned at his feet and kissed them reverently. Even if there is just a hint of hope - to be able to dine with this cold dark lord, or to be able to secure the gift of kissing the back of his hand - they fought to obtain it. The young man in our story was also willing to go through hell ...


    The young pure-blooded descendant will never forget that night when the dark lord summoned his loyal servant personally. The Dark Lord''s slender fingertips brushed his cheek as if they were hot charcoal, murmuring a gentle whisper that could not be refused: "My faithful one, I need you ... need you to do a thing for me ..."


    Although she did not directly mention their names in the book, but anyone with a few brain cells and general knowledge can guess who the two main characters in the story are based on.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Eric asked her as he looked at the abruptly blushing Clammy, curiously sizing her up.


    "N-no... it''s nothing," Clammy blushed and stammered.


    ...


    On a busy street in the heart of London, two strange men stood in front of a very well-decorated store.


    The store stood next door to a stationery store, and the owner of the stationery store looked at the two strangers, not half suspecting their antics, as she herself found the store that opened next to hers rather odd -


    She had lived in London for decades, but she had just heard the name of the company ''Future World'' for the first time a few months ago.


    ''How strange, why would a jewellery store be named like that?'' The owner wondered cynically, ''Isn''t the retro style trending now, is it a new trend from Paris?''


    There is another unreasonable thing. The signboard of this store, in the lower right corner, read - ''Shop No. 7'' in gold-stamped letters, which seemed absurd, and even though the clerk there said that other branches of the store were located abroad, she still remained unconvinced.


    She thought while blatantly sizing up the two men at the entrance through the glass window, one looked very young yet had a serene expression and seemed to be a very well-read rich teenager? The middle-aged man next to him seemed to have a story written all over his face, and if she could, she would gladly invite him to have a small glass of brandy, to listen to some heartbreaking story ...


    At that moment, Felix and Lupin did not even realize that they had become the object of judgment, as an impromptu exchange between them came to an end -


    "She''s scared to death now, she just finished her book signing, and suddenly the next day the Ministry of Magic published a wanted notice for Barty Crouch Jr., Despite Fudge''s hard work in not acknowledging Voldemort''s existence, just the words ''Vicious hardcore follower of the dark lord, '' is enough to keep her from sleeping! -- and Sirius had tried to stop her at the start, but she did not believe his words."


    Felix grimaced, he had flipped through Rita Skeeter''s new book, after that had he left with a feeling of being tainted, and now he felt that she deserved a few more days of fear.


    So he said to Lupin, "Don''t bother with her for now."


    Lupin gave him a precise look of puzzlement, " Are you going to make her wait close to two months? She certainly would become crazy." That''s the time when the second task of the tournament will begin and when the gates of Hogwarts will be opened for spectators and journalists.


    Felix smiled playfully: "Don''t forget that our journalist friends have a special skill."


    Lupin''s heart suddenly shuddered as he asked, "Animagus?"


    Felix nodded slightly.


    Rita Skeeter used to be an illegal Animagus, the reason why the word ''used to'' is used because she had closed the hole and registered at the Ministry of Magic, but she was also exposed because of that and became rather a notorious figure.


    According to a reliable source, the beetle dispelling potion was sold out of stock during that time.


    "You want her to work for you?" Lupin asked in a hushed voice, as his heart squirmed deeply, although he did not like to deal with someone like Rita Skeeter who talked hogwash as easily as drinking and breathing, but he could not bring himself to watch her step into the death door.


    Felix glanced at Lupin, seeing through his thoughts without much effort. After all, Sirius had mentioned that he and James were attracted to Lupin because of his inner kindness - no one would refuse to have a friend like that.


    Felix reminded, "You seem to be caught in some sort of moral dilemma, but the truth is, we don''t have to do anything."


    "Yeah," Lupin whispered with a sigh, "it''s because we didn''t do anything ..."


    They walked into this most unusual store number seven, the interior of which is a long aisle with delicate glass counters on the left and right rows, in which wide array of exquisitely shaped gold and silver ornaments, with all kinds of jewellery and gems placed in red, black, and purple velvet cushion.


    From the customers to the clerks are all ordinary people.


    A young female clerk spotted Felix and Lupin, and her big eyes flickered twice over the former before she spotted Lupin. Lupin nodded at her, and they walked straight through the long aisle toward the back, where there stood a small, unassuming door.


    A customer inquired the store clerk, "Is this a George IV-era Cigar case?"


    "Ma''am, it''s just a replica, you can see our logo on it." The clerk said with a pleasant smile, probably trying to impress the boss, as her tone became extraordinarily patient and gentle.


    "Each of our silver wares strictly complies with the sterling silver hallmark system, in addition to that, we also have a handbook for our customers to check the silver content, origin, date, etc., as well as the certification of the official identification agency ..."


    Felix and Lupin pushed open the small door, the interior is a narrow cubicle, in which a workbench occupied a third of the space, and some common crafting tools were laid out on the workbench.


    "Will we be using these?" Felix asked, holding up a pair of tweezers, he didn''t really understand how they use this, anyway, he could use magic to shape metals easily, especially since he could cheat with his thinking room magic.


    "Occasionally it is used, some guests will request some minor adjustments." Lupin said, "In order to facilitate secrecy, we also acquire silver wares from normal channels, and have a special staff in charge of this matter." He smiled and said, "In fact, this store is no different from other gold and silver jewellery stores in the way they operate, except for the occasional few goblin-made pieces."


    "Felix, I must remind you that the number of employees in the company is already over one hundred and twenty."


    Felix looked into Lupin''s eyes and considered for a second, "That''s exactly what I expected, as you would have realized recently, that only after reaching a certain threshold, it is possible to divide a clear division of labour, and gather collective wisdom to form a large-scale impact. Moreover, with more people, we can concentrate more effort on one thing to produce results quickly. Like the research on the projection screen this time."


    Felix smiled, "I like this feeling, watching them go from unfamiliar to familiar with each other, through some simple tasks to get through the bonding phase, only then, when we really have a big task, we won''t be overwhelmed."


    Lupin showed a helpless expression, "Don''t let the people in the company hear these words, they don''t think they are completing a ''simple'' task."


    "Oh, I was wrong," Felix said perfunctorily, "it is very difficult task."


    When they emerged from Shop No. 07, the sky darkened as Felix and Lupin parted. Felix was satisfied with everything so far, especially since his book of runes is nearly finished, which put him in a very good mood.


    He took a rare stroll through the streets of London, which were crowded with people walking in a hurry, and before he knew it, he veered into an out-of-the-way street, where a figure wobbled in the dim light.


    That is a dark-haired man, with a stump-like figure, sunken cheeks and eye sockets, with messy hair.


    ''A homeless man? A crackhead?'' S~?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix moved away a little, not expecting the man to walk towards him head-on. A strong sense of absurdity welled up in Felix''s heart, ''It can''t be that I''ve met a mugger.'' This thought made him choose against leaving, as he remained where he was, curiously sizing up the other party.


    The man is so thin and frail that he seems like he would be blown over by a gust of wind. He reached into his pocket with one hand, so Felix inclined his head and put on a humanoid shield charm on himself, "Do you need me to call a doctor for you?" He asked him slowly.


    "I do need some ''medicine''." The man said as he licked his yellowing teeth.


    He pulled out a folded flyer and handed it to Felix with an odd smile on his face. He then left to find his next target.


    Felix looked at the contents on the flyer and for a moment he found it baffling -


    ''Do you believe in magic? Do you believe in mystery? There are uncharted territories in this world, a world that is very different from science. If you feel like you are often dizzy, giddy, and waking up not knowing where you are (this paragraph is highlighted) ... friend, you are probably destined to be part of this hidden world.


    Feel free to join us, we will provide attentive guidance and fulfil your wish - for example, you desperately need to turn your bad luck around and desperately want to see your true perspective - or you are suffering from an incurable disease and feel that your life is hopeless ... ''


    ------------


    #Timothy Seaboch, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 486+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 428: The Possibility of Secularization of Potions

    It was followed by a long list of ''for example''. Felix reckoned that anyone in their right mind would be tempted by one or two of the contents mentioned on it, provided it actually worked out.


    At the bottom of the flyer, there is a crude map.


    Felix''s curiosity got heavier. The person who handed him the flyer was obviously an ordinary person but was it a mere coincidence that he got approached straight away? He thought it is probably some dark wizards who fishing for a suitable target - like occult nerds - in the name of magic. And to find out what exactly they are doing, he decided to visit them.


    Felix followed the directions on the flyer through the out-of-the-way streets. The hand-drawn map featured a lot of cryptic signposts drawn on the corners of each street, which required a bit of thought.


    Felix stood in front of a wall, staring at the graffiti on it, gauging it for a while with the help of dim street lights, and then he turned to the left, following the directions of the large rat holding a vertical sign on the graffiti.


    There are no more lights here, the stores on both sides of the street are dilapidated, there is lots of discarded rubbish piled up on the corner, the only light left on kept flickering, combined with the whimpering cold wind, it felt like a horror film shooting spot.


    But if Felix wanted to, he could construct the most realistic horror there is or the opposite of that as well.


    ''Along the way, there were three people sizing me up in the shadows, no signs of magic, and the malice in their emotions wasn''t really strong ... just figuring out my worth?'' Felix walked slowly, since it had nothing to do with magic, nor a certain dark wizard fishing, his interest at the end of the path quickly diminished, so he occasionally paused to admire the graffiti on the walls along the way.


    If he had to describe it, he would say that this place is a dead part of the City of London, forgotten by the City Hall, ignored during several city planning cycles, and finally become a paradise for feral cats and dogs, as well as a favourite place for those ''rebellious teenagers''.


    A few minutes later.


    Felix pushed open a dilapidated door and walked in with confidence, the rudimentary map on the flyer had long since lost its usefulness, the reason why he could find this place, one because of the movement of people here, and the second because of the entrance is painted with a magic array that looks quite exquisite.


    Looking at the windows and the mottled signboard at the entrance, this should have been a clothing store before. But the signboard with graffiti-style font reads ''House of Magic''.


    Felix was 99% convinced that no wizard group would do this kind of thing, this place looked more like a place that was created based on some occult enthusiasts'' imagination of how a hidden wizard society would look like.


    No wonder he was tricked ...


    At that moment, two sturdy, burly men approached him, and at a glance, he was sure that they were the type of men who are more adept at communicating with their fists. Felix sighed, and a silver glint flashed in his eyes then followed, "Bang!" "Bang!" Two sounds, they fell to the ground without saying a word.


    After a few minutes, the few people who had rushed over to help also failed to get away.


    Felix searched the abandoned shack, and the thick layer of dust that had accumulated inside indicated that the original owner had left the premises for quite a while. His expression turned into one of disappointment.


    "A robbery gang ... Oh, Kidnapping and Blackmail to boot?"


    This was the information Felix had gotten from the minds of these men, and it was a double blow, especially when he learned that the flyers had come from a nearby dumpster.


    The truth of the situation goes off the rails -


    This had been the secret base for a society of occult enthusiasts, and probably due to the approaching winter, or other reasons they had disbanded, the leaflets were casually thrown into a nearby dumpster, which happened to be utilized by these passing mugging mobs: they found familiar words on the leaflets (faint, giddy, waking up not knowing where they were... ...) and agreed that the description fit the effects of a certain ''good stuff'', so they highlighted the phrase as an unspoken code word on the street to attract people in need.


    This includes the hint that Felix got when he talked to the crackhead. Unfortunately, Felix wasn''t someone that got attracted to ''good stuff'', instead he just got drawn by the word ''magic'' on the flyer, so the gang ran out of luck.


    "Thanks to this, and the two occult symbols at the door, I got a little excited for a moment." Felix said with discontent, feeling like he had wasted his time completely when he should have been in the warmth of his office at Hogwarts right now.


    "What''s the emergency alert number again ...999?"


    Felix suddenly heard footsteps appear from a distance, which stopped just outside the door.


    "Is someone here?" A young voice asked.


    Felix blinked, as he pulled the door open a little, and lowered his head, as he met a pair of gray eyes. The owner of the eyes stared at him blankly, holding a flyer in one hand and a wooden cane in the other.


    Judging simply by his clothes, Felix reckoned that this man is not part of the gang from before - and probably he is the one who looks scarier to the other side, as evidenced by the constantly shaking hand. S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is something wrong?" Felix grunted from the back of his throat.


    He wanted to get rid of the man in front of him as soon as possible and make an anonymous police call ... Well, maybe he could put it off until tomorrow morning, he heard that sleeping on the floor is good for your back.


    "Hello, is this the House of Magic?" The visitor asked cautiously, the trembling hand raised the leaflet in his hand, and when Felix shifted his eyes from the leaflet to the wooden cane, the hand holding the cane immediately disappeared in front of him, and unless Felix poked his head out, it certainly would not be visible through the wall.


    The visitor smiled awkwardly.


    "What''s your problem?" Felix asked again with a sour look on his face as he raised his volume.


    "I, uh ... I came across the flyer that said you will be able to grant my wish ..."


    Felix froze, looked back at the ruins of the house and the outlaws who were sleeping like dead pigs on the floor, and said back sincerely, "You''re lucky."


    "So, it''s true?" The voice asked excitedly


    Felix saw a pair of hopeful eyes, so he smacked his lips and his attitude became slightly more serious: "So? I suggest you finish your sentence all at once ..."


    A trembling hand was held in front of him. "I ... I am Pianist-- was a, because of the accident my hand was injured, I wish I could play the piano again."


    Felix sized up the uninvited guest in front of him, In this era, this is sentenced as impossible by science, so he sought the help of, or hoped that the occult could help?


    Honestly, he didn''t think it would be a smart thing to do. Most wizards consciously abide by the Statute of Secrecy and seldom deal with ordinary people. The few exceptions won''t have any scruples, as dark wizards accounted for the majority of them.


    But this sudden visitor in front of him made things intriguing, and perhaps it would become a memorable day. Felix thought.


    So he said, "Your wish isn''t impossible ... but this magic stuff, as you can guess, is expensive ..." he said in a deliberately overtly mercenary tone.


    "I brought money," the man said hastily, adding cautiously to avoid making himself look like an easy target, "I only brought a third of it, and if you really can fulfil my ... wish, I''ll pay you the rest ."


    "Money is useless to me, for wizards, there are many things you have worth more than money--" Felix said in a low voice.


    "You want my eyes!?"


    Felix rolled his eyes, "I hate these kinds of horror plots, full of unwarranted assumptions ... I have my own, with one more than you." He grinned abruptly while pointing toward his forehead, a blue light bloomed from the middle of his forehead, and in the layer of blue light, an eye slowly opened.


    "Ah...!"


    To Felix''s surprise, after screaming, the uninvited guest''s eyes widened, and instead of fleeing halfway, he excitedly kept asking: "What price do I have to pay, soul? Health? Looks? Life expectancy?"


    "I''m not acquainted with demons." Felix muttered, and after a moment''s hesitation he said, "Come in."


    When he turned around, an eerie silver glow silently covered the entire room. The ruins of the room, piles of outlaws disappeared before his eyes, the dusty floor turned new with a red carpet, broken stones and glass shards flew to the ceiling and turned into small orange chandeliers, the outlaws turned into green potted plants and got dumped in the corner.


    The tattered chairs turned new, the backs of the chairs kept lengthening and raising, two pieces of clothes quickly wrapped around the chairs, turning them into two armrests, and several clothes hangers propped together to create a semicircular, dark-coloured item...


    When the strange visitor came in, he saw a small recital hall with a piano standing in the center. On the opposite side of the piano is an audience space with only one seat, occupying the best position.


    "Is this, uh, a wizard who also likes to listen to music?"


    "Haha!" Felix laughed and sat down in that chair - a black cloak abruptly draped over him, the room lit up, but his face remained elusive, with only two silver glows emanating from his hood, as Felix said in a low, raspy voice: "Ready to make a deal with a wizard? "


    "What do you need, Mr. Wizard?"


    "A memory, your best, fondest memory."


    The man froze and said hesitantly, "I don''t even know what my best memory myself is, it''s nothing but pain for the past six months ..."


    "It''s okay, your heart will tell me the answer. So ... The deal is made?" Felix asked, he inwardly felt he should have prepared a pair of bat wings and arrow-shaped tail in advance for this kind of situation.


    But when he thought of the wings ...


    Felix''s mind wandered off abruptly, and he thought of a great idea, maybe he could create a whole new flight-type runic artefact, in the form of flying wings. He always felt a little silly about sitting on a broom, well, no need to rush for now, let''s go back and think about it before sharing it with Remus.


    "... Mr. Wizard? Do I need to sign something?"


    "What do you mean?"


    "Some kind of contract or something, the kind that demons ... I mean, wizards and ordinary people sign."


    "No need, do you think I need to worry about you reneging?" Felix leaned back in his chair and said carelessly.


    ...


    A crystal clear piano sound resounded, the first few notes were somewhat raw, an effect of the injured hand, but soon the tune became coherent and melodious, and Felix half-squinted his eyes, tapping the beat gently. It didn''t take him long to frown, the style of the tune in front of him changed completely at once, the song which felt like a calm and lonely moonlight suddenly became a high-pitched and rousing battle tune, after just listening to two lines, the next second it became a surging stream, a low and solemn cry...


    This is no longer music, but noise.


    Then the ''client'' began to play some happy tunes, especially after realizing what his happiest memory is, he has begun to put his whole heart and soul into the music because after tonight this happiness will be lost forever ...


    Felix felt a pure radiant joy, from the ability he learned from the dementor, he could easily detect and distinguish these emotions, a golden vortex seems to have formed in the room, constantly expanding outward. Felix drew his wand out, twirling it gently, to collect the overflowing emotions in the room.


    As the magic mixed with this precious emotion, a drop of golden liquid was formed.


    His fingertips pulsed to the beat of the keys until the moon was covered by clouds and the whistling wind interrupted the sound of the instrument.


    "Have a cup of tea, your hands are starting to shake from the cold." Felix said as a cup floated slowly to the piano, the liquid in it formed a golden ripple.


    "It''s not shaking due to cold, it was because of ... What kind of tea is this? It tastes strange..."


    Felix stood up and straightened his back, "Your music is unforgettable, I hope to have the opportunity to listen to your official performance. So ... the House of Magic is going to say goodbye to you, have a good day." He waved his hand, and the person opposite to him flew out of the room as if he had no weight.


    "Bang", the door closed tightly.


    "Oh, Mr. Wizard, you know that''s not possible ... Mr. Wizard? You haven''t cured me yet, where can I find you ... Oh my God, the shop is gone! Did you do it, Mr. Wizard ..."


    Early in the next morning.


    The shack, which had been full of miracles at night, got mobbed by water, as the two policemen led a group of outlaws, who had been floating on the cold water throughout the night, their faces looked sickly.


    In the crowd, a figure kept bouncing to look inside.


    "What''s going on there? Did he get arrested, is that wizard in the front - Huh? Who are they!"


    A person who came early said, "It is said to be a very cunning group of outlaws, previously they have been roaming around Surrey committing crimes, and I heard that they were spotted by a young man who came to graffiti early in the morning, so he secretly reported it to the police."


    "Is that so ..." the man remained silent for a moment, then he abruptly raised his hand and constantly showed it off to that man, "Uncle, look at my hand, is it shaking or not?"


    "Are you making fun of me!?"


    "Oh, sorry, I''m just too happy!"


    ...


    In Hogwarts, the ancient runes'' office, Felix is talking with Lupin through the communication mirror.


    "Just these two things, one is the flying wings; Flying wings or name it however you want, I will make a prototype in the near future, you guys need to find out how to improve and simplify it."


    "The second thing is the study of secularization of potions, this is not urgent, just compile a list of potions that you think is possible for the time being."


    "Secularization?"


    "It is about making magical potions that can be used even by ordinary people."


    ------------


    #Timothy Seaboch, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 486+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 429: The Professor Tea Party

    "Effective and potent potions require the involvement of a wand; not those silly, constant waving of the wand, just a gentle flick at a crucial time is enough to bring a marvellous change in the ingredients within the crucible ..." "Therefore, Muggles are unable to appreciate this wonderful process, and so are the Squibs." Snape said slowly.


    On the weekend after the first week of school, Professor Flitwick hosted an afternoon tea party under the pretext of celebrating Professor Moody''s recovery, although it seemed like something that the tough-minded former Auror didn''t need as far as Felix could see.


    Moody ate his own food that he had brought, without touching the fine delicacies on the table.


    When he showed up, it marked the end of Snape''s short week of substitution, so he looked cold when Felix asked about the potions.


    Snape sat on a soft couch and spoke slowly about what he had just said: "We can''t rule out the following: some simple potions can produce spontaneous effects even without the involvement of a wand or the delicate manipulation of magic, but that''s something closer to stimulating the properties that the potion material originally possessed, and in the eyes of someone who really knows about potions, it''s merely a simple half-finished product."


    Felix understood, he gifted Filch a pet supplement potion recipe, it is exactly the case - no wand needed, the main material is dragon blood, as for those auxiliary ingredients, they are merely functioning as a stimulus and moderating the properties of dragon blood.


    For wizards, the effect of some potions is similar to spells, so they will choose which one to use based on their preferences. In other words, they will choose what they feel is the most effective or easiest option based on their needs.


    Perhaps money is also an important consideration.


    For example, the Cheering Charm and the Elixir to Induce Euphoria are often substituted with each other. The Cheering Charm is taught in the third grade, while the Elixir to Induce Euphoria is only taught in the sixth grade in the Advanced Potions class, but if you ignore this seemingly insignificant lesson in school, it''s not easy to learn the Cheering Charm on your own, especially since a lousy Cheering Charm can produce things like hysterics and uncontrollable laughter as a side effect.


    In this case, most wizards would choose to buy an Elixir to Induce Euphoria from the apothecary.


    Flitwick waved his wand, causing an enamelled teapot to bend over and fill the cup in front of him, "I''ve heard that some wizards choose to use magical rituals instead of wands when brewing potions, is that correct, Severus?"


    "And there''s also constant duplication with spells ...," Snape said, " This usually happened in medieval times, when some superficial wizards couldn''t harness their own magic, they naturally couldn''t channel and manipulate it finely -- They''re not much different from Squibs, so they choose this path."


    Felix muttered, "I think I''ve read something like that somewhere."


    " I guess, it''s a fairy tale from muggles? There were indeed some wizards who weren''t discreet enough, then they got caught and burned to death at the stake." Snape glanced at him and said.


    "That happened quite a long time ago, and I think it would be best if we talked about something else," Professor McGonagall said uneasily, as she turned to the side, "Professor Moody, are you going to resume your classes next Monday?"


    "It''s dragged on long enough," Moody said as he tore off a bland-looking piece of chicken, "I planned to sort out all my troubles over the holidays and start my classes like usual, but Professor Hap insisted on a final round of inspections ... "


    "Hasn''t your memory been restored already?" Professor McGonagall asked him, but her eyes went to Felix.


    "Voldemort''s methods are rough, and Professor Moody has lost more memories than I initially predicted, probably because Voldemort''s soul is tainted with dark magic to the core?" Felix said softly.


    "At least I haven''t turned into an idiot, have I?" Moody said gruffly, letting out a short, and loud laughter, as he reached out his oily hand for the cup on the table, and paused as if electrocuted the moment his fingertips touched the cup.


    Then silently he took off the flask at his waist and gulped it down. After drinking, he said in a rough breath, "I lost the original one, this one is brand new, from Albus ... he is very considerate in these matters."


    ''Actually, there are still some influences,'' Felix thought to himself, ''not only the memory problem but also his reaction will become slower and his combat power will be greatly reduced.''


    What he did during this time was to eliminate as many adverse effects as possible.


    Moody gritted his teeth and tore off a piece of chicken and chewed it up while saying carelessly, "Compared to old Barty, This is already considered good for me, his body is deteriorating over the span, and he probably won''t last a few years in Azkaban."


    " Barty Crouch is locked up?" Flitwick asked pointedly. s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Several eyes looked over and Moody said gruffly, "That''s right, Kingsley told me, he insisted, he and Fudge talked alone before he was taken to jail-" Seeing the strange looks from the others, he waved his hand rudely, almost punching Flitwick''s nose. "Oh - sorry, Professor Flitwick - don''t ask me, I don''t know what they were talking about. Maybe it had something to do with Voldemort?"


    "As for whether Fudge will believe it or not, no one knows." He took another big gulp and said, "The man looks very indecisive, in fact, he is quite paranoid, with wishful thinking. But anyway, he seems to not want to cause too much panic, so he suppressed Barty''s incident, now many people think he''s retired!"


    He grinned, sarcastically.


    "I certainly won''t support his decision. It''s better to give people a heads-up about certain things than let them be ignorant when it can happen any time-"


    "Professor Moody," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, "you, uh, you''re not trying to do something to the little wizard, are you? Some previous practices ..." she hurriedly cleared her throat, looking embarrassed.


    "Are you trying to say what I did before? Some lessons weren''t mine, but they certainly suited my taste--" Moody gave a short laugh and said with a grim smile, "He did a pretty good imitation, I have taught him before for some time, so I am certain that is partially why."


    The others stared at Moody blankly.


    Moody smiled broadly and said, "Old Barty wanted to train his son to be an Auror, and he trained along with all those Auror candidates since fourth grade, longer than the average Auror, and by the time he graduated, he was way ahead of the pack."


    "I remember he obtained twelve certificates," Flitwick said. "Since I''ve been teaching, only a handful of people have got that honour."


    "I''m not talking about those paper grades, it''s about the collective assessment of the Aurors, and I taught him for a while - the part about scouting and setting up traps, back then everyone believed young Crouch would grow up to be a great Auror and take over his old man''s position!"


    Everyone felt slightly uncomfortable. The better Barty Crouch Jr. did during his school years, the more it contrasted sharply with his later performance; he chose to become a Death Eater instead of an Auror.


    Flitwick changed the subject and said, "Felix, you gave me a great gift, I have read it, and I have to say, some African gesture casting is very good and can be used as an auxiliary means, I am already prepared to add it as part of the bright side of the lesson."


    Felix smiled and said, "I''ve asked a few friends to recommend a list of books to me ..."


    Professor McGonagall frowned and said, "Uagadou''s teaching style is very different from Hogwarts, they will determine the direction of study very early on, so they are able to divide and separate many advanced contents and integrate them into the lower grades, but Hogwarts is different, only a small percentage of students will truly choose Transfiguration in the sixth year. "


    "What about the Self-Transfiguration part? Maybe it could be incorporated into your Transfiguration Club for those who have prior knowledge?" Felix suggested.


    "That would indeed be a good way to start," Professor McGonagall said, "My club only takes in sixth and seventh-year students who have gone through the OWLs and acquired many techniques already, like the ''prior knowledge'' you mentioned ''?"


    She then uttered an argumentative statement, "But the knowledge of transfiguration that circulated in Uagadou is not exactly widespread out here; Also if you are interested in African elephant transfiguration, which is common there, you probably will just turn into a malnourished, skinny elephant if your precondition is not adequate. Considering from this point of view, it is not as good as Animagus."


    Felix also stated with an approving look, "Animagus has a certain randomness after all, which is related to the psychological state of each wizard, so if you turn into a snail, you might as well choose an African elephant."


    Professor McGonagall looked at him sternly: "Felix, you didn''t learn Animagus in secret, did you?"


    "How is it possible," Felix bristled, "If you are a wizard who is interested in mastering shapeshifting, you can still experience the mystery of shapeshifting in transfiguration, for example, to me ... Transfiguration magic is cost-effective. "


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 488+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 430: A Short Victory (2 in 1)

    After exiting Flitwick''s office, Felix found an opportunity to be alone with Snape. "So ... Barty Crouch Jr. wasn''t planning to secretly poison and kill us all back then?" Felix asked, he actually wanted to know what kind of potion Barty Crouch Jr. was making in the Chamber of Secrets.


    "Then he would have had to be careful enough to avoid the hundreds of eyes in the kitchen." Snape narrowed his eyes and said, "It is a potion that is used in case of emergencies to keep dying people alive, I identified unicorn blood and a variety of highly poisonous ingredients, as well as a snake venom of unknown species."


    "Sounds like some kind of cursed thing?"


    "Almost, it would be extremely agonizing after taking it, but the effect is obvious, isn''t it?" Snape said, opening the door to his office. His office hadn''t changed much; it is still dimly lit, and the shelves against the wall are filled with specimen glass jars of all sizes.


    Felix thought of the moans he heard in the old Crouch mansion from Voldemort and pretty much understood the statement. He looked around and said with discontent, "I remember I sent you a magic lamp ..."


    "A qualified Potions master will not easily change his lifestyle," Snape said calmly, his eyes skimming over the row of jars, both large and small, that lined up against the wall, "And there''s a line you didn''t include in the product description, the light emitted by the magic lamp can affect some dark creatures."


    Felix thought about it, it''s really true, the principle of the magic lamp is to solidify illumination magic, and then slowly release it; while the illumination magic has the effect of dispelling the mist and driving away the dark creatures.


    But this additional effect is not considered strong enough to harm even the lowest level of Inferi.


    "But Remus is fine though." Felix said.


    Snape "tsk", and slowly said: "Unlike werewolves - Potion materials are very delicate, and they require special spells for preservation against the loss of magic power, I remember I have taught all these things in class? "


    "A person''s energy is limited, and I happen to know you and Belby, so naturally I have no intention of spending too much energy on potions; For me, it''s enough if I know some of the essential knowledge, such as how to detoxify the poison." Felix said in a roundabout way: "Why don''t we talk about ancient runes?"


    Snape glared at him, "I placed the magic lamp in the bedroom."


    Felix shrugged and found half a bucket of gray mucus in a suspicious corner of the office, sealed with a transparent cover, he leaned down and looked at it: " Is this collected from the Firetrail Snails?"


    "Slightly corrosive, I have not yet found a good way to eliminate those properties." Snape said lightly.


    Felix blinked, "How about an illumination magic?"


    Snape stared, as he remained standing in the same place for a good while before saying in a dry voice, "It''s ... not impossible ... worth a try ... "


    Soon, he took a few drops of mucus out of the bucket. When he raised the lid, the strong stench of rotten fish and shrimp instantly filled the whole room, Felix immediately covered himself with a layer of humanoid shield charm, he used this magic instead of the Bubble-Head Charm.


    "Do you need some help?" He asked in a muffled voice through the magic, Snape''s face looked pale, but his fingers remained exceptionally steady.


    "No," Snape squeezed a word out of his throat, catching a whiff of smelly warm air from the surrounding, his face turned even paler, and he couldn''t stop a lump from squirming in his throat. Then he closed the cover quickly and resealed it with his magic, then Felix cooperated by creating a whirlwind out of thin air, hurling the turbid hot air from the office into the corridor.


    Hopefully, there would be no little wizards who had just eaten passing by.


    Snape held his breath. As he swiftly transferred the soggy mucus into a small glass jar and quickly corked it, after finishing all this, he took a deep breath.


    On the other hand, a ping-pong size ball of light has been held in the palm of Felix''s hand, in addition to a light layer of white light on the surface, it did not give off any bright light, it looked like a glowing glass ball.


    Snape guided the small glass jar to float over, while Felix controlled the ball of light to approach it, the ball of light effortlessly entered the jar, then he quickly cast a spell on the outer surface of the glass jar, so that the ball of light couldn''t scatter.


    Losing Felix''s restraint, the ball of light swelled up completely, filling up the entire interior space of the small jar -


    "It doesn''t seem to have much effect." After a long while, Snape said uncertainly.


    "What effect do you want, Zizi sound? That''s too crude. The illumination''s light is so gentle that even if it''s released against your face, it will at most cause some dazzling and blinding sensation without damaging your eyes." Felix explained.


    He then settled on the couch comfortably, as he leisurely grabbed a book and flipped through it casually: "Let be patient, the process of infusing the material with magic alone can last for a few months at a time."


    Then Snape stared at the small glass jar in his hand for half a day, his eyes sparkled all of a sudden.


    Felix looked startled and thought he might be about to say something smart and mean, when Snape said something impatiently, "Let''s try it a few more times! Using different conditions and have them act as a comparison against each other."


    "Oh ..." Felix trailed off, he didn''t want to see that gooey thing again. "Hold on a second." He muttered, as he took out a Ring of the Ouroboros Snake from his space ring, under Snape''s weird gaze, a dozen or so small balls emitting a hazy white light appeared in front of him in no time.


    Then, the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake in his hand suddenly moved, the body of the little snake twisted, and with each mouthful, a ball of light was swallowed; After that the little snake returned, circling Felix''s fingers, and turning into a ring again.


    Felix then handed the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake to Snape, "It can store ancient runes- and of course, it can do that essentially because it is made of materials that can isolate magic very well and drastically reduce the overflow of magic itself ... so it can also be used to store illumination magic."


    Snape took it from him and gave it a slight glance, "Basilisk''s scale?"


    Felix nodded.


    ...


    When Felix returned to the office, Niffler Valen immediately pounced on him, grabbing his clothes to climb up, but then her movement stopped abruptly.


    She withdrew her two little stubby hands immediately as her nose twitched a little. Her little face immediately wrinkled up, the little round black eyes filled with accusations as she looked at him.


    Felix froze for a moment as he sniffed his own clothes, "Smelly?"


    Valen nodded vigorously and made a dry heaving gesture.


    "Probably smell of the Firetrail Snail''s mucus," Felix guessed, "you have a good nose, I am covered with humanoid shield charm, and you can still catch the smell clearly ..."


    Valen looked at him smugly.


    Felix cast a few clean-up spells on himself, then Valen stepped closer to him and tried to take a sniff to make sure there was no unpleasant smell before jumping into his arms.


    Meanwhile, Felix while cuddling Valen, pondered on, Niffler''s sensitive nose can not be wasted, should he need to add some ''extracurricular practice'' in the normal literacy?


    At least learning to recognize the smell of some poisons certainly won''t hurt.


    In the evening, Harry came over to learn the Occlumency.


    Taking advantage of the Christmas holidays, Felix explained to him some techniques about Occlumency, but Harry looked confused and baffled when he heard it. In the end, Felix was compelled to let him continue reading that enchanted book.


    Harry came over every two days, and occasionally he will encounter Hermione here, but after the fourth year, Hermione doesn''t come by every day of the week, as her attainment in the ancient runes surpassed everyone except Felix in the Hogwarts.


    With her current level, even if she no longer progresses, she has more than enough knowledge to be considered a professor. So Felix will simply assign assignments and answer questions of his assistant occasionally.


    Harry turned the fifth page of the book, and stared at the portrait of the male wizard on it with a repulsive face, he was no stranger to this picture - he had seen it when he was flipping through the materials in the restricted section, and this male wizard had been on the cover of a restricted book, which Ron thought at the time that he looked particularly like Draco Malfoy.


    But this time the feeling is completely different. In a trance, Harry found that the male wizard''s face seemed to have turned into his own, and he is being tortured in place of the male wizard ... This is an illusion, his ragged breath puffed on the male wizard in the book, and then he felt like his skin had been hit by a hurricane.


    Harry held his breath and his face turned red as he kept reminding himself that this is all the effect of Professor Hap''s magic, and he can be really brilliant at it ...


    Harry knew full well that his body was not half hurt, but his mind got filled with the exact opposite emotion.


    I can''t go on any longer ... I have to stop this feeling or I will definitely go crazy ... Let me think about what is the most basic thing of Occlumency is, calm my mind, and let it be blank ... ...phew ... phew ... It is too difficult; Harry feels as if he has been thrown into a den of Firetrail Snails, with a dense mass of Firetrail Snail larvae crawling all over his body, with sparks shooting from their tails, making him feel itchy and sore ...


    I need to make my brain blank ... blank ...completely blank


    But why in the bloody hell! Harry thought irritably, and a sudden surge of intense anger washed over him, which broke through the restraints of magic, and he looked around him - he had somehow managed to stand up, and the enchanted book had fallen at his feet, while he gasped for breath.


    Professor Hap''s voice resounded from the chair behind his desk.


    "Anger can be good if you can use it well, but obviously, anger is not an emotion that can be maintained for a long time, and people are not a barrel of gunpowder, so it is impossible to be angry all the time, but ... well done, this time it is counted as you passed."


    Harry did not get much comfort from this statement, as he asked somewhat dejectedly, "Do I suck?"


    Felix looked at him with great understanding: "Occlumency is an extremely difficult magic, many wizards are unable to get started in their whole life, and the best way to learn is to let your mind experience the feeling of being ''invaded'' again and again, of course, the extent of which is difficult to grasp, and I happen to have some experience! ..."


    Harry, of course, did not know that the professor''s ''experience'' pointed at how he invaded other people''s minds, this experience came from Felix''s year of travel alone, with the '' help'' of many dark wizards, he mastered the prototype of thinking room magic with some difficulty.


    And now it seems that all the effort was worth it, the magic has changed beyond recognition.


    Harry could only take Felix''s words as fact. He sat down to think about it and decided to play a hand of cards with Valen to ease his tightened emotions, but his mood got worse when he found out that he had actually lost to Valen.


    This led him to return to the common room with a look of frustration that remained on his face.


    "Is that book really that scary?" Ron asked quietly, while secretly handing Harry a jug of butterbeer. " It is the stock from when Fred and George last time went to Hogsmeade, and they actually asked me five Sickles for it!"


    "Yeah, you can get it for two Sickles at Three broomsticks." Harry said woodenly, he was in such a bad state that it was hard to feel sympathy for Ron. He took a sip of his butterbeer, the thick foam lifted his spirits and made him feel alive from the inside out.


    "Harry, Tell me more about that book." Ron prodded, staring into his eyes.


    "Well ... you have to deal with a lot of scary emotions and have to do everything you can to prevent them from affecting you ... in short it''s just scary, and the professor said that if I could read it all in one go it would mean that I am beginning to learn the art of Occlumency, and- And that''s quite an accomplishment." Harry said intermittently, taking the opportunity to drink up the butterbeer in his hand.


    He looked at the empty jug with some regret and wondered if he should look for Fred and George, he guessed it wouldn''t be so hard if he could have a hot jug of butterbeer after every practice?


    "The professor is right," Hermione said from the sidelines, looking up from her big book, "I''ve read the theory about it, and even those who have mastered the Occlumency can''t always explain how they learned it, they usually just learn it passively."


    "Passive learning?" Ron looked at her in disbelief.


    "Invaded." Harry stated paraphrasing what the professor had said to him to Ron, "The best way to learn is to let your mind experience the feeling of being ''invaded'' over and over again." He thought for a moment and added, "I guess it''s about getting your mind sharp enough."


    Ron''s enthusiasm visibly waned.


    "You want to learn this?" Harry asked, not really understanding such an idea. Ron laughed dryly twice and stammered, "I thought - you said this magic is difficult, so I thought if I learn it ..."


    "It would be very proud to say it out loud." Hermione helped him to finish adding the unfinished meaning of the words.


    "In fact, there is an easy way, the professor mentioned to me ... remember that dementor doll of mine? The professor said that thing is equivalent to a simplified enchanted book. If you want to try it, I can lend it to you." Harry offered, the thing is now locked under his trunk.


    Ron looked rather tempted, but he gave up after a while of thinking about it and slumped down on the table as he muttered, "I''d better study the magic I''m going to use in the second task. What spell do you guys think I should learn first - the Bubble-Head Charm or the Revulsion Jinx?"


    "The Bubble-Head Charm is an advanced spell." Hermione reminded him.


    "But the humanoid shield charm isn''t easy either, and I haven''t even met the entry requirements." Ron groaned, "I think I''m going to drown, Harry, I''ll be the first champion to be eliminated."


    "Don''t assume that," Fred''s voice suddenly surfaced, he said with a grin as he placed his bum next to Ron, "Think positively, maybe Ilvermorny will be in the bottom again this time."


    "I suggest you guys better practice your swimming, otherwise it will be too embarrassing to run out of steam halfway through the swim." George grinned.


    "You reminded me at the right time," Hermione said, "I was only focused on the magic part." She took a small book out of her bag to jot down George''s words, and Harry knew it is filled with Hermione''s plans for dealing with the second task, so far a half-full book was completed, but he and Ron hadn''t been brave enough to go through exactly what is written on it.


    At that moment, Ron suddenly looked up, as if he thought of something, and stared blankly at Fred and George.


    "You guys know the Bubble-Head Charm?" Ron asked bluntly.


    "Oh ... of course, this is the magic that must be mastered for pranks, and we have suffered some losses in the past ..." Fred said with a look of deep emotion.


    "Teach me." Ron said.


    "What?" Fred and George looked at each other.


    "Teach me the Bubble-Head Charm." Ron repeated.


    Fred and George looked at each other, and Fred said, "Look, we''re busy, with a dozen or so products on our hands waiting to be perfected-"


    "Okay," Ron said briskly, then muttered in a voice that everyone could hear, "I haven''t written home for what seems like ages, Mom must be worried about me, and she might know the Bubble-Head Charm enough to give me some pointers ... "


    Fred and George stared at Ron as if they had reacquainted with him for the first time.


    The two men exchanged quick glances, and after a while - Fred said with exasperation, "All right, you win, little Ronnie."


    Ron flashed a triumphant smile.


    When they both left, Ron, who still recovering from his triumph, said excitedly, "I''ve wanted to do this for a long time."


    "You mean ...?" Harry asked slowly, with a bad feeling in his heart.


    "Win them once!" Ron said loudly.


    Harry fell silent, he didn''t think it is a good idea to use coercion to get someone to help with the training. Regarding this point, he knew it well as he once had received a special training - Professor Hap had always been friendly enough, but he still found some days particularly difficult, and if Snape had taught him instead, he could not imagine what would happen to him.


    He had expected that Fred and George would come up with all sorts of weird and wonderful ways to screw Ron, and the key point is that it was Ron who delivered himself to their front door wrapped in gift ribbon.


    But looking at Ron''s satisfied expression, Harry decided to tell him about his concerns later.


    Late at night, as Harry lay tossing and turning in bed, his ears were filled with the sound of Ron and Neville snoring one after another; Now he again thought it would be good to let Ron try their special training first, while he will use that time to think about some comforting words in advance ...


    ------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chapter, so there''ll be only 1 chappy tomorrow. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 488+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 431: New Defence Against the Dark Arts class

    The next morning, Harry woke up groggy and moved around in a sleepwalking state. When he sobered up, he found himself sitting in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. The classroom is noisy, and people are arriving one after another. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown walked in arm-in-arm, and when Parvati saw Harry, she gave him a stern look and said in a loud voice, "The next weekend I''ve got a date with Aiden, to Hogsmeade."


    Lavender asked with interest, "Is that the Beauxbatons boy you danced with at the ball?"


    "That''s right." Parvati said very loudly, glancing proudly at Harry as she passed them by.


    She had been cold to Harry ever since the ball, turning her head away very hard whenever she saw him, with only the back of her head visible to him, and Harry was tempted to ask Ron if the same thing had happened to him, but when he thought that the Padma wasn''t in the same house as them, he decided to leave it at that.


    "You should have cared more about her at the ball, now look ... here comes the retribution." Hermione said sullenly, as she used a thick book to shield her face.


    "But she had a good time too." Harry said with a stiff smile.


    He quietly glanced back, Parvati and Lavender were sitting in the seat two rows before the back, talking and laughing, he couldn''t tell any difference at all when Lavender pulled a thick book out of her book bag and held it mysteriously in front of Parvati.


    "I ordered it by mail through Owl, it''s particularly lovely ..."


    In the last few minutes before class, a spirited voice came from outside the door:


    "It''s called by that name-the Magic Gramophone, which was placed in our living room the day after it was released - you can see the Weird Sisters group hovering above your head as you listen to the music. Honestly, my mom doesn''t like them, it''s too noisy ... but it can''t be helped, it''s all that''s available at the moment."


    Draco Malfoy said regretfully, walking into the classroom flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, he looked around and gave a deliberate look of surprise when he saw Harry: " Oh hello, Potter! Did you not sleep well last night? Or did you wear smoky makeup?"


    His two followers giggled and gestured at the dark circles under Harry''s eyes.


    Harry clenched his fist, and Ron pulled him back, "Don''t be impulsive, Harry, he''s dying for you to do it! All you have to do is touch him with your pinky, and he''ll have an excuse to have a flare-up ..."


    "You''re getting a little less bold," Draco''s voice trailed off as he came over and looked down at Harry, whispering in a very small voice, "I have learned a few more spells during this holiday, Potter ... It''s not just a joke, I found a book in my grandfather''s mansion. Maybe we can give it a try somewhere else..."


    "What are you trying to say?" Harry asked while suppressing his anger.


    "Oh, I forgot," Draco said wistfully, "your old family estate was blown to ruins, so there''s no legacy left to inherit, maybe you could ask Weasley beside you? If his family wasn''t poor enough to sell all that stuff for a good ... meal"


    "Do you want to duel, Malfoy?" Harry asked him angrily, "Or are you going to call Filch under the guise of a duel, as you did in your first year? You are good at this kind of thing, aren''t you? Can''t you show some courage!"


    Draco''s pale face flushed.


    "I''ll meet you at the dueling club, Potter." He dropped a sentence and left in a huff.


    Harry looked at his back, trembling with anger. "Ignore him, Harry," Hermione said calmly, looking up from her thick book, "counting this one, he''s provoked you three times in a row recently, and do you know why."


    "He must have learned some dark magic Harry, you need to be careful." Ron also looked furious.


    Harry''s anger instantly doused, of course, he knew the reason, those two classes last week were both substituted by Snape, if there was a conflict, even if you think with your knees you will know who Snape will favour, which caused Draco''s temper to become more and more arrogant.


    Especially during the first class last week, Draco quietly showed him a badge with a regretful face and told Harry that if not for the other badges being confiscated, he would have given one to every Slytherin student to show his support for the real champion team of Hogwarts.


    If Neville had not maintained his usual sensitivity to Snape''s aura and given an early warning about the danger, he might have gotten a detention and points deduction.


    The bell rang, and the students sat down obediently, waiting for a floppy black robe to come in. At that moment, they heard the very distinctive "duk duk" of wood hitting the floor, and many of the young wizards (mostly Gryffindors) stared in delight.


    "I never thought I''d look forward to seeing Professor Moody''s face as much as I do now." Ron muttered, and Harry agreed implicitly.


    Moody appeared in the doorway, looking as frighteningly intimidating as usual, but a number of students issued low cheers. As he stood in the doorway, he scanned the room, the blue magic eyes in his eye sockets rolled.


    The classroom quickly quieted down.


    Moody trudged to the podium on his crutch, then he placed his crutch on the podium along with a stack of parchments that were folded in between his arms. After that, he drew his wand (the students'' expressions flinched), and with a flick, a roll call flew out of the podium drawer.


    "As you should have been aware, I was controlled during the last semester, and a scumbag disguised as me to teach your classes," Moody said in a hoarse voice, and the classroom fell silent; they had more or less heard about it, but no one was sure.


    "They confused my mind, made me think everything was normal, and I was just muddled through the semester until Christmas night, when the Death Eater who was hiding in the school scheming got exposed, with that he decided to finish me off before leaving ... I was sleeping in my bed, with no difference from a corpse, not reacting to any sound in the room; however, thanks to two students who delayed him, I am now alive, otherwise I would have died in my sleep - died worthlessly... "Moody said softly, as he gazed at Harry and Ron, Harry felt that his face is not that frightening anymore.


    "To cure me, your Professor Hap has tried a lot of things, but ... some of my memories are still lost, so I''ve decided to get to know you all over again."


    He shook his head, shaking his long, white hair away from his twisted, scarred face, and began to roll call.


    The classroom was surrounded by a solemn atmosphere, and as Moody called the roll, one by one, the students whose names were read raised their hands in response, and the Moody at the podium looked at them as if he was seeing them for the first time, those fake eyes fixed on each of them for a while.


    After the roll call, Moody picked up his cane from the podium and limped around the classroom, speaking in a hoarse voice.


    "In the next few classes, I will tell you all about my experiences over the past six months, which is considered a great lesson. You all might think that a dark wizard is too far away from you, but, as it turns out, you spent a little over half a year with an evil dark wizard who disguised himself as a withdrawn, out-of-touch retired old man - smart move! I''ll cover all this later, and I''ll tell you those details I remember without reservation." S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There is only one thing for you to do, go back and think about it, what is the reason you are still alive now?"


    " Profes-ssor, what did you say?" Lavender Brown asked with horror.


    "I said," Moody waved his large rough hand, those magical eyes fixed on her with a deadly stare, "take a moment to ask yourselves the question - how a powerful dark wizard, at any moment in the last six months, could have drawn his wand and pointed it at your noses and recited the Killing Curse. And the fact is, you are still safe and sound, aren''t you, Miss Lavender?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 489+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 432: Moodys Homework

    Lavender Brown muttered something. "What did you say, I didn''t hear you?" Moody said gruffly, and he took a few steps closer.


    Lavender jolted, as she subconsciously leaned her body back as the book on her lap fell, hitting the floor with a thud, which she hurriedly picked up and put it on her desk.


    "I, uh, I just said that it was probably because he wasn''t targeting me." She said with a red face.


    A low chuckle sounded in the classroom.


    Moody didn''t laugh, nor did the few people in the front seats - Harry, Ron, and Hermione - who knew the answer ahead of time.


    "You guys think that''s a brilliant answer, don''t you?" Moody said softly, "What if you guys happen to get in the way of his plans ... What will happen next?" S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The air in the classroom seemed to freeze. Moody dragged his wooden leg a few steps forward and moved closer to Lavender, whose body trembled abruptly.


    Next to her, Parvati gathered her courage and said, "Professor Moody, I think ... the dark wizard must have his own goal for sneaking into the school, isn''t it? We encountered a similar situation in the first year when a dark wizard tried to get the ... er, magic stone that was hidden in the school?"


    "It''s Philosopher''s Stone." Hermione corrected her quietly while staring at the back row with the rest of the class.


    Moody''s one intact eye looked over at Parvati, the magic eye still fixed on Lavender Brown.


    "Miss Patil, you''re right, dark wizards have their own goals for infiltrating the school, and they will inevitably act with caution until their goals are achieved. But this is based on the assumption that everything goes well ..."


    "But what if it doesn''t goes well?" His mangled nose twitched, "Like now, I noticed you because of a book, if ''I'' am the dark wizard, and if ''I'' happen to want to divert others'' attention ..."


    Moody suddenly drew his wand and from its tip flew a blinding ball of fire, the classroom windows suddenly exploded and a series of screams resounded through the room.


    He calmly waved his wand, then the shattered glass and window prisms recovered automatically.


    "In the eyes of a dark wizard, that window is no different from human life. If he feels at some point that one or two insignificant people should die in the school, ... Why should it not be you that dies? What''s more, he wasn''t just any dark wizard, but a more dangerous Death Eater, who was obsessed with the Dark Lord, a person who single-mindedly planning the resurrection of his lord-"


    "Professor, You-Know-Who is already dead!" A student said with dread, looking at Moody with an expression saying are you finally gone mad.


    "Is that so?" Moody grinned, "During the war, the Dark Lord would occasionally disappear for a while, and some people thought he was dead, but he always announced his presence with a bloodbath, so maybe he enjoyed this kind of drama."


    He held his rough hand out, "Miss Brown?"


    "Wh, what?"


    "The book." Moody said calmly.


    Lavender stood up, shivering, as she handed him the newly purchased issue of Against the Black Terror.


    Moody flipped through two pages and showed an expression of disgust as he handed the book back to her. He limped back to the podium, as he rummaged through the stack of parchment, "Before I officially begin my story, there is one thing that must be addressed - I suddenly realized a problem: you are all not ready for the war, as your minds don''t even have such a notion... ..."


    "As it happens, I spent my leave working on compiling some information." Moody pointed to his head and said, "Professor Hap suggested that I should write down everything I could remember from the past six months, compiling a list, and perhaps I could retrieve some lost memories ..."


    "I refused to write it down on paper, but I still spent a short time reviewing my past experiences and remembering things from further back in passing, and I think some of them are still valuable enough to be used in teaching ... Miss Brown, will you read it for me?"


    He pointed his wand at the podium and several parchments floated over, Lavender Brown took a look at them twice and her face turned white in a flash.


    "Miss Brown?" Moody stared at her viciously.


    "Oh, I ... well." Lavender''s expression looked like she was about to cry as she faltered and read the contents.


    "Bellatrix Lestrange, a Death Eater who has tortured untold numbers of Muggles and non-supporters of the Dark Lord during the Wizarding War; she extremely prefers the Cruciatus Curse. She was involved in at least 137 acts of torture, with the known definite victims consisting of 206 muggles and 29 wizards, the list of those who were killed by her: Polk Keane, who died under the Cruciatus Curse, along with his wife Winnie, and their five-year-old son Johnny; Salisbury Joshur, who was burned to death under the Fiendfyre ... Bellatrix Lestrange was eventually sentenced to life imprisonment."


    "Rodolphus Lestrange, Death Eater, involved in the vast majority of the deeds committed by his wife Bellatrix Lestrange and brother Rabastan Lestrange ... sentenced to life imprisonment."


    "An- Antonin Dolohov, Death Eater, participated in the brutal murder of Fabian and Gideon Prewett who dared to resist the rule of the Dark Lord ... the list of murdered ... sentenced to life imprisonment. "


    "Evan Rosier ... was killed by Auror while trying to resist arrest after the Dark Lord lost his power."


    "Mulciber I, Death Eater ... died during the war years."


    "Wilkes, Death Eater ... died during the war years."


    "Mulciber II, Accused of using an Imperius Curse on multiple people, forcing them to do horrible things and causing constant chaos and terror ... sentenced to life imprisonment."


    "Fenrir Greyback, werewolf and werewolf community leader, notorious for his savagery and preference for attacking children. He strived to infect as many people as possible with lycanthropy, hoping to build a powerful army to fight against wizards ... Followed the Dark Lord during the war, and the Ministry of Magic issued a wanted notice, but he is still on the loose ..."


    Till the bell rang, Lavender didn''t finish reading it, she looked pale like she had a serious illness.


    Moody calmly retrieved the parchment, "We''ll continue it in the next class, I think this class is very meaningful. Today''s assignment is to find out the names of the Death Eaters you can and list what they did ... I''ve given you a sample, haven''t I?"


    "I will reveal the content of the next lesson now - it''s something I just thought of - those who died during the war because they fought against the rule of the Dark Lord, you can look up the information in advance and preview it. "


    Moody dragged his crippled leg and left.


    The students gathered their things quietly, not in the mood to talk. Lavender let out a dry heave and ran out of the classroom, crying, with Parvati chasing after her, carrying both of their things.


    Ron stared at them and said uneasily, "She''s had a hell of class, I thought we''d have a better class environment in the new semester ..."


    Harry looked pale as he sat on the edge of his seat.


    "Harry, what''s wrong with you?" Ron looked at Harry as Hermione shook her head at him, and it suddenly occurred to him that Harry''s parents had died during the war. He patted Harry''s shoulder.


    "Fenrir Greyback." Harry abruptly said.


    "What?" Ron and Hermione looked at him in confusion.


    "Fenrir Greyback," Harry gulped, "Sirius told me that Remus was bitten by a werewolf named ''Fenrir Greyback'' when he was a child, and I thought that werewolf had been put in Azkaban, I didn''t expect that he would escape the punishment!"


    Ron was first taken aback and then showed a dazed expression. Then he said comfortingly, "Don''t worry, he won''t end up well, big deal, we''ll catch him later when we encounter him."


    He sounded as if he had heard that there is a little mad cat roaming around, and all he had to do is kick it away when he came across it.


    Harry, however, smiled. But Hermione said, "We''d better learn some kind of heating spells first, when the ice on the Black Lake melts, we have to spend time on swimming practice!"


    "Swimming during the January and February weather?" Ron opened his mouth wide and seemed to have considered this question for the first time.


    "I have prepared a list of necessary spells, Impervius Charm, Hot Air Charm, Revulsion Jinx, Bubble-Head Charm or Humanoid Shield Charm, and some standard spells ..." Hermione ignored Ron and continued: "We''d better finish these before the end of January! Leaving sufficient time for unexpected developments--"


    " Have you made an appointment with Fred and George yet?" She turned her head to look at Ron.


    Ron immediately stammered, "No, No-t yet."


    "Then what are you waiting for?" Hermione crossed her arms and said in an overbearing manner, causing Harry and Ron to cower.


    The last few people in the classroom also left, as Draco Malfoy looked preoccupied, his face didn''t look much better than Lavenders''.


    Ron said pointedly, " Probably he will get excellent in this assignment, he just needs to write a letter home and ask his dad and those Death Eater friends what they did back in those days ..."


    Harry saw Malfoy''s footsteps pause and guessed he should have heard it, but strangely enough, this time he didn''t give a mocking sneer, as he walked away without looking back.


    Harry looked back and saw Hermione picking up a book from a table in the back row.


    "Oh, Lavender left it behind, I think she might not be in the mood to tidy it up ... I''ll bring it to her," Hermione said, her eyes paused on the author''s name on the cover as she hesitated for a moment, "or we can give it a read before that. "


    ...


    In the evening, Ancient Rune office.


    A beetle slithered in through the window and slowly reverted to human form on the floor. Rita Skeeter panted, she had always been averse of meeting Felix alone, but she had no choice, she was about to go crazy.


    In her new home - there were signs of a break-in the day before yesterday, and she wondered if it had been done by that crazy Death Eater. But she just couldn''t imagine that the fugitive named ''Barty Crouch Jr.'' would risk it by showing up near her house when the wanted posters were already plastered all over the streets.


    ''Maybe it''s just an aggressive fan ...''


    But she couldn''t convince herself with just that, and besides that, that Black was also trying hard to find her. Dammit, she didn''t even mention the family name '' Black '' in her new book. At best, there are some slight innuendos in the book title and character background ...


    The lights in the room suddenly switched on.


    Rita Skeeter was startled and opened her eyes wide, barely able to see the person sitting on the sofa, she could not help but shudder inside.


    "Rita, I''ve been waiting for you for a long time."


    Felix said softly, holding Valen in his arms, and the Niffler in question is staring at her with a curious gaze.


    "Kiki (the bug turned into a Homan)?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 490+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 433: Red Nails

    Rita Skeeter lowered her head down deeply, not daring to speak aloud. She felt like she couldn''t breathe, but this time she is pretty sure she isn''t under the influence of magic, but just the fact that it is nothing to do with magic made her more terrified. She knew she had to make her decision soon. Likewise, she is very well aware that this man in front of her didn''t care whether she lived or died, the last time he had visited her house with the sole purpose of making her learn to shut up, and when she had done so, there had been no further disturbances from him in that regard. But equally, if she wanted to ask for help, she had to pay some price.


    And she had the confidence that the name Rita Skeeter carried value itself.


    "Dear Mr. Hap," she said sincerely, "I would like some advice regarding a case where I made a fatal mistake." At the same time, she couldn''t help but grumble about the other man who lived high up in the castle, Dumbledore.


    In her new book, although she avoided mentioning names, but she alluded a lot about the traditional gallant, good camp thingy, and under the gimmick of " Dark Lord and his loyal Death Eaters entanglement ", she added a lot of such details.


    On the Regulus part of the information, she has not found much insider information - her reputation among wizards is notorious, and turning into a beetle is not very helpful, ordinary people will not talk about a dead person anytime and anywhere. She only found some public information and stitched together the characteristics of a few dozen famous Black family ancestors.


    So in the book, the "pure and noble bloodline" pure-blood family heir is sometimes elegant and tolerant, and other times cautious and sharp-tongued, a bit like the man in front of her ...


    However, it is different when it comes to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, this is her elaborate drama, in order to challenge the honour of "the best-selling book of the twentieth century", the wording used to promote this book abroad is "the secret past of the second Dark Lord", which she personally implied to the foreign publisher to subtly mention The Dark Lord and the powerful figures who are now imprisoned together, and she has always been well versed in these little tricks.


    Her long experience of voyeurism had taught her one thing: despite what people say, there is a noisy little devil living within everyone, which wants to see the unattainable famous figures to be normal or be kicked off their throne.


    And she - Rita Skeeter - always helped them fulfil those wants and wishes.


    With this in mind, she filled the book with real truthful details, for which she had traced the dark lord''s past, especially his childhood experiences; she had worked like a hard-working beetle. It was a dangerous endeavour, in which she had carefully selected her breakthroughs, and after learning about several famous families, she decided to focus on the dark lord''s childhood - his life in an orphanage.


    And coincidentally, she ran into Dumbledore, who was also interested in the dark lord''s childhood, and they met at the house of an orphanage director, when Dumbledore did not say a word about the deadly danger she would encounter, but still, he politely advised her that "it is not advisable to do so ... "


    This bumblebee! Rita Skeeter used the Dumbledore name''s archaic word sarcastically in her mind.


    How old is he again?


    Rita Skeeter thought with hidden mean thoughts, to think that he would be able to live longer than her with his high magic power, but quickly she ended that train of thought. She might have criticized his school management style in the newspaper or described him as a crazy old loony, but she would never risk digging up the real hidden secrets while he remained alive.


    A scrutinizing gaze swept over her, causing her to draw a cold breath as her body jolted. The blazing fireplace didn''t bring her much warmth, and all those complicated thoughts she had were doused at once.


    "You seek advice from me?"


    "Frankly, I don''t see any remorse in you ... Perhaps you are enjoying the experience?" Felix said softly, "That would make sense, you made a choice and accepted all the consequences that choice brought you."


    "No, not like that." Rita Skeeter hurriedly said, "I know you have some influence over some people, like the last Black ... just need to say hello-"


    "Say hello?" Felix interrupted her, "If I understand you correctly, you''re asking me to sacrifice a friendship to help a person - with all due respect - who doesn''t have much to offer?"


    Skeeter''s breath suddenly choked.


    "Kiki (that''s exactly right)!" Valen shouted indignantly in his embrace.


    Rita Skeeter''s posture lowered even more as she told the whole story of her experiences over the past few days, and as she played it out, she seemed to have slipped into that state of mind, the usual pair of eyes that lacked empathy welled up with tears.


    "I''m sorry for what happened to you." Felix listened and responded simply, "But don''t say you''re innocent, everything was a decision you made in your sober state."


    "I know ...," Rita Skeeter said slyly, "I brought some ''sincerity''." She held up her hands and showed him her long, bright red nails, which then clicked and detached from her hands.


    Ten nails that looked like small daggers floated in front of Felix, Niffler tried to reach out for them, but he stopped her, he watched for a moment as it moved through the air and then turned his head. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I have three suggestions, and it''s your choice whether you want to heed them, or not, and you can even choose to heed more than one suggestion. You''re smart, Rita, so you can judge them by yourself."


    "First, downplay the impact of that book, and how far you do that depends on how determined you are. I need to remind you, though, that Dumbledore won''t have any interest in a dead man''s childhood ..."


    "Second, I will contact Sirius and will claim that you agreed to write a biography for Regulus, he doesn''t care about his reputation, but he can''t tolerate his brother being tarnished by bystanders. So, Rita, bring out your most brilliant writing skills."


    "Finally ..."


    Felix''s slender fingers flicked slightly, and a Ring of the ouroboros Snake suddenly appeared, transforming into a small inky snake, which rushed in front of her with a "whoosh" and swam onto her bare finger before she could react.


    Rita Skeeter was lost in thought, staring at the ring, and the small, dark green eyes of the small, moving snake.


    "If there ever something threatens your life, just rub this ring. Believe me, you will be able to send a distress message in a perfect time - if those people ever strike because of your ''offensive actions'', they won''t let you die easily."


    Rita Skeeter let out a deep breath and looked a lot more solemn as she took two steps back with her head bowed and said respectfully, "I can do all three of these things, Mr. Hap." Then she turned back into a chubby beetle again as she flew out of the castle.


    Felix looked down with contemplation, then he pulled out a piece of parchment, and wrote a short letter.


    "Sirius, knowing that you''re bothered by that annoying book, I just wanted to tell you this.


    I was just approached by Rita Skeeter, and the book will not be reprinted again, but the thousands of copies that already have been distributed most probably won''t be recovered, so I arranged for Remus to acquire those stocks on the market two days ago in an effort to minimize the impact.


    In addition, she also agreed to write a biography for Regulus, every word on the biography will need to be approved by you, you can use your strictest standards to demand her. I believe that you and Kreacher can provide enough details to flesh out the characters in the book beautifully, but I would advise you to either omit the name of the Horcrux or delay the publication of that part ...


    So, you better stop hanging around Rita Skeeter''s doorstep, she''s become a scaredy-cat and I don''t want to hear about you being sent to Azkaban in the paper while I am having breakfast.


    Also, if you want to enter Hogwarts next year as a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, you better do some preparation in advance, I have a friend in the Muggle world who can arrange for you to be a teaching assistant for a while.


    If interested, please contact Mr. Zacharyas Clifford at ..."


    After writing the letter, the flame in the fireplace suddenly turned a bright turquoise, and Felix tossed the parchment into the flame as it swirled and disappeared.


    When he looked back, Valen still stared at the bright red nails in midair and ogled at it, "Oh, you can''t have that one." Felix said, putting away the nails that kept track of countless hidden secrets.


    He positioned the thing in such a way that it might never be used, or maybe he would use it tomorrow.


    Then he twirled his wand, and a silvery glowing thing flew out from the tip of the wand, these glows looked like silvery silk, which wrapped around Valen''s body and gradually became solid, and Valen wiggled her body constantly, watching this in amazement, it seemed as if there are countless invisible flower fairies weaving clothes behind her, and finally, they created a silvery cloak.


    "Kiki?"


    "One of the results of recent research, reshaping the Patronus into a new entity." Felix smiled, "You can try it."


    Valen blinked at the glowing cloak behind her and put the hood over her head, which only revealed half of her pink beak.


    "Kiki! Kiki?"


    She found herself floating up, and Valen looked in surprise at Felix, who neither drew his wand nor extended his finger, but simply smiled at her.


    Valen twisted her body, and the silver cloak behind her fluttered with it, and then she flew off to the side of the office--


    "Whaaaaaaaaaa!"


    It didn''t take long for Valen to master the cloak behind her - with a slight turn, the cloak could quickly alter its position.


    Niffler was having fun, flying all over the room, squealing in surprise.


    Felix kept mulling it over in his mind, this magic is probably something only he can do for now, nevertheless, he has actually mastered a new type of flight magic, there are some side effects though, and generally, he won''t need it very often.


    As for the principle of ''flying wings'' and prototypes, he had already given them both to Lupin.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 490+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 434: Before the Game

    The rest of January passed without any major events, but minor ones continued. Professor Moody after his return had lived up to his reputation for bringing new controversy, and in the mouth of some of the upperclassmen, he seems to have a touch of the ''Lockhart'' in him - asking them to look up information, make them read it aloud in class, and vividly narrating the stories that happened during his career.


    His famous phrase - "Constant vigilance" - once again surfaced in the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    During this period, the young wizards went to the library every day to look up information about the war that happened more than ten years ago, and the records of the war which were originally quite cold were rummaged out, including various newspapers from a decade ago.


    The psychological pressure increased dramatically as the young wizards viewed these things every day. Coupled with the fifth and seventh grade wizard-level exams, many students who had been attending classes suddenly cried hysterically and were on the verge of collapse.


    Even Fred and George, the happy-go-lucky pair, didn''t take it well, and they breathed a huge sigh of relief when the Defense Against the Dark Arts course returned to ''normal''. One afternoon Fred sniffled and said, "Mum and Dad rarely used to mention the war to us, and if one did, the other would interrupt, Mom also rarely talked about our two uncles ... but when we went through the newspapers of those years, we realized what kind of life they had ..."


    George said heartily, "With every two or three days gap we can see the pictures with the dark mark on the house in the old newspaper, now I got some shadow about it."


    Harry did not want to talk much about it, because recently a trend has risen, since Professor Moody asked the students in the class to read the deeds of those who died in the war one by one, some of the descendants of ''war heroes'' were looked at with awe.


    Neville stammered more than once, explaining that his parents had recovered, and showed the newspaper clippings and papers he had collected to his classmates, but there were still plenty of people who came forward to comfort him. Harry was no different, and he suddenly noticed that Parvati Patil had been looking at him with a gentle expression again ...


    He didn''t like this feeling, because every time someone looked at him with such a gaze, it reminded him of the fact that his parents sacrificed their lives. ''No one wants such a worship, that they receive due to their parent''s death.'' Harry thought with irritation.


    He, Hermione, and Ron practiced magic spells in an abandoned classroom, and one by one they learned a number of useful spells. They also cracked a piece of ice on the black lake in a hidden corner, to test their not-so-skilled warming and Impervius Charms, which made them shiver every time they emerged out of the lake.


    By the time the ice of the black lake melted away and Krum started his diving practice - in a pair of shorts from the diving board of the black sailboat - they had already started working on how to retain their fighting strength in the black lake.


    "Spells used on land are much less effective in water, especially flame-based magic, which at best shoots a scorching stream of water, but that probably won''t be as effective as the Revulsion Jinx against Grindylow ...," Hermione said nervously.


    With the arrival of February, she became like this, and when Ron suggested that they could use their legs to kick those dangerous creatures out of the way, Hermione glared at him viciously, looking as if she wanted to give him a kick in the balls.


    "We might need some transfiguration and summoning charms." Hermione said.


    "Are you going to let us summon a club?" Ron asked with surprise.


    "Don''t be silly, I meant this-" Hermione said, as she drew her wand and shouted, "Avis!" Her wand made a loud noise and from the tip of it, a flock of small birds flew, fluttering their wings and circling the three of them around.


    "What does that do?" Harry asked as he had already seen this spell before. Before the first task started, Mr. Ollivander was invited to review the champions'' wands, when he used Krum''s wand to cast this charm.


    "They can peck and obscure vision, but I prefer what Professor Flitwick did." Hermione said, with her face flushed red as she struggled to maintain the spell, Harry and Ron had never seen her struggle so much when using a spell.


    It was as if she was fighting some kind of invisible resistance, her wand made a semicircle arc, and the birds suddenly swelled up to the size of owls, which made Harry''s eyes widen dramatically, this was something he had seen in his second year, Professor Flitwick had demonstrated it in dueling class.


    After two years of close encounters with this magic, Harry once again watched with awe at the long, sharp beaks of these birds, growing to three inches long!


    Then there was a "bang" and the birds disappeared.


    Hermione gasped softly, and shook her head, "still can''t get it right, in fact, I''ve always been good at manipulating magic, especially after practicing with the Billywig insects in the Magic Rune Club ..."


    When they returned to the castle from the Black Lake, Ron whispered to Harry: "She will just have to hide behind a rock and cast this spell later, then these little birds will help her solve all the troubles, without any of our help she still can handle the task."


    Harry thought about the scene just now, and he could not agree more.


    "How''s your Bubble-Head Charm working out?" Harry asked in a whisper.


    Ron''s face crumpled, "It was a nightmare, I''ve written home saying I don''t need their help ... but Fred and George blocked it in advance, and you know what, Mum actually complimented them in her reply... ..."


    Harry felt a sense of concern, especially after practicing the Bubble-Head Charm, the first thing Ron did was rush to the shower whenever he saw him, leaving a long-lasting smell of Dungbomb behind him.


    His own progress with the humanoid shield charm was not going very well either. Given the choice - he had preferred to master the humanoid shield charm with its protective capabilities rather than the more single-purpose Bubble-Head Charm, but he now wished to make a trade-off and consider the more time-effective alternative.


    For the next few days, he kept running to classroom seven, leaving even the matter of the Occlumency behind him. So when he was awakened by a nightmare one day, he could only blame himself for being lazy about it.


    Harry told Professor Hap about it, hoping the professor would pass it on to Dumbledore, even though he didn''t remember much of it.


    "All I know is that he was happy that something joyful had happened to him." He said searchingly.


    Felix nodded, "Probably because he got himself another temporary body, it can''t be helped, they hide so well." He was hoping that Voldemort would knock on Rita Skeeter''s door, so he might as well be able to try and catch Crouch Jr.


    But Rita Skeeter, who had gotten his promise, had quietly relocated and is currently holed up in Diagon Alley sorting out the information Sirius had given her.


    Harry went back with a heavy heart and began to wonder what exactly his participation in the tournament had meant - Voldemort is already preparing to resurrect, and he could only practice the freezing spell in the Black Lake which has little use, can he count on it to freeze Voldemort''s Killing Curse?


    The person who supported him through this period of self-doubt was Sirius, and if there is anyone in the world who is most connected to his feelings, it would only be his own godfather, including in his attitude toward Voldemort.


    But to Harry''s pleasant surprise, Sirius found a temporary job for himself. When he looked at the logo of Smeltings Academy in the Two-way mirror, his jaw was almost dislocated from shock.


    "How did you end up at Dudley''s school?" Harry shouted in disbelief as a fifth year in the common room looked up sadly and muttered in a low voice, "Another crazy one." Then he went back to work on his seemingly never-ending homework.


    Sirius in the mirror looked rather cheerful, "It was Felix who referred me, because I couldn''t get a diploma recognized by the muggles, I could only do some odd jobs for little money ... but how can I put it? I did find some tricks to guide students."


    Harry listened to Sirius introduce his new job, about his teaching assistant work, "When no one is around I will use my wand to make the material''s light, to do a fast and efficient work ..."


    There was also the fifty-something-year-old teacher he teamed up with, who was out of breath as he would run along with him every time.


    After Sirius learned how to use the whistle to send the fouling student off the field, he would just stand at the side and slacked off. So Harry had the pleasure of seeing Dudley dragging his fat body around the field and running laps, especially as he spat his tongue out and almost rolled his way to the finish line, the stress in Harry''s heart disappeared.


    Before the first Hogsmeade weekend in February, he learned the humanoid shield charm. And his shield charm also changed beyond recognition. The only regret was that he could not transform it into a cool gold or blood-red shield yet.


    Ron also finished his special training. On the day he successfully learned the Bubble-Head Charm, he walked around the common room with a huge transparent cover that looked like an upside-down fish tank, and joined in Fred and George''s discussion, saying he was willing to pay for a Dungbomb or two.


    Fred and George smilingly handed him a Fizzing Whizzbees.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione finished their day happily in Hogsmeade and then dived back into intense preparations. Harry and Hermione were braced in their humanoid shield charm, while Ron''s head was topped with a Bubble-Head Charm as they gradually emerged into the depths of the Black Lake, where they saw a new and strange world.


    Harry was surprised at how unfamiliar the Black Lake looked to him.


    A few dozen feet near the surface of the Black Lake, they could still see the gray, shiny, eerie water above. Besides their feet is a bush of fluctuating, tangled black water grass, a wide, flat muddy sand scattered with small, shiny stones.


    In the distance, there was a large expanse of shadow - without a trace of light. Then they held their wands up, and with the help of Lumos spell they were able to see a small area nearby, which had a deeper shade of black colour, and occasionally something big passed them, they could not determine whether it was a piece of wood or some kind of creature, perhaps it was a giant squid!


    Harry then developed a fear, what if the giant squid swallowed them in one gulp? Although it would help the new students when they fell into the water by pushing them back into the boat, he could not guarantee that it would always be so gentle, especially since Ron said during one of his breathing breaks that they were already sort of trespassing on its territory.


    As the days passed, they went deeper and deeper into the Black Lake, even trying to get closer to the Merpeople in one of their adventures.


    As they swam, Harry noticed that Hermione and Ron were missing and there was something dragging him, which made Harry greatly alarmed until a bright, milky light lit up in the distance, and he realized that it was a Grindylow that was entangling him.


    "Relashio!" Harry chanted the spell through the humanoid shield charm, and the hand of the pale green creature with horns loosened as if it had a cramp, and then he swam towards Hermione - who looked around in a panic with a bright ball of light in her hand - and Ron who was surrounded by a group of Merpeople.


    Finally, they hung their heads in despair as they were driven out. From the rude gestures of the chief of the Merpeople, they judged that if they dare to invade the territory of the Merpeople again, it is estimated that they have to wait for Dumbledore or Professor Hap to claim them.


    Harry shook his head, which was damp as he emerged out of the water, he did not know how the other champions solved this trouble, but his brain got dizzy after he was just knocked twice with a pitchfork by a tall and sturdy Merman.


    "Fred and George are lying, there''s no way they could have completed the task of marking the map of the Black Lake." Ron said grumblingly, " The Merpeople can see much better in the water than we can, they''re completely adapted to the dark."


    Hermione is still blaming herself on the way back, "I shouldn''t have used illumination, but I was too nervous, you guys disappeared all of a sudden and something was entangling me, now that I think about it, it might be aquatic weeds ... I really don''t know what we''re going to do during the official tournament... ..."


    When they got back to the dormitory, Ron took off his clothes and showed Harry the bruises on his back: "It was from the smashing of a Merpeople, I kicked one, you know, wanted to give it an early try ... then instantly two or three Merpeople rushed up and gave me two harsh hits."


    Harry assisted him with applying medicine, as Ron hissed and groaned, "There''s another spot on my butt, I''ll do it myself."


    Two days before the start of the second task, a group of ''Future World'' company staff arrived at the school and erected huge projection screens on the shores of Black Lake, Lupin and Penelope introduced them the function of the projection screens, "They will bring out your heroic performance in the tournament. "


    "Oh, that''s exactly what we were hoping for," Ron muttered, "to get embarrassed in front of everyone."


    On the last day before the tournament, their nerves were stretched to the extreme. Harry found that despite all their preparations, there wasn''t enough time, and the unfinished things in Hermione''s notebook were increasing faster than the crossed-out sections.


    But no matter what, they still had to welcome the second task.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 492+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 435: The Second Task Begins

    On February 24, when Felix just had his breakfast, he was called over by Professor McGonagall. "Isn''t there still sometime before the tournament?"


    "Mr. Bagman wants to see you about the Champions'' arrangement ... they are waiting." Professor McGonagall said hurriedly.


    They went to the room next door to the great hall, where the Champions are waiting, the same place where they stayed the night the Goblet of Fire spat out the list a few months ago.


    When they entered the room, Ludo Bagman was anxiously circled the room, looking distracted. Dumbledore whispered something to him, but it did not seem to have eased his worries.


    When he saw Felix, Bagman''s eyes lit up, and he quickly walked over to him. "You''re finally here, Felix, the minister will be bringing quite a few guests this morning, and you know about Barty, he ... alas, in short, things have fallen into my lap now." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix looked at the six groups of champions who are seated in the room, and they are looking at Ludo Bagman with distrust in their eyes.


    "Ahem! Let''s get started, I''ve collected their wands individually." Bagman wiped the sweat off his round face and urged, pointing at a table where a dozen wands laid serenely on a black velvet cloth.


    Felix didn''t look bothered, as he just cautioned him, "You''d better stay away ..."


    "Oh, what? Okay." Bagman ran away in a flash and hid in the doorway of the room, staring back with probing eyes.


    Felix looked at Dumbledore, when that old man nodded, "Felix, I''m curious about this magic as well."


    "All right." Felix said, as he turned to the crowd, whose expressions grew more and more restless.


    "Professor, what do we need to do?" Cedric asked, "Aren''t we looking for something in the Black Lake?"


    The other Champions had the same expression on their faces, they had long ago decoded the clue from the golden egg and made a sound guess, but things seemed to be a little different from what they had expected.


    "That''s true," Felix smiled, while a colorless and transparent spherical vortex coalesced in his hand, with blue magic like bright stars circled around it, "but it would be too easy if it''s just about finding something, so the Ministry of Magic has added some difficulty ..."


    " Added what?" Nona Leibert asked, clasping her shoulders. She and her two teammates were the least dressed of all the champions, as they had all changed into thin, light animal skin clothing to reduce the resistance from the water.


    Felix shrugged, "You''ll see."


    From the colorless transparent spherical vortex a strong suction came out, as a floating silk-like blue magic expanded wildly, the nearest Cedric rushed towards the vortex uncontrollably, he was taken aback, "Professor-"


    Felix nodded slightly at him, thus Cedric stopped struggling and dove headfirst into the vortex. His two teammates also dived in.


    After a few exaggerated screams, only Felix and Dumbledore remained in the room.


    Felix held the spherical vortex up, Dumbledore bent close to survey the dozen people in the vortex, and with a look of admiration, he said: "How interesting, you used this magic to catch hundreds of dementors? Too bad I didn''t see it with my own eyes ..."


    "It was extermination, Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix said emphatically.


    Dumbledore looked unconcerned and smiled slightly as he said cheerfully, "The next step is nothing more than randomly placing the champions into the Black Lake, oh yes, and their wands."


    "I hope they''re not too surprised when they wake up."


    ...


    "Thud - thud -"


    Harry drowsily rose from the ground, the effects of Professor Hap''s magic still lingered, he felt a little dizzy for a while, and he stood up in a daze. In the dim light, he looked twice at the wooden stick erected on the ground and inexplicably felt a little familiar.


    "Thud--"


    Another sound of impact, Harry suddenly realized that he was awakened by this sound, he jerked back, while his right hand went into his pocket to retrieve his wand, but it was empty, he did not have time to worry about the whereabouts of his wand, there are more urgent issues to deal with.


    A huge monster with a spherical body kept hitting the ... protective shield in front of him? Harry found it mind-boggling, a dozen feet of space around him seemed to have been protected by an upside-down bowl, not a drop of water seeped in, the light he saw was emitted by this protective shield, and the more distant scene, he was by no means unfamiliar with it, it was green algae black rocks which are unique to the Black Lake.


    He did not have time to think about it, as he took a few steps back, his eyes fixed on the monster - it looked at least ten feet tall, with round brown eyes gleaming with cruel light (?) He could barely make out something through the hazy bright light, the colourful pattern on its body, and the long fins that grew on either side of its body which curved out with sharp edges...


    Wait, are these fins?


    Harry watched in bewilderment as the creature raised its fins, and moved a few steps back with a comical step, then stomped violently, which caused a large amount of muddy sand to rise, and then it rushed forward as if like an arrow, and slammed head-on into the thin protective shield with an aggressive "thud".


    Harry swallowed a mouthful of saliva, no matter how he looked at it, it seemed to him that he had seen this creature somewhere, if it shrunk a dozen times, it looked very much like the patterned globe fish he had seen in the Black Lake ...


    That is a kind of patterned globe-shaped aquatic magical creature, the biggest difference between normal fish and the patterned globe fish is that the body of the latter has two long legs with webbed feet, which can help them walk underwater as well as move quickly in the water.


    This magical creature generally inhabits in deepwater lakes, roaming the bottom of the lake in search of food, its favourite is water snails.


    He, Ron, and Hermione found this creature when they wandered the Black Lake, Hermione told him that the merpeople don''t like this patterned globe fish that much, once they are spotted, the merpeople will tie their thin, strong legs into a knot, after that they will flick them away with their tail. These patterned globe fish that were bound by their own legs had to go with the flow of water until the knot was untied on their own, and this process could last for hours.


    The creatures are not seen in the vicinity of the merpeople. Harry had at least a rough guess of where he was.


    "Did the professor cast a spell to make the creatures in the Black Lake bigger?" Harry muttered, then he suddenly thought of something and jerked back, so fast he almost twisted his neck. Harry rubbed the painful neck, but his eyes stared unblinkingly at the wooden stick erected in the center of the protective shield, it was half stuck in the muddy sand, the only part which revealed looked polished and smooth, which looked a bit familiar to Harry until now ...


    But now he is quite sure that it is not any wooden stick, but his own wand. Harry''s brain seems to have rusted, and it took a while to realize the fact that it was not the patterned globe fish that had gotten bigger, but he himself had shrunk down, by more than a dozen times.


    The professor had used that weird magic of his that can suck people and dementors in! Everything that happened in the next room of the great hall came back to his mind, leaving Harry''s mind in turmoil. He stared at several transparent snail shells near his wand once again, and well, he almost understood why the patterned globe fish was pouncing on him.


    ...


    On the shore of the Black Lake, in the makeshift booths that had been constructed, people stared at the huge curved projection screen, which had been divided into three rows and six columns, each vertical column representing a single team; altogether there are 18 squares. A clear image flashed on each square.


    On the first grid of the second column, the ferocious appearance of the patterned globe fish that constantly charged the protective shield is being watched by all.


    Ludo Bagman sat on the high platform, his head darting, capturing the progress of the champions as he made his commentary -


    "Don''t worry - the protective shield will last for an hour. Now that all the champions are awake, they must figure out the situation as soon as possible; they have an hour to adapt to the turbulent magic and to successfully cast a spell to protect themselves in the black lake, or they will be transformed into hostages which will increase the difficulty of the entire team for passing the task dramatically ..."


    The booth that is closest to the platform is 75% filled with invited guests, who are very surprised by the large screen in front of them, and they can''t help but whisper in their discussions, the word ''Future World'' company repeated in it, a company that has been very conspicuous in recent times.


    Behind these people is a group of students in black, who are excitedly watching the screen and chatting with each other.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 492+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 436: Adventures at the Bottom of the Lake (1)

    "Oh look there, those two girls spotted the wand first, it might have something to do with their wands being distinctive enough - I see the pattern, yes that''s right, I hope they can also spot the wristwatch soon ... " There is an audible gasp echoed from the audience. Collins woke up without being disturbed by a patterned globe fish or a crab, and the first thing she did was pinpoint the fir wood wand in front of her that stood equal to her height - her hand brushed across its surface and a spark or two erupted from the tip of the wand, which made Collins inhaled sharply.


    "Harry''s slowing down quite a bit, and he still has yet to discover his wand." Seamus said anxiously.


    "Anyone who wakes up and sees a monster fish that can eat them at first glance will be dumbfounded." Dean said, and then he suddenly smiled, "Look at the expression on his face, he found it!"


    ...


    Harry raised his arm and stared at the extra watch on his wrist, he guessed it would have been worn by the professors while they were asleep, the dial instead of showing the time on it, it showed a dull dark golden colour.


    Despite the gravity of the situation, he couldn''t help but picture something in his mind: Professor Hap strolling through the black lake, with a vegetable basket in his hand, looking around with interest; He then walked to a sandy area, as he picked a half-foot tall Harry (his head tilted to one side, unconscious) from the vegetable basket and placed him on the ground, sticking his wand in the dirt along with him, followed by a flick of the professor''s hand a protective shield appeared ...


    Harry shook his head and threw away the impractical fantasy. At this point, in his mind a voice popped up, telling him that the black lake is dotted with various "tests", the purple level requires him to fight, after victory he will gain something that will help him survive in the black lake, the blue level requires him to use his brain to think, after success, he will obtain a variety of useful information.


    As for the gold, it represents a gem that can break his "curse", which will help him grow from his current height (Harry began to wonder what would happen if he collected a few more pieces). And only when he is fully restored to his original form, he can activate the main function of the watch, which can lead him to his other two companions in the same team.


    Harry combined this with the clues provided by the golden egg, then a realization dawned on him, and the various vague information provided earlier became clear.


    "Seize the moment, the crisis is everywhere; Weigh them carefully, the choice is inevitable." Harry repeated it softly, only these two sentences did not point to any specific information, it is rather a piece of broad advice, Hermione had repeatedly dwelled on it.


    She thought they would have to solve some sort of riddle or make a choice that would suit them, "Maybe everyone will face a different problem." She said worriedly, Ron speculated that it would be similar to the giant wizard chess game they had broken in the first year, "Maybe one or two people would need to be sacrificed at that time ...," he said suggestively.


    Now it seems that Hermione''s guess is closer to the truth, Harry thought.


    In the case of limited time, the most valuable time undoubtedly needed to be spent on finding the golden gem, because it will determine whether you can finally pass, and the other two, are a means to ensure the survival of the champions in the dangerous Black Lake, especially at the beginning of the game, when they are very weak.


    Harry already learned that the protective shield in front of him can only last for an hour, so he must seize the time.


    He desperately started to think, wand, wand ... He stared irritably at the wand, which stood half a head taller than him, how the heck is he going to move with this thing?


    Harry came closer, thankful that he did not wake up in the cold water of the lake, he put his palm on the wand, and a heartfelt feeling came to mind, " Fortunately, you still know me." Harry thought excitedly, "I hope the rest goes well too."


    He took a deep breath, turning a blind eye to the patterned globe fish that kept crashing against the outer layer of the protective shield, though the frequency of its attacks had decreased significantly. Harry struggled to mobilize the magic in his body.


    He felt his magic sluggish to the extreme, there is a force that continues to affect him, he knew from the hint it is that "curse" Harry grunted: "What curse ... I guess it is an influence of the Professor''s magic. "


    He adjusted his state, after studying Occlumency, even though the other effects aren''t still visible yet, but at least - if he wants to stay calm, it''s an easy thing to do.


    "Protego." He quietly recited the incantation, and the tip of the huge holly wood wand flickered with a faint bright light, pulsing twice before disappearing.


    With almost no effect, Harry started a second attempt, "Protego -- oh, no -- Protego -- Protego --Protego--" After a dozen times in a row, he finally succeeded, and a transparent magic barrier appeared in front of him. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Next, I need to morph it." Harry said to himself, under his control, the shield charm attached to his body, he looked like he had crashed head-on into an invisible wall, with his nose and eyes pressed firmly against it, to the extent of flattening his nose.


    The projection screen on the shore faithfully showed this scene -


    Ludo Bagman''s voice said with some embarrassment: "Our youngest champion has managed to use the shield charm, which is quite a remarkable achievement - although I''m not quite sure of his intention of sticking his face on it ... but he is the third champion who managed to communicate his wand, and according to our safety officer, champions in this state can only barely use their best spells."


    "Look! Uagadou''s champions seized the head start in this competition. Their gesture casting is quite brilliant! Is it some kind of animal transfiguration? I''m not sure - they do not appear to have changed much, except for the two extra gills on their cheeks ... Oh my, what did I see? Two Uagadou''s champions just gave up their wands, is that a violation? Please discuss with the other judges - the other Uagadou champion carried his wand, this weight is nothing to him. They have already started searching the Black Lake, and they are the team with the fastest progress, meanwhile, Potter is still fiddling with his deformed shield charm, is he planning to suffocate himself?"


    There was a roar of laughter echoed through the audience, Harry''s performance was clearly more enjoyable, or entertaining. After watching for a while, they almost understood Harry''s intention, "He seems to be trying to wrap himself in the shield charm." Bagman said as an afterthought.


    "That''s a humanoid shield charm, one of the advanced variations of the shield charm, but it looks like Potter is not as skilled at this magic as Granger is." From the audience, a member of the Magic Rune Club said insightfully, "She''s out of her protective shield."


    In the black lake, Hermione gasped. She didn''t dare to stray too far from her wand, and with the protective shield in place, it was the equivalent of having a coordinate and safe house she could locate. She struggled quite a bit to cast a humanoid shield charm, then she tried to explore around the perimeter of the shield, eventually spotting a bright blue light beneath a patch of black algae - hidden in the middle of a group of shells.


    A burst of intense joy rushed through her heart, she swam quickly in the black lake, shivering from cold - because of the "curse" on her body, she struggled to use magic, originally she believed that she had mastered the warm charm and Impervius Charm, but both are unusable for now. She estimated that at least one or two golden gems needed to be obtained before her situation could be improved.


    Hermione swam in the deep lake, her fluffy hair trailed behind her head, and every now and then she had to look back at the distant hazy light, that is the location of the protective shield, where her wand is hidden. In case she gets lost, she can''t do anything about it, she doesn''t want to be a hostage waiting to be rescued.


    When she got closer, the algae looked like black ribbons, each spread under the action of the current, each one is three or four feet long, like a huge jungle in the water, Hermione hid behind a pebble, peeking out, and then her face glowed with joy, In addition to a small blue, shell-like house, a golden jewel quietly laid on the empty space not far from the house.


    "So lucky!" Hermione thought gleefully when a black shadow silently approached, and Hermione got knocked out and smashed on the sand, luckily she had been protected by the humanoid shield charm, so she was merely affected by the aftershocks of the impact -


    Hermione blinked and looked at the black salmon wagging its tail away, it also seemed to be attracted to the small blue shell-like house, trying to get closer and closer, but it could not get in.


    She desperately tried to brainstorm and quickly made up her mind, Hermione advanced along the shadow of the rocks at the bottom of the lake, halfway through, she also picked up a piece of broken algae for cover, as she moved closer and closer, the salmon rushed toward her as she watched.


    Hermione narrowly dodged it, after rolling twice in the water, the humanoid shield charm completed its responsibility very well, but she wondered if the protective layer on her body would be torn if she took a few more hits.


    The black salmon tail swung nimbly, and once again rammed aggressively over, when at some point a pale layer of white light condensed on Hermione''s hand, as a rune appeared.


    She opened her eyes wide and tried to read the salmon''s movements, the white light on her hand became even brighter, as she nervously mumbled: "I have an advantage over everyone else, even if I can''t use ancient magic, I still mastered quite a few individual runes, that''s like few simple magics ..."


    "Bang!"


    The glowing fist smashed hard on the salmon''s head, and the fish maw immediately churned out as it got knocked out by Hermione''s Wild bull Rune - Uruz - with a single punch.


    "Great." Hermione said excitedly, she had thought it would take a few more attempts to succeed.


    She didn''t bother to look at the salmon that was floating in the water, and quickly swam behind the little blue sea-shell-like house and stared at the golden gem, which looked as big as her head; when she touched it with the hand that had the watch on it, the dull golden dial lit up, as the golden gem on the ground merged into the watch as if it had melted, and the dull golden dial lit up a bit.


    "Huh? Is there a progress reminder? It''s a bit like the coin Harry used when he was practicing Apparition, oh, it belongs to Valen now." Hermione thought pleasantly and started to walk into the small blue house to receive her test.


    ------------


    #Gavin pape, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 494+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 437: Adventures at the Bottom of the Lake (2)

    On the shore, Ludo Bagman shouted excitedly in a loud voice, "Look, Miss Granger has managed to bash the salmon, and that salmon is at least two feet! Is this some kind of rare talent?" Fred and George smiled playfully and said, "Hermione probably won''t be happy to hear that."


    "Oh, Professor McGonagall reminded me," Ludo Bagman continued, "that''s the power of ancient runes, a subject I honestly don''t know much about, isn''t that just a translation study ... and about the Uagadou champion''s previous behaviour of giving up their wands, the results of the judges'' discussion concluded that since the rules did not explicitly state that they could not give up their wands, they were within the scope of permitted action, although it would pose a challenge when it came to repossession."


    "Now, let''s get back to the task, the champion of Ilvermorny has successfully challenged the purple level, and now he is faced with a choice: an amulet, an ice bomb, or - lo - behold, he has chosen the second one, which can freeze a lake on a small scale."


    "Durmstrang''s Krum is approaching the area where Grindylow exists, his not-so-successful shark transfiguration has only added two gills and a mouthful of shark teeth, and frankly, I don''t expect those thin rows of fangs in his mouth will ever come in handy - back to the point, Krum lives up to his reputation as a Quidditch international star; His excellent physique allows him to swim forward with his wand in his mouth, not to mention his accidental discovery of a golden gem midway through the game, allowing him to grow to two feet ..."


    "Oh, crap! He got surrounded, dozen of Grindylows found him, if he was in his normal state, these little things simply can''t hurt him, but it''s different now, can he still be dexterous enough to cast spells? Yes, he wisely chose to avoid and give up that blue level ..."


    In the black lake, Hermione is facing a choice.


    After she succeeded in solving the puzzle, a hollow voice told her she could earn a reward, and the options included: Any one question within the rules; The Topography of a small area around her; A ten-second message to her teammates.


    Hermione was tempted by every option, and after some weighing, she picked the one she needed most at the moment - the topography of a small area around her.


    The hollow voice repeated her options, and after a few seconds of silence, a map appeared in the air, and Hermione''s eyes lit up, firmly remembering the gold and purple dots of light that appeared on the map.


    Meanwhile, Harry finally managed to complete the humanoid shield charm a few minutes ago - he pretty much repeated the entire process of this charm''s development. Fortunately, he went to Classroom 7 a few days ago, and Professor Hap''s memory body who had nothing better to do talked about it in more detail.


    His humanoid shield charm looked like a monstrous Bubble-Head Charm, except it covered his entire body, which caused his movements to become quite a bit slower than his normal speed would have, but in any case, he barely gained the ability to get out of his protective shield.


    Thinking for a few seconds, he put a hand out of the protective shield, touching the cold water, the patterned globe fish finally got tired, he wondered where it ran to rest, Harry took a deep breath, his whole body stepped into the water, he looked like a squeezed deformed bubble, the bubble closed tightly around the limbs, and bulging in the head, chest and abdomen area, if he sprawled on the ground, he would look no different from a toad.


    Maybe it would be easier that way, Harry thought bitterly.


    He swam a little further, as he often did in Quidditch - moving up high and searching for the golden snitch from above - only this time he is searching for a target in the water.


    A dark, hazy, strange landscape unfolded before his eyes, a vast expanse of black and shadowy green intertwined with each other, soft algae bobbing like strips of cloth, and small shiny rocks mixed in with the dark mud, which is not what he is looking for.


    He first found the blue light that shone like a star, the wisdom hurdle ... Well, Harry remembered that location and decided to look for it later, this time he found the bright purple light, which is the hurdle that needs to be fought.


    Harry hesitated a bit, but still, he decided to challenge the purple level. He smoothly reached the small purple house, the process of entering the atmosphere from the lake gave his body a layer of goosebumps, followed by a sudden feeling of something swept across his mind, the effect of practicing Occlumency showed up, and he immediately resisted the invasion of this unknown force.


    "Phew ..." Harry breathed a sigh of relief.


    He walked into the small purple house, rummaged around inside, and found nothing. He froze, what is going on ... what about the test? Harry puzzled until he suddenly thought of a possibility ... just that invasive presence, it can not be the test, right? S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry relaxed his consciousness and waited quietly for a few seconds, then there was a flash before his eyes and he found himself in a spacious square arena. Where a kneeling Hippogriff stood up and looked at him menacingly with wide-spread wings.


    Harry grinned. It''s a Hippogriff, although a bit odd-looking one, but Harry has a friend named Buckbeak who is also a Hippogriff, and he''s quite accustomed to them; he also likes their natural transitional fur: From dark grey, bronze, red and white, to luminous maroon, and finally jet black


    Bow, don''t blink, don''t evade ... time seems to go back to the school year, Harry swiftly became friends with it. As a result, it insisted on taking Harry on a ride to fly around; while Harry was worried about how to pass the hurdle, he heard the offer, so accepted it. After a ride when the Hippogriff landed smoothly on the ground, the sound of passing the hurdle also appeared.


    "Passed the level smoothly, please make a choice: amulet, which will protect your freedom of movement underwater for half an hour; squid juice, which will obscure vision; false wand, which will release three shield charms."


    Harry blinked and stared at the Hippogriff that is standing aside, and he suddenly came up with a great idea.


    "I want the amulet." He replied.


    A few minutes later, he returned to the location of the protective shield, while picking up a golden gem without any hassle, and grew a little taller. He felt his magic power is considerably more active, and he can use some simple magic now.


    "I am more confident now." Harry thought as he placed the amulet on himself, while cancelling the immature humanoid shield charm.


    He grabbed his wand in one hand, and a Quaffle Ball-sized water snail clutched under another arm as he looked deeply through the shimmering bright protective shield, then he entered the black lake water; His body first felt chilly, then became warm, the amulet worked surprisingly well. Harry freely stretched his body in the water, it only felt very cool and comfortable, and his body became very lightweight.


    Harry used his wand to measure, his holly wood phoenix feather wand is eleven inches, under the calculation of this he is now almost one foot seven or eight inches tall. After spending some time, he managed to find the patterned globe fish that was lingering near the protective shield, it looked tired, maybe it was an illusion, but Harry always felt that it had a small bulge on its head ...


    "Come on!" Harry shouted, and the patterned globe fish immediately looked over. Its eyes almost bulged out, compared to the patterned globe fish''s one foot, Harry is more advantageous at the moment.


    Harry laughed happily when he saw the fish rushing towards him with its long legs.


    Half a minute later, the two legs of the patterned globe fish is tied with a knot, Harry was also looked out of breath, but he looked quite satisfied with his results, the water snail was thrown next to the patterned globe fish, and it stopped struggling, looked twice at Harry, before lowering its head to enjoy the food, the next ten minutes, Harry used the water plants to weave a simple knot and placed it on the body of the patterned globe fish.


    At this moment, twenty minutes had passed since he woke up.


    Then he carried his wand, to untie the knotted legs of the patterned globe fish, "You carry me for a while and I will not pursue the matter of you pestering me." Harry came close to it and said.


    He didn''t know if his words played a role, or if it was a credit of the meat and greet, or if it simply just wanted to escape, but the patterned globe fish did move, and Harry hurriedly grabbed the reins woven of aquatic weeds and his wand, and the next second, he got pulled along as it waded ahead.


    "Whoa!"


    Harry moved rapidly in the black lake, while using his wand to poke the head of the patterned globe fish to control the direction, his goal is those golden gems, although he delayed sometime earlier, but he believed that his pace would be greatly accelerated next.


    ...


    In the center of the Black Lake, below the deep and steep cliffs, is a sunken grove of rocks, which is the deepest part of the entire Black Lake, where a small tribe of Merpeople lives.


    They have a unique culture and language, as well as the ability to tame the Grindylows. This tribe of Merpeople obtained the right to inhabit the Black Lake, and successive headmasters all promised that they would not invade the place at will.


    But in any case, the Black Lake is also a part of Hogwarts, and for this tournament, Dumbledore and the chief of the Merpeople reached an agreement that they would be part of the second task.


    Felix is currently sitting in a small square plaza, which is surrounded by some strange-looking small houses, with many Merpeople looking at him from afar.


    The Merpeople chief is enjoying the gift that was given to him - a waterproof magic gramophone.


    The Merpeople chief stood ten feet tall, wearing a necklace of shark teeth on his head, accompanied by some Merpeople guards with pitchforks, whose eyes glanced at this place from time to time.


    "I''m satisfied." The Merpeople chief said in a low, and hoarse voice.


    -----------


    #Gavin pape, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 494+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 438: Adventures at the Bottom of the Lake (3)

    Felix smiled, as he waved his wand, a golden mist coalesced into a screen in the water, very similar to the projection screen on the shore, only much smaller, even Ludo Bagman''s voice heard clearly. "Twenty minutes short of an hour, at this moment there are still six champions who have not adapted to their chaotic magic, but they all bravely stepped out of their protective shields and explored using the most primitive method - holding breath, a strategy that is certainly correct considering the fact at least one golden gem is located around each of them ... "


    "One hour is almost up! Finally, there are only two champions remains, they respectively belong to Durmstrang and Ilvermorny, these two champions will be turned into hostages. Now, let''s request the security officer to resettle them safely."


    Felix stood up and bid farewell to the Merpeople Chief, a silver cloak condensed behind him, the back hem spread out in the dark lake, and the next second he rushed forward like a gust of wind.


    The cloak seems to have some kind of psychic ability, as it quickly parted the lake water ahead, and in just a minute, he managed to locate his first target.


    Felix glanced at the half-foot-tall student and leaned down, the cloak behind him flapping freely: "Adam Bewick?"


    "Yes, it''s me." The male wizard said as he shivered, he looked very wretched, after an hour, he still can''t communicate with his wand, so he could only hold his breath and swim underwater to find something, but without any sort of magical protection, the lake in February isn''t pleasant.


    "Next, according to the rules, you will become a hostage." Felix said softly, looking at the terrified expression on the male wizard''s face, he reassured him: "If your teammates saves you, you can rejoin the tournament and, well, make some contributions ..."


    Then they appeared in front of a crowd of merpeople quickly...


    Then Felix pointed his wand at the male wizard, magic converging at the tip, and the male wizard begged, "Sir, I ..." Before he could finish his sentence, he fell into a deep sleep once again.


    "Well, next is the second one." Felix straightened up and looked in the direction of the second person.


    On the shore, the audience watched in awe, there were just too many wonderful scenes to see all together, and in the cold winter wind, Ludo Bagman''s face steamed up as he narrated in a loud voice-- s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Our security officer has managed to pick up the first hostage, although shoving him into his pocket seems a bit rough, but don''t worry about them choking ... two hostages will be tied to the stone statue in the Merpeople Square, awaiting their rescue."


    "I''ll do a quick recap:"


    "Hogwarts'' two teams of champions, the first team explored methodically, collecting an average of three golden gems each and restored their basic spellcasting capabilities; Cedric Diggory used an ice bomb and extended the freezing range with his magical assistance, thus successfully freezing a dozen Grindylows; Collins Foley''s black mist was also quite impressive ..."


    "The second team also doing very well, Harry Potter''s approach of controlling the patterned globe fish is amazing, and he is the fastest one among all the champions to collect golden gems, with a total of five gems collected, of course, the poor patterned globe fish can no longer hold him up, but Potter has managed to cast an advanced variation of Shield Charm; Hermione Granger didn''t think of using the patterned globe fish, and I think it''s hard for normal people to think ... her progress is not slow, with five blue levels she cleared, she selected a map of the surrounding area as her reward, which has allowed her to reap a fortune over time, with four golden gems so far


    The last champion, Ron Weasley, was stalled at the beginning, but he managed to find a golden gem on his fourth attempt on entering the water by holding his breath, after that he managed to escape back to the protective shield under the pursuit of a Grindylow ... One more point to make, his strategy of making a face was quite useful, the Grindylow seemed to be frightened ... He cast the Bubble-Head Charm as he crawled through the muddy sand, but his direction seems to be a little off, and now he is heading towards the merpeople village, let''s bless him ..."


    "The third team is from Uagadou, they have cleared quite a few levels, but their luck is not that good, as they only have obtained an average of two golden gems so far, but to my eyes, the champion with the last name Eliphandy is already ahead of Potter, who is currently making the fastest progress."


    "The fourth team is from Durmstrang, Krum is making good progress, not encountering any danger along the way, of course, he has to break into the merpeople village to rescue his teammate, I don''t know if he can do it ..."


    "The fifth team from Beauxbatons, the captain Fleur Delacour''s initial progress went very well, but after encountering Grindylow''s sneak attack, she had to drop the squid juice and ice bombs to protect herself, after which she became cautious in her exploration ... Her other two teammates did not encounter any problems so far, except that they seemed overly cautious and progressing way behind the rest, but in this circumstance, as long as they don''t make mistakes, they can get a good score."


    "The sixth team is from Ilvermorny, a quick plug here, they have changed their captain this time, the round-faced male wizard named Byers Bach; both he and the former captain have performed very well, clearing seven and nine levels respectively, the fastest progress, but their speed in collecting golden gems did not match their performance, let''s wait and see ..."


    ...


    Ron travelled deep at the bottom of the lake with an irregular bubble-head charm over his head, which he had to recast every two minutes. He didn''t find any checkpoints along the way, but he picked up two golden gems very smoothly, which added up to three.


    As he explored the bushes, he had accidentally encountered a large squid, which chased him for three or four minutes, breaking two of his bubble-head charms, and in the most dangerous instance, he became strangled by its two long tentacles and was unable to breathe, so in his desperation he smashed its head with his wand, causing it to release a stream of foul-smelling ink, and then he managed to escape using the Revulsion Jinx against the large squid before shoving it into a narrow gap in the Rock.


    However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, another huge squid swept overhead, its huge glassy eyes gazed at him; as Ron shivered and hid behind a rock, he recognized this guy, it is a famous giant squid in the Black Lake, maybe the one he just knocked down is its offspring?


    Hope it did not see ...


    The giant squid slowly paddled across the lake, moving far away from him, Ron looked around and found himself completely lost. Although he did not find a familiar route before, he reckoned it had something to do with his change in perspective. Of course, he really did not want to expose himself in the darkness, only human eyes are the worst throughout the Black Lake, and the thought of countless pairs of eyes staring at him in the darkness, made him feel a chill down his spine.


    Ron pulled off the water snail that was stuck on his neck, and identified a direction to move forward; when he got tired of walking, he swam close to the ground, and before he knew it, a steep cliff appeared before him, under the cliff he saw a fuzzy Stone Statues, and on the two Statue there seemed to be people tied ...


    Ron opened his mouth wide, lying on his stomach, and observed for a while, then he finally concluded that he didn''t know any of the two people, so he secretly breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he made a decision in his heart, that is, he must not be found by the merpeople.


    Time passed, he finally got anxious, he only got three golden gems so far, and it is far from enough to " grow up ".


    Then he saw a silver light, it seemed to be Professor Hap, he almost thought it was Harry''s Patronus, and followed it quite a bit.


    He missed Harry and Hermione a lot now; A familiar voice entered his mind:


    "Listen ... I only have ten seconds: I do not know how many golden gems you have obtained, but I have discovered a secret, the purple level, the blue level, and the golden gems are distributed in groups in each location, if you find one, you can certainly find the other two nearby, I have tried it six times --"


    The transmission came to an abrupt end.


    Ron froze, "Hermione?" She''s talking to me? Where is she? How was she even able to talk to me?


    After thinking about what Hermione had just mentioned, he finally decided to head back, and at the moment he couldn''t help but be glad that he had travelled all the way here on foot, leaving a fairly obvious trail, and when he made his way to the rock crevice where he had been sneaked up on by the large squid, that large squid already had disappeared, so he hurriedly picked up his pace.


    After returning to the spot where the golden gem was found, he did find a small blue house behind a patch of aquatic weeds, "blue ... test of wisdom ..." Ron''s heart shuddered, but nevertheless, he walked in.


    In the next second, he got pulled into a library with an ancient structure.


    There was no one inside, then a hollow voice echoed in the room, "Champion detected, the test begins." A golden spinning wheel appeared in midair, and Ron noticed a few options such as "Potion", "General Knowledge of Magic", "Rune" that''s when the wheel began to spin rapidly.


    He felt apprehensive as he muttered, "Don''t be a potion, don''t be a potion ..."


    Finally, the wheel stopped and the pointer pointed in the direction of "Muggle Studies".


    Ron breathed a sigh of relief as the voice continued to ask, "Please choose: open book or closed--"


    "Open book!" Ron immediately shouted.


    A golden parchment appeared on the table, and the dark shelves of the library began to move, followed by a shelf full of books that appeared in front of him.


    The hollow voice said, "All the answers are in the book, answer time is ten minutes of outside time, time ratio: 1:5."


    Ron''s eyes widened, why did he find this level very familiar?


    -----------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 496+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 439: Adventures at the Bottom of the Lake (End)

    On the shore, it is already afternoon, the students are hungry, and Ludo Bagman''s commentary is becoming strained, but no one chooses to leave. The tournament is drawing to a close, and most of the champions (except those caught by the merpeople) have gained enough golden gems that they just need to reach the last stop and gather together to finish the tournament successfully. "By the third hour of the tournament, the champions are physically exhausted, and with the first champion managing to gather all the golden gems, the entire merpeople tribe is mobilized to patrol the Black Lake, which puts the champions in even more danger." Bagman said in a hoarse voice.


    Felix stood at the edge of the lake, rubbing his nose, wondering if the merpeople chief had misunderstood the meaning of him sending a magic gramophone and became extra diligent. From an hour and a half ago, the merpeople guards led the tamed Grindylows around the black lake and caught one exhausted champion after another.


    Those who were not caught before, at this moment also hid without daring to show themselves.


    ...


    Ron breathed a long sigh of relief, finally passed, he did not know if this counts as a loophole he found, but he found that if he failed once, he could continue a second and third time ... and he also found a second secret, only when the wheel turned to the Muggle Studies, History of Magic, he could choose the option between open and closed books test.


    Knowing this secret, he found the best method for him to pass - constantly choosing blue levels, and when he by chance encounters these two subjects, he will select the open book option, then he will turn the book to find the answer, he may fail two or three times in the middle, but he will definitely pass in the end.


    After passing the level, he will select the nearby topography map to find the location of the golden gem.


    As he yawned, Ron felt like he had returned to the classroom, instead of being in a dangerous tournament of champions, and was very glad he had flipped through The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard several times, so much he knew ...


    The blue level and the purple level both come with their own protective shield, a rare safe area. Ron took a deep breath and prepared to find the seventh golden gem, with one foot just stepping out, he noticed a tall, sturdy figure swimming past him.


    It was Uagadou''s Champion, and Ron turned his gaze in the direction he had come from. Noticing a group of merpeople aggressively pursuing from there, Ron retracted his foot with a grin.


    Unfortunately, merpeople spotted him. This tall merman blew a whistle on his chest, and three of them stayed behind, encircling him. Despite the general ugliness of the merpeople, Ron recognized the leader by his clothing and bone decoration.


    Ron gulped, he is the one he had kicked once.


    The merman also obviously recognized Ron, showing a mouth full of fangs and a happy grin. At that moment, the light of multiple spells illuminated the waters.


    The two merpeople instantly fell to the ground, their hair fluttering like braids, and Ron also held up his wand and recited a stunning spell.


    The stunning spell went through the water, slowing down significantly, but still with this close, the spell hit the leading merman of the merpeople who looked at Ron in disbelief, as he froze, and fell in the mud.


    Harry and Hermione came out of the corner.


    "How did you guys run into each other?" Ron asked through the bubble-head charm.


    "After collecting the seven golden gems, the watch can show the location of the companion, and there were three small red dots, I assumed some kind of tracking spell must have been applied ... I found Harry first and was going to come over to you immediately, but we bumped into a large crowd of merpeople moving out... . They are too flexible in the water, Harry used the light of the Patronus to deter them, then we took that opportunity to escape ..."


    Hermione explained, then looked at Ron, "By the way, how many golden gems are you short of?"


    "The last one, and I already know the location." Ron rushed to say.


    "Then let''s hurry up," Hermione said with a pale face, "it''s been too long, I don''t know if we''re the last group."


    "Definitely not," Ron said, "I just saw an Uagadou champion, and he''s being chased by a group of merpeople."


    "Oh, I guess he can''t get away unless--" Hermione said pessimistically, suddenly staring wide-eyed as a loud bang came from not far away as a cloud of sand flew.


    "Hermione, you and Ron go find the gem, I''ll check out the situation." Harry said.


    They quickly separated, and a few minutes later Ron and Hermione found the gem without incident, but the noise grew louder and louder, screaming heard distantly in the water everywhere.


    After a while, Harry returned.


    "Go!" He shouted, his expression looked panicky. "What''s wrong?" Ron asked in wonder.


    "Run and talk!" Harry said decisively as they hurried toward the final location, the sound of rushing getting closer behind them, as if a thousand horses are chasing after them, a tall tornado of water carrying a mass of mud and sand formed a yellow-brown whirlpool.


    " A few teams of champions have reached an agreement, they stormed into the merpeople square, rescued all the hostages, I saw Durmstrang, Ilvermorny, Cedric, and the rest!" Harry said as he braced the humanoid shield charm.


    "And Uagadou." Ron said with a pale face.


    "How do you know?" Harry asked casually as they got closer to their goal.


    "I saw that elephant guy ..." Ron said with a blank look in his eyes.


    Harry and Hermione could not help but look back, a few hundred feet behind them, bright light illuminated the bottom of the lake (Harry guessed that Cedric used illumination), an elephant shook out its trunk and charged forward, muddy sand spread out, thoroughly churning the bottom of the lake out. On the body of the elephant sat a dozen people whom he saw before, including Cedric, Collins, Roger, Krum, Fleur, and two other Uagadou champions.


    "What are we going to do?" Ron asked hesitantly.


    Less than two hundred feet from them, a high platform stood at the bottom of the lake, and a flicker caught their eye.


    "You guys go first." Harry said.


    "There''s no need to be a hero, they''ll be fine ..."


    "No," Harry hesitated, "I know they''ll be fine, I just want to use a spell. You guys leave, I''ll be there soon, we''ll be number one this time!"


    "Then use it, we''ll wait!" Hermione said impatiently.


    Harry took a deep breath and raised his wand horizontally, he is now completely recovered his normal magic power, can exert his full power, and the key thing is, he happened to thought of something when he saw Professor Hap rushing in a silver cloak before ...


    This made him see more possibilities for this charm.


    "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num... "


    A huge silver light burst out and a silver solid Patronus stampeded through the silver waves and rushed in the direction of the elephant, which got surrounded by hundreds of merpeople, even more grindylows, and a few sharks that formed a huge encirclement.


    After he recited the incantation, Ron pulled him and rushed towards the high platform. The other side -


    "What now?" Collins asked.


    "Does anyone have any more ice bombs?" Cedric asked.


    "They''re all used up." Byers replied.


    "Let''s charge through them hard!" Graves shouted, his face looked white as paper, or, of course, it could have been from a long time soaking in the water.


    "Look over there--"


    A large silver stag rushed over, the lake had no effect on it, it quickly swept past the crowd, and stood between them and the merpeople, emitting a ring of silver ripples. The merpeople had never seen a Patronus before, and for a moment they didn''t dare to approach, looking warily at the big thing that had suddenly appeared.


    "Let''s get out of here! Let''s use transfiguration to buy time!" Cedric was the first to come to his senses, as he recognized the Patronus.


    The elephant galloped up again, and the rocks and aquatic plants behind them transformed into hounds, shields, and ropes under the effect of Transfiguration, as they made their way to the high platform.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat on the high platform, exhausted. s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 496+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 440: Returning

    African elephant made a sharp trumpet and collapsed on the ground, its broad and burly back tumped a little from the impact as it caused seven or eight people to stumble down, some of them were too tired, so they simply slid down as if they were on a slide, and their bodies rolled twice on the platform, gasping for breath. The champions both physically and mentally have been exhausted and reached their limits.


    Harry realized that he can hardly even move at the moment, from head to toe every muscle hurts badly, he tried to lift his head, but his neck seems like broken, so he can only slant his eyes to look at people in the afterglow.


    He looked at Ron and Hermione, all three of them breathed like leaky old bellows, at that moment, Ron burst into exaggerated laughter, he fell on his face, his fist thumped the white marble floor, and even tears came out of his eyes.


    "Look ... at the elephant''s trunk ... haha ... looks like a snot bubble... ..."


    Harry and Hermione barely looked over, the African elephant is crouched on the floor, slowly regained its human form, but you can still see, the elephant''s long trunk with a bubble hanging at the end ... Harry guessed it is a Bubble-Head Charm, but ... a snot bubble?


    His shoulders suddenly shook, as he tried his best not to laugh out loud, and Hermione also seemed to be holding it back very hard.


    Cedric, Collins, and Roger limped next to them, without caring about their image, they sat on the ground, gasping for air, Cedric originally looked very white, and now after being in the water for a long time, he looks even paler like a vampire. Collins seemed to have caught a cold, her nose making a broken whistle with each breath, and as for Roger, he laid straight down on his back and performed a duet with the Uagadou champion who is slumped on the ground, snoring loudly. S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "He''s exhausted ...," Cedric said wearily, pointing to Roger Davies. "Thanks, your Patronus was a big help."


    " It was not much of a help," Harry said awkwardly. He wasn''t very comfortable with the atmosphere, so he busied himself by looking up and around - his neck started to hurt again, the skin on the back of his neck stiff like an old tire leather, "Is everyone here?" He asked, out of breath with a grin on his face.


    Then he saw a pale-looking Fleur talking to a girl, and Krum grimacing, his strength surprisingly good as he walked around in circles, occasionally raising his head to stare at the approaching merpeople guards in the distance. Graves, whose face mirrored Krum''s, glared at a champion who had his face buried in his knees.


    "He shouldn''t have gotten out of his protective shield in the first place, so I guess he''ll get a lot of points off," Cedric said, following his gaze, "Everyone''s here, but you guys, weren''t got caught?"


    Harry and the team shook their heads and Cedric''s mouth curled with a smile, "Then you''re lucky."


    "Merpeople are difficult?" Harry asked, trying to keep the smugness out of his voice as he inclined his head and looked beyond the high platform, which is surrounded by hundreds of merpeople, but the sense of crisis didn''t exactly rise in him.


    "The water is the merpeople''s home turf, and they have developed a cooperative system." Cedric explained, "They can weave thick slippery ropes, lassos, and large nets with aquatic plants ... Every one of them is good at sneaking in-"


    Harry stared at the merpeople''s iron-gray skin, long dark green aquatic grass hair, and cloudy yellow eyes, and had to admit that there is some truth to this statement; he and Hermione had been sneaked upon as well, but like Cedric said, they were lucky enough to together at the time.


    "- and those Grindylows, followed us like hunting dogs, when merpeople command them they acted completely different from when they are alone, these Grindylows could follow simple commands, like holding a rope in their mouths or something ... and The more time passed, the more tired we are, even magic is almost impossible to use." Cedric said, shaking his head.


    At that moment, a silvery light broke the surface of the water, descended straight down from above the black lake, "Ta-da", and landed gently on the platform.


    Felix looked around, the silver cloak behind him slowly turned into crystalline dots of light, he calmly announced to the crowd: "the tournament is over, all champions stand in a circle, and I will take you back to shore."


    He waved his wand, the platform beneath their feet suddenly trembled, the stone and sand at the outermost rim trembled and parted, and soon the white marble platform slowly rose upward, and they got enveloped in a translucent glowing shield, if they had to describe it, it was like an enlarged protective shield.


    Harry cast his eyes around and looked above, he was in an extraordinarily calm mood, A swimming fishes passed quickly like tiny darts, he even saw a patterned globe fish, and wondered if it is the one that he had come across.


    Hopefully, it will not be found by the merpeople, Harry thought to himself.


    Merpeople guards with pikes and pitchforks formed two lines, escorting them left and right, and followed them for some distance before parting ways with them. Immediately after, they saw the waves of light constantly beating overhead, and with a "boing" sound, they rushed out of the black lake.


    The world above the water is dazzling and brilliant; Harry''s eyes hurt sharply, tears involuntarily leaked out, and the dazzling white light blinded them.


    He heard a clamour, the buzzing sound of voices coming closer and closer, getting louder and louder. It took him a while to realize it is the sound of cheers and applause from the crowd.


    Ludo Bagman''s voice chimed in just in time -


    "All champions returned safely, let''s cheer them to their hearts'' content, they were underwater for over four hours! Ah, I see Madam Pomfrey is already over-"


    His voice seemed hazy and muffled, as if it had been separated by something.


    At that moment, Felix reached out his hand towards the hemispherical membrane of light and flicked it, and the spot where his finger touched quickly burned up and turned into nothing. Immediately after a fresh, cool air rushed in, Felix took a deep breath, smiled at the champions who also breathed heavily, and said, " Champions, we have arrived above, be prepared to receive the cheers."


    His words got drowned out by the sudden deafening noise of screams, Harry had never felt breathing is such a pleasant thing before, and the distant sounds became real, Madam Pomfrey is waiting anxiously on the shore, and she rushed up as soon as the marble platform docked.


    "Is anyone hurt?" She inquired of Felix.


    "There may be some scrapes or bruises, nothing serious, their problem is that they are too tired." Felix said, while looking at the sprawling group of champions, a few snored loudly, the enthusiastic cheering around them not affecting the quality of their sleep at all.


    "Uh ... well," Madam Pomfrey said, taking a thin-mouthed vial from her potion case and pouring potions into the champions'' mouths one by one. The Uagadou champion who had slept the most dazedly gulped it down, then rolled over and went back to sleep.


    Madame Pomfrey stared at him and froze for a few seconds before turning to the next man.


    "Thanks, Madam Pomfrey." Harry said, swallowing the fiery liquid in his mouth, neither he nor Ron or Hermione showing any expression of protest, simply to divert Madam Pomfrey''s attention away from them.


    "A Pepperup Potion, maybe with something else in it, I can taste the mint." Ron smacked his lips and said, a stream of white vapour rushing out of his ears and nostrils.


    The shore is chaotic, Percy strides over and clutched Ron with a death grip, "I''m going to be choked to death by you - Percy!" Ron struggled, and Harry also saw Sirius and Lupin walking over from the crowd.


    Hermione looked a little down, she hadn''t told her parents yet, but maybe for the third task, she should just call her mom and dad. A blanket covered her head, and she looked at Professor McGonagall in surprise.


    "I think you need a hug." Professor McGonagall said.


    "Oh ... uh, I guess so." Hermione pursed her lips as she said, and hugged Professor McGonagall lightly, and in the afterglow, she saw Professor Hap and Dumbledore crouched at the water''s edge, talking to the merpeople chief.


    Felix keenly noticed her gaze, and smiled at her, flashing her a thumbs up.


    Then he withdrew his attention and watched with great surprise as a string of piercing sounds emanated from Dumbledore''s mouth, and the merpeople chief spoke the same language, which made him mutter darkly, didn''t this merman speak English?


    Finally, Dumbledore stood up straight, "Felix, let''s go over and join up with the rest of the judges for a meet-up." The Headmasters reassembled, Fudge and Bagman also rushed over to discuss the matter quietly.


    Dumbledore relayed the information that the Merpeople Chief had told him - unlike the footage which they watched through the wristwatches of the champions, the Merpeople could provide a more three-dimensional and neutral evaluation.


    Fudge put himself in an objective perspective and said, "This tournament is pretty complex, and no team performed badly, so we can start by saying what''s notable ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 498+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 441: The Score Is Out

    "Krum''s shark transfiguration, and he''s also the one who proposed to start a collaboration with other schools-" Karkaroff said eagerly. "I should remind you, Karkaroff," Bagman said pointedly, " It was two people who proposed the collaboration, Krum from Durmstrang contacted Ilvermorny, and Diggory from Hogwarts contacted Beauxbatons and Uagadou."


    "But Krum was the one who thought of it first, wasn''t he?" Karkaroff said tactfully.


    "That''s true, but both of his teammates were captured by Merpeople, and he was alone, so what else can he do if he doesn''t cooperate ..." s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly and said calmly: "At least we can confirm one thing, both champions negotiated the cooperation, which is an act we advocate. They deserve bonus points."


    "Good thinking on Potter''s part about taming the patterned globe fish ..."


    "It was indeed entertaining to watch, but it shouldn''t be counted as a plus."


    "Why doesn''t it count?"


    "Gentlemen, our competition is not about who performs better spectacle, but about the valuable qualities they show in the process."


    "Isn''t thinking out-of-the-box worth encouraging?"


    Seeing that there is going to be another argument, the judges put the issue down for the moment, when Felix asked, "Who was the first one that collected enough Golden Gems? I was underwater and failed to catch it."


    Bagman immediately said, "It was Potter, he had a big advantage up front, he found five when others had only collected two or three. He and Krum are both pretty good seekers with amazing dynamic vision, Krum just fell short, because he swam and walked on his own ..."


    "Granger came in second, almost close to Potter''s time, because Miss Granger discovered the secret of the level layout and was very efficient."


    "It''s worth questioning, maybe someone cheated." Karkaroff stated.


    "Zip it," Bagman said irritably, "she cracked the blue level faster than everyone, that''s what she''s good at, you can''t deny that!"


    "Let''s move on." Dumbledore reminded pleasantly, "By the way, Miss Granger is indeed very smart and her accomplishment in some subjects is not inferior to the graduates."


    The judges continued their discussion -


    "Ilvermorny got most alchemical artefacts, and also worked together to create a water tornado spell that bought enough time -"


    "That Potter''s Patronus was also crucial."


    "Uagadou''s gesture casting was distinctive, and the final Animagus-like transformation helped everyone to rush out of the Merpeople Village."


    "Yeah, it also broke two Statues and caused the Merpeople to storm out."


    "But undeniably, the effect was very obvious ..."


    "Everyone, you forget one thing," Madame Maxime pursed her lips and said, "only two teams of champions didn''t get captured by Merpeople throughout the whole course, and one of them was Beauxbatons, and as the captain of the team, Fleur resolutely accepted the invitation to rescue other people, her spirit is commendable. "


    " Madame Maxime," said Karkaroff solemnly: " Miss Delacour''s spirit is indeed commendable, but the reason why the other two champions were not captured was because they advanced slowly ... only a little faster than the dead last, which was why they both eluded the merpeople."


    "What do you mean?" Madame Maxime asked coldly, "At least Jacqueline and Francois both collected seven gems, but someone in Durmstrang didn''t even walk out of the protective shield."


    "Bewick is not qualified to be a champion at all, I would have liked to have him replaced." Karkaroff said with a disgusted face, all headmasters looked at him in shock, then he said with a stern face, "I was just kidding, is it possible to really change someone?"


    "That''s hard to say."


    Felix looked up at the sky and muttered, "Anything can happen." The sky is unusually blue today, as if washed by water, Karkaroff glared at him viciously, and the atmosphere became a little awkward for a moment.


    Perhaps even Karkaroff himself thought that he wouldn''t mind changing people if the rules really allowed it.


    Felix began to mull over his Book of Runes, which had become more and more perfect as it continued to fill and expand, and is undergoing some sort of wonderful change as if it has a will of its own.


    It stores vast amounts of runes and magic power within it, like a real-world of runes, with hundreds of changes occurring every second, these changes allowed the Book of Runes to move towards a more and more stable path, constantly improving itself.


    He had to slow down, and before he could figure out every single change, he now no longer dared to put the book directly in the thinking room, in case it blew up, the magic power accumulated inside is no joke.


    Besides, he had gained a lot of inspiration from it, and every once in a while, a new rune would spontaneously be born in his mind.


    "Felix?" Dumbledore called him softly, standing next to him at some point, looking at the clear sky with Felix.


    "Don''t you need to join the discussion?"


    Dumbledore smiled slightly, "Bagman works more actively than I do, and, I have to say, both teams of Hogwarts champions performed well enough that they couldn''t pretend they couldn''t see ..."


    It took quite a while for the judges to reach just a final common ground. Fudge looked at the time and spoke out, "There''s no point in arguing any further, let''s start scoring."


    No one objected. Bagman added: "Based on the scoring process last time, we have added a new scoring rule: if a judge gives a score that is wildly contradictory and cannot convince the audience, we can remove the controversial score."


    Karkaroff glanced at him coldly, but he did not speak out against it. Some bargains can only be taken once.


    Half an hour later, Ludo Bagman''s amplified voice rang out again, and the audience gradually quieted down.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we have combined various factors and decided to consider - the number of people who came out of the protective shield, the number of golden gems obtained, whether they were taken as hostages - these three points as the main evaluation points, combined with a few additional points for the best behaviours. We will score each team of champions on the basis of a seventy-point scale."


    "The First Team Champions from Hogwarts: Cedric Diggory, Collins Foley, Roger Davies. A total of three people came out of the protective shield, two of them collected seven golden gems, and one was attacked by Merpeople guards and taken hostage after collecting five gems. Some of the highlights of the game include: making full use of the ice bomb and assisting in casting spells to increase its range; finding the Merpeople Village accurately and taking the initiative to contact other schools to start cooperation. After a comprehensive assessment, we gave them 59 points."


    A round of applause emanated from the audience, and Collins dropped her head in silence as Cedric and Roger comforted her in a low voice.


    "I should have tried to be more careful." She said sullenly.


    "The Second Team Champions from Hogwarts: Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley. A total of three people came out of the protective shield, all collected seven golden gems, and none of them became hostages, the first to finish the game. Highlights include: taming the patterned globe fish; discovering the pattern of level distribution, discovering the pattern of level structure, and assisting other teams even though no one became a hostage. We gave them 67 points."


    "Excellent!" Harry, Ron, and Hermione exclaimed, Hermione still draped in that blanket of hers, as deafening applause and whistles surrounded her, as she jabbed Harry and Ron in the ribs, gesturing for them to look over at Collins.


    "It''s not really a big deal, she''s just become dead weight," Ron muttered, "I mean, if you''re unlucky and run into an army of Merpeople out in the open, there''s nothing you can do about it ... "


    "The Third Team Champions from Uagadou: Nona Leibert, Rashawn Eliphandy, and Panagiotta Blanzigor. Three people came out of the protective shield, two of them collect all golden gems, and one collected five gems before he encountered merpeople and became a hostage. Highlights include: demonstrating amazing silent and wandless spell casting, defeating a large number of Grindylow hordes, storming into the Merpeople Village with superb Self-Transfiguration, and successfully escaping with the cooperation of the others. We gave them 60 points."


    "Just one point short, they performed pretty much the same as Cedric''s team." Ron said, "But that African elephant is really quite eye-catching, Collins should use transfiguration more often, in case ..." He suddenly jerked a bit, because Collins is glaring and looking at him inexplicably.


    "You should just shut it." Hermione stomped on him uncomfortably.


    "But I''m speaking for her. ..." Ron said with indignation.


    "The Fourth Team Champions from Durmstrang: Viktor Krum, Aurus Poliakov, and Adam Bewick. Two came out of the protective shield, one failed and became a hostage; of the remaining two, one managed to collect seven gems, and one was captured by Merpeople after collecting four gems. Highlights include: Captain Krum collected seven gems in third place and negotiated the collaboration with Ilvermorny''s champions after the first failed rescue of his teammates, disturbing the merpeople''s control over Grindylow using wide-range sonic magic. We gave them 50 points."


    Krum and his two teammates receive applause with expressionless faces.


    "The Fifth Team Champions from Beauxbatons: Fleur Delacour, Jacqueline Bourgeois, and Francois La Fontaine. Three people came out of the protective shield, three people collected seven golden gems, and no one became a hostage. Highlights include: clever use of level props for escaping Grindylow ambush, using bewitching magic to mislead the behaviour of the ten Merpeople when the Merpeople went out, taking the initiative to join the rescue party, and causing chaos in the Merpeople Village. We gave them 62 points."


    Fleur and her teammates hugged each other as they currently ranked 2nd with an amazing score.


    "The Last Team Champions from Ilvermorny: Byers Bach, Victor Percival Graves, Anne Lunn. Two came out of the protective shield, one failed and became a hostage; two collected seven gems. Highlights include: breaking through the most number of purple levels and gaining a large number of temporary props; creating disorder in the Merpeople Village; and after escaping from the Merpeople Village, the three champions cast a water tornado and blocked the Merpeople Guards from pursuing them for a while. We gave them 50 points."


    "The third and final task will take place on June 24 evening," Bagman continued, "and the champions will be informed of the specifics of the task about a month in advance. Thank you all for your support for the Champions. As well as thanks to the ''Future World'' company for their support in this second task."


    The audience froze for a moment and continued to applaud enthusiastically as Ron yelled at the top of his lungs in the warm breeze, "I bet Bagman received advertisement money from Professor Hap!"


    Harry couldn''t agree more, he clapped hard and followed the crowd in cheering, it is over ... he thought, three long months of preparation, the third task is in four months, he has enough time ... then he immediately filled with a wave of ecstasy, he, Ron and Hermione got the first place, it is simply unbelievable, but there is no doubt that they have the highest score among the six teams ...


    Maybe there is some conversion needed, Harry thought about the special rule for the Hogwarts teams, his mind got dizzy and didn''t want to think about it a bit, Hermione would tell him in the end anyway ... all he had to do now was ...


    "Carnival! Carnival!"


    The students shouted, waving their arms widely, venting the turbulent emotions in their hearts.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 498+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 442: Gratitude

    The way back to the castle from the Black Lake was filled with laughter. Felix reckoned that they would occupy the great hall for a celebration, just like last time. The only difference would be that the champions from other schools also followed the crowd in the direction of the castle. "We''ve achieved our goal, haven''t we?" Bagman said as he stood next to him, "To get the students to cooperate in a competition."


    "That doesn''t sound like something that would come out of your mouth." Felix chuckled slightly.


    "Oh, well ... it''s actually Barty''s statement that I ripped out of his office." Bagman explained in a whisper, "I''m not very good at this, but if we need to liven things up ... let''s get back to business." He suddenly became restless.


    "It''s about that ... what do you call it, the magic projector?" He stammered and looked away as the students walked down the marble steps into the castle in a queue, with occasional "crackling" explosions, or red sparks shooting from the tip of someone''s wand.


    The projection screen on the shore of the Black Lake remained in place, and several Future World staff members circled around it. These projection screens will be dismantled and put into temporary storage until the next time they are used.


    "That''s right." Felix said, in fact, the magic gramophone and magic projector are not very different, the magic used in both are similar, but Felix hoped that the projector can project ordinary films.


    He looked at Bagman, who wiped the sweat on his forehead, "I know that the ''Future World'' company obtained the authorization to sell the footage of the second task to the public ..."


    Felix nodded slightly and said calmly, "There is indeed a plan for that, the Tournament of Champions will bring no less talk than the Quidditch World Cup, and there is no worry about sales, the only problem is that Remus is trying to make the projector more refined. In Clammy''s words, more magical ..."


    "I can convince the Ministry of Magic to promote that footage," Bagman said, his head soaked with a dense layer of sweat that looked shiny in the sunlight. " We can convince Fudge easily... he''s having a hard time lately, he''s miscalculated things, no one seems to care whether the Ministry of Magic has secured another international collaboration on potions under his leadership, as people want more exciting and eye-catching information, such as a tournament of champions. One of my colleagues told me that other countries republished a lot of stories from our side."


    "I''m not going to change the contract-"


    "Oh, of course not, it won''t affect you, I''m just making a suggestion which Fudge will agree to, he wants to divert the public''s attention." Bagman said slowly, "You know, there''s been a rumour going around the Ministry lately ... Dark Mark ... that old Barty was arrested, and Scrimgeour has a strong opinion... ..."


    ...


    "Don''t be a spoilsport, Hermione, we''re definitely going to have some fun after a painful while." Ron said cheerfully.


    Fleur and her companion had just left, and she had come over to thank Harry. She gave Harry a couple of kisses on the cheek, much to Ron''s envy. The Uagadou champions then parted the crowd and praised Harry for that wonderful Patronus Charm.


    Captain Nona Leibert also presented an amulet to Harry that looked like some sort of hollow knot woven from leaves and twigs.


    "It will bless you." Nona said with confidence.


    The other two Uagadou champions stood next to her like guards, and for the first time, Harry stood so close to them that he suddenly realized how tall all three of them are.


    Harry took the knot and mumbled, "Thanks." Then he hooked it on his shirt.


    "That looks nice." Nona said with a smile, and they turned to leave.


    The trio was overwhelmed by what happened after that, as one champion after another looked for a chance to be alone with them just to have a few words. Even the gloomy and shrewd-looking Graves came forward to talk to them, Harry hadn''t felt too comfortable with him before because he had tried to attack Hermione with a powerful spell, but to his surprise, he took the initiative to talk to them.


    "Which direction sun rised?" Ron asked blankly.


    "It should be a credit to Harry''s Patronus." Hermione thought for a moment and answered.


    "But, I just used one spell." Harry said with wide eyes, "They look at me like I''ve done something amazing ..."


    "Oh, well, it was different Harry." Hermione said with half admiration and half regret in her eyes as she looked at him.


    Harry looked back with some uncertainty.


    "By the end of the tournament, everyone was exhausted, and if it weren''t for your Patronus, they might have been caught back by the Merpeople in one fell swoop, and that''s a very big difference - the difference between success and failure in evaluation," Hermione said, "I think that''s why they are grateful to you."


    "So," Ron was taken aback, "we had a chance to be even well ahead of everyone in the second task?"


    "Just a possibility." Hermione said with a stern face, "I guess if that happened, maybe the other teams would have scored half of what they are now, but that''s all speculation, after all, Harry had already made his choice."


    Harry scratched his head before he didn''t consider that much, he just felt that on that occasion he had to do something, not to mention Cedric and the group were also involved as well. Hermione''s words made him blush a little, luckily at that moment the Weasley twins passed in front of them, so he winked at them as he followed the pair.


    "Hello, Mr. Bagman ... can we buy you a drink?" Fred and George said with smiles as they stepped forward.


    "Oh, uh, boys ... well, let''s go talk over there ..." Bagman said, leading Fred and George out in a hurry, narrowly avoiding colliding with Harry, Ron, and Hermione who were following them, they tacitly slowed their pace, while keeping their ears open to listen.


    "I''ll get the payment soon, when? It''s today. So don''t worry, boys!" Bagman said in a raised voice, and then he disappeared into the great hall with the twins.


    "Guess what they-Oh, Professor." Hermione said as she looked at Felix.


    Harry and Ron also greeted him. Felix nodded at them and smiled, "Congratulations." He said meaningfully, "You guys are going to be famous for this game."


    "Is it in the newspaper?" Ron asked with interest, "I saw quite a few journalists showing up, but they only turned around when we came out of the black lake, and then they focused their cameras on the distinguished guests again." He added pointedly.


    "Probably much more than that." Felix chuckled, "Maybe you''ll get your own fan mail ... in a month or two, I reckon?"


    It left the trio puzzled.


    Near the end of the evening, Sirius knocked on the office door hurriedly, "Felix, I need to borrow your fireplace. I almost forgot, I promised to go back to school to organize the equipment, old Verner alone can not handle ..."


    "How was school life?" Felix asked him, sitting behind a table.


    "Just the same," Sirius said vaguely, while hastily grabbing a puff of Floo powder and sprinkling it in the fireplace, "those unruly students ... are everywhere, sometimes I really want to hit them on the head with my wand. "


    "Maybe that''s what worries Dumbledore," Felix said.


    Sirius stared at him, froze for a moment, and shouted, "You mean he''s worried about me beating up students? I''m not always so much-" S~?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I didn''t say any of that," Felix said in a teasing tone as he looked at him with a smirk, "but surely you can no longer see yourself as a student, perhaps you like the title The King of Children? Want to be the head of Gryffindor House?"


    Sirius gestured a rude gesture and disappeared into the rising turquoise flames.


    Felix withdrew his attention and stared at the Book of Runes on the table.


    It lay there quietly, flickering every few seconds as if it is breathing rhythmically. Whether it is breathing or not he is not sure, but he knows one thing, the book is indeed evolving.


    In the beginning, he just wanted to organize the runes he had learned, then he chose the shape of the book for convenience, and also because of habit. At first, the book of runes was completely illusory, without a bit of solidity, and then there was the first page, the second page.


    Felix said softly: "In fact, I should have thought of it long ago, the number is meaningless, my understanding of ancient runes forms the core of the book, when one after another filled in, these runes will spontaneously find the optimal alignment ... Finally, it''s time to harvest. "


    His index finger gently brushed the spine of the book, and the book of runes opened in a flash.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 500+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 443: The Book of Runes

    The pages of the book shimmered with a hazy light that illuminated the surrounding area perfectly, even in the darkest places, it could be read. Felix casually outlined a "light" Rune on it, and the book of runes "clattered" and flipped around to one area, then more runes appeared, like fish that had caught the bait, connecting with the initial rune, from three to five, then ten to twenty.


    These are a combination of undeveloped runic circuits or runic sequences.


    He randomly grabbed the runes drawn from the book, which were just shadows of gray, but when Felix injected his own magic power, it became completely different, no different from when he would outline the rune in the air.


    Felix''s mind wandered as he refocused his attention on the Book of Runes, and with his thoughts, a complete sequence of runes jumped out from the Book of Runes, and as his magic wrapped around it, it immediately turned into a soft, milky white ball of light.


    Illumination.


    Felix kept trying as if he had found a new toy, and the Book of Runes seemed to be programmed to arrange the runic sequence as he wished to assemble it.


    At that moment, a thought came to his mind, tickling his heart.


    He glanced out of the window, it had already gotten dark by now, but it is totally worth a try. He stepped out of his office and out of the castle, his silver cloak splashed down a stream of light as he glided silently through the grounds, and soon he appeared in a clearing in the Forbidden Forest.


    The forbidden forest at night is pitch-black, except for the sound of the blowing breeze, it is quiet. And it is in this silence, from time to time, there will be one or two eerie sounds heard, apparently, a sound made by living creatures.


    Felix slightly waved his hand, and the book of runes appeared, floating in front of his body.


    His finger tapped on it, and a whisper came out of his mouth: "Black Lightning ... can be launched first; well, let''s start with two." As soon as the words left his mouth, two illusory shadows flew out from the Book of Runes and hovered in front of him.


    Felix stared at them for a moment and continued, "Golden flames aren''t bad either." Another illusory shadow flew out, and like the black lightning, it shifted between the runic sequence and concrete illusory magic image.


    "A little light is better."


    "And a little protection."


    "What about visual disruption?"


    Felix draped in his silver cloak named a dozen of satisfying names in one breath as if he were ordering in a restaurant, and by the time he closed the book, there are a dozen more blurred shadows in front of him. In the late cold night, it looked like he was surrounded by a dozen will o'' the wisp of different colours.


    "This state is really marvellous ... obviously just illusory runes, but in a moment it can become real and rain down bolts of thunder." Felix murmured, he could not help but stretch out his hand and pour magic power towards the two dark shadows.


    The blurry shadows quickly turned from virtual to real, condensing into two black lightning, "crackling" exploding in the surrounding air, when Felix tried to control it, the black lightning immediately became docile, like flowing water.


    "So, the limit depends on how many spells I can control?" Felix mused, waving his hand to disperse the magic. He almost got some idea, and the various tactics could be refined accordingly, except-


    "What''s going on here?" Felix frowned and stared at his hand. His index finger is fused with ancient runes that are shining brightly a bit ...


    He repeatedly confirmed twice that the runes weren''t burrowing into his nail cap, but into his skin, as if the skin on his finger had undergone a unique mutation and could absorb the runes.


    He stood in the cold wind, thinking cautiously as if he had become one with the surrounding environment.


    Half an hour later, he let out a long breath, his brow furrowed deeper, he had repeatedly confirmed that only a small piece of skin on his right index finger changed like this, completely invisible on the outside, but Felix knew there is a difference.


    He could only think of one similar example - Dumbledore had shown him a demonstration of flicking off a spell with his bare hands. It was akin to what Lady Ravenclaw had told him about "magical creatures".


    "Am I getting close to that state?" Felix thought in amazement, "Close to the four founders of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, and all those people?" He could not accurately distinguish who was stronger and who was weaker, after all, they were too far apart from each other, but one thing is certain, these people''s understanding of magic is certainly above his.


    Is the change brought by the Book of Runes? Felix couldn''t help but guess, he had chosen the Runes as his path and stepping stone to realize magic, and in his office at Hogwarts Castle, he was once confused when he first saw the manuscript of Salazar Slytherin, yet he strengthened his confidence; later on, he even perfected the Book of Runes by chance.


    Is this an indication that he has gone far enough on this path?


    "A sign of a Metamorphosis?"


    Felix believed that this is a manifestation of his own increased affinity for Runes, and probably various resistances based on it will also increase accordingly, only he didn''t know how far this change would eventually reach, and how long the whole process would last.


    "Magical creature? Or Rune Being?"


    Felix pondered the difference between these two terms and smiled slightly, the many phantoms behind him disappeared in unison, he is looking forward to the arrival of that day.


    The next day is the weekend, and the young wizards have not yet gotten over yesterday''s match, and the topic of discussion cannot be separated from those wonderful performances. Harry and the group had planned to spend the weekend catching up on their homework or figuring out what the third task would be (Hermione''s idea), but there were so many people in the common room, and they were enthusiastic enough that they would occasionally walk by where they were sitting in the corner, and tap them on the shoulder to say, "Good job!"


    Or suddenly sit next to them and ask them for more details with a look of awe.


    "Can you hear sound in the black lake?"


    "I can hear a little." Harry mumbled.


    "Didn''t your hand hurt when you smashed the salmon with your fist?"


    "It''s protected by magic." Hermione said dully.


    As the morning passed, Harry finally couldn''t resist giving Ron and Hermione a wink as they catwalked out of the common room and ran to an abandoned classroom, a place they frequented to practice magic as well as the place for dueling study group.


    "Actually, I wouldn''t mind talking about it, but they know more about what I did than I do about it." Ron said with a torn expression. He felt that one of the downsides of the projection screen is that it took away his ability to flex his muscles.


    Think about it, when he described in graphic detail to the onlookers how scary the big squid was, "It''s a lot bigger than me!" Immediately, someone next to him said the wand used as a spear was too weird.


    Or when he tried to make a joke - "Guess what I saw?" A serious answer appeared, "A Merpeople Village." Others said "red hair" or "the shroud of the bubble-head charm", and finally the audience left him the main character behind, and argued among themselves which answer is more accurate ...


    Ron yawned, tears coming out of his eyes, "Ah - maybe I should go back and catch up on my sleep, I slept too late last night."


    "I want to see Hagrid." Harry said.


    "Then I''ll meet you in the library, it''s definitely less crowded today." Hermione said conclusively.


    Hermione ran off to the library alone. Her two roommates last night asked her about the magic that could "knock out a salmon with one punch", she rolled her eyes as she took out a rune card and handed it to them.


    Parvati and Lavender stared in amazement at the card, which illustrated a Wild OX Rune.


    "Could Hermione''s temper have been related to this ...," Lavender whispered.


    Parvati tugged on her sleeve and passed her a look, and the two looked over as Hermione was sticking a furry head out of the bedsheet and looked at them with annoyance.


    Lavender immediately smiled and offered, "How about ... I lend you that book for two more days?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 500+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 444: Smell

    In the evening, Harry knocked on the door of the Ancient Runes office and saw Professor Hap holding a book and reading it with great interest. "Professor Hap?"


    Felix looked up, the book in his hand silently disappeared, which caused Harry''s eyelids to jump.


    But he had grown accustomed to this kind of strange sight, so he sat down with the professor on the other side of the couch. And with a wave of the professor''s finger, an enchanted book flew down from the shelf and landed precisely in his hand.


    "Professor, I want to ask you a question." Harry didn''t rush to open the book.


    "About what?"


    Harry told Felix about his unintentional blocking of information from the hurdle during the second task, and finally asked with an expectant tone, "Is this an entry-level of Occlumency?"


    Felix thought about it, "This can only mean that we are on the right path ... entry-level of occlumency does not simply mean that you are aware or can resist external invasion with good preparation, as it is more about improving your sensitivity and self-protection, allowing the mind to spontaneously shield your mind from external influences, including in your sleep. Besides that, it can also effectively strengthen your mind ..."


    "I see, Professor."


    Harry proceeded to read the book he had, although the professor did not acknowledge his entry-level occlumency, but that was probably because he was expecting too much, Harry thought, I fought off at least one invasion ... maybe more than once, he hadn''t had a nightmare in a long time.


    He flipped to a new page, and the page featured a fluffy, orange orb that looked pretty cute. But the next second, he felt itchy all over, more so than when he had eaten Fred and George''s canary cookies and faded his feathers, next he couldn''t resist reaching out to scratch--


    "Ahem!" Felix coughed, flipping over a page of the book in front of Harry, and then he continued to read that disappeared book again that he didn''t notice appearing again.


    Harry withdrew his hand, flushed, and fought the sensation, but the "itch" felt worse than the "torture", at least he knew the feeling now is fake, because he is comfortably sitting on the professor''s couch, but he can''t help but suspect that the professor had secretly cast a Tickling Charm ...


    Fortunately, the remaining reason kept Harry from asking, and he tried to empty his mind, but it didn''t always work, and when he got up to leave as he walked down the castle corridor, he could still feel the "phantom tickle" on his body.


    Maybe it is the residual effects of the enchanted book, he thought, it is best not to take a hot bath today.


    Harry took a deep breath, and the irritation in his mind got suppressed, this is a trick he figured out, when he encounters negative emotions he can try to use the Occlumency to block that emotion and then divert his attention.


    Only he is not skilled yet, and often can''t remember to use it ... in stressful situations s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The weather became a little sunnier in March, but it was closely followed by windy weather. During the first week of March, at least five days were passed with howling winds, and Felix could see the flags on the Quidditch pitch whistling as he watched Beauxbatons'' carriage and Ilvermorny''s school statues through his window.


    Felix and Valen huddled on the couch, looking idle.


    He was too lazy to be interested in anything these days, apart from spending most of his time reading the Book of Runes; he even only went to dueling class - which had become an elective - when it was his turn.


    From time to time, he could hear some interesting news. Professor Moody liked to arrange people who disliked each other as opponents, "It will inspire your courage and wisdom!" he proclaimed.


    The effect is obvious. At the end of each dueling class, the students looked most miserable in appearance.


    The transformation of the right index finger is slower than he expected, as it has only just passed one more finger in the past two weeks. He tried to speed it up, but nothing affected it, good or bad, as if everything was an illusion, but he knew the reason he didn''t succeed was because he hadn''t thought about the possibility of integrating the runes into his body before ...


    But this type of possibility naturally never existed in the past.


    Felix is certain that he is undergoing a healthy, beneficial transformation, as evidenced by his lazy behaviour of late - his mind and magic are not giving him any sense of alarm.


    At that moment, the communication mirror on the shelf rang out, and he couldn''t help but get a headache at the sound of the distinctive voice. "Valen, fetch it for me." Felix yawned and said, Valen who was examining a gold butterfly-shaped brooch (from Future World Shop 7), could not help but look at him when she heard the words, "Kiki?"


    "I don''t want to move ... just to train your sense of smell." Felix said wilfully.


    "Kiki (what do you want)?"


    " Andys''s communication mirror, that unkempt uncle." Felix casually described him, and Niffler immediately thought of the fool who performed coin magic in front of her and as she recalled his smell.


    Valen huffed and moved her fluffy body to jump off the couch and found the communication mirror from the shelf. Then she slipped back into the couch as she found a comfortable position again to lie in the fold of Felix''s arm, and continued to gawk as she raised the butterfly brooch in her hand.


    Felix picked up the mirror, he looked through the messages on it, most of them were the sales statistics of " The Strange Adventures of Little Wizard Mick", he read it a few times and did not care. The latter were various variations of inquiring about his plans for the new book.


    Uh ...


    Felix scratched his head, he did consider publishing a small booklet about runes, but the style of the book is not meant to be in line with the comic book. However, it is possible to consider an extra comic book to accompany the booklet, telling the story of young wizard Mick when he started to go to school.


    While he had nothing to do, he thought about it in his head.


    "The plot of the comic is relatively simple, that is, the story of Mick''s third grade when he came into contact with the ancient runes and followed the professor to learn, which is considered as a short story."


    "As for the booklet, I want it to have more science and communication attributes, well, first, an introduction to the history of runes, this part does not need to be too much, just a few hundred words ... After flipping a page, you will see a series of dynamic pictures of ancient magic... ... To be fair, add a picture of an old scholar translating the manuscript ...


    The second part is the development and evolution of the runic language, which also needs to be simplified, no one wants to read a long-winded essay ...


    The next part is the main part, need to explain the division between runes and ancient magic clearly ... uh, I''d better find simple ancient magic as an example to dissect, preferably one that is easy to get into practice," Felix''s expression perked up a bit when he thought about it and said. "Just illumination magic."


    Felix lay on the sofa and mulled it over while looking at the time, there is a dueling class this evening, he hasn''t been there for almost a month, and he wondered what surprises these little wizards would bring him?


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 501+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 445: Exchange

    The great hall bustled with noise. The young wizards looked around on their toes, waiting for the arrival of today''s dueling class professor.


    "Don''t let it be Professor Moody, he''s awful." A Ravenclaw girl said, "Especially when he rushes over to correct you, it''s like he''s going to hex you ..."


    "That''s why he''s paired with Professor Flitwick." Her friend next to her commented.


    At that moment, Felix appeared from the entrance hall and walked into the great hall, when he stepped into the gilded ring, he unexpectedly spotted students from other schools.


    "We seem to have some new guests today, welcome." Felix said softly while taking out his wand and shooting out a few clusters of sparks from the tip, "Normally we mostly only see other school students during meals or in the library; Now this is a rare opportunity for you to learn about the magical arts of different schools."


    "Professor, are we gonna engage in a duel?"


    "Not entirely," Felix said gently, " I would prefer you all to use this opportunity with the main aim of exchanging different views, would any of the champions like to give it a try? Introducing your school magic to us?" S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    After a moment of silence, a tall champion stepped onto the stage, Nona Leibert as she smoothed her hair, she revealed her long, chocolate-coloured neck and feral eyes.


    "Nona Leibert," she gestured, "from Uagadou, specialized in Astronomy and Self-Transfiguration, and of course, after coming here, I discovered I''m also specialized in gesture casting."


    Nona waved her hand, and something more akin to a club than a wand flew over to her, and she caught it in her hand, which she waved twice, making a haunting "swoosh" sound, and several students who were close backed away, fearing that they might be hit.


    "The wand is certainly not dispensable to us, as it allows us to cast spells more fluidly," Nona said, "and of course, in addition to the wand, we also stick to learning separate hand gestures to cast spells that are convenient, quick and stealthy."


    She raised her head, "If you want to dislocate someone''s jaw, all you need to do is wave your hand ... provided you''re skilled enough."


    "Very well, Miss Leibert, would you like to have an exhibition match next, or--"


    "No, I''ve heard that you can ask the professor for guidance, is that true?" She said with burning eyes, "I''m interested in dueling, especially with someone better than me ... I''ve challenged every upperclassman on Mountains of the Moon, including young professors."


    "Sure." Felix nodded as he nudged Niffler Valen''s head and motioned for her to find a more secure place.


    "Over here--"


    "Look over here! Valen-"


    More than one student shouted this, and Valen appeared to be quite popular, but she still bounded over to Hermione, who is looking at the ring on tiptoe, and scooped her up in her arms, "Gee, we should take a closer look, maybe it will be helpful in the third task..."


    "I don''t want to go up against a student of Uagadou or Ilvermorny." Ron muttered, "Whether it''s Self-Transfiguration or Combo Magic, both are tricky and from what Byers said, they all trained according to Aurors standard when they took Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    "That''s an advanced course only for upper years, considered an Auror reserve." Hermione reminded.


    On the field, Felix and Nona Leibert bowed slightly, followed by a swift wave of Nona''s hand, and a trail of sparks erupted at Felix''s jaw as he used the humanoid shield charm right after bowing.


    Felix''s voice also followed: "The hand gesture casting is quick enough, if you can not be sure, the first choice should be protecting yourself ... you can use the shield charm, or you can prepare an amulet for yourselves."


    Nona waved her hand repeatedly, her fingertips flicked rhythmically, and soon the floor of the ring became broken, Felix gently flicked the spell away, so far, Nona did not demonstrate enough strength.


    At that moment, the shattered floor planks twisted and turned into six African spiny-haired mouse, Felix stabbed his wand firmly, as six magic ropes flew out from the tip of the wand, which looked like a big six-headed snake, the ropes swiftly wrapped around the spiny-haired mouse which made the transfiguration forcibly broken.


    The spiny-haired mouse suddenly erupted into a puff of thick smoke, at which point, Nona''s figure suddenly disappeared.


    Felix, with his magical perspective firmly locked on her trail, then he turned slightly from the center of the ring and watched as she elongated her body and transformed into an agile panther, and approached him quietly with the help of a thick smoke cover. She turned nimbly in midair like a big cat, ready to pounce, and the magic ropes on the ground that had previously been scattered by the blast suddenly sprang up and turned into layers of snake shadows encircling her.


    "Hiss~Hiss~Hiss~"


    Nona saw three snakes staring at her at the same time, and a hissing sound came from behind her, so she decisively chose to admit defeat.


    After the smoke cleared, she returned to her original form. And with a calm expression, Nona asked Felix, "In what area do you think I need to improve?"


    "I can see that you have your own tactics," Felix said thoughtfully, "but your intention to attack is too obvious, and the lack of defense when performing Self-Transfiguration ... such an oversight should not exist, no? "


    "It''s not an oversight." Nona laughed, "We''ve been working on coordination lately, so instead of Nona Leibert, you''re facing a 1/3 team of Uagadou''s Champion, and under normal circumstances, when I turn into a panther, my body will be covered with various protective magic."


    "So that''s how it is." Felix nodded slightly, and he roughly simulated in his mind. Uagadou''s Self-Transfiguration tactics may really be promising, even with just the three animal forms they have shown so far - Green Eagles, Leopards, and Elephants - although each of them is not considered overly powerful, it''s different if they have teammates around to apply protection magic.


    They just need to use their respective strengths as fully as possible and display them explosively - using the green eagle to observe and discover weaknesses; using the leopard to assault and seize important positions; then using the elephant to rampage and break through the traps to open the way. This combination posed little challenge to even an average dark wizard, who is well versed in fighting slyly.


    Then a champion from the Durmstrang school came forward, and the crowd looked at him curiously, knowing very little about this champion, who has even less of a presence than the one named "Bewick".


    At least that Bewick offered a highlight - Professor Hap descending from high above Black Lake, grabbing him and pocketing him, causing an area of the projection screen to go black for a few minutes.


    "Uh, hi guys," the man stammered, "My name is Aurus Poliakov, and I''m very fond of Hogwarts booze ..."


    A burst of laughter rang out in the great hall.


    Poliakov''s face turned even redder, and he looked lost for words. When the laughter subsided, he continued, "I, uh ... I''d like to introduce the dark arts ..."


    The sound in the great hall died down at once.


    "I, I''ve heard rumours over the past few months that Durmstrang teaches students dark magic without any scruples ... I feel the need to state, ahem! The rumours are not quite true ...," Poliakov said, "... it is necessary to give an introduction about my school, otherwise the misunderstanding will only get bigger."


    "Durmstrang has been very focused on dueling and war magic since the time of the second Headmaster. Today, over six hundred years later, we are carrying our legacy to the extreme. Yes, Durmstrang does teach dark magic, but each one of them is carefully selected to ensure that nothing goes wrong ... otherwise Durmstrang wouldn''t be on par with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons... ..."


    There is a lot of chatter from the young wizards offstage.


    "What do you think, Harry?" Ron asked.


    "It seems to make some sense," Harry said thoughtfully, "but I just don''t like Karkaroff." He happened to learn that Karkaroff had given Durmstrang''s Champion Team ten points again in the second task, while the other teams were merely hovering around seven or eight points.


    That was the result of a warning to Karkaroff, who otherwise would have given others even lower scores.


    "Nobody likes Karkaroff," Ron muttered while looking up at Poliakov in the ring, who was introducing some of Durmstrang''s school rules to demonstrate Durmstrang''s strict approach to dark magic.


    Sparse applause rang out in the great hall.


    "Our school rules also prohibit night trips, trespassing into forbidden forests, and trading in Dungbomb!" Ron said briskly.


    Harry couldn''t help but laugh.


    "Next, I''m going to show you a few dark arts," Poliakov said enthusiastically, pumped up by the applause, "It''s not as evil as you might think, you just have to use it in the right place and invoke the negative emotions wisely ... "


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 518+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 446: New Application of Runes

    "People are agitated, scared, and excited at the same time." A girl said while bobbing her head. "Oh, well, you are absolutely right, Luna ...." Ginny agreed with her from the sidelines and tiptoed along with the crowd to get a better look.


    In the ring, Felix addressed the crowd, "There''s nothing wrong with getting a little exposure. Mr. Poliakov, I''ll watch over your demonstration." He waved his wand and the shattered wooden planks transformed into a human-shaped target.


    Poliakov drew his wand, and raised it over his shoulder, as he recited the incantation under his breath, "Turbine nigro Pluma!" A black whirlwind gushed out from the tip of the wand and flew swiftly toward the human-shaped target. The young wizards could clearly see the black wind mixed with even deeper black feathers, which swirled just as fast.


    After a tooth-aching sound, the human-shaped target was battered and scraped. When both the black wind and the black feathers disappeared, all that remained were gashes that looked like the jaws of a fish.


    There was an audible intake of breath from offstage, and many students jumped up and down on tiptoe to get a better look.


    "If this hits a person ...," said Neville, wincing at the wounds on the target, "I still think the stunning spell works best."


    Seamus patted him on the shoulder, "The others don''t think so ..." Neville''s eyes trailed across the room, and he saw Draco and several Slytherin students applauding enthusiastically, then he looked left and right, there were quite a lot of excited people.


    "This is the Black Feather spell - creating a whirlwind to quickly approach the enemy, but the main focus is those black feathers, they work like tiny knives, and they are exceptionally swift and corrosive ..." Poliakov introduced the spell.


    Felix and the others listened quietly, at which point the location of the human-sized target''s wound began to turn black, seemingly verifying that his words were true.


    " So can the general healing spell heal this wound?" Felix asked softly.


    "Uh, it''s best to use a counter-spell, because the effects of other spells are rather poor ... but it more or less works." Poliakov said, "That''s why the professor suggested that we should only use it when we are surrounded by dangerous creatures in the wild, like wolves."


    "And I practiced this magic all the time imagining myself surrounded by a pack of vicious creatures and having to fight back ..." he began to tell the story of his mindset when learning this dark magic.


    Felix saw the young wizards'' thoughtful and eager expressions, so he had to speak up and remind them, "This method may have some effect, but it is not suitable for Hogwarts students, since it is built according to the well-established system of Durmstrang, perhaps I should convey your interest to Professor Moody, he must be very interested."


    The young wizards moved their heads away nervously.


    Felix could understand their thoughts, after all, he also had been restless when he was at school. Who doesn''t want to master powerful and eye-catching magic? But when he became a professor, he underwent a certain change of heart. For the Hogwarts students, did they really need dark magic?


    He had thought deeply about this question and came to the conclusion that the answer is negative. Hogwarts is not a military school, it is a place where young wizards are trained to use their magic wisely, with a degree of targeted mentorship based on what each person is good at. As for protecting oneself, the class Defense Against the Dark Arts is enough to deal with common dangers in general, especially since the quality of teaching in the past few years is actually not that bad, and the number of people who chose to apply for Auror has increased a lot over previous years.


    Felix did envision exposing upperclassmen to some dark magic, but concentrating on dark magic for a short period of time could easily breed darkness in one''s heart, so he might as well not do it.


    "If we can avoid the side effects, why don''t we try to learn one or two?" Ron asked in a low voice.


    "Because you won''t know if you''re affected or not, as you might be changing implicitly," Hermione said pointedly, " For high-level wizards, there are plenty of ways for them to self-assess and rectify those changes."


    "Maybe you''re right, but I''m sure normal dark magic doesn''t work like that." Ron spoke with great conviction.


    The exchange continued -


    Cedric demonstrated an application of ancient runes and - to Felix''s surprise - he chose a route he had once abandoned - incorporating runes into modern magic.


    Cedric smiled coyly, " I thought of it during a practice of the ''Flow of Water'' Rune, its magical image resembled a spring, and I immediately thought of the Aguamenti Charm, and wondered if I could fuse the two, it took me a long time to succeed."


    Felix smiled, it seems everyone has grown, he only wondered how far Cedric''s research would go.


    At that moment, Cedric held his wand in his right hand and quickly outlined a Rune in midair. The Rune flickered twice and then turned into a shadow that looked like a waterfall or a spring, dimly shining down with a glow.


    Cedric nervously reached out his wand, the tip of which poked into the illusion created by the rune.


    "Aguamenti!" He grasped the opportunity to shout, his wand glowed, and the spell, with a flash, it seemed to absorb the rune''s virtual reflection and became three flowing streams of water that swirled around the tip of the wand.


    "The next step is throwing them out--" Cedric said carefully, then he forcefully pointed his wand forward, the water stream darted towards the previous human-sized target and made a dull thud, which sent the target far away against the wall.


    The young wizards stared blankly at the target at the corner, and if the one who had been hit by the spell was a living human being, they could already imagine the sight of him groaning on the ground while covering his stomach in pain.


    "Why do I get the feeling that his spell can knock people out ..? What kind of magic is this?" Ron asked in amazement.


    "It should be a Water-Making Spell, I saw it in my sixth-year charms textbook when I went through it, Cedric happens to be in the sixth year too, but ..." Hermione''s expression tangled, "From what I read in the spell description it''s not this powerful, could it be, as he said, the use of the rune?"


    Her fingertips flashed with a bright rune that flew around.


    Many seniors were talking and exchanging opinions. They knew what kind of spell Water-Making Spell is, the effect is not that potent at all, but after Cedric''s improvement, the power seems to be no worse than some attack spells.


    Next, a few more champions came forward one after another to show their abilities. It''s hard to say whether these young wizards on the sidelines learned something, or were just simply watching, but at least it opened up their horizons.


    And Felix obviously felt a change in the mindset of the champions, perhaps they are still rivals at the moment, but they also didn''t mind being a little more honest, or rather, both enemies and friends, gained empathy for each other?


    Felix pondered in his mind whether he should organize another exchange - there had been no similar event since the last failed exchange with the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


    After the exchange, the young wizards were very curious about the skills shown by the different schools, but they could only manage to reach Cedric alone, so he had to demonstrate them a few times in public. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Timing is important, and I still haven''t figured out some principles behind this part, so I''m going to ask Professor Hap for advice." Cedric said.


    At the Magic Rune Club assembly, Felix revealed the mystery of this part of knowledge.


    "I did discover this phenomenon as well, just like Mr. Diggory mentioned. It was just a hypothesis I had first-" Felix sat by the warm fireplace and glanced around at everyone.


    "Is it possible for ancient magic and modern magic to merge?"


    The members of the club froze, most of them were unfamiliar with the history, they just knew that ancient wizards used ancient magic, and they use modern magic, not many of them were clear about how the transition was made in between.


    "Of course, there is so much thinking involved that if I wanted to explain it in detail, it might require more than one book-length, so I will briefly summarize it by expressing that after a lot of thinking and experimenting, I have made a breakthrough in the direction of whether ancient runes and modern magic can be integrated."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 520+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 447: The club scene

    "Although I eventually abandoned this line of thought because my spell''s power is advancing very rapidly, it became less desirable to use runes to increase magic''s power now, and there are also many drawbacks with it, such as the need to use two thoughts simultaneously ... but now I realized that perhaps it is more suitable for you at this stage." Felix said softly: "The way Mr. Diggory came up with the idea of combining the ''Flow of Water'' Rune and the Water-Making Spell is unique, and I advise you all to continue to experiment with it when you have time, such as- " He paused, leaving the crowd some time to think.


    " ''Flame'' Rune and Fire-Making Spell," Hermione replied excitedly, "and ''Glow'' Rune and Lumos spell. "


    Felix smiled at her, "It seems that Miss Granger already started, let''s study the runes and spells that can be combined and complement each other in a group. ... It happens that your magic control has improved a lot recently."


    The magic rune club members grimaced as they were reminded of their gut-wrenching experience of facing the Billywig insects again.


    Felix rose from his soft couch, and with a flick of his wand, a shallow stone basin flew over from the shelf, and the students looked at each other, a bit psychologically apprehensive about what they would go through, even though it wasn''t their first time.


    "We''ll go first!" Fred and George said in unison. Both of them poked their fingers into the silvery substance contained in the stone basin at the same time, and the next second, they were sucked in by the stone basin.


    "Wow~hohohoho~" the two men''s excited shouts became muffled as if it was emanating from a well.


    A row of young wizards gathered around to watch, and after waiting quietly for a few seconds, they heard a very clear "Pop!" "Pop!" sound.


    "Landed safely." Ron said with a wide grin.


    "Yeah! Just waiting for you guys!" Fred shouted from the space inside the stone basin, creating a mixture of sounds that sounded like echoes.


    "So that''s what they had in mind ...| Ron muttered, " No one will see their faces smashed to the ground if they''re the first to go in." He poked his whole face into the silvery substance, and his body disappeared from sight.


    One by one, the young wizards got inside the stone basin, but this time it wasn''t like when they learned illumination, where they would have their own professor waiting for them. Felix just created a spacious and suitable place for them to cast their spells.


    Felix''s voice rumbled like thunder from high up above the stone basin, "You''re still in the same grouping as last time."


    In the stone basin space, Harry could not help but suck in a breath, Ron also grimaced, then they coincidentally looked at Draco Malfoy, who also had a rather uncomfortable expression on his face.


    At the last Magic Rune Club assembly, Professor Hap suggested that they should work together to control the Billywig''s activity space - in a group of three, then Hermione was pulled to instruct Luna and Ginny, and by the time they reacted, Draco Malfoy was already standing in front of them unwillingly.


    "I applied some potion on the way here, Billywig insects hate that smell ...," Draco said slowly, his eyes shined brightly.


    "And you learned this over Christmas break?" Harry asked peevishly.


    "Oh, of course not, didn''t you experience my Full Body-Bind Curse?" Draco said with a satisfied look on his face, and from looking at his expression, Harry couldn''t help but remember the scene where he and Malfoy battled in the dueling class that Professor Moody was in charge of.


    "My Full Body-Bind Curse was also good enough, wasn''t it?" Harry said with a grin.


    Draco''s pale face turned red, and he stammered, "I was careless, and you broke the rules ..."


    "Yeah well, but Professor Moody thought otherwise, and he was very upset that you made the first move before the command, Malfoy," Ron stated with interest as he looked at him, "You almost achieved an achievement of turning into a small animal two times at the hand of Professor Moody... ..." he said with a look of reminiscence, ignoring the increasingly dangerous glare from Draco, "We might have seen that scene if Professor Flitwick was not present."


    That assembly was the one where Ron got stung the hardest, and incidentally, it affected Harry - the fish who was also in the same pond.


    ...


    The three stood facing each other in a small circle, looking very cautious as they regrouped. Harry''s eyes kept darting, looking left at Ron and right at Draco, as the other two did the same.


    "Weasley, Potter, my mom is planning on getting our own custom record soon, not something made by the Weird Sisters ... They are completely out of line with the aesthetics of people with noble status ..."


    "What are you trying to say?" Ron asked irritably, itching to give Malfoy a hex.


    "Oh," Draco paused, a small smile appeared on his pale face, "What was I saying, magic gramophone? Yeah, that''s right; Weasley, surely you have one at home, right?"


    " We don''t need anything like that in my house!" Ron said with a red face.


    "Yeah well ..." Draco raised his head in satisfaction, "L.C.A. publishers also recently released a comic book limited edition and I got a set in my collection." S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron was so angry that he could not even outline a rune, as the tip of his wand sparked continuously.


    "That''s nothing." Harry said.


    "What do you mean?" Draco''s eyes went straight to Harry.


    "All that ... expensive stuff you''re talking about, comic books and stuff, you can buy them if you have money." Harry said, "I can''t see your part in it, it''s all your family''s money, nothing to do with you personally, no?"


    Draco looked at him gloomily and spoke slowly, "Malfoy has been doing that for generations."


    " Is that so?" Harry grinned, "Sounds inspiring, but we value something that money can''t buy, and although you bought the rare edition of the comic book, the content is exactly the same, and Ron has read it at least five times-"


    "It''s the sixth time," Ron said calmly, "and I know some lines in the book by heart. That''s why I did so well in the second task... Didn''t Professor put these books on a separate shelf in the library?"


    "We can compete to see who has memorized the most of it?" He looked at Draco provocatively.


    Draco scoffed at that, "I''m not interested, maybe you are preparing to succeed your father? After you graduate, will you join the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office?"


    "You''re full of crap." Ron said through clenched teeth, gasping for air. Harry pointed a short distance away, Ginny along with Hermione looked over, and Luna seemed to have the intention of coming closer to watch the fun.


    For a span of time, none of the three said a word -


    "You guys know what we need to do." Harry said.


    "Exactly." Ron echoed.


    "Sorry, I still have some questions ...," Draco trailed off.


    "Yeah, well, guess what?" Ron finally pressed his anger and threatened in an angry whisper, "Either be honest or we''ll hold you down and cast a Tickling Charm on your nose!"


    Draco: "... You wouldn''t dare do that."


    "The professor didn''t follow us down, maybe he''s sleeping on the couch up there." Ron speculated irrationally, but the comment clearly made Draco''s expression dark and uncertain.


    All went well for the rest of the day, except for the occasional murmur -


    "Weasley, sheesh! How did you come up with the idea of combining a ''Flow of Water'' Rune and a Fire-Making Spell? Do you intend to get a cloud of steam? How do you plan to control it?"


    "Potter! Let me do it, I''m more skilled in the Smashing spell, and I suggest combining the ''Light'' Rune with it ..."


    "Shut up, Malfoy!" x2


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 520+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 448: Ancient Rune Society

    In the Potions class professor''s office, Felix and Snape are playing a wizard chess game. Felix opened with a white King''s Pawn, and Snape opened with a black Sicilian Defense. The set reached the mid-game, and they exchanged pieces back and forth, but neither of them had their minds on the board.


    "How''s the mucus from the Firetrail Snails working out?"


    "Not bad, there seems to be some kind of unknown change, I personally think it''s beneficial ..." Snape commanded his black pawn to move up, while whispering: "It seems to be a good idea, using magic with different properties to process the material in order to ''kill'' certain unnecessary but stubborn traits of the material."


    "Doesn''t the same thing apply in potions, where the ingredients neutralize each other? Oh ... I see." Felix said while commanding his queen to advance two squares, sweeping the black pawn off the board at once.


    Snape dispatched the bishop unhurriedly, "Most mediocre wizards are unable to distinguish the subtle differences which are important factors in determining his success in the path of potions ..."


    Felix''s white knight trembled under the threat of the black bishop and kept shouting at Felix, "Come and save me! Come and save me!"


    Felix coldly gave the command, and his white queen moved forward three squares diagonally without expression, her eyes moving back and forth between the two black pawns diagonally and vertically. Snape stared and thought for a few seconds and gave up on the vertical black pawn.


    It was then that Felix moved the white knight deeper into Black''s territory. "Charge!" The chess piece shouted enthusiastically.


    "That''s right." Felix said, to respond to Snape. "But it''s also important to take into account the lack of basic common sense of newly enrolled muggle wizards."


    "It has been taken into account, and the potion ratios for the first year are extremely simple, leaving them plenty of time to adjust." Snape said slowly, "Unless they can''t read or don''t have the slightest grasp of logical thinking."


    Felix thought back for a moment, it is indeed so, the entire first-year potions textbook contains only a few recipes, most of them are the introduction of common magic potion ingredients, as well as the notes on brewing potions and a summary of the characteristics of common potions and other elements. Even for the only remaining dozen potion recipes, the handling procedures are described in great detail - How many times to stir, and the subsequent reaction is detailed, there are also common mistakes and corrective measures attached to the back of the page.


    At this point, Snape''s Black Knight approached the center of the board and attacked the central position, Felix mobilized the fortress move to meet the challenge. While the smell of gunpowder on the board was getting stronger, the two men sitting outside the board chatted unhurriedly -


    "Recently, many students are discussing the use of ancient runes to increase modern magic potency, and some of them have already developed quite a few things." Snape said softly.


    "I know ..." Felix stared at the board and felt that the central pawn formation is wrong, after a moment of contemplation he keenly spotted a hidden trap, he gave Snape a look, trying to distract me by talking?


    He decisively told the white knight to fall back. The black pawn immediately followed, the white bishop stepped forward and swept away the black pawn, the black knight counterattacked and captured the white bishop, then the white queen suddenly attacked and captured the black knight, the black queen followed and confronted her, and finally, Felix captured the black queen with the only white pawn left.


    After a fierce exchange, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief.


    "In fact, the fusion of ancient rune and modern magic is a dead end."


    "Dead end?" Snape looked at him in disbelief, ignoring the chess piece in his hand.


    "Well," Felix thought seriously, "it would be more accurate to say ... a fork in the road, like a river dividing into different streams, which, in the end, still have to merge into one."


    "I''ve never heard this kind of claim." Snape said slowly, twirling a black knight who kept struggling in his hand.


    Felix smiled as he explained more specifically, "Take the ''Flow of Water'' Rune and the water making spell for example, part of their magical concepts overlap, therefore this rune has a reinforcing effect on the spell, but you will find that this type of reinforcement cannot be suitable for all spells, and, I suspect the exact effect will vary from person to person ..."


    "Varies from person to person?" Snape mulled over the word.


    "Exactly. For example, the degree of mastery of the runes, and a deep understanding of the runes is the most basic requirement. This can be compensated with shortcuts, though someone has to be willing to teach it ... and the selection of the right spell is important. The students are now working very hard because of the enthusiasm, so they need to be able to achieve some results before their enthusiasm runs out... ...and the casting time, launch timing, etc. These are all problems."


    Felix continued: "This is just a fusion of a single rune and modern magic, and after that? The integration of two or three runes? Runic circuits, runic sequences, ancient magic? You''ll find that the further you go, the greater the burden of ancient runes can be so that it didn''t make much sense."


    "Then why did you--" Snape took a breath. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''ve gotten sidetracked in the past," Felix said calmly, "I was determined to climb up and discover the higher mysteries, so naturally some routes that obviously didn''t fit were discarded, like this line of thought in which I knew the follow-up and the endpoint -- -transforming modern magic into ancient magic, breaking through all kinds of tangible and intangible restrictions. But it became obvious that this was not what I wanted."


    Especially with the Book of Runes. Felix thought to himself.


    Snape remained silent for a moment, " So then you think it would be more fruitful if you brought it to the table now?"


    "It was Diggory who reminded me of it, and I went along with it." Felix shook his head slightly, staring at the chessboard for a moment, then moving his eyes away and said, "Of course, when you think about it, it indeed has a great benefit for me when it comes to promoting ancient runes ..."


    The situation on the board entered the stalemate stage, and the field began to settle down. The contest on the board had taken a lot of thought, especially since he didn''t intend to cheat with the Thinking Room or Thought Acceleration magic.


    Felix leaned lazily on the back of the sofa, as he watched Snape contemplate intently, and then he resumed what he had just said: "Although I didn''t need it, Diggory''s unexpected discovery also reminded me of one thing: the ancient runes may have started to blossom because of me, but I''d rather have a thousand flowers blossom behind me, so I encouraged them to submit their ideas to the magazine."


    Snape jerked his head up and looked at him in surprise.


    "Discussing the advantages and disadvantages of combining ancient runes and modern magic, as well as some decent case studies ... I devised a structure for the thesis, and they were able to get it published in the magazine by following that and a bit of luck." Felix explained. "Of course, I''m talking about the members of the Magic Runes Club." He added. While commanding his white knight to advance, the white knight drew his scimitar in an exaggeratedly intimidating manner to intimidate the opposing knight. "I also suggested the students to send out two copies, one designated to the Ancient Rune Society."


    Snape showed an expression of understanding.


    The relationship between his student and the ancient rune society has never been good, those old scholars who have studied the character and meaning of the runes for a lifetime find it difficult to accept Felix''s theory, their common view is: ancient rune is a language, except it borrowed some of the "shape" from old practical runes.


    Now, it is not impossible to form a "New Ancient Rune Society" when these students grow up. Or rather, it is virtually inevitable. More than half of this year''s Hogwarts graduates have taken Ancient Rune Class, and more than a fifth of the entire class has taken Advanced Class in Ancient Rune, and their knowledge and experience with Ancient Rune are what Felix had hoped for.


    A frightening fact is that, Felix has only been in this job for less than three years, in other words, the students who graduated in these two years did not learn from him from the beginning of the course, and if we go by this benchmark, only the current fifth grade - those who are preparing for the O.W.Ls exams - are the first to receive Felix''s ancient rune class from their third-year education.


    The only thing those old scholars can do is to express their voices in the margins of some newspapers to rebuke such behaviours, or to consider dividing those ''practical'' ancient runes apart by not recognizing their existence and splitting them in two, which is not that great part of the ancient runes anyway... ...


    This should be the best way. Snape thought to himself, like how a gecko severs its tail to survive, although it is humiliating, at least they can save themselves.


    Felix fiddled with a chess piece and said with a smile: "I have recently made another discovery, some of the runes that we previously considered as mere translatable runes, might have been a simplification and mutation of some practical runes, well, perhaps to a greater extent ..."


    This is also an insight brought to him by the Book of Runes.


    Snape was speechless.


    Even the last step is blocked, besides obediently conceding defeat, does the Ancient Rune Society have any way out?


    ...


    The headquarters of the Ancient Rune Society.


    Compared to the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, St. Mungo''s Magical Medical Society, and other large organizations, the Ancient Rune Society''s headquarters looked extraordinarily shabby, with only three dozen members in total, which is still the result of the Society''s repeated relaxation of requirements and accumulation of decades of effort.


    "Did you see that? It''s not unusual to produce a valuable article in the field of ancient Rune every few years, but in the last half month, half a dozen extremely groundbreaking thesis have been sent to me ..."


    "Does the stuff they''re researching concern us?" A cranky old man slapped the table.


    "Old Vera, don''t bring in your personal emotions, your granddaughter went to work for ''Future World'' company, no matter what, you can''t affect the impartiality of our association."


    The old man looked at his buddy in frustration.


    "Think about it, these theses have been published in the Daily Prophet and the Witch Weekly, they even attracted the attention of the Ministry of Magic-"


    "What''s wrong with that?" The old man asked with wide eyes.


    "Ha! This matter involves at least three departments, the Committee on Experimental Charms, the Wizarding Examinations Authority, and the Auror''s Office." The man said slowly, "I heard that they are also planning to assemble a booklet on ancient runes under Felix Hap, so there is also the possibility of attracting the attention of the publishers ..."


    "The people from the Wizarding Examinations Authority are also involved in this?" The old man asked.


    "Originally, Griselda was quite patient and intended to see the results of this year before talking about it ... but things are changing so fast that she can''t sit still either, it''s almost a subversion of modern spells!"


    " Is it that exaggerated?" The old man looked unconvinced.


    "At least it''s an add-on, I''ve taken a step back, you can''t refute this!" The man said, blowing his beard and staring.


    "Well," the old man smacked his lips, without moving for a while, "you know Professor Marchbanks right? Ask her to bring me along!"


    ------------


    #giser, #michele daluiso, and #alex, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 522+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 449: Scrimgeour

    Satisfied, Felix emerged from the Potions office and gazed through the window into the distance. It is now late March, the weather has become much warmer, and the forbidden forest and the mountain range are finally no longer looked empty when you look at them from afar. "It''s a shame not to go for a stroll in the Forbidden Forest on such a nice day." Felix muttered to himself, then he cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself, and his body rushed up to the sky with a silver cloak draped on.


    Felix landed at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the silver cloak behind him disappeared into a speck of lights, then he couldn''t help but wonder, "Maybe in the future, one of my bios will be ''working with Dumbledore and developed twelve uses of the Patronus Charm''?"


    He laughed at the thought and strolled through the Forbidden Forest. It was only when he got closer that he noticed that although it is still cold, there are already many plants breaking out of the cold soil and revealing their buds.


    He also saw a bush of Muscadine orchids.


    Felix wandered around several locations in the Forbidden Forest, including the Unicorn herd, the Hippogriff herd, the Thestrals, and of course the nest of the Acromantula. Gork''s rule is still solid, especially with the presence of Felix as an "accomplice", any individual Acromantula that shows their brutal nature will not end up well.


    In the evening, Felix cast a spell on the stake he found and turned it into a dog toy for Hagrid''s hound, Fang.


    Back at the castle, he ran into Professor Flitwick in the entrance hall, "Oh, Felix? Minerva was looking for you just now!" He said in a shrill voice.


    "Is there something wrong?"


    "Not sure ... but she told me to tell you to go to Dumbledore''s office first, the password is: honey jelly." Flitwick told the information he knew, "It was almost an hour or so ago."


    "Okay." Felix shrugged and made his way to the small detached tower where the Headmaster''s office stood in a hunkered down manner. After saying the password, the giant Gargoyle moved away, revealing an empty revolving staircase behind it.


    Felix knocked on the door and the gleaming oak door opened automatically, he stepped into the office and there are two people sitting in the circular room, Dumbledore behind a desk and a ...


    Felix narrowed his eyes, he seemed to see an old lion striding toward him, tea-brown mane-like hair and thick eyebrows fluttering wildly, with a pair of yellow sharp eyes, even the wisps of gray strands in the hair and not very flexible legs did not diminish his aura of authority.


    A name came to his mind - Rufus Scrimgeour, Head of Auror Office, the right-hand man of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. He has never personally met Scrimgeour, at least privately.


    So he turned and looked at Dumbledore at the side, "Headmaster Dumbledore? You asked me to come -"


    "Oh," Dumbledore looked back from his spectator state, with his long fingers crossed in front of him, as he said with a smile, "According to the Ministry of Magic''s appointment, Felix, you will receive three groups of visitors today ... " He glanced at the memo on the table, running his nails over it while he reached his index finger to flick open a piece of coloured candy paper.


    "The first is Professor Marchbanks from the Wizarding Examinations Authority, she arrived an hour and a half ago, accompanied by Mr. Vera, Vice President of the Ancient Rune Society, they are currently walking around the school in the company of Minerva."


    " It is a pity you did not run into them." He smiled, "But there''s no need to rush, Marchbanks informed me that she intended to stay at Hogwarts for a while, and I agreed."


    Felix and Scrimgeour simultaneously looked at him, and Scrimgeour said impatiently, "Dumbledore! You know I am busy with work and I just need an answer ... Perhaps I should send an assistant over, but this is a matter of great importance and I must confirm it myself."


    "Well," Dumbledore said with slight regret, "the second one is Mr. Rufus Scrimgeour who''s right in front of you, you should have heard of him. He read the thesis of Mr. Diggory and others from the newspaper and was greatly shocked by the phenomenon in which ancient runes could increase the spell potency, and it just so happened that he had a reserve Auror ... under him."


    He looked at Scrimgeour, Scrimgeour remained silent for two seconds and said in a low voice, "Abbott Balk."


    Felix thought for a moment, "I seem to have some recollection of that name, Balk used to act as an aid in the dueling club, but as far as I know, his ancient rune was not considered that good."


    "He only verified the authenticity of the information for a part," Scrimgeour said, with no trace of a smile on his face, he seemed to have lost even the ability to smile after years of dealing with dark wizards, "I later saw the tangible effect from another young man, who spent less than half an hour to recreate the point presented in the newspaper paper ..."


    "Which one was it?" Felix asked, interrupting him.


    "''Flame'' Rune and the Fire-Making Spell," Scrimgeour said stiffly, " as well as the ''''Flow of Water'' Rune and the Water-Making Spell. "


    Felix revealed a smile, "I guess the young man''s last name is Weasley."


    "Percy Weasley, he''s currently a senior assistant in the Department of International Magical Co-operation, answering to Ludo Bagman and the Minister." Scrimgeour revealed a piece of information that he was unaware of.


    Barty Crouch''s position is currently unoccupied, leaving that job to Fudge on a temporary part-time basis, with Bagman helping out.


    Percy Weasley must like that arrangement. Felix thought to himself.


    "Let''s get to the point, Mr. Hap." Scrimgeour said, "I for one have great admiration for your magical attainments, and I would like to express my gratitude for calming the riots at the Quidditch World Cup ... Given the current situation, we must plan ahead ... I would like to invite you to join the Ministry of Magic."


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t catch that?"


    Felix was genuinely surprised. At best, he thought that this Head of Auror would want him to help train a group of Aurors or Hit Wizards, but he didn''t expect that they would want to poach him as a package.


    "The situation is not optimistic, the matter of Barty let the Ministry-" Scrimgeour suddenly stopped talking, and turned to look at Dumbledore, exchanging a look with Dumbledore, "Well." He muttered, "Since you know a lot, I might as well say more, but this is all classified information ..."


    He limped over to the window and looked out over the black lake in the distance, but Felix felt him watching himself in the afterglow, so Felix turned his body slightly sideways and made an expression that said he is listening.


    " The Ministry of Magic employees became restless for a while," Scrimgeour said, "I mean the smart ones, or the ones who are good at reading between lines ... they were frightened by Barty Crouch''s appearance that morning, it was during the rush hour ... people were coming and going ..."


    Felix imagined in his mind that the normally meticulously dressed high official of the Ministry of Magic suddenly ran to the Ministry of Magic dressed in rags and with messy hair to surrender himself, anyone who saw it would be astonished.


    "... He looked as if he had been horribly tortured, Fudge panicked, and, as always, visibly shaken in the face of an unexpected situation, it was Ms. Bones who calmed the crowd and brought Barty Crouch to the small conference room ... A few of us, me, Fudge, Ms. Bones, and a few others ... listened to Barty Crouch''s testimony ... you can imagine how shocked we were!"


    Felix did not reply, he knew almost all of this and even knew that there was someone else in the office at the time - Lucius Malfoy. Yes, Lucius has a position in the Ministry of Magic personally, although it is only a nominal adviser, without any concrete duties, but with this title alone he can intervene in many things, especially since Fudge is in power, and Lucius has donated a large sum of money, which makes him an official guest of the Minister of Magic.


    "Fortunately, the news was blocked, in order to avoid causing public panic ..." Scrimgeour continued after explaining the situation, "but only Fudge is still feigning that Crouch is still not free from the effects of the spell, accusing him of speaking gibberish, but both me and Bones recognized the seriousness of the problem ..."


    "Mr. Scrimgeour, you''re moving further and further off the subject." Felix reminded him kindly.


    Scrimgeour glared at him as if chiding him for interrupting the speech, and he flicked his hair, which looked as fluffy as a mane, " Almost there ... No one would be foolish enough to ignore the testimony of a high-ranking official, especially when we also examined his wife''s grave afterward, and it was, shockingly, empty ..."


    "Empty?" Felix asked quickly.


    "According to Barty, his wife pleaded with him before she died to trade her son back ... a life for a life, using Polyjuice Potion, very clever move! A normal person and a dying person walk into Azkaban and walk out afterward, and no one knows for sure that people got swapped just like that." For the first time, a complex expression appeared on Scrimgeour''s face, he was one of those who supported Barty Crouch more than ten years ago.


    Felix''s thoughts became clear, he almost understood how Crouch Jr. disappeared under the public eye and was confirmed "dead".


    "If this is true, then what reason do we have to doubt the other things? Although Fudge still rejects that possibility, both Ms. Bones and Me were pretty much convinced ..." he looked into the deep blue sky, his thick eyebrows furrowed deeply: "A Death Eater and his master reunited, secretly plotting to restore their power, but since he sent the only Death Eater he trusts to Hogwarts, it means that there is something here that he desperately needs ..."


    "Dumbledore, is it true that the philosopher''s stone has been destroyed?" Scrimgeour suddenly asked a question.


    So Felix, judged from this sentence, Scrimgeour isn''t one of the Dumbledore''s men. Dumbledore said softly: "Of course, that was the conclusion we reached after a joint discussion between me and Nicolas Flamel couple."


    Felix also knew about this, and did not show much surprise, though Scrimgeour''s next look of inquiry towards him left him puzzled, "So, you don''t have it on your hands either?"


    What don''t? Felix blinked, suddenly realizing that this is what Scrimgeour was after, Nicolas Flamel''s legacy - someone in the Ministry of Magic might have thought that the biggest reason why Hogwarts had caught Voldemort''s eye three times is because of the possibility that there is something here that would restore his power.


    For example, a philosopher''s stone that was not destroyed as promised, or a philosopher''s stone that has been inherited by someone else.


    The former is related to Dumbledore, the latter naturally involves Felix.


    "I did not inherit the philosopher''s stone from Nicolas Flamel." Felix faintly yawned, as his attitude cooled down.


    But Scrimgeour''s biggest purpose of the trip was achieved, or rather, thought he had achieved it. He continued along with the pre-defined plan, "In summary, we realize that we must strengthen the Ministry of Magic, and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement decided to expand the number of recruits, especially for the Auror''s office, and we urgently need more talents." s?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix politely declined Scrimgeour''s recruitment. Despite his hint that Felix could take over his position in a few years.


    But he didn''t turn down the invitation to train both Aurors and the Hit Wizards, which is equally the result he wanted. "How about scheduling it during the Easter holidays?" Scrimgeour asked.


    "No problem," Felix said, "I need some things before that, including the identities of those I''m training, their school grades, and the magic they specialize in."


    "You should be aware that these are confidential, right?" Scrimgeour immediately stated sternly.


    "I know, but I''ll find out sooner or later ...," Felix said brightly, "I''m just trying not to waste both sides'' time."


    Scrimgeour stared at him for a moment with his deep yellow eyes, and just when Felix thought he was about to fall asleep, he said in a deep voice: "I''ll send someone trustworthy to deliver a copy of the information, and you will need to destroy it after reading it on the spot - classified files included! "


    "Then it''s a deal." Felix held out his hand, and Scrimgeour limped over to him and shook his hand firmly with a large, and rough hand.


    When the hard-headed head of the Auror left the office, Felix sat down nonchalantly on the couch, "He looks ambitious."


    "Well," Dumbledore said slowly while fiddling with the silverware on the table with his long fingers, " this is obvious, in a way it''s not a bad thing. He foresaw the impending war and saw it as an opportunity ... but there are in fact quite a few people standing in his way, Amelia Bones, Pius Thicknesse ... If Barty had not been imprisoned in Azkaban, he also counts as one; but now Scrimgeour thinks the war would cause the people to remember the iron-blooded head."


    "You are saying he is over-ambitious?" Felix asked pointedly; Scrimgeour looked no less imposing, he is someone who does real work.


    "I''m just afraid he underestimates the horrors of war," Dumbledore murmured: "Yes, he lived through the war over a decade ago, personally fought the Death Eaters to the death, but I don''t know if it was luck or fate that he never met Voldemort head-on... ... They still haven''t realized the crux of the problem: there is Voldemort before the Death Eaters, and once Voldemort is gone, the Death Eaters have nowhere to hide like a lost cub."


    "Oh." Felix lowered his head and pondered. After a short while, he raised his head and asked a question he had always wanted to ask: "Albus, have you ever defeated Voldemort?"


    ------------


    #giser, #michele daluiso, and #alex, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 522+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 450: Voldemorts Strength

    Dumbledore''s blue eyes blinked behind his lenses. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality."A very interesting question, Felix. It''s not that often I was asked so bluntly."


    "What I mean is that ... Voldemort has done no harm to Hogwarts during the war, and he seems ... well ... very wary of someone in the school ... And in the eyes of the world, it is clear that these two individuals had never fought each other." Felix said wordily.


    "Maybe that''s the truth." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    "Or maybe it''s only partially true." Felix said immediately, "The truth that some people see - they only see the result, or a few points of the process, but not a glimpse of the whole picture."


    Dumbledore''s eyebrows furrowed slightly, his mouth slightly open as if he was choosing the right words to use.


    Felix knew he got to do something, say something ... or else by the time the old man made his call, he would simply be left in suspense about the outcome. So he cleared his throat and said, "Albus, we are all aware that Voldemort and Crouch Jr. are hiding somewhere and the Ministry of Magic has sent a large number of Aurors and Hit Wizards but found nothing ... I''m afraid we have to consider the possibility of his successful resurrection, and I need to be clear about his strength. "


    After a moment of silence, Dumbledore seemed to be convinced -


    "I can assure you, Felix, although I have never seen him die in front of me, but I have indeed broken and destroyed his body more than once, leaving him with wounds that are normally incurable."


    Dumbledore calmly stated a long-buried mystery.


    "Normally incurable?" Felix asked keenly.


    "I remember I mentioned to you ... I had interviewed him?" Dumbledore said quietly, leaning his head back and staring at the ceiling.


    "... That''s true." Felix said slowly, suppressing the interest in his heart.


    "This is what he looked like at the time--"


    Dumbledore waved his wand sharply, a somewhat illusory figure gradually defined. His face seemed to have been burned, his features were a blurry mess with almost no angular features, and the skin on his face appeared like solidified white wax that was oddly misshapen. The whites of his eyes seemed chronically filled with blood, and his black pupils glittered with a cold gleam.


    Felix carefully examined Dumbledore''s recollection of Voldemort, he is not unfamiliar with this image - he had seen it once when he found the locket - but it was clear that Voldemort looked even less human than he did then.


    ''This might indicate that Voldemort had finished making the locket Horcrux way before the interview.'' This thought flashed through Felix''s mind. Linking to Dumbledore''s words just now, he tentatively asked: "Is it the effect of dark magic? Or is it the influence of the Horcrux?"


    Dumbledore looked at him approvingly and waved his hand to disperse the virtual image in the air.


    "Both possibilities exist, I personally lean toward the former ... of course we can not rule out the impact on the body due to the lack of soul caused by multiple Horcruxes. After all, no one in history has ever done what he did."


    "So Voldemort''s body is different from normal? He combines the bloodline magic of Salazar Slytherin with his own dark magic, which leads to what would normally be considered a fatal wound being ineffective against him?" Felix combined Dumbledore''s words and analysed them.


    He could not help but frown, how can we still fight in this case?


    He suddenly thought of a possibility. Felix jerked to look at Dumbledore, it was hard to hide the surprise in his heart, as he blurted out, "Magic being?" Voldemort reached the realm of Lady Ravenclaw?


    At the same time, he recalled what Dumbledore had said when he heard the word ''magical being'' last time -


    "Felix, I can''t really give you much useful insight; when I was younger, I truly thought I could do anything at one point for a not-so-short period of time ... magical being? That''s an overly modest term, to be honest, I was too arrogant at that time."


    At the same time, Dumbledore showed him the "trick" of flicking a magic spell with his fingers ...


    Dumbledore straightened his body from the back of the chair, with his hands on the table, then slowly but firmly he shook his head: "I do not think that is the reason, at least I have never had such an ability. Even ... the other founders of the school had no similar records, on the contrary, Salazar Slytherin - as far as I know - had been known suspected of possessing magic that could draw on the life force to heal himself."


    "Diary?" Felix asked with alarm. Two years ago, the diary Horcrux had bewitched Ginny Weasley and absorbed some of her life force, but fortunately not much, and it had been discovered in time to be fixed by Madame Pomfrey using her superior healing skills.


    "It may as well have been." Dumbledore nodded gently: "Magic that makes people lose their life force is rare but not unheard of, but transferring life force from one person (Ginny) to another piece of soul is something I''ve never heard of."


    "Is it the effect of the Horcrux?" Felix speculated about another possibility, "Maybe the Horcrux has the characteristic of absorbing life force." But he realized it isn''t right, he had read a chapter about Horcruxes in Black''s old mansion - it is an antique book called Advanced Dark Magic Unveiled - and his knowledge of Horcruxes is not considered that lacking.


    Dumbledore also dismissed this speculation.


    "A Horcrux is a piece of soul that is stripped away and left somewhere in the world as a means of keeping the user who made it from getting completely wiped out. In short, it is to prevent one from dying." Dumbledore said, "For this goal, the stripped soul should be in a state of slumber, or at least very inactive state - except the time when mortal crisis near the Horcrux when it will arouse to defend itself - this is why the Horcrux is considered safe."


    Felix nodded slightly, agreeing with Dumbledore''s words. No one in their right mind would want to have an active, independently conscious soul fragment in their Horcrux, what would happen if it got into trouble and got destroyed?


    Moreover, only a small piece of soul is sufficient for Horcrux, so it would be hard for this soul to do much.


    "... but that diary should be special?" He pondered.


    "Exactly." Dumbledore nodded and said: "When Ginny Weasley first wrote in that diary and received a response, she already fell into Voldemort''s carefully woven trap ... I can pretty much conclude that Voldemort did not consider it as a life-saving Horcrux, in fact, it should have been created as a key to the Chamber of Secrets, so he empowered the diary with many perks; such as his memory up to age 16, sufficient activity ... naturally he also included the knowledge he inherited from his Slytherin ancestors in the Chamber of Secrets."


    "But it''s all speculation." Felix said with a frown, a wave of vexation raisied in his heart, Dumbledore''s tone of voice though sounded conclusive, how could he be so sure?


    He roughly combed through the information. Dumbledore had many secret fights with Voldemort during the war, and more than once he had dealt Voldemort a serious injury, but soon Voldemort came back alive and kicking; he figured Dumbledore would have investigated the reason behind it, because Dumbledore considered it an effect of dark magic and bloodline magic, on the basis that it was documented that Salazar Slytherin possessed the magic of drawing life force to heal his injuries and the fact that Ginny''s life force had been absorbed ... But there is still one more possibility, Felix couldn''t help but wonder -why not?


    So he asked out, " And why it couldn''t be that he had been resurrected with a Horcrux?"


    Dumbledore''s gaze returned as he asked calmly, "Why do you assume so?"


    "Just an educated guess," Felix shrugged, "maybe he did use dark magic to remodel his body, but there should be limits, no? Like he merely stalled his demise and found a loyal servant to perform a resurrection ritual for him after he escaped ... Well, he would have used the Confundus Charm or an Obliviate to erase any loose ends afterward? Or maybe he will just discard them ..."


    Dumbledore lowered his head in silence.


    "The situation you describe indeed exists, Felix." He said. "But in any case, the information we have at hand is rather limited." He looked thoughtfully at the table leg before saying in a faintly audible voice, "Perhaps I should be more proactive."


    "What?" Felix didn''t catch his words.


    "Thank you for reminding me this, Felix." Dumbledore smiled and said, "I almost neglected this point. Instinct tells me that this piece of information is particularly useful."


    Felix knew this signalled the end of the conversation, maybe he should go find Professor Marchbanks, or perhaps it would be more fun to banter with Clammy''s grandfather ... but he felt a little reluctant, as he still failed to find out about Voldemort''s strength.


    He got up from the couch and said, "One last question, Albus, can I take it that your strength is far greater than Voldemort''s?"


    There was another silence -


    "I am old," Dumbledore said seriously, " Even twenty years ago, I could barely gain an upper hand over him, and if he resurrects again, the victory is difficult to predict."


    "Barely gain an upper hand?" Felix asked with confusion, Dumbledore previously stated that he had " broken and destroyed Voldemort''s body " more than once, this more than once, is worth pondering.


    "I used a special method," Dumbledore winked his azure eyes gaily, " So Voldemort believed that I had hidden my strength with the purpose of setting up a trap ... and the fact is, we were not that far apart in strength."


    "A special method ...," Felix repeated slowly.


    "A little trick that can temporarily bring me back to my prime." Dumbledore replied with a smirk in a childish tone.


    ...


    It was completely dark when he came out of the Headmaster''s office. Felix felt his mind is slightly disorganized, and he urgently needs to sort out the information he gained today. So he hurried back to his office and closed the door. As for Professor Marchbanks, she could wait till tomorrow, since Dumbledore had mentioned that she would be staying for some time anyhow.


    Meanwhile, Dumbledore still sitting in his armchair in the circular office, as he opened the left drawer, where a locket case and a wand are placed.


    Phoenix Fawkes from its perch landed on Dumbledore''s shoulder and cried softly.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 524+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 451: Mulling over

    The next day, Felix woke up with a yawn. He did not sleep well last night, lying in bed and tossing around for half a night, when he suddenly realized a matter: he is shouldering too many responsibilities, and many of these responsibilities have suddenly appeared in his hands without being his problem, and he has never tried to shrink away from them, or even resistance to them mentally.


    Since when? Felix pondered this question as he brushed his teeth in the mirror. In his mind some people and things flashed by, in just over two years, he has experienced a lot.


    Felix knew in his mind, that Dumbledore had never rejected his mystery-solving behaviour, or rather he even took the initiative to tell him a lot of hidden information, something that Dumbledore probably never revealed to someone before.


    Well, from what Felix had tested, at least, Severus did not know much about the secret of the Horcruxes. The few people who knew - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Sirius were under a hush order, and even Remus did not know the truth.


    Why would a wise man who had lived through great turmoil and kept his secrets so closely with him tell him so much information readily? Felix could only think of the possibility that Dumbledore wanted to drag him along in the fight against Voldemort.


    There is nothing wrong with that.


    Felix does not reject this idea, his thought process before entering the job is - He is strong - only Dumbledore and the wandering spirit-like Voldemort can truly bring him pressure. Even if Voldemort is resurrected, Hogwarts is safe enough, after all, there is Dumbledore around, and he also does not mind being sheltered while offering some assistance; if he happens to find that Voldemort''s strength is just so-so, he naturally does not mind solving the trouble personally.


    But over the past two years, his strength and mentality have changed dramatically. Before joining, he relied more on his talent, using his high level of magic spells to pressure people with great strength, but in essence, the difference between his strength and those Elite Auror is not that great. At most compared to them, he had a few more ancient magic and level six magic spells, along with some trump cards ... but they also have decades of more combat experience than he did, Felix thought he would have fainted if he had been struck by a few stunning spells.


    Felix reckoned that he might have been able to beat Moody in his heyday one-on-one ( which he understood during the healing ), but if Moody brought a well-trained Auror squad with him, the result is not easy to predict - he certainly can use his immature thought acceleration to perform his instant kill tactics, which he had successfully carried out against those American students, but once his trump card failed, the disaster will be greater.


    Now the situation is completely different. He perfected the instant kill tactic, by which he can move around to come and go as he likes; thinking room magic started to gain battle power, with it, he no longer needs to be concerned with group offence; memory magic is at the top of his list, and soon he will play with it ... Patronus''s flying cloak is not very useful, at most, it eliminates the need for a flying broom; with a humanoid shield charm he no longer needs to be afraid of stray bullets, but it can''t resist powerful spells ... In addition to this, there is also his bottomless deep attainment in runes.


    Frankly speaking, Felix hardly has any psychological pressure. Even when he knew that there is whole new scenery ahead of him - let''s say "magical being", or "legend" - he remained calm.


    It is always easier to run away when you have no family to worry about, and the records of the last war show that, although rare, there were some people who managed to escape from Voldemort''s hunt. Which includes the Longbottoms, which Felix learned about in detail from the two when he visited the Longbottoms during the summer break of the previous year -- not just from memory, but also from the two Aurors'' analytical train of thought.


    He came to the conclusion that he is much more skilful than the Longbottoms when it comes to escaping.


    Considering the worst possible scenario, Dumbledore is no match for the resurrected and reborn Voldemort, he also fell short of fire, he will withdraw as soon as he sees that the situation is irreversible, to wait for the opportunity, as well as for his own ability to cross that threshold.


    Felix has both patience and self-confidence in his ability to go further than anyone else on the path of magic, but he needs time.


    He had always planned ahead, with calmness, rationality, and self-discipline ... in line with what he always wanted for himself, but when Felix stood at the podium of the Ancient Runes classroom, his both fists clenched hard when he saw a familiar face, and then he wasn''t that sure anymore.


    ''If one day, it is necessary for someone to take over Dumbledore''s burden to face what he had faced, what should I do?'' Thinking about this question, Felix swept his gaze across the classroom, lingering slightly on the very back of the room, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he said.


    "We have two more people in the classroom today, one is Professor Griselda Marchbanks from the Wizarding Examinations Authority-"


    The young wizards clapped enthusiastically while looking back at the very small, hunchbacked witch in the last row, who had so many wrinkles on her face that ants could get lost in it. She waved her hand in response.


    "We have a lot to talk about! But I think it''s more important to focus on class!" The short Marchbanks shouted energetically.


    Ron clapped his hands while looking hard at the back row: "She''s our examiner for next year, isn''t she, isn''t she?"


    Harry also stared at Professor Marchbanks, but he also divided his gaze a little towards the half-bald old man next to her, who, although not as exaggerated, did bear some resemblance to Uncle Vernon''s figure. Especially when he did not speak and stared at them with a pair of bull eyes, these two are simply identical.


    Harry dreaded that this man would suddenly jump up and roll his tongue into a ball and mutter words that no one could hear, just like how Uncle Vernon couldn''t say a complete sentence when he was very angry.


    Hermione seemed to want to leave a good impression, sitting properly, although her eyes almost darted into her eyebrows. And next to her, Neville sat red-faced, still recovering from the shock before class - Professor Marchbanks knows Neville''s grandmother personally, and before class, she asked loudly about Neville''s grandmother and his parents, and Marchbanks kept telling Neville to "speak louder! " As a result, her voice got louder and louder, but Neville''s voice got smaller and smaller.


    "The other one is Mr. Vera, the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society." Felix waited for the applause to die down, and continued, while the old man gave a "hum" from his nose, as a greeting.


    The applause lessened this time, and the students exchanged puzzled glances with each other - "What is Ancient Rune Society?


    "Can''t you guess it with its name?"


    "Is it an organization?"


    "How come I''ve never heard of it?"


    "Probably a private club created by a group of ancient rune enthusiasts ... similar to the Gobstone Club at school."


    "There is such a club in the school?"


    "I can assure you, there definitely is!"


    ...


    Felix unhurriedly took out the textbook and said cheerfully, "Today we will proceed with the part we left in the last class, and this part of knowledge is likely to appear in the O.W.Ls exam ..." S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 524+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 452: Nothing Happened

    "The Rune ''sun wheel'', describes a dynamic process of rising, of change ... can indicate the rising of the sun, the change of will, in particular, it refers to the change of will influenced by magic... ...and the path to success, the honour achieved by the strong will of the individual ..." While Felix spoke eloquently from the podium, Professor Griselda Marchbanks, who is seated in the back row, stared in amazement.


    She is very old, a bit deaf, so she was about to use a magic spell to improve her hearing - a spell that would put her in an irritable mood after using it for a long time, like a thousand bees buzzing in her ears, so she only uses it on important occasions, such as the annual wizarding level tests. But she suddenly realized that before she could draw her wand, Felix''s voice was already ringing loud and clear in her ears.


    The key point is that - as she looked around - no one else felt any discomfort at all, which meant that Felix had silently managed to reach her alone.


    In addition to that, as she looked at a bright symbol that Felix held in his palm, she also solved a doubt as to why this young kid dared to state in front of her, the examiner, that ''this part of knowledge may appear in the O.W.Ls exam'' a while before ...


    Because this is a practical ancient rune. There are not many people who can be more vocal in this field other than this young professor and his students.


    At best, there are some alchemists, but they are only slightly dabbled in it, and their research direction is still the application of runes in alchemy.


    Except for these people, no one even from the Wizarding Examinations Authority could participate in the test question selection; What about the people from the Ancient Rune Society? - she glanced at the old man whose eyes also widened, knowing full well in her heart - they couldn''t either.


    A student raised her hand.


    "Miss Greengrass?"


    "Um, so it''s a dual-purpose rune? Both a translational and a practical kind?" Daphne asked.


    "That''s right," Felix nodded towards her, "you can interpret it that way."


    At that moment, the Hedstrom Vera sitting in the back row stared at the Rune in Felix''s hand and froze for a moment, and rubbed his eyes in disbelief, then with an ecstatic expression on his face, he followed Daphne''s example and also raised his hand, looking at Felix with bated breath.


    "Well ... what do you think about this, Mr. Vera?" Felix stifled a smile and asked.


    "It''s like this," Hedstrom Vera said in a smug tone as his eyes widened, "I also studied this Rune, only the way I taught myself to write it wasn''t quite the same as yours." He held out his chubby fingers and pointed to the rune and said, "And I''m pretty sure this one of yours is different from the one marked in the Ancient Rune Book too, the correct way would look like ... er ..."


    From the podium, Felix matched the speed of his speech and angled the rune in midair slightly, with a little added curvature on either side of it, "Is this right?"


    Strangely enough, when he did so, the rune immediately became dull and lost its lustre.


    "... is correct." The old man showed an uncomprehending expression.


    Felix looked at the crowd below the podium.


    "Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Vera," he said happily, seemingly genuinely grateful, "and that''s what I need you all to notice."


    The students stared at him with wide eyes.


    "I have recently made a new discovery: many runes that are considered to be a translational kind of rune are actually a variation or typo of certain practical runes, and I guess it may be the result happened due to a long time ... so I intend to give you a quick recap of what you have learned in the past in the near future."


    "For example, take this sample in front of you, the translatable rune looks like a slightly curved stroke of lightning, or a flat, angled letter ''S''; and the practical rune," Felix readjusted the rune in his hand so that the students could see the whole change, with the curved lines were gradually straightened, like -


    "Flipped over Capital letter ''N'', with top and bottom tips slightly out." He said. The symbol in his hand was also re-lit, shimmering with hazy light.


    Hedstrom Vera''s face stifled red, and he couldn''t utter a word.


    "The proof for this is in the grimoire of two medieval wizards in the library, The Will to Magic and Derek Audlin''s Notes, which come from a wizard with high-level magical attainment and an apprentice wizard respectively, and this can be judged from the depth of the content recorded by both ... They wrote the same runes, but with slightly different writing styles in their notes. A reasonable guess is that the former knew what those runes really looked like, while the latter just copied it, or was simply a lazy kid ..."


    Hedstrom Vera looked around, the students are all busy looking down and taking notes, only he had nothing in front of him ... he suddenly thought of a good idea.


    Crabbe felt his back being poked hard, and then heard a muffled voice saying, "Fatty!"


    Fatty?


    He turned back in annoyance, staring at the similarly disproportionate Hedstrom Vera with unkind eyes, and it took him a few seconds to realize that the man behind him had come to observe, and he looked blankly at the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society as if he had been under a Confundus Charm.


    "Fatty! Hey!" Old Vera waved his wand in front of Crabbe, "Lend me your parchment and quill to copy."


    Crabbe looked confused, as if he didn''t understand him.


    Old Vera stared at him, and after a few seconds of stalemate, his wand pointed nimbly: "Accio Parchment, Accio Quill... Nice, Geminio! Geminio!" s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Old Vera looked at the replica in his hand and nodded in satisfaction. "Here, your stuff." He handed Crabbe''s stuff back to him. With that, he began to take notes.


    He must check all the information that the boy mentioned, who knows if it was made up along the way, must not let the boy get away with it!


    He thought indignantly as he took notes and soon filled a parchment.


    Felix looked at everything from the podium, and spoke in a pleasant tone, he anticipated this scene already, and he knew that Professor Marchbanks and old Vera intended to stay for a short period of time, which meant he should prepare a few more lessons like this.


    The thinking room - class, the stone basin, even the classroom seven, all of these could be considered.


    The only thing that made him hesitate was that Felix hadn''t thought about whether to show the true level of the students; he figured that he had the power to suggest practical runes for the test, but he might not be able to intervene when it came to the translation part.


    If they really raise the difficulty, the student will have to worry about the ... worry about the ... Huh? It doesn''t seem like a big deal.


    Felix pondered, there are only so many translatable runes, and the range of exams from left to right is not beyond what is already uncovered in the magic handbook.


    In addition, the Ancient Rune Society publishes a magazine every once in a while, and the release interval mainly depends on when new findings are available.


    The library at Hogwarts had ordered a few copies, but as far as he could see, no one read them, and they are still as good as new, as they were twenty years ago. He can read them all in one morning on a weekend.


    ...


    Finally, the bell rang and the students streamed out, leaving only three adults in the classroom. Felix is just about to say something when the short Professor Marchbanks comes up with a rush, grabbing his hand and busily enquiring.


    "What was the spell you just used?"


    "Just a simple adaptation of the Amplifying Charm." Felix replied with uncertainty.


    "A simple adaptation!" Professor Marchbanks looked at him in surprise, "It seems you haven''t fallen behind in your study of magic spells ... But do you have any better remedies for elderly folks with weak ears?"


    "Of course, I know a spell: ''Clarity Ear'', Professor Flitwick researched this one ..." (*made up spell*)


    Felix smiled as he talked with Professor Marchbanks, which somewhat relieved the embarrassment of the other man in the room.


    Hedstrom Vera breathed a silent sigh of relief, all of a sudden he felt afraid of facing this young man alone, Felix Hap had shaken the career that had sustained him for half a century with a single lesson.


    He lost some of his composure, his own granddaughter would chatter and yap about the scenes in the company of ''Future World'' vividly each time she returned.


    "Mr. Vera ... Mr. Vera?" A voice seemed to come from beyond the sky.


    "What is it?" Old Vera responded casually.


    "... nothing," Felix measured him impassively, "just now Professor Marchbanks asked your opinion, after all, she doesn''t really know much about ancient runes, and it is said that you volunteered to join --"


    "Oh, uh," said old Vera, straightening his body, assuming the face of one who is preparing for a duel, and saying righteously, "Ahem! We can''t jump to conclusions just yet ... There''s a lot of vagueness that I need to look up, er, I mean, I need to sort through."


    "Sure, no problem." Felix said with a smile, "Then it''s a deal, I''ll be waiting for your report." He sighed in a feigned manner, "Professor Marchbanks, Mr. Vera, you two may not know that I have been carrying a tremendous amount of pressure for the past two years ..."


    "Pressure?" Professor Marchbanks looked at him sceptically.


    Old Vera also showed an astonished expression, with the intention of listening properly.


    "... Yes, you two may not be aware that I didn''t choose the advanced ancient rune class when I was in school, and I have improved over the past few years by self-study, and correspondence with Professor Babbling, so when I first joined, I was afraid that I would teach my students poorly."


    Professor Marchbanks looked at him with an odd expression, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes stretched out because of her widened eyes, and she confirmed it with a rare hesitant tone, "You said you were afraid that you would teach your students poorly, yet consequently, all the students who graduated last year received O except for one student who got E?"


    "Uh ..."


    "And as far as I know, a third of the students who took the exam at that time finished answering their papers a little early." Professor Marchbanks said slowly, "I''m deaf, but I still remember some chatter between a young couple very vividly near the end of the exam."


    "What did they say?" Felix asked briskly, as if he was genuinely curious.


    "One of them said, ''The paper was so easy, I''m about to throw up after checking it five times.'' The other said: ''Just this once, bear with it, I''ve checked it six times ...''" Professor Marchbanks pursed her lips and repeated dryly.


    Old Vera also stood frozen in place, a portion of the annual O.W.Ls exam questions were prepared by the Ancient Rune Society. He couldn''t help but clench the parchment in his hand, which had a bunch of questions waiting for him to confirm it.


    For the next few minutes, the three acted as if that conversation hadn''t happened at all.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 525+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 453: Responsibility Creates Courage

    Professor Marchbanks extremely stiffly changed the subject to her friend Gilbert Wimple of the Committee on Experimental Charms, and she said in a loud voice: " Wimple wants to come over! But I''ve persuaded him to fix those horns on his head first for some time, and I happened to know that Dorothea was at St. Mungo''s yesterday, so I told him to hurry over there ... Then He asked me to bring you this file." Felix took the file. When Marchbanks casually said: " There are some questionnaires inside, to evaluate the danger of the spell, the learning difficulties, and the potential risks and whatnot, just give it to those students and have them fill it out and send it back to the Ministry of Magic''s Committee on Experimental Charms. The ministry will send someone to verify it when the time comes."


    Before leaving, she asked tentatively, "Are you sure you don''t want to write your name? It''s possible that those new spells will be named after you!"


    "Oh, no, I have a problem with naming." Felix replied.


    Old Vera stopped as he walked to the door and asked casually in a careless tone, "By the way, those ancient rune books in the library--"


    "Still in the usual place, the second-to-last row of bookshelves." Felix immediately replied.


    Old Vera froze for a moment, and waved his hand, mumbling a "thank you" under his breath.


    ...


    Felix walked out of the ancient rune classroom, thinking about what had just happened, and the corners of his mouth curled up: " Today I stimulated that stubborn old man, tomorrow I''ll stimulate him again, and then I will just sit back and watch what happens, after all, I have to consider his relationship with Clammy. ... I''m really a nice guy! "


    "Profes-ssor?" From the corridor, a head poked out and stuttered.


    It is Neville.


    "What did you hear?" Felix asked him with a smile.


    "You, you are a nice person ...," Neville replied dumbly, and the next second he showed a horrified expression as he desperately tried to cover his mouth.


    Felix: "... don''t tell anyone." S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Neville looked at the stern face of the professor and nodded his head like a chicken pecking rice.


    "Is there something wrong? By the way, how''s your parents'' situation? I heard from the St. Mungo''s staff that they have been discharged from the hospital."


    "Yes, they''ve healed." Neville replied quickly, "The head of the Auror office came over to visit them a while back, hoping that they would rejoin the Auror squad, still as squad captains."


    "Scrimgeour?" Felix frowned slightly.


    "It''s him," Neville said, "but Mom and Dad decided to take a break for a while, they went on a trip abroad and would be doing some rehabilitation training on the way ... They''ll be deciding when they get back."


    Felix nodded slightly, "That sounds good. Well, Neville, what did you want to ask me when you were specifically lurking in the hallway?"


    "I, uh," Neville suddenly stammered again, his face turning red as he swallowed frantically and said, "I was--gulp! I wanted to ask, is there any magic that can make a person brave?"


    "To brave?" Felix looked at him strangely, "What do you want to do?"


    "I, I found that my talent got better and my grades improved a lot, but my guts are still so small that I don''t even dare to speak up in front of people for fear of being ridiculed ..." Neville cried, "I ... And the Tournament-"


    "You also want to participate in the Tournament? Only the selected teams are in the position to do so."


    "No, I mean, the last two tasks, no matter which one, I do not have the courage to challenge, not an ounce of courage ... whether it is the dragon, or swimming under the deep lake, just the very thought of that, makes me shiver uncontrollably," Neville said with teardrops in his eyes.


    "So I want to ask, is there any magic that allows me to block these negative emotions, including the judgment of others about me?"


    Neville looked at Felix with hope.


    Of course, there is, Felix thought to himself, Occlumency is practically what you asked for. But if your whole purpose is to rely on blocking emotions to gain courage, then you''re putting the cart before the horse.


    "You got me there." Felix looked Neville up and down, looking at him for a moment and making him feel uncomfortable: "Your idea is unique ... Is curse okay?"


    "Curs-se?" Neville looked taken aback.


    "Yes," Felix scratched his chin carelessly and said gloomily, "If I curse you, after this moment in every second of your life, the insults, slanders, ridicule, complaints, and grumblings you hear will change into the most beautiful praise in the world... ..."


    "You can''t hear any advice that is contrary to your heart ..."


    "You can''t hear any half-baked counselling ..."


    "You can''t hear any well-intentioned criticism ..."


    Neville''s body went cold as if something dirty coiled around him, and he couldn''t help but wince.


    "Professor?" Neville cried and said desperately, "You really cursed me? Well, at least asked me about ..."


    Felix''s face looked serious as he said, "You are dull."


    Neville froze. His first eyes widened until he could not resist the dry and sharp blink, "I, I''m fine? I heard you call me a dull ... so I''m not cursed?"


    Felix laughed.


    Neville''s round face couldn''t help but tense up as Felix patted his shoulder comfortingly, "Remember what happened when you got your invitation card at the selection of the champions?"


    "I saw ... Hogwarts ... England ... Ocean ... world and the ... bright starry sky." Neville said. He recalled his shock when he wandered in the vast universe of stars, it was a wordless comparison, without any words, to feel their own smallness.


    Thinking about it, his thoughts suddenly deviated, and incidentally, he remembered the previous hurdle he had to break through - the scene when he stood on stage and sang to the row of ''Professor Snape'' below the stage. It was a nightmare: Snape smiling and tapping the beat; Snape clenching his fists and glaring at him; Snape with a black cloak and a cold look in his eyes; and Snape striding up to the stage and trying to grab him ...


    That scene was so impactful that he was in a strange mood when he saw the real potions professor after that, and he was afraid that Seamus or Dean next to him would suddenly turn their heads and reveal an expressionless face with a long hawk nose.


    But in any case, he really is not afraid of the potion class now.


    He heard a snap of fingers and looked up to see Professor Hap looking at him. "Sorry, Professor, I was lost in thought ...," Neville said nervously.


    Felix gave an understanding expression.


    He didn''t need Legilimency to understand that Neville was lost in the memories associated with the magic that was attached to the invitation card.


    "Do you have any plans for the future?" He asked casually.


    It was just a lead-in to the next topic. But surprisingly, Neville nodded and answered it, "I''ve thought about it. I want to become a professor of herbology class or an Auror."


    "And the reason?" Felix asked with some surprise; it is rare for a student to consider this so early in life, usually, the realization dawns on them only when they are in fifth-year career counselling.


    "I like Herbology!" Neville said aloud, then glanced at Felix with embarrassment and muttered in a small voice, "And I want to capture Crouch Jr."


    Felix nodded lightly, fully understanding his thoughts - of the four Death Eaters who used the Cruciatus Curse on the Longbottoms, only Crouch Jr. is on the loose, while the other three are still holed up in Azkaban.


    Speaking of Azkaban, he seems to have thought of something. Azkaban ... Death Eaters ... what exactly is it? He tried to grasp this ray of thought, and information about Azkaban quickly flashed through his mind -


    North Sea island ... Unplottable... Built in the fifteenth century ... Lair of the dark wizard Ekrizdis... Tortured Passing sailors to create Dementors ... Dementors?


    Felix blinked, as far as he knew, because of what he had done last year, the wizard prison is severely underguarded. New dementors need quite a bit of time to breed and grow, and it is estimated that many Hit Wizards will be sent there to be stationed on a rotating basis over the next few years.


    Is this the reason why the Ministry of Magic intends to recruit more Auror and Hit Wizards? Felix speculated offhandedly, well, there was at least a good chance that Fudge had agreed to that reason, to guard the wizard prison ...


    He pondered for a few seconds, and for a while, it became difficult to find anything of value or cause for alarm. He could only make a secret note of this information and ponder it when he is alone.


    Felix looked up and said to Neville, "The Herbology class professor, Auror, are all good choices, but they all have one trait in common."


    "What characteristic?" Neville asked. He suddenly thought of Roger Davies'' magnificent feat of subduing a dragon by spawning blackthorn seeds during the first task. Professor Sprout was excited about it.


    Did the professor mean to arm himself with the things he''d learned in his Herbology class?


    "They all need to guide others." Felix gave a very different answer.


    Neville looked at him hesitantly. He could understand a professor needs to guide students, just like right now, but Auror ...


    "Think about it," Felix said seriously: "If you are a professor, you must have to deal with a group of various lively students, or if you are an Auror, look at the long term perspective, becoming a squad captain is not excessive, right? Then you must always pay attention to the emotions of the team under you, otherwise, a slight mistake may cost a human life."


    Neville''s expression turned serious and he nodded along. He had heard his mom and dad talk about similar things, and some of the points did coincide with the professor''s statement ...


    The professor knows a lot. He thought enviously.


    "... So you should have the ability to do the same." Felix concluded.


    "Uh ..." Neville''s face started to redden again, he really isn''t good at this task, at this moment there is only one thought: finished, he can''t Neither become a professor of Herbology class nor an Auror, but he quickly pulled himself together and whispered, "I will try?"


    Felix nodded approvingly while fiddling through the ring, and then pulling out a small booklet. "I happen to have recorded a special magic here, you can take it back to read ... It is the magic that was attached to the invitation card."


    Neville impatiently took it, and then, somewhat dumbfounded. It appeared to be a manuscript, except that the edges were glued together with a spell, and from a distance, it looked like a book, but in reality, it simply isn''t. He stared at the handwritten cover, on which the name had been altered twice -


    The Thinking Room Magic Lite Edition (St. Mungo''s Special Edition) (crossed out).


    A Study of Magic That Sends People Into Intended Visions (Horror? Mystery? Spiritual Intrusion?) (crossed out).


    And finally, the name that survived: "Daydream Spell (Cosmic Starry Night)".


    "Oh, I almost forgot!" Felix snatched the booklet from the dazed Neville''s hands, and withdrew a few pages, as he explained, "These aren''t for you."


    Then he handed the rest of the booklet back to Neville, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "When you encounter similar problems in the future, you can try this spell. Also tell yourself: you are going to guide others in the future, how can you guide others if you can''t even guide yourself?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 525+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 454: Trading

    Let me guide others ... Neville thought dully, his heart suddenly felt heavy, with the weight of responsibility. He liked this feeling.


    ...


    On the other side, Professor Marchbanks and old Vera walked down the corridor of the castle.


    "A very talented young man, I realized it when I invigilated his exams that he would do great things!" Marchbanks exclaimed.


    Old Vera didn''t seem to agree.


    "You shouldn''t despise a Grand Master." Professor Marchbanks pointed out.


    " Grand Master ... You mean him?" Old Vera''s eyes widened as the shorter Professor Marchbanks met his gaze with no evasion, and he opened his mouth several times, only to succumb to her stern gaze.


    "Don''t tell me you don''t keep up with the news, Hedstrom!" Professor Marchbanks exclaimed.


    Old Vera couldn''t speak. If someone makes a list of people in the whole wizarding community who pay the most attention to Felix''s news, he would definitely come out on top, and God knows what his face was when his granddaughter found Felix''s comic book set from his study.


    Isn''t he doing so because he is concerned that this boy will one day smash a few more bricks of the ancient rune foundation!


    "That book of his, Explorations of Ancient Magic Runes, I just read it two days ago! He was at that level three years ago," Professor Marchbanks said nonchalantly, "It''s even better than the introductory handbook on runes you guys published!"


    Old Vera opened his mouth to retort, but she carried on, "And I wrote to Babbling! In her reply, she wrote back with nothing but praise for him!"


    "That half-breed-" Old Vera frowned, seeing Marchbanks stern gaze cast over him, he immediately shut up and said smilingly, "Sorry, I didn''t mean to."


    "It seems she was right to refuse to join you guys in the first place!" She said with discontent.


    Several students in the corridor looked over, and without a word to anyone, the two walked to the Grand Staircase and made their way downstairs. "What day of the week is it again?" Professor Marchbanks asked.


    "What? Uh, I think it''s a week - ouch!" Old Vera wondered when his foot sank unexpectedly into one of the stairs'' ledge and jammed in.


    Hogwarts has many such tricky stairs. It had now become instinctive for students to pass over them, and old Vera hadn''t been here for over half a century, and he faintly remembered nothing unusual in the morning.


    "So it''s Thursday." Professor Marchbanks said thoughtfully.


    ...


    When he went to the great hall for lunch, Felix pinned the questionnaire handed over by Professor Marchbanks from the Committee on Experimental Charms on the bulletin board in the entrance hall and enclosed it with a bubble spell on the outside.


    Then he waved his wand as a piece of parchment flew out of the ring and got pinned to the wall with glowing writing shining on it.


    When he left, the young wizards gathered far and wide to read the new notice:


    All students, teams, and faculty members who have developed a stable combination of ancient runes and spells can receive a copy of the Questionnaire of the Committee on Experimental Charms, which needed to be answered in detail and sent to the Committee on Experimental Charms with a thesis attached, and after being verified as a valid new spell, they will be awarded the honour of "Spell Inventor" with the opportunity to obtain the right to name that spell. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The content and word count of the thesis should be based on the article "The Invention of a New Spell: The Combination of the Water-Making Spell and the Ancient Magic Rune ''Flow of Water''" reported on the front page of the Daily Prophet on March 12, and the template of the thesis can be obtained from any Magic Rune Club member.


    Each person is limited to taking only one copy of the questionnaire, as there are only limited copies.


    Note: This is the easiest and safest way to get your name printed in a textbook.


    Go for it!


    Signed: Professor of Ancient Rune at Hogwarts, Felix Hap.''


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other.


    An excited voice rang out behind them: ''Warren! Look! We just finished our thesis about it yesterday!" The seventh-year Petter Shelton tugged a Ravenclaw boy''s sleeve and pushed forward, "Oh, Hermione, Harry, Ron, hello." Shelton greeted.


    "Hello guys." Warren Partiz chimed in, both of them are among the first members of the Magic Rune Club.


    Harry and the group greeted them back.


    "Having your name printed in a textbook ... sounds really appealing." Shelton said with narrowed eyes, reaching out and poking her hand into the sticky bubble on the bulletin board and slowly yanking a piece of parchment out of it, Hermione saw the official seal of the Ministry of Magic with her sharp eye.


    "Huh~ How disgusting! The Professor''s nasty sense of humor!"


    Shelton said as she pulled her hand out, her fingers dry and clean. Partiz took a copy as well, and they both left in pairs.


    "Let''s grab a copy too, or we''ll have to borrow from someone else." Hermione said decisively, and they each took one. Standing a short distance away from the crowd, they looked at it.


    Harry read the questionnaire, the first line on it is a small string of words: ''Please fill in the name of the inventor of the spell truthfully and make sure that all those involved in the development of the spell are signed in order to avoid controversy:''


    The first question is: Describe the principle of the spell in brief language.


    The second question is: Describe in brief language what the spell does.


    The third question is: Identify the type of spell: General purpose, Protection spell, Hex, Poison spell, Curse, Curse breaking spell, Transfiguration spell, Other.


    ...


    "Oh no!" Ron shouted in a low voice.


    "What''s wrong?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison while scanning down the top questions.


    "Look at the first line!" Ron stared, reading it word by word, "''Make sure that all those involved in the development of the spell are signed ...''" he looked at Harry meaningfully.


    "Malfoy!" Harry sucked in a cold breath, and his body froze.


    At that moment, Draco Malfoy came strutting towards the notice board with his hands in his pockets, leading his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle. "I heard someone call my name ...," Draco said with narrowed eyes.


    "Nothing!" Harry and Ron said immediately.


    Draco looked at them with suspicion. He stared at the bulletin board and cocked his head towards Crabbe, who followed his gaze and then stared back.


    "Go get a copy." Draco said slowly and Crabbe immediately squeezed into the crowd, while Ron quietly tugged on Harry''s sleeve and Harry backed away knowingly.


    "Wait, Potter!" Draco said. Harry turned back woodenly and looked at him coldly, "What do you have to say, Malfoy."


    Draco: "I heard that Professor Hap is giving you a short lesson?"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s hearts tightened. The professor had told them to keep it a secret, but Harry had been studying for almost three months now and had been reporting to the Ancient Rune office once a week, so there were bound to be times when he was seen.


    "So what of it? Are you jealous, Malfoy?" Ron volunteered as cover and provoked him.


    Draco glanced at him as he lazily pulled a small slip of paper out of his pocket and raised it. With a wide grin, he said, "Sorry, I''ve got one too."


    "Got what?" Harry asked impatiently, bewildered at the randomness. "You''re getting special training from Professor Hap?" He exclaimed, as Ron and Hermione also showed incredulous expressions.


    "You can see for yourself, Potter." Draco looked happy as Harry grabbed the note and looked at it with Ron and Hermione.


    "It''s true." Hermione said softly, she immediately recognized the familiar handwriting on it.


    At that moment, Crabbe pushed his way out of the crowd and handed the questionnaire to Draco, who glanced at it quickly, his eyes paused at the first line.


    "Tsk." He said.


    Ron and Hermione looked up from the slip of paper, looking very frustrated and confused. Harry continued to look at the small letters on it over and over again as if he was trying to detect the slightest hint of a flaw.


    "There''s no title." Harry said.


    "What do you mean--" the smile on Draco''s face froze.


    "There''s no title," Harry repeated, looking at him suspiciously, "It didn''t mention anything about training, it just told you to report to Professor Hap''s office every Saturday."


    Draco paced up to Harry and whispered, "Because of the need for secrecy, but I can tell you, Potter ..." his light-colored eyes sparkled, "it''s Apparition and Disillusionment Charm. "


    He watched with satisfaction as Harry wore a shocked expression. "Yeah, well, that''s always been your privilege, hasn''t it? Breaking school rules with no fear of punishment, having your fans everywhere you go, even the professors-"


    "So you''re jealous?" Harry met his eyes without blinking, bringing up what Ron had said and saying it again.


    "You could think so." Draco surprisingly admitted it, snatching the note from Harry''s hand. Motioning at Crabbe and Goyle, as he walked towards the great hall.


    Harry stared at his back in silence.


    "Who knows what he''s done to flatter Professor Hap!" Ron looked at Harry worriedly while saying pointedly, "Maybe his dad bought two hundred magic gramophones in one go!"


    ...


    Later that evening, Felix wrote a letter in his office, and then he lightly tapped his index finger on the letterhead, as the words on it disappeared bit by bit -


    "Lucius, thanks for the reminder, your information is very useful. Remember: in the future, every strange change concerning the Dark Mark, no matter how minor, you must alert me in time. In return, I will follow my promise to train your son on life-preserving magic, starting this Saturday ..."


    He put the letter into an envelope, sealed it, and stared blankly at the top for a moment, before setting it aside and picking up a stack of manuscripts from a drawer.


    It is a booklet that he planned to finish regarding the introduction of runes, which is to promote the usage of runes. It contained detailed explanations about the origin and development of ancient runes, as well as the most crucial illumination magic.


    Trying to learn ancient magic was never an easy task, even for the simplest illumination. In particular, Felix also intended to adopt a correspondence course-like approach, a tactic that usually serves to coax uneducated Squibs.


    However, he decided to challenge this approach.


    The key lies in the extreme familiarity of illumination, as well as on the rune cards. According to Remus'' data, a thousand sets of the cards have been sold within England, covering almost 40% of the potential buying public - that is, those families with unenrolled young wizards at home.


    This, of course, cannot be separated from the overwhelming advertising and low prices.


    For wizards who lacked entertainment, rune cards served as a good pastime for both adults and children. Of course, most parents just treat them as a kind of educational toy - this concept was also proposed by the young people of Future World, who took great pains to come up with satisfactory advertising lines for their boss.


    The time passed gradually and the night is getting deeper. Niffler Valen yawned, her small black eyes moved away from the comic book, blinking sleepily.


    "Kiki! (Still not sleeping!)"


    "Just a little longer ... Valen, you don''t have to wait for me." Felix said with a smile, turning over another page of the manuscript and continuing to revise.


    "Kiki! Kiki Kiki? (Waiting for that fool who can do magic?)"


    Felix laughed.


    "Don''t call people fools, Andys shouldn''t have used a Golden Galleon to do magic in front of you. Not to mention you took it away, but he also has to suffer your ridicule ...," he said pointing at Valen''s pink beak. "It''s Dobby." He explained.


    "Kiki!" Valen perked up and took a sip of lemonade through the straw, her dark fluffy fur instantly frizzed up, bringing her spirits up immediately. "Hum ki ki? (Is that the rich guy?)"


    "Uh, Dobby has indeed been collecting golden buttons lately."


    Finally, the little golden clock on the desk struck twelve. Almost at the same time, a copper knut in Felix''s hand became hot, that''s Dobby''s call, Felix waved his hand to disperse the alert magic in the house. Almost half a minute later -


    "Snort!"


    House elf Dobby suddenly appeared in the office.


    "Oh, Mr. Hap, hello!" Dobby said with a deep bow, he looked up and greeted Valen happily, "Hello to you too, Miss Valen!"


    Valen looked at Dobby with anticipation as she burst with joy, "Kiki?"


    Dobby took a shiny metal button out of his small suit pocket and exclaimed in a sharp voice, "This is something Dobby collected for Miss Valen!"


    Valen reached out her small hand and took it, looking twice at it, then she pulled a golden vial out of her own pocket and handed it to Dobby.


    "Oh, how generous of Miss Valen!" Dobby said excitedly, glancing at Felix, who smiled at the side, so Dobby took it and looked at it repeatedly.


    "It''s transparent! Oh look, it''s beautiful! Dobby got another present!" Dobby brought his tennis ball-sized eyes to the bottom of the vial and looked around.


    After a moment, Felix had to remind him, "Dobby, Lucius is still waiting ..."


    "Oh ..." Dobby sighed, his two bat ears drooped. It was evident that he seemed to have been avoiding mentioning the matter.


    "Don''t worry, he wouldn''t dare touch you." Felix said.


    "Dobby knows that Dobby has the backing of the great Mr. Hap! But Dobby has mixed feelings ..." the house-elf said, picking up the envelope from the table where it had been placed for a long time, "Dobby doesn''t have to talk to him, does he?"


    "No need." Felix assured him. "You can drop the letter at his feet if you want."


    "Oh~" it is obvious that Dobby is tempted, but he refused, "Dobby represents Mr. Hap now, and Dobby has no need to fear him ..." he puffed out his chest and majestically said.


    "Kiki! (Your legs are shaking!)" Valen held out her finger.


    Felix knew perfectly well that Dobby could not understand what Valen had said.


    ------------


    #Josh W, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 527+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 455: I Oblige

    "There''s one more thing." Dobby took the envelope, his big round eyes looked at Felix hesitantly as he stammered, "It''s about Winky ..." Felix''s face turned blank, he had almost forgotten about Winky.


    "What happened to her? The magic bindings on her should be gone."


    "Yes, you''re right." Dobby''s body began to sway, two slender arms tangled together, "She wanted to go to be with her master, and Dobby told her Mr. Crouch is in prison, and she ... she''s sick."


    "I see." Felix said calmly.


    Dobby looked at him uncomprehendingly as Felix drew out a note and wrote something on it, Dobby stood on tiptoe to read it, but he is too short and Valen stood in front of him, so he could only see the back of Valen''s head.


    "Do you know Ludo Bagman?" Felix said with his head down, quill darting.


    "Dobby knows!"


    "Well," Felix handed him the note, "Bagman owes me a favour, and I don''t think he''d mind doing me such a small favour."


    "You don''t have to do that!" Dobby said sharply, looking startled, "Dobby didn''t mean to ask Mr. Hap for a favour!"


    "Here, let him take you on a trip to Azkaban, he has the authority to do so." Felix said, "By the way, bring something for Mr. Crouch, you can talk to Winky about it, and I don''t care where Winky wants to go after that."


    Dobby bowed deeply and pressed his nose to the floor, his whole body trembling with excitement like a salmon that kept jumping when it landed on the shore.


    Valen looked at where Dobby had disappeared and turned her head to look at Felix, "Kee?"


    Felix picked her up, "To tell you the truth, magic can''t confine a person forever, but love can. Tsk! That sentence should be left to Dumbledore to say ... Want to have a snack, Valen?"


    "Kee!"


    ...


    The next day, in the seventh grade Ancient Rune classroom, Professor Marchbanks and old Vera were once again present.


    The old man obviously hadn''t slept well, and the dark circles under his eyes are as obvious as his double chin.


    When he saw Felix standing at the podium, his expression looked both excited and lost.


    Excited because he found many magical journals that are not available even in the Ancient Rune Society - these journals came from donations of alumni over the years, translated and organized by Bathsheda Babbling, and they are no less than a treasure to him.


    And he looked lost because he completed the verification last night and did not find a single error. The boy ... Felix Hap seemed to have memorized all this information, even the page numbers were accurate.


    At the moment, Felix looked calmly from the stage, his gaze radiant, he wore a blue top today, his hands tucked in his pockets.


    "Today is an advanced class." He announced.


    The students let out a low cheer, while Marchbanks and old Vera wondered. Isn''t seventh grade an advanced class?


    Felix explained softly, "To give the two new guests an idea of what to expect, I will briefly explain the meaning of the so-called ''advanced class''." He smiled lightly and extended his hand from his pocket. The wand appeared in his hand as if by magic, and with just a slight wave, clear writing began to appear on the blackboard behind him.


    "We have completed the first round of review, and according to the plan, there are two more rounds of review. In order to make the next three months not too boring and dull, I will consciously prepare some advanced classes to explain more advanced contents, which are not in the scope of the examination, but will be beneficial to you, especially when you graduate, you can also entertain yourselves with ancient runes after work ... "


    "The advanced class will be taught using the thinking classroom, no need to worry about the danger, just relax your mind - okay, let''s begin."


    Felix gently snapped his fingers, in order to let Professor Marchbanks and old Vera adapt, he deliberately made it obvious: a golden ripple blossomed from the fingertips of the snapping fingers, spread continuously with him as the center, and quickly dyed the entire classroom with a faint gold.


    Professor Marchbanks and Old Vera looked around in amazement, and Marchbanks'' eyes blinked as if she had noticed something. After a few seconds, everything returned to calm.


    From midair, a magic handbook with an ancient and mysterious aura fell ...


    With the sound of crisp birdsong, Felix leaned on the brown trunk of an ancient tree and said to the crowd, "Although it has been said more than once, I would like to emphasize once again: it is more important to exercise your thinking than knowledge, after all, your graduation thesis involves you creating this handbook physically."


    Make students write this handbook?


    Professor Marchbanks'' eyes widened as she looked around quickly, but no students raised objections, so it obviously is not a sudden arrangement.


    Her mood suddenly became complicated, if it is true, is there any point in their exam?


    A low groan sounded next to her, old Vera looked like he became sick, wincing hard, his hand placed right on the magical handbook that floated in front of him.


    ...


    A few minutes before the end of the lesson, the students wrote their notes rapidly and silently, the short Professor Marchbanks loitered between the gaps in the classroom seats, stopping now and then to watch the students'' quill fluently scribble down a runic sentence whose complexity is, frankly, far beyond the standard of the N.E.W.Ts exam.


    Old Vera sat in his seat, looking lost in thought. He is the one who best understands the gap between him and Felix, and at the moment he felt as if he is on pins and needles.


    When the bell finally rang, he almost immediately jumped up from his seat and tried to leave.


    "Mr. Vera," Felix called out to him from behind. "About that report ..." He had mentioned the report yesterday, and the old Vera had agreed to it at the time, not realizing until now how big a hole was buried in that request.


    A report of what, a fancy touting of Felix Hap?


    The old man turned red and escaped with his face covered.


    "Mr. Vera! Mr. Vera!" Felix shouted ''eagerly'', but his body did not move. "What''s wrong with him?" He muttered to himself.


    Professor Marchbanks gave him an odd glance, she didn''t realize before, that this little guy is good at holding grudges!


    "Don''t shout," she said, "he''s quite busy."


    Felix looked at her with a questioning gaze.


    "Probably busy trying to find a place to bury himself!" Professor Marchbanks said. "I won''t be stopping by this afternoon."


    "You''re leaving now?" Felix asked. S?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Not leaving," Professor Marchbanks said helplessly, "but I don''t see the need to visit you anymore, and I almost understand the reason for the sudden improvement in student performance in the past two years. I''ll stay a few more days to check out ... other classes, and I can''t be here in vain."


    Felix nodded knowingly.


    "There''s one more thing left," Professor Marchbanks said, a grin spreading across her wrinkled face, "Interested in becoming a Supernumerary Invigilator?"


    "Supernumerary Invigilator ..."


    "You''ll only be responsible for the practical part of the Ancient rune exam." Professor Marchbanks said, she sighed and looked at the students who walked out of the classroom with chatter, "I can''t ask the graduates of the past two years to do this!"


    "You plan to add a practical test to the ancient rune exam? Examining their grasp in practical runes?" Felix asked with delight.


    "That''s right," she said, "I will go back to the ministry to request the ancient rune to be divided into two fields - translation and practical, of course, this report must be written by you, only you know best ... There is also the direction of employment for practical rune, and if you describe it enticingly enough, the ministry may recruit a few people this year."


    " The reason for this?" Felix didn''t know much about it.


    Professor Marchbanks rolled her eyes, "I reckon the whole wizarding community, except your company, doesn''t know what to do with Practical Runes. Usually, this kind of situation is the responsibility of the Ministry of Magic: recruit a few people and study the direction and potential of the new profession."


    "Are there any similar examples?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Naming Seers are separated from the Seers, they predict the future of newborns and give some advice on naming. I seem to remember that Trelawney was a Naming Seer back in time ... seems like a long time ago."


    Trelawney ... how typical of you, Felix wondered.


    "Sounds good," he said with a curled lip, "I oblige."


    ------------


    #Josh W, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 527+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 456: Information from Derris and Warning Birds

    Old Vera sat in the most isolated spot in the library. That scene during the day had given him an extremely huge shock. Thinking classroom! Magic handbook! The thought of what he perceived as the vast pool of knowledge belonged to Felix Hap, a wave of despair born in his heart.


    He sat there from day to night without eating a single thing. The librarian passed in front of him several times, each time staring at him with suspicion.


    In the evening, there were a few more students appeared. But fortunately, his location is remote enough that no students come to disturb his alone time of wallowing in self-pity.


    "Let''s go inside!" A voice stated at that moment, "Professor Hap put all the books used in the second task on the innermost shelf. There are two tables behind that shelf, very hidden ..."


    Old Vera looked up and saw three students coming up to him, discussing rapidly in whispers.


    "Don''t look so sad," Hermione advised, it is the same voice from earlier, "Think of it as extracurricular practice for the club-"


    "Easy for you to say," Ron muttered, "Do we have to go to Malfoy? I can''t bear the thought of that."


    Harry also had a depressed look on his face.


    They saw old Vera, so Hermione passed Harry and Ron a look and sat down at a table in front of him.


    "So, what are you guys going to do?" She asked in a low voice, casting a Muffliato Charm around them as she said so.


    "Knock him out when he''s not looking and tie him up to where we usually practice our magic." Ron suggested.


    "No, we''ll have to use that classroom later." Harry replied unwillingly.


    "Then we can go to Myrtle''s Bathroom instead," Ron immediately changed his mind, "It has the added advantage of being less crowded. Isn''t that nice?"


    Hermione was surprised that Harry actually considered it for a moment, "He''ll rat on us." Harry finally said with regret.


    Hermione took her textbooks out of her bag and when she looked back, old Vera had gone.


    "He''s gone that way," Harry whispered, while pulling out his Potions class assignment, "Do you guys know about the Ancient Rune Society?"


    "No." Ron said.


    "Yes." That was Hermione''s reply. S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry and Ron looked at her, she explained: " It''s a semi-official organization, some test papers for the wizarding exams are issued by them," Hermione looked around and didn''t find old Vera''s figure, nevertheless she lowered her voice: "As you know, the professor actually prefers practical runes, but The Ancient Rune Society is just the opposite, they are extremely repulsive to it."


    "It sounds like they''re just a bunch of old fogeys who are still eating the past." Ron said thoughtfully, "My great-great aunt was one of those people, always holding on to a set of rules that had been passed down for centuries, and she has always disapproved of our family having so many children, saying that it would be best if they stopped at Percy''s."


    Harry and Hermione looked surprised and amused at the same time.


    "How could she say that?"


    "Who knows," Ron shrugged, "maybe it''s because Fred and George put a big Dungbomb under her chair ... Thank goodness, she hasn''t been around much since then."


    Harry and Hermione laughed.


    After a while, Hermione stood up, "I''m going to get some reference books, do you guys need them?"


    "Sure!"


    "Thanks so much."


    Hermione hummed twice and went to the shelf where the ancient rune books are kept and was surprised to see old Vera''s figure, he is still here, she thought in surprise. Hermione quickly went through the reference books, she knew these shelves very well, so she quickly picked out one book after another.


    "Hello, little girl." Old Vera greeted.


    Hermione puffed up and looked at him, little girl? She is almost sixteen years old, and very few people call her that.


    "Hello, Mr. Vera."


    "Is your name Hermione Jean Granger? I''ve read your thesis in the magazine ... the ''flame'' Rune and the Fire-Making Spell one, as well as the ''light'' Rune and the Wand-Lighting Charm one." Old Vera said.


    "Oh." Hermione hugged the books as she looked at him.


    "That''s right, I heard you are Mr. Hap''s assistant?" Old Vera saw Hermione nodding, "Can I ask you for some information?"


    Hermione looked at him sceptically.


    "Ahem! Don''t get me wrong," Old Vera said awkwardly, "I meant no harm--"


    "That''s not what you stated in the newspaper." Hermione said pointedly.


    "Oh, uh," Old Vera wiped his sweat, his half-bald forehead reflecting the soft bright light of the magic lamp on the ceiling, " Back then it was a different standpoint, and I''ve learned a lot in the past two days and think that what I once thought ... might indeed have some problem ... just might!"


    Two minutes later.


    When he saw Hermione lead the old Vera to their seat, Ron''s eyes almost stared out, he made a gesture: Did he hear what we just said?


    Hermione shook her head. "Mr. Vera wants to ask us some questions," she said, "about the professor." She added.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other. "Don''t expect us to betray Professor Hap!" Ron said loudly.


    Now it is Old Vera''s turn to glare, "What do you take me for?" He yelled furiously, "I''m still the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society, how would I do something that would make me look disgraceful?"


    " Is it?"


    Old Vera nodded woodenly. He felt that Hogwarts had become completely unrecognizable to him.


    At that moment, Mrs. Pince suddenly appeared from behind the bookshelf, holding up a chicken feather duster, her eyes watching them intently like a hawk.


    "Oh, crap!" Hermione exclaimed.


    Meanwhile, in the ancient rune office, Felix is hosting a visitor from the Ministry of Magic.


    "Please sit down." Felix said mildly.


    "No need," John Derris said briefly. He looked very robust, his firm, muscular physique visible from the gray-green lapel coat he donned in. Then He spoke by the book, "I have been ordered by Head Scrimgeour to bring some information about Auror and Hit Wizard; You could only read it within my sight, and after you have read it I will destroy all the documents in your presence, with both of us as a witness."


    "You have not read the information before?" Felix looked at the suitcase he carried in his hand in surprise.


    "It''s a confidential document." Derris said matter-of-factly.


    He stepped forward, placed the suitcase in front of Felix, and took his wand out of his pocket, waiting quietly. When the hands of the clock pointed at the eight o''clock position, Derris touched the clasp of the suitcase with the tip of his wand, a "chattering" sound emerged from inside, then the clasp automatically popped up, and the suitcase was opened.


    Felix looked with interest, a small emerald green bird is standing in the suitcase, it is only palm-sized, but the sound it made is not low. The bird stepped on a thick stack of documents under its feet, which should be the data of the staff.


    When the bird saw the sun again, it immediately jumped out and spread its wings towards the window. Felix reached out and caught it in his hand, examining it carefully.


    "Better not." Derris said, wand in hand, "This is a warning bird, created for secrecy, it will take the ''all is well'' command back to the Ministry. If you hold it a little longer, it may immolate itself."


    "Alchemical item?" Felix said with interest as he let go of his hand and the little emerald green bird flew away without incident.


    For the following period of time, Derris stood on the opposite side of Felix like a stone statue, watching him read the document without saying a word.


    Felix saw many familiar names, such as Tonks, Abbott Balk, Kingsley, and even Derris himself. An hour later, he finished reading all the information.


    Immediately, an orange flame flew out from Derris''s wand and burned the documents to ashes. After doing all this, he breathed a clear sigh of relief.


    ------------


    #Mark Baitinger, #Abe Percy Fulgham IV, and # Abe Fulgham, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 529+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 457: Salmon Skewers and Patronus

    "Is Fudge doing fine?" Felix asked. "The minister is fine." Derris said stiffly, as he closed his empty suitcase and started to take his leave, never sitting down from the beginning to the end.


    "Wait, Derris." Felix called him out, and several sheets of parchment flew toward him, which Derris took in his hands suspiciously.


    "I haven''t been idle the past two days, and prepared some things that will be used in the Halloween holiday training roughly, please pass them to Scrimgeour."


    "This is ... an ancient rune?"


    "That''s right, you can purchase a batch of rune cards from the ''Future World'' company for the Auror and Hit Wizard who will receive training to practice in advance, it will save a lot of time."


    "I understand, I will pass it over to Head Scrimgeour." Derris promised.


    The next day, the weekend.


    Felix slept in until late, he stayed up late last night, but the results were remarkable, and in his office, he had a small, fiery red bird cupped in his hand.


    "Uh, can''t call you a warning bird anymore, let''s just call you Echo Bird."


    Because of the limited time, he only used his magic perspective and thought acceleration last evening to see a general outline, but with the full knowledge from Nicolas Flamel, he quickly rummaged through his memory to find a similar alchemical item and spent half the night to successfully replicate the alternative.


    This alchemical item can be used as an extra eye. When using it, you can input a command to it, and it will exist until the command is completed or ruined, when that happened it will either fly to its owner or immolate itself on the spot.


    Felix looked down at the fiery red bird, which nimbly bounced around in his hand.


    "Just keep an eye on the room, in case someone breaks in."


    The fire-red bird "chirped" twice, and jumped to the ceiling above the magic lamp, you simply can''t find it without a careful look.


    Felix looked at the time, the mealtime is probably long past, so he walked to the underground area of the castle with Valen, and on the way, he met some students who also headed to the kitchen for food.


    Felix exchanged tips with them, and he recommended the lemon salmon fillet. "Remove the scale and bones from the salmon, slice it, smear it raw with black pepper and finish it off with a drizzle of lemon juice ... It tastes pretty good."


    The two Ravenclaw students who accompanied him kept swallowing their saliva.


    "Professor Hap, did you invent the fish deboning spell?" One of them asked.


    "No." Felix immediately replied, "But I happen to know this spell."


    The two students looked at each other, "Well ... we also happen to have a problem, when using this spell it never works very well, it leaves some fish barbs inside, what is the reason for this?"


    "Is the spell transmission process went wrong?"


    "It shouldn''t be, Cho Chang uses it just fine ... she''s my roommate and can bake her own fish!"


    "In that case," Felix thought about it, "it might be related to magic control, I suggest you keep the magic stable in a range, kind of like the process of casting a transfiguration spell, of course, don''t push too hard, or you''ll completely churn the fish... ..."


    They discussed the magic as they walked into the basement, and Felix seemed to see a red-headed figure disappear around the corner in front of them. Weasley? He thought for a moment and didn''t care.


    Valen stood on Felix''s shoulder, her tiny black eyes similarly fixed on the end of the hallway as she caught a familiar scent.


    In the kitchen, the house-elf, Cloudbur, greeted them warmly.


    Felix handed them a gift box of sweets, and after a few excuses, Cloudbur and the enthusiastic elves brought out a small tray with fresh salmon from the corner.


    "This is specially reserved for Mr. Hap!" Cloudbur said as he held the small tray up with great effort.


    "It''s hard work, make one of these for them too." Felix said, as he pointed at the two Ravenclaw students, who have been watching this in awe.


    Ten minutes later, Felix and Valen emerged from the kitchen with a salmon skewer in one hand and strutted down the empty underground corridor, eating merrily. The aroma wafted around them uncontrollably, and the wizards in the picture frames on the walls gawked at them.


    "How about a visit to Uagadou''s quarters? They have some interesting amulets and spells. ..." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    At that moment, Snape''s voice sounded from the corner of the corridor.


    "Thirty points each, plus a detention." The slow voice said, "Potter, Weasley, could you surprise me anymore? Ordinary violations of school rules don''t seem to satisfy you anymore, causing a fuss in the Slytherin common room ... Potter, tell me, are you trying to show off your outstanding courage?"


    "We didn''t make a scene in the Slytherin common room!" Harry said with annoyance.


    "No backtalk, Potter, ten points off for Gryffindor," Snape said lazily, "more than thirty pairs of eyes are enough to prove that you used the Patronus--" He stopped abruptly, his nose gently Twitched, Harry, Ron, and Draco looked like they saw a ghost in front of them, looking behind him with their mouths wide open.


    Snape jerked around, Felix and Valen stood frozen in place not far away, holding salmon skewers in their hand.


    "Uh, Severus, and you three, what''s going on?" Felix asked lightly, the two skewers of salmon fillets in his hand suddenly disappearing.


    Valen''s two small hands are occupied, but she didn''t have Felix''s ability, and this thing can''t be stuffed into her pocket, she could only turn around and hide behind Felix, as she stuffed the salmon fillets into her mouth with a big munch, with obvious oil stains around her pink beak ...


    Snape looked speechless for a moment, with deep eyes surveying both the big and the small ones.


    "Potter--" he trailed off after a long while, "using the Patronus to break into the Slytherin common room and try to cause a panic-- "


    "Not a panic!" Harry exclaimed, "We were just trying to inform Malfoy to get him out of there! We can''t exactly go in as we don''t know the password-"


    "It''s true," Ron gulped down a mouthful of drool, the salmon fry smelled too good, "we wanted to discuss baking fish ... with him," he suddenly coughed violently "I mean, to discuss the thesis, that is, the combination of ''bright'' rune and fire making charm."


    Felix almost understood what is going on.


    "Leave the three of them to me, Severus," he said, "I happen to be looking for all of them for something."


    Snape glanced at him, "A Detention cannot be compromised." Turning on his heel, he left.


    Felix shrugged, "Come on." He told Harry, Ron, and Draco that the Uagadou camp is out of the question.


    They made their way up, as Harry and the rest followed behind him. Harry clearly smelled the scent of fish coming from Professor Hap, and his stomach began to growl afterward.


    "Harry, did you use the Patronus?"


    "Yes, Professor." Harry whispered.


    "Just the Patronus?"


    "Harry can use Patronus to deliver messages." Ron said.


    Felix stopped and looked at Harry with slight surprise, Harry stammered, "Professor you told me about the principle of using the Patronus to deliver messages, and when I tried it last night, it was pretty easy ..."


    ------------


    #Mark Baitinger, #Abe Percy Fulgham IV, and # Abe Fulgham, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 529+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 458: Disillusionment Charm

    Felix had learned a long time ago that the Patronus charm is pretty versatile magic. It has a strong restraining effect against specific creatures, such as Dementors and Lethifold; it can transmit messages over a great distance with the ability to pass through physical structures, not to mention a series of fabulous uses that Felix developed on his own, nevertheless, he always had a question, for what purpose this charm originally developed?


    Rarely do people realize that the Patronus Charm was not developed specifically to fight Dementors. In fact, it was developed much earlier - the wizard "Andros the Invincible" who was active during the ancient Greek period was able to conjure up giant-sized Patronus - while Dementors could only be traced back to the fifteenth century.


    Felix suspected at one point that the Patronus charm had another use, but unfortunately, he didn''t find it. He once thought that in the days when dark magic was widespread, being able to conjure Patronus might be considered "having a noble character", and such people generally had both strength and character, so they naturally gained the reverence of all people.


    The Patronus Charm also naturally became some sort of tester and held a special status.


    ...


    "Please sit down." Felix said.


    They entered the ancient rune office, Harry, Ron, and Draco wearily sat on the same long couch, Harry felt uncomfortable, he had never tried to sit so close to Malfoy, so he looked around the room to distract himself, and soon, his eyes fell on the small square table in front of him.


    A machine that looked like a toaster is placed there, with a stack of brown "slices of bread" beside it. In the groove of the machine, there is an identical "slice of bread" inserted, with the handsome picture of Cedric Diggory attached to it, who is smiling lightly at them.


    "Professor, what is this?" He couldn''t restrain himself from asking.


    "A projection." Draco suddenly interjected, and Harry and Ron gave him an odd look, but they quickly accepted the explanation, as much as they hated to admit it, the wealthy Malfoys are no strangers to such things.


    "That''s right, a projection." Felix said, sitting on the single couch next to them, "The samples sent over by ''Future World'', I mean these footages." He added.


    Harry stared at Cedric, who still smiled at him, and a sense of absurdity rose up inside him. " So, this is ... these are ..."


    "Champion''s performance in the second task." Felix said with a smile, gesturing at the stack of flat brown square boxes on the table, "All of them. But it certainly can''t be sold to the public just like that, there are no regulations yet, but the ''Future World'' company hopes to set some standards and self-regulation."


    Harry seemed to understand, but he realized something, this thing is similar to the Muggles'' film, only this time, he may be about to become the main character of the film or one of the main characters. He thought about what the professor had said to them after the tournament, "You''re going to be famous because of this game." S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, he understood the meaning of that statement.


    "So, our performance will be more widely seen?" Ron''s eyes lit up and he asked impatiently.


    "In theory," Felix nodded as a few plates of snacks and butterbeer floated over and landed on the table, as he made a "please" gesture and said to them, "but there are some details that need to be considered, for example, your own willingness to-"


    "I agree." Ron said immediately.


    Felix laughed.


    "Let''s put it this way, when you participate in the tournament of champions, you all have agreed by default to compete under the sight of the audience, the ''Future World'' company is just bringing your performance to a wider audience, nevertheless, there may be people who do not want to let their footage out ... the best we can do is try to convey the footage based on your preference."


    "So that means we can decline as well?" Harry asked.


    "On some insignificant and separate footage, yes." Felix said, "Not if it involves important game moments, of course, we will pay a fee, not much, but like I just said, we would like to set some standards." He emphasized.


    "That sounds good." Ron said, getting famous and making money at the same time, why would anyone disagree? The only concern would be that it might be expensive, and his family wouldn''t necessarily be able to afford it.


    Harry, on the other hand, had a vague concern in his heart, what if all those footages could be seen by the Death Eaters and Voldemort, but then he thought, if the Death Eaters and Voldemort wanted to know his secret, then there is nothing he could do to stop it, there were too many audiences.


    "I also agree." He said after a long consideration. All the magic he knew, except for the Occlumency, are not considered secret, and the Occlumency is not visible externally, as long as he did not say, others can not see.


    Draco''s eyes twinkled, it was unknown what he was thinking.


    "Very well," Felix said, "then the business concerned you both are settled," he gave the expulsion order, "these footages will eventually be put together, and you will be invited to watch them once before they are released, also the payment will be distributed at that time. If there are no questions, I will consider everything is settled."


    Harry and Ron left with mixed feelings.


    Only Felix and Draco remained in the office, along with Valen, who had been munching on an Apple Crisp Cookies. She occupied a single couch alone, sitting across from Felix with the second volume of The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard on her lap.


    "Do you know anything about the two spells, the Apparition, and the Disillusionment charm?" Felix asked.


    Draco nodded, "I''ve done some research, and they are both advanced magics that can be learned in the higher grades."


    "That''s right, the Disillusionment charm can be learned in the fifth-year Charms class, and the Apparition magic requires an instructor assigned by the Ministry of Magic to learn it, and the student should be an adult."


    "But Potter knows that magic!" Draco blurted out, his face turned pale, "I mean-"


    "I understand," Felix said with a smile, "He seems to have broken the rules once again. It was his reward for winning first place in his third year, and he chose it himself. It''s not really a big deal if the underage students learned Apparition, it''s only public usage can cause some legal trouble ... Fortunately for Potter, the first time he used it publicly was when he earned honour for the entire British Wizarding community."


    "If there is no objection, we will now begin."


    "The Disillusionment Charm is a spell that is used to camouflage a person''s body. When using it, you must keep the colour and texture of your body in line with the environment behind and around you ... It is easy to pick up, but hard to master."


    "The difficulty of these two spells are different, but both require the mobilization of your magic power within your body, in other words, the control of magic power is very demanding, you are still lacking in this area, so I have prepared some targeted exercises ..."


    For the next two hours, Draco Malfoy practiced writing in the air in a way that didn''t scatter, he had to do it all with his bare hands, and it was demanding in terms of speed and aesthetics.


    Draco Malfoy''s face flushed from the heat of the fireplace, which jumped and splintered as the weather in March remained unpleasant.


    Professor Hap indicated that some teaching aids are not ready yet, so the real practice will have to wait until next week. Still, when he left, he brought a copy of the knowledge breakdown chart of the Disillusionment Charm with him.


    It is his assignment, and an analysis essay must be turned in by next week.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 533+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 459: Trainee Reporter

    The last days of March passed rather quietly, and Alastor Moody''s purchase came on an overcast morning. A dozen owls landed on the great hall table with a huge package in tow, their feathers ruffled, when Professor Moody asked a few students to take the poor little creatures to Madam Pomfrey for treatment.


    "A long flight!" Moody said, "There aren''t many people you can trust these days, and you can''t be too careful when it comes to safety."


    "That lowlife ruined my collection," he said in a thick voice, "I spent decades on it! That Sneakoscope works incredibly well and can monitor schemes within a kilometre radius. The only problem is that it''s too sensitive, which is why I moved to an isolated area, otherwise it would just keep shrieking ..."


    Professor Marchbanks and old Vera also left the school on that same day, Professor Marchbanks took the report provided by Felix, according to her, trying to get the Ministry of Magic to recognize a new profession is not an easy task, "They will pull a lot of irrelevant issues, such as the salary for the new department." She complained loudly, "It would always be delayed in irrelevant things, but I''ll try to make it happen!"


    "You''re staying over during Easter break?" She looked at Felix, who responded by saying he would be here on April 17, "The day after Easter? I''ll remember to schedule the meeting for that time."


    "What do I need to prepare for this?" Felix asked.


    "Shut them up with irrefutable facts!" Professor Marchbanks gently shook his hand.


    Old Vera invited him to be a guest at the Ancient Rune Society for the summer before he left, and Felix agreed, but he would never join the society - he needed to see more " positive " changes - unless they offered the title of president of the Ancient Rune Society.


    And so April came.


    The vegetation in the school quietly turned green and the climate became favourable. In addition to the change in weather, the professors of different subjects all moved forward with their revision, and the students complained about the large amount of homework assigned, even creating a strange culture of comparison.


    "I studied until twelve o''clock last night." A fifth-year student said in the lounge, "finishing that damn history of magic paper!"


    " The guy''s got three months to go before he''s liberated, though, doesn''t he?" Ron said sadly, comparing the two answers as he too fretted over the History of Magic paper, "First it was goblins, then vampires, and now it''s turned into centaur ... What the hell is wrong with Professor Binns? Is the ghost cake in classroom seven not up to his taste?"


    "These are the knowledge that must be learned." Hermione said while looking through today''s newspaper.


    "I know, but I don''t care one bit about what the centaur chief said when he refused to accept the ''human'' term of address, and the significance of the Centaur Liaison Office, a department that according to my father has never really been used, and no centaur has ever actually walked in there!" Ron muttered incessantly, his resentment visible to the naked eye and his voice getting louder, "It''s become a public joke, if you look at anyone and don''t like them, just pray he gets sent to the Centaur Liaison Office because it won''t be long before he''s fired - Harry, what''s the word? "


    Harry, who has been working on his Divination class assignment, peeks over and stares at his assignment for a few moments before saying in an uncertain tone, "Bangers?"


    "It''s a Banshee," Hermione said calmly from the sidelines, clutching a large book, "The Centaur has a grudge against Banshees and Vampires, and has clashed throughout history, which is one of the reasons they refuse to share the name ''human''. "


    Ron didn''t listen at all as he mimicked Harry''s handwriting and drew a haphazard pattern, eventually comparing the lengths and concluded it with a small poem, "Great job." He said happily.


    Hermione glanced at it and said mockingly, "Whose poem is this?"


    "I wrote it myself." Ron closed the paper decisively.


    "Good for you, breaking up a long sentence into seven or eight paragraphs." Hermione said, as Ron smiled and stuffed the paper into his book bag, "It''s actually eight paragraphs ... Any news? You''ve been reading that for half a day."


    "There''s been more and more discussion about ancient runes," Hermione said, "It''s like a hurricane, Rune cards are selling like hotcakes ... A lot of people are waiting for a new book from the professor, they obviously know who is the source of the change. "


    "And we benefit from that, don''t we?" Ron said with a grin, he recently in a rather good mood, last week ''Future World'' company employees came over to give them a reward, a full 80 golden galleons, according to Neville, he even smiled when sleeping.


    Hermione did not pay attention to him, as she continued to look at the newspaper, "I always feel that there is a person missing, how she did not comment on this big event is too strange ..."


    "Who do you mean?"


    "Rita Skeeter." Hermione said.


    "Isn''t it perfect, that nuisance disappeared, maybe she was beaten by someone." Ron guessed.


    "She''s writing Regulus''s biography." Harry looked up and said, "Or maybe she''s just hiding from the limelight."


    "Oh ...," Hermione said in a long-drawn-out voice, "that makes sense."


    "What''s wrong?"


    "You are not aware of what she has written in her new book, and frankly I wouldn''t be surprised if she was captured by the Dark Lord one day, but she still has the guts to do this, are you sure?" She asked, looking at Harry.


    "I don''t know why." Harry shrugged, "But Sirius said her attitude was serious, and she took the manuscript to him every once in a while, other than that she didn''t see anyone at all for the rest of the time..."


    "How''s Sirius''s job, is he fitting in?" Hermione couldn''t help but ask, "I can''t believe he managed to stay in one school for so long."


    "He''s fitting in quite well there," Harry said, "He mentioned that he figured out a way to deal with the students."


    "He didn''t hex the students, did he?" Ron asked, and Harry didn''t answer; he couldn''t rule out the possibility.


    April 7.


    ''Future World'' company launched the magic projector with the footage simultaneously, during that day the new product was sold at 40% off, for a total of 120 golden galleons. The price is not low, but it still attracted a considerable amount of attention.


    Especially when combined with the news of the hottest tournament at present, it has set the market on fire as soon as it appeared, selling 150 sets in the first week, and that''s not counting the orders from abroad. It was a good start, although sales would certainly decrease and stabilize in the future.


    With that came a lot of talk about the Champions, and it was as if the wizards had entered Easter early, with many owls flooding the campus every day. Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade featured with the posters of the Champions in their support.


    It was in this atmosphere that Rita Skeeter emerged from a rented room opened by a muggle.


    She tidied up her manuscript with a satisfied expression. Under great pressure, she exerted herself like never before, and this book, if published, would surely set off the market. S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    And ...


    "Those peers of mine are not that low level, either." She mused, a press card with her picture and title placed on the table - a trainee reporter at The Times.


    Yes, she had disappeared from the wizarding community for a while, not because she was hiding behind closed doors, but because she had temporarily disassociated herself from it.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 533+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 460: Birthday Present

    Rita Skeeter has her own agenda. She was able to mix it up while annoying people because she knew what not to report and who not to offend. Here''s an interesting fact: different people attach different importance to the same thing, and the same person attaches different importance to different things.


    She can report on the Malfoy family''s luxury and power, but will not touch on their history of being knighted by the Muggle kings and the fact that they were once close to the Death Eaters; she will also use harsh words to describe Dumbledore as a " senile old man" in her article, but she will never write about the forbidden friendship that existed half a century ago or mention anything about his dead relatives.


    Unless, of course, they are no longer alive.


    She has developed her own style of reporting based on this unique understanding of journalism, which has made her unique in the wizarding community with a large loyal following. However, she has had a bad year in the past two years, with a series of flops.


    The first time was two years ago when she ran into a low-profile wizard and miscalculated the situation, thinking it would be no big deal if he got offended, but she ended up on the wrong side of the tracks and was confronted.


    The second time was also two years ago, when that harebrained man Lockhart discovered her secret of being an illegal Animagus, so she had to get ahead of the game and use an Obliviate to get out of trouble, and afterward when she learned that Lockhart turned out to be a real memory master, she broke out in a cold sweat; she naturally knew what she had, and her lame Obliviate could not trap him for too long, so she rushed to the Ministry of Magic to report her Animagus status.


    Even though her reputation got worse, she dodged a bullet and was simply got fined a sum of money.


    The third involves her ambitious work, Against the Black Terror. Ever since her rival and fellow minder was imprisoned in Azkaban, she had been considering completing a highly influential new book, that''s when Regulus Black, who had received the honorary endorsement of Dumbledore and was also the heir of an ancient pure-blood family, came into her sights, with a hidden identity as a former Death Eater!


    She doesn''t care if it''s true or not, but that story sells, doesn''t it? And more fortunately, the two main characters of the incident were dead.


    The only thing standing in the way of this is probably the only remaining member of the Black family, Sirius Black. If his wanted notice was still hanging in Diagon Alley, she would never have dared to do so, but that Black was eventually proven to be wrongly accused. What a stupid guy, spent more than ten years in prison for nothing, Rita Skeeter once suspected that he had intellectual problems.


    But in any case, since Sirius Black was wrongly accused, she is not afraid of him. Think about it, the last of the old pure-blood family, who left home at the age of 16 without inheriting any bit of the family''s network, what is there to be afraid of?


    In her opinion, Sirius should have been busy working around and restoring the family glory at that time.


    It turned out that things had gotten completely out of hand, first Sirius Black kept sending her Howlers, and then there was the news that the Dark Lord''s loyal lackey had come back from the dead and managed to escape arrest, which scared her to death and annoyed her at the same time, when did Azkaban become a complete gag?


    Damn Barty Crouch! Damn Both of them!


    She repeatedly inquired about the truth through various connections, and the more she learned, the more chilling she felt. She even went so far as to use a piece of hidden information to finally meet a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic, who looked at her like a dead man.


    Then she made a prompt decision to turn to the most powerful wizard she could get in touch with, Felix Hap, and she did not hesitate to offer up all kinds of hidden information she had worked so hard to gather over the years.


    She also finally knew who she had messed with - she had guessed at every possibility and even wondered if she had been targeted by some ghost, but she never imagined that it would be someone who was already dead.


    Is it some strange fetish for both the servant and the master to pretend to be dead?


    Despite the promise of Felix Hap, she was worried that she would be used as bait, in case the fish is not caught, and she got swallowed instead. After weighing her options, she decided to disappear for a while. Under the pretext of writing her book in peace, she quietly moved to a muggle community and temporarily broke off contact with the wizarding community.


    During one of her walks, she found a newsstand where a Muggle newspaper unexpectedly matched her appetite in terms of style. Although she did not like the third edition ..., she used some "skills" to get a job as a trainee reporter.


    After a few small strokes, she became the most brilliant trainee under the editor-in-chief and will be promoted to a full-fledged reporter in the near future. Now she decided to convince the editor-in-chief, who had terrible taste in clothes, to allow her some autonomy.


    That morning, Rita Skeeter emerged from The Sunday Times office. She promised to bring one heavyweight story a month to the paper, and the reward, naturally, is flexibility in her work schedule.


    By noon, she returned to Diagon Alley.


    Rita Skeeter took a deep breath and felt her entire body relax. On her way back to the Daily Prophet''s headquarters, she unexpectedly saw various posters plastered on Diagon Alley, even the wanted posters for Barty Crouch Jr. were covered up.


    Rita Skeeter stared expressionlessly at the dozen or so people on the posters; they were all champions of the tournament, and she was no stranger to them, having participated in the pre-tournament wand check and the coverage of the first task. But it became clear that something big had happened that she didn''t know about.


    Half an hour later, at the Daily Prophet headquarters, she got to know what happened from the mouth of the photographer.


    The second task!


    A magic projector! S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    And, of course - ancient rune!


    Rita Skeeter, who had been hanging out at The Sunday Times job for two months, certainly knew what a projector is, and she even understood the logic of how the ''Future World'' company operated.


    "Those little guys are famous now?" She asked, straightening her curls.


    "Rita, you''re simply missing out on a lot of golden galleons!" Her photographer said.


    Rita Skeeter lowered her head and gazed at him from behind her jewel-encrusted glasses, "Oh, Bozo ... news will never be lacking, I''ve been doing more important things."


    "So, uh, what are you going to do now--"


    "Get a piece of the action, of course!" Rita Skeeter said, reaching into her alligator handbag and pulling out a dark green fountain pen and a shorthand notebook. The photographer stared in amazement at her new kit as Rita Skeeter motionlessly adjusted the Ring of Ouroboros on her finger to a different position, revealing just a dark green ring.


    "Bring it!" She said sternly, "Don''t tell me you haven''t done a damn thing this whole time! Bring me all the pictures you''ve taken!"


    ...


    Meanwhile, Felix stared at a package that Owl had sent over.


    It is a birthday present.


    He gently unwrapped the outer package, there is a birthday card and a birthday cake. After checking several times and finding no traces of magic, he opened the birthday card. The greeting on the card is brief and signed by a simple name, Jane, with no last name.


    "Strange ... did I mention my birthday? Not to mention it''s a week late ..." Felix thought to himself, his birthday is April 8, but it''s now already 15. The owl with the owl post office logo anklet had flown away, which meant there is no need for him to write back.


    ------------


    #Jack, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 534+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 461: Easter

    Felix took out the small coloured candles from the package with interest, stuck them on the cake, and lit them one by one with a match, and when he blew out the candles, he suddenly realized that he is 24 years old. It is the first day of the Easter holidays, so he has no classes, and even Valen is still sleeping.


    He thought about his recent schedule, Draco Malfoy would drop by in the afternoon to practice the Disillusionment Charm, which he had already grasped briefly, but the fluctuations in magic were so obvious that it was easy to be seen from close range; a little later Harry would come, his Occlumency is on track, and there are still a few last pages left in that enchanted book.


    Tomorrow is Easter, and there is a feast in the evening. He had heard that four other schools will be performing shows, and he sincerely hoped that the busy Pukwudgie he saw when he passed by the Quidditch pitch are not preparing for it ... The following day, he will leave for the Ministry of Magic to train the Aurors and Hit wizards of the Ministry, and drop off the finished booklet about runes to the publisher on the way. Scrimgeour wrote that he would be granted an honorary position as an advisor, and although he did not care, he politely expressed his thanks in his reply.


    The bedroom door opened and Valen stood in the doorway with a yawn.


    "Kiki ...?"


    "A familiar smell?" Felix smiled, "It''s birthday cake, we can eat the fruit and chocolate on it first. So nostalgic, I only had it when I was in the orphanage ..."


    "Kee!"


    The next evening, the Hogwarts great hall is brightly illuminated. Many of the young wizards had gone home for the holidays, but a significant number had stayed behind just to see the legendary and unique Pukwudgie show.


    When Felix walked into the great hall, he saw a huge Easter egg in the center of the room. Only when he got closer did he realize that the egg is made up of a variety of sweet treats pieced together. He saw fruit preserves, pudding, peppermint hard candy, praline crunchy candy, wine heart chocolate, and fudge-filled with nuts ... A group of students gathered in front of the egg and gestured at it.


    The Head Boys and Girls of the Student Body had to loudly announce that this is something to be shared only after the dinner is over.


    But Harry''s craving for Easter eggs is not great, he has significantly overconsumed sweets in the past two days, in addition to Professor Hap''s birthday cake that was shared yesterday afternoon, this morning he also received a dragon egg-sized Easter egg from Mrs. Weasley, which was filled with homemade toffee, he ate it to a point of burping, and even burping has a sweet and creamy taste.


    He, Ron, and Hermione found a seat and waited for the dinner to begin.


    "I told you there is no way that woman would quit!" Hermione tossed a newspaper over to him.


    Harry took it over and looked at it, "Nothing out of the ordinary is written ..."


    "She started a rumour that I''ve Innate Strength!" Hermione said annoyed, "Do I look like I''m related to a Troll?"


    "Why''s that?" Harry asked.


    "It''s known as a troll''s natural talent, but the wizarding community has always been sceptical about it, but they had to make something up or else trolls would be no different from ordinary creatures." Fred and George said as they sat down next to them.


    Soon, people arrived and the students from the other four schools scattered to sit at the four long tables. Byers and Fleur both chose to sit in the Gryffindor seats, "What are you planning to perform?" Harry asked.


    "Oh, you mean that," Byers said vaguely, looking disinterested, "You''ll know when it''s time. What about your school?"


    Harry shook his head, he didn''t know either, and Neville interjected from the sidelines, "It''s a ghost show, and I heard Fat Friar from Hufflepuff and Nearly Headless Nick talking about the party, and Fat Friar was worried that there wasn''t enough food being distributed ..."


    The crowd looked at each other. "They want to bring that spooky food into the great hall?" Ron couldn''t help but shudder.


    "Don''t forget, there is classroom seven available now, so maybe the food will taste better." Harry reminded him.


    "I still can''t get over Nearly Headless Nick''s 500th-anniversary party." Ron said pessimistically. The ghosts had deliberately made everything mouldy in order to make the food taste a little stronger. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The dinner party started. Harry''s eyes fell on a salmon, he couldn''t help but remember the salmon skewers he had seen that day, he thought the group of house-elves in the kitchen had worked on a new dish, but unfortunately he never saw it on the table.


    That''s when the lights dimmed.


    A group of silver ghosts drifted in like a tide, gliding through the great hall in some sort of formation, and Harry caught sight of the Nearly Headless Nick - one hand holding his head to keep it from falling off, while the other did well-rehearsed moves with the other ghosts. He looked excited.


    Harry knew that Nick had tried hard to get into the Headless Hunt, but was mercilessly rejected because of an inherent lack of qualification - he still had a bit of skin attached to his neck, and he had complained about it.


    A few minutes later, the ghosts gathered together, and the students applauded in a polite manner. At that moment, the ghosts suddenly scattered in all directions and flew into midair sprinkling a silvery speck of light.


    Harry stared up in alarm, and he recognized it as some kind of egg-shaped stuff. He couldn''t resist reaching out to touch it, which actually posed a big risk, because his experience told him that contact with the ghosts would give him a feeling of falling abruptly into an ice cave.


    But the next second, a feeling of happiness flowed through his body, as if he returned to the ancient rune office, sitting on the professor''s couch, looking through the enchanted book, he stayed for a long time in the chapter called "happiness".


    "That''s my memory!" A ghost floated up to him and said with excitement, it is Nearly Headless Nick.


    "Oh, uh, that feels awesome." Harry praised sincerely.


    "Thanks, it took a while to get that!" Nearly Headless Nick said, "I mean, I saw this coming ... I have been the only courtier of Henry VII who has tasted the delicacies of the court!" His tone grew low, "Although he was also the one who sentenced me to death."


    "That''s too bad." That was all Harry could say. But all he could think of is how poor Henry VII must have been to not even be able to afford a good axe because Nearly Headless Nick had said, he had been cut by the executioner 45 times without his head being completely severed.


    "Want to try?" Felix asked from the faculty table. "My memory body is fond of doing strange things, and he complained to me that he couldn''t come out ..."


    "No need." Snape said coldly, pushing away the silvery speck of light that hovered around him.


    At that moment, the light returned to the great hall. A row of short Pukwudgie walked to the center of the great hall, their faces stiffer than Snape''s, they wielded their pocket short bows expressionlessly, as if at any moment they would draw an arrow from their backs and shoot out, the great hall went silent, and no reaction occurred until they withdrew.


    Dumbledore politely clapped his hands, bringing sparse applause. The subsequent shows were much more normal, the students of Uagadou danced a jolly African dance, as the athletic and graceful figure of Nona Leibert attracted the attention of many boys; the students also witnessed the chorus of Beauxbatons''s mountain fairies, and Fleur drunkenly serenaded along with them.


    "So, Professor Hap''s birthday is April 15th?" Fred asked, stabbing up a piece of chicken with his fork.


    "It might be," Harry froze, "I didn''t ask in detail, but yesterday Professor Hap said the cake was freshly unwrapped in the morning ..."


    "Oh." Fred and George looked at each other in silence, and Fred said with a straight face, "George, next year is our last year at school."


    "Yeah," George said without thinking, " It is important to give presents before it is too late."


    "You''re going to pull a prank on the professor''s birthday?" Hermione asked sharply.


    "Don''t say it like that," Fred didn''t deny it, "just trying to leave a good memory ... I just found out that all of our birthdays fall in April, me, George, and Professor Hap. It must be a special fate."


    "You guys?"


    "The first of April, yeah, April Fool''s Day, but it''s not a joke."


    ------------


    #Jack, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 534+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 462: The Elite of the Ministry of Magic

    The next day, Felix showed up at the Ministry of Magic on time, and the elevator disguised as a red phone booth stopped at the dark-tinted Ministry of Magic''s lobby, "The Ministry of Magic wishes you a good day." The voice of the cold woman was heard in the elevator. Then the door of the phone booth slammed open, probably because of the Easter holiday, the gleaming hall appeared very silent as it is empty. Felix caught a glimpse of the person waiting a short distance away - Tonks.


    With her violet hair on top and her nose considerably pastel than before, the Metamorphmagus ... are truly magical, thought Felix, it would be nice if I could study them.


    But he would not say this out loud.


    "Mr. Hap, I took this job from Kingsley." Tonks said cheerfully, looking him up and down as she walked toward him, "You simply dropped by like this?"


    "Or else?" Felix asked.


    "I thought you would bring some teaching aids, Remus mentioned to me that you always have a lot of interesting inventions and whims."


    "I did bring them, and will bring them out when the time is right." Felix smiled faintly and walked with her in the direction of the elevator, "You are still in touch with Remus?"


    "Oh yes," Tonks said, "I like to hang out at Sword Castle during the days it''s open when I''m not doing anything. Remus has given me quite a bit of advice, and he''s still feeling sorry about knocking me out, but he didn''t mean to, didn''t he ... We''re going to the second floor, and Scrimgeour is waiting."


    "Sword Castle?"


    "It''s the headquarters of the ''Future World'' company, it looks like a long sword stuck in Diagon Alley, that''s what we call it," Tonks said, fiddling with the elevator button as it jerked and started descending.


    Felix suddenly realized that he has always learned information about his company from others that he didn''t know, and he thought it felt pretty nice, giving him an inkling that his company is growing rapidly and spreading its influence. Aside from that, Tonks pulled the conversation back on track, "I''ve been saving up for the Emerald Crown lately, but I''ve always been a spendthrift ..."


    "It''s really popular with the girls." Felix said understandingly.


    "Oh, uh," Tonks looked a little flustered as she hastily explained, "I''m not trying to wear a princess dress or two, I mean, while it''s really pretty ... it comes in six styles, and they also accept custom orders, don''t you think it goes well with my ability?" She pointed to her face, her pastel nose quickly becoming angular, making her face look more refined as well as stern.


    "Ding!" The second level arrived.


    Felix pretended to be convinced, and they went to the Auror office, an open space divided into several cubicles, each belonging to an Auror. Although it is a holiday period, the seats inside are still mostly full.


    The Aurors conversed in twos and threes, and when Tonks led Felix in, they turned their eyes in unison. Felix caught a whiff of different emotions, curiosity, admiration, scepticism, scrutiny, and one or two malicious ones.


    "That''s my seat." Tonks said, pointing to a small cubicle with some stickers on the wooden panels and a few pending documents scattered on the table along with a mug with a discount coupon from the ''Future World'' company pressed under it.


    "Good work, Tonks," Kingsley interrupted, "I''ll take care of the rest."


    Felix felt like a piece of cargo, briefly in Tonks'' hands for transit before being taken over by someone more professional, and Kingsley led him to the inner side of the open space where a heavy oak door with a gilded wooden plaque bearing Scrimgeour''s name and job title hung.


    "Hello, Mr. Hap." Scrimgeour said as he stood up in the office. Instead of using the cane hanging on the shelf, he limped out from behind the solid wood desk, looking much more enthusiastic than last time, his lion''s mane-like hair on his head shaking as he shook Felix''s hand, "The Ministry has been buzzing about you lately, and Griselda thinks very highly of you."


    Felix thought he was talking about the reframing of the ancient rune curriculum, "I hope everything is going well."


    "Indeed," Scrimgeour said, "you have a good chance of making the cut, she picked a clever time to do so, and it must be admitted that Griselda is well-connected as a senior member of the Wizengamot, so her recommendation carries a lot of weight."


    Felix felt a little puzzled as they didn''t seem to be talking about the same thing. Without waiting for him to ask, Scrimgeour had already walked out of the office and shouted at the Aurors, who stood up in unison and headed toward the door.


    "Let''s go to the training room." Scrimgeour said to him.


    "The training room?" Felix looked confused for a moment, then quickly realized how could Aurors couldn''t possibly have their own training ground.


    "The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is the largest department in the Ministry." Scrimgeour laughed out loud, "That statement reflects many things, the number of people, the space, and of course the expenditures." They walked out the doorway and headed in the opposite direction from the elevator, walking down some aisles before turning a corner at the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office ahead of them, and then turning into a dark, well-worn corridor.


    The corridor seemed deliberately placed this way, and Felix sensed traces of heavy magic. After walking for a few minutes, they finally reached the end of the corridor - which seemed to be a dead end. Felix saw a huge wall with an illustrated portrait of an equivocal male wizard with a scholarly face sitting in the frame, with a thick book in his hand, as he read it with great interest.


    "Justus Pilliwickle, a former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, constructed this training room during his tenure." Scrimgeour said.


    Felix shot a few glances at the portrait, "I''ve seen him, on the Chocolate Frog card." The male wizard in the portrait locked eyes with him, took off his hat with a slight bow, and asked, "Which do you think is more important, making laws or enforcing them?"


    "The latter," Felix said, "Laws are always good in their original intent, but even the best laws need to be enforced and interpreted by people."


    "Interpreting the law is an art." The male wizard in the portrait said approvingly, and he whirled to move out of the way, revealing a large, dark hole.


    A dozen steps or so into the hole revealed a clear, brightly lit area ahead. Felix squinted, his eyes skimming over the underground space, which is larger than Hogwarts'' great hall. There are nearly a hundred people much more than he had seen in the Auror''s office inside, and Felix estimated that many of these people should be Hit Wizards. S?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There were only thirty-seven people in the profile." He said mildly.


    "That''s right, and you only need to consider those people," Scrimgeour said, "The others are here to see the event, they will remain for maybe an hour or two before leaving, they have their own assignments."


    After introducing Felix to the crowd in the training room and arranging for Kingsley to be his assistant, he hurriedly left.


    ...


    Felix stood quietly, his eyes sliding over each and every one of them. He saw a handful of familiar faces, but plenty more are strangers.


    At that moment, Kingsley came over from the corner of the field, followed by several human targets and soft pads that had been retrieved from a row of wooden crates in the corner.


    "Thanks, Shacklebolt." Felix said, as he turned his wrist and his inky wand abruptly appeared in his hand, a gesture that drew some stares, and then he spoke calmly.


    "If nothing else, I will be spending the next little more than two weeks with you all."


    "I will show you some of the mysteries of ancient runes, time is limited, I can only pick the parts that are most important to you, I think you should have read about it in the newspaper recently. That''s right, the part about the combination of ancient rune and modern magic."


    "Before we officially begin - before I ask anything from you - I would prefer that you see what skills you are going to master, I think it will help us to get along for the rest of the time without some mishap... ..."


    He flicked his wand quickly and a flame flared.


    "Boom!"


    A golden ball of fire blasted on the human-shaped target, the sticky flame clinging to the mutilated limbs, with a continuous " crackling " popping sound. Standing in the front row, Tonks felt the shockwave of the spell sweep over her head, a wave of heat whizzed her hair, she could not help but smack her lips.


    " ''Flame'' Rune with Fire-Making Spell," Felix explained, "this power can pretty much break the average level Shield Charm."


    The crowd in the room murmured.


    "In addition, ''Flow'' Rune with Shield Charm," Felix waved his wand again, a magic barrier appeared in front of him, it looked like a new type of Shield Charm, it is no longer colorless and transparent, with the surface swirled with a greenish light, like flowing blue waves, or fettered wind.


    "... hold on longer and better than the normal charm." Felix said, "Anyone wants to give it a try?"


    "Anyone wants to give it a try?" When he asked for the second time, Kingsley stepped forward, as an assistant this is when he comes in handy. "We will mimic the state of combat to complete a round of offence and defense, in which you will need to disrupt my defense as much as possible."


    Kingsley nodded in silence as the crowd spread outward, leaving enough room for the two.


    At that moment, Kingsley suddenly leaned down, drew his wand, and recited the spell, the whole process was done in a single breath, Felix moved a step to the side, hiding behind the green magic barrier, "snort" a little sound rang, the spell grazed the shield charm and deflected.


    The spell flew out swiftly as Kingsley stepped forward. Felix slightly adjusted the direction of the shield charm to make sure the spell didn''t land on the same spot, and as everyone watched, the green glow of the magic barrier pulsed violently, with layers of ripples on its surface, and the originally broken and cracked spell smoothed out by an invisible hand.


    Onlookers counted silently until the fifth spell slammed head-on into the shield charm when it flickered and disappeared.


    Quite a few people-especially Hit wizards-stared hard at the two, a good portion of them even had difficulty using a complete shield charm. It wasn''t that they couldn''t use it, but it would be difficult to use it in actual combat, which related to the law enforcement scenario they had to face.


    Hit Wizards are like cops in the secular world who deal with routine law enforcement tasks rather than a SWAT. In other words, they confront the law-breaking wizard populace who actually found it hard to muster the courage to confront the Ministry of Magic instead of terrorists.


    The true Dark Wizards are scarce and are generally assigned to the more well-rounded Auror. The wizarding community is ultimately dominated by peace and order, rather than being filled with chaos and disorder, which is what the Hit Wizards have been experiencing all these years, but recently, for reasons unknown, Scrimgeour convinced Amelia Bones and Pius Thicknesse, who are also high ranking officials of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to put forward higher requirements for the Hit Wizards and Aurors, in which an article has liberalized the channel for the promotion to Aurors from the Hit Wizards.


    It is an accepted fact that the treatment of Aurors far exceeds that of Hit Wizards. Many people are trying to work their way up to that.


    "Profe-essor ...?" A young voice broke the silence.


    Felix looked at the young man and smiled, "Abbott Balk?" His eyes fell on a bearded wizard, if he remembered correctly, Balk mentioned that he had an Auror uncle, and he happened to have read about an Auror named "David Balk" in his profile.


    "It''s me," the young Balk said, the pimples that had plagued his face when he was in school finally fading, which made him look a lot more refined. Still, his immaturity is revealed when he speaks: "I''ve learned there are many spells that are more advanced than the Shield Charm, so why don''t we learn those spells?"


    His uncle stared at him, his thick fingers rubbing repeatedly as if he wanted to teach his nephew a lesson.


    Abbott Balk couldn''t help but shrink his neck.


    "Oh, Balk," Felix said gently, "it''s true that there are many advanced spells, but advanced means complicated, and complicated means a high probability of error ... The most intolerable thing in the combat zone is unnecessary mistakes. You will find that there is a general understanding about avoiding unskilled spells, and those who go against it will surely pay the price."


    Abbott Balk flinched and retreated back into the crowd.


    Felix continued, "Gentlemen, I will next focus on the most valuable spells; the Runic Fire-Making spell and the Runic Shield Charm were hand-picked by me, and these two spells will serve as your first priorities to master. Other than that, if some of you are quick enough to learn, I don''t mind giving additional instructions."


    "Well, back to the topic. I had someone forward a copy of this information almost half a month ago. I would appreciate it if you have practiced it in your spare time through the rune cards, and now I would like to ask those who have mastered Flame Rune and Flow Rune to come forward ..."


    Tonks happily took a step forward and looked left and right excitedly. Felix likewise watched in silence, it would be quite cumbersome for him to test the combat power of these Aurors one by one, but many things would reveal itself in detail with time, such as the degree of self-discipline, such as the ability to execute, just like now, the vast majority of the twenty or so people who came forward are familiar faces that he had seen in the profile.


    Perhaps there is a discrepancy in the figures, but the elite fighting force that the Ministry of Magic can deploy is almost this.


    No wonder Scrimgeour was so anxious, Felix thought without making a sound. Although he does not know the exact number, but the number of Death Eaters during the last wizard war is nearly one to two hundred, and every one of them is hand-picked by Voldemort, plus the followers who have not been branded as Death Eaters, as well as the dark creatures that Voldemort solicited, their strength has exceeded that of the Ministry of Magic, who has been at peace for more than ten years at this moment.


    ''The Ministry of Magic can''t be relied upon.'' This thought flashed through Felix''s mind.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 535+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 463: Flames

    "You all possess the ability to outline runes freely from the scopes of the rune cards ... but this is only the first step, you still need to master the magical intent of the ancient runes, and that is not an easy task. Unless-" Felix gazed at the two dozen people in front of him, "you take some radical approach." "Mr. Hap, what do you mean--" Kingsley asked in lieu of the rest.


    "Take some risks and show your courage ... you need to feel it deeply." Felix said seriously, a dozen feet around him - as his wand cut through the air like a sharp sword, accompanied by a soft "swoosh" sound - a bright orange flame rose up and twisted into a long snake of flame.


    Kingsley''s eyes widened, and he quickly took two steps back. The other Aurors and Hit Wizards also drew their wands and pointed at the flaming serpent which stood upright, as well as Felix Hap, who stood in front of the flaming serpent, with a calm face and his wand had disappeared into his sleeve.


    The crowd gradually calmed down, Tonks marvelled at the huge flaming serpent burning in front of her, it is almost a hundred feet tall, the long serpent body is composed of flames, and every piece of its scale are burning violently.


    She took two steps forward, and Kingsley shouted in the background, "Tonks!" The long flaming serpent let out a silent hiss, then slammed down with a "thud" on the ground, the form of the serpent disappeared, leaving a straight flaming path on the field.


    The passage is about six or seven feet wide, the head of the serpent fell just in front of Tonks, its tail extended backward, reeling Felix in, leaving his figure hidden in the flames.


    " Ladies and gentlemen, walk through the flame to join me and feel the power of the Flame Rune."


    Felix said as he stood amidst the flames.


    The Aurors looked stunned, and Kingsley frowned and asked slowly, "Mr. Hap, is this some sort of obstruction?" Yet Felix did not speak, perhaps not wanting to explain, or perhaps his very act of standing there spoke volumes.


    Tonks took a step forward.


    "Wait, Tonks--" Kingsley immediately said, he felt troubled, whether it is him, Scrimgeour, or the Minister of Magic, they can not control the whole situation. Especially the behaviour of those who have shown great power is not controllable.


    His role is to deal with these "accidents".


    Tonks looked back at Kingsley, and then at Felix, who remained silent in the flames - he watched in silence with his head tilted slightly to the side, looking at her and everyone behind her with a probing gaze, seemingly curious about their choices.


    She began to perk up.


    "I''m not going to get hurt." Tonks said with certainty, and she took another step forward, just one step away from the flames, which blazed hotly, creating a hot wind, and she smelled the scorching smell of her hair. She suddenly hesitated, her mind became not so sure, so she looked at the man in the flames.


    "I''m not going to actively hurt anyone." The man said to her.


    Her heart pounded, and as everyone watched, Tonks closed her eyes and stepped into the flames. There is no sharp pain as expected, she feels a burst of warmth, and with undulating cries of surprise ringing around her, she opened her eyes, when the flames looked completely different in her vision.


    She saw flame runes. They looked like some kind of spirit, burning and jumping, transforming between the fiery red runes and the flames, and Felix''s right hand glowed faintly as a wisp of flame separated in that hand, and one rune bolted in ...


    Tonks couldn''t help but gaze blankly from her spot, and Felix reminded her in a gentle voice: "Feel the emotion of the flame, feel the power of the rune."


    Tonks stretched out her palm, and a wisp of bright flame jumped on her hand, her hand shuddered as her arm cringed, but she didn''t move away, the flame clung to her hand, dancing in her palm before transforming into a shiny rune.


    A feeling of joy surged through her, and she knew at once what to do next. She called out internally for more runes, and soon a wisp of flames surrounded her, forming an airtight cocoon of fire.


    "This is--" Kingsley''s eyes widened, and out of trust in Dumbledore, he stepped in second. The flames did not harm him, they gently brushed his robes, then more people stepped into the flames, they remained unharmed, and now they are curiously surveying the bright flames around them.


    Their eyes showed an incredulous expression.


    Is it an illusion? Kingsley thought, when a scream rang out from behind him, "Yaxley!" Someone shouted. Kingsley jerked back, Yaxley retreated from the flames, he seemed to have suffered a great deal of damage, although his skin showed not a trace of burns, but his clothes are smoking.


    Yaxley sat on the ground with a pained expression, his eyes filled with fear and anger. "What have you done!" He shouted. s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It only means that you have not been selected." Felix said calmly, "You didn''t think that I would just hand over my power without making any restrictions, did you?"


    "Mr. Hap," Kingsley said with a headache, "our agreement doesn''t mention that, and you should at least talk to us in advance if you have any requests."


    "Because I don''t think it would be a hindrance." Felix said lightly, "Those who are averse to the ancient runes will naturally not be recognized by the runes either, you should have been prepared for this long ago."


    "You mean, Yaxley he-" Kingsley looked at him hesitantly, and then looked at Yaxley who is sitting on the ground with a painful expression, and a huge wave rose up in his heart.


    "Perhaps I should talk with this Mr. Yaxley, there may be a misunderstanding between us." Felix curled his lips and said, Yaxley, he remembered this name.


    "There is no misunderstanding." Yaxley gritted his teeth and stood up, "I just simply don''t like ancient runes! Sorry, Kingsley-it seems I shouldn''t be here." He limped away.


    Kingsley hesitated for a second or two, "I''m sorry, Mr. Hap, I need to check his health-"


    "There will be nothing wrong with his health."


    "I don''t doubt that," Kingsley said quietly, "but-" he paused and said to the others, "Don''t let Yaxley influence you, I''ll go out and see what''s going on." He stepped out of the flaming field and walked after him toward the door.


    Felix spoke calmly, reassuring the stunned Aurors and the Hit Wizards. "The principle of this magic is simple ... I have amplified the emotions of the flame rune so that you can feel the intent of the rune a little better. But inevitably, the rune is tainted with my own will, so anyone who has conflicted thoughts about the rune will be repelled ..."


    After a while, Kingsley returned with a brisk gait.


    "The Healer said there''s nothing serious, just a shock, and Scrimgeour gave him two days off." He told the crowd, and they sighed in relief, feeling sorry for Yaxley as they did so. A few more fire cocoons were added to the field, wisps of flame blending into them.


    Felix nodded and looked at Kingsley, who wore a hesitant expression, "Something wrong?"


    "Scrimgeour wants to invite you to lunch."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 535+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 464: Two Issues

    Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room. While the other students are busy catching up on their holiday assignments, Harry, Ron, and Hermione are having a lively discussion, trying to figure out the spells that they might use in the third task. "We won''t know exactly what the third task will be until almost a month from now, but we can''t just wait until then to get started." Hermione said to them and Harry noticed that she pulled out her little book again, he remembered it was filled with inspiration and information that Hermione had prepared for the second task.


    Hermione noticed Harry''s gaze, and she explained, "Some of the spells are useful, we just didn''t have time to learn them at that time, and now it''s just what we need."


    "What are they?" Ron asked with interest, "I think what I have mastered so far is enough already."


    "No, it''s not enough," Hermione said seriously, "For example, at the thirty-second Tournament, the champions were asked to find an invisible beast based on a rudimentary map."


    "That doesn''t sound dangerous," Ron said, "the invisible beasts are not very aggressive."


    "Oh, the danger didn''t come from the invisible beast, but from the other creatures in the mountain, and what''s more, in the end, the champions had explored the mountain for six weeks and found nothing, and the judges had to declare all of them all as losers." Hermione said.


    "Six weeks? In the wild?" Ron shrank back.


    "You can imagine the state of the champions after being in the wild." Hermione said briefly, "It took longer than average for them to recuperate ..."


    Ron''s body visibly shook.


    "We really ought to be prepared," Ron said with a serious look on his face, "any good advice on how to avoid getting yourself lost?"


    "Wilderness survival skills, Professor Belby has taught that knowledge; How to deal with common dangerous creatures in the wilderness, Professor Lupin has taught this part ... and Amplifying Charm, Caterwauling Charm, Four-Point Spell ... I think the Sharp Edge Spell is not bad either, we can use it for clearing bushes and constructing a shelter... And by the way Ron, how is your Apparition practice going?"


    "What?" Ron was taken aback and swallowed nervously.


    "Don''t look at me like that, you didn''t practice since the end of last school year, did you?" Hermione asked, staring at his face.


    "Oh, uh," Ron stammered, "I''ve managed to do it twice, remember?"


    "That was last year, if you haven''t practiced since then ..." Hermione looked at him sternly.


    "What about you?" Ron couldn''t help but ask rhetorically.


    "I have long been able to," Hermione said, "but of course, not as well as Harry could use it ..."


    Ron looked at her with a downcast look, "So, I have one more task than you guys? Harry, I need your help, Harry?!"


    Harry looked up from the book ''Famous Wizards and Their Patronus'' with a groggy expression.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Ron asked curiously.


    "The professor told me to find time to practice my Patronus Charm more often." Harry said with a yawn.


    "Patronus Charm? Why?"


    Harry shrugged, "The professor said that this charm has a lot of potentials to be tapped."


    ...


    After almost a week, the Ministry of Magic has gradually become more and more crowded, and the employees are returning to work regularly.


    Felix''s special training is also on track, the most progressive Aurors and Hit Wizards have begun to try to fuse the flame rune and the fire-making spell; the challenge at this point has turned out to be the control of the magic and the timing of the fusion of the two, which is not a difficult task for the elite members of the Ministry of Magic.


    Kingsley and Derris were the first to succeed. To them, the power of a single spell might not mean much, but they are dealing with a whole magic system.


    Everyone took this rare opportunity seriously, and Felix quietly spread his influence over one of the most important forces in the Ministry of Magic.


    He recalled his experience in the past few days, and there was no conflict with Scrimgeour during lunch. Scrimgeour didn''t even mention the matter of Yaxley, he just brought out a letter of appointment as an advisor of the Ministry of Magic.


    "Honorary advisor? What''s the use?" Felix asked, flipping through the contents of it; he didn''t find a magic contract or anything like that.


    "An extra income, and the right to advise and supervise on certain matters." Scrimgeour said in an alluring tone, "It''ll be an important resource if you ever plan to go into politics."


    Felix shrugged and accepted it.


    One afternoon, after Felix had once again elaborated on the meaning of the ''flow'' rune to the crowd, Professor Marchbanks approached him for a meeting.


    When Felix walked into the conference room on the second level of the Ministry of Magic, it was already filled with people. These people dressed in violet robes with an elaborate silver "W" embroidered on the left chest; They all looked at him with narrowed eyes, some with stern expressions, others with undisguised curiosity.


    His eyes darted over the wizards, lingering briefly on Dumbledore''s half-moon-shaped glasses and the dull yellow-green bowler hat on Fudge''s desk.


    Wizengamot ... Felix vaguely speculated, and he walked calmly to the empty seat next to Professor Marchbanks, and lowered his head to whisper, "What do I need to do?"


    "Nothing!" Professor Marchbanks said in a loud voice as she looked across the table, "Dumbledore, may we begin?"


    "Of course," Dumbledore said cheerfully, Fudge''s expression looked very uneasy as he picked up a striped handkerchief and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead.


    Dumbledore flipped open a document on his desk and cleared his throat as he said aloud, "As Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, have gathered all the Wizengamot members for a discussion as well as a resolution on Griselda Marchbanks'' proposal to decide whether to agree to incorporate Felix Hap as one of our members. "


    A lot of murmurs are heard among the wizards present.


    Felix smiled slightly, leaned his body against the back of his chair, and waited quietly. After a few minutes, the murmurs subsided and Dumbledore spoke again, "Will the originator of the proposal please state the grounds."


    The short Professor Marchbanks stood up, straightened her somewhat hunched body, and said loudly, "Everyone of you already has a copy of this document in front of you, so I''ll just highlight the main points, Felix Hap has made outstanding contributions in many fields, and he deserves to be one of us!"


    "After Felix Hap became Professor of Ancient Rune at Hogwarts, he demonstrated a high level of teaching and academic excellence for two consecutive years, and you can see the transcripts of this on pages 15 and 16--"


    A rustling sound rang out in the conference room, followed by several suppressed gasps from the crowd.


    "This can''t be possible!"


    "Nothing is impossible!" Professor Marchbanks said, "Just sometime prior, Hedstrom Vera, the vice president of the Ancient Rune Society, and I went to the school specifically to investigate; and I can assure you that not a word of the information mentioned in it is false!" S~?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "We trust that you will not exaggerate on such a matter, Professor Marchbanks." Amelia Bones, who is seated next to Fudge said, her voice loud and deep thanks to the monocle she wore. She reassured Professor Marchbanks, before looking at Felix with a probing gaze.


    "Then I will continue - Felix Hap proved highly accomplished in the field of memory healing, and the treatment he has developed is proven to be the most effective treatment for memory damage at St. Mungo''s, as many patients judged by healers to be incurable are restored to sound health. Ms. Dorothea Bonham can testify-"


    "Ahem!" A voice sounded from the corner, and Dorothea Bonham, the former head of St. Mungo''s, said solemnly, "I can testify that, in fact, the data in the document about the patient was personally provided by me."


    There was another sound of flipping papers, this time no one objected, Felix had received the Order of Merlin for this one contribution, and everyone knew about it, but they just wanted to see more details.


    The meeting continued -


    "Felix Hap has saved the reputation of the Ministry of Magic by quelling the riot at the Quidditch World Cup." Professor Marchbanks said loudly, and the chorus of agreement resounded considerably all around, while Fudge grimaced and mumbled.


    Professor Marchbanks exclaimed, "I didn''t see any act of recognition afterward, and this incident fully deserves an Order of Merlin."


    Fudge wiped his sweat as he was compelled to speak up and explain, "Uh, I believe ... we were busy investigating and collecting evidence at the time, and the ministry had imprisoned hundreds of rowdy wizards, the vast majority of whom were from abroad, so they had to be handled carefully ... or it could easily become an international dispute ..."


    Professor Marchbanks grunted loudly.


    "Also - the center of public view most recently, I''m sure you''re no stranger to it; Felix Hap has demonstrated the new value of ancient runes, and we have reason to believe that this contribution is worthy of starting a whole new system of magic!"


    "Griselda ... this matter still needs to be deliberated," Fudge said, uneasily fiddling with the papers in his hand, "of course, I do not disagree ... just too early, need to be observed a few more years ..."


    Marchbanks ignored him, she closed the file in her hand and looked around intently, "I think that''s sufficient. Now I have only one question, what reason do we have to reject such a person from joining Wizengamot?"


    The conference room became quieter as they looked around the room, seemingly waiting for someone to comment.


    At that moment, Amelia Bones looked up from the file, "I have a few questions for Mr. Felix Hap, merely for curiosity ... has little to do with the subject of this meeting and does not affect my approval of his entry into Wizengamot."


    "Ms. Bones, I am just simply sitting here without anything to do, so feel free to ask your queries." Felix said.


    "I''ve heard that - the Patronus Charm is one of your best spells? That you once used it to take down hundreds of dementors?"


    The surrounding wizards began to exchange glances, with many showing expressions of admiration.


    "That''s true."


    "You also possess some kind of magic that destroyed dementors? Is it ancient magic?"


    "Well, one could assume so." Felix nodded slightly, at least the zooming spell is ancient magic.


    "Then did you know that they are considered as employees of the Ministry of Magic?" Amelia Bones looked at him with a stern expression.


    "Yes, and I also know that they have lost control more than once," Felix said calmly, "Not counting the two times at Hogwarts, even in Azkaban there was a similarly disastrous occurrence happened." His words drew a murmur of discussion.


    "Is it true?" Someone asked in a low voice.


    "It does have happened," Ms. Bones said in agreement, "I always opposed the idea of using Dementors to guard wizard prisons, the practice is akin to-"


    "Cough, cough, cough!" Fudge coughed violently, " Ladies and gentlemen, we are getting off-topic, the policy of using Dementors as wizard prison guards had have been carried out for centuries, and they have done their job Outstandingly in most cases, with some occasional mishaps that can be tolerated."


    "Outstanding? Outstanding!?"


    Professor Marchbanks glared at Fudge as if she is eager to quarrel with him.


    Dumbledore timely spoke up and asked, "Does anyone else have any questions before the formal vote?"


    "I have a question." A male wizard raised his hand, he smiled and asked: "I want to ask on behalf of my granddaughter, when will the Emerald Crown of ''Future World'' company be on sale?"


    Many people laughed quietly.


    At that moment, Fudge indicated a witch with his eyes, and Dolores Umbridge inwardly grimaced as she hesitated for a few seconds, but she still couldn''t give up the temptation of returning to the center of power.


    "Here''s the thing," she spoke in a whispery voice, and several people around her immediately frowned, "I''m full of appreciation for Mr. Hap''s creation of the ''Future World'' company, which, as we all know, has become the biggest company in the entire British as well as becoming one of the greatest company in the wizarding community as a whole - currently there are about -" she quickly scanned the parchment on the table, "one hundred and forty-seven people?"


    "You do know better than me, the owner of the company, it''s really quite hard on you." Felix said calmly, scaring Umbridge to shiver.


    Her face heaped with a sweet smile. "I''m curious what ... are you trying to do with all those people you''ve recruited. As far as I know, this company is still recruiting, and at this rate, probably in another two or three years, the ''Future World'' company will outnumber the Ministry of Magic in terms of headcount ..."


    "Well," Felix said with a calm expression, "because it didn''t meet my expectations yet."


    "Expectations? With all due respect, is your expectation all about exceeding the Ministry of Magic''s staff No.?"


    "I don''t really care about that," Felix said, "in case you forgot, Umbridge, ''Future World'' still isn''t considered the biggest company in the wizarding world."


    "Pardon me? I can''t think of any other-"


    "Gringotts." Felix spat out a name, and Umbridge''s face looked as if she had been forced to swallow a fly.


    The expression of the wizard in the conference room eased.


    "My vision for the ''Future World'' company would be a multinational company, and the company''s blueprint has never been limited to just one or two countries; the company has started to spread across every wizard gathering place in the world." Felix said, " Where you can''t see, all employees of the company are working towards a common goal."


    "And this common goal is ...?" Umbridge held her breath.


    "It''s printed on the ''Future World'' company flyer," Felix said slowly, "It seems you didn''t do your homework carefully enough."


    Umbridge stopped talking.


    "Then, let''s vote by raising our hands." Dumbledore looked around and said. After saying that, he raised his hand first.


    A few minutes later, the proposal about Felix entering the Wizengamot passed unanimously.


    "Very well," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "then, I request the new member of the Wizengamot to take his seat, so we can move on to the second topic, proposed by myself--"


    Fudge''s face suddenly trembled, not out of fear, but anger, he stared at Dumbledore with a death stare, his fat, thick fingers wriggled.


    Dumbledore acted as if he did not notice it, he calmly stated his topic: "About the return of Voldemort, and the imminent second wizarding war."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 537+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 465: Completely Different Attitudes ( 2 in 1 )

    A sharp intake of breath resounded in the conference room, the male wizard who had just asked about the new product for his granddaughter slid straight out of his chair to the floor, he cursed and got up, but no one cared about him, the room looked like a vegetable market, even Professor Marchbanks looked at Dumbledore with surprise. "Are you sure he''s really back? Dumbledore; I mean ... really back?" Amelia Bones said seriously with a serious look behind her monocle.


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly, and Ms. Bones'' stiff body relaxed, both her thick eyebrows returned to their proper place.


    "So, we still have time to prepare." She let out a huge sigh of relief.


    "Provided we don''t turn a blind eye and pretend like nothing is happening-"


    "That''s enough, Dumbledore!" Fudge shouted, his face turning purple and spittle flying, but he seemed completely oblivious to it, "Stop spreading panic! There''s no evidence that he''s actually back ... or shown signs of coming back!"


    "The evidence is right under your nose Fudge, you just need to put your head down and examine it calmly for a few seconds." Dumbledore said.


    "Where?"


    "Barty Crouch-"


    "Aha! I knew you would say that!" Fudge roughly tugged at his collar, his face and neck discoloured with rage, and he stood up, the bowler hat in his hand squeezed flat as he waved his arms agitatedly. " Ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you how ridiculous this so-called evidence is, and you will see how ridiculous-"


    The members of the Wizengamot stared in shock as they watched Fudge walk around the room, speaking in a loud voice.


    " Barty Crouch! I hate to say it, as there''s a scandal involved, but - the former Head of the Department of International Magical Co-operation had committed a crime, Barty Crouch used a Polyjuice Potion to swap his wife and son out of prison, and the Dementors failed to detect it ... I admit that Azkaban is flawed, and we are considering adding a thief-proof waterfall to wash away the effects of all magical spells and Polyjuice Potions - "


    Fudge suddenly stopped. With one hand clutching his bowler hat with a death grip and one hand resting on his chair, he exclaimed, "Think of how insane he was, committing a murder a decade or so ago, he was so ... evil! No better than those Death Eaters."


    "Cornelius," Amelia frowned, " Barty did do something wrong, but according to his testimony, his wife was dying at the time, and Barty couldn''t resist his wife''s last plea-- "


    "More than that!" Fudge interrupted her, " Barty Crouch committed more than that, he drove his own son crazy!"


    The conference room went silent, except for the heavy panting of Fudge himself, who resembled a dangerous gladiator; they felt like they were inside an ancient gladiatorial arena instead of the Ministry of Magic''s conference room, where Fudge looked prepared to fight anyone who dared to take a chance.


    Then he welcomed his fated opponent. Dumbledore crossed his arms on the table, looked at Fudge with interest, and said softly, "Peculiar point of view! Fudge, I''m getting more and more interested in what''s going on in your head, and I''m all ears."


    Fudge seemed exasperated by Dumbledore''s calm expression, and his voice got louder as if he had used an amplification charm.


    "I have proof too! Dumbledore, and if you choose to believe Barty Crouch''s word, you''ll believe him all the way. Isn''t that right?" Fudge had an odd smile on his face, he had prepared quite a bit for this day to speak smoothly.


    His small eyes fixed on Dumbledore, and Dumbledore did not shy away from meeting his gaze. Dumbledore''s body seemed to emanate an unspeakable pressure, so Fudge took the initiative to avert his gaze.


    "Imperius Curse ... right? Gentlemen, have you ever wondered how Barty Crouch managed to rein his son in? In order not to expose his crime and continue to move up in the Ministry of Magic, he personally cast the Imperius Curse and detained Crouch Jr. under incognito for twelve whole years!"


    "He got what he deserved, that little Death Eater!" Professor Marchbanks said loudly, "He was involved in the torture of the Longbottoms, the worst of it - if it weren''t for Felix," she gave a quick glance to the side, "the poor couple would still be muddling along in St. Mungo''s ."


    "I know." Fudge said impatiently, "I assure you, I have no sympathy for that Death Eater, my uncle died in the war, and I hate them as much as you do! I just want to tell you that Barty Crouch has gone mad long ago, and he is not what you think. What would happen to the heart of a man who used the Unforgivable Curse for twelve years straight? Hmm?"


    Felix glanced at Fudge in amazement for thinking of this breakthrough, and as for the effect, just look at the greatly shocked wizards - Barty Crouch''s reputation is completely finished, and there will be no one will sympathize with him in the future.


    But thinking about how Dumbledore found him yesterday, he knew that Dumbledore is equally well-prepared.


    "So, do you want to know what happened? It was a tragedy," Fudge said with a heavy expression, "the father used his power for personal gain and controlled his own son with an Imperius Curse, and finally his son went mad under the spell, mad enough to go completely insane, he hallucinated that he had heard another voice in his head and imagined that the Dark Lord is still alive, but in any case, he got rid of the spell''s control, and in turn, he controlled his father!"


    "The spell messed with Crouch Jr.''s head, and for six months he pretended he was receiving commands from the Dark Lord, pretended he still served the Dark Lord, infiltrated Hogwarts, and tortured his father, which he had done all based on a figment of his imagination."


    Felix let out a deep sigh, he had a whole new understanding of Fudge''s character, Fudge''s stubbornness and persistence had opened his eyes. Fudge''s strategy was also convincing, first exposing Crouch''s crimes, turning Crouch into a dangerous criminal by using fact, and finding justification for Crouch Jr.''s behaviour, although there were still quite a few flaws, but it was already a passable story, and if his guess is right, Fudge will next destroy all Crouch''s testimony -


    " Barty Crouch is crazy!" Fudge exclaimed, "When he disappeared, he suffered terribly, both mentally and physically!" He looked at Amelia Bones, "You are well aware of that, aren''t you?"


    " Barty Crouch did suffer inhuman torture, but-" Ms. Bones spoke cautiously.


    "And the people at St. Mungo''s have confirmed his condition!" Fudge immediately looked at Dorothea Bonham, "That ... Healer of yours, he himself admitted that Barty Crouch had been subjected to a significant amount of Confundus Charm and memory tampering!"


    Ms. Bonham slowly nodded her head. Quite a few members of the Wizengamot got convinced, with sad expressions on their faces.


    "That''s how it is!" Fudge waved his hat, "There is no Dark Lord! And there is no war!" He put the hat on his head, a smile appeared on his face as he looked at Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore also smiled, he even clapped his hands a few times, "Fudge, your fiction was great ..."


    "So, you have proof?" Fudge asked impatiently.


    Dumbledore calmly said: "If the evidence you expect would be to see Voldemort standing in front of you with your own eyes," Fudge couldn''t help but cringe when he heard the name, as Dumbledore continued: "Then I really don''t have it, but I''m happy to share some facts, and my own speculation based on those facts. "


    "So are you going to make up stories too, Dumbledore? but I''m too busy to be interested in hearing these-"


    "I''m afraid not." Dumbledore said. S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What - not?" Fudge sucked in a breath, as if Dumbledore was not talking, but took out his wand to threaten him.


    "Fudge, please forgive me, I am the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and even though you are the Minister of Magic, you are still a member of the Wizengamot, so according to the procedure you must hear me out." Dumbledore said, and Fudge stared as if he had been lashed.


    Felix sat quietly in his chair and thought, that even if Dumbledore intended to tell all about Voldemort''s secret, he would still not believe it. He believed that Dumbledore is going to make a warning, the question is, how extreme it will be.


    "Where should I start?" Dumbledore said softly, "The night fourteen years ago; Voldemort with the help of a traitor entered the safe house of the Potters and killed them. However, he failed to kill Harry Potter when he was still a baby, as his Killing Curse rebounded, he lost his power from then on - "


    "He was dead." Fudge said stiffly.


    "Where''s the body?" Dumbledore asked rhetorically.


    "No one cares about that Dumbledore!" Fudge said impatiently, "He''s dead! Probably turned to dust, or someone took the body."


    "It''s just a rosy hope," Dumbledore said as he shook his head, "I realized then that there''s another possibility existed, that Voldemort is still alive and kicking somewhere in the world ... but people were too eager to hear a good news, too eager to restore order and embrace peace."


    "Where is the proof Dumbledore? Where''s the proof?!" Fudge asked.


    "Why can''t you hear him out?" Professor Marchbanks said in a loud voice, "He wasn''t this rude when you were talking!"


    Fudge gave her a hard stare and muttered, "Well, I''d like to hear ... what evidence ... there is."


    "Thank you, Griselda," Dumbledore smiled in gratitude toward Professor Marchbanks as he continued, "I did not put my guesses out there, and perhaps, as Fudge said, he really did turn to dust and die. Though by what I know of him, that is highly unlikely."


    "One of the proofs is the curse that still haunts the Hogwarts - the Defense Against the Dark Arts class - even years after Voldemort''s death, which made my heart grow uneasy, so I took it upon myself to gather evidence that he is still alive, keeping an eye out for unusual sightings and legends... ..."


    "It took several years, but I finally found suspicion in a Muggle newspaper." Dumbledore said, "Yes, I got into the habit of reading muggle newspapers in those years, and I still maintain it, I especially like the Sudoku game on it, according to the muggles that can prevent Alzheimer''s."


    Fudge looked at him with a dull expression, as if Dumbledore had already shown signs of Alzheimer''s disease.


    " To get back to the point, I read in the newspaper about an expedition team who had heard horror legends about the Albanian forest, where some small animals and livestock would die without warning and behave perversely before they died; and an eight-year-old boy swore he saw a snake reading a newspaper that had a picture that moved. "


    "We all know what this means?" Dumbledore said as he looked at the crowd.


    In the crowd, Tiberius Ogden said with discontent, "What fool wizard threw the newspaper around after reading it?"


    "That doesn''t mean anything ...," Fudge said with a stiff tongue. "It may be an Animagus from another country who just happens to be a snake."


    "I checked, and they''re possessed." Dumbledore said.


    "Wh-what?"


    "Possessed," Dumbledore repeated, "which doesn''t mean anything, maybe it''s some evil spirit at work, but again, I need to warn you all, it could also be someone who has lost their power; I continued to investigate in the forest... ...and found a large pit full of animal carcasses, mostly rats and snakes, but of course, snakes were the most numerous. I tried to solve the riddle, and for a time I believed I saw a familiar figure, tattered and broken as he became a phantom, and passed before me in a flash, but I never saw him again afterward."


    "You mean that thing ... he was hiding from you?" Amelia Bones asked gravely.


    "I think so," Dumbledore nodded slightly, "I persuaded a few families close by to move away from there and asked the owner of the local wizard tavern to keep an eye out for the ghost, and so on; After a decade, I gained more information and my inner suspicions became firmer."


    "But if it was truly that man, why didn''t he come out, instead of hiding and wandering in the Albanian forest for more than ten years?" Amelia Bones asked.


    "Exactly! I would like to know that too-"


    "I''m afraid I can only give some guesses," Dumbledore said.


    "Your guesses are very informative." Ms. Bones said as some of the wizards in the room nodded in agreement, while others kept shaking their heads.


    "I think - before I make my speculation - I need to remind you that Voldemort has lost his powers, he is weaker than ever, and even more limited than what the ghost is capable of accomplishing," Dumbledore said, "and one of his flaws is that he cannot overpower the thoughts of those who fiercely resist him for long, so he prefers to possess simple-minded animals, especially snakes; He has a special affinity for snakes."


    "Parseltongue." Ms. Bones said grimly.


    "True, perhaps for the first few years after he lost his power he had the hope that some Death Eaters would find him and help him regain his power ... but he was sorely disappointed, he maintained his rule with fear, so it was doomed with nothing when he failed," Dumbledore said softly. "Of course, the few who remained loyal to him were imprisoned in Azkaban."


    "Barty Crouch Jr., Lestrange!" Ms. Bones said.


    Felix''s mind flickered, he once again triggered by the thought of Azkaban and Dementors, The first time was during the conversation with Neville, he didn''t realize the problem in the end, as he had missed a key - Azkaban is a prison with all kinds of criminals inside.


    He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling, trying to think. Dumbledore''s voice became a background sound, providing him with inspiration -


    "Almost four years ago, Voldemort possessed a professor at Hogwarts, infiltrated the school, and tried to get the philosopher''s stone hidden inside ... Finally, Harry Potter and his friends stopped him ... The philosopher''s stone was also destroyed ."


    "More than a year ago, Peter Pettigrew, the war hero who was considered dead reappeared, along with a Death Eater - later proved to be Crouch Jr. - they were ordered to infiltrate the school, but before they could initiate the plot, they were discovered by Harry Potter and his friends, and the battle broke out at the edge of the Forbidden Forest; Fortunately, Sirius Black the person who was considered to be a loyal servant of Voldemort at the time was there along with two school professors, so together they rescued Harry Potter and his friends ..."


    "Unfortunately, they almost died at the hands of an out-of-control Dementor," Dumbledore said sternly, Fudge''s eyes flinched, and Umbridge even hid her head behind her papers. "Peter Pettigrew died that night, by Dementor''s kiss ... before he died, he suddenly repented and admitted that he was the traitor who betrayed the Potters in the first place, and he said something along with it."


    The conference room became silent, all held their breath and looked at Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore softly repeated: "He said: he is coming back, the man whose name can not even be mentioned is coming back, I have done something wrong, forgive me--"


    "What!" Ms. Bones sucked in a breath as she stared incredulously at Fudge, "No one told me about this! You put a hush order on it?"


    Fudge stammered, wiping his sweat, and finally he simply yelled, "What do you want me to do?! To impose total quarantine on the basis of a single statement that nobody believes?! To destroy the peace we''ve worked so hard to build over the years?!"


    "Peace never should be faked." Felix smiled as he finally thought things through.


    Azkaban, the Dark Wizard, the Death Eaters ... Voldemort, the Resurrection ... to add Dumbledore.


    All this pieced together into a guess, if Dumbledore had repeatedly given Voldemort deadly wounds, if Voldemort had been extremely weak and had to use the help of others, his options would be extremely limited.


    He needs a Death Eater, who is fanatically loyal to Voldemort and agrees with his philosophy. Only they can gain Voldemort''s limited trust and get the honour of helping the "Great Dark Lord" to deal with his wounds and even organize the resurrection ceremony.


    If such a person is free after the war, it is impossible for him not to do something for more than a decade, so he must be locked up in Azkaban.


    Will they know more things like - Horcruxes for example?


    Well, certainly not. Voldemort is extremely selfish and would not tolerate the secret of the Horcrux being known, even if they are loyal servants who would give their lives for him. He probably would have used some kind of spell to keep the secret, an Obliviate or a Concealment Charms would have served the purpose ...


    Fudge glared at Felix, the expression on his face remained stubborn.


    "By the end of this year, the omens became more obvious," Dumbledore said, "There were several disappearances, Bertha Jorkins disappeared without a trace in Voldemort''s last hiding place, and after that, a Muggle disappeared; His name is Frank Bryce, and he lives in the village where Voldemort''s father was born. I read it in the newspaper, do you remember? I''m still reading Muggle newspapers ... and Crouch, if he wasn''t rescued, it could have been another disappearance."


    "Dumbledore, these things you say are also speculation, maybe just coincidence!"


    "I have a witness." Dumbledore said in a quiet voice.


    Fudge looked at him quickly, almost twisting his neck at the speed; the others also looked at Dumbledore, and Fudge muttered, "You don''t want to say it''s Barty Crouch, his testimony is not credible--"


    "What about his house-elf?" Dumbledore asked courteously, simultaneously waving his wand, and the figures of Winky and Dobby appeared abruptly in the room.


    Winky''s expression looked a little bewildered, but Dobby adapted to the scene quickly, so he grabbed Winky''s hand and the two of them bowed deeply, saying acutely, "Greetings, wizard gentlemen."


    Everyone stared at them - not because of Dumbledore''s magic, but because they both dressed in elaborate miniature clothes. What this meant is perfectly clear to them.


    These two are free elves.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 537+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 466: Winkys Testimony

    Amelia Bones showed a surprised expression, the monocle on her face was about to slip off, so she took it off and wiped the lenses. "Dumbledore, if I''m not mistaken, neither of them has a master ..."


    Winky who had been standing in place with a blank expression until then, suddenly exclaimed in a sharp voice: "No - Winky belongs to the Crouch family! Winky has her own master! His name is Barty Crouch-"


    "Not at all!" Dobby retorted, "Wizards, Mr. Barty Crouch gave Winky freedom! Dobby saw it with Dobby''s eyes!" Winky closed her eyes and shouted at the top of her lungs, "No! No! No!" Dobby shouted in an even louder voice, "Now Winky is a free elf, just like Dobby!" He puffed out his chest with pride, making the wizards around him stare blankly.


    Never before they had seen such a strange elf, no, some had - in the ''Future World'' company, and they turned their heads towards Felix.


    Felix said calmly, "Dobby used to serve some big family, then he was freed, and I gave him a job," he said emphatically, "just a job."


    "I''ve heard that ''Future World'' Inc. has a bunch of quirky house-elves." A wizard muttered.


    Winky continued to scream when Fudge interrupted her nonchalantly, "Elf! Your name is Winky? A former house-elf of Barty Crouch?"


    "No... no... no..." Winky continued to cry, and she started to roll around on the floor, with Tears and snot poured out of her face, and Dobby tried to pull her up, but he undoubtedly failed, he stood in front of Winky and waved his slim arms helplessly, "Yes! Her name is Winky, my name is Dobby."


    "Dumbledore, you want them to testify? House-elves cannot be trusted--"


    "I don''t think so," Dumbledore said with a smile, "as you can see by the clothes they wear, their will is entirely their own, and there is no need to worry that they will be bound by a magical contract that cannot be broken."


    Fudge stared at Winky, who still rolled on the floor, "Are you sure? She''s no different from any other house-elf, except for the extra piece of clothes."


    "Dobby, you can start by telling us what happened that night," Felix said, "limited to what you saw at Crouch''s old mansion."


    "Oh, certainly! Dobby would love to!" Dobby quickly went over the events of that night, mentioning only the grim voice and Crouch''s perverse behaviour, but those present bought most of it, or at least they almost confirmed that Crouch was indeed being controlled and that it was not by Crouch Jr. - who was at Hogwarts at that time.


    While Dobby was talking, Winky gradually quieted down and whimpered.


    "He didn''t mention that person." Amelia Bones said, glancing quickly at the file before looking up and asking.


    "Dobby is an outsider who had absolutely nothing to do with the whole incident if it wasn''t for the purpose of inviting his friends to join him for Christmas," Felix said, "and as for more information-" He looked at the elf sitting on the floor and said gently, "Winky, your testimony is very valuable, at least to prove that Mr. Barty Crouch is not an evil lunatic."


    "The master is not a lunatic!" Winky shouted hoarsely, " The master was under a dreadful spell!"


    "So - Winky? Is that your name? Can you be specific?" Amelia Bones asked. "If the truth is something else, I might consider re-arraigning Barty Crouch."


    "Will Master be freed?" Winky asked excitedly, as she finally stopped freaking out.


    "No way!" Fudge shouted, "Impossible." He said it again, and Ms. Bones gave him a reproachful look and turned to Winky, "An acquittal ... is unlikely, but we will reconsider his sentence, you must know that he is supposed to be sentenced to life."


    Winky''s eyes shone with a hopeful light, " Winky ... Winky is willing to testify."


    "A year ago ... master was still at work when a man broke in, he subdued me and freed young master Barty-"


    "Who was that man?" Mrs. Bones asked seriously.


    "It is a man named ''Peter'', who can turn into a mouse, which Winky once witnessed!" Winky exclaimed dramatically as the wizards in the room exchanged glances and someone whispered, "Peter Pettigrew." Winky continued to describe his appearance, "short, fat, somewhat bald ... with small eyes ..." She stole a glance at Fudge and whispered. "A little like this Lord Wizard."


    Fudge''s chest rose and fell violently, like an old bellow that would explode soon. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Short, fat ... and somewhat bald ..." Ms. Bones repeated with a stifled smile, her wand outlining a man in the air, " Is that him?" The portrait in midair is none other than Peter Pettigrew.


    "It''s him!" Winky confirmed, and mentioned an important piece of information, "He was carrying an ugly baby, and called that baby his Master!"


    A loud gasp rang out in the conference room.


    "Are you sure it was a baby?" Ms. Bones asked gravely.


    "Ye-es!" Winky stammered, not daring to look at her, "It was a very, very ... very ugly baby!"


    " When Master returned in the evening, Young Master Barty who had long since acquired his wand, hid under the invisibility cloak and sneaked up on when Master pulled up his clothes--" Winky gasped in agony, "Oh, Barty that bad boy, he brought back a rotten friend!"


    "We know that, and after that?"


    "After that, after that the Master ... was controlled, and went to work as usual, and Winky felt it was no problem, for Lord''s sake!" Winky let out a sad cry, tears fell like beans, " Winky also took care of them, cooked for them ..."


    "It could be a Confundus Charm." Felix said.


    "Later, they inadvertently mentioned that they are going to sneak up on someone to enter the school in his place and complete some dangerous mission-"


    "What kind of mission?"


    Winky''s eyes widened. "Winky dunno! While they were discussing things, Winky was ordered to go back to Winky''s place, and Winky is a good little elf who follows orders, Winky is a very, very good little elf!"


    "Good, we can guess who it is in general, Alastor was unlucky. Keep going, what else do you know?"


    "The man named Peter disappeared and was said to have been captured. After that young master Barty also left and only came back once in ten days, Winky was in charge of taking care of that baby, Winky ..." she suddenly showed a horrified expression, "Winky sometimes saw that baby tormenting the master! Winky just watched it! Oh, my Lord!"


    She covered her face as teardrops flowed through her fingers.


    " That''s it." Felix said, gesturing toward Dobby, who nodded and departed with a "poof", pulling Winky with him.


    The office became overwhelmed with an oppressive silence.


    "You should have let her finish her sentence." Amelia Bones looked at Felix with displeasure and said.


    "Everything that needs to be said has been said, and if you wanted to hear someone''s name or the whole plan, unfortunately, as you heard, she has limited knowledge. In fact, you did have a chance once, and that would be Peter Pettigrew ... who, not coincidentally, had his soul sucked out by a Dementor."


    Fudge stared at him and said, word by word, "That little elf, she-was-under-a-spell-too."


    "We can''t pretend it didn''t happen," Felix said, "It was supposed to be a Confundus Charm, and Voldemort seemed to have underestimated the house-elf, thinking that a Confundus Charm would be enough, or maybe she was meant to be disposed of in the end and wasn''t worth the effort. But all in all, Winky has not had her memory tampered with, and that''s something you always can examine by St. Mungo''s healers if there''s any disagreement."


    Fudge froze for a moment and suddenly threw a temper tantrum, "Again another flimsy evidence! All of it! I don''t know what the point of our discussion today is!"


    "Cornelius," Dumbledore said somewhat wearily, "I raise this issue not to prove anything, or subvert anything, but to remind something. We have discussed this matter privately, but you - for some reason, refused to believe the evidence available, you should know how much we lost in the last war, do you want to go through another war where we were caught off guard?"


    "I - you - are not - " Fudge''s jaw dropped.


    "A key question is, do you know exactly what you''re dealing with, Minister Fudge?" Felix asked in a soft tone.


    "You are - what - mean?" Fudge''s face turned to the colour of a pig''s liver.


    "We might as well make a hypothesis." Felix tilted his head in the direction of Amelia Bones with interest in a manner that explored the matter, "And have Ms. Bones, and those present, to bear witness-"


    Ms. Bones fiddled with her monocle to give herself a better view of Felix.


    "We''ve heard two polar opposite views today, at odds with each other, but time will tell who is right. Just there''s... a question we need to ask ourselves if war does happen, does someone need to be held accountable for it-"


    "What a load of bollocks!" Fudge shouted, "Do you know what you''re talking about? Accusing a Minister of Magic, who instructed you to do that?" He looked at Felix menacingly, his eyes moving between him and Dumbledore.


    "Still, Minister Fudge ... I know exactly what I''m talking about, but you don''t seem to understand what you''re dealing with." Felix smiled, "The above is just hypothetical, discussing a possibility for the future, isn''t it?"


    "And I really don''t have the ability to get a serving Minister of Magic to step down, or to be punished." He said dismissively, Fudge is about to die of anger now, no one has ever threatened him so blatantly, and yes, he took Felix''s words as a naked threat.


    "... But everyone is responsible for what he says and does, especially those in power." Felix said, "Therefore, I would ask everyone here to keep in mind the views of both sides of today''s debate, and you may well keep your thoughts to yourselves, and when everything comes to light, you will naturally know who to support, as well as, who to oppose."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 539+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 467: The Fountain of Fair Fortune

    The meeting ended unhappily. Fudge ultimately resorted to delaying tactics, agreeing to investigate against the leads he already had, but Felix had no doubt that he would throw out the promises made once the meeting had ended.


    "You spoke too bluntly, Fudge may not be able to bear it." Dumbledore said outside the Ministry of Magic.


    "Yeah, he''s only capable of thinking with an ounce in his head," Felix said sarcastically. "What do you think of Ms. Bones?"


    Dumbledore''s keen blue eyes looked up at him.


    "Can you imagine," Felix looked at the far corner where there is a mobile ice cream truck, "how obstructive our Minister will be if the war ever breaks out, I don''t want to face the threat of both Voldemort and the Ministry of Magic at once, it''s necessary to take care of one side first while there''s time. "


    "Felix, your idea is dangerous." Dumbledore disapproved of his idea. In fact, this statement is considered light.


    "Just early planning," Felix shrugged, he changed the subject, "If war does break out, Fudge would no longer have the luxury of staying in that position, and he would resign voluntarily leaving a mess behind."


    His idea is simple, if Fudge is not reliable, then someone else will step in, Amelia Bones looks good, and she is already one of the people closest to that position.


    Felix mulled it over and returned to the Ministry of Magic. In a way, the meeting was a public rift between Fudge and Dumbledore that had awoken some people to be wary, especially Amelia Bones, a woman Felix found to be a crucial figure.


    She controls ninety percent of the Ministry of Magic''s force, with Aurors, Hit Wizard, and Magical Law Enforcement Squads working under her alone, and she has the right to ask questions about every combat unit and operation, including Dementors who are not directly under her command.


    ''Sirius seems to know her?'' Felix recalled.


    In the afternoon, the Aurors practiced the Rune on the grounds, Their learning progress is actually faster than the young wizards in the school, and Felix had hasn''t been idle during these two weeks, as he collected a lot of data that could be used in future teaching.


    On the training ground, Felix sat in the corner, fiddling with a long red nail, and Tonks came over with interest, "Is this some kind of new product? What does it do, change colour?"


    Felix smiled and put away the nail that belonged to Rita Skeeter. "It''s a lot more powerful than you''d think, I hope I don''t get a chance to use it."


    "Could it be some kind of weapon?" Tonks clearly didn''t believe him. She looked over at the field, "Kingsley is about to succeed."


    Kingsley held his wand in one hand and outlined the Flow Rune with the other hand, as a light green magical barrier appeared with difficulty, forming what looked like a flowing curtain of water.


    "Do you need my help?" Derris called out from afar.


    At this point, the people around them gathered around and watched the manoeuvre. Derris waved his wand violently, several spells hit the Runic Shield Charm, and the surface of the water curtain rippled with a beautiful ring of ripples, "then try this!" Derris''s wand slashed, as the bright red rune flickered to form a blazing fireball, the fireball glided through the air and blew the premature barrier to smithereens.


    Kingsley took a few steps back to stand firm. A chorus of applause rang out around them.


    "My mission is almost complete, and there are only two more days before Hogwarts starts." Felix said musingly.


    "You can stay as long as you wish," Tonks said, "and drop by whenever you want, Scrimgeour stated that you''ll keep your advisor title."


    "Staying any longer would be an eyesore," Felix said with a smile, he took out his communication mirror and flicked it a few times, as a mellow voice came from across the mirror, "Felix?"


    "Remus, it''s me." Felix said calmly, "The company may encounter some obstacles recently, temporarily stop the expansion for now."


    "What''s happened?" Lupin asked a little nervously, and Tonks listened quietly with wide eyes.


    "It''s just a precaution to be on guard in advance." Felix said vaguely, "If the company is affected, let me know in time, don''t hold back, I will help you solve it."


    "So? ..." Lupin said from behind the voice communication mirror, "I have long been prepared for this, it is a perfect opportunity to use this time for staff training."


    "I can help." Tonks suddenly said.


    Felix looked at her.


    "I can help," Tonks repeated, and Lupin asked in surprise from the mirror, "Dora?" "It''s me." Tonks said with a smirk, and she pointed at the communication mirror which Felix kindly handed to her.


    ...


    Hogwarts, Ancient Rune Office.


    Niffler Valen woke up from her basket bed, today is her tenth day of living alone, although the Great Demon Lord asked Hermione to take care of her before he left, but she preferred to sleep in her own comfortable bed.


    It''s nice to be unsupervised!


    "Kee!"


    Valen spent a lot of time rearranging her collection, then climbed merrily on the couch and looked through the "The Tales of Beedle the Bard ". she had finished reading the book "The Strange Adventures of the Little Wizard Mick", so Felix gave Valen the fairy tale book that he had previously brought over as teaching material for her reading practice.


    Of course, it''s intended to be a gift to Valen after she could read and write.


    Valen especially liked the picture on the top, she yawned and read the story The Fountain of Fair Fortune: It''s about a group of three witches and an unlucky knight looking for a spring that can give good fortune, for that they need to overcome three challenges. The first challenge is a monstrous white worm that is bloated and blind in the middle of the path. The knight''s sword does not work on it, and the only way to make the worm go away is by showing the "proof of your pain".


    Why they didn''t go around? Or drill a passage? They probably don''t have a Niffler friend, Valen thought, oh, that''s too bad.


    She continued reading, the first witch who is terminally ill watched the time pass and shedded tears of despair, then the monstrous white worm gave them the way; Valen''s mouth opened in surprise.


    The second challenge lies on an enchanted hill, where they have to pay "fruit of their labours" to climb over the hill. They tried, again and again, to climb up the hill but their efforts were fruitless, the time passed, only the second witch still insisting on climbing up, her forehead permeated with crystal sweat, after that they were able to climb up.


    Valen looked flabbergasted. Isn''t the fruit of labour money? It is very joyful to sweat for some golden galleons, just like how the Great Demon Lord would give her a reward when she recognizes a word.


    The third challenge is the stream that circulates around the top of the mountain, and the condition required to cross it is to offer it a "the treasure of your past" in exchange; the unlucky knight was unwilling, so he took out his shield to use as a boat, which made Valen very happy, as she dipped a cracker into the jam and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon.


    The knight in the story undoubtedly failed, although he was certainly magnanimous enough. But in the end, it was the third witch who came up with the plan. She had originally been abandoned by her beloved, and the purpose of her trip is to use the fountain of fair fortune to ease her pain and longing, so she drew out the memories she treasured in her mind - the time she spent with her cold-hearted lover - and threw them all into the river, then several stepping stones appeared in the water, letting the group cross to the fountain.


    Finally, they reached the Fountain of Fair Fortune.


    When it came time to decide to whom the Fountain of Fair Fortune belonged, the unlucky knight forfeited first, leaving only three witches. At this point, the first witch, who suffered an incurable malady, fell ill and dying because of the hard journey. They wanted to carry her into the Fountain of Fair Fortune, but she was in too much pain, so she pleaded them not to move her.


    The second witch discovered that the surrounding herbs had magical powers, she picked them, and with the help of the knight she prepared a potion and fed it to the suffering witch, and something magical happened, she actually healed! She no longer needed the Fountain of Fair Fortune.


    The second witch also refused the temptation of the spring, originally her belongings and wand were stolen by a vile thief, she hoped that the Fountain of Fair Fortune would save her from poverty and weakness, but now she doesn''t need it anymore - she persevered to the end in the second challenge that means she is no longer weak, and she has collected many precious herbs that will enable her to regain her wealth.


    As for the third witch, she also did not need the Fountain of Fair Fortune anymore, she let go of her obsession with the past in the third challenge, and no longer got trapped by love.


    Finally, the three witches agreed to let the unlucky knight soak in the Fountain of Fair Fortune as a reward for his chivalrous deeds. The unlucky knight did so, and when he came out of the spring, he thought he had washed away the bad luck that had been haunting him, and he finally gained the courage to express his feelings - he fell in love with the third witch.


    At the end of the story, the unlucky knight and the third witch got married, and - because of the solidarity along the way - the four decided to break down the barriers between wizards and muggles and live together. They live happily for a long time, and until the time of his death, the Unlucky Knight firmly believed that it was the Fountain of Fair Fortune that changed his destiny, but he actually did not know that although the magical garden where the Fountain is located overflows with magic, the Fountain itself is not magical at all. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But why? Valen couldn''t figure it out. At that moment, a knock heard at the door. Her eyes widened, and she opened the door impatiently, and Hermione stood outside the door. She smiled and picked up Valen, "Let''s go and eat delicious food."


    Hermione took Valen to the great hall for a meal and then to the common room to play chess and cards with her, but Valen remained unenthusiastic.


    "What''s wrong with you, Valen? Feeling sick?" Hermione asked worriedly.


    Valen shook her head, and in the evening when they walked in the direction of the Ancient Rune office, Valen''s nose twitched suddenly, and her black eyes brightened all at once. She struggled and jumped out of Hermione''s arms, as she bounced her way through the corridor.


    "Valen!" Hermione shouted and ran after her, following close behind.


    They reached the grand staircase and descended two levels, then Valen leaped from the corner, Hermione panicked, but Valen didn''t fall down, as a pair of arms caught her.


    "Oh, Valen, did you miss me?" Felix asked with a smile.


    ------------


    #Xenox21, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 540+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 468: Resurrection

    "Kiki! (The smell of ice cream!)" Valen tilted her head and looked at Felix, her two little hands clutching his shirt. Felix laughed. "You''ve got a good nose." He said, stroking her head with one hand, and in her expectant eyes, the ring on his finger flashed brightly and an ice cream suddenly appeared.


    "Whaaaaaaaaat!"


    "I have more," Felix said, "I bought it on the way back." He waved his hand again, and two more ice creams floated in the air.


    He handed one to Hermione. "Oh, thanks." Hermione said.


    They walked in the direction of the ancient rune office, Hermione take a small bite of the crushed nuts on top of the ice cream - very different from the flavours served at the Hogwarts table.


    "How are you preparing for the third task?" Felix asked, biting the chocolate over the ice cream as it crunched.


    "We''re progressing well - we''ve been practicing with Cedric, Collins, and Roger, although Harry seems a bit - well, but anyway, we''re progressing rapidly, and I can''t believe Collins hasn''t mastered the Apparition yet. You know, she''s in her seventh year!"


    Hermione chattered, "We all bet on which of the two - Ron or Collins - would master the Apparition first, and Professor, we told them the secret about the Room of Requirement." She glanced carefully at Felix.


    "That''s fine." Felix said, "In fact, throughout the years there are more than a few people who know about it, but only a few have been able to dig out its true hidden mysteries."


    Hermione looked relieved. "And the Phantom Book you gave Harry, which was Harry''s prize in the dueling tournament ... Harry took it out too, but after a year or so, the magic on it is a bit unresponsive." She did not mention how Professor Hap''s face in the book became blurred, she did try to fix it, but the result was minimal.


    Felix smiled as he listened and opened the door to his office.


    "Mr. Wimple from the Committee on Experimental Charms came to the school two days ago, he dropped by to review the runic spells we had discovered, everyone was curious about the horns growing on his head, but he said things are much better ... Harry, Ron, er," she pursed her lips "And Malfoy, they all together discovered the Bright Fire-Making Spell which seems to have a restraining effect on dark creatures, Mr. Wimple is going to test it on many creatures, if it works well enough, he will apply to the Ministry of Magic for a reward, and possibly invite Harry and the guys to join the Dark Force Defence League."


    "I didn''t expect such an effect." Felix slightly got surprised.


    "And ... uh," Hermione hesitated. "What''s wrong?" Felix asked, only to be taken aback by Hermione''s answer. "Harry''s having those nightmares again."


    "Something to do with Voldemort?"


    "It sho-ould be ..." Hermione stammered, "Harry wasn''t sure, he was asleep and vaguely dreamed of Crouch Jr. plotting with V-Voldemort, and Harry went into Voldemort''s point of view once again, and he said he saw Crouch Jr. kneeling at his feet ... After that, Harry woke up as his Occlumency worked."


    In fact, Harry was quite remorseful about it, his Occlumency seemed to have backfired on him in this case, keeping him from getting more useful information.


    Felix''s face looked solemn. He realized something, "Does Dumbledore know about this?"


    "Yes," Hermione busily nodded, "Harry had a burning scar on his forehead, Ron took him to the hospital wing, and Headmaster Dumbledore showed up not long after." S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix nodded, he vaguely guessed why Dumbledore chose to suddenly reveal the truth at the meeting in Wizengamot, even at the expense of having a public confrontation with Fudge, because the pace of Voldemort''s resurrection continued to grow closer and closer, and the wizarding community still knew nothing about it ...


    Lucius Malfoy did not find anything different. This is normal, the Horcrux is obviously more closely linked to Voldemort than the Dark Mark, Harry can detect Voldemort''s violent mood swings, but it did not mean that the Death Eaters can do the same thing with the Dark Mark.


    What Felix wanted, in fact, is for him to find out about Voldemort''s resurrection in the first place, as well as to be aware of the subsequent Death Eaters'' plan of action.


    When he looked back at Hermione who is staring at him, her expression became sluggish as she said, "Professor if Voldemort is really resurrected, in addition to Headmaster Dumbledore, is there anyone else who can fight against him?"


    Felix laughed, "Are you asking if I am his opponent?" Her question seemed to be the same thing he asked Dumbledore back then.


    Hermione looked at him with a wry expression as he caught her little thought.


    "Well, it''s hard to say, I''ve never truly fought Voldemort before," Felix shrugged his shoulders and said uncertainly, "I guess there is some difference." He judged it based on Dumbledore''s strength, Dumbledore has obviously undergone the transformation process towards a "magical being" as Ms. Ravenclaw claimed, but probably because of age, or other reasons, his shape is slightly declining.


    And Voldemort can fight with Dumbledore in this state, but only slightly inferior, which almost indicates that they stand on the same level, the gap is not very obvious.


    And he ...


    Hermione looked strangely at Professor Hap as he stared at his arm in deep thought, somewhat puzzling. But she at least heard the professor''s answer, her heart somewhat lost, the professor is so powerful, but still not Voldemort''s opponent.


    She left the ancient rune office and returned to the common room, where Harry and Ron are using the last bit of time to catch up on their assignments. Hermione sat down with a heavy heart and said carefully to the two: "I asked the professor."


    The unspoken words caused Harry to jerk his head up and fumble his hands, knocking over a bottle of ink, "Hey - it''s okay, never mind," he drew his wand and pointed to the shards on the floor, "Reparo." The pieces immediately put together.


    Then he and Ron stared at Hermione, "What did the professor say?"


    Hermione repeated Felix''s words to them, and Harry''s expression looked shaken.


    "It''s actually quite normal when you think about it," Ron said, "Professor Hap is only, only - well - in his mid-twenties."


    "Twenty-four years old." Hermione instantly said.


    "Exactly, yeah." Ron said as if he already knew, "He''s still so young, I mean - he''s a genius, but even a genius needs time to grow up, no? Honestly, I can''t think of a stronger wizard than him, except for Dumbledore. Ever since the Quidditch World Cup, Dad''s been saying that he could possibly succeed Dumbledore."


    "You mean Professor Hap will become Headmaster of Hogwarts?" Harry asked in surprise, he had never thought about it, but when he thought about it now, the possibilities are very high. He stared, imagining the scene - decades later, silver-haired, silver-bearded Professor Hap (somewhat similar to Dumbledore''s image, except with a normal nose) welcoming the new students in the great hall, and wondered what the professor would say in his welcoming speech.


    "No," Ron interrupted his imagination, "Dad said he might become the strongest wizard in the world after Dumbledore."


    Harry suddenly felt a sense of relief, with Dumbledore - plus Professor Hap, even if Voldemort resurrected he could not make any storm, right? But Dumbledore''s repeated reaffirmation about his dream in the hospital wing last night still cast a psychological shadow on him.


    Hermione sat on the armchair with her knees in her arms and remained silent for almost ten minutes.


    "You guys," she slowly asked in a very soft voice: "V-Voldemort ... is there a possibility that he has been resurrected?"


    ...


    "I suspected as much, Felix." Dumbledore in his pyjamas, his long silver beard tied together, "Do not rule out the possibility."


    "Is he really in that much of a hurry?" Felix frowned, " He doesn''t need Harry anymore?"


    "Maybe we all guessed it incorrectly before, Harry is not the key to his resurrection," Dumbledore said softly. "Or not essential - as you speculated before, it is possible that Voldemort knew that Harry had a piece of his soul in his body, and he intended to retrieve this soul fragment at the time of his resurrection, for which Crouch Jr. came ... But obviously, he failed."


    "And do not rule out other possibilities." Felix said.


    "That''s right," Dumbledore nodded slightly, he sighed: "I know some of the evillest dark magic, to be precise, magic that is classified as a curse, they all require the use of the enemy''s blood, I have speculated that Voldemort''s target is the blood flowing in Harry''s body, Lily''s protection magic may have a unique appeal to him. But--"


    "But we interrupted his plans," Felix added. His mind ran fast, trying to deduce Voldemort''s thoughts from his point of view: " Crouch Jr. and Voldemort''s lucky escape must have been fresh in his mind, Voldemort assumed that no one would know if he hid in the shadows, so he naturally had the patience to wait and arrange his resurrection plan calmly ... but his sense of security was shattered that night - once he deemed that there is little to no hope of obtaining Harry, he is likely to immediately proceed with the resurrection in order to avoid a long delay and the loss of his only helper, Crouch Jr!"


    "Before the resurrection, he may have had Harry in his eyes, but after the resurrection - if that is indeed the case - his vision will envelop the entire wizarding world." Felix paced around Dumbledore''s circular office, his thoughts becoming clearer, "No more summoning servants, no more contacting allies, Albus, he will plan to strike a fatal blow!"


    "That''s what I''m most worried about." Dumbledore''s expression turned grim as he gazed at Felix, the wrinkles on his face looked very deep in the light, he looked old and weary.


    ...


    "This is impossible!" Ron shouted in shock.


    "Why is it impossible?" Hermione asked him back in a sharp voice.


    "He lacks the conditions for resurrection!" Ron blurted out, looking uneasily at Harry and Hermione, "You know, he sent Crouch Jr. to school, and pretty much the only thing Crouch Jr. has done all this time was dropping our names into the Goblet of Fire. But we all know who his real target is. It''s Harry, isn''t it?"


    Harry felt his stomach flip, he strongly disliked the question Hermione had asked, but he had no evidence to refute it. Even deep down he vaguely agreed with the idea: yes, Voldemort had a brilliant helper, and it is nearly four whole months since Crouch Jr. escaped on Christmas night, so it is unlikely that he did nothing till now...


    But Ron''s idea is not without justification, Harry thought. Voldemort allowed Crouch Jr. to infiltrate the school, so there must be a bigger goal, although he hates to admit it, but Harry knew their goal should be him, he originally thought Voldemort wanted to torture him, but he should not be that stupid.


    It''s not too late to do that after the resurrection, no? Harry did not feel that torturing him is more important in Voldemort''s mind than resurrection. Unless his mind is messed up in the process of repeatedly cutting souls and making Horcruxes crazily.


    "Dumbledore will fix everything," Ron said with unease, as he looked at a silent Harry and Hermione, "we should better think about the third task, I''ve almost managed to master Apparition and succeeded several times today in the Room of Requirement. Collins almost died of frustration, her eyebrows have dropped ... all at once"


    ------------


    #Xenox21, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 540+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 469: May ( 2 in 1)

    After the Easter holiday, the weather became more and more pleasant with each passing day, and the view of the Forbidden Forest from the castle''s high point showed a very pleasant green landscape, and the Black Lake regained its vibrancy; at weekends, students gathered in the grass and green willows by the lake to enjoy the warm sunshine. Of course, this kind of relaxation only belongs to students who have finished their assignments.


    "I''ve had enough! We''re only in fourth grade, why do we have to do so many assignments?" Seamus complained loudly, "Professor McGonagall mistaken us for an upper grade, didn''t she?"


    "No," Dean said glumly, "She also mentioned in her last class that she should have moved the fifth-grade Careers Advice to fourth grade, so we''d be more motivated to study."


    "Oh ..." Seamus let out a strangled cry, "Give me a break." He said disgruntled, "We still have three full years to graduate."


    "It, uh, actually the professor is doing this for our own good," said Neville, swallowing hard, "Don''t forget from next year the school is going to implement new assessments for fifth and seventh grade, fifth grade will have to master Side-Along Apparition and seventh grade will have to master Apparition-- -"


    "What if we can''t pass?" Seamus asked uneasily.


    "Naturally, we''ll need to work through the Christmas holidays, the Easter holidays, and the period after the annual exams." Dean counted on his fingers, and Seamus'' face changed, but Dean kept on adding, "Also, the professors are still debating about adding the Disarming Charm and Shield Charm in other grades, but it''s not confirmed yet."


    Seamus breathed a sigh of relief as he had mastered these two spells. He thought for a moment and asked, "Harry hasn''t organized a dueling self-study group for a while, right?"


    "Yeah," Dean said, "There''s no choice, they''re preparing for a third task. Honestly, they''ve already widened the gap between us, and Ron even mastered Apparition."


    ...


    While the sun shone brightly and the water glistened at Black Lake, Classroom Seven is a different story.


    The sound of sharp blades sliding through the shrubs rang out in the deep forbidden forest, and Ron walked cautiously forward, occasionally tripping over the twisted roots of trees on the ground. The touch of the leaves beneath his feet is so real that he had long forgotten that it is all an illusion, and his nerves tightened to the breaking point.


    A rustling sound sounded behind him - Ron turned around keenly, "Impedimenta!" He shouted, and the spell pinned the unexpected Acromantula in place as Ron turned and scurried away.


    "You should have used the Arania Exumai." Felix''s memory body floated in midair and said, at that moment, Ron is hiding behind a large tree, cautiously looking around, so he ended up surprised.


    "I know," Ron muttered, "you might as well tell me where Harry and Hermione are."


    "Oh, you mean that, they''re in the other direction." Felix''s memory body pointed him in a direction.


    Ron gave a suspicious expression, "You''re not trying to trick me, right?"


    "I''m a professor." The memory body chuckled snidely as he hugged his shoulders.


    "Just a memory body," Ron muttered in a small voice, "Okay, I will trust you once more."


    Ten minutes later.


    "Ahhhhhhhh-"


    Ron stumbled out of the mist, followed by a group of giant Acromantula the size of a wagon, and he kept casting Arania Exumai behind him, shouting in aggravation as he ran, "You lied to me!"


    "I didn''t, look ahead." The memory body said with a smile.


    Ron looked up in the middle of his busy journey and saw a hazy light in front of him, his heart rose with hope, the "click-click-click" sound behind him was not terrifying anymore, and a surge of strength emerged from his body, supporting him to run through the last stretch of the path, he finally saw Harry -


    Harry is leaning against a tree, standing on a raised black rock, constantly chanting spells in all directions, a white flame - it is a bright rune fire-making spell - forming a circular ring of flame around Harry to help him ward off the approaching Acromantula.


    "Yes." Ron slapped his head as the Bright Rune and Fire-Making Spell combined in his hand to form a wave of flames, as he shouted, "Harry, I''m here--" Harry looked back and chanted a spell in his direction, and the Arania Exumai spell knocked away the Acromantula that followed him.


    Ron rolled and crawled up on the black rock.


    "You did find a good place." Ron said as he calmed down and began to help Harry check out the gaps using the Arania Exumai spell.


    "The best place is up there." Harry said sullenly.


    "Hey, Ron." Hermione''s voice sounded above their heads, and Ron looked up to see Hermione sitting in the branches of the large tree behind them with a cheeky smile on her face. It dawned on him - the white flames are under Hermione''s control.


    "Why did you climb the tree, it is not conducive to escape." Ron said.


    "Oh, I''ve managed to practice Banishing Charm pretty well, so it''s just right timing to practice the spell you guys discovered-" Hermione said, standing high up with her hand on her forehead as she gazed far away, "I seem to see Collins and the group, taking on a big guy. Let''s get a grip!"


    She cancelled the spell, and the tip of her wand deftly released a red light, Harry and Ron also followed suit to use the stunning spell, and soon the big spiders stacked on top of each other.


    Hermione used a shock absorption spell and landed smoothly. Then they went in the direction Hermione just pointed out, encountering a variety of magical creatures along the way, "Wow!" After using a Freezing Charm to freeze a bunch of pixies, Ron marvelled, "I''m liking this place more and more."


    Harry grinned, that is true, if it is just a boring magic practice session, he absolutely will not be able to bear that. The time he made the most progress - besides Professor Hap''s high-intensity training and Sirius''s dueling games - is when he is in classroom seven.


    As they made their way forward, midway through the journey, they saw a leisurely strolling Erumpent, a large rhinoceros-like beast with a thick gray hide that could defend against common spells, and their horns are not only sharp, they can also inject a liquid that explodes; the trio immediately hid behind a rock.


    " Oops, need to go away." Ron whispered, while staring at the small fellow next to the large Erumpent - it should be a cub, far more lively than the adult Erumpent, it is constantly kicking and stomping a sales stand.


    After a few minutes of staring, the mother Erumpent walked away with the young one, then they came out from behind the rock and picked a refreshment each at the unmanned sales stand.


    "I love the whole idea of this setup." Ron said, slipping two extra butterbeer into his pocket.


    "It''s fake." Harry reminded him, "It''s just a memory that will disappear when we leave the place. And the original intent is to supply the ghosts in the school so the kitchen no longer needs to stock the rotten food."


    "I know," Ron shrugged, "but you can''t ask for much more than this in classroom seven. I mean, even though Professor Flitwick''s memory offers uniquely flavoured fruit punch and fudge after a duel, - well, you''ll wonder, are you really a fool who can only swing a stick? After coming out of there every time."


    "It''s a baboon brandishing a stick." Hermione pursed her lips and smiled.


    It took a while, but they managed to find Cedric''s team using the Four-Point Spell to locate the direction.


    "Need some help?" Harry shouted from a distance. S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That couldn''t be better." A voice heard beside their feet, startling them. Harry stared at the grey-green thing in front of him - it is Roger Davies, who is collapsed on the ground. "What happened to you?"


    "Apparently, I was poisoned by the manticore''s tail hook." Roger Davies said as he slumped on the ground, encircled by a gray-green mist.


    Harry and the group looked at each other. Cedric and Collins struggled, the manticore''s hide can repel almost all known spells, Cedric constantly used the transfiguration to create chains, trying to entangle its legs, while also avoiding the "swoosh" tail hooks slicing through the air.


    Collins released a cloud of black mist, combined with the Conjunctivitis Curse and Slippery Jinx, in an attempt to restrain this extremely dangerous beast.


    Harry shot out a powerful Disarming Charm, and a blinding red light struck the manticore, he didn''t know if it worked, but he liked this spell, and recently he had been attempting to incorporate runes into it, but it just never worked yet. The manticore took two steps back, then flicked its tail hook and the spell flew past Cedric''s hair.


    "Nice way to say hello." Cedric said, Harry grinned, and used the Runic Aguamenti Charm on the manticore, "It has little effect-" Cedric was halfway through the sentence when Hermione coordinated it with a Freezing Spell, and the manticore''s body quickly froze.


    "Are you okay?" Ron just ran over, supporting the wobbly Collins, Collins shook her head and was just about to say something when her eyes suddenly widened.


    "Watch out!"


    A cold glinting tail hook penetrated through Ron''s chest, Ron blinked incredulously, he felt no pain, but the tail hook did penetrate his chest, Harry and Hermione shouted, watching Ron slowly fall ...


    Two minutes later, Ron sat on the ground with a steady gray-green mist emanating from his chest - similar to Roger''s look earlier - and said bitterly to Collins, "Thanks for the company."


    Collins rolled her eyes at him, and she didn''t refuse the butterbeer Ron handed her, then they looked together at Cedric, Harry, and Hermione, who are still fighting in the distance.


    Hermione used the ancient magic, the golden flame transformed into a burning phoenix, as it swooped down to peck the manticore with its sharp beak, the manticore let out a palpitating grunt from its abdomen and kept yanking away the chains under its feet, its tail hook swinging wildly. But with the cooperation of the three - Harry used an excellent Fogging Spell - the manticore''s range of vision lessened even more.


    The balance tilted toward victory, and Roger Davies in the distance crawled over to watch the action up close, ready to cheer upon victory, when another manticore emerged from the depths of the forbidden forest, accompanied by a young manticore.


    The next scene was disastrous, first Harry was trampled to death by the rampaging mother manticore, then Hermione, and a short minute later, six people sat on the ground in a gray-green mist, watching the swaggering manticore family walking away with their heads held high.


    "It''s not our blame," Ron reassured them, "that is not a creature we can deal with in the first place, it is classified 5x by the Ministry of Magic and is far more dangerous than the Acromantula colony as a whole."


    "I hope the Ministry of Magic judges thinks so too." Roger Davies said. "But, uh, I''ve heard this thing lives in the Forbidden Forest, deep inside ..."


    "That''s true," Hermione said, "Hagrid bred the Firetrail Snail out of a manticore."


    Cedric and Roger Davies looked crestfallen.


    "Don''t worry, I don''t think the Ministry of Magic will let us face an uncontrolled manticore," Hermione said with certainty, "it''s too dangerous, the book says it can kill you with a single sting, without giving you time to heal. The Ministry of Magic will certainly learn from the lessons of previous competitions, such as the one in 1792 ..."


    "Is she always like this?" Collins asked Ron in a whisper.


    "Oh, uh." Ron shrugged and said with a stiff tongue, "Sounds pretty logical, no?"


    No one but Hermione thought so, even though what she said did happen in real history. They took a break and waited until the mist cleared from their bodies and separated; Cedric intending to approach Professor McGonagall''s memory to ask about Transfiguration, and Collins more interested in discussing spell coordination with Professor Flitwick''s memory.


    Harry and the gang stayed in Classroom Seven until late afternoon, when a group of ghosts walked past them.


    "Hello, Nick." Harry greeted the Gryffindor ghost, ''Nearly Headless Nick''. "Is it time for dinner?"


    The ghost paused, "Yeah, you''d better hurry, or the food will be gone." He said to himself, looking at the tail end of the ghost team, "I need to hurry up too."


    "Let''s hurry up and head out." Ron said immediately, as he moved ahead in the lead. At that moment, the Nearly Headless Nick pulled him back - through his arm, to be exact - and Ron straightened up and shivered.


    "Oh, sorry, we''d better duck and wait for her to pass ...," Nearly Headless Nick said.


    "Wait for who--" Ron was about to ask, when Harry and Hermione pulled him from left and right, to hide in the mists. After a couple of seconds, a short, chubby ghost passed them, wearing a pair of thick, peach-coloured glasses that Harry suspected existed to hide the pimples on her face - while she was still alive.


    "It''s Myrtle!"


    "Shh--" Nearly Headless Nick shushed them nervously, holding his transparent finger over his lips, and from Harry''s point of view, both Nick in front of him and Myrtle in the distance looked spooky.


    Myrtle is a poor ghost, although his few brief moments together were not pleasant, still Harry felt sorry for her.


    It is Voldemort''s fault again. He stared at Myrtle''s distant figure and thought, ''This is the first murder committed by Voldemort, only it was through the eyes of the basilisk.''


    Harry''s expression dropped heavily, throughout May he tried not to think about whether Voldemort is alive or dead, and fully focused on preparing for the third task, but when he was alone, he could not help but think back about the information about Voldemort. He accidentally saw Hermione''s notes, which mentioned Voldemort''s childhood - he did not know where Hermione learned it from, and he did not want to ask, probably from Professor Hap.


    If Hermione knew that he is interested in these things, she would advise him not to think too much.


    But Harry couldn''t forget the notes: demonstrated outstanding magical talent before even being enrolled in school; feared by his peers; aloof and cold; and ... one day in 1937, he met a young Dumbledore and was allowed to enter Hogwarts to study.


    How Dumbledore did not see through Voldemort''s pretence? Harry thought indignantly, if only he just stayed in the orphanage, so many things would be avoided. Wool''s Orphanage - that''s the name, right? Harry tried his best to remember, thanks to Uncle Vernon who threatened him more than once that he would send him to an orphanage, he is no stranger to the name of the orphanage in Surrey.


    But then he thought, Voldemort probably didn''t have lived in Surrey, which made him deflated.


    At that moment, he suddenly felt like he has fallen into the ice hole - it was Nick who had pulled him back in a hurry, and he backed away quickly as he moved away from the ghost''s outstretched arm, "What''s wrong?"


    "You were almost spotted." Nearly Headless Nick said with an apologetic face as they hid in the fog and listened to his explanation, "Listen to me, the appearance of classroom seven is a boon for all the ghosts, we can taste food again, although it can''t be compared to being alive, after all, the taste is limited ... but ... it is already very good ..."


    "What does this have to do with Myrtle?" Ron asked in disbelief, quickly poking his head out of the fog, "She''s gone."


    "You know, as a ghost, she doesn''t participate much in group activities ... she''s too introverted and hung up on her own death ..." Nearly Headless Nick said, "We had a meeting and the fat friar suggested that we should avoid her when she comes to classroom seven, so she doesn''t get too down and stop coming."


    "That''s very thoughtful of you guys." Ron said with an uncertain tone, he was once scared by Myrtle in his second year and fell straight into the entrance of the chamber, but of course, his story afterward suggested that he had jumped off his own accord.


    "Thanks." Nearly Headless Nick said happily, waving goodbye to them.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione headed out the door, still discussing the incident along the way.


    "They did the right thing, I mean, classroom seven belongs to Hogwarts and all the ghosts do have the right to go there, don''t they?" Hermione said.


    "I just think he was wrong about Myrtle''s personality," Ron said, "Introvert? She''s gutsy in some ways ..." He looked over at Harry, who immediately understood what he meant.


    It is rumoured that one of Myrtle''s hobbies is to sneak into the Head Boy''s washroom and peek at the Head Boy''s shower, and Ron had asked Cedric and Roger Davies about this with great interest, and, well, it turned out to be true.


    They walked out of Classroom Seven and into the great hall, lucky enough to make it in time for the last bit of the meal when Roger Davies waved at them from across the Hufflepuff table, and Ron suddenly let out a "poof" of laughter, "Ouch - I-i thought of Myrtle--" Harry also laughed, feeling much better.


    Hermione looked at them wonderingly. At that moment, a group of owl couriers flew in, and the brown owl landed in front of Hermione with the Sunday Prophet newspaper, which Hermione flipped open and quickly browsed.


    "What''s the news?" Harry asked.


    "Oh, let''s see ..." Hermione said with her head down, "I''d actually prefer to see news about the ''future world'', but given the previous bad news, no news is the best ... there is it! Rita Skeeter''s new book is on sale, it''s a biography about Regulus," she said looking up to Harry, "I should get a copy and see what it says."


    "When did you become so concerned about her?" Ron asked in confusion.


    "Oh, well, how can I put it," Hermione smiled brightly, "I found out that she made some research about what she writes, maybe one-tenth of the truth? You need to pick out the useful stuff."


    Harry had to admit that there is some truth in this because the ''Future World'' company suddenly was investigated by the Ministry of Magic under the guise of "Misuse of Muggle Artefacts" and "Illegal Modification of Muggle Artefacts", as well as "the potential risk involving exposure of the wizarding world".


    They were so desperate that they kept writing to Ron''s father, Percy, Remus, and Sirius to ask about the situation, but within a few days the matter disappeared, and instead, Fudge was exposed to have accepted large bribes from several pureblood families.


    During that time, news of Fudge clarifying false information and new evidence being broken could often be seen in the same newspaper, and after that, the news about the ''Future World'' company became less and less.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 546+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 470: Time and Hourglass

    The last week of May, Professor McGonagall Kept them behind after Transfiguration class. "Potter, Weasley, Granger, you''ll need to be in the room next to the great hall at nine o''clock tonight," Professor McGonagall told them, "Mr. Bagman is going to be there to explain to the Champions about the third task."


    Exiting the Transfiguration classroom, they stood in the hallway looking out in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, where a group of ministry staff are walking through the grounds.


    "What are they going to do?" Harry asked in wonder, "It looks like they''re heading towards the Quidditch pitch."


    They lingered for a few minutes as the people made a turn in front of the Quidditch pitch and headed off in the direction of the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. The History of Magic class is going to start in ten minutes, so they hurried to the classroom.


    When the bell rang, Professor Binns floated in through the wall and lectured in a monotonous voice, as he had for decades.


    "Even the food in classroom seven can''t save us." Ron said.


    Harry looked vexed, he desperately wanted to know what the third task is going to be now, having prepared for so long he felt more confident than he had in the previous two tasks, but his focus had no doubt shifted elsewhere.


    Whether should he ask Hermione where she got the information about Voldemort? He couldn''t help but think about it, imagine if he knew about the source of the information, he can take advantage of the summer work to investigate. Surely Sirius wouldn''t refuse such a request, he would provide a cover for him so that the Ministry of Magic wouldn''t be able to determine if he is using magic outside of school ...


    Harry looked at his watch, the watch had stopped, he turned his head to ask Ron about the time, Ron''s face looked blank, as his head nodded. Harry did not want to disturb Ron''s beauty sleep, so he took off his already broken watch and stuffed it into his pocket, his fingertips touched a hard object, and he took it out to find a gray hourglass.


    It was exchanged to him by Valen, somehow stashed in the deepest part of his pocket, he has probably forgotten it.


    Harry stared at the dark golden sand grit solidified in the hourglass, thinking alone.


    He suddenly came up with an idea. Harry felt amazed by this idea, he looked around - no one was looking at him, so Harry quickly took out a parchment, wrote a line on it, and handed it to Hermione who concentrated on taking notes.


    This is what made Harry feel impressed, although Hermione also found the history of magic class boring and uninteresting, but she always listened and used the knowledge at the right time. Hermione looked at the parchment that suddenly appeared on the History of Magic textbook, and she puffed out her cheeks in discontent. S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry gestured with his eyes for her to read the words on it, and Hermione looked down and read the small words on it, " Did you have that discarded Time-turner with you?"


    Hermione nodded her head in a small motion and hung her head lower, pulling a thin gold chain from her collar. Harry stared, watching as she placed a gold timepiece on the parchment and gently pushed it to him.


    "Thanks." Harry mumbled in a small voice, impatiently picking up the golden timepiece. According to Hermione, an intact time-turner would glow, but the one in front of him looked very old. Its core is an hourglass that is spherical at both ends, with several rings of metal brackets around the outside, and adjustable knobs around the edges.


    Harry took a deep breath, held it, and placed the gray hourglass and time-turner together, and was surprised to find that the two hourglasses are nearly identical in size. Exactly the same ... then can it be replaced? He forcefully wriggled the time-turner, trying to remove the hourglass on top, but the hourglass did not move at all.


    He was forced to stop, he did not dare to pressure it further. Harry looked up sheepishly, only to meet Hermione''s shocked eyes.


    "How did you come up with that?"


    Hermione asked impatiently as soon as class ended, at which point they had just come out of History of Magic class, and in the last half hour, Hermione had conveniently forgotten about Professor Binns at the podium - "Giants are brutal by nature, and they kill each other in greater numbers than all the other reasons put together ..."-and just kept one eye on the hourglass and broken time-turner in Harry''s hand with a twinkle in her eyes.


    "I don''t know. Just ... a flash of insight?" Harry said with an innocent face, Ron looked at the two somewhat confused.


    They finished their meal quickly and walked through the common room door where Fred and George are selling a new product with their good friend Lee Jordan, it is a hat-shaped thing, normally Harry would have padded over to look at it, as twins'' products are usually interesting - as long as they don''t use it on him.


    But today they walked right past the crowd, ignoring the gasps around them, and went straight to the hidden corner. At the gesture of Hermione''s eyes, Harry took out the hourglass and the golden time-turner, which he deliberately put together, especially the two different hourglasses.


    "Hiss~" Ron sucked in a breath of air. "Shouldn''t--"


    "Yeah, we thought so too," Hermione said excitedly, "I totally missed it before! Even though they''re about the same size ... but ... who would have thought to assemble them together? One from an ancient Greek dark wizard thousands of years ago, and one from the legendary alchemist Nicolas Flamel who just died."


    Ron picked up the gray hourglass and shook it so hard that the dark golden substance inside solidified into a lump and stuck to the glass interior without moving, "Except for one thing," he said, "they''re both broken. Hermione, you''re wasting your time, you said so personally, that Professor Hap examined it."


    "Oh, oh ..." Hermione said perfunctorily, "but Professor Hap shouldn''t know that Valen had secretly taken the goblin''s hourglass, under the impression that he had told Valen to give everything back. "


    Harry''s heart pounded, and he suddenly realized that if he could get the golden time-turner fixed, they would have a time-turner that wasn''t restricted by the Ministry of Magic, even though he didn''t know what he would use it for yet, and Hermione had said a bunch of restrictions before.


    But if an accident does happen, like that time at the bridge, if Hermione did not have the time-turner in her hand to find Professor Hap in time that day, one or two of them would likely be dead, or at least Peter Pettigrew would most likely be escaped.


    Harry showed extreme concern in this matter, "Let''s give it a try! What if it works?"


    "The problem is, how are we going to disassemble ... it," Hermione said with a frown.


    "Also, we don''t have the tools, does Hogsmeade have a store that sells pliers?" Harry asked.


    "Don''t be silly," Hermione said, "it''s more sophisticated than anything you''ve ever seen, and by no means a pair of pliers or a screwdriver will do the trick ... Let me think," she repeatedly surveyed the broken gold Time-Turner, and muttered to herself for a while: "No ... this is not something we can ever deal with unless ..."


    "Unless what?"


    "Unless we can get our hands on the research data of the people who worked on this before us." Hermione said decisively.


    "What do you mean-" Ron stared at her.


    "This broken time-turner once belonged to Nicolas Flamel, and the Professor mentioned that Mr. Nicolas Flamel left quite a few things behind, and I think, well, if the Professor allowed Valen to give away the broken time-turner, then he shouldn''t mind if we look through some of the information ..."


    "Wouldn''t it be better if we went directly to Professor Hap for help?" Ron asked in disbelief as he cautioned, "It''s the fastest way."


    "Sure," Hermione said with a straight face, "but we have to at least come up with some evidence, don''t we?"


    ...


    At 8:30 p.m., they exited the common room and headed downstairs to the great hall. On the way, Ron asked Harry about screwdrivers, and Harry explained first the purpose of screws, and then the different kinds of screwdrivers, "There''s a toolbox with tools of all sizes, and they can also unscrew nuts-"


    "What''s that?" Ron asked in amazement, "Dad would love it, he''s collected a chest of knobs and switches."


    In the entrance hall, they met the Beauxbatons'' Champions and Fleur greeted Harry warmly, leaning down to give him a kiss on each cheek. Ron''s face showed a look of anticipation, Hermione grunted in displeasure, and both boys looked giddy.


    When he came back to his senses, Harry found himself sitting on the sofa in the room next to the great hall, and the big guy from Uagadou smiled at him innocently, how strange, when did he sit down? He absolutely did not remember his experience of walking through the great hall.


    "... My sister Gabrielle will be coming over next month, with mom and dad. A few days before the third task..." Fleur said cheerfully from the sidelines, Harry looked to his left and right, Ron is sitting with him, looking at Fleur with the same fascination, where is Hermione? The next second he saw Hermione, she and Collins sat together.


    They waited until close to ten o''clock, when the lights in the castle would usually be out, and Bagman walked in.


    He dressed in a pair of yellow strappy pants that looked like an oversized baby outfit, and he looked quite tired, with his short blond hair stuck to his forehead with sweat. He steeled himself to hold out his hands and looked at the champions in the room.


    "Hello guys!" He said.


    "First of all I would like to say good luck to all of you, yes, that''s right, the tournament has finally reached the final stage successfully, and I think it is something to celebrate both for you and for me as well." Bagman wiped the sweat on his forehead, "Honestly, I''ve been exhausted lately, I just communicated with the staff today about the tournament venue, there were so many problems, luckily I had Hagrid to help out with ideas ..." Harry and Ron exchanged a look of horror.


    "When the tournament is over, I''ll be sure to request a holiday ... Ahem, let''s get back to business, the third task-" he winked, "is a maze. The third task is very simple and clear. The trophy for the Tournament is placed at the very top of the maze, and whichever team manages to touch it first will get full points."


    "The very top?" Krum asked in a deep voice.


    "Yeah," Bagman smoothed his chest strap, "I never said there is only one level in the maze, did I?"


    "So we just have to get through the maze?" Fleur asked for confirmation, "Find the right way?"


    "Of course not, Miss Delacour," Bagman shook his head, his voice becoming cheerful, "Hagrid provided a whole bunch of creatures ... and some charms that had to be lifted... . Blah, blah, blah, it was a contest of speed. The champion team with the leading score enters the maze first. We''ll post the scores of the first two tasks, rules, and order in the entrance hall; it''s too late today, so we have to wait till tomorrow ..."


    "In addition to this, there is one more thing you need to be reminded of. No attacks on each other will be allowed in the labyrinth - we will oversee the whole process - but trophy grabbing is allowed, of course, only if all members of the same team are not gathered." Bagman looked at the champions who staring straight at him, a smile appeared on his round face, "You will find that the trophy is the door key. When three people from one team touch it at the same time, it will function and take you out of the maze."


    The room suddenly became very quiet. Bagman waited a few seconds and tiptoed uneasily, "That''s it! Champions!"


    ...


    "I can''t believe it! They actually allowed the champions to fight!" Ron said incredulously. As soon as they came out of the room, he commented impatiently.


    "It''s not fighting, it''s trophy grabbing." Harry corrected him without a second thought, he thought it sounded normal, and faintly he felt eager to try.


    "But - if we don''t attack each other, how do we get the trophy from them?" Ron asked.


    Harry hesitated too, "I guess there will be restrictions, like no harmful spells allowed or something ... Bagman said the rules will be posted tomorrow."


    "I still think we have to be careful." Ron said.


    At this point, Harry noticed that Hermione stayed silent the whole time, so he asked her curiously, "Hermione, what''s wrong with you?"


    "Oh, uh," Hermione flustered and smoothed her hair, "remember what Bagman said, the parents of the champions would be invited to watch the tournament, and I haven''t mentioned it to my family ... in fact, um. " She looked carefully at Harry and Ron, "I made up some lies. I said in my letter to them that ... there is only one champion from each school, and Hogwarts has two because of the accident ... of course, the other one is not me ... oh dear, I told them The second champion is Harry!"


    Harry and Ron opened their mouths wide in surprise.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 547+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 471: Change in Time

    "Yeah, I know it sounds stupid," Hermione sighed, "but Mum asks me to send back at least two letters a month, so it''s hard for me to come up with a proper excuse, and this is not your divination class assignment- " "How come I didn''t know about this? You''ve never borrowed Harry''s Hedwig or my pig." Ron asked.


    "Because I used the school''s communal owl - don''t interrupt!" Hermione stopped at the common room door, "Well - you know, we''re both less famous than Harry''s pinky - and I easily found the newsletter that only mentioned Harry''s name and sent it home."


    Harry''s face suddenly flushed with embarrassment.


    Ron glared at her and said resentfully, "Thanks for the reminder, your analogy was great."


    "The problem is, I don''t know what to do now." Hermione said helplessly, "Maybe ask Professor McGonagall to cancel-"


    "Don''t!" Harry said busily, "You''d better be honest with them, I don''t think they''d want to miss such a important event in your life."


    Ron agreed with Harry. "Think about it, if they find out that their daughter participated in a dangerous event with an extremely high mortality rate next year from the Flourish & Blotts bookshop clerk ... they''ll absolutely hunt you down to the ends of the earth, or at least they''ll send a Howler."


    "Oh, they won''t." Hermione said in a relaxed tone, "At best they will threaten me that they will never help me straighten my teeth in my life."


    In the portrait at the door, Violet, who had come over as a guest, whispered in the fat lady''s ear, "Do Gryffindors always talk like that?"


    "I''m just a portrait." The Fat Lady said with a shrug.


    "Banana fried dough." Hermione''s face flushed slightly, "The password is banana fried dough."


    "My favourite." The Fat Lady said with a smile as the portrait moved away in front of them, and as they walked inside they could still hear the Fat Lady talking to her best friend, "Gryffindor students are quite nice, except being a bit of a sideshow ..."


    As they entered the common room, Ron said disgruntled, "Is she talking about herself? You guys should really ask how she sings opera like nobody''s business, er, better not - she wrote about me in opera too."


    Harry couldn''t help but laugh out loud. Ron had sneaked into classroom seven to get an invitation card for the reserve champion spot, something that the Fat Lady had written into her new opera.


    Fred and George had commented on the song afterward, as they stated that the Fat Lady had the literary tendency to exaggerate the truth - if the main character hadn''t been their brother, they would have thought it was an adventure during King Arthur''s youth.


    Sitting in her chair, Hermione flipped out of her textbook, but she couldn''t focus a bit. Before lights out, she finally made the decision, "You guys are right, I''ll write home tomorrow."


    ...


    Felix flipped through the newspaper of the day, today''s front-page headline being " Trouble! The Minister of Magic is in the Swirl of Public Opinion".


    "The current Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, continues to dominate public attention since the bribery scandal broke earlier this month. It''s an open secret that Fudge circles around several pureblood families, and he has more than once flaunted his personal friendships with those ancient families, as he relied on their elaborate network of connections and influence to secure his authority.


    Fudge has repeatedly reaffirmed that he does not use his power for personal gain.


    ''I did receive some generous donations, and they were used for wonderful causes! I can show you all the proofs, you have no idea how much effort I had put into the Quidditch World Cup and the Tournament of Champions!''


    But when the reporter asked what he had done, excluding the contributions of the former Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, Mr. Barty Crouch Sr., and the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, Mr. Ludo Bagman, Minister Fudge dodged the question.


    Five months after the appearance of the Dark Mark, the Ministry of Magic has not produced much convincing evidence other than a wanted notice for a man who is already dead plastered all over Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade, which begs the question, is our Minister really fit to be in that position? Is he half as capable as he boasts?


    The reporter then interviewed several people, whose opinions seemed to represent a certain trend.


    Xenophilius Lovegood, editor-in-chief of The Quibbler magazine, declared that our minister possessed a secret army made up entirely of black leopards - they are said to be a flame sprite, behemoths covered in a fire that can burn everything to the ground. An army that would play an important role in critical moments, and of course it doesn''t rule out the possibility of him using them to deal with his rivals in secret.


    Professor Griselda Marchbanks, head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority, said that Fudge was acting like Dumbledore''s tail during his first years in office, ''and of course, he totally went to the Purebloods side once his authority was firmly established.''


    Tiberius Ogden, the Wizengamot member, doesn''t seem to have a high opinion about Cornelius Fudge either. He was more than happily called minister ''''Lucky Fudge'''' on the grounds that the man with the highest popularity to take over as Minister of Magic at the time had a scandal about his family being Death Eaters suddenly break out. But when this combined with Mr. Lovegood''s testimony, perhaps Fudge does seem to have more than one secret army.


    Also, the imprisonment of the former head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation looks extremely suspicious; reporters found out that he was initially sentenced to a lifetime in prison, and no one knows if this was a crackdown on his political enemies, but a few days ago Wizengamot secretly arraigned Barty Crouch Sr. and changed the sentence to three years for using his power for personal gain and abuse of public authority."


    ...


    "What a load of bollocks!" Fudge said angrily in his office, gritting his teeth as he read out the names above, "Lovegood, Marchbanks, and Ogden, very good ..."


    "Minister," Umbridge said in a mushy tone, squinting her flabby eyes, "the words of these clowns will not budge you at all, they have no proof!" She said with a smirk, "On the contrary, you can hold them accountable."


    "What can I do? The mouth is on them-" Fudge''s expression was hesitant.


    "Wouldn''t it be easy to pick on them, especially Marchbanks and Ogden, who both work in the Ministry of Magic, if we just slightly-" Umbridge suddenly shut up, her wide, toad-like pie face turned toward the door, as she said in a soft voice "Yaxley? You seem like a different person after returning from leave, you should have knocked first."


    "I''m sorry, Minister." Yaxley said, without a trace of apology on his face, "I was in a hurry to deliver a document, a list of escorts for the third task of the tournament, which Scrimgeour and Ms. Bones have already signed, it''s just short of yours." He slowly walked up and placed the document in his hand on the table, his eyes glanced at the silent pair.


    Slowly withdrawing his arm, he stood up straight and said, "You know, I happened to overhear your conversation."


    Fudge''s eyes went wide.


    "I''m your man, Minister," Yaxley said immediately and soothingly.


    "You''re my man?" Fudge repeated, staring across the table with probing eyes as he pulled out his quill and signed the document without looking at it. "Dolores has a point; you seem to have changed for good; normally you wouldn''t say such things."


    Yaxley shrugged. "The situation is changed, Minister. I stood neutral before, but ... I thought about it quite a bit during the two days I was on leave, and I think it''s time to make a choice."


    "You are doing this because of Felix Hap--"


    "More than that, Minister," Yaxley said, "more than just because of him. This isn''t personal, it''s a confrontation between two different camps - purebloods and non-purebloods - and I smell a showdown ahead, and Hap is playing the role of a vicious pawn, and if nothing is done, maybe we''ll all disappear in a matter of years." He became exceptionally talkative today, "as one of the twenty-eight pureblood families, although the Yaxley family fallen, but the heritage of pureblood is never about wealth, it is all about the ancient magic contract ... to this day, the Yaxley family receives an annual distribution, although the amount is few, but I can walk through the door of any pureblood family with that contract."


    "Wait! The Gringotts should count as one, right?" Fudge said slowly, "I''ve read some information that at the time when we were fighting the goblins most intensely, both sides lost a lot of money, so some families brought the peace talk, from which the goblins also gained a special status."


    Yaxley smiled and did not speak.


    "Which families stand behind you?" Fudge asked, suddenly interested, because of the previous explosions, a third of the families close to him had left him, and his insecurity reached its peak when he lost the support of these people.


    "It doesn''t matter." Yaxley said mysteriously, but now Fudge didn''t dare to underestimate him. The names of one family after another flashed through Fudge''s mind, especially the few with the most aggressive attitudes toward muggles, who, despite their heavy losses in the last war, would still be considered a powerful force when united.


    "Who are you targeting?" Fudge asked.


    Yaxley''s expression was somewhat startled. "Come on," Fudge said impatiently, "don''t claim you don''t have conditions."


    Yaxley broke into a smile.


    "Honourable Minister Fudge, have you ever played wizard chess?" He said softly, "The most annoying piece on the board is the pawn that touches the opponent''s border; it will rise to become a knight, a bishop, a rook, or even ... a rampaging queen."


    "No!" Fudge shouted, "You don''t know how offensive he is, and Dumbledore surely will defend him--"


    "Then use the most justifiable reason," Yaxley said, looking at Fudge, "Don''t forget, Minister, you represent the order of the British wizarding community, and even Dumbledore will be at your mercy if the reason is good enough."


    "Justifiable reason." Fudge pondered and handed him the signed document.


    ...


    "Still need to find a good reason to get Fudge out of office." Felix sighed and put away the paper. He knew very well that the previous approach could at best disgust Fudge and make his public rating even lower, while ''Future World'' company could use this opportunity to get out of trouble.


    But if he wanted to let Fudge step down in a short time, he would not be able to do so unless Voldemort had a party at the entrance of the Ministry of Magic. Or he kills him in his home.


    But if he really did it, Dumbledore would be the first one who would stand against him. Everything he has now will all become invalid, the professorship, the Order of Merlin, the membership of the Wizengamot, the ''Future World'' company, and the people he knows ...


    "What''s the best way to get rid of him once and for all?" Felix pondered, he and Fudge shared a surprisingly common sentiment, both afraid that hitting the tiger would harm them back.


    At that moment, there is a knock on the door. "Come in." Felix said as the door opened and a furry head poked out from outside.


    "Hi, Professor," Hermione flashed in.


    "You want to borrow Mr. Nicolas Flamel''s data on time-turner?" After hearing Hermione explain her reason for coming, Felix asked with interest, "Why?"


    "Oh, uh--" Hermione looked at him hesitantly.


    Felix smirked and let several plates of fruit preserves fly out of the far cupboard and land on the small table, "Have you made up your reason?"


    Hermione sat down on the couch in a very deflated manner.


    "It''s like this, the time-turner that Valen gave me for Christmas - the one that''s broken - might ... probably ... have a chance of being fixed, and I want to get it operational and try it out."


    Felix looked at her in surprise.


    "So, you found the time energy?"


    "Time energy? What''s that?" Hermione''s eyes widened and her heart leaped with excitement; she certainly would hear a new term every time she came to the professor''s place.


    "I named it myself," Felix said, "Well, Mr. Nicolas Flamel''s notes inspired me, to be exact." He paraphrased.


    "The Time-Turner carries unique energy hidden in each grain of sand in the hourglass, the time-turner just serves as the most sophisticated container for it. This is the conclusion ''I'' came up with after repeatedly disassembling and attempting to repair it. Unfortunately, I have no way to verify it, perhaps the answer to the question will be found in the Department of Mysteries at the British Ministry of Magic ..."


    "Wait! The Department of Mysteries?" Hermione exclaimed in surprise, "I''ve heard that name before, at ... the Quidditch World Cup camp, Mr. Weasley mentioned those who work there known as Unspeakables."


    Felix nodded approvingly.


    "So the time energy is stored in the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione asked.


    "I''m not sure, Miss Granger." Felix said, "The Department of Mysteries is the most secretive department in the entire Ministry of Magic, and Mr. Nicolas Flamel had spent quite a bit of time - probably longer than a normal person''s lifetime - searching for the secrets of time. But he was missing the most crucial thing of all, and that is time itself."


    Hermione felt herself enveloped in a solemn atmosphere, and her voice couldn''t help but soften, "I used to time travel many times, in the third grade."


    "The maximum time one can travel back without incurring serious damage to both the traveller and time itself is five hours, which requires the use of a magic charm known as the ''Hour-Reversal Charm'' - this is the information Mr. Nicolas Flamel obtained, but both him or me personally, have serious doubts about their claim, because it implies a stable technology for manufacturing time-turner. While plenty of facts prove that the total number of time-turner is getting fewer and fewer ..."


    "Then why do they still-"


    "Distribute it to students?" Felix asked with a smile.


    Hermione nodded lightly.


    "I guess it''s probably because it has little use for them, and they need the data from the students who used the time-turner to do minimal research with it." He stood up and walked into the inner room, before exiting a moment later. Felix held a copy of a scroll-like journal in his hand, "These are some of the cases Nicolas had collected, trying to change time in a wild way can backfire, and once the energy that protects you is gone, the results are often not that pretty." S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Eloise Mintumble used the time-turner to go back five centuries before her era, in the middle of which a serious error occurred. It was only when the energy in the turner was depleted that she was ejected from time. But her body suffered severe damage, and she died not long afterward in St. Mungo''s. This was not the first experiment conducted by the Ministry of Magic, but it was the last, and since then all related experiments have been discontinued."


    "She was from the Ministry of Magic?" Hermione asked pointedly.


    "The Unspeakable, I guess." Felix said, "In addition to the effects on herself, the disruption of time spread to the outside world, and she severely altered the course of some people''s lives, turning them into people who were never born. Also - in the next few days after she was ejected, the first Tuesday lasted for two and a half days, while Thursday lasted only four hours ... The Ministry of Magic had to fool the world with an asteroid that never existed in history and they paid a huge price to do that. "


    Hermione''s expression is one of astonishment. "I read in a book that a rare celestial phenomenon occurred at the end of the nineteenth century, which not only caused a polar day with subsequent heavy rainstorms, it also induced a large number of people to have a brief misalignment of their sense of time and malfunction of their appliances ..."


    Felix shrugged, "Fortunately, technology wasn''t really advanced in those days, and it was rainy ... I suspect that the Ministry of Magic was responsible for that rain too."


    Hermione felt that her perception somewhat turned upside down.


    "So, why do you think you have the possibility of repairing the time-turner?"


    "Harry possessed an hourglass obtained from Valen, which came from the altar where the Herpo the Foul hid his Horcruxes ..."


    "Valen?"


    At that moment, Valen came out of the bedroom, and heard someone call her, so she looked up quizzically, "Kee?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 547+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 472: Rules

    Tempted by the strawberry preserves, Valen quickly started to explain But apparently, she was a beat slower than Hermione and has not realized the seriousness of the problem. Hermione awkwardly fed her a few slices of dried fruit and left with the journal given by Felix. "Professor, I think Valen was just careless." She tried to fix her earlier blunder before leaving.


    Valen blinked, what do you mean I was careless?


    "I understand," Felix said as he hugged Valen, Hermione hesitated for a few seconds as she stood on tiptoe and prepared to leave, when he called her out from behind. "Miss Granger, you can try to repair that time-turner using Nicolas''s journal as a reference, but whatever the outcome is, remember, you should not use it and don''t ever put yourself in danger."


    "You have my word, Professor." Hermione replied.


    Felix watched the door close, then turned his attention to Valen, who is sitting on his lap, and she patted his thigh with a look of satisfaction as she half-squinted her eyes. "Kiki! (Keep feeding!)" Felix laughed at her leisurely look.


    " Aren''t you going to read the book - The Tales of Beedle the Bard?" He said.


    Valen looked at him suspiciously.


    "Some time ago you were pestering me with the story ''The Fountain of Fair Fortune''," Felix said, "in fact, you will find that it is followed by the equally wonderful story called ''The Warlock''s Hairy Heart'' ..."


    "Kee!" Valen looked startled, "Kiki! Kee Kee Kee! (Don''t lie to me! That''s a horror story!)"


    "It''s true, every story in The Tales of Beedle the Bard has a hidden message," Felix said with a smirk, "for example, the male wizard used dark magic to separate his heart from his body and lock it in a crystal box, by which he avoided the worldly affection... ... Perhaps this is the poet''s artistic expression of the Horcrux; not to mention that this story warns us not to tamper with the deepest mysteries of life--"


    At that moment, he suddenly paused. Don''t tamper with life at will - so does his current transformation toward a magical being count as tampering with life? He mulled over this question, in any case, he should be more cautious and careful, at least until the transformation is completed, it is better for him to stay at school without going out.


    Who knew the next time he inspected the company''s branch, he might bump into a noseless freak when he push open the door?


    A sweet taste suddenly burst into his mouth, and Felix looked back down to see Valen reaching out her small hand to shove a strawberry preserves into his mouth.


    "Kiki! ( A different story!)"


    Felix bit into the sweet preserves and said vaguely, "How about this story, ''The Tale of the Three Brothers''?" Valen nodded vigorously, who wanted to hear about the hairy heart, isn''t that a curse word, specifically used to describe the cold and heartless wizard?


    Don''t try to fool her, she is a Niffler who has read the full set of "The Strange Adventures of Little Wizard Mick".


    "Once upon a time, three brothers were travelling on a secluded pathway. It was nearing dusk when they came across a turbulent river and encountered a man who called himself Death ..."


    On the other hand, Hermione returned to the common room with the copy of the journal in her hand. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Did you send the letter?" Harry asked, as he has lent his Hedwig to Hermione, so she could write home.


    "Yeah, and I brought this along." Hermione said proudly, waving a journal in her hand, and Harry''s eyes lit up. "Data about Time-Turner?" He asked in a whisper, and after receiving an affirmative response, he quickly sat down next to Hermione.


    "Where''s Ron?" Hermione asked casually, opening the journal carefully as she did so.


    "He has gone to the entrance hall again to make sure if the rules for the third task are posted." Harry said, as he and Hermione quickly noticed that the journal resembled ''answer space'' and he stared at the icons on it, and impatiently tried to click on the one that reads "Nicolas Flamel Dismantling Project".


    "Wait, Harry." Hermione stopped him and said, "Professor suggested that we should first have to read the information that Nicolas Flamel had gathered about the experiments regarding the time-turner." She clicked on the first icon - it showed a witch with a painful expression, and Harry felt uncomfortable, but he quickly regained his composure as lines of text began to appear on the journal.


    "Eloise Mintumble? What did she do?" He asked curiously.


    "She ended all long-term time travel with her first-hand experience." Hermione explained briefly.


    After a while, Harry finished reading about Eloise Mintumble''s experience, and he smacked his lips to express his feelings, and at that moment, Ron came back gleefully.


    "The rules are out!" He shouted, shaking the parchment in his hand with a clatter that drew the attention of everyone in the common room. "Ran into Cedric and the group, and Collins handed me a copy of it ..."


    A curious crowd gathered around.


    "Read it!" Seamus shouted.


    "Oh, uh ... well," Ron enjoyed the feeling of being flocked, he cleared his throat and looked at the contents of the parchment. "First up, the results of the first two tasks - Cedric''s team 126 points, Uagadou 113 points, Beauxbatons 110 points, Durmstrang 100 points, and Ilvermorny 73 points."


    "You missed one." Neville reminded him.


    "Did I?" The smile on Ron''s face threatened to snap.


    "You forgot to say-"


    "Oh, yes." Ron pretended to slap his head, "I forgot our score, ladies and gentlemen, are you all ready for this one?"


    "Ron, if you like the shape of your nose as it is, you should better speak." Fred threatened unsmilingly.


    "It''s 128 points," Ron said honestly, " First place." He added.


    The common room remained silent for a few seconds, then a deafening cheer erupted as everyone clapped in unison, "Well done!" Seamus shouted, waving his fist and shouting in exasperation.


    Ron''s face quickly turned red.


    It took him a while to push his way out of the crowd and join Harry and Hermione, with Ginny following him in tow.


    "They''re so enthusiastic." Ron said in a deliberately breezy tone, "I mean, it''s not entirely because of me."


    Ginny stared at him hard, as if he had something dirty on his face, which made Ron uncomfortable. So he stammered, "Well, I admit, Harry and Hermione''s credit is a bit greater ..."


    Hermione grabbed the parchment he carried and read the specific rules on it. After a long while, she said with a sigh of relief, "It''s a lot better than I thought."


    "What does it say?" Harry asked.


    "Before getting the trophy, you don''t have to worry about being attacked by other champion teams, you just have to deal with the dangers of the maze itself. The person who gets the trophy will reveal his position every two minutes to allow champions from the same team and other teams to ascertain his location, and it''s all down to luck as for who finds the person with the trophy first-"


    "What do they plan to do?" Harry couldn''t help but ask in retrospect, "How - if I get the trophy, how will I reveal my position?"


    "Well," Hermione scanned the parchment quickly, "it says the trophy will sing loudly, the sound will last ten seconds, and the Weird Sisters have recorded a battle song just for that. It''s also important to note that we must abide by the internationally accepted rules of dueling competitions, which means that dark magic will be banned and there are strict restrictions placed on harmful spells. The Stinging Jinx we practiced before may not come in handy ..."


    Hermione said a dozen more restrictive rules one after another, such as prohibiting lethal spells against the champions, and if the battle ends with one of the parties unconscious, such as being hit by a stunning spell, the winning champions must take the initiative to send a signal to summon the patrolling staffs.


    "... Finally, the competition will end when we pass through the trophy, which is the door key out of the maze." Hermione looked up.


    "So the key to the race is getting the trophy first, and then-" Ginny said slowly.


    "Stay mobile." Hermione said.


    "Be careful not to get ambushed." That is Ron''s answer.


    "Defeat your opponent quickly." Harry also answered without thinking. The other three looked at him at the same time, so he explained, "I think the further along you get, the more likely you will be exposed, and it''s useless to hide because you will run into someone any second."


    ------------


    #Sukhpreet Kaur, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 549+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 473: A Memory

    "You''re talking about the same thing." Ginny judged, shaking her hair - which looked like a bright wispy flame - and counted on her fingers to conclude, "Try to get the trophy earlier - or grab it from someone else, and then stay mobile - " she cocked her head towards Hermione, "looking for teammates while being careful not to be ambushed, and avoiding traps and dangerous creatures in the maze itself -" Ron nodded solemnly from the sidelines, indicating that that was exactly what he was thinking.


    "-and the last part," Ginny''s eyes lingered on Harry, "as time stretches on all the champions will get closer and closer to the trophy, it''s likely you''ll run into a new enemy before you get more than a few steps out, so it''s necessary to deal with the opponent in a quick and clean manner!"


    She gestured with a fierce gesture, and Harry thought she looked cool today.


    "Actually, we can also rely on luck to advance through the maze," Ron suggested seriously, "we have to consider the best-case scenario to happen, haven''t you forgotten? We''re the first ones to enter the maze, and if we''re lucky enough, we don''t have to meet up with the rest at all ..."


    ...


    They discussed in the corner throughout the day, and in the evening Professor McGonagall made a rare appearance in the common room, calling Harry and Ron out, leaving an unsure Hermione and Ginny behind. They didn''t come back until almost lights out, with a look of unconcealed joy on their faces.


    "What did Professor McGonagall say to you guys?" Hermione looked up from her pile of thick documents, her eyes listless as she looked at the empty space between Harry and Ron, as she had spent quite a bit of time going over the rules again.


    "It''s about Dark Force Defence League," Harry said excitedly, handing over a certificate, Hermione and Ginny came over to look at it, and Ginny let out a short squeal, "You''ve become an official member of the Dark Force Defence League? Harry, is this true?"


    "And me too." Ron reminded her.


    But Ginny ignored him and said to Harry, "Do you know what that means?"


    "It means that, um ... I''ve joined a wizard organization?" Harry replied hesitantly.


    "No, of course not!" Ginny''s flaming hair began to jump again, "Look, it''s a formal member, not an honorary one! There''s a difference here -"


    "Wait, I kind of remember ..." Ron meditated, "I think someone mentioned THIS to me many times."


    "It was Lockhart." Hermione, as always, is reliable.


    "That''s right! He said he is an honorary member of the Dark Force Defence League, not an official member ... What does that mean?" Ron stared at his certificate as if trying to get a perfect explanation from it.


    " Official members need to be tested or contribute a great deal, preferably the kind that can be generalized." Ginny knew a little more about this than Ron did, "I guess Lockhart refuses to show what he can do because he doesn''t have any such thing!"


    Delighted, Harry revealed more information, "The Dark Force Defence League people told me that if I ever planned to pursue an Auror or similar career, they would write me a letter of recommendation, even if I lacked an O.W.Ls certificate or two-"


    "But you guys wouldn''t throw in the towel, right?" Hermione looked at him sternly.


    "Yeah." Harry said against his will, feeling good about using the promise of the Dark Force Defence League as a form of assurance.


    "The only shame is, that Malfoy got the honour too," Ron said, "How ironic, isn''t it? At the Quidditch World Cup riot, he even hinted to us that his dad was involved in the riot."


    "How come Professor Hap didn''t catch him in the act!"


    After a while, Ginny yawned gracefully and went back to bed in the girls'' dormitory.


    Harry and Ron looked over the certificate with joy, stroking the patterns and seals on it, no matter how many times they looked at it, they still liked it very much, and as they lay in bed after lights out, Ron said to Harry, "I think it would be good to be an Auror." Neville listened half-heartedly for a while and couldn''t resist joining in, "Actually, uh, I''d like to be an Auror too," he said, "and of course, a professor sounds good too."


    Harry was surprised to find that three people in their dormitory wanted to become Aurors, and soon Seamus and Dean joined in the discussion, so they didn''t sleep until the second half of the night.


    Half-asleep, Harry imagined himself as an Auror: Ron and Hermione with him, accompanied by Neville, Seamus, and Dean; and to his surprise, Luna, Ginny, and Draco Malfoy were also in the crowd.


    Malfoy? Even in his dream, Harry felt outrageous. He murmured disgruntledly, and soon these images disappeared, and he found himself standing in an old room, which seemed to smell similar to the room in Grimmauld Place, although it certainly isn''t the same place.


    He seated on a couch and spoke to someone: "Well done, Yaxley, you''ve proven your loyalty again ..."


    Harry rolled over, his Occlumency kicked in, and he slipped back into a sweet dream.


    ...


    As June arrived, time began to quietly accelerate. After the fifth and seventh-year wizarding level exams were over, the final exams for the other grades officially began. This also meant that the third task is approaching - the competition will take place on the last night of the exams.


    The atmosphere in the castle became tense and intense, and after the third day of the Ancient Rune exam, Felix heard one student say to his peers, "If we just make it through the remaining four days, we can watch the last game, and have a crazy fun for a week to welcome the long and wonderful summer holidays!"


    He couldn''t agree more with this student''s words.


    He had a great time throughout the first two-thirds of June, and his body''s transformation process is mostly complete - although he doesn''t see any purpose for it yet, there are no hindrances, which means everything is going well.


    The next morning, June 21, while he supervised the fourth-year exams, although the Champions are permitted to be exempted from the final exams, Hermione still insisted on answering the papers for twenty minutes before looking up the journal to deduce the time-turner disassembly project developed by Nicolas Flamel, and judging from her recent queries, Felix judged that she should be able to finish before the end of the school year. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But what he didn''t expect is that Hermione handed him a paper the same day the exam ended.


    "Professor, this is the plan I designed. Some changes are made based on Nicolas Flamel''s research. It''s a more tedious procedure, but it also allows me to avoid advanced alchemical procedures."


    "I don''t see any problems, very clever transitions, especially suitable for your magical characteristics, Miss Granger." Felix said after a closer inspection.


    Hermione left the office satisfied.


    Before he went to bed, an owl landed outside the window and repeatedly pecked at the window edge with its beak.


    After Felix opened the window, the brown owl strapped with an owl post office anklet circled the room for a while and dropped a palm-sized package before flying away without looking back.


    A small box contained a thumb-sized glass vial inside. Felix held up the clear vial in front of the magic lamp on the ceiling and gazed at it for a moment; inside the vial is some silvery substance, hovering slowly, neither solid nor liquid.


    It is a memory.


    Whose memory could it be? Felix''s lips curled slightly, he got intrigued by the owner of the memory.


    Felix flicked his wand on the cork of the bottle, and the sealed stopper immediately popped open. The black jade-like wand turned slightly in his hand, twisting the silver thread around the tip of the wand, then he threw it towards the midair with force, and a picture appeared very abruptly.


    The person in the picture - Felix''s body knocked apart in the sky amidst a green light, at the same time, an icy voice resounded in the office for a while -


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    "Kee!" Valen froze in fear, and after a few seconds of being dazed, she jumped fiercely into Felix''s arms, covering her eyes up and clutching the clothes on his chest with her two small hands.


    "It''s okay," Felix whispered soothingly, gazing at the fading bright light, catching the memory that reverted back to a silver thread in his hand, his fingertips twirling it as he pondered.


    ------------


    #Sukhpreet Kaur, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 549+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 474: Guessing

    Fear? Actually, a bit ... but there is even more doubt. Felix can''t think why he didn''t dodge the Killing Curse, no matter how he thought about it. That memory showed the green light of the spell being released head-on, there is no question of a sneak attack. Moreover, Felix thought about his own reaction in the memory - Very calm.


    Would he accept death so calmly? He wondered with interest.


    Valen gently pulled the shirt on his chest, and Felix lowered his head and smiled, "It should just a prank." He went into the bedroom, put Valen in her crib, and then re-entered the office.


    The small box that had contained the "memory of death" laid quietly on his desk, and Felix examined it carefully, then pulled some padded postcard out of it. The front of the postcard is a landscape picture of Great Britain with a printed motto: Everyone has the right to choose.


    Felix could easily tell that it is an ordinary card, probably from a newsstand somewhere in the Muggle world? He turned the back, and it is blank.


    Who could it be from? Is it possible that it really is a nasty prank?


    But from the quote, Felix felt an element of goodwill, and with life and death at stake, nobody would be sloppy, at least he would not.


    He temporarily assumed it is true: someone witnessed his death and ventured back in time to warn him.


    At this point, the small golden clock pointed at the eleven o''clock position, he took the small golden clock and put it on the small table in front of the couch together with the postcard, then he gently waved his finger, the shelf with a row of communication mirror, the fever Knut... in the ring, along with all things that can be used to contact with the outside world placed with it.


    Felix leaned on the back of the couch, waiting quietly like a silent statue, occasionally casting a casual glance at the small golden clock. Time passed, and midnight passed without anyone contacting him, one can hear a few insects chirping occasionally in that silent night, but otherwise, no one suddenly appeared, asking him to rush to the unknown battlefield.


    When the hands of the small clock stopped at the position of four in the morning, he finally moved, a full five hours had passed since he received this special gift. Felix knew exactly what this meant - the maximum duration of time travel without causing any possible serious damage is approximately five hours.


    Someone performed long-term time travel!


    Felix raised his head and stared at the ceiling; the white light from the magic lamp is not blinding, but it made him a little dizzy. He slowly closed his eyes, and the next moment he appeared in the bronze armchair in the thinking room.


    Felix still had that memory twisted in his fingers, and with a single, hard toss of his hand, familiar images surfaced in midair until-


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    The voice is cold and sharp, and he recognizes the owner of the voice as Voldemort.


    "So this is a warning from the future, from an unknown time, by which time Voldemort has been resurrected." Felix thought to himself. He stared at the image that kept repeating in midair. This memory had obviously been processed to hide the perspective of the owner of the memory, but the technique is so crude that for a memory master like him, he could see the cracks in it at a glance.


    But seeing the flaws does not mean he can recover the real memory, nor does it mean that the information in the memory is forged.


    The only thing Felix could be sure of at this moment would be that the owner of the memory did not want to reveal his/her identity and that he/she was thoughtful, not unfamiliar with memory magic, supposedly learning, practicing, or at least having regular contact with this type of magic.


    What else could be analysed? Felix stroked his chin, "Of course, perspective is also important."


    He put his right leg over his left leg and looked at the illusory image under the stairs while sitting on the bronze chair. Inside the thinking room, except for the chair he is seated on and the dozen or so stairs under the chair, there is nothing around him, and it looked like he is currently in a vast never-ending square room.


    At the moment, the sound of Voldemort reciting a killing curse incantation continuously echoed in the square room.


    "Avada Kedavra! ... Avada Kedavra! ... Avada Kedavra! ... Avada Kedavra!..... Avada Kedavra!... ..."


    "If Voldemort resurrected at that time, then the identity of the person who saw all this, does it mean that he/she is a Death Eater? No, not necessarily ... may one of the enemies of Voldemort."


    Felix wants to find out who this person is and get more information.


    From the information available, this person - whether male or female, their relationship with him should be close, have a good brain, possibly discussed memory magic with him, and their identity must be special enough to be involved in a sudden battle that broke out, maybe a Death Eater, Auror, or someone he yet to meet for time being. And the most crucial point is that this person must possess a time-turner.


    But until dawn, there''s one question that Felix could not understand: obviously there is time, why that person risked a very dangerous long-term time travel?


    He did not want to live? Or had to do so? What is the special point in doing so?


    Felix''s feelings are very mixed, if all this is true, he really died in the hand of Voldemort - or the person who sent the memories thinks so, then this action is tantamount to changing the history of what has happened, so you can imagine the backlash from time.


    Changing known history is Dangerous, and as far as he knows no one has really succeeded and come back in one piece, let alone adding long-term time travel.


    No rush to make a decision ... Felix cautioned himself, he needed to confirm a few things first.


    Early in the morning of June 22, Felix appeared in the great hall early, still, the meal took him a rather long time because he was waiting for a few people. When Snape appeared in his black robes, Felix smiled slightly and moved next to Snape.


    "You have a time-turner." Felix said with certainty.


    Snape stared at him expressionlessly for a moment, "Your level of joking has regressed." He said coldly.


    "I was just trying to liven things up a bit. Severus," Felix said with a shrug.


    Not him. Felix thought as he stared at Snape''s back as he left.


    The second person is Dumbledore, Felix asked him if his "little trick" of snapping his fingers off a spell came from the ability he gained after the transformation.


    "Have you finally made it that far, Felix?" Dumbledore asked softly, he seemed to be caught up in the memory, half a moment before he looked up, Felix is still waiting for his answer. Dumbledore nodded gently, "the so-called transformation, or transformation towards ''magical being'', although the terminology is different, but in my understanding, it is actually the process of you diving deep into a certain field to the point of unfathomable, and then with a flash of inspiration and integration."


    "When this step is reached, your magic will begin to transform naturally to match your understanding of magic ... As for what each person will gain, it should be related to his field of study, I can rebound a spell, which is inherently a higher level of human transfiguration."


    Felix suddenly enlightened.


    Previously, Dumbledore had performed a very high level, closer to the essence of the magic transfiguration on his own hands, thus simulating the ability of a certain magical creature. The names of a series of powerful creatures flashed through his mind, Dragons, Manticore, Cockatrice, Chimera, Basilisk ...


    And this seems to mean that Dumbledore can break some of the common sense of the wizarding community, such as the inability of wizards in morphing into magical creatures, even Animagus cannot do that, but Dumbledore has undoubtedly touched this realm.


    Magic Creatures ... So that''s what she meant? Felix thought.


    He could not help but guess what ability he would gain after completing his transformation, it must be related to the ancient rune ... He began to figure out what characteristics ancient runes have, but he really had difficulty giving a precise definition, because the number of runes is too much, saying it has a thousand variations is not too much.


    A flash went through his mind. A thousand changes ... put this term on him, is not the incarnation of ancient rune? This idea seems to be consistent with the memory of the picture - Voldemort used the Killing Curse, and his body transformed into some kinda a rune to evade it. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It is fascinating to think about.


    However, a new question arises, if he will not die at all, why would that person have risked long-term time travelling? Also, he hadn''t completed the transformation yet, he currently fell short by quite a bit. Felix estimated that there would be no hope until at least the end of this summer and the beginning of the new school year.


    Does this mean, that the scene he saw will not happen until at least two or three months from now?


    Felix put down his knife and fork and left the great hall with a load of confusion, that''s when Harry, Ron, and Hermione happened to walk in, as they discussed something intensely.


    "Granger, Potter, Weasley," he called out after a moment''s hesitation, "is your research into time-turner... progressing well?"


    Harry and Ron subconsciously looked at Hermione.


    "Oh! Professor, uh, we haven''t started yet," Hermione said with a small smile, "planning to do that after the tournament is over."


    "Oh, I see."


    He nodded at the trio and turned to leave. The timing seemed right, of course, assuming they actually made it. It seemed he would have to keep an eye on them all the time. A new question popped up in his mind, and that is, of the three of them, who is more likely to have used the time-turner?


    If it is just a repair, naturally Granger is more likely. But it''s not really easy to tell who the person ''using'' it.


    Felix''s heart sank, he had warned her.


    But all this could not be determined yet, he still had time to obtain more evidence to verify his suspicions. When the second year exams finished tomorrow, there would be basically nothing for him to do until the end of the semester, so he can keep a close eye on Granger''s progress with their repair work on the time-turner.


    That included the entire summer as well. It is a pity because Felix planned to visit Azkaban during the summer, as he had obtained several names from Lucius, who are the most loyal followers of Voldemort, and perhaps among them, there is probably someone who knows the secret of the Horcrux.


    This guess came to him when he was in the Ministry of Magic, at first he went astray, later when he linked Dumbledore, Voldemort, Azkaban, and the Death Eaters together, the real inspiration triggered: if Voldemort had suffered many serious injuries, he certainly had a regular assistant, this person is likely to be a Death Eater and an extremely loyal Death Eater. Then the memories in this person''s head are undoubtedly a treasure - a treasure that conceals the Horcrux''s location - waiting for him to dig.


    Especially the one called Bellatrix, who Lucius said was insane and fanatically worshipped the Dark Lord, and Felix suspected she had suffered a severe Confundus Charm or memory tampering. Maybe not necessarily though, Lucius thinks she''s cruel and vicious to the bone, and that the Dark Lord''s presence is just the thing that fulfilled her morbid desires ...


    The other side.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione just came out of the Owlery, as Hermione looked troubled.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 550+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 475: Repairing the Time-Turner

    "Don''t worry, Hermione, Hedwig will send the letter to your mom and dad on time." Harry said confidently, "she never misses - and Professor McGonagall said that she will arrange for the professor to pick you up at home on the day of the tournament, so there will be no delay." "That''s not what I''m worried about ... I am, ugh." Hermione sighed, "They mentioned a trip to Diagon Alley in their reply, saying that they are going to exchange money-"


    "It''s normal." Ron said.


    "You don''t know them," Hermione tossed her hair in annoyance, "exchanging money is just an excuse, I guess they must have gone to Diagon Alley to ask for information about the tournament."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, neither of them worried about that, Ron''s whole family consist of wizards, and Harry, didn''t think the Dursleys would sneak over to Diagon Alley to inquire about information because they are worried about his safety, well they would probably just pray that he would have an accident and never go back. And the only person Harry considered family is Sirius.


    "It can''t be avoided," Ron reassured her, "they''ll find it out sooner or later-"


    "No, you don''t understand," Hermione took a deep breath, "Is there any information more visual in the whole of Diagon Alley than the footage of the Tournament on sale from ''Future World''? I can imagine that Dad would buy a magic projector and footage of the second task without hesitation, maybe they''ve already seen it and just didn''t mention it to me!"


    They went to the Transfiguration classroom that is loaned to them by Professor McGonagall, to practice their spells, especially the ones that might be used in the maze, which they had been working on for the past month.


    But today, Hermione was completely out of shape.


    "No, I can''t concentrate." She said in frustration.


    "Take a break," Harry said, "we''ve prepared well, there''s no need to work so hard for the remaining two days."


    Normally, Hermione would have been the first to jump up and object, but today she acquiesced to Harry''s statement and sat on the cushion with her knees in her arms, looking very helpless.


    Harry and Ron do not know how to comfort her, each stood in silence for a while, Harry pulled out the enchanted book from his bookbag, he had read it from start to end, the professor said the book''s impact on him became very weak, the magic inside probably will only last for a few months, so he simply gave it to him as a memento.


    "Do you think it could be the influence of this book?" Ron came over and asked in a whisper, "Hermione read it too, didn''t she?"


    "That was last week," Harry replied in the same whisper, he didn''t think it is the influence of the book, "the magic effect won''t last that long."


    "You have a point," Ron said, rummaging through his bookbag for the journal as he started to read the short stories on it, occasionally glancing up at Hermione in the distance. Then he said with a deliberately raised voice, "No matter how many times I read it, it''s still so scary ... I doubt that if Hermione had read these stories when she was in third grade, she would have dared to use the time-turner? I mean, just in case she made a few more turns ..."


    Hermione suddenly stood up, she took several big breaths and picked up her book bag.


    "You''re right, I''d better find something to do." She concluded and walked out of the classroom.


    Ron froze for a moment and turned his head to look at Harry, "Did I say something wrong?" Harry shook his head as they followed Hermione behind to the Room of Requirement, "I need an alchemist''s lab ... I need an alchemist''s lab ... I need an alchemist''s lab ..."


    An antique door appeared in front of them.


    Hermione exhaled slowly and pushed the door open and walked into the room, Harry and Ron looked at each other, and they guessed what she wanted to do. "I was expecting this scene too," Ron muttered, and the two followed closely behind.


    The room is very spacious, with several huge workbenches in the center, with all sorts of strange devices on the tabletop - odd shaped glass bottles, randomly placed solid wood toolboxes, golden balance, weight, crucible ... Two bookshelves stood against the wall, filled with common alchemy books.


    Hermione put her book bag down and took the time-turner out of it, glancing back at Harry, who wisely handed her the gray hourglass.


    "You''re going to fix it now?" Ron couldn''t help but ask, "I thought it would take another month or two."


    "There''s no point dragging it out," Hermione said calmly, "And it''s not a fix, it''s just taking it apart and replacing a part ... With Nicolas Flamel''s how-to-do steps, I''m pretty sure. "


    "I hope it''s as easy as she says it is." Ron said hopefully.


    Harry thought he would see a screwdriver or something, at best this screwdriver can screw on their own ... but Hermione just took her wand, recited a long incantation, now and then tapping once or twice on the gold time-turner, or outlining a few runes and alchemical symbols, branding them on the hourglass, Hermione''s forehead broke out with a fine sweat, her expression looked solemn; Harry and Ron did not even dare to breathe, afraid that their breathing would affect her.


    After almost an hour, Hermione looked exhausted, but her eyes looked radiant.


    "Quick, Harry, Ron, do me a favour."


    "What do we need to do?" Harry asked hurriedly, as he and Ron approached the time-turner - the thing flew into midair and kept spinning around while emitting a soft white light.


    "Grab it, take off the original hourglass, and replace it with the flat one! Hurry up!" Hermione said, her face flushed red, as she struggled to maintain her magic.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other and reached out their hands in a jittery fashion. Harry clutched the time-turner that kept spinning around like a dazed golden snitch, and Ron took the opportunity to wriggle the round-headed hourglass within, "I can''t get it off!" Ron shouted.


    "Then use a little more force!" Harry said with a scrunched face, the thing is frighteningly strong, and it is desperately trying to get out of his grip.


    Ron gritted his teeth, put both hands on it, and pressed hard - "click", the hourglass was successfully removed.


    Harry immediately picked up the gray hourglass with the other hand, find the right position, and put it into the empty space, "Done!" At that moment, a sudden shock wave spread out with the golden time-turner in the center, throwing all three of them away.


    Harry sat up grimacing, his arm bumped into the sharp corner of the workbench, he suspected he might have broken it, and then he heard two audible inhales. Harry looked back over his shoulder, Ron and Hermione both looked in the same direction with their mouths open, and he inclined his head, his mouth dropped open in an equal measure with shock.


    The time-turner hovered in midair, emitting a dazzling golden light, and Harry squinted, clearly seeing the grey and dull surface of the hourglass shined as if it had been wiped by an invisible hand and reborn. The sand inside the Hourglass - those dark golden lumps continued to melt, twisted and deformed while glowing with a beautiful metallic lustre.


    They don''t know how long passed when all the golden light disappeared; The Time-Turner dropped from midair and rolled on the ground twice and became still.


    "We succeeded?" Ron found it incredible.


    "Yeah, luckily it worked," Hermione flashed a smile, "Once it failed, we''d have to spend the whole night looking for scattered parts."


    After a half-hour break, the Trio emerged out of the Room of Requirement, the clock ticked down to midnight, so they cautiously returned to the common room, and before they went back to their respective dormitories, Ron asked them eagerly, "That''s incredible ... we restored a perfect time-turner, when can we give it a try?.... Just for once?"


    "Not now." Hermione replied.


    "I know. I mean, when the tournament is over, Hermione, I never got to experience that yet!" Ron said in a pleading tone.


    There is a moment of silence. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well," Hermione said hesitantly, "it''s not that you can''t use it, but there could be risks, and you''ve seen what happens to wizards who get trapped by ''time'', right? We''d better take it to the professor to check it out first."


    Ron got convinced, and he made one request.


    "Don''t tell Professor McGonagall, if she knows we have an uncontrolled time-turner, she definitely would confiscate it!"


    "We can get Professor Hap''s help." Harry chimed in, thinking Ron''s words made perfect sense; in fact, he couldn''t think of any other adult who would allow them to possess a time-turner except Professor Hap.


    ...


    On the morning of June 23, Felix invigilated the final exam he needed to and returned to his office with a relaxed look on his face. Valen is sitting lifelessly on his desk, her nose twitching as she sniffs. Her hand squeezed a postcard, and when she saw Felix enter, Valen looked up at him with puzzled black eyes.


    "Kiki! (A familiar smell!)"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 550+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 476: Jane ( 2 in 1)

    It is well known that Niffler has a preference for everything that shines, which makes it particularly suitable for finding treasures. This stems from their unusually keen sense of smell, and at that moment, Felix looked at Valen with a new idea in mind. "Clatter--"


    Felix raised his hand to clear a vacant space in the office, the ring on his hand emitted a strong bright light, followed by a variety of miscellaneous items erupted out like a volcanic eruption - Parchment, handwritten notes, scrolls, potions, letters, as well as Christmas gifts from the past few years ... lined up and covered most of the room.


    Felix sat in a chair behind him, looked at the frozen Valen, and explained: "All the people I know - their stuff is pretty much here, and the letters or the scents on the gifts are well-preserved ... Hard work, Valen, try to find that person."


    Valen looked at the pile of junk that towered higher than herself when she stood on the table, her body shook a little, and at Felix''s expectant expression, she stood on her tiptoes and rummaged through a pair of blue wool socks with crudely embroidered black lightning bolts and silver balls of light - a gift from Dobby to Felix. He kinda liked them, the problem is the socks are two sizes too small to fit.


    Valen leaned over the edge of the table and pulled the drawer open most of the way backward. From Felix''s direction, he could see a stack of written parchment, and Valen looked back at Felix with exasperation, pointing her small hand down very hard. S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Kiki! (This is it!)"


    Felix stunned, ain''t she too fast? He raised his hand instinctively, and the stack of parchments flew into his hand, he already knew what it is, but still stared carefully at the parchments for a while, and raised his head to confirm: "Are you sure? Valen, this is not a joke ..."


    Valen arrogantly raised her waist and nodded heavily.


    Felix''s eyes once again fell on the parchment, which is a thesis, the content is about the dismantling plan for the Time-Turner - he just read it two days ago, it is from Hermione Granger.


    Hermione ... Granger, it really is her.


    Felix exhaled lightly, since the target has been identified, he does not have to look for clues everywhere like a headless fly, but then he frowned. More than once he stressed to Hermione the dangers of long-term time travel, she knew all about it, but still did it ...


    Is it a last resort, or a mistake?


    This just occurred to him, because the core parts of the time-turner in Hermione''s hand came from an evil dark wizard who lived two thousand years ago. Although Felix had confirmed with his magical perspective in the underground chamber of the Egyptian pyramids that the Horcrux statue and altar bearing "Herpo the Foul" did not have any magical traces left, but he knew nothing about " Time ".


    So when Hermione told him she was going to replace the hourglass in the Time-Turner with the one that was found on the altar, he was happy to see it. As long as they seriously do it, whether it succeeds or fails, it is a huge gain, with many benefits.


    He added only one insurance - cautioned Granger not to use it even if the replacement is successful. Felix thought that would be enough, but it became clear that the future occurred in unexpected developments that exceeded his, and Hermione''s expectations.


    For example, he "died".


    It is more accurate to say that Granger thought he was dead, coupled with the urgency of the situation, she could not confirm the real situation, or possibly - she did not want to confirm. In any case, she hurriedly used the time-turner, and the result was an accident ...


    Felix thought silently and barely managed to sort out a reasonable timeline.


    But there are still a lot of unexplained problems.


    Valen has gotten used to the occasional inactivity of the Great Demon King, she sniffed the postcard, yes, it is the witch with messy hair who likes to hug her, and the office is full of her scent, which she didn''t notice it before.


    Valen looked at the pile of junk on the floor with both eyes, it is a mountain of treasure! She glanced at Felix and understood that this situation would continue for some time as long as she did not disturb him. Valen ran two steps, leaped high from the table, like diving, and landed on a pile of colourful socks, with two small hands paddling, she soon disappeared into the clutter.


    The joys of treasure hunting!


    Valen happily wandered through the dazzling array of objects, the probability of meeting a treasure is amazingly high, she quickly found a few Golden Galleons, her mouth could not stop from beaming, she is so happy ... she stuffed the coins into her pocket, then she looked to the side and found another thermostatic pendant, Valen hesitated for a few seconds and "Resolutely" decided to give up - She already has three lockets in her pocket.


    It is not rare.


    Valen sniffed softly and smelled the familiar scent again, the same smell from a stack of rolled-up parchment, she saw the words "house elf" and " inspection" in the loose corner, and after thinking for a moment, she got out of the pile and placed the roll of parchment next to the postcard.


    "Kiki! (and this!)"


    She shouted a reminder. Valen''s heart is pleased, she is working for the Great Demon Lord, in exchange for reasonable compensation for her work.


    Felix looked back and watched Valen rummage around, occasionally poking her head out to put a thing on the table, he took a cursory glance, these all are Hermione''s things, papers, gifts, and hand-made items ... at the same time, he also keenly noticed that Valen''s belly became round, if he saw it correctly, a part of necklace peaked out of her pocket


    Felix pondered whether to find time to educate Valen about the relationship between job content and remuneration - if the employees in the company knew Valen''s labour cost, they would surely cry.


    Once again, Valen emerged out of the clutter. After shaking the black fluffy body, she took a card in one hand and clutched what looked like a glass ball sneakoscope in the other - and shoved it hard into her pocket, but the pocket seemed to be full, and she tried several times without success.


    Felix did not look at this greedy little fella, and beckoned, Valen uncontrollably flew over. Meeting the displeased eyes of the Daemon King, Valen realized that she was too greedy, she shrank her body and curtly handed him the sneakoscope in her hand.


    Felix continued to stare at her.


    Valen blinked, showed an expression of dawning realization, and handed him the card in her other hand, as she said empathically.


    "Kiki! (so hard to find)!"


    Felix looked at Valen with a blank face, "You think I don''t know what you have in mind?" He was about to say something when he caught a glimpse of the birthday card, and suddenly his eyes widened and his heart surged with fear.


    The card came from "Ms. Jane", more than two months ago, along with a huge birthday cake mailed to him.


    Felix''s hand shook involuntarily, more than ten years ago, to be exact, at the opening banquet of his fourth grade, he received a letter from her for the first time. Out of hundreds of abusive letters, this was the only one that encouraged him, and the lady sent several more letters after that until he graduated.


    Felix recalled Nicolas Flamel''s notes, his heart growing heavy, no single case showed an example of someone surviving long-term time travel ... If Granger was taken by a time-turner a decade back, how bad should the backlash of time be on her?


    Can not easily jump to conclusions, he knows nothing about the field of time. Nicolas had never experienced time travel either, he had just collected that information.


    "What is the most important thing right now?" Felix asked himself softly, "Yes, that''s right."


    He held out his hand with an expressionless face, and the miscellaneous items on the floor flowed like water into his ring. Valen hurriedly climbed onto his shoulders and looked down at the spectacular scene, and after two minutes, only three items remained on the floor.


    His self-made Marauder''s Map, the half-finished Sneakoscope Valen was holding earlier, and - the small glass vial containing a handful of gray hair.


    Felix spread out the map, the ink lines on it expanded outward from a central point, quickly revealing the full extent of Hogwarts Castle, and the ink trail did not stop there, stretching all the way to the Forbidden Forest, the Black Lake and the surrounding mountains, including the position of the other four schools are clearly visible.


    Hogwarts Castle only occupies a tenth of the entire map, dense of dots and dots of names clustered together, like a squashed, constantly wriggling ball of wool, which will make one''s skin tingle.


    Felix took out his wand to tap on the map, and whispered: "Hermione Granger."


    The map suddenly changed, the writhing lines melted like spring snow and disappeared. Only one golden name remained on the entire map, Hermione Granger, who is taking her final exam in the potions'' classroom.


    "There''s only one name." Felix said with some disappointment.


    ...


    The door to the Potions'' classroom opened and the students streamed out.


    Hermione packed her school bag while talking rapidly: "The questions aren''t too hard, but I''m not sure if I wrote the steps clearly, I should have waved my wand before mixing the potion ..." Harry and Ron showed a very helpless expression, and as they passed through the corridor Hermione still reviewed Potions class test questions, so Harry said her helplessly, "Hermione, you''re the only one among us who actually took the test seriously, and we''re not even sure which question you''re talking about."


    "Yeah," Ron smiled in a surprisingly good mood, "I was reading a comic book during the test, you should have seen the look on Snape''s face -- oh, sorry, Professor. " As he turned back to speak, he bumped into Felix head-on.


    "I''m the one who got in your way," Felix said with a smile, "I was in a hurry to visit Professor Snape for a small matter ... By the way, Miss Granger, I''m still a little uneasy after thinking about it, if you plan to fix that Time-Turner, you should mention it to me in advance--"


    "We''ve already fixed it." Harry said.


    "Uh, what?"


    "We already fixed it, just last night." Harry said.


    "Wait," Felix stared at Harry and then turned to Hermione, "I thought you said you wouldn''t try to fix it until the end of the third task?"


    "Oh, well ...," Hermione smoothed her hair somewhat flustered, "there was some mishap ... I was... . In good shape, so it was ... uh, finished early." She stammered.


    She really didn''t want to let the professor know that she was worried about meeting with her parents, so she brought the plan forward on a whim.


    "Professor, do you need me to bring the time-turner for you? I left it in my dorm room." Hermione changed the subject, and both Harry and Ron''s heart raced, despite the fact that they had decided to let Professor Hap examine it, they are still worried about hearing words such as "dangerous" and "confiscated" from the professor''s mouth.


    "No need for now, you guys can prepare for the third task in peace, I still hope you can win the trophy." Felix did not hesitate to postpone her offer.


    Hermione stared at Felix''s figure disappearing around the corner and asked, somewhat suspiciously, "Do you guys find the professor somewhat odd?"


    "Did you?" Ron asked, and Harry looked at her puzzled.


    "Just--" Hermione opened her mouth and found herself unable to describe how that sense of disconnection originated, "Hey, forget it. We''ve got the History of Magic test tomorrow, are you guys still going to read the storybook in class?" There was a clear dissatisfaction in her tone.


    "I asked Professor McGonagall specifically, the parents are coming over tomorrow morning, Hermione, you''re not planning on leaving them out to take the test alone, are you?" Ron


    "No?" Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Actually, I-" She suddenly stopped and looked around.


    "What''s the matter, is someone there, Hermione?" Harry asked, sensing a vague hint of something unusual, but he failed to spot a thing.


    Hermione drew her wand and pointed around a few times, finding nothing.


    "Maybe I''m just mistaken." She said hesitantly.


    "It''s not a ghost, is it? Move on, it''s over if Mrs. Norris finds you casting spells in the corridor, it''s strange, this cat is getting more and more agile, Fred and George don''t really dare to wander at night anymore, they''re asking all around for the reason ..."


    Their voices faded into the distance as Felix glanced back from the front of the Potions classroom and returned to his office, with a few more long brown hairs in his hand. He took out a half-finished Sneakoscope and made a people-finding sneakoscope using Hermione''s hair that he had just acquired.


    Felix stood in the fireplace and locked eyes with Valen, "I''m going out, I''m not sure if I''ll be back tonight, so don''t worry."


    "Kiki? (Can I come?)"


    "Oh, no," Felix whispered, "I don''t think so." The turquoise flames rose, and he disappeared from the office.


    ...


    For the next few hours, Felix wandered through Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, and the wizarding districts of Britain, holding a people-finding sneakoscope without any luck.


    "That''s clever, Miss Granger, you''re hiding well."


    This is already close to dusk, Felix sat in a caf�� by the window with a huge clock tower in sight, that is Big Ben, one of the iconic buildings of London. Felix finished his coffee and asked the somewhat balding clerk at the counter, "Is there a newsstand nearby?"


    "Oh, certainly, it''s just around the corner ..."


    Two minutes later -


    Felix stood in front of a newsstand and handed the postcard with the motto to the young lady at the Newsstand, he asked politely, "Hello, do you have a similar postcard here?"


    The young lady took the card and looked at it carefully for a moment, "It kind of rings a bell, a salesman recommended a whole series of postcards with famous people''s quotes a few months ago, but I had already stocked two hundred sets of souvenir cards of London attractions at that time, so I didn''t stock them ... Want a set?"


    The lady asked, pointing to the souvenir cards of the attractions on the stall.


    "Give me a set." Felix flashed a smile as the lady''s words verified his last suspicion.


    Felix handed her a bill and turned into an alley with a full set of souvenir cards of London attractions, and the next second, his figure appeared two blocks away. When he emerged from another alley, his hand is empty. He looked up to see a dentist''s clinic on the opposite side of the alley.


    Almost three years ago, he had purchased a wisdom tooth here, and Felix smiled; Mr. Granger must surely remember him deeply, a customer like him would probably be quite rare.


    Felix tapped his forehead with the second knuckle of his index finger, the absence of any magical glow in the clinic didn''t surprise him, he just looked around and took an extended view, his black and white perspective immediately became colourful.


    He had met Granger once before she had enrolled, and he remembered that she had walked here in casual attire, which seemed to indicate that her home is not far from the clinic ...


    Felix searched patiently and whispered, "I told her myself that there are no surviving cases involving long-term time travel, and if she thought she is doomed to die ... in the last part of her life, where would she stay? I should have thought of that."


    Felix gazed at a faintly visible dot of light in his field of vision and curled his lips. It didn''t take him much time to get to the street where the modest townhouses are located. This place is a popular choice for the middle class and the nouveau rich families - Each house is 150-200 square feet in area, and two or three stories high, with a small independent garden and garage.


    Felix cast a Disillusionment Charm on himself and stopped near a house, staring at the "Granger" on the door plate for a moment, then walked into the restaurant with a "24h" sign across the street, and randomly ordered a few dishes and went through his plan.


    He has no intention of meeting Hermione, at least not until he has the ability to fix the side effects of long-term time travel.


    Time travellers will be sheltered by the time-turner; if only an hour or two back, this "protection" would not be obvious, but if across years, decades, or even centuries, without the energy of the time-turner, their fate would be tragic.


    The most obvious example is the witch who had the misfortune of going back to five centuries, when she returned to her own time she instantly became old, from the prime of life to dying, St. Mungo''s tried almost everything, but the witch''s body was like a bucket with many holes, all the means to make up for the loss of her life force were wasted.


    Felix could only pray that the flat-headed hourglass taken from the "Herpo the Foul" had enough energy in it.


    As darkness fell, Felix sat in the back of the restaurant, tapping his index finger rhythmically on the table, the customers ignored him, then a ripple spread out, his magic and thoughts soon covered the restaurant, and then continued outward until the house across the street and the neighbourhood covered.


    He used his Thinking Room magic to replicate and overlap everything around him - a process much like the one he had used to build the Snowflake Gallery at the Quidditch World Cup. He looked up at the clock on the wall; it is nine o''clock at night.


    A car parked across the street and a middle-aged couple stepped out of it. Felix closed his eyes as if he is standing in front of the Grangers'', they are talking and laughing as they opened the gate, then parked the car in the garage, the curtain of the second-floor door moved a little.


    Despite the dim light of the night, Felix clearly "saw" a furry head.


    After waiting for a few minutes, he was about to stop the magic, when the second-floor window suddenly opened, and an owl flew out from inside. Under the cover of the night, no one noticed its trail. The owl, like a ghost in the night sky, circled twice over the house and flew off into the night sky.


    Hermione stared at the owl for a few seconds and disappeared behind the curtains. But she didn''t notice that after flying for a while, the owl looked like it had lost its way and kept circling high in the sky, then flew uncontrollably in one direction, the restaurant window opened abruptly and the owl landed straight in front of Felix.


    "It''s addressed to me." Felix stared at the envelope and muttered to himself, he opened the letter, it has a familiar "Ms. Jane" writing.


    "... I probably will not write again, I am moving to another place. I read in the paper that you became the Trainer for two champion teams at Hogwarts as well as Safety Officer... That''s amazing ... I saw the footage of the second task... The champions had to deal with tremendous pressure, I suggest you better give them a hug before the competition ..."


    Felix put the letter down and said with a blank expression, "I''m so sorry I can''t do what you want, Miss Granger."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 552+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 477: One Night at the Ministry of Magic ( 2 in 1 )

    The night is young, the 24h restaurant is quiet, the waiter sitting behind the counter chairs dozed off, and the hand of the clock on the gray wall is already pointing at ten o''clock. Hermione sat on the bed, looking through the window at the bright, clear night sky, she mentally estimated the time, almost tomorrow at noon, the owl will deliver the letter, right? This unexpected time travel will also end tomorrow.


    She looked down at the time-turner tied around her neck, the dark golden sand has turned pale white, only occasionally flashed with a faint glow, Hermione remembered very well, that this phenomenon has been going on for a long while.


    After a few moments of daze, she pulled a black book from under her pillow to complete today''s record: "Day 72 of time travel.


    "Time travel Day 72, Seventh-day at the current timeline: the closer to normal timeline, the closer the sense of reality is, much better compared to the beginning when I wandered aimlessly like a ghost ... abandoned by the whole world feels bad; When the Time-turner flash I can''t touch any physical object of the time I am at and if it flashed continuously I will travel a year forward. If not for the small beaded pouch in which I stored some food, it would be impossible for me to survive those early days ... Today there are two more cracks on the Time-Turner, the reason is unknown ..."


    Hermione stopped and stared at the text for a moment, then placed the book on the nightstand. Then she quietly slipped out of the room, the moment the door closed, the black book " clattered " and turned, and an illusory figure murmured, " the third task, the trophy, the door key, and the root of everything ... so it is you, Crouch Jr."


    On the other hand, Hermione cast a Disillusionment Charm on herself as she stood at the top of the stairs and gazed at the couple in the living room, who are sitting on the sofa, watching TV and chatting -


    "When I see Hermione tomorrow, I must question her properly, what does she mean about just helping that Harry? Helping all the competition?" Mr. Granger said angrily.


    "She grew up with a lot of thinking, and you praised her a lot for her cleverness--" Mrs. Granger said, looking at him.


    "So she used her cleverness to lie to her own mother and father?" Mr. Granger huffed, "You don''t know what that wizard said when I brought up all my nerve to ask him about the Tournament of Champions! He said it had been discontinued for centuries because the death rate was too high. You hear that!"


    "Hermione''s letter said that the safety measures are in place this year ... and it got down to the last task, and we saw a safety officer in the footage, didn''t we?" Mrs. Granger advised, "Why don''t we ask tomorrow what the third task is, if it''s too dangerous, we can discuss it with the school ..." she pursed her lips, and the anger didn''t stop, "This little girl is too much when the competition is over we can teach her well!"


    They rambled on for 30 minutes, before turning off the TV and heading upstairs. They passed by Hermione at the corner, and when she reached out her hand, she only caught a piece of air, in the silent world, her hand slowly dropped.


    24h open restaurant.


    The silver glint in Felix''s eyes gradually faded, and after a moment of silence, he took out two glass vials, one large and one small. The larger one contained what looked like a slimy liquid that is bubbling gently, and inside the smaller one is a small handful of gray hair.


    It is the hair of Cornelius Fudge - the Minister of Magic and Polyjuice Potion. Felix''s face showed a light smile, the origin of this hair is quite dramatic - two years ago when Fudge visited to see the corpse of the Basilisk, he was accidentally poisoned and was sent to the hospital wing for treatment.


    He took that opportunity to grab a strand.


    The intentional act at that time saved him a lot of trouble.


    Felix unscrewed the cork and dropped the ash-colour hair into the large glass vial, and the potion inside immediately boiled up, turning to an ugly greenish-grey colour the next second, like a vial of boiling cement.


    "Clerk, bill please." Felix shouted while pocketing the polyjuice potion in his sleeve.


    When he walked out of the restaurant, the time hit 10:30.


    The London night is frighteningly silent, in spite of the noise, and Felix walked alone down the street, his booted footsteps reverberating in the darkness, his figure flickered several times as he appeared in front of a dilapidated red telephone booth.


    He opened the door of the phone booth and walked inside, skilfully dialling the number 62442, and the voice of a cold woman rang out in the booth.


    "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and the reason for your visit."


    "Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, ask the duty staff to confirm my identity." Felix said calmly, his body already transformed under the effects of the polyjuice potion into that of a short man with messy gray hair, a stubby build, and a large belly.


    He waited a few seconds, and a distinctly more animated male wizard''s voice heard, and his tone held an undisguised surprise: "Minister Fudge? It''s really you, what''s the matter with you coming over so late?"


    "It''s not for you to know." Felix said in a deep voice.


    "Oh, of course ... but why aren''t you using the exclusive fireplace?"


    "I was visiting a friend''s house nearby, and it occurred to me that there is an urgent matter that needs to be attended to. Do you require me to make up a procedure now?" His voice became stern.


    "No, I''ll let you in here ...," the voice said fearfully.


    The telephone booth began to descend slowly, and the pavement outside gradually rose past the window. After a period of darkness, Felix regained his vision, and he looked around calmly; the main lobby is considerably darker than the times he came before, the fireplace on the wall is not burning, and the statue in the distance stood dark and silent in a pool of water, and there is no sound except the water flowing in the fountain.


    At that moment, a rush of footsteps approached from a distance. Felix''s eyes passed over the statue and looked at the male wizard running from the security checkpoint.


    Coincidentally, he happened to know this man.


    "Eric Munch." Felix said.


    "It''s me, Minister." Eric Munch said with an accompanying smile with a great degree of honour.


    "I''m glad you''re not sleeping in your chair." Felix looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.


    "How can - I certainly won''t - be diligent in my duties - " Eric reddened and stammered.


    "Go back to your place, Mr. Munch! I''ll leave from the fireplace when I''m done." Felix said.


    "I understand, Minister." Eric didn''t dare to breathe.


    Felix nodded at him, took a few steps out, and stopped again. "By the way, is there anyone else in the Ministry who hasn''t left by now?"


    "I, I''m not sure ... Minister," Eric looked at him cautiously, "I guess Ms. Bones, Ms. Marchbanks, and Mr. Ogden should all be in... . And those strange people from the Department of Mysteries, er, I mean, the Unspeakable, whose whereabouts I never managed to figure out."


    "It''s so late - " Felix looked across the table with a frown in mid-sentence, knowing Eric would give an answer.


    Sure enough, Eric''s words became more respectful and humble. "Ms. Marchbanks and Mr. Ogden are working overtime on the wizarding level exam papers, they are very busy at this time of the year, and as for Ms. Bones," he raised his eyelids to look at Felix, "you transferred a group of Aurors as guards for the third task earlier, there is not quite enough manpower for that."


    Felix remained silent for a moment and grunted from his nose, "I see."


    He entered the elevator and pressed the button for the ninth level, and the gate closed with a thud. The lift made an ear-piercing clicking sound, and Felix exhaled slowly inside, the first step went well. As the elevator came to a stop, a cold woman''s voice stated, " Department of Mysteries." The gate then opened and Felix steadily made his way out.


    Passing through a dimly lit corridor, he stopped in front of a black door, the wavering firelight shining on his face, making his expression bright and dark. In his magical perspective, he saw a large glow of magic that almost blinded him.


    Just as he debated whether to violently break the door, it suddenly opened from the inside. A middle-aged male wizard looked at him in surprise and froze for a few seconds, then he said with a stiff face, " Minister? Why are you ..." he said as he quietly reached toward his pocket, and the next second a Confundus Charm hit him.


    "Your name?"


    "Saul Croaker." The male wizard said in a trance.


    "May I ask you to be my guide today?" Felix asked politely.


    "Mini-ister, this is against the rules-" The male wizard suddenly covered his head, and a pained expression appeared on his face.


    "Okay, another question, is anyone else in there?" Felix didn''t force the male wizard to answer further, he feared that would trigger the secrecy pact of the Unspeakable.


    "Bode is still in there, in the Hall of Prophecy." The male wizard''s face regained its composure as he replied.


    "Thank you."


    Then a red light struck the male wizard, and the Unspeakable Saul Croaker slowly fell to the ground, Felix flashed in through the door as the black door closed behind him, Felix took out an Echo Bird, and the little bird shook its fiery red feathers and bounced in his hand.


    "Guard here, notify me if an outsider appears or if this gentleman unexpectedly awakens," Felix instructed gently.


    The palm-sized bird nodded at him, jumped on the male wizard on the ground, and got into his shirt pocket.


    At that moment, Felix had time to look around, he found himself standing in a huge circular room, everything from the floor to the walls is black, and some candles with blue flames embellished on the walls, providing weak lighting.


    There are no windows, only black doors neatly lined in the wall, identical to the ones behind him, twelve in total.


    "Where is the Hall of Prophecy?" Felix muttered to himself, wanting to deal with the wizard called "Bode" first, but he simply didn''t see any difference. After a few seconds of hesitation, he pushed open a black door.


    Inside the door is a deep, sunken pit, the center of the pit is a stone platform on which an ancient arch is erected, a tattered black drapery draped on it, as it moved without any wind.


    Behind the drape, there seemed to be someone standing ... someone he knew well, as if he lifted the drape he could see them. Felix circled around the archway, there is nothing behind the archway, immediately after that he heard a whisper, the voice is unique.


    It seemed to be the voice of a young child, and Felix''s expression fell into a trance, as he thought of his memories of the orphanage. But he may have heard it wrong because at this time the owner of the voice became a woman, she murmured softly, Felix took a step closer to hear more clearly.


    The voice became audible as he got closer, and she must have been a very gentlewoman. Felix thought.


    "Too bad it''s a fake." S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Occlumency operated automatically, he stared at the black drapery for a long time, then exited the room slowly, and the moment he closed the door, an ear-splitting roar immediately followed, and the walls began to spin rapidly. He drew his wand quickly, leaving an arch bridge mark on the door, he glanced at the mark he had left as the wall ceased moving, and then he made his way towards the door next to it.


    The second room is empty, there is only the huge glass tank full of dark green liquid in the center of the room with some translucent brains floating around in it except for a table placed by the wall, Felix took a quick look at it and left.


    The third room is a dark room full of planets, Felix stood in the doorway to take a look twice, then rushed to other rooms.


    Next, he came to an extraordinarily high-ceilinged room, the ceiling is almost as high as a church, the room is lined with towering shelves straight into the ceiling, these shelves are filled with gray orbs of prophecy, large and small prophecy balls flashed with a faint silvery light. Felix pondered, the Hall of Prophecy ... so that Bode is here.


    "Saul? Is that you?" A voice asked from afar.


    Felix approached him silently, without a word - "Saul?" The voice raised its volume noticeably, and the dimly lit room suddenly lit up with the glow of a wand as a sallow-skinned, mournful man stepped out from behind a shelf, and froze when he saw Felix.


    "Minister?"


    "Sorry." The red light flashed and Bode slumped helplessly against the shelf. Felix then took a moment to transport the unconscious wizard to the entrance hall to keep his colleague company, while the echoing bird hid in the shadows of the chandelier above the entrance hall.


    As he walked out of the Hall of Prophecy, his sense of perspective blossomed for a moment, an odd feeling of intimacy flooding over him, as if something closely related to him is hiding here ... Felix closed his eyes and walked to a shelf based on his senses.


    He opened his eyes and there, at eye level, laid a silver glowing glass orb. It is brighter than those prophetic spheres around it, and quite obviously, much less dusty. As he approached, the glass orb shimmered with a noticeably faster rhythm, as if welcoming him.


    Felix saw a two-year-old date on the label, followed by a string of characters: S.P.T. to H.J.P. (to be verified). After making protective preparations, he reached out and took the prophecy orb off the shelf, only to be surprised to find that it is not obstructed in any way.


    Felix stared at it, the Prophecy Orb''s texture felt out of place in the cold room; it is warm and bright, and when he held it, it felt like standing in the daylight basking for hours. At the same time, a hoarse voice sounded in his head--


    "The unprecedented change of a thousand years ... legendary drama is thus played ... ho - the clown returns on the drumbeat, the warrior is ready to go, the lion grows old, the firebird of Nirvana ... Time! Time!"


    Felix couldn''t help but grip the prophecy orb tightly and listen to it again.


    " Clown, warrior, Lion, Firebird ... What do they all refer to?" He didn''t spend much time thinking about it, time is short, almost twenty minutes have passed since he appeared in the Ministry of Magic, so he left the place with a big stride, tracing a circle on the black door.


    Felix went straight to the next room, and the moment he pushed open the door, he realized he found the right place at last - a cacophony of hundreds of ticking sounds mixed together; a beautiful, dancing light that sparkled like gems, he saw all kinds of clocks and timepieces, alarm clocks, stopwatches, travel clocks, floor-to-ceiling large wall clocks, and old sundials ... which are either hung on the wall, or on the floor, or on long tables and bookshelves.


    On a closet with a glass front door, an assortment of hourglasses hung on the wall where the closet stood.


    Felix, who had always been calm, showed an excited expression on his face, these are the hourglasses used in the Time-Turner, as well as - his eyes skimmed over the folders on the shelves, the drawers under the long table, and landed on a towering clock-shaped crystal jar that stood at the end of the room.


    Unlike the other rooms, the crystal jar is the only source of light in this room, the sparkling, gem-like light Felix saw earlier came from it, and the jar is filled with a churning, shimmering gas stream.


    That is time energy.


    "Time ... time ...," Felix whispered, understanding somewhat why the prophetic orb held a special attraction to him, "because I am also a part of the prophecy." He closed his eyes, "So who am I? The lion and the firebird are impossible, the rest - is it a clown? Or a warrior? Or maybe - they all exist because of me?" His eyes snapped open and his light blue pupils turned into a deep silver blaze that burned and filled his entire eye sockets.


    The dark floor covered with silver light, and all the earlier scenes were recreated by Felix in his thinking room, only this time he did his best to pull it out of his mind. Then many shadows came out of Felix''s body, they are part of Felix''s mind, the pinnacle of memory magic creations, these "people" scattered, and retrieved a copy of the information from the bookshelves, drawers, on the floor, or hovering, they carefully studied all of it.


    Felix himself stared at the bell-shaped crystal jar, and soon, the first shadow put the folder back on the shelf and came over and merged with him. Felix''s body suddenly froze, and after two minutes, he finally finished absorbing the knowledge.


    Then the second and third shadows returned, and this time Felix remained frozen for five minutes, during which he resembled a statue made of stone and clay. Felix sighed and resignedly took the Ravenclaw''s crown from his ring, which he hadn''t used in a long time, and said to himself, " Should I say that I am lucky that Valen left this for me?" He put on the crown, and a cool sensation spread throughout his body.


    More shadows approached him...


    In the early morning, Felix held a floating hourglass in his hand, and the crystal jar''s cover in front of him also opened, wisps of air currents injected into the hourglass - this is the harvest of his full effort all night, a mere glimpse into the field of time, but just this insignificant step is enough for him to crack the secret of how to replenish the energy of the hourglass.


    He also went through the records of the Ministry of Magic''s experiments on time travel - more detailed than the information collected by Nicolas Flamel, and there are even many personal descriptions made by time travellers themselves. For example, the experiences of Eloise Mintumble, who went five centuries back in time, provided a reference point; her autobiography occupied twelve parchments, and the analysis and speculation surrounding those twelve parchments occupied a full thirty drawers.


    ...


    When Felix stopped, the hourglass floating in midair fell into his hand, the fine white sand in the hourglass coated with a golden layer of matter.


    "One hourglass may not have enough energy, and two hourglasses are questionable, I should make more preparations." He turned back to the closet, staring at the hourglasses of various shapes hanging in the closet, and muttered in a small voice, "It''s only a temporary loan."


    He waved his hand, and the glass front door of the closet opened, and one hourglass flew toward Felix ... After an unknown amount of time, hundreds of hourglasses floated crookedly around Felix, at the cost of an empty closet and a dull crystal jar.


    His magic power also left with only a trace.


    At that moment, Felix jerked his head up, his eyes fixed in one direction, and the echo bird he had left behind got triggered!


    He gathered the full hourglass and rubbed his face, the effects of the polyjuice potion long gone, so he draped himself in a cloak and hood as he walked out of the Hall of Time.


    In the circular room, an Unspeakable is leaning down to survey the wreckage on the floor. Everything happened so suddenly, he had just pushed the door in when a fireball fell from the sky. He was startled, thinking he was under attack, and when he looked back, he spotted delicate structures in the flames.


    Is it an alchemical item? Who brought it? He wondered when he suddenly felt his whole body grow dizzy, and the last image in his mind consisted of the sudden disappearance of the still-burning wreckage, and a pair of feet passing by without stopping.


    Felix used human transfiguration to make himself look shorter and his face turned bright brown, and he took the elevator to the Magic Ministry lobby with a quiet sigh of relief.


    Can Apparite now!


    But he is in a very poor state at the moment, in case it caused a splinch, then it would be a big joke. He walked towards the fireplace area step by step, glancing at the time midway, it still isn''t too late.


    "Sir! Sir!"


    The voice of a guard sounded behind him, trying to call out to Felix. His odd costume had aroused suspicion, but there is no choice, he had to wear his hood, who let him still wear the Ravenclaw diadem on his head, if he took it off, he would definitely faint immediately.


    Felix silently quickened his pace.


    "Sir! Sir--" the guard shouted twice more, watching Felix get closer and closer to the fireplace--a fire had been lit in the fireplace to accommodate the Ministry of Magic staff at work.


    The guard blew his whistle urgently.


    Footsteps continued to approach, and a dozen guards quickly ran toward Felix, pulling out their wands and pointing them at him.


    "This guest who is hiding his head, whoever you are, immediately raise your hands!" One man shouted, and Felix''s response is a dazzling red light that sent the shouting man flying far away.


    "Attack!" The other guards didn''t hold back as various dazzling lights came at him.


    Felix applied a humanoid shield charm on himself and rebounded one spell after another. He panted slightly, stifling with a combination of physical and mental discomfort, his wand waved in a blur, three guards fell instantly, and after two seconds, two more guards fell.


    Almost in the blink of an eye, the path in front of Felix emptied, and without stopping, he quickly left.


    There came another burst of footsteps-


    "Mr. Scrimgeour! Excellent, we''ve found a thug who trespassed the Ministry of Magic!" The guard exclaimed, and Scrimgeour approached with seven or eight Aurors following behind him, his face clouded with gloom, like an angry lion.


    "Combat rank, highest! Teams of two, attack freely!" Scrimgeour shook his head and shouted loudly. He tossed his cane aside and fired the spell with agility.


    Felix rebounded the tricky spell by flicking it away and taking a step back to avoid the two stunning spells. The magic in his body is nearly depleted, and he has to be precise with it. At that moment, a fiery fireball flies toward him with great speed, Felix glared and instantly released the shield charm, the fireball exploded with a loud bang on the shield charm.


    Felix staggered out a few steps to the side and nearly fell over, an uncontrollable surge of anger welled up in his heart, attacking me with the magic I taught you?


    "He''s hurt!" Scrimgeour shouted, pointing to the shattered shield charm, the magic barrier stained in a blood-red colour. "Use runic magic! On my command, release it all together!"


    The Aurors spread around in twos and threes, hearing the command, they outlined the flame rune with one hand and released the fire-making spell in the other hand, seven or eight orange-red fireballs the size of a human head are forming rapidly.


    "Prepare--"


    Felix''s heart raged to the extreme.


    "Buzz off!"


    He violently waved his wand and his body underwent a marvellous change at this moment, as runic patterns crawled onto his face and disappeared in the blink of an eye. The fireballs in the Aurors'' hands exploded out of control, forming a huge shockwave that threw them far away.


    At the same time, in the magnificent lobby of the ministry of magic, the glass walls shattered to the ground with a loud "buzzing" sound, like some sort of resonance, amidst the shocked eyes of everyone.


    Aurors, guards, and the Ministry of Magic employees at work went silent.


    The Aurors looked at each other and waited for Scrimgeour to make up his mind. The skin on Scrimgeour''s face trembled violently, he raised his one hand but hesitated to make up his mind, the man never had attacked them lethally, but if they pushed him too much...


    Finally--


    Felix stood in the fireplace, turquoise flames licking his body, he looked at Scrimgeour with an unfamiliar deep brown face, and with a slight bow of apology, he disappeared the very next second.


    ------------


    #Arzard, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 554+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 478: Safe Return

    Scrimgeour stood not far from the Fountain of Magical Brethren, a pair of yellow eyes fixed on the empty fireplace. The whole lobby is frighteningly quiet, and every time a new Ministry of Magic employee emerges from the fireplace, he would notice hundreds of people staring straight at him, and Arthur Weasley is taken aback. He looks around, the Ministry of Magic building looked like a place where a massive battle had taken place, the floor is in shambles, and the head of the Auror''s office looked like an old lion who would pounce on him the next second.


    He took a step aside from the fireplace and moved over to one of the wizards on the scene and asked in a whisper, "What''s going on, Arnold?"


    The wizard wiped his sweat, "It''s terrible, Arthur, if you had come two minutes earlier, you might have bumped into that man ..."


    "You mean there was only one enemy? And he got away?" Mr. Weasley asked in surprise.


    "Yeah, I''m telling you ..."


    There came a harsh clicking sound, and Mr. Weasley looked up as the gate of the elevator slid from its center to both sides with an ear-splitting clang as a large group of people rushed out of it.


    Amelia Bones walked at the front, her wand held high as she strutted over. She looked around, her eyebrows knitted together, and shouted, "Healers take the wounded to the healing room and treat them."


    "Recon team! Cooperate with Auror to investigate the scene."


    The Aurors present and several of the Magical Law Enforcement Recon team members in the crowd responded in a low voice.


    "Kingsley, Derris! "


    The two Aurors who followed behind her straightened their chests.


    "Take your squad and track the target," she paused for a moment and said, "Scouting is the main focus, don''t take this lightly."


    "Understood!"


    "Accidental Magic Reversal Squad! And all members of the Magical Law Enforcement Department!"


    The people in the half of the lobby stood up straight and waited for orders.


    "-Clean up the debris and junk. Those who are aware of the incident come forward and register the clues, while the others do their jobs." Only when the crowd began to move did she turn her head toward Scrimgeour, "Rufus, what have you found?"


    Scrimgeour rolled his eyes and said in a low voice, "I saw his face."


    Ms. Bones revealed a surprised expression, "Who was it?"


    "He was in disguise, I''m not sure, there''s no evidence at the moment-" Scrimgeour wanted to stop.


    Ms. Bones shot him a stern look, "Come with me, Rufus."


    ...


    "I''m going to go help too, bye, Arnold." Mr. Weasley scurried off, he is also a member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.


    "Goodbye, Arthur," the wizard muttered. "What a wonderful day, and I thought the war had broken out!"


    "Be careful of your words, Peasegood." A cold voice said from behind him. Arnold Peasegood looked back in surprise, "Yaxley?"


    "It''s me," Yaxley said, "You sound like you''re looking forward to war?"


    The wizard''s face turned red, and he retorted loudly, "What a load of bollocks!"


    Yaxley laughed coldly twice, "I hope you''ll be equally determined when the time comes." He turned toward the fireplace inlaid in the wall.


    "Wait, where are you going?" The wizard shouted.


    "Ordered to be stationed at Hogwarts," he said without looking back, "Came to pick up a few things this morning and didn''t expect to see such a big show."


    ...


    Ms. Bones and Scrimgeour made their way to the edge of the circular water pond of the Fountain of Magical Brethren, the sound of crashing water from all directions muffled their discussion, as she asked in a whisper, "You''ve fought him, you should have your own judgment, right?"


    Scrimgeour didn''t directly tell any names, he leaned on his cane and stared at the statues erected in the middle of the pond of water, a set of solid gold statues, larger than life-size. The tallest of them is a dignified male wizard, holding his wand up high. Surrounding him are a beautiful witch, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf.


    The centaur, the goblin, and the house-elf all looked up at the two wizards with infinite respect.


    "That man disguised not only his face but also his strength," Scrimgeour stared at the house-elf statue, a bubbling stream of water sprouting from its ears, "He initially displayed a strength similar to that of Alastor before he retired, I could tell he is experienced many battles and has extremely good judgment, probably he did not want to reveal his identity, so he used conventional magic ..."


    He continued, "But the man''s last attack was so phenomenal that I couldn''t recognize what kind of magic it was."


    Ms. Bones listened quietly, deep in thought, she gazed at the fountain and said slowly, "Just one blow broke thousands of pieces of glasses ... Do you think it is his normal strength or just an over-performance?"


    Scrimgeour hesitated for a moment, "I think it''s the former. He''s very good at disguising himself."


    Ms. Bones looked at him solemnly, "According to your description, the people who could meet the criteria would be very limited, I only know two of them, no ... it could be three. I''m sure there aren''t many people abroad who can meet these criteria either, not to mention that it''s unlikely for them to break into the British Ministry of Magic without any warning ... I need proof!"


    At that moment, a stout Auror approached them together with a guard.


    "Ms. Bones, Mr. Scrimge, Eric has an important lead to report!"


    Both of them looked at Eric Munch at the same time, Eric''s body trembled, "I, uh, I don''t know if it''s right ..."


    "It''s okay, we''ll make the right call." Ms. Bones reassured him.


    "Here''s the thing, last night when I was on duty - I saw someone, I thought it was strange, but didn''t think much of it at the time -"


    "Who did you see?" Scrimgeour asked in a deep voice.


    " Y-yes ..." Eric stammered, his eyes glancing over their backs to see a short, stout man approaching aggressively, his eyes widening, "Minister Fudge! "


    ...


    "Sir, your destination is here." The driver said politely.


    "Thank you." Felix said with a tired look on his face, paid the money, and got out of the cab. He took a ring from his pocket and put it on his finger, and with two flashes of light, a black wand and a brown amulet appeared in his hand.


    He put the spare wand away and sat on a bench under a tree with hanging bells. A young mother pushed a stroller to enjoy a leisurely morning. The little baby looked around with two fat hands propped up, and when he saw Felix sitting on the bench, he curiously looked at him.


    Felix winked at the baby, turned his hand over, and took out a vial of potion, as he gulped it into his mouth.


    He stood up from the bench and walked towards a house, while donning an amulet on himself, and gently pressed it twice, the colour of his body gradually faded. Felix cheered up, "There is still one last step to go, you can definitely do it, Felix ... just need to transfer the energy, it won''t take much work."


    ...


    "I can''t believe this happened?" Voldemort asked softly, as he sneered, "The Ministry of Magic has lost its status as a lord over a time."


    "Master, do you need me to leak this out?" Yaxley lowered his head and knelt on the ground, his magnificent, flowing robes inlaid with gold silk just mopping the floor.


    "Not yet," Voldemort said lazily, "you just need to covertly lead Fudge to turn suspicious eyes to our little friend ..."


    "Why?" Yaxley asked, and the next second he trembled, " I am sorry Lord, I was not questioning you-"


    Voldemort paced in front of him, Yaxley hung his head even lower, and could only see a pair of ghastly white feet, finally, the feet stopped in front of him, "My Lord?"


    "I can answer that question," Voldemort said softly, "although you never reached out to me all these years Yaxley ... you''ve raised in the ranks and slipped into the side of my enemies after I lost power, by feigning your innocence and then continued to enjoy glory and wealth ... but when you saw me, you chose to return to my arms in the first instance, so I am willing to forgive you."


    "My Lord..."


    "I have a plan." Voldemort said softly: "That little friend left a deep impression on me, and when I had just gotten a little better, he suddenly rushed in and nearly ruined everything that I had. At that time, I realized that I couldn''t let him grow up ..."


    "Master, with your power, it would be easy to kill him."


    "Oh? Is that really the case? If you really believe this strongly, why did you serve our enemies with peace of mind for so many years?"


    Yaxley stopped talking.


    "I have done nothing in this period of time, I have not gathered Death Eaters, I have not gathered my old troops, and before you, there is only one loyal servant by my side, so you can imagine why the great Dark Lord has to hide like a rat, right?"


    "I said to that little friend, even if he and Dumbledore stand together, as long as he slightly goes against Dumbledore''s ideology, their relationship will break ... I am looking forward to this scene, of course, if there is a chance, I do not mind killing him by all means."


    "Yaxley, my liege," Voldemort lowered his head to stare at Yaxley, "do what you should do, I will wait for my entry..."


    ...


    "Someone impersonated me?" In the Ministry of Magic lobby, Fudge shouted in disbelief with wide eyes. His eyes swept around quickly, as he lowered his voice, "That''s impossible, I''ve never trusted anyone with my hair!"


    "Or it could be a high level of human transfiguration skill." Ms. Bones said.


    "That must be it." Fudge immediately agreed with her, stroking the button on his stomach in annoyance as his eyes moved over Bones, Scrimgeour, Auror, and the guard, "Don''t spread the word about this until we find out the whole truth. Understood?"


    "So ...," he stretched out his short, thick fingers and gestured haphazardly in the air, "can anyone tell me what the purpose of that man''s intrusion into the Ministry of Magic was?"


    "It''s unclear at the moment," Scrimgeour responded.


    "Not sure?" Fudge repeated, glaring at him, "Then what have you been doing all this time?"


    "Waiting for news, Minister." Scrimgeour said stiffly, "There are two Auror squads currently working on it, and they are the best when it comes to investigating the whereabouts of criminals out there." He gestured around again, "Others are investigating the scene."


    "Any witnesses?" Fudge asked again.


    Ms. Bones, Scrimgeour, and Auror looked simultaneously at Eric Munch, the guard on duty that night, and Fudge irritably said, "I want witnesses other than him! He can''t prove a thing."


    "Not for now, Fudge, we need time for forensics." Ms. Bones said mildly.


    "Time, time, if those reporters find out, they''ll cling like flies." Fudge said with a look of disgust as he lowered his head, a strange gleam creeping into his eyes as he muttered to himself in a faintly inaudible voice: "No eyewitnesses?"


    He left in a hurry, as he said before leaving, "I''ll be at Hogwarts this afternoon to act as a judge, so hopefully you can come up with a good news or two before then."


    ...


    Grimmauld Place. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Young man, your face looks worse, you''d better visit a doctor." A kind-hearted old woman looked at Felix with concern.


    "Thanks, but I''m fine." Felix muttered.


    "But, your face looks whiter than my hair," the old woman said, looking at him seriously, "To be honest, I have only seen this abnormal ash colour on dead people ... Oh! Sorry, I didn''t mean to."


    "That''s okay, ma''am." Felix said patiently, "I just stayed up too much without getting a good night''s sleep."


    After persuading the enthusiastic old man away, Felix walked towards the open field between No. 11 and No. 13, his mind is dizzy, but he still felt that the person just now looked familiar. He seemed to have given her a card with an enchantment?


    He shook his head to keep himself from falling asleep. He had already refilled the energy of the time-turner on Hermione, at the cost of a portion of the hourglass he had brought from the Ministry of Magic crumbling into cinders.


    And he nearly couldn''t even use a single spell on his own. With the only remaining rational thought, he could also guess that Auror is looking for him all over London, so Diagon Alley is a big no, so he chose to come all the way here by muggle means.


    Felix very laboriously squeezed into a thin wall of air, and his figure disappeared from the outside world.


    "Defensive magic hasn''t changed yet? That''s great, Sirius." Felix said softly, and the next second, 12 Grimmauld Place appeared in front of him.


    "Bang!"


    An ugly, old, aged house-elf suddenly appeared in the entrance, and Kreacher said in a hoarse voice, "Welcome friend of the master, the mighty Mr. Felix Hap, the master is not at home ..."


    "I know," said Felix, "just wanted to borrow his fireplace for a moment."


    Kreacher bowed deeply, "The master told me to try to accommodate you, and," his voice became emotional, "I have seen Young Master Regulus''s biography, so well written ... Young Master''s reputation has not been tarnished ..."


    "It is good that you like it."


    ...


    Felix returned to his office without any incident, a black shadow pounced on him, he subconsciously dodged, but failed to dodge, Valen clutched his clothes.


    "Kiki!"


    She looked at him with displeasure.


    "Oh, Valen, let me catch my breath ..." Felix covered his chest, and Valen jumped down from his arms, with one hand crossed, as she pointed at Felix with the other, and kept calling him out.


    "Sorry for worrying you," Felix smiled broadly, "but I also need a favour, call Severus, and be careful not to be too conspicuous."


    Valen looked at him suspiciously.


    "Go ahead."


    After a moment-


    "What have you done now?" Snape looked at him with suspicion.


    "Became a thief, was found by the master, who chased me around, but I barely made it out." Felix said lazily as he slumped on the couch, his outfit is weird, he is wearing pyjamas, yet there is a bowler hat on his head.


    Snape looked at him with a strange look, and for a while he could not utter a word. It took him a long time to sneer in a sarcastic manner, " Then I need to hear about it, as I can''t guess who is the owner that can make you look this bad."


    "A wealthy family," Felix lightly changed the subject, "Severus, do you have a potion that can stimulate a person''s full capacity?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 555+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 479: Suspicion

    "Stimulate full capacity?" Snape looked at Felix with probing eyes and clasped his arms, "What do you need it for?" "I''m a safety officer, I can''t go out looking like this, it would be too humiliating."


    Snape stared at him for a moment, then asked softly, "The next time I go to Diagon Alley to buy herbs, I won''t see your wanted poster, right?"


    Felix rubbed his chin, "It''s really hard to say ... don''t look at me like that, okay, I''m joking, the truth is I''ve been studying magic too much." He explained in a serious manner.


    But Snape simply did not believe him, but the next second, a runic pattern emerged on Felix''s face, and Snape looked at the scene with amazement.


    "What kind of effect do you want in the potion?"


    "The best one; of course, the kind that allows me to drink it and then fight with someone." Felix chuckled, "How about a 50% discount for the sake of me being your student?"


    Snape frowned, "That potion has a lot of side effects."


    "I can live with that," Felix said seriously, "Severus, I need it."


    After a moment of silence -


    "Wait!" Snape said foully, as he swung his sleeve.


    "Thanks, Professor." Felix waved behind him with a grin.


    ...


    "Hermione Jane Granger!" Mr. Granger shouted, watching in exasperation, as his daughter looked in through the door with her head peering in.


    "Oh, Dad ..." Hermione came through the door as several other champions and their families in the room watched the scene with interest. She moved in, one step at a time, and looked at Mrs. Granger pleadingly.


    Mrs. Granger waved her hand and looked like she wanted to watch a good show. "I''m waiting for your explanation, too."


    "How about, um," Hermione whispered experimentally, "I show you around the campus?"


    The Grangers'' stared at her simultaneously as Hermione stammered to finish her sentence, "You guys must be curious about this place since it''s your first time here, right? I''ve made some preparations which you will love ..."


    "And by ''preparation'' you mean leaving your parents alone for most of the day?"


    "I''m taking an exam." Hermione argued in a small voice.


    Mr. Granger looked exasperated and Mrs. Granger looked at her teasingly, "How did I hear that Champions don''t have to take exams? It was that friend Harry you''ve been ''helping'' told us personally. You''re not trying to hide from us, right?"


    Hermione stood speechless.


    After spending a good amount of time, Hermione barely calmed her mom and dad down as they toured around the castle before strolling along the Black Lake. On the way, they ran into Harry and Sirius, who tried their best to chat with the Grangers'', but it didn''t work out that well, as all they could talk about were topics like Quidditch, dueling, and adventure.


    When Sirius vividly described how he had solved a troll, he received a blank and wary look instead of adoring eyes and follow-up questions about the details.


    Before the atmosphere dropped to a freezing point, Sirius finally found a common topic.


    "Don''t worry, it won''t be dangerous, their team is the one that has a high chance of winning the title! And there are safety officers ... like Felix Hap, you guys know him already? Meet him at the Leaky Cauldron? Awesome! I know him very well ..."


    Harry felt strange that Hermione had been staring at him with a puffed-up face while the adults were talking.


    He crept over to her, "What''s wrong?"


    Hermione turned her head to the side and refused to talk to him.


    ...


    "Knocked out three Unspeakables? So the man''s target was actually the Department of Mysteries?" Fudge asked from behind his desk.


    "That''s right, he stole all the hourglass, and half of the energy in the crystal jar is lost ..." Auror, who is responsible for the investigation, said, as the three Unspeakables who have had the misfortune of being knocked out stood silently behind the Auror, bowing their heads without speaking.


    Fudge twirled his quill, and after a while, he looked up.


    "What do you think that man''s purpose is?" He looked to the three Unspeakables, "To travel through time? To change history?"


    "Don''t worry, Mr. Minister, he can''t do any of that." Saul Croaker said eagerly.


    "Why?" The quill in Fudge''s hand paused, "He took so many hourglasses ... just hourglasses?"


    "That''s right!" Saul Croaker is glad that he understood that, "The man only took the hourglass in his hand, not the complete time-turner."


    "What if he finds a broken time-turner from outside, and fixes it-"


    "Impossible, no one can do that! Every scrapped time-turner has been double-checked by the Unspeakables, and it is impossible to fix them. We have been trying for hundreds of years without success, which resulted in fewer and fewer time-turners available ... an outsider would find it even more impossible to do it."


    Fudge looked at him suspiciously.


    "It''s true," Saul Croaker said with rising confidence, this is his area of expertise, "and one more thing, the stolen hourglass has very low energy inside, I guess the person also realized this, that''s why he risked staying all night, trying to replenish the energy - -"


    " So?" Fudge asked impatiently.


    "Naturally, it failed." Saul Croaker spread his hands, "No one could learn the technique in one night. So the energy inside was naturally lost ..." S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But if the hourglass doesn''t work, why did the man take them all away?" Fudge asked with bull-like eyes.


    "Minister, figuring out the minds of criminals is not my field, I can only give judgments based on my profession." Saul Croaker said with a shrug. "The only problem is that the security system of the Department of Mysteries is not good enough, and it''s time to upgrade it."


    "Thanks, Croaker," Fudge interrupted, "I''ll think about it, but you have to understand that the Ministry is tight on funds right now, and if there are new donations, I''ll first consider you."


    A silence fell in the office.


    After a long time, Fudge asked with a very hesitant expression, "Did you guys see what the man looked like?"


    Bode and Saul Croaker shook their heads, all they had seen was the appearance of Felix after using the Polyjuice Potion, and both of them now looked at Fudge with a bit of a weird expression, fearing that he would suddenly pull out his wand and give them a quick blow.


    "What about you, you should have seen something, at that time you meet him the time limit of the Polyjuice Potion must have passed." Fudge asked sullenly.


    The third victim said with an embarrassed look on his face, "I was diverted, and the man used a vile trap ..."


    Fudge lowered his head to look over his testimony, "A ball of fire that fell from the sky, burning wreckage? Yeah, vile enough indeed."


    "..." The Unspeakable bowed his head in silence.


    Fudge continued flipping through the report, "Got sneaked up on while looking down and only saw a pair of feet ... a pair of feet?" He looked up, "Do you remember what those feet looked like? What are the characteristics?"


    The Unspeakable shook his head, "I''m sorry, Minister, I can''t remember very well."


    "I don''t think so," Fudge showed a little smile, "at least you can get a vague outline, can''t you? Like whether the footsteps were brisk enough to belong to a young man?"


    ...


    In the evening, the young wizards dined cheerfully in the great hall, waiting for the third task to begin.


    "Fudge, you''ve brought a bit too many people with you today." Dumbledore asked mildly


    "I thought it is necessary, the Ministry of Magic has just experienced an attack," Fudge whispered, "I must be prepared."


    "Ah, so that''s it." Dumbledore said softly, with a look of regret on his face.


    "By the way," Fudge looked around, "how come I couldn''t see Professor Hap?"


    "Maybe something delayed him?" Dumbledore said with a smile.


    Fudge looked around, everyone is eating, he wiped the sweat on his forehead and hesitated for a moment before finally making his mind up, "Dumbledore, I need to seek your help, according to the Auror''s verification, that lone attacker is terribly powerful, no worse than that person - He Who Must Not Be Named!"


    Dumbledore showed just the right amount of puzzled expression.


    "Dumbledore, I know we have a dispute on some issues--"


    " It is not a dispute." Dumbledore said.


    "What do you--mean?" Fudge looked at him in confusion.


    "It''s not a dispute, Fudge," Dumbledore said patiently, "Your hesitation will cause us to miss a good deal of time -"


    "All right! Dumbledore," Fudge said irritably, "that is the controversy, I have already backed off and sent an Auror team to check out the Albanian forest, the results will be available soon, what I want to talk about now is another thing!"


    He slapped the table so hard that the forks on his dinner plate bounced around.


    The Headmasters from the other schools on the table looked over in confusion, and Fudge made a curt gesture of apology. When the others turned their heads, he came close again and whispered: "Dumbledore, I am now discussing with you how to deal with a dangerous criminal, who recklessly broke into the Department of Mysteries, and stole the time-turner''s hourglass and decades of accumulated energy. My God, what an evil deed!"


    Dumbledore looked at him calmly, "With all due respect, Fudge, you don''t seem to be in any kind of hurry."


    "Of course, I''m anxious! What if he wants to tamper with history, what if he''s on the side of the Dark Lord and wants to caution the Dark Lord about his death?" Fudge''s temper had a tendency of being out of control again, "You should know what serious consequences it will cause!"


    Dumbledore''s expression got serious.


    "That''s it," Fudge wiped his sweat and continued, "so I''d like to ask for your help. Our purposes are the same, and I assure you that as soon as the investigation team brings back strong evidence, I will issue a warning to the public."


    Dumbledore remained silent for a moment, " Do you have any leads?"


    "Of course I do," Fudge said with great joy and impatience, "he spent the night in the Ministry of Magic, trying to steal energy ... he must have been exhausted, and was wounded by Auror, but unfortunately we were not able to retrieve his blood at the scene ... Anyway, this kind of injury can not be recovered in a short time, that''s why I am curious about the situation of Professor Hap, I am certainly not suspicious of him, just cooperate with the investigation--"


    Dumbledore''s expression became more and more serious, and Fudge thought he had succeeded in his plan, and he was so happy that his eyebrows raised, but at that moment, a man came in from outside the great hall.


    Fudge glared at the man, Felix''s face ruddy, and radiant, without the slightest appearance of injury. He had also deliberately changed into a tuxedo and pulled out a chair to sit in an empty seat not far from them.


    Fudge''s face suffocated to red.


    "It seems that Felix is not the person you are looking for, he is in great shape, this outfit reminds me of the ball six months ago, if there is music present, I do not doubt that he will be the most prominent one ..." Dumbledore closed his fingers and looked at Fudge with interest on his face.


    "I may have gotten off on the wrong track, Dumbledore," Fudge said under his breath, his eyes dead set on Felix, as he reluctantly said, "I need to double-check."


    "You''re always welcome to my office, Fudge, but next time you should better bring proof." Dumbledore said, his gaze fixed on Felix as well - and unlike Fudge, his azure eyes are deep and profound.


    "Time ...," he whispered.


    As the enchanted ceiling turned from blue to a dark purple twilight, Dumbledore stood up at the table and the crowd quieted down.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes, I''m going to ask you all to go to the competition venue and watch the last event of the tournament. Now I would like to request the champions to depart first with Mr. Bagman."


    ------------


    #Rommy Ramirez, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 555+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 480: Encouragement

    One by one, the champions stood up and left the room amidst the warm applause and blessings of their loved ones, Mrs. Granger held Hermione''s hand for dear life, her eyes welled up with tears. "Honey, she''ll be fine." Mr. Granger said, hugging his wife. "I know, I just ..." Mrs. Granger can''t able to express her emotions.


    Mr. Granger''s eyes turned red as he said to Hermione very emotionally, "Your mother got a little agitated ... because of the footage of the second task... We waited in front of the Leaky Cauldron pub the whole afternoon before I found a wizard in a strange costume who brought us in, and then we bought the footage after a lot of inquiry... Anyway, Hermione, we wanted to let you know, that we are proud of you."


    Hermione''s eyes also became moist. Harry and Ron stood at a loss for words as Sirius and Bill held their shoulders left and right. Sirius slapped Harry on the back so hard that he almost stumbled, then Sirius said to the Grangers'', "There are two men on the team!"


    "Yeah, right, we''ll take care of her." Harry and Ron said hastily.


    As they walked through the entrance hall and made their way down the steps, Hermione still remained a little down, Harry and Ron looked at each other, and Ron said, with a grumble, "Hermione, you should tell your parents some common sense about the wizarding community, don''t they know that you''re the strongest of us three?"


    "Oh," Hermione broke into a smile, "they are under the impression that I just went to school in a different place, just like ... well, how to say? A student of the occult? I can''t use magic outside of school after all ... Maybe the books I bring back every summer also reinforce that impression."


    They walked carefully on the dimly lit yard, a dozen champions walked in a long line, followed by some people in the shadows on both sides.


    "Who are they?" Harry looked at the side.


    "People from the Ministry of Magic, mostly Aurors." Ron said, seeing Harry''s puzzled look, he shrugged, "Someone has to keep an eye on every level in the maze, just in case, Professor Hap can''t handle it alone ... Percy told me about it, and I have to admit, he''s been making a lot of money lately."


    The crowd made their way across the yard, passing near the Quidditch pitch, where several Pukwudgie carrying short bows waved at the champions of Ilvermorny.


    Hermione tensed up, "We didn''t consider how to deal with Pukwudgie, they''re not going to appear in the maze, are they?"


    Harry did not speak, just stared at the silhouette of the Pukwudgie, he is not sure. These little things used to live in the forest, so he guessed they would be like a fish in the water inside the maze? He vaguely remembered that the Pukwudgies'' bows and arrows are quenched with poison ...


    " Do you have any antidote with you, Hermione?" He asked.


    "Yes, I brought it, I prepared quite a lot ... but to be honest, it might not be something we could use if we do get sneaked upon." Hermione said as she touched her little beaded pouch.


    They remained silent throughout the rest of the way, as they walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest -a path that became more familiar to them - Before turning around a corner, Harry took one last look behind him, the path they had taken before is covered with dense dots of light, a bright light from the wands as the people in the great hall also came out, because they are so far apart, he couldn''t hear a single sound.


    But Harry could well imagine how excited they are, Seamus and Dean are probably excitedly talking about what will be in the maze, they have been doing so for months; Ginny is probably with Luna, but he really can''t guess what they will talk about, maybe about some strange creature ''that has not been discovered yet''?; As for Neville, he had asked Hermione for a list of spells some time ago, and he would surely shine in next year''s dueling class ... And Malfoy, he might be gnashing his teeth!


    This last thought gave Harry a little boost, "Oh dear!" Hermione groaned next to his ear.


    Harry followed her line of sight and his heart shook. In front of him, there is a tower-shaped building that is just a little smaller than Hogwarts Castle, and he can only see the solid triangular prism built with black stone stacked straight upwards, and the space between them is filled with impermeable thorns and bushes. The building is at least a hundred feet high, and Harry secretly estimates how many floors the maze will have.


    The people in front of them stopped, Bagman waited for them to gather and led them towards the side of the huge building. They walked through the sparse forest to a clearing where a huge silver tent stood, faintly glowing in the darkness.


    Harry fell into a bit of a trance for a moment, he seemed to have gone back to the first task when they had to work together to cope with a dragon ... but now it feels like that seemed to have happened ages ago.


    "Well," Bagman said happily, "you should not be unfamiliar with this place, we have built the maze tower used for the competition on its original surface. The school administration has prepared two areas, but I thought the familiarity would make you feel at home ..." s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Everyone stared at him.


    Bagman looked at the crowd gleefully as if he wanted a compliment or two, and an awkward silence followed, so he had to give up on the idea. "So, uh, let me read out the rules, you need to break through the maze, there are seven levels, the higher you go up the smaller the size and the top level has no traps arranged with only one trophy in it."


    "The use of dark magic is forbidden, and the use of potent spells against people is forbidden ..."


    He said everything in one breath over a period of ten minutes, Harry listened to it with some annoyance, they analysed these things many times, and finally, Bagman got to the point.


    "The order of entering the maze will be presented next. According to the rules," Bagman glanced at Harry, "the two Hogwarts teams will share an average score, but since they came in first and second place, there is no need for that. It is only necessary to enter based on the highest score order-"


    At that moment, the curtain of the tent lifted from inside.


    "Bagman, the trophies have been put in place."


    "Thanks, Yaxley. This should have been my job, but as you can see, I am occupied ..."


    Yaxley flashed his teeth and squeezed a raw smile from between them, "You''re welcome." The man disappeared into the tent.


    "Okay, the trophies are in place, next I''ll introduce the guards of the maze. They''re all from the Ministry of Magic, well, except for Felix, the guards don''t show up easily, even if you''ve fainted."


    The champions looked at each other. "So in case an unconscious champion is discovered by a wandering beast-" one of Beauxbatons'' champion, the girl named Jacqueline Bourgeois, asked, and other champions nodded their heads, sharing the same doubt.


    "Ah, that''s where the guards come in," Bagman displayed a smile, "they''ll watch from the sidelines and won''t make a move unless your lives are really in danger. If the unconscious person is lucky enough to meet his companion, then he can still continue the game ..."


    The curtain of the tent lifted once more. Kingsley and Felix walked out in a pair.


    "The spectator area is fully seated, Ludo. In five minutes, the champions can be assigned to enter the maze, and the staff will take them in through the different entrances." Kingsley said stoically.


    "Great," Bagman said happily, "I can''t wait to host the game."


    "Wait, different entrances?" Byers of the Ilvermorny team asked.


    "There are four entrances, and which one you enter is determined randomly; the only restriction is that the same team must be separated." Felix answered gently.


    "That''s right." Bagman echoed, "So-" He looked around.


    "May I say a few words?" Felix asked lightly.


    "Oh, what - sure." Bagman said.


    Felix stood in front of the champions and swept his eyes over each of them, "You have all worked unimaginably hard this year and gained a great deal at the same time, - strength, friendship, courage, cooperation, trust ... Although the third task is incredibly difficult, I believe you can successfully overcome the difficulties, and for that, you just need to mobilize your wisdom, trust your companions, and most importantly - don''t give up hope even in the worst-case scenario."


    "Today is just one of the important points in your lives, not the end - Time is on your side."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 556+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 481: Maze Tower (1) Huge Advantage

    Harry felt his blood boil as he listened, and he resisted the urge to applaud, looking at Felix without blinking. "Ahem," Bagman sounded less comfortable, "well said, Felix, may I use your words at the end of the game? Just kidding, honestly, you might as well give them a hug ..."


    "That''s right, Professor!" Roger Davies chimed in, "We need a hug more than anything."


    Harry thought Roger''s words made sense and Hermione''s eyes sparkled brightly, but Felix hesitated and smiled, shaking his head, "Better wait until the game is over."


    He walked out of the tent, the smile on his face quickly narrowed, "The Professor''s weird pre-game speech, and the refusal to hug - done. Next, just wait quietly and try to have as little contact with them as possible ... is that all?"


    He paused where he was, as if waiting for someone to respond, then after a short while he turned to leave.


    He returned to the grandstand, a cheerful, restless atmosphere laced through the air, and at one of the entrances to the maze tower, several Aurors who had been hand-picked walked individually into the pitch-black entrance.


    The sounds outside became almost instantly inaudible as Felix strolled through the maze, quietly contemplating, Full Physical Assimilation of Rune, can he really do that? Should be possible, just need a little nudge ... after all, he has successfully Mastered the first level seven magic.


    In the fifth level of the maze, a wandering sphinx, whose body resembled a large and menacing lion: huge paws, a long yellow tail, and a tuft of fur at its tip, along with a woman''s head, spotted Felix.


    The Sphinx blocked his path and said in a hoarse voice, "You are very close to the entrance of the next level-"


    Felix glanced at it with a flash of silver in his eyes, as the Sphinx froze in place, and Felix brushed past her.


    "What exactly is Physical Assimilation of Rune ... supposed to do?" He paced away.


    ...


    "Ladies and gentlemen, the final event of the Tournament of Champions is about to begin! Let me announce the current score! While the staff can arrange the first team of champions in their respective positions ... Hogwarts, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger are in first place with a total of 128 points, which will earn them a huge advantage as each team is given a five-minute gap... ..."


    "Five minutes." Harry''s heart burst with joy, staring at the pitch-black entrance, which means he has a full half-hour lead over last place! This advantage is too big, with a short sharp whistle, Harry rushed into the maze entrance.


    He knew that, at the same time, Hermione and Ron will also enter the maze. S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Everything around him is terribly quiet and dark. The tall bushes nearly met with a dozen feet high ceiling, casting a large black shadow. Every so often, a candle with an ethereal blue flame would dangle from the ceiling, its light is so faint that Harry could only see a very small area nearby.


    "Lumos." He waved his wand, and the surrounding area immediately brightened, Harry''s heart rose with a feeling of unease, so he carefully lowered the brightness. A few dozen meters along the passage, he encountered the first fork in the road.


    "Point Me." He rested his wand flat in the palm of his hand and whispered to it. The wand rotated and pointed to the right, which is the direction of north, "Very well." He ran quickly, his head kept swaying from side to side.


    The first level of the maze should be the easiest ... this is the conclusion of their discussion, at least they will not encounter serious danger. Harry recalled the strategy decided before - that is, finding the second level as soon as he can.


    It is a race to the death!


    Another fork in the road, Harry this time chose the left one, as he saw a dark shadow flashing on the right, without thinking twice, he turned and fled.


    Do not dwell on it, the first five minutes are quite important.


    ...


    "The first team has gone in, let''s see - oh? They''re using a different strategy," Bagman couldn''t help but stare, "Amazing, Granger''s using Disillusionment Charm very well, for her age!"


    Draco grunted disdainfully from the stand, hugging his shoulders and staring at the huge screen.


    "... Weasley walked steadily, he stopped, did he find the trap ... false alarm, probably the wind, the first level did not have too many traps arranged in order to let the champions adapt to the environment inside, the real danger is going to -- ouch!" Bagman ducked his head to avoid a small stone.


    Professor McGonagall angrily swung her fist at him, and a chorus of boos rang out from the stands.


    "Ah! Sorry, unintentional mistake, I was not supposed to reveal that, as there are champions here who have not entered the maze yet - ahem, let''s focus our attention on the youngest champion, oh look!" Bagman quickly changed the subject, "He''s running through the maze, did he guess something?"


    The restless crowd immediately quieted down and stared at the screen, Harry barely hesitated, confirming his direction with a four-point spell at every intersection and then moving quickly, "Look, Harry''s come across a Firetrail Snail!" Seamus yelled.


    Ludo Bagman also found this, he stood up excitedly.


    " Would Potter will avoid it? No, he doesn''t, he chooses to fight, the Silent Disarming Charm! Oh crap, the spell bounced off... and a brilliant Gouging Spell, the Firetrail Snail is temporarily stuck, the next move should solve it - oh, Potter doesn''t continue the attack, he chooses to leave, the Firetrail Snail jumps out of the pit, but it lost Potter!"


    Bagman was excited, "The game almost reached five minutes point! Potter is close to the entrance to the next level, his two teammates are far behind him, and the other teams haven''t entered yet ... Does he want to be a seeker in the maze now? First to claim the trophy? That''s not necessarily wise, his teammates can''t keep up with him ..."


    The crowd murmured, they could all see Harry racing to the finish line, but they didn''t know what he is up to.


    "He wants to be the first to get the trophy, it fits his character, doesn''t it?" Draco said, "Still so fond of the limelight."


    "But the trophy is on the seventh level, the further you go, the harder it would get for sure, he''ll suffer a big loss." Daphne looked at the screen in confusion.


    ...


    "Phew ... phew ..." Harry breathed heavily, his chest felt like it is about to explode, but it was all worth it, he showed a wide smile and walked towards the vine-woven steps, where an entrance is hidden in the ceiling.


    He braced himself to walk up the steps, his feet felt light, like he stepped on soft marshmallows, and he couldn''t muster the strength to climb halfway up the stairs and almost rolled down.


    But he finally stood at the top, his head pressed up against the ceiling, and he could make out the distance of about a foot between the bushes and the ceiling. Harry grinned, his palms reached out, and a rune flickered and took shape at his fingertips, coalescing into a milky white ball of light.


    Outside the maze tower, everyone stared at the scene with wide eyes.


    The ball of light floated away slowly, Harry sat on the steps, stared at the ball of light for two seconds, and whispered, "Explode." The ball of light quickly swelled up, and an endless flash of light shone -


    Milky white light spread through the maze, the bushes suddenly shimmered in the shimmering light, and the effect of the illumination spell quickly diminished, but it was enough, in a different location on the first level, Hermione and Ron looked up at the same time, staring in the direction of the ball of light exploded, and immediately after that their surrounding lit up, stretching everywhere.


    "Well done, mate!" Ron clenched his fist and roared out excitedly. He ran quickly, the maze is as bright as day at the moment, but he had noticed that the light is rapidly fading, but that is just enough for him to reach the end.


    Outside the maze silence reigned, from the judges'' stand to the spectators, there was no trace of sound.


    "This is cheating!" Karkaroff shouted in exasperation.


    "Karkaroff, they didn''t break any rules," Bagman retorted out of habit, "This magic is not in the prohibited category, and it''s not lethal, even if ... well, it does have a great range ..."


    He froze for a couple of seconds before realizing what had happened, and the implications of doing so.


    "Oh my god! Unbelievable! Pott-Potter actually found a way ... his two teammates are rapidly moving closer, faster than the speed Harry had previously travelled, and they''re chasing the light!" Bagman''s emotion uplifted, and he excitedly unbuttoned his collar, "Although I hate to admit it, but the game has lost half of its suspense ... the remaining half depends on the other teams, they have to hurry up."


    Collins, Cedric, and Roger each stood in front of the entrance with bewildered expressions, what had Harry and the gang done to get such a comment from the judges? All the champions realized at the same time that Harry''s team had gained a huge advantage, and they had to catch up.


    Another short whistle sounded and the second team of champions entered the maze. They coincidentally adopted a more aggressive approach.


    ...


    Harry sat on the vine steps and applied two healing spells on himself, the soreness in his legs significantly reduced and his chest didn''t sound like it would explode soon. He counted silently, as he got close to 100, a footstep was heard and Hermione appeared from around the corner, she walked up to Harry, smoothed her hair, and said with a soft smile, "Harry, you did well."


    After another ten seconds or so, Ron came rushing out of another fork in the path, he looked a bit of a mess, his clothes covered in mud.


    "Ran too fast and ran into a big hole, I don''t know who made it ... they really lack virtue." He said half-truthfully while reaching out and pulling Harry up from the steps, he looked at the entrance overhead with wonder still on his face, "We''re about to reach the second level here? Too bad it works only once."


    "Yeah, let''s go." Harry said.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 560+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 482: Maze Tower (2) A Conversation on the Seventh Level

    An hour has passed in the blink of an eye. "The game is getting more and more exciting, now the winner is still unknown, let me make a summary -"


    "Harry''s team is still in the lead, the trio''s rapid reunion gives them an absolute advantage, whether it''s Boggart, Devil''s Snare, or upside-down trap, they have easily broken past them, and currently they have just entered the fifth level of the maze."


    "The three champions from the second team also made it to the fourth level, but they have yet to reunite, and one of them has just entered, so it is estimated that they will not meet until the fifth level. Some viewers may wonder why the champions are not using the Amplifying Charm because the shrubs are enchanted with magic that will greatly weaken the sound and light ... That magic of Potter is a special case."


    "Uagadou''s Champions put their strengths to the best use, let''s not forget Rashawn Eliphandy, who showed the most furious power of the African Elephant in the first two tasks, but this time he showed us in action that he has extremely fine control over his transfiguration! As the third team to enter, Eliphandy used the elephant''s vibration positioning talent to successfully reunited with his team in the first level of the maze, after which Blanzigor turned into a green eagle and quickly found the entrance to the second and third layers. Then they once again used vibration positioning and headed straight for the entrance with amazing efficiency as they edged closer to the Potter team at one point. But Uagadou''s Champions suffered a bit on the fourth level when the Green Eagle got caught up in the wall of thorns, so now they asked Nona Leibert to scout their way ahead - the girl is equally fast, and they are the only team that has a hope of overtaking Potter''s pace."


    "Next is Beauxbatons, they''re on the third level, and they''re all approaching the fourth level closely, so they are likely to meet at the entrance;"


    "Durmstrang''s strategy is noticeably different, Krum is already on the fourth level for some time, but both of his teammates are still on the third level, so it looks like they have a plan, yes! Adam Bewick stopped at the entrance to the fourth level, he is waiting for another person... I got it! Their intention is to have the strongest one keep going forward and the slightly weaker two paired up. Smart move! You know the third level of the maze is not considered dangerous, and the area is one-third smaller than the first level ..."


    "Finally, it is Ilvermorny, they only reached the second layer, after all, half an hour late entry. No, they adopted the same strategy as Durmstrang! Only they opted for three-men-team, and although they got delayed in the front, judging from the combination magic shown in the first two tasks, they will be very fast next."


    The audience stared nervously at the screen, various small flags clutched in their hands, and even the judges at the judges'' table watched with rapt attention.


    "Will they meet? Will they?" Mrs. Granger covered her face, her nails clawing out a trail of scratch marks.


    "I think they will ... fight''s inevitable." Sirius murmured from the sidelines.


    ...


    "The fifth level is dark too." Ron whispered. The first three levels still had candles with blue flames, only with longer and longer intervals, and by the fourth level they could barely distinguish the colour of the shrubs in the darkness, and now there is not even a little light.


    He and Harry held up their wands, ready to deal with sudden danger, Hermione leaned back a little and controlled a white flame, the flame hovered over their heads, illuminating a small area nearby. They kept dragging their legs out of the vine-strewn ground and trudged for ten minutes to cross the long passage.


    "I refuse to believe there''s more outrageous stuff ahead." Ron said.


    "Don''t open your crow mouth."


    They turned a corner and suddenly the sky spun around and Harry found himself head down, standing on the ceiling. The blood kept rushing to his head, he had a similar experience in the second level of the maze when he stumbled into a golden mist that hung him upside down, with an endless void under his head. That trap was a test to champion courage, so all he needed to do was pull his leg out firmly ...


    He tried, lifting one leg high, but there was no reaction at all, and he remained firmly on the ceiling, nearly even falling because of his unsteady footing - but not falling downward, but falling on the ceiling. The blood hitting his eardrums made it impossible for him to think, at that moment, he heard Hermione next to him say, "I think we need to walk out like this."


    Harry was just about to ask how to walk when he saw Hermione move forward step by step. She walked for almost a minute and her whole body dropped from the ceiling.


    "Wingardium Leviosa!" She landed gently on the ground and looked up at Harry and Ron who are still standing there, "Just treat the ceiling as if it is flat and keep moving forward, but of course, you need to put up with the discomfort of the blood rushing upwards."


    Soon, Harry and Ron also smoothly landed.


    "How strange, gravity is still there, but we were attracted to the ceiling by a stronger force ...," Hermione fondly looked back.


    "What is gravity?" Ron asked.


    "It''s the force that allows us to step solidly on the floor." Hermione said simply.


    "Doesn''t that how it should be?" Ron wondered.


    "Keep your voice down, don''t attract monsters." Harry warned them.


    For the next ten minutes, they went through the quicksand trap, when Ron quickly thought of the Levitation Spell that Hermione used before, and they easily crossed, followed by a hanging bridge, the bridge is not for crossing water, but a bottomless abyss, the Levitation Spell also disabled, but it did not take much effort for Harry to walk across, "This is much easier than Quidditch."


    Ron was a little slower, but he made it through. Hermione got stuck when it was her turn, "I, oh, I''ll try ..." she shuddered and glanced down, quickly shrunk back.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other - They remembered, that Hermione rarely used a flying broom.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not dangerous at all--" S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Yeah, you took flying lessons and passed the test!"


    "I only passed," Hermione whispered, "Wait, let me think." She came up with a solution, using magic to conjure up a rope, throwing a section of the rope to Harry and Ron, and tying the other end to herself, "If I fall ... you guys have to pull me."


    She walked trembling on the hanging bridge, twenty feet away, like on a rift. When she reached the last step, she plucked up her courage and jumped across at once.


    "Great, Hermione!"


    "Uh, I''m a little dizzy ..." Hermione said, covering her head, "Let''s keep going."


    "Whoosh!"


    A shadow quickly jumped over the hanging bridge after leveraging twice on the wall and disappeared into the darkness with a few ups and downs.


    "What the hell was that just now?" Ron asked in horror, if it suddenly sneaked upon them, it would be difficult to dodge.


    "A cheetah." Harry said.


    "The one who gave you the amulet?" Ron remembered, "She is called, called ..." He looked at Hermione for help.


    "It''s Nona Leibert!" Hermione said, "It seems she chose to leave her teammates and venture out on her own, she''s too fast, we need to catch up!"


    They trotted off, and after hitting two dead ends, they took a narrow, rugged path where a large behemoth blocked the middle of the road.


    "It''s the Sphinx." Hermione whispered.


    They walked forward gathering all their guts, white flames illuminating its body, the beautiful woman''s head bowed, seemingly lost in thought. Hearing movement, it raised its head, took two steps forward, and spoke in a low, and hoarse voice.


    "You are already very close to the next level entrance. The fastest route would be going past me. As soon as you-"


    "What''s the shortest season?" Hermione asked, interrupting it.


    The Sphinx''s beautiful eyes blinked, at which point Hermione continued, "What is something that is obviously yours, but everyone can use it?"


    "Well--"


    "There''s always fake news in the papers, but there must be truth in one thing, what it is?"


    The Sphinx once again fell into contemplation.


    Hermione waved at them and carefully passed by, the Sphinx ignoring her. Harry and Ron also passed by without incident, not daring to breathe a sigh of relief as they kept walking a long distance and saw the stairs leading to the sixth level of the maze.


    "Hermione, how did you know that?" Harry panted and asked.


    "Hagrid talked about it, have you forgotten? Just say three riddles in advance, and it will be spell-bounded, I never really believed it before ..."


    Outside the maze tower.


    "Someone caught up with Potter and the team, Champion of Uagadou, but still Potter and the team entered the sixth level of the maze first, but that doesn''t mean much, Nona Leibert is too fast, her body is covered with many protection spells, which her teammates put on her."


    "Nona took a long detour, and the sixth level is close at hand! Maybe she can get ahead and enter the seventh level, then the Potter and his team will be passive." Bagman shouted, "The other champions are also rejoining their teammates one after another, and most of them are gathered in the fourth level, and the advantage Potter''s team had in the early stage is rapidly shrinking. Who will win the championship, let''s wait and see!"


    ...


    The seventh level of the maze is only half the size of the school''s great hall, a single crystal stone platform build in the center of the maze with nothing but empty space around it. A trophy is placed on the stone platform.


    Felix sat on the stone platform and whispered, "The trophy is indeed enchanted, he didn''t tamper with the original destination but added an extra transit in the middle ... very clever way, you simply can''t detect it without looking closely."


    "Yes, Professor." A muffled voice came from the hat on top of his head.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 561+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 483: Maze Tower (3) Trophy is within reach

    "What''s next? Fight?" "Only three people came up. Nona grabbed the trophy, w-we stopped her, then Viktor came up, and finally Cedric, so we had to fight the final battle in the 6th level of the maze."


    "I see."


    After a silence, a voice sounded. "Professor - are you really going to be okay? I saw with my own eyes-"


    "Ah, I made you worry, I recently mastered a new ability and didn''t tell anyone about it."


    "But - the side effects of the potion -?"


    "Not a big problem, at most a period of weakness, but," Felix hesitated, "I may be invited for tea."


    "Tea?"


    "It simply means that I have to cooperate with the investigation. After all, there''s too much suspicion on me, whether it''s the theft of the time-turner or what''s going to happen tonight ... Fudge seized a good chance."


    "That''s not your responsibility at all!"


    "Don''t worry too much, Miss Granger, I have made some preparations in advance. If things go at the normal progression, Fudge will have to stay in that position for an unknown amount of time, and tonight will be a test for me and him, and if he picks the wrong choice, he''ll step down."


    "Oh - well, what can I do then?"


    "Grab the time to improve your strength, although Voldemort is doomed to fail, but there surely will be a war after a short period, you know, because of the Horcrux ... strength is the most important in a chaotic world. And another thing is, Do me a small favour."


    "What is it?" The voice in the hat spoke impatiently.


    "I''ve brought some prohibited items in my ring, and in order to avoid being searched by the Ministry of Magic, I need you to keep them for me."


    "No problem, professor, I''ll make sure to hide it."


    "The things inside are not really much important, but just a little sensitive ... I specifically left some information in the runic language, you can take a look. In case ..."


    "In case what?" The hat moved uneasily.


    Felix smiled after a slight silence, "Of course, in case there is a danger during my absence."


    It is at this point that Felix looks up, "Someone is coming." He stood up and pointed his wand towards himself, his body becoming blurred and transparent, blending in with his surroundings. He quietly moved to the corner.


    An athletic figure rushed in swiftly. The seventh level maze became well lit, and Nona Leibert caught a glimpse of the golden trophy, and she transformed into a cheetah, nimbly moving, as she picked up the handle of the trophy with her open maw and ran out like the gust of wind.


    The sixth level of the maze lacked the shrubs that grew a dozen feet high close to the ceiling, instead, there are clusters of shrubs half a man''s height that have been trimmed into long slabs.


    Harry stared at stone statues for a while, they have been at the sixth level maze, and they did not encounter any danger, except for Caped Squirrels(*I can''t find its original name*) and a group of Pogrebins disguised as rocks.


    It is the first time they have seen Pogrebins in reality. At first, they thought these "round stones" are part of the maze, until the three inevitably depressed, which triggered Harry''s Occlumency, then he realized the problem.


    Harry used the sharp edge magic, the front of the wand emitted a golden stream of air, condensed into the shape of a long sword. He slapped the stones with the back of the sword, and they immediately jumped up, bouncing around with their big, glossy gray heads, and Harry noticed that when they moved, their hairy bodies became conspicuous. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron got out of his depressed state of mind too, then he became worried and used his foot to nudge the last Pogrebins that fell out of line, this creature which is only a foot tall actually has a poor sense of balance, as long as you push it, its huge head will tilt forward, Ron tried a few times, then the Pogrebins curled its body into a ball and rolled away like a pebble.


    "Strange creatures, it''s hard to imagine Mr. Scamander scaring them away with the noise he made with the kettle." Ron said.


    They later encountered Caped Squirrels which stood on the statue, a magical creature about the size of a rabbit that resembled a squirrel, which looked incompatible with Hagrid''s tastes at first glance: it had a furry head and long ears like a rabbit, with red fur and a floppy " cape " that shone in golden colour, making it both cute and friendly.


    Harry was almost fooled by its cute appearance when he first saw it, the prolonged competition put him in a tense state, so he tried to approach it for relaxation, and immediately these cute little things turned their backs to him, and spread their big curly tails - like a fluffy plush cloak full of numerous spikes - while issuing a threatening cry.


    "Never irritate it, being stung by this thing is a nightmare, compared to them, gnomes can be described as docile." Ron said in disgust.


    "You know it?" Harry asked.


    "Fred and George caught one," Ron said with an uncomfortable expression, "and they tried to extract its stinger, the ones you see ... although non-toxic, once stung it can make you want to pass out!"


    He shook his head and dragged Harry away very firmly. Harry did not ask further, he reckoned there must be a tragic story behind it.


    That''s when Hermione remembered its information.


    "Caped squirrels, known for their cute appearance and dangerous tails, have two types of attacks, one is to swipe their tails vigorously when a stranger approaches, and many people who see it for the first time will be curious enough to approach them, the result is predictable ... their stingers have a pain-enhancing effect and can make people feel unbearable pain. The second way of attack is to use their tail to wrap their body into a ball full of stingers, and then like a cannonball they will bounce towards the target - these guys have quite an amazing bouncing power."


    Harry''s body shook a little, as he could not help but turn around to look at the caped squirrel, it has tucked away its tail, and its two small hands curled up in front of its body, with long ears flopping around, looking very cute.


    "These little guys are also very vindictive and a bit crazy, once they are pissed off, they will chase people until all the stingers on their tails fall off, then they will choose to run away, but don''t worry, after a while these stingers will grow back again ..."


    "Thank you, Hermione, for helping me recall that." Ron said sombrely.


    "Oh, uh, we''d better avoid it," Hermione looked around in a panic, "Speaking of which, the sixth level of the maze looks like a combination of a chessboard and a garden, with shrubs and statues everywhere. The light is a lot brighter too ..."


    "Is a little strange, why did they replace the tall shrubs with low ones?" Ron chimed in curiously.


    "This is a natural battlefield." Harry suddenly said.


    Ron and Hermione turned their heads in alarm. "A certain amount of light to provide a view, rocks to act as a barrier, and shrubs to create a detour space ... Yeah, that''s what I thought." Harry said, his eyes suddenly flashed, and he ran in one direction.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "I saw Nona Leibert!"


    Ron and Hermione chased after him, they also saw a shadow quickly jumping between the shrubs, the caped squirrels were enraged, and they all curled up and rolled themselves into a ball of spikes, trying to attack Nona, but Nona left long before that.


    A dazed caped squirrel rushed toward Harry, who shouted, "Stupefy!" The spell hit the caped squirrel, and it fell from midair and bounced twice on the ground.


    They ran a dozen steps ahead, and a bright expanse appeared. It is a circular plaza, with a row of upward steps in the center of the plaza linking to the upper level of the maze - that is the seventh level, where the trophy is placed.


    "She''s out!" Ron shouted.


    A cheetah agilely jumped down the steps, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione raised their wands at the same time.


    The cheetah glanced at them and turned to run in the opposite direction, and at that moment, she suddenly fell and rolled her body twice on the ground, and despite the critical situation, Harry felt that the action was a bit comical.


    "She ran out of breath?" Harry guessed, and the first thing he did is chase after her.


    The next second, he knew the answer. A loud voice echoed throughout the Maze tower, and all the champions looked up in unison as they heard the deafening voice - "Fearless champions ~ fight on! No amount of difficulty can bring you down ... Win valour and honour, and I''ll be waiting at the end for you to boil a pot of love potion ..."


    "My goodness!" Hermione said, covering her head.


    Harry cast a Quietening Charm over himself, the huge roar weakened a lot, he endured the intense discomfort to move forward and keep approaching the trophy. But Nona is having a hard time because she is close to it, which made her dizzy and she kept shaking her head in discomfort.


    Finally, the song stopped.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 561+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 484: Maze Tower (4) Victory

    Harry raised his wand towards the cheetah that sprawled on the ground with a pained expression - a keen sensory ability made her suffer - and he debated whether to make a move, he kept telling himself that it is a competition, and as long as they get the trophy, they have won. But another voice told him that he is taking advantage of someone and Nona had given him a talisman before ... At this point, Nona came to her senses, she took a deep look at Harry, before picking up the trophy, and turning around to run.


    Harry hurriedly intercepted, "Expelliarmus!" The spell missed. Harry felt remorse, what the hell was he thinking just now? This is a competition, such a good opportunity missed by him. He went after her, hurling spells, but Nona kept jumping back and forth, dodging his spells.


    A stunning spell hit her, and Harry''s heart leaped with joy, but the cheetah''s body suddenly burst with white light, and she simply disappeared into the bushes unaffected.


    "Where is she?" Ron and Hermione caught up, panting and questioning.


    "She got away!" Harry sat down and smashed the ground with hatred, "I shouldn''t have been lenient."


    Ron looked off into the distance at a loss for words, where only a cloaked squirrel poked its head through the bushes. Hermione thought for two seconds and said decisively, "There''s still a chance, let''s go that way." She pointed in the opposite direction.


    Harry looked at her with an expectant gaze: "What do you mean?"


    "She has to take the trophy to the next level and meet up with her teammates. But she escaped in the opposite direction of the fifth level entrance, so we may be able to intercept her in time!"


    Harry could not wait to hug Hermione and kiss her.


    "Then what are you waiting for!"


    They quickly ran back. "Left - right - still right!" Hermione kept pointing in the right direction, "Almost there."


    A shadow rushed out from a diagonal direction.


    Harry''s eyes widened, it is Nona Leibert! Then his heart sank, the distance is too far for them to catch up.


    At that moment, a crisp chirp sounded, followed by something rushing past him, the thing is covered with flames and crossed hundreds of feet in the blink of an eye, Harry recognized it, it is Hermione''s ancient magic!


    The firebird trailed its long plume and blocked the cheetah''s path some distance before the entrance. The cheetah gave the firebird a cautious look - the firebird spilled a patch of flame, blocking her path ahead, and in desperation, Nona Leibert reverted back to her human form.


    No one made a move. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Nona rose from the ground and tossed the trophy far away with an impatient look on her face.


    "You can''t beat the three of us." Harry said calmly.


    Nona smiled, raised her hands, and said in a husky tone, "That''s not necessarily true." Her two hands suddenly interlocked.


    "Protego!" Harry instantly cast a shield charm and the magic barrier burst with sparks.


    "Watch out for her gesture casting magic!" The warning arrived belatedly.


    Stomp, stomp, stomp!


    A man rushed up from the fifth level, it is Krum, he saw Nona and the trophy on the ground at once, he extended his wand and shouted, "Accio Trophy!" Harry cancelled the shield charm, and a red light flew from the tip of his wand, which knocked the trophy far away.


    "What--?" Krum shouted incredulously, turning back to see the trio, he drew a deep breath and quickly moved closer to Nona''s direction.


    "You want to cooperate?" Nona asked, looking at Krum.


    Krum grimaced as he looked across at Hermione and didn''t say anything.


    After a moment of stalemate, a third-person rushed in, it is Cedric, the scene in front of him also made him freeze. All eyes in the room fell on him, Harry was first pleased, but immediately realized that this is not classroom seven, they are at the moment in a competitive relationship.


    Cedric took a hesitant step in Harry''s direction.


    "A fair fight?" Krum stated in a low voice.


    Cedric suddenly stopped in his tracks, his expression struggled, of course, he wanted to get the trophy and let his team win, but right now helping Harry and the group is the best thing to do. After a while, he resolutely walked in Harry''s direction.


    "Good point, just a fair fight." Harry suddenly said, "Three against three, it makes sense, doesn''t it?"


    Cedric looked at Harry with a surprised look on his face.


    "I want to win fair and square." Harry said briefly.


    "That''s right, we don''t want people to talk behind our backs." Ron said, standing with Harry.


    With a wave of Hermione''s wand, the firebird landed steadily in front of her, its long beak and golden eyes gazing at them, "How about three against three, no running away, and the winner will get the trophy?"


    Everyone agreed.


    Outside the maze tower, the audience held their breath as the entire screen switched to the sixth level, shifting through the perspectives of six people who had been swept away by the solemn atmosphere.


    "It''s wonderful! It is brilliant! Not only did the champions entertain us with a great fight, but they also showed great moral qualities," Ludo Bagman said enthusiastically, "It was an honour to host this fight."


    "I''d like to present information about both sides of the battle: Potter, Weasley, and Granger are on the same team, have a better understanding, and each performed well in previous tasks. But their opponents are not to be underestimated, although they are from three different teams, but don''t forget, they are all captains of their respective teams!"


    One second, two seconds, three seconds-


    The people on the screen moved at the same time, and in a flash, the spell flew everywhere!


    ...


    The battle went on for a while -


    Harry ducked his head to dodge a spell and quickly counterattacked, the spell missed by two inches and hit the statue, Krum was startled and ducked back behind the statue. Then in a second, another spell flew out from a diagonal direction, "Protego!" Harry shouted, and a ripple rippled through the magical barrier.


    Safe, Harry''s heart thumped, "Hermione, make your firebird do something!"


    "Oh, sorry," Hermione said bitterly, "this magic is too powerful, according to the rules, can not be used to attack people-"


    "Then let it attack the statue!" Harry shouted.


    Hermione froze for a moment, "Makes sense."


    "Wait, I thought of an idea." Ron said, his body shaking badly, "It''s worth the gamble."


    "What are you going to do?" Hermione asked.


    "Apparition."


    "No, it''s too dangerous-"


    "I''ll do it." Harry said, thinking Ron''s idea is brilliant, why hadn''t he thought of it before. Harry poked his head out and hurled a disarming charm, and the spell hit the statue with a splash of red light.


    "No," Ron refused, topping the runic shield charm and glancing across the room twice before hastily retracting. "Listen to me, you''re our backbone, and I''m relieved to have you here. If even you fail, Hermione and I can not hold up against the three of them."


    Harry couldn''t decide.


    "Do not hesitate, who knows whether the next second there will be someone else will come up? The problem now is to pick a target--"


    "Krum." Harry agreed.


    "Nona Leibert." Hermione said.


    They looked at each other and Ron said, "Just Nona, I saw her stay away from the other two."


    The hovering firebird turned into golden flames and instantly engulfed a statue, the heat scorching the stone statue and the air, and the champion hiding behind it stumbled back.


    "On your left!" Hermione said sharply.


    "I saw it." Ron said, concentrating his eyes on Nona Leibert''s left, if he attacked from there, he can roll down into the bushes ... his body suddenly disappeared and reappeared somewhat dazed, but he couldn''t wait, he raised his wand in an extremely awkward position.


    "Stupefy!" Ron shouted.


    Time seemed to pause at this moment, and Nona quickly looked back at her chest incredulously and slowly fell to the ground, with a trace of shock still remaining on her face. Ron lunged to the bushes on his hands and knees, and it worked! He grinned silently as he headed deeper into the bushes.


    A rustling sound brought him back from his ecstasy. When he looked up, two caped squirrels stared at him, and they silently turned around and raised their tails ...


    On the other side, Krum and Cedric both felt incredulous, apparition can not be used in combat, this is a common understanding, currently, only two people can break this limit, Harry and (Felix Hap) Professor Hap.


    Ron slipped into the bushes, after only a short moment Krum raised his wand, then a second later, a golden flame exploded in the open space three feet in front of him, he hurried to dodge, then the flames coalesced into a firebird, which gently flapped its wings, without attacking. Hermione ... Krum''s mood is extremely complicated, followed by a numb body, as he slowly collapsed.


    Harry gasped and appeared behind him. He used the apparition, a rare opportunity ... the next second he disappeared again, and reappeared behind Cedric. Cedric turned around keenly, wands against each other -


    "You have won." Cedric said, dropping his wand and sitting on the ground, breathing heavily.


    ------------


    #Niteo akuma, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 563+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 485: Maze Tower (End) Begins

    Harry grinned and was about to say something when he suddenly heard Ron''s scream. He turned back, as Ron rushed out of the bush with his face covered, followed by two furry prickly balls, caped squirrels, only their feet and noses visible, they jumped up from high and slammed into Ron''s back, and Ron let out another scream. "Petrificus Totalus!"


    "Stupefy!"


    Harry and Hermione chanted a spell at the same time, and the two caped squirrels were hit.


    "What''s wrong with him?" Cedric looked at Ron in confusion as Ron groaned in pain.


    "Slapped by the tail of cloaked squirrels in the face twice," Hermione said, reaching into her pocket and rummaging around for a while before pulling out a bottle of potion.


    "You have some small stingers ... that need to be pulled out first, I don''t know if it will hurt-" Hermione pulled a small stinger from Ron''s neck.


    Ron let out a loud yelp.


    "You have to bear it--" Hermione''s fingers twitched as she pulled another stinger off, Ron screamed even more, she looked at Harry with pause, and Harry walked over to her.


    "I''ll help too." Cedric grabbed his own wand and stood up.


    "La tallpeee (trophy)," Ron said vaguely.


    "What?" Harry questioned flabbergasted.


    "I think he''s talking about the trophy." Cedric chuckled, "Accio trophy!" He pointed at the trophy in the distance, and it immediately flew into his hand, he looked at it twice with mixed emotions and handed it to Harry with fondness.


    Harry hesitated for a moment.


    "Take it, it''s what you deserve." Cedric said.


    Harry took it, thought very carefully for two seconds, and said to him, "You''re a good rival."


    Cedric laughed heartily, "So you are, Harry."


    Hermione said impatiently at the moment with her hands in the air, " You two, can you help - we are still in the game, say it has been so long, how come the others have not come?"


    Cedric rubbed his nose a little awkwardly.


    "Uh, I guess they are trapped by the puffball ..."


    "Wheez (When) youuz (you) meez (meet) zha muzom (that mushroom)?" Ron asked with a big tongue.


    Cedric explained: "Roger and I met in the fourth level, and after that, we found Collins in the fifth level and moved together, that level is full of strange terrain -" Harry nodded, as they also ran into several things.


    "When we were almost at the entrance of the next level, we accidentally broke into the territory of the puffball(*I can''t find this creature mentioned*), this magical creature has no blood and bones, at first glance, it looks like a large mass of fluff that can split at will ... in fact, this is a misconception, they like to live in groups, often large groups of them balled up into one, it is said they''re closely related to Puffskein. They live like plants, when the wind blows, they will roll together with it; they hunt the prey that approaches them, once there are other creatures close, their fur will quickly become long and thick, and then they''ll warp their fur around the prey; the more you struggle, the more tightly you''ll be wrapped ..."


    "So Collins and Roger are trapped?" Harry rushed the question when he saw Cedric''s tendency to make long speeches.


    "Only Roger," Cedric said, " we did not take it seriously, the puffball, although extremely tough, but as long as you do not struggle without making a move, the fur will continue to shrink, this and the devil''s snare are somewhat similar ... ..."


    "There must have been an accident in the middle." Harry said with certainty.


    "Yeah," Cedric sighed, "in fact, if one is willing to spend some time smoothing out its fur, it will calm down. But two other guys from Uagadou showed up, one turned into an elephant and one sat on it as they trampled the floor ... Collins went up and persuaded them to stop, but they refused to listen because there was barely a space even for a person to pass, and they thought we are deliberately blocking them... ..."


    "... Their suspicions had a point, and the song of the trophy made everyone''s heart race ..."


    Harry could already imagine the scene.


    "Naturally they got trapped, and because they struggled so much, some of the puffballs were blown around, covering the nearby corridors, and all the necessary paths were blocked. Collins and I were forced to separate, Collins was smoothing the puffball down there, and I came to the sixth level ..."


    So, now all the champions except them are mending puffball''s fur? Harry imagined the scene and found it weird as hell.


    After another moment, the stingers on Ron''s body were pulled clean, Hermione applied a potion on his face, and the wound healed quickly. In the meantime, the trophy sang twice more like a joke, and Harry had to leave it behind for the moment.


    ...


    "So ... see you in a bit," Cedric said as he sat on the floor, leaning against a statue, sleeping next to Nona Leibert and Krum. Ron and Hermione held the trophy left and right, and the key would activate as soon as Harry placed his hand on it.


    Harry paused and extended an invitation to Cedric, "Why don''t we go out together, the rules only state that a team must be gathered to activate the key, it doesn''t say that others cannot be included."


    Cedric smiled and shook his head, "I''m going to wait for my teammates."


    "All right then." Harry said, turning his head to look at Ron and Hermione who are covered in dirt, he guessed he must be in a mess too, but they both had excited expressions on their faces, "Ready? It can''t be that fun."


    "Is this a last bit of misery before receiving the prize?" Ron asked with a grin.


    Harry grinned likewise and placed his hand on the trophy, then he felt a hook tugging his navel, as the seventh level of the maze disappeared before his eyes, and the last thing he saw was Cedric smiling and waving at them.


    The competition concluded successfully, they got the championship, Harry now just want to sleep hard, it is best to wake up on the summer holiday.


    ...


    "Finally ..." Felix said with emotion. He covered his bowler hat and his figure disappeared abruptly. When he reappeared, he had stepped on a shabby path in a small, isolated village. Not far from him, a small church stood in the darkness, the outline of which he could barely see.


    In the distance, there is a looming shadow.


    "That''s the cemetery?"


    "Yes, Professor." Hermione hidden in the bowler hat said, Felix''s hand on the hat, bent low as that Hat flipped, Hermione carefully jumped out of it, with a gold chain more than ten times bigger than her - the time-turner is almost as tall as her.


    Under the effect of the zooming spell, Hermione grew little by little and regained her original size.


    "This is your beaded pouch." Felix took out a small pouch from his shirt pocket and handed it to Hermione, "The zooming spell still has an effect on such magic items, but the time-turner is ... let''s see, oh yes, and the ring." He took the ring off his hand and handed it to Hermione at the same time.


    " Keep it with you for now."


    "Professor, do you really think that the Ministry of Magic will do something against you? How dare they do that?"


    "Just be prepared," Felix said with a shrug, "We''re going to split up, so estimate your time well, use the disillusionment charm and all other concealment magic to hide, and go back when the time is right... you can make it, Gran... Miss Jane."


    "Yes!"


    Felix smiled faintly and turned around to walk towards the graveyard. S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    #Niteo akuma and Hary Christian, Thanks for your love and support.


    There are 563+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 486: Felixs Death and Return (3 in 1)

    Whistling winds and swirling colours swirled around Harry, Ron, and Hermione, dragging them forward, and when their feet touched the solid ground again, they are in a completely unfamiliar place. A graveyard appeared.


    The Trio sat on the ground, feeling very shocked.


    "Where is this place?" Ron asked, "I can''t see a hint of familiarity, this-this is a graveyard?" They are surrounded by erected black stone stele and overgrown grass; Harry shook his head and looked around, he saw a tall redwood tree, behind which is an outline of a building.


    To the left is a hillock. Harry could make out a fine old house on the hillside.


    "There seems to be a problem with the trophy transmission," Harry said, looking around for the trophy, which laid a dozen feet away from them.


    "Someone from the Ministry of Magic would make such a cheap mistake?" Ron asked in surprise.


    "Oh, Harry, look over there-" Hermione said nervously, pointing in a direction.


    "The sound of the wind?" Ron guessed that the wind had picked up during the night.


    "It''s people, take your wand." Harry said, and they squinted nervously into the deep darkness as three figures walked toward them, step by step, between the graves. Are they nearby Muggles? Harry thought, but he quickly dismissed the suspicion; they are all cloaked in wizard cloaks.


    "Stop, who are you?" Harry shouted at the men.


    The wind carried the sound of snickering in bits, which is by no means a sign of friendliness, and Harry raised his wand, but they stopped a dozen feet away and reached to remove the hoods from their heads. Harry, Ron, and Hermione relaxed slightly, Harry only felt that the man in the middle with his bare skin abnormally white, like he had some terrible disease, looked familiar.


    The person on the far left revealed his face, " Barty Crouch Jr!" Hermione shouted. Harry was taken aback, unable to focus on the middle person, his eyes moved to the left, and memories of Christmas night six months ago came flooding back, "It''s really you!"


    "Potter," Crouch Jr. grinned, "you should call me Professor, after all, I''ve taught you."


    Ron who stood next to him tugged on his sleeve. "Ha, Harry-"


    Without him saying a word, Harry noticed a pair of eyes full of malice, from the man in the middle. He had just undone his cloak, his nose is flattened like a snake, and his nostrils are two thin slits ... Harry found this appearance really familiar, the man stroked his forehead with pale and slender hands, revealing a pair of scarlet eyes between his fingers.


    From these eyes, one cannot find a little warmth.


    "Voldemort?" He shouted.


    "How dare you call Lord by his name!" Crouch Jr. drew his wand in anger, and a hand stopped him. A sharp voice, cold like ice heard, "They are my guests whom I have invited here with great effort Barty, and I''ll allow them to be rude this time." Voldemort said.


    "Lord, those two are in the way why not leave them to me?" Yaxley humbly bowed his head and asked, "I came from the Maze tower in order to contribute."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione have not recovered from the great shock yet, the night air is cold as the bitter ice, and a penetrating coldness spread from the lungs to their whole body.


    However, Voldemort did not respond to Yaxley''s words a bit. His eyes turned red, making it impossible to distinguish the pupils from the whites of the eyes for a while, but Harry could clearly feel the gaze that seemed like a substance measuring his body constantly, with greed, hatred, and a hint of ... worry?


    Barty Crouch Jr. who is standing on the far left, appeared like a Good Guy now, lazily playing with his wand and casting a contemptuous glance at Yaxley - he knows nothing yet, still getting this anxious to take his place? Crouch Jr. licked his lips with a sickly smile.


    "So, you''ve been resurrected?"


    Harry took a step forward, shielding Ron and Hermione behind him, and bravely locked eyes with Voldemort. He had to attract the attention of the opposite side as much as possible ... to take the initiative to create an opportunity ... so that Hermione and Ron could have a chance to escape and tell the professor, and Headmaster Dumbledore about this.


    But his heart plunged to the bottom, as if falling into a bottomless abyss. A voice told him that the chances are too slim. Barty Crouch Jr. is stronger than the three of them combined a year ago, not to mention the resurrected Voldemort.


    Harry stared into Voldemort''s eyes, trying to show his fearlessness. But his scar suddenly started to hurt sharply without warning, never before in his life, he had felt this much pain, his head seemed like it would explode. Harry''s one hand covered the scar, one hand still clutching the wand, the pain made him fall to the ground twitching, his stomach turned over, he constantly dry-heaved, even suspected that he would die in the next second.


    He heard Ron and Hermione shouting something, followed by several sharp cracking sounds, as well as the sound of a body hitting the ground heavily.


    At that moment, a sudden coolness came to his brain, quickly soothing his pain. It is Occlumency.


    "Tsk, tsk ... your friend really cares about you." The voice said without a trace of emotion.


    Harry opened his eyes, his eyes glazed over, his vision blurred, and the effects of the intense pain still lingered. It took several seconds to see the face of Voldemort near him - it looked like the colour of a corpse, the colour of white bone. There is no trace of hair on his head, and his bright red eyes look eerily appalling in the darkness, with pupils that turned into two slits, like the eyes of a snake.


    What did he just say? My friend? Harry thought of terrible speculation, no ... never ... he struggled to get up, every movement is painful, but even so, he did not put down the wand in his hand.


    If Ron and Hermione really ... he dared not imagine the possibility, his stomach began to flip again, his fingers nicked from clutching his wand hard. Harry gritted his teeth, the pain made him feel better. He struggled to get up while staring at Voldemort with a glare of hatred.


    In response, Voldemort sneered at him with a cold, sharp, grim smile.


    He staggered to his feet and shook his head vigorously, Voldemort quietly took two steps back, still staring at him with that sickening look.


    At that moment, Harry heard a faint groan, it is Ron! Harry''s heart filled with wild joy, he''s not dead, great! And where is Hermione? He couldn''t hear her movement, it is silent as death on his left side, Harry didn''t dare to turn around to confirm.


    "You shot too hard, Yaxley, that girl is almost dead." Voldemort said softly, " Barty did just fine."


    "Lor- Lord ...?" Yaxley looked up in disbelief as Barty Crouch Jr. let out a silent sneer.


    "I have use for all three of them," Voldemort said softly, his eyes still fixed on Harry, "Those two ... are not only the best friends of Harry Potter the Saviour, but-- -according to Barty, they both befriended Felix Hap?"


    "Yes, Master," Barty Crouch Jr. answered respectfully, "especially that Muggle girl, who became Hap''s assistant in her second year."


    Voldemort sneered twice.


    "The purebloods have completely degenerated, and their offspring have turned to waste, to let the vile muggle race climb over them."


    He began to pace, walking around in front of Harry. Harry stood still glaring, his wand clutched in his hand, should he shoot a spell against Voldemort? And then use the Summoning charm to summon the trophy ... No, Barty Crouch Jr. and that Death Eater had their eyes on him.


    Harry''s heart burned. Voldemort did not kill a person for the time being, but he knew it is never because of mercy, but rather because he has an even more evil plan. Harry''s mind raced, and he was surprised to find that, even in poor physical condition, Occlumency functioned autonomously, keeping him from falling into the depths of despair.


    "I was looking forward to this scene a long time ago, the meeting with the ''great saviour'' Harry Potter ..." Voldemort said softly, Harry''s eyes followed his long, thin, pale fingers. There is a wand held softly between them, as if a random disarming charm could make the wand come out of his hand.


    Harry thought foolishly.


    Voldemort is too arrogant, he is defenseless, does he think he has no power to fight back, will this be his breakthrough?


    "... I anticipated, to reborn with the help of your blood, to break the destiny, and then kill you in one fell swoop. But I failed," Voldemort said regretfully, his bare feet rustling on the dirt and barren grass, "Hogwarts is more dangerous than thirteen years ago, in addition to that mudblood and Muggle protector, Albus Dumbledore ... It added Felix Hap, who is more aggressive and proactive than the ageing Dumbledore ..."


    "I had to abandon the best option - after nearly losing my only loyal servant." Voldemort paused, his snake-like eyes narrowed unpleasantly. Harry tried to keep his gaze at Voldemort''s hand from being too obvious -


    "So I backed off ... You have no idea how frustrated I was, Harry Potter; I once again savoured a setback ..."


    "Expellia-" Harry shouted when Voldemort waved his hand violently-


    "Splat!"


    Harry''s wand fell to the ground. Harry''s eyes widened, he completely missed it, Voldemort''s movements were too fast, as if he had been prepared for it. At that moment, Voldemort slowly turned around, stared at him for a few seconds, raised his wand, and whispered: "Crucio!"


    Harry felt his whole bones burning, his head must have cracked along the scar, his eyeballs bulging and threatening to burst open at any moment under the tremendous pressure, his body bent in the opposite direction as if trying to break him in half. He wished it would stop quickly ... wished he would pass out ... and die ...


    Harry found the pain in his body diminished a little, and from the location of the thigh came a warmth, the amulet in his pocket! At the moment there are two forces sheltering him, one is Occlumency, and the other is the knot amulet that Nona gave him. Although the effect of both was weak, but it did help.


    Voldemort''s serpentine face twisted with a cruel and satisfied smile, and the wand kept pointing at him for who knows how long -


    The torture was finally over.


    Harry went limp, his back wet with sweat, panting violently. His head remained against the ground, but he still felt the ecstasy in Voldemort''s heart. Why the hell? Does torturing him make him happy?


    Harry could not understand this emotion, but he is quite sure of one thing, he is not mistaken - after all, he can''t feel an ounce of joy right now.


    "Tie them up." Voldemort commanded briskly.


    A man came forward, Harry''s face still on the ground, his wand is not far from him, but he could not reach it, a rope wrapped around him, he was dragged on the ground, catching glimpses of Ron and Hermione who were treated the same way, Ron''s legs twisted unnaturally, his face looked pale, Hermione looked like a corpse, her chest did not rise and fall.


    Immediately after he got hoisted up by the rope, his back pressed against the cold flat surface, he froze for two seconds before he realized it is the black tombstone. He also saw who the man in front of him is, Barty Crouch Jr. He had a silver glove in one hand.


    " Noticed it, Potter?" Barty Crouch Jr. licked his lips psychopathically, "This is the Dark Lord''s reward for me." Harry glared at him, this feeble threat did not affect the movements of the Barty Crouch Jr. in the slightest, the rope wrapped around Harry''s body loop after loop, from the neck to the ankle without a single gap.


    Barty Crouch Jr. walked away.


    "Hold out your arms." Voldemort said lazily, and Yaxley and Crouch Jr. held out their left arms at the same time, and Harry saw a bright red tattoo design. Voldemort pressed his long, pale forefinger on Barty Crouch Jr.''s arm, and the mark turned pitch black as Barty Crouch Jr. let out a faint intake of breath.


    Voldemort straightened up and raised his head a little, scanning the dark graveyard.


    "How many people would have the guts to come back after feeling it? And how many will be foolish enough not to come?" He muttered.


    Voldemort began pacing again, scanning the graveyard from time to time. Harry did not know what is happening, but he figured it must not be good, he desperately started to think of some solutions, Apparition? No, he lost his wand, and he can''t do wandless magic like Professor Hap, not to mention that he has two people with him.


    There is no way he can escape alone.


    Wait, Professor Hap? Harry''s eyes widened, desperately followed that ray of hope, desperately thought of something related to Professor Hap ... he finally remembered, the Ring of Ouroboros Snake.


    But Harry was once again disappointed, as he did not carry the Ring of Ouroboros Snake with him, to begin with. But ... there is someone who might have brought it.


    He tried his best to incline his head and look to his left, where Hermione still remained unconscious.


    "Hermione ..." whispered Harry, who had only been separated from Hermione by the gap in between the tombstones, but he was tied up so tightly that he couldn''t even extend his foot to kick, and worse, his struggle had attracted Voldemort''s attention.


    " Concerned about your friend? Potter?" Voldemort said softly, as he paced over, "Despite being only an inferior mudblood, she''s more useful than you think ..." His eyes scanned Hermione, Harry, and Ron, as he said with dripping malice, "Muggleborn, Half-blood, and Pureblood, what a dramatic combination!"


    "Rennervate!" He pointed his wand at Hermione, who slowly and breathlessly opened her eyes and saw Voldemort close at hand, her eyes widened in fear and her body slumped back, resulting in a moan of pain as it contacted her bruise.


    But Voldemort looked away from them with disinterest.


    "I think it would be better for your two best friends to witness your death." A cruel smile appeared on his face, "After that, should I let the pureblood kill the mudblood, or is it better for the mudblood to kill the pureblood? Or, let them both die at the hand of each other ... I haven''t decided yet, but I''m sure it will be a good show."


    "You ... are dreaming." Ron said with a twisted face.


    Voldemort looked over at him and sneered twice, "Weasley? A Disgusting family - Crucio!"


    Ron screamed in pain.


    "No--"


    "Don''t-"


    Harry and Hermione, who had just regained consciousness, screamed, but the smile on Voldemort''s face intensified, "I like the feeling, the feeling of controlling life and death ..." He continued to point his wand at Ron, making him howl in pain, but this time the torture did not last long. It didn''t take long for Voldemort to voluntarily stop and look around.


    The sound of swaying cloaks abruptly filled the air. In every corner of the dark graveyard, a wizard Apparited themselves. They all wore hoods and masked their faces, walking cautiously. Voldemort took a few steps out and stood silently waiting.


    A Death Eater fell to his knees, crawled towards Voldemort, and kissed the hem of his black robe.


    More and more Death Eaters did so, including Barty Crouch Jr. and Yaxley, and the only people who were left their heads high at the scene besides Voldemort would be the Trio.


    "Welcome, My Death Eaters," Voldemort said calmly, as he began his comeback speech, Harry didn''t bother to listen carefully, as he winked at Hermione, but he didn''t dare make it too obvious, so Hermione didn''t notice that as she was bruised -


    "I smell guilt ... no one has tried to reach out to me ... didn''t you guys know a long time ago that I have a solution to prevent death? Yes, perhaps you think there is a greater power that has defeated Voldemort, the lord you serve ... such as that old man who is hiding in Hogwarts? Or the boy who is suffering before you?"


    The Death Eaters on their knees shuddered and looked up, gasping for breath when they saw Harry.


    "Lucius, you''re surprised? I heard that your son is in the same grade as Harry Potter?"


    "Lord-My Lord," Lucius Malfoy''s voice came out of the dense line of Death Eaters, "the Malfoys have always been loyal to you, and Draco... Draco and Potter are mortal enemies at school! He hates Muggles as much as I do, hates Potter, hates Dumbledore."


    Lucius looked up, "Master, it is so nice to have you back--"


    "Lucius," Voldemort said lazily, "my cunning friend, hypocrisy is etched into your bones, you, like the others, have never tried to find me ... however, your performance at the Quidditch World Cup site was quite good, and I believe ... you''re still willing to take the lead in tormenting muggles, right? Even though you let me down for a time ... I hope you will serve me more faithfully in the future."


    "Of course, My Lord, of course ... you are magnanimous, thank you ..."


    Next, Voldemort named one by one, including those who did not come, the kneeling Death Eaters waited on the floor as if they are awaiting their fate, Harry took the opportunity to keep signalling Hermione with his eyes, and he succeeded, Hermione cast a witty glance.


    "The Ring of Ouroboros." Harry muttered softly.


    Hermione stared at him, failing to hear.


    "Ring of Ouroboros." Harry raised his voice slightly, and this time, Hermione heard him. She nodded gently at Harry, her arms moving in small circles, by which time, Voldemort had finally completed his trial to the Death Eaters, and they regrouped under Voldemort''s banner.


    "Next, the highlight of my return night is my carefully prepared play." Voldemort turned around, slit-like nostrils slightly expanded, and Hermione immediately stopped moving. Voldemort raised his wand: "Let us all witness the death of Harry Potter."


    All Death Eaters raised their wands and said in unison, "Witness the death of Harry Potter."


    Harry felt the rope that bound him suddenly loosened, he had an idea, so he felled in the direction of Hermione, and with the help of his body as a cover, he pulled Hermione''s rope twice, Hermione quickly reached into her pocket.


    Muffled jeers rang out around the scene.


    "Hahahaha, I have to reveal- before that, the big tough boy needs to suffer some torture." Voldemort held up his wand, the corners of his mouth curled with a cold arc.


    The crowd laughed even more.


    "Come forward, Potter, and embrace your destiny." Voldemort chuckled softly.


    Harry dawdled as best he could, buying time for Hermione. It had been so long, the school must have noticed they are missing, no, they should have known from the time they held the trophy but didn''t show up off the tower, but the school couldn''t find them ... That''s exactly where the Ring of Ouroboros comes in handy.


    "Oh?" Voldemort trailed off, "Harry Potter looks a little nervous, you guys make some more room. As I recall, He is supposed to have learned to duel, right?"


    The Death Eaters laughed and scattered further apart as Harry limped over to his wand and picked it up off the floor, as he also picked up Ron''s and Hermione''s wands by hand and pocketed them as well.


    "A child''s trick." Voldemort snickered.


    "Let''s bow to each other, Harry," he said and bowed back, but his snake face always looked at Harry, "Come on, manners are meant to be followed... Dumbledore would certainly expect you to behave with grace ... bow to your death, Harry ..."


    Harry stubbornly stared at him, Voldemort''s wand gently lowered, and he bent down forcefully, and in order to humiliate him, Voldemort deliberately let him hold this posture for some time. The surroundings resounded with laughter.


    This is not bad ... Harry thought, at least it stalled some time.


    "So, let the duel begin."


    Harry raised his wand quickly, red light converging on the tip, but Voldemort shot him with more speed, with a Cruciatus Curse, and Harry fell to the ground in pain, feeling white-hot knives carving into his body, he howled in pain and stumbled back towards the human wall of Death Eaters, and he saw a Death Eater, with light blond hair under his cloak, fumbling something in his pocket with one hand.


    What is he doing? Harry couldn''t help but wonder, and the next second he got pushed back by the Death Eaters around him.


    "Does that hurt, Harry?" Voldemort said, nostrils flaring excitedly, "Need a break? You''ll have to learn to endure because next I''ll keep using this curse... Cruciatus Curse ... till the very end of your life."


    The surrounding voices got muffled, and the Death Eaters looked at Voldemort with awe, and Voldemort was satisfied with that.


    Harry, however, noticed the anomaly. If you don''t count the shot that knocked off his wand, Voldemort had only used one spell on him from start to finish, plus that worry he thought he had misread ... It suddenly dawned on Harry.


    "You are afraid of me! Voldemort, you''re afraid of me!" Harry shouted.


    "What did you say, Potter?" Voldemort asked softly.


    "You''re afraid to use the Killing Curse against me, aren''t you!" Harry shouted, putting out his suspicions, whether true or false, at least it will stall a little time, "You are afraid of the magical protection my mother bestowed on me with her life, and fear that the curse will bounce back against you again and be doomed! And completely become a joke right?!"


    The Death Eaters around them went silent, only the cold whistling wind of the night heard.


    Voldemort went silent for a brief moment, then broke into a cold smile, "I just want to torture you - Crucio"


    The spell hit Harry, but this time he didn''t fall - he shuddered, but his eyes fixed on Voldemort with a firm gaze, "You''re scared Voldemort! I wasn''t sure before, but now I''m 100% certain. Mother''s protection is in my blood, you''ve had enough of suffering from that, haven''t you!"


    "Thirteen years ago was once! Three years ago, you possessed the back of Professor Quirrell''s head again! How wretched you were, you should have shown these people that pathetic appearance!" Harry mocked loudly, Voldemort looked furious, his pale and slender hands trembled for the first time.


    "Crucio - Crucio - Crucio -"


    Harry fearlessly opened his arms and gave up resistance. Just at this moment, a blood-colored light fell from the sky and hit the ground heavily, shielding Harry''s body, "Ding ding ding ding!" Cruciatus Curse missed.


    Harry opened his eyes wide, a steel knight stood in front of him, he could not distinguish whether it is a golem or a spell, he could only recognize the knight is wearing medieval armour, with bloodstains, as if he had just experienced a battle, his hands held an enormous and incredible shield.


    "What-" Voldemort suddenly turned back and looked into the midair, gritting his teeth as he said, "Felix Hap!"


    "It''s me." Felix said calmly, hovering in midair with a pair of shining silver feathers behind him, swaying gently.


    "You''re just in time," Voldemort said with a sneer, "I''ve been suppressing the thought of looking for you, but I didn''t expect you to come here on your own - Avada Kedavra!" Green light blotted and covered the sky, Felix''s silvery feathers flashed, and his body abruptly disappeared in midair.


    When he reappeared, he is already standing next to Harry and the knight, holding a black lightning bolt in his left hand. His other hand slashed, and the ropes binding Ron and Hermione loosened at once, and they stumbled to their knees. "Take Ron and Hermione first and use the trophy, the ''knight'' will protect you for now." He said to Harry.


    A strong hope welled up in Harry''s chest.


    "Stop them!" Voldemort''s snake face twisted and green light filled harry''s vision as the knight yanked Harry up and dodged to the side, Felix turning deftly at the same time to avoid the spell. He reappeared in midair, and the black bolts of lightning in his hand poured down, with hundreds of bolts striking the earth.


    Death Eaters immediately scattered, but a few unlucky people were struck.


    Felix noticed Barty Crouch Jr. moving in Harry''s direction, his eyes flickered as if he did not notice it.


    Harry found himself being led by the ''knight'' next to Ron and Hermione, "Thank--" he didn''t know what to say, maybe there is a wizard inside the armour, but he was suddenly stunned, as the part of the knight''s body dissipated as a result of the green Killing Curse. The shield diagonally chipped and the right half of its shoulder disappeared, the whole fracture corroded by some kind of green stuff.


    "Harry, the trophy--" Hermione said feebly, as she helped Ron to his feet.


    "The trophy - yes, Accio trophy!" Harry shouted with his wand outstretched, but the fight was so intense around them that despite being on the edge of the battlefield, they suffered the aftermath, a great deal of soil was toppled up and a black tombstone shot up into the sky, smashing into Felix under Voldemort''s control.


    "Dude, I think the trophy is in that direction." Ron said with a grimace.


    "Oh, that''s right!" Harry said hastily, switching his wand in a different direction, "Accio trophy!" He heard a cracking sound, and at the right time, a figure suddenly rushed out, "Pulverize! (unknown incantation)" The man shouted with a sly grin on his face.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione watched as the Smashing spell smashed the trophy to pieces.


    "Follow me and deal with Potter and the group! The Lord will take care of the Hap!" Barty Crouch Jr. shouted at the top of his lungs, a dozen dark shadows responded to him, colourful spells came towards them, the knight stepped forward and put his chipped shield upon the ground, and all the spells bounced off.


    "Go behind them!" Barty Crouch Jr. spotted the opening.


    "Let''s head back!" Harry shouted, his wand passed through the gap and the disarming charm was unleashed wordlessly. A Death Eater''s wand flew loose and headed toward Harry, "Diffindo." Harry shouted again, the wand broke into parts in midair.


    "Back to where?" Ron yelled, balancing one foot.


    Harry did not answer, he saw a Death Eater circled back, and had reached their flank, he hurriedly cast a few stunning spells, which missed, but the fast and rapid spell made the two advancing Death Eaters startled, they dared not approach recklessly.


    Hermione tugged on Ron, "There''s a huge redwood back there."


    Harry was in difficulty at this point, he did not know how to make the ''knight'' obey orders, from the previous performance, it is quite intelligent, simply not like magic.


    "We''re going back, you follow us, do you hear me?" Harry said to the knight.


    There was no response, the knight just indifferently blocked in front of them.


    In the meantime, the Death Eaters once again surrounded them.


    "Back!" Harry said decisively while holding up the runic shield charm, they took a few steps backward, and the knight who had not budged before moved, following a step backward, always in front of them.


    "It really works!" Harry exclaimed, and they quickly retreated near the redwood tree, barely holding their ground under the protection of the massive tree trunk and half of the knight''s shield.


    "Here!" Harry pulled two wands out of his pocket, which he had picked up earlier when he had stalled for time.


    "Awesome!" Ron shouted with a pale face. The Death Eaters'' attack got more cautious with the addition of Ron and Hermione, especially after Ron used the Bright Fire-Making spell to set a Death Eater on fire.


    The Death Eaters tried to put out the flames, but ordinary water had no effect at all, and before long, the flames extinguished by themselves, and the Death Eater is dying.


    "This spell works wonder on them! Should have thought of it - it works wonders on dark creatures!"


    Hermione used the ancient magic she had mastered, and the golden flame turned into a firebird, and quickly flew next to a Death Eater, and opened its mouth to peck him on the face, who immediately let out a terrible scream.


    "Help me!" He shouted.


    Barty Crouch Jr. summoned a stream of water, the golden flame extinguished very slowly, and the Death Eater got burnt to a bloody pulp.


    "Is he dead?" Hermione asked with a shudder.


    "Who cares!" Ron shouted.


    But next, Hermione just let the firebird circle around the redwood tree and the knight, showering a patch of golden flames, and no matter how much Barty Crouch Jr. urged, the Death Eater did not dare to move forward.


    "Use the Killing Curse!" Barty Crouch Jr. shouted.


    "Expelliarmus!" Harry saw the opportunity to release the disarming charm, the red light of the spell looked like a long laser beam, Barty Crouch Jr. immediately propped up the shield charm, Harry increased the magic power simultaneously, the beam sparked, and three Death Eaters close to Barty Crouch Jr. got hit, the wand detached from their hands and flew into the deep darkness. Then Ron immediately followed to use the stunning spell -


    "Only two hits." Ron said regretfully.


    Harry looked in the distance a hundred miles away, the graveyard has been completely destroyed, there are deep pits and debris everywhere, Professor Hap continuously used an Apparition, and unexpectedly created seven clones at the same time, his spells formed a dense and impermeable net, Voldemort surrounded in the center, forming a deadlock. And the incantation used by the professor is actually -


    Killing Curse!


    Voldemort summoned a silver shield from the thin air, the spell hit the shield and made a "zi zi" sound, and the next second the weakened spell penetrated the shield with difficulty, but Voldemort took advantage of this time to escape.


    Voldemort grinned, "Good tactics, but your Killing Curse is too weak, Look this is how it should be" He raised his wand, then his figure disappeared in place. He hovered in midair, without the aid of any feathered wings, and just appeared on Felix''s right side riding on the wind. A dazzling green light illuminated a small half of the graveyard in a flash -


    "Avada Kedavra--"


    The incantation smashed Felix to smithereens. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The battle stood still for a moment. Everyone looked towards midair, the green light had not dissipated yet, and the fragments of the body belonging to Felix Hap glowed crystalline, falling down lightly like flower petals.


    Lucius Malfoy, who had been paddling, had his eyes bulged out, and he was dead just like that? Where is Dumbledore? are you that confident that you can deal with the Dark Lord and a bunch of Death Eaters alone? He immediately reached into his pocket, where there is a contact item sent to him by Felix before, and now all of a sudden it became a hot potato.


    ...


    "How is it possible?" Harry''s brain went dizzy, although he knew Voldemort is very powerful, but Professor Hap in his mind is equally powerful, he looked around incredulously, maybe the professor used the Apparition, the next time he will appear to deliver Voldemort a fatal blow.


    Everyone seemed to share this idea, they gripped their wands tightly, cautiously staring at the midair, the stars of the night kept twinkling.


    Harry''s heart sank a little, the knight in front of him suddenly became transparent, it had resisted Voldemort''s death spell, but now in the absence of any attack, it started to self-collapse ...


    Professor Hap is really dead?


    Whether friend or foe, everyone needs to take some time to accept this reality. Only Voldemort moved on the field, he tilted his head, took a deep breath, and brushed his palm across his bare forehead, with an intoxicated expression.


    A great enemy is finally dead.


    One more person moved, Hermione took out the beaded pouch and poked her hand in, "Please ... please ... must be there." She said with a sobbing voice.


    She took out the time-turner and slipped it around her neck, turning the knob on it, "Just three hours ahead." Her fingers kept trembling, Harry and Ron, both looked at that little time-turner at the same time, and their eyes gradually glowed.


    At the same time, the knight who had been in front of them finally collapsed into countless points of light, like fireflies in the night.


    "Oh--" Hermione shuddered and turned once, twice, three times, and finished--a crowd of Death Eaters still did not know what had happened.


    "Pulverize!" A voice that couldn''t stop smiling shouted, Harry''s eyes widened, and hurriedly used the shield charm, the magic barrier took shape almost instantly, but a bright white light burrowed through the gap and hit the time-turner straight on.


    The time-turner began to fly.


    Hermione''s figure disappeared.


    "Where did the girl go?"


    "What did she do?"


    "Apparition--"


    At this time, Voldemort''s eyes also looked over, he is surprised by both the disappearance of the muggle girl, and Harry Potter still being alive, and well until now.


    Harry was right, Voldemort really did not have the courage to cast a Killing Curse against Harry, he was worried about the nightmare of thirteen years ago, so he tried the method of torturing Harry with a Cruciatus Curse, both to show his authority, and not to worry about the spell rebound.


    Apart from the death of Felix Hap thing, everything that happened tonight is not as good as it should be.


    Voldemort remained silent, looking for someone to find his "embarrassment", and take the initiative to help him solve the trouble, Harry Potter. Barty Crouch Jr. ... Lucius Malfoy ... they both could guess what he was thinking in the past.


    The sound of subtle footsteps rang out, no less than a thunderclap in the silent night. Hermione came running out from behind the huge redwood tree -


    "Hermione!"


    "Hermione!"


    Harry and Ron rejoiced, they knew the way the time-turner works. Harry had been worried that the time-turner was affected by Barty Crouch Jr.''s spell, but now Hermione''s presence meant she had succeeded.


    "Hermione, Professor he-" Harry was just about to ask when he was suddenly knocked back by a surge of power from her, and Hermione''s body began to blossom with a dazzling golden light. Her appearance is rapidly ageing ... no, He should say growing up, she seems to have aged ten years at once, but in the next second, she reverted back to her original form as if everything before was an illusion.


    "Ka-da!"


    The time-turner on her chest shattered.


    "It''s time--" Barty Crouch Jr. cried out, a great sense of crisis flooded his heart, and he absolutely trusted his senses, "My Lord save-- "


    At the same time, Voldemort advanced to move out of place. He stood high on a hillock just in time to see a black lightning bolt run through Barty Crouch Jr.''s skull - and he was dead.


    "Felix Hap!" He looked around in horror, "Where is it?"


    He saw Felix. Barty Crouch Jr.''s face looked more like a ghost, a vengeful ghost, than a real person. Felix''s whole body is covered with dense strange lines, his body eerily glowed and looked colourful.


    "Profe-essor?" Ron''s jaw dropped, the professor''s face looked completely demonic, and at first glance, he appeared more haunting than the Voldemort nearby.


    "It''s me." Felix grinned, his teeth are also made of runes, and Ron even recognized one or two of them.


    "Put your hand on my arm." Felix said. As he spoke, a large number of points of light came from all directions and filled his body. Harry, Ron, and Hermione did as they were told at the same time, and then Felix held out his other hand and a wand fell into it.


    He looked around, the Death Eaters have avoided his gaze. Only Voldemort looked at him from above, his expression looked unfathomable, Felix laughed, you''re scared silly, right?


    He directly cast an apparition and disappeared from the graveyard.


    In the next second, Felix, Harry, Ron, and Hermione appeared outside the Maze tower''s temporary tent.


    "Professor, you really did it! Resurrected from the dead - oh my god!" Hermione shouted in surprise, and Harry and Ron are also filled with joy.


    Felix smiled at them and suddenly fell back weakly.


    "Professor-"


    "Professor Hap!"


    "Professor--"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione shouted at the same time. At this moment, the Maze Tower inside and outside has become chaotic.


    ----------------


    Note:


    This Chapter has a total of 6137 words excluding this note, so there''ll be only one chapter tomorrow.


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 565+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 487: Death Statement

    "Professor, are you all right-" "I''m fine." Felix got up from the ground, and Harry hurriedly found him a chair to sit on, while he closed his eyes and gasped slightly. The trio looked at Felix worriedly, the professor seemed to have recovered from that horrible state before, but not too completely - his face, neck, hands ... every now and then transformed into dense runes, then the next second they turn back into full skin, repeating the process over and over again.


    "I am not yet familiar with this state, in order to avoid scaring people, I will not go out ... you go and find Headmaster Dumbledore and tell him what happened."


    Felix opened his eyes, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione were startled, the professor''s light blue pupil is replaced by a myriad of runes, the eyes are like two shrunken runic balls embedded in the sockets. When he finished and closed his eyes, his body began to flicker again.


    The trio looked at each other.


    "Obviously, the professor needs time to master his new powers, and someone needs to be on guard during this time." Hermione said.


    "I''ll go, you and Ron keep watch," Harry decided after a brief pause, "you''re both injured-"


    " You are speaking as if you weren''t the one who got hit with several Cruciatus Curses." Ron bristled.


    Harry answered back with a smile. "At least my leg is still fine, and-" he hesitated, not quite sure, "Actually, by the end of the session, I didn''t feel Voldemort''s curse was affecting me that much, it was like ... as if my body was gradually adapting to the pain caused by the Cruciatus Curse ..."


    Ron and Hermione stared at him suspiciously.


    Ron said uneasily, "Harry, you''d better get Madam Pomfrey to look at it, I''ve heard that enduring multiple Cruciatus Curse can cause serious side effects-"


    "You think I''m crazy?" Harry glared, and Ron averted his gaze from him, muttering in a small voice, "It wouldn''t be a bad thing to at least make sure."


    "It could be the effect of - er - the protective magic present in Harry''s blood," Hermione said, picking her words carefully, "Let''s just not take any wild guesses, and to be honest, I''m a little concerned, that Headmaster Dumbledore isn''t here." She glanced carefully at Felix, as her hand covered her pocket, where the ring he had handed her is kept.


    The professor''s excuse before was that the ring contained some prohibited materials, and in order to guard against the Ministry of Magic''s inspection, it is temporarily given to her for safekeeping. She didn''t think much of it before, but now that she was out of danger, she began to wonder if it is just a general investigation, is it necessary to go to this extent?


    Harry nodded and walked towards the door. As he was about to lift the curtain of the tent, Hermione called out to him.


    "Wait, Harry--"


    Harry turned around and saw Hermione looking at him seriously.


    "You know what to say, don''t you?"


    "You-Know-Who-" Harry didn''t understand her for a moment.


    "The time-turner." Hermione reminded him.


    It dawned on Harry, yeah, Hermione had gone back in time and modified history ... No, according to all that information he had recently looked up, there are only two outcomes when using a time-turner.


    Failure - the user suffers a backlash and poses a threat to ''time'' from the past to the present. s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Or success - everything the user does while travelling in time becomes a part of history, a kind that complements history. It''s like ''destiny'', but Hermione explained to him that the so-called destiny is actually because the user succeeds, and if he fails, it will have extremely serious consequences, like Eloise Mintumble.


    So what should he say? Harry seriously thought about it, and soon came up with a solution. In fact, it is very simple, as long as the process of Hermione using the time-turner is omitted, it will be all right. As for how the professor came back from the dead, he did not know. Maybe it''s a special magic that he is not supposed to know, isn''t it?


    Harry suddenly remembered a small detail, Crouch Jr. obviously recognized the time-turner, and wanted to break the secret ... so the professor chose to kill him immediately? Harry''s heart somewhat repulsed killing, but immediately he blamed his weakness, this is war, he admonished himself, not to mention that Crouch Jr. had done so many bad things. Professor Moody had the students read out loud in class about the Death Eaters and Aurors vividly ...


    He had never before realized that war is so close to him. Harry suddenly became emotional, realizing that he would be fifteen years old in a month.


    The night sky is dotted with stars, to his left is the dark and lofty Maze tower, standing silently in the darkness, and to his right is the high stands in the circular shape, he squinted, and there are figures walking everywhere on the ground.


    He saw two large, sturdy figures, several sizes larger than the rest as if they had been under an Enlarging Spell. They must be Hagrid and Madame Maxime, and not far from them, Harry saw a tall, thin silhouette with a translucent silver beard fluttering casually in the cool night air ... It would be Dumbledore, and Harry''s heart quickly calmed as he dragged his weary feet and moved over to them, one step at a time.


    "All around the forbidden forest was searched, no trace found!" Hagrid waved his arms in great annoyance, "I asked the centaur to assist in the search, and no news yet ..."


    "You heard it, Cornelius, the specifics are still unknown ... I''m afraid we can only wait in peace." Dumbledore said rather calmly.


    "How can I rest easy, Dumbledore?" Fudge shouted, " three champions who won the championship of the tournament just disappeared collectively, their life and death are still unknown ... what will those reporters write tomorrow?"


    "Cornelius, it doesn''t matter what the reporters write, what matters is the meaning behind this incident represents-"


    "What meaning?" Fudge immediately pursued the question.


    "Isn''t that obvious enough!" An angry voice roared close to Fudge''s ear. Fudge was startled and turned around, Mad-Eye Moody is standing next to him somehow, his heavy body leaning on his cane, as his magic eye staring straight at him.


    "I''m sorry, I can''t see it." Fudge said coldly while glancing disgruntledly at the Aurors behind him, who had clearly failed their duties.


    "Think about the reason why I was used as a puppet. And who threw the names of Harry Potter and his two friends into the Goblet of Fire?" Moody said gruffly, his cane tapping the ground with a loud thud.


    "Do you mean Barty Crouch, Jr.?" Fudge frowned, "But he''s gotten away, and a third of the Aurors have been tracking him everywhere this whole time, except tonight ..."


    "So you think it''s over? Crouch Jr. and the forces behind him went to great lengths to get Harry out of school and just gave up so easily? Doesn''t what happened today put you on guard?"


    Moody spat viciously on the ground, and Fudge turned red.


    "Alastor has a point, Cornelius, you can''t turn a blind eye to the approaching danger, I can almost conclude that we are in the middle of a great conspiracy." Dumbledore said lightly.


    "Conspiracy?" Fudge repeated the word as Harry stood behind the crowd, the moon isn''t exactly bright tonight and Fudge''s face is shrouded by a large shadow, which makes him look far less amiable than he did when Harry saw him in the Leaky Cauldron Bar, during the summer holidays in the second year - even though they were discussing Harry''s illegal blow-up of his aunt at the time.


    "I know what you''re going to say, the same old story again ... I told you at the dinner, I''ve sent an elite squad, and everything is subject to their investigation." Fudge said impatiently, "If I have to talk about conspiracy, I would like to ask, where did that Felix Hap go? You have been evasive, Dumbledore ..."


    "I think," Dumbledore said steadily, "Felix may have got a special induction about the whereabouts of Potter, Weasley, and Granger, and he is very good at making all sorts of gadgets that often work wonders at critical moments... ...like the amulet he gave me at Christmas, which helped me a lot."


    "I don''t have time to listen to your ramblings-"


    "I was just giving an example," Dumbledore said gently, "on the contrary, I''m equally curious - there seems to be one less guard coming out of the Maze Tower? And where did he go?"


    Fudge turned his head to the two Aurors behind him, one of whom nodded toward him and said softly, "Yaxley is missing."


    "That doesn''t mean anything," Fudge said immediately, "Maybe he found something unusual ... add him to the search list as well." He said to the Auror. The Auror nodded and turned to leave.


    "The Yaxley you are looking for is a Death Eater!" Harry couldn''t hold back any longer, as he shouted from behind where he stood.


    The people in the front were taken aback, and the one closest to Harry - one of Beauxbatons''s champion Jacqueline jumped in fright, she followed Madame Maxime to watch the fun, and now her eyes went wide as she looked back at the dirt-covered Harry.


    The crowd of onlookers broke into a commotion. "Harry is back!" A voice shouted, "He''s back alive!" The news spread with jaw-dropping speed, and people kept approaching, footsteps coming toward him from all directions.


    People raised their wands to get a better look, and the dense dots of light made Harry dizzy; there were a lot of gasps and screams, and he heard Mrs. Weasley''s distinctive voice among the many voices along with Hagrid''s excited roar.


    Immediately afterward, a pair of strong arms grabbed him, and Harry struggled to keep his eyes open; it is Dumbledore.


    "You''re all back?" He asked quickly.


    "Yes." Harry said, and in the side glance, he saw Sirius and Lupin trying to squeeze through.


    "So, Felix made it?" He continued to whisper in confirmation.


    "Y-what?" Harry looked at Dumbledore in shock. Dumbledore winked mischievously and mouthed wordlessly: the Time-Turner.


    Harry was too shocked to speak. But Dumbledore seemed to read the answer in his expression, and his voice regained its composure and calmness as he asked at a normal volume, "You saw Voldemort?" The people around him were startled by this question, everyone simultaneously stopped the movement of crowding forward, and looked at Dumbledore and Harry with unblinking eyes.


    Harry noticed that Fudge''s eyes widened as big as oxen''s.


    "Yes! Headmaster Dumbledore, we met Voldemort, who came back to life months ago! He''s the one who planned tonight''s plot, and-" Harry suddenly remembered something, "Yaxley! He''s the one who modified the destination of the Trophy!"


    The influx of people once again rioted uneasily, the ripples spreading even wider, and hundreds of people around them drew in their breath at the same time.


    "Are you sure?" Fudge rushed over like a brute, grabbing Harry''s collar with a death grip and spitting, "Are you sure? Where''s Hap? Where''s Felix Hap? What did he do?"


    "He saved us!" Harry exclaimed in annoyance.


    "And everyone is alive?" Fudge asked with ragged breath spewing from his nostrils.


    Harry suddenly felt very reluctant to answer Fudge''s question, but he saw the Weasleys and the Grangers'' in the crowd, their eyes flashing with fear and hope. So he said out loud, "That''s right! Ron and Hermione are alive, and they''re both fine! Except for the Death Eater, I don''t know if he died in the aftermath of the battle."


    Mrs. Granger screamed and then fainted, Mrs. Weasley fared slightly better, just sobbing loudly as their loved ones whispered reassuringly nearby.


    "Get Madam Pomfrey over here," Dumbledore said in a hushed voice, grabbing Harry''s shoulder as Fudge''s hand loosened as if he had been electrocuted, "there are some people here who need treatment. Minerva, look after the Granger''s for me."


    Professor McGonagall nodded.


    At that moment Hagrid squeezed in, Sirius and Lupin following him, along the huge gap that Hagrid had created to get in front of Harry.


    "You''re hurt? Harry, are you hurt?" Sirius tried to discern something from Harry''s body, but Harry is covered in dirt like he''s been rolling in the mud for half an hour. He couldn''t make anything out.


    "It''s nothing," Harry whispered, "just a few Cruciatus Curses ..."


    "Hiss! That''s a Cruciatus Curse!" Sirius shouted, "Why didn''t you mention it earlier!" He glared at Harry, but Harry felt warm inside, and then Sirius tried to carry him up.


    "Let me do it." Hagrid said gruffly, and he held Harry in his arms like a baby.


    "No, wait," Harry struggled desperately in Hagrid''s arms, "Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Hap is still in the makeshift tent with Ron and Hermione, Professor Hap ... he''s, um... . He''s dealing with an injury and doesn''t want to be disturbed by anyone else ..."


    "I see." Dumbledore said, "I''ll set up another makeshift tent next to it."


    Hagrid, Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore, and the rest of the group walked in the direction of the temporary tent, the crowd followed in silence, they all wanted to get a definite answer ... Fudge stayed where he was, his expression is hesitant.


    At that time, the Auror who had just left returned and whispered to Fudge for a while, Fudge stared in surprise, his mouth opened and closed several times.


    "Wait, Dumbledore!" He shouted.


    "Fudge," Dumbledore showed impatience for the first time tonight, "you saw the state they were in - they need to be treated, not questioned by the Ministry of Magic. If you want to get to the bottom of the matter, you might as well stay tonight, and we''ll listen together in the morning-"


    "No, Dumbledore, you''d better listen to this," Fudge''s expression looked both confused and relieved as he pointed to the Auror, "repeat the information you''ve been given."


    The Auror, who is watched by the crowd, stammered, "Just obtained the news that Yaxley was found, he, he died - but before he died, he told us ... he said that everything was Felix Hap''s conspiracy, he is the culprit!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 567+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 488: Student’s Power (2 in 1)

    In the makeshift tent, Ron sat with his feet up on a chair and exhaled a long breath, "It''s been a long night." "Yeaah...." Hermione replied absent-mindedly.


    "Do you have anything to eat?" Ron asked.


    Hermione looked back at him.


    "Hermione, I didn''t even eat much for dinner." Ron spread his hands and said accusingly, "If I don''t eat something, I''m going to starve to death before Madam Pomfrey comes over."


    "Eat, eat, eat, just eat."


    Hermione furiously rummaged through the beaded pouch and took out some snacks from it and threw them at Ron, and only after doing so did she realize that she had just inexplicably lost her temper.


    "Don''t worry, Hermione, the professor has come back from the dead, and will be a lot healthier soon," Ron did understand her thoughts, and after reassuring her twice, he surveyed the package in his hand and asked, "What''s this?"


    "Chips and chocolate," Hermione answered.


    "How come I''ve never seen ..." Ron muttered in a small voice, he ripped open the bag, picked up a piece of chips to examine for a while, and brought it into his mouth, after which his eyes lit up.


    "It''s a muggle snack." Hermione explained.


    "It tastes really good," Ron sighed contentedly, "Is this what you ate when you were a kid? I''ll try some chocolate ... Huh, it''s good too, although I still think the chocolate frog tastes better."


    It didn''t take long for him to finish eating.


    "Any more, Hermione?" Ron couldn''t restrain himself from asking.


    Hermione carefully rummaged through, "The rest are compressed cookies, nothing tastes--"


    "Never mind!"


    For the next while, the only sound left in the tent is Ron''s eating.


    "Crack, crack, crack."


    "How long do you think the professor is going to keep this up?" Hermione asked worriedly, at the moment Felix looked like a glowing statue.


    "Well ... don''t know, Dumbledore will be here in a moment, you can ask him ... chuck crack crack crack..."


    At that moment, a rapid sound of footsteps came from outside the tent.


    "Someone''s coming." Hermione said.


    "Great." Ron said.


    "I''ll take a look." Hermione looked a little worried as she stood up and walked towards the curtain of the tent.


    ...


    After an unknown amount of time, Felix opened his eyes and slowly glanced around.


    The tent is empty.


    He barely suppressed the magical powers boiling in his body to keep them from getting too active.


    He had experienced ... no, even now all kinds of magical changes continued to occur, first of all, the magic power boiling like water, his state became extremely unstable, so far it exceeded every magic riot he had ever experienced, even now, the magic power flowed like a gurgling stream; secondly, the body, the magic power flowing through every corner of his body and prompted his flesh and blood, skin and bones to undergo a mutation.


    This mutation seemed to touch the essence of life, the essence of magic. Felix thought that his body itself is a huge treasure waiting for him to explore.


    Only just now, his heart completely relaxed.


    Felix calmly mused, even if he didn''t want to admit it, he was a shade weaker when fighting Voldemort, in fact, the two should be evenly matched, but Voldemort''s Killing Curse was surprisingly powerful, and every time he faced the green light of the curse directly, it gave him a creepy feeling.


    Never get hit, that''s what his survival instincts told him. But then he had to do it, there was no other choice. Golem, thinking room created illusion can''t fool a wizard as skilled as Voldemort.


    He had to die for real.


    He needed that nudge to complete his transformation process.


    Unless he wants to see others die ...


    "Everyone has a choice. I made my choice, Ms. Jane, goodbye." Felix said softly.


    There came a low clamour heard from outside the tent, and he heard the messy footsteps of hundreds of people, but Felix paid no attention to it at all, his full attention drawn by the change in himself, and he raised his left hand, a crystalline brightness flowing through every line between his palms.


    Under his gaze, the Book of Rune appeared out of thin air, with "clattering" pages flipped, a magic shadow appeared, and Felix''s heart moved, he had a feeling that as long as he wanted, countless runes would gush out of his body, no need for him to actively combine them, as in a flash, ancient magic could be formed.


    "So the Book of Runes is supposed to be used in harmony with the transformed body." Felix pondered, he could try it later when he found an opportunity. He took the Book of Runes in his left palm and integrated it into his body - the previous trouble of having nowhere to put the Book of Runes is resolved automatically.


    At this point, the noise outside grew louder, and he heard Hermione''s sharp voice, Harry''s irritated shout, Dumbledore''s calm retort, and Fudge''s exasperated yelling accompanied by an uneasy commotion that made everything seem chaotic.


    "Fudge ..."


    Felix''s eyes flickered, he expected this scene, it will happen sooner or later - either today, or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, as long as Fudge does not acknowledge the existence of Voldemort, he will certainly trouble Dumbledore and him; And in order to avoid the continuation of such days, Felix made some preparations in advance.


    "Dobby." He said softly.


    A very loud burst of noise is bound in the small space, the sound echoed in the makeshift tent, without being able to spread out. Felix withdrew his hand and looked calmly at the sudden appearance of the house-elf.


    Dobby is still dressed the same way, except for a large bag on his back.


    "So, Voldemort and Death Eaters have left?"


    "Yes, indeed, Mr. Hap! You guessed it right!" Dobby cringed and shivered at the name, then his big eyes sparkled, and he couldn''t stop looking at him with adoration in his eyes, "I never thought that Dobby could be a part of something so great, Dobby, Dobby is so honored."


    "But, but ..." he gave Felix a careful look and opened the bag on his back, " few of them were unfortunately damaged."


    "It''s not your fault, I was prepared for this." Felix said.


    In the bag, there are some little handheld cameras and their fragments, well, muggle products, no trace of magic, the ''Future World'' company purchased a batch in bulk for research and received a discount because of the high volume.


    While Harry endured the Cruciatus Curse, Felix set up some around the graveyard from afar. Because of the great damage to the environment caused by the battle at the graveyard, the loss of some is completely understandable.


    "Dobby gathered all the pieces he could find, maybe it can be fixed." Dobby said with a puffed-up chest.


    "... You''ve done well, Dobby." Felix glanced at the thoroughly shattered tapes in the bag and wondered if he could still fix them with magic.


    He leaned over and picked up an intact camera, fiddled with the buttons a few times, and looked down to find that the quality of the footage is quite bad, but he is still satisfied, "Voldemort''s bald head is quite conspicuous ... Dobby, hide them and reveal them to no one."


    "As ordered, Mr. Hap!" Dobby said cheerfully, pleased to have gained Felix''s trust, he picked up the big bag again, "Sir, if Mr. Lupin or Mr. Harry Potter asks about it--"


    "They don''t know about it." Felix said with an expressionless face.


    "Oh ... well." Dobby snapped his fingers and disappeared from the tent.


    Felix gazed deep into the place where Dobby had disappeared.


    He should have called Dumbledore. That would have been safer, but he finally vetoed it. Nothing personal - he and Dumbledore always got along well, but he wanted to minimize the variables and bring the pace of things under his control. So he preferred to use Dobby, instead of revealing it to Dumbledore.


    "People''s hearts are unpredictable ...," he muttered.


    Felix''s purpose for going to such lengths is to accomplish three things, to complete the time loop, to solve Hermione''s time backlash, and to bring back the Trio safely. As for things beyond that, they were not on his mind.


    All along, he and Dumbledore''s tacit understanding stems from their common interest - to destroy Voldemort. But this time, Felix''s "interest" has changed, and killing Voldemort became optional, so he was not sure what judgment Dumbledore would make.


    A worry was born logically.


    Whether his three goals are more important, or the opportunity to destroy Voldemort''s flesh and early elimination of war are more important?


    The uncontrollable factors should be excluded from the plan. This is the true notion of Felix''s objective.


    "Then next, go out and face Fudge." Felix said to himself, he guessed Fudge will definitely fabricate some plausible evidence in order to divert public attention, and place the spotlight on him, can''t help it, he was really suspicious.


    Fudge is likely to link "trespassing at the Ministry of Magic" to what happened tonight.


    If Fudge can also think of using Azkaban''s dementors to get rid of him as a threat, then Felix will definitely applaud.


    When the decisive evidence comes out, Fudge will not be able to escape.


    In fact, Felix now has evidence of a possible reversal, but he always felt that it is not the correct time, the public evaluation of Fudge has always been "weak" and "mediocre", so this evaluation needs to change into "a person who tried to accuse the hero who had fought against the Dark Lord" The former is still tolerable, but the latter will make people angry.


    And that anger will lead to Fudge''s downfall, whether he likes it or not.


    Felix waved his hand to cancel the sound ward he had placed in the tent just now, and the noise and clamour from outside poured in just in time for him to hear Fudge''s frantic roar -


    "Do you want to fight against the Ministry of Magic?"


    Felix''s expression was stunned, and his hand on the curtain retracted.


    A few minutes ago-


    Fudge was walking around the clearing with a large stomach. Less than a hundred feet away from him, two makeshift tents are erected, one being used as a makeshift hospital; the other, where the target of his trip is present, but it is guarded.


    He stared at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who stood guarding the doorway, in an irritable mood.


    He had a strong urge to order Aurors to force their way in and bring the people out, but he felt a little scared, Dumbledore is not far away ... not to mention that even if he succeeded and took that person away with great fanfare, how would he explain to the public when the investigation finally showed that he had taken the wrong person?


    The public''s spit will drown him.


    " Control them!" Fudge turned his head to the side and looked at Dumbledore, "They are openly fighting against the Ministry of Magic, against me - as I said, I will only request Felix Hap to cooperate with the investigation, it is not a conviction, it is only a precautionary measure."


    "Cornelius," Dumbledore said quietly, "I''m not rejecting your request, it''s just - as Miss Granger said, you need to wait for a while, Felix has just been through a harsh battle, and he needs time to deal with his injuries."


    "I''ve been waiting outside for an hour, an hour! After you made your concessions ... how much longer do you want me to wait?" Fudge yelled, "Am I going to mistreat him? Surely a healer from St. Mungo''s will be called-"


    "The professor is the best healer," Hermione said, shivering from the cold night, her voice sounding shrill, "Besides, are you really sure that St. Mungo''s healer can handle the injuries left by Vo-, Voldemort?" She said the name with difficulty, and an intake of breath resounded around her.


    Fudge glared at Hermione and yelled down, "Don''t mention that name! It''s not certain yet that the Dark-"


    "Mr. Minister," Harry gestured at his shirt, "I can assure you that Voldemort is really back."


    "You may have fallen under the Confundus Charm, Crouch Sr. was saying for a while that his son was innocent." Fudge said impatiently, "You don''t know anything." S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You could have someone examine it," Harry said sincerely, "I''ve been hit by a couple of Cruciatus curses that should have left a mark, no?"


    "Standard lie," Fudge waved his hand, "there''s no way a student can take the pain of a Cruciatus Curse, let alone several of them!"


    "You dolt!" Professor McGonagall shouted, "I can feel the storm from what I read in the papers! Think about Crouch, think about the Goblet of Fire''s tamper, think about everything Harry said!"


    Fudge''s face turned purple, "It was all - an accident! Minerva. My information tells me that the boy," he pointed at Harry, "has nightmares all the time, and by God, he can talk to snakes! And now he claims to have survived a several Cruciatus Curse-"


    "Uh, Mr. Minister," Ron held up his hand, "I hate to interrupt you, but I actually suffered a Cruciatus Curse too, and it was really hard, and I hated that I couldn''t die right away," he grimaced and chuckled, "but now I feel quite clear-headed ..."


    A loud sob came from the crowd.


    "Oh, poor little Ronnie! Poor Harry! What on earth have you endured?" Mrs. Weasley said sobbing as Bill and Mr. Weasley hugged her left and right.


    Fudge still stubbornly stared at them as he looked over at Hermione, "You aren''t going to claim that you''ve endured a Cruciatus Curse too, are you?"


    " Well, I am not," Hermione said calmly, "But that person named Yaxley hurt me, a guard sent from the Ministry of Magic, who was ordered to protect us, that''s why I refused to let you in, what if there are Voldemort''s undercovers among you?"


    "Ridiculous! Ridiculous!" Fudge exclaimed, under his breath, "I repeat, the truth has yet to be found out, you cannot tell your speculations as if they are facts." He looked at Dumbledore and said in a pleading tone, "Dumbledore, you think about me, I have to do something."


    "Fudge, Fudge," Dumbledore said sternly: "Your biggest problem is that you have done too little before, and now you want to do too much, going further and further down the wrong path. What you need most now is to calm down and remove the Aurors and I promise you, that you will get the whole truth first thing in the morning."


    Fudge''s face turned pale as he looked at Dumbledore with trepidation. "Tomorrow ...? The truth about what? The truth that you want?" As soon as the words came out, he regretted it.


    His words stirred a hornet''s nest, Professor McGonagall shouted a rebuke, Hagrid and Moody''s rough voices echoed in the night sky, and the students stared, what had they heard, Fudge was slandering their Headmaster?


    Fudge''s body cringed and shook, "Dumbledore, as you can see, the testimony of three students or a reputable gentleman, which should I believe? Not to mention that Yaxley is dead ...," his heart clouded with gloom.


    Yes, Yaxley is dead, who is the power behind him in the end? Could it be ... impossible!


    At this time, the sound of large footsteps approaching from a distance, the crowd gave way to them, and the Auror reinforcement from the Ministry of Magic rushed over.


    "Minister, all the Ministry''s Aurors and Hit-wizards available have arrived, but ..." Derris said as he cautiously glanced around.


    "Very well," said Fudge, "Very well!" He said it again aloud as if countless courage added from thin air.


    He stared into space, not looking into Dumbledore''s eyes, and barked orders at Aurors: "Arrest Felix Hap, any obstruction ... is considered obstruction against law enforcement and can be arrested together."


    "Listen to me, Fudge! Think about what you are doing!" Dumbledore took a step forward, surrounded by unspeakable power.


    Fudge could not help but take a half step back, but he still stubbornly did not look at him, "You should also think about what you are doing, Dumbledore!" He choked back, waving his hand as the black mass of Aurors and Hit-wizards raised their wands and advanced one step at a time.


    "Sorry, can''t let you guys take away Professor like this." Hermione winced and raised her wand.


    "Mr. Minister, I used to respect you quite a bit, I didn''t think--" Harry shook his head and took a step forward as Ron stood next to him.


    Fudge finally lost his head as he shouted in a loud growl, "Do you want to fight against the Ministry of Magic?"


    "That depends on how you define ''Fight against the Ministry of Magic'' or ''Against Tyranny''." A voice in the crowd said quietly. Fred and George stepped forward and drew their wands and pointed at Fudge.


    Fudge''s eyes widened.


    Then another student stepped forward.


    "My grandmother said to stick to what''s right. What you''re doing is not right." Neville said, trembling all over while raising his wand. His words drew a crowd of Gryffindor students to follow.


    "Mr. Minister, we hope you will consider this carefully." Cedric said as he, Collins, and Roger stepped in front of Harry. Some of the students from the other three houses came out, led by the three champions, and they stood in front of Harry and the others, pointing their wands at Fudge and a group of Aurors.


    "We''ll head over there too." Draco Malfoy''s eyes twinkled, looking at the converging crowd, as he said to his two followers.


    The members of the Magic Rune Club stepped forward.


    Some of the students who had taken the dueling class walked forward.


    A number of students who had taken ancient rune classes also stepped forward.


    And students who had, on more than one occasion, received casual instruction from Felix stepped forward.


    Red sparks burst from the tip of the wands, shining brighter than the starry night sky.


    When only one or two people came forward, the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic was able to calmly advance forward; when the number of people pointing at them reached a one-third, they stopped in their tracks; when more people were infected by the sad and solemn atmosphere, driven by their peers to silently raise their wands and look at them with eyes full of anger, as the number exceeded half the crowd, the Aurors just wanted to flee the place immediately.


    "You, you guys--"


    Fudge looked blankly at the wands pointing at him from all sides, as the courage gathered by the group of Aurors burst like a soap bubble in the sun, and he became dizzy with only one thought in his mind -


    He is doomed.


    ------------


    #Tyler A, #Lorenz Mehlo, and #elisha mcneil, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 568+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 489: Hat and Ring

    "Click--" Several young wizards who are holding up their wands stared at a pot-bellied man who carried a large, faintly smoking camera in his hand, which had just made the sound.


    "Bozo, take a few more shots." Rita Skeeter, ordered the photographer next to her, as she trembled with excitement. This is big news, comparable to the Ilvermorny student protests in France, if not greater - the president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America didn''t step down then, but it seemed to Rita Skeeter that Fudge''s resignation is almost a foregone conclusion.


    She looked up and unexpectedly found herself in the center of attention.


    "The people need the truth, and well - I''ll report it as it is." She said with a fake, false smile.


    Today, Rita Skeeter is dressed in a dark red robe with some sequins attached to its hem, which isn''t exactly that conspicuous at night - at least it''s a lot more low-key than her previous appearances, which is why a lot of young wizards didn''t notice her.


    Harry noticed that her nails had changed from a bright red to emerald green.


    "Nasty fellow -" Ron whispered, then he added, "Not really that bad, apart from the fact that she was truly obnoxious at the start, she did things quite honestly and even helped us out on a couple of occasions, it''s weird ..."


    Cornelius grunted from the side.


    "What?" Ron asked in a small voice in confusion.


    "Haven''t you read her coverage in recent times?" Cedric stammered, "After a few months of silence, she started publishing a lot of articles, rumours about the champions, fabricating private lives ..." Cho Chang had fussed with him about it a few times, but it was an happy trouble.


    The short photographer named Bozo is quiet but grumpy, " This photo will win a press award - " he said gruffly, as he elbowed a young wizard out of the way, and selected the right angle, accompanied by a few " Click" sounds and purple smoke, as Fudge''s big face stayed on the film.


    At that moment, Felix came out of the makeshift tent, clearing his throat and looking around.


    "Professor, you''re awake!"


    "Professor Hap--"


    "Great!" s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione exclaimed in surprise, each taking their eyes off of Rita Skeeter''s strange curly hair and the purple mist that kept spewing from the black camera to look at Felix in unison.


    " Well, Thanks guys," Felix said, "You did help a lot, and if my ... healing ... had been interrupted, it would have had a considerable impact." The trio understood the unfinished meaning of his words for an instant.


    The other students understood the truth from what Hermione had said earlier. They waved their wands gleefully, and Fred exclaimed, "That''s what we should do, Professor, how much detention you''ve helped us escape."


    The originally serious atmosphere was broken by Fred''s gag, and surprisingly, a number of students actually nodded in agreement.


    "Professor Hap has instructed me the technique of extracting the fish bones using spell-"


    "He knows all about the creatures in Black Lake!"


    "Legend has it that the kitchen house-elves hold a set of mysterious recipes that Professor Hap contributed-"


    "No wonder I can often hear about the professor and Valen eating midnight snacks ..."


    "Professor Hap caught me trespassing in the Forbidden Forest, not only did he not detain me, but he also invited me to walk with him in the Forbidden Forest ... Then we encountered a horrible Acromantula, and I had nightmares for two days! Afterward, I thought it might be arranged by the professor ..."


    "How cunning the professor is!"


    The students murmured. Professor McGonagall''s lips pursed into a tight line, her stern gaze glancing between the students and Felix.


    "Forget it, Minerva, look how popular he is." Professor Flitwick said with a smirk.


    "To use a common phrase, he was the one who initiated the violation, but I didn''t notice..." Professor McGonagall said with a guilty conscience, "I have to make sure It won''t happen again."


    When the voices subsided, Felix turned his attention to Fudge and Aurors of the Ministry of Magic. They looked like pumpkin lamps that added a festive atmosphere to the Christmas dinner, as they stood still.


    "Allow me to make a few points in my defense-" he said, "and if Mr. Minister still thinks I''m responsible for what happened tonight, I''m willing to cooperate."


    "Professor!" Harry looked at him anxiously.


    "It''s okay," Felix shook his head at him, looked at the three close, dirty faces hesitantly, and said to Hermione, "Miss Granger, can I ask you a favour?"


    Hermione nodded her head repeatedly.


    Felix looked into her eyes and Thinking Room magic flashed and faded. Then he pulled out his wand and placed it in front of her - Hermione reached out and grabbed it - and immediately afterward, wisps of mist began to pour out of the tip of the wand, and they got wrapped in a soap bubble-like thing, and the mist stretched the bubble bigger and bigger.


    "Imagine the memory you remember most vividly tonight." Felix said, of course, this is for everyone to hear, he had communicated the specific things with Hermione in the thinking room.


    When the soap bubble is as big as a person''s head, Felix disconnected it from the wand, and the bubble slowly floating in midair as it glowed in the black night sky.


    "I think I can see some figures." A young wizard who had been staring at the soap bubble for a while said.


    "I saw it too."


    When the bubble flew to a height of thirty feet, hundreds of people around can clearly see it; Then Felix waved his wand as the bubble "poof" exploded, and the mist inside sprinkled like snowflakes, forming a dynamic picture.


    Those present saw Harry, as well as a flicker of Ron, who was tied to a black tombstone - this is clearly from the bystander''s point of view, in conjunction with the professor''s action, it should be what Hermione saw.


    The image of Harry covered in dust, with his back turned to them, as he shouted emotionally: "You''re afraid to use the Killing Curse against me, aren''t you! You are afraid of the magical protection my mother bestowed on me with her life, and fear that the curse will bounce back against you again and be doomed! And completely become a joke right?!"


    Everyone stared blankly, and then they saw the person opposite to Harry, "Hiss-" Many students and Aurors sucked in a cold breath.


    They saw a nightmarish face, whiter than a skeleton, with bloodshot eyes and what should have been a nose now only had two thin slits, like a snake. He was draped in a thin black robe, his clothes rolled in the night wind, revealing a skeletal figure ...


    "You-Know-Who!" Someone shouted in panic, "He''s really back!"


    Adults - including the professors, Aurors, and the rest of the faculty present - showed a cautious look, some of them may have seen the horrors of Voldemort, and some had never even heard of it, but the oppressiveness of this man in the picture accurately conveyed to their hearts.


    Even just the knowledge of a "resurrection from the dead" is enough for them to be on the alert.


    In the picture, Voldemort''s red eyes stared at Harry, as if he was staring at them all, and then he smiled a dreadful smile and recited the incantation: "Crucio!


    There was another gasp from the crowd, some of them no longer dared to look. However, Harry surprisingly resisted, held on, and did not fall back, as he had provoked him even loudly, everyone could not help but sweat for him, Sirius stared at Voldemort''s shadow, with his teeth clenched.


    Voldemort was obviously enraged by Harry, so he loudly recited the Cruciatus Curse, at which point a red light descended from the sky and blocked in front of Harry ...


    "It''s Professor Hap!"


    "He''s in the air, it''s incredible--"


    " You didn''t see the silver wings he displayed in the second task?"


    "I just didn''t think it was possible to fly with that thing for real!"


    The scene ended here. Felix did not intend to show the full process for the time being, to avoid the world seeing how powerful Voldemort is and thus losing confidence; secondly, he did not want the process of his death and resurrection to spread around ...


    He glanced at the Rita Skeeter in the corner, she was stretching out her thick fat fingers to signal the photographer to hurry up and photograph it.


    It is enough for him to highlight a section that shows the cruelty of Voldemort.


    "This is all for now," Felix said in a stifling silence, "It''s just supportive evidence, not considered absolute evidence, and Granger''s state is somewhat poor ..."


    Hermione gasped at the right time.


    "- I have more evidence that is more reliable than memories, but maybe we should wait until the trial to bring it out, right?" He looked as if asking Fudge''s opinion, who looked ashen as if he hadn''t heard him at all.


    "Of course not," Dumbledore said gently, "I will summon the entire Wizengamot members to a meeting as the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot, and Felix, I hope you will be present to testify."


    "This is what I should do."


    Felix said cooperatively.


    Fudge kept muttering to himself, "He''s back -- really back -- how can -- how can --"


    "So, Mr. Minister, do you have any more questions? Or are you worried that I''ll run off before the meeting?" Felix asked.


    Fudge''s lips quirted and trembled, "No ... not ..." He forced a stiff smile, but someone interrupted him nonchalantly, it is Madam Pomfrey, who has been waiting on the sidelines for a long time.


    "So - it''s over at last? Thank goodness!" She walked quickly to Harry and the group, "You need treatment, it''s been hours, do you really think the Cruciatus Curse is that easy to resist?" She jostled and pushed Harry, Ron, and Hermione as if they are herding ducks.


    "Ouch--" Ron cried out in pain, "Gently, Madam Pomfrey."


    "Wasn''t you heroic just now?" Madam Pomfrey looked at him with displeasure and said, "That''s an unforgivable curse--"


    "But it was my leg I broke." Ron looked at her accusingly.


    "... Well, ok, and I''m not going to argue ... with the patient," she rambled, leading the three to the makeshift tent next door to receive treatment.


    Dumbledore also duly arranged for the professor to return to the castle with the students.


    "As much I appreciate the great integrity and courage you have shown tonight, I must remind you that it is late, so go on, go back to sleep, there will be no classes scheduled during the last week of the school year ..."


    The students cheered loudly, then a few yawned, as if it was contagious, very soon everyone was yawning and drowning in sleepiness.


    When no one noticed, Fudge slipped away quietly like a fat mouse.


    "Wait, Minister, you have left your bowler hat--" George picked up a dusty hat from the ground and shouted at him. Fudge looked back woodenly as the bowler hat flew towards him under a spell and hit him on the nose.


    The students who saw this scene laughed under their breath.


    The Aurors didn''t react to this a bit, as they dragged their heavy feet and left.


    "Derris," Felix called out to the Auror walking behind Fudge after watching Fudge''s dilemma with satisfaction, "give Ms. Bones a message for me that I will take the time to visit her in the next two days."


    Derris nodded.


    Fudge, who also heard this, paused in his steps, but he didn''t turn around, just stumbled a lot more and fell twice in quick succession before he disappeared from Felix''s sight.


    "I used to get along with him fairly well," Dumbledore said softly, looking out into the distance, "when he first started as a minister, he asked me for advice and assistance for a couple of days, but then his confidence grew, and he was able to make his own decisions, perhaps out of a sense of caution from his previous journey to power, he became obsessed with power and watched everyone who might shake his position with a vigilant eye ..."


    "Albus," Felix smiled faintly, "I''m already looking forward to a day without Fudge."


    ...


    Late night.


    The room is dimly lit, and the portraits of the Headmasters on the walls are snoring.


    Dumbledore sat in the chair behind his desk, quietly thinking, the silverware on his desk making loud noises. After a long time, he opened the left-hand drawer, where a pendant case and a wand were placed.


    Both items are related to Voldemort - the former is one of his Horcruxes, and the latter is his wand made of yew wood, which Dumbledore seized from the Crouch Sr. on Christmas night.


    But in addition to the locket and the wand, there is now another ring in the drawer. The ring is large, like it''s made of gold, roughly crafted, and embedded with a heavy, black stone with a cracked center.


    "The resurrection stone ... it is not the right time." Dumbledore murmured softly, his fingers brushing over the black stone on the ring.


    He closed the drawer with great patience and gasped slightly.


    "You''re getting old, Dumbledore." The Sorting Hat on the shelf said.


    "Thank you for the reminder." Dumbledore smiled faintly. Then he lapsed into contemplation, "Just a year or two?" After a moment of silence, he waved his wand, conjuring up a silver phoenix Patronus, and said calmly, "Severus, come to my office."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 570+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 490: Amelia Bones (2 in 1)

    Felix woke up from bed very early the next morning, looking radiant, without any trace of fatigue. The side effects of the potion seemed to have been neutralized by his body''s mutation, as he stared at the grey ceiling, he heard the sound of Valen''s unconscious smacking of her beak as she slept in her crib. Felix smiled and got up from the bed as he stretched.


    "Bang!"


    The metal alarm clock on the cabinet exploded at once, and Felix looked down at the broken parts, frowned, and let the alarm clock recover with a wave of his hand.


    "It''ll take a while for me to get used to it." He mused and said to the sleepy-eyed Valen, "It''s okay, you can sleep some more." He said and walked out of the bedroom.


    Valen waved sleepily at him and rolled over on the comfortable, soft velvet sheet, her body curled into a ball as she continued to sleep. She had stayed up all night once again to wait for the Great Demon to return last night.


    Outside the office window, you can see the lush Forbidden Forest and stretching mountains, the sky is clear and bright, like a halo of blue ink, and the breeze will tickle your face.


    A yellow-brown owl flew towards him with a newspaper in its beak and landed in front of him with its wings folded as it approached the windowsill.


    Felix flipped open the paper and Fudge''s big face is the first thing that caught his eye, " Indeed the level of a Press Award." Felix muttered, at which point the owl hooted at him a few times, "Oh, oh." To which he handed it five Knuts.


    The owl raised its wings and flew away.


    Throughout the day, he stayed in his office to exercise his new powers and was surprised to find that his magic is growing considerably, and he reckons this may continue for some time.


    In the afternoon, he took the time to visit the hospital wing. Just as he reached the door, he heard Mr. Weasley''s voice. So he pushed the door in.


    "... Fudge has shut himself up in his office and isn''t seeing anyone," Mr. Weasley said, "I guess he wants to take advantage of the last bit of time to sit in the Minister of Magic''s chair a little longer... ..." Perhaps realizing he was being too mean, he shrugged and didn''t continue the conversation. "Anyway, Fudge did a decent job and appointed Ms. Bones to handle the ministry''s affairs temporarily before his ''sabbatical''."


    "Thank you, Arthur." Ms. Bones said with a tired look on her face.


    There are quite a few people in the room. In addition to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are lying in their beds, and Mr. Weasley, who is talking in the room, there is also a strange woman in the ward, Amelia Bones, along with Sirius, Lupin, Professor McGonagall, and Dumbledore.


    "Can I come in?" Felix asked.


    "Of course, Mr. Hap." The woman said, "There are many subjects that cannot go without you."


    Felix looked at her twice with interest, before picking a chair at the wall and sitting down.


    Ms. Bones said solemnly, "There are no outsiders here, so I''ll be blunt. The Ministry is now on edge, the news the Aurors have brought back has frustrated everyone, and once today''s newspaper came out, panic will instantly spread throughout the wizarding community; We have to stabilize the situation as soon as possible ... Headmaster Dumbledore, I need your help."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, " We can''t afford to disorganize ourselves while the darkness is at bay."


    "That''s it." Ms. Bones said approvingly. She took out a document and put on her monocle, then looked down to examine the contents of the document, "Then, first I must verify that the Dark Lord truly returned." Her two thick eyebrows raised high, "It''s not that I don''t trust them - I''ve listened to your statements, and it''s remarkable that you have thought of using the Ring of Ouroboros to request help in that situation ... but I have to be 100% sure before I can firmly implement wartime policies." S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "A very reasonable request." Dumbledore smiled, "Amelia, I think what you need most now is a decisive piece of evidence, right?"


    Ms. Bones nodded solemnly.


    Dumbledore looked to Felix.


    "Okay, but just to be clear in advance, you can''t see the full footage..." Felix said, snapping his fingers and calling softly, "Dobby."


    Dobby, the house-elf, appeared in the middle of the room.


    " The Great Mr. Hap, you - oh my, what did Dobby see?" Dobby blinked, startled by a room full of acquaintances, "Mr. Lupin, Mr. Harry Potter and his friends the Wheezy and Ms. Granger, Mr. Black, and - Mr. Dumbledore!" He let out a cry.


    "Hello, Dobby." Harry and Hermione whispered a greeting.


    "Dobby," Ron couldn''t stop himself and immediately Dobby looked at him with sparkling eyes, "Actually, the pronunciation of my name, uh - I''ll talk to you later." He really didn''t have the courage to discuss the difference between "Weasley" and "Wheezy" with Dobby in front of big guys.


    "Well, Dobby, I will get their autographs for you later." Felix said, "Now get the things I asked you to keep for me."


    "As you wish!" Dobby said excitedly, and his figure suddenly disappeared.


    Ms. Bones turned her head to Mr. Weasley, "Shouldn''t we be on guard against their magic? They''re not restricted by the Anti-Apparition Charm, righ-"


    "Hm, Ms. Bones, I don''t think-" Hermione nervously gripped the sheets and said pointedly, "You shouldn''t suspect Dobby, or the kitchen elves, who have been at our beck and call. "


    "Yes, you''re right," Ms. Bones said, looking down at Hermione for a moment, "but we all know that the You-Know-Who has pulled together a large group of pureblood families who are equally not lacking a house elf''s service."


    Hermione stopped talking.


    At this point, Felix rummaged through a nearby cupboard and pulled out a piece of parchment & quill, and scribbled on it, "Excuse me, can a few of you sign this, please?" Dumbledore readily agreed, and from the length of his signature, he should have written the full name.


    Everyone signed their names one after another, and when the parchment was passed to Harry, he stared at the writing on it: To brave Dobby, who obtained the key evidence under the nose of Voldemort. At the bottom is a row of signatures.


    Harry also signed his name.


    After waiting for a few minutes, Dobby reappeared in the hospital wing ward, carrying a large bag behind him.


    "It''s all here, Mr. Hap."


    The few people present watched curiously as Felix fumbled through the bag and pulled out an oddly shaped square object, and started pushing buttons on it, Felix fiddled with it for a while and handed it to Ms. Bones, "You have to select the glowing place, yes, that''s right ... "


    He actually did only two things, one is to avoid the scene of Hermione using the time-turner in the footage of the camera, and the second is to adjust the playback progress to after his appearance, otherwise, it is not easy to explain why he watched for so long without doing anything ... and also it is not good to reveal the presence of Lucius.


    Ms. Bones did as he said. She first frowned at the poor picture quality in the camera, followed by her mouth wide open, she just watched quietly for a few minutes, and then put down the camera with a complicated face.


    "If I''m right, this is a muggle item?" Ms. Bones asked in a low voice.


    "Yes, you will notice that there is not a trace of magic on it, which will avoid the attention of Voldemort and the Death Eaters." Felix put the camera back, "You can find an expert in this field to investigate, because of the technical difficulties, the footage captured by the camera cannot be modified, so it is very convincing."


    "Then can I take it-" Ms. Bones asked tentatively.


    "Hmm, not for now." Felix thoughtlessly refused, "Because I trust you, I let you see a lot of content that should not be revealed, for other people, I must do some precaution."


    "But you also said before that it could not be modified-" Ms. Bones asked suspiciously.


    "Ma''am, it is true that it cannot be modified, but it can be overwritten." Felix said emphatically, "For example, if I cast a permanent presence enchantment on the writing on the wall, you will never be able to modify it again, but a new layer of paint can be applied on the surface of the wall to cover the writing ..."


    "I understand, I will arrange for someone to verify it." Ms. Bones did not dwell too much and said calmly. In fact, her inner mind had already rolled up with a shocking wave, coming back from the dead ... she fully understood Felix''s reason for not wanting to disclose the complete footage.


    And this happens to be the illusion that Felix brought to her - to cover up one secret with another, to bury the time-turner in history, after all, history always has buried countless secrets.


    "So - uh -" Ms. Bones tried to reorganize her words, "the second thing, the external announcement about confirming the You-Know-Who''s appearance, well, I think it would be best to postpone it for a few days."


    "Why? What''s the difference between you doing this and Fudge?!" Harry asked aloud.


    "Very different. At least the Ministry knows about it, and I won''t deliberately stop the news from spreading, it''s just that ... official recognition means war is coming, and a few days later may keep the other side at bay, which will buy us some time." Ms. Bones said calmly, "The Ministry is urgently publishing the wartime survival manual, I also need time to convince those who have weight, as I said before, to gain common ground ... In addition," she hesitated, "I want Cornelius to come forward and announce this."


    "That wimp?" Sirius said disgruntled.


    Ms. Bones gave him a stern look, "Watch your words, Sirius, he''s still Minister of Magic."


    "Yes, Head Girl Amelia," Sirius said lazily.


    Harry looked at his godfather in amazement, he suddenly remembered Sirius'' own admission that he had made her cry when he was at school. At that moment, Harry looked at him strangely.


    Ms. Bones glared at him but still explained calmly, "Cornelius ... Fudge probably won''t remain in office for longer, and I hope the last impression he leaves on the public will be one of standing up bravely and announcing the return of the You-Know-Who, rather than slipping out of office before the war and disappearing from public sight. "


    "And you plan on retaining him?" Sirius shouted, "Look at all the bastard things he had done!"


    Ms. Bones didn''t look at him as she looked down at her papers.


    "Character flaws aside, Cornelius is more than capable enough to be a good advisor."


    Sirius muttered discontentedly, which sounded a bit like a "women ..."


    Several ladies in the room glared at him at the same time, Sirius shrank his neck, "It''s my fault."


    "Since we''re talking about advisors," Ms. Bones'' fingers traced over the file, "there''s another important thing, Dumbledore, I assume you''ve reactivated the Order of the Phoenix?"


    The atmosphere in the ward became eerie as everyone looked at Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, "You''re right, Amelia." He patiently explained, "You should know that when the war begins, Voldemort will wildly place spies into the Ministry of Magic, and I wanted to make sure that there is a resistance force independent of the Ministry."


    "I think," Ms. Bones pursed her lips, " we should cooperate."


    "Your suggestion?" Dumbledore looked at her curiously.


    "The Ministry of Magic will not interfere with any of the actions of the Order of the Phoenix, but at the very least, we should exchange information, which will benefit both sides." Ms. Bones said very fluidly, as if she had written in advance, "And in the short term - until the situation is stabilized - someone must be stationed on the other side as a messenger."


    "You mean ... a two-way residence? Exchanging personnel with each other?" Dumbledore asked.


    "That''s right," Ms. Bones said, "I can''t and won''t order you to, but being able to pull the strings with the ''Greatest White Wizard'' is the best way to stabilize the situation at this critical time. "


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared in disbelief, it is hard to imagine that this woman would talk about using Dumbledore''s reputation so openly.


    "I have asked the Ministry''s Aurors before I came, and there was quite a good number of applicants," Ms. Bones said with a helpless expression, "If you agree, I will provide a list of names for you to choose from."


    "I have no problem." Dumbledore consented.


    "The candidates on your side are--" Ms. Bones asked with a long breath of relief.


    Dumbledore thought for a moment and looked up at someone.


    Sirius is watching the show leisurely with crossed legs, mentally planning what to do over the summer, until Dumbledore focused his gaze on him, so he looked up alertly.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, you don''t want to send me to the Ministry of Magic, do you!" He jumped up at once, "You promised to make me a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts during the new school year! I''ve been preparing for so long, struggling with those mischievous students at the Muggle school ...," he became more and more aggrieved as he spoke.


    "It''s only temporary," Dumbledore said with a small smile spreading from the corners of his eyes, "you''ll only have to stay for a month or two, it won''t affect your work during the new school year."


    "What about the rest? Hagrid? Remus? And-"


    "They all have their own things to do." Dumbledore said.


    "Yeah, the Headmaster''s right, you''re the most idle of them all." Felix couldn''t help but add his voice, the thought of a free-spirited Sirius joining the Ministry of Magic inexplicably gave him a sense of pleasure.


    Sirius shot him a vicious glare and looked around, only to find that everyone is looking at him with a playful expression, even his own godson is looking at him with expectant eyes, Sirius got so angry that his teeth itched.


    "So - hey Amelia, I want an advisor title too, can''t be worse than ... well ... can''t be worse than Felix and Fudge! "


    "... It''s only temporary."


    Ms. Bones agreed rather reluctantly.


    She had an equally strong opinion about Sirius, an impression that stemmed from unforgettable memories of her school days.


    "One last thing," she said, taking a large bag from Mr. Weasley and placing it at Harry''s feet, as it clattered. She said briefly, "The prize money for the tournament, which was supposed to be a thousand galleons, I''m offering five hundred galleons as compensation, personally-"


    "These are far from enough," Sirius couldn''t help but nitpick, "they suffered so much and showed fearless courage to escape from under Voldemort''s hands, they deserve a medal from the Ministry of Magic."


    Ms. Bones'' chest began to rise and fall violently, she said word by word: "I-was-about-to-say-it!"


    She took a deep breath, regained her composure, and looked over at Harry, Ron, and Hermione. "The Ministry is considering awarding you all the Second class Order of Merlin for your bravery in the face of the You-Know-Who, and for fighting to the death - and Mr. Hap, we''re considering awarding you the First Class Order of Merlin."


    Felix smiled and shook his head.


    "You deserve it," Ms. Bones said immediately, "We need to set a few examples in the current war. If I survive to the end of the war, I''m sure a lot of medals will be handed out."


    Harry was once again shocked by Ms. Bones'' "frank" and "straightforward" words, but he thought this is not bad.


    "I''ll leave you alone," Ms. Bones said, "Arthur, I''ll give you a few days off to spend with your children, but don''t take too long, the Ministry will be quite busy soon ..." she walked to the door of the ward and paused, humming heavily from her nose.


    Everyone looked at her in confusion.


    "Sirius Black! Follow!" She shouted angrily at Sirius, who slumped in his chair with a listless expression.


    Sirius pointed at himself incredulously, "Now?" After receiving an affirmative answer, he hung his head and stood up, muttering in a small voice, "Well, the Head Girl Amelia is now capable of ordering people around ..." He muttered until the door to the ward closed behind him.


    The people in the ward looked at each other.


    "Is it really okay to let Sirius go over there? I''m not doubting his abilities, but character-wise-" Professor McGonagall asked with a serious expression, "I''m worried he''ll make a mess of things."


    "Don''t worry, Professor McGonagall." Lupin said with a smile, "Sirius learned how to deal with this Minister when he was in school, maybe we have a chance to turn her into a member of the Order of the Phoenix ..."


    Professor McGonagall didn''t look too convinced.


    At this point, Mr. Weasley could hardly contain the keen interest in his heart and pointed at the camera that is held in Felix''s hand as he asked, "It can record footage? Without any magic?" After receiving an affirmative answer, he said with a look of awe, "It''s incredible ... it''s so wonderful."


    The more he looked at it, the more he liked it, and finally, he couldn''t resist asking Felix: "Mr. Hap, can I ask where you bought it? I want one for my collection."


    Felix wrote him an address and warned him, "It''s best not to keep this at home, it will be damaged by magical influence - by the way, you know how to locate Muggle address, right?"


    "I can call a cab, I know how to do that!" Mr. Weasley said cheerfully, as if he had been looking forward to this very thing for a long time, "I have a garage at home, that holds many of my treasures ... have you heard of pins? I have several ..."


    "Did I ever tell you guys that my dad is crazily obsessed with muggle gadgets?" Ron whispered, covering his face.


    Harry and Hermione nodded their heads in small measure.


    Harry reminded him, "Mr. Weasley even gave me a tour through his garage, have you forgotten? A few weeks before the start of the second year ..." he said and looked at Dobby, because of Dobby''s kind "prevention", he was misunderstood by the Ministry of Magic for casting a spell outside of school and given a written warning.


    What''s worse, the letter was seen by Uncle Vernon.


    After a year at Hogwarts, the Dursleys were cautious and indifferent to Harry - they were mainly worried about having a pig tail on them - but the Ministry''s warning letter broke the false balance and Harry was locked in his room, with iron bars nailed on the windows.


    That time was a nightmare. While he was worried that he would miss the school train and be expelled from school; he was also worried that he would be starved to death, or Hedwig would be starved to death. So, every time he thought about it, he felt very grateful to the Ron and Weasley twins who came to his rescue.


    But that was a long time ago. He is doing well now, "Dobby." He whispered.


    The house-elf perked up his bat ears and looked at Harry with admiration in his eyes.


    "Here''s your autograph, the professor got it for you."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 570+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 491: The last night of the school year

    Dobby left happily. Ron thought the house elf''s screams were too appalling that they scared the others away. The ward is left only with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Felix after Mr. Weasley went to visit Mrs. Weasley, who lost sleep all night. "Professor, here''s your ring," Hermione said reluctantly, pulling a ring from under her pillow, "I haven''t had a chance to open it yet."


    Felix accepted it, but seeing the look on Hermione''s face, he dumped a large pile of runic journals out of the ring, nearly overwhelming her.


    "It was meant for you, Miss Granger, what you need now is to read and practice broadly and develop your own perceptions. No one else can help you much in this regard."


    Harry took the opportunity to ask about the protective magic in his body.


    "That''s an area I haven''t touched." Felix said with a shrug, "I suggest you find the opportunity to ask Headmaster Dumbledore, he has placed more than one protective spell on you."


    Ron looked at Hermione as she gleefully collected the runic journal into her beaded pouch, and asked curiously, "Professor, how did you come back from the dead? And," he deliberately lowered his voice, "Hermione used the time-turner, which means you arrived early and watched the whole time?"


    Felix laughed. "In fact, at that time I was placing cameras around, did not see the specific process ... but your scream was quite seeping, I almost thought there was an accident." He said to Ron.


    Ron scratched his head in embarrassment, but when he thought about the terrible torture of the Cruciatus Curse, a shiver ran down his spine.


    "As for coming back from the dead ... I have never died, you can assume that I have mastered magic like Apparition, only it looks a bit intimidating." Felix explained.


    "So." Ron''s kind of disappointed, "I thought--"


    "Thought I could resist Voldemort''s Killing Curse directly?" Felix asked with a smile, and Ron nodded. " That curse is probably Voldemort''s best magic, he understands the Killing Curse better than anyone else in the world, and I''m not interested in experiencing it personally ..."


    "Cruciatus Curse, Imperius Curse, and Killing Curse, they are together referred to as three Unforgivable Curses, because there is no counterspell, besides, there is another important reason thought, that is, the power of the curse vaguely touches the realm of the soul -"


    "Soul?" Ron asked in shock.


    "Yes, torture, control, destruction ..." Felix said softly, and the three people on the hospital bed couldn''t help but shudder, "Although I haven''t tried it personally, I believe these three curses are effective against ghosts as well. " Seeing their faces filled with horror, Felix changed the subject and said, "In fact, the first two curses still have solutions to counter them, a high-level memory magic is one; of course, I believe it is the result of an extremely high degree of control over one''s will."


    " Do you think willpower can help us resist both Cruciatus Curse and Imperius Curse?" Hermione asked sharply, thinking this claim is a bit of a myth.


    "It''s a firm will." Felix corrected, "I can point you a few examples, such as the Longbottoms, and Harry''s experience last night, but of course, the evidence is flimsy and there are too many interfering factors ... However, there are quite a few records that indicate that wizards are able to get rid of the influence of the Imperius Curse by themselves. "


    He cocked his head toward Harry. Harry had gotten rid of Crouch Jr.''s Imperius Curse when Crouch Jr. was disguised as Professor Moody in class, and Harry had approached the real Moody to confirm it, who regretted very much that it was not an idea he had come up with.


    Just as Felix recommended the Cheering Charm to Harry and Ron, Madam Pomfrey walked in and poured a large glass of the Elixir that Induce Euphoria for each of them, regardless of the protests of the three. After drinking it, Harry, Ron, and Hermione all giggled.


    Madam Pomfrey said worriedly, "I can only do my best to keep them positive and upbeat, without allowing them to think about the horrible experience they had that night for a while ... maybe it won''t be so horrible when they remember it again after some time."


    "Madam Pomfrey, they are stronger than you think." Felix said to her as he walked out of the ward.


    At the door of the ancient rune office, he saw Juria, Byers, and Bethany waiting outside.


    They had come to say goodbye.


    "Mr. Hap, I appreciate the exchange during this time, and I have an idea - starting a newspaper to promote the views of the Revolutionary Society. I would like to ask if you would mind if I release some of our previous discussions on ..."


    Felix didn''t see any reason to refuse.


    ...


    Harry spent five full days in the ward, cooperating with Madam Pomfrey on various examinations every day, and he felt like a mouse. Hermione was the first to heal and leave the hospital wing, followed by Ron, which made his next few days difficult. Madam Pomfrey finally agreed to his request after he applied for discharge a dozen times.


    But before he left, Madam Pomfrey gave him a large pot of Elixir that Induce Euphoria, and Harry felt that the entire stock of the hospital wing is here "All three of you, have a small glass a day during this time." She said seriously. Look at her stance, if Harry did not agree, she would force him to stay and supervise him to drink all the potion in the jar.


    Harry didn''t know where to go for a while when he left the hospital wing, he thought he must look pretty silly holding the pot. He also did not want to go back to the common room and spent the last few days in bed, he, Ron, and Hermione spent a lot of time discussing the impact of Voldemort''s resurrection, Hermione constantly searching for useful information from the newspaper. His brain is somewhat numb.


    He stood in the hallway, looking out of the window. From where he was he could see Hagrid''s hut, and Beauxbatons'' carriage is still there, but the statue of the magical creature at the Quidditch pitch where Ilvermorny is stationed is gone, and Harry realizes that the tournament of champions is over, and they should have left Hogwarts ...


    However, Durmstrang''s spooky sailboat is still docked at the Black Lake, and he saw ant-like figures moving around on it and wondered if Krum is in there.


    "Hey, Harry." Neville''s voice said, "You''re out of the hospital. Wow, this must be Euphoria, but you''re holding a lot more than Ron''s one. You missed something while you were in the hospital, the Ilvermorny and Uagadou''s teams left."


    Harry felt some regret. He hadn''t thanked Nona in person yet, and her amulet still worked pretty well. Then there is Byers, he thinks they are already considered friends, but Dumbledore forbade others from bothering them during their hospital stay. It couldn''t be helped, they were so popular that Madame Pomfrey carried baskets of fruit and flowers that filled the ward.


    "... They couldn''t meet you, so they prepared some farewell gifts and left them in the dormitory ... Ron decided to wait for you to return before opening them, he is holding back quite hard." Neville said with a stifled smile.


    Harry thought about it and grinned.


    " Why Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are still here?" He asked.


    "You mean this," Neville scratched his round face, "Beauxbatons'' students are staying behind voluntarily, and Madame Maxime is still at the school, which I don''t know why. But the Durmstrang students are screwed."


    "What happened to them?"


    "The Headmaster of Durmstrang, the one called Karkaroff, left his students and slipped away. No one knows when this happened, but Aurus Poliakov claimed that Mr. Karkaroff has been missing since the night you returned."


    Harry got surprised, a magic school headmaster was scared away by the presence of Voldemort who was hundreds of kilometers away? It made his heart sink, his stomach felt like bolting a stone, a heavy falling stone.


    "So how are they supposed to get back? They must be freaked out."


    To Harry''s surprise, Neville laughed.


    "Well - to be honest, they''re pretty calm, Karkaroff isn''t very popular, remember? Just because Poliakov demonstrated some dark magic in dueling class, he was given a serious lecture by Karkaroff when he got back."


    "But he was trying to defend his school''s reputation!" Harry shouted.


    Neville shook his head, likewise finding Karkaroff''s actions incomprehensible.


    At that moment, Professor McGonagall hurried over from the other side of the hallway.


    "Potter, come with me, the Headmaster wants to see you--"


    Harry said goodbye to Neville, who offered to help him bring the Elixir back to his dormitory, which made Harry a million times more grateful. He followed Professor McGonagall to the statue that stood in front of the Headmaster''s office. Professor McGonagall didn''t follow him, so he pushed the door open alone and almost collided with Snape. Snape''s face didn''t look that good, his face looked paler and radiated coldness from the inside out.


    Not waiting for Harry to look twice, Snape flung his robe and walked away from him.


    Harry walked into the office, Headmaster Dumbledore rested his hands on the table, staring at a shallow metal basin, Harry recognized what it is, it is Pensieve. It would be the first time he had ever seen a real Pensieve, but he had seen something similar at the Magic Rune Club.


    "You should have recognized what this is, right, Harry?" Dumbledore looked up with a smile.


    "Yes, Professor," Harry''s heart thumped up, "Professor Hap has made some Runic Artifact by imitating a Pensieve ..."


    "Ah, ancient runes do come in handy," Dumbledore said with a smirk, "both for ancient magic and for making artefacts. If I wasn''t busy these past few years, I''d have certainly spared some time to study ..."


    "So, Harry, perhaps you can guess what I''m looking for you?" He folded his fingers and quietly looked at Harry from behind his glass, his gaze carrying too many emotions that Harry couldn''t read them all.


    "Well, I guess - you wanted to tell me something?" Harry honestly said what he had in his mind.


    "You can also put it that way; Voldemort is resurrected, and Harry, you are already deeply entwined with his fate, I think - it''s time to let you know something and clear some of your doubts in focus," Dumbledore''s blue eyes peered through his half-moon glasses as he said, "And, of course, I have a request."


    "A request?" Harry looked at him in surprise, unsure of what he can do for the Headmaster.


    "I want to see what happened that night," Dumbledore said lightly, "through differnt perspective."


    "My perspective ...," Harry repeated slowly, his mind clouded a little.


    "Yes, as I told you in the first year, Voldemort''s failed killing curse linked you with him, which allowed you to perceive his emotions in some special situations--"


    "Is that why you asked Professor Hap to teach me the Occlumency?" Harry blurted out.


    "That''s right." Dumbledore nodded gently, "Considering that Voldemort is becoming stronger and his resurrection seems unstoppable, I feared that as he grew stronger he would discover this connection and even control you with it."


    Harry was horrified greatly, he dared not imagine this scene. The scar on his forehead ached vaguely, but it is nothing compared to the potential consequences; he had never considered that his scar would become something like a medium for an Imperius Curse.


    "But you''ve learned Occlumency fairly well," Dumbledore said with a small smile, "I''m just explaining the worst consequences to you, and I''m sure Voldemort would have a hard time controlling your body from a distance."


    Harry breathed a little sigh of relief. He thought about the Headmaster''s request again, and an thought popped into his head, "So you believe that I can see things differently through - well - a different perspective?"


    His attitude began to waver again; so far, his connection with Voldemort had been a good one.


    But the potential dangers could not be ignored.


    "I can''t give an exact answer to that, Harry," Dumbledore said, "but I have a theory that when you and Voldemort get too close, the connection is strengthened, perhaps it''ll reveal some of the secrets that are hidden in your memories."


    "I agree." Harry said, then he hesitated: "But I don''t know how to extract memories, I know the theory, but never tried it myself-"


    "I can assist you in casting the spell." Dumbledore said, "But there''s no rush, let''s look at a few memories together first."


    ...


    Meanwhile, Draco Malfoy froze while holding a letter.


    The letter was sent to him by his mother, at first glance there is nothing unusual about it, the content of the letter is full of a mother''s love for her son, not to mention that the letter also thoughtfully enclosed a list of cuisine for dinner.


    It was only when Draco read it a second time that he realized something is wrong; his mother is rarely this nagging.


    The Malfoys had many rules, but only one seemed to satisfy the situation at hand - Draco mentally recited a series of numbers while sorting out the words on the letterhead in order, and soon his eyes widened at the secret message.


    Find a chance to fight with Potter. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    The night before their departure from school, the front page of the Daily Prophet splashed a hot topic of discussion at Hogwarts as Fudge finally stepped out of his office and hastily acknowledged that the You-Know-Who is truly back; After that, he made it clear that he is not fit to lead the wizarding community, which is currently entering a state of war and decided to voluntarily step down from his position as Minister of Magic.


    Harry stared at the photo of Fudge surrounded by flashing lights in the newspaper for a long while. Fudge looked like he had aged a dozen years when he showed up again, his whole body had lost more than a circle, and he looked haggard and relieved at the same time, and Harry felt some pity for him.


    At that moment, Dumbledore stood up to give a speech, he affirmed the truth of the Ministry''s claim that Voldemort had come back from the dead, and restated the purpose of the tournament, emphasizing that "understanding and unity among wizards" is more important than ever.


    "Every guest in this great hall who wishes to return here is welcome to do so at any time."


    Harry stared at the newspaper, the new Minister of Magic who would succeed Fudge next week is Amelia Bones, the former head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement ...


    Is Sirius with her now?


    "... Voldemort''s methods of creating conflict and hostility are very clever. We can only fight it to the end if we can display an equally unbreakable friendship and trust."


    The second page featured the Ministry of Magic''s emergency wartime survival manual, which will be distributed in the last few days and sent by owl to every wizarding family.


    Let''s hope it works ...


    "We are all going to face dark and difficult times ... Many families will be torn apart by this, and you will have to choose between the right path and shortcuts ..."


    The fourth page featured bad news, a mass prison break occurred in Azkaban and the Dementors rebelled in mass. The good news is that there were not many casualties, and Acting Minister Ms. Bones decided to ease up on the restrictions and recruit a bunch of Aurors and Hit-Wizards.


    The war picked up the pace ...


    "We still have four people to thank, three of whom are still students, I''m talking about Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger, who has shown the fearlessness in all areas that only a few people have shown in the face of Voldemort ... courage and wisdom in equal measure, cleverly calling Professor Felix Hap for help and successfully escaped Voldemort''s clutches and brought Voldemort''s schemes to light."


    Dumbledore raised his goblet. Harry followed suit fumblingly and welcomed the various looks from the people in the great hall, along with Ron and Hermione.


    The school year is over, Harry thought.


    But the war has begun.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 571+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 492: On The Train

    Early the next morning, the students packed their bags and gathered in the entrance hall to wait for the carriage to take them to the station. Harry, carried his suitcase in his left hand and the cage with Hedwig in his right, as he watched Madame Maxime and Fleur walk toward the lawn where Beauxbatons'' carriage parked. "Fleur mentioned that she intended to get a job in England, in this sensitive time ... What does she think?" Ron asked.


    Harry shrugged, he has no answer to that question either. As his line of sight passed over the crowd, he saw that Hermione and Krum were exchanging their final goodbyes, Krum said something, but Hermione shook her head in embarrassment.


    "They''re all in their final year, aren''t they?" Harry suddenly realized this.


    "Exactly, which shows how valuable our trophy is." Ron said with satisfaction, "What''s more, counting the reward from the ''Future World'' company, I''ve saved almost a thousand galleons ... which is a lot of money." He said with a flushed face.


    "I heard that you guys want to become an Auror?" Collins asked with a hint of smugness in her tone.


    "Yeah." Ron said as he slowly looked back at her.


    "Then you''ll have to work harder ... or you''ll have a hard time when you get in." Collins said.


    Ron was still trying to figure out what she meant by that comment when Harry''s eyes had widened.


    "Collins, you wouldn''t have already-"


    "I''m glad you realize that, Harry." Collins narrowed her eyes and smiled - which made her thick eyebrows stand out even more like two caterpillars - as she said happily, "I''m already a reserve Auror, Ms. Bones wrote back to me personally-"


    "That''s not possible!" Ron shouted.


    Collins smugly pulled a letter out of her pocket, "It arrived this morning ... a little scribbled, but understandable, I think she must have been busy these days."


    Harry stared dumbfounded as the letter fluttered in front of him, the words on it could no longer be described as scribbled, it looked like chicken scratches. What struck Harry was that the handwriting looked really familiar.


    It was written by Sirius.


    "Wait--" Ron also found something, he narrowed his eyes to examine the letter, and seemed to have recognized it.


    Harry hurriedly slapped Ron on the back and said aloud unnaturally, "Collins, you admire Ms. Bones?"


    Collins grunted twice and withdrew the letter with satisfaction.


    "That''s for sure, I''m aiming to become our next Minister of Magic."


    At that moment Hermione came back and cleared her throat behind Collins, "So, I have a rival?" She asked with a smirk on her face.


    Collins looked back and shot Hermione a scrutinizing look, "You want to be Minister of Magic too?"


    Sparks seemed to fly between the eyes of the two girls, making Harry and Ron wince. Hermione did her best to puff up her chest and meet Collins'' gaze.


    "What are you thinking? Want to make history and become the first Muggle-born Minister of Magic?"


    "There already is, Nobby Leach, he''s the first." Hermione said without thinking.


    "So, the first Female Muggle-born Minister of Magic?" Collins instantly asked.


    "I''m not really interested in that title, I just think something has to be done ..." Hermione stared at Collins'' face and seemingly asked without thinking: "By the way, do you have any house-elf at your home? "


    "Yup." Collins replied.


    "Do you have a good relationship?" Hermione immediately followed by asking.


    " Not bad-" Collins was confused.


    Hermione breathed a sigh of relief, "Then we''ve got something in common, I founded an organization, well, it''s temporarily suspended ... but if you''re interested ..." she pulled Collins to the corner.


    Harry and Ron looked at each other.


    "Hermione shouldn''t be thinking--"


    "The odds are ..."


    They stared unblinkingly at Collins and Hermione''s faces, the entrance hall is so noisy that they can''t hear what they are saying at all, so Harry and Ron observed the two girls'' expressions. Within a few moments, Hermione came over smugly.


    "You made it?" Ron asked incredulously.


    " Well, in a way?" Hermione shook her head, "She was quite interested, but she was very resistant to that name."


    "You''re right." Ron said dryly, "Why the hell, the house-elf rights promotion society can''t be called ''Vomit''."


    "I told you! It''s not Vomit, it''s S.P.E.W.!" Hermione exclaimed with annoyance.


    At that moment, the horse-drawn carriage "wheeled" towards them, and they hurriedly hopped into a carriage. Harry stared at the side of the carriage for a while, "There''s something there, right? A horse called - uh, Thestral?"


    It is strange that he had not noticed this for almost four years prior. But once he knew the name from the book, he was able to spot a lot of anomalies - the faint panting, and the sound of hooves on the ground became so obvious.


    Hermione also stared at the blank space. The carriage began to move forward under the pull of an invisible force.


    "I''ve only seen these creatures in pictures ... of course, I don''t feel any regret, as they don''t really have a good reputation ... it has to do with their traits, only those who have seen death can see them, probably a unique invisible principle ..."


    "Luna can see Thestral." Ron suddenly said, then explained, "I eavesdropped on Ginny."


    Hermione glared at Ron and said ironically, "You''re not ashamed of it."


    "I didn''t mean to." Ron said with a shrug, "It was not long after Christmas break, and she was making a birthday present for Luna ..."


    Harry suddenly remembered the experience at ''Future World Store No. 1'' before school started. Luna had followed her dad along, and she had never seemed to have mentioned her mother in the long time they had known each other.


    "I hope we never see it for the rest of our lives," Ron said with hope as he stepped out of the carriage, "although it''s a little unlikely - I mean, very unlikely!"


    Harry and Hermione smiled at that.


    The sky is bright and clear, but the mood between the trio became melancholy.


    They found an empty compartment on the train as soon as the train stopped at Hogsmeade station, and Harry put the cage containing Hedwig in the corner, as far away from Ron''s pig as possible - the Pigwidgeon is too noisy - it would affect Hedwig''s dozing, while Hermione''s Crookshanks huddled in the empty seat next to her, resembling a squishy cushion.


    "Does Krum want to invite you to spend the summer with him?" Harry asked, having heard Hermione mention it before.


    "Yeah," Hermione said, "but I turned him down, as you know, under the circumstances ..."


    At that moment, the door pulled open from the outside.


    Fred poked his head in, and asked with a playful smile, " Wanna play cards?" Then he glided in, "Don''t push me, George."


    "I''m not - this door seems to be broken!" George slammed the door hard, making a "clunk" sound.


    "Ouch!" A scream of pain sounded against George''s ear when the door slammed shut.


    George took a few frightened steps back and stared at the door in shock.


    "There''s something there." He said with certainty.


    He didn''t have to tell anyone in the compartment for them to notice the anomaly. Outside the glass window, a round, startled face emerged from thin air.


    "It''s Crabbe!" Harry shouted, he thought of something, immediately drew his wand, looked around, and kept searching the surrounding area.


    "What--" Ron and Hermione questioned with a gasp, Ron had a large piece of Cauldron Cake stuffed in his mouth. But the long acquaintance made both of them pull out their wands simultaneously.


    The glittering wand passed through the air, and Harry''s eyes widened, then as if someone had lit a box of fireworks in the compartment, spells fired from different angles, and bright light and loud noise erupted in the small space.


    When everything quieted down, Harry, Ron, and Hermione lowered their heads and looked at the unconscious Draco and Goyle in the corner and froze. Fred, crouched next to them to check them out.


    "They seem to have used the Disillusionment Charm, which caused a wonderful reaction with the hex on their body ..."


    Draco and Goyle looked miserable, with bruises, various hairs, and pustules growing out of their bodies.


    George pulled open the compartment door, and cast a quick glance at both sides, before turning his head and saying, "The fat boy got away - who used the hairy hex?" He asked as he examined Draco on the floor.


    "Me." Harry said.


    "Wonderful results, Fred, whaddya think? Maybe we could develop a series of hairy people?" He said tersely.


    Finally, they put Draco and Goyle in the next compartment and came back to play Exploding Snap.


    Fred and George were in high spirits, and by the fifth game, Harry couldn''t resist asking them, " Is there anything fun happened?"


    "We''re that obvious?" Fred and George looked at each other and asked in unison.


    "Yeah, stop playing coy," Ron muttered, his face plastered with notes, "we''re in need of a bit of fun."


    "Well, then," George said with a straight face, "we can''t wait."


    "Can''t wait for what?" Harry asked.


    "The prank on the professor ... Didn''t we say we''d try it on the Professor''s next birthday?" Fred said with a smile, "But then, on second thought, it would be a shame to wait for a whole year."


    "What did you guys do?" Harry asked, holding his breath, "Surely the professor will find out."


    "That''s not necessarily true," Fred retorted, "we borrowed the idea from The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard ... scare box, even the springs, and scary figures are hand-built, I don''t believe he will still find it out in advance. "


    "What kind of toy?" Ron gulped.


    "No nose freak." Fred said without thinking.


    Ron coughed violently, and crumbs of cake flew out. "God, the You-Know-Who?"


    "You guessed it. Great idea, isn''t it? We figured it wouldn''t go out of date for another year or two." George grinned.


    Hermione looked up from her runic journal and looked at the twins in surprise, it must have taken a lot of thought for them to even come up with such a scheme ...


    Meanwhile, Felix sat on the roof of the train, one hand propped up on his chin, staring in boredom at the rapidly passing scenery around him. He stretched out his other free hand and flicked the bald head of the doll, which immediately swayed back and forth under the action of a spring.


    "The workmanship is quite exquisite, and they''re surprisingly bold ... I hope the next trip will bring in a few Death Eaters for me to practice on." Felix said with itching teeth, he would not admit for a moment that he got a fright.


    ...


    The Hogwarts Express train passed through the countryside and drove through one town after another, and finally, stopped at King''s Cross station without any incident. As he exited the platform, Harry said goodbye to his companion and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure, he turned his head but that person seemed to have disappeared all of a sudden.


    Strange, was it Professor? Or was he mistaken?


    "I repeat, what are you waiting for?" Uncle Vernon looked at Harry with an irritated look - or rather, at the cage with the owl on it, as the muscles in his face twitched.


    Harry shrugged his shoulders, strangely there was no trace of ripples in his heart. The Dursleys aren''t all that unbearable compared to the trouble that lies ahead.


    -----------


    Thanks for all your love and support. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 571+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 493: Red Scar

    At dusk, a tall figure appeared at the edge of a muggle town. He turned into a fork in the road and walked for ten minutes through the dimly lit woods, with no path in front of him, but he didn''t stop until he reached an old, dilapidated house. "Knock, knock!"


    The knock on the door sounded rhythmically.


    With a tooth-aching "creaking" sound, the door opened carefully from inside.


    "Who is it?"


    A raspy voice that sounded like someone had been soaking in an ocean for days and nights asked. Immediately after, a wand emerged from the darkness with a shaking hand.


    "Red Scar?" The young voice asked.


    The strange visitor ignored the wand pointed at him, looked down and examined a list, and made a "tsk" sound under his breath, reading the text in an intrigued tone, "Lyndon Seymour, born in the Timothy village - the village of witches - which is famous for their matriarchy, born in 1947, raised by his aunt. Well - even though you are male, she passed you all kinds of weird dark magic legacy; After growing up, you smuggled and sold dark magic artefacts and put all your earnings to study dark magic. During the Wizarding War, you chose to provide support to Voldemort and reportedly you were acclaimed by the high-ranking Death Eaters ..."


    "That''s you, right?"


    The visitor looked up, revealing a young face with light blue eyes that seemed to glow, and from time to time an image of a rune or two flashed through his pupils.


    The wand fell to the ground at once.


    "You are, are, ARE - Felix Hap! You, you''ve finally found your way here!" The dark wizard named Lyndon Seymour sprawled against the door frame, the dim light from outside hit him, revealing a terrified face.


    The man in front of Felix dressed like a typical dark wizard. His right index finger is coated with a layer of silver powder, but if you look closely, you will find that it is wrinkled skin, and his neck reveals a tender red flesh that keeps twisting up to half of his face, it is bright red and seems to have just healed, but that scar has been there for more than twenty years.


    That''s where he got his nickname from.


    Felix strode into the room, his eyes glancing around, walking cautiously across the floor. In addition to avoiding mould and dusty mess, it is also not to touch any traps in the room, and eventually, he picked a fairly clean chair to sit down.


    The owner of the house regained his composure, at least on the surface. Red Scar clutched his wand, his eyes fixed on Felix deeply, as if to separate himself from his earlier cowardly appearance, he said in a low voice: "You shouldn''t be here, Hap, I''m not one of those lone wizards you drove away, I have friends who-"


    " Are you talking about Bonnard, Aneurin? Or Kennedy?" Felix asked.


    Red Scar looked at him in surprise, "What did you do to them?" Right now, the wizard is glancing around, seemingly looking for an escape route.


    "Well, after I persuaded them, they obviously realized how unwise it was to stay back in this situation, so they decided to temporarily leave," Felix said lightly: "It took some time to convince them, but the good thing is, the results are positive, I told them that when the news of Voldemort''s death spread out they can come back in peace."


    " Well, then we have to wait for too long," Red Scar said with a mocking expression, "how long is it since the last war? Ten years?"


    " No complaints," Felix nodded his head in the direction of the file, "do as you''re told."


    Red Scar''s nose twitched uncharacteristically, a vivid crimson trail crawling along half of his face, as he growled, "You''re trying to eliminate opposition! You never accused me of a single crime a decade ago, but now you want to throw me out of England for some unknown reason?"


    "There was just no evidence."


    "What-" S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The reason why you weren''t arrested then was because you were doing it very covertly, Red Scar, the Ministry of Magic didn''t get solid evidence, but don''t pretend you''re innocent because of that, you can''t fool me, you can''t fool a memory master, which is why this job fell into my hands."


    Felix calmly pointed to his eyes, and a few silver dots of light flashed around the pupil, like a ring belt around a blue planet, Red Scar cowered and averted his eyes, he had never seen such terrible eyes.


    Felix raised the paper in his hand again.


    "There are hundreds of examples like you, and the Ministry of Magic is having a difficult time dealing with you; if we let you go, it might not be long before you will be pulled over to the other side, but still it would be too cruel to do something in advance, like locking you up, even though - well, forgive me, in my eyes your crime is so obvious-"


    "Don''t read my mind!" Red Scar yelled sharply, "Memories never count as evidence!" His wand lit up, a black mist wrapped around its tip, and the entire room became unbearably dim.


    "Are you sure you want to do it?" Felix asked softly.


    The courage Red Scar had gathered deflated like old tires, and he leaned against the table in the corner, his eyes averted from Felix.


    "What do I need to do?" He asked in a low voice, his wand loosely grasped.


    "As I said before, get out of here, find a place to take a holiday, travel, muddle through ... until the fall of Voldemort, when you can safely and boldly come back and continue your promising illegal work. At that time it will not fall under my control."


    Red Scar muttered under his breath.


    "I''m sorry, I didn''t catch that?" Felix asked.


    "Since when do you work for the Ministry of Magic? Aren''t you a professor?" Red Scar couldn''t figure out how he had bumped into him.


    It is Felix''s turn to sigh.


    "It couldn''t be helped, they made an offer I couldn''t refuse - actually, I could still refuse, but my morals don''t allow me to owe favours, and frankly, I''m not averse to this temporary job to exercise my magical abilities in the process."


    He touched the ring on his left hand, where the hourglass obtained from the Ministry of Magic is stored, and even half of it is filled with time energy.


    After the Wizengamot meeting, Ms. Bones pleaded with him to eliminate some of the unstable elements, "Each of them has a previous record but escaped punishment for various reasons, and although they may be just minor players who waved flags, they are worthy of caution all the same, because together they can be considered as wings of You-Know-Who."


    She also made a veiled allusion to the invasion of the Ministry of Magic''s Department of Mysteries.


    "Whoever it is, I just hope that person is not on the side of the You-Know-Who," she said with a headache, "The Unspeakables concluded that there is nothing to worry about, but I think ... alas, perhaps this is a good thing, at least the You-Know-Who can no longer think of a similar thing now."


    Bones'' attitude represented that of the Ministry of Magic itself - that is, wavering, they wanted the hourglass of time-turner back but feared that Voldemort would snatch it away before it could even warm up.


    And the latter can cause significantly more harm.


    ...


    Red Scar stared at the black square table with a few newspapers and two booklets on it. One is a Handbook for Survival in Wartime sent by the Ministry of Magic, and the other is an Easy Illustrated Guide to Ancient Rune, released months ago by Felix Co-Publishing, with a fancy cover that looks like a children''s book.


    "Ancient Runes? How enviable ...," he said sourly.


    "You bought it too?" Felix asked in surprise, following his eyes to the booklet and asking with interest, "How''s it to read?"


    "Not that good," Red Scar shook his head as he held out his hand, his face turned red, and it took quite a while to condense an ancient rune, but the next second the rune shattered. "I''m old, not very adaptable to new fields ..."


    "Could it be because you''re studying dark magic? The feedback from the others is pretty good." Felix calmly discussed it with him.


    "Yeah, well, I''ll try again ..."


    Felix took a moment to point him out. Then Red Scar began to pack up, although the Ministry of Magic prohibited the misuse of Undetectable Extension Charm, but it obviously can not constrain dark wizards, not to mention the Red Scar himself is considered half alchemist, so he can make his own storage items.


    All the furniture was discarded, and Red Scar picked out bottles and jars from all corners of the room, some of which are obviously enchanted and can hold things many times their size. Finally, it took some effort for Red Scar to squeeze them all into one trunk, as he panted slightly.


    "Are you going to stare at me till I Apparite?" Red Scar picked up the trunk and looked around sadly, "I have limited mana, I will only be able to leave tonight."


    "Oh, no, I can provide some anonymous Portkeys." Felix waved his hand, and a row of broken items appeared in front of him, boots, boxes of cans, bottles of butterbeer, and a rotten piece of wood.


    Red Scar hesitated for a moment, "Any recommendations? There won''t be an Auror across the street once I teleport there, right?"


    Felix shook his head slightly, "There is no need for that, what you need to worry about is whether to continue to do your shady stuff; or to start over in a new place and honestly accept the local Ministry of Magic''s rules."


    Red Scar sneered and ripped open his shirt, where there are large patches of scars.


    "Someone like me?"


    He said nothing more, picking a random Portkey and holding it in his hand, where he was going didn''t affect him much. "So, I''ll see you in ten years, Mr. Hap?"


    "It won''t be that long, remember to read more newspapers."


    Felix waved his hand at him.


    "You''re really just going to let me go? Don''t you need me to sign a magic pact? In case I sneak back in ...," Red Scar seemed confused.


    "Red Scar," Felix said calmly, "who do you think this approach will benefit? Don''t be silly, if it is a Death Eater who appeared at your door today, you simply have no choice, and I - when I see you mixed in with the ranks of the Death Eaters - will never show you any mercy."


    As the wizard in front of him disappeared, Felix ticked off the document.


    "All the best."


    -----------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 572+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 494: Hermione at Privet Drive

    Meanwhile, 4 Privet Drive. "So, that, that guy got a job for himself?" Uncle Vernon asked with a wide eye.


    "Yeah." Harry said dully, thinking that it is a good thing that Sirius is working at the Ministry of Magic, because as far as he knows, Sirius has never had a proper job in his life, except for a few months as an assistant teacher at a Muggle school.


    In Harry''s imagination, his godfather is going to be like Mr. Weasley, commuting to work at a regular time with a regular schedule. But he overlooked one thing, it is different now than it was before, completely different. He hadn''t seen Sirius for several days in a row.


    For the first few days of the holiday, Sirius had been happy to sit down with Harry and laugh at how he had tricked the Head Girl Amelia (even though it was quite uncalled-for) and how he had gotten the upper hand in a verbal fight, and it was obvious that Sirius took it as a serious fight, with both sides going back and forth, like a sparring match in a boxing ring.


    But soon, almost as fast as the naked eye could see, his time with Harry decreased dramatically.


    One day Harry stayed in Sirius''s rented house until eleven o''clock at night and did not see Sirius return. This made Harry horrified, is something wrong? His heart was so tangled, as all sorts of terrible speculations rushed into his head, and Harry could only desperately convince himself that Sirius was temporarily caught up in something. It took a lot of willpower for him not to act impulsively, and return to the Dursleys'' bunk to toss and turn for the rest of the night, as soon as the day dawned he got up and ran to Sirius''s rented house without even bothering to eat breakfast, filling his stomach with the wind.


    There was still no one inside.


    Harry was so panicked that he tried to use the Apparition to go the Burrow or Diagon Alley ... he even drew out his wand, only to find a scribbled note on the table by accident. It was actually quite conspicuous, and when Harry thought back on it afterward, he thought that he was just concerned, but it was good that he didn''t get into more trouble because of his impulsiveness.


    The contents of the note made Harry sigh with relief. Sirius had come back late last night and had thought he could rest a little longer the next day, but he was called again before dawn. So Sirius left Harry a note explaining the situation.


    From then on, Harry always wanted to find the opportunity to let Sirius bring the Two-way mirror so that he could always contact him. But every time he saw his godfather''s tired face, he was simply too embarrassed to bring it up.


    For the next week, Harry only saw Sirius twice, and each time he returned late. Sirius'' two eyes were also swollen, and he began to doze off without saying a few words, and when Harry handed him chips, he shoved them up to his nose. s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    "What does he do for work now?" Uncle Vernon asked at the dinner table.


    "Nothing major," Harry said in as calm a tone as he could manage, "He''s now the assistant of the Minister of Magic."


    The Dursleys showed a puzzled expression.


    "The equivalent of the position of secretary to the Muggle Prime Minister." Harry changed his statement, he got satisfied to see them showing surprised expressions and tried not to let his smugness show too much, "It''s nothing, his last job was a teaching assistant in a school, Dudley probably knows a lot about that, doesn''t he?"


    Dudley immediately choked on the dry salad and coughed audibly.


    "Boy, what have you done!" Uncle Vernon stared viciously at Harry, while Aunt Petunia patted Dudley''s back and cried under her breath carnally, "Dudley sweetheart, what''s wrong with you? Did you choke on your food?" Dudley reddened, as used his fat arm with three layers of flesh stacked up to distance Aunt Petunia''s thin arm, and his shoulders shrugged.


    Although he wanted to watch a little longer, but Uncle Vernon''s face had already changed to the colour of a pig''s liver as if he is the one who is now choking on the salad. He kept flexing his fingers as if he would rush over and grab Harry by the throat in the next second.


    "I didn''t do anything," Harry said hurriedly, "I guess he just misses his assistant gym teacher who taught him for six months." He met Uncle Vernon''s small eyes and said, "Yeah, Sirius was teaching at that, hmm... Smelling Academy for his last job."


    "It''s Smeltings Academy!" Uncle Vernon growled, it was his alma mater, and it made him very proud that Dudley managed to go to school there.


    Dinner is getting restless. Uncle Vernon''s reaction to Sirius'' presence at his and Dudley''s alma mater greatly surpassed Harry''s expectations, he seemed to believe - the wizards ( freaks in his word) had finally set their evil intentions on his baby boy, "Are they going to spy on us on all fronts? "


    Aunt Petunia also exclaimed and began to nag Harry endlessly. It was strange how she could wipe her tears while making her vicious words so precise and clear.


    "It was a complete coincidence, Sirius went to Muggle school to gain experience, he is going to teach at Hogwarts the next year." Harry explained, "And he''s resigned now."


    "That hippie can be a professor?" Vernon said with a disdainful look on his face, at which point Dudley finally stopped coughing and began to have a hiccup. After some time, Uncle Vernon muttered disgruntledly, "Look at you people! I just can''t believe you guys have a school, and a government - how many of you are there?" He asked, turning on the TV as he did so.


    "Probably tens of thousands." Harry said dryly.


    "No wonder." Uncle Vernon barked as if all his previous doubts had found a basis, and he wanted to say something else, but the evening news came on the TV - "The people need not worry! The slowing economy and soaring unemployment are temporary, and it won''t be long before it gets better ..." The man on the TV was making a speech at the top of his lungs.


    "Only an idiot would believe his words!" Uncle Vernon''s attention was drawn to the TV sound, and he stared at the screen and said, "This Prime Minister is awful ..."


    Harry glanced at it too, and the next second he got drawn to the man next to the prime minister, tall, dark-skinned, wearing a dark suit, which gave him a very dignified look. Harry looked twice more, and yes, it is Kingsley Shacklebolt.


    What the hell is going on here? Harry could not believe his eyes, he stared at the TV screen for a moment, but the screen remained fixed on the Prime Minister''s face, not even giving a single shot to the next person for a dozen seconds, Harry scratched his ears in anxiety.


    When the prime minister finished babbling, wiping his bare forehead with a handkerchief, ready to get up and leave, the camera finally recorded the person next to him, Harry held his breath to double-check, finally sure he saw it right.


    "You can also watch the news?" Uncle Vernon said maliciously to Harry, " Bloody hell, how can our news have something to do with people like you-"


    "It''s a shame," Harry said calmly, pointing to the TV, "I just saw someone I know." At Uncle Vernon''s dumbfounded expression, he shrugged, "Yeah, looks like the wizard-Muggle connection runs a lot deeper than you think ..."


    Before Uncle Vernon got mad again, Harry hurriedly slipped back into his room, where he slumped on his bed and stared at the ceiling in disbelief. Sirius should still be working at this hour, he could go over there in another hour ... but how to kill the time is a bit of a dilemma, Harry picked up a small purple booklet next to his pillow with the striking words printed on the cover.


    A Handbook for Survival in Wartime - Published under the Licence of the Ministry of Magic: Protect Your Home and Family from the Dark Arts


    Harry turned to the first page, which contained something like a table of contents -


    The wizarding community is currently under threat from a group calling itself the Death Eaters. Obeying the following simple safety guidelines will help to protect yourself, your family, and your home from attack.


    1. Do not leave your home alone.


    2. Extra caution is needed at night. If possible, return from an outing before it gets dark.


    3. Check the security wards around your house, and make sure the whole family knows some emergency magic, such as how to use Shield Charm, Disillusionment Charm, etc. The minor children in the family need to learn Side-Along Apparition.


    4. Arrange a security code to identify Death Eaters who are using polyjuice potion to impersonate your friends and family ( refer to page 2).


    5. If possible, Master the anti-dark magic spell-like Bright Fire-Making Spell.


    ...


    At some point, the sound of tapping on the glass sounded outside from the window.


    Harry sat up sharply from the bed and did not even notice that the booklet that covered his face fell to the floor. He looked over to where the sound was coming from, and a furry, squashed ginger-coloured head pressed right up against the window, startled, he flinched so hard that he almost fell out of bed.


    "Crookshanks?" He shouted incredulously, taking three steps to the window and pulling it open in one fluid motion as the ginger cat jumped over the edge and into the room, whimpering at him.


    "Crookshanks, what are you doing here, Hermione asked you to deliver a letter? But this is too far ..." Harry said, feeling a little overwhelmed.


    Crookshanks licked his paws and pointed outside.


    Harry mechanically twisted his head and looked out the window, and the next second his eyes abruptly widened.


    Hermione is standing beside the flower bed of 4 Privet Drive with her suitcase in one hand and waving desperately at him with the other.


    Harry scrambled down the stairs, followed by Crookshanks, causing his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia to shout out of their heads as he rushed out the door in one breath and ran to Hermione.


    "You, what - Why are you-here?" Harry panted.


    "I wrote to the professor, asking where I could cast a spell without any worries--" Hermione said happily, smoothing her hair.


    "But I-I can''t - cast spells here at will- either- " Harry gasped, gulping, "Sirius is not at home during the day."


    "I know, and the place the professor was talking about isn''t here either." Hermione said.


    "So, uh, you''re here to say goodbye to me?" Harry asked with some disappointment, he had thought he would have some extra company.


    " No one informed you?" Hermione asked him in surprise, "We''re leaving together."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 572+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 495: Death Eater?

    Harry had a belly full of questions. But two weeks of continuous boredom had made him impatient to get back to the wizarding world, especially since Hermione had given him a very tempting reason to do so - to cast spells without worry - and he couldn''t ask for more. "I''ll pack my bags right away!" Harry hurriedly left after dropping a sentence.


    The Dursleys watched from the window, looking cautious and skeptical, with an identical look of suspicion in their eyes.


    "Who is she?" Uncle Vernon asked first when Harry stepped into the doorway. He looked carefully at Hermione, who is standing alone near the flowerbed, and even with his discerning eye, he couldn''t see a flaw, "She''s also-also goes to that school with you?"


    "Yeah, right." Harry walked right past them and walked up the stairs, turning around.


    "Get it straight! What''s she doing here - you gave our address to someone else?" Uncle Vernon chased after him aggressively, finally rushing ahead of Harry to block the stairs, pointing at Harry''s chest, with spittle flying: "I don''t know if we gave you the wrong impression, but - this family - I will not allow - it to become - a concentration camp for freaks!"


    "She has a name!" Harry exclaimed with annoyance, "Her name is Hermione, and she''s not crashing here."


    He ducked his head to get through the huge gap under Uncle Vernon''s arm. "She''s here to inform me to get out of here, and I''m leaving soon." Harry said in a tone that suppressed his joy.


    "Boy, don''t talk to me in that tone - we adopted you! You''ve gotta learn to be grateful-"


    The bedroom door cut off Uncle Vernon''s gruff voice from the outside. Harry didn''t care at all; he will soon be going to another place, and there is a voice inside him humming with joy.


    He looked around and suddenly found his room in disarray - a few sheets of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a few quills on the floor, his unfinished astronomy class assignment; a small pile of sweets stacked on the wobbly bedside table, the bag of snacks brought back from the train half torn open, the chocolate frog with half of its head bitten off. There were also books that he had left lying around for the past two weeks, including Hedwig''s owl cage ...


    Luckily, Hermione didn''t follow him in. Harry couldn''t help but relish at the thought.


    He sat on his butt on the bed and bent down to pull the trunk out from under the bed, a few muggle clothes, and wizard robes were piled up in a mess inside, and the socks Dobby had given him looked especially conspicuous when they had turned over to the top at some point. For the next few minutes, Harry packed the trunk with scattered books one by one. He thought happily about where he would go next as he recalled where he had hidden his possessions.


    There were comic books, unused textbooks, and snacks locked in the cupboard, the former being the complete set of The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard comics, and the latter being the Gilderoy Lockhart''s series of books - which Harry always wanted to find a chance to throw away. Lockhart''s true nature is actually that of a con man, who became famous by putting other people''s stories as his own, and served as a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts during Harry''s second year, though halfway through the school year, Lockhart''s bad behaviour was discovered, and he was imprisoned in Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic.


    Harry grinned, he, Ron, and Hermione had contributed in this case.


    He opened his cupboard, rolled his dirty clothes into a ball, and stuffed them into the empty space of the trunk, then smoothly picked up the purple booklet from the edge of his pillow and placed it on top of his clothes, for a moment, Harry stared at the booklet and froze, gazing at the words on the cover -


    The Handbook of Survival in Wartime - Published under the Licence of the Ministry of Magic: Protect Your Home and Family from the Dark Arts.


    Harry held his breath and carefully turned to the first page, repeatedly reading the contents of Article 4 - Arrange a security code to identify Death Eaters who are using polyjuice potion to impersonate your friends and family ( refer to page 2).


    His breath suddenly quickened and his mouth went dry.


    Harry slowed down and tiptoed to the window, as if doing something bad, and darted a quick glance outside - Hermione is gone.


    Harry''s brain went blank.


    What is going on? Could Hermione be a fake? He swallowed a mouthful of saliva and forced himself to calm down.


    Hermione suddenly came to the door to take him to a place, which is actually nothing, he gave her address ... but someone should have informed him, could it be that Sirius was so busy that he forgot there is such a thing? But Professor Hap wouldn''t forget.


    Harry thought he is overthinking, if Hermione is the disguised Death Eaters, the first time she saw him she should have cast a curse on him, instead of letting him go upstairs to pack his luggage ... but he could not help but wonder what if the Death Eaters want him to leave willingly?


    The suspicion would only fall on the real Hermione if he had an accident, and it would increase the difficulty of the subsequent investigation follow-up.


    Arrange a security code with his friends and family ... He didn''t even ask Hermione where they are going, he was overwhelmed by the sudden happiness ...


    Polyjuice Potion ... he had seen it, but how to identify it? He had no idea.


    Harry glanced out of the window again, Hermione is back, and - she obviously spotted Harry on the second floor and smiled at him.


    Where she had been? Who was she talking to?


    Harry''s heart thumped.


    Crookshanks, that is strong evidence... Death Eaters can''t transform into animals using a polyjuice potion, Hermione proved it by experiencing it before, but Harry is not sure if it is Transfiguration, which he didn''t notice before.


    Harry scrambled downstairs with the trunk and cage, the cage kept hitting the stair railing, Hedwig let out a disgruntled yelp, yeah ... it occurred to Harry as he stood downstairs that he might find someone to ask if there is such a thing.


    But it seems to be too late. If Hermione is really a disguised Death Eater, she will not give him much time to delay - even if he delayed briefly - the next second the Death Eater and her companions are likely to rush in.


    Harry stood frozen in place, his head felt chaotic.


    "Boy, what are you waiting for! Nobody wants to keep you!" Uncle Vernon yelled from the living room, his voice drowned out the sound of the TV show - "Goal! 1:0 lead."


    Harry turned his head with a stiff expression and looked at Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley, as each of them minded their own business, as they usually did. Harry''s heart stirred strangely, he could Appirate in advance if he really encountered danger, but it meant that the Dursleys would face unknown risks.


    Such as bearing the wrath of the Death Eaters who failed to catch him.


    But who made them treat him badly, Harry thought, his eyes slowly gliding over the people in the living room as if he wanted to re-examine them, judging ... from a different perspective


    "No ice cream." Dudley''s fat arm slapped against the table.


    "There''s plenty in the freezer, baby." Aunt Petunia said as she stacked the plates together in a pile.


    "I want a Chocolate one! That new brand one!" Dudley yelled out.


    "Okay, Diddykins." Aunt Petunia said dotingly, she put down the half-cleared table and wiped her hands, "Mummy will get it for you now, and hurry back quickly, in the meantime you can have another piece of fried meat-" she walked in the direction of the door.


    Harry stared at her, as her hand rested on the doorknob, and his heart raced.


    "Don''t leave." He said in a hoarse voice.


    Aunt Petunia looked back in surprise, her eyebrows quirked oddly, her thin lips pursed into a line, the doting look in her eyes quickly chilled.


    "You haven''t left yet." She said, turning back to put one hand on the doorknob and giving it a firm twist. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Don''t step outside!" Harry said, seemingly regaining his mobility and walking forward to pull Aunt Petunia away from the side of the door in one fluid motion, before drawing his wand.


    The Dursleys screamed and jumped up. "Put - that - thing - away!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed.


    "How dare you!" It is Uncle Vernon.


    Harry ignored them, he carefully hid his wand in his sleeve and looked out through the window, the Dursleys frozen in place, stunned by his attitude. Harry pushed open the door, where the noise obviously reached outside because Hermione is poking her head into the yard to look inside.


    Harry slowly walked out.


    "What''s the matter, still not finished cleaning up?" Hermione asked.


    "I, uh ..." Harry said as he searched his brain, "I suddenly thought of a question, where are we going? And returning date?" He shrugged with mock relief, "You know, I''ve got too much stuff, and it''s hard to pack."


    "Oh," Hermione didn''t doubt it, "I don''t know, Professor told me to come over at seven, he said if I came early, I could go ahead and wait at Sirius'' rental house with you."


    Harry breathed a small breath of relief that she at least knew that Sirius had a rented house nearby.


    He couldn''t help but grumble, "It''s only a little past five in the afternoon, you''re too early."


    Hermione grunted, "I had to leave you time to pack up, and we''ve never been here before, so Mum and Dad were worried they couldn''t find their way here, but to their surprise, everything went pretty smoothly-"


    "Mum and Dad?" Harry yelped.


    "Yeah." Hermione looked toward the corner of the street, and Harry followed her gaze and saw a small car parked on the road. He recognized two familiar silhouettes that, if his memory is correct, would be Mr. and Mrs. Granger.


    "You told me how unfriendly the Dursleys are," Hermione pursed her lips, "and I thought - if there are too many people blocking the door, it might cause you trouble."


    "Well, tha-t''s quite con-siderate." Harry stammered, all his doubts cleared up. But now he didn''t know how to go back and explain it to the Dursleys, he turned around nervously, and through the large living room window, he could faintly see two round figures huddled together, highlighting Aunt Petunia, who looked thin and skinny like a dress that had been laid on Dudley, as she also huddled together with them.


    Harry froze for a moment, his mouth opened and closed, and he waved his hands in a downcast manner.


    "I''ll get the luggage." He said in a sullen tone.


    Harry returned to the living room, the trunk, and birdcage still untouched on the floor, the Dursley family huddled in a corner of the living room, just as he had seen from the outside. Harry lifted the cage in silence and held the handle of the trunk with his other hand, mentally praying ... that he could just leave and pretend as if nothing had happened.


    "Boy! Explain what kind of trick you''re playing!" Uncle Vernon yelled, blowing his moustache while trying to hold Aunt Petunia and Dudley behind him. But his intentions are clearly unrealistic, anyone can look past him to see Dudley, who is as fat as a young whale behind him.


    On the contrary, it is Aunt Petunia, flushed crimson, as if she had been squeezed out of breath.


    "I, I misunderstood," Harry said dryly, "the wizarding world is not peaceful lately, I have to be careful, that man is back."


    "Who are you talking about?" Uncle Vernon asked.


    "Voldemort." Harry said in a dry voice. Let him go ... don''t ask questions ... you guys don''t know ...


    "Vo- what?" Uncle Vernon shook his head and tried to put on a thoughtful expression.


    "Back?" At this point, Aunt Petunia asked softly from behind, "The ... murderer ... he''s back?"


    Uncle Vernon looked at his wife and then at Harry, as an expression of realization dawned on his face, "I''ve heard that name, he''s the one who-"


    The man who killed Harry''s parents.


    But no one answered him.


    Harry stared at Aunt Petunia, at first he felt it is strange, and there is a hint of an absurd sense of confusion - in the wizarding community no one will call him by the name Voldemort out of fear, as he had influenced and terrified wizards, but in the muggle world, he is just a murderer, so no one will fear him just by hearing his name; But from Aunt Petunia''s light-colored eyes, which were widened by fear, Harry vaguely realized that in this room, he is not the only one who knows exactly what Voldemort''s comeback means.


    Aunt Petunia looked at him with a strange look that she had never shown him before. This made Harry very uncomfortable and the atmosphere in the room seemed to take his breath away, so he quickly picked up the trunk and cage with Hedwig in it as he dashed out of 4 Privet Drive.


    "Let''s go." Harry panted and said to Hermione.


    "What''s wrong with you?" Hermione asked as she took Harry''s cage, in which Hedwig had just been roughed up and looked groggy in her cage, her otherwise bright, majestic amber eyes becoming lost in focus. She purred angrily.


    "It''s nothing." Harry said.


    "You look like you just got into a fight."


    "I''ll - talk about it on the way." Harry said.


    Mr. Granger got out of the car and helped Harry load his luggage in the boot, "Thanks - I''ll carry the cage." Harry said in a panic, as he sat in the back seat with Hermione, nearly squashing Crookshanks, who jumped into Hermione''s lap and whined at him.


    Harry didn''t notice that the Grangers are equally silent as he has a belly full of worries.


    " Which way next?" Mr. Granger asked in a hoarse voice.


    "Turn around the intersection and go a little further, it''s very close." Harry said, and then he heard a low sob.


    Harry looked up and saw Mrs. Granger in the front row wiping the corners of her eyes in the rearview mirror. The atmosphere in the car seemed even more depressing than at 4 Privet Drive, and for a moment he couldn''t figure out what the hell is going on, so he could only look at Hermione, who shook her head slightly, as her eyes reddened.


    The car stopped in front of a small red house.


    Harry got out of the car with Hedwig''s cage, took his and Hermione''s luggage out of the boot, and walked towards the front door. But no footsteps followed behind him, so he looked back and saw the Grangers hugging their daughter tightly.


    Harry suddenly understood the strange atmosphere in the car before - Hermione''s parents had long been aware of the news of Voldemort''s resurrection, to the extent that they had nearly witnessed the event themselves. He spent a boring two weeks in the Privet Drive, and in the meantime, the Granger couple suffered a huge psychological pressure, fearing for their daughter.


    Finally, Hermione and her parents separated. She watched them get into the car, and then disappear around the corner.


    Hermione stared motionlessly at the place where the car disappeared, and after a long while, she wiped her eyes and walked towards Harry, dragging her luggage.


    "Is this the house Sirius rented?" Hermione asked sullenly.


    "Yes - Hermione, you could have stayed home for two months," Harry said mustering up the courage, "you''re not like me - "


    "Don''t be ridiculous, Harry! After knowing that war is approaching, how can I do nothing?!" Hermione interrupted him and said fiercely, "I don''t want to die in the middle of a war!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 573+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 496: The Suspicious Mundungus

    "Let''s go inside." Harry whispered to Hermione, and together they walked into Sirius'' rented house. But there is already someone inside the house.


    Harry stared, glaring blankly, at a bearded stranger in front of him, the man had ginger dishevelled hair that looked like Crookshanks after he had rolled around in the mud a few times. He lounged lazily on the couch, with a short, rotund leg slouched on the table as if he is asleep.


    "Who are you!" Harry and Hermione drew their wands at the same time.


    Crookshanks crouched on the floor and let out a threatening cry. S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The man in the tattered coat awakened, he rolled over and sat up, looking up to see a smoking wand against his neck, so he meekly raised his hands in surrender.


    "My name is Mundungus Fletcher, commissioned by Dumbledore to protect you." The short, fat man said.


    "You''re lying," Hermione said pointedly, "how could Dumbledore send you, your kind-"


    Mundungus gave her a reproachful look. "What''s wrong with me? I''m working for both Dumbledore and Hap, and I joined the Order of the Phoenix more than a decade ago ..."


    "But how come you''re here? This is the house Sirius rented." Harry asked while continuing to point his wand at the man.


    "He told me to come, he is unable to leave right now." Mundungus leaned back cautiously.


    "So you''re the one that was supposed to inform me to leave early?" Harry''s eyes widened, "But you didn''t do anything and sleeping here." He said with an annoyed tone as he had nearly misunderstood Hermione just because the information did not arrive.


    Mundungus pointed to his own lax and bloodshot eyes, "Look at me, just finished a big job, so sleepy that I can''t even open my eyes, I arrived early, with the idea of having a nap ... didn''t expect you guys to come here by yourselves."


    "You were busy working for the Order of the Phoenix?"


    "Almost," Mundungus said vaguely.


    "But weren''t you ordered to protect Harry?"


    "Ahem, a temporary assignment ..."


    Harry and Hermione looked at each other, how this guy looked very suspicious and sneaky-eyed.


    "Since you were the one who was sent to inform Harry, you, um, should know where we are going?" Hermione asked.


    "I can''t say the exact address, at least not now, not until--" said Mundungus, waving his hand, "Wait, don''t be impulsive, it''s Black''s Old Mansion!"


    Harry and Hermione put down their wands.


    "How do we get there?"


    "Through that," said Mundungus, pointing towards the fireplace, "Floo Network."


    "And the time?"


    "Seven o''clock, plus there''s a man we need to wait for, and he''s got a note in his hand." Mundungus muttered, "Don''t ask me, I don''t know who it is either."


    Harry and Hermione looked at each other, and they pretty much guessed who it is.


    "What is the note you just mentioned?"


    "A specific address is written down by the Secret Keeper, which serves as the key to the house." Mundungus explained, "The place we are going to be is under Fidelius Charm, after the spell has been cast no one can reveal the address to the public again, and outsiders simply can not find it, only the secret keeper has the right to decide to whom to reveal the secret. At the time we speak again without regard."


    Harry and Hermione temporarily believed his words, but the essential cross-examination is still necessary.


    "You know Sirius well?" Harry asked.


    "That''s for sure, I always borrowed the fireplace here, it''s safe, secluded, and not regulated by the Ministry of Magic!" Mundungus said.


    " Not regulated?"


    "Yes, I guess the Black family people must have paid a small price to get this piece of technology, think about it, if I can master it, I can set up secret strongholds around the world, how convenient! And you can also perfectly avoid the Ministry of Magic!" Mundungus said proudly, praising his grand plan.


    Unfortunately, the plan got stuck on the first step.


    "Mr. Fletcher --"


    "Just call me Mundungus, little girl, I''m not a distinguished person." Mundungus said, scratching his bearded chin.


    "Well," Hermione''s voice paused, "I''ve heard that you need permission from the owner to connect a private fireplace - and that no wizard is allowed to connect a muggle fireplace with Floo Network unless there is a valid reason ..."


    Mundungus waved his hand.


    "The rules are dead. You know what I mean." He squeezed his eyes at Hermione with a knowing comical look, "You dare to say Sirius'' ancestors never had a private Floo Network? And the Ministry of Magic - hmmm, just saying ..."


    He started rummaging through his pockets everywhere and finally pulled out a black pipe full of dirt and stuffed it into his mouth, only then did he look up at Harry and Hermione.


    "Do you guys mind?"


    "What? Oh, uh, of course not-"


    "Thanks." He lit his pipe with his wand and took a deep puff. A few seconds later, exhaled a large cloud of greenish, smelly smoke, "Gotta have a few puffs every hour to refresh myself--" said Mundungus amidst the smoke, as if explaining to them.


    Harry and Hermione did not respond and shrank to the other end of the couch, far away from him.


    "Do you want to eat something, Hermione?" Harry asked aloud.


    "Now that you mention it ..." Hermione glanced at the smoke that continued to expand outward and stood up decisively, "I do feel hungry."


    They walked towards the kitchen.


    "Bring one for me, too, please--" Montengus shouted from the living room.


    "Do you know how to cook?" Hermione asked in a whisper from the kitchen.


    "A little, I practiced at Dursley''s. How about you?"


    "I know a little too," Hermione said vaguely.


    Harry''s hand touched the fridge door, "Oh no." He said.


    " What--"


    There are only two tomatoes on the top shelf of the fridge, otherwise, it is empty, Harry reached out and fiddled with it, there are large patches of mould on the tomatoes.


    "I forgot that Sirius doesn''t eat at home much these days." Harry said.


    Hermione blinked, "Can you handle a compressed cookie?"


    "I suddenly feel less hungry," Harry said hastily, "I just finished eating."


    "Me too." Hermione squinted her eyes as she said.


    In the end, only Mundungus ate the compressed cookies, as Harry and Hermione did not have much appetite; Because of the smell of burning stinky socks everywhere in the house, Harry was forced to open the window to ventilate.


    At that moment, he saw a familiar figure approaching from across the road.


    "Professor?!" He exclaimed with delight.


    Felix shot a glance at Harry at the window, and nodded with a smile on his face, immediately irritated by the smell of the house.


    "Ventus."


    The house was swept away by a whirlwind of smoke and dust, and Harry and Hermione visibly relaxed, with Hermione breathing heavily and freely.


    "I got there half an hour before and found you had already left," Felix said to Harry and Hermione, "they got stumped by a few things, so it took a while to convince your family."


    "You met the Dursleys?!" Harry exclaimed.


    It was more than that, Felix thought. He glanced at Hermione, whose parents were also quite persistent as if they had expected him to drop by, so they had stood guard on the side of the road to block him in advance.


    "Yes," Felix said briefly, "your cousin had some sort of situation and started squealing at the sight of me, and your aunt''s husband almost rushed up to hit me ..."


    Harry looked at him with confusion.


    "... only later it became clear that it was your cousin that stole your Honeydukes Ice Mice, and I had no part in it."


    Felix looked at the clock hanging on the wall, "Almost time." He retrieved a slip of paper from his pocket and handed it to Harry, "You two look it over and remember this address, so you won''t need it later."


    Harry and Hermione took it, the note wrote "12 Grimmauld Place". The two memorized it several times, and then the note turned to dust.


    "Professor, are you the secret keeper of Black''s old mansion?"


    "I am not," Felix did not elaborate, "Dumbledore is, and he provided the note."


    At exactly seven o''clock, a turquoise flame rose in the fireplace.


    "As promised, we have about two minutes, hurry up." Felix pushed Harry in front of the fireplace and urged, "We''ll talk over there if you have any questions."


    He took all the luggage in the ring.


    Harry, carried Hedwig, and stood in the flames, calling out "12 Grimmauld Place", his figure swirled and disappeared, followed by Hermione holding Crookshanks, Mundungus, and Felix at the end.


    "Young Master Harry." A low, hoarse voice called.


    Harry startled, his glasses blocked by the thick dust, so he could only vaguely see a thin figure.


    "Kreacher?" He asked tentatively.


    "It''s Kreacher!" The ageing house-elf said happily, taking out a chicken feather duster from behind him and bouncing around to help Harry clean the dust off his body.


    "Oh, than -thanks, no, I can do it myself -"


    Harry said as he saw a small rectangular thing dangling in front of his eyes, then he took off his glass and wiped it on his clothes.


    By then, Hermione, Mundungus, and Felix also passed over.


    Harry finished wiping his glasses and stared at the green object that he had just seen - it is a locket hanging on Kreacher''s chest.


    "Sirius gave this to you?" Harry asked in amazement, this thing is Regulus'' relic, a fake Horcrux, he had seen Kreacher wearing it before through the two-way mirror, he thought it would be an imitation, but he didn''t expect it to be real.


    "The master is very generous, he allowed me to keep this thing." Kreacher said.


    At that moment, a man rushed out of the living room.


    "Remus," Felix greeted, "I didn''t expect to see you again so soon, your mission is finished?"


    "Yeah," Lupin said oddly.


    "I''m going to go change and then will stay in the study for a while - you can answer their questions." Felix said.


    Lupin nodded, "Leave it to me."


    "I''m going to have a nap too, call me at dinner time." Mundungus said, yawning and walking towards the living room couch.


    "The professor has joined the Order of the Phoenix too?" Harry asked with interest as he stared at Felix''s back as he disappeared down the stairs.


    "He hasn''t." Lupin said, "But he''s on our side, sort of our ally-"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 573+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 497: Base

    Hermione pursed her lips and smiled lightly, Harry smiled more uncaringly. "What''s wrong?" Lupin asked suspiciously.


    "Nothing, nothing," Harry laughed even harder, "of course the professor is on our side, that''s quite natural--"


    "You have a point," Lupin said with a straight face, "but he''s so self-willed that sometimes I can''t keep up with him ... I almost got killed by him."


    "What happened?" Harry stopped laughing.


    "I took a few days off a while ago to catch up with my kind," Lupin said gloomily, "You should know very well what I mean by my kind ..." Harry and Hermione nodded lightly, Knowing he was talking about werewolves.


    "Originally Dumbledore wanted me to infiltrate the werewolf community, but I have gained some fame as my pictures have been in the newspaper a few times ... so I simply organized some semi-public activities and tried to convince the relatively mild werewolf groups by promising a steady supply of wolfsbane potions to get them to side with us, or at least to remain neutral. One time, I ended up running into Felix who came looking for a dark wizard at the door - werewolves and dark wizards have a complicated relationship and they sometimes will mix together, probably because they are both on the edge of society, it is just that the werewolves are forced ... There was a bit of conflict afterward, and a few impulsive werewolves rushed up, and the next second they were splintered back by black lightning."


    "The speed is too fast to react." Lupin said with palpitations, "but the mission was accomplished, the group of werewolves removed overnight."


    Harry and Hermione looked at each other.


    "Children, I''m not saying this to blame Felix - although he did act a little brutally." Lupin concluded, "But you must recognize one thing: werewolves are dangerous. Although they are divided into brutalists and moderates, they are all still within the realm of danger, the difference only lies in whether or not they actively attack people, so do not form the illusion that moderates are good-tempered-"


    "I don''t think so, Remus, you have a better personality than most people I know." A young woman''s voice emerged from the living room.


    The witch had a pale, heart-shaped face, a pair of sparkling black eyes, short, spiky hair that glowed in a vivid, violet colour, and she dressed in a Muggle style, with a weird shirt and patchy jeans, like the rebellious teenage girls Harry occasionally saw.


    Harry found her a bit familiar, and it took a few seconds of close examination for him to remember that he had seen her in his third year.


    "Hello, Tonks." Lupin calmly introduced her to the two, "Tonks is an Auror in the Ministry of Magic and has been chosen as a permanent member of the Order of the Phoenix to act as a mutual link between the two sides."


    Harry and Hermione understood at once.


    Tonks stepped forward and sized them up with great interest as she held out her hand, "Hello there, I''ve been trying to find a chance to talk to you." She said freely.


    Harry and Hermione reached out their hands fidgetingly, and Tonks came closer and said quietly to them, "I''ve joined the Order of the Phoenix."


    "Congratulations-" Harry said woodenly, he couldn''t really think of anything to say in response.


    All this time, Kreacher remained silent, and only when Harry looked over at him, he bowed respectfully, "Please allow Kreacher to make tea for the young master."


    "Oh, uh, okay." Harry said. Then Kreacher disappeared before his eyes. He thought there is something odd about Kreacher''s attitude.


    "He treats us like air," Lupin said, "for me, It''s because of my werewolf status, but he actually should have treated Tonks better, but-"


    "My mother was erased from the Black family." Tonks shrugged and said, "I don''t think he approves me either."


    "Erased? That tapestry?" Harry asked.


    "Yeah." Tonks made a gesture of fire sparks.


    Hermione watched the conversation between them in confusion.


    Harry explained in a whisper, "There''s a tapestry on the wall on the first-floor drawing-room that shows the Black family tree, but not everyone is on it, and some members who seriously violated the family traditions were erased from the tapestry, like Sirius was before."


    Hermione nodded in understanding.


    "So - welcome to you all." Lupin smiled as he opened his arms and hugged them.


    ...


    Harry and Hermione sat on the couch, finding the novelty all around them.


    "Is it just you guys?" Hermione asked.


    "Of course not, Sirius has contributed this place to serve as the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. Usually, we are all very busy, and it is rare to get together and find free time to drop by." Lupin explained, "Molly tidied up a few rooms, making it barely habitable now."


    "I remember Sirius and Kreacher used to tidy up the house." Harry said, he had lived here for a few days, and it was considered worse then.


    "Well, let me put it another way, it''s barely adequate for the new occupants," Lupin said with a smile, "Sirius is a bachelor and Kreacher ... is old if you ask me, although he''s still doing his job, and I strongly suspect that his sense of perspective has been skewed ..."


    Lupin looked up at the time, "Sirius will be back pretty soon, he said he''d try to finish as early as possible today, so I''ll make some dinner."


    "Need a hand?" Tonks asked.


    "No need." Lupin said, but Tonks followed him anyway, and within a few moments, the sound of banging and Tonks'' apologies came from the stairs below - "Oh! Sorry--"


    Just as the two had left, Kreacher appeared, he brought up a kettle of tea, "This is for young master Harry--" he thoughtfully filled the cups with hot tea, then he glanced at Hermione with big eyes, without moving.


    Hermione poured herself a cup of tea with some embarrassment and took a small sip.


    "If young master Harry has any orders, just call Kreacher, Kreacher is always at your service." Then the house-elf disappeared with a bang.


    Harry explained in a whisper, "Kreacher has been serving the Black family for generations and has been greatly influenced by pureblood mentality, it took Sirius a lot of effort to get him to stop cursing, but I guess it only worked half the time, Kreacher now completely ignores non-pureblood wizards."


    "I can understand that." Hermione held her cup of tea and surveyed the direction Kreacher had disappeared in with great interest.


    "Come on, I''ll show you around the house, I''ve been here a few times before, but it''s strange, I didn''t find any place suitable for practicing magic ... We''re on the first floor now, the entrance hall and dining room are on the ground floor, and there are a few bedrooms on the third floor, but a lot of rags were piled up inside during the major cleaning earlier, I don''t know what the situation is now ... the end of the corridor is the study ..."


    Harry and Hermione glanced toward the study and saw the professor sitting in a chair, muttering to himself, "Animagus?" He looked up at Harry and Hermione as he asked, "Has Sirius come back yet?"


    "Not yet." Harry said honestly.


    "Professor," Hermione asked, "where can we practice magic?"


    "There are two places. The fourth floor has two bedrooms that once belonged to Sirius and Regulus, as well as a spacious activity room that was previously chained up, so practicing general magic isn''t a problem, and on the ground floor - there is a hidden entrance next to the kitchen where a long staircase leads down to a huge area that can barely count as the second basement, which I guess might have been the Black family''s spell testing room, but then later abandoned. But the walls are built with extremely strong stone, with all kinds of magic protection ..."


    Felix finished his explanation and asked, "By the way, do you know about the Award Ceremony?"


    "Award Ceremony?" Harry and Hermione asked in unison.


    Felix smiled, "Didn''t Ms. Bones had said that you have a chance of receiving the Second Class Order of Merlin? It is not a lie."


    Harry completely forgot about it.


    All the way back to the living room, Harry''s mind was giddy, he is about to get the Order of Merlin?


    ...


    The time approached eight o''clock when some loud noises came from downstairs.


    Harry pricked up his ears, he heard familiar footsteps, it is Sirius!


    "Harry!" Sirius appeared in the living room doorway and flashed a smile at Harry, "Mundungus finally managed to pull off something solid." He sat down across from Harry and almost placed his butt on Mundungus, "Ouch-"


    "Is it dinner time?" Mundungus asked sleepily.


    "Not yet." Sirius said. He changed his seat and Crookshanks jumped on him, making Sirius scratch his chin.


    Mundungus muttered something that no one heard, then he pulled his ragged clothes over his head, and went back to sleep.


    "What have you been up to lately?" Harry asked.


    "There are tons of things to do," Sirius leaned back wearily on the couch, "We''re in the preparation phase, both sides are cautious, in fact ... we haven''t gone head-to-head since-- -if you don''t count a few incidents of Dementors injuring people. We think Voldemort is secretly gathering troops, recruiting forces, or planning some kind of conspiracy ... in any case they won''t be idle. We are also doing the same thing, but we are firmly on the defensive side," he glanced at Harry, "While there is no place to live, we still have a big family, that''s how it is."


    "The magical world has been peaceful for many years, most people have little vigilance, there are many loopholes to exploit, you should have heard about Azkaban ... Amelia has been working on it during this time."


    "And the floo network." Mundungus muttered in his sleep.


    Sirius grinned.


    "That''s right, who would have thought the unassuming Floo Network Authority would become so important in wartime? Amelia ordered the Floo Network Management Team to clean up old and illegal lines, and to monitor them for anomalies-"


    "And what about here?" Harry asked, thinking of what Montengus had told them earlier about the Black family''s mastery of some technology that is needed to build the floo network.


    " There''s no need to worry about it yet," Sirius said cunningly, baring his teeth, "It''s under the Fidelius Charm, so the Ministry of Magic can''t find it; at best they''ll find an uncontrolled node, but they won''t be able to pinpoint it."


    ...


    At dinner, the group exchanged information as they ate.


    "Fudge was sent to various European countries to persuade people to be alert about the activities of Death Eaters in their region ... It''s considered as making good use of people." Sirius said with a shrug.


    Harry looked amazed.


    "Molly told me she''ll be moving in, in a couple of days, with her kids." Lupin also revealed a piece of information.


    Both Harry and Hermione perked up at the news.


    "I''m leaving for a few days," Felix said, "and will be back before the awarding begins."


    "Going where?" Lupin asked perceptively.


    "To visit Mr. Scamander, I kind of miss the little ones he keeps in the basement."


    ------------ S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 574+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 498: Occamy Broking Shell

    North Coast of the English Channel, Dorset. "Kee? (How long do we have to wait?)"


    "Be patient, Valen. It''s almost time."


    Both Felix and Valen are slumped over a thick patch of dead leaves, each with a telescope in hand, looking off into the distance. A nest made of woven vines is hidden sixty or seventy feet away from them in the dense forest all around.


    The bird''s nest is exquisite, with six or seven silvery artefact-like eggs huddled together inside, in the middle of a pile of leaves.


    This is Newt Scamander''s home, or more precisely, a sub-basement unit. Felix and Valen have been here for almost a week now, and they have spent most of their time in this place, experiencing all kinds of wonderful adventures without even stepping out of the house. Last night they were boating in the swampy waters, and today they are in the woods watching Occamy breaking out of their shells.


    It all happens in Newt Scamander''s magical basement.


    This place is no worse than a Romanian Dragon Sanctuary, where magical creatures gather. Since Newt retired, he runs outside much less often. Many countries'' ministries of magic quietly breathed a sigh of relief ... But the size and variety of magical creatures not only did not decrease but became increasingly numerous. In addition to the ones Newt brought back, there were also his sons and grandsons, as well as the ministry of magic employees, magical creature associations, sanctuaries... ...and also admirers from abroad who visit him with all kinds of magical creatures, when they ask for his help and advice.


    Felix also brought a full set of ''Future World'' company products to Newt couple this time, as rent for his bizarre trip. Newt was shocked at the time, but his wife was quite fond of these new gadgets.


    "When Rolf visited us, he brought a chair that is very comfortable to lie on." Tina Goldstein told him.


    ...


    "Ta, ta, ta-"


    A crisp metallic clanging sound rang through the forest, "It''s going to break the shell!" Felix whispered to Valen, and the two raised their binoculars, and watched the nest carefully, at first there was only one source of the sound, but then all the Occamy eggs made the same sound as if the first one was a signal.


    "Kee?"


    Valen poked Felix gently. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The video record button? The red one--" Felix whispered while watching with rapt attention. A crack soon appeared on the surface of the silver eggshell, followed by twisting and distortion of the shell, as if something huge is expanding inside, and after a few tries, it started pecking again, as the crack widened.


    The "click-clack-click-clack" sound echoed like a symphony.


    Finally, the first Occamy broke out of its shell.


    Occamy are winged, two-legged creatures with the body of a snake and beautiful feathers, which are usually delicate, with glossy bright blue colour, albeit with some exceptions. The newborn Occamy''s legs are feeble, so it can only be tucked into the sides of its carapace and moves around more like a snake; The newborn Occamy roamed around in circles in its nest, curiously surveying its siblings.


    They are still trying to break their shells.


    "Did you get it on tape?" Felix whispered.


    Next to him, his partner - Valen hummed twice happily, her heart filled with glee, perhaps the footage she captured now would become prized footage released by the ''Future World'' company, and be seen by thousands of wizards.


    "I also recorded it, when we go back, we can compare ... let''s get closer, the Occamy''s mom is not at home ..."


    "Kiki! ( because it was lured away by you using a jar of bugs!)"


    "Hey, don''t be like that, mama occamy needs supplements, no? We came quietly and left quietly."


    "Kiki? (Any transformation to watch?)" Valen asked.


    The Occamy has a skill that is considered special even among magical creatures - it can expand and shrink at will, both large enough to fill all the space and small enough to escape in narrow space depending on its need.


    "You mean them, or me?" Felix said, pointing to the Occamy''s nest close at hand, the binoculars in his hand about to poke into the nest, the first small Occamy emerged out of its nest, attracted by the sound of their voices and the shiny lenses, cocking its head to peer at them curiously.


    The Occamy''s eyes moved from Felix to Valen, staring at her long pink beak for a while, and then turned sideways to examine its own appearance that reflected in the silver eggshell surface, after finally confirming that the two guys in front of it were not its mother, the little one immediately opened its pair of bright blue wings to demonstrate at them.


    The Occamy''s body also swelled up a notch.


    "Whaaaaaaaaaaa!"


    Valen looked at the scene in shock, Niffler didn''t have this ability. She slowly put her hand behind her back and waved it over and over at Felix, who grinned and handed her a small glass jar.


    Valen stared at the Occamy and waved her fist in front of its eyes, revealing a beetle in her hand.


    The little Occamy, which is still trying to make itself swell, stopped, and cocked its head to survey the food in Valen''s hand, its stomach let out an indisputable grunt, although it did not speak, its mouth leaned closer and closer ...


    The little Occamy quickly fell for the temptation of food.


    With the first example, the other Occamies who had just emerged out of their shells didn''t have time to think about the complicated question about why ''mommy looks different from them'' and began to scramble for food, while Felix and Valen took the opportunity to reach out and stroke their beautiful feathers.


    Especially Felix, his fingertips dense with the light of magic while touching, not to hurt, but to analyse...


    The pleasure of throwing food was short-lived, and it wasn''t long before Valen shook the empty glass jar and held it up for Felix to see.


    "No more?" Felix asked.


    Valen turned the jar upside down and shook it twice; it is completely empty.


    "That should be enough, they are just born, it is best not to feed them too much at once ..." Felix wondered.


    At that moment, a rustling sound came from behind them.


    Valen tilted her head and opened her mouth wide while looking through the bottom of the glass jar.


    "Well--" Felix also felt slightly uncomfortable, and he looked back to see the mother Occamy slowly raising her body from behind them, expanding in size and pressing her huge, bird-like head down toward them.


    ''The Occamy will attack anyone who comes near it, especially if it''s trying to protect its eggs.''


    While these words passed through Felix''s mind, he had already pulled Valen to Appariate twenty feet away. This little distance is nothing for the mother Occamy, a quick dash is all she needs to reach them both, but fortunately, Felix has also been here for a few days, so he can barely recognize their actions.


    The mother Occamy just wrapped her nest around and looked at them warily.


    Felix and Valen compromised by stepping back, then the mother''s body began to shrink a little, soon revealing its hidden nest, and the baby Occamies chattered and crawled on top of their mother, flapping their wings rustily as they watched the distant "keepers".


    "Well, Let''s head back home."


    Felix said contentedly.


    On the way back, they passed an empty hole in the tree, "Hello Blaze." Felix said in greeting, and Valen waved back at the tree hole, which is the home of Demiguise. They then passed a small open plain and walked across a long, monolithic bridge back to a settlement.


    It is adjacent to the exit, the most human-like place in the entire basement appeared.


    There are jars, pans, and books everywhere, Felix thought he had returned to the potion class professor''s lab when he saw it for the first time, even though the jars contained very different things.


    But he is certain about one thing, that is not introducing them to each other.


    It is destined to be an unfriendly meeting.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 574+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 499: Magical Being.

    [ Note: In many chapters, I would''ve mentioned a creature named Firetrail Snail, but now I found out while browsing about magical creatures that the one that mentioned there is Blast-Ended Skrewt, not Firetrail Snail which I originally thought of, so... sorry.] "Hey, Newt." Felix addressed the busy figure, "Got anything?"


    "I''m not certain." Newt straightened up from his chair, and hastily jotted down a few notes, before staring at a few "big scorpions" rampaging in the glass case, and said hesitantly, "Hagrid called it Blast-Ended Skrewt? It seems to be grumpy, is it in heat? Some creatures in heat will become dumb in the head ... some people too."


    "No one can say for sure, this creature only appeared in existence less than a year ago, no one can figure out its habits." Felix said, "Originally Hagrid was taking care of them, but he has some errand to run, so he handed me the last few before he left. He''s also keen to get your opinion."


    "It will take some time to observe." Newt stared intently at the glass container, "It is essential to confirm that the Blast-Ended Skrewt can reproduce stably under natural conditions, which is the first priority - otherwise they will just disappear in history - there are too many examples of human intervention in the creation of new species, and most of them ended in failure, and Hagrid didn''t let magic get involved, which is good, so there is a possibility of stable existence - I think I should build a field, your magic has been constraining them."


    He looked up with an impatient expression and jumped to his feet.


    "Build it sturdy," Felix reminded him, "I''ve never seen a docile Blast-Ended Skrewt before, they just don''t seem to have an organ called brain."


    Newt nodded.


    Felix held Valen and looked at a ball of spiny cocoon with her, that dangled above their heads.


    As they watched, the spiny cocoon suddenly unfurled into some sort of giant butterfly-like reptile with a pair of skeletal wings and a terrifying bat-like appearance, that hung upside down and stared at them, startling Valen in his arms.


    The next second, it retracted.


    "Swooping Evil shrink themselves into a spiny cocoon when not flying, this one isn''t that dangerous, but you better not get too close, Norris is a little shy." Newt said with a dark smile.


    "Kee?" Valen startled and patted her small chest.


    "Norris, that''s his name." Newt repeated, "Just like you''re Niffler, but has a name Valen." He looked over at Felix, "I can''t believe she''s already learned to write, it''s a little ugly, but ... uh, it''s an excellent improvement, it reminds me of my brother." His last sentence was nearly a whisper.


    Felix gazed at the curled-up Swooping Evil and couldn''t help but smack his lips, "Valen looks better." Valen also didn''t want to look like that. "So you trained it?" He suddenly thought of something and asked curiously, "This thing is quite dangerous in the wild."


    Newt showed a reminiscent expression.


    "I once had a Swooping Evil that helped me a lot, and Norris is his offspring."


    "I see," Felix nodded, as he asked quietly, "I guess that Swooping Evil helped you catch Grindelwald?"


    "Oh, hm-" Newt looked at him, "Headmaster Dumbledore told you that?"


    "No, my source is an Ilvermorny School''s teaching assistant." Felix explained, "He told me that there is a statue of a Swooping Evil in the halls of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, near the courtroom ... The inscription on the stone slab states, '' It has assisted in defeating the source of the unrest. "


    "The statue is said to have been placed there by Seraphina Picquery, the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, which, combined with the context of the time, leads me to speculate so." He added.


    Newt dropped his hands and fell into a distant memory, "I can''t reveal more - it involves Headmaster Dumbledore. But so far, what you''ve said is correct."


    "What kind of man was Grindelwald?" Felix asked keenly, "I don''t suppose that''s forbidden?"


    "Oh, uh, not really ... he was very arrogant, or confident ... and charismatic, although I don''t really like him... "Newt''s voice trailed off, and only now he looked like an old man approaching a hundred years old.


    Two days later, Felix offered his farewell.


    " Hello Blaze, you''re here too." Felix said to the Demiguise next to Newt, which had revealed its form today and looked like a sloth in appearance. Felix handed it an apple.


    "Are you done with your research?" Newt asked.


    "Done, quite a bit faster than I thought." Felix said satisfactorily, "I guess it might be because I actively abandoned some of the targets, after all, the Erumpent and the Mooncalf are not very suitable ..."


    And the appearance is not that good either.


    " I wonder if I can ask," Newt showed an intrigued expression, "you said to me before that you wanted to observe the structure of magical creatures, using magic - that word is ''scan''?" He glanced at Felix, who nodded at him.


    "Well - scanning with magic, to be honest, I don''t really understand it, it sounds like the process of getting familiar with creatures for Self-Transfiguration ..."


    "You''re right." Felix said with a faint smile.


    "Is it really Self-Transfiguration? But should not ah, the general transfiguration can only change the appearance of magical creatures, and it is impossible to demonstrate their essence, even the high-level Animagus rituals only removed some of the flaws ... "Newt muttered to himself for a while.


    "Even Headmaster Dumbledore also - wait, I seem to have seen a similar instance, but not a full transfiguration, with only a minimal alteration on the skin, I always thought it is magic that I did not know."


    Newt''s eyes shone brightly, staring at Felix with an insatiable desire to learn.


    "Can you really do that, can I see it?"


    "Of course, it would be my honour to show this skill to the world''s greatest Magizoologist."


    Valen stood at the table and looked at Felix with equal anticipation. Even though she had seen it in advance, she still felt amazed, what kind of species is the Great Demon King going to change? The Demiguise that is nibbling on the fruit at the side suddenly opens its eyes wide and the fruit fell to the floor - it had already seen the next scene.


    Felix tilted his head, gazed at his fingers with a cautious gaze, and began to cast a Self-Transfiguration spell. Strange sensations spread throughout his body. His body seemed to melt, his hands began to shrink and blend into the sides of his body, his torso and neck continued to elongate, and a pair of blue wings broke through his clothes like a curved blade and spread out from his back ... Felix felt a warmth instead of pain; there is no internal panic, only peace --because he knew what the goal of the transfiguration is, and also knew that his body can adapt to this degree of change.


    He is a magical being.


    Felix lowered his head, but his body swelled rapidly, towering higher than Newt. The blue, bird-like head is about the same size as the Demiguise, towering over those present, his field of vision shifted slightly making it possible to easily see the rivers, caves, and plains further away. s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Tall and brightly feathered, his body length exceeded one hundred feet.


    He turned into an Occamy.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 575+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 500: Bait ( 2 in 1 )

    Newt looked both amazed and fascinated. He gazed at the unusually big Occamy, his eyes intent and scorching, as he murmured under his breath, "Am I dreaming, I hope Tina doesn''t wake me up in the middle of it." He tentatively approached, but the Occamy seemed intimidated by his attitude, flapping its wings to bring up a strong wind that pushed him back a few steps.


    "Whoa, calm-"


    Newt fished out a jar from some corner of his body, which is stuffed with beetles, "I know you like this, I mean no harm, look, it''s food - uh- " he said as he tried to slowly screw open the lid, he discovered that the Occamy was slowly starting to get smaller.


    "Felix?" He asked with obvious confusion.


    Soon the Occamy was only about the size of a newly-born out of its shell. Valen jumped down from the table and locked eyes with the Occamy, her dark eyes sparkled, both are surprisingly about the same size.


    "Kee!"


    Valen just wants to reach out to grab, but the Occamy has scurried to the side, as Felix''s figure reappeared along with a burst of mist. He reached out, and his robe covered his body, as before.


    "Show''s over."


    Felix snapped his fingers and the fog quickly dissipated.


    Newt showed an obvious look of disappointment.


    "You''re not trying to study me, are you?" Felix asked warily.


    "Oh no, how could-" Newt said in a slight panic, but his eyes still fixed firmly on him, "Of course not- I can tell the difference between you and the Occamy, there is no such a big Occamy in reality. At least I haven''t seen one, is it big because of you?" He lamely changed the subject.


    But to be honest, Felix was secretly pleased that Newt had just looked at him like he was looking at a new species of magical creature that he liked, and hadn''t seen before.


    "It should be me." He sat on a rock and said, "I''ve tried a few magical creature transformations in the meantime, but for me, this newly mastered Occamy transformation is far easier and seamless than the rest. I guess it''s probably because I''ve mastered the zooming magic quite well."


    "The spell you used on the Blast-Ended Skrewt?" Newt asked perceptively.


    Felix nodded.


    "No wonder then," Newt said, "the connection between ancient runes and magical creatures runs deep - I''ve read your paper - but, um. " He considered the wording, "you should understand there is a difference between the two, I mean ancient magic and magical creature innate gift, they are different."


    "I understand," Felix nodded, "Perhaps, in the beginning, ancient runes did created based on imitating magical creatures and plants, but once the wizards created the first entirely new magic by the combination of pure rune symbols, the two became distinct."


    "However, I will try to recover their abilities."


    His light blue eyes showed infinite longing, "The gifts of some magical creatures are truly fascinating." He looked down at the Demiguise, this little guy has the ability to briefly prophesy the future in addition to his invisibility, and then he thought about the Phoenix Fawkes in the Headmaster''s office, Rebirth Through Fire ... that must be incredibly difficult.


    " You are the most qualified to say this." Newt also spoke with emotion, "Everyone underestimates the potential of ancient runes ... When are you coming next? I can''t wait to see your new changes."


    "When I hit a bottleneck," Felix said with some regret, "I need time to digest the existing gains, and I expect to be very busy in the next year or two."


    "The war." Newt whispered.


    ...


    From Newt''s house, Felix first went to the company headquarters in Diagon Alley and strolled around.


    ''Future World'' company is on the right track, and - Felix was surprised to find - the employees are generally not that old, and even a number of them are Hogwarts'' last two years graduates.


    "We currently have 267 people, and at your request, the development in the UK is being held at the same level as it is now, in exchange for rapid expansion and establishment of our presence abroad." Clammy said while holding a thick document.


    "Is the plan to introduce the foundation of alchemy being executed smoothly?"


    "Those with a foundation in ancient runes are grasping it quickly, the rest is progressing more slowly."


    "There''s no rush," Felix nodded, "what about self-defence training?"


    Clammy sighed.


    "Not all wizards like to fight, especially since the dueling class in the school has only been offered for the last few years, and you know what level the previous Defense Against the Dark Arts class was ... more than a third of the employees have not even mastered a single dueling spell, let alone combat sense; They do know quite a few minor hexes, but it has no other use other than pranking people ."


    "Pranks are not bad when used well," Felix said, "but the company''s employees must master the most basic self-protection, the runic shield charm ..." he paused to think about it. " Forget it, not everyone knows ancient runes. But they must master Shield Charm and Stunning Spell as soon as possible, Apparition and Runic Spells can be delayed. Orders can be postponed for a while, or given to foreign employees to do, we currently have no competitors."


    Clammy quickly jotted down.


    "What about the progress of the Thief''s Downfall?"


    "Remus is still discussing with the Gringotts, but the goblins are indifferent to him." Clammy said indignantly.


    "Goblins want to stay neutral, or the more intense we fight, the happier they are ..." Felix said, "Isn''t the Ministry of Magic still there?"


    "The Ministry of Magic has the technology, but it hasn''t been used in centuries," Clammy said with an odd look on her face, "They couldn''t find the right people to build a Thief''s Downfall."


    "Didn''t the Alchemy Society send someone to assist?" Felix asked curiously.


    "No, It is after all a magical organization that operates all across Europe," Clammy shrugged, "Many people are reluctant to come over at this sensitive time, and there aren''t many native British alchemists ... who''re famous, unless you count Zonko. "


    "Zonko...," Felix looked a bit speechless.


    Zonko is the owner of Hogsmeade Zonko''s Joke Shop, was once an alchemist, but he did not start off well, barely making ends meet after a few years of struggle, almost starved to death, then had no choice but to switch to research pranks and trick products, which unexpectedly became a hit, and since then he has gone farther and farther in that field.


    Then how to do it, Felix fell into contemplation, as his goal is getting bigger and bigger, he is worried that Voldemort will put his eyes on the employees of the ''future world'' company, compared to the regular protective wards, Thief''s Downfall has more strategic value, it can wash away all the spell effects, all the magical disguises, the effective range even covers the polyjuice potion and Imperius Curse.


    "Professor ..." Clammy raised her hand, her eyes sparkling as she looked at him.


    Felix''s heart pounded, "You guys want to try it?"


    "That''s right," Clammy said, relieved that the professor and her thought aligned together, "We have over fifty R&D wizards, each specializing in two or three fields, and they''ve also experienced the development process of multiple new products, and I can''t think of a more well-integrated group. "


    Felix mulled over the feasibility of the plan. The Ministry of Magic has the technology, while the future world has an established team with enough brainpower, it seemed like a win-win, except I didn''t know if the Ministry would agree to part with the technology, and it wasn''t easy to predict, during the first war, the Ministry of Magic had reached a partnership with the Daily Prophet.


    The Daily Prophet also grew rapidly after the war.


    "Professor," Clammy said eagerly, "right now is an opportunity."


    "All right." Felix agreed, "I''ll talk to Ms. Bones, and if she doesn''t have a better option now, I''m sure I can convince her. Is there anything left for me to learn?"


    "There is!" Clammy said, "But it''s all minor stuff."


    She flipped through the papers quickly.


    "The Weasley twins are interning here, and their-"


    "Wait, Fred and George are here? Right here at the headquarters? Right now?" Felix asked in surprise.


    "Yeah," Clammy nodded, "They came over on the first day of their holiday, with a belly full of weird ideas ... Remus thought highly of their proposed spell-proof hat, and spell-proof cloak series, and appointed them as team leaders. I personally guided them a few times," She pursed her lips, "though Remus rejected their You-Know-Who prank series - the scare box, constipation kits, and all that sort of stuff ... Fred kept yelling that Remus doesn''t have good taste, and said you liked it a lot - is that true?"


    "Well, I appreciated their thought process, but it''s not really appropriate to make fun of Voldemort now ..., otherwise the Death Eaters will chase their arses chanting killing curses ..."


    Clammy stared at Felix''s not-so-natural face for a moment and showed a puzzled look.


    "Ahem, let''s continue."


    "... Because of the endorsement of the Ministry of Magic, the number of sales of rune cards has increased dramatically, and it is estimated that at this rate, it will soon be possible to reach one set per household goal... In fact, things related to the promotion of runes are selling well, whether it is comic book extras released by Andys, or rune booklets, both repeatedly reprinted ... many people wrote to ask about illumination casting techniques, and Penelope often worked overtime during this period."


    Felix is not too surprised by this.


    "Illumination is considered to be the easiest and safest ancient magic." He said.


    "Maybe that''s not the reason," Clammy said oddly, "The Dark Force Defence League recently published some spells that are effective against dark magic, and besides the Bright Fire-making spell, Illumination is also on the list, with the suggested effect of mass exorcism of Inferius... ..."


    "Uh - is this why? I thought it was out of love for ancient runes." Felix said jokingly.


    "Professor," Clammy said with a poker face, "The Inferius are not considered even a chore to you, but during the First War, the Dark Lord created hordes of them to spread terror, and that was a nightmare in the minds of countless wizards."


    Felix scratched his chin. She was right, he never saw the Inferius as a threat, after all, he can solve them in many different ways. But when he thought about it, the Inferius aren''t that easy to deal with - they are not slow, they don''t feel pain, and they can resist regular spells.


    It''s a nightmare for wizards who don''t know how Apparite together with their families.


    When you combine them with an army of dementors, it''s even more terrifying.


    ...


    He went to the Ministry of Magic that day to discuss cooperation regarding the research of Thief''s Downfall. Ms. Bones readily agreed, "I''m also fed up with the attitude of those goblins." The whole process did not have a ripple, apart from a fight between Sirius and Bones that Felix watched with relish.


    The cause for that was the Longbottoms'' return from their journey.


    The Ministry of Magic had recently recruited a group of reserve Aurors and Hit-Wizards, which would result in a decline in the average fighting level, and the Ministry is desperately in need of experienced Auror team captains to guide and train them, so Bones was fuming greatly about it.


    "Then, the Order of the Phoenix has digested two important combatants without a word." Ms. Bones said with dissatisfaction.


    Sirius''s stance was simply being in denial


    "Is there such a thing? I hadn''t noticed it, I''ve been very busy these days ... and you haven''t paid me yet!" He stuffed one hand in his pocket and squinted, and his tone was curt, "And are you really sure that Frank and Alice are part of the Order of the Phoenix?"


    "Sirius Black! My brother was one of the first members of the Order of the Phoenix! You think I don''t know the truth?" Bones yelled at him.


    Sirius immediately went silent, and unusually he did not retort, as he said with a complicated look on his face, "Edgar... he was a brave man and a reliable comrade, and I''m sorry for what happened to him."


    It took a long time for Bones to calm down.


    "I''m sorry, I''m a little out of line - Felix, let''s talk about the arrangements for the award ceremony, Dumbledore fears that the Death Eaters will attack that day, alas, in order to cheer people up, we had to make a big show ... and many people know about it."


    If even the Ministry of Magic cleaners knows about it, then there''s no way for the Death Eaters to not know about it.


    "On the day of the awarding, we will arrange for Aurors to be on strict guard the whole time, all of whom are the most trusted people, moreover with Dumbledore and you around, the possibility of danger is very low, I even think ..." she said after a moment''s hesitation, "we can take the initiative and lure in a group of Death Eaters."


    "Absolutely not!" Sirius objected out loud, "I can''t let Harry and the group act as bait."


    "Not them."


    "What?"


    "It''s not them acting as bait, it''s our people," Ms. Bones said, "and I''m one of them."


    Sirius looked at her in shock.


    "What? What do you think made me the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the decade you were in prison?" Ms. Bones asked calmly.


    Sirius was subdued by the confidence in those words.


    "Crybaby became a cool girl ..." Felix said as he sat in his chair flipping through a comic book, and both of them glared at him in unison, Felix closed the book and said as if nothing was wrong, "Bones, I''m interested in the part about the baiting, and we can have a good chat."


    ...


    Back at 12 Grimmauld Place again, Felix arrived just in time for dinner. There is a large group of people sitting around the table, Sirius, Tonks, Moody, the Weasley couple, Bill, Fred and George, Ron, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and--


    "Hello, Professor." Neville said coyly. The Longbottoms, sitting on either side of him, greeted him with a smile, "Mr. Hap, we last saw each other on Neville''s birthday, almost a year ago."


    "Yeah," Harry couldn''t help but say, "I just realized today that Neville''s and my birthday are only one day apart."


    "It looks like we''re going to have to prepare two birthday parties in a row." Mrs. Weasley said with a smile, "Felix, I''ve prepared the soup you love."


    "Oh--"


    "Molly, Felix has only eaten your cooking once." Mr. Weasley reminded his wife.


    "It''ll happen more often." Mrs. Weasley gave her husband a sneaky slap and said to the crowd, "Hurry up and eat, the kids are tired."


    "Thanks, Mom." Fred and George said in unison.


    "I''m not talking about you guys." Mrs. Weasley gave them a cross look and turned to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville with a smile, "You''ve been in the basement for the past few days, it''s not healthy, you need to get more fresh air, it''s good to visit the Burrow for a few days, otherwise you will be suffocated by holed up in the same room for too long"


    "Yeah," Mr. Weasley also said, "you should enjoy your summer holidays when you''re young, with us in front, the war might be over before you graduate. So go play Quidditch with Cedric, their family moved near the Burrow ... to look after each other."


    "Is there such a thing?" Sirius asked.


    "That''s right, and we tried to convince the Lovegoods, but they refused to move-"


    " Well," Sirius frowned, looking at Harry and the gang, "are you really staying indoors all this time? Practicing magic every day? What do you have in mind?"


    Harry silently paddled the vegetable in his soup bowl, Hermione raised her head to look around, and then lowered it again.


    Ron muttered, "You won''t let us participate in the Order of the Phoenix meetings, so we have to find something to do."


    "Ronnie, you''re not old enough-" Mrs. Weasley said.


    "About that, we might be able to help a little ..." Fred and George looked at each other and said slyly, "There''s this thing called Extendable Ears-- -"


    "Shut up, you two. I haven''t finished yet!" Mrs. Weasley said sternly.


    Ron spread his hands and said to the rest of the crowd, "As you know, even Fred and George left the house because they are adults, and the age difference between us, them and Tonks are just a few years--"


    Tonks made a demonic face at him from across the room, a real demonic face.


    "They''re trying to fight You-Know-Who and the Death Eaters!" Ginny said pointedly, her fiery red hair tossed back sharply, "I wanted to train with them too, but they didn''t want me and kicked me out."


    "Aw, Shut up, Ginny." Ron said.


    "I hope that''s just a long-term goal, boys." Mr. Weasley put down his cutlery and said slightly more seriously, "Otherwise, we''ll need to talk."


    ...


    After dinner, the parents talked to their children individually.


    "They wanted us to settle down, you know, stay in school - and deal with boring textbooks -" Ron described Mr. Weasley''s mindset. "It was as if the war would be over in a flash before we even could react."


    Back in the bedroom on the second floor, they each exchanged information.


    Harry, in a depressed mood, said in disbelief, "Why don''t they understand, of course, I''m not going to sneak out of school, but the necessary preparations still have to be made, right? For the time when Voldemort approaches me."


    He touched the scar on his forehead, and despite his unwillingness to admit it, he really connected with Voldemort deeply, not just by the scar, but by a more emotional level... hatred for each other, they hate each other so much that they can''t wait for the other to disappear the next second.


    "Trouble is looking for us - I don''t think I''d end up well under his rule," Hermione said, sitting on the other bed, "the problem is, it''s obvious they want to keep us out of the war, away from Vo-Voldemort." She stammered.


    "He is always the one that approaches me!" Harry exclaimed.


    Pop, pop, two harsh pops echoed through the old room as Ron''s two older brothers - Fred and George - suddenly appeared on the bed where Harry was sitting and tumbled with Harry.


    "Ouch--"


    Harry sat up with his head covered, his scars hurting badly, but he is pretty sure it isn''t because of Voldemort this time. "What are you guys doing over here?" He said with a grimace.


    "Came to see you all, poor wretches wandering in misery-" George said in a singing tone.


    Fred, on the other hand, is doing the same action as Harry - covering his forehead and groaning in pain, he had the misfortune of bumping into Harry.


    Fred muttered under his breath, "I had a bet with George to guess which lucky guy I would pounce ... should have taken some precautions, Harry, check me out, I don''t have any weird marks on my head, do I?"


    "If you mean a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt, there really isn''t one." Harry said without thinking, "I can''t see anything but a lump that keeps bulging."


    "Bothered Tonks again." Fred sighed.


    "Why?" Ron, who had just returned to his senses, asked.


    "She''s cheerful-"


    "Dazed and confused-"


    "Gets along with anyone -"


    "The key thing is that she has the special potion in her hand, for Aurors." Fred and George said in unison.


    Harry froze and looked at them both, and for a moment he seemed to have forgotten the serious topic from before, but Fred and George did become serious.


    "Don''t blame Ginny, Harry," Fred said, "you guys are training like crazy, even we got a little spooked, and the truth is, we spend most of our daytime in Diagon Alley. Ginny, however, watches you guys every day, and she''s worried about you."


    "I don''t blame her." Harry shook his head and said.


    "That''s good." Fred and George sighed in relief, and they looked at each other as Fred handed Harry, Ron, and Hermione each a long, thin, flesh-coloured string from their pockets.


    "This?" Harry asked, fiddling with the rope in his hand.


    "Wow, I''ve wanted this for a long time." Ron said impatiently as he grabbed it, "These are the Extendable Ears that help you eavesdrop on people''s conversations without attracting much attention ... I''m especially interested in knowing what Snape is doing, being secretive and in a hurry as he comes and leaves... ..."


    Harry listened with great interest.


    Hermione, on the other hand, hesitated to take it, at which point Ron began to demonstrate the effect by shoving one end of the Extendable Ears into his ear and the other end wriggling like a long worm, twisting and turning to burrow under the door.


    "Well, I hear some murmurs ... outside is the corridor, there will be no movement at this time unless we hit a jackpot ..."


    He suddenly yelped miserably, and Harry heard a very distinctive cat growl from Ron''s ear and the door respectively.


    Hermione jumped up and opened the door, letting Crookshanks in, with the other end of the Extendable Ears in its mouth -- " Let it go, Crookshanks, that''s not food." -- simultaneously she accepted the Extendable Ears in George''s hand, "I think it will be useful at the right time." She said with a smile.


    ------------


    Note:


    This is 2 in 1 chapter, so there''ll be only one chapter tomorrow. S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 575+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 501: The Fishing Begins

    "I''m worried that the experience from a month ago is still affecting them." Sirius frowned. "It''s true that they can''t pretend that nothing happened," Felix said calmly, "they were surrounded by hundreds of Death Eaters, that''s not a scene that anyone can handle, not to mention the powerlessness from having to see their companions tortured ... I suppose they don''t want to experience it a second time."


    "I didn''t even dare to ask what it was felt like to be struck by a Cruciatus Curse, so I could only pretend that nothing had happened," Mrs. Weasley covered her mouth, her eyes glistening with tears, "and had nightmares for days ... always about Gideon and Fabian. Their faces turned into Ron, Harry ..."


    Mr. Weasley hugged his wife and patted her shoulder reassuringly.


    Sirius and Felix looked at each other and tacitly agreed not to talk about the bait plan on this occasion.


    In a flash, the last day of July arrived.


    "Happy birthday."


    Harry heard when he pushed open the door as he saw Neville standing in the doorway holding a gift box.


    "Thanks, Neville," Harry said with a yawn while pulling Neville into the room, where Ron is dazedly pulling a sleeve up his leg.


    "Why did they schedule the award ceremony for today?" Neville asked regretfully.


    "It''s actually kind of nice." Harry said. He felt weird watching everyone get busy for his birthday, and didn''t know what to do in response.


    They got dressed and started to unwrap their presents.


    "A wand holster, AWESOME, Neville." Harry said happily.


    "Good for you," Neville said, "I like your gift too," before asking a little nervously, "It''s not supposed to comfort me, right?"


    "Of course not." Harry assured him.


    Yesterday was Neville''s birthday, and Neville had been worried that the dueling study group would be cancelled for the new term, so Harry had made an invitation card for the dueling study group in the style of the Hogwarts freshman acceptance letter, and Hermione got intrigued by it, and enchanted it -


    When someone opens it, they will hear a very dignified voice saying.


    "You are the chosen one, ready to meet the challenge?"


    Neville thought it sounded cool.


    Sirius had given a three-dimensional book about Quidditch, and with each page flipped, a three-dimensional Quidditch pitch would form, with a dozen little make-believe figures flying through the air, replicating some of the classic scenes of the game.


    "From this angle, Lynch is no match for Krum at all." Ron said as he stared at one of the scenes on the page that took place at last year''s Quidditch World Cup final, where Krum twice fooled his opponent Lynch by using a fake.


    The Lupin hadn''t arrived, Harry guessed he is now stuck with one of the werewolf communities, but he did ask Tonks to deliver a birthday present, a handmade string of bone bracelets. Harry mentally prayed that the bracelet is not made from local materials and werewolf teeth.


    Hermione''s gift is an enchanted parchment with the names of various spells flashing on it - all of which Harry has mastered. Looking at the page full of names, a sense of accomplishment filled him.


    At that moment, the door pushed open from the outside, and Bill poked his head through the doorway.


    "Breakfast is ready, we need to hurry, the award ceremony starts at ten o''clock, better get to the Ministry of Magic early ..."


    They followed Bill downstairs and Harry saw two strangers at the table, a witch with dark hair and powdered cheeks, and a short man wearing a high violet top hat - the same colour as Tonks'' hair today.


    "Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle." Mr. Weasley introduced them at the table.


    Both of them looked at Harry curiously as Dedalus Diggle gave an exaggerated, not-quite-standard hat-off salute, "Hello, nice to see you again."


    Harry looked at him in confusion, unable to recall a single memory in his mind.


    "Back before you were enrolled... in the Leaky Cauldron Bar... you were with Hagrid then," Dedalus Diggle hinted further, "and I shook your hand."


    So that was it, Harry thought. He remembered that there was indeed a male wizard who was equally excited as Quirrell at the time.


    "Hello, Harry," said the witch named Hestia, "we''re your guards for the day."


    "Guards?" Harry spat out the slice of bread in his mouth.


    "Don''t worry, it''s normal procedure." The witch said with a smile.


    A little further aside, Hermione is talking to Tonks, "No, I''m not going to let them know."


    Breakfast consisted of smoked meat, baked potatoes, sliced bread, and vegetable soup, and after breakfast, the group went out in batches through the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place, "No fireplaces, that''s too conspicuous." Felix said, "You stand with me, Harry."


    Harry found the atmosphere getting odder and odder.


    "Professor?"


    " Wait till the ceremony ends." Felix shook his head.


    As the group entered the Ministry of Magic through the red phone booth, a number of employees saluted them silently. But soon a team of Aurors came toward them, escorting them in the middle all the way to a massive conference room.


    Harry felt like a prisoner in close custody, being moved from one place to another. Judging from the uncomfortable expressions of Ron and Hermione, they seem to feel the same thing.


    The room is dark and packed with people, and the atmosphere is solemn, which reminds Harry of the scene he saw in the Pensieve, the Crouch Jr. was trailed by an almost same crowd. His heart thumped.


    He heard the sound of Ron and Hermione''s audible intake of breath.


    "We''re going to sit up in front." Felix said, his hand placed on Harry''s shoulder, as he led them to sit in the front row of seats on the podium.


    A dense flash lit up in the corner and Harry squinted, catching sight of the oddly dressed Rita Skeeter offstage, who staring at them intently with a conspicuous quill in her mouth.


    "Get the shot! This is going to make headlines." She said.


    There was a lot of chatter in the conference room, and Harry felt like a monkey in a zoo, surrounded by an inexplicable crowd.


    "They''re members of the Wizengamot." Felix whispered from the sidelines.


    "Well, let''s get started." Ms. Bones said aloud, "Guests, we are going to observe a special award ceremony today, in the current situation, unity and faith are more important than ever ..."


    Ms. Bones has become talkative after she became a minister ... This was Felix''s thought as he stared at the eloquent Ms. Bones, and he had to admit that this approach was necessary to at least stabilize the people.


    "... erect confidence and courage ... we already have an example ... show tenacity... ...without fear and trepidation ... Seeds of victory ..."


    The flashing lights below the stage seemed to link up and dazzle the eyes. It lasted until noon when the whole ceremony concluded.


    "I got the Order of Merlin?" Ron said incredulously, repeatedly examining the medal in his hand.


    Felix also looked at his own gold medal, which looked similar to the last one, with the purple ribbon replaced by a green one, indicating that the medal in his hand is a first-class one.


    Then Ms. Bones led them to the Minister of Magic''s office, pulling the curtains by hand.


    Dumbledore also came in, Harry couldn''t wait to ask questions, but Bones stopped him, "Wait until everyone is here." He waited impatiently, the minute seemed to be stretched ten times longer, Harry even suspected that he was in the professor''s thinking room, finally, Kingsley and Sirius cautiously entered through the side door of the office.


    Sirius made an ok gesture, "No one''s noticed."


    It is only then Ms. Bones speaks up and narrated the entire operational plan-


    " Bait?" The trio shouted in unison.


    "That''s right, the Death Eaters haven''t moved, I thought it was necessary to test them once, this award ceremony is a good opportunity for them, normally they can''t locate you, and it will be even less easy when you guys are in school." Ms. Bones said.


    "What do we need to do?" Harry asked.


    Sirius moved out of the way, and three glasses of bubbling polyjuice potion somehow appeared on the table.


    "It''s simple, we''ll wear your faces and go out for a stroll."


    "And what about us?" Harry trailed off. Ron and Hermione also stared at the adults with unblinking eyes.


    "Stay here until everything is over." Sirius said with an expressionless face.


    It took a little time to convince Harry, but it worked, Kingsley, Sirius, and Bones took the polyjuice potion mixed with the trio''s hair and hid in the small compartment, not long afterward a suppressed moan of pain sounded from inside and when all sounds subsided, they stumbled out of the compartment.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared across at their ''selves'' moving their arms and legs and adjusting to their new bodies with amazement and a sense of weirdness that was simply undefinable - a hundred times weirder than the time they disguised themselves as Crabbe and Goyle in the second year.


    ''Harry'' kept taking off his glasses and putting them back on, muttering under his breath, "That''s weird."


    "Stop playing around, Sirius." ''Hermione'' said, turning her head to the real Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "Your families have also been replaced, Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members impersonating them."


    Sirius, who is disguised as Harry, said, "A bunch of us imposters will go to the Borrow using my birthday as a guise, Mr. Weasley wanted to try out Muggle transportation and rented two cars ..."


    A freckle-faced ''Ron'' remained silent, who is impersonated by Kingsley.


    "So, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap ..." Harry asked slowly, with a blink.


    "Ah, I''ll show my face in Diagon Alley and pretend to use the public fireplace to return to school ... in fact, I will sneak back and hide." Dumbledore said with interest, "I haven''t experienced something like this in a long time." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The real Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at Felix again.


    Felix shrugged, "I''ll stay here and not go anywhere. Someone has to watch you guys." He pointed at the blazing fireplace, "If there is a battle, I will leave through the fireplace and run to the battlefield as soon as possible."


    "Well, we''ve been delayed for some time, and if we stay any longer the Death Eaters might get suspicious." ''Hermione'' said with authority. "Let''s go, the most dangerous part of this plan is that we have to hold off the first wave of the enemies on our own, good thing we prepared ahead of time."


    The real Hermione looked at her other ''self'' giving orders and couldn''t help but gawk for a moment. Soon, each of them left the room and Harry heard Dumbledore saying gently as he stood in the doorway of the office, "Ms. Burns, I''ll be heading back to school then, there are a bunch of things waiting to be taken care of."


    He paused for a few seconds, nodded slightly, pretended to be occupied inside, and then the door closed from the outside.


    "Sit down for a while." Felix said to the three, as he sat down on the couch by himself, fiddling with a coin at his fingertips.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and hesitantly sat down opposite to Felix.


    "Professor," Hermione asked quietly, "will the plan work?"


    "That depends on how you define it. It''s like playing chess, we place a piece and wait for the opposite reaction." Felix said, "But this is a real opportunity, with all the fanfare on our side, the Death Eaters are sure to get the message, and you--" he glanced at Harry, "or rather all of you --" his eyes swept back over Ron and Hermione, "have disgraced Voldemort and messed up his return ceremony, surely he''d be happy to take care of you."


    "On the contrary, if even the Death Eaters didn''t show up, it would be a real problem."


    "Why do you say that?" Hermione asked.


    "It means that Voldemort is plotting something big, which none of us don''t know about, including the Death Eaters." Felix said softly.


    ------------


    #Anmister, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 575+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 502: Illusion (2 in 1)

    Time passed little by little. The trio looked anxious and restless as Harry stared at the flames burning in the fireplace, expecting it to suddenly change colour and a wizard to emerge from it and tell them what had happened. Or send a Patronus to deliver a message. ... But nothing happened.


    The wood crackled and the atmosphere in the office became dull and depressing. Harry thought it might be due to the high temperature - it is late July, August will be here soon, and not many people would choose this time to light up the fireplace.


    He needed a thermostatic locket ... Harry wondered as he sat on the edge of his seat, but then a deeper concern weighed on him, and he couldn''t restrain the thoughts that popped into his head ... he had handed over his hair personally and agreed to the plan, and if Sirius died because of it, it is entirely caused by his hands.


    Just then, the flames in the fireplace suddenly sprang up, to the height of a man, and the colour changed to emerald green, as a figure swirled and appeared.


    It is Kingsley Shacklebolt.


    Harry''s heart thumped, he heard a suppressed squeal next to him, but he could not distinguish whether it was from Ron or Hermione, the flames had returned to reddish-orange colour, which meant that there is no one behind, Harry''s heart tugged.


    Where is Sirius? Where is Ms. Bones? He mentally yelled.


    "What''s the situation?" Felix rose from the couch, the coin he had been playing with clenched in his fist.


    "It went okay," Kingsley said, with a sweaty face and messy clothes, with plenty of gray-brown mud rubbed on them, like he had been playing in the mud. "Caught two Death Eaters, the escapees, Macnair and Rookwood - Augustus Rookwood."


    "What about Voldemort, he didn''t show up?" Felix asked with a frown.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione held their breath and looked blearily at Kingsley, who shook his head, looking confused and puzzled, "Didn''t meet him. In fact, there were only these two Death Eaters, the rest were a motley bunch - Dementors, a couple of werewolves and vampires, and some dark wizard from somewhere ... Bones think they were under an Imperius Curse."


    "So Voldemort was just testing the waters? He hid in the shadows and watched?" Felix muttered to himself, not really satisfied with the result.


    "I suppose so." Kingsley panted, "There were a lot of cannon fodder, a swarm of them came up and intimidated us, and I wondered when Death Eaters got so brave ... casualties occurred at that time-- "


    "Casualties?" Hermione breathed in and asked.


    "Oh, no one died," Kingsley explained, "a few were wounded, not life-threatening - I will continue, the two Death Eaters stood back, they seemed to be purely trying to finish the job of testing us as they hide behind and fired spells, Sirius and Bones worked together to take one down, as for the other one ... I guess Dumbledore secretly took a shot."


    Felix almost sorted out the whole process.


    "What about Sirius, where is he now?" Harry couldn''t help but ask.


    "With Bones, I came back alone to report, and bring some men over to bring back the prisoners, er, of course - to call Healers." Kingsley said, turning to look at Felix, "Mr. Hap, this operation has barely met the expectation, you can leave with the children next, Mrs. Weasley is accommodated in Arthur''s office."


    Felix nodded in silence. Then Kingsley hurriedly walked out of the office.


    "Come on, I''ll take you back." Felix said.


    "Is this the end of it?" Harry asked, still feeling a little incredulous.


    " Nothing to be done, Voldemort didn''t take the bait," Felix shrugged, "This is war, you can''t expect your opponent to make a fatal mistake right off the bat and get it over in one fell swoop, though ..." He furrowed his brow, from the news sent back by Lucius, Voldemort has been lying low a bit too much lately, showing up only a few times altogether.


    Of course, it does not exclude that he wants to gather followers first.


    He has sent out the Death Eaters, who have just escaped from Azkaban.


    "We''ll go and meet up with Mrs. Weasley first, then you guys head back to the Order of the Phoenix Base." Felix said as they walked out of the Minister of Magic''s office and took the elevator to the 2nd level where the Department of Magical Law Enforcement is located, the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office is also on this level. The four of them stepped out of the elevator and walked into a hallway with room doors on both sides.


    "We need to go through two doors, then turn left, then right, and finally go all the way to the end of the corridor." Ron said to a somewhat lost Harry, "I''ve been here a few times, and the Aurors have very distinctive cubicles ..."


    After walking through the first oak wood door, they reached an open area, where the Aurors focused on their desks, not too many people at the moment, and the few who remained gathered together with expressions of both excitement and concern on their faces.


    "The operation was very sudden ... not much information ..."


    "I hope there will be good results."


    "Didn''t Kingsley say it was a big win?"


    "Chesterton, congratulations on your promotion, you should be the youngest head of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures?"


    "I got a little help from my family." A young man trailed off haughtily and said in a loud voice, revealing the family crest on his chest, without looking.


    ...


    "Chesterton Avery!?" Hermione suddenly turned around and said pointedly, her eyes fixed on the showy young man with a deadly stare.


    Chesterton stood in a small compartment and looked over in her direction, the smile on his face quickly cooling as he said arrogantly, "It''s me, and you''re--" His eyes moved between the trio, and then he spotted Felix behind them, and his voice turned weak as he said, "So the award ceremony is over?"


    Hermione, however, refused to take any notice as she stared at him and whispered, "You wicked-"


    "Hermione." Felix interrupted her.


    Chesterton looked exasperated, with bafflement. He had the heart to let out a few harsh words, but he feared Felix, who is standing off at the side, and his eyes shifted back and forth between cowering and viciousness. Finally, he grunted heavily as he turned around and left without looking back.


    Hermione looked at him with irritation.


    "How can someone like him get a promotion?" They had passed through the second oakwood door and walked down the empty corridor, as Hermione remained indignant, as Harry and Ron were both surprised at her fierce attitude.


    They had never heard that Hermione had crossed paths with this man.


    "I remembered!" Harry suddenly said: "Avery, remember? In the graveyard, Voldemort''s first tortured a Death Eater because he pretended he was under the Imperius Curse after Voldemort lost his power and escaped punishment by doing so ..."


    Ron also recalled. "It did happen, but the voices aren''t quite the same, and that Avery was obviously a bit older-"


    "Doesn''t that say more about how bad their family is?" Hermione said meanly. "Professor, why doesn''t the Ministry of Magic arrest all the Death Eaters whose names they know?"


    "Calm down, Miss Granger." Felix said, "The Ministry of Magic stands for order and can''t arrest people for no reason ... though private stalking is definitely there." A momentary escape is nothing, Lucius could anytime produce evidence against a whole bunch of people, to get them into Azkaban.


    But what Voldemort, who has no one to turn to and has lost hope of ruling, will do is beyond anyone''s guess.


    The key to this war always has been Voldemort alone.


    "Ms. Bones should really investigate all those pure-blooded scum ..." Hermione muttered in a small voice, Ron glanced over, so she hurriedly said, "Oh, of course, your family doesn''t count, you''re - --"


    "--a pureblood traitor." Ron nodded, chuckling to himself.


    They found Mrs. Weasley in the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office on the second level, she looked fairly calm and had Percy with her. When she saw Harry and the gang enter, she rushed over to them and gave them hugs and kisses.


    "Fortunately, you''re all okay--"


    "Mom," Ron struggled hard. "We didn''t even go out!"


    "Well, even so ..." she said with a grin, "your father went over to help, and I heard that no one got into trouble, and they caught a bunch of bad guys too, it was a quick and successful operation... ... Ms. Burns took the lead, what a good minister we''ve blessed with."


    Mrs. Weasley is obviously very happy with the result, Harry looked at Professor Hap who smiled without saying anything, so he wisely did not remind her that the biggest source of danger in the whole operation - Voldemort did not appear.


    "Let''s wait for Arthur for a while, so I can take a look at him," Mrs. Weasley said rather unkindly, "and then we''ll go back and prepare your birthday party." She said to Harry. "And you, Percy, you have to come over tonight."


    "Mum, I''m busy." Percy muttered, "There are dozens of reports to write -"


    "Bring Penelope with you - and if you forget, watch yourself." Mrs. Weasley finished the sentence by herself, leaving a helpless Percy behind.


    They reached the lobby of the Ministry of Magic by elevator and looked at the gilded fireplace on one side of the wall from afar.


    Ten minutes later -


    Felix gazed at the fireplace area as those fireplaces rose in unison and one figure after another emerged triumphantly from them. The gilded hall burst into life with applause.


    The Aurors escorted two dozen black-robed wizards as they emerged, all wearing hoods and dressed like Death Eaters. Only the masks on their faces were taken away, and their robes are dirty, as they staggered and shoved forward.


    In Felix''s eyes, the assailants - most of them looked rather downcast, and several vampires with pale faces and thick black circles under their eyes had a listless expression as if they hadn''t slept in days - looked rather prominent as they walked together with the group.


    And there is also an exception among the vampires. He seemed to be in good spirits, looking around, without a trace of fear. When his eyes fell in Felix''s direction, he grinned happily.


    Harry also stared at the crowd, knowing that some of these people may have been controlled by the Death Eaters with a curse, but how exactly to check it he had no idea. If Avery had managed to escape punishment by lying about being under an Imperius Curse, then what about now?


    Harry''s scars abruptly and inexplicably hurt.


    Harry''s eyes widened, and his brain boiled like a caldron, with spoons constantly stirring inside. The Occlumency is barely enough to keep him from passing out. Harry became dizzy and his perspective changed rapidly, as he appeared in the body of another person, and through those eyes, he looked across the room, where his enemy -


    The Saviour Harry Potter, the Blood traitor Ron Weasley, the mudblood Hermione Granger, and the menace Felix Hap who had left him in shock.


    "No--" Harry cried out, not knowing whose mouth he shouted the words through.


    "Harry, what''s wrong with you?"


    "Harry?" S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry gasped, bending over and pointing in one direction, "Voldemort, Voldemort ... he''s right here!" He found his consciousness returning to his body as Sirius and Ms. Bones darted over, stopping dead in their tracks in shock at the words.


    Felix narrowed his eyes and stared in the direction Harry pointed - there is no Voldemort there, only the bound assailants.


    "He''s really here!" Harry exclaimed as Voldemort stood calmly, locked eyes with him, his eyes scarlet and red, "Don''t let him harm anyone!"


    But for others, it seemed that Voldemort is completely invisible.


    "Voldemort! He''s right there!" Harry freaked out, why was everyone looking at him instead of Voldemort?


    "Harry, what happened to you--"


    "Is it an illusion?"


    "He is there," Harry tried to explain while still staring dead ahead, "He''s dressed all in black! Black suit and black tie, with his head, tilted, moving his fingers, and he drew his wand - you guys, you guys -" The people around him took a step back and looked at him cautiously.


    "Put your wand down, Harry." Hermione said shakily.


    What was she talking about? Harry couldn''t figure it out for the life of him. He suddenly stared at his hand, the wand had appeared there somehow, his hand seemed to be disobeying his order, a force is constantly fighting against him.


    "Use Occlumency, Harry."


    Felix said in a hushed voice while staring at the strangely behaved vampire, with stellar lights in his eyes, thinking room magic instantly released, and in a blank void, he only had time to catch a hasty glimpse: a thin man lying on the ground, moaning in pain; another - Voldemort smiled leeringly and raised his wand.


    "Avada--"


    Felix instantly cut off the magic.


    In reality, the pale vampire fell to the ground, without a breath of life.


    "He''s dead!" Auror, who was escorting him, said in horror.


    Meanwhile, Harry felt a wave of dizziness and woke up again to find himself lying on a couch. He heard muffled voices.


    Harry struggled to strain his ears, only to have his face bump into a hand.


    "Harry?" Hermione whispered.


    "Shh." Harry shook his head gently, and he opened his eyes, judging by the decor, this should be the Minister of Magic''s office, albeit not the same room as before.


    "Dumbledore, I need to know why, the boy-" It is Ms. Bones'' voice, but it seems to be separated by something that he can''t quite catch.


    "He has a name!" Sirius yelled in annoyance.


    "Well - Harry said he saw the You-Know-Who and could describe exactly what he did, and we all know it''s not real, it''s probably a hallucination, but, but -" Ms. Bones'' voice was lowered.


    Harry tried his best to hear them, when Hermione handed him Extendable Ears without a sound, he looked at her gratefully, and then put one end in his ear, the sound suddenly became clear.


    "- his actions, he was imitating the actions of the You-Know-Who in his mouth."


    Harry''s heart felt like he had plunged into the bottom of a cold lake.


    "Are you trying to say that Harry was controlled by him?" Dumbledore asked calmly.


    "Don''t rule it out," Bones said dryly, and Sirius let out a bark that sounded like a canine bark. " Or it could be a curse or something, everyone knows Voldemort is good at those, and I need to know what you think, so I can make proper arrangements."


    After a moment of silence -


    "The scar, Voldemort''s unsuccessful curse linked him with Harry, and when they''re close together, they influence each other. And Harry, who is only a fifteen-year-old boy, clearly falls short -"


    Dumbledore said softly.


    "But I can assure you, Amelia. Harry is perfectly safe in the Order of the Phoenix Base and Hogwarts, no danger to others or to himself. And it must be noted that Harry is quite gifted in the art of Occlumency, or perhaps Felix''s tutoring has been very effective ..."


    "Thank you for the compliment, Headmaster Dumbledore." Felix''s voice said.


    "Well, I trust your judgment." Mrs. Bones was persuaded, "The boy - Harry, does he need to be sent to St. Mungo''s?"


    "I think Mrs. Weasley will take care of him." Dumbledore said briefly.


    The footsteps became clear and Harry immediately buried his head into the sofa and pretended to sleep, his mind jumbled, Hermione took the opportunity to pull the Extendable Ears off his ear - and the next second, Dumbledore, Bones, Sirius, and Felix walked in.


    She put her hands behind her back unnaturally.


    "Let Mrs. Weasley in, she must be waiting anxiously ...," Dumbledore said gently.


    "I''ll tell mom." Ron said as he stood up.


    "Also - about the Thief''s Downfall, it''s important to hurry, Mr. Hap, can I come with you to see ''Future World'' Company?" Ms. Bones went on to discuss the work.


    "No problem." Felix said with a nod.


    Harry drifted off to sleep once again.


    ...


    When Felix and Ms. Bones came out of the ''Future World'' company, the sky is totally dark, and most of the stores have their doors and windows closed, only the magic lamp at the entrance still emitted a soft light, which illuminated the rows of wanted notices very clearly.


    "I''m going back to the Ministry of Magic from the public fireplace, don''t worry." Ms. Bones said.


    Felix nodded, watched her disappear into the fireplace, and turned toward the sword castle, where he had to study the material on Thief''s Downfall, or at least weave through each of the difficult areas.


    At that moment, out of the darkness, a small figure rushed out - a small boy, probably only seven or eight years old.


    The neighbourhood resident? Felix did not feel any threat from him, but ... he stared at a letter held in the boy''s hand.


    "One bald uncle asked me to give it to you," the little boy timidly held up the letter in his hand, and said in a sobbing voice: "He told me to wait here, I want to go home ... but can''t leave. "


    Felix''s gaze flinched as he quickly looked with his magic perspective, and there is only a faint hint of magic lingering on the envelope. He picked up the letter and patted the little boy''s head, "I received it, so hurry up and go home now."


    Only when the little boy disappeared did Felix open the letter, which only contained an address to Apparite, provocative and sinister magic.


    "Is it to duel me? I''ve been looking forward to it for a long time too, I have a lot of magic that I didn''t use before."


    Felix stared at the letter and muttered to himself, he seems to have been given the same treatment as Dumbledore, being asked to fight privately by Voldemort. It seems that his own embodiment of runes and survival after getting hit by the Killing Curse has left an extremely deep impression on Voldemort.


    He disappeared from Diagon Alley using an Apparition.


    The cool and breezy night is a perfect time to test magic.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 578+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 503: Real Duel

    Voldemort stared at the night sky, his black robe wavered in the cool breeze along with the overgrown weeds. The sound of rustling footsteps sounded behind him.


    "Felix Hap ..." he said slowly, looking back at the unhurried visitor, Felix looking left and right as if he had been treading curiously along wilderness, with a touch of appropriate novelty.


    "Surprisingly, there''s no one else and no traps." Felix said, "To be honest, I''m a little surprised."


    "Do I need those?" Voldemort asked in return.


    The two men looked at each other, their light blue halo and scarlet eyes became conspicuous in the darkness, Voldemort gripped his wand and prepared for the battle, but he still wanted to say a few more words before he did.


    "I originally wanted to set the battlefield in the Ministry of Magic, but then there would be too much interference." Voldemort said with regret.


    "I thought you are worried about being trapped by Dumbledore and me." Felix said.


    "I did have that fear, and the caution proved necessary ..." Voldemort said softly, " It only took one shitty vampire to test it out, whose idea was it? It couldn''t have been Dumbledore, he knew I wouldn''t fall for it."


    Felix didn''t say anything.


    "The female minister?" Voldemort grinned, "She does have a knack for it, but she doesn''t know me well enough. The more fierce the resistance, the more people will die."


    "It''s strange that you are being so blunt about your greed for life, Dumbledore had long seen through you - you value life, but don''t care about other people''s lives." Felix said, "Like that vampire, and those two loyal Death Eaters that you discarded like trash."


    " The loyalty? I don''t need that kind of thing, as long as they fear my power, they will obey me." Voldemort said softly, "You know, the group that initially followed me, now they are old and dead ... When you have a long life, something like servant will be endless, so do I need to know every one of them?"


    "Felix Hap, you still cling to the mindset of mortal, clutching those cowardly emotions and not letting go ... When you are old as Dumbledore, you could not even hold your wand, but I will remain as strong as ever, you will understand my greatness then."


    "You put yourself in the foot of an Immortal?" Felix asked with a little surprise.


    "I am now." Voldemort said.


    He drew his wand, his pale, slender fingers brushing over its surface, as he calmly introduced it, "Elmwood, Dragon Heartstring, 18 inches, excellent combination, previously placed in the hands of an owner who could not use its full capabilities ..."


    Felix recognized it as Lucius Malfoy''s wand.


    "It''s your turn, Felix Hap." Voldemort looked at him with interest.


    With both hands empty, Felix just took another coin out and started playing with it.


    "Ebony, dragon heartstring, thirteen inches, my first wand. But alas, it was destroyed that night," he sighed, "I still haven''t gotten a chance to find the right one, but it''s not a big problem, I don''t have such a strong need for a wand as you do - You can''t cast your Killing Curse wandless, right?"


    "Because my magic is too strong." Voldemort showed a malicious smile, "It would be foolish for you to show up here tonight empty-handed without a suitable wand, but it''s normal, and I''m bothered by it too, it''s not easy to find a suitable wand for wizard-like you and me."


    "What about your own wand?" Felix asked curiously.


    Generally speaking, unless there is a huge change in personality and magic power, wizards will not easily replace their wands, the reason is that the initial one will grow along with the owner, and the two will mutually adapt to each other to bring out the strongest magic power without any worries.


    Voldemort''s face twisted slightly. His wand ... was picked up by Dumbledore, he gritted his teeth and thought that it might have been destroyed.


    It can be said that since the resurrection, he was unable to exert his strongest power, the reason is that his wand could not withstand it. Crouch Jr.''s wand is actually very good, but after the battle a month ago, the wand remains traumatized, and every time you hold it you can feel the wand''s sadness.


    As a last resort, Voldemort replaced it with Lucius''. It is good that Lucius knows what to do, or else he certainly would''ve been a part of today''s daytime attack. Who let his son and Potter to develop that bright fire-making spell together?


    Although Lucius swore that it was all Felix Hap''s bad taste - he liked to put students with grudges together, and Draco was an unfortunate victim - and offered to contribute his own wand, but he still felt dissatisfied.


    He desperately wanted a powerful wand that could match his strength and status.


    Felix smacked his lips, he did not know that Voldemort''s wand was picked up by Dumbledore, and locked in the drawer in the office. He thought it was lost more than ten years ago. But that didn''t stop Felix from poking Voldemort''s scars.


    "It seems that this kind of trouble can only be experienced by the two of us, you know, coming back from the dead."


    He deliberately emphasized the last word, and not surprisingly, Voldemort''s reaction is intense.


    "You''re lying." Voldemort said sternly, his red eyes fixed on Felix''s face, "Felix Hap ... I thought long and hard about it, my magic didn''t hit you, or at best, only part of it ... You transformed your body as well? "


    Felix''s heart fluttered.


    He tasted something from this sentence, but now is not the time to think, he secretly jotted down, and then continue to spare no effort to increase the chances of victory in the next battle, "as you guessed, it seems like my transformation was very successful, the only shortcoming is that I lost my wand, but at least there is not much disfigurement ... ... And I think my eyes are quite prettier than yours."


    Compared with the scarlet eyes in Voldemort''s eye sockets, Felix''s pupils are filled with a mystical and mesmerizing aura of a wizard.


    This is the price that one must pay to gain power, what do you know! Voldemort thought hatefully, but these words could not be said to Felix, and there is no longer the need to say more. He raised his wand, and a dazzling green light pierced through the thick darkness and flew straight to Felix.


    The coin in Felix''s hand quickly expanded in the air, and in the blink of an eye, it enlarged a thousand times and stood in front of him like a thick brick wall.


    The Killing Curse was blocked.


    "What--" Voldemort shouted incredulously.


    "This is the power of money," said Felix teasingly, "maybe this does not seem too conceivable to you, after all, you went to school without money, and after graduation, you did not work honestly -"


    "You think I can only use unforgivable curses?" Voldemort gave an icy smile. His wand suddenly swung like a whip, and the gravel on the ground sprinted toward Felix with a mournful whistling sound. Felix disappeared, and in less than a second, he reappeared behind Voldemort, holding a glowing book of runes in his hand, casually flipping a page, and a shadow of ancient magic rushed out from the book, combining with the runic symbols in the sky to form hundreds of black lightning bolts that struck Voldemort head-on.


    The darkness was pierced through like thin paper, as the white flames followed, condensing into a sharp sword.


    The ear-piercing tearing sound and dull impact sound mixed together, Voldemort from the dense darkness pulled out the silver shield, the black lightning was blocked, but then the long sword of fire pierced through it, and emitted a " zhi zi " sound.


    Voldemort pointed hard, the silver shield rushed high into the air and was burned clean in the air.


    He smoothly extended his arm, and his wand traced a circle, Circling Felix in it. In an instant the surrounding weeds grew wildly, turning into a thin snake, hissing and swirling around Felix, followed by a surge of endless green snakes. Felix was prepared, golden flames like liquid poured out from his hands, and transformed into a raging Erumpents, these behemoths that lived in unknown mountains raised their thick hooves, and trampled the grass snakes, which burned to dust.


    Voldemort mumbled something under his breath, his voice raspy and low, a strange hissing sound that sounded creepy, and Felix knew it was a Parseltongue.


    He cautiously Apparited to the other side, but immediately his vision abruptly darkened, and the sounds disappeared along with it. He seemed to be robbed of his senses, it was a curse ... Felix reacted instantly. Magic perspective, Voldemort''s magic continues to converge, forming a haunting wave -


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    "Protego Maxima!"


    The Killing Curse and the Shield Charm that has a physical form collided together, the tall and lanky Iron Knight held up a bloodstained shield to block the front, and the power of the Killing Curse made Felix''s hair stand on end, as he wondered whether the protection magic on Harry could withstand ...


    Felix thought idly while putting his hand on the knight''s armour, transferring the curse to it, and immediately his senses that disappeared returned, at the same time, the knight got drowned in a dazzling green light.


    What is Voldemort''s weakness?


    Emotion?


    Felix used his mind and casually released the Rain Swallow Patronus, a silver Patronus nimbly twisted and turned in the air, dodging a green light, and then suddenly expanded as it approached Voldemort, and opened its mouth to spit out two black dementors.


    A cold coolness covered all around, the air around seemed to freeze, and the fog converged in the cold night and kept drifting.


    "Dementors?" Voldemort laughed, "You used a dementor against me?" His eyes turned red, the dementors simply did not dare to come forward, they scattered and fled, two deep black lights passed, and the dementors moved like a decaying rag. They did not seem to die, just hanging in midair, but no longer seem to be able to move, as they floated in the air, the folds of their black cloaks swayed feebly, serving as a soundtrack for the battle.


    But Felix''s purpose was different.


    The Thinking Room is dragged from his mind into reality, then Felix and the Rain Swallow Patronus'' senses got connected with each other, providing an additional bystander''s perspective while the Patronus acts as a positioning anchor point. Then Felix''s figure flashed continuously, faster than ever, much faster! A hidden spell silently sliced through the air, slicing through the rocks, cutting the earth into fragmented chessboards that intertwined with each other to form an impermeable grid of cages. Voldemort was overwhelmed, and Apparited several times to move, only to be easily caught up by Felix, both of them moved at high speed at the same time, disappearing again the moment the spell was released, but Voldemort stopped after only two or three tries, he was far less comfortable with this tactic than Felix.


    Brown dirt and stone were enchanted and solidified into hard walls, barely blocking the spells from all sides, but still, he got hurt for the first time in this fight.


    "Felix Hap!" Voldemort roared.


    In response, he got greeted by a lightning-like silver stream of light, a Rain Swallow Patronus, but it is not in the shape of a Rain Swallow anymore, as it transformed into an Occamy and wrapped around Voldemort''s body. Under the power of the Thinking Room, it briefly took on a solid entity and took a bite of the wand in Voldemort''s hand. At the same time, Felix held a spherical vortex in his hand, in which deep blue magic spun at high speed, and a powerful suction force surged from within ... Voldemort''s face got stretched and deformed, and the wall protecting him crumbled into shattered pieces.


    Felix let go of his hand, a colorless spherical vortex quickly flew towards Voldemort.


    Voldemort finally broke free, the body of the entangled occamy tinged with a deep dark green colour, which quickly spread to the whole body, and then the Patronus disappeared. Immediately afterward another green light rushed out from his wand and stabbed into the vortex, the blue magic inside exploded violently and entangled around Voldemort''s body, which began to shrink rapidly.


    "Hiss~"


    Voldemort''s face sometimes swelled to the size of a pumpkin, sometimes shrunk to the size of a fist, he obviously suffered a major disadvantage, his scarlet eyes stared at Felix, Felix is now flipping the next page of the Book of Rune, as another powerful ancient magic is ready to be released.


    Voldemort''s body exploded into a black mist, which did not dissipate for a long time, and the messy grass and leaves on the ground withered instantly, and the soil turned black. Voldemort decided to leave, but he still wanted to make one last attempt, he raised his wand, and the tip of the wand coalesced with deep green light, green as a deep pond without sunlight, the surrounding darkness dispersed, and a vague figure appeared in the green light.


    Felix felt creepy, he looked at the green light, it seems that even his thinking stalled.


    The book of rune "clatter" as it flipped, and all kinds of ancient magic spilled out as if they are cheap, Felix moved far away, as an air barrier appeared in front of his body.


    The green light and the strong explosion turned the battlefield completely, all kinds of dirt, debris, and swirling green light stopped three feet in front of Felix, then it started to move forward a little, as if in slow motion, while a rustling sound, his magic began to collapse and disintegrate.


    Felix was forced to move again and stared at Voldemort through the dust, and in the afterglow, the air barrier he had high hopes for was destroyed before it could even last for three seconds.


    Voldemort''s Killing Curse is simply terrifyingly powerful and seems to ''kill'' magic. If I had such a spell, I would also mostly only use one spell. Felix thought. S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Voldemort stood still, glanced at him coldly, and twisted and disappeared. He Has Gone.


    "Snap."


    A wand fell to the ground. As it shattered into a pile of cinders.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 580+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 504: Post-Battle Summary

    It is over, Felix mentally breathed a sigh of relief. He bent down and twisted the dregs of the wand and turned it into powder on the ground, as he thought about the battle just now. Overall, he did well enough, pretty much even with Voldemort, only at the end his rhythm become messy when he dodged that exaggerated curse, but the biggest goal of his trip was achieved - Felix ranged the approximate strength of Voldemort, which will provide a basis for the next battle.


    Felix grinned, he suddenly found that the situation seems to be reversed from a decade ago.


    Voldemort had repeatedly challenged Dumbledore because he thought he was in a period of growing up, which is why he has done such a seemingly suicidal thing. And now, the situation is reversed, Felix is the one who is improving, and he does not mind sparring more with Voldemort.


    But Voldemort certainly will not think so, he would rather hope that the next time they meet it''ll be a one-shot kill, directly curse Felix to death.


    ''I guess there will be a few months of peace ...'' Felix thought, that in this battle, Voldemort was also not without a gain, although all he got was a piece of bad news: he could finally be sure that Felix, and he stood on the same level.


    There is common knowledge in the wizarding world here.


    The physical difference between wizards is not as great as one might think. Even elite wizards like Snape, Professor McGonagall, or Moody can hardly withstand two or three stunning spells at the same time, not to mention the presence of a super spell-like Killing Curse. So when Voldemort believes that he is likely to be attacked by two wizards of the same level as him at the same time, his whereabouts will only get more and more secretive, and he will not show up easily unless he is absolutely sure.


    "What will Voldemort do next? Looking for the wand; create chaos; passively wait for an opportunity..." These are the three ways Felix thought of. In his judgment, Voldemort will try them one by one in order.


    The first is to find a suitable wand.


    It just so happens that Felix has the same need.


    There is no shortage of legends about powerful wands in the wizarding world, but there is usually no starting point when it comes to looking for them. Many wizards automatically classify such legends as fairy tales, and few people will actively look for them, not to mention the fact that they may not necessarily be suitable for them.


    Felix has some knowledge about wand research, but it basically stays on the understanding of the qualities of different wand materials, as for asking him to judge which rumour is more reliable and more based, he can''t be sure, but if he doesn''t understand it himself, he can find people who know about it for advice.


    Dumbledore and Ollivander, the wand shop owner, are the two suitable candidates in Felix''s mind.


    If Ollivander can customize a wand for him, it would be even better. He has a lot of hair, so taking out some to build an exclusive wand does not hurt him at all. Felix was amused when he thought about it, Voldemort is in trouble, he does not even have eyebrow hair.


    "But Voldemort''s strength is also ridiculously high, especially his attack power." Felix muttered to himself, then dumbfounded, "He was restrained by Dumbledore is really not that unfair, the powerful transfiguration is simply perfect to restrain Voldemort''s combat system."


    Felix, Dumbledore, and Voldemort are the three people who are standing at the apex of wizardry now.


    But when you look closer, you will notice that their magic paths are different. Felix is most versatile, because in addition to the rune system, he is also fully compatible with the research directions of Salazar Slytherin and Rowena Ravenclaw, and his regular spells are not weak; Dumbledore is the oldest, and he has no shortcomings under the polishing of time, but his strongest is still undoubtedly Transfiguration, while Voldemort walks on a path of no return, after digesting Salazar Slytherin''s legacy; Still, after obtaining the legacy, he made a big stride in the direction of dark magic, perhaps he also integrated his understanding of ''death'' into dark magic, although he became faceless, but in terms of spell damage among the three, he should be the strongest.


    If Felix had to choose, he would rather face Dumbledore, at least the runes are no less versatile than Transfiguration, and he can also waste away ancient magic to attack or consume the other party.


    The Runes, Transfiguration, and Dark Magic, vaguely formed a circle, allowing Felix to feel the wonders of fate.


    But since he and Dumbledore stood together, now the one that should feel a headache would be Voldemort.


    ...


    When Harry woke up from his bedroom in Black''s old mansion, Ron''s loud snoring sound in his ears.


    Harry got up from the bed, and put on his glasses, the room became visible, and he took another cautious glance at Ron in the darkness - he is sleeping soundly - only then, he had relaxed enough to think about a few things.


    First, he had been awarded the Order of Merlin - he touched his pockets, they were empty, and not surprisingly he found the gold medallion with the purple ribbon wrapped around it, next to his pillow. After the ceremony, he was told about the baiting operation, and after a period of anxiety he finally got the positive news, but after that everything went bizarre.


    He saw Voldemort.


    From the discussions he heard afterward, it seemed that Voldemort had hidden his magic in the vampire''s body. Harry''s breath strained, what a familiar statement, he touched the scar on his forehead, Headmaster Dumbledore had said something similar to him.


    A sudden chill ran through his spine, and he worried that he would die silently, like the vampires he had seen during the day.


    His mind began to buzz as if someone is speaking to him.


    But Dumbledore assured Ms. Bones that there would be no negative impact, either on him or on anyone else. The others ... Harry mulled over the word and found it a little jarring. He suddenly glanced at Ron, who is snoring soundly, which made Harry feel better, at least Ron did not worry that he would suddenly draw his wand against him.


    But did Dumbledore''s statement counts, Harry felt a doubt. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    His case is quite rare, isn''t it? If there was another person with a lightning-shaped scar on his head, it would have been recorded in some book, and Hermione would have spared no effort to find it and tell him with great enthusiasm that there was an unlucky person who had suffered the same fate as him.


    She didn''t even have to look for it, people would automatically put that person''s name on display with him, discussing and lamenting the wonders of magic.


    But the truth is, he is the only one who survived the Killing Curse unscathed, and even Professor Hap denied the claim of coming back from the dead. So he is the only one, Harry thought, even though it is not due to his credit.


    And since his case is so rare, it comes back to the question, is Dumbledore right or not?


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 580+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 505: Kiss

    In a way, Harry thought he had more say in the matter. He rubbed his forehead hard, a thousand bees seemed to be buzzing in his head as he repeatedly recalled the instances when his scars hurt. It is true that it was only more intense when Voldemort appeared, with a few exceptions - when Voldemort had violent mood swings - but since he started to grasp Occlumency, this had happened much less often.


    But he really isn''t the same anymore. The voice in his head can testify.


    Harry swallowed, grabbed his wand, and tiptoed out of bed. There are two places to practice magic in the Black''s Old Mansion, and Harry chose to go downstairs because the third floor housed the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, Fred & George, and Neville. Sirius lived on the fourth floor, and he always had a good ear.


    The night was terribly silent, the darkness all around him, but he didn''t dare to turn on the magic lamp, he could only feel his way through the darkness by memory, stepping carefully on the floor, every pinprick of noise made him tremble, Harry couldn''t help but be glad he didn''t wear shoes.


    He soon felt the handrail of the stairs downward, and his movements became lighter as he approached the first floor - the floor that housed Hermione and Ginny. "Thud!" Harry stepped in the air, he missed a step, and almost fell, his heart pounded, as he held his breath, listening carefully to the surrounding movement.


    Harry not only worried that he had woken Hermione and Ginny, but also worried about waking up the portrait of Mrs. Black hanging on the wall of the ground floor hall - she is Sirius''s mother, filled with all kinds of rotten, old-fashioned ideas, unfortunately, this idea is passed on to her portrait. Because too many people had recently moved in, she is obviously very loathsome and will use the most vicious language to swear at every opportunity, and if she woke up, she will never miss the opportunity to wake everyone from their dreams.


    Harry waited quietly for more than ten seconds, without hearing any movement, and breathed a sigh of relief.


    The rest of the journey went without a hitch. He carefully avoided the decorative crumpled gargoyle head on the ground floor and did not touch the umbrella stand made of broken legs of gargoyles, and successfully found a sliding door. He slid open the door and a long straight downward staircase appeared.


    Harry came to the basement level, in front of him is an open space, the six sides of the room are made of black stone blocks. Professor Hap had said that this might be Black''s abandoned spell testing room, but he, Ron, and Hermione had only seen the debris piled up in the corner when they came before, together with a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.


    It took them half a day to clean up the place. When the magic on it started working again, they had a decent training room.


    There is strong sound insulation, Harry did not want others to hear what he was about to do, he flipped the switch, and the lamp on the wall lit up. In the center of the spacious basement, there are seven or eight randomly placed ragged targets, with various traces of magic left on them - all the results of their efforts these days.


    He sat on a soft cushion with a hesitant expression.


    "I''m just trying." Harry said to himself. He stood up and raised his wand, but several times he couldn''t make up his mind, finally, he gritted his teeth -


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    A dazzling green light flew from the tip of his wand, and the spell missed, hitting the black stone wall. Harry gasped, all sorts of destruction and killing pleasure flashed through his mind, the buzz of excitement filled his head, constantly seducing him, drumming his eardrums. But soon the Occlumency worked on its own, and he broke out of this state, and began to hate himself for what he had done, as a strong feeling of disgust for the adventure he had taken tonight made him dry heave incessantly.


    Perhaps the best thing he could do now would be meekly go back and pretend like nothing had happened.


    That is when he heard a suppressed scream.


    Harry jerked his head up and looked in the direction of the entrance - it had been opened at some point, or maybe he hadn''t closed the door earlier, and he didn''t have time to think about which one it was, because right now he needed to deal with a more difficult problem.


    "Ginny!?" Harry shouted with his mouth wide open.


    Ginny is standing in the doorway in a nightgown, her mouth covered, and her eyes filled with disbelief as if she is terrified. When Harry called out her name, Ginny subconsciously took a step back.


    She saw it! Saw me using the Killing Curse! Harry''s mind shouted frantically. The voices in his head began to bewitch him again, but he would never agree.


    Harry reached out his hand to explain but stopped when he saw the watery look and fear in Ginny''s eyes.


    He, Harry Potter, had just used the Unforgivable Curse.


    Harry ducked his head and dared not look at her, a strong feeling of shame welling up in him, his stomach turning over, and he wanted to dry heave again. What would Ginny think of him? A potential dark wizard? Or a second Voldemort? He had been plagued by such rumours in his second year when some even believed him to be a more evil fiend than Voldemort, which was why Voldemort had thought to get rid of him when he was a baby.


    But once Harry knew he had his mother''s protection in his blood, he completely lost all worry about that.


    But now that worry has returned. S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He had recited one of the worst Unforgivable Curses without any prior knowledge, and that curse was not much less powerful than his Disarming Charm, which was somewhat quite frightening.


    He heard the sound of footsteps.


    Did she run away? Harry thought it should be, Ginny had surprised him enough by not waking the others, maybe he should explain a few things, or at least not let her reveal this, but he couldn''t think of a reason to do so. A bigger concern arose, if Ginny told the others, what would they think of him?


    His mind flashed through the names, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, Fred, George, Mrs. Weasley ... His heart began to ache at the thought that Mrs. Weasley would no longer look at him with loving eyes.


    Harry saw a pair of shoes.


    He looked up in shock and met a pair of brown eyes, the lines around Ginny''s lips pursed tightly.


    "Do you want revenge ... that badly?" She asked sadly.


    "It was an accident!" Harry blurted out, and Ginny looked at him in surprise. "I mean, of course, I want to defeat Voldemort, but not in this way, not through - er - the Killing Curse."


    Ginny watched Harry''s face carefully, and after a few moments in which she seemed to have confirmed that he was telling the truth, she tossed her fiery red hair and questioned nonchalantly, "Then what the hell happened?"


    "I-" Harry opened his mouth, feeling an overwhelming headache, but from the look on Ginny''s face, she''s hell-bent on getting an answer tonight.


    "Okay." He compromised, moving towards the cushion and sitting on it with his bum. Ginny sat close to him. "I-t started-d after the award ceremony when me, Ron, Hermione, and Professor Hap were taken to the Minister''s office ..."


    Ginny listened quietly, not opening her mouth to interrupt.


    Harry stuttered a little at first, but then became fluent. He talked about his ''sighting'' of Voldemort in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, about the conversation he had heard between Dumbledore and Ms. Bones with Hermione''s help, and the special feeling he had when he got up from bed tonight, the buzzing in his head, the pleasure from reciting the Killing Curse for the first time... ...and even his various fears spilled out.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore has a point, you have a connection with the You-Know-Who, and it is this connection that makes you more susceptible to his influence." Ginny said in a soft tone.


    "I always knew that, I just didn''t think it would be this strong," Harry said sullenly, but he is somehow in a much better mood now. "If it''s not because I was born evil, then there''s only one possibility - Voldemort passed his knowledge and experience on to me. I don''t know if he did it intentionally or unintentionally, but I''m now under the influence-"


    "What makes you say that?" Ginny said pointedly, "You''re nothing like him - you think so too, don''t you?" She looked at Harry for confirmation.


    Harry''s mouth suddenly went dry, Ginny''s face had a special glow in the wavering firelight, and an impulse came over him, so he blurted out, "Of course, I''m not like him! I would never use this curse on anyone, that''s what Voldemort does."


    Once the words were out, Harry''s tense heart relaxed, as if a thousand pounds of weight had been lifted. The murmur that had been buzzing in his head disappeared.


    Ginny caught Harry''s determination, she ran her hand through her hair and smiled cheerfully.


    "So, what are you worried about?" She pulled Harry up from the cushion, "The most important thing you need to do right now is getting a good night''s sleep." Her face came close, and she planted a soft kiss on the corner of Harry''s mouth. "In my heart, you''ll always be the hero who defeated the Dark Lord."


    Then she slipped away like a crafty cat with a light step.


    Harry froze in place, like enchanted by special magic, his entire body was petrified.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 582+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 506: Ollivander

    Felix spent the night directly at ''Future World''. Early the next morning, he went to a small and shabby store on the south side of Diagon Alley, the gold paint on the sign is peeling off, but the store is a big name in Diagon Alley because its name is Ollivander. As the tagline on the sign reads - Makers of Fine Wands since three hundred and eighty-two B.C. - the long history of excellent and consistent quality has led most British wizards to buy their wands here at Ollivander''s, and it must be mentioned that this is also the only wand store that has established a partnership with Hogwarts, and all new students who will attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry will receive a discount when they purchase their wands here.


    For many people, the first wand is often a lifelong partner. This makes the owner of the wand store - Mr. Ollivander - have a high status in the wizarding world and garner special respect no matter where he goes.


    Today, the owner of the wand store hosted Felix.


    "Thirteen inches, ebony wood, with dragon heartstring, a very aggressive combination - of course, I''m referring to the character of the wand - suitable for all types of offensive magic and transfiguration. Pretty much the most well-rounded class of wands out there, that was the masterpiece of my youth, and I''ve been looking forward to someone buying it for a long time."


    Mr. Ollivander''s light-colored eyes seemed to glow in the darkness.


    "As it turns out, I was not wrong in my vision, and the wand''s owner shined grandly." He said, "What would you like to buy, a wand maintenance kit? Containing delicate velvet cloth and beeswax, it''s guaranteed to impress your wand-"


    He looked at Felix, guessing where Felix had hidden his wand.


    "Unfortunately, Mr. Ollivander, the wand is ruined." Felix said.


    " Ruined?" Mr. Ollivander repeated, his large light-colored eyes blinking incredulously, "Do you mean broken, if it''s just a minor problem, you can bring it to me to fix-"


    "No, no," said Felix, "it is completely ruined, not a scrap of it can be found."


    The old man went quiet and seemed to blend in with the dimly lit store, only his near-colourless pupils flickered.


    "Is that so," he said softly, "I hope it did its duty."


    "What?" Felix asked in surprise.


    "I read the paper, Mr. Hap--the last task in the tournament of champions." Mr. Ollivander suppressed his voice and said, "You fought the You-Know-Who, no? The wand was destroyed at that time?"


    "Yes, at the last moment." Felix said.


    Mr. Ollivander became more excited, "It is true, I have been hoping to undo my mistake, it all seems like yesterday ... He Who Must Not Be Named, came over to purchase a wand alone, I received him and was pleasantly surprised by his wand choice, yew wood with phoenix feather core, very potent! ... I praised him highly."


    "He must have been overjoyed." Felix said with an expressionless face, as if he is looking at a liar, "You said something similar to me back then, and just said it again."


    "Ahem! You''re not like him, I see nothing but pure fondness and a desire for magic in your eyes! I can see that ... but He Who Must Not Be Named is different, he tried his best not to show too much excitement when I told him he was born extraordinary," Ollivander gave a sly look, "I do say these things to many people, like a good Wish, and customers will be happy to hear it ... Moreover, I''m not really lying, wands choose wizards, wands assist wizards, and no one can determine one''s future achievements."


    "Not to mention that he did end up achieving great things, although it was in a bad way."


    He lapsed into memory and snapped back a moment later, "Okay - Mr. Hap, so the purpose of your trip is?"


    "To purchase a new wand."


    "Ah, a new wand! Of course, it is." The old man said matter-of-factly, turning towards the shelves, "It may take quite a while though, adult wizards always have more trouble in selecting their wands, and there are more factors to consider."


    "Mr. Ollivander-" Felix tried to interrupt him.


    "... You should know Sirius Black? He tried a whole wall of stock ..."


    "Wait, Mr. Ollivander. I would like to obtain an Elder Wand if I can." Felix said hurriedly.


    Mr. Ollivander turned around with a peculiar gleam in his eye.


    "An Elder Wand?" He whispered, as if he was both asking a question, and talking to himself.


    "That''s right, I wish to create an exclusive wand according to the standards of the ancient times, with me personally providing the wand core needed to make it," Felix said. He preferred to obtain a wand that perfectly matched his own than to chase after a vain legend.


    "-What a surprise." Mr. Ollivander said hesitantly, "I rarely take on this kind of work, custom wands - always less stable and time-consuming."


    "But you can certainly do it. When this need surfaced in my head, this was the first place I thought of." Felix said slowly, "You know what I mean, a legacy of over two thousand years, a combination of a genius brain and a lineage of wand ..."


    "You''ve come to the right person, son." Mr. Ollivander said happily, "In the line of wand makers, the Ollivander family is the best in England!" He said, and then added in a whisper, "And probably the best in Europe."


    "So, you agree?" Felix asked.


    "I''m willing to try-" Mr. Ollivander said briskly, "It would be an honour to help a First Class Order of Merlin recipient, Mr. Hap." He bowed slightly and pointed to the scattered desk as he straightened up, where a daily prophet''s paper is pressed under a thick book.


    Felix pulled the paper out from under the book, and on it is a picture from yesterday''s award ceremony. There are five people in the picture, Felix and Ms. Bones standing on either side, smiling faintly. The three people in the middle - Harry kept stroking his hair, trying to make it smooth out a little; Ron had a serious expression, but the next second he turned his back and secretly kissed the medal, and Hermione smiled brightly, rubbing her fingers over and over the pattern of the medal.


    The headline of the newspaper article is "The Champions Who Thwarted the Dark Lord".


    "Do you have any suggestions for the wand core material?" Mr. Ollivander asked.


    "Of course I do." Felix looked up from the paper as one of his hairs began to grow rapidly, a dozen inches long, before breaking off at the root and floating toward the surprised old man. s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Huh?"


    Mr. Ollivander caught the hair, and with his other hand, he took out a pair of glasses from the box and lowered his head to examine it carefully, "Wonderful ... super-strong magical substance, it''s just amazing ... taking the liberty to ask, do you have humanoid creatures in your ancestral bloodline?"


    "I don''t think so." Felix said with a black face.


    Mr. Ollivander smacked his lips, obviously somewhat unconvinced. "It''s really no big deal, even though such a union goes against worldly notions, the offspring born can sometimes be enviously gifted, such as the professor of Hogwarts'' charms class, you should know him ... and the little Beauxbatons girl I met last year, with Veela Blood ... Of course, I guess the Headmistress of Beauxbatons also ..." He closed his mouth, and his expression became serious, as he gazed down at Felix''s hair.


    "What''s wrong?" Felix asked.


    Mr. Ollivander looked up in surprise after a long time, "I see no trace of foreign origin, which means that even if your ancestors had a mixed blood, it was a dozen generations ago and can be completely ignored ..." he placed the hair carefully in a brown box. "I''m going to still use ebony and keep the measurements the same, as close as possible to your first wand - what do you think?"


    "No problem." Felix said with satisfaction. At the moment, the wand could not be completely left behind, because he could not fully cast away the modern magic spell system yet, not to mention, that he felt that this system also had a lot of merits.


    At that moment, a jingling bell came from the door behind.


    Someone came in - long light yellow hair, pale sharp face, cold gray eyes, it is Lucius Malfoy.


    Without moving, Mr. Ollivander closed the box containing Felix''s hair and slipped it smoothly into the cupboard.


    "Welcome, Mr. Malfoy." He said politely.


    Lucius froze for a few seconds, his light-colored eyes bulged slightly, showing his surprise, and then he propped himself up with his cane, his expression reverting to cold - at the same time, the astral ray in Felix''s eyes slowly converged.


    Prophecy Orb ...


    Felix recalled the information Lucius had revealed in the thinking room, and in addition to complaining about his gut-wrenching days, he incidentally revealed an important piece of information. Taking advantage of the disturbance in the Ministry of Magic yesterday, an Unspeakable under an Imperius Curse entered the Hall of Prophecy of the Department of Mysteries and tried to get a prophetic orb about Voldemort''s fate, but got injured by a protection spell.


    Broderick Bode, Felix had heard the name.


    It was still a month ago, he had met Bode in the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries. At that time, in order to avoid being interrupted while studying the time energy, Felix had to regretfully knock him out. This man became unlucky twice in a row, Felix felt he also shared responsibility, so he planned to send an amulet anonymously ...


    Well, a little token of appreciation.


    ...


    "It''s a pleasure meeting you, Mr. Hap." Lucius said politely and rustily, before turning to look at Mr. Ollivander afterward, "I came over here today to purchase a new wand, as my original wand was, unfortunately, destroyed due to an accident."


    Mr. Ollivander looked at Felix and Lucius with an odd expression. It is quite rare to come across two cases of wand destruction in one day.


    "Then I''ll take my leave, Mr. Ollivander," Felix said, turning around slowly with a twitch in his heart.


    "Oh, by the way--" he said in a provocative tone: "I heard that the dark lord who is hiding also lost his wand and had to snatch it from his servant-- - "Mr. Ollivander immediately looked at Lucius, Lucius''s pale face turned red.


    "Nonsense--"


    "-- but this kind of practice can only be considered as a temporary means, Mr. Ollivander, so be careful, as his men will kidnap you away." Felix finished and walked towards the door.


    He said this in order to remind Mr. Ollivander to be safe, and from the old man''s silent action of picking up his own wand, his purpose was achieved.


    As for Lucius, there is no need for Felix to worry - on the contrary, when he goes back to find the opportunity to report this to Voldemort, Voldemort will take it for granted. And Felix also took the opportunity to show the conflict between the two, so Lucius'' undercover identity will also be hidden more deeply.


    Felix pulled open the door--


    "Wait, Mr. Hap." Mr. Ollivander suddenly called out. Felix looked back at him, puzzled. Meanwhile, Lucius is standing in the corner in silence, looking annoyed.


    Outstanding acting skills.


    "It''s like this ... can I ask you a question?" After receiving an affirmative response, Mr. Ollivander asked, "Why did you call the wand you wanted like that?"


    The Elder Wand?


    "Isn''t it fun to name your new wand after something from a fairy tale?" Felix replied with a smile.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 582+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 507: Two Meetings

    The stores in Diagon Alley are doing a lot less business than usual. "That''s normal if you have a row of pictures of Death Eaters posted in front of your store as well ..." said Madam Malkin, as she measured the measurements of Felix''s body.


    Felix enjoyed the cordial service in the robe shop.


    He glanced at the wanted notices in the window, as well as the various large purple announcements, and thought her words made sense. The street outside the window is filled with passer-by walking in a hurry, all in groups with a clear purpose, heading straight for where they are going. They never linger after making their purchases, as they quickly left through the public fireplace.


    After exiting the store, he walked into Sword Castle with a vanilla ice cream purchased from Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour and stayed there throughout the day.


    "The principle of the Thief''s Downfall is complex, the key point is the mixture of seventeen alchemical materials and multiple magical spells, some obscure places may need unique magic of goblins, I checked it, the Thief''s Downfall technology appeared just at the time of the honeymoon period after the wizard and goblin war, right?" S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You are absolutely right, Mr. Hap." A Ministry of Magic employee who was sent over said, "The goblins are so nasty that they left a hand in the knowledge!" The short, fat wizard gasped.


    "But you guys never noticed it all along, either." Fred in the crowd murmured to George.


    The rest of the day was spent on dividing up the work and responsibilities. Clammy was right, the R&D Wizards in the company are indeed very efficient. Several of the ministry''s employees present marvelled as they found all their materials about Thief''s Downfall rapidly understood and digested by Felix, it was as if the person in front of them is not a single individual, but a humanoid creature with dozens of heads.


    By the end of the day, Future World''s researchers had caught up with the Ministry of Magic''s previous progress and had successfully recovered the ratios of the three alchemical materials.


    "I''ll be staying at the old mansion for the night today." Felix said to Fred and George, they are now in a room on the highest floor of the Sword Castle, the interior is plainly decorated, like a vacant office, but it has a fireplace connected to the old Black mansion.


    If the two people, Tonks and Sirius, linked the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix together, then Remus Lupin linked the ''Future World'' company with the Order of the Phoenix to use it with Felix. Well, sometime, Fred, George, and Penelope will also use this fireplace.


    It took a while for Percy to arrive, as he arrived half an hour later than expected.


    "Ms. Bones is using you too hard." Penelope said unhappily.


    "The ministry is seriously understaffed," Percy said cheerfully, "and it''s just the right time for me to make my mark." He hastily rolled up a few papers and stuffed them into the large pocket of his shirt. Then he crossed the fireplace just in time to catch a warm meal.


    Mrs. Weasley received Penelope warmly.


    "We got back so late yesterday that not only Harry''s birthday party had to be cancelled, but I didn''t get many opportunities to talk to you."


    "Mum, there''s plenty of time for that later." Percy muttered.


    "But the first few times are the most important." Mrs. Weasley said with a stern face.


    At the dinner table, Bill is talking about his new job.


    " At the beginning, I really didn''t get used to it, all the works are involved inside the office, it''s far worse than what I was doing before, the good thing is that I have a lot of extra time to work for the Order of the Phoenix ... and I''m partnered with a bunch of old gentlemen who are living at a frighteningly slow pace." He mimicked his colleague, handing the bottle of ketchup to Harry in the next seat, moving a dozen times slower.


    Everyone around the table burst out laughing. Harry inadvertently met Ginny''s eyes, and Ginny''s wide smile immediately tightened, and her movements with the knife and fork became graceful. "That''s right, Ginny''s doing the best imitation." Bill said loudly in praise.


    Hermione snickered.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron looked at her with confusion.


    "Nothing." Hermione said immediately, and she turned to look at Harry, whose face flushed brightly with a rush of heat.


    Dinner consisted of stew, sugared fruit punch, and vegetable soup, and Felix hurriedly put down his utensils before Mrs. Weasley could serve him more soup, so Mrs. Weasley turned her attention to Penelope.


    "Is the meal not to your liking, dear?"


    "Oh, no." Penelope said, only to find her soup bowl instantly filled up.


    Sirius arrived late and joined only when everyone was almost done eating and was chatting with each other. He sat down in the vacated seat and took a big bite of the remaining food.


    "Only one-third process of interrogation completed -" he drank the bowl of vegetable soup in one gulp, "Thanks, Molly, fill it up - everyone falsely claimed they were under the influence of the Imperius Curse, but Amelia didn''t intend to let them go easily, especially Macnair and Rookwood who both sentenced for some previous crimes."


    Felix is well aware that the former is being considered as the mastermind of the Quidditch World Cup riot, and the latter is a nailed-on Death Eater who has been in Azkaban for over a decade and has only been out of prison for a few days. Ms. Bones would be damned if she would release them.


    Sirius swallowed a fried pie in three bites and sighed comfortably as his movements slowed down.


    Ron stared at him with unblinking eyes, as if he is watching an interesting TV show.


    "By the way, Sirius," Felix inquired, "I heard an Unspeakable was injured?"


    "There is such a thing?" Sirius looked up from his soup bowl.


    "The one with the name Bode." Felix reminded him.


    "Bode," Sirius pondered and said slowly, "kind of rings a bell ... seems to have had a research accident and was sent to St. Mungo''s for treatment. I was too busy yesterday to pay attention to such a trivial matter. What happened to him?" He asked sensitively.


    "We''ll talk about it at the meeting." Felix replied briefly.


    Sirius showed a thoughtful expression, his sense had become much sharper after spending a month around Amelia Bones, so he immediately realized that this incident might not be a coincidence. Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the side also showed an intrigued expression.


    " That name sounds familiar." Ron muttered.


    "We met him at the Quidditch World Cup camp." Hermione whispered, "He works for the Department of Mysteries?"


    Harry remembered too.


    "Wait." He made the connection to Voldemort almost instantly, and he looked over at Mr. Weasley, "You told us that the work of the Department of Mysteries is all top secret."


    "This-"


    Mr. Weasley''s expression looked stagnated, and Harry racked his brain hard.


    "It means that Voldemort wants something in there! Or information about something! And Bode is either an undercover Death Eater or under a curse!"


    "Boys-" Mr. Weasley hesitated.


    "It''s okay, Arthur." Sirius said, "Let''s see what they can analyse, I can bring it to Amelia - I mean, even if we stop them, they''ll be discussing it in private secretly, so we might as well listen and maybe get some useful inspiration."


    Harry glanced gratefully at his godfather. "Uh." He suddenly got stuck.


    "What exactly is Bode''s job?" Hermione asked. Sirius frowned, "I don''t quite--"


    "What Hall does he work for? The Time Room, the Hall of Prophecy, Brain Room, Space Chamber, or the Death Chamber?" Hermione asked again, and Sirius almost bit his tongue.


    "How do you know that?!"


    It is Hermione''s turn to get stuck, she stole a glance at Felix. "I - oh - I guess, it''s from a certain book?"


    "Information about the Department of Mysteries is never leaked." Mr. Weasley said seriously.


    "She would have seen it in Nicolas Flamel''s material." Felix explained, "I gave it to her before the end of the school year, and since there are so many materials, I didn''t read every one of them, so Nicolas might have casually mentioned it in one of his notes."


    Professors can be so deceitful ...


    Hermione blinked and put on a "that''s it" look.


    Sirius and Mr. Weasley understood it.


    "Nicolas Flamel ... No wonder, that makes sense." Mr. Weasley said. It is no secret that Felix inherited Nicolas Flamel''s entire legacy since the Beauxbatons'' students spent a whole year at Hogwarts last year.


    At some point, it was even reported at length in the newspapers.


    "I''ve heard Fleur mention," Bill suddenly said, "that you''re still a school board member at Beauxbatons."


    "Fleur?" Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the Weasley twins shouted at the same time.


    "What''s happened?" Mrs. Weasley asked, "Am I mistaken, isn''t she one of Beauxbatons'' Champion? A French girl?"


    "She''s become my new colleague, just joined two days ago. I promised to help her with her English ... you know how boring office work can be." Bill shrugged and said, "I wish the war would end sooner."


    "That''s not up to us," Ron muttered, "It''s not like the You-Know-Who will admit defeat ... By the way, Harry, what did Headmaster Dumbledore want to see you this morning for?"


    "Dumbledore came by during the day?" Felix asked, a little surprised.


    "Yeah, but he didn''t say a few words before he took Harry and disappeared for the whole day. In fact, Harry just returned not long before you guys did." Ron said.


    Several of the adults looked at Harry.


    "Can you tell?" Mr. Weasley asked measuredly, "If Headmaster Dumbledore told you to keep it a secret, then don''t tell anyone."


    "Uh, I''m not sure." Harry said with a blank expression, "I don''t think we did anything special, Headmaster Dumbledore took me to an old friend''s house for a cup of afternoon tea and a bellyful of pineapple preserves. And Headmaster Dumbledore persuaded his old friend to move to a safer place ..."


    "Who did you visit? Do you remember his name?" Felix asked.


    "Horace Slughorn." Harry said after a moment''s thought.


    "Professor Slughorn?" Mr. Weasley shouted, watching the others'' reactions as he explained, "He used to teach us, Molly and me. He''s a brilliant Potions master, and I guess that''s why we can''t let him fall to the other side?"


    After dinner, the adults went to their rooms for a meeting, while the children sat in the living room in discontent. "At least I have you guys with me." Penelope said while scratching Crookshanks chin, the cat comfortably lying on her lap.


    ...


    Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away, in an old building. Large bushes of flowers were overgrown with thorns from lack of tending, casting messy and twisted black shadows in the background, and the surrounding area is deserted and remote.


    A bug did not learn from its companions as it flew straight into the old castle to look for food. It crawled through the ancient, mottled walls and climbed up the beams of the house, and peered with its compound eyes at the solemn, oppressive crowd below in the dim light.


    "Sizzle~"


    The bug was burned to ashes by a sudden rush of energy.


    Severus Snape is attending a meeting of Death Eaters here.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 583+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 508: Voldemorts Concerns

    The fire in the fireplace pulsated and added a touch of warmth to the cold, breezy dark night. But all the warmth disappeared when their sight met the talking man.


    Voldemort is seated directly in front of the fireplace, with the burning wood behind him, a position closest to the flames that cast a much deeper shadow than the rest, and the most conspicuous thing the Death Eaters could see besides his silhouette is the red eyes and pale skin.


    "Severus?" He looked at the seat to his immediate right.


    "The Longbottoms'' return to the Order of the Phoenix is confirmed; they both appear to have been given separate assignments, but no specific information has been revealed. A tailing at the order of Dumbledore cannot be ruled out, and the target is someone in this room."


    There was a slight commotion at the long table, with some adjusting their seating position uneasily, while others were excited.


    "Master, let me go - let me find them, I will capture them." A brunette woman said excitedly. Judging from her profile, she must have been beautiful in her youth, but years of imprisonment had permanently changed her appearance and temperament, certainly to the bad side.


    Her cheeks are lean, her eyes bulge out, and her black curls cling haphazardly to her head.


    "Bellatrix, I don''t doubt that, you did it once." Voldemort surveyed her with his scarlet eyes, "But you have more important things to do." After saying that, he stopped looking at her and turned to Snape, "Anything else?"


    "The Ministry of Magic and ''Future World'' Company have reached an agreement on the matter of Thief''s Downfall, and I must admit, it will make a considerable impact on our cause."


    The commotion was more apparent this time, as the Death Eaters exchanged uneasy glances.


    "It''s that man''s company ..."


    "We can''t allow this to happen!" A Death Eater hammered on the table and shouted, "We should organize an attack immediately-" A number of people followed the clamour, and the room erupted with chaos.


    "Would you like to take the lead, Selwyn?" Voldemort asked softly, his voice easily overshadowing the clamour in the room.


    The Death Eaters immediately stopped talking and their eyes became dodgy. Finally, they all turned their attention to the wizard who had spoken at the beginning. Selwyn stammered, "Lord, my lord if it is your will, I, I would--"


    Voldemort smiled broadly.


    "No need for you to sacrifice yourself yet," Voldemort said lazily, "I am almost certain that the Ministry of Magic and Felix Hap will be on guard ... We have to adapt to the new rules of war, and Felix Hap has come up with quite a few gadgets. Some of which are surprisingly useful ... Ring of Ouroboros, is that what it''s called? The Ouroboros Snake, right?" His scarlet snake eyes fixed on Snape.


    "That''s right," Snape whispered, "he used it as his mark in his early years, and I think a lot of people here know that," the Death Eaters either frowned or shook their heads. "Then the mark disappeared with his graduation, and only reappeared when he returned to teach at Hogwarts and started his own teaching club."


    Voldemort made a notable sound.


    "Teaching Club, the Ouroboros... Severus, by the sound of the name, I thought this was your present for my return."


    Snape bowed his head, " Lord, I have to admit, he is the most ambitious, and methodical character I have ever taught."


    "You''re right, I can imagine what he was like when he was in school ..." Voldemort said in a low voice: "Before I wondered why Felix Hap had arrived so timely and suspected whether one of you betrayed me, but this newspaper gave me the answer." A newspaper floated lightly from his hand and moved slowly across the long table.


    The Death Eaters looked up from their positions and leaned over to get a better look, but Voldemort apparently didn''t have the patience to let them read it one by one, "It says very clearly that it was through the Ring of Ouroboros that the Potter trio managed to ask for help."


    "And beyond that? I''m sure many of you have heard of or even used, the products of the ''Future World'' company, and I''m interested in the Communication Mirror, although it reportedly has a limit on the distance it can contact, but predictably, the situation of the war has already changed. We were once ahead of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic by virtue of our unique communication through dark mark a decade ago, but now all of us are in the same starting line."


    " My lord, what do you mean?"


    "Crack the magic on it, it would be better if we could create a countermeasure." Voldemort said slowly, "Let''s get back to Thief''s Downfall, something like that would interfere with the speed at which we can expand our ranks, even though we could just knock on the doors of our targets'' homes, drag them out of the warm comfort of their blankets, and threaten them with their families to do our work for us - "


    A loud laugh broke out from the crowd.


    "That''s what I''m good at, My Lord!" A Death Eater shouted to express his loyalty.


    "Thanks - Rodolphus, you''ll get that chance." Voldemort said without any emotion, "But as I said, it will get in our way, can anyone come up with a way to deal with it?"


    " My lord, even with the thief''s downfall, we can still get all kinds of information through our families'' network of connections."


    Voldemort showed an expression of interest.


    "I''m impressed by you, Selwyn, do you have a good choice?"


    "There is one, her last name is Umbridge, in the past, she always flattered me, and bragged everywhere that she is a relative of the Selwyn family, but everyone knows that she has a janitor father, I just found out that she used to be Fudge''s confidant, and just a few casual words ... I am sure that she will pass on the information to me. " Selwyn said respectfully.


    "I also know one, my nephew is working for the Ministry of Magic, and also the youngest head. He has a good relationship with quite a few Aurors." Another Death Eater said.


    "Very well, Avery, since we lost Yaxley, our actions against the Aurors have become a total mess." Voldemort said with satisfaction, "But even though he''s dead, he''s still contributing to our cause, as we are using his house for meeting right now."


    Soon the Death Eaters began to discuss, irrespective of what happened, they could name several acquaintances who worked in the Ministry of Magic. It added up to almost a half dozen people. Needless to say, these people will become the target of the Death Eaters'' next operation.


    "Lucius."


    "Yes, Lord--" Lucius Malfoy looked up, and met Voldemort''s scarlet eyes, before hastily lowering his head again.


    "Have you heard anything about Macnair and Rookwood?"


    "I haven''t inquired." He replied in a whisper.


    "Haven''t inquired," Voldemort repeated in a voice that didn''t rise and fall, and Lucius shivered involuntarily. "Does this mean that you''ve lost your power on the Ministry of Magic side?" S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " My lord, please give me some time! I''m trying to connect with the new minister, but that woman is slippery - she, she''s always accompanied by Sirius Black, a man that must have been sent over by the Order of the Phoenix!"


    "Sirius Black," Voldemort said, looking at Bellatrix, "if I remember correctly, he seems to be your cousin?"


    "Yes, he is, my lord," she said excitedly, her body unable to resist leaning forward to get a closer look at Voldemort, "No, he is not my cousin, he is a disgrace to House Black, a scum, who I can''t wait to kill with my own hands."


    "There''s a lot of people you have to deal with then." Voldemort snickered.


    Bellatrix seemed confused, "How--"


    "Your niece recently joined the Order of the Phoenix and also become very close to a werewolf. I guess I should expect no less from your family? She took a step further than even your sister ... When do I get to hear about their wedding, are you going to send a present?"


    Bellatrix gave Snape a sharp glare, all the information about the Order of the Phoenix is provided by him.


    Snape''s thin lips squeezed out a sarcastic smile.


    " My lord, she is not my niece, they have had nothing to do with the Black family since my sister married that mudblood." Bellatrix immediately dismissed the relationship, but her words did not satisfy Voldemort.


    She obviously felt this, her face showed a panicked expression, while her body leaned forward even further, as if she is expressing her loyalty by this. " My lord, I will not stand by and let this happen - despite our falling out, I will never allow the Black family bloodline to be tainted any further, I promise you! Isn''t that correct, Lucius, you wouldn''t want someone who shares Narcissa''s blood to be connected with a werewolf either, right?"


    "That''s right." Lucius said dryly.


    "Then let''s go at once and kill them before the next assembly." Bellatrix said excitedly.


    "I have an appointment with the high-ranking official of the Ministry of Magic, Pius Thicknesse, and I can''t miss this ... Since It''s important for our cause." Lucius muttered, " My lord, I have two important things to report to you."


    Voldemort''s eyes settled back on him.


    Lucius spoke stiffly, "First, I met Hap at Ollivander''s wand store, and he was very hostile to me, and warned Ollivander in front of me to guard against me, and us."


    "He did have reason to do so," Voldemort said calmly, but his face contorted slightly, and under the firelight, it looked like a pale snake, and a few people around him dared not look at him for a moment.


    "One bad news, Lucius. I hope your second news will make everyone a little happy." Voldemort said softly.


    "Wel-ll, of course," Lucius panted, "I inquired about the exact location of Bode, he was taken to St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and is currently confused, so the Ministry of Magic didn''t notice anything unusual yet. But he will inevitably get better, and if he is allowed to reveal to the Ministry of Magic that we are seeking the prophecy-"


    "Then make him not open his mouth." Voldemort said, "Who is willing to solve this problem for me? Antonin, what do you say?"


    "It would be my pleasure, O Great Dark Lord." Antonin Dolohov, a Death Eater with a lanky face said with a twisted grin.


    ...


    When the meeting was over, Voldemort was left alone with Severus Snape.


    He stared at the dark night sky and regretted it more than ever. Maybe if he waited patiently for a few more months or even years, he would''ve got the most perfect resurrection - reborn with the help of Harry Potter''s blood, the blood of the man who made him lose his magic, his flesh, and his power ... that the protection Potter''s mother left against him would also exist in his own blood ...


    Regret and frustration tormented Voldemort''s heart. He had the heart to actively die, and then resurrect once again, then not only can he get rid of a strong enemy, but it will also make him more powerful. At least he won''t be as passive as now.


    But he really couldn''t afford to wait any longer.


    Christmas night, Felix Hap and Dumbledore''s silent invasion of the old Crouch mansion left him a huge psychological shadow, if he did not use the fastest way to inform Barty Crouch Jr. that night, then the opportunity to resurrect after more than a decade might have been cut off. Especially when he learned Barty''s plan to "clean up the Mad-Eye Moody", where he almost got caught, he became even more panicked.


    Since then, he never dared to let Barty Crouch Jr. out of his sight.


    He repeatedly debated, the choice for several months, and it was also his most vulnerable period of time, he was afraid that Felix and Dumbledore will suddenly appear in the next second, and his only loyal servant will be taken away; If it happened, he doesn''t know how many years later he will gain another opportunity.


    There is one thing he has to consider, that is, the resurrection materials - his father''s bones, the flesh of his servants, the blood of his enemies, the latter two are in fact time-limited.


    Perhaps in another hundred years, he could collect Dumbledore''s dead body, but the Death Eaters who are loyal to him, the enemies who hate and fear him will also fade with time, and at that time his name will decay faster than Dumbledore''s body. So how else can he resurrect?


    Even if Voldemort believed that he had defeated death, he was still forced by time to hurry up.


    Not to mention the fact that Felix Hap had already made his mark, and quite a few people believed that he would be the next Dumbledore-like figure.


    Voldemort read some of the gossip magazines when he had nothing better to do, and two factions were arguing about it, one saying that Felix Hap had surpassed Dumbledore because he had solved the riot at the Quidditch World Cup single-handedly by defeating hundreds of wizards head-on - although Voldemort scoffed at this, the argument was still popular. On the other hand, the other side of the argument strongly believed that although Felix Hap is strong, he is still far behind Dumbledore, the ''greatest white wizard'', after all, the people Felix Hap faced at the World Cup were drunk and rowdy wizard tourists, who were no different from unarmed muggles.


    The only thing everyone agreed on was that Felix Hap is currently the most promising person to replace Dumbledore in the future, as everyone realized that he is far from thirty years old.


    Less than thirty years old!


    This is also Voldemort''s biggest concern, even if he really survived 100 years and Dumbledore is dead, the Hap may stand in his way and hinder his way to the top.


    So he chose to give up Harry Potter''s blood after repeatedly weighing the choice and resurrected covertly.


    But nothing has gone smoothly as planned since his resurrection, in addition, there''s a ridiculous rumour about Dark Lord''s destinated nemesis Harry Potter and his brave and wise companions (the Ministry of Magic''s recent propaganda slogan), along with an Ancient Rune Professor spreading around. While he inwardly tried to deny his destiny of downfall, he couldn''t help but half-heartedly believe it.


    Especially since he had heard a prophecy about his fate, no, half of it. He looked back at Snape, his red eyes concentrated to the point of dripping blood colour, his expression looking both lofty and seemingly impatient.


    "That prophecy, repeat the prophecy you heard."


    "Without changing a word?"


    "Without changing a word."


    Snape mumbled, his voice did not sound like his own, he seemed to have once again returned to the 1980 rundown tavern, and his lips could not help but tremble. He said in a hoarse voice: "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... ..."


    The dimly lit room regained its silence. After an unknown period of time, Snape said dryly, "My Lord, that''s all I heard, and then I got found and thrown out by the barman of the Hog''s Head Inn."


    Voldemort did not respond, seemed to be in deep thought.


    What does the full prophecy sound like? Is there ... any mention of Felix Hap? Or ... the end of himself?


    " My lord--?" Snape raised his volume, his tone still sounded without any trace of emotions.


    "You can leave now, continue to collect information for me." Voldemort paused slightly and said, "If you got a chance, obtain the whereabouts of Amelia Bones, she already poses a threat."


    "But master, I have no informants within the Ministry of Magic--"


    "Use that Sirius Black, haven''t you gotten close to them recently?"


    Snape bowed his head, his dark eyes twinkled, "As you wish - My Lord." He said in conclusion.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 583+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 509: Mentoring

    Black''s old mansion. Penelope introduced the ''Future World'' company''s defense arrangement to Harry and the group in the living room.


    "Because we have to do business, the sword castle can not be hidden with a spell-like here, its protection is closer to Hogwarts, and when the Thief''s Downfall and Anti-Spell series research is done it will become much better. In addition, every employee in the company should possess the most basic self-protection ability, and Professor Hap selected the Stunning spell and Shield Charm for that purpose."


    "No Disarming Charm?" Harry muttered with some regret.


    "Maybe he thought it would be safer to knock out." Penelope herself is not very certain about that, "There are also some other valuable spells - such as bright fire-making spell, apparition, disillusionment charm, runic shield charm, and other charms, but not everyone can grasp these advanced content easily, so it will take some time to fully spread."


    Then, Penelope proposed to play a dueling game.


    They went to the training room in the second basement, which is a little more spacious than the fifth floor one, and they don''t have to worry about making noise.


    "Who will come first?" Penelope stood confidently in the center of the room.


    "Sounds like you''re planning to fight with all of us on a turn." Fred said, rubbing his nose and sounding a little disinterested.


    "It''s mentoring." Penelope corrected seriously, "I''ve learned every one of those spells that I mentioned."


    "I see a bit of Percy in her," Harry heard Ron muttering to Neville, "I should have thought of that, why can she stand that workaholic Percy? Because they''re the same type of person."


    Harry grinned, and out of the corner of his eye he seemed to see Ginny staring at him across the room, and when he looked over, she had tilted her head away. Harry instantly remembered the kiss last night, it should be a kiss, he thought uncertainly. S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Harry - Harry!"


    He snapped back. The rest of the group had retreated to the edge of the black stone wall, and Penelope watched him with eager eyes. He subconsciously gripped his wand tighter.


    "Oh, Harry''s lost in thought, this isn''t good - I''ll be the judge!" Fred first muttered in a whisper and then said with gusto in the next second. "Three - two - one, go!"


    "Proteg--"


    "Bang!"


    A red light hit Penelope on the chest, instantly knocking her off her feet, her whole body fell solidly on the mat, and the wand in her hand slid through a beautiful arc and landed in Harry''s hand.


    Penelope struggled to brace herself from the cushion, with an incredulous expression.


    Harry also was somewhat surprised by his own spell casting speed, which seemed to be a lot faster, but he suspected it might be an illusion.


    "Mate, better restrain yourself," whispered Ron, as he approached him, "or Percy will come charging down to get his revenge on you."


    "I didn''t use my full strength--" Harry explained in a whisper.


    "One more time, I just got ahead of myself." Penelope said unconvincingly.


    "So, round one, Harry wins; round two, ready-" Fred did his duty.


    This time Penelope lasted a lot longer, Harry did not dare to use the disarming charm, but he found an opportunity to use a Jelly-Legs Jinx, and Penelope fell hard and could not get up from the ground.


    The crowd rushed around. Hermione cast the counter curse and then took out the anti-swelling potion - Penelope is now puffy and sore, and everyone held back their laughter.


    "You have fully mastered the Nonverbal spell?" Penelope asked sullenly.


    "It''s improved a lot lately." Harry said with a smile, he is finally sure that it was not an illusion, he originally could only cast a few of his best dueling spells silently, but today his skills are surprisingly good.


    Could it be that Voldemort''s influence caused this again? His heart clouded with gloom.


    "It won''t leave a mark, right?" Fred asked worriedly, "I mean if that woman (mom) finds out -"


    Harry sucked in a cold breath and forgot whatever he had thought before.


    "Don''t worry, I won''t say anything." Penelope shrugged, "I mean, my skills are not as good as yours."


    Harry''s good opinion of Penelope increased greatly.


    Next, Harry and Hermione dueled, hurling spells from the tips of their wands and dashing around the training room. Almost a half-minute passed, and except for the sound of the spell hitting the wall, neither of the two spoke.


    "They know each other so well that sometimes they know what spell the other is going to use by their feelings alone." Ron explained, "But Harry is really in good shape today, you know he can''t beat Hermione in silent spell casting."


    "And you can do what they do?" Fred and George scrutinized Ron.


    "That''s for sure - not even close." Ron said under his breath as he saw their eager expressions.


    "Look, Hermione''s about to use the combination magic, the one Professor Flitwick used, oh, what''s that?" His eyes widened as he looked unexpectedly at the sudden change in the situation on the field.


    Somehow, from Hermione''s beaded pouch, a series of palm-sized chestnut wood pieces flew out. These pieces of chestnut wood flashed red, with scorching runic circuits, and under Hermione''s precise control, it surrounded Harry.


    Harry felt uneasy and instantly cast a runic shield charm with a ''flow'' rune, as an invisible spherical barrier rippled with light green water wrapped around him. He looked up, Hermione stretched her neck to look, and after confirming he is ready, she slashed her wand downward.


    Chestnut pieces exploded around him at the same time, turning into a dazzling ball of fire.


    Harry felt dizzy, the explosion did not hurt him, but the loud noise made him a bit overwhelmed.


    "What kind of magic is this?" When the fire died down, he couldn''t help but ask, "It looks a bit like a runic circuit."


    "You''re right," Hermione said cheerfully, "but it''s an unstable runic circuit that should be avoided at all costs, but if you control it properly--" she made an explosion gesture.


    "Turning a failed runic circuit into an offensive attack?" Harry mulled over the fact that such an approach is not simple or at least requires a great deal of magic manipulation.


    "How did you come up with that?" Ron, who is standing at the side, couldn''t help but ask.


    "Well - haven''t I been reading a lot of materials about runes lately? While reviewing my learning experience of ancient runes, it occurred to me that the professor showed me this in the very first lesson." Hermione said with a smile, her eyes curved into two crescent moons, the success of her new move put her in a very good mood.


    "I think he may have simply been demonstrating an example of a mistake at the time." Ron told the truth in a heartbeat.


    Next was Neville and Ginny''s turn. Neville seemed to have the concept of defensive counterattack tactic burned into his bones and hardly made a single mistake. Ginny tried multiple spells in turn and couldn''t find a single flaw, not to mention that she is not good at dueling in the first place, and only knows how to stand still and release a spell mindlessly. She huffed and puffed and used her best Bat-Bogey Hex, only to be knocked down easily by Neville when he seized the opportunity.


    "Are you okay?" Harry asked.


    Ginny shook her head and stood up on her own.


    "You guys have changed so much," Fred said genuinely, "even I have an itchy hand."


    "When was the last time we had a serious duel?" George asked in a pretentious tone.


    "If you don''t count the time you cast a Hair-Thickening Charm on me yesterday to test the protective cap, I think it was a dueling match during last school year. We got knocked out at the same time, remember?" Fred said with a straight face.


    "The time we beat each other with Dungbombs?" George remembered it too.


    "But it sucked so much when we were fighting, it was like looking in the mirror." Fred said reluctantly, they didn''t really spend much time on dueling, but the mere fact that the two of them fought on a daily basis made them a lot better than the average person.


    "You''re right, it''s better to look for someone else--" George replied, and then the two turned to Ron in unison.


    ...


    Ron was beaten badly.


    "You actually lasted a long time," Harry helped him up off the floor, "but Fred and George were just so well-matched, it was like they could switch minds."


    "I assumed it was two vs. two," Ron said, rubbing his shoulder, "but they turned out to be more shameless than I thought, and hiss~ it''s definitely swollen."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 584+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 510: The Reason Behind the Medal

    They came out of the training room, and as they passed the room where the members of the Order of the Phoenix are holding a meeting, Fred took out his Extendable Ears smoothly and tried them out, "No, they set up Wards-" Back in the living room, Penelope made tea for them.


    "Don''t we need to call Percy down?" Hermione asked.


    "He''s upstairs catching up on his report." Penelope said.


    "That sounds a bit familiar." Ron said, scratching his chin.


    "Wouldn''t it sound a lot smoother if it was replaced with ''He''s upstairs catching up on his papers''? We''ve been hearing that for seven whole years." Fred said a little sadly, "I told you I always felt like something was missing this month, now I finally know what it is."


    Neville gasped and laughed, "Sorry, I couldn''t hold it in."


    At that moment, Penelope used her wand to guide the teapot and teacups to fly to the table.


    "You guys don''t know, the head of his department has not been decided, so he''s giving his all."


    " Is he that confident? Is that possible?" Harry asked in surprise, he actually wanted to use the word ''ambitious'', but it didn''t sound nice - Percy''s department is the Department of International Magical Co-operation, which was previously headed by Barty Crouch Sr.; After Crouch was imprisoned in Azkaban, the position remained vacant, and It was occupied by former Minister Fudge on a part-time basis.


    " It is almost as probable as him suddenly getting the Order of Merlin." Penelope joked, "but he''s keeping his hopes up."


    "It''s not that hard, right?" Ron stated half-heartedly, "As long as you get hit with one of the You-Know-Who''s Cruciatus Curse."


    Penelope looked at him with a chiding look.


    "Why do you think you got the medal for? Just because of the Cruciatus Curse?"


    "Uh-"


    "To set an example?" Harry remembered what Ms. Bones had said to them.


    "The Order of Merlin isn''t that cheap." Penelope said.


    Harry looked a little unconvinced, if someone like Lockhart could get the Order of Merlin, what couldn''t happen?


    "Is it because we''re still alive?"


    "Just being alive is enough," Penelope affirmed. Harry looked at her in disbelief, and she said quite sensibly, "You''ve disrupted the You-Know-Who'' plan, and he shouldn''t have thought of having three witnesses - oh, sorry, four."


    She tapped her wand on the teapot, which immediately emitted a stream of white steam, followed by a tiny flow of liquid from the teapot, which formed a delicate amber swirl at the center of the cup, "Not bad, is it? I learned it from my mom during the holiday."


    "What? Uh, yeah," Harry said, still dwelling on what she had just said. "But why?"


    "At first glance, you didn''t listen to what Ms. Bones had said." Hermione pointed out the truth in a very unpleasant way.


    "Did she make any remarkable speeches other than dragging out the time for the press to take pictures?" Ron asked.


    "Of course," Hermione straightened up and cleared her throat, which almost foreshadowed the long speech she is about to make, and sure enough, she began to imitate Ms. Bones'' way of speaking- S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "During the past month - oh, addressing all wizard names - I will continue, there hasn''t been much sad news, no one has died strangely, and no dark mark has hung over your neighbourhood. In fact, all the unrest is brought on by the Ministry of Magic''s latest measure. The Ministry of Magic has had to separate a team to deal with all sorts of snarky questions and howlers, It''s because there are still many people who choose to remain skeptical and dismiss the bad news about the return of You-Know-Who ..."


    "... With today''s opportunity, the Ministry of Magic, in conjunction with Wizengamot and the Dark Force Defence League, solemnly announces that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has truly returned, and is hiding in the darkness, lurking among the crowds, gathering Death Eaters where we cannot see and amassing those pawns who once supported him. If we remain ignorant, the contribution made by the four men sitting on the stage today awaiting their recognition will be greatly diminished, and the time they have bought for us will be wasted, while dealing a great blow to the Ministry of Magic employees, Aurors, Hit-Wizards and pioneers of all walks of life who acted in the first place ... "


    "... We must fortify our confidence and courage - before the enemy reveals his face - because the tougher days are yet to come. Fortunately, we already have role models who have shown resilience when plunged into darkness, showing us that there is no need to fear and tremble, and have managed to come out with all their wounds to give an early warning of war."


    "I hope we can remain positive and optimistic. Despite the foggy road ahead, I would like to think about the joy of victory. When the time comes to look back on this history, people will find that the seeds of victory have long been planted ..."


    Hermione finished. "This is followed by an introduction to the existing wartime policies of the Ministry of Magic."


    The people in the room looked at her without blinking their eyes.


    "You memorized the entire speech of the minister?" Ron asked, staring as if he is looking at some strange creature, like a Blast-Ended Skrewt that has suddenly entered the kitchen.


    "There is a full transcript of the speech in the paper, I read it a few times, and if you get up early enough and bother to help in the kitchen you will find it playing over and over on the wireless." Hermione said to them.


    "So you memorized it anyway." Ron said insistently.


    Penelope''s eyes glowed as she looked at Hermione: "I should have met you earlier - we have a lot in common. How about joining ''Future World'' after graduation?" She could not resist recruiting a talent.


    "Hey, we''ve been eyeing Hermione for a long time, ready to invite her to join the ''Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes''." Fred pretended to complain.


    Harry choked on a mouthful of water, he just couldn''t imagine the image of Hermione relating with prank items.


    "You guys thinking about poaching someone so early?" Ron asked, bewildered.


    Fred and George sighed in unison.


    "First things first, don''t you see Penelope doing the same thing?"


    "That doesn''t have to be so early, since you haven''t even graduated yourselves-" Harry said, only to see the twins look at each other knowingly, and a bold thought came to his mind, as he lost his voice: "You''re not planning to drop out, are you? "


    "How come?"


    "You''re thinking too much-"


    Both of them said in unison.


    "You guys can''t even fool Valen with that, right, Valen?" Ron said, and Valen heard someone calling her and looked up from the couch - she is holding a tiny fishing rod with a ball of wool tied around the hook and playing a game with Crookshanks, who is lying on the carpet.


    "You''ve gotten smart, my dear brother-" Fred said sombrely.


    "But not clever enough yet." George followed.


    "So you guys are really planning to drop out?" Harry said, as an inner voice cried out that Mrs. Weasley would never approve, even if she had to tape them both up and glue them in the luggage compartment of the Hogwarts Express, she would do it without a trace of hesitation.


    "Shh, keep your voice down." Fred said in a panic. " Look, we''re not planning to drop out, we''re just going to make our mark early."


    "Actually, there is a better option, with the help of the ''Future World'' company''s stores." George said glumly, "But it was rejected by Remus."


    "But why-"


    "Different philosophy," Fred spread his hands and mouthed an ''old-fashioned'' word, "we thought that people''s mood would continue to be low in the following period, and this is definitely the time when they will require some fun, and prank items will become popular in the market."


    George nodded his head, "It''s our turn to shine."


    "We are going to open a store, not in Diagon Alley, but in Hogsmeade." Fred stated their plan.


    "So we''re not thinking about dropping out at all, otherwise Mom will hang us up and beat us." George muttered, "Or drown us in the sink and act like we never existed."


    "Awesome," Ron said, "What products do you guys prepared?"


    "Lots." Fred and George grinned, "But not counting the Communicating Mirror and the Anti-Spell series, those two will stay in the ''future world'' and will be returned to us when the war is over."


    "Security-wise -"


    "We chose to be a neighbour of Future World." George winked at the questioning Neville.


    "What about the shopkeepers?"


    "Hire someone first, we''ll inspect Hogsmeade when it''s open, and use the owl to contact it during the week. Too bad, all the secret passages to the outside world in the school are blocked." Fred smacked his lips and said, "But since we only have one year left ... it''s still bearable."


    "I''ll probably be in the Ministry of Magic after I graduate." Hermione said, "But I don''t want to give up my study of ancient runes either." She said with some headache.


    "You want to become an Auror too?" Fred asked in surprise, looking over at Harry and Ron.


    "Hermione wants to be Minister of Magic." Harry said without thinking.


    Hermione glared at him but didn''t retort.


    "I just think someone has to do something." She said calmly.


    Fred and George gave a thumbs up.


    At that moment, there is movement in the foyer and Fred glances downstairs, "The meeting is over." He turned back to say.


    So when Felix, Sirius, and the group came into the living room, they saw a group of people quietly drinking tea in a poised way. "I thought you guys would be eavesdropping and opened the door several times in the middle." Tonks smiled and sat down between them.


    "I''ll talk to Amelia tomorrow." Sirius said to Felix, referring to the whole Bode thing.


    "Take this amulet to him for me." Felix took a pendant that looked like a snail shell out of his ring and handed it to Sirius.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 584+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 511: An Increasingly Urgent Destiny (2 in 1)

    "Children, it''s getting late, so head to your beds early." Mrs. Weasley stood in the middle of the living room and commanded the kids. "Aunt Molly," Neville asked in a small voice, "when my mom and dad will return?"


    "Don''t worry, they''re on the night shift, so they might have stayed out at the safe house near them to rest since it''s getting late." Mrs. Weasley''s tone immediately softened.


    Neville nodded silently and followed Harry and the rest of them upstairs.


    ...


    The bright moon cast a silvery glow over the deep, dense trees and shrubs, casting a large, eerie shadow on the ground that stretched over the tall, well-kept hedge walls. A very decent mansion loomed in the darkness, it is Malfoy Manor.


    A rustling sound reverberated in the air -


    "It''s the peacock that Malfoys keeps."


    A deep, steady voice said. He glanced around alertly from the shadows and immediately spotted the source of the sound, a white peacock walking gracefully on top of a hedge.


    The male wizard stared at the peacock for a moment and lowered his guard to speak in a low voice to his wife.


    "We''ve been watching for several days now, and my gut tells me we can gain something today."


    Alice looked at a narrow passage recessed inside in the center of the hedge, at the end of which are two imposing wrought-iron gates. A wispy mist permeated from the forest and spread throughout the area pleasingly, but when it got combined with the cool night breeze, it became less pleasing.


    "I wonder what our baby boy is doing now?" She asked softly.


    "Should be sleeping at this time." Frank said softly while holding Alice''s somewhat cold hand.


    At that moment, the air twisted up and with a soft thud, two figures abruptly appeared. One of them is cloaked in a long black cloak, and wearing a hood, which covered his whole face, looking overly cautious; the other is totally opposite to him - the slender witch is also wearing a hood, but as soon as she appeared, she impatiently took it off, and casually tossed her curly hair, and surveyed the surroundings.


    "Put the hood back on." The man yelled down at his companion.


    Bellatrix grunted, "Since when have you gotten so timid, Lucius? This is your doorstep."


    "Of course, It is okay to be seen if I am alone, and I won''t be this cautious." Lucius said, suppressing his irritation within, "but if someone finds me hanging out with a fugitive who escaped from Azkaban, then I am-"


    He suddenly stopped talking.


    Bellatrix held her wand in her hand and pointed at him with a sneer.


    " I wish I could show Narcissa how you were cowed at the meeting in front of our lord." She scoffed, "Don''t worry, I''ll only stay at your place for a few days, then I''ll go deal and deal with those stinky giants, or - are you averse of being in our Lord''s side, and planning to join a different camp?"


    "You were given orders to support the Carrow siblings, while I was ordered to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic." Lucius said with impatient, "So don''t tell me to do this or that, because I''m not going to go crazy like you guys--"


    Bellatrix strides towards the wrought iron gate, her loose cloak trailed on the ground. A green light flashed briefly, and the white peacock that had just been strutting around the hedge had plunged down, losing its breath of life.


    "Noisy thing." She said disdainfully.


    "Bellatrix!" Lucius shouted shrilly.


    But her figure had disappeared straight through the wrought-iron gate, as if the gate did not exist at all. Lucius stopped where he was, gasping for breath. After a long time, he strode in, and silence once again returned to the surroundings.


    Frank looked worriedly at his wife, her fists clenched tightly, her teeth clenched and creaked. " That devil ... she took away twelve years of our best time...," Alice whimpered, leaning on her husband''s shoulder.


    "Alice, let her have her fun for a little while longer, I promise you, she and her helpers will pay for that." Frank said in an icy tone as he wrapped his arms around his wife and stared at the shaded wrought iron gate.


    ...


    The next morning, Harry watched as Sirius hurriedly ate his breakfast and prepared to go to work with Mr. Weasley, Bill, Percy, and Penelope, so he held back what he wanted to ask.


    It seemed like it made perfect sense that the scar on his head had suddenly become amiable after torturing him for several years - but even if Harry thought on his knees, he knew that Voldemort wouldn''t be charitable enough to pass on knowledge to him through the scar.


    A barely somewhat convincing reason is that Voldemort did not know about it, everything was done passively.


    But why didn''t this happen before? Or rather, when did it start to happen?


    Harry recalled that sudden kiss and his face became beet red. After a few seconds, he shook his head hard to get rid of the jumbled thoughts out of his head. Going back to the topic, it was when he ''saw'' the Voldemort illusion in the Ministry of Magic.


    "Molly, Alastor might be coming over later, he was on the night shift last night." Mr. Weasley warned.


    "Got it, I''ll cook extra and save him some meal." Mrs. Weasley said.


    Pretty soon, they were all left in a line, even Fred and George left.


    "Uh- Professor, aren''t you going to the company?" Harry looked at Felix.


    " Well, I''ll stay behind," Felix said, "The company''s focused on Thief''s Downfall right now, and I finished sorting out the principles involved in it for them just yesterday. Why, is something wrong?"


    Harry nodded hesitantly.


    He actually preferred to ask Sirius for advice, but now it occurred to him that the professor would be a more suitable candidate. The professor knew he had been suffering due to the scar and had taught him Occlumency for it, and now since the symptoms of the scar had changed, maybe it might be within the professor''s expectations? Moreover, he could take this opportunity to ask about the Killing Curse, the professor is quite skilful when it comes to that magic ...


    Felix made a simple bed in the study on the third floor, and when Harry walked in, before he could see it, Felix had reached out and shrunk the travelling bed to the size of a matchbox and stuffed it into the ring.


    The Black family study serves the dual purpose - study and entertaining distinguished guests. Therefore, in addition to the long desk and three shelves filled with a collection of books, there is also a small sofa and wooden coffee table placed in the corner of the study. The solid wood coffee table had a flaxen edge that seemed to have been remodelled from a giant tree burl.


    "These are magical creatures?" Harry looked with great interest at several dynamic sketches on the coffee table, with various creature shapes outlined in dark green ink, in which many of them he could name.


    "Yeah." Felix didn''t elaborate. The drawing papers automatically grouped together and flew into his ring.


    Harry guessed, that perhaps these are the materials that the professor is prepared for a comic book about magical creatures, but it seemed unlikely because of the recent tension; though he never could have guessed that Felix is trying to structure every magical creature''s magic talent to study how to combine and use them.


    This is considered one of Felix''s gains after reflecting on his battle with Voldemort.


    In that battle, he did not personally transform into an Occamy, mainly because he felt it was too dangerous, as even the magical creatures don''t have a slight edge against Voldemort''s killing curse, but later he keenly realized that there are tremendous treasures hidden in them.


    Because Felix suddenly found that Voldemort does not seem to understand his and Dumbledore''s state of transformation, at least Voldemort described this realm using the words "transformation of the body" - which is clearly the path of Salazar Slytherin.


    Felix thus judged that although Voldemort''s body may have undergone multiple transformations and alterations to make him more adaptable to dark magic, and his unique killing curse likely derived from it - but Voldemort should not be able to transform into a magical creature, because his transformation is artificial.


    If he planned cleverly enough, this flaw in knowledge might become Voldemort''s death trigger.


    ...


    "Professor, when did you learn the Killing Curse?" Harry decided to start with a small question, but Professor Hap was too perceptive and just glanced at him and said half-jokingly, "What, you want to learn this curse too? You certainly gained a lot of nerve."


    "It''s not that I want to learn it, I - uh - I suddenly know it." Harry stammered for a while, but eventually, he confessed.


    Felix looked at him with an odd expression, is it because Harry has seen him use the killing curse a few times, that he''s trying to learn it? He felt very bad, he is not teaching children bad things, right? But when Harry described his experience in the past two days, Felix''s expression became solemn.


    This is way more serious than what he had expected it might have been - that Harry is desperate for revenge and had tried to learn the Unforgivable Curse in private.


    "Come with me." He said in a deep voice.


    He led Harry to the mini-training room on the fifth floor.


    "Use the Killing Curse for a look."


    Harry did so, and a green light flew from the tip of his wand. Both men frowned at the same time.


    Harry felt that the curse he had cast today was much less powerful. Felix, on the other hand, saw a hint of familiarity in the way he had casted the curse, which implied that what Harry had said before was true.


    And he knew more things, such as Harry''s body hiding a piece of Voldemort''s soul, so where did Harry''s knowledge come from, was it personally from Voldemort, or ... from that piece of soul fragment? S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You heard some strange noise in your head when you got up the other night, right?" Felix asked for confirmation.


    "Yes, but it was soon gone." Harry replied nervously.


    Felix went silent and watched Harry intently through his magical perspective, in which he had managed to spy a hint of evil magic when Harry''s mind''s defences were at their weakest - and that was back in the last school year - but now he hesitated to try his hand in it.


    If his suspicions are right - Harry had inadvertently stimulated the sleeping soul fragment in his mind, and his stimulation may lead to extremely serious consequences if this goes on.


    "Tell you what," Felix said after a moment''s consideration, " Try the other two curses - the Cruciatus Curse and the Imperius Curse - and cast them on me." Looking at Harry''s stunned expression, he chuckled, "I can handle these two curses, so don''t worry about hurting me."


    Harry waved his wand apprehensively, with both the expectation that the curse would succeed and the hope that it would not. In his angsty mood, he justifiably failed, and Harry looked back at the professor-


    "Go on." Felix said calmly.


    Harry stiffly recited the curse, and even when an hour had passed, he hadn''t succeeded once.


    "You''ll have to muster some resolve and intent to do that."


    "Reciting the Unforgivable Curse against your face, Professor? I can''t do that-" Harry muttered in a small voice.


    He then ''saw'' Voldemort standing in front of him, with his scarlet eyes fixed on him, which startled him.


    "Go on." ''Voldemort'' said.


    This time Harry quickly found his form, despite the fact that he didn''t know anything more than the incantation, despite the fact that no one had taught him, and despite the fact that ... Nevermind what matter is he was managed to cast it. Harry looked both bewildered and shocked that he seemed to have mastered all three Unforgivable Curses all at once.


    How did this even happen?


    On the other hand, Felix fell into deep thought.


    "Professor?" Harry questioned uneasily...


    "It''s quite likely..." Felix mumbled something, before addressing him "You don''t have to worry too much, from your description the Occlumency is still effective, so you should not stop training in this field ... I will tell Dumbledore about your situation, maybe he can discern something."


    Dumbledore''s response is quicker than he expected, almost as soon as he received the message, he appeared immediately.


    He questioned Harry in detail about his emotions, and finally asked for Harry''s two memories - the ''sighting'' of Voldemort in the halls of the Ministry of Magic, and the memory of his first ever casting of the Killing Curse.


    Then Harry was dismissed from there, and only two of them remained in the mini training room on the fifth floor.


    "Albus, do you think it-" Felix spoke hesitantly.


    "I''m not sure," Dumbledore shook his head, "maybe it''s just a pure coincidence; I can come up with more than one plausible explanation, such as the Potter family heritage is ancient and Harry may have inherited the gift; or maybe Voldemort did transfer some of his knowledge and experience to Harry back then, which resulted in his change now ..."


    "But," then he said with a grave face, " It could also be the influence of the Horcrux itself. We have previously overlooked the question, that is, Voldemort resurrected with the assistance of the power of which Horcruxes?"


    With the assistance of which Horcruxes? Naturally ... Huh?


    Felix pondered the meaning of these words.


    Theoretically, the wizard would only require one Horcrux, which could serve as an anchor point to the real world after the wizard''s death, allowing the wizard''s soul to reside on earth. However, Voldemort''s insanity made him create multiple Horcruxes, which raises a question: which Horcrux truly played its role when he died.


    You know, Harry himself is also a Horcrux, so he also has the role of assisting Voldemort, to keep his soul from disappearing.


    Of course, Harry is not considered as perfect Horcruxes, or rather, not intentionally made by Voldemort to be one. The possibility of using Harry to keep Voldemort''s soul from disappearing is not non-existent, but it is also minuscule, compared to the other perfect Horcruxes he has out there.


    But the problem is, long before Voldemort''s resurrection, his Horcruxes were destroyed one by one.


    The diary being the first.


    The diadem was the next, followed by the locket, and the big snake that followed Voldemort around, making a total of four Horcruxes before and after. Wait a minute -


    "The locket was destroyed?" Felix asked for confirmation.


    When he passed the Slytherin locket to Dumbledore, the locket was perfectly intact back then.


    "I have saved it for later, originally I was planning to analyse that Horcrux -" Dumbledore gently shook his head, "though I found another Horcrux, a ring passed down through the generations in Voldemort''s mother''s line. Voldemort enchanted it with a vicious curse, and I nearly fell victim to it, but thanks to the warning issued by your amulet ..."


    "So." Felix nodded, that is still four items, only the order of destruction changed to the diary, the diadem, the big snake, and the ring. And Dumbledore is still in possession of an intact Horcrux locket in his hand.


    That''s five, counting Harry, that''s six ...


    "If Voldemort wants to retain even an ounce of sanity, the most he can do is split his soul into nine pieces -"


    "Personally, I''m leaning towards the number ''seven''," Dumbledore nodded slightly, "I''ve got a bit of a clue, although I don''t have the hard evidence yet."


    "Do you need help?" Felix asked.


    "Ah, I can handle it, with Harry helping me ... If the persuasive team becomes too much, it might scare my old friend away." Dumbledore said in a jovial tone.


    Felix continued to contemplate.


    If the first functioning Horcrux previously was the diary, then when the diary was destroyed, a new Horcrux would certainly begin to work, such as the diadem. And when the diadem was destroyed, it was that snake and the ring''s turn, and now it possibly transferred to the locket or another unknown Horcrux.


    But the above is the ideal situation.


    What if, at some stage during the middle, Harry the ''Semi-Horcrux'' got involved? There must be a connection between the split soul and the main soul, so when would this connection become strongest?


    Of course, it is when the Horcrux that maintains the main soul starts to function.


    This also explains the increasing frequency of scar pain before Harry learned the Occlumency. Because he, the Horcrux, began to function!


    "Albus, do you think - the piece of soul fragment in Harry''s body will ''recover'' again?" This is Felix''s biggest concern.


    "Unlikely," Dumbledore shook his head, "the role of the Horcrux will always remain to revive the main soul, not to mention that a fragment can not do much ... But no one knows the consequences of turning a living person into a Horcrux, not even Voldemort himself is likely to know."


    " The Horcrux has extremely strong characteristics by itself - like its indestructibility, but those characteristics are not reflected in Harry, all this indicates that the living Horcrux is unique." Dumbledore went silent for a moment, "I''m worried that Harry is ''digesting'' the Horcrux, or rather - fusing with the fragment of Voldemort''s soul."


    Felix looked up in shock, but he had to admit this possibility exists, and he began to think of a countermeasure.


    "Occlumency can provide assistance for this problem."


    "That''s right." Dumbledore nodded gently.


    "And the other thing is," Felix''s blue eyes began to twinkle, "we can''t afford to wait ten years - No, Harry can''t afford to wait that long, Voldemort must be solved within a year or two - For this problem. The sooner we can deal with it, the better Harry will be!"


    " Which is precisely the most difficult thing to do." Dumbledore said quietly.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 585+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 512: Dilemma of the Rune Society and Prophecy

    Felix exchanged some more information and views with Dumbledore, apart from the last two days things that have developed relatively clustered, other times Professor McGonagall or Mrs. Weasley will organize the information of every Order of the Phoenix meeting and give it to Dumbledore. So even if Dumbledore does not often come, he knows everything here, so he can deal with other business without worry. In his words, " when you are talking to a troll, you always need to be patient."


    "You also know troll language?" Felix showed an odd expression, " So what is the meaning of this phrase?" He let out a syllable that sounded like a huff and a puff.


    Dumbledore gave him a reproachful look.


    "Well, I suppose, it wasn''t anything good, as I suspected." Felix said, whispering a few words in his own defense: "All the troll words sound like curses, and I don''t really understand them - so I wasn''t at fault for beating up those mountain trolls back then?"


    "Felix, I''d personally suggest that it is best if you don''t discuss this topic with Norwegian wizards, they''re quite fond of simple-minded creatures like trolls, I guess maybe because they have a rough and wild aesthetic?" Dumbledore said uncertainly, "They even chose the troll as the mascot for the Quidditch national team. Geez, what are they going to do with tons of boogers, that''s the real challenge ..."


    The whole Bode thing got his attention, though. "I''ll keep an eye on it, it would be best to find a chance to talk to Amelia." Dumbledore said with a slight nod and a smile on his face, "It''s become easier to deal with the minister without having to worry about the other side''s fragile ego ... Well, it''s actually a bit mean to say this, but I think Cornelius''s current position is clearly a better fit for him."


    "Yeah, we''re exhausting ourselves while he''s eating and drinking in various European countries." Felix said, "Hopefully he won''t be fat when he comes back, that would cause public outrage."


    ...


    Conversations with Dumbledore are always interesting. If Harry''s safety wasn''t at stake, he would have gladly exchanged a few more words with the old man about the strength of Voldemort, but it is clearly evident that Dumbledore is indeed very busy and eventually left in a hurry.


    Felix came to the headquarters of the Future World Company with a belly full of thoughts.


    Regarding the soul fragments in Harry''s body, he and Dumbledore temporarily did not have any good solutions, so they can only put their thoughts on Voldemort, the reason is that he is too active, no, is rekindled. As a living person, he is more emotionally charged than the residual soul period, especially due to recent frustration, he can''t sleep at night and unfortunately, Harry, as a Semi-Horcrux, became a full-sized emotion receiver, and from time to time he was affected by Voldemort''s emotional titillation.


    This ''titillation'' will in turn stimulate the unstable soul fragments, like carrying Pandora''s box, who knows what will happen after opening, the Occlumency at best can delay the impact, but the time bomb is still there. If Voldemort discovered it, he certainly will pay enough price to detonate the bomb.


    Felix pondered in his heart while walking up the stairs that circled up.


    Because it is a special period, the Sword Castle''s Hall is temporarily closed to the public, each employee has a special amulet in their hands, as a means of identification. But this method is only temporary, the real useful one is still the thief''s downfall that is being studied.


    In fact, there is another method -


    Is a periodic scan with thinking room magic. But on the one hand, the reality of the situation does not allow it, as it is impossible for Felix to be permanently stationed in the company, on the other hand, wizards in general still have scruples and prejudices against memory magic, so Felix does not want to cause internal instability, especially when Voldemort is snooping around.


    So he chose to use it occasionally, secretly, without telling anyone.


    Using the opportunity when he talks about the problem and demonstrates the magic, the Thinking Room magic will be used and retracted within seconds, after making sure everything is okay in general. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Maybe creating a runic artefact will help? It will also look cool to guard the door with a golem, right?"


    But Felix finally gave up the idea, Golems at best can be used as one of the means of defense of the sword castle and if other functions are given, it will require some degree of care. Besides, the situation isn''t critical to that point, he could wait for a while longer for the thief''s downfall framework to be finalized.


    "Professor Hep!"


    When Felix arrived on the fifth floor, Clammy is standing outside his office waiting in anticipation.


    "What''s going on?" He ducked when he saw Clammy running over to him and trying to reach out to pull him.


    " Oops, actually," she said with embarrassment, "it''s my grandfather ..."


    That stubborn old man? Felix''s mind whirled with the notion of whether he had promised him something or not.


    "... He asked me to ask you when you''re free to come to the Ancient Rune Society," Clammy whispered, "and he said you knew what it is about."


    "There is such a thing," said Felix thoughtfully, "but certainly can''t make a trip recently, I first have to keep an eye on the progress of the thief''s downfall, and by the way, strengthen the defense system of the sword castle ... Let''s do this, you can tell Mr. Vera that I will be there before the beginning of this school year."


    "That''s fine." Clammy breathed a noticeable sigh of relief.


    "Mr. Vera is free these days?" He asked casually.


    "He is," Clammy said with a slightly odd look in her eyes as she pushed the large thick glasses on the bridge of her nose, "originally quite free, but after taking over the position of president half a month ago, he started to get busy- "


    "He became the president of the ancient rune society now?" Felix asked with some surprise.


    "That''s right, grandfather is sighing a lot lately, I guess the Ancient Rune Society will soon be out of business." Clammy said very unsympathetically, she looked around for a moment, and came over to whisper: "Professor, I suggest recruiting them all!"


    Felix cleared his throat.


    "What makes you think so, I don''t suppose Mr. Vera would let that happen?"


    " Well," Clammy said, with disinterest, "I''ve overheard a few times that a lot of people have left the Society recently, for various reasons, ranging from the Ministry of Magic issuing war warnings, to the new type of runes that are gaining popularity... ... Everyone says the professor has ushered a new era of runes."


    "Uh, there''s no need for such an overkill."


    "- if grandfather hadn''t implied that he would ''absorb'' the essence of the new runes, even more people would have left." Clammy spoke with conviction, revealing the dilemma of the Ancient Rune Society without any psychological burden, "He actually just can''t let his pride down, so Professor, as long as you make a trip, he will definitely compromise in no time."


    Finally, Felix promised that he would definitely go over there in the near future, and although the people of the Ancient Rune Society are mainly specialized in translational runes, there is at least some foundation and the possibility of cooperation. Also, they only have a few years to adapt, because, in a few years, there will be enough graduates from Hogwarts to make the Ancient Rune Society completely irrelevant.


    On the other side, St. Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.


    Sirius and Ms. Bones had just come out of the ward of the Spell Injury Unit, " Was it Mr. Hap who asked you to pass on that amulet?" Ms. Bones asked.


    "Yes, why?" Sirius asked.


    "Nothing, just thought the First Class Order of Merlin is worth every Knut it was given." Ms. Bones said with a smile.


    "Felix thinks the reason for Bode''s injury might have something to do with Voldemort - who tried to use Bode''s position to obtain something from the Department of Mysteries, and although it''s failed now, Felix is worried that Voldemort will silence him." Sirius explained.


    "That''s why I left two Hit-Wizards behind, and I can pretty much guess what Voldemort wanted." Ms. Bones said, and then her expression turned serious, "Sirius, make an appointment with Headmaster Dumbledore for me, I want to discuss a prophecy with him ... no, two."


    ------------


    #Jake V and #Hidan Flo, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 586+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 513: Magic Photo

    Old Blake Mansion, dining room. "Alastor," Mrs. Weasley said, emerging from the kitchen downstairs with a vegetable salad and a plate of chicken legs, "I made it with the leftovers, the vegetable soup is not as fresh as it was last night."


    "It''s good enough." Moody said calmly, the blue magic eyes stared at the salad for a moment before he took a big bite. "Oh, by the way," he looked over at Neville, "Frank and Alice will be back about noon, and they passed me a piece of information that''s valuable."


    Neville nodded, his eyes brightened.


    "What is the information?" Harry couldn''t resist asking.


    "I can''t reveal any more than that, in case you guys get caught by the Death Eaters and forced to confess, it will be all over--" Moody said gruffly, staring at a chicken leg while bringing it to his nose and sniffing it, "Thanks, Molly. " Then he tore it fiercely.


    Harry wasn''t sure which looked more wretched - his mangled nose, or the chicken leg that had been bitten. Or Moody''s imagination of them being caught and tortured by Death Eaters?


    "Don''t think I''m joking, a lot of people think they can hold up and be firm, but all it takes is one Cruciatus Curse--" Moody said with a grimace, gesturing toward them as the young wizards at the table leaned back in unison.


    Mrs. Weasley looked at him with a reproachful gaze.


    Moody had already picked up a second chicken leg. "Molly, they can take it, I''ve heard they train a lot, it can''t be just to show off in dueling class, is it? I''m just introducing them to the more realistic world ... You all want to be Aurors, right?" His one normal eye looked at the crowd.


    Harry, Ron, and Neville nodded, Hermione hesitantly nodded as well, and unexpectedly, Ginny did the same.


    Mrs. Weasley looked shocked.


    "Ginny, you''re only in your third year! It''s too early to think about that."


    "It''s not too early, I''ll be in fourth grade when school starts."


    "I said it''s early! You''re a girl, and I will never allow-" Mrs. Weasley said angrily.


    The dining room became very lively in the next few minutes as Ginny made a loud noise arguing with Mrs. Weasley, her hair flopping around like an angry, cranky cat, and Crookshanks, who had been lying at her feet, returned to his master''s side, his flat, hairy face staring at the two sources of noise.


    "We''re going to head upstairs." Hermione shot a wink at Harry and the group, wanting to escape the fray, but Ginny left before them, stomping up the stairs with a "thud" and Mrs. Weasley chased after her, looking like she wanted to convince her to change her mind by one way or another.


    "So we''re, uh - going to the training room?" Hermione stood still and looked at her companion with uncertainty, she didn''t really want to train yet, she simply wanted to get away from Professor Moody''s darting magical eyes.


    The others shared a similar feeling, and they stood up nimbly.


    "Are you all right, Potter?" Moody gruffly asked.


    "I''m fine." Harry did not say the truth, he hesitated to reveal to Ron and the rest of the group that he had mastered the three unforgivable curses, and on the other hand, he began to worry about what Dumbledore would think when he saw his memories, his mind jumbled up and down.


    He suddenly got a bright idea.


    "Professor Moody, I have a question," Harry said, then noticed Moody''s gaze moved over to him, " Aurors were once approved to use the Unforgivable Curses ... did the situation really get that bad? And won''t the curse affect you guys?"


    " Oh, you mean that." Moody muttered, taking out the flask from his waist and taking a sip, "That was something that happened at the later part of the war, when it was really tough, mainly because the Death Eaters were gaining more and more subordinate to fight, or rather, more and more people were forced to join ..."


    "The real Death Eaters are elite and can meet the You-Know-Who directly, but there are quite a few - such as werewolves - who do not have a high status in the Dark Lord''s ranks, but in any case, the war has been fought for almost ten years, people''s hearts more or less destroyed, Barty ... he was definitely a tough guy, many people can keep holding on just because of him ... he suggested to the new Minister Bagnold back then to allow Aurors some privileges, such as the ability to use Unforgivable Curses against Death Eaters, and some other miscellaneous things, all in order to let Aurors be liberated ... and Bagnold agreed, very bold witch, way better than the last one for me."


    " But, is this really necessary?" Harry asked eagerly, "I mean, a disarming charm or a stunning spell are enough to subdue the enemy, no?" S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Moody stared at him for a moment and laughed jarringly. His face became even grimmer.


    " To put it bluntly, a disarming charm can also be used to kill someone, if you use it with an intent to Srew their head or other body parts off their body - you just need to believe, if they have their head they''ll harm you," Moody said gently and gruesomely, "only back in 1717, all three of these curses were classified as unforgivable curses, with harsh penalties attached to their use, and after few years people rarely heard about it. Of course, they have not disappeared by any means, as they have been kept alive by dark wizards. ..."


    "It was You-Know-Who that brought them back to the public eye. The Death Eater and his vassals used those curses blatantly, together with the overwhelming publicity in the newspapers, the curses become well-known, and Barty wanted to change the situation, he thought - The curses are necessary to restore the confidence of the public, and the Killing Curse is certainly more deterrent than the Disarming Charm."


    "Then you--" Harry stuck, he did not know how to ask further.


    "You want to know if I''ve ever killed anyone with a Killing Curse? Or what it feels like when you kill someone?" Moody asked quietly.


    Harry stammered, and the others remained silent.


    "Of course, I''ve done it, cursed a lot of people to death with the Killing Curse, I remember it well, that''s how that Death Eater named Evan Rosier died ..." Moody showed a sick grin, "but I tried to catch people alive whenever I could manage, because of it Azkaban filled with quite a lot of acquaintances of mine, but unfortunately a group ran away a month ago." He muttered a small voice, which sounded like a curse.


    Or maybe Harry heard it wrong, it could be possible that Moody had a sudden craving for Fudge Flies, which are a type of milky fudge.


    "As for the feeling, there is really nothing to feel ... war was at its peak, you can''t afford to waste your time thinking too much and risk both your and your friends'' life." Moody said dismissively, "Your heart has to be hard enough and with enough experience, you can--"


    Footsteps came from upstairs. Mrs. Weasley came down, and Moody picked up a chicken leg and gnawed on it again.


    That seemed to be the end of the conversation.


    "Oh, by the way, I have something here that might interest you." He said, pulling a well-worn magical photo out of his pocket. Harry saw a small group of people moving around, some waving, some raising their glasses.


    "It''s-" Mrs. Weasley walked over to look at it and frowned.


    "The original Order of the Phoenix," Moody said quietly, "you''ve seen it, haven''t you? I''m not sure if you have, but there used to be a handful of copies back then." He said to Mrs. Weasley, "Both of your brothers were good men, but unfortunately they died young ... I went to see Emmeline yesterday, and oh, she''s fine, just wounded--"


    He noticed that Harry and the gang wanted to ask a question, so he spoke in advance. Mrs. Weasley''s lips pursed tightly.


    " Did she wounded during that baiting mission?" Harry asked mildly, he knew that person, Emmeline; she is a demure and elegantly dressed witch, not much of a talker. She is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Harry had met her a few times before.


    "It seems you know about that mission... Oh right, you guys are there for the prize, so there is no way to bypass you." Moody said.


    Harry''s heart smashed like a fallen vase. He had heard Ms. Bones talk about it, how the Weasleys were both replaced at the time, but he hadn''t at all expected the replacement to be Emmeline Vance from the Order of the Phoenix, and she was wounded.


    "She was lucky, back then we couldn''t even find a full body or just a part of a body ..." Moody seemed to notice that Mrs. Weasley forced herself to keep quiet, so he handed the photo to Harry, "You keep it, James and Lily''s photo might be impossible to find in Godric''s Hollow... I''ve been there once, which is currently abandoned."


    Harry forced a smile, not knowing what to say.


    He caught a glimpse of his mom and dad, who are smiling at him, and Harry suddenly longed to make a trip to Godric''s Hollow. As he lay in bed that night, that idea grew stronger and stronger, and it felt strange how he hadn''t thought about going there previously.


    ------------


    #Jake Vand and #Hidan Flo, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 586+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 514: A whole era

    The next day, Felix appeared at the Sword Castle and occupied a wide testing room alone, then he stood on the transfigurated wooden platform, and stared at a ten-foot-tall golem. This tall golem was hand-picked by him as one of the defense forces of the Sword Castle, to actively protect the public in the event of sudden danger. The design is similar to the golem that Felix used previously for teaching at Hogwarts, but it is definitely more complex and has better protection measures. And Felix also tried to give it some basic intelligence. He had done something like that a long time ago, and to this day he still has that set of opera troupe golems in his ring.


    However, before assigning them the guard duty, more precise commands need to be given to them, as it would be bad if the golem malfunctioned on the battlefield due to an oversight, or worse, if it couldn''t distinguish the enemy from friends all of a sudden ... these issues need to be considered in advance.


    Near noon, Clammy hurried in with a surprised face: "Dum- Headmaster Dumbledore is here!"


    Felix looked down in surprise.


    ...


    Outside the sword castle.


    "Felix, I would like you to come with me to the Ministry of Magic." Dumbledore said in a deep voice, "To the Department of Mysteries."


    When the two reappeared, they had arrived at the Ministry of Magic''s visitor''s entrance. With a creak, the red phone booth slowly descended and Felix asked the question on his mind, "What the hell is going on?"


    "Amelia found two prophecies, I pretty much guessed what one of them was and wanted to let you know." Dumbledore said briefly.


    Department of Mysteries, Hall of Prophecy.


    It is as tall as a school great hall but does not look empty due to the fact that the room is stacked with rows and rows of towering shelves filled with gray prophecy orbs, it looks like a very strange library. Except for three people, Felix, Dumbledore, and Ms. Bones, everyone else was kicked out for the time being, and Sirius reluctantly stood guard at the door with two Aurors.


    "Almost fifteen years ago, you should have heard a prophecy?" Ms. Bones asked.


    Dumbledore hesitated for a second before he nodded slightly and said, "That''s true."


    "Is this it?" Ms. Bones asked, pointing to a dusty shelf, Dumbledore leaned down and stared at a small glass orb on the shelf, it is dirty as if no one had cleaned it for many years, and glowing faintly like a firefly.


    Felix''s gaze went to the other side, where there is a prophecy closely related to him, he had speculated many times, but still could not sort out the whole picture. Mainly because the key information is too vague, and plausible, with multiple possibilities.


    Previously he had studied that prophecy for a while and then left it behind.


    Felix focused his attention on Dumbledore, who is reading the yellowed label under the glass orb. It bore a date in fine print that dated roughly fifteen years ago, followed by a string of abbreviated letters.


    S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D


    Next to the initials is a scribbled note in handwritten writing: Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter.


    " It should be the one." Dumbledore sighed as he straightened up and asked courteously, "May I?"


    Ms. Bones made an inviting gesture, "All protective magic is withdrawn."


    Dumbledore nimbly probed the prophecy orb, and paused at the touch, then took hold of it. He closed his eyes slightly and his whole body remained motionless for a moment before he put the prophecy orb back gently as if he had woken up from a dream.


    He murmured softly.


    "I heard this prophecy with my own ears - about fifteen years ago on a cold and humid night in the Hog''s Head Inn in Hogsmeade, I went there to meet an applicant who wanted to be a professor of divination class. I wasn''t originally intended to keep that class open, but the applicant was the granddaughter of a very well-known seer, and out of courtesy, I decided to meet her in person ..."


    That person must be Trelawney, Felix thought to himself.


    "So the prophecy is from that interview, at your request?" Ms. Bones asked.


    "Yes and no," Dumbledore said softly, seemingly going back to that night fifteen years ago. "I tried to talk to her then, and hoped she would show her talents a little, but the results were a great disappointment; in my opinion, she did not inherit her ancestor''s talent for divination at all, so I told her that she is not suitable for the position, and then turned to leave."


    Neither Ms. Bones nor Felix said anything, they knew the twist is coming.


    "... Then she made a prophecy, a real prophecy," Dumbledore murmured. He removed his wand from his robes and waved it hard in front of the two, a cloud of silvery smoke spewing from its tip, followed by a harsh, hoarse voice that rang out with an uncontainable frenzy as if she had contracted some sort of malady.


    "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."


    The voice stopped. The silver smoke that condensed in the midair fell like snowflakes and disappeared before touching the ground. The three people watched the scene in silence.


    "Although I read the information when I came, but -" Ms. Bones could not hide her inner shock.


    Dumbledore slightly bowed his head, his eyes looked at them through the half-moon glasses.


    "Honestly, I was skeptical, the prophecy is not as magical as I thought, and it does not always come true, otherwise there would be no need for the Ministry of Magic to send special personnel to follow and observe the progress of the prophecy. But in any case, the applicant finally made a prophecy, or a very dangerous one, and it would be irresponsible to ask her to leave any longer."


    "Indeed, I asked the unspeakables before, and it would be lucky if even half of the prophecies here came true." Bones offered corroboration.


    "So you took her in and protected her?" Felix asked.


    "I didn''t have much of a choice." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "Especially since the prophecy was heard by a third person, though not entirely. It couldn''t be helped that Sybill was struggling to make ends meet and had to live in a cheap and fishy Hog''s Head Inn, and I didn''t expect to get anything worthwhile out of that interview; it just happened. That eavesdropper - in my perception at the time - is most likely a Death Eater, and that''s all the more reason I couldn''t risk letting Sybill roam around the magical world alone."


    Felix then realized how Sybill Trelawney had ended up teaching at the school years ago.


    So, it''s not entirely Dumbledore''s misjudgment uh ... rather he was afraid that she would be caught by Voldemort ...


    "The eavesdropper didn''t hear the whole prophecy?" Ms. Bones asked keenly.


    "He only heard the first three sentences." Dumbledore said.


    The three remained silent, each pondering something on their mind.


    The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies...


    So it is Harry Potter. Felix thought, but Neville can also barely be included in it, after all, the two of their birthdays are just one day apart, both at the end of July. But maybe Voldemort has OCD? That''s why he finally went with Harry, whose birthday was further behind? Or is that prophecy at work, ''the Dark Lord will mark him as equal'', Voldemort did not choose the pure-blooded Neville, but Harry, who is a half-blood like him.


    "Perhaps I made a mistake," Dumbledore suddenly said, "and my actions - agreeing to Sybill''s entry into Hogwarts for teaching - may have driven the prophecy to happen. Consider this: the loyal servant told Voldemort the prophecy he heard, hoping that his master would break free from his established destiny, yet he only heard the first few sentences, as a result, Voldemort was unaware of the considerable risk he was actually taking by doing so, and - to put it politely - Voldemort was so wary of me that he may have confirmed the prophecy from my actions of sheltering Sybill."


    But the truth is that no one can accurately predict what will happen the next day, let alone much further into the future than that; just as you can''t expect perfect saints to exist in reality, both of which are unlikely to be true.


    "There is a second prophecy." After a few moments, Ms. Bones said.


    She led the two to another shelf, and Felix looked a little odd as he got a familiar sight. As they drew closer, Dumbledore showed a startled expression as he walked quickly past one shelf after another, and stopped before Ms. Bones to gaze at a brand-new label. It bore the clear writing.


    S.P.T to H.J.P. (to be verified)


    Dumbledore looked closely at the date on the label, and after a little thought, he came to the obvious conclusion: the prophecy occurred during the final exams of the last school year, and the two people who made the prophecy at that time, the seer''s initials remained exactly the same, or Trelawney. And the other one is also familiar to him -


    "Harry James Potter," Ms. Bones said, "that''s supposed to be that boy''s full name, right? I checked it with Sirius."


    "I think the prophecy mentions me." Dumbledore said, a bright light sparkling in his azure eyes.


    "It probably mentions me too." Felix said slowly, and then he added, "I feel very connected."


    "This prophecy is not as highly regarded as the first, nor is it under heavy enchantments for protection, but the fact is - I looked through Bode''s notes," Ms. Bones took a deep breath, her eyes widened, " It''s probably the most special one in the entire Hall of Prophecy."


    "Why do you say that?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Because you two aren''t the only ones who can feel the difference in it, I feel it too. It''s not a coincidence, as anyone who tries to get close to it will experience a warm feeling of closeness from it. This means that ..."


    "The prophecy covers a huge range of people." Felix snapped back to attention.


    "That''s right," Ms. Bones said with approval, "I guess it might have something to do with the first two sentences. You''d better take a look first."


    After a long while, Dumbledore calmly handed the prophecy orb to Felix and then fell into deep thought.


    Although Felix already knew the prophecy, he still listened to it again. "The unprecedented change of a thousand years... The legendary drama is thus played... ho- The clown returns on the drumbeat, the warrior is ready to go, the lion grows old, the firebird of Nirvana - Time! Time!"


    "The unprecedented change of a thousand years... The legendary drama ..." Dumbledore said softly, "So, we are all on the stage, and this prophecy announces a whole era." s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 589+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 515: The changes brought about by the Thief’s Downfall

    " Clown, Warrior, Lion, Firebird ... Who do they each refer to?" Ms. Bones asked tentatively. If the first two sentences pulled back the curtain of the times, then the next four sentences are obviously the important players on the stage. She actually had some guesses in her mind, and at this moment she wanted to get confirmation from Dumbledore and Felix''s mouth. "Before things really happened, we can only guess." Dumbledore shook his head slightly.


    "But there are some things - such as the Firebird Nirvana, does not it refers to Phoenix? Or someone related to the phoenix?" Ms. Bones asked, as her eyes unabashedly looked at Dumbledore.


    It is a well-known fact that the Headmaster of Hogwarts has a phoenix named ''Fawkes''.


    "That''s one of the cons of prophecy," Dumbledore said with a smile, "when you try to find out the ''truth'', you will get deeply involved in it - I can associate a dozen or so wizards who are related to the ''Firebird'', and more if you count foreign countries. It could represent some magical creature, such as a phoenix; or some magic, such as a unique Patronus, a transfiguration; or even a state, a quality ... what we are guessing at the moment is just what we would like to see in our future."


    ...


    Time passed day by day, Felix took the time to visit the Ancient Rune Society, with Clammy in tow, they made their way unhindered to the office of the president of the Ancient Rune Society - actually a separate study, filled with various stone tablets, handwritten notes, and ancient inscriptions.


    Felix caught a glimpse of old Vera, who is sprawled at his desk with a row of rune cards on it, mouthing some words.


    Clammy lightly coughed twice, and the man at the table froze in response.


    Then Clammy had to walk over, and tapped her finger on the table, and reminded, "Grandfather, Professor Hap is here ..."


    "Who''s here?" Old Vera looked up at her slightly perplexed, his attention seemed to remain on the table, "Forget that, never mind that, first help me figure out what this is supposed to mean here?" He waited a few seconds and got no response, so he looked up absently, and his eyes suddenly widened when he locked eyes with Felix''s.


    "I heard from Clammy that you are available lately, so I popped over." Felix stifled a smile and said, "I''ve recently read a few books you''ve written and had some questions that I wanted to discuss with you ..."


    As it turns out, even the most stubborn person, when someone takes the initiative to hand out the ladder, will accept it hesitantly.


    (*ladder here means help, like receiving an olive branch*)


    At least old Vera is such a person, he has long been compromised, and is no longer concerned about ego and honour this time.


    At first, Felix asked a few symbolic questions, which had happened to touch the old Vera''s proud point, and he began to talk at length and eloquently, then a little less than ten minutes later, it became his turn to take Felix''s hand to ask about the rune cards.


    "I want an order compiled according to the difficulty, for learning purpose." Old Vera said.


    Felix got a little surprised when he heard that, as he never expected him to inquire about the educational materials.


    " Look, I''m researching theoretical runes, and they have some similarities," Old Vera reluctantly ''quoted'' Felix''s definition and explained, "As long as I want, learning dozens of practical runes a day is no problem at all. I just need to adjust the writing and cognitive habits."


    Felix understood how difficult it is to learn. As old Vera said, there is indeed an overlap between the two - both theoretical runes and practical runes can be memorized quickly, but the rest will take a lot of time.


    According to this line of thought, the old folks in the ancient rune society who have studied theoretical runes all their life can actually master hundreds of runes casually, and the subsequent learning will not be too slow.


    Of course, there are not so many practical runes on the market for them to learn. As Felix didn''t release them all.


    "Mr. Vera, I have one thing to ask you." Felix said, "This year, Hogwarts'' ancient rune class will undergo a curriculum revision and be divided into theoretical and practical parts, with separate exams for both parts. The theoretical part is fine, but the practical part requires a new curriculum - and I think what you''re working on now will be very helpful when writing the material."


    "You mean to let me be involved in it? You''re willing to cede that part of the rights?" Old Vera looked rather surprised.


    "The final decision is definitely still in my hand." Felix said calmly.


    The ancient runes had developed to the point where it no longer belonged to him alone, and there is absolutely no need for that. It is enough for him to keep an eye on the most important places to make sure there are no mistakes and prevent the development from deviating from the expected direction.


    ...


    Near the start of the school year, happy news finally came from the sword castle. The Thief''s Downfall is completed.


    "It doesn''t seem to be quite the same as the one in Gringotts?" Sirius surveyed the finished product in the testing room.


    In front of him, there is an archway with two straight sides, no different from the normal door frame, except that at the top there is an extra half arc, from which a thin curtain of water drapes down, and Sirius and Ms. Bones look at each other''s hazy figures through the water curtain, from each side.


    "The principle has changed, I incorporated some rune circuits to replace the goblin magic part." Felix said. "The effect is similar, if you don''t trust us, you can try it."


    " So how are we going to do that, does anyone have a polyjuice potion on them?" Sirius looked at the others with a probing look, all of them shook their heads, so he looked at Felix again, only to find him looking at him with a smile on his face.


    Sirius froze for a moment, what does that mean. But he suddenly snapped out of it.


    "Animagus?"


    Felix nodded at him, yes, just as you think.


    Sirius did not refuse, and his body quickly turned into a big dog with black fur. Its fur is oily and smooth, and its body is huge, like a bear.


    The Animagus form of Sirius seemed a little excited, and barked twice all around, wagging his tail and circling around Harry who came along, looking cheerful.


    Ms. Bones'' thick eyebrows jumped hard. She had to clear her throat - by that time the big black dog had put both front paws on Harry''s shoulders. "Oh, Sirius, Ms. Bones seems to be calling you." Harry said with some effort, as he nearly fell on his face.


    The big black dog circled the archway twice and then went in through one of the side, the curtain of water on the archway rippled with a circle, and Harry''s eyes suddenly widened as if he had seen something incredible.


    In fact, it is also true. The thin curtain of water seems to be another mystery, the big black dog''s half head disappeared from one side, but did not immediately appear on the other side. The dog was unaware of this, and proceeded to walk forward, when only two hind legs remained, the other side of the arch showed the half of its head, it looked as if a section of Sirius''s body had been removed, and it looked very comical.


    Harry''s shoulders shook, as he stifled a laugh, and the rest of the people present - including Ms. Bones'' corner of the lips quivered.


    But the next second, the comic scene turned into a frightening drama, the big black dog''s head started to shrink and deform forcibly, and the black hair quickly faded, followed by his shoulders, arms, and body parts, as he reverted to human form.


    Sirius shook his head, seemingly confused about where he is, and it took a few seconds for him to come to his senses.


    "That was amazing." He tsked, and circled the archway, he looked no different from his usual form. He poked one hand into the curtain of water, then pulled it out again, and the curtain didn''t react visibly this time.


    A neat round of applause rang out in the test room.


    ...


    A week before school started, Felix got his new wand. Thirteen inches, ebony, with his hair as the core. When his fingers touched the wand, there is a sudden warmth in his fingertips and the wand vibrates slightly, as if leaping and cheering, waiting impatiently for his first casting -


    Felix held his wand and sliced the air as if he is wielding a long sword - Ollivander watched with rapt attention - A ''rift'' appeared and rapidly expanded as it connected to another place, covering the vicinity around it and pulling it in. The tiny wand store seemed to shift at once, appearing in an untidy, desolate land overgrown with weeds.


    Everything seemed so real, the dim light, the swaying shrubs, the whistling sound, and Mr. Ollivander smelled the smell of fresh dirt carried by the wind. He tried to take two steps forward, only to bump into something, but it looked clearly vacant.


    "An illusion? No, it''s more real than an illusion ..."


    He plucked a handful of weeds from the ground and watched it turn into stars in his hands.


    The next second, the whole illusion disappeared, and they returned to the wand store. Felix nodded in satisfaction, although the exact effect had yet to be verified, the thinking room magic alone showed a notable improvement, he could more easily bring the memories in his head into reality, "Much better than I expected, Mr. Ollivander, thank you, you''re the best wand maker I''ve ever met."


    "It''s you who matches the wand very well," said Mr. Ollivander with a bitter smile, " If you had someone else to try it, or change a different material, you wouldn''t have this effect."


    After that, Felix paid enough money.


    "Speaking of which, I have to thank you," Mr. Ollivander said, "thanks for alerting me, I found two groups of sneaky people."


    "Were they Death Eaters?"


    "Probably," Mr. Ollivander himself was not sure, "those people were covering their heads, the good thing is, the Ministry of Magic has issued warning devices to each store, one-click is all it takes for the patrolling Aurors to quickly arrive, so they didn''t have a chance to do much."


    ...


    "Remus, it''s so good to see you, I thought you had forgotten about us." Sirius hugged Lupin and pretended to complain.


    "He didn''t necessarily forget about you, but he must have forgotten about his boss and work." Felix said slyly from the side. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ahem-" Lupin looked away sheepishly.


    "What''s going on?" Sirius asked as they sat in the living room of Black''s old mansion at the moment, waiting for people to arrive for the meeting.


    " Encountered a closed and xenophobic community." Lupin explained, "It wasn''t wise to risk contact with the outside world under the nose of a pack of nervous werewolves, so I stayed there till everything was over." He had a palpitating look on his face, "Once or twice I almost thought I wouldn''t make it back."


    Sirius didn''t say anything else, just slapped his back twice heavily.


    Kingsley and Emmeline Vance arrived, and everyone offered a warm welcome back to Emmeline''s recovery, as the quiet witch smiled from ear to ear.


    Soon, Snape also appeared. One by one, everyone entered the meeting room. "Don''t try to eavesdrop, I will cast a spell." Mrs. Weasley warned the children.


    "Spoken like it''s the first time you''ve ever done that." Fred muttered. The door slammed heavily in front of him.


    In the meeting room -


    Snape is the first to speak.


    "What I''m about to read is a top-secret document, which is not allowed to be mentioned publicly in any context as requested by Headmaster Dumbledore, and it is also forbidden to be shared with non-members of the Order of the Phoenix." He deliberately glanced at Sirius, who "tsk" ed.


    "According to a credible source, the Dark Lord - the You-Know-Who," Snape said with an expressionless face and a different voice, "has a keen interest in something in the Department of Mysteries and is sparing no effort to look for it ..."


    "Even after the availability of Thief''s Downfall?" Sirius interrupted him.


    "... You''ll find that thing won''t stop him," Snape said breezily.


    "And I know what he''s capable of, I''ve fought him--"


    "You mean escape?"


    Both Snape and Sirius spoke in a tit-for-tat manner, causing others to have a headache.


    "Well, you can save your greetings till the end of the meeting." Kingsley said.


    "... Given the failure of controlling Broderick Bode, the Unspeakable, using the Imperius Curse before, he may send out Death Eaters to gather information - he has a shortcoming in this area, as a Death Eaters who have worked for the Department of Mysteries Augustus Rookwood is imprisoned in Azkaban ..."


    "... Thief''s Downfall is also not omnipotent, it can not detect the human heart, whether it is willingly, or forced, or unintentional disclosure of secrets, it can not detect it, nor can it warn ... "


    Snape finished, then leaned his body on the back of the chair without saying a word.


    "Ahem, then I will continue on this topic," Kingsley spoke calmly: "We have been long ready for this, every important material in the Department of Mysteries will be protected under complex magic, under normal circumstances, only those respective Unspeakable can access it, but there may be a loophole after working hours, so Dumbledore Convinced Ms. Bones to let the Order of the Phoenix to undertake the task of protection at that time, to avoid any slip through the net."


    Not everyone in the Order of the Phoenix knew about Voldemort''s goal, so they used ''something like that'' as a proxy when talking about the Prophecy Orb.


    "There''s not much to say on my end," Sirius said, "We''re more or less relieved to have Thief''s Downfall. Amelia decided to set up one in Azkaban as well, the schedule is currently fixed for the day after tomorrow ..." His tone suddenly became complex, if this thing was available a few years earlier, he certainly could not escape.


    Snape looked up, his eyes shone with a strange light as he muttered: "Azkaban? Are you starting to miss it, you must have made quite a few friends there ..."


    The conference room nearly turned into a gladiatorial arena.


    ...


    By the time the meeting was over, the members of the Order of the Phoenix who were not assigned any tasks stayed to enjoy a leisurely afternoon tea, while Snape and Professor McGonagall left because of their personal commitments. Felix stared at Snape''s disappearing figure and asked Mr. Weasley, "Is he always this busy?"


    "Probably, he usually won''t stay late on weekdays." Mr. Weasley muttered. They went to the living room and sat down, not long after Mrs. Weasley and Tonks appeared with some dessert plates, "Watch out for the last step." Mrs. Weasley warned.


    "Oh, okay." Tonks said, followed by a headbutt on the umbrella stand and the plates fell out of her hands.


    Felix moved his fingers and motioned for the plate to settle on the table.


    "Thanks, I always forget there''s something here." Tonks said bitterly.


    "Actually that umbrella stand was moved from the foyer to here just two days ago," Ginny quipped from behind her, " because you always bump into it when you come back from work ..."


    Tonks became annoyed and tried to cover Ginny''s mouth, who ran away squealing.


    "Where''s Frank and Alice?" Felix asked, he hadn''t been here for a while.


    "They went away on a trip, I believe they went to the giant''s territory." Mr. Weasley said.


    On the other side, Bill is chatting with Sirius and Lupin.


    "The goblins are angry, you know, about the Thief''s Downfall thingy." Bill said the information he had snooped in his office.


    "Lame pretence, they simply don''t want to stand in favour on either of our sides." Sirius said.


    "If you''ve ever dealt with them, you''d see that goblins have different ideas than common people, different from common wizards to be exact." Bill shrugged and said, "They are really angry that wizards stole their technology ... but you are right, they really have no intention of siding with us ..."


    "Sirius, when are you going to leave the Ministry of Magic?" Lupin asked. He didn''t ask when Sirius would be out of duty at the Ministry of Magic, but rather when he would withdraw as planned since Sirius is going to be a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts in the new school year.


    "By the day before school starts." Sirius said after a moment of hesitation.


    "You''re not reluctant to leave, right?" Bill asked with a smile.


    "Ha, are you kidding me, I can''t wait to leave a bit early."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 589+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 516: Prefect (2 in 1)

    In the last few days of the holiday, Harry and the group didn''t train much anymore and started to look forward to the new term. Neville reluctantly said goodbye to them and went back to his grandmother''s house, after they had arranged to meet at King''s Cross Station. "Why do I feel you''ve been acting weird lately?" Ron looked at Harry with a puzzled look on his face, while unceremoniously attacking Harry''s White Queen piece when he got diverted.


    " Have I?" Harry asked with a jolt of sensitiveness.


    Ron''s eyes widened, "Of course you did. Let''s see, you''re often erratic and distracted, including the last few days we spend at the Burrow, and you can''t even bring yourself to play Quidditch with Cedric! And Voluntarily gave up the opportunity to Ginny, who also behaved erratically these days..."


    His expression became doubtful with suspicion, making Harry look embarrassed for a moment: "I mean, do you guys have some kind of secret?"


    Hermione sighed behind her books, Ron finally realized it? But unexpectatly, his words took Hermione by surprise, when Ron asked with certainty: "Harry, did you plan to go to Godric''s Hollow and Ginny happened to know about it?"


    Harry froze in his seat.


    "What makes you think so?" Hermione asked, in surprise.


    "I guessed it, I saw Harry staring at that picture a few times," Ron said smugly, but the next second he got serious, "Harry, Mum forbade us to go out, at most, we can go to the burrow to get some fresh air, but of course, if you insist, we can slip out using invisibility cloak and Apparition to get there and back! --"


    Harry shook his head, "Remus advised me not to be impulsive for some time, and I, uh, I have not figured it out for now."


    " Then what happened?" Ron pressed on.


    "Because, because," Harry took a deep breath, it is time, he thought. "I''ve mastered three Unforgivable Curses."


    "Unforgivable Curses!?" Ron shouted, as his eyes widened, and Hermione was also stunned, the thick book in her hand slipped to the floor, this is not exactly what she had imagined.


    After a long while -


    "What do you guys think?" Harry looked at them with nervousness.


    Ron slapped Harry''s shoulder hard, "That''s so cool man, how did you do that? Did Professor Hap secretly give you a little tutoring?" He guessed, "Or maybe it was Dumbledore, you guys have been going out quite a lot lately."


    Hermione did not look kindly at that, "No way, the professor would never teach us those curses! There were strict restrictions on Aurors - even in the period of war back then - and this is something that Tonks told me."


    Harry hesitated for a moment, but he still told his abnormalities, starting with the night he returned from the Ministry of Magic, recounting the special feeling he had when he woke up from bed, the next morning Professor Hap took him to test three curses, and the various questions Dumbledore asked him after that, and finally the two memories he asked for.


    He became short of breath at the thought of one of the memories, which contained the scene of Ginny kissing him on the corner of his lips, something he should have gotten rid off!


    But Dumbledore asked for the memory to be complete as possible, Harry then handed it out in his mind without much thought, causing him to regret it every time he thought about it now. Now when he and Dumbledore went out alone to meet his friend, he was not very keen on talking ... and Harry did not know whether to feel sorry, because he did not get much opportunity to spend time with Ginny alone, which made him inevitably suffer from the suspicion of being self-conscious.


    Ron and Hermione struggled to digest the shocking news.


    "That easy? You learned those two curses in less than a single morning?" Ron still found it incredulous.


    "Aren''t you listening carefully, Harry is obviously under the influence of the You-Know-Who, the professor was just further verifying that. Otherwise, it wouldn''t have been that easy." Hermione looked at Harry and said seriously, "Harry, the professor is right, you must not relax your training on the Occlumency."


    Harry answered sullenly.


    "This is not a joke, Harry, from your symptoms-"


    "Symptoms?!" Harry snapped in annoyance.


    "Well, the indications." Hermione picked her words carefully, "Your connection with the You-Know-Who is getting stronger and stronger - which is very bizarre, since when it started?"


    "Probably after Voldemort''s resurrection." Harry said.


    "-but since it has developed into the acquisition of his evil knowledge, it is not trivial, Harry," Hermione explained patiently, "Dark magic affects one''s sanity, and you can imagine what would happen if part of V, Voldemort''s ideas and your fused together? Your personality may change without you realizing it, or he may even plant a certain idea in your head and make you think it''s your own. Maybe that''s what the professor and Dumbledore are trying so hard to avoid."


    "So what am I supposed to do?"


    "Work on the Occlumency, and, uh, keep yourself from slipping into negative emotions more importantly." Hermione said what she had read from the book, but they are all old tricks, "I-we can help you with that, right?" She looked to Ron, who busily nodded along.


    At dinner, Fred and George told them in graphic detail about the new guards at Sword Castle.


    "About a dozen feet tall, they''re like enlarged golems, created using more precious materials and enchantments. When they lit up, the magical glow around them could literally illuminate ... You''ll see them when you go to Diagon Alley, there are two standing at the entrance."


    "You guys participated in its creation? What are the capabilities of those guards?" Tonks, who stayed for the meal, asked with interest.


    Fred sighed, "Professor Hap made them all by himself, a week before our Anti-Spell series finished, I wish I could poach him for our prank workshop-" he said with a grin.


    Mrs. Weasley looked at him sternly, and he dutifully made a gagging motion and stopped talking before the word ''Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes''. But Harry knew that Fred and George had signed a contract for a store, right in the Hogsmeade village.


    "Is there only two?" Harry asked.


    Fred and George looked at each other, "It''s a secret."


    Harry subconsciously held his breath, "So ... there are many?"


    " Well honestly, we are not sure," Fred said, "There are about a dozen of them on laying out there," He counted them one by one on his fingers, "Two at the door, another two as soon as you enter the front door, and a few sporadically placed on each floor after that ... but those can''t be all of them."


    "That''s right," George picked up, "Ever since the professor came out of the lab, Fred and I have found several storage rooms with locks on them, but we can''t open them, and there are only a few people who have access to it."


    He spread his hands.


    "We tried to convince Penelope to let us wander in while Professor Hap was away, but she was dead set against it. I bet there''s an army of golems in there!"


    Fred and George looked excited, at which point Tonks also became interested: "Is this thing can be produced quickly? Maybe I should suggest for Ministry to purchase a batch if it''s really cost-effective."


    "Not for now," Fred dismissed her idea, "only Professor Hap can make those guards for now, and I heard it involves extremely advanced memory magic ... but he''s not in the company right now. "


    "Professor Hap is not in the company? Where did he go?" Harry asked.


    The twins shook their heads.


    "Penelope and Clammy would know, they have a way to contact the Professor on an emergency matter in their hands, Remus should have one too, but we can''t meet him very often."


    "The Professor is probably off dealing with the Muggle world, he takes a few days for that every year." Hermione said.


    "He mentioned it to you?"


    "Oh, uh, I took a wild guess." Hermione said.


    When Felix reappeared, it is the last day of the holiday, and he brought three envelopes with him.


    "Took some time to go back to school, Minerva was busy, so I helped her to bring this book list." Felix said as Harry, Ron, and Hermione each took their own letters and opened them impatiently.


    "It''s supposed to be here sooner," Ron said as he opened the envelope, "school starts tomorrow."


    "Professor McGonagall was probably too busy, and only in the last two days did she have the time to deal with the school matter." Harry guessed as he opened the envelope, which contained two sheets of parchment, one to remind him that the school would start as usual, and the other with the names of the books that would be used during this term.


    "There are two new books that need to be purchased," Hermione read the contents of the top, "The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5; and Practical Runes for Beginners, by Felix Hap and Hedstrom Vera. Professor, have you published a new book?"


    Felix nodded slightly.


    "Huh, who''s the other author?" Hermione asked, staring at the title.


    "He''s the president of the Ancient Rune Society, you guys would have met him, he and Professor Marchbanks came to the school for a briefing." Felix explained, "Because of time constraints, Mr. Vera and I simply sorted out the practical runes that would be used in all five grades from 3rd-7th grade and organized them into a book in order of difficulty and teaching order, which would be separated later when we get a chance, and the textbook would be published by L.C.A. Publishers."


    "How come there is no new book on Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Harry asked, looking repeatedly at the list of books.


    "Sirius didn''t tell you?" Felix asked.


    "No, he-"


    "Did he forget about it?" Ron shook the envelope, "Huh, well, there''s one more paper, let''s see-" His mouth suddenly opened wide, and he didn''t move.


    "You got another one there?" Harry somewhat curiously came up next to Ron, and at that moment, Hermione on the opposite side had flipped her envelope upside down, as a golden red object slipped into her hand. Harry subconsciously squeezed his own envelope, and it was empty.


    "Our Grade Prefect." Ron uttered, "I''ve been chosen as a Prefect."


    Ron and Hermione became fifth-year Gryffindor House Prefects. Felix was a little surprised by this result, but after a little thought he understood Dumbledore''s intention, the Prefect had both power and responsibility, and Harry is already carrying too much responsibility on his back.


    But Harry obviously did not understand it, at the moment his heart is empty, he can only say congratulations in a vague tone, far less sincere than Mrs. Weasley who arrived upon hearing the news.


    In fact, there would be no one more surprised than her, not even the recently emerged Prefect himself.


    "I can''t believe it! I can''t believe it! Oh, Ron, it''s fantastic! You''re Prefect!" She hugged Ron excitedly, water stains dripped from the wet rag in her hand. She generously promised a gift to her youngest son.


    "Can I get a new broom?" Ron asked expectantly.


    Mrs. Weasley looked at him with some difficulty, and then smiled, " Of course, I will call you in a few minutes then, first I have to get Fred and George''s shopping list, besides the broom, I have to get you new books, oh yes, and Ginny''s portion, that''s a lot of stuff." She chuckled and left.


    Ron stopped where he was, for a while, and his eyes twinkled, "Fred and George are going to die of jealousy, they absolutely will! But who cares, I''m a Prefect, and I''m about to get a new broom! Oh, crap-"


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked dryly, feeling as if his voice had come out of someone else''s mouth.


    "I should add some more money from my prize money - so I can get a better broom." Ron said gleefully, his eyes starting to light up, "That''s right. I''ll go and talk to Mum now."


    "Professor," Hermione asked Felix in a whisper, "can I call home? From the pay phone outside in the neighbourhood? Mom and Dad will be happy to know the significance of the Prefect post."


    Felix thought about it, "Let''s do this, Miss Granger, you have not been home for a long time, take this opportunity to just stay with your family, and later in the evening I will pick you up."


    " I-I, I have to pack my bags too." Harry blurted out awkwardly.


    He went back to the bedroom alone, the suitcase laid on the table wide open, like a big mouth, which seems to be silently mocking him. Harry grabbed one of the dirty clothes on the bed and sat down in a daze, only now he had a moment to think.


    He''d almost forgotten about the Prefect before, but when the news actually arrived, he wasn''t able to pretend like he didn''t care about it. If it was necessary to choose between the two of them, he definitely would have been a more preferable choice to be the Prefect than Ron. Harry had some hard feelings inside, did they believe he is Worser than Ron? Without wanting to seem arrogant and cocky, he desperately tried to find a justification for himself. I''m better at Quidditch and better at dueling ... but other than that? There''s no big gap between Ron and him in terms of other schoolwork. But outside of schoolwork - Harry thought indignantly, all those adventures they had shared, all those life and death struggles - he had done everything much better than Ron, and Headmaster Dumbledore knew it perfectly well.


    But then he couldn''t help but correct himself; Ron had always stood by his side, even when they had faced Voldemort, he had never flinched. Unlike him, he has no reason to be an enemy of Voldemort, so it looks as if Ron seems more heroic? At that moment, a voice popped up in Harry''s head, but Ron stole the honour that belongs to him.


    "No, that''s what he deserves." Harry whispered to himself, yet the voice started to buzz again, incessantly, which Harry miraculously understands. I did more than him and yet it was not appreciated, not to mention I didn''t receive what I deserved; that voice transmitted more dark thoughts to him, maybe I should teach him some lesson, with the newly learned curse ...


    "That''s not my idea," Harry said to himself, "Ron is my best friend." He jerked to his feet and nearly fell over. He gasped, his face rapidly switching with expressions that at one point looked like he had turned into another person.


    "Someone needs to get their head checked." The blank canvas in the frame on the wall taunted him. s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry stared at the canvas, but there is nothing there, maybe it is one more piece of proof of the Black family''s ancient, noble, magical heritage, as he had seen clocks that fire nuts at people, snuff bottles that bite, and display cabinets that cough and spew out large puffs of dust when the doors of the cabinet opened.


    "You''re wrong!" Harry said aloud, but the canvas did not respond to him.


    After a short while, Harry heard footsteps, so he hurriedly lowered his head and stuffed the clothes he was holding haphazardly into his trunk as Ron came bouncing in.


    " In time!" He said happily, "I put half of my prize money at stake, just in time to replace the Cleansweep series with the Nimbus 2000, in fact, I can afford to buy 2001, but I figured I should save it, I have a birthday present to buy, and in case ''Future World'' company released a new product ... are you okay?"


    "Great, Ron, I mean - you''re finally going to have a good broom to join the regular team soon." Harry paused after he said that, and was relieved that the words sounded both genuine and sincere.


    Ron''s smile gradually disappeared.


    "I thought you would be the one who would receive it, I totally didn''t expect this-"


    "No, th-that''s what you deserve." Harry said firmly, which sounded more like he wanted to hammer these words through his own head. "You fully deserve the honour of being a Prefect. As for me, I''ve got enough trouble of my own ..."


    "Oh, well, you''re right, maybe Dumbledore didn''t pick you for that very reason - is he still coming over today, I mean that inexplicable afternoon tea?"


    "Yeah, I think so." Harry felt glad that Ron had changed the subject and that the school year would start soon, and he wouldn''t have to eat a bellyful of fruit preserves at Dumbledore''s friend''s place anymore; he couldn''t stop the nauseous feeling whenever he thought about that stuff.


    ...


    In the evening, Sirius returned, and Harry welcomed him joyfully.


    "Should I call you Professor Black?"


    "You can leave that for the dinner tomorrow." Sirius broke into a smile.


    At dinner, he sat down next to Felix and whispered, "Felix, I heard you''re the security staff of tomorrow''s Hogwarts Express?"


    "Yeah, just one of them," Felix glanced at him and let a jam jar fly into his hand, "as I recall, you are going to be a part of it too."


    Sirius turned his head a little awkwardly, "I''m going to take a leave of absence ... and work tomorrow morning."


    "Why?" Felix asked curiously, it didn''t sound like something he would say.


    "I was supposed to go on a visit to Azkaban with Amelia today and set up a thief''s downfall, but I got an alert that a dementor had appeared in a muggle town, which later proved to be a false alarm...


    Anyway, uh, I thought - in order to have a perfect beginning and an end - I need to visit Azkaban for once, and say goodbye to the past once and for all."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 589+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 517: Night Talk

    At the table, Felix and Sirius'' conversation continued - "As soon as Kingsley agrees, he''s the nominal organizer." Felix whispered.


    "I''ll talk to him, but he probably won''t be able to come over until tomorrow morning, you know, given his status as Ministry of Magic''s Auror." Sirius said, spitting out a chicken bone.


    The relationship between the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry of Magic is interesting. The two are independent of each other, yet inextricably linked, as many members of the Order of the Phoenix are also working in the Ministry of Magic.


    Amelia Bones knew this well, but she did not do anything against it.


    On the one hand, it is out of respect for Dumbledore, on the other hand, it also has a more positive practical significance. The Ministry of Magic has a complicated workforce, and many wizards will try to climb into a relationship with a pure-blood family by doing a few gray and black deals, so it''s easy to say that the Ministry of Magic is nothing more than a bucket with many holes.


    Thief''s Downfall can only wash away the spells, but cannot explore people''s hearts.


    In some important tasks - such as escorting the Hogwarts Express, in addition to the strict secrecy in advance, Ms. Bones must also carefully select the personnel involved, to prevent leaks.


    And regarding confidentiality, the Order of the Phoenix has a natural advantage.


    After dinner, Felix calculated the time and picked Hermione up from her home.


    "I set up wards near your home," Felix said: "similar to the effect of The Trace - when someone in the neighbourhood casting spells, I will immediately get the message. And the situation at present is not that serious, Voldemort is taking a contraction strategy, you do not have to worry about your family''s well-being."


    "I understand." Hermione nodded lightly, but her eyebrows still concealed a heavy worry.


    "You look troubled, Miss Granger." Felix pointed to a bench under a lush tree with a hanging bell, "Why don''t we sit there, once I have rested there." He was referring to the time he had come out of the Department of Mysteries, and Hermione easily understood what he meant.


    "Professor--"


    At this point, the two sat on a bench and looked at the crowds of people that passed and strolled through the Muggle community from time to time.


    Felix turned his head slightly sideways in Hermione''s direction, gazing at the beautiful setting sun.


    " Do wizards and muggles really not co-exist?" Hermione asked with hesitation.


    "What do you think?" Felix asked gently.


    "I think," Hermione spoke hesitantly for a moment, then rattled off, as if she had been holding these words in her mind for a long time and had made several drafts, "of course I want both to coexist, after all, I am caught between them, I mean my origin. But I read in a book - well, there are similar cases in the History of Magic book - about how wizards and muggles were originally not separated from each other throughout history, but things didn''t turn out so well, they were hostile to each other, and many conflicts broke out, and the great witch hunts of the fourteenth century are just a reflection of this saga."


    "That''s right." Felix said approvingly.


    "Also, many wizards chose to stay away from the public, the books explain this by saying that they were doing so in order not to violate the Statute of Secrecy, but in fact, this phenomenon existed even long before the Statute of Secrecy was introduced, and there is also the theory that wizards could not stand the sight of muggles and could not tolerate their smell, but- "


    "Sounds like a loser''s self-comfort?" Felix didn''t realize that he is smiling.


    Hermione hesitated and nodded unnoticeably, "But aren''t wizards supposed to have the upper hand? After all, they have magic?"


    "Well, that''s a complicated question, I''ll try to explain. You can look at the social structure of a wizard; a mature wizard can satisfy most of his needs that normal people require the help of society to satisfy, with the help of magic. This leads to the fact that - wizards are far less connected to each other than ordinary people, in other words, you can hardly organize them to work for a common goal. As far as I know, the last person who wanted to break this invincible prison known as Statute of Secrecy is still imprisoned in Nurmengard because he wanted to rule muggle before they became uncontrollable."


    "Gellert Grindelwald?" Hermione asked in a whisper, the name seemed to hold great power.


    "Yes, and he made use of people''s discontent with the Statute of Secrecy for that goal." Felix said calmly, "And, you''re missing the rather crucial point - magic is very rare in the real world, but it is quite common among wizards -"


    "Isn''t that natural?"


    "Of course not." Felix said in a tone of discussing academic matters, "I''ve been in contact with some occult societies that take magic very ... well ... perhaps consider magic as something ''sacred ''? Do you think they can imagine real wizards using magic to do laundry and cook and make fires and water their plants?"


    Hermione furrowed her eyebrows in serious thought.


    "So - well, wizards are used to using magic to solve all sorts of troubles, and the day-to-day type of life magic is the norm, right?"


    "They''re either civilians, or pragmatists, but never a soldier." Felix summarized briefly, "Magic in their hands is also not a weapon, but a tool - at least for most wizards. So when facing an emergency, they don''t use magic to their advantage to make more clever choices, especially young children. To protect their families, wizards choose to back off voluntarily."


    "But there are exceptions," Hermione affirmed, "Wendelin, the fourteenth century witch, was very fond of being burned and had allowed herself to be caught by people in various disguised forms as many as forty-seven times."


    "In those days, ''unattached'' wizards always lived more freely." Felix said.


    The two of them sat quietly for a while until the sky darkened, casting a shadow on the ground. They watched a young couple out for a walk, their child - probably only a year or two old - stumbling ahead.


    "Professor, when did the word muggle originate?" Hermione asked again when the family had walked past.


    "Ah, that''s an interesting question. I guess you''re asking if the word has a derogatory connotation?" Felix asked with a smile, and without waiting for Hermione to answer, he continued, "The exact origin of the word is untraceable, and who knows what was in the mind of the first wizard who uttered ''muggle'', but he did take a cheap advantage of the fact that there was no standardized term in the magical world for ''non-magical person'', so the term was accepted by more and more wizards."


    "Whether or not it contains a derogatory meaning depends on the tone of the speaker, both the Weasleys and the Malfoys use this term, but they must have had very different notions, which you should have an inkling?"


    The shadow belonging to Hermione nodded.


    "But in general, if you use the word in a conversation with ordinary people, it will carry a hint of arrogance and indifference that belongs to wizards. A very subtle difference that perhaps only a young wizard from a Muggle family can perceive."


    "Why is that?"


    "Would you like to be labelled," Felix asked rhetorically, "especially if you don''t know what that label means?"


    "Of course not-" it dawned on her, "That''s why you never used the word ''muggle'' when you were communicating with my father and mother. "


    "I was trying to reduce the communication barrier," Felix nodded slightly, "It''s obviously easier for them to understand the term ''ordinary people'' or ''non-magical person'', however, If you have a wizard standing opposite you, it would seem very odd and wordy to talk like that."


    Hermione understood a little. She liked the professor''s approach better, showing respect for the speaker.


    "What about the first question?"


    "Can wizards and muggles co-exist? I can''t give an answer to that, Miss Granger, but I think that the trend towards integration is inevitable, or more accurately, I think it''s only a matter of time before the magical world is exposed to the general public."


    "Oh, I see! So, Professor, did you create the ''Future World'' company because of it?" Hermione asked keenly.


    Felix gave a light laugh.


    "I wanted to create a buffer zone, a responsibility that we - wizards of muggle origin - naturally carries."


    Hermione broke into a smile, although she had never felt inferior because of her origins, she still felt anger and hurt when Malfoy called her a ''mudblood'', and after today, if Malfoy ever said such a thing again, she would just pity him and think he is shallow and stupid.


    Although Malfoy no longer used it in the past two years.


    Is it because of the professor, too? Hermione thought, she felt a little regret that she had not been able to see this scene in time travel. At first, she seemed like a shadow that shouldn''t exist, out of place in the whole world, wandering aimlessly between the castles and grounds of Hogwarts, and even the ghosts couldn''t spot her.


    But she also saw a lot of secrets that were previously inaccessible.


    Hermione survived the hardest days with the food in the beaded pouch, but there was always a time when the food ran out, just when she thought she would be like all those time travellers, trapped in time and starving to death, the gods of luck finally came.


    A crack appeared in the Time-Turner.


    In the tension and fear at the same time, Hermione found herself once again possessing an entity, she rushed to sneak into the kitchen to steal food, after a full meal, Hermione was in the mood to consider whether her actions are changing history, or become a part of one of the many strange rumours at Hogwarts.


    A food-stealing ghost?


    But she was too hungry to care that much. It turned out she was right to do so - two hours after that she was taken on a time jump and her body reverted to a near-void state, but the good news was that she was gradually figuring out the routine and could do things she had previously wanted to do but couldn''t.


    For example, mailing a letter.


    After almost a month and a half in this way, Hermione discovered that she had gained a solid body in her normal state as if cloaked in an invisibility cloak. She guessed that as she moved closer to the normal timeline, she herself is moving closer to the real thing. It is only a matter of time before she is discovered.


    So she escaped from school and returned home, ready to document her experiences and spend some final time with her parents. After that ... Hermione pursed her lips and looked at Felix: "Thank you, Professor."


    "What?"


    "Oh, I mean, I seem to have found a new goal that encompasses the previous one - Professor, I''m planning on joining the Ministry of Magic after I graduate." Hermione said.


    "A bad news, I thought you would choose ''Future World'' company." Felix sounded a little vexed.


    "I wouldn''t give up ancient runes either." Hermione said greedily.


    ...


    Felix and Hermione returned to the old Black mansion, and before they could say a few words, it is time for bed. Mrs. Weasley stopped Ron from continuing to brag about his new broom and shooed them back to their room.


    "That''s Nimbus 2000!"


    Ron and Ginny shouted in unison. But immediately Ron looked at Ginny warily, "You don''t expect me to lend you my broom, do you?"


    " Stingy."


    Ginny grunted and stood up haughtily like a proud cat.


    "Come on, kids, you have to go to bed early today, otherwise, there''s bound to be a big mess tomorrow." Mrs. Weasley said with great conviction. "I''ll have to wake you up early or someone will miss something again ...."


    She was right. Early in the next morning, the whole house is in chaos like a chicken coop. Mrs. Weasley and the portrait of Mrs. Black who hung in the foyer simultaneously screamed at the top of their lungs.


    "- No magic! You two idiots--"


    "--dirty bastards, defiling my ancestral house--"


    Harry got dressed in a heartbeat, and shoved his toiletries haphazardly into his trunk, while the others looked like they had their hands full until they boarded the Hogwarts Express and breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Fred and George tried to cast a spell on the suitcase, and it almost hit me ...," Ginny explained to Harry about the morning''s events.


    Harry scratched his head, not knowing how to face Ginny alone - just now, Ron and Hermione went to the Prefect compartment, "Uh, are you okay?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he felt like crap.


    "I''m fine." Ginny showed a smile as they carried their luggage along looking for an empty compartment, not far in front of them there is a girl with messy, waist-length blonde hair. "I spotted Luna, let''s go there." Ginny said.


    Harry looked up and even though he only saw her back, Harry recognized her immediately from the way she moved indistinctly as she fluttered into the compartment.


    They squeezed through the crowd and met Neville midway, "Oh dear, Harry, I thought I was late." He said happily, " So close."


    On the other hand, Felix arrived at a compartment near the front and opened the door where several Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix sat quietly inside.


    "Hello guys."


    Kingsley, Derris, Moody, and Dedalus Diggle nodded at him respectively. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix picked an empty seat and sat down. It is obvious that with so many people sitting in the same compartment it would become a little cramped, Moody''s condition is bad, he is uneasy, his eyelids are fluttering and his big rough hands are always trying to grab something.


    "You mustn''t draw your wand, Alastor." Dedalus Diggle who is sitting next to him said carefully.


    Felix blinked, thinking that the trip had become interesting, and he took out a coin and let it jump around his fingertips as his mind wandered. Dumbledore appeared and spoke to him last night, and the words they have spoken emerged in his mind, well, when the time comes, what is a good reason to leave? To find a snack cart to buy snacks?


    He sighed silently, feeling it does not fit his image.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 590+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 518: Secret Mission?

    In the carriage, several Aurors chatted about recent events. "You probably think the You-Know-Who doesn''t have a brain, right? Think again, how did he gather the initial group of Death Eaters, if you think he will only use force to oppress, you are very wrong." Moody''s voice is hoarse as he said, " Excessive valuation of the thief''s downfall will only lead us to fall into the enemy''s trap. One must always remain vigilant."


    Hearing this, Derris couldn''t help but grunt.


    "I was also involved in the last war, and all I saw was him and his Death Eaters leaving one dark mark after another over the house where the wizard lived, along with those Inferius ... He would leave nothing but a fearful impression."


    "It''s the deepest impression," Moody growled, taking out his curved flask and taking a hard swig.


    "I''ve experienced it from beginning to end, I was an experienced Auror even before the You-Know-Who openly recruited Death Eaters ... During those first two years of the war, the Dark Lord hid his cruel and vicious side well - he spent Most of his time promoting his unorthodox ideas, recruiting manpower, and maintaining a low level of confrontation with the Ministry of Magic, slowly he disobeyed the rules of the Ministry of Magic at that time, to create their own system ... but the minister at the time was confused by his disguise and had an illusion of being able to resolve disputes peacefully, as a result, public opposition towards You-Know-Who continued to disappear as wizards, dark creatures were secretly recruited ... Minchum finally recognized the status quo, but by then he was unable to curb the rise of the You-Know-Who."


    "So he was a competent leader in the early days of the war?" Felix interjected.


    "Depending on how you look at it, he set his sights on those old pure-blood families, getting money and followers from them, yes, I''m going to use the word ''followers'', and he did confuse a group of people with his actions, a group of fools... ... Those people held the bottom of the barrel to support him, such as the Black family at the time," Moody''s intact eye glanced at Felix, "If it weren''t for Mrs. Black''s poor health, I doubt she would have determined to join the You-Know-Who''s side and be completely tied to him. "


    "Since when did he undergo a change in character? Became cruel and tyrannical?" Felix asked mildly.


    "About mid to late," Moody smacked his lips, "it is difficult to specify, based on the perception in those years, he probably thought he was winning, it would not take long to become the ruler of England, so he reverted back to his nature."


    Felix had a different view.


    Those years are probably the period in which he frequently battled against Dumbledore, according to Dumbledore''s explanation, he had more than once seriously injured Voldemort, but Voldemort always did not take long to come back to life, Felix, therefore, speculated that Voldemort may have secretly used the Horcrux.


    Finally, from the information he gathered, Voldemort was extremely confident about his conquest of death, and if he hadn''t experienced the experience of coming back from the dead, he hardly would have shown such strong confidence.


    At that moment, they are already driving in the open wilderness, with a large block of shades of colour sliding past their eyes.


    Felix gauged the time and took a silver pocket watch out of his pocket.


    The front cover popped open with a "click".


    The eyes of the Aurors focused on it at the same time, and after a few seconds of silence, a pink nose peeked out, followed by a black, furry head, as Valen emerged from the space of the pocket watch, and looked around in confusion.


    "Kee? (Is school arrived?)"


    "Not yet," said Felix, "but you seem to have slept for almost a day, come on, I''ll show you around, Hermione and Harry are in their compartments."


    Valen''s spirit rose up, at first she sat on him and stretched out, then leaped up and jumped to the door of the compartment and waved back at him eagerly. Felix inquired others in this compartment, "I might buy some food, do I need to bring you some?"


    Everyone shook their heads.


    "We''ll go ourselves if we need," Moody said.


    Without another word, Felix pulled open the door of the compartment and walked out.


    "Can you please help me find Harry?" He requested Valen.


    Valen sniffed left and right as she walked, and finally stopped before a compartment. Felix saw Harry, Neville, Ginny, and Luna sitting together through the window and smiled, "All familiar faces, that makes it easier."


    Felix pulled open the compartment in which Neville is introducing his birthday present to his mates.


    "Mimbulus Mimbletonia, it''s from my grandmother, she waited until I got back to give it to me." He said, pointing to a small pot of what looked like a dysplasia cactus. Instead of being covered with thorns, it is covered with a bunch of big pimples like boils.


    "What does it - well - what can it be used for?" Harry asked, staring at the thing, and he had a hard time convincing himself that he would like it.


    "It''s good for a lot of things!" Neville said proudly, "It has an amazing defense mechanism, and I discovered it when I tried to put him under Daydream Charm..."


    "Daydream Charm?" Harry asked, sincerely hoping Neville would focus on it, but Neville couldn''t wait to show them the wonders of his new pet as he pulled a quill from his pocket and reached toward the plant.


    Everyone''s eyes got drawn by his action, Harry felt uneasy, his body leaned back a little; Luna is exactly opposite to him, her dreamy eyes peeking from behind the magazine ''Quibbler''.


    "Can you wait until I leave to demonstrate?"


    Felix''s voice stated, and the group looked up, Neville''s hand dangled in midair, and Harry mentally breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Professor Hap, what are you doing here, uh, did you just say ... leave?" Harry couldn''t help but ask. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix nimbly flashed in, and casually pulled the door curtain of the compartment shut. He put his index finger up to his lips and whispered, "Shh. Can I trust you guys?"


    In response to his serious tone, Harry, Ginny and Neville nodded nervously, while Luna was half a beat slower, adding that it is only at this moment she greeted him through her magazine, "Hi, Felix."


    "How are you, Luna, did you solve the riddle in the magazine?" Felix asked.


    "Not yet-"


    After greeting, Felix got down to business.


    "As you may or may not know, this train is under various protective enchantments, such as anti-apparition-" He could faintly see a blur of steam when he looked out the window, and in the distance, there is a range of mountains and woods.


    Felix drew his new wand, "For some reason, I must leave for a while and you guys need to act like you didn''t notice it, okay?" Without waiting for them to answer, he flicked his wand in his hand and a small window vent above the train''s compartment popped open abruptly.


    "Professor, can I help you with anything?" Harry asked hurriedly, his hair ruffled by the sudden breeze.


    "Sure, close the small window after I leave." Felix said as he put away his wand.


    "But how will you go out, the ventilation window is too small-" Harry almost bit his tongue as Professor Hap''s body rapidly grew smaller, like slow-motion footage, Harry could see every detail, but in a flash, the professor disappeared and in his place there is a bird with long narrow wings like a rain swallow, hovering in midair and rushing out of the compartment in a blink of an eye.


    The four people in the compartment gasped, Luna blinked and looked out of the window. The Rain Swallow remained in their field of vision for only a few brief seconds before disappearing.


    "Are we dreaming?" Luna''s soft voice asked.


    "Luna, I guess it is Animagus, the Professor''s Animagus." Ginny said.


    Harry felt someone tugging at his shirt and he looked down to find it is a Niffler, and she is pointing her finger at the small open window.


    "Valen? Oh, right." Harry stood up and closed the ventilation window, by which time, Valen had sat down between Harry and Ginny, and her little hand probed into her silver pocket watch and pulled a bag of butter cookies out of it.


    "Kee?" she looked at Harry.


    "Uh, I didn''t hear you?"


    Valen huffed, as she gestured at him with her small hand.


    "I guess she wants you to help her rip the bag open." Luna said, "A smart little fella, and she can also write."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 590+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 519: Professor Black

    The wind blew from all directions, as Rain Swallow flew like a black ghost between the mountains, with its wings brushing through the spires of towering trees. The conversation with Dumbledore last night surfaced on Felix''s mind piece by piece - "I received Intel that Voldemort is preparing to personally capture Amelia when she returns from Azkaban using Portkey."


    "What are you going to do, arrange a trap in return?"


    After a long silence, Dumbledore shook his head in the darkness, "Not this time, we have no foolproof, we can not act as if we know about this in advance."


    Felix understood, that this is to protect the spy, and the person who passed on the information is likely to be Severus Snape.


    "Then you--"


    "I will not be involved in this operation ... it concerns a plot," Dumbledore said softly, the silver moonlight shining on his glasses, making it hard to read his expression. "Although I am not certain yet whether it will be used, but before the decision is made, I can not show my face easily, especially cannot be seen by Voldemort."


    ...


    The Port of Felixstowe is the largest and busiest container port in the UK, located in East Anglia on the southeast coast. On a small stretch of deserted beach near the port, two figures emerged from the distorted air.


    Sirius and Ms. Bones stood together, clutching a well-worn copy of the Daily Prophet in their hands.


    "I hate Portkeys, can''t we just use the ferry like we did when we went?" Sirius rubbed his head, he had just hit his head on Amelia''s knee, all sorts of these kinds of accidents would happen when using the portkey.


    "The people left behind need the ferry more than we do," Ms. Bones stuffed the newspaper into her pocket, "and since we''re going back early, we have to make do with what we have."


    Sirius muttered something in a low voice.


    Bones flashed a smile, "Well then, congratulations, Professor Black."


    Sirius looked at her smugly, then his face changed, "Someone''s been lurking nearby." He drew his wand and looked alertly from side to side as Ms. Bones drew her wand in sync, the tip flickering as the sand on the small patch of the beach began to shake.


    "Are you positive?" Ms. Bones asked with a serious expression, "It could just be a passing muggle."


    "I''m not sure," Sirius said, "I just think - look out!" He waved his wand and a ball of fire exploded in midair with a deafening sound, Sirius staggered back, but he couldn''t care less, his eyes fixed dead on one direction as he inhaled a deep breath, "Voldemort!"


    Voldemort stood on the beach, at some point in time, as if he had been waiting there for a long time.


    "Amelia Bones," Voldemort''s pale fingers held the end of a wand as he saluted slightly, "I wish to invite you to be a guest of mine at my castle."


    "And if I refuse?" Ms. Bones asked in a dull voice.


    "As a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, I trust you will not be that stubborn, but if you insist-"


    "You killed my brother." Ms. Bones said with gritted teeth, as she stabbed the wand in her hand like a sharp sword, and the sand grains on the ground rose and rolled up a sandstorm. " Go!" She said to Sirius, Sirius''s hand immediately rested on her, ready to cast an Apparition.


    The sandstorm suddenly rolled backward, creating a heavy wall out of thin air, and smashed against the two, Sirius and Bones got thrown far away, and couldn''t get up for a while.


    Voldemort calmly walked towards Ms. Bones, "I''ll just have to dig out useful information from your mind then; I might omit some, something that I would not like to see."


    Sirius sprawled on the ground, with the feeling that more than one rib was broken, and his wand emitted a red light, Voldemort casually blocked the spell and halted his advance. He seemed to have just only spotted Sirius, his red eyes glinted menacingly as he stared for two seconds -


    "Avada Kedavra."


    " Solid Earth Wall!" Ms. Bones shouted, and a spacious wall rose up from the beach, blocking the Killing Curse. (*not a spell*)


    Once again, the two rejoined.


    " Transfiguration." Voldemort uttered in disgust.


    " Look for your chance to escape. You''re more important than me." Sirius said through clenched teeth as the corners of his mouth began to bleed and his ribs drilled painfully into his body. He braced himself and recited a spell.


    "He''s targeting me, I can''t possibly escape." Bones shouted, while waving her wand, the rocks on the shore suddenly seemed to come to life and lunged toward Voldemort, "So we should think of other options--"


    Voldemort showed a cruel smile, he looked like a cat catching a mouse, the spell flicked aside one by one, blasting a piece of rock with ease. The aftermath of the spell left a trail of wounds on the two. If not for the purpose of capturing Amelia alive and digging out the secret of the prophecy, he would have been in a more relaxed state of mind.


    At that moment Sirius suddenly grabbed Bones'' hand, as he recklessly and forcefully casted Apparition, Voldemort''s wrist waved violently, the wand issued a whistling sound, and a bloody wound burst open from Sirius''s chest, but the two had disappeared from their original spot.


    Voldemort approached unhurriedly, staring at where the two disappeared, and the next second, he appeared straight away in a deserted suburb not far from here.


    Sirius and Bones barely held themselves up from collapsing.


    "Why does everyone try to use the Apparition to escape, for a highly skilled wizard, like me, it is easy to follow the trail you left behind, not to mention that I disturbed your landing spot." Voldemort explained generously, expecting a look of desperation from the two.


    But the response he received was a prepared powerful spell. S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Sirius conjured a dozen rusty iron arrows in the air, which let out a mournful cry and flew towards Voldemort, Bones waved her wand in sync, and a patch of open space around her and Sirius suddenly sank, "he can''t intercept the Portkey, --" she pulled the newspaper from her pocket and held it out, "Be Prepared!"


    The surface of the newspaper flashed with blue light, and then returned to normal.


    "Hold on, just three seconds--" she looked at Sirius, whose chest is gushing with a large amount of blood, "three, two-- "


    Sirius stared at midair, with his eyes widened dramatically, while Voldemort hovered in midair at some point and a curtain of green light fell, Sirius wrestled his hand free from Bones'' grip, as his red spell faced green light; he gritted his teeth and tried to hold on for a few seconds at all cost.


    Bones reached out to grab him, only to twist and disappear the moment before she touched him.


    It is over ... Sirius thought, he couldn''t stop Voldemort''s killing curse, but at least one of them escaped. He began to think about what the world after death would look like, and after ten seconds or so, he suddenly found himself still conscious.


    A huge thing blocked the curse, Sirius blinked, and the thing seemed to be a giant golden galleon?


    Sirius''s jaw dropped.


    While above the ground, Felix blamed himself for his blunder, he hadn''t counted that Sirius would forcefully use Apparition, even though he had done the same when escaping from him. Anyway, it took a while to catch up again, but luckily he caught up in time and used a coin with a Zooming Charm to block the Killing Curse. This familiar scene caused Voldemort to instantly disappear from where he was as he appeared far away from Felix.


    "Voldemort, in your words, you are foolish to appear here today," Felix said calmly as he showed him his new wand, he couldn''t help but want to try that potent killing curse from the last fight again, but because of his lack of confidence in restraining Voldemort with dead wight Sirius, he felt it would be unwise to expose his killer move and all the magic associated with it.


    Voldemort stared at his wand, with an ugly expression.


    "Felix Hap." He muttered, with a flash of madness in his eyes. He is already decided to retreat, as the intel from Lucius slowly passed through his mind - Felix Hap gained a new wand, while he is still stuck with a mediocre wand, and he became insane with jealousy.


    Voldemort vowed in his heart, that before their next meeting, he must obtain a wand that matches his identity, a wand that allows him to cast spells without scruples. He looked at Felix expressionlessly and disappeared from where he was.


    Felix did not move, with deadweight Sirius, he certainly can''t chase him for a fight, because the consequences of fighting Voldemort with a deadweight would be disastrous. (like the death of Sirius)


    "He''s gone?" A frail voice asked.


    Felix took a few steps forward and looked at Sirius who is sitting in the pit of blood and looked like he had just been fished out of a pool of blood. Sirius leaned against the edge of the deep pit and said irritably, "If Voldemort is gone, save me quickly, I can''t stop the bleeding, I ... damn it, I''m dying."


    Felix laughed, "You still have the strength to curse, which means you are still young to die." He quickly dealt with Sirius''s injuries, after a vial of potion was fed in, Sirius''s state significantly improved a bit, but his whole face still looked pale as a vampire.


    During the treatment, dozens of Aurors popped up from thin air, and Ms. Bones'' face clouded with heavy gloom, but when she saw Sirius, who is bantering with Felix with a dull look, her expression froze.


    "You''re still alive!?"


    "Almost dead." Sirius said laboriously, nudging his mouth in Felix''s direction.


    "I''ll take you to St. Mungo''s." Ms. Bones pursed her lips for a while before saying.


    Unexpectedly, Sirius shook his head, "No, I''m going to Hogwarts, Professor Black can''t miss his first opening night."


    "I''ll bring Sirius to the school hospital wing first." Felix said to a worried Ms. Bones.


    ...


    The school great hall.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked toward the long faculty table.


    "The professor isn''t here, Sirius isn''t here, and even Hagrid is missing. What the hell is going on?" Harry asked anxiously.


    "They might have been delayed by something." Ron guessed, "Didn''t you say Professor Hap had left for something? Did he really turn into a swallow?"


    "Yeah." Harry said, "But the professor didn''t say what he was going to do." He suddenly thought of Sirius, could it be an emergency on Sirius'' side?


    The Sorting Ceremony began, but the whole time Harry didn''t listen carefully, he just thought that the Sorting Hat had been singing for an extra-long time this year. By the time the sorting ceremony was over and the table is filled with food, Harry had to accept the fact.


    At that moment, the great hall''s side door abruptly opened.


    Felix and Sirius walked in, and Felix whispered a few words to Dumbledore, who nodded lightly, and then the two sat down in the empty seats.


    Sirius smiled brightly and waved towards Harry, who couldn''t spot a slight problem from his appearance, and Harry immediately gave an enthusiastic response, the fork in his hand almost flung towards the next seat.


    "Guess what Sirius is whispering to Professor Hap?" Hermione asked, looking in the direction of the faculty table.


    "I''ll ask tomorrow, right now I just want to eat a lot." Harry said cheerfully.


    At the faculty table, Sirius is complaining to Felix: "What did you give me to drink? I don''t have any appetite right now ..."


    "Uh - you can think of it as a tonic, the ingredients are very precious and contain dragon''s blood." Felix replied without looking.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 591+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 520: Nostalgic school song

    A little time passed and the great hall is filled with delicious smells. Felix put down his knife and fork contentedly, waiting for the dessert after the main meal, the other students in the great hall are still eating feverishly, while chatting noisily, oblivious to the ghosts floating above their heads.


    At the Gryffindor table, Harry had almost finished eating and began to pay attention to the sounds of talking around him. He isn''t too happy to find that one of the topics people talking about is him, the ghost of Gryffindor House - the voice of the Nearly Headless Nick drifts into his ears from seven or eight seats away.


    "Yes, that''s Harry Potter, there he is, you''ll have plenty of chances to see him later ..."


    Harry didn''t turn around, but he guessed that Nick was talking to Hogwarts'' new student, and he concluded that the new student came from a wizarding family, so he would have learned his name before he went to school, unless that student is a Topper like Hermione.


    Dean and Seamus chatted loudly about the news from Diagon Alley. He pricked up his ears, this year he did not have the opportunity to go there, the textbooks, stationery, and potion materials needed were bought by Mrs. Weasley, he had planned to go to the Future World 1 store in Diagon Alley to see if there are any new products, but that plan had felled through.


    He also wondered if the Weasley twin brothers'' Anti-spell series products are on sale ...


    "The stores are packed, with more people than ever ... It can''t be helped, who made this year''s book list distributed this late, so everyone hurried to get them. Not many people were interested in stopping for a chat, and I saw several familiar faces, but they disappeared in a flash as if something was chasing after them ..."


    "The demand for rune booklets exceeded the supply, and mom tried to buy a few for her relatives living abroad ..."


    Seamus said excitedly, and when he met Harry''s gaze, he grinned and his voice became louder.


    "There are a lot more mobile stalls on both sides of the street, which is actually just a stall with a piece of cloth on the ground. What were they selling? All kinds of amulets, of course, my mother told me they are all rubbish, with lesser odds than finding real things at Knockturn Alley ... of course she was joking."


    "That damn place still hasn''t been closed down by Aurors." Ron spoke with his mouth stuffed full, and Harry magically understood what he meant.


    Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley are adjacent to each other, but with completely opposite reputations; Diagon Alley covers a huge area and is the commercial center of British wizards, while Knockturn Alley is just a small, out-of-the-way alley with stores selling not-so-regular goods.


    At that moment, a voice whispered in his ear: "Excuse me, make room for me."


    Startled, Harry looked back to see a tall girl with long braids looking down at him, her face barely a foot from his, Angelina Johnson, jabbed her finger between Harry and Ron respectively and managed to squeeze a seat between the two of them.


    "So, how was your summer?" She asked briskly.


    "Fine." Harry said, momentarily confused about what she is up to.


    "Well, it was," Angelina smoothed her hair, "I got selected as the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team."


    "Quidditch captain..." Harry repeated, then his eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Quidditch?!"


    Angelina showed a "Really" look, "Fred told me you forgot about Quidditch, I didn''t quite believe ..."


    "Ha-How could I." Harry stammered, "I even played with Cedric over the holidays." He looked around and spotted the handsome face on the long table at Hufflepuff''s side.


    "Yeah, so you''re not quitting the team?" Angelina asked, her big eyes fixed on Harry with a dead stare, and the pressure steadily building inside Harry.


    "Absolutely not, I''m hoping to win another trophy." He assured.


    "That''s good," Angelina sighed in relief, "I don''t want to seem overly sensitive, but I''ve just taken over the team and I sort of feel a lot of responsibility, I kind of understand why Oliver was so nagging ... "


    "Don''t ever follow his footsteps." Harry hurriedly said.


    Angelina laughed.


    "I''ll be off then, ah yes, since Oliver is gone, we need a new keeper. I''m going to arrange the try-outs on Friday afternoon at five o''clock, and I want the whole team to be there at that time, alright? That way we can allow the new guy to try and play with everyone."


    "No problem, do you already have someone in mind?" Harry asked, and Ron, who was eating at the side, pricked up his ears.


    "Not yet," she sighed, "I''ll go back later and put the application on the wall." She bent over and left.


    "She looks so stressed, I almost forgot about Quidditch." Hermione said.


    "Maybe captains who just took over the team are like that? Cedric wasn''t used to it at first either ..." Harry only answered the first half of the statement.


    "So do you have time, it''s O.W.Ls year, and don''t forget, you promised Neville to reassemble the dueling self-study group." Hermione reminded him that.


    "I know." Harry muttered.


    The food on the table cleared up, and after a few seconds, various desserts suddenly appeared on the plate.


    Harry picked up a deep-fried jam doughnut and chewed it " crunch, crunch, crunch" while looking over at the faculty table. His eyes first focused on Dumbledore, who sat in a golden high-backed chair in the center of the long table, wearing a dark purple robe covered with silver stars, with a matching hat and gloves, looking like the lead singer of a band that had walked into the wrong place. To his left and right sat Professor McGonagall and Snape respectively, Professor McGonagall is trying a kind of fresh strawberries drizzled with sauce, from her expression it does not seem to be quite to her taste, Snape, on the other hand, squinted his eyes in response to Dumbledore''s questions, his lips barely opened and closed, and between Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout, Sirius and Professor Hap are seated. Oddly enough, Sirius had also given up eating early and poking his fork at the fruit on the blueberry cake in boredom.


    As for Professor Hap - Felix gazed at the ceiling, which looked the same as the outside environment, but much plainer than the previous years. He and Sirius actually arrived at school earlier than the Hogwarts students, it was just that Madam Pomfrey took a lot of time to give Sirius a full check-up.


    In the words of Madam Pomfrey, Felix''s approach is quite "crude" and "unprofessional", if not treated in time it may fester and puss in a few days, while she re-cleaned the wound, Felix chatted with the rushed Dumbledore.


    "The one who delivered the message to you was Severus." He said in a definite tone.


    "I knew you could guess." Dumbledore said with a smile.


    "I also know," Felix said slowly, "that it was also Severus who revealed Bones'' whereabouts to Voldemort, as Sirius had mentioned it at the meeting and was overheard by him."


    Dumbledore went silent for a moment, "You''re right."


    "Was it really necessary to do this, there was a 1% chance I could not save their life, in fact, Voldemort''s most loyal servant, Barty Crouch Jr. died right before his eyes," Felix said in a slightly aggravated tone, "I did that."


    "As a qualified spy, to gain Voldemort''s trust, he must show a unique value, and this value must be impossible to be given by others, only then, Voldemort will treat him differently." Dumbledore said without emotion.


    "That''s not the answer I want, Albus, and I never thought you would be so apathetic." Felix said.


    "Thank you for saying that, Felix." Dumbledore gave a small smile, and the wrinkles in the corners of his eyes stretched.


    "I certainly wish I could do more if I could, trading my life for Voldemort''s? Very cost-effective indeed, if there is a chance I will not hesitate ... Hopes of too many people have been placed in this position of mine, I can not easily bet ..."


    "I know Voldemort, probably more than he himself, without experiencing a failure, he will not reflect, and Amelia will always be in danger. Voldemort has to realize: that it is not an easy thing to catch her, and she can call for support at any time, this time it is only you, but next time not necessarily, so Voldemort will look away."


    "Only Sirius is innocent in this whole thing, but then again he''s not, every member of the Order of the Phoenix should be prepared. Just like the person you buried in the Death Eaters-"


    Felix raised his eyebrows slightly and made a listening gesture.


    "Lucius, is it?" Dumbledore asked softly, "There might be more-"


    "How did you guess?" Felix interrupted.


    "Ah, Lucius has tried to target me in the past, and I didn''t think that taking him off the list of the board would be the end of the confrontation between us, and it did continued. But I''ve noticed that the complaints against me have decreased by a large margin in the last year, almost like a certain part of the board had lost their voice. Or it would have been much trickier during the board meetings."


    "So," Felix said slowly, "if you knew of Lucius'' existence, why did you still-"


    "Risked Severus?" Dumbledore asked with a smile, twirling his thumbs as he did so.


    Felix nodded.


    "As I said, Severus has a unique role, he is Voldemort''s greatest asset, a nail in the heart of the Order of the Phoenix, able to provide information about everyone, including you and me -"


    Felix suddenly understood, "You value how to reasonably deliver information to Voldemort more than getting it from him?"


    Dumbledore blinked.


    "Instead of letting Voldemort act recklessly, I prefer if he acts at the time I expect, in the way I expect, even if there are risks, I can control them in a justifiable range."


    ...


    "You really got it? The day before school starts?" Hermione asked, amazed.


    "Yeah, got it." Harry said.


    "I can''t believe you got it after failed soooo many times before. What is it about, Harry?"


    "What are you guys talking about?" Ron looked at the two with a puzzled look on his face.


    "Don''t interrupt." Hermione said, as her eyes remained focused on Harry.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore got a memory from Mr. Slughorn." Harry looked around to see if someone heard him and whispered at them, "I guess it involves Voldemort, or something similar as Headmaster was quite excited to get that memory."


    "Maybe it''s a way to defeat Voldemort," Hermione guessed, "According to what you said, that old gentleman and Headmaster Dumbledore were colleagues, which means he taught the You-Know-Who as well, didn''t he? He must know something about him."


    "That''s what I thought," Harry shrugged and continued to wolf down his food, "Compared to Headmaster Dumbledore, Mr. Slughorn was in a less than wonderful mood, he threw us out and didn''t even respond positively to the Headmaster''s suggestion that he should move."


    "Move?"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore wants him to live at Hogwarts and continue his Potions research. Hogsmeade would be fine - being a neighbour to Honeydukes - I can see he was a bit tempted." Harry said casually.


    Hermione''s chewing slowed down, "What could it be? Since it''s a memory, it can only be a piece of the past ..."


    At this point, Dumbledore stood up and tapped his glass and the great hall went quiet.


    "Welcome back, I know you can''t wait to run to the warmth and comfort of your quilts, but please be patient for a little while longer and listen to my few words ... This year we have two changes in our teaching staff. The first is the Care of Magical Creatures class, our gamekeeper needs to attend to some personal business and will be absent for a few weeks ... In the meantime, Professor Grubbly-Plank would fill in the vacancy, so let''s give her a warm welcome."


    Professor Grubbly-Plank rose from her seat, nodded toward the students with her prominent chin, and sat down as the great hall erupted with polite applause.


    "Next we will introduce our new teacher for the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Professor Black has extensive experience fighting against dark magic and has been working as the Minister of Magic''s advisor for the previous two months, he will be joining as a member of our faculty this year."


    Sirius stood up gleefully, and waved at everyone, before failing to restrain from whistling loudly twice at the end. The atmosphere in the great hall came to life, and Fred and George responded to him with a similar whistle.


    Dumbledore waited for the applause to calm down and continued.


    "There are some small, interesting attempts going to be made in this school year, and I''m sure some of you may have heard about them, and there are two things that are closely related to you."


    "The first one is that the examination of the ancient rune will be divided into two parts: a theoretical examination and a practical examination, and the specific assessment criteria will be introduced to you by Professor Hap in the classroom."


    Felix waved his hand lazily as the students exchange glances below.


    "The second matter is, the school will include some spells into the scope of the annual assessment, which requires every student to clear to graduate, if there are special circumstances you can apply in advance, of course, I will not admit the reason such as ''allergy to specific words''... ... We will post the assessment spells for the different grades within the first week of school." s?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "So, before we all go to bed, let''s all sing the school song." Dumbledore said loudly.


    The great hall stirred, and Felix''s face seemed to freeze, the school song will not be sung every year at Hogwarts, and sometimes the student orchestra will be arranged to sing, but it is clear that this year Dumbledore is quite interested in being a conductor.


    A long golden ribbon floated out from the tip of his wand and twisted into words.


    Headmaster Dumbledore wore star gloves that matched his robes and hat, and he held his wand as he waved his hands, like he is holding a baton, while Felix hummed along with the crowd.


    "Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,


    Teach us something please~


    Whether we be old and bald,


    Or young with scabby knees,


    Our heads could do with filling,


    With some interesting stuff ..."


    After the end of the chorus, Dumbledore wiped his eyes emotionally.


    "Music always moves people. Okay, now everyone can go back to their dormitories, and Prefects please lead the freshmen to their rooms."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 591+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 521: Busy Schedule at the Start of School

    The next morning, Valen remained reluctant to get up from under her velvet quilt, so Felix shoved the twittering alarm clock under her little quilt. Valen turned off the alarm clock and tossed it out, before drowsily smacking her beak and rolling over to sleep more soundly.


    Felix arrived at the great hall; the weather is overcast and damp outside, and the owls'' feathers are wet from the dew in the air. A brown owl circled him twice and dropped a copy of the Daily Prophet.


    He spread the paper, but there is no mention of yesterday''s attack against the Minister of Magic, instead, there''s a magic photo of Ms. Bones standing in front of the Thief''s Downfall on the front page. In the photo, she looked calmly at the camera with a very relaxed expression, with several people in the background - the Aurors standing behind her with solemn expressions, while Sirius leaning against the wall, and poking the water curtain of Thief''s Downfall with his wand.


    When Felix appeared outside the Ancient Rune classroom, a student is already waiting at the door.


    "Good morning, Professor Hap." Colin Creevey greeted enthusiastically.


    "Good morning to you as well, Mr. Creevey, come in." For the first time after two months, Felix opened the door of the classroom, which smelled like a mixture of accumulated dust and damp stale air, and the corners of the walls crept with green moss. S?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tch." Felix waved his wand and the windows in the classroom opened simultaneously, then a whirlwind came out of nowhere in the room, the tables and chairs "clattered", while Creevey''s face sparkled with excitement, and after ten seconds or so, a cloud of gray air flew out through the windows, the air in the classroom became fresh and comfortable again.


    "Now, all that''s left is moss." Felix muttered, pointing his wand at the stubborn green patches, the tip of the wand emitting a bright light, and when it hit the wall, the moss on it immediately disappeared.


    "Is it cleaning magic, Professor? I can help!" Creevey volunteered. Felix had no objection, so Creevey drew his wand and followed Felix''s example, trying to recite the spell silently. After failing several times, he had to recite the spell honestly: "Scourgify! Scourgify!"


    Ten minutes later, they stared intently at the classroom, searching for any possible stains. " Nearly complete, let''s see, extra ten points for your passion for work." Felix said and went to the window, where a drizzle of rain has been falling outside, which is carried into the classroom by the wind and hits his face with cool moisture.


    Creevey found a seat in the front and took out the book "Practical Rune (Elementary)", and asked with great interest, "Professor, what kind of new teaching aid have you prepared for this year, can you tell me in advance?"


    "Why are you so sure of it?" Felix looked over at him from the window.


    "Because every year you prepare something new," Creevey counted on his fingers, "the first year - oh, I was still in the first year - -was Golem, the second year was a variety of sneakoscope, and the third year was rune cards ... I was soooo curious for a while about the new teaching aid we would have this year, so I came over early."


    "Ah, if you put it that way ... Aren''t you already holding it?"


    Creevey blinked and looked down at the "Practical Rune (Elementary)" in his hand, and his expression collapsed in a moment with great disappointment. "But--" he stammered, " Just a summary of some practical runes is in here."


    "Well." Felix shook his left hand, and the ring glowed with a bright light - and with a loud bang, a large box landed on the table.


    Creevey''s eyes widened. He leaned down to stare at the contents of the box - it is a variety of small wooden sticks, which appears to be a mixture of quill and wand, with a sharp edge at one end. The sticks are marked with oddly shaped patterns that looked like something in-between letters and runes.


    "Rune carving knife," Felix explained: " it already became available two years ago, but I have never promoted it, after all, the wand works just fine. But as ancient runes become more and more developed, it is necessary to make more specific distinctions, just like the cauldron of the Potions class, which also has various versions through the centuries: ordinary type, automatic mixing, foldable, special material, etc. ..."


    This is actually Hedstrom Vera''s suggestion.


    Creevey looked at the box and asked, "Professor, how do I pick the right rune carving knife for me?"


    "Oh, the material is actually the same - they even come from the same chestnut tree, at most the pattern is different, but it does not affect the use. You can pick the one you like, first come, first served--" Felix said, relieved to see him choosing with interest.


    After Valen learned to write, she loved to scribble around with a paintbrush, so Felix cut a full chestnut tree into thick boards as tall as Valen to allow her to write and paint on it. In addition to a few fairly good-looking ''works'' collected by Felix, the rest of the materials were reshaped into rune carving knives.


    He caught a glimpse of Creevey picking up a carving knife and examining the design on it with awe in a fleeting glance. Felix decided to keep that a secret, no, to keep the tradition, and in the future add patterns on the carving knives that have no real use ...


    At that moment, two more students walked into the classroom, and Ginny and Luna looked at Creevey, who is about to plunge into the box, with rather curious eyes.


    ...


    Felix stood on the podium. The students below are chattering about a rune carving knife in their hands, and they are even seriously speculating about the meaning of the pattern.


    "As you already know, this class has a separate practical section, which means that the value of practical runes is recognized by the Wizarding Examinations Authority and included in the examination. According to the first version of the assessment standards, the O.W.Ls exam will only involve engraving common runes and rune circuits, while the N.E.W.Ts exam will involve casting runic spells, such as the Bright Fire-making Spell ..."


    The runic spell is not as easy to learn as one might think; the minimum requirement to master it is to master practical runes used in that spell. Not many students in the class can actually do this. To be precise, minus Ginny and Luna, who are both members of the Magic Rune Club, the count is currently zero.


    At the end of the lesson, Felix collected the summer assignments and announced the end of the class. The rain outside is getting heavier, with a few muffled thunderclaps sounding from time to time. After finishing his meal in the great hall at noon, Felix noticed the door to the staffroom is left open, so he walked in through it.


    "Oh, whoever it is, please close the door for me, thanks - it''s a little noisy out there." Professor McGonagall''s voice stated.


    Felix casually closed the door and looked over at a desk - from where the voice had sounded. But all he could see are stacks of parchment, and Professor McGonagall''s body is totally blocked. With a casual wave of Felix''s hand, a flame flared up in the fireplace. The dampness in the room dissipated considerably.


    "Summer assignment?"


    "Yeah." Professor McGonagall looked up and nudged her glasses, "The first week of school is the busiest, lots of things need to be dealt with, summer assignments, Quidditch try-outs, adjusting class choices ... Information from the Order of the Phoenix also needs to be sorted out in time, not to mention taking time to comfort Charity -- -"


    She immediately shut up.


    "The Muggle Studies professor? What''s wrong with her?" Felix asked curiously.


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips.


    "Well, you''ll find out somewhere else ... she was involved in a tricky mess."


    Felix still had an impression of this professor from two years ago, when they had attended a not-so-successful international conference together, and the professor had mentioned that she is studying a popular science book on genes and heredity.


    Thinking about it, a guess popped into his head - "There won''t be any Death Eaters after her, are there?"


    But it shouldn''t be, Rita Skeeter is still kicking alive and well.


    "Of course not, she-she was caught by the Muggle police," Professor McGonagall said with an uncertain tone as she grunted from her nose, "according to her words she was trying to consult an academic for advice, and she accidentally created a few sparks in her wand and was suspected of possessing a dangerous weapon."


    Huh, she is something ...


    Felix smacked his lips, and said dryly after a short while, "She was not sentenced, right?"


    "Her penalty wasn''t too severe on account of her being a professor - just a warning, plus a fine. Good thing she didn''t enter Azkaban. Still, she felt ashamed and submitted her resignation upon her return to Dumbledore, but the Headmaster didn''t agree. She''s been stuck in her office for the past few days, with the excuse of preparing her new book."


    Felix raised his eyebrow, thinking of the paper Professor Burbage had planned to publish, he felt that this new book would cause an uproar, in fact, it is not impossible to publish such controversial content, but it is just that the current time is really sensitive. It took less than ten seconds for him to come up with a solution - to send her a complete set of biology books.


    Since she is determined to study, let her spend more time, and when she understands it all, the battle may have already been finished.


    At that moment, the door pushed open from outside again.


    The "rustle" of the quill on the parchment is immediately muffled by the noise from outside, followed by a damp, cold air rushing into the room, the red-hot wood in the fireplace blazed, sending a series of sparks up.


    With a "bang", the door slammed shut, Snape walked in dragging his ever-present black robe, with a thick pile of parchment floating behind him.


    ------------


    #Matthew Lepcha, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 593+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 522: The Elder Wand and the New Wand

    It seems they both had the same idea - Minerva and Severus - both wanted to use the lunch break to correct some of their summer assignments. As for Felix, he has much more free time than them. Nevertheless, he sat in his armchair, holding a stack of papers and reading them.


    For a while, the staffroom was silent, with only the sound of correcting papers. The three professors corrected differently: Professor McGonagall is the most rigorous and serious, the quill "rustle" sound rarely stopped, like the sound of fine rain on the grass; Snape is the opposite, he did not move for a long time, and then coldly with a lot of force circling heavily on the parchment, just from listening at that time, Felix was able to Roughly judge the level of the student, and how Severus was feeling ...


    Felix wrote down a series of page numbers at the end of the paper as an indication of what the student needed to re-understand. After a little more than half an hour, he stood up from his chair, straightened his body, and prepared to go out for fresh air. Snape, who had not spoken, raised his head, stared at Felix''s back, and followed him out of the staffroom.


    Felix appeared in the yard, amidst the drizzle outside, and stood by a tall pillar. A broad eave extended high above the castle, and cast a large shadow, which concealed a small patch of bushes.


    Felix squinted and gazed at the blurred view in the distance where students were hopping like rabbits in the rain.


    Magic is magical and convenient. He couldn''t remember how many times this thought had flashed through his mind. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Snape is standing next to him at some point, and there are also students out in the yard for fresh air, but whenever they get close, they would meet Snape''s vicious gaze, and it allowed them some free space. The two men surveyed their surroundings respectively for any disturbance, and spoke at the same time -


    "I heard you got a new wand." Snape said.


    "I heard you got a side hustle these days." This was said by Felix.


    Snape''s face stiffened for a moment, and then he said softly, "Our Headmaster truly trusts you ... Then you should be wary of him, as this usually means that he has made some scheme that includes you."


    "You mean he intends to ''use'' me?" Felix asked, he found something rather interesting, in the eyes of different people, Dumbledore''s image could be quite different, what about himself? How many faces does he have in the hearts of others?


    "Use you...," Snape repeated playfully, "if you mean being a pawn, with all your moves firmly under his control... your sort of right."


    "It''s scary ~ he wouldn''t have prophetic blood, right? But I remember he personally doesn''t believe in prophecy that much." Felix said exaggeratedly.


    Snape gave him a knowing look, "Our Headmaster is quite a skilled chess player, he will analyse you thoroughly before the conversation begins. Thereby making you believe that everything you do is of your own free choice, except it just happens to be what he desires too."


    Felix ignored the familiar sensation of what he himself seemed to be doing - preparing as best he could before the negotiation and not giving the other side a chance to say no. Those words sounded as if Snape was accusing him personally.


    "Whining a lot, Severus."


    "Just being sentimental." Snape said without looking at him, "So, the name of your new wand is ''Elder Wand''?" Although it came out of context, Felix caught his point.


    "That''s right." He replied briefly.


    "It is the work of Ollivander?" Snape pursued.


    "Yes. He''s quite skilful."


    "But some people don''t think so." Snape said gently.


    Felix rolled his eyes, "Your part-time boss? I mean, don''t you think he''s being too strict-"


    "Some people think," Snape raised his voice, his dark eyes glued on the curtain of rain, "that this wand has long existed, and has been in the custody of the Ollivander family, which has recently found its new owner after a long time."


    Felix was slightly surprised, "Strange." Voldemort misunderstood something? Felix''s mind worked fast, Voldemort''s previous image of retreating without a fight flashed before his eyes, he certainly had misunderstood something ...


    "The Elder Wand?"


    Snape fell silent. Felix pondered, so, Lucius told Voldemort what had happened in the wand store? He carefully recalled the conversation with Mr. Ollivander all over again, and he is pretty sure he used that fairy tale name in a joking tone.


    But who knows what Voldemort thought, he is not quite right in the head ...


    "It is true that there are various legends of powerful wands in history, the Elder Wand, the Death Wand, the Destiny Wand ... The rumours about the Elder Wand are most exaggerated, and the process of their succession was bloody and cruel ... Of course, not many people believe in them, and knowledgeable People will treat them as a story to listen to ... but you can''t conclude from this that these powerful wands have never really existed." Snape said in a low voice.


    "Why do you say that the Elder Wand was passed down through a bloody and cruel process?" Felix asked, picking out a prominent part.


    Snape glanced at him.


    "Rumour has it that the only way to become its true master is to seize the wand from the previous owner. And that usually means scheming as well as bloodshed. There''s plenty of evidence to support this-"


    "Do you believe this too?" Felix asked.


    Snape didn''t answer positively as he continued, "Several powerful dark wizards throughout history have used their lives to prove their prestige. Of course, there is another faction that believes that it is all just a nonsensical coincidence, a false pattern drawn by later researchers who threaded their way through a limited succession of wand owners and inferred it in reverse order, and it is just rather a fanciful story."


    " What I''m holding is not an Elder Wand." Felix said and smiled with interest.


    "It doesn''t matter if I believe it or not, it doesn''t matter if I say it." Snape brushed it off.


    Felix was dumbfounded, he had a new understanding of what Dumbledore said before, how to control an enemy''s thoughts through intel? Simply by deducing what he did backward on the line, at least, in this case, Felix can conclude: that until Voldemort figure out whether the ''Elder Wand'' is true or not, he would never dare to fight against him.


    A deterrent effect brought by a fake Elder Wand is astonishing.


    Even Felix could not help but feel a bit moved - just as Voldemort is wary of Felix, Felix is also wary of Voldemort. Two wizards of equal strength, far beyond the normal level, both valuing each other''s unconscious actions, thoughts and feeling is a perfectly normal thing.


    Of course, he knew that the Elder Wand he is holding is a fake, but what if there is such a battle wand truly exists in reality, and he named his new wand after it implicitly, does this foreshadow anything? For example, he will eventually get the real Elder Wand?


    But Felix quickly quelled this thought, he is not willing to believe the existence of an invincible wand, that can make any random wizard stronger.


    Besides, the wand is only a temporary thing for him, he does not need to spend too much energy on something that is destined to be abandoned. Might as well study how to counter Voldemort''s Killing Curse, he now has at least three ideas - zooming magic to enlarge very solid things, seventh-level shield charm, and modified magical creature transfiguration. But it would take time to apply them flexibly.


    Felix got lost in deep thought, he had been underestimating the zooming magic in the past, thinking only about how to shrink the target, but when he thought about it, it would be a good idea to zoom in the surrounding things.


    He will carry some coins, stones, nails, and other things from now on, and when he encounters Voldemort later, he will throw them at him ... or he can even throw rats and insects hahaha.


    ...


    "Who''s there!" Snape suddenly shouted. He strode aggressively toward the shadows, with his robe hurling hauntingly.


    Felix looked back just in time to hear Snape''s exasperated voice yell, "Fifty points for eavesdropping Professors! For each! Plus Detention!"


    Felix blinked and moved a few steps to the side, now he could clearly see.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione are standing together with their heads down, their expressions looked sickly, and Harry is holding a floppy string, the Extendable Ears invented by the Weasley twins.


    The other end of the Extendable Ears is twitching at Snape''s feet, and Snape''s face twitched in anger with it.


    ------------


    #Matthew Lepcha, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 593+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 523: Detention and Hopping

    "The same arrogance, ego, self-righteousness, lack of discipline, love to be in the spotlight, nosy, rude -" Snape looked at the three distant figures, his gaze firmly fixed on Harry, his eyes burning with bitter hate. " Well, if we judge him by Slytherin standards, he really isn''t very appealing. Well, all three of them." Felix said softly, "But as you have heard, they only heard the last few sentences, with no beginning ... that is why I said to them that we were talking about my new wand, and I gave it a fairy tale name."


    Snape did not speak. His dark eyes still gazed at Harry''s back, and from this angle, he looked like his father.


    After a moment, he spoke coldly: "Felix, I will pass on the information about your wand to that person."


    Felix answered calmly, "I have this expectation, you can decide how much to say by yourself."


    "You think I can make the call?" Snape left after dropping a sentence disgruntledly, his black robe tossed, through the curtain of rain. As his figure blurred.


    ...


    "Tough luck." Ron muttered as he stomped up the steps.


    "Oh, stop it-"


    They stood at the door of the Staff Room, Harry knocked on the door moodily, hoping from the bottom of his heart that no one will be inside, the seconds of waiting seemed like years, and finally a familiar voice heard from inside Saying, "Please come in."


    Not exactly what he had hoped for, Harry heard two sighs, he plucked up the courage and pushed open the door as he walked in. It is a long room, a soft glow draped from the ceiling, the room is a little warmer than outside, probably because of the fireplace in the corner. Professor McGonagall looked up from the stack of parchment, her sharp eyes peering over from under her squared glasses.


    "Potter, Weasley, Granger, what can I do for you?"


    "We were asked to come and see you because ... of some mistakes." Harry handed over the note in his hand and Professor McGonagall frowned as she took it. The note is glued together, an Order of the Phoenix trick and her eyebrows furrowed deeper as she removed her wand and tapped on it, and the note opened automatically.


    Professor McGonagall read it quickly and did not speak for a short while after reading it.


    "Is this true?" She said, "Eavesdropping on a Professor''s conversation?" In addition to explaining the process in general, the note mentioned in cryptic handwriting the context in which the conversation was taking place; the two were talking about confidential information related to the Order of the Phoenix.


    "We didn''t mean to," Harry said, "I - uh, we went out for some air after lunch and-"Professor McGonagall grunted, so Harry explained everything that happened ten minutes or so back stiffly-


    "Did you hear that? Sirius''s class was quite popular." Hermione said musingly, as she along with Harry and Ron had just come out of the great hall, to get some fresh air.


    "He said he wanted to keep it a secret," Harry sounded indignant, kicking his feet, " saying it''s a surprise, but we won''t have his class until tomorrow. I''m NOT looking forward to it anyway."


    Hermione and Ron laughed.


    "What''s wrong?" Harry looked at them somewhat puzzled.


    "You sound like a little kid who had a fight with his parents ... watch out!" Hermione said as a first-year stumbled over and almost ran into them.


    "Running is forbidden in the castle, you''ll bump into other people." Hermione first said sternly, and then her tone gentled down, " What''s the matter?"


    The freshman''s eyes looked frightened as he looked back as though someone is chasing after him.


    The trio looked at each other in wonder.


    "Hey, little one, we are Prefect, if someone bullies you, feel free to speak up," Ron puffed out his chest, making the Prefect badge on his shirt a little more conspicuous, "I have the right to detain and deduce points ... "


    "Come on, Ron, we can''t abuse that right." Hermione said seriously, she looked at the freshman, who said with a look of shock, "I, I just met the Potions class professor in the yard, he had such a scary look in his eyes!"


    "Did you not figure that out on your first day? ... Well, it''s true though." Ron muttered.


    "Professor Snape ... Well, he''s really strict," Hermione said slowly: "If he reprimands you for no apparent reason, you don''t have to take it to heart- "


    "Yeah, well, you''ll have plenty of such bad days in the future." Ron added. And when Hermione''s eyes darted over, he immediately shut up, and when her attention returned to the new student, he began to wink at Harry, who felt that Ron had said both sentences rather accurately.


    "No, no, Professor Snape is talking to another professor, and I guess ... they don''t want to be disturbed." The freshman turned red and stammered, his eyes watered as he finished, before turning to run away.


    ...


    "So you guys wanted to figure out what had happened?" Professor McGonagall asked in a stern voice.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded woodenly.


    "We''re Prefects, we always, always have to ..." Ron scratched his ear as Professor McGonagall glanced at him, "With all due respect, Mr. Weasley, there is nothing in the Prefects'' Code that explains your behaviour today, let alone the fact that this isn''t your first time."


    The bell rang and Professor McGonagall stood up, shoving the parchment from her desk into a drawer, "I fully agree with Professor Snape, points deducted ..." she pursed her lips, "as well as detention, which starts from this week --"


    Harry and Ron looked up in horror as they thought about the same thing, Quidditch selection on Friday afternoon.


    "-- every Saturday night until lights out, you need to process Potions materials until the end of the month."


    After that, they got kicked out by Professor McGonagall, Ron rambled the whole way as they hurried towards the Potions classroom, "Late again, I bet that old bat is definitely going to trouble us ... Why Professor McGonagall didn''t speak up for us, Snape is totally making a big deal out of it. Well, he''ll be happy, since there is someone to help him with the potion materials this new term ..."


    Harry''s stomach turned up a little abruptly, his mind recalled the gloomy chamber, the gutted toads, the smoky Mandrake root and Peppermint, the Horseradish, and the Mucus of Flobberworm, the organs of Bats and Rats, the slimy slugs ... his scalp tingled.


    They dragged their heavy feet back to the common room by evening.


    "I told you, Snape is not going to let us off easily, deduction of ten points each for being late, and aren''t we late because of him... Together it''s close to two hundred points." Ron''s wail is about to catch up with the Moaning Myrtle, they listlessly went to the most isolated seat in the common room.


    Harry and Hermione aren''t in the best spirits either.


    "What do you guys think, can we deduct points from the other houses?" Ron asked out of the blue, neither of the other two paid him any mind, and both Harry and Hermione are accustomed to Ron''s daily unreliable suggestions that he would abandon on his own sooner or later.


    "We can''t do that, not to mention the fact that you have to write a whole bunch of reports." Hermione finally couldn''t resist the urge to correct.


    "If it''s Malfoy''s gang ..." Ron''s eyes sparkled, then the light dimmed, "Oh yeah, I forgot he''s also a Prefect."


    At that moment, Harry, who hadn''t spoken, suddenly asked.


    "That story ... the one that Professor Hap picked the name for his new wand from, is called The Tale of the Three Brothers, right, well, is it famous ..."


    "Just like thunder, man, I grew up listening to it." Ron said without thinking, "It''s a short story from the Tales of Beedle the Bard."


    "Wait, I think I''ve seen that name somewhere, Beedle the Bard - Bee ..." Harry said slowly, looking subconsciously at Hermione, usually around this point, Hermione will always be able to give the exact answer.


    But this time Hermione also showed a pondering expression.


    "Have you really seen it, Harry?" She asked.


    Harry returned a look of obvious confusion.


    Next to her, Ron stifled a laugh and said, "That''s a rare thing. Even Miss Know-it-all can''t find an answer one day."


    Hermione glared at him, "If you know, say it quickly."


    But Ron enjoyed this process immensely, so he shook his head for a while: "Think of something that both Harry and I know, well - something that is accessible and that you happen to miss - "


    Hermione''s eyes seemed to become as confused as Harry''s.


    But Harry on the other hand had a clue, definitely not something related to study, because Hermione would not leave any corner of the textbook or reference book, she just had that ability. Then it could only be something he and Ron had seen while killing time ...


    "I remember," Harry''s eyes lit up and Hermione immediately stared at his face. He said in an affirmative tone, "It''s The Strange Case of Mick the Little Wizard, it''s mentioned there, but I can''t remember exactly where it is."


    "But I''ve read ... a few volumes too." Hermione slowly came back to her senses as she and Harry looked together at Ron, who still wanted to play hard to get, but being stared at by both of them at the same time, he immediately threw up his hands in surrender.


    "Well, it is in the last book: the young wizard Mick''s friend is in danger, and in the moment of crisis he used his magic - and thus exposed his wizard identity. Mick is sad because while he received his Hogwarts notice, he also has lost a group of friends. But on the day Mick leaving, his friends returned, without caring if he is a wizard or not, and sincerely wished him well. After that Mick told his friends the story ''The Wizard and the Hopping Pot''."


    Ron finally nailed it down, "That''s where the name ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'' is mentioned, just once."


    "That''s very helpful." Harry complimented.


    Ron grinned.


    Hermione still mulled over what he had said earlier, "What is The Wizard and the Hopping Pot... is about?"


    This put Ron in a difficult spot, he thought about it and stammered: "Probably about ... well, a kind old wizard died, he was very kind to Muggles when he was alive, always helping people as much as possible, the neighbours all loved the old man. But his son wasn''t like him, so the old wizard left an enchanted pot before he died - the old man must have been an alchemist, ahem, I''ll go on - and after the old man died, his son refused to help the poor neighbours anymore, in short, he was quite stone-hearted, and then the pot began to torment the old man''s son, making him lose his sleep and appetite, thus the son decided to comply with his father''s wishes and continue to do what he could to help his neighbours."


    Ron said everything under one breath, so he panted a bit, and after taking two deep breaths, he finally concluded, "I guess the story is trying to convey that wizards can live in peace with muggles and help each other ... that was what my mom said." He lastly added.


    Hermione stared at him.


    "Don''t look at me, I was only a few years old then, so it is impressive that I can remember a bit." Ron said.


    "But-" Hermione questioned, biting her lip, as she remained puzzled, "I failed to see any sense of peace and harmony in it- I mean, the old wizard must have figured out his son''s nature, so he forced his son to do the good deed, under the compulsion of that pot."


    Ron shrugged, "I dunno."


    At that moment, a voice suddenly interjected, "Don''t give him a hard time, he was drooling over his teddy bear back then." Fred and George came over gleefully, "Sold seven Extendable Ears. The very first day of school!"


    "You guys still short of money?" Harry asked.


    "That''s not true," Fred said with a big grin as he sat down next to him, "but we need some testers who can give feedback about our product."


    "Like you did with the quick-thinking candy?" Hermione asked sternly.


    "What?" Fred questioned in surprise.


    "I saw it all! You guys posted the announcement about recruiting testers on the bulletin board, and if I hadn''t noticed it when I went to post the list of assessment spells-" Her mouth pursed up, her expression resembling Professor McGonagall''s.


    Fred and George looked at each other.


    "It won''t be long before you will change your mind, Hermione." George said dismissively, "You''ll definitely use it, this is your O.W.Ls year, and every year there are a few breakdowns, no one will be ok, the better their grades the easier they will suffer ... remember, Shelton carried an onion flavoured amulet at that time? "


    "Of course, I remember," Fred said with a straight face, "after all, we sold it to her, but unfortunately, the concentrated solution of the Elixir to Induce Euphoria does not seem to coexist well with onions." He stood up and tilted his head towards George, "Come on, let''s go find Lee, there might be something on his end-"


    At the sight of Hermione looking at him with exasperation, so he shut his mouth alertly and fluidly changed the subject, "Oh, by the way, about your previous question, George and I also asked at that time - Dad said that there are always good and bad wizards, that''s why people like him exist. "


    "You mean--" Hermione asked hesitantly.


    "At that time Dad was making laws to protect Muggles." George said briefly and concisely. While Hermione pondered, as the two left together.


    Harry is now feeling conflicted, on one hand, Mr. Weasley''s practice of protecting Muggles through laws is as admirable as the old wizard in the fairy tale who restricted his son with a pot; but when these words came out of Fred and George''s mouths, it always felt slightly odd, especially with their sneaky backs ...


    As he lay on his four-poster bed, he tossed all those messy thoughts aside. The possibility of listening to Sirius'' class tomorrow filled his heart with anticipation.


    ------------


    #Zogio, Thanks for all your love and support. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 594+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 524: Siriuss Defense Against the Dark Arts First Lesson (2 in 1)

    When Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom the next afternoon, Sirius has shown up early, and he looked completely different from before - wearing a fine, slim-fitting dark suit with a similarly dark vest and a loose collar, his face sported a carefree expression that matched his curly black hair as if he had stepped out of a painting. "Harry?" He came over to them and asked with a worried look on his face, "I heard you guys got a lot of points deducted? Did Snape do that?"


    Harry abruptly felt a sense of temporal dislocation. The image of Sirius seemed to overlap with the time when he had been the best man at his parents'' wedding more than ten years ago; at best, he looked more mature now.


    "It''s nothing really." Harry muttered, not wanting Sirius and Snape to clash.


    "Okay then, let''s talk about it later." Sirius hesitated, "You guys stay after class, there''s something I think you should know, it involves Hagrid."


    "He''s back?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "Shh." Sirius interrupted him, "He doesn''t want other people to notice this for a while, as he still can''t show up... We are going over to visit him tonight with Felix."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and didn''t press the issue any further. They took their seats, and in the back, Lavender Brown whispered in Parvati''s ear - "Don''t you think the new professor is more handsome than the previous Lockhart ..." then they both chattered and debated.


    Harry hurriedly moved to the inside seat, afraid of being infected by the stupidity emanating from the two.


    Hermione looked at Sirius and asked with expectation, "Do you guys think Hag-he''ll be back to class next week?"


    "I don''t know, I hope so." Harry said, judging by Sirius'' tone, Hagrid should be back, but why he didn''t show up?


    The bell rang and all the students gazed at Sirius in silence, their eyes carried a deep measuring look, a treatment every new professor got, only this time it is particularly distinct because the new professor''s resume is so daunting - not because he had worked as Minister of Magic''s adviser, but because this man had escaped from Azkaban with the title of ''the first Death Eater under the You-Know-Who'', and this fearful reputation had scared them for six months before.


    Everyone became very curious about how he escaped from prison and approached the school at that time, and many students here had spread rumours about the new professor.


    "Well, students, as per the usual tradition, I need to introduce myself first. But I doubt that there is someone here who doesn''t know my name, after all, my wanted notice has been posted in Hogsmeade for most of the year, with a surprisingly large one in the window of the Honeydukes ..." Sirius said gleefully: "Although I don''t look quite the same as I did then, my name hasn''t changed. ."


    "Sirius Black, you can call me Professor or Professor Black, and of course, it''s okay to call me by my first name directly when we get acquainted."


    The students exchanged glances with each other, this new professor seemed to be very talkative ...


    "Any questions? If not, we''ll start the class."


    "But--" Hermione raised her hand, "Um, Professor Black?" Sirius smiled at her.


    "We don''t have any textbooks yet." She said.


    The students nodded, and Harry''s heart raced in fear that his godfather would say, I forgot. But on second thought, Harry thought it is unlikely.


    " You mean textbook, we won''t use that stuff, what I''m going to teach you is not something you can remember with your head," Sirius said.


    "Now take your wands and follow me." Before the others could react, he had already disappeared from the classroom.


    After a few seconds, he peeked inside with confusion, "What are you waiting for? Haven''t I made myself very clear?"


    Everyone snapped back, exchanging excited glances with each other.


    Hermione, however, was greatly shocked. She remained frozen in place as the other students got up from their seats and headed toward the door.


    "A good start, isn''t it?" Ron said, while holding his unicorn wand in his hand, "I have a lot of confidence in him all of a sudden."


    They walked down the stairs in a sparse line, then walked through the entrance hall and out of the castle, stopping in a clearing on the edge of the Black Lake.


    Perhaps because of the rain yesterday, the weather today is exceptionally sunny, warm, and comfortable. The sun is shining, the breeze is gentle, the lake is rippling with golden waves, and a thought pops up in many people''s minds - if only today is a weekend.


    "When did two more walls appear here? It''s so ugly ..." Draco Malfoy asked with a frown, not far from them on the grass, there are two stone walls erected, about twenty feet long, nearly one person high, spaced sixty or seventy feet apart from each other.


    Sirius Pretend like he didn''t hear it, it was built by him in the dark night, so even if it is a little crooked, it is justifiable, no?


    " Silence, students. Defense Against the Dark Arts class has one ever-present goal, and that is to teach you how to protect yourself when you are in danger. So, I have been asking myself one question for a while, and that is how to teach you to PROTECT yourselves in times of war ... Can anyone answer this question?"


    Without surprise, Hermione was the first to raise her hand.


    "Hermione -" Sirius suddenly coughed repeatedly, "Well, I mean, Miss Granger, please answer."


    "According to the booklet distributed by the Ministry of Magic, in the event of danger, the only thing minor wizards should do to protect themselves from danger is - to quickly reunite with their families and use apparition to escape, so all must master and adapt to the side-along apparition."


    "Very good, perfectly correct, can everyone keep this in mind?" Sirius looked at the students.


    Only a few of them nodded their heads. Sirius furrowed his brow, " I mean ... there is nothing difficult in this, do you need her to repeat it again?"


    This time basically everyone shook their heads.


    "Great, then this part is considered finished." Sirius said with satisfaction.


    Everyone looked a bit confused, what do you mean by ''finished''? Sirius cleared his throat, " Protecting yourself is very simple, don''t run around aimlessly, don''t create unnecessary troubles, then learn the skill side-along apparition, and that''s pretty much everything. I forgot to apply for permission with the headmaster to teach you Side-along Apparition today ..."


    In the end, his tone became low and solemn, then he just stood there quietly, to attract everyone''s attention.


    "It is certainly best if you can escape, there is no need to risk your lives ... but if you cannot escape, or have a reason why you must stay, then you are left with only one choice - and that is to pick up your wand and bravely fight, no matter who the enemy is." He said in a deep voice.


    This is the moment where one can see the subtle influence of the traits that are advocated by different houses on their students. Although it would not be obvious when singled out, the difference could still be seen when they''re grouped together - most of the Gryffindors and some Slytherin students, are moved by the tenacious fighting spirit in Sirius'' words and start to think about the circumstances in which they must choose to fight, but there are still many Slytherin students shook their heads faintly, expressing their disapproval.


    There is actually no difference between the two, being calm and being indifferent; being brave and being reckless, as a line between the two is so thin it can be easily overstepped.


    ... S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "All right!" Sirius clapped his hands and said to the students, " Next is grouping, Slytherin House students stand over here, Gryffindor House students go over there." He opened his hands wide as if he is holding two small flags that indicate the direction.


    The students followed the instructions and walked to their designated positions. Draco Malfoy passed Harry in stride and turned back with a provocative look.


    " It looks like there''s going to be a duel later, I will show you what I''ve learned over the summer." He whispered.


    "You can challenge me." Harry had long been accustomed to hearing such words, so answered very smoothly: "But I want to fight against a Death Eater, so if you know one, you need to introduce them to me, okay?"


    Draco''s smug expression froze as he remembered his Aunt Bella, who had lived briefly in his house.


    " Hurry up! You two!" Sirius urged them from the side, and the two went to stand in their respective houses, not knowing if that is a coincidence or not, Harry found himself standing right in front of one of the stone walls, and so did the opposite group next to the wall by their side.


    Sirius stood between them and pulled a whistle out of his pocket: "What you''re going to do is fight like you''re on a real battlefield, it is okay to interpret it as a chaotic battle, where you need to take down the opposite house with your house. I want to see your true level, so follow my instructions - when the whistle sounds, you can start, I will give a reminder in advance, remember: only stunning spell and shield charm are allowed, there should be no one here who doesn''t know how to cast them, right?"


    The two groups froze for a few seconds, a scuffle? -- "That''s not fair." Draco shouted, "There are fewer people on our side!"


    "Then how about I transfer you to the other group?" Sirius asked in a threatening tone as he bared his fangs. At least from Draco''s point of view.


    "I''m not going." Draco said with a scowl, asking a Slytherin to join a group full of Gryffindors? He had only ever experienced that feeling at the Magic Rune Club, and it wasn''t a fight.


    "Then behave," Sirius said impatiently, turning to everyone and saying in a loud voice, " Do you think the battle will only take place when you want? Think everything will go according to your wishes on the battlefield? I hope you''ll still have the strength to complain later. I have prepared a lot of fun games!"


    Harry clenched his wand tightly in his hand, he did not expect the practical lesson is a scuffle, and the Slytherin students opposite were also confused. But gradually, some students'' expressions become vibrant, their hearts quickly burst with crazy emotions, then they flashed a dangerous smile toward their opponents.


    Harry''s heart tightened as he took small steps toward Ron''s direction while whispering to Hermione, "Come closer, let''s get together."


    "What, oh!" Hermione hadn''t recovered from her shock, with obvious confusion: "How could Sirius do this? He''s bound to get tons of complaints! He''s acting even more out of line than Hagrid and Professor Moody did before-"


    "Let''s talk about that later." Harry interrupted her.


    On the opposite side, most of the students remained blankly where they stood, so Sirius had started to count down to increase their pressure, "Three - two - one - shoot! " The loud whistle echoed in this field, and the red light of the stunning spell streaked across the field, Hermione and Ron released the shield charm at the same time, to protect themselves, while Harry''s wand poked out from the gap of the charm, and twitched quickly, as two people from the opposite side instantly collapsed.


    After a round of exchanges, nearly one-third of Gryffindor and Slytherin respectively fell, and everyone stopped, not knowing what to do next.


    "Continue! Until one side falls completely!" Sirius, who had retreated further away, shouted at them.


    Draco Malfoy is the first to respond, standing behind a crooked stone wall and ordering the rest of the group, "Over here! There are few of us, so let''s use the environment--" A spell hit the wall near him, and it is from Ron, who regretfully retracted his wand, "Missed."


    That spell acted like a fuse, and after that, every students ran towards the back of the stone wall on their side. From Sirius'' point of view, one would see that the students of the two houses are standing behind a stone wall and cautiously looking ahead of it.


    There are already a dozen students lying on the ground.


    Behind the stone wall, Harry licked his lips, he didn''t feel the pressure, knocking down two people with a silent stunning spell seemed like a breeze, especially since he had the protection of Ron and Hermione''s shield charm, he felt he had been too cautious before.


    "Never mind those people on the ground, they''re already ''corpses''." Sirius shouted from afar.


    At his urging, the two groups of students chanted spells at each other from across the stone wall. After the initial awe and discomfort, everyone became immersed in this tense, exciting and unusual game of dueling, and they gradually gave up defending and just shot at each other with stunning spells, and after a few minutes, half of their companions collapsed on both sides respectively, and only single digits remained on the Slytherin side, which made Sirius shake his head for a while.


    Now the situation on the field has become a total mess.


    The huge disadvantage in numbers made the Slytherin students sober up, and they finally stopped appearing and hid behind the solid stone wall, only occasionally glancing from the edge of the defensive wall or from above, and if any students in the Gryffindor group stood still with a big grin, they would be hit by a chaotic spell in the next second.


    The situation was at a standstill. Sirius raised his wand from afar and took the unlucky ones who had been hit by the stunning spell off the ''battlefield'' and woke them up with a Reviving Spell, and most of them looked shocked when they came to their senses and had no recollection of how they had been hit.


    "Look carefully, and write a paper about it when you get back." Sirius said to them.


    ...


    "They''re hiding there without coming out, what should we do, Harry?!" Neville shouted as he leaned against the wall. When he had just poked his head out he almost got hit by the spell.


    Harry looked back at the rest of the group, "There are 16 left." Hermione said. Harry gritted his teeth, "Would you all like to act in one group?"


    "That''s for sure."


    "We will listen to you, Harry."


    "It''s too good to be true, we''re about to beat Slytherin." Seamus said excitedly.


    "Okay," Harry decided to lead them, "Me, Ron, Hermione," he hesitated, "and Neville, we''ll go ahead and defend with the shield charm, while Seamus and Dean stand behind us and cast the stunning spell!"


    It took them half a minute to adjust and barely build a formation to step out of the stone wall.


    On the opposite side, Draco frowned, feeling that something is not right, there is no movement outside for a while, what is going on? He estimated there would be at least a dozen more on the other side, while on their side - he grimaced - there are only six remains.


    It is a losing battle no matter how you think about it.


    Damn Sirius Black, Dad''s words are right, he''s the biggest traitor of the Pureblood faction!


    He glanced at his followers beside him - Goyle had fallen, leaving only Crabbe with him, "Crabbe, you go outside and take a look." Crabbe filled with reluctance, the muscles in his body could not stop so many wands, but he still poked his head out of the wall, and the next moment his eyes suddenly widened.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "What happened?"


    " Tell us!"


    The few remaining people asked in a chaotic frenzy.


    "They--" As Crabbe spoke half-way through, he got hit by a stunning spell and fell to the grass with a thud, and Draco''s eyes popped out. It was not because Crabbe had been hit by the spell, but because he heard the sound of footsteps moving in unison - very close to here.


    "Hey, Malfoy."


    A teasing voice said, and Draco looked up as Harry grinned broadly from behind a shield charm, and from behind him, two wands flashed red as the spell and darkness struck him simultaneously.


    The dozen or so remaining Gryffindor students let out a deafening cheer, "We won!"


    Sirius approached the six students and chanted the Reviving Spell on them.


    "At the end of the first game, no one used other spells, which is good to know, because in other grades someone took advantage of the chaos to use the hexes, and I punished them with copying sentences that I learned from the muggle school ... Anyway, Slytherin lost, Gryffindor wins."


    Gryffindor''s students are still joyful, shouting one after another, "We won! Victory! The Slytherin was defeated!"


    "... Also, one more thing, half of your comrades ''died''," Sirius said expressionlessly, and they immediately stopped laughing.


    "Next the second game, this time you are only allowed to use the Jelly-Legs Curse, not even the shield charm can be used, you can not defend ... treat the curse as a killing curse, you should know its characteristics ... difficult to defend it, you will die if you are hit. "


    Many Slytherin students cast hateful glances at him, they think they have to suffer another humiliation, even Harry''s heart jumped from all those looks, but Sirius did not seems to mind it


    "All stand over here, I want to regroup." Soon, Sirius divided the group of red and green students like a fabric cut in two by a pair of sharp scissors, and the two houses got mixed up. They stood together, yet with clear distance. Everyone''s face remained blank.


    Harry saw the face of Malfoy, who had just been knocked unconscious, while Ron and Hermione separated to the opposite side.


    "About the same number this time, what do you think?" Sirius asked.


    He then retreated to a distance again, " You have two minutes to think about tactics, after that the game will began immediately, the rules are clear to you, and whichever side loses this time can no longer make excuses. Of course, you can use this time to goof off."


    Harry looked at his new group, no one said anything for a while, half of the Gryffindors and half of the Slytherins looked at each other with strange eyes, they were not long before waving their wands at each other, cheering for the other side to fall, but now they are forced to stand together, apparently, everyone somewhat caught off guard.


    They don''t know where Sirius learned this from. They couldn''t help but complain.


    "Why is it so much like the Magic Rune Club?" Neville muttered.


    Realization dawned on Harry, and he looked at Draco, with a similar emotion he had felt the first time he saw him in Madam Malkin''s Robes store, how could someone be so annoying ... Harry thought to himself, but he fought back his discomfort and said, " As per the club''s rule?"


    Draco looked at Harry with a measuring gaze, and they looked at each other with disgust. Just as Harry was feeling impatient, Draco''s pale face sneered as he said, " Sure."


    "Hey Potter, you have to watch out for the spell that will come from the side." A girl next to him whispered.


    "Shut up, Pansy." Draco said coldly.


    Two minutes passed quickly and Sirius blew his whistle again.


    "The battle has begun! What are you waiting for!" He growled and shouted, and everyone subconsciously waved their wands and recited the Jelly-Legs Curse.


    Harry suddenly realized what would happen in a chaotic battle, the grounds became a mess with dust and dirt, spells flying around, and many people were chanting the curse, only to fall on the ground the next second with a weak foot, and their unfinished curse hit their partners.


    Can not use shield charm and stone wall, they can only dodge, many people jumped up and down, and only a few students can predict the flying spell.


    "Only Jelly-Legs Curse are allowed, and students who are hit by the spell will have to voluntarily leave the battlefield after the curse is lifted." Sirius shouted from the edge of the battlefield, casually flicking a curse with his wand. His teeth itched, which idiot had tossed the curse at him, and it is hard not to suspect that it was intentional.


    ...


    "Scatter! All scatter - ouch!" Harry heard Ron exclaim.


    When there were only a dozen people left on the field, someone shouted, "Charge over!" Then a wave of people rushed towards each other, Harry took advantage of the chaos to hit three, but then the two groups mixed together, everyone stared at each other, and no one dared to make a move.


    Hermione hesitantly looked at Harry, the two of them certainly not a group, but - the two of them are against attacking each other. They did not have to be troubled for long, Sirius came up with a dark face, "What''s your name?" He asked the Slytherin student.


    "Blaise Zabini." The student whispered.


    Sirius scrutinized him for two seconds, "Effective tactics." Blaise just wanted to laugh, but Sirius added, "But also quite stupid, you will be the first to die on the battlefield." Without looking at Blaise''s face, he announced loudly, "Game two is over. Everyone Gather here!"


    The students sat down on the grass in twos and threes. Sirius sat in the middle of them, one hand propping up his chin, as he squinted and surveyed them.


    "Tsk, look at how you guys just behaved. If this is on the battlefield, I can count the number of those who will survive on one hand."


    A Slytherin student muttered discontentedly, "We''re not to blame for the first one, the numbers weren''t even equal ...," he''s still indignant about the first game.


    Sirius let out a short scoff, "Who told you that war is fair? What do you think real battles are like, where people make appointments to do battle together? Abiding by each other''s rules of competition, and doing a one-on-one, a fair fight?"


    "That crap you''re talking about won''t happen in real war and battle."


    He shrugged his shoulders and propped his other hand on his knee, inadvertently showing a bit of elegance. His face looked worn and rugged, the years of imprisonment still left their mark on him, but this experience blended with his own temperament made him more charismatic, even though he is just sitting on the ground, but it still made people suspect that he just came out of a noble banquet.


    Sirius said lazily: "Sometimes your party will have fewer people, so what are you going to do? You can''t say, "There are more people on the other side, so I''ll join the other side, right? If your family got surrounded by three or five dark wizards, will you tell them: this is not fair, and turn around to walk away?"


    "The difference in numbers, the difference in strength, the state, first move, the environment, the weather, the degree of understanding with your companions ... each of these can have an impact on the two side''s balance of power and consequently change the outcome of the battle, and what I want to do this year is to let you experience these things as realistically as possible. "


    "Of course, I will also teach you a few spells that are within the scope of our subject."


    "Next, you analyse the first two battles yourselves, the shortcomings, the advantages, you can say anything, let''s talk casually ... Does anyone want to raise their hand? No? Then I''ll leave it as an assignment, three feet ..."


    " No, Professor!"


    "Let''s talk about it!"


    In a ''friendly and harmonious'' atmosphere, the first fifth-year Defense Against the Dark Arts class ended.


    Sirius scratched his chin, "Okay, so the assignment ... uh, no, I will reveal the content of the next lesson in advance: I will randomly select two teams to fight, each team in the range of two to five people, think about how to deal with five people when you have only one companion, or at least try to hold on long enough ... Well, I will see you in the next class."


    ------------


    #Zogio, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 594+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 525: Hagrids Experience

    Felix stood at the entrance of the castle, the sky is about to completely darken, from this angle down, you can see the lights in Hagrid''s hut is lit up. At that moment, the sound of footsteps and talking came from behind him. "I should have guessed, Neville said his parents came back a week ago and took him to Diagon Alley to buy textbooks ... I mean, since they went to the same place as Hagrid, it doesn''t make sense that Hagrid would be that much slower." Harry said.


    "Because they were on different missions." Sirius explained as they reached the castle''s entrance, "The Longbottoms fought off the Death Eaters who had arrived as back-up and barely got their revenge, and they came back when it was over, and Hagrid ... Hi Felix." He greeted.


    Felix nodded towards Sirius, not really surprised by the arrival of the golden trio, "Based on your relationship with Hagrid ... it''s good to meet up, otherwise, you might have to wait a few months to see him again."


    "What happened to Hagrid?" Harry asked anxiously.


    "He''ll be staying in the Forbidden Forest for most of the next few days, today is an exception. He has to take care of his injuries." Felix replied briefly, "Let''s go and get back early."


    The five made their way down the marble steps, Harry''s mind crammed with doubts, when Ron poked him in the ribs, "Look over there." Harry followed his gaze, and the dim light of Hagrid''s hut cheered him up.


    They crossed the spacious field to Hagrid''s hut. Before they could get close, Fang''s bark rang out.


    Sirius stood at the door and shouted, "Hagrid, we''re here!"


    A messy rattle came from inside the hut, and after a while, the door opened, and Hagrid came out from inside, his appearance startled everyone. His face smeared with dirt, his head turned into a strange shape, like a pumpkin that had been beaten and smashed: his left eye swelled and became a slit, the corner of the eye is still bleeding, a flat line going under his eye, if not for his nose also bleeding, probably no one can find the correct location of the nose; exposed skin - hand and face are blue and purple, bruised and battered.


    Hagrid carefully closed the door, with his other hand so awkwardly that one would suspect he had broken his bones.


    "Are you, are you okay, Hagrid?" Hermione asked softly.


    Hagrid struggled to open his eyes, and seemed to recognize Hermione''s shape as he grinned, "Ah, it''s good to see you all, I had planned to show up sometime later - I can''t spare much time now, plus I can''t see anyone in this state." He pointed at his face and tried to smile, but it strained the wound on his face.


    "I didn''t quite believe it when Dumbledore told me," Felix looked Hagrid up and down, "but it seems to be true ... How was your trip with Madame Maxime to the giants?"


    Hagrid''s face flushed with embarrassment as he waved his intact arm, "Not really a success ... Olympe and I, let''s just say we have achieved the minimum expectations, the Giants chose not to help both of us, and in fact, they had no time for us ... They, they divided."


    " Divided?" Felix asked with some surprise.


    "Incredible, isn''t it? There aren''t many of them left in total, and yet they still fight and kill each other ..." Hagrid led them deeper into the Forbidden Forest, telling his story along the way, "At the beginning of the holidays, Olympe and I headed out to persuade the giants."


    " Is it Madame Maxime?" Harry asked.


    "Yes, she is a strong person, not afraid of difficulties, which is rare, you know she is an elegant, well-dressed lady; when Dumbledore told me she will also join me, I was a little worried ... But I was proven wrong, whether it is climbing rocks, or sleeping in the caves, she never once complained. Besides, she always comes up with all kinds of useful stuff, she said you lent it to her?" Hagrid looked at Felix.


    "If you are referring to the space capsule, indeed, that product is currently a disposable type, if you want to hold things, you must prepare in advance." Felix said.


    "That''s it," Hagrid said, stamping his foot on a dead branch, "we got to the place quickly, without much accident in the middle, and after a few days of wandering around the mountain, we finally found the cave where the giants live."


    "You guys didn''t use magic?" Hermione asked.


    "Oh, no." Hagrid muttered, "It''s okay to use it on the road, but not when you get near the giant tribe. Giants do not like magic, they hate wizards, for some deeper reason, and Dumbledore was worried that the You-Know-Who had also sent messengers, so we had to be very careful ... Anyway, we made contact with the giants, and according to the method provided by Dumbledore, we managed to deliver our greetings directly to the leader, this stage was rather exhausting, we had to be patient and dispel the giants'' vigilance, and that approach worked, and we stayed in the tribe for much longer and longer."


    Speaking of this, Hagrid suddenly smiled.


    "That Gurg- the leader of the giants, although lazy and greedy, but unexpectedly loved to listen to the stories, Olympe and I took the opportunity to say more good things about Dumbledore, other giants who know a few words of English also came to listen, the progress was encouraging."


    The forbidden forest became increasingly dim, Felix threw a milky white ball of light into the distance, which emitted a bright, soft white light, illuminating a large area of the forest, in the darkness, you can vaguely see the outline of different creatures, a pair of glowing eyes made people jump.


    This is what the forbidden forest really looks like at night.


    "We met the leader three times, and on the third visit there was an accident, as we saw the Death Eaters."


    "Death Eaters?" Ron exclaimed.


    " An expected thing. ... There were two Death Eaters, a man, and a woman," Hagrid said, "and like us, they were treated as guests by the giants, and the leader of the giants foolishly introduced us to each other ..."


    "Did you guys fight?" Sirius asked keenly.


    "Not at that time, despite the mutual hatred between us, we still reached a tacit understanding and did not fight in front of the giants, but--" Hagrid paused, " out of the giant tribe, we fought privately, the opposite side was not our match, so they escaped. They disappeared for a few days, I thought the two Death Eaters gave up, but then we found out when we were dealing with other giants, they changed tactics and visited the giant leader while we were away, so we approached the giant leader and frankly told him that we wanted him to be on our side ... Now that I think about it, we were more or less impatient, after all, we were not in a position to slowly negotiate.... later that afternoon Longbottoms'' arrived, and we had learned that the Death Eaters'' side sent reinforcements; that night, the giant tribe was in chaos, the war cries were deafening, like a thunder. The four of us discussed for a while and then decided to go out and observe the situation sneakily, and if we found out that the giants were just having a bonfire, we would come back and sleep."


    He had a complicated expression on his face.


    "On the Death Eaters'' side a witch, named Bellatrix was there, I don''t know ... how she managed to convince the number two man in the giant tribe to start a rebellion in a night and become the leader herself. Of course, we disagreed! So we also joined the battle. By dawn, a dozen giants died in the battle, most of them killed by each other, and one died by the hand of the Death Eater. The original leader of the giants had lost his arm, and his power was greatly reduced, so only two dozen giants were willing to follow him, including his wife and children. The remaining thirty or so giants formed a new tribe, which is stronger and more brutal. The giants divided into two groups, and the original leader fled deep into the vast mountains, while the new leader chased after ... them, unless they determine a victor, they won''t care about anything else ... We have arrived."


    Hagrid suddenly stopped in his tracks.


    The surrounding woods are dense, but there''s a clearing beneath them that seemed out of place. The clearing is ringed with a chaotic patch of branches, and several pine trees have been uprooted. They heard a rumbling sound, and in the center of the clearing there is a huge, round thing, and the crowd moved a few steps closer with the help of the bright light from the illumination magic.


    "Hiss~" Ron took two steps back, "Is it ... living?"


    What had been mistaken for a mound of dirt or rocks is breathing rhythmically. Harry felt like he would suffocate when the smooth gray thing suddenly moved and made a loud purring sound -- he thought it is a rock, but now it didn''t seem to be; it looked like a Pogrebin that had been magnified a million times.


    "My brother, oh - my half-brother." Hagrid said in a low and hoarse voice: "I don''t think I have told you guys, I am a half-blood giant, my mother left my father after she gave birth to me and found another giant, where she gave birth to Grawp."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other uneasily; they had known about Hagrid being a half-blood giant for a long time. It was back at the fourth year ball when Harry and Ron overheard Hagrid and Madame Maxime talking, and in Ron''s words, Hagrid is a complete idiot, who got overwhelmed by love, and the fact that he thought he was whispering, which turned out to be not much different from shouting into their ears.


    "Hagrid, is he hurt?" Felix asked.


    It is only then that they noticed that the rough ''rocky texture'' is actually a wound, and in the soft white light, they could see that it had scabbed over.


    "Yes, I, alas, the first day I placed him in the Forbidden Forest, he made a lot of noise, and as a result, he attracted Fluffy, and they had a nasty fight," Hagrid explained. A few people present - Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s eyelids jumped hard, and Felix also somewhat became speechless, Fluffy is not a human, he is a giant three-headed dog, a rather dangerous magical creature.


    "... I was forced to ask for Dumbledore''s help," Hagrid said, wiping tears from his eyes, "Dumbledore is a good man, he helped me find medicine for the injuries, I mean, a three-headed dog''s fangs are not easy to handle, and Fluffy took a deep bite ..."


    "Oh My God!" Hermione exclaimed in an unclear manner.


    "Yeah," Hagrid thought Hermione was agreeing with him: "Grawp actually can heal on his own, but it''s too slow, and I can''t watch him all bloody. I planned to teach him some manners before I took him to meet people, and you guys are the first ones I thought of, this would be a good way to start ..."


    "Hagrid, what are your plans for his future?" Felix asked softly.


    "I, uh, I haven''t thought about it, actually ... it would be good to keep him in the Forbidden Forest, there''s no shortage of food here, and not many creatures here can harm him," Hagrid stammered, "I guess he could be my assistant. Of course - only after his nature has changed for the better." He hastily added as the three young wizards present looked like they are going to pass out.


    Harry couldn''t imagine the scene which Hagrid had described in a warm and fuzzy tone; he had thought that Hagrid, who is twice the normal height, would be considered a giant, and anyone who saw him for the first time would be shocked by Hagrid''s huge size, such as the Dursleys. Only after a few more encounters would people will realize that Hagrid is quite a friendly person, but now, the thought of Hagrid patrolling the Forbidden Forest in the future, followed by a Pureblood giant much taller than him, made his scalp tingle.


    "Hagrid, how tall is it-er, how tall is he?" He couldn''t resist asking.


    "About sixteen feet, I think." Hagrid estimated.


    "Oh my god, oh my god." Hermione said incoherently.


    "So, uh, I''ll wake him up then - you guys get to know him, he''s much better tempered than before and only punched me twice today - while I tried to convince him to stay here." Hagrid said expectantly, picking up a branch from the ground. S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Wh-no," Hermione jumped back, seemingly horrified, "Well, I mean, I don''t understand ... he''s not happy to stay here ?"


    Hagrid paused and said with a sombre expression, "Yeah, he''s always wanted to go back, and I forcefully brought him here."


    "But Why - did Madam Maxime agree too?" Hermione asked pointedly.


    "She - well, she understood my situation from the beginning," Hagrid said uneasily: "You guys didn''t see how Grawp was bullied, if we left him there, he would be killed by the other giants, he, he is too short ."


    "Short?" Hermione cried out, "Short?!"


    "Within the group of giants, yeah." Hagrid said, "When Grawp went berserk, Olympe helped me to subdue him, but it didn''t take long for her to get a little bored, and I have to admit, Grawp''s not that bright in the head, grumpy, and not easy to get along with ... After she helped me to transport Grawp across the strait, she hurriedly said goodbye and left. "


    "But things are getting better," Hagrid tried to bolster their confidence, waving a long branch in his hand in front of him: "We''ve been back for three days now, and he hasn''t lost his temper as much as he did before, which I consider a positive sign that he''s about to get used to the life here. I will try more intimate contact, like giving him a hug or something. You know, let him feel that someone values him and likes him, so he won''t always think about going back."


    Hagrid poked the sleeping giant hard with a branch, and the giant growled, his massive body stretching out, a broad palm the size of a sunshade propped up on the ground, and the thing above the arm that looked suspiciously like a head moved, as he woke up.


    Felix raised his head and looked at the huddled giant rising from the ground. Legend had it that giants could fight a dragon on even ground, so he is rather curious about such a creature. Grawp has greyish white skin, a surprisingly huge face, and features that look like they have been cleaved out of a round stone; the only thing that Felix could associate remotely similar to this face is the face of the Mad-Eye Moody.


    Grawp rubbed his eyes vigorously and then, without warning, stood up with astonishing agility. The crowd could now see more clearly, and they gaped at his short, stubby nose, crooked mouth, yellowed teeth, and cloudy brown-green eyes for a moment, in shock.


    Before Harry had thought that Classroom Seven is simply omnipotent, but now he finally knew that something is missing; there are no giants there; the History of Magic textbooks describe giants as a totally inhuman beings, but Harry had always thought that these descriptions are a bit exaggerated, because he is surrounded by more realistic examples.


    Hagrid is a half-giant, but he just looks like an oversized human, but this thing in front of him - this pureblood giant - is, as the books said, resembled a deformed humanoid monstrosity.


    Felix''s eyes settled on the giant''s ankles, where a rope tethered around it, with the other end tied to a thick tree in the distance.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione kept backing away, not feeling much reassurance from the wand they are holding, the thing in front of them - well, it is Hagrid''s half-brother - Grawp seems to be able to crush them with one finger.


    "Ho--"


    Grawp let out a deafening roar and yanked the other end of the rope around with a rattle, as dead silence fell over the forbidden forest except for the giant before them.


    ------------


    #Zogio, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 596+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 526: Illusions Overlaying Reality

    Grawp let out a deafening roar that made Felix''s ears buzz. "Hiss~" he took two steps back, shaking his head for a moment. That was too loud.


    Hagrid stepped forward and tried to calm him down, but Grawp seemed to have gone berserk, flailing his arms around and stumbling on his feet as he tried to free himself from the rope around his ankles, but it seemed awfully sturdy that he failed to break free even after a hard struggle, so he took his bad temper on Hagrid.


    "Oh my god." Hermione exclaimed.


    Grawp''s fist landed solidly on Hagrid''s face and Hagrid, who was unprepared, fell to the ground on his back. Grawp wanted to keep attacking, "Hey! Big guy!" Sirius shouted at him as a flash of red light bounced off Grawp''s rough skin.


    Grawp yelled and lunged at them, "BANG!" Then tripped over the rope and fell, and then the earth seemed to shake as a bird''s nest in a towering pine tree scattered as Sirius gulped.


    Sirius leaned closer and said, "Felix, if you don''t restrain him, I''ll be forced to use a powerful spell."


    "The ropes are sturdy." Felix said, suspecting it might have been enchanted by Dumbledore.


    "Don''t-" Hagrid said as he rolled over and sat up, covering his nose as blood snaked down his fingers. He slurred, "Little Grawp, listen, they mean no harm."


    Felix''s eyes glowed bright silver and then the air around them shook violently, like a vapour on a boiling caldron- Harry had felt something similar before, during the second task of the Tournament of Champions, he had witnessed a large part of the Black Lake shake violently, causing the surrounding scene to become disoriented.


    Just like now.


    But the change came and went quickly, as the folds in the atmosphere smoothed out, and he looked over at Professor Hap, as the wand in his hand subconsciously relaxed. The silver light in the Professor''s eyes hadn''t gone out, and the fine runes, like a ring of Saturn, swirled around his light blue pupils, which suggested that he had indeed done something.


    Harry looked eagerly towards the clearing again, his eyes narrowed as he felt that everything around him looked out of place. It is as if ... the position had shifted.


    Grawp rose from the ground agilely, moving much faster than he looked, and with incredible strength, he grabbed an uprooted pine tree in his hand and swung it around, the leaves rattled as he twirled it around like a small stick.


    He soon found his target.


    The ''Hagrid'' had somehow managed to get to his feet, seemingly intact, and he lunged forward with his arms wide open, wrapping them around Grawp''s waist and pushing him back as hard as he could.


    The little sanity he had left also disappeared, and his powerful arm rose high in the air, and "Bang!"


    The eyelids of those present jumped as Grawp hit the ground, the trunk of the tree struck Hagrid''s head solidly, splattering the dirt like a bomb, but Grawp ignored everything and roared under his breath. He swung his hand around and smashed the surrounding ground, causing it to sink another few inches.


    "Professor! Hagrid''s-" Harry tried to rush up to him, his wand flashed with an intense glow as he ran forward, not thinking about the irrationality of the situation.


    "I''m here." A voice said, and Harry stared at Hagrid, who had suddenly appeared out of thin air, and looking speechless in shock. The air rippled like water waves and the shadow of Grawp in the distance twisted strangely, which made him look even hideous.


    Hagrid covered his nose with an extremely weird expression, especially the corner of his injured mouth twitched at the sight of his other self being beaten violently.


    Sirius narrowed his eyes and looked closer, "Is this an illusion? No, not just an illusion, the environment is also changed, but if you look closely you can still spot the flaw, the airflow, the sense of touch ..." he spit his saliva on his hand and flung his wrist, "but it''s perfect to use against an opponent who has lost his mind. "


    "Cool." Ron said with a look of awe.


    Harry agreed deeply.


    Hermione asked suspiciously, " It doesn''t seem like a mere illusion?"


    The fake ''Hagrid'' had taken quite a few of Grawp''s punches'' and even the trunk of the tree had broken in two just from smashing ''Hagrid'' and the surrounding circle of the ground, but the ''Hagrid'' remained unharmed and kept blocking Grawp''s path again and again.


    A normal illusion couldn''t do that.


    "Professor?"


    "You''re right." Felix nodded. He showed them the real scene, and instead of Hagrid, Grawp''s opponent is a silver, bloated shadow - "The Patronus?" Harry gasped, he had practiced this magic over the holidays and had made quite a bit of progress, but still, his Patronus never took on a physical form.


    "I combined the power of the Thinking Room to give it a brief moment of solidity." Felix explained.


    He didn''t use the Thinking Room to draw him in and blasted his conscious with magic, after all, Grawp is a bit different from a dark wizard and might be counted as a potential friendly force? He thought with less certainty, but more importantly, he was eager to try out his newly acquired abilities.


    More than once he had dragged something from the thinking room to reality. From small models of buildings such as the Snowflake Gallery during the Quidditch World Cup, the Sword Castle in Diagon Alley, or the collection of books behind the door of the Thinking Room, or presenting nearly a thousand years of development in the non-magical world in a few seconds during a speech at the Ministry of Magic, or when he used the Thinking Room and Patronus to assist him in positioning himself to use instant kill tactics more quickly during a private battle with Voldemort ...


    But it was only when Felix held the wand that matched his bloodline, origin, and emotions so well in the Ollivander wand shop that he instinctively used memory magic, where the images constructed in his mind appeared in reality in a more relaxed and direct way, subsequently overwriting scenes that actually existed in reality, which made him more interested in this magic.


    Valen was the first to be affected. During the few days after that, she frequently found herself lost: the office carpet of the Sword Castle in Diagon Alley was suddenly replaced by a complex maze of building blocks. It only took her a few days to go from being uncomfortable to being excited about building a ''Niffler Castle'' out of the blocks.


    It had only been a matter of experimentation before, but today would be considered as the first battle in which the Thinking Room covered the real world.


    Felix waved his hand and the Patronus faded away. For now, it is no match for the giant''s strength. At best, it can Bluff and ''act'' strong and powerful, but in reality, it is Grawp himself who has been misguided to stand in the same place.


    In Grawp''s mind, the nosy ''dwarf'' had finally been knocked out by him, so he punched him some more, feeling frustrated that this man had brought him into an unfamiliar environment, and yesterday he had brought a white-bearded beanpole who had completely trapped him with a wave of his hand, and it was hard for his intelligence to find out why, but he was just angry and woke up just in time to find the culprit stabbing him with a small wooden stick ...


    After venting, his pitifully little wisdom and sanity returned, and he paused in vague concern.


    The dwarf was nice too, finding him food and talking to him, looking up at him with wet eyes, a gaze that Grawp did not dislike. And he could faintly sense that there seemed to be a bloodline connection between the two, a brother who is shorter than he?


    A nearby area of dense forest became very quiet, even the chirping of insects and the rustling of leaves are missing.


    In Grawp''s eyes, Hagrid laid motionless on the ground, and he carefully picked up the branch that Hagrid had used to wake him up earlier and poked the non-existent Hagrid. Of course, Hagrid didn''t move, so Grawp became anxious and went forward to pick him up, but Hagrid disappeared like a mass of smoke.


    Grawp: "..."


    He sat on the ground for a while, unable to figure out anything. Grawp judged with his limited wisdom that the dwarf had been killed by him.


    "Ha~gg~er." The giant growled under his breath.


    Hagrid danced around happily, "He remembers me, remembers my name! Did you see that? I taught him that." He looked eagerly at Felix, "Let me through." He said.


    Felix hesitated, "Hagrid, he''s not necessarily safe."


    "It''s alright, let me through." Hagrid said firmly.


    ------------


    #Mihael Medved, Thanks for all your love and support. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    There are 597+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 527: Thestral

    Felix cancelled the magic and the air shook again, and Harry felt the whole world become alive. Although it had been real earlier too, and he couldn''t spot the ''Flaws'' that Sirius had spoken about earlier, he could still feel the difference more tangibly. The distant noises and howls of the unknown creatures, the whistling wind, the rustling of leaves, the faint sound of breath ...


    ''Not even close.'' Felix thought silently. It is enough to deal with some magical creatures, but to fool a wizard, especially a keen one, it is nowhere near enough. But in any case, he had evolved the memory magic he had learned initially from Lady Rowena Ravenclaw and had finally stepped on the path that suited him best after a long process of evolution.


    Hagrid approached Grawp, whose size paled in comparison to that of a real giant - still he stood about the same height as the sitting Grawp, who could only be considered a short man among giants, as a normal giant would measure between twenty and twenty-five feet tall.


    "Little Grawp?" Hagrid called.


    "Ha~gg~er!" Grawp looked at him with a considerably kinder look, at least he didn''t come up swinging his fist.


    "I thought he wanted to say the word ''hunger''." Ron said.


    Sirius'' hand rested on his shoulder as he shook it hard, "Don''t be a buzzkill, look, quite a touching scene, isn''t it?"


    Grawp slowly reached out his big hand - a few onlookers sweated for Hagrid - but it stopped before it touched him, Grawp''s hideous face harboured some sort of worry, what if he knocked the little shorty out of existence again?


    Hagrid gleefully grabbed one of Grawp''s fingers and said dotingly in the same tone he used with magical creatures, "It''s all right, little Grawp, you just need some coaching, you don''t even know how much strength you have yourself, do you?"


    Harry suddenly remembered the Dursleys, is Grawp going to turn into a big Dudley later from all this doting? He shivered coldly at the thought of the giant freeing himself from the ropes and running through the Forbidden Forest on his big sled board-like feet, with Hagrid following in chase.


    Grawp gave a low growl, then slurred, "Grawp! Haggar!".


    Hagrid gushed with joy as he pulled Grawp''s finger and looked back at the crowd, "Little Grawp, these are my friends. This is Harry, Ron, Hermione -" he stopped and looked at Hermione with an apologetic look, "Would you mind if he called you Hermy? It''s too hard for him to remember your name."


    "N-no, I w-won''t mind it a bit." Hermione said snarkily.


    Sirius snickered, earning a blank stare, but soon he wasn''t able to laugh anymore.


    "This is Sirius - oh, er, how about simplifying it to Ciri?" Hagrid said looking inquiringly at Sirius, who agreed with a grimace. So after a quick turnaround, everyone found themselves blessed with new names - except for Harry and Ron, whose names are inherently simple.


    In Hagrid''s mouth, Felix became Filli, Hermione became Hermy, and Sirius became Ciri.


    "Hermy, do you hear me? Her-mee-" Hagrid said to Grawp, syllable by syllable, "And then, those two slightly larger ones are Filli and Ciri, you can tell the difference, can''t you? "


    The two referred to as Filli and Ciri shrugged their shoulders. Harry and Ron both looked like they wanted to laugh as they listened to Hagrid repeat the wrong pronunciation over and over again.


    It seemed that he didn''t need his help. Felix mentally thought that Dumbledore was too worried that Hagrid would be beaten to death by his cranky giant brother, but now at least there is a good start. After a long time, they headed back through the depths of the Forbidden Forest.


    "I''m going to move nearby and stay with Grawp for a while, I need to find him food, and keep him company." Hagrid said. "If you guys are looking for me, you can just pass the message through the owls, don''t come into the Forbidden Forest personally." He said to Harry, Ron and Hermione.


    "Stop, Hagrid." Felix said, looking deeper into the Forbidden Forest.


    Everyone stopped. With the help of the soft white light hanging overhead, they could see past the branches and bushes, and Sirius sniffled and cautioned, "Something''s coming." Then they heard the sound of a branch snapping and strange footsteps.


    A huge bowstring emerged from the green shadows and plucked away the leaves that blocked the way. "It''s me, Hagrid." A topless male said, his human upper body connected with the horse''s body from the waist up, and finally, Firenze''s full-body stepped out of the shadows, his silver mane bathed in soft white light, and his hooves clattered.


    "What brings you here?" Hagrid asked warily.


    "I heard disturbances." Firenze asked in a low voice, "What''s going on, Hagrid?"


    "Nothing to do with you, this isn''t centaur''s territory." Hagrid replied stiffly.


    "But I live in the Forbidden Forest." Firenze said, and the next second he turned abruptly, the bow in his hand pointed into the deep darkness, "Who''s there?" His hooves dug into the ground.


    The branches swayed and a horse with a shivered dragon-like face peeked out from the other side, its white glowing eyes timidly looking at them as if wondering why everyone had gathered so late. It stood at the edge where black shadow and white light intersected, and its leather-like black wings, obscured by the shrubs, could be faintly seen.


    "So it''s Thestral." Hagrid said with a sigh of relief.


    "Aw, how could I forget you guys." Felix said softly, gazing at the magical creature.


    Hermione looked at him suspiciously. S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Fascinating creature, isn''t it? Some people can''t see it, others can ... you can see it?" Felix suddenly stared at her.


    "Um, yes." Hermione whispered anxiously, "In fact - the three of us -" she didn''t continue, but the meaning of the words was clear enough. Harry and Ron both watched the Thestral with ogling eyes.


    Sirius glared, "Harry, you didn''t mention this."


    "It''s only been two days since school started, and I didn''t get a chance to spend time alone with you." Harry muttered in a small voice.


    "I couldn''t see it before either, I mean the day school started," Ron said, "but I figured something out in the last two days ... it just dawned on me." Harry and Hermione looked at each other behind him as they too remembered the scene that had happened in the carriage at the start of the school year -


    The carriage creaked and rattled down the road on September 1.


    "You both can see it?" Inside the carriage, Ron nearly choked on his saliva as he stared blankly at Harry and Hermione, "You''re not teaming up to trick me, right?"


    "The reason you can''t see it can only mean one thing, your barren brain hasn''t worked in the slightest throughout the summer." Hermione said pointedly at Ron.


    "Any word on that?" Harry asked. He knew about Thestral, but only a little.


    "Seeing death, accepting it, and possibly some insight ... it''s hard to explain." Hermione said distractedly.


    "What do you think about the death of Crouch Jr?" Harry understood Hermione somewhat. So he turned to Ron and asked him.


    "What else can you think, he deserved it," Ron said, his eyebrows furrowed, "You guys aren''t feeling sorry for him are you?"


    "Of course not," Harry instantly said, "So do you ever worry about the future? Ever thought ... your family or yourself might die in the war?" His voice became softer as he spoke, it is something he had been thinking about recently, why did his parents instead of fleeing abroad had stayed behind to fight the Death Eaters?


    Ron looked uneasily to his left at Harry and to his right at Hermione.


    "Isn''t Dumbledore, and Professor Hap around, they''ll sort it all out ..."


    Hermione gave Harry a meaningful look, and Harry knew its implication, "See. He hasn''t thought about it at all."


    ...


    Sirius patted Harry and Ron on the shoulder and muttered something under his breath that no one could hear.


    On the other side, Hagrid lowered his guard as he walked up to stroke Thestral''s thin, bony body and gave it a few quick pats on the head at the end, "Come on, there''s nothing to see. No food either, that''s my nosebleed."


    Firenze the centaur also backed away and disappeared, warning Hagrid before he left, "The elders of the tribe are very upset, and if you continue to bring those dangerous creatures from all over the world-"


    After this interlude, Felix, Sirius, Harry, Ron, and Hermione parted from Hagrid in front of his hut and returned to the castle. The golden trio sat in the corner of the common room and were dazed for a good part of the night before they could barely digest the fact that Hagrid had hidden a giant in the Forbidden Forest.


    "Hagrid won''t be able to hide it for long, the centaur has a strong sense of territory, and they will think that Grawp is infringing their territory." Hermione said worriedly.


    Harry didn''t say anything. Isn''t that kind of obvious? He could only pray that all would go well regarding Hagrid''s educational plans, or that Grawp''s mind isn''t as retarded as he appears to be.


    Meanwhile.


    Felix returned to the ancient rune office and looked out across the bay window in the direction of the Forbidden Forest, "Death." The sound of his voice was faintly audible, and he wondered what the world looked like through Thestral''s eyes.


    If he is fortunate enough, he will soon find out.


    ------------


    #Mihael Medved, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 597+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 528: Deathly Hallows

    The next morning, Felix overslept on a rare occasion and missed the owl in the great hall. He randomly found a seat and sat down. In between sips of porridge, he looked thoughtfully at the students in the great hall; the number of newspaper subscriptions seemed to have increased. Two seats away, a Ravenclaw student took her paper and quickly flipped through the headlines on the different pages, and let out a deep sigh of relief.


    " Everything''s peaceful."


    Her friend had grown accustomed to her behaviour.


    "Why don''t we talk about the assessment spell?"


    "What''s there to talk about, all you need to master in fourth and fifth years is disarming charm, stunning spell, and shield charm, which I learned a long time ago." The Ravenclaw girl said with a toss of her hair before scrutinizing her friend, "Oh, I forgot, you''re not interested in dueling and have never competed in one before ..."


    Her friend rolled her eyes and then sighed, "I envy the first, second, and third years, all they need to do is master the side-along apparition. Absolutely easy, isn''t it?"


    " Don''t be like that, mum told me that quite a few accidents involving group apparition are caused by young wizards who become overly nervous, small children who are not trained will subconsciously mobilize their magic to resist, resulting in apparition mishaps ..."


    Felix listened halfway through, then focused on his breakfast, staring at the oatmeal and imagining them being a collection of runes, no, to be precise, a pattern that would stably carry magic.


    A plan of digging a pitfall for Voldemort is progressing slowly.


    He had been able to change into some magical creatures, but that didn''t mean that everything is fine; in fact, he had never thought of fighting Voldemort in his magical creature form. It would be too difficult, even if they are indeed magical in some ways, but just look at the belief Newt promoted - no magical creature could defeat a well-established wizard (because they''re less intelligent).


    Only by transforming the magical talents of multiple magical creatures into runic magic and using them with a wizard''s body would they be considered potent, but while the two are inextricably linked historically, that doesn''t mean that magical creatures actually have a distinct rune, or runic circuit, inside them.


    What Felix had to do is ''create'' ancient magic by himself, just like the original group of ancient wizards did, and the volume of work involved in this process is quite high.


    The first step is transforming into a magical creature, then using the body of a magical creature to experience their magical talents, feel the mysteries of the magical creature''s bloodline, and experience how his own magic flows and works. He must repeat this process over and over again to get a vague pattern - something that looks like a jumble of capillaries or a complexly intertwined Devil''s Snare.


    This is what ancient wizards saw when they dissected magical creatures.


    After that, it is just a matter of trying and practising to extract one rune after another.


    The biggest problem Felix faced was that he was not always able to find the right rune to match the magical structure of the magical creature, so he had to "create" his own rune, which would undoubtedly lead to a thousand failures.


    But the good news is, he is on the right track, and he keeps getting better. That is all that matters.


    Despite the tediousness of the process, Felix enjoyed it, especially the significant views that developed during the process. For example, magical creatures derive their magical abilities from their own bloodline and unique physical structure, but what about wizards?


    Felix suspects that the soul plays quite an important role in the process. One piece of evidence is that only wizards can transform into ghosts; neither ordinary people nor magical creatures can.


    He was quite fascinated by these types of thoughts, and even as Felix stood on the podium, his mind wandered with all sorts of whimsical ideas. At his level, the theory and practical aspects of magic were becoming more and more outside the bounds of belief, and every step forward represented an overturning of the perception of magic in the eyes of ordinary wizards.


    This is true both in terms of the act of recreating magical creature talents using runes and bringing memory magic to reality by tailoring Lady Rowena Ravenclaw''s memory magic.


    " Take out the rune carving knife. I will reserve a few lessons for you to get used to your new tool, after which you will realize that it actually works better than a wand in some ways, especially if you intend to do some fine manipulation." Felix said calmly, "Today is a practical lesson, and I need you to write down the practical runes and runic circuits you have learned over the past two years on a chestnut board."


    The students moved and went to the podium in order to get their chestnut boards and returned to their seats to start practising.


    "A bit too easy, isn''t it?" Ron said cheerfully, "We practised it in the Magic Rune Club before."


    "It is indeed easy for us, but-" Hermione cut the palm-sized chestnut boards into slips, each one just about the size of her index finger, as she smoothly wrote down a string of ancient runes, and looked up at the rest of the class with satisfaction. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Bang!"


    The chestnut slab in Seamus'' hand suddenly exploded, and a cloud of smoke and fire spread out.


    Felix waved his hand and the smoke and flames disappeared at the same time, " Keep your eyes open, Student Finnegan, you need to focus more on your board, instead of looking at me." He said as he looked up from a three-dimensional pattern made up of ancient runes, his gaze swept around the room and a number of students lowered their heads sheepishly.


    "When are we going to be like the Professor?" Harry couldn''t resist asking, the runes in the professor''s hand looked like specks of fine gold dust, glistening in the sunlight.


    "The Professor told me not to be overly ambitious." Hermione said sadly, obviously, she had asked a similar question, she then grinned widely, "But the Professor complimented me on my explorations and experiments on the runes."


    She gestured at the work she had just finished, and Harry and Ron glanced over from the side and smacked their lips in secret. Dense ancient runes were inscribed on the small slab of chestnut wood that belonged to Hermione, if you didn''t look closely it looked like it had been scribbled on with ink.


    "Hermione ... it''s not going to blow up right?" Harry asked with trepidation, recognizing what this thing really is - dozens of blast circuits that subtly crammed together in a palm-sized area, which linked together crookedly with a golden line that shone with a pulsing light.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve combined the blast circuits with the stability circuits, you have to use a specific frequency of magic to trigger it, and that frequency is something only I know." Hermione smirked as she tucked the chestnut slab into her little beaded pouch while Harry and Ron gulped.


    Hermione seemed to be getting scarier and scarier, especially over the summer when the Professor came over every now and then and Hermione asked questions during their conversations, which led to her research rapidly reaching a level that they didn''t understand at all, for example, the term ''specific frequency of magic''.


    At one point the professor said to her, "I''ve thought about creating different levels of awards for individuals or groups who have made outstanding contributions to the field of ancient runes, but the conditions are not ripe yet ... If I ever created it, would you like to contribute your name? The Hermione Granger Award?"


    Harry believed that the professor''s tone sounded serious with no hint of a joke.


    For the next few moments, he began to imitate Hermione, writing the runic circuits in a smaller and smaller sizes, and when he looked up during the break, the mass of runic symbols in the professor''s hand had shaped into a vividly realistic Occamy.


    At the weekend Felix held the first Magic Rune Club assembly of the school year, and the members of the club beamed with joy, exchanging recent incidences with each other.


    "Professor Sprout promised to write me a letter of recommendation, but I haven''t figured out where to go yet, I mean, Dad wants me to get into the Ministry of Magic, but ..." Cedric said, with a gentle smile on his face.


    "Mum sent me a new dress and a book." Neville said, "I thought I had left something behind again, but I didn''t, it was just a simple gift."


    In the corner, Harry whispered to Ron and Hermione in a sullen tone, "''Pumpkin Pie'' invited us to tea because his brother had learned ten new words." Pumpkin Pie is the new codename they have given to Hagrid because Hagrid doesn''t want anyone else to know that he has returned, as it would make his absence from class conspicuous.


    If Grawp''s presence were to be exposed, things could get very messy.


    "I don''t want to put Dumbledore in a difficult position," Hagrid wrote in his replay, "if parents became aware of the presence of an uncontrolled giant in the Forbidden Forest they would make an unnecessary alarm ... I think it is not appropriate for young Grawp to appear in public until he learns the necessary manners."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione all agreed on this point, except for a slight disagreement on the term ''unnecessary alarm''.


    "I don''t want to go." Ron said in a hushed voice, greatly repulsed by the invitation, "I''m not trying to shirk it, but we have a lot to do, we have Quidditch practice this afternoon, and Angelina was very upset about our absence yesterday, and I don''t want my name to be brushed off by her. In case she decided that Hooper''s nagging and bossing isn''t that unbearable ..."


    Ron''s concerns weren''t unfounded; at Friday''s Quidditch try-outs, Ron had only come in third. He was able to claim the keeper''s spot because Angelina felt that both Vicky Frobisher and Geoffrey Hooper ahead of him had obvious flaws: the former valued the ''Charms Club'' more, and the latter grumbled at the drop of a hat, complained about petty things, and tried to get Angelina to follow his plan.


    Weighing up the options, Angelina ended up picking Ron to take Wood''s place as keeper.


    They ended up skipping their first official training session yesterday because they had to go to the Potions class office for detention, which was awful, as Snape gave Harry, Ron, and Hermione a large bucket full of potion ingredientsfor each to handle, which would be used for all seven grades, and Harry still smelt the lingering smell of Mandrake mixed with rat innards under his fingernails.


    "... Not to mention all the assignments, now I wish he''d come back to his real job, Professor Grubbly-Plank leaves us a ton of assignments, why would I need to sketch ten Bowtruckles? It''s not like I''m planning to become a painter!" Ron said with vehemence.


    "It''s O.W.Ls year and the Bowtruckles are the focus of the exam every other year." Hermione pointed out the unpleasant truth.


    Harry and Ron stared at her.


    "Ugh, but of course, I hope he will come back too." Hermione shrugged. "Hey, Luna." She turned to look at Luna, "How was your holiday?"


    "Very good, Dad managed to secure a deal." Luna said gleefully, as she invited Hermione enthusiastically, "I''m going to see Firenze this afternoon, do you want to come?"


    "Oh, uh, okay." She looked left and right, but since Harry and Ron had to go to training, and she really couldn''t find an excuse, she ended up agreeing pitifully.


    "Students." Felix smiled as he settled back comfortably on his armchair, "Welcome back, and before the assembly begins, let me make an announcement: the Future World Company and the Ancient Rune Society have collaborated to create a monthly magazine called The New Solutions to the Rune, and for the time being, the magazine The Quibbleris will handle this venture - "


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately looked at Luna.


    " - And for the temporary period, I personally will act as editor-in-chief, so if you are planning to submit a manuscript in the near future, you can forward it directly to Miss Granger, who will organize it and give it to me. On a side note, the manuscript fee is very public-friendly. The call for submissions is here--"


    Felix waved his wand and a pile of flyers flew up from the table and landed in each person''s hand with precision.


    "Elder Wand." Hermione muttered as she stared at his wand.


    "What did you say?" Harry became very sensitive to this word, after all, this was the reason they were in detention.


    "I''ve recently found the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard to read through." Hermione said briefly, "Shhh, I''ll talk about it later." Professor Hap''s eyes looked over, so she closed her mouth and sat upright.


    On the side, Luna looked at her, with burning eyes.


    ...


    "The Deathly Hallows?" Harry''s mouth dropped open in surprise, they had only just emerged out of the Magic Rune Club when Luna caught up with them.


    "That''s right." Luna affirmed, "The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone that brings the dead back to life, and the Cloak of Invisibility that allows you to hide from the Death; together these three items represent the Deathly Hallows, the possessor of which will become the Master of the Death."


    "Nonsense," Hermione raised an eyebrow, "that''s just a fairy tale, something like the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, it doesn''t exist in reality!"


    "But they do exist, and countless wizards obsess over them." Luna said calmly, "Dad tried to convince Florean to join him in his search for the Deathly Hallows when they were young, but he refused, pretending that his ancestors had never owned the Elder Wand."


    "Who''s Florean, the name sounds a bit familiar?" Ron asked.


    "He''s the owner of Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour." Luna said.


    " No way that''s true!" Hermione said firmly, "I''ll write to him and ask him for clarification."


    Harry, however, drifted back to the time when he had sat under the brightly coloured sunshade outside Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour to do his assignment; he had previously been so focused on the free supply of ice cream that he had never realized that the shop''s owner knew everything about his History of Magic assignment. Although Harry didn''t know the exact age of the ice cream parlour owner, he guessed he had graduated at least thirty or forty years before, would he remember his knowledge from school so well if he isn''t an avid fan of the history of magic?


    "He won''t write back to you, he disappeared." Luna said, "The neighbours speculate that he may have moved abroad because he feared the war. Because the Ministry of Magic Aurors who patrols Diagon Alley day and night didn''t hear any alarm from the warning device. This incident is written in an obscure corner of today''s newspaper."


    ------------


    #Mihael Medved, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 598+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 529: Voldemorts Killing Move

    A clearing in the forbidden forest. Felix looked at the Thestral that he had lured with a blood-soaked dead bull and felt satisfied.


    "Hagrid told me this tip, and it looks like you guys like it?" Felix said as the two Thestrals leaned down, exposing their thin bony necks and tearing down the dead bull, "And he said you guys are smart, so you must be able to understand me right?... I need a little help from you."


    Thestrals did not utter a sound and enjoyed the feast in silence. Although they are omnivores and will eat all kinds of grass, fruit, and meat, it is not every day that they get to eat fresh blood-soaked bull meat. As he talked, another Thestral cautiously poked its head out of the forest, looking at its two companions and the strange wizard, debating whether to come out.


    The sound of constant chewing attracted the new one, who soon joined in.


    Seeing his chance, Felix placed his hand in the mane of the nearest Thestral, and he felt like he is touching a tough, thick membrane of skin, with no flesh beneath it.


    Thestral looked up uneasily and stared at Felix with bright white eyes.


    "Eat up, eat up." He said with a smirk, patting its bare head smoothly, his eyes looked like a big grey wolf eyeing a little white rabbit, and Thestral waved its long black tail and looked down again to tear the bull meat with its sharp teeth.


    The new Thestral was a little alarmed and spread its huge wings warily, but neither Felix nor its companion paid any attention to it, and after a long stand-off it seemed to find its behaviour a little tiresome and far less important than the food on the ground, so it just snorted when Felix touched its smooth, hairless body.


    Felix smiled slightly as his body began to morph.


    ...


    "I still can''t accept it, to me, it looks more like Beedle was mocking the whole Deathly Hallows legend, because none of the three brothers escaped death in the end, even the oldest who got the invisibility cloak met death with open arms, Deathly Hallows was less useful than a Philosopher''s Stone when it came to beating death, at least Nicolas Flamel actually lived for 600 years or so! "


    Hermione, Luna, and Ginny walked down the path at the edge of the Forbidden Forest while arguing over the topic they had just discussed.


    "That''s because they were not recognized." Luna said in an ethereal voice.


    "What recognition?"


    "I don''t know." Luna said dreamily, "Maybe it''s some sort of ritual, or a pre-planned activation method or," she looked blankly into Hermione''s and Ginny''s eyes, "according to my dad, the only way to master the power of three Hallows is to possess all three of them at the same time."


    Hermione''s face showed a look of extreme disapproval, but she asked calmly, "Is it about that strange symbol you showed?"


    "Maybe." Luna said.


    "Let''s talk about something else," Ginny hurriedly said, her interest in the subject waning, "Luna, do you have your bone whistle with you?" S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Brought it." Luna said cheerfully, as she pulled a thin cord woven from a stalk of grass from her neck, which had an ash-white whistle attached to it.


    Hermione glanced at it, "Is that the one Hagrid gave us?"


    "Yeah," Luna said, "It can summon the little creatures Hagrid keeps, but there are no dangerous creatures at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, so I sometimes use it to attract Unicorns, Thestrals ... and Firenze." After saying that she looked around with her head probing, with the look of a thief, "Don''t tell Firenze, he will become unhappy."


    " Can Centaur also hear such a sound?" Hermione asked intrigued, it is an interesting piece of knowledge.


    "Of course, they can." Luna said seriously, "He''s not always around though, we have to try it in a few different places."


    They walked through a patch of bushes, vaguely smelling the scent of blood, and Luna pushed aside a large bush to reveal a group of six or seven Thestrals huddled together in the clearing.


    "Wow, what luck." Luna said.


    "Someone been here," Hermione muttered to herself as she stared at the dead bull that only consisted of a half skeleton and little meat on the ground, "Was it Hagrid? But it''s unlikely that he would focus on other creatures now when he had to deal with a bloody mess ..."


    Luna had bounced into the clearing and greeted Thestrals enthusiastically.


    Thestrals had long been familiar with her, so they simply raised their eyes to gaze at her and lowered their heads to feast again, allowing Luna to pet them.


    Ginny stared at the piece of meat on the ground, she couldn''t see Thestrals, but could see a chunk of meat detaching from the bone and disappearing into the air, followed by the creepy chewing sound, "It feels so awful, like there''s an invisible mouth full of sharp teeth in the air, and you don''t know when you''re going to walk up to it of your own will... ..."


    "This Thestral is weird." Hermione said, and Luna turned her head to look at the unique Thestral - it laid quietly on the ground, and somehow the two could feel a tranquil aura from its thin, bony face, its eyes half-closed, showed no surprise or unease at their arrival.


    "Are you new here? I don''t think I''ve seen you before." Luna asked in a whisper as she crouched in front of it.


    Thestral glanced at her and closed its eyes completely as if it didn''t want to pay any attention to her.


    Luna skilfully grabbed a handful of grass from the ground and brought it to Thestral''s mouth, which moved its mouth away and looked at her with blank eyes.


    "Oh, you are not hungry?"


    "Luna, the book says Thestral is dangerous, even the ones in the Forbidden Forest that were trained by Hagrid," Hermione said, not having a trace of confidence in the word ''safety'' that came out of Hagrid''s mouth when she thought about the Acromantulas and giant Grawp that he kept in the Forbidden Forest.


    The bone whistle that Hagrid had given her was placed in the innermost section of the beaded pouch, and she didn''t think she''d ever use it.


    "But I feel like it''s friendly." Luna said, as her light-coloured eyes twinkled, and then she turned her head and addressed the Thestral that had been lying on the ground, " Aren''t you?"


    The Thestral suddenly opened its mouth wide at her, revealing a mouth full of sharp teeth and emitting a "grrr" sound that startled the three of them. Ginny stumbled back and stared blankly at the air, "What happened?"


    Even Thestrals, that had been eating, stopped and looked over.


    "They''re friendly, aren''t they?" Hermione asked snappily.


    Luna didn''t answer as she examined Thestral closely, "It''s strange, you give me a completely different feeling. So many harassing Wrackspurts flying overhead ... Huh? It''s gone in a flash." Luna said in awe.


    "Come on Luna, let''s go somewhere else ... we can come back another time." Hermione pulled Luna and Ginny away, Luna fawned over the unique Thestral, "Maybe I can be friends with it, it could be the king of this pack of Thestrals in the Forbidden Forest ..."


    In her final sight, the Thestral raised from the ground and joined the other Thestrals as they " da da da da " walked deeper into the forest.


    "Look, it''s walking very differently too."


    In the middle of the day, Felix emerged from another part of the forbidden forest, wiping the non-existent cold sweat from his forehead, feeling that everything that had happened today was very bizarre.


    The next two weeks were peaceful, except for one afternoon when he and Snape met in the corridor where Snape warned him, "I gave the man the information about the ''Elder Wand'' and he didn''t ask me to do something concerning that, so I think he has another plan."


    Hearing this, Felix took the time to return to Diagon Alley and check the sword castle from top to bottom, the entire defence system was functioning well and everything was in order.


    The weather began to turn cooler at the end of September. On another typical weekend, Felix and Valen appeared in the Great Hall, both wearing a Scarf each, Valen sat on a stack of thick books and enjoyed steaming pumpkin pie, which Felix had thoughtfully sliced up.


    After finishing that, Felix became keenly aware of the murmurs and odd glances directed at him in the great hall.


    "What''s going on?" He called out to a student who was about to leave after eating.


    The student first glanced curiously at his chest, waist side, and pockets as if looking for something, then handed him a newspaper. "You should read the front page, Professor Hap." The student said.


    Felix opened the paper and got surprised by the headline on the front page of the Daily Prophet, which read "Top Ten Wands in History".


    "Kee! (Let''s look together!)" Valen called out.


    So he spread the paper on the table and read it with Valen.


    ''There is no doubt about the importance of wands to wizards. Since the day the wand was created, there has been no shortage of legends about powerful wands, and people have enjoyed these rumours; in people''s perception, powerful wands and powerful wizards are closely related, but it is impossible to come to an accurate conclusion whether it is the wizard who fosters the wand''s prestige, or the wand that shapes the wizard''s power.


    However, it is well known that Mr. Ollivander, one of Europe''s most prestigious wand makers, made a well-known quote: the wand chooses the wizard. The Wandlore philosophy also suggests that every wand is different, which leads us to wonder: are there really wands that are inherently extraordinary? Are they like unknown treasures, lying quietly in a velvet box in a wand shop, waiting for an owner worthy of them?


    The author has searched through a vast array of documents to find ten of the most prestigious wands in history and has ranked them according to the influence of their owners for your reference.


    Note: The wands of some of the great wizards in history are not considered famous, as they never deliberately declared the role of the wand in contributing to their great achievements, so they are excluded from consideration for the time being.


    Number 10: Deathstick, length unknown, Elder wood, wand core material unknown.


    Its owner was a notorious dark wizard, Loxias, who used vile means to kill the ''fearsome warlock'' Barnabas Deverill, to acquire his wand, which was later renamed by him as Deathstick. Since then, he has conquered all his enemies. Renowned for dotingly stroking his new wand each time he defeated an opponent and loudly proclaiming that his wand is an embodiment of Death, his classic quote was: Face me and die.


    He ended up dying in a tavern, and it is unknown who his killer was. Because of his cruel and tyrannical nature, many people claimed to have killed him, but no one was able to show his wand.


    Number 9: Old Hammer''s Wand ...


    Number 8: Godelot''s wand.


    This wand is famous because its owner saw it as a partner and even a mentor, and he used its power and knowledge to write "Magick Moste Evile", as Godelot called his wand, "my most evil and mysterious friend".


    Number 7: Salazar Slytherin''s wand, length unknown, Snakewood, Basilisk horn core.


    In this case, the wizard and the wand are evenly matched in terms of their fame, and their combination scared the wizards of their time; it is rumoured that in his youth Slytherin wielded a snake-wood wand and commanded snakes, and many wizards did not even dare to approach him (except for his close friend Gryffindor) and at a certain point of time the wand in his hand took the form of a walking stick, according to the photographic material that has survived; Its wand core made of Basilisk''s horn, a creature that is known for its power to kill enemies with just a look.


    The current whereabouts of this wand is unknown. Note: Of the four founders of Hogwarts, only Salazar Slytherin has descendants who are still surviving, so this wand may have passed through the hands of one of the branches.


    Number 6: Destiny wand, length unknown, wood unknown, wand core unknown.


    The wand was owned by an unknown wizard, who was active for an even shorter time than Loxias; A hooded dark wizard challenged a group of the most prestigious dueling masters of the time in just three months, leaving just a handful of survivors, but the challenge came to an abrupt end three months later, with rumours of sighting his suspected body in a foul ditch, but there is no way to prove it.


    When he had slain a powerful man, he had said in a low voice: I am with destiny. Thus, his wand was known as Destiny Wand.


    The ultimate whereabouts of this wand is unknown.


    Number 5: Wand of Morgan le Fay (Morgana), wand information unknown.


    King Arthur''s half-sister, Merlin''s enemy. Morgan ruled as Queen of the Island of Avalon and gained a significant part of her authority through her magical powers.


    Number 4: Merlin''s Wand, length and wand core unknown, made of English oak.


    Merlin''s fame speaks for itself.


    Number 3: the wand of Gellert Grindelwald, information unknown.


    The reason this wand is remembered has a lot to do with its owner, and there are rumours that the Dark Lord once described his wand as ''the best one'', and judging by what he has accomplished, there is no doubt about it.


    This wand disappeared into history with the legendary duel back in 1945, which may have been destroyed in the duel or in the custody of the British Ministry of Magic, or hidden in the hands of a particular great wizard.


    Number 2: the wand of ''He Who Must Not Be Named'', thirteen and a half inches, yew wood, with a phoenix feather wand core.


    It is well known that wands with a phoenix feather wand core are rare and powerful, and each one is an excellent piece of work. The wand of ''He Who Must Not Be Named'' was made of a phoenix feather. This wand proves that claim.


    It is presumed that this wand was destroyed fourteen years ago.


    Number 1: Elder Wand, length unknown, elder wood, wand core unknown.


    The name derives from a fairy tale in The Tales of Beedle the Bard, and I''m sure many people remember it and even imagined possessing this invincible wand as children, although they would leave these childhood fantasies behind them as they grew up.


    But there is no shortage of people who still tirelessly research the authenticity of the Elder Wand when they grow up. According to them, Beedle the Bard based his story heavily on real history, and the poet Beedle played a trick on us to satisfy his literary romance by suggesting that the actual deeds of the Elder Wand might have been taken from one of the above-mentioned wands.


    This wand is placed first because it seems to have an extreme condition for choosing a master, as the wand''s allegiance can only be obtained by killing the previous owner. In other words, anyone who gets it can gain its power.


    The whereabouts of the Elder Wand were once unknown, but a rumour surfaced recently that Felix Hap, the Ancient Rune Professor at Hogwarts who had previously made a splash at the Quidditch World Cup finals, had unintentionally called his wand the Elder Wand, but whether he named it a reference to the fairy tale, or whether he actually held the legendary wand that was historically invincible, we have no way of knowing.''


    In the Great Hall.


    Felix squeezed the newspaper, with only one thought in his mind, he wanted to curse.


    Voldemort''s killing move had arrived unannounced.


    ------------


    #Mihael Medved, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 598+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 530: The truth is the only thing that doesnt matter (2 in 1)

    Felix put away the paper, "Kee!" Valen shouted. She hasn''t finished reading yet!


    "Well, seriously, you should improve your reading speed, where are you reading now?"


    The fork in Valen''s hand pointed at the middle section of the paper.


    "The snakewood wand?" Felix muttered, "I''ll tell you a story about the Chamber of Secrets and Slytherin some other time." He continued to sip his oatmeal, unconcerned by the various curious gawking in the great hall. After a calm breakfast, he appeared in the Headmaster''s office at Hogwarts.


    There is already a visitor inside.


    A short, chubby, balding man squeezed his bloated body into an armchair, one of his fat hands picked up a sugar-glazed pineapple from a nearby box as his mouth kept chewing, his thick walrus-like silver moustache smeared with bits of sugar glaze.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, I have something to ask you." Felix didn''t move as he measured the man, who is dressed in a maroon and purple velvet tunic with shiny brass buttons that issued an unpleasant sound as he made a swallowing motion.


    His strange eating habit is comparable to the sight of Thestral eating, but Thestral is much thinner than the man in question.


    Slughorn absently glanced at Felix, and the movements of his mouth abruptly stopped, "That''s him, isn''t it, Albus?" He asked, looking at Dumbledore, who is seated opposite him and looked pitifully thin compared to him.


    "Felix Hap," Felix said politely, "if you want to ask my name."


    "Ah, of course, who else has the ability to impress me this much." The wizard said, jumping nimbly out of his chair and reaching into his shirt pocket with his other clean hand, pulling out a soft purple velvet handkerchief and meticulously wiping his fingers twice.


    "I''ve been looking for a chance to meet you," he said, extending his chubby hand to Felix, "the great Felix Hap, the pride of Slytherin."


    "You flatter me," Felix said, shaking his hand, his fingers felt sticky when he let go, but he knew it was a psychological effect. He asked tentatively, "Mr. Slughorn?"


    The wizard raised his eyebrows at once, his bulging stomach twitched with some pattern.


    "Come sit here ..." Slughorn motioned for him to sit closer to him in the tone of the owner of the house, Dumbledore''s lips brimmed with a smile as if he found it amusing, Valen jumped off Felix''s shoulder and tugged at Dumbledore''s pant leg. Pointing her little pink finger at Fawkes, who is standing on a roost having a nap.


    "Kee?"


    A candy suddenly appeared in Dumbledore''s hand like a muggle magic trick which he handed to Valen with a wink, "Sharing is the gateway to friendship."


    "I agree with you, Dumbledore." Slughorn said as he sat down, side by side with Felix, his body squirming back in his chair to adjust the best angle, in the middle of it he sighed as his body leaned against the back of the chair, "Want a piece, Felix?" He asked rather enthusiastically.


    "No, thanks." Felix said, "Allergic to sweets these days."


    " I had those moments too," Slughorn said with a big smile, picking up another pastry in his hand, "Always had a preference for a certain sweet for a while and gorged myself on it, then for years, I would never touch it again ... That was in my younger days, now I prefer to have some of each."


    "A very wise comment." Felix said briefly, only it would have been better if he hadn''t used his sweet tooth as an example. He watched silently as Valen climbed onto the slender-legged table and locked eyes with the Phoenix Fawkes that stood on the gilded roost, Valen wobbled on the table with the sweets in her hands as Fawkes squinted at her.


    Dumbledore and Slughorn also looked at them with interest.


    "The Cockroach Clusters, some people don''t like it, in fact, it has a special flavour." Dumbledore said, and as he spoke, Fawkes darted its head out from its roost and snatched the cockroach-shaped candy from Valen''s hand, swallowing it with a crisp " crack, chunk" sound.


    The three simultaneously withdrew their gaze in satisfaction.


    "Ah, I''ll go get what you want." Dumbledore suddenly said to Slughorn as he stood up and made his way around the revolving staircase to the first floor.


    As his figure disappeared up the stairs, Felix felt Slughorn''s gaze flicker as he measured him.


    "You''re more talkative than I thought," he said after a few seconds, "I mean, so many people have mentioned you in their letters and I can''t help but find it strange that they''re so widely divergent in their opinions about you."


    "That''s not strange." Felix said.


    "Oh, uh, you''re right, everyone has their own standpoint, and I''ve heard rumours, like your muggle origin ... although I personally don''t care about that at all - it''s true!" Slughorn said, and next, to prove his point that he has no prejudice against bloodlines, he went on at considerable length about the contacts he knew, " who are being in key positions." and many of them are wizards from Muggle families.


    Felix, on the contrary, discerned a passion for " collection " in the expression on his face. So Felix hinted that he should write a memoir of all the talented students he had taught, and Slughorn beamed when he heard it, feeling like he had met his soulmate.


    " I discovered when I was the head of Slytherin that young wizards from Muggle origins always had all sorts of novel ideas to offer ... Of course, I mean the smart ones. From that point of view, their presence is necessary to bring fresh blood into the ageing wizarding world ... What a shame I retired a few years in advance." He stared at Felix with burning eyes, as if regretting that he had missed a treasure.


    "Do you still keep in touch with those students?" Felix asked, from what little he had heard over the summer, this elderly gentleman lived in a rather isolated area.


    "Alas, I had planned to hide away and avoid the spotlight. You know, it''s going to get messy out here soon, and I don''t want to mix with that dangerous bunch that much, but they certainly will find me ... I have a feeling about that," Slughorn said, "and that was when Dumbledore approached me."


    He looked somewhat indignant as he continued, "He wanted something from me, oh I can''t say exactly what it-" he shook the sugar icing that dripped in his fingers, "I''ve worked with him for very long and know his character well, he won''t stop until he gets what he wants. And he even brought a little one together to convince me!"


    Felix smiled, he knew who that little one is, it was Harry.


    " Well, since we are talking in private, I''ll just say this, it was a despicable move on his part." Slughorn came over and whispered, in a knowing manner, "But it was brilliant, he poked me in the soft spot, I''m growing soft as I getting old, especially when dealing with the child of my favourite student ..." he sighed deeply, his walrus moustache comically cocked up, "Incidentally, she''s also of Muggle origin."


    "Lily was a genius, quick-witted, resourceful, and knew how to pay back ... Ever since she found out about my birthday, she sent a thoughtful gift every year, never belated, even after she graduated a gift would come. When I read in the paper that she had been killed, I knew that no one would gift me a warm knee pad again ... Alas, as the saying goes, good people don''t live long." He muttered, picking up his handkerchief and blowing his nose heavily.


    Felix didn''t have a clue how to respond nor whether he should respond back, so he simply waited for him to change the subject.


    "You don''t know how Dumbledore pries open other people''s mouths, do you? He made sure to bring me some wine on my birthday, and he claimed he was there to celebrate the occasion, but he couldn''t fool me, and I know what was on his mind! But I couldn''t say no to a nice dinner, even if it was from a person with an ulterior motive. ... The worst part was that he used me and then dumped me. I asked him to introduce me to the other two youngest Order of Merlin recipients, but he kept brushing me off by saying I wasn''t a school professor, so I couldn''t bother them... ...and he actually suggested that I should write them a letter!"


    Slughorn looked indignant.


    At that moment, Dumbledore appeared on the staircase and spoke in an amused tone of voice


    "My dear Horace, I certainly have nothing against you. In fact, I''ve been approached by the press for some time to organize some interviews with them, but I''ve turned them all down in the name that it would interfere with their studies, and I don''t think it''s a good thing to let them know too soon that they have a sudden influx of admirers; it would muddle their little brains."


    Dumbledore said, handing him a package.


    "Thanks," Slughorn said with a rare smile and struggled to get up from his armchair to take the package. He grabbed a handful of Floo powder and sprinkled it into the fireplace, where a turquoise flame flared up. "I''ll be back, Dumbledore!"


    Slughorn stepped one foot into the flames, and hesitated, then withdrew it as he fished a small vial out of his pocket and tossed it to Felix, "Pass it on to Harry Potter for me, and tell him it''s his belated birthday present."


    He stepped into the flames, holding the parcel, and disappeared with a very comical spin.


    Felix looked at the thumb sized vial in his hand, it is the Felix Felicis. He casually put it away and looked at Dumbledore and asked in a deep voice, "Albus, I need to speak to you."


    "Is it about the Elder Wand?"


    "You also saw today''s paper?" Felix asked.


    "More than just today''s paper." Dumbledore said.


    "What?"


    "I got in touch with some friends in France, Bulgaria, Norway, and even America this morning, and they told me they had seen similar articles as well, but not today, with the earliest reports dating back to a week ago."


    Felix furrowed his brow.


    Well, Voldemort''s plan to kill three birds with one stone had been executed thoroughly, in his perception Voldemort''s purpose would be three, one to cause him some hassle and keep him occupied with other things for months, two to test the authenticity of the Elder Wand with the lives of others, and as for three, Voldemort may have harboured a hidden expectation that he and Dumbledore would fall out over this matter.


    After all, it is possible that if he stayed at the school, some dark wizards would snoop around the school every other day, and it might be possible that Dumbledore would become unhappy because of it. If he is Voldemort, he absolutely would take this opportunity to control a few unlucky people to make a move to infiltrate the school, together with some public opinion campaign ...


    But with all this drama, Felix had a feeling that Voldemort might have other plans.


    The school? The Ministry of Magic? Or the sword castle? He mentally mulled it over.


    "Voldemort has finally found some work for the holed up Death Eaters." He said sarcastically.


    "This move certainly did catch us off guard, I''m sure we wouldn''t have been so passive if this news had been limited to England ... by this time there could have been a number of people illegally infiltrating the country." Dumbledore said, "I contacted Amelia, and she will be coming over later."


    Felix nodded.


    " What are you going to do next?" Dumbledore asked.


    "Two things ... The first is to ask Ms. Bones to clarify the whole situation to the public; her word is more convincing than mine. With her as a witness, at least the British magical community will not be in chaos."


    "Makes sense." Dumbledore said with a smile on his face.


    "The second thing," Felix''s eyes twinkled with a strange light, " Let the news out that I have the means to prove the doubts of the outside world, and both native British wizards and ''foreign'' wizards are welcome to ''witness'' it. " He added more emphasis to the word witness.


    For a moment, he looked sharp.


    The so-called witness was merely a euphemism for a challenge.


    You claim I hold the Elder Wand, but I don''t even need it to defeat you, I can easily destroy all those who covet the power of the Elder Wand with just an empty hand. Felix grinned, revealing his sharp white teeth, he started to actually look forward to that day.


    "Felix ...," Dumbledore paused.


    "Don''t worry," Felix glanced at him, "I won''t randomly take people''s lives if it''s possible, but don''t expect anything pleasant to happen to them either." In truth, if this incident had happened to Voldemort, the dark shadows who think they''re strong would only envy and fear him more, but in his case, it would turn into a hassle.


    He seemed to have stayed too low for a long while.


    On British territory it would be alright, some of his ''deeds'' circulated vaguely in the dark corners, so no one would seek him out lightly. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But in abroad, his name and reputation paled in comparison to here, well, not really, Felix thought, quite a few people had seen him in action at the Quidditch World Cup, but he just couldn''t say exactly how effective it would be.


    The clock pointed to eleven o''clock when the flames in the fireplace rose high again.


    Amelia Bones came out of it in a dusty state.


    "You''re both here," she froze for a moment, then spoke on, "It''s been confirmed that a group of people were indeed illegally entered, and Kingsley raided Knockturn Alley and Hogsmeade with an Auror squad and caught a dozen foreign wizards, two of whom are even wanted criminals on the run from other countries. "


    "The number in the shadows will only be higher." Dumbledore said lightly.


    "We think so too." Ms. Bones said.


    "There''s something wrong with the Daily Prophet - its editor-in-chief should be under an Imperius Curse." Felix abruptly said.


    "That''s right, we tested it with Thief''s Downfall, but Barnabas Cuffe doesn''t remember anything, and it''s hard to tell if it''s a sham." Ms. Bones said, she paused and looked at Felix, "Mr. Hap, I was wondering, the wand you''re holding ..."


    Felix waved his hand and a black wand flew towards her.


    "I did get a new wand custom-made by Mr. Ollivander - a replica of my first wand, thirteen inches, ebony, the only difference is that the wand core was replaced with my own hair." Felix said as he made a please gesture.


    Ms. Bones gave an apologetic expression, "Excuse me." She picked up the wand and gave it a flick, the wand didn''t respond and was even resisting her magic.


    "You should be able to spot the characteristics of it, extremely exclusive, and it serves no one but me," Felix said softly, as he calmly opened his hand and the wand stiffly broke free from Ms. Bones'' hand and spontaneously flew over, circling him while emitting an excited buzzing sound.


    "So you should also be able to tell that this is the perfect wand for me."


    Ms. Bones watched the scene in amazement and nodded subconsciously.


    "Wait, your hair?" She looked at Felix with an odd expression on her face, "Do you have the bloodline of a magical creature? Oh, sorry, you don''t have to answer that ..."


    Felix looked black, this is the reason he didn''t want anyone else to know about his wand core material anymore, especially his acquaintances, like Sirius and Severus, despite the two''s opposite personalities, they are bound to reach some sort of consensus on the matter - in which he would be laughed out of.


    "The reason for using my hair is related to my unique magical path." He explained simply.


    "I can testify to that." Dumbledore said.


    Bones assumed he was talking about unique magic and didn''t press the issue any further. The three of them discussed the matter for a while and finally came to an agreement.


    "Oh yes," Ms. Bones said as she left, "Tonks briefed me about the big golem guards at the Sword Castle, and I wandered around the gates of the castle and sensed how extraordinary they were ... I wonder if the Ministry of Magic could procure a batch? "


    " Sure, I will speak to Remus about it." Felix said, "But don''t expect too much from them, their present defence mechanism is relatively rigid, at best they can be used to function as a holding force."


    "Will it reduce combatant casualties?" Ms. Bones asked.


    "Of course, it can."


    "That would be sufficient." Ms. Bones said as she left through the fireplace.


    Felix got up to say goodbye too, he had some preparation to do in the next few days for what would come next. He is rather optimistic, in his opinion, this is a good opportunity to promote the practical rune system and expand the influence of the ''Future World'' company, it is up to him to decide exactly what to do.


    Valen waved at Fawkes and Phoenix gave a proud cry.


    As Felix walked to the door, Dumbledore hesitated and called out to him from behind, "Actually, I know where the Elder Wand is."


    Felix turned his head and looked at him deeply.


    "It doesn''t matter anymore." He said.


    "Indeed." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "The truth is the only thing that doesn''t matter in this encounter."


    "-but I''m still interested." Felix added.


    Dumbledore looked a little flabbergasted at his words, and after a few seconds, he shook his head, "Well, if you insist ... it''s in my hands."


    At this time, after a morning of fermentation, the news in the newspaper had spread through the school, and the students were enthusiastically discussing the topic of the " Top Ten Wands".


    ------------


    #Jacob Slade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 599+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 531: Brewing Rumours and Liquid Luck (2 in 1)

    In the library. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are sitting together in the library catching up on their assignments, but there is so much chatter around them about an article that they were unable to stop themselves from thinking about it. Mrs. Pince had already chased away three groups of bickering young wizards by waving a feather duster, but there had been no effect.


    "Harry, didn''t your wand core come from the same phoenix as the You-Know-Who?" Ron asked.


    "Yeah, both come from Fawkes." Harry said slowly, not really wanting to admit it.


    "Wouldn''t your wand also make it onto the list then?" Ron excitedly asked in a low voice.


    Harry''s heart suddenly skipped a beat.


    "Probably not," he said, "It also mentioned in the article that the wand and the wizard complement each other, and I''m just a student." Despite what he said, Harry couldn''t help but fantasize that if he ever achieved something comparable to ... no, the very thought of Voldemort made his stomach churn, it would be better to think about someone else, Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor Hap would be perfect.


    His eyes gradually looked lost.


    "But how come Headmaster Dumbledore''s wand isn''t on it?" Ron flipped through the paper and was looking for a new topic with interest.


    "It stated that only people who had publicly bragged about their wands would be on the list." Harry said casually.


    " Then what''s the deal with Salazar Slytherin?"


    "Probably because of how unusual it looks." Harry remembered Lucius Malfoy''s walking cane wand quite vividly.


    At that moment, another pair of young wizards argued, and they seemed like a couple.


    "How could our professor possibly kill someone?"


    "But it''s written in the paper-" S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It must be a rumour! And it only talks about ''possible'', so maybe the rules itself are wrong."


    They argued so much that they were finally thrown out by an annoyed Mrs. Pince all together.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other.


    "Have the rumours developed this far already? It''s only been a morning-" Hermione said incredulously, as she closed her book hard, " We should better warn the Professor, it''s obviously someone is deliberately spreading it around."


    "How do you know?" Harry asked.


    "There are plenty of flaws." Hermione lowered her head and spread the paper out in front of them with some key points underlined, "Look guys, firstly, the article isn''t signed, which is unusual, and secondly, the fact that only the Elder Wand is on the list isn''t because of a certain wizard, and it''s merely a fairy tale! The article seems very vague, yet it mentions the cruel way of passing it on and puts the professor''s name on it ... Think about it, even we only accidentally had learned the name of the professor''s new wand by eavesdropping on his conversation, what sources did the other guy used to learn about it?"


    "Hiss~" Ron took a breath and made a handful of gestures, " Snape?"


    "Unlikely-" Hermione shook her head as she looked from side to side and whispered, "Muffliato." The charm turned their speech into an indistinguishable buzzing sound.


    "Why? I think it''s possible." Harry said, his resentment towards Snape breaking through to new heights lately, at their last detention yesterday, Snape had made them clean the old jars and the smell in them could literally kill someone.


    "Because he is close to the Professor." Hermione simply said.


    " Well, it''s still not impossible," Ron lowered his voice, "Who knows where all that information he got came from, not even Sirius knows that much, plus he was travelling around mysteriously during the summer, if you ask me, maybe he was visiting his friends and family all summer, visiting those ''old Slytherin friends'' of his... . And he''s very close to Malfoy''s dad to boot!"


    Hermione sighed.


    "Although I don''t like him either, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap both trust him, do you think they''re both stupid?"


    Harry and Ron were dumbfounded; that reason was enough to erase all suspicions.


    "Well, you''re right." Ron said weakly.


    "The problem now is that we can''t let this rumour spread any further," Hermione said grimly, " We should better alert the Professor."


    "Is that necessary?" Harry asked, "The Professor is not that fragile."


    " It has nothing to do with being fragile, remember in the second year, when you were mistaken for being the heir of Slytherin? And the fourth year, when we were misunderstood about dropping our names into the Goblet of Fire?" Hermione analysed, "If all the students and their parents believe the rumours and pressure the school board, the Professor might possibly face a suspension."


    Realizing the severity of the problem, they packed up their things and left, and passed the Slytherin House students who looked in high spirits.


    "Well done ..." said a sixth-year Slytherin student with a red face.


    Harry asked in disbelief, "Are they gloating?" Well, again, it didn''t look like that.


    "They''re happy! They don''t care how the Professor got the Elder Wand, remember what that wand represents? Invincible after obtaining the wand ..." Hermione said softly, "I heard Parkinson and Millicent talking about whether Professor Hap could beat Headmaster Dumbledore when I went to the lavatory, and from the tone of their voices, they seemed to be eager for it to happen."


    "What a bunch of odd balls ..." Harry shook his head.


    On the other side, Felix emerged from the Headmaster''s office.


    His expression faded.


    The fact that the Elder Wand actually exists was something he didn''t know before. To be precise, it was the Headmaster Dumbledore himself that had admitted that the Elder Wand could be considered more powerful than the average wand, and he hadn''t asked for any details about the origin of the wand, as Dumbledore was obviously reluctant to elaborate further.


    There could be a human life involved.


    As Felix walked down the corridors, he could occasionally hear the excited chatter of students, some of them were speculating about the origin of Professor Hap''s Elder Wand. When the rules of the Elder Wand''s bloody succession were made public, it was inevitable that the rumoured ''owner'' of that wand would be subjected to such a suspicious gaze.


    Suspicion would be inevitable.


    Even Dumbledore could not avoid it.


    What''s more, he had some vague guesses.


    Headmaster Dumbledore''s fighting history was pitifully low, though no one could ignore the legendary duel in 1945 - in which Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald, the Dark Lord of his generation, in a public duel.


    As a consequence of this defeat, the community of so-called acolytes, which numbered over 10,000, fell apart.


    But Grindelwald is still in Nurmengard Castle, where he is still alive and well, so the rumours could be incorrect, it is not necessary to kill the original owner; Perhaps a simple crushing defeat is enough to obtain the wand''s allegiance.


    From the few words of conversation with the headmaster, Felix came to the conclusion that the Elder Wand acted like a strength enhancer and a channeller. It would amplify the power of the wizard who held the Elder Wand, a boost that would be quite noticeable to all, if it had this power, then Felix can understand why this wand is considered as the most powerful wand.


    Because the Elder Wand has had multiple wielders throughout the history of the wizard, and each of them has been formidable in the dueling field.


    Why would a young wizard need to choose a brand new wand with no other wielder? Apart from wanting to choose the most suitable wand available to them, a more practical reason is that a second-hand wand carries its former owner''s spellcasting habits, and it can easily taint a blank piece of paper with its own colour.


    That article already said it all - the wand chooses the wizard, and then the wand and the wizard will grow together.


    "That means: the wand has growth, but of course, that growth is not really noticeable to its wielder, at best it would feel much smoother." Felix wondered, "But what if the wand had fallen into the hands of someone else who matched it perfectly?"


    If the original holder of the wand had been a master of Transfiguration, then the wand would help the new holder learn Transfiguration much better, regardless of rejection.


    In his own case, for example, his wand is extremely exclusive; after all, it has his hair in it. But it is not impossible to adjust it; he can change the wand''s ownership selection criteria for the wand to choose a wizard who is proficient in ancient runes.


    Although this would be difficult and not something that could be easily accomplished, Felix knew a fair amount about Wandlore as well, or at least he had a high degree of certainty: if he gave enough time, or worked with Mr. Ollivander, he might actually be able to change the rules of the wand to minimize the rejection.


    Perhaps in a thousand years, after his wand had drawn on the wisdom and spell-casting habits of the successive generations of ancient runes masters, it too would become a legend, an existence similar to the Elder Wand.


    In Felix''s mind, the Elder Wand might have started out as a mere new wand, created with top-notch materials, wand core, and manufacturing techniques, which might also have incorporated some alchemical techniques.


    But the most important aspect - the thing that made the Elder Wand different from ordinary wands - was the fact that it could recognize itself.


    This trait was enough to allow it to learn knowledge and spellcasting habits from multiple wielders over a long period of time. Felix mused about how Godelot had treated his wand as his partner and even mentor, using its power and knowledge to compile the Magick Moste Evile ...


    Dumbledore explicitly stated that the Elder Wand doesn''t think or communicate like a human, so is it just a faithful notation?


    After all, its previous possessors had all been strong, and the occasional few who couldn''t reach the standard would have left a strong mark on history because they were manipulated by the evil knowledge hidden within the wand.


    Felix breathed a long sigh of relief.


    Exactly why the wizard who crafted the Elder Wand did so is unknown; after all, Felix had a strong scepticism about the existence of Death itself, Beedle the Bard was from the fifteenth century and there were no similar legends before his time ...


    As a matter of his own judgment, Felix figured that perhaps the wizard who built the Elder Wand was an extremely skilled alchemist and a Wandmaker, as for the purpose ... perhaps on a whim or as an experiment.


    Some of the notes left by Nicolas Flamel had opened Felix''s eyes, one of which concerned the legend of the Cornucopia.


    ''People tend to be intensely curious about areas they don''t understand, and if they don''t get an answer, they tend to fill in with their own cognitions; both wizards and muggles have this bad habit.


    I can think of at least a dozen ways of creating a Folklore''s Cornucopia, for example, ranging from an easy way by using a few hidden tricks (such as using an Undetectable Extension Charm to hide a batch of grains, fruits and flowers beforehand, after which you can sit back and watch the show) to more complex ways ( Which certainly can work even better than the legendary Cornucopia does, which in ancient times, when information was not easily available, could have been fabricated).


    This can be built by simply adding small alchemical tools that cannot be seen by muggles, alchemical tools that have a strong sensitivity towards fruits, grains, flowers, golds, and so on, which are designed to steal the wealth of an innocent merchant a few hundred kilometers away from the Cornucopia when the muggle is asleep.


    This was not difficult and the muggle (usually a simple peasant) of the time would only marvel at the fact that he had a treasure that spontaneously produced food, Jewellery, and a pot of gold, without suspecting that the fortune produced was in fact belonged to someone else and, if done cleverly enough, the stolen treasure could be fused into a fixed shape and marked with a unique mark... ...


    In my long life, I have truly seen such a deed done, and as a result, I have been careful about keeping my creations out of circulation. I have kept my work strictly for the purpose of research alone, but of course, I can''t rule out that it is because I made a bet with Perenelle ...''


    Felix walked around the Black Lake, enjoying the refreshing breeze and watching Valen run after a butterfly, her scarf flapping up behind her head, and watching her happily run around made him smile unconsciously.


    To sum it up, is there a Death in this world? He wasn''t sure, but unless Death is literally standing in front of him, and he can''t beat it, the question is irrelevant in practical terms, whether it''s an Elder Wand, a Resurrection Stone, or an Invisibility Cloak, he generally just dismisses it as the work of an extremely skilled alchemist.


    If he ever happens to come across them, he will borrow them to study for a while.


    This also made him realize that there was really no need to dwell on the Elder Wand and the Death.


    He also possessed crafting methods for creating a whole bunch of magical items such as philosopher''s stone, Horcrux, etc., oh yes, and the time-turner. He had no shortage of time energy.


    "If Death truly exists in this world, I would like you to appear in front of me and shatter my world views ..." muttered Felix in a small voice, but he soon changed his mind, "Well, it would be better if you appear a few years later when we can sit down and talk about magic."


    On his way back, he heard movement behind him and turned to see Harry, Ron, and Hermione darting their way over from behind the pillar.


    " Just in time, I was hoping to find you." He said to Harry.


    "Professor," Harry gasped for breath, "we''ve heard some rumours and now everyone is speculating where the wand you''re holding came from."


    "You''d better clarify that, if you leave it alone the rumours will surely get worser and worser." Hermione added.


    After the first two had finished their sentences, Ron could only nod his head hard when it was his turn.


    " Well, so this is skipping right over the authenticity and defaulting to the fact that I possess the Elder Wand?" Felix chuckled and ended the sentence in an eerie tone, "Don''t worry, someone will explain it for me, you guys wait until you read the latest paper. On the other hand, I''m curious to see what will happen next - whether they will choose to believe a story that sounds quite so-so, or whether they will want to know the truth at all ''cost''."


    Harry and the group were literally frozen in place by these words. Felix followed up with, "I mean the dark wizards who are thinking some crooked ways."


    The Golden Trio immediately smiled at that, "Ah, of course, what else could it be."


    "Here, Harry, it''s from Mr. Slughorn." Felix tossed the small vial with the Liquid Luck to Harry.


    "Mr. Slughorn?" Harry caught the small vial and looked at the golden liquid inside, and shaking it casually, the gold-like droplets jumped like swimming fish. He asked in confusion, "What is this?"


    Hermione covered her mouth, "Oh my god, oh my god."


    "Felix Felicis." Felix replied.


    Harry still didn''t get it, he had spent most of his time in Potions class muddling through, he had low expectations of passing the class and the lower year''s textbooks didn''t contain an introduction to potions like Liquid Luck.


    Felix looked at Hermione, giving her the task of explaining it would be a win-win for everyone.


    "Felix Felicis. It has another name, Liquid Luck! It has the effect of bringing good luck and making whatever you do go smoothly." Hermione said, remembering that she had seen this rare potion in her second year in the Professor''s collection - she had tried to get information about Polyjuice Potion at the time, but the Professor had pulled out several magical potions, including a vial of Liquid Luck, exactly the same as the one Harry is holding.


    Unsurprisingly, Harry and Ron''s eyes widened at the same time, and Harry felt the vial in his hand become so hot that he couldn''t remember how he had taken it from the professor at all.


    "That''s correct," Felix nodded at Hermione before turning to Harry, "You can ask Miss Granger the dos and don''ts about this potion, besides, I would like to ask one more thing, you don''t really think that a potion can change your luck, do you?"


    Harry looked at him blankly, "Doesn''t it?"


    "Let me explain it like this," Felix said to them, "Have you ever had an experience such as this? Not performing well enough on some important occasion because you were nervous, and then being so remorseful afterwards that you felt you would have done better if you could do it all over again?"


    The three of them pondered.


    "I think like that after every exam." Ron muttered in a whisper, "Would a Liquid Luck will help?"


    Felix chuckled, "If you''ve never been exposed to that part of knowledge before, it''s rather limited in what it can do. The Liquid Luck will stimulate your hidden potential, making you sharper and more precise in your judgement, as if you had everything under control ... so you can easily do things you would not normally dare to imagine, but the truth is, you already had such potential."


    Harry looked at the potion in his hand, the enthusiasm in his heart gradually subsiding.


    "So, what you wanted to say is Liquid Luck is a luck potion, by definition, not a wishing potion." Harry asked.


    Felix smiled and nodded his head.


    Harry''s eyes suddenly widened, "Wait, then Professor, doesn''t your thinking room-" have a similar effect? He was well aware that a sub-function of this magic is thought acceleration, which sounded similar to the effect of a Liquid Luck.


    "Ah," Felix smiled, "don''t you know? Magic spells and magic potions can be used as a substitute for each other, so in a way, you''re right about that part." Like his name suggested, he could always make ''luck'' come to him, as well.


    ------------


    #Jacob Slade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 600+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 532: Press Conference

    That day passed by peacefully. The next day the Ministry of Magic held a press conference, with the Minister of Magic Amelia Bones herself as the speaker, standing on the dais with a crowd of reporters and photographers below her, and dotted with people who had run over to see what was going on. She looked over at Kingsley, who gave her a slight nod. Ms. Bones calmly announced.


    "The rumours about Mr. Felix Hap obtaining the Elder Wand, which was previously propagated in the newspapers, have been proven to be false. I have personally examined his wand, and it is not made of the rumoured elder wood, which speaks volumes. It is well known that in addition to his expertise in ancient runes and muggle studies, Mr. Hap is also a writer with a child''s heart. The best-selling comic series that brought L.C.A. publishers back from the dead, ''The Strange Adventures of Mick the Little Wizard'', was written by him, and this masterpiece included a large number of references to works in the same genre, and naturally, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which has influenced countless young wizards, was also featured."


    "Are you implying that Mr. Hap has named his wand the Elder Wand because of the reverence he holds for the Beedle the Bard?"


    "That is correct."


    "Madam, are you denying the existence of the Elder Wand?"


    "Perhaps it truly exists, but it is certainly not in Mr. Hap''s possession now, nor is it part of our discussion today." Ms. Bones replied.


    "How did you check it, and what if he had made a forgery?"


    "I wouldn''t doubt my own eyes." Ms. Bones said coldly, "Next."


    "What if he has a second wand?"


    Bones examined the man who spoke from under her monocle, "I don''t remember inviting you, what newspaper are you a journalist for?"


    "Ahem, I''m here on a trip, a tourist." The bald man who had asked the question said smilingly.


    " Good," Ms. Bones said calmly, "we''ll check your approved entry paperwork after the press conference, if you don''t have it, be prepared to pay the fine up front."


    She cleared her throat and continued.


    "There may be more to this than that meets the eye, and I can break the news that the editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet, who approved this article, is suspected of being under an Imperius Curse, which suggests: there may be a possible conspiracy lurking under the surface of this matter, and given the current situation, there is reason to suspect that it is connected to Voldemort and his evil gang."


    The red-carpeted press conference room became silent as if someone had casted a charm.


    "Ahem, are you sure?"


    "I used the words ''suspected'' and ''possible''," Ms. Bones said sternly, "but if you''re well-informed, you''ll discover that this article has appeared in a dozen countries, and it cannot be a coincidence!"


    "I personally have nothing but contempt for the authors of this article, because those responsible for it cannot even distinguish the most basic fact that Mr. Hap''s research focused on ancient runes and that he promoted the current boom in Runes throughout Britain. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Although Mr. Hap is not a man of many words, he is deeply distressed by the public''s wrong prioritization. He has therefore requested me to organize an exchange in the Hogsmeade village on the last weekend of October - that is, 27 October -"


    At this point another journalist questioned.


    "Why drag it so long? Wouldn''t it be enough for him to come forward and state that he never possessed the Elder Wand?" Rita Skeeter''s eyes twinkled as her question drew a chorus of approval.


    "Because that''s just trivial!" Ms. Bones interrupted her, "The Elder Wand is worthless in Mr. Hap''s eyes compared to the promotion of ancient runes, and that''s the difference between you and him-"


    Rita Skeeter glared at her viciously.


    The others took notes excitedly, their quill seemed to fume, and the white glow of the flash flickered constantly.


    "And, it must be mentioned that Dumbledore, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, has applied to the International Confederation of Wizards to arrange this exchange as an international event, where he will invite wizards of sufficient prestige to attend, including experts in ancient runes from all over the world, and Headmasters of wizarding schools from all countries. "


    The crowd of journalists froze. The various coloured quills that hovered in the air fell to the ground as if they were in a faulty state.


    Big news.


    Rita Skeeter grabbed a green feathered quill with a look of excitement on her face, she had not made the wrong decision to side with him.


    For the next few minutes, all that was left was the sound of the writing quills.


    "... All outsiders must report in advance and limit their activities solely within the Hogsmeade village, violators will receive severe punishment ..."


    "Can you tell us about the exchange?"


    "All that can be revealed at this time is that in addition to presenting his research, Mr. Hap will also graciously spare some time to accept challenges from anyone--"


    "Wait! A challenge?"


    The reporters sniffed out the keyword.


    "Exactly." Ms. Bones said, looking at the few excited, unfamiliar faces on the scene - they are obviously foreign wizards - and a wave of pity rose up in her heart for no apparent reason. Only she and a handful of Wizengamot wizards had seen the footage of Felix Hap fighting Voldemort.


    If you are so excited, you will not refuse to sign a life and death contract, right? She continued reading her statement undisturbed.


    "The event is expected to last three days ..."


    "The Ministry of Magic will actively negotiate with the various foreign Ministries of Magic, and the proceedings would be held in the form of a real-time broadcast, with technical support from Future World ..."


    The press conference ended with a buzz of excitement.


    By the time the news reached Hogwarts, it was already the next morning, and students exchanged information briskly with each other at the great hall table, with an occasional knowing look when their eyes met, that meant, ''I told you there would be Big News.'' Then they rushed off to their classes.


    Over the next few days, an atmosphere of restlessness permeated the school, and this restlessness was reflected in the classes that followed, where some daring students could not resist asking questions about the topic in question.


    "Professor Black, may I ask who is more powerful, you or Professor Hap?" A very unlikeable student asked an unpleasant question.


    Sirius glared at him, "That comparison is pointless, and besides, it is forbidden to provoke a conflict between professors, so five points off for Gryffindor."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione grinned.


    It was hard to hide their actions from Sirius, who was somewhat regretting that he had told them about the time he had been played around by Felix and, become somewhat annoyed about it for a moment, and asked with a dark look on his face, " Since you guys asked, I will ask an exactly similar question: how much better do you think you are compared to Aurors?"


    "We can try." He carried his wand and looked impishly at the crowd, "Get a real feel for it; Aurors are given plenty of opportunities to be exposed to combat, and it is real combat unlike your duel games, and their opponents tend to be cunning dark wizards."


    "Even if you have mastered the same magic, those who have had training in dueling behave completely differently from those who have not, and furthermore, those who have had experience in real combat are completely different from those who have not, and this gap is reflected in the tiny details of how you perceive fighting."


    "Let''s assume that I''m not particularly far ahead of you guys, but even with the same spell, and maintaining the same level of power, the gap between us is still quite wide ..." He paused and made a provocative gesture, the meaning of which is clear enough.


    "So - who''s first?"


    Harry leaped to his feet, but Sirius pretended like he didn''t notice it, remembering the grudge, "Zabini, come here." He pointed at someone and Blaise Zabini stepped forward confidently, his friends whistled loudly. "Harry, you call the start."


    Sirius and Zabini stood face to face, staring at each other''s faces. Harry shouted ''start'' and they both moved at the same time, Sirius flicked his wrist and Zabini''s wand immediately flew out.


    "A little trick, but if you''re holding your wand tightly, the power of the spell will barely move your arm a little, but it''s just perfect in this case." Sirius said, "Again."


    Unconvinced, Zabini picked up his wand, this time gripping it firmly in his hand.


    "Begin!"


    Both men raised their wands in unison -


    "Expelliarmus!" Zabini shouted loudly, but Sirius beat him to it.


    "Casting spells silently always makes you one step faster," Sirius said with a tilted head.


    "This time I''ll cast the spell-like you, so let''s do it again." He said.


    Zabini hesitated for a moment, and picked up his wand from the ground, looking at Sirius cautiously.


    A moment of silence followed.


    "Expelliarmus!" "Expelliarmus!" Both men shouted at the same time.


    Except this time, Sirius jerked his head low and dodged the spell quickly, while Zabini got hit solidly and his wand flew out of his hand as it rotated a few times.


    "Even if two people chant the spell at the same time, I still have the chance to dodge it or flick it away with my wand, in short, there are many ways to avoid it." Sirius said, " Still, even if you''ve read about this in your textbooks or storybooks, or even practiced it in private, you still might not be able to remember to use it or use it well when you''re in actual combat."


    "Your last school year professor, Alastor Moody, I have worked with him, and he has a saying that rings well - Constant vigilance. Of course, I''m not asking you to imitate him, but at the very least, you should know what to do when danger comes, and if you can''t remember, then you should use your body to remember."


    ...


    On a late night, Felix spread out the new version of the Marauder''s Map, where rows of paths through Hogwarts Castle and the Forbidden Forest intersected with each other and sprouted like a spring flower. His index finger tapped on an inconspicuous corner, and in a flash of flickering light, the original layout quickly disappeared, and new paths expanded from the corner of Hogwarts Castle, twisting and turning until a new location appeared.


    It is a small village, made up of numerous cottages and shops with many familiar names on them: Ambrosius Flume is in Honeydukes, Madam Puddifoot is in Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop, Rosmerta is in Three Broomsticks Inn, Zonko is in Zonko''s Joke Shop, and there is that barman at the Hog''s Head Inn named Aberforth..... Dumbledore!


    To be honest, Felix was genuinely taken aback when he first saw the name.


    At the moment, he lowered his head to look down at the other names in Hogsmeade with the help of the dim light -


    "Let me look, all the strangers who have shown up and the ones who are stupid enough to roam around Hogwarts?"


    ------------


    #Jacob Slade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 601+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 533: Aberforth (2 in 1)

    The night is already freezing in early October, and the Hogsmeade Village seemed gloomy and cold as Felix walked through the empty streets, the streets were deserted, even the Aurors and Hit-Wizards who were on patrol had found shelter from the cold, they would not come out unless someone pressed the alarm or triggered the Caterwauling Charm. All the shacks and shops along the street were closed, and the Hog''s Head Inn was no exception, but Felix spotted a faint light through a gap in the closed door or window, and after two minutes of persistent knocking on the door, it finally opened.


    In the doorway stood a sharp face resembling Dumbledore''s, but with an angry look on his face, the older man who towered a little over him looked tall and lean, and stood firmly in front of him.


    "Why I never realized this before." Felix muttered.


    "It''s closed, come back tomorrow if you have any business!" The barman''s tone was snappy, and he had the same long beard as Dumbledore''s, only it is grey in colour.


    " There''s no need to be so gruff with your customers," Felix laughed lightly, his head inclined towards the side, "let me in, I can see two men drinking in the corner! And on an extra note, your closing hours are usually pretty late."


    Aberforth Dumbledore, the owner of the Hog''s Head Inn and its only barman, glared as Felix gestured in the direction of the icy stone wall of the Inn, and if one passed through it, one would see that his statement was unmistakable.


    "They''re lodging." Aberforth Dumbledore stated.


    Felix shrugged and didn''t reply, and the two men stared at each other for a few seconds before Aberforth reluctantly moved out of the way.


    "Don''t make any trouble or I''ll throw you out." He whispered threateningly and slammed the door behind him after Felix stepped inside.


    Felix stood and looked around the room, the bar is small and reeked of goat smell, it is also very dimly lit - probably because of the night - with a few candle heads burning quietly. He took a quick glance at the only other customers in the bar, it is now nearly midnight, so neither of the two men are in any disguise, allowing Felix to see their faces clearly.


    There were two bottles of liquor on the table, and the both bottles looked dirty.


    What a coincidence, Felix thought to himself, those two faces looked exactly the same as the profile he had read before, exactly two of the three targets he was looking for, a notorious group of dark wizards who have been moving around multiple countries committing lots of bloodsheds.


    He walked towards the bar as if nothing had happened, but the two dark wizards in question froze, a little dumbfounded that the target they had been strategizing about had just appeared out of nowhere. But Felix Hap had been rumoured to be a force to reckoned with, having made a big splash at the Quidditch World Cup, taking down hundreds of wizards all by himself - a rather impressive number even if he had faced a bunch of confused, drunken people who were just venting their frustrations.


    Their eyes followed Felix all the way to the bar where he sat down, at which point Aberforth also walked in through the bar''s side door and returned to his usual and familiar spot.


    "What kind of drink do you want?" He asked gruffly, casually picking up a tattered rag to wipe his goblet.


    "A Firewhisky - ugh, never mind." Felix looked at the dirty rag in Aberforth''s hand, the thing looked like it hadn''t been replaced for centuries and seemed to be from the same era as the stone floor that looked completely unrecognizable from its original form.


    " I want to enquire about an intel." Felix said, and his words caught the attention of the two wizards in the corner, who had their ears cocked to the side, but they couldn''t hear anything when Felix tapped on the bar top.


    "I''m not an information dealer or an information broker, I''m just an owner of an Inn." The old man said impatiently.


    On the other side, the two dark wizards looked at each other.


    " Shall we do it?" One of them asked, licking his lips.


    "Wait a little longer, that barman is not easy to mess with, he has thrown out a dozen unruly men in the last two days; When Felix Hap leaves, we will follow him and wait for the opportunity to attack ..."


    "Should we notify the old man? He has had a lot of drinks, and neither the fourth nor the fifth have returned."


    "Don''t startle the snake, it won''t be good to attract that man''s attention." The other dark wizard said with a grim look on his face, that is the Elder Wand they''re talking about, and if he obtains it, the more people there are, the more trouble he will have to deal with it.


    The two dark wizards were obviously unaware that they had become the subject of discussion as well. On the bar, Felix squinted slightly in the direction of the corner, and Aberforth also followed his gaze.


    ...


    "I''m taking three people." Felix continued as if he hadn''t heard what the opposite party had been saying, "including those two." He sounded like a customer who was ordering a normal meal.


    The barman at the Hog''s Head Inn looked deep into his eyes, the dirty rag he was holding hovered in the air as he growled in a low voice, "You think I would agree to that?"


    "You should be able to understand my concern, they are all dangerous people ... and it is my responsibility." Felix said.


    "Oh? Aren''t you the famous Professor Hap, when did you start to do the Auror''s job?" Aberforth Dumbledore said with no shortage of sarcasm, "Or Is it because of a damned, For the Greater Good thingy?" His blue eyes resembled his brother''s, except Felix, was unable to associate the colour with the deep, calm vastness of the sea, no matter how he looked at it.


    His eyes brimmed with storms of emotion like they were ready to tumble into waves of turmoil.


    Felix understood; after all, the younger brothers were always a little more lively.


    "Speaking of that, unbeknownst to me, I''ve acquired a lot of identities, and occasionally I struggle with them," Felix said with a grin that didn''t look bitter at all, "Let''s just say that lately I''ve been carrying the title Ministry of Magic''s Advisor, as well as the Ministry of Magic''s specially approved bounty hunter. "


    "Bounty hunter?" Aberforth Dumbledore seemed confused.


    "Yeah, like a vampire hunter, except the latter has been deemed an illegal profession, and my bounty hunter status was only recently granted." Felix said cheerfully, waving his left hand around as a piece of parchment suddenly appeared in front of the two men''s sight, "Do I need to show it to you for inspection?"


    Aberforth stared at the Ministry of Magic''s seal that was stamped on the parchment, and his breath quickened.


    "Bang!" He slammed his fist on the bar as the bottles and goblets shook. It made Felix notice one more thing that made him different from Headmaster Dumbledore, probably because he was used to doing physical work, his body is more sturdy with thick muscle and prominent veins.


    He said gruffly, "If I had met someone like you who is playing with the law twenty years earlier, I would have broken your nose with one punch and thrown you out-"


    "I was four years old back then, are you sure about that?" Felix grinned.


    Aberforth glared at him, getting tired of the rumbustious boy in front of him; he had never been comfortable with the school, he never had read many books in his life, and he had only dealt with things like quill and parchment a handful of times since graduating, and now he had some trouble controlling his anger.


    He admitted that he held prejudice against Felix Hap, a prejudice that stemmed from the man who lived in the Headmaster''s office at Hogwarts Castle. Because they were in the same team.


    But a good idea suddenly popped into his head, the type of idea that had not come up very often in his life, and he decided not to waste the inspiration. In a tone full of sarcasm, Aberforth quipped, "So you''re trying to tell me that you were this nasty when you were just four years old as you are now?"


    "In a way - sort of, I was more mature than the average child." The man opposite to him laughed, " As far as I''m concerned, I''ve said all this to make sure you understand that I have a valid reason, but of course, I don''t want to make too much of a scene, in case we run into each other at a private party, it will inevitably be awkward for you ... I''m always well liked."


    He was referring to the Order of the Phoenix and combined with the old man''s name, and the customer base the Hog''s Head Inn had always had, Felix knew this place would be another pair of eyes of Headmaster Dumbledore.


    After a moment of silence, Aberforth huffed and asked, "What are you going to do? Don''t tell me it''s Albus'' order." S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Of course not, it was my own decision."


    Felix stepped out of the spell''s range and stomped on the floor which caused a loud creak, and the two wizards in the corner looked over in unison, their eyes fixed dead on the wand he had just taken out of his pocket. For a moment, the only sound in the Hog''s Head Inn is the crackle of the hearth fire.


    " Do you wanna have a go? This is a great opportunity to release your frustration-" Felix asked with a tempting tone.


    "Shut up, boy!" Aberforth exclaimed.


    The two dark wizards looked at each other, their identities seemed to have been exposed, "Do it!".


    Felix stepped forward, his eyes lit up like stars, one of the dark wizards'' body swayed as if he had received a blow on the back of his head, his body suddenly lost its balance and fell to the ground, and the other dark wizard still remained emotionally composed and did not panic at his companion''s fall.


    Despite the fear that threatened to spill out of his eyes, his movements remained fluid.


    He raised his wand, the tip of which gathered a deep black aura, "Deletri - " Felix took another step forward and his wand stabbed out, suffocating the dark wizard''s last word - in the physical sense. The Dark Wizard suffocated, his chest caving in heavily and his entire body slammed into the wall.


    "There''s one left, in room nine."


    Felix looked towards the stairs, which was the piece of information he had just received. From behind the bar, Aberforth looked furious, the wand in his hand pointed at him.


    "Get out of here! This is no place for you to fool around. I''ll let it slide since those two were the ones who started it just now, but don''t you dare to drag my guest out of his bed."


    "How touching, you should know what kind of people they are, and I only picked off the most dangerous ones ..." Felix said, but Aberforth didn''t budge in the slightest, stubbornly holding up his wand.


    "I''ve been running this bar for decades, and I know what rules I have to follow." He said hoarsely, his expression becoming very intimidating.


    "And if I insist?" Felix locked eyes with him.


    "You can try!"


    "All right." Felix took a step back and seemed to have compromised.


    But with a downward stroke of his wand in his hand, the air rippled like water, and a fold of layers stacked up. The small, dark room suddenly lit up for a moment, a strong light bursting from Felix, followed by a rapid dimming.


    Aberforth looked at him warily, his magic spell gathering its momentum, but he soon opened his mouth wide in surprise, which made Felix laugh out loud, he had never expected he would see such a comical surprised expression on the face that resembled Dumbledore''s.


    The silvery glow spread in all directions and all furnishings became new everywhere it went; the greasy, muddy floor became flat and smooth; the dusty brass candelabra looked yellow and shimmered with a metallic sheen; Aberforth picked up a rag from the table and surveyed it; the stains and grease from long use on the rag disappeared as its original bright colour returned...


    His bar seemed brand new, just as it had been when he had first taken over.


    But it only lasted for a few seconds and soon the room was back to its original state.


    "What have you done?" Aberforth asked with a furrowed brow. He didn''t see what had happened, and that was the worst of it. He is not a weak man - to be precise, he is considered much stronger than the average man. And for that reason he could clearly feel the unfamiliarity in the building he had lived in for decades, an oppressive atmosphere enveloping him and isolating him.


    He definitely wouldn''t be surprised if the rag in his hand suddenly jumped up and gave him a quick jab in the next moment.


    Felix put his wand away and waved his hand at him.


    "Let''s both take a step back, and I won''t go up there and make a scene, but if the man comes down on his own and decides to come with me, it''s none of your business, I suppose."


    " Transfiguration?" Aberforth didn''t respond, he looked down and pondered for a moment before blurting out.


    The answer made Felix a little curious as well, and he couldn''t help but ask, "Can Headmaster Dumbledore do something similar?" It is a trick he has developed on his own.


    "If you mean controlling a piece of terrain," Aberforth muttered, "he did it back in 1945, not so sure about now."


    "That legendary duel? You were there?"


    "Legendary? Legend?" Aberforth sneered.


    He suddenly calmed down, as he shoved his wand back into his pocket and began to wipe the goblet with the dirty rag again, but he seemed somewhat absent-minded, occasionally looking in the direction of the stairs. After a while, there was a movement from upstairs, and he stopped what he was doing and stared at the darkened stairway as if to confirm something.


    A man appeared horizontally as he floated out.


    Red face, yellow hair, scarred and pot-bellied body, his face dragged on the floor as his one leg is held up by something tall.


    The dark wizard who lived in room nine had not floated down like he had originally thought before, but had been dragged down by a tall man, and the man whose face he knew so well, as he sees it every day when he look in the mirror -


    He looked just like the other Aberforth Dumbledore.


    "Thanks, Aberforth." Felix said mischievously as the ''Aberforth'' who is carrying the Dark Wizard remained silent and dropped the Dark Wizard in his hand to the floor, "Bang." The real Aberforth in the back of the bar''s eyelids jumped as the dark wizard''s head bulged with a large bump, he was obviously hit by something.


    Before he could ask, he knew what had knocked the unlucky wanted man unconscious: he saw his other self suddenly jump up and revert to its original form in mid-air - a brass candelabra. The candelabra fell on the bar, wobbled, and spun twice, before stopping in front of him.


    Aberforth probably guessed how Felix had done it: he had used some method to spread his magic throughout the bar, probably on the same principle that he knew exactly where the dark wizards in question were before he even entered the Inn? And this dark wizard was probably blissfully sleeping unaware of the approaching danger or perhaps the alcohol made him lose his usual vigilance; in any case, the metal candelabra above his bed would''ve floated into mid-air and knocked him senseless, then the candelabra morphed into his own form and carried the dark wizard downstairs ...


    "I hate pranks." Aberforth glared at Felix and said stiffly, "You have achieved your purpose, you can leave now."


    "Do you need me to pass your greetings to Albus?"


    "No need!" Aberforth yelled in no good humour, he had just had enough for the night.


    "If I say that I''ll come back tomorrow night-"


    "Get out of here!"


    Felix stopped talking as he beckoned the two Dark wizards who had passed out earlier, and the three Dark wizards hovered in a continuous row like a train in mid-air, and followed him silently, "I''ll take my leave then, Mr. Dumbledore." He headed towards the door after he had spoken.


    Aberforth stared at Felix''s back with an unexplainable feeling of wonder, he had keenly sensed that the young man resembled his brother in some ways, a courteous exterior hiding an unnoticeable mixture of arrogance and stubbornness - the words that were always used to describe him, but his grumpiness was perhaps just more outwardly apparent.


    But then again they are very different, though Aberforth, at least the guy who lives in the Headmaster''s office at Hogwarts wouldn''t have done what Felix had done today. He suddenly called out to Felix.


    "What are you going to do with them?"


    "Send them where they need to go. Sadly, I don''t really want to do this either." Felix replied.


    Aberforth was taken aback, "You''re going to kill them?"


    "Mr. Dumbledore, that''s an appalling notion, I just want to trade them for some money - I told you at the beginning, I''m a bounty hunter." Felix turned back to the old man, his trophy huddled together and their heads rubbed against the ceiling.


    Turns out he is going to hand them over to the Ministry of Magic ...


    "But I did come across two lost guys at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and they fumbled their way to the perimeter of the Hogwarts-" Felix pushed open the door of the bar and a gust of wind blew in, which made the old man''s hand shake. Felix stood at the entrance with one foot outside the bar as he guided the three dark wizards that were hovering in the air to float out one by one.


    "And then what?" Aberforth asked after him.


    He figured out that the young man''s character was brimming with mischief, and so he guessed if he didn''t continue to question on this, the young man would be gone, and he hated when people leave their sentence half spoken, as it would keep him awake all night.


    " Of course, they''re dead." Felix said calmly as the door closed behind him.


    -------------


    #Jacob Slade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 601+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 534: Squib (2 in 1)

    The next morning Felix went to his classes, as usual, the three wanted men who were still alive were naturally picked up by Aurors, he didn''t pay much attention to them, at most, he checked on the new defences that had been added to the school this year, Professors Flitwick and McGonagall had been busy because of it some time. They added this new layer of defence to guard against the Death Eaters, and in the words of Charms Class Professor Flitwick, "The You-Know-Who regarded Headmaster Dumbledore as a major obstacle for his reign during the First War! Who knows what he''ll do this time?" Of course, Felix and Snape, during a private chat, concluded that Voldemort would not deliberately target the school students.


    He wanted to rule, not slaughter. But Filius was right about one thing; there are indeed quite a few people in the school who became a major nuisance to Voldemort, it was just Dumbledore before, but now there is an additional Felix, as well as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, three students who have disgraced him. If one looked even more broadly, the young wizards from Muggle families and students and teachers who did not approve of his brutal philosophy could also be classified in this category.


    Although Voldemort would not deliberately target those latter group - that would only come after he had taken over the British magical world, as part of his "grand cause" - anyone with a bit of intelligence would realize that if Voldemort aimed to do something, no matter who his target is, he would not show mercy. Voldemort would never care if you are innocent or not.


    That''s why defensive measures are necessary.


    "I don''t need to tell you about the exams next June, and one of the major point in your life is finally here," Felix said in his fifth year Ancient Rune Class, "I reckon you''ve been hearing this similar statement over and over again since last year, it''s like a countdown ticking in your head --"


    " Actually, for us, it started in our third grade." Ron whispered, "Because we have a good friend whose name is Miss Know-it-all."


    Hermione rolled her eyes.


    "All in all, you''re lucky that the Ancient Rune Class practical part of the exam has only been divided up this year with no clear specification made beforehand, which means that it won''t be too difficult and the test coverage will be relatively narrow."


    The students below listened with great focus, usually, at this point of the year, every word uttered by the professor would be worth memorizing, as there is a high chance that it would be relevant to the exam.


    And this is the O.W.Ls year!


    "Magic Golems, the three most common kinds of Sneakoscopes out of the seven, and rune cards ... Other than that, what we''re going to talk about today is relevant: from now until the time of Christmas, you will learn to make twelve types of amulets."


    " The core of each amulet is made up of an array of runic circuits. Of course, the true version is much more complex, because of the stability and duration of the magic power... Today, we are going to learn about an amulet that can ward off dark creatures, and you will notice its entire runic circuit core has been carefully structured around the light rune."


    "You are by no means unfamiliar with this knowledge, but you haven''t exactly delved much deeper into it either, so today''s lesson will help you understand and consolidate this knowledge better." Felix paused and looked down at the students, "You all have a copy of the rune booklet, right?"


    The students nodded in unison.


    "Very well, apart from some basic theory, this booklet also contains a complete dissection of an ancient magic, Illumination, which I have already covered in the Magic Rune Club. The Light Rune is also used as the core of the Illumination Magic. In addition to this, the Bright Fire-making spell, which is highly rated by the Dark Force Defence League, also made use of this same rune as its core ... Overall, it has become a highly iconic rune, in other words, a test point."


    A bold student couldn''t resist asking, "Professor, so this rune will appear on the O.W.L exam?"


    Felix blinked, "All I can say is, it''s very likely. Mr. Thomas."


    He waved his wand and a large wall of writing appeared on the board. "The crafting method is in the textbook, and the dos and don''ts are on the board. In addition-" With another wave of his wand, a cluster of white smoke emerged from the tip of his wand and a series of images hovered in midair as it became footage. " Footage of amulet making, for your reference."


    The students below the podium are no strangers to this, but it is the first time this magic has been used in an ancient rune class. They stared at the footage in mid-air -


    A clean, slender hand held the rune carving knife - they guessed it would be Professor Hap - and fluidly wrote a burning magic rune on the palm-sized chestnut slab, so fast that before the first one had cooled, the last one was already finished, and the whole circuit of magic runes linked together and burst with a bright glow. When the bright light faded, the hand began to move again, and they could only partially understand the next procedure, and after nearly three minutes, an amulet was made.


    Next, the silver cloud in the air suddenly froze and the scene returned to the beginning, starting a new cycle.


    "I haven''t figured it out yet-"


    "You have to watch it together with the material and the notes on the board."


    "So we just have to do what we''re shown?" Harry murmured in awe, "If only Potions class could be like this." Potions recipes in the fifth year had taken another step up in difficulty, the various steps involved became so complicated, and slight negligence could turn the potion into a pot of waste water.


    "Snape should really learn this, instead of spending his energy on thinking about how to deduce our points." Ron couldn''t help but complain.


    "I think Professor Binns needs it too." Seamus chimed in. His words drew a chorus of approval; Professor Binns is well known for being able to present the thrilling Goblin Rebellion and the War of the Giants into a boring technical report. Many of the students became programmed to get sleepy when he opened his mouth.


    When the classroom quieted down, Felix said, "I don''t think you''ll be able to make it in one attempt, but it''s always wise to set your aim high. Anyway, let''s get started."


    The students off the podium took out their rune carving knives and chestnut slabs and started to try their hand at making amulets.


    Throughout the whole session, Felix walked around the classroom, pointing out various problems of the students, and he noticed a certain phenomenon - to be precise, it had been going on for a while, and today was just another reoccurrence - the Slytherin students'' looked at him with reverence.


    This kind of behaviour is very different from before, and cannot be justified simply as a sign of adherence to classroom discipline. Well, at least - when they met him in the corridors recently, they would deliberately slow down their speech and appear extremely dignified. It was as if they were afraid of making a joke in front of him.


    Felix had thought that this reverence came from the reputation of the Elder Wand, but the Ministry of Magic had helped him to dispel the rumours, and yet their attitude persisted without waning. He wondered if they knew about his new habit of ''walking'' in Hogsmeade these past two days.


    Even the Gryffindor students could notice this kind of perversion.


    "The Slytherin students are oozing something amiss from top to bottom." Ron said at lunchtime, waving his fork in his hand, "I almost thought they were in cahoots with Percy."


    " W-what it got to do with Percy?" Harry asked.


    "Percy''s been busy as hell! And, of course, he''s overjoyed. I mean, he''s supposed to remain idle for the next few years after hosting two big tournaments in a row last year, but now there''s the Ancient Rune Exchange, and that''s great news for him."


    "The Slytherin students wouldn''t still think that the Professor is holding the Elder Wand, would they?" Hermione asked, "I mean, the Professor has clarified that, hasn''t he?"


    "Probably too desperate for glory." Harry said, this is something he understood better than Ron and Hermione, as he had been playing Quidditch with Slytherin house for three years and became familiar with their ways.


    The bad reputation of Slytherin house had to do with many factors. Such as being arrogant and loving to talk about their status, of course, more importantly, there had been a growing trend from top to bottom where they valued honour too much and were not shy about using many petty tricks to win when they were on the bottom.


    "You guys are right," the ghost Nearly Headless Nick floated over, " In their opinion, Mr. Hap is expected to be Headmaster of Hogwarts. I don''t know who first spread this word, but it suddenly became widespread in Slytherin House."


    "But does it really matter?" Harry asked.


    " Well, of course, it does." Nearly Headless Nick said, "Do you know how many Headmasters have come from Slytherin House throughout the history?"


    "Er ..." Harry fumbled, he looked at Ron, who shared his blank expression, and then at Hermione who had a rather odd look on her face, so he asked uncertainly, "Maybe a dozen?" Nearly Headless Nick shook his head "Are there too few?" and Harry added another question.


    He knew just one, Sirius'' great-great-grandfather, known as the most unpopular Headmaster in the history of Hogwarts.


    "Not very few, but only one, Phineas Black." Nearly Headless Nick revealed the answer.


    "Only him?" Harry asked in surprise. He finally understood why Hermione''s expression looked quite weird. She must have known, because she had almost memorized the book, ''Hogwarts: A History''.


    "Over thirty Headmasters and only one was from Slytherin, so you can imagine what kind of expectations they harboured ... Honestly, I think the Headmaster Black was quickly accepted and supported by Slytherin House during his time was probably also related to the fact that he was the only Slytherin Headmaster, even though the future generations didn''t think much of him. "


    "But wasn''t he the most unpopular Headmaster?" Harry muttered.


    "There''s no contradiction between the two. It''s true that some of the things he did while in post were unpleasant, but at the beginning, Slytherin House was cheering and celebrating it, and they had a lot of expectations for Headmaster Black at the time." Nearly Headless Nick, said, "Although even Slytherin House''s own students couldn''t stand him later on."


    "So what the hell has he done that angered his own people." Ron muttered.


    "I can''t speak ill of him behind his back, he was once a Headmaster of Hogwarts after all, you can check it out by yourselves." Nearly Headless Nick said as he drifted off and flew away.


    At the table, the golden trio froze for a moment and continued to eat with their heads down.


    " Any new news?" Harry asked Hermione.


    "Today? Nope." She said briefly.


    " International Confederation of Wizards still hasn''t approved Professor Dumbledore''s application?" Ron asked.


    " Well, not this soon, but the preparations have started, in fact, the event will proceed whether they agree with it or not, it will just be a lot less impactful." Hermione explained to them the reasoning behind it, "And it will also slow down the speed at which the ancient practical runes will be promoted in other wizarding schools."


    Harry suddenly gave a violent cough.


    "Is there such a thing? Did I overlook it?"


    "It''s obvious... It mentioned, that they would invite experts in ancient runes and the Headmasters of other wizarding schools... Why do you think they would do that?" Hermione asked rhetorically.


    Putting it that way, Harry and Ron somewhat understood the reason.


    "How''s the ''pumpkin pie'' doing these days, any ideas?" Ron asked after a few moments, " I have to deal with a lots of assignments and the little time I have is reserved for Quidditch practice." He groaned, "I kind of understand what Fred and George were saying, O.W.Ls year really does stress people out - since it peels a layer off our skin!"


    "I asked Hedwig to send him a big bag of snacks." Harry said honestly. He wondered if Hagrid had shared it with Grawp; there wasn''t enough in that bag to even feed that giant a single bite.


    "Ugh, I send him one as well," Hermione sighed, "I wish he''d come back sooner, Professor Grubbly-Plank is obviously getting more popular."


    "Professor Grubbly-Plank has to deal with a lot of her own mess," Ron said, "She has her own small estate with a few magical creatures in it. Fred mentioned that she has a large colony of fire crabs on her estate ..."


    Harry and Hermione looked at him at the same time.


    "How do you know that?"


    Ron shrugged, "Fred and George have a shop in Hogsmeade, and Professor Grubbly-Plank''s estate is nearby, a few Crups ran out of an estate once and Fred and George helped her catch them back."


    "How come I''ve never seen that pet shop in Hogsmeade?" Harry couldn''t help asking.


    "There is no shop, Professor Grapeland only takes private orders from foreign countries. Every kind of pet requires a special licence."


    "A special licence?"


    "Yeah, things like fire crabs, Crup, and Jobberknolls which are somewhat risky but not particularly dangerous can be used as wizard pets, but of course, children are out of the question, Charlie was particularly obsessed with Moke - a lizard that shrinks at will - for a while, but we only have cats and gnomes around the house, with some occasional harmless little creatures that will come and go... ..."


    At the weekend Harry gathered the members of the dueling study group together and a few extra people showed up than last year. Luna had come along and curiously surveyed the Room of Requirement while Ginny whispered in Harry''s ear for an explanation, as she acted as if they had accidentally entered the wrong room.


    "We''ll train a few things that aren''t taught in class, like Patronus Charm, runic magic, some very practical spells like the Four-Point Spell that will show the way, and all other things we mastered during the tournament. It''s not just about learning magic, we can all sit and chat too, or occasionally go outside to the Black Lake to blow off some steam." Harry explained to the crowd his plans for the dueling self-study group.


    "Where is this place?" Ginny asked.


    " It''s Room of Requirement, it will provide us with training space and most importantly the equipment that we can use as we please without having to think about the damage." Harry instantly said.


    The crowd looked around with amazement as rows of targets and mats appeared out of thin air as they watched. They looked at it all with fascination.


    For the next while, Harry, Ron, and Hermione instructed the others to shoot Red Sparks with their wands, "Don''t underestimate it, it can save your life in a pinch." Ron said half-truthfully. Everyone here could manage to make sparks from their wands, but it wasn''t enough to use them for warning purposes.


    After the first activity, they parted in front of the tapestry of trolls before the Room of Requirement.


    "Not that bad, was it?" Hermione said.


    "Yeah." Harry said vaguely, not wanting to explain his feelings about the two minutes he had spent alone with Ginny, he felt like he had done something wrong, and anyway neither he nor Ginny had brought up the subject of how to make the sparks more focused and brighter, but again Harry couldn''t remember exactly what they had talked about.


    They went down the revolving staircase and prepared to eat in the great hall. At the stair from the third to the ground floor they heard a loud noise coming from the entrance hall, and they looked at each other and picked up their pace in unison, the sound became clearer, it is a woman''s shriek.


    "What''s happening?" Ron asked in shock.


    Many people crowded in the entrance hall, densely packed, enclosing a central space, and the chatter noise kept rising. People in the back row craned their necks in excitement to look ahead as Harry, Ron and Hermione struggled to get through the crowd, " Make a way, there are two Prefects here!" Ron shouted.


    "Who isn''t?" Draco Malfoy whispered in his ear.


    Ron was startled, followed by a look of disgust, "What are you doing here?"


    "Watching the fun," Draco said slowly, "Or based on your excuse, I''m doing my duty as a Prefect?"


    Ron''s face flushed.


    Harry didn''t say anything as he caught a brief glimpse of Professor Hap, who stood solemnly in front of the crowd like he had run into an extremely difficult problem. But the professor isn''t at the centre of this incident - he''s just a bystander. Harry shifted his eyes to look at the two women who stood at the center of the crowd, Muggle Studies Professor Charity Burbage yelling at Professor McGonagall, "Let me go, Minerva, let me go!"


    "I won''t allow you to leave." Professor McGonagall tightened her lips and said dryly, "Neither Headmaster Dumbledore would."


    Professor Bubarge had two trunks trailing beside her, well stuffed and bulging, and it looked like that was everything she had, and Harry listened for a moment, learning from the chatter of the crowd that Professor Burbage suddenly wanted to leave the school for some unknown reason.


    "Professor Burbage has not been in her best condition lately." A third-year girl said sadly.


    "She''s in a trance ..."


    "Maybe she''s too eager to finish that new book." A well-informed student said.


    In the middle of the entrance hall, Professor McGonagall tugged Burbage hard and refused to let go as she sternly said, "Charity, if being locked up in a muggle prison is still bothering you ..."


    "...It''s not because of that." Professor Burbage sobbed.


    "Then what is the reason?"


    Professor Burbage''s eyes suddenly widened, and she stared listlessly at the dimly lit ceiling as if something unseen is preparing to swoop down and take her away, she shuddered and sobbed, "It''s a nightmare ... I, I''ve become a Squib!"


    An uproar erupted in the entrance hall.


    ------------- S?a?ch* Th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    #Jacob Slade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 602+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 535: The Return of Magic to Magic (2 in 1)

    What is magic? Magic, incantations, gestures, emotions, thoughts, knowledge, wands, beliefs ...


    As his research progressed, step by step Felix eliminated unnecessary components and approached the essence of magic more and more truly. At a certain moment, Felix had the idea that magic is the basis for the existence of all incredible phenomena, the source of miracles, while the mind or soul points the way to miracles.


    When the two are united, it allows the mind to do what it wants.


    And the accidental magic riot of the little wizard is the closest thing to this description; they can do miracles without mastering a profound spell, only with the guidance of strong emotion - in other words, a power of the mind - to perform a high level of spell casting that many wizards would never be able to do in a lifetime.


    This is, of course, referring to the complexity of the magic at work, rather than discussing the amount of power.


    When young wizards are enrolled in school, they begin to systematically learn how to harness magic and learn how to move it so that it will work like a charm. This is in fact a shift from instinct to skill; from Wild casting to Rational one.


    Magic naturally forms an essential part of a wizard''s cognition.


    What would happen if one day this part of cognition is destroyed?


    The scene unfolding in front of him seemed to offer an answer.


    Felix gazed at the hysterical Professor Burbage, who, from his perspective, had magic inside her like he had never seen before - a mess, like a ball of wool torn haphazardly apart. But he is certain that she is definitely not a Squib.


    There is a real Squib living in Hogwarts school, his name is Argus Filch, and he is the Caretaker of the castle. Felix''s eyes darted out towards the crowd, where Filch is standing in the doorway of the Caretaker''s office which is immediately adjacent to the entrance hall, the sound of a magical gramophone emanating from the unclosed door should be heard here if he wishes.


    He is carrying a set of keys in his hand, looking stunned, and Mrs Norris is curled at his feet.


    Felix withdrew his gaze as he once again got confirmation from Filch that the two had very different types of magic in their bodies. Of course, the Squibs have magic, but it barely can make any difference, because it can never be honed, neither the quantity nor quality is comparable to that of even a young magical-childrens. The magic in their bodies is idle beyond belief, like a secluded pool ... or more accurately, like a small puddle of dead water.


    "Professor McGonagall, it would be best to take Professor Burbage to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey examine her, she may have been struck by some weird curse." Felix cautioned, which of course is an excuse, but there was no need to make some things public.


    He couldn''t give an accurate conclusion at the moment either, so rather than saying the half-truth and leaving the students to speculate, he might as well keep his mouth shut for now.


    After all, half-truths and rumours are no different; they are basically the breeding ground for rumours.


    Professor Burbage heard this in a trance and, as if grasping the last straw, she said in a panic: "Yes, it''s a curse! Those books - the ones I brought back from the muggle world - they messed with my head! Oh, Merlin! There''s a wicked curse hidden in every word of that book ..."


    A loud intake of breath was heard throughout the entrance hall.


    "Muggle books hide curses?" A student asked in a low voice.


    "Possible, Mum told me to stay away from anything related to Muggles." Another student said sagely.


    "Nonsense!" Hermione said feistily, and that boy glared at her, before turning his face away in disbelief at the sight of the Prefect badge pinned to her chest and muttered under his breath, "My mum said that."


    "Charity, let''s go to the hospital wing, you''ll be healed." Professor McGonagall gently whispered.


    But Professor Burbage continued to repeat the same words, occasionally stopping to sniffle sharply, Felix shook his head slightly, his eyes flickered, and then the insane Professor Burbage slowly collapsed into Professor McGonagall''s arms without consciousness. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The crowd was awfully quiet as if the words she had just said are still floating in the air, manifesting themselves as horrific creatures and flaring their fangs and claws at them.


    Felix was compelled to say aloud, "Everyone!" His voice reached a long distance, and the students in the room fixed their eyes on him in bewilderment, even the few professors who had just arrived, looked at him blankly, hoping for an answer.


    It is simply because the news that came out of Professor Burbage''s mouth was so alarming: normal wizards turned into Squib? It is something that had never happened before.


    "Something is wrong with Professor Burbage''s body, there is no doubt about that, the cause is unclear at the moment, so I need you all to remain calm." He spoke calmly, slowly moving his gaze to encompass those present, a convincing power radiating from his body from the inside out.


    "I don''t want you to forget my other two identities - muggle researcher and memory healer - so Professor Burbage''s trouble happens to be my area of expertise, so instead of rambling on, ask me, of course, after the session."


    He passed a glance towards Professor McGonagall, who understood and led Professor Burbage away hastily with her wand, several professors followed. Snape stood by the wall, his dark eyes flickered, as he also paced in the direction of the hospital wing.


    The students looked at each other blankly -


    "Oh - ahm - AHM," Justin Finch-Fletchley hooted abruptly, startling everyone, and the companion next to him dashed to one side frightened, as he slapped his chest exaggeratedly. After a few seconds, Justin stated "I remember, it''s true that there are some cursed items in the Muggle world, but they''re all smuggled out of the magical world by dark wizards; Once Professor Hap had even helped me examine a vase made by a goblin!"


    "There is such a thing?" His friend Susan Bones asked.


    "I can testify about that." Ernest Macmillan, a Hufflepuff student who had just been frightened, said with a straight face, trying to salvage his image.


    The frozen air in the entrance hall melted away and the chatter heated up, with a fair number of the young wizards crowding around Justin to hear more clearly.


    ...


    The Hospital Wing is packed with people.


    Pretty much all the professors had arrived upon hearing the news, and there are even many students standing crowded in the corridor of the hospital wing, and Professor McGonagall had to go outside every few minutes to maintain discipline and keep the chaotic students quiet at bay.


    Some people - like Hermione and Ron - were caught in the middle of it, running back and forth in the corridors to maintain order. In an atmosphere of chaos, Madam Pomfrey finished her inspection.


    "This is simply the strangest case I have ever seen in a patient, everything about her body is normal, except for the magic. Usually, this is the most difficult condition to deal with, even if she had an arm missing I could fix it." She kept shaking her head with a confused expression, "I can''t judge, but she is not Squib, but the symptoms-"


    There was another clamour from outside and Professor McGonagall stood up in a huff, her chest heaving violently, "Can''t those students just look at the clock! I''ll make sure they get a point deduction!" She gasped and rushed to the door, opening it to see a tall, slim wizard standing outside.


    Professor McGonagall breathed a sigh of relief, "You''re finally here, Dumbledore. Charity she-"


    "I know all about it." Dumbledore nodded at her, looking around first, his gaze seemed like it held magic, soothing the restlessness in the Professor''s mind, then he strode over to the bed and bent down to examine Professor Burbage''s state, his silver-white beard trailing down to the bed sheet.


    After a good while, he straightened up, and a hint of confusion tinged his eyes. "I can conclude that she has not become Squib, and it certainly is not some curse-"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore is it possible that it could be an Obscurus, I''ve read about it in books and its characteristics are similar to the magic in her-" Madam Pomfrey asked.


    "Absolutely not." Dumbledore said with conviction.


    He looked at the others in the room and Professor Flitwick said as he tip-toed, "I don''t see any hidden magic spells." Snape stood in the corner and said with a blank face, "Nor is it the effect of a potion." Professor Sprout chimed in, "She hasn''t made any recent contact with plants and herbs like sneezewort or Scurvy grass."


    "Maybe then it''s not the effect of magic." Trelawney, who is wearing a pair of large glasses, peeked out from behind Astronomy Professor Sinistra and Care of Magical Creatures Substitute Professor Grubbly-Plank as she looked toward the sickbed.


    "Thank you, Sybill." Dumbledore said briefly.


    He looked over at Felix, who had just opened his eyes and had an odd expression on his face as he looked at the other side of the bed, and asked softly, "How did you and Charity communicate recently?" The eyes of a few professors in the ward widened, staring at Felix''s face in unison, trying to discern something.


    Felix hesitated for a moment, "Albus, you''d better see it for yourself."


    Dumbledore met his gaze calmly, his blue eyes drifted for a moment under his half-circle glasses, and then he found himself in a strange world of vibrant colours: there is no way to tell up from down, no place to land underneath his feet, and he is surrounded by an empty, dark landscape as if he is in the space. Dumbledore surveyed his surroundings with interest as a coiled double spiral structure formed a golden staircase that stretched from near to the end of his sight at infinity. This is followed by a large ball of blue light that sparkled like lightning, radiating a bright white current that filled only part of the void. The gold and blue intertwined with each other clearly and distinctly, forming a large obscure and indeterminate shadow of light at the edges where they made contact with each other.


    "This is ...," Dumbledore slowly said.


    "Professor Burbage''s dream world." Felix replied briefly.


    As he spoke, a familiar voice rang out from nowhere, it belonged to Charity Burbage, her voice much more Ethereal than usual, with echoes as if it came from the open plains, and her tone filled with confusion and fear, as it sounded from all directions, "Why ... why is there no magic in this ..."


    Dumbledore, with a solemn expression, spoke up and explained, " During the summer holidays Charity had been involved in an accident, she visited a dozen Muggle biologists in quick succession, and on the last visit, she became very agitated and possibly at that point her body developed this problem, her wand warned her, but unfortunately, the Muggle professor she was talking to suspected she was hiding a gun and rushed up to knock her out and report it to the police. She was quite distracted when I brought her out ..."


    "Minerva and I talked about it." Felix showed a reminiscent look, "At the International Conference on Muggle Studies two years ago, Professor Burbage had shown curiosity in biology knowledge, but what she was studying at the time is very basic, a level roughly similar to a first-year Levitation Charm? Her presentation was interrupted due to an accident when Ilvermorny students attacked the Hotel ... I have paid little attention to her area of research and progress since then, and it is apparent that Professor Burbage has not given up, and her research has gotten deeper and deeper in the past two years."


    Dumbledore gazed at the strange dreams of Charity Burbage, "She is unable to comprehend that new knowledge?"


    "Worse than that - she understood it, but couldn''t incorporate it into what she already knew." Felix said.


    Dumbledore pondered for a moment, oblivious to the echoing voice of Professor Burbage drifting around the dream, "Is it another system? One that conflicts with magic?"


    "Magic and science." Felix said lightly, "The two are like two circles, each has developed a very different system over the millennia, if you look at them in comparison: magic is sentimental and versatile; science is rational and rigorous, and they have grown increasingly distinct from each other, forming two brilliant flowers of civilization ... "


    "But unfortunately, our Professor Burbage has discovered the intersection of the two by mistake." Dumbledore said with emotion.


    "That''s right," Felix said, "her cognition is too inclined towards wizardry, and as a witch, she is undoubtedly well-qualified, but on the other hand - pardon me for saying this - her scientific knowledge is pathetically low, but she is under the delusion that she can use the wisdom she has accumulated through her life to understand another logically rigorous behemoth, and that is very difficult to accomplish without clearing many problems."


    "So that''s the case." Dumbledore exhaled softly and looked at the dreamscape before him, "Now that we know why, it becomes easier to solve Charity''s current troubles - there are more than one way to solve it, and we can let Charity choose exactly which one to use when we go out."


    Felix nodded, as he thought of the same.


    The most straightforward way to fix it is by making Charity Burbage forget the memories involved, then treating her as a newly enrolled young wizard, and letting her reorganize her magic knowledge all over again. The whole process is not that difficult, but of course, she may not be happy about it.


    The other method is more difficult, instead of erasing her memories, she must rediscover the magic and solidify her cognition despite the presence of disruptions.


    But either way, I''m sure Dumbledore would warn her to stay away from such a ''dangerous'' knowledge for a short time.


    Felix regretted a little that he hadn''t given out his Christmas present yet, but he didn''t dare give anything related to the Muggle world now, who knew if it would touch her nerve. The incident had also woken him up to the problems that are in the middle of his goal; he had been secretly trying to promote the integration of the wizarding and normal world in the past, and now it seemed he had a long way to go.


    Perhaps a buffer zone should need to be created in between the two, somewhere between the opening and closure of the wizarding world, a careful balancing point...


    A limited degree of openness? Felix mused.


    Dumbledore sighed, "She is supposed to be the wizard who will push this area of knowledge to the limit in centuries."


    "She is indeed a pioneer." Felix agreed.


    "And what about you?"


    "Me?"


    "Your achievements in the field of Muggle studies are equally admirable," Dumbledore said softly, "I have read your book, which contains a considerable amount ... of scientific knowledge, and as far as I know: one can only formulate something through the words if they have an idea or deep knowledge about it."


    "You are thinking that I have studied it more deeply than Professor Burbage?"


    "That is what puzzles me most. You have never seemed to be troubled by this? And you also managed to apply that concept in the company you founded - Future World is said to spend a significant portion of its expenses on muggle items, but those employees aren''t as ... well, the only difference I can think of is that the areas of research are different." Dumbledore said in a tone that explored the truth.


    "There are indeed reasons for that." Felix said, "The development strategy I have for the company - at least the preliminary research - is to draw on the ideas and purposes of Muggle technology products before trying to replace them with magic. I didn''t ask them to master the principles behind it, and it''s especially important to note that -" he crossed his fingers, "the concepts of mechanics, physics, chemistry ... are either available to wizards themselves. Or are still blank and do not seriously conflict with their cognition. Unlike Professor Burbage, she has touched the most essential and radical problems."


    "As for the fact why I am personally unaffected, I think it may have something to do with my origins, which have made me hold both magic and science with equal regard, as well as the fact that I don''t think I can easily master the power of both with my own hand." Felix said.


    Dumbledore smiled, "Ah, a marvellous vision is born in me, as your job advertisement in the paper stated - what kind of sparks would come from the combination of Muggle wisdom and magic?"


    "That''s right, I''ll wait in anticipation to see what will happen."


    "You are too modest, Felix, and if I had to find one word to describe this, I would say: fruitful." Dumbledore said. In the dream world, Charity''s voice rang strong and weak, as if she had been wandering through the dream world, begging for answers over and over again.


    "Genes ... DNA... Evolution ... Why is there no place for magic in it?"


    "Have you thought about how to deal with this?" Dumbledore asked thoughtfully.


    Felix magically understood what Dumbledore meant: Dumbledore hadn''t demanded an answer itself, that wasn''t realistic or immediately available. He simply wanted to know how to deal with this type of conflict of ideas and concepts if wizards and normal people are destined to merge.


    "Haven''t thought about it before." Felix said bluntly.


    "And now?"


    " Have a little idea!"


    Dumbledore looked at Felix with a smile. Felix seemed to have the illusion that he had gone back three years ago as if they are sitting in that circular headmaster''s office, and he is being interviewed for a serious job, rather than exploring issues in a professor''s bizarre dream world.


    "In the short term, magic to magic and science to science, with an artificial buffer zone drawn to give each other plenty of time to adjust." He said seriously.


    The voices in the dream world suddenly fell silent, as if Professor Burbage''s subconscious mind is also listening at the side, and there was a terrible silence around them as the blue ball of light and the golden spiral structure parted a little, revealing a large black area in between.


    "Limiting the communication to a certain level?" Dumbledore nodded, "Good thinking, so who will be the bridge in between?"


    Felix hesitated for a moment before voicing his thoughts, " The Ministry of Magic was unintentionally doing this before, now it is Future World Company who is actively promoting it, in the future, it will be all the young wizards from Muggle families working together ..."


    Dumbledore made no comment on that as he simply said, "Let''s get out of here, the people outside should be waiting impatiently ... Speaking of which, I wonder if Charity has any chance of being on the Chocolate Frog card? And what will her introduction look like?"


    "It''s really something to look forward to."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 604+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 536: Choice

    Felix and Dumbledore opened their eyes at the same time, and the professor in the room looked at them intensely. "Are you guys whispering?" Sirius asked in an irritated tone, "We''ve been staring at you guys like idiots for five minutes."


    This statement should be true, as they were in someone else''s dream world, Felix didn''t use thought acceleration, so the amount of time that passed in the dream world would be the same as the amount of time that passed in reality.


    Snape waved his sleeve in distaste and walked further away.


    "You could interpret that as two healers discussing a treatment plan and not wanting to be disturbed by a certain bloke making noise." Felix said teasingly, "Speaking of which, didn''t taking your students to Apparite all day long drained your energy?"


    Sirius smacked his lips and muttered, "I should have asked for a raise."


    At that moment, Professor Burbage awoke from her bed, looking flustered at first, but when Dumbledore''s bright azure eyes looked at her through the lenses, she quickly calmed down and looked at Felix with a smile.


    "Charity, I don''t want my words to sound like an accusation, but you really shouldn''t be shouldering all these problems alone." Dumbledore said gently, "You can always ask for help at Hogwarts."


    Professor Burbage took a deep shaky breath, tears welling up in her eyes as she covered her face and said, " I aam-am sooo sorry."


    Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and handed her a steaming mug, "Dear, Drink this hot chocolate, it will make you feel better." She took it, and took a sip, as she whispered, "I was so silly ..."


    "Charity, what''s going on? I heard part of it from the students, but their claims are ridiculous... Squib? That is impossible." Flitwick said pointedly, "Maybe we can help."


    "It''s The Shadow." A low, slow voice echoed through the ward, "I saw a lot of wizards, shadows, but couldn''t make out their faces ..."


    "You mean the ancient runes exchange in Hogsmeade?" Professor McGonagall said nonchalantly, "Thank you, Sybill, but I can''t pretend like I didn''t see the news in the papers ... October 27th, three weeks from now."


    "Of course not!" Trelawney exclaimed, glaring at Professor McGonagall as if she had insulted her, "I had predicted that there would be a twist in that exchange ... Fate warned me of a very different thing ... "


    "Then can you explain it more clearly?" Professor McGonagall asked patiently, forcing a hum out of her nose.


    "Well ... Inner eye are not allowed to be misused, but ... yes, I did see something," Trelawney struggled to keep her eyes open and tilted her head, her lenses flickered as she used a deliberately shaky voice, "It seems to be an island, no, maybe a castle ..."


    The others weren''t interested in hearing anymore, so they returned their attention to the person in the hospital bed.


    Professor Burbage''s lips quirked as she hesitated, unsure of how to speak. No one urged her, and then after a while, she finally opened her mouth, "It was my own fault - I learned something from the muggle world and ended up doubting myself ... and magic as well. Alas, I was a fool."


    "I changed my mind a few times midway through." She said softly, " Probably about two years or so ago, I first came across a book titled ''The Biography of Mendel'', which contained knowledge that is in line with me. Some of the ideas coincided with what I''ve long thought," she darted a glance at Dumbledore, "You know, I''m against ''pureblood supremacy'' ... of course, Muggle books won''t mention wizards, but the implication is pretty much similar."


    Then she began to say unfamiliar terms like "Mendel", "pea experiment", "genes" and "cross-breeding" unconsciously to the bewilderment of those around her. They looked at Dumbledore and then at Felix.


    "In a nutshell, it''s a term coined by muggles when they study the grand subject of ''life''." Felix summarized it.


    The realization dawned on a few professors, which made it much easier for them to understand.


    Professor Sprout scrutinized Professor Burbage, "No wonder you''ve been frequently looking for me to talk to for a while, it''s almost as if you were studying plants as if they are human beings."


    "Plants? How can a human be the same as a plant?" Professor Sinistra shook her head for a moment.


    " Not exactly," Professor Burbage retorted, "that book was only for enlightenment, their research methods were quite rudimentary back then and have been enriched in the last decade or so ... I mean, Mendel was a man from the nineteenth century ."


    Felix blinked, speaking of which, when was Headmaster Dumbledore born? He found the thought somewhat offensive, so he sensibly refrained from uttering a word.


    "You''re way ahead of a lot of people if I had to judge, Charity." Dumbledore said gently, "But ... how did you get yourself into such a dangerous situation?"


    "I, alas." She said with a sigh, "Two years ago, I attended a Muggle research conference which ended up being interrupted by an accident, which prevented me from presenting my hastily completed paper. Before that, Professor Hap had advised me that my research would attract collective opposition from pure-blooded wizards. I didn''t listen much. ..."


    She huffed, "I was optimistic that if I researched far enough I could prevail in the foreseeable disputes and silence them with irrefutable evidence."


    Professor Burbage said, in a less polite tone.


    "Then my research stalled, so I turned to the muggle books that had given me so much inspiration. I bought the most advanced professional books, magazines, and papers and stuffed my head with them, I was slow, there were too many out-of-the-box words and roundabout logical connections ... To be honest, at first, I didn''t think muggles would do anything phenomenal ... I just wanted to find new ideas and refine my own theories from them. But as my research progressed, I discovered a terrible truth: muggle research into the nature of life had no magic in it, not a word ... but their theories are unexpectedly self-contained ... I was unconvinced and tried to find out the flaw, and alas, then the nightmares started to appear."


    Her eyes filled with fear, she shivered and took a large sip of hot chocolate, the delicious liquid giving her courage as she began to tell the most crucial part of the story.


    "Although my conscience was rejecting it, my subconscious had accepted the theories and my research shifted silently: I wanted to integrate the two perspectives. I mean, fusing them together ... it was truly out of my league ... as a result, my mind was completely messed up," Professor Burbage shuddered, a look of confusion flashed in her eyes again. "It was strange how amazingly similar they were in some points, but diametrically opposed in others ... I couldn''t reconcile those contradictions, so I chose to visit the Muggle biologists over the summer, but this had brought even more terrible consequences, I actually started to doubt the magic ... eventually, finally ..."


    Her mouth clamped shut and the ward fell silent.


    Every professor fell into contemplation. Snape looked at Felix with eerie eyes, his face calm as a rock or a plant growing in the dark, but his mind is fluctuating violently.


    The boy had almost screwed him up.


    The Christmas present he had given him! Those chemistry books! Although Felix had only gifted him the Middle School Experiment Guidebook, but he had stumbled past a bookshop in Muggle Alley during the summer holidays and purchased a few chemistry books on a whim, which he had found beneficial after a careful reading ...


    Snape''s expression looked condescending, he leaned against the wall with his shoulders hugged, and no one could guess what he was thinking. He did see a lot of inconsistencies in the chemistry book compared to the wizard''s perceptions, but he didn''t take the bull by the horns, because he had known one thing early on, that muggles didn''t have magic powers, and even if the recipe for the potion is given to those people, and they follow the same steps all over again, the best they will get is a stinking pot of pus.


    Thinking of this, he glanced coldly at Professor Burbage, who doubted her wizard blood, no wonder she was betrayed by her own magic.


    At that moment, Sirius broke the silence in the room.


    "Why do we have to dwell on these questions?" He spread his hands, "I modified a motorbike with James ... I mean, an adventure to a muggle shop, ahem, to investigate Death Eaters! That''s right, that''s when ... we couldn''t even figure out what was the purpose of the spark plug back then, but it didn''t stop us from keeping it, and we didn''t find it much of an eyesore when we sat on it."


    "That''s a different thing." Snape said.


    "I''d say it''s the same thing," Sirius retorted subconsciously like always, " Or maybe do you think you can master all the knowledge? That nothing is impossible?"


    Snape glanced at him coldly and ignored him altogether, "Headmaster Dumbledore, if there is no further problem, I will take my leave." With that, he walked out of the ward and after a few seconds, his very energetic voice rang out from the entrance.


    "No spells in the corridors! Twenty points off for Gryffindor!"


    Sirius couldn''t sit still, he made a lame excuse to leave, and soon there was a heated argument sounded from the corridor.


    "Severus Snape! Don''t you try to deduce points for nonsense again!"


    "Ah," Dumbledore snapped out of his deep thoughts and turned his head to Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, you''d better go out and check it out and separate them before they cause any more trouble, I don''t want to see news about Hogwarts professors fighting in the headlines." After Professor McGonagall left, the others left one by one.


    When the ward was left only with Dumbledore, Charity Burbage, Felix, and Madam Pomfrey, Dumbledore explained the two most viable treatments to Professor Burbage and, as expected, she did not choose the seemingly easy method.


    "I don''t want to forget that knowledge," Professor Burbage said after a moment of hesitation, "I''ll be more careful later!"


    "If you insist." Dumbledore respected her choice, but he still warned her, "But you can''t do any more research like that for a short term."


    Professor Burbage nodded heavily.


    "It would be best to bring Charity to St. Mungo''s for a period of recuperation; the conditions here are too rudimentary to deal with this kind of problem." Madam Pomfrey suggested.


    "But I don''t want to be absent ... I, alas, all right." Professor Burbage agreed.


    Dumbledore stood up with relief, "That''s settled then, please wait, I will need a few minutes to explain to the students, their little minds are always full of all sorts of strange notions, and it is best not to leave them to their own devices ..."


    He walked out of the ward and his soft voice was faintly heard from outside:


    "... I am happy to announce that ... there will be no long-term effects ... too much strain and need to rest for a few days... . It won''t be long before I will return you an intact professor ..."


    In the ward, Felix also prepared to take his leave.


    "Professor Hap," Professor Burbage called out to him after a moment''s hesitation, "I''m sorry I didn''t follow your advice."


    "It was something no one expected," Felix said calmly, "I understand what you did: it''s hard for a normal person not to be tempted by the discovery of a treasure on the side of the road." He expressed his empathy for what had happened to Burbage, but more than that, he started to self-reflect.


    He considered another issue in his mind if one day wizards made their identity public, a place where wizards and muggles could coexist would have to be established in order to facilitate communication between the two sides. It would be like a testing ground where all ideas, both mature and immature, could be put into practice ...


    It would not be a good idea to build this place either in Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade, there are more realistic factors to consider - such as the attitude of the Muggle government. But Trelawney''s words had given him some inspiration, an island ...


    Felix thought about it, and wondered if he could build it in the future?


    ...


    Professor Charity Burbage did not stay at St. Mungo''s for long, she returned from the hospital after only two days of absence, which kept the rumours going among the student group from making any waves, and with her return to teaching, especially after demonstrating the levitation charm in class, the rumours that originally seemed flimsy fell apart even faster.


    Peace returned to Hogwarts Castle, and as the 27th of October drew nearer, the newspapers began to report lengthy articles about ancient rune exchange, with a steady stream of photographs of the Hogsmeade venue.


    One student flipped through the latest newspaper, which showed a picture of the incomplete venue, with dozens of staff standing in a small clearing in the middle of Hogsmeade village, directing blocks of planks to appear in the right place. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It looks like a huge open-air auditorium." The student reading the paper said.


    "Rather like a dueling ring." His friend corrected.


    Their views represented most of the students. The Hogwarts students had their own separate emphases regarding the exchange, and they had automatically divided into two factions, one focusing on the exchange itself, discussing who would be there and what the event would result in, while the other firmly focused on the interlude of the exchange - the challenge section.


    Coincidentally, the latter view prevailed mostly in Gryffindor and Slytherin House.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 605+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 537: Undercurrent in the Slytherin Common Room

    A student spoke enthusiastically in the Slytherin common room. "Look at that circular field with the familiar star pattern, it''s exactly like the ring used in the International Wizarding Duels!" Randolph said excitedly.


    People in the common room looked up, and pairs of scrutinizing eyes focused on him. The room was silent, apart from the slow pattering sound of the ghostly green lake against the basement window.


    The Greengrass sisters put down their quills, and Astoria, the younger sister, blinked twice as if she had found something amusing, and she simply pushed the parchment, ink bottles, and thick reference books in front of her to her sister''s side, while she leaned on the table with one hand and cocked her head to watch the fun, much to the annoyance of her sister Daphne. "Astoria, you little bore ..." Astoria made a face at her, causing Draco opposite to them to snicker as he lazily leaned back in one of the armchairs, Pansy who is occupying the seat next to him fiddled with an emerald green & silver silk ribbon bow. A little further away, Crabbe and Goyle are eating chocolate cake, and the crumbs splattered on the head of the Millicent Bulstrode''s cat, which whimpered, as it raised its tail and wriggled free from its owner''s thick arms to jump in front of a young first-year witch, "Go away, stupid." Who said, while her eyes stared intensely at Randolph''s face.


    Randolph wasn''t too nervous to speak because of the gazes, instead, his voice raised involuntarily. He waved his hand so hard that the newspaper in his hand almost hit the student next to him in the eye, but he didn''t notice it at all; his full attention is focused on what he is going to say next.


    "This means ... that all my previous guesses were right, Professor Hap is finally no longer going to hide his strength!" He stated in a lower tone, his tone laced with obvious glee and anticipation.


    "Did he hide it?" The male student who had almost been hit muttered in a whisper.


    "Gee, I mean, if I had that kind of strength, I''d certainly want the whole world to know about it." Randolph paused for a few seconds with rather a theatrical indignation on his face, "Did you by any chance didn''t notice that there were people in the papers dissing the professor a while back, saying he just knocked out a few drunks ..."


    "I dunno much about that, I wasn''t there during the Quidditch World Cup final." The boy said.


    "I went!" Randolph said excitedly, "The Professor was just so cool! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! The spell came flying towards him but ended up weirdly stopped in midair." He gestured haphazardly for a few moments and paused in thought to say, "Too bad it was such a mess that there aren''t many pictures available."


    "I know the professor is strong, but there''s no way he could have knocked over a hundred of them at once, right?" His friend looked sceptical.


    "How is it impossible?" Randolph said in a low tone, "The Professor saved Potter and the gang from the You-Know-Who, and I heard a Death Eater died then!"


    "Randolph!" A student stood up and called out, his face looked as grim as that of his friend who is leaning against the rough stone wall. Nott said coldly, "Watch your words."


    The first year witch''s eyes widened, and she suppressed her excited voice in her throat while fidgeting and pulling a small green note from her pocket, as she pushed the fat cat in her way and flipped open the note to find the page marked ''Nott'', as her eyes glued expectantly at the argument in the common room.


    "Mafalda! How dare you push my cat?" Millicent glared at her viciously.


    "Quiet," Mafalda waved her hand carelessly, "before I make you up in a story ..." It seemed like a terrible threat, and Millicent scowled at her and reached out to hold her cat back.


    On the other side--


    "Did I say something wrong?" Randolph yelled at Nott, "Which of my words do you think is wrong?"


    Nott turned red as he tried his best to appear contemptuous and angry, "I was telling you to be careful what you say and not blabber on about the great-"


    "Great? Who are you referring to?" Randolph interrupted him nonchalantly, "If I understand you correctly, you are speaking for the You-Know-Who?"


    Nott stared angrily at Randolph, but what disturbed him more was that no one in the common room stepped forward to help him. The green light from the lamp hanging overhead shone on his face, sending a chill down his spine.


    "I, no ... I just thought that it shouldn''t ... be," he stammered.


    "Then keep your mouth shut and don''t always bring up your pureblood philosophy," Randolph said pointedly, "or I''ll assume someone in your family is on the side of the Death Eaters!" He sat down with the air of a victor.


    The Slytherin common room was eerily silent, except for Mafalda who enthusiastically scribbling in her green note ... Nott, promoting the philosophy of the You-Know-Who for the past month ... suspected of being influenced by Death Eaters... ...


    All underclassmen fidgeted and kept quiet like quails, and those who are slightly older had some bad feelings in their hearts, wondering when the trend in Slytherin House seemed to have changed.


    Regardless of the public opinion, Voldemort had always been a Slytherin flag, and before him, it was Phineas Black, but these two flags fell one after another until Felix Hap rose out of nowhere. But they had mixed feelings about the Professor - it is rumoured that the Professor had been treated unfairly by the House when he was at school, causing him to become unaffectionate with the House, which was fine, but as his influence grew, his fame overshadowed the others'' day by day, to the point where he has finally reached a level that no one can ignore.


    The things that made Slytherin students uncomfortable paled in comparison to his mind-boggling achievements.


    For example, the pro-Muggle inclinations that had been secretly criticized were also completely ignored in light of the reality of how rapidly the ''Future World'' company had grown and is expected to rival the Gringotts in just over a short period of time. A voice has even emerged that Professor Hap has a unique vision - with his foresight he clocked himself as ''Pro-Muggle'', to accumulate wealth effortlessly ...


    As for what the truth is, not many people care anymore.


    When people mentioned Slytherin House, apart from the legendary figures like Salazar Slytherin and Merlin, the first person they thought of among the wizards who are still alive at the moment, would be Felix Hap rather than the house head Snape, beside the he-who-must-not-be-named.


    The change occurred silently and was hardly noticeable to outsiders, but it is nevertheless wielded immense might.


    A testament to this is that when news of the You-Know-Who''s return emerged, a small group of people prepared to propagate extreme pure-blood philosophy in Slytherin House - just as their fathers had done during the last war - only to be surprised to find a lukewarm response that barely made a ripple.


    It was as if there was no market for such talk anymore.


    But there could only be one real reason - Felix Hap, who is considered as the new Slytherin flag, is against the pure-blood philosophy!


    Despite the fact that he did nothing and gave no preferential treatment to the Slytherin students, he still managed to influence a large group of people just by existing.


    It is a third-year Slytherin girl, Astoria Greengrass, who made them really aware of this. She casually said something like, "Professor Hap is definitely going to be Headmaster in the future, and he''s a Slytherin, that''s all that matters."


    This comment sparked a discussion throughout Slytherin House, and they deliberated and concluded that it is a great truth.


    If Professor Hap wanted to, there is no obstacle in his way.


    Well ... perhaps the only obstacle would be the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, Dumbledore, which is why many fantasized that Professor Hap could fight Dumbledore after the rumours of the Elder Wand came out.


    How much power could an invincible wand exercise in the hands of Felix Hap, who has a great variety of ancient magic? The answer to this question is one that made the hearts of all who seriously pondered this question jump; is it possible for the greatest White Wizard ... of this era to stand up against the combination of this two?


    But this talk gradually died down, as Professor Hap himself refuted the rumours denying the authenticity of the Elder Wand, much to the dismay of many Slytherin students.


    But once some ideas are born, it''s hard to dismiss them as nothing.


    It is safe to say that in the last half a month, Slytherin House has experienced an undercurrent of ideological conflict from top to bottom. It was also during this collective, all-encompassing reflection that everyone had more or less developed their own inclinations.


    Draco Malfoy watched the lukewarm response Theodore Nott received with a cold eye. He felt he needed to have a serious talk with his own father, and this Christmas is a good opportunity ... for the Malfoys to take control of their own destiny, and if not, then turn to the side that is destined to win.


    Besides, Muggleborns aren''t all that annoying ...


    -------------


    #Dominique Rodriguez, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 606+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 538: Mafalda

    Harry and Ron dragged their heavy feet up the marble steps towards the castle, muddy from their recent training, their hair blown around by the wind, and Harry vainly tried to smooth the messy hair. "Angelina is a second Wood, I should have expected this." Ron grumbled under his breath, but his mind had already begun to look forward to his first game, "I wish I could play against Slytherin right away, so I can teach Malfoy a lesson, he''s not going to score a single goal at my hand!"


    "He''s a Seeker, not a Chaser." Ginny reminded him.


    "Of course, I know that," Ron changed his tune at light speed, "Let Harry stop him from getting the Golden Snitch, and I''ll guard the goal, we''ll both work together perfectly, and it''ll be an absolutely flawless combination."


    Ginny rolled her eyes.


    Harry perked up a little as he said to Ginny, "You''re a good flyer, there''s hope you''ll join the team this year, why not stick around?"


    "It''s not too late to join the team next year," Ginny said as she smoothed her hair, "I want to wait for Fred and George to graduate."


    "They pissed you off?" Ron asked perceptively, "I can help you teach them a lesson."


    "That doesn''t sound very convincing." Ginny said dryly.


    "Er, I mean -" Ron said vaguely, "you could write to Mum and tell her off." A strange look appeared on his face, "Mum hasn''t sent a howler in ages, I really miss ..."


    "Don''t bother," Ginny said, "I don''t want others to gossip, you know if you add me to the mix there would be four Weasleys on the team."


    Harry noticed a more subtle side to her, and to be fair, it was rather a nonchalant statement, as if it is a sure thing that she will join the team.


    Ron froze for a moment in response, he seemed to have just realized that as he counted it up on his fingers, "Fred, George, I ... yeah, if you are added to that, more than half of the players will have Weasley as their last name, ha, that''s not bad when you think about it!" He said cheerfully, neither Harry nor Ginny paying any attention to him.


    "Which position are you going to play?" Harry asked.


    "Seeker." Ginny said. S?a?ch* Th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry cocked his head and squinted at her and Ginny pursed her lips, "Well I was joking, I think the Beater position would be good, I just love the idea of slamming a Bludger into someone''s face."


    Harry suddenly felt a chill run through his body, probably from too much wind ... he should better go to Madam Pomfrey''s and pick up some potions for his cold.


    "You''re going to help me, aren''t you?" Ginny asked, staring at his face.


    "What?" Harry looked stunned.


    "Help me train."


    "Oh, uh, sure." Harry said, trying his best not to let his confusion show.


    He had a strange feeling lately that Quidditch didn''t seem to be as appealing to him as it had been before, something he had felt vaguely since the beginning of the school year when Angelina had asked him about it, and now that it had been over a month since school had started, he couldn''t pretend it as a misconception anymore.


    Exactly what is the reason?


    Harry thought seriously, for one thing, if it was an occasional Quidditch game he would never turn it down - it is one of the few things that relaxes him, after all - but if it involves spending a lot of time on it, he doesn''t think it''s quite worth it, and he might as well spare that time to hold a dueling study group.


    Susan Bones'' last suggestion about registering the Dueling Study Group as an official club made perfect sense because the Dueling Study Group wasn''t just for Gryffindors now - it had started with Luna, and later Susan Bones, Ernie, Justine and other students from other houses had joined in. Of course, Harry wasn''t sure how long they would stick around, and anyway, it seemed to him that these people are more interested in his, Ron''s, and Hermione''s amazing experiences - whether it''s being the youngest winner of the Order of Merlin, or what happened on the graveyard after the third task of the tournament.


    Although Ron had already told his story several times, with several revisions in between, "Weasley laughing as he faced Cruciatus Curse" and "Ron defeating Death Eaters", and in his stories, the other three characters were pretty much sidelined.


    "You were the one who came up with the idea of using the Ring of Ouroboros to inform Professor Hap?"


    "Er, it was Harry."


    "So you had the ring with you?"


    "Not really, it was Hermione."


    "You fought the You-Know-Who?"


    "Well ..."


    "So you just got hit by the Cruciatus Curse?"


    "Of course not! Mate, I took down at least four Death Eaters! We might as well talk about that... Hey, don''t leave."


    The crowd scattered in disinterest. So after a while, Ron got wise and started lamenting that the History of Magic textbook is too old-fashioned (even though he never personally read it fully), thinking that there are a lot of important events left out of it, and when he was pressed about it, he would talk about how he set a Death Eater on fire with the Bright Fire-making spell. In his words, "That was the first time it [the Bright Fire-making spell] was used in actual combat, and it just doesn''t make sense that such an important scene isn''t included in a History of Magic textbook ..."


    Harry pondered what exactly the name of the club would be if he is going to officially start one. He recalled the names of the clubs he knew of, some of which had been founded by professors at the school and had very straightforward names, the Charms Club, also known jokingly as the Charm (glamour) Club, the Transfiguration Club, the Magic Rune Club ...


    They are not exactly that high-end names. Harry also knows that Mr. Slughorn, when he was teaching at Hogwarts, named his Club, the Slug Club, based on his name.


    Other than that, there are a few clubs that were created by the students themselves, and that''s what he needs, Harry thought.


    The first one that came to his mind is the Gobstone Club, but again, it had a little reference point, and the next one that popped into his head - Harry reluctantly remembered - is the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' founded by the Creevey brothers''. He had prayed that it was just an unfunny joke, but it seemed to be true, he had even seen a recruitment flyer in a hidden corner of the common room ...


    The Anti-Voldemort Club? Harry was tempted to name the dueling study group that way, but it would probably scare off a large group of people.


    Ron''s suggestion "The Order of the Phoenix Branch" was also rejected, Hermione suggested to simply call it the Defence Association, D.A. for short, which could also be considered as Dumbledore''s Army, which would be a good name, but Sirius warned them, "Don''t get Headmaster Dumbledore in trouble, we''re on good terms with the Ministry now. Do you want the Ministry to get the wrong idea about us?"


    So the name was scrapped.


    Finally, Ginny made a suggestion to change the name to "Potter''s Lookout" when Fred and George had jokingly suggested "Frontline Lookout", which everyone liked, and if nothing unexpected happened, the name was decided.


    When the name was decided, the purpose of the club was outlined - to provide help to students who are preparing to become Aurors, or who are opposed to Voldemort''s dark reign, and Harry also intended to share regular updates on the war outside the school - Sirius was well-informed in this regard. The members of the frontline lookout would cheer when Harry informed them that "all was well" during the assembly; they would applaud when Harry announced the name of a captured dark wizard; they would raise their wands in silence when Harry said that an Auror or Hit Wizard had died.


    ...


    "Where''s Luna?"


    "She''s wandering around the Forbidden Forest again, saying she''s trying to find the King of Thestral." Ginny said helplessly.


    Ron muttered something that sounded like "Loony."


    They crossed the foyer and found Hermione hiding behind a suit of armour, waving at them covertly.


    Harry looked curiously in the direction she is hiding, a strand of red hair flickering in his vision. But when they walked past, Hermione is all alone, "Huh? Where''s everyone? Never mind, you guys come with me." She ran with them to an abandoned classroom.


    "Just in case." Hermione said.


    More intrigued, Harry followed Ron and Ginny as they looked into the abandoned classroom, where a small girl stood, not very tall, half a head shorter than Ginny, but she had reddish-brown hair and when she turned around - Harry was surprised to find that the girl looked unexpectedly similar to Ginny.


    "Who is she?" Ginny asked and sensing a threat she stepped in front of Harry.


    Hermione took a step to the side with an odd look on her face, "I thought you guys knew her? Then let her explain it to you personally." The young girl stepped in front of them and looked them up and down nonchalantly, "Youngest recipient of the Order of Merlin?" She completely ignored Ginny.


    "So what if we are?" Ron said casually, "You''re a freshman in Slytherin House?"


    The young girl tore her fiery gaze away from Harry''s forehead and scrutinized Ron, "Ronald Weasley?"


    A headstrong girl, Harry thought.


    The young girl''s gaze lingered on Ron''s face for a few seconds as she held out her hand, "Mafalda, Mafalda Prewett."


    Ron''s mouth dropped open in surprise, "Ma, Mom?"


    The little girl''s face tensed and Hermione couldn''t help but cover her face to stop looking.


    Ginny slapped Ron on the back of the head, "What a silly thing to say." She looked at Mafalda with a critical eye, "What is your relationship with my mum?"


    It dawned on Harry, he vaguely remembered that Mrs. Weasley''s maiden name is Prewett.


    ------------


    #Dominique Rodriguez, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 606+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 539: Letter from Nurmengard (2 in 1)

    As Ginny asked her question, Mafalda''s attention focused on her for the first time, and the two, one taller and one shorter, sized each other up. Harry noticed that both girls had a slight resemblance to Mrs. Weasley, and both also had reddish hair, but again they had many differences. Ginny''s flame-like hair stood out most distinctively, even among the seven Weasley children, and she didn''t look at people with aggressive eyes most of the time - though right now is an exception, she looked like a hot turkey that would soon be served on the Halloween table with her hair flaring up.


    "I''ve met Aunt Molly, just once." Mafalda said, "But I met your father more often, and he took me to Diagon Alley to shop around and get some things in advance. He even gave me an owl, and when I went back I wrote to him, and he answered diligently at first, but then he became slower."


    "Maybe it''s because he''s busy, or maybe you''re asking too many questions." Ginny said in one breath.


    "Maybe, but I don''t need him to take me with him anymore, I can do it alone." Mafalda said, "I convinced Mum and Dad to allow me to go to Diagon Alley, what''s that line ... getting to know the wizarding world."


    "I became interested in everything in Diagon Alley. Old Tom at the Leaky Cauldron had lost all his teeth, but he made good food; when I enquired about Madam Malkin''s marital status she threw me out ... I also persuaded the clerk at the Flourish and Blotts Bookshop to allow me to sit in the corner and read, my favourite being Easy Spells to Fool Muggles and the seven-book series of Gilderoy Lockhart''s adventures. In the former, I picked out a few spells to learn, and they work quite well, while the latter has been an eye-opener ..."


    "Wait!" Harry felt that her statement was so ridiculous that he had to interrupt, and he wasn''t the only one who thought so, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny all shouted out at the same time as Mafalda glared at them, the scene was a bit comical and the crowd looked at each other for a moment.


    "Okay, one at a time." Hermione sighed, she knew since the moment this young girl approached her and said she had great information about the Death Eaters that this is not a student who follows the rules, and sure enough they were all taken aback.


    She looked at Mafalda and asked patiently, "Miss Prewett, I believe Mr. Weasley would have told your parents that the magical world is not peaceful right now, so how did you convince them to let you go to Diagon Alley alone?" She actually wanted to accuse Mafalda''s parents of being irresponsible more than anything else.


    "They do not interact with each other much," Mafalda gestured to herself and Ginny as a way of indicating both parents, "My father and Aunt Molly are related, but I think they aren''t on very good terms, which is evident from the stiff conversation between them - -"


    "That''s exactly what I''m saying." Ron interjected as the others looked at him, so he swallowed and murmured, "Mum does have a distant cousin, but she seldom mentions him in the family ..."


    "Dad''s a Squib, works as an accountant now, and occasionally trades equities. Mum''s a muggle and neither of them had much involvement with the magical community before." Mafalda said, "Except for me." She added.


    "But-" Hermione was torn, "even if that were the case, there''s no way Mr. Weasley wouldn''t have warned-"


    "Oh, that''s easy, I''ll just tell Mum and Dad - someone is waiting for me behind the door in Diagon Alley, like Bill Weasley, I know he works in Diagon Alley." Mafalda said with a slight smug look on her face.


    Hermione looked shocked. Ginny let out a cat-like purr in anger.


    "So you were tricking them?"


    Mafalda shrugged, the answer is obvious.


    There was a moment of silence in the abandoned classroom and Harry asked, "You know that Lockhart is a, a ..." he hesitated.


    "A liar?" Mafalda asked and Harry nodded as she said calmly, "I like the way he tells stories, that''s all."


    That was the end of the cross-examination, and even though Ron and Ginny didn''t like Mafalda much, they still have to pinch their noses since she is their relative.


    "What''s the purpose of your visit today?" Ginny asked with a stern face, "You should know that Gryffindor House and Slytherin House are deadly rivals, if anyone finds out ..."


    "That''s why I sneaked over here," Mafalda said with a jolt, as she pulled a green notebook out of her pocket - Harry could tell from some of the details that it''s a product of the Muggle world - and she turned the page, but instead of showing it to them, she closed it in front of them and said. "I can give you information about Slytherin House, about the Death Eaters ... but in exchange-"


    "Death Eaters?" Harry, Ron, and Ginny said in disbelief.


    The three looked at Hermione, who hastily waved her hand, "I don''t know any more than you do, she - er -" Hermione spotted the problem, a young girl from a Muggle family who had previously had no inkling about the wizarding world and only been here for a short while, what kind of information could she know?


    "Oh?" Mafalda looked at them curiously, " Is it clear, did you understand me? Then I will continue - I certainly won''t do this for free, I want you guys to become one of the leads in my story in exchange for it."


    Harry looked at her in confusion, what the heck was this all about.


    "The, what in your story?"


    "The lead role in my story," Mafalda jiggled her finger at him, "haven''t I told you, I love history and I love to write, you know Bathilda Bagshot?"


    Harry nodded reluctantly, he knew the person, a brilliant historian, she wrote the textbook that is now used in History of Magic classes, she retired and lived in Godric''s Hollow. Godric''s Hollow ... his heart clenched.


    Mafalda didn''t notice Harry''s difference as she went along with the previous words, "Bathilda Bagshot wrote History of Magic, and there''s a quote from her that I particularly agree with, that the happiest thing for a chronicler of history is to be able to talk to history itself."


    "You know what that means?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.


    "This thing I''m doing right now is." Mafalda said.


    Ron mulled it over and said slowly, "So you''re writing us into your story? Um - you just said you liked the Lockhart books?" He shot a knowing look at all of them, "Think about it."


    "Harry''s not going to agree to that!" Ginny said with a raised eyebrow, looking at Harry uncertainly, "Right?"


    "Of course." Harry nodded firmly, he didn''t want a heel behind him, the Creevey brothers are more than enough for him to handle. With a firm attitude, he said to Mafalda, "Sorry, I''ve got a lot on my plate this year, O.W.Ls exams, Quidditch, clubs ... no time to play house with you."


    Mafalda blinked and just when Harry thought she would give up, she lowered her head and stared at the notebook which she had just opened and read out one name after another, "Nott, Avery, Selwyn, Crabbe, Goyle, Malfoy ... Well, I am not certain about him, do I have to keep reading? "


    Harry''s mouth dropped open, Ron''s mouth not much smaller than his, and Hermione looked at her with a shocked expression.


    Mafalda stared at their faces and smiled.


    "So they really are related to the Death Eaters?"


    "How did you guess-" Harry asked with difficulty, these are the names he had heard Voldemort himself say in the graveyard, each of them holding a significant position in the wizarding world. But they were humbled to the dirt before Voldemort and had to kiss Voldemort''s robes to gain forgiveness.


    Sirius told him that because there is no evidence, the Ministry of Magic can''t arrest them, and for now, they can only employ surveillance. Of course, that wasn''t his exact words, Sirius was just as annoyed as Harry about it: "Amelia doesn''t agree with the idea of arresting them and giving them two pounds of Veritaserum..." afterward, when he had calmed down, he personally admitted that idea is implausible, "Unless we intend to cause chaos in the wizarding world, or if we''ll get arrested first, the moment we try to arrest them..." he said gloomily, "That''s the way it is with purebloods, if there''s no actual proof, one arrest will bring all of them together to pressure us. "


    Mafalda smiled like a fox, "The family name Prewett, it surprisingly has not so bad reputation and is not as eye-catching as Weasley. So what do you guys think? Would I make an excellent undercover agent for ... the righteous cause?"


    "I disagree." Harry said quietly.


    "Why?" Mafalda asked in surprise, she never expected to be rejected even after she had shown her capabilities.


    "Harry, if there''s a Slytherin House student willing to help us, even if ..." Ron said.


    "No." Harry said, "No!" He repeated once again, "What if she gets found out?"


    "Don''t worry," Mafalda interjected, "From what I''ve seen over the past month, Slytherin House isn''t what it was rumoured to be, it changed ..."


    "Do you know what you''re doing? You''re dealing with not just some bad students, but a possible real Death Eater! If any Slytherin student mentions you in their house and investigates you behind your back ... will your little smartass still be useful?" Harry glared at her, as a wave of unwarranted anger welled up inside him, "You''re pulling your own family into a dangerous situation, and they can''t even use magic."


    Mafalda pointed unconvincingly at Hermione, "As far as I know, her family circumstances are no different from mine."


    Hermione remained silent.


    "Because she didn''t have a choice-" The blood in Harry''s heart rushed to his face.


    "I know you''re referring to Muggle status-"


    "More than that, it''s also because she''s my friend." Harry said in a low voice, looking at Mafalda with a gasp, "That''s right, she''s a friend of the Great-Harry-Potter, and Ron also had no choice, from the time he sided with me in the first year ... I had even less choice, being forced to get involved with Voldemort when I was just a baby, and there''s a chance for one of us to die, or even die together as a whole."


    Mafalda''s body suddenly froze.


    "I didn''t-"


    "I don''t know what you have mistaken undercover for, if it was just a prank it would be fine, but you''re capable, I can see that. Which is even worse, I suppose you never imagined that one day you''d see a picture of your house in ruins with a dark mark over it in the newspaper?"


    " I�� no- you''re wrong!"


    "Then tell me the truth." Harry said, gazing down into her eyes.


    Mafalda glared back at him without giving up, her eyes glistening with mist, "Just YOU wait!" She gave them a hateful look and turned to run away.


    Harry stared at her back, but all he could think of in his mind is the picture of Godric''s Hollow he had seen in the old newspaper, a picture of the ruins, just as Moody had told him ... except for some white flowers and candles on the edge of the ruins, which were left by some wizards who had admired them, "With sorrowful condolences ..." The tome said, but Harry felt it was all meaningless, as those words and condolences not going to make his family come back.


    Sometimes Harry would just lie in bed and think, if only he could get the Resurrection Stone, even if it couldn''t bring back the dead like Luna said it could, just the features in the story of the three brothers that allowed them to see the souls of their loved ones is enough ... instead of just a green flash in his head and his mother''s pleading voice ...


    "Harry, you better be careful, she doesn''t look like someone to mess with." Ron said as he looked in the direction of the classroom door.


    "I don''t care." Harry said stiffly.


    Something suddenly occurred to him, Luna firmly believed in the Deathly Hallows, is there someone she desperately wanted to see as well? She could also see Thestrals.


    "She seems quite intelligent," Ron said hesitantly, "and we''ve accepted other students into the dueling study group. I am sure they would not refuse to fight a Death Eater-"


    "She''s only eleven." Harry said coldly and Ron shut his mouth. After a moment, Harry asked as an afterthought, "She said Slytherin House had become different ... What''s going on?"


    Ron said without a smile, "The only one who knows has just been thrown out by you. Why don''t we go ask Malfoy?"


    Harry cringed a little, he should have asked first.


    ...


    At night, Felix continued his promising job as a bounty hunter, except for the first time he entered the Hog''s Head Inn and had a slight disagreement with the barman, the other times he just stood in the doorway with a black weatherproof cloak, and before long his target would ''walk'' out on their own.


    Hogsmeade has recently gained an additional legend of a powerful ghost.


    Of course, because the missing people were all dark wizards, and the worst of the lot, not many people really cared as they had thought - the men would have been hiding their identities, probably just had left because of a sudden urgent matter.


    Some of the wizards swore that they had seen a ghost that had extremely powerful magical powers and could take a person''s soul away with just a wave of the hand. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "He is the embodiment of death." Said an old wizard obsessed with horror stories.


    His performance drew a roar of approval and the old wizard earned himself a glass of hot Firewhisky. The barman at the Hog''s Head Inn snorted dismissively and continued to keep his head down and wipe his goblet with a dirty rag.


    Felix occasionally found time to visit the premises, which had yet to be completed.


    In a clearing in the middle of Hogsmeade village, there is a huge pile of building materials, black and white marble arranged in a circular pattern with a mysterious star design on top. Felix stood with interest in the center of the star and looked around, the whole wizarding village is shrouded by a deep curtain of night, with only a few sparse starlights shining.


    Felix stared into the darkness where a faint sound approached, like footsteps, but it was too soft.


    The unknown creature''s body seemed blurry in Thestrals perspective, indistinguishable from the darkness, and all he could see is a blurry glimmer of bright light that faintly pieced together the appearance of a thin, house-elf.


    This view is very distinct from the regular perspectives and visions, even from the magical ones, and if he had to define it, he seemed to be able to see a glowing soul.


    " Hello, Mr. Hap, Bondi presents his regards."


    The house-elf said in a sharp voice, stopping far away and bowing to Felix. He then looked up into Felix''s silvery grey eyes and couldn''t help but shiver, the eyes made him shudder.


    "What can I do for you, Bondi?"


    "Mr. Hap, Bondi brought a letter for you. Forgive Bondi, Bondi was unable to get into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," the house-elf bowed deeply again as he spoke, "Bondi, Bondi has been waiting around for days to finally meet you."


    Felix always found the scene at hand somewhat familiar, but the last time the letter had been delivered by a small child, bringing a letter of invitation to battle from Voldemort to boot. He took the letter, and on the envelope, there is a triangle seal: with a circle and a vertical line inside. He stared at the pattern for a few seconds, and his mind grew more than a little suspicious, "Nurmengard?"


    The house-elf bent its body even lower.


    Felix opened the letter which didn''t have a hint of magic attached to it, and there is a simple line written on it, "You''re lying, the Elder Wand is not with you."


    Felix smiled involuntarily, "The Elder Wand doesn''t belong to me, but it doesn''t belong to you either, Mr. Dark Lord." So he asked Bondi the house-elf probingly, "Can I have a meeting with Mr. Grindelwald?"


    "Sir needs the permission of authority, and Mr. Grindelwald also has no plans to meet with a guest at present." Bondi said respectfully.


    Felix smacked his lips, it seemed that Gellert Grindelwald is still locked up and can''t get out, but at least he can communicate with the outside world. And writing letters to accuse him of ...


    Is this the end of the first Dark Lord?


    Dumbledore was too merciful, and Felix felt he would not let Voldemort have a chance to enjoy the same treatment.


    He wrote a short reply, his tone filled with regret (or was it mockery?) at not being able to meet with him, and then he handed it to the house-elf along with a couple of books from the ring, "Pass them on to Mr. Grindelwald for me and tell him to um ... pass some time with it, and if he''s interested then we can communicate by correspondence later."


    He then handed the house-elf a Copper Knut, "You can contact me through this."


    When the house-elf, Bondi, disappeared, Felix began to look forward to it, what would be the magical path of this Dark Lord? And what kind of magic does he possess?


    After lingering in place for a moment, he started to worry if the wording of his reply was too sarcastic and what if the Dark Lord is a serious guy? He then just laughed at the thought and turned to leave.


    ...


    The last two weeks of October were full of violent storms and towards the end, a cool, and cold rain brought the temperature plummeting even more and the young wizards changed into thick clothes to ward off the knife-like chill.


    Many of the students wore gloves even during class time, but their minds were getting more and more active: Halloween, the first game of Quidditch, and the Ancient Runes exchange would be coming up in the following week successively.


    As Halloween approached, the castle was once again hung with colourful decorations and the school atmosphere lightened up for the occasion.


    Finally, the day of 27 October arrived.


    ------------


    #Fiendsjoke, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 607+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 540: The value of ancient rune

    At nine in the morning, Felix stood in front of the mirror well-dressed and packed up ready to go out. "Kee?"


    Valen voluntarily put on a small scarf and looked at him with an expectant expression.


    "Can''t take you with me, Valen." Felix bowed his head with an apologetic look, "Not sure if it will be dangerous, so the best option is to stay home."


    He removed a memory disk from his ring, which arced through the air and landed steadily on the small square desk in his office.


    A dense circle of magical circuits around the edge of the memory disk were illuminated, with smoke billowing from the centre.


    " The employees at the company have found a new application of it, in addition to being able to recreate memories. Gee, it''s starting to look more and more like the future I envisioned ..." Felix waved his hand again and a tray of small snacks and a jug of juice appeared, "You can watch the live feed through it."


    "Hmph!"


    Valen hung her head and headed to the sofa.


    The entrance hall is crowded with silhouettes of many students who are looking out towards the stone steps outside the entrance hall. The breath they have exhaled has melted the frost off the castle walls and wet streams are running down the rough walls.


    "Why won''t they allow us to watch it when it''s clearly happening in Hogsmeade! What the hell was Headmaster Dumbledore thinking?" One student asked indignantly.


    "I heard it is for our safety ..."


    "You''re joking right?! What danger could there be with Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap around? Even if it is the You-Know-Who ..." his voice lowered.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in a corner of the entrance hall and Ron asked expectantly, "Can''t we just let Sirius take us with him?"


    " He sort of left us behind intentionally." Harry said sullenly.


    Ron looked jealously at Percy on the stone steps, who is beaming and talking to Dumbledore, "There''s a lot more of them than expected! I mean - they''re all the best in their fields."


    There was a sudden silence in the entrance hall as Felix descended the revolving staircase, then the chatter got louder.


    "Professor, we''re rooting for you!" A student shouted. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix smiled at him, "Slytherin plus three points." The student froze, then the support in the great hall got louder and Felix managed to squeeze through the crowd and said to Dumbledore and Percy, "Let''s go, are we all set?"


    "All set." Percy said hurriedly, "The Ministry has deployed two hundred staff, including fifty Aurors and Hit Wizards, and has made a special one-day holiday for the occasion."


    Felix nodded, then looked at Dumbledore without turning.


    "Alastor is guarding there." He said briefly.


    "This side of the school-"


    "There are other professors around, and Fawkes will summon me in a pinch."


    Percy was clearly a little confused by the conversation between them, but he managed to answer Felix''s next question.


    "Where is Ms. Bones?"


    "She is also in Hogsmeade. She is hosting the Ministers of Magic from a number of European countries and the Headmasters of magical schools from various parts of the world." Percy said enthusiastically, "Some of them came in early and have been wandering around Diagon Alley for days, probably with a bunch of questions in their stomachs."


    They headed down the stone steps in the direction of the school''s main entrance. A crowd of bleary-eyed students was left behind.


    Harry and Hermione gazed at Professor Hap''s distant figure with mixed emotions, and Ron muttered in a small voice, "I''ve been spending so much time with the Professor every day that I''ve forgotten how much of a gap there is between me and him, and probably no matter how much we try to catch up, we''ll only see the back of him like we do now."


    "The Professor is going to be a legend like the most famous wizards in history." Hermione said, biting her lip, with a very reluctant look on her face.


    "So, do you think any of our names will be featured in his legend?" Ron asked, intrigued.


    Neither Harry nor Hermione said anything.


    " Surely it will." A firm voice said.


    The trio looked at Neville, who was taken aback by the look they gave him, and mumbled, "It''s like a storybook, surely more than one character will be featured, no?"


    "You mean as supporting characters?" Ron muttered disgruntled, "Sounds like Mafalda''s kind of story, oh yeah, Harry, what has she been making up about you lately?"


    "You mean her spin-off stories?" Harry said gloomily, "She describes me as a ranch hand whose daily job is to shovel horse dung."


    ...


    Felix stood in the middle of the Hogsmeade star-shaped platform, surrounded by three layers of wizards from all over the world, with all sorts of purposes in their minds, but at the moment all of them focused their eyes on the young man in the middle of the venue.


    "It is well known that every field of study cannot be perfected by one or two people, it is a matter of constantly laying down bricks and blocks on top of those who have gone further before, and that is why I am standing here--"


    " Isn''t it because of the Elder Wand?" A wizard asked in a hoarse voice.


    "I will not rule out the possibility of the wand playing a part in the long journey," Felix looked at him and smiled, "but the misunderstanding brought by my own wand is a private matter, and I will address it in between the speeches. Of course, if one wishes to experience ancient magic in person, it is not impossible, except they need to sign up first ..." He gestured to a table in the corner where two Aurors stood guard.


    "Let me continue - any advancement in the discipline of magic will bring us real benefits. Take Wolfsbane Potion as an example ... For centuries, we have been helpless against the werewolf infection, once infected there is no cure, but now that the first brick has finally been laid, I can almost foresee the future: formulas of the potion will be developed, in a more refined and inexpensive way; there will be a flood of analyses and papers related to the potion; of course, new theories will emerge; maybe someone will even invent a more targeted spell based on the principles of potions ..."


    " None of this is fantasy; it has been constantly repeated throughout the past few thousand years, like an invisible hand that has pushed the entire wizard community forward a little."


    Lupin stood under the huge projection screen and clenched his fists in excitement. If what Felix said came true, he is willing to give his entire savings to support this cause.


    The wizards became visibly more interested in Felix''s speech, and they watched with rapt attention as he paced around the center of the venue, relating his experiences in studying ancient runes:


    "... And for that reason, every magical discipline is significant." Felix smiled, "They elaborate on our innate ability - magic - from a different perspective, they are slowly but surely improving our understanding of it."


    Hundreds of magical devices in the sky in the shape of Billywig insects scanned down the scene of the venue and recorded the excited faces. The white light and purple mist of a magical camera flashed occasionally in the corner, and at the same time, hundreds of quills quivered with excitement.


    In addition to this, Felix''s words are also being transmitted to thousands of wizarding families through a magic radio.


    Felix held the ends of his wand in his fingers, but the wand is no longer as attractive as it was at the beginning, and the eyes of over two thousand wizards from all over the world in the audience are fixed on his face as they stood slightly on tiptoe from the leap of faith.


    "And a new discipline is obviously more valuable, like ancient practical runes. Why do we have to dig it out of the past when it does have so much untapped potential in it, and when it can be combined with so many magical disciplines under the modern magic system, such as modern spells-"


    He waved his wand and the ''Flow'' Rune combined with the Shield Charm to form a light green, watery magical barrier; the ''Light'' Rune combined with the Fire-making spell as a bright, white flame swam around him; more and more Runes appeared in the air, combining with modern spells to form a ripple of colourful magic.


    "Or alchemy-"


    He gestured at the huge projection screen that stood behind the crowd.


    "We know very little about the ancient wizards, and we can only roughly trace their legacy in fragmented handwritten notes and abandoned monuments, a fragmented knowledge not only makes it difficult for us to carry on the legacy of the ancient wizards but also makes us misjudge the era."


    "For example, the immense power of ancient wizards came with the extreme diminishment of his other magic abilities. I have found from some old handwritten journals of ancient wizards - back when a master-apprentice system still existed - even if they mastered several powerful ancient magic at a young age, they continued to have more worldly worries than modern wizards. Most of them needed to carry dozens of boxes to move their family during a journey, and the most advanced form of transport they could use on a trip was a flying broom ... or they might even have to clean their own houses and cook their own meals because not everyone knew life magic."


    One by one, wizards fell into contemplation, a question constantly being raised with the appearance of Felix Hap: are the ancient runes - and the ancient wizards that represent behind them - really as powerful as the legends make them out to be?


    Wizards also have myths or legendary tales. But many people automatically classify them under the same category of stories in the Tales of Beedle the Bard, with few willing to believe that the magical wonders shown in the stories actually happened in reality, breaking mountains, parting seas, destroying the space and the ground with a single spell ...


    Some people firmly believe it, some people doubt it, and some people dismiss it. But today Felix provided a new perspective to judge strength and weakness: what is the criterion of power, individual or collective; is it judged by magical power or convenience?


    ------------


    #Fiendsjoke, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 608+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 541: Challenge

    The speech continued on the Hogsmeade star-shaped platform. Felix chuckled, "Many people have fantasies about that era, but if you wake up one day and find yourself in ancient times, it won''t be two days before you will regret it ..." S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A low chuckle rang out from the crowd in the square.


    Felix then spent some time systematically explaining the ancient runes, which were, of course, rather general in nature. They could basically all be found in the corresponding entries in the rune booklets available in Diagon Alley, but with Felix personally demonstrating them, the printed texts become more convincing.


    "Starting with individual ancient runes, there are many branches that extend further down: runic circuits related to ancient alchemy, runic sequences related to ancient magic, and runic spells that are created with the combination of modern magic spells ... Although I have organized the boundaries of the ancient runes field, I have yet to touch on the finer points, like I said, perfecting a discipline is never a work done by a single person."


    Many wizards nodded in agreement, they ranged from ministers of magic and senior officials from different countries, headmasters of magic schools, experts who are researching ancient runes, and officials of the International Confederation of Wizards. They are the very people who will decide whether to promote the ancient rune discipline or not.


    "Next I would like to invite the de facto administrator of the ''Future World'' Company - Remus Lupin - to give a presentation on the products created using ancient runes, an area he knows much more than I do." Felix gave up his place, " By the way, wizards who are ready to participate in the magic exchange session can sign up now."


    Lupin straightened his clothes, a little wobbly on his feet. He secretly cheered himself up and walked to the one corner of the star design. When he looked over he saw several thousand pairs of eyes staring at him.


    "Ahem. I am not going to use ancient runes for demonstration, I am going to show you some of Future World''s work in the process, in other words, theories ..."


    By the time Felix stood in the middle of the stage again, it is close to noon.


    "The rumours about the Elder Wand are false, there''s no doubt about that, and I''ve included it at this time because you will understand my reasoning better with the preceding elaboration - for me, the Elder Wand, even if it is real, is not something essential for me, because, I am trying to get rid of the limitations of the Wand little by little. "


    Felix, who had taken the stage again, spoke exceptionally short, and waved his hand, as his ebony wand hovered in midair, and a crowd of eager eyes examined it.


    "The wand is the most important thing a wizard owns, and there''s no way I''m going to let just anyone pop up to inspect it, so I''ve come up with a solution: speak with strength. As long as you beat me, you can take it from me, not to mention examining it, so are you ready?"


    A cloaked wizard in the crowd murmured.


    "The statement in the challenge states that you won''t use your wand-"


    "Exactly."


    A few wizards moved.


    "I''ll go first." A blushing wizard shouted, tossing the challenge letter he clenched in his hand into the air, where it burned violently and coalesced into a magic symbol.


    "The pact is established, life and death battle." Amelia Bones said solemnly.


    Many of the wizards whose hearts burst with fervour and eagerness looked like they had been doused with a tub of ice water.


    "My name is David Elliott," the red-faced wizard said, carefully drawing his wand and circling the edge of the stage. When he found Felix standing motionless in the centre, he cursed under his breath and stood opposite to Felix.


    "I''m going to start." He stated in annoyance.


    Felix smiled and nodded.


    "Stupefy!"


    A red light flew from the tip of his wand, which was brushed aside by Felix''s outstretched hand, as the spell grazed his finger.


    The red-faced wizard was somewhat dumbfounded, and it was followed by an uproar from the many onlookers who did not know about the existence of the Humanoid Shield Charm. Only a wizard with extremely good eyesight could see a flash of bright light from the spell.


    "He wrapped the defensive spell around his hand ..."


    The red-faced wizard tried several times, but he simply couldn''t break through Felix''s defences, so he had to leave the scene unhappy and stand with his family.


    After a moment of silence, another wizard stepped forward, his whole body hidden in bandages, showing only one pair of eyes.


    "Who is that man?" Bones asked in a low voice.


    "Too late to figure out, he probably hid well before and only appeared today." Kingsley replied.


    Felix and the bandaged wizard didn''t say a word to each other, the bandaged wizard raised his hand and shot a black light from his wand, the humanoid shield charm that attached to Felix''s body swelled into a ball, and the black light hit the magical barrier and burst into pitch-black flames with a "teng" sound.


    Felix waved his hand, moving the burning barrier aside to avoid the equally swift spell. He reached out and let a ball of black lightning leap from his fingertips, then the next moment he appeared in front of the bandaged wizard and pressed his palm directly against his face - and


    Black arcs of lightning flashed with relish.


    A few seconds later, the bandaged wizard slowly collapsed.


    The cheerful atmosphere of the morning is gone.


    "Healers go up." Bones said aloud, at the same time she whispered to Kingsley, "Find out who he is - if he''s still alive."


    The red-faced wizard in the crowd who had just taken the stage touched his face, "Taking a hit like that, hiss~ this is going to hurt."


    Felix returned to the centre of the stage and waited for the next challenger, everyone who signed up have to meet him under a magical contract.


    The third wizard came up warily, "We''re just sparring, right?"


    Felix grinned, "Of course."


    The wizard conceded defeat voluntarily after a few spells, and Felix didn''t give him a hard time.


    The onlookers gradually concluded that if they followed the international dueling rules, the challenger could walk off the stage unscathed, at best hit by a stunning spell, and the unluckiest of the bunch struck in the face with a Stinging Jinx that swelled his nose to the size of a tomato.


    But if the rules are not followed, or if a lethal spell is used, the result is often not good. One guy who had agreed to duel and ended up using a curse in the middle of a challenge had his spell rebound and part of his body turned into wood.


    Felix stood in the middle of the stage, somewhat bored, as the next challenger seemed to lose his nerve and refused to come up. Suddenly he caught a strong whiff of malice, and it is not from a single person. Felix narrowed his eyes.


    A dozen shadows suddenly appeared, uniformly dressed and hiding their heads, uttering a single spell as they appeared, working in perfect harmony with each other, and deliberately separating one from the other to fly into midair and reach for a wand floating in the air.


    A shout of surprise rang out from the crowd.


    The spells came from all directions but stopped eerily in mid-air, and the dark wizard in mid-air could not resist the temptation to look back as a dozen bright lights of spells hung in mid-air like fireworks.


    Circled in the middle, Felix held a ball of golden flame-like liquid in one hand and poured it down indifferently.


    The flames rushed and instantly filled an empty space hundreds of feet in circumference.


    By the time the flames died down, a dozen men had completely disappeared, with only a black wand floating in the air as if nothing had happened.


    "Where are they?" Someone asked in a low voice.


    "Probably saw the situation is bad and apparited." The man next to him said uncertainly, having a more frightening answer in mind.


    In the corner, Dumbledore looked uncomfortable, he didn''t approve of killing, especially in such a violent way, but he couldn''t accuse him, just as he couldn''t come forward and admit that the Elder Wand is in his possession.


    The implications of that would be far more serious.


    The bloody trail of the Elder Wand was littered throughout the History of Magic, not just referring to the history of its bloody legacy; there had been no shortage of ambitious men and dark wizards in every age, as far more people had died in the process trying to find the Elder Wand than all the previous owners of the Elder Wand combined.


    The best thing to do is to let the legend of the Elder Wand disappear for good and turn it into a fairy tale again.


    And all he had to do is take one step out of line, and thousands more innocent lives will be lost.


    Felix looked around him, a pair of malevolent eyes lowered not daring to look at him, his purpose seemed to have been achieved, but he couldn''t help but sigh inwardly as he looked at Dumbledore''s departing back.


    He suppressed the irritation in his heart and erased the knowledge about the Horcruxes little by little. Just now, something suddenly dawned on him: he could make a prototype of a Horcrux right now if he wanted to, his soul wavering as if a piece of it would fall off at any moment.


    Had I made a mistake?


    Felix looked up at the sky, which is overcast and clouded with darkness, but his thoughts grew clearer and firmer.


    I am Felix Hap, not some crazy loon, and I can''t possibly follow the path of others in order to live long.


    I will find my own path and there''s nothing wrong with me.


    He opened his hand and a milky white light converged, forming a huge pillar of white light that shot high into the sky. Everyone stared in awe at the sight, as the black clouds drowned with the white light, followed by a tiny pillar of light that broke through the clouds and showered them with soothing light.


    Felix let out a breath, withdrew his distant gaze, and spoke calmly, "The challenge continues."


    ------------


    #Fiendsjoke, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 608+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 542: Snakewood Wand

    Outside Hogwarts Castle, many people wandered aimlessly around the stone steps path, occasionally glancing at the school gates in the distance. They are curious about the ancient rune international exchange happening in Hogsmeade, but unfortunately, the school won''t let them out at all. "This is obviously pre-planned." One student pointed out angrily, "They even postponed the first Hogsmeade weekend for this!"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat on the steps near the entrance hall, they had come over here for the third time, but still, there were no familiar figures in sight. Harry looked at the dark clouds overhead, expecting a rain shower that would fall at some point.


    "What''s in the clouds?" Ron suddenly asked.


    Harry stared at the dark clouds looming high in the sky, and just as Ron had said, something is glowing in the clouds. More and more students noticed the difference overhead as countless tiny pillars of light pierced out of the thick clouds, then turned into a gentle light that illuminated the entire castle.


    "Is this ... illumination?" Harry''s mouth opened wide.


    It is at this point that he suddenly felt a stinging pain in his scar and covered his forehead, suspecting that his head is about to split open as a blurred image appeared out of thin air in his mind.


    "Harry? What''s wrong with you?" Hermione was the first to notice that something is wrong.


    "It''s, it''s Voldemort ..." Harry said, fighting through the excruciating pain, "he''s somewhere, and he''s happy!" Harry gasped and stumbled a few steps out, almost falling down from the steps.


    Ron rushed to pull Harry to his feet, Harry''s hand gripping his arm like a clamp and leaning most of his weight on him, causing Ron to suck his breath in pain.


    "Hiss~ You saw him again?"


    Their strange behaviour drew the attention of the others and a couple of members of the Frontline Lookout approached them hurriedly, "What''s going on?" Seamus asked in shock as he shouted into the distance, "Call the Professor over, whoever it is! Harry''s ill, his scar-"


    "Don''t!" Harry whimpered, covering his head, his face contorted with pain, Seamus freaked out as Neville squeezed over forcefully, "Harry, do you want me to go get Professor McGonagall? Or Professor Black or ... Professor Snape?" There was a glum look on his face as he said the last name, as he would usually try to avoid Snape.


    Hermione gave him a deep look, knowing that the people Neville mentioned are all members of the Order of the Phoenix, so she said decisively, "All three of them, hurry up!"


    Just as Neville spoke, Harry''s scar felt like it is on fire, and he felt his skin melt as a picture appeared before his eyes: a looming complex of buildings standing on top of a hill, surrounded by a somewhat similar environment to Hogwarts, covered in a cold, wet mist and dense forest. Two tall humanoid stone statues stood at the two sides of the main entrance, but they appeared in the corner of his view, making it impossible for Harry to see them clearly. A strange and unfamiliar feeling became clear: he sensed its presence, connected to him by blood ...


    The legends are true ...


    Harry stumbled and sat on the steps, the gentle white light shattered the dark clouds overhead and spilled onto his face, making him a little more comfortable. He closed his eyes when a sudden cold touch met his lips, "Harry, drink it." He heard Hermione nervously say. S~?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry barely opened his eyes to see a small vial with a potion floating in front of him, "No, I don''t want it." He grunted in a small voice, "It''s too loud." The noises around him are chaotic, with students shouting everywhere, making it hard for him to get back into Voldemort''s head.


    "Quiet! Everybody be quiet!" Ron''s voice exclaimed, and Harry caught a glimpse of him waving his arms in the corner to disperse the ever-approaching crowd.


    Harry tried his best to resist the self-operating Occlumency, I need to see more, I don''t need you for now ... Two images overlapped, on one side there is the sound of footsteps, "A professor is coming!" On the other side is a sight of huge, lush trees that suddenly come into view, the leaves swaying and rustling without wind, and he felt two overlapping emotions of joy.


    One from Voldemort and the other from the tall Snakewood tree.


    "What''s happening ... Potter?" Snape appeared with an expressionless face, followed by Draco Malfoy and a pale Neville.


    ''He was the first one I saw.'' Neville''s eyes helplessly intoned.


    "Harry''s scar has begun to hurt again!" Hermione anxiously said.


    "Fragile people are like that, easily overwhelmed by a tiny dose of reality, and if he''s still not doing as well as he should in Potions class, all I can say is-"


    "You know what I''m talking about!" Hermione yelled at him as hard as she could.


    "Gryffindor ten points off for talking back to the professor." Snape said subconsciously, then he saw the twisted snake shadow on Harry''s face, he maintained the mocking expression on his face, and slowly said after a few seconds of hesitation, "I can''t help you, better take him to the hospital wing."


    "Old bat...*"


    Ron''s voice mingled with the footsteps and loud enquiries of Sirius and Professor McGonagall, who had arrived upon hearing the news, which allowed Snape to hear only the first sentence, and he looked menacingly at Ron, but Sirius had already squeezed him aside, so he simply said nothing and stood coldly in place.


    "What''s happening, Harry? Harry! Is your scar is starting to hurt again?" Sirius shouted anxiously.


    Harry didn''t reply, his voice became low and hoarse, and a creepy ''hiss'' sounded from his mouth. Sirius'' eyes widened, and he reached out his hand-


    "Don''t touch him." Hermione grabbed him, her expression is one of fear, but then the firmness returned, as she said with a shudder, "It''s Parseltongue, Harry''s connected to that man."


    Sirius'' outstretched hand froze, his heart tormented, debating whether or not to stop this dangerous act.


    Luckily the Parseltongue soon subsided and Harry slumped down on the cold steps breathing heavily. At that moment a stone in front of them turned into a stretcher, "I''ll take you to the hospital wing first, Harry." Professor McGonagall said, with some composure, "And then I will notify Headmaster Dumbledore."


    Harry didn''t say a word, an incredible image surfaced in his mind, the huge snakewood tree is withering rapidly, its bright leaves becoming dull, grey and yellow and crumbled, its trunk shaking as if it had gone through thousands of years in just a few seconds.


    " CRACK!"


    The trunk cracked down from the middle, revealing a large hole.


    A wand floated out of the pitch-black deep hole.


    A few tender buds remained on top of the wand, but they lost their lustre and fell off in an instant, and the surface of the wand became lustrous as if the wand had absorbed the entire life force of the giant snakewood tree. The tidal wave of joy came in waves, making it impossible for Harry to distinguish reality from illusion, and the last image he had in his mind was of a pair of thin, pale hands holding it.


    Harry sobered up instantly as if he had plunged into ice water.


    ------------


    #Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 609+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 543: Draco Malfoys Confession

    "He made it." Harry muttered. "Potter, come with me to the hospital wing, you need a long sleep." Professor McGonagall said.


    "No, Wait, Professor McGonagall. I know what Voldemort has done, what he''s been plotting all this time! It''s a wand, he got a wand using this commotion as a distraction."


    Professor McGonagall stared at him, her mouth pursed tightly for a few seconds before she said, "If you''re talking about the ''Elder Wand'', Professor Hap has dismissed the rumour ..."


    "Not the one the professor is holding." Harry said aloud, "It''s too late, he got a wand from under a snakewood tree, and it looked extraordinary, like a legendary wand ..." His voice slowed and his mind spun frantically, "It''s a snakewood wand! He''s got Salazar Slytherin''s snakewood wand!"


    A few people drew in a breath.


    "The one ranked seventh in the top ten wands?" Ron asked.


    "What? Oh." Harry said blankly, still lost in his own thoughts, "Exactly, that''s what Voldemort is after, he doesn''t care about the Elder Wand ... No, not really, of course, he wants it, but it''s too difficult to get it from Professor Hap, and he''s not sure if it''s genuine or not... So he deliberately stirred up a dispute and gave the Professor trouble in order to mask his investigation about the other wands ..."


    Snape looked at Harry with a complicated look.


    "But how did he know where the snakewood wand is?" Professor McGonagall asked dryly.


    "He''s been on the hunt for similar rumours, and quite a few people have gone missing." Sirius said, "Like the owner of Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour, I suspect he was taken because of this. He--"


    "He''s a descendant of Dexter Fortescue, the former headmaster of Hogwarts, and has legends of possessing a powerful wand from his ancestry." Hermione said pointedly, then gave Sirius a cautious look, "I only learned that recently, is it correct?"


    Sirius smiled at her.


    " It all matched up," Harry hammered his palm with his fist, "He went through all the trouble to finally get the best wand that matched him."


    " Do you know where the Dark Lord has gone?" Snape asked coldly.


    "I don''t know," Harry shook his head, "I only saw a complex of buildings on a hill that looked a bit like Hogwarts ... By the way, there are two huge statues on either side of the main entrance."


    "The top of a hill, resembling Hogwarts, and two statues at the entrance ..." Hermione racked her brain to remember where she had heard that before.


    "Yes, the two statues of a man and a woman, but I really didn''t notice, no, I think it was Voldemort who didn''t care ..." Harry looked at Hermione with an expectant look, hoping for an immediate answer. A few seconds later-


    "Ilvermorny!"


    "Ilvermorny."


    Hermione and Neville said at the same time. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The crowd looked at Neville, who scratched his head, " Byers and I have talked quite a bit about his school, including the tree you mentioned. As you know, I am very interested in the herbology subject, so I asked more questions about it... And I heard something different, Byers told me that the two founders of the school planted an unknown snakewood tree outside the school that could not be cut down or destroyed. It was later discovered that the leaves of the tree had powerful medical effects."


    "I will inform Dumbledore immediately." Professor McGonagall said decisively. She drew her wand and a silver Patronus flew out of the tip and flew towards the outside of the school, disappearing in the blink of an eye.


    Harry relaxed slightly.


    "So, Potter-" said Professor McGonagall, looking over at Harry.


    "I don''t need to go to the hospital wing," Harry said hurriedly, "I''m fine, something similar to this has happened before ... Just need to rest or get some air." He made an excuse for himself.


    Sirius cleared his throat, "Well - I''ll take him out for a walk, just around the corner."


    "Alright then, I''ll tell Dumbledore all about it as it is." Professor McGonagall said, rather reluctantly, as she hurried away.


    The others were prepared to leave as well, when they suddenly realized that there is someone else on the scene - not Snape, whose presence is so strong that he unconsciously radiates cold air just by standing there, scaring the other students away - it is another person hiding behind Snape.


    "Draco Malfoy! What are you doing here?" Ron nearly dropped his jaw in shock.


    Harry and Hermione''s breath stopped, Malfoy knows! He knows that I (Harry) can see into Voldemort''s mind! He knows it, that means Lucius Malfoy knows it, then what about Voldemort ...


    The five remaining men figured this out at the same time. An unnerving silence followed.


    Sirius drew his wand in silence as Snape said slowly, "Leave him to me, Black--"


    "Fuck off if you don''t want to get hurt, I''m not joking." Sirius said.


    " Really?" Snape''s hand went to his pocket, where his wand is, as he said with a scowl, "You are as impulsive and arrogant as ever, with absolutely no regard for the consequences."


    "I know what I''m doing." Sirius said coldly.


    Draco took a step back from his glare, his face turned pale.


    Snape gazed at Sirius and whispered, "Oh? You know what you''re doing ... as you did at the Shrieking Shack when you were at school?"


    The muscles in Sirius''s face suddenly quivered with agitation. He knew what Snape was talking about; they had been mortal enemies at school, and they would never hesitate if they had the chance to get the other one expelled. Snape had spent a lot of time stalking him and James back then, even closing in on the truth that Remus is a werewolf at one point. Fed up with being stalked, Sirius had impulsively told him where Remus had transformed, and who knows what would have happened if James had not stopped Snape from entering the Shrieking Shack when he learned of it.


    There was a chance that Snape could successfully escape with their secrets and then spread them around to force Remus to drop out, or there was a chance that Snape could simply be torn to pieces by werewolves who caught the scent of humans...


    Sirius hesitated for a moment, but then he looked at Harry and his expression firmed with determination.


    He had already made one mistake, a terrible mistake when dealing with Peter Pettigrew, and he couldn''t leave any more hidden ends.


    "Just one Obliviate ... Snape, Harry ... I can''t take any chances." He whispered with his teeth flaring, his eyes gradually becoming frantic.


    "Better wait till Dumbledore returns," Snape said, as he clutched his wand in his pocket with a death grip, "if our Headmaster finds out you attacked a student ..."


    "I don''t care!" Sirius said frantically, a few fiery sparks erupting from his wand.


    Snape immediately drew his wand and the two pointed at each other, just like they had done in the Shrieking Shack over years ago.


    "But I care, Sirius." Harry said.


    Sirius immediately turned his head to look at him, and Harry met his eyes with determination, after holding his gaze for a long while, Sirius voluntarily averted his eyes.


    James ...


    "I won''t say anything." Draco suddenly said.


    Everyone looked at him.


    Draco''s face paled even more and a few drops of sweat permeated the tip of his slender nose.


    "You''re lying!" Ron said, "If we just let you go, you''ll turn around and tattle! He''s got a record, remember? Buckbeak-"


    Draco gave him a vicious glare as he said to Harry, "Potter, I have something to tell you, something important ... that only you can know." He added.


    Harry looked back at him and saw that Draco''s expression quivered with fear.


    "Good." He said.


    "Harry?"


    "Harry!"


    "It''s okay, let''s hear what he has to say first." Harry said, looking deeply at Draco, "Malfoy, even if you did nothing, I wouldn''t let Sirius cast the Obliviate on you, not because I believe you, I saw what happened that night with my own eyes ... I just don''t want Sirius to leave the school because of you, because ... it isn''t worth it."


    A faint blush spread across Draco''s pale face, Harry had practically pointed his finger at him and said, I know your dad is a Death Eater, so I don''t trust you to keep this a secret at all.


    "We''ll come over too," Ron said, "me, Hermione, and Neville."


    Draco turned his face to glare at him.


    "We''ll stand far back, where we can''t eavesdrop." Ron tilted his head and muttered in a small voice, "Who knows if you''ll take the opportunity to hex Harry."


    Draco returned a mocking sneer, "Could be."


    They walked down the steps, Ron, Hermione, and Neville following them from a distance, Harry looked back and could even see Hermione clutching her wand as Ron said something to Neville, his fingers gesturing. Further away, Sirius and Snape stood on the stone steps, neither of them looking at the other.


    They walked a good distance away, leaving the greenhouse and Hagrid''s hut behind them, and they could see that they are almost close to the main entrance of Hogwarts, the boar''s wings visible on the castle'' iron gate. Harry finally grew impatient, feeling like he had made a mistake by showing up here.


    "How much longer are you going to hesitate?" Harry asked.


    Draco finally paused, glancing at the three figures stalking them in the distance to make sure they wouldn''t hear what he would say next. His lips moved slightly, and he said in a faintly audible voice, "I''m supporting Professor Hap."


    "What?"


    "I said, between that man and Professor Hap, I''m with Professor Hap." Draco tried to keep his tone as calm as possible, but when he saw Potter''s face, which looked astonished to the core as if he had spouted nonsense out of his arse, he burst into a fit of anger and badly wanted to slam his fist on his face.


    But he didn''t dare do that, they were followed by three other heels.


    "Don''t think I believe everything you say, Malfoy." Harry said.


    "Well, I can tell you a secret. But I want you to swear that you won''t tell anyone." Draco said reluctantly, as his mind squirmed.


    Harry blinked, "Okay, I swear."


    "You answered too quickly! You''re not sincere at all." Draco snapped irritably.


    "I don''t have time to waste." Harry shot back, "You can choose to believe it or not, at least my credibility is much better than yours."


    Draco''s grey eyes filled with disgust as he sized up Harry, this is the first time he had ever been in this situation. He forced himself to think about one question: is it worth it to give Harry Potter his secret or not?


    Draco took a deep breath, "Well, do you remember what happened in the second year, with the Chamber of Secrets and the Basilisk?"


    "Of course I do." Harry said with an odd look on his face, Malfoy isn''t going to try and say that he knows how he and Ron used a polyjuice potion to trick him, is he? That would indeed get them in trouble, they had broken quite a few school rules and Hermione had even sneaked into Snape''s private storeroom to take the horn of a bicorn and the skin of a boomslang snake.


    "That diary, I once had in my possession."


    "What?" Harry froze, not because of what Draco had said - he had already known that, Dobby had told him. What he is puzzled about is why Draco Malfoy is telling him this; shouldn''t he keep this to himself?


    Draco''s expression turned odd as well.


    "I followed you to an abandoned girls'' lavatory and later got spotted by you... Then later I returned to investigate when you were gone. There was only a diary there, which I picked up from the floor ..."


    "And then what?" Harry asked, this is something he had discussed with Ron and Hermione.


    "Something happened in between ..." Draco said vaguely, "Then I gave it to Professor Hap who destroyed it."


    "You handed it to the professor personally?"


    "Yes. I asked him to help me keep it a secret, I don''t want to get involved with this."


    Harry stood stunned in place, he had always thought that the Professor had noticed the anomaly and confiscated the diary (Horcrux) from Malfoy''s hands, and they had laughed at Lucius Malfoy for creating a trap and almost harming his own son with it... but the truth is Draco Malfoy had handed the diary (Horcrux) to Professor Hap with his own hands, which had led to the first Horcrux''s destruction.


    This is just too ridiculous.


    He felt the sky spinning, the scene around him blurred as his consciousness continued to plummet downwards. His scar started to hurt again.


    ------------


    #Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 609+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 544: Voldemort is coming

    Ten minutes ago. In the Hogsmeade village, the challenge continued.


    According to the procedure, Felix would explain the ancient runes in the morning, and take some time for the challenge at noon (to demonstrate his strength), while the rest of the afternoon would be reserved for the experts in ancient runes, the professors of the magic school and the headmasters, to ask questions to which Felix would answer.


    But because they had just experienced the ''mysterious disappearance of a dozen dark wizards'' and the ''dispersal of dark clouds using illumination by Felix'', the crowd of wizards is now obviously dazed, and no matter what Felix said, they all looked at him robotically, not quite recovered from the shock they had just experienced.


    None of them dared to step up to the challenge either, and many of the wizards who had signed magical contracts cried out in frustration.


    Felix simply announced that the challenge session would be moved to tomorrow, and asked the crowd to take a break before starting the questioning session in two hours. The wizards dispersed, needing to digest everything they had seen in the morning, and specifically to mentally redefine the importance of ancient rune discipline.


    A handful of wizards and all the journalists stayed behind, and they surrounded Felix with all sorts of questions.


    "Mr. Hap, that lava-like flame you just used is also a form of ancient magic?"


    "That''s right."


    "It''s so powerful! So all those people died?"


    Felix glanced at the journalist, "You could think so." The journalist''s breath choked, and he gave a wry smile.


    "Mr. Hap, I''ve seen illumination in an ancient rune booklet, but its description is nowhere near as outrageous as you''ve shown it to be ...?"


    "Ancient magic''s power varies from person to person." Felix explained patiently, "It is difficult to control, but it is also less constrained ..."


    "Mr. Hap! Ouch, don''t squeeze! I''m a senior official of the French Ministry of Magic, and I''ve spoken to you through correspondence-" said a short, chubby man, his hat shoved off to reveal a few strands of flowing, thinning hair.


    Felix shot him a double glance, "Giles Fitzgerald?"


    "It''s me, Maxwell asked me to say hello on his behalf." The man yawned slightly, revealing the top of his bare head, and said, "The French Ministry of Magic is interested in adding a new subject in the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, can we talk about it?"


    Felix''s eyes lit up, and he looked around for the impressive tall figure, "Is Madame Maxime not here?"


    "She got caught up in something tedious and will probably arrive tomorrow, but the deputy headmaster of Beauxbatons is here ..." The man got so squeezed that he looked like he would throw up at any moment. He had one hand over his head while a short, stubby finger of the other hand pointed at a man a dozen feet away.


    "No problem." Felix said.


    At the edge of Hogsmeade Square, Amelia Bones breathed a long sigh of relief, "Not too much trouble after all, what was the origin of those dozen dark wizards? Is there a record of them in our files?"


    Kingsley replied, "There is too little information available, and they entered using the Apparition, these dark wizards aren''t stupid-"


    "As it turns out, they were stupid." Ms. Bones said snarkily.


    After a moment she asked in a low voice, "Has there been any news from Mad-Eye Moody''s side?"


    "No word has come through yet." Kingsley said.


    "That''s odd," Ms. Bones said suspiciously, "we''ve purposely scheduled a day off and now the Ministry''s defence is as empty as it has ever been, it''s the best chance to take the Prophecy Orb ... "


    Kingsley shrugged.


    "Leave him be, there must be no disorder on his side, have Aurors and the Hit Wizards broaden their surveillance around Hogwarts."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    "I don''t think Voldemort will show his face on this occasion either, lets''s just try to remove as many hidden dangers as possible." Ms. Bones said with a smile, "Even not counting the Aurors and Hit Wizards, there are close to two or three thousand wizards in Hogsmeade village at the moment, many of whom are considered the elite among the wizards."


    The expression on her face froze at the sight of an Agilbert Fontaine, Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School, whose face had suddenly changed dramatically as he left with a grave expression.


    "Let''s follow him and check-up." With a slight hesitation, Ms. Bones said.


    They watched as the Headmaster of Ilvermorny School went into a nearby makeshift tent, where Ms. Bones and Kingsley stood a few seconds later and called out twice without receiving any response, and instantly realized that something had gone wrong.


    Ms. Bones cautiously lifted the curtain and Kingsley readied a magic spell in his hand, but there was no one inside.


    The two looked at each other.


    "Is it an Apparition? Or is it a Portkey? Kingsley, notify the Portkey office and the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad to come over and determine the approximate distance of travel at least ..." Ms. Bones said seriously.


    ...


    Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Headmaster''s office.


    A figure suddenly appeared in the room, and Agilbert Fontaine rushed through the window with blinding speed as soon as he appeared.


    "Headmaster Fontaine?" Jura Edmund, who had been walking Bethany in the garden, looked surprised and asked, "Didn''t you go to England? Why are you back so soon?"


    Headmaster Fontaine hastily left with a simple statement, "The Snakewood Tree prohibitions have been triggered, I''m going over to check out." And with that, he disappeared from their sight. s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Jura''s expression became serious as he turned to Bethany and said, " It must not be a trivial matter if Headmaster Fontaine has been alerted, I''ll follow him and check."


    "In case there is any danger -"


    Jura hesitated and raised his arm, as a line of tiny runes started to emerge from the back of his wrist before a wand appeared out of thin air.


    "Jura, this is what Mr. Hap told you to use in a pinch." Bethany persuaded, "I''ll look for the other professors-"


    "Now is a critical moment." Jura said, gripping the wand, "Don''t worry, I''ll protect myself."


    On the other side, Headmaster Fontaine had appeared at the entrance of the school, where he paused briefly before running in the direction of the Snakewood Tree. He thought fast, every past headmaster had left protective magic on the Snakewood Tree, making it impossible for an ordinary student to destroy it, especially since it concerned a hidden secret that dated to more than three hundred years ago.


    The students of Ilvermorny only knew that the leaves of the Snakewood Tree had powerful medical effects, but as a Headmaster and descendant of the original twelve Aurors, he knew much more inside news: one of the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the witch Isolt Sayre, had once wielded the wand of Salazar Slytherin.


    Headmaster Fontaine hurried on his feet, the hidden history of the past slowly flowed through his mind.


    Isolt Sayre''s mother had been born into the Ancient House of Gaunt, a pure-blood family that descended from Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. However, her mother did not support the idea of pure blood like most of her family and moved out of the house at an early age.


    She married her husband and had a lovely daughter, known as Isolt. The early years of Isolt''s childhood were peaceful and happy, with loving parents by her side, who were kind enough to quietly help their No-Maj neighbours, but all that was destroyed by a fire in which both of Isolt''s parents were killed.


    The culprit was Isolt''s aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, a cruel witch with a violent nature. She adopted Isolt at the age of five to raise her as a "proper" pure-blood witch. As Isolt grows up, she realizes the true nature of her aunt, and then finds an opportunity to steal her wand (she is not allowed to have one personally), and after some trouble, she travelled to New World (North America) on the Mayflower ship.


    That wand is the heirloom of the Gaunt family - the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin.


    Isolt then married her No-Maj husband in the New World and lived in peace for over a decade, and during that time she had founded the prototype of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but at that time her Aunt Gormlaith had finally found out about the residence of the increasingly famous Isolt, and Gormlaith Gaunt was enraged; she used the rules that had been designed in the Snakewood Wand when it was first made to order it into a dormant state using the Parseltongue, and then tried to kill Isolt and her family.


    But she ultimately failed.


    Isolt later buried the dormant wand in the ground outside the school and attempted to make her own wand. The following year, the spot where the snakewood wand was buried began to sprout into what later became the iconic ''medical'' snakewood tree of Ilvermorny...


    Headmaster Fontaine finally arrived at the location of the snakewood tree but was stunned by what he saw: it was completely destroyed and reduced to ashes.


    A black-robed wizard with pale skin and blurred facial features gently stroked a glowing wand.


    The Snakewood Wand!


    A wand hand-crafted by Salazar Slytherin himself, a wand that had served as his companion and ranked only seventh in the previous sensational news, but Headmaster Fontaine had scoffed at it, for he had known from the start that the other wands might be fictional, but this one is certainly genuine. And it is plenty miraculous to rank first.


    Voldemort''s heart is contented with the fact that he is currently holding the wand of the greatest of the four founders in his hand, and there is no hint of rejection from it. He could feel the wand of his ancestors cheering, the power of the wand echoing with his own magic as if urging him to use it as he saw fit.


    There is no better wand for me than this one, and there is no one more worthy to use it than me ... Voldemort thought, right now it is time to find a sacrifice worthy of it ... He looked up at the sky, should Felix Hap be in Hogsmeade at this hour?


    Voldemort gave a cold smile as he turned to leave -


    "Stop!" Headmaster Fontaine shouted, and Voldemort''s red eyes fixed on him. Fontaine frowned, the man in front of him looked tall and thin, like a skeleton, his face oddly contorted, and the more he looked at him the more familiar he became ...


    "You are the dark wizard Voldemort?" He asked coldly.


    "You may address me as the Dark Lord Voldemort-" Voldemort said politely.


    "Whoever you are, leave the wand behind! It''s not yours." Headmaster Fontaine shouted.


    "It doesn''t belong to me? There could not be a more rightful owner for it than me." Voldemort said contemptuously, "And if I say no?" He spread his hands lazily, the snakewood wand gleamed in his hands.


    Headmaster Fontaine felt uneasy, but nonetheless, he withdrew his own wand out.


    " Hehe!" Voldemort sneered, his red eyes glowed vividly as if they could ooze out blood, as he softly muttered, "It isn''t a disgrace to take you as a first sacrifice ..."


    "What did you say?"


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    Green light filled his entire field of vision.


    "No!"


    ...


    "No!"


    Harry shouted out. His mind was in turmoil like someone had churned it with a knife. His vision flooded with green light, the colour of death, and he cried out at the same time as the other young man he saw in his mind, the one who looked familiar ...


    "Harry, wake up!"


    Hermione shook him, and he barely opened his eyes to find himself on the floor, resting on the cold ground, a large shadow enveloping him above his head. It is Ron, who is arguing with Malfoy.


    "What have you done to him, Malfoy? I knew you couldn''t be trusted!"


    "I didn''t do anything!"


    "It''s not him, Ron, it''s Harry''s scar." Hermione said.


    Harry blinked a few times, unable to take interest in their argument. His heart felt very heavy with the death of a man, the Headmaster of Ilvermorny. A bright green light still lingered in his mind, Ron, Hermione, and Malfoy''s faces were all strangely contorted, he looked around, Neville also had his wand in his grip and remained silent as a rock.


    He tilted his head as Sirius and Snape ran over to him from a distance, the expression on Snape''s face seemed as anxious as Sirius'' ...


    Harry rubbed his forehead hard, the scar stung like a pinprick.


    "Harry," Hermione mumbled, "You can''t do this anymore." She took a deep breath, " You can''t afford to allow your mind to be invaded anymore-"


    "Invade? Hermione, I can''t let the vital information slip out of my sight, and it''s not me being invaded, it''s me invading Voldemort''s mind!" Harry retorted irritably.


    "But both are the same, your mind''s defences are already riddled with holes, and it will ruin the occlumency you''ve worked so hard on." Hermione advised patiently.


    "I can''t worry about that for now Hermione, we can talk about that later, we have more important things to do now." Harry said, propping himself up, his hands touching the cold dirt, which lifted his spirits a little. He grabbed another handful and pressed it to his forehead, the ice-like touch eased the pain in his scar.


    He lifted his head and looked at the castle iron gate in front of him.


    "Harry, what did you see? Did he do something else?" Hermione asked in a low voice as she approached him.


    "He killed the Headmaster of Ilvermorny." Harry said woodenly.


    Hermione covered her mouth in surprise, Ron and Malfoy lost their voices in unison, Neville''s eyes went wide, and Sirius and Snape, who had just arrived, were stunned in place. They stared at Harry in disbelief, as if they had heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.


    It was Harry who had managed to snap out of it first, as he said urgently, "There''s something more important, Voldemort is coming."


    "What?"


    "Voldemort is coming, he''s going to Hogsmeade to find Professor Hap!"


    ------------


    #Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 610+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 545: Gaunt Ring (2 in 1)

    In the Hogsmeade Village, Felix is talking to a representative of the French Ministry of Magic. The man, "Giles Fitzgerald", is very talkative, and if you ignore his regular attempts to smooth out his pathetically thinning hair, the whole conversation was quite pleasant with all the arse kissing.


    "I heard that Mr. Hap is also a school board member of Beauxbatons, a talent that Mr. Nicolas Flamel personally identified ... He''s picked the right man, Mr. Flamel was always generous, I received a sizeable scholarship when I was at school, he was a really nice guy wasn''t he Myron? "


    Giles turned his head to look at the middle-aged wizard next to him, who is the deputy headmaster of Beauxbatons.


    "You''re right." Myron said firmly, "The loss of Monsieur Flamel is a major loss to the French magical community."


    Giles cleared his throat, "It is, but now we have Mr. Hap, and history always goes around ..."


    "Yeah." Deputy Headmaster Myron said briefly.


    Felix smiled without saying anything, this conversation took place after Giles cornered him to enquire about his arrangements for the Beauxbatons Scholarship, and when he told them to continue everything, as usual, Giles spent a full ten minutes touting him in a greasy tone, but once Giles realized that Felix had no interest in being touted, he turned his tongue to praise the contribution of Nicolas Flamel in a high note.


    Nicolas Flamel left a lot of legacies, but Felix only took the parts that are most useful to him, leaving the rest intact. Including Nicolas''s vault in the Gringotts France branch, which he had only visited once, and it did not contain many alchemical items that deserved his attention.


    So when the Gringotts Goblin brought out a thick stack of contracts, he did not choose to annul any of them.


    Felix thought it would make him feel good to do so.


    "It''s a bit windy today." Giles muttered, reaching out to brush aside the lock of hair that kept ruffling his nose in front of him.


    But soon there is a loud clamour and Felix peered into the distance, and his expression turned serious.


    He held out his hand and a small black dot appeared in his palm area, the dot rapidly smudged away like a drop of ink in water, and in the blink of an eye, a book appeared in his hand.


    "Mr. Hap?" Giles asked in surprise, looking curiously at the Book of Rune in his hand at the same time.


    " We got some trouble, Mr. Giles. Inform the rest of the group to hide for now." Felix said calmly, as his figure suddenly disappeared and reappeared near the edge of Hogsmeade.


    An exaggerated-sized black tornado headed towards the Hogsmeade village, the black tornado uprooted rocks, grass, trees, and everything along its path as the wizards rushed around in disarray.


    "Silence."


    Felix heard Amelia Bones'' booming voice say, but it had very little effect; everyone was stunned by the sudden onslaught of the natural disaster, and although the tornado is still some distance away, the howling winds, as well as the raining droplets, have arrived first and splattering down.


    "Ministry of Magic Aurors, Hit Wizards, follow me to ward off the storm." Ms. Bones shouted as the Ministry of Magic crew emerged from one hidden corner or another.


    Felix pressed his hand on the Book of Rune and the pages flipped, a dozen milky white balls of light flew out of it and headed straight towards the loud behemoth.


    "It''s illumination!"


    "Professor Hap is here."


    The black tornado swallowed the balls of light in one gulp, and seconds later, the tornado swelled very rapidly in size that it seemed to roll down the clouds in the sky, as a dazzling pillar of lights stabbed out of the whirling vortex, managing to break it up before it could breach the village.


    The black tornado was forced to disperse as a dozen smaller whirlwinds formed from the air pressure and rushed into the village to wreak havoc, followed by rocks and branches falling from high above, and Felix watched as a rock the size of a man''s head smashed a hole in the roof of a shop, and the subsequent mini whirlwind blew the furniture and ornaments inside all over the place, as it looked like some kind of vomiting monster.


    Felix was forced to pause after breaking up a few mini whirlwinds. He stood in the scattered air currents and gazed high into the sky as a black-robed wizard appeared in the air, his features blurred and his skin looked pale-white.


    His red eyes looked down at the wreckage below as he grinned silently, would a few thousand wizards be useful? I just need to create a little chaos to make them disorganized.


    "Come up." He said with a gesture.


    Felix remained motionless, his silver eyes fixed on Voldemort. In Thestral''s perspective, that man''s soul radiated a shiny black light from the inside out and had more than one piece missing, like a rotting pumpkin that had been haphazardly gnawed on and discarded by wild animals.


    A thought flashed through Felix''s mind: Voldemort''s soul looked even uglier than his appearance.


    He counted several times over and found seven gaps in total.


    That meant that Voldemort had made seven Horcruxes ... counting the body, and he had split his soul into eight parts.


    They had destroyed four of the Horcruxes, the diary, the diadem, the Gaunt ring, and the snake. Three remained: the Slytherin locket in Dumbledore''s possession; Harry, who is half a Horcrux, which is currently impossible to strip; and the last one - the unknown.


    Felix''s lips quirked as he relayed this information to Dumbledore who stood somewhere in Hogsmeade. Once this was done, he kicked the stone beneath his feet and leaped into the air, facing Voldemort who stood at a distance.


    "I thought a little highly of you, Voldemort," Felix said, " Your killing quite indiscriminately for someone who calls himself a ruler."


    " It was just a greeting, would you care if you accidentally hurt an ant or two?" Voldemort said lazily, twirling his snakewood wand in his hand and examining Felix''s silver-gray eyes, his snake-like nostrils flared out excitedly, " Indeed ... you have transformed yourself too, have you chosen the Thestral?"


    "Ah," Felix stated without moving, "it''s a creature with a touch of death after all."


    "But they are too tame, I prefer Basilisk more," Voldemort commented in a condescending tone, "I had bred a few, but unfortunately none of them grew, probably due to the lack of certain key steps. Then I found I preferred dark magic, and I did some experiments on myself, some successful, some not ... This is the price of being at the forefront of the whole magical community, you have to do some trial and error."


    Voldemort enjoyed this pre-battle communication, it is one of his few interests. But there are very few people left in the world with whom he can discuss magic, especially since he has little in common with Dumbledore - who keeps using Transfiguration to greet him and always keeps talking about "the power of love".


    "Why haven''t I seen Dumbledore, have you guys fallen out?" Voldemort said mischievously, his snake-like pupils peering down.


    "Isn''t that what you expected? I killed a dozen dark wizards before you showed up, and he probably couldn''t bear to see it and left early." Felix said.


    Voldemort scrutinized his face as if examining the truth of the statement.


    "Doesn''t matter," he said, "he''s no longer a match for me."


    "Tch." Felix smacked his lips.


    "You think I''m bluffing?" Voldemort narrowed his eyes.


    "I don''t. But it looks like you''ve finally found yourself a proper wand, which is why you dared to show up in the open." Felix said, and from the beginning, Voldemort kept his wand in the most conspicuous position like he was showing off.


    "A wand made by Salazar Slytherin''s own hand and inherited by his most talented descendant." Voldemort stretched out his hand, the wand in his hand blossomed with a bright emerald green light that hummed and buzzed.


    " Well, it certainly suits you perfectly." Felix said slowly.


    After a short exchange, a fierce battle broke out.


    ...


    The Hogsmeade village had fallen into disarray.


    Madam Puddifoot ran out of her tattered shop, it looked like a terrible mess, her shop door had been lifted off the ground and at the moment she didn''t know where she could go. Upon seeing Voldemort in midair, she sat down at once, lost in thought, as she said, "It''s true ... he''s really back ..."


    The still calm wizards gathered and worked together to fight the mini whirlwinds that had just been broken up by Felix.


    The crew placed in advance by the Ministry of Magic came in handy, and midway through some of the wizards with decent combat skills volunteered to join in, the owner of the Hog''s Head Inn cursed as he smashed a mini whirlwind and looked up to see an old man with the white beard who bore a striking resemblance to him not far away.


    "You''re useless." Aberforth said bluntly.


    Dumbledore swung his hand to dispel a whirlwind and listened with his side ear, after a few seconds a complex expression passed through his eyes, surprise, regret, and a mixture of indecision. When he looked up, he found his brother glaring at him with a fierce expression, as if debating whether or not to punch him in the nose.


    "Ah, sorry, what did you just say?"


    Dumbledore glanced briskly into the distance, the battle had already started, Felix had guided Voldemort outside the village, the sound of the two fighting resonated through the village, black thunder accompanied by dazzling golden flames ploughed the earth over and over again, then the sky showered with spears, gold coins and ... is that a cork of butterbeer?


    In the corner, a chubby, walrus-mustached wizard probed and peered, smiling awkwardly when he met Dumbledore''s gaze.


    ...


    A large golden-red bird descended from the sky, with a shiny golden tail and a pair of sharp claws of the same colour, a bunch of people dangled on its legs, notably the one towing on its tail, and Fawkes chirped in displeasure, shaking off the guy who had been tugging on its tail feathers all the way.


    "Oh my god-"


    "Ouch! Don''t squeeze me."


    "Everyone keep quiet and stay alert!"


    Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville got up from the ground to see Sirius looking around warily with his wand up, "Get your wands out, kids." The four of them complied, before them there is a mess, debris all over the place, the showcase windows that display the merchandise are broken, as far as the eye can see none of the windows are intact, and the shop sign has been smashed all over by something and a thick layer of dust has been laid on them.


    "That''s Gladrags Wizardwear, where''s the door gone?" Ron said, pointing towards the dress shop with an open entrance.


    A figure stumbled into the shop, it was Draco Malfoy. He practically rolled and ran into Gladrags Wizardwear.


    "What''s wrong with him?" Neville asked in disbelief.


    "Probably scared," Ron said scornfully, "It''s not like anyone begged him to come, he''s the one who grabbed Fawkes''s tail."


    Harry looked at the Gladrags Wizardwear in silence, he suddenly felt cheated.


    Malfoy said he supported Professor Hap, but he kept his mouth shut about how, let alone admitting that his father is a Death Eater, and the only valuable information Malfoy had uttered the whole time was his admission that he had handed Professor Hap the diary (Horcrux) personally.


    But the thing is, it''s not like Malfoy knew that the diary is a Horcrux.


    Now that I think about it, that doesn''t signify anything at all. Maybe he was afraid of being controlled by the diary again and that''s why he voluntarily handed it over, and the choice of the professor was Professor Hap who was also from Slytherin house, and as he said on his own, he didn''t want to get involved in the Chamber of Secrets trouble...


    As for whether or not he had considered the safety of the young wizard from a Muggle family in between, only God knows.


    "We''re late?" Neville asked, the tension and excitement still lingering on his face, as he regarded this as a formal operation against Voldemort. "The You-Know-Who attacked the place by surprise? But where''s the Professor? Where''s Headmaster Dumbledore? Where is the Ministry of Magic crew?"


    There is no one around.


    The phoenix tilted its head and cried out, flying straight in one direction.


    They glanced at each other.


    "Let''s follow!" Sirius stated in a low voice, "Remember, we''re not here to fight, I''ve fought Voldemort and know how terrifying his strength is ... We have to regroup with either the Headmaster, Felix, or the Ministry of Magic first and tell them what Harry knows." He paused briefly for a moment as he continued, "You are all students, but also the most determined warriors, so I want you to grow, and no amount of teaching from me in class is as good as one practice session. So, don''t die."


    Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville nodded silently, this truly felt different from the usual dueling lessons.


    "Rumble!"


    There was a loud noise in the distance as if a mountain had collapsed.


    "It''s the direction Fawkes left, the Professor and Headmaster Dumbledore are probably over there too." Harry said.


    They ran quickly, the street littered with debris from buildings and furnishing ornaments from who knows what, books, cages, clothes ... They ran over the path of a debris road with alarm, luckily, they didn''t find any bodies.


    "There it is!"


    In the distance there are dense, hundreds of wizards, it seems everyone in the Hogsmeade village has converged there, and Phoenix Fawkes flew all the way forward, spilling light in the form of tiny stars, and it finally settled on a rusty stand with a tattered wooden sign underneath.


    "Hog''s Head Inn."


    They exchanged glances, curious about the place where Fawkes had stopped, as Harry stepped forward and peered through the large broken window, almost choking on the sudden smell of goat, the tables near the door covered in dust, and the floor smeared with greasy stains.


    The Hog''s Head Inn is dimly lit and a man can faintly be seen sitting inside, Harry''s mouth dropped open, it''s Headmaster Dumbledore!


    What is he doing here? Shouldn''t he be fighting outside? Could it be that Voldemort and Professor Hap are now fighting one-on-one? Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn''t be advocating the idea of a fair fight, would he? Harry''s mind was so jumbled that he didn''t even hear Sirius greet him as he pushed the door open in confusion.


    Fawkes, which was standing on a stand, took the opportunity to fly in, circling the room twice, seemingly unable to find a place to land, before eventually landing on Dumbledore''s shoulder.


    "Harry? What did you see?" Sirius and the others walked carefully behind, with the help of the faint glow of a few small candle heads, then they saw the only person in the room, "Headmaster Dumbledore?" They shouted incredulously.


    "Ah, it''s you all," Dumbledore said quietly, turning his head to look over his shoulder at Fawkes and saying reproachfully, "You shouldn''t have brought them here."


    Fawkes gave a low chirp.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, we have important information for you," Harry said eagerly, "Voldemort has acquired the Snakewood Wand of Salazar Slytherin-"


    "I know, Minerva told me through the Patronus." Dumbledore said calmly as he fiddled with his teacup.


    "Also - the Headmaster of Ilvermorny was killed by Voldemort."


    "I know that too," Dumbledore said softly, "Professor Fontaine ... he was not supposed to die."


    "I also know how to put the Snakewood Wand back into hibernation using the Parseltongue, I can help with that." Harry said.


    "It might not work, Harry." Dumbledore interrupted him, his azure eyes examined Harry through the clear lenses, "No." He repeated, "You don''t own that wand, so it won''t listen to you, especially when it''s held in the hands of its true owner. And it would be too dangerous for you to rush into battle for me to agree."


    Harry stuttered, unable to speak, his initial excitement of seeing Headmaster Dumbledore vanishing all at once.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, you have not joined the battle? Is Professor Hap fighting all alone now then?" Hermione asked anxiously.


    "That''s right, Miss Granger." Dumbledore said calmly, seemingly unaware of the hidden implications of her words.


    "But why - allow the Professor to fight alone - the Aurors of the Ministry of Magic - " Hermione stammered.


    "That''s a long story," Dumbledore''s tone remained calm as he looked down at his empty teacup, "such as the fact that Voldemort did not choose our predetermined battlefield, and the fact that I had previously left ... making my reaction probably half a beat slower than usual, as well as the fact that I had to take time out to protect the others after it happened ... but what really made me sit here and drink my tea because Felix stopped me."


    "What?" Everyone looked at him in surprise.


    "Three people brought me messages today, but only Felix''s message cheered me up the most." Dumbledore said, "I had to restrain myself ... because I knew that we are not ready and the conditions are far from ripe."


    "But if you team up with Professor Hap-" said Harry eagerly.


    "That''s the point, defeating or driving Voldemort away isn''t what we want, keeping him around is." Dumbledore looked at them with a bitter smile, "Felix is out there fighting while I am thinking about countermeasures, about the best time to go out ... I know very well that even if Felix and I team up we won''t be able to capture him, we''ll just scare him away. Unless he became more conceited and felt he had the victory in his hands, or-" He hesitated, thinking of the information Felix had told him.


    Felix could see the broken soul ...


    "-or make him become frightened, terrified, and let him reveal his vulnerabilities himself." He said softly.


    The crowd looked at him uncertainly, but Dumbledore had no intention of explaining, and lifted his head as if he suddenly became interested in the ceiling above his head.


    After a long while.


    Dumbledore made a sudden movement, removing the gloves he had been wearing for nearly two months to reveal his right hand, which immediately changed - losing a little of its moisture, as if an invisible fire had burned the flesh and blood, leaving it both dry and charred, finally resembling a charcoal bar just taken out of a blazing fireplace.


    Dumbledore raised his hand and came closer to examine his hand before pulling a black jewelled ring from his pocket with his intact left hand and wearing it.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore." Harry held his breath, "Your hand-"


    Is it a disguise? Or is it really injured? Was that why he always wore gloves? His memory became clear; the few times he had shown up since the start of the term, Headmaster Dumbledore had always seemed to be wearing white gloves.


    "Now is not the time to talk about it." Dumbledore shook his head, "Come on, let''s go finish the fight."


    He stood up and his body began to radiate a powerful aura.


    Harry didn''t understand what Headmaster Dumbledore meant but at least he knew that the Headmaster had decided to join the fight, the message was encouraging enough, and he could already picture Voldemort fleeing in his head as they pushed open the broken door and walked out.


    A slim figure draped in a robe stepped off the corner and ran in the direction of the crowd.


    Harry stared to identify the figure, "It might be Malfoy." He said in surprise, wasn''t he hiding in Gladrags Wizardwear.


    "Draco Malfoy? He''s here with you guys?" Dumbledore asked curiously.


    "Yeah." Harry vaguely said, not wanting the Headmaster to pursue the matter as it involved Sirius''s plan to cast Obliviate on the student, and even though he knew Snape would not miss the opportunity to tell on him, he wanted Headmaster Dumbledore to know about it as late as possible.


    Luckily for him, Headmaster Dumbledore didn''t ask much as he nodded lightly.


    "You will stand at the back of the crowd and not come forward or move around," Dumbledore said solemnly from the entrance, the Hog''s head painted sign above their heads creaked. " Sirius, you keep an eye on them."


    "Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore." Sirius whispered, not quite daring to look Dumbledore in the eye from the moment he had entered until now, even though he thought he was right.


    The battle in the distance had reached its peak, the earth riddled with scars and all sorts of magical trails could be seen as they approached silently, not a single person noticing them, the crowd of wizards watching the battle with an expression of fascination.


    The two men fighting went far beyond what they could comprehend, let alone intervene, and the dozen or so shattered golem guards that littered around were the price of their rash approach.


    "Keep your distance, you don''t want to get burned by the Fiendfyre, do you?" Ms. Bones shouted. A crowd of Aurors and Hit Wizards stepped in front of the crowd, dividing the battlefield. But at the forefront stood a row of tall, lanky golem guards - a third of the Ministry of Magic''s large purchases are here.


    The golem guards held up a magical barrier in a neat and tidy manner, taking the fallout from the battle.


    In the distance, Voldemort''s Fiendfyre Serpent and Felix''s fire dragon, moulded by the Bright Fire-making spell, clashed fiercely, as if they were incompatible, each clash shedding large shards of red and white flame, which fell to the ground and scorched it black.


    Stones continued to crumble under the cold air and the burning flames.


    Harry looked around and finally spotted Malfoy in a corner, draped in a wide cloak that covered him so tightly that Harry could only barely make him out by the grey eyes and the sharp, thin chin.


    At the moment the eyes belonging to Draco Malfoy stared intently at the battlefield, and he truly felt the fighting and oppressive power of the world''s best wizards - a world away from what he had seen from his father.


    Harry couldn''t guess what is going through Malfoy''s mind at the moment, but at least it is clear that he is thrilled right now, much more thrilled than the house-elf standing on the trash bin next to him watching the battle ... Huh, where did that house-elf come from?


    Did a certain wizard bring it from their home? Harry thought dumbly.


    --------------


    #Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 610+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat. S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 546: The Last Horcrux (2 in 1)

    The eyes of the surrounding wizards burst with intense hope at the sight of the old man with the white beard who had suddenly stepped out, and they murmured in unison, "Dumbledore." The voices of thousands of people mingled together like a muffled thunderclap that exploded in Voldemort''s ears. He jerked back, "Dumbledore?"


    At that moment, an invisible blade sliced towards Voldemort, the air was sliced and the Serpent made of Fiendfyre split in two from the middle.


    Voldemort turned his head and raised his snakewood wand, and from its tip a lush, tangled mass of snakewood tree branches twisted around each other to form a sharp spear of incredible length, cutting straight through the bright white flames and sending sparks straight at Felix.


    Felix flickered through the air like a fish and reappeared on the ground. He held a short sword in his hand - the ebony wand morphed into it, the front end of which featured a transparent blade extended by magic - and a Severing Charm flew swiftly towards Voldemort, shredding the snake-like branches.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore?" Felix paused and showed a puzzled expression as well.


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly and walked calmly towards Voldemort, "You are destined to be disappointed today, Tom."


    Voldemort returned a cold smile, "Dumbledore, you are talking down to me again without knowing what I have done and gained?" He took two steps back to keep Dumbledore and Felix in his field of vision at the same time and smiled crookedly, "Two against one?"


    Felix waved his hand at him, "I''ll take a break." He narrowed his silvery grey eyes and walked away.


    Voldemort turned his attention to Dumbledore and raised his hand to release a deadly green light, and Dumbledore flicked his wrist as the stone on the ground turned into a golden shield, there was a loud bang in the air and the killing curse was deflected.


    "Transfiguration." Voldemort said in disgust.


    Bondi, the house-elf within the crowd, nodded its head dramatically, "Nasty magic." Draco Malfoy glanced at it, only to be met with a pair of intimidating eyes that he subconsciously avoided it, then became annoyed at himself for flinching.


    But the house-elf was completely unconcerned and just stared at the battlefield, as it whispered, "I hate Transfiguration, like candy."


    "Of course, I know what you''ve done, Tom. You had just committed a terrible murder and another innocent life was lost because of you." Dumbledore said, taking a step closer to Voldemort. The Phoenix Fawkes which hovered above his head, chirped softly.


    "You know that? Then you should know exactly whose wand I''m holding right now, and you''re no longer my match, Dumbledore. Try this!"


    Voldemort raised his snakewood wand and leaned back slightly, his magic pouring into it with unrestrained vigour as he and the wand simultaneously emitted a haunting hissing sound, as if thousands of snakes are hissing, and the surrounding air twisted grotesquely with light and darkness.


    "Parseltongue!" Harry shouted out nervously from the crowd.


    "What did he say?" Ron shouted, covering his ears. The wizards gathered around either mirrored him or fought it off with a Quietening Charm or Shield Charm, but the sickening, vomit-inducing feeling lingered in their stomachs like a worm.


    Fawkes flew over and let out a sharp chirp, singing a song. Then the discomfort disappeared.


    People looked up one by one -


    "Avada Kedavra! (Parseltongue)" the evil hoarse voice continued to vibrate through the air as countless solid strings sprang out of the snakewood wand with great speed, as the green light around them converged into a cloud emanating an unearthly aura and poured down in Dumbledore''s direction.


    Dumbledore paused as the ground rippled beneath his feet, an earthquake tumbled the ground around him, forming constantly rising clumps in the centre that resembled a fast-growing ancient tree. Powerful vines then extended from the top of the ancient tree and lashed out in unison toward Voldemort.


    The vines and green cloud swept away everything in their path, and Felix''s heart sank as he created an invincible barrier around the crowd.


    The earth vines broke into large parts, and crashed from hundreds of feet above, shattering like old crumbling pillars, but the thing about Transfiguration is that it can be sustained as long as the magic keeps up, and the shattered pillars started to reassembled under Dumbledore''s control.


    Voldemort had difficulty holding out the curse, so he paused and disappeared from his original position.


    "Bang, bang, bang, bang!" The continuous attack of countless earth vines shattered the remaining twisted strings and green clouds completely.


    Dumbledore gasped slightly, as the wrinkles on his forehead eerily started to smooth out, and he instantly looked several years younger. The scene fell silent and Voldemort looked at Dumbledore in disbelief, he had tried to overestimate this old man as much as he can, but once again the strength Dumbledore had shown shattered his perceptions.


    Could it be that he didn''t use his full strength a decade ago?


    Voldemort felt a strong sense of humiliation, and with it, a sense of fear rose. But immediately afterward, his gaze froze, "Your hand!"


    Dumbledore looked at him with a calm gaze, a few more wrinkles disappearing from his forehead, a change that became more obvious, even to Harry and the crowd. "How did Headmaster Dumbledore''s face become younger ..." Ron muttered in a small voice. Harry''s heart elevated, he intuitively believed this is not normal.


    Hermione''s eyes went wide, and she drew in a short audible breath.


    Felix also felt shocked that Dumbledore''s magic had permanently altered a large terrain, such a powerful transfiguration ... but he suddenly remembered about the ''special method'' Dumbledore had mentioned earlier, the one he had many times used to defeat Voldemort.


    He gazed at the smoothened wrinkles on Dumbledore''s face and wondered what it would cost.


    Voldemort didn''t notice these subtle changes, his full attention fixed on Dumbledore''s dry, charred hand, or to be precise, on the inconspicuous black jewelled ring on his hand.


    His face instantly contorted with anger.


    "Tom, you are too arrogant to believe that no one can find out your secret." Dumbledore said calmly, waving the Elder Wand as the earth suddenly sunk downwards and Voldemort got sucked in by a powerful suction, but he still stared intently at the ring in Dumbledore''s hand before he disappeared, his snake-like pupils trembling in disbelief.


    The Horcrux, his Horcrux.


    Dumbledore had found it! He then turned his head to look at Felix, who had a solemn look on his face.


    In the next second, Voldemort was pulled into the vortex.


    For a split second, the battle seemed like it was over. Everyone remained silent for a few seconds -


    "He''s dead?" A wizard asked with a shudder.


    "No." A voice said without thinking. The nearby wizards stared in unison at the person who had spoken, it was Harry, who is now clutching his forehead with a pained expression.


    Voldemort''s mood swings are too violent for him to turn a blind eye to. A picture appeared in Harry''s mind that showed Voldemort of different ages, all of them shared the common trait of committing appalling murders without a moment''s hesitation for a ritual ...


    Then the scene abruptly changed: a Voldemort with blurred, wax-like features handed a diary to a young blond man, who took it obediently.


    Voldemort, who had failed his job interview for the professor position, appeared in the Room of Requirement and placed a diadem on a mountain of rubbish with a smug smile on his face.


    A pale hand dropped a black jewel ring in an old abandoned shack.


    The Slytherin locket was thrown into a glowing green liquid.


    A baby hand stroking a huge python, as a cold voice called it " Nagini ... ".


    And the sight of a familiar woman, excitedly holding up a golden cup, the reflection of her in his pupils confirmed that this scene had happened not so long ago ...


    Dumbledore struggled to control the magic. The earth continued to crumble, thorn after thorn pricked out of the ground, and a chilling muffled sound came from the tightening vortex, followed by the reappearance of Voldemort, looking slightly ragged, with a dozen cuts on his face.


    The snakewood wand in his hand emitted a soft chant as a glowing green light spread from his pale hand and covered his entire body, as every cut and wounds on his body and face were smoothed out. He stared at Dumbledore, a hissing sound escaping his lips as the sensation everyone had felt earlier returned, the snakewood wand twitched as if thousands of snakes echoed him.


    "a-VAH-dah ke-DAH-vraaisss..."


    "Headmaster Dumbledore, Watch out! He is going to curse using the Parseltongue-"


    "Keep quiet, Harry!" Dumbledore blurted out.


    In the next second, Voldemort suddenly disappeared and Harry found himself firmly trapped in a circle entangled by a monster with red eyes.


    The monster looked like some kind of slimy glue or a parasite, and it entangled with him so tightly that Harry didn''t know which is his body and which is the monster''s. Harry got trapped inside, falling deeper and deeper into the swamp-like body, just like Voldemort had fallen before, but unlike Voldemort, he didn''t have the ability to escape on his own. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The scar on his forehead ached with greater intensity than ever before and Harry felt like he would die anytime soon, which is fine, at least it would bring him a relief from this pain. Everything is out of his control, the monster tried to speak, using his own mouth, so Harry felt his mouth opening and closing in excruciating pain.


    The people outside got taken aback, "Invisible? Or did he use the apparition to escape?" The Ministry of Magic''s Aurors and Hit Wizards looked around, when Harry suddenly fell to the ground, as his body twisted stiffly, his neck raised like a snake, his pupils somehow turning into the vertical eyes of a snake.


    "Harry?" Sirius called out.


    "Can you kill me now, Dumbledore?" From Harry''s mouth came a hoarse voice that sounded almost identical to Voldemort''s.


    The onlookers backed away in panic.


    "What''s going on, that boy ..."


    "What''s wrong with him?"


    "No, that voice--"


    People subconsciously formed a circle around Harry, and Dumbledore leaned down to meet Harry''s snake-like eyes as he said sharply, "Harry, pull yourself together and never forget who you are!"


    "Who am I?" ''Harry''s'' eyes turned blood-red abruptly as a hissing sound escaped his mouth, "I am, of course, the greatest Dark Lord in the history-"


    "Oh my God! The boy is possessed!"


    Dumbledore took Harry by the shoulders and said in a deep voice, "You''re Harry Potter, the son of James and Lily, think of them Harry, they would be proud of you if they are still alive! And remember all those friends you made at school, Harry! Remember who you are!"


    Harry found himself trapped in endless darkness, his consciousness blurred from the pain, and he felt himself constantly falling down ... Then he heard a blurred voice, it was Dumbledore, he was calling his name.


    What''s my name again?


    Harry''s memory blurred little by little as he sank into the darkness, is he Tom Riddle, or is he Harry Potter?


    "Harry, snap out of it!" Hermione said anxiously, "Think about Sirius, think about Remus, think about Hagrid ..." She recited one name after another, all of the people Harry knew best, and in the endless darkness, Harry''s consciousness cleared a bit.


    "I am Harry Potter." Harry muttered to himself, as he stared up at the red-eyed monster that had a death grip on him, "and you''re Voldemort."


    Outside, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Sirius, and Dumbledore tightly surrounded Harry, calling out his name over and over again. Amelia Bones looked worried, but then she turned her head and shouted, "All Aurors, isolate the perimeter and stay alert, healers take your positions."


    Bondi, the house-elf, watched the scene, as he appeared a little too calm compared to the panicking crowd, "It''s kinda scary ..." when a figure suddenly stumbled and leaned towards him, Bondi looked up indifferently and found it is the same young man that had wrapped himself tightly before, with only half a sharp, thin chin showing.


    "A student?" He muttered, as he snapped his fingers, and disappeared from that place.


    Draco Malfoy fell to the ground, as he was pushed and shoved by the crowd, and saw Harry''s face, contorted by pain, through the messy gap between the legs. He climbed to his feet in complete shock, unable to imagine what kind of pain a person his own age is suffering.


    He saw Harry''s mouth widen and his eyes turn back to emerald green again.


    "Get out of my head, Voldemort!"


    Harry''s roar carried far and wide, his fist slammed into the ground and the ground shuddered strangely as small stones jumped up from the ground.


    "Hiss ... I''m you, Harry Potter is the name we share ..."


    "No - not at all -" Harry said through clenched teeth, fighting a little bit to break free from the red-eyed monster''s arms.


    "Get - out - of - my - head -"


    He hammered his fist into the ground, his arm slamming into the ground with a loud thud like a drum, the sound seemed to hit people in the heart.


    "Oh my God, look at that boy, what is he going throu-"


    "Unbelievable!"


    "Who is he?"


    "It''s working, keep waking Harry up, it''s a battle of wills." Felix stood at the back of the group, his eyes changing colour like a torch, with astral rings circling around his pupils, and silvery grey wisps gathered at his fingertips.


    Ron, Hermione, and Neville shouted eagerly which echoed through Harry''s mind as each of the words filled with intense emotions-


    "I''m Neville, Neville Longbottom, Harry, you taught me magic, remember?"


    "Think of Ginny, Harry! Don''t you want to see her again?" Hermione called out.


    "We flew halfway across England in a car together Harr-" Ron suddenly froze and stared at Harry with disbelief, losing his words, "Merlin''s socks, ah, you and Ginny? When was that happened?"


    Eventually, a black mist rushed out of Harry, Felix reached to grab it, but he grasped it in vain, then he threw a ball of silvery wisps at it, as a scream came from the black mist, and it floated far up in the air, where it reverted into Voldemort''s body.


    His snake-like face looked like a grotesque mask, holding too many emotions at once, joy, anger, sadness, and happiness ...


    He gave Felix a vicious glare and disappeared without a warning.


    Unfazed by Voldemort''s vicious glare, Felix continued to ponder silently, ''It seems to have some effect, but it''s not that obvious ... Did I choose the wrong emotion? What could it be correct then? A Horcrux ... complete soul ... killing ... incomplete soul ... repentance? Repentance!"


    He had originally wanted to try to see if emotions could have an effect on Voldemort''s soul like state, and if they worked, he could research them in a more targeted way. But now, he suddenly got a new train of thought.


    The Horcrux is a way of splitting the soul and gaining immortality by doing so. Of course, There''s a cost, like the intense suffering and pain caused during soul splitting, becoming less and less human, insanity as the split increase, and the ensuing problems caused by soul instability. Harry became a Half-Horcrux because of Voldemort''s soul instability - when Voldemort was hit by a rebounded killing curse in the Potter''s house in Godric''s Hollow, a fragment of Voldemort''s soul was blasted away and attached to the only living soul in the collapsed house for survival.


    And Voldemort didn''t even notice the missing soul fragment after that.


    Of course, it''s not impossible to make one''s soul whole again after creating the Horcrux, Felix thought. According to the notes in the Advanced Dark Magic Uncovered book, "true repentance" would allow the split soul to return to its original source if it remained intact, but the pain that would follow would be devastating.


    Presumably, Voldemort had no intention of trying this. But even if he didn''t want to, others could help.


    This can be accomplished by capturing Voldemort alive and leaving him defenceless. Then brainwash him at every opportunity to make him repent. ... But it is No easier than killing Voldemort''s main soul directly.


    Harry panted and shivered as he slumped on the freezing ground, then he found himself floating, lying on a stretcher, footsteps heard everywhere around him, and Harry tried to say something, followed by a spinning sensation in his head.


    He heard someone talking overhead, but he couldn''t tell who it is, it could be Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor Hap, or it could be Ron and Hermione. He opened his eyes and his vision became blurry. A hand reached towards him and placed his glasses on his ear, and the environment became clear all of a sudden.


    Dumbledore''s nose looked close at hand, and he could see the concern in his azure eyes as he looked up.


    "Are you all right, Harry?"


    "Quite well." Harry said, slightly embarrassed. "Drink it up, boy, it''ll make you feel better." Harry looked up, and it was Mr. Slughorn who spoke now, holding a thumb-sized vial in his hand and looking at him with very mixed emotion, his gaze tinged with a mixture of chagrin and admiration.


    "Thanks." Harry grunted and drank the potion.


    He found himself lying in a makeshift tent with a school crest printed on the wall, and he stared at it for several moments before realizing that it isn''t Hogwarts'' crest - despite the resemblance, it is the crest of Ilvermorny.


    Harry suddenly realized that this was Ilvermorny Headmaster''s tent. The thought that this headmaster had been killed by Voldemort gave him a heavy pang, and this increased his hatred for Voldemort who had done this. His consciousness became increasingly fuzzy and in a trance, a light flashed, and he suddenly remembered the memories of Voldemort he had seen earlier.


    Harry grabbed Dumbledore''s arm and stammered, "Crup - Beltriaxss."


    "What? Harry, what did you say?" Dumbledore lowered his head.


    "Bellatrix! He gave Bellatrix Lestrange a golden cup!" Harry shouted, then passed out completely.


    --------------


    #Pasang Sherpa, Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 612+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 547: Speculations

    Harry hadn''t slept that long in the makeshift tent before waking up from the noise outside, he fumbled around next to his pillow for his glasses, and put them on before sitting up from his bed. The tent is empty, with only Professor Hap sitting by the entrance, albeit looking a little distracted. "You''re awake, Harry." Felix said.


    "Professor? How long was I asleep?" Harry asked in a daze.


    "About an hour or so."


    "What about the others?"


    "They all had something to do, it''s a long day for some ... as if a lifetime passed," Felix said, still looking outside. He had the Book of Rune in his lap, but didn''t glance at it, "Don''t worry, Ron and the group were sent back to school."


    Harry was slightly relieved to hear that, and then a question came to his mind, "Where is Headmaster Dumbledore? He, I, Bellatrix-"


    "Oh, I know what you''re trying to ask, Dumbledore left for that very thing."


    "He went off to look for the Horcrux?" Harry asked hopefully.


    "That''s right, he thought of some clues and rushed off to confirm them." Felix glanced at Harry, who couldn''t hide the joy on his face, so he poured cold water over it, "Don''t be too optimistic, the odds of Dumbledore gaining something are very slim."


    "Why do you say that?" Harry asked, holding his breath.


    He knew one thing, something he, Ron, and Hermione had speculated privately combining what Sirius and Neville had said.


    Sirius had told him that the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix had secretly assigned people to monitor Death Eaters whose names had been revealed, but they had no solid evidence against them; while Neville had inadvertently mentioned that the Longbottoms had monitored the Malfoy Manor and had sighted Bellatrix.


    ''And then Longbottoms foiled the You-Know-Who'' plot and almost caught her!''


    Bellatrix, Harry mused that name.


    He knew that woman, had even seen her face many times on different occurrences- on wanted notices, in newspapers, and in Headmaster Dumbledore''s Pensieve near the end of the previous school year; Oh, he had also seen her old photographs in Black''s ancestral house before.


    It was hard for Harry to connect the young woman in the photo with the insane look she had during her trial inside the Pensieve.


    "Even if Voldemort had given Bellatrix Horcrux for safekeeping, there''s no way he''d be comfortable giving it to someone else after today; he''d definitely retrieve it. That was one of Dumbledore''s purposes, to scare the snake out of the grass."


    " So the Headmaster wore the ring to actively reveal that he knew about the Horcruxes?" Harry asked as he knew all the Horcruxes now. "Couldn''t we just quietly collect the Horcruxes and destroy them one by one?" He muttered unhappily.


    "It''s hard when you get to this point." Felix said, "If you see this from the perspective of both Dumbledore and Voldemort, you can understand it more easily. In the case of Dumbledore, he has two primary aims, first, he wants to keep Voldemort under considerable pressure so that he won''t start a full-scale war and keep it at a low intensity; in fact, there have been some conflicts before, but they were just that, the death rate was nothing compared to the war."


    "Secondly he wanted to identify the last Horcrux as soon as possible, and yes, we didn''t expect much, but thanks to you, it went off without a hitch too." Felix said with a tilt of his head in Harry''s direction, "But back then Dumbledore didn''t factor you in the plan."


    Or maybe he did consider it, Felix thought.


    Dumbledore''s thoughts should have been extremely conflicted; because both he and Felix knew one of the easiest ways to destroy the piece of Voldemort''s soul in Harry''s body, but neither of them had mentioned it, and looked for other solutions separately.


    But there was no way someone as wise as Dumbledore hadn''t considered the worst-case scenario, and the fact that he had been consciously grooming Harry, including the fact that he had allowed him to stay and watch the battle today, could have been a reflection of that conflicting thought.


    "Both of those aims have already met with challenges." Harry mused as he looked down, "Voldemort has gained the snakewood wand and gained more strength, so even if he doesn''t show up today, there will be other plots. And the Horcrux ... Horcrux investigation has reached a deadlock?"


    "Before? Yes." Felix said.


    " Well, is it possible that Voldemort would just throw the last Horcrux somewhere," Harry asked sharply, as he tried to find the flaw in the plan, "in case he threw it into the ocean or buried it in the earth ..."


    " Not possible." Felix said curtly.


    "Why-"


    "Because of you." Felix gave Harry a deep look, "Voldemort didn''t know about your connection in the past, but you don''t honestly believe that he didn''t notice anything after he possessed you, right?"


    Harry''s expression went blank for a moment.


    "He knew? Knew I could look into his mind?"


    Certainly, Felix thought. The only thing that is unclear is how much Voldemort knows; Voldemort might even know Harry''s Horcrux identity, the odds are somewhere in the middle. But one thing is certain, he must have noticed the connection between him and Harry.


    Some things could never be hidden if they were seriously investigated, like Harry''s scar and Parseltongue, both of which are not exactly a secret at school.


    And as the sole, no, the only two people who are still alive after being hit by the killing curse, it''s hard to figure out what kind of connection they have, not to mention the protection magic Harry''s mother had cast. It made things even more complicated.


    Voldemort might not necessarily be able to make the connection with the Horcrux, as he had never actively split his soul.


    But it would be extremely unwise to let the Horcrux out of his sight without knowing exactly how strong the connection is, in case Harry could track the Horcrux, which is highly unlikely, but for Voldemort, it would be a huge risk.


    For Voldemort, who is left with only one Horcrux, who is on edge, and who had just suffered a major defeat, would he dare to gamble?


    So it is not an exaggeration to say that Harry is Voldemort''s nemesis.


    Silence fell over the tent.


    After an unknown period of time, Dumbledore''s figure appeared in the tent when both Harry and Felix looked up at the same time, Dumbledore looked exhausted and Harry noticed his wrinkles have returned and, he didn''t know whether it was an illusion or not, there are more wrinkles on his face than before.


    Dumbledore shook his head silently and Harry''s heart sank.


    "Harry, I''m taking you back to school." Dumbledore said.


    "What about Professor Hap?" Harry asked as he stood up.


    "He has his own things to do." Dumbledore said briefly, Harry was unsure, if ''this thing'' referred to sitting in his chair at the entrance to the tent and chilling out? But before he could ask, Dumbledore took Harry by the shoulders and Harry spoke with a stutter as he struggled for a moment. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I-I''m sorry ... I got you all in trouble."


    "It''s not your fault." Dumbledore calmly said.


    "But I didn''t listen to you and brought Voldemort''s attention towards me." Harry blamed himself, "I should have figured you could handle it ... but I couldn''t hold back."


    He realized it was because of his impulsiveness that Voldemort had found out about their connection. It would probably be difficult to scoop information out of Voldemort''s mind in the future, and Voldemort would certainly defend against it with extra care ...


    To Harry''s surprise, Dumbledore smiled for the first time since he had appeared, and so did Professor Hap at the entrance.


    "Harry," Dumbledore said patiently, "of course I want you to become mature and prudent, but I would prefer if your growth didn''t come at the cost of losing all your shining points, like kindness, bravery, and righteousness ... which is something many people can''t possess in a lifetime. You have a clear conscience, Harry, and you don''t even know how much I envy you."


    He sighed softly and stroked the black jeweled ring on his hand.


    For a long time, neither of them spoke until Fawkes flew in from outside, circled low in the tent twice, and landed on Dumbledore''s shoulder. And with a burst of flame, they disappeared from the tent.


    Felix looked out leisurely, and wondered for a moment, Kindness, Righteousness, Bravery, and a Clear Conscience ... How many of these qualities does he possess?


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    There are 613+ chapters on P@treon, if you have some extra pocket money, Support me on P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 548: Influence

    Late at night, when the Hogsmeade village became quiet, Felix suddenly moved. He rose from his chair and took a step out, and appeared on a huge rock high in the mountain behind Hogwarts, at night the mountains and the forest echoed with the howling of unknown beasts. Felix turned and looked at the large hollow space in the rock wall, there is already a man inside, he is wearing a hood and blended with the darkness.


    The wizard lifted the hood to reveal the pale, lean face of Lucius Malfoy.


    Felix watched Malfoy''s expression carefully, and after a short while, he asked softly, "Voldemort lost his temper?"


    "Got hit by a few Cruciatus Curses." Lucius tried his best to sound unconcerned, " It was the best possible outcome, I barely managed to hold myself from blowing my cover. That would have been the end of everything."


    "What excuse did you use to fool him?" Felix asked curiously, "To be honest, you turned out to be much tougher than I thought. A full ten hours have passed since I delivered the message to you. I''ve been waiting for you to summon me to your rescue or to receive your request to move your family."


    Lucius Malfoy gave him a sharp look.


    "I knew that diary is very important to him and when he handed it to me, he instructed me to keep it safe and wait for him to give a word before acting as he ordered ... tonight I told him that I remained loyal to him and three years ago I received an information about his suspectable return in Hogwarts, but he never showed up, so I bit the bullet and sent the diary to Hogwarts, hoping that the news of the Chamber of Secrets being opened would draw his attention ..."


    Felix speculated on Voldemort''s psychology.


    At that time, Voldemort had already made several Horcruxes and did not think too highly of the diary, he actually saw it more as a weapon than the Horcrux with a life preservation function.


    So judging from what Lucius has revealed, this would be one of his unfulfilled plans. Perhaps Voldemort wanted to use the diary to open the chamber, kill a few students and take down Dumbledore from his Headmaster position, thus allowing him to infiltrate the ancient wizarding school.


    The task was most appropriate to hand it to Lucius Malfoy, who was a school board member of Hogwarts at that time, but the timing had to be subtle enough, so Voldemort handed the diary to Malfoy and told him to go home and wait for news in peace. Then ... er, it didn''t take long for Voldemort to die without peace.


    "Voldemort summoned you alone?"


    "Yes ..."


    " Did he also summon Bellatrix?"


    Lucius was taken aback, " Yes that''s right, we were called in no particular order." After a few moments of reflection, he said, "I didn''t realize the anomaly until you mentioned it, because he has always been secretive in his movements these days, summoning us individually. It is rare to have other people present ..."


    Felix nodded, "You would be first, Bellatrix second, and after that ... it looks like Voldemort will be busy tonight, and of course, his temper will grow even worse ... Lucius? "


    Lucius looked at him.


    "If Voldemort suddenly summons you again in the next couple of days, grab your bags and run. But if he tolerates further, it''s fine to stay on."


    "Why?"


    "Because I can''t guarantee he won''t vent his anger on you." Felix said in a spooky voice.


    In the next two days, some of the wizards who had attended the ancient rune exchange left early. Most of them were tourists who had simply come to see the birth and development of a new discipline, but the events that took place at the venue were simply too much for them to handle, and they chose to leave with their hearts in their throats.


    When the Ministry of Magic re-registered the participants, there were about two hundred tents left vacant.


    But many more people chose to stay.


    These people simply assumed that they had seen a thrilling battle as an extra for free. To be honest, they had actually long-anticipated Dumbledore''s strength - after all, there is more than half a century of fame stacked up. From the looks of the scene, Dumbledore lived up to his title " The Greatest White Wizard".


    The surprise was Felix Hap.


    He had already been well-known in many countries, but of course, people knew him for different reasons. Some knew him through the books he wrote, some through Future World, and some knew Felix''s name because they had experienced the Quidditch World Cup final camp riots personally.


    But if they were asked to give him a precise identification, they would be at a loss for words. Is he a Muggle researcher? A brilliant businessman? A professor of ancient runes? Or an expert in memory healing? Probably they would argue among themselves.


    Only when this Ancient Rune Exchange was over did wizards around the world gain a unified view about the person named Felix Hap: he is a Legendary Warlock who stands on the same level as Dumbledore.


    When the journalists who attended the event sent the news back to their countries, everyone was stunned, and a steady stream of people came over afterward, trying to gather first-hand information.


    Historians, Ministry of Magic officials, Journalists from newspapers and magazines, Members of the Dark Force Defence League and the Alchemy Society applied for entry and then rushed to Hogsmeade, eager to see and photograph the scorched earth outside the village, then listen to Felix Hap himself explaining his understanding of the runes, and interview random people at their leisure to learn about the two thrilling battles from those who had witnessed them.


    And long before that, the newspapers in the British wizarding community first had exploded.


    The journalists and photographers who had rushed over on the first day were incredibly busy, each with ten articles to catch up on at the same time, in addition to developing photographs. Once again, Rita Skeeter showed an extremely professional ability to make up nonsense, with a vividly graphic article that only took her about ten minutes to write, without losing her usual style of writing, which increasingly moved in the direction of sensationalism.


    The new editor-in-chief of the Daily Prophet was left with a headache.


    " Look, ''the three men who stand at the top of the world'' - how can they include Voldemort?" In the library, Hermione read the title of the article with a disgusted look on her face.


    "In a way, she''s right." Ron said with an odd expression, "I remember another article titled - ''The Power of Love Awakens The Boy Who Lived'', sheesh."


    Harry turned his head in embarrassment, he didn''t know how to explain his relationship with Ginny to Ron, he can''t say they are close, as they haven''t spoken much since the start of the school year except at the Frontline Lookout Club, but he can''t also say they are far ... Harry''s heart raced as he remembered that kiss in the underground training room at Black''s ancestral house once again.


    "Is Mafalda pestering you again?" Ron asked.


    "What?" Harry followed the direction of his eyes and was surprised to find Mafalda, hiding behind a thick stack of books, looking like a replica of Hermione in her first year, but Harry could guarantee that Hermione only shared her in her desire to win at schoolwork, and in other areas - such as her sickly snooping and vindictiveness - Mafalda would be superior.


    "Another Rita Skeeter." Ron said.


    "You said she would be another Gilderoy Lockhart a while back." Hermione threw a jab at him.


    "Is there a difference between the two of them?" Ron muttered.


    At that moment, Harry saw Draco Malfoy come into the library looking weak, sitting alone at a table and looking dazed.


    "What''s wrong with him?" Harry asked, he hadn''t seen Malfoy for the past two days.


    " I suppose he is sick, I saw him when Lee Jordan went to the hospital wing to stop his nosebleed." Ron said vaguely and Harry instantly understood that Lee Jordan must have tried out the Skiving Snackbox that Fred and George had developed, he remembered one of the candies being named as Nosebleed Nougat.


    Ron at this point seemed to have forgotten about Harry''s love case as he came over and whispered in a hushed tone, " It is probably to cover up the fact that he had left the school," he gave a meaningful look, "Professor Hap forced us to swear not to tell anyone that he was there, or he would use magic to seal our lips."


    "The Professor didn''t say that!" Hermione yelled in annoyance.


    "Well, I assumed," Ron shrugged, "he had a pretty serious look on his face at the time anyway."


    This time Hermione didn''t retort.


    Harry looked at the distraught Draco with mixed emotions. He had kept his agreement and didn''t tell Ron and Hermione the truth about the Diary Horcrux, which made Harry feel that his relationship with Malfoy had changed subtly, whether it''s for the better or the worse Harry couldn''t say, but it seemed that Malfoy had once again gone invisible on important matters.


    Once when he had voluntarily handed in his diary Horcrux; once when he had personally visited the Hogsmeade battlefield.


    Both times it involved Professor Hap ...


    Draco looked up from the table, revealing two distinct dark circles under his eyes, and turned his head away quickly when his eyes met with Harry. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 549: Halloween

    On the other side, Felix is also sitting on the sofa in his office looking through the newspapers of the past few days. The articles gave him a sense of time and space dislocation. The first page shows Amelia Bones being questioned by journalists and announcing the end of the Ancient Runes exchange, where Felix wasn''t present, still, the journalists made sure to use his picture alongside it, so you could see him going to the next building in the picture to check out...


    The other page, for example, showed the remains of the battle outside the Hogsmeade village: the earth had been ploughed up and cut into pieces, like a poorly regulated field, and there were also mounds of earth, charred stones, large pitch-black holes, and deep pits.


    Felix wondered why they didn''t bother to fill in the holes and pits.


    At that moment Valen jumped onto the small square table with a twist and held out her tiny finger to point at him in a condescending manner.


    "Kee!"


    "You want to duel me?" Felix looked at Valen with amusement.


    Valen nodded seriously.


    She pulled out a wand from her small pocket and Felix looked at her with a surprise for a few seconds before realizing that thing wasn''t really a wand but an alchemical item.


    Valen waved it with a great swagger and the wooden stick in her hand made a swishing sound, followed by a whirlwind that swept through the room and lifted Felix off the couch.


    Felix sat cross-legged on the whirlwind, "Huh? Kind of interesting, an improved piece of work by Fred and George from the ''fake wand''?"


    Valen stood with her neck held high, no, Valen cast the spell herself!


    Felix hovered over the couch, reached out and picked her up by the back of her neck, and shook her hard, and she hastily covered her little pocket, as the fake wand fell from her hand into Felix''s.


    "Let''s alter it," Felix took it and looked at it for a while with sudden interest, he had been occupied lately with changing the magical creatures'' magical gifts into runes and rune sequences for ancient magic, followed by the interaction with the representatives of various countries, and now it seemed to be time for him to relax his mind.


    "I suddenly realized that some of Miss Granger''s ideas are very suitable for use here, the magic frequency ... is another treasure."


    Magical creatures also have magic in them, otherwise, they wouldn''t be able to use their magical gifts. But Niffler is rather a weak creature compared to others, with nothing too exaggerated or bizarre about their abilities, other than a keen sense of smell and a knack for burrowing and treasure hunting; Oh, they also have a small spatial pocket to store their treasures.


    But the fact that they do have magic in them is enough.


    "I need to test the frequency of your magic to create an exclusive wand for you ... What kind of magic do you want to add?" Felix turned his head to look at Valen.


    Her eyes gradually glowed.


    "Kee!!!"


    That night she got her new baby(treasure) with glee and after a few tries it worked surprisingly well, and Valen loved it so much that she even cuddled it in her arms when she slept. She can''t wait to go out tomorrow to show it off, from now on she is not just a travelling merchant Valen, she is also a Niffler Wizard.


    She no longer can be hugged by anyone as they wish.


    Muhahaha!


    The next day, Halloween finally came.


    Harry walked into the great hall and was surprised to see a tall, burly figure at the entrance.


    Hagrid is back.


    Harry ran over excitedly; Hagrid had several bruises all over his face, but thankfully no new wounds. That seemed to indicate that Grawp had made good progress with his studies, I wonder how he''s progressing compared to Valen? Harry couldn''t help but think.


    "Thank goodness, Hagrid, are you finally going to come out and meet with people?" Harry asked enthusiastically.


    "Shhh, keep your voice down." Hagrid bent down timidly and tried to hide, but he simply couldn''t, as he looks too conspicuous, and it made his behaviour look a little comical. "I''ve just come back to school, ok? Before there was something ..."


    "Anyway, you finally remembered to show up to teach our class." Harry said.


    "Yeah, I think it''s a perfect opportunity." Hagrid scratched his chin and smiled back.


    "What''s that?" Harry noticed a large wooden box placed next to Hagrid''s feet.


    Hagrid was about to open his mouth to explain when Luna and Ginny walked in together, so he hurriedly changed his words, "Oh, you mean this... it''s a toolbox."


    "Hi Hagrid," Luna greeted warmly, "Are you finally planning on coming back to class?"


    Harry poofed out a laugh as Luna asked the same question that he had just asked.


    Looking a little flustered, Hagrid brought up his previous excuse and said it again, "I just got back to school, I took a leave of absence for something earlier."


    "Firenze said-"


    "He was mistaken." Hagrid said without thinking.


    "Oh," Luna didn''t press the issue, as if she''d accepted the reason, and voluntarily changed the subject, "You''d better check out the Forbidden Forest, Thestrals got themselves a king."


    "Really?" Hagrid stared at her, looking doubtful. S~?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Luna nodded solemnly.


    "Then I''ll ask Uwu," Hagrid said half-heartedly, "if any strange Thestral has come to settle in the Forbidden Forest, I need to know if it''s aggressive ..."


    "Is Uwu the liveliest one? The one with the brightest eyes?" Luna asked cheerfully, "I call it Woo-woo, that sounds similar."


    "I''ll go in first, Hagrid." Harry said, glancing at Ginny who smiled at him, he hurriedly slipped into the great hall and walked a dozen steps to see Hagrid and Luna still chattering passionately.


    The Halloween dinner had begun.


    Harry saw Hagrid sitting next to Professor Hap, the fork in his hand swishing back and forth over the dinner cloth tied to his chest as he spoke as if twirling an embroidery needle for sewing. Then Hagrid picked up a plate of fried fish, glanced around like a thief, and tucked it under the table.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron asked vaguely as he took a bite off half a sausage.


    "I probably know exactly what is inside the box that Hagrid brought along." Harry said, thinking it must be the giant Grawp.


    "Look at that, they''re beautiful." Hagrid said gruffly, pointing to the bats on the ceiling that were used as decoration, "Reminds me of Thestrals, their wings are practically identical, I mean, just in shape ..."


    "Oh, it''s really amazing." Felix said.


    He held out his hand and pointed toward a huge roasted pumpkin on the table, which quickly shrank to the size of a small lantern.


    "You can take it back." He said with a wink.


    "Oh, uh, thanks." Hagrid said, as he leaned over and explained in a low voice, "Little Grawp will like it."


    "Who''s little Grawp?" Professor Flitwick interjected and asked, the fork in his hand seemed to be under a spell, not only its length far exceeding normal standards, but the other end had taken the shape of a hook, pulling the plate over at the far end.


    Hagrid looked envious as he spoke vaguely, "I know it from the Forbidden Forest. Need a hand?"


    "What?" Flitwick asked.


    Hagrid snatched the fork from his hand and hooked all the food around him to the side as Professor Flitwick shouted agitatedly, "That''s enough." Hagrid took a few more before stopping, as he muttered, "It''s okay, I can help you eat."


    Felix looked around the professor''s table, Snape remained silent as always, not engaging in conversation with his colleagues, Felix could guess that he might not be having a very good time these days and wondered if Voldemort had summoned him privately.


    Professor McGonagall and Sirius were discussing something in whispers.


    "Oh no, Probation is the least possible punishment." Professor McGonagall said with a serious expression as she put down her fork.


    Finally, Felix set his eyes on the middle seat, the seat that belonged to Dumbledore.


    But it is now empty.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 550: The First Duel (2 in 1)

    Towards the end of the dinner, the students who were well-fed and contented started to noisily murmur in the great hall. An uneasy restlessness filled the air as more and more people realized the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore is not present tonight, and they all darted their eyes toward the professor''s table and debated it with each other.


    Felix watched the scene in silence as Professor Flitwick''s shrill voice reached his ears from two seats away.


    "Minerva, did Headmaster Dumbledore got caught up with something?"


    "I''m not sure," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips tightly, her hands folded together as she looked torn. She looked around the great hall at the gesturing students and suddenly stood up.


    "Students-"


    Her voice travelled far and wide, and the great hall gradually fell silent. Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and was about to open her mouth to explain when there was a sudden creaking sound heard from the direction of the entrance to the great hall.


    Professor McGonagall was relieved that Dumbledore had shown up.


    He stood in the doorway of the great hall with the dimly lit entrance hall behind him, and his silvery-white hair and beard glowed in the light of the pumpkin lamps.


    The uneasy atmosphere that had built up in the surroundings vanished at once.


    With a smile on his face, Dumbledore strides through the gap between the great hall tables, and students once again started to chatter eagerly, only this time the mood in the atmosphere is relaxed and jovial. Dumbledore made his way to the armchair in the middle that belonged to him, and Harry was keenly aware that he had once again worn those white gloves and that black jewelled ring must have been put away.


    "The colour of his beard is back to normal." Hermione whispered.


    Harry was simply focused on staring at the conspicuous purple robe and white gloves on Dumbledore, guessing if the hands inside the gloves are intact, without paying any attention to the beard, "What did you say?" He asked subconsciously.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore''s beard colour was quite different when he was fighting." Hermione whispered, stretching her neck as she glanced at the beard, " But now it''s back to normal."


    "There is such a thing?" Ron poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and patted his well-stuffed stomach contentedly.


    "I noticed that too," Neville whispered. "The headmaster''s beard turned some shades darker during the fight, an iron-grey colour, kind of like, like ..."


    "The owner of the Hog''s Head Inn!"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione brought their eyes back from the professor''s table and looked at Neville, who nodded at them with a serious look on his face.


    "It could be a secret magic." Ron said with a confident look.


    "I really hope so," Hermione said, "but I haven''t read anything like that in any of the books ... ugh unless the Headmaster had used an advanced human transfiguration."


    "It''s definitely the case." Ron said with conviction.


    "But why would Headmaster Dumbledore do that?" Harry asked in confusion, one of the important lessons he had learned in the Dueling Club was not to make extra moves while fighting. He looked over at the professor''s table again.


    Dumbledore didn''t sit down directly, he stood in front of his chair and looked out at the students in the great hall as the voices subsided once more and people looked at him with rapt attention.


    "Ah, forgive me, there were too many newspapers that have mentioned my name recently, and I was planning to cut out all the parts that mentioned my name," Dumbledore said with a wink, "and owls from all over the world have stuffed my office, and those little guys have always had a thing for things that move, and I had to gather up the silverware on my table ... I only abruptly realized that the dinner party had begun when I was done with everything."


    "I hope you can understand that for an old man, time can be both the most precious and the most negligible thing at the same time. I have experienced this particularly well when playing the ten-pin bowling game ..."


    He sat down, without eating anything, as he looked around the great hall with a smile on his face. After another ten minutes or so, the dinner ended when the last round of desserts disappeared from the table.


    The students stood up sparingly. They moved sluggishly and lazily towards the door, like a group of sloths heading out for food. The professors stood up as well, "Severus." Dumbledore politely called out, "Can I have your company for a moment? I have something to discuss with you."


    The two men left in a pair.


    When everyone else was almost gone, Hagrid also pulled his wooden box out from under the table, and greeted Felix and Sirius, as he quickly slipped away.


    "Everyone''s acting weird." Sirius muttered.


    "Are you alright?" Felix asked.


    "Fine," Sirius said vaguely, "It''s just a punishment ... I don''t care, I''m used to it."


    A muffled, distant voice drifted up from behind them.


    "I''m sure I couldn''t bear it if I was on probation - that would be too humiliating."


    Sirius glared at Trelawney, "Sorry? I don''t think I''ve seen you before, are you also a professor in the school?"


    As if she was greatly offended, Trelawney threw her shawl violently over her body and stomped away.


    "She is Sybill Trelawney, Professor of Divination, you have met her several times ..." Felix''s tone was elusive, in fact, he held mixed feelings about this Professor -- the both of the significant prophecies he knew that had been made by Trelawney were somewhat fulfilled.


    "I know," Sirius said without thinking, "I even helped Harry with his Divination class assignments, you know, coming up with ideas and stuff. Kids'' imaginations are kinda lacking these days ..."


    Gryffindor common room.


    Harry slumped drowsily in the soft armchair, glancing at the old clock at the entrance of the common room; it is barely nine o''clock. There is still time before he usually goes to bed, but he doesn''t want to do anything, Harry looks up at the ceiling of the common room, and his hand fumbles through the gaps between the seats to find a rolled-up newspaper.


    He picked it up and looked at it; the picture on it showed Dumbledore leaning down and grabbing him by the shoulders. He stared at himself lying on the floor twisting and squirming around like a snake, as he subconsciously stroked his scar.


    Ron sat on his butt next to him and the armchair shuddered twice as he stuck his head over to look at it, "Mate, you did look pretty scary back then."


    Harry didn''t say anything as he flipped to the page that reads "Getting to know Felix Hap again", another page that reads "The only man he is afraid of: the greatest of all white wizards, Dumbledore" and the fourth page that reads " The Dark Mark reappears again above the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"


    He sat up and read the article carefully.


    "After the conclusion of the thrilling duel, a lot of lagging news from abroad has reached our country. For example, the mighty wand that You-Know-Who had used during the battle has been firmly proven to be the snakewood wand of Salazar Slytherin, and this wand had been lying dormant in front of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for over three hundred years, and to be honest, it is quite surreal.


    It is suspected that the wand was brought to America by a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and used by the founder of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during her youth and buried by her in her later years.


    It can be concluded that the You-Know-Who had long coveted this wand, and after acquiring it he murdered the Headmaster of Ilvermorny, Professor Agilbert Fontaine, who had hurried there to stop him. Agilbert Fontaine, a descendant of the Theodard Fontaine one of the original twelve Aurors of the United States, had a good reputation during his tenure and led a delegation representing the Ilvermorny School in the first-ever Tournament of Champions of the Big Five School last year.


    The people of the United States of America expressed their anger and demanded that the murderer of Headmaster Fontaine should be captured and brought over.


    ...


    A new Headmaster has yet to be elected in Ilvermorny, and the only person who witnessed the death of Headmaster Fontaine at the time of the incident is a young Muggle professor, Jura Edmund, who was very lucky to survive from being killed.


    When questioned, Edmund had stated that ''the battle was over too swiftly, and despite Headmaster Fontaine''s persistent resistance, the opponent''s attacks were so evil and bizarre that all defences collapsed in a flash ...''


    As of today, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has not made any public statements, and there are rumours that they had sent Aurors to intercept the You-Know-Who which resulted in heavy losses. Headmaster Dumbledore and Ms. Bones have called for all wizards to unite against the You-Know-Who and his Death Eater force.


    This piece of information has not been confirmed."


    Harry put the paper down, and his heart felt heavy.


    Ron said optimistically, "Don''t worry, Hogwarts is the safest place in the whole world, so it''s safe to say the You-Know-Who would never dare to come over here."


    "You''re right." Harry said, as his mood improved a little.


    Ron glanced once more at Hermione, who had been writing and drawing on her note for a long while, and whispered, " There is nothing for us to worry about in school, so instead of worrying so much about this, we should be concerned about the trouble that is close at hand."


    "What kind of trouble?"


    "The Quidditch match is coming up, I asked Angelina about it and the first match is scheduled at the weekend, we are up against Slytherin. Professor McGonagall has purposely exempted our homework for this week, and we finished the assignments given by Snape in advance. Every team had booked the training ground to train this week a month in advance, Harry; everyone wants to win!"


    ...


    On the first weekend of November, Valen went out joyfully, draped in a small scarf, and swaggered the whole way.


    The ground in the yard was covered in a thin layer of snow, but it was nothing to her as Valen stamped out a trail of tiny footprints, looking around for a target.


    "Whoa! Look, it''s the little rich girl."


    A clamouring crowd gathered around.


    Valen nodded graciously and brushed aside a finger that tried to scratch her chin. She jumped over on the bench in the yard, and then the little wizards pulled out the ''treasures'' they had collected.


    "I found a glowing pebble near the black lake!" One boy said proudly.


    Valen shook her head as the others joined in as well.


    "Valen already has so many glowing stones, look at mine!" A little witch mysteriously pulled a small hat out of her pocket with little shiny round shards attached to it and Valen''s eyes lit up.


    "Kee!"


    She fished through her pocket and pulled out a few things: a set of thousand paper cranes that could fly, a ghost food, a small bottle of super bubble blowing liquid, and a feather quill that floated in the air. The little witch looked very hesitant.


    " Super Bubble Blowing Liquid is the best, pick that one!" A little witch next to her gave a tip.


    "What does this quill do?" The first little witch asked curiously.


    Valen picked up the quill and wrote a crooked word in the air, "This." The people around them gasped in surprise once again, "There is really a Niffler that can write!" Valen waved her hand in smug triumph at first, but as soon as she thought of the Great Demon King, she sheepishly wiped the word out of the air.


    "I''ll take that." Mafalda said as a gleam twinkled in her eyes.


    The first trade went off without a hitch, and Valen wore that small goose yellow hat along with her scarf with joy and happiness.


    "Hi Valen, do you need me to take your picture?" Colin Creevey, who was passing by, asked.


    Valen nodded repeatedly.


    Colin pulled the camera from his robe like a muggle magic trick and opened the lid when Valen called out. "What''s wrong?" Colin asked as he paused and Valen reached into her small pocket, as she pulled out a small wooden wand and struck a handsome pose.


    Then she nodded at Colin to show she was ready, and Colin took a picture of her.


    "I''ll send you the developed picture in a couple of days." He waved his hand as he walked away, "I''m going to the Quidditch field to watch the match, it''s been a year since the last one, and I can''t miss it."


    Valen''s eyes lit up, and she quickly completed the remaining few transactions, even the boy with the smooth pebbles got a card that would emit twelve kinds of laughter and left contentedly.


    Valen returned to the castle and made her way down the entrance hall by the stone steps at the front of the castle. She looked out at the distance Quidditch pitch in the distance with a little binocular made on her hand and began to worry that it is too far to walk.


    She wanted to go to the Quidditch pitch to watch the match, but it would be too tiring to walk there by herself, Valen stood at the edge of the steps glancing from side to side when she keenly heard a voice, "... Astoria, can you please stop your mischiefs..... "


    "What I have done wrong?" An indignant voice asked.


    "Professor Binns may be a ghost, but he''s also a professor at the school, you can''t just use ghost food to tease him in class ..."


    Astoria was just about to retort when she saw a Niffler suddenly rush in front of her, with arms spread wide to stop them.


    "It''s you, little one?"


    Astoria jumped happily in front of her and reached out to pet Niffler on the head, Valen jumped away agilely, as she angrily pulled out a small wooden wand and pointed it at her.


    "Oops, where did you get that wand?" Astoria asked with a look of surprise.


    Daphne also glanced at it carefully, "It doesn''t look like the one shown in the paper, so it''s not Professor Hap''s wand. It can''t be one of the students'', can it?"


    Valen shook her head repeatedly, and retrieved a quill from her pocket, scribbling a word crookedly in the air, "Mine." She then patted her chest.


    Astoria tried to tease her, "Even if it''s yours, can you use it?"


    Valen almost jumped up and down in excitement, this is the words she had been waiting for, she waved her hand at Astoria and struck a provocative gesture.


    The expression on Astoria''s face froze.


    "Is she challenging me to a duel?" She looked at her sister blankly and Daphne shrugged.


    Astoria turned back to find Valen constantly nodding her head, and kept giving her a look that said, yes, exactly what you think. She froze for a couple of seconds and then burst out laughing, as she winked at her sister Daphne.


    "Daphne, look at that, haha, so funny ..."


    Two seconds later, Astoria drew her wand in a serious manner and said, "Since you are the one who requested it, I can''t refuse ... snicker ... I forgot to tell you that I won the dueling tournament in my first year, and it was in my first term."


    Daphne covered her face not wanting to look at her childish sister, "Are you serious?"


    "Geez, I''ll be lenient then." Astoria said as she waved her hand and looked at Valen out of the corner of her eye as she finished, "Don''t say I am bullying you, I''ll let you make the first move."


    Valen spun around twice in place with her small hands behind her back, then raised her small wooden wand.


    A sharp whirlwind appeared out of nowhere and lifted Astoria up, and she was swept ten feet into the air, whirling with the whirlwind. Astoria stretched out her hands helplessly - and with a little bewilderment - but found herself unable to do anything. A few passers-by pointed and giggled at her, almost making her want to dig into the ground.


    To add insult to injury, Valen stood with Daphne throughout this process, sizing her up with interest as Daphne laughed her head off.


    It took nearly a minute of spinning in the air before the whirlwind that had entangled her subsided and Astoria landed on the ground with stars in her eyes and dizziness, unable to even stand up, "Valen!" She shouted in annoyance and lunged at Valen with her teeth and claws wide open, only to stumble after a few short steps and land on top of Daphne instead. s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Distressed, Astoria looked up from her sister''s arms to find Valen''s dark eyes staring hard at her, the little yellow hat and glowing shards on the top of it sparkled in the sunlight.


    Ten minutes later, Valen sat on Daphne''s shoulders and followed them to the Quidditch pitch.


    Astoria puffed out her cheeks the whole way.


    "Valen, how did you suddenly learn to use magic?" Daphne asked curiously.


    "Kee!"


    "Did Professor Hap help you?"


    Niffler shook her head.


    "Strange ... Now I think about it, I noticed your wand has a few little gems embedded in it? Is there some kind of secret within it?" Daphne spotted a hint of a clue.


    Valen''s body twitched, and she hurriedly hid her treasure wand inside her pocket. To make sure she will discern nothing further from it.


    The Quidditch pitch was packed up to the brim, the lack of tournaments for the whole school year had increased the interest and enthusiasm for the first match of this new school year, almost everyone who could come showed up, students braving the cold and chattered with excitement.


    Valen waved and bid farewell to the Greengrass sisters as he caught the scent of the Great Demon King.


    He jumped off Daphne''s shoulder and fished two small jars out of her pocket and handed it to them, well, as a fare for the ride.


    "Ghost food? I have a share too?" Astoria asked in surprise.


    Valen nodded her head cheerfully. After all, you''re the first person I''ve ever defeated, and a ''dueling champion'' at that, this is the first step of the great Niffler Wizard Valen towards the stage of history, and she already planned to write an autobiography once she triumphed over the Great Demon King, in which she will certainly describe the first battle in great detail... ...


    When Valen disappeared, Daphne held out her hand with a poker face as she said, "Confiscated!" Astoria saw the situation taking a bad turn and disappeared in a flash, blending into the crowd.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 551: Quidditch and strong emotions

    Hermione stood in front of the entrance to the locker room, constantly glancing around as the snowflakes from the sky accumulated in a thick layer on her hat. She let out a breath of cold air and stomped her feet as she felt like freezing.


    "I forgot my thermostatic locket ... oh yes, Focillo!" She pulled out her wand and pointed it at herself, and in an instant a wave of warmth spread through her body as if she was sitting next to a roaring fireplace in the common room, and she couldn''t help but yawn.


    The door to the locker room opened.


    Katie was the first to come out, looking listless, followed by Fred and George, their shoulders slumped as if they are about to head to a doomed battlefield, and Angelina''s vexed voice came from the doorway of the locker room, "Well Harry, you talk him through it and I hope for the best ... "


    Harry responded vaguely after which Angelina came out with a numb face and her expression grew even more bizarre, Hermione thought. Angelina looked dead, just a husk wandering around.


    When Hermione walked in, Ron was sitting in the corner of the locker room. Harry stared at him.


    "What''s the matter, everyone''s not in a particularly positive spirit for the upcoming match? Oh, ah, uh-"


    Hermione stepped past Harry to see Ron leaning back on the bench, his eyes dull with gloom, his face ashen as he stared at the ceiling with lost eyes.


    Harry passed Hermione a look.


    At that moment, Ron suddenly moved, so deftly that Harry and Hermione were taken aback.


    "Harry quickly cast the Cheering Charm on me." He asked in an eager tone.


    "What?" Harry looked at him with a bewildered expression.


    "The Cheering Charm," Ron said, his lips slightly purple from the cold, "it''s the only way out, it''s what I''ve been thinking about all morning."


    "What''s going on?"


    Ron sat back slowly, "I admit I got a little nervous, just a little ... well, a lot. Harry, I boasted a lot and also praised by many, Angelina said I am no worse than Wood and Professor McGonagall exempted me from my Transfiguration class assignment ..."


    "Can''t you sum it up in one sentence?" Hermione snapped impatiently.


    "I''m afraid I can''t defend a single goal." Ron stammered, "It''s weird, this thought didn''t cross my mind in the slightest before, but when I woke up this morning it hit me all of a sudden, I tried to cheer myself up by walking around the Black Lake twice, but things got worse and worse, I now have cold hands and feet, dizziness, panic attacks, and nausea ... "


    "That''s because you haven''t eaten a single thing this morning!" Harry snapped irritably.


    "Yeah, but I don''t think it would have made any difference even if I had eaten ... " Ron said in a hoarse voice.


    "I don''t think so. If you''re worried about underperforming, there''s absolutely no need for that, it''s your opponent who should be more worried." Hermione encouraged him, "The Slytherin keeper is a fool, what''s his name again?"


    "Miles Bletchley. " Harry chipped in.


    To be fair, he would say that Bletchley would play well, but when Bletchley had attempted to hex ball-chaser Alicia in the corridor two days ago without success, Fred and George had let it slip that they wouldn''t let him walk off the Quidditch pitch in one piece. Well, Harry of course sided with them in this.


    Harry went along with Hermione''s words of comfort, "Yeah, think about it, Slytherin''s team sucks this year, Flint''s gone and their new captain is Montague, you know what he''s like -"


    "I saw him shouting at the players when I came over, with his sleeves rolled up high, showing a pair of hairy arms, and I thought he was carrying two hairy hams." Hermione said meanly.


    Ron grinned with a stiff expression.


    "Their beaters are new too - Montague recruited Crabbe and Goyle into the mix, and I don''t know why he did, since they''re so stupid that they can''t even tell the difference between the front and back of a broomstick." Harry continued.


    Ron rolled his eyes.


    "Honestly, I don''t know what you have to worry about," Hermione said with annoyance, "A quidditch game is nothing more than a child''s play, a, well, just a game, compared to all the adventures you''ve been through."


    Harry and Ron both glared at Hermione at the same time, angry at her slip of the tongue. Hermione waved her hands in some embarrassment, "I didn''t mean to look down on Quidditch-"


    " Yes, you are!" Ron suddenly snapped out, "You just don''t like Quidditch."


    It was Hermione''s turn to glare at him.


    Ron ducked his head.


    Hermione continued, "Think of all the adventures you''ve been through, trolls, three-headed dog, basilisk, dark wizards, dragon, merpeople, Death Eaters, Voldemort ..." she made a long list and finally concluded, "Compared to those, one Quidditch defeat is really not worth mentioning."


    Harry felt that they couldn''t compare it that way, some things are not dangerous, but they are equally difficult, but he wasn''t going to upset Hermione, that would be purely asking for trouble and would do no good except triggering it further. So he said against his will, "Yeah."


    Ron stood up as if he had come to life again, "Good point ... Hermione, do you have any food on you?"


    "No." Hermione said dully.


    "Don''t lie to me," Ron said with certainty, "you certainly have a bunch of food in your little beaded pouch." S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione reluctantly pulled out a bag of compressed crisps and tossed it to him.


    Ron tore open the packet and gobbled it up, Harry gulped, he had eaten very little this morning too, not because he was nervous but because he didn''t want to eat too much to affect his form.


    "Boys, how did your talk go?" Angelina poked her head in through the locker room door.


    Harry gestured no problem and fought with Ron for the last bit of crisps.


    Angelina''s expression froze a little, "Looks like you guys are really okay, then hurry up and come out, it''s time to start with your preparations. Can you guys bear to let three girls face seven gorillas?"


    "Fred and George are also here." Ron said vaguely, as crisp crumbs splattered.


    "I don''t know if I can count on them, they''re both posing for pictures with the Professor''s Niffler. You have one more minute." She disappeared.


    "Come on." Harry said.


    "Wait." Hermione took out her wand and pointed it toward both of them and their bodies immediately became warm as if they had been surrounded by a burning cauldron.


    "What spell did you use?" Harry asked.


    "The Warming Charm." Hermione said.


    It dawned on Harry. Familiar memories suddenly flooded his mind as he remembered that it was also a winter day when they had trudged through thick snow to Hagrid''s hut, and on the way, Professor Hap had explained the Warming Charm to them, and only Hermione was in the mood to ask questions even as she was freezing and shivering, while he was more focused on the gossip of Sirius'' school days at that time.


    The story was titled ''The Gryffindor Freshman and the Hufflepuff Prefect''.


    Now one of the protagonists of the story had become a professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts class at Hogwarts, and the other one had become a Minister of Magic. Harry was in a bit of a trance, even if he hadn''t been there, he still felt fantastic, and understood Mafalda''s thoughts somewhat. At that moment someone nudged him from the side.


    "Stop dazing and be an example to next year''s new players." Hermione said.


    Harry grinned.


    Snowflakes drifted from the sky, condensing into a single ice crystalline as they fell to the ground, and the icy wind gusted against them as Felix sat in the grandstand, enjoying the warm atmosphere in contrast to the weather. Valen sat on his shoulder, clutching her precious wand. Her two little feet flopped around.


    "Nice hat, you''re fashion sense improved."


    Valen''s mood got even better.


    Felix quietly opened his palm and a suction came out of it, and for a moment a little wizard on the stand felt a chill run down his spine.


    "Why it has become a little cold?" A student asked in frustration.


    "Isn''t it always cold," the boy next to him said, "Look, the two teams are starting to shake hands. The match is about to start!"


    The two teams are greeted with thunderous cheers as the emotions that have been building up all year spill out at this moment, and Felix quietly increases the suction as the full, rousing, enthusiastic, joyous emotions converge in his hands and he looked like a dementor hiding in the crowd.


    Only the emotions he took in were few compared to them, and the students shivered at best, then became more enthusiastic and applauded immediately afterward. As Felix''s study into the magical gifts of magical creatures deepened, it is only natural for him to gain an understanding of the properties of the magic within them.


    It is a type of magic that distinctly differs from the magic within a wizard.


    To be precise, the properties of the magic within each magical creature varied, and Felix guessed that the magic is clearly influenced by the structure of their own bodies.


    ''The magical creatures'' gifts come from their bodies, while the wizards'' originates from their souls, or rather, it is the wizards'' souls that are the most special - the ghosts are inherently endowed with a certain amount of magic power and can manipulate water and fire slightly - when the soul and the body combine, a constant source of magical power is created ...''


    "That''s just a guess." Felix raised his head and looked at the centre of the venue.


    The captains of both teams stepped forward to shake hands, Valen shouted and gestured with a small wooden wand as the whistle blew and the match was officially begun.


    Fourteen players soared into the air, so fast that they were soon transformed into a blur of shadows in the snowy sky. As usual, it is Lee Jordan who stands on the raised platform and provides commentary for the crowd.


    "The match begins. Johnson was the first to grab the ball, but of course, she only weighed barely one-half, or maybe one-third, of the opposite player. After a year, there are new faces on both sides, Gryffindor has added a new keeper, a rather crucial position; Slytherin has added two new beaters on their side. ... Look! Johnson passed the two, is she about to charge? Oops, what a shame, it was so close."


    "The Quaffle is now in Slytherin''s hands, Warrington is charging towards the goal, there''s no one in front of Warrington and the Bludgers are nowhere to be seen near, it''s just the Gryffindor keeper! He''s new to the team - oops!"


    Harry rushed to look at the goal as Ron pounced actively, his fingers brushed against the Quaffle, but he failed to catch it. Harry thought he heard an audible gasp as he closed his eyes in despair.


    "Awesome! The ball is intercepted! Good job, I must say, a great start-" Lee Jordan said excitedly.


    "Jordan!" Professor McGonagall shouted from the side wing.


    "Noted for the next time Professor, let''s get back to the match, Ron defended, good start, now it''s Gryffindor''s turn to attack, Fred and George are both near the Slytherin goal, I know it''s not much of a tactic, as they told me privately, ahem ..."


    Harry didn''t listen any further, he looked at the goal with wide eyes, Ron is swinging his fist excitedly and from the trajectory of the Quaffle, it looked like his hand should have changed the direction of the Quaffle and made it miss as it grazed the goal.


    Harry''s heart burst with excitement, as he knew that for Ron, the first goal would be the riskiest. Ron''s biggest weakness is that he would lose confidence when he makes a mistake, and if he didn''t guard the first goal, he would get flustered and end up giving even more goals. This was the data Ginny had provided and Harry chose to believe it.


    He began to direct his broom to fly, the snow getting heavier, his vision becoming unclear, and he got nearly hit by Bludger twice. Fred and George, after making sure Ron''s side didn''t need help, seemed ready to fulfil their pre-match promise, then the two of the three chasers aimed their ball at the Slytherin keeper, and although they missed once, Bletchley got freaked out, and gave away two goals in panic.


    The match got more and more intense and by the time Harry brushed past Draco Malfoy for the third time, he had literally counted the number of blisters on Malfoy''s lips and Malfoy''s expression looked like he was sleepwalking, which rivalled Luna''s.


    Finally, the referee, Madam Hooch, blew her whistle as Harry hovered high in the air and looked down at Katie, who appeared to be wrestling with Warrington, her head caught in Warrington''s thick arms, and the broomstick under her arse gone missing.


    "Foul!" Madam Hooch shouted in anger.


    After helping Katie get her broom back for a bit, Harry took the opportunity to fly over to Ron, "How''s it going?"


    "Not bad," Ron said, "I blocked five balls and missed three, I''m almost getting a hang of it." He said with a happy grin, "But the opposite side was worse, Fred and George stuck with Bletchley and made him miss the goals."


    "Beware of them doing the same to you." Harry warned him.


    Ron looked uneasily toward the Slytherin team as Montague spoke to Crabbe and Goyle with his arms around their shoulder, from this angle they looked identical in stature, like triplets. Crabbe and Goyle blinked stupidly in their direction.


    "Can I use my wand?" Ron asked uneasily, "I''ll be unable to resist hexing if they come flocking at me at once."


    "Then you''ll get sent off, and we''ll be finished." Harry said.


    The match continued.


    Harry decided to end the match as soon as possible, the situation would get more complicated as time stretched on. He flew high into the air and looked down from a few hundred feet, the wind and snow growing heavier, the effect of the warming charm wearing off a little, and finding a small ball the size of a walnut was exceptionally difficult in those conditions. He circled twice in vain and saw Mafalda sketching a crooked drawing of a snake with horns in the audience, and Harry looked at it twice, deciding that he should tease her hard about it later when he had the chance.


    Lee Jordan''s commentary burrowed into his ears every now and then, "The score is very close - both teams seem to be playing with each other''s keepers to score a goal, I don''t know if this could be considered a new tactic, but in future, the keepers have to be more careful - Adrian Pucey got the Quaffle-"


    Harry finally saw it: the golden snitch is hovering near the Gryffindor goal.


    Crabbe and Goyle flanked Ron from both sides, followed by Adrian Pucey behind them in a triangular formation - seemingly trying to replicate the tactics used by Gryffindor in the first half - and Ron grimaced, suspecting that he would be squashed by both of them if he didn''t use his magic now. That''s when his eyes suddenly lit up by the sight of Harry swooping down from high above.


    A warmth welled up in Ron''s heart, Harry is coming to his rescue! The tempo at that moment seemed to settle into a proper rhythm, he could think of countless times when he was in a similar situation when Harry came to his rescue, he just needed to be at ease and do his own thing - but why everyone got so noisy all of a sudden? - Ron lunged forward and deflected the Quaffle. At the same time, he heard the wind whistling in his ears as Harry hovered upwards with the golden snitch in his hand.


    The stadium resounded with enthusiastic cheers, and the Lion Cap that Luna wore on her head roared through the chilly air, causing Valen to flinch in surprise at the sight.


    "The match is over."


    Felix shook his head, the Slytherin team this term is indeed terrible and their coordination was even more problematic. Not that it mattered much to him though, he had taken the opportunity to gather one last sample of emotion and prepared to go back and study it.


    It would be difficult for one man to create emotions that he hadn''t experienced before, and especially he couldn''t create a collective emotion as strong as this one on a Quidditch pitch.


    In the evening, a coin that Felix kept close to him suddenly became piping hot.


    Is it the house-elf, Bondi, after almost a week of time, has the man in Nurmengard Castle finally made up his mind?


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 552: The Beginning of Correspondence

    In Hogsmeade, the fire in the public fireplace spun around as Felix appeared, and patted the dust off his body. The sky looked grey-orange, with a red evening sun faintly visible through the clouds. The ground was covered with a thick layer of snow that crunched as Felix made his way through, the wizards that were returning home for the night greeted him. A skinny old wizard stopped to talk to him for a while, to discuss whether there is a lack of guts in wizards these days, before realizing that he had approached the wrong person and that his friend had gone home early for dinner because he couldn''t bear his yapping anymore.


    Madam Rosmerta of the Three Broomsticks was posting a discount poster, "Mr. Hap, why are you out so late, would you like to come in for a drink?"


    "Oh, no, got something to take care of ..."


    "Are you going to visit your branch outlet? I bought a chair to lie back in for a while before my shift every night." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix made the turn to enter a side street, the light dimmed, the street is near the shrieking shack, so not many people would walk near this place, he stopped where he was and traced his fingers on a coin, and after a moment the sound of bouncing footsteps appeared from behind him.


    "Mr. Hap."


    Bondi the house-elf jumped out and gave him a bow, his nose brushed the snow on the ground as he straightened up. He then pulled a crumpled letter from his person and respectfully handed it to Felix.


    Felix took it and asked, in a seemingly casual tone, " Bondi, who is your master?"


    The house elf''s body stiffened for a moment, and he bowed his head and said, " Bondi was offered to Mr. Grindelwald by his master to look after his daily life."


    Was it by a certain faithful acolyte?


    "When did this happen?"


    "Two years before."


    Felix glanced at him, "Mr. Grindelwald is in poor health?"


    Bondi took a deep breath and said pointedly, " The winter is heavy in Nurmengard Castle."


    "And his magic?"


    "Mr. Grindelwald has not been allowed to cast spells since 1945."


    Certain magic is possible, Felix thought. He had seen Bondi on October 27, and it was clear that there was another man''s will attached in his mind. There must have been some restriction placed on Grindelwald after the failure - not just a confiscation of a wand, which is not necessarily that much of a problem for wizards like Grindelwald - so there must be other harsher restrictions.


    An Unbreakable Vow, for example.


    The history is rather vague and not clearly documented, as if everyone had coincidentally and deliberately forgotten about this hidden problem, leading to the obvious holes that people like him would always find when they try to interpret it from the perspective of a spectator.


    Why did Grindelwald give up everything because of just a duel? Were all his tens of thousand followers a pretence? Even if only one-tenth of them were loyal, these people could knock any Ministry of Magic in the world out of existence.


    Felix didn''t continue with that line of questions, and asked Bondi about other things, "Do you usually live in Nurmengard Castle?"


    "Yes, sir."


    "Is it possible to keep owls there?"


    "Wh, what?" Bondi looked up in astonishment.


    "It''s too much trouble to solely rely on you to deliver the mail; From this year, Hogwarts'' protection magic will repel other house-elves, but it does not place any restrictions on owls." Felix explained that it would certainly be a lot easier to send mail through an owl, saving him from having to run out every time.


    Bondi the house-elf bowed his head deeply, "Oh No, it''s not possible, Nurmengard Castle is sealed off by a strong spell and no one can find it ... only the International Confederation of Wizards'' dedicated officers have permission to open it."


    Felix was slightly surprised, Grindelwald seemed to be much more restricted than he had previously thought.


    He opened the letter, which was, as usual, not very long, and in summary, it stated that he had agreed to "discuss certain issues" with him. Other than that, it was nothing more than sarcastic remarks, such as "I have read all your books, and they are very shallow", "too passive and not as courageous as Carlotta Pinkstone" or, in an instructional tone, he advised Felix " Read up the history of magic from the 14th to the 17th centuries," and so on.


    At the end of the letter, he also requested some parchment, ink, and a quill.


    "I''ve added a lot of snow to the ink bottle to write this letter. Also, those blokes will check Bondi''s mind every two to three months, so you have to sort out that problem."


    Felix looked at the faint ink marks and smiled broadly, he had managed to catch some inconsistencies in the letter, but he wouldn''t assume Grindelwald had gone senile without a proper check-up.


    Grindelwald claimed that he had read his books, so who had given them to him?


    To put it politely, Felix had never mentioned his plans or expectations for the wizarding world in his book, so to some people, he is just a pro-muggle and muggle sympathizer; or, an opportunistic businessman, grabbing wealth by carrying novel ideas from muggle society. But the truly insightful person - like Dumbledore, or Grindelwald - can perfectly see his unfinished meanings reflected in those books. That is:


    Felix Hap believes that the fusion of wizards and muggles is inevitable, but he is a non-aggressive mild-mannered person - or at least pretends to be so - who tries to subtly influence wizards to accept the idea and prepare them in advance.


    If he showed this theory to ordinary wizards, they would probably frown at it. They are used to the existence of the Statute of Secrecy, so telling these people that the Statute of Secrecy will eventually be broken would be like telling muggles that they all would eventually walk around naked in the freezing temperature.


    As for bringing his views to the radicals, they likewise would dismiss it, probably because they would find his views too soft and not sufficiently sharp and straightforward. Take, the witch Carlotta Pinkstone mentioned in the letter, as an example, she is a social campaigner, born in 1922, famous for advocating the repeal of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy, and has already been imprisoned several times for the blatant and deliberate use of magic in public.


    Incidentally, she is about to be released from prison next year and is expected to make another splash when she does.


    Grindelwald was also a radical, but again he was different because he was a failure. Taking Felix''s book to him is akin to telling Grindelwald that there is a similar but more moderate ideology like yours out there that has achieved some success, and here''s the book for you to check out ...


    Felix could easily discern a strong preaching flavour in this kind of approach.


    He guessed that the man was Dumbledore.


    If it really was Dumbledore, then the restrictions imposed by the International Confederation of Wizards would pose no trouble at all, as there are multiple ways for him to get around the restrictions of Nurmengard Castle, and the easiest one is to send a mail through Phoenix Fawkes.


    Felix gave Bondi some stationery as for how it would bypass the inspection ... Felix didn''t take the bait, the fact that Grindelwald could even attach himself to Bondi and watch the battle at least meant he could use some memory magic, so he figured he might be testing him.


    But Felix isn''t going to take the bait.


    ...


    Over the next few days, Felix spent some time brushing through the 14th to 17th-century history. The Hogwarts library provided a wealth of information, including magical handwritten journals, travel journals from that period, and in particular, he found several books in the Restricted Section from that period - that has no curses placed on them, and merely a historical record, the sort of book that he would not normally read.


    Felix read them all to the hilt with a heavy heart.


    All the historical records in Restricted Section are more real, with more gory truths.


    The letters he had started to receive during this time began to pile up as well, with all sorts of invitations to join raining down on him; Felix hadn''t even known there were so many magical organizations before, with over thirty different alchemical and ancient runes societies alone.


    There were also many letters from individuals, the most notable of which was from Jura Edmund of Ilvermorny, whose correspondence perfectly reflected the current mentality of young people in the United States magical community in his description, like.


    "...


    The performance of the MACUSA has been disappointing. The officials don''t seem to realize the seriousness of the problem.


    I spoke to some of the older people at the school, and they told me that in the 1960s there was a group of people who were attracting members under the guise of ''pure blood'' and ''glory'', however, there was no market for such concepts in America at the time - -Because under the standards of the British magical community, no one except the few families that had migrated here was qualified to advertise themselves as pure-bloods.


    So that group didn''t succeed in its objectives. I''m sure something similar may have happened in other countries, but because at that time people had just experienced the bitter lessons brought by Grindelwald, such ideas were strictly discouraged and instinctively rejected by people, to the point that no new cults developed.


    Now almost another thirty years have passed, a new generation of wizards has grown up and new dissatisfactions are starting to build up, our biggest conflict is caused by the forced division between wizards and muggle society, which although has improved in the last two years, is still not as good as it should be. Sooner or later the false illusion of peace that we treasure so much will explode.


    I was deeply affected by the death of Professor Agilbert Fontaine, a man who had sheltered me, but now he is no longer present.


    So, Mr. Hap, I have departed from Ilvermorny.


    I have decided to join the emergency squad that the Magic Congress is planning to form, which in my opinion is just for show, but I still decided to sign up. For now, I will remain active in my country, but there may be a chance for us to meet in England in the future.


    I wish a smooth journey ahead of us."


    Felix closed the letter, and after pondering for a while, he took out a parchment and wrote a reply.


    "Dear Jura.


    I see the hope of the next generation of the United States magical community in you. There are some problems that are difficult to deal with, which we will all encounter sooner or later, so it is impossible to turn a blind eye to them.


    I have likewise thought deeply about the issues you mention in the letter and my thoughts are as follows.


    You are faced with two problems, one because of the public upheaval, social unrest, and the potential threat of the Voldemort forces that stem from the death of Headmaster Fontaine, and the second is caused by the dissatisfaction that has erupted from this matter and the negative attitude that you, the Renovation Society and all other visionary people have towards the Magical Congress.


    The former is an emergency and a major focus of everyone''s attention at this time, while the latter is more distant and seemingly less urgent, but more tricky to deal with.


    I couldn''t agree more with your decision to join the Magical Congress, it will give you a realistic experience of the struggles and moral dilemmas faced by those in power, and if you can''t be confident that you can do better than they can, the result will inevitably be negative and counterproductive, no less damaging than the devastation caused by the death of Headmaster Fontaine.


    I also see that you have proposed some other solutions, such as working with Future World to replicate some of the proposals we made in our correspondence last year, but I must point out that you and I are not exactly in the same situation.


    Almost three hundred years have passed since the Statute of Secrecy was created; in other words, no one alive today has ever seen what a completely non-secrecy situation would look like. The results of a rash change are bound to be both good and bad, and while people certainly will cheer for the opening of a door to a wonderful world, they will also inevitably be hurt by the thorns beyond it and thereby develop an aversion to it.


    If one wanted to count the conflicts between wizards and ordinary people, they could never be summed up in a single sentence.


    The Hogwarts collection contains a wealth of relevant documents and materials, starting with the witch hunts in the fourteenth century to the frosty relationship between the two in the years before the birth of the Statute of Secrecy in the seventeenth century.


    During these three hundred years, wizards lived in near semi-public circles in the early days, and the best of them (or ambitious wizards) were often able to become guests of the royal nobility.


    But the lower classes of wizarding families still led a double life, when public opinion was controlled by secularism and religion, when wizards and magic were still considered mysterious, cunning, and evil, when witch-hunting was considered legitimate, and when the idea of the elimination of heretics blossomed under the propaganda of some, thus creating a highly visible division between top and bottom; This period saw a concentration of thought-provoking cases, from good and dedicated wizards who were betrayed by the neighbours who they had helped, by the people who they had loved with all their existence; and from the bad and evil wizards who loved to experiment and slaughter others, and their widely spread tales of terror.


    It was in this environment that the book "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" was created, where opposing views and ideologies collided violently.


    If you ask me what my opinion is, I would say that any attempt to characterize a large group of people based on a handful of individuals is undoubtedly a bad idea. Especially if you have already chosen a side beforehand.


    But it must be admitted that ordinary people far outnumbered wizards by a ratio of nearly 3,000 to 1. Because of this - even if only a small percentage of ordinary people had a more violent attitude towards wizards - the result would be disastrous.


    Wizarding families back then were all particularly prone to losing their children, as the children were not able to control their magic and would frequently attract the attention of witch-hunting muggles, and were powerless to resist. We are accustomed to reading about mature, self-preserving wizards who saw pitchforks, hoes, and crosses as nothing, but the true history was not that rosy.


    The newly formed British Ministry of Magic (formerly the Wizarding Council) had sent a special delegation to contact the Muggle monarchs, William III and Mary II, in the hope that Muggle law would recognize and protect wizards. When this attempt to gain official recognition and protection failed, it forced wizards to voluntarily move in the opposite direction - to go underground and keep their secrets.


    Thus, the Statute of Secrecy was born.


    This law effectively divided wizard society from muggle society and over time, some common ground was developed. For example: the fact that the parents of young wizards from Muggle families are excluded from this act of secrecy has certainly eased the conflict, especially compared to the harsh laws of the US Magical Congress.


    As far as I know, the US magical community and the non-magical government have always been in a state of hostility, and there is no cooperation between the two, which is due to a dark, and bloody history, when a part of those in power had authorized attempts to crack the secrets of wizards, resulting in fierce confrontations and several moves of the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America.


    These all needed to be taken into consideration in advance ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 553: Student Clubs

    The owl flew into the blue sky with the letter, soon turning into a small black dot and finally disappearing, and Felix had a feeling that it is going to be a long journey. During the last academic year, he had several exchanges with Jura, in which he mentioned some of his real ideas in a broad sense, such as using newspapers to gain public support, using the institutional approach to improve regulations, accumulating experience with trial projects, being strong enough to protect himself, and having enough patience.


    The experience of his newly befriended pen pal warrants his caution; a moment of haste would inevitably make him an enemy of the world, and although he is confident that he will not end up in Grindelwald''s position, but the very fact of not being able to realize the vision he has in mind is a failure, not to mention plunging the world into chaos.


    If Felix had to describe his state of mind, the only thing he can come up with now is a philosophical paradox - the Theseus Paradox.


    The ship of Theseus, which had been at sea for centuries, would have its planks replaced as soon as a piece rot, and so on until every single plank and rope on that ship was not the same as the original one. So is that ship still the original Theseus, or is it a completely different ship?


    There are many more questions that arise from this, but Felix is not interested in answering them, and especially will not debate them with anyone. Because such problems have a unified feature, that is, there are no universally accepted criteria for judging them; everyone has a different interpretation of what is new and what is old, what is part, and what is whole.


    His approach is a little more pragmatic. Felix is clear about one thing: if the ship had never replaced its rotten planks and had not been regularly maintained, it would never have lasted the centuries of turmoil and corrosion of the sea, and then no one would have thought about this torturous question later on because the ship would''ve been no more. S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The same would apply even if that ship is a Ship of Wizards.


    Felix is going to be the one who keeps replacing the planks, and as for who will be the philosopher who will shatter the sandbox, Felix smiles wryly, who cares! He just hoped that this person would appear as late as possible. Better to wait until he had hammered the wizard''s ship from top to bottom for the people on board to find out in surprise: how is it different from the original?


    "All I wanted to do was to roll a snowball to form an avalanche and save my time and effort ... but now I''ve become a ship repairman. And what is Voldemort? A plank-chewing rodent? A mould that rots the hull? What about Dumbledore? Grindelwald wouldn''t be the last grumpy ship repairman who was forced to lay off, would he?"


    "I''m a ship repairman with a knack for repairing~" Felix hummed softly under his breath as he walked towards the Ancient Rune classroom and cheerfully entered it, and stood on the podium to teach the seventh-year students.


    "The professor looks like he''s in a good mood." Cedric whispered.


    "Any good news to share, Professor?" Lee Jordan grinned broadly and raised his hand to ask a question.


    "Ah," Felix said lazily, "there''s one. Professor McGonagall has invited me to be part of a student club assessment, it''s an experience I haven''t had before, and I think it''ll be fun."


    "Is there such a thing in school?" Lee Jordan asked blankly, "I remember when all I had to do to set up the ''Loud'' club was fill out a form, and that was just four years ago ..."


    "How many people do you have in your club?" Cedric asked in a confused tone.


    "Just me." Lee Jordan said.


    "So you''ve never applied for an activity space either?" Cedric softly sighed.


    "No-"


    " Got school-issued activity funds?" Cedric''s deep grey eyes stared at him.


    Lee Jordan''s mouth dropped open, as did Fred''s and George''s.


    "That''s the key." Cedric lowered his voice to conclude.


    "We seem to have missed something, George." Fred slowly came back to his senses.


    "Yeah, we didn''t get any word of it." George said with resignation.


    "Ahem," Felix cleared his throat, "it''s normal for you guys not to know, I found out after asking Professor McGonagall that the relevant information will only be sent to those student clubs who have submitted their names in the Student Body ... Well, let''s get to class, today we''re going to learn a set of runic circuits that can be used on various items that need to be fireproof, such as amulets, or house building materials ..."


    As soon as the bell rang, the twins instantly rushed out of the classroom, turned down the stairs, and ran to the bulletin board in the entrance hall, scanning it with wide eyes.


    "Sure enough, there''s nothing on it." Fred said with a disappointed look on his face.


    "Hi." Harry greeted, holding a form as Ron and Hermione followed him, going to eat their lunch.


    Fred and George looked over maliciously, startling all three of them.


    "What''s that in your hand?" Fred asked.


    "Er - a form that Professor McGonagall gave me, saying it has something to do with the Frontline Lookout club reviews, assessments, and stuff, though I haven''t looked at it thoroughly yet." Harry said vaguely.


    Fred suddenly jumped over and took Harry by the shoulders with one hand, while spreading out the parchment Harry was clutching with the other, George''s movement was also perfectly in sync, and the two men pinned Harry between them left and right, causing Harry to protest constantly.


    The parchment contained only a short line: "The Frontline Lookout, a student club affiliated with the Student Body is requested to participate in the Professorial Assessment, in which the successful clubs will be provided with a venue, equipment, and funding for their activities. Please prepare the relevant materials in advance."


    At the bottom, there is a list of relevant records needed is mentioned, which includes the purpose of the club, the scope of its activities, the list of current members, and so on.


    After reading through it, Fred let out a long sigh.


    "George, we definitely can''t miss this, it''s our only chance to keep the ''Prank League'' name in the Trophy Room."


    "The Prank League?" Harry asked in surprise, "How come I''ve never heard of it?"


    " It was just established." Fred immediately replied.


    "Since when did you guys become Model Percy?" Ron deliberately put on an expression of surprise and circled around them.


    Fred wagged his finger, "Oh, little Ronnie, we''re not like Percy, this is just a single step in our grand plan," he lowered his voice, "George and I are doing everything we can to leave our mark more in the school- -"


    "Yeah," George squinted at them, "we''ve mapped Black Lake, buried 72 secret treasures, and sneaked into Filch''s office to make a copy of our years of rule-breaking list... "


    Ron swallowed hard and looked at him in awe.


    "... to give it to Mafalda." George said under his breath.


    "To who?!" Harry exclaimed, almost shoving Fred and George aside.


    "Mafalda." Fred said as he rubbed his shoulders, "I have to admit, this relative of ours is a genius, she''s recently opened up a new business that focuses on helping people write their biographies."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s expressions froze as if they were petrified.


    "Think about it," George slapped Ron on the shoulder in the end, " slipping a biography with our glorious history into the library and waiting quietly for someone to discover it ..."


    Hermione grunted lightly, "I see you''re trying to train a few more students to follow your pranking career."


    "You got me." Fred beamed.


    "That''s exactly what we hoped for." George nodded profusely.


    Then they left with a bounce in their step.


    "You know what I thought of?" Harry said through clenched teeth.


    Ron and Hermione looked at him, "Riddle''s diary," Harry said grimly, "they know about the Marauder''s Map, so they must have done something similar to guide the mischievous students to their buried treasure ... "


    After lunch, Felix appeared in the staff common room where Professor McGonagall was not that surprisingly present, she looked very busy with a stack of documents piled on top of her work desk.


    There is another person in the staff common room, Cuthbert Binns, Professor of the History of Magic. He appeared to be asleep, his ghostly body lying on a transparent couch, as he snored with a huffing and puffing sound.


    Professor McGonagall looked up and pushed her glasses up, " The word is out?"


    " All that needs to be known is known," Felix pulled a chair from the side and sat down, "with those loudmouthed students around, this will soon be an open secret, and it will probably be overcrowded with applicants when the time comes ... "


    Professor McGonagall smiled faintly, then pursed her lips tightly, "Will it work?"


    Felix shrugged.


    "Some things are better done than not done. None of us want to see the students of Slytherin House isolated as a result of the Wizarding War, and this kind of foreseeable trouble should be solved when we have time. After the trial run in the Magic Rune Club, it''s now time to extend it to the school."


    "So you''re suggesting that each club should consist of members from at least two houses?"


    Felix nodded, "I do approve of Hogwarts splitting up the young wizards into different houses, it brings more than one immediate benefit: the new students will develop a sense of belonging as soon as they enrol and there will be a natural sense of competition. But there should also be cooperation after the division, in order to increase the bonding of the four houses."


    Professor McGonagall broke into an unconcealed smile.


    After a short while, her sharp gaze examined Professor Binns and the sleeping couch he is slumped in from behind her round glasses, and if she was not attentive she might have perceived them as one, like an oddly shaped ghost couch with legs poking out of the seat that seems to be sticking into the fireplace.


    "Can we get the things out of Classroom Seven?" Professor McGonagall asked softly.


    Felix thought for a moment, "The students certainly can''t bring it out. But the ghosts are special, didn''t they manage to bring food into the great hall last Easter? I reckon it should last for a while ..." He was not exactly concerned about the community of ghosts in the castle, there were only two ghosts that he really cared about, and they had already departed this world.


    Since Classroom Seven had been opened to the students, everything inside had been handed over to a couple of memory bodies to manage.


    Over the next two days, as Felix had predicted, the various clubs had become the new centre of the conversation. Students began to inquire about the details in every possible way, and after learning about the first part of the event - that you only need to find three people to register your application with the student body - they were dumbfounded; when someone got a letter of approval from the student body and an assessment sheet to show off under the students'' noses, they finally took the plunge and started to act.


    Especially when Ron mindlessly blurted out, "If I create a music appreciation club, will I be able to apply to buy a magic gramophone?"


    The remark was a perfect fuse.


    It was soon put into practice by students and, what was outrageous is, that club was approved. Thus, all sorts of clubs sprang up.


    Of course, Felix knew that when this enthusiasm died down, most of the clubs would become deserted and automatically abolished in the following year. But he is also quite sure that there will be some clubs that will remain, and each one will be equivalent to a small Magic Rune Club, acting as a bridge between the four Houses.


    Using the school''s original system and changing it slightly to achieve his aims, Felix was quite happy with this. He, the ship repairman, replaced another plank.


    What would Hogwarts end up being like if a longer period of time elapsed? Felix was sure that ''time'' would brew everything.


    The only ones who had a hard time were the Head boy and the Head girl, who had to review all sorts of odd clubs, although they took Professor McGonagall''s hint and relaxed their review criteria slightly, but they were still startled by the strange outrageous clubs.


    "A prank league? What is this?" The Head Boy looked shocked.


    The Head Girl came over to take a look and said indignantly, "I am sure it was the Weasley twins! I caught them digging holes all over the school the other day!"


    "What should we do then?"


    " Rejected! Ugh, forget it, let''s have them change the name." The Head Girl thought for a moment, "We shouldn''t be the only ones to suffer, I''ll get some helpers over here ..."


    ...


    Ron and Hermione were somewhat baffled when they were called over and even more so when they saw Malfoy, then the two Heads carried over a thick stack of documents and said to the four Prefects, "Each of you will be responsible for a part, try to get it reviewed today."


    Malfoy frowned at the two empty-handed Heads, "What about you guys?"


    "We''re responsible for the final vetting." The Head Boy said in a matter-of-fact tone.


    "Make sure there are no House names, no discriminatory terms, no inducement to break the rules, and don''t even think about names like the Prank League or anything like that!" The Head Girl said with gnashing teeth.


    Once the work had been divided up, the time taken quickly became a teeny bit less than it had been, and after almost an evening of work, all the vetting process was finally over.


    By the end of the week, a huge piece of parchment was posted on a bulletin board in the entrance hall, with four sets of little magic lamps illuminating the parchment.


    A crowd of students gathered at the foot of the board.


    " Announcement:


    The list of all clubs that have been approved by the Student Body is as follows.


    Music Appreciation Club, Muggle Film Appreciation Club, Exploding Snap Club, Magic Golem Dueling Club, Chocolate Frog Card Dueling Club, Classroom Seven Exploration Squad, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist Club, Frontline Lookout Club, Grilled Fish League, Read a Book a Week Society, Popping Dancers League, S.P.E.W... ...


    The above clubs can recruit members on the last weekend of the month in the school great hall and will be evaluated by professors on the first weekend of December. The successful applicants will receive support in terms of activity room, professorial guidance, activity equipment, and start-up funds.


    Membership requirements.


    1. A minimum of three regular members.


    2. A minimum of two different House students in the Club.


    ..."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood at the foot of the bulletin, reading the various names that looked both reliable and unreliable, trying to analyse who had founded those clubs.


    "Look, the Harry Potter fan club! Dennis, our application is approved!"


    Harry closed his eyes painfully, his face burning red as he tried his best to pretend he didn''t care, and darted a quick glance to the side to see the Creevey brothers clutching their faces and cheering as Ron read curiously, "That''s a weird name, the `Swear to Defend School Rules'' club, who came up with that name? If Percy hadn''t graduated, I would have thought it was him ..."


    Said Ron, with his mouth wide open, as Fred and George high-fived with glee.


    In addition, they saw -


    "S.P.E.W.?" Harry stared at Hermione blankly.


    Hermione looked away sheepishly and blushed, "Well, I was thinking that if we could make S.P.E.W. a regular club in the school like the Gobstones Club, there would always be someone to keep an eye on the treatment of house-elves ... I promise it won''t slow down the Frontline Lookout Club! "


    Harry and Ron looked at each other.


    "You know what I thought of?" Ron asked with a pale face.


    Harry nodded understandingly. At the moment S.P.E.W. only consisted of Ron and Harry, apart from the founder Hermione, and the thought of their names being printed under "Spew" and displayed in public in the great hall two weeks later, with the possibility of their names being read out by the Professor in a month time, made their hearts ache.


    Harry only had one thought at that moment, whether it''s the Harry Potter fan club or the so-called S.P.E.W., please, don''t recruit anyone!


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 554: New Project

    "Never seen such a spectacle!" Fred said as he came closer, with a strange sense of contentment on his face. Harry looked at the notice board and understood what he meant. The names of the student clubs posted on it added up to over a hundred, most of which had just been established during this week, and there was a lot of discussion at the foot of the board, and he heard Justin swear that he had seen a "hundred kinds of snuff bottle club", and Harry''s eyes searched the parchment and found a similar club, but he was not sure whether it would be " the muggle craft" or "the goblin craft".


    Two feet away from him, a Hufflepuff boy animatedly described how magical drawings work, "You could make something move if you just drew it on a piece of parchment, it''s pretty simple, but that''s only the basic of the basics, there are lots of advanced techniques, and you can even interact with the people in it!"


    "Then, wouldn''t that be the same as magical portraits? There are lots of them hanging in the castle." His friend asked.


    "Of course, it''s not the same!" The boy turned red and raised his voice, "Think about it, there''s a little man trapped in the maze, and to avoid being eaten by hundreds of Blast-Ended Skrewt he has to rely on you to escape, you have to think up a way to offer that little man help and if he makes it out of the maze he''ll express his gratitude to you from inside the canvas ... "


    Harry listened for a while and found it very interesting, but he soon found that the boy began to invite the audience to join his "magic painting club" and Harry''s mouth dropped open in amazement.


    At that moment, Hermione strode through the crowd, beaming with joy.


    "It''s working!" She said gleefully, "Three people have shown interest in joining S.P.E.W., all freshmen, I didn''t expect the new students this year to be so compassionate."


    "Hermione, it is against the rules to abuse the power of a Prefect. That''s what you told me." Ron said.


    Hermione raised her eyebrows.


    Ron grimaced and stopped talking, and when Hermione turned to merge into the crowd again, he lowered his voice and whispered to Harry, "If it''s not an abuse of Prefect power, then it just means that the current young wizards are failing their basic pre-entry education and haven''t even learned how to spell ''spew''... ..."


    In the corner, Felix and Snape stood together.


    "I didn''t think you''d do such a trivial and irrelevant thing." Snape''s lips quirked, as his voice was only heard within a small circle close to them.


    "It''s just a matter of raising your hand." Felix said, looking at the chaotic crowd of students.


    He felt like he had developed an odd habit after studying Dementors - enjoying being in a positive, jovial atmosphere - but it was unfortunate that halfway through his research, he didn''t have enough Dementors in hand. What specifically happened was that the last dementor was starved and couldn''t resist stealing some of the Emotions he had worked to collect from the stadium, so Felix did a few destructive tests on that dementor ...


    As he considered how to replenish his supply, he asked quietly, "Been under a lot of stress lately with your part-time job?"


    Snape took a deep breath and said in an unemotional tone, "Easier than teaching a bunch of trolls."


    "Oh," Felix agreed tacitly, as he counted the Gryffindor house students in the crowd. "One, two, three, four ..."


    Snape turned his head to look at him expressionlessly and Felix smacked his lips, "Good thing I don''t have that much of a nuisance, both Slytherin and Gryffindor students are performing well ..." He paused and said, "I was told by someone that the one Who Must Not Be Named is pretty depressed these days, the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic are more or less frustrated, you know, the pointless overtime is most frustrating."


    Snape didn''t say anything.


    His memory went back over a month before. It hadn''t been long after the battle in Hogsmeade that he had felt the Dark Mark on his arm grow hot, a call from Voldemort. Of course, he didn''t immediately leave, it is a privilege Voldemort granted him: because of his undercover status, he doesn''t have to respond immediately to the summoning.


    So he waited calmly, as if nothing had happened, until Dumbledore returned, who showed him a dry hand and asked him vaguely how much time he had left, and Snape was tempted to punch Dumbledore in his crooked nose.


    Dumbledore wasn''t injured at all, at least in Snape''s eyes, and it wasn''t the hand that really required attention, but his suddenly younger face. But as soon as Snape had asked two questions, he was deflected.


    Knowing what Dumbledore meant, Snape stared at the dry, charred, lifeless hand, and memorized the image deeply, burning it into his mind so that he could freely assemble it into a memory he wanted when he needed it. S?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The dark mark kept working through the day and into the evening, with two more changes, with one more urgent than the other, and by the end of the day, it had reached the point where it caused him unbearable pain.


    So Snape was forced to meet Voldemort a little earlier than expected, and he had thought of a good reason before he left - Dumbledore had ordered him to keep watch over the school, and he couldn''t get away. But when they met Voldemort didn''t ask any questions about it at all, and he had never seen Voldemort so out of shape, those red eyes seemingly ready to pick someone to devour.


    Bellatrix - the key woman, the one Dumbledore had told him to keep an eye on - was standing behind Voldemort with a tremble.


    Voldemort asked him to go to a secret room on the seventh floor of the castle as soon as he returned, to retrieve a tattered diadem. "Large room full of miscellaneous items, a male wizard half statue, tattered cupboard splashed with strong acid..." He described it in great detail and specifics, fearing that Snape would not be able to find it.


    Snape agreed although he reckoned Voldemort would be disappointed.


    Voldemort then asked in detail about Harry Potter''s scar, and Snape told him everything, after which he asked about the Parseltongue, a secret that had been revealed back in Harry''s second year and which Snape hadn''t held back. The questioning ended with a long, suffocating dead silence. Bellatrix was motionless like a quail, as she fidgeted throughout the conversation.


    Finally, Voldemort asked for more details about Dumbledore''s injuries, and Snape recounted every scene he had seen the Headmaster from the beginning of the school year until now, as per Dumbledore''s instructions, and all of them had one common feature, which was the fact that Dumbledore always wore gloves.


    When he heard this, Voldemort''s face mingled with a complex look of annoyance and joy.


    Snape was then ordered to return to the school immediately to confirm the status of the diadem. And the news had to be reported to him before dawn.


    In his mind, Snape thought Voldemort was out of his mind; he didn''t seem to have any concern for whether his undercover role would be exposed or not, but he agreed to do it anyway. Snape returned to the school and spookily appeared on the seventh floor, then turned a corner and entered the Headmaster''s office - such was the life of a double undercover agent where it would take him more than twice as long to report the situation.


    Figuring it was about time, he met with Voldemort again.


    This time the meeting place was changed to the old manor of Augustus Rookwood, the ''loyal'' Death Eater who is currently imprisoned in Azkaban, and thus his home is unceremoniously occupied by Voldemort. Voldemort was still accompanied by Bellatrix, and it seemed as though Voldemort intended to carry her with him all the time.


    Snape calmly reported the information he had gathered, the diadem was naturally lost, and Voldemort was furious, even ''furious'' seemed an understatement as he walked around the dimly lit room, the snakewood wand in his hand made a hissing sound. Voldemort cursed Dumbledore aloud, using nearly every vile word he could think of.


    Contrasting instructions emerged from his mouth.


    First, with a vicious look on his face, he told Snape to poison Dumbledore as he proceeded to treat his wound, "Let Dumbledore die, DIE!" Voldemort growled madly, but it didn''t take him long to dismiss the idea, "Go and investigate the whereabouts of the diadem," he said through gritted teeth, "We must find out if it was destroyed or hidden ... if necessary you can break into the Headmaster''s office, no, wait for word from me ..."


    "I will arrange for a spy from the Ministry of Magic to cooperate with your mission."


    But it had been half a month, and there was no news from Voldemort''s side as if he had died, and Snape had no idea who the spy that Voldemort was talking about was, that man wouldn''t be coming, would he?


    The next few days were filled with an air of restlessness throughout Hogwarts.


    Despite the fact that the last weekend of November is still a few days away, the students can''t wait for the activity to begin, often taking the opportunity of having classes together in different houses to recruit members for their clubs.


    From what Felix had observed, Gryffindor and Slytherin didn''t interact with each other for the most part, and they both chose students from Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff Houses to go after.


    Even when he was walking outside, he could see students from different houses coming together and chatting.


    But he had never expected that there would be students who would have their minds set on him.


    "Hey, Felix." Luna looked out from behind a suit of armour and jumped out excitedly when she saw him.


    Felix walked over to her, "Luna?" He looked at her with some surprise. Not far from them, a group of girls is hiding in the background looking at them.


    "It''s like this," Luna said with a serious look on her face, "I want to invite you to join my club."


    "Your club is-"


    "The ''Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist'' Club."


    "Uh-" Felix paused and asked tentatively, " Is it possible that you can''t recruit anyone and want to get me to make up the numbers? Well, I can''t, I mean, I am a professor, after all, but I recommend Valen ..."


    "Oh, no, I''ve got three people." Luna said cheerfully, "But if you gather four students from all the four houses and one professor, you can engrave the club''s name on the candles in the great hall, first come, first served, so I''ll have to hurry."


    Felix looked slightly out of breath, "How come I didn''t know about this?"


    "It''s a hidden trail." Luna said.


    It''s gossip, right, Felix said to himself, he should have expected it, with the nature of the Hogwarts students, all sorts of unreliable rumours were bound to be spread, he just didn''t think it would be Luna who would fall for it, he glanced at the students in the corner, they must be the one egging it up.


    Felix thought about it and lowered his voice, "Now that you''ve found out, well, I agree. Just don''t tell anyone else."


    When he left, Luna got immediately surrounded by a group of chattering girls.


    "How was it, did it work?"


    Luna nodded.


    "Is the information true?" One girl asked.


    "The professor forbid me to say." Luna replied dully.


    "Oh ..." The girls looked at each other meaningfully, it seemed to be true, and they dispersed in a huff with long-drawn-out murmurs, not knowing which professor to find.


    Felix returned to his office, thinking about making a portable dementor capture cage that he would sell to the Ministry of Magic when the time came and just use the captured dementors to offset the bill. He sat on the sofa, half lost in thought, and when he looked back for a moment, he saw Valen sitting across from him with the New Solutions to Rune magazine copy, and leafing through the pages rapidly.


    This academic magazine was printed on his behalf by Luna''s father, Xenophilius Lovegood, who sent Felix a sample issue each month, with a complete set of that month''s Quibbler edition.


    A typical wizard''s tabloid, Quibbler is not a popular magazine, but it does not lack readers either. As Felix understood it - despite Luna''s denials - its niche magazine offered something akin to entertainment news, containing a hilarious variety of conspiracy theories and discussions about virtual creatures.


    Of course, sometimes serious topics are discussed in a serious manner, only the conclusions reached are often unbelievable. Felix, for example, has anonymously published a couple of small articles on it, speculating about a future society of wizards. One of them was about the exploration of Mars.


    "A wizard is about to travel to Mars in a Muggle-built spacecraft to grow vegetables when he got intercepted for smuggling three hundred Muggles with him using an Undetectable Extension Charm, as a result, the Ministry of Magic and the Muggle government stated that the law would be amended to ban all non-transparent containers to be carried to mars and as a result, hot water bottles on Mars became a rare resource ... "


    The response was, well, lukewarm.


    Then, Luna''s father wrote a short story based on a similar format: a Seer travels to Mars, where the ''aura'' is too strong to make a prophecy, causing the Seer to be accidentally struck by a meteor while flying on his broomstick.


    This story became the latest popular joke in the wizarding world and given the closed nature of the wizarding world, it is estimated that it will not go out of fashion even after a century of circulation ...


    Valen wasn''t interested in the raw theories in the New Solutions to Rune magazine, but she liked to look up the names of people she knew. As she leafed through it, she took out her precious wand and scribbled in the air, and soon the office was littered with crooked letters that made Felix dizzy from reading them, so he reached out and squeezed the words in the air together, crumpling them into a glowing, shiny ball.


    Valen yelped in displeasure.


    Felix threw the ball at Valen, who exasperatedly threw it back at him, and soon the two were playing this fun (and boring) little game with gusto.


    Before going to bed, Felix suddenly remembered to write to his new pen pal who lives in Nurmengard Castle -


    "...


    It''s not a matter of courage, and it''s not about proactiveness, it''s a matter of brains. Even if I had been born in your time, I would not choose to make an enemy of hundreds of thousand wizards and billions of ordinary people - in my opinion, enslavement is the most time-consuming and laborious way to go - not to mention the fact that the population on both sides has now almost tripled.


    Speaking of tripling, I suddenly remembered a question about the Engorgement Charm. I have a colleague who grows very special, extra-large pumpkins ... Do you think eating such a charmed pumpkin over a long period of time would cause malnutrition? Or will it harm the soil?


    I think this subject is more valuable and could be classified as muggle research. Or name it something new?


    ...


    Enclosed with the letter are two political books and an excellent magazine that I strongly recommend - "Quibbler," which sells over five hundred copies a day and is worth reading."


    Finishing his letter, Felix lifted his head and straightened his back, and Valen, who was lying across the desk, immediately closed her diary and looked at him with a wary expression.


    Felix looked away, wondering which unlucky person in the school had been defeated by Valen this time. Unfortunately, he only managed to glimpse two names, one is Astoria and the other is Mafalda ...


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 555: Keep an Eye on Felix (2 in 1)

    When he woke up, Felix was startled by the immense emotions throughout the castle. He shook his head as the castle in front of him seemed to possess an emotion of its own. He knew it was an illusion, but it was quite a fascinating feeling; Felix thought as he washed up, it was like every brick in the school had come to life, and couldn''t wait to be part of today''s occasion.


    It is the last weekend of November and the day the school has promised to let student clubs that have been vetted by the student body to recruit new students. Although Felix didn''t think there is much need for it - many clubs had already started grabbing people a few days in advance and had probably recruited enough by now - the emotions he felt when he first woke up seemed to indicate that he had guessed it wrong before.


    As Felix packed up and led Valen to the great hall, he realized that he had underestimated the enthusiasm of these students.


    The great hall was packed and already full of students. Felix subconsciously switched to a dementor''s point of view to observe, and as far as he could see, he felt as if he is in a sea of joy. Four long tables were stacked up against the wall, and in their place were booths that looked like reefs, with waves of water carrying strong emotions stirred up around them. Everyone seemed to be filled with multicoloured flares as they raised their voice in jubilant emotion.


    Felix paced to the corner of the great hall where Professors McGonagall and Flitwick stood together, Professor McGonagall''s face looking a little stiff, she could hardly ignore the violations that were happening all around her.


    "Oh, Minerva, don''t be too strict." The good-humoured Professor Flitwick said, taking out his wand and waving it through the air a few times like a conductor, and from the tip flew a colourful silk ribbon, and flocks of chirping birds flew out as they glid through the air in a neat formation, and occasionally would find a fallen student and hover around that student to help him.


    Felix narrowed his eyes; did they appear to be a flock of eaglets? Beneath the soft golden plumage, there is a fine layer of bronze feathers.


    He was dazed, as he suddenly remembered a similar modification he had made in the great hall at the start of his first year, when he had conjured up a large emerald green snake on the ceiling, with Severus in it... Felix grinned and pointed his finger out as a huge Occamy coalesced in the air.


    Bird head, thin neck, blue-green feathers, with freely stretched wings and shimmering plumes, and as it bent down it revealed a pair of serene amber eyes.


    The students in the great hall went quiet for a moment, then burst into even greater murmurs, and chattered noisily.


    "An Occamy! I''ve only seen it in pictures, I never thought it would be so beautiful in real life." Justin Finch-Fletchley said with a look of awe.


    "I''ve seen them in classroom seven," Susan Bones said, but she too was staring up at the ceiling in fascination, "They''re hidden in the bamboo grove, beside the ceramic town."


    "What''s that?" Justine asked.


    "A town entirely made of porcelain, and Professor Hap''s memory body invited me in to play around a little, saying it was -" Susan Bones thought for a moment, "a beta test. Yes, that''s the word."


    " A beta test?" Justin more or less understood the meaning of the word, "Sounds interesting, I wonder when it''s going to open."


    On the other side, Professor McGonagall gave Felix a stern look, and felt quite uncomfortable with his polite yet provocative glance, her chest puffed out and with a sudden swipe of her wand, the chairs in the corner magically flipped on their heels and burst out, transforming into large and small golden-furred lions.


    When Dumbledore appeared, the great hall looked like a chaotic mess: golden eaglets soaring around, occamy with blue-green feathers carrying a few students overhead, and a group of badgers hunkered down beside the wall, staring unblinkingly at the Peeves Ghost above.


    Peeves floated around in midair, fully dressed in his usual silly costume, and he miraculously did nothing to spoil the occasion.


    This could only mean one thing, the emotions of the students in the great hall were causing Peeves to feel happy.


    Dumbledore''s feet were met with a brushing sensation, and he lowered his head to see, as a small fluffy lion tilted its head up to meet his gaze.


    Dumbledore smiled and took out his wand and pointed it downwards, turning the dark, cold floor into a grass-green carpet with him at its centre. Amidst a roar of cheers, Dumbledore courteously walked away, looking through the crowd as he went, and he soon found the very conspicuous figure.


    "Severus," Dumbledore said as he stood side by side with Snape, taking in the bustling scene in the great hall, and shook his head as he did so, "I would never wear a black robe if I had planned to attend a f��te."


    " Unfortunately, this is the only colour I have to wear." Snape said coldly.


    "Sometimes it''s nice to change things up, what do you think of silver? Or green?" Dumbledore concluded and gazed at the students walking around the great hall, and after a while, he softly whispered, "Keep an eye on Felix."


    "Who?"


    "Felix, Felix Hap." Dumbledore said in a near whisper.


    "Are you mad, Dumbledore?" Snape bellowed. A dozen feet away, a student holding up a muggle film poster shook his hand in shock and the poster fluttered and landed at his feet, Snape stared at the name of the film on it with a disgusted look on his face, "Lion King?... The Lion King?"


    The student picked up the poster with trepidation and ran away in a huff.


    Snape calmed down, but his tone became even snarkier as he lowered his voice and said, " Have you grown old and senile?"


    Dumbledore showed a helpless expression, "I am indeed old, but not quite senile." But Snape still peered at him as if to see, if he is someone else in disguise, there was nothing wrong with that hawkish nose any way he looked at it.


    Knowing he had to give an explanation, Dumbledore looked at the Weasley twins waving a huge banner in the distance and said with a sigh, "Felix is doing something very dangerous."


    "What is it?" Snape asked subconsciously, "Breaking the laws of the Ministry of Magic? Has he been doing something more illegal than that?"


    "No, Severus, it''s much more serious than that," Dumbledore said, " It involves a very dangerous man, that''s all you need to know: in a way, he''s more dangerous than Voldemort ... In short, I can''t make an accurate judgement. You were his teacher, you''re the only one who knows him best."


    "No one will ever understand Felix Hap." Snape said spitefully, "I wouldn''t be surprised if he suddenly cast a Killing Curse on you one day."


    "To be honest, I don''t really care about that." Dumbledore said with a grin on his face, " Well, just keep an extra eye on him, will you?"


    ...


    Fred and George stood on a wooden trunk with a row of empty butterbeer bottles in front of them, and seven or eight young lower grade wizards crouched in front of the bottles, looking at the clusters of fireworks that continued to explode in them with envious expressions.


    "Fireworks in a bottle!" Fred said cheerfully, "Just sign up, and you can get one for free." He reached out and pointed to a poster that dangled at one side with big colourful letters flashing on it - "Swear to Defend School Rules Club!"


    A student reads carefully the introductory section below the big letters: still struggling to understand the cumbersome school rules? Or have you been deducted of your house points and detained for breaking school rules and been too ashamed to see anyone since then? Have you ever been teased by your classmates for your lousy rule-breaking attempts? If you''re wondering the exact same thing, the answers can be found in the ''Swear to Defend School Rules Club'', where you can learn all about school rules and the authoritative analysis of the new rules added each year! It will make your seven years at school much easier!


    The student had a feeling that something was wrong and when he looked up, he saw a face with a big smile. "Well?" George squeezed his eyes and said, "Are you intrigued? Still on the fence? It''s a rare opportunity my friend, you can sign up first, we offer three training sessions for free and if you have the talent you will soon be able to comprehend the key points ..."


    Two minutes later, the boy left in a daze, clutching a butterbeer bottle.


    "Be careful not to break the bottle!" George warned kindly behind him, then sighed contentedly. A deliberately low voice suddenly heard in his ear, "What are the consequences of breaking the bottle?" Startled, George turned his head to look at the two students who were keeping themselves tightly cloaked.


    "Harry? Ron?" George muttered in surprise.


    " Yeah, it''s us." Harry muttered.


    George looked them up and down for a good while before he suddenly burst out laughing, "Hermione''s been looking for you guys ..."


    "Yeah, we know," Ron said vaguely, "we''ve avoided her twice."


    Harry''s gaze went over his shoulder and he could see ''The Frontline Lookout'', ''S.P.E.W.'', ''Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist'', and ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' all four booths grouped together in a loose square where the Neville, Hermione, Ginny, Luna, and Creevey brothers were working feverishly.


    Harry shivered, as he knew that pictures of ''''Harry Potter''s'''' face were hanging all over a curtain in the Creevey brothers'' booth. The picture of him fighting the dragon hung at the top, and he wondered how Creevey had managed to capture it, his head occupied a good one-third of the picture, while the other two-thirds consisted of hideous Hungarian Horntail, with Ron and Hermione clapping their hands in the corner like spectators who had stumbled upon the scene by mistake ...


    A crowd of people gathered around and pointed. To Harry''s horror - Draco Malfoy was staring and sizing up his picture with undisguised contempt on his face, and not far from him, Mafalda excitedly pulled Dennis Creevey in to ask questions, and Dennis enthusiastically introduced it to her, as she pulled out a small green notebook and quill afterward.


    "Do you mind if I take notes?"


    "Oh, of course not."


    Two sharp voices bore through the bustling great hall and reached Harry''s ears.


    If he had to choose, between Malfoy and Mafalda, Harry wasn''t sure who he wouldn''t want to see more here, if it was before this school year, that person would definitely be Draco Malfoy since he would surely make up a bunch of nonsense to taunt him, but now Harry hesitated, he had absolutely no idea what story Mafalda would make up.


    He then noticed something even more alarming as Professor Hap and Sirius walked over in pairs, stopping in front of the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' and surveying the pictures on the curtain with interest, Sirius''s eyes seemed to glow ...


    "Hi, Harry." Harry was jolted by the sudden tap on his shoulder. He looked back to see it was Luna.


    "What are you doing here?" Harry asked in a lowered voice. Mentally regretting for the millionth time that he hadn''t taken a small sip of Felix Felicis before coming here.


    "Hermione has been looking for you." Luna said, "I saw she was too busy and volunteered to help."


    "A lot of people signed up?" Ron asked in surprise. Is S. P. E. W. that popular?


    "Yeah, they can barely keep up with it." Luna said with a big smile.


    Even though he couldn''t hear the accusation in Luna''s tone, Harry was flooded with a faint sense of guilt towards both Hermione and Neville. After all, he was the one who had founded ''The Frontline Lookout Club'', but he now had dumped all the responsibilities on someone else.


    There was a slight hesitation in Harry''s mind, but it was immediately thrown out of the window when he saw Professor Hap walking past, he would die of absolute shame if the professor asked him about the ''Harry Potter Fan Club''.


    ...


    "Can I interview you?" Mafalda asked.


    "What? Me?" Dennis Creevey looked at her with a confused expression on his face and Mafalda nodded, "Oh, okay."


    "What grade are you in?" s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Second year."


    "So you enrolled last year?" Mafalda asked with great interest.


    "Yeah, and I was the one who took that picture." Dennis pointed proudly at the picture featuring the Hungarian Horntail.


    On the other side, Sirius signed the enrolment form with gusto, " So is that all?"


    "Of course!" Colin Creevey replied with excitement as he dug under the booth and pulled out a large box, "All the photos are in there, all of them personally hand-picked by me."


    Sirius left happily with a full set of photographs of his godson.


    "Dennis! I can''t believe we''ve recruited a professor to our club!" Colin exclaimed sharply, he turned back to hug his brother only to find Dennis was missing, he looked around twice and found Dennis being led by a girl towards the deserted S.P.E.W. booth as they chatted.


    Hermione was handing out ''Frontline Lookout Club'' leaflets with Neville and Ginny, occasionally answering the question "What is the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks beast?" or something like that. Hermione''s face looked exasperated, she had decided to put the two club booths together in order not to delay things, but her booth was completely deserted, none of the three freshmen who had previously agreed to come today didn''t show up! On the contrary, the ''Frontline Lookout Club'' was very popular, with a steady stream of people inquiring about it, and the registration forms soon filled up to the brim.


    Hermione looked around the chaotic great hall and thought sadly to herself that the music, films, magical drawings, and violent duelling were more appealing than a society that promotes the rights of elves.


    At that moment, a small, black, round creature suddenly jumped up onto the table.


    "Kee?"


    "Valen?" Hermione looked back to see Valen holding a custom-made wand and waving it around in one hand, the tip of which glowed with Lumos glow brightly and looked like she was waving a glow stick around to cheer her up. "Wow." Hermione''s heart warmed, and she picked up Valen and rubbed her cheek against her face, " Smack-" a small palm-sized book fell out of her Niffler pocket and spread out on the table.


    "A Diary of a Grandmaster?" Hermione could barely make out the crooked letters on the book, and she looked at Valen in confusion as Valen struggled out of her grasp in embarrassment and picked up the small book she had dropped. She then turned her head and slipped away. Hermione pondered where she stood for a few seconds, then pursed her lips with a smile.


    "What''s this about?" A voice asked.


    "Frontline Lookout Club, you can think of it as the Auror training club, it''s self-driven in nature, but we do provide professional training as well as ..." Hermione subconsciously recited the lines, "Er, Professor? "


    Felix smiled and nodded at her.


    "No one asked for it?" He asked, surveying the stack of blank registration forms on the table.


    "It most likely does not match the current trend." Hermione said, hanging her head in sadness.


    "If you just want to attract some members, you could try what the Weasley twins did," Felix said. He and Hermione looked together in the direction of the ''Swear to Defend School Rules'' club, which looked packed, in stark contrast to this side of the room.


    "But I don''t want to-" Hermione said, biting her lip, looking stumped.


    "Hello?" A voice interjected, and Mafalda probed at them; she had just made an appointment with Dennis for an interview and then proceeded to carry out her scheduled plans without stopping. "Can I get a sign up a form?"


    Hermione looked at her with wide eyes, "You''re joining S.P.E.W.?"


    Mafalda shrugged, "If you''re okay with that-"


    "I do!" Hermione instantly said, "You''re interested in house elves too? What were your thoughts on that? I actually think the name is a bit outdated, but it''s the first objective of this organization... I mean, contrary to my original vision, now I want to bring equal rights and benefits to all creatures with human-like intelligence with a new constitution that unites them all. Now the wizards have the absolute superiority over the other creatures in terms of power, making this the right time to show our grace. ..."


    Felix twirled his quill in his hand and listened in silence as his own assistant seemed to keep refining his ideas. In his opinion, equal rights and benefits are unnecessary, and he wouldn''t do such a thankless chore in any way. But nevertheless, it is worthwhile to eliminate hatred and build a pan-magical alliance led by wizards.


    After thinking about it for a moment, he took a registration form and filled it out.


    Mafalda is not quite used to Hermione''s enthusiasm, "Oh, er," she stammered, "there''s something I think you should better be aware of. Counting your club, I''ve joined a total of twenty-seven clubs ..."


    The joy on Hermione''s face froze.


    "Are you kidding me? Or have you joined every club you can possibly sign up for?"


    "Of course not!" Mafalda said angrily, "I made sure to have a chat before I signed up, at least to make sure they didn''t create it on a whim ..." Her voice grew smaller and smaller, as she sounded quite less convincing.


    The two stared blankly at each other for a while before Hermione finally gave in. She said tiredly, "Okay, here''s the form ... wait, someone already filled this one out ... Professor?" Hermione looked around, only to see Harry and Ron sneaking around from the other side, they had pretty much wrapped themselves up like a mummy.


    "You guys - STILL - know - to come back?!" Hermione yelled at them.


    "The Professor left?" Harry and Ron''s eyes dodged, not daring to look at her. Harry blurted out sheepishly, "Great, er, I mean ... what are you doing here?" He turned his head to glare at Mafalda.


    Mafalda raised her face up in a condescending manner.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 556: Grilled Fish (2 in 1)

    "Nothing to do with you." Mafalda said with a stubborn scowl. "Well," Harry quipped accusingly, "what story are you going to make up again? Harry Potter''s secret army? Or Hermione Granger''s ambitious recruitment of an army of house elves, with the determination to overthrow the Ministry of Magic?"


    "Sounds great." Mafalda said, filling out the registration form as quickly as she could, "By the way, your costumes look UGLY, you look like a pair of mummies ..."


    "Don''t concern yourself with us." Ron said angrily. "I''m warning you, stop bossing us around and quit making up stuff about Harry or I''ll deduce some points from your house, I''m telling you! Don''t think I''ll let you get away with it just because you''re related to me-"


    Hermione tapped on Ron''s back wither her finger and Ron paused uneasily, as he muttered reluctantly, "I''m doing her a favour, she has certainly crossed the line ..."


    At that moment a sarcastic voice interjected, "It doesn''t seem like your family name is earning you that much of a brownie point, does it? It was simply a pointless attempt."


    "What are you trying to say?" Mafalda clenched her fists and glared at Draco Malfoy.


    "Prewett," Draco stated softly, his grey eyes fixed on Mafalda as her whole body tensed, "you claim to be from a distant offshoot of the Prewett family, but as far as I know, the last few descendants of the Prewett are few in number and have no children of school age... ..."


    Mafalda''s eyes flinched as she averted her eyes a little as her body trembled a bit.


    "Malfoy, you haven''t changed a bit, all you can do is bully a little girl." Harry couldn''t bear to look away and chimed in to help, but as soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it a little, why the heck did he bother to interject between them, since he hated both of them quite a bit.


    Draco''s expression stiffened, "Just telling the facts."


    Mafalda calmed down as she wisely changed the subject, "Where''s your girlfriend, Malfoy? She literally can''t take her eyes off your pointy chin for a moment, oh my goodness, it''s been almost five minutes, she''s not going to faint, is she?"


    Draco slowly said, "You mean Pansy? She''s gone to perform her duties as a prefect."


    "I don''t think so." Mafalda said with a sly, and snarky tone, "I just saw her trying to confiscate a butterbeer bottle from a student, when it fell to the ground and suddenly exploded and lit her pretty dress on fire, oh, she''s out of luck ..." and with that, she turned and ran off.


    Draco narrowed his eyes and then fixed his gaze on Harry, "So you''re once again famous, Potter?" His head tilted to the side and Harry knew the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' was exactly in that direction.


    "Yeah," Harry said woodenly, he knew Malfoy wouldn''t miss the chance to taunt him, he had thought it would change for good after he promised Malfoy to keep the diary thing a secret a while back.


    "Your fame is always going up, without stopping a single moment, and I''m actually quite bitter about it."


    Ron laughed out loud.


    Draco sized him up twice, "If I were you, I''d go home and go through the family tree to avoid identifying a random person as my relative ... Well, only if you have that kind of thing in your family." After saying it he turned and left.


    "What does he mean?" Ron frowned, as he stared at Draco''s back.


    Hermione sighed, and she glanced carefully at Neville and Ginny, who were not far away from them, and kept her voice low to prevent it from spreading.


    "You guys honestly don''t think Mafalda''s last name is ''Prewett'', do you?"


    "Why not-" Ron asked, and then his eyes widened.


    Harry''s mind raced; Mafalda''s father is a distant cousin of Mrs. Weasley''s, and Mrs. Weasley''s surname was Prewett before she married, and that suggests something ... He quickly found the template for the comparison - Dudley and him. The two of them are cousins, but one of their last names is Dursley while the other is Potter, and if Dudley ever has children in the future, his children will only have the last name Dursley, and not something different, like Potter ...


    It occurred to him now that Mafalda had mentioned that her father is a Squib, and Squibs are looked down upon in the wizarding world. Harry almost instantly believed that Mafalda''s father had suffered a lot of discrimination when he was a little kid, so he certainly wouldn''t want his daughter to be like him and Harry was convinced that as a father he would do something about it when he heard his daughter going to be part of a wizarding community, what would it be? Changing her family name, changing it to one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight which he distantly related to.


    The dislike Harry felt for Mafalda in his heart instantly diminished, and it was replaced by sympathy.


    Ron''s reaction was half a beat slower, but he too thought of what Harry had just thought of, and he opened his mouth without uttering a word, as the three of them silently stopped discussing the subject. But at that moment, it suddenly struck Harry how utterly stupid the idea of pure blood is.


    Harry remembered what Nearly Headless Nick had said.


    Professor Hap had never talked about his origins for a single second, but that hadn''t stopped him from becoming the banner of Slytherin House and the other houses also adored him, but Harry wondered if it was due to the fact that Professor Hap had always given fewer assignments than other professors every time ...


    "For some time I wanted to say, stop your nonsense and take off your ridiculous hoods and get over here to help." Hermione said in a lecturing tone as she straightened her waist again.


    Harry and Ron reluctantly showed their faces, Ron covered his face because he didn''t want to be seen when his name was written under the ''Spew'' word while Harry just wanted to stay away from the Creevey brothers. He peeked behind him and saw that the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' was deserted, leaving only an empty brown curtain and table.


    Was there no recruitment? Harry thought expectantly as Ginny walked over quietly, "They''re out of gifts."


    "What?" Harry asked in confusion.


    "The gifts." Ginny said calmly, "A free set of your photographs for simply joining the club, I think the shots are quite good."


    Harry stared at her, "You also didn''t-"


    Ginny shrugged and admitted readily, "It''s just writing a registration form, it''s a real bargain for those who need it."


    Harry''s face suddenly felt like it was on fire, and he couldn''t speak without stammering.


    "My set is under the table, you can take a look." Ginny covered her mouth and giggled softly, "I will go over to Luna''s booth, she found a bunch of butterbeer corks somewhere and plans to make a few necklaces ... ugh, I''ll have to talk her out of it."


    Harry sat down slowly leaning against the table and caught a glimpse of a large box on which he was winking playfully.


    ...


    Felix crouched in front of a booth, where seven or eight boxes lined up horizontally in front of him, in it dolls of various shapes and sizes were stacked neatly. As he looked past the first row, the dolls appeared more primitive, the proportions of the dolls were somewhat off, and he could see hints of magical golems in them, probably the earliest work of the makers. From the second row onwards the dolls were much more refined, with many other models, including a wonderfully detailed Bowtruckles walking around in one of the boxes, and Felix could hardly find a fault with it except that its head looked a little crooked and its leaves glowed a bit. And those glowing leaves had ancient runes inscribed on them.


    "You used the ''tranquillity'' circuit?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Yes, Professor." Cedric was slightly nervous, "I adapted the elements from the twelve amulets I had seen in class to this, and it worked quite well." With that, he pronounced a crude phonetic phrase, and one of the leaves of the Bowtruckle''s body suddenly burst with bright light, and the expressions of the few people enveloped in the halo - Felix, Cedric, and Cho Chang - all became peaceful.


    "A bit strong." Felix commented.


    Cedric smiled, "I will use it occasionally when I practice my rune writing skills, it calms my restlessness."


    Felix nodded.


    Cedric then introduced him to the dolls on the shelf one by one, "I made these by imitating magical golems, but there were some problems in the joint areas all the time, and the movements were not that fluid ... Later on, I designed some more models that are not just limited to fighting, like this forked tail dog doll(Crup), whose sole function is rolling over."


    "It has a very vivid expression on its face." Felix said.


    "I combined a mixture of transfiguration with it," Cedric explained, " the magic can be sustained for a long time by using runic circuits that can store magic, which makes it more convenient than alchemy, in a sense."


    Felix thought for a moment and enquired, "Any thoughts on where you''ll work after you graduate?"


    Cedric said honestly, "Not really thought about it yet."


    "What do Mr. and Mrs. Diggory think?"


    "My family wants me to enter the Ministry of Magic, my father works in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," Cedric said, "but Collins advised me to join the Auror squad, and Fred and George, have invited me to join their magic trick workshop many times... . But I wasn''t really interested in either."


    "What about your own interest?"


    Cedric looked at the dolls on the table, as his gaze became soft and absorbed.


    " Well, I guess that won''t be that bad." Felix said understandingly.


    The conversation with Cedric had been very rewarding for him. He realized that it seemed that another sub-discipline of Ancient Rune had emerged, combining Ancient Runes and Transfiguration, which may later encompass areas such as alchemy and memory magic; with just a gentle push from him ... Would Cedric dwell even deeper on magic golem study?


    Felix had made a number of magical golems by himself, but it became apparent that he had no desire to delve deeper into the subject, so handing over this expertise to someone who would be worthy and has a passion for it would be the ideal outcome.


    Felix ended the session by suggesting Cedric to check out the second to last row in the restricted section of the library, "Remember to keep this ''Enthusiasm'' alive." He advised before leaving.


    "What did Professor Hap mean by that last statement, a simple encouragement?" Cho Chang looked at Cedric with puzzlement, it didn''t quite sound like that to her.


    Cedric obviously thought so too, and after contemplating it for a few moments, he suddenly broke into an excited smile and said, "I think he meant something like this." He raised his hand and traced a magic rune in the air, and in the next second, the magic rune was transformed into a colourful, beautiful cloud that bounced around in his palm, as if he is holding a flowing aurora borealis.


    "I guess Professor Hap had left some kind of materials there, and the ''Enthusiasm'' Rune is the key to it." Cedric said with certainty.


    "How did you reach that conclusion?" Cho Chang asked with a jubilant voice.


    Cedric stammered, "I told you that Fred and George have been hiding things in the castle in various guises these days, and I know a bit of the inside information, one of the ways to open the hidden treasure spot is to recite a Latin poem in an ancient runic language in front of a suit of armour, or, of course, to whack the armour seventeen or eighteen times in the stomach... ..."


    Felix continued to wander around the great hall in a good mood, as he spotted many professors enjoying this experience alongside the students. The burly Hagrid and Professor Burbage, of Muggle Studies, are standing in front of a poster of a Muggle film.


    Professor Burbage was talking rapidly, but Hagrid was clearly distracted, as he kept staring at the poster: an old monkey standing on a raised rock, holding a newborn lion cub up high, with hundreds of animals standing beneath the rock with their heads bent down.


    In a jarring voice, Hagrid asked, "A cartoon? Is it for kids?"


    The student swallowed as he answered, "Adults can watch it too, I think it''s pretty entertaining."


    "So - er," Hagrid waved his arms, " where can I see it? Do I need to buy a magic projector?"


    "The ''Future World'' company sells them, and Professor Hap once had screened this film in our class." The student whispered.


    " It sounds easy to get," Hagrid muttered, "Do you have any suggestions if I want to show it to a much larger - um - creature than me? "


    "Oh, I think ..." the student said with a shaky voice, as he looked terrified, "Our club doesn''t consider recruiting members of that size... ..."


    "Hello, Hagrid." Felix couldn''t help but interject them.


    Hagrid turned his head and said with delight, " Great! Felix, I''ve just had a great idea, if I could only show little Grawp-" his face suddenly flushed, so much that even his wool cap and the beard on his face couldn''t hide it, "Ahem, I mean if I could show it to the big guys in the Forbidden Forest, it would be great. It would be nice, at least it would reduce their tantrums ..." he muttered.


    "You could write and ask Remus, I remember the company was doing tests on the new product and needed a lot of feedback." Felix said.


    Hagrid left cheerfully.


    As soon as Hagrid had left, Professor Burbage made her way over.


    She pulled a bulging envelope from her pocket and said with annoyance, "Professor Hap, help me pass it on to that big talker, I''ll make him come forward and admit his mistakes!"


    Felix blinked, "Charity, some of his words still make sense."


    "But he is too arrogant," Professor Burbage said with exasperation, "he''s talking like I''m some little kid who doesn''t know anything, hear what he wrote, ''only a fool would abandon his wizardship'' and ''If Technology can''t be used by wizards, it''s only a threat'', Professor Hap, who is your pen pal? I''d really like to have a proper chat with him in person!"


    Snape, who was pretending to be passing by, stiffened and stopped in silence, as he inclined his head to survey the booth in front of him, a soft padded clad wooden stand with a grilled fish sticking out of it, the grilled fish''s eyes locked with his.


    "Would you like a skewer, Professor Snape?" A young girl asked, mustering up her courage.


    Snape tore his gaze away from the dead fish''s eyes and stared into Eleanor Branstone''s eyes, and coldly said, "No need, Miss Branstone."


    On the other side, Felix was patiently explaining to Professor Burbage why his pen pal would not show up, "Charity, you should know that in reality there are some people who are withdrawn, inarticulate, and extremely repulsive to interact with people ..."


    Professor Burbage showed a skeptical look, "Is that so? His language in the letter was pretty much sharp though."


    "Some people prefer to communicate through their writing and think more thoughtfully." Felix said with a shrug.


    Eleanor Branston couldn''t help but gaze curiously at the statue-like Snape, wondering if Professor Snape is thinking that her fish isn''t grilled properly, and pulled out a small jar from her belongings and used her wand to conjure out a blue bellflower-like flame, which circled the grilled fish twice as she sprinkled some spices, and in an instant the aroma was overwhelming.


    Snape''s nose twitched slightly.


    Eleanor Branston looked at him encouragingly, as if waiting for him to ask, but Snape took two cold steps back, revealing Valen, who had been drawn in by the aroma.


    " Travelling Niffler Merchant!" Eleanor Branston called out, pointing at Valen.


    Valen puffed out her chest proudly, her dark eyes blinking as she pointed out her one small finger at the grilled fish on the stand.


    Eleanor Branston handed her one with a grin. S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Valen leaped onto the table and gave an odd glance to Snape, who had been standing next to her and when she saw no reaction from him, she ate it happily.


    It is delicious~!


    "Hey, Valen, so you are here?" Felix who had just concluded his conversation with Professor Burbage turned his head and made his way to the booth where Valen eating. He stared at the grilled fish and muttered to himself, "Looks like a perfect heat, do I have to sign up to get one?" He asked Eleanor, as he looked down.


    "Or you can help with the flyers." Eleanor carefully pointed to a few students not far away, who appeared to be from different houses, but all with one unifying feature: grilled fish in one hand and a flyer in the other.


    "Sounds fair enough," Felix said hesitantly, "would it be alright if I traded it with a recipe, I know a secret sauce that tastes rather ... Severus?" He trailed off in surprise.


    Snape looked at him indifferently.


    "Of course, I''ve heard that you are the person who created the ''fish-deboning spell'' -" Eleanor said.


    "Stop, don''t mention that." Felix grimaced and pulled a piece of parchment from his ring, "One hand on the fish, and the other one on the recipe, deal?"


    Eleanor Branston blinked, "Deal." She glanced over at Snape and handed him two grilled fish over, "The extra is a gift for you, Professor, you can give it to whoever you want."


    "Oh, thanks." Felix took it and took a bite from one of the skewered grilled fish, then turned his head to look at Snape with a smirk, "Want a try? I can assure you, it tastes great."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 557: The First Trump Card

    Snape fought the urge to brush it off and took the grilled fish, but his gaze was frighteningly intense. " Got something to discuss with me, Severus?" Felix asked, seeing that Snape was silent. They emerged from the great hall and made their way to the middle of the yard, where the ground was covered in a blanket of snow.


    "I heard your discussion with Burbage about growing crops with magic-" Snape paused, putting the words together without a rise in his tone, "and I happen to have a similar doubt."


    Of course, he had heard more than that, such as the existence of a pen pal involved, which he assumed would probably be the dangerous man that Dumbledore had mentioned, and through Felix''s description, Snape had a brief mental picture of a withdrawn, stubborn, inarticulate, out-of-touch wizard.


    Such people were not uncommon in the wizarding world. But the one who could alarm Dumbledore so much would probably be someone of great strength.


    These thoughts flashed by as Snape concluded his sentence and surveyed Felix without moving.


    Felix glanced at him, unfazed; he had happened to want to pull a Potions Master in, and compared to Damocles Belby, who lived far away, Severus, who lived close at hand, would be obviously more suitable.


    There is also an alternate candidate in the form of Slughorn, but with that old man''s fickle nature and fondness for enjoyments, it won''t be easy to convince him.


    " The wizards have always shown a disposition to be self-sufficient. Growing vegetables with magic? To them, it''s no different from washing dishes or tidying their rooms with magic, but if you look at it another way - vegetables, fruits, and crops are all life, and no one had ever known for studying how magic played a facilitating role in this process of growth."


    Snape listened silently, always feeling something was wrong, why was the conversation actually going on about growing vegetables?


    "What the wizards have taken for granted is a fantasy in the eyes of the muggles." Felix continued, "I think this is a good starting point." S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Starting point for what?" Snape asked perceptively.


    "Looking at Muggle science from a wizard''s point of view, and ultimately adopt and improve it using magic." Felix said, " This process requires an understanding of both sides - there is no need to be well-versed, and Professor Burbage''s knowledge base is perfectly adequate for it, which is why I introduced this subject to her."


    Snape hummed through his nose and said nonchalantly, " It is indeed better than going into the nature of magic without knowing it."


    Felix didn''t respond to that, "As far as I know, no wizard has ever systematically studied the effects of magic in growing crops before, there is one big reason for that, besides the fact that there are indeed fewer people in the wizarding community: the prevalence of pragmatism among wizards."


    This was the conclusion Felix came to when he looked at the differences between wizards and non-wizards from a broader perspective.


    The foundations of the two buildings, magic, and technology are very different - the former is based on magic and the soul, while the latter is based on reason and logic. For the vast majority of wizards, the ability to reason and deduce logically, although useful, is not necessary, at least it does not interfere with their ability to cast spells.


    Over time, this part of knowledge has only been reflected in specific disciplines.


    "... Magic Planting Studies? Or Magic Agriculture Studies? If Professor Burbage can really work something out, it might change the world."


    "Change the world?" Snape couldn''t help but frown, the very word sounded dangerous.


    "Ah, a poor choice of word," Felix grinned and took a bite of grilled fish, "the accurate term is, wizard''s powerful trump card."


    Snape made a silent note of it while secretly wondering where this card could be used, he subconsciously took a bite of the fish as well, the tender and tasty filet exploded in his mouth followed by a warm heat that filled his stomach and heightened the cold and biting air in the yard.


    He heard Felix continue, "Professor Burbage stands at the doorstep of a whole new field, and I''m happy to provide her some meagre help."


    "Like that pen pal?" Snape risked asking.


    He felt he was getting a little closer to the truth, Dumbledore had instructed him to - no, Dumbledore had no intention of telling him who that person is, but that didn''t stop him from finding out from Felix. Snape thought secretly.


    Well, he didn''t expect it to go so well either, Felix didn''t seem to be hiding it.


    A wonderful sense of familiarity arose in Snape''s mind; when had it happened before? Oh, he had been pulled into the ''Future World'' company, and still to this day he had to take some time out of each month to brew an enhanced version of wolfsbane potions and sort out recipes for alchemical materials ...


    Vigilance instantly pulled up.


    Felix blinked. That was some serious eavesdropping, Severus. Like a seasoned hunter waiting for his prey to take the bait, he explained patiently, " There are more people than just him. At least as far as I can think, the discipline of magical planting - let''s name it that for now - may also require knowledge of spells and potions."


    Him? A male wizard? Snape''s mind wandered. Then it dawned on him why Felix had revealed this information to him readily; it required knowledge of Potions ... He had a feeling he was throwing himself into the net.


    "It seems like a lot of work, and I don''t see any point in it." Snape said calmly, "I''ve only heard of dumb wizards, not starving wizards."


    " Broaden your mind, Severus, there are more than just wizards in this world."


    Snape mulled it over slightly, his calm heart rippled, the hand that held the grilled fish trembled, and he had to use Occlumency to hide his true emotions. After a long while, he asked hoarsely, "You mean - those muggles? No - there is Statute of Secrecy to restrict it - unless -"


    His expression became unfathomable, and then a cold chill went up to his spine.


    Felix waved his hand, "I didn''t mean to defy the Statute of Secrecy, that''s why I said it is just a trump card," Snape was slightly reassured, but Felix''s next words made his heart rise to his throat and his guts jump out along with it.


    "After all, there are lessons to be learned from the past," Felix said, "If I''ve learned anything from the past, it''s that you can''t take an extreme route, because if you''re extreme, the people who support you will be even more extreme. Even if it influences hundreds of thousands of people, it''s somewhat insignificant -" he shot Snape a meaningful look.


    A name instantly dawned on Snape - Gellert Grindelwald. Is he the man Dumbledore is wary of, the first Dark Lord? He listened intently, even slowing his breathing to carefully deduce every word Felix said.


    "Extreme views can bring in blind followers, but they can also separate you and your followers from normal people ..." Felix said, "It happens all the time, doesn''t it? When you are the only one who is distraught by something and crying out for justice, the bystanders who don''t feel that way, would look at ''you'' strangely and be intimidated by the way you wave your arms and subconsciously move away from you."


    " So what did you do to solve this problem?" Snape asked, having calmed down completely.


    "With Dumbledore and the Ministry of Magic holding the front of the line!" Felix said irresponsibly, "At best I am simply anticipating some possible crisis and doing some advance preparation. It''s not illegal to start a company, is it, and supporting the development of the wizarding world is not going to be attacked by the masses ..."


    "Including pushing Burbage to study what you call magic planting study? You think this thing will get us through a certain storm (crises)?" Snape pursued the question heartily.


    "I don''t know." Felix said briefly, "All I know is that there are still over a billion people who don''t have enough to eat in this day and age."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 558: Changes after the club

    The club recruitment event in the great hall came to an end. December brought more snow and cold wind, and one morning Felix was watching outside from his window, Black Lake is frozen thick enough to support hundreds of young wizards skating and sledding on it, with students having snowball fights around the rocks and willows on the shore not far from the lake.


    Someone made a big scene, using magic to conjure up a seven-foot-tall snowman that chased students around, and Felix stared at it for a while before realizing it was a student who had unfortunately been affected by a Sticking Charm and later got hit by snowballs.


    "Kee?"


    Valen who is sitting on his shoulder looked around, as she was amazed by the bustling scene on the black lake, and then she turned her head to look at the Great Demon Lord for permission.


    "Well, don''t forget to eat, I''ll be staying over at Severus'' place the whole day." Felix said as Valen happily jumped down and rummaged through her pockets for her gear, as she has to maintain her reputation as a combat Niffler. Valen has been around Felix for a long time now and has been influenced by his occasional mischief, or a bad sense of humour, coupled with the great demon king''s strong backing, caused Valen''s notoriety in this area to gradually spread.


    Presently, she draped herself in a small cloak and selected one of her seven exclusive wands which were jewelled with gems a size of a rice grain, as she glided down through the window facing the black lake. The little cloak opened behind her, rippling with light, and carried Valen off into the distance.


    Valen waved her wand excitedly in the air, a blue and a green gem lit up under the vibrations of a specific frequency of her magic, as a snowman Nifflers formed quickly under the magic of the gem, and they followed Valen in mid-air all the way across the sky towards the black lake.


    The sound of students exclaiming and laughing in the distance put Felix in a good mood as he gathered his things and headed down the revolving staircase, past the entrance hall, and towards the Potions class office on the basement level. Suddenly he heard a familiar voice--


    " I never imagined, that I would kind of miss Professor Grubbly-Plank one day; Hagrid actually got the latest magic projector, I''m really worried that future classes will consist of teaching Grawp how to adjust the buttons on the projector." Ron kicked and stomped his way outside, and then he seemed to have tripped and fallen, with snow caked all over his clothes.


    "I tried to talk him out of it, but he thinks it''s all under control." Hermione''s voice was slightly muffled. She carried a snowman Niffler in her arm.


    "Miss Granger?"


    Felix called out to them and Harry, Ron, and Hermione paused, Hermione was startled and dropped the snowman Niffler in her hand to the floor, which jumped up and hit her a few times - "Ouch!" Hermione yelped and watched as Niffler Snowman stormed out of the entrance hall and ran off after a large group.


    Felix couldn''t help but laugh.


    Hermione turned red, "We saw Valen pass by in the sky and there were so many more on the ground ... everyone picked up one ..." she stammered.


    Felix blinked, so Valen hadn''t flown very far before the army of Niffler she had high hopes for had been intercepted by the little Hogwarts wizard? He felt a little sorry that he hadn''t seen that scene, and Harry and Ron turned their heads sideways and laughed, as they had wanted to do so for a long time.


    Hermione gave them a stern look and asked in a stammering tone, "Professor? Is there something wrong?"


    "Ah, yes," Felix retracted his smile and took a pouch of gold coins and a piece of parchment out of his ring, "the money for the New Solutions to Runes Magazine has arrived, help me distribute it to the students according to the list ... "


    "Is it still five galleons each?" Ron asked eagerly.


    "That''s right Weasley," Felix said, "I remember you published several articles under the name ''Frontline Lookout''?"


    " Yup." Ron said happily.


    "Then you guys can have a nice Hogsmeade weekend." Felix said, turning his head to Harry who had been silent, "I saw the article you wrote about incorporating the Rune ''Sun Wheel'' into the Patronus Charm to make the Patronus stronger ... Genius idea. "


    Harry grinned a little, "I was just trying it out, didn''t you suggest me to work on the Patronus Charm more when I had the time, before I put most of my energy into the Occlumency, but now there is no need for that, so I am spending my time working on the Patronus."


    "The scar didn''t hurt again in the last two months?" Felix asked.


    Harry nodded. Something suddenly occurred to him, "Professor, I''ve tried quite a few ancient runes, but this is the only one that worked, and I''ve never been able to figure out why ..."


    Felix thought for a moment and said with uncertainty, "I would suggest you to try more runes that lean towards the spirit and will, after all, the Patronus itself is a product of positive emotions."


    Harry looked down in thought when Hermione blurted out, "So Harry was able to pull it off because the Rune ''Sun Wheel'' symbolizes a positive rising process and also indicates a change of will under the influence of magic ... "


    Felix nodded approvingly.


    "In that sense, the ''tranquillity'', ''enthusiasm'' and even the ''light'' rune you have learned can be tried out with the charm. Well, when the Christmas break is over, I will have a look at your club ..."


    Harry breathed a sigh of relief when Felix left. Thankfully, the Professor hadn''t talked to him about anything else. He had been avoiding meetings with Professor Hap lately and was on the edge since meeting him now. It was simply because the scene of the Professor''s reviewing the Harry Potter Fan Club at the start of December was too awful to look back on for the rest of his life.


    If there is a spell that uses an emotion like an embarrassment to cast it, Harry thinks he would surprise everyone by casting it very powerful beyond his mastery.


    I wonder who - Harry seriously suspected it was Snape - who had put the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' together with ''Frontline Lookout Club'' in a very conspicuous place, so he was forced to stand expressionlessly in a corner of the great hall and listen to the Creevey brothers talk about the significance of the Harry Potter Fan Club in front of a crowd of professors, "Harry Potter is the bravest man I''ve ever met, he fought the Basilisk and outsmarted the You-Know-Who... "The Creevey brothers spoke on stage in a high, staccato voice, like a duet, and Harry was leaning against the cold wall, praying that he would sink into it, preferably without anyone finding it.


    At least he didn''t have the courage to look which of the three, Snape, Sirius, or Professor Hap, had the most excited expression on their face... Not to mention that all of Harry''s professors who were teaching his classes had come over to join in the fun that day, and he didn''t know how he''d gotten through the last two weeks.


    "Harry, you could fry an egg on your face." Ron commented at that time.


    Even though the memory was really unbearable, Harry had secured 120 galleons for the ''Frontline Lookout'' activities. Hermione was jealous as she only received a stipend of 10 galleons for her meticulously Prepared S.P.E.W. speech which Snape interrupted nastily, "This is not the venue for the Minister of Magic''s campaign, Miss Granger. If you want to achieve even a tenth of your vision, you''ll have to wait till you graduate."


    Hermione was exasperated for a few days, and at one point fantasized about using a Permanent Sticking Charm to stamp the new S.P.E.W. slogan on the door of Snape''s office. Even Harry and Ron, who had been upset with Snape, were startled and were forced to persuade her with facts and reason.


    In addition to a substantial amount of gold galleons, the ''Frontline Watch'' had well over fifty members, for which the school had given them a spacious abandoned classroom as an activity area. -It wasn''t until later that Harry learned from Professor McGonagall that the house-elves would help with the cleaning up, but they hadn''t had the chance to do it yet due to lack of manpower.


    Hermione insisted that the house-elves should not help, saying condescendingly, "I can do it myself." Ron snickered, "Who said otherwise, it''s just a broom room ... anyway," and he paid for it, spending most of the afternoon on thick dust and stubborn paint.


    But I am innocent, I didn''t say anything about it, Harry couldn''t help but complain that day.


    There was another change.


    Mafalda had made an appearance at the ''Frontline Lookout Club'' and, in fact, there were several new faces at the club that he hadn''t expected to meet, such as the Greengrass sisters, and he almost thought he would also meet Draco Malfoy.


    Then Mafalda told him that Malfoy hadn''t even joined a club.


    " Well, he will just wait and see, it''s a Malfoy family tradition that they won''t make a stand easily ..." Ron hit the truth right on the head.


    To Harry, Mafalda''s change in attitude towards him was purely a surprise.


    He speculated secretly that it was probably because he had defended her that day that Mafalda had finally given up on making up stories about him in her little essay, and in her words, she had simply "matured to do something more meaningful."


    "It''s just a campus gossip tabloid," said the equally sociable Fred: "She fills it with news she gets from thirty-seven clubs. It supposedly sells well."


    Harry, Ron and Hermione looked at each other.


    " Is it popular?" Hermione asked with mixed emotions. S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There were quite a few submissions from people," George said, " along with advertisements and anonymous love letters."


    "You guys wouldn''t be one of them, would you?" Ron asked with a squint.


    "We''re paid for it, a full two Sickles." Fred said, first with some indignation, then with a look of admiration, "To be honest, I kind of like her, that''s not a bad business to run ..."


    "We both felt like we were outdated." George said with a thumbs up.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 559: The Last Minute Scenario (2 in 1)

    Felix knocked on the door in the dungeon office, Snape was wearing the same black cloak as always, his curly black hair fell to the back of his neck, and his unwavering dark eyes always reminded Felix of the grilled fish he had eaten that day under the cold wind in the yard. The person who had opened the door silently stepped aside, revealing Professor Burbage bent over the table, her hair dishevelled as if it were a pile of hay and her wide glasses looked like a pitchfork stuck in the hay. As Professor Burbage was carefully inspecting a flower pot.


    "Did I miss something?" Felix asked pleasantly.


    "You''re just in time, Felix." Professor Burbage said with excitement, still not taking her face off the flowerpot, "I told Severus that we had to wait for you to come over and witness this ..."


    "There''s nothing to witness." Snape said.


    He slammed the door behind him and strutted over to the table, where he pulled a glass vial out of his top pocket. "Please." He said coldly, and Professor Burbage hurriedly stepped aside, holding her breath as she watched Snape carefully screw open the stopper and drop a drop of liquid into the flower pot.


    A miraculous sight occurred.


    The brown dirt in the pot bulged up to reveal an inconspicuous hint of a tender green bud, and a few minutes later, as the three of them watched in silence, a palm-sized green shoot swayed gently in the pot.


    "This is ...," Felix enquired.


    "A rejuvenation potion, a magical potion that prompts seeds to sprout." Snape said.


    "Don''t you have to add a Growth Potion? I remember when these two potions used together it could even restore most of the wilted plants to health." Felix asked curiously.


    "There''s no need to waste it," Snape said, "the seeds Burbage provided are plenty nutritious on their own."


    "Can I take it back with me?" Professor Burbage asked pleadingly, eyeing the seedling in its pot.


    "Oh, no." Felix immediately said, "We had a deal."


    He wanted to take the potted plant with him to get it tested in a lab, mainly to see the changes in nutrient content in the soil and the subsequent growth of the plant. Burbage knew this too, she just couldn''t bring herself to part with it. Right now she is looking at Snape with a pitiful look, "Severus ..."


    "I only brewed this one vial of potion." Snape grunted, "With the most basic ingredients, as someone requested."


    Felix reassured Professor Burbage, "There''s no need to rush, Charity, there''s absolutely plenty of time to spare. From germination, growth, flowering, and fruiting of the seeds ... We only need to figure out the first step for now, which will speed up the growth cycle by at least half a month compared to the normal process, no?" He asked Professor Burbage.


    "Yes, absolutely possible." She said with conviction.


    "That''s enough." Felix said, "Don''t think it''s insignificant, studying the process thoroughly is quite remarkable and fully worthy of an Order of Merlin ..."


    Professor Burbage left with a red face, she now wanted to ask Headmaster Dumbledore for a plot of land to build an experimental greenhouse.


    "I am sure Sprout will help, and she would be more than happy to do so." Snape said dryly from the doorway, hoping she would bother him less in the future. Turning his head, he found the culprit sitting leisurely on the sofa, flipping through a magazine.


    "What have you come up this time, some new ''Trump Card''?" He sarcastically asked.


    "I was wondering if the Killing curse could kill the bacteria in the water ... Okay, I''m just kidding, forget about it." Felix hurriedly said when he saw the look on Snape''s face. " I have one thing to tell you, Mr. Scamander has found a way to make the Blast-Ended Skrewt breed steadily, he said in his letter that they are now overflowing with larvae and asked if I needed some ..."


    Snape thought hard for a moment.


    "The slime of the Blast-Ended Skrewt larvae is corrosive, but when handled well, it can remove the properties of certain potion ingredients without losing its excellent secondary component."


    "Then you''d better publish a few articles and help to spread the word." Felix said.


    Snape nodded, that is what he was hoping for. The office quieted down and Snape stared at the specimen jar on the shelf against the wall and said, "I was informed that you have the Ravenclaw diadem in your possession ..."


    "Dumbledore told you about this?" Felix asked.


    "Not him." Snape said.


    Felix frowned, it is something that only Dumbledore knew about, he never brought it out to show it personally, mainly because he felt too ashamed to use it covertly all the time. On the contrary, Valen had worn it for a while at the very beginning of her studies, but Valen had no idea what it was, other than that-


    "Did someone from the Ministry of Magic tell you that?" Felix murmured as he mulled it over, "But only a few people in the Ministry of Magic might have a clue about it, and these kinds of important files on record usually wouldn''t be noticed by the general staff of the Ministry unless someone deliberately went looking for ... Oh, I see."


    Voldemort still had his hand in the Ministry of Magic.


    "What''s that?" Snape asked softly, as he had long wanted to enquire about these. "It can''t simply be a relic of Rowena Ravenclaw. Although legend has it that her diadem can increase one''s wisdom, but the Dark Lord attaches far more importance to the diadem itself than the legend."


    Felix fell into silence. The fewer people knew about the secret of the Horcrux, the better it would be, but since Sirius knew about it ... he seemed hesitant, his biggest concern still being the fear that Severus would be able to deduce the secret of Harry being a half Horcrux himself. In fact, Sirius''s side is also a hidden problem, but Sirius doesn''t really know much about Horcruxes, especially not the fact that they can be made out of living beings, while Severus has the chance to know about the existence of the snake.


    "Something to do with the secret of his immortality?" Snape asked in a low voice.


    He watched the expression on Felix''s face carefully, and although he found nothing, a moment of silence was enough to allow him to surmise part of the truth.


    Instead of pressing the issue, Snape changed the subject and added, "The Dark Lord found out about it through a spy from the Ministry of Magic, and he asked me to sidetrack it, but I thought - it would be better to ask you directly. I already have enough trouble to deal with and don''t want to waste any more time ..."


    Felix smiled, " It really is the least time-consuming way to go. Perhaps Voldemort will praise you for your efficiency."


    "I have no intention of reporting back immediately," Snape said, "The Dark Lord takes this matter very seriously, even more than his desire for the item in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, and he revealed to me that he would find an opportunity to arrange a spy to work with me."


    "Send a spy to the school?" Felix felt amused.


    It would have been a good plan, but with Snape around, it seemed a bit ridiculous. He didn''t take it too seriously, if he captured the spy now, it would probably reveal Snape''s undercover identity, and Felix guessed that Dumbledore might push the boat along the tide and wait for the spy to present himself at the school, and then it would depend on who would show up at the school.


    He was somehow looking forward to it.


    Voldemort only had one Horcrux with him now, and presumably, his insecurity was at an all-time high; he just didn''t know if the golden cup was on him, or Bellatrix Lestrange. By all accounts, Voldemort is not the man to entrust his only lifeblood to his men. So ...


    Felix tries to simulate what Voldemort is thinking at this moment: if I were him - in Voldemort''s situation - what would I do?


    The first thing that must be done is to make sure that the Horcruxes are secure.


    There are three Horcruxes that ''I'' clearly know that have been destroyed, the diary, the snake, and the ring; the Horcruxes whose status cannot be determined consist of the diadem and the locket. The diadem may be in the school, well, ''I'' currently don''t know that it''s on Felix Hap. And the locket - "Where do you plan to spend your Christmas break, Severus?" Felix asked, looking up. Snape looked at him in confusion, and replied, rather reluctantly, "Need to do some errands at the Order of the Phoenix base..." Felix withdrew his gaze, good, got it - so ''I'' suspected that the locket had been stolen by a former servant. Regulus had died over a decade ago, and if the Horcrux hadn''t been destroyed, the best chance of it being in the old Black ancestral house would be high, a place where he couldn''t possibly enter for now.


    And in addition to that?


    ''I'' also knew that I had some sort of connection to Harry Potter at school. For the past two months, I had to protect my mind with Occlumency a little tighter... It was quite frustrating but at the moment it seemed to be the best thing to do ... because ''I'' am not sure if this connection will extend to other Horcruxes, damn, the half-told prophecy! Damn Harry Potter! Now ''I'' must ensure that the only Horcrux is under my nose and I must never be separated from the Golden Goblet unless there is a compelling reason to do so ...


    Felix thought hard, and he was going to find out that reason now. He continued to contemplate.


    There are two other people on his level in the wizarding world, and if they set up a trap, all hell will break loose, so ''I'' must be very cautious now, but ''I'' know that one of them will not live long, so I just have to wait in peace... ...but I wouldn''t mind giving him a kick when he''s at his weakest if possible, it would be a wonderful feeling. That''s if he''s holding the Horcruxes that are crucial to ''me'' ...


    Felix was instantly enlightened.


    Was this Dumbledore''s plan? To use the Horcrux to bait Voldemort? But there seemed to be no place for him in this fight, it would be entirely a one-on-one affair between Dumbledore and Voldemort ...


    "What can I do?" Felix asked himself, "Yeah, it''s so easy, I should have known." He said with glee.


    Of course, it would be a good opportunity to get the last Horcrux while they were at it.


    Well, now for that ''last minute'' scenario - Voldemort and the Golden Cup Horcrux have to be separated, and no one would be stupid enough to bring their second lifeline to a duel to the death, even if the opposite party is a dying man, and the only person Voldemort could trust with it would be Bellatrix Lestrange.


    Snape stared at Felix, who was mumbling to himself, oblivious to his complex mental activities.


    "Care to have a game of Exploding Snap, Severus?" A moody Felix asked.


    ...


    Well, they certainly didn''t play the cards.


    Felix emerged from the Potions class office with the student club list that was also posted on the notice board in the entrance hall, albeit that had been dated three weeks ago.


    Christmas is just around the corner.


    Felix is planning to make a trip to Newt''s house over the holidays - to update his ''material library'' - and he''s also going to travel around the world and collect some rare magical creatures while he''s at it. As he passed a huge suit of armour in the corridor, he suddenly stopped to take a closer look at it, as it seemed to have some kind of hidden magic in it...


    The helmet of the armour also rattled as it slowly lowered its head and locked eyes with Felix.


    Felix: "..."


    "Clang, clang, clang ..." S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Huff, huff, huff ..."


    Felix stopped banging on the armour and turned his head to look into Keeper Filch''s light-coloured, furious eyes and asked, somewhat awkwardly, "Mr. Filch?"


    " Oh it''s Professor Hap, I thought ..." Filch mumbled, "I was just chasing Peeves who had somehow got a bubble gun and there were colourful bubbles all over the ceiling ... It could be Zonko''s new product, I must report it ..."


    Felix waited in silence for Filch to leave. "Clang! Clang!" He knocked twice more and the armour finally seemed to have had enough and opened the mask on his helmet and began to dry heave.


    "By the way, Professor Hap, I wanted to ask-" Filch, who had walked away, came back with an embarrassed and curt expression on his face but then froze when he saw Felix''s movements, and Felix had a bit of a headache, he simply wanted to examine the strange armour.


    It was at this point that the armour exaggeratedly cupped its belly and opened its mouth to spit out a red envelope, which slowly floated through the air as the two watched.


    "Oh." Felix whispered, recognizing what it is. The Howler began to smoke and then burn, and he took a few steps back and reached out, detaining the sound within the confines of the entrance hall. After a few seconds, a cheerful voice that belonged to the Weasley twins, which had been amplified hundreds of times, rang out.


    "It doesn''t matter if you''re Peeves - or a Filch - or a brat who failed an exam - or - -"


    Fred''s and George''s voices interchanged with each other.


    "You''re great -"


    "And certainly mischievous -"


    "adventurous -"


    "Got caught numerous times -"


    " Indomitable - "


    "The persistent -"


    "The number one delinquent!" Voices began to converge here and there, and Filch''s face turned purple. The Howler continued to thrash through the air with glee, " Hurry up! We''ve made plenty of help accessible to you, provided you and I have our hearts in the right place!"


    "Bang!" The Howler exploded into a ball of flame, from which colourful fireworks flew out and finally disappeared in unison.


    An embarrassing silence followed.


    Felix patted the dust from his body and, despite his inner grudge, on the surface, he pretended to be calm and asked, "Mr. Filch, did you forget any tools?"


    "Oh, er, yes." Filch muttered vaguely, the loosely hanging flesh of his face twitching unnaturally. As he brushed past Felix, Felix heard him curse the Weasley twins'' names over and over again.


    As Filch headed towards the office, Felix hurried out of the castle as well. After stepping on the stone steps and taking a few breaths of the dry, cold air, he relaxed.


    Felix could see that Filch had something to say to him, and might even have been preparing for it for a long time, but the timing was indeed a little awkward just now. Let''s wait until we have another chance. If he heard the news of the Weasley twins'' detention, he would certainly be able to reminisce about today''s event happily.


    Felix made his way down the steps. Seeing Valen having fun from a distance, made him grin widely before changing his direction and making his way through the greenhouse and vegetable patch to the edge of the forbidden forest. A few shifts later, he is standing at the edge of the cave where the giant Grawp stayed over for this winter.


    There was a loud "thump, thump" sound came from inside, and tiny stones tumbled down through the cracks in the rocks above his head. Felix caught the smell of a mixture of mould and straw.


    "Grawp - wrill brte (will bite) - Ahe lan (the lion) -" the voice sounded deafening.


    "Shut up! You stupid bastard!" Hagrid yelled, "Be a good boy and go brush your teeth."


    There was another smashing sound, which sounded like an outburst of discontent.


    "Ouch-" Hagrid ran out, panting as he covered his face in pain, his moleskin coat ripped open in several places.


    "Are you all right, Hagrid?"


    "Felix?" Hagrid looked surprised as he grinned and pulled the bits of stone out of his beard, "It''s all right, little Grawp was messing with me, he''s improving fast, even when he loses his temper he holds back from hitting people ..." then his tone turned low, " Though there''s still a possibility of an accident."


    "Are you showing him a film?" Felix glanced towards the cave, from this angle all he could see was a huge, dirty foot


    "Yeah," Hagrid said cheerfully, "Little Grawp loves little animals, just like me! I''m going to take him to meet some friends in the Forbidden Forest when the time is right, without him being on a leash ... but not now, I''ll just have to show him the film. He''s never seen a lion before and is curious about it, and I planned to give him the book you gave me."


    Felix zoned out for a moment, remembering the set of books he had given Hagrid when he first visited his door, with the various muggle animals drawn on them.


    At that moment, there was another smashing sound heard from the cave and Felix saw the big foot "thumping" on the ground, like a drum.


    "Quiet! I''m talking to Fili!" Hagrid yelled at the cave.


    " Fili? Fill - Hermy- Hagger- Ciri- Hari- Rong-" Grawp yelled down from inside.


    Hagar said helplessly, "His English is still substandard and fixated; he thinks Hari sounds better ..."


    "Is there something wrong at school?" He asked gruffly.


    "Oh, no. It''s a personal matter." Felix said, "I want to know the location of the giant tribe - I know they''ve gone deep into the mountains... I mean, I wanted to know which direction they''ve run off in." He saw Hagrid trying to speak and quickly added.


    "You aren''t thinking of dealing with them, right?" Hagrid muttered uneasily, "They ... are kinda miserable, with not much left of them."


    " Well, I have no need to do that, but I think it''s necessary to check on their status, considering that they have disappeared from the wizard''s sight for a long time."


    Hagrid froze for a moment, "Well, I can only tell you the general direction, do you have a map?"


    "I''ve collected a bunch ..."


    ...


    When Felix reappeared, he was at the edge of the Black Lake.


    Valen was skating on the ice while he stood at the edge. One of the students must have transfigured a pair of ice skates for her, and judging by the movement alone, her skating skills were much better than most of the Hogwarts students.


    "Valen, do it again!" A student shouted excitedly.


    Valen happily pulled out her exclusive wand and waved it casually, a stormy wind swept up the snowflakes on the ice like a tumbling snow dragon, and Valen rushed straight into the whirlwind, as her small yellow hat and scarf fluttered high in the snowflakes.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 560: Hawthorn Wand (2 in 1)

    Over the next two days, Felix found himself always bumping into Filch on various occasions. From the staff common room and the Ancient Rune classroom to the entrance to the great hall and behind one of the armour in the corridor, his reserved and flattering face could be seen from time to time ... Felix waited for news of the Weasley twins'' detention, but it was completely uneventful. He guessed Filch must have spent all his time figuring out how to have a ''chance meeting'' with him.


    On the third morning, Filch crouched at the door of the Ancient Rune office with a bucket, rags, and other cleaning tools, huffing and puffing as he went through his work.


    "Hello ..." Filch flashed his mouthful of big yellow teeth, "Professor Hap, I noticed the entrance is a bit dirty ..."


    "Come in and have a seat, Mr. Filch."


    Filch nimbly dashed in as he brushed past him, displaying agility that was completely out of proportion to his age. His eyes seemed to lit up at the sight of Valen, who was self-entertaining herself on the sofa, controlling a bunch of little coloured figures as they danced with her exclusive wand.


    "Mr. Filch?" Felix called twice before he snapped back to attention.


    Filch rubbed his hands together and said flatteringly, "Your Niffler is really smart, and it is rumoured she also can write."


    "Thanks." Felix said briefly, "Bang." As he closed the door.


    ...


    "I''m a Squib, Mr. Hap." Filch whispered, "A Squib is a-"


    "I know the definition of a Squib." Felix said, "We can move to the point a little faster, as I noticed you seem to be dwelling on it for a long time."


    "Oh, okay, yeah." Filch said wretchedly, "Squib ... er, we were never taken seriously, just a second class citizen, not even as good as those house-elves, at least they can use magic ... you don''t know, how I have to carry the kerosene lamp and fight with the mischievous, dumb kids on a daily basis. ..."


    "I remember the school purchasing a stock of small magic lamps." Felix reminded him.


    "Yes, yes, but that light was too bright to catch without alerting them." Filch said wryly.


    Felix was silent, not wanting to comment whatsoever about the war between Filch and the students. All he knew is that Hogwarts needed someone to help keep order, lock the doors at night, and clean the castle at their leisure, so there is Filch.


    Filch did a good job, but he likewise extended his power boundlessly, repeatedly suggesting for the school to reinstate corporal punishment, the underlying root cause of which was naturally due to his jealousy towards the students.


    At the same time, Felix understood the reason why Felch came to the door.


    "... We don''t even have a birth record! The only way to prove our existence is by looking up our parents'' names ... When I was ten and hadn''t shown any magical abilities, my family was frustrated. When I turned eleven, naturally, I didn''t receive my letter from Hogwarts, and they started talking about sending me away to a Muggle school, but it didn''t happen because there was a war going on outside at the time!" Old Filch gasped, "People were dying everywhere, and they were so frightened that they decided to leave me behind ... and pretend that they didn''t have me because I disgraced them and other relatives of the family stopped showing up at our door ... "


    "Professor Hap - Mr. Hap - you can naturally see how much ridicule I have received, having spent my adult life wandering the wizarding world on my own, and if it hadn''t been for the encouragement of Lady Oakby... ..."


    "Idris Oakby?" Felix asked.


    "It is her. She is a good person, better than anyone. Too bad she died ten years ago, it''s true that good people don''t live long ...," Filch said emotionally.


    Felix blinked; he had heard similar remarks back in the headmaster''s office, where the chubby Slughorn was eating an icing pineapple while lamenting the misfortune of one of his favourite students, Lily. Felix thought these words were entirely heartfelt, as Slughorn had forked out a small vial of Felix Felicis.


    As for the Oakby that Filch spoke of, her full name is Idris Oakby and her only widely known contribution was the establishment of the Society for the Support of Squibs, a society dedicated to helping the Squibs living in the magical world in any way they could ...


    Oakby died ten years ago at the age of 113. But in Filch''s words, it became "good people don''t live long" ...


    "More than twenty years ago, I was doing odd jobs all over the place, not even able to buy newspapers, and scavenging for leftovers every day, until one day," Filch suddenly beamed, as his eyes widened, "do you know what I saw?"


    "A job posting?"


    Felix conjured up in his mind the image of a cynical, cranky, idle, headstrong, stubborn, middle-aged man: doing a menial job with a fire of jealousy inside him. Of course, he had better options, but he had spent his entire childhood in the wizarding world, and letting Filch leave would be tantamount to killing him. So he muddled along until one day the middle-aged man got his hands on a newspaper from the trash - or from some wizard on the street - that changed his fate forever.


    After seeing the job posting on it, his life took a turn, and thus the Filch, the Caretaker of Hogwarts born.


    "That''s right! Finally, I made it to Hogwarts! Thirty years late, but still made it, and I saw the young students, sir, and you don''t know how envious I was of them ..." Filch looked frantic, part of his face strangely contorted and trembling as if spilling out his dark inner secrets unimpeded for the first time.


    Valen, who was playing with the colourful little figures, was stunned and stared blankly at Filch, whose expression was out of control. She looked at the Great Demon King and then at Filch, wondering whether to slip out and call his cat over, as Filch''s nose was about to drip a bucket of snot.


    Luckily Filch pulled a dirty handkerchief out of his pocket just in time. He blew his nose so hard in a fit of anger that made the edge of the handkerchief fly around. Filch looked up, showing his red nose, and smiled curtly, "Mr. Hap, I''m sorry to make you see this. You are one of the few people at school who have helped me, and I feel no reason to hide -"


    He met a pair of silver eyes, the silver glow covering the pupils and whites of the eyes. He had never seen such a sight before and was unable to speak in terror.


    "Filch, do you know the definition of a Squib?" Felix asked.


    Filch felt puzzled, he had tried to explain it at the beginning of the conversation, only to be stopped by Felix, and now Felix had brought the subject up again, Filch thought he was being mocked, and his face turned ugly.


    "Like many concepts in the magical world, Squib is rather a broad concept, and we can define it from all angles." Felix said steadily, "The common definition in the magical world deems someone - who was born in a wizard family, but unable to demonstrate any magical ability - as a Squib."


    Filch looked at him blankly.


    "Professor Haa-Hap?"


    "I hope you''ll notice the subtle distinction here, it''s the key to keep this conversation going-" Filch''s face showed a clear confusion, but he meekly shut his mouth. Professor Hap''s expression at the moment was somewhat frightening. "- Many parents can''t actually be sure if their child is a Squib, there''s no way to be sure ... what really kills their hope is the letter of notification from Hogwarts, and if it''s received, they are naturally not a Squib. Even if his spell casting at the beginning was crappy ... have you actually had the experience of casting a spell?" Felix asked coldly.


    Filch froze, and stammered, "I haven''t, never-"


    "No, you don''t understand me ..." Felix''s silver eyes gazed at him and stared at the meagre magic inside him that looked like stubborn stone, but it was an exaggerated metaphor; magic and stone were two different things from every sense of the word. They could not be the same.


    Felix murmured, "Not some complete spell, one of those tiny, accidental experiences that you had dismissed only as an illusion: rattling a small piece of paper, breaking a cup with just a little force when you were angry ... you had that experience, hadn''t you?"


    "I ..." Filch thought hard and put on a pondering face, "I think I have ... yes!" He suddenly shouted, startling Valen again, and she held up her little wand in front of her. Filch tried his best to keep his eyes wide as they shone with reminiscence, "I remember a particularly stubborn stain a few years ago, I used up a whole bottle of detergent, and it didn''t go away, I just kept staring at it for a while in a frustration... watching it in a bit of a trance, and then it was gone... . Does that count?"


    He looked at Felix with an expectant look on his face.


    "We can try." Felix said with great interest, jumping up from his armchair as though he would sooner witness an interesting piece of spectacle.


    Half an hour later, Filch left excitedly.


    "Mr. Filch," Felix called to him from behind, "your magical response is too weak if you don''t mind me asking-"


    "Oh no, this is good enough for me," Filch grinned gleefully, holding a small, jewelled wooden wand in his hand, "even if it only works once in ten times, it''s still a godsend for me!"


    But not for me, Felix thought to himself.


    Upon closer examination, he realized that the magical fluctuations in Filch''s body were far weaker than Valen''s. Even comparing Valen and Filch together was somewhat bullying; Valen may be a Niffler, but she is a normal Niffler, not a Squib Niffler.


    In terms of talent, she simply beats Filch by a landslide.


    It took a lot of effort on Felix''s part to make it slightly more useful by adding a whole five ''amplification circuits'' in the end. The final result, the small wooden wand in Filch''s hand, had seven gems inlaid on it: one to store magic, five inscribed with amplification circuits, and only the last one containing the actual magic, the Scouring Charm.


    That is all he could achieve for now.


    Felix pulled back his tangled thoughts and said calmly, "You misunderstand, Argus. I meant to say that your situation is typical, and I''m going to take some time to study a few more similar cases - not now, of course - and I assume you know some friends who share your plight?"


    Filch blinked twice and asked tentatively, "You''d like to get to know them?"


    Felix shrugged, "As you said, the Ministry of Magic doesn''t have their names. It''s pretty hard to find them ..."


    After closing the door, Felix sat down on the couch to play the Exploding Snap Cards with Valen.


    But his thoughts had wandered elsewhere.


    The Squibs had always played the role of the invisible people, and by contrast, the Ministry of Magic''s recent stream of incentives and enticements for werewolves to register voluntarily spoke volumes about everyone''s attitude.


    One Filch certainly doesn''t matter, but the group of Squibs is a natural link between the wizarding world and the ordinary world. If the wizarding world would ever be forced to go public, the best person Felix could think of to travel between the two worlds would be the Squibs group.


    Felix seemed to see a second trump card beckoning him ... Well, he decided to ignore it, for now, Voldemort is still alive and kicking. He decided to leave the preliminary work to the employees of ''Future World'' Company.


    Gotta find something for them to do.


    "Kee! (You lost!)"


    Felix snapped back to find Valen darting around with a small notebook, ''On a certain date, month and year, the Great Demon King lost for the first time against the Genius Niffler Valen ...'' After peeking from the side, Felix confiscated the notebook in annoyance.


    "This one doesn''t count, let''s play another hundred games!"


    ...


    In the last Ancient Rune class before Christmas, Felix looked down from the podium at the students who were completely out of the mood for class.


    "Professor, Professor Flitwick had allowed us to have free time in his class." One student boldly hinted. His words drew a low murmur of agreement, "Yes, Professor, you only need to spend two minutes at the end to assign our assignment." Another student chipped in boldly.


    Felix looked at them with a wry smile, "That''s not impossible. I''ll assign the assignment first and after that, if you still feel you all need free time for the rest of the class, I''m all for it ..."


    A suppressed cheer had risen from below the podium as the two students who had spoken had enjoyed heroic attention.


    "Given that some students will not be able to cast spells during the holidays, I will not assign any practical assignments. The whole thing is on the ''answer space'' where you will find a new gift sign on it ... the one that is hanging on the Christmas tree, and yes, that is your holiday assignment." S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The students opened their parchments.


    Harry stared at the ''Christmas tree'' in incredulity: there is a small, silly-looking lion at the bottom of the tree. It kept jumping up and down, pawing at the gift box hanging on the branch, which naturally turned out to be a waste of effort.


    There is also a pattern of a glowing wand next to the gift box.


    He turned his head to see Hermione excitedly poking her wand at it, and the gift box in the tree immediately fell down and was pounced on by the impatient lion cub. "Bang!" The lion cub was drowned in test papers.


    "Quite a novelty, isn''t it?" She said gleefully.


    "Yeah, it looks kinda festive." Harry muttered, not a trace of joy visible on his face.


    "You guys get it, O.W.Ls year." Felix said cheerfully from the podium, after a moment, only to pretend he had just seen the sad atmosphere in the classroom, "Oh come on, I always wanted you all to be happy with your studies ... Here''s the deal, I can give you an offer."


    All the students looked up.


    "If you can prove to me that you have indeed mastered this part of the subject, I can consider my assignments to be nothing more than a repetition of meaningless labour ... and will reduce them appropriately." Felix said with extremely sinister intentions, "I have specially prepared a test that is not compulsory, as it is really not good to have a test before Christmas ..."


    The students who had just been clamouring for free time were dumbfounded, they stared blankly for a good while, then finally looked at Felix.


    "Hurry up with the papers, Professor!" One student yelled.


    This statement basically marked the end of the open battle between the professor and the students, with the students'' side losing out.


    Of course, they thought it was a good deal.


    Harry had spread out his thick test sheet and was just about to answer the questions when Hermione jostled the sheet. He couldn''t help but glance to the side to find Hermione quickly skimming the whole paper with a look of delight.


    The paper had been divided into ten sections, with translations, deductions of meaning, and an examination of the twelve steps involved in making the amulet. Harry immediately started with the section he is best at, considering what the professor had just said. Ron on the other side of the room just sulked and answered the questions, and Harry had to reluctantly give up after Ron failed to catch the answer even though he had mouthed the answer twice.


    Time passed, and the only sound in the classroom was the subtle rustle of quills on parchment, which was pleasing to the ear.


    Finally, the bell rang.


    Harry lifted his head and looked around the classroom. Noticed that only a few students had finished answering their papers, and only Hermione stared at the paper for inspection, mumbling something under her breath.


    "Stop answering questions." Felix announced, as all the test papers flew towards him, and stacked neatly in a row on the lectern. "I''ll finish marking them before the holidays ... Okay, you can leave now."


    The students exchanged looks of excitement and thrill with each other as they gathered their things and left the classroom in a line.


    "You guys leave first." Draco Malfoy said to his two followers, Crabbe and Goyle scrunched their faces into a frown as if they didn''t quite understand until he said it again, to which they shrugged and walked off alone.


    Draco stood in front of Felix, a fine bead of sweat seeping from the tip of his nose.


    "It''s like this, Professor Hap-" he stammered.


    Felix raised a hand to stop him and turned his head to glare at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who are still dawdling in the doorway, refusing to leave, "Bang!" The door slammed shut in front of them. "Now you can talk."


    Draco froze for a moment and whispered, "Professor, I wanted to ask if you are free for Christmas, I''d like to invite you to the house ..."


    "Lucius asked you to ask?" Felix calmly questioned.


    Draco looked up at him, unable to tell from that face whether he was happy or not. And he stammered, "No, no, it''s me ... I think ... well, you''ve always taken good care of me, teaching me not only the Disillusionment Charm and Apparition but even the advanced magic like Occlumency, which if my father found out, he would have let me express my gratitude."


    Felix looked down at him, his light yellow hair and pointed chin identical to his father''s. Felix didn''t speak for half a second.


    "Don''t think too much about a lot of things, it is not your turn to get involved in this mess, for now, all you need to do is enjoy a pleasant holiday."


    "But Potter and the gang-" Draco said defiantly as a flush rose to his pale face.


    "They''re not like you." Felix said firmly, "Merry Christmas to you in advance, Mr. Malfoy."


    Draco turned away stiffly as he pushed the door open - "Draco?" He heard the professor''s voice say and Draco looked back with excitement. Professor Hap had stood in front of the huge window, the clean, clear sunlight from outside spilling into the classroom and casting itself on the professor''s back. It made it completely impossible for him to see the man''s face as he squinted his eyes.


    " Is your wand made of hawthorn wood?" The professor asked.


    "Yes, Professor." Draco said.


    "A wand of this material is particularly suitable for healing magic, you might consider it."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 561: Conversation between men

    Christmas came and went as usual. The school is deserted and silent. Felix attributed this to the daily updates in the newspapers, which served as a sideways reminder to the students that there is a dark lord lurking outside the peaceful school grounds. That''s why they become more and more eager to be with their families over Christmas.


    "It''s not really that bad," Professor McGonagall said, "during the last war people were always on edge and quickly made decisions without any consideration for the future."


    "Like what?"


    "Like getting married as soon as they graduate, and young couples eloping together and fleeing abroad ... happened quite frequently." Professor McGonagall sounded somehow disapproving.


    Two seats away, Astronomy Professor Sinistra was describing in detail a spectacular solar eclipse she had seen, and Trelawney, who had been silent, looked at her thoughtfully, "Last summer, I saw with my Inner Eye, the existence of eerie shadows on Jupiter, which may correspond to what is happening right now ... I really regret I didn''t issue a warning in advance, but I caught a bad cold then ..."


    The implication in her words was so obvious that the others at the table glanced at her.


    Professor Sinistra asked with interest, "You''re talking about the astronomical phenomenon involving an impact of a comet hitting Jupiter? I observed it from start to finish, it started with a big explosion and then diffused a huge cloud of dark dust that lasted for months."


    Trelawney clutched the necklace adorned with beads around her neck, "Well ... we''re probably not talking about the same thing, you know ... people with Inner Eye don''t see things quite the same as normal people... ..."


    Felix gave a sideways glance, then turned his head away quite firmly.


    "Fine." Professor Sinistra smacked her lips and said, and immersed herself in slicing the beef pie on her plate. Dumbledore also withdrew his gaze and rejoined the conversation between Professors Burbage and Sprout, "I can''t wait to see the latest developments, Charity. I must say this type of research is very interesting and crucially there''s not much risk involved ..."


    "Yes, Pomona has helped me a lot." Professor Burbage said with a burp. Professor Sprout poured her a glass of wine with a smile.


    "Where''s Sirius?" Professor Flitwick looked around.


    "He''s gone home for the holidays, with his godson." Felix said.


    "You mean Potter ... Oh, I have a hard time associating him with the word ''father'', probably because he left such an impression before. ...but I have to say, he''s a qualified professor, much better than I expected." Professor Flitwick huffed sentimentally, thus the dismissive soft grunt from Snape was not heard.


    Felix thought about it, whether it was the school performance he had inquired about from the Fat Lady or the more glaring ''No.1 Death Eater and Azkaban''s first escapee'', both had a higher profile than the title Professor Black ...


    But Sirius was doing pretty solid now as a Professor.


    As the cold wind howled, the fire roared in Black''s old mansion.


    Sirius, who had just been mentally complimented by Felix for his solidness, is currently being scolded, as Mrs. Weasley thrusts up her waist and her short, lanky frame explodes with great energy: "Without saying a word! Disappearing without a trace! Do you know how worried we were, thinking you had been taken away by the You-Know-Who, which really isn''t the worst thing that could have happen," she huffed, "and you took Harry along knowing it?"


    Sirius leaned listlessly on the sofa, his right hand dangling out of sight of Mrs. Weasley, as he fiddled with a muggle chess piece hidden between the gap in the stone wall. Harry stood on the side, not daring to breathe. Mrs. Weasley had been shouting for half an hour, and halfway through Ginny, Ron, Lupin, and Tonks had all appeared at the door, but no one had the courage to stop a still angry Mrs. Weasley.


    It wasn''t until Mr. Weasley returned that she remembered there was still beef stew in the pot and hurried to the kitchen.


    "Please, do something serious for once." She shouted at Ginny and Ron, who were standing at the top of the stairs. Sirius, who just looked downcast, stopped what he was doing and pricked up his ears, and when the footsteps died down, he leaped up from the sofa and made a face towards the stairs. Ginny watched in disbelief.


    "Don''t listen to her Harry, a man needs to experience a bit of adventure ... not to mention I will step on in advance if something happens." He winked at Harry and made his way upstairs.


    Ron repeatedly made sure his mother had really left and came up to Harry and asked. " Where have you been?"


    "To visit the grave." Harry whispered through his teeth.


    Ron opened his mouth and finally patted Harry''s shoulder wordlessly, "Don''t think about that, let me show you something nice. While you were away, Ginny asked Tonks a lot about the Auror training program, and we think some of it would work perfectly well in Frontline Lookout ..."


    Harry looked up with interest. "I''ll go over and see before dinner - is it in Ginny''s room?" He glanced towards the stairway; Ginny had disappeared at some point.


    Taking a few steps forward, he found Ron staring at him oddly.


    "I''m warning you ... if you plan to do *Something* to Ginny, I will never let -" he stated in a low voice as if he had been constructing this sentence in his head for ages.


    Harry''s jaw dropped, "How could-"


    The conversation between them was interrupted unexpectedly as Mrs. Weasley poked her head from the door, "Dinner''s ready, children, go wash your hands. Where''s Ginny?"


    Harry and Ron both shrank back at the same time, leaving the previous conversation behind them. "Didn''t she went looking for you?" Ron muttered.


    " Each and every one of you is a pain in the arse ..." Mrs. Weasley''s voice trailed off.


    Malfoy Manor.


    Draco Malfoy sat at the elaborately decorated dining table, a roaring fire burning in the ornate gold gilded fireplace as he clinked his silver plate.


    "Draco, mind your manners." Narcissa said, "If you''re done eating, you can look under the Christmas tree; a few of your seniors have brought you presents while you were napping."


    Draco licked his lips, and sat upright, as he looked at Lucius and said, "I, I have something I want to talk to you about."


    "Is something happened at school?" Lucius put his fork down slowly and wiped his mouth, then picked up his goblet unhurriedly.


    "No." Draco said, breathing heavily.


    "Then what is it?" Lady Malfoy looked at her son in disbelief. She had pale skin, with slightly high cheekbones, which made her look a bit villainous at first glance.


    Without answering his mother''s question, Draco looked at Lucius and stammered, "Dad, I want to talk to you alone ... a conversation between men."


    Lucius and Narcissa exchanged an odd glance. "So, you think you can take the responsibility?" Lucius put down his goblet and wiped his mouth with the clean white velvet again, and repositioned his spine against the back of his chair, as he stared straight at his son.


    "Draco ...," Narcissa''s voice held a clear warning.


    "I think so." Draco said stubbornly.


    "Very well, very well." Lucius lowered his voice, "Come with me." Draco leaped up from his chair quickly. "Bring your wand." Lucius said coldly. The expression on Draco''s face froze.


    ...


    The next day dawned beautifully and Felix showed up at Diagon Alley very early. S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "These are ...?" Lupin watched in wonder as he pulled out a roll of parchment.


    "A plan, and information about some Squibs." Felix explained, "Some of the addresses may be old to find, and it''s okay if you can''t find them."


    Lupin unfolded the plans first, his lips quivered as he read the dark green print, and his expression gradually grew serious, "The exclusive wand that allows the Squibs to cast spells, the principle behind it is magic frequency ... isn''t it quite different for each person?"


    "That''s right. The so-called magic frequency is actually a precise measurement of the fluctuation of magic power, and the magic power in each wizard has a subtle difference, which is our unique characteristic. In theory, you can accurately identify the wizard casting the spell by the magic frequency ..."


    "And in reality?" Lupin asked tactfully.


    "In reality, it''s more complicated. If your control of magic is strong enough, and you are determined to conceal it ... it is entirely possible to change the frequency of your magic." Felix said in an elusive tone, "But it must be recognized that such a process is difficult ... very difficult ..."


    It is precisely because of this fact that Felix was able to create the exclusive wand. Because this wand can only recognize a specific magic power. If outsiders wanted to imitate it, they would have to rely entirely on luck and there''s a possibility that they wouldn''t get any results even if they tried tens of thousands of times.


    Lupin looked at Felix and felt that his smile was rather crafty. He lowered his head and continued to look through the plans, "Yesterday Sirius brought Harry to Godric''s Hollow." He said as he read.


    "No trouble, right?" Felix asked, by the trouble he meant Voldemort, whose hideout is nowhere to be found.


    "No, they went and returned quickly, they didn''t stay too long." Lupin smiled, "Still got a good scolding from Molly, but I think it was a lesson he deserved ... No need to rush this plan, right?"


    Felix nodded slightly, "Let''s start with the people settled in the wizarding world first, don''t make too much of a buzz."


    Lupin thought carefully for a moment, "Felix, you don''t have to lock your sights entirely on the Squibs, some wizards ... are actually pretty bad at casting spells."


    "You mean--"


    "We could advertise in the newspapers, something like a correspondence course in ''fast spell casting'' or something." Lupin gave a reminiscent look, "I lived off that job for a while, it was a really an easy time, all I had to do was write letters every day, and only occasionally I will get customers at my door. That was also when I honed my teaching skills ... Unfortunately, it didn''t last long."


    The subject came to an abrupt end and Felix reckoned what followed would not be too rosy.


    Lupin took out his quill and cocked his head to ponder the wording for the ad, with an earnest look that Felix could not bear to disturb. He skulked around Lupin''s office, mentally analysing the positioning of the Squibs.


    According to Felix''s anticipation, when the dust had settled and the wizarding community had gone public, the two sides would inevitably enter into a more substantive exchange. But this exchange would certainly not be completely relaxed and unrestricted, and it would not be a scenario where wizards could fly all over the place.


    This is when someone will need to travel back and forth between the wizarding society and the muggle society.


    It is best to be involved in both sides in order to act as a bridge of communication, but then again there is a distinction between bridges. In Felix''s mind, young wizards from Muggle families - including purebloods willing to embark on the new wizarding ship - represented the future backbone of the wizarding world, but they would essentially have to remain in the wizarding world in the end.


    They are unlikely to serve as a direct window to the outside world, presenting the wizarding world to the outside world and vice versa. That would undoubtedly be a waste.


    But it is quite necessary to have some ''windows for communication between the two sides in the early days of the opening''. The alternatives Felix had in mind for this role are Squibs and the relatives of young wizards from Muggle families. These people knew about the existence of magic early on and occasionally experienced it first-hand, or at least most of the parents of the young wizards had the experience of accompanying their children to Diagon Alley to buy books.


    It would be unlikely that they would be able to pursue magic, but the new age certainly would birth many new professions, and a number of them would suit them well.


    Felix expanded his imagination: first of all, tour guides would be necessary. They could either guide wizards to science and technology museums, ... or guide ordinary people to experience the magical world on a day trip; in addition, there would be new-age writers who would use the perspective of ordinary people -- or the perspective of Squibs and a wizard''s relative -- to portray what it''s like to see the magical world and unravel the mysteries of magic.


    The benefits are obvious: strangeness is a breeding ground for suspicion, and the only way to bridge the gap is to understand.


    And of course, there are also the traders who sell Potions, food, and moving comic books ... these things always need to be run by someone, and it''s hard to get wizards to do business based on pounds; after a lifetime of calculating that 1 Galleon equals 17 Sickles and 1 Sickle equals 29 Knuts, Felix reckons a fair number of wizards can''t figure out decimal.


    But if the parents of the young wizards are willing to do so, Felix is happy to see it. He, for one, thought favourably of the parents of Justin Finch-Fletchley, whom he had contacted ...


    The only thing Felix is concerned about is the mentality of the Squibs. He could intuitively sense the ambivalence of both desire and hatred in Filch: to him, it didn''t matter at all who ruled the wizarding world or how many people died in the wizard wars, or he would even be happier with more deaths.


    The only people Filch could accept were those who had helped him, like Ms. Oakby. Felix is not even sure if he counts as one.


    The mentality of the marginal group of Squibs was reflected in Filch, and it is quite representative. Of course, others would probably not be as extreme as Filch.


    In most cases, once the children of wizarding families were confirmed as Squib, they would be sent to Muggle school early (Filch didn''t go because of the war), and these people would grow up with very minimal entanglement with the wizarding community. Like Mafalda''s father - he married and had children like normal people, and would have spent his life pretending the wizarding world didn''t exist at all if it weren''t for the fact that his daughter is a witch.


    So Filch is an example or a rather extreme one. After all, not all Squibs have the opportunity to see hundreds of little wizards bouncing around in front of them as soon as they open their eyes.


    ...


    Felix casually picked up a copy of the Werewolf Code of Conduct from the desk and could tell that Lupin had been looking through it so often lately that even the corners were worn. He flipped the book open and the pages automatically settled on a particular page in the middle - "No, Felix!" Lupin shouted in panic as he reached for it and ended up knocking the book out of Felix''s hand by pushing too hard.


    A photograph floated down from the tumbling book of the Werewolf Code of Conduct and spun to the floor. The photo showed the woman with conspicuous short pink hair winking mischievously at him.


    Felix froze for a moment. "Oh, sorry, I didn''t see anything." He turned around and unsurprisingly heard a grinding of teeth, good thing Lupin hadn''t rushed over to bite him, and after a ten-second interval, he turned around and Lupin had cleaned up the scene and panting in his chair.


    "Don''t say anything." Lupin said half-heartedly, his voice hoarse as he buried his face in his hands.


    "I think Tonks is quite-"


    "Don''t say a word!" Lupin said sharply, his chest heaving violently.


    Felix put away his joking expression as he nodded silently. Everyone has a knot in their heart. ... Stepping out of the sword castle, Felix pulled out a communication mirror and said to the man in it, "Give me Graybuck''s location."


    A disguised, shrill voice sounded from the other side, "Oh ... he''s hiding far away ... and probably not in England right now ... "


    "So you aren''t in England either?" Felix lazily quipped.


    "It''s not like I''m hanging out with him! The guy''s probably hiding in a cave in some random little country! With a bunch of werewolves around him!" The man exclaimed in annoyance.


    "Reconciliation requires sincerity, remember? You were the one who took the initiative to find me." Felix reminded.


    A violent gasp was heard from the mirror as if the other man struggled to hold back his anger. Felix waited a moment and said calmly, "Give me that man or his location, I don''t care what you do, but if you do it, we''ll forget about our feud. It''s quite tiring to always remember your name, Mr. Shafiq."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 562: Suspicious Snape

    After Christmas, the days at Black''s old mansion filled with boredom. Harry, Ron, and Ginny were doing their assignments at the dining room table, and every half hour, Kreacher would bring a steaming pot of tea.


    "Thanks, but I really can''t drink anymore." Ron''s face turned red as he held it in, and shortly thereafter he bent over and ran upstairs to use the bathroom. It looked disgusting to Ginny.


    She picked up the teapot in a delicate gesture and poured herself a cup of tea, and brought the cup to her lips, taking a very ladylike sip before gently placing the cup on the dining table and looking up to find Harry frowning as he pondered his Potions class paper, she immediately huffed and flipped through the pages loudly.


    Ron returned.


    "Snape is still in the study." He said briefly.


    Harry knew what he meant; Snape had started to come over regularly the day after the Christmas, and it was a little odd how he appeared at the Order of the Phoenix headquarters three days in a row at a time when the members of the Order were all busy.


    "Look on the bright side, maybe he''s just coveting the Black family''s book collection." Ron said.


    "I saw him, last night." Ginny said pointedly, and Harry and Ron immediately turned their heads. "I was going to the kitchen to have some water and I saw him glide past the stairs like a ghost without making a sound ..."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, this made him even more suspicious.


    " Is he looking for something?"


    "Maybe trying to decipher the Order of the Phoenix''s protection magic!"


    "Don''t be silly, this place is under Fidelius Charm and no one can force Dumbledore to reveal the secret!"


    "Why don''t we write to Hermione, she knows quite a bit of sneaky magic." Ginny suggested as she leaped to her feet.


    "Good idea."


    For the next few days, Harry and Ron discussed what Snape planned to do while they anxiously waited for Hermione''s reply. It took nearly a week for them to realize that the old Black mansion is protected by layers of magic and Hedwig couldn''t find her way back in.


    Harry slipped out during lunchtime and brought back Hedwig, who had been wandering around Grimmauld Place for days. Hedwig angrily pecked Harry''s ears and fingers as Harry kept apologizing, and only when she had vented enough did she drop a bulging envelope on the top of Harry''s head.


    Hermione''s letter was long. S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ''Mum, Dad, and I are in Switzerland, and it''s very peaceful here without a hint of a war vibe. I persuaded them to stay here for a year and a half, but they strongly disagreed and forced me to promise to write them a letter every week!


    I taught them by hand how to subscribe to the Daily Prophet and the New Solutions to the Rune Magazine, and although they couldn''t read the latter, they were able to find my name on it. They were also interested in ''The Quibbler'', which I thankfully discouraged in time, as I don''t want them to ask me what is a goblin pie in a letter.


    For your questions, I do know a few tricks, but I''m not sure if they''ll work on Professor Snape. I recommend a few methods that muggles use, which I was inspired by a detective novel Dad was reading recently, you can place a strand of hair in the space between the book and if someone opens it, the hair will fall out ... Other methods are enclosed at the end... ...''


    "What do you think?" Putting the letter down, Harry asked Ron and Ginny.


    "Use that muggle method!" Ron and Ginny said in unison, Harry didn''t object, apparently he too had little faith in his chances of getting past Snape using magic.


    In the evening two days before the school starts, Harry went upstairs to call Sirius down for dinner. At the fourth-floor stairway, Harry saw Sirius leaning against the doorframe, and just when he was about to say hello, he noticed that Sirius was facing the room, as he lazily fiddled with his wand, talking to someone inside.


    Harry took a few steps closer and the voice became clear.


    Sirius'' tone was unfriendly, "Tell me, how did you end up in my room?"


    Who was he talking to? The question just popped into Harry''s head and in the next second he knew the answer, when a slow voice said, "Naturally, I have something to look for you, why are you even asking this question, do I look like I am lost or something?"


    It is Snape!


    Harry''s breath caught and his heart raced. He held his breath, Snape''s actions had been so suspicious lately, and he desperately wanted to know why.


    "Yeah well," Sirius squinted as he looked around the room, "I thought someone had sneaked into my room to look for something ..."


    "Look for something?" Snape''s icy voice said with an intense contempt in his tone and Harry could almost imagine his thin lips puckering up like a snake poised to spew venom, "Oh ... you mean the bikini pictures posted on the wall?"


    Sirius, who was raising an eyebrow at Snape, stiffened and licked his lips, "What did you say?"


    "I have to say, you have a unique taste and a lot of nerve." Snape''s sneering voice heard and Sirius turned red, "That''s an old picture!" He growled in a low voice.


    Not wanting to hear any more, Harry backed away, when Snape suddenly appeared in the doorway, bumping past Sirius who was in the way, and was surprised to see Harry who was tiptoeing backward.


    That moment was downright awkward.


    A few seconds felt like centuries. Harry froze in place as a sneer pulled at the corners of Snape''s mouth, "Looks like Someone found out your little secret, Sirius. Would you Obliviate him?" He walked away with a large stride.


    Harry turned slowly to get down the stairs, "Stop." Sirius said with a grimace and Harry stammered, "I didn''t hear anything." Sirius couldn''t help but curse in a low voice, not sure who he was cursing, "Follow me."


    Harry walked into the room with a great burst of courage.


    He had never formally entered this room before, at most knocking on the door to call Sirius out for dinner and vaguely glimpsing the large sculpted bed and velvet drapes over the bed. It was only when Harry entered that he realized the room is spacious and beautiful.


    Sirius sat on the bed with a huff and pointed to the wall behind Harry.


    "See for yourself."


    Harry slowly turned his head, expecting to see some odd pictures, which he did. Harry noticed the Gryffindor flags on either side of the silver satin wall first, they acted as the baseline for the entire wall of photographs, allowing one to tell at a glance which house the owner of the room came from.


    Harry secretly applauded.


    Then he couldn''t help but notice the wall full of stickers and photographs, and Harry blinked, it wasn''t quite what he had expected, there were lots of pictures of Muggle motorbikes plastered on them, only a few of them being ''bikini pictures'' as Snape had called them, the girls'' faded smiles frozen on the yellowed pictures - they didn''t move at all - seemingly cut from a muggle film poster.


    This had been glued to the wall when Sirius was at school, which Harry realized, and at the same time he had to admit that Snape was right about one thing, Sirius did have a lot of nerve ...


    Apart from these, there are also many wizard pictures on the wall. Harry was first surprised and then with a tinge of discomfort, he finally knew where the set of photographs that Sirius had obtained from the Creevey brothers was hidden. There are dozens of Harry Potter''s winked at him.


    Harry wasn''t sure what he felt more inside, embarrassment or being moved, his eyes were slightly sore, and it took him a few moments to spot a couple of different pictures.


    A picture of four Hogwarts students standing arm in arm, Harry stared at the picture of his father, Sirius, Lupin, and of course Peter Pettigrew, each of them smiling happily at the camera.


    And then there is a picture of Sirius with a young man on his shoulder, which Harry recognizes as Regulus, neither of them very old when the picture was taken, and Sirius was yet to run away from home


    The last picture - Harry''s breath froze - featured a dark-haired baby flying up and down on a small broomstick, giggling and smiling, and two legs of a full-grown man were trailing behind him; that must be his father, James Potter.


    "Lily mailed it to me back then, I managed to find it when I was cleaning the house." Sirius said, pointing to the baby picture, "It was hidden in my motorbike repair manual and I nearly threw it away."


    Harry remained silent, unsure of what to say.


    "I have a few more letters here from James and Lily ..." Sirius stammered, "I''ve been hesitant whether you would want it or not."


    "Of course I do!" Harry immediately said, looking at Sirius with an expectant look on his face.


    Sirius smiled.


    "It''s probably not exactly what you''re expecting ... We talked mostly about the war in those days, except for your mother, Lily. She always had a great passion for life ..." he muttered, and when he finished he paused for a moment before getting up from the bed, and yanked open the drawer of his bedside table, taking a pile of letters from it.


    Harry gazed greedily at the somewhat faded traces of ink, wondering how he hadn''t thought of this before. But then it occurred to him that he never seemed to have the habit of keeping Ron and Hermione''s letters ... he decided to change it immediately, starting now.


    "Do you have James''s invisibility cloak?" Sirius abruptly asked.


    "What? Oh yeah, Headmaster Dumbledore gave it to me in my first year." Harry replied, not knowing why Sirius was asking this question, his full attention fixed on the letters. He saw a line of beautiful handwriting, probably written by his mother.


    He impatiently held it in his hand, wishing he could feel the body heat of the person writing the letter.


    Sirius stopped talking and looked moody. He waved his hand and Harry headed outside, he suddenly turned back at the door, "Well ... Sirius, I wanted to say that you do have good taste." Without waiting for Sirius''s reply, he hurriedly slipped away.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 563: Magical Creatures in the Arctic

    Meanwhile, Felix is creating a house in the icy Arctic and Valen is hiding under his thick dragon hide hat, feeling uncomfortable from only seeing endless glaciers. Felix has had a pretty productive week. After Christmas dinner, he spent the day focussing on company matters before popping over to Newt''s country house, where he was greeted by the Scamander Couple, Newt''s wife - Tina Scamander, a kind and earnest old woman who after knowing he was planning a short trip, had thoughtfully prepared Felix a box with Twelve varieties of hot dogs.


    "Honey, you might as well make some apple pie as a dessert," Newt said.


    "I always have trouble grasping the heat." Tina said as she glanced at him.


    For the next three days, Felix followed Newt''s instructions, travelling to and from all the magical creature sanctuaries around the world, collecting the magical creatures'' data he had in his mind, and as the final week of the holidays approached, he reached the North Pole, a place he knew the least about.


    "A magical creature that can split itself?" Newt asked, "Did my memory body tell you that? Frankly, I don''t know if it was an illusion, but I saw one once in the far north of the world, which is a combination of a snow ferret, fox, and a wolf... They split themselves when hunting somewhat like the Matagots that guard the important places of the French Ministry of Magic. Though they are totally different because the Matagots is not a creature, but a spirit being..."


    Felix was very curious about this magical creature.


    He must admit that he was intrigued when he first heard about it in classroom seven. Despite knowing that the Liquid luck Potion is useless, he still used up the last bit of his stock and began his endless search.


    His advantages lie in his superb mobility due to the Apparition and his eyes that can discern magic.


    But the Arctic is too vast, so hopelessly vast that he can only trace a circle outwards based on the general location provided by Newt. Luckily, he had found a rather precious jewel on the black market in the Americas, a jewel from a Horned Serpent that is endemic to that region, and the jewel on its forehead grants both invisibility and the ability to fly, which Felix had woven into a carpet, thus allowing him to float without any burden.


    Felix himself can fly, but it requires a lot of magical power, and he rarely uses it unless it is for battle. In comparison, Voldemort made it look easy, and Felix wondered if he had dissected a Horned Serpent and transplanted its bloodline into his own body, or of course, it could have been a Lethifold?


    "Two days to go, if we can''t find it by then we''ll return." Felix said, and soon the house made of ice was built, after entering it he enlarged the interior by casting the Undetectable Extension Charm and created a fireplace inside, which was when Valen jumped out of his hat.


    "Didn''t you have a good time with those otters yesterday?"


    "Kiki!"


    "The thermostatic pendant not working? Well, you''ve been using it for a long time. When we get back, I''ll make you one, never mind, let''s buy one." Felix pulled out the thick blanket, and iron pot from the ring, as he turned his head to look at Valen and said hesitantly, "Do you prefer to grill fish or soup, plus we have plenty of hot dogs, too ..."


    Valen gagged twice.


    "A bit greasy? How fussy." Felix smacked his lips. In the end, he didn''t touch the hot dogs either - he''d had enough of them in those two days in the Brazilian rainforest.


    The next day, Felix was sitting on his flying carpet, looking down from several thousand feet above, with endless, undulating icebergs below him; the carpet could actually fly even higher, but Felix''s magical perspective couldn''t keep up if they go any higher.


    Valen leaned against his back, happily playing a mini-game. The game came from the magic painting club at school. When the club was considering what theme to use as material for an interactive magic painting, Valen showed up at a crucial moment. She not only provided the core inspiration but also included a substantial amount of funding.


    The result was a magical painting mini-game called ''Brave Warrior'', with Niffler as the lead role.


    After spending some time ''slaying'', Valen took a new magic painting out of her pocket, and Niffler in the middle of the painting which was anxiously waiting at the edge of the level jumped onto another one, armed with a deluxe version of her exclusive wand, and set off to challenge the new level.


    On the other side, Felix had made a new discovery.


    A creature with snow-white fur nimbly moving across the white earth, and by following its path, Felix found a nest of frantically fleeing Arctic rabbits. The creature indeed looks like a combination of Arctic fox and Arctic wolf, as described by Newt, albeit a lot smaller, looking about the size of a ferret.


    The key thing is that Felix saw rapidly flowing magic on this creature.


    Having magic meant that this is a magical creature.


    As Felix floated two or three hundred feet above the air, the snow-white magical creature, which was oblivious to the eyes of the mysterious man overhead, moved as fast as it could, but the arctic rabbit was no slower and steered quite nimbly. This magical creature leaped high as it approached the Arctic rabbit, and splitting an identical entity from its body as it reached the peak high it could reach from the jump, the two white shadows crisscrossed through the snow, with their mind connected as they cooperated seamlessly and caught an unlucky rabbit in the blink of an eye.


    Felix watched as he descended, mentally tsked in amazement as he couldn''t spot anything out of the ordinary if he didn''t look closely.


    The magical creature with the snowy white fur picked up the rabbit and turned its head to see a strange creature descending from the sky, it had never seen a human before, so it stayed where it was to examine Felix.


    Felix smiled kindly.


    "Little fox? maybe a Little wolf? Or a Little ferret? Whatever, I got delicious hot dogs for you..." S?a?ch* Th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Two days later, Felix released it.


    "Full harvest, let''s go, Valen." Valen waved goodbye to her newfound friend.


    "Kee! (Bye!)"


    "Kiki! (Watch your weight!)"


    "Kikii! (Otherwise you can''t catch any food!)"


    Felix patted Valen lightly, " He is much more in shape than you are ..." Exasperated, Valen wanted to hit him.


    ...


    The Hogwarts train had stopped at Hogsmeade and the young wizards who had gone home for the holidays returned to school by carriage.


    Ron and Hermione, as the Prefect, had organized the young wizards into the carriage and entered the carriage in time with the last group. As soon as they got in, the Night Thestral carriage moved.


    "What, all about dark magic? Snape?" Hermione looked at Harry and Ron in surprise, her mind still not switched back after spending the last two weeks travelling around with her parents. "Well ... it''s normal if you think about it, isn''t it? We all know he''s interested in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, maybe he''s preparing for it ..."


    Harry said dismissively, "If that''s the case that''s fine, it means we only have to put up with him for one more year ..."


    "The point is, he''s still sneaking around the house in the middle of the night, as Ginny can testify." Ron added.


    "Oh, ugh, I don''t know, but it''s his personal business." Hermione stroked her hair, "Did you guys finish your assignments, I think there are a few things that could be changed."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, they had obviously spent more time guessing Snape''s motives.


    "I''m still- a little.. short," Ron glanced uneasily at Harry, who didn''t say anything.


    "Well, if you guys don''t turn in your assignments tomorrow, will you give that reason to the professors?" Hermione asked pointedly. Harry sighed. When they got back to school, they hurriedly finished their dinner and went to the library. A number of students were already sitting inside, and they found a random empty table and sat down, Hermione looking around thoughtfully.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "Well, the Muffliato Charm became popular."


    Harry looked around, he did notice some students'' mouths opening and closing rapidly without making a sound, and the gloomy face of Mrs. Pince, the librarian, repeatedly showed up through the gaps in the bookshelves, like a vulture that has failed to find its prey circling high in the sky for a while before regretfully leaving.


    Harry tapped his wand on the table and the surrounding sounds became muffled, sounding like a low, noisy buzz.


    Harry flipped out his assignment, his History of the Magic essay short of one more paper to finish. He swirled open his ink bottle, the tip of his quill drenched in ink, as he scribbled away on his parchment. In the interval of looking up, he saw Snape''s silhouette flicker in the middle of the bookshelf.


    Harry''s heart thumped and his eyes strained to catch Snape''s movement, surprised to find him lingering in the restricted section for a short time before finally sitting at a table, reading a book. It was only when the library was about to close that Snape stood up and left with the book.


    "Wait for me." Harry said to Ron and Hermione as he stood up. "What?" But he was already stood up and walked out of their table.


    He returned after a long while with his heart in his throat.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron asked, "You look like you''ve just been hit by Mrs. Pince with a chicken feather duster ..."


    "Snape, the book Snape was reading ..." Harry swallowed hard, "Magick Moste Evile."


    "So?" Hermione asked with annoyance, not taking her eyes off her own paper, "Harry, he is a professor, even if he studies dark magic, he must have a legitimate reason, he''s probably thinking about how to crack them ... you probably would have found out more if you could check his book borrowing records. "


    "Good idea." Ron said, "Hey, I''m serious, we could really try that!"


    "Now you''re wrong about that, Hermione." Harry said lowering his voice, "I haven''t read as many books as you have, I''ve only heard that name once ..."


    Hermione looked up and froze as she stared at Harry''s face.


    In a dry voice she said, "I remember ... a passage in the preface of this book, ''No discussion or instruction regarding the evilest magical creation, the Horcrux, will be given here''... ... Harry, you think he''s investigating ..."


    She didn''t continue, but both Harry and Ron knew what she meant - Snape might be secretly investigating about the Horcrux.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 564: The Unbelievable Truth

    In the clubroom, Harry, Ron, and Hermione bickered verbally. "Harry, we should better not get carried away, remember, in the first year you thought Professor Snape was planning to steal the Philosopher''s Stone, but he was actually spying on Quirrell. He also extended his protection when Quirrell tried to make you fall off your flying broom."


    Hermione magically locked the door and chanted a few more anti-disruption spells to make it easier for them to talk about the dangerous topics without fear.


    "I know." Harry sullenly agreed.


    "And second year-"


    "Thanks for mentioning the second year, he tried to expel Ron and I as soon as school started, don''t say he wanted to protect me, Hermione, his mind shouldn''t have been magically connected to Dobby, not to mention he didn''t know the Chamber of Secrets was going to be opened at that point."


    "Oh, er ..." Hermione was a little short of words, "Third year, he was on our side ..." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Do we need to award him a medal? For not siding with the Dementors?" Harry was annoyed, "Hermione, why do you keep speaking for him? He used to be a bloody Death Eater!"


    Hermione was silent for a few seconds, "But Headmaster Dumbledore defended him, you told us yourself, Harry, remember? You saw it in the Pensieve ..."


    "He - also - doesn''t - deserve - to be - trusted." Harry said through clenched teeth.


    "Who?"


    Harry didn''t say anything.


    Ron and Hermione looked at him uneasily, "You mean Headmaster Dumbledore - what makes you think that -"


    Harry remained silent.


    He is hiding a huge secret inside him that is weighing him down, and he doesn''t know if he should tell it to Ron and Hermione. The secret had nothing to do with Snape, but it had to do with Headmaster Dumbledore. In the pile of letters Sirius had handed him, he learned a fact that shook him to his core.


    "Have you had any nightmares lately, Harry?" Hermione asked softly, looking over to Ron, who shook his head to show that he knew nothing about it.


    "No." Harry said with a blank face, but Ron and Hermione looked even more worried. Harry hesitated twice internally before he pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Hermione.


    Hermione immediately read it.


    "Dear Padfoot-" she paused, "Who wrote this letter?"


    "My mum," Harry said, "Keep reading."


    "Oh, well.


    Dear Padfoot.


    Thank you, thank you for Harry''s birthday present! It''s his favourite toy ever. He looks delighted to be flying around on his toy broom. I''ve attached a photo for you to see.


    I''m sorry you couldn''t make it ...


    James was feeling a bit stuffy here, though he tried not to show it, but I could tell - the invisibility cloak is still with Dumbledore, so there''s no opportunity to go out. How happy he would be if you made it over.


    Wormtail was here last weekend and I felt he was downcast, but maybe it was from the news about the McKinnons. I cried all night too when I heard it.


    Bathilda drops by often, she''s a funny old lady who tells so many stories about Dumbledore, it''s truly unimaginable. I don''t know if he would be happy to hear it in person! To be honest, I don''t know how much to believe it, it''s hard to believe that Dumbledore once knew Gellert Grindelwald, the dark lord who rampaged through Europe and that they were once close friends because they shared the same ideology!


    But Bathilda claims to be Grindelwald''s aunt, and if that''s true, then it''s hard to pretend what she said is anything but true - after all, she doesn''t have any reason to lie. She also revealed a fact about the catchphrase that was later used by Grindelwald to justify all his atrocities and which made him famous - ''for the greater good'' - which is said to have originally been written in a letter addressed to his close friend Grindelwald by Dumbledore. It''s unbelievable.


    There are even more unbelievable things, which I cannot reveal in this letter, and perhaps we should not be harsh on a young man at seventeen. Just think how silly we acted back then, and how James still thinks the whole world should know about Quidditch!


    That''s all for now, I hear Harry''s cry, I hope it''s not because James tries some crap due to him being bored, if it''s I''d knock him hard on the head ...


    - Lily."


    Harry saw the shock written all over Ron and Hermione''s faces, almost exactly the same as when he first saw the letter, one second he was experiencing all that tender care that he never remembered through his mother''s handwriting, the next he was pulled back to reality by the cold truth. It was as if his heart had been torn in two, one half leaping with jubilation and sadness at the knowledge that they had once had a cat, that Sirius had bought him his first flying broom, and that his mother had been as gentle and kind as everyone had told him she was, perhaps a little sentimental as well ...


    But the other half, Harry didn''t know how to describe his feelings, when he was exposed to the more real Dumbledore, the seventeen-year-old Dumbledore, who had already become good friends with Gellert Grindelwald, the Dark Lord who was destined to bring doom later on when he was only two years older than he was now, and how ironic the words ''shared same ideology'' ... sounded!


    And there is also that invisibility cloak, Harry thought. For what reason did Dumbledore took the invisibility cloak? A Legendary Warlock like Dumbledore could become perfectly invisible even without an invisibility cloak. He recalled another implausible conjecture he, Ron, and Hermione had made about the invisibility cloak that the older brother of the Three Brothers from the Deathly Hallows ... held ...


    If Dumbledore shared the same interest as a young man who aspired to establish a new order dominated by wizards in his youth, was he also interested in the legendary Deathly Hallows that could make one a master of death? Did they plan to establish an eternal reign together, just like Voldemort? Harry was ashamed of himself for thinking like that; how could he put Dumbledore on the same level as Voldemort? But it was hard for him to find excuses and prevent himself from having an afterthought: if Dumbledore hadn''t taken the invisibility cloak, was it possible that his family might not have died?


    Harry stubbornly ignored the fact that Dumbledore, Professor Hap, and Professor Moody had all seen through the invisibility cloak, and held on to the possibility that could never be verified, repeatedly shifting between hope and cynicism. He buried it all, locked away firmly with an Occlumency until he couldn''t help but burst out suddenly during his conversation with Hermione.


    He felt resentment coursing through his veins as he looked fervently at Ron and Hermione, like asking them to see how Headmaster Dumbledore wasn''t as nice as they thought ... he felt a gush of pleasure from seeing the looks on Ron and Hermione''s faces as they were on the edge of collapse.


    "Harry," Hermione trailed off, "I know it''s truly unbelievable, but it''s understandable-"


    "Understandable?!" Harry shouted, "Understandable... UNDERSTANDABLE - you know he -"


    "Yeah, I know." Hermione stroked her hair confusedly and walked around the activity room, "I know ... talented people always have a lot of ideas, not to mention some people will go much further off the rails than that at their most creative age ... "


    "Who do you mean?" Harry snapped.


    "What-"


    "You said some people are far more outrageous with their ideas than Dumbledore, I can''t think of-"


    "That doesn''t matter!" Hermione said impassively, "We''re all well aware that Headmaster Dumbledore is sitting in the Headmaster''s office right now, he didn''t participate in any of Grindelwald''s speeches and atrocities, on the contrary, he stopped him."


    "He took the invisibility cloak." Harry said stubbornly, through clenched teeth.


    "Ugh, I ... I''m sorry, I know it''s hard on your heart, Harry, but we both know the Invisibility Cloak won''t stop Vol, Voldemort, their fate was sealed from the moment Wormtail betrayed- "


    " I! WON''T! BELIEVE! FATE!" Harry shouted, his panting voice distorted with rage.


    Hermione gave him a careful look and gestured with her eyes for Ron to help, who seemed to have not gotten over his shock. He racked his brain and said, "Yeah, Harry, I think Hermione''s words have a point ..."


    "Which words make sense?" Harry said through clenched teeth.


    "It''s just that, that ... geniuses always think differently, they''re all quite precocious, like Professor Hap, and of course, you-" Ron slowly mumbled.


    "Me?" Harry looked at Ron incredulously, the anger in his heart strangely lowered a little, not because Ron had called him a genius by any means, it was ridiculous.


    "Yes, that''s right, you." Ron''s tone smoothed out considerably, but it was still slow and sounded like he was making it up as he went along. "No kid your age has been through more than you, to put it mildly, even Dumbledore ..." he deflated, preferring not to say anything offensive, "You''re targeted by one of the world''s strongest wizard, and thwarted his plots three times, and you also established the Auror Reserve-"


    "My performance-" Harry opened his mouth.


    "To be honest, it''s quite outrageous too. I collect chocolate frog cards, and you know ''Andros the Invincible'', right? He''s known for conjuring up giant-sized Patronus, and you did it at the age of fifteen-"


    "I had the help of the rune-"


    "At least it hasn''t been publicly demonstrated by anyone other than Professor Hap yet, has it? And as for practical skills, you''re above the average Auror''s level now, you also once managed to beat Sirius in training, which is why he was too embarrassed to name you in class ..."


    "That was a sparring match." Harry''s face flushed a little.


    Ron patted him on the shoulder, "Harry, you know what the other graduates say about you? A well-deserved student leader of this era. No one but you could possibly claim that."


    "I''m sorry," Hermione interjected coldly, "I haven''t heard that one before."


    "Because you''re not a graduate." Ron said without thinking, "Collins told me that, and the footage of the last two events of the Tournament, you have no idea how hot they sold ... Harry, you''re not just famous for the scar on your forehead. Well, speaking of that, I''m quite famous too, I have fans sending me letters ..."


    Harry and Hermione stared at him.


    Ron said cheekily, "Not as many fans as you, of course, but I mean, do you expect me to complain?"


    Harry felt very strange inside, he didn''t know how the conversation had turned to the question of whether he is a genius or not, but there is no doubt that he felt much less resentment towards Dumbledore in his mind and the gloom that had been weighing on his heart for the past few days dissipated.


    "Even if you all have a point, it at least shows that Headmaster Dumbledore can also make mistakes." He said stiffly.


    "I thought of a good idea." Hermione said.


    Harry looked at her and asked, "What is it?" But there wasn''t much hope in mind.


    "Write a letter." The corner of Hermione''s mouth curled slightly as she pulled blank parchment and a quill out of her book bag, and with a flick of her wand, the quill automatically wrote on the parchment, in a completely different handwriting than Hermione''s usual one.


    Harry and Ron came up next to her left and right side and both of their mouths dropped open in surprise when they saw the first sentence being - ''Dear Felix''.


    "Dear Felix," Felix read the letter in front of him with an odd expression, as he had assumed that he would never receive a letter from ''Ms. Jane'' in his life, and he continued to read on with anticipation-


    "Please forgive me for taking the liberty to write, I was a little pessimistic in my last letter, but things are gradually getting better.


    The hard times are not yet over, but I am confident that the future will get better. Lately, I''ve had so many strange ideas popping into my head, they''re like a thousand Billywig insects buzzing around, maybe adapting the story in my head into a book would be a big hit?


    I don''t think I''ll ever be a writer, but the characters in this story seem to come to life, and the problems they had started to plague me as if they were real in reality. I urgently need valuable advice if you are willing ...


    The story takes place in a remote and closed town where the mayor is a respected elder who fought in the battle and captured the most feared bandits with his own hands, and then he returned to the town and became the protector of the town''s civilians, and the townspeople all hold him in high regard.


    But there are a few formerly influential blokes who believed that the old mayor had touched their interests, and decided to gather behind a brutal and evil ringleader to overthrow him and regain their former noble position.


    A boy lives in the town''s herb shop and among his neighbours there is a warm and cheerful girl, they are both about the same age and later they become very good friends.


    After going to school, the boy and the girl did not end up in the same class, but their friendship was always preserved. In the meantime two major incidents happen to the boy, first is that he joins a school group that favours the idea of the criminal gang that rampages around the town and the girl keeps urging the boy to leave, but the boy wants to gain fame and refuses to agree. As for the other incident, he and the girl fell out two years before graduation.


    After graduation, the boy secretly joined the criminal gang, while the girl became a policeman and married her suitor. The girl and the suitor foiled several plots of the criminal gang, which angered the gang leader, who killed them personally, leaving only a baby behind.


    After that day, the evil gang leader also disappeared and the townspeople rejoiced. When the trial took place, the mayor of the town stepped in and shielded the boy. It was said that he had indeed been a member of the gang, but at some point, he realized his mistake and became undercover.


    The boy then became a teacher at the only school in the town and in this way, more than ten years passed and the girl''s orphan child came of school age. The child, who had been secretly fostered by the mayor of the town in the home of the girl''s relatives because both of his parents had died, had a miserable childhood and had always believed that he would be shovelling cow dung for the rest of his life, but to his surprise, he received a letter of acceptance from the school.


    The child enters the school with great joy, only to be met with hostility from the boy - who is now a teacher - who had the same unhappy childhood as he did. I don''t know why maybe it''s because the child always reminds the boy about the father of the child?


    The child showed a great deal of athletic talent and had the potential to become a good sheriff later on. The girl''s orphan child wants to avenge his parents'' death, so he has been trying to gather information about the gang leader. He later discovered about the comeback of the gang leader who now had found a new weapon, and also learned the reason why he didn''t die last time was because he had built strong armour from precious materials, and he has six pieces of such armour in total ...


    The boy had recently noticed that the teacher who had been targeting him had been acting strangely and might also be investigating the armour''s mysteries. This is very unusual - because not only did the mayor already know the reason why the leader was not dead, but he also destroyed several pieces of armour personally - so this teacher is definitely investigating privately behind the mayor''s back.


    There were so many doubts in this boy''s mind, he didn''t know if the teacher who treated him badly is a good or bad person, and if he is good, why did he disobey the mayor''s orders? Especially since the boy had also recently discovered that the mayor had made his share of mistakes when he was younger, and his image of the wise and good man in the boy''s mind was shaken ..."


    Felix put the letter down and laughed rather heartily. Valen looked at him curiously.


    "Oops, someone''s secret is going to be impossible to hide." He looked at the snow Owl that is waiting for a reply and asked, "Your name is Pigwidgeon?"


    Hedwig reluctantly whimpered in response and buried her head in her wings.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 565: Harrys Probe

    Harry showed a confused expression as he handed the letter to an eager Hermione and Ron, who couldn''t wait to read it. "Ms. Jane, judging by your drafting skills alone, you really not quite suitable for writing a book, it is a little too flat ... that was a joke. I suggest you write from the point of view of the girl''s orphan child and unravel the past layer by layer ... As for how to string them together, find a theme for the story that flows throughout the whole book -


    Why does the mayor protect civilians?


    Why is the boy willing to go undercover?


    How did the girl''s orphan child survive?


    By the way, some of the information is only known to the people involved and those closest to them and will seem incomprehensible to the bystander. For example, I have a Niffler called Valen. Only I know how many hours a day she sleeps, and only I know that she is addicted to games these days. ... Don''t be surprised if one day she no longer splurges, it might be because I blocked her pocket money.


    After reading your story, this is what I can assure you of.


    Finally, I suggest you to change the owl''s name, she doesn''t look very happy when I call her ''Pigwidgeon''."


    Hermione looked thoughtful as she finished reading the letter, "Is it really bad?"


    Ron on the other hand snorted out a laugh, "I told you we shouldn''t have let Hedwig wear Piggy''s (Ron''s owl) tag, that would have looked silly." Hermione raised her eyebrows.


    "And you guys agreed then." She looked to Harry for input.


    Harry didn''t notice her gaze as he mulled it over with his head down, "What would be the theme ... that flows through the whole thing? Guilt? Not really, Voldemort doesn''t have guilt."


    "Dude, the answer is pretty obvious." Ron said. Harry glared at him and Ron twisted his head and whistled.


    At the weekend, Harry bumped into Snape again at the library door, and Snape came out from inside clutching two large, thick books.


    Harry was relieved for a moment. This means that Snape has not pinpointed the keyword Horcrux, but when he thought about it again, it seems normal, Hermione at first rummaged through the restricted section but still couldn''t find any reference material, even when she knew the name Horcrux!


    The only book that mentions the word Horcrux is "Magick Moste Evile", but the author of this book only skimmed through about it.


    Harry was disappointed back then, and now he is glad.


    "Potter! What are you doing?" Snape strode over and asked him coldly. From his angle, Harry could see the cover of the book he carried in his arms featured the face of a distorted male wizard who seemed to be suffering inhuman torture, with his mouth wide open enough to fit half a coconut.


    "I came to find a book to read in the library." Harry said.


    He took his eyes off the cover of the book and stared at Snape''s face. It was completely a spontaneous reaction; from their first meeting, Snape had shown an intense and unwarranted hatred. Harry also hated Snape, whether his slow, drawn-out way of speaking, his cold, stone-like eyes, or his greasy hair and huge hawkish nose.


    These are the factors that Harry dislikes, not to mention that they come together. Even without counting these, Harry didn''t think Snape is a qualified teacher - he is known for his eccentric attitude, even Sirius is trying to remain impartial by restraining himself, but Snape deduces points unscrupulously ...


    " It does not seem so to me, you look like you are specifically waiting for someone?" Snape spoke unkindly, staring at Harry''s bulging pockets, " I guess you have some prohibited item in your pocket, hand it over. Filch would be interested."


    Harry obediently took the object out, it looked like a silver-grey material composed of liquid, which fluttered and fell from his hands to the floor and formed a glistening puddle.


    Snape sucked in a cold breath.


    "This is my invisibility cloak, a relic left to me by my mother and father. It''s saved me a few times, from Voldemort." Harry stared into his eyes and said, "Professor Snape, does it count as a prohibited item?"


    Snape did not speak for a while.


    The two men seemed to be engaged in a silent battle, at least that''s what Harry thought. He was prepared for this, if Snape intended to confiscate it - which was just what he wanted - he could turn around and demand it back since the invisibility cloak was a birthday present from Headmaster Dumbledore.


    Snape took his eyes off the invisibility cloak and stared into Harry''s eyes, and half a moment later, he said coldly, "Put it away!"


    Harry slowly bent down and picked up the invisibility cloak from the ground, and at this point, he didn''t know what to do, his plan didn''t consist of what to do next. While he was hesitant he felt darkness before his eyes, a wind blew by, and the hem of the black robe brushed his hair, Harry looked up and only saw the back of a man hurrying away.


    Harry stared at Snape''s back, a strange emotion fermented in his heart. In the evening, he pushed open the door to the common room, Ron and Hermione approached him anxiously, "Where have you been, Harry?" "Yeah, we''ve looked everywhere."


    "I went to the covered bridge." Harry muttered.


    "The covered bridge?" Ron looked at him uncertainly, "What were you doing there, it is freezing outside -"


    "Thinking about something." Harry said vaguely, as he headed back to his dorm room and laid straight down on the four-poster bed without taking off his clothes. He hadn''t slept a wink that night which caused him to walk to class the next day muddled with dark circles under his eyes.


    "Tell me what colour is this, Potter?" In Potions class, Snape''s eyes glinted with malice as he spooned out the potion from Harry''s cauldron before letting it flow back down for all the class to see.


    "Green." Harry muttered stiffly.


    "What colour it is supposed to be?" Snape asked again in his elusive voice.


    "Pink." Harry replied.


    "Pink, so you can tell the difference." Snape repeated as a chuckle broke out in the background. "Then surely you should have known what you are brewing is just a pot of waste water ... You are going to be stuck with zero points, Potter." He waved his wand and the liquid in the cauldron was emptied in one swift motion.


    Harry sat down with an expressionless face, shaking with anger. It is true that he did not do well, but Goyle''s potion resembled a sticky paste, and Crabbe''s cauldron oozed a foul smell and black smoke, but Snape didn''t give them a zero. It didn''t require any brain to know that Snape was targeting him.


    He stared at Snape''s back as he returned to the podium, and this time Harry didn''t have any messy thoughts in his mind, he just wanted to hex him. The Bat-Bogey Hex seemed to have a different allure to him now, and his mind already imagined a swarm of bats flying out of Snape''s large hawk nose.


    "Don''t be impulsive, Harry." Hermione in the side tried hard to calm him down. Ron didn''t have time to talk, as his cauldron was steaming and spitting out a yellow bubble. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Felix had been wondering what kind of person would show up at the school in the form of Voldemort''s mole from the Ministry of Magic in late January when he heard Sirius complaining.


    "Something''s wrong," Sirius muttered in a small voice, currently it is breakfast time, and he is tackling a tough-looking steak, the knife and fork hitting the plate with a tooth-aching sound. "I don''t know why the Ministry of Magic sent a team to school at this time of year to inspect the students'' mastery of Apparition and Side-Along Apparition ... Is this because they don''t trust me?"


    " Well, you''re not bad, Professor Flitwick complimented you on that." Felix said casually as he leafed through the Daily Prophet.


    "It''s - his - habit -" Sirius was still fighting with his steak, and from using too much force the plate shattered. He huffed and pointed his wand at it, and the plate immediately restored itself to its original state, and he pointed once more, which cut the steak into pieces.


    "No, I need to ask Amelia to see what she''s up to!"


    Felix had no intention of getting involved as he closed his newspaper and finished the last bit of milk.


    "What''s going on lately?"


    " Constructing a building."


    "Well, sorry?"


    "We''re really constructing a building," Sirius said vaguely as he wolfed down his steak, "building all sorts of terrains, you know I can''t mess around the castle, and I don''t think Classroom Seven is real enough ... I''m tempted to take my students to the Shrieking Shack for adventures, it''s easy to set up some traps there."


    "You''re still on probation." Felix reminded him.


    "Thank you."


    The two men went their separate ways for their classes, and the atmosphere in the seventh-year Ancient Rune class was very relaxed. Although it was their last year, with all kinds of new and exciting teaching methods, the students had been progressing very quickly making it the subject that they had to least worry about.


    Felix took the students to classroom seven and two ghosts floated past them, chatting as they floated by, "Nice dessert today."


    The students were used to this.


    One by one they passed through the water-like curtain, Felix stopped at the entrance and waited until the last student jumped in and after a few more seconds a figure identical to him coalesced in the air.


    Felix''s memory body looked up and down at his original and grinned, " Gonna do something bad?"


    ------------


    #jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 566: Wall of Mystery

    Felix looked blankly. "Ok, ok, I will stop joking, I want to ask one question: I can act like as usual right?" The Memory body frowned, seemingly genuinely troubled by this.


    "Just don''t overdo with your stupid play." Felix said.


    The memory body flipped the bird and Felix asked with a dark look on his face, "Where did you learn to do that?"


    "A student." The memory body said absently, "I can tell you his name, I remember him well."


    Felix took a step out of classroom seven and went to the Room of Requirement, then reappeared in the Shrieking Shack. A few Apparitions later, he was standing near an abandoned warehouse. In the warehouse, a man lay tied up, hulking, with knotted grey hair and a beard, deeply sunken eyes, and long yellow nails on dirty fingers, he looked more like a beast than a man.


    Felix noticed that the ground was covered with thick scratch marks.


    "Fenrir Greyback?"


    Greyback whimpered, a rag stuffed in his mouth.


    "Oh, I forgot." Felix said insincerely, waving his hand as the rag was removed and the man spat on the floor. This revealed the sharp teeth in his mouth and the visible scab in the corner of his mouth. At this moment he slanted his eyes from the ground and asked in an incredulous tone, "Felix Hap? Were you the one who send the men to capture me?"


    "It was me. What did Voldemort tell you to do?" Felix''s sharp gaze pierced straight into Fenrir''s eyes like a rapier, and after a long while, Greyback''s gaze went slack, and he fell to the ground, motionless.


    "Didn''t Voldemort give you his mark? Oh, sorry, he probably doesn''t think much of you." Felix said.


    Greyback, who looked like a corpse, moved and his eyes grew fierce as he whimpered, "... that was cooperation ..."


    "Cooperation? Do you really think you are qualified?"


    Felix shot out a stunning spell and the werewolf fell straight back down.


    After a long while, Lupin and Tonks suddenly appeared out of the air, both of them raised their wands and looked around warily. "Is it the right address?" Tonks asked in a low voice. " Yes, that''s what the note that suddenly fell on my desk read." Lupin said, with a vague guess who did that, but with Tonks right next to him, he couldn''t go into details, in case it turned out to be something illegal.


    "Over there." Tonks said warily, and the two moved step by step to the edge of the warehouse, in perfect sync with each other, and Lupin, who realized this, became even more frustrated.


    The lock on the warehouse proved no challenge to them, and he pulled open the heavy iron door, but his body froze when he saw what it held inside.


    Meanwhile, Felix had returned to classroom seven, regardless of what Lupin intended to do, he, for one, decided to take this matter into his own hands. He reckons Lupin won''t kill Greyback as long as he doesn''t lose his mind a bit, even if the werewolf was the one that bit him when he was a child.


    So Felix left a curse on Greyback, to let his sin wither with his body.


    The students in Classroom Seven were ignorant of all this, not even knowing that the professor had changed in the middle of the process. All they knew was that Professor Hap had led them to Classroom Seven, where they came into a forest clearing and sat one by one on huge, bald tree stumps, where a line of vine hung from the sky, and Professor Hap sat impishly in a hammock made of vines, as he gave them a lecture.


    "Does anyone know what we''ve been learning lately ... yeah, that''s right, what a great memory ... Huh, didn''t I tell you guys? Combining the core runes of the twelve amulets together to create ancient magic ... didn''t tell you? How sly ... Never mind, I''ll demonstrate it to you ..."


    "The Professor is very lively today." Fred said, looking at the memory body that had been swinging.


    "Probably wanted to try a different style," George said, "it''s quite tiring to always maintain a straight face."


    "Makes sense, we could try that."


    At that moment, a hand suddenly reached out of the air and grabbed their professor. The students looked at each other in confusion. Before they could react, the professor reappeared. Felix cleared his throat and said to the dumbfounded students on the stump, "Ahem, does anyone know what I just said? There''s an extra point ..."


    After class was over, the students walked out of the classroom in a row.


    "The professor must have slacked off, probably ran off to have tea with Professor McGonagall."


    "Why Professor McGonagall?"


    "Gee, don''t you think she was very elegant when she was young, if only I could be that elegant in the future."


    In the afternoon Felix saw a lot of new faces in the school, a dozen adult wizards, only a few of whom he recognized. They mostly consist of people from the Wizarding Examinations Authority and people from the Apparition Test Centre along with high-ranking Ministry officials, and among them, two people had attracted his attention - they''re Dolores Umbridge and Chesterton Avery.


    "Gee, it''s not that difficult to guess." Felix muttered. "Nope, can''t take it lightly." His gaze swept over the dozen or so adult wizards present; perhaps a real mole is hiding among these people.


    Dumbledore welcomed them warmly, and then he chatted in a low voice with his old friend Professor Tofty.


    "Is Professor Marchbanks absent this time?" Dumbledore asked in a gentle tone.


    "She''s busy preparing the test papers, and it is the people from the Apparition Test Centre who are in charge of today''s test, but because they are understaffed they have brought in a temporary group from the Ministry." Professor Tofty said.


    The slightly young wizards in the crowd looked around with excitement, they had rarely had the chance to return since they had graduated and now they felt so much younger all of a sudden to be back at the school again, and currently, they were chatting passionately about the interesting things they had done at school.


    "Can we take a stroll around?" A round-faced witch asked.


    "Sure, Corrine," Dumbledore pointed his white-gloved hand towards Professor McGonagall, "Minerva will arrange everything." The round-faced witch shrank at the name and said in a slightly weakened tone, "Good morning, Professor Mc, McGonagall."


    "It''s afternoon, Miss Corrine." Professor McGonagall sternly said.


    "Oh ... good afternoon." S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Amos! Come and see, I''ve found something new," Wilkie Twycross, a wizard wearing an old-fashioned bowler hat, shouted from the entrance hall, "My, what a change, it wasn''t here when I came last year!"


    He is the instructor of the Apparition class from the Ministry of Magic who basically would pop by the school once a year, and with a look of wonder, he plastered his surprisingly pale face on the bulletin board.


    "Is it a club?" Amos Diggory asked from far away at the great hall door, "I heard Ced mention it over the holidays ..."


    Without speaking, Wilkie Twycross carefully pulled a colourful piece of parchment from under the bulletin board and said with a look of admiration, "This looks like a newspaper? Let me see."


    "Occamy breaking out of its shell documentary sales is quite a boom, and it was filmed by a Niffler- Huh? I didn''t know this - Weasley twins were screaming at a suit of armour late at night and were caught by the Caretaker, Filch, who arrived on the sound - tch, was it exam stress, thinking back when, er - - Filch casted a spell in a high-profile manner and dispelling the rumours about him being Squib - Professor Sinistra''s schedule remains chaotic, often waking up in the middle of the day -Professor Burbage''s intention to change the Muggle Studies course to teach farming and students complaining -- Ha, that''s so interesting, this newspaper is called ''The Wall of Mystery''?"


    "Do you like the name? I picked it myself, it''s the name of a song." A voice asked. "Oh, uh," Wilkie Twycross looked down at the little girl who had suddenly popped up, and then at the newspaper, "Is this your paper?"


    "Yeah."


    Wilkie Twycross stared at the parchment and asked tentatively, "Little girl, your name is Mafalda?"


    Mafalda nodded proudly as she fluidly changed the subject, "So can you tell me what you do?"


    "Do you want to interview me, little girl? You''re only supposed to be in the first year?"


    "That has nothing to do with our interview, I have interviewed a lot of big shots." Mafalda straightened her chest and tried her best to look taller.


    Wilkie Twycross felt a little amused, "Yeah well, who are they?"


    "Let''s see, three winners of the Order of Merlin, three full members of the Dark Force Defence League, the captain of the Quidditch team, the Head girl and Head boy of the school, last year''s Tournament of Champions contestants, and some future celebrities ... Later on, I''ll also target the Professors. And Headmaster Dumbledore." Mafalda said with a straight face.


    The more the two adult wizards listened, the more surprised they became. "Is Cedric Diggory among them?" Amos asked eagerly, "I''m his father."


    " Yes! He''s one of those future celebrities, the kind that would be on the Chocolate Frog card."


    "And you could even predict that?" Feeling rather absurd, Wilkie Twycross wanted to hear the young girl''s reasoning.


    "Yeah, he''s had quite a few articles published in the New Solutions to Rune Magazine, but the real reason is his Magic Puppet Club, which has just recently been renamed." Mafalda cocked her head at the yellowing bulletin on the wall and stated with conviction, "It''s not just him, I have a feeling a lot of the clubs in here are going to turn into massive entities in the future, I''m witnessing history ..."


    Amos Diggory and Wilkie Twycross looked at each other and Amos admitted he was somewhat persuaded, he had been bothered about a family issue recently and this little girl seemed to have given him an answer. But Wilkie Twycross would not forget what he had just read on the bulletin board and wondered how on earth the ''S.P.E.W.'' and the ''Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist Club'' could become a huge corporation.


    He happened to know where the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks had originated from, a third-rate tabloid in the magical world, and its editor-in-chief didn''t seem to be in his right mind ...


    "So, young lady with a keen sense of smell, what about you? What''s your stance about yourself?" Wilkie Twycross asked.


    "Me? I''m just the chronicler of this episode of history." Mafalda said briskly, "Of course, it doesn''t stop me from making money, so do you plan to be interviewed, I can pay the honorarium of two Sickles each ..."


    -------------


    #jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 567: Money Eating Snake (2 in 1)

    In the Ancient Rune office - "I heard you''ve been spending a lot of money recently?"


    Valen responded stiffly, sitting on a small table.


    "Seriously, how many clubs have you invested in up to now?"


    "Hmm." Valen looked around with her little hands behind her back, refusing to look straight at Felix who is standing in front of her.


    "And have you paid someone to write your autobiography? The student who runs that school tabloid?" A newspaper shook in front of Valen.


    Valen''s jaw dropped, it looks like all of her little secrets seems to have been dug out?


    "It''s about time," Felix said solemnly. As he sat opposite to Valen, and with a shake of his palm, something jumped out of his ring - Valen''s mouth opened wide in surprise at what appeared to be a - a hideous snake?


    Valen stared at the little creature in front of her, it appeared to be a greenish snake with a ridiculously large proportioned head, and from the moment it appeared it swam happily around her with a wide-open maw, Valen reached out with a jerk, and picked it up by the tail and shook it, the little snake bounced twice in mid-air like a flexible rope and opened its mouth to spit out a copper knut.


    Valen''s eyes widened, this is a snake that can spit money?


    "It''s a money bank," Felix answered, " Today I will teach you two new concepts, savings, and interest." Valen, who was having fun, stopped and slowly turned her head to look at him, "Kee?"


    "Simply put, it''s about saving up your pocket money and putting it in one place, which is here -" Felix pointed at the small snake which was twisting and turning, " it was specially prepared by me for you, you can place some of your wealth in it."


    The little snake, which is essentially an alchemical item, nodded cooperatively and opened its mouth wide.


    "Kee?" Valen looked at Felix in confusion, why would I put my money in the little snake, I have my own pocket for it.


    "That''s not the same," Felix said in a tactful manner, "think about it, the money that goes in your pocket, it''s only getting smaller and smaller, isn''t it?" Valen froze and nodded, "That''s right," Felix raised his pitch to make his tone more convincing, "but if you keep your money in the little snake, after a while, it will become more."


    Valen looked dumbly at Felix and then looked down at the little snake that she had been clutching in her hand. Is this another precious treasure?


    "Kee?"


    "How much more can it become, well ... This would be a dynamic and evolving growth. To be more precise, it will vary according to the time and quantity you store, for example, the growth you gain for storing one Gold Galleon will be less compared to storing ten Galleons, like ten times less. And the difference between storing it for a day and storing it for ten days would be different too, with the same ten times difference. Do the maths yourself, how many times does it multiply in total?"


    Valen wiggled her fingers as she looked down, and after a long moment, she looked up at Felix in confusion.


    "A hundred times." Felix revealed the answer.


    Valen looked shocked.


    "That''s right." Felix said with a smirk, "Don''t worry, how will I take your money? I''m just handing you a way to make more money, it''s an untold secret ... your money is still yours, it''s just transferred from one place to another and the little snake will still be in your hands, well, how is the deal, a good bargain, no? "


    Valen thought about it for a while, it seems so ... She nodded her head afterward.


    "Very well then, let''s discuss a precise figure," Felix paused and asked uncertainly, "how much do you have?"


    Valen looked down at her small pocket, all she knew for sure is that she has a lot, even after using some of it, she still has a lot.


    "I''ll count it for you." Felix said as he looked at her pocket. When he saw the lack of response from the opposite party for a long time, he muttered to himself with a sigh, "Save up, interest, money grows more money ..."


    Valen had an intense internal battle going on in her mind:


    Would the Great Demon King swindle her out of her money?


    But all the pocket money she has was given by Great Demon King.


    Don''t forget the Great Demon King is very cunning!


    But the little snake would remain in her own pocket.


    The Great Demon King is very cunning.


    But the money grows more when you put it in the little snake ...


    Valen barely realized that it is getting dark, and after a long internal tussle, she finally closes her eyes and solemnly nodded her head.


    "Clang."


    "Clang."


    "Clang, clang."


    Valen looked at her little pocket and instantly felt penniless, and then she looked at a small pile of gold galleons on the floor and her sense of joy returned.


    "That makes a total of 2007 gold galleons when you calculate it." Felix said with a look of amazement, "Tell you what, how about we deposit two thousand galleons into it?"


    Valen looked at him silently. All she wanted now is to punch someone.


    "It''s a good deal, I''ll do the maths for you, there are some pretty complicated mathematical equations involved ... you haven''t learned to do arithmetic? Ah, what a shame."


    The sky turned completely dark and Valen squeezed the numerical formula that took up most of the parchment with a pang of confusion, "Swish!" A small mound of galleons on the floor was swallowed by a little snake that had opened its bloody maw.


    "Kee!!!"


    Valen grabbed the little snake by the neck and shook it hard, she was just starting to regret it! But now it is too late, the little snake burped and opened its mouth to spit out seven gold coins.


    Valen looked at the money on the floor for a moment, before she picked it up one by one and stuffed it into her little pocket pitifully.


    "We might as well place the little snake money bank at ..."


    "Kee!"


    Valen clung to the little snake with a deadly hug, as her dark, shiny fur flared up all over her body.


    "It''s yours, all yours." Felix chuckled, "Just one last step, let''s set a date, if you take it out earlier than that time, you won''t get the extra galleons."


    Valen held out her trembling hands and offered the little snake to him.


    The next day when she woke up from her cradle bed, Valen stared at the ceiling in a daze for a couple of seconds and subconsciously felt her little pocket, then she yelped and jumped up from her bed, and looked around, finally finding the gluttonous snake that had eaten her wealth in one of the corners of the cradle bed.


    Valen breathed a long sigh of relief and her little shoulders relaxed.


    She slipped out of the bedroom with the little snake money bank and looked around the office for a moment, eh? Is the Great Demon King not home? She walked over to the sofa, and with a hard hop, she jumped onto the Great Demon King''s usual favourite spot and started rolling around on it. After rolling around contentedly for two minutes, she suddenly got worried and looked fearfully under the sofa.


    The little snake had coiled itself into a tight circle and lazily flicked out its tongue.


    Valen''s heart settled down. It is a weekend, and she reckons that the Great Demon King has gone off somewhere for a stroll. She pulls out her magic painting and traced over it with her little finger, on which the game''s protagonist, Niffler, has already collected four gems, each of which can unleash powerful ancient magic, and - at Valen''s insistence - - The Niffler is also wearing a charming cloak.


    But today the game seemed less appealing, and every now and then Valen was forced to check whether the Gluttonous Snake was still there, the snake often wandered off, "in an irregular orbit around you", according to the Great Demon King, which Valen didn''t quite understand, but it probably meant that it wouldn''t go too far.


    Still, Valen would feel panic when the snake disappeared from her sight. Each time she takes the trouble to jump off the sofa and pull the gluttonous snake out of its hiding place in the corner and place it in front of her eyes.


    When lunchtime came, Valen wobbled and prepared to go out. After thinking for a moment, she took the gluttonous snake with her. She absolutely could not let it out of her sight.


    She hid the snake under her yellow hat and wandered around the castle, after seeing Mafalda, who was selling tabloids and looking for the material. Valen subconsciously looked at her little pocket, and there were only seven gold galleons inside which made her sad.


    Valen had learned how hard life can be when she eventually passed by Mafalda. She clenched her little fist, she had already made up her mind - she would stop buying newspapers until she had saved enough money again, till then she will borrow it from someone to browse.


    After some searching, she finally spotted an acquaintance.


    "Kee!" S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Astoria Greengrass looked down and saw that Valen was greeting her in a friendly manner. The two came together and began to read the newspaper. Valen soon finished reading one side and was anxious to turn the page. She squinted her eyes, the reading speed of this defeated warrior is a bit slow ...


    Never mind, one has to be considerate~


    "Don''t worry," Astoria seriously said, "You see it says that twelve people from the Ministry of Magic have come to stay at the school for two whole weeks, and their job includes testing the results of the Apparition training as well as assisting with special training - indicating that The Ministry of Magic is very concerned about the safety of its students, see, that''s what it analyses."


    Valen tilted her head to look at her, making Astoria slightly puzzled.


    Valen pulled a piece of parchment out of her small pocket and quietly handed it to her. "What''s this? Well, do you want me to calculate this formula? Let''s see, it''s not that hard to do ..." Astoria looked down at the dense mathematical formula, and her gaze swirled in circles.


    "It''s bit difficult ...not my fault though, it''s because I didn''t choose the Arithmancy class."


    Although she didn''t get an answer, Valen finally put her mind at ease, it wasn''t that she isn''t smart enough, it was the Great Demon King who was making it difficult. As she parted from Astoria, she happily carried the gluttonous snake for a walk, and there is a large crowd of people gathered in the entrance hall, and Filch is blocking the entrance to the great hall with great poise, holding a wand in his hand.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood in the crowd watching the buzz.


    "What year are the ones inside?" A new student asked.


    "Seventh year." Ron chimed in, "They had learned Apparition last year in their sixth grade and this is a chance for them to get their certificates early." After that, he finally revealed his true intentions, "What do you guys think - is it possible to get a certificate even if you''re not old enough to master the Apparition?"


    A few younger students around looked at him with awe.


    "I think it''s hard to get," Hermione said analytically, " According to the rules, one has to be of age-"


    "But these are special circumstances, aren''t they?" Harry asked, quite looking forward to it too, "If we got it, we don''t have to take a carriage to Hogsmeade." And it would be a lot easier to see Grawp, he glanced at Hermione, who had also thought of that.


    The three of them could not escape Hagrid''s warm invitation to visit Grawp''s temporary home for a weekend, no matter what. The trio prepared themselves rigorously by practising all sorts of defensive spells all over again before going, and were amazed at the sight they saw when they arrived - Grawp was sitting on a pile of hay, holding a giant half-eaten pumpkin in one hand and expertly switching the buttons of the magic projector with the other - and they couldn''t believe they had watched half an episode of The Lion King in a cave together with the footage of the second event of the tournament.


    Grawp became very excited to see Harry, as he huffed and yelped at him, and they half guessed in conjunction with the footage on the magic projector, before eventually realizing that he actually wanted to see Harry''s Patronus Charm.


    Hagrid had also bought a magic radio to keep Grawp entertained, and when they emerged from the cave, Ron stated incredulously, "Have I been under a Confundus Charm? I still can''t believe I heard ''Witching Hour'' in a cave next to a pair of feet over twenty inches tall that was tapping to the beat!"


    "Don''t worry, your mind is perfectly clear." Hermione said, she originally didn''t want to come, but now she thought it was a good idea, "We can have a little faith in Hagrid''s dream, can''t we? Are you ready for a sixteen-foot-tall Forest Keeper?"


    Harry felt at the time that he could find a perfect opportunity to persuade Hagrid that he didn''t need to rush and that two more years would be nothing ... Unfortunately, he didn''t get the chance. Snape had recently become more aggressive and kept picking on him, he wasn''t sure if it was because Snape had read some of his thoughts, the previous year Professor Hap had happened to mention that Snape is a master of Legilimency.


    A pair of small feet made their way to the great hall and Valen sneaked past the door. Filch was just about to stop her, but when he realized it was Valen, the old wrinkled face immediately smiled widely. Valen smoothly shoved a small dried fish to Mrs. Norris and slipped into the great hall.


    " O Merlin, she''s so smooth." Neville said with admiration.


    At that moment, there was a shrill, squeezy scream sounded from inside, and the students in the entrance hall froze for a few seconds as a short, fat woman stepped out.


    "It''s Umbridge." Harry instantly said, he had seen how condescending this woman was and how she had been carried out of the school in a wretched state, he just didn''t expect to see this woman in school again, he had thought that Umbridge had been kicked out of the Ministry of Magic with Fudge''s downfall.


    " Well, she has learned to keep a low profile." Ron said, and Harry knew what he meant, Umbridge is wearing a taut bright green wizard''s robe that is conspicuous but very low-key compared to the dazzling pink from before.


    "Filch, I just saw a big rat." Umbridge said in a pinched tone.


    " Her name is Valen, she''s a Professor Hap''s favourite pet, and she''s not a rat, she''s a Niffler." Filch remarked with discontent.


    Umbridge''s body stiffened as she noticed Filch''s grumpy attitude and a sweet smile immediately piled up on her slack, wide jaw, "So that''s it, that little fella looks pretty cute, do you like cats too, Mr. Filch? I also adore them, I love them so much-"


    She asked, pointing to Mrs. Norris, who was lying at Filch''s feet, her head lowered as she nibbled on a small dried fish.


    "She has a name, it''s Norris." Filch said stiffly. Umbridge shut her mouth. At that moment Filch suddenly yelled at the crowd, "Look out!" He huffed and puffed his way into the crowd, and the students around him immediately scattered to the side, revealing an underclassman who was standing there unsure of what to do.


    There was a floppy slice of Cauldron cake stuck to the floor at his feet.


    " Don''t pick it up yet!" Filch yelled again, and the student complied almost immediately. Filch muttered under his breath, "Just causing me trouble all the time... hehehe ... sullying the castle... don''t touch it! " He suddenly shouted at a student who had his wand out and was pointing it at the floor.


    "Let me do it," Filch said with a red face, pointing his exclusive wand at the remaining stain on the floor. "Tergeo!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.


    The remnants of the cake on the floor immediately disappeared and Filch grinned widely as he took a step back to the great hall''s entrance.


    Umbridge was astonished; she knew Filch is a Squib, yet he is now able to use magic? And the clubs with weird names, the newspaper, she felt like Hogwarts had become completely unrecognizable.


    "Umbridge?" At that moment, another young man stepped out of the great hall, "Professor Tofty is asking to allow the sixth years in." Umbridge glanced at him, "I was just about to mention that, little Avery."


    The young man''s brow immediately furrowed.


    The sixth years began to gather spontaneously and Harry saw the chaser Katie Bell mingle in the crowd, walking into the great hall with an excited look on her face. Greeting the seventh years who had finished their assessments, where the captain of the Gryffindor team, Angelina Johnson, had a beaming look on her face.


    "Did you make it?" Katie asked as she brushed past her shoulder.


    Angelina gestured a thumbs up at her.


    In the great hall, the two middle tables had been temporarily moved elsewhere and replaced by two little wooden circular stages, spaced about ten feet apart from each other. A dozen adult wizards stood near the wooden circles, and all four of the heads of Hogwarts were present.


    "Good morning, everyone." Wilkie Twycross stepped forward to speak, catching the eyes of all the sixth years, "I hope you saw the announcement posted in the entrance hall before you came in, the Ministry of Magic is busy at the moment, but we still managed to spare some of our manpower in order to have all the students at Hogwarts master the Apparition or Side-Along Apparition which is a basic requirement set by the Ministry of Magic as Ms. Bones believes it will effectively reduce casualties ...


    Today is our first day so my colleagues and I will be focusing on checking on your progress, and judging by the performance shown by seventh-year students, you have learned quite well. I have to thank the professor of this year''s Defence Against the Dark Arts class for that, I know how tiring it can be to teach Apparition to others ..."


    "So," he waved his wand, "students who have mastered Apparition, or think they have, step forward, and we can finish this part of the assessment first ..."


    "Don''t make a fuss." Felix said to Valen who stood on his shoulder, "We''ll be just watching the fun." He squinted as Umbridge and Avery made their way in grudgingly from the outside of the great hall, and Felix''s gaze started to twinkle a bit.


    ------------


    #jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 568: The Ministry of Magic’s Assessment

    In the great hall, the sixth graders are still being assessed. They all had the basic foundation for it, and even according to the normal procedure in previous years, they would have started to access Apparition magic around this time. But because of Sirius'' appearance, they had got their training a little over half a year ahead of schedule, so a large proportion of the students stepped forward when Wilkie Twycross questioned them.


    It was significantly less time-consuming for the staff of the Ministry of Magic to just examine the students'' Apparition performance without the need to guide them, as all they had to do was just stand by and record the results. There were two minor splinching instances occurred during which students reacted quite calmly, mainly because they had already seen it in advance in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class.


    The next step of the assessment is the Side-Along Apparition, in which the staff of the Ministry of Magic is responsible to bring the students along with them to Apparate, and then check the students'' physical state to see if they have any strong negative reactions.


    "It''s a heavy load for us," Wilkie Twycross said, "and each person has to take a break for every few attempts. So I will reserve two days for this." But the thought that there are nearly a thousand more students left sent a pang of distress through the Ministry of Magic staff''s hearts.


    "I wouldn''t have to suffer this if I didn''t come to see Ced." Amos Diggory whispered.


    After the most part of the day passed, the Ministry of Magic staff were all exhausted enough for the four Heads of House and Felix to come down and help, but after two more sessions, something went wrong on Felix''s side.


    Wilkie Twycross came over quickly, "How are you feeling?" He watched the student''s expression carefully.


    " Quite fine." Cormac McLaggen, who had a short thick, coarse hairstyle, froze for a moment and replied.


    "Oh, that''s not okay." Wilkie Twycross paused as his lips furrowed.


    " Wh-Why not?" He asked in bewilderment.


    Without answering him, Wilkie Twycross looked at Felix, "Well - Mr. Hap, your Apparition was very - skilful, and the process of movement is nearly free of discomfort, which does not meet our test requirements. " He pointed at the side where Amos Diggory had moved into the opposite wooden circle with a sixth-year student, and the girl began to dry heave before she could stand.


    "Marietta, are you all right?" Her friend Cho Chang asked with concern.


    "I ... barf..." Marietta clutched the wooden circle and vomited as Mr. Diggory covered his nose and walked away from her, and no one seemed to have wished to go near her except Cho Chang.


    "You see, it has to be that bad to test the impact." Wilkie Twycross said, without any extra expression on his face, which made Cormac McLaggen look at him in respect. "Oh, that''s quite normal, it won''t look weird when you see it more ..."


    "So do you want me to cause as strong reaction as possible?" Felix asked with interest and a shiver went down Cormac McLaggen''s spine.


    "It doesn''t have to be particularly strong ..." Wilkie Twycross said in an unnatural tone.


    Near noon, the sixth years left with excited faces as they exchanged comments, and the Ministry of Magic staff wrote down their names and performances one by one, before letting the fifth years in. Wilkie Twycross repeated what he had said before by the book and then asked the students to disperse evenly and wait for the staff to carry them as they Apparate.


    The Heads of House walked between the students to help them get lined up, and Ron raised his hand while Wilkie Twycross approached them.


    Twycross walked over to them, he looked thin and pale as if a gust of wind could blow him over, " Well, student, what''s your problem?"


    "Well, it''s like this." Ron glanced at Harry and asked, "I just wanted to ask, since we''ve mastered Apparition-" when he saw Wilkie Twycross frown a bit, he hurriedly added, " We were preparing for the Tournament of Champions, so incidentally we learned to Apparate, Me, Harry and Hermione."


    Wilkie Twycross showed a look of surprise. He looked closely at Ron''s face and then at Harry, "Oh Merlin, Yes ... I recognize you! I saw you on the footage, you are Weasley''s kid, right? I am sure of it when I saw the red hair and freckles, you were pretty impressive at the bottom of the lake ..."


    Ron''s face flushed, he had just spent most of his time in the Black Lake reading a bunch of casual books by repeatedly breaking in the same level.


    Not noticing his hidden emotions, Wilkie Twycross continued, "I met your father Arthur Weasley a few times, ... unfortunately we never got to talk more than a greeting ... ahem, I think it''s okay. " S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Pardon?"


    "Guys!" Wilkie Twycross clapped his hands as everyone looked over, "Let''s add some fun to the hard work and welcome the winners of the Tournament of Champions, who have worked extraordinarily hard to make our country proud, and the footage only showed a very small part of it! In fact - they also mastered the Apparition."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione were pushed to the centre of attention.


    "Oh," Hermione groaned under her breath, "I wasn''t planning on being in the limelight right now."


    Ron''s voice trembled a little, "Believe me, I didn''t see it coming too... Harry, did you bring the Liquid Luck, now is the right time ..."


    Harry knew Ron too well to know that he was babbling out of nervousness. How could they possibly drink the Liquid Luck while everyone watches? But he did mentally ponder whether it is necessary to carry it everywhere with him, lest he encounters a similar unexpected situation and be helpless.


    The students and professors gathered around them, all watching the show with great interest. They knew that Harry could Apparate, he had demonstrated it when dealing with the Dragon, by using it to move twice. Ron had also used it once, as for whether Hermione knew the magic as well, they weren''t quite sure.


    "Well then, to be safe, let''s let Mr. Potter try it first." Wilkie Twycross said and then Harry was pulled near a wooden circle. Wilkie Twycross pushed him from behind and Harry almost tripped as he jumped into the circle crookedly.


    "Very well, please hold your breath ..."


    The voice of Wilkie Twycross sounded from afar, but Harry''s consciousness was all focused on the wooden circle, he is literally familiar with this process and had used it during the Christmas holidays, he collected his thoughts and tried with all his might to occupy the space across the room ... He appeared across the room all at once.


    Many students were startled.


    They could discern a comparison. Most of them were unaware that the Ministry of Magic staff had in fact deliberately heightened the discomfort of the Apparition; all they knew is that Harry''s spell casting was extremely smooth compared to the loud bursts made by the adult wizards, and he appeared in the centre of the wooden circle a dozen feet away in a flash before their eyes.


    In the crowd, Umbridge examined Harry, and she could tell that he was performing this magic extremely well.


    Wilkie Twycross, the professional instructor, was also a little surprised, " Can you adjust the position you appear in? Mr. Potter."


    Harry nodded.


    He had spent a lot of time over the summer trying to imitate Professor Hap''s tactic. Although it still looked elementary compared to the original, it still had some semblance of the Professor''s tactic. At least Sirius couldn''t handle it.


    The students applauded after a long pause, and several members of the Frontline Lookout loudly cheered for Harry. The crowd grew quiet and Ron saw Wilkie Twycross grinning and beckoning him, so he walked over with fluttering feet. When Harry was returning, he squeezed the words out of his teeth and whispered, "Do you need a Daydream spell from Neville?"


    Ron grinned stiffly as he stepped into the wooden circle. Wilkie Twycross rambled on, introducing him to his colleague, "This is Weasley, his brother and dad both work in the Ministry, you should know them - Arthur''s very nice, I''ve seen him in the lift a few times, and he has always initiated the greeting... . His brother''s a workaholic, I had believed he worked the night shift for a while ..."


    Ron really wanted to tell him to shut up. He took a few deep breaths, trying to stabilize his emotions, his eyes fixed dead on the wooden circle in the distance - "BANG!" He appeared in the wooden circle.


    Ron touched his face quickly, "I made it? No hair loss? And the eyebrows are intact? Great!" He beamed with delight.


    Finally, it was Hermione''s turn, who also managed to complete her spell skilfully, appearing exactly where she was supposed to be without much noise. The students applauded in unison, and she retreated into the crowd with a red face.


    "Very good!" exclaimed Wilkie Twycross, "Very good, students. They have demonstrated their magic brilliantly, and I will advise the Ministry to issue them certificates in advance ... Also, as a professional instructor, I must correct one thing in order to avoid any unnecessary misconceptions on your part; their spellcasting gestures are not the standard style."


    "What do you mean?" Cormac McLaggen asked, "They''re doing it wrong?"


    "No, of course not, in fact, they did it much better." Wilkie Twycross spread his hands, "The most important thing for beginners to remember when Apparating is Three D''s: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation... Other than that the gestures are also necessary, it will help us master Apparition, because, with it, you can easily visualize."


    Twycross walked into the nearest wooden circle, where he opened his arms and gracefully spun in place, and disappeared in a fluttering whirl of robes, before appearing in a wooden circle on the other side.


    "Just like that - mobilize your magic and turn gracefully - that''s the right way to do it -"


    "Are you kidding me!" Ron shouted.


    Twycross looked at him calmly and Ron flinched as he mumbled, "Uh, sorry." "It''s alright," said Twycross, "I''m just curious about why you think it''s weird, didn''t the person who taught you the Apparition tell you about this spellcasting gesture?"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione immediately looked to Professor Hap in the crowd, the Professor looked at the ceiling and seemed to be suddenly fascinated by the candle decorations overhead.


    Draco Malfoy, who was not far away, also had a surprised look on his face; he had the same confusion when he had studied, but the professor hadn''t mentioned it at all, and he had assumed that he had seen the wrong information ...


    Professor McGonagall gave Felix a stern glare, as the situation became clear - Felix must have omitted a rather important step in the first place, causing Harry and the others to not even know the common spell casting gesture used by beginners even after learning the spell ... Professor McGonagall glanced at Hermione, this student should know, but the other two well ...


    She smacked her lips and said, " Twycross, can we continue the assessment?"


    ------------


    #jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 569: Myrtles Help

    "Oh, sure." Twycross snapped out of his confused state, "So - by the way, are there any other students who would like to try it as well? I know under the current special circumstances, some of the parents may have violated the restrictions for your Safety ... The Ministry of Magic is not going to pursue this for now." Harry''s mind wandered as he stared at Malfoy, who had bragged to him a long time ago that the professor had promised him to privately tutor him some magic spells, including Apparition.


    But Malfoy didn''t intend to stand out, and until the end, he had just performed the Side-Along Apparition, under Mr. Diggory''s guidance, with ease.


    A week passed in a blink of an eye.


    The Ministry of Magic team had spent two days sorting through a thousand students from top to bottom at Hogwarts, and in the end, less than a hundred students had failed to meet the standard. According to Twycross, "I''m really impressed, this has greatly reduced our workload."


    "If you had come a few months later, the number of students who didn''t meet the standard would have been even lower." Sirius stated not knowing whether to say it proudly or grumblingly.


    "Ms. Bones was very anxious lately." Twycross said half-heartedly.


    Sirius'' heart fluttered, and he pulled Twycross aside and whispered, "I know all that, I worked as an assistant for the Minister for nearly two months before, and I''m on good terms with Amelia, she told me all about it ... Things haven''t gotten better?"


    "Alas, I also inquired by chance," said Twycross, "the number of Muggle victims has been steadily increasing in recent times, many of them were only discovered during the Ministry''s private investigations, and their bodies were stolen ... Ms. Bones was concerned that the You-Know-Who might be up to something big."


    Sirius frowned.


    When he approached Felix to discuss this matter, Felix looked unusually calm.


    "Voldemort is personally taking action, and he seems to have planned to create a batch of Inferi."


    "We should stop him!" Sirius exclaimed sharply.


    "I''d like to, but - as I just said, ''Voldemort is personally handling this'', and he''s not utilizing any Death Eaters'' forces. And you certainly can''t catch him when he wants to leave for sure."


    Sirius'' face froze, and he muttered, "Something has to be done."


    "We made some preparations, in fact, probably in the next few days-" Felix said, before turning towards Angelina Johnson, who had been sitting on one of the benches in the yard, "Miss Johnson? "


    Angelina approached them slowly, " Do you need me, Professor Hap?" Her friends are looking over leisurely.


    "Yes, I wanted to remind you that your hair is not exactly the same colour as I''ve seen before." Felix stated calmly.


    Angelina yelped and fished a small mirror out of her robes and looked at herself carefully, "It really is." She frowned as a very jarring strand of pink hair in her ponytail turned to black.


    "Tonks?"


    Sirius growled under his breath.


    "Hi Sirius, long time no see." ''Angelina'' waved at him.


    "So that other one - that wouldn''t be Remus, would it?" Sirius was taken aback and looked incredulously at the other girl on the bench.


    "What makes you think that?" Tonks rolled her eyes, "He''s not here, he needs to watch over the sword castle. That''s Emmeline Vance, and Kingsley and Mad-Eye Moody are also here, they got withdrawn from the Department of Mysteries guarding duties."


    Sirius gaped, "Since when?"


    "Yesterday." Tonks cheerfully said.


    For the next two days, Sirius made an extra effort to look for students who were acting abnormally in class and even became slightly paranoid. He always felt that some students below the podium would be Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley, or even Mundungus.


    After class, Harry, Ron, and Hermione went to the great hall for dinner -


    "Sirius has been acting weird for the past two days." Harry said.


    "I''ve been meaning to ask this," Ron asked with a grin, " Would you guys play a Frisbee when you were alone together?"


    Harry hammered him on the back softly.


    "Hi, Neville, Dean, Seamus." Harry greeted them and sat down in the empty seat next to them. Dean and Seamus seemed to be asking Neville to do something, as Dean said eagerly, "Cast that spell on me again - that daydream spell, I''ve noticed that I''m studying more efficiently."


    "Professor Hap told me this spell should not be abused." Neville whispered.


    "There''s nothing wrong with using it once in a while." Seamus said while shaking his head.


    Harry knew about this magic. During the Christmas break, Ginny had inquired from Tonks about a part of the Auror training, and when school started they used it in their Frontline Lookout training after that, which did not turn out well: the enormous amount of training weighed on the members, and not everyone was comfortable with the mechanical repetition of spellcasting.


    Then Neville stepped forward and stammered to introduce a spell he had learned. Harry was quite shocked when he first experienced the ''Daydream Spell'' - an exact replica of a cosmic astral magic he had experienced on his golden invitation card. Objectively speaking, of course, it was considerably less effective, mainly because Harry''s Occlumency kept reminding him that everything he was feeling was fake. This made Neville''s magic much less effective.


    But for the other members of the group, the magic gave them a spiritual baptism. Their little troubles were nothing compared to the vastness of the stars, and those who experienced this magic would be uplifted for at least a while.


    "It''s a bit like the amulet Cedric came up with, but both methods are obviously different, and I prefer this one." Fred commented. s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    Snapping back from the memory of the last club event, Harry had become keenly aware that someone was staring at them, he followed his senses and looked across the table to see two students, a man, and a woman, seated at the opposite table, they appeared to be a couple and when Harry looked back at them, they smiled quietly at Harry.


    In the evening when Harry, Ron, and Hermione emerged from the library, it was late, and they were practically the last ones out. The three of them were walking down the empty corridor and Ron was cursing Snape and the assignments he had given to them by turns.


    That was creative, Harry thought. Ron seemed to have found a real use from Divination class - they could get a steady stream of unlucky and ill-fated muses from the class and use them to vent their anger against Snape. Suddenly there was a flash before their eyes, and the ghost of a girl darted before them.


    "Myrtle?" Harry muttered in surprise, he hadn''t seen her in ages.


    "Oh, it''s you guys," Myrtle was startled as well, she then turned and was about to float away, but then she paused in midair as if petrified. She slowly turned around, her large bulging eyes glaring at them from behind her thick, white, round glasses, and Harry wasn''t too comfortable with that scrutinizing, weighing gaze, which reminded him of Malfoy.


    "Can you guys come with me?" She continued.


    "What are you talking about?" Ron muttered, "We''re tired after a long day of catching up on our assignments, and now we just want to go back to bed and sleep."


    "You guys and Draco are friends, right?" Myrtle asked.


    "Who?" Ron looked up abruptly.


    "Draco, Draco Malfoy." Myrtle said, "He''s in a bit of trouble and I don''t know who to ask for help, but I certainly can''t look for the Professor, that would make things worse ..." she rambled on, floating over and bobbing in mid-air.


    "He''s not about to get shoved down the toilet is he?" Ron perked up, "And it just happens to block your home too?"


    "Rude!" Myrtle shouted at Ron as she descended from mid-air. She then floated up slowly and covered her face sheepishly, "But he is indeed in my lavatory."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other blankly.


    Myrtle swooned for a moment before she remembered what she had to do, and she hurriedly urged them on, "Are you going to help or not? Time is running out!"


    "Who the hell is the one who''s delaying ... I don''t want to get caught in the girls'' lavatory." Ron muttered in a small voice.


    "You''ve been there plenty of times." Hermione pointed out.


    They had indeed been there more than once, spending a considerable amount of time in there brewing polyjuice potion during their second year before they moved elsewhere when Malfoy found out.


    "Maybe, but for Malfoy''s sake ..." Ron hesitated, and they looked at Harry, waiting for him to make a decision.


    "Let''s check it out." Harry eventually said.


    ------------


    #jean cadagan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 570: The Vow that was forced got interrupted

    The three of them followed Myrtle and walked quickly in the direction of the girls'' lavatory. The good news is that the library and the lavatory are on the same floor, and they didn''t have to take a long way around. As they approached the lavatory, Ron abruptly asked, "Myrtle, how did you meet Malfoy? I''ve heard that you have a habit of peeking into the Prefect''s washroom-" Myrtle whimpered and covered her face as she passed through the wall.


    Harry and Hermione glared at Ron, who shrugged, " I am genuinely curious."


    "Just shut up." Hermione said as they came to the door of the lavatory where Myrtle normally haunted, Harry listened with his ears sideways for a few seconds and whispered, "Can''t hear a thing ... must be warded with a spell."


    Harry and Ron turned their heads to Hermione, who quickly pulled out her beaded pouch and rummaged around for a moment, before pulling out three Extendable Ears from it.


    Harry inserted one end of the flesh-coloured Extendable Ears into his ear and threw the other end towards the dirty door, which automatically went through the crack.


    "Great, I hope there''s no Anti-Disturbance kind of spell placed there, I''ll try ... Yes, there isn''t one."


    They quieted down to listen carefully.


    A throaty squeezed voice reached their ears, "What''s there to think about? Or should I ask our Lord to give your father a direct order? Draco, we''re on the same team, we just need a little help from you ..."


    Hermione looked up in horror, "It''s that woman, Umbridge! What''s she trying to do?"


    Draco Malfoy''s slightly hoarse voice sounded out, "I, I won''t ... make a Vow... I can''t, the Vow, it''ll, it''ll kill me."


    "As long as you don''t try to break it, there''ll be no problem. Malfoy, do you want to betray the Lord?"


    "I, no ...not" Draco''s voice trailed off, "Your chance for success is too low for me to gamble my life. I need to think about it for a while, I''ll get back to you tomorrow or the day after, I''ll ask my father-"


    "Lucius is one of us, you surely don''t think you can stay out of it."


    "... I didn''t expect that."


    "There''s no time for you to waste, dear Draco. If you don''t say yes for good, I''ll report it right away, so think for yourself what will happen to your father then." Umbridge said in a sweet voice, sounding like an innocent little girl, but the golden trio couldn''t help but shudder at the thought of her big cakey face and the threat she was making at the moment.


    " W-What shall we do?" Hermione quirked her head to look at them.


    "What does she mean by the Vow - the one that will kill people?" Harry calmly asked.


    "My guess is it''s probably the ''Unbreakable Vow'', once you enter it, it can''t be altered and there''s only one consequence for breaking it - death." Hermione said quietly, "But that requires a third person to witness it."


    Sure enough, another unfamiliar voice spoke up. It sounded like a young man, " Just sign it Draco, let me tell you a secret, Dumbledore - that Mudblood protector won''t live long, our lord is simply staying on the lookout ... He attaches great importance to this mission and asked us to complete it at any cost. Surely you don''t want to be the reason for the failure, right?"


    A silence followed inside. s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What shall we do?" Hermione asked once more.


    "They have to be stopped, somehow." Harry said, rising to his feet and pointing his wand against the door.


    "Wait." Hermione said, "We don''t know what their plan is yet, it''s best to let them believe it was an accident." She thought for a moment, "I have an idea."


    "Hermione -"


    But Hermione was already rushing forward. She put on a panicked look and hovered back and forth at the door, "Huh? Why is the door locked?" She muttered to herself and seemed to be building up her emotions. With that, she drew her wand, "Alohomora." The spell that blocked sound at the door was broken, and the lavatory door popped wide open with a crack.


    "We all risked our lives to get here, why are you-" the man''s impatient voice abruptly halted.


    "Hello - is anyone there? I''m in a hurry to use the toilet - who placed the spell at the door? Was it to stop Myrtle?" Hermione asked slowly.


    The few short seconds were stretched too long, and it seemed like there will be no end to it. Harry and Ron''s palms were sweating as they stared intently at Hermione, fearing that a wand of glowing green light would be thrust out from inside. It was impractical to wait for the opposite party to make a decision, so Harry shouted wisely, "Hermione, make it quick, we''ll be waiting outside!"


    "Yeah, I still want to trade chocolate frog cards with Dean." Ron shouted after him.


    Hermione''s hesitant voice said, "Oh, hold on, there''s a problem ... it looks like there is someone inside ..."


    "Do you need help?" Harry shouted at the top of his lungs.


    Finally, the door opened. Draco Malfoy appeared with a pale face, "Oh it''s just you, Hermione Granger."


    "Malfoy?!" Hermione''s surprised voice exclaimed, "What are you doing in the girls'' lavatory? I''m going to tell the Professor-"


    "Mind your own business! This place is abandoned," Malfoy shouted in a low voice, "What are you doing here? Where are the two heels, Potter and Weasley?"


    "Going to the toilet, of course!" Hermione said in a condescending voice, "They''re outside, unlike you-"


    "Out of my way."


    The conversations kept going on as Hermione''s unrelenting voice said, "Just wait, I''ll make sure to tell the Professor, so he can deduce your points and detain you! And I''ll tell Filch too! As well as asking every girl to keep their eyes on you, you nasty, vile ..."


    Harry listened and secretly complimented Hermione in his mind, this way the people inside would be more or less apprehensive and would find it hard to approach Malfoy openly any further.


    The pale yellow hair and pointed chin of Draco''s silhouette gradually became clear in the darkness, his face sweaty and pale, as if he seemed to have caught a serious illness. An enraged Hermione trailed behind him.


    "Draco Malfoy?" Harry blurted out in a feigned tone of surprise.


    Malfoy gave them a stern glare and turned his head away without a word.


    Hermione paused in exasperation until Malfoy''s figure disappeared, and then she asked in a calm whisper, "How was it?" "Awesome." Ron gave her a thumbs up, "And the people inside?" Hermione shook her head slightly, indicating that she hadn''t seen them.


    "Probably hiding." Harry mouthed, the wand in his hand kept pointed at the darkened door of the abandoned girls'' lavatory.


    Hermione hadn''t fully entered just now, it would have been terrible if she had fallen under the Imperius Curse, she wasn''t sure she could break free from the curse.


    Harry nudged his wand over Ron and himself, and under the effect of the Disillusionment Charm, the two immediately blended into the darkness. Hermione also followed suit, and they slowly backed away, hiding in the darkness. After waiting quietly for ten minutes, they all somewhat became impatient, and then a faint movement came from within.


    A silvery glow glowed in the darkness, it looked like a cat, but it seemed rather faint, and the Patronus circled around for a moment, before dissipating into specks of silver.


    Then a short, fat woman materialized in shape and looked around before hurrying away.


    But none of the golden trio uttered a word; they knew there must be another one inside. After another moment, a young male wizard exited from inside and left with great strides.


    Only when his back disappeared did the trio breathe a sigh of relief.


    "That man''s name is Avery, we''ve seen him before at the Ministry of Magic." Hermione whispered.


    They walked back in silence, looking preoccupied. What had happened today was more than they had expected, "They''re obviously up to something, better tell the Professor." Hermione said, to which Harry and Ron nodded. Suddenly, the door to the broom room on the ground floor opened silently and three pairs of hands poked out of the darkness to drag the trio inside.


    They reacted almost instantly - Harry casted a humanoid shield charm and the barrier that clung to his body swelled into a ball in the blink of an eye, pushing the disorganized hands out of the way, and two dark thorns flew out of Hermione''s beaded pouch and headed towards the darkness in a tangle; Ron stepped back and muttered a spell, as white flames quickly gathered at the tip of his wand.


    "It''s us, Harry!" A very familiar voice said.


    Harry''s heart pounded as he looked at the figure in the darkness as he blurted out incredulously, "Angelina?"


    "Come on in." ''Angelina'' said impatiently.


    The door to the broom room closed behind them.


    ------------


    #Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 571: Preparations from both sides (2 in 1)

    Harry narrowed his eyes slightly; the broom room was pitch black, with only a faint light radiating from a few wands. There were three people standing close to them - Angelina, the captain of the Quidditch team, and two others who looked familiar to Harry, and he carefully tried to recall and recognized them as the odd couple he had seen in the great hall at lunchtime. Harry couldn''t figure out how they knew Angelina and why they were hiding with her between the brooms and tried to drag them in.


    "Angelina, what the hell is going on? And - who are they?"


    Harry asked as Hermione poked him quietly with her finger from behind him, which made him notice that there are still three or four people standing in the corner in shadow, whose faces and bodies blended amongst the wooden crates, brooms, and cleaning tools, leaving only the outline of some of their limbs showing, making them look like monsters with multiple limbs and weapons.


    ''Angelina'' opened her mouth to explain when Ron suddenly interjected, "Beware she''s not real, she might have used a polyjuice potion." Harry thought Ron had a point and his heart started to race.


    Someone chuckled lightly in the darkness and Harry noticed that one of the large figures was looking down at them at some point.


    "Don''t be paranoid, boys." The tall student who had lowered his head stood upright and approached them, Harry gripped his wand tightly, he generally only had seen this type of body stature in the Slytherin team. If Ron hadn''t just warned him that Angelina might be a fake, he would have linked it as a collusion between the captains of the two teams.


    In the darkness, the silhouette of the speaker bent slightly to place something on the floor, Harry realized it is a magic lamp and the next second the room lit up.


    The bright, gentle glow illuminated the tiny broom room completely.


    It was then Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally got a glimpse of the room in its entirety.


    Counting them, there are eight people. Three on their side ... Harry unconsciously started to consider how they could win if a fight broke out, and although at the moment it appeared that the other side showed no hostility, Harry is certain that the ''Angelina'' in front of him is by no means the team captain he is familiar with.


    "It''s me, Tonks." ''Angelina'' said, closing her eyes and assuming a thoughtful expression, as her face gradually transformed into a different appearance, with her hair turning pink.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s mouths dropped open.


    "It''s really you! Then, then they-" Harry stammered.


    Tonks seemed to be in a good mood as she pointed to the two people that Harry found familiar and said, "This is Frank and Alice, you''ve met them before at the Order of the Phoenix base, although they''re in different faces now ..." and she pointed to the people in the corner "Alastor and Kingsley."


    They all greeted them.


    "I''m sorry, I might have scared you guys." Alice Longbottom said, "But you guys are really something." She pointed to the bruise on her wrist, then swiped her wand over the scratch, and it instantly healed.


    Harry felt that the events that had happened today were unbelievable, but he had at least solved one mystery: the two people across the table during the day were the Longbottoms, and they weren''t looking at him, but at Neville ... who was next to him, but more questions arose as to why they had shown up at the school in a group and disguised as students.


    Hermione drew a cold breath and hissed, "You guys are following Umbridge and Avery?"


    Realization dawned on both Harry and Ron.


    "What a sharp girl." The huge student in a long green Slytherin robe said, and Harry caught a shadow of Professor Moody in the way he walked, the tall student lifted a parchment, with dense lines and flickering black dots in his hand.


    "Marauder''s Map?" Harry uttered in surprise.


    "You recognize it? Ah, I remember you have a similar one, or the original version - this one''s made by Felix," Moody said, his voice sounded younger and there is no fake blue eye darting around his eye sockets to make Harry feel uncomfortable, but the next second his intact, much younger eyes fixed on them with a deadly stare, "You nearly messed up the plan, little ones." S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The trio immediately tensed up.


    "Don''t scare them, Mad-Eye." Kingsley said with a smile, he still had the same dark complexion with lots of dreadlocks tied on his head, at first glance he looked a bit like Quidditch commentator Lee Jordan. But Harry knew that he is usually bald.


    Harry felt like he is attending a fancy dress party.


    Kingsley said gently, "It''s true that our visit to the school has something to do with Umbridge and Avery, but there are other tasks on our shoulders."


    "What task is it?" Ron pressed impatiently.


    Kingsley shook his head slightly.


    "Involving Voldemort? Do you guys need help?" Harry offered testingly, he figured it out in context with what he had just heard in the abandoned girls'' lavatory.


    Kingsley stared blankly at him.


    "Okay, well, there''s plenty of time to catch up later - let''s get down to business first." Moody said, his gaze settled on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who subconsciously felt a gush of pressure despite the fact that he had a completely different face before their eyes, which looked considerably more well-defined than Moody''s.


    "Well, I saw it on the map, the ghost named Myrtle led you all to the girls'' lavatory, didn''t she?" He waved the Marauder''s map in his hand, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione nodded dully. Moody grunted and paced back and forth in a small circle, "It looks like you guys having a colourful school life, but you really shouldn''t have disturbed them."


    "But they were forcing Malfoy to make a Vow-" Hermione snapped sharply.


    " Still an Unbreakable Vow!" Ron said, "That stuff literally costs life."


    "Yeah, we can''t just stand by and watch ..." Harry muttered.


    Moody stopped pacing while everyone showed a surprised look on their faces.


    "That''s rather a surprise," Moody said as he glared at them, a look of disbelief still visible on his face, "Tell us what you know, and we''ll try to analyse it. Granger, you speak." He called Hermione''s name.


    "Oh, okay, Professor Moody." Hermione was somewhat surprised.


    Moody grinned wordlessly, and Harry concluded that this grin looked intimidating regardless of the face it appeared on.


    "I was your professor for only six months, but I was extremely impressed with your paper. To be honest, I wish I had an assistant like you when I was working, at least I didn''t have to worry about reports."


    "Professor Hap probably thought the same thing." Ron muttered in a small voice.


    "I helped you write a few reports too, Alastor." Tonks reminded kindly, "But you only gave me my usual score."


    "Yeah." Moody said, "And I wonder why I didn''t look you up afterward."


    After all the jokes ended, Hermione cleared her throat and began to describe their experience. "Well -- we came back from the library, it was about eight o''clock -- and then we met ''Moaning Myrtle'' halfway through, and she told us --"


    Hermione finished her story.


    The people in the broom room didn''t speak for a moment, each in their own thoughts. This left the trio somewhat unsure of their attitudes, and Hermione asked softly, "Did that - did we do something wrong?" She thought about the ''plan'' Moody had mentioned at the beginning and worried that she had inadvertently ruined it.


    "No, you guys made a good choice." Kingsley reassured her, "We targeted Umbridge and Avery early on, but we also suspected there might be another mole in the school, so we''ve been using the map to monitor their movements for the past few days, hoping to follow their trail, as we did tonight. But we couldn''t possibly crouch under their noses and figure out what they were actually talking about, let alone realize that they had gone to the extent of forcing a student to make an Unbreakable Vow ... It was you guys who saved that boy."


    "Death Eaters'' little brat." Moody scornfully commented.


    "But also a student of the school." Kingsley stated with a nod.


    "He is likely to be a Death Eater in the future, just like his father, aunt, and uncle." Moody growled in a low voice.


    "You better make it clear that it''s the aunt who married Lestrange," Tonks said cheerfully, "to avoid a misunderstanding."


    "Oh, I''m sorry about that." Moody said under his breath.


    Harry wanted to laugh a little, he thought about the ''Pureblood''s Dilemma'' that Sirius had mentioned to him, catching one means pulling a bunch of them ... but right now it is not the time to laugh, the atmosphere in the broom room was a little serious, and Frank interjected from the side, " But the boy isn''t a Death Eater, at least not yet. If we try hard enough, he won''t be able to inherit the ''family business'' even if he wanted to."


    "Let''s hope so." Moody''s young face wavered a bit.


    "Alastor''s just saying empty words, in reality, he''s more righteous than any of us when it comes to this kind of thing." Kingsley reassured a somewhat dazed Harry, Ron, and Hermione, "He would have made the same choice in your position, so don''t feel pressured, you''ve done a good job today. I heard you guys aren''t exactly on good terms with Malfoy? That''s even more impressive, so go back and get a good night''s sleep-"


    At that moment there was a knock at the door and the golden trio turned back in alarm, "Do you excepting someone?"


    "It''s probably Emmeline." Moody muttered, as he picked up his wand and gestured for the rest to be quiet.


    The door opened and a girl with straw-coloured hair and a round face walked in, carrying a cloth bag, "There''s quite a bit more food in the kitchen than I thought there would be." She said cheerfully, Harry got the feeling that he had seen that face somewhere, he guessed it might be one of the upperclassmen like ''Angelina''.


    "Huh, you guys here too? Want some?" Emmeline Vance asked, taking the food out of her bag and handing it out to the others as she did so.


    "No, thanks," Harry said, and Ron and Hermione also shook their heads. "By the way," Harry turned his head to Tonks, "where''s the real Angelina?"


    " Of course, she''s in her own dorm room now," Tonks said as she took a hard bite of the pie in her hand, "she agreed immediately when I asked her, saying that she can freely use this time to think up a game plan while I borrow her identity, you know, I''m Metamorphmagus, so it''s easy for me to disguise. Everyone is relying on a Polyjuice potion to disguise, Alastor, Frank, and Alice are using normal human hair, you know, the school is so big that no one can guarantee to know everyone ... Emmeline has a relative in the school. It''s usually just two of us that are hanging outside to collect information."


    Harry nodded as Emmeline spun around and came back to him, holding up a bag in her hand, Ron and Hermione each holding a chocolate muffin and grinning cheekily at him.


    " Kinda hungry after a night of extra work." Ron whispered.


    "Have some, I asked the house-elf in the kitchen for some extra dessert." Emmeline Vance said kindly.


    Harry relented to her hospitality and randomly picked up a fried jam doughnut and ate it in silence.


    "Why are you back so late?" Moody asked.


    Emmeline Vance sighed, "There was a club having an event in the kitchen, and they were having a great time exchanging cooking tips with the house-elves, and I had a hard time until I found a lone one and asked for his help ... It was very novel, we didn''t have anything like this back in our day."


    " Well, can I ask a question?" Ron asked.


    The guys looked at him and Kingsley smiled, "What do you want to ask? We won''t reveal anything that needs to be kept secret."


    "What are they doing at the school - I mean Umbridge and Avery?"


    " The question you should ask is, what the You-Know-Who want them to do, Death Eaters don''t make their own decisions. Wreaking havoc, stealing things, snooping for information ... are all possibilities, but the possibility of creating havoc is low."


    "Why do you say that?" Ron asked, wiping the crumbs of cake from his mouth.


    The guys looked at each other and Frank Longbottom answered with careful deliberation, "Because it''s not worth the effort. Based on our judgement - those two should be one of the few undercover agents that the You-Know-Who have in the Ministry of Magic; After all, we have the upper hand now and not many people are willing to surrender to the losing side. Besides, unlike the last war - with Thief''s Downfall, any attempt to use bewitching magic like the Imperius Curse would no longer work. Headmaster Dumbledore also confirmed this point."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione took the moment to exchange meaningful glances with each other as they lowered their heads to eat. They probably knew what Voldemort is up to, the Horcrux ... but Harry''s mind wondered why Headmaster Dumbledore hadn''t destroyed it as soon as he could if he had one intact in his possession.


    "Um, I''d like to ask a question too, may I?" Hermione asked.


    "Alright, one question each. Then you guys should behave and go back to your beds." Kingsley said in a coaxing tone.


    "How long are you all going to stay?" Hermione asked. Harry looked up and around excitedly, while mentally fighting the urge to applaud Hermione.


    " It won''t be too long." Tonks said with regret, "Whatever they plan to do, they have to act in the next few days. That''s why Ministry decided to send us here, to keep a few more pairs of eyes on them... If they drag it any longer the Ministry of Magic will take us back."


    "Okay, enough talk," Moody said interrupting her as he looked at Harry, " The final question."


    Harry shoved the last bit of fried jam doughnut into his mouth and asked, politely, "Professor Moody, did you see Professor Snape on the map? What''s he doing? And Sirius?" He added Sirius for the sake of it.


    "Snape''s name isn''t on it, Felix mentioned that his name was erased when he gave me the map." Moody said calmly as if he didn''t catch the undertone of targeting in Harry''s question. " As for Sirius, he was a little pissed off that we didn''t tell him first, and now-" he lowered his head and stared at the Marauder''s map, "he''s going back and forth in his office, probably thinking things over. "


    He claps his hands to end today''s conversation.


    "Boys, I have to thank you for your noble behaviour today, but you need to hurry back because the lights will be turned off pretty soon outside. Keep it a secret, you know quite a lot of the inner story because we see you as one of our own," he continued with a wave of his hand when he saw Harry trying to respond, " Not as juniors, but as future companions and comrades in arms, I''ve heard about the club you''ve been running for the past two days, the Frontline Lookout club... . And that''s pretty impressive."


    "Remember, there''s no such thing as a shortage of dark wizards to catch, and there will be plenty of opportunities for you to flex your muscles in the future. But that''s not now."


    Harry looked a little disappointed and mumbled, "So we don''t have to do anything?"


    The question made Moody hesitate for a moment. He looked at Ron and Hermione, who also looked expectant, and said, "If there''s a ruckus in the school in the next two days, you guys can help to maintain the order. But it''s likely you''ll not feel anything as it passes."


    " Provided it''s not a threat to your own safety." Kingsley added.


    "Okay." Harry said. And then the three of them walked out of the broom room.


    Hundreds of kilometres away, Voldemort walked down a long, eerily dim underground passage, with green torches on either side, and he was followed by Bellatrix Lestrange.


    " My lord, will they make it?" Bellatrix asked in a low voice.


    "Whether they succeed or not is irrelevant." Voldemort said coldly, so much time had passed that he had completely calmed down, but his desire for his Horcruxes had been growing with each passing day.


    Especially after his attempts to make a new Horcrux had failed.


    After the Battle of Hogsmeade, Voldemort realized that old man Dumbledore knew the secret of the Horcruxes. Although he was shocked, he was not overly frightened. He calmed down and figured out that Dumbledore was cursed and would die sooner or later after a few years. At that time only Felix Hap could stand against him, and he firmly believed after a period of time he would not lose. When it comes to the critical point of the fight, it would not be impossible to trade one life for another; after all, he still had a Horcrux with him and could continue to make Horcruxes.


    But when he intended to use the death of Headmaster Ilvermorny to create a new Horcrux, a violent tremor ran through his soul, as if he was going to disappear in the next instant.


    Voldemort realized the possibility that he would no longer be able to split his soul.


    Not being able to split his soul meant that he would not be able to make a new Horcrux, and it also implied that every single Horcrux that still remained would be incredibly valuable.


    Every extra Horcrux in existence counted as more than one life.


    Severus brought back mixed news - he failed to retrieve the remains of the locket from Black''s old mansion, but the house-elf did survive, suggesting that the servant he had thought loyal had truly betrayed him and dealt him a fatal blow.


    But combined with the information that Regulus Black was dead, he could probably guess that Regulus had not had time to destroy the Horcrux, since he had exchanged his own life for that of the house-elf.


    He had enough confidence in the curse trap he had arranged.


    "That was idiotic." He said through clenched teeth.


    "Master?" Bellatrix looked at him in confusion.


    Voldemort ignored her and continued walking down the eerily deep corridor, heading deeper and deeper into the ground, with a faint rustling coming from the other end.


    House-elves do have some tricks up their sleeves, and he had failed to consider those ... tricks, but house-elves are too weak and incapable of destroying a Horcrux. If Severus failed to retrieve the locket from the old mansion, it probably means it had ended up in the hands of old man Dumbledore.


    The fate of two complete Horcruxes remained unknown ... Voldemort clenched his fists furiously, as a dangerous red glint flashed in his eyes.


    Just as Dumbledore knew Voldemort, Voldemort also thought he saw through Dumbledore, and he knew one thing: whether or not the two Horcruxes survived to this day, they would all be destroyed before Dumbledore dies ...


    Voldemort took a deep breath, "Bella." He said softly and Bellatrix looked up at him respectfully.


    "Gather all the forces."


    "But-"


    Voldemort glanced at her coldly, and she immediately stopped talking.


    As far as Voldemort is concerned, he would not be distressed even if all his servants died, provided their deaths are worthwhile. And in his mind, if they could slightly stumble his opponents and buy a little time for his plan, they would be considered to have died for a good cause.


    ------------


    #Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 572: Revelation from the Patronus Charm (2 in 1)

    The next day, in the classroom with the ''Frontline Lookout Club'' sign on the door, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were arranging the soft mats and wooden targets in order on the floor. Which might be used later. The door was pushed open and Fred and George sauntered in, " Why are we moving here today?"


    "Professor Hap is coming." Harry said.


    The twins approched Harry with a look of interest and Harry shrugged, " I guess he wants to see my Patronus and guide us in the meantime."


    "Cool!" Fred said.


    They also joined in and by the time Ginny and Luna came in, the classroom was already full of people. Ron and Neville were moving a large wooden box filled with various spell books and training props together.


    "I''ll help." Ravenclaw student Anthony Goldstein shouted, raising his wand and pointing it at the wooden box. "Don''t!" Neville was startled and shouted, however, the spell had already been recited, "Wingardium Leviosa!"


    The wooden box swung violently, knocking Ron''s hand away, and the corner of the box smashed into his foot, causing him to yelp in pain. The crate then floated slowly, swaying left and right as if drunk, and rose higher and higher, soon reaching a dozen feet high into the ceiling above them.


    " You need to learn a bit of control." Harry said as he ran over and looked up for a few seconds.


    "Sorry! It''s my first time controlling something this big." Anthony said with a sad face.


    "It''s not about the size," Harry shouted towards his ear, "you need to learn to control your spell."


    " Spell?" Anthony muttered in confusion.


    "That''s right, you''re doing great now, look! You managed to make the crate fly to the ceiling, I now need you to complete the next step and make it descend again." Harry said as the people around him watched apprehensively, Hermione mumbling under her breath.


    "What are you doing?" Ron asked, tiptoeing on one foot as Neville supported him from the side.


    "Preparing a shock absorption spell, just in case." Hermione said quickly, "Oh, but I suppose there''s no need for that."


    The large wooden box descended to the ground little by little and slowly landed. Anthony slumped to the floor, covered in sweat and panting. Harry pulled him up, "Well done." "Thanks." Anthony grunted as the members around him applauded.


    A voice sounded from the doorway, "Very brilliant teaching, if it was a classroom I would consider giving you twenty points." Felix said with a smile on his face.


    The members of the Frontline Lookout gathered around, "What are you going to teach us, Professor?" Fred chimed in.


    "How about the ancient magic hidden behind the twelve amulets?" Lee Jordan suggested, "The last demonstration was too short."


    Felix wanted to put his memory body in a small dark room, but at the moment he could only go along with his memory body''s mischief, "Last time was considered as an introduction, to pique your curiosity - I''d like to give the students more time to do their own research... ...as far as teaching goes, it might be better to leave it as suspense until the end of the school year, just like Illumination Magic. I just dropped by today to check out a few things. Potter, I''m interested in seeing your variant Patronus."


    "Oh, okay." Harry said.


    This is something that had been agreed upon a long time ago, the Professor had said that he would take the time to stop by after the Christmas break, but he didn''t expect it to drag on until now. Harry''s happy emotions brewed, "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num!" As he whispered, a silver stag burst out of his wand and circled around them.


    Harry grew very comfortable with this charm, and he saw Professor Hap nod slightly, which sent a jolt of excitement through him. As he maintained the Patronus Charm, he held out his other hand. There seemed to be an additional invisible carving knife in the air, outlining a bright runic symbol.


    In the blink of an eye, the runic symbol turned into a purple mist with a faint golden glow.


    Harry looked up and the silver stag which was hovering in midair flung its hooves and rushed toward him. Instead of ducking, he reached out his hand, in a manner that looked like he was about to caress the Patronus'' horns to the other''s eyes. Then - the purple mist merged with the Patronus, like ink dripping into a pool of water - the Patronus''s blurred outline became clear, and its hooves touched the ground with a "ta-da" sound.


    Felix smiled at this.


    "Have you tested the power?" He asked.


    Harry scratched his head in confusion, there were no dementors in sight, but when he saw Professor Hap''s eyes moving towards the wooden target, he instantly understood. "Go on." Harry said as the Stag gently nudged his hand with its massive antlers before turning towards the wooden target and slamming into it, "Bang!" The wooden target was knocked over.


    The Patronus'' bright purple glowing horns became dim and seemed to turn back into a blur of silver colour, and when Harry tried to control the spell, the stag''s form became solid again.


    "Professor, it has another form." Harry said, pointing his wand at the stag as the purple mist on the Patronus faded away, followed by the rapid expansion of the stag''s size making it two or three times bigger than it was, "Erm, it just simply got bigger, but I don''t know what the point is." He said embarrassedly.


    "It will be useful," Felix commented, "Have you tried any of the other runes?"


    "I''ve tried ''Tranquillity'' and ''Enthusiasm'' but they don''t work too well and conflict with the Patronus Charm." Harry honestly said.


    "Strange." Felix was a little surprised, "I''ve tried it personally and there were no problems."


    "Have you tried it too, Professor? And it worked?" Harry couldn''t help but ask.


    "Yeah," Felix opened his hand and a Silver Rain Swallow emerged from the thin air and landed on his shoulder. He then produced two runic symbols, one by one, and brought them to the Rain Swallow''s beak, which opened its beak and swallowed a cyan symbol, then its silver aura gradually tinged with faint cyan colour.


    A faint halo rippled out, and those around it immediately felt their mood become very calm and peaceful, with a very lazy, but clear consciousness. Then the Rain Swallow Patronus swallowed another fiery red symbol, and its body looked like it cloaked itself in a thin layer of flame as it gave a high-pitched cry as a halo of radiance spread out.


    The peace of mind was immediately shattered, and Fred and George, who were close by, clenched their fists with excited expressions. "Fred, I''ve got a great idea, how about pulling Peeves into our club?" George excitedly blurted.


    "Can''t wait!" Fred responded to him enthusiastically as the pair strutted off towards the door.


    Harry was also feeling out of sorts, his own enthusiasm for Quidditch had resurfaced and all he wanted to do now is ride his broomstick wildly through the sky, maybe taking Ginny with him would be a good idea? His mind whirled with crazy thoughts, then the Occlumency spontaneously worked and his mind cleared, as he subconsciously pulled the twin who reacted the most.


    "Professor?" He shouted urgently.


    "I know."


    Felix cancelled the spell and looked around the room. Most of them felt like they had been bonked in the head and gradually came back to their senses, but with confusion still evident in their expressions.


    "Sorry, I didn''t expect such a big reaction, you guys carry on with your practice and ignore me while I examine it myself." Felix sat down on the large box in the corner and secretly wondered what had happened, are they that weak to be affected that much by a slight emotion?.


    Harry shook his head, the Occlumency is isolating the adverse reactions. He looked at the rest of the group, who were clearly caught up in a state of false enthusiasm and dazedness.


    He clapped his hands together, drawing everyone''s attention to him. Harry said stiffly, "Let''s continue our Patronus Charm practice today, I know it''s been a long time, and you may have gotten a bit rusty-"


    "Bollocks! I''m in great shape!" Ernest Macmillan exclaimed.


    Without waiting for Harry to continue, Ernest started waving his wand around with a look of concentration and enthusiasm. Harry suddenly realized that these people couldn''t have been influenced by that ''enthusiasm'' rune, could they? Amplifying emotions with the power of the Patronus ... but how on earth did Professor did that?


    The training today had been surprisingly good.


    It only took Ernest half an hour to condense a vague shape, and Harry was startled when he saw it; how did Ernest''s Patronus somehow look like his cousin Dudley? He stared at it for a while before recognizing it as a boar, and because of this he missed the Weasley brothers'' brilliant show narrowly - they brought the blurred silver mist together to form a vivid Magpie.


    "Look at this, Harry!" Fred exclaimed, but as his wand turned a different direction, the Magpie reverted back into a mist.


    "You''re close enough, try again a few times!" Harry encouraged, even though he didn''t know what had happened.


    "Got it, got it." Fred stated impatiently and proceeded to get together with George to study the odd Magpie Patronus.


    Fred''s attitude was not unusual, Harry noticed - most of the members had become more focused but also became rather annoyed if they were disturbed as if they were immersed in their own world. This could be an effect of the professor''s magic, Harry thought.


    He approached Felix resentfully, the professor holding a Rain Swallow in his hand, constantly feeding it runes of various shapes and sizes, which had tinted the Rain Swallow with a blossom of colours.


    "What''s wrong?" Felix asked with his eyes closed.


    He is experiencing the construction of the Rain Swallow Patronus - his Patronus is far more stable than the others, even beyond the definition of the ''Patronus Charm'' itself, due to the fact that he had inherited Lady Rowena Ravenclaw''s memory nodes and used them to nearly reconstruct his Patronus.


    " They don''t need my guidance, at least for today." Harry quipped.


    "Oh, I''m sorry, I seem to have messed up your day." Felix said.


    "It looks like they got a great deal out of it," Harry shook his head and then looked at the rest of the classroom with some concern, "It won''t leave any after effects, will it?"


    "No, it''s like a sudden rainfall, the effects are minimal. They should get tired though, you can prepare some chocolate in advance-"


    Harry nodded.


    "Unless they''re in that mood for a long time, that is-" Felix stopped and opened his eyes.


    "Professor?" Harry looked at him curiously.


    "I''ve been wondering what would be a good carrier for the emotions." Felix muttered.


    "And now?"


    "Seems to have found the ... answer right at hand, no?" Felix lowered his head to examine his Patronus. "Say sorry to them for me ... Also, the reason you couldn''t incorporate the other runes into the Patronus was found, because its spell intent simply isn''t the same as those runes. I''ll write it down and give it to you later, it''s a bit of a pain in the arse to explain at once ..." He got up with a jump and disappeared in a flash with the help of the Room of Requirement as a medium.


    Dumbstruck, Harry reached out and poked the air in front of him; just now someone had been sitting here, but now it seemed as if the professor had never been here. Harry sat in Felix''s place for a moment in confusion, which naturally ended in no success. He looked up at the others, who didn''t notice the eerie scene - except for a dubious glance shot by Hermione, who nevertheless turned her head back to practice the Patronus Charm.


    Only one person seemed unaffected in any way - Mafalda came over and asked curiously, "What did you talk about? And why Professor Hap has suddenly disappeared, I thought it is not possible to Apparate in the castle?"


    " It was nothing," Harry said warily, "You weren''t affected?"


    " Well, I was; but now I have an urge to interview you, very badly." Mafalda''s ''Enthusiasm'' for gossip (interview) overrode her ''Enthusiasm'' for magic.


    "Er ..." Harry looked speechless, and after a long pause, he whispered, "There''s something I happen to ask of you."


    "An advertisement? Or an exclusive reveal?" Mafalda asked with great interest.


    "Is there any difference between the two?" Harry squinted at her.


    "The former requires you to pay for the advertisement, while the latter involves me paying you an honorarium." Mafalda said matter-of-factly.


    " Well, you need to distinguish it," Harry froze and said vaguely, "Well, it''s an exclusive reveal, but it also counts as an advertisement ..."


    After half an hour the whole group broke from that state of intense focus one by one, looking exhausted. Harry handed out the prepared chocolates to them, "The Professor asked me to convey his apologies, he''s not quite skilled in that magic yet."


    "Where is he?" Fred turned his head to look around.


    "I guess he got into a frenzy too, but he went into that state by choice." Harry said furtively, "He''ll probably perfect that magic next time."


    "That''s pretty cool." George said with a look of admiration.


    Ginny yawned, her eyes fluttering half-open and half-closed as she asked, "Can I have a nap on the cushion, Harry?"


    "Let''s go to the ''Crumpled horn Snorkacks Certainly Exist'' club," Luna said, "I transplanted a lot of plants, and it looks like a little garden with a hammock. Want to come along?" She turned her head to stare at Harry.


    "... No, thanks though." Harry said as he bid farewell to Neville, Susan, and the rest of the group, and eventually, only a few people were left in the classroom.


    "It does seem a bit scary, I mean that magic." Ron said with a lingering fear, "I didn''t know it was affecting me, I was so into learning that I became annoyed if someone distracted me from doing it." Then he added with a smile, "But it worked like a charm though, I seem to be getting the hang of it and my Patronus has taken on a hint of shape." S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Me too," Hermione said cheerfully, "The Professor once said that it was difficult for me to muster strong emotions, probably because I am too collected, maybe I should make myself more ''enthusiastic''."


    Mafalda was the last to leave apart from them, and she gestured at Harry, "It''s a deal."


    "What ''deal'' have you made?" Ron asked, munching his chocolate.


    "Draco Malfoy." Harry said softly. "Great." Ron said happily, "I can''t wait to see him get cursed by everyone - peeping in the girls'' lavatory is enough to get him in trouble! And he couldn''t complain about it because we sort of helped him out!" He was in such a good mood that he looked as if he had already eaten several chocolates, his faced beamed brightly.


    "I didn''t say his name." Harry shook his head and said.


    "Oh." Ron''s eyebrows dropped, "I bet he would not thank you for letting him off the hook regarding this."


    Harry shrugged, "I don''t expect to get anything in return either."


    The great hall was buzzing with life in the late evening as the Ministry of Magic staff remained after the dinner to guide the students who had failed their assessment as usual, "Step up, there''s only less than a third of them remaining." Twycross cheered his colleague on.


    "I need a break." Umbridge said coldly, as she walked out of the great hall on her own.


    " Wilkie, I''d like to get some air too ... it''s been a tiring few days, sorry." Avery whispered, followed by several more people who made their own excuses to leave. Twycross watched this with a mixture of bewilderment and deflation as he glared at the remaining people from the Ministry, "Do you want a break too?" No one walked out of the room this time.


    " Twycross, do you need a hand?" Professor Flitwick asked enthusiastically.


    "Oh, Professor Flitwick? Is it your turn to be on duty with Professor Snape tonight?" Twycross beamed, "Thank you so much." Snape, who followed Flitwick stood in silence as he stared at Umbridge and Avery as they passed the long table until they disappeared in the doorway of the great hall.


    The fact that Voldemort had not revealed his undercover status to these two made him secretly relieved, it indicates that the Dark Lord seemed to have finally regained a bit of his senses. Although it is not necessarily a good thing, at least he does not have to worry about him suddenly going berserk during one of the debriefings ...


    On the other hand, Umbridge and Avery, who had walked out of the great hall, passed through the entrance hall and came to a dark corridor, where they hid behind a huge pillar and muttered.


    "You go!"


    "Why not you?"


    "I have a more important task!"


    Valen, who was passing by in the distance, gave them a curious look. She smacked her lips and carried the little snake away, she had failed to negotiate with the Great Demon King last night. Valen had concluded that she sucked at maths and that she needed to find some assistance! From her previous experience with Astoria, she knew that many of the students at school are unreliable and probably inferior to her, and she had to find the right person for this task.


    It just so happens that she knows a school topper.


    Umbridge and Avery peeked out furtively from behind the pillar and stared at Valen''s back.


    "You think this little thing will help with the plan?"


    " Give it a try. If it works, you''ll have someone to open the door for you." Avery whispered, "I''ll find another opportunity to make contact with Malfoy, and if that doesn''t work, there''s a backup." He left from the other side of the stone pillar.


    Umbridge stopped where she was, somewhat persuaded.


    The Ancient Rune Office seemed like a den of horrors in her mind, but if someone there to lead the way, it would undoubtedly be much easier.


    She stepped out from behind the pillar and discreetly pulled out her wand. Her wand looked very short, only eight inches, like a quill with its feathers pulled out, and it looked very inconspicuous. Umbridge stepped closer, she had heard about this Niffler in the past few days, a pet ... raised by that man, who she hated with a passion.


    Umbridge slowed her breathing as she kept mentally reminding herself that all it would take would be a Confundus Charm, just like she had convinced her own father to retire early. It would be easy.


    Her mouth squirmed, and then there was a flash of white light. Umbridge almost thought she had succeeded, and she controlled herself from grinning broadly, but things went beyond her comprehension when the little yellow hat that Niffler had been wearing suddenly exploded with a powerful light and bounced off the spell that she had been confident of.


    Valen who is carrying the little snake stopped in her tracks and turned her head in confusion to see a strange-looking short, fat woman frozen in place with her wand in her hand. Valen blinked and took off her little yellow hat, a visible scorch mark was visible on the back of the hat and a faint wisp of black smoke rose from it.


    "Kee?"


    Valen stared intently at Umbridge.


    ------------


    #Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 573: Start- (2 in 1)

    Umbridge never expected to find a precious defence item on the Niffler body; she had only heard that the ''Future World'' company is developing a similar product and the Ministry of Magic had recently ordered a batch ... Yes! She snapped out of it: ''Future World'' and Felix Hap, in a way, both are considered the same. Umbridge looked around, and there was no one anywhere. She found the Niffler still stupidly standing in the same place, pulling out a small wooden stick and gesturing at her with determination. Umbridge made up her mind and took a step closer.


    She squeezed a smile out of her big fat face and said in a sweet tone, "What a little cutie ... can I hold you?"


    Valen shivered as she waved her little wooden wand and backed away.


    Umbridge''s pitch-black shadow covered Valen''s tiny figure and Valen was soon cornered. Umbridge broke into a vicious grin and the next second she saw the little wooden stick in the Niffler''s hand light up in the darkness. This scene seemed somewhat familiar, she seemed to have seen it somewhere ... Umbridge barely associated it with Filch when a strong whirlwind appeared from below her feet and dragged her whole body into the air.


    One by one the gems on the exclusive wand - which the Great Demon Lord had asked her to use ''with caution'' - lit up, and the wind increased, creating a strong whirlwind that in seconds produced a terrible whimpering sound resembling a fast sword clash, and then a flurry of Snowflakes fells down. Umbridge, who found herself trapped in the freezing wind, fell backward and forwards, and cried like a slaughtered pig.


    Valen looked uneasily at the screaming Umbridge, fearing that she would get into trouble for this, and then she tucked away her exclusive wand and scampered away. She decided to go and tell the Great Demon King everything.


    "Bang!"


    Umbridge fell from mid-air, her face covered with bloody scratches, her clothes torn and tattered, and her grey-brown hair looked like a hornet''s nest laced with ice.


    She rose from the ground, shivering with anger. At the same time, her fear for the man which she had pushed to the back of her mind seemed to return - she was okay even when a Squib casted a spell, although she couldn''t figure out the reason, at least he is still a human being, but for a Niffler to use magic ... she didn''t know which she felt stronger, the humiliation or the shock.


    It took a few moments for her to come back to her senses, and she hastily treated her wounds with a few crappy healing spells, then left quickly. She crossed the corridor to the entrance hall where Mafalda is distributing tomorrow''s newspaper under the bulletin board, with half a dozen young wizards standing in front of her.


    "Remember, focus on spreading the first news about a creepy perverted student who recently sneaked into the ladies'' lavatory at night with the intent to commit an offence - a reminder for everyone to be safe."


    Two boys cringed and hugged each other in fear.


    Mafalda gave them a blank look, "It''s the girls'' lavatory, the girls! It has nothing to do with you, understand?"


    One of the younger girls asked in horror, "Who''s that pervert?"


    "The client didn''t say - ahem, I mean, there''s no investigation yet, you can ask everyone to keep an eye out." Mafalda corrected, she had just almost blurted out the words in her mind, and to divert attention she said encouragingly, " All the best, I promise to send someone to buy you all presents for next Hogsmeade weekend."


    "Is someone actually advertising something?" The girl who had just asked the question asked timidly.


    "Of course, except many of them are hidden ads, see the second confession letter? And the fifth one where Professor Burbage is looking for an assistant? It shows we have already reached out to the Professors'' community! Sooner or later, I will set my foot in the Headmaster''s office and interview Headmaster Dumbledore ..."


    Umbridge, who was passing by with her face covered, suddenly stopped and looked at Mafalda incredulously. Mafalda was in the midst of delivering her speech with gusto when she suddenly noticed the young wizards in front of her looking over her shoulder in unison. She turned her head and saw a wide, fat face close to her chin.


    Mafalda was startled. After staring at the filthy Umbridge for a moment, she wondered why she hadn''t noticed before that there''s someone who looks like a toad inside the castle? Maybe it was just the angle, she thought. She subconsciously took two steps back to look twice more for confirmation, but once some thoughts appeared they could never be erased.


    "I''ve seen you before, you''re from the Ministry of Magic, what can I do for you?"


    Umbridge grinned, which tugged her wounds painfully, "Hiss~ Little girl, I heard what you just said, you''re the editor-in-chief of the Wall of Mystery newspaper? I didn''t expect you to be so young-"


    "You want to buy a newspaper?" Mafalda interrupted her.


    Umbridge stared at her with bulging eyes, and asked after a moment''s frozen silence, "How much is it?"


    "Three Knuts a copy. Actually, you should buy two copies for better value, for only five Knuts, which is half the price of the Daily Prophet." Mafalda skilfully solicited business, "Even Valen is a loyal reader of mine."


    "That Niffler?" Umbridge stared straight at Mafalda, who nodded uncertainly, and Umbridge immediately squealed.


    From a distance, Felix, who is walking towards the kitchen with Valen in his arms, looked up, what was that noise?


    "Kee! ( It''s that wench!)"


    A few minutes ago -


    Valen passed through the entrance hall and glanced quickly around the great hall, but after not seeing Felix, she turned around and headed back to the entrance hall, where she was scooped up by the sneaky Felix. Immediately Valen yelped in aggravation, "Well, um, I know all about that, she''s really bad." Felix let her vent and occasionally chimed in.


    "Let''s get something to eat in the kitchen, baked fish? A cake? I''ve just figured out a trick - how to make food that holds emotion. Would you like to try a caramel pudding that brings tears to your eyes? Erm, not a fan? That''s fine, we can try other combinations ..."


    They headed down the entrance hall to the basement, at which point Mafalda was just leading her small group down the stairs. It didn''t take long before the exaggerated scream was heard.


    Felix furrowed his brow, this Umbridge started to get on his nerves.


    ...


    February has brought more than just the warming weather, as the much anticipated Valentine''s Day loomed around the corner. Students are especially ecstatic as the new Hogsmeade weekend and Valentine''s Day has coincided with each other.


    "One more week till the holiday!" A Ravenclaw girl announced loudly during breakfast. She gleefully showed her friend a pretty bow, "I''m going to tie it on the wall of Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop." Across the table, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together with no joy on their faces regarding the impending Festive Day.


    "They''re leaving tomorrow." Harry whispered, his eyes darted sidelong to the Ministry of Magic group, who were sitting at the long Slytherin table, where Umbridge and the young man with the surname Avery were sitting far away from each other.


    "Looks like a guilty conscience." Ron said.


    "They''re not going to rush it on the last day, are they? Or well after today''s light out?" He blurted out, " Mad-Eyed Moody had said that they might have dropped by to steal something, and midnight would be the best time. Just like Quirrell, he acted in midnight too ..."


    " Well, they don''t have many chances to do it during the daytime." Hermione said, "Did you bring the Marauder''s map, Harry?"


    "Brought it." Harry whispered, taking the opportunity to drink his porridge and rummage through his pocket for a wad of parchment, "It''s always good to have an extra pair of eyes." He said. Not to mention that Professor Moody''s map didn''t show a few people, but Harry didn''t mention it, lest there be another argument.


    "Actually, it''s three pairs of eyes." Ron corrected him with a grin.


    "It''s the whole Frontline Lookout, Harry." Hermione gave them a blank look, "Don''t think I don''t know what you''ve got in mind when you distributed information on the topic of ''reconnaissance and anti-reconnaissance'' at the last activity."


    Harry seemed a little embarrassed and whispered, "It''s the best thing to do, isn''t it?"


    Hermione sighed, "Have you noticed that you kinda talk like Headmaster Dumbledore?"


    Harry looked at her with his jaw dropped.


    "You''ve always complained about the adults keeping everything from you, and now you''re keeping everything from the club members-"


    "I''m doing it for their own good! And to prevent leaks! Besides, it''s best if fewer people know about that thing." Harry stammered out an explanation, and then his expression fell.


    Could this be the reason?


    Can Dumbledore and Professor Hap, or even Professor Moody and Kingsley''s attitude toward him and his own attitude towards Neville, Seamus, and Luna be equated? Harry bowed his head to ponder, and a voice within him said: I am not like them. But then a new question arose, what is the difference ... I can''t stay out of it, Harry said to himself, everyone else might give up, but he would never. Even if Voldemort became ten or a hundred times more powerful than he is now, even if Voldemort defeated everyone and ruled the wizarding world, as long as he is alive, he will stand against Voldemort.


    Harry firmly believed this.


    Then he saw Neville and Hannah pass by, and he realized that they are going to attend Herbology class together. Harry stared at Neville, his face no longer round and pudgy like it had been in the first year, as his face started to develop definite lines. If something particularly dangerous came up, Harry felt that he would refuse to allow the other members to take risks, but he probably wouldn''t refuse Neville because he knew that Neville shared the same stance as him when it came to Voldemort and the Death Eaters ...


    Hermione looked across the table and said sarcastically, " He does know how to draw people in, he''s acting like a warm-hearted senior." Harry and Ron looked over to where Chesterton Avery was chatting with a group of Slytherin students, the words " Senior" and " Awesome" faintly heard, and Pansy was listening attentively, with an expression of interest, not even realizing that Draco Malfoy who is sitting beside her looked cold and silent.


    Harry could see a strong look of disgust in his eyes.


    "He''s not trying to approach Malfoy again, is he?" Hermione asked in a low voice, " Is it possible that tabloids are ineffective?"


    " Malfoy won''t give him a chance if he''s smart enough." Harry said with certainty. They glanced in the direction of the Slytherin table every now and then for the rest of breakfast, and after a short while, the Slytherin students stood up one by one, when Malfoy decisively put down his knife and fork and followed the large group away.


    Crabbe and Goyle felt rather bad about the fact ''that there''s some food left on the plate'', but in spite of their reluctance, they were viciously dragged away by Malfoy.


    "Look." Harry said.


    They too hurriedly finished their breakfast and scurried off to their Herbology class. It was on the way that Harry had time to regain the train of thought that had been interrupted by Hermione, and he had to admit that Hermione had a point, albeit just a little ... he mused as he ran across the yard to the greenhouse, thinking that if he had been Headmaster Dumbledore he would also have treated someone who is destined to be Voldemort''s enemy differently and revealed some secrets occasionally, but for sure he wouldn''t reveal the whole truth.


    "Thank you, Hermione." Harry mumbled.


    "What?" Hermione asked grumpily. They were taking a shortcut through a muddy vegetable patch where the snow was half-melted making it very hard for her to walk with half of her shoes sinking into the mud.


    "I said thank goodness there''s no Snape class today." Harry said aloud.


    Well, he certainly didn''t mean what he said. In fact, he had been purposefully keeping an eye on Snape in his Potions class lately, trying to peek at the expression on his face to see if he had managed to make it close to the truth about Horcruxes, even ignoring his snide comments at the cost of gaining two more zeros.


    The Greenhouse stood in distant view and Harry saw the students standing outside. He strode a few quick steps just in time for the greenhouse to open from the inside, but the person who came out took him by surprise; it was Snape, dressed in black, with Professor Hap standing beside him, and Harry also saw Professor Burbage and a smiling Professor Sprout behind the two.


    He remembered a piece of news he had read in the Wall of Mystery tabloid. Professor Burbage had applied to build a new greenhouse and had been looking for work-study students a few days ago.


    "Pomona, I didn''t realize you were so familiar with the concept of self-pollination." Professor Burbage enthusiastically said.


    "It''s not new knowledge." Professor Sprout''s tone suddenly became dry.


    "Oh, I thought it was a muggle thing-" Professor Burbage whispered an apology, while Felix and Snape had already left first.


    ...


    "Voldemort is up to something big, any plans?" Felix asked briskly as they walked across the lawn, with a gentle and unblinding sunlight shining over them.


    "I don''t think this will be the final showdown, so it''s unlikely that I will meet him in person, which will reduce the awkwardness considerably." Snape said slowly, "As for my intentions - pretend to be stumped by things."


    "Stumped? So you''re still planning to stay undercover?" Felix furrowed his brow, " Have you thought of an excuse?"


    "Excuses are easy to find." Snape said softly, "But I''m going to more or less smooth things over for those two idiots, so there will be no complications subsequently - and if they fail again, it won''t be my fault. Let them suffer the wrath of the Dark Lord, after all, it''s his hope for eternal life."


    "Tch. What did you guess this time?


    "Horcrux." Snape stated coldly. Felix was quite surprised, not expecting Severus to actually find it out by himself.


    "But how did you-"


    " By listing the names of the dark magic I was able to find - I happen to have adequate discernment in that area - and then eliminating them one by one afterward. I narrowed it down to ten, but I still couldn''t finalize the answer until I ran into Professor Slughorn at the Honeydukes'' door." Snape said lightly.


    Felix had no thoughts other than sigh at the coincidence, even though there was still some trace to it - Dumbledore had taken Harry to visit Mr. Slughorn several times during his fourth year summer holidays, and with Severus'' keenness, he surely could have guessed that Slughorn is hiding a great secret, all he had lacked was some association. And - Felix reckoned Severus must have made his best effort to have a good conversation with Slughorn by adding optimum layers of verbal manipulation and perhaps even using Dumbledore''s name? Which would have made the other man less defensive.


    So did Severus manage to guess Harry''s half-Horcrux status? Felix wondered a bit, but again, this isn''t his problem, let''s leave this headache to Dumbledore!


    "Have you considered that Potter will ruin your plans?" Snape suddenly spoke up.


    "What about him?" Felix suddenly remembered the letter.


    "He tested me." Snape squeezed the words out of his teeth.


    Felix turned his head, and stifled his laughter, "Oh, hum." As he looked up, "Don''t worry, I''ll consider his influence ... Maybe this is a good thing, the more people involved, the harder it is to sort out the tangled threads. I''ll talk to Dumbledore when I get a chance to make a few more sets of plans."


    After parting ways with Snape, Felix used his communication mirror to contact Lupin, who lounged in the sword castle.


    "I have a feeling that the Sword Castle will be attacked today, between six to eight o''clock in the evening. Those things I left in the storeroom should come in handy."


    " Great." The other side said mildly, "I''ve been planning to organize a staff party, they''ve been working hard lately ... By the way, how did you pinpoint the exact time, did you use a crystal ball or tea?"


    "Neither, I read the phases of the moon." Felix joked.


    "Oh - actually you could have just asked me," Lupin said pleasantly, "I think I have more say in this, after all, the full moon is only a few days away."


    "Are you feeling all right?"


    "Barely able to eat, the potion Severus prepared works better than the market one, and of course, it tastes more bitter. I''m worried I''ll develop a sweet tooth one day."


    "At least I know what to get you for next Christmas." Felix said optimistically, "I''ll also keep an eye on the map and will be there as soon as the attack happens, so keep an eye out and focus on staying alive."


    "What about the school?" The other side asked in surprise.


    "The best I can do is finish the fight in time, moreover no matter what, I need to show my face in the company."


    Felix was about to put away the mirror when Lupin''s hesitant voice was heard from it, "... Felix, do you know Fenrir Greyback?"


    "The infamous werewolf?" Felix said casually, "No, I don''t. What happened?"


    "Dead. On the third day after being taken into custody by the Ministry of Magic, before the Ministry could figure out a solution to his amnesia, he ''poofed'' into pus, and I was told the smell in the interrogation room was unbearable-"


    "Stop describing it." Felix said with a black face. He bet he heard a soft chuckle from the opposite end.


    "Well, Professor Hap, Moony asked me to send his regards. So - Thanks."


    In the evening the sun was sinking in the west over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the sky darkened. After dinner, Wilkie Twycross conducted the usual supplementary lessons on Apparition and Side-Along Apparition in the great hall, with fewer than thirty students left to meet the standard.


    "Umbridge and Avery didn''t show up again?" Twycross asked gloomily, as his mood turned for the worse now. S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Although Professor Tofty is technically the group head this time, but because of his age, he only showed up at the beginning, and after that as the most experienced one, he had taken charge of the group all these days.


    "Um, I''m sorry, Mr. Twycross," Avery said with an apologetic look on his face as he hurried over, "I''m late."


    Wilkie Twycross nodded stiffly as he waited a few more minutes, but Umbridge didn''t show up. Annoyed, he decided that he would make sure to highlight her dereliction of duty in his report when he returned. "Let''s finish the lesson." He announced.


    Meanwhile, in the Gryffindor common room, Harry scribbled away his homework with a grimace. The professors didn''t care about Valentine''s Day, so instead of decreasing, their homework started to increase each day as the new term began.


    He pressed the Marauder''s map under his parchment and stared at it every now and then.


    Suddenly, he stood up with a loud thud as his knees hit the desk. Ron, Hermione, and even Neville, Seamus, and Dean, who were a few tables away, were startled, and the others in the common room also looked over.


    Harry held back his tears and stared fixedly at the Marauder''s Map, the dot belonging to Umbridge is moving rapidly in the direction of the Headmaster''s office, and the office is -


    Currently vacant of people.


    ------------


    #Will and #Moroni Albornoz Castro, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 574: The Chaotic Castle (2 in 1)

    "Something''s happened?" Ron asked in a hushed voice, his hand unconsciously reaching into his pocket, where Harry knew his wand was stowed. " Let''s talk outside." Harry said in a near whisper. Ron and Hermione stood up and hurried out of the common room, as they passed Neville, he stood up and asked, "Ha-" but Harry quickened his pace and walked away, he is still uncertain about the situation, so it is best to leave the others out of it until the critical moment ...


    The trio pushed open the door of the common room and walked some distance ahead.


    " Have they started the operation, Umbridge and Avery?" Ron asked impatiently.


    Harry spread out the slightly crumpled Marauder''s map, and immediately both Ron and Hermione surrounded him, "It''s hard to tell, look here." Harry pointed at a small dot, "It''s Umbridge, she''s heading towards the Headmaster''s Tower, I don''t know if she knows the password, but ..."


    "Hey, we''re on the seventh floor! With a few turns of stairs and corridors, we might be able to intercept her early." Ron said excitedly.


    "Good idea." Harry said, "But there''s one problem, we have to split up."


    "Why?" Ron looked at Harry in confusion and then at Hermione, hoping for an explanation.


    "Umbridge''s strange movements may be a sign that the operation has begun. But she''s not the whole picture, look!" She pointed her finger over the map, " Avery is still in the great hall, and he hasn''t made a move - that''s not normal."


    "Where''s the Order of the Phoenix?" Ron asked.


    "Two are guarding the great hall, two are at the front and back gates of the school, and the remaining two ... Well, Alastor and Tonks are patrolling the school walls."


    "They''re guarding against the Death Eaters who might break into the school?" Ron muttered in surprise.


    "It''s possible," Harry said, looking down at the map, " have you seen Malfoy?" S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Probably in the Slytherin common room, I''ll look for ... oh no," Hermione groaned, "he''s out and on his way up. At this time of day no less! Could he ... be," she asked uneasily.


    "I don''t know." Harry said, "So we need to split up, you guys take the map and keep an eye out for Avery on the way, since Umbridge has moved, he''s bound to do the same. But it''s a good thing we have Frank and Alice, as well as other professors in-"


    "What about you?"


    "I don''t need a map, the destination is clear." Harry said briefly, "I just need to make sure no one slips into the Headmaster''s office, and it would be best if it''s just a false alarm - that''s why I didn''t alert anyone before, as we need confirmation."


    Ron and Hermione nodded silently as Harry walked up a different staircase from them; after passing through two turns, he knew he would soon arrive at the Headmaster''s office, as he had been there before and vividly remembered the huge Gargoyle statue standing in the doorway, which Harry hoped would still remain in its place.


    A stone gargoyle stood at the centre of the empty corridor, with no one else in sight. Harry wondered if Umbridge had broken in, even if she, she couldn''t possibly have left on such short notice. At that moment the gargoyle suddenly moved out of the way, as the revolving staircase automatically curved down and a man appeared in Harry''s line of sight, to which Harry slowed his pace and looked incredulously at the man who had emerged from the Headmaster''s office.


    It is Snape!


    "Potter," he said coldly, as he blocked Harry''s path, "what are you doing here?"


    "I, er, Snape, Professor, I''m looking for Headmaster Dumbledore, I saw Umbridge approaching here, and it''s clear she''s trying to break into the Headmaster''s office!"


    "What a load of crap, I just came out of there, the door was locked, and the headmaster wasn''t there." Snape said coldly.


    "But-" Harry opened his mouth, not sure whether Snape was telling the truth or not, and he looked back at the corridor he had come from; no one had appeared. Had he run too fast and appeared before Umbridge could arrive? And could he be able to intercept her by heading back?


    Or was he too sensitive and Umbridge was just in a hurry to go to the lavatory and that''s why she ran so fast? As he thought about it, a suspicion that he hadn''t noticed before surfaced; instead of guarding Umbridge, the Order of the Phoenix had spread most of its men around the school and the castle ...


    Harry subconsciously took a step to leave, but he suddenly paused and looked at Snape critically.


    "What''s the password? I want to go inside." Harry asked.


    Snape''s thin lips twisted together with a mocking smile and Harry felt very embarrassed. He knew Snape must be laughing at himself in his mind, but what if, what if Umbridge was one step ahead of him and hiding in the Headmaster''s office? Had she locked the door and that was why Snape couldn''t get in? Or maybe the two of them had colluded?


    Harry didn''t know Umbridge''s target, but he knew that Umbridge had been sent by Voldemort, who must have an ulterior motive.


    He ignored Snape and walked briskly towards the stone gargoyle, " Iced lemonade? Pear crusty gummies, er - Liquorice Wands, Fizzing Whizzbees ... I''m working for your master, can you open the door?" He trailed off in annoyance.


    The gargoyle didn''t budge.


    Snape looked at him mockingly and Harry stared into his deep dark eyes, uncertain of what to do. Normally he would have shouted at Snape, but this morning Hermione had inadvertently reminded him that no one could clearly see the whole picture.


    This made him think: Since he could get part of the information from the others and privately rack his brains with Ron and Hermione to try and piece together the complete truth; it would be possible that Snape was doing the same thing.


    This all provided in the premise that both he and Snape had been partially informed by Headmaster Dumbledore''s revelations and had seen a clue by chance ...


    Professor Hap''s reply also clouded Harry''s judgement. If the answer to the questions asked in that letter is ''love'' - as Ron had said, ''the answer is quite obvious'' - Harry''s breath stopped when he considered that; then Snape''s willingness to go undercover, despite the danger he had faced, could be explained in a way that made Harry uncomfortable.


    Snape is inherently a bad person, it''s ingrained in his bones. Both his preference for Slytherin House and his undisguised hatred for Harry are simply a strong proof for this conclusion. The only difference would be that he loved someone deeply - Lily - and Lily''s death made him turn his back on his old master and completely fall to Dumbledore''s side ...


    But if Snape and Dumbledore were working together, why he didn''t have the slightest care about something so big? Harry thought with annoyance, didn''t he know that Voldemort was plotting outside? Harry stared at Snape, with intense anger. The intense and complex emotions churning inside him made it nearly impossible for him to think, and the Occlumency was hardly helping. Suddenly a spark of inspiration ignited the fog in his mind.


    Voldemort ...


    Yes, Voldemort had returned, and if - Harry felt breathless. He shuddered at the thought that he seemed to know where Snape had gotten the information about the Death Eaters, not from visiting his Death Eater friends, not from writing letters, not from stalking them, but - he is one of them.


    The boy who once lived a quiet life for over a decade has reassumed his Death Eater guise ... and once again became an undercover agent!


    Would it be the case?


    If Snape is undercover, then Harry has absolutely nothing to worry about, even Umbridge is just a ridiculous tool to pass on false information. He was suddenly enlightened. But what if it isn''t? Harry looked hesitantly at Snape, who had already turned to leave, and Harry gritted his teeth as he chased after him, blocking in front of Snape.


    Snape''s eyes were blank, his face was expressionless, as he looked at Harry condescendingly.


    Harry was completely unable to tell what he was thinking.


    "Potter, would you like me to give you a deduction? In my opinion, twenty points-"


    "You know what''s in the Headmaster''s office, don''t you, silverware made by goblins, Pensieve, all sorts of precious books, even information about Voldemort and his Hor-"


    " Shut up! Potter." Snape interrupted him loudly.


    "I didn''t mean to say it." Harry said calmly, wondering inwardly at how quickly he had reacted. "But you didn''t seem surprised by it, you knew it, didn''t you?" He stared at Snape''s face, "Then you should know its importance, we''ve destroyed a few of them, like the diary, like the snake, and the ring ... but maybe one or two still remain, Headmaster Dumbledore is trying to decipher its secrets, and it''s hidden in the Headmaster''s office at the moment. If Voldemort regains it back..."


    "The snake? What snake?" Snape asked coldly.


    "Don''t you know? A big snake used to follow Voldemort around before he was resurrected, and later it was killed, and it was one of those-" Harry said.


    " One of ... one of ... those things," Snape muttered, and then suddenly stared dead at Harry, his empty, cold eyes showing a look of horror.


    Harry couldn''t understand that look, it held so many emotions, shock, suspicion, clarity, and fear ... probably more complex than all the emotions he had felt from their first meeting to now combined, dark eyes stared into green ones, Harry suddenly lost the courage to meet Snape''s gaze, but he stubbornly refused to look away.


    Snape made a frightening whirring, gurgling, and choking sound from his throat as if he was about to eat someone. Harry took a step back in fright, before forcefully bracing himself not to turn his head and run. He even admired his courage, and after an unknown amount of time, the complex and terrifying emotions in the depths of the opposite eye were hidden away and became undetectable.


    Snape looked at him and gritted his teeth.


    Harry clutched his wand uneasily.


    BAM! A distant, dull thud interrupted their staring contest, and Harry looked out the window, the sound didn''t come from this side, he ran to the other side and pressed his face against the edge of the corridor window, squinting hard to make out a blaze of light rising from the edge of the dark, forbidding forest in the distance.


    He didn''t know if it was an illusion, but Harry had the absurd notion. A huge hole had been blown in the school wall ... Then a few red sparks appeared in the sky and hovered in the air, Harry''s heart tightened, it was a warning sign from the Order of the Phoenix!


    Snape also stood at the window, his black eyes staring ahead. In addition to the red sparks, the fire that had first appeared disappeared and was replaced with rolling black smoke that climbed straight up high into the sky, then they heard a faint shout, and then a green light shot into the black smoke and twisted the smoke into a large, unmistakable skull pattern that shone with a haunting green glow.


    "The - Dark - Mark." Harry uttered word by word. He stared at the huge skull rising high into the sky, and instead of being obscured by the rolling smoke, it became clearer and alternated with the red sparks emitted by members of the Order of the Phoenix as a giant python squirmed eerily and grotesquely out of the skull''s mouth.


    The Death Eaters are attacking? Harry thought incredulously, unable to accept it for a moment. The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with Dumbledore, Professor Hap, and a bunch of professors present is the safest place in the world, like a steel wall, how dare Voldemort became! Isn''t he afraid of being killed? Even if he had a Horcrux, it still would be too stupid ...


    A buzz and cacophony of noises rang through the castle and Harry knew that the others had also heard the commotion and were probably asking each other what had happened.


    "Potter, go back to the common room." Snape coldly said.


    Harry ignored him, he knew that a part of the Hogwarts wall had broken off, and Voldemort would never do a useless job, the danger is here! His face pressed hard against the window, his glasses embedded in his skin, and his nose pressed hard, as he stared blankly at something, there seemed to be some sort of creature in the area where the wall had broken off, a Death Eater? But he wasn''t sure if it was just a reflection of the green, dark mark.


    "Potter, I said - go back!" Snape shouted angrily, striding over with his wand raised to drag Harry away from the window - " Hold on!" Harry shouted, his heart felt like it had been submerged in ice water abruptly and his body shivered. He could see a steady stream of creatures coming in through the broken wall, not black-robed Death Eaters, but some kind of pale, strange humanoid creature with a phosphorescent body that glowed brightly, like a cluster of dancing ghostly fires.


    "Inferi." Snape breathed in, his hand suspended in midair.


    The noise in the castle grew louder, accompanied by screams and panicked footsteps, and Harry jumped up at once, remembering what Moody had told him a few days ago, that there might be a ruckus in the school ... He left Snape behind and scurried outside.


    A riot is happening, Harry thought as he ran.


    A large number of Inferi had rushed into the school, is it a hundred or a thousand, or perhaps even more? It couldn''t be just the Inferi, he imagined an army of Death Eaters, dark wizards, werewolves, vampires, and dementors swarming in ...


    The more he thought about it, the colder his heart grew, wondering what happened to the members of the Order of the Phoenix who were guarding the outside now, had they fought or retreated? He became anxious, the only good news is it is almost dark, most of the students are staying in the castle, there is no danger for now, but it is not impossible for some exceptions to happen, in case there are students wandering around the edge of the Forbidden Forest ... Harry''s heart jumped, he thought of Luna, she has a Centaur friend, the one called Firenze, she and Ginny occasionally went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest to meet him, in case ... he dreaded to even think about it.


    And Hagrid, Harry paused in horror, the broken wall wasn''t that far from Hagrid''s hut. Hagrid would have heard the noise and gone out to check it out, taking Fang with him. Unless he was staying with young Grawp, away from home.


    He mentally prayed, hoping that Hagrid had a whim to be with Grawp, something like it was Grawp''s birthday, and he might need to accompany him today...


    Harry was so overwhelmed by all the thoughts in his head, the Marauder''s Map is with Ron and Hermione, so he had no way to make sure they are okay. Fear continued to well up in his mind when he heard a familiar voice, "Harry!" Hermione and Ron ran up the revolving staircase, gasping for breath.


    Harry found himself subconsciously running towards the door of the Gryffindor common room, and the next second, the portrait of the Fat Lady was pushed open from the inside.


    Neville stepped out, with his wand raised. He asked sharply, "What''s happening? I heard voices and those humanoid things ..." He winced sharply as Fred, George, Lee Jordan, Seamus, and some others crowded the doorway and looked at Harry all together.


    "Those are Inferi-" Harry gasped.


    " Are they really Inferi? Hey, I''ve only seen them in books!" Fred shouted, looking quite pleased with himself, " is it the You-Know-Who''s handiwork? Then what are we waiting for, it''s our time to show off."


    His words were met with a low chorus of approval.


    Harry felt uncomfortable finding himself stuck in the middle of a difficult choice. He didn''t know if he should let them tag along and risk their lives; this isn''t some kind of training, no matter how hard the training is, there''s no risk to life. Now it is a real battle, not a one-on-one duel, but a battle filled with cunning tactics where a Death Eater might be hiding among the Inferi, waiting to shoot a killing curse at them.


    If anyone died, he would definitely feel guilty for the rest of his life.


    "Where''s Ginny? Where''s Luna? Are there any students outside?" Harry ran out of things to say, and he needed some time to weigh up the situation.


    "I''m here, Harry!" Ginny''s voice was heard, and Harry saw an arm raising from behind the crowd. He breathed a sigh of relief.


    "No one''s out there. We saw Luna trying to open a door when we came back." Ron said.


    "What door?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Harry regretted asking.


    "I don''t know." Ron shrugged, "Been too busy running to ask"


    "How things went on your end?" Harry asked, "Did that Avery do anything?"


    Hermione and Ron looked a little odd.


    "He didn''t move, we saw someone watching him, so we went to look for Malfoy and intercepted him halfway, but he had nothing to do with the disturbance, and he ridiculed us a bit ... or is that a reminder?" Hermione spoke quickly, "Anyway, we knew someone was going to break into Professor Hap''s office--"


    "Who is it?" Harry asked hurriedly.


    "Crabbe and Goyle," Ron shrugged, "We arrived to find them entangled by vines and passed out in the doorway. The Professor wasn''t inside and neither was Valen ... We didn''t know what to do for a while, then we heard a commotion outside, so we left them and hurried back."


    "It was Professor''s defense." Hermione added.


    With the questions out of the way, Harry looked around as all eyes fell on him, he had to choose.


    "Harry, give the command, we''ve all learned the Bright Fire making spell and I remember you saying that it can strongly restrain dark creatures." Neville said slowly, "We have to do something."


    "I, ugh-" Harry suddenly thought of something and fumbled a small vial out of his pocket, "Well, divide this up and each take a small sip- -"


    "What''s this?" Neville asked.


    "Liquid Luck." Harry said vibrantly, as blood rhythmically rushed through his veins, are they going to fight together, like Sirius said when they were talking about being a real warrior? At that moment, a loud growl sounded from the distance, burrowing into their ears cutting through the dark night sky and the sounds of turmoil in the castle.


    "It''s Hagrid!" Hermione said in horror as they rushed towards the window like a wave, "And Grawp, oh dear!"


    "Who''s Grawp, Hagrid''s friend? Oh, oh-" Fred stared into the pitch-black night, too shocked to speak when he saw the huge figure next to Hagrid.


    Hagrid looked like a dwarf compared to the giant of unknown origin, and the Inferi that surrounded them, glowing ghastly white under the reflections of the dark mark and phosphorescence light, appeared like a gnome jumping up and down.


    "The Inferi shouldn''t be able to hurt the giants," Ron looked uneasily into the distance, "their nails are like ticklers to them, and Grawp would smash them into minced meat with one punch."


    "No, there are dementors, Hagrid and Grawp can''t handle them." Hermione said with a groan.


    Harry tried his best to calm himself down, he wanted to use the Patronus Charm, but it was too far away, and he wasn''t sure if it would work. The most important thing he needed to do now is to back up Hagrid as soon as possible, and with that, he held out his wand, "Accio Firebolt!"


    After waiting a few seconds, a streamlined broom tore through the air as it whistled through the common room from the dorm, and descended into Harry''s hands as it passed the open door where the Fat Lady''s portrait hung.


    "Oh yeah, I also got a flying broom, a Nimbus 2000 one at that, and it performs like a champ." Ron said dumbly. "No one asked you to advertise it," Fred said sullenly, and then asked, as he spoke up again, "Can I borrow your broom, George and I have left ours at the teams'' room." George kept nodding his head at the side.


    "You guys stay and organize people to maintain order." Harry said.


    "Hagrid is our friend too, Harry." Fred said.


    Harry stared, "Then call more people, don''t come over with just one or two." After saying that he raised his wand and the glass in front of him shattered. Harry glanced back at Ron and Hermione, the two understood what he meant, ''Protect them.'' He tipped over and jumped down from the castle. The others peered down through the window as Harry descended a dozen feet or so before rising sharply up and turning into a blurred shadow, using the Firebolt to its fullest potential.


    "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num - "


    A Silver Stag appeared, glowing with light, and leaped continuously in midair, rushing with Harry towards the direction of Hagrid''s hut.


    The light from the Patronus formed a straight trajectory, illuminating the clearing below, "Hiss~" those left behind sucked in their breath in unison, the lawn is littered with Inferi that are about to surround the castle.


    "We must guard the entrance, we can''t let them in." Neville''s face filled with fear, but nevertheless, he spoke firmly.


    "We know the shortcut." Fred said, gesturing to him and George.


    "I have a suggestion, maybe we can pass through Madam Hooch''s office? It might be a slight detour, but I remember a room next to it that contains old flying brooms." George looked over his shoulder and asked, "Hermione, what are you doing?"


    Hermione is tapping a piece of parchment with her wand, "Oh well, I just informed the members of the Frontline Lookout, and the Magic Rune Club."


    "Cool." Fred said. A dozen Gryffindor students kept walking through the secret passageways of the castle. They saw the students constantly walking around, as well as prefects who were loudly maintaining order. They ran into acquaintances in the middle and after learning their purpose, they joined the group without saying a word.


    By the time they reached the broom room, their number had reached three dozen.


    "The door''s locked." Ron said, "Alohomora." He chanted the spell but the door didn''t budge. He frowned and used the Severing Charm, but a shimmering light from the surface of the door canceled the spell, "Madam Hooch is quite diligent-"


    "Out of the way, Ron!" Hermione shouted, she pinned half a dozen small wooden rune slabs on the door and everyone took a few steps back, "Bang!" The thick door was splintered apart.


    "Awesome." Fred said happily as a group flocked into the store room to pick out brooms, "Look what I found, Cleansweep Full Series, Comet 140, even an old antique model like Oakshaft 79, Moontrimmer and Silver Arrow ... Nimbus 1000, Nimbus 1001, Nimbus 1500, Nimbus 1700, is that Nimbus 2000? Madam Hooch has hidden it well!"


    "It''s a pity there''s no Nimbus 2001," George said greedily. All the students picked up a broomstick each, and even Hermione picked a Cleansweep Seven model.


    "So, uh-" Hermione said, "We need to split up some people to support Harry, while the rest of us will have to head towards the front door, the back door, and the other exits where the professors are, and it would be best to split a few people to fly around the castle on brooms, to give a warning... "


    "So, where''s our killer weapon? Professor Hap''s illumination is appropriate for the current situation. And Headmaster Dumbledore, he''s not sleeping, is he? Has anyone thought about that ..." Fred asked cheerfully.


    Yeah, where are they now?


    Both Hermione, and Harry who is riding on a broomstick, pondered this question.


    Everyone''s sight is on their own line, and they can only see things from their own perspective, especially when they are in the middle of it. But if any historian analyses it afterward, it would become clear that today is rather an important and chaotic day.


    The entire British wizarding world resembled a boiling caldron, and the series of events began neither with a sudden attack on the Ministry of Magic nor with Felix Hap''s appearance at the gates of the burning sword castle, the same goes for Dumbledore receiving a distress call from his own brother - it started a little earlier than all that.


    It all began when Voldemort walked into the Hog''s Head Inn and went on a killing spree.


    ----------------


    Note:


    This is a long chapter with 4154 words excluding this note, the plot is at a critical point so you can expect another long chapter; hope you enjoy reading this.


    #Dino Chua, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 575: Battles (2 in 1)

    Traces of that great battle still remained at the edge of the Hogsmeade village, and Voldemort took a moment to reminisce. Although he had escaped last time, he had sort of fought two of the world''s greatest wizards in quick succession, and the threat rating of Voldemort had risen sharply in various countries'' ministries of magic.


    With the Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School in the United States as a warning, no one dared to underestimate this evil power rooted in Britain, and even the duel half a century ago has been repeatedly mentioned, with many newspapers openly referring to him as ''Second Dark Lord''.


    Voldemort wandered through the streets of Hogsmeade at that moment, looking for his target.


    He was looking for a foolproof place, not some slimy lovers'' teahouse or an owl post office littered with bird droppings and noise. He saw the Three Broomsticks Inn from a distance and weighed his options for a moment when he spotted a dark alleyway.


    A distant memory was triggered as he walked in with a little melancholy and stopped at the door of a shabby Inn.


    Nothing seemed to have changed here - the battered wooden sign with its rusty frame, swayed along as the wind blew. Rude shouts of drunks drifted out through the old windows that were accumulated with thick grime.


    "Sigh!"


    Voldemort pushed the door and walked into the Hog''s Head Inn, bringing the chill of the early February night with him. The scene before him was even more familiar: the bar was occupied by a dozen or so cloaked customers, wearing veils and hoods as if it was the latest trend.


    With just a cursory glance, he could tell that at least three tables of customers are engaging in illegal transactions.


    The barman on the counter was pushing a glass of flaming blue wine to a hooded fellow, after which the barman - Aberforth - continued to polish the empty glass, and looked up absently as he did so when his movements suddenly froze.


    The sound of the glass shattering drew the attention of the other customers, who looked at Aberforth and then settled their wary eyes on Voldemort.


    "Hiss~"


    There was a loud gasping sound. The temperature in the filthy, cramped, dimly lit room seemed to drop instantly to the freezing point.


    "Merlin, the You-Know-Who!" A male wizard by the fireplace cried out.


    He is wrapped in blood-stained bandages, a get-up that would hardly be welcomed in the Three Broomsticks Inn not far from here, but he is allowed to swagger into the Hog''s Head Inn, which is what keeps this little bar in business.


    The male wizard scrambled to his feet, knocking over the table in front of him with too much force, and took out his wand - not to attack - but to cast Apparition.


    Then there was a flash of green light, and he fell flat on his face, his wide eyes showed the unrest he felt before he died.


    Voldemort bowed with a lazy grip on his wand, "I am planning to receive a guest, so gentlemen, I hope you can all do me a favour."


    For a moment, the air in the bar seemed to freeze.


    A thin wizard with dark circles under his eyes who looked suspiciously like a vampire shouted shrilly, "He wants to kill everyone!" Voldemort''s gaze moved up slowly, a sneer appeared at the corners of his mouth as he raised his wand, and then the strange and bizarre customers of the Hog''s Head Inn fell like wheat -


    The struggle began, so did the slaughter.


    Another man attempted to Apparate, only to be strangled alive by a shadow from the darkness that wrapped around his neck. Desperate cries and the faint glow of the spell cutting through the air were confined within the dimly lit bar, from which no one could escape.


    Within a minute, there were only three people left in the room.


    Aberforth summoned his Patronus, which would deliver the news of Voldemort''s arrival to Dumbledore. The substantial goat Patronus passed through the wall and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Voldemort calmed down after the killings and gazed intently at the face that looked identical to Dumbledore.


    If it was just a resemblance, he wouldn''t have cared at all and would have just killed him in passing, but rather than being weak, Aberforth is far above the level of the average wizard, and his will for resistance is extremely tenacious, giving Voldemort some trouble - insignificant, but enough to make him look at the other party differently.


    For Voldemort, who is obsessed with the power of bloodline, being strong and looking like Dumbledore were traits that made him associate Aberforth with Dumbledore. The more he stared at Aberforth''s bright blue eyes that erupted with anger beneath his dirty glasses, and the strands of metallic, wiry grey hair and beard, the more he really did see the resemblance.


    The memory of that failed job application decades ago rushed back to him.


    With great ambition and the intent to spread his influence throughout the wizarding world, he had chosen the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts class Professor as his springboard, but his plot had ended even before it had begun. Dumbledore had turned him down mercilessly, pointing out the fact that his minions were staying and doing business at the Hog''s Head Inn.


    He recalled Dumbledore admitting personally at the time that he had a good relationship with the local barmen ...


    "So that''s it." Voldemort smiled, with a wicked look on his face, he waved his arm twice and two more wizards fell, leaving only Aberforth behind.


    Aberforth''s face looked grave, he knew he could not escape, there was hope before, but he had insisted on fighting, and it had proved to be the wrong choice, he was no match for him. Now that he is left alone, it would be hard to Apparate in front of Voldemort any longer.


    "What are you to Dumbledore?" Voldemort asked softly.


    "Ptui!" Aberforth spat on the ground, which mixed with the trace of his blood. Then he raised his wand.


    The battle ended swiftly.


    Despite all superficial attempts of resistance by Aberforth, and despite the fact that half of the wall of the Hog''s Head Inn was reduced to rubble, Voldemort won easily. He slowly and deliberately swung his snakewood wand and from its tip a few snake-like ropes sprang up, trapping Aberforth firmly in place.


    He was hung upside down on the wobbly ceiling.


    Satisfied, Voldemort paced up to Aberforth and watched him struggle on, as he leisurely beckoned a bottle of wine and a glass from the bar shelf, but both the bottle and the glass were too dirty for him to use, so he threw them away in disgust and asked in an almost whispering voice, "Can you speak now? What are you to Dumbledore? A relative, or ... a blood brother?"


    "You ... goat turd ... scum ...," a few scattered words spewed from Aberforth''s blood-oozing mouth, which didn''t exactly sounded like a good word.


    "You need to learn to respect the strong, has nobody taught you that? Or perhaps you''re illiterate?" Voldemort said, and with a wave of his hand, the snake-like rope wrapped around Aberforth''s neck as he calmly said, "Crucio-"


    A stifled scream rang out.


    "I hope you can hold out until Dumbledore comes to rescue you."


    Compared to the tragic events in the Hog''s Head Inn, the Sword Castle in Diagon Alley looked like a blazing sword that attracted everyone''s attention. The sharp blade of the sword that pointed straight upwards, billowed black smoke. A dozen black-robed wizards continued to add the fire in the darkness, and the building debris that fell from the sword castle smashed the ground into a deep, burning pit.


    The Hit-Wizards stationed in Diagon Alley battled fiercely with the black-robed wizards.


    "Damn it, they''re using Fiendfyre! Are they trying to completely destroy this place?" One of the Hit-Wizard, hiding behind Ollivander''s window, coldly stretched out his arm to throw a few magic spells, which knocked down an advancing enemy.


    But Holt''s heart sank, he didn''t know what was happening at the Ministry, but five minutes had passed since the distress call had been sent, and the Ministry''s backup wasn''t here yet. At the moment there are only two emergency squads in Diagon Alley, which are perfectly adequate for daily patrols, but they are outnumbered in the face of a sudden attack.


    It didn''t take long before they had to abandon the public fireplace in Diagon Alley and fight their battles in the streets and alleys.


    With a few loud bangs, Holt knew that the historic fireplace had been blown to pieces. There will be no more support for a short time.


    He gasped and looked out over the distant sword castle, the magical building seemed to be crumbling, he hoped there wouldn''t be too many people inside, maybe they had Apparated and escaped. Suddenly, he rubbed his eyes, suspecting he had gone blind.


    A man silently appeared at the entrance to the sword castle, gazing up at the blazing torch-like building.


    With the help of the swaying firelight, Holt saw the side of the man''s face, with short black hair, blue eyes, and a tall, thin figure. Holt wanted to shout, but he was too far away, and then he saw a shocking sight. The surrounding fire spontaneously gathered into the man''s hand, condensing into the shape of a long sword, and with a flash of light, a dark wizard who was standing proudly a short distance away was pierced through the chest by the flaming longsword, and in the next instant, a mass of flame burst from the dark wizard''s body, burning him to a crisp in the blink of an eye. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Holt felt like he seems to have been nailed in place and couldn''t move. At that moment, a spell came from around the corner and hit the window glass, clipping half of the metallic grid with a crisp blow. He hurriedly crouched down with his head shrunken and threw out a few spells haphazardly, knowing for sure that he had missed his target.


    "Boy, get in here! Hurry!" A voice said from overhead, and Holt looked up to see a white-haired Ollivander waving at him through the window.


    Holt almost dropped his jaw, didn''t this old man leave for a holiday abroad? He crawled into the house, and the door slammed shut as he asked urgently, "Are you really Mr. Ollivander?"


    "As true as you are." Ollivander said as he hid behind a stack of old boxes, watching for movement outside.


    "But aren''t you-"


    "That''s false information, a lie, I''ve been hiding in the basement of the shop," Ollivander muttered, "I had to, a lot of wand makers have been harmed over a period of time, I didn''t want to disappear like Gregorovitch for no reason.... ... How many of you from the Ministry are there? You don''t seem to have enough people to deal with Death Eaters?"


    "There are only two squads in Diagon Alley now, and the fireplace was destroyed." Holt explained, "But the turnaround has arrived."


    "Why can''t I see that?" Ollivander whispered.


    The cries outside subsided a bit and Felix glanced into the hall, which looked like a mess but without any corpses. Remus and a dozen workers are being protected by a pack of tall, sturdy magic golems and fighting two dozen dark wizards.


    A watery glow rippled over the surface of these big golems, and ordinary spells that struck them simply had no effect. Rather than being evenly matched, it would be better to say that Remus and the group are dragging the enemies down.


    Not to mention the fact that the employees are fully armed with a full range of anti-spell products.


    Felix turned his head up and appeared high in the air, then he opened the Book of Rune and sent bolts of black lightning downwards. In a matter of seconds, the enemies outside the Sword Castle were purged out, after that he entered the hall of the castle, where the battle is still raging, and the group of dark wizards did not notice Felix''s arrival, or rather - those who were guarding the outside did not have time to inform.


    "Can we withdraw?" One of the dark wizards shouted, "We can''t break in! Those lumps of stone are too solid, harder than metal!"


    "No! We must wait for that man to come." Another one said, who is clearly superior in position and seemed to be the leader.


    Felix noticed that man and quickly identified his name from the list of Death Eaters as well, "Lestrange ..." a member of the Lestrange family. "Are you waiting for me?" As he walked towards the battlefield, his finger sliced through the air and send the black smoke rolling out.


    "It''s Felix Hap! He''s here, run!"


    Someone shouted and they all Apparated, there was too little time for Felix to distinguish whether Bellatrix Lestrange was among them, he was slightly disappointed, but that hadn''t been part of the plan, as Voldemort hadn''t been that cornered and had no greater temptation to part with his only Horcrux now.


    He waved his hand again and the hall was covered in a silvery glow, and in the blink of an eye, they seemed to be taken to a completely unfamiliar place. Before they had time to react, an overwhelming golden flame filled that particular space.


    They were burnt to ashes in the mind space.


    In reality, one by one, the dark wizards'' eyes were lost in thought, their bodies stiffened and their eyes rolled upwards involuntarily, and Penelope took the opportunity to hit two of them in the head without noticing the anomaly.


    " This is?"


    Clammy pointed at Felix, and an expression of surprise dawned on Penelope. She stared at the dark wizards, who had been removed from their special state, " Hurry up-" one of them shouted, and before she could finish the word "run", their bodies went rigid again as if they had been struck by an invisible hammer on the back of their heads.


    The others in the sword castle paused as the dark wizards took a few steps backward and forward before collapsing in unison.


    Felix approached the ''Lestrange'', crouched down and opened his eyelids, and looked him in the eye, the ''Lestrange''s'' eyes magically turned silvery grey, and after a short while, Felix stood up.


    He waved his wand, and the Fiendfyre that were burning inside and outside the sword castle converged toward him. The tip of his wand seemed to contain a black hole with an infinite suction, and the Fiendfyres that were coiled around the building in various forms of creatures were torn out of shape, and eventually all converged and became a small orb.


    Felix gently took it down and held it in his hand like holding a somewhat warm glass orb.


    "Felix." Lupin came over, "These people ..."


    "Lock them up for now, the Ministry of Magic won''t have time to send someone to collect them for a while, how exactly did it go on your end, were there any casualties?" Felix asked in a low voice.


    "No casualties." Lupin said under his breath, looking at the people who had slumped to the ground in the distance and couldn''t help but smile, "The attack happened after work hour, so most people went back home, I managed to gather the remaining people together and escape the first wave of attacks. I then activated the Golem guards to send the employees who aren''t good at fighting to leave through the fireplace, which took a while, and the rest of the people who volunteered to stay behind to defend the company followed the Golem guards to the lobby, just in time to bump into these people."


    " To be honest, the enemy''s strength ..." he frowned, "isn''t exactly what I expected, it''s like a makeshift group with only a few good fighters. In fact, I wanted to be more aggressive in the fight, but I refrained myself. Since Penelope and the group aren''t exactly warriors."


    "You''re right," Felix nodded, "Voldemort is simply not powerful enough to fight Hogwarts, Future World Company, and the Ministry of Magic at the same time. I have roughly looked at their memories, these people are made up of a few Death Eaters and the dark wizards they have recruited and threatened to join them, with the task to create as much chaos as possible. Presumably, something similar is happening on the Ministry of Magic''s side."


    "If that''s the case, there will be fewer casualties." Lupin said analytically, "What about the school side?"


    "Well, everything was peaceful when I came over, but now, well, it''s hard to say ..."


    "Hurry back! I can handle it from here, and I promise you, when you come back everything will be back to the way it was." Lupin said quickly.


    Felix chuckled softly and took a few steps forward as the scene before him changed rapidly-


    At Hogwarts, Frank and Alice, who are disguised as students, are holding a Marauder''s map, staring at the names ''Avery'' on it, when all of a sudden a jumble of footsteps is heard from the Grand Staircase, and the two looked at each other, before lowering their heads to look at the extra string of student names on the map.


    After getting their brooms, the students scattered to the various entrance of the school. Ron, Hermione, Neville, Fred, and George, along with some of the others, rushed to the castle''s main door and were surprised to find it locked and Filch guarding it.


    "By order of Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, all students are forbidden to set foot outside the castle." Filch said with a stern face.


    "Oh come on," Hermione said, "we want to help, and we can help, the Professor is right behind the door, isn''t she? Filch, sir, we can''t let them fight alone, they''re up against Inferi, dementors, werewolves, vampires, and whatever else ..."


    "He won''t get out of the way," Fred said under his breath, "why not let me give him a-"


    But Filch thought about it and actually stepped aside.


    "Thanks, Mr. Filch." Hermione said gratefully, taking out her wand and pointing it at the door, which opened noiselessly, and from a distance, they could hear the sound of Professors chanting out incantations. "They should be on the stone steps, yes, that''s it!"


    One by one they stepped out of the oakwood door and Filch caught Mafalda by the arm, her expression bewildered as she wondered why she was pulled out. So did Luna, who is standing next to her. "You can''t go out! You''re too young ..." Filch said with bulging eyes as he stared at Mafalda and spoke hesitantly, "You, you''re a freshman? What''s your name?"


    Mafalda turned her head to Luna and pointed her hand out, "I don''t know, ask her!"


    "What''s going on?" Ron came over in a huff, he had just barely sat on his broom when this unexpected situation occurred, he sucked in a breath when he saw Mafalda, "What are you doing here?"


    Filch, Mafalda looked over at Luna and Ron stiffened and turned his head, praying he wouldn''t hear an outrageous answer. Luna said cheerfully, "Didn''t I greet you all earlier, she was there--"


    "You found Mafalda behind that door?" Ron blurted out, remembering what had happened sometime earlier when Luna had attempted to open a door.


    "Yeah, I saw both she and Umbridge walk in, and not long after she was the only one who walked out and locked it from the outside. I thought it was strange, so I knocked on the door but there was no response, and later I was surprised to find her inside instead of Umbridge ...," Luna said as she spread her hands.


    "You idiot, Luna, obviously Umbridge had used a Polyjuice Potion!" Ron shouted at her.


    "You''re not allowed to yell at her!" Mafalda shouted.


    "You don''t make trouble!" Ron yelled back.


    He shoved Mafalda roughly into Filch''s hands like a rag in the process, "Well ... ahem, please, help me keep an eye on her, so she doesn''t slip away."


    "Ron!" Someone shouted in the distance.


    "Oh crap, I''ve got to go and backup Harry." Ron said, jogging to the platform outside the main door and mounting his broom with the twins and Neville.


    That''s when another voice sounded behind them -


    "Wait!" Alice panted, as she ran over, "You guys - shouldn''t - go out - it''s too dangerous out there - -"


    "Aren''t we done with this already? And who is this-" Fred snapped irritably, looking like he wanted to hit someone. When Hermione saw Alice''s face she acted like she had seen a ghost and yanked his sleeve so hard that she almost hauled him out of his broom, "Ouch! Hermione, what are you doing?" "She''s Neville''s mum ..." Hermione whispered and Fred was taken aback.


    "Does Neville know?" Fred asked in a lowered voice, and George tried hard to eavesdrop, but he was pushed back. Hermione shook her head.


    Alice Longbottom stared at Neville, "You''re still young-"


    " Not that young." Neville said, looking anxiously into the distance, seven or eight minutes had passed since Harry had left. He said stiffly, "You chose to stay at the castle, I chose to backup Harry, we all have our own choice."


    "No, I mean, they''ll be fine, you just need to stay in the castle in peace, the adults will take care of everything, the children -" Alice stated anxiously, taking Neville''s hand, "think about your parents !"


    "I''m sorry," Neville said, "they''d be proud of me." He took a deep look at Alice and, with a strong push of his feet, flew high into the sky.


    On the side, Fred gave a thumbs up. As he, George, and Ron flew off in the direction of Hagrid''s hut.


    ------------


    #Dino Chua, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 576: -End... (2 in 1)

    "Granger - and, oh, dear!" Professor McGonagall came running from the distance and darted her head back in mid-sentence as several brooms whizzed past above her head. Her chest rose and fell violently as she stared at the distant Neville and the boys. "You guys - they - what the hell is going on?" She asked under her breath.


    "Well, it''s rather obvious, isn''t it? They went to reinforce Harry-" Hermione made her tone as light as possible.


    " What about the whole Harry thing?"


    "Hagrid''s in danger-"


    "I know, I''ve sent Sirius and Snape over there."


    "And Little Grawp-"


    "Don''t tell me you know about the giant, Miss Granger, or did you just come up with a name on the spot?" Professor McGonagall asked exasperatedly.


    "I know," Hermione answered stiffly, now no one else was present, she felt it is her duty to explain, especially speaking up for the already exposed Little Grawp: "That''s Hagrid''s brother, we spend our time with him listening to music and watching films when we were free. He''s quite fond of the song ''A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love'' -" s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    She couldn''t go on anymore, because Professor McGonagall clutched her chest, gasping for breath, and looked like she would pass out soon.


    "Professor? Is there anything we can do to help?" Hermione asked cautiously.


    The dozen or so students who had followed her nodded silently, although from the looks on their faces you can tell they all seem to have shaken too - Giants are considered fairly brutal creatures in wizards'' books, so they admired the courage of Hermione who was able to listen to music with the giant along with Harry and Ron, who aren''t present.


    If it weren''t for the bad timing at the moment, they would have asked a hundred thousand questions now.


    Professor McGonagall glared at Hermione and swept her gaze over the students behind her, "I heard that Professor Black had taught you a few practical combat formations in class? Let me see what you have learned, work in groups of three, and hide behind armours and gargoyles, don''t venture out easily, and only attack the Inferi that the professors missed, remember! If you are injured, report it immediately, even if it is just a scratch. The claws and teeth of the Inferi are poisonous."


    The students nodded silently, and the excitement on their faces lessened a little.


    "Luna, Ginny, you''re with me." Hermione whispered, and Ginny pulled Luna closer. Hermione stretched out her hand and clawed it toward the sky, golden flames created by the ancient magic poured out from her fingers and coalesced into the shape of a firebird before it reached the ground. It stretched its swan-like wings and flew off into the distance. The other students looked at her enviously.


    The firebird swept across the castle ground, illuminating a wide flat area halfway to the hill, where a whole array of armours and gargoyles, both big and small, and even in the shape of creatures, stood in rows at the moment, forming a solid defensive line to hold off the Inferius; at their back a dozen adult wizards stood, both professors from the school and men from the Ministry of Magic.


    But they are paled in comparison to the sheer number of Inferius, and can only hold the main path.


    They were forced to stand scattered, each group in charge of an area, but they are unable to do much about the places further away. Some distance away Inferius seemed to have taken an interest in getting their arse whooped by Whomping Willow.


    " All we can do is make sure that we clear this path first, and wait for daylight for the rest." Professor McGonagall said as she rejoined the fight, waving her wand as the small grasses peeking out of the ground grew wildly, tripping up the approaching Inferius while Hermione controlled the firebird to spew a blaze of flames that burned them to ashes.


    In the distance, two dementors floated in mid-air, like tattered rags blown up by the wind. They seemed a little dreaded all of a sudden, and when Hermione looked up again, the dementors had disappeared.


    A wolf howls were heard from the forbidden forest, and she wasn''t sure if it was a werewolf.


    "I hope no one is dead. Although we have prepared for something like this in advance, there are still a few things we can''t control." Professor McGonagall said as she looked at the green skeleton hovering in the sky.


    As soon as the words left her mouth, the huge constellation-like Dark Mark suddenly became dazzling and exploded from within into a myriad of bright fireworks. People from all over Hogwarts looked up, and with a huge explosion, the skull''s jaw shattered and the snake writhing in its mouth disappeared, replaced by a brightly coloured dragon that swam merrily through the sky.


    The skeleton''s eyes were replaced by two spinning, sparking wheel-shaped fireworks, making the whole thing look hilarious. With the help of the dazzling bright light, Professor McGonagall saw several black dots bursting out of the green cloud, and she let out a low groan, "It must be Fred and George. Even at this time..."


    "They did a good job this time." Ginny said as she stared up at the sky while shaking her wand sharply and flinging out a hex.


    "Bat-Bogey Hex won''t do anything to an Inferi, Ginny," Hermione said, "you''ll have to use a flame-based spell, try Bright Fire-" she froze, staring at the hapless Inferi.


    "Wow, what a big bat." Luna said with a look of awe.


    Finally, the dark mark disappeared along with the Weasley fireworks, and the castle turned dark again. Hermione, Ginny, and Luna are standing at the front at the moment, and Luna who is controlling a white flame turned her head back and said, "We need a little light."


    Someone also had thought of the same thing as her. At the entrance to the castle, Cedric held a bright ball of light in his hands, which radiated a soft glow in all directions, and behind him, a group of students stood with their hands outstretched, with coordinated gestures, and soon a number of balls of light flew into the air like lanterns and small moons, dotting the sky above Hogwarts.


    Once they had finished this, they trotted down the stone steps to Professor McGonagall''s side.


    Professor McGonagall had already gotten a little numb, "Thank you, boys, in a group of three, don''t get too close to the front ..."


    "Professor McGonagall, Mr. Kingsley asked me to inform you that the back entrance to the castle is secured. He won''t need that many men on his side." Cedric said.


    "Excellent." Professor McGonagall said with satisfaction, "We are in need of men on our side, there are so many places to defend ... Since you are here, I can spare a few professors ... There is more than one battlefield."


    She was right. In addition to the Ministry of Magic in faraway London, the Hogsmeade village neighbouring the school, the school is also divided into several battlegrounds - the wall near Hagrid''s Hut, the front and back gates of the castle, and even the relatively peaceful headmaster''s office counts as a ''battlefield''.


    Umbridge made a mess of the office.


    At first, she disguised herself as a student brimming with curiosity, claiming to have obtained Dumbledore''s permission to do an interview for the ''Wall of Mystery tabloid''. She looked around, poked around, touched and pawed, even grabbing the Sorting Hat and shaking it off, with no result other than choking on the dust and making her eyes tear up.


    She had rummaged through everywhere she could, books were scattered all over the shelves, the wine cabinet had been roughly pushed aside, and a few oily fingerprints were stuck on the inlaid wooden panels as if checking for hidden compartments.


    As the minutes ticked by, the shouts and commotion outside spread like a plague throughout Hogwarts, but Umbridge didn''t look the least bit alarmed or surprised, she even tried to barge into Dumbledore''s private bedroom on the floor above, making it impossible for the portraits of successive headmasters to ignore her antics any longer.


    The portraits in the Headmaster''s office shouted at her in anger -


    "Never seen a student like you before!"


    A fat, red-nosed wizard in the portrait said, "Stop it! What House are you from?"


    Umbridge tried several more times and found herself blocked by an invisible film, and her magic also had no effect whatsoever. With no other choice, she turned her attention to the headmaster''s desk, and Umbridge sat laboriously in the headmaster''s chair as a scowl appeared on the Mafalda''s face she is using.


    "Obviously, I''m a Slytherin." She answered casually.


    "Liar!" The portrait of Phineas Black, Sirius'' great-grandfather, the one who had been voted as the least popular Headmaster at Hogwarts, exclaimed, with his eyes squinted as if he had only just woken up.


    "My name is Mafalda, and you can have someone check it out," Umbridge said sweetly, "that is, if you can Headmaster Black." She then stopped paying attention to the accusations of the portraits and concentrated on a drawer in the desk.


    This drawer is locked when she first checked it, and she tried the regular unlocking spells, which did not work at all.


    There is no other way at the moment, so she can only put her mind on this again. "I need a key." She said to herself, "I hope he isn''t wearing it, then I would get nothing." She tried to think, "If that key was in the room, where would it be?"


    It took her a not too short time to finally rummage through the bottom drawer on the other side and find the key, which is hidden under a thick pile of documents and a few letters. Normally she would have been interested in prying into Dumbledore''s privacy and social network, preferably to get hold of some dark materials.


    But now she just haphazardly rolled the documents and letters into a ball and fumbled her hand around the interior of the drawer to pull out an ancient key.


    She held her breath as she slipped the key into the lock and the sound of ''click'' was almost heavenly to her. She yanked the drawer open and the glow of magic instantly blinded her eyes. She stared greedily at the contents: a purple wand, a black jewelled ring, a locket, a diadem, and a tattered diary.


    Apart from the wand, the locket, and the diadem, the other two looked dull.


    "Slytherin''s locket ... Ravenclaw''s diadem ..."


    Umbridge, who is trembling with excitement, disregarded the shouts of the portraits at the side "Thief! Disgraceful thief!" And stuffed the target of her trip, a relic said to ''hold the mystery of the Hogwarts Big Four, Slytherin and Ravenclaw powers'' into her pocket, before jumping out of the chair and making her escape.


    She knew she had delayed too long, the You-Know-Who had promised to buy her time, but she couldn''t afford to bet everything on it.


    After a few steps, she abruptly paused.


    An unstoppable thought crossed her mind: You-Know-Who''s desire for the locket and the diadem was overwhelming, what about the other treasures that were placed alongside it? Is that wand a powerful wand? Is there any hidden secret behind the black jewel ring? Diary ...


    Umbridge, however, did not bother to think about the tattered diary with a large hole in the centre.


    Greed and desire once again prevailed as she turned back and reached out towards the drawer when she heard a high, resounding chirp and a phoenix materialized out of the fire in the circular office.


    Umbridge was horrified. She hadn''t considered this situation at all, is Dumbledore coming back? She could only fool stupid portraits with her appearance, there is no way she could fool Dumbledore ... For a moment, she seemed to forget how to breathe.


    Fawkes spread his wings and landed on the gilded perch in the office, and looked at her critically.


    There was some silence in the circular room and Umbridge slowly retracted her hand, and curtly showed her empty hands to the phoenix as she moved towards the door step by step, "Don''t let her leave! Fawkes, she''s a thief!" A portrait shouted.


    Umbridge''s mind went ''buzz'', damn you, stupid portrait, I''ll destroy you sometime! She had already heard the angry chirping of the phoenix and the flapping of its wings, and with a pull, the door opened, and thanks to her now slim and much smaller figure than the phoenix with its wings spread she was able to close the door quickly before it could enter. At the last moment, Umbridge saw Fawkes'' long, sharp beak peck the door frame, sending a few sparks through the door.


    "Bang!"


    The door slammed shut and Umbridge sighed with relief. "Thud!" There was another thud, and she jumped up in fright, scrambling to the spiral staircase, which began to slowly descend automatically, but she couldn''t wait, so with her short legs she stomped down the steps to increase her speed, the wall started to split open a gap, and she leaped out impatiently, followed by a mad dash through the empty corridor.


    Her heart was in her throat when she heard the door slam open, and she rolled and crawled all the way to the grand stairway on the main block, where she nearly rolled down the stairs. She took a couple of gasps of air and ran desperately down the stairs, looking like a mess. She didn''t care though, it isn''t her face that''s being used anyway.


    She had planned it from the start, to make the girl the scapegoat.


    All she had to do now is run to that abandoned classroom on the ground floor and switch over with the real Mafalda, Umbridge''s eyes glinted menacingly as she ran.


    To destroy the evidence and get rid of suspicion, leaving a corpse in the school would be the best option.


    The chirping of the phoenix echoed through the castle corridor and Umbridge spooked and sped faster.


    But she didn''t really have to worry too much; the phoenix''s cry wasn''t aimed at her, instead, it was aimed at a certain ancient rune professor who has laid his hands on him. Fawkes stormed out of the door, only to be caught by a hand that suddenly appeared out of a thin air and caught his neck in a smooth jolt, and Fawkes, who had never been treated so roughly before, simply exploded with anger.


    "Easy," Felix said with a grin, holding Fawkes like a hen and stroking his pretty feathers soothingly with his other hand, "take it easy, you have to give her some time to escape or she can''t get away ... ..."


    Fawkes lifted his long, graceful neck, his eyes filled with anger.


    Felix leisurely pulled out a silver pocket watch and popped open the front cover to check the time, "Kee?" Valen''s voice came from inside. "It''s not over yet, it is best for you to stay inside." Felix said soothingly.


    "Kee!!!"


    "Erm, sorry, you can''t have the little snake yet, there''s a potential risk in using it inside a space created with Undetectable Extension Charm, and you don''t want it to suddenly blow up ..."


    Felix closed the lid of his watch and carried Fawkes down the stairs of the Headmaster''s office, and gazed into the distance through the window in the corridor of the seventh floor.


    It looked bright as day outside, and a broomstick flew past the castle. He saw some familiar faces and - as if competing with each other - balls of illumination light flew out from various locations in the castle, their soft white light superimposed to turn Hogwarts into a world of light.


    Inferius immediately started to rush out of their place like headless flies, instinctively fleeing into the distance, only to be set ablaze by the white flames spilling from the flying broomsticks that whizzed past in midair.


    Dozens or hundreds of illumination spells converged, lighting up even a small part of the forbidden forest.


    Felix finally loosened his grip and Fawkes broke free from his hand, and angrily spewed several golden projectiles at him, Felix waved his hand at it, "Go go go, keep Umbridge mobile, don''t be idle, Voldemort shouldn''t be able to wait ..."


    Fawkes turned gracefully in midair, the two long plumes trailing behind him whipped over Felix''s arm, as he flew headlong towards the grand staircase of the main block of the castle.


    ...


    Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the empty hole in the wall; as they fought, he knew that the enemy would never succeed, with a steady stream of support from their side -


    At first, it was just Hagrid and Grawp, then he came and took down several dark wizards in one go and dispersed the dementors in the area; then Mad-Eye Moody and Tonks joined them without incident, later Ron came with Neville, Fred, and George, and they followed Moody''s orders to form a bullhorn formation, leaving little Grawp to stand behind and throw rocks, and from just a single hit the werewolves, vampires and dark wizards were out of the game.


    Sirius and Snape were also sent over by Professor McGonagall; Hagrid whistled and summoned the Centaurs, and when Professor Flitwick and Professor Sprout also arrived, the situation was completely stabilized. The intruders were forced to retreat beyond the broken wall.


    "Let''s wrap it up and march forward!" Moody shouted, as he nonchalantly grabbed the flying broom from Ron, Fred, George, and Neville - the twins cursed but relented, tonight Moody didn''t use the Polyjuice Potion because he and Tonks were stationed at the school wall, so his magic eye which freely darted in his eye socket made him look a bit intimidating.


    Moody glanced at Harry and didn''t ask him for his Firebolt, much to Harry''s relief.


    He distributed the broomsticks to Sirius, Tonks, and Snape and kept the last one for himself. Moody stared at Harry and said in an irrefutable tone, "You stay here and don''t interfere! Listen to me -" he growled, "I heard you''re a good seeker, so play your part. I''m not assigning you any tasks."


    Moody, Sirius, Tonks, and Snape mounted their broomsticks and flew outside the wall, a move that certainly caught the opposite side off guard as a chorus of shrieks and bodies falling heavily to the ground rang out from outside. "Time for us to make our move too, boys." Flitwick said pointedly, "Please stand behind me."


    With Professor Sprout he stood together, like a sharp arrow, and headed towards the huge hole in the wall, with sufficient light at hand, there is no danger of being sneaked up on. The four students followed close behind, followed by the Centaurs, Hagrid, and Grawp.


    Harry held his Firebolt with a little bewilderment, then climbed onto his broom and flew into mid-air, and now he could see more clearly: the Moody team of four were simply flying across with the help of the broom, and then descended from it when they had reached the enemies, and Harry understood his position at once.


    The sky is his domain.


    He swooped down, the Firebolt seemed to have merged with him, Harry swept past a Death Eater like a ghost, he could even see his reflection in the man''s pupils, a red light flashed and the dark wizard fell to the ground.


    "Look out! It''s Harry Potter, he''s, he''s flying!"


    "Well done, boy!" Moody shouted happily, taking advantage of the opportunity Harry had created to instantly take down two dark wizards, while the rest of the group also fought their own battles.


    Harry was able to manoeuvre the Firebolt with ease, his body covered in a humanoid shield charm as he continued to fly low and fast, the ear-splitting whistle produced by his flight frightened the dark wizards, and after a few moments, the remaining enemies could not hold their own.


    They fled in a panic with Apparition, and more than one had suffered an extremely serious splinch.


    " A few got away." Moody muttered.


    Harry slowly dropped down and Sirius ran over to him excitedly and slapped Harry''s shoulder so hard that Harry sat on his butt, which hurt like hell from all the gravel, and he couldn''t help but glare at his godfather.


    Sirius grinned broadly and sat near him, " You did well, Harry."


    "What about us?" Fred came over with a resentful look, still upset about the broom, George, Neville, and Ron also sat around, exhausted from the hectic last ten minutes. Together they watched as Professors Flitwick and Sprout made comments about the huge gaping hole in the school wall.


    "It''s a lot of work to fix ..."


    "It''s better than building something from scratch." Professor Sprout said as she sprinkled a few seeds in the gap and waved her wand, where tender sprouts burrowed out from the earth, growing rapidly and soon blocking most of the gap along the wall. "Just a moment, Pomona-" Moody said gruffly from outside as he and Tonks dragged the tied-up dark wizard in, " Alright."


    Professor Sprout waved her wand and the vines immediately filled in the last bit of empty gap.


    "At least it will last till dawn." She said.


    Grawp carried many stones the size of a man''s head in his hand, like small pebbles, and seemed to be aiming at the wall of vines; Hagrid hurried to stop him, and half a dozen Centaurs looked warily at the giant sitting on the ground, but because of the battle they had shared, they were too embarrassed to aim their bows at him at the moment.


    " Finally, it''s over. I''m going to die of exhaustion." Ron, who had just watched a great show, said, leaning over George, who leaned back a little, so Ron slumped into his lap, and George lowered his head, staring at his brother.


    "Do you want me to fix your nose for you?"


    "Ahem!" Ron immediately got up and said with a straight face, "I wonder what''s going on in the castle now?"


    ------------


    [ Author: I don''t think I''ll be able to finish this arc before tomorrow, I have so much I want to express since this arc focus on a group.]


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 577: The Battle is Endless (2 in 1)

    Chesterton Avery panted, oblivious to the sounds of the castle and beyond, the world in his eyes only a tiny bit bigger. He is hiding in the Broom cupboard under the spiral staircase on the ground floor, peering through the keyhole at the commotion outside. This is where Filch stores buckets, mops, brooms, and various cleaning tools, but Filch hadn''t visited this place for some time. Avery took an instant liking to this place, this Broom cupboard had many advantages: it is concealed enough to be inconspicuous; it is also close to the entrance hall - meaning it is easy to escape, and he also can watch through the keyhole for people coming down from other floors.


    Avery considered himself far superior to Umbridge because he is a pure-blooded ''Avery'', whereas Umbridge is only a ''relative'' of the Selwyn family, something his cousin told him as a joke.


    For example, this time, the Dark Lord had granted him a ''weapon'' out of respect for the Avery family, and as a result, his task would become much easier.


    He heard a high-pitched, resounding chirp, followed by Umbridge''s scream which echoed through the empty corridor as she shouted, "Avery! I''ve got it! Quick, come out and save me!"


    Avery wished he could kill her. This woman is beyond stupid ...


    He quickly dashed to the brooms that are stacked against the wall and picked two out of them - it is flying brooms that he had hidden, and then - he pulled open the door in a fury and ran in the direction of the sound, and was immediately taken aback: a beautiful phoenix is hot on the trail behind Umbridge, and it opened its mouth to spit out a ball of flame.


    "Impedimenta!"


    Avery shouted as he brought his wand over Umbridge''s shoulder. A red light struck Fawkes, but it bounced off. Although it didn''t work, Fawkes used that chance to slow down and raised his wings, hovering in midair.


    Umbridge rushed forward on short legs, as she had started to revert back to her original appearance, the Polyjuice Potion expiring, meaning that her plan to use Mafalda as a scapegoat had completely failed.


    "You got it?" Everly asked eagerly.


    "Got it."


    "Both of them were in the headmaster''s office?"


    "Both of them! I didn''t think Snape would be a-" Umbridge said as she ran, her voice hoarse as she ran past Avery without making any stops, other than snatching a flying broom from his arms in passing. She then promptly ditched him behind to stall for time.


    Avery''s nose nearly popped out in anger, and he casted a few more hexes at Fawkes before turning and running. As he caught up with Umbridge, he growled in a low voice, "Give me that item, you''ve been exposed!"


    "No!" Umbridge shouted. They ran to the entrance hall, where a number of people had gathered - students who had returned to the castle to rest after cleaning up the Inferius, little wizards who had sneaked out to see the fun, and a few Ministry of Magic employees - are standing in front of the Oakwood door.


    "That was impressive." Wilkie Twycross said, peering off into the distance. At that moment he heard hurried footsteps and looked back to see Avery and Umbridge running hard towards them, followed by a very beautiful bird.


    "Where have you been?" He immediately stepped forward in anger, his long pent-up dissatisfaction suddenly erupted, "You two lazy cowards, the reputation of the Ministry of Magic was lost because of your-"


    "Piss off!"


    Avery waved his wand and a spell struck Twycross square in the chest, and he leaned against the wall, passing out without a word.


    A chorus of cries rang out in the entrance hall, some shouted rebukes, others had blank expressions, clearly confused as to what had happened. But a few of the more responsive ones - both from the Ministry of Magic and the students who had been in the battle earlier and now resting - raised their wands alertly.


    Avery thought to himself, this is the time!


    He pulled out a small wooden box from his chest position and tossed it high into the air with all his might. The box paused slightly as the crowd watched, then the lid popped open and a man in a long black robe abruptly appeared.


    He appeared tall and thin, without a single hair on his body, and his extremely oppressive red eyes slowly swept over the crowd, who were all stunned, and backed away restlessly, shoving and screaming, without even a little courage to meet his gaze.


    Although it was quite unbelievable, that is Voldemort.


    Taking advantage of this, Umbridge and Avery slipped out of the entrance hall, relaxed as if they were strolling down the street.


    ''Voldemort'' let out a high-pitched, cold laugh as he raised his wand, and its tip build up a green glow.


    "Don''t be afraid, it''s just a Boggart that shape-shifted!" Frank Longbottom and Alice Longbottom suddenly showed up and shouted, they were waiting for this moment, Frank raised his wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!"


    ''Voldemort'' just gave a lazy wave of his hand and the spell failed to do anything whatsoever.


    Frank had a shocked look on his face when ''Voldemort'' extended his wand and pointed it at him, a great sense of oppression made it hard for him to distinguish reality, when a whispering voice sounded in his ears, "Voldemort transformed this boggart, fixing its state into his own image, a few spices may have been added, but it is still essentially a Boggart, with few add-ons ..."


    Green light struck. The House Point Hourglass in the corner which contained the red gems suddenly leaped up and placed itself in front of Frank Longbottom, the green light hit it and smashed the Hourglass into pieces, scattering the rubies all over the floor. Alice Longbottom''s face tightened as she held up her wand.


    Frank Longbottom quickly rejoined Alice and described the situation, and vaguely hinted that Felix had no intention of showing up.


    "We can deal with it." He said as the students ran off into the great hall in a rush, with a few daring ones looking back as they ran.


    Felix watched for a moment, and after making sure that the Longbottoms are perfectly capable of dealing with this mutant boggart, he hurried off towards the far end. He is trying to keep his moves to a minimum, so far he didn''t show up openly at the school, and Remus is also cooperating with him from the other side, blurring his time trajectory so that he can ''just appear'' at the right moment.


    Umbridge and Avery mounted their flying brooms, unable to believe their good fortune that they had actually escaped. The two brooms swept quickly over the stone steps and headed out of the school. The professors and students halfway up the hill who are still cleaning up the Inferius spotted them, but they didn''t bother to obstruct them, at best they secretly despised them in their hearts. They still thought these two are cowards and deserters.


    "Give me the items, Umbridge, I''m the one in charge of the operation." Avery leaned over his broom, shouting as he flew.


    "Dream on!" Umbridge said, pivoting her broom handle to get away from him, but Avery kept leaning over and speeding up. Umbridge''s eyes fluttered desperately, she had already decided that once she left the school grounds, she would immediately Apparate and hand over the items to the Dark Lord personally.


    There is no way out; Mafalda has been rescued by who knows who, and with that damned phoenix chasing her too closely, she has been completely exposed.


    The You-Know-Who''s promise to help her clear out the Ministry''s stumbling blocks and help her ascend to the position of Minister of Magic had naturally gone down the drain, and right now she had no choice other than fall in line with the You-Know-Who. But how to defect is something that needs to be considered hard, if she could personally offer him what he craves most, she would undoubtedly springboard a few steps and become an important figure in the Death Eaters hierarchy.


    Which made Avery an obstacle ...


    Rumble! There was a loud bang in the distance, the ground shook and Harry''s body slumped, nearly lunging into Sirius. Despite being a little fuzzy, he realized what had happened, there was just too much noise -


    A mountain had collapsed.


    Harry''s eyes widened, as stunned as everyone else, and then out of the corner of his eye, he saw Umbridge and Avery riding their broomsticks in the sky.


    Without thinking, he grabbed the Firebolt on the ground and rushed out.


    "Harry?"


    Felix, who had been following without slowing down, looked in the direction of Hogsmeade village and mentally smiled, the fight had gotten really intense, Voldemort hadn''t been killed by Dumbledore, had he, what had he done?


    No one could consider all the details and mishaps that could happen in the plan.


    Dumbledore couldn''t, and neither could Felix. After much deliberation, he and Dumbledore finally came to the conclusion that Voldemort''s purpose is clear: the Horcruxes, everything else is just a blindfold, and that''s why the school is the top priority.


    At least one of the two of them had to keep an eye on the school the whole time and be ready to back up.


    But that choice was not for the two of them to decide, but rather to see which side Voldemort appeared on, so when Felix realized that it was only some cannon fodder that was besieging the sword castle, he knew that Dumbledore would not be returning any time soon.


    Voldemort chose to stall Dumbledore, and in fact, Dumbledore also wanted to stall Voldemort so that Felix could be free to steer things the way they wanted it to be.


    Cutting Voldemort''s wings is just a matter of convenience; the hardest thing to do is convince Voldemort that his two Horcruxes are still intact in Dumbledore''s hands. And Dumbledore is dying in his eyes ...


    Once Voldemort accepted this ''setup'', with the Horcruxes jigging ahead, his options would become extremely limited.


    Felix and Dumbledore both like to take the initiative, they can''t always be passive and wait for an opportunity and spend the next ten or twenty years of their time and energy on how to defend themselves against Voldemort''s schemes and tricks, or at least Felix personally hated that idea quite a lot.


    ...


    "Is that the battlefield where the You-Know-Who and Dumbledore are?" Umbridge looked off into the distance with a shocked look on her face, the two of them slowed down subconsciously.


    "You are supposed to call our Lord as Dark Lord!" Avery shouted.


    Umbridge didn''t respond. She heard a muffled, piercing sound and when she thought she had heard it wrong, a red light swept past against the strands of her hair and she sucked in a breath, crouching her short, fat body on her broom and glancing back.


    It is that Potter!


    He is flying towards them on his broomstick, followed by several others, but Potter is the fastest. He moved with great dexterity, controlling the broom to accelerate as he shot out a spell. In the blink of an eye, Avery was hit by the Stunning spell and fell off his broom.


    Horrified, Umbridge hurriedly aimed her wand behind her, "Incarcerous! Incarcerous! Incarcerous!" Then she gritted her teeth and redirected her broom, flying in the direction of the Hogsmeade village with only one thought in her mind: to leave the range of the Anti-Apparition Charm and seek refuge with You-Know-Who.


    She had already formulated what to report in her mind, and as for Dumbledore? There is absolutely no need to worry about him, the You-Know-Who will do everything in his power to protect her as long as he wants to get his hands on the locket and the diadem.


    Another Stunning spell charged at her, although it missed, it did wake Umbridge from her sweet dream.


    The nasty Potter!


    Annoyed, she looked back only to find that Harry is already very close to her and is aiming his wand at her. A silver stag flew out from the tip of his wand and Umbridge froze, had Potter lost his mind and used his Patronus against her by mistake? What was going through his mind?


    She is not a Dementor.


    Umbridge didn''t care, and desperately tried to make her flying broom speed up, when suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of her head like something hard had hit her solidly, she blacked out for a moment and almost fell off the broom like Avery. When she touched the back of her head, it is stained with blood.


    "Hiss!"


    Umbridge looked resentful and shocked at the same time, a Patronus could actually hit someone? For a moment she wondered if she had never learned this magic properly... A silvery glow once again appeared above her from the side, and she hurriedly moved her broom to the side - the Patronus'' hooves stomped on her hand that was gripping the broom handle, causing her to scream in pain and almost fall off her broom.


    She barely managed to control the less responsive broom, when the sound of the Patronus'' hooves stomping through the air sounded behind her again, and Umbridge looked back in despair to see the silver stag directly above her, both front hooves raised high, and she knew she is done for, even though she came so close to being able to use Apparition.


    "Bang!"


    The Patronus was suddenly scattered and Umbridge turned back incredulously - Potter who is not far from her, also sported a surprised look on his face, her eyes glanced past Potter to look behind him, Snape is riding his broomstick, holding his wand up with a gloomy look on his face.


    If one only looked at the general outlook, one might have thought it was an accidental slip, and Snape''s spell had only accidentally struck Potter''s Patronus which coincidently had helped her.


    But Umbridge knew Snape is a spy, and she was overjoyed when she flew the final mile and raced past the boundaries of Hogwarts.


    She smelt freedom and power, and of course, she didn''t care who gave it to her, as long as she could occupy a high position. She stared at the battlefield of Hogsmeade village in the distance and prepared to use Apparition.


    She had never tried to Apparate while flying at high speed, but she felt confident. At least at this moment, Umbridge''s desire for power and the desire to appear beside the You-Know-Who would definitely help her in that.


    "Accio Horcruxes." A young, mildly calming voice stated, in a voice that sounded somewhat familiar to Umbridge, but she failed to register at the moment who spoke and what he said. Horcruxes? What is a Horcrux?


    The next instant she felt a lightness in her pocket, and she watched as the locket and diadem in her pocket flew out, in two almost identical arcs, and landed in the hand of the man who had suddenly appeared at the school''s outer boundary -


    It is Felix Hap!


    Umbridge didn''t even have time to feel fear for him, as a mind-boggling realization hit her: so the diadem and the locket are Horcrux. In the next instant, she completely disappeared, managing to cast Apparition to escape.


    Felix silently stuffed the locket and diadem into his pocket, "Professor Hap?" Harry controlled the Firebolt and circled the spot where Umbridge had disappeared twice in vain before finally landing in front of him.


    "Harry." Felix nodded at him, "You did well, and were brave. Everyone was brave."


    " It''s a shame that Umbridge got away." Harry''s expression held considerable regret, and then as if he thought of something, he asked eagerly, "So her target really is the Horcrux? You and Headmaster Dumbledore haven''t destroyed it yet?" He grumbled a little, "It was too dangerous, thankfully you got here in time, if she had taken it-" he winced, unable to imagine what would have happened.


    A few more brooms landed. Their toes had barely touched the ground when Moody, Tonks, and Sirius stealthily surrounded Snape.


    "What''s wrong?" Felix asked in mock surprise.


    Moody, Tonks, and Sirius didn''t say anything, just glanced at Snape out of the corner of their eyes, who coldly said, "Maybe it''s because my spell missed and instead of hitting the enemy, it hit Potter''s Patronus ..."


    " You dare say you didn''t do it on purpose?" Sirius glared at him.


    "So that''s what happened," Felix said, and all of them looked over at him, surprised by the understatement in his tone.


    Harry also stared at the Professor, with more complex mental activity than anyone else in the place, considering the fact that Snape had prevented him from entering the Headmaster''s office to find out what was going on, and the result of which being that Umbridge had gotten her hands on the Horcruxes without incident. If it hadn''t been for Professor Hap''s sudden appearance - yeah, how had he appeared so coincidentally?


    Harry didn''t say a word; Anyway, the Horcrux hadn''t been stolen, it was just that Umbridge had gotten away, an outcome he could live with. He thought of a possibility he had reached earlier: the possibility of Snape being undercover ...


    Felix explained, "Harry''s Patronus is special, beyond even the usual definition of Patronus, and Severus, who had little knowledge of it, may have mistakenly thought that his spell could pass through ... It should have been an accident."


    Snape stood with a blank expression on his face and did not open his mouth to explain.


    After a short while, Mad-Eye Moody said gruffly, "Let Dumbledore handle it, is he in Hogsmeade now?" He asked Felix.


    "Quite a ruckus, isn''t it?" Felix looked into the distance, he reckoned that the battle would be over - because of Umbridge. He had quietly buried a large pit for Umbridge and wondered if it would work ...


    .....


    Hogsmeade Village.


    Voldemort and Dumbledore faced each other as dust and smoke swept towards them from the distance, where the two had fought earlier, a mountain had collapsed and the cloud of dust and smoke is just an aftermath of the battle.


    " Got more brutal than usual?" Voldemort snarled, "Looks like I poked your nerve, that man is your brother? He looks like a savage boy with no one to look after him, look at his dirty clothes!"


    Dumbledore waved his wand and the power of the spell completely changed the terrain, every stone, tree, blade of grass, and even the air oozed with hostility towards Voldemort, and the attack came from all possible directions, making Voldemort Apparate from where he was and appear on the other side.


    He raised his snakewood wand - there was a pop and a short, fat woman emerged from the thin air and Voldemort''s eyes widened, it was Dolores Umbridge. Why is she here? Success or failure, she isn''t supposed to be here.


    "You-Know-Who, oh - Dark Lord, help me!" Umbridge cried out, with an expression of ecstasy, as she had escaped for good, from Felix Hap! But she was greeted by a pair of scarlet snake eyes, and Umbridge''s eyes became blank and hollow as images of the day - especially of the last half hour''s experience - came back to her like a passing light during travel:


    "You''re being too careless! Someone''s coming, I''ll stop them, remember, the password is ''socks''." Snape whispered, and Umbridge, who was disguised as Mafalda, stared blankly, frozen in place. The gargoyle blocking the path obediently moved aside.


    "Move!" Snape growled at her, pushing her towards the spiral staircase.


    She stumbled and panicked, while Snape straightened his robes and headed off in the opposite direction ...


    Another scene: in the Headmaster''s office, Umbridge opened the drawer - Voldemort''s snake-like nostrils inhaled sharply - the drawer contained all the Horcruxes he had been daydreaming about, the locket, the diadem, and even his former yew wand, along with the ruined diary and Gaunt''s ring all together ...


    Then comes the scene of Umbridge being chased by a phoenix, which cried out in a high-pitched tone, spilling golden flames.


    The scene changed, she was riding on a broomstick, next to Avery, and the two idiots managed to escape, no, with the help of Severus, how clever, his undercover work can continue ... The situation took a sharp turn, Avery was shot down, and a mutated Patronus appeared... ...


    It was Harry Potter, the boy who had survived because of luck, trying to get in his way once again.


    Then Voldemort heard a voice say, "Accio Horcruxes." And the diadem and locket flew out of Umbridge''s pocket, and he felt empathetic, helplessly reaching out his hand, but it was only a memory, and his heart frustrated to the core, the Horcruxes had fallen into Felix Hap''s hand, who would be able to get them from him? Not even he could do that personally.


    Voldemort realized that he had once again failed and his follow-up plan became completely useless.


    Without any warning he disappeared and appeared in the distance, ignoring Umbridge''s pleading gaze, he stared at Dumbledore and said hatefully, "Give me the diadem and the locket, I know you have them, Dumbledore! I swear I will leave England immediately and would never return." S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly, "We both know it is an empty statement."


    "You know what I am capable of, you can''t always protect everyone!" Voldemort shouted frantically, his red eyes blazing brightly, he seemed almost out of his mind, due to the fact that both of the Horcruxes were lost, and the curse on Dumbledore - Now, to him, it is not just a curse that could kill Dumbledore, but it also became a catalyst for the destruction of his two Horcrux.


    Dumbledore stared at Voldemort and whispered, "You didn''t think that threat would work, do you?"


    "You were always acted like some kind of Muggle protector, and if they die in large numbers because of you-"


    "I can tell who''s really responsible, and if anyone dies, there''s no doubt that you are the sinner, Tom. That only strengthens my resolve to get rid of you." Dumbledore interrupted him, staring at his right hand for a moment before saying, "I have always believed that you are my responsibility. But I may be running out of time, and I wish to buy time for those that will succeed me, until then ..."


    "You will fight me to the death?" Voldemort fondled his snakewood wand and sounded a little surprised, "Why should I do as you wish? You''re doomed to die!"


    "Oh, I''m afraid that''s not up to you." Dumbledore said pleasantly, "Think of it this way, I originally left those two Horcruxes to keep the precious relics of the school, I only delayed it because I didn''t figure out how to separate the contaminants... but I''m about to die, maybe I''ll last another year or two? In that case, why should I keep them now?"


    Voldemort''s eyes looked like he wanted to devour someone as he stared at Dumbledore, those azure eyes looked calm like an endless sea that no one could shake.


    "Just the two of us?" He questioned calmly.


    "It''s just the two of us." Dumbledore stated calmly.


    "With the Horcruxes as a wager?"


    " With Horcruxes as a wager."


    "Hypocrisy!" Voldemort sneered, " If you want a painful death, I''ll be happy to give you one."


    Dumbledore sighed with a faint relief when Voldemort suddenly raised his wand, his lips quirked, and then there was a flash of green light. Dumbledore flicked his wand and a stone turned into a shield and appeared in front of Umbridge.


    The killing curse was blocked.


    The curse was not aimed at Dumbledore from the start, but at Umbridge. She screamed after a second, shivering, with her face turned ashen.


    "You''re still so nosy, Dumbledore." Voldemort said coldly.


    "She will be judged by the Wizengamot, and it''s not your turn to kill her." Dumbledore said solemnly.


    Voldemort sneered twice and sowed discord before he left, "That Felix Hap is your chosen heir? He''s more ruthless than you, he wanted to kill her by my hand, and he probably wouldn''t be happy that you saved her ..." He left in a flash.


    "I''ll give you some time to arrange your funeral!"


    Dumbledore sighed softly as his gaze swept over Umbridge, who laid limp on the ground.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 578: Night Talk

    Dumbledore handed the muddled Umbridge over to the Aurors in the Hogsmeade village, she was very roughly treated by Voldemort when he explored her recent memories, her mind is not very coherent at the moment and there might even be some residual effects. He then took a moment to reassure the frightened Hogsmeade residents, "It won''t affect you, apart from being a bit sandy for a couple of days." Afterward, he went to the Hog''s Head Inn.


    Aberforth sat at the door of the Inn, looking tired and battered.


    "You should have stayed inside, you are too badly wounded-"


    "And you want me to lie in the middle of a pile of dead bodies?" Aberforth growled angrily, "Why don''t you try?"


    Dumbledore remained silent for a moment, "Alright then, I''ll take you to St. Mungo''s, you need to be treated."


    " It''s not a big deal, the bastard wanted to see me beg for mercy, but I didn''t do as he wished," Aberforth said gruffly, spitting bloody spit on the ground, "You came quick, quicker than I thought."


    But Dumbledore insisted on taking him to the hospital. At St Mungo''s, Dumbledore took the time to talk to the portrait of Dilys Derwent. A former Headmistress of Hogwarts as well as a Healer at St Mungo''s, Dilys Derwent was a well-known wizard and had left portraits at numerous wizarding institutions.


    "The Ministry of Magic got their hands full, those dark wizards completely disregarded the Statute of Secrecy and blew a big hole straight through the visitor''s entrance-" the old witch with long, silvery wavy hair rattled off.


    "The red phone booth?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting her.


    "Yeah, a lot of Muggles saw it," Dilys said under her breath, "and the Ministry of Magic is going to be busy with it for the next long while. I don''t want this to hold up the Wizengamot trial, the Ministry has caught a lot of dark wizards." She added.


    Dumbledore smiled, "It may not happen that quickly, the trials of the last war lasted a long time. But our new minister is doing well, she''ll take care of it ... How are things in the school, Minerva sent the Patronus to tell me about the situation a bit, but I want to know the most recent developments."


    "Oh, they''re really getting more competent, those little ones!" Dilys said with great enthusiasm, " It really opened my eyes, they didn''t seem to fancy waiting for the Ministry of Magic''s support, and solved the problem on their own - they even formed a reinforcement team and went out of the school to help the nearby Hogsmeade village to deal with the Inferius and Dementors in the vicinity. How exhilarating!"


    "Minerva agreed?" Dumbledore asked in amazement.


    "Objections were futile, the students were very enthusiastic ..."


    Ten minutes ago -


    Felix, Harry, Sirius, and the rest returned to the school as Ron, Neville, and Fred trotted over.


    "How did it go?" Ron looked at the returning men, "We found Avery on the way, he had a nasty fall, we didn''t dare touch him, and left him where he was, waiting for the professionals to deal with him. Where''s Umbridge?"


    "She ran away." Harry said briefly. Ron stared as Harry added, "Her plot failed though, with Professor Hap showing up at the ''critical moment'' -" he stole a glance at Felix, who smiled at him without rebuffing the remark.


    This made Harry very depressed. He had hinted quite clearly, and the Professor still hadn''t responded. Well, he planned to pull Ron and Hermione together to help him analyse it privately.


    "Well, she''s just a minor character on the run." Ron smacked his lips, then he said with some excitement, "Neville just brought up an idea that I think is pretty good. Do you guys wanna hear it?" He looked at Harry and then at everyone.


    The group looked at Neville, who said shyly, "Many Inferius and Dementors are wandering outside right now, maybe some of them have run off to the Hogsmeade village beside us, and there are lots of wizard families living around there, and not everyone can deal with those things ..."


    "You want to support Hogsmeade?" Harry quipped in surprise and Felix also looked over in surprise, Neville seemed to have grown up. Harry didn''t mince his words, "Neville, your idea is a good one, we can certainly help them."


    Neville shook his head, "I just suggested it, Ron, Luna, and the group helped to perfect the plan, especially Luna, she solved the problem of not having enough brooms-"


    "She also came over?" Harry asked, he looked in the direction of Hagrid''s hut and spotted Grawp easily -- he is too big and walking around the edge of the Forbidden Forest, with the help of Grawp as a position, Harry vaguely saw a few small dots around him, he tried his best to catch the yellow-haired one, and he found it, Luna is stroking a black-winged horse-shaped creature --.


    "Thestral?" He was surprised and enlightened.


    "We''ve been robbed of our broom, so we have to use our brains to find a replacement." Fred said with a grin and flinched nervously when Moody''s magic eye looked over. "Just kidding, Professor Moody, don''t take it seriously!"


    "I should warn you," Felix interjected, "your idea is lovely, but first you must get the school''s approval ... The person in charge at the moment is Professor McGonagall." He nudged his eyes, and in the distance Professor McGonagall came scurrying over, with her hair draped behind her back, making her look imposing.


    "Er ..." Harry froze and looked at Felix tentatively, "Will you speak for us, Professor?"


    Felix winked, "I''d love to be on your side, but ... I have to maintain the relationship between colleagues, so it''s up to you to convince her." Harry stared at him in disbelief.


    Eventually, Professor McGonagall was convinced, but she strongly urged several professors to accompany them. Sirius, Flitwick, Sprout, Tonks, the Longbottoms, and Emmeline Vance led the way as three dozen students rushed high into the air on broomsticks and Thestrals.


    The students who emerged from the castle looked at the group like heroes, applauding and cheering them enthusiastically.


    Harry hovered in the sky on his Firebolt, watching in exhilaration as the students and professors set off from the brightly lit Hogwarts School and flew towards Hogsmeade. Turning back, he caught sight of Draco Malfoy in the crowd - he had stayed at the school, but his eyes were dead set on the sky. Harry saw reluctance and jealousy in Malfoy''s eyes, a look he unexpectedly did not hate, as he suddenly realized that Malfoy wanted to be part of the support group travelling on broomsticks to Hogsmeade.


    Reluctance and jealousy could also be, rephrased as envy.


    Those left behind went about their own business.


    Moody watched over the captured dark wizard, Madam Pomfrey treated the young wizard who had been scratched by an Inferius, or tripped over a stone, Kingsley returned to the Ministry of Magic, and Felix and Professor McGonagall stayed at the school, pacifying - ordering the students to return to the safety of the castle, to be precise - the students are overly excited tonight and seem to want to party all night outside.


    "We could move the kitchen outside and wait for the men to return from Hogsmeade."


    "Do you guys think they''ll bring back some Honeydukes'' candies along with them?"


    Such thoughts were quickly quelled by the dark force within the school, which was headed by Professor McGonagall. Although the sky above Hogwarts was as bright as day, it wasn''t exactly safe to be outside the castle. There might be Inferius or Dementors hiding around some corner.


    They would have to check it out carefully.


    Later in the night, Dumbledore returned to the school. He spoke with Moody, McGonagall, Felix, and Snape one by one to find out what had happened as the night deepened. When Snape relaxing in his office, he felt a burning pain in his arm and stood up with a blank face.


    The Dark Lord is summoning him.


    ...


    "So you came to see me empty-handed, Severus?"


    "Dark Lord, I did all I could, and even nearly got myself exposed to make her escape." Snape bowed his head and said, "Allow me to explain. I dare not hide a thing." A ray of moonlight poured through the broken window and cast a pale light on his face.


    Voldemort sat in the darkness, with no light around him, and his snakewood wand made a ''hissing'' sound in his hand. He had seen bits and pieces of Umbridge''s memories and knew what Snape had done, but he still burned with anger.


    Snape waited for a moment, and when he saw Voldemort did not interrupt him, he spoke.


    "You asked me to move when I saw the opportunity, and I did: I gave Umbridge the password to the Headmaster''s office at a crucial moment, and then distracted Potter, who had rushed over there. After that, an army of Inferius broke in. Although Dumbledore was not there, McGonagall assumed the authorities of a Deputy Headmistress at the first opportunity: summoning all Heads as well as Professors. It would have been too suspicious if I didn''t show up; as you know, I hadn''t gained much trust in the Order of the Phoenix and there were too many eyes on me in the school.


    I have an enmity with Sirius Black; I don''t have much of a friendship with Minerva McGonagall; Harry Potter and his friends are even more unabashedly hostile towards me, Potter has the Original Marauder''s map in his hands, and even if you had taught me how to hide myself, I couldn''t do it so easily, since it would have aroused even greater suspicion.


    I have a student-teacher relationship with Felix Hap, but last time I risked it to pry information about the diadem, which may have consumed some of that trust, and as for Dumbledore, he never puts his secrets in one basket, as he did this time when he secretly arranged for the Order of the Phoenix to enter the school ... He must have sensed something, but I knew nothing about it.


    I even faked a mistake to stop Potter when he tried to capture Umbridge, but Felix Hap suddenly appeared and foiled that plan.


    Dumbledore came back and took the locket and the diadem straight away, leaving me no chance to interfere."


    Snape related the story, at which point he suddenly frowned, "One thing is odd, I don''t know if I''ve been exposed: I had hinted to Umbridge about my identity as a spy, but she was caught by Dumbledore. What if she confessed something-"


    "Don''t worry, I messed with her head." Voldemort''s high-pitched, clear voice came through the darkness.


    "Felix Hap is a Master of Memory ...," Snape reminded.


    Voldemort sneered a few times.


    "If they had investigated, they would have discovered a large group of spies that Umbridge will identify, and you are just one of them. You didn''t tell Avery your identity, did you?" s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "No. I''ve been very discreet." Snape said.


    "That''s not safe either," Voldemort stood up and paced the empty room, " Is he in St. Mungo''s now?" Snape nodded and said, " Avery is badly wounded and seems to have hurt his head, he hasn''t woken up yet."


    "Then don''t let him wake up again." Voldemort said with a murderous grin. The hiss of the snakewood wand grew louder as if there are hundreds of snakes hissing in the room.


    "Lord? Do you still want me to go back to school?" Snape asked in a low voice, showing just the right hint of dissatisfaction.


    "You don''t want to, Severus?" Voldemort asked softly. He approached, bathed in the moonlight, his bare pale skin seemed to glow. On that snake-like face, his red eyes stared at Snape.


    "No - of course - no -" Snape stammered. "I had thought - that I could - could come back - return to the ranks of the Death Eaters this time."


    Voldemort looked at him silently for a moment.


    "Have the years of undercover work bored you?" He spoke nonchalantly, twirling his fingers around his snakewood wand, "I still need you to do one last thing for me, Severus. After this is done, you can return to the ranks of the Death Eaters."


    Snape glanced up excitedly before lowering his head again, "Thank you, Lord. I will serve you gladly, just as I did over a decade ago."


    "Very well. Dumbledore and I agreed to have a duel, and it had to end with a death ... but I didn''t finalize the specific time, do you know why?"


    "I don''t know, Dark Lord." Snape said.


    "How is the injury on Dumbledore''s hand?" Voldemort suddenly changed the subject.


    "He is suppressing the curse to his right hand and needs to take potion at regular intervals. I''ve never seen a curse that powerful, stronger than most of the curses I know, a normal man would have died long ago-"


    "I have faith in my magic." Voldemort said, and Snape shut up.


    After a long moment, Voldemort spoke, "Weaken Dumbledore as much as you can, Severus, but do not kill him, I want to see him fall before me. Your talent for Potions is unrivalled, and I believe you can do it without anyone realizing it."


    "But there is a chance that Dumbledore will notice ..."


    "Then it will be too late, Severus. When you have finished your duty, I will return all the glory that belongs to you. So be bold, Severus, I await your good news."


    ...


    "Voldemort is ready to give you up."


    Dumbledore said in a deep voice and Snape stared at him. It is now early in the morning, but Dumbledore has shown no signs of falling asleep; he is fully dressed and sitting at his desk, playing with a black jeweled ring in his hand.


    "He was uncertain if Umbridge would leak, those words were just to reassure you, and I assume he has other tasks for you? A highly time-sensitive one?"


    "He told me to poison you," Snape said coldly, " The sooner the better."


    Dumbledore flashed a smile.


    "Ah, so that''s it. That may be the biggest risk, he has given you tonight. Voldemort was grumpy when he left, and he hasn''t been in the best of moods for a while now ... I was worried that he would take it out on you."


    ---------------


    #BassT, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    [ Author Note:


    [Explaining the issue of whether the Summoning Charm can work on Horcruxes here:]


    Examples referred in the original story are as follows.


    1. The original book never directly stated that ''Horcrux is immune against the Summoning Charm'', and the several failed summonings by the trio were due to special environments; such as the cave where the locket was hidden (the Horcrux was even a fake), the Gringotts, and the Room of Requirement.


    (The original book prefers to describe it by saying ''(the Room of Requirement) refuses to hand over its collection easily'' rather than directly saying that the Summoning Charm does not work on the Horcruxes).


    2. The trio kept using the Summoning Charm to summon Horcrux from beginning to end, even after holding the locket for a while, they didn''t discard using the Summoning Charm, which might indirectly indicate that it will work?


    3. When the trio went to the Gringotts to find the Hufflepuff''s Cup, Ron said ''that kind of magic won''t work in here'' not ''that kind of magic won''t work on Horcrux''.


    4. Apart from Voldemort and Slughorn, the two people who knew the Horcrux best in the original book are - Dumbledore and Hermione, but neither of them explicitly objected against using the Summoning Charm, and on several occasions, Hermione even attempted to summon the Horcrux with it.


    [In summary, I believe that Horcruxes themselves do not have the property of being immune against the Summoning Charm, but one can use magic or ward to prevent it from being Summoned, but this additional magic can be lifted]. ]

 Chapter 579: Potion and Sweet

    In the Headmaster''s office, the conversation continued. Dumbledore paused and said to Snape, "Voldemort restrained his temper, because he still needs you now. Well, that much I knew from the moment I discovered Umbridge''s mind was messed up ... what''s that saying? Anyone who asks for a favour will be polite. Obviously, Voldemort can''t be an exception."


    "I''m not interested in hearing some cheesy sayings that you share."


    "Oh, Severus, those wise short phrases are thought-provoking and worth savouring over and over again ... you know, I''ve been trying to get you to fall in love with life again." Dumbledore said amiably.


    Snape shook his head vigorously, as if he had gotten something dirty on it.


    "Since Voldemort wants you to take the opportunity to poison me while you are healing me, surely he will wait a little longer. I think the duel time might be determined based on the state of my health?" Dumbledore said thoughtfully, " In this case, I would be able to influence his judgement. Just a few interviews at the right time and a few pictures of my pale face ... Well, I figured it out. Wizengamot, the dark wizard trials ... I need to talk to Ms. Bones."


    "Severus, your role is too special, so special that even though Voldemort is suspicious of you, he won''t make a move against you as long as you still have some value to offer. Aside from Umbridge, there''s another loophole, and that''s Harry. It''s a good thing he practised Occlumency well, and Voldemort seems to have actively isolated the connection, but nothing is certain, so don''t take it lightly." He concluded with a warning.


    "Speaking of Potter," Snape suddenly seethed, "Dumbledore, you lied to me. Harry Potter ... he''s one of it, one of the Horcruxes."


    There was a brief moment of silence.


    "When did you realize that?"


    "So it''s true?" Snape growled in a low voice as he stood up and stared at Dumbledore from across the table, "I spied for you, made up lies for you, risked my life for you. All of this is supposed to ensure the safety of Lily''s son. Now you''re telling me that his end was doomed from the very beginning? Like a pig to the slaughter-"


    "How touching, Severus," Dumbledore said, " Is it possible that you have really come to like that boy?"


    "Like him?" Snape shouted, "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num!"


    From the tip of his wand, a glowing silver doe emerged. It landed on the floor and with a slight leap made its way to the end of the office and flew out the window. Dumbledore watched it go away, until its silver light faded, then turned his face to look at Snape, whose eyes now filled with tears.


    "Still like this after all this time?" He asked softly.


    "It''s always been like this." Snape said.


    Dumbledore sighed and closed his eyes, the only sound in the room was Snape''s gasp as he muttered and repeated, "You lied to me, Dumbledore." After a few moments, Dumbledore opened his eyes, his eyes had regained their calm, and he gazed at Snape from the top of his half-moon shaped lenses.


    "I don''t want to justify myself, Severus. But I did prepare for the worst - for the point where, as a last resort, the boy had to die once, so I nurtured him, honed him, watched him, like a craftsman, carefully carving his special piece."


    "Die once?" Snape looked up, "Dumbledore, get your words straight."


    "On the night Voldemort tried to kill Harry, the killing curse rebounded on himself and a fragment of his soul was blown away and attached to the only living soul in the collapsed house, Harry Potter ..."


    "A part of the Dark Lord was left ALIVE inside an infant? It later turned into a Horcrux?" Snape asked fervently, "So the Parseltongue, the connection to the Dark Lord''s mind, is all because of that soul fragment?"


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, " To be precise, Harry doesn''t count as a complete Horcrux."


    Snape looked a little unsure, his knowledge about Horcruxes is still at a very shallow state, he only knows the most basic information, some of which he even deduced on his own by combining multiple pieces of information. He didn''t know how a Horcrux could be made, let alone many of its taboos, he was only able to link Harry to the Horcrux easily and uncover the truth due to a slip of that boy''s tongue.


    Right now, he pricked up his ears and listened carefully.


    "... The steps involved in creating a real Horcrux are extremely complex and difficult beyond imagination. Maybe that''s why Voldemort hadn''t been able to connect Harry to the Horcrux yet - Harry isn''t anywhere remotely comparable to that snake in terms of completeness. But again, he does serve the purpose of the Horcrux: as long as the shard remains inside Harry, Voldemort will never truly die in a sense."


    "So, is it possible to separate the shard?" Snape racked his brain, "It was just unintentionally attached, wasn''t it? Like a dirty spot on the wall, just find some way to remove the stain -" he held his breath as he looked at the old man in front of him, "Have you found it?" s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore slowly shook his head.


    Snape''s body shook for a moment, and he propped his hands on the table, looking at Dumbledore with a blank gaze.


    "Any matter involving the soul must be approached with extreme caution," Dumbledore said softly, "We are not able to draw wisdom from the scrolls of those who came before us, so we must rely entirely on ourselves. And Harry''s situation is much more dangerous: the fragments of Voldemort''s soul which remained undisturbed, bonded directly to Harry''s soul. After all these years, the connection between them is probably much stronger than you, or I can imagine. And this connection also becomes stronger and stronger as Harry ages, like a parasitic being."


    "You should have been aware of Harry''s exaggerated rate of progress this school year, right?" He asked.


    Snape looked expressionlessly at Dumbledore, who looked back at Snape in an equally similar manner.


    "I thought - it is the result of his diligent training."


    "I do not deny the significance of that. But - apart from the gap in knowledge and experience - Harry is not much weaker than you are now. That''s never normal, Severus."


    "Is there no other solution?"


    "Felix and I - both of us - are trying to find a solution. He found a line of thought in the books about Horcrux: repentance can reunite a fragmented soul. Felix is amazingly accomplished in the field of memory magic," Dumbledore said, "He wanted to capture Voldemort and soak him in a jar full of ''repentance'' emotion for a day, or two, or even a year or two."


    Snape was shocked by the sheer audacity of Felix''s thinking.


    "... But I don''t hold out much hope for this method, the conditions are too demanding: you have to capture the living Voldemort first - a step that is surprisingly easy compared to the other steps. Second, you have to make Voldemort genuinely repent for what he had done, and frankly, I don''t think he has an ounce of remorse in him; I wouldn''t be surprised if he suddenly showed me his Patronus ... Apart from that, even if Voldemort is forced to repent, what effect would drawing out the soul fragments will have on Harry? "


    "No one knows."


    Snape froze in place.


    After a long pause, he asked, with difficulty, "You only mentioned Felix''s attempts, what about you? What have you worked on?"


    "Oh, I can''t reveal that to you yet." Dumbledore said apologetically, "That method is probably more illusive and unbelievable ... than getting Voldemort to make a sincere confession, and I have no way of verifying it for the time being, so it would only add further trouble if I told you."


    He tucked the black jeweled ring into a drawer and fiddled with the delicate silverware on the table, the conversation seemed to have ended there as Snape stood up and headed for the door. "Oh, by the way, Severus?" Snape turned his head and met the blue eyes beneath the half-moon shaped lenses.


    "Put some sweet in the potion, will you?"


    ---------------


    #BassT, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 580: Influence of the Incident

    Even though three days have passed since that night when an army of Inferi roamed around the school grounds, Hogwarts students are still talking about the events of that night with great relish. Those students who had first-hand knowledge, those who cleared out the Inferius, or were involved in supporting Hogsmeade village are the most sought after, and wherever they go they are followed by gangs of students asking for specific information, the common room, the stairways, the classrooms, the library ... everywhere you can find someone recounting what they had witnessed.


    "We set off from the school, clearing hundreds of Inferi and a dozen dementors along the way, and when we descended in the Hogsmeade village from the sky, the looks we saw on those people''s faces were simply fabulous! You guys would have loved to witness that." One of the seniors said.


    " Awesome." Someone in the crowd said with admiration.


    "How did you catch the dementors?" Another student snapped pointedly, "I remember the Patronus could only banish them, no?"


    "With a cage." To which the man replied in a high-pitched voice, seemingly pleased that someone had asked that question, "It''s a portable device that looks like a Nose-Biting Teacup, but it''s certainly not the same, once you drive the dementors in they can''t get out ..."


    "According to the Auror named Tonks, this is something that Professor Hap had researched." He whispered in a mysterious tone.


    A chorus of gasps sounded from the crowd.


    "Well, make a way, please. I have to go find my mate and ask if the school has issued any task that involve searching the Forbidden Forest." The student waved his hand in a feigned manner, " As you know, there is a possibility, that a few werewolves are hiding there ..."


    The people gathered around watched him leave with reverence.


    Various variety of stories broke out one after another, and someone meticulously described the broken hill on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, "There were many cauldron-sized boulders tumbling down when we arrived, and the dust was too heavy to get a full view."


    The members of the Magic Painting Club had made plans with each other to visit the site over the Hogsmeade weekend on Valentine''s Day, to work together and create a piece of art. A number of students were tempted when they heard that they were looking for investment everywhere and for only seven sickles they could leave their name on that huge masterpiece.


    There was also the discreet revelation about a dozen bodies dragged out of the Hog''s Head Inn, "which is now closed, something tragic may have happened." Those words were said with a humorous tone


    "All I know is that Professor Moody had shoved a dozen dark wizards into the dungeon of the castle, although they were relocated the same night." One of the Slytherin students said, "The place where the dark wizards were kept is close to our common room and quite a few people saw it."


    "Don''t you guys live in the dungeon?" Someone asked in confusion. S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s different," the Slytherin student retorted irritably, "Our common room only looks like a dungeon!"


    "Gee, after all these years you haven''t even thought of adding some decorations?"


    "We installed magic lamps ..."


    "Oh."


    ...


    Currently, it is breakfast time and Felix is having breakfast in the great hall. He flipped through the day''s newspaper; the front page had a shot of Ms. Bones speaking, but in fact, this particular event had happened two days ago, the day after the attack, and the photo had probably been chosen to boost sales more than anything else.


    He quickly skimmed over the contents at the top, which read


    "A spokesman for Wizengamot stated that the investigations had already begun, and the perpetrators captured included a significant number of foreign wizards, which would possibly bring in observers from the International Confederation of Wizards during trials. In addition, a number of countries have sent official letters from their ministries of magic asking if they can extradite their own wizards, and after a stern refusal from Ms. Bones, they have applied to be involved in the trial process ... Although no specific trial date has been set, we at least know where the main source of forces behind the mass attack planned by the You-Know-Who came from ..."


    The second page described how they will respond to the danger of exposure, "In the eyes of the Muggles this will be an underground gas pipe leak."


    The third page mentioned that the Sword Castle had been restored to its original state and included a photograph on which Felix spotted Percy looking around, straightening his tie in a dignified manner when someone noticed him.


    A mid-page article between the fourth and fifth pages described "Blast-Ended Skrewt Farm is now started to operate", Felix wondered whether that was an advertisement.


    The eighth page featured the news showing that the Anti-Spell product line had become the official equipment of the Ministry of Magic.


    On the ninth page, a member of the Shafiq family cuts the ribbon for a shop. ...


    Felix put the paper down and quickly finished his plate of food, and walked towards the entrance hall when he spotted the Weasley twins leading the members of the ''Swear to Defend School Rules'' club they had formed out of the castle.


    "Remember, this operation may be dangerous, but we, the members of the ''Swear to Defend School Rules'' club will not be afraid." Fred said loudly.


    "What are we going to do?" An underclassman asked warily.


    "Didn''t we mention that?" Fred looked over at George, who shrugged at him. "Well, we''re going to Black Lake. You know, the Inferius aren''t afraid of water, so there might be a slippery bunch hiding at the bottom and taking a leisurely stroll as we speak."


    "But I''ve heard," the student who asked the question swallowed, "that the professors have long ago teamed up with the student body, the magic rune club, the frontline lookout club, and volunteers to check all parts of the school several times ... " His voice grew lower and lower as the twins stared straight at him.


    "You know, you remind me of our little brother Ron."


    The lower grade student''s eyes lit up as he spoke excitedly, "You mean Ron Weasley? Harry Potter''s right-hand man? Oh, what an honour ..."


    Fred and George looked at each other, a little dumbfounded.


    "Is he that famous now?" George asked, "We''re not in someone''s dream, are we? I mean, could this be a side effect of the Patented Daydream Charm box?"


    "No way," Fred said with a depressed tone, "I would have rejected that dream as unsellable in the first place ..."


    Meanwhile, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked down the stone steps, intending to visit Hagrid.


    "Is Mafalda okay? What did Madam Pomfrey say?" Harry asked.


    "Nothing serious," Hermione said, "she was hit by a Confundus Charm and a Stunning Spell, she''ll be fine after two days of rest."


    "Except for a bald spot on her head, she was too embarrassed to come out and see anyone," Ron smiled and gloated a little, "Umbridge hit her pretty hard. You need to wait a few more days to see her."


    Outside the castle, the snow melted away. A layer of tender sprouts poked out of the lawn, and in a short while, it would completely cover the grey mud. They crossed the vegetable patch and saw Muggle Professor Burbage coming out of a greenhouse from a distance, wearing an oversized hat, a dirty apron tied around her waist that smeared with grey mud.


    At first glance, Harry thought that Professor Sprout had lost weight. But he would only think like that in his mind, and he would never say that out loud in front of a Hufflepuff student.


    A dozen students stood near Hagrid''s hut, chattering and giggling, with a mixture of excitement and fear on their faces. Curious, the trio went around to the back of the hut and found Hagrid training Grawp on how to carry things.


    "Grawp - want - food!" The giant yelled.


    "You''ll get it when you''re done carrying it." Hagrid shouted, pointing to a pile of rocks on the ground and a huge pumpkin under his other arm. "Hi, guys!" When he spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he greeted them enthusiastically, "I''m teaching him to do odd jobs, starting with the basics, you see-"


    "Look out! Hagrid!" Hermione suddenly shouted.


    Hagrid jerked his head back and was sent tumbling to the ground with a punch, and Harry felt the ground tremble. Luckily, Grawp didn''t continue to attack; he withdrew his dirty fist and took the pumpkin out of Hagrid''s arms as if he is holding a large apple, and bit it down splashing the juice everywhere.


    The little wizards who had gathered around had long ago run away squealing, and Harry reckoned they were scared shitless.


    Hagrid sat up on the ground and held his nose, "Oh, well, still the same thing. I shouldn''t have walked around with food in front of him."


    The trio looked at each other and Harry gathered the courage to ask, "Hagrid, are you going to let little Grawp move in with you?"


    "I did thought of that, but it doesn''t look like it''s going to work now, so I''m going to build a house in the Forbidden Forest."


    " Would the Centaurs be okay with that?" Hermione asked worriedly.


    "Who cares about those mules!" Hagrid said under his breath, blood seeping out of his nostrils. "Take it easy, Hagrid!" Ron shouted. Hagrid waved his other hand, "It''s not like they own the Forbidden Forest, anyone can live there if they want!" And then he muttered, "I''ll just ask them superfluously, a bunch of old cranks..."


    ------------


    #BassT, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 581: ‘Malfoy’

    The trio headed out of Hagrid''s hut and on their way they ran into the young wizards who were watching earlier. They are very young and have an intense curiosity, so Harry had expected them to run back to the castle in a rush, but instead, they are chattering on the side of the path, discussing whether they should go back or not. "Those brats." Ron shook his head as he remarked sagely.


    Harry looked back at them and guessed in his mind that these students would not have a clue that they might be sewing clothes for Professor Hagrid''s dear brother in the Care of Magical Creatures Class later. A damn cloth that is probably bigger than a tent, is now hanging in Hagrid''s hut.


    They walked up the stone steps and saw Valen walking outside at the entrance of the castle. Harry''s mood perked up, he ran over and lock his gaze with Valen.


    "Is Professor nearby?" He asked excitedly.


    After that lengthy night, Valen re-acquired the gluttonous snake and carried it around every day, reassuring herself that all her treasures are inside. She looked up quizzically, and when she heard Harry''s question, she held out her other empty hand to point in the direction of the great hall.


    The golden trio walked into the great hall and turned back when they didn''t spot their target, "Should be there." Hermione said, gesturing in the direction of the Staffroom, it dawned on Harry, but there was some hesitation in his mind, Snape might be in the Staffroom, and lately, he''s trying his best to avoid looking at Snape.


    "Come on, let''s have a look inside." Hermione said encouragingly.


    Harry was just about to push the door open when, to his surprise, he heard Draco Malfoy''s shaky voice from inside, "Yes, I''m sure." Harry''s hand retracted. The trio looked at each other, somewhat unsure. Then Professor McGonagall''s stern voice was heard from the room, "Mr. Malfoy, you know the consequences of perjury."


    Draco did not respond, seemingly stumped by the question.


    At that moment Professor Hap''s voice was heard in the room, "Let me ask him a few questions - Malfoy, can I assume that you didn''t know what Avery and Umbridge were up to, and they claimed that they are your father''s friends, which caused you to let your guard down?"


    "... Yes, Professor."


    Felix muttered to himself, " Well, it''s understandable. For that reason, you followed them to the - well, the girls'' lavatory -"


    "The abandoned one."


    "Pardon?"


    "It''s the abandoned girls'' lavatory." Draco swallowed hard and said.


    "Okay, so you followed them to the abandoned girls'' lavatory and Umbridge forced you to help them and even asked you to make a deadly vow, but it was disrupted when Miss Granger suddenly appeared?"


    "Yes."


    "Felix-" the serious voice of Professor McGonagall interjected.


    "Later you felt afraid and kept avoiding them?" Felix continued the question.


    "Yes." Draco whispered in a low voice.


    "Well, I see." Felix''s tone lightened, and he said with conviction, "I guess Avery must have sneaked up on Crabbe and Goyle later and cast a Confundus Charm on them-"


    "Felix, I should remind you that the Confundus Charm has a time limit." Professor McGonagall uttered in exasperation.


    "I know, Minerva. But Crabbe and Goyle''s brain -" Felix paused, "isn''t exactly bright, they''re in a state of confusion at all times, they might have even taken it as their own thoughts after the effect of the spell had ended, and only those who know them best would be able to spot the anomaly ... such as Mr. Draco Malfoy."


    The sound of Professor McGonagall''s intake of breath was heard from the room. Harry listened in disbelief, he could picture Professor McGonagall pursing her lips and her chest heaving violently, just as she had done a few days ago when he had worked up the courage to convince her to allow the students to assist Hogsmeade.


    She must surely be furious.


    "All right, Mr. Malfoy." Professor McGonagall said, "Thank you for your testimony, and I will consider temporarily holding off on expelling Crabbe and Goyle unless there is new evidence that-" she paused, "suggests that they were voluntarily aiding and abetting the You-Know-Who. "


    "Thanks, Professor." Malfoy said in a grateful tone.


    The sound of footsteps was heard at the door, Harry, Ron, and Hermione scrambled away from the doorknob as the door opened and Draco Malfoy looked at them in surprise, Ron grinned, "Hello." Draco gave them a hard stare and slammed the door behind him, and without saying anything, he turned and left.


    After that father-son ''session'' at the Christmas holiday, Lucius had told him a few things - not just about the present situation, but also about the plans for the future. According to his father, even if the war ended and Hap''s side won, he intended to gradually become low-key and diminish his influence. S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m undercover, but I''m also a Death Eater, and as long as I''m active, those two labels will remain. So the Malfoys will be relying on you when the time comes."


    ...


    Harry knocked on the door. But inside Professor McGonagall was talking loudly and their knock was ignored.


    "Felix, Crabbe, and Goyle didn''t have any signs of being under a charm."


    "... It''s hard to tell."


    "Malfoy''s testimony was full of holes, and he said he had an argument with Crabbe."


    "Well, it was a bit odd, but after the touch-ups I just applied, it might make slightly more sense, right?"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood awkwardly in the entrance, watching as Professor McGonagall cornered Professor Hap against the wall with her arms crossed, and Professor Hap kept gesturing for her to calm down.


    "Pfft." There was a chuckle heard from the corner and Harry jerked his head back to see Sirius sitting in an engraved chair, clutching his teacup and watching the drama.


    "Potter, Weasley, Granger," Professor McGonagall spotted the trio in the room, she took a few steps back and took a few deep breaths, her face regaining its composure, "Very well, I will find Professor Dumbledore and explain the situation." She took a large step out of the room.


    Aside from the golden trio, only Sirius and Professor Hap are left in the staffroom.


    "Um - can I ask what just happened?" Harry asked impatiently.


    Sirius bristled, "Congratulations on seeing a good show, someone turned black and white and treated the school rules and laws like they were nothing. Sheltered two potential Death Eaters, no, it should be three."


    "You mean Draco Malfoy?" Ron said, "He came over to speak up for Crabbe and Goyle? That''s not like him."


    "That''s right, once he realized those two not only broke school rules but could also potentially be shoved into the Wizengamot trial sequence, he wanted to back off." Sirius leaned back his body, letting the front legs of his chair pivot, and said dismissively, "After a few questions from Minerva, he panicked, and that''s when our righteous and kind Professor Hap descended from heaven to fabricate a plausible excuse for Malfoy. What a noble act!"


    "Tell me, Felix, how much did the Malfoys pay you?" Sirius asked with a wide grin.


    "That''s a question you should ask Remus, the Malfoys have bought a fair deal of ''Future World'' company products. He knows the exact figures." Felix said lightly.


    He walked over unhurriedly, and picked up the teapot on the table, pouring himself a cup of tea. Then three cups descended next to the trio and Felix gestured towards the three, who sat down with their teacups.


    "Well, Harry, what are you doing here?" He asked.


    Harry was stumped.


    There are many things he wanted to ask, but he figured Professor Hap wouldn''t tell him so readily. Over the last few days, he had found a number of suspicious things when he had discussed and analysed everything with Ron and Hermione.


    The matter of Headmaster Dumbledore arranging for someone from the Order of the Phoenix to infiltrate the school ahead of time could be explained by the discovery of clues about Voldemort''s troop movements, but there are a few things that seemed too much of a coincidence.


    Why did Snape appear near the Headmaster''s office, which happened to be around the same time as Umbridge? But it would make sense with the explanation that his mission was to deliver the password to the office. And then there was Professor Hap, whose appearance was also packed with theatrics; if he had been a few seconds later Umbridge would have disappeared with the Horcruxes.


    But if Professor Hap had been there all along ...


    "It''s like the adults have joined together to stage a play." Hermione stated back then.


    Neville''s parents seemed to know something, but they had already left. Harry had brought it up to Neville a few times, acting casually, but each time he became squirmy and Ron asked, "Did you get beaten up by your mum and dad? Tell us about it, we won''t laugh at you." Neville gave him a stern look.


    So Harry had no choice but to let it go.


    He cleared his mind of these random thoughts and asked slowly, "What''s going to happen to Crabbe and Goyle?"


    " Suspended on probation, I guess." Felix said carelessly.


    "Their father-"


    " Got caught red-handed." Sirius suddenly interjected, " for attacking the Ministry of Magic, and is probably in the company of the Lestrange brothers at the moment." With that, he gave Felix a provocative look, as if expecting a retort. But Felix reacted flatly.


    "Oh, er, what about Malfoy?" Harry asked, holding his breath, "I mean Lucius Malfoy?"


    Sirius''s face suddenly scrunched up.


    " He made his escape."


    "How?" Ron asked.


    Sirius put his upright chair down and looked at them, "I suppose he was lucky to get away in advance. Amelia told me she was glad that she didn''t remove the Anti-Apparition zone she had set up a while back."


    "What was that thing?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "Remember the Ancient Magic Rune exchange held in Hogsmeade earlier?" Felix asked and the three nodded. More than remembering, it is a vivid memory; Voldemort had killed the Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School that day, stolen Salazar Slytherin''s snakewood wand, and destroyed a small part of Hogsmeade shortly afterward.


    "... We speculated at that time that Voldemort might take the opportunity to break into the Ministry of Magic - there is something there that is important to him. For this reason, the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix had set up traps in advance, and the Anti-Apparition zone was one of them. It''s a pity he didn''t show up last time."


    Felix''s tone seemed light, but several people in the room could feel the hidden chill in it. Once the Anti-Apparition zone is turned on ... Voldemort wouldn''t be able to escape and be caught by the combination of the two, Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap. Then it was most likely that the war would''ve been over that day.


    "Professor?" Hermione asked, "I saw in the paper that the Shafiq-"


    "Oh, I know about that." Felix interrupted her and Hermione fell silent.


    Before leaving, Harry asked a question, "Do you still believe Snape? After all that happened?"


    "You should call him Professor Snape." Felix replied.


    So Harry got the answer in his mind.


    ...


    "Lucius Malfoy is one of your men?" Sirius abruptly asked as he closed the door.


    Felix looked at him with a smirk, "Did you smell it?"


    "Don''t use that metaphor." Sirius muttered in discontent.


    "I thought you''d like - yeah, you''re right." Felix said.


    Sirius straightened up in surprise, " And you''re telling it to me just like that?" He couldn''t help but look up and down, "He''s not going to be sold out by you, just because he''s no longer valuable, is he?"


    Felix rolled his eyes.


    "What image do I really have in your mind?"


    " Scheming and cunning." Sirius subconsciously said.


    Felix glared at him, pondering an excuse to beat him up, Sirius shivered and hurriedly changed the subject, "What are you going to do for Valentine''s Day? Got a date?"


    "Of course I do."


    "Really? With who?" Sirius asked with interest.


    "Meh." Felix said dismissively.


    .....


    February 14th. On Valentine''s Day, students lined up in long lines ready to spend a pleasant day in Hogsmeade. That''s when they saw Filch standing in front of the main entrance of the school, staring at passing students with a rude look and checking for prohibited items.


    "Filch is as unpleasant as ever and likes to catch students red-handed." Ron said.


    "But at least he''s on our side, isn''t he?" Harry said.


    "And your requirements are too low." Ron said, and abruptly hid behind Harry, " Block me."


    "What''s wrong?" Harry looked uncertainly in the opposite direction to Ron as Parvati and Lavender Brown passed by in a pair.


    "She wants to ask me out for the weekend." Ron whispered, waiting for them to leave before he stepped out.


    "Lavender?" Harry guessed.


    "It''s her." Ron said smugly, "Can''t help that, I am so popular. I received several cards."


    It occurred to Harry as an afterthought that he also seemed to have received quite a few cards this year, and Ginny said she was getting her hands sore from opening them. At that moment, they saw Professor Hap appear at the entrance, dressed formally, and Apparated away at the school gate.


    " Someone asked the Professor out?" Ron asked in surprise.


    "I don''t know." Harry said dryly, seeing Ginny coming over in a pretty purple dress, and he pretended like he didn''t see Luna, who had carrot earrings on and a dress full of shiny glittery sequins, beside her.


    It is nice to have an extra person, it reduces a lot of embarrassment. Harry thought.


    .....


    Diagon Alley, Sword Castle.


    Felix stood at the entrance and looked around for a while, then walked in. A number of people had gathered in the spacious hall on the ground floor, and most of them had their faces covered tightly with scarves.


    These people stood some distance apart from each other and seemed completely uninterested in making small talk.


    Clammy trotted over.


    "Is everyone here?" Felix asked.


    "All present! Seven Squibs, and twelve wizards with spellcasting problems, they''re all here." Clammy said quickly, "These are their profiles." She shoved a stack of parchments into Felix''s arms, then looked at him with an expectant look.


    "Have a good time -"


    "Bye." Clammy said simply, before turning her head to run away.


    Felix smacked his lips, suddenly feeling a little depressed. He jerked his hand and the heavy door slammed shut behind him.


    "So, everyone, are you ready to feel the magic of magic?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 582: Miss Winnies Magical Journey (2 in 1)

    Winnie waited in line, peering out anxiously and looking around, as a blonde ponytail flopped around behind her head. ''One, two, three, four, five, six, six more ahead.'' She counted silently.


    From her viewpoint, she could see Felix Hap sitting behind a desk with a stack of documents laid on the desk - that had been handed to Mr. Hap by the witch who had received them this morning. Every now and then Mr. Hap would write and draw on it, and there is also a bell on the table.


    " Jingle jingle."


    Winnie jerked her head up and stared intently at the man at the front of the room. More than one person did as she did, simply because the next scene would be magical enough. Mr. Hap gestured to his right, and in front of him, the wizard Mr. Achill - a Squib to be precise, in his forties with half his hair balding - cautiously prodded with his one foot forward as if the ground was littered with unseen and unknown traps.


    No one urged him on, and all eyes opened wide to discern something in him, but, just like the previous instances, after a few steps, he disappeared out of thin air.


    Winnie once again marvelled at the wonders of magic, which was more magical than anything she had ever witnessed before.


    She recalled that just ten minutes ago, this man, who looked almost her age, had closed a huge wooden door, over twelve feet high, with a wave of his hand, without even using his wand. That hand had silenced everyone in the room, most of them, if you counted the wizards, couldn''t even wield the wand properly, and the rest of them - didn''t possess a wand at all.


    Winnie stared at Felix''s dark hair and blue eyes as he worked -- should that count as work? -- looking serious, as he asked questions without urgency, and she wondered how much it would cost to hire a wizard like Mr. Hap, she couldn''t even contemplate it, it simply wouldn''t happen in reality any time soon.


    All she knew about was that ''Kwikspell beginner''s magic correspondence course'' which she attended a short distance from Sword Castle, would cost fifteen gold galleons for a total of two weeks of instruction. It was something she had personally gone out of her way to ask about, and - well, she didn''t even have the qualifications to think it was too expensive. Because she is a Squib.


    Apart from the long lingering gloomy emotions of that day when she was sent to a foster home, Winnie didn''t have many strong memories of her childhood before 11. And with all these years gone by, she had long managed to gain a foothold in Muggle society, where she''s now working in a law firm and occasionally publishing a few short and crisp stories in magazines.


    She''s not going to tell anyone that her brilliant imagination comes from another world - a world where the magic truly exists.


    All her colleagues know is that she loves to read and listen to music, and she loves to visit various bookshops and record shops in her spare time. So - and Winnie was never shy about saying this whenever she went out - "I''m going to drop by Charing Cross."


    Her friends would ask her for niche titles or for the most popular records on the market, and she always had an answer for them.


    "Jingle jingle."


    Winnie suddenly woke up to the fact that there was no one else in front of her. She took a few quick steps and stood in front of the desk, sizing up the silhouette of Felix Hap, a man who is nearly the same age as her but has accomplished so much that she couldn''t even muster up the emotion of jealousy.


    Felix and Valen looked up together, finding the girl''s eyes a little distracted.


    "Winnie Valentine, 24 years old, graduate of ... The Queen Mary University of London?" Felix asked as he looked up.


    "Yes, that''s right." Winnie said with a little tremor in her voice, "You''re totally accurate."


    "... It''s all written right here on the paper."


    Valen looked curiously at the person who had a similar phonetic pronunciation to her name, amber eyes, with a bit of natural curl to her hair, and a very artistic black and white piano key-shaped badge pinned to her chest.


    Winnie blushed slightly, not looking straight into those light blue eyes, and lowered her head to look at the Platypus sitting nearby - no, a Niffler. It seemed bizarre ... her mind was spinning with odd thoughts; if only she could take a picture of Niffler and send it to the magazine, it would probably cause a sensation.


    Felix tapped on the table and Winnie immediately stared at his fingertips. A subconscious picture flashed through her mind: this was the hand that, with a mere wave, transformed a gilded letter ''O'' from the lobby display into a desk, and another letter ''K'' turned into a dark green banner embroidered with ornate floral patterns, as a beautiful banner was created in front of her eyes.


    If it had been in a knitting shop, it would have sold for a lot of money.


    But it is completely superfluous, Winnie thought. She found another place where magic and technology differed: technology tends to converge, while magic diverges. Then she sighed; there is absolutely no way she could share these thoughts with someone.


    Felix noticed her wandering off again and snapped his fingers in front of her. Winnie was taken aback.


    "You look a little nervous? Then I won''t ask any more questions, just go straight this way." He pointed to the right.


    Winnie breathed a sigh of relief, then a little regret, had she acted too poorly? A few steps away, she suddenly looked back behind her - the desk, along with the young man who was sitting behind it, the Niffler on the table, the bell, and the people in line ... were all nowhere to be seen.


    So that''s what the people before had seen. Winnie thought.


    "Hap Nine at your service." A voice suddenly said and Winnie was startled, she looked back at Felix, "You - oh," she asked excitedly, "you''re magically made?"


    " You could interpret it that way." Hap Nine said.


    Realizing the person in front of her isn''t a real person, Winnie wasn''t freaked out that much, and her nervousness considerably dissolved. She had seen many magic props that talked. Like the Quidditch team posters that shouted "Come on!", the cups that urged her to finish her drink quickly, the mirrors that stuck to the wall that reminded her that she had some dirt on the tip of her nose ...


    The strangest talking thing she had ever seen was an exquisite dressing table, with mirrors, perfume bottles, drawers, and standing lamps, each with their own ideas and would belittle each other''s aesthetics, which, according to the shopkeeper, "it had turned into something like this as soon as a particularly fussy customer tried it on."


    Winnie actively looked for a topic: "So what have you changed from? Gilded letters, teacups, parchment, ink bottles, detergent ..."


    "None of those," said Hap Nine, "I''m a memory."


    Winnie thought for a moment and lowered her voice, "A ghost?"


    "No, just a temporarily constructed memory, my task is to guide you through some tests and get the magic inside you to move a little." The man who claimed to be Hap Nine said.


    Could memories exist on their own? Winnie couldn''t figure it out, it obviously didn''t have anything to do with technology, but well, it''s quite magical, isn''t it?


    She didn''t really know much about magic herself, although she had read a lot of books, but being a Squib, especially one who had gone to university, brought her attitude towards magic closer to that of ''observation'', with a natural detachment like how she occasionally watched the other customers in the record shop.


    Hap Nine walked ahead of her to guide the way.


    "Be careful not to run into other people''s territory." He said.


    Winnie looked around and found that she is walking on a narrow luminous path, surrounded by what looked like a soap bubble-like membrane, that is being magnified thousands of times, and the contents inside are blurred, but Winnie can vaguely guess roughly based on the colours and shapes: she could see a quiet, deep forest river in one soap bubble; on her right is a beautiful garden, but she can''t make out what flowers are growing in it.


    Then she saw a lofty castle, just the outline, and she knew what it is.


    Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What are these?" She asked curiously.


    "Memories that you all find comfortable and pleasant," Hap Nine dutifully explained as Winnie jumped over what looked like a small puddle and accidentally poked her head into a ''soap bubble'', and freaked out, worrying that she would ruin the dream-like environment.


    But the quality of the soap bubble turned out to be better than she expected, and she sniffed a sweet and savoury air, which was sweet enough to make her intoxicating.


    The place was full of chocolates and sweet delicacies. With just a cursory sweep, she found a dozen or so candy heaps, and at the top of one short candy mountain, a short, chubby male wizard weeping with excitement. There was also an identical ''Felix Hap'' whispering something without moving.


    The next second, she was yanked from outside.


    "Told you to be careful."


    "Oh, sorry."


    "That''s okay." Hap Nine said, pausing for a few seconds to fix the large hole Winnie had smashed out with her head - until then, the sweet, intoxicating air had been blowing out of it.


    "So the - you in there," Winnie pondered how to define their identity, " what number is he?"


    "Seven."


    They walked for a few more minutes, and finally, Hap Nine stopped, "We are there."


    Winnie found herself standing in front of a beautiful exhibition display cabinet that contained a shallow wooden disc with a silvery haze of smoke. She realized she is still in the ground floor lobby of Future World Company.


    "What do I need to do?"


    "Memories." Hype Nine said, "Dig through your memories to find the strongest feelings you have towards magic, good and bad alike, but I recommend happy memories."


    Winnie searched her mind, and after a long time, she stared blankly at Hap Nine.


    "Can''t find it?" Hap Nine asked, Did this girl have such a rough life? It didn''t look like that at all.


    "Too much." Winnie said.


    "Then pick the one that makes you most comfortable." Hap Nine said with an expressionless face.


    Winnie thought carefully, being a Squib, she tried to stay away from magic during her childhood and barely had a few memories related to the magic that are worth remembering. But when she went to college and took a Psychology course, she gradually let go of her past experiences and was able to see things in a more positive light.


    So one day in her sophomore year, she walked into the Leaky Cauldron Inn with considerable nervousness ...


    Hap Nine reached out his hand and pulled an ebony wand out of thin air. With its help, the visions in Winnie''s head appeared in reality. Felix behind the desk looked up, his gaze piercing through one soap bubble to gaze at the small, old pub.


    The scenes changed rapidly from the Leaky Cauldron Inn, to what looked like a tourist guide to Diagon Alley.


    The wall behind the pub slowly opens up to form a wide arched bridge that connects to a curving, cobbled street at the other end. That is Diagon Alley. The sunlight pours down and many shops come into view, ranging from cauldron shop, pet shop, apothecary to bookshop...


    Finally, they arrived at a Junk Shop, which was littered with a dozen wooden crates containing all sorts of second-hand magic items: tattered wands with unicorn hair peeking out of the core, old scales that wobbled and never aligned, old cauldrons stained with poison, old patched cloaks with suspicious blood stains that never seemed to have been cleaned, books with loose spines and missing covers. A spell book with a spine so loose, that even the cover was missing ...


    Winnie took a deep breath, a wave of relief coming out of her every pore.


    Felix, sitting behind the desk, wondered a little, but he did feel a positive, vibrant burst of vigour and joy, and the thin magic in her pulsed a little in his magical perspective. He jotted down a few symbols quickly on his parchment.


    "You like it here?" Hap Nine asked.


    "Yes." Winnie said cheerfully.


    "Have any exciting stories happened here?"


    "Oh, well it was just for me personally ... I got my first spell book, my first cauldron, and my first wand here." She said with deep emotion, "It cost me nine galleons and I still couldn''t use it. It supposedly cost the same as the first wand Ollivander sold to a young wizard, but I''m an adult, so it would have been more expensive."


    "You can get that sum?" Hap Nine asked, knowing that Winnie had always stayed in muggle society, even if she wasn''t short of money, he figured the Gringotts wouldn''t casually exchange that much money to her, those goblins had very tight control in that regard.


    "I have a good relationship with the owner of that Junk Shop," Winnie said, "you know those London Antiques Market streets? I sometimes pick up some interesting trinkets and bring them to the owner of the Junk Shop ..."


    "Right." Hap Nine came to the bright realization, yes, there are many squibs in the market, working as a broker of a sort. "You''ll have a real wand soon, although there are spell casting restrictions, ... it works pretty decently."


    "I thought I was being scammed when your staff approached me, but luckily I ended up coming over ..." Winnie said excitedly, "How much does it cost?"


    "Oh, it''s free - only for now. Your wands are all special custom-made one and various tests are required in order to match them as closely as possible to you. Let''s get back to business, firstly, Miss Valentine, I''m going to assess your magic, scoring it according to activity, quantity, and quality ... Don''t worry, it''s just a general estimate as I haven''t taken the time to work out the general rules for it yet."


    An hour later.


    The soap bubbles in the lobby of the sword castle faded away and Winnie''s head spun from side to side as the vision, supposedly constructed from memories, existed in the atmosphere for another ten seconds or so, then they quickly faded in colour and shape as if they were ancient relics that had been exposed to the light of day again. Winnie let out a slow breath as she stared at a particularly beautiful clock tower disappearing before her eyes.


    Along with it nineteen ''Haps'' disappeared, from number one to number nineteen. Hap Nine gave a final wave towards Winnie and blended into the atmosphere. Winnie was disappointed as if she had lost a friend she had known for a long time.


    "Everyone, wait a moment, I need some time to make your exclusive wands. You can visit the exhibition cases in the meantime."


    Silence fell over the lobby as Felix disappeared, and then some people gathered together.


    "It should be true." An old wizard said, having taken off his scarf to reveal a wrinkled face.


    "Old Borg, you think a big man like Mr. Hap would lie to you?" Another man asked in a loud voice.


    "Of course not!" Borg, who had initially spoken, turned bright red and retorted angrily.


    Winnie didn''t get involved in the discussion as she began to pace around the exhibition cases in the hall. The ground floor lobby of ''Future World'' company was occasionally open to the public, inviting a number of wizards to experience products that had yet to become available, for modification purposes based on feedback. She had been here a few times before, but only once she had been chosen, and the product she experienced was an anti-spell hat.


    The thing was incredible, the hex would just bounce off of you, even if you were just simply standing there staring at the person reciting the hex, in a completely automatic manner. She also gave her opinion carefully, well, she couldn''t really pick any faults, but she wished there would be more styles, for which she specifically drew a few sketches of women''s caps.


    Ten minutes later, Felix reappeared.


    This morning he had arrived sort of well-prepared, with all the materials on hand, and he just needed to tweak the magic frequencies. Which went very fast as soon as he became adept.


    He lined up a row of wands set with small, colourful gems and slowly swept his gaze over a line of eager eyes.


    "Gentlemen, most of you are in fact signed up for the Beginner''s Magic course from the newspaper, but Clammy should have told you the truth earlier, right?"


    Everyone in the room nodded.


    "At the moment this research is not public, so there are some confidentiality contracts that you will need to abide by."


    "There are two confidentiality contracts, one from Future World Company, which prohibits the disclosure of this research to the public, and the other from the Ministry of Magic, which prohibits the performance of magic in the presence of non-magical people, and if it involves your immediate family, you can report it to the Ministry."


    "In addition, because this work is of a research nature, you will not have to pay extra money, but you will have to cooperate by doing some tests, and the staff of Future World Corporation will observe your spellcasting data, so we can improve the product. In the long run, this will contribute to the advancement of this product ..."


    " Is there anyone who holds a different opinion regarding this?"


    Felix waited a moment, "Very well." A wand flew up to them, "The magic on it is fixed, but it''s all practical, the Levitation Charm alone has dozens of application scenarios ... You have half an hour to familiarize yourselves with your wands, after which we will begin the testing."


    Winnie stroked her wand and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it. From the way the wooden wand curved, to the small gems embedded in it, it looked like an outstanding piece of craftsmanship. She stared at a dark red gem that seemed to hide a swirling vortex inside, which slowly spun.


    She followed the guidance of the now-vanished Hap Nine, mobilizing her emotions as strongly as she could, letting the desire to cast a successful Spell fill her whole body, and then she raised her wand and recited the incantation, "Lumos." A glow of light was released from the tip of her wand.


    Winnie gasped as she looked up in disbelief and looked around; someone had managed to successfully cast a Levitation Charm, allowing himself to levitate three feet above the ground, and he was so stunned that both of his legs thrashed like frogs.


    "Think about what you''re going to do, and don''t constrain your imagination." Felix made occasional reminders.


    The morning passed quickly.


    Winnie and the others fondly and reluctantly handed their wands back, in the hope that Mr. Hap would make adjustments based on their performance today. Winnie included a small note with her thoughts on how she would like to have an additional movement spell on the exclusive wand, a spell that would allow the item to move.


    She was envious of the way how Mr. Achill directed his two shoes to dance next to her.


    She headed for the door when she suddenly heard someone call her name.


    "Miss Valentine?"


    She looked up and met Felix''s gaze, and she pointed at herself in surprise.


    Felix nodded at her, which implied, "Yes, it''s you."


    Winnie walked over to him feeling nervous.


    "I read your file again. You studied law back in university?" Felix asked.


    Winnie nodded.


    "So - interested in making some extra money? The short-term kind." Felix asked gently, and Winnie stared at him. "I have a few properties in muggle society, not many, but I kind of need some advice from someone with a professional background ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 583: Voldemort’s Adventure (2 in 1)

    When he returned to school in the evening, Felix was in a very good mood. That afternoon he and Winnie went to the law firm where she worked to take on a legal consultation service as her friend. Winnie''s boss - a middle-aged man in his early forties - readily agreed to assign this business to Winnie, who is still a practice assistant, after learning that the consultation fee would not be discounted.


    "The work is not that much of a challenge, but it''s a bit of a menial job, and it takes time to travel around." Winnie''s boss stated in a low voice, "I''ll check your progress regularly."


    "Understood." Winnie said with a nervous look on her tense face.


    She knew that her boss was concerned that she would casually muddle through with her work due to the fact that she had found this job from a friend. But the truth is that he had completely missed the mark - there is much more to do than what was laid out in plain sight. In addition to the legal issues of several gold and silver handicraft shops, she also has a secret task on her plate: analyse the wizarding social system through the lens of a modern social system.


    Winnie could literally go on for three days and nights explaining the differences between the two, but Felix dismissed the angle of dissection she proposed.


    "The law-"


    "No need for you to worry about it, a small society of tens of thousands of people doesn''t need to have it all figured out."


    "Finance -"


    "No need for you to worry about that either."


    "Then what did you ask me to do?" Winnie looked at him with exasperation.


    Right now they were in the caf�� downstairs from the law firm, Felix was scooping up ice cream with a small metal spoon, Valen preferred strawberry flavour, and she was sitting proudly at the table by the window, where pedestrians walked up and down the block but none of them seems to have noticed her.


    "Use your head, Miss Valentine. You have had a complete and comprehensive higher education, there are very few people among the Squib who have had similar experiences to you, you are a rare talent that has a whole complete social system at your back. By the way, you''ve dealt with quite a few companies, haven''t you?"


    "It''s all the cases that the firm takes on," Winnie said under her breath, "and I''m responsible for gathering information and sometimes writing a report that is presentable, as per the requirements."


    "That''s it." Felix nodded, waving the small spoon in his hand. "A word of advice: you can think of the Wizarding Community as a large corporation that is actively seeking to transform itself and just happens to have found you."


    Winnie stared at him, intrigued by the analogy, but she held a different opinion.


    "We''re talking about serious topics, aren''t we?" Winnie looked at Felix for confirmation, and he nodded before she continued, "If that''s the case, using the company as an analogy would seem inappropriate. As far as I can see, the various systems in the wizarding community are still stuck centuries ago. The Statute of Secrecy may be the main reason for this, but you can''t deny that wizards can''t act like a real corporation: with clear goals and unified operations."


    "... If it had to be compared to a company, it would be a loosely structured one, full of internal and external issues, with absolutely no future prospects."


    Winnie finished in one breath, her mood inexplicably bright, and she felt like she had gotten her revenge. Who had made the wizarding community abandon her back then! Felix smiled at her, " I have no say in what you are thinking, but right now this futureless company employs you, and you need to come up with a solution."


    Winnie''s hand that holding the spoon froze, and she tossed her ponytail in annoyance.


    "I can''t think of one - just tell me."


    "Internal and external problems? Someone will naturally take care of that; loose structure? No need for you to think about that either." Felix stated softly, "What I want you to do is consider it from your own perspective, what is there in the wizarding world that is attractive enough to form a new industry? Simply put, if I wanted to integrate the wizarding community into Muggle society, like a set of gears, what are the possible points of interconnection? Forestry, industry, agriculture, livestock, fishing, science ..."


    "Why would you want to do that?" Winnie said holding her breath, "Do you know any insider information that the wizarding community is planning to reform ..."


    "You could interpret it as a kind of reserve for future scenarios, a preplanning for the future."


    Winnie looked at him in bewilderment.


    "There''s no major war at the moment, but have humans given up developing weapons? The Wizarding Community has no intention of amending the Statute of Secrecy for the time being, but in the long run, change is essential ... You know about mobile phones, don''t you?"


    Winnie nodded.


    "What about cameras?"


    Winnie nodded again.


    "And have you seen a product that combines the two together?"


    Winnie nodded at first, then shook her head rapidly.


    "Never seen one at all."


    "Then you can look forward to its appearance in a little while, I expect something similar will be created in a few years." Felix said, "Try to imagine if in the future everyone had a mobile phone in their hands that could take pictures, would wizards still be as well hidden as they are now?"


    Not to mention the internet. But Felix didn''t mention that line of thing.


    "You think wizards will be exposed to the general public at large?" Winnie couldn''t help but ask. She felt a little horrified inside.


    "It''s just a matter of odds and time. The Ministry of Magic deals with more accidental disclosures every year as technology advances. They are facing a new test." Felix said, "I judge that there are two possibilities for the future: either the Ministry of Magic gets tired and has to start working more closely with the Muggle government where more people - or at least some of the government workers - will be aware of the existence of wizards."


    Winnie imagined that scenario: an ordinary person spotted a wizard, casually pulled out a phone to take a picture, and then reported the news to the TV station ... Faced with this situation, it would indeed be difficult for the wizards to completely block out the news, and in time it would probably end up like the way Mr. Hap had described it, that the wizards would have to make a compromise and rely on the more well-staffed government agencies.


    But she soon realized a problem; this approach would treat the symptoms but not the root cause.


    "As you probably realized, there is more than one Ministry of Magic and more than one Muggle government in the world, and when the day truly comes when both societies must work together to keep secrets, it is only normal for mistakes to occur." Felix said to himself, "Not to mention ..."


    He didn''t go on, but Winnie followed his train of thought: not to mention that it is highly unlikely for all countries to be willing to cooperate, and as soon as there is an accident in one of the middle links and the talks fall apart ... the result is that the whole secret will be broken.


    "That''s why you need to make an advance plan?" Winnie more or less understood Felix''s train of thoughts, the whole thing is indeed essential. She just didn''t think she would have the opportunity to be involved in such a big affair, but she was somewhat relieved when she thought about Mr. Hap''s status in the wizarding community.


    "That''s right." Felix said briefly.


    This is one of the reasons why he wants the war to end as soon as possible: the Ministry of Magic is having a hard time just keeping things running right now, and if they are kept getting sidetracked by other matters, especially big ones that concern the future fate of the wizarding community, he thinks Ms. Bones will probably explode from sheer frustration.


    But it is the Ministry''s responsibility to safeguard the entire wizarding community from being discovered in the first place.


    Felix had spent the last few years gaining fame so that one day, when he formally raise this serious issue, everyone - including foreign wizards - would have to take it seriously and not dismiss the words as some foolish mumbo-jumbo.


    He did not want to do all the work alone, even with the ''future world'' at hand, the force he could wield is still too small.


    Winnie asked quietly, "The wizarding community has been monitoring the technological advances? I knew about the communication mirror, and watched people use it, and at that time I just thought the magic was magical, but now that I think about it, it''s simply the direction the future mobile phone is heading: small and convenient, with the ability to transmit images in addition to calls, just with a distance limit." s?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The distance restriction is already improving." Felix said. "There are actually readily available alternatives available, such as a Two-way mirror, but it''s a bit complex to manufacture and not suitable for mass production. We''re considering making a magic photo instead."


    "Can you be more specific?" Winnie asked with interest, it is a knowledge that is completely inaccessible to her normally.


    Felix moved his fingers, and the two roses in the caf�� in response jumped down and transformed into two photographs, and Winnie stared at her own face in the picture, and then at Felix Hap in the other one, mentally marvelling in wonder.


    " You must be no stranger to seeing pictures that move in the newspapers ... There exists a more advanced type of magical portrait in the wizarding community that not only can converse with a person, but also retains some of the wisdom of the portrait''s owner when he was alive, depending on how much memory the owner has given it. This is where the inspiration for what I said came from."


    "If you want to see each other, the easiest way is not to transmit a real-time image, but to hold each other''s pictures and through enchantment replicate your current actions on your own picture. Just like this."


    Felix waved his hand, and the image in his photo followed suit.


    "This method is relatively simple, but it also requires customization, and currently only the inventors of the Couple''s Mirror, the predecessor of the Communication Mirror, Fred and George Weasley, are accepting this type of order, tailoring it specifically how the couple wants it"


    Winnie''s head was spinning, and she is feeling very conflicted right now. On the one hand, she knew that the wizarding community is lagging behind the real world in many areas, and can even be said to be centuries behind; but on the other hand, the wizarding community is practically predicting the future direction of technology.


    Not only this one product, but many of Future World''s products also had a vague shadow of something familiar.


    She tried to attribute this phenomenon to the peculiarities of magic, but the reasoning didn''t make sense, and she stared at Felix again as a realization dawned on her.


    "In a magic society where there are too many old-fashioned creators, you''re the best inventor of this era, Mr. Hap."


    Felix waved his hand, " Well, I wouldn''t presume myself as such."


    He is not brushing it off to be polite, on the contrary, the more he delves into magic, the more he understands one thing: any master of magic is a potential inventor.


    If the Weasley twins could make a couple''s mirror, then why Dumbledore could not be able to do so?


    As far as he knew, Dumbledore had been able to exchange alchemy ideas with Nicolas Flamel when he was young, and he had made some useful magical tools himself, but Dumbledore had never thought of starting a company or converting his intelligence into money.


    Dumbledore''s approach is actually quite a typical representative of those brilliant wizards throughout history.


    It is true that those people did not have much business thinking in their heads and were bound by the traditional ideas of wizardry, but they were also not short of money in the first place, so it was enough for them if they could satisfy their own needs and those around them.


    Another example is the pure-blood families who would rather hold on to their ancestors'' magical notes and let them rot and be lost than willingly let any of those knowledges pass on to the outside world.


    ...


    After Valentine''s Day, Felix returned to school as usual.


    In the Ancient Rune classroom -


    "Welcome back, everyone," Felix said unhurriedly as he walked around the classroom, "I trust you had a good weekend, and yes, the Valentine''s Day package at Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop was a good deal, and the collapsed mountain in the outskirts was enough of an eye-catcher, I... even heard that a quick visit to the Hog''s Head Inn had become a new trend?"


    The students exchanged glances with each other for a moment, and Harry saw Hermione quietly mouthing: bollocks. He grinned.


    "But I want you all to take it easy."


    " There are less than two months till Easter, and you''ll be receiving career advice after the holiday, but it might actually be a bit late at that point."


    In the middle of his sentence, Felix trailed off as the students stared at him as he pulled a small slip of paper from his pocket, "Erm, let''s see, what''s next is the important and significant things about O.W.Ls exams, and revision plans ... these things can be a real headache."


    He dryly dropped the small piece of paper, turning it into a paper plane before it made its way to the floor.


    The students stared with strained necks at the paper plane as it flew out of the window.


    "Okay, that is what I recorded during the professor''s meeting, I was simply trying to show you how bored I was ..." Felix strides back to the podium and addressed the jaw-dropped students at the bottom, "Let''s talk about something practical."


    "If you are going to enter sixth grade, what kind of things will be taught in the Advanced Ancient Rune class?"


    The students listened intently to the professor''s explanation.


    "Firstly, the content of the course is not fixed. The subject is currently changing day by day and new things are constantly being presented. If you are interested you can go through the magazine ''New Solutions to Rune'' from cover to back, there are many articles that are either cutting edge or interesting, many of which you have also written and published yourselves ...


    I intend to spend a couple of years to sort out a clear context for it, but in any case, the advanced class will focus on the teaching of practical runes, there is no doubt about that."


    "I''d like to say something in addition. In fifth grade, and especially after the Career Advice, you will have to think carefully about your future."


    "I can bring you into the thinking classroom and let you learn hundreds of translational runes in one lesson, so logically each of you can get a distinction on the O.W.Ls ..." Felix said calmly, " Yes, I can do that."


    "Grades aren''t the issue, interest is the key."


    "In the Advanced Class, the demands I place on you will become higher and higher as the Ancient Rune subject continues to improve, and the content of the teaching will vary from person to person. You will spend a lot of time on more advanced topics of study, and the process can be very torturous if you are not really interested."


    "So think carefully and clearly: what does this course really mean to you, and perhaps your thinking today will lead to the birth of new fields of cross-discipline of rune ..."


    Throughout the month of March, students are kept busy.


    But outside of campus, or rather outside of the United Kingdom, the very order of the international magical community was turned upside down by Voldemort alone.


    In the period between Valentine''s Day and the beginning of March, Felix and Lucius met a few times and found that Voldemort seemed to have completely disappeared, and Felix could only assume that he is preparing for his duel with Dumbledore.


    But Voldemort had proved that it is difficult for him to settle down.


    On 12 March, a letter arrived that caught Felix''s attention. Enclosed with the letter was a clipping from a foreign newspaper, which mentioned that Voldemort had broken into a foreign auction house and snatched a valuable magical cloak.


    But according to the security staff, he took it, said "rubbish", and disappeared.


    On 17 March, he showed up in the underground vault of the Gringotts'' French branch and took a rather famous goblin sword with him.


    On 25 March, Voldemort broke into a ruin of an ancient wizard that was being excavated in Brazil, where he pried open a coffin and threw its contents to the ground as if they were rubbish, and the lifelike body of the ancient wizard had decayed rapidly.


    During that period of time, a hunting party composed of Aurors from several countries was formed.


    They were ordered to capture Voldemort, but for the better part of a month they ended up with no results. The newspapers were full of reports and the Minister of Magic of a small country made a public announcement, claiming that Voldemort was a dancing jester who could only hide from everyone.


    The very next day Voldemort broke into that country''s Ministry of Magic and slaughtered over fifty wizards. He then showed up at the premises of that wildly pieced-together hunting party and killed the flies that had been following his arse all this time.


    For a period of time, no one dared to speak out.


    Even Britain itself was looked at very negatively, the pages of the newspapers seemed to have been dominated by Voldemort alone, many old people were forced to recall the horrific war more than a decade ago and the tension continued to build up until just before Easter.


    The Ministry of Magic finally finalized and announced to the public the time for the Dark Wizard''s trial.


    At the same time, Felix received a letter from the High Court of Wizards - Wizengamot.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 584: Judgment

    On the morning of the first day of the Easter holidays, Felix changed into a plum-coloured robe and looked in the mirror, the colour clearly didn''t suit him, which was evident from the way Valen was giggling and gloating for a while. He quietly altered a few details, like making the colour a bit darker, and finally reached up and smoothed out the embroidered silver "W" on his left breast, making it barely noticeable.


    He had no choice but to wear it, as it had been issued to him when he first became a member of the Wizengamot for his formal court appearance.


    Felix walked out of the room and made his way to the headmaster''s office. Knocking on the door, he entered as he looked at Dumbledore behind his desk in surprise - he looked pale, weak and tired, and even the wrinkles on his face had increased by a few.


    "Albus, you gave me a fright." Felix said, instantly associating many things with the situation.


    He recalled carefully and noticed that the change seemed to be a gradual transition, not noticeable at first, and he hadn''t noticed it at all. But he hadn''t seen Dumbledore in the last week, so the change became instantly noticeable for him.


    "It''s not an easy task to fool Voldemort." Dumbledore said with a weak smile.


    "Well," Felix had to admit he had a point, "but I am afraid that some of our own people will get spooked first ..."


    The two appeared in the Ministry of Magic through the fireplace in the Headmaster''s office.


    Felix looked around the gleaming main lobby of the Ministry of Magic; he found no remnants of the February battle, but some details did look different: the statues of the Fountain of Magical Brethren in the centre of the entrance hall had changed slightly in position, presumably because the renovation had rebuilt the part that could not be restored by magic.


    They made their way to the golden doors at the end of the lobby and met Mad-Eye Moody and Professor Marchbanks, who were waiting for the lift together.


    "Been looking forward to this day!" Professor Marchbanks who had her back facing them, spoke to Moody at the top of her lungs, "There is a need to cheer people up, and yes, I''ve noticed some people have become a bit pessimistic lately, I really don''t know what they think, it''s so obvious we''re doing so much better than last time."


    Moody tugged his ears and said gruffly, "You''re right."


    Felix silently slowed his pace, allowing Dumbledore to walk ahead- "Dumbledore?" Professor Marchbanks'' attention shifted away from Moody as she stared intently at Dumbledore''s face, "Your face looks bad! No wonder, the You-Know-Who has been causing trouble out there lately, as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards you must be troubled to no end."


    Dumbledore smiled and agreed.


    They took the lift to the ninth level and headed down a dimly lit corridor. Felix glanced at the black door of the Department of Mysteries at the end of his vision and said nothing, then the group turned to the entrance on the left side of the corridor and stepped down the stairs, finally reaching the tenth level.


    The sound of talking was heard near the stairs -


    "There''s no need to rearrange the sequence." Ms. Bones said in a somewhat disgruntled voice, "Since those people want to observe, let them stay a few more days." She heard footsteps and looked up to see a few people, who were walking over as they conversed with bright smiles.


    Kingsley nodded at them and left in the opposite direction. The torches perched on the stone walls trailed his shadow in a long, constantly leaping trajectory as he finally disappeared behind a thick wooden door.


    On this side, Ms. Bones greeted Dumbledore and enquired about his health with concern and then led them toward their destination.


    "You were just talking about the Ministry of Magic from other countries?" Felix asked.


    "Yes." Ms. Bones hummed through her nose as she lowered her voice, " They have united to apply pressure on us and I more or less had to display some sort of attitude. But they, just like the observers from the International Confederation of Wizards, only have a right to watch, without the ability to voice their opinions and vote."


    "Here it is."


    She stopped in front of a grimy black door and twisted the metal knob, and a cacophony of talking sounded out of the dark room.


    There were about three dozen people inside, and Felix narrowed his eyes and spotted a familiar face. He walked over to him, "Damocles?" Damocles Belby, the Potion Master, looked up, first somewhat surprised, then an expression of realization dawned on him.


    "Of course, you''re part of the Wizengamot, but I''m not aware since you didn''t attend the first few gatherings."


    Felix chatted with him for a few minutes, and halfway through a couple of wizards sitting on long benches walked over to greet him, but this really isn''t the place for socializing, so they kept it short, and then Felix sat next to Belby, staring with interest at the chained chair placed in the centre alone.


    As Felix looked around, he noticed that the seating today was quite sophisticated.


    The courtroom was made of black light-absorbing stone and the surrounding light was kept very dim as if to create a deliberately eerie and solemn atmosphere. The overall layout of the room resembles a sunken alcove. It is bordered by benches arranged in a stairway configuration, and there are people sitting sporadically on three of the sides, dressed, like Felix, in peach-coloured robes. These are all members of the Wizengamot.


    There were also a few journalists holding quill and parchment dotted through the room, appearing discreet and low-key, being careful even when they spoke. Felix caught a glimpse of Rita Skeeter among them.


    He could find familiar faces on three sides of the gallery, but on the last side - at the back of the chained black chair - there were a small group of strangers, dressed formally, but with badges and embroidered inscriptions that showed that they were from different organizations, and Felix knew that these were the so-called "observers" from various Ministries of Magic and International Confederation of Wizards.


    Another ten minutes passed and people kept coming in.


    "Duk Duk Duk."


    The sound of a cane hitting the floor echoed through the room and Felix looked up to see a thick, bushy-haired man striding in, his cane constantly jabbing the floor; it was Rufus Scrimgeour.


    He walked over to Ms. Bones and whispered something to her, and Ms. Bones nodded slightly.


    They each found their seats and sat down, " It is time to begin." Scrimgeour''s low voice echoed through the courtroom. When Ms. Bones had become Minister of Magic, he had taken the seat she had vacated and at present, he is the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.


    In accordance with custom, he is in charge of presiding over this trial.


    His words were like a signal, and as soon as the words left his lips, the door in the corner opened and three men walked in. Two tall, lanky guards entered the courtroom sandwiching a short man, so short that he was carried in mid-air like a little chicken, constantly tapping his toes on the floor.


    The guards shoved the short man into a chair in the centre of the room and then stood on either side. The chains on the floor rose high like snakes and the man winced in fear.


    "No need for now." Scrimgeour said, and the chains obediently slumped to the floor. He then started to read a document in a low, unemotional voice: "Bart Hughes, a Norwegian wizard who was formerly charged in his home country for smuggling prohibited commodities and his involvement in two muggle attacks, and he was caught red-handed in February of this year when he was participating in the assault against the British Ministry of Magic. The evidence is strong and conclusive, and your conduct was deplorable - do you intend to refute these charges before sentencing?"


    The short man seemed terrified and fidgeted in his chair. Felix could understand him; all around him, most of the men remained hidden in the darkness, the flickering torches occasionally showing a static image: many pairs of eyes staring straight into his eyes and then abruptly disappearing.


    There was an occasional "rustling" of papers being leafed through heard in the background. The psychological effect of these elements is indeed very intense.


    After a few more seconds -


    "If there are no objections -"


    "Wait, wait!" The short man suddenly called out, trying to rise from his chair, only to be pinned back by two guards and a golden light erupted from the chains that weighed on the floor, and the man flinched as he curled his body back against the chair. He raised his frightened face and strained his eyes to keep them open to stare at the firelight reflecting off the walls, as he tried to catch Scrimgeour''s position.


    He gasped, "I have objections, I do! I, I was under an Imperius Curse-"


    Behind him, there was a murmur among the group of observers from various countries.


    "What a load of bollocks!" Scrimgeour shouted, his lion''s mane-like brown hair fluttered, "The Ministry of Magic has installed Thief''s Downfalls in front of the fireplaces, and between the various floors, which will wash away the effects of the spells, and if you have indeed been affected by the Imperius Curse, how do you explain the fact that you were knocked down head-on by the Ministry of Magic Auror instead of waking up at the entrance?"


    The short man opened his mouth, without being able to utter a single word.


    Scrimgeour raised his head and looked around, "The truth is crystal clear, members of the jury, raise your hands if you think he''s guilty-"


    The men on the benches raised their arms, the long, upturned shapes of their arms looked very striking in the dim, wavering firelight of the room. The short man slumped helplessly in the chair.


    "The charge is proven. Bart Hughes, you are sentenced to ten years imprisonment in Azkaban, at the end of which time the British Ministry of Magic will transfer you to the Norwegian Ministry of Magic, where you will continue to atone for the crimes you have committed in your own country!"


    "Bang!" The gavel fell heavily.


    Bart Hughes was taken away with a disoriented look on his face.


    After a brief exchange of words, the guards brought in several black wizards one by one, they were obviously the same group that had attacked the Ministry of Magic, and there was barely any delay before they, like Bart Hughes, were pronounced guilty. It was near noon that the main show began.


    Two men who looked somewhat alike were brought in.


    "Rabastan Lestrange, Rodolphus Lestrange." Scrimgeour''s low, seething voice trailed off as he said, " had teamed up with Bellatrix Lestrange and Barty Crouch Jr. to kidnap an Auror couple at the end of the First War and used the Cruciatus Curse to force them to reveal the whereabouts of the You-Know-Who. The crime was so heinous that they were sentenced to life imprisonment. A year ago they escaped from Azkaban and have since resumed their role as minions and accomplices of the You-Know-Who, and were suspected of being involved in numerous turmoil after that. In February, they were ordered to attack the Future World Company in Diagon Alley by You-Know-Who, and were caught red-handed with conclusive evidence."


    The two men looked pale and the slightly fatter one pulled the corners of his lips as if he wanted to say something, but he only managed to get a muffled quiver out of his mouth.


    Scrimgeour didn''t let the jury raise their hands this time, his yellow eyes without a hint of warmth fixed on them, "There is no doubt, ladies and gentlemen, that these two men will be sentenced to life in prison, and their memories will rot there with their bodies."


    More people were brought in.


    "Mulciber and Selwyn, Jugson and Nott, you are as guilty as the Lestrange brothers for escaping from prison, murder, and causing havoc, and in accordance with the law, you will be sentenced to life -"


    "Wait, wait!" A voice suddenly exclaimed.


    The gavel that Scrimgeour had lowered remained frozen in the air, "Selwyn? Do you wish to defend yourself, or plead for forgiveness? After all the evil things you''ve done?"


    "I, I confess, I am guilty!" Selwyn licked his lips and stammered, "But I hope the jury will give me another chance - I know some more names -" the tall man next to him suddenly rushed towards him, "You scumbag!" "Guards! Pull him back! Pull Jugson aside." Scrimgeour growled loudly.


    Selwyn cowered in his chair as he said shrilly, " I am willing to testify!"


    "Selwyn!" Jugson yelled as he struggled, "How dare you betray the Dark Lord? Do you think this will be the end? We are just going to be locked up for a while, he''s still out there! Still out there!"


    "Take them away! TAKE THEM AWAY!" Scrimgeour yelled. The guards did as they were told, and finally, Selwyn was left alone.


    "What do you have to say for yourself?" Scrimgeour coldly asked.


    "I-" Selwyn looked pale, and it became clear that Jugson''s threat before he left had some effect, and he asked, holding his breath, "You will protect me, won''t you?"


    "That depends on the weight of your testimony." Ms. Bones stated sternly, "We have far more information than you can imagine."


    Selwyn pursed his lips and said, "I understand ... I know a person, Umbridge, Dolores Umbridge."


    "She was arrested on the same day as you and is currently undergoing treatment. And we also know that you were the one who introduced her to the You-Know-Who."


    Selwyn''s eyes widened and his body lurched, "No, not possib..."


    " Not possible?" Scrimgeour said sternly, "We have solid evidence! You approached her as a relative and promised her the position of Minister of Magic!"


    "Impossible!" Selwyn panicked, his gaze constantly shifting, "How could you possibly know that?" A knowing look dawned in his eyes, "I know, you must have another undercover agent! Who is he?"


    There was a lot of murmuring, and they - including the journalists and observers - looked at Ms. Bones and Scrimgeour like sharks who had caught the scent of blood, but there were no mood swings on either of their faces. But the conversation managed to get the attention of those all present. Had the Ministry of Magic truly planted a spy covertly a long time ago? And who could it be?


    At last. Felix thought to himself.


    Scrimgeour did not answer him and the trial continued.


    "I know two more!" Selwyn said through clenched teeth, " Avery! Avery is a Death Eater, and his nephew Chesterton is also one."


    "They''ve been arrested, and if that''s all you know-"


    "Wait!" Selwyn''s eyes struggled, he knew quite a few more, but he had to come up with a name that carried a certain amount of weight now and nail it down. "Snape! Severus Snape!"


    "He is not part of the discussion, Albus Dumbledore had vouched for him."


    "No, you''ve been tricked by him, I promise--"


    "Promise? On what, on your word of honour?" The corners of Scrimgeour''s lips rose up in sarcasm and scorn.


    Selwyn wore a look of despair.


    In his mind, Snape is absolutely a true Death Eater - because Snape had managed to gain the Dark Lord''s trust in spite of having a great amount of suspicion on himself. That pretty much meant one thing, he is more trustworthy than any other Death Eater.


    Only a Death Eaters knows how terrifying the Dark Lord really is, and Selwyn would never have betrayed the Dark Lord if he hadn''t repeatedly demonstrated his ruthlessness towards his underlings.


    He stared at Scrimgeour, thinking he is nothing but an utter fool. But there was no way around it, but he still had another card in his hand that could help him.


    "Malfoy! Lucius Malfoy! He''s a Death Eater too." He shouted out recklessly.


    Scrimgeour''s yellow eyes held a mixture of disgust and contempt. With a sneer, he said, "You''re out of luck. Someone else also vouched for him, this time it is Mr. Felix Hap."


    The people in the room looked over at Felix, who looked back calmly.


    The expression on Selwyn''s face shifted between shock, dumbfounded and incredulous, so it turned out like this. He shouted out of his lungs, "He''s the spy!?"


    It all makes sense ... the Ministry of Magic is very confident about their source of information, which means that the spy in question stands in sufficiently high rank among the Death Eaters, a list of names flashed through his mind, but he never could have imagined that this man would be Malfoy. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Not just him, but the vast majority of people in the room hadn''t expected it.


    The invited journalists'' hearts pounded with excitement. Rita Skeeter''s eyes glowed and her quill danced in a trail of strokes. Big news, absolutely big news! First, the head of the Malfoy family was conclusively proven to be a Death Eater, and then the tables were turned - he was actually a spy.


    And this spy, was most likely arranged by Felix Hap, had Malfoy, who called the shots in the wizarding community, worked as a spy ... Skeeter was trembling with excitement at the thought of the implications behind it.


    The You-Know-Who would definitely be pissed off. She thought as she wrote.


    ------------


    #Andrew Sully, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    [Just TL rant, so skip it]


    2946 words chapter, just 60 more words it would''ve been a 2 in 1 chapter... T.T


    Happy reading!

 Chapter 585: Moving (2 in 1)

    The first day''s trial was finally over. All wizengamot juries and other wizards walked out in a row. "Seriously, Dumbledore," Professor Marchbanks asked him earnestly as Dumbledore assisted her climb up the steps, " Are you sure you really don''t need to go to St. Mungo''s to recuperate for a while?"


    "Thanks for your concern, Griselda, I will give it some thought." Dumbledore nodded, "But it will have to wait until we are done with this busy time, and then I will take a nice long holiday."


    In the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic, a large group of journalists had been waiting there from very early and looking around with rapt attention. These people had not been invited, so they simply stood blocking at the entrance, and there were even a number of overseas journalists waiting there.


    "Let''s go over there." Ms. Bones said.


    Felix and Dumbledore are absolutely indispensable for this press meeting, since they are the only two wizards in the current wizarding world that can stand their ground against Voldemort head on, and their presence will reassure the public. After a few steps forward, they got surrounded by journalists, the white light of the flash and the click of the shutter reverberated through the room.


    All kinds of questions were thrown at them.


    "Ms. Bones, how did the first day of the trial went on?"


    "It went well..."


    "Did the foreign observers interfere with any of the trial''s verdicts? Was there any compromise needed to be made?"


    "The verdict of the trial was absolutely fair."


    Some people focused their attention on Dumbledore.


    "Professor Dumbledore, can you share your opinion as a Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?" A journalist dressed in foreign clothing asked, "Has the You-Know-Who discarded his hold on Britain? How do you plan to confront him after the disastrous defeat of multiple Ministry of Magic - assembled Auror squads?"


    As he spoke, the journalists who had been invited to the trial came out, carrying many more unanswered questions in their minds as they aimed their tongues at Felix-


    "Mr. Hap, can you talk about your relationship with the Malfoys?"


    "When was your friendship established?"


    "The heir to the Shafiq family has returned home on a low profile, and it is said that he had some conflicts with you in his youth ..."


    "Is Lucius Malfoy really an undercover agent?"


    Further away from the crowd, Moody muttered, "Or it could be a ruse that they made to get Lucius off the hook. If that''s the case, I''d say it''s a clever trick."


    Felix selectively answered a few questions, highlighting his friendship with Lucius Malfoy and sharply refuting the dark ''coercion argument'' of some unscrupulous journalists - he then fixed his gaze on Rita Skeeter for a moment.


    "Lucius and I have a good personal relationship, he''s a big client of mine - yes, he has always been generous in that respect. Once I had noticed that something was on his mind and tried to open him up, and that''s when he confided to me that he regretted very much what he had done ..."


    After the interview, Dumbledore returned to school. Felix, on the other hand, stayed behind.


    He and Ms. Bones went to the minister''s office and Bones winked at him, "They''re still in there." Felix nodded and pushed the door in.


    There are two people sitting on the couch, Lucius Malfoy and Narcissa Malfoy. They turned their heads nervously at the sound of movement at the door, and when they saw who it was, Lucius bolted up from the couch.


    " It was a long wait, you two. There was a delay after the trial." Felix said briskly.


    "Did you, did I-"


    Lucius'' mouth quivered for a good half-second before he finally threw out a dry half-word.


    Felix nodded wordlessly and Lucius slumped back into a sitting position, clearly very disappointed. Narcissa clutched her husband''s hand and said sternly to him, "We knew this day would come, it was a public trial after all. You should be glad you quit early!"


    "-thanks to Mr. Hap." She looked up at Felix, who smiled at her. He raised his finger and lit the wood in the fireplace, then walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder and threw it in, and in an instant, the fire turned green.


    "Amelia has linked the two fireplaces together for the time being, so - who''s going in first?"


    Lucius swallowed, and stepped into the fireplace, saying in a loud voice, "Malfoy Manor, the drawing room." There was a flash of green light, and he disappeared into the fireplace.


    " Mrs. Malfoy, it''s your turn."


    Narcissa stood before the fireplace, as an emerald green light from the flame crept up her pale cheeks, while she looked deeply at Felix, "Mr. Hap, Draco is left in your hands, you will keep him safe, won''t you?"


    "You have my word on that ma''am." Felix stated seriously.


    The green flames danced and her figure disappeared. Felix followed into the fireplace and a minute later, Ms. Bones walked into the office, which was empty. As if nothing had happened, she picked up the papers on her desk and reviewed them carefully.


    .....


    Malfoy Manor.


    Felix emerged from the gilded fireplace, the spacious drawing room was stacked with large packages and Lucius and Narcissa stood next to each other.


    "Is it all packed?"


    "Still a little short of the last bit." Lucius whispered, he had been looking very depressed since he knew his undercover secret was exposed.


    "Then let''s get a grip, who knows where Voldemort is hiding right now, he might be lurking around the corner nearby?" Felix finished, and looked around with interest, "Mind if I walk around?"


    Lucius muttered, "Of course not." So Felix walked around Malfoy Manor, everything in the place was exquisitely decorated, only it was empty and not a single soul in sight. He guessed that all the servants had been dismissed, and after about half an hour he returned to the drawing room, with a picture frame in his hand.


    "Found it in one of the rooms, you may have accidentally left it behind?" Felix asked.


    Lucius stared at the picture in the frame, not moving, with a look of disgust on his face. Narcissa glanced at her husband and came over to take the frame as she explained in a low voice, "It''s my sister ... I, w-we we haven''t had any contact with her since, since ..."


    "I know." Felix said, "Voldemort is bringing her around with him."


    He looked down at the large packages that stacked up like a small mountain and occupied half of the drawing room. Some gold and silver ornaments and utensils were crudely stuffed in the bags like rubbish, showing the absent mind of their owner. " There''s a bit lot of stuff, but -" he stared at the emerald ring he wore on his left hand, "luckily I came prepared. It needs some relocating though, I''ve saved a lot of stuff before I even realized it."


    He began to shake his left hand vigorously, and from the tiny ring came a low ''clatter'' and lots of stuff unrelated to the ring''s size dropped out, "And the new little ones, I need to make some room for them, to make sure they are comfortable... ...well, there you go!"


    Felix reached out and stowed the wooden crates, packages, dragon hide purses, and velvet cloth bags on the floor, one by one, and soon the floor was emptied.


    Lucius and Narcissa took one last look at their home.


    "When this is all over, you can still come back." Felix reassured them.


    "I am not going to be that optimistic." Lucius said moodily, " It probably won''t take that long for this place to be turned into a ruin."


    Ten minutes later they appeared in a vacant plot of land on the outskirts of London.


    Felix handed the two of them a small slip of paper, and they read it over carefully when a small, beautiful detached house squeezed out of the air in front of them.


    "You should be aware of my relationship with Mr. Nicolas Flamel, this is one of his safe houses in the United Kingdom. After his death, the original Fidelius Charm expired and the local authorities had intended to demolish it as an unauthorized building ... and then I worked my magic to keep it here."


    The two of them surveyed the dusty house with critical eyes; it looked less than a fraction of the size of their original home.


    "The security is less of a concern - the house is under the Fidelius Charm, and I personally act as a secret keeper. So you can feel at ease." Felix said, moving towards the door of the house, "Go in and have a look."


    Lucius and Narcissa were somewhat relieved that at least Felix Hap was intending to keep his word, and they didn''t have to worry about him destroying the bridge after crossing the river ... The Malfoy family''s fortune through the generations - except for the part that had been placed in the Gringotts - is all in that little ring. It ought to be very tempting.


    They followed Felix over the steps of the front door and into the interior of the house. The interior layout is very plain, it appears to have been unoccupied for a long time and dust is falling all around. As they walked in, they made three clear sets of footprints on the floor.


    "The conditions are a bit basic, not as good as your big manor house, but there are all sorts of facilities - the house has ten rooms on three floors in total, and a small garden attached behind it. It''s not bad for a temporary home. I''ll also come by regularly and deliver some supplies, and if you want some change of scenery, there''s a muggle shop a few hundred metres away, but you''ll have to use paper money."


    With a casual wave of Felix''s hand, the dust in the living room instantly disappeared, and he pulled back the curtains to let the sunlight in, making it look a lot more pleasant to the eyes.


    "Clatter, clatter, clatter."


    The luggage spurted out of Felix''s hands like a tidal wave, flooding the entire living room in the blink of an eye, with half of Lucius and Narcissa''s bodies buried in it. They crawled out with difficulty and stood on a rickety, slender-legged table, staring at the mountain of luggage that nearly matched the table''s height in disbelief.


    "Do you need me to bring Draco here during the holidays?" Felix asked in a gentle tone.


    "No, no need." Narcissa said, "Just let him stay at school." She pulled a thick, crumpled letter out of her pocket, "Mr. Hap, pass it to him for me."


    Felix took it and put it away in his pocket.


    " Well then, you two, I''m sure you must have plenty to talk about, so I won''t be staying anymore."


    He nodded at the pair and turned to walk out of the house. At that moment, there was a "banging" sound heard in the background, and he turned back to see Lucius Malfoy following him from behind.


    "Is there anything else?" s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I, I have a few questions that I need to ask." Lucius said, under his breath.


    "Go ahead."


    Lucius stared at him, hesitating for a few moments before asking, "I can''t just figure it out - in your current position, you could have convinced the Ministry of Magic to postpone the trial, or to keep it confidential - at worst, you could have kept my undercover identity hidden by some private means. You''re not a man who will abide by the rules. Mr. Hap, you have the means to conceal my identity, but you didn''t do anything to get it under wraps till the end."


    Felix looked at him and said, "Because there was no need. At this point, there''s very little you can do to make a difference." Malfoy was startled, almost expecting Felix to raise his wand and cast a killing curse in the next second, and froze for a few moments before he realized that the man in front of him is not the Dark Lord.


    He calmed down and mulled it over in his mind for a moment before a thought suddenly dawned on him.


    He asked tentatively, "The Dark Lord - the Dark Lord''s forces have been greatly diminished, with less than a tenth of the Death Eater core members remaining, so to speak. Do you think he would suspect that there is a spy within and that I am in danger of being exposed if I stayed any longer?"


    "There is that reason." Felix said slowly, " And well, we also need to be considerate of him, don''t you think? Allow him to make excuses for his failures and set up another target, so he doesn''t turn his suspicions on anyone else ..."


    Clearly, Lucius Malfoy was that target, and he was unpleasantly aware of it himself, and for a moment he glared, but Felix didn''t have much of a psychological burden; Lucius''s Occlumency was barely enough in his opinion, and the time was right for him to get out of it and escape the vortex of black and white.


    Lucius'' grey eyes showed a mixture of shock and disbelief.


    "I see! It''s not me who you are trying to protect, no, I should say it''s not just me ..." He hissed a cold breath, the wet early April air clotting his guts together as he whispered in a faint voice, "You are trying to protect the real spy. "


    Felix blinked and made no comment in response.


    Lucius Malfoy''s guess was close to the truth: by now, all the stages were set and there wasn''t much drama left for unrelated characters - such as the Death Eaters. Neither Felix''s side nor Voldemort took them seriously anymore.


    The only person left who could still be involved, or even play a significant role in it, was Severus, and so his safety became the biggest concern.


    Had Snape really managed to deceive Voldemort? Felix wasn''t sure, all he knew was that the last time Voldemort had gambled his full power and lost, so Voldemort would have reflected on that if he had even a fraction of a brain.


    Suspicion of a spy was a threshold that couldn''t be bypassed, not to mention the possibility of putting the blame on someone else to make him look like less of a loser.


    When Voldemort turned his suspicions on his remaining men, Lucius was the first to escape proving that he is a spy, while Snape, whom he had nailed into the heart of Hogwarts and the Order of the Phoenix with his own hands, would be safe. The most important thing about Snape, apart from his superb acting skills, is that he is vital to Voldemort''s plan, so vital that he is irreplaceable, just like that Bellatrix.


    At this point, it becomes necessary to dispel Voldemort''s doubts - even if only partially - or to divert attention. Ideally: Voldemort would hate Lucius with a passion, and Severus'' days would become better, and together with delivering important information about their side would decrease Voldemort''s doubts about him as well as increase his trust in him.


    Felix didn''t have to do anything now.


    He had already done enough before, those in the Wizengamot would naturally assess the situation on both sides before giving the verdict, and it would not be surprising to see a weak-minded individual to jump out and surrender, even Felix thought about arranging one himself. He just didn''t expect that he would be lucky enough to run into Selwyn on the very first day of the trial.


    "I almost forgot something," Felix spoke up after a long pause, " Please extend your hand to me, Lucius."


    Lucius held out his right hand in bewilderment, is this some kind of farewell gesture to him? " No, the other one." Felix said. Lucius'' body trembled, he knew what would be coming next! He held up his left hand shakily and used his other hand to lift the sleeve, revealing the tattoo-like pattern of the dark mark inside.


    "This might hurt a bit." Felix said, grabbing his arm as he said so.


    Thick black smoke rose from Lucius''s arm, when Felix''s palm had made contact with the Dark Mark, and the skin became so scalding hot and burning that Lucius'' expression showed a look of agony, as he let out an involuntary whimper that sounded like " ho ho ".


    "Bear with it Lucius, there is Voldemort''s magic hidden in the Dark Mark, so we must make sure that there is no trace of it left."


    A few minutes later, Felix twisted a strand of dark, evil magic in his hand and carefully gathered it up. With the addition of the haul from Malfoy Manor, his purpose this time had all been completed.


    Narcissa, who was standing at the door, quietly put her wand away and came over to help her husband up, the two of them stared at the scalded skin on his left arm - the skull mark had completely disappeared.


    "Thanks, thank you." Lucius said through clenched teeth.


    "You''re welcome. As of today, you''re no longer a Death Eater." Felix said.


    ...


    After returning to the school from the safe house, he handed the letter to Draco.


    "Your parents are safe now, they''ve been moved to a safe house, you know what safe house means right?" Felix said without losing his gentleness, "They want you to stay at school for the holidays, read the rest by yourself, your mother has written a lot ..."


    Draco took the crumpled, thick envelope.


    " When the newspaper comes out tomorrow, you may have to bear some comments, and even all your friendships will be tested - are you still friends with Crabbe and Goyle? Oh, well ... I''m sure you can handle it. If there''s something you can''t figure out, I''ll be happy to answer it, or you can find Professor Snape."


    He thought for a moment, but had nothing more to add, "Well, that''s it, go ahead."


    ------------


    #Andrew Sully, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 586: The Fermentation of the Incident (2 in 1)

    When Felix returned to his office, he was surprised to see a line of owls standing in front of the window. "Oh, well, Easter, I forgot to leave the window open." He said as an afterthought.


    He opened the window and Valen, fresh out of his silver pocket watch, looked in novelty at the rush of owls that came streaming in, circling the office, and one by one dropping packages at their feet like bombers, all the while tittering and hooting in indignation that they had spent most of the day waiting.


    Valen climbed up along Felix''s legs to his shoulders and looked down at the parcels on the floor.


    Felix remembered the Easter candy eggs he had received last year and hadn''t been able to finish them throughout the year. But anyway, the whole thing of receiving a present is still itself something to be happy about. Besides, he got to play Exploding Snap cards with Valen, in which the winner could unwrap one present for each win...


    When he appeared at the great hall early the next morning, he was not surprised to see the students leafing through their newspapers and talking about it.


    "Malfoy ...," a student whispered, exchanging glances with one another.


    He looked around but didn''t spot Draco, so he sat down and began to eat his breakfast, he still needed to make it to the Ministry of Magic later to continue the trial. The whole process would go on until the end of the Easter holidays, and Felix was suddenly tempted to skip his work.


    But he couldn''t think of an excuse until he had eaten the last piece of potato. The Skiving Snackbox that Fred and George had developed was not effective on him, so he couldn''t bring himself to open his mouth to ask for sick leave...


    In the end, he went to the Ministry of Magic on time.


    ...


    On the other side-- s?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Unbelievable, I still can''t comprehend," Harry lowered his head and pretended to be working on a difficult piece of steak when Ron and Hermione came over and heard him whisper, "How could Malfoy possibly be... be a spy working for Professor...?"


    He looked up at the Slytherin table, where Draco was expressionlessly stabbing an apple pie with his fork, and the Slytherin student nearest him was sitting two seats away.


    "It''s Pansy Parkinson," Hermione whispered as she looked over, "she doesn''t seem to have figured out what to do with this complicated relationship."


    She had read it correctly. When Draco''s eyes looked over, Pansy immediately turned her head to talk to the Millicent next to her.


    "Oh? That must have hurt like hell, though I was shocked too." Ron said, his tangled expression was more than sufficient to prove he was telling the truth, "I almost thought it was April Fool''s Day, but Fred and George''s birthdays passed a couple of days ago, and I''m kind of regretting giving them funny hats." He said with meat in his mouth, "It cost me a total of five galleons."


    "What''s that?" Harry asked curiously.


    "You mean funny hats?" Ron introduced it to him with gusto, "Zonko''s new product, I saw the flyer in the pages between Fred''s book the other day. It basically stated that when you wear it your face can switch between a vampire, werewolf, and banshee, by growing some cute fangs, a silky mane, and stuff."


    "Sounds a bit like the Emerald Crown from ''Future World''," Hermione interjected, "one for changing faces and one for changing clothes."


    Ron shrugged, "Fred claims Zonko got his inspiration from the anti-spell hat and considers it as a big loss for him. But I thought it was funny."


    "Professor Hap''s birthday is coming up too, isn''t it?" Harry said, "I think it''s around the 15th?"


    "The 8th, we got it wrong last time." Hermione said.


    "Isn''t that today?" Ron said in surprise, "And Fred and George said they wanted to make a big splash," he said gleefully, "Oops, I was supposed to keep that a secret, so neither of you are allowed to tell them ... "


    Later in the evening, they let Ron''s owl Pigwidgeon fly out of the Owlery with a package.


    "It looks like it''s struggling a bit." Hermione looked worriedly at the sky.


    "It can''t be helped, Hedwig doesn''t want to go to the Professor''s anymore, she feels ashamed." Harry said helplessly.


    They watched as the little piggy wobbled through the air like a moving pendulum and finally took a hard turn and disappeared from their sight. But they knew that by going over a few towers - if the piggy didn''t have the misfortune of hitting one of the pillars - it would fly into the ancient rune office.


    "Do you guys think the Professor would like that telescope?" Ron asked, and without waiting for an answer, he muttered to himself, "I was originally planning to send a pet rat to keep Valen company. To be honest, I think they look a lot alike ... unfortunately I was in a hurry, that telescope was something George asked me to do for testing purposes, but I never got the chance to test it, so it''s supposed to be new, ... Hermione, what did you send?"


    "A potted plant." Hermione said.


    "That''s a good idea, I''ll make sure to write it down." Ron''s eyes glowed.


    Harry didn''t say anything. He stared at the azure sky, his thoughts drifting away with the owl. A crazy idea had just crossed his mind and he thought he must be going mad, but he still pondered one question with unstoppable gusto: what day is Snape''s birthday? Maybe ... but the next second he left the thought at the back of his mind. Come to think of it, he told himself, it wouldn''t be that much of a big deal even if Snape turned out to be an undercover now.


    Well, actually it is kinda a big deal, Harry thought reluctantly, he kinda admired him for that, and his mind wandered back to when he had faced Voldemort. He wasn''t afraid of Voldemort, but let him calmly play house and get close ... to Voldemort- Harry''s goosebumps were rising.


    He hadn''t seen Snape in the graveyard, maybe he was hiding among them, or had arrived late?


    Harry thought about Voldemort''s speech to the Death Eaters that night, he hadn''t heard all of it, but he remembered the ones that were said at the beginning, Voldemort lamenting his rebirth while threatening the Death Eaters.


    "One didn''t have the guts to come back ... and will pay the ultimate price. The other, I think is leaving me forever ... and of course, he will be executed ..."


    Now that he thinks about it, the former could refer to Karkaroff and the latter would be Snape.


    But Snape is still alive and well now, and Harry wonders how he managed to do it.


    He couldn''t help but imagine a meeting between Snape and Voldemort, but his mind went blank due to the lack of references. As far as he could remember, Snape was either lecturing and trolling the students in class in his characteristic slow, drawn-out voice, or suddenly appearing from behind, taunting and showing the other students in an unabashedly gloating tone how badly Harry had brewed the potion that begged him to score low ... but Harry didn''t think Snape would use either of these two attitudes towards Voldemort.


    Probably just like the rest of the Death Eaters, Harry thought to himself, sickening at the thought of the group of Death Eaters grovelling on their knees before Voldemort. Well, he would prefer Snape to be a bit tougher.


    As they exited the Owlery, they couldn''t help but talk about the Malfoys again. Ron mentioned Draco Malfoy''s grandfather, " Well, he was a powerful man."


    "Was he a Death Eater too?" Harry asked.


    "No one knows," Ron said, but then he lowered his voice and said cryptically, "My dad said he might have been one of the You-Know-Who''s first patrons." He seemed pleased to see Harry and Hermione''s mouths open wide.


    "But he''s never been caught in the act and has died in a respectable position." Ron added, "Compared to him, his son seems less intelligent, I mean Lucius Malfoy."


    Harry grinned in amusement.


    "Let''s see," he counted off on his fingers one by one, "claiming to be under an Imperius Curse after losing the first war, then becoming Fudge''s walking mokeskin pouch, losing his school board member status in our second year, oh yeah - and losing Dobby! Kneeling before Voldemort to confess his mistake a good six months ago, and now hiding somewhere and unable to go out - yeah, I see what you mean."


    They joked and laughed, Malfoy had always been at odds with them, and they were actually quite gleeful to see that family going down now. But as they walked into the common room they suddenly realized that Malfoy is now on the same side as them.


    "I would have preferred him to have been a Death Eater-"


    "Hey, don''t say silly things."


    They sat at a desk and rummaged through their book bags. The professors clearly had no intention of making the students comfortable over the holidays and tacitly left a bunch of assignments. This had led to a significant number of the fifth years staying at school instead of going home, sighing and yawning to catch up on their assignments.


    As Ron pulled parchment and quill out of his book bag, he exasperated, " The lower grades are so noisy, I want to deduct points from them." But his exasperation vanished in the blink of an eye as the assignment for each subject was placed in front of him.


    Harry leaned down on the desk and casually tapped his wand at the revision plan timetable Hermione had given them yesterday, with each subject''s assignments clearly marked out. "I even added a countdown," Hermione said gleefully, "It''s in the top left corner."


    Harry stared at the number ''59'' on the parchment and had a sudden internal urge to rip it off.


    "How on earth do you guys think Lucius Malfoy got involved with Professor Hap?" He couldn''t help but ask.


    Hermione pushed the newspaper at him. Ron who sat next to him said in disgust, "You believe that? ''Confided to me'' - bloody hell, how is that possible? If you ask me, he was probably out of luck when he was doing something illegal and got caught by the professor, so he begged the professor to let him off the hook ..." Hermione glared at him.


    "Ahem, I mean, everything went well."


    "The Death Eaters are made up of a complex bunch of people," Hermione tried to make sense of it, "Ambitious people, those who are cruel by nature, and there are those who rushed to get a bit of glory," she added after a moment of thought, "Some, a few, were bewitched by the You-Know-Who''s evil philosophies and empty dreams..."


    Harry thought of Sirius'' brother Regulus.


    "... We couldn''t tell the difference when the You-Know-Who was in the ascendancy, but once he was in decline," Hermione gestured contemptuously at the newspaper picture of Selwyn on trial, "we could tell what these people were made of. "


    There was audible laughter heard in the common room, and they turned their heads - Harry and Ron were itching for something new - when they saw Fred and George, each holding a fancy hat in their hands, putting them on at the same time as the onlookers started to cheer. The crowd erupted in shrieks and giggles as Fred and George spun around to display them, and when they turned to Harry''s side, the trio finally got a good look at their faces.


    Harry was startled and almost thought he had seen a vampire and a banshee(?) combination. Fred''s face was as white as paper, his cheeks were sunken as if he had been malnourished for a long time, and his eyes were abnormally bloodshot, but it was his carved, sharp teeth that stood out the most; George''s face was another horror - his hair had turned black and was dragging to the floor, and his face looked like a skeleton, with a greenish glow on its surface, more frightening than the vampire beside him.


    The two men let out a triumphant laugh as they played their tricks.


    After a while, the crowd dispersed and Fred and George came over and sat next to them. They are still wearing the grotesque mask, and Ron subconsciously leaned back his body as Fred and George grinned.


    "Don''t you like our new faces?"


    "Not bad, you guys seem to like this hat," Ron shot back in a mocking tone, "who was it that said they weren''t satisfied before?"


    " Well, that''s a different thing." Fred said seriously, "We just thought the hat turned up at the right time."


    "Yeah, it''ll brighten up Professor Hap''s birthday party ..." George said cheerfully.


    The trio looked at each other, Ron kept squeezing his eyes at Harry and Hermione to remind them to keep their mouths shut, and Fred and George looked at them curiously.


    "Is there anything we don''t know?"


    " Nah, not really." Ron said, changing the subject stiffly, "Did you hear, there''s a statement in ''New Solutions to Rune'', saying that they''re planning to prepare an Annual Ancient Runes Edition and that everyone is welcome to contribute."


    "That''s a big deal." Fred said happily, taking off his hat, his sharp teeth and pale sunken cheeks disappeared, "Which section are you guys planning to enter?"


    "What about you guys?" Harry asked alertly.


    "The career dynamic." Fred said without thinking, "We''ve created a new profession, me and George together. The Profession is named as ''Prank Merchant''," he squeezed his eyes at Harry, "The requirements are high: ancient runes, basic alchemy, transfiguration, charms study, and a sky-high imagination- -"


    "And a roaring heart." George quipped, half-truthfully.


    "That sounds like a boast." Ron muttered.


    "Have you tried that punching telescope yet?" Fred suddenly asked, staring at his brother''s face as he did so.


    "Not yet, er - I gave it away." Ron tried to be vague about it, but Fred was staring straight at him, and he was close to spill out the truth.


    "Give it away? To who?" Fred and George shouted in unison.


    "A punching telescope? Punch?" Harry caught the keyword.


    Ron suddenly looked horrified.


    Fred and George stared at his expression and laughed, "Well, we won''t ask." Fred said with feigned generosity.


    " Anyway, I''m sure we''ll eventually find out." George added.


    "Come on - that thing - Merlin''s beard!" Ron shouted, "what the bloody hell that thing can do?"


    But Fred and George just looked at him with regret, as if his life would soon be over ... Ron panicked even more inside, and all he wanted to do now was run to the professor''s office to get his present back and get a new one, but the thought of Crabbe and Goyle''s unlucky appearance dispelled that notion.


    " Speak up! Now!" He yelled.


    Ron lunged up and shook Fred''s collar as hard as he could, and Fred insisted on keeping his mouth shut with a look of amusement.


    "Do you really think that they would accept a name like that?" When it was quiet, Hermione asked, "I''ve heard that the reviewers are all very old - except for Professor Hap."


    "It never hurts to try." George eagerly said, "I figured, they''re looking for talent right now and are desperately trying to expand their territory! It also mentions that ''once the profession is officially recognized, it will receive all sorts of support in addition to being included in the Ministry of Magic''s occupational list.''"


    "-after the war is over." Hermione said.


    "What?" Fred asked.


    "It does have that clause you mentioned, but it won''t be fulfilled until the end of the war." Hermione murmured.


    "Why I didn''t see it?" Fred and George froze for a moment and yelped in sync.


    "It''s on the last page of the most recent issue of ''New Solutions to Rune''." Hermione said. The two men couldn''t sit still, and they left in a hurry. When they had disappeared, Harry and Ron looked at each other and Harry muttered uncertainly, "Prank Merchant? Sounds good. But could there really be such an additional profession in the future?"


    He had spent some time studying the pamphlets handed out at school describing various careers, and although he figured that he would become an Auror in the future, it didn''t stop him from reading with interest about the requirements for other professions and discussing them with his dorm mates late at night before going to sleep.


    "If pranking will be recognized, why not create a new profession of my own?" Ron muttered disgruntledly.


    "So you''ve got an idea?" Hermione asked intrigued.


    Ron''s jaw dropped and Harry, knowing he was speaking as he pleased, hastily asked, "Hermione, do you know how to make the Ninth Amulet?"


    "It requires the ''flame'' rune and the ''protection'' magic rune," Hermione subconsciously answered, "You have to combine them together in a way that equates to two sets of loops. When they work at the same time, they will absorb the flames around them and release them in one burst."


    "That doesn''t sound like it would be very useful." Harry said, "Many spells will do something similar."


    "You could give it to a little kid," Hermione said, "And it will work pretty well if you plan to research flame magic. Even when facing a Fiendfyre, it can buy you a second or two - although it will break after one use."


    They began to work on their assignments, and it wasn''t long before Harry began to get sleepy, he steeled himself to stare at his History of Magic textbook, The Ilfracombe Incident, Ilfracombe ... was that a name of a person or a place? Never mind, what the hell, Harry yawned and copied the name down on his parchment.


    His thoughts began to wander, already thinking about the evening party with Sirius, and Kreacher, wondering if Sirius was used to being in the kitchen ...


    Meanwhile, Felix was sitting dully on a bench in the courtroom, staring at a dark wizard with skin so dark it mirrored the dim light.


    Where did Voldemort find all these people?


    The words that Lucius had said yesterday were playing around in his head and made Felix want to make a trip to Malfoy Manor to see if it was burnt to the ground - it would at least prove that Voldemort had read the papers and was pissed off enough.


    "Bang!" The gavel fell heavily.


    "Papastasso Buwaschi Van Bron Papadopoulos Malafye Miguel Alves, guilty as charged!"


    ------------


    #Andrew Sully, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 587: The Twins in Trouble

    As the Easter holidays passed, Felix had to appear in the solemn courtroom every day, watching as strange dark wizards underwent their trials, and it was like winning a lottery when a familiar face appeared. Of course, those acquaintances usually end up quite badly, as a death eater, they basically ended up with a life sentence.


    The foreign observers who were seated opposite to his side didn''t exactly act as statues either; they provided a wealth of identifying information, and Scrimgeour didn''t seem to have any trouble reading out completely irrelevant offences to the case as background information before the official verdict.


    As soon as this happened, Felix''s mind began to wander.


    Valen hadn''t followed him in the last few days; she had gone off to settle scores with Ron Weasley again. Felix was rather taken aback, when had Ron taken up the hobby of his two brothers? But there was really no real harm in that telescope, just a scare, and well, it scared a Niffler.


    And then there is another thing - according to Felix''s research, the thing is supposed to imprint a black eye on the face and make it look like one has been punched in the face. But when you use it on Valen, the effect changed from a black circle around the eye to a mushy mess that is plastered against her fur and skin.


    Felix had a good laugh.


    He even wrote about it in a letter to Grindelwald, " I will introduce you to each other sometime ..."


    Of course, these are just interludes. He spends a fair amount of time describing how times have changed, "After all, you''ve been isolated from the world for so long, it''s understandable." And part of his own plan: "When the war is over, I''ll pick the right opportunity to throw out some questions, with the various products of the ''Future World'' company as a base, and they''ll be able to more or less understand the level of Muggle technology. At that time, they themselves will realize the extent of the problem."


    Given the poor attitude the old man had shown in his past letters, Felix had also deliberately used his experiences back then as a comparison on several occasions.


    "... This way, they will value my opinion instead of branding it as heresy ..."


    From the replies, Grindelwald was quite excited and the quills scratched several parts of parchment, of course - it might be due to old age or something.


    There is also the fact that Dumbledore''s disguised look of exhaustion was spotted by a sharp-eyed journalist the next day, and when he was interviewed about it, he used the excuse that he was playing ''ten-pin bowling till early morning'' and looked much better after that day, so there was no rumour based around it - In the eyes of the public, Dumbledore would indeed do something like that.


    But to some ''well-informed'' people, his inconsistency seemed like a cover-up.


    At the end of the fifth day of the trial, Felix was keenly aware of someone''s presence when he took his customary walk around Malfoy Manor, and he followed the trail to the gardens, where he saw the formerly ornate and beautiful fountain melting into a puddle of foul-smelling sewage.


    Voldemort had been there and had left in disappointment.


    The rest of the days were uneventful, except for the night of the 15th.


    Without warning, the Weasley twins threw a fireworks display on the premises, bringing out twenty different types of fireworks at once and setting them off over the castle. Felix, Valen, Sirius, and Flitwick were all together playing cards when there was a sudden loud bang from outside and Flitwick, who was seriously thinking about how to play his cards, fell out of his chair.


    "Summon the Blast-Ended Skrewt into the game - oh my! What''s happening outside?"


    Flitwick got up from the floor, and was startled, did he just see a dragon flying past the window just now?


    Felix looked out the window in silence as a familiar wheeled firework flew past the balcony, he recalled briefly that it has appeared in the eye of some green skull over Hogwarts not too long ago.


    There were shouts of excitement heard from the castle below.


    They went to the balcony and looked down; at the foot of the castle was a circle of people, and in the centre of the crowd, Fred was holding a very exaggerated rocket-shaped firework, and George held up his wand and cautiously moved closer. "It''s dangerous, we haven''t tried it a few times-" he motioned for everyone to spread out a bit.


    From past experience, the group obediently followed their good advice and retreated a few dozen feet away in the blink of an eye.


    "This thing isn''t going to blow up, is it?" Hermione looked worried.


    "Don''t worry, they know what they are doing in their minds." Ron said cheerfully.


    From the tip of George''s wand, a small orange flame burst out and inched closer to the firework. "Careful not to burn my hand-" Fred called out because it was obvious that George''s eyes were looking elsewhere, and he followed his gaze up to meet those of Professors Hap, Professor Black, and Professor Flitwick.


    Fred grinned sheepishly, "Bang!" A loud explosion sent up layers of air and smoke and the two men tumbled out in disarray.


    " Failed?" George said disappointedly as he sat on the ground.


    "I don''t think so." Fred, who was lying on the ground, looked up at the sky and raised one arm, which acted like a fuse, as the choking and coughing audience looked up at the sky in unison, following the gesture.


    The massive firework shot straight up into the sky, barely visible in the darkness, only a glowing tail could be dimly seen, and after a dozen seconds or so, the black velvet-like curtain exploded with an explosion of brilliant colours, and the night became alive with countless more bright, shining stars, which fell from high above like a shower of meteors, and then settled in midair in a brilliantly coloured design.


    On the balcony, Felix''s face looked expressionless, but the movement of his hands gave away his mood as he stared at the huge half-figure made of fireworks in mid-air - the man with a face similar to his smiling broadly and giving a thumbs-up.


    A suppressed intake of breath was heard from the ground below.


    "Oh my God, oh my God-" Hermione was speechless with shock. Everyone nearby looked on in amazement at the spectacle.


    Three or five fireworks in the shape of Blast-Ended Skrewt crawled above the schoolyard, and one in the shape of a flying broom trailed a long banner that spelled out the letters: May Professor Hap live-


    "Bang!"


    Felix held up his wand and made it explode out in the air. Not too far away, Dumbledore pushed open his office window, the blue eyes behind his semi-circular lenses curving in an arc as he surveyed the figure high above his head with interest, then looked back down at the bustling ground.


    Even Fawkes poked his head out, watching with fascination as the dragon-shaped fireworks spun in mid-air while spewing out red and green sparks.


    Dumbledore even waved at Felix through the window.


    At that moment, Professor McGonagall trotted over from the castle, looking at the mess with a shocked expression.


    It was unclear what the twins had said to Professor McGonagall, as she didn''t deal with the variety of fireworks flying wildly above Hogwarts and seemed to acquiesce to it all before returning to the castle with both Fred and George by the ears in each hand.


    "It''s actually quite pretty." Sirius said with a smirk when Felix turned his head.


    He considered it as retribution - the night before Valentine''s Day Felix had dragged him to test a transfiguration spell and afterward told him with an apologetic face that the spell couldn''t be lifted for a while, "Turn my nose back on!" Sirius yelled with a pig''s nose, and at the end of the day, he was forced to wear a large mask and refused to take it off when he met with Amelia.


    When Felix saw the twins again, it was in Professor McGonagall''s office. The two were quietly receiving a lecture with their heads down and their eyelids drooping, looking downcast. But when they saw Felix walk in, they immediately looked up in surprise and gave him a wink.


    It seemed to ask, ''Are you satisfied, Professor?''


    "Breaking school rules, intimidating students -" Professor McGonagall said with a grumble of exasperation.


    " They are having a good time!" Fred shouted accusingly, and the background noises of the bustle outside seemed to validate what he was saying.


    Professor McGonagall''s chest puffed out, "Making fun of Professor-"


    "We were trying to give the Professor a birthday surprise!" George shouted.


    "Yeah." Fred kept nodding his head. They had a lot of experience in breaking school rules, and they had already discussed every big and small consequence, even detention.


    "Minerva," Felix called out softly. Professor McGonagall frowned and said, "They must be punished." "I totally agree." Felix said, his two hands placed on each of the twins'' shoulders, and the two chuckled audibly, before noticing that the professor is growing taller and taller.


    No, they are the ones who are getting shorter and shorter.


    By the end of the process, Felix looked like a great demon bent over with a terrible grin, holding shrinking twins in his hands.


    "Oh, Felix!" Professor McGonagall exclaimed in surprise, "We never advocate corporal punishment against our students-"


    "Don''t worry, it''s not corporal punishment." Felix said as he took the opportunity to shake the two little men, who are only a foot tall, as hard as he could, making them dizzy. He raised his both hands in the air and said menacingly, "I heard you guys have been wanting to make memorable memories before you graduate? Well, I just got the right thing to satisfy that."


    " Pro-Professor-" the shrunken Fred said dryly, "Are you saying you don''t think the show is memorable enough, we will consider your opinion- "


    Felix grinned in irritation and shoved them into the large pockets of his robe as the two men struggled, "Ouch - it''s too dark in there!" One of them complained and tenaciously tried to poke his head out, which was coldly pressed back by Felix''s backhand.


    "I''ll teach them well, don''t worry, it''s just a normal punishment." He said to a stunned Professor McGonagall.


    On the way back, Felix deliberately climbed up and down, swaying his pockets back and forth, and it took him twice as long as normal to get back to his office. When he pushed the door open, he could still see part of the firework with some semblance to him through the window - that thumbs up - and Felix looked pissed off.


    "You guys have a lot of time on your hands, have you finished your assignments?" He grabbed the dazed pair from his pockets and shoved them at the opening of two empty ink bottles.


    "Done." One of them said dazedly.


    "Good." Felix said wistfully, "I heard your club is doing well with a lot of people joining?"


    Fred, who had just pulled his arse out of the ink bottle, didn''t realize the approaching danger and slowly said, "Yeah, it was pretty productive." George gave him a hard shove, and he sat back down again.


    "Ouch-" Fred waved his arms.


    "''Swear to Defend School Rules Club''? Sounds good, but you''ll have to take the lead." Felix said vaguely and turned to leave.


    "What''s Professor going to do?" George asked uneasily.


    "Who knows? Don''t you think the show was a huge hit today? Even now, the show''s still going on -" Fred said cheerfully.


    Valen jumped from the other side of the table and looked at them for a moment, before shaking her head.


    "Why do I get the impression that Valen is pitying us?" George asked.


    "Bang, bang."


    Two quills that stood above their eye level fell on the table and George jumped in shock and looked up to see a dozen sheets of parchment-like blankets flying over, and they hurriedly jumped out of the way.


    " The punishment will be copying the school rules." Felix''s distant voice said, "No changing back until you''ve copied them." S?a?ch* Th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    As it proved, he had guessed wrong. The twin''s thought process is completely different from normal people''s, and their first reaction was not frustration, but excitement as they looked at each other, "I''ve wanted to do this for a long time!"


    "It''s a deal, Professor!"


    By the look on their faces, it seemed that it was not a punishment, but some kind of preferential treatment.


    The two spent the next few moments trudging through the parchment with gusto, as they evaluated each other''s ''work'' as they wrote.


    "Your ''W'' is horrible and difficult to read."


    "Why don''t you look at that letter ''O''? How perfect, your letters seem malnourished-"


    "Nonsense!"


    Felix held out his finger and cast a Muffliato Charm near them, and the office finally fell silent - if you ignored the excited shouts of the students outside and the whooshing sound of exploding fireworks.


    He ultimately did not use his magic to wipe out the fireworks overhead.


    ...


    Ignoring the twins who were playing and scribbling sentences, Felix sat in the armchair behind the table, twirling a strand of dark magic in his hand and examining it carefully.


    The wisp of magic itself radiated a strong aura of contaminant.


    It was the magic he had extracted from Lucius'' Dark Mark that belonged to Voldemort.


    The more Felix studied it, the more he felt that the magic energy had gone too extreme into the negative side. He even doubted if Voldemort could still use the positive and righteous spells. But when he thought about his own recent research into Patronus charm, he wasn''t that certain.


    As he pondered, there was a brisk knock at the door.


    Felix waved his hand and the door opened automatically, and Harry, Ron, and Hermione rushed in. He wasn''t really surprised, they might have come to plead for the twins. But what he didn''t expect was the presence of Draco who was standing behind them.


    When he also entered, Felix was just about to speak when a fifth person walked in, a somewhat confused looking Luna, who seemed to have gotten lost and had followed them on a whim after seeing Harry and the gang. She was followed by Ginny, Neville, and then Daphne and Astoria squeezed into the office, with Cedric and Cho Chang behind them.


    Felix was completely baffled as for why all these people had arrived together.


    The people who had just entered were also a little dumbfounded, their jaws dropped as they looked at the twins squirming around on a stack of parchment on the desk. Because of the Muffliato Charm, they hadn''t realized what was happening.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 588: Their respective problems and gains (2 in 1)

    "I don''t remember an invitation being extended, the Magic Rune Club''s activities are suspended because of-" Felix looked at them. Luna nodded and said, "Participation in the trial." "Yeah, that''s why." He said. "I saw the picture in the newspaper - Professor Dumbledore, Ms. Bones, and you." Luna said with great interest, "Dad mentioned in Quibbler that you are one of the three most powerful wizard in the world."


    "I saw that article too, it was very amusing." Felix said with a poker face, "Especially the bit that envisaged us joining forces against the wizarding world."


    He turned his head and looked at the others - they looked at each other, averted their gaze, and hesitant to speak.


    "Well, come and sit down, all of you." He used his magic to conjure up a couple of soft chairs, at which point Fred and George at the desk stopped, and ran out of the spell''s reach, standing on the edge of the desk eyeing the situation while waving their arms for attention, "Hey, someone - we can''t get down by ourselves! "


    "Let me do it!" Ron called out, as if afraid someone else would grab this chance from him, and only when he had finished speaking did he look at Felix, "Um - is that okay?"


    Before Felix''s head could nod down completely, he rushed over to the desk, bent over to look at his two brothers, and said in a gloating tone, "Look what I found, flower fairies who lost their wings? I''ve never seen a flower fairy so big and fit ..."


    "Come on up, brats." He held out his hand with a wide smile.


    Fred and George subconsciously took a step back, they didn''t have the upper hand at the moment. But there was no room for compromise, Fred tilted his head and stared carefully at Ron''s face, "From this angle, your face looks like a disaster scene, pockmarked-"


    "Those are freckles! You two have them too!" Ron exclaimed irritably, as he grabbed his two brothers and shook them in his hands, "I haven''t settled the score with you yet, for that punching telescope -"


    He gave them a warning look and led them over to the couch in the office, and threw them smoothly onto the couch before sitting down. Fred and George screamed and avoided Ron''s body as he slowly sat down. The two crawled up and down, and eventually leaned back against the arm of the couch, patting their chests heartily.


    "That was a close call, almost got murdered by my own brother-"


    " - Just the thought of being crushed to death by his arse, to be honest, would have killed me."


    Harry looked squintingly at the two men, who seemed to be having a good time.


    "So -" Felix watched this interaction between relatives with interest as the rest of them stifled their laughter, then he sat down on the single sofa and asked, "What sort of coincidence brought you together? Potter?"


    "Er, Professor, Colin saw - saw -" Harry trailed off, staring at Felix''s pocket and then at the twins who are still jostling at the couch, unsure of how to describe it.


    Is he supposed to say that Colin Creevey saw the image of the Professor bouncing up the stairs while pressing Fred, who was poking his head out of his pocket, back in? That would be too weird.


    "I see what you mean, that''s what all three of you have in mind?" Felix looked at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the trio nodded in unison and Felix turned to the others. They rattled off their words.


    "I had some study queries," Cedric said, pulling a notebook out of his pocket, "I tried to write a book like this, in imitation of a magic rune booklet, but it always seemed a bit vague."


    "Cho is accompanying me here." He gestured to Cho Chang, who''s seated quietly at one side.


    Felix nodded his head in approval, then averted his gaze slightly.


    "I''m not doing anything, just stopped by." Draco slowly mumbled.


    "I do have something to ask you, some questions regarding the academy ..." Felix said vaguely, "Stay behind for a while."


    Draco nodded hesitantly.


    Finally, it was the Greengrass sister''s turn, Daphne hesitated to speak, when her sister reached out and pointed at Draco, "We followed him, he''s been so alone and secretive lately, we wondered what he was doing."


    Draco gave her a stern look.


    That caught Harry''s attention, and he stared at Draco''s face as if trying to see something, he thought about the recent rumours about the ''Malfoy Family Head turning against the Death Eaters'' and guessed that the Malfoy who is in the midst of the rumours got quite affected.


    Only Neville, Luna, and Ginny remained, and Felix looked at Neville.


    "I, er," Neville opened his mouth nervously, seemingly uncomfortable with so many people around him, causing Felix to think he was about to say something embarrassing, so he said tentatively, " We can talk alone - "


    "No, no," Neville said, "I''d like to ask about-" he paused, "Potions. "


    "Potions?" Felix asked in surprise.


    Even the others looked at Neville strangely, which caused the flush on Neville''s face to increase as he swallowed and said, "The school distributed pamphlets on various careers over the holidays, and I saw that Auror''s leaflet demanded that applicants should have at least five N.E.W.Ts certificates, with no grade lower than ''E'' in each subject --"


    Harry and Ron drew in a soft breath, they had long identified themselves with the Auror job, but they didn''t give it much of a thought and just assumed they would just wait for the start of the school year to speak to Professor McGonagall and listen to her advice.


    "-and a whole series of rigorous personality and intelligence tests prepared by the Auror''s office."


    Harry and Ron''s faces turned pale as Neville finished his sentence, which appeared comparable to Draco''s skin tone.


    "Oh, I see." Felix smirked, "You were told that you had to get a certificate in Potions class to enrol for Auror and were worried that you wouldn''t be able to meet the requirements and had no idea how to proceed further ..." Neville nodded.


    "No wonder, many students who want to enrol for Auror have gotten stuck on the Potions hurdle, who asked Professor Snape''s Advanced Class to only accept students who take outstanding in O.W.Ls exams." Felix said, looking slightly amused.


    " Requires a Potions class certificate?" Harry asked, in bewilderment.


    "And get an Outstanding?!" Ron shouted in despair.


    The two men looked bloodless by now - in their minds, getting ''Outstanding'' in the Potions exam would be a miracle.


    Harry felt his heart shatter like glass along with the dream of becoming an Auror.


    "To be a good Auror, you at least need to understand how to detoxify the poison, right?" Felix said, sort of explaining the problem the two had, "Of course, the reality is much more complicated."


    He thought about it and said to Neville, "If it''s just a matter of simply improving your grades, that is, getting high marks," he looked uncertainly at Neville, who nodded repeatedly, and smiled, "there''s a way to do that, so wait a minute, and we can talk about that."


    "Professor?" Harry asked anxiously, "Can we stay and listen together?"


    "Yes Professor, we''re wondering the same thing as Neville," Ron said busily, "as long as we can get high marks."


    "Professor Snape wouldn''t be happy about that," Felix shook his head, looking amused at what he seemed to have thought of. "Still, there''s no reason for him to reject some kind of little trick. Unless he wants to deny himself ..." his last words were low and inaudible.


    Felix''s eyes darted between Luna and Ginny before his gaze eventually settled on Ginny. This time he guessed wrong, Ginny nudged Luna with her hand who was staring straight at Fred and George. "Oh," Luna sobered up, "I have something to tell you." She said seriously.


    " What''s it about?" Felix asked.


    "Have you ever read The Tales of Beedle the Bard Storybook?" Luna asked, her eyes suddenly became very bright, unlike her usual dazed appearance. "There''s a ''The Tale of the Three Brothers'' in there that mentions Death and his three creations-"


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione exchanged cautious glances.


    "I know what you''re going to say." Felix interrupted her and Luna blinked, a little puzzled, but she didn''t press on, instead, she looked at him expectantly, which gave Felix a huge headache.


    Trouble seemed to be catching up with him, and he hadn''t expected Luna to bring up this part of the story. Where did she find out about it again?


    "The rumours about me possessing the Elder Wand were false, and I think I''ve proved it." Felix said briefly. The cost of a dozen lives, and an open battle with Voldemort, made all the hidden covetousness to fade away.


    Of course, it hadn''t disappeared all at once, Felix had spent the next few months rummaging through the Marauder''s map when he had nothing better to do, and redeemed bounties on people who were suspiciously moving around.


    "I''m talking about the other thing," Luna said softly, "the Resurrection Stone."


    Felix frowned.


    "Miss Lovegood-"


    "I performed divination with Firenze," Luna said quickly as she looked at him, "and he said from the results that what I longed for seemed close - close enough to pass by."


    Felix was silent for a moment, What was it? The resurrection stone? Did she mean the Resurrection Stone was in the school?


    It couldn''t be in one of her roommate''s book bag, could it?


    And he reckoned that Firenze might not have meant ''Pass by'' in the same way that Luna understood it ...


    "Okay." He said, "You guys have really brought me many surprises." He stood up and looked around. "That''s a lot of questions, let''s tackle them one by one. It just so happens that I have something I need your help with too. Luna, you come here first."


    He and Luna walked to the other end of the office and talked quietly about it.


    The result of the talk surprised him a little; for the first time, he had heard about the Deathly Hallows, the legend in which the three creations of death that are mentioned in fairy tales are brought together and treated as one. And it had a special significance - that is, mastering the three sacred artefacts would make you the Master of Death.


    All that Felix knew about them was that the Elder Wand is real and right now it is wielded by Dumbledore.


    "Have you ever considered that it is merely an Aphorism-like legend? That even if they were real, they might just simply be three powerful magical artefacts that have been interspersed and forcefully linked together by later generations?"


    But Luna offered a basis for the truth.


    "The Elder Wand." Luna drew a vertical line in his hand. "The resurrection stone." She added a circle under the vertical line. " The Invisibility Cloak." She finally drew a triangle outside the vertical line which wrapped the first two together to form a complete and elaborate pattern.


    Felix stared at his hand, which, if he had read it correctly, seemed to be the logo of another person?


    Just like his Ouroboros, at one point it was synonymous with the man.


    "Grindelwald?" He asked gently.


    "You know him too?" Luna asked curiously, "Papa said that this symbol was indeed misunderstood by many, but the truth is that it did not belong to him, Grindelwald only borrowed it, and its true originators were the three Peverell brothers."


    "The three Peverell ... brothers? Three brothers?"


    "Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus, who were the original possessors of the Deathly Hallows." Luna said with great certainty, but Felix reckoned she was just paraphrasing her father, " This symbol is still on the tombstone of Ignotus, in the Godric''s Hollow. Papa took me to see it. It''s the coat of arms of the Peverell family."


    Felix bowed his head and seemed to be talking to himself.


    "So, whoever knows the symbol should also know the meaning behind it?"


    On the other end, the few people sitting on the couch couldn''t help but look repeatedly at Professor and Luna, who had been talking for a long time, but they were too far away for them to listen, or maybe it could have been a spell. "The Professor is so kind." Cho Chang said, she clearly dismissed the whole thing as a responsible professor guiding a young girl with a brain full of fantasies.


    "But who is Firenze?" She asked.


    "A Centaur." Harry said.


    "So it''s not something she imagined?" Cho Chang asked with interest, looking at Luna in the distance, thoughtfully, "I''m two years apart from her, but I still heard of her nickname - Loony, you know?"


    "She''s not crazy," Ginny said coldly, "just a bit -"


    "Weird in a weird way." Ron nodded sagely. Ginny glared at him.


    "Oh," Cho Chang said apologetically, "you guys are friends?"


    At that moment, Luna had returned bouncing, with her fluffy hair bouncing together. "How was the chat?" Ginny asked, hoping her friend would dispel the unrealistic fantasy that the dead could come back to life and stuff ... It sounded too good to be true.


    "The professor promised to keep an eye out for me and if he ever finds one he will lend it to me." She said cheerfully.


    "Diggory-" Felix called out from the other end as Cedric stood up and walked over to him with his own notes. Felix flipped through them roughly, going over them quickly in his head, and said to him, "It''s pretty decent already, with a lot of details I hadn''t considered, I can see you''ve put a lot of effort into it."


    Cedric smiled bashfully.


    "I assume you''ve also submitted an article to ''New Solutions to Rune'' Magazine, right?"


    Cedric nodded.


    " It was already mailed out."


    "I''ll keep this note for now, I need to look it over carefully and a little later we can discuss it ..."


    Then Felix waved at Draco who approached him reluctantly.


    "Tell me, what you think." Felix asked, looking in the direction of the couch from which the Greengrass sisters are looking over. "Your classmates can see that you aren''t quite yourself lately, and as I told you before, you can come to me if you can''t cope up with it."


    "They''re nosy," Draco said in annoyance, "especially the little one, blaming me for ruining her ghost food."


    Felix casually asked a few questions about what had happened, to roughly summarize, that Astoria had gotten a portion of ghost food from somewhere. It is actually quite rare and difficult to preserve, only available in Classroom Seven, and he gave some to Valen -


    He turned his head to stare at Valen, and well, he seemed to know where Astoria had gotten the ghost food from.


    The drama that followed was Astoria bringing it out to show off, only to have it inadvertently knocked down by Draco. "I was playing a losing game and was completely oblivious to her jumping behind me." Draco defended himself.


    "So what''s wrong lately?"


    A flush spread across Draco''s face. Felix was very experienced at this, "I promise not to say anything." With that Draco pulled an elaborate, ornate, and detailed coat of arms out of his pocket.


    When Felix saw the letter ''M'' on it, he guessed more or less.


    "The family crest of the Malfoy family?"


    Draco nodded, "It was enclosed in the letter my mother sent." It became clear in Felix''s mind that it was the same letter he had helped deliver. S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "So they dropped the responsibility on you?" Felix asked with a smile, "Any luck?"


    "A little," Draco swallowed, sizing him up carefully, "Professor, are you going to forcibly break the Statute of Secrecy when the war is over?"


    Felix scratched his head a bit, "You''re all giving me so many surprises today one by one - who told you that?" Well, it should be a rumour, he had even teased Grindelwald about it personally.


    "No?" Draco seemed very disappointed hearing that, and when he saw the professor raise his eyebrow, he hurriedly said, "It was my own guess. Professor, I''m sure you''ve heard of my grandfather, Abraxas Malfoy?" He asked with an expectant look on his face.


    "I have heard of him."


    "He died when I was a little boy, and I recently recalled his words," Draco swallowed, " he said, that everyone has their own place in this world, and the only difference is that the place/position of the strong is not called a place, but a mission or destiny."


    "Oh?" Felix said in an uncertain manner.


    "I thought I could help out if that is your intention." Draco stammered, "You told me before that my wand is suitable for medical magic, plus I''ve been looking up information on this recently after the start of the academic year ... for career advice."


    Felix had only one thought at the moment, Lucius can retire pretty soon.


    As it turned out, Draco wasn''t trying to become a healer, but hit on the idea of a possible ��United Muggle-Wizard Hospital��, and even though his idea wasn''t perfect, it was enough to surprise Felix.


    "Your idea ... is a little ahead of the time, and I can''t give you a definitive answer. After all, it''s hard to say what the future holds, but you could certainly work towards that, by following your idea to become at least a good healer first. You have a lot to learn."


    Draco returned to his place on the couch and sat down as Neville, Harry, and Ron approached, Hermione thought for a moment and also followed.


    The three boys eyed him, eager for the ''way to get high marks'' as he put it, and as for Hermione, she strongly resented playing tricks, but she came over anyway to find out what it was about.


    ''I''m just trying to get information.'' Hermione told herself.


    Without further ado, Felix told them to wait here for a little while and took a set of Potions textbooks out of his bedroom.


    He stroked the covers with affection, "They''ve helped me a lot."


    "Are these your Potions textbooks from school?" Harry guessed.


    "Ah, how can I put it? You guys don''t think I could afford a new textbook when I was at school, do you?" Felix said, "The school''s financial support fund was very limited at the time and one had to be careful with money, I could only afford second-hand books and old robes, but what''s the saying, ''If you think about everything one step further, you can be better than you are now.''"


    "It wasn''t long after school started that I discovered the school had a storage cupboard that''s dedicated to store used textbooks and I spent a bit of time picking out the best of the best - I can''t believe how some of them were near new with just a single name on them."


    Harry stared down at the set of textbooks in the professor''s hand, torn and tattered, edges flying, seemingly having suffered terrible abuse.


    "... It does not include this Potions textbook. This set was handpicked by me, and you will find that it is wonderful beyond its appearance."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 589: The Will of the Leader (2 in 1)

    Felix continued to address them. "Professor Snape should have told you that Potions is a delicate study, where attentiveness, discipline, patience, and just the right amount of wand wielding are all that matters. In the curriculum, the difficulty of learning will gradually increase, and each potion you concoct will be highly distinct and often involve subtle manipulation ..."


    Harry, Ron, and Neville, as well as Hermione, looked at Felix in a daze, none of them ever thought they would have a day like this: listening to the ancient rune professor explaining the puzzles of Potions to them - although all their minds were filled with thoughts of how to trick and get high marks.


    But this wonderfully odd feeling lingered in their minds.


    "If you want to go further in the field of Potions," - Harry, Ron, and Neville shook their heads, and Felix sighed - "it''s best to learn it in the proper way. But-" he cleared his throat, his tone no longer that serious.


    "Yeah, I was thinking pretty much the same thing as you guys, equally uninterested in delving into all the deep theory and subtle boiling steps," he said softly, "to me, getting into the advanced class was just the easiest way to master the method of brewing the potions I was interested in."


    "As for learning the finer points, I didn''t really care."


    Harry listened more carefully, this was also what he wanted from potion class - he could hardly imagine himself enduring the loneliness later, holed up in an airtight basement for years, staring into a row of steam-emitting cauldrons.


    Felix patted the textbook in his hand, "The original owner of this set was adept at this, there are many tips and easy methods, but of course, you will find notes on more than just potions, there are also some interesting little hexes-"


    He hesitated, "There are a few spells that are dangerous, and I want you to promise me that you won''t use them on your classmates."


    Given the professor''s very serious expression, the four students took the promise seriously.


    "So next it''s time to talk about my methods," Felix''s expression returned to calm, "Standing on a somewhat higher viewpoint, you will see that the O.W.Ls exam is just a test for your past learning rather than an examination for originality and innovation. Theoretically, if you memorize all the material and become proficient in the manoeuvres mentioned in the book, getting an Outstanding is an easy and natural thing to expect ..."


    Now even Hermione couldn''t help but stare at him, she had always gotten an Outstanding, but it definitely didn''t have anything to do with the word ''easy''.


    "Work out the theory yourselves. For the practical work, my suggestion is to compile a list of how to concoct each potion, pick out the steps that are tedious and difficult to perform and try to simplify them. There may be dozens or hundreds of steps in boiling a potion, but if you group them according to ''purpose'', they may only add up to a dozen or so steps - you ought to have your own insight, don''t you?"


    But from the looks on their faces, it seemed that Felix had asked a very superfluous question. But he could only assure himself that it was in no way his own question. "At least the set has been written along with similar lines, and I''ve included some of my personal insights. Well, that''s all there is to say."


    Felix handed them the books, Luna, Cedric, and the others were still waiting there as the professor had said earlier that there is something he needed their help with.


    Harry and Neville placed the books they were holding on the small square desk and looked at Felix as they sat down with Ron and Hermione.


    "You''ve all mastered the Patronus Charm, haven''t you?"


    Nearly all of them nodded. Even Fred and George, who are only about a foot tall, did the same, but the reason I said ''Nearly '' was because there was still someone who wasn''t in that range. "I haven''t!" Astoria shouted, "I am just a third year."


    Although Draco on one side didn''t say anything, he didn''t look like he had mastered the spell either.


    "You can watch, eat some biscuits, or go outside and play." Felix said to Astoria who had spoken up.


    Astoria puffed up angrily but still stayed behind.


    "I was looking for you guys for a test that I originally intended to give you after the next school year started, but on second thought, today is a better opportunity. After all, not all the students in the Magic Rune Club know this magic."


    Harry actually wanted to say that he had taught this spell in the ''Frontline Lookout Club'', but he quickly realized that the professor is already aware of that.


    "The test itself isn''t dangerous, but it''s quite emotionally draining."


    Felix paused for a moment to wait, and when no one raised an objection, he continued.


    "The Patronus itself is a perfect combination of positive emotion and magic. From what we can tell from ancient glyphs and manuscripts, this spell was used by many people during the very oldest era, but - at some point - the Patronus Charm became exclusive to those wizards who possessed pure, positive emotional power.


    Some, especially dark wizards whose minds have fallen into darkness, simply do not seem qualified to use it."


    Felix said and shifted his gaze away from Harry.


    He had put a lot of thought into this spell, especially after incorporating the knowledge given to him by Lady Rowena Ravenclaw and had improved it subversively, taking the magic beyond its original limitations.


    At one time he believed he had reached the limits of his understanding regarding this spell, but it turned out that he had still discovered something new during Harry''s demonstration.


    Harry is one of the most gifted wizards when it comes to this spell that he has ever seen.


    As far as he knew, the first time Harry had managed to cast a visible Patronus was on the covered bridge in his third year, where the Stag Patronus had fought off a hundred with a single blow, demonstrating amazing power. Since then Harry has mastered the art of using the Patronus to deliver a message without a teacher, later incorporating an ancient rune to give it a physical form, and demonstrated excellent practical skills when hunting down Umbridge not long ago.


    He has gone ahead of the vast majority of wizards, but Harry is still unable to incorporate runes that represent other emotions into the Patronus.


    Because the Patronus itself is built from pure to extreme positive emotions, mixing in any other emotion is simply ''mixing ink in the water'' and making the magic less pure.


    That''s why Harry was never able to pull it off.


    The difference between Felix and Harry is that his Patronus Rain Swallow was reconstructed with memory nodes and became very stable. Even if he mixed in other emotions, he was able to force them together under his superior control.


    Felix even took this level of difficulty for granted. But Harry''s experience had taught him that perhaps it was just his deeply ingrained ''escalation mindset'' in action. He went back to his Ravenclaw notes and parsed the construction of the Ravenclaw diadem, then combined it with a mishmash of knowledge from various sources to try to put together a clear framework for ''Emotion Magic''.


    The results were phenomenal.


    He created a whole series of Patronus magic.


    But this thinking did not stop there ...


    "I need you to pay attention to a few words, ''pure, positive emotional power''. This will be important in the rest of the discussion." Felix said, " All you have used your happy memories when learning this magic. Is that right?"


    Most of them nodded.


    Harry thought of the scene where Remus had taught himself and how he had mentioned that positive emotions could deal with Dementors, but in practice, he had only used happy memories or visualized happy enough memories.


    "I discovered a secret in my research - I may be overthinking it, the exact conclusion is yet to be verified. But there is nothing prevents me from sharing it with you:


    The Patronus has gone through three vague phases in its long history that can only be supported by assumptions


    The first phase is unproven with no historical evidence, and it can only be traced from glyphs. At that time there was no such a thing as a Dementor, and the Lethifold was not discovered until the 18th century - and such creatures lived only in tropical regions.


    The second phase, which dated before and after the Middle Ages, is relatively well-preserved and the wizards of that time had a much closer understanding of the Patronus Charm to the present view, except this charm remained one of the rarest and most difficult to master profound defensive magic, and for a long time it was associated with those ''wizards who fought for a noble cause''. S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Miranda Goshawk, who wrote the Standard Book of Spells series, mentioned in her description of the Patronus ''This ancient and mysterious charm conjures a magical guardian, a projection of all your most positive feelings.''


    I have likewise seen similar statements in some ancient grimoires and manuscripts.


    But there is a subtle difference between this description and the specific descriptions in the third stage - that is, over the last two or three hundred years - when wizards wrote study notes for this magic. They coincidentally equate "most positive emotions" with "happy memories".


    Perhaps they did it to make it less difficult?


    Perhaps it was originally a particular wizard''s secret shortcut trick, which eventually spread, and when people tried it, the success rate did increase. But to be precise, all this magic has done is distinguish normal wizards from particularly evil dark wizards, and if that''s all it could do alone, it doesn''t seem to deserve the fame it has gained ..."


    Felix briefly recounted his research and concluded, "I have repeatedly made comparisons and thought that the problem might be in the emotions put into it. Happy memories may fall into the category of positive emotions, but does it rival the same level of conviction as ''fighting for a noble cause''?"


    He looked at the crowd, "Perhaps one of you can give the answer." His eyes darted between Harry, Hermione, Cedric, and the Weasley twins, all of whom he knew had their own beliefs, such as defeating Voldemort, building a pan-magical alliance, and creating a new profession ...


    Actually, Draco barely counted, but he didn''t know the spell yet.


    Felix held expectations but likewise thought it wouldn''t be easy to pull off; after all, he is still in the groping stage himself.


    He had once selectively forgotten this magic spell, and tried it like a beginner, infusing it with his full emotions, but instead of using positive and happy memories, he had used the belief, ''to fight for a noble cause'', as described in the ancient manuscripts, as far as possible.


    He fulfilled this requirement precisely: he intended to transform the magical world, to bring it into line with the real world. In Felix''s opinion, how could this be anything short of a noble cause?


    But the result was frustrating.


    He was unable to generate a tangible Patronus with his belief, and there seemed to be something lacking; at best, he could only conjure up a silver shield made of vaguely shaped mist.


    The students sitting on the couch looked at each other in shock as the professor seemed to debunk the Patronus Charm, no, uncovering what this magic really looked like at the base of it? Only ... he had no idea if he was right.


    "Let''s try it."


    Felix reached out and Fred and George''s bodies swelled rapidly like a balloon and bloated out, growing from a foot to two and three feet ... until they were back to their original size, both of them touching their faces and letting out a strangled cry.


    Then Felix said in a low, bewitched tone.


    "Think about it; you are the best of your age, with a strong will, and you can do great things if you want to. Everyone has their part in society, but you, for your part, will not submit to your fate, and will follow your inner compass and find your true calling ..."


    The lights in the office became dim and his voice seemed to carry some kind of magic, easily bringing the group into the pre-defined mood he had set. They pondered what it is that they truly wanted.


    Only Draco and Astoria stared wide-eyed. They were unaffected, but Draco now felt odd, if he didn''t have amnesia, it seemed that the Professor had just taken what he had said to him and rephrased it and used it on others?


    "Think of the noble cause you have in mind, how much you would be willing to give ... in times of defeat, frustration, opposition, and even despair? Now, take out your wands, shout the incantation, and show me your determination!"


    The Ancient Rune office was plunged into complete darkness, and both Draco and Astoria tried to use their wands to illuminate the room, only to find that they were completely unable to do so. In the midst of the utter darkness, they heard an increasingly solemn voice shouting out the incantation with great determination, "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num-"


    The professor''s whispers bore into their ears from all sides, causing the only two unaffected people to shiver briefly. They subconsciously came together.


    "What, what''s going on?" Astoria asked with trepidation.


    "Stay put." Draco said through clenched teeth, "And don''t pinch me." Astoria snapped and moved her fingers away from his arm.


    "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num!"


    A hazy bright light appeared, and the face belonging to Cedric flickered for a moment, followed by an even brighter light, the twins with tense faces and serious expressions, as well as Hermione and Neville, but their faces looked like dream bubbles, lingered only briefly for a few seconds before falling once again into the pitch-black world.


    Pressure appeared in everyone''s minds.


    Even after trying for a long time, no one succeeded. Felix furrowed his brow, is there a genuine issue - was his assumption wrong, and there never was any ''true Patronus''?


    He had to change his tactics.


    He spoke in a raspy voice, this time not as an encouragement, but as a discouragement.


    "Quit ... give it up ... and pretend it had never happened, bury your dreams in your heart and accept the reality ... honestly there is no shame in that, how can one person stand against a whole world? One will always have a chance later ..."


    A deeper darkness descended, so dense that it became impossible to see.


    The phoenix cried out. Dumbledore and Fawkes appeared in his office, his brow furrowed and his expression looked solemn as the thick black fog seemed to do nothing to block his vision.


    "Felix." He uttered in a deep voice.


    "Albus, you''re here." Felix replied calmly.


    As he spoke, a few silver moon-like lights extinguished again, but others struggled. Dumbledore''s gaze swept over the students present, quickly became aware of what is happening, and he observed silently before finally setting his eyes on Harry.


    Harry''s face flushed, his eyes red and his teeth clacked together.


    "What exactly did you show the boy in his vision?" Dumbledore asked.


    "Nothing I could control - I just added more layers upon his vision, putting him into an even more ''desperate'' situation." Felix said, waving his hand to get some of the students to wake up from the darkness before they were really overwhelmed. It wasn''t all bad for them, at least with this opportunity they would be able to get a better idea of what they wanted.


    On the contrary, Harry and Neville, two people with great resilience, were able to hold on for a while.


    Harry at the moment fully immersed in the fantasy he had constructed; Dead, everyone dead ... Sirius, Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor Hap, Snape ... Mad-Eye Moody, Remus, Tonks... ... Neville, Ginny, Fred, George, the Weasleys ...


    He heard the sound of gurgling water, the sound of blood pooling as it came together.


    Harry stared blankly at Voldemort who had a ferocious grin on his face as the bodies of Ron and Hermione fell at his feet.


    Voldemort sneered and raised his wand, "Surrender." In a high, cold voice, he said triumphantly, "Everyone you know is dead, and that''s what happens when you disobey the Dark Lord." -- "No!" Harry shouted madly, but a blinding green light gathered at the tip of Voldemort''s wand, and with a flash of light, he fell to the ground.


    He was dead.


    Harry lay in the cold darkness, surrounded by dead silence. A voice told him that he would be given a second chance to be reborn, but he would need to submit to his fate.


    "Succumb to Voldemort?" The voice did not retort and Harry gritted his teeth as he rose from the cold ground. That was when Voldemort stepped out of the darkness, followed by the dark, haunted figure. Harry took a deep breath and raised his wand. But there were many voices sounded behind him as well and Harry jerked his head around as those who had died earlier seemed to return.


    He stared blankly at the familiar faces, who seemed to have been corrupted by the darkness, repeating a coward speech over and over like clay statues.


    "Give it up, Harry." Hermione said.


    "We''re utterly defeated and the Dark Lord is willing to spare our lives." Ron said bitterly.


    "Give in for now." Professor Hap said simply.


    The Death Eaters and Voldemort''s dark minions pounced, overwhelming those he valued, leaving only a circular gap, like a ring made of flesh and blood. Voldemort stood in the ring and surveyed him with mocking eyes.


    "You are the last one. Die like this, or submit to my rule?"


    Harry responded by raising his wand, the voice in his head urging him to use the Patronus Charm and call upon the Patronus ...


    A large, majestic stag leaped out.


    It stepped between Harry and Voldemort like a true giant with its foot on the earth and the green light pierced through the darkness.


    The people in the office surveyed Harry''s new Patronus, the silvery glow collecting and merging into the stag-like liquid, and as the vision cleared, the silvery shiny fur of the stag was clearly visible, making it look like a real creature in reality.


    Its eyes are both cloudy and emotional, but also calm, determined, and unrelenting. Like its owner, when it stood, everyone - whether illusory, existing only in Harry''s imagination, or students under great psychological pressure in reality - felt their courage multiply, their conviction strengthened and their bodies filled with endless strength.


    It was as if they too shared that heavy dose of courage and conviction.


    Felix looked at the transformed Patronus, and he finally knew what he had lacked, though he would not necessarily correct himself, as it''s a fact he is certainly aware of.


    Dumbledore''s blue eyes misted with a thin layer of moisture. He fumbled for the black jewelled ring in his hand and the biggest stone in his heart fell to the ground. The real plan could begin. His mouth quirked and his voice turned into a thread that burrowed into Felix''s ears.


    "Voldemort asked me to meet him last night. After sharpening his skills and waiting for a long time, he seemed to have finally confirmed my condition ... A duel time was set."


    "When?"


    "Two months from now!"


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 590: Potions

    Dumbledore had left early, just as abruptly as he had appeared, before the students on the scene can focus their attention on him. Felix knew that the school is riddled with counterspells that prevented ordinary people from performing Apparition in the castle, but there was no doubt - the Headmaster is privileged. Felix could see, though, that Dumbledore had borrowed the power of the Phoenix this time out of his haste to ascertain the sudden burst of magic in the castle.


    There are at least two ways for Felix to do the same thing.


    The first would undoubtedly be using the innate talent of the magical creature; there''s no need for him to even perform magical creature shapeshifting, as all he needed to do would be converting a talent similar to Apparition into ancient magic, which would help him bypass the prohibitions placed in the castle.


    The second is somewhat more tricky and requires the help of a part of the castle''s magic system, the Room of Requirement, to achieve it. This magical room is ingrained with the castle''s magic by Lady Ravenclaw. When Felix had cracked part of the secret, he was able to gain access implicitly. Theoretically, he could use that room as a transit to jump around the castle as long as the Room of Requirement responded to him.


    The students in the office seemed hyper and mentally active. Felix brought out an assortment of desserts and biscuits to reward them.


    "There aren''t any canary biscuits in this, right?" Fred asked, somewhat sheepishly.


    "You just reminded me of that." Felix said, waving his hand as nothing happened, but Fred was visibly stunned, staring at the snacks on the small square desk, not daring to reach out for them.


    Luna picked up a ginger salamander biscuit, took a bite, and said, "I don''t think this one''s enchanted." She seemed to be reassuring him, but everyone else - including Felix - thought the comment had backfired, and Fred was noticeably more warier.


    "Did Headmaster Dumbledore just come by?" Harry asked uncertainly, "I seem to have seen him."


    "Came and went." Felix said briefly.


    "Professor," Hermione couldn''t help but ask, "Is there some trick behind the reason why Harry''s Patronus has become ... become completely different?" The others looked over, curious about the answer to the question. Harry wanted to know it too, and he looked at Professor Hap in the same way.


    Felix thought for a moment and said, "Earlier I suggested a conjecture that the Patronus had another use. Some of you -" his eyes flicked between several of you, "may have equally strong ideals and a conviction that you will not give up in the face of difficulties, but the truth is that those difficulties have not really happened, and your ''firmness'' is also only a figment of your imagination."


    "The difference between Potter and you is that his conviction did not come out of thin air, he has experienced those cruel dangers and blows - and when he remains indomitable, that courage speaks volumes."


    The crowd savoured the words in silence. Harry blushed a little as he listened, and he could only pretend that he was also thinking, when in reality his mind was blank.


    Cedric asked, "Professor, can I understand it this way? ''Thinking you can beat the odds'' can only bring you false courage and conviction; this courage and conviction are only real if you have ''proved yourself''. The former may also be worth encouraging, but ... it is like a castle made of sand."


    Felix smiled and nodded at him.


    "Think of how many vows we''ve made in our lives, and how many of them have yet to be fulfilled." He said with emotion.


    "Few of the men who have achieved great things in history have had smooth sailing, they have had to eat the same bitter medicine of failure as everyone, but the choice they made after their failure is what separates them from the common man. Gosh, if all those people were wizards too, the Patronus probably wouldn''t be that rare."


    In the evening, Felix put his pen on paper to write to his ill-informed pen pal.


    He started with ''I have a student'', and described his newfound discovery of the Patronus Charm in a broad manner; then he turned the script and introduced the concept of the Deathly Hallows with ''I have another student''.


    '' ... I am certainly not mocking you for stealing someone else''s coat of arms, it is just simple curiosity, has no one among your followers raised an objection? As a scholar, I must point out the risks involved: although the Peverells were among some of the oldest families that disappeared, it was only the disappearance of the paternal line, and the descendants of the three brothers are probably spread out somewhere. What emotions will they have in their hearts when they see that the coat of arms of their ancestors has become the symbol of some organization with an infamous reputation ...''


    .....


    Nurmengard Castle


    "Nasty little brat!"


    Half a month had passed when Grindelwald read the letter, right now it is at the end of April and the beginning of May. Grindelwald''s wrinkled face stared at the letterhead as he flashed an odd smile: "Faith? It''s far from enough, you have to burn yourself."


    He inclined his head to look at the house-elf.


    "Bondi?" Grindelwald called out softly.


    "Gr... Lord Grindelwald." Bondi, the house-elf, stood away from the hard bed and bowed his head humbly.


    "Why do you fear me? Were you warned by one of those ''Lords'' about how cruel I am?


    Little thing, you have a right to know better.


    Half a century ago, a man named Dumbledore took his legion of children and dismembered my vast following - back then, I was at the peak of my ambition and ready to fight. A battle had to be fought. I lost. Forbidden to cast magic, to lose my birthright to cast spells, unable to use even one single decent spell. Imprisoned for half a century."


    The house elf''s head dropped even lower, his nose almost close to the floor. Bondi couldn''t remember how many times Bondi had been warned by the ''Lord Wizard'' from the International Confederation of Wizards, and thus Bondi made up his mind that if the gentleman in front of him tried to get Bondi''s help to break out of prison, Bondi would turn and apparate without waiting for the wizard to finish his sentence.


    In a trembling voice he said, "Lord Wizard, if you don''t want to write back, Bondi will-"


    "No, no, no, Bondi." Grindelwald murmured softly, stopping him.


    "Your master was once very faithful to me. Remained faithful even when I made it into this place. Wouldn''t you like to know why you were sent here? And why those ''Lords'' of the Confederation acquiesced to your existence? When they wanted me to starve to death."


    "Your master and I were brought together by a common philosophy, and I was simply ... standing at the front of the line."


    Grindelwald held out his hand and Bondi hesitated, indecisive, but he was convinced enough to move slowly closer. Finally, the two hands clasped together.


    Grindelwald smiled, and it was impossible to distinguish his once youthful appearance from him anymore; his cheeks were thin, his eye sockets were sunken deep, his teeth had nearly fallen out, and he looked like a skeleton. He said to the trembling house-elf, " Look, isn''t it easy?"


    "Even though I am not your master, I suppose you have been asked to make me as comfortable as possible? I promise you, I will never demand more from you than the occasional observation of the outside world with the help of your eyes ..."


    "I need you, but I won''t force you to do anything... as I appreciate the care you have given me for so long."


    "Now, I want you to show me some of your magic abilities, which I used to do better, but for now I can only take comfort from your spell-casting."


    Relieved, Bondi complied with the request. The house-elf did his best to conjure up all sorts of dazzling tricks he knew. Then he stopped with a gasp and Grindelwald thanked him, "I would be very grateful if I had the chance to see it again in the future."


    The house-elf bowed and left.


    Only a single person was left in the small cell-like room.


    Grindelwald raised his head and stared at the window - a window of sorts, or just a narrow gap between blocks of black stone? The mountain wind whistled at night, and the moon lit up a part of the room and cast an eerie shadow behind.


    He knew everything about this place and even remembered the words ''for the greater good'' carved at the entrance, which he had personally inscribed. The word ''Nurmengard'' was also the name he had given to the prison he had built for his opponents.


    But the irony is that instead of being executed after his defeat, he was imprisoned here.


    Now he is the only human alive in this place.


    His cell is at the top of this dark, gloomy fortress, in the tower. The landscape outside remained the same.


    To be honest, he had gotten a little tired of it.


    Especially since there is a little bastard outside, constantly ticking him off with all sorts of information.


    After an unknown amount of time, Grindelwald snapped back to his senses, spreading his palm out and gazing at the dozen or so thin strands of magic that swam around his palm like swimming fish.


    Well, It wasn''t his own magic, but the magic of house-elf that he had just collected.


    ...


    The graveyard in Little Hangleton village is deserted, with traces of the battle that once took place still visible. The Ministry of Magic had sent someone to repair it afterward, but it could not be fully restored to its original state. The whole thing has become another strange legend among the inhabitants of the village.


    "It could be a wild beast-"


    "Nonsense! I''m betting it has something to do with the death of the Riddle family, who after spending over a decade transformed into ghosts and managed to get back at their enemies." Dott said inside the Hanged Man Pub, with one leg crossed and his head cocked to the side - as he did whenever he was drunk, spewing foul alcoholic odour out of his mouth.


    "You mean the dead gardener, Frank Bryce?" Someone asked in a low voice.


    "If not him who else? Thanks to those drunken bums at the police station, he was released without a charge and lived so many more years. Think about it, three members of the Riddle family died in such a strange way back then? If you ask me, it was retribution."


    "Where are the ghosts? Do you have any proof?" The barman looked at him with displeasure and retorted, "Pay for your drink!"


    Dott made a couple of grunts as he said, "Don''t interrupt!" He tilted his head the other way and said in a cryptic manner, "I do have proof, I''ve been to the graveyard at the back of the church and little Riddle''s grave - it was broken open!"


    "Really?"


    Someone coaxed, "You''re not making it up, are you? Why don''t you go and see it now?"


    "You won''t be able to see it," Dott said regretfully, "it''s been repaired."


    As they spoke, someone had already taken advantage of the night to go to the graveyard at the back of the church.


    A fanatic expression showed on Bellatrix Lestrange''s face as she drank the potion in her hand in one go.


    "Lord-"


    "Sleep, my dear Bella." Voldemort said, "I will wake you before the duel."


    Bellatrix fell into a deep sleep, the frenzy on her face becoming calm as she lay quietly in the coffin, her hands clasped together on her belly, with a golden cup clutched in her death grip. Voldemort waved his wand and the lid of the coffin closed, and dense alchemical symbols were lit up one by one.


    With another wave, Voldemort buried the coffin in the pit, and a thick layer of earth covered it.


    He would remain here until the day of the duel. He would wait, and if no one disturbed him in the meantime, then he could take a chance and temporarily separate himself from his Horcrux and fight Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore had grown weak, he could tell.


    The good news completely overwhelmed the shame that Malfoy, the traitor, had brought him.


    He knew how powerful his curse is, "In the name of getting rid of the lingering effects of the curse, he was weakened even more" Voldemort sneered twice, very pleased with the results of Severus'' work.


    He had deliberately picked the period of the O.W.Ls exams as the date for the duel when all the professors would be staying at the school, not to mention the existence of Severus, who would instantly inform him if Hap had disappeared.


    But is it safe to rely on Severus alone ...


    Voldemort''s mind whirled with various thoughts. By all accounts, he is a loyal Death Eater, carrying out his orders perfectly. But Voldemort never put his trust in anyone, just as he had never told the secret of the Horcrux to any of the Death Eaters who had remained faithful to him.


    Maybe he should have done more preparation ... How about using those examiners from the Wizarding Examinations Authority as eyes and ears? Using Imperius? No, there''s Thief''s Downfall to guard against that, he had to find a more subtle way. He didn''t need any assistance, as long as they could make sure Felix Hap remained at the school.


    There is also the Ministry of Magic Aurors ...


    Voldemort began to work out all sorts of evil trickery.


    ...


    Once school started, especially after the first week of career advice, there was only one thing left for the fifth year to do.


    That is to prepare for exams.


    Felix noticed, almost visibly, that the students had become more conscious and harder working. The reasoning is not difficult to understand; after the career advice, each student had a goal or two in mind, as advised by their respective heads.


    What''s more, almost every professor in every subject had continued to explicitly and implicitly state how important his or her subject is.


    At some point, simplified procedures for brewing potions began to circulate in the school. At first, the young wizards didn''t believe it; according to the usual practice of previous years, what was popular at this time of year would have been amulets, Baruffio''s Brain Elixir, dragon claw powder, and other such stuff.


    But the facts speak for themselves and a series of amazing coincidences emerged.


    Neville Longbottom, who had been hovering in the lower middle of the Potions class, had risen to the top, and even Harry and Ron, who had below-average grades, had excelled. Naturally, this unusual behaviour had caught the attention of the students and a certain professor, who had been staring behind the few like a ghost in the Potions class during one class.


    Harry''s head was sweating; he hadn''t performed any procedure for a full ten minutes and the daisy roots were on the verge of being chopped up.


    When Snape disappeared, he immediately flipped open the Potions textbook, which held a parchment with the heading ''Vitality Potion''. The handwriting on it was dense, but Harry knew that the potion could actually be broken down into seven major steps and three distinct stages.


    He quickly read what was on the fifth step, which had something like an outline: ''Enhances the effects of fire salamander blood.'' He read on, the original textbook contained a cumbersome five steps, whereas the new and improved method is brief: ''Strain the residue, stir twice counter-clockwise, then twice clockwise, and slowly inject the magic.''


    Harry grinned, it was almost equivalent to a combination of Professor Hap and the ''Half-Blood Prince''.


    He recited a soft incantation and a piece of parchment on the table quickly morphed into a filter, he raked it twice and then stirred it counter-clockwise and clockwise and infused it with magic, the potion had turned a light blue colour. S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry looked around, not many people had made as much progress as he had.


    He lowered his head in excitement and continued to read the following content, when-


    "Potter." Snape''s cold voice was heard and Harry nearly jumped out of his seat in fright.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 591:

    In Potions class, students stopped what they were doing and their eyes focused on Harry and Snape. "What are you doing, Potter?"


    "I, I''m looking at the steps." Harry stammered.


    "What''s that in your hand, bring it to me!"


    Harry showed a clear sign of rejection and his hand clutching the parchment subconsciously went behind him, but Snape walked over and snatched it away. Then he began to read the writing on it.


    Harry looked furious, he hadn''t done anything wrong, and he wasn''t banging the cauldron like Crabbe and Goyle, which was a serious breach of classroom discipline, so why is he only bothering him?


    Soon Snape''s expression turned suspicious as he glanced back and forth between the parchment and Harry, sizing him up with a gaze that made Harry uncomfortable as he subconsciously used Occlumency.


    A mocking smile tugged at the corner of Snape''s mouth.


    A wave of quick relief rose up in Harry for no apparent reason. He was actually expecting Snape to find fault with him and ask him where he got all this information, so he could say ''I got some help from Professor Hap and the Half-Blood Prince, and frankly, I think they are teaching me better.''


    He didn''t care about the fact that Snape had published a number of dissertations about the new material Blast-Ended Skrewt mucus some time ago or about the published comment in some newspaper that says he was ''just one recommendation away'' from the Order of Merlin; all he knew for sure is that he and Snape hated each other, and every time that hatred waned a little, Snape had a way of blazing it up with a word or two, or even a look in his eyes is enough to push the hatred back to new heights in Harry''s mind.


    But Snape ignored Harry.


    He circled around to the other side and reached out to take the textbook off the table, and Ron and Neville let out a faint groan from their throats as if they were being choked, but Harry shook his head at them, and they immediately relaxed their nerves.


    Hermione grunted softly through her nose.


    Snape flipped through the textbook, but it was just a very ordinary textbook, except for the two more sheets of parchment he had retrieved from it. Neville didn''t need to look at them to know that Harry had recorded the simplified moderating and reinforcing procedure for the potion ingredients on them because he was the one that had tucked them inside the book.


    Snape read them carefully, and only the gurgling sound of boiling potion from the cauldron was heard in the classroom; pretty soon white steam began to fill the room, but the students in the class seemed to forget to look after their own work and stared at their side with rapt attention.


    Snape lowered the parchment, his hawkish nose disappearing in the steam.


    "I underestimated you, Potter." He said calmly, "Apparently, once again, you''ve gained something that doesn''t belong to you by virtue of your accrued fame; perhaps I should go through the list of members of the ''Harry Potter Fan Club''; the names on it might surprise me."


    "That''s interesting, you check it out." Harry said through gritted teeth while waiting for him to ask the question: where did the contents on it come from, he can''t wait ...


    "You should call me ''sir'', or ''professor''." Snape said coldly, as he turned through a blurred layer of fog and returned to the podium. "Harry Potter, how many points should I deduce for tampering with the textbook, breaking the rules, and talking back to your teacher?"


    Despite not being able to see his eyes, Harry could feel an unkind gaze fall on him.


    Gryffindor students scowled at Snape all at once.


    "I thought normal professors would reward the innovative ideas that meet the specifications!" A pinched voice echoed through the fog.


    "Who!" Snape shouted angrily, but the voice died away. He waved his sleeve and the window burst open, the classroom drained of its pearly white mist in the blink of an eye, the students below stared at him in silence and Harry noticed Seamus quietly remove his hand from near his throat, and he is certain there must be a wand hidden inside that broad robe.


    "No one''s going to admit it? Eh?" Snape said slowly, the students were immediately taken aback, and it was clear that Snape was quite pleased with the state of the class as he pulled a slip of parchment out of nowhere, spread it out, and nonchalantly picked up the quill on the lectern and dipped it in full ink:


    "Let''s see, Gryffindor each gets a five points deduction-"


    "Wait!" Harry shouted, feeling he had to do something. Snape paused cooperatively, his eyes displayed the sophistication and cunning of a hunter chasing his prey, which let Harry know that all his struggles would be to no avail, when a flash of light went through Harry''s head and the memory of when Professor Hap had pulled out the textbook popped up. Harry shouted, "You can''t deny this method unless you want to deny your own-"


    At the words, both Harry and Snape froze.


    Hermione froze too as she thought of something and inhaled softly, looking at Snape incredulously.


    "Shut up, Potter." Snape said, "Sit down - and you guys, I''d like to see what sort of crap you are going to produce in this class!" He stopped paying attention to Harry and walked around the classroom, pointing out the students'' mistakes one by one.


    Harry sat down dizzily and stared at his cauldron.


    "That''s brilliant, Harry!" Ron said as an aside, "We need to get a grip, there''s not much time left, eh? I thought it was boiling dilute before, now it''s just right."


    Harry didn''t listen that much during the afternoon classes, and Sirius asked him what was wrong, which he brushed off with an upset stomach excuse. In the evening, he worked on his assignment in the library with Ron and Hermione, and Ron was incredibly efficient today, finishing his assignment an hour ahead of Harry.


    He even had the extra energy to look through the fifth-year Potions textbook Professor Hap had given them.


    "It''s a shame I can only make out Professor Hap''s handwriting, the other one''s too scribbly." Ron couldn''t help but mutter, his eyes almost brought near the pages, as he stared at the blackened mess of ink stains.


    Hermione''s attitude was complicated, she did her best to help them organize the notes, but she was also determined that she wouldn''t do what it said.


    "Hermione, Snape is wrong about everything he teaches in class." Ron held up steps in the textbook and pointed them out to her.


    "That''s an error in the textbook." Hermione calmly answered.


    "Well - what are you saying?"


    "If you had listened carefully, you would have noticed that Snape always shows the ingredients and the method of preparation on the board every time, you didn''t think it was exactly the same as the textbook, did you?"


    Ron stared at her dazedly, and even a somewhat depressed Harry stared at her.


    Hermione sighed, "Harry, you shouldn''t just listen to half of what you''re told, although Professor Hap implied that Professor Snape is a half-blood prince, he likewise said that Snape is teaching in correct methodology-"


    "Wait!" Ron yelled, "Half-blood prince? Who? Did you say Snape? Him?" He stared at Harry and Hermione''s faces and managed to get some sort of evidence. "You guys ... know all about it? When did this happen? Why am I not aware of it?"


    He threw out a series of questions in one breath, but neither Harry nor Hermione answered him. Harry was in a depressed mood and didn''t want to answer, while Hermione was packing up her things quickly, stuffing the parchments, ink bottle, and textbooks into her book bag in one go, zipping it up and getting up to leave hurriedly.


    "Where are you going?" Ron shouted.


    "Of course, I am running away as fast as I can, and for a reminder, Mrs. Pince will appear in about ten seconds." She dashed off on her feet and slipped away.


    Harry and Ron froze for a few seconds then yelped in unison and quickly gathered their things, and sure enough, a few seconds later the grim face of Mrs. Pince, the librarian, appeared, brimming with anger.


    " Yelling in the library! What''s that? Scribbling on a book? A gross blasphemy! A despicable act-"


    "It''s my book!" Harry shouted, grabbing his Potions textbook from her and running out of the library clutching various bits and pieces, with a flying feather duster following behind them, both he and Ron received a few smacks.


    "This sucks, can''t Hermione tell us in advance?" Ron rubbed the back of his head indignantly, "It''s bloody swollen."


    When they got back to the common room, Hermione was reading a book while sitting elegantly.


    Ron immediately became furious and snapped at her, which made Hermione''s eyebrows arch as she listened. Harry also had some complaints, but he had other things on his mind, so he used the Muffliato Charm to interrupt Ron and asked, "Hermione, have you thought about Firenze and Luna''s recent Prophecy?"


    "You''re still obsessing about it." Hermione asked, as if she had forgotten about it.


    "Merlin''s beard," Ron said excitedly, immediately forgetting all about his earlier outburst, as if he hadn''t been the one who had called out Hermione earlier. "That''s a prophecy that points to the Deathly Hallows, we could even consider it as a proof that proves that the Deathly Hallows really exist!"


    "Maybe." Hermione said lightly, "Remember what we discussed last time? The Elder Wand may be real, but the Resurrection Stone and the Invisibility Cloak-"


    "Harry''s Invisibility cloak might be the one from the legend." Ron said, this is one of the possibilities they had previously discussed.


    "Okay, I don''t want to argue with you guys." Hermione said, "But the Resurrection Stone." She said firmly, "There can''t be such a thing, at best, at best it''s some deceptive imitation that''s vastly less effective, maybe even an evil artefact that can only be used to control armies of Inferius or something."


    Harry and Ron stared at her, they had already become accustomed to hearing this same reasoning, but they are just as helpless as they were before, unable to come up with any evidence to refute it. So for the moment, they could only listen to Hermione repeat it again.


    "Firstly, even in the Fairy Tale of the Three Brothers, the Resurrection Stone does not bring people back to life, as you can remember, the second brother who got it ended up committing suicide; Secondly, all existing magical theories do not support the idea of resurrection from the dead, at best there are some similar alternatives, such as ghosts, magical portraits, the memory body of Classroom Seven, or even... ..." Hermione mouthed a word, and Harry and Ron knew she wanted to say Horcrux.


    "... is also nothing more than a fragment of your soul forcefully tugging your soul to linger in the world."


    "Does the time-turner barely count?" Harry asked softly.


    " No way it could possibly be capable of support the return of a definitively dead person to the human world - in a living form!" Hermione said firmly, "Remember Ms. Grey, as long as the dead person chooses to ''go on'', there''s nothing anyone can do to stop it."


    "And finally, I don''t know if you noticed, but Luna''s prophecy - let''s just assume it''s a prophecy - says that she passes by the Resurrection Stone, which means that she won''t be able to get it in the end, or use it to fulfil her wishes."


    After a moment of silence, Harry asked, "Hermione, maybe you''re right, but it doesn''t prevent the fact that Luna''s prophecy mentioned the Resurrection Stone - or a similar artefact - being in the school. If that''s true, who would have it now?"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore?" Ron guessed, "Or maybe it''s in Professor Hap''s possession!"


    "That''s not necessarily true," Harry said, "it''s likely that the person who owns it is also unaware of it himself."


    "What do you mean?"


    "The Elder Wand would probably just look like an ordinary wand, wouldn''t it? If it had been particularly conspicuous and extraordinary at a glance, it wouldn''t have become an unsolved mystery." Harry said, "The same might be true for the Resurrection Stone, as in - as in -" he racked his brain for examples.


    "A Philosopher''s Stone?" Hermione replied.


    "Exactly!" Harry slapped his thighs together and said excitedly, "I''ve seen the Philosopher''s Stone, and I''ve touched it! It looks so mundane compared to its immense fame. I mean, it''s just a somewhat brightly coloured red stone, and it doesn''t even compare to the Moonstone."


    Of course, Ron and Hermione knew what Moonstone is, it is a pretty useful potion ingredient that can also be used in jewellery - with a little polishing, these stones will bloom with a halo of ghostly blue or bright white that resembles moonlight.


    "Then there''s no way to find it." Ron said, with disappointment.


    "Seriously," Hermione looked up from her book, "do you guys realize that the O.W.Ls exams are less than four weeks away? Even if you can take a make-up exam, I doubt that after a year''s delay, you''ll still have enough time to get your N.E.W.Ts certificates before we graduate."


    Harry and Ron immediately became as sullen as defeated roosters, losing all temper and lazily resuming their assignments. After a while, Hermione dropped the book in her hand and stood up to leave in a victorious manner.


    " There you go, I''ve finished reading it."


    Everyone was studying hard as the exams approached, and despite Harry''s constant yawns, he struggled to read the words in the textbook. This was when the Advanced Potion-Making book Hermione had left behind became very attractive, and Harry had been wanting to see the description of the Polyjuice Potion in it.


    "How did you do that?" He rubbed his forehead drowsily.


    "What?" Ron asked, reading the History of Magic textbook with avid interest, which seemed incredible to Harry. If there is any time Ron looked at it for five minutes without dozing off, it means he is acting abnormal.


    "It''s like you''re on steroids." Harry yawned again, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes as he said.


    "What''s a steroid? Never mind, it doesn''t matter. I did drink something though."


    Ron looked around and sneakily pulled a small vial of potion out of his pocket.


    Harry stared at the glass vial in shock, recognizing the contents, after all he had just seen it in Potions class today-


    "Vitality Potion?"


    "Shhh! Smuggled it out of class," Ron said, handing it to Harry from under the table, and Harry instantly understood why Ron had been so energetic all afternoon. Ron lowered his voice and said, "We need it, and it''s just right for us." S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry suddenly felt a little tempted, the potion worked by temporarily boosting the user''s vitality and giving a boost of energy.


    "How does it works?" Harry asked in a whisper, he felt he had to ask this because a few weeks ago their grades were hovering between ''passing'' and ''failing'' and he just didn''t have the courage to drink the potion that Ron - -or himself - had personally prepared.


    If only Hermione had prepared it. She is absolutely trustworthy in this area, Harry thought as she had managed to successfully brew a polyjuice potion in the second year, with an hour-long duration of effect. And this is Advanced class content.


    But on second thought, if Hermione learned about it, she most likely would exercise her Prefect powers immediately and confiscate the vial from his hand.


    "Works like a charm!" Ron said, pointing to himself.


    For the next ten minutes or so, Ron enthusiastically promoted his potion, while Harry hesitated - he seriously doubted that this enthusiasm of Ron''s came from the side effects of the potion, but it certainly isn''t unacceptable, so he took a small sip.


    "How does it taste?" Ron asked with a look of anticipation.


    "Well ... it''s probably not bad?" Harry replied uncertainly, not perceiving any effect.


    "One more sip." Ron said encouragingly.


    Harry took another small sip when someone tapped him on the shoulder, "I heard you and Snape had a fight, Harry?" Harry choked, the potion fully gulped down his throat all at once, and he began to cough violently for a good while.


    "Oh, I''m really sorry," Fred said, spreading his hands, "what are you drinking? Some kind of scar removing potion?"


    Harry rolled his eyes at him without a smile. George sat down next to him and took the small glass vial from Harry''s hand to examine it carefully, the light blue liquid inside barely made it past the bottom layer. George shook it and sniffed it a bit, "Vitality potion?"


    "Very knowledgeable." Ron pretended to compliment.


    "I hope you strictly followed the instructions on how to take it." Fred suddenly jumped forward.


    " Or else what would happen?" Harry asked worriedly, but Fred and George''s faces showed both apprehension and gloating at the same time.


    "Nothing really, except that you might not be able to sleep." George said briefly.


    "-slightly hyper." Fred said very nostalgically, ignoring the two men''s somewhat pale faces.


    Some time passed after they left and the last person in the common room had also departed. Only Harry and Ron remained behind, but they didn''t feel like going to bed at all, "We can''t go on like this, we have class tomorrow." Harry made a snap decision and dragged Ron to their dorm room.


    But they were completely sleep-deprived and were lying in bed, tossing and turning, before finally slipping back into the common room.


    "I can''t believe that being energetic can be a torture." Ron said, his eyes staring straight at Harry for almost three seconds. In one moment he took out his History of Magic textbook, intending to spend the night going through it, in another he wanted to practice magic with Harry, and the next instant he offered to go for a walk.


    "You can read a book with me." Harry said, he is now reading the book Hermione left behind, Advanced Potion-Making, the chapter names alone are enough to get one excited: Draught of Living Death, Polyjuice Potion, Elixir to Induce Euphoria, Everlasting Elixirs, Hiccoughing Solution...


    But he was mostly reading the notes of two people, and the thought that one of them might have come from Snape in his school days gave him a twinge of nausea.


    Ron''s symptoms tended to worsen as he began to become hysterical, developing an inexplicable worry, "What if I can''t sleep again?" He said with a horrified look on his face, "Or what would happen when the potion wears off I fall asleep and can''t wake up again?"


    "That''s the effect of the Draught of Living Death." Harry couldn''t resist showing off the knowledge he had just read, "You can brew one yourself later if you need it, provided we can manage to get into the Advanced class."


    Finally, Ron made a very irrational request, one that would never have come out of his mouth if he is in his right mind.


    "Knock me out." Ron said with a gloomy look on his face.


    "What?" Harry looked at him in surprise.


    "I don''t bloody care! I need to sleep, I have class tomorrow." Ron said, then he started rambling, walking around the common room, coming over to tease Harry every now and then, and finally, Harry drew his wand and agreed to Ron''s request.


    There was a flash of red light and Ron passed out happily.


    After that Harry brought him back to their dormitory, he looked at Ron, who had a small smile on his lips, and suddenly panicked a little, what if he became like that himself in a moment?


    Who would knock him out?


    When he saw Neville, Seamus, and Dean, who were sleeping soundly, Harry was slightly relaxed, he could wake one of them up to help knock him out if necessary before he makes a bigger scene.


    Moodily Harry carried his little magic lamp back to the common room and glared at the old textbook.


    He glanced at the window, the moon is still high in the sky, and the distant end of the Forbidden Forest is splashed with grey-green colour; he reckons there is still four or five hours before dawn, which means he has a good chunk of free time to do what he wants to do. Maybe it is a good idea to go out for a stroll? He suddenly thought of the idea Ron had suggested earlier, followed by a churning in his stomach.


    The side effects of the potion wouldn''t have kicked in already, right?


    He muttered under his breath, "Expecto Patronum." A stag jumped out, its silver body translucent like crystal, its fur distinctly visible. Harry gently stroked the stag''s antlers and head, which felt very real to touch.


    The uneasiness in his mind disappeared, and he continued to read the book, Advanced Potion-Making.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 592: Influence and Response

    The next day at breakfast, Harry had a pair of red eyes and was poking at his fried egg with his fork. "Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked worriedly.


    "Yeah." Harry said, his voice sounded a little hoarse, but mentally he seemed in good spirits, "The potion hasn''t worn off yet." He turned his head to Ron and said vaguely, "I might need your help tonight."


    Ron nodded knowingly.


    Hermione, on the other side of the table, pouted in wonder at the silent understanding between the two. But before she could ask anything, Neville came over with the book ''One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi'' which was bookmarked with thick sheets of parchment inside.


    "I''ve put together a list of the hundred most common herbs and fungal potions ingredients." Neville said, " I have referred the previous years'' O.W.Ls exam questions, so there shouldn''t be anything left out."


    Ron was stunned by the confidence in his words. Harry quickly pulled out three sheets of parchment from his book bag, "Here''s the simplified process for the next three potions. Hand it over to, um-"


    "Hannah and Susan," Neville grinned, "they can''t wait to verify. Hermione -"


    "I''ll drop by this afternoon to have a look," Hermione said, "do I need to chech and mark them according to the exact O.W.Ls standards?"


    " It would only be effective that way, otherwise the scoring criteria Susan got from her aunt would all become useless." Neville said, "And as for Antidotes, there are no definitive solutions for that part, one has to understand the principles in depth ..."


    Hermione nodded slightly in agreement.


    "I can only offer a few thoughts-"


    "Actually, most poisons can be detoxified using Bezoar." Harry, who had been reading the book leisurely all night, interjected. It was only then that Neville saw Harry''s red eyes, and he was so startled that he almost knocked over his soup bowl.


    "Harry, your eyes-"


    "It''s nothing." Harry muttered.


    When Neville had left, Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaned over to see what Neville had prepared. Each parchment had seven or eight kinds of herbal ingredients described on it, not only with names but also with rough sketches outlined in simple lines. There are several arrows leading from the herbal ingredients, at the end of which the names of the potions in which the ingredient appears, and the role it plays in them, are written.


    The first ingredient is ''Dittany''.


    Harry stared at the drawing next to it for a couple of seconds, which roughly matched his memory. Then he carefully looked at the string of arrows that led up from it; the first entry mentioned raw consumption or anointing to heal superficial wounds; the second entry mentioned extracting the essence for a more effective healing effect, with the two common ratios written in small print next to it; the third entry mentioned that Dittany could be used to make an elixir that used to awaken people who had fallen into a magical slumber - "We should have stocked up on this!" Ron shouted when he saw this one, Harry had spent a lot of time waking him up this morning - the fourth to the eighth entries described what a mixture of Dittany mixed with other ingredients could do, such as mixing it with silver powder to heal the bleeding caused by werewolf bites ...


    "Awesome." Harry said, "I wonder how things went on the Greengrass sisters'' side?"


    Before afternoon classes, Daphne and Astoria arrived at the ''Frontline lookout club'' room, which looked completely different, with rows of cauldrons placed in an orderly fashion, and a few students adding ingredients into them, while Hermione examining the sample of a finished potion.


    "Non-toxic-"


    "Slightly pale, but negligible;"


    "Smells normal."


    "Next is the Scarpin''s Revelaspell," Hermione waved her wand and various shadows appeared above the small glass vial, then their shadows pulsed and Hermione mouthed some words, although it was not clear what she is doing, the shadows are becoming clearer. The people next to her came over to look.


    "It should be okay." She said with a sigh of relief.


    "It''s just a matter of trying, who''s going to try this one?" Seamus Finnegan said happily.


    The crowd took a step back in unison. They had obviously not forgotten what had happened to Anthony Goldstein - Hermione wasn''t present at the time - and the result was that Anthony''s eyebrows as well as his facial hair ''grew'' after taking a modified hair growth potion.


    "His nose hairs grew to a foot long!"


    After that, Hermione became an integral part of the testing and identification process. And she also knows the many versatile and seemingly pointless spells that can change an accident from ''very bad'' to ''average bad''.


    "I''ll do it." Justin Finch-Fletchley stepped forward, despite the quiet objections of his friend Ernest Macmillan.


    Harry stared unblinkingly at Justin, his eyes more redder and visibly tired, but he will be cured soon with the help of Sleeping Draught he got from Madam Pomfrey some time ago, "Boy, you really should have come earlier." She said sternly. "O.W.Ls exams do force a lot of people to-"


    "It, it was just an accident, Madam Pomfrey." Harry hurriedly said. Only after repeated assurances that he would not abuse potions again, he was allowed to leave.


    He noticed someone tugging at his shirt from behind, so looked back, lowered his head, and spotted Astoria.


    Astoria waved at him, gesturing for him to follow her out.


    "Did you bring the stuff?"


    "A vial of Dragon blood, half a Unicorn horn, twenty secondary Unicorn tail hairs, Runespoor skin, Ashwinder snake eggs, Fwooper''s feathers, Dragon liver, Scarab beetle, and Lethe River Water ... It''s all here." Daphne said as she patted her pockets.


    A shriek sounded from the side - it was from Ron who had tried to reach for it and was smacked by Daphne with her wand.


    "There are conditions." Daphne said with a stony face.


    "What conditions?" Harry asked sensitively.


    Daphne glanced reluctantly in Hermione''s direction, "She''s the only one who can use these materials. It was unanimously agreed-"


    "Wait, how many people are there with you?" Ron asked.


    "Fifteen."


    "That many!" Harry exclaimed in surprise.


    "Do you know how much these materials cost?" Daphne asked condescendingly, then gave Harry''s red eyes a somewhat hinted glance, "A samll vial of dragon blood alone worth twelve galleons, we''re not going to waste precious materials in an uncertain test, so it has to be done the proper way, and we need to see the correct procedure in action! Look at your red eyes!"


    "It''s not a side effect from testing the simplified potion!" Harry couldn''t resist defending himself.


    But Daphne shoved a small pouch of potion ingredients at him, "I don''t care, I''m just a messenger. You guys can set the exact time, but it has to be when we''re all available." She left with her sister in tow, Harry and Ron dumbfounded, "What''s she so proud of? It''s not like we''re begging for it-


    " To be precise, we were not involved." Harry reminded Ron, scratching his head, "I just didn''t expect Mafalda to really bring in so many people."


    Yes, there was a shadow of Mafalda in this whole thing. One could even say that she was the one who had linked up the students of the four houses together. Right now, she has retired with credit and started to actively expand her other business ...


    "We''re going to keep track of the developments regarding ''New Solutions to Rune'' magazine, and wasn''t there news some time ago that Diggory had signed up? He may be offered an offer during the summer, so we can make early predictions, he''s still very popular!" Mafalda said passionately, tossing her pale-red hair around as she did so.


    A few of the lower-grade kids nodded their heads like chickens pecking at corn.


    Before she knew it, Mafalda already got her first team.


    Towards the end of the short meeting, she pulled out a brand new little notebook and looked down at her outfit repeatedly, "Well, isn''t it perfect?"


    There was a chorus of praise.


    "Mafalda, is there someone you''re going to interview?"


    "Yeah, the one I''ve been aiming for." She said happily.


    Mafalda dismissed the little wizards and stomped along the courtyard with a skip in her step, as she looked through the news picks for the next edition of the Wall of Mystery newsletter.


    "Professor Burbage sings late at night about a major breakthrough in her dubious research - Draco Malfoy spends his days holed up in the library, working towards his career as a healer? And Harry Potter might have red eyes -" she looked gleeful, " The next Quidditch match is Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff, and there''s a change in Potions class which I got myself involved in, what should I write about? A team of students from all four houses versus a Potions professor? Oops, that''s my Head!"


    "I think you should change it slightly." A voice suddenly said.


    Startled, Mafalda looked up to find herself outside the courtyard. After the March winds and the April rains, the weather at present is exceptionally pleasant, and she looked at Professor Hap who is seated on a bench, with a field of flowers behind him.


    She strode over to him with a grumpy air.


    "I''ve written you twenty-seven letters, Professor Hap! And you''ve only written back to me three times - eh, what''s this?" She whined at first, but midway through her sentence, her attention was drawn away by the thick stack of parchment in Felix''s hand.


    "Just a student assignment." Felix said, and with a flick of his fingers, the parchment was gone.


    He leaned back on the bench and said lazily, "Since you haven''t changed a single word in your later letters, I didn''t see a point in wasting time; in fact, if you keep doing this when you reach the third year, I''ll detain you."


    Mafalda pouted. S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    " Wh-why would I take your class?"


    "Probably because it''s such an important class." Felix said matter-of-factly.


    Mafalda froze in place for a couple of seconds, "You almost got me fooled, that wasn''t a student assignment at all, I saw it a bit! It was titled ''Research Report on So and So'' and the name of the person who wrote this file is Winnie Valentine."


    Felix looked at her rather surprised.


    "I''m very sensitive to names." Mafalda said smugly.


    "Has anyone ever told you, Miss Prewett, that the large part of your personality revolves around showing off?" Felix said, "I remember you have suffered because of that, just a little while ago ... If you forget I can help you recall, keyword: hair-"


    Mafalda squealed in exasperation as Felix pulled his ears in a slightly exaggerated manner and leaned his body back.


    Mafalda became even more furious and cursed Umbridge in a quiet voice, stating that she had been caught in the crossfire, "Damned old banshee." She touched her hair, God knows how devastated she was when she broke out of the Confundus Charm effect and discovered a bald patch in her head.


    Felix silently enjoyed the moment and said, "We''ve gone very far off-topic-"


    "So now for the interview?" Mafalda immediately changed her expression.


    "Oh no, I just wanted to advertise something, it is about something I just happened to overhear ... Anyway, let''s discuss it."


    "What is it about? Quidditch, or Potions lessons?"


    "The latter." Felix said, "Don''t you think life is too bland for fifth and seventh years, being confined in tight rooms all day, going back and forth between classrooms, the library, and the common room ..."


    "And what''s wrong with that?" Mafalda asked incredulously.


    " You will have this same sort of days afterward." Felix reminded her, "I heard a couple of students had emotional breakdowns and were admitted to the hospital wing once again, sheesh, those professors have bad hearts."


    Mafalda squinted at him, hesitant to remind him of his position.


    "I noticed that some students have been organizing their own Potions'' revision recently? That''s good, never bow down to the evil forces ... but the scope could be broadened a little, Sirius - ahem, your Defense Against the Dark Arts class professor, making you all swing little wooden sticks all day, how tiring, I heard he also ridicules you in class for not swinging it perfectly..."


    "And Professor McGonagall, with her constant stern face, don''t you want to see her look surprised?"


    "Surprised ..." Mafalda mused, "Surprise the professor? Do you have any ideas?"


    "I don''t, but I bet the memory body in classroom seven knows." Felix, "That''s the scoop."


    "Classroom seven, yeah! There are a lot of professors'' memory bodies in there, and they know a lot of stuff." Mafalda narrowed her eyes as she thought about how she was constantly looking for a chance to interview Headmaster Dumbledore, but unfortunately failed to succeed, and the only time she had been near the Headmaster''s office was when she was impersonated.


    She brushed past those unpleasant memories and thought along the previous line of thought, she could inquire the memory bodies about the secret learning tricks they had used during their school days and make a series of articles. Especially the ones about the O.W.Ls exams and the N.E.W.Ts exams, which surely would draw huge attention.


    If she could pull out some of the professor''s tips ... Mafalda''s breath ragged as she grinned.


    "You can do more than that." Felix said, "I have a proposal that will be enough to make you famous ... Have you thought about it, some of the textbooks in the school are so old they seem out of date, so you can make the professor aware of it."


    "A direct confrontation is not realistic, after all, there is no proof in empty words, you have to show tangible evidence. Why not think differently, the memory bodies are equally intelligent academically, and they can guess the minds of the professors better, so if they can be brought to the side of the students and have them use the students to start a battle of academics between them and the original ones ..."


    Mafalda''s eyes lit up.


    "By the way, Miss Prewett, I''m taking a huge risk in breaking this information to you, so if my name ever spreads out-" Felix said seriously, "I''ll turn you into a frog."


    Mafalda was flabbergasted.


    "You''ve heard the story of the frog prince, haven''t you? I hope someone in reality would accept a frog with a good heart, well, I''m curious ..."


    Felix shoved two silver sickles into her hand, "Here''s the advertising money, I inquired about it from Professor Burbage." With that he left with a brisk stride - it just felt so pleasant to delegate his task to someone else.


    Consequently, Dumbledore wasn''t satisfied, "You could have done it more honourably Felix."


    Felix snickered, he is a snake, and it is his instinct to lay bait and lure people in.


    "You can accomplish more," Dumbledore said, as he could discern his thoughts from his face, "The four founders of Hogwarts, Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin, each of them had their own individuality.


    Their spirit has been passed down from generation to generation and lives on in the school to this day. If you want to change it, you first have to become it."


    Felix smacked his lips, how familiar those words sounded, he seemed to have said similar things to many students, the latest being today. So the next one should be ...


    "-and you have the potential."


    Tsk, he guessed it.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 593: The Secret of Classroom No. 7 (2 in 1)

    For the next few days, the Wall of Mystery newsletter was sold off the shelves. The first and most attractive title of the newsletter article was - ''How to Surprise a Professor?'' On the back, there was another printed article ''Classroom Seven, our overlooked treasure.''


    Just a day later, an article ''The student''s support - Classroom Seven'' became the new hot topic, with Mafalda ''successfully'' interviewing several memory bodies who -- coincidentally -- were more than happy to give their real bodies a bit of a hard time as they recalled their school days when they were preparing for their exams and spilling some little tips.


    For example, the Hogwarts students learned for the first time that both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Heads had an Hatstall when they were sorted, and Professor McGonagall was kept debating with Sorting Hat for five and a half minutes in her mind, as she wavered between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, before finally sorting into Gryffindor House.


    And the Sorting Hat went through a similar process when it met Professor Flitwick, and although it didn''t take that long, it did think twice before finally making the exact opposite decision and sorting the younger Flitwick into Ravenclaw House.


    "How marvellous! If the Sorting Hat had changed its hand at the time, we would have had two Heads with swapped positions." Ravenclaw''s Padma Patil called out.


    "The Sorting Hat has no hands." Her twin sister, Parvati Patil, who had been sorted into Gryffindor, reminded her.


    "Are we getting a new Head?" Luna looked around.


    "They''re joking." Ginny said.


    The professors were startled. At first, they had turned a blind eye to the students'' actions and allowed them to harass the memory bodies in Classroom Seven - their time was spent studying anyway - but after this story broke, the professors got a bit more concerned.


    They have found their memory bodies and given them an earful, warning them not to reveal their little secrets ever again.


    Felix then saw Dumbledore sneaking into classroom seven one night during curfew from the Marauder''s map. He grinned, put the map away, and played the latest version of the Wizard Cards with Valen, a card game made by the ''Chocolate Frog Card Duelling Club'', which was founded by a Ravenclaw student. Professor Flitwick had proudly shown it to them during an afternoon tea session on one occasion.


    Felix could remember this event very well.


    Since it happened on April 15, not long after that happened the Weasley twins made a big commotion.


    "Kee! (Don''t cheat!)" Valen grumbled, clutching a handful of cards in her hand.


    Felix slapped a card on the table, " A distraction! All my attacks are considered twice as powerful when this card is present."


    "Kee!!!" Valen stared at the card with wide eyes, in disbelief.


    "How is it impossible?" Felix stated vibrantly, "You''ve clearly seen me prepare this." Exasperated, Valen wanted to throw the little snake in his face.


    "Kee!"


    "Well," he withdrew the temporary card regretfully, "I''ll certainly suggest them to add this card when I get a chance ... your turn."


    Valen blinked sheepishly and displayed the cards in her hand one by one:


    Felix stared at ''Niffler''s Cloak'', ''Niffler''s Wand'', ''Niffler''s Treasure'', ''Niffler''s Money Bank'', and the most powerful one of all - ''Niffler''s Trump Card: Summon the Great Demon King''.


    He bristled, " Well, that''s a perk of being an investor, I guess."


    ...


    After dinner, Harry, Ron, and Hermione made their way to classroom seven, the corridor by the door was simply buzzing with activity and the three of them were pushed through the crowd to the front to see Angelina talking to Alicia in a low voice.


    Harry suddenly realized to his horror that they were both seventh years, and with Fred and George, four of them would be gone at once from next year''s team!


    "Harry!"


    Angelina waved at him, "Here-" she reached out a hand and yanked Harry over, Harry didn''t even react. Then she rummaged through her book bag and pulled out a stack of parchment, and asked as she searched the bag, "Where''s Ron?"


    "Here!" Ron gasped as he squeezed over. Hermione followed behind, clutching her book bag.


    "Excellent, you see, this is a new tactic I''ve worked out, the winner of the match between Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff will be our opponent, according to the current rankings we still retain the advantage, but we must not take it lightly-"


    Before Harry could speak, the door to classroom seven opened.


    "That''s all for now, when you guys go back, take a good look, we will use it at our next training session." Angelina said quickly, as she hurried into classroom seven after Alicia.


    "I''d like to see-" Ron mumbled, squeezing in with Harry and Hermione at the same time.


    They had been here so many times in their fourth year that it had left many psychological shadows in their minds, which led to them rarely dropping in even when Classroom Seven became open to students in their fifth year; they had heard that some students who liked to explore used it as some sort of second common room.


    "The weather is still so unpredictable." Ron muttered and Harry thought deeply, unlike the twilight scene outside, the pale sunlight shone down on their faces, is warm, and the soft dirt seemed to glow under their feet.


    Under their feet is a twisting, cobbled path that reminds Harry of Diagon Alley, except there are fewer cobblestones. There are wooden signs standing on the road, with a fork in the path extending alongside each sign; they can only see part of the way, and any deeper seemed to be obstructed by a mist.


    Harry squinted hard to see further down the road, there seemed to be some small houses hidden in the mist, and he guessed that Mr. Scamander''s magical zoo, Professor Sprout''s wild greenhouse, and other buildings would be there.


    "Do you guys think the young Professor McGonagall will be at the end of the road?" Ron said, pointing to the nearest wooden sign, which neatly inscribed ''Transfiguration''. "It''s possible." Harry said, feeling intrigued by the idea. He ran to the other side and joined Hermione in surveying a crooked wooden sign.


    "It must have been written by Hagrid''s own hand." Hermione sounded very confident.


    Harry grinned as he looked at the wild handwriting on the board, with two letters misspelled.


    "Who else could it be."


    At that moment, the students who had come in before and after them took the fork in the road, and their figures quickly disappeared.


    "Let''s hurry up and choose one too." Hermione urged.


    "How about Transfiguration?" Harry offered, "I''m not too skilled at cross-species transfiguration yet."


    "The lesson where the owl turns into a small telescope?" Ron whispered, "You''ve done well enough, I was surprised when they blinked at me while I was looking into the telescope lenses and Seamus said he always felt like something was staring at him ..."


    "That''s because you don''t see them shrink themselves up when they get ticklish." Harry said gloomily.


    So they returned to walk up the ''Transfiguration'' path, Harry was more and more certain that this path had been designed by Professor McGonagall''s memory body, the plants on either side of the path had obviously been well tended, the shrubs neatly trimmed and seemed to have been measured with a ruler.


    Harry recalled Privet Drive with unpleasant flavour, and he shared the thought with Ron and Hermione - the former laughed endlessly, the latter just grunted, before they came to the end of the path.


    Harry looked around.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron asked.


    "Before us -" Harry stretched his arms out, looking a little dumbfounded - "some people picked this path, but none of them are here." As soon as the words left his mouth, three doors appeared in front of them.


    "So they''re waiting inside." Ron said, and the three of them looked at each other, before each picking a door and walking in.


    Behind the door, there is an empty classroom, without a single soul in sight.


    Harry walked around the room and finally returned to the same spot, and was somewhat dumbfounded to find that even the door had disappeared. He cleared his throat and asked in a loud voice, "Is anyone home?" At the same time, he clutched his wand vigilantly, fearing that a flock of dragons would come out flying due to his loud shout.


    Something similar to a mirror suddenly appeared in the air, its surface rippling with golden light, and Harry saw a blurred image of what appeared to be someone on the other side! Then a red envelope was thrown out.


    "Wait!" Harry shouted, "I can see you."


    The golden ripples which were nearly fading came to life and after a few seconds a hand poked out of it, followed by an elegant face - it turned out to be the young Professor McGonagall, who pursed her lips and showed half her body, making him very unnerved. "It''s Harry." She said in a flat tone.


    The red envelope that had just been tossed over to him began to puff out smoke, and the ear-piercing memory about this thing in his deeper mind came flooding back; this thing is a howler letter. Harry tried to move back, but his feet felt like they had taken root, and he couldn''t move.


    "Pro- Professor McGonagall?"


    "Oh, are you trying to ask about that thing," the young Professor McGonagall said with a scowl, "That''s Felix''s design, it''s not much use, it''s simply to scare people." Her tone was somewhat dismissive as the mirror, which was only half a man''s height, turned into a door, and she pushed it in, then with a wave of her hand, two more beautiful chairs appeared in the classroom.


    "Let''s sit down and listen together, it''s about all the changes that have been going on here recently."


    So Harry and Professor McGonagall sat down in the chairs and the howler letter - or maybe an instruction manual disguised as a howler letter? Harry couldn''t quite figure it out, but it opened one mouth and began describing the functions of Classroom Seven in graphic detail.


    "... A great place to help students ... A novel experience ... Ahead of the times... ..."


    Harry listened with rapt attention, and it took him five minutes to realize that all the things it said before were pure nonsense, and at some point towards the end, it finally moved on to the main topic.


    " This place is designed with the student''s will in mind, you can learn in single user mode, or in group mode as a class, or together with your friends. Yes, there is an immense degree of freedom ... it''s the biggest difference you will find between here and the classroom," the envelope moved closer with its mouth wide open and Harry leaned his body back, he felt the envelope''s spit about to spray on his face, "we won''t ask you to do anything. "


    "In other words - you have to figure out what you want! No one can help you on that point."


    The envelope began to burn and Harry was afraid it would suddenly explode, but Professor McGonagall simply waved her hand and made it disappear.


    "Now do you understand?" The young Professor McGonagall asked.


    "Well -" Harry pondered, looking at the exquisitely dressed Professor McGonagall out of the corner of his eye and mentally addressing her as ''Ms. McGonagall'', "it suggests that that classroom seven is different from the classroom outside."


    He realized he had just said a standard line of nonsense.


    "We want the two to complement each other - the classroom and Classroom Seven, the professor and the memory body." The young Professor McGonagall corrected, "And?"


    "Well, I can learn whatever I want to learn?" Harry guessed, and Ms. McGonagall smiled at him, "Limited to Transfiguration, yes, you''re right."


    Harry breathed a sigh of relief.


    "What about Ron and Hermione? Did they go through the whole ''howler letter'' thing too?" Harry asked while wondering if Ron would still be calm enough to listen carefully to its contents when he saw an instruction manual that resembled a howler letter.


    "Pretty much, but they didn''t see me, though." Ms. McGonagall said, "I am here on a whim." She added in a small voice, then waved her hand and two blurred images appeared in the air, Harry stared in amazement as the images showed none other than Ron and Hermione.


    Ron was being chased by a group of round things and Hermione was lost in thought facing a wall with hundreds of books stuck to it, Hermione walked around, occasionally stopping to make a gesture of turning the pages, the books in front of her obediently turned the pages ...


    Harry watched in amazement. How amazing, but why are there so many differences between the two?


    Could it be that this place would divide them according to intelligence?


    "They have chosen different ways of learning." Ms. McGonagall explained, "Ron preferred to learn by playing, so I had a bunch of plates of vegetables to chase him around, and they wouldn''t stop until he could successfully turn them into mushrooms one by one."


    Harry mentally prayed for Ron.


    "As for Hermione - she''s more of a thinker, that being said, I think she''s a little too Ravenclaw-ish." Ms. McGonagall said.


    Harry suddenly thought about the rumours he had heard over the past two days. He bravely asked, "McGonagall - um - Ms.?" A slight smile tugged at the corners of the young Professor McGonagall''s lips and Harry dropped the question that was on his mind, "Is it true that you had experienced Hatstall when you were sorted?"


    "Yes."


    "Professor Flitwick too?" He asked cautiously.


    "Oh, we sometimes do - I mean between each other in this context - poke fun at each other," Ms. McGonagall said, "I have that part of my memory. But in fact, Filius''s case is not considered exactly as Hatstall, it''s just that the Sorting Hat hesitated a little too long. Well, I can''t stay here for too long, there are quite a lot of students these days and I have to look after them constantly. Although other people will help, but ..."


    She muttered in a small voice, probably along the lines of ''don''t want to bother anyone else''.


    "I will occasionally show up as a class lecturer - not to lecture, but to answer questions. It''s quite a nostalgic feeling." She said, "One thing you should know: here, you will get a response to whatever you want."


    "Imagination is important." She personally demonstrated this by drawing a random door in the air with her finger and then pushing it open and leaving, Harry walked over to it, and it was gone.


    He remained in place for a moment and wondered tentatively, "Can I change the setting here? How about turning it into a ... forest?"


    The air around him began to shake as a vague image of towering trees and shrubs emerged, and a few seconds later they appeared in real life. Harry watched this in awe, almost thinking he had arrived in Professor Hap''s thinking classroom, and then he tried various environments such as the Black Lake, the great hall, the covered bridge, the clock tower, and even the shrieking shack.


    After a few moments of intense fun, it occurred to Harry that Ron would still be being chased by the vegetable plates, and he hurriedly enquired, "Can I go to Ron''s place? Ron Weasley, with the red hair and freckles-"


    A small line appeared in the air: Personal permission required. After a few seconds, a blurred image appeared in the air, and Harry moved closer to catch a better look, and then he noticed Ron frantically running toward him.


    Ron jerked his wand backward and a few dark mushrooms grew from the nearest dish, and when he looked back he saw Harry in front of him. He shouted excitedly, "Harry? A little line of writing just appeared in front of me and I thought it was an illusion-"


    "Watch out!" Harry yelled.


    "Bang!" Ron went through the fuzzy blur of air and the two crashed hard against each other.


    Harry''s eyes went straight up, and he covered his nose and plopped down, tears brimming down his face, and after a long moment, he shook Ron''s leg off his chest and struggled to get up from the ground, his glasses hanging off his left ear and his vision blurred. He hurriedly put his glasses back on and noticed that the plates are dancing and circling around both of them.


    When Harry stood up straight, the plates rolled towards him as if they had received a signal, and Harry sat back down decisively, dragging Ron, who was about to stand up, back to the ground in the process.


    The plates stopped in their tracks.


    "Can we be able to use other magic?" Harry and Ron discussed the countermeasure.


    "No," Ron said with a frown, "I''ll show you." He fired off a Stunning Spell, only for the spell to go straight through the plate, "I reckon they only react to Transfiguration."


    Harry scratched his head a little, he could already imagine the scene where he would practice turning an owl into a small telescope.


    Maybe they could try Hermione''s method next time?


    ...


    The depths of classroom seven.


    This area is the absolute heart of Classroom Seven, which is densely woven with runic circuits and magic nodes that look like underground pipes, with layer after layer of protective magic wrapped around them.


    Theoretically, this place could not be discovered by outsiders, not even the memory bodies. This is because, at the beginning of its construction, Dumbledore used the Headmaster''s authority - just like in the Room of Requirement - to connect Classroom Seven''s magical feed together with the entire castle.


    At the moment, Felix appeared in this ''non-existent'' place, with jars and pots in front of him, which extracting and storing invisible magic from every corner of the room, the mouths of the jars shone with a star-like brilliance.


    Felix clapped his hands together and stood up.


    "Let''s see, joy, anger, fear, sorrow, curiosity, disgust, guilt, pride, calmness, confusion, longing, as well as love and hate - what else? Never mind, let''s divide it up later."


    As the date of the final battle approached, everyone is preparing for it accordingly.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 594: Approaching Conclusive Duel

    When they got out of classroom seven, Hermione kept chattering. "Didn''t expect that at all! It was much better than I expected, I was expecting all sorts of practical battles, like throwing you in the Forbidden Forest and having a bunch of weird creatures chasing you around ... I mean, it wouldn''t have been that bad, but I prefer a period of quiet and productive reflection- "


    "Who says it''s not?" Ron snapped.


    He and Harry were drenched in sweat and their hair looked askew, like they had just been through a rigorous Quidditch training session.


    Hermione didn''t seem to have heard his words, as she continued to share her feelings excitedly, "You can simply talk to the room and have it help in the way you want - which is what I did, you know? I''ve always had a dream of being able to read a dozen books at once. Of course, they''re all interrelated with each other, presumably with different interpretations of the same magic ... which I can use to cross-reference, and it''s really helped me achieve it!"


    "The best part is that drinks appeared once a half hour in there- I only discovered this later- and you could choose between tea, hot cocoa, and pumpkin juice, they were all ghost food. But there''s nothing wrong with that."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other, they weren''t exactly being rewarded with hot tea to drink, instead, they were followed by a group of spinning plates of greens that forced them to perform transfiguration. Harry swore he wouldn''t even go near a mushroom for the rest of the week.


    "I''ve heard there''s also the classroom model, in which a group of students get together to study, which is modelled upon a Classroom scenario." Harry changed the subject and said.


    "Yeah," Hermione tried to remember, "I seem to have seen that too, later we can give it a try."


    The next two weeks flew by, and as June approached, the fifth and seventh years spent all their energy on revision, and instead of assigning assignments, the professors reviewed the questions that might come up on the exam in class. The students'' heads were spinning every day and the little time they had in class was not enough, so they were forced to jot down the points and then either spend the whole evening in the library memorizing the material or show up in the classroom seven to practise their spells.


    During this time, Hermione also fulfilled her promise to demonstrate the most difficult potion boiling methods for some of the students in the class. There were students from all four houses gathered around, but they could basically be grouped into two categories: the members of the Frontline Lookout Club and their friends, and the dozen or so students from Slytherin.


    The former had made a significant effort to simplify the potion process, and the latter - well, paid for a good deal of precious potion materials.


    "I didn''t see Goyle or Crabbe." Hermione whispered when the demonstration was over, looking at Draco Malfoy''s departing back.


    "It''s not just the two of them," Fred said as he came over, "all the ones who are related to Death Eaters are trying to distance themselves from them now, so the few whose immediate family are Death Eaters are miserable and very unpopular."


    Harry''s mind drifted off as he remembered reading in the newspaper a few weeks ago about Crabbe and Goyle''s father being sentenced to life imprisonment by Wizengamot.


    "What about Malfoy? Wasn''t his dad undercover?" Ron asked.


    "Him? Not that bad or good," Fred said carelessly, " he did get some cold shoulder at the start, but there''s no shortage of clever Slytherins, so soon someone came along," he added, "or maybe their parents are resourceful enough. "


    "Of course, there are some who hold it against him, those who-" George said.


    "People whose immediate family are Death Eaters." Harry said with certainty.


    "Exactly." George winked at him, "There''s a gain as well as a loss. Fair enough, isn''t it?"


    Harry put his mind at ease, he had been worried that the Slytherins would be looking for trouble, he had even tried to ask one of the professors to come over - not Snape of course, but Sirius. But Sirius was too busy, and he complained to Harry privately that Dumbledore made sure to assign him extra duties since he knew that he would not be teaching in the next school year.


    To motivate the students, Sirius even made a bet with them that if any of them could get ''Outstanding'' in the wizard grading test, he would present to those students his experience of learning Animagus as a gift.


    "Come to think of it, although Professor McGonagall knows about it too, she doesn''t teach it that easily, as far as I know, it''s only for the best students of the Transfiguration Club." He said grumpily, "Want it? Then get an ''Outstanding'' and return."


    "Professor Black, will you continue to teach the Defence Against the Dark Arts class next year?" A student asked expectantly.


    Sirius shook his head, "Only this year." Seeing the disappointed look on the student''s face, he hurriedly said, "Don''t worry, I will keep my word, that knowledge is in Professor Hap''s capable hand ..."


    ''Professor Hap'' only found out about this on the third day, he had basically stayed in the depths of classroom seven all this time, creating a makeshift office for this purpose - the thinking room and classroom seven are simply a perfect match, combined with the constant flow of emotions that the students were generating because of the exams, his research is making extremely rapid progress.


    "When did you ever give me the information about Animagus?"


    Felix asked in an unpleasant tone as he blocked Sirius at the great hall entrance one day. Who realized, as an afterthought, that the news about ''Professor Black entrusting his knowledge to Professor Hap'' had spread through the school.


    "Am I wrong?" Sirius said dismissively, "The Black family generations of book collections are stuffed into your belly. Animagus is just an insignificant addition, oh - no wonder you don''t remember."


    Felix smartly closed his mouth.


    ...


    After lights out, Harry sat on the windowsill of his dorm room staring out at the stars, realizing with a start that they had won the Quidditch Cup two days ago, which should have been something worth celebrating in a big way, but the Gryffindor team - with the exception of Katie Bell, who doesn''t need to take either of the wizard grading exams - the other six just made a hasty appearance at the celebration party and turned their heads to deal with the ''pestering gnome'' in Fred''s words.


    As the month of June approached, the shadow of exams loomed ever closer.


    More than one student had developed exam syndrome, with more or less of them picking up some odd habits, such as Hufflepuff''s Ernest Macmillan''s tendency to probe the study times the other students needed to review for their exams, and then be relieved when he learned that they need more time than he did, and nervous when they did not.


    Hermione is just as bad as him, and she excels in two areas in particular. She had single-handedly thwarted the thriving black market trade of young wizards, whether it was poorly packaged, poor quality Baruffio''s Brain Elixir or substandard dragon claw powder disguised as dried fox dung or all sorts of substandard Elixir to Induce Euphoria, Sleeping Draught ... were all confiscated from the student''s hand and dumped down the toilet.


    Another thing is that she has developed the habit of looking at people with blank eyes, which usually happens on her way to class with Harry and Ron, or during meal times. It was accompanied by symptoms such as mumbling under her breath and poking her fingers in the air constantly.


    "You''re not Luna in disguise, are you?" Harry looked at Hermione suspiciously.


    "What? Of course not!" Hermione impatiently said, "I''m just studying in my mind."


    In the last class before the exams, Felix explained to the students what to expect.


    "The Ancient Rune exam is scheduled on Friday, with a written test in the morning and a practical in the afternoon." Felix said, "I personally participated in the questions'' formulation for the practical exam, and all the questions are within the scope of our review, so you can put your hearts and minds at ease."


    "Also, I assume you are aware that cheating is forbidden in exams."


    The faces of the students under the podium were tightly tensed, and Felix wasn''t sure what they were really thinking unless he tried to use Legilimency or some kind of mind magic.


    "The examiners are highly experienced, and they can easily spot any cheating tricks. It might be a bit abstract when you put it that way, so I will give you an example - the Head Examiner, Professor Griselda Marchbanks, has invigilated Headmaster Dumbledore''s N.E.W.Ts examination, which would imply that she has invigilated nearly a hundred of such examinations from her youth till now, so try to imagine what it would signify."


    Harry inhaled softly, he had never thought about it in that context before. He looked around the room and the others had pretty much the same look on their faces when Professor Hap used an example that is too unreal to be true and showed them how difficult it would be to cheat.


    "... Things like Auto-Answer Quills, Remembrall, Detachable Cribbing Cuffs, and Self-Correcting Ink, all sorts of Potions ... These things are all banned, I spent two days at the Wizard Examination Authority, and believe me, figuring out anti-cheating magic is just an all-too-common part of their daily routine, and the variety of weird and bizarre trinkets I saw in those two days was breathtaking ..."


    "My personal advice for you is to ask Madam Pomfrey for some Sleeping Draught, to get plenty of sleep, plus chew a couple of mint leaves to refresh yourself before you go into the exam room - yes, mint leaves are allowed."


    ...


    At breakfast on Sunday, Seamus stumbled into the great hall and shouted, "The examiners are here!" The original buzz instantly reduced to a low point as a Year 7 girl suddenly bawled her eyes out and a circle of people around her reached out to comfort her.


    Harry had one eye on the suddenly hysterical girl and the other on the entrance to the great hall, trying to spot the examiners and nearly ending up with food lodged into his nose. Just as he was in the process of coughing down, he heard a neat intake of breath from his left and right, and he jerked his head up to see Dumbledore assisting an older woman walk through the entrance.


    "It''s Professor Marchbanks!" Hermione sounded out of character.


    "I heard she and Neville''s grandmother are good friends, do you think we could-" Ron mumbled hopefully, then he saw the stiff expression on Neville''s face and sighed, "Alas, it seems not. "


    On the other side--


    "Dumbledore?" Professor Marchbanks said in a loud voice at the side, followed by a silent Professor McGonagall and Snape behind her and Dumbledore, "Dorothea told me you haven''t bothered to get a checkup-"


    "There''s an excellent healer at this school," Dumbledore said calmly, "she can fix those headaches of mine with ease."


    The last night before his exams, Harry lay in bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep.


    He felt his mind is particularly active tonight; he thought of Sirius'' encouragement to him during the day, the feeling of holding the Quidditch trophy in his hands after a year of absence, and he even thought of Voldemort, who hadn''t appeared in his dreams for a long time, and it seemed that Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore''s suspicions are right - Voldemort had used Occlumency very tightly to prevent his intrusion.


    That explained why his scar had never hurt for a long time.


    Harry rose from the bed and fumbled around in the darkness for a while, eventually managing to rummage through the Christmas sock Dobby had given him to find a small vial of Sleeping Draught, which he unscrewed and took a small sip of.


    "Give me some too, Harry." Ron chimed in.


    Harry handed the open glass vial to Ron and their hands bumped against each other as the vial transferred smoothly in the air. Then came the sound of gulping, and Ron smacked his lips in satisfaction. At that moment, another voice was heard next to him -


    "Any more?" Neville asked in a whisper. He wasn''t asleep either.


    "There''s more than plenty." Ron said, and as soon as the words were out of his mouth, from different spots in the dorm room came the voices of Seamus and Dean, "Great! Do you mind sharing me a little-" "Um ... thanks?"


    The vial rotated in a circle and was empty by the time it returned to Harry''s hand.


    Sleep hit him and Harry haphazardly placed the vial on the bedside table and took off his glasses to lie on his pillow, " Shouldn''t we set an alarm?" He asked vaguely.


    "What?"


    "I said-ha-ah-" Harry yawned widely and fell asleep.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Bellatrix awoke from her coffin, sitting up blankly, her hands still clutching the golden cup with a death grip.


    Voldemort was very pleased with her attitude.


    Bellatrix bowed her head respectfully, the inexplicable zealousness once again surfaced on her face.


    "Click, click, click."


    Bellatrix shook her stiff neck, she seemed to have been asleep for a long time, her arms and legs were incoherent as she crawled out of the coffin, and just as she was about to crash down to the ground, Voldemort snapped his fingers lazily, and she was immediately pulled upright by an invisible force. S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Thank you, My Lord. I, I-" Bellatrix stared at her hands, which seemed to have lost the appearance of what normal skin should look like, becoming wrinkled and pale as if they were covered in some sort of fine scales, her eyes widening as she touched her face in panic.


    Then there was an audible, bone-seeping scream.


    "Don''t worry, my dear Bella, it''s only temporary." Voldemort surveyed his ''work'' with satisfaction, "Your body has undergone some minor alterations in your sleep and will need some time to recover." He took Bellatrix''s hand.


    With Voldemort''s help, Bellatrix stumbled out of the coffin. Surrounded by the gloomy crumbling graveyard, with wild grasses making a grimy sound and a wind that seemed to scrape into her skin which caused her to shiver with cold.


    A few minutes later, slightly more mobile, Bellatrix followed behind Voldemort.


    "During the time you were asleep, there was a great change outside."


    "The Aurors of the Ministry of Magic have shattered my loyal followers to pieces with the help of two traitors'' identification ... Bella, you are one of the few who still remain loyal to me."


    "Dark Lord!" Bellatrix said gratefully, "Thank you for being magnanimous and not taking my sister and brother-in-law into account-" Voldemort''s eyes cast two dangerous red lights, and she snapped her mouth shut as the air fell into dead silence.


    After a long moment-


    "Not accounting?" Voldemort asked softly and Bellatrix bowed her head as Voldemort walked around in front of her, "What makes you think I would forgive the betrayal of anyone? Lucius ... Selwyn ... and perhaps others, the Ministry of Magic''s intelligence was closed to me, and I am now like a blind man who can only learn about the trial from the newspapers."


    "Since when does my name not seem to hold up the weight as it used to be, do you know what is now being discussed in the newspapers?" Voldemort asked, and without waiting for Bellatrix to answer, he muttered to himself, "Dumbledore, Hap, Potter, and even that woman ... Amelia Bones."


    The wind was chilly.


    "They''re talking about the Dark Lord''s nemesis, and there''s more than one!" Voldemort raised his voice and Bellatrix''s body shook as if she had been whipped in the face, and she fell to her knees, Voldemort ignored this, his mouth twisted with an evil grin, "I seem to be nothing but a clown to all these people."


    "My Lord, you are the most supreme Dark Lord." Bellatrix wailed, seemingly saddened by this dwindling honour, "Things aren''t nearly that bad-"


    Voldemort sneered twice.


    "Of course, things are not that bad." He said coldly, "But it has reached a critical moment, so my mind became sensitive. My duel with that old man Dumbledore is almost at hand, and my greatest fear is about that Felix Hap fishing in the muddy water-"


    "Is this a trap?" Bellatrix asked, holding her breath.


    "No, Dumbledore wouldn''t dare lie to me, he can''t afford to do that." Voldemort said in an icy tone, Bellatrix fully grasped the blood and gruesomeness in those words.


    "The location of our duel is a secret, and I will also place Intruder Charm on the surrounding perimeter ..."


    "It''s something else I''m worried about - he''ll come after you."


    "Me?" Bellatrix muttered, both surprised and thrilled.


    Voldemort stared at her pale face, making Bellatrix nervous as she became more and more careful and reverent.


    "Bella," Voldemort said softly, "you have been loyal to me, and now it is time for me to reward you in kind," he said as he took Bellatrix''s hand and with a gentle touch of his long, pale fingers, he picked the golden cup from her hand and examined it carefully for a moment.


    "I will share the secret of my immortality with you."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 595: Time

    The atmosphere in the cemetery was eerie, and the faint lights of the Little Hangleton town in the distance, were dotted like ghostly fires instead of adding some life to the atmosphere, acting as some kind of ghastly element common in horror stories as Voldemort and Bellatrix conversed in the background. Voldemort, draped in a loose black robe, with his bare skin reflecting the ghastly white moonlight, spoke in a soft whisper as Bellatrix''s head bowed lower and lower, all the while her eyes glowed in the desolate graveyard.


    "Yes, My Lord - I have been looking forward to this moment," Bellatrix said in a flattering tone as best as she could muster, "They would never have anticipated it!"


    Tonight is destined to be an uneventful day.


    "Dumbledore, something is wrong with you." Felix said with a stern look, his eyes turning into a pupil-less grey-white like Thestral, as he unabashedly looked up and down at the older man sitting behind the long-legged table.


    Dumbledore smiled and lowered his head to gaze at the bizarre silverware in front of him.


    Felix guessed that this silverware had been personally crafted by Dumbledore, like the lamp extinguishers he had previously demonstrated; at least Felix assumed that their function would not be ''merely'' to spew out a stream of smoke in a jubilant manner. The two men did not speak. Halfway through the proceedings, Dumbledore removed the glove from his right hand and examined it for a moment, then placed the dry, charred hand in the smoke, the jet black colour of his palm becoming less pure, like some kind of old, mottled paint beginning to peel and fade.


    After almost ten minutes, the hand in the smoke stopped changing, but it did not return to full normalcy; if one looked closely, one would see that the palm of that hand had very tiny black things tangled in its palm lines, twisting persistently and wickedly.


    "That Horcrux - the Gaunt''s Ring," Dumbledore uttered softly, "has a particularly powerful curse placed on it, hidden and powerful. And - perhaps Voldemort himself didn''t consider that the material of the ring itself was very tempting to me; he sort of played it right, but all in all, I completely zoned out -"


    "Perhaps it was fate that I carried the Christmas present you gave me during that time," he smiled and complimented it once again, "the design was so cleverly thought out that it made me want to study it ... "


    "It''s just a detector." Felix quipped.


    "More amazing than any detector I''ve ever seen," Dumbledore corrected, "not to probe the outside world for danger, but to examine oneself for anomalies ... I must stress again, a very clever design concept. "


    He continued, "After I brought the ring back, I spent some time studying the curse on it and managed to extract some of it." Said Dumbledore, showing his hand to Felix as if he was showing off his results.


    "So the result of your research was to get yourself re-tainted with the curse?" Felix asked incredulously.


    Dumbledore smiled, "Oh, as much as I keep saying that Voldemort is pathetically ignorant, it is because he put his whole heart and soul into the wrong path, and I have wondered more than once if he had stayed on the right path, would these tragedies have happened ..."


    "Felix, when dealing with him, we better not harbour unrealistic expectations, especially in areas that relate to his field of study, it won''t be easy to hide it from him, so it''s a necessary price to pay."


    "The price ..." Felix repeated.


    "Exactly, this is why you should understand why I didn''t tell you the location of the duel. Voldemort holds the initiative in the duel, he could leave at any time and pick up a fight somewhere else, and then we would all remain passive."


    A moment of silence followed.


    "Is that all?" Felix asked.


    He pointed to his eyes and said, "If the curse is a necessary price, I can understand that, and I''m sure you''re perfectly capable of keeping it in check. I was talking about something else - in my eyes, your soul is like a wavering torch, intact but pulsating abnormally, or did the curse hurt your soul? That can''t be right, if Voldemort had that kind of ability he would have gone into hiding and healed his own ugly soul which is on the verge of collapse ... You know what I am getting at, Dumbledore? You seem to be cooking up some kind of terrible plot. I doubt you can even defeat Voldemort now, this isn''t what we discussed at the beginning!"


    He unconsciously raised his voice, the portraits on the walls opened their eyes and Phineas Black said in a grim tone, "How rude, in my day nothing like this would have happened, I am extraordinarily favourable towards order-"


    Felix waved his hand back and Phineas''s mouth was immediately glued shut in the portrait, as he whimpered in exasperation.


    "No, Felix." Dumbledore said, "We are heading down the right path, and I have no intention of changing the plan, all I am doing is filling in the gaps that may exist. I have plenty of confidence in this duel, and don''t forget, I told you I have the skills to temporarily boost my strength."


    Felix furrowed his brow.


    "Now that you mention it," he put on a ''by the way'' attitude, "that trick ... I can''t figure out how it''s done at all, that doesn''t seem to be a boost in strength, but a recovery, or retrospective ... you have that strength within yourself, except not now, but at the peak of your life ..."


    When he said this, Felix himself was a little surprised.


    Ever since he had become a ''magical being'', his strength has been constantly growing, not in a way that he suddenly became very strong, but in an all-round steady way. Of course, the most essential change is still his magic power, but then again it''s not just his magic power, the strength and control of all those spells he normally rarely uses have followed suit.


    He had once put forward the conjecture in the Magic Rune Club that "the process of studying magic is actually the process of finding one''s own spellcasting instincts." His own experience seemed to validate this.


    "Is it transfiguration? Bloodline magic? Dark magic? Or perhaps - something to do with time?"


    "Why do you say that?"


    Dumbledore crossed his arms and rubbed his chin, looking at Felix with interest.


    " You mean time? There are many clues that suggests that you are by no means a stranger to time-turner, and of course, all time-turners are passed through your hands to Minerva, who in turn gives them to those good students ... You have had ample opportunities to study time-turners. Even that ..."


    Felix paused, with a strange look in his eyes, as a thought suddenly occurred to him, and that was, had Dumbledore ever been to the Department of Mysteries? There is no way to prove that point though, because even if he did, Dumbledore would not have been as blatant as he was, stealing most of the time energy.


    Perhaps another way of looking at it would be to consider whether Dumbledore had any interest in studying time magic?


    Yes, who could resist the temptation of ''time''? In any case, Felix is incapable of doing that personally, even without the whole ''Ms. Jane'' thing he would have found the opportunity to study it himself, he hadn''t forgotten that he had given a mission to Mundungus.


    But after inheriting Nicolas''s research notes later on, he had no hope that Mundungus would hit the jackpot.


    Let''s just say that for Wizards at Felix and Dumbledore''s level, there is no such thing as an impregnable defensive fortress in this world, as long as they are given ample time to prepare. Of course, Voldemort is counted as one, which is why Ms. Bones didn''t ask for that part of the time energy back.


    Even Grindelwald, who is currently imprisoned in Nurmengard Castle.


    Dumbledore didn''t answer the question and didn''t touch the previous question either, all he did was sigh sentimentally, "Time, time, how many people through the ages have longed for your favour?"


    He waved his hand, causing Phineas'' sealed mouth to re-open. As soon as his binds were untied, Phineas Black began to curse and Felix raised his eyebrows threateningly, and the male wizard immediately hid behind a green banner in the portrait.


    "Abominable, evil, portrait-bullying Slytherin brat, I''m your Headmaster!"


    "Oh." Felix said in response with an expressionless face.


    "Hmph! I''ll go and find my genius grandson -"


    "Um - Headmaster Black? Did I mention to you that I personally captured Sirius in the old Black mansion, when he was still wanted ..." s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix kindly reminded the Black family ancestor.


    Phineas, who hid behind a framed green banner, let out a strange shout, "He''ll always have children! The Black family''s bloodline is noble and pure, not something you can compare with!" In a smug tone, he said, "I''ve heard all about it, he and that Minister - hmmmmm - must have made a very gifted child."


    "Just you wait, little bastard!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 596: Wizard Grading Examination (2 in 1)

    In classroom seven, Felix sat in a swivel chair, deep in thought. The place where he is now has a circular platform with a floor that seems to have been carefully polished from an undamaged single block of black stone, and one can clearly see silhouettes of people in it.


    In the space before him, a blurry book floated in the air, irregular in size and shape, but when Felix looked over, the book became what he wanted it to be.


    He waved his wand and a silvery solid Patronus materialized. S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It looked like a small Rain Swallow, and when it appeared it immediately flew quickly around and circled over the circular room, circling twice before landing directly in front of Felix as if it had never moved.


    Felix waved his wand a second time and a golden, round, fluffy-feathered Snidget flew down, leaping and swaying along the floor, while at the same time a black, furry, Acromantula appeared out of nowhere, a horrific-looking creature that looked a little more pleasant in its Patronus state.


    There are Long-horned, Emerald-green Serpent; Golden Phoenix with two long, beautiful plumes; Dragons of various shapes and sizes; Snow White Ferret-like creature with no name; Thin, skeletal Thestral with a pair of bat wings; and if you look closely, you will find a Dementor mixed among them, which, even in Patronus state, looked like a black and grey piece of rotten cloth.


    Compared to it, the rags in the Hog''s Head Inn are a hundred times better.


    Felix sat in the centre, like a head keeper of some magical zoo, staring at these thousand strange Patronus in his sight.


    He looked at them over and over again.


    These creatures seemed to possess their own ''characters'', and they were all different.


    For example, the Thestral is timid and retains those silver-grey, pupil-less eyes, while the round Golden Snidget bird and the unknown white ferret seem to possess an exuberant curiosity and bounce around; and as for the Dragons - they kept roaring with their eyes filled with rage, although they don''t stand a few dozen feet tall now. They don''t look much taller than a Fire Dwelling Salamander on the ground, so when a small Hungarian Horntail craned its neck and roared, the Occamy coiled next to it sprang up and knocked the dragon off its feet.


    Not far away, a Long-horned Emerald Serpent slithered and leaped into the smooth, calm lake-like floor, its body swimming freely within, before poking its head out the other side and locking eyes with the glowering Sphinx.


    ...


    If they have anything in common, it is that they have all been carefully studied by Felix. In other words - at least in theory - he could easily turn into one of their kind.


    There was a loud banging on the door from outside, and it sounded like a troll might be standing outside waving a wooden stick and slamming the door hard.


    Of all the Professor''s memory bodies in Classroom Seven, the only one capable of such a thing would be - well - himself, Felix grimaced, as golden lines emerged from the walls of the circular room, which twisted into the shape of a door, and the next second, the door was pushed open from the outside.


    "Wow!"


    The memory body whistled, the whistle echoing off the smooth floor as he looked around, "You can do this now? Hah~ I really want to have that part of knowledge!" With that he turned his body into a silvery transparent state as well, his two legs covered in mist, as he pretended like he is a Patronus too.


    "Hi big guy, I''m your companion," the memory body introduced itself to a towering Thunderbird, "I," he pointed to himself, "and you guys- -" his hand traced a circle horizontally, circling all the magical creatures present, "are the same."


    Thunderbird looked at him with sidelong glances and didn''t move a single feather.


    Felix rolled his eyes.


    "You should watch out, it''s ''pride'' incarnate."


    "What''s the point? Is it supposed to impersonate a statue?" The memory body circled around the Thunderbird cheerfully, and the Thunderbird, which stood a head taller than a normal human, flapped its wings and blew the memory body away, and he floated up to Felix as if he weighed nothing.


    As they looked at each other, Memory Body cleared his throat.


    Felix suddenly thought of something and said to his memory body, "I have a question which I need your input on for reference." He said slowly, "Voldemort''s soul is broken, and my idea is to work on that, but playing with souls is a more taboo and evil field than time, and public information about it is scarce ...


    I can alter the time of an apple, but I can''t do the same to the soul of a rat or anything...


    Soul, memory, emotion, the three are intertwined, and if given enough time -" Felix furrowed his brow.


    The memory body looked like he had been listening carefully.


    "Keep talking!"


    "-don''t interrupt." Felix said, "Whether it''s the field of Time or the field of Soul, I was only exposed to a few scattered points of information to begin with ..."


    For the former, Felix had the research material of the successive generations of Unspeakables that he had copied from the Department of Mysteries, and the Hour-Reversal Charm is part of the results they had produced.


    He also has ample time energy to play with and find the truth behind it.


    The so-called ''ample'' is only relative; the thing is like a Dementor, once it''s put into research, the number will decrease drastically and there will never be enough.


    And of the latter - the Domain of Soul - Felix also has a few insignificant footholds to stand and work on, such as the Unforgivable Curses, and the Thestral Perspective. But trying to create a soul cage with these isolated bits and pieces can only be described as highly challenging.


    The good thing is that Felix is highly proficient in memory magic and has an in-depth study on one of its branches - Emotions. What he has been busy with these days is also related to this subject: Using memory magic and emotion magic as a springboard to step into the domain of the soul.


    His increasingly bizarre Patronus is a combined result of these two.


    In addition to Patronus, Felix had to thank the Dementors for their contribution to this cause with their lives.


    Dementors were not true beings, they shared some similar characteristics to Voldemort''s spirit form, and if a Patronus could trap a Dementor, could it trap Voldemort''s spirit form?


    Felix is working on just that. He is somewhat hesitant at the moment though, unsure of which one to use as the main attacker.


    "Which emotion do you think Voldemort has the weakest resistance to?" Felix asked.


    "Well ..." the memory body mused.


    "It can''t be any of the negative emotions," Felix said to himself, "so it comes down to the positive emotions? But can remorse be classified among the positive emotions? It might play an important part in the ''prison formation'' later on, but to use it to capture him ..."


    He shook his head, it probably wouldn''t work too well.


    "I think ..." The memory body opened its mouth.


    "... Can''t say for sure though," Felix''s attitude wavered again, " ''remorse'' or ''repentance'' is an emotion that Voldemort would never be able to produce on his own, as his self-proclaimed nobility would not allow him to do so, so such an emotion might cause him great pain."


    "I say, why don''t you just group them and send them together?" After several interruptions, the memory body spoke in a very aggressive tone.


    " All together? Send them all together with a single mind?" Felix blinked.


    "Yeah, in one big swarm." The memory body looked towards the hulking Patronus, "You''ve got a whole army of Patronus."


    Felix switched his mental gears on, it wasn''t that he hadn''t thought of a similar line of thought, but these Patronus weren''t meant for fighting, they were meant to trap Voldemort and be used as a type of cage. Essentially, it would be no different from a Dementor capture cage - at best, the cage holding Voldemort would have to be stronger ...


    When he was about to open his mouth to explain, a strange idea was suddenly born in his mind, and he was fascinated by it.


    A swarm? No, rather he should create some kind of cycle.


    ...


    When he saw Sirius again the next day, he looked mildly disinterested.


    "I wonder which part of that old man''s mind went wrong." Sirius said with an unpleasant look on his face, "He came into my office last night and asked all sorts of questions and rushed me-" He suddenly stopped and changed the subject stiffly, "By the way, did you mess with him, he kept making things up about you."


    "I''m a little more curious, how did he get to your office?" Felix asked.


    When he looked around the great hall, he could clearly discern two distinct groups of students in the school: those who attended their classes as usual, who were still in the mood to discuss whether or not their breakfast was tasty, as their final exams had yet to begin; and those in the other group - the fifth and seventh years - who looked pale and had no appetite.


    One seventh-year Ravenclaw girl stared blankly at the vegetable soup, while her friend carefully looked at the strawberry tart that she had just taken two bites of, as if she was worried that there might be poison in it - or maybe it was the other way around, Felix guessed in his mind.


    Either way, they hadn''t done anything for a full two minutes.


    "Because I had moved his portrait there," Sirius said sullenly, as if regretting his former hasty decision, "just the day before I was appointed. He told me that since even Kreacher helped out in the kitchen here in his spare time, there was no reason to leave him in the big house."


    "So you agreed?" Felix asked with some amusement, "You should know that his feelings are not real. And he''s not your great-grandfather either."


    "Yeah, I know, even without learning about it. If you had had to deal with all those stiff-reacting, lame talking portraits of your ancestors from the beginning of your childhood, you would have realized it just like I did without being taught." Sirius said grimly, "Hogwarts Headmaster Portraits are more realistic at best, but they still can''t react beyond their initial setting ..."


    "Just like my mother," he said sullenly, "she really did leave a lot of resentment in that portrait."


    That''s the sad thing about Portraits.


    They are like a carefully written piece of programming that mobilizes pre-stored memories before reacting - they are not living beings, but objects that give feedback according to the established rules. Moreover, it is difficult for them to change their own inherited perceptions; Sirius will always be the same ''unworthy son who disgraced his family'' in Mrs. Black''s mind, and will never be forgiven.


    But, on the other hand, their reaction is also most genuine, if Phineas Black''s portrait had shown adequate regard for Sirius''s life, the odds of it being the same even when he was alive in person is great.


    Perhaps to Sirius, despite being just a portrait, it might be one of the very few things related to the Black family that could still be properly communicated with now.


    ...


    The wizard grading exams would last for two weeks.


    If you ask Felix what''s different about this year''s exams from the past three years, he would say that him being appointed as a non-staff examiner is one - during his free time, he would join the examiners of the Wizard Examination Authority to maintain discipline during the Written Examinations.


    In previous years such duties would have only gone to the Heads of the four Houses. But this year they made an exception and added him together.


    Felix had the opportunity to invigilate the first and last day of the exams, and he had a strong sense of anticipation, but of course, the last day carried a lot of weight - it would be the day that Dumbledore and Voldemort would duel.


    He is accompanied by Professor Tofty. As Felix led the fifth years from the entrance hall to the great hall, many of them were surprised to find that the four long tables had disappeared and had been replaced by lots of small single tables.


    "This exam is on the theory of charms. The sheets, quill, and ink are on the tables. All right, you may begin."


    Professor Tofty finished in an old man''s slow tone and nodded towards Felix, who turned a giant hourglass upside down.


    The students turned over their test sheets and began to answer.


    Felix stood on the podium, and to him, the exam was like a highly condensed miniature representation of real society, and the students'' expressions were astonishingly varied and their reactions were very amusing.


    There were sad faces - Felix guessed that this group of students must not have been prepared well.


    Of course, there were also those with relaxed expressions. As time passed, the moods of these groups of students gone to two extremes, with the second group becoming more and more gloomy, with their brows forming a knot, while the first group remains consistent from start to end.


    Ron Weasley''s performance here was good enough to be included in the case study, and it was still N.E.W.Ts difficulty - if Felix intended to carry out a study in that area - as his expression shifted back and forth, switching between excitement and hesitation at high speed. For a short time, Felix could only assume that he might know a little bit of each question, but only a little ...


    There were also some students who displayed a look of surprise, the kind of reaction you only get when you ''come across something you''re good at in an exam''. Harry, for example, swore he would never forget the incantation of the Levitation Charm in his whole life, and he had no doubt Ron would too, after all, not everyone had the chance to knock out a frenzied troll with a clean shot.


    The second question was about the counter for the Conjunctivitis Curse, and Harry was able to answer it with ease.


    The third question was a little more difficult, which involved a detailed description of the Repairing Charm.


    Harry had read Hermione''s spell notebook carefully before the test, so what appeared in his mind at the moment was not the slate font of the textbook, but Hermione''s handwriting.


    He began by writing the definition of a Repairing Charm, "A ... spell that can be used to ... fix ... broken things... " Why is there such a thing as a definition? Harry thought as he wrote, the memory of what followed was a little fuzzy, and he could only sum it up in his own words.


    After checking it over he added an extra description after ''repair'', with ''mostly''.


    And then what? Harry thought as he looked up and saw Hermione head, who was seated a few seats ahead, and her head never raised even once, her quill spinning like a spinning top. He stared at Hermione''s dishevelled hair in wonder�� what would happen if he used a Repairing Charm on them? Inspiration came to him all at once, and he lowered his head and quickly wrote, "Taboo ... cannot be used on people ... does not work on liquids in vessels either."


    Good, Harry thought, that''s all the groundwork needed.


    He was just about to write out the specific incantation when another point of knowledge came to his mind that he could write about - the inventor of the spell. So he lifted his quill, "This spell was created by the witch working in Ministries-"


    Harry paused.


    All he could remember about the spell is that it was invented by a witch in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but he couldn''t remember exactly which office she was in, and he tried the elimination method; it was unlikely to be the office where Mr. Weasley is working because Harry couldn''t figure out how this spell could be associated with muggles, maybe because wizards couldn''t figure out those increasingly complicated muggle tools?


    He didn''t end up using that line of argument because he hadn''t heard a similar kind of story from Hermione.


    So he crossed out those words and simply summarized them as "This spell was invented by a witch at work in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." After writing it down, Harry stared at the two words ''at work'', he wasn''t really sure, but he thought it was something worth the risk.


    Next, he wrote out the incantation and casting action for the Repairing Charm in rapid motion, and described his feelings as he cast the spell at no small length.


    Harry continued to answer the questions, he particularly liked questions seven, twelve, and fifteen as they were all about Summoning Charm, and Harry had had some successful experiences of summoning a broom, like when he had summoned it from his dorm room in the castle to the Forbidden Forest when dealing with a vicious Hungarian Horntail.


    The twentieth question was about the Patronus Charm, and Harry wrote a large volume about it, eventually filling in all the space he could.


    By the time he came out of the exam room, Harry was slightly more relaxed, he felt he would at least get a ''Exceeds Expectations'', and from the look on Ron''s face he had answered well too, but neither of them was interested in comparing their answers with Hermione.


    "I know we made mistakes and missed a lot of points, but let''s embrace some sense of satisfaction for the moment when the results are yet to be issued." Ron told her firmly, and Harry thought Ron sounded like a convict awaiting the outcome of his trial.


    Even Death Eaters, I''m sure, wouldn''t discuss their crimes with their fellow convicts before being judged. Harry thought.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 597: The Real Dream (2 in 1)

    Hermione was unfazed by Ron''s self-deception and simply grunted in response as they returned to the common room for a short break before turning back to the great hall in time for lunch. During the lunch hour, the four House tables reappeared.


    Hermione asked after they settled down at the table, "By the way, why were you nearly late this morning?"


    "You mean that," Harry wolfed down his mashed potatoes, his mouth stuffed full, "overslept."


    "Everyone''s overslept?" Hermione looked surprised, were these boys in such a good state of mind, the girls'' dormitory was full of people who had insomnia all night.


    "Yeah." Harry said vaguely, moving the pumpkin soup near him in passing, and Ron responded by waving a sausage.


    While it was true that forgetting to set the alarm wasn''t a smart thing to do, but given how spontaneous it was, the five of them in the dorm decided in unison to forget that it had even happened, and at least they got plenty of sleep and woke up the next morning with tons of energy, which Harry believed was more than enough, wasn''t it the case?


    The fact that Neville''s scream was the first thing that woke the others up was proof of that.


    Professor Hap did not turn up for the afternoon Charms Practical exam.


    "He''s lecturing the fourth years." Terry Boot, a fifth year Ravenclaw student, said to Harry and the rest of the boys, "I saw it when I passed by."


    The students in the entrance hall preparing for their exams were putting up their final struggle.


    Ernest Macmillan and his friend Justin Finch-Fletchley were quizzing each other about common incantations, reciting them as they made rapid spell-casting gestures that looked like some sort of comical dance; Parvati Patil and her twin sister stood left and right on either side of Lavender Brown, staring blankly and mumbling, Lavender looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown, looking pale with an amulet clutched tightly in her hand.


    Every time Professor Flitwick came out to call a small group of people away in alphabetical order, the students in the entrance hall looked up in a panic as if Professor was taking them to some horrible and dangerous place.


    Harry''s exam order was sandwiched between Hermione and Ron, and when his name was called, he followed the Patil sisters straight inside, only to be pulled back by the short Professor Flitwick at the door. "Professor Tofty is available now, Potter." Flitwick, who nearly fell backward with him, said under his breath.


    Harry hurriedly said sorry and trotted inside.


    The great hall was not decorated as it was in the morning, with only seven or eight tables arranged in the centre with an examiner sitting behind each one. Harry knew Professor Tofty, he had just met him in the morning, so he walked up to the old male wizard with the least visible hair, and Professor Tofty lifted his wide glasses from the roster to scrutinize Harry.


    "Is that Potter? The famous Potter? Now, I''d like you to make this egg cup to do some flips for me ..."


    Outside the great hall, Ron and Dean came together to chat in whispers. S?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    They were both fairly far back in the alphabetical order by name, almost last in the group, and neither was in much of a mood to look over their notes as the crowd continued to decrease.


    "I wonder what will be on the test? The people who went in never showed up again, it''s really strict."


    "Probably some basic spells, levitation charm, summoning charm, make a teacup grow legs, that sort of thing."


    Dean glanced quickly from side to side to make sure no one was paying attention to them before he lowered his voice and said to Ron, "I''ve heard that ... you can get extra points for good performance."


    Ron''s spirit perked up, "Tell me more elaborately!"


    "I''m not really sure," Dean said uncertainly, "I heard from someone else ... that if you master any particularly advanced magic, you can take the initiative to show it and the examiner will give extra points at his discretion. "


    Ron sighed and said pessimistically, "That''s a privilege reserved for good students."


    "True," Dean agreed, and looked at Ron sympathetically, "Hanging out with Harry and Hermione must be a lot stressful in general, right?"


    "Yeah ... wait, what do you mean?" Ron turned red.


    "Oh, uh," Dean, who realized that he had slipped a tongue, held up his hand and whispered soothingly, "You actually do better than most, it just doesn''t stand out since you''re always with Harry and Hermione ... one is first in every subject from the year one, and the other one can''t find a rival in practical class."


    Ron''s face calmed down a little, and he grunted, "Actually I''m not that good ... cough!" Despite saying this, his eyes glowed with excitement, and he looked at Dean expectantly, as if silently urging him to say more.


    The pressure now shifted to Dean''s side, and he changed the subject stiffly, "By the way, do you think illumination counts as advanced magic? That''s ancient magic-"


    Ron looked a little disappointed, but he couldn''t force Dean to compliment himself.


    He shook his head, "It probably doesn''t count, everyone in the Magic Rune Club knows illumination, remember the day the army of Inferi attacked the school? How many balls of light were above our heads then." He lamented.


    "It would have been the case two years earlier, but now? I bet there are at least a hundred students in the school who know this magic."


    The two men became even more downcast as Ron finished.


    There weren''t many people left in the entrance hall now, and they stared at Zacharias Smith, who was talking loudly in front of the Hufflepuff House Hourglass, some moment later Dean looked away and said, "I wish I could punch him in the nose."


    Ron grinned, "Man, I''ve wanted to do that for a long time."


    Zacharias Smith, of course, was unaware of Ron and Dean''s prickly comments, he was speaking rhetorically in an arrogant sarcastic tone, "Oh come on, is this test even difficult?"


    " Damn it, he hasn''t even mastered the Patronus Charm." Ron said contemptuously, looking at Dean, whose expression had suddenly become rigid, so he asked curiously, "What''s wrong?"


    "You just said, said-" Dean asked in an extremely weak tone.


    "What." Ron was puzzled over the comment, when a silvery magic spread out from the great hall, a huge pillar of light completely engulfing the students still in the entrance hall with a sweeping momentum.


    He saw Dean''s mouth open wide in surprise at first, then the pessimism that still lingered on his face was swept away.


    Ron reckoned he had the same look on his face. "It''s Harry''s Super Patronus!" He said in a somewhat exaggeratedly perky voice, pivoting on his toes as he peered into the great hall, which appeared very quiet, and just as Ron was surprised that the Patronus Charm had failed to garner the full attention, there was finally the sound of chaotic commotion heard from inside.


    "Looks like the Patronus works after all." Ron said contentedly, listening with pleasure to the exclamations from the examiners, "I almost forgot, I know this magic too."


    ...


    "The exam was interrupted for ten minutes because of you."


    Ron said to Harry, who had left early, in the common room after that day''s exam was over, "But also thanks to your Patronus, I was in great shape for the exam." He furrowed his eyebrows halfway through the sentence, "Too bad that bugger got a dose of it too."


    "Who are you talking about?" Ginny, who was preparing for her final exams, asked.


    "Zacharias Smith." Ron said without thinking.


    "Oh, him." Ginny pouted as she remembered, "He''s been pestering me and Luna about a few club events, asking questions with a condescending attitude and making fun of Luna''s adornments."


    Harry looked conflicted, he acknowledged that Luna had a lot of individuality, but he wouldn''t praise her aesthetic, but who made him find Zacharias repulsive too, so he agreed, "Yeah, he''s really annoying for sure."


    As they prepared for their next day''s Transfiguration exam, Harry''s mind was filled with complex spell models and theoretical explanations, and he could never understand one question: how could turning a toad into a mouse possibly occupy an entire chapter of the textbook? Moreover, Hermione had managed to compile a dozen parchment of notes from the textbook, and she had even managed to pull out three essays she had written in the past.


    So when he heard someone at the door shout "Harry - there''s someone looking for you -", his first thought was that he could finally get some air. As he passed Fred and George''s table, the two of them were playing wizard cards with Lee Jordan and discussing in whispers as they played.


    Fred waved lazily at Harry in a gesture of greeting.


    "Aren''t you guys going to review?" Harry asked.


    "We have a clear understanding of how good we truly are." George said.


    Well, Harry thought unconvincingly, then you must not know that Mrs. Weasley would always ask about both of you incidentally whenever she wrote to Ginny. He pushed open the door with a stifled feeling and heard the Fat Lady chatting enthusiastically with a familiar voice.


    "Yes, I went to see it ... giggle ... The painting was huge, I guess it must be about twenty feet long ... Violet was with me when I went, and the students did a good job painting it, it was very grand ... as expected of Dumbledore, he beat the Dark Lord into submission ... giggle ..."


    Harry glanced backward at the Fat Lady''s portrait as he exited through the round cave like entrance and unsurprisingly saw some bottles of alcohol piled underneath her figure inside the portrait, her face flushed as she seemed unaware that someone had come out, and mumbled under her breath.


    "... I just can''t figure out why there''s a Niffler standing so conspicuously in it ..."


    "Professor?" Harry exclaimed in surprise when he saw the person at the entrance.


    Felix nodded at him, "Come with me Harry."


    Harry followed the professor with some anxiety, secretly rumming through his memory for any serious mistake he could have made to get the ever lazy Professor Hap to find him at the door. He guessed that there might be something serious going on, and they came to a dark corridor where the professor, who was walking ahead of him, stopped.


    "You have shocked the examiners collectively with your performance today." Felix smiled, "That Patronus was far more intensive than what they knew."


    "Well-" Harry didn''t know how to respond.


    "I need a favour from you." Felix said bluntly.


    "Okay." Harry asked with a nod, "What is it?"


    "For a certain reason, I''m hoping to gather some emotions, your emotion." Felix inclined his head towards him, " To do that, you need to use your unique Patronus, remember not to let the magic burst out like it did during the day, it would draw too much attention ... summon it quietly and leave the rest to me."


    When Harry returned to the common room, the shock on his face had not subsided.


    "What''s wrong? You look like you aced an exam-" said Ron.


    "That was Hermione." Harry retorted subconsciously.


    Hermione raised her eyebrows and glared at him, and Harry immediately corrected his words, "Slip of the tongue." Ginny and Ron burst out laughing.


    "It was Professor Hap who called me," Harry described to them what had happened when they had settled down, "He said he needs my Patronus ..."


    The few of them listened quietly, and after he finished Ron asked incredulously, "You mean Professor Hap put your Patronus in a glass jar?"


    "Shhh." Harry said hurriedly, "Keep your voice down."


    "Didn''t he tell you why?" Hermione asked.


    Harry shook his head. "No." He said honestly.


    "That''s odd," she rubbed her head softly with one hand, "given the Professor''s character, if it is for some sort of magical experiment, he''ll be more than happy to tell you the circumstances and maybe pull you into the research, unless it has to be kept secret."


    "That''s what he said to me," Harry instantly said, "Keep it a secret for now."


    "Probably doesn''t want to distract us, we''ve got exams tomorrow." Ron guessed.


    "But the Professor asked me to go over to him every night for a while and use the Patronus once." Harry commented how normally the Patronus would dissipate on its own if he actively cancelled the magic, but the Professor had preserved the emotion and the magic in some way he couldn''t understand - Harry guessed it was probably some kind of device like a Dementor capture cage - -he felt strange at the thought of having a row of his own Patronus in the Professor''s office for a few days.


    "If it''s like what you described, it must be serious and urgent." Hermione said with certainty.


    They spent a bit of time guessing the reason why the professor is doing this, but there were too few clues available at hand.


    "Could it be something to do with the person He ... Who Must Not Be Named?" Ginny interjected in a whisper.


    Harry''s heart pounded, but there was little support for this speculation, and they ended up going back to their boring revision, Harry yawning as he flipped through Hermione''s Transfiguration notes, the clarity of mind that had been brought on by witnessing Professor Hap scooping up his Patronus using a wide mouth bottle reverting to hazy state.


    After the Transfiguration test, the third day was devoted to Herbology, followed by Defence Against the Dark Arts. Sirius stood at the door cheering each of them on. "What if we don''t do well on the test?" A student asked timidly after giving Sirius a high five. "Don''t worry, I won''t be your professor by the time you get your results," Sirius said as he bared his teeth, " No need to worry that I''ll be chasing after your arse chanting hexes."


    After Friday''s Ancient Rune exam, Harry and Ron talked privately and both agreed that they would get at least two ''Outstanding''.


    One in Defence Against the Dark Arts and one in Ancient Rune.


    "That''s a good start, I''m sure you''ll be more confident for the next week''s exams." Hermione said calmly as she leafed through her book.


    Harry and Ron were playing wizard cards, which they had borrowed from the Weasley twins, the wizard cards had been modified by the two, and when Harry used a ''Disarming Charm'' card, an illusory red light sent Ron''s knight''s armour flying.


    While Ron was drawing his cards, Harry leaned forward and took the exam timetable from the table, "Let''s see what''s on the schedule for next week - Monday, Potions; Tuesday, Care of Magical Creatures; Wednesday, er, that''s a bit of a tough day, with an Astronomy theory exam in the morning and a Divination class exam in the afternoon, and it''s not over yet. ... There''s a Practical Astronomy exam at 11 pm."


    "I''ve always wondered why you guys haven''t given up on Divination class yet. Even if Trelawney can make prophecies on extremely rare occasions, there''s no denying that what she usually teaches is rubbish." Hermione asked pointedly.


    "Listen to me, Hermione - oh, Weather-Modifying Charm, Harry, you are lost." Ron said after a moment of silent reminiscence of victory, "We made up nonsense for three whole years just to score a spot to the Divination class O.W.Ls exam-"


    Seeing Hermione trying to interject, he said quickly, "If you''re in luck, this class will add an O.W.Ls certificate for you - even if you didn''t know anything about it, I seriously mean it!"


    Harry hadn''t expected Ron to make some sense out of it, and he thought hard for a moment; a large part of the reason he was still taking Divination class was due to habit, and another small part was because he had personally heard the prophecy that Trelawney had made.


    Despite the low probability, Harry had a glimmer of hope: what if he could hear another real prophecy? But if there is a next time, he hopes that Trelawney will be more precise in her descriptions, without being too vague, such as giving the exact date of Voldemort''s death ...


    The days passed and the students finally went to their last exam.


    Harry opened the History of Magic test sheet on the single table and skimming through the questions according to his usual habit, his head immediately buzzed. The stack of History of Magic notes he had borrowed from Hermione in the morning was desperately trying to slip away from his mind, and he didn''t bother to look at the back, as he tried to write a few more questions before he forgot all the complicated names and dates.


    He glanced hastily at the lectern, where Professor Hap was slouching in his chair, seemingly distracted.


    ''It certainly is a good day to be lazy.'' Harry thought with indignation.


    After another ten seconds or so, he realized that he hadn''t finished a single question, so he quickly looked down to answer the questions. As Harry had predicted, he ran into trouble with the time and the names of historical figures and events - especially the names of the Giants, Goblins, Trolls, and Centaurs, which were both tongue-twisting and lengthy, and Harry suspected that the historians of that time had been lazy and translated them directly from their grunts and groans.


    For almost two hours Harry fought against his drowsiness.


    When Professor Tofty, who was already very old, slowly told them that there were only thirty minutes left, Harry sighed in resignation and stopped thinking about what had happened in the dispute between Liechtenstein and the trolls and flipped the question sheet to the front, where a few questions remained unanswered.


    He stared at the fourth question - ''In your opinion, did the wand regulations contribute to or helped to better control the Eighteenth Century Goblin Rebellion?''


    Harry struggled to get his numb brain to function, the sand from the time keeping hourglass on the lectern leaked down unhurriedly, the sun was shining just right outside, it was a perfect June-ish weather, but he had to sit in a stuffy great hall and think about the Goblin Rebellion... Harry''s consciousness was growing fuzzy, his head dropping uncontrollably towards the table, the corners of his mouth leaking suspicious water stains ... He found himself looking at Headmaster Dumbledore''s face, which was no longer gentle, and the dark blue eyes behind the half-moon shaped lenses did not have a spark of joy that he had seen in previous days. He looked gloomy and solemn.


    He waved his wand wildly, and the power of the spell made Harry''s heart skip a beat as rows of stones came towards him with masses of grass and mud like the whole earth was being dragged and slammed into him.


    But Harry didn''t flinch.


    A dazzling green light poured from the wand he held in his hand, with ghostly silhouettes forming in the green light. He could feel his face reveal a hideous grin as he spoke in a tone that filled with overwhelming excitement, "The curse is not pleasant, is it, Dumbledore?"


    "Show me what else you can do, or you''re dead today!"


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 598: Ancient Contract

    Crash. Harry collapsed onto the cold stone floor, his scar burning and painful, images of himself and Headmaster Dumbledore fighting earlier still lingering in his mind.


    No, it wasn''t himself, it was Voldemort!


    As he put his crooked glasses back on, he noticed that the single table was knocked over by him, the examination papers were crushed under his thighs and the surrounding students had blank and horrified expressions. Professor Tofty moved past the crowd and looked at him worriedly, there were more complex emotions present in those eyes, but Harry couldn''t differentiate them at the moment.


    "Are you ... Potter, are you alright?"


    "I''m - fine -" Harry panted, not bothering to look at the wrinkled face, or at Hermione, Ron, and Neville who were trying hard to squeeze their way over to him, as he lowered his head and the red glow in his eyes slowly subsided.


    "Probably a nightmare, the students have been under some stress for a while." Professor Hap''s voice reached him from outside the crowd.


    "Yes, I had nightmares." Harry said, grateful to have found an excuse.


    "But before you said-" Professor Tofty glared at Harry, then turned his head to look at the students who kept coming over and gave up on pursuing the matter further. "Well, Potter, are you still able to take the exam? Have you finished answering the test?"


    " I finished it." Harry lied.


    He had a few questions left blank and the test sheet hadn''t been checked, but he didn''t feel comfortable answering the questions in this state, and as Professor Hap had said in class - "You don''t fight unprepared battles, and many things are predetermined before the event even happens" -- is quite descriptive of the situation at hand.


    Harry decided that he could already see the consequences: he would atmost fail his History of Magic test.


    "Then I will take you to the hospital wing." Professor Tofty said.


    "I don''t need to, I can - well - go out and get some fresh air by myself."


    Harry said vaguely, as he hastily shoved his test sheet towards Professor Tofty, "Sorry, I''ll go first." With that, he covered his forehead and stormed towards the door, "Harry!" Hermione called behind him, Harry didn''t respond and just walked away sullenly, not having time to think until he was out of the examination hall.


    He wanted to get into that state again and see Headmaster Dumbledore and Voldemort fight, but that''s when Harry realized to his frustration that his Occlumency was working spontaneously, and he couldn''t pick up anything, so that attempt was completely cut off.


    Harry angrily punched the alcove in which the House hourglass was embedded and his hand ended up hurting badly.


    This calmed him down a little, and he wandered headlessly around the pitch-black entrance hall for a long while before eventually walking through the oak doors and heading out of the castle. He stepped on the steps, the sun outside was a little harsh, the sky was blue, and he could see the water rippling in the Black Lake in the distance.


    Harry squinted his eyes and tried to think of a solution.


    What on earth is he supposed to do?


    Tell Professor Hap! Right, Harry thought, slightly regretting why he hadn''t considered that before, and turned around and ran towards the castle, when Hermione and Ron came rushing out of the entrance hall and, upon seeing Harry, they dragged him towards the corridor without saying a word.


    Bewildered, Harry could only watch as Hermione pull him into a nearby Broom cupboard, and raised her wand to lock the door behind her, before turning to look at him solemnly with Ron.


    "W-what''s wrong - what are you guys doing out here? The test isn''t over yet-"


    "I''ve finished my test." Hermione said quickly and Ron shrugged, "I wrote all I could, the rest ..." he left a meaningful pause. Hermione asked with a solemn expression, "Harry, your scar hurts again, doesn''t it?"


    "Yes, I saw-"


    "Dumbledore, you mentioned Headmaster Dumbledore, saying he was under a curse or something, and that he was going to die." Hermione quickly said, "And then you fell on the floor and knocked over the table."


    Harry was horrified, "That came out of my mouth?"


    Ron nodded with a wooden face.


    "So you know why we came out early, don''t you? We have to come up with a decent excuse before the rumours spread."


    "I saw Headmaster Dumbledore from Voldemort''s point of view," Harry said in a somewhat hollow voice, "He was dueling Voldemort and ... seemed to be on the losing end," Hermione and Ron''s eyes widened at the same time.


    "Oh, right! I''m going to find Professor Hap, I have to tell him about this-"


    Harry said anxiously, not even knowing why he had delayed this again.


    "Wait, Harry," Hermione managed to sober up, "do you think Professor Hap wouldn''t know? He was right there in the examination hall just now."


    Harry stopped and looked back at Hermione for a moment, not understanding what she meant. Only after a short while did he stammer, "You mean Professor Hap knows? It''s, it''s-"


    "A duel that was arranged in advance?"


    "Patronus!" Hermione was just about to speak when Ron suddenly spoke up, "Harry, your Patronus!"


    "What-oh! You mean Professor Hap had gathered it from me these days-" Harry showed a bright look of realization as the past half a month of reporting to the Ancient Rune office after his daily exams surfaced before his eyes, " Well, you think this has something to do with today''s duel?


    "I don''t know, Harry, but the Professor obviously has no intention of involving us." Hermione whispered, "There really isn''t anything we can do." She added.


    Harry walked around the narrow broom cupboard, kicking the broom that was in his way aside. He was trying to rationalize what was going on, starting with the fact that Headmaster Dumbledore might be fighting Voldemort, right now! And Professor Hap seemed to know about it, but he hadn''t gone over to help, why? There were signs that he did know something, and the helpless Patronuses in glass jars were proof of that.


    "Harry, did you just say that Headmaster Dumbledore was on the losing end?" Hermione asked quietly.


    "I - er, I''m not sure," Harry shook his head as he tried to recall the brief image he had seen, "I could feel Voldemort''s emotions, he was excited and confident and seemed to be completely sure of his victory, and he also mentioned something about a curse-"


    "Isn''t that just a bluff?" Ron remarked, visibly more relieved, "We''ve even witnessed their power personally."


    Harry didn''t say anything, he found it hard to put Voldemort''s mood swings into words, he was so confident and seemed to really think he could kill Dumbledore, so was he being tricked?


    "I think Professor Hap is comfortable staying at the school because he knows the curse is bogus." Ron said calmly, "We can confirm this with the professor, oh - not now, there''s still twenty minutes left before the exam ends."


    "Can you still see them dueling now?" Hermione asked as she picked up the crucial point.


    "No," Harry said sullenly, "It was cut off by the Occlumency."


    Well, that was a really bad thing.


    Hermione and Ron looked at each other and Ron put on a light-hearted face, "That''s okay, we should trust Dumbledore, think of the first two battles, he has never lost against the You-Know-Who! He''s the most powerful white wizard of all time ... By the way Harry, I think you may not have realized that the O.W.Ls exams are over."


    "It''s over?" Harry repeated blankly, his mind still wrapped around the issue.


    "Yeah, after a busy year we''ve finally managed to get rid of the exams and came out half an hour earlier than everyone in the class," Ron grinned, "and they''re still in the exam room right now. How nice."


    "This thing is definitely worth bragging about for the rest of our lives!"


    ...


    "Not here, either."


    Felix stepped out of the dripping karst cave, a blazing, Fiendfyre burning in the damp, dim cave behind him, and a woman''s hoarse cry bellowing harshly from the flames.


    His eyes flashed with a hint of suspicion.


    "Another shard of a severed soul, so Voldemort only taught this woman how to split a soul, but not how to make a Horcrux? Voldemort tricked her?"


    Felix unfolded a map with hundreds of dots on it, all of them are members of the Order of the Phoenix, the men were divided into seven groups and the ink dots representing their names kept jumping on the parchment. There were large blanks on the map, but some important places were marked on it.


    Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Godric''s Hollow, Mould-on-the-Wold, Chudley, Falmouth, Ottery St Catchpole, the former site of the Wool''s Orphanage, the London communities, the English counties ...


    Any place that is more or less related to the wizarding world has been summarized on this map.


    Is it possible that Voldemort hid the Horcrux and Bellatrix abroad?


    Felix and Dumbledore discussed this and concluded that it was unlikely. Even disregarding Voldemort''s morbid obsession with the domination of the British wizarding community, there were more realistic factors at play: for wizards, distance doesn''t really have much significance.


    If hiding in Britain can be found, then hiding somewhere else in the world will likewise have no chance of staying hidden for long.


    Very often, it''s just a matter of magic.


    Not to mention that ...


    Felix had visited several well-known African witch priests who had a knack for witchcraft that relied on self-harm to make not-so-accurate prophecies, while specifically concealing his identity. After paying a considerable amount of galleons, an old wizard who had not long to live finally agreed to divine for him.


    But they clashed over the scope of the divination.


    The old wizard insisted that the divination should not be performed directly on a powerful wizard like Voldemort; according to him, ''the cost would be too high and the results would not be reliable.''


    So the divination settled on Felix - to see what his luck would be on this particular day. The final conclusion was rather vague, with the old wizard divinely saying that he would ''get considerable help from arm''s length'' that day.


    Felix wasn''t too happy with the result, but the old wizard was already vomiting blood, so he had no choice but to offer galleons and leave, treating it as if he had got a good deal from an expert on the subject - if Felix was to ask Trelawney, God knows what she would say in her sober state.


    He didn''t want to hear anything ''unspecified'' before the showdown.


    Felix''s biggest asset was the preparations he had made in advance - whether it was the Voldemort magic he had extracted from the Death Eaters, the hair of Bellatrix he had collected at Malfoy Manor, or the doppelganger who was taking his place in the examination hall with unmistakable physical realism.


    He even held one final backhand.


    It was the inspiration brought to him by the house elf, and in order to keep it as secret as possible, Amelia Bones had to work two weeks extra overtime all by herself in secret to piece together the entire contents about ancient contracts from the stacks of old documents ...


    Felix picked up the communication mirror, which had a picture of Sirius on it - Harry had dragged Sirius insistently to take this picture, so for most of the time, Sirius in the picture looked rather impatient, constantly fiddling with the tassel that dangled from his hat to the tip of his nose to pass the time.


    "Sirius."


    The man in the picture immediately jumped up and after a few seconds Sirius said with a serious expression, "All set, Kreacher''s right here with me." His voice seemed low, calm, and stern.


    "I''ll be right over."


    Felix said, stepping out and appearing on the front steps of 12 Grimmauld Place.


    Sirius was waiting there, holding Kreacher''s hand. Sirius whispered, "I made a deal with Kreacher, he knows what the implications of doing this are." At that moment, there were two crisp "crackles" at the door and Remus Lupin and Tonks appeared holding hands.


    "Felix?" Lupin said, "We carefully checked the twelve locations on the map, using the detector you gave us, but found nothing."


    Felix nodded slightly, indicating that he knew.


    A few more minutes passed, with not much time left before the scheduled time, and several teams of Order of the Phoenix members who had been out returned, and they too found no sign of Bellatrix, at best they found nothing more than the product of something evil mixed with fragments of Bellatrix''s soul and Voldemort''s magic, as Felix had done. S?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That thing really is laced with Bellatrix''s soul?" Frank Longbottom asked in surprise, with a complex look on his face, after receiving an affirmative answer he sighed. "I knew Voldemort is cruel and vicious, but I didn''t think he wouldn''t even spare his last loyal subordinate ..."


    "Alastor''s team hasn''t returned yet, there''s no accident, is there?" Bill Weasley asked with a frown.


    Felix looked down at the full map he is holding, " He is in perfect condition, probably stuck with-"


    At that moment, Kreacher tiptoed over to Felix and tugged on his sleeve, " Esteemed Mr. Hap - can K, Kreacher really carry the burden? Kreacher - can Kreacher also play a role in overthrowing the Dark Lord?"


    "You have a much bigger role to play than one might think, and I can guarantee your safety." Felix said.


    Kreacher looked relieved.


    Sirius said with a dark look on his face, "I''ve told you many things but you didn''t trust me, but you trust an outsider when he just says a couple of things, who is exactly your master!"


    "You, of course!" Kreacher replied loudly, then turned around and shrugged his little shoulders and said in a voice that everyone in the space could hear, "But the master was not reliable when he was young, and he was wrongly accused and thrown into prison when he has grown up, what a shame, who knows what mistakes he will make this time ... "


    "Kreacher!" Sirius said through clenched teeth, "I think you''re just afraid of risk, your guts are only the size of a peanut!"


    "Not at all! Kreacher isn''t afraid of risk, Kreacher is worried that Kreacher won''t be able to avenge Young Master Regulus!" The house elf yelled back loudly at his master in a loud voice like a bullfrog.


    As they spoke, another group of people appeared out of thin air.


    It was Moody, along with Mundungus, and Dedalus Diggle, their clothes dusty, but no one hurt. Moody came over on his crutches and said gruffly, "Our group ran into a spell trap, took a bit of time to crack it... but it was empty inside." His magical eye circled around for a moment before landing on Kreacher along with his normal eye.


    "So we''re putting our hopes on this little guy? I can''t wait to witness it."


    Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Mundungus, Dedalus Diggle, Hestia Jones, Bill Weasley, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix scattered far apart and formed a circle, acting as guards and looking solemnly at the two men and the house elf standing on the steps.


    Kreacher solemnly puffed out his thin, cured chest and looked at Sirius.


    Sirius took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and said.


    "I, Sirius Black, the last rightful heir to the Black family, voluntarily relinquish all my rights over the house elf, Kreacher. By ancient contract, Kreacher automatically belongs to the next closest member of the Black family - Bellatrix Black!"


    " Yes, Kreacher will comply, My Lord." Kreacher trembled and bowed deeply towards him.


    He bent so low that his fleshy nose pressed against the ground and out of his loose, white pillowcase a green locket slipped, which gleamed in the sunlight.


    "I''ll take it from here." Felix said softly as his hand rested on Kreacher''s shoulder.


    ...


    Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


    "What are you up to, Potter." Snape looked coldly at Harry who was blocking the way, his thin lips twisted into a smile, "I heard you walked out on your last exam? What a crazy decision, but it certainly seemed like something you''d make." His eyes moved away from Harry and lingered slightly on Ron and Hermione.


    "Once again the Iron Trio has been assembled ... and are you ready to save the world once again? Tell me - what''s it all about this time, Saviour Potter?"


    Harry mentally fumed, Snape had this knack to successfully provoke him with a word or two, and he also carried his hatred for Draco Malfoy, Harry hadn''t forgotten who had come up with these nicknames ''Saviour Potter'' and ''Scarhead''.


    "I''d like to ask you a favour," Harry tried his best to keep his tone less aggressive, "I mean ''please'', sir. I know Headmaster Dumbledore is fighting Voldemort right now-"


    "None of that concerns you, Potter." Snape said.


    Harry continued anxiously. "I know you''re good at Occlumency and Legilimency, yes, I know, Professor Hap mentioned it inadvertently. I hope--"


    "You hope -" Snape clasped both hands over Harry''s shoulder and stared into his eyes, "- for what?"


    "If all your sentiments are true," Harry held his breath, the green eyes that looked exactly like Lily''s met Snape''s, "... if you too have been longing for Voldemort''s complete demise --" he demanded.


    "Then use the Legilimency on me! Break my Occlumency!"


    ----------------


    Sigh, I don''t like Harry very much in this novel...


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 599: Memories that have never been forgotten ( 2 in 1)

    Snape looked straight at Harry blankly, with an unfathomable expression. "I don''t know what you''re getting at." He said coldly. "You know!" Harry exclaimed, unable to resist moving forward. Snape swung his sleeve as he tured around, almost hitting Harry, but Snape didn''t even bother to look at him, and started to walk away, Harry quickly took a few steps and stopped him again.


    Ron and Hermione hurriedly stepped in between them, and Harry and Snape glared at each other as they separated by the two.


    "But - Professor Snape, we are not going to give up." That''s when Hermione spoke up, as she pointed in the great hall direction, "And it''s better to move somewhere else to avoid other people from seeing us."


    Snape, Harry, and Ron looked in the direction of her finger, and a group of students was rushing gleefully out of the entrance of a great hall, chattering, pushing and shoving, as they gossiped enthusiastically.


    The test was over.


    Seamus Finnegan, who was walking ahead, saw Harry and waved excitedly, "Hey! Harry, are you all right?"


    The few people in the entrance hall withdrew their eyes in silence, "Professor?" Hermione asked gleefully.


    "Follow me." Snape said under his breath, he walked ahead and the three of them followed in quick stride, they headed down the stairs in the entrance hall towards the basement of the castle and soon arrived at Snape''s office.


    "Bang!"


    Snape slammed the door heavily and the room became dimly lit. Hermione was just about to speak - "Shut up, you silly girl!" Snape exclaimed, and then he turned to Harry abruptly, so fast that Harry almost thought he would break his neck, "Do you know that the Occlumency is protecting your mind from the outside influence?"


    "I know," Harry said calmly, "I also know that both Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap are working towards the downfall of Voldemort, just like my parents did back then. Only I''m not the same baby that needed protection fifteen years ago, I''m a warrior now."


    "And me too." Hermione said.


    "We''re all warriors." Ron said hurriedly.


    "Warriors," Snape repeated in a low voice, "Warriors?" His face suddenly twitched violently, and he shouted furiously, "And what am I? A coward-"


    "You''re an undercover warrior." Harry said, "That would require even greater fortitude and prudence, as well as equal parts of wisdom and courage combined with it. That''s why we approached you, trusting that you would be able to judge the situation at hand."


    There was a moment of silence -


    Snape opened his mouth and said slowly, in a hoarse voice, "What do you want to do?"


    It was done! Harry held down the pounding in his heart as he quickly and clearly voiced out his inner calculations, "I''ve given it some serious thought, I know Professor Hap taught me Occlumency to prevent my mind from being spied on by Voldemort, or from being misguided, but it''s actually been me who has spied on Voldemort''s mind and thoughts on several occasions - "


    "That was when he didn''t know about the connection between you, but now he does!" Snape cut him off gruffly.


    "True," Harry agreed, "but have you ever wondered how that connection happened?" Snape''s eyes suddenly widened, "I have thought about it, sir. Each time it happened I was particularly tired, my mind was unguarded, as well as Voldemort''s mood swings increased, and I judged that these conditions would have had to be met at the same time to temporarily link our minds together."


    Snape slowly exhaled the breath from his lungs.


    "Interesting speculation," he said dryly, " And what has this inspired you to do now?"


    "I can influence him in turn!" Harry said fiercely, "While he was dueling with Headmaster Dumbledore! Think about it, he must be fighting as hard as he can right now, that''s why he can''t maintain his Occlumency perfectly, if I can affect him even a little, it might change the outcome of the duel."


    "Influence the Dark Lord? Potter, do you know what you''re talking about? You are dealing with a man who may be the most dangerous and at the same time the most powerful Dark Wizard that has ever lived-"


    "The most powerful?" Harry snorted, "If you go by the criteria of being proficient in the dark arts, he does have a chance of earning that title. But we''re talking about an entirely different area here, it''s a contest of wills."


    Snape looked at him with a stony expression.


    "Since you insist, Potter."


    "-if I understand you correctly, you want me to break into your mind in the roughest way possible and rip the barrier that was so hard to build up with the Occlumency to shreds-"


    He pulled his wand from his robe pocket, and pointed it at Harry, as he whispered, "The process would be so painful it would feel like stirring your brain to mush with a burning stick." On the sidelines, Ron couldn''t help but swallow, "I''m sure it won''t be long before you would be begging me to leave you alone."


    " If it''s just that level of pain," Harry said stiffly, touching the scar on his forehead, "I think I''ve experienced it many times before."


    " Well, this is something we have to wait and see." Snape said, " Then, Legilimency!"


    Before Harry could respond, the office in front of him disappeared and many scenes quickly flashed by.


    On his eleventh birthday, he was drawing a birthday cake on the beach alone; Quirrell with his back turned to him removing his hood to reveal Voldemort on the back of his head; he was thrusting the Gryffindor sword into the head of the Basilisk; a hundred Dementors swarming towards him on the covered bridge; he, Ron and Hermione was tied to a tombstone listening to Voldemort give his return speech; he was in the underground training room of Black''s old mansion, reciting the killing curse; Ginny stepped closer towards him with wide eyes ...


    No, Harry resisted in his mind, a sudden force sprang up in his head and he pushed outwards as hard as he could along with it, "Bang!" He snapped back to see Snape bumping into the table and Harry gasping for air, as the veins in his temples bulged out.


    Snape rubbed his back, as a dangerous glint flashed in his eyes, and Ron and Hermione, who didn''t dare to breathe at the side, were afraid that he would snap out of anger, and secretly clutched their wands in their pockets. But Snape simply coldly said, "Very good, a solid foundation and a good counterattack. That means you''re going to have to suffer a little more-"


    "Legilimency!"


    This time the intensity was much higher than last time, and Harry clearly felt the pain of having his brain being torn apart, and the counterattack came as it should - "What is this? Potter?" Snape growled at him, pointing at a shimmering magical barrier in front of him in midair.


    "Sorry." Harry whispered, he didn''t mean to do it either, it was a completely subconscious reaction.


    "Sorry?" Snape repeated in a curt tone, then said with menace, "Throw your wand away, Potter."


    Harry was silent for two seconds and went to the corner to hand his wand to Ron.


    "Don''t worry, Harry, if he tries to do anything nasty to you-" Ron whispered to him as he used Harry to shield himself from Snape''s view.


    "Stay out of it." Harry said.


    "What-" Ron looked very startled.


    "Don''t interfere. We have to succeed." Harry said, returning to his spot and addressing Snape provocatively, "You''re being too careful after all, are you worried I''ll get hurt? Don''t worry, I''ve had endured a lot rougher blows than that."


    Snape''s chest rose and fell violently, clearly pissed off to the core. He gave Harry a vicious glare as if he would recite a nasty hex the next second, Harry grinned at him, and Snape, without further ado, recited the spell for the third time, "Legilimency"


    Ouch! It hurt so bad! Harry covered his forehead and locked eyes with Snape, trying hard to keep the tears from flowing out of his eyes as he tried his best to muster the mental energy that the Occlumency had provided him with to set up a line of defence, but he had lost his wand now and could only fight off Snape''s onslaught with perseverance. Soon his defences were melting away like soap bubbles in the sun, and Harry fought as hard as he could to resist, but he could only watch as his brain gradually lost its power to resist and opened up to Snape ...


    Harry was forced to remember more distant memories - his life as an invisible person in the Dursleys. The dark, cobweb-covered cupboard, the big old clothes he wore all year round, the transparent eyeglass glued with duct tape, being frightened by Aunt Marge''s dog and climbing into a tree, being stuffed into a rubbish bin by Dudley and his friends ... No, even further back than all that, he saw a green light, he saw Voldemort, he saw his mother ... Lily Potter, who was begging Voldemort to spare her child ...


    "No-!"


    Something shouted, like a wounded beast howling wildly. Then Harry found himself in a new and strange world, and before he could react, a flood of memories came flooding back:


    It was Snape - he was younger than he was now - kneeling amidst the ruins, grief-stricken, holding a woman, and next to him in a coat, there was a baby sleeping with a lightning-shaped gash on its forehead.


    Then the scene changed. On a desolate, cold hilltop in the darkness, a conversation was taking place that no one will probably ever know about -


    "That - that prophecy ... that prophecy ... Trelawney . ." said Snape, as his face paled.


    "Ah, yes, how much did you convey to Voldemort?"


    The top of the hill disappeared, this time in the Headmaster''s office.


    "I thought ... you would ... keep her ... safe ... "


    "She and James had trusted someone wrongly ... her son is still alive, with eyes exactly like his mother''s. If you love Lily Evans, don''t let her die in vain. Help me protect Lily''s son."


    "... Don''t tell anyone, Dumbledore! Only you and I can know! You must swear to me!"


    Again in the same office, but obviously not the same day, closer to the present time, as Professor Hap was mentioned in the conversation. Dumbledore raised his right hand and said to an unsmiling Snape, "Felix is still young, he won''t understand - or rather he doesn''t want to understand - that there is a price to pay for everything you do ... Don''t worry, it won''t kill me. "


    "But what about that boy? When are you going to tell him that he is a Horcrux whose only purpose for existing is to perish?"


    "Not yet," Dumbledore said sternly, "I have made some preparations, but not nearly enough. It must not be told to him at this moment."


    The office disappeared and a new scene formed slowly, so slowly that Harry had time to think about the memory of what he had just seen, that he is a Horcrux ... destined to die ... Then he found himself basking in a soft glow of sunlight, it seemed to be some tranquil and lovely afternoon, the sunlight was tinted with a rosy red. Harry was standing at the edge of an almost deserted playground, and behind a bush, not far from him, there was a little boy.


    Harry almost thought it was his forgotten memory of his childhood because at first glance the boy looked a lot like him - a small, lean, scrawny figure who was compelled to wear a big, out-of-date old dress, with black, long, and dishevelled hair.


    But the next moment Harry didn''t think so, as the boy peeked out at the two little girls playing with each other, and one of them - Harry looked at the oddly familiar green almond eyes with fascination - was clutching a wilted flower in her hand, and the little girl spread her palm as the flower came back to life and bloomed in her hand.


    "That''s enough!"


    A voice exploded in Harry''s ears and Harry was pushed away by a great force and fell to the ground. He opened his eyes to find Snape with his back bowed and his body shaking a few times before he eventually fell to his knees, the same look Harry had seen in the memory, except now he looked more older with a new fitting dress.


    Snape and Harry were both gasping dramatically, staring deeply at each other as if they were getting to know each other for the first time.


    Harry''s mind was a jumbled mess, with all sorts of information tangled together, the shock of the horrible truth he had seized from Snape''s memories was far more violent than the previous times when he was under Legilimency; the fact that Snape was the one responsible for his misfortune, Snape''s feelings for Lily, Snape''s Patronus, and the conversation between Snape and Headmaster Dumbledore... ... the fact of him being a Horcrux and destined to die.


    He is a Horcrux himself. Harry stared at Snape, and it all made sense, his scar, his Parseltongue, his unusual connection to Voldemort. Dumbledore knew it, and Professor Hap ... probably knew it too, but they didn''t say anything.


    That was why they treated him so preferentially. People have always been more forgiving towards the dead, Harry thought to himself.


    "Harry, Harry! What''s wrong with you?"


    Harry looked up at Ron and Hermione with vacant eyes. Ron was looking at Snape with hostility as he shouted, "What did he do to you? Harry, what did he do?"


    Harry took several hard, deep breaths, trying hard to push down the various mixed emotions; this is not a time to think about that, he had to make a decision soon ... but it wasn''t really effective.


    "Oh - come on, there must be something that could come in handy -" Hermione kept rummaging around in her little beaded pouch, pulling out various vials and jars, but Harry stopped her.


    "I - cough - I''m fine." He grunted, his throat clogging up.


    Harry stared at the two of their faces and slowly stood up, he looked at Snape, who was sitting limply on the floor and said in a muffled voice


    "Then - Let''s continue."


    "Continue, continue what?" Snape said slowly, his sanity seemed to be frozen by the cold floor, completely unable to comprehend a simple sentence.


    "Yes, you heard me right Professor Snape, we are going to continue." Harry said almost coldly, wondering to himself why he was still able to keep his sanity, probably because he wanted to see that person so badly.


    That was when his scar suddenly hurt without any warning, and he was dragged into another person''s point of view - Voldemort''s.


    Harry viewed his other ''self'' with envy.


    He was wielding a beautiful and deadly wand with an unbridled swagger, what a freedom! A powerful spell was unleashed without a care in the world, the snakewood wand emitting a delightful hum, and feeling exactly as its owner was feeling at the moment, Voldemort was in a great mood, having finally overpowered Dumbledore for the first time and gaining an absolute advantage.


    "Your power has decayed too much, Dumbledore! It seems like you still have your trump card? But your body can no longer support you Dumbledore!"


    Voldemort hissed like a snake, shifting his position and condensing a terrifying black flame from his snakewood wand that immediately turned the trees, rocks, and soil in the valley into rotting ashes once it touched them. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore was breathing heavily, his eyes half-closed, and fine beads of sweat dripping from his wrinkled face.


    His physical state was as precise as he had predicted, sliding down to a low point that it carried a deadly allure to Voldemort, enough to trigger his ravenous nature, but Dumbledore had misjudged one thing -


    Voldemort had finally gained complete control of the wand that his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, had left behind, and was using it to its full potential.


    In contrast, the Elder Wand in his own hand contributed very little in terms of power.


    As Voldemort had said, he did have some trump cards, but the process of unleashing them would require a little time. He swung the Elder Wand calmly - even with a hint of grace - to ward off the powerful spells that continued to wail from all directions.


    But both Voldemort and Harry who was hiding behind him could notice that the old man seemed to have really aged and become sluggish; the exhaustion on his face was not feigned and his reflexes were not as sharp as his opponent''s, as he appeared to be struggling against the continuous onslaught.


    Why hadn''t he summoned Fawkes? Harry thought without emotion, as he (and Voldemort) stared at Dumbledore, watching him plunge into a decline; was this the man in front of him who had contributed to everything that had happened so far, changing his (their) fate permanently?


    He had went into a great length just to give him the deserved death.


    At this moment, Harry''s and Voldemort''s emotions seemed to overlap as he wielded his snakewood wand, cleaving a piece of earth and decimating a raised rock wall with a massive magical force that nearly divided the sunken valley in two, sending broken wood and mud reeling high into the air. More rays of sunset light poured in through the gaping hole in the valley and Voldemort (Harry) squinted slightly as he gazed at the old man who stumbled and seemed to be falling over.


    He looked so powerless as if the most average killing curse could kill him.


    The snake-like face broke into a fierce grin, he looked like he would explode with excitement, how wonderful it felt to realize his long-time dream - his long-time mortal enemy would fall before his very own eyes, he slowly raised his wand -


    "Harry! Harry!" At Hogwarts Castle, Ron and Hermione called out the name, and just then, Harry suddenly fidgeted, his eyes shining with intense hatred.


    "Leave him alone!" Snape said as he rose from the ground.


    "But-" Hermione looked at Snape and then at Harry helplessly, before moving out of the way. When Snape finally looked at Harry''s state, he drew a sharp breath as Harry''s green eyes clouded over with a bloodshot hue, and his pupils gradually mutated into a pair of snake eyes.


    "Harry! Wake up!" Ron yelled into his ear without a care in the world.


    Harry ignored it as he raised his right hand - even though there was no wand in that hand - he made the motion of firing a spell. "Harry!" Ron and Hermione shook him in desperation, not knowing exactly what was happening, but they knew that the state he is currently in is extremely dangerous.


    Harry''s jaw opened and closed as his lips quirked.


    Hundreds of kilometres away, someone who connected with his mind was doing the same thing -


    "a-VAH-dah ke-DAH-vra!"


    "ex-PEK-toh pa-TRO-num!"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 600: Ouroboros (2 in 1)

    Intense emotions crossed the space using their mutual spiritual bond to descend on the heated battlefield. With murderous thoughts ablaze, Voldemort swung his wand -


    "Bang!"


    His snakewood wand gave a loud, echoing pop, followed by a mass of black gas pouring out of his body.


    "Harry Potter!?"


    Voldemort exclaimed incredulously, he was quite sure he had heard that boy''s voice and was not hallucinating. He looked around at the smoke and dust that had not yet cleared as if a person would suddenly jump out of there.


    But that was by no means possible. Before the official duel even began, he had arranged an Intruder Charm throughout the valley.


    Voldemort suddenly disappeared and appeared at the edge of the battlefield, his boiling dark magic flowing out of him as if it was out of control and escaping; as soon as it had left his body, it betrayed its master and turned into a dense mass of maggots that clung to Voldemort''s robes, hands and face ... and tried to devour him.


    But Voldemort didn''t care, the intimidating magic backfire was nothing to him, "Come out, Harry Potter!" He growled, constantly darting his head around, before finally spotting a certain ghostly figure in a corner of his mind.


    Realization dawned on him, and then he became furious beyond measure and wanted to rush into Hogwarts Castle immediately to tear the Harry who had repeatedly tried to ruin his plans into shreds.


    But he had finally managed to push Dumbledore to the edge, so how could he just give up? Not to mention the fact that his Horcrux is still in Dumbledore''s hands! That''s why he had no choice but to suppress his grudge and resentment, and tried to expel Harry Potter out of his mind.


    But he soon realized that this would not be an easy task. The boy opposite him was like a brain-dead troll refusing to leave.


    For a moment it appeared as if the promising situation was about to be reversed, and he was unexpectedly thrown into a triple crisis at the same time - Harry Potter deep in his mind and thoughts; escaping uncontrolled magic that had transformed into magic maggots; and the biggest threat of all, Dumbledore - Voldemort who had wasted a golden opportunity that would help him turn everything into his favour became irritated and his hatred for Harry became even deeper in his heart.


    But he couldn''t help but have some kind of disturbing hidden worry flooding through his heart, that prophecy ... the one he had been unable to see in its entirety had prophesied that ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ...


    What makes him worthy!


    Intense anger welled up in his heart and burst out with the semblance of fire, the black robe on Voldemort flared up and the maggots that were clinging on him fell to the ground in a mass and turned back into pitch black magic.


    He opened his mouth and inhaled, and all that magic came back to him once again.


    Then he quickly placed several lines of defence in his mind, barely isolating Harry Potter''s influence on him - if he had been given time, he could have easily driven the enemy out and countered him, but he could not spare the extra energy now and had to be passive and defensive


    With the two troubles resolved, he gazed at the fading dust, the looming figure of Dumbledore suggesting that he had risen to his feet. Voldemort watched it with indifference; the previous scuffle had shown that the old man Dumbledore was no longer his equal.


    Only he''s unsure if it was an illusion, but Dumbledore''s silhouette seemed to appear a little taller.


    Could it be he was stepping on a rock?


    "Clank!"


    A stern chiming sound echoed through the valley.


    As if it was provoked by something, a loud "hiss" resounded - some kind of profound magic that Voldemort had arranged with his snakewood wand. The unseen serpent was like a curse that would have possessed Dumbledore if he had not been careful.


    But now that the curse was broken, at least half of it, the two sounds intersected and neither could overwhelm the other.


    "Is this your trump card, Dumbledore-" Voldemort asked with a malevolent grin, "Do you know what just happened? Well, I got a guest with me for our duel, and he barged in on his own to act as a witness ... He will see for himself how you are going to be defeated, and then I will very happily ... reward him for the ''surprise'' he has brought me ''"


    "Is that so, Tom? I don''t think you need to go to that trouble, I will express both of our gratitude to him in person." Dumbledore said.


    Voldemort narrowed his snake-like eyes, his pupils resembling a thin slit of scarlet eyes staring dead in the opposite direction, the resentment in his heart blinded him as he ignored the slight abnormality in the tone. In a high-pitched, diabolical voice he said, "You''re still so smart-mouthed, Dumbledore, I, when I stomp you under my feet, I-"


    He drew a sharp cold breath, the words trapped in his throat as if he had been suddenly strangled.


    The smoke had completely cleared.


    Dumbledore looked totally different.


    He had been tall and thin, with a somewhat curved back, but now his spine looked straight; his whitish beard, which had grown long enough to be tucked into his belt, had mostly fallen off, and right before Voldemort''s eyes the last of the long beard fell off, followed by a fine reddish-brown coloured beard that emerged from his smooth chin and grew wildly, and in the blink of an eye grew into a tight bushy beard, exactly the same colour as his hair at the moment.


    The deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes and forehead were rapidly smoothed out, his slightly hollow cheeks became plump, and his nose, which had been broken at least twice, seemed to be well-defined and straight as if it hadn''t been injured at all. Dumbledore stretched out his long, strong fingers, the Elder Wand shaking excitedly in his hand, and it emitted the same chiming sound that had just clashed with the snakewood wand.


    No one who saw it would doubt its extraordinary nature, the magic that wrapped around it was chilling, it is definitely a powerful wand that is not inferior to the snakewood wand held in Voldemort''s hands. But Voldemort begrudgingly did not spare an ounce of his attention to it; his full attention was focused on the face that belonged to that of a middle-aged man.


    "Dumbledore?" Voldemort asked with some difficulty.


    "Pardon me ... the change may be a little drastic, but it is indeed me."


    Dumbledore flicked his wrist and the Elder Wand responded eagerly, the power of the spell that shot from it chilled Voldemort, he blocked the spell with difficulty but the aftermath left tiny cuts on him like a knife wound.


    "This can''t be!" Voldemort shouted as he gathered the magical powers in his body and poured them into the snakewood wand. But Dumbledore suddenly appeared in front of him, grabbing the snakewood wand with one hand, while the tip of the Elder Wand morphed into a sharp half-edged blade with a cold gleam, and he plunged it towards Voldemort''s chest.


    Blood splattered everywhere.


    Voldemort turned into a black mist and materialized in the distance. The confusion and shock in his eyes still didn''t fully dissipate; it was too fast, Dumbledore had attacked far faster than he had ever imagined, and the change was almost as if they were two different people.


    No, they were two different people!


    One in his old age; the other in his prime. Not many people had seen Dumbledore in his prime in this day and age, but Voldemort had come across him today. He looked up in a panic as the sky was surrounded by clouds and fog, gathering a huge mass of magic.


    The air became thick, pressing him from all sides, and he felt like a small bug that had fallen into the resin, making it difficult to even move out of his current position using Apparition.


    There was no time to react, so Voldemort used the Fiendfyre curse, and a snake made of fire formed.


    Dumbledore waved his wand and the soil swirled and sank like a water wave, acting like a weir, as the snake struggled while sinking deeper and deeper, and eventually completely disappeared.


    Dumbledore looked at Voldemort, his azure eyes sharpened, which seemed to say, this time you will not escape. Voldemort was a little stunned, he had never seen Dumbledore in this state before, but he was reluctant to leave just like that since he could tell that this state would not last that long ...


    Maybe he could stall for time?


    No, he refused to believe that Dumbledore could overcome his killing curse.


    "Avada Kedavra!"


    Voldemort put his best foot forward. The dazzling green light gathered like water, and the killing curse took on a solid form, coalescing into a green-robed Grim Reaper wielding a scythe - a reflection of Voldemort''s inner self, who prided himself on having conquered death and being able to master it, and could there be anything better to show off his status than to command it?


    The green-robed Grim Reaper swung his scythe so violently that the deep valley was illuminated with a ghostly light. The birds which had been fleeing from the valley in terror fell helplessly. All living things - trees, birds, beasts, even rocks, dirt, and dead leaves - lost their original colour, as if they had been brought to life for a short time and then granted a total death.


    The green light from the Grim Reaper''s scythe seemed to melt away everything, and the area where the two were fighting continued to sink.


    But it was still blocked.


    The clouds in the sky were literally torn off and pulled down as they encircled Dumbledore, and underwent a complex series of transformations. Dumbledore waved his wand and the lustrous clouds of fire were unleashed like a magic spell, solidifying into a red light that wrapped around the green-robed Grim Reaper, along with its scythe.


    "You want to use this against a Reaper?" Voldemort snarled, frantically pouring magic into the wand. A green chain connected from the tip of the wand to the green-robed Grim Reaper, providing it with a constant stream of power to help it break free.


    The green light intensified, growing so forcefully that the cloud of fire wrapped around the green-robed Grim Reaper made a ''sizzling'' sound, but then a burst of golden light erupted, like an eclipse in the sky at the moment, which branded the chain formed by the cloud of fire, with mysterious golden patterns.


    It wasn''t Transfiguration - at least not entirely, and very few people seemed to be aware of Dumbledore''s other identity, the Master Alchemist. Then Dumbledore pushed all the clouds surrounding him into it, and the gold and red chains clattered and twisted as if they were alive, finally breaking off a chain that extended from the Grim Reaper and trailing along the magical connection between the green-robed Grim Reaper and Voldemort on the opposite side.


    Voldemort''s eyes widened as the golden-red chain made its way towards his snakewood wand, and his wrists tightened abruptly.


    He is losing. S?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It was time to go, he tried to Apparate away but found he could not move a muscle. Voldemort lowered his head, his feet tangled by the insanely long green grass, the magic and flickering magical symbols that surged from the blades of grass made his heart sink a bit.


    The golden-red chains of the burning clouds held Voldemort in place, tightening as the magic inside him slowly became silent, and eventually, he was forced to let go, dropping his snakewood wand to the ground. The green-robed Grim Reaper, which had lost its magical support, dissipated little by little.


    Voldemort fell to the ground and looked at Dumbledore, who had a calm face, albeit his face looked totally different from his usual one.


    "What are you going to do next, kill me?" Voldemort asked menacingly.


    Dumbledore didn''t say anything, and took a few steps back and sat down in a makeshift, long, thin-legged chair, and stared at Voldemort with weariness. His face was gradually creeping back with wrinkles, becoming all wrinkly and losing its lustre ... In just two or three minutes, a century had gone by.


    Voldemort seemed to have forgotten that he was lying on the ground, that he was defeated and captured, and watched the scene in complete tranquillity.


    "Was it worth it?"


    "Worth it." Dumbledore said in a very soft, but firm tone, "I am much older, much more experienced, and much less valuable than the others. Besides - I am unavoidably responsible for your actions, not all of them of course - I am not nearly that arrogant, but it is true that I brought you into the wizarding world."


    "Hypocrisy." Voldemort scoffed, at which point there was a distant whistling sound, "Oh, someone''s coming, let me guess, from the Ministry of Magic? Unlikely, you can''t trust them; the Order of the Phoenix? Those people are no match for me ... is it Felix Hap?"


    Dumbledore shook his head, "I don''t know, I didn''t tell anyone where the duel was going to take place. Might as well wait and see."


    Silence fell over the two men as he finished.


    Dumbledore''s eyes swept over the crumbling valley, the picturesque place was completely ruined at the moment, pockmarked and scorched. He gazed down at the Elder Wand, which seemed to have died and remained motionless.


    "What was its name?" Voldemort abruptly asked.


    Dumbledore hesitated for a moment and said, "The Elder Wand."


    For a moment Voldemort''s expression looked spectacular. " So that''s how it is." He said in a low voice, "I searched for it ... but it didn''t seem to be very obedient."


    "It craves for blood, it craves for strife, and I can''t satisfy it." Dumbledore explained.


    Voldemort''s gaze shifted away from the Elder Wand as he stared at the loathsome calm old face in the chair and said wickedly, "You''re wasting your life, you know that, Dumbledore?"


    "I have an exact opposite view from yours." Dumbledore said briefly, shifting his body down to sit more comfortably.


    "Won''t you give me a chair?" Voldemort asked playfully.


    Dumbledore amused, "You seem optimistic - but I don''t think that''s necessary, you''ll be moved to a new place soon."


    "Don''t tell me it''s Azkaban? I don''t believe you''re that naive." Voldemort asked tentatively, licking his lips.


    "I''m not naive, I just have expectations for humanity." Dumbledore corrected, "I have wondered if I had shown you more concern and less vigilance, would you still be the same?"


    After being somewhat stunned, Voldemort scoffed without emotion, "And you are claiming that you are not naive? Dumbledore, are you going to preach to me one more time about the most mighty power in your imagination - love? I realized the importance of power when I was very young - and that was before I met you. It will earn you reverence and the submission of the weak - you can''t kill me, Dumbledore, I''ll make a comeback. Just in the middle of our chat just now, I figured out something that has to do with our guest, my little friend Harry Potter ..."


    He suddenly closed his mouth and raised his head as a figure descended from the sky.


    It was Felix, who landed on the ground and looked around like a traveller who had strayed into this place. Then he walked towards the two of them, with a brisk step in a rather good mood.


    "Felix Hap, here you are," Voldemort said hoarsely, greeting him like an old friend. "And we were just talking about you."


    "Oh, thank you, I''m honoured." Felix said, walking around Voldemort who was on the ground, and pressing him back down when he struggled to sit up as he passed, then he walked right up to Dumbledore, looked him over carefully for a few moments, and asked "Are you all right?"


    "I have never been better." Dumbledore said jokingly, as his eyes remained on him, or rather behind him, as he looked at Voldemort, and a small grin spread across his lips as if he had found something interesting.


    But Voldemort interpreted that smile as mockery, and his face twisted up.


    "Happened to stop by," Felix seemed to be explaining why he appeared, "with Kreacher, but I didn''t let him come over, he''s in a bit of a foul mood."


    " Is that ... oh, I see." Dumbledore blinked and whispered.


    "Speaking of which, Albus-" Felix subconsciously furrowed his brow, "is it an illusion that you look quite a bit older again? There are a few more wrinkles than when I last counted."


    " You even counted them?" Dumbledore asked curiously.


    "Of course, that''s a wrinkle on Albus Dumbledore''s face. It''s an important piece of information." Felix said in mock seriousness, Voldemort''s red eyes turning malevolent and cold, the two men''s disregard for him made him feel intensely humiliated.


    "I originally had some more things to say, but that doesn''t seem to be necessary." He said in an icy tone.


    "Yes, I should have thought of that." Dumbledore said solemnly.


    Voldemort glared at Dumbledore, he certainly wasn''t going to admit defeat easily. Even if all his magic was now shackled and his snakewood wand was lost, there is at least one thing he could do.


    He smiled coldly and gazed deeply at Dumbledore and Felix, as if to carve the faces of the two men into his soul, then he closed his eyes and waited quietly. It would not be long before he would be reborn, because soon -


    He is going to die.


    Dumbledore and Felix looked at him, not making any movement. After a few seconds, Voldemort''s eyes widened, and his snake-like pupils quivered, "How - what did you- do- "


    Dumbledore shook his head gently and waved his wand, and the restraints on Voldemort disappeared.


    But Voldemort was not free, there was another force binding him. He hung his head laboriously, examining the dark green snake''s tail that ran through his chest; it seemed illusory, inflicting no physical damage, but it was this very thing that locked his soul and trapped him in this body.


    A sea of emotions surged through him.


    Then Voldemort was pulled up from the ground and suspended helplessly in midair, like a dishevelled Dementor with its hood removed. He struggled to look up and saw a hideous, huge serpent''s head approaching him, the edges of each dark green scale pulsing with different coloured arcs of light.


    "Pat - a Patronus?"


    Felix nodded at him.


    The Giant Serpent opened its bloody maw and the next instant Voldemort''s eyes went black.


    Dumbledore and Felix watched as the Giant Serpent swallowed Voldemort in one gulp, and incidentally Swallowing its own tail, it circled and spun through the air like a kitten or puppy chasing its own tail, forming a classic ancient Ouroboros snake pattern.


    ------------


    #Walter Lebron, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 601: The Place of Placement (2 in 1)

    In the Potions Professor''s office, Harry awoke with a gasp, breathing greedily like a drowning man. Shadows loomed around him, and Harry seemed to see a hawk-nosed man, but when Hermione helped him put his glasses back on, Snape started to move back and stood not far away. Before he could see the expression on the man''s face, Ron and Hermione pounced on him and hugged him tightly, squeezing him so hard that he couldn''t breathe.


    "I''m fa- ahem - fine." Harry slurred as he struggled to keep himself from being strangled by the two of them.


    "Mate, you nearly scared us to death." Ron said as he patted him on the shoulder and Hermione covered her mouth and sobbed in a low voice.


    "I''m fine," Harry repeated, looking at the tense two, and all of his repressed emotions came back to him in a short amount of time. "The duel is over," he said with no emotion.


    "How did it turn out, Dumbledore won, didn''t he? Have we won?" Ron asked aloud, and Hermione on the left side also looked at him with anticipation.


    Harry didn''t know how to answer, he had watched Dumbledore''s comeback victory, but he just couldn''t bring himself to say the word ''we'' right now, "Yeah, Dumbledore won, the war - the war is over. "


    "Great!" Ron shouted, shaking Harry hard in excitement, "Great!" The tears that had built up in Hermione''s eyes flowed out freely, as she sobbed uncontrollably.


    "Potter-" The silent Snape called out hoarsely.


    "Dumbledore is still alive, Professor Hap has passed by, and Kreacher was also mentioned - I don''t know why, no one mentioned it to me. And Voldemort, well he got swallowed by a snake, and probably isn''t dead yet." Harry said under his breath, with his eyes staring elsewhere, "Sorry, I''m a bit messed up in the head at the moment, need to go out, go out and get some fresh air ..."


    He broke away from Ron''s grasp and stormed out of the office.


    Harry walked briskly through the basement corridors, climbing the stairs with a wooden expression, there were excited fifth years standing in twos and threes in the entrance hall, some members of the Magic Rune Club and the Frontline Lookout Club greeted Harry, who nodded stiffly in response, and some less familiar students were pointing at him from the shadows, supposedly discussing his ''nightmare'' during the last test.


    "What the hell did he dream about that he would expect Headmaster Dumbledore to die ..."


    The chatter from the corner drifted to his ears, but Harry didn''t have the slightest intention of defending himself as he walked straight through the entrance hall, the words of Neville''s loud retort on his behalf still audible in his ears. He walked a few quick steps through the oak doors, the sun was setting over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest, lacing it with a golden-red colour along with curving traces.


    He walked aimlessly on the stone steps, he didn''t feel like visiting some specific destination, he was just trying to find something that would keep him occupied and keep him as far away from the others as possible. He went to Black Lake first, but it was already crowded with fifth and seventh years who had finished their tests, so he changed direction and stopped for a moment in front of Hagrid''s hut, where he turned and walked into the forbidden forest without knocking on the door.


    He felt a wave of relief as his figure was covered by the dark and dense shadows of the forest.


    There could be no one in here. As he went deeper and deeper, the tall, dense trees obscured the faint light from the twilight, and he lay down on a dark, flat stone, his eyes focused on the mottled bright light that penetrated through the thick leaves. It was only then that Harry started to think seriously, he had temporarily pushed Snape aside in his mind and finally realized his mission. The whole point of his existence was to take the initiative and die at the right time, which would sever Voldemort''s last link in the world.


    Then there''s that prophecy. Harry mused that it probably prophesized something about him and Voldemort, and he could probably guess what it was about, that the two of them are going to meet their deaths at the same time, or to put it nicely, they are going to die together? He couldn''t help but think of Snape again, the one who had tipped off Voldemort, the one who had told him about the prophecy. He had been an evil Death Eater at that time, and probably kissed Voldemort''s robes with enthusiasm every time they met ...


    He must have been too proud and complacent at that time to imagine that the prophecy would kill the person he loved so much.


    The whole thing was far more complicated than Harry had first thought. His heart thumped at the thought of death and his stomach cramped uncontrollably as if ice cubes had been stuffed into it. His mouth was dry, his throat clogged, and Harry knew it was the fear that gripped him; what was it like to die? He has had multiple experiences of narrowly escaping death, many times he had almost thought he would die, but death did not accept him.


    He was dexterous and surprisingly lucky as if some hand in the dark was fiddling with his fate (Harry thought of Dumbledore leafing through the books), telling him it wasn''t time ...


    But now the time has finally arrived.


    Harry had the sudden urge to turn his head and run away. Now that he was in the Forbidden Forest, he could Apparate and destroy his wand afterward and hide in a place where no one would ever find him. He pulled out his own wand and looked down at it. A little time passed and the Forbidden Forest became even darker as if it was already late into the night. Harry was getting more and more anxious, and mentally kept urging himself to make a decision to at least ... at least make another trip to Godric''s Hollow and place a bouquet of flowers or something on his parents'' grave.


    Otherwise, when Dumbledore got back - Harry thought pessimistically - Dumbledore would probably grab him with a sneer and tell him he wanted to take him somewhere to be with Voldemort. He pictured the scene, the Headmaster''s two hands gripping his shoulders and shaking him hard (somehow he thought of the way Ron had shaken him earlier), Professor Hap and Snape sandwiching him from left to right (they looked like followers, sort of like Crabbe and Goyle) ...


    But Harry ended up doing nothing, he was just like the students who suddenly decided to let loose after their exams and sneak off to venture into the Forbidden Forest, essentially no different from the students who were having a nap in the shade of the willow trees by the Black Lake. He slowly got off the rock, his legs went a little weak. He looked down at the Phoenix feather Hollywood wand that was still clutched in his hand and seriously pondered to whom he should give it as a memento.


    But who would use a second-hand wand? Well, maybe they would, Harry mentally retorted to himself, at least it would be acceptable as a spare wand.


    This is an excellent wand.


    Harry had the confidence to hold it and fight Voldemort head-on, maybe that would be a better end, dying as he battled like a hero ... but Voldemort had been caught, Dumbledore and Professor Hap had managed to finish everything, and there was really only so much he could do.


    He thought about Ron and Hermione and wondered what they would feel when they found out. They would probably try to stop that man (Dumbledore) somehow, and Harry could guess their reactions - first, they would be horrified, then Ron would mutter, "There must be another way." And Hermione would recite the titles of every book she had ever read that had anything remotely related to this matter. Well, that is, if they had a chance to know.


    Harry walked slowly towards the castle, making up his mind that - if he had the time - he would ask every single ghost in the castle about how they felt when they had died. He knew at least two of them, Moaning Myrtle, who had been killed by the Basilisk, and Nearly Headless Nick, who had been hacked to death with a rusty axe, and their pain before death was completely incomparable; they were two polar opposites.


    "Whoosh!"


    Harry jerked his head down, the shield charm forming a barrier rapidly in front of him, and he stared in disbelief at the arrow that was lodged in the ground some distance away, the tail of the arrow still rattling in a flurry. It seemed it was only meant to serve as a warning, then the trees swayed and Harry narrowed his eyes as he heard the thudding of horses'' hooves.


    "Bane, that appears to be a student."


    "A foal?" A gruff voice grunted.


    A Centaur stepped out from behind a bush, with platinum blonde hair and the body of a silver-maned horse, Harry knew this Centaur, his name is Firenze. Firenze looked at Harry twice and asked with some surprise, "Harry Potter?"


    Another Centaur appeared, with black hair and a black body, looking a little fitter and rougher than Firenze. He was holding a bow in his hand, and it was obvious that the arrow stuck in the ground had been shot by him.


    "Foal, get out of here." The black Centaur said grumpily, "Centaurs are not your human babysitters, don''t expect us to follow behind you like mules and offer protection."


    Harry didn''t say anything, he was still angry about the arrow, and for some reason, he was suddenly eager to teach the arrogant-looking Centaur a lesson, probably a result of Hagrid''s recent complaints, "That bunch of stubborn-minded old horses ... I don''t mean all of them, a few are still very nice to talk to, but most ..." he muttered dismissively, sticking a bone needle that could pass off as a wand into the thick canvas as he sewed Grawp''s trouser.


    Or it could simply be that the Centaurs were interrupting his thoughts.


    Harry walked back in a sullen mood when the sound of horse hooves sounded behind him and one of them followed. Harry didn''t look back, he wasn''t interested in what the other party was up to. But the fellow called ''Bane'' shouted, "Remember, Firenze! I may not care if you make friends with that little girl, but don''t say anything you shouldn''t! We swore an oath to never get involved in the messy troubles of the wizards!"


    "I never considered saying such a thing," growled Firenze as the voice seemed to rumble from above Harry''s head, pricking his ears a little, "but I do want to say something now!"


    Bane growled in anger and left - Harry''s head ached a little - but when they got some distance away he became a little worried about Firenze''s well-being, as he had heard Hagrid saying that the Centaurs were quite stubborn and grumpy.


    "The - um - the little girl was referring to Luna?" As they walked through the woods in silence, Harry found a chance to say something.


    "That''s right." Firenze said briefly, walking side by side with him.


    "They stopped you from having contact with Luna?" Harry asked, "You can''t make friends with wizards?"


    "That''s not entirely true," Firenze explained, "Luna ... isn''t that old, and that helped her. The Centaurs wouldn''t harm the foals and she ..." Firenze thought for a moment before saying, "She got along quite well with all the Centaurs except Bane, especially the girls, who loved the Dirigible Plum earrings and the cork necklaces."


    Harry really didn''t expect Luna to be so ''well-connected'' and have managed to secure friends in another community.


    For some reason, he chimed in, "She can also weave wreaths."


    "Yeah, part of the fancy things she made is actually learned from Centaurs." Firenze said, and Harry stared, imagining the scene of Luna and the Centaur girl learning how to weave a wreath, and he was surprised by how it didn''t seem out of place.


    "So Hagrid-"


    "He''s one of the few we can interact with, we like people who are simple-minded and love nature. But it doesn''t seem like it is going to work that well anymore, you know, the elders of the tribe are not happy with his move to settle his brother in the forbidden forest." Firenze said.


    Harry remembered Hagrid''s words that the Forbidden Forest isn''t owned by the Centaurs, and it was just an area allocated by the Ministry of Magic for the Centaurs to live in. But he didn''t say the words on his mind out loud.


    They walked to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and Hagrid''s hut could be seen ahead of them, with green smoke billowing out of the chimney.


    "Thank you, Firenze." Harry said.


    "You''re welcome, I''ve met many young wizards who have wandered into the Forbidden Forest by mistake, though some of them weren''t really ''by mistake''." Firenze said and Harry nodded and took a few steps forward, "Oh, Potter." Firenze called out to him and Harry turned his head to look at the Centaur.


    "Bane doesn''t want us to have any contact with wizards, he''s the radical faction, but I think it''s necessary to keep in touch with wizards appropriately, the Centaurs alone are too weak to stand on their own in the midst of the great ripples and glorious era that about to come. I believe you are an essential link for that." Firenze said.


    Harry''s mood suddenly became gloomy.


    "An essential link?" He said in a low, hoarse voice, "I probably can''t help with that ... you can approach Professor Hap."


    "We d-don''t trust him." Firenze said softly.


    Harry looked up in surprise as Firenze continued, "To be precise, we don''t trust any adult wizards." It sounded strange to Harry, he had assumed that Professor Hap had once conflicted with Centaurs.


    But when he thought about the criteria for Centaurs to make friends - simple-minded and close to nature - Professor Hap didn''t seem to fall into any of these categories.


    Harry returned to the castle with a heavy heart, wondering why Firenze seemed to have unrealistic expectations of him, it was almost dark, and he guessed that the students would be enjoying a meal in the great hall at this time. So he walked into the great hall, the laughter around him seemed irrelevant to him, and he took a seat at the edge of the Gryffindor table, avoiding his acquaintances.


    Next to him was an underclassman he didn''t know, but the student clearly knew him, and the young wizard yelped from the back of his throat before sneaking a finger to poke his friend in the ribs.


    Harry hastily picked up a slice of pie and stuffed it messily into his mouth.


    A few seats were vacant at the Professor''s table, Dumbledore, Professor Hap, Sirius, and Snape were all absent, and the students didn''t notice anything unusual - it wasn''t exactly like the professors would come over on time every day to finish their meals - they were enthusiastically discussing the finished wizard grading exams and final exams, and there had even been some discussion about the summer holidays.


    But today is different.


    It occurred to Harry as he divided the pie in half with his fork that Voldemort had fallen silently, and if people could see the future they would be amazed at how calmly they had passed this day.


    He thought about Firenze''s words again, the great ripples and glorious era that was about to come... could he be lucky enough to witness it? Or did the ''essential link'' Firenze spoke of actually signify his own death to begin with?


    That would indeed be quite important, the wizarding community would henceforth be free from Voldemort''s shadow and could live their lives in peace ...


    Harry once again glanced hastily at the four empty seats, and then he lowered his head and tiptoed out of the great hall - Ron and Hermione had been very restless at dinner, looking around constantly, and he felt like he had to avoid them, as he hadn''t figured out how to face them yet.


    Where had the people who weren''t present gone? Harry wondered on his way back to the common room.


    Could it be in some place he didn''t know about - the Headmaster''s office, perhaps, or on a desolate hilltop - where an unusually serious conversation was taking place, with Dumbledore telling Sirius in a heavy voice that Harry is a Horcrux... ...


    If someone had to inform this to him, he wanted that someone to be Sirius.


    Deep in Classroom Seven.


    Felix handed Hufflepuff''s golden cup to Dumbledore and then joined him as he looked at the Ouroboros serpent that kept circling in midair.


    "... You''ve got a dozen Patronuses all bonded together?" Dumbledore asked with some amazement, "How did you do that?"


    "It was indeed difficult and took a lot of time to actually implement this, but I used a clever trick," Felix said, "I found a commander in chief for them, a spiritual leader."


    "You mean something like Harry''s ..."


    "Exactly."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly, "Where is Kreacher?"


    "I sent him to Sirius, he is deeply bound by the magic of his kind and had only just lost his master, so he is now extremely depressed. Sirius is comforting him."


    Behind them, several Professor''s memory bodies stood, young Felix, young Dumbledore, young McGonagall, and Flitwick as well as Newt Scamander, as they looked at the dark green Patronus in mid-air with grave expressions.


    "It''s holding the You-Know-Who in its belly ...? Merlin, this is too dangerous, you shouldn''t have brought it into the school." The young Ms. McGonagall said, clutching her chest, as her whole body shook disturbingly.


    "For a certain reason, we need him alive for the time being," Felix said, "Seriously, Minerva, you couldn''t find a better place than here: with the vast amount of magic flowing through Hogwarts'' defences system, the vast amount of emotions collected in Classroom Seven, and of course, the most vital ... is still you guys."


    "But this is not a prison, Albus, and we are not jailers, so I hope you will consider this carefully!" Ms. McGonagall said firmly, "Students come in and out on a daily basis, and if something were to happen-"


    "Then we should close this place to the public for time being." Dumbledore said in a quiet voice.


    "Better not, Albus." Felix interjected, "I need to use it to gather sufficient emotions, an essential step in suppressing Voldemort''s will and sending him into a passive hibernation. I can create a temporary channel in the next room to separate the two."


    "School''s going to be closed in a few days, so on an optimistic view, we might be able to fix this issue during the holidays."


    ------------


    #Walter Lebron and #Dalton, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 602: End of the Fifth year (2 in 1)

    The next few days were very jam-packed for Felix. "Anything else, Harry?"


    "... No."


    Felix scratched his chin and looked at Harry''s back, somehow feeling that he wasn''t in the right state of mind.


    "Do you think overusing the Patronus Charm will affect your mood?" He asked Peeves, who had just poked his head through the wall to see what was going on, and was attempting to silently shrink his body back now. When he heard Felix''s question, he stopped awkwardly and replied, "I don''t know, sir."


    "I thought you might have some idea," Felix shrugged, "I was grading some final papers and saw one of the students carefully analysing the similarities and differences between you and the Patronus body. Professor Flitwick was laughing rather heartily ..."


    Peeves was so startled that he almost fell from mid-air, and he spun around in the air holding his feet.


    "I have nothing in common with a Patronus, sir! Totally different - those darned little brats! They must be thinking of ways to set up Lord Peeves -" He dashed aggressively into the solid stone wall, not looking back, as if he was going to find trouble with the person who wrote that. Felix wasn''t sure if this fit of indignation of his was feigned or not.


    "Never mind, we still have many things to do, Valen."


    Felix said walking into the room and closing the door behind him, a chubby Niffler was sprawled out on the couch reading a comic book with a small fiery red bird on her head.


    It is an alchemical item that Felix has used for an advanced warning purpose, more flexible than the Caterwauling Charm or Intruder Charm, and can be triggered based on specific conditions - he was notified when Crabbe and Goyle tried to break into his office, but the bird burned itself into a black, chocolate-like puddle of ashes after it completed warning him.


    Felix made another one.


    Valen unexpectedly took a liking to it and thought the bird was a bit like Fawkes. A birdcage was added in the office for this reason, and then the little fiery red alchemist bird also started to pretend it was really a bird.


    "Want to come with me? Valen?" Felix asked after dressing up.


    "Kee~"


    "Okay, remember to take the bird and the snake for a stroll, you''ve gained some weight again... There are snacks in the cupboard, and remember to call me when we have guests, you know the trick, right? Knock on the doorknob three times with your wand ..." Felix said at length, and Valen waved her hand to show she understood.


    So Felix pushed open the bedroom door and walked through a shimmering membrane that led to the depth of Classroom Seven.


    He was standing at the start of a fork in the path that looked as if a full path had been split in two and then the second path moved toward him, and Felix looked back as if he could still see Valen, who was teasing a small bird on the sofa, and he closed the door, leaving a shadow of a door in its place, and walked forward.


    It certainly wasn''t a long path, but all sorts of defensive and vigilance magic had been laid out along the way, and he came to the end of it where a mist loomed before him. Felix reached out and felt up and down in the air as if there was really something there, and then - with a tug - he fished a lock out of the empty space.


    Felix took out a streamlined key from his pocket, and inserted it into the lock core, twisting it open as the mist cleared to reveal a small two-storey building.


    Inside the building, there is a modern office with white, continuous walls, and a smooth, discernible floor with no visible lighting around, but still, the room is well lit. In the centre of the office, three or four feet above the floor, a huge ouroboros serpent was floating with its head and tail united. It was rotating slowly.


    "Let me think about today''s task, and the first step is-"


    Felix shook the emerald ring and a piece of parchment appeared out of thin air, with a few categories roughly divided on it, the large extra blank space indicating that more content will be added.


    "A glass of fine quality ghost coffee to start."


    A cup floated in the air.


    "Very good," Felix took a sip, "Next - an emotion test." He raised his head and tapped his index finger on the scales of the ouroboros, the dark green opaque scales immediately turned into a transparent silvery white, revealing what was inside.


    Voldemort''s torso floated in the air, his limbs and head hanging down helplessly. A dark green, shimmering serpent''s tail was impaled on his chest, looking as if it had been penetrated. In addition to the serpent''s tail on his chest, there were more than a dozen tiny vines like magical pipelines connected to him, sealing off the layers of magic in his body.


    If an outsider had barged in, he would have been convinced this is a den of an evil dark wizard.


    Felix''s eyes shone with a strange brilliance as he murmured as if he was talking to himself, "I don''t know if you ever thought you''d have a day like this, Tom, but I''m sure you can understand, can''t you? After all, it''s a perfect embodiment of your philosophy-"


    "Magic is power."


    Felix held out his hand and from the corner of the ultra-modern room a wisp of green smoke bubbled up, the smoke gathered in his hand and looked like a green glass ball. Felix took it in his hand and his fingers passed through the silvery, transparent Ouroboros, and with a flick, the small green ball melted into Voldemort''s body.


    "There are those who will indulge in beautiful dreams and refuse to wake up, and there are those who are so devastated by their great defeat that they hide away and dare not see anyone, which will you be?"


    Right at that moment, there was a knock at the door.


    "Professor Hap?" Hermione''s voice whispered as the door opened, "Oh, Professor, I wanted to ask if I needed to mark papers-"


    Hermione blinked as she looked down to see a chubby Niffler yawning.


    "Valen?"


    Hermione asked Valen as she crouched down a little awkwardly, "Is the Professor in?"


    "Kee!"


    Niffler pointed at the room.


    Hermione followed and walked in, the office was empty. She was a little disappointed, "Can I wait here for the Professor?" After receiving an affirmative answer, she walked over and sat on the couch, as she looked around.


    It had been a while since she had been here, but nothing had changed in the office, she saw the green plant she had given as a gift on the small square table, growing well, which put her in a good mood, then she noticed a reflection on one of the cabinets by the wall, at first she thought it was glass, but it didn''t seem like that, there was more than one reflection.


    Hermione stood up and walked over to the cupboard, she covered her mouth in surprise, there were about a dozen wide mouth jars behind the glass doors, each one containing a silvery mist, like a piece of art. If one looked closely, one would also notice that the mist would occasionally condense into a stag ...


    Was it Harry''s Patronus?


    She looked at it for a moment and sat back on the couch, as she glanced along the green plant, she found a stack of partially marked test papers laying on top of the table.


    Hermione''s hand slightly itched, so she sat down on the other side of the table and flipped open the test papers.


    It is fourth-year Ancient Rune final test papers, of course, she didn''t come over to correct them, that was just an excuse, she had other things on her mind, but-


    She had nothing else to do, so perhaps she might as well help out so that she could try to get a worthwhile chat when the professor returns?


    Hermione picked up the test papers and began to mark them carefully. The questions on the papers were easy enough for her to grade, and she deliberately left a few of the more highly subjective questions unattended for Professor Hap to grade, while she looked through the rest. It didn''t take her that long before she couldn''t help but frown, "How can someone make a mistake here? It must be a careless mistake ... and another ... and another, oh my god, who is this guy, I need to see his name ..."


    When Valen finished leafing through the comic book, she slipped off the couch and ran over to the bird cage to have a look, she had carried the gluttonous snake in her hand to prevent the little snake from running around. After a long moment of both Valen and the bird staring at each other through the cage, Valen contentedly withdrew her gaze and took a bottle of Tumbleberry Juice out of the cupboard and, after a moment''s thought, she took out one more bottle.


    She walked over to Hermione and handed one of the bottles to her, and smoothly squeezed into her arms as the two looked at the test papers together.


    "Kee!" She called out.


    "What''s wrong?" Hermione asked, with her eyes still fixed on the test paper, and Valen pulled her exclusive wand out of her pocket and pointed it at a spot.


    "Er, it''s really wrong here."


    Hermione looked down in surprise, watching as a smug Valen sipped her juice through a straw. Time passed a little bit, and Hermione stretched out her hand and stood up, she had finished grading all the papers. She rubbed her neck, which was a little sore, and looked up. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Professor still hasn''t come back yet?"


    Valen gestured towards the bedroom door again, and Hermione remained somewhat confused, so Valen simply jumped down and trotted to the bedroom door, standing on her tiptoes and trying to reach the doorknob with her exclusive wand.


    "You want to go in?"


    Hermione walked over to her, she didn''t think the professor was in there, they had been grading papers all morning and no one had come out, unless ... unless the Professor is sleeping inside ... A slightly blank expression appeared on her face at the thought of that possibility.


    No way it could be as she guessed, right?


    Valen gave the doorknob three laboured knocks and the door popped open automatically, Hermione was a little flustrated at the prospect of seeing a professor lying in bed, in his pyjamas, with his hair in a mess, but out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flash of mercury like film.


    She stared at the bedroom entrance, a transparent film blocking the way. The view from inside was so blurred that it made it impossible to see, and she reached out her hand-


    "Better not touch it."


    A voice chimed in, and Hermione was startled, turning around quickly to stare at the blank portrait hung in the corner. Then a figure flashed in, blinking his light blue eyes and looking at her with a shining gaze.


    "Miss Granger? Can I ask you a favour?"


    "Uh, yes, Professor-?"


    "Call me Felix, I didn''t teach you anything. Can you see the bottom right corner of the canvas, the bowl containing a bunch of grapes ... can you see? Good, a prude tainted it with dirty hands, I just can''t stomach it ..."


    Hermione stared, a little flustered, " Oh, Fe-Felix? What am I supposed to use to clean it -"


    " Don''t use your sleeve! Use your wand, a very simple spell, I''ll tell you how to use it."


    After a few moments, Felix in the portrait frame whistled loudly and stuffed a grape into his mouth with a pleasant expression.


    "You can''t imagine how many odd people you''d meet when they hang your portrait in St Mungo''s, there was one with a dagger in his head - God knows how he survived; there was the one whose nose was spewing fire, I guess it was due to an overdose of dragon''s blood - -and I saw an old wizard who spat bubbles like a fish, who happened to have bad breath, and the bubbles exploded in the face of the healer who was attending him, and it made that little girl cry so hard ... want one?" He asked, holding up a grape.


    "No, thanks." Hermione suddenly felt a little sick in her stomach.


    "Oh, you can''t eat either." Portrait smoothly followed her words, "Well luckily I met you, I hate the smell of potion materials and potions, my original is sick of me nagging him and always telling me to shut up, he even threatened to have someone draw a muzzle on my mouth, is that for people? I''ve only ever seen them on horses and dogs!"


    Hermione sneaked a glance at him, it was a very novel experience talking to a chatty and talkative professor.


    "Felix? You just reminded me not to touch that thing ..."


    "Yeah, you didn''t have access to that. If you put your hand on it, snap!" He said with a wince, "and you''ll fall into a trap."


    Felix''s portrait nudged towards the cupboard against the wall, and Hermione immediately flinched as she looked at it, fearing that she too would be put in a wide-mouthed jar. She guessed that the Weasley brothers would have a blast trying it out, but she really didn''t have the courage to try.


    Turning back she found Valen poking her head into the transparent magical barrier, Hermione pointed at Valen in surprise and Portrait said with a relaxed look on his face, "Don''t worry, that little guy has access to it, just let her go inside if you need something, but I think he would have already found out though - see, I was right. " The portrait said.


    Hermione saw a blurry figure getting closer, a tall man with short black hair.


    A hand picked up the silver film as if lifting a curtain, and Felix looked at Hermione with some surprise, "Miss Granger?" He jumped out nimbly and Hermione could faintly see a curved glowing pathway.


    "Is that ... classroom seven?" Hermione asked hesitantly.


    Felix nodded, not bothering to explain much.


    He quickly figured out the reason why Hermione is here, "You wanted to inquire about the outcome of that duel?"


    "It''s kind of weird that I didn''t see a follow-up in the newspaper, isn''t that right? I mean, Voldemort''s downfall is certainly a major event, everyone was looking forward to reading about the victory, but there was absolutely nothing ..."


    "News has to lag sometime, Miss Granger." Felix shook his head, "The Ministry of Magic is responsible for this, well at least Ms. Bones doesn''t have any ideas of revealing it yet, she is planning to wipe out the remaining Death Eaters, and Dark Wizards first."


    "Oh," Hermione blinked as she figured it out after a short pause and slowly asked, "And about Harry''s prophecy-"


    "Harry told you to ask that?" Felix looked at her calmly.


    "No, it''s my own-" Hermione opened her mouth.


    "Sirius knows about the prophecy, and it''s best to let him personally tell Harry about it." Felix said, with a shrug, "That prophecy isn''t complicated, and it points to something very clear, I think the reason Sirius isn''t talking about it, is because he doesn''t want to put too much pressure on Harry - the prophecy doesn''t necessarily have to be true, but it would put an enormous amount of pressure on the person involved."


    Hermione bit her lip and nodded lightly.


    Then her expression became very torn as she stammered, "Actually, there''s one more thing ... Harry seemed very down, and he, he told us that, um ..." she seemed to ponder how to word it, "You know that Professor Snape used to be a Death Eater, right, like in a story about a person who strayed from the right path and later turning back to it again..."


    "... Harry knows."


    Felix raised an eyebrow, "Miss Granger, be more specific about it."


    "Here''s the thing," Hermione said, "On the last History of Magic test, Harry''s scar suddenly hurt, which implied that he had received another piece of information from the You-Know-Who and after that we ..." She unfolded the events of that day, "After that Harry looked out of place, Ron and I pressed him for two days before he told us ... Voldemort was after Harry''s family because of a prophecy, and the one who revealed it to him was Snape."


    Felix listened with a serious expression and nodded, "And? Anything else? Or Just these?"


    "Just these." Hermione said, wondering in her mind, wasn''t that enough? When Harry told her, she could fully understand the mixed feelings in Harry''s heart. Felix rubbed his chin, at least he had found a reason for Harry''s recent mood swings.


    "As a bystander, no matter what we say it will appear like we can''t understand their pain, it is hard to relate to the emotions of the parties involved. So let them vent their emotions, as a friend all you can do is, avoid touching their painful memory for some time and be there as emotional support. Of course, proper guidance is still necessary; Miss Granger, at this point you will probably need some good news; I sneaked a look at the fifth and seventh-grade test papers before the examiners from the Wizardry Examination Authority left."


    "If you want to know your Ancient Rune O.W.L results-"


    Hermione nodded her head in a quick motion and Felix grinned, "Outstanding, of course, all three of you."


    In a flash, it was time for the Hogwarts students to leave school.


    Felix stood on the balcony of his office, looking out at the students dragging their large luggage and enthusiastically walking out of the castle, ready to spend a pleasant holiday. "Time is flying fast, I have two months to do research next, emotions, soul, memory, what a wonderful connection they have."


    At the castle''s main entrance, Harry looked up at the winged boar at the top of the stone pillars on either side of the main gate and gazed along the stone steps, and gaped at the lofty castle standing high above, as if to carve it into his heart.


    Hermione''s words did not provide much comfort, because that is simply not the point.


    Harry thought of The Tale of the Three Brothers, and an Invisibility cloak that could hide one even from death ... that thing is now lying quietly in his trunk, but could it help him this time?


    Probably not, he thought.


    Because he is just like that third brother in the fairy tale, already ready to take off his invisibility cloak to welcome his death.


    But in any case, he got some extra time, even though Harry hadn''t figured out how to use ... it yet, Harry thought, it was really time to think about it himself. He walked to the carriage to welcome his holiday.


    ...


    Meanwhile, In Diagon Alley -


    A skinny, sluggish old man stumbled into the Sword Castle with a gait that looked like he lacked exercise, as he would stop to take a break after walking every few steps.


    "How can I help you, my good sir?" The young witch with a few freckles on her face asked.


    "I learned that you guys seem to be able to solve Squib''s spell casting problem? I happen to be troubled with that." The old man said in a hoarse voice, with exceptionally bright blue eyes.


    "Of course!" The young witch said enthusiastically, "Please register over here, you are very lucky, this technology has already matured very well and will be announced to the public at a later date, by then you will have to pay a lot, and if it became popular there might be a long queue!"


    "I''m not too worried about the money," the old man grinned, his teeth nearly gone, "but I''m really in a rush ... I''m going to apply for a job, and if I don''t have some skills, I''m going to be in a lot of trouble. "


    The young witch stole a glance at the old man, she did not expect him to work at such an old age, and he is still a Squib. After thinking about this, she looked at the old man sympathetically and helped him walk inside.


    ------------


    #Dalton, #Farhaan Talati and #Chance Chase, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 603: News Spread

    At the beginning of the holiday, Felix disappeared for two weeks. He only communicated with the outside world via owl or communicating mirror, and each time he wrote back he was very brief, and usually ended his letters with the words " I am concentrating on my research, please do not disturb me if it is not necessary", which reduced his social activities by 90%, and all sorts of smart people who caught a hint of something kept their mouths shut, especially those who wanted to invest in the ''Future World'' company by flaunting Gringotts Gold-Galleon.


    It wasn''t that Felix spent all his time behind closed doors, holed up in classroom seven in the company of some guy with no hair.


    He always believed that a good mood would boost productivity.


    So during these times, he visited the Grand Canyon to see the Red River, went to the bottom of the sea to see the coral and, of course, suddenly appeared at his friend''s doorstep. The number of wizards is not that high, but it is not that low either. Take the United Kingdom for example, there are more than 20,000 wizards living among a population of nearly 60 million people, which would approximately equate to a total of two million wizards in the world; there may be errors in the figures, but the volume is practically unchanged.


    It is only because they are scattered around the world that they become relatively rare.


    The wizarding community is also not without its own famous attractions, such as the Forest of Ghosts, the Ghost Town, the Vampire Community, and other magical places of considerable distinction. They are like the black markets of different countries, with their own odd rules and regulations. If you want to have a good time, you have to follow them.


    For example, one vampire community that was open to the public had a requirement to ''smile without showing your teeth'', and it was difficult for wizarding families to find out if the vendor who was claiming to sell authentic ''vampire food'' was actually a vampire, which Felix seriously suspected was an ordinary wizard in disguise...


    "Blood roses, with a mellow flavour in every bite!" A pale, pimple-faced male wizard shouted vigorously, his eyes lit up at the sight of Felix, " Gentleman, you have a good eye - no lady would turn down - uh --"


    He lowered his head and looked at Valen, who was wearing a lady''s hat and coughed intensely.


    "A question," Felix''s fingertips bounced a gold galleon, "do vampires have pimples?"


    "We do!" The peddler shouted, "You can''t discriminate against us, there''s something special about our physiology, but-"


    Felix pointed to his flattened teeth that were exposed due to him being agitated and the vendor rushed to cover his mouth.


    "Fifty percent off for all merchandise, plus a ticket for a tour to the Vampire Duke''s castle," the vendor said as he looked around and brought his head closer to lower his voice, "I''m told this event is very popular among muggles."


    "... deal."


    Two minutes later, Felix and Valen each wore a pair of vampire masks, neither of them brave enough to try the supposedly ''mellow tasting'' blood roses, but it looked good as an adornment to keep in their dress or hat.


    They also wore a silver cross on their chests with a tortured, fanged vampire tied on it - some guy who was supposedly famous for inventing a substitute for human blood - the same product the vendor had lovingly recommended.


    "It goes perfectly with your masks!"


    In contrast, Voldemort''s life is not quite satisfactory - if he is conscious enough. Apart from the daily recurring nightmares that go along with the various emotional tests, he would also occasionally be subjected to a Niffler snooping around ...


    Unfortunately, Voldemort''s will is far firmer than he had expected and his research is currently progressing rather slowly with very little success. Felix had to be careful to keep him alive - Dumbledore had gone to a meeting with the International Confederation of Wizards and until he returns, Felix had to keep Voldemort in one piece.


    So those ''destructive tests'' couldn''t be done.


    In a recent letter, Felix urged Dumbledore to return as soon as possible.


    He rehashed his old ideas and wished to stuff Voldemort''s brain with a lot of penitence. But this matter actually came with certain risks, because they faced a dilemma that had not been solved: how can they ensure that separating the soul fragment from Harry would not harm him?


    After all, they only had two intact Horcruxes left in their possession - Hufflepuff''s golden cup and Slytherin''s locket - which meant that even if they managed to figure out how to do it, they would only have two chances for trial and error.


    ...


    During the time that Felix was isolated from the outside world, the others were not idle either.


    The Aurors and Hit Wizards were deployed by Ms. Bones to scatter around and launch a widespread ''sweep'' operation, which was aided by the members of the Order of the Phoenix due to a shortage of manpower. They were experienced temporary external officers who were a cut above the new recruits that the Ministry of Magic had recruited in the past two years in terms of combat prowess and experience.


    In addition to Death Eaters, spies deployed by Voldemort, dark wizards, as well as some forgotten elements, have been caught up in this operation.


    In the north of England, on high ground.


    There was a faint rattling sound heard from outside the cave. The skinny, scrawny male wizard pricked up his ears and did not dare to move his body. After a long absence of movement, he swallowed hard and thought it might be a mouse. He leaned his head on the shabby woollen mat, with a dull gaze -


    "Boom!" The stone at the mouth of the cave was blown away and a blinding beam of daylight was poured over him.


    "Igor Karkaroff!?" A malevolent voice exclaimed, and Karkaroff jolted, desperately trying to block in front of him with his hands, his courage drained by a long life of isolation, and he shivered as he said, "Don''t, don''t kill me!"


    Rough jeers rang out from outside.


    After a few seconds, Karkaroff opened his eyes, having spent too long hiding in the gloom of his lair day and night, he was not quite used to the bright light. But still, he sensed with what was left of his senses that something was wrong - if it had been one of his former dangerous and evil companions, this would have been a time when they would have dragged him out of the cave like a dead dog, or simply given him a bone-chilling Cruciatus Curse.


    Outside the cave, there were shadows of people.


    After trying hard to see through the light, Karkaroff saw a hideous, scarred face with an iconic eye that he would never forget in his life. " Mad-Eye Moody?" Karkaroff was filled with a mixture of anguish and joy that after more than a decade he had once again fallen into the hands of this old Auror.


    Moody didn''t bother talking to him and yanked him out roughly by his collar.


    "All of you come and see what I''ve found!" Moody said, partly in disgust, and partly in surprise, "You''ll never guess-" Seven or eight men gathered round, exchanging pleasantries with each other. "The former headmaster of Durmstrang?" "But is he not dead?" "How long has he been hiding, what a smell ...?" "Nearly a year now, and the rapid downfall of the Dark Lord has allowed him to escape."


    Karkaroff grabbed the last person who had spoken and shouted with two bulging eyes, "What did you say? The Dark Lord - the Dark Lord has fallen? He, he''s dead?"


    Frank Longbottom pulled Karkaroff''s hand away with one finger at a time.


    "Rejoice, even a scumbag like you can share this joy." He said calmly, "I have heard that you have abandoned your students and fled alone? A word of advice to you never go back to ..."


    Karkaroff didn''t hear the words that followed as he stumbled out of the way with a few steps, staring at his trembling, skeleton-like hands, and muttered, "Dead, he''s dead?" He suddenly howled, "Voldemort is dead! Voldemort! Voldemort! He''s dead! Voldemort! That bastard! Bastard! You''ve made me so miserable - woo-hoo."


    "He''s not crazy, is he?"


    "Who cares?" Moody spat on the ground. "There are six more suspected coiled dark wizards, try to sweep them out today. Remember-"


    "Constant vigilance." A young voice said.


    Moody''s false eyes fixed on the interjected rookie female Auror, and he said with a seeping smile, "You''re a quick learner, Collins, and I hope there''s more than just words." Collins Foley flinched and stopped talking, Professor Moody is still so intimidating. Frank Longbottom flashed a friendly smile at her.


    Later that evening there was a huge celebration within the Ministry of Magic.


    The news of Voldemort''s downfall went out in a rather more private manner. That evening, the owls flew into a thousand wizards'' homes with the big news. The express post took off near dusk, and they became part of the holiday celebrations that were celebrated throughout the United Kingdom over the next few days.


    Outside the Ottery St. Catchpole in Devon, the Diggory family is having dinner.


    The deep female voice on the magic radio was singing in overlapping chords, as the song approached its end, the food and drink satiated, Mr. Diggory picked up the conversation.


    "Your girlfriend, Cho, her parents also work at the Ministry. I mean - if you''re not interested in dealing with magical creatures, you could give it a try over there and get the feel of things first -"


    "Oh, Dad, we''ve had this conversation many times." Cedric muttered. s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But things have changed, the You-Know-Who is dead Ced, and I want you to realize that: the Ministry is no longer a Monster den where you have to worry about being attacked at any moment, and look! It''s back to being a place where good boys should go. ..."


    Mrs. Diggory gave her husband a quick glance from the side. Mr. Diggory shrugged, "Well, let''s change the subject - talk about that Almanac, what did they call it, The Magic Dollmaker ... is that some sort of nickname?"


    "It''s the name I''ve chosen for my future career." Cedric protested with slight displeasure.


    "That''s funny, Ced, you''ve discovered a latent quality in the Diggory family, a sense of humour ..." Mr. Diggory couldn''t go on as Mrs. Diggory was grinding his toes hard, "Hiss --would you like me to keep you company?"


    "I''ve got an appointment with Cho." Cedric whispered.


    "Yeah, well, it''s so unlikely -- well, I mean it''s so nice ... at least I don''t have to worry about the Diggory family inheritance." Mr. Diggory said, gesturing to the radio, "I don''t know how many purebloods have been called in for questioning in the last few days, they weren''t thriving to begin with, and now this ..."


    "It''s news time next, celebrations are taking place all over the country in unison, on behalf of the Ministry of Magic staff this segment would like to remind you to keep secrecy, the staff would appreciate it if you could reschedule your firework displays later at night and leave quickly before the muggles notice anything unusual, otherwise you may receive a fine amounting to thirty galleons ..."


    The same voice echoed in the Burrow not far from there.


    "Are there really a lot of people getting into trouble?" Ron asked.


    "Yeah, the Ministry of Magic''s work has multiplied tenfold all of a sudden," Mr. Weasley said with a tired look on his face, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, "people tend to get carried away when they get excited and throw around newspapers they''ve read, snacks they''ve half-eaten, and there were a few muggles in Cornwall who went camping in the wilderness and accidentally picked up half a box of fruit candies that could make people float. ... All in all, everyone''s working their socks off."


    "Well, there''s something good about this," Mrs. Weasley said sternly, "your father''s been working overtime these past few days."


    Fred and George looked at each other.


    "We''ve opened a new shop in Diagon Alley." Fred whispered and Mrs. Weasley placed her hands on her hips and glared at the brothers for a moment before she reluctantly said, "Well, if you have to ... can''t you wait until the results are issued to decide?" She added in frustration.


    Fred and George shrugged their shoulders.


    "Mum, time is running out, the Hogsmeade recipients are too small, there are still a lot of potentials needed to be tapped in our Dark Lord series of goods!"


    "Yeah, we''re going to create a ''Joke Festival'' to soothe the hearts of those who have been hurt in battle with some products that will make them laugh." George''s voice got lower and lower as Mrs. Weasley''s face quickly clouded over, but he managed to whisper the most important words, "So we''re going to move out for a while."


    "Bang!"


    A large pot of bacon slammed on the table.


    The children at the table leaned back in unison as Mr. Weasley put on his glasses and said gently, "Molly, the boys have grown up, they have a life of their own."


    "I know, I just-" Mrs. Weasley huffed and cried, Mr. Weasley, rushed to his feet and hugged her, only for her to become even more agitated, "The family is shrinking every year... ...I was so sad when Bill and Charlie left, Percy doesn''t often come home these days, and now even Fred and George are moving out ..."


    Fred and George, who had been named, fidgeted in their chairs as if they were sitting on a prickly cushion with a lame transfiguration spell cast on them.


    Fred rushed to explain, "Mum, we will come back to stay, we''ve just been a bit busy lately ..." He winked desperately at Ron and Ginny, but they were both scowling at the twins in unison!


    He resolutely shifted the problem, "If you think there are fewer people - Mum, there''s something you should better know, Our Ginny got a boyfriend -"


    "Ah-" Ginny yelped.


    "- it''s Harry." George finally found a chance to complete the sentence.


    Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley stayed woodenly in place for a few moments stiffly before turning their heads to look at Fred and George, "If this is a joke or some prank of yours, I swear-" Mrs. Weasley stammered.


    "Absolutely not." Fred said seriously.


    Then all eyes were fixed on Ginny, whose face immediately flushed as red as her hair, and she squealed and scurried away.


    The house went silent, with only the radio at the kitchen sink still dutifully broadcasting the news.


    "-The Ministry of Magic has not disclosed any further information at this moment. All that is known is that Albus Dumbledore and Felix Hap are suspected to be involved in the sudden fall of the You-Know-Who, and many speculate that the two most powerful individuals of the current time joined hands to deliver a fatal blow to the You-Know-Who. But the portrait of Mr. Hap hanging in St Mungo''s denies this claim, confessing that he had only played a supporting role ..."


    "Harry was involved." Ron said, breaking the silence in the kitchen. "Does anyone want to hear me say it again? I mean, in a way, I''m one of the few people who were there when it all happened. If any journalist wants to document this history in the future, there''s absolutely no way they can move around me ..."


    At this moment, the two people mentioned in this conversation - Felix was visiting his Muggle friends Jim and Rebecca''s house, while Harry, was lazily eating dinner with the Dursley family, the boring dinner turned even more boring due to the emotionless newscast on the television and the stuffy July atmosphere.


    "... The dangerous Tom Riddle has recently been arrested and brought to justice, the public does not need to panic, he will be faced with a fair trial under the law ..."


    Harry raised his head with a start.


    ------------


    #Farhaan Talati and #Chance Chase, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 604: Harrys New Neighbour

    "Look at his name!" Uncle Vernon grunted, "Tom? His parents didn''t bother to put their hearts into it, I bet there are a million people with that name all over the UK, there are Toms everywhere, the people you meet at work, the salesmen, the football players, and the homeless bums..." He muttered under his breath as if using it to bury the increasingly bland-tasting food.


    This helped Harry, as he had just dropped his fork with a shaky hand, leaving a stain on the clean dishcloth, and it diverted Aunt Petunia''s attention away from him before she could throw a disgusted look over. Harry picked up his fork quickly, making up his mind to leave as soon as he had finished eating.


    The newscaster dutifully reported -


    "... original hotline will be disabled ..." Uncle Vernon began to comment vehemently again, "Where''s the picture? What does he look like? And the bounty!" He growled, seemingly annoyed that he was missing out on an extra income.


    "He''s been caught." Harry pointed out dryly.


    He thought that if he knew what the name stood for, he probably wouldn''t have this attitude; no, he didn''t even need to mention that the name had once belonged to Voldemort; just letting him know that this was a dark wizard with no moral compass, the leader of a criminal gang, would be enough to scare the guts out of the scowling Uncle Vernon.


    "I don''t need you to remind me!" Uncle Vernon yelled at Harry...


    "There''s no hotline." Aunt Petunia said abruptly, as always, with a sharp sense for secrecy and gossip.


    "What?" Uncle Vernon asked, flabbergasted.


    "There''s no hotline, I''ve never seen it mentioned on ... TV, and," Aunt Petunia frowned, "I''ve never heard of that name either."


    Harry understood exactly what she meant, she wouldn''t let any gossip go easily and a murderer was rather an exciting topic, an opportunity to comment on the existing law and order would immediately make her a big deal at the neighbourhood afternoon tea sessions.


    Harry looked at the announcer, he interpreted it differently, perhaps it was a secret signal from the wizards to tell their fellow wizards hiding in the Muggle community that the war was over ... He mentally gave credit to the person who came up with the idea, because the name ''Voldemort'' was not supposed to appear on a Muggle TV show. It was much safer to replace the name with ''Tom Riddle'', and with Rita Skeeter''s continuous coverage, it was no longer a secret that Voldemort had used this name in his youth.


    He mused about it on his mind and at some point, the table fell silent as Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia stared at him in unison.


    Harry was confused and wondered how he had upset them this time, when the TV news gave him the answer -


    "... Some ornithologists have speculated that the unusual behaviour of owls may be linked with the Earth''s magnetic field shifts, and it is known that this is not the first time this has happened, as far back as fifteen years ago ..."


    Aunt Petunia drew a cold breath, and Uncle Vernon''s little eyes bulged hard as the fork in his hand was bent with a single squeeze.


    "I''m done eating." Harry said quickly, putting his cutlery down and getting up from his chair.


    "Don''t try to leave, we need an explanation, boy!" Uncle Vernon shouted.


    "There''s nothing-" S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There is!" Dudley suddenly interjected, glaring with a pair of small eyes that he inherited from his father, "I heard it all," he pointed his fat finger at Harry, who had to look closely to spot the fork held in that hand.


    "-in his room, there''s always the sound of wings flapping and birds hooting at night."


    "That''s an owl!"


    " So it was really you who did that-"


    Harry was secretly angry. "Well," he tried his best to calm himself down, "something big did happen in the wizarding world, Voldemort fell," he gestured to the television, "and that was him they were talking about just now, Tom Riddle, that was his name when he was at school."


    Without waiting for their reaction, Harry bolted upstairs in quick strides.


    Maybe he should tell them, Harry thought as he pushed open the door to his room, but he was too busy to think about it at the moment, besides what could happen if he did? Would they actually feel happy?


    The bedroom looked like a mess, with a lot of stuff scattered around and very little room to even step on.


    It is a sight that would make Aunt Petunia scream if she laid her eyes on it, but she hasn''t been here for a long time, and she tries her best not to call Harry by his name if she doesn''t have to. So Harry peacefully made a mess of his room as he glanced through the window, Sirius was coming home late these days.


    Of course, his Godfather was happily going around with his old partner catching dark wizards that had slipped through the net, so how could he have time to care about him? Harry wondered sullenly when Sirius would realize that he was in the way between Remus and Tonks ...


    Hedwig pecked at the cage as Harry bent down and opened the cage door, Hedwig came out and spread her wings, flying like a ghost out of the window into the deep night. He moved the cage and picked up a small box from the floor in his hand.


    It is filled with unfolded letters, pressed together, and arranged in chronological order. The top one belonged to Hermione, who had sent it yesterday.


    Harry sat down in his chair and started reading from the middle, the contents of the top were already familiar to him.


    "... We went to Norway as a family, the weather was hot most of the time over here and the salmon was particularly delicious, I am afraid to dip into the sea, the waves were a bit high, and I was worried I wouldn''t be able to restrain myself from using my magic. If you ever travel here, make sure to pack toiletries and a heavy coat, it''s somewhat cooler if it rains ..."


    "A letter from your friend?"


    Harry jerked his head up to see Dudley''s fat body blocking the doorway, he seemed to attempt a gesture of pointing his chin at the letter in Harry''s hand, but apart from making his triple fat chin more visible, it also blocked his already small eyes.


    "Nothing to do with you."


    Harry said under his breath, as he strutted past the owl cage, stacked books, Hogwarts school robes, and old clothes as he made his way forward to close the door to his room. A flash of puzzlement crossed his mind; Dudley had avoided this room before, just like his mum and dad had.


    But Dudley blocked the door with one hand and Harry''s hand was left motionless on the doorknob, and it took him a moment to realize that his cousin had practised boxing and that his broad physique wasn''t all just a fat - but it might take Dudley a lifetime to show off the muscles that wrapped up inside the fat.


    Harry glared at him, and inwardly restrained the thought of threatening him with magic. But if Dudley suddenly went brain-dead and tried to pick up the hobby he had when he was in primary school, Harry would have absolutely no advantage in terms of size.


    At that point, Dudley bent down - his left hand still firmly held on the door, the bending action was more physically demanding for him - and picked up a sheet of parchment from the floor, "The Mysteries of the Patronus --by Harry Potter, you intend to write a book? Like Gilderoy Lockhart did?"


    "Give me that back!" Harry said irritably, "I''m different from that liar! Wait - how do you know -"


    He stared at Dudley with a shocked look on his face.


    He had no idea when Dudley had gotten involved in his life in the other world, it felt like people he had spent a decade with, like the Dursleys, like Mrs. Figg, had suddenly confessed to him that they are wizards ...


    That is ridiculous. There had to be a reason, and it probably stemmed from himself. With a flash of insight, Harry suddenly remembered something, and he strutted over to the cupboard, knocking a few quills and ink bottles in the process, but Harry didn''t notice at all as he yanked open the wardrobe and tossed aside his dirty clothes, his hand probing into a slightly deeper drawer with a missing shelf - it was empty.


    "You took my books?" Harry said through clenched teeth as he turned back around, a long-suppressed anger erupted at the idea of his privacy being snooped on. He thought unpleasantly about his childhood: he didn''t have a single decent toy in his hand, everything he had was Dudley''s leftovers. Moreover, he had to avoid Dudley at all costs, and if he saw anything, he would either cry to Aunt Petunia and ask for his toys back, preferring to throw them away, or he would simply snatch them from Harry''s hands and crush them with his foot.


    The only consolation was that Dudley could never able to get into the cupboard he had lived in back then, as he couldn''t squeeze in when he was six, which led Harry to hoard a few broken toys like a house elf.


    By the time Harry reacted, the wand had appeared in his hand in a flash and was pressed against Dudley''s neck. The tip of the wand glowed with dangerous red light and Dudley''s face brimmed with fear, his neck craning back in a fluid motion, his fat toes rising on tiptoe like a crappy ballerina.


    "Don''t - you can''t - use magic - outside the school - "


    "I don''t care!" Harry squeezed a few words out of his teeth, "I don''t care, do you understand?" He was seriously considering whether or not to cast a hex on Dudley, he had seen a hex in the Half-Blood Prince''s textbook that would make toenails grow fiercely, but then Harry''s mood worsened at the thought of Snape.


    "Normally you''d never like to come over here, I should have figured ... you were very out of sorts this summer." Harry took a breath, "Oh yeah, you stole my books, Lockhart ... and that comic ... You like the idea of knowing magic now, don''t you? Tell me, what do you want from me this time?"


    Dudley seemed unable to catch his breath and his face was suffocated, his hand tried to push his wand away, but with a few sparks sprouting from the wand restlessly, he was too frightened to move his hand altogether.


    Harry calmed down a little.


    He took two steps back and pulled his wand out of Dudley''s second chin, the tip of which pointed at the ground. His first thought was crap, Dudley would squeal, but on second thought, that seemed fine, Harry stared at the messy room, it was the perfect time for him to pack his bags and move overnight to the house Sirius had rented.


    Now that Voldemort had been caught, Harry didn''t think he would be in any further danger, so it didn''t really seem to be much of a loss if the protection magic failed, right? As soon as the thought appeared, it took root in Harry''s head and quickly grew into a huge tree.


    Dudley finally reacted.


    He slowly thrust his hand into his trouser pocket and pulled a few notes from it, and Harry stared, for a brief moment believing he had discovered Dudley''s true purpose - had come over to show off how much pocket money he got. But Harry quickly thought of something. He looked at Dudley, who was struggling to speak, and a strange feeling flooded his head.


    "I''m - buying - money -"


    "You''re going to fork out money to buy something? Something from me? To buy what?"


    Dudley opened his mouth, his face flushed, and he seemed to have lost the ability to speak.


    "Bee-bee-"


    "Fizzing Whizzbees?"


    "And, and pe-"


    "Pepper Imps?"


    "Diddykins~ - the TV show''s on - it''s your favourite - -"


    Aunt Petunia''s shout from the living room broke the silence between the two men and Dudley made a quick exit as if Harry was chasing after him chanting hexes, and he stood in the entrance with a startled look on his face and shouted downstairs, "Got it - I''ll be right down."


    Then he turned his head, as if drawing enough courage from his mother now, and he stared at Harry''s forehead for a moment.


    "Is what that comic book says true? You were mentioned in that, the Great and Powerful Potter?"


    "Yeah, the Great and Powerful Potter." Harry repeated dryly.


    Dudley disappeared from his sight. The stairs let out an unbearable groan and Harry froze for a few seconds, and strode forward to close the door with a slam. He locked the door behind him for reassurance and sat back in his chair, and stared at the messy room.


    He remembered that Dudley hadn''t returned the books and certainly hadn''t left any money, so he was just pretending? Harry thought with mild bitterness, but he was a good businessman and on track to inherit his dad''s position.


    He imagined what a middle-aged Dudley would look like, a complete replica of Uncle Vernon, at best much bulkier and with thicker fingers, he had heard that Dudley was playing baseball, but Harry had no expectations that he would achieve much in that area. This contradicted Aunt Petunia''s opinion, and one of them was definitely wrong.


    Harry stood up and picked the parchment from the floor, the spilled ink bottle had smudged the first few sheets of parchment beyond recognition, but Harry wasn''t that worried, he was almost done memorizing what was on it. This is his own book, one that he might publish later, and Harry seemed patient enough to describe it carefully word by word.


    Speaking of which, Harry hadn''t thought about how to publish it at all.


    Maybe he should ask Professor Hap? But he dismissed the idea, he really didn''t want to contact Professor Hap or Headmaster Dumbledore right now, he had heard the full prophecy from Sirius and knew his destiny: it implied one had to die at the hands of the other because both of them couldn''t live at the same time, only one could survive ...


    At that point, a strong hope flared up in Harry''s heart - if only one could survive, it would be him, wouldn''t it? Because Voldemort had been caught. Apparently, Sirius thought so too, so when Harry asked, he readily told about it to Harry.


    But Harry knew better; he is a Horcrux, a part of Voldemort''s lifeline.


    Sirius didn''t know about the Horcrux that well, he was excluded from the whole truth, something Harry had confirmed over and over again, he detected no worry in Sirius about this whole thing, other than a slight twinge of uncertainty about his fate, or maybe Headmaster Dumbledore was also trying to find a way to keep him alive?


    Harry didn''t dare ask this question, he was already prepared to die with reluctance and didn''t want to build hope and crush it a second time. He could only wait, if they - Professor Hap or Headmaster Dumbledore - had worked out something, they would certainly tell him.


    Swoosh.


    An owl flew in through the window, Harry thought it was Hedwig, but it was a different dusky owl that entered. It circled the room in disgust and barely found itself a place to land, standing on the windowsill and raising its right leg.


    Harry walked over and unwrapped the large square envelope.


    He froze for a moment when he saw the Ministry of Magic logo and the symbol of the Wizardry Examination Authority.


    He had completely forgotten all about the O.W.Ls exam results.


    At the same time, several things are happening near simultaneously -


    Felix excusing himself from the house of his close friend from the orphanage; Dumbledore receiving a notice in a foreign country after a busy day: about a mysterious disappearance of Gellert Grindelwald, presumably a prison break; and an unexpected arrival of someone entering Privet Drive and renting a house nearby.


    "Old man, are you planning to settle in for a long time?"


    "Unfortunately, I have other commitments, and I''ll be staying here only about a month long. After that, I''ll be meeting a few people, some old friends, and a pen pal I''ve never had the chance to meet ... Speaking of which, this pen pal of mine is wonderfully witty and unique, the majority of my trip is to hopefully talk to him in person ..."


    For the sake of premium rent, the landlord made no comment.


    "By the way ... does the Dursleys live around here?"


    "That''s right, are you related to them?" The landlord asked curiously, "Haven''t heard them mention you at all."


    "No." Grindelwald said in a soft tone. He appeared to be in much better shape now, his cheeks remained thin, but he was not only skin and bones anymore, and he looked like an elderly gentleman in his fine, elegant clothes.


    With a modest smile, he said, "I''ve simply heard that pen pal mention the name of this family''s child often - he''s a school teacher, and frankly, my ears are getting calloused."


    " Do you mean Dudley Dursley?"


    "The other one," Grindelwald said gently, " I think his name is Harry Potter."


    ------------


    #Farhaan Talati and #Chance Chase, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 605: Mr. Bagshot (2 in 1)

    It was completely dark by the time Felix returned to Hogwarts Castle. He strolled around the edge of the Forbidden Forest and casually pulled a pocket watch out of his pocket, and with a loud crisp "click" a Niffler Valen poked her head out and bounced out of it.


    "Sorry to keep you in there, whatever Jim and Rebecca think you are, it will never be a living creature that should be in reality."


    "Kee (that''s okay.) ."


    Valen, who had run ahead, waved her hand behind and wiggled her furry body as she darted to an upright log in front of Hagrid''s hut, where the sturdy, burly Hagrid was busy in the clearing in front of the hut, "Yo, Valen?" He looked quite happy, leaning on a shovel that was beyond his specs, and looked around.


    "Hey! Felix, Dumbledore''s back and I know you''re paying attention to this." He shouted, "He looks a bit tired though, all tangled up with those foreigners!"


    "Got it, Hagrid." Felix waved his hand in the distance as he looked towards the small tower that jutted out high above the castle, the one with the lights on.


    A few minutes later, Felix knocked on the door of the Headmaster''s office.


    Dumbledore was sitting on the chair, without even bothering to change his travelling cloak, looking all tired. He straightened up, "Felix? I have just wanted to see you about something, I just got back and my mouth is terribly dry ... tea? Coffee? Fruit juice? I also have some wine in my collection if you want to try something new."


    Felix smiled, "I haven''t had any from your wine cabinet collection, um - can I take a bottle to give as a gift?"


    "Don''t mention it, be my guest, I''m not able to find an occasion to enjoy them very much." Dumbledore said, then asked curiously, "Severus?"


    "Caring for an old man in an empty house." Felix said with a sense of humour without a fail.


    "Fantastic comment, perhaps I should make a note of it for a future use - oh, I''m afraid it won''t work, it''s hard to stumble upon someone who is older than me." Dumbledore pouted, but he didn''t dwell on it for too long, and spoke in a light-hearted tone in turn, "Many of your ideas are out of tune with others, Felix, perhaps it was a childhood experience that prompted you to start thinking more individually at a very young age ... Oh, I''m sorry."


    Felix shook his head slightly and took a bottle of wine out of the wine cabinet. The glass doors reflected the stars outside.


    Dumbledore snapped his fingers and two empty goblets appeared out of thin air, the two men watched as the red mellow wine filled the goblets, and after that, both raised their goblets a little to take a small sip, Dumbledore smacked his lips contentedly, "Severus hasn''t grown that much older though."


    Felix raised an eyebrow, "But to be honest ... his life is very dull, probably more duller than mine."


    At least he had made some room in his schedule for entertainment.


    He placed his goblet to one side, his eyes fixed on the other man, as he said.


    "Albus, my research has come to a standstill, Soul is a rare and forbidden field and there is too little information on it for us to take any chances. Come to think of it, Voldemort''s brain being broken is not a big deal-"


    Dumbledore stared at the goblet in his hand, without a reply. After a moment he said, "Wait for me." He walked around the desk and made his way straight through the magical barrier to the spiral staircase that led to the first level, and in a few moments he came down, carrying a bundle of parchments.


    "What''s this?"


    "Some of my personal contemplation on the ''soul''." Dumbledore said with a slight nod.


    Felix took it with a slight surprise and skimmed through two of its parchments, and simulating them in his thinking room, his eyes shone, and he couldn''t help but carry a hint of exhilaration in his tone, "This data is very helpful, certain parts of it coincide with my research, but it is more comprehensive and more in-depth than mine ... "


    As he said this, he stared at Dumbledore oddly, since when did Dumbledore start to explore the soul part?


    Is it really true that the older you get, the more you dabble with the world?


    "I got a report today that Grindelwald is missing." Dumbledore said in a hushed voice.


    "Missing?" Felix repeated, his mind going over the piece of news as he raised his hand, "I wasn''t involved and know nothing about it, if that''s what you''re getting at." He explained rather sheepishly, "At best, we''ve been talking through a few letters."


    "I know." Dumbledore said briefly.


    Just as Felix pondered the meaning behind the word - did he ''know'' that he was not involved in the old man Grindelwald''s prison break; or did he ''know'' about his correspondence with the Old Dark Lord through house-elf - Dumbledore continued, "I have contacted several of my old friends urgently, and they are still in contact with certain core acolytes and no further information has arrived yet."


    "Even after all these years, there are people who are still loyal to Grindelwald?" Felix was quite amazed.


    If that was true, why had these people sat by and watched Grindelwald being imprisoned for half a century?


    "It''s hard to put Grindelwald''s influence into a sentence or two," Dumbledore shook his head slightly, his expression grew serious, "His influence was once extremely terrifying and when I was teaching at the school as a professor, he had already assembled an army of wizards strong enough to overthrow any Ministry of Magic in the world. It took me a lot of brainstorming to shake the foundations of his followers and drive him to the corner ..."


    He changed the subject and said, "Even though Grindelwald made so many grave mistakes, in the minds of many he is still the one who is best qualified to lead them."


    Real history is far less bland than words written on paper.


    It is alive, living, and actually happened, and it is difficult to sum up all the qualities and charms of a man with just a few sentences in a history book.


    It is particularly true for later researchers, as the words ''very talented and attractive'' are likely to appear almost anywhere and be used to describe more than one person. But it must be acknowledged that every individual is different from one other.


    "For the time being, there is nothing to worry about," Dumbledore stated lightly, "He is bound by powerful magic restrains, and I can guarantee that those restrictions still remain in place, and he will find it difficult to even use most common magic ... Whatever he wants to do, these restrictions objectively place limits on his magic ability.


    What I am worried about is that the loss of power will prompt him to think, to hide and lurk in the shadows, to preach his philosophies, to gather an army, or to stir up disputes with another set of philosophies, and the danger that would bring is too great. I was even worried for a moment that he was going to bewitch you."


    "Hmm." Felix mused, I don''t think I am someone that can be bewitched by some philosophies and ideals.


    Dumbledore said with a slight smile, "I only recently figured out that there are always a lot of characteristics shared by many brilliant people, the one difference is that you hate trouble and value simplicity, which keeps you from getting too involved in authority. Because authority is complicated, and the more authority you have the more complicated it will become."


    "What kind of man was Grindelwald really? His nature, his looks-" Felix asked.


    "No, Felix, you simply can''t understand, these things hardly matter a bit; what really matters are his ideas, his thoughts! You cannot imagine how his thoughts attracted me, inspired me. Muggles will be compelled to submit by us, and we wizard will raise ourselves above every creature in this world and live more openly."


    "I once desperately wanted to stand by his side and regarded him as something close to a spiritual leader for this revolution ... I was completely obsessed with it, full of brutal dreams, and I certainly thought about how much harm our dreams would do to the world, but in the end, I convinced myself with the empty reasoning that it was all for the greater good. If I could gain power, I could protect my family and keep them in the sun in open view, and I could shelter more people, but I was wrong, and my lust for power led me to go against my original intentions and made me neglect the people I should have valued above all else."


    Pain surfaced on Dumbledore''s face, his eyes gleamed with tears.


    "I probably understand it somewhat," Felix said softly, "In a time when people are generally confused and dissatisfied with the status quo, ideals and philosophies can become a powerful weapon that can cause bloodshed and change."


    They talked for a long time, Dumbledore did not avoid the fact that he and Grindelwald had once been very close friends, probably because of the sense of security brought on by the dark night, and he confessed that he had once been drawn toward Grindelwald''s evil cause and contributed a lot of ideas and wisdom.


    Felix poured him a goblet of wine and said comfortingly, "You do not need to blame yourself for that, Albus, you have never put those ideas in your mind into practice. Who doesn''t have some dreams and ideals, noble or vile, when they are young? Talented and resourceful people tend to make bigger mistakes because ordinary little things hold no challenge for them - world domination and all that, I''ve thought about that too."


    Dumbledore looked at him in shock.


    Felix shrugged, "I did give it some serious thought and came to the conclusion that it isn''t cost-effective. I need to pay too much time and effort to get too little return."


    Dumbledore broke into a smile.


    Then he looked down at the goblet in his hand and said with a sigh, "But what if your ideals can only be achieved through power? All those obsessive, beautiful visions, when you earnestly strive to get there, hoping it will become a reality ... the kind of extreme obsession which can only be awoken by much more colder reality later on, but what''s the point? Everything will be too late."


    What you dream and value may be completely different from the rest, or even diametrically opposed by the majority of people.


    Felix understood this, so he did not mention the ''so-called ideal'' of his own, because he knew that the ideal that Dumbledore spoke of was not at all the same kind of concept as his; he personally hoped that the wizarding world and the outside world would merge, but it is merely a ''hope'', and he could wait and be happy to leave it in the hands of someone else. In the unlikely event that it could not be accomplished, he would simply withdraw all his tentacles without delay and bide his time in peace.


    It must have cost Dumbledore a great deal when he was able to wake up back then. So great that the thought of his former ideals pained him to the core, filling him with disgust and regret.


    Felix thought about the things that Dumbledore had not mentioned too much in front of others, Dumbledore''s ''family''.


    "Don''t worry Albus, I had told him in my letter that the time has changed and his ideas are outdated, and I would only be willing to talk to him about it when ... it is updated. I have only one question, if he suffers a terrible failure, would he kill the innocent indiscriminately? Like Voldemort?"


    "Take pleasure in torturing muggles? That would not be the case; he would always have his eyes only on his own goals, he is an idealist and aims so far ahead that the sacrifices along the way would appear like a price that must be paid in his eyes."


    Dumbledore took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "I wish he had changed. I heard he showed remorse when he was locked up in Nurmengard alone, and regretted what he had done. I hope that''s true. Otherwise-"


    "He''s capable of causing far more damage than Voldemort."


    ...


    A week passed in the blink of an eye and Felix finished digesting the manuscript Dumbledore had given him.


    During this time, the wizarding world was safe and sound, no one country''s Ministry of Magic had been attacked; no one had come forward and announced the reorganization of the Acolyte Force, everything was normal. Everyone went about their business, and since that night, Dumbledore had gone back to tussling with the representatives of various countries, adding the subject of how to deal with the threat of Grindelwald in addition to discussing the damage caused by Voldemort.


    That morning, he had gone to Spinner''s End Street and accidentally bumped into the Malfoys at Snape''s house, which had thwarted Felix''s intentions, as he knew that there was no way Severus would ever speak his mind in front of so many people.


    But it wasn''t all for naught; during the conversation that was full of wit, Felix was able to grasp the general purpose of Lucius'' visit - and his relationship with Snape, who was also a spy - Felix could even surmise that Lucius had definitely visited more than one family, such as that Selwyn and those Purebloods who had been on edge recently.


    With a simple move of his lips, Felix could gain the allegiance of these people and become their nominal leader.


    They would stay in line with Felix as long as he didn''t touch their bottom line. This is an attractive offer - with Voldemort as a bad example, the purebloods'' bottom line is pushed extraordinarily low.


    But Felix had to give something too, and there was only one thing at stake in summary - his name, and he had to allow those purebloods to use his name.


    This implied a minimum level of protection.


    Felix didn''t refuse, because this is the time when someone like him needs to step in and take the representative role. It is impossible for Ms. Bones to carry on being imposing all the time, much less throwing even the innocent into prison, so as to give these people a piece of mind and prevent them from escaping en masse to foreign countries this is necessary ...


    If Felix can tolerate the Shafiq family, Ms. Bones has to tolerate the purebloods who are not a threat in any way.


    "You haven''t moved out of the safe house?" Felix asked with interest.


    "Not yet, it is quite comfortable to stay there." Lucius vaguely said.


    Felix chuckled in his mind, Lucius could have meant what he said, but he could also have had another purpose - to wait and see for a while, Lucius knew Voldemort isn''t dead.


    "Well, you guys can stay in that house for a while, it''s empty anyway."


    Lucius talked smoothly about the subject. He spoke about their life in that ''little house'' with the same amount of lamentation as if they were experiencing life in some poor backwater village where conditions are particularly harsh.


    "There''s so much stuff we have. Even after Narcissa and I put a portion of our stuff in the Gringotts, there''s still plenty left over ... These days we''re working on the Undetectable Extension Charm to make the house as big as possible while keeping it aesthetically pleasing ... Draco, tell your professor about it ..."


    Draco put down his fork and said dryly, "We blew up the floor-"


    "Cough cough cough!" Lucius coughed heavily, glaring at his son, and explained, "Neither Narcissa nor I am very good at this charm because - because -"


    "Never had any use for it." Felix added helpfully.


    "Uh, yeah." Lucius said sardonically.


    After exiting Snape''s house, Felix looked around, the faint stench of dirty rivers and hills of rubbish drifted over from the distance, the weeds overgrown and barren surroundings, and the eerie and unsettling abandoned buildings which were casting dark shadows.


    It all made it hard for him to feel sympathy for Malfoy''s hard life.


    Probably Severus felt the same way, and his face grimaced the whole time when Lucius complained.


    Felix even regretted a little taking out the bottle of Dumbledore''s hidden wine collection.


    After he explained that it was Dumbledore''s collection, Snape just barely drank half of the glass, while Lucius drank it with gusto.


    In the afternoon, Felix wandered around the property he owned on the busy streets of London - with Winnie Valentine - and they ended up accidentally running into Harry, who had someone else with him, not Sirius, but an unfamiliar face.


    "Professor Hap." Harry greeted meekly, he tried to pretend he didn''t see him coming, but the person next to him suddenly spoke loudly, and before he could react, he sensed Professor Hap''s eyes darted over him.


    Felix nodded at Harry, "Come to buy your books?"


    "Oh no, I''m accompanying Mr. Bagshot to buy a walking stick. He''s only recently moved in, lives alone, and it isn''t that convenient to walk alone at his age." Harry said. In fact, there is more than that, the old man must be very lonely and out of touch as he doesn''t really know much about modern products, and recently he has been filling up the gaps.


    Plus he has a bit of an eccentric personality ...


    But Harry was relieved when he found out about his identity, Harry knew that the Squibs are more or less suffering some psychological problems.


    "Bagshot." Felix mulled over the surname in his mind.


    He felt a faint hint of magic in him, is he a wizard? Would Dumbledore know him? He held out his hand without moving, "Hello, Mr. Bagshot, I''m Felix Hap."


    "I''ve heard a lot about you, Mr. Hap." Grindelwald extended his hand and the two shook hands together, Felix felt a magic like a pool of dead water in him and his mind drifted off.


    A Squib. ...


    Grindelwald revealed his exclusive wand hidden within his shirt and said courteously, "I have to say a word of thanks, because of you, people like me are able to re-enter the stage of history."


    Winnie Valentine, who was accompanying him, looked at the old man with sympathy.


    She felt secretly grateful that she was lucky enough to have stumbled upon the invention of the exclusive wand at such a young age; if she had been like this old gentleman, forget about how much of the exclusive wand''s power she would have been able to use at that time, it would have been very painful simply to be cut off from magic for so many years just because there was no such a thing invented in her young age.


    "Yes, we are all grateful to Mr. Hap from the bottom of our hearts." She said emotionally.


    They stood at the intersection chatting casually for a few moments, and Felix learned from this Mr. Bagshot that he had used a great deal of courage in order to attend an interview for a magic related job this afternoon.


    "Good luck." Felix said.


    "Thanks, I''ve been very lucky lately." Grindelwald grinned.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 606: Welcome (2 in 1)

    After parting from Harry, Felix and Winnie stood at the junction waiting for a taxi. "Is that wand working well?"


    "Quite all right," Winnie nodded, "although there are all sorts of restrictions - when I went to register, the man at the Improper Use of Magic Office told me a whole lot, and made me fill in my home address, and warned me not to break any laws, and and that the trace on the wand would last for a while ..."


    "But all in all," she breathed softly, and leaped up on her toes, "it feels good."


    " It wasn''t that those people were targeting you," Felix said casually and reassuringly, "Well, you did objectively increase their workload though, so complaints are inevitable ..." he said in a joking manner. "But to be fair, you are still new to the wizarding world, almost as new as the young wizards who are starting out, so you will receive the necessary attention and guidance. When you are familiar with it, all these restrictions will disappear."


    He waved and a taxi came towards them from a distance with its turn signals on.


    "Oh yeah, I seem to have seen that last time, is that some kind of band logo?" Felix glanced over at Winnie, who had a badge in the shape of a black and white piano key pinned to her chest area.


    "You mean this?" Winnie gave the badge a quick squeeze with perkiness and showed it to him.


    She said in a bragging tone, "It''s a souvenir of Fran?ois Crutoy''s recital, have you heard of his name? He''s famous among Muggles! Known as the next best pianist after Chopin, his music is delicate and graceful, mournful but not sad, highly imaginative, and his most legendary experience was the bizarre overnight healing of an originally incurable injury in his hand ..."


    Felix was stunned in place.


    "... Although this incident was much talked about, Fran?ois never responded positively, and many speculated that the injury on his hand might be related to mental stress, and when he figured things out, he naturally got better. And after his low point, he was inspired to write tracks such as ''Angel of Sorrow'' and ''Goddess of Magic'' in quick succession. He will be performing a concert in the near future, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, for which my friend and I have bought tickets."


    "Sounds good." Felix said thoughtfully, "Maybe I can spare some time to attend ..."


    His mind wandered back to the somewhat desolated chilly alley where, as the only audience present, Felix had enjoyed a chic piano performance, though he hadn''t realized that the nerdy young man had such a reputation ... Felix hoped that the stunning purity of his piano tone wouldn''t change when they met again.


    After seeing Winnie off in a taxi, Felix took some time to spend at the Sword Castle.


    As the Weasley twins graduated from school, they took back their dividends for the past few years and partial ownership of the Communicating Mirror and Anti-Spell product series, and were immediately eager to begin the implementation of their own business venture; from Penelope''s mouth, Felix learned that the two had opened three branches. But limited by manpower, they hadn''t completely separated cleanly from ''Future World'', and the two companies still retained a partnership in more than one project.


    "What do you mean by partnership?"


    "Apart from functional upgrades for those two current lines of products, there''s also - well - OEM (original equipment manufacturer), the two of them alone can''t produce two thousand units of the Dark Lord Scare Box set in a week." Penelope said, half grumbling, half proud, "We''re the only ones in the entire wizarding world who can do it!"


    "Oh, oh," Felix made an admiring sound, "after hearing what you said, I find myself seemingly overlooking some details. Can you give a hint, Miss Clearwater, whether it''s time for me to give Dobby a pay rise?"


    Penelope showed an odd expression.


    "I can''t find any excuse for holding it off, sir. He has done a splendid job - in fact, there are more house elves in the company than their kind in the Hogwarts kitchens, and Mr. Lupin had a major headache at one point about how to handle them, as you know, they are frighteningly motivated to work."


    Felix imagined the scene of Remus scratching his head and grinned impishly, "And how did you manage to work it out? Oh, the OEM-"


    "That''s only part of it. We had a couple of meetings devoted to how to position them, and Mr. Lupin came up with the assembly line concept you had mentioned to him, so our entire staff spent two days breaking down the production steps of our existing products and handed over the simple spell-casting enchantments to the house elves to complete."


    Felix was quite pleased with this and sat back in his chair and spun around.


    "What about their treatment?"


    "Strictly in accordance with the Guidelines on house-elf welfare as prescribed by the Ministry of Magic."


    "Er - is that some type of law, I don''t think I''ve heard of it at all?"


    Penelope sighed, "The Ministry of Magic has had a set of rules regarding the treatment of House Elves very early on, they''ve been in existence for many years, it''s just that they''ve never been strictly enforced ..."


    So it was just a decoration.


    Felix understood the situation clearly. Many wizarding families, such as the Malfoys and the Black family prior to Sirius, were known to mistreat their house elves. Due to the absolutely obedient nature of house elves, the Ministry of Magic couldn''t possibly investigate anything, and - it was doubtful whether they ever investigated.


    "By the way, there''s one more thing!" Penelope suddenly said, "The house elves have been hoping to pledge their allegiance to you-"


    "What do you mean?" Felix stood up.


    "The kind of allegiance that a servant pledges to his master." Penelope shot him a sneaky look, "There are many house elves who have been kicked out by their masters, or have nowhere to go due to the death of their previous master who has no other successor. In short, they have previously lived a very rough life. Dobby found them and preached to them about your generosity and kindness ... Those house elves are all looking forward to this day."


    "Well."


    Felix bowed his head and mused.


    After a long while, he looked up, "Sign a contract with them - but not in my name, in the name of ''Future World'' Company. Also, I need you to do one thing from now on -" Penelope listened with a serious expression and took out a small notebook to make notes. "- Recruit all sorts of humanoid creatures as employees, werewolves, vampires, centaurs, merpeople, veela, giants and goblins, you know what I mean, the ones with intelligence and the ability to communicate with people ... No need to do it all at once, one step at a time. First, we should try to recruit some mixed bloods for a start."


    "You''re doing this for ...?" Penelope asked, holding her breath.


    "Don''t you think it would be fun to get them all together?"


    Felix grinned, but Penelope didn''t appreciate the humour at all as she sighed and muttered: Oh, poor Percy ... They won''t be talking about work all the time when they get together, will they?


    "Well, I do have a good reason - as the company grows in size, we need to explore new channels for selling our products, and these mixed bloods, especially the ones who are mixed with wizards, can be our guides."


    His real purpose is much more than that, such as laying the groundwork for a Pan-Magic Alliance in advance ... From the present-day perspective doing so would have little impact and even be somewhat unproductive, but if the magical world is ever forced to go public, Felix wants the entire magical world to have one and only one voice.


    He didn''t elaborate; the reasons above were enough to convince Penelope, and she nodded.


    "This is going to be tricky to manage, quite a few of them have a grudge against each other, and worse, most of them don''t have much of a fondness for wizards either, so there''s no point in rushing it now, treat it as a long term task ... I''ll talk to Ms. Bones about it, and ideally we can borrow a few a people from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures to come over and teach us the do''s and don''ts."


    Felix said as he tried to rationalize his thoughts. With the fall of Voldemort, it would be time for the Ministry of Magic to find the opportunity to take over the responsibilities that rightfully belonged to them.


    What is the responsibility of the Ministry of Magic?


    To make laws and govern the entire local wizarding community, with the highest priority on keeping the wizarding world hidden from the muggle world. But if exposure is unavoidable, it is their responsibility to work on the advance plans and study the risks involved to make adequate preparations.


    As the capture of the dark wizard came to an end, the next move of the Ministry of Magic would be trial, ordination, and then after that? If there is no Felix, peace will naturally be restored and everyone will shut up and live their little lives.


    From this perspective, the entire wizarding community seems rather lazy, with very little sense of crisis.


    There is no need to be surprised.


    Shackled by numerical restrictions and the great convenience of magic, wizards are unable to set up a large and elaborate political, economic, cultural, and legal system as they do in the muggle world - it would require a huge amount of manpower to keep the system running.


    The pace of life in the wizarding world has always been slow, so slow that many rules and customs are not easily changed even after centuries of being passed down. In essence, the wizarding world is a world where progress is made only because of some individuals - the visionary and exceptional wizards who stepped up to drive society forward.


    If one looks at this from a higher level.


    Every decade or so, a few outstanding wizards are born who are so bright and prominent in their field of study that they can easily drive some aspect of wizarding society forward on their own, not just in terms of the rules, but also in terms of potions, spells, new theories ...


    The Chocolate Frog character cards are a perfect illustration of this phenomenon.


    "Come on, let''s go check out my army of house elves." Felix said with a laugh.


    They arrived on the third floor, where nearly one-third of the place was occupied by house elves, and upon opening a slightly smaller door, the sight of heated labour inside hit them. Over a hundred house elves sat around a huge, low worktable that looked like a raised platform, or a rectangular arena.


    They are sitting in little chairs, with various semifinished materials neatly laid out in front of them.


    The house elves moved uniformly, reaching out with slender fingers to point at a piece of cropped wrapping paper, which folded up dazzlingly and became an elaborate gift box in seconds, and Felix swore he could never be mistaken, he saw a cartoon version of a bald, noseless wizard ...


    "Mr. Hap!"


    With an exaggerated squeal, a house elf jumped down from his spot, darting behind on two short legs, and appeared in front of Felix.


    "Hello, Dobby." Felix said.


    "Hello to you too, Mr. Hap." Dobby said excitedly, looking at Felix with his big, round eyes. Then all the elves stopped what they were doing and gathered around timidly, looking at Felix with the same watchful eyes as Dobby.


    "Greetings, gents - er - elves."


    "Sir, this is Buck." Dobby said cheerfully, pointing to the closest house elf. "Hello, Buck." Felix nodded. "This is Kiki, Baker, Holly, Button, Chichi," he introduced them one by one, before snapping to attention, "Oh, yes!" Dobby pulled a house elf from the crowd as if by magic, "And Winky."


    Winky who is wearing a clean little dress, cowered behind the crowd.


    "Winky?" Dobby looked at her beamingly.


    "Mr. Ha, Hap-" Winky said formally.


    "How is your stay here?" Felix asked.


    "Very, very well ..." she whispered. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Not good, Winky''s not good!" Dobby exclaimed, "Winky still thinks about Winky''s original master, Mr. Crouch, and Dobby told Winky that we have a new - well, employer, but Winky''s not happy about it and refuses to accept any money for work!"


    "Buck doesn''t want an employer either, Buck wants a master!" The house elf who had been introduced at the beginning said eagerly, staring straight at Felix.


    "So does Kiki. Kiki doesn''t want to be an elf that no one wants!" A house elf with a slightly shrill voice called out. Her words drew a chaotic chorus of agreement, a group of tiny heads with bat ears nodding up and down.


    "That''s exactly what I''m here for." Felix said gently, "To be honest, I was shocked when I found out there were so many house elves in the company, and I personally don''t need house elves for my services, so I came up with a great idea - you''ve heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, right? "


    The house elves nodded apprehensively.


    "In the Hogwarts kitchens, there are about the same number of house elves as you, and they don''t belong to anyone but the ancient castle in name, but of course, if any house elf wishes to leave, I don''t think Dumbledore would ever stop- "


    "They won''t leave, they''re happy as one can be!" A house elf shouted, his tone vaguely envious and resigned.


    "Chichi?" Felix asked, with a blink.


    "Yes, Chichi, Mr. Hap." Chichi replied excitedly, seemingly honoured that Felix had remembered his name.


    "... Now that you know, things have become much simpler, I''m going to use a similar model and create an ancient magic contract, I won''t set a time limit, you can stay as long as you like, with specific terms focused on a non-disclosure agreement, if you want to leave, you can''t give out information about the Products ... There are also some rules regarding your treatments, which Dobby and Miss Clearwater will talk you through."


    "We don''t need to be treated or paid for our work!" Another house elf shouted.


    "Oh," Felix gave a difficult look, "but the Ministry of Magic has made rules, and this is what you deserve, and I don''t want to be bothered by someone from the Ministry coming to my door ... and," his expression turned serious, " when you stay in the company, you will be exposed to more specialized and challenging tasks unlike serving a particular wizard family-" the house elves puffed out their little chests one by one. "-and it is necessary to have standardized rules for ease of management."


    The house elves nodded cluelessly.


    "As for Winky -" Felix thought for a moment, before crouching down to address her.


    "Since you have nowhere else to go for the moment, you might as well stay here and save up some money - Listen to me first, don''t you wish to buy a present for Mr. Crouch? Winky, there are no more Dementors in Azkaban, which means that Mr. Crouch will be out soon, three years would go by in a flash. If you want to go back to him, I won''t stand in your way, but I think he''ll be happy to see a gift from you."


    When Felix finished, he extended his hand forward and displayed a gold galleon.


    Winky kept blinking her huge brown eyes and her nose, which resembled a small tomato in shape and size, twitched, it was obvious that she was caught in a very torn state and her little brain seemed to be struggling to make sense of the whole complex situation.


    It was only when Dobby urged her on for the twelfth time that Winky reached out with trembling hands and held up the gold galleon, as tears burst out of her eyes.


    "Thank you, thank you, Mr. Hap."


    She lifted her little dress and bowed deeply at Felix.


    ...


    In the evening, after returning to school, Felix and Valen were both a little hungry. They made their way down the twisting spiral staircase and headed to the kitchen to find something to eat.


    It is unclear who started it, but in any case, they began to play a game of stepping in each other''s shadows. Valen nimbly moved her feet around Felix, running back and forth, yelling excitedly as she ran - she was counting the points.


    Felix immediately felt he is at a disadvantage, with his shadow being much bigger.


    "Kee!"


    Valen suddenly shivered and ran over his shoulder in a flash, twittering at him, that man had such a scary look in his eyes!


    Felix turned his head to see Professor McGonagall and Mr. Bagshot, whom he had seen during the day, approaching side by side. Professor McGonagall was talking rapidly about something, not noticing his and Valen''s presence. In contrast, Mr. Bagshot fixed his gaze on Valen, his eyes narrowed and his face turned grim.


    "Since Dumbledore has agreed ... I can''t say anything, but, Mr. Bagshot, please do be mentally prepared for this, managing little wizards is a very hard job. I will explain to you everything I know, including the teaching materials, the teaching tasks, the rules of the school ... Oh, Felix?"


    Professor McGonagall looked up in surprise at Felix and Valen who stood on his shoulder.


    "Minerva," Felix nodded slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on Mr. Bagshot with an obvious measuring look, "this is-"


    "Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts for the new academic year." Professor McGonagall said.


    "Ah, of course ..."


    Felix looked at Mr. Bagshot, and just as Professor McGonagall thought he would introduce himself - he had always been so polite - Felix''s eyes suddenly glowed, and he looked straight at the school''s new professor.


    Mr. Bagshot displayed an agility that is completely at odds with his age, his exclusive wand instantly appearing in his hand as a fierce swirl of magic erupted, blocking Felix''s view, but Felix''s quick glance had given him the result he wanted.


    Miscalculation ...


    He normally wouldn''t stare at a stranger with his magical perspective and peer at them, since it was too provocative, but it seemed someone had caught the loophole and disguised himself as a Squib. Not exactly, Felix remembered Dumbledore''s words, he is no different from a Squib now.


    But what magic had he used to remain free without being imprisoned even after meeting Dumbledore, and it looked like he had secured himself a teaching position?


    Felix in no way believed that Dumbledore had perceived it incorrectly.


    Just as he had offered shelter to the scattered Purebloods, Dumbledore had done the same thing.


    "Felix ... Mr. Bagshot ... you guys ..."


    Caught in the middle, Professor McGonagall could barely manage to breathe as she stared, with difficulty, at the two serious faces, wondering why they had suddenly started to clash, and amazed that a Squib is capable of erupting with such a burst of magic.


    She wasn''t sure whether to feel relieved that Dumbledore hadn''t misjudged the new professor or that he wouldn''t be bullied by his students.


    "Mr. Bagshot?" Felix spoke in an almost whispering voice, the pressure that enveloped the area converging a little, "I''ve been a little puzzled since we parted ways during the day, the author of the History of Magic book, Bathilda Bagshot, is your-"


    "... aunt." Grindelwald said in an equally light tone.


    "She lives in the Godric''s Hollow, it''s such a nice, breezy place, Godric Gryffindor, who founded Hogwarts, was born there, as was Bowman Wright, who invented the Golden Snitch ... A little closer to our house, there is House Dumbledore and House Potter. "


    Of course, Godric''s Hollow has produced more famous people than that.


    One name popped into both men''s minds at the same time, Ignotus Peverell, owner of the third Deathly Hallow, the Cloak of Invisibility.


    Felix and Grindelwald gazed at each other for a moment and smiled in unison. They extended their hands - one young and chiselled; the other old and wrinkled - and clasped their hands together with a firm grip.


    "Welcome, Mr. Bagshot."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 607: A Welcoming Change (2 in 1)

    The way the two men had spoken and laughed confused Professor McGonagall completely, she snorted a disgruntled grunt from her nose and said in a sharp tone. "So, I won''t have the pleasure of witnessing a fight between colleagues?"


    "Minerva," Felix said with a smile, "there was a small misunderstanding between Mr. ... Bagshot and me, which stemmed from a fuzzy understanding I had of his identity... . But now, I''m beginning to look forward to working with him."


    Professor McGonagall showed a skeptical expression.


    "You knew each other before?"


    "Only through letters," Grindelwald said with a calm expression, " originally I had intended to save the surprise for opening day." He tapped the floor with his cane, "Sometimes one must admit that the older man has better patience."


    "I think it is quite the opposite." Felix said gently without losing his sharpness.


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, "Seriously, we should better - well, Mr. Bagshot, please follow me -" Grindelwald nodded in greeting towards Felix before following her out, and as the two brushed past, Valen, who was sheltering on Felix''s shoulder, jumped out, one arm crossed and the other pointing at him in an indignant gesture.


    Grindelwald staggered slightly on his feet before walking away.


    After waiting a few seconds, Felix turned in place to look at their departing figures before striding towards the Headmaster''s office. Dumbledore opened the door twice as slowly as he usually would have, and stopped in front of the window, gazing at the lush green mountains in the distance.


    When he turned around, Felix saw a downcast Dumbledore with what appeared to be tears in his eyes, and the question that was already on his lips was swallowed as he replaced it with another question, "Albus, is the curse on your hand healed?"


    "I can''t find a reason to keep it." Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone.


    "But I noticed you still have that ring, you seem to like it?" Felix found a random topic of conversation.


    Dumbledore looked down to examine the ugly ring he wore, his finger unconsciously started to rub the black jewel on it, he smiled slightly and said, "Who doesn''t love something ancient, with special symbolic significance attached to it? I have met the last descendant of the House of Gaunt, no, not Voldemort, but his uncle Morfin. And from Morfin''s memory, I got to see Voldemort''s mother and maternal grandfather."


    "What kind of people are they?" Felix showed some interest.


    "To be frank, a very awful family." Dumbledore hesitated and said, "Old Marvolo, his son Morfin, his daughter Merope, their line of the family are accustomed to inbred marriages and all the character flaws that come with that make it impossible for them to turn over a new leaf, and they lead a poor life, Merope was a little better, but her two relatives ... Let us be fair, they lacked reason, were extremely bad-tempered and violent - by which I mean their unquenchable desire to attack, all the while being arrogant and conceited to the point of incomprehensibility."


    "And stubborn." Felix added.


    "Exactly, and perhaps that is the root of the problem, they are so stubborn that they don''t want to make any changes." Dumbledore said in agreement, "It''s a common problem with most ancient families, holding on to the honour of their ancestors and refusing to let go, but if you were to ask them what they have done for that glory, all they would say is - next to nothing."


    Their minds and bodies are becoming more and more rigid, that they are no better than ghouls.


    Every time one of their family members develops a shred of sanity and courage, they would find an opportunity to escape and never go back. This was true for Merope, and it was also true for another member of the House of Gaunt, the mother of the founder of Ilvermorny.


    There was a moment of silence.


    Felix waited quietly, and sure enough, Dumbledore opened his mouth to explain.


    "I think I owe you an explanation." He said softly, "Gellert ... is in a poor state of health, his long imprisonment has destroyed his constitution, and even if he were completely free of the magic shackles, he would not be able to return to his peak, and his overall strength may not be as good as Alastor''s... ...I admit that I am being a little soft-hearted, he will stay at the school for a year, after which I will send him back to Nurmengard again."


    "In the meantime, I will constantly keep an eye on him."


    Felix understood Dumbledore''s complicated emotions towards this dear friend and rival, and nodded silently, "And what is his purpose? Is it simply to teach the students, or is it ..."


    "Ah, well let''s get to the point immediately." Dumbledore said, "He showed an intense curiosity towards you and mentioned Professor Burbage, and if what I expected is correct, he''ll visit the greenhouse later for a quick chat!"


    " Um-"


    Although Dumbledore''s tone did not carry a hint of blame, Felix felt oddly embarrassed hearing it.


    This whole thing had a lot to do with him. He knew Grindelwald was an arrogant person, which was evident from the words in his reply, but Felix had previously shown absolutely no respect for this old-timer''s ideas, and on the contrary, he had used various pretexts to introduce Grindelwald to the new changes in the wizarding world, with certain phrases, such as ''you may not know this'' and ''that times are not the same'' ... were used with great frequency.


    This may have touched a sensitive nerve in Grindelwald - one that causes a strong sense of frustration.


    This frustration has little to do with insight, intelligence, or temperament, but is purely a result of the fact that he has been so closed off for too long, and thus lagging behind an entire era; Therefore, he is pretty much left to passively accept the facts that Felix throws out at him, while he himself can do nothing but stare with helplessness.


    His life had come to a standstill as early as 1945, where it had ended in failure. That would never change as long as he remains in his cell in Nurmengard Castle.


    Now, finally, he couldn''t bear it any longer and ran out of it.


    Felix was a little embarrassed, although that embarrassment disappeared in the blink of an eye.


    "Well, do you know about this, Albus? Grindelwald seems to be on good terms with Harry, I saw Harry bringing him to buy a new walking stick ..."


    Dumbledore jerked his head up, "Is that true?"


    Felix shrugged.


    Dumbledore left in a hurry, and Felix could imagine exactly what would happen next: Grindelwald would be forced to stay in the castle, away from Harry. Because - just as Dumbledore had been wary of - Grindelwald''s mind was toxic.


    *whistle*


    Felix whistled in a happy mood and wandered around the empty Headmaster''s office in all directions. The portraits of past Headmasters who had originally been sleeping in their frames opened their eyes one after another and whispered with each other.


    "Dumbledore will pay the price for his soft heart." An old witch with long silver curls of hair hanging down said pessimistically.


    "He''s so irrational." Said the other brown-faced male wizard in agreement.


    "We should trust Dumbledore''s decision, he is the wisest of us, and don''t forget the prophecy that man mentioned-" an old wizard with a frail-looking physique said slowly.


    Felix, who was persistently trying to stroke Fawkes'' gorgeous, beautiful golden-red feathers, pricked up his ears; a prophecy?


    "Shhh!" The male wizard with a big red nose and chubby body growled.


    The portraits shut their mouths, refusing to spill any more secrets after realizing that there is an outsider named Felix''s present.


    " Cough cough." Felix listened for a moment, then paced over and knocked on the silver curly-haired old witch''s frame, "Excuse me, ma''am, the prophecy you just mentioned-"


    A clear, very realistic purr sounded in his ears and he even saw the drool flowing from the corners of the old witch''s mouth.


    Felix: "..."


    He changed his position and walked over to the portrait of the red-nosed male wizard next to him, who plopped down on the table with a plop, followed by a thunderous snore that echoed throughout the circular office, and soon all the portraits were ''asleep'', but Felix distinctly saw them peeking at him out of the corner of their eyes.


    "Don''t bother asking, bad boy, we won''t tell." The portrait of Phineas Black said in a smug tone, "We won''t listen to you unless you''re the Headmaster, otherwise it''ll be nothing but a waste of time. And you are still a long way from that position ..."


    He pointed to the Headmaster''s chair behind the long-legged desk, and his attitude was self-explanatory.


    Felix grunted softly.


    "Didn''t Sirius tell you? I''m on very good terms with the current Minister of Magic, and applying for access to the Hall of Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries is just a breeze for me; which holds a copy of all of the prophecies."


    "You can always try." Headmaster Black''s portrait narrowed its sly eyes and goaded in an unpleasant tone.


    Felix was stunned in place as he said, without much confidence, "Could it be... is there some difference? It can''t be, I mean all the prophecies mentioned will be..... available there, with no exceptions, yes, I know! You''re trying to deceive me, you want to see my disappointed face, I''m not going to give you what you want ..."


    Headmaster Black''s portrait broke into a hearty laugh.


    "Ha ha! Muggle-born person," he snickered and emotionally said, "a lot of knowledge won''t simply be documented and handed down as a book; important knowledge will only be passed on by word of mouth, understand? Did no one tell you that prophecy is more than just a verbal one, there''s-"


    "Shut up! You stupid bastard." Finally, a witch who was pretending to be asleep in the portrait couldn''t help herself and shouted.


    "More than just verbal ..." Felix muttered to himself with an expressionless face, chewing on the meaning of the words, "What could that be? Maybe something that requires some sort of interpretation, a tea leaf, a crystal ball, an astral image," out of the corner of his eye he glanced over at Headmaster Black. The Headmistress who had interjected earlier was waving a stubby wand threateningly at Headmaster Black to warn him, which caused him to protest repeatedly.


    "Or a fleeting image? A scene of some future occurrence?"


    Felix thought about a certain false prophecy he had received, and at that time it was a brief image, a small memory ... Although it was something that was brought back with the help of a time-turner, who could say that isn''t a form of prophecy? And Felix believed that this type of prophecy is much more reliable than a formal prophecy.


    He left the Headmaster''s office and unsurprisingly saw Dumbledore returning with a serious look on his face, with Grindelwald at his side.


    "I''ve seen a lot of people during this time ... are you going to find them one by one and correct their thinking?"


    "If it is necessary." Dumbledore said calmly.


    Grindelwald shut his mouth and watched as Felix came down the stairs and paused for a moment.


    "Suing to a teacher? A child''s trick." He tilted his head and said.


    "Simple and effective, isn''t it?" Felix responded with a smile, "Sorry, I have a concert to attend ... Unfortunately, you can''t go, Mr. Bagshot." He said cheerfully, "I''ll share my experience with you sometime like I always did previously."


    Grindelwald glared at him fiercely.


    "Felix!" Dumbledore said in a deep voice, interrupting the two men''s not-so-friendly conversation, he''s currently having a huge headache, "Felix, Mr. Bagshot will be staying at the school for the rest of the summer. Would you please make a trip and bring his luggage with you along your way back?"


    He emphasized the family name ''Bagshot ''.


    " Happy to oblige, sir." Felix grinned, "If I run into Harry, I''ll stop by and tell him that the friend he just met won''t be back for some reason - well - for a while."


    Dumbledore left with Grindelwald in tow.


    He has already started to regret this hasty decision, which showed heavy obstacles from the very beginning, not to mention that when school started he had to make sure that Grindelwald didn''t take the opportunity to spread his dangerous ideology, and he would definitely have to observe a few classes. At present the situation at hand is voluminous, he doesn''t have that much time to follow around all seven years, and Grindelwald doesn''t have that kind of energy either, maybe it''s a good idea to recruit another professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class ...


    At the other side, Felix of course didn''t go to the concert because today is not the right time.


    He rang the doorbell of 4 Privet Drive.


    Given that the last time he came over it wasn''t exactly pleasant, and he wasn''t even able to finish his self-introduction, he took the trouble to put some effort into it. After tidying up his hair, his clothes, and, most importantly, wearing a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, he looked like an elite businessman.


    The door was opened by Vernon Dursley who was big, beefy, and so fat that he barely had a neck. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was in a very bad state of mind as if he hadn''t slept well in the past few days. "What''s-" he shouted gruffly, but immediately lowered his voice sheepishly when he saw Felix all dressed up in a costly outfit, "Hello? May I ask who you are-"


    "Felix Hap, sorry for an unexpected visit." He slightly raised the gift box in his hand, and Vernon''s eyes bulged out slightly when he saw the price tag on it. "I have something important to discuss - um, well can I come in and talk?"


    "Of course, of course." Vernon Dursley opened the door and said in an amiable tone, as he stared at Felix''s inadvertently revealed wristwatch with greedy little eyes, "I think - it''s at least twenty thousand pounds?"


    "Perhaps. I wasn''t paying attention." Felix said carelessly, as he walked into the house.


    "Don''t!" Vernon suddenly yelled behind him, the bloodshot in his eyes seemed to flare up, but Felix was already walked into the living room and looked back, had he already been noticed?


    "What''s the matter?"


    A thin, long-necked woman came out of the kitchen with a ladle in her hand, a little puzzled. Their child, Dudley Dursley, is sprawled out on the sofa reading a comic book, and their family is happy and perfectly normal, except for-


    Comic book!


    Petunia''s eyes widened, looking both frightened and irritated by that weird, moving, bloody comic book series! She froze in place, not knowing what to do. Her husband was silently making excessive hand gestures from the small foyer, it absolutely must not be noticed by our guest! She walked over quickly, her long, stiff face mustered a smile as she attempted to shield Dudley behind her back - though it was useless; her son was at least twice her size and probably weighed three times as much as she did.


    Felix handed over the gift box. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is that your child? He looks ''exactly'' like your husband - what''s his name?"


    "Yes, yes, Dud- Dudley - Dursley!" There was a tremor in Petunia''s voice. She found herself more desperate than she had ever been, even more desperate than she had been the other day when she had tidied the room and discovered her son''s little secret.


    Dudley was very absorbed in his book.


    The comic in his hand seemed to have magic powers, and every time he turned it over, he couldn''t help but read along to the end. At the moment he was watching it with great fascination - he didn''t have to hide now since he had been caught - and Mick the little wizard had accidentally blown up the birthday cake his friend had prepared for him, and he was trying a hundred times to find an excuse.


    "What''s wrong?" He asked lazily, "Is it time for dinner?"


    There was no immediate and enthusiastic response, which was unusual.


    He looked up to find a young man sizing him up with interest, this person seemed somewhat familiar ... For some reason, he thought of the ice rats from the wizarding world, a type of candy that the book stated came from the Honeydukes.


    Mum had closed her eyes in horror and dared not look, and Dad - his face had turned into the colour of pig''s liver.


    What was going on ... Dudley suddenly stared at his book! He leaped up from the sofa with the effort of a beached whale, only to realize that it was a futile attempt; his body was so shock-absorbent that he was no different from a fish out of the water, and after two flops in place, he remained on the sofa that was making loud groans.


    On the contrary, from the bounce, the book in his hand flew up.


    Four pairs of eyes stared in unison as the comic book made a curve in mid-air and bounced off the guest''s exquisite shoes with great precision. The pages on it looked as if they were created with a dozen small thin screens attached on them, with all the characters on every screen moving around happily and showing their smiling faces.


    After an unknown amount of time, Vernon finally came to life and stammered his way forward to explain.


    "Hab, Hap, Mr. Hap, listen to me, this book, this book it-"


    "No need to explain, I understand everything perfectly -" Felix said with a relaxed tone, but the three people in the room became even more alarmed, "No, no no, it has to be explained! It must be explained!" Vernon shouted, his arms spread wide, in the manner of blocking the door to keep him from leaving the room using his round body.


    "I don''t think there is any need for that," Felix said, shaking his head, "I am more than happy that readers are enjoying my books. I can''t imagine such a welcoming change happened only after a year of not seeing each other ..."


    "Readers?" Petunia asked in a hushed tone.


    "Your book?" Vernon''s small eyes went wide.


    "Haven''t seen each other for a year?" Dudley swallowed hard.


    "Yeah, I thought you guys are aware of it," Felix nudged his chin at the comic book on the floor, " It got my name written on it."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 608: Dinner (2 in 1)

    There was a knock on the door outside Harry''s small bedroom. "Harry - come out to eat-" Aunt Petunia said dryly, and if it wasn''t for the tattered cloth stuffed in Harry''s ears that distorted the voice slightly, he would have been able to hear a hint of unnaturalness in her tone with much more politeness and courtesy than usual.


    "Got it." Harry muttered, chewing his quill and staring at the scribbled handwriting on the parchment. Finally, he frowned and crossed out the word ''courage'' and replaced it with ''firm, unwavering conviction'', and after reading it over carefully he felt it made a lot more sense.


    It would be better if I gave a few more examples. It would make it easier to understand, Harry thought.


    "Harry-" The voice became noticeably impatient.


    "Coming!"


    Harry sprung up from his chair, removed the cloth from his ears, and proceeded to haphazardly gather the parchment together and press it underneath the Quidditch Through the Ages book before opening the door.


    At the door was Aunt Petunia''s long, thin, horse face, her long, thin eyebrows furrowed together in a tight pile and twisted into a lump at the center of her brow.


    Harry froze.


    Aunt Petunia had never been very kind to him, and he was used to that. What surprised him was something else; she''s unexpectedly standing at his bedroom door today and seemed to be waiting there on purpose, which he had never expected at all. It took him a few seconds to realize how unsightly his current disposition is - he was stretched out, yawning halfway through, his right hand rubbing his dry eyes, his glasses pushed to his forehead, his whole body twisting unnaturally.


    Aunt Petunia''s lips were tightly pursed, and she barely managed to squeeze out a smile.


    "There''s a guest at home."


    "Do you want me to pretend I''m not home?" Harry asked in a bored voice, mentally calculating that maybe he could slip out the window and get something to eat at Sirius'' place.


    "It''s someone you know!" She said in a lowered voice, her bony knuckles turning white as she tightly clasped her two hands together.


    Harry was taken aback, he was about to retort, how could that be possible? But there was indeed a faint sound of chatter coming from downstairs. Who could it be? He guessed randomly, it couldn''t be Mr. Bagshot, could it? Did he successfully make it through the interview?


    Harry raised his feet and ran downstairs -- Aunt Petunia who''s behind him reached out her hand in desperation, her lips trembled as she mouthed: Harr ... but Harry was no longer in sight, as he stomped along the stairs, and the voices from downstairs became clearer, one of them was Uncle Vernon, the other one--.


    "Grunnings Drill-making Company? Yeah, I know ... I worked at Neil''s, didn''t stay long, just a small director ... Ah, you''re a director too? What a coincidence ..."


    "Professor Hap!?" Harry exclaimed in disbelief.


    He rubbed his eyes hard, doubting that he was dreaming. Professor Hap, Uncle Vernon, and Dudley were sitting at the dinner table, talking to each other amicably - from Harry''s point of view, as long as Uncle Vernon didn''t storm off and Dudley didn''t cower in the nearest corner where he could hide, it was a fairly amicable atmosphere.


    "Oh, Harry?" Felix looked over and couldn''t help but chuckle, "Your hair-"


    Harry touched the top of his head, knowing just by the feel of it that it must be a messy one, as he hadn''t even bothered to take care of it lately, and now that this unkempt look was seen by the professor, he was a little embarrassed and tried to smooth it out with embarrassment.


    "I have a comb here if you need it-"


    "Thanks!" Harry shouted, walking over and sitting next to Professor Hap, staring at him as he pulled a comb out of his exquisite jacket pocket, Harry was a little stunned that the Professor still carried such a thing with him. But when he noticed that the professor was handing it over with his left hand, he grinned broadly.


    This kind of secret will never be revealed to someone from the outside world due to the Ministry.


    So Uncle Vernon and Dudley could only stare at the emerald ring and the comb in Felix''s hand with their identical little eyes.


    Aunt Petunia appeared with dragging feet, and since there was one more person than usual - and Harry reckoned none of them had the courage to sit with Professor Hap - she had to squeeze in between her husband and son, looking like a layer of spinach between two thick slices of bread.


    Dinner was not exactly sumptuous.


    It was all simple food, especially when it was set off with the exquisite glass bottle of wine that was clearly not supposed to be on this table. Harry was surprised to see a hint of embarrassment on Aunt Petunia''s face, and he was inwardly amazed, as he wondered what kind of magic that Professor had cast.


    "There doesn''t seem to be enough food, so if you don''t mind, I can cast a spell-"


    "No!" Aunt Petunia squealed excitedly and Uncle Vernon''s thick neck jerked up a notch, Harry knew that the professor''s words had offended the Dursleys, who didn''t want to hear any words related to magic, so he was very surprised that the professor wasn''t fazed and even had a faint smile on his face.


    "Really? But I think he''s looking forward to it." Felix said.


    Harry immediately turned his head to look at his cousin Dudley and saw a strong desire in his eyes, thus he became aware of the reason why he said that, Professor Hap would have never missed such blatant clues that they showed - who exactly was in charge of this house. Harry had grown sick of seeing it since he was a child, not to mention the case that had just played out in the past few days: the whole ''comic book stay/leave debate'' that had ended in failure despite Aunt Petunia''s weepy, painstaking persuasion.


    He was simply amazed that the Professor had found out the truth in such a short time.


    Felix snapped his fingers lightly.


    Rows of gleaming golden plates descended from the empty space. Sausages, pastries, pies, steaks, smoked fish, salads, pumpkin juice, and orange juice ... packed the table to the brim. Harry is by no means a stranger to this food, and it seemed to him that the Professor had moved the Hogwarts kitchens over.


    Aunt Petunia''s eyebrows knitted tighter and her body leaned back as hard as it could as if to escape from her chair. After failing to do so she turned her head nervously from side to side, fearing that a neighbour would lean over the window and see this scene, and Uncle Vernon gasped for breath, his face turned a fleshy shade of vivid purple.


    Dudley flinched at the sight before he sprung into action.


    Honestly, the scene was still quite a shock, and if he wasn''t used to seeing it, Harry reckoned he wouldn''t be able to remain calm either. But he was hungry now, and it was a novel experience to be able to eat school food on a summer holiday, so he happily stuck his fork into a chicken leg.


    "Er, can we have dinner now?" Harry asked as an afterthought.


    "I''m a guest," Felix said vaguely, his gaze sliding past Vernon, Petunia, and finally landing on Dudley. "It''s up to you ... I''m well familiar with both sides of the world, and these dishes should be to your liking, Harry had them at school." Then he added, "Unless you guys are on a diet."


    Gulp.


    Dudley swallowed hard. The power of that word was immense, Harry thought. Dudley has been trying to rebel against his family''s diet menu for the past two years, ever since the summer of his third grade, when the school nurse at his school had sent Aunt Petunia a warning letter about his obesity.


    "Dudley -" Aunt Petunia called out sternly.


    Dudley looked at her with his small eyes, his one hand stubbornly creeping up to the table. Vernon coughed dramatically, his moustache twitching in a flurry, and the pig-hoofed-like hand paused hesitantly. After waiting a few seconds, it began to move again, insistently pushing the vegetarian salad they were meant to eat far away from them, in a silent expression of protest from its owner.


    Uncle Vernon sighed heavily and picked up his fork, "Okay, you win, dinner is served." With that, he thrust up a chicken leg - which Harry was already chewing on - and he viciously tore off a chunk of meat.


    Dudley stabbed up a whole steak in one swift motion and took a juicy bite.


    Aunt Petunia seemed determined not to eat a single bite. She sat back in her chair, with her arms folded across her chest, staring into the air in the middle of the table. Even Harry could sense her determination, and he turned his head towards Professor Hap, who seemed to be oblivious to it, and was using a ladle to scoop up the mushroom soup.


    By the time he was halfway through eating, Dudley had completely cast aside his scruples; he had eaten more meat tonight than he had all week combined and his mouth was oozing with oil. He seemed to have forgotten his fear and bravely stood up to reach for the smoked fish that was placed in front of Felix.


    "Is it good?" Felix suddenly asked.


    Dudley, who was bent over, froze for a moment and muttered as he looked up, "Yummy."


    "Then why don''t you serve some for your mother too?"


    The fat outstretched arm of Dudley remained suspended in the air, his face froze as he looked at Felix, as if Felix had just told an awesome riddle, and it seemed clear from Dudley''s face that he was performing a complex series of mental activities. After a moment''s struggle, he placed a smoked fish on Petunia''s clean, empty plate.


    And before he could aim for a second smoked fish, his mother cried out.


    "So, so nice, Diddy ..." her skinny arms wrapped around Dudley with a death grip, "what a, what a sweet boy, my baby ... "


    Felix and Harry exchanged a silent glance and kept their opinions on this with reservations.


    But Petunia was no longer resistant to eating.


    Harry marvelled at Professor Hap''s behaviour, and seemed to have discovered the trick: once he got hold of his cousin''s emotions, the Professor became invincible. And now it seems that Dudley does not reject Professor Hap, or rather, does not fear him that much...


    That comic book series must have played a vital role.


    Well fed, Felix snapped his fingers once more and this time dessert appeared. No further questions were asked, as Dudley was the first to pounce. When it was all over, Felix waved his hand, and it all disappeared into thin air.


    "Tell me," Vernon asked in a strong tone as he picked his teeth and sat limply on the sofa, "what kind of conspiracy are you up to?"


    "A conspiracy?" Felix asked with some amusement.


    There was a sudden silence in the room as if everyone realized that the visit would not come to an end in an amicable atmosphere. Harry pricked up his ears, Dudley was holding a cauldron cake, and even Aunt Petunia, who was pretending to be busy in the kitchen and clinking bottles and jars, was standing in the entrance at some point.


    "That''s right," Vernon said gruffly, "I give it a thought while I''m eating, don''t think I''m easy to fool or that I''m going to be softer because of a meal ... Let me tell you, there is no chance! But you''re a bit smarter than that big silly man I''ve seen-"


    "Hagrid''s not a big silly man!" Harry was enraged.


    Uncle Vernon narrowed his eyes. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ah, I see, you want to talk to me about some serious topics." Felix said.


    "You''re right!" Vernon turned his head quickly and kept talking to the air, "You''ve once worked for Neil''s, it''s a big company ... but you see, I''m not that bad either, I''m a brilliant sales director, and I''ve seen all sorts of people ... If someone is plotting against my property or my house ..."


    "Are you mad?" Harry shouted. "Me? Coveting your house?"


    "I''m not mad, on the contrary quite sober." There was a shrewd gleam in Vernon''s eyes as he gritted his teeth and said, "There have been signs for a while now, haven''t there? That - that Voldemort fellow, he''s been caught, boy, there''s no reason for you to stay here any longer ..."


    "Vernon." Aunt Petunia shouted from the kitchen entrance.


    "First listen to what I have to say! That Voldemort has been captured ... we''re safe, but this boy is still stuck here and refuses to move out, Petunia, think about it, why is that?"


    "I want to know why too!" Harry yelled.


    Felix cleared his throat.


    "It seems that there is very little communication between you all. All it would take is a little understanding about the wizarding world for you to realize that this concern is completely unnecessary and just a delusion."


    "Delusion?" Vernon glowered.


    "That''s right," Felix nodded, crossing his legs and extending his hand, and with a wave, a cup of steaming tea appeared in his hand. "Originally I had made no plans to help someone answer their questions, but I can spare a few minutes now because it''s easy to explain."


    Vernon mustered his energy to negotiate, his small eyes fixed on Felix''s face with a firm gaze. Petunia did the same too.


    "First of all, this house," he paused to look around with interest, "is in the care of Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts - you know who he is, don''t you?" His eyes settled on Petunia and her expression stiffened. " Then it is simple, being a powerful wizard, he has placed a high level of protective magic around this house, using the bloodline of kinship as a bond, which serves not only to protect Harry, who is not yet an adult, but also to protect you all from harm."


    "The effects of the magic will last until Harry will become an adult and during that time Harry must stay here for a period of time each year, it doesn''t have to be much, just a few weeks."


    "Now that Voldemort has been captured, his henchmen are almost wiped out. The reason Harry is still here, well - I can only guess because I''m not the one making the decisions: it''s probably because Voldemort isn''t dead yet, and it''s preferable to not let the magic expire, as a matter of caution."


    "And he will manage to escape?" Vernon said with disgust, " Place him on our side--"


    "There are plenty of jailbreakers this side too." Felix added with a slight nod. Vernon''s face turned red with suffocation.


    "Wizards and Muggles - that is, ordinary people - are alike in some ways, such as emotions; but there are a few areas where they differ - especially the parts related to magic - that can be vastly different. For example, Voldemort is a rather fearsome dark wizard in the context of what we''re talking about."


    "He is very different from the armed gangsters you remember, he is more dangerous, much more sinister ... For example, give him enough time, he could easily destroy London."


    The Dursleys shivered.


    "You, you don''t think, we-"


    "No matter how bizarre it may be in your mind, it is indeed true. Decades ago, he planned to take over the Ministry of Magic and spread his tentacles into the world of ordinary people. He and his men took pleasure in torturing ordinary people, and many of the clueless cases you know so well, in reality, were done by them."


    "Harry''s parents stood up against Voldemort at that time, and I don''t know if they have ever told you this - but they did do what they thought was right. After that ... there were probably some deaths on both sides and Voldemort was unstoppable for a while until he came after the Potters -"


    "The Boy Who Lived!" Dudley suddenly shouted, pointing at Harry, "He killed Voldemort."


    Two inhalations of breath were heard.


    "That was a misrepresentation," Felix corrected, "Voldemort didn''t die, he just - well, in the words that you can understand, he was badly injured and had to go into hiding. There was also another fallacy, it wasn''t Harry who seriously injured Voldemort that time, it was his mother, Lily Potter, who used a complex protection spell to defeat him. In short, a life for a life."


    "Harry was sent to you for the reasons I stated earlier. He''s not happy here, and although I''m in no position to accuse you, I would advise you from a neutral point of view, to restrain yourselves a little, after all, you won''t be together for much longer. If those Fans of Harry know about it...


    Yes, he has Fans. Quite a lot of them.


    It is out of my hands what Harry chooses to do when he is an adult, that is his own business, but there are some things you need to know ..."


    "For example, a wizard would never worry about a house. Take me as an example, I can build a town in a day if I have enough materials. And I do have plans for something like that, except it isn''t for now."


    The Dursleys stared, unable to figure out if the man in front of them was making it up.


    "It''s true," Harry said impatiently, "the Professor once built a castle over a hundred feet in a very short time. It''s been two years now and that building is still being used as the headquarters of the ''Future World'' company."


    "The company? Who owns it?" Vernon asked sensitively.


    "It''s mine." Felix said cheerfully.


    "Aren''t you a professor at that whatever school?" Vernon promptly pressed on, seemingly pleased to find a hole in the conversation.


    "Oh, I guess you have to allow me to have a side hustle."


    Vernon muttered something with a suspicious look on his face as he pointed at Harry.


    "This boy can build houses too?"


    "Harry''s talent isn''t in that area, I''m just giving you a random example, there''s a lot a wizard can make things like rockets for example - well, let''s get back to the point, Harry is naturally magically active, maybe that must have caused some problems for you guys... ...but he is going to be a great warrior, just like his parents. In some ways, he has even gone above and beyond them. Voldemort''s downfall is closely related to your nephew."


    ...


    As Harry walked Felix to the door, he broke the silence by saying.


    "Professor, what you have done is useless, I swear they won''t change anything in the future."


    "You''re right, some people are incorrigible." Felix said approvingly.


    "Then why-"


    "As I said, how to deal with your relatives is your own business, and I have no intention of convincing them to change their minds with just a few words, that''s not realistic. But at the very least, I don''t want your relationship to get worse just because of my visit."


    Harry looked down and mulled over the fact that the Professor seemed to have helped him, but the Professor himself would not admit it.


    "Oh yes, almost forgot the main business, Harry, where does Mr. Bagshot live?"


    "Just around the corner ... What''s wrong?"


    "Sadly, he can''t come back, something bad happened ... I was asked to collect his luggage."


    "He, he''s dead?" Harry''s eyes widened as the image of the frail, sometimes gentle, sometimes grim-tempered old man came to mind, and despite the fact that they had only been together for a total of a few days, and he had even urged him to cast a hex on the Dursleys, Harry had already come to think of him as a friend.


    "Haha, a wonderful association!" Felix couldn''t help but laugh, "I''ll pass on your ''condolences'' to him."


    ---------------


    [ Author:]


    Basically, this is the end of the big storyline about the Dursleys, which may be mentioned sporadically later or appear in an epilogue. As Felix said, it''s not realistic for a few words to change a person, he''s just an outsider and can''t and shouldn''t make decisions for Harry.


    In the original book, not even a near-life-and-death scenario could break the Dursleys'' defences, and I can''t think of a more earth-shattering scene to make it happen, so the change can only take place in Dudley''s life.


    ---


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 609: Bonfire Party (2 in 1)

    Around the last week of July, several important developments took place. The first was the official announcement by the Ministry of Magic stating that the state of war had been lifted, and so the stone that had been hanging in the air finally fell to the ground. Even the wizard population, which had been secretly celebrating for some time, could not contain their excitement and joy and once again marched out into the streets to cheer for peace, because this announcement meant that the Ministry of Magic had come to an official conclusion and marked the end of the war.


    Together with this, the announcement of investigations and testimonies of the wizard criminals who committed crimes during the war was published.


    Some of the pure-blood families breathed a sigh of relief.


    The second development surprised all those who heard about it for the first time and had a much wider impact - Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, voluntarily resigned from his position as Head of the International Confederation of Wizards on the grounds that he had grown too old.


    "Well, it''s not surprising," Hagrid said in a jarred voice, sitting in the living room sofa of Black''s old mansion, occupying two seats all by himself, "all those foreign fellows going on and on about how much damage they''ve suffered at the International Confederation, it''s all pure bollocks! The You-Know-Who hasn''t even been rampaging out there for a full two months altogether."


    "What are they demanding for?" Bill asked.


    "A lot," Mr. Weasley said, wiping his glasses, "as you know, the You-Know-Who first took the snakewood wand from the Ilvermorny School and murdered their Headmaster at the school gates; after a brief period of silence, he was once again on the prowl, looting the treasures of various countries --"


    "The Gringotts alone has lost quite a lot." Bill interjected.


    "-yes," Mr. Weasley said, "it was evident that the You-Know-Who showed great interest in magical items that were rumoured to be of great power; the cloak of invisibility that had been passed down for a thousand years, the mask of immortality in Africa, the coffin of death in Egypt, the Elven springs in Northern Europe ..."


    "Are there really such things?" Harry, who had been listening silently, asked out loud, "I thought it was all fake, like, like -" he and Ron looked at each other and Ron muttered, "like a fairy tale."


    "Something like that," Mr. Weasley said with a frown, "I suspect that none of those items could match their great reputation, they''re all - they''re all just blown out of proportion. But the thing is, now they''re all gone, they can''t be found."


    "Gone?" Mundungus repeated in a low voice, with a greedy, cunning gleam in his eyes, "Could they have been hidden away by He Who Must Not Be Named? Somewhere in England, there exist great hidden treasures?"


    "Or it could have been destroyed or lost." Bill said, "Remember that incident in Switzerland? In a black market, the goblin chief there claimed to have vampire fangs that could put people into a false state of death, and the rumours spread like wildfire ... only to be proven that they were actually werewolf fangs, and the You-Know-Who who ended up with nothing went on a killing spree and not many people survived... ..."


    Mundungus let out a sigh that was mixed with derision and sympathy.


    "It''s obvious that the You-Know-Who wanted the real thing and that old goblin bumped into the steel plate."


    "But Voldemort also took a lot of treasure with him, didn''t he?" Harry asked, "Maybe that means those items are real or at least have some effect."


    Bill shrugged.


    "I guess it''s more likely that the You-Know-Who was unable to determine the authenticity for a while and needed to go back and research it more closely, which is a delicate task. But ... we can only guess, and in the end, we managed to recover only a handful of collections - from Bellatrix Lestrange."


    "Ah." Ron said.


    "Yeah, and those third-rate tabloids are making up all sorts of crap about the illicit love affair between the Dark Lord and his most loyal follower, led by Rita Skeeter ... Bollocks, they should really see what the hell that woman has become in the end... ..."


    "I''ve heard ..." Mundungus said in a lowered voice, "that it was Hap cough - Mr. Hap who first found her, right at the edge of the battlefield where Dumbledore and the You-Know-Who dueling, a few hundred feet deep underground ..."


    "Don''t have any ill thoughts." Mr. Weasley warned him kindly.


    "I know - I wouldn''t dare," Mundungus muttered, "Mr. Hap is a great alchemist himself and has inherited Nicolas Flamel''s wealth, so how could he look at all that crap ..." Although he said that, he knew that Mr. Hap was interested in old artefacts, and he planned to ask about it sometime later, if Mr. Hap had any intention of ''selling'' them, he wouldn''t mind going back to his old job of doing some dirty work for others and earn the difference.


    This is when big people like Mr. Hap would need someone like him ...


    "Apart from the recovery of the stolen goods, I heard that there were some small countries who had heard from somewhere that the You-Know-Who is not dead and demanded to join the trial, in short, it was a messy situation. Oh yeah, didn''t they set up an international Auror squad at the time, which had quite a few deaths? These are all troubling issues."


    By two or three o''clock in the afternoon, more and more people had arrived.


    Some stayed to chat, other after brief greetings went to Burrow through the fireplace.


    As the war came to an end, the Order of the Phoenix had completed its purpose. They originally volunteered to fight for a noble mission, and now the time had come to fall into silence again, just as they had at the end of the first war.


    Before parting, they intended to hold a Bonfire Party.


    "Are we going to dance in the living room with torches lit?" Tonks asked cheerfully, "I wouldn''t mind that-"


    "I don''t mind either," Sirius said, "but this is just a place to chat, the formal party is being held over in the Burrow. I just went to take a look, and Molly''s group was all busy, so I used the excuse of chopping wood to come out for some fresh air."


    "Mum must have had everyone work their tails off." Ron sighed understandingly.


    "Don''t say that," Mr. Weasley said with a hint of reproach, "Your mother was over the moon, she kept saying that it was Merlin''s blessing that no one in the family was hurt-"


    "Then what am I?" Ron said indignantly, "I still have the scar from the Cruciatus Curse on my chest."


    "No, you don''t." Harry subconsciously commented.


    Everyone in the room laughed merrily and Harry snapped back, apologizing to Ron repeatedly, his mind was out of whack as he had just mentally managed to sort out and smooth some things over.


    Tonks also smiled and said to Lupin, who was holding her arm, "I''m going to take a look over there and see what I can do to help ... dear."


    Lupin smiled and nodded, his face looked troubled as he watched her disappear into the fireplace, Sirius came over and put a hand on his shoulder and exclaimed, "Don''t think too much! It''s a happy day, Harry and I are going to make a trip out in August, want to get together for a break? He also wrote a book ..."


    "You wrote a book?" Hagrid growled.


    "You wrote a book?" Ron''s eyes widened.


    Harry glared at Sirius, who had promised not to say a word! But Sirius had already tugged his best mate and headed upstairs, saying he wanted to have a good drink, and Harry nodded numbly amidst a crowd of interested gazes.


    "About what?" Bill asked with interest.


    "Patronus." Harry said sullenly, in fact, it isn''t just about Patronus, it''s also about his thoughts on other topics such as the Disarming Charm, Illumination, Runic magic, Quidditch piloting, and his understanding of combat, he even included the knowledge he had gained from Voldemort''s mind; it was an idea that had sprung up in his mind a few days before the holiday, if death is waiting for him in the not too distant future, he should at least do something about it, and leave something behind.


    It''s just that he was most sure of the Patronus Charm and had more confidence in voicing it out.


    Harry was secretly relieved when he didn''t hear a snicker.


    At that moment, Mr. Weasley spoke up with a grin, "I''ve heard that the examiners at the Examining Authority are having a hard time this year. Aside from Harry''s ground-breaking understanding of Patronus magic, which no one dares to verdict on. There are also quite a few students who have written up their unpublished runic spell knowledge, and have left many examiners scratch their heads."


    "Is there such a thing?" Harry asked, desperate to lead the conversation elsewhere without playing around the dangerous waters, though from the look he saw in Ron''s eyes, he knew he would inquire about it sooner or later - because Ron was the one who knew him best, even better than Sirius did.


    "It''s not that hard to believe when you think about it, the Ancient Rune Studies are changing day by day, a lot of the research is done by students, and I''ve heard that over a half of the people that managed to pass the screening to publish and invited to the Hap''s Ancient Rune Magazine Almanac event in mid-August are all under twenty years old."


    Harry and Ron smacked their lips for a second.


    "You guys have received an invitation?"


    "Got it." The duo said honestly.


    "That''s it then."


    Mr. Weasley and Bill stayed for a while and left, after which Sirius dragged a somewhat flushed Remus along with him and left. Only Harry and Ron stayed behind, and waited and watched as time passed little by little; finally, there was a loud noise from the foyer of the old mansion, and then they heard Hermione''s voice.


    She rushed in like a gust of wind.


    "Harry! Ron! Oh, how was your holiday?" Hermione was beaming with joy and spoke in rapid succession, "I just got back two days ago, and now I''m interning at the Sword Castle, I almost lost track of time, it''s so fascinating in there, I never realized how much of what I discovered could come in handy ... Oh yeah, what about your grades --"


    Harry and Ron looked at each other and smiled.


    "I knew you would ask this question for sure."


    "Let''s take them out one by one."


    Harry fished a crumpled envelope out of his pocket and unfolded it as Hermione and Ron leaned over to look at it from left and right.


    Ordinary Wizard Level Exam Results


    Passing grades: Outstanding (O); Exceeds Expectations (E); Acceptable (A).


    Failing grades: Poor (P); Dreadful (D); Troll (T).


    Harry James Potter has achieved the following grades:


    Astronomy: A


    Care of Magical Creatures: E


    Charms: O


    Defence Against the Dark Arts: O


    Divination: P


    Herbology: E


    History of Magic: D


    Potions: O


    Transfiguration: O


    Study of Ancient Runes: O


    ...


    "Gee, even though I''ve seen it, I still find it hard to believe, that''s five Outstanding." Ron said as he shook his head.


    "Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Ancient Runes..." Hermione thought for a moment and said, "You''re fully qualified to get a recommendation and join the Auror training squad."


    "In a word, Harry went above and beyond in all the subjects that had anything to do with practicals. So did I." Ron furrowed his brow, "It''s going to make us look like we''re all brawn with no brain ... I really want to break this stigma."


    Harry grinned, very pleased with his results.


    "What about you, Ron?" Hermione asked.


    "I''m pretty much identical to Harry, with the exception in Potions grade, in which I only got an A grade." Ron shrugged, "Probably won''t be able to get into Snape''s Advanced Class, that''s fine though."


    "Oh, er," Hermione said cautiously, "you can give it another shot this year ... don''t just give up, even if it''s only for the sake of your Auror dream."


    But Ron''s face didn''t show any disappointment, on the contrary, he grinned with glee.


    "Did you forget?" He said happily, "Both Harry and me are official members of the Dark Force Defence League, so they won''t refuse to write a recommendation letter or two ... I have got the best of both worlds, I don''t have to attend Snape''s class and there are no repercussions!"


    Hermione pursed her lips but didn''t raise any objections; they had discussed this topic specifically a long time ago and in the end, no one was able to convince the others.


    "How about you, Hermione?"


    "Oh, fine." Hermione murmured.


    "Oh come on! Just tell us which test you didn''t receive an Outstanding grade on." Ron said and Hermione opened her mouth. "All Outstanding!?" Ron growled, "And you''re still not satisfied?" Hermione shook her head hurriedly, her eyes curving into crescent moons.


    They tidied up, locked the door, and made their way through the fireplace to the Burrow. As soon as they stepped out, they were dragged away by Sirius and the Weasley twins, "Get over here and help, we are busy, we have to set up wards around the field. If we don''t finish it, we won''t get any food."


    "A defence ward?" Harry asked in disbelief, is that necessary? S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Muggle-Repelling Charm," Fred said with a grin, "we''re going to make some big noise tonight, it''s just to prevent someone from the village who gets curious and comes over ..."


    They arrived at the orchard where Charlie, Bill, and Lupin were setting up the tent, and Fleur leaned against Bill cuddly, "Honey, whaddya think about doing the same for our wedding? Gotta add a small fountain though, and ice crystal statues ..."


    Ginny pulled a long face, and when she saw Harry and the others approaching, she sighed in relief and ran over to them and pretended to chant the spell with them.


    The group split up separately and Fred and George seemed to spot a gnome hole where they crouched down and pinched their throats to greet, "Is anyone home? We dropped some fruit ..."


    Harry and Sirius moved together and Harry asked in a low voice, "What did you and Remus talk about?"


    "Some annoying adult talk." Sirius waved his wand lazily.


    "Tell me about it." Harry said.


    "Ah, you know Kreacher, don''t you?"


    Harry nodded.


    "Thanks to the genius brain of our Mr. Hap, the exact location of Bellatrix was found with the help of Kreacher, but it wasn''t the end of the story, with the death of that cousin of mine, Kreacher lost his master once again ..."


    "Er, so, he''s free?" Harry guessed.


    " Well you kind of got straight to the point, but the process wasn''t that easy," Sirius said, "According to the legacy of the Black family, Kreacher automatically belongs to the next person who has the right to succession, which is Narcissa Black."


    Harry''s eyes went wide, and he couldn''t help but exclaim, "How is that going to work? Look what they did to Dobby!"


    "Yeah, so Felix visited their house and that family very sensibly gave up the right to inherit, so ... well, Kreacher ended up with Narcissa''s sister, which is Tonks'' mother."


    "Felix didn''t expect it either, but it''s a good thing they''re all acquaintances. Remus visited their house to explain the situation-"


    "Something went wrong? They refused to let him go?"


    "That''s not true, the family was quite friendly and asked Remus to stay for dinner." Sirius said with a slight bitterness, "But Tonks was there that day, and they noticed the difference in their daughter''s attitude and when pressed, she couldn''t able to hide her relationship with him, and they had a ''little'' fight." His thumb and forefinger were almost close together, leaving only a slight gap.


    Harry took a short breath, sidestepped to avoid Ginny''s glance, and mouthed the words.


    "A werewolf?"


    "Yeah," Sirius whispered, "Actually, judging by the state Tonks is in, she has the confidence to convince her parents; the problem is Remus, he''s under a lot of pressure, in case you didn''t know, there is a chance that a werewolf''s child will also inherit the werewolf curse, just a chance, but Remus ... he just couldn''t bear the thought of it."


    Harry was distracted throughout the rest of the day, glancing now and then at Remus, who smiled gently and joined the others in setting up the huge tent and conjuring up tables, chairs, and benches using Transfiguration. Even after Voldemort''s downfall, everyone had their own troubles.


    Just like Harry himself, who was purposefully avoiding Ginny, not knowing how to respond to her feelings.


    At eight o''clock in the evening, the banquet officially began.


    Hundreds of wizards sat around the edge of the huge tents propped up on wooden stakes; people were constantly Apparating to get here, and Harry finally met Auntie Muriel, as Ron called her, she had a hawkish nose, red eyes, a pink feathered hat, and she looked grumpy.


    As soon as she arrived she started to nitpick about the tables, chairs, and the decorations on them, "Look at this tablecloth, I don''t know how many years since it was properly washed, it stinks ..."


    "Actually that''s something Fred transformed from a skunk, there are not enough things in the house." Ron said quietly to Harry, who quickly moved to the side, making up his mind not to take any food from that table.


    Aunt Muriel noticed them.


    "Harry Potter? Yes, I can see the scar, lucky boy, can your scar glow?" Harry furrowed his brow, unhappy with this comment. But then the old witch turned her attention to Ron, "Not as lucky as him though, I''ll tell you this, I was surprised when I heard the name of the youngest Weasley boy from one of my old sisters, and I realized just how much validity the rumours really have that time ... The Dark Lord can''t even beat two little beans? "


    She ranted, and when she asked Ron in a cryptic manner how much the Order of Merlin had cost, both of them got a little fired up, and Hermione stopped them from quarrelling, only for Muriel to say that her "teeth were too bumpy and her hair was too messy."


    "Let me see your ankle bones, little girl." Hermione puffed up and couldn''t keep up her anger, when the help finally arrived.


    "Auntie Muriel? We''ve been looking all over for you!"


    Fred and George jumped down from out of nowhere and nearly pushed her away.


    "What a touching brotherhood." Ron said with emotion.


    They found a seat (far away from Muriel and the table covered with the skunk tablecloth) and sat down, plates of food descended from the sky, beautiful music played and the dinner began.


    People weren''t obviously focused on the food, the buzz of chatter and loud laughter heard from everywhere, Harry craned his head to look around, Fred and George were doing tricks for Fleur''s French relatives, and that table was fully occupied by young people, so there was a market for their jokes.


    "Well to put it this way, if Uncle Bilius is still around, he''ll pour himself a whole bottle of Firewhisky and gulp it down in one go, then run over to the dance floor, lift up his robe and pull out a bouquet after bouquet of flowers right out of his - well, you get the idea - -"


    Harry also noticed that Auntie Muriel was placed at the table of the Weasleys'' distant relatives, and she spoke in a loud voice about the similarities between ''gnomes and Weasleys'', though no one was willing to join in the conversation, and their faces seemed to solidify like ice. From his angle, he could see Mafalda propping her chin up with one hand, her head half-tilted, and the other hand was hidden under the table, sending out a shower of dazzling sparks with her wand.


    Harry also saw a few of his classmates.


    Neville was caught in the middle of his run towards them by a mean-looking old male wizard, and he waved his hand desperately in Harry''s direction and followed behind his grand-uncle, Ron shrank his neck and muttered, "All the elders in the world are the same, just watch, we might get to see Neville spit a ring of fire in a minute!"


    On the opposite side of their table, Tonks, Lupin, Hagrid, and Sirius sat together. It was clear that a number of people were apprehensive about getting closer and personal with Hagrid, perhaps because his hands could pull their heads off like grapes.


    "There''s a new professor at the school?" Lupin asked.


    "Yeah, with the surname Bagshot." Hagrid replied, waving a pair of lobster pincers.


    Harry asked with concern, "How is he now, I mean, is he physically okay?"


    "Well, I don''t really know -" Hagrid furrowed his brow, "He seems alright, he just doesn''t come out that much. I''ve only seen him a few times in the great hall- but he can occasionally be seen sunbathing on the first-floor balcony."


    Harry was slightly reassured by this, Professor Hap had spoken to him somewhat vaguely about it, as if he intended to watch the fun, even though he had no idea what the fun was in store for Professor.


    "Did they find a new professor?" Ron asked, with some disappointment, "I thought they couldn''t recruit anyone and Sirius could come back!" His voice was a little loud and Sirius turned his head and smiled when he heard it, "A year of teaching you all have worn me out, and I haven''t had enough rest."


    "Sirius?" Hermione couldn''t help but ask, "What was it like being an Animagus?"


    "Yeah," Ron''s eyes lit up, "You promised to tell us how to practice Animagus as soon as we got an Outstanding!"


    "Oh, can''t wait?" Sirius said slowly, measuring a few of them with a glance, "You''re barely qualified, but don''t rush, and find Felix for the detailed knowledge, I''ll stay out of it, but I can tell you the dos and don''ts ..."


    It seemed to Harry that Sirius was showing off rather than teaching his experience.


    "... It starts with a full moon, where you have to carry a Mandrake leaf into your mouth and not spit it out in between until the next full moon, think about it, you could probably lose all your efforts talking in your sleep, and that''s just the first step. But James and I found a way around it, by using a Stunning Spell, combined with a Full Body-Bind Curse ... but that only works during the night, and for a while, James was particularly fond of telling jokes ..."


    Hermione listened carefully, several times reaching her hand towards the beaded pouch as if she wanted to take notes, but she held back forcefully.


    "That sounds like a lot of trouble." Ron said with a frown, clearly wanting to back out.


    Harry also didn''t think it was quite worth it, after all, Animagus could only turn you into an ordinary animal, and he suddenly thought of Professor Hap, who could turn into a Rain Swallow, but the Professor had denied that he had learned Animagus ...


    He thought, it would be quite convenient if he could turn into a bird, but what kind of animal Animagus would transform into was something uncontrollable, and perhaps if he went through all the trouble and found himself turning into a toad at the end, Harry would be absolutely sick of it.


    With that his mood sank; with the great mountain known as Horcrux weighing him down, there seemed no point in spending his time learning something new.


    At that moment, Sirius brought his head closer to the three of them and said in a hushed voice, "Trust me, it''s worth every Knut, once you learn Animagus, the doors of Transfiguration will be completely open to you. ... Half of the advanced Transfiguration class is related to human transfiguration, so if you know Animagus, you will find yourself like a fish in a sea."


    He winked, sat up straight, and said, "That''s how I got my N.E.W.Ts certificate, I didn''t actually put that much effort into it at all."


    ...


    "There''s a lot of people showing up." Hermione said as she looked around.


    Harry shook his head slightly as he whispered, "The Order of the Phoenix is disbanding."


    "Disbanding?" Hermione was taken aback at first, she had just learned this news, then she slowly switched her thoughts, "Indeed ... Voldemort has fallen, but where will they go?" Hermione looked at the busy people coming and going, Dedalus Diggle, Emmeline Vance, Hestia Jones ...


    "There''s always somewhere to go. As far as I know - Remus went back to Sword Castle, Tonks and Kingsley went back to the Ministry of Magic, and I heard that Ms. Bones invited Neville''s parents to be Aurors, but they declined and are going to open a small shop ... Alastor, who had retired, became an Auror trainer, but he will no longer go on missions; in short, every one of them has a way to live."


    "That''s right," Lupin said approvingly, "Voldemort''s demise will only make us fare better."


    Halfway through the party, Ms. Bones appeared in a hurry, smiling appropriately at everyone she met, but in the blink of an eye, she found an opportunity to drag Hermione away.


    By the time Harry and Ron saw Hermione again, it was almost the end of the dinner.


    "You guys have really been talking for a long time, is it possible that the Ministry of Magic couldn''t wait to recruit you in after finding out about your grades?" Ron commented with ridicule, still laughing at the way Hermione looked when she said her grades.


    "Hmph," Hermione said, "It has nothing to do with my grades. But she does want me to join the Ministry of Magic after I graduate -"


    "To which department?" Harry asked with interest.


    "I guess it might be something like an assistant minister, that counts as the best position," Ron said, looking at Hermione uncertainly.


    Hermione shook her head, "It''s the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures."


    "That''s one of the worst few options out there, Hermione." Ron said with surprise, "The people in there are either forcefully sent there or they really like those magical creatures ..." he glanced at Hagrid who was not far away, "Maybe Hagrid will like that job from the bottom of his heart, but I bet he''ll be breaking the ribs of his fellow employees in less than three days - those executioners ..."


    "It''s not what you think." Hermione shook her head, "She talked to me about S.P.E.W.-" "What?" Harry and Ron shouted in unison. "-Don''t interrupt, there''s the Pan-Magical Alliance, you know, I wrote a few articles about it ... She hinted to me that the Ministry of Magic would form a new department based on that in the future."


    "Oh Merlin." Ron blurted quietly.


    "But why?" Harry asked in confusion.


    "It supposedly has to do with a report Professor Hap had submitted," Hermione said softly, "I could hear the anxiety and caution in her tone."


    "Yeah, then she even started to ask students for help," Ron said, "You''ve still got two years left to graduate."


    "Ms. Bones said she wouldn''t make any preparations for this aspect until the trial and ordination are over, and that could take months." Hermione said with a fighting spirit, "She suggested for me to think more about this aspect sometimes and to keep in correspondence with her ... Oh, I guess whatever the professor''s report is about, it must be significant."


    A bonfire was lit and the tents were set up in a circle around it. The sky was clear and dotted with stars.


    Some people started to dance around the bonfire, and Harry joined in, swaying his body until he heard his Aunt Muriel say that he danced "like a bear that stole the corn", and he resentfully made his way to the other side of the tent to watch Neville performing using the Bright Fire-making charm.


    The bright, glowing white flames brought a roar of laughter and applause as Harry clapped along with the onlookers.


    Luna and her father were dancing merrily in the distance, dressed in goose-yellow clothes and gliding around the campfire like two dancing butterflies, and Cedric sat with his parents, smiling slightly as they watched.


    Ron was chatting with Collins, who had tagged along with Ms. Bones.


    "I''m going to be an official Auror soon." She said with a raised eyebrow.


    "Oh, congratulations." Ron said dryly.


    Harry was keenly aware that a few people hadn''t come, and he shared the thought with Hermione who was staying behind.


    "The Malfoys, Professor Snape, Professor Hap, Headmaster Dumbledore ... they all didn''t come. The first two I can understand, but why Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore didn''t show up? That really shouldn''t be absent..."


    Hermione couldn''t give a reason either.


    "Maybe there''s something occupying them?" She said softly, "I haven''t seen the Professor in the past few days at the Sword Castle either, but I think the opportunity will soon come."


    "What''s going on?" Harry asked in confusion.


    "Professor''s Ancient Rune Magazine''s first Annual edition is going to be published, and there''s a big event at ''Future World'' Company in the near future. The Professor will definitely be there." Hermione said conclusively.


    Harry thought of Voldemort, maybe most of their time held back by him?


    A scene came to his mind: Currently, both men are in a cave filling the cold air, or some ghastly prison chamber, chatting with a tied-up Voldemort ... At that thought, the resentment buried deep inside him wasn''t that great.


    His fate had nothing to do with these people, and if he had to hate someone, he could only hate Voldemort alone.


    But the truth is slightly different from what he had thought.


    Felix was sitting idly at the school table, bickering with Grindelwald for some time now, especially after he had conveyed Harry''s regards to the old man, and Grindelwald looked at him with nothing but distaste.


    Professor McGonagall has experienced the rebellious nature of her new colleague and is not surprised. Today, for example, they talked about the Hogwarts school system.


    "It''s too outdated and close-minded," Grindelwald said with his eyes half-closed, "Half a century ago, someone spent nearly a decade perfecting a ''Wizards'' Code'', where the rights and duties of wizards are regulated in detail, with the foundation of fundamentals, being education at school ..."


    "Professor Bagshot," Professor McGonagall spoke up with dissatisfaction. With the honour of Hogwarts at stake, she couldn''t bring herself to keep quiet, so she said in a sharp tone, "Perhaps I''m uninformed - but I''ve never heard of this law."


    "Because it has never circulated in England and has met with devastating opposition abroad." Grindelwald raised his voice slightly and said unhurriedly, "And the other reason is that that code has another name, one that was not allowed to exist, one that was erased from history, the Grindelwald Code."


    "Hiss!" Professor McGonagall inhaled deeply, dropping the fork on her plate, her eyes went wide, "Mr. Bagshot, we should never mention this man!"


    "Never mention him." Grindelwald repeated in a low voice, and slowly raised his goblet, "Can you see the whole world with your eyes closed, madam?"


    ---


    A 3-in-1 chapter with little more than 5300 words.


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 610: The Torrent (2 in 1)

    The next day, Sirius, Lupin, and the rest stayed at the Burrow, celebrated Harry''s birthday, and then turned their heads to their own messes. Before leaving, Lupin cryptically told Harry that some big news would be announced tomorrow. Harry immediately thought of what Hermione had told him. "There''s a big event in the near future at ''Future World'' ... Professor will definitely be there ..."


    On the first day of August, the Daily Prophet released big news.


    ''Future World'' Company has successfully solved the Squibs'' spell casting problem using a special wand!


    In just two days, the concept of an exclusive wand and magic frequency was widely spread all over the world. In the newspaper, the ''Future World'' company headquarters announced that it would be open to the public for a week, with each day focusing on one new product, but the exclusive wand was undoubtedly the well-deserved protagonist, attracting away all the attention.


    At the weekend, the exhibition hall on the ground floor of the Sword Castle was packed to the brim.


    The centre of the hall had been temporarily transformed into an illuminated stand, around which three circles of people had gathered, crowded and surprised to find the new business talents who had previously been extremely daring in releasing a series of You-Know-Who-related prank products standing on the stand, acting as commentators.


    Felix and Lupin stood in the corner, talking in a low murmur.


    "Do you feel assured to leave such an important matter to them?" Felix asked with an odd look on his face.


    "I''ve been teaching them for at least a year and have barely worked together for a while, they know what to do in their hearts," Lupin said with a grin, but as he watched the twins begin to pretend to clear their throats, he said with slight hesitation, "Probably ... "


    "They''re good at livening up the mood." Felix said in a neutral tone. The two men looked at the stage.


    "Good morning, lads!"


    "-and the girls."


    "Yes, that''s right, and the girls."


    Fred and George, in their formal attire, looked enthusiastically at the group of wizards and squibs below the stage, whose average age had exceeded forty, many of them had grey hair, and their faces looked worn and wrinkled.


    These people stared up at the twins who were asking questions and answering them by themselves with mutual cooperation, wondering if they had come to the wrong place, perhaps this would be the time for two big, burly men to come up and carry them away and tell them that what had just happened was an accident?


    Fred pointed towards the ceiling overhead, "Don''t think we''re babbling, today''s speeches are being simultaneously broadcast over the radio, and, see those cute little bugs up there? They have been through a lot of battles and have been known for capturing fascinating and embarrassing moments of the champions during the Tournament of Champions ..."


    People tilted their heads and looked up to see the blue Billywig insects hovering in mid-air and flapping their transparent wings, they slightly flinched when they saw a thin and long curved needle on its buttocks.


    "... Some of you might ask what the difference is between an exclusive wand and a magic wand, good question!"


    "We are both here to answer this question for you."


    "The thing I admired most about them from childhood was their energy." Ron said.


    "Oh, don''t interrupt." Molly said, her eyes staring earnestly at the stage as she whispered, "Look how handsome they are."


    The whole Weasley family was here, even Percy had taken the day off, and Harry and Sirius were standing with them. Not far away was the Granger family, who was standing slightly further back, making it easier for Hermione to familiarize her parents with the concept.


    "For the sake of clarity without confusing the concept," Fred continued, "let''s start by making it clear that there is no unicorn hair, dragon heartstring, or anything else hidden inside the exclusive wand, it doesn''t have any such thing as a wand core- -"


    "But that doesn''t mean it''s a low-level toy, folks, and I can assure that, can you see all these little rows of gems? They''re not for decoration, or to show off your individual tastes, those little guys plays a big part."


    "A single gem merely about the size of a fingernail cap has a collection of protection spells, rune engravings, and functional charms inside, you can well imagine their value."


    "The gems on exclusive wands are divided into three categories according to their function -"


    "The first one, which is used to capture specific, weak magic frequencies and amplify them; the exact principle has been discussed many times in the newspapers over the past two days, so we won''t expand on it here."


    "The second one, which is used to store magic and consume it as a substitute for wizard magic to cast spells; like the batteries that muggles use to store energy - I read about it in a comic book, not sure if that''s the right analogy? Does anyone get it ... I think they are similar. As a side note, these magic energies can only be stimulated by a specific magic frequency."


    "Well, it would use the first one to get it right." George said.


    "Yep and finally, the third type, which has a built-in functional charm; this little gem will come with a specific spell stored inside, it might contain a cleaning charm, or even a killing curse, who knows? It was just a joke ..."


    "They''ve got a lot of nerve." Harry under the stage said in amazement, when he looked around the audience, many people stared in shock, even Hermione''s mouth had stopped moving, and she was looking at Fred and George in amazement as if they had silently casted a Silencing Charm.


    "Don''t you know that from the very first day you met them?" Ron muttered in a small voice.


    "The current wands released by ''Future World'' are between ten and fourteen inches, and have the same grip and body compared to a normal wand, except a small extra row of gems that are alchemically fused and linked with the wand material; for now it can only be inlaid with a maximum of nine gems. "


    "Yes, it''s not easy to cram all of them together. But we can slightly look forward to a follow-up product, I have learned that the muggles have a sort of button communicator, imagine pressing a button and triggering a spell ..."


    "Next, we will demonstrate a few products for you, so let''s proceed one by one; I would like to invite my assistant - Lee Jordan." Fred pretended to offer a hand. A dark-skinned boy stepped onto the stage, with dense dreadlocks on his head.


    "Thank you, and you can also call me by my code name - Old River." Lee Jordan excitedly said.


    "Are we in some secret underground organization?" Fred asked with interest, "And what would be a good code name for me?"


    "How about Mouse?" Lee Jordan asked.


    "Never - I would prefer something like a Big Sword."


    George took up the conversation -


    "Lee has a life style wand in his hand, it''s good for most everyday needs, washing and cooking, moving things around, chasing away gnomes from the garden - one more thing, this is something we strongly wanted to add, if you think outside the box you''ll see that it''s not just gnomes that you can chase away. "


    Lee Jordan waved the wand and a gem lit up as he waved it and commanded a row of magic golems to march majestically through the stage and do a tap dance, then he motioned one of the heavy wooden crates to follow him around the stage.


    "It''s a bit hard, and this is the result of two days of practice." Lee Jordan said.


    ...


    "Exclusive wands that are specifically designed for combat and medical purposes are reserved for the Ministry of Magic Aurors and Hit Wizards, and will not be available to the public for the time being."


    "Finally a comprehensive general wand that is balanced with multiple aspects and also has a built-in disarming charm for defense; which I personally think is too general to be accurate ... Ah, I see someone waving at me, I hope he''s not coming up to the stage to beat me ... Well, let''s give a warm welcome to Mr. Felix Hap, the owner of ''Future World'' company!"


    Felix walked onto the stage with a gentle smile on his face.


    "The reason why I''m up here is certainly not because of Fred and George''s wonderful speech, and as their professor at school, I personally have no habit of detaining them up, deducing their house points, punishing them by making them copy assignments, school rules, or make them copy the sentence ''I solemnly swear I am up to no good'' -- oh, that phrase is their new motto, and it''s very popular at school ..." he said while spreading his hands, and with considerable regret, "because they''ve graduated."


    The crowd below the stage roared with laughter.


    "Is there really no such a thing? He looks kinda expert in it ..." Mr. Granger asked his daughter.


    "Hmm, the professor is lazy, he''s just saying." Hermione said casually.


    "I have more pressing reasons for being on stage."


    "It occurred to me while I was standing below the stage, and I was inspired by a certain trial user of the exclusive wand. In that sense alone, one of my aim for creating ''Future World'' company has been achieved; with the dedication of all the members of the company, we hope to bring together the wisdom of more people than just the simple interaction of ''we provide the product, you choose the product''. "


    "I mentioned inspiration - so next I''ll share with you the new idea I''ve just come up with, which I like to describe as a highly significant concept." Felix said, "Well - this idea came up suddenly, so I need an exclusive wand for modification and demonstration."


    "Here, Professor!" Fred called out and threw up a wand.


    Felix stared at it as it flew over in a mid-air in a whirl, and finally hovered in front of him, motionlessly.


    The crowd waited with bated breath.


    The reporters raised their cameras, ready to record the significant scene. With a wave of Lupin''s wand, the Billywig insect-like alchemical device that hovered above the crowd descended slightly in height.


    Felix waited two seconds and reached out to brush his hand over the exclusive wand in front of him, as a broken star-like gem blossomed with different colours, he watched silently, followed by the glowing wine-red gem coming off the wand, then a second and a third ... Two or three minutes later, he showed the wand in his hand to the crowd, with only two gems remaining on it.


    The other six gems of varying colours blinked mischievously and were gathered in Felix''s palm as he pocketed them.


    He stood up straight and faced the audience and said calmly.


    "Gentlemen, magic is marvellous and varied beyond all measure and should not be limited."


    "What I have done now is to add amplification circuits and circuits for storing magic energy on top of the traditionally recognized wand - of course, the one I have is lacking a wand core of an appropriate kind, so what you see is only a half-finished product, but it is perfectly adequate for me and does not affect the rest of the demonstration. "


    "If you are a handicapped individual who can''t wield magic to cast spells - I mean Squibs - and have dreams of using magic freely, and don''t mind working harder than the average person ..., then this wand I''m presenting will certainly meet your expectations."


    "Mr. Hap, can you elaborate on that?" A journalist, sensing the smell of big news, asked bravely.


    Well, it was indeed brave. In fact, not even Felix himself was aware of it, but one thing was true: everyone is trying to adapt to how to live with Felix Hap. The native British wizards feel this particularly keenly: a strong man comparable to Dumbledore, and Voldemort and possibly will surpass both of them in the future, he is too strong to be ignored by all and - this strong man seems to be following the same route as Headmaster Dumbledore once did, showing not the slightest interest in politics.


    It is unknown how many people are secretly glad about this.


    In particular, several successive over-the-top duels over the past year have made the public recognize the unparalleled oppressive and dominating power that a wizard at the top of the world can exert, and it could be argued that with such a man, the British magical community could rest easy for a century or two without having to worry about any danger at home or from overseas.


    In fact, there is no need for Felix to do anything, as long as he remains alive, that is perfectly all that matters.


    As this trend continues, the honours and perks that Dumbledore once enjoyed are presumably available to this Mr. Hap without fail, for example, if Ms. Bones has plans to retire (although unlikely in the short term), the first person she will consider replacing her is not from the Ministry of Magic but from one of the professors at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry or someone that Mr. Hap supports (just like how Fudge became Minster with Dumbledore''s support).


    The same is true internationally.


    Dumbledore''s voluntary resignation as the Head of the International Confederation of Wizards has to be said to be a huge loss that has left countless people sighing, but they are equally overwhelmed with the conviction that it probably won''t be more than a decade or two before this position will fall precisely on Felix Hap''s head.


    Although he might just as well refuse it ...


    Many wizards inwardly hoped that this young Warlock would not be overly wilful.


    Faced with a journalist''s question, Felix thought for a moment and said, "Compared to the previously released exclusive wands, it has fewer built-in spells, so this may bring inconvenience to the user, at the same time, on the other hand, it will free the product from its initial restraints, and will offer the same unlimited potential as the first wands carefully selected for the young wizards."


    "... This product is the next major product that will be developed and perfected by the Future World."


    Felix had left some room for doubt, in fact, he had already solved all the technical difficulties and even the final product was out - only it didn''t have much to do with him, it was old man Grindelwald who had worked on it.


    With his proud nature, that old man would never allow himself to use an inferior and restricted wand.


    "For the next project, ''Future World'' will consider teaming up with the leading figures in the wand industry - such as Mr. Ollivander - to explore a brand new territory, which I am very confident will create another innovation in the history of wands. Because if this succeeds, Squibs will also be able to learn magic on their own, just like young wizards who are newly enrolled in school, without any restrictions on their ability to cast spells!"


    People murmured, the voices of the crowd buzzed, and the heated chatter drowned the place out. Many Future World employees rushed out to check out the situation, especially on the third floor, where a row of tiny heads of house elves crowded through the railing, looking particularly conspicuous in their neat, clean clothes and exuberant spirits.


    Some reporters with a keen sense of smell had snapped a few photos and were even started to consider applying to stay at the company for a tour and an interview when the exhibition wrapped up.


    As the noise subsided, a trembling old man stepped forward, shivering, and the cane in his hand was so unsteady that Felix seriously doubted that even if he got an exclusive wand, he probably wouldn''t be able to use it for more than a few years.


    "Sir, do you have any questions?"


    "I ... do," the old man struggled to keep his eyes wide and asked with expectancy, "If what you have said is true, and the squib is able to learn magic on their own, does that mean... ...means that squib children also have the opportunity to attend Hogwarts?"


    Everyone held their breath, either with a serious and solemn face or with a look of longing and hope.


    Felix''s face looked hesitant.


    He preferred not to say everything he wanted to do, and there were many things he could say to avoid this question, such as the fact that such a wand has not been created yet, or that such an issue was not part of the discussion and was not his responsibility at all; he could also explain to the old man the reality of squib children attending school, the discrimination and ridicule they might be subjected to, the fact that the decision is too important to be taken lightly, and even the magic power consumption that would be caused by the large number of squib children attending school. ... In short, all aspects are involved.


    "There''s a possibility." But finally, he stated this.


    Felix optimistically estimated that there wouldn''t be too many people, at least for the first few years, and as for later ... the big deal, he would set up another magic school, well, the headmaster position would just be pushed to Remus.


    At the end of the session, Felix looked up at the huge ice crystal-like chandelier and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: in another decade or two, would he be the uncrowned king of the magical world? Gee, he could already feel the torrent and the endless stream of trouble coming up to swallow him whole.


    This must not be allowed to happen!


    Felix made up his mind that he must find a few more tools at Hogwarts ... ahem, a like-minded partner. Thinking about it this way, Grindelwald would be his direct competition - a certain someone had long suspected that Grindelwald had a well-hidden agenda, besides the excuse of wanting to get some fresh air and observe the changes that happened outside in between his imprisonment period, like looking for a successor to carry out his ideals.


    The good tool couldn''t be allowed to be taken away by that old man. Felix pumped his fist.


    It is predictable that the new school year at Hogwarts would not be too quiet. S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 611: Confrontation at the Dining Table

    The next day Felix was having breakfast in the great hall. He finished his sandwich and mince pie and picked up another slice of bread. He snapped his fingers and the raspberry jam in the distance twitched slightly but it didn''t fly over, and Felix looked up to find Grindelwald staring at the jam saucer with the same intensity.


    Compared to Felix, Grindelwald''s breakfast was much lighter, just porridge with bread and a glass of milk.


    It was light but not simple, a sweet pumpkin porridge with freshly baked, crusty flatbread accompanied by a few scattered saucers of butter, jam, honey, cheese, thinly sliced sausages, and bacon.


    Right now his bread is already coated with a layer of butter, probably because he has tasted the strawberry jam close by, so he has his eye on the raspberry jam, which happens to collide with Felix''s choice.


    The two men secretly competed.


    The tiny saucer was pulled and tugged around by magic, making a crisp, clear clink.


    Professor McGonagall, who was sandwiched between them, and Professor Flitwick, who was sitting on Felix''s left side, also noticed this, and looked rather indifferent to the little show of entertainment that was happening at the table, because it was not the first time it had happened since a while back and was not worth making a fuss about at all. The last time these two had even gathered a ray of magic from the thin air on the campus, and this level of magical mastery alone had made the professors at Hogwarts gasp in appreciation.


    They just couldn''t figure out why the new professor holding an exclusive wand, isn''t that wand a symbol of a Squib? But they did not delve deeper into it, both because they were still unfamiliar with the new professor and also because they all had their own suspicions: the wizarding world has never been short of strange individuals, and a single magic experiment could cause injuries that could not be cured, so they worried that they might touch on something difficult to say.


    Dumbledore cleared his throat and leaned over, stretching his long arm out to disperse the tangled magic, then the saucer was pulled in front of him, he slowly spread a thick layer of jam on the slices of bread, and asked as if nothing had happened: "Old people love something sweet and sour, my personal favourite, would you like to give it a try?"


    "It''s the same for me with strawberry jam." Felix said.


    "So it was raspberry," Grindelwald whispered, "I thought it was cherry jam."


    Seeing that there was no more entertainment, each of the professors sulked and ate, and just then there was a rustling sound above them and several owls flew into the great hall through the open window. Several of those present - including Grindelwald - had received mails.


    In terms of numbers alone, naturally, Felix had received the most, since he had just done something big yesterday. He counted out five coins quickly and put the Knuts in a small leather pouch that was tied to the leg of a brown owl, which dropped the Daily Prophet and expertly picked up a biscuit and flew away.


    He casually put the newspaper aside and concentrated on the other restless owls.


    "May I?"


    Felix looked up, Grindelwald was staring at the newspaper and spoke, he smiled slightly, "Be my guest." His eyes however swept over a large thick parcel in front of Grindelwald, inwardly surprised that someone would send something to Grindelwald, could it be Harry?


    Grindelwald took the newspaper and read it, and it wasn''t long before he grinned silently.


    "What a big deal."


    Several other professors were also reading the newspaper, their eyes went wide as if they had seen something novel, and several times they couldn''t help but look up from the newspaper to survey Felix, and Flitwick was oblivious to the fact that he had even dropped his fork in his hand. For a while, no one spoke at the table except for the sound of rapidly leafing through the newspaper and the fluttering of owls'' wings.


    Even Dumbledore opened a tightly wrapped letter and looked at its contents with a serious expression.


    Felix finally finished unwrapping the letter from the owls'' legs, then he had them line up, and stuffed a small biscuit into each owl''s beak as he watched them flap their wings and leave. It was then that Flitwick called out excitedly and read aloud.


    "Felix, listen to this - just yesterday morning, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Professor, Order of Merlin First Class recipient, St. Mungo''s Medical Badge recipient, member of Wizengamot, founder of ''Future World'' company. Mr. Felix Hap, the master of memory and internationally renowned wizard who sparked the ancient rune learning craze, once again entered our sight. This time at the Headquarters of Future World, also known as the ''Sword Castle'', he presented a brand new product, a wand named The ''Exclusive Wand'' is a spellcasting aid that has amazed and shocked countless wizards, thereby creating heated debates ... It''s amazing!"


    Felix blinked and stored the pile of personal letters in his hands in his shirt pocket.


    "Is this about yesterday''s product launch? I haven''t had a chance to read it yet, but I reckon it''s going to attract a huge amount of controversy-"


    "More than just controversial, it''s just, just-" Flitwick said pointedly, standing in his own chair, one hand propped up on the table, the other turning the newspaper over with a rustle, "Just hurry up and read it. "


    "I''ve finished reading it, here you go, it''s quite interesting." Grindelwald said, handing the newspaper over, and Felix glanced at the black lettering on the huge moving photograph, the front page news headline highlighted in bold: Exclusive wand, an Epoch-making invention.


    He took the newspaper and read it carefully, while Grindelwald slowly and carefully unwrapped his huge package, which was already unwrapped on the surface of one corner and seemed to contain various magazines.


    At this point, Felix had read what Flitwick had just read out, and he continued on down the page.


    The exclusive wand is undoubtedly a revolutionary invention with extraordinary potential in many different fields of application, and the writer travelled non-stop to interview the professional who was most qualified to comment on this matter, the famous wand maker Ollivander. He expressed a strong interest in Mr. Hap''s willingness to collaborate, and he also had his own take on the heated (and even controversial) debate this has generated. "I had long known he would accomplish something great - before everyone else, from the day he first entered my little shop ... Yes, I was aware of this when he got the wand, as he was favoured by Ebony Wand, and he himself similarly showed certain outstanding qualities early on, being a unique person, not a stranger to the muggle world, always being aware of what he wanted. I could cite many examples ..."


    Felix skipped over some of the touting remarks.


    ... But the advent of exclusive wands has also worried some insightful people. One Ministry of Magic official, who wished to remain anonymous, openly stated that it would put a heavy, if not overwhelming, strain on the magical community''s secrecy. "It''s a good thing", he repeatedly stressed, but then he complained to the journalist.


    "Many people underestimate the number of squibs, they are very inconspicuous, and their existence is usually difficult to identify, almost like an invisible person. This is because of the sparse number of squibs who choose to remain in the magical world, most of them basically live scattered in Muggle communities, occasionally appearing in Diagon Alley to purchase daily necessities. But after the news of the exclusive wand was made public, in just two or three days, more than three hundred squibs showed up to inquire and register. And the news has not even spread."


    The writer''s in-depth investigation yielded even more shocking news.


    Since the Ministry of Magic does not keep records of the births of squibs, most of them and their descendants are living as muggles, which makes what we know only the tip of the iceberg. The real number of squibs could exceed the number of wizards in existence, and if they managed to obtain an exclusive wand, it would have a huge impact on our society, and likewise - the risk of exposing the magical community to the eyes of the muggle world would dramatically increase. The writer hopes that the authorities will give careful consideration to the vetting and distribution of exclusive wands ...


    It is believed that the concept of magical frequency was first discovered and named by Miss Hermione Granger, a current Hogwarts student, and the public may still remember her name from when she took the ultimate trophy for Britain during the Tournament of champions of the Five major schools. As a matter of fact, she is also from a Muggle family herself and earned straight O''s in this year''s O.W.Ls. She was also awarded the 2nd Class Order of Merlin along with her friends due to her outstanding contribution in the cause of fighting against the Dark Lord.


    Miss Granger and her Muggle parents were also present at the product launch, and it is now reasonable to speculate that this ''Muggle identity'' may have to be put under a question mark.


    It is worth noting that she became Mr. Hap''s assistant in her second year and became one of the earliest members of the Magic Rune Club (known to outsiders as the Ouroboros Club) and has published an extremely impressive number of articles on her own, with a total of 42 ...


    "She''s a follower of yours? That Granger?"


    Grindelwald asked with interest as he held an open magazine in his hand. Professor McGonagall gave him a side-eye, clearly not too happy with his wording, and these days of interaction had allowed her to come to a vague conclusion:


    This old man is probably an admirer of Grindelwald or even one of the Acolytes back in the day. Professor McGonagall grunted, and at this point, his words did little more than lend validity to that conclusion. She made up her mind that she must be on close guard in the new school year and never let any evil thoughts poison the young wizards.


    "Depending on how you interpret the definition of a follower, I personally would call her my partner." Felix casually said.


    He quickly skimmed through the remaining pages: ''Exclusive wands bring us dignity: an interview with the head of the Squib Support Society'', page two; ''Forgotten second-class citizens of the magical world'', page three; ''The Solutions to Ancient Rune Magazine Almanac on the horizon '', page four; ''Productive Magic Rune Club members'', pages five to six; ''The Wand Regulations face new challenges: goblins demand open access to exclusive wands'', page seven; ''House Elves and the assembly line'', page seven; ''Home-grown Herbs...''


    He puts the newspaper down and murmured, "It''s both trouble and opportunity."


    Good or bad it all depends on how this is implemented. One thing the newspaper pointed out coincided with him, that this whole thing had to be taken slowly, with ''careful consideration given to the vetting and distribution of exclusive wands'' without blindly trying to increase the volume of wands.


    "Squib saviour, huh? How will they thank you? By casting a statue in your honour?" Grindelwald said in an uncertain manner, "Then you must be careful, lest they rebel afterward..."


    He shoved a bite of bread into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed it slowly before wiping his mouth nonchalantly and turning the page of the magazine in his hand.


    Felix obviously felt a few glances coming his way, he wasn''t going to answer that, he said cryptically, "Professor Bagshot, I''m glad to see your appetite is better than it was a while ago, I was worried earlier, I heard eating with dentures didn''t taste very good ... I didn''t expect new teeth to grow in after only a few short days, Madam Pomfrey''s skill is getting better and better." He said with a look of admiration.


    "Has anyone ever said you were rude?" Grindelwald asked.


    "A fair number ... but they all found out in the end that it was actually a misunderstanding." Felix said, gently brushing off the question, his eyes lingered on the cover of the magazine in Grindelwald''s hand with some surprise, and he couldn''t help but glance at Dumbledore, who was putting the letter away, in deep thought.


    "Jane''s Defence Weekly?" Felix asked curiously.


    "For class preparation." Grindelwald briefly said.


    "Oh." Felix said as he smiled slightly in his mind, "I read this magazine when I was working in Muggle society, and it is doing an okay job of being observant, accurate, and unbiased in the areas it covers-"


    "You know a lot about the muggle military?" Grindelwald asked with a knowing look.


    "I have only heard a little about it ..."


    Grindelwald sat up straight, "Then what do you think of those large-scale thermal weapons?"


    "Well, they have quite a decent power."


    "Have you ever thought about them falling on your head?"


    "Thought about it." Felix said frankly, "But they couldn''t hit me."


    "Ah, yes, even the most powerful one-" Grindelwald smacked his lips, his eyes brightening as he pursued the question, "But what about your friends? And your fellow countrymen?"


    "We have defensive spells."


    Grindelwald smiled sagely and pointed at the newspaper.


    Felix hesitated, knowing he was pointing at the Squibs, who might not necessarily be on the same side as the traditional wizards, and if the Squibs turned against them in large numbers...


    "Mr. Bagshot, why are you insisting on confrontation? That''s the worst possible scenario, and in case you''re not aware, the Ministry of Magic has been in contact with the Muggle Prime Minister-"


    "So what?" Grindelwald''s tone was aggressive, and he said nonchalantly, "A mere puppet. What if things go in the worst possible direction? Hmm? After all your preparations have failed ..."


    Felix''s expression fell as he spoke slowly.


    "I''d still insist on peaceful means, negotiation, and deterrence. War is a lose-lose situation, and besides, if things really turn out the way you describe ... Britain has three islands, and there are many countries beyond them. They can never be united in their views and that is the greatest leverage."


    "We represent order, we fight against the threat that arises from the Dark Wizards."


    Professors McGonagall and Flitwick were completely stunned, what were they discussing? How did the topic move on to the magical world being exposed and wizard muggle wars?


    Grindelwald, however, wore an expression of appreciation.


    "It seems we have some common ground after all, speaking of that -"


    "Leonhard." Dumbledore snapped back as he said sternly, "You have given me your word."


    Felix immediately realized that this name belonged to Grindelwald, he had previously only known that Grindelwald had borrowed his aunt''s surname and had not been aware of his first name; now it seemed that Leonhard Bagshot was the full name he had forged.


    Dumbledore stood up and said in a deep voice.


    "Leonhard, they have insisted on coming over here in person to do a full physical examination of your body." Grindelwald looked over his shoulder blankly, his eyes suddenly filled with violence and perverseness, as he hoarsely said, "They dare?" "I have agreed. You must do as you are told." Dumbledore calmly said, not bothering to look at Grindelwald as he turned his head and spoke in an even tone.


    "There is something that might require your help, Felix, and I couldn''t possibly find a better person to do it than you."


    Felix''s head was still whirling with thoughts, a full inspection? Who? St Mungo''s healer? But the tone of voice of both of them suggested otherwise.


    "What is it?"


    "Hand back Ilvermorny''s snakewood wand." A slightly thicker than normal-sized wand appeared in Dumbledore''s hand, and he said softly, "I have already resigned my position as Head of the International Confederation of Wizards, and it is no longer appropriate for me to keep it. I need you to return it to its rightful owner." S~?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, you should probably check with the Ministry of Magic first, their delegation is already waiting impatiently."


    The snakewood wand fell in Felix''s hand, its surface immediately rippled with a pale halo of light, and in a flash, hundreds of snakes'' hissing sound echoed through the great hall.


    "Silence."


    Felix ordered in a Parseltongue.


    The Snakewood wand fell into dead silence.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 612: The Ministry of Magic (2 in 1)

    Felix had deliberately entered the Ministry of Magic through the visitor''s entrance - also known as the red telephone booth. This had been blown apart by the Death Eaters using magic to cut off the Ministry of Magic''s access to the outside world and cause a riot. The Ministry of Magic had later brushed it off with the excuse of an ''underground gas pipe leak'' and Felix had wanted to see if the mobile ice cream van was still available, but unfortunately the street corner is now empty.


    The woman''s voice in the phone booth was as cold and raw as ever as if nothing had changed. But after crossing the thief''s downfall, Felix was prescient enough to cast some magic on himself, one that would make him less noticeable.


    He stopped for a moment at the reception space in the main lobby of the Ministry of Magic.


    A dozen or so Squibs - that much you could tell from their clothing - had gathered around several of the receptionists and were asking questions, the bearded receptionist haphazardly dealing with questions coming from all directions.


    "Quiet - all quiet -" he shouted as his beard twitched, struggling to maintain order, "fill out the forms first --then go back and wait for an announcement, I don''t have the bloody exclusive wand in my hand, not even one!"


    "Why do we have to leave our phone numbers?" One of the Squib asked.


    Others shared the same question. It is no secret that the employees of the Ministry of Magic never use those things for work, as they preferred to use two-winged, well-trained owls.


    "The Ministry of Magic is going to set up a temporary office two blocks from here at a later date - in a yellow office building that has access to dropped calls - or telephones, I don''t care what it''s called. " The bearded receptionist said grumpily.


    Not far from there, a fountain made of gold made a gurgling sound of water.


    Felix arrived near the lift where a young red-haired man was waiting anxiously, holding a thick stack of documents in his hands, and with an impatient look on his face, he pushed the paper plane blocking his view away and pressed the upward button.


    "Percy?" Felix called out.


    Percy was taken aback, and the sheets of parchment in his hand were scattered all over the floor. "Professor Hap?" He greeted as he waved his wand in a panic to get the scattered sheets back into his hands. He knew there was someone around, but for some reason, he hadn''t had the slightest thought of looking at that person just then.


    "I have some business to finish at the Ministry, is Ms. Bones in her office?"


    "Yes, sir, she is." Percy said, at which point the door of the lift opened. The two men stepped inside and Percy, without moving, smoothed his hair and said, "I just happen to be going to the Minister''s office to deliver an important document." He explained.


    The lift started to move upwards and several lavender paper planes hovered above their heads.


    "Sir?" Percy mumbled.


    Felix looked over at him with a slight smile, as if they were still in class and Percy had just asked a question.


    "I was there that day, the product launch of the exclusive wand ..." he said with slight excitement, "I thought hard about it when I got back, some thoughts were playing around in my head and I wrote a report overnight, you know I am working in the Department of International Magical Co-operation and-"


    "It has something to do with exclusive wands?"


    "Yes." Percy''s nose glistened with a fine sweat and his cheeks slightly flushed, "I think - an exclusive wand would greatly enhance our standing internationally, the news hasn''t spread yet, but someone has already sent a letter to our department, sir, it''s a once in a lifetime opportunity --and if it''s handled correctly, it could achieve as much result as a tournament of champions or two, or the Quidditch World Cup, if not much better ..."


    The corner of Felix''s mouth twitched slightly.


    He had received similar letters.


    The news of the exclusive wand was first announced on August 1, and the official product launch was pushed back by a few days to accommodate all guests. A few well-connected people from abroad had the opportunity to know about it in advance, but they were unable to confirm its authenticity, which was why they wrote to ask about it.


    "Is this your own idea?" He had quite a soft spot for Percy, well, in Felix''s mind he had a good impression of any people who could take the initiative to take responsibilities over.


    "Actually," Percy swallowed a little, "I also got some inspiration when Penelope complained to me yesterday when she got off work that the owls from all over the world were going to swamp her, and that the letters were a mix of French, German, Spanish and other languages, and some of the letters were written in a language that she had never even seen before. "


    "I see, so your report has been handed in?"


    "Yes, this morning."


    "I will mention it to Ms. Bones, but don''t expect any results."


    "That will be enough, sir!" Percy said cheerfully, "It''s a critical time for me at the moment, Ms. Bones has shown great trust towards me, but my age is a big issue, I mean, I have to maintain enough respect when the new Head of Department comes in ... I have applied for a transfer to the International Magical Trading Standards Body office, and There is hope that I will become Head of Department there."


    That was indeed something to be quite proud of, when Percy was just a year out of school he had already been involved in the big international events such as the Tournament of Champions, the Quidditch World Cup and the Ancient Rune Exchange, and for a long time, he hadn''t had a boss at the top of his head.


    It was only natural that he would stand out.


    But it sounded like such a hassle. Who would the new head of the department be? Felix wondered wistfully. The question swirled around his head, but he found himself not actually interested in the answer as the door of the lift opened and the two men walked around a few corridors and stopped as Percy straightened his body and knocked solemnly on the door.


    "Please come in."


    Ms. Bones answered stiffly, sounding like she was in a bad mood. Percy opened his mouth and stepped stiffly inside.


    There is someone else present in the office.


    In addition to Ms. Bones, who had a stiff expression and was sitting on the couch, two other pairs of people were present, and the first thing Felix sensed was the restlessness that surged through the office, and of course, he could see it with his eyes.


    "Oh, it''s Percy," Ms. Bones said, with a hopeful gleam in her eyes, "Is there something urgent at the Ministry that I need to deal with?"


    "Uh, I just came by to drop off a document." Percy said with a stiff smile.


    It was clear that the answer wasn''t exactly flattering and Ms. Bones sat back in her chair with disappointment. "Yes, thank you, Percy, just leave it on the table, I''ll look at it later. I am busy right now -" she hummed through her nose, "entertaining guests."


    "Mr. Hap?" At that moment, a surprised voice called out.


    From the couch seat, a young blonde bounced up and strutted over, walking around Percy and showing a familiar face.


    "Jura?"


    It dawned on Felix that Jura''s presence here is quite appropriate. He had at least three reasons: Jura had been a Professor at Ilvermorny and had a close relationship with the former Headmaster who had been murdered; after leaving school he had chosen to enter the Magical Congress of the United States of America and was part of the Auror squad that had gone after Voldemort; he also represented the central force of the Revolutionary Society and needed to show his abilities and presence from time to time too.


    It is just not clear when he had arrived in Britain.


    Jura shook Felix''s hand in a slightly exaggerated manner. He had matured, his eyes were firm, but at the moment there was a hint of thirst in those eyes, and after a slight hesitation Felix became considerably more enthusiastic, opening his arms and hugging him, patting him affectionately on the back. But in his heart, he couldn''t help but think that doing something practical really does train people.


    Looking over Jura''s shoulder, Felix saw that one of the two pairs who had faced each other earlier instantly grimaced.


    "They are-" he asked in a whisper.


    "The Stewards." Jura said in the same whisper.


    Felix instantly associated the name with James Steward, one of the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the muggle husband of another - or in other words, the Witch Isolt Sayre, the actual founder of Ilvermorny''s husband.


    And the Witch Isolt Sayre is a descendant of Slytherin.


    When you think of it that way, the purpose of the Steward family''s visit is obvious.


    When the two separated, Ms. Bones was already standing in front of them, and she said with relief, "Thank goodness, Professor Dumbledore had informed me, I just didn''t expect you to be the one who would come - to be honest, I really- " she pursed her lips, not allowing herself to say anything mean.


    Jura became slightly embarrassed.


    He was personally well aware that they had been harassing the Minister of Magic for the past few days and simply refused to leave. But the snakewood wand is just too important, that they could afford to ignore the bad reputation that will spread later - they didn''t dare make any move when the snakewood wand was in Voldemort''s hands, but now that Voldemort has supposedly been defeated, they immediately come over with hungry eyes to claim it.


    He had held on persistently without attempting to go through Mr. Hap''s door for this. But this persistence soon faltered as members of the Steward family subsequently arrived upon hearing the news, claiming to reclaim their ancestors'' relics.


    "Felix, let me introduce them to you," Ms. Bones said with a smile, seemingly happy that she is about to get rid of a nuisance. Her eyes glanced over to a somewhat balding old dark-skinned wizard, "The man accompanying Mr. Edmund is the Deputy Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Mr. Greg, and these two-"


    "My name is Melville, Melville Steward." A young man said with eagerness. "Mr. Hap, I have heard of you, and you should understand our feelings of reverence for the relics of our ancestors, our constant desire to recreate the glory of our family, and it goes without saying that we are rightfully entitled to claim ownership of the snakewood wand."


    "I-" Felix opened his mouth.


    "Our bloodline is perfectly well documented, without any semblance of ambiguity, and can be traced all the way back to Martha Steward, Isolt Sayre''s eldest daughter, who, despite being a Squib and married to a No-Maj husband, unquestionably has a pure bloodline of Isolt Sayre."


    "Uh, congratulations?" Felix said with an open mind.


    The young man stared, not expecting to hear such a response. At that moment, the slightly older, middle-aged wizard behind him came over with a smile, stepped forward to shake hands, and said politely, "Hello, Mr. Hap, I''m Melville''s uncle Blaze Steward."


    "Hello, Mr. Steward." Felix nodded his head.


    "About the snakewood wand-"


    "Well, Mr. Steward, I hope you understand that I am not a judge and that I have been just entrusted with the task of returning the wand to its rightful owner -"


    "We are the true rightful owner of it!"


    "You can try it and see if it will respond to you." Felix took out the snakewood wand and several pairs of fiery eyes immediately glued upon it, Blaze Steward subconsciously took two steps forward to pick it up.


    "I mean, call upon it and let it respond to you on its own accord." Felix said as he shook his head and took a step back.


    "It is just a wand! Mr. Hap!" He said with vexation.


    Felix put away the snakewood wand, a little disappointed that it seemed that neither of the two Steward family members present knew the Parseltongue. The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while, when Ms. Bones spoke, "Felix, can we talk alone?"


    "Of course." Felix agreed.


    They went to the small lounge next to the room, closing the door behind them, and Felix spoke up, "Amelia, I have tested, and Steward''s people-"


    "Oh, that''s just a minor thing. I don''t give a damn about who gets the snakewood wand." Ms. Bones said, and Felix was slightly taken aback as she continued, "What I want to know is that report, and what you really think of it." Her last statement was close to a whisper.


    "What report?"


    "The one you handed in with the title ''The Challenge Muggle Technology poses to Wizard''s Statute of Secrecy in a Modern Age Setting''," Ms. Bones said as she leaned closer to Felix, raising her head and gritting her teeth, "I can''t believe you are quietly throwing up so much trouble, do you know I''ve been having trouble sleeping these days?"


    "I don''t know," Felix said honestly, "First of all, let me state the fact that I didn''t cause this trouble, it was your responsibility to prevent the magical world from being exposed, and you should be thanking me for pointing out the oversight in your work." S?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Bones glared at him in exasperation and had to admit that Felix had a point. But why was she the one that had to deal with such a mess one after another?


    "Then, why you didn''t mention this during Fudge''s tenure?"


    "It''s not like I know him well."


    "... What about the exclusive wand thing? Don''t say it was an accident, I found out that you have been secretly pushing the matter, and everything you have done revolves around one purpose, and that is-"


    "Preventing the exposure of the magical community, and preparing the means to deal with it when it is exposed." Felix nodded, "You''re welcome, it''s what I''m supposed to do."


    The two stared at each other for a moment, and Ms. Bones was defeated, and said under her breath, "Okay, I admit - if half of your report is true, I have no reason to accuse you, and on the contrary have to thank you for it - But you mustn''t pull away and do nothing about it!"


    "Uh, this ..." Felix hesitated, and Ms. Bones raised her eyebrows. "Madam, please be mindful of your image, you are seen by the public as the tough, bold, iron-fisted woman minister who led the people out of the shadow of war."


    "What kind of image do I have?!" Ms. Bones couldn''t help but exclaim, her eyes staring straight at him, "I have absolutely no confidence - it''s a huge mess right now, and with the Squib issue to deal with over the next few days, more than half of the staff at the Ministry are so busy that they don''t have time for anything else. Not to mention all those people out there constantly buzzing and quarrelling beside my ears, and they can''t even be shooed away." She raised her chin towards the outside of the lounge.


    "... I''ll help out with the suggestions at best, like giving advice or something."


    "Then it''s a deal." Bones agreed with a snap.


    The agitation faded from her face, and she became serious and satisfied. Seeing Felix stare at her, with what seemed to be a startled gaze, she smoothed her hair gracefully - her short hair had turned into a shoulder-length bob at some point - and said thoughtfully, "Sirius said you would buy this sort of speech, I didn''t think it would be true."


    "Sirius." Felix chewed on the name as if he had just eaten an every flavour beans, "He''s really impressed me ... maybe I should take him to dinner and get to know him again."


    So it was because Sirius, the ''traitor'', had tipped him off that Ms. Bones was able to fool him - not exactly a trick, at least her emotions weren''t faked, she was genuinely worried and vexed. It kind of struck Felix as enlightenment that being able to observe emotions was not foolproof.


    "Don''t even think about it, you won''t be able to find him in a short time," Ms. Bones said in a rather disgruntled tone as she rolled her eyes, "He took Harry on a trip all over the world as soon as the product launch was over yesterday."


    The two who had just been facing off against each other seemed to be on the same page at this point.


    That was a quick run ... Felix thought as he rubbed his palms together, but it wasn''t easy to tell, maybe Sirius originally had this plan in mind, but Amelia had stalled him with some work and didn''t let him go, so he came up with this way to get rid of the problem.


    Felix suddenly had a bit of an itch on his hand.


    "What task did you originally intend to give him?" He asked tentatively.


    Ms. Bones rolled her eyes. "Well, you''re always so perceptive ... Sirius has been spending some time in Muggle society for a while, and I wanted him to do some research first, by visiting some people as a teacher and systematically observing the level of development the Muggles have undergone over these years. But that will have to be postponed for now."


    "A wise choice, ma''am."


    "Thank you for the compliment." Ms. Bones said dryly, "Let''s go out first and wait until we get those people out of the way before we discuss it more carefully, I have a bellyful of questions."


    "Oh, not today, I might have to make a quick trip to Ilvermorny. I have a new understanding of the ''return the thing to where it belongs'' and a guess as to why Dumbledore said I am the best person for this task ..."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 613: Return to the Rightful Place

    Before going out Felix briefly mentioned Percy''s report. Ms. Bones nodded that she was aware of it. They walked out of the small lounge, and the people outside waited anxiously with their respective partners, at least as of now, the ownership of the snakewood wand is still a mystery. Uncle and nephew Steward were whispering in the corner.


    "Let''s go." Felix stated calmly.


    "Where to?" Melville Steward asked with a blank look, and glanced at his uncle from the corner of his eye; Blaze shook his head slightly, so he joined the rest and focused his eyes on Felix again.


    "Of course, we will go where the snakewood wand was originally kept." Felix said, "As for who it actually belongs to, I couldn''t care less, you can discuss it yourselves."


    These words still carried a bias, and both Jura and Deputy Headmaster Greg were beaming. Melville was about to say something when his uncle pulled him by the arm and stopped him, seemingly acquiescing to this approach.


    The group walked out of the minister''s office. The door slammed shut from behind.


    As they made their way to leave the Ministry, Felix no longer used his magic to lower his presence, so he was greeted warmly or saluted by people on the way. As they passed through the lobby, a few sharp-eyed Squibs noticed his back and gave him a suspicious look, but before they could react, they were already on the lift and out of the red phone booth.


    "I''ll meet you guys at the gate of the Ilvermorny school, is that okay? I don''t know the way around very well and need a guide - Jura?"


    Jura nodded and walked over next to Felix. He glanced at the Deputy Headmaster, "Mr. Greg, I''ll join Mr. Hap then. You-"


    "You guys don''t have to mind me." The Deputy Headmaster said with a smile. Steward pair glared at him without speaking, and strode off towards a dark alley.


    Felix pulled Jura along as he Apparated, and after several Apparitions, they appeared at the American border, and Jura looked around, trying to identify the location, and then his mouth grew wide open.


    "This neighbourhood seems to have a-"


    Black Market ...? His expression snapped, and he couldn''t help but mentally speculate on what Mr. Hap had done when he first came here. And he reckoned Mr. Hap didn''t have the habit of travelling abroad to check in ... Well, at least this time there was a good reason for it.


    "I used to fish nearby." Felix surveyed the surrounding scenery with interest; the landscape near where they had arrived was quite barren, with nothing to see other than salty ocean waves and battered black rocks. But his memories added a lot of colour to this deserted beach.


    "I will count on you to lead the way next."


    "Sure."


    It took a while in between, but finally, they emerged halfway up the mountain to see a looming complex of buildings hidden in the clouds at the top of Mount Greylock. In the last part of the path, the pair walked all the way up, and Felix took this opportunity to find out about Jura''s recent progress.


    "I''ve only met Voldemort once, the day he took the Snakewood wand." Jura said softly, describing his experiences of what happened over almost a year as they made their way up through the mountain, "I was the only one who had seen his strength, and after repeated cross-examination again, the Congress seemed apprehensive."


    Felix knew the full magnitude of Voldemort''s killing curse and, with the snakewood wand once again resurfacing after centuries of slumber and conveniently meeting the most suitable master for it, it naturally became excited and cooperative enough that the unlucky Headmaster who might not necessarily be weak, was died so easily due to being less cautious and negligent.


    "I joined the Auror squad after that, and didn''t really do much, apart from training, the only meaningful thing I did was to lead the squad to eliminate a few black markets ..." After saying this, Jura glanced strangely at Felix.


    "And so it went on for a while, and word came that Voldemort was looting around. I applied to lead a squad to hunt him down, or at least to investigate what he was up to, but it was turned down by the Congress, and then about the end of June or the beginning of July there was vague news about the seeming downfall of Voldemort."


    "But that news had not been confirmed," he said calmly, "and by then the Auror squad was in name only, and I broke away from it and came to England with a few of my mates, just in time when you guys were capturing the remnants of the Dark Lord ... Mr. Dumbledore had appealed that all those countries threatened by war should unite, and so I joined up and followed your operation to catch the Dark Wizard for half a month ..."


    Felix was slightly stunned.


    Jura''s experience was truly peculiar. The Magical Congress of the United States of America is clearly putting on a show by assembling a ''revenge squad'' in order to appease the anger of the wizarding population in their country, but they also didn''t want to make too much noise and draw Voldemort''s attention to them - there''s an interesting question here, does the Magical Congress of the United States of America afraid of Voldemort?


    Felix thought, well, not necessarily, but definitely extremely wary. They probably had more inside knowledge from Dumbledore about how terrifying Voldemort could be, especially since, probably, many in the Congress had experienced first-hand the crushing pressure of another Dark Lord and would never want the war to burn on their side.


    "... And then Ms. Bones officially announced the end of the war. A few days later, I was approached by Mr. Greg who wanted me to introduce him to Ms. Bones. You pretty much know everything that happened after that."


    Jura finished.


    Felix nodded as they made their way up a winding stream from which a white mist rose up overhead. He asked again, "Are the Steward family famous?"


    Jura had an odd look on his face.


    "Quite famous in some ways. Their history goes back to the beginning of the school when the first two founders had four children in total: two adopted sons and a pair of biological twin daughters."


    "Ah, Chadwick''s Charms." Felix said.


    "That was written by Chadwick Boot, a very capable wizard whose line of descendants is quite prominent in North America to this day ... The other adopted son was named Webster Boot, who became a mercenary Auror after he grew up, and while on a mission he met a beautiful Scottish witch, after which he married and followed his wife back to England to settle down. Of course, what I''m about to say actually has very little to do with these two adopted sons."


    "The twin sisters had very different fates, probably due to the different talents each inherited from their parents." Jura said emotionally, "The youngest daughter, Rionach Steward, was born with magical abilities and when she grew up, she stayed at the school as a Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class and remained unmarried for the rest of her life. Her twin sister Martha Steward, on the other hand, was a Squib, and it is from her that the Steward line carried on-"


    Felix nodded, "Did she ultimately choose to leave the magical world?"


    He could totally understand how that girl felt. He could think of two similar examples, one being Harry''s mother and aunt, a pair of blood sisters, likewise only one of them had shown a talent for magic and, as far as he could surmise, they weren''t exactly close; the other was Filch, whose existence had something in common with Martha''s, both stayed in an environment full of little wizards as a Squib, and Filch had become withdrawn and eccentric, with a tendency to infuriate others.


    But Martha Steward''s situation must have been even more unpleasant because her parents were the founders of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


    ...


    "There were no exclusive wands back then." Jura made a small joke, but immediately his expression grew serious, "Martha grew up and married peacefully and lived as a No-Maj ever since; after that she remained in contact with her family, but that contact was broken with her death."


    "After a hundred years or so, things took a turn for the better. One of her descendants was gifted with magic, and we came to call him the first Lord of the House of Steward. When that young boy showed magic abilities, his elders told him about the family records and legends that had been passed down through the generations, and from his first day of school thereafter, he presented himself as a descendant of the school''s founder, although that was indeed true."


    "His last name is an issue." Felix reminded Jura of that.


    Jura scowled hearing that.


    "That doesn''t matter, because that boy changed his last name back to Steward when he became an adult, in his words, ''following family tradition''. With that fame, he later married a witch from a rather prestigious wizard family and rebuilt the Steward family with the help of his wife''s family. After that - there is speculation that he may have left a dying wish on his deathbed, as every generation of Steward descendants since then has tried to marry as many prominent wizardly families as possible. It''s almost an open secret and joke that just how much of Lady Isolt Sayre''s bloodline still remains in the Steward family?"


    "But thanks to this strategy, the Stewards have managed to establish an in-law relationship with a considerable number of wizard families, although some are disgusted by their practices and loath to marry them. Including the Calderon-Boot family. But on the whole, the Stewards have been very influential in recent years."


    "As in this case, the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is reluctant to make a big deal out of it and draw criticism ..."


    Ilvermorny Castle came into view and Felix saw the figures of Mr. Greg and Steward''s uncle and nephew from a distance. They walked over and Melville said provocatively, "You guys are too slow."


    "You used the Portkey?" Felix raised an eyebrow, "That does save effort."


    Melville''s face flushed. Blaze Steward grabbed his nephew by the shoulders and said rather politely, "Mr. Hap, we are already there, and I am curious, are you planning on sticking the snakewood wand back into its original position? I mean ... kind of replant it back?"


    He said in what he thought was humour, pointing to a fenced-off field where there was a deep, bottomless pit.


    "Pretty much." Felix said pleasantly.


    "Then I''ll see where it leads." Blaze Steward said with a shrug and narrowed his eyes. He stopped talking and looked around instead as if expecting someone to jump out. At that moment, the main gate of Ilvermorny Castle opened and a dozen figures walked out from between two towering stone statues of a man and a woman. They were dressed in robes of blue and berry red, and Felix was no stranger to the colours of the Ilvermorny school uniform - having seen them many times during the Tournament of Champions, he knew that these people would be the professors of the school.


    "The one standing at the front is the new Headmaster, Mr. Zekaraiya." Jura said to Felix.


    Felix looked curiously at Ilvermorny''s new Headmaster, who looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with dark skin, a broad forehead, and grey hair. After introducing each other, Felix took out the snakewood wand and walked over to the deep pit as those around him fell silent and observed him in silence.


    From Felix''s mouth, a strange hissing sound sounded, similar to the sound that a snake would make when issuing a warning, but the sense of oppression was much stronger in the former. No one present here would be afraid of a snake or two, but they could not ignore this hoarse, sinister sound.


    The surrounding light dimmed as if Felix was swallowing up the surrounding light.


    "What kind of evil spell is this?" Melville shouted as he covered his ears and backed away, his uncle wanted to restrain him but it was too late, and to his surprise, a few professors gave him a contemptuous look.


    "If I''m right, that would be the Parseltongue." The new Headmaster, Zekaraiya, said with a smile on his face, "Lady Isolt Sayre''s daughter, Rionach, has inherited this rare talent. Blaze, have you called anyone else?"


    The silhouettes of a wizard suddenly appeared, and as soon as they appeared they were silenced by the bizarre scene.


    "They''re my friends." Blaze Steward said stiffly, barely squeezing out a smile. His eyes still fixed on Felix, he had a premonition that his plan had gone awry. Felix Hap could actually speak in a Parseltongue! What the hell is his origin? Is he also descended from some branch of Salazar Slytherin?


    Besides, he really did seem to be able to wield a snakewood wand, just like that Dark Lord. His heart burned with fervour; perhaps the Parseltongue was the key to controlling the Snakewood Wand? But then his heart turned cold - as Zekaraiya had said, apart from Isolt Sayre''s daughter Rionach, no descendant of the Stewards had ever been born afterward with the ability to speak Parseltongue, had the first lord really made the wrong decision? Had they reduced the number of Squibs in the family while also diluting their pure bloodline?


    The smile on Blaze''s face disappeared, his mind was in a state of turmoil that he didn''t even have the heart to think about the allies he had summoned.


    The snakewood wand floated out of Felix''s hand and hovered in mid-air, its body streaming with a dazzling light, the snake''s hiss magnified a thousand times, the light growing dimmer and dimmer, obscure and vague, the colours all around seemingly stirred into a haphazard mess.


    The wizards watching this scene looked on with great shock.


    Finally, Felix finished talking to the snakewood wand, and he said in a Parseltongue, "Slumber, and from your body will come new life." The snakewood wand suddenly turned into a luminescent ball of light and fell straight into the deep pit.


    A bright, vibrant, grass-green glow bloomed from the depths of the soil, and the earth around it suddenly sprouted a tangle of green blades of grass, covering and wrapping the exposed pit in the blink of an eye. Immediately afterward the brown earth near the centre began to wriggle and bulge out into a small mound. A tender green sapling tenaciously bursts out and quickly grows from the size of a fist, as if it had been hit by an Engorgement Charm.


    Only when the sapling grew to the height of a man and the thickness of an arm did the snakewood tree''s growth slow down, its leaves and stems occasionally flickering with fluorescent patterns, each flicker making it grow slightly taller and wider.


    This state might last an hour or two, or a week or two, but it is growing nicely, and it won''t be long before it will become lush and green, with no difference from what it once was. The students of Ilvermorny could admire, and even cool off in the shade of the tree.


    Felix looked at his results with great satisfaction.


    "This is the way to return it to its rightful place, the snakewood wand has fallen into a deep sleep and no one can wake it up till my magic lingers, oh, and even the properties have not changed, its leaves still retain their excellent healing properties - can I pick a branch as a souvenir, Headmaster Zekaraiya?"


    Headmaster Zekaraiya was slightly taken aback, then smiled and said, "This is your right to do so, Mr. Hap. The entire Ilvermorny faculty and students should write you a letter of thanks." "Oh, please don''t ever-" Felix muttered, stepping on the soft grass and walking forward to break off a branch roughly a foot long.


    Neither of the two men gave the Stewards a second glance.


    Felix put away the branch of the snakewood tree that still retained its life, ready to take it to Professor Sprout when he returned to see if a transplant is possible. It would be best to get Severus on board as well ... Dumbledore had recently revealed his desire to recruit a second professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and he should be made aware of this.


    "Mr. Hap, the school professors and I are going to be applying protective magic on the lost and recovered medical snakewood tree, so why don''t you let Juria show you around the castle in the meantime?" Headmaster Zechariah said with a smile, "The library at the school is not as old as Hogwarts, but it is definitely not inferior in quantity, and I''m sure you''ll be able to get something out of it."


    "That would be great," Felix agreed readily, "I''m very interested in the collection of books at the Ilvermorny School." S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ------------


    #Cooper Taylor, and #ronald bakame, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 614: Unofficial History

    Ilvermorny''s library occupies the centre of the west side of the castle complex. From the outside, it extends in all four directions, with four corridor-like exits. The interior of the library is a spacious, circular room that is divided into three levels, somewhat similar to the architecture of Sword Castle. The ground level is a spacious reading area, with neatly arranged tables and chairs in the middle of the main lobby, surrounded by compartments divided according to different categories of activity. Going up a circular staircase, there are rows of brown bookshelves standing on the second and third levels, with a very extensive collection.


    Felix had spent the last few days looking through them.


    It is summer break, so the library is not crowded most of the time, and if he is tired of reading he will simply stroll between the shelves, again and again, capturing the residual emotions of the Ilvermorny students, which often bring him new and fresh experiences.


    For example - despite never having met in person - Felix has got to know several Ilvermorny students. They always sit in the same seat, their thoughts as they read transformed into long-lasting and beautiful sights for Felix to admire.


    When Felix described what they looked like to enquire, it was no surprise to find that these were some of the best students.


    Jura was amazed at his ability.


    Felix had visited the libraries of three wizarding schools in total - Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Ilvermorny - each with its own unique characteristics, distinguished solely by the style of their decoration, Hogwarts lofty and ancient, Beauxbatons elegant and comfortable, and Ilvermorny much more modern than the rest.


    This is probably because Ilvermorny''s library was built in the seventeenth century using many Muggle libraries as references, so it is better organized in terms of space and book indexing, and probably has two or three times more books than Hogwarts.


    Of course, compared to Hogwarts, which was founded around the tenth century, there are fewer ancient books here, but Felix did find a small section where he found research and records of indigenous magic, which brought him a lot of inspiration.


    The development of magic in North America took shape much later than elsewhere.


    Felix went through the history of this region and developed rough facts in his mind. Before the invasion of the European Muggle colonists, the magic of this region was represented by the native Indians, who had no wands and used magic in a primitive and rude way. Moreover, because of the tribal way of life, magic was concentrated in the hands of only a few, and because of the poor communication - there were about 160 languages and 1,200 dialects - there was a complete lack of unification and development of the local magical civilization.


    Nevertheless, there is still considerable redeeming value.


    The founders of Ilvermorny had initially only wanted to establish a place to provide a home-based magic education, but in order to satisfy the wishes of their two adopted sons, they came up with a similar structure modelled on Hogwarts - which Felix found interesting to read about, as Isolt Sayre had never attended Hogwarts, and all the common knowledge she knew was told to her by her evil aunt, Gormlaith Gaunt, who had described Hogwarts as a "dangerous place full of mudbloods and egalitarians" and had personally torn up the Hogwarts admission letter that had been sent to Isolt, which made the whole ''Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'' a concept that had only existed in the imagination of this Ilvermorny founder.


    And what''s even more interesting is that the curses and insults that came out of Aunt Gormlaith''s mouth, not only failed to work, but made the young Isolt think it was heaven.


    She told her two adopted sons about her imaginary Hogwarts, and the family was all enthralled, thus resulting in the ''Ilvermorny'', the four plausible Houses, the Sorting ceremony, and most importantly - the Wand. They did a decent job with it, and the nearby native people came to the school, which finally allowed the whole Ilvermorny school to get rid of the embarrassing situation of not being able to fill the four houses because there were only two students (although they didn''t care), and Isolt personally with her two grown-ups adopted sons tried to combine the native magic with the European magic to form a unique Ilvermorny version of it.


    Much of that native magic - such as primitive magical rituals, hunting battle songs developed by imitating the roars of magical creatures, and methods of casting spells using magical plant and creatures materials and organs ... there are many plausible elements, but Felix still recorded them, intending to save them for later experiments.


    He created a sound-based spell based on the Parseltongue and the song of the Fwooper. It is different from the Amplifying Charm, and more similar to the Parseltongue curse that Voldemort had used on him, and Felix also attempted to incorporate the theory of sound waves from physics into it.


    Carrying magic power in sound waves is not only faster but also more stealthy ...


    For example, once the bat''s ultrasound is combined with thinking room magic, it allows Felix to quickly construct the real environment around him within his brain and overlay it with illusions. The effect of this magic is terrifying: when faced with Felix, enemies may never be able to tell what is real and what is an illusion. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Even with the simplest echolocation function, spells such as the Disillusionment Charm, Invisibility Charm, or items like Invisibility Cloak would be almost useless, not to mention the damage that could be inflicted on the body by large-scale infrasound.


    Felix reckoned he would rarely get to use it, but the fun of solving puzzles and constructing a new discipline kept him hooked. He found time only to make a trip back to Hogwarts to give Professor Sprout the snakewood branch.


    "It is extremely rare to find such a plant that retains vigorous vitality while remaining under the influence of powerful magical force for an extended period of time." Professor Sprout said excitedly, wishing to hug Felix and kiss him twice.


    "Can it be grown successfully?" Felix hurriedly changed the subject.


    "It will survive easily, but to retain its magical properties it will have to be carefully taken care of, and it may take a year or two of nurturing to grow big, which will be quite a challenge for me," despite saying this, Professor Sprout was smiling without any trace of worry, "I''ll have to go and find Severus, I''ve found him to be very talented in this area, which Charity can testify!"


    She left in a hurry.


    Felix re-enforced the defences in Classroom Seven before returning to the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry once again. In the meantime, the Ilvermorny Headmaster gave an interview to the outside world and revealed a ''dusty history'' for the first time.


    "The snakewood wand represented a childhood tragedy for Lady Isolt Sayre." Headmaster Zekaraiya said solemnly, "Her evil aunt held this wand and killed Lady Isolt''s parents and tortured her with cruel punishments - until she had the courage to escape."


    "Even though this wand had helped Lady Isolt Sayre when she fled, she eventually chose to bury her past with her husband and welcomed a life of happiness together. I am always grateful when I look back on this history: because her choice not only created a new Ilvermorny but also left us with a magical tree with powerful healing properties."


    "Lady Isolt Sayre must be more pleased to see this change than the shadow cast by the wand - it is not violence we need, but medicine that can heal the heart."


    "Also, I would like to thank both Mr. Hap and Mr. Dumbledore ..."


    The impact of those words was far-reaching.


    At least the members of the Steward family who had been jumping up and down and acting as victims of oppression for the past few days had finally quieted down, and the end result, as Headmaster Zekaraiya said, "the evergreen snakewood tree will stand forever in front of Ilvermorny Castle as a witness to the friendship between the two wizarding schools ... "


    Jura also managed to become a head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement due to the role he played in this event. Although there is still a long way to go before he reaches his dream of ''changing the circumstances of the wizarding society in America'', he is at least on the right track.


    And the first assignment he was given was to represent the Magical Congress of the United States of America and accompany the Warlock, Mr. Felix Hap. (What title do you think I should use for a powerful wizard at Felix level? Grand Sorcerer or Warlock or Archmage?)


    The two men took the opportunity to talk a lot about the political circumstances within Congress. Probably as a result of gaining a deeper understanding of the operational logic behind the vast magical powerhouse known as the MACUSA, Jura''s approach became more observant and pragmatic.


    It is a change in perspective.


    In the past, Jura, and even the other members of the Revolutionary Society, could only ask questions, find problems, and become discontented and indignant at the fact that the MACUSA was comfortable with the status quo, but now their thoughts changed to how to solve problems.


    "It''s tricky." Juria sighed, "There are many practical reasons for the isolation of the magical community and the harshness of the laws in the United States. The more I dig into it the more I get a headache."


    Felix listened silently.


    "The MACUSA placed restrictions on wizards from muggle families out of worry that there would be a repeat of what once happened with the Puritans and the Scourers..."


    This is another piece of dusty history. Felix thought with a nod, simply put, the Puritans were religious extremists, they were muggles. They had a history of zealously accusing others of using witchcraft, and the attitude of such individuals towards wizards could be imagined.


    It is worth noting that when Ilvermorny''s founder, Isolt Sayre, came to North America, the ''Mayflower'' ship that she sailed on carried a fair number of Puritans, who were persecuted on British soil, so they turned their heads and persecuted others in the New World.


    And the Scourers are Wizards. Or rather, used to be wizards. They were first a group of wizarding mercenaries brought together from different countries for profit, who would even sell out their own countrymen for bounties, such as selling wizards to be burned by the Puritans.


    When the Magical Congress of the United States of America was formed, it began to purge and execute these traitors of the Wizarding world, but some escaped punishment. They dared not show their magic again and lived in disguise as Muggles, but the matter did not end with their deaths. Instead of repenting, these Wizarding traitors extended their hatred towards the Magical Congress of the United States of America to the Wizards of North America as a whole and passed on this resentment from generation to generation.


    Several of the more serious exposures in the history of the American Wizarding community have pretty much been associated with the descendants of the Scourers. The most far-reaching one, in which the entire wizarding world was shocked and shaken, resulted in the MACUSA receiving a stern warning from the International Confederation of Wizards and led to the enactment of the infamous Rappaport Law, forcing a strict separation between the ordinary world and the wizarding world to prevent such an incident from happening again.


    "In this country, some No-Maj families firmly believe that magic exists despite never having seen it." Juria stated sadly, "It is just that they believe that all wizards should be wiped out."


    Felix slowly said, "I''ve heard Dumbledore mention that the populace of America seems to be more difficult to trick and blinded by magic than people elsewhere ..."


    "That''s the reason." Jura said, "But there is much more to it than that - when all of the above is laid out together, the wizards of the Americas have another terrible threat to face -"


    "The Muggle government." Felix said solemnly.


    "That''s right," Jura affirmed, "Wizards are no secret in the eyes of the Muggle government, at least to those at the top." He added, "Since the Muggle government became independent, there have been several nasty clashes between the two sides. The Muggle government tried to crack the secrets of wizards or force them into servitude, but we resisted firmly and the Congress secretly destroyed the laboratories and erased the memories of some people ... In short, there are all sorts of open and secret battles, and at one point we were pushed close to the point of waging a war ... "


    "I''ve heard a rumour," he lowered his voice, "that in 1892 the then President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the President of the Muggle government secretly negotiated a non-interference agreement that has lasted to this day."


    "Can I see this agreement?" Felix asked perkily.


    "It is not found in the formal historical records at all, and I have learned about it from an old man in the Congress, and I cannot tell whether it is true or not." Jura shook his head and said, "I remember the textbook saying that the reason for the Fifth Congress'' Headquarters relocation was the ''Great Sasquatch Rebellion'' ... Anyway, since then, the Magical Congress of the United States of America has moved completely away from the Muggle political centre, Washington, D.C., and relocated to New York and hasn''t moved anywhere since then."


    "It does sound a bit odd when you put it like that."


    Felix scratched his chin, knowing that it had only been three hundred years since the Magical Congress of the United States of America had been founded, and in the previous two hundred years it had been relocated five times for various ''odd reasons'', whereas the British Ministry of Magic had not moved even once.


    What happened in 1892?


    Dumbledore was only eleven years old at the time and had just enrolled in school, he may not have been well aware of this history, and as far as Felix knew, Dumbledore did not travel after graduation according to school tradition, and on the contrary, Grindelwald, for a while, was ensconced in America in order to develop his ''career''. Well, it was also where this old man was first caught, and Newt contributed a lot to it...


    Neither Felix nor Dumbledore told Grindelwald - the memory body of a certain magical creature lover is alive and well all day in Classroom Seven - they coincidentally chose to remain silent.


    Felix left Ilvermorny in mid-August.


    The Headmaster of Ilvermorny had stopped him several times before his departure, hoping that he would give a few open lessons to the students of Ilvermorny, but it is summer break, so another appointment will have to be made.


    Nevertheless, this incident reminded Felix that, with that international exchange, the influence of ancient rune had expanded to the entire wizarding world, but if he wanted to promote this discipline further, he would have to rely on school education.


    Beauxbatons had recruited seven or eight Hogwarts graduates in one go this year.


    After returning to the familiar campus, Felix had barely taken a breath when the Ancient Rune Almanac event began, and many students - like Harry, who had just finished his trip - were surprised to find that a number of students who had just graduated a year or two earlier had come together again because of this event.


    These students were all deeply branded as students of Felix Hap, having been taught by him, and if one had to find a different group of people, it would be those from the Ancient Rune Society. Harry never thought he would be talking to a group of old men and women about the future of ancient rune.


    "Some of them are old enough to be my great-grandfather." Ron whispered to Harry.


    But even though it seemed strange, three days later the Ancient Rune Almanac with their names printed on it became available all over the world.


    ------------


    #Cooper Taylor, and #ronald bakame, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 615: Haps Admirer

    Felix stroked the Annals of Ancient Rune in his hand. The letters ''1992-1996 Collection'' are printed in gold print at the bottom of the cover, this book is considered to be the first comprehensive and systematic compilation about the development of practical ancient runes, and its contents are particularly informative because it is the first of its kind. The contents of the book are divided into three parts.


    "In a nutshell, it is a compilation of the past, present, and future aspects of the ancient practical rune discipline."


    Felix flipped to the first page, and the preface section briefly described the time, place, and origin of the event, followed by a long list of names, each on a separate line, with an additional brief summary of basic information about the person in small Italic letters.


    For example, Hermione Granger is written in bright emerald green ink, and below her name is a single entry - Female, Hogwarts (at school), 16, 27.


    "Gender, school, age ... I understand all that, but what does this mean?"


    Mrs. Granger asked, pointing to the number ''27'', Hermione glanced forwards and said, "That''s the number of theses cited in the Almanac, it''s highlighted with an asterisk at the bottom."


    "The number of theses cited?" Mrs. Granger blinked in confusion as she looked down and found the note at the bottom of the page, "... Because the Almanac is being compiled for the first time, it specifically covers the number of theses published between 1992 and 1996 and cited in this book."


    She felt even more confused. It wasn''t that she couldn''t read the text, but - "You published 27 papers?"


    She and her husband exchanged glances, and Mr. Granger asked with interest, "I haven''t had time to ask - the number I read in the Daily Prophet was 42, but our bright and rebellious daughter once told her parents that it would be nice if a third of what was written there could be credible ..."


    Hermione rolled her eyes.


    "I was talking about the predictions of the war situations, it''s not like you don''t know how many rumours I''ve debunked ... The numbers are true, both of them. It is just that one is the total number of papers I have published and the other only counts the part of the ancient rune field."


    "It says ''published and cited in this book'' ..." Mrs. Granger inquired hesitantly.


    "It''s obvious, isn''t it? Not all published papers will be cited, and articles of an overview nature, for example, won''t be too welcome, because that''s what the Almanac is meant to do, and do it a lot better: summarize the past, examine the present, and think about the future."


    "Something like the Medical Almanacs I''ve read." Mr. Granger commented with interest.


    "Pretty much." Hermione said.


    Mrs. Granger settled on this page and her eyes kept darting around, searching for names she was familiar with, "Harry Potter, citing six papers, Ron Weasley ...4, Huh? Luna Lovegood, she''s only fifteen and the number of papers cited is 5 ..."


    "She writes a lot." Hermione grunted softly.


    "What''s the matter," Mrs. Granger asked with a smirk, "this ''Miss Love and Good'' is your rival at school?"


    "Not at all!" Hermione reddened, but her mother laughed even more heartily, she huffed and walked over to the thick almanac, flipping the pages open and mumbling under her breath, "You should really read it... The first part of the book summarizes important current events, thesis publications, and statistics, and I remember that there are excerpts from three of her papers ... Ah, here it is!"


    Mrs. Granger looked curiously at the titles of the dissertation above.


    "Replicating the Mysterious Creature Crumple-Horned Snorkack with Ancient Rune ... sounds quite professional."


    Hermione pointed to the small print on it, "This thesis is unproven and limited to conjecture, but it is highly innovative and has great potential to be explored ... Mr. Hap has rated it highly ..." She read it with a pout.


    "Isn''t this just a magic conjecture? I don''t really understand it ... It is roughly similar to scientific conjecture, isn''t it?" Mr. Granger asked with a smile.


    "Well, I just ..." Hermione deflated, she couldn''t help but whine, "Even if it is a magical creature, why the imaginary Crumple-Horned Snorkack? Obviously, the subject is so grand, covering magical creatures, ancient runes, Patronus charm, and even ghosts ..."


    "Ghosts?"


    ...


    "No, it''s spirits!" On the hill outside the village of Ottery St Catchpole, a big rook-like house stood. In the garden, Xenophilius said. Cotton-candy-like white hair puffed over his shoulders, and he displayed a gold chain around his neck: "What a wonderful coincidence! I am wearing the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, and my daughter told me about the prophecy of the Resurrection Stone."


    "Have you stopped studying worker gnome magic, Papa?" Luna asked while repairing the house for the gnomes.


    "Oh no ... there is something more important," Xenophilius stammered, "Luna, listen to me - I don''t know much about the Centaur, at one point I tried to befriend them but they kicked me out, but that doesn''t matter, it''s all in the youth ... their prophecies are great."


    "That''s right, I''ve been looking forward to a grand party." Luna said cheerfully.


    "A party?" Xenophilius was confused.


    "I saw it in a fire divination, with lots of people shooting fireworks into the sky ..." Luna shook her head like she was dreaming. "Oh, uh," Xenophilius stared, "could it have happened? I''ve heard of people creating meteor showers ... to celebrate the victory in hardcore fashion"


    "But they''re totally different, and I think I''ll be there." Luna said expectantly.


    "Well ... let''s get back to the main topic, Luna." Xenophilius said seriously.


    Luna nodded and stared unblinkingly at her father, the triangular eye symbol adorned around his neck sparkled on his chest.


    "First of all, this needs to be kept secret-"


    "Can I tell Ginny?"


    "Of course, you can, you''re friends."


    "What about Harry? And Ron, Hermione, Neville ..." Luna snapped her fingers and Xenophilius said, "If they''re trustworthy - yes, you could even form a small team, but don''t be too flashy, I don''t want to hear that my daughter is making a big fuss about finding the Resurrection Stone, some wishes won''t work when they are spoken."


    He hesitated, "Honestly, I don''t know if I should tell you, there''s not much hope after all ..."


    "What is it?"


    "Headmaster Dumbledore wrote me back and invited me for an interview ... Oh no no, don''t be so happy, there are other competitors." But it didn''t take long for them to start preparing for the celebration, "Freshwater Plimpy fish soup! Cranberry! Dirigible Plum!" Xenophilius shouted happily as he added various ingredients to the pot.


    They eventually obtained a cup of some condensed thing.


    "Don''t mind me, you have an interview to attend." Luna said.


    "Oh, thank you, daughter," Xenophilius wiped the corners of his eyes, "I won''t leave you alone, when the interview is done, I''ll take you to visit a very knowledgeable ghost, who might be interested in your thesis ... " he said and drank it all in one go.


    "How does it taste?" Luna asked curiously.


    "Not bad," Xenophilius said, shaking his head and smacking his lips, "Maybe too much Dirigible Plum, the book says it''s slightly toxic, although you can''t believe the whole thing, as they also enhance the ability to accept the extraordinary, but ... "


    He rubbed his stomach and brought the ''Almanac of Ancient Rune'' over, "Let me see what they say about your thesis, I should pick the highlights and jot them down to ask Dumbledore about it when the time comes ... " He flipped through the pages, "Huh, where is it? Only the introduction about magic doll maker, prank merchant ..."


    "You flipped past it, Papa." Luna said.


    "No, I think it''s fate, you see -" he said, pointing to the introduction to the chapter on magic doll maker, "The ''magic doll'' is just a concept, and I don''t want people to focus only on the materials it''s made of and the way it''s made of, it can be anything that uses magic to assist us in our work, our lives and our studies ... Look at that."


    Not far from here, over a hill, the Diggory''s house stood close to the Weasleys'' Burrow, only a few hundred feet away from each other. The Diggorys had moved here as a result of the war and to look out for each other if Death Eaters attacked.


    "Your boy is excellent, Mr. Diggory."


    Cho Chang''s father''s compliments and Mr. Diggory''s hearty laugh were heard from the lovely, well-maintained house.


    Cedric and Cho Chang couldn''t take the scrutiny and atmosphere in the house, so they ran out for air, and the pair whispered as they walked.


    "They''re really ... pushy," Cho Chang said in exasperation. She looked at Cedric and asked hesitantly, "Are you ... really not planning to join the Ministry of Magic anymore?" Cedric shook his head slightly, "I''ve rented a shop in Diagon Alley."


    "Diagon Alley?" Cho Chang said with some disappointment, "I thought you''d choose Hogsmeade." She still has one year to graduate.


    Cedric had a big smile on his face, "Don''t worry, I won''t forget Hogsmeade weekend, I chose Diagon Alley because Fred, George, and also Sword Castle are all there, and it''s easy to do research ... Do you remember the disposable space capsules? I think it has a lot of potentials, and it matches my magic dolls."


    They walked into a discarded garage.


    Fred and George were crouched on the floor studying something, "Why are they here, didn''t you mention they were busy opening a branch?" Cho Chang asked in a whisper. "Caught back by Mrs. Weasley." Cedric whispered in a similar tone.


    The twins with their backs to them looked up, "I think I heard someone bad-mouthing us."


    "I''m just telling the truth ...," Cedric shrugged, "How''s the Puffskein breeding going?"


    "Everything''s going well, except it''s getting dumber." Fred said with a sigh.


    "Maybe it''s a plus, you know, witches like silly things." George said and Cho Chang glared at him. "Oh, sorry, I meant pets." It didn''t take long for Cho Chang''s arms and shoulders to be occupied by pale pink and purple fluffy little balls that twittered and, as Fred and George had said, they didn''t look very bright.


    George gave Cedric a look that meant: Look, I was right.


    Cedric smiled from ear to ear.


    "Ginny loves these little guys too." Fred said, "How''s the new shop?"


    "Opening in a few days," Cedric said, "I''ve made a kind of transfiguration cloud of smoke, in addition to some of the previous finished products."


    "Take it out for a look!" Fred and George said in unison.


    Cedric pulled a teacup out of his pocket and shook it vigorously for a while, then he tilted the cup, and a cloud of smoke that looked like some kind of liquid poured out, it looked like some kind of growing crystal cloud that spread across the workbench.


    "They''re actually a single object, and you''ll find it easier to cast Transfiguration on them, like this."


    Cedric waved his wand and the crystal cluster-like smoke easily gathered into various shapes. "With some degree of intensity, you can turn it into a chair, an emergency tent, or various small animals that even a first or second-grader could easily control."


    Eventually, they saw a lifelike Hogwarts castle.


    "Transfiguration requires a good understanding of what is to be transformed, and this smoke could help in that." Cedric said hesitantly, "So it''s actually a tool for learning Transfiguration."


    "It could be more than that," Fred said as he leaned on Cedric''s shoulder, "It''s pretty versatile ..."


    ...


    Evening at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.


    Felix sat in the dimly lit auditorium and listened to a piano recital.


    Fran?ois Crutoy had performed flawlessly, and when the curtain call salute came, the auditorium thundered with applause. Despite his calm face, he was already moved to tears. As the audience filed out, they were still immersed in the mood created by the sound of the piano.


    Camera flashes illuminated the stage and the microphone was handed up.


    "Mr. Crutoy, can I ask what both the goddess and the angel in your tune are referring to? Or is it your yearning for a better life?"


    "Do you have a new understanding of religion?"


    Crutoy narrowed his eyes slightly as he seemed to see a familiar face below the stage, and Felix smiled at him.


    "Mr. Crutoy?"


    "Oh," Crutoy stared at the empty seats, thoughtfully, "both tunes refer to the same thing, if I had to name a difference, perhaps one is what one sees and the other is what one imagines."


    "When sorrow comes, may we each meet an angel."


    ...


    Harry received the list of additional books and the Quidditch team captain''s badge that came with the envelope in time for the new school year in the last week of the holiday, and Harry looked at it repeatedly for a while with great excitement.


    "Is there anything you need to buy?" Sirius asked. "Yes!" Harry stared down at the list of books and read it twice over before saying in surprise, "Sixth Year Defence Against the Dark Arts: Confronting the Faceless-"


    "Ah, that book is quite famous." Sirius said. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "And-" Harry gulped.


    "And what else?" Sirius looked up in confusion.


    "There are three more books, The History of the Muggle Struggle: from a Million Years Ago, How Muggles Think, and The ''Magic'' of the Muggle World."


    "To be sure, there is no mistake right?" Sirius almost fell out of his chair.


    "Nope." Harry said.


    Sirius rubbed his chin, "Sounds like that new professor is a mad admirer of Felix."


    -------------


    #Cooper Taylor, and #ronald bakame, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 616: An Unusual Dinner (2 in 1)

    The evening of 1st September was rainy and overcast. The Hogwarts Express arrived at Hogsmeade station.


    Ron and Hermione had to maintain order on the muddy roads in the rain, taking the somewhat over-excited young wizards to their carriages. Harry dawdled deliberately, waiting until the platform was almost completely empty before finding the opportunity to slip out. So they were almost the last ones to enter the carriage.


    "Ugh, those brats are a pain in the arse." Ron said grumblingly, "I have a sudden craving for French food, what about you guys?"


    "Anything." Hermione answered a little tiredly.


    The carriage started to move, it was cloudy outside, the light was darker than usual at this time of year, and the rain hit the roof and wormed its way into the carriage, making Harry shiver. The carriage finally stopped by the stone steps leading up to the oak gate and Hermione, who had been dozing off, woke up with a start and jumped out of the carriage, "Come on you two!"


    "She''s absolutely starving." Ron said in a hushed voice to Harry.


    The three of them rejoined the crowd, after stomping their way up the waterlogged stone steps, the brightly lit entrance hall was in sight, Harry couldn''t wait to sit down in the great hall and enjoy the food, this thought injected a rush of heat into his cold body, and he climbed the last few steps in one breath.


    A pair of shoes blocked his way.


    Harry looked up at the blank, expressionless face of Professor Hap. An inexplicable wave of fear washed over him, stretching his internal organs to the point where they ached strangely. Ron and Hermione looked back at them in wonder.


    "Prof- Professor?" Harry swallowed hard.


    "Harry, stay after the dinner, Headmaster Dumbledore and I are going to take you somewhere." Felix said, and he had almost assumed Harry had missed the train, after spending nearly half an hour in the chilly breeze at the door.


    Valen was soaked to the bone and finally couldn''t take it anymore and run off to the great hall.


    Harry opened his mouth, swallowing what he was about to say, "Okay."


    Felix nodded at him, leading him towards the great hall. "Professor?" Felix stopped and looked at Harry. Harry was shivering from the cold, "Do I need to make any preparations ..."


    "No need, oh, better bring your wand."


    Harry walked into the great hall with heavy feet.


    The great hall looked chaotic with students making their way to the table and when he sat down, Ron and Hermione gave him a questioning look, and he shook his head. He couldn''t help but look towards the professor''s seat where Professor Hap was whispering something over to Headmaster Dumbledore as he leaned over Professor McGonagall''s empty chair, and Headmaster Dumbledore nodded solemnly.


    His heart sank little by little.


    "I''ve already informed Harry, and when the dinner is over he will..."


    "I understand." Dumbledore said in a hushed voice as he picked up a fork and tapped it against a goblet, a crisp clink echoed through the great hall, and the noises subsided as the students'' eyes focused on the professor''s seat. Some of those who had previously been preoccupied with chatting with their classmates noticed something out of the norm.


    "Two new professors!" Seamus said in surprise, as he counted them one by one by subject, his face filled with bewilderment, "How come there is one more person ..."


    "Professor McGonagall''s seat is empty!"


    ...


    "The man sitting next to Snape is Mr. Slughorn, and the one sitting next to Professor Hap is Mr. Bagshot." Harry whispered.


    Hermione breathed in softly, looking a little uneasy.


    "What''s wrong?"


    "The number of chairs isn''t right, there is an extra one -"


    At that moment, the door to the Great Hall opened and Professor McGonagall led a row of little wizards in and had them line up in front of the faculty table. Then, she placed a dirty hat on a small round stool and stepped aside to wait.


    The Sorting hat sang aloud:


    I have been worn on the head of the best duellist,


    Though then not yet given a life;


    I am older than everything in the castle,


    But don''t think I''ll ever change.


    The four founders of the great school,


    Their deeds have been passed down for a millennium.


    Who else in the world knows enough about them? S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Then think who carried their beliefs!


    Godric Gryffindor, the matchless duellist,


    Rowena Ravenclaw, whose wisdom is unmatched,


    Helga Hufflepuff, who is merciful and compassionate to all,


    Salazar Slytherin, with a shrewd and merciless mind.


    Despite their bodies being decayed.


    Their beliefs still live on in their students.


    The four Houses have been blessed with talent.


    Together they have made Hogwarts prestigious.


    But I will pour cold water on you,


    But I will pour cold water on you;


    A single belief can only work in isolation,


    A single belief can only work in isolation!


    Courage and recklessness are inseparable.


    Wisdom and arrogance are intertwined,


    Kindness and weakness are always in harmony,


    The clever and the selfish are only a matter of thought.


    I stand before you now,


    To confess to you the past.


    I have done my duty and told you straight -


    Let us begin the sorting now.


    The Sorting Hat didn''t move after it finished singing. In the great hall, it was like a pause button had been pressed, and it took a few seconds before sparse applause broke out. The students all murmured, "This is the first time I''ve ever heard the Sorting Hat criticize the beliefs of four houses." Ron said in surprise.


    "But it does have the credentials." Harry said, applauding along with the crowd, despite the fact that he also found it a little strange in his mind.


    Usually, the Sorting Hat will simply describe the qualities that the four houses value and brag about the four founders to the sky (sometimes with the exception of Slytherin). Last year had been different, it had given an unprecedented warning to the students to stick together, but that was because Voldemort was lurking outside the school.


    Now that the war was over, Ginny had even made a bet with Ron on the train that the Sorting Hat would sing the praises of people coming out of the shadow of war this year in a butchering way.


    Professor McGonagall, too, was a little stunned, and she cleared her throat with some effort, the chatter at the bottom ceased abruptly as she pulled out a long roll with the names of the new students, and read them out one by one -


    "Tulsa Alamo."


    "It''s very distinctive." At the professor''s seat, Grindelwald put down his hand and murmured softly.


    Felix smiled slightly, and his eyes swept across the great hall. The reactions of the students and professors to the song of the Sorting Hat were different, for example, Slughorn, who had been loudly trying to establish relations with the many professors before, now said nothing and furrowed his brow.


    Slughorn glanced at Dumbledore and then subtly glanced at Grindelwald as his walrus moustache twitched.


    Probably he is weighing up in his mind whether he is at a losing end ... Felix thought quietly. He knew that Dumbledore had used the teaching position and the offer of asylum as a base to rope in Slughorn, but at the time Voldemort had not yet fallen and Slughorn did not want to expose himself in plain sight.


    Now that the war was over, the wily old walrus couldn''t hold back any longer.


    But this also brought a plus, as Severus finally got his wish and secured the position he desired.


    "... Toby Gilbert."


    Felix glanced at the Sorting Hat and keenly grasped the crux of this year''s Sorting Hat song - the same as last year - a call for students to unite as one. But these two are different from each other; last year it was because of external enemies, and this year it may be because of internal reasons.


    Did the Sorting Hat hear something from Dumbledore?


    He looked at Grindelwald, who was in high spirits and relaxed, and thought that the direction was quite obvious - the old man''s strength had shrunk so much that he could only verbally try to influence others with speech, and although Felix had poked fun at Grindelwald with the list of books for this year''s Defence Against the Dark Arts class, he did not think that the Dark Lord, who had once aspired to rule Muggles, would easily bow to his peaceful philosophy.


    It was more likely that he would use his book as a target for criticism.


    Felix had already made up his mind that he would go over for a couple of classes sometimes; his book had been written with great care, and he couldn''t let Grindelwald interpret it in a haphazard way.


    "- Hubbard Zenobia."


    "Slytherin!"


    The Sorting Ceremony was finally over and Professor McGonagall came over to pick up the Sorting Hat and stool- "Just a moment, please, Minerva." Professor McGonagall froze in place as Dumbledore abruptly spoke, and she asked hesitantly, "Albus?"


    Dumbledore stood up agilely and walked out, his footsteps were brisk. He smiled and said, "I''m just a little curious to see what house ... I would be sorted into if it were now." He picked up the Sorting Hat and raised his arms to put it on his own head while sitting somewhat comically on the small stool.


    The Great Hall was at once abuzz with voices.


    In spite of their stomachs rumbling with hunger, the students rose to their feet and stood on tiptoe in anticipation. "Finally, he has gone mad!" Hermione exclaimed. "No, that''s normal!" Harry and Ron said in unison as all the students looked at Dumbledore without blinking.


    "What do you guys think he is up to?"


    "I don''t know, but if the Sorting Hat sorts him into another house there''ll be fun to watch!"


    "Maybe that''s what he wants!"


    Dumbledore sat upright on the small stool, his long white beard trailing on the floor, he closed his eyes and seemed to be communicating with the Sorting Hat as the crack opened up in irritation at the brim of the Hat, and it shouted, "That''s not allowed in the rules, Dumbledore!"


    "Oh, come on, don''t be like that ... be more accommodating ...," Dumbledore whispered, the words were only audible to Professor McGonagall, her lips pursed into a tight line and her fingers kept opening and closing as she was mentally torn over whether or not to forcibly remove the Sorting Hat from Dumbledore''s head.


    She was unable to decide which of these things would turn into a scandal ... so she could only stay frozen in place, her chest heaving violently.


    It took a minute or two for the Sorting Hat to reluctantly call out the word ''Gryffindor''.


    Dumbledore stood up contentedly and handed the Sorting Hat to an exasperated Professor McGonagall. Felix, Grindelwald, and Snape looked thoughtful, although they had completely different views.


    Felix became more excited about the speech that would follow after the dinner; what would Dumbledore say? Would he support school reform? Grindelwald''s lesson preparation this year had been extremely purposeful, and without Dumbledore''s tacit approval, that outrageous list of books would not have existed at all.


    Dumbledore had returned to his seat and, as if nothing had happened, he spread his arms wide and said with a broad smile, "There is no better way to represent my mood at the moment than a great meal, so let''s eat with pleasure!"


    Then he sat down and the food floated down from the air.


    Grindelwald stared, faintly surprised, expecting Dumbledore to say at least a few more lines.


    "The Headmaster never lets anyone down in this regard, does he, Minerva?" Felix said as he happily plied his plate with ribs, "Perhaps we should make a school rule that no more than ten words are allowed in a speech before the main meal."


    Professor McGonagall, who had just sat down, grunted softly, her eyes darted over to Dumbledore.


    "Better include one more rule with it, prohibiting sudden insanity."


    As the last bits of dessert disappeared, Dumbledore stood up again and Felix looked at his Headmaster with interest, his eyes lingered on the black gemstone ring that seemed to grow on his hand, could that be the Resurrection Stone? The memory of a chance meeting with Xenophilius Lovegood a few weeks ago came to his mind.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t speak more than a few words in total, as Mr. Lovegood seemed to have had a bad stomach and was in a hurry to find a toilet.


    I wonder if his unsuccessful interview had anything to do with that ...


    "Well ... new students, welcome to school; old students, welcome back to school!" Dumbledore wiped the corners of his eyes sentimentally, "What awaits you is a new academic year of magical education ..."


    "Caretaker Filch asked me to relay to everyone the list of ... Quidditch selections will be held on ... Assessment spells and make-ups tests ... "


    The students listened lazily and drowsily, these things were all the same old stuff.


    "This year the school welcomes two new professors, along with some minor changes to the original faculty. First, let us welcome Professor Slughorn, who has worked with me and is an experienced Potions Professor and Potions master ..."


    "Potions?"


    The students'' eyes widened as they stared at the old wizard who stood up and was waving enthusiastically at them, dressed in an elaborate waistcoat, his stomach is too big to button up, and his bare head reflected the bright light from overhead as he turned his body.


    "Sure enough-" Hermione hammered the table lightly with her fist.


    "Sure enough what?" Ron asked in bewilderment, his eyes darting between the new professor and Snape with a look of glee, just like most of the students.


    "Haven''t you guys noticed that there''s an extra professor this year? I originally thought-"


    "At the same time, Professor Bagshot, and Professor Snape," Dumbledore said with his usual expression, only raising his volume slightly, "will be co-teaching the Defense Against the Dark Arts class."


    Hermione sucked in a breath.


    "It turned out to be this sort of arrangement! Sigh, Professor Snape sort of got what he wanted."


    The murmurs between the students grew louder. "All I care about is who will be teaching the sixth year," Ron said, at which point Professor Bagshot politely stood up to greet the students, while Snape drew applause from the Slytherin students by simply lazily extending one of his hands.


    Ron bared his teeth and said, "The gap is too wide, although I hate Snape with a passion, but compared to a Squib he is-"


    "Ron!" Hermione exclaimed warningly.


    Ron shrank his neck, "Well ... I won''t say it, but the problem is there, there''s no way we can pretend like we can''t see it, anyone will know who to pick ..."


    Dumbledore waited until Grindelwald sat down before continuing, "The two professors will each divide their work between them and cooperate, Professor Snape will be responsible for teaching years one to five and Professor Bagshot will be responsible for teaching the advanced classes ..."


    There were loud boos sounded from Slytherin House as they booed against the injustice done to their Head.


    Even Harry was very surprised, at the moment although the only people who expressed their clear opposition were Slytherin students, and the other three houses showed a lukewarm response, but that was only because they didn''t know that Mr. Bagshot is Squib, if they had known, they would probably have been just as loud.


    Harry looked over at the professor''s seat and couldn''t help but worry about Mr. Bagshot, but his expression looked as usual.


    Somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry breathed a secret sigh of relief. Although he had not yet attended Professor Bagshot''s class, at least one thing is certain, he would not have much chance of dealing with Snape this year.


    A notion suddenly occurred to him that perhaps Snape had chosen Years 1 to 5 for this same reason.


    After the announcement of the change of posts, Dumbledore was still standing in place, and clearly had something to say. The buzz in the great hall faded as the students thought involuntarily of the Song of the Sorting Hat and Headmaster Dumbledore''s strange actions, and perhaps they could hear the answer to this question in the words he''s going to say.


    "Many people have suffered greatly over the past year due to Voldemort and his entourage causing havoc. Fortunately, we have not had to sacrifice too many of our cherished possessions, as we did in the last war that stretched over a decade, and I hope that we will all take even a minute out of our celebrations - like right now - to reflect on what the war has brought to us. "


    What followed was an extremely long minute.


    "I''m sure each of you has your own reflections. Please remember this moment of reflection, it will allow you to grow and to know right from wrong, it is normal that one''s thoughts will change with one''s own experiences, I still remember clearly the scene of my own sorting when I was enrolled: the decision was made almost immediately by the sorting hat. But just now I''m not sure where it would sort me out... but one thing is certain, bigotry can lead people to extremes and stir up disputes."


    Dumbledore''s speech came to an awkward halt.


    "Well, you will have plenty of time to ponder these vexing questions later, but the immediate priority at hand is a well-deserved rest, and I see someone yawning, so ... good night."


    The single bench was pushed behind him and Harry stood up together with the rest of the group, his brain wanted to rush back to the warmth and comfort of his bed immediately, that''s when he saw Professor Hap waving at him with a serious expression.


    He sobered up with a jolt.


    "What''s the matter, Harry?" Ron asked with a yawn, by which time Hermione had run off to show the way to the first years.


    Harry gave him a deep look.


    "If ... well, I mean if I couldn''t make it back, I left some stuff in the box ..."


    "What are you talking about?" Ron rubbed his stomach.


    "... remember, the box."


    ------------


    [Author:]


    The Sorting Hat Song is not for word count, it was something personally composed by the author and a lot of brain cells have died as a result.


    -------------


    #BlackCat, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 617: Vent

    Harry rushed off, afraid that if he continued he wouldn''t be able to resist doing something strange. He never wanted the last impression he left on Ron to be hugging him and bawling his eyes out, with snot and tears streaming down his face. "Professor." He said under his breath, his heart thumping.


    Felix nodded, still with a very little expression on his face, "Best to wait for everyone to leave, it''s better if we don''t attract too much attention."


    Harry watched Ron leave with the crowd, glancing at them suspiciously on his way out. Finally, the cheerful, lively atmosphere faded and Harry''s mood inevitably became lowered with the empty, silent great hall.


    After a few more minutes, Felix led Harry away.


    Harry followed along in a trance, those few minutes allowed the emotions that he had been deliberately suppressing over the summer to surface again, surging violently through his mind, and he felt like a drowning man, losing hope of survival little by little. As they walked past the dimly lit entrance hall and headed towards the Grand Staircase, Harry wondered a little, shouldn''t they be going outside?


    Then he suddenly felt a sharp gaze staring at him from behind, and he jerked back to see a blurred, tall, dark figure standing motionlessly at the entrance to the dark underground staircase, staring blankly at him.


    Harry tripped over the steps and when he looked up again the dark figure had disappeared and a cold chill ran through his hands and feet.


    Felix stopped and looked over at the empty staircase thoughtfully.


    "Severus."


    "That, that was Snape?" Harry asked in shock.


    "It''s Professor Snape for you... probably because he''s worried." Felix said uncertainly as they went up the stairs, Harry looked distracted, his mind intertwined with complicated thoughts, one thing Harry didn''t say was that he had just inexplicably thought of Ron''s Uncle Bilius.


    Bilius had died twenty-four hours after having seen the Grim - which is a big black dog.


    But there is more than one omen of death, Harry thought grumpily, thanks to Trelawney, who had taught him a lot about ''ominous'' omens in class. Such a thing had happened to him in his third year, and Harry had been terrified by Sirius'' Animagus for a while. Credit for this goes to the fabulous divination class professor.


    Luckily there is no need for him to attend her class this year.


    But then Harry immediately felt depressed; would he be able to sit comfortably in class tomorrow? Maybe that would be a luxury for him unless he turned into a ghost like Moaning Myrtle ... Not sure if Dudley would be able to see himself then?


    "Keep up."


    Harry realized he was already half a staircase behind Professor Hap, and he quickened his pace.


    "Where are we going, Professor?" To stop himself from drifting into a wild imagination, Harry asked a random question.


    "Classroom seven."


    "Classroom seven?"


    "Where else do you think we''re going?" Felix answered casually.


    "I thought ... well, it would be some hidden cave, a dungeon, or something like that."


    "Ah, you guessed it, didn''t you?" Felix smiled as they stopped at the door to classroom seven, "Dumbledore should already be in there." Harry was surprised when he saw the dense pattern of runes condensing on Professor Hap''s fingertips.


    "A necessary measure," the smile on Felix''s face became more pronounced, "It is actually possible to open the door with a key, but I find this more convenient."


    "Is that how the students are going to get in too?" Harry asked, doubting that anyone except Hermione could get in.


    "Huh, didn''t Dumbledore mention that at the dinner? Classroom seven is closed to the public this year, part of its function is placed next door ... go ahead." The door opened and Felix held it open, allowing Harry to enter first.


    Harry walked in silently.


    "Voldemort is being locked up here?" He asked all of a sudden.


    "That''s right, we''ve arrived."


    Harry expected to see a ring, or a cage or something, and then Dumbledore and Professor Hap would stand back and watch him wrestle Voldemort as the only spectators, but the reality was quite different; Dumbledore stood calmly in front of the door of a small two-storey building, arms folded in front of his beard, humming a pleasant little tune as if he hadn''t yet been withdrawn from the merry atmosphere of the dinner party.


    "Harry," Dumbledore said in a brisk tone, "I know you''re full of questions, but I want you to keep your cool and not scream out loud next."


    After saying that he moved out of the way.


    Harry''s eyes went wide and a scream shot up his throat - he saw Voldemort, limbs dangling helplessly towards the ground, his whole body hovering in mid-air, being swallowed by a silvery, transparent slowly rotating Ouroboros snake that was even bigger than the Basilisk.


    The room shimmered with colourful dots of light that merged dreamily into the body of the Ouroboros snake.


    "This is-"


    "Voldemort''s private prison. He''s completely imprisoned, from his magic to his body, including his consciousness." Felix said briefly, "Feel it carefully."


    Harry was a little unsure, and all he could do was clutch his wand.


    Felix and Dumbledore looked at each other. Dumbledore gently said, "No, Harry, you don''t need your wand - feel it with your heart."


    Harry''s mind twitched as he noticed the anomaly. "I ... er," he looked at the two men uncertainly, "I seem to be able to sense the snake ..."


    Felix laughed.


    "Because that has your emotions in it. This Ouroboros Patronus - let''s call it that for now - it''s actually made up of multiple Patronus-like magics, you read the information I gave you right? Then you should be able to understand it."


    Harry thought back carefully for a moment.


    "Patronus requires positive emotions, but Professor you can substitute other emotions, as you have demonstrated previously at the club ... and they can also be fused together?"


    Harry imagined a scene in his head where there are few - or even a dozen - different-looking Patronus pieced together, and for the first time, he felt his brain was running out of steam and wondered if the Patronus book he had written had become outdated.


    "It''s hard," Felix said with a sigh, "some things have little to do with magic, and not surprisingly those little ones don''t listen to each other - they''re all products of strong emotions, and I need to find a single much more strong emotion that can lead them towards a common goal, a one with leadership character."


    Harry froze for a moment as he asked tentatively, "You mean ... me?"


    "It''s your patronus." Felix corrected, "How can I put it? Emotions don''t lie, especially to themselves, and even though I also detest Voldemort from the bottom of my heart, it''s still hard to wholeheartedly burst with strong emotion while confronting him since I don''t hate him that deeply ..."


    Harry understood it fully.


    "... Is that why you spent the last period of the school year collecting my Patronus?"


    "That''s right, but the emotions are already used up."


    "Used up?" Harry repeated hoarsely, not understanding why his voice had suddenly started to tremble, "So you called me over because of this - to replenish emotional energy? Only I can do that, yeah ... let''s see, because he killed my parents and tried to kill me, but unfortunately, it only left a scar on my forehead, oh I almost forgot, this scar is most important ... since there is a little piece of Voldemort''s soul hidden deep inside."


    Felix looked surprised and couldn''t help but exchange a look with Dumbledore. Which seemed to ask - have you told Harry?


    "Severus told you?" Dumbledore asked, the cheerfulness on his face fading.


    "I saw it myself, through his memories, and yes, I know it all." Harry said through clenched teeth, his voice involuntarily rising, "The very day you captured Voldemort. It looks like Snape didn''t tell you guys, I guess he didn''t know what to do with the situation, just like I did ..."


    "Who else have you told about this, Harry? It''s important." Dumbledore asked with a serious expression.


    "Don''t worry, I didn''t tell anyone, I even used the Occlumency you guys gave me," Harry said agitatedly, trembling, but not out of fear, "I only have one question now, when am I going to die?"


    "Harry-" Dumbledore spoke with difficulty.


    "I understand, that''s my destiny and the whole point of me being alive, isn''t it?" Harry shouted, his long depression now finally found a vent for him to let it out, "But until then, I think I''ll live a little longer because ... because of my Patronus."


    "Expecto Patronum!" He shouted and raised his wand, a majestic stag burst out of the tip, it stood in front of its master like true life, a true Patronus, and from its body, a bright light blossomed and the whole of the classroom seven enveloped.


    Harry calmed down. He waved his wand and the silver stag kept skipping through the air, when the ouroboros snake moved up, spitting out its own tail, then the huge snake''s eyes lowered and gazed at the stag, which had something in it that it craved.


    The silvery Patronus rose into the mouth of the Snake and became one with it.


    The Ouroboros snake raised its head sharply as if to let out a roar. Two bright lights shot out of its eyes and its body began to wriggle violently, even the Voldemort at the tip of its tail began to tremble, but in the next second, the Ouroboros once again swallowed Voldemort and its own tail.


    Silence fell over Classroom Seven.


    Harry spoke, the tone of his voice was deadly calm.


    "I''ve been thinking about this for a while now. Constantly counting the dates in my head, thinking about it all through my birthday. Maybe you guys would have approached me on the first day of summer break, but you didn''t, and after that Professor Hap found me, but he was there for Mr. Bagshot, and I thought the Order of the Phoenix bonfire party would be a good time, but none of you showed up ... I thought to myself, yeah, you might have been merciful and wanted me to celebrate my sixteenth birthday ..."


    "Was there ever a spark of hope left in me?"


    "Maybe there was, but the last little bit disappeared, and I was well-prepared for it before I came. But it doesn''t seem like the right time right now, I just want you guys to make a decision quickly because ... because I might suddenly change my mind one day and become unwilling to die, give me an exact date before I change my mind."


    Harry was unable to say any more, and through his wet eyes, he saw an equally tearful Dumbledore.


    ------------- S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    #BlackCat, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 618: Resurrection Stone

    "Yeah, that''s what Harry said at the time. Remarkable person, isn''t he? I sort of admire him for that, even though I am still strongly averse to the idea of idolizing someone personally." Valen listened intently, not even noticing that she had dropped the little biscuit in her hand.


    "Kee!"


    "After that ah ... after that Dumbledore took Harry away."


    Felix spread both hands to indicate that the story was over, causing Valen to grumble, why didn''t the Great Demon King follow along! She wanted to know what happened after that! Felix himself sighed a little, it must have been hard for Harry to keep so many emotions bottled up, but it was the survival of such a person that made people look forward to his future all the more!


    Felix sat down in his chair behind his desk, his eyes became calm.


    He has two important tasks at hand, one is fulfilling his duties as advisor to the Minister of Magic - to some extent he has been promoted again at the Ministry of Magic, and there is still a big difference between an honorary advisor hired by the Ministry and a personal advisor to the Minister of Magic - and answering the various questions raised by Amelia Bones.


    This matter dates back to a few weeks ago.


    At the end of the Ancient Rune Almanac event, Ms. Bones came to the school when Felix hadn''t shown any sign of visiting her.


    Similar to today''s process, Ms. Bones had witnessed the state of Voldemort first hand, and even without knowing the secret of the Horcrux, she still chose to believe in all the decisions Dumbledore made.


    Since that day, Ms. Bones had been bombarding Felix with a barrage of owls at an average rate of one a day.


    Frankly, he was quite happy to write back.


    Despite the ''finally throwing trouble out'' attitude that Felix displayed when confronted by Ms. Bones, that was just a negotiating technique, a way of fighting for the right to speak and to have a dominant position, as he certainly preferred to keep things under his control.


    And the second task is about the study of the soul domain.


    Felix shook his left hand slightly and a teacup-like container came to his hand.


    Valen couldn''t restrain herself from coming over to look.


    The container contained a ragged two or three-inch long piece of cloth - but on closer inspection it looked a bit like a man in a black hooded cloak, the skin of his bare hands glazed in greenish grey, eerily shining light, covered in mucus and motes, looking no different from a rotting corpse. S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    It is a Dementor.


    "Kee! (Take it away!)"


    Valen shivered, she knew what this thing is, having seen it in more than just comic books - once she even let the Great Demon show it to her out of curiosity, only to have all her joy sucked out of her and become sadder than a penniless Niffler.


    The Dementor floated around the container as if some kind of black, highly poisonous jellyfish.


    "Kee? (Is it dead?)" Valen asked warily.


    "No. They''re not exactly a living thing, it''s a kind of ''non-being''." Felix said softly.


    He couldn''t transform into a Dementor, and all he knew about Dementors came through experiments. Because Dementors are not magical creatures, they are not even considered living things. Their own state transcended the concept of life and death - they are never really alive, so naturally one cannot talk about death.


    Valen ran over to bring her little chair over and assumed a posture of listening to a story.


    Felix: "... Okay." He was also in a bit of a spirited mood today.


    "The origins of the Dementors date back to the fifteenth century. There was an unmarkable island in the North Sea that later came to know as Azkaban. Back then this island was inhabited by an evil wizard named Ekrizdis... after placing many wards and magics on the island Ekrizdis secretly captured passing sailors and subjected them to all sorts of cruel, evil dark magic experiments, from which the Dementors were born."


    "And since then they can never be eradicated."


    Felix ended the story in a low, deep voice.


    "Kee?"


    "Ah, you mean this? I could indeed destroy them, but in the blink of an eye, they would once again spawn in places clouded with gloom, filth, and full of despair ... Dementors are born out of human emotions, and the only way to cut their numbers is through reducing the means of their existence."


    Valen shook her head a little confused, this concept was a little beyond the scope of her knowledge.


    She gestured for a while and finally pulled out her exclusive wand, and a colourful question appeared in the air: so after the guy in the cup disappears, there will be an extra dementor egg somewhere in the world?


    Felix stifled a laugh by clearing his throat.


    "Dementors won''t turn into eggs."


    Valen thought for a moment and wrote: Then a plant''s seed?


    "Well, not really ... well, stop writing, I can give you an example." Felix stopped Valen''s fantastic association and mulled it over for a moment before saying, "Dementors are closer to Peeves in terms of their state."


    Valen''s eyes widened as she found it difficult to make any connection between the two things.


    "Think about it," Felix said, "Peeves is an aggregation of chaotic minds of young wizards, Dementors are born of a mixture of corruption, filth, and despair; Peeves cannot be seen by ordinary people, neither can Dementors; Peeves can move objects and do all sorts of mischief, Dementors have the same ability to interfere with reality; Peeves is manifested due to the little wizards of Hogwarts and cannot be destroyed, and Dementors will also remain undead forever due to human emotions ..."


    ''But Peeves can only stay in Hogwarts castle.'' Valen thought very hard for half a second and wrote.


    "For Dementors, the whole world is a castle for them to roam." Felix spoke softly, "In a corner of Azkaban - where Ekrizdis conducted his evil experiments back in the day - a Dementor or two is still spawned from time to time."


    "According to Ministry of Magic''s records, the number of Dementors increased dramatically during the two world wars. They even tried to break out of Azkaban as even darker, and filthiest places sprang up ... It was only at the end of the war that their numbers dwindled."


    Felix held out a finger and propelled the teacup-like container with Dementor around the air, " Well, who would ever believe that they could potentially destroy the entire world if left unchecked?"


    Under Ms. Bones'' command, the Ministry of Magic has now stopped using Dementors as guards for Azkaban. At the same time, an extra room has been created in the Department of Mysteries, which is lined with Dementor capture cages, and sealed up with the most restrictive magic.


    The last few currently in the wild are probably the only ones Felix has.


    For a while, he had been trying to figure out how Dementors could extract souls, but having learned from the past, Felix had decided to be more cautious, fearing that he might accidentally create something unimaginable.


    Felix put the dementors away and began to write a reply to Ms. Bones.


    Valen also went back to her little table and started writing her diary. She now had a new target, Leonhard Bagshot, because he had blown up her snake, and although her treasure had come back as a result, Valen still held a grudge against him!


    Elsewhere, Harry returned to the common room with some exuberance.


    "Don''t expect me to open the door for you if you come back this late again." The fat lady shouted at him.


    "Yeah, got it." Harry replied, humming a pleasant tune.


    He had learned from Dumbledore that the Professor''s working hard to keep him alive, and it made him feel so bad for shouting and snapping at them, and he had also learned a secret, the Resurrection Stone! Headmaster Dumbledore unexpectedly owns the legendary Resurrection Stone.


    This secret is not even known to Professor Hap.


    Headmaster Dumbledore had strictly forbidden him from telling anyone. Thinking about all the trouble the Elder Wand had caused, Harry solemnly agreed. However, it did not stop him from wanting to secretly steal it for some time.


    Of course, Harry also felt bad for Headmaster Dumbledore''s sister. Yes, Dumbledore had a sister, it was unbelievable, Harry almost dropped his jaw when he found out about it, why had he never thought about it? But she had died at a young age and hadn''t had time to attend Hogwarts.


    That''s why Dumbledore had broken the rules and joined this year''s Sorting Ceremony.


    That was to fulfil his sister''s wish.


    "The Resurrection Stone can summon a projection of the dead from the minds of the living." Dumbledore explained, and Harry didn''t know how to express his concern since the second of the three brothers in the fairy tale turned suicidal in the end because of the Resurrection Stone, but Harry believed Dumbledore possessed enough wisdom to deal with the complication.


    Overall, Harry was in a happy mood. A huge mountain that had been weighing on his mind had suddenly disappeared and Harry could hardly wait for the new school year to begin; how much merrier a day would be without Voldemort? He wanted to rush to the girls'' dormitory now and ask Ginny out for a walk in the moonlight.


    The common room was empty and Harry was so happy he wanted to sing. That''s when he heard someone talking in the corner.


    That was where he usually spent time with Ron and Hermione.


    "Harry hasn''t returned yet ... we can''t wait any longer!"


    Then Harry heard the sound of an envelope being torn open and his heart suddenly clenched hard. He rushed over to see Ron pulling a bulging wad of parchment out of the torn envelope--


    "Don''t touch it!"


    Harry shouted in horror, stepping forward and snatching it up, ''Snap-'' leaving Ron with only a small piece of parchment.


    "Hey!" Ron shouted angrily. But when he saw it was Harry, he was overjoyed, "Merlin''s ragged trousers! Harry, you''re finally back!"


    Harry had to struggle to push the lunging Ron out of the way and haphazardly stuff the parchment into his shirt pocket with his other hand, only after doing so did he breathe a sigh of relief, only to realize that he was already soaked to the brim in a cold sweat.


    "Harry, what the hell is going on?" Hermione asked with a raised eyebrow, "Ron was rambling on endlessly about ... something earlier."


    "Nothing." Harry muttered with a red face, there is no way he would allow Ron and Hermione to know what he had written in the letter, it would be too corny. If the two ever got to read it, he''d find a place to drown himself.


    "But Ron told me-" Hermione looked at him suspiciously.


    "Hey, Harry!" Ron''s eyes suddenly lit up as he stared at the small slip of parchment in his hand, carefully reading the words on it. "You''re going to give me the invisibility cloak? That''s, that''s really-" he was too excited to speak.


    Harry''s entire body was frozen in place.


    Just as he mulled over some excuse to make up, Hermione walked up and snatched the piece of parchment out of Ron''s hand, and after reading it twice, her eyes first filled with suspicion, then shock, then panic, at that point, Harry knew he is done for.


    "Hand over the letter, Harry." Hermione stated in one quick breath.


    ------------


    #BlackCat, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 619: Ancient Rune Advanced Class (2 in 1)

    Gryffindor Common Room. "What do you say? In the school! Have they gone mad?!" Ron yelled, with an incredulous look on his face.


    Hermione gave him a stern look. Ron lowered his voice, but his tone became more urgent, as he hissed, "Is it true, the You-Know-Who is being locked up in classroom seven? I''m not in a dream, am I?" He subconsciously glanced at the wall clock in the common room, but unfortunately, the lights are off now and the moonlight is too dim for him to see.


    "The Professor has placed a lot of magic on him." Harry whispered, describing in detail to both of them what he had seen happen to Voldemort, highlighting the Ouroboros snake that was made up of several Patronus, but Ron was still whispering "Crazy, all crazy."


    Hermione seemed a lot calmer, only surprised for a moment before she tried to analyse the purpose behind this.


    "I thought Voldemort was dead-"


    Harry and Ron looked over in surprise.


    Hermione said impatiently, "Oh yes, the last thing Harry saw at the end of the last exam was Voldemort being captured, but that doesn''t mean anything because at the time," she mouthed the word ''Horcrux'', "there was another piece in Bellatrix Lestrange''s possession."


    "... If Voldemort had died at that time, it would have turned into a problem, because he could have hidden away in his soul state. So I can totally understand why Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore did what they did. The problem is, I thought they would destroy the Horcrux as soon as possible, but they didn''t ..." she showed a confused expression and looked at Harry, "Something must have gone wrong somewhere."


    "You''re right in your analysis," Harry said, "Voldemort has one more thing to use to be immortal than expected."


    Hermione and Ron inhaled a deep breath in unison.


    "Has the extra one been found? Is it destroyed?" Ron asked hurriedly.


    Harry stared at him, his expression turned wooden as he nodded and then shook his head.


    "Found it, but not destroyed yet?" Ron guessed, "But why, is it in the hands of someone who we can''t easily get it? Heck, we could ask Professor Hap to steal-" s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Harry!" Hermione called out.


    "Oh, sorry, but I-I think Professor Hap wouldn''t mind-" Ron was halfway through his apology when he snapped out of it and realized that Hermione hadn''t called his name, "My name''s Ron, remember?" But Hermione stared at Harry''s face, her lips quivering.


    Ron''s pupils dilated in fear as he slowly turned his head to look at Harry.


    "That''s right, I''m the last one." Harry tried his best to sound calm and composed.


    "Shhh." He saw both of their mouths open at the same time and held up a finger, "There''s a twist in this, that''s why Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap kept Voldemort alive. Hear me out-"


    He began to tell them the story as it was, only omitting the existence of the Resurrection Stone that Dumbledore had asked him to keep secret. The story was very lengthy, as he had to begin with the last History of Magic test, and Harry soon got to the scene he had seen in Snape''s memory, and for some reason, he didn''t hold anything back and spoke freely and bitterly about it.


    Ron and Hermione couldn''t help but sigh with emotion.


    "Remember the boy from the herb shop?" Hermione asked softly, and Harry knew she was talking about the story they had initially received under Ms. Jane''s name from Professor Hap, and that was the first time Harry had forced himself to examine Snape''s complicated feelings for Lily Evans.


    For a long moment, no one spoke.


    After a long pause, Harry continued the story. He spoke about the private conversation between Snape and Dumbledore that he had seen - "They knew about it all along?" Ron shouted, "No, you knew about it back then?" He looked at Harry with the expression of looking at a liar and Harry grinned at him, "I thought I would be dead then."


    "No wonder you suddenly wanted to write a book." Ron snapped to his senses and then gave a suspicious look, "When you were at the Burrow, you and Ginny didn''t interact that much, I thought you were embarrassed at the time, but now that I think about it ..." he clenched his fists in anger.


    Harry flinched and took a step back.


    "If you''re going to punch me, then please finish it quic-"


    "Why should I!"


    Harry babbled in fluster, by which point Ron had rushed up and Harry closed his eyes, but instead of a punch, he was greeted with a hug. Harry almost couldn''t catch his breath. "Damn it, note that punch down for now, so if there''s a next time--" Ron waved his fist threateningly.


    Hermione covered her mouth, her eyes welling with tears, "Oh, you two."


    Things seemed to have passed just like that, the storm had passed. Harry thought it was the first time in two months that he had laughed heartily. He could see the worry in Hermione''s eyes and after some hesitation, he said, "Don''t worry, Dumbledore told me something ... he has a secret card..." Seeing Hermione wanted to speak, Harry shook his head repeatedly. "Don''t ask, I promised Dumbledore I''d keep it a secret."


    Harry''s source of confidence is the legendary Resurrection Stone, he personally witnessed the miraculous power of this Deathly Hallow - Dumbledore used it to bring back his sister Ariana and introduce her to Harry, and this is just bits of scratch that Dumbledore "got from studying the Resurrection Stone. "


    "By the way," Ron said, "I saw Hagrid when I left the great hall at night."


    Harry''s eyelids fluttered hard. He felt the confidence that had been built up in his chest quickly being replaced by some other emotion, and he managed to say in a dry voice, "Hagrid he - what did he say?"


    "Are you guys still going to take his class this year?" Ron asked in response. Neither Harry nor Hermione said another word.


    The three of them looked at each other.


    As Harry lay in bed, he stared at the headboard of the four-poster bed and couldn''t help but grumble inwardly about why Ron didn''t bring up this problem tomorrow.


    The next day after breakfast, the new sixth-year students stayed behind.


    The four Heads of the House came down from the staff table to distribute and sort out the class schedules for the students. This proved to be a real hassle as the heads had to check the students'' O.W.Ls results first to confirm that they are eligible to take classes.


    "Potions advanced class - A, I would never have accepted this grade if I still taught the class."


    Snape''s very recognizable cold voice reached Gryffindor''s long table.


    "Only A''s needed for Potions advanced class?" Ron asked as he had just managed to remember that the Potions class professor had changed.


    "Yes, Weasley, Professor Slughorn is willing to accept students with grades of ''A'' and above." Professor McGonagall said, placing a stack of blank syllabuses on the dining room table and looking through her notes.


    She called the names of several students in order and handed out the timetable and syllabus for them.


    "Granger."


    Hermione briskly strode over to the table and said.


    "I''m going to continue learning Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Herbology, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Potions."


    A small smile appeared on Professor McGonagall''s serious face.


    "Of course, Miss Granger, Professor Marchbanks has written a special letter of commendation to you." She waved her wand and some gold and red ink writing immediately appeared on the empty timetable and syllabus, then she turned her head to Neville, who nervously pulled out a small slip of parchment and looked down to read what was written on it, "I''ll take Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Ancient Runes- "


    Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows.


    "Don''t be nervous, Longbottom, your mother has written to me, with your grades you can take potions class as well, is that alright?" She glanced at Neville, who nodded.


    Then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and looked up at the crowd, "Is there anyone else who has chosen Ancient Runes class? The first class is Ancient Runes, so you need to hurry up-"


    There was a clamour and countless arms were raised.


    "-Professor Hap will only accept students who have received an ''Outstanding'' grade on their O.W.Ls." She added.


    A few arms dropped in resignation.


    "In that case," Professor McGonagall said, looking at the number of students which hadn''t decreased that much at all, and said with some headache, "let''s just line up in order."


    Ron looked at the crowd with an amazed look on his face and whispered into Harry''s ear, "It''s incredible that there are still people who haven''t gotten an Outstanding..."


    Harry just shrugged. As far as he could see, everyone had scored surprisingly well in Ancient Runes, which led to a phenomenon where everyone seemed to treat the Advanced Class as a compulsory course, and despite Professor Hap''s warnings last year that the Advanced Class would be difficult, there aren''t many students who have the stomach to give up such an advantageous subject.


    In the end, Harry and Ron took the same classes, such as Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Transfiguration, Potions, and Ancient Runes.


    "Only one subject less than Hermione." Ron said with a half-smug, and half-sigh.


    Harry wasn''t surprised. He thought back about his five years at Hogwarts - the first three years had been relatively easy, he and Ron had basically only spent the last two months before the finals studying, but the fourth and fifth years had been a nightmare.


    In the fourth year, they practised their magic very hard for the tournament but were still nearly killed by Voldemort at the end of their third task.


    Harry will never forget how powerless he had felt in the face of Voldemort - if it had been just himself it would have been fine, but he had watched Ron and Hermione being tortured, their lives and deaths depending entirely on a single thought of Voldemort, and at any moment they could have been turned into a cold corpse.


    It is precisely because of this experience that the intensity of their training at one point became too intense for even Sirius to allow. Even Ron - Harry knew he didn''t care much about grades, but he had gritted his teeth and got through it for the past two years.


    The only possible explanation for that Harry could think of was what Hermione had said to him in the summer break of the fourth year, "I don''t want to die in a war." But even less they want to watch their friends at their sides die in a war the next time they face Voldemort.


    ...


    When the trio arrived at the Ancient Rune classroom, Professor Hap was already waiting there, and the chairs were packed with students.


    "What''s with all these people?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "The Advanced class will consist of all four houses together." Hermione whispered.


    "Hey. Look over there." Ron poked a finger into Harry''s ribs and Harry looked to the far left of the first row, where a furry Niffler yawned and sat on a thick stack of books, and Daphne Greengrass sitting gracefully on the other side, except her eyes always subconsciously glanced to her left.


    "Valen?" Hermione uttered in surprise, and when Valen heard the voice, she looked up and waved lazily at them.


    "Ah Merlin''s beard," Ron sighed in admiration, "Professor Hap is no longer content with making Niffler literate."


    When they found a place to sit, Harry couldn''t help but stare at the back of Valen''s head, he then looked at the professor sitting next to the lectern and leafing through the Book of Runes; he only felt that it seemed weird as hell, are they all going to be classmates of a Niffler?


    After a moment, Felix put the Book of Runes away and stood up. His eyes swept across the classroom, the seats are now packed to the brim.


    "You have been studying ancient runes for three years now and have achieved excellent results."


    "I hope you have chosen this class with a love for Ancient Runes because you will find that the difficulty of the Advanced class is vastly different from what it was before ... You should have heard of Wandless magic, right? Yes, the skill that is widely used at the Uagadou School of Magic."


    "Ancient Runes have a similar requirement."


    "Now put your wands away, you need to learn to get rid of unnecessary restraints," Felix said, and the students below fumbled to put their wands away, "Very well, I need you to outline an Ancient Rune in the air with your fingers, I know some of you can do that, the next step is to use your will to mobilize the magic and make the ancient rune appear around you automatically, the more the merrier! Let''s begin."


    There is no doubt about the importance of the wand to the wizard. The loss of the wand was undoubtedly quite a mental blow to the students, the vast majority of them staring blankly at the small area of air in front of them, their faces flushed red and their fingers scratching wildly as if they are suffering from some sort of illness.


    "I told you all."


    Felix said in a low voice, one that filled with patience, as he walked between the students, "There are actually some tricks, but you need to discover them by yourselves." There was no lack of gloating in his tone.


    He walked over to Hermione, who was holding a shiny magic rune in her hand, she was about to raise her hand when she looked up to see the professor staring at her.


    Hermione smiled nervously and put her hand down.


    "How did you do that?" Harry whispered in her ear when Felix had left. Ron and the students around them immediately pricked up their ears to listen.


    "Mentally picture the runic symbol of the ancient rune." Hermione murmured in a low tone.


    Realization dawned on Harry and the students around them.


    Professor Hap had stressed the importance of the runic symbols of practical ancient runes more than once, only they hadn''t connected it to the context of this lesson. Soon the ''secret'' had reached every student''s ears at a swift pace, and Felix pretended like he hadn''t noticed it, watching as students tried to imagine a ray of light, a flame, or a flowing stream of water ...


    Some students were already rolling their eyes with impatience.


    Harry hesitated for a moment to choose between the three magic runes ''flame'', ''light'', and ''sun wheel'', and finally he settled on the ''light '' magic rune - it is the practical ancient rune he has mastered for the longest time, and he knows its runic symbols well because of Illumination magic.


    He imagined in his mind what it would feel like to use Illumination magic now, then his fingers traced unconsciously, and after a few failed attempts he managed to successfully outline a shining rune.


    "Not bad, Potter." Felix suddenly appeared behind him, "you have got rid of the shackles of your wand briefly, now try to remove the assistance from your body-" With his successful experience, Harry was brimming with confidence, but that confidence didn''t last long; after a dozen failed attempts in a row, he became irritable and his breathing became laboured.


    "Keep plenty of patience and confidence, as well as a little skill as a support." Felix raised his voice to drown out the wheezing, and exasperated gasps around him. Many students turned their heads and looked at him dazedly.


    "It''s not difficult, anyone can do it."


    He swung his arm downwards and the ancient runes fell like raindrops.


    A little time passed and the students gradually got the hang of it. First of all, it is extremely important to master the runic symbols of magic runes, and the examples of success so far all support this concept; secondly, students who know illumination seem to be more at ease with it.


    "Come to think of it, ancient magic doesn''t require the use of a wand at all, it''s just that we''ve taken the bull by the horns in the past ..." one of the students said as an afterthought.


    In spite of all that, only 30% of the students had managed to outline a dull magic rune with their fingers by the end of class, and the number of students who had managed to make them emerge without the use of a hand was no more than five.


    "Ten points each for the first ten. Well, let''s see, thirty points each for Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, and twenty points each for Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Assignment, a fifteen-inch long essay-" Felix said.


    There was a wail from below the podium.


    But Felix remained unmoved.


    " - required to discuss the similarities and differences between wand casting, wandless casting, and gesture casting, as well as the differences brought about by psychological influences. Reference list of books." A list of book titles appeared on the board behind him, "Of course, if you can complete the second step at the next session, the assignment will be waived."


    The students looked as if they had just been handed a death sentence and then came back to life in the blink of an eye. Clearly, they had underestimated the difficulty of this.


    "Around Halloween, we will be learning new content. Students who fail to meet the requirement will receive a detention."


    Felix neatly ended the sixth year''s first day of ancient rune class and departed with Valen, who was bored enough to draw abstract paintings with her exclusive wand in class, and the two argued rapidly as they walked -


    "Didn''t you insist on coming?"


    "Kee!"


    "No, you''re just too idle enough to keep picking on that guy, and he didn''t look at your eyes properly, so I guess he has suffered a defeat in your hands in the past..."


    Many of the students had overused their brains, so they slumped on their chairs with dull expressions.


    "My head is full of flaring flames right now." Seamus muttered in a small voice, yawning widely, and then as if it was contagious, all the students became drowsy.


    Hermione kept rubbing her forehead.


    "What''s the next lesson?" She asked wearily.


    "It''s Defence Against the Dark Arts." Neville said as he walked over, he didn''t seem to be that much affected by it.


    The image of an old man came to Harry''s mind, and he had given him an encouraging smile this morning. After a few moments of dawdling in the classroom, the students left one by one, lining up for the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, Harry opened the door, then suddenly pulled the door back and stared at the sign on the door with an expression like he had seen a ghost.


    "What''s wrong, Harry?" Hermione asked in surprise as she squeezed past and looked into the classroom, then she followed suit with her mouth wide open. In addition to that Professor Bagshot, there were four other people sitting neatly in the last row of the classroom -


    Snape, Professor McGonagall, Professor Hap, and Headmaster Dumbledore.


    At this moment, the old, wrinkled man standing on the podium in the sunlight looked tall and mysterious.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 620: Sixth Grade Defense Against the Dark Arts class

    In the classroom, Grindelwald was carefully polishing the wand in his hand. The black velvet cloth brushed over the smooth, supple body of the wand and the fine, glittering gems. His movements were meticulous, and he finished his work under the watchful eyes of the four professors with different agendas.


    He put aside the velvet cloth and brought the wand up to his eyes, gazing at it for a moment before blowing the dust off it with all his might.


    It was only then that Grindelwald turned his head and gazed at the messy queue in the corridor through the door frame. Harry stood at the front and a little girl with messy, brown hair squeezed halfway into the classroom, her mouth wide open in an O-shape from surprise.


    "Come in." He said with a wide grin.


    The students swarmed in.


    Harry wanted to say hello to the new professor, but he finally opted for silence. His mind was completely filled with the image of statue-like professors sitting in the last row... Why was Snape here? For what reason did Professor McGonagall decide to show up? And Professor Hap, Headmaster Dumbledore, have they all made an appointment?


    Hermione walked in with her feet barely on the ground, she picked a seat in the first row and sat down, not daring to breathe.


    Harry had already walked past that bench, but he abruptly turned around dramatically, his shoes scraping the floor with an ear-piercing screech as he sat down stiffly next to Hermione. Then Ron, Neville, and Seamus came in ... Every student who entered restrained his or her brash movements and tiptoed like a kitten at the sight of the four professors.


    The Slytherin students exchanged glances with each other, hiding the very obvious hostility they had deep into their hearts. They had planned to make a fool of the new professor as a way of avenging their Head, but now they became a little confused - if it had been just Snape, they would have taken it for granted that their Head had come to the door to pick a fight, but they did not expect that Professor Snape would pull in three other colleagues along with him, not to mention the fact that he also included Professor McGonagall, who had always been known for being serious and fair, as well as the Headmaster Dumbledore, who had personally appointed this person.


    When all the students were seated, the last three rows of seats still remained empty.


    "Snicker."


    Someone laughed softly as if they found the current scene amusing. It would have been amusing to him too if he had been in a different place - Harry thought indignantly - if he had been standing at the podium, or at the back of the classroom and seen the students acting like quails, but now he is one of those students, so he can''t bring himself to empathize with Professor Hap''s laughter.


    He could only focus on the new professor.


    The room had plenty of light. The bright morning sunlight was cast straight through the huge open windows and shone on Professor Bagshot''s face, illuminating every wrinkle in his face. He wore a black wizard robe and had a thinner than normal body frame, but he looked much better than when Harry had first seen him. His grey hair pulled together at the back of his head, the fine wrinkles on his neck hidden under the collar of his wizard robes, and the baggy skin on the backs of his hands showed up a little bit, his hands looked long and dexterous, but they were no longer young, eroded by time - except for his slightly sunken pair of blue eyes, which shone in the sunlight like the glistening waves reflecting on the surface of the black lake outside the window.


    Grindelwald put away his wand, held his hands behind his back, and looked around the classroom.


    "Hogwarts," he said, "an ancient school of witchcraft and wizardry that stands up well above any other magic school in the world. I hope to see some vigour in your faces."


    A faint hint of pride showed on the students'' faces, and their bodies couldn''t help but straighten up as they sat with pride.


    "Ah, it looks like you have realized that you are in the company of an excellent group of people, and this would be a good place to start." Grindelwald said softly, his voice tinged with a hint of hoarseness, but the students couldn''t help but be drawn in.


    They noticed that the professor turned slightly on his toes each time he spoke so that his body would fully face some of the students.


    "I lived in this school for a while, and what impressed me the most was one sentence." Grindelwald uttered a Latin phrase and asked, rather expectantly, "Can anyone tell me what this sentence means?"


    A large part of the class glanced at a girl in the front row. There, Hermione''s arm jabbed like a javelin through the air, raising her hand so fast it almost hit Harry, and Grindelwald caught the students'' gaze and focused his gaze on her.


    "It means ''Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon'', sir." Hermione said a little nervously, "and also the Hogwarts motto."


    "Your name, miss?" Grindelwald took out the roll call.


    "Granger, Hermione Granger." Hermione murmured.


    "Granger." Grindelwald repeated, glancing vaguely at Felix in the last row, who was whispering something to Snape. "Please sit down, Ms. Granger. Oh, I forgot one thing - five extra points for Gryffindor." After saying that he casually tossed the roll call onto the table. "I''d prefer to get to know you all this way. Take out your textbook."


    "Which one ... sir?" A student asked, raising his hand unhurriedly.


    "How Muggles Thinks, and, you can call me Professor Bagshot," Grindelwald asked Draco, "Your name is?" S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Draco Malfoy."


    "Another familiar name, a full member of the Dark Force Defence League? Now turn the book over to page 147 and read the chapter titled ''Social Organization''. You have ten minutes."


    "But Professor Bagshot," a tall student said with a frown, "why are we learning this stuff in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class?" His friend Justin tugged on his sleeve, but he still stubbornly asked, "I mean, if I want to understand how muggles are thinking, why won''t I attend the Muggle Studies class?"


    The other students stopped what they were doing with the book in their hands - frankly, they also had very little interest in the book they are holding, for the same reasons as Ernie. No one wants to stupidly read a muggle studies book in a Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and they were all waiting for someone to object to it, the student''s eyes moved back and forth between Ernie and Professor Bagshot.


    "Your name."


    "Ernie Mcmillan." Ernie puffed out his chest.


    "Hufflepuff?"


    "Yes, yes." Ernie''s body shrank a bit, and for some reason, he suddenly felt the professor''s gaze was very intimidating.


    "Mr. Mcmillan from Hufflepuff, why don''t you spare ten minutes to read through the contents of that page? The answer is in there."


    Then the sound of reluctant reading and flipping through the book was heard.


    Dumbledore lowered his voice and asked with interest, "I may have missed something, is there anything interesting in that chapter?" Snape and Professor McGonagall turned their eyes to Felix in unison, and Felix said in the same near whisper, "Just an introduction to some Muggle clubs, societies, and social events."


    Ten minutes passed quickly.


    "Can anyone tell me what you all learned?" Grindelwald looked around and asked, "Mcmillan?"


    Ernie was sweating a little from nervousness.


    "Well ... I learned about a lot of Muggle clubs and group organizations, like unions, hobby clubs, and associations, committees, religious churches, academic clubs, political clubs, parties, bands ... "


    "No, Mr. Mcmillan, no." Grindelwald said softly, "I''m not asking you to repeat what you read. Unless there was a mistake in judgement, I don''t think there are any blind people in this room." There was a low chuckle from the students, but instead of laughing, Grindelwald looked serious.


    "Use your brain," his tone became sharp, "your brains are there for thinking - Harry Potter?"


    Harry stood up with a blank expression.


    "Tell me what comes to your mind."


    "Er, a lot of people ...?" Harry whispered, very unsure about it. Some of the students laughed lightly.


    "Rephrase it differently."


    "I think it is about some groups." Harry raised his voice.


    "It''s close enough." Grindelwald stepped toward him.


    "The ... crowd?" Harry said, racking his brain.


    "Crowd, yes, that''s right." Grindelwald said, patting Harry on the shoulder, "When you tear off the elaborate guise, you will all be able to see a crowd of people. Spot on the answer, Potter, please take your seat." He returned to the lectern.


    Harry tried his best not to let the confusion on his face show as he sat back in his seat, he couldn''t help but wonder what he had just answered.


    But his attention had been completely drawn to Professor Bagshot''s words.


    "We, human beings," Grindelwald said, "are weak and above all lazy, not quite capable of dealing with all those complex logics and thinkings, but yet we all try to make ourselves appear less ignorant, so we divide everyone we meet into different groups and label them... ..."


    "Good, bad; British, European; Hogwarts, Durmstrang; you and I are on the same side, and he''s on the opposite side of us... there''s always an excuse. We are so desperate to seek identity, to form communities out of our relationships, due to the fear that we will be left behind and become isolated."


    "As an ancient school of witchcraft and wizardry, perhaps even one of the oldest, you - the students of Hogwarts - have an obligation to fight against this defect, which is rooted deep inside our flesh and spirit, and to avoid mediocrity. Mediocre people are too lazy to think independently, and then they rely so heavily on the group that in the end they end up casually surrendering the rights they are meant to enjoy."


    "And groups are the most irrational of all."


    The classroom became silent. At this point, Dumbledore cleared his throat, "Professor Bagshot." With that Grindelwald immediately changed the subject, "Earlier Mr. Macmillan asked what the thinking of muggles had to do with the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. I will answer that now."


    "The purpose of this class is to teach students how to defend themselves against danger. I can see that you have learned how to defend yourselves against dark creatures, how to defend yourselves against evil hexes, but I find that there is a huge deficiency in your ability to protect yourselves, from a category of danger that you have not taken into account, a danger that is soooo close to you and which you are ignoring, in case -"


    "Professor Bagshot." Dumbledore raised his voice, and there was a certain element of warning in his tone.


    Grindelwald shut his mouth as he drew his wand and with his backhand, he stabbed the tip of it like a dagger on the lectern.


    The classroom was suddenly clouded with fog.


    The student''s vision became blurred, and for a moment Harry and a dozen other students stood up, clutching their wands and looking around warily. Grindelwald was slightly taken aback by their reaction, but outwardly he was completely indifferent to it. He stared at Dumbledore, who stood up with an angry look in his eyes, and lightly made some gestures and mouthed some words.


    Felix narrowed his eyes. What Grindelwald had said was: you can stop me now, but you can''t stop what--


    He abruptly stopped at that point.


    The students in the classroom didn''t know anything about it; they just looked at Harry and the students of the frontline lookout club in wonder, wondering why they had reacted so strongly. But right away, they heard the chaotic sound of booted footsteps and fierce slogans, as if it was coming from a distant place.


    The colourful flags and merry marching crowds came towards them from behind Professor Bagshot and then went straight through them - the students subconsciously leaned back physically, but they quickly realized that it was just an illusion and that those people - who are presumably muggles - would not be able to affect them at all.


    They had seen such a similar but advanced scene in Classroom Seven.


    "The London New Year''s Parade, quite a famous festive celebration." Grindelwald said casually, "It attracts hundreds of thousands of people every year from all over the United Kingdom Countries and the rest of the world, nothing to fuss about ... after all there are almost sixty million people in the UK alone and the total population of the world is closer to six billion."


    The students at the bottom let out a gasp of awe. They stared at the dense crowd, laughing and celebrating all the way.


    Harry had seen many parades, but he lived in Surrey, where the population was only a few hundred thousand, and it was nowhere near as spectacular as London''s. The Dursleys did go to London on New Year''s Day, but he wasn''t part of it every time, and when the time came, he would be left in the care of Mrs. Figg.


    But Hermione had obviously seen such a scene before, and she was giving Harry and Ron a little history lecture, "The London Parade has been very popular since its inception in 1987, and is the most important festive celebration of the year. There are many professional performers will appear from all over the world, and it covers dance, music, juggling, cheerleading, and vintage car displays ... It''s a feast for the eyes and ears like no other."


    "It''s lively." Ron said with a look of exaltation.


    Soon the students were watching with rapt attention, it was a very novel experience for them - as if they were watching a muggle film for the first time in an ancient runes'' classroom, and they were completely captivated. The faces of many of them were infected by the joyful crowd, with the same joy and smiles spreading across their faces.


    "I''ve never seen a balloon that big before." A student tilted his head as a giant colourful figure seemed to go through the ceiling.


    "Hey! Those dancing girls are so pretty!"


    Grindelwald tapped his wand on the table and the cheerful scene froze in an instant. The fog was dissipating and the marching crowd paused before turning their heads in unison with stiff movements and staring expressionlessly at the students in the classroom. Harry felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of hundreds of people staring at him, he seemed to forget how to breathe, and the joy in his head vanished all at once without a trace.


    Finally, the smoke disappeared, and with it, the stiff crowd was also gone.


    Harry slumped back on his seat, panting, his arms and legs seemed to be unsteady. He couldn''t help but imagine just now what would happen if those people suddenly rushed up to him, those cold, indifferent eyes without a hint of emotion, like an Inferius ... he shivered.


    He looked around - Hermione was shivering, Ron and Neville were pale as if they had been seriously ill. A few seats away, Malfoy''s lips were pursed tightly, his eyes glinted strangely, and a few students even dry-heaved silently.


    "By now you should have figured it out: with the ever-increasing number of Muggles and the rise of what they call ''technology'', the Statute of Secrecy is under ever-growing pressure, and what I''m about to teach you- "


    Grindelwald narrowed his eyes - looking back at Professor McGonagall''s angry stare, Snape''s scrutinizing gaze, and a serious-looking Felix - before locking eyes with Dumbledore on the other side of the classroom, and he grinned to reveal his white teeth.


    "-is about how to hide yourself better."


    The rest of the class went on without any further incidents as if what had happened before was just a hiccup, and Grindelwald proceeded to follow the teaching schedule, introducing the students to the concept of the ''Nonverbal spell''.


    "Simply put, a Nonverbal spellcasting is simply a means of stealth casting, it gives you a head start and information advantage in a duel, and it is also incredibly effective when you use it while keeping yourself concealed in Muggle society." He added.


    Grindelwald demonstrated this personally by pointing his exclusive wand at himself, his wizard''s robes immediately changing into a set of muggle clothes, and his slim cheeks turning into the face of another middle-aged man.


    If they hadn''t been so frightened earlier, the students would have applauded for this complex and subtle transfiguration.


    Grindelwald glanced at the clock, "There are only about ten minutes left, so please continue to read your textbook and I believe you will have a different insight." While the students were reading in silence, Dumbledore quietly stood up.


    "Professor Bagshot, we need to talk about your syllabus."


    "Oh, no problem." Grindelwald said, "Headmaster Albus Dumbledore."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 621: Tom

    Ten minutes passed quickly. The class bell rang, and the students silently turned their heads and looked at the three professors behind them. It was the first time they had encountered such a situation, where the professor of the class was missing, but many other subject professors were present instead.


    Professor McGonagall stood up from the back of the classroom. "Students, you are free to leave. As for the homework-" She pursed her lips tightly, her eyes slightly hesitant under her boxed glasses, clearly reluctant to overstep her bounds, especially when she was not impressed with the lecture.


    "You can ask your professor yourselves," Felix interjected, "but it''s also a nice idea if you want to keep this mystery until the next class."


    Professor McGonagall''s protest was instantly drowned out by cheers and the noise of scattered groups, and in almost a blink of an eye, the classroom was a third empty, with several members of the frontline lookout club rushing out ahead of the others with quick, agile movements and impressive skill.


    "Oh, uh-" Hermione stood looking at the doorway as if expecting to see the new professor make it back at the last minute, but her roommates Lavender and Parvati dragged her away from left and right.


    There was a shout of approval from the corridor.


    The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom looked like a mess - the seats were lopsided and pieces of parchments were flying. Professor McGonagall gave Felix a stern look, but it was obvious she had more important things to attend to. She tapped her wand on a piece of scribbled parchment, which folded up automatically and was stuffed into her pocket.


    Felix glanced at the parchment, which filled with Grindelwald''s out-of-place remarks in class. The Transfiguration professor seemed to be the one who was most prepared, and he reckoned that Professor McGonagall would soon show up in the Headmaster''s office with this evidence.


    Grindelwald was indeed unruly.


    Felix couldn''t help but think. All he had to do was change a few words in what he had said, and it would turn into a nice wizard''s declaration of war preparations against the Muggles, and the sudden turn from festive celebrations to cold-eyed hostility was a godsend, capturing hearts and emotions quite accurately.


    But he also annoyed Dumbledore by doing so. Although his attitude was clearly withdrawn towards the end, none of the four professors who came to the lecture today were fools, and they all could pick up the implied meanings.


    When Professor McGonagall''s tartan robes disappeared out of sight, Snape''s upper lip curled up, and he looked at Felix wistfully.


    "You''ve met your match."


    Felix rolled his eyes. "As you said, merely a match. I''m not the only one with whom he''s going to have trouble, and he''s probably being lectured in the cold breeze right now." He speculated with some malice. Grindelwald''s misinterpretation of the original meaning of his book today had certainly earned another mental note in Felix''s mind.


    In summary, the relationship between the two of them was both good and bad. When it was good, they could talk openly without concern, exchanging in-depth views on the current situation; when it was bad, they naturally denounced each other without any hesitation.


    One calls the other naive and irresponsible; the other asks for advice on how the one has lost 100,000 acolytes.


    On top of the Astronomy Tower.


    It is the highest place in Hogwarts Castle, with a wide view. It is usually only open at night when the students are having their astronomy lessons, and is rarely visited during the day.


    Likewise, it is therefore also a good place for conversation.


    Dumbledore stood by the wall of the tower, overlooking half of Hogwarts Castle and the Forbidden Forest from the heights. It had rained just yesterday, so the sky was cloudless and bright at the moment, with not a single cloud blocking the view.


    Grindelwald stared at his back as if he was wondering how to push Dumbledore off the high ground.


    But he simply paced slowly over to him, and his eyes flashed with memories. S~?a??h the ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Both men had been at their low point when they first met - of course, it was in Godric''s Hollow - at a time when Dumbledore''s mother had barely passed away and Grindelwald had been expelled from school for his dangerous research on dark magic, which, of course, was probably a good thing for him, because Grindelwald didn''t think he would learn anything else from the school, and with only a little bitterness, he hoofed his way to his aunt''s retirement house.


    There was supposedly a clue to the Deathly Hallows hidden there.


    In any case, he intended to search for it. Not to mention that his aunt, Bathilda Bagshot, who wrote the History of Magic, could be of great help to him in terms of information.


    But what Grindelwald never expected was that his aunt would introduce him to an equally talented boy named Dumbledore, a recent graduate with a heart full of sorrows with nowhere that he could vent them. They hit it off like fire and pot. Two young men only a year apart, brought together by their dream of a new order in the Wizarding world and by their unparalleled talent. They grew closer every day and finally, in a barn, they made a blood pact to swear ''never to fight each other''.


    But this relationship came to an abrupt end at its peak.


    Their love-hate relationship has since spanned almost a century, influencing each other at important points in each other''s lives, like a pair of inseparable gears, grinding each other''s lives apart while marking them with a deep and eternal imprint.


    Now, they are both old.


    "You brought me here just to see this view?" Grindelwald slowly asked.


    "You should know that people have just come out of the shadow of war and peace is hard to come by." Dumbledore said in a calm tone.


    The corners of Grindelwald''s mouth curled up with a sneer as he stood side by side with Dumbledore, watching with him as students about the size of matchsticks walked across the grounds below, the stone bridge, and the silhouettes flashing past the windows as they passed through the corridors of the castle.


    "A false peace. You and I both know that Dumbledore or you wouldn''t have allowed me to stay - speaking of that, it was easier to convince you than I thought, I just showed you that vision, and you agreed almost instantly."


    Grindelwald tilted his head slightly to look at Dumbledore.


    On the Astronomy tower, Dumbledore let out a sigh as he closed his eyes and then opened them again, as his eyes became clear.


    "Isn''t this exactly what you wanted?" He said, "You didn''t even forget to remind me - or threaten - in class with that massive anti-wizard parades you saw in the Vision. Maybe because the people from the International Confederation of Wizards made you feel threatened, and you were asking me for more rights."


    "They humiliated me and you just watched!"


    "It was the only way to get them to agree to your stay at the school." Dumbledore said solemnly.


    It had happened the day when Felix had left for the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the summer break. The International Confederation of Wizards had secretly sent a team to rigorously examine and assess Grindelwald''s physical condition.


    There was a moment of silence.


    "Just a year?" Grindelwald suddenly asked.


    "Just a year." Dumbledore said.


    "Oh, I see," Grindelwald grinned, showing neat teeth that didn''t match his face, "you must not be satisfied with the muggle professor at the school."


    "Professor Burbage is doing an excellent job." Dumbledore said gently.


    "Really, you mean all those flowers and plants she''s obsessed with?" Grindelwald sneered, "It may not have been anything before, but at this time of year, she is completely incompetent, just look at the old outdated textbooks she uses, nothing new, and her understanding of Muggle society seems to be stuck in the last century."


    "Charity needs time."


    "But you''re not going to give her time, which is why I''m standing here, Dumbledore, what exactly are you doing? What are you worried about?"


    Dumbledore closed his eyes and seemed to be asleep. When he heard footsteps moving away from him, he said slightly coldly, "Remember, Gellert, I can send you back anytime I want." There was a slight pause in the footsteps.


    "How unfeeling."


    Dumbledore was left alone in the Astronomy Tower. After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes and recalled in his mind the prophetic vision Grindelwald had shown him during the interview all over again.


    "Rita Skeeter." He murmured, "Why did you appear at the parade, and why are you so young and barely different from now? Does this foreshadow the inevitable exposure of the wizarding world, and it will happen in just a few years?"


    He took a black jewelled ring from his wide robe and slipped it on his finger, his other hand caressing the patterns on the surface of the jewel.


    A whirlwind swept into the Astronomy Tower.


    "Ariana." He whispered.


    ...


    "Can anyone tell me," Ron said as he swaggered into a soft armchair in the common room, "Obviously we had the same class, but only Hermione has her hands full?"


    Harry looked up from a sheet of parchment and saw that Hermione seemed to have buried herself in a pile of thick books - she had disappeared for a moment after the Defence Against the Dark Arts class and when she came back she looked like this.


    Harry shrugged, he thought this is the way that Hermione would act.


    So he lowered his head and continued to mull over the Quidditch selection, there are currently three old members left on the team - he, the captain and seeker, Ron, the keeper, and Katie Bell, the chaser - and he''d have to bring in at least four more people.


    Maybe he could consider bringing Ginny in.


    Harry thought idly and quickly became fascinated by the notion. Ginny had the opportunity to join the team last year, and she flew quite well, and Harry was confident that she would pass the selection process.


    But Ginny is in fifth grade this year and has O.W.Ls exams to prepare for. I wonder if she can find the time?


    Harry scribbled on his parchment and decided to look for an opportunity to ask, it seemed like ages since he had been alone with Ginny ... "Bang!" The books in front of Harry fell down in all directions, revealing Hermione''s annoyed face, as Ron pulled back his hand nervously, it seemed like he was about to pull one of the thick books out from underneath the stack.


    "Hermione, you didn''t get the time-turner behind our backs again, did you?" Ron asked before she could scold.


    "Of course not!" Hermione said, snatching the book back from Ron''s hand, "But since there are so many tasks to complete ..."


    "Tasks? Why didn''t I see anything?"


    Hermione said, "Ancient Runes assignment-" "No need to write it, I can meet the professor''s requirements." Ron said smugly, "Oh, well not at the moment, but have you noticed that the people who have succeeded have one thing in common? They''ve all mastered illumination, and it just so happens that I do too. In fact, I''ve got a bit of a feel of it already, with a bit of practice ..."


    "And the Defense Against the Dark Arts-"


    "I can''t believe someone would go to Professor Bagshot and ask for an assignment, that''s purely asking for trouble." Ron said without thinking, then looked at Hermione with a suspicious look on his face, "You wouldn''t have done that, would you?"


    Hermione puffed up in exasperation, with a strong urge to say yes.


    "Besides, we have no idea what homework is left for you right now." Ron added.


    Harry nodded in agreement, he was going to hold Quidditch selection at the weekend so the less homework he had for the first week the better it would be.


    "We can prepare for it early," Hermione said, "the Ancient Rune Advanced class is practical based, just by looking at Professor Hap you can probably guess what we will be learning this year, and Defence Against the Dark Arts, don''t you think the new professor''s statements are quite meaningful?"


    "Now that you mention it," Harry interjected, and said empathetically, "quite a few people were talking about that class at lunch." He looked around and lowered his voice, "I get the feeling that Professor Bagshot harbours hostility towards Muggles."


    It dawned on Ron, " Well, in that case, it does seem a bit ... I originally thought it was just his bad taste."


    "It might have something to do with his status and being ostracized." Harry guessed, thinking of what had happened to Filch.


    Then came a sudden burst of inspiration, "Maybe Professor Bagshot was drawn here by the exclusive wand, the timing could be almost right! And he probably suffered a lot in his home country, so he came to England without a second thought when he heard of the news-"


    "He''s a foreigner?" Ron asked in surprise.


    "Didn''t I mention that to you guys?" Harry said hesitantly, "He said he was from Austria."


    "Austria? So he might have graduated from Durmstrang?" Hermione said with interest.


    "Or maybe he didn''t go to school at all," Ron muttered in a hushed tone, "Don''t forget, he''s -" he grunted, "a Squib. "


    "Impossible," Hermione dismissed it flatly, "Surely you''ve seen enough today, he''s shown great mastery of human transfiguration in class, and with a non-verbal spell to boot! If he is a Squib, he could never have reached that level in a short time -" she looked thoughtfully at the scattered pile of books in front of her, "but it''s possible for him to be injured, to have serious after-effects from some magical experiment... ...or a limitation on spellcasting."


    Soon, the lunch break was almost over, and they were ready to go to their Potions class.


    "Oh no, I don''t have a Potions class textbook." Ron slapped his head, "I thought Snape will be teaching the class again this year."


    "I have a spare copy." Harry said.


    "Half-Blood Prince?" Ron''s eyes lit up, but he immediately frowned, "The handwriting on that is so scribbled, only Professor Hap''s notes are still readable."


    Neither of them mentioned that the book had once belonged to Snape, and rather tacitly agreed that it belonged to Professor Hap. Harry went back to his dorm and rummaged through the bottom of his box for the tattered copy of the Advanced Potion-Making book, and after that, the three of them went to Potions class.


    "I wonder how good the new professor is?" Ron muttered.


    "I suppose he''s good," Harry said, "Headmaster Dumbledore quite admires him."


    Actually, they weren''t exactly unfamiliar with this Professor Slughorn.


    Harry had visited him a lot during the summer break of his fourth year, and He, Ron, and Hermione had been invited to a small gathering of Slughorn''s this year in Hogwarts Express, but the result had been nothing but a bellyful of preserved fruit stuffed into their mouths while listening to the professor gush about the wonderful students he had taught and what they had achieved now.


    As a result all three still have no idea of the teaching level of their new professor.


    ...


    In the evening, Felix finished his teaching duties for the day.


    He returned to his office, "Remember to watch the house." He said to Valen, as he pushed open his bedroom door and headed down the magical link into classroom seven. Voldemort still floated lifelessly in mid-air, and the Ouroboros slowly spun, looking radiant due to the emotions from the new Patronus Harry had injected last night.


    Felix sat cross-legged on the empty floor.


    When he opened his eyes again, he had appeared quite suddenly at the door of an empty, unfurnished room, where a boy sat on a blanket-covered iron bed, reading a book in his hand.


    This is the Wool''s Orphanage, and the boy is Voldemort, who has not yet been enrolled.


    "Hello Tom," Felix said after a moment''s hesitation as he walked up to the bed, "I''m Professor Dumbledore."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 622: Young Tom Riddle

    The man in the sturdy wooden chair and the boy sitting on the bed looked at each other, and from the perspective of the young boy, it should be considered a visit from a doctor to a patient. So it is not all that surprising that the following conversation takes place. "Professor? Is it like a ''doctor''? What are you doing here? Did Mrs. Cole ask you to come and give me a check-up? I haven''t done anything to Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop at all, you can ask them yourself, and they''ll tell you!"


    Felix looked at Tom Riddle''s wary young face and was no stranger to these words. After all, he had heard these words many times before.


    "As I said - I''m Professor Dumbledore and I work at a school called Hogwarts. I''ve come to invite you to study at that school today-"


    Riddle jumped off the bed with a jolt of anger, and Felix lowered his glasses slightly. "Hogwarts is a school of magic, and I''m a wizard." And said.


    The words that Riddle wanted to say were clogged in his throat. He had thought that the so-called ''Hogwarts'' was nothing more than an Asylum for an Insane and that the man in front of him had been brought in by Mrs. Cole when she finally couldn''t take it anymore and wanted to get rid of him, but the other man said something very different.


    There was a long silence. Riddle stared at Felix expressionlessly, scanning up and down his body as if trying to pick up the slightest flaw. Felix looked back at him with interest, without a hint of discomfort.


    "Magic?" Riddle finally repeated softly, "Those skills of mine, are ... magic?"


    "What kind of skills you have?"


    "All sorts. I can make things move without touching them with my hands. I can make animals do my bidding without training. I can make whoever pisses me off miserable. I can hurt them if I want to." Riddle said in a lowered voice, looking exuberant, his face clouded with an unnatural flush. He lowered his head and stared at his hands, which were trembling badly, "I''ve known for a long time that I am different. I''ve known for a long time that I am special. I''ve known for a long time I have something that others don''t have."


    From the adult''s point of view, Riddle''s sunken cheeks could be seen twisting into a frenzied arc. Felix decided to do something about it, to stop following the original trajectory and make a change from the start.


    He reached into his trouser pocket. Riddle''s eyes suddenly shot upwards as fast as they could, staring at the movement of that hand. His head remained bowed, resulting in a few deep wrinkles piling up on his forehead, and you could only see the large whites of his eyes from below the bulging eyebrows.


    Felix pulled out a sheet of parchment.


    "What''s wrong?" He asked gently.


    "It''s nothing." Riddle promptly said, so Felix withdrew his gaze and unfolded the parchment by himself, and looked at its contents. Riddle hesitated for a moment and said, "I thought you might be carrying a weapon."


    "A weapon?"


    "I mean, the things for casting magic."


    "You mean a wand?"


    "So there really is one?" Riddle''s eyes immediately glanced over his body where there would be pockets as if to find a place that could hide something. "The orphanage invited someone from the church over once, and I asked that person about it, but she knew nothing about what witches and wizards could do, she just said they were evil."


    "Wizards are a secret to ordinary people." Felix explained, shaking his hand in front of Riddle''s face and a black wand appeared out of thin air, Riddle''s face immediately shone with greed as he pointed at it.


    "Where can I get one of these?"


    "You''ll get it when the time comes, besides, it''s not a weapon, it''s a tool to assist us in casting spells, you''ll learn how to control your magic and cast spells at the school." Felix said gently, "Let''s get back to the point, as a magic school professor, it is my duty to guide young wizards of muggle origin-"


    "What''s a muggle?" Riddle interrupted him impolitely.


    "-is a wizard whose parents are not wizards, or who have been raised in a non-magical environment where they cannot determine their origins."


    Riddle muttered something.


    "I will move on with that; it is my responsibility to educate young wizards from Muggle families about the wizarding world in general, as well as to assess their psychology and confirm their eligibility to pursue their studies at Hogwarts."


    Riddle''s face suddenly went stiff. The sky outside the window clouded over and thunder roared in the distance.


    "Psychological assessment?"


    "It''s just a standard process," Felix explained, glancing out of the window and speaking faster, "Just because Hogwarts is a wizarding school doesn''t mean there aren''t requirements for moral character. Never mind, you can just read it and see for yourself." He handed Riddle the makeshift rules.


    Riddle''s eyes withdrew from the wand, and he lowered his head to read the contents of the parchment.


    "Care for fellow students, no bullying ... no stealing and hogging property ..." he seemed to have suddenly thought of something and stiffly said, "I don''t have any money."


    "The school has grants." Felix looked at Riddle, "Do you have any questions about the contents listed on it?"


    "What will happen if you breach it?"


    "It depends on the case, generally a detention, if it''s serious it could result in expulsion or a stay in Azkaban, aka wizard prison."


    Riddle fell silent with an expressionless face as if weighing the pros and cons.


    "You claimed that wands are not weapons?" He asked abruptly, changing the subject.


    "Yes."


    "Prove it to me." He said pompously.


    Felix raised an eyebrow.


    "I mean ... please," Riddle said as he looked for a remedy, his whole being becoming courteous, "may I call you Professor Dumbledore, sir? Because you said ... you would educate me about common sense in magic, and I grew up in a magicless place where I never got to see my kind ..."


    Oddly enough, as he spoke, the thunder outside gradually diminished.


    Felix stood up and casually waved his wand, and the wooden chair he had just been sitting on immediately turned into a mighty lion, which run round the floor and turned into a badger, which darted all over the room and climbed up to the most elevated old cupboard in the room, and Riddle became nervous, but the little badger opened its arms and turned into a bronze eagle with widely spread wings. It stood on the cupboard and swooped down towards the two men, and at the last second, it transformed into a living snake.


    Riddle showed his fondness for it almost immediately.


    He said in a Parseltongue, "Stand up." The snake obediently raised its head. Riddle quietly raised his eyes to size up Felix and whispered, "I can talk to snakes, Professor Dumbledore. Is that normal for a wizard? Can you talk to snakes?"


    "It''s rare, I''ve only seen it mentioned in books."


    Riddle gazed down at the little snake and after a moment, he spoke again in a Parseltongue, and the little snake hissed as it lazily rolled up to twist and turn its belly in front of them. Felix''s expression remained unchanged, with a faint smile on his face.


    What he said in the Parseltongue was ''Can you die like a real snake?


    "Where should I go to buy books, Professor Dumbledore?"


    Felix pulled another envelope from his pocket and handed it to Riddle, "It contains a shopping list and train ticket, you can look at them first, I''ll come back next week and take you to buy the necessary items for school-"


    "I don''t need you," said Riddle, "I''m used to doing things on my own, I have spent most of my time running around London by myself. So where should I go - Professor Dumbledore?"


    "I''m afraid not," Felix shook his head, "I don''t have any money with me today, and - it''s dangerous enough to let a young wizard wander into unfamiliar places. I have a dozen more homes to visit this week, and I''ll take you to Diagon Alley when it''s over, where you''ll find everything you need."


    "Maybe you''ll make a friend or two a little ahead of time as well."


    The two men stared at each other, the first time Felix had entered the room and explicitly rejected Riddle. Boom! A bolt of lightning exploded in front of the window, but neither of the two averted their gaze. "Okay, Professor Dumbledore, I''ll see you next week." Riddle said.


    Felix nodded at him, ignoring the glint of red that appeared in his eyes. Waving his hand, he let the wriggling snake on the floor turn back into a wooden chair.


    The moment he closed the door, the scene outside became a blur, the long corridor opened up its bloody maw, ready to devour people. Felix strides down the stairs and a thin, scrawny woman - she is Mrs. Cole, the orphanage''s matron - darted up to meet him.


    "Mr. Dumbledore - excuse me, you are Dumbledore, right? I see, have you finished your business?"


    "Yes, Mrs. Cole. I will be visiting again next week."


    "No problem," Mrs. Cole said, and the two went downstairs together, "it''s a good thing - oh, slow down, you''re going too fast." She called out, and by the time she reached the corner in the centre of the ground floor, Felix was already at the door.


    He opened the door and turned to look at the large cloud of black smoke rising from the dilapidated, black and white tiled foyer, but strangely enough, everyone around him had turned a blind eye to it, their eyes glowing with an oozing red light just like Riddle''s had.


    "Why don''t we have a shot of a bottle of gin ... Hap?" Mrs. Cole''s voice became low and husky as a crowd of people with glowing red eyes approached with rigid expressions.


    "Goodbye." Felix simply said briefly and slammed the door with a bang.


    The street was surrounded by black clouds and the wind was howling as Felix jumped quickly down the steps outside the door and passed the barren courtyard with lightning-fast footsteps. The heavy iron gate slammed shut behind him.


    As soon as he stepped out, Felix waved his arms dramatically.


    The wind blew harder, black clouds seemed to fall low enough to brush the nearby buildings, and from the tumbling clouds a hideous face twisted and appeared, a crack appeared in the ground beneath Felix''s feet, extending rapidly into the distance.


    The entire Wool''s Orphanage sank violently downwards.


    Felix''s expression became serious, knowing that the backlash brought on by the alteration in memory had arrived and Voldemort''s will had started to automatically erase this memory that should not exist. He pulled a silvery-blue blob, neither gas nor liquid, out of his pocket, then his figure flashed in quick succession as the blank shards of memory merged into the fissure, patching it up.


    When Felix stopped, the phenomenon disappeared, and although the earth was left with an ugly scar and the sky looked like it had been duct-taped together, the memory was temporarily saved from being completely shredded by Voldemort.


    Felix stood on the pavement and sighed in relief. After more than two months of trial and error, and with the information provided by Dumbledore, he had finally taken the first step and managed to plant a seed in Voldemort''s mind.


    What he had to do is much more than simply modifying the memories.


    Fragmented memory alterations would not work, an Archmage like Voldemort would have perfect definitions of his own memories, altering, masking, blocking, or gluing in a few fake memories would only make him realize immediately that something was wrong, causing minimal impact.


    Felix didn''t think that false memories would make Voldemort cry and sincerely repent.


    Besides, Voldemort''s soul was already very fragile from the split, and if Felix made a drastic adjustment, the results could be devastating.


    So Felix decided to open up another battleground - a separate branch that split off from Voldemort''s memories, which is now this Wool''s Orphanage in front of him. Felix would replace Dumbledore in Riddle''s memory, as he really had gone back to 1930s London, England, and nurture him by being his Transfiguration teacher for seven years.


    Of course, Felix doesn''t really need to spend seven years.


    The time in memory would move quite rapidly, he just needed to appear at the crucial point in time for Voldemort, to give the right guidance and keep the beneficial results from it fixed with ''memory nodes'' to make this Riddle strong.


    Felix didn''t have any expectation of making Voldemort into a good person; from the first few times, he had observed the scene when Riddle and Dumbledore first met, he could see that Riddle had developed an early independent, cautious, aloof, and extremely aggressive personality.


    Felix simply wanted Riddle to be a normal person with a different life path than the Dark Lord. The more ''experiences'' he had, the more his personality would be very different from his own, but the two would eventually merge. Because memory is just a memory, not a soul, and cannot exist as individual life. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    As Felix paced around the orphanage, he went over to one of the walls and stared at a window on the third floor.


    From this angle, only the top of Tom Riddle''s head could be seen.


    At this moment, Riddle is sitting expressionlessly on his bed, with a book list, train ticket, and questionnaires that are not supposed to exist, placed in front of him, and slowly he furrows his brow. For some reason, just as they parted, he had a sudden desire to attack the young Professor Dumbledore, a desire that came out of nowhere.


    But that would be the absolute stupidest thing to do; he still had to rely on this man to enter the wizarding world.


    At the thought of magic, Riddle''s nostrils flared with excitement and ragged breaths erupted from his nostrils. Then he lowered his head and stared at the questionnaire. He had matured earlier than most of his peers and was wise enough to analyse the hidden details from just a few words.


    Hogwarts has its own rules, the same as those pesky ones out here. This meant that the wizarding world is equally well-ordered. Riddle wasn''t sure how much the professor knew about him, but Dumbledore had mentioned ''making friends'', did that imply something?


    Riddle felt a little uneasy as he stared at the old cupboard.


    Stealing is forbidden at Hogwarts.


    Dumbledore would be back next week.


    He had to do something. Riddle got out of bed, walked over to the worn cupboard, and jerked the door open. Inside there were several old clothes and a small cardboard box on the highest shelf.


    Riddle took a deep breath, remembering clearly where each item in the box came from; Dennis Bishop''s swimming pull reel, Amy Benson''s harmonica and a silver thimble ... and all other trophies that he had snatched from the other kids.


    But there is no need to rush, Riddle thought, it would be best to wait until the day before that Dumbledore''s next visit to hand them over.


    He slammed the cupboard door shut and stared at the grey mirror on the door, then a smile began to spread across his face as Riddle showed far more patience than a child his age should have, constantly adjusting the curve of his mouth, the position of his arms, and his posture.


    He is exceptionally gifted, and soon he is doing a decent job.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 623: Quidditch Selection (2 in 1)

    By the time Felix returned to his room, it was very late and the sky had turned inky black. Valen yawned in boredom as she made colourful sparks erupt from the tip of her exclusive wand, and wondered: how could that old guy who had fried her little snake have managed to do incredible things with his exclusive wand? It is obvious that her wand has more gems.


    When she saw the Great Demon King push open the door and come out, Valen immediately scurried up to his shoulder and chattered.


    "You can''t compare him to Filch," Felix said, "Filch hasn''t really been exposed to magic in all his life, so even if he gets another exclusive wand, he has to rely heavily on the built-in magic within the gem ... "He looked over at his desk where a few letters were placed, and there were also many messy owl claw marks and biscuit crumbs on his desk.


    Valen patted her chest to show that she had entertained the guests.


    "Good job."


    Felix walked over to the desk and sat down, opened the letter, and skimmed through it quickly; the first two letters came from Ms. Bones and Lupin, and the only thing that was more unexpected was the fact that Rita Skeeter had written to him as well.


    The owners of several of the letters gave a general introduction to their recent activities, with Ms. Bones being the briefest, as she had been writing letters to him for some time, so many greetings had been omitted.


    "... All is well, Sirius sent me a set of puzzles today, said it was a muggle pastime ... Ah, Merlin, I have no idea what''s going on in his head, don''t I look busy enough? " The next few paragraphs were all about Sirius, and mentioned his new job, but most of them were complaints that served no purpose other than to make Felix even more regretful that he hadn''t caught him before school started. "He''s not the only one gathering information, but I''m short of people I can trust completely, and there are rumours going around the Ministry right now that I''m preparing a whole series of reforms, but I feel more like a puppet, Felix Hap, you bastard, you have never told me that you''ve opened Future World Company in Muggle society, a whole seven branches!"


    Felix grinned, after so many days of correspondence, Ms. Bones had sort of gotten to know him well - or maybe learned from Sirius - and Felix made a note of it. He picked up his quill and wrote back.


    "Amelia, those seven outlets won''t come in handy for future plans, and the clerks aren''t even aware that their boss is a wizard, which would seriously dent their motivation in the future... Regarding the staffing issue, I do have some suggestions. If it''s a matter of secrecy, I suggest you expand the Muggle Liaison Office on a limited basis. The reasons are also readily available: the old laws are not keeping up with the current changes, and there is an urgent need to update the articles, for which a great deal of information needs to be collected ..."


    Felix glanced at Rita Skeeter''s pink envelope, and an idea suddenly struck him.


    "... I can recommend someone who has a good position in the Muggle media, with access to valuable sources of information, and has a keen media sense. ... You should have heard of her, her name is Rita Skeeter. It''s incredible how fast she has managed to climb the social ladder in just two years'' time, isn''t it?


    And by the way, you can talk to Mundungus about smuggling, I''m sure it''ll be a shock, but don''t give him a single bit of information - he''s notorious for selling information, and in a dire time, you can even buy him off with a glass of hot Firewhisky... "


    The second letter came from Lupin, and as Felix looked at the dense table on it, it became apparent that what Lupin was about to explain was official business.


    "... A total of 127 exclusive wands were sold, and all of the buyers had previous ties to the magical community, so they were quickly vetted by the Ministry of Magic. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The only exception was Mrs. Arabella Figg, Dumbledore wrote to me specifically asking for a favour, in fact, there was really no need, when I saw that she lived in Privet Drive I knew exactly what was going on. ... The Ministry of Magic''s branch office two streets away was packed and a number of parents of students came over with the intention of trying it out, all in all, there was quite a buzz. There''s a new business that advertises itself as ''re-employment skills training'', I don''t know who came up with that term ... but frankly it will take time for them to get official approval, the wizarding community can''t accept so many people at once... ..."


    "Arthur has been very happy lately. His son Percy has become the youngest head in the Ministry and is said to be younger than the former Chesterton Avery, but of course, Avery is a thing of the past and his death is still an unsolved case with no Death Eater acknowledging responsibility for this crime ... Percy is now busy negotiating and preparing documents with the Ministry of Magic in fourteen countries every day. Penelope said that he has plans to learn two more foreign languages and try to surpass Mr. Crouch, which, I think, is really a difficult task ..."


    Felix wrote back in a cheerful mood.


    But he was not that happy when he unfolded the letter from Rita Skeeter; this woman had sent the letter to ask for money! She took credit for the hot buzz of the exclusive wand, but Felix didn''t share the same view, and he couldn''t remember when he had ever conveyed that level of interest. So when Felix passed the letter on to Valen, not only did he immediately gain an ally who was on the same page as him, but Valen also volunteered to help him in writing a reply, which Felix agreed to with a grin on his face.


    He read the entire two sheets of parchment refuting it and didn''t change a single word, except for a slight mention at the end that the Ministry of Magic is rich and there will be opportunities to make extra money in the near future. But the mouth must be tight, or the consequences would be far worse than the illegal Animagus thing...


    After finishing all this, Felix stretched and paced to stand in front of the window.


    He stared at the dark silhouette of the castle, the forbidden forest, and the hills in the distance, and thought about the tributary that had been branched out from the depths of Voldemort''s memory. It is too early to call it a ''tributary'', it is at best a small spring that would not exist without Felix''s help.


    The cool night breeze blew in his face, bringing him the scent of lush vegetation. Valen climbed up along his trouser leg and looked out over the shimmering black lake in the moonlight, and handed him a chocolate frog in the process. Felix ripped open the wrapper and took a bite out of the chocolate frog''s head.


    The sweetness and bitterness of the chocolate melted away in his mouth as he looked at the picture on the chocolate frog card. The picture showed an angry woman with long black hair and a pair of half-moon-rimmed glasses, and she was holding a huge sign that read ''Stop Spell Suppression!''.


    Felix glanced at the witch''s name: Carlotta Pinkstone. He froze for a moment; that radical activist? He turned the picture over to the back and, sure enough, there was her introduction printed on it as


    Carlotta Pinkstone (1922��present):


    Famous campaigner for lifting the International Confederation of Wizards'' Statute of Secrecy and telling Muggles that wizards still exist. Ms. Pinkstone has been imprisoned several times for her blatant and deliberate use of magic in public places.


    If his maths was correct, this person will be released this year, Felix thought, a year ahead of Barty Crouch. He is going to keep an eye on the most recent papers, there are just under four months to go before the end of the year.


    Felix yawned and rubbed his forehead, on his way back to his bedroom he saw that the tower light in the Headmaster''s office was still on, it seemed he wasn''t the only one who couldn''t sleep tonight. He just wonders, would the school replace the new Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts class at the speed of light?


    As it turned out, Dumbledore had somehow managed to convince Grindelwald, and the next few lessons were only related to non-verbal spells. But Felix would not assume that Grindelwald had subscribed to those Muggle military magazines purely out of interest.


    It wasn''t just due to paranoia; Dumbledore had once asked for a copy of the Marauder''s map, and it was hard to believe that Dumbledore hadn''t asked for it out of concern that this old man would sneak out and smuggle back a full set of Muggle military equipment to use as teaching aids.


    It probably wouldn''t be long before the course would progress to the chapter on ''how to identify and defend against small firearms''. There''s no need for Grindelwald to worry about how to make a full outline about it or even part of it; Felix has provided great detail in ''The ''Magic'' of the Muggle World'' book...


    Because of the requirements of the non-verbal spell casting and the wandless manifestation of magic rune, it was common to see red-faced students everywhere in the school these days, glaring at a plant, or the food on their plates. If one stared long enough, one would see the expressions on these students'' faces quickly slide down from pique to a dull stare. Felix had seen a similar sight almost every year, but he still found it interesting, the students looked as if they were programmed to behave more or less the same, and Felix was tempted to write to the Weasley twins to give them ideas for their new product.


    The non-verbal spell is not a specific spell, but a whole set of spell casting techniques that are used in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration classes. The sudden and strict requirements had left the sixth-year students in a severely frustrated mood, and it was as if they were back to the last two months of their fifth-year O.W.Ls exams, and their whole being seemed like they were possessed.


    "I''m not in a nightmare, am I?" Seamus complained loudly, "Nonverbal spell, Ancient Runes class that require wandless spell casting, and the Herbology class that made us deal with tentacles that spewed slimy jizz ..."


    After two days, the students finally realized that none of the sixth-year Advanced Classes are easy. Neither the Nonverbal spell nor the Wandless Manifestation of Magic Rune, in particular, could be mastered in a short time, and it was rumoured that Professor Hap had claimed in the fifth-year class that he had prepared large detention rooms for students who couldn''t meet the requirements and still failed to write their assignment.


    "It''s true." Luna said to Ron from the bleachers at Saturday''s Quidditch selection.


    Ron had a bitter look on his face; he certainly hadn''t written a single word on his essay, and to make the matter worse - he wasn''t sure whether or not he is considered as meeting the requirement. During the breakfast hour, Hermione had advised him to stop trying to leave things to chance, "Unless the professor keeps an eye on you from start to finish in the next class and gives you dozens of chances to try, you''re not going to make it, and that''s simply not going to happen!"


    The success rate, yes, is a problem that plagues all students who have taken the Ancient Runes class.


    It was quite obvious that the professor is far more tricky than the young wizards could ever imagine, and he certainly wouldn''t give one person dozens of chances, that wouldn''t be realistic. There are plenty of students in the class now, and even Ron couldn''t think of any reason for the professor to agree. But the problem is, at the moment, there is no student who is 100% successful, Neville had given up early and asked for a reference book list from Hermione that the professor had given out in advance, and was reading the bulk of the book with a whimper.


    Seamus and Dean in the same dorm were affected by this and barely managed to read a few dozen pages, and then those books proved to have incredibly good hypnotic effects.


    So when Ron''s eyes averted from the messy Quidditch pitch - Harry was busy as captain - he nearly dropped his jaw when he saw a few magic runes dancing around Luna''s fingertips.


    "How did you do that?" Ron said, swallowing hard, as he could see clearly that Luna wasn''t holding a wand in her hand.


    "What do you mean?" Luna said cheerfully, she loved the hustle and bustle over the silence, so it was no surprise that she appeared when half of Gryffindor House and a small group of other house students had come over, not to mention her good friend Ginny also participating in the selection process, with her fiery red hair shining brightly in the pitch.


    Ron pointed at the magic runes in Luna''s hand and his eyes went wide.


    "You have to make friends with them," Luna said, "they each have their own personalities, there are some I don''t know very well yet, they''re quite temperamental ... but on the whole, they''re pretty good to deal with. "


    "Can you tell me more?"


    Ron listened with some confusion, but also found this insight very refreshing, maybe he could write Luna''s comments in his essay?


    Luna went into more detail, each magic rune had its own personality and mood in her eyes, and she even managed to tell the stories of some of the magic runes, finding corresponding characters for them. "I think this one feels like Harry." She said.


    Ron stared at the purple magic rune Luna is pointing at, and then at Harry, who was shouting at the top of his lungs on the pitch; he couldn''t really imagine what the two had in common; is it because of the messy ring of light resembles Harry''s hair, or does this rune also have a flat lightning bolt shape at the tip of its symbol?


    What was even more incomprehensible to him was that he couldn''t understand why he was associated with the ugly, dirt-yellow rune in Luna''s eyes.


    "I''d say it looks like you, you''re both dirty yellow in colour." Ron shot back, feeling insulted.


    "Looks like you''ve got the hang of it." Luna said, before turning her head back to the pitch.


    Ron looked at the pitch with some bemusement, he didn''t know how Luna had managed to make the Ancient Rune class sound like a divination class. Moreover, Professor Hap was very different from Trelawney. If he dared to hand in such an assignment with the same nonsense that he had used to fool Trelawney, Professor Hap would detain him until Christmas break.


    ...


    Harry looked jealously at Ron and Katie Bell, who were enjoying themselves at their leisure in the bleachers, as he felt that this selection was dreadful. Because there is no age requirement, many first and second-year students have signed up, even taking up the vast majority of the spaces. These people are struggling to even get the broom to fly at 70% of their original speed, let alone compete with the regular players. For example, just now, a chaser even threw himself into the goal because he was so nervous, causing the crowd to laugh.


    Not to mention that boy, probably because he was so embarrassed, rode off on the old comet broom and decided to go back to the castle and hide as if he intended to never return. Harry had to go after him to get the broom back, but he still relented and let the teary-eyed boy go.


    When Harry returned to the pitch, it was as if he had taken on the role of the boy, with half the spectators pointing and laughing at him.


    Harry was very glad that Hermione hadn''t come, he had rejected the vast majority of her suggestions at the time on the grounds that she didn''t know anything about Quidditch. This seemed to have dented Hermione''s pride, so by the time she arrived, the selection was nearing its end, and at the end, Harry took the new players to fly around the pitch for a few rounds as the students in the stands gave them a few cheeky pats on their backs.


    "So, the selection process went pretty well?" Hermione asked smartly when they got off their brooms.


    "The results are promising." Harry said stiffly, and he made up his mind that if Hermione asked for specifics, he would decline her question on the grounds that he couldn''t reveal team secrets. But Hermione just looked at the crowd leaving the bleachers and raised an eyebrow in a noncommittal manner.


    "It''s like watching a fantastic burlesque." Luna commented with joy.


    Hermione and Ginny curled up and laughed at the same time. Ron didn''t laugh, which made Harry mentally lament how strong their friendship had grown.


    "Let''s go, I saw smoke rising from Hagrid''s hut when I came." Hermione said with a straight face as she stood up.


    Harry pretended not to see the tears of laughter coming out of the corners of her eyes.


    Luna dragged Ginny away mysteriously, so the three remaining ones changed their direction and walked sullenly towards Hagrid''s hut.


    They are going to salvage a friendship that is on the verge of shattering, simply because they had wisely decided not to take Hagrid''s advanced class. This was said by Ron, who pessimistically predicted that Hagrid would let Grawp guard the door, carrying a big stick, and that they would have to go through nine deaths before they could see the upset Hagrid.


    They heard a loud snorting sound as they approached the hut and the three of them looked at each other cautiously.


    "Oh my goodness." Hermione said sadly, obviously thinking that Hagrid was sadly crying his nose off.


    Even Harry and Ron thought the same thing. It couldn''t possibly be a cold, could it? They approached uneasily, wondering what to do to comfort Hagrid; they had barely thought of the other possibilities, which was why Harry was so surprised to hear the voice of a second person in the hut when he went up to knock on the door in a flustered mood.


    "Yes, those little heartless kids ... Potters have never written to me on his own accord, not a single letter, and I even gave him my prized Liquid Luck!" Slughorn said absentmindedly, "Hagrid, can I come to its funeral? I''ve never been able to get closer to an Acromantula ..."


    -------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 624: Lurking

    It is truly an awkward moment. Harry thought back afterward, if only he had knocked on the door more slowly, if even for just a second slower. Then they could have slipped away quietly, or hidden in the pumpkin field, and waited for Professor Slughorn to leave. But the truth was that before his mind could analyse the pros and cons, his hand had slammed down hard on Hagrid''s wooden plank door, without listening to him.


    There was a sudden moment of silence in the hut.


    Then they heard Hagrid shout gruffly, "Who''s out there?" Harry looked behind him, Ron turned his head away unnaturally and stared at a bunch of dried mushrooms drying on the hut''s wall, Hermione''s eyes dodged as she rubbed her feet on the ground.


    With no other choice, Harry finally had to say stiffly, "It''s me, Hagrid. Along with Ron and Hermione, we came to see you."


    There was a sound of a cup shattering in the room, accompanied by an "Oh, my Merlin!" A shriek. It let Harry know that Professor Slughorn was surprised as much as he was, and Hagrid didn''t make a sound, as though he is still angry, or perhaps simply hadn''t thought of a response.


    "Hagrid, we need to talk," Harry said at the top of his lungs from outside.


    Nevertheless, Hagrid opened the door, although he was still exasperated and showed very little affection. Ron perceptively brought up the funeral - Harry wasn''t sure if that was the right thing to do, as Hagrid suddenly burst into tears, both for poor Aragog (the Acromantula Hagrid had raised from a young age) and for the fact that none of the three had selected his advanced class.


    "Little heartless kids... treated you all with so many rock crust pies... oh, Aragog..."


    Hermione tried her best to comfort a crying, teary-eyed Hagrid. Harry and Ron had failed even after they had poured out a lot of effort, they were unable to lift Hagrid up despite their uncomfortable attempts, and were left gasping for air under two thick arms wider than their waists, Harry''s glasses tilted to one side and Ron rolled his eyes all over the place.


    "Professor, please do something." Hermione said sternly to Slughorn, the professor who seemed to be in some sort of awkward spot from the start, took his handkerchief and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead several times, and afterward, Harry thought that when Hagrid scolded them, the rhetoric was so fleshed out that he alone could not have come up with it.


    It was not difficult to surmise how many ''pretty words'' Professor Slughorn had provided before they arrived.


    Slughorn stood up somewhat uncomfortably and pulled out his wand and gestured haphazardly, "Oh, ah, yes ... Wingardium Leviosa!" He raised his wand and pointed it at Hagrid, the pressure on Harry and Ron eased, and they pushed a somewhat dazed Hagrid back onto the bed. They sat limply on the floor panting heavily and rubbing their sore ribs.


    Hagrid blew his nose and opened his wet eyes to stare at Harry, Ron, and Hermione with wide eyes.


    "I know ... you probably don''t have time ..." Hagrid whimpered twice, blushing a little, "I''ll get some rock crust pies. " Harry and Ron, who had just sat down, immediately jumped up and winked desperately at Professor Slughorn, who fiddled with his handkerchief, cleared his throat, and said, "Hagrid, we should better go and see Aragog."


    "You''re right." Hagrid froze and stood up.


    They came to the pumpkin field at the back of the hut and Fang whimpered, where Harry saw from a distance a creature about the size of a wagon, its once tough black fur had turned into a soft grey, its eight sharp-edged thick legs twisted strangely, and its two ghastly claws pointed at the sky, it is none other than Aragog, the eight-eyed giant Acromantula spider. Harry had forgotten that Professor Hap had previously hexed the former king of the Acromantula, and was a little frightened by the sight of it.


    Hagrid stumbled forward and fell to his knees, and ended up crushing a pumpkin. It took a lot of effort for Ron to keep from laughing, stifling as his whole body shuddered. Harry understood the thoughts of Ron; his best friend didn''t have a good feeling about spiders. So Harry stepped forward on his own, clearing his throat, thinking about saying a few random eulogies or something, only for that large claw to suddenly twitch and startle Harry into nearly jumping out of his skin like a cartoon.


    "It''s not dead?!" Harry couldn''t help but shout.


    "Of course it didn''t," Hagrid said hoarsely, glaring at Harry and grunting, "but it''s going to be soon, in just a few days ... it can''t even eat now." He said, fighting back tears of sadness again, "Thanks, thanks to Professor Slughorn, he, he said he had seen a similar funeral and willing, willing to help ... can you guys stop by then?" He asked, looking at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, with very clear eyes.


    "Sure." Harry promised under his breath.


    "Great ..."


    As they returned to the castle from Hagrid''s hut, Slughorn walked ahead with his big belly, he turned back several times as if he wanted to say something. As they stood in the entrance hall and were about to part, Slughorn finally turned his head.


    "Ahem, children," he stammered as he fiddled with the last button of his waistcoat, "I think I owe you an explanation ... I shouldn''t have talked bad about people behind their backs, but . . You did break Hagrid''s heart, I thought since you''re not ... around."


    "Forget it," Harry said, "we should have actually visited Hagrid a long time ago, and I really didn''t write to you."


    Slughorn looked a little embarrassed, and he waved his hand.


    "That was all just a joke ... but it''s good to clear up misunderstandings, isn''t it?" He became amiable as he said wisely, "I''ve been planning to throw a small party recently, inviting only some promising students, there''s Malfoy, the Greengrass sisters, McLaggen, Zabini, Bones, Longbottom, and the charming Melinda Bobbin - I don''t know if you know her, her family owns a large chain of apothecaries - and, of course, I very much hope that the three of you will be able to enjoy the company as well."


    "Erm, I''m not sure if I have time ..." Harry racked his brain for an excuse, maybe scheduling team practice for that day would be a good option, he didn''t want to eat another bellyful of sweets and listen to a whole night of messy famous people stories.


    "Don''t try to brush it off," Slughorn pretended to be stern, "I''m counting on you, and what ridicule I''ll receive if I let the three youngest winners of the Order of Merlin get away!" Then he played with the tips of his walrus moustache and said with a grin, "Don''t worry, I''ve invited Severus, who has been teaching you for five years? I''ve read the papers he has published in recent years, and they are very valuable ..."


    Harry listened with an expressionless face, and he wanted to go even less.


    "... and Felix, sly little fellow, he tried to decline just like you all did, but I told him that I will arrange it according to his schedule, now he has no reason to refuse ..." Slughorn said, patting Harry on the shoulder and intoning, "I understand, talented people are rather proud. But, well, how can I put it?" He played with his two thumbs, "It''s always a good thing to make more good friends, they may help you one day ... Maybe."


    He hummed a little tune and disappeared down the stairs from the entrance hall.


    "What shall we do?" Harry asked softly as he stared at the shiny, bald head before it disappeared.


    Hermione didn''t say anything and pondered for a moment instead, "He also invited Susan and Neville?"


    "One has a Minister of Magic for an aunt and another one is the son of war heroes," Ron said as he wiggled his finger, "It''s not that hard to understand, is it?" Seeing that Harry''s expression was still torn, he advised, "Just avoid Snape when you get there, it can''t be any worse than the Spooky ghost birthday party and the upcoming funeral of an Eight-Eyed Giant Spider."


    They went back to their dorm rooms and rummaged through their book bags to do their assignments.


    Harry and Ron had to resign themselves to Hermione''s nagging, borrowing complete reference books from her (and Hermione''s essay, of course), and started to write their ancient rune homework. "A whole fifteen inches." Ron whispered, his eyes spinning as he placed several books in front of him at once.


    He suddenly thought of the ''trick'' Luna had mentioned to him this morning and couldn''t wait to share it with Harry and Hermione. Harry listened with confusion, while Hermione listened with a frown and pointed out sharply, "That method might only work for her alone." S?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "So what do you think about me putting this idea in my essay?" Ron pressed with interest, "It feels like it would make up quite a few words."


    Harry''s heart pounded too, and he looked over at Hermione, but Hermione sullenly hid behind her book and didn''t say anything.


    After a long while, she said sullenly, "I think Luna was just trying to convey the idea of ''fondness'' and ''concentration'', and if you can''t do what she did, you''ll just have to study hard and work on your practice. "


    "... It''s as good as not saying anything."


    ...


    The next morning Rita Skeeter knocked on the door of the Minister of Magic''s office with a spring in her step, and the two women looked at each other across the table.


    "Have a seat, Skeeter." Ms. Bones said, wearing a monocle and looking up from a thick stack of documents.


    "Hello, Minister Bones." Rita Skeeter said with a big smile. Bones looked at her critically for a moment before her gaze moved away from the small curls bursting out of Skeeter''s head. She spoke coldly, "You were recommended to me by someone, who said you might have some power in the Muggle media."


    "Not ''some'', Minister." Skeeter said, with bright green fingernails poking into her crocodile handbag and pulling a work pass from it, "I''m a special journalist for The Sun, with a great status, and there''s a separate office for me there, even though I only go there once a month, but," she paused, "that office is only reserved for me."


    Ms. Bones grunted softly, "Given your past record of violations, I have reason to be concerned that your actions could have a negative impact on the Statute of Secrecy."


    "Oh." Rita Skeeter froze, her long nails fiddling with the zip of her crocodile bag as she said lightly, "There is no evidence that-"


    "It''s just not been discovered yet," Ms. Bones corrected.


    "The most important responsibility of the Ministry of Magic is to keep all things magical hidden, and now that there is such a person, out in the open, in Muggle society, surrounded by a group of colleagues who are all snippy and good at catching information - yes, I''ve heard something about The Sun, you''ve sort of found your area of expertise ."


    Skeeter opened her mouth. "Not to mention," Ms. Bones continued, not giving her a chance to interject, "that this person has little legal sense and more previous records than one can count, which means no one has pursued it, otherwise I''m sure there would be quite a few people who would like to see her go down."


    Skeeter''s body shrank back.


    "Now, you tell me, Skeeter," Ms. Bones asked blandly, staring her straight in the eye, "would such a person suddenly become law-abiding when she entered Muggle society?"


    Rita Skeeter''s expression stiffened as she took several shaky deep breaths and said, "I thought you asked me to come here today because -"


    "The Ministry of Magic needs you?" Ms. Bones asked coldly.


    "No, of course not," Skeeter gave a curt smile, "I just heard about an opportunity to earn extra money, but if I could be of any help to the Ministry of Magic," she gritted her teeth, "I will do it without a single galleon. "


    "The Ministry of Magic is not short of your remuneration." Ms. Bones said, pushing over a non-disclosure agreement.


    Rita Skeeter grimaced, pulling her glasses down and looking down to read the terms on it over and over again. Behind her jewelled glasses, her eyes widened a little. She jerked her head up to meet Ms. Bones'' serious, stoic face and blurted out, "You''re asking me to spend a whole year in Muggle society?"


    "You can come back on weekends." Ms. Bones said calmly.


    The words of refusal stopped at the edge of her mouth and Skeeter bit her nails, thinking for half a second before she said through gritted teeth, "When this matter can be made public, I''m going to publish this experience, and you can''t use any excuse to stop me."


    "I agree." Ms. Bones said with a nod.


    So Skeeter signed her name on the non-disclosure agreement, the expression on her face softened; at any rate, she seemed to have pre-ordered a bestseller in advance. She stood up and walked to the door, and looked back at Ms. Bones.


    "I forgot to ask, how far do I need to take it?"


    Ms. Bones said with a stony face, "There is no need for you to use magic, your identity is the best channel for information. Your main concern should be to keep the wizard identity from being discovered in the coming year."


    "Don''t worry about it," Skeeter''s smile slightly widened, which made her expression look provocative, "Did Mr. Hap sign a non-disclosure agreement too?"


    "He started this whole thing, and he recommended you," Ms. Bones raised an eyebrow, "so you can understand that, on the one hand, he trusts you, although I don''t know where that trust comes from? On the other hand ... he doesn''t want ''anything'' to go wrong."


    Rita Skeeter gave her an annoyed glare and turned to stride away.


    "There''s no need to remind me."


    In her office, Ms. Bones rubbed her forehead, she sort of understood why Fudge was desperately trying to draw a line with Dumbledore, the fact that she, a Minister of Magic, had to rely on the reputation of a professor at the school to warn Rita Skeeter would have created resentment in anyone else with a smaller heart.


    But the truth is, once outside of Britain, her reputation is not necessarily bigger than that of ''Felix Hap''.


    There was a knock at the door.


    Kingsley Shacklebolt pushed his way in and handed Ms. Bones a document.


    "Minister, Carlotta Pinkstone is being released from prison next week." He said in a deep voice.


    Ms. Bones felt her head hurt even more, "That troublemaker?" There is no doubt that she is a much more difficult woman to deal with than Rita Skeeter. She thought carefully for a moment and said, "Send an Auror to keep an eye on her."


    "A secret surveillance, or-" Kingsley asked hesitantly.


    "Of course follow her openly," said Ms. Bones through clenched teeth, "to let her know the attitude of the Ministry and save her from being locked up again when she hasn''t even been out for a few days."


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 625: Party

    Is it true that Dumbledore holds the Resurrection Stone? After two weeks went by, Felix received a second file on the soul realm from Dumbledore, and he couldn''t help but think about this question. It was hard to judge much from Dumbledore''s behaviour; he was extremely disciplined in his activities, eating in the great hall in the mornings and occasionally appearing in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class during the day. "Very good, Riddle, ten points for Slytherin." Felix said in class, looking at the boy with dark shiny hair in the first row, "You were the first student to successfully turn a match into a pin, any tips?"


    The young Tom Riddle stood up.


    "One must be familiar with both the object before and after the transfiguration sufficiently." He said.


    "Yes, and who in the class could be more familiar with needlework than an orphan." One student said in a not-so-loud voice, causing laughter to erupt around the room as the young wizard and his friends unkindly looked at Riddle''s second-hand robes and old textbooks.


    "Silence." Felix said, "I think you all should be ashamed of yourselves, because you cannot change your birth, but the level of effort is something you can decide on your own." He looked at the expressionless Riddle, "Anything else?"


    "I think there is also confidence and skill to be counted, Professor Dumbledore." Riddle said.


    "Accurate enough, please sit down." Felix leaned on the podium, "Transfiguration is a complex subject, it is more rigorous and scientific than most, and I personally believe that is its advantage."


    "Riddle has just pointed out the way to learn Transfiguration, confidence, skill, and being familiar enough with the transfigured object ... the first two can be acquired through training, but if you want to achieve something in the field of Transfiguration, I would like to share what I have learned from experience: keep enough love and curiosity for life ..."


    The bell rang and the students began to pack up their things.


    Felix looked at Tom Riddle, and for some reason, the sunlight shining on him always looked stale, as if it had been extracted from an old photo album. Riddle left the classroom in silence and followed a group of Slytherin students, blocking them in an isolated corner.


    "Avery." Riddle whispered, "You seem to have a problem with the clothes I''m wearing."


    "Oh, piss off, hillbilly." Avery said mockingly.


    "Hillbilly? I expected more harsher words to come out of your mouth, like ... mudblood." Riddle said in an unemotional voice, and for some reason, Avery and a few of his mates suddenly felt out of breath, and Avery stammered a little, "School, school doesn''t allow it."


    "But it doesn''t stop you from using it in private, does it?" Riddle asked in a near whisper, "How else would I know?"


    Avery flinched and took a step back, his back pressed against the wall.


    "Look, at least I haven''t said it publicly, don''t try to threaten me with telling the Professor, and even if you''re on good terms with Professor Dumbledore-"


    "Oh, you''re scared," Riddle said contemptuously, "Dumbledore takes the side of wizards from Muggle families, so you''ll have to keep your tails between your legs." Avery''s face reddened with anger but Riddle flashed a smile, "For what it''s worth, the lineage theory has a valid point, I''ve read similar interpretations in muggle books."


    The expressions on Avery and his mate''s faces became puzzled.


    "Nobility, that''s what muggles call those of noble blood, more honourable than commoners, fuelled by the exploits of their ancestors, born to do great things, Ollivander the wand seller said that to me--"


    "He said that to me too." Avery grunted.


    "And me -"


    "Me, too."


    Riddle''s face flushed faintly, a sinister glint flickered in his eyes. He said nonchalantly, "It may be a polite remark, but there is no doubt that I have heard the call from the blood of my ancestors in my body, and I feel that with unmistakable clarity, right here in this school ..."


    "But you''re an orphan." Avery pointed out.


    "My friend," Riddle held out his hand, which Avery grasped with some bewilderment, and then his whole body became rigid, unable to move at all. Riddle leaned in closer, and said, close to his ear, "When gold is mixed in the mud, its value will not be any less, but it is those who pass it by without knowing its value are truly pitiable."


    He let go of the hand and tilted his head to size up the astonished Avery, and felt highly satisfied.


    "Very well," Riddle said with ease, "I have heard that Professor Kettleburn got some Ashwinder, would you like to go and see them?"


    "We''re only in the first year," Avery said hesitantly as he felt the physical restraint disappear, "We can''t take his class until the third year."


    Riddle let out a loud snort as he said impatiently, "What''s so difficult about that? All we have to do is walk up to him and say what we want, and honestly, I''m a little worried about what kind of education you''ve received that a simple thing like this could deter you."


    Avery blushed, "Of course, I-I''ve been taught well!"


    But Riddle just waved his hand lazily, "Leave the task of introducing ourselves to me, you just need to show a little courage and follow my lead ..." his eyes fixed on the few men with menace, "Don''t say you''re afraid to do even that. "


    And so an expedition was finalized, without even a slight risk - Riddle had told them it would be scheduled on a sunny weekend.


    Riddle watched Avery and his mate leave, and his face regained its calm.


    At that moment, a sound of applause rang out in the darkness - "Who?" Riddle called out, his eyes squinted at the brown beard that became visible in the darkness, his face quickly becoming courteous, "Professor Dumbledore?"


    "Young Tom, you seem to be adjusting well." Felix appeared with a smile on his face.


    A trace of panic flashed in Riddle''s eyes, "You heard everything, sir? I don''t want to justify myself, but," he said stubbornly, "I have to survive in school first."


    "So you picked up the pedantic theory?" Felix asked gently.


    Riddle''s face turned pale.


    "Swinging the knife at the weaker, that''s certainly not a bad approach," Felix said thoughtfully, "I''m more interested in how you plan to subdue Avery and the boys, the Ashwinder serpent ... Ah, I see. The Parseltongue."


    "And is there anything you can do to change my situation, sir?" Riddle asked sarcastically, no longer trying to hide it, "A few days after school started, there were people talking about me behind my back, making fun of my robe and my textbooks, what did you say at that time? Study in peace ... of course, it''s not like you''ve ever experienced it."


    "On the contrary," Felix said, "we have quite a few similarities."


    Riddle gave a scrutinizing look as if to judge the truth of the words, and there was no doubt that he had failed once again, not being able to see any semblance of extra emotion in that smiling face, which he couldn''t help but secretly admire while being annoyed inside.


    "I was sorted into Gryffindor House at the time, and a year before I enrolled, my father Percival attacked three young Muggles and that story spread everywhere with great fanfare." Felix said lightly, "People saw me as the son of a muggle hater, deliberately bringing it up in my presence, discussing it with fervour, and even some with ulterior motives highly praised my father for what he had done."


    "Then how did you fight back?" Riddle asked.


    "Study in peace." Felix said with a grin, "Perhaps my following statement would be not quite modest - but I still think I am right - I am gifted and the school curriculum was not even half challenging for me ... It only took a few months for me to stand out and people recognized me for my personal qualifications rather than the fact that I have a Muggle-hating father. I didn''t need to please anyone, but I was equally generous in offering help and encouragement to fellow students, and so I made many friends quickly."


    Riddle thought for a moment, then he looked up.


    "You know I''ve got an appointment with Avery, sir, and I''m still going to see the Ashwinder."


    "Go on then, Tom. I can''t stop you from making friends." Felix backed away and disappeared, outside the corridor clouded over at some point, and he knew it would have to end for today.


    ...


    Felix exited classroom seven and returned to his office, looking out the window as an owl flew out. The owl circled over the castle two times before flying straight into the Gryffindor common room.


    "You''re finally out, Hermione, why are you so late?" Harry asked, fighting the urge to get up, as he and Ron were fixing the bows on each other''s dresses.


    "Just opening presents." Hermione said briefly, wearing an equally beautiful dress as she did during the ball.


    "Did you receive something odd?" Harry asked with interest.


    "Lavender gave me a small vial of Love Potion." Hermione slightly flushed.


    Ron coughed violently.


    "What the hell?"


    Hermione shut her mouth, "Don''t pry." She gave Ron a fierce glare, then looked at the clothes the two were wearing, "All tidied up? Let''s go." They made their way downstairs, and on the whole way Ron enquired with interest about the Love Potion, "Who are you going to use it on?" "I threw it away." Hermione said with a poker face. Ron was deeply skeptical of this claim, but Hermione had raised her wand and threatened to hang him from the balcony and Ron had to shut up.


    Harry deeply felt a sense of pity, although he hadn''t said a word, he was still quite curious.


    Slughorn''s office was much larger than the average classroom and - it was unclear if he had asked this room to host a party - the ceiling and walls were decorated with emerald green, crimson and gold drapes, and from above their heads came the sound of ethereal singing, a few house elves walking around with dinner trays, and Ron picked up a chicken leg smoothly.


    "Glossy and bright, I bet it''s coated in honey." He said with certainty.


    "Harry, my boy!" Slughorn strutted over, beaming, "And Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley, I was just talking to someone about your brother, the youngest Head!" He said to Ron before taking Harry''s hand and walking inside while greeting Hermione and Ron "make yourself home".


    "How did he know Percy became the Head?" Ron muttered in a low voice.


    "It''s obvious, isn''t it?" Hermione said, reaching for a glass of mead and taking a small sip. A drunken voice came from near her head. "Darling, I must say this liqueur tastes a little bland."


    Hermione turned around and Trelawney held out an arm that looked like it had been pickled in sherry and rubbed the tip of Hermione''s nose as she took a glass of mead with her.


    "Thank you, Professor Trelawney." Hermione said coldly.


    Trelawney remained unfazed as she finished the glass in one gulp and smacked her lips contentedly, "It doesn''t taste too bad, the honey is well spiked." It was only then she seemed to have finally gotten a good look at Hermione''s face.


    "It''s you," she said drunkenly, "I''m a little sorry you dropped out of my class, mind you, I don''t just teach knowledge, but-" she belched loudly and Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and took a step back. " Also life lessons ... life wisdom and all that, I''ve learned it all on my own, you can''t learn it anywhere else ... smooth sailing isn''t always a good thing, I saw it in my crystal ball... . uh, angry faces, wary ... about hidden dangers."


    Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Want me to be wary of being hit by a crystal ball in the dark? I''ll keep an eye out, after all, the range isn''t that great." Ron who was nearby laughed out loud and while Trelawney focused her attention on Ron, she walked away in stride.


    On the other side, Harry felt like he was chained to the golden buttons on Slughorn''s velvet gown and carried with him everywhere he went. Before he knew it, he was spinning around the spacious office.


    "Have you learned anything yet, Harry?" Slughorn lowered his voice and said in a pushy tone.


    "Learned ... what?" Harry asked with a gasp, feeling awful, like a monkey on exhibition, with everyone he met wearing a fake smile, even those he thought he knew well - like the Greengrass sisters - putting on a fake face and smiling sweetly at him.


    "Making connections." Slughorn said, "I can see you''re lacking in this area ... Didn''t your godfather teach you about this?" S~?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Uh, he''s usually busy." Harry stammered.


    "How unbecoming," Slughorn said as he shook his head, then said with some enthusiasm, "It''s a bit presumptuous, but perhaps I should write him a letter, the last heir of the ancient House of Black ... "


    Harry stared, suspecting that Professor Slughorn was just looking for a reason to get involved with the Black family.


    At that moment, two men walked past the corner they were hiding before, and Slughorn nimbly reached out his chubby arm, only to fetch air, but the arm kept going and in a flash encircled the one slightly further away from him, yanking him forcibly over.


    Harry mentally exclaimed that this move would rate as one of the top ten Quidditch saves of the year.


    Valen, standing on Felix''s shoulder, patted her chest heartily and glanced somewhat sympathetically at the cornered Harry as Felix walked over and stood in front of the immobile Snape, his mouth curling into a pleasant curve.


    "Severus! Felix!" Slughorn called out happily, one arm wrapped around Snape with a death grip. "Almost missed you guys! I''ve just taken Harry for a walk, and you''re welcome, I''ve heard that you two are close to Harry - I was just about to speak to him, if he''s planning to go into politics -"


    "I - have no intention - of going into politics." Harry said with annoyance, struggling desperately. Because Slughorn kept trying to grab him over and bring him closer to Snape.


    Slughorn held up a chubby finger, "But you want to be an Auror, don''t you? Minerva told me about it, she thinks well of you and speaks highly of you ... but you can''t spend all your life catching dark wizards, can you? Severus, try to persuade him."


    Snape narrowed his eyes as if he is looking at a dead man and said calmly, "I never knew I had this kind of influence over Potter."


    "Don''t say that, Severus." Slughorn said with a big smile, Harry knew he had drank a lot and was now in a state of hyperactivity, "I saw him use your old textbook, yes I recognized your handwriting instantly, it was particularly scribbled, and I even criticized you back then about it..."


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 626: Hogsmeade weekend

    Slughorn had clearly made a misjudgement. Felix thought to himself as he handed the mead to a stoic-looking Snape. Slughorn would have come to this conclusion after remembering the cross-house friendship between Severus and Lily back in the days before the First Wizard War in that special time. There was no surprise in this; Professors tended to be well-informed, but what they knew was merely superficial, and they would rarely delve into the deeper conflicts and emotional entanglements between students.


    Combined with seeing Harry using an old textbook in class - Harry isn''t short of money - with the importance Slughorn placed on Harry, it would be possible to discover, with just a little attention, that the textbook had belonged to Snape.


    "It''s for you, Harry ... Oh, I forgot, you''re underage." Felix retracted his hand that had been extended.


    "Oh, don''t be too strict, Felix. It''s okay to drink a little bit sparingly." Slughorn said with a wink.


    He also seemed to notice that Snape and Harry were not as close as he thought and changed the subject smartly as he patted Harry on the shoulder, "It seems I''ve kept you occupied for too long, you should go find your friends, and yes ... take it Harry." With that, he grabbed a goblet from a tray held by a passing house elf and handed it to Harry casually.


    Wanting nothing more than to get out of this mess as quickly as possible, Harry said thank you and left quickly. He only breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the sharp, glaring gaze move away from the back of his head, and Professor Slughorn''s vibrant voice faded behind him.


    "... Amelia Bones, she''s doing well, thinking back ..."


    "Harry?" A familiar voice called.


    "Neville, what are you doing here?" Harry asked in surprise as Neville hid beneath a wide golden drape, with a string of small, constantly flickering coloured lights flying above his head and his face reflected in the multicoloured light.


    "I, I came to rest for a while." Neville said cautiously.


    Harry followed his gaze and saw the Greengrass sisters, dressed in beautiful emerald green gowns, surrounded by a small group of people like stars. He asked, somewhat puzzled, "What did they do to you?"


    "They ... talked to me." Neville stammered, with lingering fear on his face.


    "Is that all?"


    "Of course - not only that, there was Blaise Zabini, Marcus Belby, even Malfoy!" Neville said with a shocked look on his face, "They''re behaving strangely like they''re different people." He looked up suddenly, seemingly stunned by his own words.


    Harry understood somewhat. S?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Do you think they''ve been under an Imperius Curse, or have been replaced using a Polyjuice Potion?" He asked quietly.


    Neville looked carefully at Harry''s face, "You know the reason, don''t you?"


    "Well, I guess that''s just some kind of social etiquette they practice." Harry said grumpily.


    The two men looked at each other in silence and Neville glanced at Harry''s goblet and asked wryly, "Where did you get that juice?"


    "Professor Slughorn gave it to me." Harry said vaguely, as he emptied the sweet, creamy juice in a gulp, feeling stuffy in his throat. He pulled out his wand, transformed the goblet into a small stool, and sat on it. Neville stared straight at Harry''s stool.


    "Do you need help?" Harry asked.


    "Thanks so much." Neville said quickly.


    So the two simply hid behind the curtain and sat on the small stool chatting happily. Harry after a few tries, managed to use a non-verbal spell to bring over a plate of beef pies from the table.


    "Would you like some?" Harry asked, picking up a pie.


    "Thank goodness, I''m starving." Neville grinned.


    The two of them gobbled it up, all the while looking around at everyone else in the office. It wasn''t until the singing from the ceiling died down that the two emerged from behind the curtain.


    "Oh, my God!" Hermione suddenly appeared, almost bumping into them, "Where did you come from?" She stared at the suspicious grease stains around the corners of their mouths - Neville was still holding the empty plate - and then over their shoulders at the golden drape behind Harry and Neville.


    "Never mind," Harry said, hiccuping, while simultaneously pushing the little stool further into the drape with one leg stretched in without moving, "party''s over?"


    "I guess it is ...," Hermione said, turning her head away.


    At that moment, Professor Slughorn walked to the centre, and said with a big smile on his face, "I hope you all had a good evening, and I can assure you, it won''t be the last ..." Those involved left one by one, and Felix and Snape walked across the corridor, talking in whispers.


    "What''s hiding in classroom seven?" Snape asked bluntly.


    Felix raised his eyebrows.


    "The sudden closure of the room this academic year and the poor quality of the temporary room opened next door, I heard students complaining about it," Snape said, "and the interest shown by that Professor Bagshot on .... "


    He said a couple of brief words and turned to leave.


    Was that a reminder? Felix thought, as far as he knew, Snape had been keeping a low profile since the start of the school year, and it seemed that after Voldemort''s downfall, he had stopped wanting to talk to Harry and Dumbledore altogether.


    In mid-October, the first Hogsmeade weekend was finally announced.


    Harry woke up early that morning, it was dark outside, the wind was howling, and he stared at the curtains of his four-poster bed for a long time, but had trouble sleeping, so he simply rummaged under the bed for the Advanced Potion-Making book to pass the time.


    He refused to bring this embarrassing textbook to Potions class after that unpleasant little party and spent the next two weeks sharing the same book with Ron until Ron''s owl, Piggy, brought the new textbook back from the Flourish and Blotts Bookshop.


    Since then, the book, Advanced Potion-Making, had been tucked away at the back - under his bed, to be precise.


    Hermione''s words saved its fate when she shoved a magic rune into a phantom book. "Objectively speaking, it''s actually quite a good book, not to mention it has quite a few of Professor Hap''s notes on it."


    Harry mused to himself, the book had ended up in his hands solely because he was the only one who could barely make out Snape''s slimy, messy notes at the time, and during the O.W.Ls exams of the school year, he had been specifically tasked with sorting out the useful points, and by the time the new school year started, its value had diminished considerably.


    Harry opened the book from the back of the centre and stared at the incantation, Sectumsempra, written in the margin, with the simple words ''For enemies'' under it. In fact, there were two other comments below it in two different fonts, each in small, neatly written words.


    One of the comments addresses the spell itself: Cutting spell, fast and silent; with a little practice, it can cut off a person''s head, and it even works well against stone and metal. The counter-spell for it is a healing spell, for maximum effect, the incantation had to be repeated thrice (personally accepted by the spell''s inventor).


    This paragraph alone once repulsed Harry.


    And Hermione''s comment followed below Professor Hap''s review (you can tell she was vexed), ''Awful comment, are boys of that age all violent in the head? And I can guarantee that this is an illegal spell ...''


    Harry grinned and laughed wordlessly. He could well imagine what kind of emotion Hermione was feeling as she wrote this, but, although he wasn''t sure why the Professor had linked it with cutting people''s heads off - Harry found that thought quite frightening - it undoubtedly served as a blatant warning to him.


    Professor Hap likewise left rather unusual comments on other handwritten spells -


    Toenail-growing hex (a minor hex with a nice comedic effect); Dangling Jinx (make sure your opponent is wearing trousers, or maybe not, depending on how much you hate him); Muffliato Charm (a must in the library, with additional notes from Hermione: Gotcha, Professor!); and Langlock (which has the effect of gluing your tongue to your palate and can be used as an aid when practising non-verbal spellcasting).


    Harry stared at the description of the Langlock spell and for a moment his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Would this spell help when practising Animagus? Sirius had told them a particularly unreliable suggestion: using the Stunning Spell and Full Body-Bind Curse would prevent them from unconsciously swallowing (or chewing) mandrake leaf while sleeping. Harry thought that if they combined the Langlock spell with that, they wouldn''t have to worry about it during both day and night ...


    Harry shook his head vigorously, this was an absolutely terrible idea.


    Animagus lesson is scheduled right after Halloween and counting him, Ron, and Hermione, there are a dozen students who meet the requirements. They would be given almost a month to learn the theory and then would begin their first attempt around Christmas, which would minimize the distress caused by the difficulty of speaking.


    In the morning, the students stood in a long queue and passed through Filch''s scrutiny for a trip to Hogsmeade, amidst the envious eyes of the younger wizards.


    "Where''s Hermione?" Ron asked at the oak gate.


    "Still fiddling with her Book of Runes, she can''t wait to fill it up." Harry said, looking around as he did so.


    "Well, looks like it''s just the two of us today," Ron said with a sigh, but he quickly perked up, "Shall we go to Zonko''s first? After that a trip to Fred and George''s shop, and the Scrivenshaft''s Quill Shop, I need to restock some quills, and finally a drink at the Three Broomsticks ..."


    "Er, actually-" Harry looked at Ron with some embarrassment.


    "Hey, Harry!" Ginny appeared from behind them and happily patted Harry on the shoulder, "Let''s go."


    Ron stared incredulously and exclaimed, "You''re coming with us?"


    Ginny raised her pretty eyebrows and stepped forward to take Harry''s arm, and looked at Ron provocatively. Feeling weird inside, Harry tried to quietly jerk his arm back, but Ginny insisted on not letting go.


    "I think," she looked straight at Ron, "it''s time to show an example of a good brother."


    Ron''s jaw dropped.


    "Are you guys gonna leave or not?" Filch looked at them and growled fiercely.


    "Leaving!" With a twist of her head, Ginny''s hair rose in the air like flames for a split second as she dragged Harry away. Harry had never felt like this before: the journey from school to Hogsmeade had been so long that he hadn''t felt the happiness from the date at all, and even though Ginny was right next to him, the occasional ragged breath behind him reminded him that Ron never left them.


    "Where are we going first?" Ginny said briskly.


    "Er ... how about Zonko?" Harry racked his brains.


    "And then what?"


    "I think ... we can go to Fred and George''s shop," Harry said slowly, "we might be able to bump into them."


    "Good idea! What else?"


    "... Go to the Scrivenshaft''s Quill Shop and buy some quills and finally have a drink at the warm Three Broomsticks. How''s that for a plan?" Ron asked sullenly, in a snappy voice.


    "Oh, awful." Ginny said with disgust.


    They parted at the entrance to Hogsmeade village - and although Ron wasn''t too happy about it, Ginny glared at him and refused to budge. "What kind of person would follow their sister on a date?" Ron mumbled something and walked away kicking the stones.


    Harry and Ginny made their way to Zonko, but that place is sealed off with planks of board.


    "Oh, crap." Harry called out suddenly as they made their way towards the ''Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes'', and abruptly turned up a fork in the road with Ginny in tow.


    "What''s wrong?" Ginny probed and looked behind her.


    "It''s Professor Slughorn." Harry said nervously and Ginny giggled softly in his ear, tickling Harry''s heart as he completely threw thoughts about leaving Ron alone in the street in the freezing wind - "How about a cup of tea at Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop?" Harry asked, mustering up the courage.


    It is a recognized date spot for Hogwarts couples.


    Ginny looked at him, her eyes seemed to twinkle with stars.


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked fumblingly, his face burning a little as he wondered if his little thoughts had been discovered.


    Ginny grinned from ear to ear, "Great." She said as she straightened up and smoothed her messy hair.


    The teashop was already packed tight and when they entered everyone stared at them intently, two younger girls in the corner pouted, the one with the prominent chin and long black hair chattered something to her friend.


    "Leave them alone." Ginny said condescendingly, tugging Harry inside, but even as they circled the smoke-filled room, they couldn''t find an empty seat. The two underclass girls, who had been just about to leave, sat back down dramatically, linking their arms together, and squinted at Ginny in unison.


    "That''s Romilda Vane, she had discussed how to give you Love Potion at the club." Ginny said, looking around impatiently as she hoped to find a pair of empty seats.


    "What?!" Harry exclaimed.


    "Oh, don''t make a fuss, some of the ideas were pretty interesting." Ginny said casually, then her eyes lit up, "Let''s go over there!"


    Harry mentally grumbled, he thought it was obvious that Ginny was there, but instead of stopping it, she got involved in the conversation herself, or at least heard quite a few ''interesting ideas''. This annoyed him greatly, and then a key question struck him, the club? What club?


    A chilling shadow of foreboding clouded Harry''s mind, perhaps he should find a chance to talk to the Creevey brothers about the management of the club, this matter needed to be discussed urgently for safety reasons ...


    They went to the window seat where two people stood up, one of them is a refined-looking old woman who was elegantly buttoning her coat, then she handed a gift box to Daphne Greengrass.


    Harry once again saw a delicate smile on Daphne''s face, to which he was somewhat allergic.


    "... pass it on to him for me."


    Daphne nodded and the two walked out of Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop and separated left and right.


    On the other side, Ron wandered aimlessly through the streets of Hogsmeade, sucking on a liquorice wand with a belly full of grievances. Then he saw an old woman in grey tattered clothes pass by, and Ron glanced at her, without thinking twice about it, but the clumsy fellow following behind the old woman caught his attention.


    "Hey! Don-" Ron called out excitedly.


    Suddenly, a wand pressed against his rear end.


    "One more word and I''ll kill you."

 Chapter 627: Stalking Mission

    Ron looked shocked as he whispered nervously, "Who are you? A Death Eater? A dark wizard?" There was no sound behind him. Swallowing hard, Ron tilted his head, but a wand poked him so hard against his back that he dared not move any further.


    He mumbled, "I mean - you may not have realized one thing, if I die, you''ll never get away with it, I am a second class Order of Merlin recipient - soon to be first class, and a full member of the Dark Force Defence League. I am Dumbledore and Professor Hap''s favourite student, do you know the great Harry Potter? We''re best buddies, he and I. ..."


    An impish soft laugh sounded from behind him.


    "Of course, I know who you are." A pinched voice said.


    Ron was relieved, then felt a hot pain on the back of his right hand, "Don''t make small moves." The voice said and Ron''s hand that was reaching into his pocket froze.


    "Come with me!"


    Ron''s body was yanked to the side and out of the corner of his eye, Tonks'' clumsy figure disappeared. His eyes darkened as he found them entering a narrow, poorly lit alley. He was pushed roughly against the wall.


    "Ron Weasley?"


    "That''s right." Ron said, his voice already calming down.


    "Oh, count yourself unlucky to have seen something you shouldn''t have-" the voice said frivolously.


    Ron suddenly looked confident.


    "Ahem, I don''t think the same."


    "Be honest! You-"


    A twisting magic suddenly emerged from the surface of Ron''s body and the wand behind him was forced to push away, the twisting magic flared and spread, and swelled out like an inflated plastic bag, bulging into a ball as the alleyway swept by it.


    With his wand in hand, Ron turned around slowly (and smoothed his hair in the middle of it) and looked playfully at the person whose face was half exposed as the spell slammed her against the wall on the other side.


    "Looking like a mess, Collins." His tone was full of gloating.


    "Think you''re cool?" Collins said, noncommittally, " Let me free now!" Her face was squeezed out of shape by Ron''s magic, and her speech sounded muffled at the moment.


    Ron held back his laugh and withdrew his magic.


    "The humanoid shield charm?" Collins asked as she braced herself on the wall and straightened up, rubbing her face vigorously.


    "Ha, the first non-verbal spell I''ve mastered, you''re in luck."


    Ron tapped his wand against his palm, a few sparks erupting from its tip, and he had a smug look on his face.


    Collins huffed and walked out of the alley.


    "Hey, don''t go, what''s going on?" Ron chased after her, "I saw Tonks ... that was her right, I judged from her movements."


    "That''s her," Collins answered positively, looking around for a moment as the two walked out of the alley, "Never mind, let''s find a place to rest for a while, it''s been freezing for the past two days and with that old lady running around... ...I really suspect she''s doing it on purpose."


    They walked towards the three broomsticks inn.


    "Who are you talking about?" Ron asked curiously.


    "Carlotta Pinkstone," Collins said, "She just recently got out of Azkaban, and Tonks and I are in charge of tailing her."


    "That old lady''s a criminal?" Ron asked, in surprise, "She wouldn''t be -"


    "No, not like you think. She had nothing to do with the recent dark wizard trials." Collins explained as they picked a window seat at the Three Broomsticks Inn, and Mrs. Rosmerta approached them, "Can I get you anything, dear? Oh, Mr. Weasley?"


    "Um," Ron said slowly in a low voice, " I need a hot Firewhisky and for this young lady-"


    "Are you old enough?" Collins looked at him suspiciously.


    Ron coughed dramatically, his face flushed red, and he gave her a hard stare, "Just short of five months if you insist on getting nosy!" Mrs. Rosmerta covered her mouth and laughed softly, oozing with mature charm. "A glass of hot Firewhisky, right." She said calmly, "And you, fair lady?"


    "I don''t need anything." Collins answered stiffly.


    "She can''t drink, she''s performing- hiss!" Ron drew in his breath with a pained expression as he withdrew his stomped toe and said to Mrs. Rosmerta with a grimace, "Please, get her a soda or something."


    "I recommend a soda with sorbet." The lady owner said.


    "That''ll do." Ron saw that Collins didn''t object and made the call. When Mrs. Rosmerta left, he couldn''t help but lower his voice and ask, "That Carole-"


    "Carlotta!"


    "Well, Carlotta," Ron shrugged, "what''s her crime? Why do you two have her on your radar? Frankly, I don''t think Tonks is cut out for anything that involves close-up stalking, unless ..."


    "Unless we''re not even trying to hide it." Collins gave an approving look.


    Ron stared, he was just about to say unless whoever issued the order was out of his mind, but he wasn''t going to admit that to Collins unless he was out of his mind too. So he chimed in, "Yeah, right, that''s what I thought. Tell me more about it!"


    "She''s an activist. ..."


    Collins spoke slowly as she relaxed in the warm, aromatic atmosphere of the lounge, and as time passed the glasses in front of both of them emptied. Collins stood up and put on her scarf, "I''m going to go and replace Tonks. Oh, by the way, if you see Cedric, say hello for me, I saw him with his little girlfriend earlier."


    "Can''t you say it yourself?" Ron muttered disgruntledly.


    "On a mission." Collins grinned, hiding her face up to reveal just her eyes, "Well, I must say, you''ve reacted quite impressively today, and I am looking forward to having you as my new colleague."


    "Got it, got it." Ron said slowly as his ears reddened a little, and he showed his self-proclaimed noble and cultured demeanour again.


    As dusk approached, the young wizards of Hogwarts emerged from all directions and set out on their way back to school. The door to the Three Broomsticks Inn was pushed open and a woman in a dark green double-breasted trench coat walked in; she is not young, but one could still see the brightness and grace of her youth in her face.


    Madam Rosmerta stepped forward to welcome her.


    "Come in, esteemed guest, what would you like to order?"


    The woman was in no hurry to answer. She removed her hard peaked cap, revealing her short grey hair underneath, and looked around the room before saying, "A more isolated room would be appreciated. I''m prepared to stay tonight."


    "Very well, Madam." Mrs. Rosmerta replied, "Anything else?"


    "I may be receiving a guest tonight, so don''t bother me, I don''t need any services other than accommodation. Is that clear?"


    "Oh, uh, sure," Mrs. Rosmerta said hesitantly, "according to the Ministry of Magic, lodging requires a registered name ..."


    "Of course," said the woman, "you can call me ... Nicole Noel."


    The time approached late at night and the stars twinkled outside the window. The woman sat in a chair in her room and waited with great patience. She had maintained this posture for some time now, her hands twisted together, her eyes twinkling with memories.


    Had that girl from Hogwarts delivered the letter yet? Would he show up for the appointment? Why hadn''t he contacted any of them after getting out of the predicament? Did he get discouraged that no one acknowledged his unshakable dominance after that event ...


    "Knock, knock, knock!"


    The woman stood up excitedly, but fortunately, she hadn''t lost her head, "Is that you?" She asked in a trembling voice.


    There was no response from outside.


    Her heart sank, and she quickly drew her wand and pointed it at the door of the room. "Who''s out there?" The woman barked, this time her voice filled with coldness and a sense of seriousness. s?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Felix Hap," a young voice stated from the door, "a certain lady who calls herself ''Nicole Noel'' has taken the liberty of visiting, can we talk downstairs?" As the words were spoken, the air around them seemed to freeze and link together to form an integral and indivisible unity.


    The woman raised her wand decisively and a bolt of fire fired out, followed by an attempt to cast an Apparition.


    "Bang!"


    The door of the room split into pieces and the fire blasted another large hole straight through the wall. The woman''s figure disappeared at the last second, but she was immediately tossed elsewhere. The surrounding area was a wasteland, black stone shadows fell in silence, trees rustled, and the chill of the night reached the woman through cold, biting earth. She shivered and rose from the ground.


    Out of the corner of her eye, Nicole Noel saw a trail of light where the village of Hogsmeade remained.


    She exhaled the coldness that had clotted in her chest and roughly determined her location - the outskirts of Hogsmeade. Then she focused her attention on the man who had appeared silently before her; The moonlight shone on his somewhat overly young face, drawing out the sharp lines of his handsome features.


    "Felix Hap?"


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 628: Disappointed Return

    "Felix Hap?" Nicole Noel whispered, repeating the self-introduction of the visitor, and suddenly waved her wand, the air made a "whoosh" sound, and then a sharp sound like a sharp blade cutting through paper exploded in her ears.


    But her magic did not hurt anyone, nor did it even fly that far.


    Three or four feet in front of the woman, several blinding flashes of bright light erupted out of thin air, and a solid stone wall became visible, bouncing the spell away. Nicole Noel was stunned; what level of transfiguration was this? She subconsciously stepped back -


    Another wall blocked her from behind. Her hand, which was not holding the wand, touched the rough, cold rock surface and her heart sank a little like a drowning man. All her senses told her that the wall in question is too real to be an illusion, to the point where she suspects that the man before her is Dumbledore in disguise. But then something happened that she couldn''t understand; the solid wall that had previously blocked the spell was quickly drained of its colour and turned into simple lines that looked like paintwork, and Felix Hap''s statue-like figure became visible.


    Eventually, the lines flickered a few times and blended into the darkness.


    Nicole Noel stared into Felix''s silver eyes, and her mouth gaped open in surprise.


    "Your eyes ... you also have the gift of prophecy?"


    "Are you referring to Grindelwald? Did he once have a similar pair of eyes like mine?" Felix asked with interest, "I didn''t even notice it even after a month or so of being colleagues with him, I always thought it was blue."


    "No, you are different from him," Nicole Noel whispered, "He only has one eye that is heterochromatic, representing the rare gift of prophecy."


    "I am surprised." Felix paused and made a sound of acknowledgement, "So, can we have a proper chat now? You don''t seem to be planning on hiding your identity. Well, that makes it easy, there are a lot of Acolytes, and because of that, I can''t really be bothered to search for the core member to have a chat with... It''s good that you showed up on your own accord."


    "Do not expect to learn any secrets from me." Nicole Noel said warily.


    "Even if it''s been half a century since the end of your organization?" Felix asked.


    "To some, our cause never ended, it just lay dormant for the time being."


    "Ah, I see, you''re here to bring back your leader." Felix said. After a short silence, he asked again amidst the wary look from the other side, "I''m curious, what it is like to trust someone unconditionally?"


    The woman''s eyes burned with anger, "Are you teasing me? It''s ungentlemanly and doesn''t match your international reputation."


    "No, no, I''m genuinely interested ... In the group, I''ve come into contact with, it''s said that only the Acolytes have a strong sense of unity, by which I mean, of course, the core of the Acolytes. Do you know about the Death Eaters? It seems impossible to compare the two together in the slightest."


    "Death eaters?" The woman sneered, "What''s that?" S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix smiled, "So? What''s that like? To hand over a part of your fate under the control of another, like a muggle faith?"


    Nicole Noel looked at him critically for a moment, and after a while, a mysterious smile curled at the corners of her mouth.


    "So that''s it." She said with a sigh.


    Felix expressed just the right hint of doubt, but the woman kept her mouth shut.


    There was a moment of silence. Then -


    "I need to meet with Mr. Grindelwald."


    "I''m afraid I shall have to disappoint you, old man Grindelwald ... Well, he no longer concerns himself with the affairs of the past now that he has taken the post in faculty, and it would be best if you leave him alone. It would be good for both him and you."


    The atmosphere once again became tense. "You want to go against the Acolytes?" Nicole Noel said, with condescending arrogance and aloofness.


    "But lady, how many people can you represent?"


    "More than you can imagine." Nicole Noel said sternly, "I admit you''re a powerful man, but how many can you take on? A thousand or two thousand? Or tens of thousands of wizards? You think you can stand against two million wizards when the entire wizarding world was afraid to judge all the Acolytes?"


    "Gee, do I need to remind you that Grindelwald was locked up for half a century?"


    "He volunteered then!" Nicole Noel said aloud, her eyes incredibly bright, "but he''s out now. There is no one in this world that can stand against the Acolytes, not even Dumbledore, who can only play tricks and set up traps. Mr. Hap, if you join us, you''ll be in good hands. It''s the only way to prevent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the British wizarding world from falling into ruin-"


    "Interesting. Are you implying to me that you have plans to start a wizarding war?"


    Felix said with a slight smile, but his tone cooled, "You know what I see, ma''am? A bluff threat, you''re lying, you can only speak for yourself. And the mention of the Acolyte Army-"


    The pupils in his eyes were completely clouded with a silver mist, the shrinking Book of Rune rippled through the silver mist, with rune symbols flickering around it. This book looked different from the one Felix had given Hermione as a coming-of-age gift - the one Hermione had in her hand was empty, requiring her to fill it with her own understanding of ancient runes, while the one Felix had in his possession represented the most powerful source of the Master of Rune''s power.


    Shadows grew around them, a cold black barrier appeared around them, and a cacophony of voices sounded in their ears, as young students passed and disappeared in front of them. Walls linked together, windows, staircases, and towers appeared one after another, and the barren woodland quickly overlaid with tens of thousands of feet of the castle complex.


    Nicole Noel looked back with stiff movements, the cold air she exhaled condensed on the illusory window, and reflected a frightened face. She turned, and locked eyes with Felix who stood halfway across the corridor.


    "I don''t know how many I can take on, so you want to try and find out?"


    There was a moment of silence.


    "Sorry, I''m a bit worked up." Felix said as the magnificent castle faded a little by little in front of them. "But I hate being threatened." He muttered. Especially threats that had the potential to happen, the woman in front of him couldn''t do it, but Grindelwald probably could.


    Really, if he brought in thousands of elite wizards in one breath, being unprepared, he would have no choice but to flee.


    "In any case, your plan has failed, my lady. Come with me, and I will hand you over to the British Ministry of Magic."


    With a swoop, a brown owl circled and landed.


    Both of them watched at the same time as the owl, dropped a letter at Nicole Noel''s feet and flew off without looking back, it was too scary down there, it had had a hard time finding a chance to deliver the letter, it must get more owl food after going back.


    The woman glanced at Felix, and seeing no reaction from him, she picked up the letter, tore it open, and pulled out the parchment within to read its contents.


    It was only a few lines, and she read it several times. She sat helplessly on the ground, her face turning pale and her eyes seemed to lose focus.


    "A reply from Grindelwald? So you''ve reached out to him, what did he say?"


    Nicole Noel closed her eyes, the letter creased as she clutched it.


    "So... ... You can leave now, Ms. ''Noel'', and don''t ever come back." Felix gave the expulsion instruction.


    "You''re not going to arrest me?" Nicole Noel asked weakly, her eyes opened.


    "There''s no need." Felix said, and abruptly disappeared.


    The wind howled and Nicole Noel stayed where she was, looking out in the direction of Hogwarts castle for a long time before leaving.


    "Well that old man is quite the charmer, someone still remembers and waits for him even after all these years."


    Felix tsked, twirling an illusory piece of parchment in his fingers. He shook his head and disappeared once more, this time leaving for real.


    Grindelwald''s refusal to come out was a positive sign, he didn''t need to make an issue out of it, who knew what relationship these two once had, maybe they were a couple? Felix weighed up the possibility a little and abandoned the idea of throwing this hot potato at Ms. Bones.


    She had already been under enough pressure lately, if he adds any more to it, Felix feared she would go on strike.


    In the new week, everything went on as usual at Hogwarts. Except -


    "Potter," Grindelwald stood at the lectern, looking through a submitted essay, "can you tell me what you wrote?"


    Harry slowly rose from his seat and said reluctantly, "Homework, sir."


    "So you know." Grindelwald said softly, "You''re not serious, Potter, so, unfortunately, you''re going to have detention."


    "But, sir-" Harry said unconvincingly.


    "I''ll listen to your explanation in my office, but not now, don''t delay the rest of the class," Grindelwald said with his usual expression, "let''s get on with the lesson."


    Harry huffed and sat back in his seat as Ron and Hermione shot him a sympathetic look. This was not the first time this had happened; Professor Bagshot had not relaxed his demands just because he knew Harry, instead, he had become even stricter.


    Very often, the same essay with a different name might be able to pass, but with Harry, it would become ''flawed''. It just they didn''t expect it to go as far as detention.


    "... Due to your mediocre skills at ''disguising your Muggle identity'', more than half of you failed. This also means that you are at risk of attracting the attention of muggle law enforcers at any moment, and if some of you pull out your wand with a big grin, you could incur a deadly backlash."


    "As we learned in the last lesson, the speed of regular firearms exceeds the speed of sound; does anyone remember what that figure is? --very good, Miss Granger--and the average wizard, I mean those skilled in non-verbal spell casting, is only about a third as fast on average, and unless you are an Archmage and can control magic beyond your body, you will have to listen to my lesson honestly ..."


    "It is safer to detect danger in advance than to respond to it head-on. A more effective method is to use magic like the Supersensory Charm to enhance your own perception and detect the presence of danger in advance."


    "Now in groups of two, stand with one back to the other, the first one use the Supersensory Charm and the second one gather the magic at the tip of the wand but do not fire it ... Let me see how far you can make it."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 629: Detention (2 in 1)

    In the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, the students moved. Desks were stacked up in the corners, leaving a large area in the middle empty. The classroom was in chaos for the next few minutes, no one wanted to be the one with a wand pointed at the back of their head, Harry and Ron pushed and shoved each other half-heartedly, eventually Ron won with his height and physical strength advantage and Harry was shoved to the front. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Neville standing side by side with him, squishing his mouth with an expression of someone heading towards a torture chamber.


    "Stand by - front row students cast a Supersensory Charm on themselves -"


    Harry didn''t bother to look at the others as he pointed his wand at himself and whispered the incantation. In an instant, his senses became extremely sharp as a myriad of details he had previously overlooked came flooding in; Harry is no stranger to this spell, and he quickly blocked out the unnecessary details, trying his best to catch the threat from behind him. Gradually, he ''saw'' something, a blur of light appeared behind him, it is Ron''s wand, with something foggy twisting around the tip.


    It suddenly occurred to Harry that in the first few lessons, Professor Bagshot had scoffed that their spell casting ''was as conspicuous to some people as shouting against their ears''.


    Harry couldn''t help but clutch his wand tightly, his nerves tensed in fear that Ron would forget the professor''s command and fire off the spell.


    It wasn''t unfounded, there were already some students who couldn''t control their magic enough and caused their peers to suffer, those spells had arced like flickering sparks in the darkness to Harry''s perspective. "The failed group will switch places between themselves." Grindelwald said nonchalantly, turning a blind eye to the menacing glances of students who had swapped places with each other. Seamus was trying desperately to whisper an apology to Dean, saying that he hadn''t meant to do it, but Dean, who smelled like burnt mush, just sneered at him. Draco Malfoy froze in place with a frown, looking sheepishly at Blaise Zabini, who was limping towards him.


    For the next few minutes, the classroom was in chaos. Those students who had been unfortunate enough to be hit earlier returned the favour when it was their turn. Various minor hexes flew all over the place, and screams of pain and grimaces were heard everywhere. "Keep quiet, a few minor bruises won''t hurt." Grindelwald said briskly, his eyes astonishingly sharp as a couple of emotionally disturbed students with oddly shaped heads were called out, and the others continued to practice with caution.


    At the moment, only Harry and Ron, and Neville and Hermione were staying still. Hermione is known for her ability to control her magic perfectly and if the professor didn''t call it off, she could have kept it up until the end of class, but it was Neville who was having a hard time, his hair standing on end due to fear, and he had used the shield charm several times for no reason because of his overreaction.


    Ron craned his head and laughed out loud when he saw Draco Malfoy fall face-first to the ground after being hit by a Full Body-Bind Curse, and his wrist couldn''t help but shake - "Watch out, Harry! " Ron abruptly yelled. He didn''t need to remind him, Harry had already noticed the change in the magic wrapped around the tip of Ron''s wand, and at that moment he completely forgot about his half-baked non-verbal spellcasting and shouted, "Protego!"


    An invisible wall was instantly formed.


    Harry''s shield charm was a little too powerful, and seven or eight students were pushed out of the way, and the classroom instantly became messed up. Harry opened his eyes and saw Neville pinning Justin down, both of them moaning and groaning, and he rushed forward to help them up. It was only at that point that Grindelwald slowly walked over to the students, removing the effects of the various evil hexes from their bodies.


    "We will continue after a ten-minute break." He said calmly.


    "It''s a real drag." An hour later, as the students filed out of the classroom, Ron grimaced and said, "The class was in such disarray, and the professor didn''t say anything to control it." His arm also had a strange bruise, as if he had been whipped, an effect of Ernie Macmillan''s Stinging Jinx.


    Harry didn''t say anything. He was walking a little strangely as if he couldn''t muster any strength in his lower body. After the break, Professor Bagshot switched them around, and he did well using the Supersensory Charm, deflecting several spells that came from behind him, but in the last five minutes of class, before Draco Malfoy could make a move behind him, suddenly there was an accident, and a spell came out of nowhere, hitting Harry straight on. Then Draco ''accidentally'' lost control, and the combination of the two Jelly-Legs Curse made Harry''s legs as limp as noodles.


    Hermione huffed and groomed her hair, which had now become like a Devil''s Snare, tangled in a shaggy mess that Hermione couldn''t straighten out even after a long time of looking in the mirror she had conjured up with her wand.


    "I think Professor Bagshot would have liked that!" She said pointedly.


    "Why?" Harry asked.


    "Think about it guys," she said, "What was it that he is hoping for?"


    "To exercise our use of the Supersensory Charm to spot danger from the dark places." Harry said, then some understanding dawned on him, "You mean he did it on purpose? Deliberately not maintaining order? How is that possible ..."


    "How can practice be as effective as real-life combat?" Hermione snapped. At that moment, a few younger wizards passed by them, covering their mouths and pointing at her, which made her temper even worse. In the end, she decided to leave Harry and Ron behind and make a trip back to the girls'' dormitory.


    "Don''t you have an Arithmancy class?"


    "Do you want me to walk around with a ball of wool on my head? Not a chance!" Hermione shouted in annoyance, "I hate Daphne Greengrass!" With that she ran off, leaving Harry and Ron looking at each other, and Ron said frankly to Harry, "She described it accurately, it does look quite like a ball of wool, I think Crookshanks gave her the inspiration."


    "What are you guys talking about?" Ginny suddenly appeared.


    She held out her hand and tugged a distracted Luna towards her as if to prevent her from wandering off. "Hello guys." Luna greeted in a somewhat indistinct voice, her eyes trailing Hermione''s departing back, clearly very intrigued.


    Harry''s face flushed a little as he suddenly remembered the time he had spent with Ginny at Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop, as if the time had turned back in a flash, bringing him back to the past, and he was already looking forward to the next Hogsmeade weekend.


    "Um," Ginny''s voice suddenly sounded like a mosquito and her cheeks flushed crimson, "Ha, Harry, Luna wants to talk to you, Luna?"


    Luna was talking to Ron. "I like Hermione''s new hairstyle." She said, "I''m just not sure if it''s a chore to deal with."


    "Oh, it''s quite trouble-free, you just need to master the Knitting Charm." Ron replied.


    "Luna!" Ginny called out.


    "Oh," Luna snapped back, and she said with a big smile, "I''d like to ask you a favour."


    "No problem." Harry said, looking at Luna, surprised to see that this quirky girl had new ornaments, her hair, neck, and wrists were wrapped in hair ornaments, bracelets and necklaces made from colourful stones, and Harry felt that these things would only look good on Luna without looking too out of place, probably because her unique temperament was already quite striking.


    "I would like to learn a few Parseltongue words." Luna said.


    "Okay - what?!" Harry shouted, and Ron, who had questioned Ginny in one corner about why she was blushing, jerked his head back, his neck twisted as if he had been hit by the knotting curse. He had an incredulous look on his face; but Ginny looked very calm, as if she had known about this all along, her eyes darting around.


    "Parseltongue words." Luna repeated as she seemed to misinterpret that Harry hadn''t heard her. She deliberately slowed her speech down a little and mouthed the words with a perfect standard.


    "Oh Luna, I understand you want to learn Parseltongue," Harry said with a headache, "I mean ... well, which word do you want to learn?" He actually had a premonition in his mind when he asked the question.


    "Op...en." Luna said again in a very, very slow pace of speech.


    Harry''s heart sank.


    Open. It is the secret key to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, which means they both wanted to go inside the Chamber! Harry didn''t think he could have guessed wrong, and he stared at Ginny, who had already turned her head away and was stealing glances at Harry sheepishly from the corner of her eyes.


    Harry was stumped by it, and more importantly, he couldn''t figure out why Luna suddenly wanted to go to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets, is it because of something Ginny had said? He could only dodge it for now, "Well - I have to think about it, I have Ancient Rune Class in the afternoon ... ahem, I mean Potions Class ... "


    Luna stared at him for a while, "Okay, so are you free this weekend?"


    Harry nodded woodenly.


    Luna bounced away. Ginny also tried to slip away while she had the chance, but was held behind by Harry, who wanted to find out what was going on. Ginny looked downcast as they made their way towards the common room, "We tried so many things, asking Fred and George for secret passages, finding the Centaur Firenze to divine, and placing an ad in the Wall of Mystery tabloid - that''s how Luna got that little colourful pebbles, and she actually liked it! "


    "Don''t try to change the subject." Harry said.


    Ginny gave him a blank look and whispered, "Well ... to find the Resurrection Stone."


    ...


    When Hermione returned from her Arithmancy class and saw Harry, Ron and Ginny gathered together with blank looks on their faces in a serious atmosphere, she asked in confusion, "What''s wrong?" She thought about the events that had happened in the past two days and said, "You''re not still obsessing about this Carlotta Pinkstone person, are you?"


    "It''s more serious than that. Hermione." Ron said with a stern face, "We shouldn''t get much of a chance to meet Carlotta Pinkstone in person unless you count the three chocolate frog cards pressed into the bottom of my trunk. To be honest, I had forgotten about her a long time ago."


    "Then what''s this all about?" Hermione asked curiously.


    Harry, who had already heard it once, inevitably became distracted when Ginny whispered about her and Luna''s efforts to find the Resurrection Stone during this period of time, and he started to think about the viability of going into the Chamber of Secrets safely. The first time he heard about it, he did get a little angry because he, Ron, and Hermione had almost gotten killed there in the second year - although it turned out afterward that they were safe as one could be, with three professors standing nearby!


    The other thing is, the basilisk was already dead. It is presumed that all the materials from its body were divided up and used cleanly by the professors; the Ring of the Ouroboros Serpent of the Magic Rune Club was built from the scales of the basilisk, and Snape had published several high-end research papers based on it.


    As for the hidden dangers - Harry had confidence that Professor Hap and Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn''t let it go, so in theory, it was safe there.


    Harry''s attitude was beginning to waver.


    After the Potions lesson in the afternoon, Harry once again politely declined Slughorn''s invitation, "I''m going to Professor Bagshot''s office tonight to catch up on my homework." He said unhappily, and unexpectedly had some hope in his heart that Professor Slughorn would fight for him, so he purposely didn''t use ''Quidditch training'' as an excuse.


    But Professor Slughorn only rolled his eyes a few times, "It''s him, I don''t know him very well, I always feel this person is very..." his eyes glazed over, and he couldn''t come up with a single adjective, he fiddled with the gold buttons on his vest and muttered uneasily. "It''s a shame, isn''t it? We can only look for another chance."


    So at eight in the evening, Harry knocked on the door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class professor with a belly full of grievances.


    "Come in, Harry." Grindelwald said.


    "Sir, I have come to explain the mistake I made in my essay." Harry said, averting his eyes from Grindelwald, only to accidentally see an unwrapped gift box on his desk that he thought looked a little familiar.


    Grindelwald grinned. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Do you think I don''t remember the old time? Harry, I didn''t intend to criticize you, and yes, there are some points in your essay that seem ... naive, but that''s not your fault. I will never forget that afternoon when you offered me a helping hand. It''s not just anyone who would help an old man who has no one to turn to. I appreciate that, Harry."


    Harry visibly froze a little.


    "I, actually ... am ...," he stammered.


    "Being kind." Grindelwald said softly, "Back then, I have dropped your door a few times, with a selfish intention ... I was trying to find out more about Hogwarts to build up my chances of getting a job at the interview. I ended up overhearing by chance how your aunt and uncle treated you and talked so meanly that on several occasions I wanted to rush in and question them out loud about why they were treating their own family members like that, just because you are a wizard?"


    Harry''s eyes reddened.


    "Sir," he whispered, "I''m used to it, and when I''m an adult, I''ll move out."


    Grindelwald patted Harry on the shoulder, "I completely understand your dilemma, even when I told you to fight back properly - which is your right - you gave it up because of the goodness in your heart - -"


    "I can''t cast magic outside of school." Harry whispered. He suddenly thought of Dudley.


    "We both know that''s just an excuse. If a wizard wants revenge, there are a million ways to make them feel pain. It was your kindness that helped you forgive them, even if they are not grateful for it, but that is not your fault," Grindelwald said emphatically, "It is not your fault."


    Harry wiped his eyes.


    "I was an acolyte, boy." Grindelwald said.


    "An acolyte, of what? Sir?"


    "An acolyte." Grindelwald said, "Do you know Grindelwald? His followers are called Acolytes, but actually ''followers'' isn''t the right word because we all got together with the dream of changing the wizarding world."


    "I, I haven''t heard much about ..." Harry said with a sense of shame, and his eyes suddenly widened, "Wait! Grindelwald? I recall something about him." He struggled to recall and recited a passage, "Albus Dumbledore is most famous for his contributions such as: in 1945 defeating-"


    "- Grindelwald the Dark Lord." Grindelwald flashed his white teeth and said with a cold smile, "That was the mark he left on the world. It is recorded on the Chocolate Frog card, about him being the greatest wizards of our era and also about that duel as one of the greatest duel of our era."


    Harry didn''t know what to say, his mind was in turmoil. He tried to make sense of the explosive information he had just received: was Professor Bagshot a former acolyte, a follower of the dark lord Grindelwald ... no, I should say a supporter of his philosophy, and is that why Professor Bagshot hates Muggles? He thought he had found the reason.


    Grindelwald looked at Harry calmly. Then he took out his wand and held it against his forehead, pulling a thin silver filament with the tip from his wand.


    "Professor?" Harry asked in a whisper.


    "Shh." Grindelwald held up a finger as he flung the wand in his hand so hard that the silver filament was tossed into the air, and then footage hovered in the office.


    It appeared to be a party. A middle-aged male wizard walked onto the stage, he didn''t look like a wizard, but rather a rock star. Harry thought to himself. Then there was a hollow, frenzied cheer echoing through the screen, and the place was so packed that Harry inexplicably thought of the scene where he had won the Quidditch championship.


    In the scene, the crowd quieted down and the man in the centre of the stage began to make a speech, and Harry was surprised to find that one of his eyes is silver and white.


    "... They all have said that I hate non-wizards, muggles, No-Majs, and Moldus." Harry looked over at Grindelwald, as he wondered what the last words meant. "Different words for non-magical people." Grindelwald simply said. Harry nodded and looked back up into the air again.


    "I don''t hate them. I don''t hate anyone."


    "I don''t fight for the sake of hatred. I see Muggles not as an inferior group, but as a group of other species. Not worthless, but worthy of something more. They must not be treated lightly, they should be treated specially."


    The man in the image paused and continued.


    "The bloom of magic will only grace a very few souls. It will be granted only to those who pursue a nobler cause. Using it we will create a better world for all mankind! What we seek is freedom, truth-" With that, the man suddenly looked beyond the image, and looked at Harry, as if addressing him.


    "-and more than that, love."


    Harry''s jaw dropped as he watched, and he couldn''t help but gulp. At that moment, the image disappeared, and he felt unfulfilled.


    "Is there more?" He asked.


    "I''m sorry," Grindelwald said, "I shouldn''t have shown you this, I had promised Dumbledore that ... it might get me into trouble. But an old friend found me last week and stirred up some memories." He said as he glanced over to the gift box that Harry had noticed earlier.


    There was a moment of silence.


    "The man in the image is Grindelwald?" Harry asked thoughtfully.


    "That''s right." Grindelwald showed a smile, "Well, leave him alone, boy. I should remind you that he is a dark lord who has started many protests and killed many people ... Let''s get back to your essay and after dealing with those little problems we can talk about magic."


    "I can see that you have a talent for it."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 630: A New Beginning, Seventeen Rune Laws (2 in 1)

    When Harry walked out, he was still dizzy, as if his consciousness was still stuck in Professor Bagshot''s office. They sat on the soft couch and talked about their understanding of magic, amidst the reflection from the crimson, swaying fire in the fireplace. Professor Bagshot''s theoretical knowledge is very vast. His theories were very comprehensive, without being overly verbose, and his personal knowledge was always clearly presented with some subtle demonstration. By contrast, Harry felt like he was speaking incoherently and his mind was muddled.


    This thought frustrated him since he had also taught a number of students spells in the Frontline Lookout Club.


    Harry couldn''t help but compare the professors he had come into contact with in Defence Against Dark Arts Class.


    In his first and second year, he had come across Quirrell and Lockhart, but he hadn''t been able to learn much useful knowledge from either of them.


    At the time Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort and probably spent all his time plotting how to grab the Philosopher''s Stone and was in no mood to teach the class. Because it was rumoured that his theoretical knowledge was quite solid, and there is a certain degree of credibility in that claim, as Harry experienced the curse that Quirrell had cast on his flying broom; of course, it is also possible that Quirrell''s mind was being impaired, as evidenced by the fact that he was always talking out of turn and acting nervously in class.


    Harry was paranoid for a while when he first learned that he is a Horcrux, suspecting that he would grow the same face as Quirrell on the back of his head.


    And the other one - Lockhart - is good at nothing but Memory Charm and is currently locked up and suffering in Azkaban. But Harry had to admit that if he had to compare the level of energy in the classroom, Lockhart was definitely superior, because instead of stammering, he read the text aloud and presented it vividly with full of emotion, which alone made him much better than Quirrell, who couldn''t even speak properly.


    Harry impartially thought that watching Lockhart jump up and down was quite a stress reliever when he didn''t make him act as a substitute for some of the more abnormal characters.


    Harry''s real formal education in the Defence Against the Dark Arts probably began when Professor Damocles Belby was appointed ( not counting the Dueling Club).


    Professor Belby is a master of potions and has developed the famous Wolfsbane potion. To a certain extent, his preference is quite opposite to Snape''s. Although Professor Belby had personally said that he was there just to fill in the void, Harry still found his series of defence lessons based around the Forbidden Forest very useful.


    In the third year, the students welcomed Professor Lupin. It is not certain if there was extra personal emotion mixed in, but Harry thought he is the best professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts he had ever met, Remus was mild-mannered and friendly towards all his students, and because of his hidden identity as a werewolf, Lupin had been exposed to and tackled many difficult dark creatures and dark magic. "I am a part of them." Lupin said bitterly at one point, a notion that Harry strongly disagreed with. On the grounds that many of the students still missed him dearly - it was the fourth year at the time, and they were tormented by Moody''s teaching methods - and that "there''s no doubt that Professor Hap saved a fortune on advertisement by asking you to come over here!"


    Harry''s impression of Professor Moody is quite complicated, as he knew that part of his admiration and yearning to become a great famous Auror was in fact due to the teaching of the Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr. who was disguised at that time. Still, he decided not to take the bull by the horns, as at least he had learned a lot about how to deal with dark wizards from him, and it was absolutely credible.


    The professor for the last year''s class was Sirius (in recent contact, Sirius had said he had seen Rita Skeeter on Muggle TV broadcasting the news about mad cow disease). Harry guessed that Sirius might also have had a special mission when he was a professor - such as training students to deal with sudden crises and actual combat under the threat of the shadow of war. The students in Harry''s year generally felt more at ease in their O.W.Ls practical exams.


    Professor Bagshot, on the other hand - Harry had a sinking feeling in his heart, probably because he had once been an Acolyte - held no small amount of animosity, or rather, ''differential treatment'', towards Muggles. Harry thought about the speech he had seen today, and it was clear that Grindelwald considered wizards and muggles to be two different species, and both of them had a competitive relationship.


    But isn''t there a Statue of Secrecy?


    A voice in Harry''s head asked himself, ''What if the Statue of Secrecy ceases to function?'' He couldn''t think of a solution at all, and it made his heart heavy. A sudden cold breeze hit his face with snowflakes, and Harry raised his eyes to find the windows in the corridor left open.


    He walked over to the window, some tiny ice crystals glistened on the window frame, and his fingers felt cold and prickly, he understood that winter had arrived - "What are you doing?" Filch abruptly appeared, holding a glowing, exclusive wand in his hand.


    "Closing the window." Harry said.


    "The lights are about to be extinguished, and you''re still hanging around the castle, I suspect you ..." Filch spoke in a cold, threatening tone, as Mrs. Norris hid under the shadow of her master, rubbing comfortably against Filch''s trouser leg.


    "So it''s not curfew time yet?" Harry blurted out, "Thanks for the reminder!" He strode away, the sound of Filch''s ragged breath came from behind him, and then he heard Filch chant an incantation in a low voice and the window slammed shut.


    Some relationships are difficult to improve. Harry thought to himself as he climbed the stairs. Then he thought of Draco Malfoy, they were not destined to be friends, there were too many grudges in between them unless there was something irresistible that would force them together - like group work in the classroom.


    The thought that in two more years, after graduation, the two would probably not see each other for the rest of their lives caused Harry to feel a twinge of melancholy. In his mind, Hogwarts was the first place he felt at home.


    The next day, at the great hall table.


    "So, Professor Bagshot didn''t penalize you at all, and discussed magic with you?" Ron''s tone was laced with a bit of jealousy.


    "Yeah." Harry said as he took the time to tell Ron and Hermione about their experience last night (but omitted the acolyte part) while he was sipping his porridge.


    "Well, he''s not that ungrateful." Ron said as he smacked his lips, feeling much more favourably towards Professor Bagshot, even Hermione was slightly surprised, "But why did he want you to have a detention?"


    "There are indeed quite a few problems in my essay." Harry said with a shrug.


    He couldn''t think of any reason he could give for Professor Bagshot, and he certainly didn''t want to reveal that the Professor had once been an Acolyte; that was all in the past, wasn''t it? Announcing it would only put Professor Bagshot in an awkward position, and he associated it with Remus'' werewolf status, after Remus had confessed to them, it didn''t take that long for him to hand in his resignation.


    "By the way, Hermione," Harry asked, pretending to be casual, "how much do you know about Grindelwald?"


    Even though he had tried his best to downplay it, Hermione sucked in a deep breath, "Why do you suddenly want to ask about this?" "Er, because ... when I was eating chocolate frogs in Professor Bagshot''s office yesterday-" "And he also treated you to a snack? " Ron asked, as he interrupted. "-Yeah, and I drew a Dumbledore card, you know, we know a lot about Nicolas Flamel, but we don''t know much about Grindelwald''s past."


    Hermione frowned lightly and seemed to be thinking hard.


    "Harry, there''s very little data available on Grindelwald''s past in terms of books, oh, it''s not that he hasn''t been mentioned, I mean, there''s very little about the man as a person, his childhood, his upbringing, all those ... parts about him, as if he became a well-known figure all of a sudden, inciting riots and disrupting the local order, as well as causing all sorts of sensational and violent incidents, all of which are documented in books such as Modern Magical History, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century ..."


    Hermione rambled on but stopped when she saw the look on Harry''s face.


    "What''s wrong?" She asked worriedly.


    "Is there any record of his speech?" Harry asked in a light tone, trying to keep the point of his words from being too obvious, as if it was just a spur-of-the-moment curiosity, "I think that he would be quite a charismatic man, after all, he could pull together an army of wizards of that scale ..."


    Hermione shook her head as she whispered, "I don''t know."


    "So all we know is that he was a powerful dark wizard, instigator, and - he used the Deathly Hallows symbol as his logo." Ron concluded, "Sounds like a tough opponent, luckily he was defeated by Dumbledore."


    With that, he went back to deal with the omelette and sausages on his plate, clearly not taking this matter to heart. Harry didn''t want to draw attention to himself, so for the next two days, he simply took the opportunity to check the reference books as he stood by the library shelves, looking for the few books Hermione had mentioned and skimming through them quickly.


    From the point of view of those books, Grindelwald was a very bad man, a great enemy who had damaged the cornerstone of stability in the wizarding world.


    On Thursday evening, Harry inadvertently spotted Luna walking across the field, dressed in a new outfit, and he suddenly realized that it was almost the weekend, and he hadn''t given Luna an answer. Ron and Hermione took opposite attitudes on this matter.


    "Why do we have to go to the smelly sewers?" Ron''s face scrunched up as he said, "Not to mention going into the girl''s lavatory - I never want to deal with Myrtle again."


    "You don''t have to go." Hermione said.


    "Let Ginny go alone? Mum would kill me if she knew." Ron shouted.


    Yes, that''s right, the content of their discussion had changed. The question of whether or not to teach Luna the Parseltongue had changed to whether or not to take the time to accompany them on a search in the Chamber of Secrets. Harry didn''t want to go from the bottom of his heart because this adventure is doomed to lead anywhere, with the real Resurrection Stone being worn in Dumbledore''s hand!


    "... You have no idea how much training you''ve been putting us through lately, Peakes and Coote are privately calling you a tyrant," Ron said to Harry, whose jaw dropped, "Yeah," Ron said with an understanding nod, "Thankfully Katie Bell enlightened them on how Wood tortured the players when he was still around, and you are a lot better compared to him."


    "Maybe I should add some more training, so they don''t have time to talk rubbish." Harry said through clenched teeth.


    Ron shrank his neck.


    "Let''s find a night and go and get back quickly." Harry said with some finality and Hermione raised her eyebrows, "If I understand you correctly, you want a night out-" "Yeah," Harry said with a ''you have finally know'' look, "it''s not the first time anyway, and it''s not that dangerous. I can''t afford to delay two days of Quidditch practice on the weekend." He said emphatically.


    "I think it''s fine," Ron said, "I don''t want to sneak into the girls'' lavatory during the day either. I''m a prefect now. It''d be hilarious if something went wrong."


    Harry also thought about the possibility of being discovered by Mafalda and her bee (as some people called the young wizard who worked part-time at the Wall of Mystery tabloid) and his mind instantly drew up a sensational headline, ''The Odd Fetish of a Gryffindor Prefect and Quidditch Team Captain'', and a chill ran through his body as his mind became even firmer.


    "It''s tomorrow night!"


    Harry broke the news to Ginny later in the evening, and the next day at breakfast Luna came running over to thank him joyfully, nearly spilling the beans and scaring Harry into using the Langlock jinx. Luna stammered and was dragged away by Ginny with her mouth clenched.


    After breakfast, they went to their Ancient Rune class, which has now entered a new phase.


    "The progress is slightly faster than I expected," Felix said, "It might have something to do with a few mass detentions ..." The students below stared blankly at their professor. "... We''re going to learn something new today."


    He suddenly stopped talking and his eyes roamed around the classroom, "Who didn''t come to class?"


    The students began to look around and Pansy Parkinson raised her hand.


    "Professor, Daphne has taken a leave of absence and is now in the hospital wing."


    "And the reason?"


    "It''s said that she mistook scurvy powder for parsley powder and added it to her food by mistake, which has caused symptoms like mild meningitis." Pansy said as she sat with Blaise Zabini, and the two were sitting very close to each other.


    "That is, a headache and a slight disturbance in consciousness ..." Felix said, and Pansy froze a little, why did he describe the symptoms all over again?


    "That''s it, isn''t it?"


    "Yes, yes."


    But it''s not just the misuse of scurvy grass that could be the cause of this symptom. It could also be a Confundus Charm and an Obliviate spell, Felix thought to himself.


    What a coincidence.


    Generally speaking, the after-effects of a Confundus Charm are very mild and don''t even cause much of a reaction if they only interfere with the person''s consciousness for a second or two, but if they were placed under the spell''s control for a more extended period of time - Barty Crouch Sr., for example, had been under the influence of the Confundus and Memory Charm for too long that he ended up delirious and had to be professionally treated.


    A figure surfaced in Felix''s mind, the acolyte who had arrived after learning about Grindelwald''s escape, Nicole Noel. Felix had previously suspected that she might be the true owner of Bondy the house elf and therefore had not questioned her ability to contact Grindelwald, but now it seemed that she should have used Daphne Greengrass to deliver the message.


    Whether that was the case or not, he could it find out by visiting the hospital wing after class.


    It also reminded Felix that the Acolytes were not harmless little bunnies, they were once a well-organized and well-divided group and were far from being measured by the dimension of ''force''. The same thought appeared in Harry''s mind, and he knew even more than Felix - he had witnessed Daphne meeting with a strange woman and receiving a gift box that had ended up in Professor Bagshot''s office.


    It was just that Harry had thought at the time that the old woman in the trench coat might have been one of Daphne''s elders. He looked at Professor Hap, he ought to know something, right? But the professor had already started his lecture.


    "... I''m glad to see that most of you have mastered the art of allowing a practical magic rune to manifest without a wand, and have gained some flexibility in casting spells as a result, but that''s not the point," Felix said, "Individual ancient runes are not very impressive both in terms of power, and adaptability, and there are better spells to replace them."


    "Next you will be introduced to an important practical element of ancient runes, a kind of technique derived from the rune circuit. Is anyone willing to cooperate with a demonstration? There are extra points-"


    Several arms went up. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Anthony Goldstein." Felix called out the name of a Ravenclaw boy.


    Goldstein stepped forward with some nervousness.


    With a wave of Felix''s hand, a dozen rune symbols appeared out of thin air, and they were closely connected with each other. "Try to catch it." Felix said encouragingly, and Goldstein held out his hand - the students at the foot of the podium held their breath as they watched closely - and his fingertips touched the tightly bound chain of rune circuit.


    The chain of rune circuit seemed to be drawn by Goldstein, and voluntarily blended into his skin, burrowing down his fingers. Goldstein was startled, rolled his sleeve up, and was surprised to find the chain of rune circuit branded into the skin of his wrist as if it was some kind of mark.


    Goldstein blinked.


    "Professor? This is ..."


    He was a little worried that it wouldn''t go off his wrist, but in the next second he found his body becoming lighter, and with just a tiptoe, his whole body flew in the direction of Professor Hap, who dodged out of the way, and he bolted straight for the window.


    "Don''t use too much force." Felix warned him.


    "What?" Goldstein asked as he scrambled to hold his hand on the wall, only to have his whole body bounce in the opposite direction as if he weighed nothing and then he was caught by a hand when he brushed up against Professor Hap.


    Goldstein''s feet landed back on the ground.


    "Try again." He heard the professor say to him.


    Goldstein took a breath with excitement, "I seem to have gotten the hang of it." His current state is a bit like being under a Levitation Charm, but he did not completely lose control of his movements.


    He stood still for a moment and jumped gently. The next second, he found himself jumping throughout the middle of the room, and his head brushed against the ceiling. He couldn''t help but laugh out loud as the students below him looked very small, and each of them stared at him with bemused eyes.


    He landed lightly like a feather from the air and had time to greet his good friends one by one.


    Felix grabbed his wrist to keep him on his feet, and when he took his hand away, Goldstein noticed that the magic runes on his wrist were gone and his whole body seemed so heavy that he almost sat on the ground.


    "You can go back now, Mr. Goldstein. Ravenclaw plus ten points."


    "A rune circuit that reduces the weight of an object." Felix said with satisfaction, "It''s normally used on rune artefacts, but why can''t it be used on the human body? You guys should have been exposed to human transfiguration, right?" Some students in the classroom nodded their heads.


    "You can think of the rune circuit as a solidified spell - of course, what you are about to learn has been carefully selected and created by me, and you will find that it can be applied to more than just objects; as long as you follow the seventeen ''Laws of Rune'', it will also become a part of your everyday spell casting."


    "Moreover, it has its own unique advantages, such as a longer maintenance time, difficulty in interpreting and targeting, higher degree of concealment, and so on."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 632: The Villain (2 in 1)

    Felix spread out the map, placed his hand on it, and quietly muttered, "Albus Dumbledore." There was no feedback from the map as if there was no such person.


    Felix pursed his lips, had already guessed this possibility. He put on his coat and Valen wrapped her scarf around herself, and the two of them walked out of the office without making a sound. After thinking for a moment, Felix walked towards classroom seven.


    Slightly ahead of time by a few minutes.


    In the abandoned girls'' lavatory on the second floor, four people were waiting anxiously. The Moaning Myrtle sat on the flush tank and looked glumly at Harry as he walked around in annoyance, "You guys made another appointment?" The ghost asked.


    No one paid her any attention.


    After another circle, Harry asked Ron, who was standing in the doorway, "Did you hear any noise?"


    "Nope." Ron said, bending over and looking out through the gap in the keyhole as he replied.


    "Luna wouldn''t have lost track of time, would she?" Harry turned his head to stare at Ginny.


    "I think ..."


    "Ouch!" Ron suddenly yelped in pain, covering his head and backing away. The door was pushed open with a crack and after a few seconds, the four people and a ghost saw Luna poke her head in, peering cautiously inside, her messy, blonde hair trailing down like a waterfall, and when she saw a grimacing Ron and the others, she raised an eyebrow and grinned.


    "Oh - you''re all here - how wonderful!" Luna said cheerfully, "I''ve been looking forward to this secret party for a long time, can we set off the fireworks now?"


    "Yuck." Ron said as he rubbed his forehead.


    Luna stared at the reddened patch of skin on his head, "What''s wrong with you?"


    "Well, forget about that for now, Luna." Hermione said, "You''re late, and although I don''t really want to hear some excuse like oversleeping, it is better than having an accident - one more question, you didn''t get caught out, did you?"


    "I bumped into Mrs. Norris," said Luna, and the hearts of several people immediately jumped up, "but I transfigured a bunch of rats and fish with my Transfiguration, and she ran off to chase after the rats." With that, she showed the crowd her empty left wrist.


    There was supposed to be a string of colourful stone bracelets there.


    According to Ginny, they had advertised in the Wall of Mystery tabloid for pretty stones, and after only two days, Luna had received half a box of oddly shaped, colourful little stones, but of course don''t expect to find a resurrection stone in it. Luna picked out some of them and made them into a full set of Jewellery for her and Ginny. After many refusals, Ginny eventually ended up receiving a necklace.


    Of course, she never wore it outside.


    The rest of the stones were also used up without any waste, as the two of them spent their afternoon free time adding a half-stone pathway to a hammock in the clubroom of the ''Crumple-Horned Snorkacks Certainly Exist'' club.


    "Why did you think it would be a good idea to transfigure up some fishes?" Myrtle asked, with a pair of lowered eyebrows; she was rather interested, judging by the tone of her voice.


    "Cat loves to eat fish." Luna said with certainty.


    "But live fish don''t just appear out of thin air on the floor - live fish, I assume?" Hermione asked.


    "Yeah, but the cat wouldn''t care." Luna said.


    Seeing that the conversation was getting more and more skewed, Harry cleared his throat hurriedly, and when the others turned their attention to him, he mustered up the captain''s demeanour that he would use at Quidditch practice and said with a serious face, "We need to hurry up, there are three people here who need to get up early for Quidditch team practice tomorrow."


    "It''s earlier than our usual class time, that''s mean, isn''t it? I wonder who sets the time." Ron quipped.


    Harry raised an eyebrow.


    "Are you guys going to be arguing here all night? Come on, Harry." Hermione urged.


    So Harry positioned his face directly in front of one of the sink''s taps, the one with a small snake carved on its side of the tap. "I have a bad feeling," Ron said, trying to splash the cold water, "we should have gone back to the dormitory right away from the moment we came across that statue that appeared out of nowhere--"


    "Oh, you just shut up." Ginny said angrily.


    "Is there anything wrong with what I said?" Ron yelled in a lowered voice, "You all also saw that statue that appeared out of nowhere - hell, none of us had any impression of it before!"


    "It''s possible that it was moved over recently." Ginny calmly said.


    Ron squinted at her, with a look on his face that suggested that she couldn''t be reasoned with. Harry ignored the bickering, even though a shadow was cast over his mind too, what the hell was going on with that statue? He mulled it over for a few seconds and shouted, "Open." A strange hissing sound emanated from his mouth, a blinding white light flared from the tap, and then the sink began to move, slowly sinking to reveal a very wide and deep pipe.


    "Thank goodness the entrance wasn''t blocked by the professors." Harry said with mixed emotions.


    If he had failed, they could have ended their adventure for the night.


    Both Ginny and Luna were seeing the chamber of secrets for the first time, and they cautiously put their heads together and looked down carefully. It was pitch black and bottomless. They put various protection spells on themselves, dust preventing barrier, a levitation charm, a supersensory charm, a bubble head charm, and so on, and then held hands together in order to jump down.


    "Will there be a little basilisk or something in there?" Myrtle asked with expectation.


    "Not likely." Harry said sullenly and disappeared into the entrance to the chamber.


    On the other side, Grindelwald walked slowly in the dark corridor, thinking about what he had just overheard. The Chamber of Secrets, the Resurrection Stone ... Is this an adventure among students, or is there a chance that there is indeed some truth in it?


    Also, those little guys have some good potential, their senses are pretty sharp.


    He grinned, and the tall boy with the red hair and freckled face came to his mind. He had seemed to have glossed over him in the past and not paid much attention to him, but after he had knocked twice hard at his disguised statue self, Grindelwald had decided to focus more on that student named ''Ron Weasley'' in the future.


    He stopped in front of a door to a room.


    Is this the legendary classroom seven? The room where the professors'' young memory beings are housed? He was very curious about this and decided to find out. The wand slid over the wooden door like a rapier, leaving a long trail on it.


    This was not Grindelwald''s own magic, but rather magic that was stored in the gem in his exclusive wand.


    It had started out as the magic power that belonged to a young girl from Future World, and then when he arrived at Hogwarts, he began to draw on the magic that had leaked out of the ancient wizarding school that could not be detected or manipulated by normal people. But either way, it is something that is much inferior to what he had once possessed on his own.


    When he had finished that, Grindelwald stopped and looked closely at the wooden door.


    A light glow rippled over the door, then the traces left on it began to fade, and Grindelwald watched the process silently, catching the sequence of how the traces were fading. He was looking for a way to structure the magic that could bypass the security, and when the traces had completely disappeared, he made another diagonal line with magic power. He kept repeating this action over and over, and after a long while he stopped and fell into contemplation.


    After an unknown amount of time, he muttered some words under his breath and pointed his wand at the wooden door. At once, dense lines appeared in the upper left corner of the wooden door, along together in the surrounding wall, they were arranged in an orderly fashion, like a part of an enormous maze. The lines flickered a few times and then disappeared.


    Grindelwald kept his eyes half-closed and pulled a half-fragmented image out of his head. Then he did the same process a few times. After a long moment, he opened his eyes and muttered to himself in a low voice, "Ancient Runes?"


    At that moment, the sound of footsteps was heard in the distance.


    Grindelwald narrowed his eyes and suddenly pointed his wand towards the frosty window, then left the other side without looking back. After ten seconds or so, Felix made his way up slowly.


    Valen is sitting on his shoulder, with two small arms embracing his neck, and looking around.


    "Kee! (Where''s the fun?)"


    "Hold on." Felix moved closer, his eyes lingering briefly on the wooden door of classroom seven before he began to look around, and it wasn''t long before he was staring at the enchanted window, thoughtfully. The moon outside the window was bright, close to full, and Felix reckoned that the next few days would not be too pleasant for Remus.


    The moonlight shone through the thick layer of frost, but there seemed to be something else hidden there.


    "Mirror." Felix whispered.


    Valen looked at the window curiously, there was clearly nothing there, yet Valen saw the Great Demon King making a few faces at the window. Then Felix went quiet and stood still as if waiting for someone.


    Valen didn''t realize who it is until Dumbledore showed up in his pyjamas, with his long, shiny silver beard trailing off.


    The Great Demon King was staying up at night because of this!


    But where were Harry and the others that she had seen on the map? Valen sniffed lightly as she jumped down and looked at Felix.


    "Go on, don''t let them break my lab equipment." Felix muttered in a quiet voice.


    Valen gave him a ''no problem'' gesture and darted away, it was quite clear that Dumbledore holds very little appeal in her mind.


    The two who remained did not speak for a while.


    Dumbledore similarly fixed his gaze on the window. He looked at it with total concentration for a moment, then reached out his palm and pressed it down towards the window - the window dented as if it was made of rubber, and when he pulled his hand back, the glass bounced back on its own. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Dumbledore stared deeply at the glass and seemed to see the shadow of some other person through the window. Finally, the magic on it disappeared.


    The two men made their way out along the corridor, whispering to each other.


    "About Harry-"


    "I know all about it."


    There was a moment of silence. This time it was Dumbledore who spoke first.


    "What is Tom''s current situation?"


    "Coincidentally, he too has only just discovered the Chamber of Secrets, but because of my attention, no one died this time, he received a detention, and I punished him by making him polish the trophies in the Trophy Room, and copy the school rules."


    "You see how closely he keeps an eye on it."


    "There''s always a difference. The resistance from Voldemort''s subconscious is getting stronger and stronger, and I reckon that there is only a month or two left before the final phase, at which point it would be essential to begin ... any suggestions?"


    "If you want to stop him from falling into the darkness, you must not allow him to kill." Dumbledore paused and said in a quiet tone, "Once something goes wrong there is no turning back. I hope he will experience what it feels like to love and be loved, even if it is an illusion."


    "... Albus, what do you think, about me being the villain?"


    Dumbledore stopped in his tracks, his eyes staring at Felix under the half-moon lenses.


    "You know, to take the path of Voldemort." Felix shrugged, "Maybe it could even confuse the subconscious of the original self, since a Dark Lord is meant to appear in any case, it''d be good for me to do it instead, let Tom stop me - or compete with me."


    "A very dangerous attempt," Dumbledore shook his head, "Voldemort has no love in his heart. You will only hasten his plunge into darkness."


    "Nah, he''ll pretend and act for a while." Felix said, in a tone that filled with eagerness to try this fun, "And in the meantime, I will find a bunch of ''helpers'' for him, that is a mess he can''t shake off lightly."


    Dumbledore suddenly looked at him with an odd expression on his face.


    "... You seem to be planning something, what is it?" Felix looked on guard.


    Dumbledore smiled, "Just thought you had a point ... about the mess you can''t shake off lightly, yes, that''s it. But you have to be very careful." He murmured at the end.


    In the abandoned girls'' lavatory, Moaning Myrtle floated around in mid-air.


    "A Niffler? A Niffler?" She asked with great interest, "You''re the one that Professor Hap has? I''ve seen you from a distance." She began to circle around Valen and said in a cheerful tone that didn''t match her sad face, " But I''m afraid to go near ... I''m a bit afraid of him, and I have seen how he taught the Peeves a lesson."


    Valen looked at the Moaning Myrtle suspiciously, and after thinking for a moment, she pulled a small jar out of her pocket containing a serving of ghost food. She screwed open the lid and Myrtle leaned in closer and asked incredulously, "For me?" After receiving an affirmative nod, she reached straight out with a chubby, transparent hand, and it passed through Valen''s small hand and the jar, dragging out a bright silvery cloud of light.


    Valen shivered, her hand felt like it was submerged in ice water.


    "I didn''t think there would be a midnight snack." Myrtle said swooningly, the transparent acne on her face glowing slightly as she took small bites of her food, all the while speaking away with relish, "Seriously, I have not felt much joy since I barged in on Olive Hornby''s brother''s wedding and was ordered by the Ministry of Magic to return to school... ...I''m the youngest one and have nothing to talk about with the other ghosts ... Sometimes I have thought about killing myself, but then I realize I''m already dead ... It''s the ghost food that makes me feel alive, but this is just a matter of handshakes for Professor Hap I guess he doesn''t care, does he? Except for Bloody Baron and Ms. Gray, I have not seen him interact much with other ghosts, a cold and indifferent person ..."


    Valen pulled out a bottle of super bubble blowing liquid, puffed out her cheeks, and blew a huge bubble that wrapped around herself, then she turned and waved her hand at Myrtle. She floated and swooped into the Chamber of Secrets. Myrtle jumped in shock and plunged her head back into the flush tank.


    Myrtle floated out of the toilet and looked down at the chamber of secrets through the entrance, only to see a glowing light purple bubble getting smaller and smaller in her vision.


    Inside the Chamber of Secrets.


    Harry felt like he was wasting his time. They had been searching through the chamber for half an hour, as Ron was telling the time every ten minutes, so he remembered perfectly well. And Luna thought Ron was helping, so every time he opened his mouth Luna thanked him.


    Now that some more time had passed without him chiming in, Harry wondered if Ron had become too embarrassed to take on this task again.


    Apart from not finding the Resurrection Stone, everything was going well.


    They went through the long tunnel and revisited this ancient chamber again. Harry introduced them to the place where the Basilisk had molted, "We were nearly scared to death!" Ron said excitedly, "But not anymore."


    "Oh, that thing was blown to bits by Professors Hap and Snape." Hermione said.


    Ron muttered something and stopped talking.


    Then they went through another door to the actual Chamber of Secrets. Harry could still recall from the ruins of broken stones and giant snake-coiled stone pillars how they had fought off the Basilisk, and Ron and Hermione looked up at each other with a silent smile.


    For that reason alone, Harry felt that this trip down here is worth it.


    But they also saw quite a few new things, such as the rows of black stone targets erected in the clearing in front of the huge statue of Salazar Slytherin, which seemed to have been created out of the ground. The targets had suffered terrible abuse - at least a third of them had been molten at once, Harry thought - and the ground was scattered with teardrop-like small, solidified pebbles, as shiny as crystal.


    "Well, there are enough stones around here." Ron said, half-jokingly, and half enthusiastically.


    Hermione stretched out her hand and used illumination, sending balls of milky light up to the high ceiling and the chamber instantly became as bright as day. After that, they began a long, futile search for the Resurrection Stone, but with those gem-like stones on the ground, they wouldn''t exactly leave empty-handed.


    When Harry picked up a fiery red stone without any hint of impurities in the size of a pine nut, he even felt a little regret. He thought to himself that it would have been better if Ginny hadn''t come. Then he could have secretly made a necklace for her, but right now Ginny was crouching happily on the ground with Luna looking for jewellery materials.


    "Snap pop!"


    There was an echoing sound from the distance, followed by the sound of a "da-da-da-da" approaching them at a rapid pace. Harry held his wand up, looking the way they had come, while Ron gulped nervously.

 Chapter 633: Encouragement to Tom Riddle (2 in 1)

    "Could it be a basilisk snake?" Ginny asked with a shaky voice. "No, it''s not, this is something with legs." Harry said with certainty, and a few people raised their wands in alert as the sound came closer and closer, then it suddenly stopped. Before Harry could figure out what was going on, they heard a dry heaving sound at that moment.


    "Kee pooh!"


    "Is that Valen?" Hermione said with wide eyes, and several people looked at each other. Luna asked with interest, "Did any of you ask her out?" Hermione trotted over, followed by Harry, Ron, and Ginny as well as Luna.


    Walking through the circular iron door, and at the end of the long narrow tunnel, Harry saw Valen resting one hand on the wet wall, her head bobbing strongly, her flattened mouth making a whimpering, groggy sound.


    "Niffler has a good nose, oh ... she must have had a bad time."


    Hermione said sympathetically. She knelt down and patted Valen''s little shoulder, then cast a Bubble-Head Charm on Valen. Niffler''s head looked like it was covered with a glass fishbowl and her pink snout looked wider and somewhat comical.


    Valen blinked, so close, she managed to survive, she almost died from the stench.


    Hermione extended her arm and carefully picked up Valen (trying not to let her wet, dirty hands grab her) and returned with the group to the chamber main space, where the smell is considerably less. Hermione removed the Bubble-Head Charm and asked with concern, "How are you feeling?" Valen bounced twice on the ground, brought her hand up to her nose, and immediately moved it away in disgust.


    "Oh my! Do you stink?" Hermione laughed heartily.


    "Aguamenti." A stream of water gushed out from the tip of her wand and Valen dutifully washed both her hands and feet, then rummaged through her pocket and pulled out a nice pair of little shoes and put them on herself.


    Ginny and Luna came over and looked at them with interest. Ginny reached out her hand and poked Valen in the stomach, "Kee!" Valen slapped her hand away. She put on her shoes and waddled off a few steps, the echo of her footsteps travelled far in the empty chamber.


    Harry asked a little nervously from beside her, "Valen, is Professor following behind?" Ginny, who was just about to say something, felt her throat go dry.


    Valen thought for a moment and shook her head at him.


    "But the Professor must know, doesn''t he?" Ron immediately said, "He could be here any minute - are we still looking?" His last sentence was directed at everyone. Seeing no retort from Valen, Harry also guessed that the Professor probably knew, and might be waiting at the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets right now.


    Aware of the possibility of being caught, several people lost their sense of adventure and prepared to leave. At that moment, Harry suddenly looked up at the Slytherin stone statue that stood level with the ceiling, the old, monkey-like face with long, sparse beard lines clearly visible in the illumination of the white ball of light above their heads.


    "There''s one place left to check out." He said, as he suddenly felt an extraordinary attraction.


    "What?" Ron asked as he stared at both Ginny and Luna''s stuffed pockets.


    "When we fought the basilisk four years ago, the statue''s mouth was open." Harry pointed to the statue with its mouth closed and said, "I guess there is an empty room behind there, a ... lair or something." Ron looked uneasily at Hermione, who looked at Valen, and after a moment of hesitation she said, "Harry, even if there was an empty room since the Professor closed it later, that means he didn''t want anyone to go in there, am I right, Valen?"


    Valen instantly became stiff.


    She looked at Harry and then at Hermione, wondering if she should tell them that the Great Demon King might possibly be planning something evil. ... But when she thought of the Great Demon King''s words, "don''t let them break my lab equipment," Valen puffed out her little chest and made up her mind to stand firmly in front of them to watch out.


    Harry was stumped, as he stared at the huge stone statue, that inexplicable longing grown stronger.


    "The Professor forbids us from going in?" He asked tentatively.


    Valen thought for a moment, no, he didn''t; she shook her head and wrote a few words in the air with her exclusive wand, "You can enter, but it may be dangerous." After writing it Valen felt she hadn''t expressed it accurately enough and hastily added, "Something to do with that bald ugly guy."


    "Who''s that?" Luna asked curiously, "Someone who has been hit by a Hair Loss Curse?"


    But Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked deeply at each other, the statue had something to do with Voldemort. But they also knew that Voldemort is now locked up in Classroom Seven, not even conscious.


    Now the decision seemed to fall on Harry.


    "We can go back to the Professor and ask him," Hermione said slowly, knowing from the look in Harry''s eyes that his heart was set on it.


    "No, the Professor has left the decision up to us," Harry said calmly, "Valen is here, which means he knows where we are, but he hasn''t shown up until now, what does that mean? It means that he is okay with it too..."


    Hermione opened her mouth and had to admit that he had a point.


    Is that true? Valen thought to herself.


    Harry scrutinized the Slytherin stone statue. He is having a wonderful time lately, but still, there is one hidden worry lingering on his mind - he is not sure exactly how well the Professor and Headmaster have prepared and how far along they have gotten in their plans. As time passed little by little, he was getting more and more nervous, and now that he had a chance to find out, and with the Professor''s tacit approval, he didn''t want to back out just like that.


    Harry walked up to the statue and said aloud in Parseltongue, "Open." The door didn''t budge as he spoke, he could tell that Ron and Hermione were standing on either side of him, one left and one right, and he took a deep breath and didn''t say anything. But when Ginny came over to him, he couldn''t help but protest.


    "Go back, Ginny."


    "What''s the point of kicking people out now?" Ginny grunted, and said in a slightly bitter tone, "You don''t think our lives are in danger at school, do you?"


    Harry was speechless. Now all he could think to do was try to speak in a Parseltongue, "Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four." This time, the huge stone face of Slytherin moved. Its mouth opened, wider and wider, and finally formed a huge black hole. The light from the illumination magic didn''t seem to shine inside, but something glowing could be seen flashing past.


    "What is that monster?" Ron murmured nervously.


    "A Crumple-Horned Snorkacks." Luna''s eyes lit up. s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Luna, don''t mess around at this point." Hermione said pointedly.


    "No, it is definitely the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks." Luna said confidently, "It looks exactly like the reference picture I once drew in my essay, it''s just the colours aren''t quite right ... otherwise there''s no difference."


    Harry didn''t want to admit that he and Luna had seen the same vision, but he said it anyway, "I saw it too. The one with the long nose, isn''t it?"


    "Yeah." Luna said happily.


    Hermione stared at the two with an expression that suggested that they both had fallen under a Confundus Charm together. They climbed up onto the statue''s knees and moved closer to its open mouth, peering cautiously inside the hole, their vision didn''t become clearer as they moved closer, it was still pitch-black inside, but they did see something glowing and moving.


    "I think I saw a colourful Doe." Ginny said.


    "I saw a big Wolfhound." Ron said.


    Hermione pursed her lips and said, " Well those are rune creatures."


    "Runes ... what?" Harry asked in confusion, still staring at the entrance to the cave, the Supersensory Charm had allowed him to hear some sounds of activity, what seemed to be the grunting of multiple creatures mixed together.


    "Rune creatures," Hermione explained, "you guys do remember what the professor showed in class, right?" Immediately Harry and Ron''s minds went to the magic golem and golden eagle that was created from dark golden smoke.


    "Actually, the professor always had this idea." She said, "He was very curious about the state of existence of the Sorting Hat when he first gave me a private lesson; it was almost a completely different kind of magic being now."


    "So - these are - alive?" Ron''s jaw dropped, as he pointed at the odd creatures in various forms that flashed past their eyes.


    "They shouldn''t be considered alive yet - I mean - ugh, I''m not sure," Hermione said with some vexation, "at least last school year Professor couldn''t make them permanent yet. Professor combined ancient runes and memory magic to construct a very real Hogwarts corridor at the end of the last term."


    "Just a corridor?" Harry couldn''t help but ask, it sounded like no big deal.


    "If the Professor can construct a corridor, he can use the same principles to construct creatures that exist only in the midst of fantasy." Hermione deliberately emphasized the words ''of fantasy'' as she glanced squintingly at Luna, but Luna was completely oblivious to the fact, and she impatiently stepped inside.


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione followed suit and entered the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin.


    Then their eyes flashed, and they found themselves in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by rows of bookshelves in dimly lit surroundings. The three held their breath and pricked up their ears to listen for any movement around them.


    "The library." Hermione mouthed.


    It dawned on Harry, but then a new question popped up: why are they in the library? Shouldn''t it be inside the statue?


    "O Tom, Tom. You shouldn''t have followed me here." A low, depressed voice said, and Harry thought the voice sounded a little familiar, and Hermione furrowed her brow.


    "Sorry, sir?" A timid voice said.


    "You''re following me because you want to know what I''m doing, right?" The voice asked softly, but the coldness revealed in the words grew stronger, "You''re interested in what''s on the half-dozen sheets of parchment you found in my office? You want to know ... what a Horcrux is?"


    Harry''s eyes suddenly widened.


    "Sir-"


    "I''m sorry, Tom. This might be the last time I call you by your first name. Luckily it''s a holiday, so as long as I do it cleanly, no one will notice, and Headmaster Dippet trusts me, he''s always willing to believe me -"


    A holiday? Harry thought, did he mean a weekend? No, he immediately realized the problem, they weren''t supposed to be in this ''reality'' now.


    "Protego!" The young student suddenly shouted.


    What was he doing?


    Ron''s scream drowned in his throat. Their vision suddenly filled with golden flames as a dark shadow flashed by and the window cracked to pieces, and the flames also closely trailed behind as it burned a large hole in the library wall, and then another figure flew out of the gaping hole.


    Harry was stunned. The non-verbal shield charm he had subconsciously cast seemed to be at risk of burning as the golden flames clung to the magic barrier. Any second now, the flames might break through the defences and burn them to ashes. Finally, Hermione came back to her senses and stretched out her hand, her fingertips flickering with rune symbols, and then the golden flames rushed into her grasp like tired birds returning to their nests.


    The flames in the library went out.


    The bright moonlight poured in through the large hole that had been burned open, and a firebird hovered two or three feet above Hermione''s head, chirping softly. Hermione controlled the firebird to land on her shoulder, the firebird''s gaze was sharp, and it was covered in flames, but it didn''t hurt her one bit, which showed her superb control.


    "Is that ... Professor Hap?" It was only then did Ron spoke with difficulty, his eyes just about to fall out of his head, "But who is the other one?"


    "Tom Riddle." Harry said with a complicated look, "I think we fell into a-" Abruptly the words stuck in his throat, fell into a what? A memory? When had Professor Hap ever fought with Voldemort during his school days?


    "God, the You-Know-Who?" Ron was so surprised he almost bit his tongue off.


    "It''s young You-Know-Who," Hermione corrected, "I know what we should do, follow me!" She ran out from behind the bookshelf and stood by the wall peering into the distance, faintly seeing the arc of spells flashing outside as the two men engaged in a battle in front and behind.


    "What ... are we supposed to do?" Ron asked.


    "Fight, and then find the professor for clarification." Hermione said in annoyance.


    They ran through the sizzling, scorched wall, and used the spell to land lightly on the ground before running towards the fire. Harry gasped and caught up with Hermione, "Are we going to save the young Tom Riddle?" He understood her somewhat.


    "I guess so." Hermione said as she bit her lip.


    The battlefield is far in sight. In Harry''s mind, an image of Riddle just popped up, a tall, pale-skinned, with dark, shiny hair and black eyes. He had seen this appearance in Headmaster Dumbledore''s Pensieve - a memory provided by Professor Slughorn.


    "Tom, I taught you all your magic."


    Felix said in a low voice as a powerful spell silently ploughed the ground with deep furrows that crisscrossed the ground, and the bushes and kapok that had been trimmed off transformed into a myriad of sharp, glinting daggers that obscured a small part of the sky. Tom Riddle watched the scene in awe.


    He never expected Dumbledore to hide so deep! He had even created a Horcrux! He personally only heard about it by chance, but he couldn''t find any further records even after searching all over the library, Riddle thought through clenched teeth, it must have been taken away by Dumbledore.


    He wanted to stall for time, there are other professors in the school, as well as Headmaster Dippet, if he could just stall until they found out, he would survive. Riddle was very annoyed in his mind, damn it, why did he shout and scream when he came up, couldn''t they have just talked?


    He would absolutely join the professor''s side.


    But from the cold, stern, murderous eyes, Riddle didn''t dare to have any extravagant hope at all. He braced a shield from the thin air and barely deflected the onslaught of thousands of daggers, but the immense force threw him high into the air, his right wrist snapped loose and his wand flew out.


    He lay on the ground and looked up at the man who had a cold smile curled up on his face.


    "Avada Kedavra-"


    A firebird descended from the sky and blocked the killing curse with its own body, the golden firebird let out a wail and turned green before quickly disappearing into thin air. Riddle gasped for breath, he had never felt death so close to him, and he did not want to die. He never realized this so clearly before. Horcrux ... Damn it, he wanted to make a Horcrux too, not one, but many.


    But does he still have a chance? A twinge of despair washed over Riddle without any reason; Dumbledore had obviously destroyed all the knowledge related to this. At that moment, the golden trio had surrounded Felix, "Professor, I''m mad." Hermione said, puffing out her mouth.


    Felix looked at her with a subtle glance, then a polite smile that looked evil spread across his face.


    "Can you tell me where you guys are from? By your age, you must be students at the school? But I''ve never seen you guys ..."


    "What about you, what''s your name?" Harry asked, thinking he must be out of his mind to ask such a stupid question.


    "Albus Dumbledore." Felix said gently.


    "You''re Dumbledore?" Ron exclaimed as his eyes bulged out. Thankfully he was currently had his back to Riddle or Riddle could have possibly seen the flaw in his expression, but if you listened to the voice alone, it sounded like a question.


    Harry was also dumbfounded. Professor Hap, does Headmaster Dumbledore know that you''re using someone else''s name like this? Hermione rolled her eyes and said, "You''re the one we''re looking for! Tom, Tom, run!" She exclaimed as she stammered.


    Riddle was completely baffled, his mind is not as clear as it usually was after the major twist in his life he had just undergone. But he could tell that these three people seemed to be here for him, or is it for Dumbledore?


    What was going on?


    Again, there is no one to give him an explanation. The battle began. Harry, Ron, and Hermione cooperated well and showed strength and fighting qualities far beyond those of Voldemort''s age, who after all is only in his fifth year. Although he is outstanding, it''s still within reasonable limits, as he had not been baptized by war yet.


    During the battle, Felix''s lips twitched slightly and Hermione looked at him as she nodded faintly. Then Felix shouted as if suddenly waking up, "The Time-turner! You''ve come from the future using a Time-turner!"


    "That''s right!" Hermione shouted righteously, "You can''t succeed in your plot, Dun, Dumbledore! You can''t kill Tom, he will be our leader in the future against your evil rule."


    Harry thought it was all too ridiculous, even if it is a dream - no, he didn''t have this kind of otherworldly imagination.


    "Harry, use the Patronus that Mr. Riddle taught you!" Hermione shouted again.


    Ron almost fell over, he was completely numb, but he knew one thing, Hermione is the one who''s most aware of the situation out of the three, Harry knows half of it, and he ... should not interrupt it.


    Harry gathered his emotions for a good while, then he managed to push down the awkward feeling in his mind and recited the incantation that he was too familiar with.


    "EXPECTO PATRONUM - "


    A creature that resembled a real stag emerged from the tip of the wand, and a huge pillar of silver light shot straight up into the sky, brighter than the moon, and half of Hogwarts Castle was bathed in a silvery-blue glow that spread out like ripples in the sea, and everyone - including Tom Riddle - felt energized and motivated to fight.


    The commotion stirred by Harry''s Patronus was so great that, in the castle, the lights turned on in one room after another.


    Riddle, who was sitting on the ground, was filled with disbelief; this is a Patronus? How could there be such a powerful Patronus? And - this is something his future self-taught to others? For a moment, he suddenly became intensely interested in this ancient magic.


    "Who dares to harm a Hogwarts student?" A loud voice boomed out of the Headmaster''s office like thunder.


    "Headmaster Dippet!" Riddle shouted in surprise, and he was genuinely surprised.


    An old man with a white beard flew out of the tower window. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and then Felix''s voice sounded cold and piercing as if he was infuriated, "You''ve ruined my plans - Avada Kedavra!"


    The dazzling green light froze the faces of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.


    In the next three days, one major news after another was released -


    Dumbledore, who was expected to succeed the Headmaster position, was confirmed to be a dark wizard and had now fled the school; but he then swaggered into the Ministry of Magic''s Department of Mysteries and snatched all the Time-turners, and it was revealed that his actions were linked to his childhood encounter with a man who had been dead for over forty years; the battle affected four students, but only one of them was lucky enough to survive, but Headmaster Dippet refused to disclose any more information to the public.


    In someone''s consciousness, the war began.


    ...


    Harry''s eyes snapped open, as he gasped for breath. Luna is still happily holding up a foot-tall creature in his sight - that creature has a pair of curved horns on top of its head that take up a third of its size; a long nose - a bit like an elephant''s trunk, but much shorter, as if cut in half from the middle; and Its body is short and stumpy, with thick silvery-brown fur draped over its spine; it is now wriggling around grumpily.


    In Classroom Seven.


    Felix opened his eyes and stood up slowly, "I almost forgot, I''m not really a nice guy." He smacked his lips as if reminiscing about that experience. He took a moment to add some more magic restraints to Voldemort and then returned unhurriedly to his office.


    He had just pushed open his bedroom door when he heard a fierce knock on the door from outside his office.


    "Professor - Professor - open the door -"


    Felix suddenly felt a slight headache.


    Was his acting too realistic? Were his students worried that he had gone astray?


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 634: After Halloween (2 in 1)

    The door to the office opened. "Hello there," Felix stared blankly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione; Harry and Ron flinched and took a step back. " Staying up so late ... night wandering to the door of the professor''s office ... do you have some business with me?" Behind them, Ginny rolled her eyes, her eyes constantly darting between them; Luna was in a trance.


    All questions were stuck in Hermione''s throat at the sound of the word ''night wandering''.


    Hermione hid her fierce look and held up Valen, and said in a sharp whisper, "Oh Professor, we came over to give Valen back to you ... do you know where we found her? That''s a long way for her to wander."


    Felix blinked his eyes and muttered, "I was wondering the same thing too, I was just having a glass of water and the little one was gone ... Thank you."


    He reached out to pick Valen up, but Hermione pulled her hand back and caused him to flutter. She hugged Valen and the little one stared at him at the same time, both seemingly shocked that he was able to shrug the whole thing off. Valen flopped around in Hermione''s arms emotionally, gibbering and calling him out with a bitter look.


    "What was Valen talking about?" Hermione asked knowingly.


    "Thanking you for sending her back." Felix glanced at an exasperated Niffler and said calmly.


    Hermione puffed out her cheeks. The only person who could make her so angry could only be the Professor himself, and with a large part of her worry dropped, she shoved Valen at Felix and said after some thought, "Um ... Professor? I''ve been saving up some questions on ancient runes lately, can I come over tomorrow and ask you for advice?"


    "... Don''t come too early, I want to sleep in." Felix said dryly, so Hermione pretended to be obedient and retreated to the back without speaking while he turned his attention to the other people.


    Harry and Ron shook their heads in a rush, they had both been forcefully dragged over by Hermione, and although they too had questions, this was clearly not the right time to ask them, the sky was already glowing with a grey-green haze and the sound of wind and wolves howling from the Forbidden Forest made them just want to get back to the warmth and comfort of their beds, and they still needed to get up early for their training tomorrow.


    Ginny waved her hand off to indicate she had no questions as well. Luna asked calmly, "Professor, does the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks truly exist?"


    Felix hesitated for a moment and said, "I can''t give you an answer to that either, maybe they do exist in a certain corner of the world-" Luna''s eyes, which darted around in both directions, widened in surprise. "That''s what I thought too! That''s why I took the Care of Magical Creatures class!"


    "-Yeah, well, that''s good. But you have to be mentally prepared for the fact that not all searches have good results."


    "Like the Resurrection Stone?" Luna asked.


    "Yes," Felix said slowly, "but it''s not quite the same, I promised to keep an eye out for it for you, remember?"


    Luna beamed with a smile.


    "Oh, yes! I remember." She said, "Maybe Firenze was right when he said that when the time comes, it will appear on its own. Just like those things I lost." Ginny slumped and said, "You didn''t lose those things at all, someone deliberately hid them to make a fool of you."


    "You''re right." Luna said nonchalantly, "Good night, and oh, good morning. I''m going to go back and sort out the correspondence between Dad and me; Dad''s been sending two letters a week this year and I can''t carry them off anymore, so I can only pack them up for now." She drifted off.


    Ron stared at her back.


    "What letters?"


    Once they were all out of sight, Felix closed the door and when he turned around he saw Valen jumping onto the couch, with a quill in her hand, scribbling in the air. In the blink of an eye, she had written two lines and had absolutely no intention of stopping, as if she was preparing to give a long speech.


    Felix glanced at the word at the beginning, it was ''liar'' and he walked over and grabbed Niffler up with a grin, "Gee, what''s with the writing practice now, it''s late, go to bed, go to bed."


    Valen watched in despair as the letter of accusation got further and further away from her. "Bang!" The bedroom door slammed shut and the magic lamp went out, only a few lines of crooked writing glowing in the darkness, proof that the night had not been a peaceful one.


    The castle became icy and snowy. It had snowed for two days in a row and the grounds were covered in a thick layer of knee-deep snow.


    Felix was curled up in a blanket, slouching on the sofa, and on the small table next to him lay a letter from Carlotta Pinkstone, in which the seventy-four-year-old activist warmly addressed him as ''my dear, comrade in arms that I have never met'', and it was clear that Carlotta thought it was possible to win Felix over to her side, for which she had probably spent the last few days brushing up on her knowledge, and tried her best to mention his contribution to the wizarding world in every context she could, and at the end, she mentioned that she ''deeply hoped to meet him''.


    She also asked Felix to be discreet, saying that meeting her was not ''very convenient at present'' because the evil Ministry of Magic had sent two people to monitor her, ''one clumsy with a naive appearance that is overflowing with enthusiasm; the other with a cold tongue, full of aristocratic hypocrisy and superiority.''


    Felix only thought for less than half a minute before picking up his quill and writing a brief letter to Tonks, asking how she was doing.


    The owl brought a reply in less than half an hour.


    Felix took out his map and searched for a while, and found the two names at the Three Broomsticks Inn in Hogsmeade village, and, unexpectedly, he spotted the name, Collins Foley, though he couldn''t quite connect her with the ''aristocratic hypocrisy and superiority''.


    There was a knock on the door.


    Felix stared at the door with blank eyes as it opened on its own and Hermione bounced in cheerfully. She had come over the very next day, on the grounds that she wanted to ask for advice on how to use the Book of Runes. But Felix had been waiting for her to ask about her misadventures on the Hogwarts campus that night in the 1940s.


    "Please sit down, Miss Granger."


    Felix stood up, bundled up in his blanket and went to the bedroom to change, and returned with two cups of hot cocoa. "Thanks." Hermione said as she pointed at the letter on the table, "They were in Hogsmeade last weekend. Oh, sorry, I accidentally saw it when I moved around the table."


    "Hogsmeade? Who are you talking about?"


    "Tonks, Collins, and Carlotta Pinkstone," Hermione said as she took a small sip of hot cocoa and narrowed her eyes in a happy mood, "When he went to Hogsmeade Village last weekend Ron bumped into them."


    Felix nodded, without any intention of talking more about it.


    "Professor," Hermione inhaled softly, "if you''re not going to make contact with her, it''s best to tell her straight up."


    "Now is not the time." Felix muttered.


    After a brief pause in thought, he said, "You write her a letter back for me, just say - well, I can''t go against the Ministry of Magic and the rules are important - yes, just tell her that." Hermione quickly wrote a short letter and handed it to him to read. Felix smiled, "Very good."


    As the owl flew out of the window, Hermione said, "She is certainly not going to let this go that easily."


    Felix shrugged. "But that''s a matter for a later date. Well, Miss Granger, let''s move on to discuss about the Book of Runes, there are only two people in the world who have it at the moment and the sample is so small that many conclusions can only be guessed and can only be verified later ... What do you think? Do you think it is very helpful to you?"


    Felix wanted to know the effect of the Book of Runes on the ''normal'' people, that is, those who were not Masters of Runes.


    "I can''t quite put it into words," Hermione pondered seriously, "I''ve been so busy filling in my understanding of the ancient runes for the past month or so that the feedback you mentioned was very minimal, but I do feel like my mastery of the ancient runes has improved. It got stronger ... I just don''t know if it''s an illusion, the other students have improved quite a bit too."


    "How many ancient magics have you mastered?"


    "Counting the two taught in class, there are total of five." Hermione held out a hand.


    Felix was lost in thought.


    "The results may not be visible in the short term. In the future, when you are looking at the Book of Rune - and I trust you will do so - if you suddenly feel that you have a fantastic idea, don''t suppress it, and let your rational mind rest for a while by giving in to your inspiration; you might well get some unexpected surprises."


    "Okay, Professor."


    It was nearly noon when Valen walked out in a daze wrapped in a small blanket that looked like a fur cloak. She walked over to him and gave a breathless grunt that passed for a greeting, and then she climbed onto the couch. Hermione scratched Valen''s chin.


    "Harry and the rest of the gang, are they training?" Felix asked, they were now talking about something that had nothing to do with the ancient rune.


    "Oh, yeah." Hermione smiled, and said with a grin, "They''ve been training really hard, Harry and Ron, as well as Ginny. Because the original Quidditch commentator, Lee Jordan, graduated this year. Now, Luna is preparing to apply for the role, no, she''s already been chosen, by being the only candidate... Harry is freaking out."


    Felix blinked and smiled along. As we all know, Luna is a very unique girl, and no one was sure about her hosting style, while given that she knew half of the Gryffindor players well, it would be only natural that Harry and the others would be the most impacted.


    "Professor? Ms. Bones recently gave me some information about the living conditions of other humanoid races and I found ..."


    ...


    The Halloween Eve party passed by without a hitch. Not much had changed from previous years, except for one student leading a ten-foot-tall dragon into the great hall, which scared the hell out of a bunch of young wizards. It was only later, when people calmed down, that it was discovered that the student had sneaked into the Transfiguration classroom and stolen a batch of Transfiguration smoke that Professor McGonagall had privately purchased.


    The atmosphere at the time was very lively. Despite the details of the fake dragon being slightly crude, it went well with the cheerful festive atmosphere and won all four houses'' approval. It was just so well executed that even Professor McGonagall was surprised, and the students never saw that student at the dinner again after that. S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Fred and George got a successor." Ron said with relief.


    "I don''t know which house that student is from," Hermione asked in wonder, "I hope it''s not Gryffindor."


    "The chances are not slim." Harry said in a hushed voice, "I heard a group of students in the common room discussing the traditional activities of the ''Swear to Defend School Rules'' club when I came out, and someone mentioned about the dragon spewing fire ..."


    "What is that about?"


    "A Dragon?"


    "No, I am asking about ''traditional activities''."


    "You mean that one!" Ron interjected with interest, "No one knows for sure - but they say Fred and George left an invisible rule before they graduated, that every member had to play a part in bringing the school rules to a successful completion, so - "


    "In such a fashion?" Hermione stared.


    "Yeah, but at least in the next Halloween there won''t be anyone leading a dragon and flaunting it around."


    It had snowed a few more days after Halloween and the snow outside the grounds is now a few feet deep, and the students would rather take a long detour than pass through the vegetable garden, where the uneven terrain makes it easy for some of the shorter students to step on the wrong place and get themselves buried.


    The festive Halloween decorations hadn''t completely disappeared yet, and occasionally a few stray bats or pumpkin lamps with small candles in them could be seen floating around the hallway, which the professor and the students found very amusing, and no one bothered about them, letting the candlelight in the pumpkin lamps become more and more ghastly.


    "It''s bad luck to be in the same group with Malfoy in this class again." Ron said as he stared at the miserable green glowing candles, they had just come out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, and he couldn''t wait to start whining as soon as he had the chance.


    Harry cast a sympathetic look.


    As the content of the subject deepened, Professor Bagshot was no longer satisfied with petty fights, and he made the students duel in pairs. It was just that the rules were somewhat different: one of the dueling partners had to close his eyes against his enemy. As for who exactly will perform this unappealing role, it will be decided by drawing lots. And Ron always drew the worst lot.


    Very few of the students stayed intact until the end of class, and a large number of them spontaneously asked Harry and the others for tips on the humanoid shield charm.


    The spell was widely popular as it could provide protection against regular hexes and did not require deliberate maintenance or have an impact on normal spell casting. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all proficient with the Humanoid Shield Charm, and the members of the frontline lookout club such as Neville, Seamus, and Dean could barely manage to grasp it, so in theory, they were safe in class. But there are exceptions to everything, and Draco Malfoy was that exception.


    As soon as Malfoy mastered the Knockback Jinx after a lot of effort, Ron had a bitter day. The humanoid shield charm, while being able to fend off small firearms (from Professor Bagshot''s evaluation, which is why he allows the students to use this charm), is clearly not resistant to falls and does not have the slightest shock absorbing effect, and when Ron can''t control the dissolving of the charm, he was greeted with a series of hexes such as the Horn tongue hex, the Stinging Jinx and the Pus Squirting Hex. Of course, Draco Malfoy didn''t fare well either, and Ron''s counterattacks were equally sharp.


    But Draco had somehow mastered a fairly good handful of healing spells and carried a variety of potions with him, which made Ron''s retaliation much less effective, and he was indignant about it.


    "If I was only allowed to let loose ...," Ron described as he ate his lunch, waving his arm hard enough to make an undeclared pause, resulting in the sausage on his fork being flung far away and smashing on the Ravenclaw House dining table.


    "Are you planning on treating him like an enemy?" Hermione asked as her eyebrows knitted up tightly.


    Ron opened his mouth and stammered, "How? I, ahem, I was joking." When Hermione got up to leave he whispered quietly to Harry, "Well I would really like to do that, I know a lot of spells, but alas what a pity ..."


    They followed Hermione to the staff room next to the great hall.


    There were already quite a few students in there; Neville, Susan Bones, Blaise Zabini, Padma Patil, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and a dozen other familiar faces that Harry couldn''t name; they stood in the crowd and waited for a while before Draco Malfoy pushed open the door and walked in. When he saw Harry and the others at the entrance, his face looked a little sullen.


    There were a total of four professors sitting in the staff room - five to be exact, but the ghost Professor Binns was automatically ignored by them - Professor McGonagall, Professor Hap, Professor Snape, and Professor Bagshot.


    Felix cleared his throat.


    A huge wooden box landed in front of the students, and inside there were bundles of thick parchments bound into booklets.


    "A study material for Animagus, Sirius -- Professor Black promised it to you, I hope you haven''t forgotten his name ... You have four days to preview this content, and every Saturday morning for the next two months --"


    "Professor!"


    "Professor."


    Harry and Draco Malfoy''s voices echoed in the staff room at the same time, and they looked at each other before immediately averting their eyes.


    "Is there any problem?"


    "There''s a Quidditch match this Saturday morning." Harry said stiffly when he saw Malfoy didn''t utter a word.


    "Well, then it''ll be rescheduled to Sunday morning at ten - assemble here and Professor McGonagall and I will give you all the ropes on practicing Animagus, and we''ll start to attempt real Transfiguration around Christmas break, so you will have to choose to stay in school this holiday. " Felix said in a not entirely confident tone because he had originally considered transfiguring his students into small animals to experience that feeling first hand when he was preparing his lesson plan. In the end, Professor McGonagall, who was on the side of the table found out and criticized him severely with a concerned look on her face.


    Although the process was not that pleasant, the result was delightful. Since someone had offered to help out by sharing the workload, Felix had nothing to complain about.


    The student''s eyes lit up with excitement, it''s an Animagus transformation! At least on the bright side, only eight people (counting Rita Skeeter) had mastered it in this century, and if they could learn it, they would surely be written and featured in major books.


    But when they bent down to take out the full three-inch thick material from the wooden box, the faces of these students began to turn pale and their bodies involuntarily wobbled. Professor McGonagall, who originally had a serious expression, nodded in satisfaction. Nearly two-thirds of this content had been added at her strong request.


    Well, Felix didn''t raise any objections.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 635: Discussion

    The students left one by one, holding their materials, the last one to leave slammed the door behind them. "Bang."


    Silence fell over the staff room, with only Professor Binns leaning against the fireplace making snoring noises in a tranquil mood. However, this silence was quickly broken as Felix leaned his body back in his chair, "Would you like a cup of tea, everyone?"


    Professor McGonagall, Snape, and Grindelwald looked up, with varying expressions.


    "I wouldn''t mind," Grindelwald said nonchalantly, "the probation report can be written any time."


    Professor McGonagall''s sharp gaze immediately moved away from Felix, as if she had found a new point of focus. "I should remind you, Professor Bagshot, that you''ve been dragging this whole thing out for weeks." "Thank you, Minerva," Grindelwald said politely and perfunctorily, "I just have a new insight every time I think about it ..."


    "It seems Mr. Bagshot is still a man of perfection," Snape said nonchalantly, "I''m sorry I haven''t heard of your reputation before."


    "I haven''t spent much time in England, it''s too cramped and the weather is bad." Grindelwald said.


    "Click." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Several heads turned to Felix as he calmly bit off half of a crunchy biscuit. Just as they spoke, three plates of pastries, two kettles of hot tea, and four mugs had been placed on the table, "I don''t think we need to consider Professor Binns for now, unless any of you want him to join the chat ..."


    No one paid him any attention.


    Grindelwald poured himself a cup of honey tea, Snape stared at the pale glow at the surface of the table, a fourth plate was trying its best to break free from the table, and Felix pushed the ice jelly with the cat''s smiling face painted on it over to Professor McGonagall''s side, so he could make room for the fried jam doughnuts plate that is emerging.


    "A kind of alternative food summoning spell?" Snape asked.


    "I invented it," Felix said, "the secret is to pre-negotiate with the house elves ... I added a special halo to make it look more magical."


    Professor McGonagall looked somewhat impressed.


    "Felix," she said, pursing her lips as she looked at the soft, bouncy cat jelly for a moment, "I need to communicate with you about the lesson plan, the Animagus Transformation is extremely dangerous- "


    "Minerva, I trust your eyesight, the two of us will be looking over it." Felix said, "And I still stand by my opinion that the biggest obstacle for Animagus is not the tedious prior preparation, rather it is about how to control the feral nature that bubbles up in our hearts during the first transformation, ninety percent of the danger occurs at this stage."


    "I totally agree, Felix," Professor McGonagall said, and then asked, somewhat suspiciously, "Have you mastered Animagus as well?" She had thought that Felix had simply compiled the study notes passed down through the generations of the Black family and brought them to the students.


    "Sort of."


    "Sort of?" Professor McGonagall huffed and knocked over the cup in front of her, she waved her wand and the cup was immediately restored to its original state. Without looking at it, she asked, "What is your Transfiguration form?"


    "A rain swallow." Felix said without thinking.


    "I never saw your name in the announcement issued by the Animagus registry." Professor McGonagall said seriously, "So my teaching career has consisted of a succession of major blunders, with a total of four students who practised and became illegal Animagus under my nose?"


    "Ahem, to be precise ... I don''t know if I am actually an Animagus or not. As for registering ... Miss Granger has been too busy lately to be bothered too much." Felix began to make up nonsense.


    Professor McGonagall stared at Felix, her chest rising and falling rhythmically.


    Both Snape and Grindelwald were silent at this point, motionless and eavesdropping on the conversation between them. As far as Snape knew, Felix hadn''t studied Animagus during his school years, at least not at school. Because his mouth had never been idle, always asking questions, and he remembered that Felix had earned a nickname because of it, what it was ... the wandering Sphinx?


    But it was impossible to tell what he had done privately on holiday, or after graduation, it was entirely possible.


    Grindelwald, for his part, remembered Dumbledore''s Animagus.


    "... Therefore, if students have experienced this feeling of being on the verge of losing control, it will help to keep them sane during a real Animagus transformation." Seeing that Professor McGonagall hadn''t relented yet, Felix nudged his mouth towards Snape.


    "But," Snape said slowly as he put down his teacup, "how are you going to manage the in-between, don''t tell me ... you got the idea from that Death Eater when he punished the students for breaking the rules. "


    Felix knew the Death Eater he was referring to was Crouch Jr, who had disguised himself as Moody and turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret not long after the school year had started.


    "That''s right," Professor McGonagall said, with a tremor in her voice, "I don''t suppose you''ve forgotten the terrible experience of the witch Hicks Crowley?"


    Felix looked at her in puzzlement.


    "What was that?"


    "Crowley was a witch from the 1920s who made a serious mistake during her first Animagus transformation and was driven out of her mind by the unquenchable surge of feral impulse in her mind; her family only realized something was wrong a week later and realized there had been a storm during that time, and their daughter was working on Animagus magic during that time... ..."


    "And then what happened?"


    "They found Crowley and restored her to human form, but she was completely delirious, and it took three months of treatment at St Mungo''s to be healed." Professor McGonagall said solemnly, "She is considered very fortunate, there is a clear indication that proves more than seven disappearances of wizards in the last century are believed to be linked to the failed Animagus transformation."


    Felix looked thoughtful.


    "I think this story shows us how important it is to have a reliable brain and friend ... Minerva, and I''m more curious about how Crowley''s parents found her because as per common occurrence, she was in a state not much different from a real beast."


    Professor McGonagall gave him a hard stare and said with exasperation.


    "Because Crowley''s parents insisted on casting the Animagus reversal spell on every animal they saw for the next three days, and then they found a cow a kilometre away, happily munching on wild strawberries, with stripes identical to the one in their daughter''s favourite dress ... "


    "... After recovering from that experience, Crowley was so frightened that she refused to perform the Animagus Transfiguration for the rest of her life, so the Ministry of Magic did not register her name."


    Or maybe that Transfiguration form really wasn''t much use ... Felix thought to himself as he said in a lighter tone.


    "Okay, I admit that story is scary and the feeling of being out of control of your body sucks, but you didn''t think the students could run away with the two of us around, did you? If you really insist, we can set up a control group - think about it, Minerva, we''re perfectly capable of keeping the danger within reasonable limits, and once we''ve succeeded, the new practice method will greatly improve the chances of safely performing the Animagus transformation."


    There was a moment''s silence, and Professor McGonagall''s will loosened somewhat.


    Although she was usually a little old-fashioned, it was just something she had developed in the face of mischievous students. She also had Ravenclaw traits within herself, and had almost been sorted into Ravenclaw House when she had enrolled; she was single-minded in her approach to knowledge, and never lacked courage.


    Otherwise, she would not have mastered Animagus.


    What made her hesitate was that she wasn''t sure whether to put her students at risk and how much to risk. She looked at Felix, who gave her a confident smile.


    "Then present your plan," Professor McGonagall said, "I won''t agree to it even if there''s a slight issue."


    "No problem," Felix said cheerfully, "I bet those students won''t even finish reading the materials, so we''ve got plenty of time ..."


    The door was pushed open from outside.


    "It''s so lively, I can hear you from outside," the bloated Slughorn panted as he squeezed in, carrying a small fruit basket in his hand, "So you''re all hiding here, I wondered why I couldn''t find anyone after dinner ... " when he saw Grindelwald, an alert expression appeared on his face.


    "Horace." Professor McGonagall said, with a faint flush still on her face, "Someone sent you to do something again?"


    "Ugh, you can tell that?" Slughorn, for the rare instance, did not boast about his connections, and fiddled with the buttons on his waistcoat uneasily, as he muttered in a small voice, "From Carlotta Pinkstone, I knew her when I was young, she wasn''t this crazy ... and stubborn back then."


    He placed the small gift basket on the table and tore open the wrapping paper to reveal the candy preserves inside.


    "Ah, they''re my favourite ... You''re welcome." He said, nimbly picking up a piece of dried pineapple sprinkled with sugar frosting with his chubby fingers and using his other free hand to pour himself a cup of tea, and looked down and sniffed gently, "Honey tea, what a perfect match."


    "So, what you guys were talking about? If you don''t mind, I''d like to introduce you to the small party I am preparing for Christmas, where quite a few famous people will be invited," he said as he stole a glance at Felix.


    "Thanks, Horace." Professor McGonagall said dismissively, she had been a colleague of Slughorn''s for quite a few years and knew the Master of Potions'' temperament very well. "I can see that the years of retirement have not left your teaching abilities rusty, and you are still very fluent in your craft."


    "To be honest, it''s a little uncomfortable." Slughorn said with a grin, "There have been a lot of changes from the time before I retired, for example ... all the good talent has been picked out, which is only natural, with quite a few excellent colleagues emerging in the school ..."


    In the evening, after finishing Quidditch practice, Harry, Ron, and Ginny dragged their heavy feet back to the common room.


    "Did training go well?" Hermione asked as she read through the Animagus material, she waved her wand and the dirt and grimy faces of all three of them became clean and fresh. She had gotten quite adept at using the non-verbal spells now.


    "Thanks," Ginny said under her breath, "everyone''s been up and down except Harry and Katie, and with a bit of luck we can score a whopping score; but if by chance the whole team is in oddly poor form ... " she shrugged her shoulders.


    Harry was too tired to talk, after shouting about tactics all day his voice seemed to be out of order, and it hurt to even swallow spittle.


    Hermione glanced up at them and said calmly, "It''s a bit insensitive, but I''d suggest you take some time to look at the materials the Professor gave us, so you won''t show up unprepared for -"


    "Hermione, we know it in our hearts." Ron slumped back in the sofa chair and said grumpily, "But the most important thing right now is Quidditch! You can''t understand, we''re going head-to-head with Malfoy, and I''m dreaming about hitting the Bludger in his face."


    "You''re going to steal the beater''s job? What about the goal, let it learn how to dodge Quaffle on its own?" Hermione said pointedly.


    Harry laughed silently but he quickly suppressed his smile, he thought it would be smart to allow Ron to keep up his fighting spirit.


    "So I talked to Peakes and Coote about my dream in detail," Ron said as he rolled his eyes, at which point Hermione pulled a book out of the pile and read it from the middle. "They were so motivated that they decided to help me fulfil my wish. You''re welcome, Harry." He waved his hand at Harry.


    Hermione grunted through her nose and leaned down to grab another book, carefully counting the page numbers before looking down to take notes.


    "Hermione, how are you doing this?" Harry asked in a hoarse voice.


    "Doing what?"


    "Reading several books at once."


    "They were meant to be read together," Hermione explained, "Aren''t you used to the Professor''s style? He always likes to-"


    "I can''t believe there are annotations?" Ginny asked curiously as she leaned over and looked at the materials laid out directly in front of Hermione, then she smacked her lips a little as she read what she saw, "For more information about reasons to keep your emotions calm, refer to the entire chapter 12 ''Don''t study magic when you''re in a bad mood'' of the Book of Invented Charms by the Committee on Experimental Charms. "


    Harry exclaimed incredulously, "All this stuff is in the material?" He felt like his throat began to fume.


    "Pretty much every page has ... oh, just the first third, the part Professor McGonagall provided has no annotations, she wrote them all on it. In fact, Professor McGonagall only added safety matters and failures, as well as her personal review notes."


    The few people looked at each other. After a good while - "Bang!" There was a loud bang and Ron tumbled over from the back of his chair.


    "Are you all right, Ron?" Harry pulled him up off the floor, half concerned, half amused, and Ron maintained a shocked expression on his face as he stood up.


    "I had thought about waiting until the match to finish and staying up late to read the materials, now I can see it''s totally hopeless." Ron said with a pale face, then said as if he had seen a saviour, " Hy, Hermione, you must lend us your notes."


    ...


    Almost in the blink of an eye, the weekend had arrived.


    The sky above the gallery was blue with white clouds, which meant it would be a beautiful day. When Harry and the rest of them came down, the Gryffindor students greeted them warmly and Harry caught a glimpse of Luna, and he wished from the bottom of his heart that some miracle would happen, like Professor McGonagall wanting to host the tournament by herself on a whim or something ...


    As he changed into his uniform in the changing room and led the trembling players into the pitch in stride, the cold wind blew his hair around and his mind had completely calmed down.


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 636: Quidditch Competition

    Harry and Urquhart, the captain of the Slytherin team, glared at each other fiercely, and when they turned back to the team, Harry grimaced in pain, he touched his hand which was on the verge of breaking. "Listen to my whistle," Madam Hooch shouted, "three - two - one - -"


    With a loud cheer, fourteen players leaped into the air, the sky is as clear and bright as it had been scrubbed with a wet rag today, the keepers flew first to their respective goals, and the three chasers of each team were doing their part.


    Harry stopped Peakes and Coote - both of them are Beaters and were leaping forward with their bats - and Harry circled around, moved close to the pair, and whispered in a low voice, "Don''t forget the plan. " Coote gestured a ''no problem'' gesture, and Peakes responded with a grunt.


    Harry had approached them individually to arrange the tactics, telling them to focus more on the goal in the first few minutes of the game and give Ron support with Quaffles if necessary. While this is the job of the Beater, this year''s Gryffindor team is somewhat special with more than half of the team being fresh blood, which has led to a lack of consistency in the team as a whole, and the most important position in a team is the keeper, apart from the seeker.


    Harry had privately observed that there was a strong link between Ron''s form throughout training and the success rate of his first few saves.


    On top of that - Harry had noticed that Peakes seemed to have a bit of a thing for chaser Demelza Robin, and Ron had mocked Demelza''s flight as ''like a sleepwalking duck'', and he was worried that Peakes would bring his emotions onto the pitch.


    "Don''t forget we''re all one." Harry shouted, then flew off at the drop of a hat.


    He glided lightly across the sky like a hunting owl, flying higher and higher so all that could be seen from the bleachers was a small black dot, he kept his sight away from the sun and tried his best to spot the golden snitch amongst the glints of a lens of the telescope below.


    "Slytherin''s Urquhart''s got the Quaffle," a dazed voice drifted across the pitch, "he''s the team captain, not a bad size, about the same size as his fellow players, I guess it''s a special type of selection - -with the big build they can hold down their brooms when dealing with windy and other bad weather, and of course, it''s a beautiful weather today, I saw the giant squid lying on the ice and sunbathing-"


    Spectators in the bleachers looked in the direction of Black Lake.


    The commentator for the match is indeed Luna, dressed as she usually is, her pale yellow, tousled hair strewn with small, colourful stones the size of nail caps, which are shining in the sunlight. On the desk in front of her lay a lion-shaped hat, the size of a real lion''s head, which Harry knew could make a very realistic roar, and Professor McGonagall next to her fidgeted, glancing at it every two seconds.


    "Urquhart''s starting to attack, he got a mean look on his face, I think it''s more oppressive than the last player who got the ball, his back seems wider-"


    " The last one was him too!" Professor McGonagall reminded her in a loud voice.


    The audience burst into laughter. Luna looked confused and said, "Really? I couldn''t recognize them, they all look alike - oh, look, Ginny intercepted the ball, I like her, she''s nice - three Slytherin players gathered around and Ginny passed the ball to Demelza, an equally skinny girl, Gryffindor seemed to have a tradition of selecting girls for chaser role, the exact opposite of Slytherin."


    "Now it''s Slytherin''s turn to get the ball, it goes in, and the Gryffindor keeper misses it, what a shame, it might have been the sun burning up, but Ron looks a bit deflated -"


    "Slytherins lead ten to zero!" Professor McGonagall shouted into Luna''s microphone.


    Harry''s heart sank as he lowered his flight, only to see Ron''s expressionless face with his back to the goal. Peakes and Coote were hovering near the goal, and a mass of fiery red hair - it is Ginny, shouting at both of them in annoyance, "What are you doing?" At that moment a swift Bludger flew towards Harry, who jerked his head down as it grazed his scalp, and he straightened up to see Gregory Goyle waving his bat and grinning at him.


    Once again, Luna''s Ethereal commentary came from the grandstand.


    "Gryffindor''s seeker Harry has appeared, he was very far away earlier, perhaps to adjust his tactics - Gryffindor is playing very conservatively, and their beaters are staying in their own half of the field without wanting to come out." Luna said calmly, "We should be understanding, it''s their first time on the field, and of course, it could be some sort of tactic I can''t tell, I don''t know much about Quidditch ..."


    There was loud laughter heard from the bleachers.


    The disadvantage of not having two beaters available to play along was apparent, as the three Gryffindor girls struggled against the Slytherin chasers and also had to watch out for Bludgers flying out of nowhere, and Ginny was forced to give up both times she snatched a Quaffle.


    "The Slytherin players organize their attack under the leadership of their captain - eh? Gryffindor beater Peakes finally moved away from his own goal, would that be a welcoming change?" Luna said, "But the other one is still circling in the same place, he looks like Ron''s bodyguard, even though he''s actually only two-thirds the size of Ron in terms of stature, but a wooden bat is still intimidating when you can''t use your wand -"


    "Oh, look! Three of Slytherin''s chasers have broken through halfway, and they are constantly passing the ball to each other, are they indecisive about whom to let throw the ball? Now is not the time to hesitate -"


    "Slytherin is using the Thimblerig Shuffle." Professor McGonagall interjected.


    Harry lowered his altitude nervously, his heart on the edge of his throat - a Thimblerig Shuffle is when three chasers from one team approach the opposing team''s goal at the same time, swapping Quaffle at high speed until the last minute, when the one with the greatest positional advantage enters the scoring area to throw the ball, leaving the keeper on the defensive side unable to accurately determine who is going to take the lead and loses sight of the other side.


    Ron''s face turned pale as the broom swayed back and forth between three large rings, a sign that he hadn''t made up his mind. The beater, Coote, was flapping in the air helplessly, unable to do anything, when - "Bang!" There was a loud bang and a tricky Bludger slammed into the back of the head of the player in the silver and green jersey on the left, and he went tumbling off.


    It was Peakes! s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    For a moment Harry thought he was going to give his order up as he went to help Ginny and the girls, but Peakes'' powerful shot across half the field salvaged some of the situations, and then Ron finally made the right decision by lunging forward and narrowly deflecting Urquhart''s throw with a one in two probability thrilling save. A cheer went up from the crowd.


    "Good job!" Harry shouted and a small smile appeared on Ron''s face, even though it was Peakes that Harry was complimenting, it didn''t matter. "Counterattack!" Harry yelled, "Coote, show them what you''re made of!"


    A wide grin spread across Coote''s face as he caught the Bludger that Peakes had hit and aimed at Urquhart with a backhand, and with a thud, Urquhart stumbled around on his broom, and straightened up as if nothing had happened, gesturing a rude finger at Coote. Then a time-out was called.


    "That was a good shot." Grindelwald said from the bleachers, as he lowered his Omnioculars. Dumbledore smirked and looked at the pitch without speaking.


    At that moment, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Harry landed on his feet as the healers examined the Slytherin player who had been hit in the back of the head, he kept shaking his head and looked dazed, as if he had suffered a concussion. But when Madam Pomfrey fed him a large dose of the potion, he was able to return to the field again.


    The game started to get heated. That''s a polite way of saying, to put it another way, doing whatever it takes to score, and to put it more bluntly -


    "The game has become unsightly." Luna said regretfully, "The Slytherin players seem to be uniformly suffering from clinginess, they''re sticking close to people and the good Gryffindor girls aren''t quite used to it." She really seemed to think so, and for the next ten minutes, she focused her attention on ''more interesting'' things, like the oddly shaped clouds in the sky, the huge banner in the stand bearing the design of a small silvery-green snake swallowing a lion with its gaping maw.


    "I didn''t see the bulge in the snake''s stomach." Luna said seriously. Professor McGonagall, on one side of the seat, stood with a stern face, her fingers flexing as if trying to snatch the microphone out of her hands.


    Harry wasn''t interested in the banner.


    He kept wandering over the field, occasionally glancing at the back of Draco Malfoy''s head as it glistened in the sunlight, and Draco took the opposite strategy to Harry, gliding close to the grass. There were advantages and disadvantages to both approaches, and if Draco happened to spot the golden Snitch nearby, the match would be a no-brainer, but his search was clearly less efficient than Harry''s - but that couldn''t be helped, as past matches had proven that when Harry was in good form he was always one step ahead of the others in spotting the flying Snitch.


    Still, Harry is playing as captain for the first time, which made him always inevitably focus his attention on his own team''s players.


    On the field, Slytherin''s chaser Vaisey was in a favourable position by virtue of his size, constantly blocking Ginny''s view, and the other two players kept Demelza dead in place, looking like two fat cabbages sandwiching a poor little tomato. They headed straight for the ground and Demelza couldn''t break free either left or right and looked like she would hit the ground, but thanks to Coote''s Bludger she was able to get out of the situation.


    It is a style and tactic that Slytherin excelled at, one that is closer to a primitive form of Quidditch - an aerial collision, similar to a medieval horse Jousting, with the sole aim of knocking as many other players off their brooms as possible, leaving the last one as the winner. These things were told to the players by Wood when he was still around, and he used them to taunt the Slytherin team for leaving their brains behind centuries ago.


    Harry later found a detailed version in the book Quidditch Through the Ages.


    "But it does work sometimes," Wood himself admitted that the Slytherin team''s tactics had some merit: "Talented players are rare, but average players combined with exaggerated size can easily get the upper hand - except for their seeker, they''re skillwise generally weak." He told Harry in a reassuring tone.


    On the pitch, the commentary stand had been silent for five minutes as today''s commentator seemed to have zoned out, completely absorbed in her own world. But Luna finally remembered her duty when the bleachers suddenly erupted with fierce shouts.


    "Now it''s Katie who has the ball, she''s an older player with a lot of experience." She said briskly, "Slytherin''s three chasers are busy fouling, there''s a straight path ahead, just be careful not to get hit by a Bludger - oh, wow, wow," she let out a series of exclamations, her eyes becoming more bulging. "Katie''s teammates have helped her clear the way, and she''s going straight to the Slytherin keeper, sorry, I forgot his name -"


    Professor McGonagall huffed and grabbed the microphone, just about to say something when Luna''s eyes suddenly widened, "Look!"


    There was a gasp from the crowd.


    Katie Bell seemed to have made a mistake she shouldn''t have made, she had dived down with a Quaffle in her arms, the opposing keeper was unblinkingly watching her movements, trying to see something, but he was presented with the same problem as Ron - the opponent was too fast and by the time she revealed her true intentions it would be too late, he could only gauge a general direction and move towards her, leaving the goal wide open.


    At that moment, if Katie suddenly turned - which was easy, as she only weighed half as much as her opponent - she would be rewarded with an unguarded goal, but Katie gave in and voluntarily threw the Quaffle in her hand, with a light movement, as if afraid her opponent wouldn''t be able to catch it.


    The keeper caught the ball with ease. He froze, unable to believe his good fortune.


    There was a huge groan and boos from the stands.


    Madam Hooch, the referee, shoved her silver whistle in her mouth, ready to blow, after the clumsy match-fixing incident that had taken place in front of her, but she changed her mind immediately - "Harry!" Katie shouted.


    Harry followed her line of sight and saw a small golden orb hovering silently in the centre of the Slytherin goal.


    A wave of ecstasy surged through him and his broom sped up so fast that everything in the field slowed down in his eyes: Draco had just turned his head back, with a grin on his face, seemingly delighted that his opponent had made a major mistake; the Slytherin keeper was cheering all over the field as he clutched the Quaffle and ran up to Katie Bell and waved his fist demonstratively ... This is the moment, Harry thought, leaning over like a golden-red javelin and dashing past, brushing the top of the keeper''s head - Harry could even see the teeth behind his wide grin - and then he reached out and grabbed it.


    Got it! Harry spun in the air and came to a stop just in front of the goal, his arms raised and the two narrow wings of the golden snitch poked out of his fingers.


    The bleachers froze for a couple of seconds, and it was Luna who was the first to react, or certainly because she didn''t find anything wrong with it, and as the field fell silent, she concluded with almost the clearest voice she had spoken in the entire game.


    "Harry has caught the golden snitch and the match is over."


    The bleachers instantly turned into a sea of scarlet as the enthusiastic crowd brought out beautiful flags from various corners of their bodies. Cheers echoed through the cold sky, mingled with the roars and groans of the Slytherins. Slytherin Captain Urquhart rushed over towards Madam Hooch shouting and accusing Gryffindor of cheating, but even the harshest of referees couldn''t pick a fault with the act of trading ten points for a hundred and fifty points, which is simply a huge profit.


    "Katie Bell - Katie Bell - Katie Bell -"


    It was the first time the name of another player was enthusiastically shouted when Harry caught the golden snitch, but Harry was unable to feel any semblance of jealousy in his heart, and he impatiently jumped off his broom and hugged Katie Bell tightly, calling her name along with the crowd on the field, after which more players rushed down and hugged each other.


    There was a slight mishap in the middle.


    Luna secretly put on her lion-headed hat when Professor McGonagall wasn''t paying attention, and the roar from the lion carried throughout all the bleachers via the commentary stand''s microphone, leaving everyone dazed and confused, and Harry suspected he was temporarily deaf when he saw Professor McGonagall''s face stretched and her mouth open and close but he couldn''t hear a sound.


    There was no shortage of clever people in the audience, and one person took the lead as he pulled out his wand and fired fireworks into the sky, which then led to a mass of imitators.


    As Ginny''s fiery red hair bounced around in front of him with her face flushed like a tempting sweet syrup-coated fruit tart, Harry finally couldn''t resist the urge to kiss her.


    Ginny was a little surprised at first, but then she responded with great passion.


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 637: Animagus (2 in 1)

    After the game, Harry gave a short winning speech in the changing room. "I''m so proud of you all, each and every one of you were fantastic! Katie, despite the possibility of receiving criticism, showed remarkable courage and determination -"


    He named them one by one, with a huge graphical diagram of Quidditch tactics explained behind him. This is also a ''legacy'' left behind by Wood, with little figures of various colours, arrows, and odd markings that Harry still hasn''t quite figured out what they mean.


    "I wasn''t thinking about it that much." Katie said, shaking her head.


    "Demelza, who hit three shots while facing two opponents who were targeting-"


    Demelza smiled.


    "Peakes and Coote, you worked well together, repeatedly saving your teammates from danger while creating opportunities for the offence -"


    The two Beaters grinned and clapped enthusiastically.


    "Ron -- blocking five balls, one of them was particularly spectacular;" Harry said quickly, trying not to look at Ron''s odd, stiff face as he brought his gaze to the seat next to him, "Ginny, scoring sixty points, a remarkable score --"


    "And you, the most excellent Seeker." Ginny pursed her lips and smiled.


    Harry pretended not to hear the rising voices coming from the mouths of the other players and chimed in, "Yeah, and I... caught the golden snitch." He searched his brain and said a few more words of encouragement, even bringing up Wood''s speech from back in the day, which, because it was so memorable to him, it slipped out smoothly at that moment. Katie covered her mouth and laughed, and Harry blushed a little as he called it a day.


    The players laughed and giggled as they left the changing room, and Ginny kissed Harry on the corner of the mouth and skipped away like a ballerina.


    In no time all that remained in the changing room was Harry and Ron.


    Harry glanced sheepishly into the corner, and Ron still had that grim look on his face. So he opened his mouth and said, "Ron, Ginny, and I-" At that moment, the door opened from outside and Hermione shouted at them, "Isn''t it over yet? We''re going to be late for our appointment with Hagrid!"


    "Ah, we''re on the way out."


    Harry muttered, and took the initiative to pull Ron forward, only for Ron to fall straight to the floor with a loud reverberating thud.


    Harry was taken aback and Hermione came rushing over when she heard the noise, the two of them looked into the issue for a while and eventually discovered that Ron had been hit by a Full Body-Bind Curse and a Langlock Jinx. "Ginny did it! How dare she?" Ron rubbed his cheeks, indignant at what had happened to him. When they arrived at Hagrid''s hut at that moment, Ron used his tongue cramp as an excuse to refuse Hagrid''s offer of homemade cream fudge.


    "Your sister loves to joke around, I could tell." Hagrid said absentmindedly while flipping the sizzling sausages with his tongs, "How''s it going? I mean your advanced classes-"


    Harry immediately put down his tooth-marked fudge and joined Ron and Hermione in pouring out grievances to Hagrid about how strict the new professors were, as well as about how difficult and boring the classes were and how he regretted not continuing to take the Care of Magical Creatures class and so on. Hagrid was happy to hear this.


    He handed them the greasy, slightly burnt sausages, which the three of them immediately took (including Ron), and Harry quickly stuffed his share of the sticky creamy fudge into Fang''s mouth while Hagrid was making tea.


    Hermione glared at Harry, and gritted her teeth, not daring to follow suit.


    "You guys are definitely exaggerating ... trying to make me happy," Hagrid chuckled, as he filled his mug with boiling water and continued, "Slughorn- -definitely has real skills, although I didn''t learn anything from him ... you know, I got expelled in third grade." He said vaguely, "That Professor Bagshot isn''t simple either, I guess he and Dumbledore are old acquaintances, the kind that has a relatively close relationship ..."


    "Gha how dawg knnow thaat (how do you know that)?" Ron said with his mouth stuffed to the brim.


    "Oho oho ha!" Hagrid laughed, "I''ve seen it with my own eyes, I''ve seen them walking together from afar when I was patrolling the Forbidden Forest this morning, they might have been talking about some sort of business or something ... I''ve spotted them more than once."


    "It might have been about Professor Bagshot''s lectures," Harry said thoughtfully, "his classes are quite controversial."


    "I don''t know about that." Hagrid froze for a moment and said, "He even came to see me and asked about the school - quite a nice guy, a breath of fresh air. He was interested in young Grawp too, which is pretty rare ..."


    None of the three of them bothered to talk to each other. They spent the rest of the day happily eating roasted sausages and drinking hot tea until Hermione reminded them that they had to attend Animagus lessons the next morning, and Harry and Ron began to fidget and in no time they all left.


    Back in the common room, Harry and Ron couldn''t wait to borrow Hermione''s notes and get ready to fight through the night. But Hermione had already lent the notes to Neville, so they found him again and used a Doubling Charm to make two temporary copies of the notes from him, and the three of them sat together with frowns.


    In the meantime, Hermione pulled out the Book of Runes and began to read it.


    "How much have you read?" Ron asked Neville.


    "Not much," Neville whispered, "I''m not very good at Transfiguration, there''s a lot of knowledge about human transfiguration in here and quite a lot of the theories which I can''t understand."


    Ron sighed and turned his head to look at Harry. s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I remember you have read a small part of it too?"


    "It''s all about failed cases," Harry said with a downcast look, "I used it to relieve my boredom and was horrified, it stated that if you practice it wrong it could possibly cause you to grow an extra tail or a nose."


    "I don''t know how Sirius and the gang pulled that off." Ron grunted.


    They flipped through Hermione''s notes and sullenly read them. They were surprised to find that Hermione didn''t fully understand them either, she had marked a number of questions in her notes and it appeared like she was planning to bring them up to question tomorrow. The three of them discussed it in whispers and finally agreed that if even Hermione found it difficult, there was no point in wasting their time, so they decided to skip the difficult points and speed up their progress considerably.


    It was almost the time for lights out when Harry yawned with tears in his eyes, he had only finished a third of the booklet and is now in a muddled head state when he saw a bright light in Hermione''s eyes out of nowhere.


    "Hermione, your eyes-"


    "What''s wrong with my eyes?" Hermione asked, in confusion.


    "... They seem to be glowing." Harry said honestly, and Ron and Neville looked up to stare at her intently and hard.


    "How is that possible, it''s not like I''m using magic." Hermione said and Harry also believed he had looked incorrectly and patiently continued reading the notes, after a while, Hermione went upstairs to rest and the lights in the common room dimmed.


    Ron yawned and cast the Bright Fire-making spell, causing a circle of white flames to swirl around them. Harry and Neville sweatdropped and were immediately energized with fright. They stayed up until one or two in the morning before they went to bed.


    The next day, Harry was awakened by Hermione''s pet Crookshanks which was scratching him.


    Harry woke Ron and Neville in turn, and when they got dressed and went down, Hermione was already waiting at the door, and they knocked on the door to the staff room without even eating breakfast. Harry, Ron, and Neville were still wolfing down the small bear-shaped biscuits Hermione had provided into their mouths when the door opened.


    "Just a few more of you to come." Felix said with a kind look on his face.


    They walked in to find the tables and chairs of the staff room piled up in the corner, leaving a large area empty in the middle, and Professor McGonagall wearing a bright green tartan robe, her hair pulled back in a high bun at the back of her head with a serious expression on her face.


    The four of them blended into the crowd and were surprised to find a few more people they didn''t know in the crowd today, all of whom seemed to be seventh-year students. A golden circle, about two feet in diameter, was painted on the floor in front of Professor McGonagall.


    "Alright students," Professor McGonagall said seriously, "there are a few new fresh faces among you, they are the best of the Transfiguration Club and will be joining you in this lesson." Harry was suddenly enlightened when Professor Hap walked through the crowd and leaned against the wall, looking at all of them with interest.


    Professor McGonagall continued, "Many of you are not actually qualified to study Animagus, you have just shown some potential by getting outstanding on your O.W.Ls in Defence Against the Dark Arts class -" she pursed her lips, clearly not quite approving of the last professor''s decision.


    She had always felt that Sirius'' bet had been too childish.


    "-and I therefore ask you all to give your absolute best, to put forth more effort, and to approach this with the utmost seriousness. There are many rules for you to follow, and if I catch you breaking any of them, I will kick you out of the class without any mercy."


    Professor McGonagall shot a powerful glance around the room and the students were silenced, not daring to speak out.


    Professor Hap smiled at them from behind Professor McGonagall, and he seemed to be in a good mood today. In Classroom Seven, inside Voldemort''s mind, Tom Riddle, who was hiding in Hogwarts Castle and afraid to come out, finally took a crucial step forward when he found an ''ancient document'' in the restricted section of the library - it was the notes of one of the ancestors of House Gaunt, and its contents were elusive and scarcely used.


    Riddle repeatedly checked and compared them and finally concluded that the Gaunt notes were genuine, and he was overjoyed, believing them to be a gift from his ancestor and destined for him.


    He tore out the first few pages and asked the professors at the school about the magic related to its content, and discovered that this turned out to be a book about Patronus charm, after which he spent ''months'' trying to understand it word by word, marvelling at the powerful Patronus magic recorded in the book, which by its very essence is not only for dealing with Dementors. It is actually similar to summoning magic, which creates a corporeal mass of spiritual being that does not fear death.


    But unfortunately, the contents of the notes were incomplete, lacking detailed instructions on how to learn them, except only one hint that tickled Riddle''s feverish heart: ''Mobilize the power of the mind and call upon the emotions that touch your inner soul''. Thinking about the events of that night, and the three ''dead'' foolish fellows, Riddle logically came to one conclusion: he perfected this magic in the future and offered to teach it to others to use them as cannon fodders to fight against the dark wizard Dumbledore.


    A brand new path appeared before Tom Riddle''s eyes, as bright as it could be. He was going to become Headmaster of Hogwarts and Minister of Magic, and he was going to make the students of Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic Aurors work for him, and drown his enemies with an enhanced army of Patronus.


    Thinking long and hard, at the very end of his sixth year, he approached Headmaster Dippet with the desire to stay on after graduation, even if it meant being an assistant professor.


    With unrighteous thoughts and lofty plans in mind, Tom Riddle waited confidently.


    "... I have finished talking about the differences between Transfiguration into an animal and Animagus Transfiguration. In summary, the former is passive and one cannot independently undo the effect of the spell after they get hit; the latter is an active choice and the wizard can decide for themselves when to return to their human form. It is important to note in particular that the former can result in the gradual loss of human sanity until the human being reduces to a beast, while the latter can maintain a lower degree of intelligence ..."


    "The Uagadou School of Magic in Africa is well advanced in this branch, and it is from there that some of the materials you have received have derived." Professor McGonagall said, "You will find that the training you are about to receive is not quite the same as what you might have read from a book before - if you actually had bothered to read the materials you have received, you might have found out." Her last sentence became stern and a number of students bowed their heads sheepishly.


    "... Those elements are improvements that Professor Hap and I have made, and we will do our best to keep you safe, but if anyone wants to withdraw, they can do so now."


    The students'' heads moved together, and they began to whisper quickly.


    "What did Professor McGonagall mean?" Ron asked Hermione in a whisper, and Harry pricked up his ears to listen, while he saw Susan Bones, along with Justin and Ernie, looking worried. In contrast, the members of the Transfiguration Club that Professor McGonagall had brought with her looked the same, obviously knowing this bit of information in advance.


    "Simply put, the learning steps will change." Hermione said briefly.


    Harry looked up at the ceiling, trying to remember what was in Hermione''s notes, and he could clearly recall the initial steps; which require the caster to carry a leaf of mandrake in his/her mouth from the first full moon to the next full moon, without swallowing the leaf or taking it out of his/her mouth in between; at the end of this step, the saliva-soaked leaf must be placed in a small crystal vial at the full moon, in the pure rays of the moon with a piece of his/her own hair and a silver teaspoon of dew.


    There was actually some requirement as to where the dew should be obtained, Harry mused, it must be dew from a place that neither sunlight nor human feet have touched ... and finally, the chrysalis of a Death''s-head Hawk Moth needed to be added, and when all the above steps were done the vial had to be placed secretly in a quiet, dark place to await the impending thunderstorm.


    "You can wait until the end of this class to decide," Professor McGonagall said, "so I won''t be covering anything too advanced today, such as methods of controlling magic in human transfiguration, which has been proven in practice to be effective in reducing the learning difficulty of Animagus ... Felix?"


    Felix, who had been reduced to the role of assistant professor, lazily extended a hand and waved it in front of the students. They were a little unsure at first, but then their mouths dropped open in surprise - Professor Hap''s right hand is slowly elongated, like the claws of some kind of carnivore, with thick, strong joints and a curved radius in the forearm that made them associate it with everything to do with ''strong'', ''vicious''. The back of the professor''s right hand and wrist became covered in a layer of fur, and five long nails protruded out with a ''swish''.


    Felix raised his arm and made five deep scratches on the wall, which scattered sparks and made an ear-splitting, tooth-aching noise.


    "Oh, thanks, Felix, that''ll do." Professor McGonagall said in a not-quite-normal tone of voice.


    Felix shook his hand lightly, the fur on his arm falling off as his arm turned back into its human form, but all the students present continued to stare at the skin on his arm in awe, desperate to know exactly which creature the professor had used as a template for his transfiguration, if he had taken the form of that biological creature fully, he could probably stomp them to death.


    "What you are seeing is a more advanced transfiguration, don''t even bother to think about doing the same as Professor Hap now at your level ..." Professor McGonagall said with some anxiety, "Let''s continue... ...next we need a volunteer, who would like to cooperate with the demonstration?"


    Several trembling arms were raised and Professor McGonagall finally selected Susan Bones.


    "Step into the circle in front of me and stand at attention ... Miss Bones." Professor McGonagall commanded, and Felix walked over to her, both of them staring at Susan Bones at the same time, which made her wince a little. "Don''t worry," Professor McGonagall reassured, "it''s just to provide an extra layer of insurance, I''ll be watching the whole time and will call it off immediately if anything goes wrong."


    The other students gathered around the circle, their eyes shining with anticipation.


    "What do I need to do, Professor?" Susan Bones asked with a trembling voice.


    "Try to stay conscious." Felix said, and it sounded as if Susan is about to suffer some inhuman pain, and she took a step back with a wince, even the other students thought the same thing.


    Felix cleared his throat and explained, "I will perform a transfiguration spell to turn you into a small animal, during that period you must do your best to remain calm in order to combat the feral urges that will grow stronger and stronger and to avoid being driven by instinct ... Of course, Professor McGonagall and I will change you back before you lose control. "


    "This is just a demonstration. When we get to the actual practice, Minerva and I will slow this process down as much as possible to give you plenty of time to experience the subtle changes in the human body as it transforms, which will play a vital role in the real Animagus transformation ... One last question, Miss Bones, what animal do you like?"


    "I like unicorns." Susan whispered.


    "No, I mean ... ordinary animals."


    "Maybe a bunny." Susan said uncertainly.


    "A bunny? Very well, stand still."


    Felix pulled out his wand, which he no longer uses very often, from his pocket and pointed it at Susan, who disappeared with a bang, and in her place, there was a fluffy, grey-furred rabbit appeared. The rabbit squeaked and cowered in the golden circle.


    "Everyone else please step back, don''t scare her." Professor McGonagall said in a stern voice.


    The students who had gotten very close retreated back in a rush, but their eyes still looked at her fondly, and those who stood behind desperately stood on their tiptoes to get a better look.


    Felix crouched down and looked at the shivering grey rabbit in front of him.


    "Calm down Bones, your aunt and I are on good terms, and she''ll come after me if I let you get hurt ... so there''s nothing to be afraid of." Felix said gently as the Susan the rabbit calmed down and looked around curiously. From this angle, her classmate looked taller than a giant.


    It made her feel a little fuzzy inside.


    "How are you feeling now?" Felix asked.


    The grey rabbit''s small eyes revealed an animated look, and after a brief pondering look, she made two short barks.


    "Oh, you can''t talk right now ... I will ask you questions next, you just need to nod or shake your head. Always remember that you are a witch and the longer you keep your sanity the better you will remain ... Do you like winter?"


    The rabbit hesitated for a moment and nodded.


    "Very well, next question, are you a student of Ravenclaw House?" The rabbit shook her head.


    "Do you like pink?" The rabbit nodded.


    And this went on for nearly ten minutes. It became crystal clear to the onlooking students that the rabbit''s responses were getting slower and slower, laced with nervous abrupt glances and alert flicking of the ears. Harry gulped and watched as the rabbit''s eyes gradually lost their witty gleam.


    He glanced at Draco Malfoy, who, unsurprisingly, had turned unusually pale.


    "Felix-" Professor McGonagall called out hesitantly.


    "Do you still recognize who I am?" Felix asked, and this time the grey rabbit stopped paying attention to him and began to lick the fluffy fur on her front paws by herself, Felix asked again, and he still didn''t get any response.


    "Felix!" Professor McGonagall said in a stern voice.


    As if startled, the grey rabbit lurched forward and jumped beyond the golden circle. Felix calmly raised his wand, and after a loud thud, Susan Bones returned to her original state.


    Professor McGonagall walked quickly over to her and hugged her, patting Susan''s shoulder comfortingly as Felix handed a vial of Calming Draught to Professor McGonagall, who temporarily took on the role of Madam Pomfrey. After drinking the potion, Susan''s expression became more relaxed.


    "I remember you guys all have experienced Professor Moody''s Imperius Curse in fourth grade?" Felix said, " If you still choose to continue this course of study you will experience that kind of feeling many times, but the advantage is that you have two professors to keep you safe from the risk of irreversible magic damage during your Animagus practice, and the success rate is very high ... you have a week to weigh up the options. "


    "Okay, now does anyone else want to try it?"


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 638: Tempting Training

    Once again, the students saw the craftiness of Professor Hap. He had no intention of giving his students much time to think - let alone a week - and as the other students hesitated, he called Harry up by name. "How can a man who aspires to be an Auror be short of courage?"


    Without waiting for a response, Harry was dragged to stand in the golden circle.


    "Since this is an experiential class, let''s just save the trouble, what do you think?" Felix asked with a smile and Harry''s heart leaped as he stammered, "That''s right - um -" "Great." " Felix said, and then he reached out and Harry''s body quickly shrank down to become the same grey rabbit as Susan Bones.


    "Wow!" Susan exclaimed and couldn''t help but come closer.


    "No touching." Ron said guardedly. Susan rolled her eyes angrily, though she didn''t relent and kept her eyes on the little, furry creature sprawled on the ground.


    "You''re still sober and sane, aren''t you, Potter?" Felix asked towards Harry, and the rabbit on the floor nodded dramatically, dumbly with his mouth open, a girl''s eyes glowing with excitement and making suppressed squeals as if she is a Harry admirer. Felix glanced at her, good, you''re next.


    "So, let''s get to the questions ... first ..."


    Harry found himself in a strange state, his consciousness seemed to be crudely shoved into a small, cramped drawer that made him feel uncomfortable. Then his mind jolted, with a tidal wave of unbelievable information - first a small cacophony of noise, the "rustle" of clothes, the "creak" of shoes on the floor, giggles, whispers ... which was filtered through some kind of organ and then poured into his ears.


    The tone of Professor Hap''s voice was not the same as usual, it became sharper.


    Then there is a change in the sense of sight and smell.


    For the first time, Harry could see directly behind his head - he could see both Professor Hap and his classmates in front of him, as well as Professor McGonagall and the rest of the students behind him, and the colour of their skin had become very strange, appearing in a cold grey shade along with the surrounding tables and chairs became a little blurred, and Harry wondered if it might be due to his own near-sightedness.


    If that was ruled out, then the rest was obvious: the rabbit''s eyesight was not good and probably not up to par with his own. But Harry found their sense of smell to be quite remarkable, and he could now clearly distinguish a whiff of small biscuits in the air.


    "Potter?" Felix asked with concern, "Still not getting used to it?" Harry snapped back and shook his head, then nodded. Felix smiled understandingly as he raised his voice slightly so that he could be heard by the rest of the group.


    "There are many differences in the sensory organs between humans and animals, so transfiguration is often difficult to adjust to, causing unnecessary panic, and this is one of the difficulties when Animagus first transforms ..."


    "Is that so?" Someone in the crowd asked Susan in a whisper.


    Susan shook her head in confusion, and whispered, "It seems so, the sense of hearing and smell have become acute, but the sense of sight has deteriorated dramatically, but I was too frightened to think of anything but the Professor''s question-" "No wonder you had closed your eyes for some time." A realization dawned on her friends.


    A few students let out small "Oops!" yelps.


    Felix pretty much repeated the question he had just asked.


    Harry lasted a few minutes longer than Susan Bones, but not to the point of astonishment.


    As he had watched Susan Bones'' experience earlier, he had thought in his head about how he would react if he ever found himself in such a situation. His first thought was to rely on the Occlumency. But once he had actually transformed, he realized that the situation had turned out to be completely different from what he had imagined: he seemed to have lost his magic powers, and the Occlumency was no exception, so he could only resist it with his will. But living in the body of a beast, his mind inevitably became confused, his instincts began to emerge and gradually took over, and he found his mind growing heavier and heavier, fatigued as if a voice was asking him to sleep ...


    At that moment, Felix raised his wand and with a loud bang, Harry was back to his old form. He breathed heavily, feeling a little dizzy for a moment, and Felix helped him to his feet. "I''m fine - no, no need for a potion." Harry panted, as the Occlumency kicked in, clearing the lingering effects of discomfort from his mind. He returned to the group.


    "You have reacted a little too dramatically," Ron said apprehensively, "Is it really that bad? More severe than the Imperius Curse?" S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s alright," Harry muttered in a small voice, "it''s like a temporary body swap, I sort of understand Voldemort-" there was an intake of breath heard from next to him. "-why Voldemort isn''t in his right mind." He insisted on finishing his sentence.


    On the other side, Felix called up another student, this time a witch, the one who he had just suspected to be Harry''s admirer.


    "Students who have had transfiguration experiences stand together and share your experiences fighting against beastification with each other. Would you like to try it, Miss Elvira? I believe you have good grades in Transfiguration and Potions ..."


    Elvira glanced at Harry, who had walked up next to Susan Bones, and hesitated for only a few seconds before agreeing. Professor McGonagall and Hermione shot him a fairly odd look, which Felix pretended not to see.


    Elvira only lasted less than five minutes before she began to ignore Felix''s questions. He had no choice but to turn her back and Elvira immediately ran happily over to Harry''s side and chatted happily with them, seemingly unaffected.


    With Felix''s skilful persuasion, all the students either actively or passively experienced the rabbit''s point of view, and when the last one had finished, they felt a sense of relief that it had not been as hard as they had thought, and they had so many people with them to keep them in line.


    When the students left the room, they were laughing and joking, already treating this morning experience as a novel and interesting experience, and many were ready to brag about it to their friends.


    "Minerva, I''m afraid this session will lead to a wave of imitations among the students, so it''s best to publicize it in the near future and strictly forbid any private transfiguration of their classmates."


    Felix stroked his chin thoughtfully. Professor McGonagall grunted in reply, not quite satisfied with Felix''s verbal baiting of her students, "This kind of approach reminds me of Professor Bagshot, except he-" Professor McGonagall hesitated, but didn''t voice her suspicions that Bagshot might be an acolyte. She pursed her lips and said, "He''s on probation now."


    "Minerva, I''m not anything like Professor Bagshot." Felix shrugged, "I simply dispelled the fear in the students'' minds and let them know that their fear was simply the ''unknown'' itself, after all - sometimes we have to admit that decisions made in ignorance are often both irrational and unobjective."


    Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, slightly persuaded. She swallowed and continued, "Okay - you have a point, but do you know who I just thought of?" Without waiting for a reply from Felix, she announced the answer dryly, "It''s Dumbledore. Full of weird and wacky reasoning, but the most recently he went to such lengths to try and convince me to add a muggle snack to the school menu-"


    "You agreed?" Felix asked, in amazement.


    "Of course not!" Professor McGonagall huffed as if she had been wronged, "He''s already unreliable enough, especially this term ... hmmm, I''m not ..." she whispered with considerable annoyance and ranted the suppressed emotion, which had obviously been on her mind for a long time, and Felix acted as a good listener, nodding and smiling now and then, and chiming in with short words.


    "Is that true?"


    "That was a surprise to me too."


    "It was really hard on you, Minerva."


    Professor McGonagall paused, her face flushing slightly as she readjusted her boxed glasses, feeling slightly embarrassed by her outburst, and she changed the subject stiffly, "By the way, what''s with your transformation?" She glanced abruptly at his arm.


    "Human Transfiguration, I guess." Felix played dumb.


    Professor McGonagall said with some disdain, "I''m a professor of transfiguration."


    When she left, Felix stuck his hands in his shirt pockets and furrowed his brow. The question that had been on his mind for so long resurfaced; is there something wrong with Dumbledore''s body or not? He couldn''t tell now, which seemed to mean one thing, Dumbledore had gone much deeper into the realm of the soul than he had.


    But Dumbledore didn''t want to talk about it, and he got no response despite his several attempts to bring up that issue.


    Felix suddenly felt a little tricky.


    Time went by and the month of December approached. In between the students had several more unique lessons on Animagus magic, and they were exposed to more and more advanced content, involving a portion of the knowledge on human transformation.


    "What did I tell you?" Professor McGonagall growled at Ron, "Just familiarize yourself with how the magic is mobilized and don''t let it affect-" Ron grimaced bitterly, his arms twice as thick as normal and his skin surface covered with fine scales.


    Professor McGonagall waved her wand and restored his arm to its original shape.


    By now four weeks had passed since the first lesson, and with a few more snowfalls, the weather continued to get colder. Felix''s approach did have an effect, no students dropped out voluntarily and only two were advised to leave because they couldn''t keep up, they proved to have a terrible will and transfiguration skills at the same time.


    As the students became comfortable with the course itself, Felix also came up with new and more energy-efficient ways of teaching.


    For example -


    Professor McGonagall arrived a little late one day, and when she did, she found the staff room furnished with the single tables that were used for wizard rank exams, and on the tables, there were small animals, such as rabbits, owls, ferrets, badgers, foxes, lion cubs, hawks, hounds ... They stayed honestly on the tables, moving stiffly like a row of taxidermy animals.


    Two or three inches above the heads of these animals an assortment of snacks hovered, such as nuts, fruit preserves, owl food, sausages, meat pies, etc., emitting an enticing aroma. Every now and then the creature beneath the food looked up with eager eyes and then quickly looked away.


    Professor McGonagall looked at it blankly.


    In addition to this, Felix had specially appointed a supervisor.


    A house elf stood respectfully on an empty chair, both hands clasped nervously at his chest as if he was praying. He had a protruding nose, and large bat-like ears that flopped around as his head twitched, and he was dutifully observing a wonderful view in the staff room.


    Soon his eyes lit up. "Mr. Hap," the house elf suddenly pointed his finger at a badger and spoke in an excited tone. Professor McGonagall looked over in the direction of the finger; the little fellow propped his body up on two hind legs and swung his forelimbs comically through the air in an effort to reach a yellow honey lump above him.


    "Well done, Cloudbur." Felix complimented, nonchalantly flipping through a page of the book as he flicked his wand.


    The badger transformed into a male wizard in a blink of an eye, and Justin hung his head in defeat as he went to sit in the chair next to him. "Thirteen and a half minutes, not bad." Felix said calmly. But he is the first to fail, Justin thought disappointedly, even the few girls had lasted longer than him.


    "Kee!"


    He looked down to see a Niffler looking up at him, holding up a piece of parchment in her hand and urging him repeatedly out loud.


    The professor had really left no stone unturned ... Justin thought to himself, not only had he brought Niffler into the Ancient Rune classroom, but now he had made her his assistant. He took the parchment and began to fill out the contents on it carefully; it was rumoured that these questionnaires would be collected in the Hogwarts library, with a high probability of being stored in the restricted books section.


    "Thinking - relatively clear; Self-assessment - seven out of ten; Sample Transfiguration of the Day - Hmmm - Badger, Feelings ... not quite used to it, constricted ... didn''t feel like a fish out of the water as other students mentioned ... what animal are you planning to choose next time - -" He looked up, searching for inspiration from the crowd of small animals.


    After a moment of thought, he looked down and wrote, "Pine Marten." Justin put a question mark on it, and after some thought, he decided to cross it out and fill in ''pheasant'' instead. A lot of people had chosen their Patronus form today, so maybe he could try it too.


    Soon a second student was restored to human form, and one by one, they skilfully found seats and began to fill in the questionnaire. Some picked up a jar of Calming Draught from the table and poured themselves a small glass, drinking it in silence, as they watched with interest the moments in which the others made fools of themselves.


    A white peacock strutted around the table, then fluttered down with an "ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh" sound. In a flash of white light, Draco Malfoy appeared with a pale face, stumbling as he held onto the table.


    His eye met the lion cub sprawled on the table and Draco gave it a hard stare before turning his head to glare at the greasy hound. A few tables away, a small, pocket-sized beaver kept shrugging its snout and quirking its whiskers.


    Within five minutes, they all turned into students.


    Before class ended, Felix and Professor McGonagall went from one to another and distributed some fresh leaves to the students.


    "Is this a mandrake leaf?" Ron looked at his share with surprise, "It doesn''t look much like it."


    "Because this isn''t mandrake, Weasley." Felix gave a smug smile, "I pulled it off the Christmas tree Hagrid moved to the great hall this morning by hand, and he didn''t even notice it. I used the Disillusionment Charm ..."


    "Well done, Professor." Ron whistled lightly.


    Professor McGonagall ignored the silly talk between them as she cleared her throat and said to the crowd, "There are still two weeks to go before Christmas, and it''s about time - now that you''ve persevered this far - both me and Felix intend to give you gradual access to the preparations for Animagus, starting today."


    "The leaf distributed to you is enchanted, and the next time we meet I want you to make sure it''s still in your mouth."


    "At that time I will hand out the real mandrake leaves."


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 639: Rita Skeeter in action (2 in 1)

    As the Christmas season approached, there is a heavy festive atmosphere everywhere, whether it is wizarding society or muggle society, and people''s faces are on the verge of overflowing with joy. And just as the people were preparing for the festive season, journalists from The Sun were sitting together in a conference room, deliberating on New Year''s Day topics. "Rita," a short, fat man asked, "how''s your article coming along?"


    "It''s already complete," Rita Skeeter blurted out, pulling a stack of printouts from her crocodile bag, "I''ve dug up an absolute slam dunk." She glanced at the others in the room and said triumphantly, "There is evidence that the government is systematically covering up the damage done to the population by mad cow disease!"


    "Is that true." The short, fat executive said dryly, taking out a handkerchief to wipe his sweaty forehead as he accepted Rita''s news article. He flipped through the pages absent-mindedly, looked at them, and then looked up and said in a deep voice, "I''m sorry, Rita, but your article won''t be published."


    "Why?" Rita Skeeter raised her voice, and the pen that kept spinning in her hand came to a sudden halt.


    "There''s no reason. I admit that you are very talented and have been on a winning streak for a while, but ..." The man moved his body uneasily and his chair made a heavy creaking sound.


    Rita Skeeter watched him carefully for a while.


    "Oh��" she stretched her voice, "I understand. Well, I''ll quit."


    The short, stocky man looked at her in both amazement and surprise, his impression of this woman is that she has always had a keen sense of smell, like a tireless hound chasing after its prey, brutal and ferocious. This was an overwhelming compliment.


    "I thought-"


    "Thought what? That I would hold on to it for dear life?" Rita Skeeter scowled, "I have confidence in my professional abilities, even if my efforts on the mad cow disease series went down the drain, I still have confidence that I can find new material. Unlike the rest of them." She glanced at the corner.


    At the long desk, several other journalists glared at her, but Rita Skeeter merely returned a contemptuous look. She had already figured out the routine, and now she is like a fish in water.


    Sure enough, the short, fat man showered her with compliments.


    "That''s wonderful, Rita! I dare to say that recruiting you was the best decision I''ve ever made, so let''s see, what''s the latest hot news ..." He struck while the iron was hot and was ready to give her a new assignment, "What are you going to do for Christmas?"


    Rita Skeeter thought for a moment and said, " I think I''ll take a few days off." She planned to go to the Ministry of Magic to find Amelia Bones to sell her misery; the last few months had worn her out, as she was juggling between her work on the Sun and her participation in the Daily Prophet articles, and it was clear that she had no intention of giving up on either side - it was all mostly fabrication anyway.


    She left the small window on the first floor of the house she rented in Muggle society to always remain open, allowing owls to come and go at night.


    The short, stocky man blinked, "In that case -"


    "How about giving me the divorce news on that crown princess?" Rita Skeeter volunteered, " I am sure I can dig up more eye-catching inside stories." After months of working together, they knew that when she said ''investigate'', she had actually meant ''making up''.


    Most of her co-workers were rather impressed by her ability to investigate.


    "No!" An exquisitely makeup-ed blonde snapped angrily, "I''ve been in charge of this for a long period of time, and I can''t just quit halfway."


    "Oh, Melissa." Rita Skeeter looked at her with contempt in his eyes, "After all this time you haven''t produced any results, maybe you''re not cut out for it." The ''Melissa'' glared at her furiously, grinding her teeth as if she is ready to swallow her whole and tear her apart.


    The short, fat supervisor thought about it for a moment; although Melissa wasn''t as efficient as Rita Skeeter, she was nevertheless a capable person under his command, and she couldn''t be completely side-lined. He neither wanted the relationship between the two to be too friendly nor did he want the conflict to become irreconcilable and interfere with their work.


    "Tell you what, Rita," he said with a final pat on the back, "you can follow up on the whole gun control bill thing."


    Rita Skeeter''s eyes lit up.


    However, she did not rush to agree, and asked calmly, "How far can I cover in this?"


    "Whatever you want." The short, stocky man said, "This whole thing is pretty much risk-free now, the new gun control bill is a foregone conclusion, after all the widespread movement to get a gun ban launched by the families of the victims from the shooting earlier in the year has had a deep impact, although it has died down a bit recently ... I have received information that the results could be out in the next year or two. "


    "Wait, we could totally get a piece of the pie." Rita Skeeter said immediately, nibbling on the pen in her hand like a quill, as inspiration burst forth, "We could do a series of articles around this whole issue."


    There was a cold laugh echoed in the room.


    "Excuse me?" Rita Skeeter asked coldly.


    Melissa gave a mocking smile, as she brushed her hair back until she felt the eyes of everyone in the room on her, then she said nonchalantly, "Do you need me to remind you? It''s been nine months since the school shooting, and every news media outlet has already discussed it from every angle, so it''s not worth wasting our precious Christmas pages."


    The middle-aged fat executive looked hesitant as he turned his head to look at Rita Skeeter.


    Rita Skeeter slammed her pen down on the table and wrapped her arm in her other arm, her long, dazzling green fingernails prominently highlighted, "That''s why some people are only worthy of investigating low-level reports such as extramarital affairs, but still have not achieved anything until now. Use your head right now, this is an opportunity! The government is preparing a new bill, the people are busy with the New Year, and although it hasn''t been investigated yet, I dare to assert that the campaign to ban handguns will not receive much attention for the next month or two ..."


    "If at this time, we can launch a series of exclusive articles over Christmas, linking peace and massacres, New Year and shootings, and making a big deal out of it ... the buzz will be reignited, hopefully, it will last until the new bill is introduced, at which point we can absolutely claim that the implementation of the new bill and our hard efforts are inextricably linked."


    She sneered twice at Melissa and looked over at the fat man.


    "Why do we need to choose Christmas? Because it''s the only way to differentiate ourselves when all the other papers are busy covering Christmas and New Year''s Eve, that''s the differentiator. It allows readers to recognize us at a glance!" She leaned over and stared at the short, middle-aged man, "What do you think, Mr. Editor-in-Chief?"


    The editor-in-chief swallowed and said with a stern face, "We''re only an entertainment paper, if the subject matter gets too serious-"


    "You can rest assured about that, I''ll be using a completely new narrative." Rita Skeeter retracted her body back and said confidently, "And I have my own take and opinion regarding the word ''entertainment'' -"


    She said sweetly, "The most important thing in a newspaper is sales. Beyond that, the subject matter is not important, the format is not important, the content is not important, even the truth -" she raised an eyebrow and offered an unspoken smile.


    There was a round of applause at the door. A woman with a serious face walked in and no one was aware of how much of their discussion she had heard before. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "You''re Rita Skeeter? That name is so hot right now that my ears are getting calloused."


    "You are?" Rita Skeeter asked without moving, catching a faint whiff of menthol smoke, a smell she had only ever caught at the door of that office, which was always closed tight and never once open.


    The short, stocky supervisor winked at her desperately and gestured. The woman didn''t answer, but looked Rita Skeeter up and down, "I''ve been away from the office for the last few months, but I''ve been reading an ongoing series of your articles, mocking the government to the point of wretchedness - but who made the readers just love that."


    Rita Skeeter asked in a pleasant tone, "So you''re going to give me a promotion?"


    The short, fat executive glared at her from behind, a shameful betrayal. But Rita Skeeter was ready to climb the corporate ladder, and she stared unblinkingly at the woman who had suddenly appeared, and laughed heartily, "Why not?" She looked at Rita Skeeter with indifference. "My time is limited, so there is only one interview question, if I want to increase the sales of the newspaper by another twenty thousand copies, what do you suggest I should do?"


    Rita Skeeter clenched her fist, "Raise the distinctiveness of the paper."


    "Distinctiveness? Be specific."


    "In that point, we''re already ahead of the game, like the third page featuring the women''s ... but it''s not nearly enough, we have to differentiate ourselves from other papers in every way - even if it''s wrong, it has to be the only one. We can sometimes even deliberately go against the flow of our readers, but of course ... only a true expert can manage the subtle differences in between."


    The woman narrowed her eyes and asked with interest, "You consider yourself as that true expert?"


    "Without a doubt." Rita Skeeter said cheekily.


    There was a moment of silence. The woman nodded towards her, "You''ll be one of our Deputy Chief Editor from now on."


    Rita Skeeter, who had just been promoted, breezed back to her office and ordered her two assistants, "Get all the news that can be found on the Dunblane school mass shootings through this year, now! Including the list of victims, the philosophy and demands of the gun ban campaign groups, the pronouncements of government departments on the matter, the list of government drafters of the gun bill, and the rumours that were going around... I want all of them! And - buy me a train ticket to Scotland from the local station."


    Two days later, Rita Skeeter arrived in the town where the shooting took place and personally convinced several of the victims'' families to give interviews.


    She offered a good deal - The Sun sells enough copies to create hype, plus she promised to publish a series of articles to help them put pressure on the government - and the families agreed after little thought.


    They also used their connections to get Rita Skeeter to strut her weight around the campus where the shooting took place.


    Rita Skeeter interviewed a few random teachers and came up with no less than 10,000 words of spicy coverage in her head, but she still was not satisfied, wanting to find a tricky enough angle that would be shocking without seeming too out of place in the New Year.


    As she walked, her stray gaze fixed on the students. She came up with a great idea.


    "Hey, little guy." She greeted a boy with a fake kindness, "What''s your name?"


    "Andy, Andy Murray." The young boy who looked to be eight or nine years old said as she eyed him.


    "Oh Andy, Andy," she repeated twice, pulling out her press pass and waving it in front of him, and asking in a pompous manner, "Can I interview you alone?"


    "I''ve got to go to tennis practice." Andy Murray said.


    "Just in time, that''s what I''m here for." Rita Skeeter lied, glancing quickly at the tennis bag the boy is carrying over his shoulder with a smile, "I spoke to your teacher, and she told me you''re very talented."


    "It''s ''he''." The boy corrected.


    "What?"


    "My PE teacher, it''s ''he''." The boy emphasized, then shot her a suspicious look.


    "I may have misremembered." Rita Skeeter said apologetically, although there was no hint of anything related to shame that could be found on her face, "So - let''s talk about paying little ball, tennis, geez, that''s a roundabout word."


    The young boy glared at her, displeased with the woman who had appeared out of nowhere and blasphemed about tennis.


    "Oh, come on, don''t be like that, I just said the wrong word, do you know how much material I read before I came here?" She gestured at her thick glasses, "When did you first start to play tennis?"


    "... Three years old." The young boy said after a long stand-off.


    Rita Skeeter was a little surprised. "So I''ve caught a little genius casually?" She grinned, "Well, I should put you on my watch list for another interview in a few years, what would be a good title? The Birth of a Genius ... or The Fall of a Genius? It''s really something to look forward to."


    The young boy left indignantly, but Rita Skeeter held his wrist with a death grip. As the argument was going strong, the teacher from the school appeared.


    "What are you doing here! Who are you? Oh, Ms. Skeeter-" the female teacher was surprised.


    "It''s me," Rita Skeeter said in a lighter tone as she released her grip, "I ran into little Andy while I was wandering around the school grounds, but he was in a hurry to get to the gym to play ball ... and there was a little misunderstanding. "


    The female teacher looked at her and then at the young boy who is rubbing his wrist and her tone cooled down, "I think that might not be the reason, Andy ... Andy wouldn''t have wanted to go to the gym."


    "Why do you say that?" Rita Skeeter froze for a moment, she wasn''t sure what had gone wrong but she quickly thought of the crux of the matter, "Because that shooting happened in the gym?" She looked at Andy with wide eyes and said in disbelief, "He was one of the people who happened to be there?"


    "That''s right," the female teacher said coldly, "Since then Andy usually only goes to the playground to play tennis, and the school is planning to build a new sports centre."


    Rita Skeeter cursed at her blunder in her mind.


    "I-" She opened her mouth in an attempt to remedy the situation.


    "I am sorry, Ms. Skeeter, but please leave the premises or I will have to call security." The female teacher said in a firm tone.


    Rita Skeeter''s face turned blue and white for a moment, and she reached into her crocodile purse several times, but she gave up the idea of taking out her wand. Her wand had been re-traced because she had been hired by the Ministry of Magic, and any magic she used during the year would be known to the woman sitting in the Minister''s office.


    Damn it.


    "Well, I''m sorry about that." She said with a shrug, turning to leave.


    As she walked out of the school, Rita Skeeter mentally pondered over various ideas, the information she had gotten so far was more or less the same, today was just an added bonus. But she always felt that there was something missing, what was it? She glanced back over her shoulder, the female teacher was crouching down to gently reassure the young boy, but the boy had a stubborn look on his face.


    Tennis ball, little boy ... she mused over it.


    ''Count yourselves lucky.'' Rita Skeeter said coldly in her mind as she made another ten-hour train trip back to The Sun''s premises, and it didn''t take that long for her to write a one-sheet article in a single stroke.


    "... Even after nine months, my new friend Andy still can''t get over his fear and he cried bitterly in front of me, confessing his heartbreak at the loss of his playmate and revealing that they had agreed to play tennis together and be friends and rivals forever, but it all came to naught. His parents couldn''t even deceive him with a well-intentioned lie, as young Andy was a first-hand witness to that tragedy and saw his companion, with whom he had made a lifelong pact, fall before his eyes ..."


    "I know some will mention the Hungerford shooting in 1987, and yes, that time the government responded swiftly by announcing a ban on semi-automatic rifles the following year and placing restrictions on the ownership of handguns, but it is far from enough!"


    "Are we really going to turn a blind eye to the tragedy that has once again returned after a mere nine years, and this time it is even worse because 16 of the 17 people killed were children? The fact that the killer was in possession of four handguns ''issued and licensed'' by the government at the time of the murder means that there are still huge loopholes in the way we regulate firearms and I implore government officials who are busy planning holidays or preparing for the New Year''s Eve parade to divide their energy towards the victims and their families who should be celebrating the New Year with as much enthusiasm as you are. Instead, their lives came to a permanent halt in March 1996."


    "... The only way we can make the right choice is by showing greater determination and courage, with a sense of responsibility ... With the encouragement of the journalist, young Andy has regained his vigour once again and stated that he will never give up tennis. Ladies and Gentlemen, a great star is rising, and his future is bright, with endless possibilities. But please don''t forget that if we remain indifferent, little Andy will be under threat from guns for days and nights in the years to come ..."


    In an office, which had been quiet for some time, a lady''s cigarette was burning quietly.


    "Well?" Rita Skeeter asked, narrowing her eyes.


    The woman who had a serious look on her face earlier tore off a piece of paper and scribbled quickly, and after a moment she pushed the note and the news release in front of Rita Skeeter. Then she took a deep puff on her cigarette and exhaled a minty smoke ring.


    "Your new office is ready."


    ------------


    [Author:]


    In case some readers may have doubts, I would like to add the following;


    1. This chapter is simply the brief history of Rita Skeeter''s rise to power because her position at the newspaper will play a key role in the subsequent plot, so a chapter is devoted to it (I didn''t think when I wrote it that it would reach approximately 3,120 words).


    2. There were several major events has happened in 1996 in British reality: the mad cow disease outbreak, Princess Diana''s divorce, and the Dunblane massacre. Andy Murray was an actual witness and survivor of the shooting at the age of less than nine, in addition to being known for his great achievements in tennis. Of course, the so-called best friend or pact or some other thing was all fabricated by Rita Skeeter, just like she fabricated about Harry in the original.


    ---


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 640: Transformation of Illusory to Reality (2 in 1)

    The last Ancient Rune class for Grade Five before the Christmas break was changed to a free period, where the students leafed through their ''Practical Rune for Beginners'' book and then chatted enthusiastically. Colin Creevey pulled out a list of names and swore that they were the Animagus Transformation forms of the students in ''Animagus Course''. He read the names on the list aloud, glancing at Professor Hap as he read each one out, hoping to get a response.


    But Felix was too busy playing cards with a few students to see his darting eyes.


    Valen sat in his arms, looking at the same deck of cards as him, enthusiastically and constantly coming up with ideas. "Are you sure about this one?" Felix asked, looking down, and Valen nodded firmly, stretching out her fingers dexterously, yup, this is the one.


    "Expelliarmus." Felix said.


    The student opposite, Newman Balk, grinned broadly and flipped over an undercard that he had kept hidden for three rounds - "Humanoid Shield Charm, I used a non-verbal spellcasting, so the defence worked." He said smugly, and then slammed a hand full of cards together.


    "Incarcerous Spell - Professor, you''re restrained and can''t counter - Lightning spell! With a complementary Conjunctivitis Curse, heheh, another Control card... and check this out, Blazing Golden Fire."


    Felix watched sourly as the little figure that represented him burst into flames and turned to ashes due to the heat. Valen covered her eyes.


    Newman Balk celebrated it as he high-fived another student.


    On the other side, Creevey reached the end of the page. "... Draco Malfoy - the white peacock; Elvira - the fox; Harry Potter - the Lion, and for the record, I didn''t feel a least bit surprised by this; Harry had drawn the Gryffindor sword in his second year ..." he said fervently.


    "Fake news," Ginny whispered to Luna a few tables away, "Harry told me he has a greater chance of transforming into a stag." Luna who was building blocks with solid magic runes, and trying to piece them together in the shape of a trophy, looked up nonchalantly, "Patronus?"


    "An interesting topic, isn''t it?" Ginny said with a toss of her hair, "Too bad that there are too few samples, Animagus and Patronus charm are both extremely rare, and not many people in history have mastered them at the same time ..."


    " A lot of people in the club can summon their Patronus." Luna said vaguely.


    "We''re special." Ginny said immediately and tactfully, "There haven''t been many stray Dementors hurting people in the past few hundred years, not until the third year-" she became furious, "I blame that Umbridge woman! I heard the You-know-who destroyed her mind, what a great joy!"


    Luna paused, and her expression became thoughtful.


    "My dad said that the You-Know-Who had an unusual relationship with a Dementor and that he could have disguised himself as one when he was younger and followed a couple of them around to steal a few kisses, you know, a Dementor''s kiss ..."


    Ginny froze for a moment and then giggled happily, "Ouch-"


    After a long while, she straightened her body, her face scrunched up, and she said seriously, "You have a point, Luna. Why didn''t I notice it before - it''s amazing how much the You-Know-Who follower''s clothes and dementor cloak resemble so much, and even his body shape is ... Maybe he misses those carefree days."


    "There''s also that nose and hair that could be used as confirmation," Luna said seriously, "if you''ve ever noticed."


    Ginny''s whole body shook from laughter, and she slumped over her desk, her shoulders flailing, and Luna gave her a curious look that held both confusion and incomprehension, but she nonetheless patted Ginny on the shoulder and went back to building the magic rune blocks.


    After the class ended, the students filed out, and many of them who were heading to their homes for the holidays greeted Felix in advance.


    "See you next year, Professor Hap!"


    "See you next year."


    When everyone else had left, Felix breathed a long sigh of relief, after playing cards all morning, as his and Valen''s thinking was diametrically opposite to one another, so mixing them up together resulted in more losses than wins. He decided to give Valen a separate spot in the afternoon, and they could work together to deal with the other students.


    "Kee?"


    Valen climbed up to where Luna had been sitting before and curiously surveyed the trophy left on the table, which had been pieced together out of ancient runes, it was wobbly and the shadow of a Goblet of Fire could be seen faintly in its shape.


    Felix picked up the trophy and had an idea in mind. He had remembered Luna''s thesis, the concept behind it was generally correct and had some similarities to the rune creature he had created, but it would not be easy for Luna to materialize that idea, there is simply too much knowledge involved.


    But that didn''t stop Luna from receiving a talking trophy as a Christmas present.


    Half an hour later, a shiny trophy appeared in front of Felix, its body entirely made of ancient runes and blank memory fragments that could flexibly transform between the real and the virtual. It could normally be stored in the Ring of the Ouroboros Snake.


    He stared at the trophy, cleared his throat, and asked, "What would Felix Hap prefer to receive as a Christmas present?"


    " A magic book, a unique insight, and a painting." Trophy replied.


    "And what he wouldn''t like to receive?"


    "A pumpkin mask, Dirigible Plum earrings, and a vine cape glued with glowing sequins."


    "Excellent." Felix said with satisfaction and decided to hurry up and send it away as soon as possible. Valen listened on from the sidelines for some time, and sort of understood who had sent all those odd gifts to the Great Demon King.


    The great hall looked magnificent as they walked down the stairs, with twelve Christmas trees glittering with silver frost and tiny icicles, and if you got close enough you could hear the faint sound of singing between the ornaments made of mistletoe and holly. There are flower fairies dancing and fluttering around the ribbons and trees, with their transparent wings shedding a silvery glow.


    The ceiling background became different as well, and the enchanted snow fell in trickles, burrowing into the necks of the students and cooling them.


    The dining tables were as chaotic and lively as usual. But Felix keenly noticed the blank expression on the faces of some of the students, who happened to be attending the Animagus course. Neville sighed deeply as he looked at the table filled with beef pies, ribs, and vegetable soup, and grabbed a piece of dry bread, and tore into it in small bites. The look of resignation on his face brought back some vague flashbacks to the Gryffindor ghost Nearly Headless Nick.


    A few seats away, Harry couldn''t eat either. Ron stared at the food in front of him, then with great determination he averted his eyes as if he had a grudge against them, and Hermione sipped her gruel carefully, chewing and swallowing slowly.


    "Hermione, try this, it''s delicious!" Lavender Brown gloated, munching on the creamy apple pie. She had been tempting Hermione with delicious food throughout the whole meal, and whenever Hermione sternly refused she and Parvati would snuggle up and heckle.


    "I''d really love to turn her into a loud-mouthed frog!" Hermione said, in annoyance when Lavender left.


    "No, you can''t," Harry said feebly, as he looked terribly hungry now, "The first few people who did that got a hundred points deducted plus detention for the whole of Christmas, without exception. Professor McGonagall was nearly maddened."


    "Yeah, I''m sure Snape must be humming with glee." Ron said grimly, "We''re completely hopeless to win the House Cup this year."


    All the students in the ''Animagus'' course had underestimated the difficulty of having to put a leaf in their mouths - including Felix himself - and it was not for an hour or two, or a day or two, but for a whole month. When he and Professor McGonagall checked last weekend, they found that most of the students had failed their task.


    They gave all sorts of reasons, from carelessly swallowing it down while drinking soup to biting the leaf while tearing the steak, to talking loudly and accidentally blowing it out, to even grinding their teeth in their sleep and consequently, the leaf disappeared without a trace the next day. The few students who managed to show their leaves were eventually proven to be cheaters, having simply pulled a leaf off the Christmas tree in the great hall before coming over.


    Felix looked on in amazement. Professor McGonagall accepted the excuses quite calmly, and passed him a demonstrative look that Felix guessed probably meant, ''See this is why it is so rare ...'' S~?a??h the ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "If there is no other way," Ron said fiercely through clenched teeth as he stood up, "we''ll just have to try Sirius'' method." He was referring to using the Stunning Spell and the Full Body-Bind Curse, or maybe the Langlock jinx would work too.


    Neville gave him a sad look, "Okay." And he said softly.


    What they both had in common was that they snored a lot, and when they woke up the morning before, Ron and Neville both found the blade of leaf missing from their mouths at the same time, the former had found the innocent blade on his pillow, and the latter could only glimpse some green remains through his teeth.


    Harry was in a slightly better position than them, at least he didn''t snore much, so he woke up with the leaf still in his mouth, only it was broken in two in the middle, with a neat break. He is still investigating the cause.


    Out of them all, Hermione was the only one who refused to reveal anything about her leaf, but Harry thought that - since Hermione had stopped volunteering to raise her hand to answer questions for the past few days - was a good indication of the seriousness of the problem.


    As they left the great hall, Ron plucked a Christmas tree twig by hand, saying pessimistically, "It''ll come in handy sooner or later." Hermione didn''t raise any objections.


    In the afternoon, Felix appeared in the greenhouse of the Herbology class.


    Professor Sprout is still dressed in the same sloppy and unkempt manner, with a patched hat tilted over her flowing grey hair and a lot of mud on her clothes - in a word, a stark contrast to the well-organized greenhouse.


    "Felix!" She said enthusiastically, "Minerva told me that a total of 23 Mandrake leaves are needed, isn''t that right?"


    "Well - that''s right." Felix said, "Actually there''s another thing." However, Professor Sprout had already dragged her short, fat body towards the back of the greenhouse, reaching out and waving a huge pair of scissors.


    She said cheerfully, "Well we better have to look for some fresh leaves, every few years Minerva will ask for some for her students ... but never so much as this year - we are here - and it just so happens that there are a few mandrake plants that need some pruning leaves, it has been growing for almost four years."


    Felix followed behind her, to a separate section set aside for them.


    Seven or eight fully mature mandrake plants stood lush, about as tall as small shrubs, planted in pots the size of Hagrid''s enchanted pumpkins, and he could clearly hear the grunting that rose and fell. "Keep your voice down, they are sleeping, and it will be dangerous if they are awakened." Professor Sprout said in a hushed voice, moving slowly as she opened the huge scissors in an arc, encircling two blades of leaves in a cold, shiny razor blade.


    "Click."


    The leaves fell smoothly. Felix beckoned and the two mandrake leaves whirled and fell into his hands. Sprout changed position again, as she did, "You can''t pick too many from the same plant or they will become unhappy." She explained.


    Soon they had finished collecting them and Professor Sprout handed him another bag for Felix to put the mandrake leaves in. When it was all over, Felix leaned slightly closer, he held out a hand and turned his head to look at Sprout, "May I touch it?"


    "Uh oh," Professor Sprout said hesitantly, "Their screams are deadly right now, best not to wake them up-"


    "Of course, of course." Felix murmured.


    He turned his wrist and the huge pot slowly floated up and hovered in front of him. He could only see the top half, the rest of it was buried in the dirt. Felix examined it for a moment, his eyes flickering with the rune symbols from the Book of Runes as the Thinking Room magic slowly spread out with him at its centre.


    With a flick of his fingers, the black pot faded to a lighter colour and flickered a few times, and all that remained were some rough lines as if Valen had been drawing a three-dimensional drawing in the air with a quill.


    Professor Sprout stood curiously by and observed; she hadn''t seen any magic like it before.


    But it was already accepted in the outside world that Felix Hap''s magic attainment had approached the level of Dumbledore''s, which was why she hadn''t tried to stop him.


    Before them, a solidified clump of brown soil was bound by an invisible force. Felix flicked his fingers again, and reality transformed wonderfully under his magic, layers of brown soil erased as if rubbed repeatedly by a rubber, leaving blurred traces in a place like pencil sketches, the soil no longer blocked their view, and revealed the mandrake within.


    Felix didn''t know who had first suggested that this thing looked like a baby, but he thought it actually looked like a little old man, ugly with unknown spots all over its body, its eyes closed like it''s sleeping without being affected by his magic, its body curled into a ball, its pointy little fists clenched on its chest.


    "I''ve never seen a mandrake when it''s asleep, it''s beautiful." Professor Sprout showed an infatuated expression.


    Felix had a new understanding of her aesthetics. He reached out, and his hand went straight through the rough lines that resembled sketches, touching the mandrake plant, and touching its anthropomorphic face.


    His magic little by little seeped into it.


    On the other side, Professor Sprout also curiously reached out and gently stroked the mandrake''s root-like skin, mumbling something under her breath.


    Felix closed his eyes and tried his best to sense his magic. Gradually, he became aware of his own magic power spreading out everywhere and clinging to some magic lines, a unique wooden pattern inside the mandrake.


    In the materials found in ancient ruins these magic lines were believed to be the origin of ancient runes, and he caught some familiar shapes.


    When he opened his eyes, Professor Sprout was looking at him.


    Felix clenched his fist and pulled his arm back sharply, a grid of bluish colour made purely of magic was dragged out by him. These magic resembled messy shapes that you could obtain by pouring molten iron liquid into an anthill. But to Felix''s eyes, it exuded a unique beauty.


    He now had the same look in his eyes that filled with fascination as Professor Sprout had just shown.


    The web of magic slowly stretched out, and he dispersed most of the irrelevant bits, keeping only a small cluster in the middle that resembled a curved moon. Under his subtle control, the magic changed subtly from its original rough appearance to what looked like a clear crystal cluster, and soon one of the crystal branches fell off and turned into a shimmering ancient magic rune.


    Sprout''s eyes widened. Thanks to Felix''s four years of relentless promotion, most of the professors are now no longer strangers to the basics of ancient runes, and right now all she can think of is one word - ancient magic, the ancient magic of the deadly cry of the mandrake.


    More and more rune symbols gradually took shape, shedding from the main body and falling like weary birds into Felix''s other hand, and gradually piecing together to create a shape similar to a curved moon, like the magic lines from before.


    But even Professor Sprout knew that these two are completely different. She became increasingly nervous inside.


    When only one-third of the magic power was left in the air, it suddenly disintegrated on its own, collapsing into a smoky mass of magic. Professor Sprout, who was watching from the sidelines, unexpectedly breathed a quiet sigh of relief, unaware of the cold sweat that broke out on her forehead.


    "Doesn''t seem to be working too well." Felix said with a smile.


    "You want to turn the innate ability of the mandrake into magic?" Professor Sprout asked.


    "I''ve been researching sound magic recently," Felix said slowly, "In the summer break I came across some materials in the Ilvermorny School library, but the progress has slowed down lately, and I wanted to look for inspiration from other places ... "


    "Speaking of Ilvermorny, Felix, would you like to see the branch of snakewood tree that you brought back? It''s growing nicely now."


    "Sure. ..."


    They walked towards the other greenhouse, and on the way there, they saw the distant leaving figure of Professor Burbage. "Charity is ready to publish her research," Professor Sprout informed him, "she seems to be planning to publish a dozen or so theses in one go ... I advised her that it would be best to compile them into a book. "


    "I know something about this matter too." Felix nodded, "Severus is also compiling materials related to it, so maybe they have discussed it."


    The snakewood branch had grown well, already wrist-thick and three or four feet tall, Felix stayed for a while and then left after saying goodbye. He strolled through the snow, recalling the experience that had taken place in the greenhouse. Professor Sprout seemed startled, which was not surprising; he himself had found the result of this research very frightening.


    Converting the cry of the mandrake into true ancient magic, this is a true sound of death, that could destroy a city and a nation in a matter of moments, and Felix hoped he would never have the opportunity to use its full power, and this magic to remain as something that only he knows.


    Ancient magic - no, the combination of ancient rune and memory magic gradually showed its unparalleled power and potential, just as he had done with the Mandrake''s flower pot, where reality and illusion were at his fingertips.


    How far would he reach in the future if he added soul magic and time magic? He looked up into the sky, where the clouds seemed to change into Nicolas Flamel''s face.


    "Old man, I seem to sense the self-imposed limitations you speak of."


    Felix shook his head and laughed, "Or if I think about something optimistic - at least I already have a solution to Remus'' furry little problem."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 641: Pre-Party

    The next few days were uneventful, with students discussing enthusiastically how to celebrate the New Year and start packing, but these had nothing to do with the members of the ''Animagus'' course, who collectively chose to stay at school. They had chosen to stay at school, because practising the Animagus transformation had a huge impact on their academic performance, and no one wanted to waste two weeks away on holiday. In the common room, Harry and the rest are still pondering on how to deal with a tiny leaf and keep it in line.


    "There are two days to go before Christmas." Hermione said irritably.


    Harry''s heart suddenly pounded. "So we''re about to get the mandrake leaf?" He asked, Christmas night is a full moon, which meant they would have to attempt it head-on whether they were ready or not.


    "That''s right," Hermione said looking at a piece of parchment, "but there are two dinner parties waiting for us on the way before we can get that tiny, lovely blade of leaf... this holiday season! I''ve never been this bored with a dinner party ..." she said roughly as she erased a line of comments on the parchment.


    Harry knew that Hermione had a fanatical preference for preparation. She had gathered suggestions from various sources from various people during these days, but none of them were foolproof, and she had even forced Harry to speak to Sirius in advance and then pretend to drop in inadvertently, and magically bring out a list of questions that she had prepared in advance.


    "Professor Slughorn won''t stop, I wonder what tricks he has up his sleeve this time?" He said with deep emotion.


    Ron shrugged, in addition to the Christmas dinner, they had to attend a personal party hosted by Professor Slughorn tonight, because most of the students would be going home tomorrow.


    "He actually does a pretty good job at throwing small parties, not only there are good foods to eat, but there are also very reputable wizards to meet ..." Ron said with a look of reminiscence as he narrowed his eyes, "Do you know Gwenog Jones? Yep, the captain of the Holyhead Harpies ... You really should have heard what she called me, ''Dear Mr. Weasley'' ... and she complimented my talent and youth! It was a nice thing to hear, even though it is true. Too bad you weren''t there that time."


    Unlike Ron who had been a part of a few slug club parties, Harry''s attitude was to run away when he could.


    At first, he used Quidditch training as an excuse, then the players couldn''t take it and started to revolt, blocking him in to protest while he was changing in an individual cubicle in the changing room, Harry was horrified to hear Creevey''s voice and in order to avoid being headlined in the Wall of Mystery tabloid the next day as Tyrant Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, he had to humiliatingly agree to stop the dreadful torture of compulsory training every night ...


    It was a good thing he had quickly found an alternative - lying about having an appointment with Professor Bagshot to have tea in his office. Sometimes he even dragged along Neville, who was also uncomfortable with the party atmosphere.


    Harry felt rather sorry in his mind because Professor Bagshot would now only discuss magic and current affairs with him, and no longer talk about his past experiences - especially anything to do with the dark wizard Grindelwald - the last time their topic revolved around the Muggle gun ban, and the one before that was about the impact that the advent of the exclusive wand would have on the coming decades.


    "... I, for one, would be all for it, after all, I have benefited from it, if you don''t believe me -" Grindelwald said, pointing at a brass figurine of a certain ancient professor of rune "I''m just a little worried ..."


    For a moment Harry felt like he was sitting in a History of Magic classroom, and Neville felt the same way, though they privately thought that if Professor Bagshot had taught them instead of Professor Binns, they would have probably passed this O.W.Ls exam.


    But Professor Bagshot hinted to Harry at the time that he had found a travelogue-type journal deep in the library which recorded "something interesting".


    "It could have been left by a student of that era." He explained.


    Harry is planning to look for it carefully over the holidays, at least to pass the time. He had a feeling that this holiday would be boring and many activities would be out of the question, like snowball fights.


    "... Sirius and Professor Hap''s suggestions are rather similar," Hermione muttered under her breath, "but I personally think a magic amulet would work better... ...Fred and George ... Oh, that Ton-Tongue Toffee suggestion was stupid. But if it could be improved ... no, absolutely not! Madam Pomfrey''s suggestion is a good one, the Potion for Dreamless Sleep can improve sleep significantly ... just not very safe, and as for the Draught of Living Death ..."


    "Draught of Living Death?" Harry looked at her in surprise and exclaimed in disbelief, "Hermione, you''re not convinced by Snape''s nonsense, are you?" Ron was startled as well.


    "Oh, I would not use that." Hermione said, "That would delay my regular classes."


    The ''Animagus'' course has been widely discussed, and according to Nearly Headless Nick, "Animagus has never been taught with such fanfare since Hogwarts was founded". So not only has this topic become popular among the students (the House points of the four Houses have dropped considerably during this time), but even the professors have got involved.


    As of now, Professor McGonagall has dedicated half of a course to explaining the requirements for learning Animagus, and the other half to giving examples drawn from history about the consequences of underprepared Animagus transformation- a section consisting of a horror story that is essentially an abbreviated version of her notes; the short Professor Flitwick, who has goblin blood, has introduced students about a kind of anti-eavesdropping magic -


    "Works on any creature and keeps mosquitoes at bay!"


    Harry suspected that this spell is aimed at Rita Skeeter, whose beetle form is no secret.


    Professor Bagshot went along with the crowd''s wishes and temporarily introduced additional content on the ''Animagus reversal spell''.


    In addition to what Harry had seen with his own eyes, he had heard Trelawney talking at her own Advanced Class about how to use the Tarot cards to look for ''sneaky people'', saying that she had seen insects with six legs approaching her in her crystal ball. Snape, on the other hand, mentioned in his fifth-year class that he would prepare a cauldron of Draught of Living Death that would allow one to sleep for a month straight.


    It was something Ginny had told him.


    "He''s being mean and moody - anyone with a clear eye can see that." She said in annoyance.


    Just as Harry was looking at the clock for the third time, an owl flew in through the window, with snowflakes in its feathers, and it slammed a heavy package on Ron''s head as it dragged it along.


    "A Christmas present? So early?" Harry asked, somewhat surprised.


    "No," Ron said as he tore open the wrapping paper, "It''s Collins, didn''t I tell you she is in Hogsmeade? I asked her to send me something, they''re idle anyway ... oh ..." he trailed off as he looked at the small card.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "She''s leaving, and that Carlotta Pinkstone really seems to be planning to spend her retirement at the Three Broomsticks Inn." Ron said, "After all, the Ministry of Magic can''t afford to keep two Aurors wasting their time, can they?" He rummaged through the package and pulled out a couple of quill pens, magic erasers, and socks, as well as a few miscellaneous items that Harry was just about to look at more closely when Ron stopped him.


    "This has your Christmas present in it." Ron said guardedly.


    At eight in the evening, they and Neville appeared in Slughorn''s office. It had become a completely different place, with Christmas trees full of candies and sweets hanging everywhere for people to pick up as they pleased, and a dozen legless tables scattered around the room, and Harry saw a man wave and the nearest hovering table floated up to him with a load of delicacies.


    A light, melodious music played, and Harry was 100 percent sure it belonged to the Weird Sisters.


    But the biggest difference is still the number of people. Harry estimated there would be at least a hundred people present, and - most of them being adult wizards. He stared in bewilderment; had Professor Slughorn gathered all the previous members of the Slug Club together?


    The people, all dressed in various styles, made their way through the office that seemed to be under an Undetectable Extension Charm. Some of the male and female wizards walked with poise, though many of them were considerably more formal. Harry sighed with relief, and then he heard Hermione let out a groan, partly in surprise, and partly in shock, "Mummy and Daddy?"


    Harry and Ron quickly followed her line of sight and were both startled at the number of familiar faces. It isn''t just the Grangers, Professor Slughorn seems to have invited quite a few parents of students (especially those who can''t go home for the holidays), the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, the Malfoys ... Harry also saw Ernie Macmillan and Cormac McLaggen in their elaborate dresses and bows, standing obediently next to a middle-aged couple and talking to them - heck, it is Sirius and Amelia Bones.


    "Hey, you guys, it''s been a while." A familiar, teasing voice sounded from behind them.


    Harry jerked around and a pair of twins were looking at them lazily, and it was Fred and George! They both looked like accomplished people, one hand in their pockets, and the other holding a tall glass with a smile tugging at the corners of their mouths as if they had replicated these actions in a mirror many times.


    "By the look on your faces, no one seems to have told you? Oh, boy, these parents are so bad ..." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 642: Observation Report

    "Well, you guys also didn''t reveal a word of it, did you?" Harry said with a smile. Ron, meanwhile, gawked at the clothes on the twins.


    "How much did this cost?"


    Fred shook his head with a mock sigh as he drew his wand and with a flick, three goblets flew over and landed in the hands of the golden trio. Fred and George stepped forward and clinked their goblets and drank their drinks in one go, "Then we will leave you alone." Fred said.


    "Someone keeps mentioning your names." George said with a grin, "Especially that chubby professor has mentioned it on average once every three sentences, we suspect one of you has secretly bewitched him."


    The two men made their way out - "Wait, wait!" Harry shouted, but it was too late.


    "Harry, my boy!" Professor Slughorn spotted the trio with his sharp eyes, and he immediately strode towards them with his large pot belly bound by his brown waistcoat, and several gold glittering buttons glaring at them like creature eyes.


    The office was quiet for a few seconds as various measuring gazes shot from all directions, which is one of the reasons Harry didn''t like this kind of environment. Luckily he saw Mrs. Weasley waving at them happily, which also made it easier for Professor Slughorn to drag him along without too much effort.


    "And you two," Slughorn said to Ron and Hermione as he walked away, "I''ve been talking to your parents for a while about the - er... the importance of homeschooling." But instead of taking Harry over to the Weasleys and the Grangers, he walked around the group and joined Amelia Bones in her conversation.


    He forcibly positioned Harry between Ernie and Cormac McLaggen and said with a smirk, "See, you''ll never find a stronger friendship than the one you built during your school years." Harry glared at him, as his expression stiffened.


    He didn''t know when he had ever formed a ''strong friendship'' with Ernie and McLaggen.


    Harry remained silent throughout the next few minutes.


    He noticed that Professor Slughorn had centred most of the conversation around Ms. Bones, occasionally dividing some attention to Sirius. This seemed to coincide with the thoughts of the Macmillan and the McLaggen, so Sirius only had to chime in occasionally as he spent the rest of his time observing his uncomfortable godson.


    Ms. Bones'' answers were brief and concise, and she remained basically expressionless throughout the conversation, except for the smile she flashed at Harry when he came, but this is more in line with the image of a steel-hearted minister - Azkaban still houses over three hundred foreign wizards.


    Out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught a glimpse of Susan Bones sitting in the corner, chewing on an apple with a ''crunch'' sound, and she seemed to notice Harry''s gaze as she nimbly slipped away and blended into the crowd.


    At that moment, Felix and Snape arrived together.


    Neville tugged at his father''s sleeve and Frank Longbottom was chatting with the Grangers'' about the interesting story of the exclusive wand, "Gee - that''s amazing, we always wondered who exactly our daughter had inherited her magic talent from ... " Mr. Granger said.


    "What''s wrong?"


    Neville''s father looked up with an expression of joy at first, but then it quickly cooled off when he saw Snape following Felix. Snape glanced in that direction and whispered a couple of words to Felix before he turned his head and went to find Damocles Belby.


    Felix joined in the conversation with a smile.


    On the other side, when Ms. Bones saw him, she quickly responded with a couple of words and walked toward him. At the same time, from around the corner, an elderly woman, with gray hair striding briskly on her feet, met her gaze and both of them stopped in their tracks.


    Felix showed just the right amount of surprise. Weighing the pros and cons quickly in her mind, Ms. Bones changed her direction to meet the old woman, "Ms. Pinkstone, we need to talk." The old woman gave her a contemptuous blank look and followed her away.


    "Who was that woman?" Mr. Granger asked curiously.


    Felix shook his head, so Mr. Granger continued with the story of how he got his exclusive wand, "I also signed up with my wife with the attitude of giving it a try, the staff told us we might have to wait in a long queue and go through all sorts of vetting ... only to be notified the next day, and the whole process went incredibly smoothly."


    Felix winked at Hermione, whose face flushed.


    "I don''t think anyone would say no to give a small favour to an Order of Merlin winner."


    Mr. Granger froze for a moment.


    "Oh, really?" He said, abruptly feeling a little uneasy, "I heard that man has been arrested? We subscribe to several magic newspapers and keep a close eye on developments ... It is said that the You-Know-Who - what a strange name - made a deal with the former Azkaban prison guards, trading human emotions in exchange for powerful spellcasting abilities."


    "Dad - I told you both to read The Quibbler less!" Hermione shouted as her face flushing even more.


    "But this is the only publication that gives an explanation ..." Seeing his daughter''s unhappy face, Mr. Granger changed the subject decisively, "Mr. Hap-- -"


    "You can call me Felix."


    "... Okay, Felix." He said, "We bought a whole set of magic projectors, I especially like the ''immersive'' mode, it''s amazing, it''s like we''re characters in a film too, but we have to lock the doors, windows and put up a ''no visitors'' sign when we use it."


    "Hermione," Mrs. Granger said with a deliberate stern face, as she was concerned about something else, "look at your hair - didn''t you send home a quick smoothing hair gel? And this cloth, do you wear them all the time?"


    Hermione yelped in annoyance and ran off in a huff. Mrs. Granger chased after her.


    "My daughter has - er, been rather stubborn since she was a child." Mr. Granger tried to explain.


    "... I can understand that."


    On the other side of the room, a finally relieved Harry and Sirius skulked around the room, with food in their hands.


    "That woman is Carlotta Pinkstone?" Harry asked.


    "That''s right, a total pain in the arse, don''t bother with her, Harry." Sirius stuffed a piece of strawberry pudding into his mouth and vaguely said, "As if we didn''t have enough trouble."


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked worriedly, thinking about Sirius''s investigative mission, "Work not going well?"


    Sirius gnashed his teeth hard.


    "It went well - that''s what makes it a big problem." He had a toothache look on his face, "A lot of stuff is plainly laid out."


    "And what''s it about? You don''t look like you are okay though."


    "Ahem, I''m just validating someone''s theory, actually - come this way, Harry." Sirius looked up to find the two of them unknowingly walking over to Felix, who was flashing his white teeth at him. He hurriedly dragged Harry in a different direction and continued, "As I said, that was only a small errand, and the contents in Felix''s books and report weren''t too far off from what I saw."


    "I did figure one thing out over the last few months though."


    Sirius became serious, "Muggles, unlike wizards, can derive huge theories from some simple truths, and because there are enough of them, they can spare plenty of manpower to bring out the full potential of these theories, which they named ''basic scientific theories'' ..."


    " This also means that the rate of Muggle development can be measured - there are exceptions, of course, but we can figure it out roughly - and I can sense more and more that there is a line that stops ahead, and once it is crossed, it will be very difficult for wizards to maintain the Statute of Secrecy."


    Harry listened with a heavy heart, as he recalled the clip of the speech Professor Bagshot had shown him; had that man from half a century ago anticipated the inevitable exposure of wizards, just as Professor Hap had? The only difference was that Grindelwald had chosen to start a war and try to enslave the Muggles in the end.


    He cryptically described Professor Bagshot''s point of view to Sirius, who stopped chewing and looked at Harry thoughtfully.


    "I don''t know what Dumbledore was thinking, but since he picked this Mr. Bagshot as a professor for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, it means he''s aware of the problem as well. Do you think that professor is hostile to Muggles?"


    "Not really," Harry said, searching his mind trying to find the exact words, "I guess he thinks that wizards and muggles are two different kinds of people and that once wizards are exposed to the outside world -- you know, there could be conflict --" he said, his breath abruptly hitched.


    He imagined a war.


    Sirius caught the anxious look on his face and seemed to guess what Harry was thinking, and solemnly said.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not a big problem yet. I agree with Felix that we have at least a few more decades to prepare - and don''t forget that the Minister of Magic has actually been in contact with the Muggle Prime Minister and hasn''t completely closed off."


    He suddenly lowered his voice to speak, and Harry leaned in closer to hear more clearly.


    "Frankly, I have some admiration for Felix - but don''t tell him, to save him from getting smug - both because he pointed out the problem and also because he did all those things without saying a word, to lay the groundwork for the future... Amelia already has a general idea."


    "What idea?" Harry asked, holding his breath as his eyes followed his godfather to Professor Hap in the crowd.


    "Gradually increasing the connection between the two sides." Sirius said, picking up a piece of rib in his hand, "The squib issue is a good entry point, and now with the exclusive wands, the number of squibs who can cast spells will definitely increase in the future - we haven''t fully licensed it yet, but there is a trend towards that - -conservative estimates suggest that the number of squibs in the country is over a hundred thousand, if not more because squibs also have offspring."


    "Amelia is going to wait for the situation to stabilize in a couple of years and use this as an excuse to negotiate in secret with the Muggle government to set up a special department, the kind that would keep it a secret from the general population."


    "Why should it be kept secret from ordinary people?" Harry asked in confusion.


    "One step at a time," Sirius shrugged, "actually initiating a collaboration would mean more government workers would be aware of the existence of wizards, tearing a hole in the wall first, and deploying people from each side to jointly manage magical incidents that occur in the Muggle community. After some years of keeping it up, when both sides have a foundation of mutual trust, we can let the cat out of the bag little by little ..."


    Harry swallowed.


    "Don''t think it is simple as I make it sound, it is very tedious to do and there are all sorts of details that need to be sorted out. For example, we have no clear legal framework, and both sides have to make concessions, which is a headache." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    That''s enough. Although he didn''t know the full extent of the plan, Harry''s tense mood relaxed. Just a moment ago he had felt that conflict would be inevitable, but a few minutes later things took a turn for the better, and for a moment Harry felt like he didn''t understand anything.


    "You''re still at school," Sirius smiled understandingly, "there''s a lot of knowledge you can''t learn at school, I strongly suggest you to travel for a year or two after you graduate before joining the Ministry of Magic as an Auror."


    Harry lowered his head in silence, seeming to ponder the feasibility of the plan.


    "What if the conflict is unavoidable?" He blurted out, and Sirius looked at him in surprise as Harry explained in a whisper, "I mean, we''re all looking on the bright side now, aren''t we? If there''s an accident, like the Muggle government not recognizing the Ministry of Magic-"


    "They''d have to admit it," Sirius said lightly, "Do you think the Ministry of Magic just keeps the wizards undetected? Who is the one that suppresses the power of dark wizards? Who is it that keeps the dark creatures in check and prevents them from going out to harm people? The Ministry of Magic can hide or even withdraw from Britain at any time, and then what? It would be a dark wizard''s paradise, and you don''t think dark wizards would be stupid enough to take the Muggle army head on, do you?"


    There was silence for a while, Harry opened his mouth several times, and he was unable to imagine what the consequences of this scenario would be if it happened.


    "Let''s talk about something happy," Sirius said with sudden cheerfulness, "How is your Animagus study going? I heard that over a dozen students got outstanding in their O.W.Ls?"


    Harry smiled back.


    "Yeah, you have a talent for being a teacher. But - well, we''re kind of stuck on the very first step, and even Hermione can''t figure out a foolproof method."


    A smirk graced Sirius''s face, and he suddenly glared at Harry.


    "Do you honestly," he said with a scowl, "think the entire previous generations of wizards are quite rubbish?"


    "How could-" Harry denied in a rush.


    "And what gave you the illusion that Animagus would be easy? It took almost three years for both James and me to finally pull that off, relying on a little bit of luck, and we''re not even sure we can do it again without it going awry." Sirius didn''t have a problem saying that "You guys would be lucky if you could finish it before you graduate."


    Harry was dumbfounded.


    "But didn''t you say that successful Animagus transformation would help us with our grades on Transfiguration-"


    Sirius grinned and scowled at him, which reminded Harry of Fred and George pulling off a prank, "Actually, I wasn''t lying, if you guys really did do it in one go, you truly wouldn''t have to worry about your Transfiguration class grades anymore ..."


    The atmosphere in Slughorn''s office was cheerful, but a heated argument had just ended in the washroom not far from here.


    Ms. Bones came out furious, she had simply wasted her breath, Pinkstone remained hostile to the Ministry of Magic too deeply and no matter what she said. Pinkstone simply believed she was lying to her with the sole aim of holding her in check and waiting for her natural death.


    Bones took a few deep breaths to calm her emotions before turning and striding towards the party. Not long after, Carlotta Pinkstone appeared as well, her face clouded with gloom.


    "You''re making a lot of noise, Carlotta." A voice said, and Pinkstone jerked back. She hesitated a little at first, then stared deep into a silvery blue pupil, and her mouth opened wide.


    "G... Grinn-"


    "Shh." The man said softly as he raised his index finger and pressed it over his own lips. Pinkstone immediately fell silent, her pale face flushed with excitement and her words became stuttered, "I really, I really didn''t expect to meet you here."


    "But I have been waiting for you. From the first time I heard your name, I had a feeling that the little English girl who approached me alone half a century ago would appear before me in a miraculous fashion. You''ve had a hard time, but you are willing to endure it, aren''t you?"


    "Yes, yes, I only hate that my cause has not been fulfilled." She looked at Grindelwald with anticipation, "Do you want to do something about it this time out?"


    "But - Carlotta - there is a fine difference in our ideas."


    "That''s true, but-"


    "Can I trust you?"


    "Of course! What do you need me to do?"


    There was a moment of silence.


    "Wait." Grindelwald whispered, "Just know that our cause has not ceased yet."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 643: Christmas Full Moon Night (2 in 1)

    The party came to a close on a lighter note. The invited guests left the room one by one, and Felix glanced around the crowd but did not find Carlotta Pinkstone, whom he had originally planned to find an opportunity to contact, but from the look on Ms. Bones'' face when she returned, he guessed that the two had not had a very pleasant conversation and that Carlotta Pinkstone had left early.


    Professor Slughorn was very pleased with how the party proceeded, and at the moment he is standing in front of the gorgeous fireplace, seeing off each of the departing guests, relishing the occasion, and busily responding verbally and physically as appropriate to each person''s status.


    " Eldon, my dear student, you haven''t published much in recent years, I''m waiting to read your masterpiece -"


    "McLaggen, say hello to Tiberius for me! Oh, and to Scrimgeour as well, it''s about time he needed to take some time off these days."


    "Mrs. Zabini, thank you for the gift ..."


    "Oh Frank and Alice, can I call you that? That''s wonderful ... I''m so sorry I didn''t send my best wishes the day you both healed, I was hesitant to accept the teaching position at that time ... Neville? Well, he''s doing very well ..." Slughorn took Frank Longbottom''s hand enthusiastically and spoke in a very intimate tone, "To be honest, I think you fully deserve two Order of Merlin for your performance in this war, but since you both already got two of first-class ones ..." he patted Frank''s shoulder heavily, "bring my regards to Augusta for me."


    Alice kissed Neville''s forehead and followed her husband as they disappeared into the emerald green flames.


    "How are you going to get back?" Hermione asked her parents and Felix looked over the Granger''s shoulders to see Sirius and Ms. Bones saying goodbye to Harry.


    "The Floo network, of course." Mr. Granger said with slight excitement, "That''s how we got here, it''s incredible! Professor Slughorn said he had temporarily connected our fireplace at home with magic, so I guess it might be similar to connecting to an internet signal."


    Hermione was stunned.


    "Oh, God! How can you ..." she said anxiously, "what if you called the wrong address? Harry was once sent to Knockturn Alley by mistake for this very reason ... Professor?" She looked at Felix as if asking for help.


    "I could use Apparition to sen-" Felix said after a second of consideration.


    "Oh, don''t worry!" After seeing the Weasleys off, Professor Slughorn came over with a pot-belly and his walrus whiskers twitching between his lips as he exclaimed cheerfully, "Thanks to Amelia! I had mentioned it casually when she accepted the invitation, and she graciously agreed to help."


    Ms. Bones, whose name was called, nodded in his direction.


    "That''s it." Slughorn said with a smirk as they made their way to the fireplace, Sirius and Harry hugged each other before they left through the fire and Slughorn took out his wand and tapped it on the fireplace.


    "Well, whatever you call out next will lead to only one place - just for today."


    "Thanks for the hospitality, we''ve had a good night." Mr. Granger took Mrs. Granger''s hand and told the crowd. "You are welcome to join us at our home any time, Mr. Hap." Mrs. Granger said politely. "That''s right," Mr. Granger looked at Felix and seemed to thought of something, "I actually have a collection of various models of dental specimens, if you are interested ..."


    Mrs. Granger gave a firm grip with her hand.


    "Ahem, well - goodbye."


    The next morning, most of the students left school on the Hogwarts Express train to go home for the holidays. However, there are still some who choose to stay in school, and there are quite a few, in addition to the students in the ''Animagus'' course, as there were some students who were punished with detention for abusing human transfiguration magic.


    Harry took the opportunity during breakfast in the great hall to tell Ron and Hermione what Sirius had said to him last night.


    They had expressed their opinions. Hermione looked a little worried, "Ugh, I vaguely guessed that from Ms. Bones'' letter." Ron, on the other hand, reacted flatly, "According to Sirius, that''s decades away, isn''t it? Let''s consider what''s in front of us now."


    He frowned as he said, looking around, the people who sat with them at the dinner table all took their time chewing in a way that made you lose your appetite. According to Professor McGonagall, starting from this full moon, she would arrange a special diet for students who are preparing to practice.


    "It will prevent some of you from swallowing the mandrake leaf through carelessness."


    After breakfast, Hermione went to the library as usual, "We have twelve essays to write!" "It''s eleven, Hermione," Ron pointed out her mistake, "Harry and I don''t have an Arithmancy Class."


    In the end, Hermione was the only one who went to the library.


    Harry and Ron decided to go out for a ride on their broomsticks, there were not many students in the school at the moment, so they were able to have a good time racing around the Black Lake, they ended up accidentally bumping into Valen who was skating with her army of snowman Niffler, and with a grin on their faces, they had a snowball fight with Valen.


    The ordinary blade of leaf that Harry and Ron had been holding in their mouths fell out several times in the middle due to their excessive playing. When they returned to the castle and calmed down, they made some pessimistic comments about their respective futures.


    "I don''t think it will work, I can''t hold it in my mouth." Ron said negatively, "Even if we did, we''d still have to get up every morning and night to recite the spell and wait for thunderstorms, and even Bill and Percy, who have the best grades, never even considered being Animagus when they went to school ..."


    "Don''t be discouraged, Ron. We even managed to survive the Voldemort hurdle." Harry said encouragingly, though he followed along and became depressed when Ron pointed out that he had to lead Quidditch training after the start of the new year and that couldn''t be done without talking out loud.


    When they saw Hermione in the evening, she didn''t look well either, but she still made a snide comment about the pair''s lack of commitment and went back to bed early. It was not until the next day when Harry was opening presents under the little Christmas tree that he started to feel better.


    Harry received the usual presents including a hand-knitted jumper from Mrs. Weasley, some candies, and joke products from the twins, which included a Boxing telescope, which Ron tossed aside in exasperation when he showed it to him. Because the twins had presented it to him for a beta test, which he had gifted to Professor Hap at the time to save some money. After remembering that it was from his two unreliable brothers it had scared the hell out of him.


    Harry had also unwrapped the gift from Ron - a tiger hat.


    "Collins picked it out, so if you don''t like it go find her." Ron said, while he himself put on a parrot hat and looked around in the mirror. "Where did she buy it from?" Harry asked with interest, it seemed to be a collection, and he wanted to ask if there is an antler version, which he wanted to give to Ginny next year.


    "McHavelock''s Wizarding Headgear." Ron said, "It could only be there."


    "Is Collins okay?" Hermione asked as they descended the stairs, "Aren''t she and Tonks in charge of keeping tabs on Carlotta Pinkstone? Well, she managed to turn up at the party last night."


    "It shouldn''t be too much of an issue," Ron said slowly after a moment''s thought, "Their mission ended yesterday at noon, who would have thought, that woman would be connected to Professor Slughorn and be invited."


    On the other end of the castle, Felix had just finished opening his presents, which was quite a lot of work.


    Felix was most pleased with Luna''s gift - perhaps because he had helpfully ''suggested'' it - she presented him with his life-size brightly smiling portrait, and Felix wondered when he had made that kind of impression on Luna, but he soon solved the mystery.


    A small slip of note contained Luna''s well wishes:


    Merry Christmas, Felix. Love the gift you sent me, and I am going to take it home to show Papa, plus - I got some inspiration from the magic portrait that is hanging in St Mungo''s when Papa was receiving treatment on the fourth floor.


    Valen likewise received a piece of art, but - perhaps this is the one that suits Luna''s aesthetic - it is a stone painting. In a foot-square frame, hundreds of small, carefully selected pebbles had been coloured and arranged to create the shape of a Niffler, with a green cape cut out of palm-sized leaves behind it, the edges of which waved majestically.


    Valen babbled about it for a long time, seeming to both dislike and like it.


    Only when Felix said in a sour tone, "We can swap." Valen clutched the painting immediately and looked at him warily, and when he returned after a quick walk around the room, the stone painting had been positioned next to Felix''s blank magic portrait. If the portrait at St Mungo''s came back to visit one day, he would be surprised to find himself with an additional eccentric-looking neighbour.


    Felix was tempted to ask what he and Luna had talked about to make him smile like that and be drawn and sent to himself?


    Towards the end of the afternoon, a strong smell of cooking wafted into the room along the cold air.


    Valen, who had been nestled on the sofa couch watching a cartoon, sniffed the smell and quickly announced the names of a series of dishes, and she and Felix looked at each other for a while before agreeing to turn off the projector and go downstairs to the great hall.


    The great hall appeared very empty, with only one of the four house tables left, and every other seat occupied by a bulging bag full of wizard colourful poppers - from which various styles of hats and odd trinkets could be popped. They had arrived quite early, and it was not mealtime yet, but there were already students present.


    "Bang! Bang!"


    Two sounds like cannons exploding echoed through the great hall, and a purple cloud of smoke filled the air as the figures of two students emerged, accompanied by a coughing fit and the few words "it''s your fault" and "you suggested it".


    Felix couldn''t hold back his smile, it was two Hufflepuff students who had been punished with detention for tarnishing the name of their house by turning each other into a honey badger, only to accidentally wander off after the transformation, and Professor Sprout had mobilized half the Hufflepuff house to search the common room for half a day before finding the unlucky pair.


    One by one, the crowd grew, and Felix chatted with Valen in a hushed voice.


    "Those four? I heard they were in the same dormitory and were planning to quietly study Animagus Transfiguration, and they even formed a secret study group for it. Only for the three of them on the scene to cower in fear because of the uncontrollable tiger roar that was heard from the next closed classroom..."


    The four Ravenclaw girls shot them an exasperated glare as they passed by.


    The professors gradually showed up as well, scattered to sit at the long table, Dumbledore wore a moon-white robe and had a happy look on his face, "Merry Christmas!" He said enthusiastically, "There are so many people this year that I''ve made a last-minute addition of colourful packet poppers, so sit down!"


    Not many people were as happy as he was. Most of the students - either punished (in all four houses, Gryffindor mostly) or members of the ''Animagus'' course- and only a few actually volunteered to stay.


    He swept his gaze around the room, looked at the sad-faced students, and said, "It''s Christmas, I think - our task is to stuff our mouths with delicious foods, not a little leaf ... What do you say, Minerva? "


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips, "You''re quite right, Dumbledore." As soon as the words left her mouth, half of the students immediately took the leaves out of their mouths with joy, and the atmosphere was suddenly heated. Dumbledore struck while the iron was hot, grabbing a handful of wizard-coloured packet poppers and shoving them at everyone he could reach.


    The others followed suit and the long table was instantly filled with thuds and clusters of the smoke of varying colours blowing out. Felix drew a plain wizard''s hat with four colours of fine thread outlining a pattern, Harry and Ron opened two sailor hats that Felix thought were nowhere near as wonderful as the tiger and parrot hats they wore on their heads, and Hermione drew a woman''s wide-brimmed hat which she fiddled with glee.


    Then all of them looked at Snape from the corner of their eyes - last time he had opened a lady''s peaked cap, so everyone wondered what it would be this time? Even Dumbledore looked at him with interest as Snape looked expressionless as he pulled back the popper and when the smoke cleared, a deer antler hat appeared in his hand.


    This time it was Harry''s turn to be unhappy. He looked jealously at the beautiful pair of antlers, thinking that the hat was a pure waste in Snape''s hands and that if no one wanted it at the end of the dinner, he could probably take it quietly ... Snape really didn''t like it and shoved the hat in his hand to Professor McGonagall casually, but Professor McGonagall loved her feathered hat, so it ended up in Dumbledore''s hands.


    "Eat up!" Dumbledore, who was wearing a deer antler hat, said with a smile.


    The crowd began to enjoy their food and Valen was given a seat opposite of Professor Flitwick, their chairs were custom-made and looked to have an oddly symmetrical aesthetic.


    Harry gorged himself on smooth, soft mashed potatoes, Ron tore off the meat on his ribs, and half the students wolfed down their food with fierce eyes, that filled with a look of suffering that even Felix couldn''t help but feel a sense of sympathy for.


    But that was all this meal was meant to be. Because tonight is the full moon. These students would be tested even more severely, and he had seen the special diet recipes that Professor McGonagall was going to give to the kitchen house elves, which mostly consisted of tasteless but fast-filling dishes.


    At the dinner, everyone was busy eating, except Trelawney who kept spreading rumours about ''six-legged creatures bringing misfortune to the castle'' while holding a bottle of sherry, and just as Felix was wondering what it was about, Professor McGonagall quietly tilted her head over and whispered in an odd tone, "Albus is going to recruit a Centaur into the school."


    Realization dawned on Felix.


    Just when Trelawney mentioned it for the twelfth time and her tone grew more and more certain, Dumbledore stood up.


    "... More than one death, I have seen-"


    "Filch," Dumbledore asked pleasantly, "is that item ready?"


    Filch lifted his head from his plate and bent over, "Yes, Headmaster, I''ve put it in the corner, and covered it with a piece of green sheet."


    "Excellent." Dumbledore said, his eyes searching around the room as the others looked over. Dumbledore pointed with his wand and a green piece of cloth flew up from an inconspicuous spot in the corner, beneath which was a delicately shaped machine.


    "The latest model projector -" he said happily, "I bought it to try out for myself and I liked the ''immersive'' mode of it best. " He gave Felix a look before drawing the machine and placing it close to him.


    With a click sound, a huge cloud of dark golden smoke erupted from the magic projector, as if it were inexhaustible and designed simply to fill the place where it was placed - the great hall- and soon their feet were covered with a foot or so thick golden mist.


    "Meow-ooh..."


    Mrs. Norris scurried out from under Filch''s feet and jumped onto his lap, "Don''t be afraid, Mrs. Norris." Filch said hoarsely, though his light bulb eyes were still alertly fixed on the machine.


    At that moment there was singing in the air as if it were playing straight in their ears, and the smoke rose and gathered into a golden dancer, who looked exactly like the real thing, dancing around the long table, their skirts shedding a fine mist like gold dust.


    The students'' eyes went blank as if they had been blended into a lively party, seeing a succession of performances by the Weird Sisters, a skeleton dance troupe, and a rough dwarf dance, interspersed with the soft singing of a suspected Veela mixed in with a strange, unintelligible language that the crowd could not understand ... S~?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Christmas this year is so worth it." Ron said with admiration. The surrounding students nodded silently in agreement with his words.


    As the dinner ended, the students sparsely pulled back their benches and prepared to leave. Felix shot Valen a glance, who had slipped near Grindelwald while there was some confusion and brought a very nice Christmas hat from him.


    Grindelwald reflexively leaned his body back and touched his chest.


    Dumbledore''s movements paused slightly before he continued to stand up - a moment that Harry caught keenly and an odd feeling arose in his mind. "What is it, Harry?" Hagrid asked, leaning forward to look over from across the two seats.


    "Nothing, nothing sh-" Harry suddenly trailed off, staring at Hagrid, a small piece of onion wedged in his thick beard.


    He remembered that Hagrid had overheard and mentioned to them that Dumbledore seemed to have known Professor Bagshot for a long time; he know Bagshot was a supporter of the dark wizard Grindelwald, and Harry had happened to learn by accident that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had a very close friendship in their youth from the letters from Lily that Sirius had given to him ... There was a vague clue laid out before Harry''s eyes that connected the three men together.


    What is it exactly?


    "The students of the Animagus course please remain," Professor McGonagall said in a loud voice at that moment, "and get tidied up, we are going to the yard."


    ----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 644: A Fulfilling Holiday

    Two dozen students lined up in a long line and made their way to the yard. The temperature outside was freezing and biting, and there was little wind. The students exhaled white air from their mouths and looked up at the bright, clear moon in the sky. "A full moon." Ron muttered.


    Without having to say it, Harry knew he was thinking about Lupin, and he couldn''t help but miss him, who by this time would have taken a wolfsbane potion and hidden in a secluded place.


    Harry knew he didn''t want anyone to see him in his transformed form.


    "... starts with a full moon and ends with the next full moon, if you fail halfway through, you must start again, I don''t want you to play with your health." Professor McGonagall said in a loud voice, and paused for a moment in an imposing fashion, "All of you come forward to receive your mandrake leaf."


    One by one the students stepped forward, then retreated to the side and murmured excitedly. Harry stepped forward as the space in front of him emptied, Professor McGonagall nodded at him and handed him a green leaf, Harry took it and watched as it glowed faintly in the moonlight.


    Harry was just about to walk away when he suddenly felt someone poke him, he looked up and saw Professor Hap holding Valen in his arms, Valen is clutching a sheaf of parchment in her arms, "Notes, and recipes." Felix reminded him.


    Harry took the parchment from Valen and stepped aside, reading the words on it with the bright light of his wand.


    Most of it he already knew, though a few were highlighted separately in red ink, and he read the third section: for the next month their meals would be taken in Classroom Eleven on the ground floor of the castle and a special house elf would prepare the food for them at that time.


    Harry''s heart sank.


    Ernie Macmillan had made a nasty joke about his uncle''s attempt to learn Animagus Transfiguration by sticking a funnel down his throat at each meal to avoid swallowing mandrake leaf from eating and to consume a liquid meal. Ernie described it in graphic detail, which caused a group of people who couldn''t stomach it to surround him, and then he admitted that the story was made up and that his uncle did try to learn Animagus, but it only lasted a week before he gave up.


    "Check when you have it in your hand, the edges of the mandrake leaf will glow whitish when there is a full moon, similar to a fluxweed... Okay, if it''s clear, put it in your mouth." Professor McGonagall barked orders.


    Harry double-checked to make sure it was okay and put the mandrake leaf in his mouth, he felt an extra bitter taste in his mouth after just enjoying his Christmas dinner, and then he saw Draco opposite to him frowning and averting his eyes.


    Sirius had told him the night before about how the Malfoys were faring. The short summary of their situation was that they received a mixed response. Because they had rebelled in the middle of the war, it had saved them from being liquidated, like their fellow Death Eater ''friends'', and they had managed to bring in the remaining Purebloods together and retain some of their influence, but it had also earned them the resentment of some of their former Death Eater allies, like Crabbe and Goyle.


    Sirius also gave the example from a few weeks ago.


    Lucius Malfoy, who had kept a low profile after the war, suddenly came forward for an interview with the Daily Prophet, talking about the dangers and contributions he had made while working undercover - "Some newspapers said that Potter, Weasley, and Granger had asked for help that night in the graveyard with the help of the Ring of the Ouroboros ... ...which is actually not entirely accurate, as I similarly risked my life at the time to inform Mr. Hap, only I was unable to disclose my exploits to the outside world due to the heavy responsibility I was carrying ..."


    "The Ministry of Magic has been calculating merit recently," Sirius explained, "and he''s trying to get an Order of Merlin for the Malfoys, but he''s wasting his time, all he has done was just enough to save him from going to jail ... " he vaguely said, "On the contrary, Snape is likely to get a major award, now that we all know where he got all that information from ..."


    After hearing these words a realization dawned on Harry, and he instantly understood why Professor Slughorn''s former student - Eldred Worple, who wrote Blood Brothers: My Life Amongst the Vampires - had been pestering Snape at the dinner party; he apparently wanted to use Snape''s life experiences to write a book, but Snape coldly refused him.


    ...


    In the dormitory, Harry looked at Ron and Neville with a knowing look on his face.


    "What about me?" He exclaimed in discontent.


    "At least you don''t snore." Ron said in annoyance, and he closed his eyes with a look of generosity, "Come on, I''ve had a hard time making up my mind."


    Harry looked at him and then at Neville, who already looked too nervous to speak.


    "All right."


    The flashes of the Full Body-Bind Curse and the Stunning Spell fizzled off alternately. Ron and Neville fell stiffly to the floor and Harry used the Levitation Charm to move the two men to the bed, covering them with the quilt and getting himself under the warm, cosy quilt too as the cold wind howled outside the window, and it chilled Harry''s heart.


    He hesitated for a long time about whether or not to cast a Stunning Spell on himself, after all, not everyone had the courage to fall asleep in the face of two stiff bodies, and he tossed and turned in bed for a long time before finally pulling a roll of magic tape from under Ron''s bed and sealing his mouth shut.


    The whole time Harry forced himself not to look at Ron''s stiff face in the moonlight. He crawled back into bed and stared at the ceiling as he counted the numbers, and after an unknown amount of time - but it must have been the second half of the night - drowsiness hit him, and he drifted off to sleep.


    He woke with a start and felt the mandrake leaf still on his tongue, only the bitter taste in his mouth grew stronger as if it had seeped into his teeth, but his mood was generally pleasant, and he couldn''t wait to wake Ron and Neville and share his method with them.


    "That''s good, I''ve got a bit of confidence." Ron said with a strained expression, "There''s a problem though, I seem to have a stiff neck ..."


    Over the next few days, Felix didn''t pay much attention to the students.


    He was busy enough on his own - Tom Riddle in classroom seven had graduated two years ago by his count, but he had never been able to master the Patronus Charm, though Riddle had recently gained inspiration from the Peeves Ghost, and he had acquired a flimsy Patronus by quietly gathering the emotions of the students in the school.


    Felix was happy to see this, which meant that Riddle had become even more inseparable from the school.


    Felix also got some data from Snape from when he and Damocles Belby had improved the wolfsbane potion, and in order to familiarize himself sufficiently with werewolves, Snape very generously gave him some werewolf blood and fur.


    "You will find - the view of some researchers who said that ''werewolves are just beasts in human skin'' is not really an overstatement, as their bloodline is completely tainted."


    Felix shrugged, "It may shock you when I say this, compared to me, werewolves are considered normal."


    Of course, Snape didn''t believe him, that much was evident from his false offer to study ''him'', Felix scoffed at this and mentally categorized his former Head as a ''stupid wizard''... ...


    "Better practise your acceptance speech! Lupin said that magical television sets have not been widely promoted as they should be and that most wizarding families still rely on magic radios to listen to the broadcast of the ordination ceremony; they''ll take the unnecessary pauses in your words as stuttering."


    "Just think how undesirable it should be to have the parents of your students question the standard of your teaching because of this issue ..."


    Felix''s good intentions were not reciprocated - instead, he was met with closed doors for several days in succession, the former professor of Potions and current professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts refused to speak to him, always putting on a cold face whenever they met, and when Felix approached the other professors on this matter, only Dumbledore expressed his sympathy.


    "Severus does speak little, and for the sake of Hogwarts'' image-" Professors McGonagall and Grindelwald stared at him expressionlessly as he said this. "-at least persuade him to change his outfit, fix his hair or something."


    Felix didn''t know how Dumbledore managed to do it, but all in all, on the day of the ordination ceremony, although Snape was still in black, he had at last switched from his all-time wizard''s robes to a suit with a high-collared white shirt under it.


    Snape was awarded the Order of Merlin, First Class. "For his second time going undercover in a dangerous situation and bringing a constant stream of intelligence to the advantage of the side of justice." Ms. Bones announced in a loud voice. Shortly after him, it was Harry''s turn, who also received a First Class award for a reason directly related to Voldemort''s downfall, and although no one knew the full details, with both Dumbledore and Felix Hap testifying, no one questioned it.


    Of course, Ron and Hermione did not receive an award, and the one they still held is the Second Class Order of Merlin, which was awarded for their valour.


    "It''s all because the war ended so quickly." Ron muttered in a small voice.


    "Ahh, just shut up for a once!" Hermione said sharply.


    With a mandrake leaf stuck in his mouth, Harry''s sentiments were extraordinarily snappy and his mind was in a trance due to the special diet he had received these days, and as he came down, Ron and Hermione heard someone next to them whisper a question, "The boy doesn''t look too bright in the head, there isn''t any lingering effect of the Cruciatus Curse on him, is there?"


    Those words caused a group of unknown wizards watching the ceremony to blow their noses emotionally. S~?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    That evening, the Ministry of Magic held a grand dinner, and Harry depressingly left early to go back to have his tasteless dinner - small cubes of cheese jelly and vegetable meatballs made with a special process that was said to be nutritious and would make you feel positively full when you swallow it.


    The key point is that the whole eating process is reduced to less than a minute, fully reducing the possibility of all sorts of surprises.


    This leads to a lot of missed fun for the students.


    And because of the drastic lack of entertainment - Harry was surprised to find that he had finished all his homework in less than a week, and had nothing to do for the remaining days until almost the start of the new school term when Professor Hap finally seemed to remember them and assemble them together.


    "How many of you still left in the group?" Felix asked.


    A bunch of arms was raised with a clamour and Harry turned his head to look around and found a surprisingly large number. "Fifteen people, not bad." Felix nodded, "Looks like the previous two weeks of practice did seem worked wonders. I had you all come over here today for a summary, well ... to make the most of the collective wisdom."


    The students - including those who had failed - all stared at Professor Hap.


    Felix raised a parchment in his hand, "Remember the forms you''ve been asked to fill out in dueling class since the second year? Of course, dueling classes are only available in second to fourth years now, which happen to coincide with first-year flying classes and fifth-year O.W.Ls exams, and have been combined with the assessment of spells ..."


    "It keeps track of how fast each person learns the spell, preferences, learning styles, and so on, and now four years later, the accumulated data is stacked up in a wall of cabinets."


    "There''s no doubt that it''s an undiscovered treasure trove."


    Felix said with conviction.


    "You should have experienced group discussions where we used a similar approach, talking out the problems you found difficult and thinking together about solutions."


    The students looked at each other, but on second thought, it did seem like a good approach. After a short while, a student finally came forward and mentioned that he was depressed and had been groggy all day.


    A steady stream of students nodded along behind him, as they also experienced the same symptoms.


    "Yeah, everything that makes you feel happy can''t be done, you can''t eat well, you can''t sleep well, you can''t even speak out loud." A Ravenclaw girl said in a sharp voice, "It''s a nightmare."


    The other students focused their eyes on Felix.


    "Don''t look at me, I told you to discuss it among yourselves." He said with a poker face.


    "How about using potions? Like an Elixir to Induce Euphoria?" Ron came up with the idea.


    "Oh, Nah," Ernie said ruefully, "I asked Professor McGonagall, and she said there is a probability that the potion would contaminate the mandrake leaf."


    The crowd began to diverge in their thoughts, giving progressively more outrageous answers, but Felix had no intention of stopping them, instead leaving Hermione to record them all from the sidelines, and in the end, it was surprisingly Neville who came up with the solution.


    "I - er, I tried a method," Neville whispered, his teeth clenched tightly as he feared he might let the mandrake leaf fall off as he spoke, "using a Daydream spell."


    "Daydream spell? What''s that?" A student asked.


    "Hey! I know-" Ron shouted excitedly.


    "The daydream spell constructs a real dream, and I only thought of it yesterday ... Anyway, I came out of it much better after a good half day of speaking inside." Neville described his experience.


    "Talking to yourself? What did you say?"


    "Uh ... reciting the herbology class textbook out loud." Neville said reluctantly and the crowd roared with laughter, but when Professor Hap encouraged him to try it out on the others, everyone immediately changed their opinion.


    Felix also experienced it first hand.


    When Neville cast the spell, he found himself on top of one of the mountain peaks around Hogwarts castle, with silence and emptiness all around him; from his professional point of view, this dream had quite a lot of flaws, but at least -


    He tried shouting twice and his voice travelled a long way and echoed quite well, which did have a very satisfying emotional venting effect.


    The discussion continued. Harry raised his own questions, wishing for a relatively safe way to speak loudly, considering he is the team captain, he can''t avoid shouting at the top of his voice when he explains a tactic or corrects a player who has made a flight error.


    But to his surprise, he received feedback almost immediately on the dilemma he had in mind.


    "Use the Amplifying Charm -" Hermione, who was taking notes from the sidelines, said.


    "Cover your mouth with a scarf!" Susan Bones said.


    "Use both of the methods together." Ron suggested.


    Harry''s eyes lit up. The other students'' eyes lit up too; this seemed like a better idea, and they were ready to go back and try it.


    Of course, the discussion wasn''t all smooth sailing, as there were so many ways to curb the bitterness of the mandrake, which in turn led to questions about food taste preferences, which led to a heated argument among the students.


    One of them, unfortunately, spat out a mandrake leaf in the process and everyone froze in their tracks, with the whole room falling silent, even the student himself staring at the leaf on the floor as if he couldn''t believe his own stupidity.


    "Ahem - Perkins has just demonstrated the error of his way for us." Felix said not quite comfortably, "It serves as a reminder for us to remain calm for the rest of the session ...


    Personally, I recommend wearing some kind of amulet with a calming effect. Just let it function at a minimal level." He added.


    -------------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 645: Success or failure (2 in 1)

    When the new term started, Dean and Seamus returned, Harry was the happiest of all; he finally didn''t have to face the deathly silence of his dormitory alone and was beginning to look forward to the first night. As it turned out, after dinner that day, Harry was called over to Professor Hap''s office to add emotional nourishment to the Ouroboros serpent in Classroom Seven. After witnessing once again the intimidating and beautiful giant Ouroboros serpent swallowing his stag Patronus, Harry had asked Professor Hap, "Is that ... Riddle okay?"


    He was wondering if Tom Riddle had learned the Patronus Charm, and the thought that it still concerned him made it difficult for Harry to bear the alienation in his mind.


    "That depends on how you define it." Felix said, "He''s on the right path, but if you ask him personally, he probably won''t like it, and he might even lose his temper."


    "Professor, do you really think he can change for the better?"


    At least Harry didn''t believe it, he felt that instead of placing unnecessary expectations on Voldemort, he wanted to say to the Ouroboros Patronus, do a good job, you have a great responsibility.


    "Good and bad are a relatively simple thin line, I just hope he''s not too bad."


    "Will it work? I mean ... to my um ..." Harry stammered, trying not to think about the fact that he is also one of the Horcruxes, it made him feel dirty.


    "It''s not easy to say, Harry, it''s really hard to say." Felix hesitated for a brief moment, "Memories are nothing compared to a real soul, and I''ve been trying to help Riddle grow up, but ... you know we still have two intact Horcruxes in our possession, right?" He changed the question.


    "The locket, and the golden cup." Harry said.


    "That''s right, there are two pieces of Voldemort''s remnant soul hidden in there, and I want Riddle to draw on a small piece of it, or all of it before he merges with the soul of his body." Felix said, "Memories need a carrier to work."


    Harry was shocked by the bold idea, but even without knowing much about Horcruxes, he could still tell how difficult it would be to implement this plan.


    "What if ..."


    "Then I would advise Dumbledore to seal the deal once and for all, and by all means turn Voldemort into an idiot." Felix said coldly, "Unless Dumbledore has other means, or we have to wait a few decades for me to be completely sure of my plan again, ..."


    He looked over at Harry and Harry instantly understood that if what the Professor said happened he would probably have to live with a piece of Voldemort''s soul forever until the day he dies and things will come to an end.


    That much Harry could almost be sure of, because Voldemort had made a living Horcrux - with a big python before, and in the end, that piece of soul had dissipated with the python''s death.


    Harry returned to his dormitory with heavy feet.


    His own death would destroy Voldemort''s hope of survival, he said to himself. But who would want to die if they could live? He still had so many attachments, he hadn''t seen Sirius and Ms. Bones'' wedding yet, they might have children, and Lupin and Tonks, he might be able to become a godfather to some child, and Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna ...


    With that in mind, it didn''t seem that unacceptable to have a piece of Voldemort''s soul hiding in his head, Harry returned to his dormitory and was startled to see Ron and Neville staring straight at him, and he subconsciously glanced over to the other two beds, where Dean and Seamus were already asleep.


    "Hey." Ron and Neville looked at Harry curtly and self-consciously wrapped a magic tape over their mouths.


    Harry raised his wand woodenly.


    The next day, the sixth years received the news that the twelve-week course on Apparition had begun.


    In the common room, almost all the students who met the requirements signed up and huddled in front of the notice to sign their names. In one corner of the common room, Harry, Ron, and Hermione sat together and saw Neville, Dean, and Seamus returning with a laugh.


    "Harry, you have a little piece of transparent tape stuck on the corner of your mouth." Ginny said cheerfully, helping Harry pull it off as Ron subconsciously touched the corner of his mouth. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Aren''t you guys going?" Ginny asked again, looking at the people returning from the notice board, "Oh, I forgot, you guys were able to make it last year. I remember that Ministry of Magic Apparition instructor ... what''s his name again - Rose, Rocky?"


    "Wilkie Twycross." Hermione said.


    "That''s him," Ginny said nonchalantly, leaning her head on Harry''s shoulder, "Didn''t he promise to help you guys to get your certificates ahead of time?"


    "Apparently, someone broke his word." Ron muttered.


    "Oh-" Ginny straightened up and stared at him for a moment, "I seem to remember you mentioning it a few times, but not so much after Easter."


    "That''s a good memory," Ron looked at her indignantly, "If you have such a good memory, you should know that I don''t want to see my sister sticking close to someone else, even if that person is my best friend- "


    "You can find someone else too." Ginny retorted.


    "Who?" Ron asked snappily.


    Ginny tilted her head and Harry and Ron looked in the direction where her chin was pointing at the same time; a girl was looking in their direction. "Lavender?!" Ron exclaimed out of breath, "What does this have to do with her?"


    Ginny gave him a sympathetic look, and then she left with a condescending sideways glance, " Dork." She said in a clear voice and Ron''s face turned red.


    Harry immediately recognized the danger signs - Ron''s ears were red - and he tugged at the figure that passed in front of him, and asked in a rush, "How is it?


    Seamus stumbled back on the arm of the couch with a bewildered look on his face and plopped down next to Harry.


    "Ouch - what? Hey," he looked confused and after a few moments, he said seriously, "I think I can do it now as I have become adept at Side-Along Apparition, my mum let my cousin Fergus take me to practice this summer - back when times weren''t exactly stable and people wanted to be prepared with as many hands as possible. "


    "I know," Harry went along, "just like the illumination magic that was very popular at that time since it could be used to restrain Inferius."


    "That''s true," Seamus said excitedly, "Mum said she burned out during that time to learn those emergency spells, but she only managed to learn Illumination magic, and she couldn''t be able to learn the Bright Fire Making spell by any means - it was too hard for her. " He whispered to Harry, "Fergus gave me some extra instruction - I mean the Apparition, and there were several times when I felt light and fluffy as if I had fallen into cotton, which suggests that I was close to success, doesn''t it? "


    "Maybe you will make it in the first session." Harry said from his own experience.


    "Or maybe there will be a Splinch." Ron said with a grin, and Seamus'' face turned pale when he said it. Ron hastily tried to remedy the situation, "I mean - it''s not really a big deal to get Splinched, there is a professor in the room, so aside from some pain -"


    From the look on Seamus''s face, his words didn''t do much to comfort him.


    Harry shrugged, looked over at Ron and Hermione, and said, "Come on, we should better go and sign up too, in case they don''t allow us to attend the course ..."


    In the first floor corridor, Felix arrived at Professor McGonagall''s office, ready to discuss the issue of the weather in the Animagus ritual, and he intended to make a limited confession about the fact that he could summon ''thunder and lightning storm''.


    The door is vaguely obscured and with a slight push it opened, and he heard a voice inside.


    "I''m sorry Mr. and Mrs. Noel, Hogwarts does not currently accept senior transfer students ... We did have a student exchange program with the Ilvermorny, Uagadou, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but it was put on hold due to the war, and it was a school-to-school partnership and not available for private use ... Yes, that''s what Headmaster Dumbledore meant too."


    Felix pushed the door open and Professor McGonagall was facing him, talking to a middle-aged couple. He was a little taken aback when he had just heard the family name ''Noel'', he had expected a fashionably dressed older woman inside, but it hadn''t turned out to be quite what he had expected.


    "I feel sorry to hear that. Will come again." The man said in a hoarse voice.


    They didn''t bother to dwell on it any longer and got up to leave, and as Felix brushed past them, he saw a set of angular faces with impressive blue-green eyes.


    "Oh, Felix." Professor McGonagall said from the back of her desk, looking relieved.


    "So what''s up with that family?" Felix asked, seemingly casually, as he sat on the couch.


    "They came from the United States and are planning to move to England in order to settle, and they are hoping to enrol their children here for the last six months." Professor McGonagall said, "They have been bugging me for a long time. This family is quite stubborn."


    "Couldn''t even wait half a year?"


    "I thought it was strange too, they said it wasn''t too stable over there ..." Professor McGonagall said, and they spent the rest of the day discussing the weather issue, and when Felix made his intentions clear, she smiled in surprise.


    "I had intended to ask Dumbledore for help with that, no, it wasn''t exactly stormy now ... the next full moon is nearing, and the mandrake leaf after sufficiently absorbing and mixing with both salvia and pure moonlight, must need energy from a thunderstorm, but the weather has been a little cloudy lately." Professor McGonagall said seriously, "If the ritual fails because of the weather, I doubt any of these students will have the patience to do it all over again."


    Despite her grave tone, Felix could sense that she was in high spirits, which might have something to do with the recent succession of articles published by Snape and Professor Burbage; Let''s not mention Burbage, Professor McGonagall, and Snape as the heads of the two rival houses respectively, are usually very competitive.


    Now Professor McGonagall is much more active than she was in the beginning.


    In the blink of an eye, two weeks had passed and the night of the full moon had once again dawned upon the world. The students of the ''Animagus'' course were gathered and headed towards the edge of a solitary forbidden forest. Felix brought some candles from the great hall and left them to hover in the air, the faint flames of which kept leaping, just as the students were feeling at the moment as they trudged deeper and deeper into the darkness.


    Nearly a month has passed and only 11 of the 23 students are left, which is less than half of the original number, but Professor McGonagall is very satisfied, saying that this kind of scenario is the very first she has seen in her teaching career, and the group finally arrived at their destination.


    She turned her back to the forbidden forest and faced the students. Speaking in the ankle-length white cold snow.


    "Come forward in order - Weasley, you''re first. Come on, get your hands off the ground." Professor McGonagall said sternly and Ron did as he was told with a bitter grimace, "You''re missing a corner of your leaf, so you are not qualified."


    "It really won''t work? It''s nearly there." Ron said desperately.


    "No, not unless you''re prepared to have a horn growing out of your chest." Professor McGonagall said regretfully, "Next! Hannah Abbo-" A rosy-cheeked witch with two large braids stumbled out of the crowd and held her piece of mandrake leaf out for inspection.


    "You are qualified." Professor McGonagall said gently.


    Hannah let out a loud whimper, unable to stop the tears, though her hands remained steady. Neville helped her to stand on the side and let the inspection continue.


    "Cormac McLaggen, not qualified."


    "Susan Bones, not qualified."


    "Draco Malfoy, qualified."


    "Ernest Macmillan, not qualified."


    ...


    Soon it was Harry''s turn, he spat the mandrake leaf out of his mouth and carefully wiped the saliva from it with his sleeve, for a moment he unexpectedly felt that something was missing in his mouth, and then he glanced over to see Ron''s face stiffening as he crumpled his mandrake leaf into a ball.


    "Those who have failed will have a second chance. But if you give up, there''s nothing to be gained." Professor McGonagall said as she glared at Ron, "Potter-"


    Harry held his breath and stepped forward, his feet didn''t seem to listen to him, Professor McGonagall didn''t say anything, she moved closer and pushed her square glasses, Harry stared at the jumping candlelight reflecting off her lenses and suddenly forgot how to breathe.


    After what seemed like a lifetime, Professor McGonagall''s voice came from a distance, "Meets the requirements, qualified!" Harry became dizzy for a moment. Hermione who was behind him in line, now turning pale with tension at the moment, and she constantly squeezed her arm, only when she heard from Professor McGonagall that she had passed did she gasp sharply and step aside with a small sob.


    Those students who had failed long ago were sad, and they could empathize with them the most - after all, they had all been through the same thing, but it had to be admitted that those who had not been declared to have failed until now were undoubtedly the worst off. When the inspection was over, only Harry, Hermione, Hannah, Neville, Draco, and the two seventh years met the requirements and were allowed to proceed to the next stage of the course.


    Harry looked up at the full moon; every student who had succeeded here had paid a huge price, especially in terms of mental strain; towards the end of the last few days, Neville had stopped sleeping, his eyes had become scarlet, and Hermione had been sickly all day, no longer answering any questions or wanting to talk.


    Hannah Abbott was on the verge of a breakdown several times and was the most diligent of all in seeking out Neville to experience the daydreaming spell.


    As for himself - Gryffindor''s ''Captain Ghost'' has been making a name for himself lately, and his whispering with the amplification charm has been giving goosebumps to not only the players but also the audience in the bleachers.


    Professor McGonagall started to distribute the little crystal vials and told them to fill them with saliva and put the mandrake leaf in it - Hannah''s hands were shaking so much that she nearly dropped the vial over a few times, and Professor Hap turned a few small square tables out of rocks and twigs on the ground.


    "The rest of you don''t just stand around, all gather here, if you still want to continue learning Animagus Transfiguration, you will use it one day." Professor McGonagall shouted.


    The students came together to observe, those who had been judged disqualified on the spot were too devastated and Harry had no time to comfort a distraught Ron. He followed Professor McGonagall''s instructions as he added a strand of his own hair in turn, together with a teaspoon of dew (provided by Professor Hap) taken from a place where there had been no sunlight or human contact for seven whole days.


    When the seven students had completed the final step - adding the chrysalis of a Death''s-head Hawk Moth into the crystal vial - Professor McGonagall instructed them to screw in the stopper and find a quiet, dark place to hide the vial.


    "That''s the edge of the Forbidden Forest." Felix explained, "Find a place you can remember and bury the vial, I suggest you dig deeper, so the wild creatures don''t turn it up."


    The seven students went further into the forbidden forest, step by step, and Professor McGonagall waited until their backs disappeared from sight before turning to the remaining students and announcing, "Those who still want to try, come forward and collect their new mandrake leaf, the school will supply the leaf twice for free."


    Half an hour later, those who had gone before returned.


    Professor McGonagall breathed a deep sigh of relief, her clenched fist quietly released.


    "As of today, no one is allowed to come here to check it out-"


    "Also, even though you already know this, I''ll repeat it once again: for the next period of time, the few of you should perform the following action every time the sun rises and sets, you must point the tip of your wand towards your heart and speak the following incantation: ''Amato Animo Animato Animagus''. "


    "If all goes well, at some point you will feel a second heartbeat after reciting the incantation, sometimes stronger than the original heartbeat and accompanied by panic, palpitations; sometimes very faint. This is normal, and you must insist on reciting the incantation, without skipping it once, but after that, you must report it to one of us immediately."


    "Did you hear me clearly?"


    Professor McGonagall looked authoritatively at the crowd, "I am not joking." The group of seven in the centre of the sight nodded their heads in quick succession. "Very well," she said, revealing a small smile, "you are very close to success and I don''t want any of you to fail. You may all go back first, I already talked to Filch and told him to leave the door open for you ..."


    "Professor? What about you guys?"


    "Felix and I will set up alarm magic around the perimeter."


    With that done, the two professors returned to the castle, and instead of returning to his office, Felix knocked on the door of the headmaster''s office.


    "Felix?" Dumbledore, in his pyjamas and glasses, asked, as he looked up.


    "Riddle has some suspicions, he is starting to actively contact with the higher level of dark magic." Felix said briefly, "I can''t change his mind - either the plan moves forward, or I need to destroy this personality and start all over again. But that will take more time."


    "I see."


    Dumbledore said slowly, and brought out two Horcrux from the drawer and handed them to Felix. When Dumbledore was alone in his office, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes wearily.


    The portrait of Phineas Nigellus Black hanging on the wall said in a greasy voice, "I don''t know what the rush is, Dumbledore, that brat''s suggestion is actually quite good."


    "I didn''t exactly expect you to notice it, Phineas." Dumbledore replied, and after a moment of hesitation, he said, "But it has to be soon, Harry doesn''t have much time left."


    Standing on his perch Fawkes buried his head in his wings and snored softly.


    ----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 646: Friendship Crisis

    "It''s definitely a cat, your Patronus is a cat." Harry said to Neville with certainty as the students returned to the castle that was cloaked in the darkness, Hermione had a different opinion.


    "There isn''t enough data available to suggest that-"


    "Come on, Hermione, it''s telling enough already in our practice, those of us who have mastered Patronus magic always have a better feel for their Patronus form creatures, and we have stayed sane longer than the others. You can''t deny that."


    Harry looked exuberant, he felt closer to Sirius and his own dad emotionally. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He counted on his fingers, "Think about Sirius, Professor McGonagall, and my father - that''s three examples, and we can check this with Professor Hap, can''t we, Ron?" He looked excitedly at Ron for support.


    Ron returned a squirmy, reluctant smile. Harry immediately calmed down, suddenly realizing that of the four of them, Ron was the only one who hadn''t made it and that he had been one to blabber on most about Animagus with Hermione and Neville. Talking about it now is incredibly improper.


    "Are you okay, Ron?" Hermione asked as she noticed Ron''s abnormality as well, and she said casually, "I''ve heard that everyone gets two chances, so even if this time doesn''t work-"


    "I''m fine." Ron said immediately, there was an implication in his tone that he would like to stop talking about this.


    Everyone was silent for the rest of the journey.


    They parted in the common room, Dean and Seamus already asleep, and Harry changed into his pyjamas before adjusting his alarm clock for tomorrow morning and looked over at Ron''s bed, the crimson curtain lowered on a rare occasion so that he could only see a blurred silhouette. Harry hesitated for a moment, but he refrained himself from speaking.


    He thought optimistically as he lay in bed: Ron had every reason to be upset, and anyone who persevered for a month and then was told they had failed would have a hard time accepting it for a while.


    The next morning Harry was woken by his alarm clock, it was still early in the morning, he got up with a yawn and moved over to Neville''s bed, "Wake up, Neville, wake up!" Neville opened his eyes in a daze and fumbled with his eyes closed to get dressed.


    As he emerged from the dormitory, Harry felt short of something until he saw Neville, who was following behind him, his footsteps weak, and then he remembered that he hadn''t heard Ron snoring today.


    "Come on." Hermione, who was waiting in the common room, said briskly, "I was going to call you guys in another five minutes." She pointed her finger in a direction where Crookshanks was curled up in an empty sofa chair and snoozing.


    They walked down the grand staircase, passed through the entrance hall, and stood on the white stone steps outside the castle. The air was cool at dawn, the morning light glowing faintly, the thin winter mist slithering through the forbidding forest.


    "Good morning."


    A chipper voice said. The three of them were startled, and on closer inspection, they found it was Hannah Abbott.


    "You''re up so early?" Neville asked calmly, fully awake.


    "I''ve been up all night - ha - without a wink of sleep." She said with a huff and struggled to keep her eyes open, her expression somewhat resembling Luna''s. "It felt like it was about time to head out, but it was all dark ... No, I need to finish the spell quickly, so I can get back to catch up on sleep. I have classes during the day."


    She tossed her braids, bathed in the pale golden daylight, and shouted out the incantation.


    "Amato Animo Animato Animagus - Amato Animo Animato Animagus - Amato Animo Animato Animagus. "


    She repeated it three times in a row.


    Although Professor McGonagall had only told them to recite the incantation once in the morning and once in the evening, no one raised an objection, as if Hannah could not have been more correct. Harry also raised his wand and pointed it at his heart, reciting the incantation aloud. He had never found it so pleasant to speak aloud, his voice carried far out like an undulating wave, as if it blended in with the haze in the sky, though he had been unable to appreciate it yesterday because it was too late.


    He paused after reading it three times (Hermione read it five times, and Neville, who was always worried about making a mistake, repeated it a dozen times), and as they walked back, they bumped into Draco Malfoy as he walked out of the entrance hall, Harry gazing at his back and mouthing irrelevant words.


    "You guys, Ron he-"


    Wasn''t his attitude a bit odd? Harry swallowed the words as soon as they were about to be spoken. However, he proved to be quite right; Ron was stern-faced throughout the class on Friday and didn''t say a word after class.


    By the end of the week he had become even more offensive, making snide remarks about Ginny, who was doing her homework with them, ranging from picking on her clothes to cornering her by saying that Ginny had been thinking about falling in love with Harry since she was ten years old - a comment that, in a way, Harry was pleased with.


    "-to the point where you are now kissing in public and have no sense of shame -"


    "You say that again." Ginny screamed, drawing her wand and seemingly ready to cast her favourite Bat-Bogey Hex. "Take it easy, Ginny, and you - you calm down, Ron!" Harry said stiffly, pulling Ginny away before things got completely out of hand and pushing the portrait of the fat lady away as soon as he could.


    "Let''s go outside and get some air." He said to Ginny.


    "If you keep being so violent I won''t ever open the door for you!" The Fat Lady yelled at their backs.


    Harry and Ginny walked around the castle, and they returned to the yard. Ginny still had some lingering anger.


    "He''s just a child who hasn''t grown up," Ginny said, "Inferiority complex mixed with arrogance, it''s a wonder how he manages to live like this."


    "Don''t talk about him like that Ginny, he''s your brother." Harry said.


    "Oh, you sound like my mother, but it won''t solve the problem." Ginny immediately turned her aim to his head, "You shouldn''t accommodate him, he is somewhat famous but it must be admitted that everything he has achieved so far has something to do with you, if you hadn''t met our family that day but Neville and his grandmother, with his virtues-"


    She suddenly froze and Harry felt a chill run down the back of his spine as he slowly turned around.


    It is Ron.


    The flush on his face slowly spread to his neck, then the colour had a tendency to turn saucy.


    "She was just casually saying that Ron -" Harry said in a hurry, as he stepped forward and tried to stop Ron, because Ron seemed to have the urge to rush up and give Ginny a solid smack in her face, or maybe Ron just wanted to rush over and have a face-to-face argument and spit in his own sister''s face, Harry didn''t want to bet on either of those outcomes.


    He found himself effortlessly holding Ron in place.


    "Is that how you also feel?" Ron asked, backing away continuously, mumbling, puffing, and gasping, his face so terribly menacing that Harry could even see the mandrake leaf twitching violently in Ron''s mouth.


    "What? Oh, of course not-" Harry said.


    But even he could sense the perfunctory tone in his words, let alone Ron, so Ron gave him his odd, stiff smile and said, "Hey mate, there''s no need to look out for my emotions, I want to hear the truth."


    "I''m telling the truth." Harry unconsciously raised his voice, he felt a little irritated.


    "Is that so?" Ron looked at him and then at Ginny, "I''ll tell you what the truth is, the truth is my sister and my best friend are talking about me behind my back, happily exchanging thoughts on how they despise me -"


    "I haven''t! I''ve been speaking for you!" Harry couldn''t help but yell at him, "If that''s considered looking down, yeah, you''re right, I do look down on you."


    Ron''s eyes went red and the muscles in his face twitched unnaturally.


    "Ron, why are you acting all crazy all of a sudden?" Ginny called out.


    "You shut up, I haven''t even talked to you yet!" Ron yelled, glaring at her eyes with irritation, "I kind of know - I''m a weasel, a follower and a liability in your eyes, a dispensable character!" He cursed with a rude expression.


    "Volamucus!" Ginny raised her wand, her eyes brimming with tears.


    Ron''s face was immediately covered by a swarm of black, writhing creatures, he screamed in pain and waved his hands away, by the time the small swarm of bats had dispersed, Ron''s nose was swollen to twice its size and his nostrils seemed to be able to fit a golden snitch in each.


    Ron covered his nose and spat hard on the ground, spitting mandrake leaf on the snow, "Are you satisfied now? I''ve failed once again, and you have new evidence to speak of." Ginny looked shocked as Ron pushed Harry away and stormed off towards the hospital wing.


    Harry stared at the bloodied leaf on the ground, bright red and dark green intertwined in a jarring fashion in the white snow. "Ginny, how could you use the Bat-Bogey Hex on-" he said angrily.


    "He asked for it, you didn''t hear how he trolled me this morning." Ginny said irritably, "I''m fed up with him taking the piss out of me, so don''t lecture me."


    "He also has his good points, he still cares about you." Harry argued patiently.


    "That''s if he''s in his right mind."


    Seeing that it was about to turn into another argument, Hermione appeared just in time with obvious confusion and displeasure, and seeing Harry and Ginny, she took three steps over to them and asked in an exasperated voice, "What''s going on? I saw Ron holding his nose, and I was just about to ask a question, and he looked like he had taken a shot - oh my god, whose blood is this, this?"


    "It''s his, he''s sick." Ginny said without a smile.


    "You don''t make a scene." Harry said sullenly and Ginny grunted, tossing her hair behind her and turning to leave in a condescending manner.


    "What a lovely girl," Hermione said, "so what''s going on?"


    "He''s sick." Harry said, opening his mouth and finally speaking a little angrily. Hermione raised an eyebrow, "I just got back from the library, and you expect me to deduce what happened from those few words?" "Well, it''s because ..." Harry said dryly, recounting what had just happened.


    "I never thought he was a liability or a follower or a weasel or anything like that." Harry said in his own defense.


    Hermione sighed with understanding.


    "Ugh, I''ve been worried about that."


    "Worried about - what?"


    "Sensitivity, vulnerability, paranoia ... I don''t know, Harry. But I''ve been worried that it would just explode out of nowhere and just -" she shook her head, sadly, "we''ve even coped with Voldemort."


    Things didn''t get any better over the next week.


    Ron spent most of the time treating Harry and Ginny like they were air, ignoring the two or going completely the other way, every time they appeared he said something coldly to them. Even Hermione, who tried to intervene, suffered. By the end of the week, it was often difficult to find him in person, which resulted in him abandoning most of his daily social circle, but fortunately, they were able to see Ron on one occasion - on the Quidditch training field.


    But the conversation ended unhappily, and Ron armed himself like a hedgehog, thrusting sharp thorns at any hand that reached out to him. Harry pessimistically predicted that perhaps, as Hermione had said, Ron would only return to normal after he managed to accomplish a thing without relying on them.


    "Or perhaps if Voldemort runs out of classroom seven." Harry said spookily.


    ------------


    [Author:]


    One of the storylines in the sixth-year plot of the book is the coming of age of the trio, and the author has devised a short plot point to cover it separately.


    ---


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 647: Important Time Node

    As the month of February approached, the snow began to melt in the school, the air became damp and chilly, and with the first cold rain arrival, Professor McGonagall called the seven most promising students over to remind them that they had entered the rainy season and that there would be a high probability of encountering a thunderstorm. Of course, this was said to the students in order to give them a greater sense of urgency and prevent them from relaxing, privately Felix had assured her that he could bring a storm to Hogwarts at any time.


    Once again at sunset, Harry finished the Animagus incantation, as he did so he felt his heartbeat beat a little faster, but he wasn''t sure if it was an illusion and after a few moments of hesitation he decided to wait two more days and report it back to the Professor when he felt sure.


    He walked back towards the yard and saw two familiar figures, one of which left quickly after he appeared. He quickened his pace and went over there.


    "Luna?"


    "Hi Harry," Luna waved enthusiastically at him, even though Harry was already standing in front of her, "It''s been a while."


    "It hasn''t really been that long," Harry muttered, "Were you just talking to Ron?"


    "Yeah, but we didn''t get to talk much, when he saw you he left, I think he is avoiding you." Luna said.


    "Thanks for telling me that." Harry said. Luna showed her special talent again - telling the unpleasant truth in one sentence, he hadn''t really seen anyone like her, "So ... um, what did you guys talking about?"


    Harry tried to steer the conversation in the right direction, not leaving Luna on her own devices anymore.


    "He told me to bugger off -"


    "Not that - I''m sorry Luna, I apologize on his behalf, Ron hasn''t been in the best possible mood lately and has been acting like a complete arsehole ... It''s partly because of me."


    "It''s okay," Luna said calmly, "Ginny told me a little bit about how she shouldn''t have been so impulsive, even though she spent more time justifying that she was right and that it was Ron who deserved it ... She also mentioned Hermione and Neville. So my friends have been fighting behind my back?"


    Harry felt squirmy inside, hearing Luna sound like this is a wholesome group activity, and they hadn''t even bothered to include her.


    "No, Luna, I was wondering if he mentioned anything in particular? Like -"


    "His birthday." Luna said in a bit of a trance, "He said he had messed everything up and told me to leave him alone, looking quite remorseful, but it''s not unusual, is it? Well, it was a rite of passage ... I remember your birthday being at the end of July?" Her last sentence stopped being so dazed.


    "That''s right," Harry said distractedly, that wasn''t what he wanted to know. "Thank you, Luna, but I am actually wondering where he''s been hiding all this time - wait, a rite of passage?" His mind spun quickly; he knew Ron''s birthday is on the first of March, and he had long since prepared a present, he just hadn''t made much of a connection between this and coming of age.


    Something suddenly dawned on him: among the three of them, he, Ron, and Hermione, Hermione was the first to come of age, then Ron, and finally he himself - the 31st of July, just under six months from now.


    Not much time left. He thought longingly.


    Perhaps Ron had tried to perform the Animagus Transformation as his coming-of-age inauguration, and that was why he had reacted so badly when it had failed? Harry subconsciously made excuses for Ron. At that moment Luna started to answer Harry''s second question.


    "... I went to ask Felix about my two presents that seemed to fit together and couldn''t be separated, the Rune Goblet of Fire and the Goblet of Fire model that Ginny gave me, he said it would be alright, although somewhat surprising ... Ron was there at that time."


    "You said you met Ron in Professor Hap''s office?" Harry caught the key point sharply, "What was he doing there?"


    "... Stuffing his mouth full, with chocolate cake, I almost didn''t recognize him," Luna finished her sentence as if she hadn''t heard him, "that''s all I''ve seen him do. But maybe he was there all the time."


    Harry went back with even more doubts in his stomach than before.


    He really hadn''t expected Ron to be at Professor Hap''s office, because as far as he was aware, the Professor didn''t seem to have had any contact with Ron individually, even in detention, he was there with Ron, and what was the whole chocolate cake thing?


    On the other side, Ron had walked a long distance away, and he made a lengthy detour, turned to the front of the castle, climbed the grand staircase, and knocked furtively on the ancient rune professor''s office.


    It was Valen who opened the door.


    "Is the professor still in classroom seven?" Ron asked in a whisper.


    Valen nodded woodenly, knowing from past experience that her snack is in danger again, and Ron dashed in impatiently. Inside, there was a cartoon playing.


    On the table lay a selection of fruit slices and the homework Professor Hap had left for Valen.


    Except for the first time when Felix was there, it had been Valen who had hosted Ron the remaining times, and as for the reason - Valen wanted someone to do her homework together with her, and the person who had filled that role most of the time in the past had been Hermione, although she hadn''t turned up much recently, seemingly busy working on how to turn into an animal.


    Valen was taken aback by that whole notion. She had also double-checked with Ron and confirmed that Animagus would only allow a wizard to turn into a normal creature, not even a magical creature.


    Is there any need to learn that?


    Valen thought about the range of forms she had seen the Great Demon King take - the Thestral with bat wings, the Occamy that could turn big and small, the Demiguise that could become invisible, the Golden Snidget that would suddenly disappear and appear, the Thunderbird that could control lightning, the White Ferret that could split itself in two ...


    Because the list is too long, it made Valen, who had fallen into a memory, look like she had drifted into a daze.


    Ron opened his book bag and took out his textbook and parchment, he is paying the price for his actions, now he will have to write his own homework without a single reference, but he does want to prove that he can do it without relying on anyone.


    Although this has basically ended up with him and Valen watching cartoons and eating snacks together on a few occasions. But at least Valen''s homework didn''t require much brain power; it could be written while watching, whereas he couldn''t, which made Ron even more frustrated inside.


    Could he really can''t accomplish anything?


    He spread out his parchment with a grimace and began to write a letter, one of the few people he could still talk to at the moment - not counting Lavender, who seemed to have a soft spot for him and had a surprisingly strong presence these days, and she is also one of the people he needs to avoid.


    Valen moved her eyes away from the screen and looked down to examine her homework, it looked okay, it didn''t contain anything from the cartoon... She looked at Ron again and moved over to take a glance. Ron raised his head warily and covered the parchment.


    "Kee?"


    "What did you say?"


    Valen sighed, the popularization of the Niffler language has a long way to go, and only three people at this point can speak to her directly. Valen took out her exclusive wand and wrote in the air - she could write fast and neatly now: who is ''Dear Collins''?


    Ron drew in a cold breath.


    "Her name is Collins, not ''Dear Collins'' -" he struggled to explain the composition to a Niffler, "it''s a letter writing term, something similar to ''hello'' ..."


    The little wooden wand continued to dance and a few new words appeared in the air.


    ''Dear Lavender?''


    Ron shook his head repeatedly, "No, you can''t use it like that."


    Valen squinted her eyes as if she is looking at a liar.


    ...


    When Felix walked out of classroom seven, Ron was staring at the screen with a glowing gaze as the Tom and Jerry episode reached a crucial moment. His mouth was stuffed with strawberry sandwich biscuits. "Profes-Professor?" Ron said sheepishly.


    "Well," Felix said, "you are here again, so the relationship is still stiff?" Ron mumbled something. "Never mind, stay as long as you like, I''ll just say to the rest that you''ve been detained by me, just don''t make a fuss about it."


    He suddenly thought of something, "By the way, your birthday is on the first of March right?"


    "Yes, Professor." Ron said as he swallowed hard the snack in his mouth, "A month before Fred and George."


    Felix sat behind his desk, his right hand resting on his chin as his thoughts raced. Time is passing so quickly, and this batch of sixth years are starting to grow up one by one, the latest ... latest would be Harry and a few others, nearly a year after Hermione, tch, I wonder if there is a direct correlation between their grades and their birthdays.


    Felix''s movements suddenly stalled.


    Coming of age ...?


    If he remembered correctly, the protective magic using bloodline that Dumbledore placed on Harry would automatically be cancelled when he reached adulthood, right? Felix stared at Ron thoughtfully, making him uncomfortable for a moment.


    "Professor?"


    "Shh, don''t make a sound." Felix said softly, his whole being lost in thought.


    There are two layers of protection on Harry.


    One layer came from Dumbledore, tied by blood kinship and would automatically expire when he reached adulthood; one layer came from Harry''s mother, Lily Potter, solely targeting Voldemort''s killing curse, although the effect should remain permanent; there is a limit to every spell, just how much more could Lily''s protective magic be effective after resisting and bouncing off Voldemort''s killing curse?


    Previously he and Dumbledore had similar concerns. But that was more because Voldemort''s power was strengthening, indirectly causing the connection between him and Harry to deepen, and now with Voldemort''s consciousness falling asleep, the impact had become minimal.


    However, this precisely shows that there will be an impact. And in almost another six months, Harry''s own soul defences would plummet.


    Felix couldn''t quite tell, for a moment, just how many variables Harry''s coming of age would add to the soul fragments in his head. But he did feel a long-lost tension as if ... time might not be as plentiful as he had thought. Thinking for a moment, he tore off a piece of parchment, and dipped his quill in ink, glancing at the calendar to find the closest weekend -


    ''February 8, in front of classroom seven; keep it confidential, and we will try to solve the problem at eight o''clock in the morning.''


    Felix folded the note and handed it to Ron.


    "Pass it on to Harry for me."


    Ron''s outstretched hand suspended in mid-air as he stammered, "Professor, could you ask Hermione to pass it on, I, I''m now-"


    "That''s fine." Felix didn''t insist.


    "Professor, what''s the note about?" Ron asked, with a gulp, suspecting that the professor is attempting to secretly give Harry a little lesson again, just like that Professor Bagshot does.


    "Well," Felix looked at Ron with a measuring gaze, "it''s not really a big deal if I tell you, you should already know - you know what''s being locked deep in classroom seven, don''t you?"


    "... the You-Know-Who."


    "Well, it''s time for Harry to face him."


    Splat.


    The cauldron cake in Ron''s hand fell to the floor. S?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ---------------


    #Lancer, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 648: Riddles Disappearance

    Ron entered the common room from outside, he glanced in the familiar direction, where Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were all present. He walked over to Hermione, who was fiddling with her Book of Runes, a long string of ancient runes wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet cord. The string of ancient runes has no real effect, Hermione simply pieced them together for fun.


    She glanced over to the table every now and then, watching the other three play wizard cards, a little wizard figure sitting feebly in the air in front of Harry, the two wizard figures from Harry''s two opponent cards watching intently as if they might pounce at any moment.


    Ron stood at the side and Ginny saw him, but she ignored him and urged Harry to hurry up with his cards instead.


    Harry was still reminded by Hermione, and he looked back in surprise and said, "Ron?" He sounded fake when he said, "Come on help me see how to lose this card, I mean ... how to play it."


    "Don''t even think about cheating." Ginny said fiercely.


    Ron hesitated for a moment and pulled a note out of his pocket and placed it on the table. "Professor Hap told me to give it to you, you better look at ... it seriously, I already inquired about it for you, it shouldn''t be dangerous."


    "What are you talking about stupid? How could Harry be in danger?" Ginny glared at him in discontent.


    Harry took the note and glanced at it, and he flinched slightly. "So for what purpose the Professor is looking for you, Harry?" Hermione asked, not feeling quite comfortable with Ron''s attitude.


    "Nothing, it''s about the Patronus." Harry gave her a ''later'' look, he didn''t want Ginny to know about it. He stuffed the note into his pocket, "Well - thank you, Ron, how about -"


    "Nah," Ron said vaguely, "I''m a bit tired." He trundled off towards his dormitory and for quite a few seconds the sound of Ginny''s urging came from behind him once more, Harry answered and began to play his cards, followed by a grunt of defeat from the little figure that represented him, as it was slain by Ginny and Neville''s combined efforts.


    The next day, Felix and Dumbledore arrived early in Classroom Seven and the two joined hands to complete the preparations.


    Not far below the Ouroboros, there was an area shrouded in magic that looked like a glowing cage, and this was the result of their work.


    "It''s about time, I''ll go out and have a look." Felix said, and sure enough, he found Harry looking around outside the door, apparently expecting the Professor and Headmaster to only appear on either side of the corridor, completely oblivious to the closed door behind him, and Harry was quite surprised when Felix poked his head from inside and called out to him.


    "It''s for your protection." Felix said, pointing to the birdcage-like magical building in which Harry stood uncomfortably, looking up at an arc of magic hanging down from above his head and feeling like he is getting the same treatment as Hedwig.


    Felix and Dumbledore exchanged a glance and began to cast spells.


    The huge Ouroboros serpent moved slowly, its mouth opened wide and Voldemort floated out, his appearance hadn''t changed much, he still had the same angry half-dead look.


    Two bright lights shot from Felix''s eyes, and Voldemort snapped open his scarlet eyes and shouted in a voice that filled with hatred, "Felix Happ-" At the same time, deep in his memory, Riddle felt the world he had lived in for thirty years starting to crumble.


    "Professor Riddle!" A student shouted in alarm.


    "Silence." Riddle said with feigned composure, even though he was horrified to the point of his mind slowing down by half a beat. He looked up and saw the clear blue sky from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom on the fourth floor - Hogwarts Castle split down from the middle.


    The next second, even the sky was split in two, and an oozing scarlet glow poured in through the crack, and Riddle saw an ugly, hideous snake face, from whose eyes the red light was coming. With it, he heard an unmistakable voice that seethed with wrath, "Felix Happ!"


    Who is that? Riddle froze for a moment. Then a sea of information poured in, and he knew everything almost instantly.


    Is he ... just a memory? Riddle thought that was ridiculous. S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry was so nervous he almost lost his breath, his fists clenched, and he didn''t know what to do. In his eyes, Professor Hap simply looked at Voldemort for a second, and then Voldemort awoke from his slumber, bursting with powerful evil magic even as he remained bound by the Ouroboros Patronus.


    The surroundings became corrupted and toxic, and it felt like the dead of night where he could not even see his own fingers.


    He remembered that Professor Hap had once said that Voldemort probably wouldn''t be happy if he knew, and now Harry thought that was an understatement; Voldemort is simply beyond furious. Probably he had never suffered such humiliation in his life.


    The cage around Harry was the first to light up, followed by the Ouroboros Patronus, and the figures of Felix and Dumbledore loomed in the darkness. Felix spread one hand out and the two Horcruxes hovered in midair, which Voldemort sensed immediately, and he jerked his head up, staring dead at the locket and the golden cup.


    "Dumbledore? No, you''re Felix Hap." From his mouth came a young voice, tinged with disbelief, but in a flash, it was overlaid by a gloomy, husky, frantic voice.


    "Hap, Dumbledore, don''t you dare! I will never do as you wish!"


    While Voldemort is still restricted, he is not powerless, and for an Archmage like him, if given time, no restriction is flawless and there is always a way to break and work around the restrictions. Especially since he had also been exposed to part of Riddle''s research on Patronus, which is a godsend for escape, and for that reason he had even given up on simply obliterating the memory that in his opinion seemed completely false.


    "Riddle, now it is your only chance."


    As he finished, Felix sent a thought out: to seize the power of the Horcrux and take over Voldemort with the help of himself and Dumbledore by fusing in the reverse order. And the Patronus knowledge that Riddle had studied ''for years'' had been used as bait for Voldemort, so that he would not immediately kill him.


    Felix''s hand made a ''click-click-click'' sound as he squeezed the golden goblet, he used a purely physical force that would not harm the soul fragment within, even if Horcrux crushed to powder, but what he did certainly awakened the dormant soul fragment inside.


    Rolling black smoke emerged from the gap between his fingertips and coalesced into a young, handsome, sinister face. It hesitated, with the slightest hint of instinctive awareness, as it sensed its own body giving it instructions to return to its body.


    Voldemort''s throat uttered a "ho ho" howl of pain.


    Because Voldemort had consciously assimilated the knowledge of the Patronus carried by his newborn personality, and because they were originally one, Voldemort''s deepest secrets were revealed to Riddle, where he saw the unbridled killing, brutal and bloody experiments, and a twisted and perverted desire for torture and domination.


    Riddle was appalled by the evil past of his ''other self'', is this the normal development of himself under the original trajectory?


    In a way, Felix''s plan had worked.


    Under his influence (or threat), Riddle never left the school for an extended period of time, spending most of his time teaching students and dealing with the Ministry of Magic Aurors, apart from the occasional conception of what he considered to be his ''evil plan of domination''. Whatever his innermost beliefs be, he had never put those cruel thoughts into practice, and at the moment he felt like walking through a haunted place, as an uncontrollable emotion arose from within him.


    A wave of black gas gushed out of Hufflepuff''s golden cup and flew towards Voldemort.


    "No - I don''t regret it - never -"


    Dumbledore raised the Elder Wand and recited a complex incantation, and Felix helped the frail Riddle with his memory magic, and with the combined efforts of the two, Voldemort''s will was briefly overpowered and Riddle gained the upper hand for the moment, but he felt no joy.


    "Dumbledore, is this all a lie?" He questioned Felix harshly.


    Felix didn''t say a word.


    "What do I mean to you, a tool to be used at your disposal?" He shouted again, his voice becoming a little clearer, apparently gaining some of his power from the soul fragment of the Horcrux, and the locket Horcrux gushed out a large amount of black gas as it was influenced by him.


    Without any warning, Harry fell to the ground, spasming.


    The scar on his forehead ached sharply, as if some being in his own body had sprung into life and begun to stretch, his brain churning into a tangle, the sensation was so painful that Harry pounded his skull as hard as he could, as he felt the being trying to lift his skull, and rolling black smoke poured out of his forehead through the scar, mouth, and nose.


    At that moment, the birdcage-like room he is staying in sheltered him, and a black jeweled ring gleamed brightly in the middle of the magic intersection.


    "Tell me, Dumbledore!" Riddle''s questioning still echoed through the room.


    "If you must know-" Felix''s voice sounded through the black mist, "you are the most special student I have ever taught, and the warrior I have personally raised and thrust into battle. "


    The black fog tumbled like an ocean wave.


    Harry could no longer hear their conversation at all, and the soul in the locket made its way to Voldemort first, but at that very moment, Voldemort, who had been repressed, chose to throw his life away in the midst of desperation.


    He obliterated the two pieces of his soul with his own hands.


    The black mist that poured from Harry''s forehead returned back to Harry''s body in the blink of an eye, "Kill him if you can, kill the boy!" Voldemort''s snake-like face twisted and hissed, "He''s the last one, the last one! Dumbledore, Hap, you need to be ruthless, like me!"


    Voldemort''s counterattack came as quickly and viciously at once, and it caught them off guard.


    "Albus-" Felix said, as he unfolded his thinking room, a spell that would be completely useless against Voldemort''s soul, but would work on memories, while on the other side Dumbledore manipulated the Ouroboros to swallow Voldemort.


    Voldemort roared madly in the Ouroboros, struggling desperately, but his voice grew lower and lower, gradually becoming inaudible.


    Felix''s eyes closed as a mass of trailing silver stars appeared in front of him and converged in one direction, and half a moment later he reached out to gather them up. When he opened his eyes, he saw that Dumbledore is watching Harry''s condition carefully.


    "Is he still alive?" Dumbledore asked softly as he examined Harry. He was referring to Riddle.


    Felix shook his head.


    "Sometimes, we just don''t have a choice." Dumbledore said.


    Felix smiled, "No need to comfort me, I know what I''m doing, and I''m prepared to accept all the consequences ... How is Harry doing?"


    "It''s good to be young, never have to worry about lack of courage." Dumbledore said with emotion. Then he said solemnly, "Not that fine, the soul fragment is still there, Voldemort is too decisive, even if he hesitated for a little while longer, we could have succeeded. The problem now is that the piece of soul is still active and must be dealt with as soon as possible ... We need to go to the hospital wing first."


    The old man gazed deeply at Harry.


    Wisps of darkness still seeped from Harry''s forehead and the lightning bolt scar appeared as crimson as blood.


    It was as if Dumbledore had been brought back over a decade ago, the scene before him overlapping with the memory of Hagrid handing him the swaddled baby.


    ---------------


    #Lancer, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 649: Dumbledores decision

    A rush of dizziness ... The room twisted and distorted and Harry seemed to catch a glimpse of Voldemort smiling at him, it was definitely a hallucination and the next thing he saw was the chandelier on the ceiling of the hospital wing and the white walls of the ward.


    "Harry." Ginny lunged up excitedly but was pulled back by Ron, "Don''t touch him."


    "Oh yea," Ginny said, "let''s quickly inform Madam Pomfrey-"


    Madam Pomfrey appeared, she first gave Harry a series of complicated check-ups and although no problems were found in the end, she strongly advised Harry to stay in for a while longer, "You are in a very special condition, be careful of the after-effects." She warned.


    Harry subconsciously touched his forehead, the scar throbbed hotly, but it felt like the skin was scrubbed off.


    "Lie back on the bed." Madam Pomfrey ordered, as she leaned in, then took out a kind of sticky ointment and applied a thick layer on the side of Harry''s head, despite his grimacing face.


    She said firmly to the others, "You only have ten minutes of visiting time. The boy needs to rest now." S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    When she was out, Harry looked around, Ginny clutching his hand, Hermione smiling at him with a book (held upside down judging by the cover) in her hand, and Ron looking at him with a panicked, evasive gaze.


    Harry instantly thought of the freckled red-headed boy on the train six years ago.


    "So you guys made up?" He spoke grumpily, referring to Ginny and Ron.


    "Yeah." Ron looked a little flustered, he really wished for this question to be brought up later. He glanced at Ginny and then looked at Hermione pleadingly, as if hoping that someone would bail him out, but that hope fell flat.


    So he could only stammer and say.


    "Er, I - you know - Ginny and I - we made up a long time ago - -just in the two weeks that you were sick in hospital-"


    Harry looked over at Ginny, who spoke in a calm tone that seemed rather scary to him. "I seriously considered it, and it''s not like I could actually kill Ron, so ..." she shrugged her shoulders.


    Harry thought about it in his head for a while, deciding not to respond to Ginny''s words, and he pondered for a moment before saying.


    "I am in the hospital for two weeks?"


    He looked at Ron a little sceptically and then turned his head to Ginny and Hermione, trying to verify whether it was a joke, but from the looks on their faces, it was clear that what Ron said was true. He really had been in a coma in a hospital bed for two weeks.


    "It was frightening when you were first brought in," Hermione said afterward, "the scar on your forehead kept dripping blood like it was a fresh wound, Ginny was crying as she wiped the blood from your face, and Ron was just standing there like a troll, without moving a muscle."


    Harry looked at Ginny and Ron and a warmth flowed through his heart.


    "Everyone was actually worried about you," Ginny blushed a little as she whispered, "Headmaster Dumbledore and Professor Hap had been in the ward the whole day, prohibiting anyone from coming in, not even Madam Pomfrey was allowed, we all freaked out and thought you... ." she gave Harry a careful look, "Hermione was so nervous she scratched her face."


    Harry gradually mapped out what had happened.


    Two weeks ago, Dumbledore and Professor Hap had called him to classroom seven to try and resolve the fragment of soul in his body that belonged to Voldemort, it was the first time in half a year that Voldemort''s original consciousness had been awakened, and the newborn Riddle''s personality was no match at all, but with Professor Hap''s help, Riddle had successfully drawn the soul from the golden cup and the locket, and he had tried to absorb the fragments in his own body in an attempt to take over the real Voldemort and replace him.


    Harry also saw the madness of Voldemort, who would rather destroy his two Horcruxes with his own hands than compromise.


    After that ... Harry''s expression was bewildered, he felt a sharp pain as the remnant soul of Voldemort seemed determined to open a door or a big hole in his head, and a seething scream came out of his mouth, but Harry wasn''t sure if that was his will or the remnant soul of Voldemort''s will.


    "Professor Hap told us," Ron said, "that he and Dumbledore worked together to cast a complex spell that dealt with soul, which none of us understood ... but we know it was to protect you from Voldemort''s soul fragment --"


    "Ron!" Harry couldn''t help but call out.


    "It''s okay," Ron seemed to guess what he was thinking, "Ginny already knows about it too. There''s no way to hide it any longer with such a big incident, Dumbledore told her personally ..."


    He glanced at a somewhat overwhelmed Harry out of the corner of his eye and continued.


    "They said that the soul fragment had awakened in your body and what they did was to bring it back to sleep, and it does seem to be working now, at least your scar is no longer bleeding, as it is gradually healing ..." he chattered as if he thought he could muddle through it.


    Harry''s mind was a little bewildered.


    So, the plan had indeed failed? His Horcrux identity hadn''t changed, and to make matters worse, the last two Horcruxes had been destroyed, and he became the only one, the last one ... His throat suddenly clogged up, he couldn''t breathe, and a dark thought came to him: if he died now, it would all be over.


    "Oh, right." Hermione gestured towards Ron and pointed to her finger. It dawned on Ron, "Dumbledore told us to instruct you to never take the ring off your finger; I guess there''s a particularly powerful protection spell hidden inside."


    Harry lowered his head and stared at his left hand, where a rough black gemstone ring was worn that he had surprisingly not noticed before.


    It is the Resurrection Stone. Harry''s eyes widened as Dumbledore had shown it to him before.


    A series of thoughts flashed through his mind, finally settling on the most logical one; the Resurrection Stone had something to do with the soul, and Dumbledore would have worn it on his hand because he thought it would protect him at the moment. But what he craved more is another function of the Resurrection Stone, a function much similar to but more stronger than that of the Mirror of Erised ...


    His heart thumped.


    "Time''s up, you lot better hurry up and head out!" Madam Pomfrey shouted at them from the doorway and Hermione, Ginny and Ron stood up, Ginny kissed Harry on the corner of his mouth and told him everything would be fine (Ron turned his head sensitively), and then they said goodbye to Harry and headed for the door.


    Ron dawdled and stayed at the end, and Harry realized that Ginny and Hermione deliberately walked out first. When the others had disappeared, Ron turned his head to look at Harry with a hesitant expression.


    "I think I owe you an apology, Harry, I know I''ve been-"


    "Forget about it." Harry said promptly.


    "No, I''m going to say it!" Ron exclaimed and Harry looked at him, only to stutter himself instead.


    After a moment, Ron said slowly, "There''s some problem in my personality that sometimes makes me have certain thoughts ... just occasionally, but when I''m in a particularly bad mood ... I just, just can''t help myself, and Do you understand that feeling?"


    "I do," Harry said calmly as he lay back on the bed, "Sirius has said that I have a stubborn temper and a tendency of making decisions alone, the kind that can''t be pulled back ... but that''s just how I am, and it''s hard to fix it. Even to the extent that I wouldn''t most likely realize when it actually happened."


    He said to Ron, "I''ll tell you a secret - I''ve felt the throbbing sensation when reciting Animagus incantation."


    "You''re joking right?!" Ron exclaimed in surprise.


    "It''s true, I did feel it, but at that time I wasn''t sure if it was a misjudgement, so I planned to wait until it was foolproof, and as you know, I slept in a hospital bed for two weeks ... If I had reported it in time, Professor Hap might have postponed the plan. "


    Ron was speechless, he opened his mouth to comfort Harry, but Harry didn''t feel much regret in his heart, he just happened to think of it and used the incident as an excuse. Harry whispered.


    "I just know that when I''m in danger, you''ll be the first one to step up for me."


    Ron smiled silently at him, his expression relaxed, "That''s what I thought. Er, I mean if I ever ran into danger - like being captured by Voldemort, ahem, if the war wasn''t over - I wouldn''t despair, because I know that even if everyone else gave up, you definitely wouldn''t. This truth struck me while I was watching cartoons with Valen. It''s strange, isn''t it?"


    The door closed, the sound of footsteps faded and the ward fell completely silent.


    Harry lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, his heart content and calm after a full meal, the resurrection stone ring he wore on his hand was not that attractive anymore, he felt that what he needed most now is a good night of sleep, and he gradually dozed off.


    He woke up and opened his eyes in a better state than ever before. The light of day outside reminded him that it is dusk, and the ward is unlit, the afternoon slanting sunlight shining at his feet, with most of his body hidden in the shadows.


    It was silent all around. Harry lifted his left hand lazily and stared at the black jewelled ring for a long moment before he pulled his other hand from the covers and rubbed it against the surface of the Resurrection Stone in the same manner as Dumbledore.


    "That is not a good idea." A gentle voice abruptly said.


    Harry tilted his head to the other side where Dumbledore sat on an adjoining hospital bed, smiling at himself. He had sunk most of his body into the bed, the inner part of his knees pressed against the edge, his body leaning back, his two long arms supporting the bed.


    It was as if he was swinging.


    "I''ve blocked some of the functions of the Resurrection Stone," Dumbledore said straightening up so that he could look straight at Harry, "You''re not fit to experience great joy or sorrow right now, and I have to say that some of the functions of the Resurrection Stone are too dangerous, to the point of being the most dangerous of the three Deathly Hallows. "


    Harry briefly remained silent and obediently put his hand down, but inwardly he felt disappointed - he had expected to see his parents today. He didn''t ask if Dumbledore had been affected, the answer is obvious. So he asked, "Do I have to wear it all the time?"


    "Oh, that''s not necessary, I''ll take it back when your condition stabilizes." Dumbledore smiled and said, "Would you like one?" He pulled two toffees out of his pocket.


    "Thanks." Harry whispered as he took it and ripped open the candy wrapper, popping the coffee-coloured hard candy in his mouth, the rich sweetness washing through his mouth. They didn''t speak for a while, and Dumbledore hummed a soft little tune.


    "You know what, Harry?" After a moment he said abruptly, "Poppy informed me the first time you woke up, but I assumed at the time that you wouldn''t be in the best of mood, you know, we didn''t get the desired result ..." He looked at Harry with slight curiosity.


    "I," Harry trailed off, "Voldemort didn''t run away, did he?"


    "No," Dumbledore said, "he was resealed." Harry let out a low grunt in response. "Which means -" Dumbledore raised his tone slightly, "it''s time to try my method."


    "What method?"


    "You''ll see." Dumbledore said with a small smile, handing Harry another piece of candy. "Drooble''s Best Blowing Gum?" Harry asked casually. Dumbledore winked at him, "It''s also a password to the Headmaster''s office."


    Harry looked at the older man in confusion.


    "I intend to give you a private class Harry, and yes, it is part of my method," Dumbledore said as he stood up, "How about we begin at eight o''clock on the first Saturday night after you are discharged? I''ve done quite a bit of preparation and I hope you''ll enjoy it."


    He was about to leave but then he paused again.


    "Forgive me for taking the liberty and telling Miss Weasley your secret, perhaps it goes against your intentions, but she cried so much that it might actually become detrimental to a relationship if you continue to keep it hidden ..."


    Dumbledore pushed the door open and walked out.


    Harry stared at the Drooble''s Best Blowing Gum in his hand, wondering if it signified a new ray of hope, but regardless, he did become interested in Dumbledore''s lesson.


    It wasn''t long before a bunch of bluebell-coloured bubbles floated up through the ward.


    ---------------


    #Lancer, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 650: Rare Gem

    On the last weekend of February, in the Ancient Rune office, the owl delivered that day''s Daily Prophet. Felix spread out the newspaper and read the foreign news headlines on page six, ''Squib group storms Woolworth Building after Magical Congress of the United States of America announced a temporary hold on the introduction of exclusive wands''. He read it carefully and realized that the journalist didn''t even know as much as he did.


    The living conditions of wizards in the magical world of the United States are very different from those of Europe and Africa.


    The British Ministry of Magic, for example, would prefer to maintain a one-line contact with the Muggle Prime Minister on vital events, and other European countries'' Ministries of Magic had followed this lead; Africa is another story: because of the prevalence of the local mystical culture and the slow distribution of information, many of the wizards there actually cloaked themselves as ''witch doctors'', ''ritualists '', ''soothsayers'' and ''diviners'' - there are also some who operate semi-publicly like that in Britain, but they would never dare to be so rampant.


    The consequences of publicly casting spells would simply mean that they would become a second Carlotta Pinkstone. So Felix and Ms. Bones have decided that if the wizarding community is really compelled to go public, it is far more likely that something will go wrong in the United States and Africa than in Europe.


    Ms. Bones has therefore instructed the British representative in the International Confederation of Wizards to submit an early warning notice proposal.


    Felix has also come under a lot of criticism during this time because ''the invention of the exclusive wand would aggravate the already crippling secrecy'', and it is no surprise that the Magical Congress of the United States of America, the most unstable magical community in the world, would be the first to issue such a policy.


    At least it is sufficient for him that more countries'' ministries of magic have chosen to accommodate exclusive wands with caution.


    The chaos in the Magical Congress of the United States of America had actually been foreshadowed.


    Like recently, Minerva had hosted a number of American wizarding parents who wanted to enrol their children in Hogwarts, and who were themselves ready to relocate to the UK in the near future.


    "The Noels are just the most perceptive and probably the least courageous."


    According to what Felix had learned from the information he had been given, it was not uncommon for such things to happen; a number of British wizards had taken refuge abroad during the First Wizarding War, and smuggling had been rampant during that time.


    Because it is much easier for a wizard to get from one end of the earth to the other than a muggle.


    As far as Felix was concerned, many wizards didn''t really have much of a sense of distance, and all the time needed to move abroad - from England to France and to America is nearly the same - the only thing they needed is a Portkey, and a reminder of the difference between the galleons they would have to pay.


    Only at the end of the war did many of those wizarding families return to England, but some also decided to stay abroad.


    Now the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the Revolutionary Society, as well as other circles from all walks of life, have been discussing the matter with great fanfare, even to the point of making a fuss at the International Confederation of Wizards, causing a headache for the new President of the Confederation.


    Felix didn''t expect that he would become the source of such disturbances.


    Valen was lying in front of the special Pensieve, curiously observing the silvery substance inside, and with the wand in her hand, she glanced vigilantly at Felix, who did not respond much, so she stirred the substance inside with the tip of her wand.


    A young voice, with a little echo, sounded.


    "I''m not looking down on Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore. I just consider ... his act of raising an Acromantula in the castle to be too dangerous. I am a Prefect."


    With some surprise, Valen hastily pulled her exclusive wand back, the silvery substance in the Pensieve swirled slightly and from it, a voice of another person sounded, Valen''s small dark eyes widened, and despite the similar echoes, she could discern that it was the Great Demon King speaking.


    "... I have heard that you are looking for the legendary Slytherin Chamber? It''s a mess there, I''m going to turn it into a playground, and you agree that the entertainment for Hogwarts students is too lacking, right? What do you like ..."


    Felix looked out the window, and with a half-hearted glance at the calendar markings, he ticked off the March 10th and stood up to move his neck.


    "Come on, Valen. Let''s take a stroll down to the great hall and see what those students have achieved in half a month. If we''re lucky we might be able to see a splinch in time!" He said lazily, "I have seen some students who have barely mastered Apparition in these last few days, it''s bloody gruesome ..."


    ...


    Harry was discharged earlier today and was surprised to see few familiar faces when he returned to the common room after having determinedly shaken off Madam Pomfrey''s pestering.


    "Harry, you''re out of the hospital?" Coote, a member of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, said happily, as he announced loudly, "Hey! Everyone, welcome our wonderful ''Captain Ghost'' back to the team." The men in the common room gave a few obligatory claps and Peakes, the beater, blew a loud whistle.


    "Where are the rest of the group?" Harry asked.


    "In the great hall taking ''Apparition Class''." He said.


    Harry thanked him, and waved at Peakes and Demelza Robins in the distance, and went to his dormitory and wandered around, it was empty, and he was a little bewildered to find an Apparition certificate on his bunk, along with a small bag of galleons, which he counted to be exactly twelve, and he realized it is a refund fee that he paid for signing up for the Apparition class earlier.


    Harry was a little surprised, had it taken a whole year for the Ministry of Magic to even think of giving them the certificates? Couldn''t they have just mailed them in? He felt sure that if he had gotten one himself, Ron and Hermione must have gotten one too.


    He made his way to the Great Hall, which is packed with students chatting in small groups and hundreds of wooden circles for practice on the floor.


    Harry turned his head and looked around, but there wasn''t even a single professor in sight. What the hell is going on? Luckily, though, he saw someone familiar, and he walked over just in time to hear Ron sharing his experience of practising his Apparition with someone.


    Hermione and Neville are both there, along with Ginny, and it''s obvious that she''s holding her breath.


    "... The more scared I get, the worse it will become, I swear! I had a couple of nasty splinches when I was learning to Apparate ... Yeah, Professor Hap helped once or twice, and after that, we worked it out ourselves, like losing an eyebrow or getting a small gash or something ..."


    " It was really quite hard," Ron said, "I never got the hang of it ... Harry was the one who was pretty good at it."


    To assert their renewed friendship, Ron didn''t mince words when it came to praising Harry, knowing that normally the next topic of conversation would be "Weasley''s One Hundred Thrilling Apparitions".


    "Harry!" Ginny greeted him in surprise, jumping over and giving him a hug, "We were just talking about visiting you later."


    "I don''t want to stay until Easter." Harry whispered.


    He then noticed with some embarrassment that the people around him were looking at him with a very intrigued look.


    "As I recall, Harry used continuous Apparition to get the golden egg under the protection of the Dragon." Parvati Patil said.


    "I thought it was a coincidence." A student said.


    "Of course, it''s not a coincidence, Harry is especially good at that!" Ron said with more vigour when he saw Harry, " Do you remember how I beat Nona Leibert in the third task of the tournament with ''Apparition plus Stunning Spell''? It was very difficult to cast a spell right after the Apparition, and it is an advanced technique even in the Auror group."


    Ginny rolled her eyes.


    She had gotten some Auror training info from Tonks a long time ago and knew a little bit about it; it was true that Apparition with quick spell casting is an advanced dueling technique, but it is considered by many to be flashy because it is easy to make mistakes and once a splinch happens it''s over and the enemy will laugh at you.


    Not to mention the fact that most people cannot overcome the directional imbalance of moving at high speed. After knowing how Professor Hap had graded the magic, Tonks gave the opinion by saying "Apparition below level four is not suitable to be used in combat."


    On the other hand, Ron spoke more and more eloquently, tickling the students'' minds.


    "Harry, we haven''t seen you demonstrate it at the club. Now that the professor isn''t around-" Dean said. The crowd followed suit and asked Harry to show them. Harry glared at Ron, but he found himself rushing to say, somewhat eagerly, "I need a target."


    "Happy to oblige." Ron said with a grin.


    They headed towards a vacant space in the corner, and when Ron passed Hermione and Neville, he whispered in a soft voice, "Remember to come and rescue me if I can''t hold out."


    A dozen Gryffindors stood up and sparsely formed a half circle.


    Ron stood against the wall on one side and raised his wand to cast a Supersensory Charm on himself.


    "Ready?" Dean acted as a self-appointed referee. Both Ron and Harry''s demeanour became serious. "Three - two - one - go!"


    A disarming charm flew towards Ron, who leaned down to dodge the spell. At that moment, Harry suddenly disappeared from his spot - a cheer erupted from the crowd - and he appeared at Ron''s right side, the red light that gathered at the tip of his wand shot out, and Ron hastily formed a small patch of shield charm on his chest to deflect the spell.


    Students resting in the distance noticed the commotion and gathered around.


    For the next ten seconds or so, the two fired a number of non-lethal spells at each other, disarming charm, binding spell, stunning spell, full body-bind curse, and minor hexes that are popular among the students, Harry was especially eager to test a toenail-growing hex on Ron right now.


    "They''re both so awesome." An underclassman said in awe.


    "I''m not surprised by Harry''s performance, but Ron - is he also this skilled in a non-verbal spell?"


    "Hmm, he''s below average in Transfiguration class and still can''t smoothly mask his freckles. All the non-verbal spells he knows are basically dueling spells ..."


    "What kind of magic is that?" Another seventh-year student asked in shock.


    The two men in the middle of the audience went back and forth, shooting spells at each other, their feet constantly moving, dodging the magic lights that flew in front of them when they could, and if they couldn''t, they would gather a small halo of light in front of their bodies to defend themselves against the spell, and then immediately counterattacked, in a dizzyingly fast pace.


    "It''s one of the advanced techniques of the shield charm, just like the humanoid shield charm." Neville explained.


    Every now and then Harry would suddenly disappear and appear out of nowhere from around a corner to fire a spell at Ron, and as soon as that happened Ron quickly stepped back so that his back faced the castle wall and his eyes caught Harry''s silhouette; or he would cast a full shield charm in the opposite direction, concentrating on the one side, and with the heightened senses from the supersensory charm, he was always just barely able to cope.


    The students watched in awe, though they didn''t see the continuous Apparition.


    "Harry, give some extra effort." Dean shouted.


    Harry held his breath and met Ron''s gaze, and the two exchanged a silent look. "They''re all waiting." Ron said with a wide grin. The next second Harry suddenly disappeared, his wand stabbed straight out and the disarming charm shot out with a sharp whistle. Then he disappeared from his spot and appeared in the air near the ceiling of the great hall as if he had merged with the clear, wavy blue sky overhead.


    With a flick of his wand, a dozen candles came crashing down on him, while onlookers were still looking around for Harry, only the students who had just approached in the distance and a group of professors who had just come out of a meeting in the staff room saw the scene.


    Draco Malfoy was constantly fiddling with a white peacock transformed from a goblet, and then his head turned to the side to stare dead at Harry, and a glint of resignation flashed in his eyes.


    "Oh, dear!" Professor McGonagall said, covering her chest. The other professors stared in confusion as well, and only Felix had a small smile on his lips.


    Harry''s attack didn''t end there.


    He disappeared again on his way down, appearing to Ron''s right side - actually, normally he would have appeared behind his enemy, but now he is just putting on a show - and with a continuous flick of his wrist, a red and gold spell combined in the front to form a continuous attack, like a tidal wave towards Ron.


    A cry of surprise erupted from the crowd.


    Ron, who had been alerted in advance, is casting his spell unhurriedly at the moment, aiming for a rather theatrical effect before allowing a spherical magical barrier to protect him at the last second. Bang bang bang bang - Harry''s spells hit the barrier one after the other, sending ripples and the candles popped to the ground, breaking into two or three pieces.


    The students'' eyes followed the candles on the floor as they tiptoed, and the great hall fell silent. A series of rapid footsteps approached and the crowd turned back, and couldn''t help but cower as Professor McGonagall came striding over. She made her way through the crowd to appear in front of them and asked sternly, "What''s going on?"


    "We''re demonstrating Apparition." Harry said honestly.


    "Yeah, Professor McGonagall," Dean said helpfully, "Didn''t Professor Twycross use Harry as an example earlier? It just so happens that Harry came over today, and we thought we would let him demonstrate it to everyone." Harry and Ron nodded nervously.


    Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.


    "Minerva." A pale-skinned male wizard appeared and said persuasively. He is the Apparition instructor sent by the Ministry of Magic, as Dean called him, Wilkie Twycross. "As I did mention before, I could see that Potter and the boys were restrained and did not use the offensive spell. I''m sure with this wonderful demonstration, the other students will take Apparition more seriously."


    There were low choruses of agreement from the students around the room.


    "Well, in that case -" Professor McGonagall''s lips pursed into a thin line, "then no points will be deducted, but since you''re so free, why don''t you stay back as Professor Twycross'' assistants and lend a hand in keeping order. And save yourselves ..."


    Harry opened his mouth but didn''t dare to raise an objection. Ron, on the other hand, readily accepted.


    "Alright," Twycross clapped his hands, "back to your respective positions, this time I hope someone will manage to appear in the wooden circle ..."


    The students dispersed and Grindelwald appeared at some point, standing in the corner, his eyes trailing after Harry who is following behind Twycross. He watched closely, his lips quivered slightly as if he watched a rare gem.


    Only at noon did the Apparition class end. Several professors moved the long dining table back to its original position, and the tired sixth-years and some of the seventh-years stayed behind to wait for lunch to begin directly, and Harry took the opportunity to ask questions about the Apparition certificate.


    "Professor Twycross didn''t mention the reason directly, but I think it might be due to considerations about the implications," Hermione whispered to Harry, "after all, if the Ministry of Magic had issued us certificates last year, it would have been a clear violation, but it is different this year ... "


    Harry thought for a while before he could make sense of the logic, they couldn''t use the Apparition at school, and it would be almost July by the end of the school year, only a month before he would become an adult, and it would basically have no impact on the Ministry of Magic.


    At 8 pm, Harry stood in front of the stone gargoyles in front of the Headmaster''s office and said the password "Drooble''s Best Blowing Gum". The stone gargoyles moved aside, the wall behind them split open and Harry stepped up the spiral stone staircase, wondering what Dumbledore would be teaching him as he climbed the stairs. s?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The stairs ended and a brass door ring in the shape of a lion with an eagle''s head hung on the gleaming oak door.


    Harry took a deep breath to calm down and gripped the ring tightly.


    Knock, knock, knock! The door opened silently.


    ---------------


    #Lancer, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 651: Mould-on-the-Wold (2 in 1)

    In the circular room of the Headmaster''s office. Dumbledore was sitting in a chair behind a long-legged desk and examining a wand with his head down. He looked a little tired, especially from Harry''s angle, and the wrinkles on his face looked as obvious as the brown eggshells left on a hard-boiled egg.


    "Good evening, sir." Harry broke the silence.


    "Ah, good evening, Harry." Dumbledore looked up from under his half-moon spectacles - which made the wrinkles on his forehead even more visible - and said with a grin, "Please sit down, Poppy told me you were discharged today and I thought it wouldn''t be a bad idea to move the lesson forward from next week."


    Harry didn''t know how to respond to that, so he gave a "hmm" and moved a chair to sit opposite Dumbledore.


    "Poppy said you were fine, but I wanted to make sure personally - you''re not feeling any more discomfort, are you?"


    "No," Harry said hurriedly, ruffling the hair that was blocking his forehead where the scar had a thin scab of blood, "it hasn''t given me any trouble since I woke up, instead my nose has been itching and Madam Pomfrey kept careful records for two days until I later found the gnome cattail Ginny had left under the bed ... I thought it was due to the Resurrection Stone." He took the black gemstone ring off his finger and placed it on the table.


    "I don''t need it anymore, sir."


    Dumbledore smiled and listened with interest.


    "The time at the Hospital Wing certainly must have been quite rough ... is that why your friend brought you a travelogue? I read a couple of pages, and it seems to record things from a very long time ago."


    "Well," Harry said cautiously, "I found it from the library during Christmas break ... Ron knew I was reading it lately and brought it over for me to pass some time."


    Dumbledore nodded with understanding.


    "Whose wand is this, sir?" Harry couldn''t help but ask as he looked at the white wand that lay on the table, its entirety seemed to be made from the bones of some sort of creature and the grip end had been carved in the shape of a beast''s claw with irregular spikes attached.


    "It''s made from yew wood, and its wand core is made from phoenix feather-" Dumbledore''s eyes turned to the side and Harry followed his gaze to where Fawkes is standing on a perch having a nap, a lightning bolt went off in Harry''s head, and he blurted out.


    "Is this Voldemort''s wand?"


    His voice was so loud that even Fawkes was startled awake, and he glanced at Harry angrily and hid his head in his wings. The portrait of the Headmaster hanging on the wall of the circular office peeked up to survey them.


    "It''s Voldemort''s wand." Dumbledore repeated, "It was one of the war spoils when Felix and I raided Voldemort''s hideout on Christmas Eve during your fourth year when he hadn''t yet resurrected and had to flee in desperation."


    Harry stared grudgingly at the yew wood wand that Voldemort had held to kill his parents and leave him an incurable scar ...


    "Harry, Harry!"


    Harry snapped back to see Dumbledore putting the wand away in a drawer.


    "I''m sorry, sir." Harry whispered.


    "There''s no need to say sorry, Harry." Dumbledore paused briefly before saying in a formal tone, "I''m sure it''s clear to you why we''re sitting together on a weekend evening, and while I''d welcome a chat to relieve your boredom if you want, it is clear that we carry a more important mission."


    "Yes, I''m clear," Harry said, "something to do with the soul fragment in my head, you said you found a solution."


    "Exactly, that''s right." Dumbledore said, "You will find that my methods are slightly different from Felix''s, I need you to be more deeply involved, to know what you have to do, and for that we need-"


    He held out his hand and the cupboard door behind Harry suddenly popped open and a shallow stone basin flew out of it, landing firmly on the tabletop between them.


    "-a Pensieve." He finished his sentence.


    Harry stared dumbly at the Pensieve, not understanding the link, and he asked tentatively, "Are you asking me to look and learn something?" Like some kind of advanced magic, Harry guessed in his mind.


    "Something to witness, to be precise." Dumbledore said, wagging his finger at him, a small crystal vial about the thickness of his thumb appeared in the raised hand, he swung open the wooden stopper and poured the silver-coloured memories which swirled and floated like cotton wool inside the Pensieve.


    "Whose memories are these, sir?" Harry asked curiously.


    "Mine." Dumbledore said briefly, "Let''s talk inside, I need to reserve enough time for discussion. You go first."


    Harry took a deep breath and dove head first into the memory in the Pensieve, as he continued to descend he found a solid sensation of touch coming from beneath his feet, his eyes opened and his gaze kept searching. From past experience, he knew that the owner of the memory must be nearby. S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Then, he saw it.


    In front of him, there is a small, grey, dusty village with low, dilapidated, time-worn houses and patches of green and brown colour everywhere around. But that wasn''t the point, he spotted a little boy with reddish-brown hair, about eight or nine years old, under a large tree, and he was staring very intently at his palm.


    Harry took a few steps closer before realizing that he had mistaken and that the boy had a leaf floating in his hand. Harry was quite sure that the boy hadn''t recited any incantations, but the leaf kept changing colour.


    "That''s me." At that moment, Dumbledore appeared next to Harry and introduced his past self.


    They watched in silence for a few minutes, the scene never changed, which caused a slight impatience in Harry''s mind, and thus he discovered the boy''s - or rather childhood Dumbledore''s - first virtue, patience.


    The boy had obviously been here for a long time, which was evident from the pile of leaves of various colours at his side. But he hadn''t shown any sign of impatience, and now he had settled for the colour of the leaf between red and brown and constantly adjusted the subtle colour changes.


    Harry suddenly realized that the boy was aiming to turn the leaves the same colour as his own hair.


    "Albus! Albus - dinner time."


    Another little boy appeared. He looked two or three years younger than Albus, who was sitting under the tree, and the two were dressed in about the same style of clothes, but the latter one had gotten himself dirty and his hair, although also reddish-brown, just looked messy and unkempt.


    "That''s my brother, Aberforth." Dumbledore chimed in a timely manner.


    Aberforth ran all the way over, panting and his face turning red, "Albus, dinner!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. "Just a moment - it will be finished in a moment." Albus said, and after ten seconds or so he finally stopped, a small smile of satisfaction spread across his face.


    The leaf finally matched the exact same colour as his hair now.


    "Let''s go." He said briskly.


    "Ah, you''re practising magic in secret again!" Aberforth shouted as if he had just reacted, "I''m going to tell Mum and Dad, just wait until you get a lecture!"


    "Then you won''t get the coloured leaf."


    "This is for me?"


    Aberforth asked in surprise and was about to reach for it, but Albus evaded him.


    "I''ve prepared several brightly coloured ones in pure colours, but - let Ariana pick first." Albus said as he stood up, and together they walked along a dirt road towards the village.


    "Let''s follow suit, Harry." Dumbledore said softly, and Harry noticed that his voice had a slight unnatural tremor to it, "I''ll introduce you to my family ..."


    As they passed the signpost, Harry saw a rough piece of wood with the name of the village written on it: the Mould-on-the-Wold.


    He couldn''t help but have a doubt: didn''t the Dumbledore family live in Godric''s Hollow? He had read about it in his mother''s letter to Sirius, there should be no mistake, did Dumbledore''s move there later?


    He was about to ask the question but saw that Dumbledore''s eyes grew a little moist, so Harry fell silent. They followed the young brothers at the front in silence, and Harry couldn''t help but speculate on where they lived, and as he looked around, he spotted the one that best suited his aesthetic from the various small, grey, worn-out houses, and he swore that the exterior of the house showed many features of a wizard''s home in many areas.


    He walked forward with certainty, but the brothers took a detour, and just as Harry suspected he had guessed wrong, he saw a beautiful back garden, blocked by a tight hedge.


    "Ariana! We''re back!" Aberforth shouted.


    Harry heard a rush of footsteps, and he couldn''t help but pick up his pace, almost alongside the two brothers from memory, and a rustling sound was heard as the tall, thick hedge was parted with a narrow gap and a pair of timid eyes appeared.


    "Sir, this is-"


    Harry turned back to find Dumbledore stopped far away, his face sporting a strange mixture of flinch and longing. A strange thought suddenly crossed Harry''s mind; perhaps Dumbledore had called him over on purpose because he was afraid to face the scene at hand alone.


    ...


    Felix sitting in the Three Broomsticks Inn with a glass of iced lemonade on the table.


    He had been here for a while already when the owner of the Inn, Mrs. Rosmerta, approached him and said through clenched teeth, "Mr. Hap, you can''t bring those guys here, I have a business to run!"


    "But I paid for it, Madam Rosmerta."


    "That''s right ... but they''re scaring away my other customers, and what if they try to bite me tonight? I haven''t slept well for days, and I''m not complaining ... but today is so special, and I don''t have your skills in case they suddenly go berserk."


    "It does make things difficult for you, so why don''t we settle for doubling the amount we spent during this time, and - I''ll take them away later. As you said, they do seem to be a tad bit twitchy today."


    "Really?" Mrs. Rosmerta''s eyes lit up, and she looked relieved. "You should have done that a long time ago, but the double pay won''t be necessary, as long as you can come more often than usual, there are quite a few people who expect to see you here." She covered her mouth and smiled.


    "I don''t know when I''ve become so popular." Felix said wryly.


    "Just recently," Mrs. Rosmerta said thoughtfully, "like Carlotta Pinkstone - yeah, I know that woman, she stayed here for a while but now I don''t know where she has gone ..."


    "I prefer that female Auror with the colour changing hair over her, the jokes she tells about witches, healers and veela are simply brilliant, if you can, please tell her if you come across her that her jokes are funny, she was sulking over it for what seemed like half an hour when I was too busy to listen ... "


    Felix smiled and said, "I will."


    Mrs. Rosmerta wriggled her way out, and in a few moments a free glass of Firewhisky was served, but Felix didn''t get more than a few sips before people came down one by one from upstairs, men who looked as if they had been carved out of the same mould.


    Wearing tattered and patched clothes, looking haggard, grim-faced, and glancing around nervously. They are the men Felix invited over, the werewolves. But when Felix waved at them, instead of relaxing, they grew more wary.


    "All right, guys." Felix snapped his fingers and a dozen heavy money bags slammed onto the table, "For the love of gold galleons, I demand that you form a line and follow me. I have set up a temporary shelter for you on the outskirts of Hogsmeade, where you will spend the next week."


    Felix walked out ahead of them.


    The group of werewolves looked at each other, that man absolutely didn''t give them a chance to speak. After a few moments of stalemate, a tall, lanky man stepped forward and grabbed a money bag, and looked inside, the others noticing that his face seemed to be illuminated by a bright shining light.


    Gulp!


    The man gulped, tucked the bag into his arms, and walked out. The other werewolves followed in silence.


    ...


    Just in time before the lights out, a dazed, even slightly panicked Harry returned, reciting the password twice as if sleepwalking, and as the portrait of the fat lady swung open, he headed straight in, only to be pulled by a hand.


    "Harry, what''s wrong with you?" Hermione looked at him with a suspicious expression.


    "Hermione? I''m fine." Harry grunted.


    "How can you be fine, we were just standing in the doorway the whole time, but you completely ignored us both, and Ron called you twice." Hermione said softly and Ron nodded his head on the side to show that what she said was true.


    "What exactly did Dumbledore teach you?" Ron asked sharply. "But whatever it was, I bet it was especially hard, you look a bit like Luna." He said staring at the expression on Harry''s face.


    Harry kept shaking his head, "He showed me some memories, well I can''t quite figure it out yet ... Anyway, we''ll talk tomorrow, good night." He said and tried to head inside again, he just wanted to lie in bed now and be alone.


    But once again he was pulled back, this time by Ron -- the fat lady looked less than pleased: "Are you going in or not!" -- " Well, not going, we''re going out to the yard." Ron looked at a slightly puzzled Harry and squeezed his eyes at him, "It''s a full moon."


    "Full moon?" Harry dully mumbled, taking a moment to understand the meaning of the phrase.


    "Yeah, I don''t suppose you''re planning on giving up on Animagus, are you? You can still get a free mandrake leaf," Ron said and furrowed his brow, "but not me, I ran out of both, and I had to help Professor Sprout with a month''s labour ... or buy it privately, but I thought that since it is readily available at school ... Hermione because -"


    "I felt the throbbing of the Animagus." Hermione said briefly.


    "Awesome!" Harry gave her a thumbs up.


    "Are you mocking me? I know all about it." Hermione glared at Harry aggressively. Harry noticed Ron fiddling quietly with his nails and muttered in a small voice, "Well - a funny thing happened while you were going to your lesson. Hermione was showing off to me, and I couldn''t hold back from-"


    "I wasn''t showing off!" Hermione said pointedly, as she led the way towards the stairs.


    Ron and Harry exchanged a knowing look.


    "Maybe we should let Hermione hear your insight on character flaws too, Harry." Ron said.


    "I''m not going to ask for trouble." Harry instantly said.


    They made their way out into the yard, where Professor McGonagall and some of the students were already waiting. But Harry was keenly aware that a few lesser people had come today than the first time, "A few have given up." Hermione whispered, turning her head to look around, "How come I can''t spot Professor Hap?"


    This question was answered by Professor McGonagall, who had told them at the moment she was distributing the mandrake leaves to them.


    "Your Professor Hap has taken a leave of absence, he has something important to deal with."


    "At this time of year?" Ernie Macmillan muttered in a small voice, "That doesn''t sound very plausible."


    "But it''s true." Professor McGonagall said sternly, "I''d put more thought into the practice if I were you, Macmillan."


    After receiving the new Mandrake leaf and hearing an earful of cautions, the students dispersed and Hermione updated Professor McGonagall on her progress before they headed back to the castle.


    On the way, Hermione brought up Dumbledore''s lesson again, and Harry was very glad he had a mandrake leaf in his mouth, it gave him an excuse to talk less, even though the leaf in his mouth didn''t quite affect him anymore.


    He briefly chatted with Ron and Hermione before heading back to his dormitory. Ron and Hermione who were left behind looked at each other.


    "Did the lesson didn''t go well for him?" Ron asked worriedly.


    "Maybe Dumbledore showed Harry some shocking memory that he found hard to accept for a while ..." Hermione whispered, "Although I can''t guess how it will help Harry with his scar, I''m sure Dumbledore has his own reasons. We can ask more carefully tomorrow."


    In the dormitory, Harry lay in bed, feeling a part of his heart crumble.


    At first, everything had been fine, he and Dumbledore had spent a realistic half hour watching the former Dumbledore family eat dinner and exchange gifts, the atmosphere was overall pleasant and enviable, followed by the next memory where their situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, not only had they moved house, the smiles were gone from their faces, the youngest Ariana had become withdrawn and jumpy, Aberforth always clenched his fists when no one was around, his eyes burning with flames of anger; Albus has gotten quieter, with just a glint of grief in his eyes as he looked at his sister ...


    And to top it all off, the pillar of their home was missing from their life.


    "... When Ariana was six years old, she was doing magic in the garden when three Muggle boys saw the scene through a hedge, at the time the foolish idea of a witch hunt was still spreading through the poor countryside, and they were horrified but also fuelled with savage courage to attack her. Since then, Ariana was severely traumatized and could no longer control her magic, my father was furious and went to settle the score with the muggles and gave them a good beating before ... he was put in Azkaban and we, alas, chose to leave that sad place, and no one could have foreseen an even greater tragedy that awaited us ..."


    The first lesson ended with the young Albus receiving a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts.


    Dumbledore hadn''t asked Harry to keep it a secret, which seemed to mean he could tell Ron and Hermione, but he had decided only to say something irrelevant as if it was his duty to keep Headmaster Dumbledore''s past a secret as it was a sacrilege to his great character to let anyone know of the tragedy that had befallen him.


    He wasn''t sure why he felt this way, or why Dumbledore had allowed him to see that; as far as Harry could see, Dumbledore seemed to have displayed his bloody past in a grim way to his own student.


    He stared at the full moon outside the window and seemed to hear wolves howling. Of course, Harry had no idea that a dozen werewolves are undergoing a mass transformation in the distant outskirts of Hogsmeade.


    ---------------


    #Lancer, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 652: Solutions (2 in 1)

    On the outskirts of the village of Hogsmeade, a group of people bathed in the silvery moonlight shed by the full moon. Felix looked at the werewolves, with a piece of parchment in his hand, and scribbled on it. Two of the fourteen had already completed their full werewolf transformation and currently had collapsed on the ground breathing heavily. Although two of them had turned into werewolves at the moment, their eyes remained lucid, as they had been taking wolfsbane potions consistently for the past few days.


    The other nine werewolves are undergoing a transformation - first, their bodies trembling unnaturally, then with a snarl from agony, every part of their torsos forcibly widened and elongated, their shoulders towering high and bursting through their clothes, the fat on their black fur-covered arms hidden in the violent transformation, their hands, and feet curled into the shape of wolf claws, their sharp nails glistened in the moonlight.


    ''So there is a subtle difference in the timing of each of their transformations.'' Felix marked this on the parchment and watched as the werewolves kept opening and closing their jaws, saliva dripping from the corners of their mouths from a brief moment of loss of control and pain.


    To a normal person, this saliva would be nothing less than a potent poison.


    The three remaining werewolves that remained in human form flinched back, trying to stay away from their own kind. They looked at Felix Hap, who looked as if he had been recording all this with interest, and a strange emotion welled up in their hearts.


    The effects of the war were felt in every way.


    In the early days, many of their kind had been tempted by men who had been sent by the Dark Lord to recruit them with the promise of vastly improving the treatment of werewolves after the war. The words were nice, but not very credible, because the Dark Lord would not even regard wizards of muggle origin as a people, and promoted the doctrine of bloodlines, let alone the werewolves with a tainted bloodline like theirs, many wizards - a significant number of whom are pureblood wizards or Death Eaters, or both - still call them beasts with disgust.


    The only thing that had a little credibility was the justification given by Fenrir Greyback when he roped them in: once the Dark Lord had won, the werewolves could attack muggles and expand their packs with no fear, a fate that the Dark Lord had intended for the young wizards from muggle families.


    But these words could only attract the consent of the group of fanatical werewolves who, as far as they knew, were being threatened and roped in by the Ministry of Magic before the war, and those who remained stubborn were now basically imprisoned.


    At that moment, Felix picked a werewolf at random and stood in front of him. The transformed werewolf stood a good foot taller than him as if he could crush a normal human''s skull with one low bite, but as Felix poured his magic into him, the werewolf kept his claws as far away from Hap''s head as possible.


    This was purely for Galleon''s sake.


    The werewolf thought indignantly as he obediently straightened his body. He tilted his long jaw to the side listlessly as the rest of his kind lay on the ground, gasping for breath and staring at them. It was all the effect of the wolfsbane potion, which kept the werewolves sane even during the full moon, while suppressing the wildness and exuberance in their bodies, leaving them so exhausted that they didn''t have the strength to go out for a walk even if they wanted to.


    "Hold still." Felix said.


    "I''m not moving!" The werewolf let out a low growl of discontent.


    "Ah, I was talking to the magic inside you - you can interpret that as talking to myself." Felix said.


    The werewolf moved his eyes back unhappily and lowered his head to stare at the top of Felix''s head, with his thoughts dumbly wondering. He quickly moved his head away again, though, not wanting to make any moves that would spark a misunderstanding; if he did hurt the man in front of him - though even the werewolf himself thought his idea was whimsical - the werewolf pack would surely be out of luck.


    And werewolves didn''t hate Felix Hap.


    Everyone in this place thought so, or they wouldn''t have accepted the invitation, only after meeting him a few times, they realized that the real Hap is slightly different from their fantasy image - in short, it created a sense of disillusionment. "Keep your hands straight." Felix said. The werewolf grunted twice and did as he was told, then went back to thinking about himself.


    Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his spine, as if an invisible hand had reached in and grabbed it, trying to rip it out of his body.


    The werewolf let out a low "ho-ho" grunt and lowered his head with difficulty to see Hap pulling wisps of magic out of him, and although he wasn''t sure why he was doing it, he gritted his teeth and held on until Felix Hap dragged a fuzzy cloud of magic out of him.


    He finally collapsed to the ground unable to hold on and asked in a hoarse voice, "What is it?"


    "I''d like to know too." Felix said.


    He let the magic hover in the air and then walked towards the other werewolves one by one, during which time the other three transformed as well. As the full moon rose high in the sky, fourteen clouds of magic remained frozen in the air in front of Felix.


    He stretched them out, and they resembled an irregular piece of cloth, densely flickering with dots of light, in a pattern far more complex than the mandrake, and Felix had to be careful enough not to damage the really important magical structures.


    Gradually, even the most sluggish in the scene reacted to the fact that the magic, although drawn from different werewolves, is more or less the same in shape. If one ignored the edges and corners, one could see a three-dimensional tower-like structure, or more precisely -


    "Is that - a werewolf''s spine?" The werewolf asked with difficulty.


    Felix paced between the fallen werewolves, lost in thought. His face was reflected in a pale bluish hue, and he seemed to be talking to himself, and to be delivering a speech in the moonlight.


    "Magic ... in the body of a wizard and the body of magical creatures are distinctly different from each other."


    "Magic in magical creatures tends to operate along specific patterns, related to their own constitution, and operate through virtual circuits carrying magic, that is, their magic-like innate talents ... A wizard''s magic is, however, free, flexible, and unrestrained. When werewolf saliva fuses with a wizard''s blood, it magically alters them, making the wizard irreversibly lycanthropic, hence some say it''s an incurable magic toxin known as werewolf poison ..."


    "In my opinion, werewolf transformation is an uncontrolled, transformation of a wizard towards a magical creature, oh ... again not the same as Animagus, which can only turn you into a normal animal. Though they actually both have one thing in common and that is that the transformation process is not controlled by the wizard himself."


    "The principle ... is not important!"


    "Animagus is an application of an extremely advanced knowledge of human transfiguration, and if the wizard can experience the process many times, even if he is not clear about the principle, he will be able to perform higher level transfiguration like a fish in water in the future."


    "Werewolf transformation, however, does not offer similar benefits."


    "Perhaps it is because the bodies of ... ordinary wizards are too fragile, and it is not related to whether they are physically strong or not, it is the magic that matters. They cannot withstand the ''magical creature'' transformation of themselves, so instead of gaining any benefit, they suffer the consequences ..."


    In the moonlight, Felix took out the Book of Runes, one hand resting on the spine of the book, the other over the surface of it, the pages flipping rapidly, the ''clatter'' muffled the sound of the wind in the wilderness at night, the slender hand raising a little bit, slowly pulling out a ''spine'' made of runes from the book''.


    The werewolves'' mouths dropped open.


    Felix gazed at his creation for a moment and pressed it down towards his body.


    His heart began to pound, and he raised his head to stare at the full moon as his body stretched a little bit and a mane cloaked him - he became a werewolf. A crowd of werewolves on the ground watched in amazement.


    "You- you-"


    "One more form to transform." The werewolf, bathing in the moonlight, grinned as if he was smiling, but the other werewolves looked at him in reverence, and when Felix changed back and got himself a new set of clothes, he began to make adjustments to the spine-shaped magic rune sequence.


    "To be more efficient and find the key within it."


    But even then, Felix could only adjust the sequence and reduce some unnecessary magic runes for the time being, and he could not reduce the complexity of the overall structure. So in theory, Felix had actually harvested an incredibly complex piece of ancient magic tonight - the werewolf transformation.


    It is important to note: Felix''s own transformation into a magical creature, and the transformation of magical creatures'' innate talent into ancient magic are actually two different things - the former, is the result of Felix advancing the realm of ancient runes to an entirely unknown level and becoming a ''magical creature'' himself. Just like the four founders of Hogwarts, and Dumbledore ... if he had to subdivide it, even more, Felix considers himself to be ''magic-rune''.


    He is able to transform parts of his or all of his body from flesh and blood to magic runes.


    It is because of this reason that Felix can transform himself into magical creatures. He thought that Dumbledore could do the same, but not by relying on ''magic runes'', but by using transfiguration. As for whether Rowena Ravenclaw, who had told him the term ''magical being'' herself, could do the same thing, Felix put a question mark in his mind, thinking that Lady Ravenclaw was rather describing a realm, after all, that was not her field of study.


    Take the Thunderbirds, for example.


    Felix himself could turn into a thunderbird without any difficulty, using principles very different from those of Transfiguration, but he could not teach anyone else the way to turn into a thunderbird - there is no shortcut, other than an in-depth study of ancient runes.


    But he could convert the Thunderbirds'' innate talent into ancient magic - such as creating storms - and then teach it to others, who could learn it perfectly well.


    There is a fundamental difference between turning into a thunderbird, and wielding a storm. The former involves a change in the nature of the wizard''s very being, while the latter simply involves learning a simple piece of ancient magic.


    ...


    The weather remained cold in late February, but it was nothing to the werewolves, who lay on the ground and gawked at Felix Hap working diligently in the moonlight and whispered in hushed tones with each other.


    "What''s he doing?"


    "Not sure, but it looks complicated!"


    "What are you going to do with that money?"


    "Haven''t thought about it yet, I''ve counted it, there''s enough to buy two years'' worth of knock-off wolfsbane potions."


    "I heard that ''Future World'' company has recruited a group of humanoid employees, including werewolves as well!"


    "You want to try?"


    "It might be too late by now ..."


    "It''s hard to say, it was still advertised in the papers a while back."


    "I remember it was for trolls, right?"


    "Trolls with literacy?"


    "Ahem-" Felix looked back down from the heavy morning mist and cleared his throat, "Almost there, let''s try it."


    "Try what?" One of the werewolves on the ground asked. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Let''s see if I can turn you guys back into human form." Felix said with a smile as he flipped open the Book of Runes, and a variety of rune symbols in different colours flew out of it like butterflies, gathering and shaping in mid-air. Felix reached out and the magic rune sequence turned into a cloud of magic in his hand and he flung it at a werewolf.


    Felix looked at him expectantly.


    After a few moments, the werewolf''s body returned to human form and Felix threw him a garment to put on in case any villagers pass by and saw him early in the morning.


    The wizard stopped himself from dancing around, his face still held a look of shock as he looked at his hands incredulously.


    "I ... I''ve changed back?" He tilted his head up in disbelief as the sky slightly dawned, but a full moon still hung in the sky, and he looked again at his werewolf peers who are lying on the ground as if they would soon faint.


    "Mr. Hap, am I ... not a werewolf from now on?"


    The men on the ground quieted down as well, holding their breath as they waited for Felix''s answer.


    Felix shook his head.


    " It is an effect of magic, and if ..." he hesitated for a rare instant, nevertheless he shook his head, "No, I am not a healer and cannot do a complete root cure with my current knowledge-


    "But I''m completely changed back now!" The wizard exclaimed.


    "I used a clever technique. I was looking at the problem from the perspective of ancient runes." Felix, seeing the wizard about to speak, held up a hand to stop him and continued, "Through research - not my research - werewolf saliva is highly poisonous, at least for muggles, and wizards, once bitten by a werewolf, they are also irreversibly lycanthropized."


    "The so-called lycanthropy is actually the werewolf poison modifying part of the wizard''s body structure, which you can simply understand as: you are like a magical creature with an extra spellcasting organ, but of course, I am just using a metaphor, the actual situation is more complicated ..."


    "This spellcasting organ is affected by the changes in the moon''s light and darkness, and spontaneously absorbs the magic in the wizard''s body on the day of the full moon, and you are forced to perform a complex series of werewolf transformations."


    "We have an extra spell-casting organ?" The werewolf asked blankly, "Can it be removed?"


    "No," Felix spat, "at least I can''t do it at the moment, as I said - the term spellcasting organ is only metaphorical, in fact, your bodies have been completely altered by the werewolf poison, from saliva to blood, to body organs, to bones ... which is not my field of study."


    "Then what have you done to me?"


    "Reversed the transformation process. If you think the werewolf transformation as a spell, then what I did was to find a way to break the spell, albeit only temporarily."


    "Can we learn it?" The werewolf asked eagerly.


    "I could publish it, but it would be too difficult to learn, the spell uses thousands of ancient magic runes..." Felix said, "I will spend the next week perfecting it as best I can, and I will need your cooperation for that. "


    All the way back to the castle Felix thought about it, his biggest discovery of the night was actually obtaining a structural blueprint of the werewolf''s magic from a magic perspective. And on top of that, he actually had two other vague lines of thought.


    In addition to the ancient magic ''reversing the werewolf transformation'' he had demonstrated -


    One could also try to use an advanced human transfiguration. Normal human transfiguration is simply changing the appearance and physique (although this is already part of the advanced course), but Felix''s idea is to take this a step further and change the magic structure in the body along with it.


    This approach would be similar to that of the Animagus. Only that its transfiguration form is human.


    It was not that no wizards had tried this idea before, but the internal body structure of the werewolf remained the same even after the transformation, so naturally, nothing worked. Now with the werewolf rune structure pattern, that Felix had discovered, the situation might be very different.


    As he walked along the road, a thought occurred to Felix: how did it resemble the bloodline magic that Salazar Slytherin had studied?


    He mulled it over for a while and smiled. Can he already be able to do this, deciphering other people''s magic paths with ancient runes? It feels soooo good ...


    The first two methods both treated the symptoms but not the root cause.


    The first - the ancient magic known as '' Reversal of Werewolf Transformation'' - actually restores the werewolf state of the wizard to human form and allows him to spend the full moon peacefully in human form throughout the duration of the magic. In general, it is a sort of substitute for the wolfsbane potion, with the advantage of maintaining human form and the disadvantage is that it is very difficult to learn.


    Without Felix''s help, he reckoned that Lupin would not have been able to do it. But learning it would allow them to say goodbye to the wolfsbane potion, which seemed to confirm another view in the magic world that potions and spells are substitutes for each other.


    The second method - human transfiguration, which involved an internal structural change in the body - is also incredibly difficult, and Felix believes that no one but Dumbledore could do it, but now with the blueprint of the werewolf''s runic structure that he has obtained, the difficulty may plummet.


    The advantage is that during the transformation period the wizard will be in a purely human form.


    As for one last line of thought - Felix frowned - it was to completely destroy all those rune patterns that had been infected by the werewolf poison, once and for all. The werewolves wouldn''t be werewolves anymore then. But this method involved the very essence of magic, and one mistake may even cause a wizard to become unable to use any magic, they would simply end up as a Squib.


    Dumbledore''s caution about magic is still ringing in his ears.


    In fact, there is a fourth line of thought, Felix mused. That would consist of sharing the magical structure of the werewolf, and perhaps Snape, or Belby, or Slughorn, the Potions Masters, could come up with a solution from a Potions perspective.


    Felix intended to ask Lupin about it in due time and see what he would decide. It just so happened that March 10th is his birthday.


    The next morning.


    Harry knocked on the door of the Defence Against the Dark Arts class professor''s office.


    He had come over to avoid the endless stream of questions from Ron and Hermione; he had now been forced to spill the details of the Dumbledore family dinner he had seen in the Pensieve, and he really didn''t want to talk about what happened afterward, so he found an excuse to come out for some fresh air.


    As a result, he found himself being greeted warmly by Professor Bagshot, which somewhat flattered Harry.


    "Have a seat, Harry." Grindelwald said cordially, casually placing a book on the table at the edge.


    "Professor Bagshot, you''re studying ancient runes?" Harry asked, with considerable astonishment.


    "What, I can''t learn anything new at my age?" Grindelwald asked, his eyes darting to Harry''s hands, "You were a big attraction yesterday, Harry."


    "Oh, well - I guess so." Harry mumbled.


    "I have heard that you want to be an Auror in the future, good idea," Grindelwald said softly, "I happen to know a few spells that are pretty powerful and should help you. Not a dark magic." He saw the look on Harry''s face and added a comment.


    Harry murmured his thanks. He did worry that Professor Bagshot might be planning to teach him dark magic; after all, the professor had admitted personally that he had followed the dark wizard Grindelwald in the past.


    Only then did Grindelwald casually bring up the main topic.


    "I saw a black jewelled ring on your hand yesterday, why aren''t you wearing it today?"


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 653: The Important Niffler (2 in 1)

    "That''s not mine, I just borrowed it temporarily." Harry said after hesitating a moment, "I had returned it to Headmaster Dumbledore last night." "Returned it to Dumbledore last-" Grindelwald looked at Harry in bewilderment, "You mean it was originally his?"


    "Yes, Professor." Harry said stiffly.


    "Why did Dumbledore lend it to you?"


    "I think it''s because, er, because I have a bit of a health problem and that ring would help me with that. But I don''t need it now." Harry said vaguely, could it be that Professor Bagshot had guessed something? It was him who had taken the initiative to bring up this topic, perhaps he recognized the Resurrection Stone? But how is that possible ... Just as Harry was thinking about it, Grindelwald lightly brushed off the subject.


    "Yes, you haven''t been in class for a while." Grindelwald said after a long while as he stared blankly at the fire in the fireplace. " It turns out ... it turns out to be because of that."


    Harry suddenly felt a strange sensation.


    Professor Bagshot had probably known all along that the stone embedded in the ring is the Resurrection Stone, one of the three Deathly Hallows, and perhaps it was due to his own negligence, as he had worn it to the great hall after leaving the hospital wing yesterday, and during that time it might have been recognized by Professor Bagshot. It seemed that Professor Bagshot was more concerned about who owned the ring than the ring itself.


    "Well, what you are thinking is right, Harry, I have a rough idea of what it is." Grindelwald snapped back to his senses and said in an increasingly calm tone, "Decades ago - Grindelwald had sent some people to investigate the whereabouts of three Deathly Hallows, and I was one of the people who was involved and knew more about it. I was worried that you had simply obtained it by chance, or that it had been given to you by someone with an ulterior motive ... but since it was Dumbledore ..."


    He didn''t continue any further, as if he had thought the Resurrection Stone would be safe in Dumbledore''s hands, and he raised his tone slightly.


    "Well, let''s skip this interesting interlude. Harry, have a biscuit-" Harry picked up a biscuit. "I have heard that your Patronus is quite unique, and it''s not only incredibly powerful, but it can also launch physical attacks?"


    "Yes, Professor." Harry said as he slightly cheered up. He tried his best not to think about his half-written book about Patronus Charm, which had been mostly written and is currently stalled in progress as he had lost interest.


    "Then you must be aware of the importance of a strong belief to a wizard."


    "Is that - what?" Harry looked at him uncomprehendingly.


    "Belief, Harry." Grindelwald repeated it slowly, and said, "Wizards who dwell deeper into magic, at a certain point will all move from specific spells to thinking about some very broad concepts, but that is only an outward appearance; in fact, they are interpreting their own understanding of the nature of magic."


    "An interpretation of the nature of magic." Harry repeated thoughtfully.


    "That''s right, the magic that we are born with. So if you want to achieve something, then everything that has anything to do with it - things such as the amount of magic, the control over it, the way it transforms, the integration of beliefs and intents ... these are the things you should pursue for the rest of your life."


    Grindelwald explained in a soft, measured voice.


    Harry let out a light breath, he suddenly became enlightened, and he felt that many unclear questions from the past had been solved.


    ...


    "It is love. All the mysteries of magic are hidden in love."


    In the Headmaster''s office, Snape closed his eyes, as if he was bored with this rhetoric. "I''m tired of hearing it, Dumbledore. What I would like to know more is that, for what reason did you call me into your office ... once again after eight months of not hearing a word from you?"


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly.


    "I can hear the complaints, Severus, and you know there is no way I would agree to let you enter the Classroom Seven."


    "Ah yes, you are afraid that I will kill him on impulse." Snape said coldly, "He''s still useful - that is what you told me, but I didn''t see any progress."


    "About Harry-"


    "He''s still a Horcrux, I went to visit him ... at the hospital wing while he was in a coma." Snape''s voice became slightly agitated, "I remember you saying that you are working on it, what did you manage to achieve?"


    "As a matter of fact," Dumbledore said calmly, "I''ve got full assurance of dealing with it. The question is ... when, and what else preparations are needed." He lowered his head and looked at his hands.


    "Full assurance?"


    "That''s right." S?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Snape seemed completely baffled as he looked at him coldly, and then he stood up and walked around the table to Dumbledore.


    "Prepare? What preparations?" Snape asked after some time. "And," he glared at the white wand in Dumbledore''s hand with obvious distaste, "why didn''t you destroy it?"


    "I''m afraid it''s still useful, Severus."


    Snape''s expression changed to one of apparent vigilance.


    "Who do you want to give it to? It belongs to the Dark Lord, not some little snotty kid!"


    "That question doesn''t trouble me, Severus. It''s the other wand that''s really giving me a headache, and I can''t make up my mind yet ... Well, perhaps it''s too soon to even think about it, and I''m barely holding it together." Dumbledore said as he shot a look at Snape as if to say, yes, I''m using it as a measure against you.


    Snape''s face darkened, and he wanted to swear a couple of profanities now.


    "What has Felix been up to lately?" Dumbledore changed the subject.


    "He borrowed the research materials on wolfsbane potion from me some time ago." Snape said, "Looks like he''s ready to tackle one of the many problems that plague the entire wizarding community."


    "An exuberant thirst for research," Dumbledore commented with appreciation, "Where''s Valen?"


    "The Niffler?" Snape glared up, "Is it vital and important enough information to you?"


    Dumbledore winked at him happily.


    "She is perfectly all right and well-loved by all." Snape said simply and dryly. Seeing the satisfied look on Dumbledore''s face, he opened his mouth, "Dumbledore, I don''t understand why you would care about a-"


    "Oh Severus, it''s a hard feeling to describe, I suggest you try getting a pet yourself. My recommendation would be a parrot, you could teach it to talk."


    Snape turned his head with a blank expression and followed Dumbledore''s amused gaze over to Fawkes, who was pecking through the fish bones and said with an odd expression, "I don''t know if I am making an exact comparison - but I did try to name a few Billywig insects after you when I was handling them, and I have to say I got an indescribable sense of satisfaction ..."


    ...


    The new week started with a clear sky and a beautiful day.


    The Ancient Rune Classroom.


    "Rule number twelve, the same ancient magic has the possibility of fusion under certain conditions, the fusion is unchanged in its effects with an increased range of action." Felix smiled, "Your task in this class is to test this theory and to record your personal insights during practice."


    The students moved around and divided into groups of three or two.


    "With what ancient magic?" Ron asked.


    "Whatever," Harry said with a yawn, "we''re only allowed to use teaching magic in class anyway."


    Teaching magic, another new term coined by Professor Hap, and many of the students remembered what the professor had said when he had explained it to them, "True ancient magic - especially that of an offensive nature - is too dangerous to be taught, unless it is necessary to be taught in the classroom, I will only be teaching you supporting and defensive type of magic ... such as the illumination and flight magic you have learned before, in addition to which I have developed a series of magic runes specifically for everyday teaching and practice."


    "Specifically, I have subtly transformed and replaced some of the modern spells with ancient magic runes, which will also enable you to understand the second rule more clearly: the general principle of casting all magic - including ancient magic - is to remain in harmony."


    The two men chose the Snowflake-making spell. In no time at all, a cloud of snow formed in their hands, and they carefully brought them closer, "Wait, I can see the rune sequence, I guess not." Harry said.


    "Okay." Ron pondered for a moment, staring blankly at his hand and fighting with himself, and after ten seconds or so, the snow cloud in his hand finally no longer looked like a glowing cotton candy.


    The two moved closer again, and this time the snow clouds fused together without any hindrance. They looked up and watched as a large snow cloud floated to the ceiling, and a vast white flurry of snow fell.


    More people joined in and the snow cloud continued to expand, the flakes piling up thickly on the floor, but they soon ran into their match, as on the other side Seamus and Dean used their Runic Water-Making Spell to create a six or seven-foot long water dragon, with a few students standing around them all eager and ready to join in.


    By the end of the class, the students'' heads, eyebrows, and clothes were covered in frost, as if they had been freezing outside in the cold all day.


    Then they shivered and rushed to their Defence Against the Dark Arts class.


    Professor Bagshot led them to the edge of the Forbidden Forest and paused. "I was originally hoping to take you deeper into the Forbidden Forest, but my application was denied." He said rather regretfully, "Your task is to build yourselves a makeshift shelter out of whatever materials you can find nearby, plus find something to eat."


    "Professor Bagshot, is this also a technique for hiding ourselves in Muggle society?"


    "A very accurate description."


    "But why don''t we just go to a muggle shop and buy something to eat?" Ron muttered disgruntledly to Harry. Unfortunately, it was too loud and the professor heard what he had said, "Because you jump up and down with excitement when you saw a muggle paper money and also pointed at their music player and said, ''Hey, we have that over here too'' - Mr. Weasley?"


    Ron stopped talking and the other students who also had objections quickly calmed down.


    The above example was taken from a couple of previous classes, where Professor Bagshot had used a similar style of class to Lockhart''s theatre performance, except that the students had to split into two sides - one playing the role of the wary muggle and the other playing the role of the wizard disguised as a muggle - and start a conversation.


    Of course, the student in charge of playing the muggle is given a few ''prompts'', a small piece of parchment. In Hermione''s words, it was a test topic, but Harry thought it was more like a little script with some very tricky language traps that many students fell for.


    For example, Seamus was discussing about his favourite football player with someone, and then he ranted about Quidditch technical moves, dumbfounding the other person with his superior eloquence.


    "... flies fast and well, swooping down from fifty feet!"


    He had two inches more homework than anyone else that day.


    Professor Bagshot asked Seamus to use the extra space to describe how the football players flew.


    "Can those people use magic?" He asked courteously.


    Unsurprisingly, the camping turned into a mess. Harry and Ron had dug a large hole in the ground with a Gouging Spell, and had fussily covered it with twigs and blades of grass, then hid inside to chat. When Neville came out to pick some wild fruit, he stepped over and crashed into Harry and Ron, hitting Harry''s head so hard he had a big bump.


    After Neville left in fear, they learned their lesson and cast a Caterwauling Charm and a Quietening Charm nearby, intending to muddle through until the end of class. As a result, they were bored after only half an hour, and with the odd scent in the air everywhere, they emerged from inside and both were surprised to find: that the other students were clearly more interested in the food and were feverishly busy at the moment.


    Draco Malfoy was walking around with a disgusted look on his face, holding up a bunch of burnt mushrooms, Daphne Greengrass had shrewdly traded a bunch of wild flowers for two mashed potatoes from the others, Justine had dug up a nest of beetles, and several Ravenclaw girls had picked wild celery and mushrooms, and their harvest was not small. Harry and Ron passed Ernie Macmillan when they saw him quietly using a transfiguration spell to turn a stone on the ground into a rabbit.


    "That''s brilliant. I thought of a great idea." Ron said admiringly, then sneakily slipped away.


    "Ron -"


    Harry shouted, but Ron was gone. Worried about attracting attention, he had to call it quits and wandered around the area twice more without spotting the Professor, so he found Hermione. She was irritably dealing with her mushroom soup.


    Harry darted a quick glance towards the contents of the pot and immediately lost his appetite.


    "What do you think?" She asked with an expectant look on her face.


    "Well-" Harry stammered, "It looks pretty good."


    Hermione sighed and was just about to speak when someone shouted in the distance, "Found a stream, it''s nearby, and there''s fish in it!" With a loud clamour, half of the students dropped what they were doing and ran in that direction.


    Harry tried his best not to look at the grey-brown mushroom soup beneath his eyes and politely suggested for Hermione to tag along to check it out, who looked sadly at the thing she had made and agreed without further struggle.


    Harry and Hermione hadn''t gone more than a few steps when they heard someone call their name from behind them. It was Ron, who came running over in a panic with a huge pumpkin in his arms, and panted, "That''s too horrible, I got caught by Fang while I was leaving, and I heard Hagrid and Professor Bagshot talking."


    "You didn''t get a glimpse of their faces did you?" Harry asked apprehensively. Ron recalled it carefully for a moment, but he couldn''t remember it clearly.


    At lunchtime, the students were wolfing down their food, and they had a much better appetite than usual.


    "Hey, Harry!" Luna called out cheerfully as she approached them when Harry and Ron were fighting over a serving of mashed potatoes. Her eyes lingered on Harry''s hand for a few seconds, and she asked curiously, "Where''s that beautiful ring of yours?"


    "Ring, a ring?" Harry choked out. He was surprised to see Luna curling her eyes pleasantly and pointing to his left hand, which is now empty.


    "Beautiful?" Ron called out.


    Hermione didn''t say anything, but her expression had clearly shown her attitude.


    Harry''s heart sank. This is the second person to notice that he didn''t have a ring on his hand, and with his previous experience, he had become more sensitive to this topic. But Luna''s focus was, as always, a little different from that of the normal people, and to be honest, he thought that even with the added reputation of the Resurrection Stone, that ring was far from beautiful.


    It was crudely made, especially since its last two owners (not counting Voldemort) probably hadn''t bothered to look after it properly.


    "I saw you wearing it last Saturday," Luna affirmed, "just as we were going to have lunch in the great hall. You were surrounded by so many people at the time that you probably didn''t see me pass you by."


    "It wasn''t mine, I gave it back to the original owner." Harry said vaguely.


    "Oh." Luna sounded rather regretful, as she ran off to sit with Ginny.


    Harry looked at her back and a thought popped into his mind out of nowhere, Luna had previously relayed Firenze''s words - that she would pass by the Resurrection Stone. Now it looked perfectly in line with the Centaur Firenze''s divination; Luna had indeed passed by him when he wore the Resurrection Stone ring.


    But Headmaster Dumbledore had had it for a long time, hadn''t he? Harry wondered, as he ate, about how many times the Headmaster and Luna had probably ''passed by'' each other before him.


    But Harry soon realized that he rarely seemed to see Dumbledore wearing that ring in public, especially this term ... "Hiss!" He suddenly sucked in his breath.


    "What''s wrong?" Hermione asked.


    "Nothing." Harry replied at once, and was surprised by his own thoughts: could it be that Dumbledore had deliberately tried to hide it from Professor Bagshot? The information he had forgotten a long time ago was now resurfacing and constantly reminding him that the two men knew each other.


    In the evening, Felix brought food to the werewolves who had been staying temporarily on the outskirts of the Hogsmeade village and made his way to the Three Broomsticks Inn just before ten o''clock in the night, and after a small drink, he noticed that the atmosphere was not quite right.


    A tall man with an angular face and conspicuous blue-green eyes sat down opposite to him, and at the same time, a dozen pairs of eyes turned either explicitly or implicitly in his direction.


    "Hello, Mr. Hap." The man said.


    "Mr. Noel?" Felix smiled and looked around the room, moving his hand away from his goblet as he tapped the tabletop lightly. "So, a lot of parents like you got together to try to convince me to help your kids transfer schools? Well, you''ve come to the right person."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 654: Secret Talk

    The mood in the Inn suddenly changed and Felix saw two men reach into their pockets, and he acted as if nothing had happened, then the man sitting opposite cleared his throat and a few sneaky hands repositioned themselves on the table. "Mr. Hap, I assure you there will be no fighting tonight. We''ve come for peace."


    "It doesn''t look like that," Felix inclined his head slightly, "at least Madam Rosmerta wouldn''t agree." At the moment, the lady owner of the inn is staying quietly behind the bar, busy with her own business, seemingly completely oblivious to the dark tide that is swirling over here.


    "She''ll be all right," said Noel, in a strong voice after a pause, "just to avoid trouble."


    "Then undo it, or I''d think you are all harbouring malice."


    Felix smiled, but his tone held an insistence that could not be refuted.


    After a few seconds of silence, Noel nodded slightly as a bright light flashed in the corner and Madam Rosmerta''s eyes went from confusion to clarity, but they were immediately replaced with fear.


    She let out a yelp.


    "Madam Rosmerta, I would like to order another ... glass of ice-cold lemonade." Felix said gently and Madam Rosmerta glanced around carefully this way and said with some panic, "Oh, oh, okay, Mr. Hap." She calmed down as she reached the end of her sentence.


    There was a clinking sound at the bar that seemed a little harsh in the quiet space.


    "Mr. Hap, I''ve been abroad for the past few years, and I''ve heard your name every so often, but none of it could possibly match the invention of the exclusive wand, the impact of which surpassed even the fall of Voldemort. Would you like to hear about it?" The man asked.


    At that point, Madam Rosmerta brought over the lemonade and placed it on Felix''s side so that he would have two drinks. Of course, there was nothing on the other side, and instead of asking the man sitting across the table for his order, she gave him a stern look and then darted back behind the bar, looking around with a little caution.


    Felix pushed the glass to the opposite side and made a gesture of invitation, "On me."


    "Then I''d like to say thank you." Noel said in a flat tone, taking a sip from the glass before saying, "Future World Company has grown into a behemoth, you can find a shop in every magical community, and it is rumoured that the merpeople tribes under the water are now recruited to record their songs."


    Felix''s mind wandered back to the summer break when he arranged for the company to recruit a number of employees from other humanoid magical races. In his mind, these would be a seed for a pan-magical alliance. After a few years or a decade of bonding, they would open up new sales channels for the company on one hand, and on the other hand, they would have experience in how to deal with different races, so that they could establish a well-established form of communication that would work with a basis of mutual trust.


    The branches around the world are also an important means to promote ancient runes. rune cards, wizard cards, and rune guidebooks ... which are all being sold at half the price of cost. Not to mention - it only occurred to Felix now - the presence of these branches would act as an invisible restraint on Gringotts.


    So far the plan seems to be moving forward well.


    "... As far as I know, almost every Ministry of Magic is debating over the exclusive wand thing. You know, although there are not many squibs staying in the wizarding community, there are still large numbers of them living in No-Maj society, ... they also have relatives, especially those whose parents are still alive, who got the news almost first. Of course, not all the Squibs are willing to come back, many have started their own families, but it must be admitted that almost all of them have an obsession with magic, and they don''t mind having a wand on hand, even if it can only be used to clean and freshen up their rooms or direct some gadget to float around."


    The man grinned.


    "The other day, a group of Squibs went to the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States to protest, and it''s not as if they don''t have some support behind them - a number of them even come from very prestigious magical families and are related to the bigwigs who sit in the Woolworth Building and make decisions." S~?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "What about the Revolutionary Society? What did they do?" Felix asked.


    "Those people have good ideals, but they are still very young in their methods of action. One day they will stand at the decision-making table and consider these headaches. For now, their opinions are irrelevant."


    The man said, looking visibly disdainful as he continued.


    "The new President of the International Confederation of Wizards, Babajide Akingbade, is fretting over the fact that the Ministry of Magic of at least twelve countries has proposed a bill for an international general law around exclusive wands and the inclusion of squibs in their regulation, similar to the Statute of Secrecy... I have also heard that the British representative of the Confederation at the behest of your Minister, Ms. Bones, has also submitted a very well-regarded proposal. Akingbade even wanted to resign."


    Clang! The glass in Madam Rosmerta''s hand fell to the floor, smashing to pieces as everyone looked at her, and she seemed frightened by the indifferent stares, not quite able to restore the glass to its original state with her wand. Then she squeezed a stiff smile toward the crowd.


    "So -" Felix said slowly, "and what part do you play, or rather, are prepared to play - after presenting me with some of your excellent intelligence capabilities? Goodness, I''m not sure whether to tell Minerva; she''s so concerned about the future of those children that she would be furious if she found out she was only worrying for nothing ..."


    "That Professor McGonagall?" The man smiled slightly, "She''s serious and responsible enough under her stern exterior, perhaps the following information will comfort her, we only sent three separate groups, theoretically, the other families'' request for help should be genuine."


    "In theory?" Felix repeated.


    "That''s the point, you seem to think we represent all the Acolytes, but that''s not the case at all." The man said, "Mr. Hap, I wonder how much you know about the post-1945 Acolytes?"


    There was a pause in the finger that was tapping on the table.


    "Terrified and scattered?"


    "Something like that, but much more complicated." "My grandfather was an Acolyte," the man said as he got straight to the point, " with the position ... of barely being in charge of the mobilization of the followers within our country along with delivering information and gathering intelligence."


    Felix glanced at him, "I had not guessed, but he was still a big shot."


    "Not really, there are dozens of others like him, they were like the Gringotts scattered all over the world, there are some people in every country, those who run for the holy cause with a noble purpose, the rest ... can only be considered civilians who share our philosophy."


    "So that''s how the 100,000 Acolytes came to be known." Felix nodded.


    "... Since the end of the duel that shook the world, well, I didn''t get to witness that duel, but I learned about it through the diary my grandfather left behind, and just by reading the words I could feel the shock and awe he had felt... ...along with despair." The man said, a little pale and a little resigned.


    "Despair?"


    "The two most powerful men in the world, at least at the time ... I was in awe of Mr. Dumbledore and remembered a description in the diary about the invisible blade covering the battlefield above as if separating two worlds, where no one dared approach the frontal battlefield, and where a ray of sunlight could easily take the lives of those who advanced. ..."


    Felix pondered, adjectives aside, could transfiguration do that? Of course, it could, you just need to replace the transfiguration object with the all-pervasive air ... err, it would be a scary sight to think from an ordinary wizard''s perspective.


    "... After Mr. Grindelwald''s failure, several protests erupted around the world at the time, and perhaps it was for this reason why my grandfather was not held accountable, but from the people I visited after following the diary when I was growing up, it seems that these former acolytes were either in hiding or under the local Ministry of Magic''s key focus."


    "Mr. Noel, I don''t think your purpose is in any way to complain to me and elaborate on how your family was suppressed by the Ministry of Magic, both explicitly and implicitly." Felix interrupted.


    "Of course, Mr. Hap." The man promptly said, "In a way, no one since Grindelwald has been able to gather such a large force, and the few who were not willing to accept defeat could only start small riots, which did not end too well for them. It can be said that they went from being a formidable force capable of shaping the history of the magical world to a scattered bunch of pearls, moreover they were manipulated ... by ambitious people all because of a lack of a leading figure."


    "I seem to understand that you want to rescue your former leader."


    "No, Mr. Hap." The man said softly, "Not even Mr. Grindelwald set foot on British soil at the peak of his power, let alone a dozen of us, I would say ..."


    "If Mr. Grindelwald had simply stayed in Nurmengard, the world would have only gradually forgotten him, but from the moment he stepped out of Nurmengard Castle, whether he wanted to or not, he had returned to the limelight, or to put it another way ... had the power to sway the magical world once again. "


    "Even if he does nothing and now has changed his name, the world will move because of him, and we are just the first batch ... you can expect a steady stream thereafter."


    "Sounds like some kind of implicit threat."


    "No." The man said seriously, "Just a word of advice. The two largest wizarding organisations in the world - the Acolytes and the International Confederation of Wizards - are not exactly ironclad, and it is almost inevitable that word will eventually leak out, and then the eyes of the world will be on Hogwarts, even if Mr. Dumbledore ... "


    "Just the sound of it is troublesome enough," Felix muttered, "so do you have any good advice, Mr. Noel?"


    "This ..." the man remained silent for a moment, his tone becoming strained, "it''s just a suggestion, a vague idea ... " Felix looked at him expectantly. "First we need to be able to get in touch with Mr. Grindelwald and find out what he''s thinking ... Of course, we need an intermediary who can''t arouse suspicion, not a student, not an uninformed professor ... "


    "I''d be perfect for that." Felix said with renewed interest.


    "Exactly." As if encouraged, the man''s nostrils dilated slightly and those blue-green pupils became deeper, glowing slightly. "It would be best to find an opportunity where we could meet, not at the school, it would be easy to cause misunderstandings, and we don''t want to cause any trouble for Mr. Grindelwald, you understand? I have an informant in the International Confederation of Wizards who has told me some secrets, there are rumours floating around that-" he lowered his voice.


    Felix leaned forward and moved a little closer.


    "The current president, Akingbade, could possibly break the contract in order to divert attention. I would never want that to happen, and I''m willing to stand with you and contribute Mr. Hap, what do you think?"


    Felix''s expression was hesitant, "Dumbledore-"


    "He can''t be informed. I mean, one has to be careful initially, and Mr. Dumbledore holds some prejudice against the Acolytes - of course, it''s perfectly understandable, we were once enemies. I don''t think it would be advisable to make a fuss about it, at least until the trouble with Akingbade is resolved."


    Felix closed his eyes slowly as if weighing the pros and cons.


    "That''s pretty much the best way to go about it. What are your thoughts, Mr. Hap?"


    "My thoughts - well, I need to make sure the truth of it first."


    "That''s a good point, remember that informant I mentioned earlier? I''ve got a copy of the minutes he sent me with Akingbade''s handwritten signature on it, that can''t be faked-"


    "You''re a godsend, Mr. DeWitt."


    "Thanks for the compliment! Mr. Hap, I am beyond certain that some of us are in crisis. I was just - what did you call me!" The expression on the man''s face froze for a moment, and he could hardly believe his ears as he stared blankly at Felix; how did he know his real name?


    "Oh, well, look I gotta apologize to you." Felix spread his hands.


    "I''m so insensitive - Compared to me, Dumbledore is pretty good in this regard, he rarely invades people''s minds directly, even those who are hostile to him. But I can''t; I have to control myself from using it in my daily life to avoid losing too much fun, and listening to students explain their reasons for not finishing their homework is one of my favourite forms of entertainment.


    But curiosity gets the better of me if I encounter blatant hostility, especially when it''s a stranger I''m meeting for the first time. This curiosity is even stronger if the person is still chattering in my ear while acting like they are thinking about me ..."


    "What have you done to me?!" That man''s expression gradually darkened as he heard this, and finally, his face paled, and he cried out.


    "Not you ... though I am most curious about you now." Felix said softly as the man sucked in a cold breath and looked around at his companions who - seemingly caught in some sort of bizarre illusion - and two of them even snored, but he hadn''t noticed it a bit before.


    The man stumbled backward, so much that he had knocked over a chair, and in a panic he drew his wand from his robes and pointed it at Felix, the tip of it trembling slightly.


    He had said a lot of things today, most of them true, especially the parts about Grindelwald and Dumbledore''s strength, so he might have underestimated Hap''s intelligence, but not his fighting prowess.


    Felix crossed his arms on the table and watched the man with interest, without the slightest intention of making a move.


    The sound of tables being pushed and pulled rang out around them, and out of the corner of their eyes the two men saw a dozen wands drawn from various positions on the bodies of the wizards who had a dull expression around them; chest, waist, side, sleeve, the men raised their wands in unison, already ready to recite the spell at any moment.


    DeWitt was no longer composed, and the expression on his face was unsightly.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 655: The Aftermath and Invitation

    In the quiet night, Felix walked briskly on his feet, followed by a line of crooked wizards, their jaws jingling to and fro as if they were playing some odd rhythm. The group turned into an alleyway, the shops on either side were closed, only the dirty windows of the Hog''s Head Inn remained dimly lit, the door opened and a bushy grey-haired and bearded Aberforth came out to take out the rubbish and couldn''t help but open his mouth in surprise at the scene.


    "Good evening." Felix greeted calmly, his feet continuing forward with no intention of stopping to chat.


    Aberforth stared, watching as a wizard with a stiff body and head dangling to their chest passing in front of him, and he yelled at Felix''s back in annoyance, "So - the incarnation of Death is back to work? It doesn''t look like a bad haul." He muttered empathetically, "Which one of the guests is unlucky this time, Puddifoot? Three broomsticks?"


    His words stirred Felix''s memory.


    At a time when rumours of the Elder Wand were spreading, Felix had, as he did today, appeared along with the night, picking out vermin one by one like an old farmer inspecting his own fields, and the Hog''s Head Inn, with its unique bar culture of allowing customers to hide their faces, in addition to its price advantage, was well received by the shady wizards, making the Hog''s Head Inn the most favoured area for Felix''s hunting.


    Felix turned his head over his shoulder, flashed a broad smile to Aberforth, and continued to walk away.


    Aberforth frowned and cursed twice, and instead of taking out the rubbish, he turned and went back into the shack, slamming the door with a loud thud. "What''s wrong?" One of the guests inside asked drunkenly, "I thought I heard someone talking about death."


    "Shut up!" Aberforth yelled, his hair standing on end, "If you don''t get your drink money soon, I''ll tie you up on the sign at the door, you vile thief."


    The male wizard with the dishevelled ginger hair looked up from his glass, opened his bloodshot eyes, and said with a confused look in his eyes, "Aboufousse?" He hiccuped, "We''re good mates for sure ... isn''t it just some money? I have ..."


    He rummaged through his dirty pockets and pulled out a few gold galleons and slammed them on the table.


    "Where did you get that money?" Aberforth was astonished.


    "Well ... I''ve recently got close, close to a big man, another ... that''s the Minister of Magic, the Minister of Magic - you know? " The man giggled twice and downed two gulps of liquor into his mouth, a "hiss~ha~" inhaling sound released from his mouth, "Wow! Man, that''s some strong booze." S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    If Felix had been able to come in and sit down for a moment, he would have recognized the unkempt man at once - he is a friend (and colleague) of every thief and smuggler in the UK, and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, Mundungus.


    Felix had introduced him, along with Rita Skeeter, to Amelia Bones, so it wasn''t hard to guess who the big man that Mundungus was talking about was.


    Felix stood in the dense night darkness, his gaze remained calm as a dozen wizards descended from the sky.


    These wizards are all Aurors, the wands in their hands glowing with light, illuminating their vigilant faces. A woman strides out of the crowd and walks over to Felix.


    It is Amelia Bones.


    Felix handed the men over to Aurors and stepped aside with Ms. Bones, and spoke in a whisper.


    "It is recommended to keep them in solitary confinement for at least -" Felix calculated, "four months."


    Ms. Bones raised her eyebrows.


    "Are you interfering with justice here?"


    "Oh come on, I''m your advisor, you''ll know how serious this is once you''ve interrogated the leader, who''s a really clever man, I''ve seen the plan and there''s a real chance he''ll succeed with the lack of transparency of information." Felix gave a brief rundown about the men and Ms. Bones'' jaw dropped in shock.


    In a nutshell, this man, Mr. DeWitt, who went by the name ''Noel'', had planned to move around, gain Grindelwald''s trust, use rhetoric to trick him into working for him, and then receive the old man''s political legacy through a series of meticulous plans and tactics.


    The key link in the plan is the recent riots in the US and Grindelwald''s teaching at Hogwarts. DeWitt has no intention of keeping it a secret, as he says he will, instead he will use Grindelwald as a banner to recruit people while using spies lurking in the International Confederation of Wizards to create conflict, and when the time is right, he will trigger his plan.


    When the time comes -


    Old man Grindelwald would naturally be portrayed as an ambitious man trying to make a comeback and be imprisoned back at the first opportunity. DeWitt may be at that time rightfully crowned as the number two (self-appointed) head of the Acolytes under the banner of being Grindelwald''s heir.


    Not to mention, the inevitable fall of Dumbledore''s reputation that would accompany this affair would also drag Felix into this mess.


    "Pretty good planning, it is just a shame that he didn''t practice the Occlumency well." Felix said sighing, "And didn''t know about me well enough, I''m not as bright as Dumbledore, who has to care about his reputation all the time."


    Ms. Bones rolled her eyes in resignation, "You''re surprisingly honest. But are you telling the truth?" She trailed off.


    "You find it incredible too, don''t you? But there''s never a shortage of ambitious people in this world, let alone ambitious people who gamble heavily," Felix said, "so when I confirmed he is an enemy, I breathed a hard sigh of relief, because frankly, if all that suspicion and malice later turns out to be just personal - -you know, like corporate rivalries or something," he shrugged, "I would have found it tricky too, but of course, now they''re your problem."


    Ms. Bones gave him a blank look.


    She stroked her hair and after a moment said, "As it happens, I''m planning to meet with the new Confederation President Babajide recently, the spy is called Wollaston, an official assistant under the Confederation, isn''t he? I''ll move as soon as I get these people settled."


    She walked over and instructed the Aurors a dozen feet away to confine the men one by one with their magic, and of the three Aurors on guard, a female Auror with pink hair stood out in the darkness.


    Felix paced over to her.


    "Tonks."


    Tonks looked around warily and after a few seconds she spoke in a whisper-like voice, "What is it?" "How have you and Remus been?" Felix asked quietly. Tonks'' shoulders slumped, looking moody, and she said feebly, "Ugh, just like that."


    "Lupin''s birthday will soon -"


    Tonks jerked her head around and looked at Felix up and down, and it was Felix''s turn to wonder.


    "Do you have time that day?" She asked eagerly.


    "Uh-"


    "We''d like to invite you to Remus''s birthday party, what do you think?" She asked with a look of anticipation.


    "It''s okay, but-"


    "It''s a deal!" She said decisively, and then with a "please" look on her face she asked, "Well - is that okay?"


    Felix cleared his throat and muttered in a quiet voice, "It seems there''s something going on that I don''t know about."


    Tonks sighed with a glum face.


    "I''ll be brief about it, we''re planning to spend our birthday at my parents''."


    Felix blinked and immediately had the urge to back out, "Well, on second thought, something might come up that day, it happens to be Monday ... or maybe another day-"


    He was startled.


    Tonks had made her face look haggard and her hair greying, and several extra wrinkles had appeared on her forehead, a natural ability of the Metamorphmagus with a gift to change her appearance from birth.


    "I''m worried to death, you won''t have the heart to watch Remus being questioned alone, right? If you are there, there will be someone to help pull the weight or something in case of a fight ..." she glanced at the bound wizards, "You can easily subdue a dozen dark wizards alone, not to mention just three."


    Felix looked at Tonks and mentally contemplated just how pessimistic she is about the family dinner that would soon follow, to even contemplate such a notion.


    At last, everything was in place, Ms. Bones brought out two portkeys and the group of Aurors split into two groups, each forming a circle in a slightly comical position, tugging the unconscious prisoner with one hand and touching the portkey with the other, and after a dazzling blue light, the group disappeared into the darkness.


    "Don''t never forget-" Tonks'' shout came to a screeching halt.


    Felix stayed where he was, mulling over his role in the awkward dinner party that would soon follow, and he preferred to deal with a dozen more dark wizards rather than be the jokester who enlivened the atmosphere or the terrorist who put down the Tonks family.


    He quickly had an idea.


    "Sirius? Lately - don''t hang up in a hurry, got something important to ask you ... yes, something to do with your best friend, well Tonks wants to liven things up a bit ..."


    His steps lightened as Felix put away the communicating mirror and was even in the mood to consider what tone of voice to use in the morning to offhandedly spill the beans on what had happened tonight, the dark lord Grindelwald had become an object to be used and manipulated in some people''s eyes, and he couldn''t wait to see Grindelwald''s reaction.


    "I''m just curious," Grindelwald said slowly when Professor Sprout left from the neighbouring table, "why did he approach you."


    "Is this another one of those sharp counter agendas you''ve had in mind?" Felix asked.


    Dumbledore who had just finished listening to Felix with a serious face, now returned to his usual look, spreading butter and jam on his slice of bread as if nothing had happened.


    "It''s normal for some young man to underestimate me after I''ve disappeared for half a century," Grindelwald said slowly, "but - Felix Hap, that name has gained a lot of notoriety in recent years, what makes someone think that you are easy to be used in a conspiracy?


    The implication of his words seemed to imply that Felix should reflect on himself and what impression he had made on the public.


    "On that note," Dumbledore said with a sudden faint smile, "Felix has actually always been most remembered as a scholar, even if he has had a few bouts in public to promote his learning. He has never been publicly associated with any political activity. Perhaps - in the opinion of that Mr. DeWitt - the fact that a young man of only twenty-five has achieved so much just shows that he has devoted all his time and energy to study magic."


    Grindelwald chuckled, "So the man sitting next to me is someone with an incredibly simple mind."


    Felix was pensive.


    "It does sound a lot better than the title of dark lord or dark demon, I mean how come more and more people have been writing to me with salutations since school started, especially this month during the festive season when greeting cards and chocolates could fill a bedroom. Albus, you must have the same experience, right?"


    Grindelwald''s expression froze, and he paused, looking at Felix and then at Dumbledore.


    Dumbledore''s wrinkled face flushed slightly, and he coughed lightly twice, not quite comfortable, "Felix, Minerva asked me to tell you that three students have felt the throbbing of the Animagus. It will be difficult to change that number in the short term."


    "Okay, I understand." Felix thought for a moment and said, "Tonight then, in fact, I''d like to think that in another week or two there may be a new student who will succeed."


    "Why do you say that?" Dumbledore asked curiously.


    You know, it is not an easy thing to feel the throbbing of the Animagus, and it is not unusual for many people to drag their feet for months or years on this, and during this time, the wizard undergoing the ritual must recite the spell twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, without fail. This process is actually a great test of perseverance and dedication, much more difficult than having a leaf of mandrake in your mouth.


    "Because of the Patronus charm." Felix said, "The current three - Hermione Granger, Hannah Abbott, and Draco Malfoy - have one thing in common, they have mastered the Patronus Charm."


    "The first two are members of the ''Frontline Lookout'' club, and Harry has spent a lot of time in the club teaching this spell, and as for Draco, he''s not a member of the club, but he''s secretly mastered it as well, probably to try and compete with Harry... ..."


    Felix thought the boy was a bit of a dolt, because even if he had learned it he didn''t get to use it, for the reason that his dad, Lucius, was working under Voldemort at that time, but ... stupid people have stupid ideas.


    "All in all, the incline is still pretty obvious. The fact that those two seventh years in the Transfiguration Club haven''t received any feedback so far just backs that up. When Minerva and I were discussing this, we thought that the Patronus Charm tapped into the wizard''s spiritual powers, which happens to fulfil the requirements for the second stage of Animagus'' practice."


    Dumbledore thought quickly for a while and nodded his head.


    "That''s a reasonable conjecture; some magic affects others, possibly in a gainful way or in reverse," he said with a smile on his face as his pupils dilated slightly, "and it''s a massive research topic."


    He glanced thoughtfully at Felix.


    "Perhaps it is only by relying on a student population as large as Hogwarts that magic can be pushed forward to keep progressing, no wonder those in the Ministry of Magic have been studying it for decades without much results ..."


    At nine o''clock in the evening, the wind was howling and the rain was pouring down.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 656: Happiness (2 in 1)

    Outside the Forbidden Forest, Felix, Professor McGonagall, and several students looked at each other through the thick curtain of rain. They held their wands up, and from the tips of their wands a thin stream of air poured out, forming a vague umbrella-shaped layer of air above their heads to keep the rain out. The few people present tried to control themselves from looking at Professor Hap or giving any odd expressions. Because it was not the professor himself who was holding up his wand, but a Niffler. Valen sat on Felix''s shoulder, as her eyes darted between the three students, Draco, Hannah, and Hermione, who the Great Demon King said would turn into little animals in a short while.


    Harry and Ron are also present, and the excuse they made at first to observe the Animagus transformation process was sternly rejected by Professor McGonagall.


    "There''s no need for that."


    But the two played the emotion card, "We''re Hermione''s best friends and are really worried about-" Surprisingly, Professor McGonagall looked at them critically for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. Harry and Ron mentally hailed their good luck.


    "You can start now."


    Professor McGonagall said the moment the first lightning bolt cut through the sky. Above the heads of the group, above the thick black clouds, a huge thunderbird in a magic form spread out its wings and circled and soared above the clouds little by little.


    Hermione, Hannah, and Draco staggered into the Forbidden Forest when they heard the voice, scattered and ran in different directions, disappearing in the blink of an eye into the range of the raging storm. They needed to get the crystal vial of potion that had been hidden at the edge of the Forbidden Forest as soon as they could.


    Professor McGonagall held her wand tightly in both hands, the rain blown by the wind wetting her hair and trickling down her somewhat pale cheeks, her knuckles whitening from the force of her clenching.


    "They will be all right." She murmured.


    Felix looked further into the depths of the forbidden forest, the rainstorm and darkness did not obscure his view as the three glowing silhouettes continued to fade away in the grey and white background, at which point Felix suddenly turned back to look in the direction of the castle from which they had come.


    A flash of lightning streaked by, and he seemed to see a blurred silhouette standing on the castle balcony.


    Felix narrowed his eyes.


    Harry also followed Professor Hap''s line of sight, then opened his mouth wide in surprise and exclaimed out loud, "Neville?" In the darkness, a blurred figure darted towards them, appearing and disappearing in the chaotic flashes of lightning.


    Professor McGonagall jumped to her feet in surprise.


    "You- Longbottom, why are you-" she asked speechlessly


    Neville was breathing heavily, his face and body completely wet from the rain and covered in mud, as if he had tripped and fallen more than once midway. With a panting voice, he announced, "I - succeeded - at sunset today - I felt - -"


    "You felt the throbbing of the Animagus?" Professor McGonagall finished the sentence for him.


    "No... yes - that''s right." Neville said amidst the rain.


    "Then move as quickly as you can, it is still not too late." Felix said.


    Neville nodded heavily and excitedly turned and ran towards the forbidden forest. Professor McGonagall looked at his back and uttered in a low voice that filled with excitement, " This is incredible, counting Longbottom, there are four ... all four of them have mastered the Patronus Charm ... This discovery is sure to be one of the most groundbreaking transfiguration theory in this century."


    She suddenly turned to Harry and Ron and said seriously, "Potter, Weasley, you should never give up, it''s totally worth a try ... I''ll have to talk to Vergil and Jamilyn and suggest that they should take some time to learn the Patronus Charm ... "


    Vergil and Jamilyn are the two seventh-year students from the Transfiguration Club who are still insisting on reciting the spell each day at sunrise and sunset.


    Harry and Ron nodded wordlessly, feeling the mandrake leaf in their mouths become a little more important. The two exchanged a silent glance and made up their minds that it would be best to eat in the special canteen for the next period of time.


    Felix looked up into the sky, dark clouds completely obscuring the moon, black clouds pierced every now and then by a flurry of blinding lightning bolts, leaving behind solid patches of light on the retina as thunder rumbled.


    They waited in silence, and finally, the first person came back.


    It was Hermione, her once fluffy hair now plastered to her face, her trouser legs stained with mud, and she was shivering from the cold, but she still clutched a small crystal potion vial in her hand tightly, the mixture of multiple ingredients in the vial now transformed into a blood-red potion.


    "Professor, I did it, the potion-" she said excitedly.


    Felix raised his hand gently with a smile on his face, and in front, behind, and left and right side of Hermione, four walls rose up to her neck and closed around her to form a space that joined together.


    "Miss Granger, you are only one step away from success."


    "Kee ki!" Valen cheered her on.


    Hermione took a deep breath, pointed the tip of her wand at the spot where her heart should be, and with a trill she recited the incantation, "Amato Animo Animato Animagus." Then she drank the potion from the vial in one gulp and closed her eyes as she waited.


    Several pairs of eyes were firmly fixed on her face.


    "Profess, Professor ... It is a beaver - my Animagus form is a beaver." Hermione said without being able to control herself.


    "Very well, that is what we expected." Felix said calmly, with a certain convincing power in his tone, and Hermione''s teeth chattered as she struggled to hear what he was saying. "You should be feeling sharp pain and two intense heartbeats by now, you will have to blend into the other with no reluctance, there is nothing to worry about, you have experienced a dozen transfigurations, and each time you have wandered off to the edge of losing control, the feral rush from the Animagus is nothing compared to that."


    "We are here." Professor McGonagall said in a strong voice.


    Hermione shuddered and nodded slightly, and at that moment, the transformation began as the walls started to once again blend into the ground.


    Harry and Ron had to desperately control themselves to keep from screaming.


    They had seen Animagus transformation before, but when it happened to a familiar friend, they realized just how weird it was. Every part of Hermione''s body was undergoing a complex human transfiguration - one that was far more advanced than what they had been exposed to in class - the wet hair shortening a little, her head and body shrinking as if she had suddenly fallen victim to the professor''s zooming magic, the outline of her head gradually morphing towards that of a rodent, the clothes on her body constantly tightening and blending into her skin, and turning into a kind of dark brown fur, her hands and feet transforming into slender paws ... a beaver appeared in front of the eyes of the crowd.


    "Splat!"


    Hermione''s wand dropped and bonked twice on the wet ground.


    "Now, don''t forget, you have to figure out how to properly place your wand before you transform." Professor McGonagall warned in the pouring rain, to which Harry and Ron obediently nodded.


    Felix''s eyes lit up as he stared unblinkingly at the creature in front of him, it was about two feet long, which made the beaver relatively large compared to rodents of the same genus, but it was still dwarfed compared to the other creatures. It was a good thing that no one in the scene cared what form of Animagus they might be; the significance of the magic itself was all that mattered.


    From the view of magic energy, the creature in front of him was nearly devoid of any magical fluctuations, all magic was converged in the deepest part of its body, nearly solidified, and it was surprisingly somewhat similar to a squib.


    There was a momentary flash of trance in the beaver''s eyes as it let out two short grunts. "Snort-" the beaver glanced reproachfully at Ron, who had laughed out loud, and Ron apologized with a serious look, "Sorry, Hermione. I was looking for the wizardly features on you, and I thought it might be those big pair of teeth."


    Harry desperately tried to hold it in to keep himself from laughing out loud along with Ron.


    "Whoosh!"


    Valen jumped off Felix''s shoulder and stood in front of the beaver, gesticulating excitedly.


    The beaver barked twice, but unfortunately, they still couldn''t speak the same language.


    The rain parted above Felix''s head, and he leaned expressionlessly against the suddenly raised wall. At that point, Valen was already writing in the air with her exclusive wand, and the beaver glanced sadly at her wand, which had fallen to the ground, and then she looked down at her short hands, the whiskers on the side of her mouth curling up to reveal a pair of large slatted teeth.


    A long, slender palm was brought toward her.


    The beaver stared blankly at the small peas in Felix''s hand with an expression of confusion. Then she slapped his hand away in annoyance, and she yelped with a note of anger.


    Felix withdrew his hand as if nothing had happened.


    "Well done, Granger. It looks like you can easily resist the feral nature in your body, which is good, now you can try to change back."


    " You have even prepared this specifically, Professor?" Harry asked with a dumbfounded look.


    "I did quite a bit of preparation for the test." Felix said calmly, "In addition to the peas, there are insects and pears that peacocks like to eat, plant seeds that squirrels prefer, and of course, I didn''t prepare Neville''s share, but his Patronus is a cat, and I happen to have dried, salted small fish here."


    In the time it took for them to talk, Hermione finally found the trick to change herself back, and she smoothed out her messy hair. As she picked up her wand, she glared at Felix in dissatisfaction.


    "Professor, you are so well-prepared." She said with a huff, she had almost failed to resist the temptation to try the peas before, it was hard to figure out how the professor had come up with it.


    "After the transformation, your tastes would change." Felix said briefly as if he was explaining it to Hermione, his eyes still fixed on her, and Professor McGonagall couldn''t stand to look at it any longer as she cleared her throat.


    "Um... Professor? What did you find out?" Hermione said with a slight flush to her cheeks, her face burning a little from his attention.


    "Soul nodes." Felix muttered.


    "What?"


    "I''m not sure," Felix said after thinking for a moment, "Wizards'' souls are distinctly different from the ordinary person, and I suspect that magic plays a major role in that. One piece of evidence is that even ghosts are magical, which gives them the ability to interfere slightly with real objects. So what makes a wizard''s soul so special, and what acts as the link between soul and body?"


    "You think it''s magic?" Hermione asked in a light tone, and at one side Harry and Ron exchanged a surprised look.


    "Just a guess." Felix shrugged as the rain crackled against the leaves, and after a moment he turned his head to look into the Forbidden Forest, where Draco Malfoy appeared at the edge of the forest, almost ten minutes slower than Hermione.


    But it could have been due to the fact that he had tidied up his clothes midway through; his hair was slicked back, and his clothes were dry as he strode unhurriedly towards them, and the red crystal vial in his hand held in the most prominent spot.


    The corners of Harry and Ron''s mouths dropped.


    "Stinking show-off." Ron muttered in a small voice. Harry thought that was on point.


    Draco was only slightly surprised to learn that Hermione had completed her Animagus transformation, but he didn''t mind having an extra spectator around, and a few moments later he was proudly showing off his gorgeous, beautiful peacock feathers, and he even took two bites out of the pear that Professor Hap had offered.


    As soon as he transformed back, Ron immediately and unceremoniously scoffed at his brief out of control behaviour, "This way he won''t be flaunting around in front of us." He said to Harry with great foresight.


    "I was just trying out the peacock''s sense of taste." Draco retorted with a red face, Harry and Ron folded their arms in unison and gave him a sneer, determined not to acknowledge whatever Draco would claim.


    Professor McGonagall ignored the childish behaviour of these men as she walked over to Felix and looked worriedly at the darkened forbidden forest.


    "Felix ... Hannah Abbott and Neville Longbottom haven''t made it back yet."


    "There is no reason for them to be this late," Felix said with the same confusion, "I know the approximate location of where they hid their crystal vials, it''s not too far from here, even if the path was harder to follow because of the rainstorm, they should have come back by now."


    "They couldn''t possibly be got lost, could they?" Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow.


    They looked at each other, and both saw a look of disbelief in each other''s eyes. Two students got lost together? But the possibility did exist, and Professor McGonagall told Harry and the others to stay where they were while she and Felix headed to the Forbidden Forest to look for them.


    "You guys stay here, I don''t want to find out that you are all lost too by the time we get Longbottom and Abbott back." Professor McGonagall said as Felix left Valen behind and pulled two flying brooms out of his ring, Professor McGonagall leaped into the sky as the two glided through the rainstorm.


    "There."


    After a few minutes of searching, Felix''s magic perspective made a contribution, and they found Neville and Hannah about two kilometres from the edge of the forbidden forest, the two students surprisingly staying together.


    Professor McGonagall landed angrily from the sky and then opened her mouth so wide in surprise that she didn''t even notice the rain pouring in.


    The two students - only one person on the scene, to be precise - and Neville trudging through the mud with a red squirrel in his arms, and the rain trickling down his hair, when he saw Felix and Professor McGonagall, Neville seemed to breathe a huge sigh of relief.


    "Oh - thank goodness - Professor, you''re here at last, Hannah, Hannah''s here." He showed the two professors the red squirrel that lay peacefully in his arms.


    "Longbottom, what the hell is going on here?" Professor McGonagall cried out, as she glared at the red squirrel, "Is this Hannah Abbott? She took her magic potion in advance? Didn''t I tell you that you must return with the magic potion and take it under the supervision of the Professor?"


    The red squirrel shuddered.


    "All right." Professor McGonagall sighed and compassionately took the red squirrel from Neville''s arms and stepped aside to carefully reassure Hannah.


    Neville, meanwhile, stammered to explain what had just happened.


    "After I got the potion, I was going to head back, when I saw Hannah walking past in the distance, that was in the direction further inside the forbidden forest, and I thought I was going in the wrong direction ... " "So you decided to follow her to make sure and confirm. " Felix asked. "Yes, Professor." Neville said softly, "Hannah was running fast, and my vision was so bad in the rain that I almost lost her a few times, but I probably guessed she was lost."


    "We could guess that too, but why did she break the rule and take the potion?"


    "Oh, Professor ..." At this point, Hannah, who had managed to regain her human form under Professor McGonagall''s guidance, said with a sniffle, "I''m so sorry, I, I lost my way... ...and was worried I wouldn''t make it in time, so I decided, decided ..."


    "Decided to transform in a corner where no one was around." Professor McGonagall said in a stern tone.


    "Yes, that''s right," Hannah cried, "I''m sorry, I was so scared and worried that my months of hard work would be wasted, so my head got confused and I, I did well on the controlling feral side part of the lesson ... "


    "Miss Abbott, the lesson that Professor Hap and I prepared was not meant for you to use as an excuse to take risks." Professor McGonagall said sternly.


    "Professor McGonagall," Neville said, mustering up his courage, "Hannah actually regained her own sanity, and it was me who felt that it was time to go back to the site -"


    "That''s very thoughtful of you." Professor McGonagall said with a grunt, she looked up at the sky, almost an hour had passed, and the clouds began to grow thin, and the silhouette of the Thunderbird faintly became visible.


    "You have delayed too much previously, Mr. Longbottom, I suggest you to transform here, with Professor Hap, and I am watching ... you do have your magic potion with you, right?"


    Neville nodded his head hurriedly.


    A few minutes later, he transformed into a tortoiseshell cat, identical to his Patronus form. The tortoiseshell cat meowed twice, and a small smile appeared on Professor McGonagall''s tense face, but it was gone in the blink of an eye.


    So by the time Felix and Professor McGonagall returned from the Forbidden Forest, all four students had completed their Animagus transformations. Professor McGonagall didn''t mention Hannah''s blunder in front of Harry and the rest and simply told them that Hannah and Neville, the two of them had completed their transformations in the Forbidden Forest because of time constraints.


    "That''s cool!" Ron said enviously.


    The atmosphere on the way back was very relaxed and Ron kept asking Neville and Hermione how they felt when they transformed, "Is it any different from normal transformations?" By the time they returned to the castle, Hannah was already talking and laughing normally.


    "You guys have a good night''s rest tonight and don''t try to transform in private," Professor McGonagall said, "Come to my office tomorrow morning, and I''ll use the two days of the weekend to get you familiar with transformations as quickly as possible, and - you have a bunch of forms that you need to fill out."


    She used her wand to summon a few cups of hot cocoa, and after watching them finish it, she let them go back.


    "Minerva, don''t be too harsh, at least it turned out well, well -" Felix stammered, seeing a sudden smile spread across Professor McGonagall''s face as she leaped up and said with joy, "What a day to remember, Felix! I must go back for a drink."


    --------------


    #paladar blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    S~?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 657: Strength and Memory (2 in 1)

    "Happy birthday, Ron." The next day Harry woke up with a yawn, and subconsciously closed his mouth halfway through it, alertly sensing the mandrake leaf in his mouth with his tongue. He looked around the dormitory; Seamus and Dean had gone out and Neville was not there, which he found odd, but then it occurred to him that Neville was going to Professor McGonagall''s office this morning to receive guidance on Animagus.


    "With pleasure, with pleasure." At that moment, Ron said in a daze, stepping on a small pile of packages as he put his feet on the floor. In an instant he became awake, "Presents!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs and started to open the presents without even changing out of his pyjamas.


    Harry tossed a fancy-wrapped box onto his bed, "Your present." Then began to change.


    It only took him two minutes to remove his pyjamas and change into his robes, and when he had finished this he glanced at his watch and breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully, he had made it in time.


    "Where are you going - heh, thanks Harry, this is a great present." Ron said as he waved the Quidditch keeper''s dragon hide gloves that Harry had given him, he sat on the floor with a pile of wrapping paper scattered around him and said with a raised eyebrow, "This year has been a bumper harvest, all the presents I''ve received have gone up a notch, I really hope to be an adult again next year - where are you going? "


    He asked again, this time he finally averted his eyes from a heavy gold watch.


    "I''ve got an appointment with Professor Bagshot." Harry muttered.


    "Oh what a bummer, I was hoping to go to Hogsmeade with you," Ron said, " If Fred and George had a shred of conscience, they would consider giving their brother a discount on his coming of age day ... " He counted the presents again and said disgruntledly, "Maybe I''m overthinking it, they didn''t even send a present."


    "Maybe they are planning to personally hand it to you." Harry reminded.


    Ron thought about it and cheered up again, "You''re right ... but it''s best not to get my hopes up, they''ve been quite busy lately, I guess they just dropped off a box of Dungbombs at the Hogsmeade branch."


    Harry and Ron parted at the castle gates, "I''ll bring you the Honeydukes sweets." Ron said, walking towards Filch as Harry descended the stone steps and made his way to the edge of the Forbidden Forest.


    Grindelwald was already waiting there.


    They strolled slowly through the grass, the soft sunlight spilling over the treetops, the air mixed with a damp vapour and the scent of fresh grass, and Harry saw the whomping willow from a distance, it looked harmless, swaying gently in the breeze.


    "Harry," Grindelwald said, "you have learned a few spells, but I have noticed that you are far from being truly powerful."


    "I''m sorry," Harry said, somewhat uncomfortably, "I''m not very skilled ... yet."


    "That''s not the reason." Grindelwald whispered, "Although I teach the theories, the models of the spell in class, it is to take care the progress of the average person, of the ... mediocre students."


    Harry looked at him in surprise.


    "People are different, and most of the people you meet - if there are no accidents - will just spend their whole lives bumbling along, their greatest use being to keep magic alive."


    Grindelwald walked slowly forward and Harry followed, and he said, "Sir, I disagree with that." Grindelwald glanced at him, "Then tell me what you think."


    "Er -" Harry quipped, "Wouldn''t it be nice to bumble around and be peaceful, that''s the way I like to live, and I think judging someone''s worth based on their magic abilities is too, too... ..."


    "Utilitarian?" Grindelwald asked with interest.


    "A bit." Harry said honestly, thinking that Professor Bagshot must have been influenced by the ideas of the dark wizard Grindelwald, as he had read a similar description in the travelogue he had found in the library.


    "I don''t think - well, there''s no need to divide people up in terms of their usefulness. Like my friend Ron''s family, Mr. Weasley works at the Ministry of Magic, and he''s recently been preparing a new Muggle Protection Act, and I think this whole thing would be kind of significant, but it doesn''t have much to do with magic, does it? And Mrs. Weasley, she''s a housewife and a wonderful person who looks after the whole family ..."


    "Their eldest son, Bill, used to work as a Curse-Breaker at the Gringotts, but he applied for an office job because of the war, I think with his personality he''d like to do something more adventurous, oh, not now ... his girlfriend''s there too; their second son, Charlie, is raising dragons in Romania, and their third son Percy, just like Mr. Weasley, works in the Ministry of Magic, but I reckon his job consists of writing reports all day long ..."


    "The only ones who have continued to study magic after graduation might be Fred and George, who runs a joke shop and spend their days working on various prank props; Ron dreams of becoming an Auror, and Ginny is still too young, but I think she has the potential to be a professional Quidditch player ... "


    Harry snapped his fingers and listed the members of the Weasley family one by one.


    "If we go by your idea, most of them would be classified in the useless group, but I don''t think they would even care about such a rating, they just want to go on with their lives."


    Harry said it in one breath and took a few deep breaths after finishing it. Professor Bagshot didn''t say anything for a long time, which made Harry wonder if his tone was too harsh and aggressive, he didn''t quite dare to look the professor in the eye and lowered his head to stare at a small patch of plants on the ground.


    "That makes me a little envious of their family, Harry." Grindelwald said, and then he turned the tables, "I just have a question, when that Voldemort was wreaking havoc, did your dear Weasley family also lead their little lives without a care in the world?"


    "Imagine what the scenario would have been without Dumbledore, and without Felix Hap. Oh, if I remember correctly, the Weasleys are purebloods, and if they displayed compliance to Voldemort, they should be able to lead a good life ..."


    "They wouldn''t submit to Voldemort''s evil rule!" Harry retorted in a loud voice.


    "Then they would be killed." Grindelwald said faintly, "As weak as this little plant." He walked over to Harry and crushed the plant Harry had been staring at earlier under his feet, a surge of anger welled up inside Harry, but then he suddenly thought of something ...


    It was the scene where he was practicing the Patronus Charm in Professor Hap''s office. To inspire the will to fight, he had entered a vision set up by the professor, in which he had seen many terrible events, where everyone had fallen and Voldemort had won, and it was that time that he had inspired the immensely powerful Patronus.


    "If you don''t want your fate to be at the mercy of others, you must wield great strength, like Hap, there are few people in the world who can threaten him. But if he is cold enough to not leave even one last weakness." Grindelwald''s eyes glinted strangely, " I am darn curious."


    "But the war is over, Voldemort is locked up in-" s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry quickly stopped talking to stop himself from spilling the secret that Voldemort is in Classroom Seven. Professor Bagshot didn''t seem to notice his slip of the tongue though, and continued in a flat tone, "There will always be conflict, can you guarantee that a terrible dark lord won''t arise among your classmates? And never underestimate the warlike nature of Muggles; look up their history, and you''ll find it''s a history of war."


    "There won''t be a war," Harry said urgently, bringing up what Sirius had told him earlier, "The Ministry of Magic has found a way, and the Minister of Magic and the Muggle Prime Minister are in constant contact, as long as- "


    "What about the influence of the populace?"


    "-both sides are able to, er, what?" Harry asked, a little confused.


    "You''re ignoring the influence of the populace on the Muggle government, I know how those politicians roll, they may deceive, incite and seduce the masses, but they will never allow themselves to be put on the wrong side of them, and if a significant number of Muggles are in opposition towards the wizards, there is absolutely no shortage of despicable politicians that do not have the ruling position, they will use that opportunity to stand by them and to speak for them. It would only take a small spark ... puff, with the careful design of a thoughtful person, the so-called peace you are talking about would instantly be reduced to ashes." Grindelwald stated icily, "It''s all too easy, and it is bound to happen."


    Harry listened in shock, they had discussed the subject of muggles and wizards before, but never with such a blunt and even bloody tone as today. He gulped and tried to speak, only to find that he seemed to have lost his vocal cord.


    "Wizards are the true peace-loving community, for thousands of years we have not needed strict order to be at peace, we have mastered great powers without abusing them; on the other hand Muggles, their civilization was born out of war, however, it is absurd that ... wizards when they should have established order, chose to stand back because there were always foolish muggles who would harm our children when we weren''t looking ... This made the muggles arrogantly think that they are the masters of the land. The wizards have become the outliers in turn."


    "With Professor Hap ...," Harry said in a hoarse voice.


    "Do you think he''ll succeed?" Grindelwald glanced at him calmly, making Harry wince as he feared the professor would say something even more dreadful, but Professor Bagshot simply said gently, "Well, maybe he will. Is that why you''re planning to pin your hopes on someone else and close the door yourself and pretend everything is peaceful? Sounds good, I remember that''s what that Potions class professor did." He was referring to Slughorn.


    Harry''s face burned, a little ashamed of himself, but it was more mixed with fear.


    Because he knew that even Professor Hap was not certain, so theoretically what Professor Bagshot had said was entirely possible, and at that moment he thought of the Dursleys, of Uncle Vernon, and if wizards were really exposed to the world at large volume, would they allow a wizard to come into their lives openly and brightly?


    Harry didn''t need any hesitation at all to answer that question; when he thought about the way Uncle Vernon treated the bums on the street, the way he treated himself ... well, he would have absolutely blown up the government hotline.


    How many people like him are out there? If they got together, there would be protests accompanying them, and after that would things go the way Professor Bagshot had predicted, with some of the government officials taking the lead in compromising and the situation going in an unknown direction ... Harry recalled the muggle parade in the first Defence Against the Dark Arts class, and those icy stares seemed to fall on him again as if they had crossed the time.


    Harry''s expression became heavy, and his limbs felt like lead as he followed the professor in a daze. He couldn''t think of any good way out of it, and then he suddenly noticed Professor Bagshot stop and say, "We are here."


    Harry looked around in bewilderment; they are standing deep in the Forbidden Forest, surrounded by tall trees, but it is only March and the foliage is not exactly that thick yet, so he can see the sky overhead through the sparse foliage.


    "Remember the magic I taught you, try it." Grindelwald said calmly as if those previous conversations hadn''t ever happened.


    Harry waved his wand carelessly and the spell hit the trunk of an enormous tree and the trunk shook for a moment. Which he didn''t consider decent enough, "Oh, sorry, I will try again." He tried to calm down and waved his wand a second time, this time the powerful spell broke the thick bark of the tree in two.


    Harry looked over at Professor Bagshot with a touch of satisfaction. The professor''s earlier words had still worked, and Harry still hadn''t come up with a foolproof solution, but he felt that he would never stand by and hide if things did go in the worst possible direction.


    Not to mention that Harry thought he might well be Auror at that time, with his loved ones and everything he valued standing behind him, and there would be no turning back.


    "Not enough," Grindelwald said aloud, looking unimpressed, "You can do better than that."


    "I did my best." Harry said.


    "Do you think I''m playing house with you?" Grindelwald reprimanded him, "Why didn''t I find that little muggle-born girl who does so much better than you in class."


    "I wonder about that too." Harry said stiffly.


    "If you didn''t have the potential I wouldn''t have bothered wasting my time at all, there aren''t many in the whole school that could surpass your magic power and that''s including the Professors, your biggest problem is that you never once considered how far you could go! Magic isn''t a rigid thing, you''re shackling your own powers."


    "I don''t have-"


    "Then show some real power, or go back and pray that bad luck won''t befall you and pray like a coward that you will be shown mercy by the big man-"


    A sudden explosion came from the forest. The tremendous impact churned hundreds of huge trees into pieces as if there had been a massive explosion. The space within a radius of two or three hundred feet was flattened, and further away the trees swayed east and west as if they had experienced a violent typhoon.


    Broken wood and branches were falling in droves, and Harry stared in disbelief at what he had done.


    "Look at that, Harry! Look at that!" Grindelwald said in a loud voice, his eyes sweeping over the vast expanse of the debris before him, "That''s what you''re really good at."


    ...


    In the evening, Harry showed up at the Headmaster''s office.


    "Harry, you''re here." Dumbledore said gently, as usual, Harry noticed the Pensieve placed on the table, the silver substance inside swirling rapidly, and he guessed that the Headmaster had probably just used it.


    Dumbledore held his wand against his forehead and drew out a new memory, and placed it in the Pensieve, before attempting to grab Harry''s hand.


    "We have to speed things up, we have a lot to do today."


    Harry avoided it. He lowered his head to not look at Dumbledore and gazed into the Pensieve.


    "But, sir, I''m not sure of the point of doing this. I know it''s a lot of trouble to deal with the soul fragment in my head, but I can''t figure out - what''s the point of just looking at all these things that have happened when I can''t even use magic?"


    There was a moment of silence.


    "Ah, Harry." Dumbledore said in a slightly distressed tone, "It seems I must reveal some information so that what we are doing now will become more valuable in your mind ... In short, I want you to have the ability to know right from wrong, and the courage to make the right choice when it matters. "


    Harry sat there staring dully, feeling insulted, what image did he really have in Dumbledore''s mind?


    "Don''t get me wrong, Harry." Dumbledore said, "You are one of the people I have ever met who have come closest to possessing saint-like qualities, one of a kind even. Given that I''ve seen too many students in my fairly long life, that''s actually quite a remarkable assessment."


    Harry fidgeted a little, his face burning, he hadn''t expected to hear such a blunt and welcoming compliment from Dumbledore, especially since he had just lost his temper, and he tried to look softer.


    "Of course, I''m not saying that you don''t have flaws and problems, in my opinion, it''s a good thing that you''re still a normal person and hasn''t become arrogant because of your fame or because of the strength you have beyond your peers. Because of this, I expect more from you and I will not treat you as an ordinary student. As an example-"


    Dumbledore held up a finger.


    "Did you feel fearful of your own abilities, even a little, when you were learning magic with Professor Bagshot?"


    Harry was a little lost in thought as he thought about how easily he had destroyed a small block of Forbidden Forest during the morning under Professor Bagshot''s tutelage. He did feel incredulous along with a twinge of fear and even wondered for a moment if he had been possessed by Voldemort.


    "I - you know, sir?"


    "Yes, I know." Dumbledore said calmly.


    "That is an ability you have in your own body," he said, seeming to read Harry''s thoughts, "and I''m sure Professor Bagshot has relieved you, although I''m not sure what reasons he used, but his ideas are not necessarily suitable for you."


    "Not necessarily suitable for me?" Harry muttered and repeated.


    "Only you can find the answer to your question, Harry." Dumbledore said seriously, "I can''t help you on that point, other than borrowing Alastor''s mantra: Constant Vigilance, Harry. Force without thought can easily devolve into violence."


    Harry was struck by a flash of clarity.


    "So you''re showing me those memories because you want me to harness my power?"


    "That''s a question we can leave for the later part of the discussion. In fact, I would prefer for you to pay more attention to the choices made by the different people in my memory, and especially to the situations they faced at the time. It would be nice to generate some useful reflections." Dumbledore said, "The reason for using my memories - forgive my arrogance - is that I have seen too many men and women in both their sorrows and joys."


    As he watched Harry fall into contemplation, Dumbledore said cheerfully, "So - let''s get into today''s lesson."


    He stood up and bowed slightly as if preparing for a magnificent feast.


    "I shall have the pleasure of sharing with you the insights I had as a student, you will find them slightly trivial as more than one person is involved, some of whom I still keep in touch to this day, perhaps you have even heard a name or two!"


    "Let the adventure begin!"


    --------------


    #paladar blade and #Educated_Blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 658: Big Connections

    When Harry returned to the common room, the students were almost gone, and he spotted Ron and Hermione who were still there, and went over to them. Ron was staring at the box in his lap with a shocked expression on his face, and when Harry was about to speak, Hermione suddenly slammed her risen book on the table with a loud thud. "Ro-uh, what''s wrong with you, Hermione?"


    "Terrible! It''s the first time I''ve ever experienced this feeling, it''s like my whole being is out of control." Hermione said with annoyance and Harry looked at Ron uncertainly for a hint.


    "Transfiguration." Ron muttered, not sounding quite happy.


    "Well, it is." Hermione said to Harry, though she didn''t elaborate, and pulled out her wand instead as she pointed it at herself, "Watch - my reasons are telling me that I can''t do it because I haven''t figured out the principle yet, but ..."


    Harry stared at her and for a few seconds he thought Hermione was joking with him, but he slowly opened his mouth wide.


    Hermione''s face began to change. Not the kind of change that was particularly noticeable, but every detail was modified a little, the curves of her face became smoother, her eyebrows got evener, the tiny blemishes on her cheeks disappeared ... in a word, what they had learned and not learned in Transfiguration class during all this time displayed perfectly.


    Hermione showed her teeth at him, whereupon Harry noticed that her slightly protruding front teeth had also shrunk by a fraction, and her whole face looked particularly nice, almost like a different person.


    "Wow." Harry said admiringly, "You''re getting more and more skilled at Transfiguration."


    Hermione sighed. "That''s the point, I don''t know how I did it."


    Harry froze a little until Ron grunted - "Animagus." It was only then that it dawned on him.


    "It''s that effective?" He mumbled in surprise.


    According to Sirius, learning Animagus would have a huge boost on Transfiguration.


    "It''s not entirely the effect of Animagus, I already had the foundation." Hermione thought about it and said seriously, "If I were to cast spells separately, like eyebrows, teeth, hair, and other transfigurations ... I could do them all very well, but putting them together would cause problems from time to time. But now that problem is fixed."


    "Isn''t that great? You''ve improved." Harry said.


    "Not that good, because a new problem has arisen." Hermione said naggingly, "I''m not sure how I did it, in fact, during the day training I just had some ... gut feeling pop up every now and then, and it was goading me into doing something I wasn''t sure about."


    "That sounds awful." Harry said dryly as he had experienced that same feeling in the morning, though he went much more overboard than Hermione, as he blew up a small patch of the forbidden forest. "So what are you going to do?"


    He recalled Professor Bagshot''s words and thought - even if Professor Bagshot wanted to teach Hermione, they probably wouldn''t get along.


    "Of course to read a book, I''m going to find the book I read before about Transfiguration and study it all over again," Hermione said, "That''s right!" She looked at Harry with certainty, the look on her face mirroring the one she had on countless occasions when she pulled out her reference book list.


    "Leave her alone Harry, she''s asking for trouble." Ron said.


    "No, not at all!" Hermione raised her eyebrows and stood up to glare at him condescendingly, "I''ve finished reading the Transfiguration textbook for years one to four thoroughly and I can tell you, just now, I''ve had quite a few new insights! Harry, I suggest you do the same in the future." With that, she picked up her book and strutted off.


    Harry looked at her and muttered to himself in some confusion, "You''re saying that Hermione has really mastered the principles of all the magic she knows?" Is this the secret to her ability to harness her magic so easily?


    He looked over at Ron, who lowered his head again, that disbelieving look returning to his face. Harry stared at the contents of the box in his lap, and inside the coloured padded cardboard lay some sort of knitted fabric.


    "I''ve been meaning to ask for a while now, what''s that?"


    "Oh, it''s nothing," Ron said in a flat tone, but Harry bet he definitely wished for him to ask more about it. "It''s a present from Fred and George, it amazes me that they even remembered my birthday." He said.


    Harry leaned over and found the contents of the box to be a pair of gloves, especially the fingertip section which seemed to have been extra thickened and wrapped several times with red wool thread to give the appearance of some sort of frog''s webbed feet.


    Quite fitting with Fred and George''s character.


    Harry imagined Ron wearing the frog flipper gloves outside and hanging out in a cheerful mood. But as soon as Ron pulled the gloves out of the cushioned cardboard box, Harry realized he was wrong.


    This birthday present is going to be even more exciting than he had imagined, with the ten fingertips of the gloves being the heads of delicate tiny figurines. Ron put the gloves on and stared at them for a few seconds by himself, then showed them to Harry woodenly. Harry''s eyes fell on the only anomaly above the ten fingers: at the left thumb, the hair on the little figure''s head was not red, but black.


    "That''s me?" Harry asked in surprise, staring at it for half a second, not noticing any resemblance to himself and only being able to make a wild guess based on the colour.


    "That''s right," Ron moved his left thumb and the little figure on his glove, making it look like it was dancing and swaying from side to side. "That''s Ginny." He gestured to his right thumb this time, and Harry could only make out a hint of Ginny from the long hair of the little figure.


    He surveyed the other fingers some more and vaguely made out the shadows of Weasley family members.


    Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy ... Harry was half touched, half jealous, and he thought a little greedily that it would be nice if this could be his gift, but the fact that Fred and George had thought to put him in it made his heart well up with warmth.


    "Look at this! Fred and George have added a new feature." Ron said, flexing his left thumb - the little figure that represented Harry - and a loud voice suddenly cried out.


    "Snape, Snape, Severus Snape, the big greasy bat."


    Harry jumped in shock and looked sheepishly from side to side twice. The voice sounded eighty to ninety percent like him and in his trance, he thought it was him who was talking, but after the shock, he knew it was Fred and George who were up to no good. Harry couldn''t help but smile.


    "Well?" Ron looked at him with a grin, seemingly pleased with the effect as well.


    "I think you should show it to Snape." Harry said calmly.


    "Oh-" Ron pouted, deciding not to take that up, "Look Ginny - Fred and George didn''t tell me exactly what it was and let me come back and try it myself, but with their character -" he flexed his right thumb.


    A new voice sounded -


    "I love flying brooms! I love Harry Potter!"


    An exuberant voice that was eighty to ninety percent similar to Ginny''s echoed through the common room.


    Harry and Ron stared at each other, looking at each other blankly. "Oh," Ron trailed off, looking caught off guard. He cleared his throat, "Let''s try Fred and George figure once, I don''t suppose it''ll be anything good, though, that would fit -"


    He raised an eyebrow and raised two middle fingers at Harry.


    The little figure on the two fingers made a gesture of taking off their hat, this time uttering a sound that sounded most like themselves, "Fred (George) sends you his regards and wishes you a good life." Harry could just picture the twins standing in front of him smiling mischievously.


    "How about it, mate? But it''s not me giving you the middle finger, I guess that''s Fred and George gesturing at themselves." Ron said defensively, while Harry looked on with glee, "Brilliant."


    The next morning, at meal time in the great hall, Hermione''s book bag was even more bloated, and she suddenly asked, "By the way, Harry - I haven''t asked you how Professor Dumbledore''s lesson went, any new developments?"


    "Meeting a lot of friends that he made when he was at school." Harry muttered, holding the mandrake leaf under his tongue and taking small sips of pumpkin porridge, a manoeuvre he had become quite adept at.


    At that moment, the Creevey brothers passed by them, exchanging friendly greetings, before circling around and sitting with their friends.


    "Like Elphias Doge, who enrolled in the same year as Dumbledore - I personally think he''s an avid admirer of the Headmaster," Harry''s eyes followed the Creevey brothers until they were seated, before continuing, "and Nicolas Flamel, Bathilda Bagshot, Adalbert Waffling-"


    "Who''s that, Adebe or something?" Ron interrupted, he was chewing his food carefully with the right side of his teeth.


    "Adalbert Waffling, an expert on magical theory." Hermione blurted out quickly, "And who else, Harry?"


    Harry hesitated, "And Dumbledore''s little brother."


    Ron choked, he hurriedly covered his mouth and after a short while he whispered, "The Hog''s Head''s owner?" He made an effort to look like he was thoughtful with wide eyes, "Tell me more, Harry, I''m curious, did they look alike when they were at school?"


    Harry thought back for a moment and nodded lightly.


    "I think they were quite similar."


    "Think about it, a younger Dumbledore looking like a sloppy slob." Ron said pleasantly, looking over to the faculty table.


    "To be precise," Harry couldn''t resist the urge to explain, "you can tell the two apart at a glance, they have very different personalities, Aberforth- I mean Dumbledore''s brother, he''s not much of a study lover and always has a provocative expression on his face. If it weren''t for Dumbledore being his brother, he would have gotten a lot of beatings ..."


    "But from our brief encounter, they don''t seem to be on very good terms." Hermione said softly.


    "Yeah," Harry said, also looking over to the long dining table where Dumbledore was talking to Hagrid, with Professor Hap and Professor Bagshot listening from the side next to him. He changed the subject and said, "Hermione, I wanted to ask if you''ve ever tried to use your magical powers at full power and, then like, blown up a piece of forbidden forest ..."


    ... s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Definitely a nasty thing, Dumbledore," Hagrid lowered his voice and spoke in a buzzing tone, "I found it when I got up this morning to patrol the Forbidden Forest, a large chunk of the Forbidden Forest suffered, I can''t imagine what kind of creature did it, even a giant couldn''t do it, it must have been some dark wizard with bad intentions ..."


    Felix and Grindelwald, who were listening closely at the side, had thoughtful expressions.


    "Hogwarts has upgraded its defense system with new ones, so if an outsider infiltrates, he will definitely be discovered." Felix said lightly.


    "That''s right," Dumbledore agreed, "I''ll take care of this," he glanced at Grindelwald, "It could have been caused by one of the professors practicing magic in private, I''ll warn him. "


    "Oh, I thought-" Hagrid shook his head, "you really should have seen it, the scene was even more terrible than I said, the centaurs were worried, and it was very close to their tribe." When his eyes turned to Felix, he was dazed for a moment, and showed a witty gaze.


    "Not me." Felix instantly said.


    "Of course, how could ..." Hagrid stammered, though from the look on his face it was clear he didn''t believe it all. "Use your head, Hagrid," Felix said suggestively, "we''ve known each other for over ten years."


    Grindelwald flipped through a page of the booklet Who Will Dictate Ancient Runes without a moment of hesitation.


    Hagrid froze for a moment, "Now that you mention it ... I do remember something, well ... it was actually something Professor Kettleburn mentioned to me when I visited him some time ago. He settled in Hogsmeade after he retired, and I would occasionally visit him for advice and stuff, you know, Classroom Seven is closed, Scamander ..."


    "I know."


    Felix interrupted. Silvanus Kettleburn was the professor for the Care of Magical Creatures class before Hagrid.


    "He has taken you to the Forbidden Forest a few times, in ..." Hagrid abruptly caught his throat, "ahem, the years you stayed in school. Kettleburn thought you''d develop a career towards magical creatures, but it turns out you were only partially interested in knowledge like the Manticore''s ability to withstand spells with its hide and inquired where to find a place that sold clothes made of that material."


    "Just satisfying curiosity." Felix said dryly.


    "Sounds like Kettlebone took it seriously, and he moved the Sphinx immediately after that to a more isolated location," Hagrid said gruffly, "It took a lot of effort."


    "Everyone has unrealistic fantasies when they''re young. At least I don''t need them now."


    "Yeah, I remember Kettleburn even saying that his greatest hope for a while was to retire in one piece," Hagrid lamented, "Unfortunately, he only managed to get half of his wish." He muttered, "One arm and one leg less ..."


    Dumbledore asked amiably, "Is Silvanus''s leg still in one piece? I gave him a full set of enchanted wooden prosthetics when he retired, but I was told he developed a habit of visiting the Dragon Sanctuary shortly thereafter."


    Felix turned his head the other way and asked a slightly more uncomfortable Slughorn ( because he is sitting next to Grindelwald), "Professor Slughorn, I am planning a gathering and will be inviting a number of Potions Masters. You are the undisputed leader, do you have anything scheduled lately?"


    Slughorn hesitantly wiped his mouth with a velvet handkerchief.


    "Oh, oh, I''ve been very busy lately, son ... but," he said promptly, "since you''ve invited me, I''m sure I can find some time, can I ask who you''ve invited?"


    "Let''s see ... Severus, Damocles, Dorothea-" "Dorothea Bonham? " Slughorn asked in surprise, "You could invite her?"


    "Yes, I think I can. There''s also the Head and some members of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, some people from the St. Mungo''s Magical Medical Society, a few Ministry of Magic officials ..." Felix said slowly, "I''m thinking about inviting the members of the Alchemy Society, it doesn''t feel too relevant, and the foreign masters of potions as well..."


    "You''re sure about that? I mean, you know that many people?" Slughorn asked, his eyes bulging with astonishment.


    "Well, not too well actually, but I have people I know in the local Ministry of Magic who can extend the invitation on my behalf. There''s also the fact that I''m confident in what I''ve come up with would be worth their time." Felix said relaxedly.


    Slughorn was out of breath for a moment and said as if dreaming, "I''m starting to get curious about your gathering."


    Dumbledore, who was whispering to Hagrid, looked up, the corners of his mouth curling slightly as if he had just hit a brilliant shot at a ten-pin bowling.


    "I hate Ancient Rune." Grindelwald whispered with a grimace as he stared at the booklet he held in his hand.


    --------------


    #paladar blade and #Educated_Blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 659: Persuasion (2 in 1)

    On the afternoon of March 10th, Felix appeared with a small slip of paper with an address written on it. In front of him was a beautiful small house. He stood on the steps and looked around, the surroundings were very empty and Felix could smell the faint scent of flowers, he reckoned there must be a nice garden behind the house. Felix knocked on the door.


    The door was opened by a man with blond hair and a large stomach who looked at Felix with a puzzled look.


    "Hello, who are you looking for-" the man asked, and then he was suddenly stunned, "Oh, you''re Mr. Hap, Felix Hap?" After receiving an affirmative reply, he led Felix into the house, and they made their way to the living room.


    "Sorry, didn''t recognize you! I must say - you seem rather too low-profile in person compared to your enormous fame, not that I have seen you in the newspapers more than a few times ... Yes, Dora told me you would be here, but I didn''t expect you to come two hours earlier - -Dromeda?! We have a guest."


    The man stood in the living room and called out towards an aisle, then he looked at Felix and held out his hand in a friendly manner.


    "I''m Ted Tonks, Dora''s father."


    "Hello, Mr. Tonks, Felix Hap." Felix shook hands, looked around the cleaning tools in the living room, and said with a hint of embarrassment, "I think I may have misremembered the time ..."


    "Oh, that''s all right," Mr. Tonks said, picking up the Mrs. Skower''s All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover at his feet and placing it next to the potted plants on the table, "Dora and the others won''t be here until seven in the evening, she''s an Auror and has a lot of responsibility."


    "Is this a leafless orchid?" Felix asked, staring at the potted plant, it is a perennial evergreen Rhizanthella gardneri herb with the nickname ''spider''s egg'' because its berries look like spider''s eggs as well as because its underground rhizome, when exposed above the soil, resembles a spider. It''s also known as an underground orchid.


    "Yes, it-" Mr. Tonks was interrupted by the sound of footsteps, and both Felix and Mr. Tonks turned around at the same time as a strange woman appeared at the entrance to the living room, with a distinct resemblance to Bellatrix Black, though her hair colour is of a soft light brown rather than black, and her eyes were larger and more gentle.


    There was no doubt that this woman is Andromeda Tonks, from the Black family, the sister of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy. She currently looking at him as Tonks'' mother, who is worried about her daughter''s well-being.


    Mrs. Tonks smiled at Felix and then exchanged a look with Mr. Tonks.


    "This is Mr. Felix Hap." Mr. Tonks introduced.


    "Oh, hello Mr. Hap, Nymphadora has mentioned you ... a bunch of times," Mrs. Tonks said, "I have just started cooking in the kitchen. Nevertheless, you are quite early."


    And so Felix brought up the excuse of "remembering the wrong time" as a pretext again.


    Mrs. Tonks nodded and accepted the reason reluctantly, "Have a seat." She said, "I''ll go and prepare the tea - Ted, Ted, you come and help me." "Oh, oh, yes." Mr. Tonks turned his head to Felix and muttered, "I do remember collecting some rare tea leaves ... will be right back! You can look at the newspaper for a while, it''s on the table."


    Felix nodded gently and watched them disappear down the corridor aisle, as he leaned down to pick up the newspaper beside him, and pricked up his ears to listen. Unsurprisingly, there was a minor argument coming from somewhere in some corner of the house - probably the kitchen, or the bedroom.


    "... I know why ... he is acting as a lobbyist, don''t mention the war to me, it''s over ... I warn you, Ted Tonks, if you dare make any rash promises ..."


    Felix fidgeted and shook open the newspaper, the news of some notable significance was the return of the Minister of Magic, Ms. Bones, from the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards, during which she had participated in several important meetings with representatives of the world.


    The exact details of the meetings had not been released to the public yet.


    The newspaper made some speculations, suggesting that one of the biggest possibilities had to do with the law on exclusive wands, which would likely to become a reality perhaps within a few years. The newspaper also carried a moving photograph of a dozen dull figures standing together, with the new Supreme Mugwump Babajide Akingbade who had a tired look on his face.


    A few minutes later, Mr. Tonks returned with his head slumped down, with an expression that surprisingly resembled the Babajide in the newspaper. He bumped into the table as he walked over and stifled a yelp of pain as the potted plant wobbled, and he rushed to hold it up.


    "Bumped a few blades off." He glanced over and whispered as he sat down, "So - uh -" S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Hm, Mr. Tonks." Felix said as he put the newspaper down, "Something just occurred to me on the spur of the moment." As he said this, he held out his hand and the two fallen leaves from the potted plant turned into two beautiful invitations.


    "I''m planning a sort of small press launch this weekend, a gathering kind of thing, so if you guys are not busy you can come and check it out."


    Mr. Tonks took the invitations and muttered, "A press conference? That would be at ''Future World'' company headquarters? I think ... well, there might be a bit of a problem, it''s not very convenient." His voice lowered, and he began to concentrate on reading the blurb on it.


    After a short while, he raised his head.


    "Mr. Hap, I don''t quite understand - ''Witness the birth of a new healing technique with a crowd of guests, and discuss the causes of some of the diseases that plague wizards''... ." he read out a paragraph, then asked, "sounds like a serious academic presentation."


    "More or less, I''ve invited quite a few Potioneers and Healers of considerable repute in their respective fields, and even some Alchemists." Felix smiled, "But it''s still essentially a gathering, as I don''t expect these people to figure out what I''m going to say anytime soon, the presentation will last a week, but of course, what you''re attending is a dinner on the first day, the main purpose of which is to socialize."


    "By the way, I overheard Tonks mention that you know something about muggle medicine?"


    "Ah, you mean that," Mr. Tonks said cheerfully, "my uncle was a surgeon, I used to go to his house when I was a little boy," he went on enthusiastically, "he had a study at home with all sorts of surgical models in every corner of the room, and I was very scared ..."


    Felix listened with a smile and said, "That''s a coincidence, the new healing techniques I mentioned might introduce the concept of muggle surgeries, and to my surprise, wizards seem rather averse to the idea of putting a knife in their body."


    Mr. Tonks slapped his thigh a little excitedly.


    "Gee, I thought of that too! When I was at school I always thought Madam Pomfrey could only deal with minor injuries and illnesses, and it was only after I had been to St Mungo''s a few times after graduating that I realized that wizards just didn''t have that concept. Of course, I think it''s because magic is too convenient to use ..."


    The wizard from a Muggle family had the look of someone who had found a common topic.


    "Anatomy." Felix said softly, "This discipline has not gained any application in the field of healing, because, for wizards, the problems that plague muggles can be solved with a simple spell ... On the contrary, it is in the field of Potions that some of its applications are still in use, and when they work on new potion materials they do detailed mapping and potion testing."


    "But would that really work?" Mr. Tonks asked curiously, "I mean, in terms of healing? I''ve talked to some wizards on this subject, and they think Muggle doctors are a bunch of ..."


    "Crazy people who cut people open." Felix nodded and said, "Personally, I think it''s a matter of localization; given the differences between the two societies, the surgical knowledge that is so important to the common people might simply serve the role of a supplementary means of furnishing the wizards'' healing methods. But having it and not having it are different concepts."


    "For example-"


    "Dragon pox, a disease that is only spread among wizards and carries a fatal threat. Early symptoms are a green and purple rash that grows between the toes and sparks spewing out of the nostrils when you sneeze. If treated in time, it usually heals, leaving at best some unsightly scars or bruised skin."


    Mr. Tonks nodded with a little confusion.


    "I remember there was a Minister of Magic who died from dragon pox disease?"


    "Eldritch Diggory, he had been working all day even with the disease and ended up dying in his office. The disease is more widespread among the elderly population and is more subtle, and as a result, it is more dangerous, when the disease is contracted. A portion of healers believes that dragon pox was originally caused due to having contact with the Peruvian Vipertooth dragon."


    Felix was ready to say more.


    "The fangs of the Peruvian Vipertooth Dragon are highly poisonous." Mr. Tonks reminded.


    "To the average wizard, it is indeed true." Felix explained, " so it might have been a diluted toxin, or saliva, or a parasite or pathogenic bacteria that have not yet been discovered in their bodies ... In short, the verdict is still not conclusive yet." Then he changed his words, "But I once found a patient with advanced dragon pox disease in St Mungo''s, and out of curiosity I probed him, and unfortunately he was then beyond medical treatment. He was bruised and swollen - of course, that was only a minor problem, what really killed him was that his magic had also become a mess, some kind of unknown mutation occurred, which rendered all available treatments ineffective."


    "The man must have been in a lot of pain." Mr. Tonks muttered.


    "I suspect that there are many hidden wounds within the bodies of late-stage Dragon pox patients, in fact, those wizards may already be riddled with holes inside their bodies." Felix said slowly.


    "Hidden wounds?"


    "I found a more similar example. The body structure of magical creatures is totally different from that of wizards; their magical abilities rely more on special semi-virtual veins within their bodies, which are integrated with the flesh and blood tissue of their bodies and are difficult to detect, but nevertheless, they are the channels where their magic power flows, or ... you can just refer to them as magic circuits. And for this reason, magical creatures do not need to acquire the ability to cast spells through study, as the young wizards do."


    "So that is how it is." Mr. Tonks said in a daze.


    "... But such different kinds of pathological mutations are undoubtedly harmful to wizards; some have a haphazard pattern and the end result is life-threatening, such as that of dragon pox; some small number of such disease has reached a bizarre coexistence with wizards and have an extra influence on their bodies, but they are not nearly as potentially harmful, as in the case of werewolves."


    Mr. Tonks drew in a deep breath.


    There was a shriek from the entrance to the living room, and it was Mrs. Tonks, who dropped the teapot she was holding. Felix waved his hand and let the teapot fixed like time rewound and landed on the small table.


    "Oh, thank you, Mr. Hap." Mrs. Tonks said in a not very natural tone, as she had been listening from the entrance for some time. She came over carefully and placed the cups down, "So, is the werewolf issue going to be cured?"


    "Good question. I have discovered and separated the very ''lesion pattern'' that affects werewolves, and combined with what I said earlier, there is actually great hope for a breakthrough, but of course, I am no expert in this field, hence the whole gathering this weekend is arranged."


    "That sounds very convincing, Mr. Hap, and I can''t find any holes in it." In the middle of the sentence, Mrs. Tonks said in a flat tone, "But you can''t deny that it''s all just a theory, a castle in the air ... Even if the theory is correct, there''s no telling how many years will have gone by before it becomes reality."


    Even though the conversation was close to the core and both sides knew it by heart, neither of them mentioned the name.


    "I have to agree with that, Mrs. Tonks."


    Felix said in a tone tinged with a bit of cheerfulness as if it seemed to him that everything was going well.


    "I may not be able to step in and do anything pioneering in the field of healing, especially the part related to potions. But let''s not forget that I am an expert in ancient runes and I will always approach the problem from the perspective of ancient runes. And fortunately, some results have been achieved so far ... Although it is extremely difficult and not suitable for mass replication, it is still possible to use it on one or two people and solve some tricky issues. Would you like to hear about it?"


    Mrs. Tonks pursed her lips for a long while before she said coldly, "You''re a good lobbyist, Mr. Hap - I''m more than happy to listen."


    Half an hour later, Felix was accompanied by Mr. Tonks on a tour around the rooms in the house.


    "These are Dora''s toys from when she was a child." Mr. Tonks pointed to a row of stuffed dolls on a shelf, "There were originally quite a few human dolls, but when we realized she was intent on mimicking the expressions on the dolls'' faces, we replaced them all with small animals, mostly rabbits, and bears. Still, her aesthetic was a little off, and she clearly preferred violet or pink hair over her own grey-brown hair." He said, a little hurt.


    It was clear in Felix''s mind that Tonks'' original hair colour had clearly been inherited from both parents - a balance between light brown and blonde, though it was obvious that she herself was not too happy with the colour.


    They made their way to the garden in the courtyard.


    Mr. Tonks dutifully described the various plants, "You''ve seen the pinks, and the purples are here - we''ve got quite a few violets, of every kind. See that hollow in the middle? It''s not very pretty now, it''s a bit ugly, but once it fills up with water in the rainy season there, we''ll choose to plant some aquatic plants like hyacinth, and oh my God, they''re purple again, I just realized ..."


    At that moment, a commotion came from the house behind them.


    "Someone has arrived." Mr. Tonks said dubiously.


    "Is it Tonks and the gang?" Felix asked.


    "I don''t think so, it''s still early, it''s still over an hour before Dora gets off work ... how strange." Mr. Tonks said, walking towards the house. They could faintly hear the sound of talking.


    Felix who followed rolled his eyes, he probably guessed who the guest was.


    "Hello, Sirius." Just as they entered, they heard Mrs. Tonks'' somewhat annoyed voice, "No need to bring so many things, the living room won''t fit them all at all."


    Then they heard a hearty laugh.


    "Gee - you''re welcome, my dear cousin. And I know Remus so well, I still can''t believe he got ahead of me ..." Mr. Tonks suddenly slowed his movements and even became a little creepy as he tiptoed, and quietly pulled a gap through the back door to make Sirius'' overly enthusiastic voice more audible.


    "... Cousin, speaking of Remus, he''s one of the few people I admire, both brave and kind, always prioritizing others first, and I swear there are definitely a lot more people that have been looked after by him over the years than one could imagine, even if he is poor himself, err, I mean, once, he''s quite rich now, I think he could totally buy a house in Diagon Alley now ..."


    Felix looked over Mr. Tonks'' shoulder to see Sirius smiling and talking, he is dressed formally today, in a smart suit with a green handkerchief with silver threads in his breast pocket and the Black family coat of arms embroidered on one corner of the handkerchief.


    He looked like a best man.


    But Felix isn''t sure if this get-up is having the counter effect, or if it was the result of Sirius'' increasingly blatant innuendo. Because Mrs. Tonks'' face was growing grim, her fingers clutching the soup ladle with a death grip, as if she is prepared to raise it at any moment to knock her cousin on the head.


    Felix was tempted to pretend that he didn''t see it, and thus avenge Sirius for having set him up, but he cleared his throat in consideration of the stability of the ''future world'' company for decades to come.


    Sirius stopped talking and looked back in shock.


    "Felix? What are you doing here so early?"


    "What else could the reason be," Mrs. Tonks said teasingly, with a scowl, "Of course, for the same reason as you."


    ...


    When an anxious Tonks returned an hour or so later with a formal-looking Lupin, the two were surprised to find that they had been treated not quite warmly, but definitely not coldly either, and even a small smile spread across the corners of Mrs. Tonks'' mouth when Sirius deliberately mentioned their childhood past.


    After dinner, they said their goodbyes and departed. Lupin walked out of Tonks'' house with a light step, his face filled with half incredulity and half thankfulness that he had survived.


    As they parted, Sirius patted him on the shoulder and for a moment, Lupin seemed to understand something, his eyes moistening. He hugged Sirius fiercely for a long time before letting go, and then he turned to Felix.


    "Felix, this birthday is my-"


    "Work hard." Felix said in a tone that quite spoiled the mood. On the side, Sirius rolled his eyes.


    ------------------


    #paladar blade and #Educated_Blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 660: Blood Pact

    "Today is a practical class." Felix said as he stood on the podium. With a wave of his hand, hundreds of wooden jars appeared in the air, which floated in mid-air. Then he waved his hand once more and the space in the classroom began to stretch out in all directions, widening in the blink of an eye to the size of half a great hall.


    The students exchanged excited looks and whispered to each other.


    Then a big, ancient-looking book appeared in Felix''s hand, and he opened the first page, from which a tidal wave of brightly coloured ancient runes poured out, each half an inch in size, tangled and linked together like some kind of tiny flying creature, resembling a long, unfurled scroll or a long, gorgeous carpet -Only instead of being woven out of thread, they were pieced together with ancient runes.


    Felix silently looked at the wall-like runes that surrounded them for a moment with the students, and then said.


    "Some of these runes are special enough that they don''t blend well with the elements around them, and all you have to do is single them out - a test for both the eye and the hand, since the slightest miscalculation will destroy the nearby structure... ... If you successfully pick one off, you will receive one point, and you can use the chestnut jar to hold the runes you collected. A note, the final score will be related to the length of your homework for the day, so let''s begin."


    "Oh, and by the way, no wands are allowed. This will be considered a general rule for future practical classes as well"


    One by one, the students came forward to take their preferred jars, while Felix himself sat in a soft chair, reminiscing about the academic conference that had just ended.


    There were many people had shown up, from all over the world. As originally planned, the evening party on the first day was a sort of reception, serving to provide an opportunity for networking and meeting, something that could not be avoided as many people''s impressions of each other was limited to the names and contents in academic journals, which did not reflect the real individuals.


    Someone had to act as a sort of moderator, and the best person Felix had in mind was naturally Slughorn. The old professor was like a fish in water, and the smile on his face never stopped throughout the evening.


    The Tonks couple also came.


    They stayed for a long time in front of the huge booth. They didn''t really understand much of what was being discussed, nor could they accurately discern the significance of the rune sequences frozen in front of them by Felix''s magic, but every time the sound of the experts'' awe rang in both their ears, their hearts wavered a little.


    The hall on the ground floor of the Sword Castle was overcrowded as they searched for their daughter. Finally, they found her near a spacious pillar, with Lupin beside her, his face looked calm, but he was inwardly excited. He remembered the prophetic remarks Felix had made: that with the invention of the wolfsbane potion, new theories would emerge, and the werewolf situation would change for the better.


    In a way, those words had come true. In just two years'' time, an improved formula of Wolfsbane Potion has emerged at a much lower cost, and the Ministry of Magic has passed a law that grants a discount on the purchase of Wolfsbane Potion to all registered werewolves.


    For that reason, a significant number of werewolves had chosen to remain neutral during the war.


    But none of this was as exciting as what he had heard earlier tonight, and Lupin was already aware of the two solutions Felix had proposed - ancient magic that could control the werewolf''s transformation; and advanced human transfiguration that would transform the body along with its internal structure -both of which he hoped he could do if he studied hard enough, and the latter would even allow him to become a true human for a short time, meaning he could have an extremely healthy child.


    God knows how ecstatic he was when he found out about the news.


    In fact, werewolf disease is not 100% passed on to offspring, but for Lupin it was akin to waiting for God''s judgment, an uncertainty he could not afford after decades of being a werewolf.


    There was also an episode on the day of the dinner. s?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Lucius Malfoy made a high-profile appearance with his wife, a couple who were well-dressed to the hilt, and promised a generous donation of 50,000 gold galleons for the good cause. This caused the politically insensitive crowd, who are currently living abroad, to gather around him to hear him talk about his son Draco''s "dream of becoming a healer".


    The effect ... was not bad.


    "The newspaper reported," Hermione said as she carefully surveyed the glowing scroll in front of her, which looked like tightly packed bricks, "that over two hundred people were present, all experts in the three fields of potions, healing, and alchemy, as well as officials from different countries'' ministries of magic. "


    She pressed her right hand against the wall made of runes and easily retrieved a glowing ancient rune.


    "What a masterstroke." Harry said with admiration.


    "But the strange thing is that the host of the meeting was Professor Slughorn." Hermione said.


    "Not that strange," Ron chimed in, leaping to his feet as he saw Harry successfully retrieve an ancient rune as well, "We all know that''s what he''s good at, can you think of someone who can deliver a heartfelt, emotional eulogy in front of a giant, hideous spider corpse? Oh, hell nah."


    He groaned and tried to shove the ancient rune he had taken off back in, but it was too late; a dozen of the runes glowed with a dangerous red hue in front of him.


    "Bang!"


    Ron was submerged in black smoke, and he covered his mouth in a coughing fit as Harry and Hermione rushed to the side, nearly squeezing Neville against the wall. "Sorry, Neville!" Harry said with an apologetic face to Neville who was rubbing his jaw, Neville''s eyes glistened with tears, "It''s okay."


    On the other side of the room, Ernie was completely oblivious to the small mishap and kept muttering to himself, "Justin got six points, I don''t want to lose to him."


    When the smoke cleared, Ron muttered disgruntledly to Harry and Hermione, "That was a hell of a ride, I nearly spat out the mandrake leaf, Hermione, you should have warned me."


    "You chose the right target, but there was a problem with the technique." Hermione pointed out his mistake, then with a wiggle of her fingers, deftly removed a rune from the wall and raised her hand towards him.


    "Like this, use your own magic to stabilize the connections around it. We only need to pick out the ones that seem out of harmony with the other ones, so it''s going to be lot easier."


    "I know." Ron said with a sigh of resignation, "We shouldn''t be talking about Slughorn when my attention was directed towards it, we might as well be figuring it out-" he paused, gritting his teeth and removing an ancient rune like he was pulling a Lego block.


    At the same time, a word came out of Harry''s mouth, "Blood Pact."


    Hermione drew a sharp breath and her fingers shivered as a materialized rune dissolved into pure magic and dispersed like smoke. "Watch out!" She yelled out nervously, and quickly condensing an ancient rune in her fingertip, she shoved it back in, and the three of them stared cautiously at the wall for a while, and only when the red glow on it stopped flickering, they breathed a sigh of relief.


    "This game is kinda exciting." Ron said cockily, in a much better mood.


    Hermione looked around twice and the crowd''s attention was drawn to the commotion Cormac McLaggen was making, and she took the opportunity to lower her voice and say, "I think it''s best not to say it out loud, especially when it concerns that person." She gave an incredulous look as if she might scream out in the next second, but she desperately tried to suppress it.


    "It''s incredible, I mean the headmaster and ..."


    Harry remained silent, as he pulled a glowing rune off the wall. These were the contents he had seen in the Pensieve last week, at that point he couldn''t hide it anymore, he was deep in it and desperately needed someone to talk to, the people he trusted most in the school would undoubtedly be Ron and Hermione.


    In the last lesson, Harry saw a new and subversive memory.


    Young Albus is preparing for his graduation trip in high spirits, but then a tragedy befalls him in the blink of an eye. His mother tragically dies due to a magical outburst caused by Ariana, and he must return home to look after his younger siblings. Harry witnessed his pain and impatience throughout and for the first time he accused Albus, who was showing impatience. Of course, the memory could not refute it, but the owner of the memory could, it was just that Dumbledore acquiesced to it all.


    This caused Harry to feel a little regret. To put it another way, if he had had to stay with the Dursleys even as an adult, he would have gone absolutely mad. But they were Albus'' own family after all, weren''t they? But when he saw Albus forming a friendship with a young man, Harry felt happy for him from the bottom of his heart.


    Until he heard the name of that person.


    "Hello, my name is Gellert Grindelwald."


    Harry instantly recalled the letter he had read, where his own mother Lily had mentioned in a letter to Sirius that Dumbledore and Grindelwald had once been very close friends, but perhaps due to space limitations, Lily had not mentioned the circumstances leading up to it, let alone the time. That was why Harry seemed completely unguarded when he heard the name through the mouth of the blonde boy in front of him, who was not much older than him.


    What followed were large fragments of memory, but enough for Harry to realize that the friendship between the two was progressing at a remarkable pace, and he even read a few passionate letters from the perspective of a spectator, which presented themselves in a sudden and highly uncomfortable manner, the words Muggle, rule, government, army ... appearing repeatedly like a sharp thorn right before his own eyes, constantly poking him in the heart.


    But none of that compares to the scene that appeared in the barn.


    Two men - young, but would-be famous individuals - Dumbledore and Grindelwald, standing face to face, slicing their palms with their wands, then their hands joining together, their blood mixing as a dazzling light illuminated two young, solemn faces.


    Harry felt a wave of dizziness. In the end, when the fused, inseparable beads of blood were enveloped in a metallic shell, he asked aloud what it was, and Dumbledore, who was at a loss for words, told Harry in a weak but strong voice, almost forcibly, that it was a ''blood pact'', a blood oath he and Grindelwald had made.


    The lesson ended in a rush, in a way that Harry had least expected.


    "Harry, Harry?" Ron called out, "We''re already falling behind, and I don''t want to get two inches more on my homework today."


    "Got it." Harry muttered and became busy, but his mind was already made up.


    Before the class ended, the students lined up for an inspection.


    "Susan Bones, 52, well done, homework - one foot; Anthony Goldstein, 47, one foot two inches; Millicent Bulstrode, 29, well, you need more practice, or you won''t be able to keep up with the next stage - -homework length of a foot and a half."


    Felix commented casually, and the long queue dwindled.


    Harry, who was purposefully lined up at the back, clutched the chestnut jar and waited for Ron and Hermione to move away and walk up to him.


    "Harry Potter, let''s see - 59, ranked fairly top, very good, seven inches for homework."


    Harry racked his brain to ask two questions and mentally waited anxiously for the other students to finish packing their bags and walk out of the classroom, Ron and Hermione knew what he intended to do and waved at him, leaving first. Felix looked at him thoughtfully.


    "It seems your real problem can''t be heard by anyone else."


    "Well, yes ... Professor, I wanted to ask what is a blood pact?"


    Felix showed an expression of surprise.


    He thought for a few seconds in his mind-


    "Many pacts exist in the magical world, from verbal agreements with little binding effect, to magical pacts; the most solemn and carefully crafted type of pact has to be treated with utmost importance, and once signed, it cannot be broken. For the price of breaking it is too great."


    "Death?" Harry asked softly.


    "... Yes, like the Unbreakable Vow, and of course, there is the Blood Pact. Only the latter has even more harsh conditions and exists only in legend."


    "Why? Don''t they have similar effects?" Harry asked with confusion, "Apart from the difference in terms of people it can be made, and unbreakable vow requiring a witness."


    "I could name numerous differences, such as - and finally like you said, an unbreakable vow requires three people." Felix finished, and Harry flushed, feeling a little stupid for not spotting the ''many differences'' that the Professor had mentioned.


    "But the most important thing is the content of the pact. An unbreakable vow is more flexible; I can swear that I''ll never eat a chocolate frog in my life, or that I''ll never walk through the door with my right foot again ..., in any case, there are no specific requirements. But a blood pact is different, it has its own magical core and there is no need to specify a pact to be kept, and that poses a serious problem, can you spot that, Harry?"


    Harry tried to think outside the box, no need to swear ... what did that mean? No need to waste words? No, not that by any chance ... wait, no need for words ... then no restrictions ...


    "The Blood Pact will not be deceived by lies?" He blurted out.


    Felix smiled and nodded.


    "An unbreakable vow is closer to the word ''contract'', so the content of the vow must be defined in words, and words ... can be toyed with, there are always loopholes to be exploited, as long as the ultimate requirements are met. In other words, it controls what you do and has a certain degree of lag."


    "In extreme cases, a person with a determination to die can sign any unbreakable, ''false'' vow at will."


    "But a blood pact is not like that," Harry said excitedly, "it has fixed elements, which makes it impossible to be deceived by fancy words, and two people must be absolutely sincere, to even think about breaking the oath - " he looked at Felix as if looking for confirmation.


    "You guessed correctly, the Blood Pact binds the heart, and any thought that arises in an attempt to violate it invites an instant backlash."


    "And what''s it all about?" Harry asked impatiently.


    Felix hesitated for a moment.


    "As far as I know, it''s not to harm each other."


    "Can it be destroyed? I mean, the relic formed by the Blood Pact?" Harry continued to pursue the question.


    Felix glanced at him, "Did I mention the relic?"


    "Oh, uh-"


    "Maybe it could be destroyed." Rather than pursue the loophole in Harry''s words, Felix said bluntly, "I''ve never signed such a pact and don''t know the exact consequences."


    In fact, all the pacts he had signed had one feature in common: he could tear them up and twist them at any time. But of those that he is not that certain of breaking - whether it be an unbreakable vow or a blood pact - he has no half-hearted interest in touching it. There is also an extremely limited scope of knowledge.


    Harry left, with a heavy heart.


    Felix stayed where he was, watching him disappear, then suddenly lifted his head to stare at the ceiling, his eyes seeming to penetrate the walls. He stared thoughtfully at the tower of the Headmaster''s office.


    Perhaps Harry himself didn''t realize that the aim of his question was actually quite obvious.


    "Blood pact ... Dumbledore and who? Evenly matched - yes, only Grindelwald."


    The past trivial information continuously pulled from his memory as Felix began to try and piece together a complete picture of the situation. The first thing that came to his mind was the secret that Newt had inadvertently mentioned that he couldn''t reveal more saying that involved Dumbledore.


    --------------


    #Educated_Blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 661: Moonlight (2 in 1)

    Felix had known about Grindelwald since back when he was still studying in school, the introduction on Dumbledore''s Chocolate Frog card stated the following. "Professor Dumbledore is particularly famous for his defeat of the Dark Wizard Grindelwald in 1945."


    But back then the defeat of Grindelwald was only one of Dumbledore''s widely known and well-recognized achievements, a footnote to his legendary exploits. Anyone who saw that chocolate frog card would only have been in awe of Dumbledore, and would not have been able to spare the slightest bit of attention to the failure known as ''Grindelwald the Dark Lord''. Of course, his infamous reputation would probably be passed on from one child to the next, using their imaginations to the fullest when discussing questions like "How bad is this man?"


    Felix had every reason to suspect that, as many young wizards who grow up in the magical world, sometimes compelled to play the role of ''Grindelwald the Dark Lord'' as bad guy in dueling plays, in which they would eventually fall at the feet of the good guys.


    It was only after hearing Newt''s words that Felix really became curious about Grindelwald as a person.


    "I can''t reveal much more - it involves Headmaster Dumbledore ... Grindelwald was very arrogant, or confident ... and very charismatic, though I didn''t like him that much for creating a lot of havoc at the time ..."


    Apparently, the short one-line description on the Chocolate Frog card was actually spectacular, dramatic, and even thrilling, when they were played out in reality.


    And Newt''s silence backed this up.


    Later on, Voldemort secretly captured a group of wandmakers and experts in the history of magic; Mykew Gregorovitch, the famous wandmaker, and Florean Fortescue, the owner of Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour in Diagon Alley were among them, and with the information provided by these people, Voldemort fabricated the narrative of ten powerful wands, which propagated the legend of the "Elder Wand" along with its reputation of being the invincible wand that would never lose was thus spread. It gained the title of the invincible wand, and Felix was rumoured as a current wielder of that wand.


    Subsequently, all indications suggest that perhaps Voldemort has long given up the hunt for the Elder Wand back then, and has instead investigated the whereabouts of the snakewood wand passed down from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The ten powerful wands were merely a means for Voldemort to keep Felix at bay, to give him something to do while he confirmed the authenticity of the ''Elder wand'' in Felix''s hands at the same time. And, probably in Voldemort''s plan, the bloody inheritance rules of the Elder Wand would more or less affect Felix and Dumbledore''s tacit understanding.


    But coincidentally, the real owner of the Elder Wand was Dumbledore, and the diversion was a waste of time.


    Felix thus also guessed that before Dumbledore, the holder of the Elder Wand was Grindelwald.


    The speed at which Voldemort''s downfall came about was so fast that many people were stunned and did not react at all. Felix also made contact with Grindelwald, or to be precise, Grindelwald reached out to Felix. Then the two became pen pals.


    Felix smacked his lips, it was a novel experience for him too, he had never tried writing a letter to someone in prison before. When he considered that at one point Grindelwald was writing back letter by letter with a small, dimly lit oil lamp, and didn''t even have a decent desk, he missed those times more and more now.


    Unfortunately, it was not long after that Felix learned of Grindelwald''s suspected escape from prison from the mouth of Dumbledore, who for the first time confessed his close friendship with Grindelwald and expressed his wariness at the ideas of the other man.


    But in the blink of an eye, Dumbledore changed his tune and kept the volunteering Grindelwald at Hogwarts as the new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts class.


    There were multiple reasons for this.


    Dumbledore had taken the initiative to tell Felix some of the reasons, such as Grindelwald''s poor physical state and near-permanent fall in strength; Felix partially understood and accepted this, and in his opinion, Voldemort''s downfall had no small impact on Dumbledore.


    Felix roughly simplified the psychological changes as follows.


    After solving a long-term burden, Dumbledore must have been overwhelmed with emotion and recalled the distant memories from a long time ago, when his former best friend cum enemy met him after half a century, and inevitably had a moment of compassion.


    But there should be a limit to these kinds of softness, and Dumbledore promised him that Grindelwald would only be teaching at the school for a year, after which he would return to Nurmengard Castle to finish his sentence.


    So what is Dumbledore''s goal ...


    Felix pondered for a moment and had a vague inkling. He decided to go and talk to Severus and Madam Pomfrey later.


    "... I can''t believe I didn''t realize that the old man is getting physically active, even his quarrels seem quite full of life ..."


    He suspected Dumbledore was secretly starting a little game.


    And in addition to the reasons Dumbledore had voluntarily told Felix, he himself had heard half a dozen words from the portrait in the headmaster''s office which implied it has something to do with a prophecy ...


    At this point, Felix would like to thank Phineas Black.


    As for the content of the prophecy - Felix had gradually figured out a hint of what was in store over the past six months or so. He really didn''t know exactly what the prophecy was about, but Dumbledore knew it, and from how much Dumbledore tolerated the content that Grindelwald was teaching, it was possible to roughly outline the shape of the prophecy.


    It should have something to do with the Statute of Secrecy.


    Felix frowned slightly at the recollection, what was that supposed to be? An inevitable exposure of the wizarding community? But he and Dumbledore had shared a similar consensus, unless Grindelwald could produce more direct evidence, such as a specific time of the event.


    Felix was faintly stunned for a moment, it seemed to align with the situation. He had previously speculated that the prophecy could be something that needed to be deciphered, like a tea leaf, a crystal ball, an astrological sign, or some fragment of the future. His thoughts kept tumbling ... He thought of the New Year''s parade shown to the students in Grindelwald''s first class at the start of this school year.


    The parade.


    So there would be a huge anti-wizard march in the future?


    Felix made a mental note of this. He wasn''t in much of a hurry, Dumbledore has a much better sense of responsibility than he does, and when the time is ripe, the prophetic content will automatically appear before his eyes and he cannot be able to hide from it even if he wants to.


    Felix felt that Dumbledore is perfectly capable of such a thing, the headmaster is very good at keeping secrets.


    As for Grindelwald, the professors were generally quite satisfied with him, he is capable, knowledgeable, and courteous to others, and even Professor McGonagall, who was quite critical about some of his dangerous comments, was coming to accept this somewhat dysfunctional colleague. The professor of the charms class even cited him as a confidant, "Professor Bagshot is marvellous in the subtle manipulation of spells." The shorter Flitwick has said this on more than one occasion.


    Well, there''s one exception, Felix thought. The Professor Slughorn was as perceptive as ever and rarely interacted with Grindelwald alone.


    Felix was very curious if he had discerned something.


    But the chances of that would actually be very low.


    Because Grindelwald had been imprisoned for half a century, his appearance had long since changed. Even the old Professors, such as McGonagall and Flitwick, had failed to recognize him, not to mention the fact that Grindelwald''s escape from Nurmengard Castle had not been made public yet, so even though Severus had some doubts about his identity, he still had not considered in that direction at all.


    And in the eyes of those who knew his true identity (Dumbledore and Felix), nothing Grindelwald did touch the bottom of the barrel. If he had contacted or responded to the Acolytes, he believes Dumbledore would not have hesitated to deport Grindelwald to prison. S?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The fact that Dumbledore went from a guarded attitude at the beginning to tacitly allowing Harry and Grindelwald to be in contact with each other alone, and even learning magic with him, certainly represents an increase in trust.


    On his part, Felix was also at peace with the situation.


    No matter what Grindelwald wanted to do, whether it was to pass on his magic (which he would be happy to see) or to pass on his ideas, he only had a year to do so, and if he did intend to bewitch Harry, he was bound to find him more stubborn than he thought.


    It wasn''t as if Dumbledore hadn''t done anything; the weekly lessons were no secret. Harry''s mind had been nearly set in stone over the years, what Grindelwald is trying to do is to turn things around, whereas Dumbledore is guiding him to think independently, the two things are completely incomparable.


    Just like the Blood Pact that Harry mentioned today, Felix was surprised both by the question itself and by the fact that Dumbledore had the courage to reveal this past, and by the time Harry was faced with the choice, Grindelwald, who is hiding his identity, had no way of gaining the upper hand.


    Perhaps this was also expected by Dumbledore, who hoped to patch up another part of Harry''s character. Only what exactly it is, Felix can''t quite figure out yet.


    ...


    Later that day, Felix emerged from the hospital wing with the information he wanted.


    His suspicions had been correct.


    All of Grindelwald''s magic had been almost completely blocked, he is no different from a Squib, and he had been suffering from poor physical health for decades, and Madam Pomfrey had been supplying him with a mild nourishing potion.


    In a moment of clarity, a thought dawned in Felix''s mind: the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald might have been broken - otherwise, they could not have dueled - but there might have been another unknown magic pact between them.


    And the proof is in what Dumbledore said on the day he learned that Grindelwald had disappeared from Nurmengard Castle.


    "... He is restrained by powerful spells, and I can make sure that those restrictions remain in place, making it difficult for him to use advanced magic ... Whatever he wants to do, these conditions objectively set the bar for him. "


    Why was Dumbledore so sure that the spell has not been broken? There was only one answer Felix could think of, Dumbledore''s involvement (or even his own leadership) in the International Confederation of Wizards'' plan to imprison Grindelwald after that duel.


    It was getting dark as Felix walked down the grand staircase and made his way through the entrance hall.


    To his slight surprise, the open space at the entrance to the castle was already occupied, two familiar silhouettes bathed in the golden dusk sunlight, and as Felix squinted, the edges of their bodies seemed to reflect a haze of seven shades of light.


    Dumbledore''s elderly, forgiving, understanding voice blended in with the scene before him.


    "... There is still time, Miss Granger, and you have plenty of time to see the path ahead. I think - there is a similarity between the process of mastering magic and recognizing yourself - that is to follow your heart, and where the treasure is, there will be the heart ... Don''t forget, we are Gryffindors."


    Hermione bowed her head and didn''t say anything for a moment.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore? Granger?" Felix voiced out.


    Hermione jerked her head up and glanced at him quickly, squealing and jumping backwards a few steps.


    "Right, well excuse me, I''ve got things to do, I''ll be off." She ran off without looking back.


    Felix looked stunned.


    "What''s wrong with her?"


    "Miss Granger is a little confused about her future path, which is the privilege of youth." Dumbledore smiled faintly and said, "She trusts me enough to tell me something from her heart."


    "Oh," Felix said with a slight tsk as he looked back into the silent entrance hall, "I thought she had set her goals a long time ago, Amelia expects a lot from her and a whole lot of confidential information has been shown to her."


    Dumbledore blinked and didn''t say anything. His azure eyes reflected the last rays of sunlight in the sky and his long silver beard seemed to glow. As the golden curtain at the edge of the Forbidden Forest disappeared, the night came down like a thick curtain and the land became dim, but soon some starry lights appeared.


    "Albus," said Felix, breaking the silence and weighing the words, "I heard a term from Harry today, Blood Pact..."


    "Ah, I have considered it, that there might be a real possibility of him asking you for help." Dumbledore said calmly, "I didn''t think I could keep it a secret anymore when I decided to say it, and I agreed to let Harry draw wisdom from other people. Like Miss Granger just now when she asked me for advice."


    "That''s a blood pact." Felix said softly.


    The implications of that are completely different. It at least showed that at some point in Dumbledore and Grindelwald''s lives, they were willing to give a portion of their fates over to the complete control of the other.


    "Yes, two smart and cocky teenagers who made reckless oaths when they were closest to each other." Dumbledore said, with a faint note of relief in his tone, "We are smarter than the average person, a lot smarter and therefore a little more arrogant, convinced that we can accomplish what no one before us could ... but I would say that being smart is not a substitute for being wise, nor can it be a substitute for experience, and we are in some areas are just equally ignorant."


    He looked out into the distance when twilight replaced the haze and stars appeared in the flimsy sky.


    "As I have mentioned before, Gellert''s ideas attracted me, inspired me, and expressed things that I had kept buried deep in my heart but never dared to reveal, my dissatisfaction with the status quo at the time. I was brilliant but forced to stay stuck in an abandoned village, I was gifted but unable to provide shelter for my loved ones ... Felix, my father''s experience still affected me and there was a time in the dead of night when I would always ask myself in my mind: what would I have done if I had witnessed Ariana being bullied? "


    "Sometimes I hate myself for being too mature. I kept telling myself that there are equally good and bad Muggles as there are wizards and that it is foolish and condemnable to dismiss a large group of people at will, but when my mother tragically died and Ariana''s condition worsened, I was filled with resentment and grudges ..."


    Dumbledore closed his eyes. After a long pause, he reopened his eyes and said calmly, almost indifferently, as if he was narrating another person''s experience.


    "At a time when I was suffering most, Gellert appeared, and as soon as we met, he told me that the same thing had happened not only to me but to many, many fellow wizards, how absurd it was that we should suffer misfortune when we had the power! He proposed the best of both worlds - or at least that''s what I thought at the time - to join forces and create a whole new order. From then on wizards would not have to hide, Ariana would not have to hide, and the tragedy that happened to our family would never happen again."


    "We pride ourselves on our superior intelligence and strength, and as a result, we have made even greater mistakes."


    "I was so enthralled and completely absorbed, think about it, to solve my family''s troubles and free millions of wizards at the same time, that plan was simply too much to my liking, I worked day and night to perfect it, and eventually we''ve deviated from our original intentions, completely sidelined from the family I should have been valuing and immensely focused on a brilliant cause that existed only in fantasy ... You should have guessed the final outcome, my sister, Ariana ... who had been well cared for and looked after by my mother and us ... became the first victim. "


    It was completely dark, and Dumbledore blended completely into the darkness.


    "Albus-"


    "There is no need to comfort me, Felix, I have gotten what I wanted." Dumbledore turned and walked slowly towards the castle while whispering, "Perhaps we are born with our own missions, and mine is to right the wrongs I have made. Felix, you have a mission of your own."


    Felix stared at Dumbledore''s back as he caught a hint of something else.


    Suddenly, his eyes widened, the Thestral''s ash-white eyes glowed in the darkness, and Dumbledore''s steps faltered slightly before he continued to leave. Felix couldn''t help but inhale slightly.


    He had watched Voldemort with this pair of eyes, Voldemort''s soul tattered and torn, emanating an unsettling blackness. He had also seen Dumbledore, whose soul glimmered like pale jade and emitted a hazy luminescence.


    But right now, everything is different.


    A bright, soft light radiated from Dumbledore''s body, covering the land like the moon. Vaguely, Felix seemed to see Dumbledore holding a little girl in his hand, but they disappeared into the entrance hall in a flash.


    Felix stayed still, looking up at the sky, the stars reflected in his ash-white pupils.


    He waited silently as a ray of moonlight flickered past the windows of the castle''s seventh-floor corridor, eventually stopping at the tower of the Headmaster''s office, there is no moon tonight, but moonlight spilled all over Hogwarts Castle.


    -----------


    [Author:]


    This chapter is meant to sort out some of the clues from the previous chapters, as well as to show what Dumbledore has achieved in the realm of the soul.


    --------


    #Educated_Blade, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 662: The Great Demon King (2 in 1)

    Felix walked slowly into the castle. The girl must be Dumbledore''s long-dead younger sister, Ariana, right? He had used the Resurrection Stone to recall the projection from his memory ... However, does the Resurrection Stone have such a powerful effect?


    Felix pondered, he could see soul shimmer with this special pair of eyes, in other words, did Dumbledore use his power to give a hint of soul qualities to the memory projection, or did he share a part of his soul and the two are now in a lose-lose situation?


    But one thing is certain, Dumbledore''s understanding of the realm of the soul is completely beyond his own.


    The state of his soul at this point is simply terrifyingly robust.


    Felix had the feeling that Dumbledore could break away from reality at any moment and open a portal to send away all the ghosts cooped up inside Hogwarts castle. Just like Helena had back then.


    The legend of the Deathly Hallows flowed slowly in his mind. He had learned the names of the three Peverell brothers from Luna, and Felix preferred to think of the three men as magically powerful wizards who had each taken a different magical path and left behind three treasures that represented them as individuals.


    The treasures that contain their own understanding of magic. Like Felix''s Book of Rune, it is likely that if someone had got hold of it a thousand years later, they probably would likely to follow the same path as him.


    It is also possible that one of the Peverell brothers was an extremely skilled alchemist, and that this alchemist created these powerful magical items based on the different characteristics of the three brothers. Under this possibility, Felix believed that the highly skilled alchemist would be someone between the second and third, as the oldest was positioned closer to a warrior in the lore.


    If this were true, the magical attainments of that alchemist would be amazing, not only knowing a great deal about the soul, but he would also have to juggle wand crafting and alchemy ... It is pretty daunting, but not impossible.


    But alas, history did not leave much about them. Gee, what a waste of time!


    As for the ''mission'' Dumbledore spoke of, Felix scoffed at it.


    ...


    The next day was overcast and cloudy as the young wizards made their way through the castle in the drizzle.


    At the end of the first class in the morning, Felix came to the staff room and Professor McGonagall couldn''t wait to hand over a newspaper.


    "The list of people who successfully transformed into Animagus from our lesson has been publicized." She said with a broad smile.


    Felix took it up and took a closer look; it mentioned the list of people who could be classified as Animagus, and the newspaper congratulated enthusiastically, in an exaggerated way, on the fact that the number of Animagus in this century had reached double figures, and in addition to that, four of them from the list are all currently students.


    In fact, there have been seven registered Animagus in this century, nine counting Rita Skeeter and Sirius. If you add Peter Pettigrew and the undisclosed James Potter, the real number has long been well over ten, though the newspapers have deliberately omitted Peter Pettigrew''s existence.


    "That fast?"


    "Well, it isn''t that fast, it''s almost been a month." Professor McGonagall said with a spring in her step, a frown stretching across her face, "The three students are starting to make a name for themselves in the Advanced classes - Granger has always been number one, so she isn''t that obvious yet, but Abbott and Malfoy are improving by leaps and bounds. I''ve also given Longbottom an extra copy of my study notes, and he will be taking this year''s Transfiguration Ordinary Wizard level exam, so I''m sure he''ll be able to keep up with the progress."


    Felix''s mind became clear; Draco had been on a roll lately, with a large donation of fifty thousand gold galleons from the Malfoy family ahead of him, an event that had caused quite a stir. With his father Lucius taking the money to open the way for him, in addition to Lucius'' speech at the conference, had caused a number of media outlets to dial up the buzz.


    There have been some newspapers (Felix guessed that Lucius had secretly stuffed them with money) showing interest in the Malfoy family''s heir recently, and a closer inspection did reveal quite a few things worthy of coverage: a full member of the Dark Force Defence League (due to the contribution of collaborating on the development of the Bright Fire-making spell), a rival of Harry Potter and his best friend at school ( there is a suspicion of glorification), with no small ambition (healer dreams), and a freshly emerged Animagus.


    Draco is so full of ambition that he has a peacock embroidered on his chest at some point and walks around the school all day.


    Of the original batch of seven who qualified, Harry was the first to feel the throbbing of the Animagus, but also the first to fail; of the remaining six people, only four had successfully practised the Animagus, and they were all in Harry''s year, and to be more precise, they are all members of the Frontline Lookout Club who have mastered the Patronus Charm.


    On the contrary, the remaining two seventh years - Vergil and Jamilyn - were still struggling, both to keep up with reciting the spell incantation in the morning and evening, and also to learn Patronus magic. This was the advice given to them by Professor McGonagall.


    "Such a pain in the arse." Ron said.


    "If you count from the time we mastered the Patronus Charm, we are the slow ones." Hermione said sensibly, "The Professor has said that Animagus is like a step-by-step tedious magical ritual, the fruit of previous generations seized by coincidence."


    "Can anyone really come up with such tedious steps?" Harry asked in disbelief, he couldn''t think of anyone who would do something like shoving a mandrake leaf into their mouth for a month unless that person was dumbed down by some magic spell.


    "All the steps aren''t set in stone at once, and you can''t just assume by default that the other person is a student like you." Hermione said perkily, "Professor Sprout has taught in class that mandrake leaf has great medicinal value and that it is an essential component of most antidotes, so we can imagine a scenario where they needed to be kept in the mouth for a month or two."


    "Some ancient isolated wizard who was specialized in Transfiguration and Potions - the two disciplines that play an extremely important role in the study of Animagus - who for some reason or by coincidence, during the full moon, picks Mandrake leaf and stuffed a leaf into his mouth incidentally, probably to detoxify the poison or something ... Anyway, after a few days, he noticed an unknown change in the mandrake and used his knowledge in Potions to start his research."


    "Still sounds like a lot of hassle ...," Harry muttered. Ron nodded his head in agreement.


    "If you study magic more deeply, you can sense the subtle changes, which is the equivalent of a signal that most wizards have followed, before those laws of magic were discovered, wizards simply relayed on their senses and gut feeling." Hermione said.


    Ron muttered something that sounded like a ''divination lesson'' and Hermione raised her eyebrows.


    "Pay attention!" Sprout said sternly, standing in front of a rowan tree that was over twelve feet tall, "We''re going to learn about the Wiggentree for today, and it''s a very interesting lesson."


    The three of them hurriedly stopped talking, Sprout had said this to more than just them, and out of the corner of his eye, Harry caught a glimpse of Draco Malfoy putting a newspaper away and puffing out his chest, making the peacock pattern on his chest shirt even more prominent.


    I wonder if his tastes have changed recently? Harry thought to himself, though he didn''t dare voice it out, as this conclusion was something he had observed from Hermione, who was extraordinarily fond of the peas on the dinning table these days.


    Harry knew that Hermione had been practising her Animagus Transfiguration very diligently in recent times.


    During this time, the four students who had managed to successfully become Animagus had spent a weekend in Professor McGonagall''s office, where they had practised their transformation and recovery skills intensively. After that, they were asked to spend a certain amount of time each week on this and repeatedly experience the transformation process.


    Harry found it more or less similar to what Sirius had done by turning into a large dog and wandering around the school grounds once a month when he was at school.


    But to his and Ron''s bewilderment, they had never found out where Hermione practiced her transformation, nor were her roommates Lavender and Parvati aware of it; it would mean that Hermione had never practiced the spell in her dorm room. At this point, Sprout moved the Wiggentree that was behind her to the front to allow the students to see it more clearly.


    "... The Wiggentree is a magical rowan tree that will protect those who touch its trunk from the attacks of dark creatures. The processed material of the Wiggentree is therefore widely used in many defensive items, their wood and leaves can be used to make amulets, defensive accessories, carved vigilance charms, and so on, they have a slow growth cycle and the bark is relatively smooth in the seedling stage, so they are also good as ornamental plants. Its bark is also used to make Wiggenweld Potion."


    Professor Sprout asked the students to come closer and observe. Behind her, in addition to a large Wiggentree with rough bark, there are also two smaller ones, planted in pots, lush and rather pleasing to look at.


    "You can touch it, it is not dangerous, unless you are a dark creature in disguise." She said aloud, "But be careful when you run into it in the wild, there may be a group of Tree Protecting Bowtruckles living in that tree."


    Harry reached out and placed his hand on the trunk of the large Wiggentree, probably because there were no dementors or Inferius around, he didn''t feel any difference, the branches of the Wiggentree made a rustling sound, and he tilted his head up, trying to find a fruit or two amongst the dense branches.


    "Ouch - Professor Sprout, it hit me!" Lavender Brown suddenly shouted, jerking her hand back.


    "My dear, I think it may be because your thoughts are too complicated; Wiggentree has similar properties to the wands made from them, with exceptional defensive qualities and a preference for the clear-headed and pure-hearted people." Professor Sprout said.


    Not far in the distance, Draco Malfoy grinned, his chest straightened up.


    "That''s weird, I thought he would take a hit too." Ron said regretfully as Professor Sprout asked the students to take the barrels and mix a suitable fertilizer for the Wiggentree.


    "I think it might be because I''ve learned Animagus. Weasley." Draco Malfoy arrived from behind carrying a small barrel and bumped Ron on the shoulder, and looked back with a smug grin as he passed them.


    Ron opened his mouth to retort, but Harry held him back.


    "Don''t fall for it, he''s dying for us to fight him." Harry said calmly, "Malfoy, we will be finishing the first step in two more days in time, and with a bit of luck we''ll be Animagus by the end of the Easter break."


    "That''s right." Ron said defensively as he snapped to attention.


    "I''ll be waiting," Draco said condescendingly, narrowing his eyes, "I can give you a few pointers if you don''t understand something. That is if you don''t suddenly faint." He said those words to Harry.


    "If you knew what Harry had done, you''d wet your trousers, Malfoy." Ron said loudly. Draco slowly approached in a threatening manner and was just about to say something when Professor Sprout approached, glancing at them suspiciously, "What are you doing?"


    "Nothing, nothing."


    "Get a grip, then. You''re behind the schedule." She pointed out sternly.


    So they hurried to the corner of the greenhouse, where various piles of fertilizer, mainly magical creatures'' droppings, were stacked in separate categories, and the students picked out the right materials with a disgusted look on their faces using a levitation charm, then left quickly.


    As they queued, Ron suddenly asked Hermione, "Your dream is still to become a Minister of Magic, isn''t it?"


    "Yeah. What''s wrong?" Hermione asked, in confusion.


    "Then you should definitely work hard and get promoted early to kick him out of the Ministry of Magic."


    "Don''t be angry, Ron, and since the newspaper says he''s going to be a Healer in the future, I don''t think he''ll back out easily, even if it''s just to save his honour." Hermione said.


    "I don''t think so," Ron said with certainty, "I bet his dad would definitely give him an idle position to work in the Ministry, like a consultant or something ... How about this, you can make a law saying that all the Ministry of Magic titular must commute to work on time ..."


    He spoke up with gusto as Draco returned with the materials, and gave him a smug glance. To that Draco just patted himself on the chest, the peacock symbol on his chest suddenly shook in Ron''s eyes as he strutted away.


    Ron muttered that thing looked like a fried pheasant, and Justin behind them wasn''t too happy to hear that as his Patronus is a pheasant. But his good friend Ernie Macmillan said Justin''s favourite food is a chicken leg and the two got into a scuffle.


    Sprout, who had rushed over, gave Hufflepuff and the Gryffindors a five-point deduction.


    "Get a grip!" She shouted again.


    "Oh no!" Hermione suddenly called out when it was Harry''s and their turn.


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked in a whisper, he had to hold his breath, the smell around him was just too bad.


    "My wand is missing!" Hermione said, Harry and Ron inhaled sharply, their eyes widening incredulously, "No, it''s not what you think, I think I know where I dropped it."


    She looked odd as she pulled a small wooden stick out of her pocket, at first glance it looked similar to a wand, but combined with what she had said earlier, Harry noticed the difference.


    "An exclusive wand?"


    "Valen''s." Hermione said briefly.


    "Oh-" Ron trailed off for a long while. Hermione''s face flushed.


    "I, um, it was Valen who invited me, she was very interested in Animagus, and I thought ... it does get a bit boring to transform alone, so I thought I might as well follow Valen for a walk outside the castle ... Looking at everything from an animal''s point of view, some of the accustomed scenery has actually became quite fascinating, and Valen is an expert in this area."


    "No need to explain, Hermione," Ron said with a big grin, "Sirius has also managed to make friends with Crookshanks, maybe this is an invisible application of the Animagus, I should have thought of that ... "


    In the end, Harry used his own wand to help Hermione pick out the right materials, Hermione had wanted to try it herself with the exclusive wand but was stopped by Harry, this is not the right time, in case Hermione made a mistake and left all sorts of fertilizer flying around. S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    One by one the students returned to a large, spacious workbench and began to mix the fertilizer, "Take one part of the soil from rotting melons and one part of manure from a Mooncalf ... Gosh, this smells is really something!" In no time, the smell in the greenhouse became more and more overwhelming.


    The Bubble-Head Charm came in handy at this time.


    "I don''t advise you to use the spell, because the smell is equally an important part to judge the good and bad manure, but of course, it is not necessary, so if you really can''t stand it ...," Professor Sprout said in a dry tone.


    But only Neville didn''t use the Bubble-Head Charm, and when he had disposed of his share of the manure he looked like he was on the verge of passing out.


    "It''s perfect, Mr. Longbottom." Professor Sprout said with satisfaction.


    "Professor, Professor? Can I get out, go out to get some fresh air?" Neville asked, holding his breath, his face turned to an unnatural shade of red.


    "Oh, of course," Professor Sprout said understandingly, and Neville immediately ran towards the door, "Plus, ten extra points for Gryffindor." She shouted, expecting other students to follow suit, but the students lowered their heads and hid behind the fishbowl-shaped spell, silently dealing with the slimy mess in their little barrel.


    Immediately after class, Hermione disappeared.


    Harry knew that Hermione must have gone to get her own wand back, Professor McGonagall had asked them to keep it properly tucked away during the transformation, as wands could not be transformed together like clothes, not just wands, but any item that had anything to do with magic.


    So presumably before the process of transformation began, Hermione must have given her wand to Valen for safekeeping and asked her to keep it hidden in her pocket, and then after turning into a beaver the two little creatures slowly wandered around close to the castle walls ...


    Ancient Rune Office.


    "Miss Granger?" Felix asked, somewhat surprised, "Is there something urgent?"


    Hermione panted, holding out a finger, "Yes, sorry Professor, I''m looking for Valen."


    "Umm.."


    Felix turned his head, how odd. Niffler, that was in the midst of drawing on parchment, looked up and blinked, pointing at herself in confusion. Hermione waved at her, which meant "Yes, that''s you."


    Valen jumped down from the sofa and came over without a fuss. Hermione picked her up with a hug.


    "Sorry, Professor, we''ll be right back."


    After a short while, Valen came back alone. She had her little hands behind her back, and she shook her head for a while. Hermione was so careless, that she would have to make fun of her the next time they met, but not now, her size was completely out of the equation.


    "What was she looking for you for?" Felix asked curiously.


    Valen shook her head in a huff, she couldn''t talk about it, she couldn''t let the Great Demon King know about her quest to secure an ally.


    "Is she your new animal friend?" Felix asked thoughtfully.


    "Kee!?"


    "I didn''t peek at your diary," Felix curled his lips, "you were the one who was talking in your sleep at night and talking about uniting and defeating the Great Demon King ... And how did Grindelwald provoke you? "


    Valen stared at him, a little dumbfounded.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 663: 1 Day Leave

    Today the main story ends in the highest Patron Tier, before start working on sequel chapters (epilogues) I decided to take a day off, so I can''t update the usual chapters tomorrow, sorry. The updates will be back to usual from the day after tomorrow. s?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Thanks for your time and support! :D

 Chapter 663: Easter Holiday

    For Felix, he has to take care of a few things during the Easter holidays. After the war, the Future World Company has grown once again and now more than a third of the staff are new faces, and he is going to use this holiday to get to know the new employees, in which there are a considerable number of humanoid magical races.


    "As you requested, we have recruited half a dozen employees in each group from the Veela, vampire, werewolf, goblin ... and even two trolls, though no one is happy to spend time with them," Lupin said, his eyes carrying two dark circles beneath them, but he is in a very good mood. "Most of them are half-bloods, able to use wands and communicate easily, and I''ve given them the task of suggesting modifications to existing products, as well as travelling to their different gathering places to promote our products - mainly through bartering."


    Felix nodded.


    "What about the Centaur and Merpeople?"


    "Well, it''s moving in slow progress, the Centaurs are quite xenophobic, and the merpeople, it''s very rare for them to have any mixed blood with wizards, and if they do, they don''t want to walk around the wizarding world." Lupin said.


    "Oh, well, any interesting reports?"


    "The werewolves adore you." When he saw Felix''s somewhat surprised expression, Lupin flashed him a smile, "Didn''t you once recruit some werewolves over at Hogsmeade? They saw your transformation and were greatly amazed, and now the news has spread."


    "... They don''t think I''m a werewolf too, do they?"


    "A small group of werewolves did think so," Lupin said with an odd expression, "but after the conference, such rumours were not that marketable. Quite a few foreign experts in the field of potions stayed in England, and they assembled a few loose circles of their own and began to study the werewolves'' magical structure map. There are also healers - they suspect that many incurable diseases are related to mutations in one''s magic power in the body. A lot of conjectures have been raised accordingly."


    "Very energetic." Felix said with satisfaction.


    He had spent a week in Sword Castle, going from room to room, and had been warmly welcomed by the house elves, who, by the looks of things, enjoyed their working environment and liked living in groups. He also saw Dobby, and although Dobby is the house elf closest to him as far as Felix is concerned, Dobby is still very much involved in the actual work, unlike the wizards, it is generally considered disgraceful for house elves not to work. s?a??h th? N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Even Dobby was only asking for a modest salary and didn''t try to avoid work.


    "Sir, we have a present for you." Dobby said in a pointed voice as the little ones stepped aside to reveal a huge Easter egg that Felix reckoned would allow an elf to inhabit and live in, the name of each house elf carved in chocolate on every part of the eggshell.


    Felix expressed his thanks again and again.


    "I have gifts for you too." He said, and out of his ring flew hundreds of round chestnut wood sheets, shimmering with gilded writing, engraved with each house elf''s name and a sentence similar to ''Excellent Staff'', and on the back of which was a relief design of a sword castle.


    ...


    Harry and Ron had completed the first step in their Animagus preparations a few days before the holiday, hiding the little crystal vials at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, after which they recited the spell in the morning and evening without fail.


    Word spread among the students about how well Animagus boosted Transfiguration progress, and they gradually came to a consensus that if they wanted to learn Animagus, they had to learn Patronus first.


    The professor of the charms class went along with this idea and covered this part of the lesson in the last class before the holidays.


    "I heard that Professor Flitwick intended to include Patronus charm within the scope of the spells taught in class." Ron said.


    "It''s not an easy spell to practice." Harry said, thinking of how he had practiced the Patronus Charm, even if he didn''t include himself, the others had practiced it off and on for a good six months, but in the end, he could count on two hands the number of those who had mastered the spell.


    "There''s always a way." Ron responded optimistically instead.


    "Where''s Hermione?"


    "Probably gone to see Valen? With the Professor not around, Valen is even more out of control, alas, if we wander around the outskirts of the castle, we might be able to stumble upon a Niffler and a Beaver ..."


    "Or we could go and watch some cartoons, the one I told you about last time!"


    "Never mind, I''ll just work on the Quidditch tactics, since you guys spent two weeks freely because I was stuck in the hospital wing, we lost one game, the score was tight, and the last few games are crucial." Harry said thoughtfully.


    "Won''t Dumbledore use this holiday to give you lessons?"


    Harry shook his head.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore said he has some family business to take care of."


    " Family business!" Ron''s eyes widened, "Doesn''t he have only one family member left?"


    "That''s right," Harry said softly, "Aberforth Dumbledore of The Hog''s Head Inn."


    "That''s a pretty bad place for him to spend this holiday." Ron said with a shake of his head and feigned a sigh.


    ...


    Felix had also made a trip to the Ministry of Magic during the holiday, and Ms. Bones, who was intrigued by the recent rumours, lifted her monocle from a stack of documents.


    So Felix transformed his arm into a werewolf arm and grabbed and shattered a glass right in front of her.


    "That''s my favourite water glass!" Ms. Bones said with a raised eyebrow.


    Felix shrugged and recovered the arm along with the glass, his eyes settled on a puzzle hanging on the wall, and he asked in a lazy teasing tone, "I thought you liked this one best." He ended up being chased out because he had told the truth.


    Before he left, Ms. Bones told him something.


    "Akingbade would like to see you for a moment."


    "The new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?"


    Ms. Bones gave an affirmative look and handed him a business card, a faint trace of magic circulating through the card.


    A hint of interest passed through Felix.


    "I see, but not now. Probably in the summer."


    "Suit yourself, everyone''s pretty busy," she said, glaring at Felix with no small amount of jealousy, "Maybe I could consider teaching at Hogwarts for a few years after I retire, at least you have some time to do research ... "


    Felix wasn''t too happy to hear that, he retracted his right hand that was gripping the door handle and decided to let this woman know how much work he is truly doing. The reason he looked so laid back is entirely due to the time he scrambled and squeezed out for himself.


    So when Tonks knocked on the door, she saw their minister, engulfed within a thick pile of parchments, rubbing her forehead in pain as Felix grinned and whispered encouragement holding his teacup, giving occasional comments on the results of her work.


    "Efficiency, Amelia, efficiency! You''ve only finished grading a hundred and three assignments, and by the time you leave the office -" he glanced at the clock - "you''ll probably be able to finish two hundred." For some reason, the nostrils on Ms. Bones'' expressionless face kept flaring and puffing out ragged breaths.


    "Tonks!" Ms. Bones jumped up and asked with a serious, solemn voice, "Come on, what''s the situation now?"


    Tonks looked at her superior blankly.


    What did she mean? She had nothing to report, she just wanted to take a leave of absence, there is nothing much going on these days, and she wanted to go back to the world of the couple as early as possible.


    Ms. Bones'' sharp eyes looked at Tonks through her monocle like a hawk.


    "I think ... it''s probably a bit serious?" Tonks said slowly, her tone taking several turns in the middle. A small smile appeared at the corner of Ms. Bones'' mouth before it quickly retracted, "I see," she said solemnly, "I''ll be right over to take care of it."


    She left with a steady step, her gaze firm and strong, with a hint of decisive determination.


    Tonks was frozen in place, a bunch of questions running through her head. When she turned back, she found Felix had packed up the students'' assignments and was standing in the fireplace, letting the turquoise flames climb up his cheeks.


    Felix waved at her with a victorious look, "I don''t mind Remus skipping work once in a while." And disappeared. Leaving Tonks dazed. Now that everyone has left, who''s going to approve her leave slip then?


    Halfway through the Easter holiday, Felix finally returned to school.


    After some thought, he appeared straight into the chamber below the castle, which remained in a poor state, dimly lit, with a faint smell of decay and stench in the air, and traces of his magic practice littered all over the floor. Felix muttered something in a Parseltongue and the mouth of the statue of Salazar Slytherin slowly opened to reveal the space within.


    Tens and hundreds of creatures that existed only in fantasy stepped out of it.


    Felix surveyed them, these ''Rune creatures'' are not truly living creatures, at least not in Felix''s opinion in comparison to the intelligence of the Sorting Hat, he wanted to create real living beings that did not have to live in the special environment he had painstakingly made for them.


    As the Thinking Room magic slowly radiated from his body, the rune creatures, which were not quite attuned to their surroundings, became animated, and Felix reached out his hand. A Rainbird with golden-red flames burning on its body landed in his hand, dancing around in his palm.


    Felix rubbed his chin.


    "Ancient rune as a carrier, memory nodes to lock memory fragments, tsk, this is the low-grade wizard body and wizard soul, but it''s just a little bit short of each ..."


    The flames suddenly flared in front of Felix''s body, the flames churning into a swirl of golden red flames, Felix stared at the flashes of memories in the flames, or ''record'' would be a more accurate word, the Rainbird itself lacked emotion, it reacted as Felix expected.


    After a few moments, the flames gradually receded, coalescing in front of him as a wizard''s chess piece with a lingering warmth.


    Time passed and Felix started to transform the chamber into a playground, the memories were all readily available, it is the materials that caused the difficulty, with the hint of a hidden desire, he did not make a big show of it but went out of his way to visit a dozen places.


    In the middle of it, he even made a trip to Newt''s house to learn how to blend different environments into one.


    So by the end of the holiday, the chamber had expanded a thousandfold, being divided into a dozen different terrains and entertainments. The ceiling had also been raised, and Felix sat on a pair of swings perched on a cloud, observing the natural landscape below from a high viewpoint.


    A meandering river runs through all the different terrains, starting from the snowy mountain, to a plain a thousand feet below, surrounded by vast forests, swamps, deserts, stone groves, lakes ...


    The only pity is that there is a lack of real life here.


    But Felix could create rune creatures, and after having done so, Felix looked contentedly at the rune creatures running across the earth beneath his feet, and in the lower left corner of his vision, there''s a vacant area remained, bare, with a stone floor clearly separated from the grass that bordered it only by a line.


    The intended entertainment there would be the valley of flight with zero gravitational field, and he guessed he wouldn''t be able to fetch the material for it, for the time being. But at least it looked eight or nine shades closer to what he imagined, and the rest could be slowly perfected.


    On the last day of the holiday, Felix sat on the stone steps in front of the castle and stared up at the moon.


    There was a rustle of noise around him, and he grinned.


    "Valen, Miss Granger?"


    Two heads poked out of the grass, one belonging to Niffler and the other to Beaver, which immediately ducked its head back. A witch appeared in the same spot and Hermione walked forward with heavy feet, waving quietly at Valen as she did so.


    Valen pulled a wand out of her pocket and handed it to her.


    "Er ... Professor? What are you doing?" Hermione decided to skip over a certain topic that made her feel embarrassed and snatched the lead.


    Felix stared at the moon, "I''m thinking about finding some building materials ... never mind, it feels a bit risky."


    "Building materials?" Hermione looked at him in confusion and then followed his line of sight to the sky, her expression turned to one of half clarity and half incredulity, "You want to go to the moon? That''s, that''s too-" She found herself completely lost in the professor''s train of thought.


    "It''s always okay to think about it." Felix suddenly showed interest and asked in his usual tone of discussing magic, "Do you think there''s hope?"


    Hermione fell silent when she heard that.


    Valen tilted her head and looked around, then jumped onto the steps to stare at the bright moon with immense curiosity. She had followed the Great Demon King to quite a few places, but hadn''t been to the moon yet, but the moon is only that big, what''s so pretty about it?


    "Professor, what''s the longest distance you can Apparate?" Hermione asked nonchalantly.


    "I never tried to check it out... maybe a few thousand kilometres." Felix said, the longer the distance of the Apparition the more dangerous it would be, and he didn''t think twice about it, but it would be basically no problem to go from one country to another; it only took one Apparition to travel from England to France, and two or three transits to the United States in turn.


    "If that''s the case," Hermione took a deep breath, "it is indeed possible to make it happen. I remember that the distance from Earth to the Moon is about 380,000 kilometres, and if we could guarantee survival in a vacuum, it would only take two or three hundred Apparitions - do you know about vacuum, Professor? And cosmic radiations?"


    "Yes." Felix glanced at Hermione.


    "Well then, if you do plan to ... land on the moon, Professor, make sure you''re prepared for everything." Hermione said with a squirm, not sure why she was discussing an outrageous topic so seriously, maybe because it is actually possible for him to do it.


    "I remember that Muggles have special books describing the outer atmosphere and this must be done step by step, any reckless and rash actions could have serious consequences. Professor - I would never want your name to be recorded with some strange aberration, like that idiot who flew to the moon on his flying broom -" her tone grew more anxious and stern.


    "Got it, got it." Felix said in a perfunctory manner.


    "This is no joke!"


    "Ah, it''s my life issue, I assure you, I''m just thinking about it and have no plans for a long trip at the moment."


    "Professor, please swear!"


    "Well ... it''s not a magic pact, is it? That wouldn''t do ..."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 664: Gifts and wands? (2 in 1)

    On the first day of school after the holiday, the sixth graders sat in their charms'' classroom, the voice of Professor Flitwick, who has goblin blood, was drowned out by the howling wind and rain outside, he waved his wand and the violently rattling windows were sealed, and the classroom fell silent once again. "All right, class, concentrate, there are less than two months left until the final exams." Professor Flitwick held up his wand and said in a high-pitched voice, "Open your textbook and turn over and read the second to last chapter."


    The students silently took out their textbooks and read the contents of the lesson, the tightly closed windows shutting out the heavy pea-sized rain and the black sky from their eyes, but every now and then the rumble of thunder still burrowed into their ears.


    Ron and Hermione took the time to exchange a worried look as they flipped through their textbook.


    "Harry will be fine." Ron whispered with a bit of unease, and Hermione nodded slowly. There was an empty seat next to them that is reserved for Harry, but almost two hours had passed since they parted, and not even his shadow had arrived.


    The Hagrid hut at the edge of the Forbidden Forest.


    The thick rain splintered and splatted against the roof. In the hut, Hagrid stood restlessly by the fire, not even noticing that the milk kettle placed on the stovetop had started to boil. The dog Fang whimpered and barked.


    "You''re such a coward, don''t you recognize Harry anymore?" Hagrid growled at the terrified hound that was hiding behind him.


    In front of them, Felix, Dumbledore, and Professor McGonagall were circling a tall stag, checking its condition.


    "Are you all right, Harry?"


    The stag gave a couple of "Yo Yo" sounds, then it seemed to realize that it couldn''t speak the human language and shook its head which had antlers. But Felix and Dumbledore didn''t let their guard down, Felix''s eyes turning grey and white as he walked slowly around the stag.


    Dumbledore also looked at it intently, his sharp gaze seeming to penetrate the brown-grey skin of the stag.


    It took a good ten minutes before the two men stopped moving.


    Felix and Dumbledore exchanged a look. "I didn''t spot any issues." Felix said, and Dumbledore blinked, "Neither do I. But it needs to be observed again to make sure."


    "I''ll stay, I don''t have any classes in the morning." Felix said with understanding.


    Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall left in a pair and as they pushed open the door, a bolt of lightning cut through the open space in front of the hut, illuminating Professor McGonagall''s somewhat confused expression, "Dumbledore, I don''t understand why we have to do all this ..."


    The door slammed shut behind them.


    "It''s been raining really hard." Hagrid said in a muffled voice, then looked on in amazement as the stag''s massive antlers slowly shrank, and its body stood upright, transforming into a shape of a human. Hagrid walked over and wrapped his thick arm, which rivalled the size of a thigh, around Harry, then shoved the piping hot mug of milk into Harry''s hand.


    "Have some warm milk, you are probably exhausted ..."


    "Thank you, Hagrid. If you were asking me, I do know how this storm came about."


    Harry muttered, at which point Felix stuck his head out the window.Then they heard a high-pitched chirp ring out from overhead.


    The rain gradually dwindled.


    Harry took a small sip of the boiling milk, and his mood started to calm down after having just experienced his first Animagus transformation in his life, and some new thoughts came to him.


    It had been two weeks since the last full moon, and he had once again felt the throbbing of the Animagus and everything seemed to fall into place. He had learnt his lesson from the last time and the first thing he did after that was to find Professor McGonagall and report it, fearing that a Stunning Spell might pop up on the way and he would repeat the same experience again.


    It was evident that Professor McGonagall seemed to have the same idea, and she quickly informed Professor Hap.


    What happened next was beyond Harry''s expectations - along with Professor Hap, Headmaster Dumbledore, who had been missing for the entire Easter break, appeared with a pleasant twinkle in his eye, though the smile on his face narrowed slightly when he saw Harry.


    "I happened to run into Hap," Dumbledore explained briefly, "and I offered to help gather some clouds."


    The reason sounded reasonable, as there were only two or three thin puffy clouds hovered in the sky. If there had been no unforeseen events, it would have been a sunny day, but after twenty minutes the sky clouded with dark clouds, and a huge shadow separated from Professor Hap, which Harry recognized as a thunderbird.


    In just a few moments, lightning and thunder flashed above, and a torrential downpour poured down outside.


    After retrieving the potion that had been hidden, Dumbledore did not let Harry attempt his transformation immediately, and brought him to the area near Hagrid''s hut, where Harry had taken the red potion in the vegetable plot. Hagrid looked confused at the unexpected arrival of the group, his place was in a state of disarray, and he was surprised when he saw Harry transform into a big stag.


    He didn''t know if it was an illusion brought on by the Animagus transformation, but Harry actually felt a little nervous from the intense stare of a few of the professors, it wasn''t something that hard to understand when it came to Professor McGonagall''s gaze, as a caring heart for her students was hidden under her serious face, but it was very strange when it came to Professor Hap and Dumbledore.


    Especially when he had compared it to the experience of Hermione''s transformation, the way Professor Hap had looked at that time was as if he was out for a walk, and the way he pulled out various snacks from his pockets made a deep impression on Harry.


    He was afraid that the professor would follow suit this time and pull a handful of wild grass out of his pocket and stuff it into his mouth as well.


    After successfully transforming into his new form, Harry was led to the hut - he left the pumpkin patch rather reluctantly, the green pumpkin seedlings held a different attraction for him, and he realized that he hadn''t eaten breakfast today - where several professors took turns checking him out. It seemed that his Animagus form was not a stag, but a delicate and fragile piece of porcelain.


    There must be something in between that he had not considered yet, Harry thought indignantly.


    Before he knew it, the glass of milk had reached the bottom.


    "It''s more or less enough rest, Harry, let''s try again." Felix said as the rain had completely stopped and a beam of sunlight was cast down into the hut. Harry listened and put the empty glass down, standing up silently.


    "Why don''t you rest a bit longer and have a sausage or something." Hagrid said from the sidelines.


    "Hagrid, we have limited time, let''s get our business done first." Felix said, "When the training is over, I think Harry would prefer a vegetable-based meal."


    After saying that he gestured for Harry to begin, Harry took a deep breath and pointed his wand at himself, his heart throbbed powerfully as the image of a tall animal appeared in his mind and Harry embraced the sensation with all his might.


    His body began to morph, his clothes and glasses melting into his body like liquid, he felt a bout of discomfort, but it was so much better than the excruciating pain he had felt the first time, he even managed to control the sudden urge to break the window and escape as quickly as he could.


    In his stag form, some of his human features had been preserved; a patch of fur around his eyes had a dark-coloured circle and on closer inspection, it could be associated with the glasses Harry usually wore. His wand was dropped on the floor.


    Felix examined Harry carefully.


    There is a pale ring of bright light around the outside of the stag''s body, which is flawlessly white, but beneath it lies a dark aura that seems to blend in with the fur on its body, making it difficult to be detected.


    It took a full ten minutes before Harry was allowed to change back. He was panting, and as the relief of his second transformation took hold of him he felt the pressure from the Professor''s eyes.


    "Professor, is there something wrong?" Harry asked.


    "Well, I haven''t noticed anything so far." Felix said.


    A long time before Harry had practiced the Animagus, he and Dumbledore had considered the risks involved and had come to the conclusion that there would not be much of a problem. Voldemort''s soul fragment is actually attached to Harry''s soul, not a part of his body, so in theory, Animagus Transfiguration would not affect Harry that much.


    But there are many strange unexpected things happening in the world, so it is always a good thing to be careful.


    After all, there is magic in the soul fragments, and no one can say for sure that this magic will not be mixed up in the transformation. But judging by the fact that the soul fragment had been in a state of slumber, the chances of this possibly happening would be very slim.


    The next step is to test whether repeated transformations will activate the dormant soul fragment.


    ...


    It was well past noon when Felix left the Hagrid hut and Harry after checking the time, decided to stay and enjoy lunch with Hagrid, and in no time the iron pot was overflowing with the smell of mushrooms and wild vegetables.


    "Knock, knock!"


    There was a knock at the door, Harry and Hagrid looked at each other, Harry walked over and opened the door, there was Ron and Hermione standing outside, just as he was about to speak, Hermione impatiently made a quick comment, "I ran into Professor Hap on the way."


    "What a coincidence." Harry said with a smile.


    So the four of them stared blankly at the mushroom gumbo, "Not enough portions," Hagrid muttered, "I remember there was a bit of biscuit ..." Hermione hurriedly took out a bunch of snacks from the little beaded bag, and Harry and Ron urged Hagrid to stop being so busy and relax a bit.


    "You are pretty well-prepared." Hagrid said in a low grunt, as he stirred the food in the pan with a spoon, "I''ll roast some more sausages then, moist and oily, your favourites."


    Harry felt a sudden pang of nausea. Professor Hap''s words have unfortunately come true.


    Well, when he goes back he is going to find out what the stag usually likes to eat, but maybe he won''t need to, he will just have to follow his senses, he can''t stop thinking about the pumpkin patch at the back of the hut at the moment ...


    "So, everything went well with your transformation? And Dumbledore also showed up?" Ron asked purposefully, Hagrid''s attention was drawn away and Harry mentioned that the reason Dumbledore had shown up was to ''make some clouds'', which Ron and Hermione felt slightly dubious about.


    "But since the professors all said it is fine, that means you can practice Animagus from now on, right?" Ron whispered, "That''s nice, I don''t know when I''ll ever get to experience that feeling." He couldn''t help but feel sorry for himself.


    "Well, this is my second try, so it is natural to be a little faster." Harry said.


    Hermione, on the other hand, suggested for Ron to practise the Patronus Charm more often when he had nothing else to do.


    "There''s never enough time," Ron said bitterly, "Professor Flitwick only told us this morning that we only have six weeks left before the exams, and then he assigned a two-foot assignment."


    They quickly skipped over this topic as the pot on the stovetop boiled and the four of them happily enjoyed a feast of mushroom and vegetable gumbo and grilled sausages, which Hagrid alone had eaten three-quarters of it by himself.


    After they had eaten and drunk, the topic of their conversation became more and more divergent.


    "Professor Bagshot is also very knowledgeable about Patronus charm, and he has claimed that the higher level Patronus can have extra magic attached to it." Harry said after swallowing a mouthful of chocolate Cauldron Cake and patting his bulging stomach, which was propped up quite considerably.


    At the mention of magic, Hermione instantly became quite eloquent.


    "It''s just a possibility," she said as she slowly analysed the matter, "Remember? Professor Hap could fuse ancient runes into his Patronus, but he had used memory nodes to nearly reconstruct this magic to do that ..."


    "Speaking of Professor Bagshot," Hagrid seemed to think of something, "I forgot to give him his Easter eggs, poor man ... I remember him saying he was from abroad, so maybe no one gave him a present. "


    "Dumbledore had sent him some," Harry promptly said, "I saw the wrapped box and the card in his office. Well - me and Neville sent some as well."


    "Ugh, that''s good." Hagrid said in what seemed like a relieved tone, "Dumbledore was indeed thoughtful enough in that regard, and he also sent Snape a present, it was the morning after Easter, I guess ..."


    "Wait!" Harry interrupted hastily, "You said the morning after Easter?"


    "Yeah." Hagrid looked at him in confusion.


    "But Dumbledore isn''t-" Harry was a little confused, all Dumbledore had told him was that he would be staying at his brother''s place for the entire holiday and that he had some important business to take care of.


    "Maybe he came back in the middle." Hermione guessed in a small voice.


    "Yeah, Hogsmeade is so close to the school that he would be back in the middle of a morning walk." Ron said.


    Harry was almost convinced, although there was still a twinge of doubt in his mind, so he asked Hagrid.


    "Did you see them? In school? What did they talk about then?"


    "I don''t know, I was just coming back from the depths of the Forbidden Forest and little Grawp will be building his own house now, ahem - I walked away when I saw them talking." Hagrid said gruffly, "Do I look like someone who would eavesdrop on people? And my size doesn''t allow it ..."


    Ron let out a "pfft" of laughter, and he hastily covered his mouth, "I am sorry Hagrid - it was unintentional."


    "And what about their actions then? I thought you said Snape received a present?" Harry continued to press on.


    "You are quite curious," Hagrid shot him a look, but he still had a look of reminiscence, "Well, I just caught a quick glimpse - Snape was not looking very well at the time... ...Dumbledore, on the other hand, was talking in a lighter tone, and he was trying to persuade him to take something. I suppose it couldn''t have been anything other than a present, could it?"


    Harry looked down and pondered.


    "So, you didn''t see Snape holding a round Easter egg at the time, you just heard a word or two ... Could it have been Dumbledore trying to get Snape to accept something else?"


    "What could it be?" Hagrid asked rhetorically, tugging at his beard.


    "I don''t know, maybe a Christmas hat?" Harry guessed wildly. He suddenly became acutely aware that his memory of Snape had faded quite a bit; he hadn''t seen him more than a few times in the last six months or so, and his most vivid memory was still stuck at Christmas.


    They discussed it for a while longer, but they failed to come up with any useful thoughts, so they said goodbye to Hagrid and headed back toward the castle.


    "Maybe it''s just a normal present," Ron said to Harry, seeing that he was still distracted, "Come to think of it, there aren''t many people I can think of that would send Snape a present, I think apart from Dumbledore, it''s probably just Professor Hap, and maybe Malfoy too. " He said thoughtfully.


    "Or maybe - it''s Voldemort''s wand!" Harry abruptly said as a jolt of electricity seemed to rush through his body.


    He had just been thinking about what Dumbledore had that would be important enough to be given away, and he thought of Pensieve, Horcrux carriers, resurrection stone, silverware on the table that made funny noises, maybe even a book, but they were either ruled out or didn''t make much sense to him.


    But then he suddenly remembered the wand he had seen being placed on the table and examined by Dumbledore during the first lesson.


    Ron and Hermione looked at each other in disbelief. Harry, however, spoke away with gusto.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore got his hands on that wand a long time ago, before Voldemort even brought back to life! At the time, Barty Crouch Sr. was under the influence of Imperius Curse and Confundus Charm and was controlled by the spell to serve the frail Voldemort, while his son, Barty Crouch Jr. was undercover at the school in place of the Mad-Eyed Moody. In the end, on Christmas Eve, the headmaster and Professor Hap teamed up to raid the Crouch mansion, and the wand was one of the spoils of war."


    He went on excitedly.


    "And the wand itself is of great significance, it was Voldemort''s first wand, the phoenix feather in the wand''s core came from Fawkes, and he probably wouldn''t have even wanted to replace it if it hadn''t been lost in that accident ..."


    "But why? Why would Dumbledore give Voldemort''s wand to Snape? It''s not like Snape can use it." Ron asked.


    "Yeah, why?" Harry muttered.


    "Harry, you could actually ask Headmaster Dumbledore personally, you have plenty of opportunities." Hermione advised, referring to the time when the two of them would be alone in the Headmaster''s office.


    "I-" Harry hesitated, his mind wavering, unsure of what to do.


    "I''m not sure if Headmaster Dumbledore had sneaked back in, but he obviously didn''t want a third person to know about his conversation with Snape, didn''t he? I might not be able to get any answers even if I ask-" S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He stopped talking abruptly, and his eyes widened as a large silvery creature with long horns flashed past them and rushed straight towards the castle.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 665: Disarming Charm

    Harry stared dumbly at the creature. "A stag? That''s your Patronus?" Ron exclaimed in shock and looked around, then as if he thought of something, he took a short breath and said, "Could - could someone have used the time-turner? We used a time-turner!?"


    "No, I don''t think so." Harry said, in half certainty and half doubt, "It wasn''t a stag, but ... rather some other creature with horns."


    At that moment, Hermione tugged on his sleeve and said in surprise, "Harry! Ron! Look over there, that, that''s-"


    They looked in the opposite direction of the castle and saw a small, blurry grey figure through the gap in the castle''s iron gates.


    "... Dumbledore?" Ron''s eyes bulged.


    "No," Harry said excitedly, though he didn''t know why. "It''s Aberforth. Come on, let''s go over there!" He jumped down the slope that they had climbed halfway up, and galloped as fast as he could.


    As he ran, the previously somewhat vague thought took shape in his mind that perhaps Aberforth knew something about Voldemort''s wand ... and if Headmaster Dumbledore really did intend to give it to Snape, it must have something to do with him.


    Harry thought eagerly, so far he knew nothing about how to get rid of the soul fragment from his body.


    At the gate of the castle, Harry and Aberforth faced each other, "Is that you, boy?" Aberforth growled grumpily, suspecting that his Patronus had sent the message to the wrong person.


    "It''s me." Harry gasped, a mixed feeling welling up inside him, he knew what this old man had been through.


    "What''s the problem?" Aberforth asked impatiently. At that moment, Ron and Hermione came running towards them, out of breath.


    "Well," Harry racked his brain, "we just saw you ... your Patronus, the big guy with the horns ... "


    "The goat, yeah, the goat." Aberforth said distractedly, the same azure eyes as Dumbledore''s gazed up towards the castle.


    "You''re looking for Headmaster Dumbledore, aren''t you?" Harry suddenly understood the purpose of Aberforth, "Unfortunately, I don''t know the method to open the gate, there''s a protection spell cast around Hogwarts ..." His words proved to be like stirring up a hornet''s nest.


    "I don''t want to go in, not even a little bit, understand!" Aberforth suddenly growled, and the golden trio was taken aback. "This place makes me sick, I can''t believe he''s doing this! After all that happened!"


    "Mr. Dumbledore? You-" Hermione tried to speak nervously.


    "Don''t call me that!" Aberforth roared, "I- Ariana-" he gasped violently, his eyes horribly widened and his wand spewing out a flurry of flame as if he might commit murder at any moment.


    The trio, who are just separated by a door, are stunned.


    After a few moments, Aberforth calmed himself down.


    "Don''t be nosy, you lot."


    "But," Harry gathered his courage, "if you don''t like this place, why did you even come? And you''re still spending your holidays with ... Headmaster Dumbledore."


    The muscles in Aberforth''s face quivered one by one.


    "You want to know? Because my vile, shameless brother threatened me and forced me to make a choice ... Look, here he is." He said viciously and Harry jerked his head back as Headmaster Dumbledore suddenly appeared a short distance away and is striding towards them.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore." Harry murmured, feeling ashamed that he might have entered into the conflict between the Dumbledore brothers by mistake, or perhaps he had failed to defend him in a decisive manner.


    Dumbledore merely nodded slightly and said, "You all go back first."


    So the golden trio hurried to leave, not even daring to pause for breath. After they had walked some distance away, Harry glanced back, and Headmaster Dumbledore''s back was turned to them, so his expression was not visible; but there was disgust written in every frown on Aberforth''s face, as he hollered.


    "You win, Albus. I promise you, the memories are yours, for, for Ariane ..."


    "Why do you guys think Dumbledore''s brother got so angry? He looks like his lungs are about to explode -" said Ron impatiently as the three of them climbed the white stone steps all the way up and made their way through the great hall and the grand staircase appeared in their sight.


    "Shhh." Harry was about to answer when Hermione interrupted, gesturing cautiously towards the far end.


    Mafalda was standing below the huge bulletin board, clutching a slab of cardboard in her hand, and was tilting her head up to speak to Peeves Ghost as if she was interviewing him. "Mr. Peeves, can you tell us about the prank you''re most proud of?"


    "You''ve come to the right person!" Peeves Ghost said with a smile, floating in mid-air, trying his best to put on a thoughtful expression as his fingers kept twirling a clown hat.


    "Don''t startle them." Harry whispered promptly, as he led Ron and Hermione at a slower pace to climb the grand staircase.


    "She''s expanding her business over to ghosts?" Ron said incredulously. "Peeves isn''t even a ghost." Hermione subconsciously retorted, Harry didn''t say anything, he wasn''t interested in the business of Peeves or the Wall of Mystery tabloid, he just wanted to get back to the common room and clear his head at the moment.


    Harry quickened his pace, stepping up two steps at a time, and as he neared the first floor, there was a loud, chaotic noise heard from downstairs.


    "...''s most glorious prank is certainly this one!" Peeves'' excited shout came from below, followed by a rain of "crackles".


    "Chalk head," Ron said with certainty as he stopped in his tracks, "Mafalda''s in trouble."


    But then there was a rapid chanting sound coming from downstairs - "Wingardium Leviosa! Langlock!" The whine of the Peeves followed, "Mr. Peeves, I''ve come prepared ..." Harry and the group went up another flight of stairs, and Mafalda''s smug voice became faint, and eventually faded.


    "I''m massively impressed by Mafalda." Ron said admiringly.


    "Harry, have you figured out anything?" Hermione asked, they slowed down at this point, and she looked up and down the stairs and left and right corridors for a while, without seeing anyone else.


    "A bit," Harry said, sitting on the stairs, "the gift Snape received, Headmaster Dumbledore''s unusual behaviour, and Aberforth''s anger ... By the way, they also mentioned Ariana, all of these must be connected, and-" he paused, "I think it has something to do with me."


    Ron glanced uneasily at the portraits on the wall, several of them had quietly opened their eyes, and he waved his wand threateningly. "Don''t try to eavesdrop, go away." The portrait figures cursed and left the frame.


    "You - are - the Prefect." Hermione turned to Ron in annoyance.


    "Yeah, I''m the Prefect," Ron said, "This is a really nice place, we can hear footsteps when someone comes by."


    Hermione stopped paying attention to him and cast a Muffliato Charm in the vicinity, and turned her head to Harry with a grumpy look, "I also noticed the anomaly when you said that, although we''ve known for a long time that Headmaster Dumbledore and his brother didn''t exactly get along, and the fact that Aberforth is part of the Order of the Phoenix means that the two have eased up a bit, but now they... ..."


    " Well look like enemies." Harry said with a nod.


    "Could it be that our Headmaster did something?" Ron said, "As you heard, Aberforth is quite repulsed by the family name ''Dumbledore'' and it must have something to do with the Headmaster."


    Harry thought Ron had hit the nail on the head.


    "He has even developed a distaste for the school as well."


    "Wait, Harry, listen to this:" Hermione said slowly, "I can''t believe he did that, after all that happened ... that''s what Aberforth said then, remember? "


    "Hermione, you''re just repeating my point. This proves once again that Aberforth''s attitude has something to do with Headmaster Dumbledore." Ron pointed out.


    "No, no, there are nuances." Hermione mused, "After ''All that'' happened, what do you think that refers to?" She didn''t give them any time to answer, and continued, "I think it''s that tragedy, Harry, you told us about ..."


    Ariana''s death - is an accident caused by the duel between Dumbledore, Grindelwald, and Aberforth.


    "Come to think of it, it has been nearly a century since that tragedy, but now it''s being brought up by Aberforth once again, so something must have stimulated him, and it has something to do with the tragedy itself."


    "Memories." Harry said, as if he had suddenly choked, "Aberforth mentioned memories at the end, and I guess Dumbledore wants to ask for his brother''s memories."


    Hermione''s expression went dazed.


    "But why?"


    "Because of the Resurrection Stone," Harry said very weakly as he sat down on the step again, and he felt that he had guessed the truth. "Dumbledore has the Resurrection Stone, yes, one of the Deathly Hallows that you remember, it has a function to recall the projections of the dead from the memories of the living, Dumbledore would have wanted to access that precious memory of his brother, after all, those are the only two left in the Dumbledore family at the moment."


    "How do you know?" Ron asked in surprise, watching Harry''s expression carefully, "You already knew about this? Then you followed us to the Chamber of Secrets and looked for the Resurrection Stone-"


    "I guess Headmaster Dumbledore asked Harry to keep it a secret, didn''t he?" Hermione asked, staring at Harry, who nodded silently. Hermione continued, "So it''s not surprising that Dumbledore asked for the memories, after all, Ariana is closer to Aberforth, and he has more accurate memories, but that should be a good thing for Aberforth, so why is he angry?"


    "Wait, I''m not clear yet," Ron protested, "you''re skipping a crucial part of the puzzle, what''s the point of these memories?"


    Harry opened his mouth, but Hermione beat him to it, "Classroom seven."


    Harry stared at her with a startled expression.


    "What? Isn''t that what you thought?" Hermione asked in surprise.


    "I thought ... Dumbledore wanted to resurrect his sister ...," Harry mumbled.


    "That''s not possible Harry," Hermione said strongly, "How many times do I have to state this? Magic can''t bring people back from the dead, at least not in the way you want it to happen. Because the conditions simply can''t be met. Dead wizards either become ghosts or their souls step into the world of the dead and move on."


    "Oh, so you think Dumbledore is trying to extract the memories of two people and then use the power of the Resurrection Stone to make Ariana somehow live in Classroom Seven, just like those memory bodies?" Ron understood.


    "I do," Hermione said, "It would be the most likely method to succeed, but I don''t think Dumbledore would do it. He should be smart enough to tell the difference between real and fake."


    "What are you talking about?" Harry asked sensitively.


    "Do you think the ghosts are alive? And there are also magic portraits?" Hermione asked rhetorically in rapid succession, "They do have the intelligence of a living person in some ways, but if you really consider them as living, you will be absolutely disappointed, and even worse, you will become increasingly desperate the closer you get to them."


    Harry listened with a pang of discomfort.


    He thought of the second brother in ''The Tale of the Three Brothers'', the story in which the second brother received the Resurrection Stone from Death and in doing so he summoned the projection of his beloved, but he did not live a happy life, did he realize this too, that the projection of his memory is ultimately not the same as the real person, and that is why he finally lost all his will and chose to commit suicide?


    "What you are saying is only an assumption." He said stiffly.


    "We''re talking about guesses." Hermione said.


    "Come on, knock it off, someone''s coming up." Ron said as he glanced downwards. S?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    They stood up and continued to walk upstairs. At this point, Hermione was still thinking about Aberforth''s strange attitude, "Is it because he recognizes the truth that he refuses to give up his memories? Does he think Headmaster Dumbledore is doing a mistake, or even desecrating the dead? I always felt off, that something might have been overlooked ..."


    "Aberforth finally compromised. That''s why he''s here today." Ron said.


    "Oh..."


    Hermione suddenly yelped and Harry and Ron followed her gaze as Snape glided over like a giant black bat.


    "What are you doing here?" Harry asked as he straightened up.


    Snape looked at them coldly.


    "I don''t need to report to you about where I am appearing, Potter. Five points off for Gryffindor for confronting a professor." He trailed his long robes and looked condescendingly at Ron and Hermione, "Two more points off for being a Prefect and not stopping it."


    "What bad luck. It''s like he was waiting here specifically to dock some points for us." Ron muttered disgruntledly when Snape left.


    "I think he just came out of the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom." Hermione whispered.


    "What? Oh, right." Harry realized with a start, "I always thought he would still be in the basement for his classes. But he''s supposed to be sharing a classroom with Professor Bagshot now, no wonder I''ve seen him in the third-floor corridor a few times ..."


    "He''s a professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts class now, though he''s only one of two." Ron said with a sigh as if nothing had happened, "But we can look forward to it a little and make a bet on whether we''ll see him next year. Er, to be fair, I think Snape has the advantage, Professor Bagshot is new, and he clearly said he''d only be teaching for one year ..."


    "Wait, what did you just say?" Hermione suddenly asked.


    Ron looked at her strangely.


    "... only be teaching for one year?"


    "You just said that Professor Bagshot is new." Hermione said slowly, "If it is some certain practice of Dumbledore''s that Aberforth is objecting to, and that practice is clearly related to their sister who died early, what else could it possibly be but a memory?"


    ...


    It is very dimly lit in the Headmaster''s office late at night.


    "You should think it over, Severus, you are the right person for this task." Dumbledore said softly, using the vague moonlight to discern a figure not far away.


    Snape stood in front of the window with a stiff expression, like a statue.


    "Are you sure, Dumbledore?"


    "I am quite sure, I am no longer in the same physical condition as you are, and right now is the best time to do it." Dumbledore smiled in the darkness, "I must say, I am fortunate, Severus. I have you by my side when I need something."


    Snape shook his head in annoyance and strode around the spacious circular room.


    "You want me to go undercover again, eh? Dumbledore!" He growled in a low voice.


    "Not undercover. You know what I''m talking about, just some necessary preparation." Dumbledore said in a relaxed tone, "You''re a good man, Severus, despite the mistakes that you once committed."


    There was a long silence.


    "I might not always do as you wish. Perhaps I''ll turn my head and betray you." Snape said threateningly.


    "Not a bad choice, Severus, but I trust you to make the right call." Dumbledore said with a pleasant twinkle of trust in his eyes.


    Snape glared at Dumbledore and the two men stared at each other, one with a frown and the other with a smile on their faces. After an unknown amount of time, Snape compromised by raising his wand and pointing it straight at Dumbledore.


    "Expelliarmus!"


    The Elder Wand instantly broke free from Dumbledore''s hand.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 666: Contents of the practical assessment (2 in 1)

    Snape caught the Elder Wand in one hand, his eyes still filled with incredulity, he could feel the magic inside him coming alive, his magic power increasing, and the Elder Wand seemed to be silently urging him to fire off some spell. After restraining the urge to do so, he slowly walked over with the Elder Wand and placed it on the desk. The wand rolled around the desk a few times, hitting the silverware stand on one side and twitching for a moment before gradually quieting down.


    "That''s all?" Snape licked his lips, his voice sounding a little hoarse.


    "That''s all." Dumbledore said with a nod, "The Elder Wand is the most emotionless, calm, and cruel wand that only thinks about power all the time. It will follow in the wake of power. Now not only I am allowed my wand to be taken away by your spell, I am no match for you in terms of magic power, so you have deservedly earned the wand."


    "But I can''t keep it." Snape said coldly, his eyes still fixed on the Elder Wand.


    "O Severus," Dumbledore let out a long sigh, "I would have preferred never to have possessed it; countless men throughout history have been obsessed with the power of the Elder Wand, but how many of them have achieved true happiness? Not even one!"


    Snape flinched for a moment, and his gaze averted.


    "Fawkes will send you back." Dumbledore finally stated in a quiet voice.


    The phoenix standing on its perch spread its wings and flew straight towards Snape, its golden claws gently clawing on his shoulder. Snape turned his head and there was a brief silence.


    "Who do you want this wand to end up being passed to and who do you want it to be used against?"


    "That''s up to you." Dumbledore said calmly, "I hope the day when it will be used never comes, and preferably become a permanent mystery, which means no major disruptions are made in the wizarding community."


    Snape stared, not saying anything for a few moments, and the Fawkes on his shoulder made a bored ''click-clack-clack'' sound with his beak.


    "-and it also means you''ve given that Snape boy something to do to ease him from having that dead lifeless look on his face all day." As the one man and the bird disappeared from the office out of the flame, the portrait of Headmaster Black on the wall said with a sly look on its face, "When are you going to hang yourself on the wall, Dumbledore? I would like to drop by your place - ouch!"


    An extremely thick wand appeared in his frame and started poking him over and over.


    "How - dare - you - say - something - so! Irresponsible! Irresponsible! Words!" said one of the witches aggressively.


    A loud thudding sound and a cry of pain resounded throughout the office, Dumbledore smiled and fondled the Resurrection Stone ring on his finger, then he took out his quill and parchment and began to write a letter, it was short, and when he finished it he waited for the ink to dry.


    There was a soft glow of a fire and Fawkes returned.


    "Give this letter to Babajide." Dumbledore addressed Fawkes in a pleasant tone.


    ...


    The next morning.


    "I still find it hard to believe." Harry whispered from the dining table, his eyes darting to the faculty table where some of the professors are enjoying their breakfast, including Professor Bagshot.


    Would such a man have tried to start a wizard muggle war half a century ago? Harry tried hard to see the signs of his youth in Professor Bagshot''s wrinkled face, his eyes fell on the grey hair, had they ever been a dazzling blonde before?


    "Dumbledore knows about this Harry, he recruited Professor Bagshot into the school personally, so whether he''s that man or not, it''s not as important as the exams that are about to follow." Hermione advised righteously, "We''ve already wasted an entire evening discussing it yesterday without doing anything productive, which is simply a crime."


    Ron, who had been excited and ready to join in the discussion, listened and immediately propped his chin up on one arm, turning the omelette over and over on his plate with the other. But Hermione didn''t plan to let them off the hook as she said with a high spirit, "We must review properly during the weekend. We''re already two weeks behind normal schedule because of Animagus!"


    "Speaking of which, I have to fill out my forms in Professor McGonagall''s office tonight." Harry said dejectedly.


    "Oh, well, that will take about two hours," Hermione said in an experienced tone, "Professor McGonagall will be giving you a series of guidelines on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, such as occasions and places where the use of Animagus is forbidden, there are a total of 47 ... "


    "Stop it, Hermione, I''m going to have nightmares." Ron muttered. He suddenly looked across the long dining table, "Hey, I don''t know when they got that close."


    Harry looked up to see Neville and Hannah had their heads close to each other, eating and talking.


    "Hannah lent Neville her Transfiguration class notes and probably helped him catch up on his lessons or something in the meantime." Hermione said nonchalantly. Neville wasn''t good enough to qualify for an advanced class in Transfiguration this term, but he has plans to take a make-up test for that this year.


    "Neville can borrow the notes from us." Ron said immediately.


    "Oh, Ron, you idiot."


    Harry regretted that the conversation had been forced to stop, perhaps he could have given Ron a tip on how not to be so direct in his words. They finished their meal and headed off to their last Ancient Rune class for the week. Before leaving the great hall, Harry took another furtive glance at the faculty table.


    Hermione followed his gaze and said in a sad tone.


    "Ugh, how sad Neville would be if Professor Bagshot really turned out to be ... that guy."


    "Well yeah, growing close to two dark wizard professors in a row would also make me uncomfortable too," Ron said whatever had come to his mind, " When you look at it this way, Professor Slughorn has no flaws other than a bit of a power-hungry eye."


    "What an amazing discovery." Hermione said.


    At the table, another war of words had just ended and Felix had just shared his teaching tricks with a few professors.


    "Thank you so much, Felix." Professor McGonagall had held back her tongue a few times, but she couldn''t hold back any longer as she protested, "I don''t think it''s really responsible to ask senior students to grade the questions of the lower grades."


    "But we have to admit, Minerva," said Slughorn, who seemed to be persuaded, "the lower grades'' lessons are simple, and the content is nothing new, from an efficiency point of view ... "


    Professor McGonagall immediately glared at him intently and Slughorn wiped the sweat from his forehead.


    "Minerva," Felix said nonchalantly, "a large portion of the sixth and seventh years are now adults, and we can''t simply treat them as students, they need to experience certain things, take some responsibility- "


    "At the cost of giving up some of the responsibilities you have as a professor? That really amazes me." Professor McGonagall said with vehemence.


    Felix shrugged and turned his head to see Grindelwald, who had a mocking look on his face, so he immediately turned his aim at his head, "Professor Bagshot finished working on his final exam question paper, I presume? After all, he only has one grade questions to prepare."


    It is a well-known fact that Grindelwald only teaches two grades, six and seven-year, in which the seventh year N.E.W.Ts exams will be handled by the Ministry of Magic, so he only has to prepare for the sixth grade final exam.


    "I''m going to hand it in with the probation report." Grindelwald said, "What''s a word for that? Fine-tuning ... right? Professor Burbage?"


    Charity Burbage looked up and pointed at herself in puzzlement.


    "I''ve written a few papers on muggle research, and I''m going to get someone to correct the formats and I can''t think of a better person to ask for than you." Grindelwald said, bowing slightly.


    "Oh, yes, I would love to help." Professor Burbage said enthusiastically.


    "Can I have a look?" Dumbledore suddenly interjected.


    "No problem," Grindelwald said lightly, "I have to admit that some of my views have been biased in the past and there is room for correction ... Muggles have their own merits. Like the recent gun ban bill they came up with - can you pass me the raspberry jam?" Dumbledore froze for a moment and immediately passed him the jam saucer, "Thank you -" he continued, "I''ve been following that news closely: the new legislation is officially in effect and the Muggle government has already seized more than 10,000 guns ..."


    "I remember the newspapers reporting that it was a magic wand of the Muggles?" Professor Flitwick asked, very intrigued.


    "Something like that, but that thing only has one purpose, that''s to kill." Grindelwald said softly, "Back in the days when I was still active, that thing was widespread everywhere, and the muggles never ceased to desperately research all sorts of more efficient ways to kill and destroy, they were incredibly talented at it."


    "Oh, oh." Professor Flitwick was a little lost in thought, "I can''t imagine why anyone would specifically try to research that."


    "The misuse of magic can be just as violent and destructive as that." Dumbledore said admonishingly.


    "But there is more to magic than just violence and destruction," Grindelwald said calmly, "we use it to grow crops-" he looked over at Burbage who smiled slightly "to get rid of complex labour -" he nodded again towards Flitwick, who politely put down his fork; "and to pursue the truth - " his gaze flicked over to Felix, who looked back curiously; "and, of course, there is love."


    His eyes flicked around and finally settled on Dumbledore.


    "Love is a great form of magic. That''s your argument, isn''t it, Headmaster Dumbledore?"


    "Exactly." A look of surprise appeared on Dumbledore''s face.


    "How magical," Grindelwald said with emotion, "I''ve often fantasized lately about what a wizard and muggle exchange would be like."


    Felix put down his knife and fork and looked intently at Grindelwald, wondering what he was trying to convey? It turned out that Grindelwald''s words came as quite a surprise to Felix.


    "... getting to know each other well, learning from each other, wizards don''t have to worry about using their magic freely, and muggles can also benefit from wizards who can use magic to create miracles like creating rain, growing crops and healing... but I think that kind of communication will not happen overnight, it will not start off with a good intention, there are bound to be twists and turns, and we must be more proactive about our future ... In such a journey, the old ways will not work - that Voldemort approach was very out of favour - the only way to do that is to unite all viable forces and ensure there is no internal chaos."


    Several of the professors were impressed by this observation.


    They had more or less heard of Professor Bagshot''s expressed hostility towards Muggles, but from what he had said today, it seemed that Professor Bagshot had refined his thinking. Professor McGonagall even offered him a small plate of pastries.


    "You can try this, Professor Bagshot." She said politely.


    "Thank you." Grindelwald said courteously, "These are thoughts that have come to me in the course of teaching, and those somewhat naive ideas of others have contributed equally in my transformation ..."


    After a few minutes, all the professors left for their respective classes.


    Felix tried to patch up the unfinished meaning of Grindelwald''s speech - a point that was necessary as Grindelwald''s words were addressed to him and Dumbledore, or more accurately, they were meticulously written for Dumbledore.


    He had mentioned his once bigoted views ... of course, otherwise, he wouldn''t have gathered the Acolytes and rallied the Proper Wizarding World towards war; and then there were all those Muggle weapons, did that thing have any importance? Maybe it''s nothing more than an introduction to the rest of the conversation, a prelude to the real point.


    The magical world will be exposed inevitably, and the only way forward is to unite all the forces that can be united.


    And the Acolytes ... are a key part of that.


    As he pushed open the door to the Ancient Rune classroom, Felix had a rough outline in his mind.


    As the school year approached its end, Grindelwald''s brief period of release would be coming to an end, and he would have to carry out a self-help campaign if he did not want to continue to serve his sentence back in the cold Nurmengard Castle. Even though Grindelwald had spent most of the year in a peaceful manner, he is very conscious of his situation.


    It had also been more than half a year, enough time for him to see how much Dumbledore had changed in half a century.


    He also finally came up with his own leverage on this day in late April. He is willing to accept Dumbledore''s offer to be a major force in stabilizing the wizarding world.


    The question is, what would Dumbledore do?


    At the foot of the podium, the students whispered.


    "Professor Hap has gone off to another world again?"


    "Ahem, keep your voice down, beware of getting overheard."


    "Do you guys think that the Professor knows the truth?" Harry asked quietly. "Definitely knows." Ron said with certainty, "Maybe he''s thinking about it right now, but unfortunately I don''t know how to look into his thoughts ... What do you think, Hermione?"


    "Maybe the professor is thinking about how to fly to the moon." Hermione said with a soft hum.


    "Haha, you''re getting a bit humorous."


    Felix cleared his throat and the students quieted down.


    "I suddenly thought of a practical exam topic for this year''s finals, would you like to hear it?"


    The students stared at him, slightly at a loss for words.


    Hermione held her forehead.


    "I don''t think Professor McGonagall will be happy if she hears about it."


    "Who cares!" Ron said happily, with a wide grin on his face, and there is a smile on Harry''s face too, as this meant he could get good grades in at least two of the practicals, one in Ancient Rune and the other in Defence Against the Dark Arts.


    Oh yes, and Transfiguration, he is now an Animagus too.


    Hermione''s recent progress in Transfiguration made him envious. She is always at ease when learning techniques that require fine magic manipulation, and apart from having to cast spells with the help of her wand, her higher level human transfiguration is not far off from Tonks the Metamorphmagus.


    At this point, the students finally responded and one of the girls suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "Professor, I love you to death!" The classroom erupted with laughter and the atmosphere immediately heated up, with several of the boys following suit.


    "Very funny," Felix said with a straight face, "when I go back I''ll go through the cards I received on February 14th and if I don''t find your names -" he nodded with his chin nudged in the direction of the daring students, "I''ll find a chance to give you a detention."


    "Let''s return to the main topic," he said as he took a black wizard chess piece from his pocket, "I don''t mind withstanding the pressure from the Ministry of Magic''s Wizard Examination Authority to give more than half of the students an ''Exceeds Expectations'' evaluation, and as for the criteria for ''Outstanding'' it is quite straightforward:"


    "With the date of the exam as a deadline, improve yourself to a certain level that would meet my satisfaction within that period."


    "The topics will naturally be more difficult, which is the price of knowing what the question will be in advance."


    But the students looked dead on at the Knight''s Piece in his hand, consciously ignoring Felix''s words, in their minds: it is simply too good to be true.


    Felix spread his palm and the piece burst out with a blaze of flame, and a Rainbird with golden-red flames burning on its body appeared. The students watched in amazement as it hovered overhead, and after a moment, the Raindrop returned to the professor''s hand and reverted back to a wizard piece. S?a?ch* Th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "That''s just cool." Ron''s eyes lit up with excitement, and he couldn''t help but groan lowly, "I would offer a hundred gold galleons in exchange for a wizard chess piece like that. No, I''ll give two hundred!"


    Harry and Hermione smiled, the professor had sort of poked Ron''s fancy with this demonstration.


    Felix continued the lesson.


    "You don''t need to do it to the extent I did, but the idea is the same. Use ancient runes to piece together a completely self-contained structure, which simultaneously must show one or two magical ability - let''s review the Fourteenth Law of Magic."


    Several students raised their hands.


    "Miss Greengrass ... That''s excellent, Slytherin plus five points."


    "Ancient magic is a combination of characters with magical powers that have a special order and a special magical function, known as the rune sequence; this means that there are still a large number of combinations of characters in the world that have no real meaning, they can''t really be called rune sequences and have nothing whatsoever to do with ancient magic."


    "Like the ones you saw in your practical classes ..."


    Immediately, dense, pin-thin runes appeared before Harry''s eyes.


    "Think of building up the rune symbols like building blocks, it could be some sort of exotic creature, a golden trophy, or a beautiful house, or of course, it could be something like this little chess piece in my hand ... I am asking you to cleverly incorporate the rune circuit in the process. "


    "For example, Luna Lovegood in fifth year has put together a rune goblet of fire that has a similar effect. It could emit a blue flame, nothing lethal, but interesting, isn''t it? You may consider that the threshold of ''Outstanding''."


    Hermione raised her hand up.


    Felix nodded towards her.


    "Miss Granger?"


    "Um - Professor? Is this chess piece you''re holding also integrated with the rune circuit?" Hermione asked, all too familiar with the golden flame on Rainbird, the first ancient magic she had mastered.


    "More than just that," Felix said with a smile, "the construction of this piece is actually quite complex, with both rune sequences and rune circuits, as well as meaningless individual rune symbols to fill the spaces, which together formed a fully structured object that ended up in the form you see here. " His last sentence was addressed to the whole class.


    Felix had actually omitted the role of memory magic, but it had little impact.


    "... I''m not asking you all to incorporate ancient magic, that would be too difficult, but since Granger mentioned that, I''ll mention it in passing, and if anyone manages to pull it off there will be extra credits."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 667: Decision

    The bell rang, and the students filed out with eager looks on their faces. "I''ve decided!" As they walked in the direction of the Potions classroom, Ron announced in a loud voice, "I''m going to make a whole set of wizard chess pieces." The faces of those around him were filled with shock.


    But Harry and Hermione showed little interest in the comment. "Have you finished your Transfiguration papers by any chance? Lend it to me." Harry said.


    Ron''s aura immediately dwindled.


    "Not yet," his face fell, "just at the beginning of it - I can''t understand half of it right now."


    "Professor McGonagall will go over all of them over and over again, and there''s actually a lot I don''t understand." Hermione said some words of encouragement, "Things will be much better when you master the Animagus and understand the context of the material, won''t they, Harry?"


    Harry muttered ambiguously. He did feel some difference after learning Animagus Transfiguration, but this ''difference'' didn''t include the advanced transfiguration theories that Professor McGonagall was talking about, and he was just as clueless in class as he had been before.


    He is aware of Hermione''s learning method, but the thought of the big books she keeps constantly in rotation at her fingertips these days puts him off.


    Ron, for his part, looked frustrated that he hadn''t been able to feel the throbbing of the Animagus all this time, and was recently asking Harry and Neville about that feeling in one way or another.


    "Is it a sudden increase in heart rate and head sweating?"


    "Are you sure it''s not a psychological problem?" Harry asked rhetorically, so Ron stopped talking.


    ...


    In Potions class, Slughorn stared at Harry''s cauldron in utter disbelief.


    Inside the cauldron, there was a soft grey-green slimy blob that looked like a boiled and solidified slug mixed with vegetable juice jelly, and you could still feel a hint of cold air when you got closer; this was Harry''s work for the day, and it was disastrous.


    Hermione''s eyes widened pleasantly as if she might open her mouth and sing in the next moment.


    "Oh ... well, son, that''s not acceptable," Slughorn said absent-mindedly, fiddling with the buttons on his waistcoat, "It''s not even close to being useful, you''ll have to refresh your potion theory more... ..."


    He said nothing more, and walked up to Ron instead, pausing only for two seconds before being forced back by the pungent smoke.


    "There''s no hint in that book, is there?" When Slughorn walked away to check on the other students, Hermione''s eyes shone brightly as she said, "Even Snape and Professor Hap''s combined notes couldn''t teach you how to solve a complex compound toxin in just a few lines."


    "I can just carry a piece of bezoar around with me." Harry murmured through clenched teeth.


    Hermione froze for a moment while Ron said excitedly, "You could still use that as a solution now? I mean, why not just do that, there is perfectly enough time for us to-"


    "No! Professor Slughorn knows about Harry''s little prized book, not only does he know about it, he has even taken it and looked through it." Hermione rushed to say. She said with a serious look, "I think the first person to do so would be considered a brilliant mind and the second is just a poor imitator."


    "That sums it up nicely, thank you, Hermione." Harry said with annoyance.


    When Slughorn returned to the podium, the students below hung their heads in defeat, the fact that none of them had been able to formulate the antidote in the allotted time was a bit of a shock to them.


    Slughorn showed no disappointment at all though, he puffed out his tight stomach and spoke up with a smile, "Did you find that some of your tricks don''t work anymore?"


    Some of the students looked at Slughorn and then looked at Harry''s side in unison.


    Because of the particular experience of last year''s O.W.Ls exams, many people knew that several Gryffindor students had gotten the textbook that Professor Hap had used when he was in school from Professor Hap, and subsequently a part of the simplified steps for O.W.Ls level potions were put together and all the students of the four houses benefited from it.


    At the beginning of this year''s Potions class, they tried to do the same, and although they got the notes (Harry removed the parts with the dangerous hexes, jinxes as well as Professor Hap''s frightening comments), they were surprised to find that it wouldn''t work that well.


    With a smile on his face and a twitch of his walrus moustache, Slughorn said.


    "Yes, Miss Granger was the closest to success in today''s test, and if she had been given another half an hour, I''m sure she could have made the antidote on her own. But she is still a considerable distance away from being a true expert in potions."


    Hermione was not quite convinced by that statement and pouted.


    "I could name some particularly brilliant Potions masters, such as Damocles Belby, Severus Snape, and of course, Lily Evans-" Slughorn glanced at Harry with a smirk. "Perhaps you might think I''m judging based on achievement, but that''s not the case ... What a Potions Master needs is independent thinking, courage, passion, rigour, innovation, and an extraordinary understanding and appreciation of potions."


    "For the truly gifted, these traits would manifest very early on and their thinking would become so distinctive like Fluxweed on a full moon."


    "It''s hard for outsiders to understand how I have an extra preference for only a few students among the many who got outstanding in the O.W.Ls Potions exam ... It''s because I see the talent in that few students. It''s also often a matter of course that they will pull off a huge gap in sixth grade. I seldom misread them."


    "Unlike the previous grades, the advanced class will introduce you to more magical potions, more profound theories, and without a passion for potions, it''s actually hard to advance very far in the field ... Of course, it''s still possible to brew something that''s barely passable." S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Pretty much sums up what Professor Hap had said." Harry muttered in a small voice.


    "Harry, do you have any questions?" Slughorn asked with concern, after not catching his muttering.


    Harry stood dazed and dawdled on his feet. The others looked over at him.


    "Well ... I was wondering, is Professor Hap considered gifted? I mean, those notes of his were useful to me-" Harry stammered.


    This time Slughorn didn''t give an immediate answer, as he usually did, he frowned and thought for half a second.


    "I haven''t taught him, but ... from the notes it''s clear he has his own independent ideas about potions." Slughorn was clearly reluctant to say more, but the students were staring at him, very interested in this topic, and Slughorn waved his hands in the air for a while as if he had no words to express his thoughts, "All right." He cleared his throat and muttered in a small voice.


    "I don''t think he''ll be a Potion Master - Professor Hap is capable of brewing many advanced potions, yes, I have no doubt ... his notes are logical and with his magical attainments, he won''t mess up those delicate manipulations."


    "But I didn''t get to see too many groundbreaking insights, probably because his heart wasn''t in it, and his achievements in the field of ancient runes speak for themselves. It''s normal, talented wizards always have a more unique personality, they''re drawn to different aspects of magic ..."


    Harry suddenly thought of something else, Professor Slughorn had probably seen Voldemort in the same way back then.


    Voldemort had likewise excelled in his school years, Dumbledore said he had gotten straight O''s in every subject, but he was probably more of an imitator than a pioneer in the field of potions, like Professor Hap.


    Well, as Slughorn said, "Talented wizards are drawn to different aspects of magic." Apparently, Professor Hap ended up choosing the ancient runes, while Voldemort did not hesitate to plunge into the abyss of dark magic.


    He also thought about Dumbledore and Grindelwald, once close friends, who had also gone down opposite paths.


    Harry suddenly understood a little about the ''choice'' that Dumbledore had been emphasizing. He had seen too many good wizards in the Pensieve over the past few months who had started out differently, sometimes even oddly and clumsily, like Mr. Newt Scamander... ...


    In the evening, Felix suddenly appeared in his office.


    He had just returned from a trip outside, tens of thousands of metres high to be precise, and nothing had affected him except that he felt it was a little cooler. He had thought about wandering through the thick clouds even higher up, but after some careful consideration, he decided there was no point in rushing.


    It was just considered a walk after dinner.


    When he returned, Valen, who was sitting on the sofa mixing her juice, gestured towards the window where a silver phoenix Patronus sat silently.


    "Felix, I want you to come to my office." Dumbledore''s voice sounded.


    So Felix turned and walked out of his room, "I''ll take you out for a walk some other time." Valen waved her hand at him.


    In the Headmaster''s office, the spacious room is brightly lit, and the windows are covered with thick night darkness. Dumbledore sat behind the long-legged table and immediately dropped the newspaper he was holding when he saw Felix and walked around the desk to stand in front of him.


    "I need to show you something." He said bluntly.


    "Do you want to use the Pensieve?" Felix asked and Dumbledore looked at him with some confusion, "What? Oh-" Dumbledore noticed Felix''s gaze land on a clear glass vial on the table, which filled with wisps of silvery filaments.


    "No, not that one." He said briefly.


    From the tip of Dumbledore''s wand a wispy cloud of smoke wormed its way out and soon coalesced into a scene in mid-air, Felix glanced at it and his gaze turned thoughtful as he took a large step forward to stare down at the parade of people and buildings in the scene.


    "Parliament House?" Felix inclined his head.


    Dumbledore nodded, then gestured with his finger in one direction.


    Felix refocused his attention on the vision, ignoring the flamboyant and extreme slogans held in the hands of the protesting crowd, his eyes kept searching, there was definitely more to the march than what Dumbledore was showing him, then ...


    In the open space in front of the building, a clearly well-groomed Rita Skeeter held a microphone in her hand and occupied a prominent position.


    "Rita Skeeter?" Felix laughed soundly, "That surprises me. And she looks surprisingly well-placed."


    "That''s the point." Dumbledore said, "This vision was shown to me when Grindelwald applied for the job, and I know he has the prophetic ability, but of course, he can only see bits and pieces of the future."


    "I bet he didn''t even know Rita Skeeter back then." Felix chuckled.


    "Skeeter''s sharp words are far more recognizable than her personal appearance," Dumbledore said approvingly, "And it probably would have been overlooked by most, Skeeter has been near invisible in the wizarding world this school year, and it took me a while to find her in the Muggle press."


    Felix blinked, it was he who had recommended this woman to Amelia Bones.


    "Since then, I''ve been keeping a close eye on her movements. I don''t think that particular newspaper is exactly a good place to be, the work environment there is far more complicated than in the Daily Prophet, but she''s certainly adapted well, and with a series of articles on the gun ban movement, she has made a name for herself and is on track to get what is said to be a very prestigious journalism award ..."


    "It definitely counts as a surprise for her." Felix was quite impressed.


    "My question now is," Dumbledore looked at him with interest, "does she intend to live as a double reporter all the time? I know some wizards have separate identities in Muggle society - not just a name, but a more specific profession - but these people basically lean towards one side, and it''s actually rare to find one as active on both sides as she is."


    Felix hesitated for a moment.


    "Amelia gave her an assignment for only a year, but as far as I know about Rita Skeeter, she wouldn''t be able to part with the reputation she has worked so hard to build on the other side, so she might actively maintain that life even after the assignment is over, for exactly ... how long no one can predict. "


    "Yes, no one could have predicted that."


    Dumbledore said softly, sinking into deep thought. After a moment, he came back to his senses and said, "Felix, there is another, more important matter."


    It was Felix''s turn to be curious.


    "About Grindelwald?" He asked tentatively.


    Grindelwald had only just given a near-surrender speech during the day, had Dumbledore changed his mind so quickly? Felix pondered in his mind the implications of such a step, not just the issue of an additional Dark Lord colleague, but the series of changes that would result from it.


    The attitude of the Ministry of Magic, the involvement of the International Confederation of Wizards ...


    Of course, none of this mattered to Felix. What is significant is that if Grindelwald is allowed to stay at Hogwarts for a long time, the risk of his identity being revealed will increase significantly.


    What DeWitt, who had at one point previously presented himself as a loyal and fanatical acolyte, but in reality an ambitious one, said was actually not without some validity.


    ''At the end of the day, it is almost an inevitable thing that word will leak out, and then the eyes of the world will be on Hogwarts, and even in Dumbledore''s present-day reputation he will find it difficult to resist ...''


    "I have spoken to my successor, Mr. Babajide Akingbade, the new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards," Dumbledore said in a quiet voice, "and when this year''s exams are over, they will send men to bring Gellert back to Nurmengard Castle."


    Felix looked at him in surprise.


    "When did this happen?"


    "Just last night."


    Felix looked oddly at the old man in front of him, this is so much more decisive than he thought it would be. Dumbledore had just decided to throw old man Grindelwald back in jail? Well, he had assumed Dumbledore had gone soft after he heard about the existence of the Blood Pact from Harry.


    "So ... what do I need to do?"


    "I''m worried that Gellert will make an incident when he finds out, I want you to keep an eye on him for the time being, as well as ..." Dumbledore paused, his silvery white beard trembling slightly, "Do you know anything about the charm that imprisons the magic in his body? "


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 668: The Jailer

    Felix returned to the Ancient Rune''s office with an expressionless face, his feet heavy as he sat down on the couch. Valen yawned and handed him a glass of juice that she had prepared. In the end, someone bit the straw and blew into it, making the juice bubble up and infuriating Valen into hammering him twice.


    Felix smiled, stroked her soft fur, and watched the Tom and Jerry cartoon with her. After watching it for a while, his thoughts came to life.


    He was surprised to find a resemblance between Spike the Bulldog and Dumbledore; it was definitely a psychological similarity, and if so, who was Grindelwald? It couldn''t be the unlucky Tom cat, would it?


    Valen looked at Felix strangely, the Great Demon King is smiling so brightly.


    Had the Great Demon King managed to bring himself into the Blue Cat character in the cartoon? That''s not bad, she also often puts herself in the mouse''s perspective, as Jerry always manages to outwit his larger opponents. Unfortunately, this episode is about the blue cat teasing the big dog.


    When he returned to his bedroom, Felix lay on his bed, the scenes that had taken place in the Headmaster''s office earlier continuing to swirl in his mind.


    Dumbledore solemnly introduced him to the restraining spell imposed on Grindelwald. Before the advent of Voldemort, Grindelwald was considered the most dangerous dark wizard that had ever lived, and even now, Grindelwald still posed more of a threat in the minds of some people (especially the magical regime outside of Britain) than Voldemort.


    One could never be more cautious when facing such an enemy. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    When that legendary duel was over, the United States magical congress delegation proposed Grindelwald''s immediate execution, eliminating any future threats, as no existing prison would be able to trap him. This proposal was supported by more than half of the delegates from various countries at the time, but Dumbledore objected strongly against it.


    He argued that the reason this duel even happened was because, before the duel, they promised each other that the loser would automatically become a prisoner and completely (or passively) renounce his ideas.


    What''s more, there were more practical reasons.


    The war was not completely over, and the influence of the acolytes scattered all over the world was still massive, and they would not hesitate to start a riot if they heard the news of their leader''s execution.


    The magical world had only barely seen the hope of peace, and it was right to take a gentle approach, rather than actively intensify the conflict. Therefore, not only Grindelwald must not die, but the International Confederation of Wizards must actively spread the news that he is alive so that the Acolytes cannot elect a new leader.


    Dumbledore''s reputation was as strong as it could be at that time, and with the times being truly turbulent, this method was later adopted.


    But a new problem arose.


    It became clear to the Ministry officials that Grindelwald could not be imprisoned by simply confiscating his wand or using a magical barrier. They had to devise new and powerful methods of imprisonment to prevent Grindelwald from breaking out of prison again.


    An African wizard had a solution.


    The Uagadou School of Wizardry in the African lands had preserved the ancient practice of using magic through gestures, so the loss of their wands did not render the dark wizards there defenceless, and they naturally had a unique solution, such as a restraining spell that targeted the knuckles.


    But Grindelwald was far more powerful than the average dark wizard, and naturally, he received extraordinary levels of attention; the African wizard had mentioned an extremely powerful restraining spell, which had a notoriety that was widely rumoured among their local wizarding community, and it ranked highly among their horror legends.


    Felix thought about what Dumbledore had said about it.


    "It''s not so much a sealing or restraining spell but rather a malevolent curse of some unknown kind. Once inflicted, it clings to a wizard''s flesh and blood, drawing magic from the recipient and rendering them unable to cast spells, and effectively reducing them into a Squib."


    "I improved it - by removing the pointless, penalizing pain and adding a key, a window, so that if Grindelwald ever tried to break the spell, I would know it immediately."


    "Again, because of the use of my own magic, I can still sense his location and state roughly. Of course, the further away one gets, the more vague that sense becomes ..."


    "So the imprisonment at Nurmengard Castle was just a front, you personally have served as the jailer guarding the prison." Felix had a sudden epiphany, and he hit the nail on the head.


    Dumbledore did not reply, but lowered his eyes and surveyed his hands. Half a moment later, he continued to murmur.


    "In order to research the secrets of the Resurrection Stone, my soul and magic have undergone unforeseen changes; I am no longer suitable - to use your term - to serve as a jailer, and a new man must be found to replace me. "


    "You''re too obsessed with the Resurrection Stone, Albus, even if it is for Harry-"


    "And Ariana." Dumbledore interrupted, "One might, would even say that the whole plan started out entirely for her, and has been gradually taking shape in my mind ever since I got the Resurrection Stone. I kept suppressing the idea every single day after that, because Voldemort was still around, and I had to desperately convince myself not to wear that ring. I held off for a few years and when Voldemort finally fell completely, I got the courage to let loose."


    Felix glared at him, this thought was too well hidden. Dumbledore smiled wryly at him.


    "So you thought of me?" Felix raised his volume slightly.


    Dumbledore''s eyelids fluttered a few times, and he said in a deep voice, "I know you hate restraints, Felix. I can assure you that the transfer of the charm will not cause you any bother, rather, there will only be benefits. After that, Gellert''s force will never become a concern to you."


    There was a short silence. Felix wavered between being moved and resisting, having a hard time deciding for a moment.


    If Dumbledore was telling the truth - and he had confidence that Dumbledore wouldn''t lie to him, and it wasn''t just out of trust in the other man - becoming the new jailer would mean that Grindelwald''s fate would be entirely in his own hands. Not much good would come of it, but it would remove a huge pitfall: at least Felix wouldn''t have to worry about waking up from a nap with an army of 100,000 acolytes surrounding him.


    The reason why he couldn''t stop thinking about it is actually due to that threat being real and tangible. The old man once implicitly threatened him about it after a disagreement, just as badly as the woman who went by the name Noel.


    Felix trusted that he would not be overwhelmed and captured alive - his fighting system strongly favoured fighting against a huge sea of people - but there are limits to everything, and just because he could survive an army of wizards didn''t mean he could withstand a continuous barrage of magic from thousands of people at once.


    And, without realizing it, he had grown to regard Hogwarts as a part of himself.


    He could run and destroy them little by little, but Hogwarts could not. Not even with the addition of Dumbledore.


    In the darkness, Felix''s blue eyes stared at the ceiling. Valen was smacking her beaks in her crib, talking mindlessly in her sleep. Fawkes? Catching fish? Seems like fun. ...


    Some thoughts surfaced in his mind once again.


    "Why not accept the offer Grindelwald made? From what he said at the table this morning, he seems to have repented or at least taken the initiative to signal a compromise, and I can''t believe you can''t see that."


    "I hope that''s true. I hope he feels how utterly awful and shameful what he has done was. Perhaps, he wants to make amends for what he once did ... but we are too deeply entangled, Felix. I cannot judge the truth and cannot afford to misjudge it, nor the entire magical community can bear that price ..."


    These words pretty much pronounced the possibility of Grindelwald''s future comeback.


    "... Well, I probably see where you''re coming from. Why did you choose me to transfer the charm?"


    "The average wizard can''t handle the power. Just like how their Animagus can''t incorporate magical substances into their bodies - I don''t think you have that trouble?"


    "Tch, you expected this." Felix scowled.


    "You can think about it for a while longer," Dumbledore said sincerely at last, "and I hope you will agree, it''s not a command, but a plea ... If the people of the International Confederation of Wizards know about this, it will be difficult for Gellert to continue to live on."


    ...


    As the month of May arrived, the sunny weather became more frequent than in the prior period with each passing day. As Felix stood at the window looking out into the distance, he noticed the scattered appearance of laid-back students at Black Lake, where the water sparkled, and giant squid paddled through the warm shallow water to bask in the sun.


    Felix wrote a letter to Rita Skeeter.


    The woman spilled a lot of bitterness in her reply, but he spotted the trick in her writing at once, and Skeeter wallowed in the fact that she is, in her own words, "standing at the cusp of history, the nib of her pen swaying the times."


    It could be tempting. But Felix prefers the novelty of magic, of staying in one place and working on a new and interesting magical challenge. Like landing on the moon, or-


    When Hermione entered the office, she was surprised to find Professor Hap working on a piece of fabric, and a book lying open on the small table in front of her, she picked it up and read the title, The Complete Book on Jumper Knitting Styles.


    Hermione couldn''t help but be surprised.


    "Trying to do something fresh to experience." Felix said with a grin, "I asked around, and finally, Professor McGonagall told me that our Headmaster has a high level of knowledge on Muggle jumper knitting styles and I just mentioned it casually, and he recommended this for me to read, it''s particularly comprehensive."


    He beckoned at the cupboard and two chubby, smiley-faced teacups floated wobbly over to him, which he filled with another gesture of his hand.


    "Let others be thankful for my original Christmas present, Valen took an instant liking to the idea. she went out for a walk and said she wanted to catch some fish for Fawkes ..."


    While he worked on these things, a few crochet needles remained methodically busy.


    Hermione thanked him and went around to the other side to sit down, and that was when she noticed something unusual: the wool used to knit it wasn''t quite what she had expected, and the end of the thread extending from the crochet needles wasn''t a ball of wool, but the Book of Rune.


    "Is this the ... ancient runes?" She stared at the wool for a while before she realized that they are in fact made up of individual small-sized runes. She couldn''t help but be amazed.


    "Well, um, what can you link it to?" Felix said expectantly.


    Hermione gulped and thought hard, and before she could respond, a word had come out of her mouth. In her mind, the idea simply made too much sense and would perfectly explain the strange behaviour of the always lazy professor.


    "An invisibility cloak?"


    And by no means is it a thing with an invisibility charm cast on it, or woven from the fur of a Demiguise; what emerged from the depths of her mind is a sacred relic that is categorized under the category of Deathly Hallows, something she has been less resistant to since learning that the Resurrection Stone actually exists.


    Of course, her thoughts aligned with Felix''s, that they were all made by wizards of great abilities.


    Felix''s face beamed with a smile of appreciation.


    "Geez, Professor! Did you crack the method of making the invisibility cloak? When was this happened, I''ve never heard Harry mention that you borrowed his Invisibility Cloak from him." Hermione said in half excitement, half confusion.


    "I haven''t borrowed it, from what I know of the Deathly Hallows, whoever their true maker is, it is clear that he keeps a very close eye on his knowledge and has no idea of making it available for the later generations to study. There is a powerful safeguarding spell placed on them ... so I just had to find another way."


    Hermione held her teacup as question after question was thrown out.


    "Is it intended to be used for invisibility?"


    " Well, apparently not."


    "Oh ..." Hermione muttered in a small voice, moving closer, her nose nearly pressed against the half-woven rune fabric, "The runes on this is so small it''s completely impossible to read... ..."


    "Use your instincts, Miss Granger."


    Hermione closed her eyes slightly, and after a long moment of seemingly sensing nothing, she couldn''t help but open them in defeat.


    "I can''t do it, I''m not good at it."


    "Don''t rush into a conclusion, you''re probably not good at it simply because you''re being too rational and actively closing your mind off ..."


    "Isn''t it better to be rational?" Hermione asked, with frustration.


    "There''s nothing wrong with being rational, and it doesn''t conflict with learning magic, but it''s easy to go wrong when you''re only rational. In fact, I''ve had similar problems ..."


    Hermione''s eyes lit up.


    "So, Professor, how did you solve this problem?"


    Felix cleared his throat.


    "Maybe it''s because I wasn''t as stubborn as you were when I was a young boy, err, I mean well-read; or maybe I grew up with an unexplainable fantasy about magic and hoped for its presence in my world ... or maybe it''s because my experiences in the years before I started school demanded me to cling to magic, in any case, it just happened naturally, a delicate balance of reason and emotion forged in me - or at least that''s what I hope. I''m happy and satisfied with that."


    Hermione first gave a disappointed look as the professor didn''t seem to say anything, then she suddenly remembered something and couldn''t help but reach up and cover her mouth.


    She asked cautiously.


    "Well, Professor ... what does it feel like to have a magic riot? I''ve heard Neville mention it, but you don''t seem to be the same, one out of love and the other ..."


    "Oh, Miss Granger--"


    Felix suddenly broke into a smile, as if he would soon reveal a great secret, with a bit of leap of faith and enthusiasm.


    "I did have some not so wonderful experiences, but not all of them were bad."


    Hermione blinked, having trouble understanding the meaning of the words for a moment.


    "Not, not all of them?"


    "Yes. Even I had trouble separating the mixed emotions ... it was too much for me at the time. But, Miss Granger. It only logical that all that dangerous time travel you''ve been through should play a part."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 669: Letter

    In the following two weeks, Hermione''s mood became visibly brighter, and she spent her days in a cheerful mood, and more than once Harry caught her suddenly using her wand like a baton and pretending to conduct a concert while she was revising for her homework. "Hermione''s gone mad, we''re screwed on this year''s exams." Ron whispered quietly in Harry''s ear.


    "Maybe it''s some sort of trick to hone her magic?" Harry guessed, and as he spoke, a string of ancient runes streaked together like coloured musical notes circled Hermione, constantly chasing the tip of her wand, which was emitting a soft white light, in her hand.


    As Hermione went on filling out new notes on her Herbology textbook, Flesh-Eating Trees of the World, Ron asked her curiously, "Are you so happy, are you happy about something? Like - um, winning the Daily Prophet''s annual Grand Prize?"


    "Oh, well, that won''t be awarded before July!" Hermione said briskly.


    "Either that or you''ve nailed the quiz in Witch Weekly." Ron said with certainty.


    "I do look forward to the ''Most-Charming-Smile Award'' this year," Hermione said, "That Rita Skeeter woman seems to be busy with other things and is offering fewer articles to other magazines altogether, which makes some of them good to read."


    Harry knew that Witch Weekly is a popular magazine for witches, and the library collected some past issues, which he sometimes looked through. He wasn''t really interested in the content though, it was mostly celebrity news, fashion trends, quizzes, advice columns, quick divination, recipes, and so on. Ron''s mother is one of its loyal subscribers.


    It is worth noting that this magazine gives an annual award for ''Most Charming Smile'' and Gilderoy Lockhart, Harry''s second-year Defence Against the Dark Arts class professor - was a darling of this magazine, winning this award five years straight.


    When Lockhart was disgraced and sentenced to prison, Ron asserted that "at least half of the British witches would be in tears, and the witch-oriented magazines would see a huge drop in sales."


    But Harry was not bothered; in his view, the experiences of Professor Hap, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald as young men, and the many brilliant wizards he had seen in the Pensieve, were all far more fascinating to talk about and discuss than a thief who could only brag about the memories of others he stole.


    The biggest change Dumbledore''s lessons brought to Harry was a deep understanding of the structure of the wizarding world in general, and of Britain itself in particular. Sometimes Harry would close his eyes and become conscious of the associations he had made with hundreds of wizards; he knew them, their past, and their present. These wizards acted like a great, glowing web all over the place, allowing Harry to know where he stood even when he remained in the dark.


    This feeling was becoming stronger and stronger as the memories approached the current point in time.


    The last Saturday, in the Headmaster''s office, Harry had finally worked up the courage to confirm the identity of Professor Bagshot.


    That night, he and Dumbledore kept travelling through their memories, which spanned twenty years. Not only did Harry once again get to see Grindelwald''s speech delivered in full in the underground chamber of P��re Lachaise Cemetery (this memory was someone else''s), but he also met another member of the Dumbledore family.


    "Credence. Grindelwald bewitched him and named him Aurelius Dumbledore."


    Harry was taken aback.


    "That name is similar to Ariana-"


    "Somehow similar, isn''t it?" Dumbledore asked softly, and Harry nodded, especially the first two syllables. "He is my nephew. He is the child of Aberforth, and has had the same ill fate as my sister." He explained to Harry, "That child''s mother was a Muggle who once loved my brother, but later they separated, and neither Aberforth nor I knew of the child''s existence back then."


    "He was later adopted by a muggle institution that loathed magic and had to repress his magic and ended up like Ariana, an Obscurial."


    Harry fell silent, he wondered how Dumbledore could say all this calmly with a very heavy heart, and he was reminded of another incident.


    It was about the day they had seen Aberforth at the school gates.


    According to his private discussions with Ron and Hermione, Aberforth had compromised because of his sister and had chosen to give up his memories. But now he wasn''t sure if they had mistaken, and perhaps in addition to Ariana, another person with a similar name had taken up quite a bit of weight.


    ...


    Yet another weekend day, Felix returned to the office after washing up to see Phoenix Fawkes and Niffler Valen sharing a can of fresh fish on the small table next to the sofa, Fawkes'' sharp pointed beak poking a hole in the tin can.


    Valen, who had just tried to help, flinched in fright and patted her chest heartily. Fawkes cocked his head and looked at her rather innocently.


    It remained a bit chilly for a May morning, and as Felix donned one of his coats, he wondered in his mind how he could convince Fawkes to bring the Sorting Hat out for a stroll next time; he must be quite lonely, with few friends, and perhaps a Confundus Charm filled with good intentions would remind him of those pleasant times he once had.


    Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. The years when the four founders of the school lived in harmony were also, in theory, a wonderful childhood for the Sorting Hat.


    At that point, Fawkes'' beak, which originally worked on opening the lid of the can, suddenly made a clicking sound, as he signalled for Felix to come over. Felix walked over, sat down on the sofa, and met the big fiery red bird eye to eye, the clenched claw on its belly loosened.


    The black resurrection stone ring fell onto the table, tinkling, and there was a small piece of paper rolled around the ring.


    A long, crane-like leg brushed the ring and flung it into Felix''s hand, and Fawkes gave a low purr at him.


    "Oh, so it''s because of this." Felix snapped to attention, "Headmaster Dumbledore sent you?" He picked up the ring and removed the note, unfolding it to read a short little line, ''As we agreed before.''


    So, Dumbledore didn''t need the Resurrection Stone for a while? Felix thought.


    The outline of the silver Rain Swallow Patronus traced out from the air - ''You know who to look for, don''t you? Luna Lovegood, and remember to remind her to bring the letter with her." The Rain Swallow''s little head nodded, then it spread its wings and flew deftly out of the window.


    Felix once again focused his attention on the phoenix who had his head down eating a fresh small fish.


    "Tell Dumbledore for me that I will return the Resurrection Stone to him as soon as Miss Lovegood is done using it." When he finished the main task, he asked with a touch of curiosity, " Fawkes, how old are you?"


    Phoenix cocked his head at him and blinked in confusion.


    "Don''t remember? Lived too long or under the influence of Nirvana?" Felix muttered.


    The room fell silent. After finishing the can of small fish, Fawkes shook Valen''s hand with one talon and spread his wide wings intending to leave, so Felix hastily asked the question on his mind, "I assume you knew Grindelwald? Back in the war years?"


    Fawkes'' pretty eyes flickered for a moment as it looked at Felix reproachfully, and tilted his head back to cry out as his body disappeared in flames. Bright sparks of fire spilled down.


    Felix crushed the sparks into embers and tsked in his mind at the fact that he actually saw a reflection of another person in the phoenix''s eyes, a young male wizard with dark hair.


    It turned out that Fawkes hadn''t followed Dumbledore from the start.


    Felix remembered an unconfirmed rumour he had read in some book about an old wizard family, the legend had it that the Phoenix would respond when a member of Dumbledore''s family has a dire need.


    In the other corner, Harry had gotten up a little later than usual because it is a weekend, and when Harry appeared in the common room properly dressed, he saw Ron sitting there with an unsettled look on his face.


    "Another one missing, this time it''s Elvira." He said grumblingly.


    "Who is it?" Harry asked.


    "Don''t you remember? She''s part of the Animagus class. Plus I''ve seen her at Creevey''s club." Ron said.


    Harry blinked and an image of a very fidgety girl who asked a lot of questions came to his mind. As far as he could remember, Elvira has good talent, it was just the fact that every time she saw him she would ask all sorts of nonsense questions that caused him to be a bit overwhelmed.


    "What''s wrong with her?" Harry asked casually, only to find Ron glaring at him with anger and retorting, "Are you listening carefully or not." Harry threw his hands up, "Sorry, just woke up ..."


    "She didn''t turn up this morning, I asked Susan, and she said Elvira had failed," Ron rambled, "As if that wasn''t enough, first Macmillan forgot to get up early to recite the incantation on the day of the Apparition exam because he was so excited, then Vergil, Zabini ... I heard that only four students registered on the last full moon session."


    Harry didn''t know how to comfort Ron, who had been stuck on the second step of Animagus Transfiguration for over a month now and hadn''t made any progress so far.


    Hermione looked up from her book and said without mercy, "Leave him alone Harry, he''s asking for it."


    Harry was a little surprised by her attitude, he expected Ron to speak up and retort, but Ron didn''t, he just seemed to have gotten into an even worse mood. "What''s going on?" Harry asked as they went downstairs to have breakfast.


    "He''s a bit resistant to his Transfiguration form." Hermione said before Ron could.


    Ron blushed a little less than normal and whispered, "I don''t think I would look majestic in my Patronus form."


    Harry instantly understood his concern; based on the previous few successful examples, the Animagus form generally remained the same as the Patronus form. Because Patronus tended to be associated with the heart of a wizard (a few exceptions existed), it was for this reason that Harry, Hermione, Neville, Hannah, and the others seemed comfortable in their Animagus practice. S?a?ch* Th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But I think the dog looks pretty cool, don''t you like Fang a lot?" Harry asked in confusion, "You didn''t think that way when you summoned your Patronus though ... Oh, surely you wouldn''t have been influenced by Malfoy, right? Don''t listen to him, just think of Sirius ..."


    Ron was somewhat persuaded.


    "Okay, maybe I took the wrong turn. Are you supposed to go to Dumbledore''s office today? Exams are coming up."


    Harry nodded.


    "I saw Rita Skeeter in the Pensieve last time, maybe I''ll see my parents soon, oh, and Professor Hap."


    "That''s weird, you still haven''t learned anything else?"


    "Yeah, I-"


    He got so engrossed in what he was saying that he collided straight with a figure running towards him. Harry fell to the ground, rubbing his head in pain, tears streaming down his face from the pain. When Harry staggered to his feet with stars popping in front of his eyes and shaking his dizzy head, he muttered in surprise, "Luna?"


    "Oh, Harry? Hello." Luna said in slight pain as well, one hand covering her forehead and the other one clutching a cardboard box.


    "Are you okay?" Harry asked groggily, suddenly feeling some different texture in his hand. He lowered his head and found an envelope stuck under his hand. No, there are half a dozen letters lying within his sight, and with a quick glance around him, he notices that they seem to be surrounded by a flood of envelopes.


    Ron helped Harry up and Hermione knelt to help Luna gather the letters scattered on the floor.


    Harry curiously picked up one of them; the envelope had oddly drawn floral patterns, very much in Luna''s personal style, probably some kind of plant that existed in her imagination, he thought. In the middle of the floral pattern, it read ''To my dear wife Pandora''.


    "Thank you, Harry." Luna said, looking over at the envelope in Harry''s hand which Harry handed to Luna. Luna put the last envelope in the box and then said, "I have things to do, so I''ll leave first." She waved at the three of them.


    "She''s sending that many letters at once? I doubt there would be enough messengers for her to use even if we added all the owls in the Owlery." Ron said in surprise.


    "Or maybe it was something she had stored up before," Hermione said, as she also noted the writing on the letters. "But who is Pandora?"


    Hermione didn''t expect an answer, but Harry offered one.


    "It''s Luna''s mother."


    "Oh, oh-" Hermione seemed to understand all at once as she sucked in her breath, tears glistening in her eyes.


    Ron''s eyes widened, "But didn''t she die a long ... time ago? Because of an accident?"


    "Remember when Luna searched for the Resurrection Stone at the beginning of the school year?" Hermione said softly, "Now we know what those letters are for."


    A few minutes later, in the Ancient Rune office.


    Felix stood in the doorway and motioned inside, "So, Luna, as promised, you have all morning. I should warn you that the Resurrection Stone is not perfect in any version of the story, so beware not to fall under its spell."


    "Thanks." Luna''s calm voice said, "I feel sorry for Mum, but I still have Dad and I never felt she left us, we just couldn''t see her and had to use some tools. Dad and I both treasure will treasure this opportunity."


    Felix paused where he stood for a few seconds and closed the door to his office. At that moment, the sound of Luna reading the letter came faintly through the door.


    Outside, the weather became muggy and Felix made his way to the yard with Valen, who stood on his shoulder, where the shrubs growing in abundance and the strong scent of flowers could be smelt, and finally, June arrived.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 670: Final Exams (2 in 1)

    June weather at Hogwarts is bright and sunny, but for the young wizards of Hogwarts, June means exams. As the whole system of ancient runes became more and more refined, the corresponding system of assessments also became well established. Felix believes that the third and fourth-year students are still in the stage of training their basic skills and developing their interests, so the assessments that are set for them should not be too difficult, nor should they be as heavily focused on practicals as the senior years, and rather they should have an equal emphasis on both theoretical and practical ancient runes.


    For example, this year''s third-year theoretical exams will not only include the usual translation of sentences, but also a one-foot essay writing in the ancient rune language on the topic of ''a day to remember''; the practical exam will consist of a fun-like golem performance. Students could either choose to demonstrate their manipulative skills alone or find the right partner to make the golems engage in a glorious fight, or even form a drama team.


    Felix deliberately arranged for the Year 3 practical exams to take place in the great hall, and many students of other age groups came out to watch with great interest. Judging by the envious expressions of the young first and second-year wizards in the audience, part of his purpose had been achieved.


    Snape asked him in a snarky voice if he was trying to get the parents of the students to vote for him in the Wizard Weekly ''Most Charming Smile Award''.


    "You just timely reminded me of that, Severus." Felix flashed a charming smile as a few professors next to them looked at him oddly.


    The round arena in front of them had just finished a spectacular golem duel, and when the applause died down, Felix waved his hand and the arena was restored to its original state with flaming scorch marks, ice, and scratched cracks all disappeared, and the next second, half a dozen students rushed forward from the corner with various props and began to build the stage''s background setting.


    It could be seen from a single glance that the one leading the group is a young Hufflepuff girl, "Eleanor?" A boy said nervously, and the girl, clenching her fist and waving it twice in the air as if to cheer herself up, then she stepped forward and said loudly.


    "Profess- Professor, we are going to perform ''Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump'' play."


    Felix nodded towards her, "Miss Branstone, you can begin."


    Eleanor Branstone cleared her throat and introduced the background of the story with great emotion, "A long time ago, in a land far far away, a king decided to keep all the magic in the world for himself. In order to get all the magic, he needed to gather all the witches and wizards in the world, so he formed the Brigade of Witch-Hunters, armed with packs of wild dogs. But first, he needed to learn how to use magic, so he posted a notice in every city, town, and village to call for someone with magical abilities to teach him, but he had no idea that the washerwoman responsible for cleaning the clothes in the palace was a witch ..." S?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "On one particular day, a charlatan appeared at the palace, claiming to be the highly skilled wizard that the king was looking for."


    While she was narrating, several young wizards went on with their own tasks, manipulating golems that were dressed up in different theatrical costumes, ranging from a pot-bellied king ( his clothes seemed to be stuffed with cotton), a comical-looking charlatan (who looked like Peeves), a white-haired washerwoman (with a flattened toothpick in her hand) and some palace guards (who were replaced by chocolate frog cards and wizard cards).


    "I need gold! And big, big rubies!" A boy beautifully impersonated a charlatan speech, "And I also need a silver goblet to brew my potions in!" As he spoke, he directed the character of the play to turn on his heel.


    Even the senior students watched with great interest, and Harry heard more than one of them want to try it when the exams are over.


    "These little kids are quite imaginative." Ron said with a big grin.


    "I hope you can be this imaginative for our test tomorrow too." Hermione said, happy to have a day of rest and adjustment at leisure as they had just finished their Charms test. Even though the Potions test would be tomorrow, they had agreed to take some time out to relax their tense nerves.


    Harry saw a number of familiar faces around them, and he guessed that these people held the same thoughts as they did. He tried his best not to look at the figure of Dumbledore and Grindelwald in the crowd - he still wasn''t used to the whole thing. Even Hermione wasn''t that active in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class anymore.


    "You are making me watch something this childish?" Grindelwald whispered.


    "Don''t say it like that, I''ve only just finished up my annotations for The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Dumbledore said in a cheerful tone, "Sometimes I think Professor Dippet''s decision was a little hasty, there is one less major entertainment in the school since the total ban on theatrical performances."


    Grindelwald''s expression became one of elusiveness, his lips quirking and curling together to make a thin line of sound.


    "We were on the verge of ripping this book apart back then, what prompted you to read this book again after all this time? Or maybe ... you have gathered all three pieces of the Deathly Hallows? The Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the unidentifiable Cloak of Invisibility ... I was pursuing a lead that cut off in Godric''s Hollow-" He stopped talking abruptly.


    "It''s the Deathly Hallows." Dumbledore corrected.


    "When did you start to refute that common conclusion?"


    "I have always had my suspicions, except that I compromised and accepted your claim at the time, blinded by false hope." Dumbledore said in the same whispered voice, and they fell silent as, finally, the drama reached its climactic part.


    "-You shall erect a statue of Babbitty! In memory of your poor washerwoman, so that you will never forget your foolish actions!" The little wizard pretending to be a tree stump said in a pinched, jarring voice. Then out of the stump, a fat old rabbit leaped out, and after a puff of smoke, the washerwoman appeared.


    "And so the statue fully made of gold of the washerwoman remained erected on top of the stump, and the foolish king was taught a lesson and dared not persecute the wizards in the kingdom anymore." Eleanor Branstone ended the story with an excited trailing voice, her cheeks slightly flushed as she bowed with her partners. Thunderous applause sounded throughout the great hall.


    Dumbledore applauded enthusiastically as well, and Grindelwald reluctantly followed suit with a couple of claps.


    "I need to talk to you, Dumbledore ..."


    When the noises in the great hall subsided, Grindelwald continued in a whisper, "According to your philosophy, a one-man leader is prone to achieve a strongman rule, two men are prone to division, and only three people can maintain the balance. Don''t say you expect something from the current female minister, that boy on the other side could crush her with one finger."


    Dumbledore raised his head and looked at the boy on the other side - Felix, who had just been slandered, had just finished marking the students and seemed to sense that someone was observing him, he looked back and followed the line of sight to find it was Dumbledore who nodded expressionlessly from behind.


    "Next group step up to the stage."


    After the exam was over, everyone dispersed with as much joy as they could carry, talking and laughing all the way. That''s when Snape, who was next to Felix, and Grindelwald, who was next to Dumbledore, both disappeared, and the two men came together.


    "Are there any requirements regarding Transferring the Spell ...?" Felix asked.


    "Requirements." Dumbledore repeated softly as he looked at the bouncing Luna, the giggling Parvati sisters who had walked away, and the Peeves who had poked his head out from the ceiling in a sneaky way, and after a long moment, he answered.


    "The curse afflicted person must be rendered unconscious, otherwise it will be difficult for him to pretend that nothing has happened ... so it is important to look for the right time."


    Felix mulled over the meaning of those words twice.


    "In short, need to knock him out? Are you going to do it or should I?"


    Dumbledore gave him a reproachful look.


    "Oh yes, we must not raise any suspicions, we must make everything seem logical." Felix rolled his eyes and gave it a moment''s thought in his mind, "I see! Wait for the day he leaves the school to go back to his castle and-" Knock Grindelwald out under the pretext of shifting locations. By the time he woke up again, it would all be over for him.


    Dumbledore nodded his head with a grim look.


    "And during this period of time, I will keep giving him hope that he can continue to stay at the school."


    ...


    The exams continued the next day and when the fourth-year exams also came to an end, Felix had little to do for the next two days in a row, so he followed Professor McGonagall and received the group of examiners from the Wizard Examination Authority.


    The leader of the group is still Professor Marchbanks, her back arched out of shape and her face wrinkled, but she is hale and hearty, and her voice is surprisingly loud.


    The arrival of the examiners meant that the leisurely days (which weren''t really that relaxed) of the fifth and seventh years are finally over, and they are about to take a two-week period of intense exams that are, in the words of the students who have been through it, " nothing but a hell of a time, but you can finally see the hope of relief."


    "Actually no," Harry reassured the moody Ginny, who is preparing for her O.W.Ls, "the sixth year curriculum is even sicker, just look at Ron -" Ginny turned her head to the side, and she couldn''t stifle her laughter "Haha". Ron was staring sadly at the notes he had borrowed from Hermione for the Transfiguration test, and at some point, there were a few clear ink marks that started to appear all over his face.


    "If I only knew Animagus, I wouldn''t have to worry about this," Ron said listlessly, "the theory is very confusing, and the practice is barely interesting, I just hope I could at least score a passing grade." His words drew a chorus of agreement.


    "The weather is so pleasant outside, yet we have to spend our time studying for exams. My eyes are going blind." Dean was equally full of complaints.


    At that moment Hermione walked in from outside, she had just finished her Arithmancy exam and her next exam would be the same as theirs. " You have a dirty patch on your face, Ron." She said cheerfully, as she pulled the Advanced Transfiguration book out of her book bag.


    "Just let it stay. I''ll remember to wash it off the next day." Ron muttered.


    Harry spent the next few hours reviewing with Ginny until late at night when she was too sleepy to keep her eyes open and went back to bed after Harry urged her to do so. Before long Hermione was gone too, leaving only a few lights in the common room, and Ron stared at his Transfiguration notes for a couple of minutes, finally resigning himself to the fact that he hadn''t actually read a word of it, and then followed Harry back to their dormitory.


    He and Harry were tiptoeing around in the darkness and changing into their pyjamas through the light of the moon when Neville''s muffled voice came out from a corner of the room.


    "Harry, Ron, do you know when Professor Bagshot is leaving the school? I''d like to see him off."


    Harry''s spirits lifted, and he looked to the dark shadow where Ron was, and Ron''s movements stiffened. "Well-" Harry racked his brain trying to come up with an excuse when Ron abruptly said, "I''m so sorry Neville, we don''t know either."


    "Oh, yeah well. I was thinking about ...," Neville mumbled a few vague words, rolled over, and went back to sleep.


    Harry lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, and found himself sleepless. His mind was filled with the question he had just been asked, Neville still didn''t know the identity of Professor Bagshot yet ... would this secret be kept? If Neville didn''t get an answer from them, he might ask the professor directly, or he might not ... maybe Neville wanted to surprise him in person.


    Harry knew the reason Neville is so attached to him: only a handful of professors has ever invited him privately to their offices.


    But that was Grindelwald the Dark Wizard.


    Some of the memories he had seen in the Pensieve became part of his dreams and messed with his mind. The figure of Voldemort also appeared from time to time, seeming to treat him as if he was Dumbledore and Professor Hap, cursing him in many different ways. Harry had to convince himself with a stubborn will that he had exams tomorrow morning and that he had to get enough sleep so that he would have the energy to remember those difficult theories of Transfiguration.


    The Occlumency magic kicked in and everything died down. Harry let out a deep yawn and fell into dreamland.


    "What''s next is setting up various types of anti-apparition charms?" Felix, who was still working hard overtime, asked around the same time.


    Dumbledore looked around the Chamber of Secrets with interest.


    "Yeah, that''s the last step." He said.


    This place no longer looked like it had before at all, they were currently standing in a jungle with some rune creatures passing in front of them, raising their heads every now and then to size up the two men and the huge ouroboros snake above their heads.


    That''s right, Voldemort had been moved here from Classroom Seven, and when Dumbledore had come to Felix to discuss the location of the decisive meeting, Felix had instantly thought of this place. Salazar Slytherin had used this place as a secret classroom and a place to study bloodline magic and had arranged quite a bit of protective magic.


    The most crucial thing is that it wouldn''t harm anything even if this place is destroyed. Unlike Classroom Seven, which housed a number of the Professor''s memory bodies and recently had two new ''people'' move in.


    "This is a wonderful environment," Dumbledore said admiringly as he looked at the sky overhead and the surrounding entertainment venues, "but how did you come up with the idea of converting the Chamber of Secrets into a playground?"


    The average wizard shouldn''t have this kind of line of thinking.


    Felix shook his head.


    "It was Tom Riddle who inspired me."


    "Voldemort?" Dumbledore was slightly surprised, then snapped to realization, "It was that other personality?"


    "Well, when I found out that Riddle was still inevitably aware that he is a descendant of Salazar Slytherin and set out to investigate the location of the Chamber of Secrets, I simply invited him to accompany me here - there are quite a few ideas here that he has come up with."


    Three afternoons later, the sixth year''s practical test in Ancient Rune drew near an end.


    These students knew what the test would involve more than a month in advance, but they still had to complete their work within the time limit. For three whole hours, the students fought for a time, and the closer they got to the end, the more cautious they became, fearing that they might accidentally mess up. As soon as Hermione raised her hand first and handed in a solidified rune firebird ornament, the rest of the students completed their work one by one, with a variety of strange creations, many of which blew Felix''s mind.


    Harry handed in a rune broom that looked pretty decent, with seven levitation rune circuits embedded in it, which not only made the broom hover in mid-air but also allowed it to carry some weight. When Harry sat on it to demonstrate, however, the middle of the broom immediately sunk in, resembling a strangely designed flying carpet rather than a broom. "Connection problems, Potter, don''t underestimate the usefulness of meaningless individual runes, they''re responsible for bridging the magic."


    Ron in his turn handed over a foot-long wizard''s chess piece, there was no way he could continue to compress the size of the piece. "It also has a connection problem, Weasley, but you must have put a lot of emotion into making it, it makes it look more alive."


    Ron lowered his head and stared at the Knight piece he is holding, which looked east and west, and the Knight''s face looked very hideous to him. He wondered if the professor was saying the opposite.


    "Appearance is not part of the assessment evaluation." Felix said accordingly.


    Quite a few of the young wizards chose animals, but of course, the Hidden Difficulty is in fact a lot higher. Susan Bones'' bunny nimbly ran around them twice before a sneeze broke itself apart. Her mouth hung open, dazed, her eyes watering, and her expression dying down.


    "Good, Miss Bones, you need to pay attention to the fine part of details."


    Susan breathed a sigh of relief at this and gathered her things and walked out of the classroom with a brisk step.


    "That''s why I scored it on the spot - I was afraid I wouldn''t be able to bring it back in time." Felix muttered in a small voice.


    He is very perceptive and quick on his feet. Always appearing in front of the students who most desperately needed him, to catch a glimpse of the creations just before the series of accidents happened - such as the peacock tossing its wings away, the flame slug burning itself to ashes along with the desk, the winged notebook flying out of the window, etc - and giving them the score before their hard work fly away.


    When the last student left the exam room, Felix''s forehead was slightly sweaty. This also proved to be a test for him too.


    ...


    That evening, a group of people arrived at Hogsmeade. They came from the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 671: Patterns

    The next morning, the atmosphere at the great hall dining table was very lively. Many of the young wizards had already finished their exams and were talking loudly, ready to enjoy their last leisurely moments before the holidays. They had every reason to be happy, as it was customary that, except for a small percentage of students who had failed to pass their spell assessment, the professors would not make any demands on their coursework, and especially would not give any assignments.


    "We have one last exam." Ron kept poking at the omelette on his plate with his fork.


    "To put it another way, we''ll have close to two weeks of free time when the day is over." Hermione said comforting words with her mouth stuffed with food and Harry agreed, but his eyes glanced subconsciously to Neville, the subject to be tested today is Defence Against the Dark Arts, and they would be seeing ''Professor Bagshot'' again.


    "No, what will comfort me is that the exams for the fifth and seventh years are still going on," Ron said cheerfully, "How many more exams does Ginny still have to take?"


    "Four." Harry said.


    Ron sighed contentedly when a large flock of owls flew in, closing their wings and landing on the dining table, clanking the plates. Half a dozen owls surrounded Dumbledore at the faculty table, and next to him Professor Marchbanks seemed to be allergic to owls and kept sneezing.


    Harry watched with interest until Ron cried out in pain, and he turned back to the table in front of him where an additional grey owl had appeared on the table, its beak seemingly just released Ron''s fingers.


    "It bit me!" Ron exclaimed with aggravation, huffing and picking up the letter that had fallen on the dining table, "I''d like to see whose owl this is - oh," his tone became downcast, "it''s from Bill. "


    He opened the letter and read it quickly, the expression on his face went from shock to delight, and before Harry could ask, he spoke with a raised eyebrow.


    "It''s Bill and Fleur, they''re planning to get married this summer - O Merlin''s beard! Well, the letter says that the timing is uncertain for now, they''re keeping track of the schedules of some important guests and for now it would be around the early part of August, and they asked me to drop by and find out if you guys - surely you guys are coming, right?" Ron trailed off with a confirmatory question.


    "Of course, I''ll come."


    "Yeah, it''s a must to be there."


    Harry and Hermione said in a rush.


    Ron contentedly read the letter all over again and looked up with some surprise, "I wonder how Bill managed to convince Mum to accept Fleur, mind you, she''s always been very ... well - it could be that Mum has finally admitted that Bill and Delacour both are totally hopeless."


    "Tonks and Lupin are engaged." Harry reminded.


    "Yeah, I think that''s why." Ron said, "Mum''s wish is completely out of the question." He put the letter away and the three of them finished their breakfast and prepared for today''s Defense Against the Dark Arts exam with a sense of happiness.


    At the professor''s table, Felix opened his letter, it contained a rather formal invitation, he skimmed it, it was written in rock and roll style English and was signed by Bill Weasley. He looked over at Dumbledore, who was calmly putting an official letter away.


    "The International Confederation of Wizards?" Grindelwald, who is sitting on the other side of him, suddenly asked.


    "Babajide asked me for advice regarding the new laws. Poor man, to have to face such a dire situation when he has only just taken office." Dumbledore said calmly, "Actually, he has done a good job in the past, he just lacks a little confidence."


    Grindelwald was half convinced, and when he narrowed his eyes in contemplation. Felix asked, "Headmaster Dumbledore, did you get the letter from the Weasleys?"


    "Ah, I saw it." Dumbledore picked up an envelope with his slender fingers and surveyed the signature on it, "It''s Arthur and Molly, let me see what they have to say. Oh, oh - a wedding, another beautiful couple paired together!"


    Professor Marchbanks was desperately leaning her body back and kept fanning the air in front of her, trying to keep herself away from the owl. "Let me leave, I can''t stand this!" She shouted. After waiting for Professor McGonagall to assist her away from the table, Dumbledore continued pleasantly, "It seems like only yesterday that Arthur and Molly were walking in the moonlight, but then in a flash, their child is about to enter the marriage; time is a fascinating thing!"


    "I suppose," he turned his head to Felix and said in an expectant tone, "Sirius and Amelia, and Remus and Tonks, those two pairs are ten out of ten as well?"


    Felix nodded.


    "Then I''ll have to prepare at least - three congratulatory gifts. I''ve also received quite a few wedding invitations one after another in the two or three years following the last war." Dumbledore stood up, tiptoeing around with a leap of joy, "Official business would be too dull and boring compared to these happy events, and I must remind Babajide that he is the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards now."


    Grindelwald stared at his departing back for a moment in silence, and he muttered as if he was inquiring or talking to himself, "Is what he was saying true?"


    "Which part? The Headmaster said a lot of things." Felix asked.


    "Yes," Grindelwald said slowly, "he said a lot of things."


    At the edge of the long dining table, Snape glanced at several people out of the corner of his eye without moving, his mind racing with various thoughts. Dumbledore is hiding too much - he''s beyond sure that he''s not the only one who gets this treatment, for example, Felix, McGonagall, and even the mysterious Bagshot are all part of Dumbledore''s plan. But none of them could get a glimpse of the whole picture.


    For example, he believed that no third person in the world would know that the Elder Wand in Dumbledore''s possession had silently changed owners at the moment. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Just what was Dumbledore trying to do?


    Snape put down his cutlery indifferently and turned to leave the great hall. He didn''t believe any of Dumbledore''s nonsense about ''it''s better if it becomes a permanent mystery'' and ''that''s up to you'', if Dumbledore really wanted to make the Elder Wand disappear, all he had to do is survive until the end of his life, he didn''t believe anyone would dare to lay a hand on Dumbledore now.


    Unless he was on guard against someone. Snape''s footsteps paused as he looked over at Felix at the table.


    Then he walked through the long entrance hall and up the grand staircase. Dumbledore''s words from that night came to life in full, ''I hope the day when it will be used never comes, and preferably become a permanent mystery, which means no major disruptions are made in the wizarding world''.


    Major disruptions ... Snape chewed on the words and pushed open the door to the classroom.


    Dumbledore sensed some sort of danger, but he wasn''t sure if and when it would happen. In these circumstances, it would be unwise to let a wand of high magical power disappear into history, so he would be playing the role of a backup set up by Dumbledore, a temporary custodian who ... would have the rights to keep the Elder Wand?


    And who is the ideal heir in Dumbledore''s mind?


    As soon as Snape opened the door, he saw Harry sitting in the front seat, and a strong feeling of dislike welled up inside him, he would never believe that Dumbledore would choose Potter, even if he had already surpassed himself in terms of magic power ...?


    Snape''s body became rigid, and if one surmised from this perspective, the range of options available to Dumbledore is in fact very small.


    Harry stared at Snape blankly, his head started to spin, how could Snape appear in the examination hall? And why did he have such a strange expression on his face?


    "Bang!"


    Snape slammed the door heavily and strode up to the podium with what seemed like frost on his face. Then he waved his wand violently, and from the locked cupboard of the classroom flew piles and piles of exam papers, landing precisely in front of the students.


    "The time now - nine o''clock - and you have two hours to answer."


    The students looked at each other and whispered to each other.


    "Silence." Snape said loudly, and once again the sixth years felt the long-lost low pressure envelop the entire classroom.


    "Where is Professor Bagshot?" Neville asked bravely.


    "He''s alive, but-" Snape said slowly as his cold eyes fixed on him, and Neville''s face turned pale, but what? Harry''s heart went up to his throat. "But you''ll only be able to see him this afternoon; I''ll be invigilating the written exams for the sixth year. Now all shut up - the exams begin!"


    They hastily bowed their heads, turned over their question papers, and began to answer the questions, Harry pondered as he answered; did Snape become angry because he had to come and invigilate their exams? From what he said, Professor Bagshot should still be at the school.


    For the next two hours, the classroom remained silent, the only sound of quills rustling against the papers was heard. When the exam was over, the students filed out into the corridor to discuss why Snape had invigilated their exam.


    "Maybe Professor Bagshot is sick." One student said.


    "He was fine this morning, and didn''t Snape say he would be in charge of the practical test in the afternoon."


    Harry saw a worried look on Neville''s face and a wave of hidden worry flooded through him. He found the opportunity to bring it up to Hermione at lunchtime, who held up her fork and thought for a while.


    "There''s only so much we can do in this case, Harry." Hermione said with a downcast look, she saw Harry trying to open his mouth to retort, so she reached out and waved her fork twice to stop him, "Neville wanted to do something for Professor Bagshot, it''s the same thing you did back then to see Lupin off."


    "Of course, it''s not the same!" Harry shouted as several people around him looked over, and he lowered his voice, "At least I won''t get hurt, but G-but that man," he said calmly, "I saw what he did with my own eyes --though only in memory--there were more than a few innocent people died because of him! That''s why I refused his invitation afterward. In case he tried to do something dangerous to Neville ..."


    "People do change, he''s been in prison for fifty years, hasn''t he?" Hermione whispered, "Besides, didn''t we analyse that he is under strict spellcasting restrictions?"


    "A Dark Lord who uses an exclusive wand, I kind of pity him." Ron grunted.


    Harry sulked alone. He felt that it was his earlier partial favouritism towards Grindelwald and the glorification in his verbal descriptions that had prevented Ron and Hermione from realizing the seriousness of the problem.


    After the afternoon practical exam for the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, Harry, ignoring the strange looks from Ron and Hermione, chased after Neville and asked, "Na, Neville, did Professor Bagshot mention anything to you alone?"


    "He said I did well on the exam." Neville looked pleased.


    "Oh, I mean, apart from that-"


    "You want to know when Professor Bagshot is leaving school?" Neville looked at him.


    Harry hesitated for a moment and nodded.


    "Did you ask him?"


    " Well, I did, and he said he wasn''t sure," Neville said softly, "but he gave me this." He pulled a walnut-sized glass ball from his pocket, "A Sneakoscope. It''s one of the seven Sneakoscope Professor Hap talked about, and it has one of Professor Bagshot''s hairs hidden inside."


    Harry passed Ron and Hermione a meaningful look.


    "-but it''s broken." Neville said under his breath and Harry was a little dumbfounded, " Break, broken?" He asked as he stammered. Neville looked at Harry strangely, "Yeah, it''s just a souvenir, Professor Bagshot gave it to me as a gift."


    "Can I see it, Neville?" Hermione spoke in a less-than-normal tone, "Well, I didn''t know Professor Bagshot had studied ancient runes."


    Neville handed her the glass ball with trust.


    "The one I have is one of his earlier works, which apparently didn''t work out. Actually, Professor Bagshot developed an appreciation for ancient runes quite early on, didn''t he, Harry?"


    "Yes ... I did see quite a few books on the subject in his office and discussed them together." Harry said in a daze, images of the past tumbling through his mind as a sudden, strong wave of guilt welled up in him. He looked over at Hermione, expecting to hear from her that there aren''t any sly magical tricks lurking inside.


    He hoped beyond anything that he had guessed wrong.


    "It''s beautifully made, and it has floral patterns drawn on it." After a few minutes, Hermione said, handing the glass ball back to Neville, "But it is indeed broken, the structure of the rune inside is mangled."


    "That''s what Professor Bagshot told me," Neville said, "the floral patterns on it are of a kind that he is extraordinarily fond of, you can see similar patterns on his clothes."


    "Like Professor Slughorn''s gold buttons?" Ron quipped with a wide grin.


    Neville couldn''t help but glare at him and retorted stiffly, "Professor Bagshot has a significantly better taste." When he left, Hermione shook her head at Harry and Ron.


    "You heard what I just said, I really didn''t find anything wrong with it."


    "Well, ugh - that''s for the best." Harry said with a sigh of relief, a stone dropped from his chest.


    The next few days were uneventful. Ginny''s O.W.Ls exams neared their end and Harry took the time to finish his last lesson in the Headmaster''s office, and he was surprisingly a little reluctant when Dumbledore announced that the lesson had ended.


    "You have seen nearly all of the last hundred years of history through my eyes, but that does not mean that you possess the same wisdom as I do. It will take enough time to digest, a process that may be brief or may take a lifetime." Dumbledore said softly.


    The old man opposite him seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm and anticipation in his azure eyes, and Harry averted his gaze slightly, his eyes falling on a stack of official letters on the table with a collection of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.


    Dumbledore gazed at Harry, noting where his eyes lingered, and casually explained, "That''s an official letter from the International Confederation of Wizards, they''ve been sending one almost every day for a while now ... I did delay a bit."


    Harry actually wanted to ask what the storybook was about, and why it is on his table, but the moment obviously wasn''t too appropriate, and he made up his mind to find another, lighter atmosphere to talk about the subject.


    "How am I going to digest-" Harry didn''t finish his sentence.


    "Do the right thing, Harry. And not the easy thing." Dumbledore said, "Plus there''s careful thinking. This one may seem to be overstated, but I have observed that there are a considerable number of people who can endure physical torture, but not the pain of solitude and thinking."


    Harry nodded in puzzled understanding.


    "So - it''s time to talk about the fragment of soul in your body."


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 672: The Crimes of Grindelwald (2 in 1)

    "Geez, is that true? Is that what Dumbledore really said - that he would solve the fragment of Voldemort''s soul in you tonight?" The next morning, Hermione said with a start when Harry told his companion about last night''s episode. Ron, next to him, was too shocked to speak, his eyes fixed on Harry''s face.


    Harry nodded silently as they stepped onto the soft grass and strolled around the Black Lake. The sun outside the castle shone warmly and Hagrid could be seen working busily in the vegetable garden from a distance.


    "So, did he say what he is going to do? What do you have to do to prepare?" Ron asked impatiently.


    "He only told me that I have to do a brave thing, the rest will have to wait until after dinner tonight." Harry said.


    "But why?" Ron asked in puzzlement.


    "Could it be something to do with the O.W.Ls exams?" Hermione guessed, "The last exam just happens to be over today so that it will free up Headmaster Dumbledore completely."


    Harry couldn''t think of a reason to refute or agree. In fact, he had been looking forward to this day, and the idea of spending the last week of the school year with Ginny on a sunny June day simply fascinated him.


    They walked around the black lake, stopping every now and then to watch the giant squid spouting jets of water and the sunlight reflecting off arching rainbows, which faded away again in a moment.


    At times, they discussed with interest the methods Dumbledore might use, and Ron guessed that Harry would have a thrilling duel to the death with Voldemort while Dumbledore and Professor Hap circled them, but Hermione didn''t think the two professors would put Harry through such a risk, so Ron quickly revised his idea to Dumbledore and Professor Hap first beating Voldemort half to death before putting Harry on the spot.


    "Why don''t you just say that they would simply fight each other barehanded, two people fighting each other with their physical strength, and Voldemort looks like he lacks exercise." Hermione said with a stony face.


    Harry burst out laughing. S?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He laughed even more especially when Ron said stiffly, "It''s not impossible". Afterwards, the three of them spent the afternoon at Hagrid''s hut, drinking tea and giving comments on the design of the canvas trousers Hagrid had prepared for Grawp, in a very pleasant mood.


    It was only when it was about time that Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned to the castle.


    They managed to be perfectly on time and when they arrived in the entrance hall there were already a number of students who had finished their charms practical exam present and were chatting enthusiastically in small groups as they cheered loudly, celebrating the end of a hellish year. After a few more minutes of waiting, Ginny appeared at one of the side doors of the great hall.


    For the brief time when the door was open, Harry clearly heard the loud voice of Professor Marchbanks announcing the end of the exam.


    "I''ve always felt quite at a disadvantage with this family name." Ron muttered, "Can''t take advantage of it in any alphabetical order."


    Ginny, who had approached, rolled her eyes at Ron and wrapped her arm around Harry affectionately. Harry looked away not feeling comfortable and saw Colin Creevey leaning against the alcove where the House point hourglasses embedded in it, as if he was being interviewed by Mafalda.


    At that moment the wide black hem of Snape''s coat swished past them.


    Harry just gave him a curious look before his attention was drawn to Ginny''s words, "I''m going to be a bridesmaid!" Harry was in a trance for a moment, Snape''s shadow thrown out of his mind, and he couldn''t help but picture Ginny in her bridesmaid''s dress in his mental image, wondering how it would look different from a bridal outfit?


    But over the next few minutes, one professor after another appeared, and even Hermione, who was feverishly discussing the wedding dress design with Ginny, and an impatient Ron noticed that something was out of place: the professors passing by seemed to be too frequent after all.


    So when Hagrid''s wide figure walked in from outside, Harry called out to him.


    "Hagrid, what are you doing here?"


    "A meeting," Hagrid said in a jarring voice, the wet mud still clinging to his boat-like boots as if he had been busy in the vegetable field again after they left. He stomped his way into the great hall and a few people looked at each other, Ginny volunteered to leave for a while and came back and said, "Hagrid went to the staff room. I had a look and there are a lot of people in there, it seems all the professors have been invited."


    ...


    As Felix took a seat next to Snape, he swept a look around the room; all the professors in the school have present here, along with two other unfamiliar faces, sitting expressionlessly in the corner, not saying a word.


    The room gradually quieted down, and all eyes were focused on Dumbledore in the main seat. Dumbledore looked around the room with a smile on his face and spoke.


    "Before the meeting begins, allow me to introduce you to two witnesses, Vader and Chester, who are the representatives of the school board."


    The two men nodded their heads in greeting.


    The professors in the room exchanged surprised looks with each other as if something big is about to happen.


    "What I am about to say next has been agreed to by all the members of the school board: ladies and gentlemen, I am resigning from my position as Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Dumbledore said seriously, and the room burst into an uproar as he continued as if he hadn''t noticed it, "In the meantime, I am very grateful to the board for acknowledging my recommendation, that Minerva McGonagall will take my place as the new headmaster."


    Professor McGonagall let out a loud cry, "No, Dumbledore it-"


    Dumbledore stopped her with a look.


    "Let me finish, Minerva. The new appointment also includes - Felix Hap, who will continue to hold the position of Professor of Ancient Rune, along with the position of Deputy Headmaster."


    After he had finished, Dumbledore touched the tips of his ten slender fingers together, and then looked politely at the rest of the crowd, as if waiting for someone to ask a question. The room fell silent for a moment as everyone tried to digest the shocking announcement and no one rushed to break the silence.


    Felix didn''t react much to the position that had suddenly fallen to him; even without the position of deputy headmaster, he had the ability to promote some changes in the school. He frowned slightly as he gazed at Dumbledore, his heart sinking a little lower.


    He had had his suspicions before, but he had just been unable to reach a conclusion. Especially when he had recently learned that Dumbledore had used the power of the Resurrection Stone to conjure up projections of the souls of two of his loved ones from the hearts of the living, it was even less likely that Dumbledore would give up on life.


    If Dumbledore had made up his mind to die, what was the point of doing so?


    But now that Dumbledore had suddenly made this decision, it couldn''t be to enjoy his retirement, could it? With that in mind, he looked at Grindelwald in the opposite direction, maybe he knew something? At that moment Grindelwald''s brow was furrowed, and he looked intently at Dumbledore, whose gaze did not deliberately avoid him, but did not pay too much attention to him either.


    He felt ominous, as an icy coldness seeped into his internal organs little by little.


    "Dumbledore, you should have discussed this with me beforehand!" At that moment, Professor McGonagall said with exasperation, "I can''t accept such a hurried decision from you, it''s ridiculous, and I''m sure the other professors are not the least bit mentally prepared for it, even if you had plans to retire, you should have left a cushion of time instead of suddenly bringing it up and startling everyone."


    "Minerva, there are still two hours before the dinner starts, we have plenty of time to clear up any doubts, but my decision will not be changed."


    "Of course there are doubts!" Professor McGonagall said sharply, "Let''s start with when you got this irresponsible idea, and also, what will you do when you leave the school? You''ve spent most of your life here."


    "It''s a grand topic, Minerva, and I don''t want to expand on the details, that''s too wordy, and two hours won''t be enough. Simply put, I planned a trip." Dumbledore announced cheerfully, with a hint of mischievous triumph in his tone, even from Felix''s point of view. "Of course, you can also assume that I have been planning it for a long time."


    "A trip, a tour?"


    Professor McGonagall seemed confused, while Grindelwald looked up perceptively, travelling? Dumbledore had mentioned this to him privately, two days ago, when he had talked about his aborted graduation trip, and his words dripped with the slightest hint of regret.


    He talked fluently about the route he had planned.


    Starting from the UK and passing through France, Greece, Egypt, and Brazil ... nearly covering all the famous wizarding towns and magical sites around the world. Of course, the most important thing is still the people, he is very interested in the magical ecology of other countries and would not refuse a short stop in some of the beautiful scenery ...


    A twinge of longing stirred in Grindelwald''s heart.


    For the rest of the time he was distracted by the whole thing and his thoughts were all over the place. When the meeting was over, all the professors walked woodenly out of the staff room and the students in the great hall were already seated at their tables. Then the dinner began and it ended with Dumbledore standing up to speak and announce the shocking news.


    The students at the foot of the gallery were dumbfounded; they finally knew why all the professors seemed to have a little appetite today - and this naturally included Grindelwald, except that his thoughts were very different from those of the other professors.


    When Dumbledore said he was giving up his post as headmaster, he knew that the plan he had been working on for a year had gone down the drain and that he would be too shut off from the outside world at Nurmengard Castle, but that was exactly what he had wanted, and he had taken the initiative to cut off contact with the outside world. In the beginning, some reluctant acolytes sent their messages by various means, but after realizing that there was no response, they gradually disappeared, and his world became simple and quiet, and he spent his days relying on the memories of the past to pass the time.


    Many years passed in a flash. It was only when he accidentally heard rumours of the Elder Wand from the mouth of the house elf, Bondi, that he could not resist the impulse to have Bondi deliver a letter because he knew that the Elder Wand had fallen into Dumbledore''s hands half a century ago and given his character it would never change hands.


    He smelt a conspiracy.


    Sure enough, the youngster who called himself Voldemort began to stir up the storm. Grindelwald watched the battle that took place outside Hogsmeade village through the eyes of the house elf, but the doubts in his mind were not verified; Dumbledore was old and did not show the power of the Elder Wand at all. However, the Elder Wand was indeed still in his possession.


    After that, he got in touch with Felix Hap.


    In the constant tussles and exchanges, he became acutely aware that another great age is coming in waves. The last great age was a century ago. At that time, the speed of Muggle development grew faster and faster, making not only the insightful members of the wizarding community feel threatened, but even the ordinary wizarding populace was able to find their sphere of activity becoming narrower and narrower, and the regulations of Statute of Secrecy becoming increasingly more stringent.


    Discontent pervaded all over the world.


    He seized that opportunity and thus made Grindelwald''s reputation as one of the most dangerous dark wizards of all time. Now almost a century later, history is once again repeating itself, only this time it is not the wizards who are initiating the war, and this time they have no option of retreating, and it seems that it will be difficult to hide the existence of the magical world any longer.


    The Statute of Secrecy is in danger, and this time the crisis will not be solved by putting some dark wizard in prison.


    Shortly thereafter, he ''saw'' some visions, not one. To be precise, three different scenes: the Anti-Wizard Parade; the grand fireworks; and - the scene of him gathering the Acolytes together!


    He concealed the latter two scenes and brought out the most visual first one as a condition for negotiation. In the end, he managed to succeed, changing his clothes and his name to become an ordinary wizard school professor.


    At first, he was not half interested in the matter of educating the students.


    But this thought gradually changed, and sometimes he even thought that it would be nice to go on like this until the prophesied vision became reality. He even found an explanation for the other two visions he had seen: the celebration after the victory, and the gathering of the Acolytes to replace the corrupt and incompetent International Confederation of Wizards when he was exposed in the wizarding world.


    It was precisely by figuring out the significance of these three visions that the triple ruling theory emerged in his mind, with Dumbledore, Hap, and him, each of the three men taking an important role in shaping the world.


    Dumbledore gained an immense reputation by defeating him and being recognized by the Qilin, an influence that is unmatched to this day.


    Felix Hap is a little less influential, but it depends on who he is compared to; he is in fact far beyond the limits of geographical boundaries, both in terms of personal power and prestige, and in just a few years he has spread his tentacles throughout the wizarding world by promoting ancient rune and developing novel magical items, and he even amazed Grindelwald when he studied his biography.


    And as for Grindelwald himself, as he said, he united all the forces of the wizarding world to ensure that there would be no internal chaos. If necessary, the Acolytes in his hands would sweep away all threats. This list naturally included the stubborn Muggle authorities, and in his view, even if wizards and Muggles eventually came to peace, it is bound to be after a war.


    In the short span of a few decades when he was most active, there had been two world wars, and he knew all too well the evil in human nature.


    Wizards must show their power. By an optimistic estimate, it would only be sufficient if they burned one or two countries to the ground. At least the outbreak of a full-scale war would be avoided, wouldn''t it? Even if both sides would suffer heavy losses, with the hiding skills of wizards, an ordinary civilian house would be perfectly capable of hiding hundreds or thousands of wizards, as long as someone could organize them.


    The unfortunate ones that died would be just the thing to dissipate the hatred of the ordinary Muggle populace.


    After a few decades or centuries have passed, when the convenience brought by magic has penetrated the hearts of the muggle populace deeply, wizards will become the de facto nobility, and all the wars that were once fought, all the bloodshed that was once shed will be forgotten, and how many people today can even remember that a small Bulgarian country was one of the initiators of the world war?


    This is Grindelwald''s preview of the future - pessimistic, desperate, cold, cruel, and the very thought of it would be met with a torrent of verbal abuse. So he omitted the gory statements when he talked about it to other professors before, but he knew Dumbledore himself would have figured it out.


    This time it was not him who was bent on starting a war.


    He was even happy to say reassuringly, "There are over two hundred countries in the world, and war can naturally be avoided if each one of them made the right choice." He likes to see Dumbledore''s speechless expression.


    They have lived too long, they have witnessed too many ugly things, and it is only Hap who has the unrealistic illusion of expecting everything to go smoothly. But that possibility ... is too slim.


    Both he and Dumbledore were, by nature, utterly pessimistic, and their hearts had long been desolate.


    ...


    In the dead silence, Dumbledore raised his goblet and smiled as he toasted to the crowd.


    "If we lose hope, what are we left with?"


    The great hall continued to remain silent as if someone had cast a Quietening Charm. Then Dumbledore announced the end of the dinner, but no one moved, everyone stared at him and some of the sentimental girls burst into tears.


    Dumbledore was considerably moved, and he took a light breath and said with a shudder, "Everyone can leave now. On a side note, the four Heads of Houses, as well as Professors Hap and Bagshot, please come with me." With that, he led the way through the crowd and made his way towards the door, followed in order by those whose names had been called.


    As he passed the Gryffindor students who stood in silence, Dumbledore paused slightly and looked over at the crowd. Four eyes met and Harry understood at once.


    He glanced back at the chaotic great hall, exchanged a look with Ron and Hermione, and elbowed his way quietly after them. Behind him came a gush of pushing and shoving and Seamus''s angry shout was heard: ''I''m not going! I''m in the sixth year - I''m an adult!"


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 673: Dumbledore (2 in 1)

    Harry bent over and walked out a short distance, then straightened up and walked briskly towards the great hall door. "Hey, Harry!" He heard someone call behind him and Harry turned around to see that it was Neville, with a confused look on his face, Harry waved at him and slipped into the entrance hall.


    Dumbledore and his group had disappeared.


    Harry guessed they would have headed upstairs, probably to the Headmaster''s office, but on the other hand, he seemed to have heard movement from outside. After a slight mental weighing, he quickly ran to the stone steps outside the castle and looked hard into the distance, it was almost completely dark, and he could barely make out two blurry figures.


    One was Professor Flitwick, who looked conspicuous due to his height, and the other ... Harry assumed that figure was Professor Sprout. He strained to peer further into the distance; there was no one else, and he realized something was wrong: Headmaster Dumbledore''s white beard would be quite discernible even in the dark.


    So they had separated in the entrance hall? Headmaster Dumbledore had given the two professors some other task?


    There was a dense sound of footsteps behind him and Harry realized that the prefects started to organize the underclassmen to return to the common room. He didn''t hesitate any longer and ran with great strides in the direction of the Headmaster''s office, there was silence in all directions, only his heavy footsteps were heard, and he wondered if he had taken a wrong turn. After climbing two more flights of stairs, he heard a faint sound from above his head.


    It was Headmaster Dumbledore''s voice!


    A jolt of excitement went through Harry, but his speed inevitably slowed down, and when he finally reached the seventh floor, he went through a door, turned a corner, and picked up his pace, knowing he would soon meet the Gargoyles in the corridor, he knew this path too well to lose track of it even with his eyes closed.


    And, as it happened, he knew the password.


    A dark figure suddenly stepped in front of him and Harry was so startled that his feet slipped, and he almost fell on his back.


    It was Snape.


    "What are you doing here, Potter?" He asked coldly.


    "I, I was looking for - wait, you got kicked out?" Harry asked in surprise, his eyes moving past behind Snape, where it remained empty.


    Snape''s face stiffened.


    "You''re right, Potter." He said in a curt tone, then his thin lips twisted into a sneer, "The important people are talking inside, the unimportant people - like me - are tasked to stop the equally unimportant but unaware fools."


    "Headmaster Dumbledore asked me to come over!" Harry said in annoyance.


    "When did that happen?" Harry was dumbfounded and Snape''s tone became even snappier, "I was right behind him earlier, and I didn''t hear Dumbledore speak to any students ... I advise you to make a trip back to the great hall immediately, while Madam Pomfrey is still there."


    Harry glared at Snape, resentment building inside him as he took a deep breath and drew his wand, debating whether or not to cast a Patronus charm to inform Dumbledore that he has arrived.


    Snape''s eyebrows jumped hard.


    He thought Harry was planning to attack him, and Snape narrowed his eyes, resisting the urge to mutter: is this what Dumbledore was after? To get himself angered by Potter and thus get disarmed of Elder Wand? Should he resist or not?


    But Harry had already put away his wand and given up on the idea of using the Patronus to deliver the message. He was quite sure he had read the hints Dumbledore had given him correctly, and Dumbledore had told him explicitly last night that he would resolve the soul fragment on his body after dinner.


    But since there are other professors present, it means that the Headmaster does have other matters that need to be dealt with urgently.


    There weren''t many who knew about the existence of the Horcrux.


    "Where did Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick have gone?" Harry asked Snape calmly, "I saw them go out through the entrance hall."


    Snape looked at him quietly for two seconds and just when Harry thought he would learn absolutely nothing, he spoke.


    "They went to pick up someone in front of the school. Who is that someone? Oh, Potter, I suppose that''s what you are wondering? You''re always intensely curious about things that don''t concern you ... but, I can tell you that they were ordered to bring the former headmaster''s brother here, I guess it is probably to say goodbye? You see, Dumbledore did want to see someone, but it wasn''t you."


    Harry paid no mind to Snape''s sarcasm as he stood frozen in place.


    Yes ... Dumbledore is no longer Headmaster, and he handed in his resignation. It was only then that Harry found himself in the mood to contemplate the impact the news brought upon him, an emotion called sadness churned in the pit of his stomach and he couldn''t help but remember the moments he had spent with Dumbledore.


    ...


    "Well, Minerva, Felix, I''m dying." Dumbledore whispered in the Headmaster''s office.


    Professor McGonagall was stunned.


    Not only because of this revelation, but it was as if a brilliant drama had come to an end and all the previous suspense and clues had been strung together and would soon be answered, giving her some clarity when she had been surprised and overwhelmed by the situation:


    From all of Dumbledore''s unusual actions from the beginning of this school year (not that she couldn''t accept them), to Dumbledore''s sudden announcement of his resignation as Headmaster this afternoon, and Professor Bagshot''s rather out of-character attitude after Dumbledore had sent Pomona and Filius not long ago.


    Professor McGonagall could discern that Professor Bagshot was forcing himself to hold back.


    When he, Dumbledore, Felix, and herself are the only ones left in the Headmaster''s office, Professor Bagshot finally pressed on and loudly questioned Dumbledore about what he is really up to. After that, the development became even stranger, as Dumbledore handed him a fairy tale book with a guilty face to pass the time when he got bored, and said he would take some time to write to him.


    Associating this with Dumbledore''s talk of travelling this afternoon, Professor McGonagall barely understood.


    But then something truly damning had happened: Felix had suddenly struck behind Professor Bagshot''s back and knocked him unconscious. As if it had been negotiated, Dumbledore stepped out and grabbed Professor Bagshot, who had lost control of his body, and staggered to move him to the sofa.


    Dumbledore stuffed The Tales of Beedle the Bard into Professor Bagshot''s robe pocket and placed a soft cushion under his neck, and after doing so, he turned to the other two and spoke the words above.


    Professor McGonagall stared seriously at Dumbledore''s face.


    If it had been a prank, he would normally have compromised at this point, but Dumbledore at the moment looked at her without shying away.


    "It''s not April Fool''s Day, Dumbledore!" She yelled, "If you expect to shock me, which you did, you did ... oh my merlin..." she suddenly choked up, her eyes welling up with tears.


    "Tell me, Albus, it''s not true." She said weakly.


    Dumbledore repeated what he had just said again in a weak, but firm tone, "I''m sorry, Minerva, but I really am going to die."


    Tears broke out and flowed down Professor McGonagall''s no longer young cheeks.


    "But - you said before - the trip -" she asked as if grasping for the last straw.


    "That was a lie." Dumbledore said calmly, "It was a ruse I devised. Calm down, Minerva, you are a veteran who has lived through two wizard wars as a warrior. Look at Felix-"


    "Don''t bring me into this." Felix said stiffly from the sidelines.


    Dumbledore shook his head slightly.


    "Fine. To the level-headed, death is just another great adventure. I do not fear death, what really daunts me are those in the present world who are worth keeping ... and for that, I have prepared this. Felix, can I ask you a favour?"


    Dumbledore asked politely, and Felix and Professor McGonagall followed his gaze to the two large boxes placed on the left side of the long-legged table. Felix''s lips twitched, and he didn''t say anything, but the two boxes floated up in the air and landed in the open space between the three men.


    "This should do it." Dumbledore nodded approvingly and said, "Please, if you could--"


    "Click!"


    "Click!"


    There were two crisp clicks and the cover of the box popped open. Felix looked into the box, which is stuffed with letters.


    "I was inspired to do this after the matter of Miss Lovegood - and given the current use of my identity, I hope that you will keep these letters hidden after my death. These letters will help you, and I have deliberately sorted them so that they can be easily distinguished. All it will take will be sending a few letters at a later date, or occasionally bringing up the things I have seen on my travels in public, to create a false illusion. Oh, yes."


    Dumbledore looked over at Felix with delight, "That splitting magic of yours will probably come in handy. You have some experience acting like me."


    Felix knew what those words meant. He had disguised himself as Dumbledore deep in Voldemort''s memory, and in a way, he did indeed have the experience required.


    Professor McGonagall''s body shook sharply.


    "Albus, is that what you left us behind with? To send a letter after your death and pretend you''re still alive somewhere in the world?" She said in a loud voice, but her face turned pale.


    Those blue eyes seemed infinitely tolerant and understanding.


    "I know it''s difficult, but believe me, I have reasons why I must do it. After tonight, you can question Felix and get more detailed information from him."


    There was a noise from outside.


    "Here I am! Albus, let''s see what you have to say!" Aberforth''s roar came from a distance.


    "All right, Minerva, pull yourself together!" Dumbledore said in a stern tone, and when he finished he looked over at Fawkes, the phoenix lying on its perch, sickly and seemingly covered in a black and red layer of ash.


    "Fawkes." He said softly.


    The phoenix braced itself and looked at Dumbledore. "Take him to Minerva''s office." Fawkes answered with a low cry, unfolding his wings and landing on the unconscious Grindelwald, and with a flash of fire, the man and the bird disappeared.


    Dumbledore turned to Professor McGonagall, "Minerva, I need you to return to your office now, Pomona will bring some people to you, they are enforcers from the International Confederation of Wizards and have been ordered to transfer-"


    "Professor Bagshot?" Professor McGonagall asked in surprise.


    Dumbledore nodded.


    "Keep it a secret."


    "But, Albus, he''s-"


    "Let Felix explain it to you later," Dumbledore cut in, "my brother is here, and if I don''t let him come up here soon, I''m afraid he''ll use violence, and he''s been very upset with me lately ... By the way, let Harry come over here as well, he should have been waiting for a while."


    The voices outside were getting louder and louder, so his words seemed convincing. Professor McGonagall gave him a deep look, "It''s been a pleasure working with you, Albus."


    "So have I, Minerva." Dumbledore smiled at her.


    Professor McGonagall left in a hurry, seemingly tripping over the door as it closed again with a clear intake of breath coming from behind it.


    Silence returned to the spacious office, although an even grumpier man would soon be welcomed, but at least, for the moment, it would be quiet.


    Dumbledore slowly moved to the edge of the sofa, sitting close to where Grindelwald had just been lying.


    "Put those letters away, Felix, I''ve never been able to guess Aberforth''s temper, in case he insists on reading them."


    "Hide this from even him?" Felix asked quietly.


    "Possibly. I''ve always been an irresponsible brother in his mind, and it''s good to keep that impression, but I couldn''t be bothered to think that far ahead, and if you''re going to tell him, it''s best to wait a while."


    Felix put the two boxes of letters away.


    "I thought you''d try to live because -"


    "Because of Ariana?" Dumbledore asked softly, Felix nodded at him and the old man smiled. "You forget, Felix, there''s another me in classroom seven." S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Thirteen-year-old Ariana should be accompanied by seventeen-year-old Albus Dumbledore, not waking up next to two elderly brothers. I went ahead and didn''t let her keep the last year of her life, it would have been too cruel for her, but she has soul power in her, which sets her apart from the usual memory bodies and ghosts and makes her more real ... If she ever gets bored, she has the right to decide her own fate."


    The door suddenly crashed open from outside.


    "Albus! And that bastard!" Aberforth''s burly body rushed in, followed by Harry, Snape, and Filius. "I don''t know what kind of flowery words you are going to use this time--"


    He froze when he realized that there are only two people in the room.


    "Where is he?" Aberforth asked with a fierce expression as he licked his lips.


    "Gone." Dumbledore said, closing his eyes. Aberforth made an odd face, and for a moment, Harry beside him even thought he would shout, but Aberforth just grimaced and stared at Dumbledore.


    "Count yourself ... lucky," he muttered, and after a moment he said, "Where is the key?"


    Dumbledore opened his eyes and looked over at Felix. Felix held out his hand with an expressionless face, countless tiny ancient runes gathered between his fingers and finally materialized into a solid key. He tossed the key to Aberforth.


    "Filius, please make another trip down and take Aberforth to classroom seven." Dumbledore asked in a requesting tone.


    "Oh, er, yes, Headmaster Dumbledore." Professor Flitwick said obediently. "Dumble- um, please follow me."


    Aberforth stared at the key in his hand and then at Dumbledore sitting on the sofa, "Thank you." He grunted vaguely and followed the short Professor Flitwick out.


    In the office, Dumbledore, Felix, Harry, and Snape remained behind at the moment.


    Snape''s eyes darted around the office and finally fell on Dumbledore, "Do I still need to guard the door? There are quite a few professors gathered at the door, and they all want to know more about the inside story, I don''t know if you all heard Hagrid''s loud voice ... Professor McGonagall left in a hurry and didn''t say anything."


    "Is Pomona back yet?" Dumbledore asked.


    "Not yet, as far as I know." Snape whispered.


    "It is hard on you, Severus."


    Snape stared at Dumbledore for a moment, his expression cooled down as he flung back his sleeves and left the office with a stern face. As if he didn''t notice, Dumbledore greeted Harry and asked him to sit opposite him.


    "Harry, Harry," Dumbledore said in a near murmur, "I''ve thought long and hard about telling you directly that perhaps by just being passive and meeting your intended fate, you would burst forth with power and strength ... "


    "I''m dying?" Harry asked, his voice slightly trembling, but his gaze held a very firm look.


    Dumbledore looked at him lovingly for a long moment before he spoke again.


    "You''ll live through this ultimately, I promise you that, Harry. Only - yes, you do need to die once." With some difficulty, he pulled the Resurrection Stone ring from his pocket and put it on himself, and Harry and Felix stared at his hand, which, though thin and slender, was glowing with a shimmering light at the moment.


    Dumbledore shook the ring, "You see, I will protect you."


    Harry pursed his lips, "What do I have to do?"


    "You have to be killed by Voldemort once, it has to be him for reasons you can guess without me telling you. Voldemort is now relocated to the Slytherin Chamber of Secrets. Felix and I have made some changes to the place, and it will allow you to unleash your power. Of course, you can''t just show up in front of Voldemort, he knows you''re a Horcrux and won''t likely lay a hand on you."


    "Then-"


    "But there happens to be someone in the school now who can appear openly before Voldemort without fear of arousing any suspicion - I''m not saying that Voldemort trusts him, quite the opposite, it''s quite possible that - "


    "Snape!" Harry said suddenly.


    "It''s Professor Snape." Dumbledore stopped talking and said with a smile in his eyes, "I think you understand."


    Harry nodded.


    "I need another wand, I can''t use my own wand."


    "Severus is out there." Dumbledore nodded, "Oh yes, maybe you''ll need it - Voldemort''s wand is in the left drawer of my desk, you''ve seen it, the grip is like a beast''s claw."


    Harry remained silent for a moment, then stood up, walked around the sofa, pulled open the long-legged desk drawer, and took a wand from it.


    After a few seconds of reflection, Harry placed his own wand on the table.


    "Will you accompany me?" He walked to the door and looked over at Dumbledore.


    "Yes, I will."


    Dumbledore smiled and nodded.


    The door closed behind him and Harry heard a crisp phoenix cry. He gaped in place for a few seconds and took a deep breath as the revolving staircase began to descend, and finally, the wall in front of him cracked open and the light shone in from the corridor.


    Half a dozen professors gathered in the corridor, whispering and talking as they looked towards the gargoyle.


    "Harry!" Hagrid shouted, waving his arm at him to signal him to walk over.


    But Harry walked straight up to Snape, and the two men stared at each other.


    "I need your wand."


    Snape looked at him coldly.


    "I need your wand - to avenge her." Harry intoned as he finished his sentence.


    Snape slowly pulled his own wand out of his robes and looked at him with two vacant eyes and whispered hoarsely.


    "Brittle wood, thirteen and a half inches, with a dragon heartstring wand core."


    "Thanks." Harry said, flinging the wand twice as if trying to get the feel of it in his hand, and then he pointed the tip of it at himself. Hagrid made a loud inhaling sound.


    Harry''s face began to morph, his size stretched, his figure became more slender, his skin colour dulled and the scar on his forehead disappeared little by little ...


    He took on the appearance of Snape.


    Then Harry pointed his wand at himself again and his clothes turned into a wide black robe.


    Hagrid looked shocked and rubbed his eyes so hard that half of his words stuck in his throat. The other professors were also startled. Someone whispered, "Animagus can greatly boost the level of Transfiguration."


    "But Potter has only mastered it for less than two months, hasn''t he?"


    Harry is quickly adjusting to the change in his body, he recalled the way Snape walked in his head and found it unexpectedly familiar, he took a few steps back and forth and soon found the feel of it - he strutted, the hem of his black gown raised high like two deadly vipers. As he passed Hagrid, he stopped and grinned.


    Hagrid''s expression looked like he had seen a ghost coming to life.


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 674: Twists and turns (2 in 1)

    In the Headmaster''s office, the phoenix chirped low in Dumbledore''s ear. "Gellert''s been taken? Well ... those people have a nasty attitude. Fawkes we can''t expect everyone to think like ourselves. They''re just doing their job." Dumbledore whispered soothingly and Fawkes lowered his head to allow him to touch his feathers.


    Felix brushed the air in front of him and a mirror appeared out of thin air.


    Rune symbols shone around the edge of the mirror, its surface rippling like water. Through the layers of mist, a still image reflected: it showed a meadow with a giant Ouroboros snake hovering in midair.


    Dumbledore stared blankly into the mirror, and after a moment, he pulled himself together and said.


    "Felix, it''s just the two of us now, and since Harry needs a little more time, we can talk a little longer."


    Felix glanced absent-mindedly at Fawkes, who shrank back pitifully.


    "As it happens I have something to ask as well - is it worth it, Albus?"


    Dumbledore laughed light-heartedly.


    "Just a year ago, around this same time, Voldemort asked me the same question." He looked into the mirror and said with some difficulty, "My answer is the same as it was then: it is worth it."


    Felix frowned.


    "I thought you''d come up with something better than a life for a life ... plus two soul projections."


    "It is a necessary price to pay, for ... the greater good."


    "I can''t think of any ''greater good'' than an Archmage." Felix said calmly, "You showed me that prophecy, you know better than I do how important an Archmage is in the current situation."


    "But the question is, what do people need from me?" Dumbledore said lightly, "Wisdom? Strength? Reputation? I fear that even if I remain intact, I will not be able to live up to their expectations."


    "You did half a century ago." Felix raised his voice slightly, "I remember a book calling you ''Protector of Muggles and Muggle-born wizards''."


    Dumbledore laughed bitterly.


    "You mentioned the same - just a protector and nothing more. You should know what happened to me - my sister became an Obscurial, my poor father died tragically in Azkaban, my mother lost her life trying to care for Ariana - and you know the source of all that pain. Felix, I was full of resentment, and I hope you understand what that word represents, which is why I hit it off with Gellert. At that time, I was no less dangerous than Gellert!"


    Felix exhaled softly, dispelling the feeling of heaviness from his heart.


    "You are afraid of becoming a second Grindelwald?"


    "Yes, I am afraid." Dumbledore said frankly, "Only I know how close I am to crossing that line, I don''t intend to ill-treat Muggles, but I have acquiesced that there will be a percentage of innocent people victimized. That number became larger and larger as I discussed it with Gellert, yet my conscience was numbed with empty justifications. Then reality hit me hard. I came to my senses, but the cost was too great to bear ... so I was constantly reminded that I could not have authority and that only school suited for me."


    "I spent the years since then sheltering young wizards from Muggle families as much as I could, fighting against the abuse of Muggles and against war, have you noticed, Felix? This all happened naturally with the Statue of Secrecy working properly. But what if it all reversed? If the tragedies that happened to me came back again and again, if I had the power to sway the world, would I be able to keep a clear and sensible conscious? Without wisdom, force and prestige are but menaces."


    Tears slid down the tip of his nose.


    Felix''s heart seemed to be clogged with something.


    There was a moment of silence. At that moment, Harry appeared in the scene, staring up at the Ouroboros in mid-air - he could clearly sense a part of his own magic and emotions in the giant Patronus.


    Dumbledore held out his hand, "I think it''s time to transfer the charm."


    "Is there enough time?" Felix asked in a low voice.


    He looked into the mirror and the reflection showed Harry waving the wand, the huge Ouroboros twisting up and frozen for a while before the Ouroboros suddenly collapsed and scattered into a rain of silvery light. Like a morning mist in the mountains and forests, how it would reduce to nothing by the sunlight.


    "That''s enough, it''s really quite simple." Dumbledore nodded slightly, "Only, when the charm is transferred, my magic must be removed and then replaced with yours. That could take a few hours."


    "Then let''s get started." Felix said as he lowered his eyes, fully realizing that he accepted a heavy responsibility from Dumbledore.


    ...


    Time went back a quarter of an hour and a certain event with far-reaching implications in the future would soon take place.


    "Ron? Hermione? What are you doing here?" Harry tossed Snape''s greasy hair uncomfortably and was surprised to see the two men running up the stairs head-on.


    Ron''s jaw dropped, obviously not expecting to bump into Snape. Hermione stammered, "Yes, sorry, Professor Snape, we wanted to come up and see - oh, I mean, we''ve followed the professors'' instruction on keeping order, and now all the underclassmen have returned to the common room, with only some of the upperclassmen remaining in the great hall, and they refused to leave-"


    Harry blinked, he had almost forgotten that he currently possessed Snape''s face.


    "I see." He said stoically. After saying that, he continued down the stairs.


    "It''s incredible how we got away with it just like that!" Ron said, patting his chest with fear, "I thought for sure we were going to be punished, if we got detention, the last part of the term''s time off would be ruined - what''s wrong with you, Hermione?"


    Hermione stared expressionlessly at the corner of the stairs, where Harry had just disappeared.


    "How odd - Professor Snape actually called us by our first name."


    "Oh! It does seem a bit odd when you put it that way." Ron scratched his head, "But we better should meet up with Harry first, even if we can''t see him, we can ask the other professors for information."


    "Well, you''re right." Hermione said, and the two continued up the stairs.


    Meanwhile, in a room with closed doors and windows on the first floor of the castle, Professor McGonagall kept twiddling her thumbs in the darkness, glancing every now and then at the unconscious man on the couch - just a short while ago, they had been colleagues.


    Knock, knock!


    A knock at the door woke her up. She took out her lace handkerchief and wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and returned to her usual solemn and serious appearance. Then she opened the door to her office and Professor Sprout stood outside.


    "Pomona, you''re back! Oh, and you too, please come in-"


    Professor Sprout walked in and exchanged a glance with McGonagall. Right behind her, a dark-skinned man entered, he no longer looked young, his face held a grave look, the wrinkles on his forehead curving into the same curve as his sagging mouth, and he wore a dark blue wizard''s robe with a brooch pinned to his collar, his grey curly hair clinging to the top of his head as he walked in and removed his hat.


    Before Professor Sprout could introduce him, he voluntarily offered a hand.


    "Hello, I''m Babajide Akingbade."


    Professor McGonagall was slightly surprised, "The new Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?" Babajide nodded, and at that moment four lean-looking male wizards in formal attire entered, "These are the members of the law enforcement team I brought with me for this escort - Rodney." He said stoically as a middle-aged male wizard walked over to the couch and lit his wand to examine the unconscious Grindelwald.


    "Go away, you ugly bird." The team member said, and Fawkes, who acted as the light source in the room, glared at him with displeasure.


    Professor McGonagall furrowed her brow.


    "Can you turn on the light?" Babajide said, "The light is a bit dim. My crew might not be able to see well."


    Professor McGonagall pursed her lips and said nothing as she took out her wand and waved it, a soft light spilling down from the ceiling and the office suddenly became very bright.


    "A magic lamp?" Babajide said with interest, "I''ve been meaning to find a chance to talk to Mr. Hap about a mess ... and certainly also with Dumbledore, I was hoping to listen to his wisdom, but this matter at hand is crucial."


    Sprout let out a sudden gasp and the two men turned their heads to look at Sprout who stammered, "He, he used a Stinging Jinx."


    "Mr. Akingbade, your law enforcement process is too rough. This is abuse." Professor McGonagall said with a stern face.


    "No, it is a necessary inspection, Professor." The team member grinned as he tilted his head, "No problem! He''s sleeping deeply, next is the Incarcerous Spell, the Full Body-Bind Curse, the Silencing Charm- I''ve read an internal file which says he''s clever with words-"


    Babajide cleared his throat, "Rodney, stick to the plan, you don''t need to show off your eloquence here." Rodney stopped talking and just pulled out shiny handcuffs and leg shackles and strapped them on Grindelwald.


    One member of the team pushed the door open and another raised his wand and pointed it at Grindelwald, whose body floated in mid-air as his head and limbs hung down helplessly from the force of the handcuffs and shackles.


    "Mr. Akingbade," Professor McGonagall said gravely, "I''m not sure if Dumbledore informed you, but he wanted the whole process to be strictly confidential, and especially not to allow him to regain his consciousness."


    Babajide replied calmly, "You have a point."


    He arced his wand through the air and Grindelwald''s face was covered by a black visor. Seeing that Professor McGonagall was about to say something else, he offered a smile, "All right, Professor, take me to Dumbledore. Leave the professional stuff to them, these lads have been dealing with the most dangerous prisoners for years."


    Professor McGonagall''s lips pursed into a slit as she walked behind, and when everyone was out she stood in the doorway and locked eyes with the Phoenix, "Thank you, Fawkes. You can go back now." Fawkes nodded at her and spread his wide wings as his body burst into flames. Professor McGonagall then closed the door to her office.


    A glow of fire shone through the doorway to her feet, then converged again.


    "Is that a phoenix?" Babajide muttered in sudden surprise, "I didn''t recognize it earlier."


    "It''s called Fawkes." Professor McGonagall said distractedly, "Mr. Akingbade, there''s something you may not know - Headmaster Dumbledore has handed in his resignation to the school board, just today ... alas, and he, he can''t wait to embark on a trip," she sniffled, "and I''m not sure you''ll be able to meet him."


    They crossed the corridor and arrived at the grand staircase when a clamour came from downstairs. "What''s going on?" Professor Sprout asked suspiciously, and she glanced downstairs when suddenly a silvery transparent head emerged from the steps, startling her.


    "Murder! Someone''s killing people!" Peeves yelled excitedly as he whistled loudly.


    Professor McGonagall called out, "What''s going on, Peeves? Is that one of your pranks?" Peeves winced, he was a little intimidated by Professor McGonagall and therefore replied in a greasy tone.


    "There''s a scuffle, Professor, little crybaby against a couple of grown-ups, wand against wand," Peeves said with a smile, "and I was just about to tell Filch, maybe his little wooden stick can hold them apart- "


    "Little crybaby? Student?" Professor McGonagall''s eyebrows knitted together as she hurried down the stairs.


    "Yeah, that Longbottom - but he''s not that much fun now as he was in the first and second year." Peeves chased after her, humming along the way as his two legs pretended to step on the stairs, but his legs kept sinking beneath the stairs. "Shut up, Peeves!" Professor McGonagall yelled back, and she already reached the ground floor, where the entrance hall is crowded.


    Someone shouted, "Professor McGonagall''s here!" The crowd parted to either side in a swish, allowing Professor McGonagall to see both sides who are facing each other. On one side, it naturally turned out to be four members of the International Confederation of Wizards'' Law Enforcement Team, and on the other side...


    "Longbottom! Abbott! Finnigan! Thomas! Goldstein! Greengrass!" Professor McGonagall shouted the names of those who held their wands in their hands one after another in anger, then she turned to the other side, "And you two, Weasley and Lovegood, what do you want to do?"


    The students whose names had been called lowered the tips of their wands nervously, and they looked at one person in unison - surprisingly it turned out to be Neville.


    "Mr. Longbottom, did you do all this? Give me a reason." Professor McGonagall''s chest rose and fell dramatically.


    "I want to know too, who are they?" Neville turned red and pointed at the four members of the International Confederation of Wizards law enforcement team and yelled, "Hannah and I were coming out of the great hall when we saw them very rudely dragging a man down the stairs, and although his face is masked, I recognised him as Professor Bagshot, and I clearly remember the flower pattern on his shirt and trousers!"


    "They are law enforcement officers of the International Confederation of Wizards." Professor McGonagall said weakly, "Mr. Longbottom, you are too impulsive."


    "That''s because you didn''t see what they did?" Neville shouted, his eyes glistening with tears as they turned red. "They, they-" he stammered out of anger.


    Hannah Abbott took his hand and said in his place.


    "Professor McGonagall, it''s true that we don''t know the identity of these people, but they were not acting like law enforcement officers at all just now, they were like thugs who broke into the school. They had Professor Bagshot''s knee on the step and his head on the floor! As you know, Neville has great respect for Professor Bagshot ... He approached and asked a couple of questions and was attacked with a spell."


    The students burst into a fit of righteous indignation.


    Professor McGonagall''s eyes widened, and she turned her head to look at the four members of the enforcement team. They stood their ground with expressionless faces. At that moment, Babajide came over and asked solemnly, "Rodney, is what this student was saying true?"


    "It seems so." Rodney blinked, "Can someone explain why so many students are speaking up for a wicked dark wizard who has done a lot of evil things?"


    "What evidence do you have to claim that?" A student shouted indignantly.


    "Evidence?" Rodney said contemptuously, "There is more than enough of that sort of thing to satisfy everyone, you don''t know what he did when he was young, and if it wasn''t for someone sheltering-"


    "Rodney!" Babajide snapped.


    He looked around the room and after a moment''s reflection, he said, "Allow me to introduce myself to you all: Babajide Akingbade, current Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards-" The students around the room looked at him in surprise and then as if asking for confirmation, they looked at Professor McGonagall, who nodded slightly.


    A whisper resounded in the entrance hall.


    "I assure you on my own honour that this man in front of you is definitely a dark wizard and one of the most dangerous kind at that. He escaped the prison that held him a year ago, and this time it was Headmaster Dumbledore who personally subdued him and handed him over to us." Babajide said.


    The students looked at each other. Could it be another fake Moody case? But it is quite bold to apply for a professor job at Hogwarts, even Professor Black only became a professor after clearing his name.


    "Of course, I know that you were not aware of this, so your courage to defend your professor is commendable. I will not hold you responsible for this, but if you cross the line any further, it will be a violation of the law. You should think carefully." At the end of his sentence, his tone became increasingly stern.


    Many of the students showed timid and cowering expressions as Babajide looked around and with a wave of his hand, four members left with the unconscious Grindelwald in tow.


    "Wait, um - Mr. Akingbade?" Neville gathered the courage to take a step forward and whispered, "I''m sorry, it was my fault. I just wanted to ask - can I have a word with Professor Bagshot? Just a few words, I''d like to ask in person-"


    "Absolutely not!"


    Those words didn''t come from Babajide but from Professor McGonagall''s mouth. She said firmly, meeting a crowd of surprised eyes, "I won''t allow anyone to wake him up."


    The entrance hall went silent, except for a snort from the Rodney team member, and the man next to him tugged on his sleeve as they made their way through the crowd and out of the castle. There was a quiet sigh of relief in Professor McGonagall''s heart because, although she didn''t know the reason, she had finally completed the task Albus had given her.


    "All right, everyone disperses," she said authoritatively when she turned her head, "leave this place, where are prefects? Take responsibility."


    The students all scattered, all the while feverishly discussing what had just happened and the identity of Professor Bagshot, only Neville was frozen in place as he pulled the broken sneakoscope out of his pocket, he had envisaged many possibilities, but he never anticipated this parting scene.


    On the other side, the four members of law enforcement arrived at the carriage halfway up the hill from the castle.


    "You''re being a bit impulsive Rodney, I know your family has a grudge against Grindelwald." One member of the team said, as he gently manipulated Grindelwald into the carriage and then got in himself. "But you shouldn''t have attacked that student, even if it was to scare-"


    "I didn''t."


    "What?"


    "I didn''t want to scare him, I just wanted to knock him out. But for some reason, it didn''t work even though the spell clearly hit him." Rodney wondered aloud as he stared at his wand in confusion, had something gone wrong?


    He glanced at Grindelwald, who lay in the middle of the two members, and waved his wand twice at random, and Grindelwald''s exposed skin instantly became red and swollen, as if he had been whipped.


    "Rodney! I''m warning you-" S?a??h th? N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I''m sorry, Captain." Rodney shrugged and lowered his head as he continued to look at his wand, "So it didn''t fail. So what the hell happened then? Some kind of hidden defensive spell?"


    As he spoke, the carriage suddenly jerked and the black carriage raced off into the dark night sky. The breathing under the black mask sharply increased, and the skin on his wrists that looked like whip marks and bee stings suddenly turned red.


    At that moment, in the headmaster''s office, two hands clasped tightly together.


    An arcane pattern emerged and then climbed up Felix''s wrists as if they are alive.


    -----------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 675: Godrics Hollow

    Felix examined the arcane pattern on his wrist, it looked slightly hideous and was seeping a little into his skin. Felix felt a tingling sensation as if the charm in question is poking out a thin needle and piercing into his flesh and skin. Dumbledore''s face turned pale, the process of transferring the charm was not as easy as he made it out to be, especially in his current weakened state.


    Felix couldn''t quite remember the last time he had cast a spell.


    "Dumbledore!"


    An old wizard with short shaggy fringes appeared in the portrait frame of the Headmaster''s office.


    "How''s it going?" Dumbledore asked, bracing his head.


    "Two things." The old wizard panted, "The International Confederation of Wizards caused an accident on their way out, a student recognized Grindelwald by the inconspicuous pattern on his clothes, and they scuffled - luckily McGonagall and Babajide Akingbade showed up just in time. The problem is now resolved and Grindelwald has been taken away."


    "Gellert didn''t wake up halfway through, did he?"


    "No - he was unconscious the whole time."


    Dumbledore nodded slightly.


    "Babajide Akingbade? The new Supreme Mugwump?" Felix interjected, all the while trying to distract himself from the fact that he wanted to burn the pattern on his wrist with a fire. He turned to Dumbledore and said.


    "Didn''t you ask me to keep an eye on Grindelwald in the near future? I kept an eye out around the school in the meantime - in case any of the Acolytes were thinking about coming here - but didn''t see the name on the Marauder''s map."


    Dumbledore mused, "Babajide didn''t mention in his letter that he would be coming over ... It would have been a spur-of-the-moment decision."


    "That''s the second thing," the old wizard said from his portrait frame, "he''s heading this way with McGonagall, both of them will be here soon."


    "Let me deal with him, Dumbledore. Using your idea." Felix said leaping to his feet, he naturally meant disguising himself as Dumbledore to send Babajide away.


    "No, Felix, you stay here." Dumbledore said in a faint but clear voice, as he looked over at the portrait of the Headmaster waiting silently on the wall, "One more trip for you to make, Everard. Tell Minerva to take Babajide somewhere to rest until tomorrow."


    The white-faced old wizard in the frame responded and disappeared.


    In the face of a quizzical look, Dumbledore said as briefly as he could, "To avoid complications - I''ll be going down to see Harry soon, and you must concentrate on eliminating my original magic from the charm before Gellert awakens!"


    Felix nodded, his mind sinking down to the brightly glowing mass of the charm that currently coiled around the little finger of his right arm, looking lazy and harmless. But Felix had no doubt that if it had been placed on any other wizard - even Snape - he wouldn''t have been able to withstand it at all.


    Because essentially, this thing is part of the curse that is inflicted on Grindelwald.


    Or to put it another way - it is a fragment of the curse that Dumbledore actively cut off, modified to make it less offensive. It is also due to the fact that the two are of the same origin that Dumbledore can sense Grindelwald''s state.


    The reverse also applies.


    It is just that the restraint on Grindelwald is too strong for him to invoke it normally.


    It is nearly eight hours before dawn, about the same time Felix predicts Grindelwald will wake up, and he is confident in the strength of his own spell, unless some fool has used a powerful Reviving Spell on Grindelwald.


    He and Dumbledore aren''t gods, but all that could be done was done -


    The exclusive wand on Grindelwald had been removed at the first opportunity, which had almost knocked him back to his original form and turned him back into a squib - the transfer of the charm did not affect the restraining magic on Grindelwald from working, it just that the other man''s state could not be probed until Felix gained control of the charm a little more.


    Furthermore, Dumbledore had personally communicated with the International Confederation of Wizards about the transfer plan, not to mention that in the meantime Felix had been keeping a close eye on Grindelwald''s unusual movements as Dumbledore had instructed - the sneakoscope in Neville''s hand was no secret, and Felix had come to the same conclusion as Hermione that the sneakoscope was broken and had no other magic attached to it.


    But even so, they could not guarantee that it would be foolproof.


    Dumbledore wanted Grindelwald alive, even if the last thing Grindelwald remembered of him is a cold side. That''s why things are so problematic, so many tricks can''t be used, and it''s just plain that Grindelwald is never an easy character to deal with.


    In the worst-case scenario, Grindelwald will find that the controller of the charm has changed if he wakes up soon - but that''s about it.


    His fate would not be altered in any way.


    As for the Acolyte''s attempt to abduct the prisoner, it might appear something that would cause sky-high headaches to the International Confederation of Wizards, but by the time Felix had mastered the charm, he would be able to sense Grindelwald''s general location based on it, and unless he kept moving, he would be found by Felix sooner or later.


    In the event of Felix being the one that trying to catch him, Grindelwald''s chances of escaping are very low - unless there are literally thousands of wizards guarding him day and night.


    In the end, Grindelwald''s own power was long gone from its peak.


    But Felix roughly guessed one other possibility: if the wizarding community became exposed one day and things turned ugly, Grindelwald would be a dangerous trump card. This may also be the idea that Dumbledore thought of.


    ...


    Felix worked with nearly two minds, in addition to trying to control the charm, he also divided some of his attention to the mirror that playing a scene in mid-air, by now Voldemort had already awakened, he narrowed his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, not expecting to be in a wooded area by any means.


    "What is this place?" Voldemort asked softly, after a long pause.


    The sun is shining brightly above them, the green grass lush beneath them, the wind blowing from nowhere and rustling the leaves. Not far away, a huge dragon towing a dozen carriages hovered in the background, and although it''s a distant memory, Voldemort recognized it at once - a rollercoaster that only could be found in a muggle amusement park.


    Although Muggle-built roller coasters wouldn''t hover above a snowy mountain, and this coaster lacked tracks underneath ..., Voldemort didn''t find it unsightly; on the contrary, he found it quite pleasant to look at, and couldn''t help but look at it a little more.


    "Salazar Slytherin''s Chamber of Secrets." Harry said with a blank face, "Felix - Hap," he paused, "transformed the Chamber of Secrets into what it is now."


    "So I''m a few kilometres under Hogwarts now?" Voldemort said, picking up a leaf from the ground and crumbling it a little. He showed a smile, his eyes glowing scarlet, "Severus! I thought for a while that you had betrayed me, it seems I was wrong, yes, even the greatest of men make mistakes, do accept my apologies, my loyal friend-"


    He said as he opened his arms and moved towards Harry, as if to give him a warm hug and at the same time celebrate his successful escape. But Voldemort paused. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The look in Snape''s eyes felt foreign to him, there is something extra in the dead silence that normally radiates from his black pupils, so hot, so dazzling that he couldn''t pretend to ignore it - Snape''s eyes filled with hatred.


    "Severus?" He uttered slowly, his eyes growing a little grimmer.


    "Dumbledore and Hap decided to permanently imprison you, but I couldn''t accept that, it would be too kind to you. I stole this from Dumbledore''s office." Harry told a half-truth, tossing a white wand at Voldemort''s feet while he himself clutched the wand that belonged to Snape.


    Voldemort stared blankly at the wand on the floor, he could not mistake it, it is his first wand, so fitting that he never would have thought to look for a replacement if Dumbledore hadn''t snatched it away from him.


    He thought he had lost it forever, but at this moment, his wand had made a dramatic appearance.


    Instead of feeling joy at the prospect of regaining it, he was more surprised by Snape''s attitude. "Pick it up and let''s duel." Harry stated coldly, "I''ve arranged an Anti-Apparition Charm all around, you can''t escape." Voldemort looked at him with an ominous look in his eyes, Harry expected him to say something, like asking him why, but Voldemort didn''t. He held out his hand and the wand flew into his hand with a swish.


    The tips of his long fingers gently brushed over the wand that belonged to him, "I didn''t know you hated me so much, Severus? Why?" Voldemort hissed. In reality, he concentrated mostly on examining his wand to see if it had been tampered with, power is the key at the moment. Of course, he is also interested to know why his servant''s attitude has suddenly changed dramatically.


    He had initially assumed that Snape had been sent by Dumbledore or Hap with some sort of ulterior motive, but now he didn''t think so.


    "Of course, I-" Harry said subconsciously.


    "Don''t lie to me!" Voldemort scowled, "You think I can''t see the hatred in your eyes?" He raised his wand abruptly, so fast that it looked as if his previous weakness was all a pretence.


    "Crucio!"


    "Protego!"


    The curse brushed past Harry''s hair, his heart thumped, he was completely unprepared for Voldemort''s sudden attack, he subconsciously fought back against it, but his eyes couldn''t keep track - he had been sent here to die, not to lose his conscious and be tortured by Voldemort.


    Voldemort looked even angrier and shot out a series of spells, but none of them were lethal; he still maintained his reason and tried to capture Snape to force information out of his head.


    "How dare you defy me! Defy the lord you serve? Why?" He growled loudly.


    "I thought you should have figured that out - because of Lily Evans." After a moment of silent confrontation, Harry said, his calm voice filled with hate, as if he had become the real Snape and was speaking through his mouth, "You took her life."


    "Lies! You told me you didn''t care about that woman and would find a better one - tell me the truth!" Voldemort shouted in a harsh tone.


    "Oh, use your head, of course, I would say that at the time, how else was I supposed to stay undercover among the Death Eaters? Think about it, Voldemort, why have you failed so many times? Because I wasn''t your man years ago, much, much earlier than you think - I defected to Dumbledore from the time you went after her and her family, and after Lily''s death, I lived for one sole purpose -"


    "Hoping - for - you - to die." Harry said in one breath.


    "Ridiculous!" Voldemort shouted, out of anger. He couldn''t stand being lied to, especially being tricked like a buffoon for over a decade, but a voice told him that it was all true: Snape hadn''t betrayed him recently, and from beginning to end, his loyalty had been a disguise. All the while, he allowed a traitor to be in a high position, passing a constant stream of information to Dumbledore. He had even considered Snape to be his brilliant prize. This came as no less than a great blow to him.


    Harry felt the wrath in Voldemort''s heart and as the magic built up in the tip of his wand, he decided to add another punch.


    "You don''t even realize this, right? Severus Snape''s Patronus is - a doe, the same as Lily Evans'', and it has never changed! Do I need to show you? Behold, Expecto Patronum-"


    A silvery creature materialized. Harry didn''t let it fully manifest itself, the large horns hidden in the silver mist.


    "You''re a clown, Voldemort." He said contemptuously.


    Harry succeeded, Voldemort was utterly enraged, and he was filled with murderous intent. Then, there was a flash of green light. Strong thoughts of survival raced through Harry''s mind, telling him to get out of the way quickly, but then he realised he couldn''t, and the conflicting mindset caused him to raise his wand in his hand only an inch when he was struck by Voldemort.


    Harry fell to the ground, losing his breath of life.


    "Avada Kedavra!" The voice of the man sounded distant.


    At the same time, Voldemort felt a sudden, sharp pain in his heart and he fell to his back ...


    After an unknown amount of time, Harry heard his name being called, the voice sounded familiar, but he couldn''t remember who it belonged to, he was dazed and floating in the blissful atmosphere, his mind was overwhelmingly relaxed as if all the stress he had carried in his life had disappeared.


    He wanted to lie down a little longer (although he wasn''t sure he is even lying anywhere), but the voice that kept urging him on became clearer and stronger, and like a drowning man, he fell back from the overwhelmingly wonderful sensation to the cold reality.


    Harry opened his eyes and looked at the old face close at hand and sobered up with a start.


    "I... Professor Dumbledore?"


    "You slept like the dead, Harry." Dumbledore said cheerfully, "I''ve been calling you for a long time."


    "Oh, I''m sorry, why am I here? Wasn''t I dueling with Voldemort?" Harry asked.


    "Think about it, Harry." Dumbledore said encouragingly, his tone exactly the same as when he had given Harry a lesson to discuss the problem previously.


    "I ..."


    Harry tried to remember, his memories were a little fuzzy, but when he decided to think about it, they came back immediately, and vividly, he remembered exactly what had happened, going to the Chamber of Secrets alone to duel Voldemort, or to be precise, he was sent down to his death. He remembered the whole process.


    He even recalls the first time Aunt Marge came to visit Dursley''s house, his face was pinched and swollen with her nails, and he was only two years old at the time. Normally he would never be able to remember something that far back.


    Normally he would have felt anger too, but at the moment he felt very peaceful and devoid of any emotion - he remembered but didn''t feel much.


    "Where is this place?"


    "Where do people go when they die?" Dumbledore asked faintly in return.


    "I, I died?"


    "It''s very close to that state, but ... no, you''re still alive, in the middle of life and death." Dumbledore said. He winked, "Harry, I suggest you better get dressed, just think about it in your mind."


    Harry looked down and realised he didn''t have a single piece of clothing on, and even in this strange state he couldn''t help but feel embarrassed. He took Dumbledore''s advice and the thought ''clothes'' just flashed through his mind and an extra set of clothes appeared on his body.


    Harry rose from the ground when he discovered that the mist had dispersed and behind Dumbledore, there is a village.


    "This is Godric''s Hollow?"


    --------------


    [Author:]


    This storyline should be over tomorrow, I couldn''t finish writing it today.


    -----


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 676: The Lion and the Firebird

    "Just a projection of Godric''s Hollow?" Harry asked. Dumbledore nodded his head in a cheerful manner. "So ... the last piece of Voldemort''s Horcrux disappeared?" Harry mentally sighed with relief.


    "There it is," Dumbledore pointed his finger in a direction and Harry was startled as a baby-like creature covered in crimson hue curled up in the grass, looking horribly hideous. "Voldemort''s killing curse brought it here with you and I got here before you guys could wander around. It didn''t take that long for you both to get here and to be honest, it was screeching a bit loudly, so come on, let''s go elsewhere."


    Dumbledore led the way out of the premises and Harry immediately followed.


    They walked along a country dirt road, with untended green bushes and wildflowers growing wildly on either side, untended but lush. They walked down from the high ground, the buildings in the village becoming visible. Harry became more and more certain that this place is a fictional scene - all the more modern houses he had seen when he and Sirius had visited the graves are gone now.


    Dumbledore''s finger pointed in one direction and Harry was surprised to find it covered in white light.


    "What is that place?" He asked.


    "You know," Dumbledore said with a wide smile, "you''ve seen it many times."


    Harry couldn''t see what lay within the white light, but he could roughly guess it based on the location and his eyes widened, "Your home?"


    "That''s right, that''s where we will part." Dumbledore said in a low voice.


    "Parting?"


    "Oh - I''m sorry Harry, only one can go back now. My life has come to an end and I think I will move on." Dumbledore said, staring wistfully at the white light in the distance. Harry wondered if he could see something he couldn''t.


    "Life has come to an end? You, Professor Dumbledore, you-"


    "I''m glad you''ve finally realised that I''m dying, oh, probably already dead." Dumbledore said, smiling faintly as he looked at Harry''s wide-eyed expression, "Don''t feel sorry for me Harry, I chose this ending for myself and made it happen one step at a time. I''ve had a long and wonderful life, especially the last year, which made up many of my regrets."


    They walked forward some distance, and Harry''s mind currently in turmoil, he gathered the courage to ask, "Is it - is it because of me? To fix the soul fragment in me."


    Dumbledore stopped and paused, sizing Harry up, "Of course, that would certainly be included in the cause."


    "I''d rather die alone." Harry muttered.


    Dumbledore showed great tolerance and understanding as he said persuasively, "It just so happens that I feel the same way. And - Harry, you''re one of the reasons I''m doing this, and I would have made the same decision even without you, but it would have been more cost-effective for me to solve your problem in the process."


    "But what about school?" Harry mumbled.


    "Did you forget? I''ve already handed in my resignation," Dumbledore said with a wink, "Minerva and Felix will run the school. I''m sure they can do a better job."


    "Speaking of Professor Hap-" one more reason suddenly struck Harry, "He thinks the exposure of the wizarding community is inevitable, Sirius and Ms. Bones agree with that, and everyone is preparing for it. "


    "You''re quite right." Dumbledore said approvingly.


    "Only you can appease everyone - I mean, when the news is out to the public." Harry said bluntly.


    "I wouldn''t dare to claim that I have that level of prestige," Dumbledore shook his head, "In fact, I''m just as clueless as you are in the face of that future. Felix, Amelia, and even you would do better than I would."


    "Me?" Harry said in shock.


    "Yes. Would you allow wizards to ill-treat Muggles?" Dumbledore asked.


    Harry shook his head.


    "What about the opposite, allowing muggles to enslave wizards?"


    Harry shook his head again.


    "You see, wouldn''t that be just fine?" Dumbledore said with satisfaction, "Remember the choice you are making at this moment, even if it is not an easy path to take, it will never leave you with regrets, because you are doing the right thing."


    Harry was a little confused as he followed Dumbledore into the somewhat familiar village. The next thing he noticed is something ''unusual''.


    "Albus." A short, chubby, middle-aged Muggle woman in an apron greeted enthusiastically, and Harry thought her eyebrows looked a little like Mrs. Weasley''s.


    "Mrs. Brenda." Dumbledore said with a smile as he halted.


    "Little Bart wants to come to your house for dinner, he loves magic so much." The woman said.


    "Well, he is most welcome!" Dumbledore said happily, the wrinkles on his forehead stretching, "Ariana is very fond of children, she has quite a few things planned for the bonfire."


    "Ugh, I know, she''s always so kind, but I think it''s too much trouble for you all ..." Mrs. Brenda said somewhat embarrassed, as she pulled two apples from under her apron and slipped them to Dumbledore and Harry, "I''ve baked some honey biscuits and asked little Bart to bring them over tonight."


    "You are too kind, Mrs. Brenda." Dumbledore said politely, and they parted ways as he and Harry continued on their way.


    Harry found it strange, but Dumbledore was obviously in a very happy mood, and he could feel that overflowing joy from him. He took a bite of his apple and hummed some sort of slightly comical country tune again. A number of people came up to greet him along the way, both wizards and muggles, but what they all had in common was that they were aware of the existence of magic and showed no surprise.


    On the way, a male wizard dressed like a hippie leaned against a fence and performed magical tricks for a group of children.


    "Professor Dumbledore?" Harry inquired impatiently as he put the half-chewed apple down after listening to a full tune, "Are these people also departed souls?" He clearly remembered Dumbledore saying that this is the place where life and death come together, and in theory, only wizards should be able to get here, right?


    "I don''t think so." Dumbledore said.


    "Then-" Harry paused, did Dumbledore imagine it?


    "When I first got here, there was mist everywhere around me, and it was obviously not the right environment for a conversation, and the moment I had that thought, it just automatically became like this." Dumbledore said, "It probably does have something to do with me."


    They chatted as if they are friends, Dumbledore talked about the prophecy that Grindelwald had shown him, "Skeeter played an important role."


    Then he talked about Felix.


    "I think highly of him - young and talented, not power-hungry, and level-headed to boot. Of course, he''s been very self-assertive since he was a kid, and sometimes I think he''s too mature. I couldn''t educate him the way I did you - I can only use other people to keep him in line, like you, Severus, Miss Granger, that Niffler, Sirius, Remus, Neville ... I don''t know how many people there are already. "


    Later, Dumbledore mentioned the prophecy he had heard at the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic.


    "I think I am the lion of the prophecy - brilliant once, but now old. I am a Gryffindor."


    "Why can''t you be a Firebird?" Harry asked, holding his breath, "Phoenixes are immortal, aren''t they? And you have Fawkes, maybe the prophecy hinted that you would be like the phoenix and be reborn in the fire ..."


    Dumbledore laughed.


    "Oh Harry, you can''t expect a dying old man to love the world more than the young men of this era, I did dream of changing it, I left all the passion, vision, fervour, and desire in my life back in that summer, back in the time that belonged to me. You have a greater will to make the world a better place than I do, and I - look, they''re waiting for me!"


    Harry looked up, they had unknowingly walked to where the white light is, he couldn''t see anything before, but now his eyes caught some figures, it is Dumbledore''s father, mother, and sister, they are holding hands, with gentle eyes.


    "Is this real? Are they real?" Harry whispered sharply, trying to remind Dumbledore in this manner. Perhaps his family, like the visions he had seen before, existed because of Dumbledore.


    "I know I will be going alone, but I will not refuse to fill my stomach before embarking on a new adventure." Dumbledore said softly, so Harry knew that Dumbledore is sober and determined, and he watched as Dumbledore walked towards the white light, towards his family.


    "I wish you to be blessed with good fortune, Harry."


    Dumbledore said at the end, and with that the white light engulfed him.


    ...


    Headmaster''s office. In the mirror, Felix saw Harry''s eyes open and his face had changed back into his own. Felix let out a soft breath, knowing that Dumbledore had succeeded. Fawkes let out a short, sad clear chirp as Felix stood up, dragging his half ''crippled'' arm over to Dumbledore, who seemed to be asleep, the resurrection stone ring on his hand flickering and seeming to breathe.


    "Click!" S~?a??h the ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A clear shattering sound was heard. A crack appeared on the surface of the black resurrection stone, followed by a dense rustling sound, cracks like a spider''s web appeared, and at a certain moment, the resurrection stone turned into fragments.


    Countless florescent dots of light gathered in the air and danced, and Felix seemed to see a blurred figure, but it was fleeting. Dumbledore''s hand dropped, and Felix grabbed the cold hand and placed it on Dumbledore''s knee.


    A wand fell from his sleeve.


    It looked like the Elder Wand.


    Felix hesitated for a moment and shoved the wand right back into Dumbledore''s hand.


    "Harry." He turned to face the mirror and said crisply.


    At the same time, Fawkes spread his wings, looking back at Dumbledore, who sat silently and flew headlong into the mirror. The sad phoenix cry rang in both Felix''s and Harry''s ears at the same time, and Harry struggled to sit up, no part of him hurting now, but after hearing the professor''s call and Fawkes'' cry, he grabbed his glasses, which had crooked to one side, and put them on, gazing up at the firebird circling overhead.


    Professor Hap''s voice seemed to come from over the sky as well:


    "Harry, Dumbledore left Voldemort to you, you can handle it, can''t you?"


    Harry looked not far away, Voldemort''s fingers twitched, and he soon would wake up. He grunted, "Leave it to me." He stayed where he was and watched in silence as Voldemort rose from the ground, watching the expression on his face go from shock to dazedness, hatred, and finally just panic as he noticed his physical state.


    "You disguised yourself as Snape to destroy my last Horcrux?" Voldemort said sharply, gripping his wand and looking around nervously as he shouted into the air, "Dumbledore! Hap! Where are you? Come out!"


    Harry looked at the hysterical Voldemort and lowered his eyes.


    "Don''t shout, I''m the only one here."


    "Only you?" Voldemort looked at him in shock, then instantly understood, "They sent you to kill me? How dare you, how dare they-" he stopped talking abruptly when he saw a hint of pity in Harry''s eyes.


    "Voldemort, you are alone, and behind me, there are all those who love me standing." Harry said, but his words only made Voldemort more angry.


    "Harry Potter!" Voldemort shouted the name with the greatest resentment.


    "Tom Riddle." Harry said calmly.


    There was nothing more to say, and by this moment everything became clear. The same thought flashed through their minds: only one could get out of here alive. Red light collided with green light and golden flames shot out from the intersection of the spell as both men fought with all their might.


    The phoenix let out a high-pitched chirp, like the drumbeat of war, which boosted Harry''s confidence. The red light completely overwhelmed the green light, reflecting Voldemort''s face in a ghastly green shade, his eyes glowing with dread as the green light was forced back into his wand and Voldemort''s body froze, fear coalescing on his face.


    His wand was tossed into the air and whirled towards Harry, but instead of reaching out to catch it, Harry let it fall to the ground. He stared at Voldemort, knowing that it is over.


    Felix closed his eyes. Halfway through, he opened his pale-blue eyes and said, "You''re tired, Harry and Fawkes will take you to the hospital wing and let Madam Pomfrey examine you. And -" he hesitated, "don''t tell anyone about Dumbledore''s death yet, keep it strictly to yourself. I will find time to explain it to you tomorrow."


    The mirror image in front of him disappeared and Felix stayed in the darkness, for him the night is far from over. He kept dismantling the magic that belonged to Dumbledore enshrouded within his arm, the charm resisted passively, but could only tremble gently under Felix''s suppression.


    ...


    A grey-green hue flashed across the horizon, a sign of the dawn that would come in a few hours.


    Nurmengard Castle.


    A stiff body was thrown into a cell.


    Grindelwald hit the floor with a heavy thud like a ragged bag, his body didn''t budge a bit.


    "He''s not dead, is he?" A member of the law enforcement team questioned.


    Then Grindelwald heard the rustle of shoes scraping against the ground, a pair of feet stopped beside him, and then a finger reached under his nose. Grindelwald let out a shallow, even breath.


    "Faint."


    The footsteps moved away from him completely and Grindelwald waited in silence. The door was locked, then there was a "zipping" sound, the sound of the cell''s defensive magic activating; after that the footsteps and the talking became faint, but he waited, holding his breath for the smallest hint of an audible echo - and finally, from a distant there came a sound of the door slamming shut.


    Grindelwald looked up with hollow eyes. There is no one in front of him.


    He grinned and laughed silently, then let out a sound that grew louder and louder, echoing in the cramped cell, and finally, he started to dry heave. He coughed and dry-heaved with a pained expression and tears flowing uncontrollably from his eyes. Finally -


    A bloodied sneakoscope was vomited out and bounced around on the floor.


    "Thank you for your kindness, Longbottom, for not destroying that hair."


    Grindelwald said in a hoarse voice as he took the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard from his pocket and placed it in the far corner; now is not the time to look through it. He returned and picked up the sneakoscope from the floor, wisps of magic poured out of it, then it turned into a blazing blue flame that lit him up like a burning torch.


    A groan of suppressed pain came from the cell.


    After an unknown amount of time, a low chanting sound came from the blue flames and a blue bird of fire rose into the air.


    ...


    Tonight is destined to be a long night.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 677: Fraud (2 in 1)

    The wall of the cell in Nurmengard Castle is now broken with a gaping hole. Moonlight spilled in, but it was nowhere near as bright as the eerie blue brightness of the room.


    Grindelwald gazed at the firebird outside the castle.


    It is a very peculiar bird. Its body is silver-white, as bright as the moonlight, and it looks like a Patronus. But its delicate head, slender plumage, the surface of its back, and wings are covered in deep blue flames, which are constantly leaping. Its eyes looked almost identical to Grindelwald''s.


    "Go and bring back my wand, we have much to do after that." He said calmly.


    The firebird cut through the darkness of the night and flew off into the distance. Grindelwald took a few steps outside as the air from outside blew in. He moved closer to the black wall and stood at the edge of the high tower of Nurmengard Castle.


    At the very far end where the sky met the ground, there is a transition from pure black to deep blue.


    Grindelwald lowered his head and gazed at his left hand.


    The curse in his body is extremely stubborn and by no means something that can be dealt with in a short period of time, otherwise he would not have been trapped here for decades. He had previously burned most of the curse in his body with blue flames, but a small portion still remained, making it difficult to eradicate. Grindelwald could clearly sense that they spread all over his body and eating away the little bit of magic he had managed to regain and control, and if nothing is done, it won''t be long before they will grow again.


    The sky is growing lighter. He had to make a decision soon.


    Grindelwald glanced back at the far corner of the cell; there is no point in hesitating, now is the best chance. Dumbledore - or someone else, should have appeared to stop him at the first sign of his attempt to break free from his restrictions, but nothing has happened.


    Well, he had just destroyed the wall in passing, and the magic on the wall had nothing to do with Dumbledore, so maybe the International Confederation of Wizards would get the message and arrive soon.


    The magic in his body gathered on his left hand and his body became empty, and then the tiny curse seemed to be attracted to it, pouring into his left hand, gathering and merging and becoming whole along the way, but Grindelwald let it happen.


    At last, the remaining pieces of the curse came together, nimble and greedy as if they were alive, chasing and devouring the magic of his left hand, which glistened and glowed, and grew more complete with each passing second. It was at that moment that Grindelwald seemed to sense something - through the curse - and he vaguely saw a blurred shadow.


    The figure seemed to sense something and looked back that way, with a blurry face, and strikingly light blue eyes.


    Grindelwald''s heart sank, the last bit of hope dashed, and he mustered a grim smile.


    "Peng!"


    The violent dark fire flared up intensely, splintering and burning his flesh and blood while destroying the last of the curse completely. After completing all this, he was fully bathed in sweat and trembling.


    But it was all worth it - a new power had emerged, new, untainted magic from the depths of his soul, and it had merged perfectly with his body, which right now seemed near the end of its life.


    He was reborn.


    ...


    Hogwarts.


    Felix glanced out the window and blinked in confusion; he had just seemed to see old man Grindelwald. Was it an illusion? Or was it a new ability brought on by the charm? But he is clearly still a little short of fully mastering the charm ... His heart sank, something couldn''t have gone wrong, could it?


    Half an hour later, Felix appeared at Nurmengard Castle.


    It is his first time here, and he is not quite used to the damp air and the smell of rotting straw, plus there is a smell of burning mixed in the air. He examined the large hole in the wall where an extra line of black writing read: All for the greater good.


    He felt a bit of a headache and after a while, a dozen figures descended from the sky outside the castle, Felix backed away into the darkness, not wanting to meet up with these enforcers just yet. From Nurmengard Castle he went around to a few more towns nearby, the charm on his arm did not respond one bit.


    Felix glared at his arm, this thing just became useless, didn''t it?


    He had only just got his hands on it.


    When Felix returned to the school, the sun was completely up and the school was no different than usual, with some early risers eating at the tables. He found Professor McGonagall, who notably looked more agitated when she saw him, and dragged him to the staff room without saying a word.


    "Akingbade received a letter from an owl this morning, then turned pale and left in a hurry without even eating breakfast." She spoke quickly.


    Felix asked thoughtfully, "Did he mention what it was about?"


    "No. But his expression looked alarmed, it must have been something very important." Professor McGonagall guessed.


    "Alas, Grindelwald escaped last night."


    Professor McGonagall''s eyes widened, and she looked very agitated.


    "Felix ... you mean, Gellert Grindelwald?" Her voice trembled a little, and it dawned on Felix that she too had lived through Grindelwald''s most active years and is well aware of his influence. Felix recounted the general story, including information about Grindelwald''s disguised identity as a professor at the school.


    Professor McGonagall gasped for air the whole time, her hand clutching the fabric on her chest in a death grip as her body shook.


    "I totally didn''t see this coming! He turned out to be Professor Bagshot, and clearly-" she paused, her eyes glinting with memories as if finding evidence from past interactions with Grindelwald, such as his superior knowledge of magic, and his hostile attitude towards Muggles.


    Professor McGonagall tried to compose herself, "Albus - why did you do that?"


    "I think it''s because of a prophecy." Felix said softly, holding out his hand to show her the scene of the anti-wizard parade, "A year ago, Grindelwald escaped from Nurmengard Castle and made his way over to England. He got his exclusive wand at Future World in Diagon Alley - back then, vetting was not quite as strict as it is now - and after that, perhaps he saw the job posting in the newspaper and asked to teach at the school for a year using the scene you see now as an exchange.


    "... The current Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, that is, Akingbade, was also aware of this, and they sent someone to check Grindelwald''s health over the summer last year and determined that he was still bound by magic and his magic was highly tainted and not as strong as it once was, so they finally agreed to allow this. "


    The actual situation is of course more complicated.


    Felix still doesn''t know whether reason prevailed or emotion secured the high ground when Dumbledore agreed to this condition, but in any case, there was a new professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at the school.


    As far as Felix could tell, Dumbledore was probably under quite a bit of pressure - it must be that the people at the International Confederation of Wizards wouldn''t mind trying to goad Grindelwald and figure out what he knew before kicking him back into a cold, damp, dark prison, and Grindelwald certainly knew that well enough, so he found Dumbledore as a voucher.


    "Did the transfer go awry last night?" Professor McGonagall asked perceptively.


    "Yes, Dumbledore had a way to monitor Grindelwald''s state, probably similar to a double-sided mirror ..." Felix briefly explained the principle of the same origin of restraining magic and the secret key of surveillance, "I guess when he modified this spell, he probably didn''t consider the idea of transferring the spell to other people, so there might be a loophole. Of course, it''s hard to say for sure, but if Dumbledore hadn''t had the key in his hands, Grindelwald might have broken out of prison in his first few years ..."


    The process of transferring the secret key to the charm only severed the connection with Grindelwald, but it would not disable the restraining magic, so Felix''s words were highly credible.


    "Okay, I roughly understand." Professor McGonagall was slowly coming to terms with this reality, she had been thankful for a while before that the school had been safe and sound this year, but she hadn''t expected the darkness to rise up and she herself had spent a year working with the dark wizard Grindelwald without noticing, she had even snitched on him to Dumbledore ...


    "So no one knows where Grindelwald is now?"


    "I failed to find him in Nurmengard Castle, but," Felix hesitated, remembering the handwriting he had seen on the wall, and shook his head, "he will not be content with hiding. I am rather concerned about another problem-"


    "What problem?" Professor McGonagall asked, rubbing her forehead in pain.


    Felix slammed two boxes of letters on her desk, "We should sort these out and place them in separate boxes, frankly, there are a bit too many and there are only two of us to do it, we can''t look for help."


    "Why do we need to get help?" Professor McGonagall gave him a cross look and put on her boxed glasses, seemingly prepared to do the job left behind by the previous headmaster even before she officially became headmistress.


    A slight unnerving feeling crept into Felix''s mind.


    He wondered if these letters would still come in handy since Grindelwald had probably guessed about Dumbledore''s death. The question is, would he break the illusion of Dumbledore still being alive? This question had been swirling in his mind since he had come out of Nurmengard Castle, on account of which he had done one thing - nearly a fifth of the letters in the box had been addressed to Grindelwald, and Felix had kept that part of the letter.


    They worked on it for the rest of the day until noon.


    Grindelwald was nowhere to be found, hiding in some corner, probably nursing his body; Felix had seen how weak Dumbledore had been after the transfer of the charm, and Grindelwald certainly could not be intact, and there is a question mark about how much of his strength he even had left at the moment.


    If it had happened to him, Felix would have found a picturesque place to recuperate his body in secret. In a few years'' time, he believed his strength would be more mature and time would be on his side.


    "Oh yes, Voldemort died last night, he had previously survived by virtue of certain dark magic of the most evil kind and had to be locked up in private. But that all came to an end last night, he''s dead for good and forever."


    In between the work, Felix made another big announcement in waves.


    ...


    In the hospital wing, Felix said pretty much the same thing to Harry.


    Harry still felt gagged after learning that Dumbledore''s body had been properly buried, and the thought of Headmaster Dumbledore lying alone in a coffin, with even his death itself being kept a secret from outsiders, made his heart twinge.


    "He deserves a big funeral, not a silent burial in some corner." Harry said as he stared at the white sheet on the hospital bed where a stain had been left. He thought of Regulus Black, now everyone knew Regulus had fought alone against the darkness, but how long would it take before anyone knew of the sacrifice Dumbledore had made?


    "What is happening now is what Dumbledore wanted to see." Felix said as he lowered his eyes.


    After a while, they talked about other topics.


    "Professor Hap - you''re saying that Bag, Grindelwald regained his consciousness during the transfer? How did he do that?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "I''ll remember to ask about that the next time I see him." Felix said, trailing his chin with considerable confusion as well, and stared at Valen as she put together a pile of sweets to make a smiley face. Harry stared blankly at the pattern listlessly as he had a flash of clarity and recalled Neville''s sneakoscope.


    Although he and Hermione couldn''t find a problem, perhaps the Professor could find something suspicious in it?


    He told the professor his suspicions, to which he got a mediocre response.


    "The sneakoscope is broken, there''s no doubt about that, only a few out of a dozen rune circuits are correct, and the thing is, all it takes is one mistake for the sneakoscope as a whole to fail to work, it can''t even give a warning ..." Felix said, and his voice slowed down.


    "Professor? Did you think of something?" Harry asked, holding his breath.


    "If so, then that''s a clever thought." Felix murmured, his eyes brightening as he thought of a possibility - in fact, there is a better way, but it is not remotely as bright as this - exploiting the blind spots of the human mind.


    The sneakoscope in Neville''s hand might have done a trick.


    It wasn''t meant to warn Neville, the hair that had been put inside the sneakoscope which belonged to Grindelwald is the key, the hair together with the few tattered rune circuits helped another sneakoscope to active.


    Felix has introduced seven different kinds of sneakoscope during his classes, one of which will issue a warning when it gets close to the owner of the hair. This type of spotting sneakoscope can usually only be used as a prank toy, but there are times when it could also come in handy.


    For example, when Sirius was a fugitive, Felix created three spotting sneakoscope with his hair hidden in them to keep him away from the castle.


    Perhaps Grindelwald did the exact opposite. One of the two sneakoscope would give a warning when they moved away and beyond a certain distance. Felix did a quick mental simulation and felt he could do exactly that.


    Thinking deeper, the warning might not necessarily have to be a sound, it could be a vibration or some kind of strong stimulus. So when Grindelwald was forced to move beyond a certain distance from Neville (and in fact from Hogwarts castle), the sneakoscope would automatically start to function.


    The above was only a fleeting guess on Felix''s part; he was not sure how far Grindelwald''s understanding of ancient runes might have reached. Grindelwald had never demonstrated his proficiency in the field of ancient runes, but he had looked through many ancient runes journals, and occasionally took the opportunity to chat with Felix about their contents, but none of it involved any kind of technical expertise in the field.


    If Grindelwald had thought of this idea since then, he had quite a scary mind.


    Grindelwald could certainly have just taken another student''s hair and created a sneakoscope, which might have been more discreet, but there is a chance that Dumbledore or Felix might have thought of that aspect and conducted a targeted examination.


    Grindelwald, with limited information, chose the most conservative and what he thought to be the safest option.


    As it turned out, he succeeded. Felix checked his office, the items he carried with him, and the magic that might be attached to his skin, but overlooked the possibility that he might have swallowed a sneakoscope. As for the truth which even Felix did not know: his stunning spell was indeed strong enough that it would have been an open question whether the sneakoscope alone could awaken Grindelwald from his coma, or at least certainly more later than Grindelwald himself had estimated, but the few Stinging Jinx from the International Confederation of Wizarding Law Enforcement Team weakened the effectiveness of the stunning spell ...


    It was a combination of these reasons that made Grindelwald wake up almost as soon as he got on the wagon. But he was still bound by the spells of the Law Enforcement team members, unable to move his body, except for the sneakoscope in his stomach that pulsed every so often, he afterward felt the whole thing when Dumbledore and Felix transferred the secret key of the charm.


    "Professor? Professor Hap?"


    "Oh, something crossed my mind that I can''t be sure of at the moment - any more questions?" Felix asked in return.


    "Well - I was going to ask: why didn''t Professor Dumbledore transfer the charm sooner, or postpone fixing the trouble I was in?" Harry asked, " That way Grindelwald might not have got away with it."


    "He didn''t tell me about it straight out, so I''ll have to guess." Felix said softly, "I presume that Dumbledore had a hard time using magic for the last part of his life and that the transfer of the charm affected him greatly - you know that magic can flow between a wizard''s body and soul, right?"


    Harry shook his head in bewilderment, having never heard of it at all. He was tempted to remind the professor that he isn''t Hermione.


    "Then you know now," Felix said lightly, "Dumbledore has studied the soul extremely profoundly with the help of the Resurrection Stone as a medium, and was able to actively incorporate most of his magic into his own soul." Just like the night when he had seen Dumbledore use his own soul to illuminate Hogwarts castle.


    "Why did he do that?" Harry asked, swallowing hard, feeling that what he perceived as magic is completely different from what the professor is talking about.


    "Probably to do an experiment, I suspect it''s not the first time he''s been to that whole in-between ''life and death'' thing you speak of." Felix said calmly, "Don''t ask me, I can''t come up with anything to prove it, but I''m pretty much on the same page as Dumbledore when it comes to solving the problem of the soul fragment in your body, which is to maximize the success rate, preferably to make it foolproof."


    "Success rate?" Harry mumbled repeating with his head down.


    "Exactly." Felix said, "We had envisaged possibilities such as having Voldemort ingest your blood and resurrect him, Dumbledore thought that this would allow the protective charm flowing through you that belonged to Lily to appear on Voldemort as well, well - the power of the charm might then be greatly enhanced, after all, your relationship is similar to that of half-brothers ..."


    "But that didn''t happen, did it?" Goosebumps rose inside Harry, and he blurted out hastily, "Voldemort used someone else''s blood to come back to life."


    "Indeed. I think we have put too much pressure on him, and he couldn''t afford to wait." Felix nodded and said, "But even if that did happen, it would have created more uncertainty. The bond between you is already unusually strong, and if you add in a shared protection charm, outsiders won''t even be able to figure it out ... Harry, Dumbledore wants you alive, in the safest way he can think of."


    Felix left a disoriented Harry to leave. He had asked Madam Pomfrey and there was nothing wrong with Harry''s health, and he would be discharged in the afternoon.


    As Felix left the hospital wing, he happened to run into students who had come to visit Harry, and he called Neville aside and managed to borrow the broken sneakoscope, which Neville had indeed brought with him. "What''s wrong with it, Professor?" Neville asked in a quiet voice. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix looked at him and shook his head, not voicing the suspicion in his mind, and offered a different excuse: "The people from the International Confederation of Wizards need it for evidence, I''ll take it first and return it if they don''t need it."


    In the crowd, Ron and Hermione wore worried expressions, there couldn''t really be a problem with that sneakoscope, right? Ron shot a wink at Hermione and broke away from the group to walk over, "Oh Professor Hap, I have a question ..."


    ...


    Felix was in no hurry to leave the school and search the world for Grindelwald. In less than a week, this school year would be over, and then he could free up his hands and try to see if he could obtain Grindelwald''s whereabouts from the mouths of some of the Acolytes. He was in no hurry these days and assumed that Grindelwald wouldn''t jump out any time soon either.


    But things didn''t go as he expected.


    In the evening, Amelia Bones appeared in a hurry with the bad news that Grindelwald had escaped from Nurmengard Castle - which of course, a fact Felix already knew - but the news in the German-language newspaper she held in her hand really surprised him.


    A firebird, suspected to be a Patronus clad in Grindelwald''s trademark blue flames, had broken into the German Gringotts Bank, burned through an underground vault before the goblin guards could react, and then swaggered away.


    Felix stared at the moving image captured by who knows who: the phoenix-like firebird breaking free of magic chains and holding something in its beak.


    "Is that - a wand?"


    "The owner of that underground vault has been identified as an Acolyte, though he died decades ago. When the Gringotts and the local Aurors questioned the members of his family, none of them knew of the existence of such a facility, which implies that it is a secret vault. And the wand-"


    "The first wand Grindelwald ever used?" Felix asked in a deep voice.


    Grindelwald certainly hadn''t cast spells with his bare hands before he had acquired the Elder Wand, but when he became famous, and when he fought in a public duel in 1945, it had always been the Elder Wand that he had shown to the public, and no one seemed aware of where the wand from his student days had gone.


    "That''s what I thought." Ms. Bones said with a strained smile.


    Felix''s expression turned serious as he looked further ahead, getting his wand is not a big deal, what really caught his attention is the fact that Grindelwald can''t seem to wait even a few days.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 678: The Re-emergence

    Ms. Bones left in a hurry, she had come over this time to tell Felix personally about Grindelwald''s escape from prison, now she had to rush to the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards for a meeting to discuss the implications of this event. "I checked the information on my way here," she said solemnly before she left, "when Grindelwald''s influence was at its peak, the ministries of magic were forced to form a united force as a way to counter the acolytes who could gather and disperse at random - it was entirely different from the Auror squad that dealt with Voldemort last time."


    When Felix returned to the great hall, he was called away by Professor McGonagall, who, while sorting through Dumbledore''s letters, happened to tidy up Dumbledore''s desk and came across a will - a written resignation, to be precise. In the resignation letter, he thanked everyone who had worked with him and decided to donate most of his belongings - such as his private library, notes on the study of magic, magic tools, and other personal possessions - to Hogwarts.


    "For a man who is about to embark on a journey, it would be too much of a burden to carry around any more of these things; memories are my most valuable asset."


    Professor McGonagall read it all aloud in front of the entire faculty, with each professor expressing their gratitude and well wishes.


    At the end of the meeting, Professor McGonagall kept Felix behind and handed him a letter, "Again, I found it while sorting through the letters." Felix was quite surprised, he thought that Dumbledore would not write to him at all.


    After all, all these letters are an elaborate pack of lies woven by Dumbledore.


    Only after Felix had inquired with Professor McGonagall did he realise that this letter had got mixed up within many other letters, and Felix who had focused on singling out the ones signed to Gellert Grindelwald before had overlooked the rest.


    "He left me one too," Professor McGonagall said emotionally, "and I read it, he expressed his gratitude for the support I had given him for so long. In fact ... he was the one who encouraged me at my toughest time in life, and I will never forget it!"


    Felix opened the envelope, the letter isn''t that long and only covers half a sheet of parchment.


    "... Once I realised that authority is my weakness, I avoided it as much as possible all my life after that. But one cannot always get what one wants. At certain points in my life, I was forced into important affairs concerning the safety and security of the magical community and was expected to lead some people who trusted me, not knowing that I was deeply afraid - when you try to achieve a grand goal, your heart grows cold and unconsciously weighs the value of people on both ends of the scale, and so neglects the fact that they are also living human beings, and in times of crisis, it is always acceptable to sacrifice."


    "Perhaps one day you will take it upon yourself to carry the fate of countless others - as I am sure you will if necessary - and you will face the same dilemmas I have faced. Perhaps you will be more decisive than I was, but I would never want you to become numb to sacrifice as a result. Have mercy on the living, Felix, even if the sacrifice is unavoidable."


    Felix slowly closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the letter on him, the way Dumbledore had used his own death to the utmost, not forgetting to add a lesson at the end: to show him what responsibility is and what sacrifice is.


    Dumbledore had indeed made the sacrifice, sacrificing only himself.


    ...


    Harry glanced at the Professor''s table, the professors looked unusually silent as if they had not recovered from the news of Dumbledore''s sudden departure.


    The fact that Professor McGonagall had chosen to sit with Professor Hap rather than in the tall, flamboyant chair that had belonged to Dumbledore caused a strange feeling to well up in Harry''s mind, as if Dumbledore hadn''t really left and that he might suddenly appear at any moment with a smug look of mischief on his face.


    "I think Professor McGonagall is planning to officially take up the position of Headmaster next year." Hermione said softly.


    "That''s what I think." Ron snapped to attention, "The holidays are coming up soon and the students aren''t really in the mood ... waiting until the next school year is indeed much preferable. Do you guys think that Dumbledore is sitting in a tavern by the sea somewhere right now?"


    Harry and Hermione turned their faces to stare at him at the same time.


    "What''s wrong?" Ron said, puzzled, "I''ve seen the posters, and this is what muggles are said to do on holiday - wear beach trousers and sunglasses, spend the afternoon on the beach, and when it gets dark run to the nearest pub to watch the gig... ...er, Hermione?"


    Tears welled up in Hermione''s eyes.


    "Why, why would you think - given the choice - that Dumbledore would leave the school? It''s like you, you said - the holidays are coming up, and he has at least two months off." Ron looked at her blankly, but Hermione turned her face sideways, her eyes blurred with tears.


    Harry felt something lump in his throat and his eyes grew sore.


    He tried his best not to blink, fearing that it would make the tears squeeze out; moreover, he was afraid to speak - it was like he was under some curse; if he dared to spit out a single word, or imagine along with Ron that Dumbledore would be celebrating his first day of retirement somewhere in the world at the moment, his whole being would suddenly collapse.


    Hermione stared at Harry''s face, finally sure of something, and she suddenly burst into tears.


    "Don''t be like this, Hermione. He would never want-" Harry whispered as hoarsely as he could muster.


    Hermione wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "Right, I''m sorry." She said with a sobbing voice. Hermione buried her face in the crook of her arm, one hand covering her stomach in a way that looked like she has a stomach ache, but tears poured out of her eyelashes in drops.


    No one had noticed her yet, no, Harry felt a sharp look, and he looked up in a hurry, it was Professor Hap. Harry was just about to get a better look, but the professor had already averted his eyes of his own accord.


    "Harry." A voice said in a whisper.


    Harry jolted at the familiar voice and almost jumped up from his seat. He stared at Professor Hap who had suddenly appeared behind him and looked incredulously towards the long dining table, there is another Professor Hap who seemed to be talking to Slughorn, and no one seemed to notice anything unusual, as if this conversation only existed in his head.


    "- Weasley, Granger, come along with me."


    Ron looked dumbfounded as Hermione looked up, her face completely weepy, and Felix handed her a handkerchief. "Um, thanks - what''s going on?" She stood up, emotionally drained, and wiped her tears away, only for her to be surprised to find a second ''Hermione Granger'' sitting in her seat, the ''her'' was stretching out her arm carelessly to bring a plate of buttered and mushy peas to herself.


    Hermione''s eyes widened.


    Felix explained calmly, "I don''t want anyone else to hear this conversation."


    He headed out of the great hall, followed by Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who looked back at every step worrying that they might be discovered, only to realise that they were completely over-worried and when they noticed their other selves were feasting on the dishes instead of themselves. They felt a peculiar emotion.


    The four of them walked to the stone steps outside the castle, the clouds reflecting a glorious haze of the setting sun.


    "Dumbledore wanted the impact of his departure to be minimal, so over the next few years you may hear of him appearing in some wizarding town, or him writing to a close friend about the sights he saw and the food he tasted on his journey, and then fading away little by little."


    Felix said faintly.


    "I guessed that," Hermione said with a small sob, "but I was holding out hope that maybe, maybe something had gone wrong with his health or something ..."


    Ron''s face stiffened as he finally realised what was happening. He looked over at Harry, but Harry gave no response, and he found himself preferring to go back to the great hall and listen to his classmates talk about the holidays and about Dumbledore - who is still alive, at least in those people''s minds.


    "You''re Harry''s best friends," Felix said to Ron and Hermione, "Harry knows, and you can easily guess the truth from his attitude, even if he doesn''t say anything."


    "So you want us to keep it a secret." Ron said slowly.


    Felix nodded, then shook his head again.


    "Including this point. It was Dumbledore''s heart''s desire, and he made a huge sacrifice, but I''m not sure now that things are going to work out the way he originally thought ... something unexpected happened ... In Dumbledore''s original plan, me, Professor McGonagall, Harry, and perhaps adding the two of you, would be all that would know about it."


    "An accident? What accident?" Ron proactively asked as he looked at an emotionally distraught Harry and Hermione.


    "Grindelwald." Harry, who is sitting on the steps, said coldly.


    Hermione gave a half-knowing, half-confused look.


    "You should know who Leonhard Bagshot really is," Felix said, but his tone held certainty, "and know what he has done, or at least something about it. Not long ago, he had a vision - a vision aimed at possible unrest that might happen."


    "Me," he gestured to himself, "Dumbledore, and himself, three people working hand in hand to deal with future complications, such as the wizarding community being forced to go public ... but Dumbledore rejected it because he knew then this plan would never come to fruition. Not to mention, now Grindelwald is nowhere to be found ..."


    "Professor, you think he''ll disrupt Dumbledore''s plans?" Hermione asked perceptively.


    Harry pricked up his ears, unsure of the feelings he currently harboured, he wanted Dumbledore''s exploits to be known, but at the same time, he didn''t want his plans to be disrupted. His mood was very conflicted.


    "Oh, I know!" Ron said with certainty, "He wants to work alone and recreate his past glory. When Grindelwald was transferred last night - Hermione and I were standing guard outside the Headmaster''s office and didn''t see that scene - I heard Seamus say that he was passed out the whole time, which probably seemed like a betrayal to Grindelwald. "


    Felix glanced at him.


    "It can''t be ruled out - but Grindelwald and Dumbledore have a complicated relationship, and no one can say what''s really on their minds." Perhaps that book ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'' recorded part of Dumbledore''s true feelings.


    "If Grindelwald really did see Headmaster Dumbledore as an enemy," Harry mused, "there''s one thing he would do besides gathering the Acolytes, he would - publicise Headmaster Dumbledore''s death! " He finished with a shocked expression.


    Felix thought silently, he was worried about that too. Moreover, even if Grindelwald understood Dumbledore''s plight, would his mind change? From what Felix had learned from all sides, Grindelwald had always been an extremely controlling person, and even with Dumbledore''s scepticism of Grindelwald, it was likely that the Grindelwald had been the dominant figure in their younger days of being together.


    The greatest white wizard in the world could have been the first follower of the dark wizard Grindelwald. The thought would send shivers down one''s spine, to say the least.


    Even if half a century had passed and Grindelwald had managed to refine his mind and become soft? Felix didn''t think so, these men who had seen war, or led it, would show no weakness when it came to being ruthless.


    He hadn''t forgotten what Dumbledore had left him in his letter.


    Felix would rather prefer that Grindelwald hadn''t given up on his previous idea; although one of the three is now lost, his own magic could create a Dumbledore identity that would be enough to pass for the real one, as long as he didn''t do anything about it. The real one and Grindelwald can create a balance with each other, outwardly tit-for-tat, but privately communicating with each other.


    The peaceful, moderate wizards would support the International Confederation of Wizards and Dumbledore (Felix), who represent the existing order; the radical, ambitious wizards would defect to Grindelwald and eliminate the hidden problems. Felix wouldn''t mind supporting him as he forms the New Acolytes if a tacit agreement can be reached. Grindelwald had destroyed the restraining charm in his body anyway.


    So by not leaving the school, Felix had released a signal as well: Now he is waiting for Grindelwald to find him.


    "Harry, you should know that the Slytherin Chamber has been transformed into a spacious playground by me, and with nothing going on at school these days, I suggest you form a couple of club activities ..."


    ...


    Salzburg, Austria.


    This historic city is located in western Austria, near the German border, and there are ancient Baroque buildings everywhere in this old city, with churches and monasteries lined up, gardens and fountains competing, and those who live here can look up and see the beautiful scenery of the Alps.


    In a spacious theatre, thousands of wizards are gathered in one place, all different in appearance and temperament, but if there is one thing they have in common, it is that they are all old and their faces are wrinkled.


    They all stared at the man on the stage.


    "My brothers, my sisters, my friends -" Grindelwald''s low voice echoed through the empty room, the opening words of his speeches from yesteryear, and the words spoken were like words that spanned a long span of time, taking them back to those wild and passionate times. But everyone knew that everything had changed and that the man who had once reigned supreme is now old.


    Many stayed in tears.


    "I am not sure ... I am still worthy to call you all as I once did, you were my most unwavering supporters and trusted me beyond measure ... but I failed." The crowd stirred. "The future I had promised you is half a century late, and if you have been disappointed, shaken, and changed your minds, I fully understand, for I too have been disappointed, shaken, and changed my mind ..."


    Grindelwald held out his hand behind his back - the acolytes let out a gasp - and his left hand charred and smouldered.


    "Don''t worry about me," Grindelwald whispered, "this hand is the price I paid to get out of the cage, and it represents my resolve." From the tip of his wand flew a ball of blue flame that set the entire stage ablaze, a high-pitched phoenix''s cry heard from the flames.


    "... But if you still hold on to the last shred of hope, then come with me and I will show you that future."


    The flames obscured his figure, and while the wizards in the crowd remained hesitant, one stepped forward without hesitation, a witch with white hair all over her head. If Felix had been there, he would have recognised her perfectly, she had gone by the name of Nicole Noel.


    She threw herself into the flames, which did not harm her one bit. Grindelwald welcomed her with his hand, which was intact. S?a??h the ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Welcome back, Vinda."


    More and more people approached, and soon the flames became filled with people, even a little crowded. Their figures became blurred in the flames, discernible only by their movements, and they looked in unison at a handful of their peers.


    From the flames, Grindelwald spoke in a hoarse voice.


    "We were once close, so do me one last favour: tell Felix Hap that we will meet soon, but not in the way he wishes." He bowed slightly after saying this, then straightened his body.


    He waved his wand so violently that the flames suddenly shrank and turned into nothingness.


    The stage disappeared completely.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 679: Fun and Shelter (2 in 1)

    "Everyone use the Bubble-Head Charm, the Supersensory Charm, and the Levitation Rune circuit in quick succession, it might be a few kilometres, I haven''t tried this method, but it should work ..." Harry said with uncertainty, "It was Hermione''s idea. " As he spoke, a transparent, pearly white ghost sized him up curiously.


    "I never thought this would happen." Myrtle said happily, and from the way she was beaming, it looked as if the New Year had come early.


    "Believe me, I didn''t think I''d be leading a group of people here either." Harry squeezed the words out of his teeth as Myrtle let out a trail of giggles and twirled in the air in a quick circle, the eyes of the members of the Frontline Lookout Club staring blankly at the scene.


    "I swear she wasn''t this happy even when Peeves was being fanned all over the castle by Fred and George on an exhibition." Ron whispered to Neville on the side, "Or even if you add the time when she found out that Hermione''s face was covered in cat fur-"


    Hermione gave him a stern cross look.


    "I didn''t expect you and Myrtle to have such a good relationship." Luna commented out of the blue, her tone filled with envy.


    Ron glared at her.


    "Okay, you guys!" Harry said, "Everyone move - I''m not sure if Professor Hap has conveyed this to the other professors in case we get caught ..." he said uneasily, not half quite happy with them laughing and giggling without any vigilance, he felt annoyed.


    Myrtle''s laughter was also a little jarring, but there was nothing else he could do about it but pretend he couldn''t hear it, who made this abandoned girls'' lavatory, Myrtle''s territory? He could only send a silent urging with his eyes.


    The students finally got serious and cast spells on themselves one by one. Pretty soon Harry regretted it - twenty or thirty people crowding into a common lavatory made the scene quite noisy whenever one of them said a word. The scene looked both comical and chaotic, especially when some of the students who seemed over-excited began to float in mid-air without significant weight, dancing and shouting with excitement.


    Dean was casting a bubble-head charm on himself and the spell had barely taken shape when a foot fell from the sky.


    "Ouch! Who stepped on my head?"


    "Oh, sorry, didn''t mean to, I couldn''t control myself!" Seamus stifled a laugh as he acted as if nothing was his fault and said with a straight face, "Please pull me down-" before he could finish his sentence he let out a scream as Dean retaliated by grabbing his ankle and throwing him out with all his might.


    Seamus crashed towards the wall like a wingless bird.


    "A good shot." Katie Bell, the Quidditch player, commented.


    Dean straightened his collar, "Thanks, I always knew I had the hidden talent to play Quidditch."


    "I feel like I can''t breathe ... sneaking into the girl''s lavatory, my dad will send me a howler or two when he finds this out because I have tarnished the reputation of the Macmillan family - I shouldn''t even be here. " Ernie Macmillan muttered.


    "So why don''t you leave? That would save room for two more people!" Ginny said with a raised eyebrow.


    "I''m warning you, stop pointing fingers at my size - " Ernie growled in a low voice as he puffed up one of his fat arms.


    "Then keep your fat mouth shut and cut the sour talk." Ginny said nonchalantly.


    Ron stood next to Ginny with a bubble that resembled a fishbowl, his whole face looking swollen, "You want to fight?" Ron said in a jarring voice and instead of backing down, Ernie took a step forward, the two men stood about the same height, but Ernie is considerably stronger than Ron.


    Harry hurried over in stride.


    "Don''t have any arguments." He struggled to separate Ron and Ernie, "Ernie, Justin is looking for you, he''s not very good at the bubble head charm." Only after Ernie had moved away did Harry turn his attention to Ron, "You too, Ron -" he was about to give a couple of warnings when he realised that Ron''s eyes looked twice as big as they had been under the bubble head charm, which made him look like an angry goldfish or a toad. S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Get a grip." Harry stifled a laugh and left.


    "Thanks." Ginny said to Ron, who pretended like he didn''t care and waved his hand, Ginny stared at his face and snorted, "Oops - I have to go find Luna, I wonder what she looks like -"


    As soon as Harry returned to his original position, Hermione raised her hand to get his attention, "Harry, I think we need to add the Impervius Charm as well." Harry visualized the damp underground pipes in his head and immediately agreed.


    Finally - after ten minutes when all the preparations had been made - Harry cleared his throat.


    "Professor Hap-"


    "Deputy Headmaster." Mafalda said, "He''s our Deputy Headmaster now. I have been trying to interview him - or Professor McGonagall - about his plans for the school, but unfortunately I didn''t get the chance."


    "Thank you for filling me in on the latest plans of the Wall of Mystery tabloid - but now can you please shut up." Harry couldn''t help but raise his volume, "Where did I stop? Oh, thank you, Hermione - Professor Hap has made a lot of modifications to the Chamber of Secrets, and the previous entrance originally could only be opened with the Parseltongue, but now there is a second way."


    He raised one arm and a dozen individual rune symbols flew and gathered into a glowing key, then the place beneath their feet swayed and the tap above the sink Harry was facing glowed with a blinding white light, then the entire sink sunk and revealed a thick pipe in the ground.


    Everyone clicked their tongue in amazement.


    "Is this the way you guys went down to get into the Chamber of Secrets and kill the basilisk back then?" Parvati Patil asked in awe, she wore her hair in a long ponytail today, just like her twin sister. Parvati''s hair tossed around and whipped between Harry, Ron, and Hermione.


    "Yeah." Harry said.


    "Can we learn this set of rune sequences?" Anthony Goldstein asked tactfully, "That way we don''t have to ask you to open the door every time."


    "Yes," Harry nodded, "that''s what the Professor intended. Ron - you''re first, lead on ahead, I''ll stay at the end."


    Ron took a deep breath and stood at the edge of the thick water pipe. Myrtle floated over to him with interest and plopped down in mid-air to stare straight at Ron''s face.


    "I still remember the first time you jumped off." She said sadly, "You were shorter than me then, but now you''re a head taller than me."


    "It''s not just the head that has changed." Ron shot back at her and jumped, but things weren''t quite what he had expected, as he disappeared from view in near-slow motion due to the effect of the rune circuit on his body. A few people impatiently poked their heads into the hole to look down, there was pitch-black darkness deep below.


    After a few seconds, Ron''s muffled voice came up.


    "Oh - no danger, except it''s a bit dark, I''ll use my illumination magic now - wow! I feel like a rat in a hole, well, I mean - it''s an amazing feeling, a gentle push, and you can fly out so far like you''re gliding -"


    The crowd looked at each other. Harry shrugged and said, "As you can hear, you can think of this as the first attraction of the Chamber of Secrets amusement park."


    One by one the club members went down and Luna waved at Harry, "Thanks, we do need some fun now." Harry didn''t say anything and when he and Myrtle were the only ones left in the abandoned girls'' lavatory, Harry whispered.


    "We certainly need some fun, but we also need a war shelter more than anything." He glanced up at some corner of the lavatory ceiling where there''s a mirror, "I suppose you feel the same way, Professor Hap?"


    ...


    "I certainly thought so."


    "I found out this very early on: the Chamber of Secrets goes several kilometres underground in the school, and it is a natural shelter. In the event of any big disaster, students can head there for shelter, and I also built a hidden fireplace in the inner space of the statue of Salazar Slytherin - there''s always the possibility of using it, even if you can''t use it against Grindelwald now, but if you can extend the time to dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of years later from now, it could be a big help then."


    Felix said with a nod from Professor McGonagall''s office.


    A mirror rippling with water in mid-air disappeared, and Professor McGonagall stared blankly into the air, " He has discovered it - perhaps Albus was right, Potter does have potential."


    "He defeated Voldemort. Even if Voldemort was very weak at the time, it is an indisputable fact that he did it." Felix said, "Plus he is popular enough in the school to have the editor of the Wall of Mystery tabloid on his team, the founder of multiple school clubs ... I''m sure it won''t take an afternoon for word of the underground amusement park to spread throughout the school."


    "Very prescient, Felix. I''ll ask both Head boy and Head girl to cooperate with Prefects to spread this news." Professor McGonagall said, with a sigh, "The situation has once again become very tricky, and the words of the acolyte this morning make me fear that Grindelwald will target the school. There are still a few more days left to go for the final holiday, and we must keep the students safe til then." Her last words had a firm edge to them.


    "Well, I''ve handed that one over to Amelia, who should be discussing it with Babajide Akingbade at the moment, hopefully, it will bear a good conclusion." Felix said, "At the last meeting it was agreed by vote that twelve ministries of magic agreed to send men, and this team of Aurors came under Akingbade''s command. Now that Amelia has come up with new solid evidence, I''m sure the number of ministries of magic that would agree to join the allied forces will increase again."


    "How many Aurors and Hit wizards is Bones prepared to send?" Professor McGonagall asked curiously.


    "A third."


    Professor McGonagall frowned, "So it is less than fifty. That acolyte said that Grindelwald has nearly six or seven hundred people on his hands right now. Although these people are old, they are not all bad at what they do, they used to be the most loyal group of Grindelwald''s men, and in case these people spread out in all directions to recruit wizards who are dissatisfied with the current state of the magical world, that number could immediately swell a dozen times over."


    Felix rubbed his chin and said.


    "There is no way around it, in order to prevent this situation you mentioned, the ministries of magic in each country must also leave enough manpower and reaction time, for the people of the International Confederation of Wizards, the most important thing now is to establish a smooth and stable communication channel, there is a lot to learn from some of Dumbledore''s previous approaches, and... ..."


    He stopped talking as the fireplace burst into flames and Ms. Bones walked out of it, in a dusty state.


    "How did it go?" Professor McGonagall asked with a serious look.


    "It has produced some results." Ms. Bones said wearily, "But Akingbade has refused the suggestion of placing all the nation''s Aurors in England, and instead, he wants me to convince you to join the Allied forces as his second-in-command." She glanced at Felix.


    "At the moment no one is sure how far Grindelwald has recovered his strength, if we go by the test results given by the healers of the International Confederation of Wizards, Grindelwald is now at best a little stronger than an elite Auror, but it can only be considered for a limited time, and if he has fully recovered his level of strength to back then... "


    There was a meaningful gleam in her eyes.


    With this information Felix Hap would never be able to leave so easily, only in the most troubled times would people realise what it meant to have a wizard like Dumbledore, or Felix in their lives.


    "I''m not leaving the school at this time." Felix said with a frown, "It''s uncertain what Grindelwald''s true intentions are, but you can tell Akingbade that I''ll take some action when the end of term has arrived - don''t get me wrong, I''m not interested in commanding a large army of wizards with complex elements, and I''m sure the political tug-of-war involved in this will definitely consume most of my energy if I try to take a charge of it, and I won''t be able to do my research and other things; I''ll try to find Grindelwald and have a talk with him. The best outcome would of course be talking him out of it, with the secondary goal of figuring out his true agenda - or a little fight to find out what he''s made of. I''ve always felt he''s in too much of a hurry, and he shouldn''t be in such a rush in his current state."


    "Well, I will pass the word." Bones said with a sigh, "To be honest, I am just now realising that Voldemort seems er ... compared to the pressure brought on by Grindelwald, at least at the time you and Dumbledore were able to completely overpower Voldemort, and the Ministry of Magic Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members had an absolute advantage over the Death Eaters, but now Grindelwald has in his hands a force more than three times that of the British Ministry of Magic, and this is only the backbone of the group most loyal to him, and any random one of them can gather dozens or hundreds of followers ..."


    "... If all these people could be used to target a certain country, it would be an absolute disaster of enormous magnitude." She seemed to imagine the scene and couldn''t help but shudder, " Are you still unable to get in touch with Dumbledore?" She asked expectantly.


    Felix and Professor McGonagall looked at each other slowly and shook their heads.


    "There''s no need to be so pessimistic, Amelia." Felix said, "Have you ever wondered why Grindelwald gave priority to gathering this core group of forces? According to that acolyte, Grindelwald even resorted to using Protego Diabolica to test the loyalty of every acolyte that chose to join him... he didn''t do that back in his time."


    "Are you saying he has little confidence?" Ms. Bones asked, on alert immediately.


    Felix nodded in all seriousness.


    "Grindelwald has two paths forward: violent confrontation and verbal bewitchment. If he chooses the former, he will immediately be branded as a dark wizard by the Ministries of Magic of every country, his past crimes will all be rehashed and magnified tenfold, and don''t forget that the existing order shows no sign of collapse, and as long as we can keep a tight lid on it for a few months, things will be very different in time."


    "If he chooses the latter - now more than half a century has passed, and even if his speeches held as much charisma as they did once, and even if his slogans reached the hearts of the general public, how many people are left today who would pledge their loyalty to him? The era that belonged to him has passed, and let''s see, there won''t be many of the new generations who will want to follow him - the young people probably haven''t even heard of him, and if they have, it''s a notorious reputation. The only thing to worry about is that he will be throwing his weight around in desperation, even if the chances of his survival become too small!"


    ...


    Grindelwald stood on the finely detailed steps with Vinda Rosier and knocked on the door. As they waited, he said casually.


    "I don''t need too many people to pledge allegiance to me; it''s enough if we can gather enough vocal support to intimidate the law enforcers. A couple of dozen ministries of magic are pulling each other''s strings, and does Akingbade have enough authority to hold these people''s might together? I''m not the same person I was back then, but neither Akingbade is the Dumbledore of that year."


    "Believe me, Vinda, as long as we don''t make the first move, no one will dare to take the initiative to start a wizarding war."


    Grindelwald showed a sarcastic smile.


    "But his identity does have some use, at least enough to deter some people, so here we are."


    The sound of footsteps approached, and a woman dressed as a maid opened the door. She leaned in the doorway and surveyed the two men suspiciously, "Hello, may I ask who you are looking for?"


    "We are looking for Mr. Babajide Akingbade." Vinda Rosier said.


    "But - Mr. Akingbade has mentioned that he will not see any foreign guests, do you have an appointment?" The maid asked.


    "It''s an urgent official matter, related to Mr. Akingbade''s biggest worry at the moment." Grindelwald said, "I spoke to the guards here, Grove, right? A very duty-bound lad."


    The maid''s eyes looked across their shoulders to the opposite side of the path, where a young man at the end of the path nodded his head in that direction.


    "Oh," she moved out of the way, "come in, I''ll go and wake him up - Mr. Akingbade has not slept for dozens of hours in a row - has been in a meeting and has only just laid down for a short time."


    Grindelwald and Vinda Rosier were led into the drawing room, where Grindelwald sat down in a nice, comfortable chair, and with a calm demeanour, he took a book out of his pocket and read it with great concentration.


    The Tales of Beedle the Bard?


    The maid gave the tattered cover a critical glance, and she could see that its owner had definitely looked through it so often that several of the letters had flaked off. It seemed a little odd, but her wariness did lessen considerably.


    Someone who liked to read fairy tale books couldn''t be a bad person, could they? And this person was very polite ...


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 680: Statement (2 in 1)

    What he said about the Chamber of Secrets amusement park is certainly not a casual thing; Felix is very serious about it. The members of the frontline lookout club had already experienced the first ride, which the Creevey brothers called ''tunnelling through'', and the others found it quite apt - through a long, damp underground pipe, as if they were travelling through some deep, deep crevice in the sea, their whole being lightly floating and whirling downwards under the effect of the levitation rune circuit. After the initial discomfort, they soon fell in love with the ride and shouted with glee.


    The glow of illumination led them to a circular open space. S?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Harry recognised that there were remains of rats and small animals piled up here before - all eaten by the basilisk - but now they were all gone. Although it is still wet and dirty, at least it is no longer so ominous, and when they push open the last door, the students were stunned by what they saw before them.


    In front of them, there is a town far vaster in scale than the Hogsmeade village, with snowy mountains, forests, sandy plains, and lakes ... Each place is not very grand, but the various terrains are like pieces of a brightly coloured jigsaw puzzle, and they are harmoniously put all together. Overhead is a blue sky with white clouds. At the entrance, they found a huge wall with instructions and directions.


    "It wasn''t there last time I was here," Harry gulped, as he pointed at his feet, "the last time I was here there was only a single path, I followed it all the way and came across-" he closed his mouth, but Ron and Hermione understood what he meant - an encounter with Voldemort.


    "Hey! Have a look, there are quite a few projects up there." Seamus said in surprise, staring up at the lines and text descriptions on the instruction wall, "The flying rollercoaster-" "I think it''s that thing." Dean interjected, pointing his finger at the long, snake-like carriage that glided over the top of the snowy mountain, "Looks like some kind of sightseeing vehicle."


    "Hey, don''t interrupt." Seamus continued, "There''s also - well, Wild Quidditch, the Library of the Future, the Interactive Murals, the High Swings, the Rapid Shooting, the Dream Architects ... wow even more! I can''t wait, but it looks like a long way to go."


    "It says here - you can ring a bell to summon a ride, or you can fire red sparks with your wand." Neville said, turning his head and staring at a metal object in front of him; it looked like a curved-neck table lamp, only it had been enlarged several times and the location of the light bulb had been replaced with a metal bell.


    "So what are we waiting for?" Dean said excitedly, "I''m going to try Wild Quidditch!"


    Harry also had a soft spot for things with the ''Quidditch'' name on them and at the urging of the crowd, Neville shook the bell, and they waited for almost a minute when there was a clatter of hooves from the distance and a group of glowing creatures came running towards them and stopped right in front of them.


    "Rune creatures?" Hermione said in surprise, looking around her and knowing what this meant: rune creatures couldn''t last long, so everything here is like something taken out of a thinking room and brought under Professor Hap''s magic control.


    Next, everyone picked out their favourite creature.


    Harry picked a creature that looked very much like a hippogriff, and he made his way to the heel and wondered hesitantly if he should bow in front of the shining pupils, but Justin on the other side of the ground had already climbed impatiently on top of a huge flamingo, and he asked uncertainly, close to its ear, "Can you understand what I''m saying? I want to go on a roller coaster that is-"


    Immediately the flamingo took off running on its two long legs, Justin screamed and grabbed its pink wings, and it quickly disappeared from the sight of the crowd.


    Those left behind looked at each other for a moment, then became even more excited.


    "Well - I''m going to go to the Library of the Future first, then I''ll see the Interactive Murals, I don''t know what the Dream Architect means, but the high swings sound nice and calm too -" Hermione chattered.


    They parted at the entrance and a giant creature carried them as they raced towards their goal. The journey wasn''t boring and the ''Hippogriff '' beneath Harry''s feet wasn''t slow, so after only two minutes, he made it to his destination.


    There was a huge golden birdcage-like hollowed-out building in front of him and Harry stepped in the sand, a dry heat spread through the air, and he suddenly realised that it had been over a month since the Quidditch finals, and he couldn''t wait to play a game of Quidditch, Dean was waving at him!


    "Hey Harry, look at this." Dean sat excitedly on a flying broom and Harry had no idea how he had done it, but a huge clear bellflower-like blue bubble wrapped him up completely.


    Harry touched it, and the sensation on his fingertips felt like a leathery toughness, and then he was struck by a flash of motivation to figure out what the Wild Quidditch is all about. Soon he too got on his flying broomstick and the two swooped and collided like barbarians - with the protection of the bubble, which bounced them off, there was no need to worry about getting hurt at all.


    Harry felt the joy of the now abandoned and historical style of Quidditch, the ''aerial collision'', but of course, he felt that the Professor''s approach was far safer and more civilised.


    They had a good time, and at some point, Neville and Ginny joined in. Harry got even more excited and was totally into it: as the opposite party''s faces came closer and closer and when they were about to hit each other, the flexible bubbles came into play - the bubbles were squeezed out of shape, and then they were bounced off in a whirl, having to scramble to control their direction, which tested their skills on the flying broom, and Dean couldn''t avoid hitting the birdcage despite all his efforts then bouncing off again.


    Harry took this opportunity to roar and vent his emotions, knocking down anyone who got in his way, and as he waved his fist in celebration at his third victory, he turned his head and noticed that Ginny had disappeared.


    Neville held out a finger and pointed to the entrance with an innocent expression.


    "I don''t think she was too happy when she left."


    "Er..."


    Harry hurriedly left the Wild Quidditch birdcage, the ''Hippogriff'' still waiting for him where he left it, but he couldn''t find Ginny''s ''horned camel'' anymore. When he looked up, a huge rollercoaster flew overhead and Harry''s eyes caught sight of the Patil sisters'' ponytails dangling backward from the open carriage, and his ears heard their excited shouts as the rollercoaster that looked like a caterpillar flashed past him.


    He got on his ''Hippogriff'' and started to look around, and soon he spotted the figure of Ginny in front of a huge rock wall - her fiery red hair was recognisable, and he went over to her, but Ginny ignored him. Harry got an idea and talked about ''Wild Quidditch'' tricks, and Ginny soon perked her ears up and listened.


    Harry was relieved to see Ginny''s expression change from gloomy to sunny, and he asked, pointing to the brown rock wall, "What''s this?". He looked around to find Katie Bell, Lavender Brown, and Terry Boot looking at it with great interest.


    "The interactive thingy," Ginny said, "Ron''s in there..."


    Harry''s eyes widened as he looked at the rock wall. The rock wall is painted with sketch-like lines that seem to be the random scribbles of someone who isn''t very good at drawing, and there is a long, meandering black line that represents the rolling hillside, on which a small, sketchy-looking figure is currently climbing.


    "That''s Ron?"


    "Yeah." Ginny said with a grin, "Watch, I''m getting the hang of this a bit." She said taking out her wand and tracing a circle on the rock wall, in which the circle seemed to turn into a huge tumbling rock that rolled down the hillside under Harry''s dumbfounded expression.


    "Who''s messing with me!"


    Ron''s clear roar came out of the rock wall as the little man representing him smashed a rolling rock ten times his size with a single punch.


    "I should have painted it more real." Ginny said regretfully, and when she saw the look on Harry''s face she reassured him, "Oh, don''t worry - the person inside the rock wall won''t be in danger of losing his life, all we can do is put up some sort of obstacle, or convenience for him. A bit of a prank, I think Fred and George would like it here ..."


    Soon there was no way in front of Ron in the rock wall, and he was dealing with a huge gully, Lavender Brown had drawn two bat wings on the rock wall with her wand, which was picked up by Ron, and he flapped them to reach the top of the hill (which was drawn with a straight line) where a huge chair was drawn and there was actually someone sitting on it -


    "Valen?" Harry rubbed his eyes.


    "This is a mural of warriors fighting a demon." Lavender muttered, without looking away.


    The Valen in the mural looked a dozen times bigger than Ron, and even Ron himself was startled when Valen gave two excited grunts and snapped a curved pair of branches from the tree, and made them fall like lightning. "Oops, Ron''s going to fail. Let''s give a hand." Katie Bell shouted excitedly, pulling out her wand and drawing a circle around the rock wall, circling Ron''s entire body.


    "Who turned off the lights?" Ron asked in a bewildered tone.


    At that moment Valen sneaked over and kicked out as hard as she could at a ball, and the rock wall suddenly flickered and Ron emerged from it.


    Half a dozen people surrounded him.


    "How does it feel?" Susan Bones asked.


    "Erm, a bit dizzy," Ron shook his head, "it was like entering the world of a comic book - the world is all just a row of lines in your eyes, but for the people inside, it seemed like a real black and white world, although I don''t know why Valen got so big ..."


    The next second the rock wall shimmered again and Valen jumped out of it, with a smug smile, standing only a foot tall.


    Hermione had just come out of the ''Library of the Future'', she had re-read the ''The Monster Book of Monsters'' but it felt completely different, the words and pictures in the book became a single coherent scene. She had just assisted a large man (who looked a lot like Hagrid) in catching a group of Coco Rumsey Catcher, using exactly what she had learned from the book - a large handful of fresh, dew-soaked leaves - and it''s even better if you can also perform an exaggerated dramatic movement during the capture: they immediately can''t resist running out of the corner to watch you perform. That''s when you can put them in their cage.


    For her next destination, she wanted to go to the high swings, and she stopped for a moment on the way past the rapid shooting field, where Justine and Ernie Macmillan stood on one side of a long canal, with a steady stream of Billywig insects coming out of the nest on the other side, which quickly rushed towards the pair. They sweated profusely as they shot a stream of red light from their wands, and when it hit the Billywig insects, the nimble little creatures fell to the ground like a soft rubber ball. As time passed, the Billywig insects grew in number and speed.


    Hermione left shortly afterward when she heard a frustrated intake of breath from behind her.


    She arrived at the place marked on the map as ''High Swing'', there was only a sign nearby, she stared blankly and tapped the wooden sign with her wand. Then a rustling sound came from above, and she looked up as a green vine dangled from the sky.


    The vine weaved itself into the shape of a letter ''J'' and the bottom of it inflated into a seat, she managed to sit on it, and it carried her up high and soon everything on the ground came into view. Over a plain, she saw the blurred figure of Luna, who flicked her wrist and a monstrous and uncanny house (Hermione guessed it would be a house) rose from the ground like a huge black smoking pipe with a silver crescent hanging from the chimney.


    "Okay, I can probably guess what the Dream Architect is."


    Hermione muttered in a small voice. She couldn''t help but imagine what her ideal house would look like in her mind, nothing too formal, but nothing too weird either, and she tilted her head as she gawked at Luna''s creation, which appeared to be Luna''s home, and from her perspective, it surprisingly looked a bit like an upright boot. She giggled.


    After looking at it for a while, she tapped her wand on the vine, which continued to rise upwards, and she wanted to look at the highest point. Hermione remembered the fairy tale about Jack and the Beanstalk that she had heard when she was a child; there couldn''t be a giant that could eat children above the clouds, could there?


    She laughed at the thought. A steady stream of wavy clouds with neatly cut edges glided before her, they seemed to be carved out of the same mould, the professor didn''t seem to have put much thought into them ... Hermione couldn''t help but muse about it when finally the vines stopped moving.


    Hermione looked around and spotted a silver sphere the size of a crystal ball behind her. Is this - the moon? But it looked too small to notice at all if she didn''t pay attention. She reached out curiously and picked the crystal ball up in her arms, and unexpectedly found a small note stuck on the back of the sphere as she turned its back towards her.


    "I should be a thousand times of this size, but for now all I can do is pretend I''m the moon."


    Hermione slowly read the note and giggled at the familiar handwriting, laughing so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, "Oh Professor, I didn''t think-" As she laughed, she noticed that the other side of the note also had something writing on it, and she turned it over to see the following written on it ''Lunar city plan is on hold''.


    ...


    The Chamber of Secrets amusement park was rapidly taking Hogwarts by storm.


    For some reason, Felix had noticed Granger looking at him strangely for the past two days, but he was busy at the moment, both with his responsibilities as Deputy Headmaster - learning how to run the day-to-day affairs of the school under Professor McGonagall - which he disliked so much that he had offered to hand over the job to the Head boy and Head girl of the school, under the fancy name ''work experience''.


    "But you should at least know exactly which jobs you are responsible for." Professor McGonagall said with a grunt from her nose.


    On the other end of the world, Grindelwald still hadn''t stopped his activities. Word had come back from the British representative of the International Confederation of Wizards that Babajide Akingbade had hosted a strange man and woman in his mansion, during which the tight protection measures put in place around him had completely failed and over twenty elite Aurors had lost half an hour of their memories.


    One could use a knee to guess that Grindelwald had approached his door.


    But strangely enough, no problems were found with Akingbade after he underwent various tests. No Imperius Curse, no replacement, his memory left intact, in fact, all evidence pointed to the fact that: he hadn''t been harmed in any way. In his own words, Grindelwald talked to him for a while as if he was an old friend catching up. He even went on to receive representatives from New Zealand and Norway after the examination.


    "Grindelwald definitely did or said something. He is best at verbal bewitchment." Ms. Bones said with certainty.


    She had guessed it right.


    Three days before the holidays, Babajide Akingbade made a solemn statement addressed to all wizards.


    "It is with great regret that I have to announce that Gellert Grindelwald is back to the public eye, previously he had been imprisoned in Nurmengard Prison, but now he has escaped and regained his freedom ..." The newspaper, which recorded his entire speech, spread instantly throughout the whole wizarding world.


    "In view of the series of crimes he has committed, I, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Babajide Akingbade, should have immediately mobilised all my forces to arrest him, which I did, but he voluntarily approached me, and we had a private conversation - I personally was not subjected to any coercion, Yes, Mr. Grindelwald was very polite throughout the whole conversation, we even discussed one of the wizard fairy tales, I''m sure many of you have heard of the story of ''The Wizard and the Hopping Pot'' ... Ahem, what I''m trying to say is that the wizarding world is in a dire situation, and we can''t afford another wizarding war."


    "And Grindelwald, who, unfortunately, is a wizard with generally long life, and he still retains enough influence in our world. Under these circumstances, Grindelwald has offered to show his goodwill, so what reason do I have, on the basis of personal preference, to break the olive branch he has offered me? I admit that my actions will be controversial, but I must put aside my personal feelings because every decision I make has far-reaching implications ... Negotiations for peace are essential."


    "What''s more -"


    The newspaper deliberately highlighted this and as he said it he looked very embarrassed and hesitant, and a full five minutes passed before he finally made up his mind to tell.


    "What''s more, the man who defeated Grindelwald last time is no longer with us, the great, wise, and benevolent Albus Dumbledore - he''s dead!"


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 681: Music of the Night

    Neither Felix nor Professor McGonagall showed up for dinner, and they discussed the situation intensely in the office but were unable to reach a decision. The division magic Felix had learned from the North Pole is not without its flaws; he has only one Book of Runes, and that is the equivalent of his wand, which will allow him to use his battle powers to their full potential. If Grindelwald is determined to make the news of Dumbledore''s death public, there is really very little they can do.


    The original plan was based on the premise that ''Dumbledore'' would fade from the public eye and only make occasional appearances in the future to prove that he is still alive. The entire wizarding community would slowly adjust to the fact that he had ''retired'', and even if the wizarding community would be forced to go public in a few years or a decade, his name would serve as a significant deterrent.


    All that is needed, after all, is a deterrent.


    With Felix at the forefront to show his strength, Dumbledore, who became famous a hundred years earlier than he did, a man of great popularity and merit, and widely regarded as the greatest white wizard of all time, would become an unpredictable presence in the minds of ordinary people.


    No one would want to provoke such an old man and force him into battle.


    Moreover, the subtlety of the plan lies in the fact that even if some wizards had doubts, they would not have the guts to question them, much less dare to publicly ''curse'' Dumbledore dead, even making assumptions about it would drown them in spittle: an old man who had dedicated most of his life to the wizarding world has the right to enjoy his later years without any need to take care of official business. Felix could also go along by having ''Dumbledore'' show up and say a few words of advice in public, without affecting the bigger picture at all.


    The benefits are considerable, the cost is near zero, and the only one who will suffer is Dumbledore himself.


    It''s a pity Grindelwald jumped on board.


    Felix isn''t arrogant enough to think he can rival Dumbledore in his mastery of Transfiguration, and if one second ''Dumbledore'' appears and the next Grindelwald asks him to fight, it is highly possible that their actions will be punctured on the spot in full view of the public.


    In the short term, all Felix could think of to do would be to make up the excuse that Dumbledore was injured and accept to fight in his place instead.


    But the viciousness of Grindelwald''s scheme lies in the fact that even if they solve the immediate dilemma, it does not signify the end of the problem altogether, rather it is the initiation of a series of troubles - because even the most subtle of lies cannot withstand the repeated glances of scepticism.


    A magic trick, when first seen, will be memorable and unforgettable. But if it is performed countless times, even if the trick is not detected for a while, the public will subconsciously accept the fact that it is ''fake'', and the magician''s hard work will only attract more suspicion and critical looks, causing things to get completely out of hand.


    "Felix, let''s each go back and think it over, and we''ll discuss it tomorrow." Professor McGonagall said wearily, "I''ll send the students to bed first." She left, and not a moment later the reluctant shouting of students who all wanted to know the truth was heard, but Professor McGonagall''s attitude was firm, stating that it was too late to discuss this today and that everything would have to wait until tomorrow.


    She turned back to Felix and exchanged a complicated look, knowing that this couldn''t be kept from them for too long and a convincing statement had to be made. In the corner, Snape stood like a silent plant growing in the darkness, his face expressionless, and not far from him Sprout and Filius stood, Filius'' sharp voice stammering out something.


    Felix was a little sad and a little tired of the fact that the magic he prided himself on was completely helpless in this kind of situation.


    He couldn''t help but think of Dumbledore, how many times in his long life had he truly felt this sense of powerlessness?


    As the castle grew quiet, Felix climbed up the grand staircase to the corridor where the Headmaster''s office is located, the Gargoyles did not block him as he pushed open the door to the Headmaster''s office.


    This place remained pretty much the same as it had been when he first entered.


    He could recall almost every detail of his interview.


    The finely wrought silverware rustled comically on the slender-legged desk, emitting puffs of white smoke in the darkness; behind the beautiful brown Headmaster''s chair a personal collection of Dumbledore''s books lay silently on the compartment along with the Sorting Hat; the Pensieve lay hidden behind the black cupboard door; the Gryffindor sword encased in a clear glass cabinet; and the golden perch on the back side of the room was empty, where the Phoenix had originally been.


    The portraits of the Headmaster on the wall had an extra golden frame, with Dumbledore sleeping quietly and peacefully. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix gazed at the portrait of Dumbledore.


    "It will take him a while to wake up." The old wizard with curly grey hair and short fringes whispered from the wall, "In order to be connected with the whole castle so that we can be around for a long time."


    Felix nodded at him and silently turned to leave the Headmaster''s office.


    He suddenly thought of classroom seven, where there is a seventeen-year-old Dumbledore, and as he crossed the long corridor, he stopped abruptly, his thinking room released instantly, but it was stopped as if there is an invisible barrier in front of it.


    Felix hadn''t been able to see the man''s face, and in fact, there is no need to, there is only one person in the world capable of doing that.


    "Grindelwald," he said pleasantly, "I''ve been expecting to meet you for a while, I didn''t think you''d show up at this current point in time, aren''t those acolytes afraid you''re trapped here."


    A figure cloaked in a black coat slowly stepped out of the shadows, a white rose pinned to his chest.


    "They are not children and will not worry needlessly. And weren''t you expecting me, so here I am." Grindelwald said with an expressionless face, looking out the window at the view directly over the forbidden forest, the moon glowing brightly. "It''s only been a few days, and you''ve changed the protective magic outside the school - Flitwick''s handiwork, I guess. Is it to guard against me? Too bad it didn''t work."


    "I don''t need to tell you to figure out the deeper meaning, which is that you are no longer welcome here." Felix said.


    "That makes me a little sad - apart from that cold, damp room, this is the place I''ve stayed the longest. Not even the houses in Privet Drive could get on the list, though I''ve been paying rent for it for a year ... Where are you taking me?" Grindelwald asked with sudden interest.


    As he spoke, the walls around them became blurred and seemed to mist over, and the landscape began to overlap as if they found themselves in both Hogwarts Castle and a very different place at the same time. The sound of the night wind whimpering and the wailing of crows came to their ears.


    "A graveyard, it''s empty enough," Felix said without moving, "for talking about things."


    Grindelwald tsked, "Talk about things? After we talk? I didn''t come here today to fight." He tapped his wand against his withered hand and the castle regained its clarity. The two men''s eyes fell on the corridor windowsill, where silently an extra branch appeared as if out of thin air, and a team of ants crawled along it to the cold wall.


    "If you prefer, it''s no different in here - I thought you''d find me first." Felix said.


    His heart sank. Grindelwald wasn''t weak enough to test any further, the school really isn''t a place to fight at full strength, and the charm in his wrist didn''t respond even a little bit when the two got this close.


    "Oh, I did indeed consider doing that." Grindelwald said with a smile on his face, rubbing his chin, "But then I changed my mind. Although I despise Babajide Akingbade, he is the one who stands at the top of the wizarding order, at least on the surface."


    "You value him for what he is?" Felix said sharply, "To use him for your own agenda?"


    Grindelwald''s eyes twinkled brightly.


    "I could certainly come out publicly, but then why should I? His word is far more persuasive than mine, and no wizarding newspaper will refuse to print his statement when all I have to do is tell some truth - you know what, Felix? Akingbade is an orphan from the last wizard war, and he has every reason to hate me, but the truth is he compromised and agreed to negotiate with me, for a sense of false peace. I only recently found out about it."


    "Sounds a bit of a con, so you tricked him?" Felix was taken aback, Babajide couldn''t have believed his bullshit that easily, could he?


    Grindelwald shook his head slightly and grinned menacingly. Felix waited for him to stop, and Grindelwald sighed.


    "Do you think I can only convince people by deception? I made him an offer he could not refuse, a temptation so great that he lost the ability to think calmly - and without me wasting any more words, he convinced himself to act on my ideas."


    "I am very curious about that. Can you hint at it? Maybe I''ll have a chance to use it too." Felix said indifferently.


    Grindelwald sized him up for a moment, grinned, and made a wordless gesture.


    Felix''s eyes widened.


    "Unbreakable vow?" He lost his tone. The shock in his heart is immense. His eyes subconsciously glanced over to Grindelwald''s wrist, and he looked slightly stunned at the sight of his left hand turning charred and black before shifting his gaze to the one holding his wand.


    "Of course, it hasn''t been signed yet," Grindelwald glanced at him curiously, "the statement he made today is a prerequisite for the vow, but - well, I''ll go over to him after I talk to you, and maybe I''ll even run into that little female minister of yours too. A whole bunch of magic ministers and representatives as witnesses - I''m sure Akingbade will do that - and the vow will be incredibly restrictive and strong that way."


    Felix pursed his lips and glanced at him.


    "Oh, I understand." Grindelwald said slowly, "People like us are not used to leaving our fate in the hands of others, but it''s more convincing that way, don''t you think? For example, even if I tell you now, will you be able to stop this?"


    "What vow are you going to make?" Felix spoke somewhat gruffly.


    "It is probably something about not being able to kill people casually or actively start a wizard war." Grindelwald said vaguely, acting carefree as if he thought this matter is of little concern.


    Felix raised his eyebrows.


    "You found a way to break the ''Unbreakable Vow''?"


    "..." Grindelwald was silent for a moment and asked curiously, "What makes you think so?"


    Felix fell silent as well.


    Is this line of thought incorrect?


    Did Grindelwald really intend to take a vow? Is he out of his mind? An idea flashed through Felix''s mind, and he prodded tentatively, "Do you want Dumbledore to get a funeral worthy of him?"


    Grindelwald immediately shrugged his nose like he had sniffed rotten meat with a look of disgust.


    "You have reminded me," he said maliciously, his smile hidden in the shadows, "where you have buried him? I can only say some things to his tombstone, don''t tell me he''s reclusive and hiding from everyone, I know everything - but it would be nice for him to be alive, I would like to see the look of regret on his face."


    There was a moment of silence. Felix raised his left hand and the emerald ring on it lit up, from which letters flew out and flapped in the air before him.


    "What is this?" He asked carefully, and Felix seemed to sense a heartbeat coming from the opposite side, but Grindelwald''s eyes looked like a deep, dry well, overflowing with no emotion.


    "If you still remained in Nurmengard at this moment, you could receive one of these every two or three months, which would last for about twenty years. But you won''t need it now." Felix said, letting the letters fly like doves towards Grindelwald, who held out his hand, and they have instantly taken away by him.


    There was another moment of silence. Felix suddenly asked, "By the way, if I go to classroom seven now, will I be able to meet a-"


    "No need to say that!" Grindelwald barked flatly, his nails sinking into his flesh, but immediately he regained his composure as if the momentary lapse of composure had not just occurred. "Felix, there''s something lacking in you, you have a lot of shackles, so you can''t fight me freely or stop me. I can teach you a trick:" he said coldly, "you have to burn the hell out of it."


    Grindelwald disappeared.


    Felix lapsed into contemplation and returned to his office with heavy feet, when he looked up he saw a huge dark figure leaning against the doorway.


    "Hagrid? What are you doing here?"


    Hagrid was startled awake. His face is wet with tears, his eyes are red, and he is clutching a large, dirty handkerchief unconsciously in his hand.


    "I ... I''ve been waiting for you, Felix." Hagrid said, a little confused, then his eyes grew fearful, and his voice choked, "I read and saw in the newspapers that ... Dumbledore ... please tell me it''s not true."


    Felix hesitated, what is he going to say in reply, keep telling the lie all over again? The matter could not be hidden when Akingbade and Grindelwald rely on an unbreakable vow to form a strong link.


    He stood on tiptoe and patted Hagrid''s shoulder.


    Hagrid''s expression froze, and he suddenly let out a beastly howl, tears rolling down in great drops and seeping into his shaggy beard. He threw himself around Felix, who let out a muffled hum and put a humanoid shield charm on himself, the charm wavered at first; he then cast a Muffliato Charm to avoid Hagrid waking the whole castle.


    When Hagrid was tired of crying, Felix looked as if he had been fished out of the water. He took Hagrid to his office and put him to sleep on the sofa. The following morning, Valen and Felix, who had been sleepless all night due to the deafening snores, left the office and found Professor McGonagall to tell her what had happened last night.


    Professor McGonagall was shocked to hear that.


    But it didn''t take long for Ms Bones to deliver the news that it was all true. Just last night, hundreds of Aurors stood at attention, and the Ministers of Magic from over ten countries were present to witness the signing of the vow between Akingbade and Grindelwald.


    The following morning, Professor McGonagall sadly (and relieved) announced the news of Dumbledore''s death to the entire student body and faculty.


    The students were overwhelmed and drowned with great sadness as Professor McGonagall hastily announced Headmaster Dumbledore''s last wishes and then hardened her heart to prepare Dumbledore''s funeral, as it was no longer a secret, she wanted to honour Dumbledore''s memory by having them attend the funeral before the students left for the holidays.


    Hogsmeade was flooded with wizards from all over the world almost in the blink of an eye, people who had actually heard the news previously announced to the public by Akingbade in advance arrived for the final farewell to Dumbledore''s body.


    That night the rain poured down and the lightning thundered.


    Everyone''s hearts were heavy and seemed wet with rain. The next day, the skies cleared and the gates of Hogwarts opened wide as men and women wizards poured into the school from all over the world. Felix''s eyes darted through the crowd, looking for someone, he knew Grindelwald would surely show up.


    All of Grindelwald''s plans would be revealed today.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 682: The End and Beginning of the Era (2 in 1)

    The funeral was arranged in the Black Lake near the forbidden forest, where hundreds of chairs were lined up in the vacant space, but more and more people came, and the professors temporarily added more nearby, all of them facing a clean white stone table. The sky drizzled sparsely. The chairs were almost full, and people continued to arrive, standing solemnly in the back rows.


    Grindelwald did not appear till the funeral began, and Felix pushed down his doubts and sat quietly in his seat waiting for the ceremony to begin.


    The crowd heard music that sounded like music from heaven.


    Near the surface of the clear green lake, a choir of merpeople sang, their pale faces filled with emotion, and they expressed their grief in the language of the merpeople; Felix looked up to see a phoenix hovering high in the clear sky, and a mournful and moving song came out of its mouth. Amidst the mournful chorus of mermaid and phoenix song, Hagrid appeared, carrying Dumbledore''s body through the gap between the seats towards the front row, big drops of tears falling through his beard onto the purple velvet with gold stars that wrapped around the body.


    With a very gentle movement, Hagrid placed the purple velvet fabric warped body on the white stone table and remained frozen for a few seconds, his hand still clasping something. Then he returned to the back and walked over to little Grawp ( there was a large empty space around him), his giant half-brother, wearing a huge jacket and tent-like trousers, his expression was meek, and he patted Hagrid''s head heavily as if comforting him.


    The music stops and the merpeople dove under the water, their blurred faces disappeared completely. Only the phoenix remained gliding across the sky. A short man with thick hair and black wizard''s robes stood up, walked over to the stone table, and turned to face the crowd in a solemn manner. He cleared his throat.


    Just then, the unexpected happened.


    A silver lynx landed lightly in front of Felix and the group, lifting its head gracefully, and from its mouth came the voice of Kingsley: "Grindelwald is here! With a number of men, so you better - oh, dear! There are too many people coming!" His voice at the end had become so panicked that he could not sound composed as usual.


    The first few rows of wizards looked at each other in disbelief.


    Babajide Akingbade, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, frowned and said, " He has brought all those acolytes with him? Is it a show of force or a precaution to keep us from using force?" No one responded to him, and Felix''s eyes flashed with a silvery glint, his eyes widened abruptly.


    He stood up swiftly, and before anyone could react, he turned to Professor McGonagall and the three Heads of House and said, "I''ll go over first. There shouldn''t be a fight, but-" "Of course, there won''t be a fight! He took a vow not to initiate a wizard''s war!" Akingbade said as he held up an arm where there the skin had some strange lines. Without looking at him, Felix continued calmly, "But I would advise preparing the students - at least the underclassmen - to evacuate at any moment and head to the Chamber of Secrets."


    Professor McGonagall''s body shook, and her face turned white as she grabbed her chest collar and asked for some confirmation, "There''s a lot of people arriving?"


    Felix said briefly, "Far more than one can imagine." With that, he disappeared from the sight of the crowd like a drop of water blending into the air. The people who had come to the funeral burst into a flurry of chatter, and Akingbade opened his mouth to say something, but before that Professor McGonagall walked past the crowd, raised her arm to signal everyone to quieten down, and said in a loud voice.


    "... Hogwarts will keep all guests safe and in the event of danger, we will stand in the way and buy you time to evacuate. Mr. Filch and Madam Pomfrey will be in charge of the evacuation. The Head of Grade and the Professors will maintain order and wait for the signal. Evacuation location - Potter? Harry Potter?" She shouted.


    Harry stumbled over to her, his face lingering with heavy surprise.


    "You know the place -" Professor McGonagall whispered, "in the Chamber of Secrets, inside the statue of the man, there are fireplaces for evacuation. It can be opened using the Parseltongue." With that, she hurried towards the main entrance of the school. But within a few steps, she stopped in shock.


    The sky at the school gates suddenly glowed with a blinding white light, the eyes of the wizard who looked past her stung and every cell in Harry''s body sent an alarm to him, immediately afterward the sky darkened, no, Harry squinted through his tears as an illusory Hogwarts castle appeared in the sky, enveloping the white light completely.


    The black castle seemed to be illuminated by the white light, those rays were like tiny knives, leaving countless deep scratches on the walls in the blink of an eye, the walls cracked like bags of water and seemed to be unable to hold up in the next second, Felix flipped through a page of the Book of Rune and tiny rune symbols flashed up on the surface of the walls - the cracks disappeared instantly, and the castle walls strengthen up.


    Grindelwald waved his wand and all the light disappeared.


    Felix looked up, and the castle lines were hidden from normal eyes.


    "Dumbledore''s final move," Grindelwald marvelled, "impressed me back in the day, but after all these years, I''m not a bad imitator." The two men stood about two hundred feet apart, and in the open space behind Grindelwald stood a large, dark, silent crowd, almost a few thousand in number, which matched none of the information Felix had received.


    A thought crossed his mind: most of these people had been brought in by Grindelwald to make up the numbers.


    Kingsley stated somewhat disturbed from the side, "There are people on other sides of the school too, they''ve got the school surrounded, but those people have no intention of attacking now." Felix''s eyes looked past Grindelwald towards the distance, where some people pointing at them.


    Further away, a steady stream of wizards arrived, the crackle of Apparition continued to sound, and those who arrived later crowded together, looking up as if they are attending a rally, or watching a game. Felix could not detect the scent of a great battle.


    Grindelwald waved at him.


    "We haven''t had a proper fight yet, there''s a bit of time before Akingbade gets here, might as well take this opportunity to-"


    Felix''s eyes suddenly peered into the crowd, and he used Legilimency to look through their minds, then a spell shot over from in front of him, and a tall, lanky armour leaped out of the Book of Runes at the same time, the spell bouncing off instantly. Felix withdrew his gaze, his mind clouded with more doubt; these men seemed to have come with a mission, ready to stir up chaos all over the world.


    But unless Akingbade and those ministers of magic were blind and had allowed Grindelwald to make a false vow. Such a thing could not possibly happen.


    "Then I''ll satisfy your request." Felix said calmly as the Book of Runes began to turn pages with a clatter and a bolt of black lightning shot towards Grindelwald, whose eyes widened, and his wand let out a shrill whistle as black lightning flashed in front of him.


    It became obvious at this point who among the crowd behind him is elite and who is rabble, some stepped forward and joined forces to hold up protective magic, but a greater number of wizards retreated in quick succession, in chaotic disarray. Felix''s brow loosened but then tightened again.


    "Stand back." Grindelwald shouted with what seemed to be suppressed anger.


    He raised his wand and a silvery, firebird with a body covered in blue flames burst from its tip. The firebird''s two eyes are replaced by crystalline flames.


    ''A Patronus?'' Felix thought to himself, he saw it in the newspaper and was not entirely sure, but now that he had seen it in person he finally made an accurate judgement.


    The castle conjured in the air using ancient runes and memory magic shifted from lines to solidity, trapping the strange Patronus within. Grindelwald waved his wand and the firebird swelled hundreds of times at once, rampaging across the sky, while at the same time blue and white flowers fell from the sky, they stuck on the walls of the castle Felix had conjured, and in the blink of an eye, the battlefield between the two turned into a sea of fire.


    Professor McGonagall, Sprout, Snape, Bones, and Akingbade rushed to the scene first, followed by a dozen other Ministers of Magic from other countries and their accompanying Aurors, all of whom opened their mouths wide in surprise.


    Akingbade''s eyes showed incredulity, and unlike the shock and awe of the rest, there was more than a little doubt and disbelief in his eyes as he rolled down his sleeve and stared at the pattern on his wrist in disbelief. The unbreakable vow didn''t work, so neither man took it seriously? Or did one-on-one does not count as starting a wizard war?


    Professor McGonagall and Ms. Bones looked worried as Felix seemed to fall at disadvantage - the whole castle was enveloped in Fiendfyre, and a dozen firebirds poked their heads out of the towers, growing larger than dragons and coiled high up to spit flames around.


    At that moment, Felix threw the Book of Runes up high, which turned into a haze of light and merged into the castle.


    The castle instantly expanded a dozen times, almost exactly the same size as a real Hogwarts castle, with rune symbols shimmering on every brick.


    A chorus of shouts came as if from a distant place.


    A number of figures stepped out of the thin air with uniform strides - they appeared to be Hogwarts students and professors, and they held their wands in their hands, moving in neat, uniform movements as they recited incantations, and in a flash, hundreds of golden-red bolts of spells pierced through the air. The flames from Grindelwald were forced to split apart, and then an exaggeratedly sized rune creature appeared, fearlessly charging straight into the flames. A few seconds later every single firebird was crushed and reduced to shards of embers, just in time for the spells of the students and professors below to obliterate the embers.


    As if the castle projection served as a battleground, and Felix already started to regain the lost territory.


    Grindelwald waved his wand with a stony face, and the two seemed to have reached a tacit agreement not to use new magic, but to compete with each other using their understanding of the same spell. New firebirds continued to split and flaming petals rained down from the sky, but all became useless, and the students and professors in the castle - who are merely fabricated figments of Felix''s mind, that he created to save himself the trouble - are essentially no different from the magical creatures that rampage across the battleground, and they wouldn''t die, so they are more powerful than the magical creatures.


    "Is that him?" An old, wrinkled wizard in the crowd behind Grindelwald asked.


    "That''s right, satisfied?" Vinda Rosier asked. The old wizard coughed twice.


    The last stray wisp of flame went out, and the only thing left in the castle was the firebird Patronus from the beginning. Felix weighed in his mind that if Grindelwald only had the strength he displayed at the moment, he could still easily handle him even while protecting Hogwarts...


    Grindelwald already lowered his wand.


    "Stop -" Akingbade shouted at that precise moment, stepping forward, raising his arm, and gritting his teeth, "Grindelwald, do you wish to renege on your vow? Do you wish to start a war?"


    "Just passing the time," Grindelwald kindly laughed, as he followed Akingbade''s gaze and looked behind him, "Oh, they are the people I brought to see the funeral, I was afraid it wouldn''t be grand enough - that would make me, an old friend of Dumbledore to feel disappointed."


    Akingbade''s expression stiffened, and he couldn''t help but lower his voice and yell, "Grindelwald, you''re breaking the rules. If you still intend to discuss, let them leave."


    Grindelwald gave him a sidelong glance, and Felix had expected him to refuse, after all the fuss he had made, but Grindelwald surprisingly compromised.


    "As you have heard, you are free to leave and do what you want." Grindelwald whispered with his wand pointed at his throat, his voice carried clearly to the ears of everyone present. Then, one by one, they left using Apparition.


    Grindelwald put away his wand, spread his palms, and asked. "Now that I''m alone, are you all relieved?"


    Akingbade and the professors breathed a visible sigh of relief. They had been surrounded by thousands of wizards before, and the dark mass of heads in a row would have made anyone tremble inside. Not to mention the thousands of students in the school and those who had travelled thousands of miles to attend the funeral.


    It looked like Grindelwald simply wanted to demonstrate to them - the International Confederation of Wizards and the Ministries of Magic - and it must be said that he had achieved his goal, it had only been a few days and Grindelwald had silently gathered so many people, even if most of them were - according to Grindelwald''s own words - here to see the fun, but the gathering power is enough to make them not dare to make any small move while their heart ringing with alarm bells.


    Grindelwald came over and held out his hand towards Felix. Felix hesitated for a moment and grabbed the hand that was offered to him.


    The two men felt the charm in each other''s arms. As well as something else.


    "I know what you''re going to do! You''ll be the public enemy of all wizards and muggles." Felix whispered, his eyes dead set on Grindelwald, whose body is riddled with holes. No wonder he is in such a hurry!


    Grindelwald was stunned. A slight bow followed.


    "I am deeply honoured." He said, "Oh, by the way-" his hands suddenly grew hot, "I''m sorry about ruining your and Dumbledore''s plans. But Dumbledore overestimated his own name, how can a good man be more intimidating than an outright bad man?"


    After he finished, he walked towards Akingbade.


    "Grindelwald!" Felix called out to him, "Will innocent people die today?" S~?a??h the N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Grindelwald stopped dead in his tracks.


    "Innocent people? I don''t think ... they will." He said without looking back.


    Felix stayed where he was, and Professor McGonagall called out to him as he raised his feet to follow. He opened the hand he had just shaken and stared at the palm of his own hand, where a single flower with petals of solidified blue flame lay still, and Felix silently crushed the flower as a spell came to his mind.


    It is a spell to summon the Acolyte.


    Felix let out a lengthy breath.


    The alarm was lifted and there was one more person attending the funeral. Apart from the uncomfortable look on the faces of the Hogwarts students who had spent a year with Grindelwald, the others did not show much difference. Neville did want to stand up and question the trick within that sneakoscope but was pulled back by the weight of Seamus and Dean at his side.


    "Don''t be impulsive, Neville." Harry whispered, though his feelings are also very mixed.


    Akingbade spoke briefly, saying that Grindelwald had been invited over by himself and that when the funeral is over, they would start further negotiations and peace would be within reach by then. The expression on Grindelwald, who was standing next to him, was non-committal.


    The funeral proceeded. When Akingbade returned to his seat in the first row, Grindelwald did not follow him over, he approached the small man with thick hair and black wizard''s robes, and asked courteously, "Excuse me, is it time to recount the life of the deceased?"


    "Yes, yes." The small man stammered.


    Grindelwald grinned.


    "Then leave it to me, I''m sure there is no one in the world more familiar with Dumbledore''s strengths and weaknesses than I am."


    The small man''s expression froze, and he looked for help at the front row of wizards, where a row of great men sat. But no one said a word. The small man moved awkwardly out of the way. Grindelwald glanced at the body on the white stone table, where Dumbledore seemed quietly asleep.


    He turned and said slowly.


    "Dumbledore and I met far earlier than you think, when Dumbledore had just graduated, and I had been expelled from school for studying dark magic, fate brought two bitter young men together in Godric''s Hollow. We hit it off instantly and soon became closer than blood brothers, for brothers are only connected by blood - think of how many broken family ties there are out there in reality - and we were incredibly compatible with each other based on our philosophies... ..."


    He had barely said the beginning of the story when it drew no small amount of commotion. But Harry knew it was all true.


    "Dumbledore had many virtues and made many achievements, but all that tedious academic research aside, his most celebrated contribution was his firm commitment to defend the rights of Muggles and wizards from Muggle families. Sadly, he himself was a victim of Muggles, oh poor Albus, whose family became torn apart by a few Muggles, of course, it was fuelled up by our law enforcement agencies and the Statute of Secrecy."


    Professor McGonagall fidgeted, she tried to stand up but was held down by Felix.


    "Let him speak." Felix said calmly, his expression looked like he was looking at a dead man.


    "... The victim is supposed to have the right to take revenge on the perpetrator - in any way imaginable - but Dumbledore abandoned it. I am certain that this experience must have caused some people to see Dumbledore as a tragic hero, making them hail him as a person with great kindness and compassion, instead of undermining Dumbledore''s greatness. But I could only see his weakness and cowardice."


    The crowd murmured.


    "At one point we had nothing to talk about, so I knew Dumbledore''s little buried secret, his desire for wizards and muggles to coexist in harmony and be close as a family, what a noble ideal! Unfortunately, he only wants the results, as he cowered after realizing the price he had to pay to achieve it ..."


    "... Because of his cowardice, he ended up on the opposite side of the fence from me. He turned his back on his ideals, our ideals! For the rest of his life, he was afraid to take a step forward, and even when he finally died he could only hold on to the hope with caution." The expressions on the faces of the crowd grew angry, and Grindelwald looked around without a hint of fear: "This is Dumbledore, and perhaps you and I do not see him in the same way, but one thing is clear: Dumbledore represented an era, and with his departure, an era has come to an end."


    "And a new era is about to dawn."


    Grindelwald said, not looking at the others and turning his head to stare at the stone table. Dazzling white flames crept up the equally white and flawless stone table, the flames rose higher and higher, a sad phoenix cry sounded from the sky, the flames abruptly disappeared, and a white stone tomb appeared in its place - Dumbledore''s body and the table encased inside the stone tomb.


    The funeral was over.


    Halfway through the day, the sounds of voices grew louder and louder in the venue, Grindelwald was silent for a moment, staring at Felix, who met his gaze and nodded unnoticeably, then he turned towards the Forbidden Forest, not responding to Akingbade''s shouts behind him.


    Akingbade and several other Ministers of Magic stood up and stared blankly at Grindelwald''s back, "I can''t believe he just Apparated! Doesn''t he want to negotiate anymore?"


    Felix stared up at the sky, the Phoenix had disappeared at some point and would probably never appear again. Another familiar person left for good, and he would next - in someone''s words - welcome the dawn of a new era.


    "Professor Hap?" A soft, cautious voice said.


    "Oh, Miss Granger," Felix glanced to the side, "and Potter, Weasley, Longbottom. Please be seated. When does the train leave from school?"


    "In an hour." Hermione said, glancing at Felix as if something was brewing in her mind, "That Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards seems to have come to some sort of agreement with Grindelwald ..."


    "You mean - they both made an ''unbreakable vow'' in the presence of a dozen Ministers of Magic?"


    Several people who came with Harry were startled, they were completely unaware of this news. Hermione thought for a moment and said, "Oh - I guess it''s really quite demoralizing, and you can tell by the way that he behaved today that he''s not the one to listen to the rules ... Although we can all realise the risks, there''s nothing that can be done because any opposition would mean standing against those who-"


    "What are you trying to say, Granger?"


    "Oh," Hermione whispered, "I was going to say that, well, anyone in this situation would feel powerless ..."


    Felix smiled, he seemed to perk up and then again he seemed not.


    "It''s not Grindelwald that makes me feel powerless, it''s the whole world that is about to be turned upside down. I, both long for it and dread its arrival. There is no experience to refer to."


    "Professor," Harry said, "we are definitely standing with you, no matter what changes happen." Ron and Neville nodded in agreement.


    Felix straightened up and looked them over one by one with a critical eye, "Alright, I''ll take that seriously. From now on, then, stay with me and look at the sky while we wait for word from the outside world. I hope that doesn''t scare you guys - if I''m not mistaken." He muttered.


    The group looked at each other.


    A little time passed, in fact, it was less than five minutes when Amelia Bones came over with a pale face, stumbling as if she might fall at any moment. The look in her eyes is one of undisguised panic.


    Harry had never seen her look like this before.


    "Ms. Bones?" Akingbade inquired, he was discussing the situation with his secretary and the other high officials of the Ministry of Magic. Grindelwald''s sudden departure had caught them off guard.


    With a flushed face, Ms. Bones stammered, "Mr. Akingbade, and everyone else, Grindelwald - he, he -"


    "Have you found a trace of him?"


    "Not yet," she looked shaky as a number of the wizards who remained present focused their eyes on her, "but we confirmed the location of all those people Grindelwald brought with him."


    "Where did they go? We can''t have a mass gathering of them, the information Brerio brought said Grindelwald had gathered nearly five thousand people right now, even if it was a demonstration it was too much."


    "All over the world." Ms. Bones said weakly.


    "What?"


    "All over the world!" She shouted at the top of her lungs, "Those people, led by six or seven hundred core acolytes, publicly exposed themselves as wizards! Rough estimates suggest they''ve popped up in over two thousand Muggle cities using Apparition to travel. They cast their magic without fear and fluttered over the cities - Mr. Akingbade, the magical community is completely and irrevocably exposed!"


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 683: Meeting (2 in 1)

    The departure of the Hogwarts Express was rescheduled. All the remaining students were herded back to the castle, and only those students whose parents had arrived for the funeral were allowed to leave the school directly with their parents. Because of the presence of the Weasleys, Sirius, Remus Lupin, and others, Harry and the group were not asked to return to the Gryffindor common room but were allowed to stay with their families, who were temporarily housed in the school great hall. Harry saw quite a few familiar faces, Ernie, Zacharias Smith, Seamus, Cormac McLaggen, Hannah, Susan Bones, Anthony Goldstein, Marcus Belby, Draco, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini ...


    Many of them were regular guests at Professor Slughorn''s parties.


    All of these students had family or relatives who had stayed behind, including the Weasleys, who stayed in the great hall talking rapidly, pausing now and then to glance up in the direction of the staff room with grim and anxious faces, expecting someone to come out - Akingbade had temporarily borrowed the school grounds to confer with all the Ministers of Magic on important matters.


    "Ms. Bones dispatched a large number of Aurors before going in to prevent disturbances ..." Percy said solemnly, dressed in full formal attire and having a small meeting with Bill, Sirius, Lupin, Moody, the Longbottoms, and other members of the Order of the Phoenix. When this incident happened, Percy had planned to return to the Ministry of Magic immediately, but was asked to stay by Mr. Weasley, to which he reasoned, "The Ministry needs me now!" As a result, Penelope sneered, "What are you going back for? Preparing a celebration in honour of the magical world being exposed to the eyes of the whole world?" So Percy stayed behind.


    The senior members of the Order of the Phoenix sat with the children, "There''s nothing to worry about!" Neville''s somewhat intimidating grandmother said in a forceful manner, Mrs. Weasley responded absent-mindedly and Fleur, who had just dropped off by Madame Maxime, pouted in displeasure when she saw Penelope and Mrs. Weasley sitting intimately together when she arrived.


    "Oy gosh - I saw Madame Maxime and the big guy kissing, it''s incredible isn''t it?" Fleur tossed her waterfall-like hair and forced herself between them, "Maybe it was a matter of affection or purely ceremonial in nature ..." Mrs. Weasley grunted in an impish manner.


    Ginny looked upset at being pushed aside, she stood up, tossed her hair, and walked over to her twin brothers, her beautiful head raised high with pride, in a manner that vividly resembled Fleur.


    "So you''ve been taught for a year by a dark lord who has lived in the shadows for half a century, your school life has been quite eventful." Fred said.


    "Don''t act like you haven''t met one," George said seriously, "You know one of us has killed another Dark Lord with his own hands."


    Harry said with a grim expression, "Thanks, George - I''ll be happy to share that part of the experience if you want to know." With that, he glared at Ron, who had let it slip.


    Ron looked to his left and right, seemingly interested in what Professor Marchbanks was yelling from the other side of the great hall as the old woman shouted at the top of her lungs, "Stupid! Out of his mind! I wonder when our government became so keen to make deals with criminals? If you ask me, Dumbledore shouldn''t have stepped down at all, that Akingbade isn''t just another Fudge, no?"


    The real Fudge stood in the corner awkwardly twirling his bowler hat. He was also present at the funeral, though he was so invisible and alone that even the Malfoys were more popular than he was. s?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Ron withdrew his gaze, pretending not to see the look Harry was giving him, and shrugged, "She''s right, there''s never a shortage of people like Fudge in the world."


    "I think," Hermione said matter-of-factly, "that it''s unfair to Akingbade to put him alongside Fudge, at least his intentions were good, to avoid war. But apparently, he underestimated Grindelwald."


    "That''s his biggest problem, Hermione." Fred pointed out.


    At that moment Harry saw a figure flash by the great hall entrance, and he jumped up from his chair with a start, his heart pounding, but immediately he realized that he had been mistaken, and he slumped back into his seat, seemingly losing all his strength.


    "What''s wrong with you, Harry?" Ron asked in surprise.


    "Nothing ser-" Harry opened his mouth, "Well, I thought I saw Dumbledore, but that should have been Aberforth."


    "Oh, they do look a bit alike, the two of them." Ginny said, "I don''t think I saw him at the funeral though?"


    "He went to classroom seven."


    The nearly headless Nick said as he floated around from behind her, his head bobbing, and Ginny and Neville, who were closest to him, froze for a moment and motionlessly gave him a seat.


    "Classroom seven?" Ron asked with interest, "Why? Oh-" he realized, "His family''s there."


    "Yeah ... but he has had an unlucky day, almost getting kicked out by a few professors'' memory bodies joining together." Nearly headless Nick said.


    "What happened?" Harry asked perceptively.


    "Something to do with a new memory that just showed up. He was about the same age as Dumbledore, well, I mean Dumbledore in classroom seven." Nick said, "I know a bit about Aberforth, he''s been coming around a lot lately, I''m not the only ghost who has run into ... him at dinner, but he usually just watches from a distance, but today when he saw that new memory he suddenly jumped out and threw a fit... ..."


    "So it has something to do with that new memory?" George asked thoughtfully, "Who is that person?"


    "I don''t know." Nearly headless Nick said with restraint, shaking his head, his head falling to one side and his whole face turning completely upside down as he let out a startled yelp and hurriedly held out his hands to adjust its position. Harry averted his eyes feeling cold.


    Who could it be, a new memory in classroom seven, and the one that had made Aberforth so angry?


    Harry''s eyes lit up as he thought of something, he looked over at Hermione and from the shocked look on her face, she seemed to have guessed as well.


    It could very well be Grindelwald''s own memory body. From the words of Nick, who had almost lost his head, Grindelwald would have left memories of his youth, but when had he done it? Did Professor Hap know? If he knew why didn''t he stop it, was it because of his special relationship with Dumbledore? Had they made a private, unspoken agreement? Harry''s head was spinning as he tried to figure it out.


    "You can ask Professor Hap about it sometime, Classroom Seven is his territory, he must know the identity of the memory." Ron said to Nick, glancing at an inconspicuous door of the great hall, "He should be busy for the next few days though, ugh, I thought he would have noticed and stopped Grindelwald beforehand. But yeah, it''s hard for a normal person to imagine Grindelwald''s madness." A hint of fear passed through his eyes.


    "Why do you say that?" Neville asked in a whisper. Did the professor know something?


    Ron shrugged.


    "He''s practically omnipotent in my mind. You know, looking for clues through clues - like a detective in a muggle''s book - and I didn''t think he would miss the mark this time."


    "Not at all, Ron." Hermione shook her head, cracking her fingers solemnly, "Grindelwald may seem to have done a lot of things - gathering the core acolytes, negotiating with the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, disclosing the death of Headmaster Dumbledore, making an unbreakable vow, and attending today''s funeral - -but really, all of these things are just dispensable and irrelevant."


    Harry''s somewhat numbed mind started to work again, Hermione''s words gave him a whole new direction to think in, and he seemed to be able to clear the fog from his mind all of a sudden.


    "I get it! Grindelwald has had only one goal since the beginning: to expose the entire wizarding community, force the integration of wizarding and muggle society, and fulfil his and Dumbledore''s original dream." Harry said excitedly.


    "So everything he did before was a blindfold? Everyone is being played by him?" Ron asked hesitantly, looking at the two men.


    "We can only guess at the moment." Hermione said softly, "From the strength Grindelwald showed today, he could have pulled off the plan all by himself - he probably couldn''t beat Professor Hap, but at their level, he could have walked away from the fight at any time, which is why it was so difficult to capture Voldemort alive. Ordinary wizards can''t intervene at all. I even think that once Grindelwald judges that the plan is not going well, he will immediately drop the fine details and go straight to the point."


    "Why does he have to complicate things so much?" Ron said annoyed.


    "Because Grindelwald is human too." Harry said slowly, past memories of what he had seen in the Pensieve with Dumbledore backing up what he was saying at the moment.


    "He was arrogant, cocky, wanted to prove he was right, wanted to announce to the world personally the dawn of a new age, and perhaps the desire to have Dumbledore buried with dignity can be added to the mix ... He was already on a roll from the moment he broke out of prison, and all he did after that was merely to ensure that the outcome remained exactly the same while making the process as much to his liking as possible."


    "Then Professor Hap--"


    "He might have guessed part of it." Hermione thought of what Felix had said earlier, "But he shouldn''t have guessed much earlier than we did, probably from what Grindelwald said at the funeral, or during their brief encounter in front of the school where Grindelwald said something that the professor picked up on, thus stringing it all together."


    "... Think about it, the Professor knows Grindelwald better than we do, we all immediately thought that Grindelwald was hiding a conspiracy behind the negotiations he was leading, how could the Professor not have thought of it? This includes making Dumbledore''s death public as well - the Professor doesn''t believe Grindelwald''s intentions are that simple, he wants to find out what Grindelwald''s true intentions are, and the Professor always plans before he acts. And so it turned out, that Grindelwald had lied to everyone. But it was too late."


    "But he clearly made an unbreakable vow!" Ron shouted.


    ...


    "But he clearly made an unbreakable vow!" Akingbade shouted in the impromptu meeting in the staff room.


    The staff room was crammed with people, every one of the undisputed big names in the wizarding world, the Ministers of Magic, the Supreme Mugwump of the Confederation, and the Headmaster and Deputy Headmaster of Hogwarts, who are the hosts of the place were here.


    Akingbade stared lost in thought at his arm, the vow still working and showing no sign of being broken.


    "Mr. Akingbade, I too have heard about the Grindelwald vow, but it is not clear what your vow is?" Professor McGonagall asked seriously.


    Akingbade licked his dry lips.


    "I can assure you that the alliance process is completely open and witnessed by a dozen ministers of magic ... The contents of the vow go both ways: Grindelwald promises not to kill indiscriminately unless someone attacks him first, of course arguing doesn''t count; nor will he initiate wizard wars; nor conspire to subvert existing wizard regimes. In return, all I have to do is to forgo holding the Acolytes accountable and allow them to operate in public without issuing orders against them, provided he does not break his vow."


    The men in the room furrowed their brows. At this point, Felix said, "He really didn''t start the ''wizard war''." He focused on the last few words, and none of the people present were fools, they instantly figured out the crux of it


    "You fool!" Professor McGonagall shouted vehemently, "Did you not even study his political views carefully before negotiating?"


    Akingbade''s dark face turned a reddish purple as he defended himself, "We didn''t expect it - he had never done so before, he had always sought a status in the wizarding community -"


    "Something similar has actually happened." A very old Minister of Magic said slowly, "Grindelwald had reached the peak of his influence twice before he was imprisoned in Nurmengard Castle, when he was fully geared up to declare war on the Muggles, both times, in the end, Dumbledore thwarted his efforts though."


    Akingbade''s face turned pale.


    "Even if you include muggles, he''s not really breaking his vow; after all, he only made the existence of magic known to the world, he didn''t initiate the war ... They really just used magic in public." Professor McGonagall said pointedly, and everyone in the room felt a little uncomfortable.


    "Mr. Hap," Akingbade said hurriedly, with a hint of desperation in his tone, "I admit that we have made a huge mistake and cannot afford to make any more mistakes, only you are capable of capturing Grindelwald, I beg you to come forward, and I will let the newly formed Auror team work with you. "


    Felix glanced at him.


    "Something can only be said here, Mr. Akingbade - one of the clauses in the vow you took was not to issue orders against him. Unless you intend to break the vow before Grindelwald does."


    Akingbade was dumbfounded and seemed to have suddenly lost the ability to speak. Half a moment later he opened his mouth again, by which time his face became completely bloodless, "I, I will resign of my own accord, so that it will not count as-"


    "You better not go anywhere," said Felix, "the vow is more or less useful - the influence of Grindelwald can be ignored for the moment while we deal with the great crisis before us, and he is also under ''Unbreakable Vow'', and as long as we don''t go after him, he won''t be able to interfere with what happens next."


    "You, you mean-" Akingbade''s eyes widened, "that he will wait and do nothing after he started this huge wave?"


    "I do believe that stand by is a more accurate word," Ms. Bones said, "He will not be our enemy, but he is the source of all the turmoil, and don''t forget that the crux of the problem is that the magical world is exposed to the eyes of the whole world, and we must come up with a solution as soon as possible!"


    The old wizard who spoke before shook his head and smiled bitterly, "There are not one or two people involved, nor one or two cities, there is no way to hide it any longer, alas, the Statute of Secrecy ... Secrecy is completely ruined."


    "What is Grindelwald waiting for?" Akingbade murmured, then his pupils dilated with fear, "It goes without saying ... that he is naturally waiting for the situation to descend into chaos, and chaos is what Grindelwald wishes to see; perhaps he need not do anything, and the angry wizarding populace, who are wrapped up in the war, will naturally lean towards his cause. It is at that point that he will step forward - because I have allowed him to be active in public - and present himself as a saviour and declare war against the Muggles."


    An unnerving silence followed. "He even calculated this far?" Someone shouted incredulously.


    "Think more positively," Felix said meaningfully, "If you deal with it properly, Grindelwald will simply have no chance to show his face or perhaps the whole thing ... who knows!" He leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in contemplation, would this be Grindelwald''s true thoughts?


    ''How can a good guy be more of a deterrent than an outright bad guy?''


    Would the Muggle government and populace be more cautious, and more sincere, if they realised that once the two ended up in war, they would be personally aiding a dark wizard who is hostile to Muggles, and who has no qualms about destroying a city with powerful magic from decades ago, to be free from the restrictions of his vows?


    Felix''s thoughts were racing, he was in no hurry to make a decision, it would be best to talk to some of the core Acolytes ... Grindelwald had given him the means to summon the Acolytes, but it might not work, perhaps there is someone waiting for him in Hogsmeade now.


    ...


    The meeting barely made any substantial progress, all that came out of it was some very conservative ideas, such as discreetly gathering information from the outside world and hiding all wizards somewhere, but what to do after that, the ministers of magic simply could not reach an agreement, their minds were completely bound by the Statute of Secrecy.


    Two hours later, the Ministers of Magic left in a hurry. There was no telling what kind of chaos was going on outside now, there were too many things waiting for them to get back and deal with. When the men had gone, Ms. Bones stayed behind.


    "We have to figure this out ourselves." She said seriously, one hand rubbing her forehead painfully, "Everyone has their own stance, and with Akingbade''s reputation now plummeting again, there''s no way to convince everyone that it''s going to end up being anything but a tug of war."


    "We have to do something about this, and we have to do it quickly, we can''t be passive and wait for the results. Felix, I want to know what you think."


    Felix spread his hands.


    "Grindelwald caught everyone off guard and I don''t have a complete plan yet, but there are a few things that do need to be addressed as a matter of priority."


    Ms. Bones and Professor McGonagall looked at him.


    "First, the students in the school-"


    "Cancel the Hogwarts Express this year," Professor McGonagall said decisively, "let children from wizarding families have their parents pick them up or leave through the school fireplace; young wizards from non-wizarding families, I''ll ask the professors send them straight home."


    "The Ministry of Magic will cooperate fully." Ms. Bones said with a nod.


    "Secondly, the security measures around the school must be re-enforced; it is uncertain whether the next school year will start as scheduled, but try to be prepared. And - there''s a huge shelter here."


    Again, the two had no problem with this.


    "Thirdly, Amelia, I suggest you to start negotiations with the Muggle government as soon as possible, starting with the Prime Minister; haven''t you been keeping in touch with each other one-on-one? He must be made to realise that this is not a one-sided affair for us and that no one can escape once a crisis has occurred."


    "I will arrange that as soon as possible." Ms. Bones said, "In fact, I''ve met with that Muggle Prime Minister twice, and he seems-" She shook her head.


    "Fourth, stabilise all the wizards through newspaper interviews, magic radios ... get your voice out as far as possible. The pamphlet from the last Beware of Voldemort can also be revised and brought over for use;"


    "Fifth, public opinion and intelligence-"


    "Public opinion?" Professor McGonagall and Ms. Bones asked in unison.


    "Non-magical world governments and their populations are closely related and influence and constrain each other." Felix said, "Properly guided public opinion can make the general public more comfortable with the existence of wizards, and in turn, their attitudes can go to extremes once they are stirred up by those with a mind to do so. Of course, we are now focusing on gathering information, but how we gather information is also key, for example, the attitudes of ordinary people towards wizards, their reasons for accepting them, and their reasons for opposing them; then there are the people who have significant influence in the matter, politicians, celebrities, leaders of opinion, especially those who jump out in the first place ... "


    "Sixth, the safety and confidentiality of young wizards from Muggle families when they return home ..."


    "Seventh, private contact with the Muggle government by a group or individual is strictly forbidden, and on this point, I am particularly worried about the attitude of the goblins ... Plans for the Pan-Magical Alliance must begin;"


    "Eighth, well, I have a suggestion, send out some of your trusted Aurors to covertly rescue Muggles affected by the Acolytes, don''t let them show their faces, and don''t make it too obvious, you might be able to use them later ..."


    ...


    While they were planning, the outside world was already in turmoil.


    ---------------


    #Mathias Zink, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 684: Chaos (2 in 1)

    In a caf�� near one of Paris''s big neighbourhoods, Amandine Zoe and her colleague came out of it after paying for their food and were surprised to see pedestrians on the street looking in unison in the direction of the south bank of the Seine. "What are they looking at?" Her colleague asked in confusion.


    Amandine tilted her head in silence, her eyes first fell on the Eiffel Tower a few kilometres away, everything was normal, nothing seemed to be happening, immediately after she caught sight of half a dozen black dots, were they some kind of birds? But she immediately dismissed the idea, two of the dots hovered motionless in mid-air, no bird could do such a thing, no?


    In the blink of an eye, one of the motionless birds suddenly opened its wings - strange, Amandine thought, because it was only probing its left wing - and the next second a huge green symbol suspended high in the sky for a long time, like a frozen firework.


    There were shouts of alarm heard from far away.


    "It''s a man!" Her colleague shouted, grabbing her arm with a death grip and saying excitedly, "Oh my God! Oh my God! Look - Amandine, is it some kind of big outdoor magic trick? Can we invite them? How did they do it? Steel wires, cables, tempered glass?"


    "I don''t think it''s any of those." Amandine whispered.


    In the few seconds they were talking, the half dozen dots suddenly scattered and swooped off in all directions very quickly. One of the black dots came right up close to them, the black dot becoming clearer and clearer, and now the two could make out the black robe he was wearing.


    "What''s he sitting on? Some kind of flying machine?" Someone next to them asked.


    "It''s a broomstick! That''s the witch''s sorcery!" A man with thinning hair and a scruffy look shouted.


    The man who had swept over their heads seemed to have heard these words, and he turned back, hovering in mid-air, looking down on the muggles in the street below. The man''s arm raised up and Amandine spotted a small wooden stick in his hand and a white light flashed.


    The scruffy man with thinning hair floated uncontrollably as he shouted in panic and struggled desperately.


    "It''s magic!" The man sitting on the broom grumbled and laughed.


    Amandine looked at it in a trance, and a vague memory came to her mind of a time when she was still at uni, and she heard a good-looking boy asking the professor in an earnest tone in open class, "What if magic did appear in reality one day?"


    And now, magic has really appeared!


    ...


    New York, United States.


    Fran?ois Crutoy is walking down the famous Broadway avenue, an important place for American theatre and musicals, and he has been invited to perform here, but the show is scheduled for tomorrow, so after his interview with the press, he declined the invitation of the staff and slipped out for some fresh air.


    No doubt his magical experience was once again brought up for questioning, and as always he kept his mouth shut, keeping the events of that night at the ''House of Magic'' in Surrey a secret to himself. But he had been gathering information on the occult for several years. His thought was that if the mysterious man who had brought him back to life was not a ''deity'', there must be a group of human beings with special talents in this world.


    Fran?ois thought over and over again that the latter was more likely since the man who had cured his arm had later appeared at his recital - a real deity wouldn''t be so idle, would he?


    Unfortunately, he didn''t get to have a word, and he wondered if the man had grasped the meaning of his compositional repertoire.


    Angel of Sorrow ... Goddess of Magic ... Fran?ois didn''t know what the power that cured him was, it could have come from religion, or the magic of a wizard, he knew from quite a few fantasy novels that those wizards worshipped the Goddess of Magic ...


    Unbeknownst to him, he arrived in the Manhattan district and stood in front of the Woolworth Building. The local staff had pointed him in the direction of some of the more famous buildings in the neighbourhood, and apart from the familiar theatres, this skyscraper was also at the top of the list.


    Fran?ois had heard its name. Built at the start of the century, the Woolworth Building was extremely legendary as the tallest building in the world at the time. Even leaving aside its height, its neo-Gothic style is still highly pleasing to the eye. As he thought about it, a group of men in black formal clothes emerged from the artificial sliding doors.


    Fran?ois glanced at them in surprise, his previous attention was too absorbed by the magnificent revolving doors, that he had not noticed the small door. The men walked with hasty steps and grave expressions, and the man in the lead gave serious orders.


    Fran?ois turned his back on them while keeping his ears open, and some words drifted into his ears:


    "... Wizarding World Exposure Level Anomaly ... Must have something to do with Grindelwald ... Went to England for a funeral ... got authorization from the head of security to use force if necessary ..."


    Francois turned his head curiously, he seemed to have heard the word magic? A thrill ran through Francois, and he quickly followed the group, but he didn''t dare to get too close, he simply stalked after them from a distance, the men turned into the gap between the two buildings, and he quickened his pace to see the last man pull a small wooden stick from his suit pocket.


    A magic wand? He thought excitedly, but it seemed a lot smaller than the ones he had seen in comic books ...


    Francois took a few deep breaths as he stood at the edge of the building, thinking in his head about how he should introduce himself, how about starting with "I know a friend who knows magic"? When he felt ready, he rushed into the shadows.


    Fran?ois looked around in bewilderment, the people had all disappeared and there were only a dozen bicycles lying around. He walked back and forth twice in disbelief, but nothing happened, and he once again made his way back to Broadway.


    The street was swarming with people, but not even one from that group he was looking for can be found. He certainly did not know about the Apparition, let alone about the battle between wizards that would soon take place in Times Square, which is not far from here, at the corner of West 42nd Street and Broadway in Manhattan.


    At the same time, at the head of the Statue of Liberty erected on Hudson''s Liberty Island, an acolyte lightly twirled his wand and a sudden flame blazed from the torch held aloft in Lady Liberty''s hand.


    ...


    London, United Kingdom.


    Mr. Granger was working in his dental clinic as usual, and Mrs. Granger had come over to help. They had just sent off a customer and Mrs. Granger was talking to her husband as she turned on the TV in the clinic.


    "Hermione is coming back today, so we better close early." Mrs. Granger said.


    "I remember that very well, I made reservations at one of your favourite restaurants." Mr. Granger said as he cleaned his hands. Suddenly Mrs. Granger let out a scream, and he rushed out in a panic, with drops of water dripping down from both hands.


    "What''s wrong? What''s happened?"


    Mrs. Granger''s eyes stared fixedly at the television, unable to speak. Mr. Granger looked over at the television screen, the camera kept shaking to show only half of the head of the female reporter who was broadcasting the coverage. She had exaggerated blonde curls of hair, but all of Mr. Granger''s attention was drawn to the tornado behind the reporter.


    If the Houses of Parliament had not been so conspicuous in the background, he would not have realised that the disaster is wreaking havoc in London. He glanced uncertainly out of the window; the weather was surprisingly fine, and he didn''t feel the slightest breeze. An urgent voice came over from the television set -


    "Rita! Look, there''s someone in the tornado - did you see them? Those two guys who flew past us on their broomsticks earlier?"


    "I don''t need you to remind me!" The female reporter shouted angrily, then she took a deep breath to calm herself before turning to the camera: "Ladies and gentlemen - although it''s a bit unbelievable - there was a sudden tornado in central London, err - the cause of which is not yet clear. I''m not sure why, but perhaps the temperature difference over the last two days has been too great? I''m sure the meteorologists will give a reasonable explanation, so please don''t believe the rumours - oh, Merlin''s beard!"


    The reporter exclaimed in a panic. But Mr. Granger couldn''t blame her for speaking out of turn, anyone would have been horrified at the sight - a young man suddenly squeezed out of the air and the camera went black for a moment, all the Grangers could hear were sounds.


    "Hey, be careful, do you need help?"


    A few seconds later, the screen returned to normal and the young man who had suddenly appeared reached out to help them hold the camera straight, and with a big smile on his face: "Are you journalists? I think you are? I''m available for interviews - allow me to introduce myself, I''m a wizard, a graduate of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and wizardry, I created the tornado behind me - my companion also made some contributions, and we learned about combination magic at school --"


    Rita Skeeter was dumbfounded, as were the Granger''s in front of the television, and those audiences who happened to be in front of the television were also equally dumbfounded.


    Rita Skeeter gulped and racked her brains as she said.


    "Obviously, this is an occult enthusiast, or he''s not right in the head, this is the end of the interview, the tornado is approaching us, and we must evacuate as soon as possible-" She abruptly couldn''t speak, her body stiffened, and she remained motionless like a stone.


    Just as everyone was taken aback, the camera was forcibly turned to the other side and the young man''s face took up most of the frame.


    "I''m in my right mind," said the wizard who claimed to be a graduate of ''Ilvermorny'', "and again, I''m a wizard in my own right. We can talk - don''t worry about the tornado behind me, it won''t get any bigger, and don''t worry about this female reporter, it is a simple Full Body-Bind Curse. Huh? She looks pissed off. ..."


    The next ten minutes were completely reduced to his personal showtime. Thanks to him, a lot of the British public knew for the first time what a wizard is, what a statute of secrecy is, and a whole list of magical terms such as Grindelwald, Dumbledore, Full Body-Bind Curse, combination magic, school of witchcraft and wizardry so on.


    "Personally, I think Ilvermorny is the best school of magic in the world, but the bunch of British guys I have met just today doesn''t think so, oh, sorry, I forgot I''m in England now-" there was a violent coughing fit. "Objectively speaking, Hogwarts isn''t that bad either ..."


    In the end, he even took it upon himself to release the spell on Rita Skeeter, allowing her to ask a few questions with a stiff expression; he seemed to have a strong desire to be expressive and could probably have babbled on for hours if it hadn''t been for the arrival of the police car and his companion greeting him as they left.


    ...


    "Is it April Fool''s Day, dear?" Rebecca, the redhead, asked as she stared blankly at the television.


    " I would rather it is - I better flip through the calendar!" Jim said uncertainly as he rushed out.


    ...


    Winnie Valentine hurried out of the solicitor''s office and waved down for a taxi.


    "Go to that very famous gold and silver jewellery and craft shop on the corner." She rushed to say without waiting for the driver to ask.


    "The one with the name ''Future World''?" The driver asked.


    "That''s right - oh, wait," Winnie grabbed her hair and forced herself to calm down. She changed her mind, "Let''s just go to King''s Cross."


    "As you wish."


    The driver started the car.


    "We might have to take a bit of a detour - there''s a traffic jam up ahead, supposedly due to that rare tornado wreaking havoc and low visibility."


    "Tornado, tornadoes?" Winnie stammered.


    "I guess the road announcer was drunk early in the morning, how can there be a tornado in downtown." The driver said casually, "But the traffic jam should be real."


    ...


    Grunnings, Surrey.


    Vernon Dursley works as a director of sales for this company and is responsible for selling more drilling rigs. He seemed extra grumpy this morning, snapping at nine subordinates in his office in quick succession, his yelling even carried from the ninth floor to the two upper and lower floors of the building. This caused him to ignore certain out-of-place clamours in the company. After scolding the crap out of the last subordinate, making the already not-so-harmonious relations between his colleagues even worse, he closed the office door with a satisfied smile.


    "Don''t let anyone interrupt me, I have a few important calls to make." He yelled at his assistant.


    As the noon hour approached, he got into a better mood, and after stretching his fat body in the office, he decided to go across the road to buy two doughnuts. As he walked out the front door of the office, Vernon ran into his assistant who cautiously told him that his wife had called him a while ago.


    There was something vaguely unsettling about this, Petunia usually would never call him at work, but he soon figured out that it was to remind him to pick up his geeky nephew from downtown after work, and the thought of it put him in a foul mood, especially since the first thing Dudley did when he returned from holiday was not to give him his old father a hug, but to rush into his bedroom to make sure his comic books were still there. He couldn''t help but be furious.


    Vernon was stubbornly convinced that this was a plot by his geeky nephew to get back at them. He dropped a bag of doughnuts and a bottle of water on the counter.


    "Two pounds and fifty pence." The sales clerk said.


    "Two pounds and fifty pence? Why don''t you go and rob it?" Vernon growled.


    The shop clerk shrugged his shoulders.


    Vernon paid the money as he cursed and took out a doughnut and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering under his breath as he watched the television that hung in the ceiling, "Prices are going up ... what are all the bladder worms sitting in Whitehall doing ... today five pence up, ten pence up tomorrow, what the hell is wrong with the world?" Gradually he stopped talking, seemingly fascinated by the news on the television.


    He rubbed his eyes incredulously and his mouth opened exaggeratedly wide, which made his double jaw bulge even more prominently and his little eyes go straight up. Then with a yell, he rushed out of the shop, huffing and puffing, made his way back to his office, picked up his car keys, and headed back to his home.


    As he drove, he kept a careful eye on the sides of the road for fear that some guy in a strange costume and cape would pop up. There seemed to be a traffic jam up ahead, and he slammed the steering wheel and honked the horn desperately. "Damn it!"


    He was absolutely over the top, and only fifteen minutes had passed before he pulled into Fourth Privet Drive.


    "Petunia, Petunia!" Vernon shouted as he entered the house, "I saw something on the television - who are you!?" He looked at the uninvited guest in the house with a wary look on his face.


    In the living room, Petunia and Dudley sat on the sofa, Petunia seemed to be trying to take Dudley into her arms, but Dudley desperately fought it off, both had their eyes dead set on the tall, thin man standing opposite them - unfortunately, the man was wearing the robe and cloak that Vernon hated so much.


    "I believe you are the man of the house. Hello, I am a staff member of the Ministry of Magic, working in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes, you can call me Dudley." The man said.


    Vernon''s eyes widened as he looked at the man and then at his son.


    "Oh, I found that as an interesting coincidence too," the man said with delight, "Your boy''s name is the same, isn''t it? There is a difference though, ''Dudley'' is my family name ..." the man muttered to himself, taking a piece of parchment out of his pocket, "Alas, as you may already know, the magical world is completely exposed to the eyes of the whole world and the whole country is in chaos. In order to guard against possible danger, I have been sent by the Ministry of Magic to seek your opinion-"


    "Possible Danger? What dangers? It''s not as if our family will ever, ever be able to do that damned m-" Vernon''s face reddened, he looked furious, and he gritted his teeth as he uttered the word that he hated so much: S?a?ch* Th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "--magic!"


    "Don''t be silly," the male wizard looked at him compassionately, "in the eyes of the other Muggles, you are all in the same boat as us."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 685: Student List

    After Ms.Bones left, Felix and Professor McGonagall discussed the matter for a while longer and then emerged from the staff room. All students were ordered to come down with their luggage.


    "... This is how it is currently arranged," Professor McGonagall said, "The young wizards from Muggle families will need to wait a while for now, and a professor will send you back. The Ministry of Magic will also dispatch officers to give safety guidelines to wizarding families living in Muggle communities."


    The students sat on the benches hugging their luggage, with listless expressions, and Justin Finch-Fletchley, who sat at the Hufflepuff House table, stood up and shouted, "Professor, are the wizards really exposed?"


    Professor McGonagall glanced at him, pursed her lips, and said, "That''s right, Mr. Finch-Fletchley."


    A dark cloud of gloom spread across the great hall, these students couldn''t quite get the implications of the exposure of the wizarding community, but they just knew it would be a terrible thing, or maybe they actually knew in their hearts - Grindelwald had spent a year talking about how to defend against muggles and hide themselves.


    Felix cleared his throat.


    "The Ministry of Magic has already come up with a countermeasure to this, so you need not worry too much about it. But for the next little while, I''m sure you''ll be hearing all sorts of rumours, and what I''m asking you to do is refrain from participating in any activities during the holidays that might reveal your identity as a wizard, keep an eye out for announcements from the Ministry of Magic, and listen to the radio ..."


    He went on about a bunch of specific measures and the students gradually snapped back to their senses.


    At that moment, Sirius and Percy approached, and Sirius said to Harry, "I talked to Molly about you living in the Burrow for a while, she''s more than happy to welcome you. The fireplace in Felix''s office is operational, you guys can leave through it-"


    "What about you?" Harry couldn''t resist asking.


    "I''m staying." Sirius said without thinking, glancing towards Lupin, Moody, and the others, "We need to talk to Felix and see if we can help, or reorganize the Order of the Phoenix or something ... Either way, I suppose I''ll be staying with the Ministry of Magic for a while."


    "Then I''ll stay too." Harry said, Sirius'' eyes widened and Harry hurriedly said, "I''m only a month away from becoming an adult, besides this is about the whole wizarding world, if there''s a war it won''t matter where I hide, will it? The war will be on my head one day and I don''t want to be pulled out like a gnome."


    Sirius looked at him hesitantly.


    Harry sounded more desperate. "I don''t think Dumbledore would refuse to let me contribute my part in this, if he is still around, he wants me to do the same! I was with him in his last part of life following his lessons, and I know Grindelwald very well ..." he said, somewhat incoherently.


    "Well, I understand, I agree." Sirius abruptly said, seeing Harry''s stunned face, he broke into a smile, "I knew you wouldn''t be hiding in the back, I just discussed it with Remus and he asked me to ask your opinion. You''ll have to return to your classes when school starts though." He said seriously at the end.


    "Well, let''s talk about it then," Harry said vaguely, "It''s not clear if the school will even be in session, with what''s happening." He originally was just making an excuse, but Sirius sighed worriedly, "You''re right, there''s a real risk of Hogwarts closing if the situation doesn''t settle down before school starts." S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Turbulent times will most certainly make people more inclined to stay with their families.


    "I''m staying too." Hermione, who had been listening next to them for a while, said, "I don''t want to go home and not be able to do anything but stay in front of the television and listen to the news on whether or not there''s a war between wizards and muggles! But I have to go home first, Mum and Dad should be waiting for me, they must be worried sick."


    "And me." Ron said.


    "Plus the two of us." Fred and George said in unison.


    "I wish there is something I could do too." Neville said seriously, glancing back at his parents, who had retired but didn''t hesitate to stay at the moment.


    Ginny was just about to speak when Mrs. Weasley came over to them with a suspicious look on her face, "What are you discussing?" "Nothing!" Ron, Fred, and George said reflexively, then Ron said in a rush, "Mum, Ginny is terrified, and she wants to go back to the Burrow as soon as possible."


    Ginny let out an angry cat-like noise and was reluctantly dragged away by Mrs. Weasley.


    Soon, the Ministry of Magic employees appeared, and because they needed to transport young wizards and parents back and forth at once, the Ministry had sent two people from the Floo Network Authority to modify and maintain the fireplace in Professor McGonagall''s office to prevent accidents.


    The students lined up and were led through the fireplace by Professor Sprout, while Filch stood guard at the school entrance to receive the parents of little wizards who had received the news and could not wait to get to the school. The other faculty members took the responsibility of keeping order, and everything went in an orderly fashion.


    Felix sat in the corner of the great hall and unfolded the Marauder''s map to take a closer look.


    The unexpected exposure of the wizarding community had led to an influx of people arriving at Hogsmeade, the only village in the UK that is made up entirely of wizards, ranging from foreigners who had been stranded in the UK after a funeral, to people who had heard the news and had come to take refuge or ask for information, to Hit Wizards sent by the Ministry of Magic to patrol and maintain law and order, so the map is filled with tiny dots everywhere, and Felix is unable to find any useful information.


    Sirius approached with a large group of men, and hearing their suggestion, Felix agreed almost immediately.


    "I have a feeling that the next few months will be very crucial and the Ministry of Magic will be short of people in large numbers. Since you have this idea, it wouldn''t be a problem for the Ministry of Magic to come up with some temporary identities, a few students could do trivial things like sorting papers and delivering messages ... in fact, that''s what most people do, and if a battle does occur then I can imagine the situation could get extremely bad by now."


    Harry sighed in relief, he had thought the professor wouldn''t agree.


    "The Order of the Phoenix-" said Sirius.


    "I suggest you all integrate into the Ministry of Magic for now," said Felix, "It''s not the same as dealing with Voldemort anymore, so instead of worrying about the Ministry leaking news everywhere like a sieve, you can form a few squads to keep the dark wizards in the country down and keep them out of trouble, and there''s also the formation of the Pan-Magical Alliance-"


    "A pan-magical alliance?" Hermione and Sirius asked in unison.


    "That''s right," Felix explained the concept briefly, "Miss Granger should be no stranger to this term, the earliest similar concept appeared in one of her papers, which I later passed on to Amelia."


    Harry and Ron looked at each other.


    "Vomit (spew)?"


    "It''s Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare!" Hermione said disgruntled.


    Harry and Ron grinned.


    "That''s it," Felix said, "There are more intelligent races in the wizarding world than just wizards, there are other magical creatures that are classified as human because their civilisation and intelligence are close to that of wizards, and we need to win them over."


    "Why?" Sirius asked in confusion.


    "Two reasons. First, if there are only wizards, the target is too singular, and we are concerned that the Muggle government will see wizards as a people living in their own land first, and claim dominance over them, which I believe most wizards will not agree to;"


    "Let Muggles rule over wizards?" Lucius Malfoy did not look well as he said coldly and condescendingly, "Do I need to change ''Merlin on top'' to ''Queen on top''?"


    Moody mocked gruffly, "It''s not as if your ancestors didn''t shout it that way."


    Lucius Malfoy gave him a vicious glare.


    As if he hadn''t heard it, Felix continued.


    "What''s more, I personally believe that there is a huge gap between the lifestyles of wizards and ordinary people in every way that cannot be overcome any time soon. If restrictions should be relaxed all of a sudden and each is allowed to infiltrate the other''s life, it will inevitably lead to endless conflicts and contradictions, so at least until the outcome of the negotiations is known, there can only be one channel of external communication between the two sides."


    Another thing Felix didn''t say was that even long after the outcome of the negotiations, the wizarding world would not be completely open to the outside world, instead, there would be several windows for communication. For example, the creation of an island.


    "This leads to the second reason," he raised a finger, "since there is more than one intelligent race of magical beings, other voices are bound to exist. Given that the Muggle government''s knowledge of the magical world expands as negotiations progress, they are likely to bypass the wizards and negotiate separately with other races, promising favours and testing the waters ... I am particularly worried about the goblin stance. Therefore, the formation of the Pan-Magical Alliance is essential."


    The conversation continued, but Harry quietly tugged on Hermione and Ron''s sleeves as they backed away and Neville followed hesitantly. Harry was just about to speak when Ginny burst forth forcefully out of nowhere, her hair tangled as if she had just been through a fight.


    "I got rid of Mum." She said in a calm tone.


    Neville was dumbfounded; he had lived in the Black family mansion for a while before the start of the fifth year, so he was no stranger to scenes of Mrs. Weasley''s tantrums, and he had privately expressed his awe towards Mrs. Weasley to Harry by saying, "Kind of like my grandmother."


    Ron gave a thumbs up. Ginny shot him a blank look.


    "Okay, stop it. Harry, what do you have to say?" Hermione asked.


    "Let''s go and ask the other sixth and seventh years," Harry whispered, "to see if they''re intending to get a summer internship and write down the names of those people who might be of use. As you heard, the Ministry of Magic is going to be incredibly busy for the rest of the year."


    "Will it work?" Hermione asked sceptically.


    "Absolutely," Neville said excitedly, "Just like me - I don''t want to sit around and die, and there must be a lot of people who think like me."


    "Unless they are cowards." Ginny said.


    "Don''t talk like that, Ginny." Harry shook his head, "Everyone has different opinions." He thought of the variety of people he had seen in Dumbledore''s Pensieve, some wizards avoided war and showed no interest in fame or fortune while achieving outstanding success in other fields.


    "Let''s start by asking the members of the Frontline Lookout Club and the Magic Rune Club at first." Harry said in conclusion.


    They scattered, each with a piece of parchment in hand, tiptoeing around to find their targets, something they did with a certain sense of high spirits, and when they came together again, they had a list of names clutched in their hands.


    "If only half the people on the list answered the call, it would help a lot." Harry said happily.


    "Good news at last." Hermione said with a smile as well.


    At this point, Ron stammered, and the others looked at him suspiciously as he muttered, "Well - I''m not sure it counts as good news, but -"


    "Ronnn, just quit trying to show off!" Ginny shouted.


    "Okay," Ron murmured, "you guys come with me." He led a few people out of the great hall and stood on the stone steps, the sunlight outside somewhat biting. "I''ve been meaning to get a chance to mention this, but I didn''t think it was the right time." He took a deep breath and gripped his wand.


    To the surprise of the crowd, he morphed into a greasy hound.


    "Merlin''s beard!" Ginny looked shocked.


    "That''s cool." Harry said from the bottom of his heart, "You''ve mastered the Animagus."


    Hermione hammered the dog''s head and smiled brightly, "When did you practice?"


    "Congratulations." Neville said.


    The hound circled them lively and a sudden surge of longing came over Harry, and he glanced back sneakily, the entrance hall behind him deserted, and he too morphed into a stag. Immediately afterward, Neville and Hermione also transformed into their Animagus forms.


    Ginny looked around, she is the only one who is still human, and she couldn''t help but pout.


    "Don''t worry, Mrs. Weasley," Felix''s voice came from the distance, "I split my attention a little, and if I''m right, Ginny should - err, did I get to the zoo or something?


    Ginny jerked her head back, her two hands clutching both of the stag''s antlers with a death grip as if she was about to wrestle with it, while a tortoiseshell cat, hound, and beaver watched with interest. Of course, at the moment they all turned back to look at Professor Hap and Mrs. Weasley who stood equally frozen in place, with Sirius and Lupin tagging along behind them.


    There was a moment of silence.


    A dark shadow leaped out, it was Sirius, and before anyone could react he turned into a large black dog with thick fur, jumping around them playfully and looking happy.


    This change shut up Mrs. Weasley who was just about to speak, her lips pursed tightly and her eyes erupting with anger.


    As if that wasn''t messy enough, Felix coughed softly twice and fished a silver pocket watch out of his pocket, he popped the lid and pretended to check the time, but the next second a Niffler rushed out of it.


    Valen scrambled onto Felix''s shoulder on all fours, and only then did she have time to notice the people beside her, and the next thing she knew, her expression froze.


    "Kee (zoo)?"


    ...


    The clock struck eleven and the Prime Minister closed the door; he had just had a long day of burning work, and after sending off a few more MPs, he was finally left alone in his office. He took off his glasses and sat down wearily in his chair.


    He didn''t know what he was expecting, but with all that had happened, it would only be right that there should be some movement from the ''other side''. So he firmly refused several of his fellow councillors, even though his mind went blank with the impending questioning from the council.


    There was a soft cough sounded from behind him.


    The Prime Minister froze, even though this had happened several times in his career, he couldn''t get used to it, he didn''t even think he would ever be able to. He could almost imagine a small, frog-like man with a silver wig staring at him from the dirty painting behind his chair that he could not remove by any means.


    "To the Muggle Prime Minister. Requesting an urgent meeting. Please reply immediately. Faithfully, Bones."


    "Yes, yes, I agree." The Prime Minister said, and he muttered again in a small voice, "As if my refusal would help." Then his eyes stared at the fireplace without realizing, a bright green fire blazed in the fireplace grate and a woman with a serious expression wearing a monocle stepped out.


    The Prime Minister knew her - the other minister, the one who had succeeded Fudge. They had met twice, the first time was when Ms. Bones had come to power, and the Prime Minister had a good impression of this woman, who always had a stern face but at least she wasn''t as arrogant as her predecessor, and was happy to answer his questions rather than look at him like an idiot.


    He stood up and put on an angry expression - he felt he had every reason to do so - but immediately afterward the anger on his face froze and the fire rose once more as a young man appeared, a man who looked around the room with interest and took a couple of seconds interval before taking a long, unhurried step out of the grate.


    The Prime Minister''s mind suddenly drifted to a thought: this female minister couldn''t have stepped down, could she, and the young man is her successor? Is the change of power in the magical world this rapid?


    ---------------


    #Hunayn Abbas, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 686: Secret Talk in the Prime Ministers Residence (2 in 1)

    "How are you, Prime Minister." Ms. Bones said with a serious look, "This is Felix Hap, he''s-" "I am Professor of Ancient Runes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Felix said. The Prime Minister stood up and shook his hand hesitantly, his mind increasingly confused about Felix''s identity. A bodyguard or a confidant, perhaps?


    Ms. Bones sat in the hard wooden chair directly opposite the Prime Minister and Felix sat next to her, fiddling with his fingers with his head slightly lowered, so the Prime Minister could only focus his gaze on Bones.


    "Do you know?" The Prime Minister said with a poker face, "Although we have met twice, and including several times with Fudge before you, and even I have a portrait that picks its nose and yawns hanging behind my seat in my office every day ..." his eyes bulged slightly. "But I still have a faint hope that perhaps you are a group of clever liars, or that I am delusional from the exhaustion I felt after countless painstaking efforts to sit on the Prime Minister''s seat ..."


    "Mr. Prime Minister -"


    "I tried hard to hide everything, but all illusions were ruined today! The country is in chaos! Over fifty county governors have blown up the phones at the Prime Minister''s residence, reporting to me that there are a bunch of guys in fancy dress flying overhead and doing all sorts of magic tricks - a cow in Kent has leaped the Thames in full view of over two thousand people! Goodness, even my niece crying about the fact that the gerbil I gave her turned into a teacup and shattered, I have never been this helpless."


    "I''m sorry, did you say gerbil?" Felix asked politely, the Prime Minister''s niece should be a potential little wizard, which would be good news and beneficial to the negotiations that would follow.


    "Fudge turned the teacup on the table into a gerbil at his first meeting with me." The Prime Minister said through gritted teeth.


    "Oh." Felix trailed off, tapping his index finger on the arm of his chair.


    The Prime Minister regained his senses and he straightened his tie, though he was panting at the moment from talking too much in a single breath.


    Ms. Bones finally found a chance to speak, and she got straight to the point, "That''s why we''re here. The wizards can no longer remain hidden, the integration of the two societies is inevitable."


    "The integration of the two societies," the Prime Minister said slowly, "how?" He looked completely calm now.


    "In the past, we only revealed our identities in front of the ruling Prime Minister, which worked the best for our secrecy, but after what happened today, it is clear that the old ways will no longer work," Ms. Bones said in a mild tone: "We both need to work closely together: you need to explain to the people why there is a group of wizards living on British soil and I likewise need to pacify wizards who are accustomed to the Statute of Secrecy to adapt to a very different environment." S?a??h th? N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I did use the powers of the Prime Minister to cooperate with you," the Prime Minister said stiffly, "like ... like that little grey wolf Black''s wanted notice, Tom Riddle''s wanted notice, and a gas pipe leak ... It''s not logical, I paid the price, but what was the result? The whole country got into a mess."


    "You don''t get the gravity of the problem!" Ms. Bones showed impatience for the first time, "It''s not a question of who cooperates with whom, when we first met I spent an hour explaining to you the reason behind the wizards'' secrecy and the Ministry of Magic''s existence. So it should be clear to you that over twenty thousand wizards living in this land, whose ancestors owned this place even before you did, before the Statute of Secrecy officially came into effect, wizards and muggles lived together, and legends still circulate throughout the country."


    "But you withdrew," the Prime Minister said nervously, "I haven''t seen a single piece of news about wizards in any of the publicly circulated newspapers - maybe after today there will be - -and now you want the two societies to integrate, how am I going to convince the people that you are a presence hiding in the shadows that keep order in Britain? Not to mention that I have to consider the opinions of Parliament, the Church, and the army, who previously knew nothing about you, maybe one or two families know, but would they dare to speak out? Well, unless-" His expression changed.


    "Unless what?"


    "Alas, I cannot possibly speak with empty words, and perhaps you do not know our attitude towards refugees-"


    "Wizards are not refugees!"


    "Yes, yes, I know, but to the general populace it may not seem to make much difference, especially since you all can travel from one place to another, and who knows if you might suddenly come out of their fireplaces one day, gosh, the idea that a wizard could steal something may amuse you to hear, since you can conjure up gold coins, but you can''t stop the populace from thinking like that... ..."


    Felix didn''t laugh, and neither Ms. Bones did. Because it is true that there are quite a few thieves in the wizarding community, a sizeable number, though most of them are not interested in muggle possessions because the penalties for breaking the Statute of Secrecy are much more severe than petty theft.


    "... I think," the Prime Minister pulled out a green, diagonally striped handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "that if wizards could be brought under the authority of the government in name and under the supervision of the law, while swearing allegiance to the Queen -- of course, in name only -- I think the situation would be much easier."


    Ms. Bones stared, and managed to keep herself from turning her head to look at Felix, who had anticipated the Prime Minister''s reaction to it entirely:


    "We have to win the Muggle Prime Minister over." Felix analysed, "I know he can''t quite make the call on this, the cabinet, the parliament, the military, the civil society, and the Queen who lives in Buckingham Palace, they all have their own sphere of influence, but the Prime Minister is the most important one, he links up all of them and has equal ability to exert influence over those people."


    "Ugh, I don''t know how to convince him." Mrs. Bones rubbed her forehead wearily.


    "Convince?" Felix looked at her seriously, "That is the outcome we wish to achieve. But you''ll have to be assertive through the process."


    Bones looked at him hesitantly, "But - what if -"


    "Oh, Amelia. We worry about war, but won''t the other side be afraid of us too? But on second thought, we''re not actually afraid of war, we''re just worried about triggering a war that shouldn''t have started due to the other side''s arrogance and miscalculation of the situation."


    "That''s not exactly what we have been discussing." Bones objected.


    "That was a tactic with the general public, and we can certainly take a softer approach and thus gain widespread support. But with politicians? You have to treat them as completely different creatures, when you take a step back, you have to demand something from the other side. It''s almost engraved in the other side''s veins."


    "Concessions represent weakness?"


    "Or it could be a sign of an exchange of benefits."


    Bones grunted.


    "You seem to know a lot about them."


    "Just flipped through a few ''story books'' before heading over here, and all I can say is that there''s some great stuff in them." Felix said vaguely.


    ...


    "Mr. Prime Minister, If you insist on that notion," Ms. Bones said sternly, "then there is no way we can negotiate. We are open to negotiations which define the obligations that both sides should fulfil, but will never give in to any group or individual, even in the name!"


    The Prime Minister did not expect to receive a sharp rebuttal. There was a moment of silence.


    "As I recall, you have an organization similar to the United Nations?" He asked cautiously.


    "The International Confederation of Wizards." Ms. Bones said with pursed lips.


    "That''s right, the International - ahem - Federation of Wizards, that''s what it is, Fudge told me about it once." The Prime Minister asked hopefully, "What do they think?"


    "They can''t decide yet," Felix suddenly interjected, "they''re worried about war."


    "War?" The Prime Minister called up.


    "Yes," Felix blinked as if he had found something interesting, "You may not know this, not all magical ministries maintain friendly relations with their local governments, and Britain is considered quite friendly in that respect. In fact, there are quite a few Ministries of Magic and government relations that were at one time so strained that they have no qualms about speculating on each other with the utmost malice and weighing up the comparison of power between the two sides, for example, I''ve heard the word nuke more than once ..."


    "Nuke?" The Prime Minister''s eyes bulged out completely, and he jumped up excitedly, propping his hands on the table and spluttering, "Do they expect a nuclear war to break out of this?"


    "Well, they do have that fear." Felix spread his hands and said ''frankly'', "Some of the Ministry of Magic cut ties with the Muggle government long ago and their access to information is quite limited ... I, for one, have never been worried about a nuclear strike. "


    "Of course not!" The Prime Minister roared, "No leader of any country would ever agree to detonate a nuclear bomb where their own people live, much less allow another country to do so! This is utter nonsense, and if anyone dared to issue an order like that, his political enemies would go absolutely crazy with laughter, and an angry populace would tear him apart."


    Felix glanced at Bones without moving.


    Ms. Bones got the signal, and she cleared her throat and said, "Mr. Prime Minister, no one wants war, and it is with the utmost sincerity that we hope that both sides will reach a consensus and do their best to move towards negotiations. In the meantime, in order to avoid unnecessary conflict, we will recall the wizards who are reclusive in Muggle society, fully retreat and conceal ourselves."


    The Prime Minister nodded, he did sense the sincerity of the other side.


    "However ... I hope you will not take too long to consider this, on the one hand, I cannot suppress the will of the wizarding populace for long, on the other hand, our retreat will cause a void in the local magical power, which is not necessarily a good thing at this critical time right now."


    "A void in power? What do you mean?" The Prime Minister asked tactfully.


    "During the period of our strict closure strategy, there could be an influx of other wizarding forces." Ms. Bones warned gravely, "It could be foreign wizards - such as those from Africa and America, who, as Felix mentioned before, are not on good terms with the local governments and may flee to Britain to take refuge; dark wizards who have been driven out by Aurors and have to hide in the gutters may also take advantage of the opportunity to make waves, but it is the Acolytes of Grindelwald who are most likely to make the most of it."


    When he heard the first point, the Prime Minister had merely frowned; he certainly trusted his own wizards more than outsiders, except that as a seasoned politician, he knew the art of negotiation as well as compromise and didn''t mind using this as an excuse to gain an advantage, but when he heard that the Ministry of Magic intended to let the dark wizards go unchecked, he immediately sat up in silence.


    "This is a threat!" He shouted, "You''ve been hiding this trick for a long time, haven''t you? You''ve been secretly breeding dark wizards so that at this moment you can-"


    "What a silly thing you are saying!" Ms. Bones said angrily.


    "Don''t lie to me, I don''t know much about you guys." The Prime Minister said, making a distressed look of recollection, "But, that, that - your previous Minister of Magic revealed quite a bit of insider knowledge in several conversations - Knockturn Alley, isn''t it? Once Fudge grumbled that the Aurors had seized another batch of cursed items from Knockturn Alley, again and again ... You surely won''t deny it, right!"


    "I would not deny it." Ms. Bones said calmly, "In the official definition, Knockturn Alley is an alternative magical business district to Diagon Alley, and it sells a wide variety of items in a far wider variety of categories than Diagon Alley. Many of these items have no practical use, or are second-hand or functionally defective ... Naturally, they also include some dangerous materials. It is the last category of goods traded that law enforcement officials are cracking down on."


    "... Different people have a different sense of what it is; if it is just a student or a law-abiding civilian, then that person may never set foot in Knockturn Alley for the rest of their life; but if his interest is sufficiently unique, such as an interest in old magical items, cheap and novel gadgets, and rare magical materials, or simply wants to get rid of a rare kind of plant disease that the conventional methods fail to help ... they may well try their luck there. Of course - you''ll have to keep an eye on your wallet and your own safety at all times. There are always some strange and scary people walking around there. But they''re not breaking any laws, so Auror is unable to deal with them."


    "Sounds like a large grocery market that lacks regulation." The Prime Minister said in a dry voice.


    "Is your grocery market completely free of stolen goods, drug abuse, and second-hand guns?" Ms. Bones asked.


    The prime minister stopped talking.


    "The most common people in Knockturn Alley are petty thieves - either smugglers or those obsessed with dark magic, the latter also classified as dark wizards, but they can be a lot cuter than the really cruel, evil dark wizards, and at least the Aurors don''t have to worry too much about a killing curse flying from across the street when they''re enforcing the law. " Bones concluded.


    "What does a real dark wizard look like?" The Prime Minister asked.


    "Well, if you rephrase this question - what does a dark wizard with a strong animosity towards muggles look like?" Ms. Bones held up her monocle, "You should have seen what he can do this morning, even though he didn''t even show his face in person, and it was the Acolytes under his thumb who made the disturbance."


    "Grindelwald? Oh yes, I am mean to ask you that, you mean he is the culprit behind this whole thing? An extreme subversive person?" The Prime Minister asked eagerly, "I watched the interview of the guy who caused the tornado in front of the Houses of Parliament, several times!" Once again he could not suppress his anger and slammed his fist down on his desk.


    "Why didn''t you guys arrest him?"


    "If you knew what he had done, you wouldn''t be asking that question." Ms. Bones said seriously, she waved her wand and a bulging folder appeared on the desk, "Here is some information we have compiled, his philosophies, his claims, his influence ..."


    The Prime Minister opened the folder and pulled out a newspaper clipping from inside, it seemed to be quite old, and the clipping looked a little yellow.


    "-It''s worth mentioning that there are significant differences in the criteria used to evaluate the combat power of wizards and muggles. I know that muggle armies rely more on collective strength, whereas wizards -" Bones sighed, "some of them do all sorts of incredible things with just a wand."


    "Like this man?" The Prime Minister asked less comfortably, frowning at the moving picture of the man with the evil aura.


    "And Dumbledore."


    "The guy on the news said he was dead."


    "... Yes, sigh, if only he is still around, he has foiled Grindelwald''s plots to rule the world many times." Ms. Bones said with a sigh, she saw the Prime Minister''s mouth open and seemingly jaw drop as she continued, "That doesn''t mean he''s no longer unrestrained though, we have an equally great Archmage on our side who has touched the essence of magic in certain areas, he - oh, the researchers at the Ministry have borrowed Professor Hap''s method of grading magic, and the chart is attached to the document."


    "Professor Hap? Is he a researcher in this field?" The Prime Minister turned his attention to Felix, who showed little presence.


    "No, he is the only one who can stand up against Grindelwald at the moment, although he is still young and only -" Ms. Bones paused and turned her head to look at Felix, seeming equally taken aback by the number that she is about to say, " If I remember correctly, you are barely 26 years old, right?"


    Felix nodded, "If you compare magic to science, the only people who can master the power could be the scientists of the magical world, and I happen to be quite gifted. There''s no need to make a fuss about it."


    The Prime Minister murmured, "Yeah, 26 is nothing, quite a few scientists have published the most important papers of their lives at that age, like Einstein, I think I remember him doing something amazing at 26 ..."


    "He came up with the theory of relativity in general." Felix reminded him kindly.


    ...


    "Grindelwald came close to destroying a city in the twenties?" The Prime Minister asked incredulously as he flipped through the information, glancing down at the parchment quickly, " It''s still Paris? How on earth did he do that?"


    "An out-of-control magic." Felix said softly.


    "Fiendfyre." His fingertips manipulated a small flame, "Even in the magical world it is classified as an extremely evil curse, it is considered a curse because it senses living creatures and targets them preferentially, it is difficult to extinguish, you have to wait for it to burn itself out - oh, I mean it cannot be extinguished by conventional means, but it has a counter-curse."


    The Prime Minister''s eyes fixed dead on the small flame in his hand without a word.


    "What I''m holding is just a normal fire, no different from a lighter''s fire." Felix said.


    "Felix, are you sure he used a Fiendfyre?" At this point, Bones asked suspiciously, "The magic community is still not certain about that."


    "He mastered the Fiendfyre." Felix''s tone was even, "Grindelwald seems to be very good in fusion magic, like the one I saw in the profile, which I suspect was a combination of an advanced form of shield charm and the Fiendfyre curse. Not a random patchwork, but a fusion of the properties of different magical spells, possibly mixed with something else ... thought he must have studied the magic itself extremely deeply."


    The Prime Minister gulped and continued to read the information with his head down, asking a question or two every now and then.


    ...


    As they walked out of the Prime Minister''s residence, Bones breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Not a wasted trip, although the Prime Minister didn''t promise to be on our side ... but at least he promised to do his best to facilitate the negotiations, and he asked us to continue to maintain the wizarding order in the meantime, which, er, we had intended to do."


    "That''s only the first step," Felix said calmly, raising an eyebrow, "The Prime Minister is considered half aware of the existence of the wizarding society, and with past experiences of communication, he''s at least not going to shout at the top of his lungs, but he''s dealing with a group that knows nothing about wizards, and this Prime Minister has never been known to be decisive and toughness ... Let''s wait and see."


    "Ugh, I''m tempted to step down."


    "That doesn''t sound like something that would come out of your mouth." Felix turned his head in surprise.


    "I mean it," Ms. Bones said seriously, "I''m not intending to run away, I just feel more and more that I''m not capable of leading the people through the crisis at hand, so why don''t you become Minister of Magic instead, and I''ll assist you as Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement afresh ..."


    "Don''t, I don''t have such an idea."


    "Felix ..."


    "Well, let''s talk openly and honestly." Felix stared at Bones clearly in the eyes, "At this point, I can''t stay out of it, I do intend to grab power - but not the one from the Minister of Magic, do you understand?"


    "So-" Bones blinked, in shock, "Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards?"


    "That''s right."


    "But what about Akingbade and Grindelwald''s vow?"


    "O Amelia, it is certainly not now. Let us take a longer view: even if the wizarding and muggle societies reach a reconciliation, will the conflicts and contradictions just disappear? From the moment the peace treaty is signed between the two sides, it will take at least until the new generation to fully grow up for us to see the first results."


    In the darkness of the night, Felix poured out his thoughts as Ms. Bones listened quietly.


    "... Whether they are little wizards or muggle children, they may all still be in their infancy at the moment, teething and toddling. But they will eventually grow up in the new world order, and that is exactly what I hope to see - neither as strange and frightened of magic as the muggles of today nor overwhelmed about living in the sunlight as the wizards of today."


    There was a silence and stillness as the moonlight shone on Ms. Bones'' longing and resolute face.


    "Then go ahead and do it, Felix, and I will give you my full support." She said.


    Felix smiled.


    "We have taken the first step tonight: giving the International Confederation of Wizards and other countries a kick in the arse and successfully switching the conflict from the vast subject of muggles and wizards to an internal national matter. If all goes well, we could well be the first success story of its kind!"


    "And you will use this to gain great fame and step onto a bigger stage?" Ms. Bones asked with some leap of faith.


    "Yes, so no more slacking off, aren''t you going to give a speech to all British wizards, add me to the list."


    "Don''t you want to slack off again?" Her eyes widened.


    "Ahem, I''m still in the adjustment phase." Felix averted his eyes and said with a twinkle in his eye, "Come on. We''ll go and talk to the undercover agent who''s been lurking behind the press, and after that, I''ve got a run to Hogsmeade ... There''s so much going on that quite a few of my research projects have been forced to be put on hold."


    --------------


    #Hunayn Abbas, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 687: Letter (2 in 1)

    The next day, the day after the exposure of the magical world, in the Ministry of Magic. Felix, Amelia Bones, and Sirius walked into a small conference room, they had just finished a meeting with a high official of the Ministry of Magic before turning their heads and coming here. The original members of the Order of the Phoenix are all present in the conference room.


    "Where''s Kingsley?" The dark-haired, rosy-cheeked Hestia Jones asked perkily.


    "He''s been tasked with keeping the Prime Minister safe." Ms. Bones said, "We have no guarantee that Grindelwald or the Acolytes won''t take the opportunity to seek trouble, and his role for the next little while is crucial."


    "Ah, Kingsley has gone to be secretary for the prime minister again?" Hestia Jones said in surprise, and her words were well-founded; when Voldemort was on the loose and the Ministry of Magic feared that the Muggle Prime Minister would be subjected to the Imperius Curse (especially after the then Assistant Prime Minister had already been subjected to a not-quite-successful Imperius Curse), Kingsley had been sent on such a task, and unbeknownst to him, the Prime Minister had been very pleased that he had performed his job as efficiently as two men.


    Of course, the Prime Minister was very surprised when he learned the truth personally.


    "So that Muggle Prime Minister is on our side?" Moody asked gruffly.


    Ms. Bones said measuredly, "He promised to try to secure a peaceful outcome, but we can''t take it lightly, he can''t sway the situation alone. Gentlemen, it is easy to start a war, any fool can do it, but peace is hard to come by and requires painstaking planning."


    "Well said." Sirius clapped his hands twice.


    Felix was thinking of something else; no one knew where Grindelwald might be at the moment, and everyone - mainly Akingbade and a group of Ministers of Magic, including Bones - thought that Grindelwald is hiding in the shadows, sitting around waiting for chaos so that he can take advantage of the situation to ascend to the top and seize power in the magical world.


    Felix did not see Grindelwald either, but he did meet Rosier in Hogsmeade, once again under the name of Nichol Noel, and Vinda Rosier refused to reveal Grindelwald''s whereabouts, or it is possible that even she did not know.


    As the second in command of the Acolytes, her role consisted of two things: to act as a middle ground between members of the Acolytes, gathering information from all directions; the other role involved teaching Felix how to disguise himself as Grindelwald without flaw.


    "Since you have all joined the Ministry of Magic on a temporary basis," Ms. Bones looked around the room, "I won''t be overly polite, I do need people urgently now - first things first, the Pan-Magical Alliance. Felix has agreed to have ''Future World'' company work with this cooperation, with Lupin being in charge."


    Lupin nodded, took a deep breath, and said with a determined gaze, "Leave it to me."


    "Bill will follow you, he knows the goblins well." Ms. Bones continued and Bill in his seat said seriously, "And Fleur, she has long wanted to join the Order of the Phoenix." "That''s fine, make your own arrangements. The second thing is the outside mission, the Ministry of Magic will adopt a retraction strategy until the outcome of the negotiations is clear, the general public will stay at home as much as possible, and the Ministry will send special staff to check the defences of each home -"


    "Do we have to do this job too? It''s a bit of a big deal." Mundungus asked with a drowsy look.


    "No need." Ms. Bones said with a stern face, "You''re in charge of the other thing, regulating, patrolling, and warning the various grey areas in the country, I demand a total pause in smuggling, theft, and black market transactions hidden in the shadows, of course, all you have to do is lead the way, that shouldn''t be hard for you, should it?"


    "This, this ..." Mundungus'' whole being sobered up, and he said with a bitter face, "You can''t spoil my job."


    "Is smuggling, theft, and black market dealing all your job is about?" Moody yelled at him.


    Mundungus flinched and avoided his gaze, bowing his head and muttering, "It''s not like you don''t know what I do - how many times did you catch me before you retired? Well, it''s over, even if the ban is lifted, no one will be happy to do business with me anymore ..."


    "A second-class Order of Merlin." Ms. Bones said with a firm demeanour.


    Mundungus'' eyes lit up, he didn''t get a thing during the last war, there was nothing he could do about it, he had so little credit to claim and what little he had couldn''t be put on the table. In contrast, the others present basically received their rewards after the war.


    "If that''s the case ..." his attitude softened, and he looked quite motivated. Sirius "snorted" out a laugh and Bones shot him a look, "You will resume your duties as my secretary."


    "I refuse," Sirius said with a wide grin, "I''m going outside to do tasks."


    Ms. Bones ignored him, "Third thing, I need some people to go abroad to find out what''s going on in the outside world, including what the local wizarding population thinks, the attitude of the non-magical community towards wizards, and so on."


    "You''re worried about conflict coming from abroad?" Lupin asked tactfully.


    "That is correct. Our representatives stationed at the Confederation are sending back a steady stream of information," Ms. Bones said with a stony face, "but unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they are mostly adopting a conservative strategy." With that she glanced at Felix, if she hadn''t been subjected to a succession of ideological shocks before, and psychologically well-prepared for the crisis of exposure of the wizarding world, she''s afraid that she would have made the same choice as those Ministers of Magic now - to actively withdraw and be at the mercy of fate.


    ''At the mercy of fate'' may be a bit of an exaggeration, but apart from them, no other Ministry of Magic has actively embraced change, and the most radical thing they''ve done so far is reviewing the proposals she submitted previously and holding a meeting to discuss them. By the time they reached a conclusion, two or three months probably would have passed.


    "Every region has a different environment for wizards to survive in." Ms. Bones explained, "The relationship between wizards and local governments in the United States is not good, and there is a lack of mutual trust between the two sides; the situation in Africa is even more complicated, due to differences in language and customs, and the existence of multiple autonomous organisations of wizards which function like a Ministry of Magic, but are actually significantly less important, so don''t expect them to reach any agreement in the short term... ..."


    With the main topic of business out of the way, Ms. Bones relaxed as the crowd spoke in small groups.


    "What about Harry and the gang?" Lupin inquired Felix, "I saw you take them into a conference room when I arrived."


    "Yeah," Sirius straightened up, his eyes rolled, "Why don''t you hand Harry out to me, and we''ll go on a mission together. That boy isn''t that much weaker in battle power than I am, other than his lack of experience."


    Felix gave him a side-eye glance, Harry at present is already superior to Sirius in strength completely, Sirius is purely trying to rub his face with gold. He said slowly, "Don''t even think about it, they''ve got a bunch of homework to do."


    "Homework?" Sirius'' eyes widened as he seemed confused.


    "Yeah, they have the burden of trying to break down the barrier between wizards and non-wizards on their shoulders." Felix said, exchanging a look with Ms. Bones, remembering the conversation that had taken place last night in Rita Skeeter''s rented flat.


    After experiencing the tornado incident in front of the Houses of Parliament up close and personal, Rita Skeeter had taken a half-day leave of absence, on the grounds that she was frightened, and The Sun newspaper was generous and very lenient with the world''s first journalist to have publicly interviewed a wizard (even if it wasn''t, it would have been branded as such), considering it a historic event comparable to third-degree contact, and ready to follow up by creating a series of hot stories around her.


    In fact, Rita Skeeter was indeed shaken, but not by a wizard''s spell as her superiors thought, but by the complete exposure of the wizarding community, and it took her a lot of questions to get her head around what had happened.


    "You''re going to stay on, Rita." Upon hearing of her bizarre experience, Felix said gleefully, "You will have plenty of access to confidential information next, that will not be written down in the newspaper - you have a keen eye for the human heart and know what they want, and I want you to continue to use your talents to dig out the true thoughts of people from all walks of life. And yes, in the next articles involving wizards, be unbiased and take a neutral stance."


    "I can''t influence the senior management''s decisions." The expression on Rita Skeeter''s face looked half expectant, half awkward. She used her long nails to tweak her chin and said wryly, "Unless - well, you guys allow me to use magic."


    "We won''t do that." Ms. Bones said sternly.


    Rita Skeeter rolled her eyes and turned her head to look at Felix. Felix weighed his words, "Changing minds with magic has too many hidden dangers. This is not an isolated incident. In modern society, people are connected in all sorts of ways, and a sudden change in one''s attitude can raise suspicion, especially at this point in time. The situation isn''t that urgent for us to go to that length."


    "What if the situation is urgent and there is no time to waste?" Rita Skeeter pursued.


    "You have to think about the question, in whose hands do the power lie?" Felix gave her a meaningful look, "Do your part, and you''ll become a legend among journalists."


    Rita Skeeter fell into contemplation, she didn''t feel a sense of irritation, she knew what she wanted.


    "How are you planning to influence the attitude of the senior management of the newspaper?" Skeeter asked shrewdly, "I will need something at the back so that I can cooperate with you, won''t I?"


    "You''ve gained some reputation in the Gun Ban series coverage, make good use of it, and that Ilvermorny wizard who immobilised you with the Full Body-Bind Curse, I know you will hate him to the bone, but he''s actually created an excellent profile for you, so put the resentment away for now ... Well, our original intention was to send the newspaper some basic information, understanding is the first step in removing the wariness, but I suddenly got a better idea, and I have some eager students on hand who would be happy to help."


    "Well, I''d like to see ..." Rita Skeeter smacked her lips in discontent and asked, "What about my safety?"


    "The Ministry of Magic will send Aurors to provide protection." Ms. Bones said.


    ...


    "This is even worse than I thought, I thought I would be brewing tea, running errands, or writing a bunch of inexplicable reports like Percy at best," Ron couldn''t help but complain, "but can someone tell me why we''re writing essays in the Ministry of Magic?"


    "Ron, what we''re doing means a lot!" Hermione said seriously.


    Harry didn''t say anything, he stared listlessly at the parchment in front of him, not a single word touched on it. He had seen what thousands of wizards went through in the Pensieve, but none of it seemed helpful - none of them had mastered the skill needed to write articles for a Muggle newspaper.


    He, Ron, Sirius, and the others had stayed overnight at school last night, Hermione was taken to home by the Professor, but he hadn''t expected them to meet again in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic early this morning. Instead of making them do chores, the Professor led them to an empty meeting room, took out quills and bottles of ink, and asked them to write letters, presumably about their lives as current Hogwarts students, and Professor Hap warned them not to reveal their names, addresses, or any confidential information.


    Harry looked around; at first, it was just the three of them, but it wasn''t long before Professor Hap went out and brought back a number of people one after another, all of them from his school.


    These students could be roughly divided into two camps. The first group is related to the Order of the Phoenix, such as Neville and Ginny, and of course him, Ron and Hermione; the second group are the family members of the Ministry of Magic''s public officials, such as Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillan, Cormac McLaggen, Zacharias Smith (who Harry and Ron both hated), Draco Malfoy, and Cho Chang, who had brought her friend, Harry couldn''t remember that girl''s name, it seemed to be Mary or something.


    But -


    Harry turned his head and stared at Luna''s tousled pale yellow hair, unable to figure out why she showed up here as well. Perhaps it might have something to do with the fact that Luna''s father, Mr. Lovegood, shared a partnership with Professor Hap? He knew that the magazine ''The Solutions to the Ancient Runes'' printed along with The Quibbler, and he had found an extra page of the Quibbler attached to an article when he read it one time, and Ron had bookmarked that issue.


    Luna looked at Harry with her light-coloured eyes.


    "Dad and I stayed over at Hogsmeade last night, and he wanted to thank Professor Hap in person."


    "Oh," Harry blinked, "I thought I heard the Three Broomsticks room was full?" He actually wanted to ask why he wanted to thank Professor Hap, but then he suddenly remembered that the Professor had lent the Resurrection Stone to Luna, and it dawned on him, so he changed the subject.


    "Yeah, so we stayed in the Hog''s Head Inn," Luna said cheerfully, "Luckily, there was one last room left there when we went over to ask. Even more, luckily, Dad happened to spot Felix through the window when he got up to go to the toilet in the evening, and they chatted for a while and the professor mentioned he needed some student help, so here I am."


    "Yeah, that''s lucky enough." Harry said, but he knew how shitty the environment inside the Hog''s Head Inn was. He couldn''t help but mentally wonder what the Professor''s purpose was for showing up in Hogsmeade though, was it to meet someone?


    "Is Aberforth alright?" Hermione interjected to ask.


    "He has probably never seen so many guests in his life, I don''t know if it''s a good thing for him though." Ron said with a frown.


    "He''s fine," Luna said seriously, "but he''s planning to sell the Inn."


    "What''s wrong?" Harry looked shocked.


    Luna shook her head slowly, "He didn''t mention it, I guess he has more important things on his mind."


    Harry brought his attention back to the parchment, he glanced to his both sides, Hermione had already written a third of the parchment, and he could tell that she was writing seriously, biting her lip as she kept composing, Ron had only written two lines and Harry stared at the freckles on his nose for inspiration, only to find Ron showing an expression of pleasant surprise and then seeming to write with a flood of ideas as he looked down and scribbled.


    Harry couldn''t help but be curious and lean over.


    The first line started with ''I have a friend.'' Harry froze and continued to read on, ''He grew up being abused by his Muggle relatives, oh Muggle meaning non-magical people, he lacked clothes and food, he was once locked up by his aunt and almost starved to death, luckily I noticed the abnormality and went to rescue him in a flying car; don''t make a big deal out of it, it wasn''t the first time we risked our lives despite the fact that we had only finished the first year at the time ...''


    "Ron." Harry couldn''t help but protest.


    "What''s wrong? I didn''t mention your name." Ron said with a smirk.


    Harry sat back and sulked alone, thinking about writing a ''My Muggle Aunt, Uncle and Cousin''s Family'' as well, which would serve as a perfect way for him and Ron to testify against each other if they were both chosen, but he didn''t want to take a cheap advantage on Ron, and after thinking about it, he also started with ''I have a friend'' opening sentence.


    ''I have a friend whose whole family are wizards, this friend''s parents have seven children, and thus they are not exactly doing well in terms of wealth (much better now), but of course, it doesn''t matter, because they are the kindest people I have ever met, especially compared to my relatives.''


    Harry paused, still unable to resist making a dark reference to the Dursleys, he felt a little petty. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ''I met this friend on a train, his twin brother helped me carry my trunk, and he was the first person my age I met in the wizarding world-'' As he wrote this, Harry realised that something was wrong, the first person his age he had ever genuinely struck up a conversation within the wizarding world was actually Draco Malfoy, so he crossed that out and changed it to ''He was the first person my age I met on the train and the first friend I made in the wizarding world, though I soon made a second and third friend ...''


    ''One of the elective subjects at school is Muggle Studies, the textbooks to which are very old and completely out of date, but another friend of mine (who also comes from a Muggle family and therefore knows a lot about these things) said it is fascinating to look at these things from a wizard''s point of view and I read the thesis she wrote: Why do Muggles need electricity? My first friend read it too, and he was very enthused to learn about it, even though he didn''t select the course. I think it was a pity ...''


    Near noon, Felix came over and read through a dozen letters one by one.


    "McLaggen, there is no need to mention your father''s connections in the Ministry of Magic three times in your letters;"


    "Smith, there''s far too much superiority in your writing, I can''t guarantee whether the reader of it will want to punch someone when they read it ..."


    "Luna, your observations are unique and detailed, but the mention of several unproven magical creatures ... never mind, it fits just right with your style."


    "Well, Granger - yours is not very good, too rigorous, analysing the similarities and differences between the two sides from the perspective of muggles and wizards respectively as it came from an expert in the field, I want something written by a sixteen or seventeen-year-old, but you can pitch it to the Daily Prophet. "


    "Miss Bones, my ''Aunt Minister of Magic'' angle is interesting, you might as well write more, you''re in control of your own scale."


    "Weasley, you confessed about your illegal and disorderly behaviour, especially those paragraphs describing your psychology is quite wonderful, it is evident that you are the primary mastermind - no need to change, it''s quite interesting, but I suggest you cross out the paragraph about your suspicion about me being the heir of the Chamber of Secrets."


    "Potter, I''m not sure--well, how did you know that Mr. Weasley snored in his sleep? Oh, Ron told you. ... Well, it turns out Arthur has all his good stuff hidden in his garage - does Molly know about it?"


    Felix supervised them to revise it, and finally tailored a very targeted beginning to it, then he singled out a few of them and handed them to an Auror.


    "Send them to the Sun newspaper post."


    ...


    In the afternoon, the press conference proceeded as scheduled in the Ministry of Magic conference room, with countless wizard families huddled in front of the magic radios. Felix''s calm and confident voice carried through thousands of homes:


    "... We have been forced to embark on an unprecedented torrent of time in which everyone is caught in, and I hope that when we look back at this period of history some years from now, each of us will be able to point to the world behind us and proudly say to future generations with pride that it is an era we created for them."


    Meanwhile, the Sun''s front office received several letters from ''enthusiastic little wizards''.


    --------------


    #Hunayn Abbas, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 688: The Fireplace (2 in 1)

    Rita Skeeter entered the conference room with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. She looked around and several of the newspaper''s key figures and well-known penmen and penwomen are present - the fat executive, the serious senior woman who looks after her, rival Melissa, and two or three of the best in their respective topics, one of whom she knows writes a good obituary. They all looked serious as if something big had happened.


    "Rita, here you are." The serious woman said amiably, with several letters in front of her, and one of them already opened. "How was your rest? There were no lingering effects were there, from that strange magic thing?"


    "Much better." Skeeter said vaguely, "I slept a bit and I feel all right now. Oh yes," she pulled two manuscripts out of her crocodile bag, "I wrote these."


    The woman took them with considerable surprise.


    "It''s my review of yesterday''s events, and because I wasn''t sure of the newspaper''s attitude, I picked two angles to recount." Skeeter said without moving.


    "I''m satisfied." The serious woman nodded as she flipped through the manuscript casually, putting it down without looking at it in detail. She rested her hands on the table and leaned forward, "But things have changed now, as we received this." One of her ringed fingers tapped the envelope on the table, "And it happens to be relevant to you."


    "It''s relevant to me?" Skeeter repeated in confusion.


    The serious woman picked up the opened envelope and pulled out a folded wad of parchment and a small card from it. She pushed the small card over to Rita Skeeter.


    "Read it."


    Rita Skeeter picked the card up with the long nail of her little finger and held it in her hand to carefully identify the handwriting on it. At a glance she noticed the handwriting is messy and less formal than it should be, and, thinking about what Hap had said last night, she guessed it might have been transcribed by one of the students? She cleared her throat.


    "The wizarding community is exposed. The adults are busy discussing a response and Mum is worried, she doesn''t want conflict. A few friends and I have decided to write to you - I hope you will realise that, apart from magic, our emotions are all the same.


    BTW: a friend of mine from muggle origins recognised the female journalist who appeared on the news, you must be considered the first person to have interviewed a wizard, right? So we sent it to you. End of story, that''s all written on it."


    Rita Skeeter looked up to find the journalists in the room staring at her jealously, and she instantly realised that it had to do with the title of ''first journalist to ever interview a wizard''. The serious woman said nothing and pushed the open letter over again.


    Skeeter unfolded the letter and read it aloud to the crowd. "I have a friend ..." It was only halfway through the reading she managed to identify the character in the letter. Everyone in the wizarding world knew about the great Harry Potter, and with the reappearance of the Dark Lord Voldemort, his two friends had become a little famous, for winning the Order of Merlin on account of their unyielding courage in the face of the Dark Lord.


    Through various clues, she had determined that this letter came from the youngest son of the Weasleys, Ron Weasley.


    "It''s over?" The fat executive said intently, "It was quite interesting, just a bit edgy." Several other journalists nodded along.


    "It''s over." Skeeter said dryly, she didn''t see anything interesting at all, if she had been informed earlier she surely would have churned out a series of controversial articles, of course, whether they are positive or negative is still a matter of debate.


    A journalist was about to comment, but the serious woman stopped him.


    "Read all the letters, and we can discuss them together."


    Rita Skeeter looked around, grabbed the second letter, tore it open, and read it aloud to the crowd, "I have a friend ..." Well, she just thought of the Saviour in her mind and there is a letter from the Saviour, if Hap hadn''t arranged it, she would dare to eat the parchment.


    Then came the third - and final - letter, which Rita Skeeter read for a while, unable to guess who had written it.


    "... When the weather is muggy, I like to lie in the little flower garden.


    The branches of the mistletoe separate the sky into little grids which move across each other, and the fine specks of sunshine hover next to the white berries of the mistletoe; it''s pretty, and probably the gnomes in the garden think so too. Gnomes are not very good at talking, apart from spitting and making faces, their greatest pleasure is carrying the white berries to their homes. I left a boot in the garden when I was little, expecting them to move in one day, and later I worked with my Papa to build a house for them.


    There are also lumpy vines growing in the garden. Often resembling dead tree stumps, this charming plant has a lumpy surface with the occasional coloured scar (some say because of an insect infestation). Papa wouldn''t let me touch it because the lumpy vine is a fragile and kind plant, and its presence sweeps away any bad feelings in the neighbourhood, thanks to the secret of its large grapefruit pods.


    ''Those bad emotions hide in the pods and get bigger and bigger until it can''t fit and bursts itself.'' Papa said.


    It was with awe that we observed the pods cracking open.


    The sun was blazing hot and my Papa and I held our lotus umbrellas to prevent sweating. It was a few hours wait, then we suddenly heard a popping sound and the green skin split open, from which pale green, curved worm-like things oozed out. They squirm at first, but gradually quieten down, making you wonder if they''re dead, but Papa thinks it''s just those bad feelings coming out of their shells and turning into annoying harassing Wrackspurts.


    Harassing Wrackspurts are pesky creatures that drift into people''s ears and mess up their brains. They can be invisible, but you can hear them buzzing and then feel irritable and fuzzy, so that''s evidence of their presence. Papa has designed a harassment Wrackspurts trap to deal with them, but the lumpy vine makes so many that we have to do something else.


    The way to deal with them is to perform a special ritual that resembles some sort of dance.


    First, we have to will fill our brains with happy emotions, which will briefly ward off the Wrackspurts, and then we will dance with our arms around our heads, while constantly spinning in place - just like trying to chase away the mosquitoes. The purpose of this is to tell the Harassing Wrackspurts that my brain is already occupied with other emotions and I don''t need you, and then they will simply fly away.


    The ritual was tiring but also joyful, and to treat me, Papa would usually cook a pot of Plimpy soup.


    Papa is well versed in many recipes and I help with catching fish in the stream. There are many different kinds of Plimpy, some of which are dangerous, such as the large-mouthed Plimpy, which will come out of the water with their mouths wide open and attack anyone who overfishes their kind, so I take some lucky stones with me when catching fish to prevent such accidents (I also have some salvia and aromatic mallow for fire divination or other useful things, such as the large spotted umbrella fungus) ..."


    Rita Skeeter stared at the oddly overwhelming writing, they seemed so out of place, could something have gone wrong?


    "Harassing Wrackspurts." The fat supervisor pondered.


    "A plant that absorbs bad emotions." Melissa muttered.


    "Would it work if ordinary people practised this dance to ward off harassing wrackspurts?" Another journalist asked.


    Rita Skeeter was dumbfounded. After a long moment, the serious woman coughed twice to bring the crowd back to their senses, and then she lit a lady''s cigarette. The smoke curled up from the end.


    "Well, that''s what I mean about the situation having changed." The serious woman sat upright and said, "The whole country - no, I should say the whole world - is in a mess at the moment. A number of newspapers have denounced yesterday''s atrocity and of course, we have published an unpleasant and critical article ... The reason we are not rushing to surface our attitude is because we are special and Rita has been lucky enough to have had contact with a wizard and even she herself has become excellent material, so I am waiting for her return and intend to build a series of stories around her. "


    Skeeter rolled her eyes secretly, knowing that this woman had got a taste from the last gun ban articles.


    "... There are differences, and the news industry can''t be totally in tune with what people are saying, we have to develop our own thinking. But this case is unique, and if wizards are defined as terrorists, we will probably get in trouble for speaking up for them, and I received these letters just as I was in a dilemma. What do you think the newspaper should do? Should we hand them over to the authorities, or-"


    "Absolutely no!" Everyone shouted in unison.


    A smile appeared on the serious woman''s tense face. "Very well, if anyone thinks that way, I''ll tell him to pack up and get out immediately. The question now is, what attitude should we take, and whether the contents of these letters are credible?"


    The crowd looked down and pondered, all of them aware that this is an audition, and whoever speaks more to her liking will have the resources of the entire newspaper revolving around that person for the next few days.


    "How about taking a neutral stance and forwarding the letters as they are while we stay out of it?" The fat supervisor said tentatively.


    The serious woman looked at him.


    "Perhaps a gentle criticism?" The fat supervisor said uncertainly, "There''s so little useful information at the moment, only a few letters without a clue, in case it''s a conspiracy by those wizards ..."


    The serious woman was just about to speak when Rita Skeeter interjected, "That can''t be ruled out." But then she asked rhetorically, "But is it vital to us?"


    The serious woman glanced at her, "Tell us what you think."


    "Whether there are any magical agencies involved or not - well, umm, from these letters everyone should be able to see that wizards are a small organised society, not a loose group, they have schools, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, gathering areas ... " Skeeter pointed to the letters and said, "These specifics aside, these letters alone signify something equally important: we''ve hooked up with the mysterious wizards while the other newspapers are still banging around like headless flies, er, even though it''s only a one-way connection, but it''s the perfect opening."


    It wasn''t that the others weren''t aware of this, it was just that the responsibility was so great that they were hesitant. But Rita Skeeter, a woman with little mental burden, looked very decisive to the others.


    The fat supervisor frowned and said, "What if these letters are just isolated cases, a couple of - well, a couple of school wizards, for goodness'' sake! How does it sound so odd to think that wizards go to school too - ahem, I mean, what if this is just the whim of a few school wizard students?"


    "I do have that concern." The serious woman said. She is afraid that by speaking for the wizards, or by not criticising or analysing them with enough spiciness and comprehensiveness, she will not make the most of the material and instead be overtaken by other media outlets. S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "I don''t think so." Skeeter said confidently, her bottom line derived not from the analysis but from last night''s conversation, which made the process of working backward incredibly easy when she knew the conclusion.


    "Think about it, when these articles go out, whether it''s the whim of a few students or not, as long as one of the contents of the letter is true - namely that the wizards have their own law enforcement agency - they''re bound to find out about this. There are only two outcomes when that happens:"


    The more Rita Skeeter spoke, the more confident she became, and she raised two thick fingers.


    "The first outcome, the enforcers come to their door and order those students not to write to us again, but that approach-"


    "It would make little sense," the serious woman picked up, "as the wizard has already revealed their presence and this would just be playing deaf and dumb."


    "That''s right," Skeeter said aloud, "the second outcome would be the law enforcers of the wizarding world acquiesced to the students'' actions, at best secretly guiding them to avoid revealing secrets or something; or, as we just feared, that it was all arranged by the wizard... ...Either way, it means a steady stream of exclusives!"


    The sound of breathing in the conference room became heavy.


    Rita Skeeter fidgeted and glanced at the others; she had just come up with the perfect title for herself: the Uncrowned Queen.


    ...


    Meanwhile, several most influential people in the British government are participating in a cabinet meeting, with every attendee handpicked and even the leader of the opposition party present.


    "Can we send our troops ..." the Minister of Defence said tentatively midway through the meeting.


    "I disagree!" The Prime Minister slapped the table.


    "Mr. Prime Minister, don''t forget that you are ''our'' Prime Minister." The Leader of the Opposition warned the Prime Minister, as he said wistfully, "I suspect you are under the spell of those wizards ... In fact, this is very likely, legend has it that wizards can summon demons and boil up bewitching potions, and only a burning cross can subdue them... ..."


    "Are you a fool?" The Prime Minister said irritably, "Or do you intend to start a modern-day witch hunt?! But remember you''re not up against defenceless women from centuries ago, you''re up against guys who actually control magic, the strongest of whom can destroy a city by themselves, and - hell yeah, that one happens to use the very fire you''re so proud of!"


    "That can''t be! How can they be that strong?" The Home Secretary shouted out of breath.


    In fact, what he wanted to say was, why would a wizard that powerful still willingly hide?


    "The ones that strong are only in the minority, a rare breed," the Prime Minister said with a strange look on his face, "According to what I''ve read in the information, only four have appeared in the last two hundred years, and three of them are in Britain. I don''t know whether to be proud or uh-"


    "They''re all still alive?" The Minister of Finance asked cautiously.


    "Two are dead," the Prime Minister said, "in terms, we can understand, one good and one bad, the good one was highly respected, the headmaster of a school of wizards, who fought two generations of Dark Lords all by himself, but sadly he died recently. Had it not been for him, the war might have broken out between the wizards and us a long ago."


    He did feel sorry for him. Even though the Prime Minister had never met Dumbledore, he could conjure up in his mind an image of a man whose political prestige was so high that it was unmatched, just from the attitude of the two Ministers of Magic.


    The Leader of the Opposition asked coldly, "So what if war breaks out, will we lose?"


    The Prime Minister looked at him curiously.


    "Have I not made myself clear enough? Or do you insist on fighting an open war on British soil against tens of thousands of people with strange skills? They''re organised and have a regime similar to ours, which means they''re harder to deal with than terrorists, and I remember the last time we sent a few hundred police officers against a dozen violent men, and they ended up smashing a whole city block! Even if we ended up winning, what would we gain - oh, not to mention the fact that they now have two archmages who can destroy cities at the drop of a hat, one of whom is bound by a magical vow and the other is interested in negotiating the integration of wizards into society, and you''re going to ruin that by having two human nukes join forces against us? "


    "Do your words represent the attitude of your party?" The Prime Minister pursued the question aggressively, not forgetting to dig a hole for his opponent.


    The Leader of the Opposition was dumbfounded, and halfway through, he asked a sharp question.


    "Are you sure that all this information is true? I haven''t heard of any city being destroyed by wizards, it''s only us who have done that before -" he stopped his sentence awkwardly.


    "The intel gathered has the answers you''re looking for." The Prime Minister shrugged off the responsibility and said, "As for the truth, I''m not sure, which is why I sought all your advice."


    "What are they, um, wizards capable of? I mean, you''ve seen them with your own eyes?" The Defence Minister asked a reliable question.


    The Prime Minister thought for a moment and said, "I''ve only dealt with two Ministers of Magic. They didn''t cast spells in my presence at random, but just from what I''ve seen with my own eyes-" His expression suddenly became serious and grave.


    "Wizards can glue things to walls that can''t be taken off by conventional means; their portraits have intelligence and can communicate with people -- I''m not sure if that''s all they do; they can also turn objects into small animals that the naked eye can''t tell from the real thing, which is called trans-sfiguration, and they have a range of other magical disciplines --"


    "Can a wizard turn into another person?" The Defence Minister asked, holding his breath.


    "I don''t know." The Prime Minister shook his head as he continued, "They can also appear and disappear out of thin air, but I''ve only seen it once, and most of the time they appear through fireplaces -"


    "Fireplaces!" The Minister of Defence and the Minister of Home Affairs shouted in unison, seemingly terrified.


    "What?" The Prime Minister asked curiously.


    "Have you counted," the Minister of Home Affairs said with a grimace, "how many fireplaces there are in all Britain?"


    The Prime Minister was stunned for a moment, then the rest of the expression on his face disappeared and fear surfaced a little.


    It goes without saying - the British have a strong fireplace obsession and basically every household has a beautiful fireplace, even if they don''t light it a few times a year, but they are a must!


    The government also sees fireplaces as an important part of traditional British culture, and while technology has made it unnecessary for people to have fireplaces to heat their homes, the government is still doing its best to provide them with increasingly pure coal for fireplaces.


    For example, think of how many scenes in English literature have featured fireplaces in scenes of cosiness, power, or reunion with family and friends?


    In the midst of a roaring fire, fireplaces have witnessed the warmth and happiness of countless families, the beautiful vows of lovers, the laughter of friends ... and now, if they become hostile to wizards, the first thing they have to do is call on the people to tear down tens of millions of fireplaces?


    The Prime Minister couldn''t help but shudder.


    His already not-so-strong heart became even more shaken at the moment. The link between wizards and ordinary people is far closer than he thought, and to deal with wizards would first require a place without fireplaces... that would be cutting into the flesh! By removing all wizard influence, what would be left in the land?


    "These wizards are an abomination!"


    "Rats in the sewers!"


    "Too shameless!"


    A fierce outcry followed. The conference room fell silent again, and the people looked at each other. The Prime Minister looked from side to side and finally, compelled to ask, "So - everyone agrees to try and make contact with the wizard?"


    No one said a peep.


    "I understand, and I hope everyone will continue to adhere to this resolution in the next parliamentary session."


    Outside the conference room, Kingsley, who is acting as assistant of the Prime Minister, pricked up his ears. A fireplace? It hadn''t occurred to him at all that a small fireplace would be the key, perhaps he was too accustomed to it. He walked away quietly as the discussion continued in the conference room, but it was no longer relevant to the big picture -


    "Should we seek the help of the church? They''re the professionals." Someone suggested.


    "Idiot, haven''t you ever dealt with them? If they could really spread miracles, would they still be that virtuous? They blaspheme themselves!"


    "Cough cough cough!" The Prime Minister let out a series of sharp coughs.


    "Ugh, at least they might have kept some records."


    "Speaking of which - it occurs to me that the Queen is the nominal Supreme Governor of the Church ..."


    "You want the crown to get involved?"


    "It''s such a big deal, so they might as well share some of the pressure ..."


    ...


    The Dursleys.


    "I knew it, watch it!" Vernon pointed at the TV and said smugly, "Those gutters can''t hide at last, someone will stop them, I wish the government would arrest them all one by one -"


    He suddenly braced himself, his small eyes darting around twice warily, "If that''s the case, will they use our house as a refuge and forcibly seize our property? I think that Ministry of Magic employee Dudley is sneaky and has no good intentions."


    Dudley glared at his father.


    "Alas, not all those associated with Dudley are as nice as you," Vernon said in a rush to add a compliment, and he turned his head to Petunia, "Shall we call the police secretly - while the boy is away?"


    "No!" Aunt Petunia shouted, in a firm voice, "Absolutely no one can find this out!"


    The fat of Vernon''s body quivered, and he cooed in a small voice, "Well, well ... I just said it casually, it''s all that freak''s fault," he suddenly burst out with a fit of anger, "no sense of manners at all, just like his father, he just entrusted someone to bring back a message -"


    He spat and cursed for ten minutes, then leaned back on the sofa, panting and looking at the picture on top of the fireplace - they still maintained the tradition of using a fireplace to keep warm in winter, otherwise, they would have been gossiped about.


    All the neighbours around know that the Dursleys are very, very disciplined and traditional people.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 689: The new generation (2 in 1)

    When Kingsley sent back the information he had received, everyone was surprised. "A fireplace eliminated the possibility of war?" Sirius leaned against the doorframe, with a cat teaser dangling down from his hand, and Crookshanks seized the opportunity to pounce on it and grab it.


    Ms. Bones was much relieved by this, nevertheless, she remained stern-faced and corrected, "It''s ten million fireplaces, the real number will only be more than that."


    "Oh come on," Sirius said in a bantering tone as he picked up Crookshanks, ignoring the fierce face he was making, "cats don''t worry about whether they''ll have food tomorrow, do they? It''s too tiring to live like that." He kept shaking the big ginger cat.


    Crookshanks huffed and stretched out the pads of his cat''s paws and smacked Sirius in the face. A small smile swept across Ms. Bones'' eyes.


    "What''s next?" Lupin asked, sitting on the couch.


    Felix thought for a moment and uttered one word, "Wait."


    "The Ministry of Magic has the information advantage over the Muggle government in this whole conflict. We have shown more initiative in the early stages in order to eliminate the risk of war, but nothing can be done in excess, and we have already awakened a massive machine with a population of nearly sixty million people."


    "Now that Kingsley is keeping an eye on the government and Skeeter is staying at the Sun, the next step is to listen to the voices of the people - well, I''m not sure yet, have the special floo network lines been established?"


    "The floo network administrators are working overtime," Ms. Bones said, "but it''s going to take time to structure a network across all the counties of the country."


    Felix nodded to show that he understood.


    The matter was an extension of a series of suggestions he had made at Hogwarts last time: there might be hundreds of newspapers across Britain, and even more local tabloids of all kinds than one could count, but they certainly brought together a portion of public opinion. Wizards are inherently small in number, and sorting out information through these newspapers is the best way to proceed.


    But there are two difficulties in the matter of procuring newspapers using the floo network.


    One being how to collect and compile newspapers from all over the country, and the solution Felix gave was the floo network. The floo network was designed to transmit people around the country through flames and internal routes provided the wizard could say where he or she wanted to go. Felix, on the other hand, wanted to create a specialized floo network, like a spider''s web with merely longitudinal thread, with the Ministry of Magic at the centre and the other end of the spider web placed in each of the country''s counties.


    This would have the advantage of saving manpower, and a dozen people would be able to travel quickly through the country on short notice. Of course, for security reasons, the wizards in charge of this task would be required to carry special passes, and they have been separated from the Floo Network Authority to form a separate division under the Department of Magical Transportation.


    It is worth mentioning that since there will be more and more interaction with the non-magical world in the future, Ms. Bones intends to create a new Department of Magic, which will be based on the ''Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office'' of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement with some of the staff from the Obliviator Headquarters, the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee and the Muggle Liaison Office to form the new department.


    Due to the unexpected exposure of the wizarding community, only the beginning of this project had been completed, leaving most of the progress still on her Minister''s desk.


    The second difficulty involved staffing. Obtaining the newspapers certainly would not be enough; it would be necessary to deploy staff to analyse the articles one by one, and these people would have to have a basic understanding of both wizard and muggle society in order not to be confused by a bunch of unfamiliar terms. The Ministry of Magic only has a limited number of people from muggle families.


    "Didn''t you guys collect a bunch of names of students who were willing to help?" Felix said to Harry, "Well, let''s call them over to give it a try." He held out the slightest hope in the back of his mind. Grindelwald had supposedly been teaching students seriously for the whole of last year, hadn''t he?


    In a way, Grindelwald''s Defence Against the Dark Arts could well be renamed ''Defence Against the Muggle Community''s Weapons and Concealments''.


    As it turned out, he did a pretty good job.


    The following day alone, a dozen young faces were added to the Ministry, and the number quickly surpassed a hundred.


    The Ministry of Magic became crowded at once.


    "At first we only called people who were close to us." Hermione said with slightly rosy cheeks, "Harry has the contacts of all the members of the frontline lookout club, and I was able to contact the Magic Rune Club ... and then word got out."


    "Fred and George helped a lot too." Ron said, "They''ve been quietly operating a radio station for some time now, it was set up even before the wizarding community was exposed. They didn''t think that far ahead though, originally they only intended to use the radio to promote the products of the Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, with the secret code written blatantly on the bottom of the leaflet."


    "You guys are doing a great job." Felix said encouragingly. "There are too many people though, even underclassmen."


    He was referring to the Creevey brothers. The older brother, Colin Creevey, was in the same grade as Ginny, both fifth years, and could barely fit in, but the younger brother, Dennis Creevey, was only a third year, and he figured it would take him half an hour to read a paper.


    "I''ve asked Colin to talk his brother to go back." Harry said in a rush while warning Ron and Hermione with a look, and Ron seemed to think of something funny as he forced himself to hold back a laugh.


    Harry didn''t dare tell the Professor that the Creevey brothers were in high spirits and that they weren''t working alone, the two brothers ran the ''Harry Potter Fan Club'' together and Colin had assured him with conviction that he could recruit another fifty people.


    It took him a lot of talking to dissuade Colin from that idea.


    When the number approached two hundred, it became impractical to keep them in the Ministry of Magic any longer.


    When Professor McGonagall learned of their dilemma, she invited them to Hogwarts, "It''s the summer holidays and the school is deserted. Moreover, there is a hidden danger in a mass gathering of wizards."


    As the new Headmistress of Hogwarts and a senior figure in the Order of the Phoenix, she hadn''t exactly spent the last few days relaxing.


    It wasn''t an off-site mission, though.


    On the one hand, she and the other professors were busy upgrading the defences of Hogwarts Castle; on the other hand, she had found a magical album in the Headmaster''s office that resembled an address book, that contained both Dumbledore''s closest friends and personal connections, as well as high officials from the Ministry of Magic abroad, some of whom could no longer respond to her because of their age.


    The most important thing on it for her was the pictures of the Headmasters of the eleven world-renowned wizarding schools.


    In the ordinary course of events, she would have spent years visiting each of these schools after succeeding as Headmistress, but for now, all formalities of false courtesy were eliminated and all questions and messages were conveyed through the photographs.


    In the Hogwarts great hall, Professor McGonagall and several of the remaining professors gave a warm welcome to the students.


    "Thank you for coming forward at a critical time, you are more than just Hogwarts students, you are part of the wizarding community and represent the future of the wizarding world ..." she said excitedly, unable to restrain herself from taking out a handkerchief to wipe the corners of her eyes in the middle of her sentence.


    Something took root in the hearts of all the students as a sinking feeling settled over them.


    "Maybe I should include Muggle Studies as a compulsory subject for young wizards from wizarding families ... This subject could become increasingly important, even Alasdair Maddock has openly stated his love for the Muggle sports, what else can''t happen?"


    "Who is Alasdair Maddock?" Ron asked in a whisper.


    "A pretty good chaser," Ginny, who is also a chaser, said, "The papers say he''s expected to join the legendary Montrose Magpies next year."


    "Professor McGonagall is a Montrose Magpies fan." Harry added.


    The castle was quiet that evening, not as lively as usual. Seamus stared blankly out of the window; Harry knew he grew up as a standard half-blood, his mother being a witch and his father a muggle, and he had told them about it as a joke -


    "Mum didn''t tell Dad she is a witch until after she got married. It scared the hell out of him."


    As Harry walked past, Seamus whispered, "My mum and dad had a fight. Because Dad''s co-worker said something bad about wizards when he came to visit the house." Harry paused and patted him on the shoulder. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''ll get better."


    "Will it?"


    "It will."


    The next morning, everyone gathered in the great hall as the Ministry of Magic deployed a small team to assign tasks to the students. Harry was surprised to see Percy''s figure.


    "Shut up, don''t talk." When Percy passed Ron, who opened his mouth, Percy immediately warned, "I won''t give you any preferential treatment." With those words, he dropped a stack of muggle newspapers with a thud.


    Ron made a face at him when Percy left and picked up the newspapers.


    "Hey, we''ve been allocated to Devon." He whispered to Harry, the Burrow is located in Devon.


    "I''ll keep an eye out for news from the Ottery St Catchpole village for you if there is any." Harry whispered, at which point Percy and a few Ministry of Magic staff stood in front of the students and told them what to do.


    The student''s task is substantial, but implementing it on an individual basis made it simple. They first divide up a group of students to pick out the newspaper articles with the words ''Wizard'', ''Witch'', and ''Magic'' in them, then cut them out and roughly categorise them (at the moment there are only two types, good and bad). The categorised clippings are sent to another group of students, all from Muggle families, who are responsible for picking out the more pressing ones, usually from influential media, articles with extreme views, or statistics.


    "In the face of any group of people being controversial, the primary consideration should be the base, proportion, and probability of different situations occurring." Hermione said to Harry and Ron.


    "Whose views are these?" Harry asked.


    "Professor Hap mentioned it in a report." Hermione said without thinking.


    "It doesn''t quite ring a bell, didn''t sound like him." Ron rubbed his chin and analysed it.


    "That''s because you never read articles of a serious nature!"


    "She''s talking nonsense," Ron said to Harry when Hermione had turned her head to leave, "There''s no stuff as serious and boring as the History of Magic, and I''ve been studying it for five whole years! If you add in Professor Binns'' lectures, the effect is simply doubled ..."


    "Then it''s time to show your talents in this area." Harry said dryly, his eyes fixed on an obituary in the newspaper.


    David, died on June 23, 1997, at the age of fifty-one. He was a lover of the occult and magic during his lifetime and "I am actually a vampire." He said this to a journalist during one of his interviews. In the background at the time, there were three children who were crying in fear at his presence. He considered it an honour, but his wife was not impressed and asked the journalist if vampires could get the cardio-vascular disease - a question that the journalist purposely recorded and publicly sought an answer to, given that wizards really do exist.


    Harry scratched his head, should I cut it off? But what category of information should it be classified as? I suppose it should count as a well-intended one.


    Nearly two hours later, they were finally done and Harry rubbed his sore neck. The thirty or so information he had gathered were both good and bad, but all within acceptable limits. It was pretty much the same on Ron''s end.


    Harry looked up and noticed with shock that there was an extra wall in the middle of the great hall. Percy and a couple of staff members were standing at the front, putting up newspaper cuttings every now and then, and they were surrounded by a circle of students who has solemn expressions. Harry went over and noticed a huge map of England hanging on the wall, with lines and symbols of special significance, which reminded him of the tactics board hanging on the wall in the players'' lounge.


    "There is a greater rejection of wizards in the more remote countryside." He heard Percy whisper.


    "It might have something to do with religion." Another man said.


    Harry''s heart sank as he remembered what Seamus had said to him last night, and his chest felt like a stone pressing down on him, and he couldn''t catch his breath. His breath puffed onto the back of the student''s neck in front of him and the person looked back - Draco Malfoy looked at him with a strange expression that seemed like anger and seemed to be hiding something else.


    He stepped aside towards the side to make room. Harry gave him a surprised look, then took a step forward.


    Harry could see more clearly, a blood-soaked coloured headline taking up a third of the page, titled ''All Wizards Should Go to Hell''. He frowned.


    "Oh never mind that, it''s just a third-rate local tabloid," Hermione said as she pushed in from the back of the crowd, clutching a stack of newspaper clippings in her hands. She said with annoyance, "I bet it doesn''t have more than a thousand readers - this is the kind that''s really hard to deal with." She held up a newspaper clipping and waved it in front of Harry and Draco.


    ''A detailed list of notorious events in history where wizards are suspected to have been involved.''


    "Is that true?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "It has nothing to do with true or false, with the word ''suspected'' being used in it." Hermione said contemptuously, "But they clearly didn''t have good intentions when they linked wizards with vicious events." She moved past Harry and handed the newspaper clipping to Percy.


    "Oh yes, Harry - I just forgot to mention that your letter appeared in the newspaper."


    ...


    Over the next few days, various pieces of information continued to come together.


    Ms. Bones compiled their recent approaches into a booklet and submitted it to the International Confederation of Wizards, and according to the delegate stationed there, over two hundred people were clamouring in the lobby of the Confederation''s headquarters, with African delegates alone taking up a quarter of the crowd.


    "Prior to this, the autonomous bodies in Africa gained international support by grouping together, which is how Akingbade rose to power, and of course, it has to be acknowledged that he himself showed competence and was trusted by all parties until the crisis arose." The representative said bluntly.


    "But with the wizarding community completely exposed, they started to think differently, and many of their claims were eye-opening - for example, a place I can''t even name, which is not as big as even a county in England, with just over a hundred wizards. They have a good relationship with their local Muggle military regime, maintaining a near semi-open alliance; for example, if the Muggle military regime attempts to conquer a tribe, which has wizards in it, even if it is just a single wizard, the local wizard group there will help them conquer that tribe."


    This information shocked many people.


    "The International Confederation of Wizards doesn''t care?" Sirius looked surprised, "What about the Statute of Secrecy? Aren''t wizards strictly forbidden from getting involved in muggle disputes?"


    Ms. Bones sighed.


    "Statute of Secrecy isn''t foolproof, they vary from person to ... person and place to place! Africa is already a special region, plus magic is highly respected there ... Anyway, the International Confederation of Wizards has always had very low expectations of them, it''s fine as long as they don''t make a big mess."


    Lupin raised his eyebrows slightly.


    "If I understand correctly - before the Statute of Secrecy became junk - the wizards there showed some self-restraint, but now ..." he paused, "Muggle military regimes openly pull in wizards as their thugs, aren''t they?"


    "There is already a trend towards that." Ms. Bones said, "The Confederation sent a warning to those two groups of wizards, but it is yet to be seen how much effect it will have - after a brief glimpse of the wizard force that Grindelwald has along with the disclosure, various ministries of magic have withdrawn their Aurors who were sent out, to take care of their own countries. The Confederation is now an empty shell and considerably less binding."


    After handing over a copy of their previous initiatives to the International Confederation of Wizards, she could only stare blankly afterwards.


    "Or on a happier note," Ms. Bones suddenly chuckled, "Kingsley brought back some good news, the Prime Minister''s side has finally ended their lengthy meeting and passed a resolution to extend an invitation to the wizards."


    Lupin was slightly surprised and then smiled. Moody''s magic eyes darted around, his grip on his walking stick kept loosening and tightening, Bill and Fleur hugged each other in excitement, and amidst a crowd of leering eyes, Sirius gave Amelia Bones a firm hug and a kiss.


    A week of tight nerves had left them all a little breathless, and everyone felt excited to see the light of day now. At dinner, Ms. Bones sat next to Felix and talked to him in a whisper.


    "The news won''t be announced until tomorrow, the Prime Minister has sent a message via portrait that they will be sending out an invitation in the Queen''s name, in the nature of a private party or afternoon tea ... Do you have any suggestions?"


    Felix thought for a moment and asked tentatively, "They don''t want it to be too official?"


    "Yes. The Prime Minister stated that there is still a significant number of people in Parliament who have misgivings." Ms. Bones said, "He suggested politely that it would be best if the team selected to negotiate is not too official, and that the party will not proceed to any substantive negotiations right off the bat. This event basically equates to the wizard''s first public appearance - well, actually the second, even though Grindelwald''s acolytes have largely failed to make a good impression on the world."


    "It has to be a stark contrast to the Acolytes ...," Felix mused, his eyes lighting up as he skimmed over the crowd of people in the hall and stopped on the students'' Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny.


    "What do you think about picking a few students to form a delegation?" Bones was about to open her mouth to retort when Felix continued, "A delegation that will be personally led by me."


    Bones was stunned, then looked down and thought quickly. The conclusion was ... It seemed feasible?


    With Felix around, there would be no need to worry about safety at all, she trusted his wisdom in making decisions on the spot, and as Felix is nominally a professor at the school, it made perfect sense for a professor to lead students without any obvious political overtones. As for her earlier fleeting concerns, such as being given a hard time by Muggle government officials, they would be dealt with by the Prime Minister, as he would give warning.


    Better to show their strength properly ...


    "So be it!" Ms. Bones said, then she hesitated slightly, "The student candidates-"


    "Choose from the hundred or so student volunteers, first consult with their parents." Felix said immediately, "Make the pros and cons clear to them, after all not everyone wants to show up in public ..."


    A new day had begun.


    --------------


    #TheBerryMan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 690: Inheritance

    In the morning, the Prime Minister made a speech in front of 10 Downing Street. "... The group of wizards truly exists, they once operated openly as guests of the court, and legends of them are passed down in some places to this day. But between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, England and the rest of the world were undergoing radical changes, the millennia-old Middle Ages were coming to an end, the old order was being scrapped, a new one was yet to be established, and our society was suffering major changes in every respect, at the same time the conflict between wizards and ordinary people continued to intensify, and extremely dreadful things happened as a result of what proved to be our thorny march towards greater civilisation. A scar was created."


    "Thereafter the wizards chose to hide their identities, severing ties with the masses and ensuring that this measure could be implemented by creating a law they call the Statute of Secrecy."


    "A week ago, the hidden society of wizards was made public by an accident and everyone is facing a huge choice - perhaps even the most important choice in recent years. Because the two societies had been separated from each other for so long, both of us became deeply unfamiliar with each other. The Ministers in charge of the country assembled many meetings, with all the members of parliament present, including a rare visit from Her Majesty the Queen, and finally agreed on one thing: to start a cautious exchange of views."


    "I am here to extend an open invitation to the Wizards to send a delegation. I believe that communication is the first step towards resolving disputes ..."


    The Prime Minister finished and then looked around the area, waiting for questions from journalists.


    "Mr. Prime Minister, are you suggesting that last week''s terrorist activities stemmed from an accident?" A reporter asked sharply, "By all accounts, while there were no casualties, the nationwide traffic jams, city shutdowns, and the destruction of various public facilities owned by municipalities caused significant property damage to the country, not to mention, a number of people were hospitalised due to shock."


    "Ahem ... we have to admit that there are equally good and bad wizards, what separates them is that their mastery of magic, which makes a huge difference in their individual combat abilities, and the panic we experienced was caused by none other than an extremely evil and powerful dark wizard together with his followers, you should know that name, Grindelwald ... a dark wizard with an ambition to create a new order. Sixty or seventy years ago he had once tried to take over the world."


    "But he ended up imprisoned and locked up for half a century before escaping from the wizard''s prison not long ago and plotting this crime." The Prime Minister said cautiously, "He wants our society to be divided so that he can take advantage of the opportunity to rise again and bring the war to every inch of the land, at which point Britain will not be safe, and the world will not be spared ... Given that dreadful future, we must keep a clear and sensible head and not fall into the trap. "


    Another reporter asked: "Has the government been hiding the existence of wizards from the public? What motivates you to keep secrets and don''t you think it is a violation of the public''s right to know?"


    The Prime Minister did not answer directly but switched the angle of the question.


    "I think the bigger reason why successive prime ministers have kept the secret, in addition to the national security confidentiality at stake, is to avoid sending society into a panic, as wizards have been hiding their identity for hundreds of years and their image is very different from what we imagine in our minds ... They have set up similar regimes, forming organisations in various forms such as schools, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, they even have organisations similar to the United Nations - wizards are progressing and developing just as much."


    The press conference ended and the Prime Minister turned to walk back to 10 Downing Street.


    "Thank you for all you''ve done, Mr. Prime Minister." Kingsley, who worked as an assistant, said politely.


    The Prime Minister stopped in his tracks.


    "You don''t understand, get ready for a surge of public opinion."


    Kingsley was a little stunned, but without saying a word the Prime Minister went back to his office and stood at the bay window looking out over the journalists and people who stayed behind, with a premonition in his mind that everyone would be dragged into an even greater maelstrom of public opinion, his speech today would act as a trigger.


    But he had no choice.


    Whether it is for the national interest or his personal political prospects, pushing for negotiations is the best way to go. Even the opposition parties did not press too hard in this case, when he brought out a copy of the wizard information, MPs with different political views and affiliations to different parties basically voted in favour.


    Not all of these people were sincere, but there is no doubt that none of them wanted to clean up the mess at this time. s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    If they used opposition to witchcraft as a reason to dismiss the current prime minister from office, there would be only one way to go next: adopting an unbelievably tough attitude and bringing the wizards fully under the control of the government, even at the risk of starting a war.


    But such an approach is in fact far more dangerous than starting peace talks. If peace talks would defy some public opinion and be a thrilling tightrope walk, then antagonising the wizards and forcing them to rise in revolt would be setting off fireworks over a gunpowder keg.


    Opposition parties can gain popular support by inciting and creating extreme slogans, but when war does break out and loved ones, property, and a stable life ... are destroyed, those people will hate those MPs as much as they once supported them in the past.


    What the Prime Minister proposed was pretty much what they all wanted, to talk first, test the bottom line in the negotiations, and then seize the benefits over and over.


    But there is never a shortage of speculators in this world.


    It didn''t take long for Felix to get the word.


    "Just an invitation? The details haven''t been finalized?" He asked, a little surprised.


    "It''s already finalised, but the Prime Minister doesn''t want to appear too familiar with us in public." Ms. Bones said, "The time is a week from now, at three in the afternoon, at the Houses of Parliament."


    Felix blinked.


    "The Houses of Parliament? Not Buckingham Palace?"


    "The Prime Minister did initially wish to host the meeting at Buckingham Palace, but the Queen declined after careful consideration."


    Felix grinned. "Hmm? Probably didn''t want to show any obvious personal inclinations to avoid arousing the ill will of some of the extremists ... The Houses of Parliament are fine, there''s plenty of space..." He stopped talking all of a sudden.


    "What''s the matter?"


    "Thought of something." Felix put away his smile and said seriously. He remembered the prophecy Dumbledore had shown him - that is, the vision of the huge anti-wizard march, in which, in addition to Rita Skeeter''s presence on the scene, there was also the prominent sign of the Houses of Parliament in the background.


    Things seemed to be advancing towards the vision Grindelwald saw.


    It wasn''t as if anti-wizard marches hadn''t broken out all over the place over the course of a week, but they hadn''t been very large. On the one hand, it was because the matter was only discussed in the newspapers and the government was yet to make a public statement; on the other hand, it was because the Ministry of Magic had adopted a retracting strategy and ordinary people could not find the right target to demonstrate even if they wanted to.


    The most crucial thing is that ''wizards'' are a unknown element, and it will take time for the opponents to unite.


    But it became clear that they now had the perfect opportunity - the time, a week later; the place, the House of Parliament; the target, a delegation of wizards.


    It all seemed so natural.


    Not long after Ms. Bones left, Hermione came over with a list of names.


    "Over thirty people have signed up so far." She handed the parchment to Felix and then said with a straight face, "Actually, since we''re here, it means we''re willing to do our part for peace. But quite a few people are worried they won''t perform well enough, and they have some suitable candidates in their mind ..."


    "I bet you''re one of the people they''re pushing for, isn''t that right, Miss Granger?"


    Hermione rolled her eyes.


    Felix gazed over the list, "I do need to give it some thought." Considering that the debut in a week''s time might have something to do with the prophecy, he decided it would be best to be careful. The people chosen should at least have to be mentally strong.


    The students finished sorting the newspapers for the day and towards noon some went home through the school fireplace while others stayed behind to discuss the day''s news. They were essentially sixth and seventh graders, adults or near-adults, and had the look of grown-ups in terms of their conversation and dress.


    Because it is summer holiday, these students are not wearing their school uniforms, and the days of fighting together and making a common cause have united them without distinction.


    All these things were seen by the professors who remained at the school, who rejoiced in the change and if the moment had not been ill-timed, they might have been happy to throw a few parties. The thought had definitely occurred to Slughorn.


    As he crossed the entrance hall, Felix caught sight of Snape. He stood guard in front of the staircase that led downwards and seemed to have been waiting for some time.


    "Something wrong, Severus?"


    Snape looked up at Felix, and he asked in an emotionless tone, "Is the time fixed?"


    "Next week," Felix said with a smirk, "It''s something to look forward to, isn''t it?"


    Snape was not going to answer that sort of question as he went on to ask, "You''re planning to take a group of students to negotiate with the Muggle government?"


    "Not negotiate, well - something like both teams of players going around the pitch collectively before a big Quidditch match." Felix pondered his idea, "Younger faces help distinguish them from the Grindelwald''s Acolytes, and ..." he mused as he tried to smooth out his thoughts, "I am thinking about how I can show off a little trace of my strength, isn''t that what negotiations are all about? Showing goodwill, showing off some muscles ... but it''s important to do it in a way that doesn''t seem too aggressive. Do you have any good ideas?"


    "That''s up to you to decide." Snape said coldly, turning around, with his robes flapping behind him, "Follow me."


    Felix was a little unsure but still followed Snape towards his office. The door opened and Snape strode into his office, Felix pushed it open, mentally speculating on Snape''s intentions, could it be that he had made key progress on some kind of potion?


    Ever since he had shown a group of potions masters and healers a few pathological patterns of disease, including werewolf and dragon pox, at the Sword Castle, a number of wizards had chosen to stay in the vicinity of the castle to start their research, sharing their insights with each other from time to time, and Snape had been there a few times.


    The Potions class professor''s office is dimly lit as always. Felix''s gaze skimmed over the glass specimen jars that lined up on the wall and finally stopped on Snape, whose back was turned, his whole body blending into the darkness.


    Snape''s body trembled slightly, one hand propped on the table as if he was trying desperately to suppress his inner emotions, acting like a hidden snake. Felix noticed the strange atmosphere and did not make a sound to urge him on, standing quietly in place and waiting.


    Finally, Snape turned to face him, his gaze remained calm as usual.


    "Use the Disarming Charm on me, Felix."


    ------------


    [Author:]


    I can''t really manage to scrape together the minimum words for two in one chapter, so I''ll try to write a bit more tomorrow.

 Chapter 691: Big Lie (2 in 1)

    Finally, it dawned on Felix that another one of the backhands that Dumbledore laid out had appeared. Three Deathly Hallows, with the exception of Harry''s invisibility cloak, the other two were in the possession of Dumbledore in the final years of his life. Felix had thought that with the dissolution of the Resurrection Stone, the Deathly Hallows would never be gathered together again, and the Elder Wand lost its meaning with the end of Dumbledore''s life.


    "Dumbledore asked you to pass it on to me?" Felix asked lightly, more interested in probing Dumbledore''s true intentions.


    "He let me judge for myself." Snape''s eyes struggled a little, "He said he would prefer to see the fate of the Elder Wand become a permanent mystery, but was worried about a big change that could happen in the wizarding world in the future ... Right now it should be the time."


    Felix scrutinized Snape''s face. "I don''t think it''s time yet." He said. Snape''s expression froze.


    "Things aren''t that bad - the window for discussion has opened, and we can remain optimistic to a limited extent, and compared to the sporadic disturbances that have occurred in some places abroad, the situation here is fairly stable - oh, and by the way, Future World has opened up two new branches."


    Snape''s expression was stunned.


    "Dumbledore had no ability to anticipate what would happen after his time, so he needed a pair of eyes - I''m sure he trusted you." Felix spoke emotionally, " Surely you have more than one person in mind since you could have been observing for a few months or longer no?"


    Snape stared at him, for a long moment, and said slowly, "You''re the one in front of the list, followed by ... Potter," he paused, "I''ve also considered Minerva and Amelia Bones. "


    Felix spared a moment to help him analyse. "Dumbledore knew I have no shortage of wands, remember my ebony wand? I found I could incorporate the Book of Runes into my wand and I recently got another nice one; as for Harry - well, he might have the potential to get one step closer with the Elder Wand, but you two don''t see eye to eye with each other, and you certainly wouldn''t be happy to give it to him; Minerva... . alas, she''s not young after all; Amelia may have been strong once, but now she simply doesn''t have the time or the heart to study magic as Minister of Magic, and she''s probably the unluckiest of all the Ministers of Magic."


    "So don''t make decisions lightly. There should be good candidates available in the next generation, or the one after that, and what''s crucial is, that person still needs to be perfectly in line with your heart." He concluded.


    Snape took a deep breath, anger could clearly be seen on his thin cheeks.


    "What do you think all this is about, it''s the biggest crisis the wizarding world has ever seen and Grindelwald is fanning the flames all over the place-"


    "You know what Grindelwald has done?"


    "I do read the news, Felix Hap!" Snape panted, "There are reports of him appearing in the Land of Chaos. He came up with the ten rules of wizardry. One of them is about equal retaliation and that wizards are not weak and bullyable creatures; another one calls for wizards to unite and not allow any theft of wizarding authority to happen; then there''s the theory that magic belongs to magic ... These theories are very marketable."


    "And what do you think about these rules?" Felix asked calmly.


    Snape''s eyebrows knitted together.


    "It''s too radical."


    "But it sounds a lot like it came out of Grindelwald''s mouth, doesn''t it? It could be altered anyhow, the relevant code is still a blank at the moment-" Felix said indifferently, and Snape looked over at him with horror.


    "Oh, I mean, Grindelwald can only shout slogans now, it''s us who are really in a position to negotiate terms of the settlement." Felix said, "By the way, I actually have something more important to ask."


    "What is it?" Snape''s expression turned grim.


    "If the negotiations go well, there will inevitably trade between the two sides, and potions are an important part of that, but you should know that most potions only work on wizards-"


    "Lupin told me about this." Snape interrupted.


    "Yeah, someone needs to work on the future potion formulas, laws, and standards that focus on the ordinary people." S?a?ch* Th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "So you thought of me?"


    "Exactly."


    "Slughorn is a better fit than me."


    "He''s better suited for dealing with government departments, he has good eyes and ears, and he''s happy to do that ... I need someone who can do research quietly." Felix said, "And it''s obvious that I trust you more."


    ...


    The next day, the Ministry of Magic.


    "Grindelwald truly made his move." Ms. Bones said with a serious expression, spreading a newspaper on the table as Felix, high-ranking Ministry of Magic officials, and several members of the Order of the Phoenix stared fixedly at the magical photograph of Grindelwald under a barrage of gunfire and flames. At the same time, they all ignored the woman next to him.


    "What''s going on?" Arthur Weasley gasped in shock as he asked worriedly, "War is started?" He isn''t considered to be a high-ranking official at the moment, but as the former head of the ''Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office'', he was allowed to attend the meeting on an exceptional basis.


    "Not yet, he is still bound by a vow." Ms. Bones said with relief, "He''s there to save people."


    "Save people?" Ludo Bagman''s round eyes widened, and he reached out to point at the ruins in the moving photograph, "He was trying to save people? Then who did all this?"


    "Of course, it was that other person in the picture." Bones said with a grimace, "Sadly, what I said is true, he didn''t attack anyone. Muggle TV captured some footage that is more complete than these photos - Percy went to get some equipment."


    The door to the office was pushed open from outside and Percy walked in, followed by a set of projection equipment behind him.


    Percy shoved a box of tape inside, then expertly pushed a button, and a few moments later footage was projected on the wall. Everyone stares in wonder. The footage kept shaking, but it still recorded the surrounding scenery.


    The place looked like a chemical factory, the surrounding area was somewhat deserted, barbed wire hanging from a tall fence, the gates were closed, the helicopter''s propellers made a loud noise, and a hand appeared in the frame, then disappeared again, accompanied by a sharp, excited voice: "Over there!"


    The camera then turned towards a corner of the factory.


    Black flames rose into the air, pouring out of the rows of windows and gaps in the huge factory-like building, black flames that seemed to come from hell, huge tongues of flame twisting like the palms of a giant''s hands, which were now joined together, catching anything within sight that could burn in a sea of fire.


    "Is this - a Fiendfyre?" Mr. Weasley uttered breathlessly.


    The window suddenly broke open and a figure leapt out with a tumble, it was a woman completely smeared with black, her hands and face bruised, her hair mangled in a mess, and she looked in a state of disarray. But she was laughing madly. Everyone in the room recognised her as the woman standing with Grindelwald in the newspaper.


    Everyone watched in shock as the woman waved her wand desperately, the flames leaping high with her command and showing a tendency to spread in all directions. From high above, it looked like an ink bottle had been smashed to the ground. The sound of a reporter''s intake of breath was heard on the screen.


    "Edith Pandora." Ms. Bones spoke, "Word has come from the magical congress side of the United States that her daughter mysteriously disappeared not long ago, and she sought help from the magical congress, but the congress had made the decision to go into complete hiding and naturally would not alter it for her. She disappeared for a few days, during which time no one knows what happened, except that at five o''clock this morning she suddenly appeared and unleashed a horrible, Fiendfyre Curse."


    "Her daughter ... is dead?" Sirius asked, his eyes bugging out.


    "Not sure for now-"


    "Don''t fool me!"


    "I''m really not sure," Ms. Bones sighed, "but that place-" she gestured to the massive factory building, "is a secret laboratory, which is supposed to be built for wizards, so the odds are high that her daughter didn''t survive, otherwise she wouldn''t ..."


    The office became solemnly silent, the atmosphere seemed to freeze. Everyone looked at the footage in silence.


    Edith Pandora waved her wand with great intensity, which allowed everyone to feel her emotions, even though she was a small part of the frame. Gradually, as if it were alive, the Fiendfyre began to morph, a ball of a flame being thrown about, scorching the ground, some of it coming close to hitting the caster herself, but she showed absolutely no intention of dodging it, as she instead kept manipulating it to make it even bigger.


    "She''s trying to destroy everything around her." A high-ranking Ministry of Magic official saw the end.


    "She can''t do the job! She''s not skilled in that magic." Someone said.


    "Unless she doesn''t want to live." Another shouted.


    "Where did she learn this magic?"


    "The investigation revealed-" Ms. Bones said with a frown and a hard expression-"that Edith Pandora had never previously studied the Fiendfyre Curse, and the Magical Congress of the United States of America investigation found her to be a common wizard, who excelled most in housekeeping magic."


    "Could it be that Grindelwald helped her?" Someone asked, thinking of the two people in the same frame in the photo.


    "Again, that question is unanswered, but - well, Grindelwald didn''t show up first, and he seems to have seen it on live TV. You guys keep watching."


    From the edge of the camera an ant-sized team poured out, and heavy gunfire rang out as Edith Pandora turned back to fight back, but she was quickly wounded and took cover behind a grey metal cylinder. Someone from the special ops team shouted, but they were answered by a succession of red lights, so the team dispersed methodically and surrounded her from all sides.


    There was a flurry of flying sand.


    Edith Pandora appeared to have released an immature hurricane spell, a whirlwind thirty or forty feet high expanding outwards with the grey metal cylinder at its centre, the attack temporarily slowed, and the woman could not be seen from the frame for the moment. Suddenly, an urgent voice came from near the camera, "It''s a military helicopter, great!"


    Two helicopters grazed them and warned the reporters through the radio to evacuate immediately, but the reporters ignored them, "They don''t even have their tail number." The two armed helicopters swooped straight at the target, missiles mounted underneath them. Immediately afterwards two machine guns poked out of their compartments, their muzzles spewing out dense tongues of fire. For a moment, everyone thought Edith Pandora was done for.


    The smoke cleared, and she was intact, with one more person by her side - Grindelwald. Grindelwald held up a huge shield and deflected the attack in its entirety. But he did not continue, and instead looked down to talk to the woman.


    The scene in the magical photograph just happened to match what was happening now.


    "Zoom in! Zoom the camera in!" The reporter shouted at the top of his voice, and the picture fluttered, then the desperate face of Edith Pandora was revealed, but the despair was immediately replaced by joy, then by a grimace, and it was difficult to understand the changes unless one was there, and she reached out and pointed at the factory, speaking fiercely about something.


    Grindelwald shook his head slowly as he held up his palm for her to see, then looked back into the black, Fiendfyre, his lips quirking. They seemed to have reached an agreement.


    The woman stopped caring about the threat from behind her and her wand redirected the Fiendfyre, everyone could see that she was incapable of wielding that magic and just kept stacking the flames with spite, which in turn had the effect of going out of her control, but since Grindelwald was present, they weren''t sure of the outcome anymore.


    The sound of machine guns stopped briefly at Grindelwald''s sudden appearance, then they continued firing. Two flashes of fire suddenly emerged from beneath the helicopter, Grindelwald glanced back and with a wave of his wand, the missile exploded in the sky.


    Then, from the tip of his wand came a tiny blue glow, like a liquid flame or a burning stream of water, which flew a foot from the tip and disappeared into thin air, seemingly transferred elsewhere. No one knew what magic Grindelwald had used.


    But those in the room witnessed its effects the next second.


    A volley of missiles that were launched suddenly exploded of their own accord when they were hundreds of feet closer to the two people as if they had hit an invisible wall - "There''s supposed to be an invisible magical barrier in the air!" Sirius said excitedly.


    For the next half minute, missiles exploded around the two men, but none could break through the barrier.


    Grindelwald seemed to do this casually, and after ascertaining that those helicopters and ground troops couldn''t interfere with them, he focused his attention on Edith Pandora. Fuelled by extreme emotions, the Fiendfyre scaled up to a certain point and turned into monsters made of black flames.


    These monsters, who also inherited their master''s state of mind, appeared mad and brutal, trampling the earth desperately and storming in all directions - Edith Pandora fell to the ground and watched all this with pleasure.


    The people in the Ministry of Magic realised that the curse was out of control.


    Sure enough, the Fiendfyre monsters pounced on the only two beings in the field and kept crashing into them, but they were held back by an invisible force.


    Grindelwald pulled the woman to her feet and raised his wand flatly, gaining control of the Fiendfyre in an instant. The black flames became well-behaved in his hands, and the flaming creatures were reformed into a single mass that resembled a hideous monster that was coiled in the spot where the factory had originally been.


    Then he waved his wand again and a hurricane, a hundred times more powerful than the one Edith Pandora had created before, appeared out of nowhere, this whirlwind seemed to connect with the clouds in the sky and the black flames were torn out of shape by the gale, curdling into one stream and rushing towards the sky.


    The Fiendfyre merged with the hurricane and then swelled rapidly. The helicopter in the sky scrambled to avoid it, but the flames were not aimed at them, the whole factory was wrapped up and burnt to a white ground, Grindelwald locked eyes with the camera in a sea of fire, then the whirlwind of flames suddenly shrank, and the factory was wiped off the ground, along with Grindelwald and Edith Pandora.


    The helicopter slowly moved closer and a huge deep crater became visible in the frame.


    This is where the footage ends. A long silence fell over the conference room.


    "Both the International Confederation of Wizards and the Magical Congress of the United States of America have divided their manpower to gather information on the whereabouts of these two individuals, but in the end they found nothing. They fear that this matter will spark greater antagonism and conflict." Ms. Bones said in a dry voice.


    "Then let them go after Grindelwald." Felix said disinterestedly.


    ...


    The fiery incident in the experimental laboratory has caused quite a global uproar, and the footage they saw at the Ministry of Magic has been analysed and interpreted frame by frame by the relevant authorities in various countries, and it is clear that Grindelwald did not use his full strength at all. The conclusion that was drawn, nevertheless, was truly unnerving.


    "If this magic had arisen in the city, it probably would have destroyed dozens of blocks."


    Grindelwald''s past experiences are no longer a secret, being covered in turn by journalists and the media. Along with this, the Unbreakable Vow, the Ten Rules of Wizardry, appeared brazenly in the Muggle newspapers, drawing wave after wave of fervour and criticism.


    A few more newspapers received ''letters from students''. Two newspapers maintained a neutral stance, while the remaining ones were very critical about the letters, perhaps trying to use the opportunity to attract protests from disgruntled wizards, and naturally, they did not receive any follow-up letters as a result.


    But all this was a minor matter.


    After selecting the students who would participate in the special afternoon tea, Felix then initiated special training for them, and the Ministry of Magic sent someone to train them in etiquette and eloquence, what issues they could and could not speak about, how to respond to provocation, and so on.


    The students noticed that Professor Hap seemed to have developed a new habit of looking up at the moon and looking thoughtful. This, of course, seemed like a red flag to Hermione.


    "Professor, you''re not thinking about the moon again, are you?"


    "Miss Granger, do you think there are traces of the presence of ancient wizards on the moon?"


    "Well, it''s unlikely, isn''t it? If ancient wizards did live on the moon, they certainly would have left some architectural remnants behind that would have been spotted by modern telescopes ..."


    "What if they used magic to conceal their presence?"


    "Professor, there is no evidence to support this!"


    "Well, I actually read about it in an ancient journal ..."


    "Professor, you sound odd. What''s the name of the journal, can I see it?"


    "... No thanks, you''ll believe it when I bring back a few antiques from the moon one day."


    Felix was prepared to tell a big lie - or possibly more than one.


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 692: The grand fireworks (2 in 1)

    The appointed day arrived in full view of all. The anti-wizard group chose this day to demonstrate, and people came from all the counties neighbouring London, as well as a number of protesters who had travelled thousands of miles from the north to join the march, taking banners and leaflets out of their suitcases without even taking a bite to eat.


    But there were simply too many people. There simply weren''t enough printed leaflets to go around, and many people laughed and squeezed over to ask for them. Even the pamphlets in the organisers'' hands were given out, and the crowd slowly moved on, occasionally lifting their necks to shout a couple of slogans.


    "Who are all these people?" The organiser couldn''t figure it out.


    His assistant went out for a quick walk and came back to report.


    "There are quite a few foreigners, as well as people from several nearby counties, who have come to witness this major historical event." Seeing the organiser glaring at him, the assistant hurriedly said, "Of course, we have a lot of companions too, and I saw half a dozen familiar names of organisations, which all recently formed." S?a??h th? N0??F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    He was telling the truth. At the present point in time, the internet had emerged, but its influence still couldn''t catch up with the paper media, which led to the fact that no national-level anti-wizard organisations had emerged yet - all the organisations are county-based, and very few can span multiple territories. To promote their ideas, a number of organisations have put their messages in the newspapers, with addresses and telephone numbers for enquiries.


    What they didn''t know was that there were a handful of wizards mixed in with the crowd.


    The march is never short of people in strange costumes, which provides a safe environment for the wizards to hide their identity, and some of them walked with the group for some distance and immediately couldn''t stomach the thought of leaving.


    "I can''t believe so many people are against wizards." Ernest Macmillan said with a pale face, his two legs shaking without listening to him and a cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, being intimidated by the huge crowd of marchers.


    "More people showed up even than the New Year''s Day parade." Justin Finch-Fletchley said, with trepidation.


    The sky was dark and overcast, with dark clouds. It had just rained lightly in the morning, and instead of clearing, the clouds grew heavier in the afternoon. The sky above them looked like ink poured out of a bottle, dark and threatening to rain down at any moment. The distant, bitter grey light of the sky was unsettling.


    More wizards chose to stand on the roofs of buildings, they had received news from magical radio stations and newspapers, and they had rushed here to see the outcome. From high above, they could see the curving, colourful groups filling the streets, shouting loud slogans at intervals like the angry waves rolling in from the sea. The closer you get to the Thames, the more you can see the focal point where these crowds are converging - the Houses of Parliament.


    The area in front of the Houses of Parliament was already packed with a variety of press vans. The country''s - and the world''s - leading news media are here, desperate to get first-hand information, both from the wizarding community and from the general population, so they can quickly reach the conclusion on a few things.


    What is about to happen today is of great significance, representing the first official contact between wizards and ordinary people, and the implications are incalculable.


    "There are police on the premises to maintain order, and we can see that the Sun has sent a number of well-known journalists, including Skeeter - who has made a name for herself in the gun ban news series - and who previously won a national journalism award - two weeks ago during the unrest, she had a brief conversation with a wizard, and we all want to see if she would be lucky today... "


    A reporter shouted into the camera, his voice reaching thousands of homes in the next second.


    Downtown London - Mr. and Mrs. Granger sat on the sofa, their hands clasped together; Mr. Finch-Fletchley''s cup held in his hand, with coffee gone cold inside; in Surrey''s 4 Privet Drive, Uncle Vernon cursed and turned on the TV uttering a couple of familiar foul words.


    In Cornwall, Essex, Devon, the Isle of Wight, Kent, and all counties, the view of the Houses of Parliament pulled everyone''s heart as they waited with anticipation...


    On the opposite side of the Thames, on a tall building, two figures suddenly appeared. The sky was grey and windy, so no one noticed them. The two men seemed to be carved out of the same mould.


    "So it''s you, George." Fred said with a straight face.


    "Yeah, what a coincidence, how did you show up here?" George said tacitly.


    "I think it''s because we both Apparated together." Fred grinned.


    "Well, you two!" Mrs. Weasley yelled absently in annoyance, with Ginny and Penelope standing beside her. "I''m warning you, stay out of trouble today, and if you dare to spill candy down there -"


    Fred and George exchanged a look with each other.


    "That''s brilliant, Mum, why didn''t we think of that? We only brought the latest model of Weasley fireworks-"


    "-The trick shop should have invited you as a consultant."


    "Shut up, you two!" Mrs. Weasley said furiously, waving the wand in her hand like a burning stick. Fred and George cowered in fear.


    "Where''s Bill and Fleur?" Fred looked left and right.


    "-and Charlie." George said.


    "Yeah, I can''t believe I didn''t think of him, he''s obviously quite big." Fred said.


    Mrs. Weasley''s eyes blazed with anger, but she forced herself to calm down; there are Muggles below. She lowered her voice and reprimanded, "Stop it, both of you! Your dad and Percy are coordinating an operation in the Ministry of Magic, Bill and Fleur mingled with the crowd to keep the wizards in line, and as for Charlie ..." she froze, "his job is confidential."


    "More important than Harry, Ron, and the group?" Fred and George asked curiously.


    "That''s not the same thing." Mrs. Weasley said with a scowl. "Both of the boy''s mission doesn''t need to be kept a secret, it''s been in the newspapers for a long time, there are fourteen of them ... they''re so young to be shouldering the future of the wizarding community ..." she wiped her eyes.


    "Don''t make mum angry!" Ginny raised her eyebrows, "She''s been crying secretly several times."


    "Don''t worry, Professor Hap will protect them." Penelope chimed in, "And there are hidden wizards around."


    "Yeah, I think at least a tenth of the wizards are here, Diagon Alley is half empty." Fred said as he looked around, pointing in one direction, "I see someone I know, that''s the Diggory''s over there, see? Cedric''s waving at us!"


    "Want to go over and say hello?" George asked with a tilted head.


    "You''ve hit the nail on the head." Fred said with a grin, the two of them held hands and Apparated as Mrs. Weasley huffed and puffed out her chest like a bullfrog, "Still so out of control!"


    Ginny''s eyes twinkled, she wanted to follow them out for a stroll but was a step too late.


    Not long after, Fred and George returned, bringing back news from the neighbourhood in the process.


    "Cedric said that he couldn''t get in touch with Cho, and I told him that in just half an hour his girlfriend would be falling out of the sky - it''s a shame we''ve graduated, otherwise maybe we could have blended in too - "


    "Fred!"


    "Well, they''re all fine and emotionally stable at the moment - except the Perkins family who picked a place that bumped up against a muggle enforcer, and they had to change somewhere else!"


    "Is old Perkins'' back still hunched?" Mrs. Weasley asked with concern.


    "Mum, I didn''t think you''d ask this question, he''s been giving his camping gear away everywhere for the last two years - oh don''t interrupt, Mum, we also saw the Lovegoods, they are dressed like two orioles. By the way, did we cast the Muggle-Repelling Charm?"


    "It has been cast."


    If the parade on the ground was like a raging and rolling sea, the rooftops of the surrounding buildings were reefs on the sea, and they seemed to be occupied by wizards, who had cast a Muggle-Repelling Charm on them as they all waited anxiously.


    The march finally converged in front of the Parliament building, with flags and banners of various colours (wearing mackintoshes), a group of people shouting slogans at intervals, something like "banish the witches" and "punish the lawbreakers", but of course, there was also a mix of a small group of young people with their faces painted with occult symbols, there were even some young people with wizard hats and banners saying "Welcoming wizards to rule the world", but they were small in number, and their faces were swollen by the angry passers-by, and they looked drained at the moment.


    Many more sat in front of their televisions, waiting to see the wizards in the flesh.


    Formerly known as the Palace of Westminster, the Houses of Parliament is the largest Gothic complex in the world, covering more than eight acres including the main building, the wings, and the tall tower, with over a thousand rooms, and it is where the British Parliament is held. As a famous national landmark, it of course also serves other purposes, such as today''s occasion.


    A group of soldiers in bearskin hats, red flannel uniforms, and black trousers stood in front of the gates, having followed the Queen''s carriage here an hour earlier when she was escorted in by the Prime Minister and several Ministers of State, and never came out again.


    At 3 pm, Big Ben in the northeast corner of the palace chimed the hour, the loud chime silencing the restless crowd and ringing out across the country on the radio. Everyone''s spirits were lifted; it was time.


    The Queen and the Prime Minister walked out of the building, followed by a group of cabinet ministers and MPs, and of course, they were accompanied by their fully dressed wives and families - although everyone knew what would happen, at least nominally, the Queen had only meant to invite the wizards to her afternoon tea party, and if the talk proceeded well there might be a bonfire in the evening.


    "How''s the science department preparing?" A councillor asked his assistant.


    "Still debugging the equipment. They''re all very positive about seeing magic up close for the first time, and I''m sure they''ll be able to measure some useful data."


    "I''m not as confident as you are."


    The gates slowly opened, the Queen''s guards stood more upright, and everyone (including the people who were in front of the TV) waited with bated breath, speculating on the manner in which the wizard would appear.


    "Are the tomatoes and rotten eggs ready?" Someone in the crowd asked in a low voice as a group of people hid beneath a huge banner.


    "Ready, make sure they can''t avoid them no matter which way they come." The man next to him stated without ambiguity.


    "Don''t forget, those monsters can fly."


    "We''ve got water guns filled with chilli oil, and I heard someone brought in a taser!"


    "Let''s give them hell! Give me a rotten egg - forget it, replace it with a tomato."


    "Look at the sky!" A sharp-eyed man shouted.


    Black and dark grey clouds swirled, and then an area turned orange and red as a fiery shower of fire burnt through the thick clouds, forming a brilliant hand-fan-shaped pattern. There was a flurry of commotion and shouts from the ground - "It''s a dragon!" More people looked up as a hideous black creature loomed out of the clouds, covered in black scales, with a head covered in sharp bronze horns and its yellow eyes looking down, with a number of people standing on top of it.


    The appearance of the mythical creature silenced those below, and the microphones raised by the reporters fell to the ground at some point.


    "Let''s go down." Felix said calmly, "Remember not to overreact, and I will remove all danger in advance. Charlie, when we get down you can take the Dragon and leave."


    "Professor, can we cancel the school song session?" Ron asked expectantly, "I can''t quite find the tune." Draco Malfoy stiffened and turned his head to stare at him, for the first time finding the comment he made constructive.


    "Nice joke, Weasley," Felix said calmly, "but the answer is no."


    He said and jumped.


    Followed closely by Harry, then Ron, Hermione, Neville, Cho Chang, Susan Bones, Draco Malfoy, and Daphne Greengrass ... fourteen students in all. They had spent a lot of time over the last few days practicing how to act while under levitation magic to make themselves more ethereal.


    "One, two, three, four ... fifteen wizards in total!"


    Fifteen wizards descended from the sky, without a trace of dust, and the people below were amazed as a startling roar came from the clouds they had come from, followed by a long tail covered in sharp bronze spines breaking through the clouds and flinging itself hard, before disappearing.


    The soft sunlight cast a pillar of light across the clearing in front of the House of Parliament and shone on Felix''s face. Everyone stared at them in awe. The dark clouds gathered again, and the sun was cut off once more. But the sight of this appearance lingered in the minds of the people for a long time.


    The Prime Minister was the first to come back to his senses.


    He knew part of the wizard''s plan. But even without knowing, he and his staff could analyse the possibility that the wizards wanted to take this opportunity to demonstrate their power - which is exactly what they wanted, and they had arranged for scientists and military men to be close by to observe them in advance.


    The absence of war did not mean that there would be no need to play the game. On the contrary, this struggle will be more insidious and more comprehensive. Today is just the beginning, it will only heat up when the real negotiations take place, and even if the outcome of the negotiations comes out, it will not stop, they intend to trap the wizards in a cage made of rules and laws.


    The Prime Minister strides over and enthusiastically shook Felix''s hand as he stood in front of the group.


    Felix slowed for a beat, the other him staying high up in the thinking room, gathering, summarising, and processing information from a dozen miles around, and he used faint emotion magic to amplify the emotions of some people, who right now had their heads filled with fear that the hideous beast overhead would drop a ball of flame from above, or they would be clawed away if they jumped out and interrupted the flow of the event.


    "Welcome." The Prime Minister said warmly, shaking hands for a long time, giving the journalists plenty of time to take pictures. They then walked slowly towards the gates, where the Queen stood quietly with a welcoming smile.


    The reporters, who possessed the keenest sense of smell and a higher-than-average mental capacity, eagerly pushed their way to the front, with countless microphones poking out from the sides of the path. A barrage of questions was thrown out.


    "May I ask for what purpose you have come here for?"


    "The newspapers say you are a teacher of wizards, but you look young; is the average age of a wizard lower than the ordinary person?"


    "If negotiations fail, will wizards wage war with the government?"


    "Do you really know magic? Wouldn''t you be liars? Will you agree to undergo rigorous testing?"


    "Is the overcast, cloudy weather all over England today a sign that the negotiations will not go well?"


    Felix glanced at Rita Skeeter, I only asked you to mention London, what are you doing bringing up the whole country for? He ignored her and continued on his way. The students held their heads up and followed behind as per their pre-rehearsed etiquette, they held their heads high.


    "These are stupid questions-"


    "Shut up." Harry squeezed a word out of his teeth as he pretended to cough and led the way through the flashing shutters.


    Felix stood in front of the Queen, whose smile grew more and more gentle and pleasant as she wore white gloves and at the moment when she was about to extend a hand. Felix yawned slightly, then quickly stood up straight and turned to face the crowd. His booming voice carried over a dozen blocks.


    "We thank the Queen for her gracious invitation, for which we have prepared an exquisite selection of gifts, but right now there is one gift that would be more appropriate." He raised his wand as he spoke, and those around him took a step back in unison. The Prime Minister stared in confusion, and the councillors behind them had varying expressions.


    "Hogwarts students-"


    Fourteen students raised their wands in unison with solemnity and respect.


    A pillar of milky white light rose into the sky, a holy light, in which people seemed to see a figure with elegantly stretched wings, its head held high as it shot straight up into the clouds high above.


    Fourteen slender pillars of light similarly flew over the heads of the crowd, and as they converged high above, a sun seemed to appear out of nowhere in the sky, emitting a soft glow that illuminated the earth perfectly.


    A curtain of light seemed to envelop their heads, and it was rapidly expanding.


    The secret rooms in the House of Parliament -


    "Has anything been detected?"


    "... Not yet, the instruments are suddenly all out of order!"


    "Damn it, what kind of magic is this? Why is it so widespread, it''s enveloped at least a dozen blocks, for God''s sake, it''s not going to spread all over the city, is it?"


    "General, the magic doesn''t appear to be lethal for now."


    "Call me Sir - do I need you to tell me? Of course, they won''t kill anyone in front of public view, but what if one day they intend to do so? Hurry up, measure the scope of this magic - forget about all these crappy instruments, use your eyes!" The Councillor said agitatedly as he rushed to the window and peered into the sky with his telescope, where black clouds were pierced and dispersed by the unknown magic, and the sky seemed to break open with a large hole, revealing a curtain of azure blue.


    The sunlight took the opportunity to pour down, and the watery mist in the dark clouds reflected the magical white light in seven colours, and the raindrops coalesced and fell, each drop seeming to become a rain of light, reflecting a thousand hues of light as the sight became breathtaking.


    Fred and George watched in awe.


    Fred gulped quietly, "Our fireworks are completely out of the match." George didn''t say anything, just nodded. Ginny stared intently at the dark-haired young male wizard in the clearing, the pillar of light flying from the tip of his wand was the brightest of all the students, rivalling Professor Hap''s about 50%. Her heart nearly spilled with pride.


    Meanwhile, on the roof of another building, Luna''s eyes suddenly widened.


    "It''s now."


    "What?" Mr. Lovegood looked at his daughter in wonder.


    "A great firework. The scene I saw in the fire divination is happening right now." Luna said earnestly, dressed to the nines in her bright dress, with small pebbles and coloured sequins tied to her body and hair, she was probably the most confident of all.


    Now she cupped her hands together and the ancient runes converged quickly, forming a crystal-clear ball of light in the blink of an eye.


    "Luna-" Mr. Lovegood said nervously.


    "There''s no mistaking it." Luna said, "I''ve been waiting for this moment." She raised her hands up in reverence.


    The ball of light floated into the air, morphing with precise control of magic to form a beam of light that was no different from the one below, which merged into the curtain of light in the sky.


    The curtain of light expanded slightly faster than it should have. A number of people turned their attention there, and Mrs. Weasley drew a backward breath as if she was about to faint.


    "Guess what we saw?" Fred said happily, "This is much more spectacular than fireworks." He and George raised their wands, the same white light converging on its tips.


    Not far away, Cedric flashed a smile and raised his wand high.


    More people joined in, wizards hidden all over London, and students on holiday lit their wands ... as if they had received an invitation to an event and even seemed eager to participate. A beam of light instantly illuminated the entire city.


    A fine drizzle wove its way through the city as fireworks enveloped the place.


    The holy beams of light pierced through the dark clouds, and crossed the city boundaries, covering most of the London suburbs.


    The wizarding public in front of the radios stood staring at each other in disbelief as the magical radio stations eerily paused for ten seconds or so. They couldn''t understand why there was suddenly no sound, hadn''t the young man been quite talkative before? Suddenly, from the radio came the voice of Lee Jordan, who was excited to the core.


    "It''s incredible! All wizards - I don''t know if I can say this - if you know illumination too, then get out of your house and join in this great relay! For the sake of all!"


    Many of the wizards walked out of their houses, clutching their radios with suspicion.


    The wizards who lived in the suburbs of London were the first to witness the spectacle before them. Their eyes widened as the vast white light swept up like an ocean, completely churning up the overcast clouds overhead, followed by a fine, soft seven-coloured light that spilled over the ground and splashed on their faces - and they raised their wands in unison, magic pouring from their wands like a tidal wave.


    Thanks to the restraining effect of this magic on creatures of darkness, thanks to the relentless propaganda of Future World Company, the Ministry of Magic, and the Dark Force Defence League during last year''s war, thanks to the fact that illumination is the simplest of ancient magics, thanks to the fact that illumination can be fused ...


    It is probably the most widespread magic ever cast.


    With urban London at its centre, it continued to radiate outwards across the suburbs and soon reached neighbouring Surrey, Kent, Hertford, and Essex, where it was joined by new wizards, so the range expanded again. In a matter of minutes, even the Scottish Highlands were illuminated.


    Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


    Professor McGonagall looked up as the bright light shone through the window and entered the Headmaster''s office. A frown stretched across her face as she looked over at the portrait of Dumbledore on the wall, a look of delight and amazement spreading across his face in equal measure.


    "He''s doing well, isn''t he?" Professor McGonagall said gently.


    Dumbledore nodded his head in delight.


    Felix, far away in London, was of course unaware of all this; his thinking room couldn''t project that far.


    His initial plan had been to ''light up'' the whole City of London, and he had planned to have the Thunderbirds gather cloud masses ahead of time, but the weather forecast had said it would be overcast for the next two days, so he had skipped off on that.


    It didn''t quite go the way he wanted it to, with a bizarre change midway through, but it seemed to be a good change.


    Felix put away his wand, and in front of the dumbfounded mass of people, he said with clarity and precision.


    "This is the wizard''s gift to the Queen, and to the entire non-magical community. I believe that if both sides work together in good faith, we can dispel not only the black clouds overhead but also the gloom in our hearts."


    ------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 693: Reactions

    Hogwarts'' Professor of Ancient Runes, Felix Hap, and 14 students from the school finished their initial visit with excellent results, and the Minister for Magic, Amelia Bones, confirmed the accuracy of the news in a magical radio broadcast later that night. "Hogwarts students and Professor Hap were warmly welcomed and stayed after afternoon tea for the dinner and ball that followed, which concluded satisfactorily at ten o''clock." Ms. Bones said in a voice that tinged with a hint of delight, "The Muggle Prime Minister escorted them to the entrance of the Houses of Parliament, and then the delegation collectively Apparated."


    "This whole operation was significant. It signifies the complete opening of the communication channels between the wizarding and non-wizarding communities, and the next exchange of official communications will become more and more frequent, where a series of topics revolving around exchanges and cooperation between wizarding and non-wizarding communities will unfold in an orderly manner. The Ministry of Magic pledges to strive to find the right balance between maintaining tradition and openness ... "


    "All in all, we can now breathe a little easier."


    The wizarding populace cheered. If it hadn''t been for the late hour and the ban still imposed, they probably would have hit the streets to celebrate in a big way.


    But even then, many wizards found a way to vent their excitement and joy - they ran to well-known wizarding spots such as Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, and other wizard villages, where taverns of all sizes filled up and Fred and George''s new fireworks found their use.


    Some wizards in out-of-the-way locations chose to celebrate in their own homes for a little while.


    In the non-magical world - the Muggle newspapers gave equally positive coverage. Some journalists were invited to the Queen''s afternoon tea, where they were given more accurate information, and naturally, the newspapers to which those journalists belonged sold out the next day.


    ''Allow me to introduce you all to a long-standing ancient school of magic, Hogwarts, which was founded a thousand years ago by four of the most distinguished wizards of that era. The four houses of the school were named after them - Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin. Over the millennia this school has produced countless distinguished wizards, including the delegation of wizards who took part in the Queen''s Afternoon Tea yesterday.'' S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ''The writer has inquired about many incredible facts that may contradict what the general public believes. For example, the ratio of male to female wizards is roughly equal, as opposed to most people''s belief that female witches far outnumber male wizards; the daily routine of wizards is also consistent with that of normal people, they sleep in bed at night and do not fly around on broomsticks; the only thing which resembles the rumours about wizards, is the fact that flying broomsticks do indeed exist, but they are not generally used as a means of travelling - -because wizards have much easier means of transport - instead they are used as a tool for a sport called Quidditch.''


    ''This sport is said to be a mishmash of football, basketball, baseball, and other sports, with only the difference of being played on a broomstick - in other words, in the sky.''


    ''The writer also unexpectedly discovered several students who mailed letters to The Sun, including the young boy who was adopted by his magic-averse relatives. The real name of the boy is Harry Potter, and he admitted that what was stated in the letters was true, but refused to reveal the name of the relatives who had abused him. Since this name is common in the UK, our children''s rights agency had difficulty in initiating an investigation - but he didn''t care, saying he is doing well and has found a home in the wizarding world.''


    ''The girl who revealed the existence of several magical creatures to the public was not in the group, what a shame, I would have liked to ask her in person how to ward off harassing Wrackspurts, I''m sure many readers have secretly practised the ritual dance in their rooms to get rid of them, but this may be exclusive magic as other students were incoherent about it... ...''


    ''Gosh, we can''t wait to learn more about wizards - it''s hard to imagine that most of what we''ve known about them for the past half-decade has been wrong, derived from folklore and imaginary ghostly legends!


    ''Renowned Historian Sheridan Mack, upon learning about the trace of wizards'' activities throughout human history, has a whole new idea about the ghostly cultures and strange customs that have been documented in all civilisations, and he believes that magic is just the last missing piece of the puzzle.


    The Anthropologist Wycliffe Julius, on the other hand, volunteered to live in a wizard village for a year and a half in the hope of observing the way of life of wizards up close - a request that was, naturally, unceremoniously denied by the authorities, who knew that he had left his wife and children behind to spend two years in the savage tribes of Africa doing what he described as field research. On his return, the Anthropologist viewed everything in front of him with disdain and made a fuss saying that he even wanted all Englishmen to build their own houses as a sign of adulthood ...''


    Hogwarts.


    "The anti-wizard remarks in the newspapers seem to have diminished?" Snape stared at the newspapers thoughtfully.


    "Because they have discovered that they actually have an extremely limited understanding of real wizards." Felix gestured to the newspaper and said, "Apart from a few letters from students, they couldn''t previously fish out much valuable information, so they had to dig through the old piles of newspapers for information. Which turned out to be completely incorrect."


    "So what did you talk about at afternoon tea, the newspapers didn''t say ..." Professor Flitwick said with a sceptical look as he flipped through the page, "I could only find a few noblewomen complimenting you on your dancing skills. "


    "Ahem," Felix coughed and hastily spoke up to explain, "Since it was afternoon tea, the only people present were the Queen, the Prime Minister, and a few MPs, oh, there was a not-so-little girl who seemed to be a relative of the Queen''s- -"


    "I wouldn''t call it a war of words, but it was rather tiring, and every word had a hidden meaning."


    "The students basically didn''t speak, moving like armour in a school castle. The real highlight was the social ball after the dinner, you don''t know how many people offered to ask me to dance and then roundly asked for information about the wizarding world, and they also invited me to tour London." Felix said and added, "The same goes for the other students."


    "Sounds like they''re trying to rope you in." Professor Flitwick said with a frown.


    "Pretty much, but in a good way." Felix said calmly, "It means their attitude is already leaning towards peace talks, hence they urgently need to outline a more realistic picture of the wizarding world''s existence, which is why they seem so impatient. Of course, I''m sure the royal family is aware of the existence of wizards-"


    "Nearly Headless Nick is actually quite representative of this. He came from a noble family and also showed a talent for magic, and was allowed to study at Hogwarts. After graduating he became active in high Muggle society and by virtue of magic - or perhaps with the power of his family, in any case - he was knighted and became a courtier to King Henry VII."


    Felix said lapsing into thought, "He may have been one of the first victims of the witch hunt, a victim of wizardry. Perhaps I could ask ... oh, he might not be able to figure it out himself."


    The first large-scale witch hunts on the European continent took place between 1480 and 1520, and it was precisely in this time frame (1492) that Gryffindor''s ghost Nearly Headless Nick was sentenced to be beheaded, although the two may have little to do with each other, as witch hunts in England happened slightly later than other European countries, and there were only sporadic witch trials during Henry VII''s own reign. But unfortunately, Sir Nicholas'' crappy transfiguration skills turned what was not a difficult dental straightening spell - possibly even the start of a romantic encounter - into a serious magical accident, and the Lady Grieve, who received the treatment, grew tusks.


    Sir Nicholas was deprived of his wand and locked up in a dungeon, and he tried his best to argue that he would soon be able to eliminate the damage he had done to Lady Grieve, but unfortunately, it was too late; the beauty-loving lady had underestimated the uncertainty of magic and had chosen to end her life a step too early before the things could be salvaged.


    "Would the religious factor will interfere with the negotiations?" Professor Flitwick enquired.


    "In England, it is not a major problem, as the Queen is the nominal supreme governor of the Church of England, but outside England -" Felix paused, his face showed hesitation, "it is not easy to judge, they do have a great deal of influence in the minds of the common people, but the wizards are not without a way of dealing with it, after all, they have a whole load of problems of their own."


    He intended to wait until something developed, and then he would send out a copy of the History of Magic, the 14th to 17th centuries covered on it would certainly be an eye-opener.


    Felix doesn''t have the energy to focus on foreign countries at the moment, and he just occasionally borrows Grindelwald''s identity for his activities there - if you analyse carefully, you''ll see that Grindelwald has never brought together the Acolytes or voiced more provocative, ultra-violent slogans, and his approach, coupled with the retracting policies of the world''s ministries of magic, is actually conducive to reducing conflict.


    Many thought this is due to the restrictions of the ''Unbreakable Vow''.


    The Ten Rules of Wizardry, on the other hand, were picked out by him using the Grindelwald Code as a reference to lower the expectations of Muggle governments in the upcoming negotiations.


    An overall overview of Felix''s strategy reveals that he has a simple idea: prioritise one country and then use that reputation to become deeply involved in the next wizard reforms and thus influence the direction of the world.


    Something happened quietly during this time, Ms. Bones jointly with all the members of Wizengamot nominated Felix to be the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, and as an accompanying effect: he automatically became a member of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    ...


    On the other hand, the students were also very curious about the details of what happened in the House of Parliament.


    "Did you guys really sing the school song in public?" Ernie Macmillan said in surprise. He kept turning his head, but Harry, Ron, and Draco all looked sickly and clearly unwilling to talk much about it.


    "All in all, it turned out well. There was quite a bit of applause." Hermione said with spirited encouragement.


    Harry looked away. He preferred to call it a disaster; the Hogwarts school song actually has standardised syllables, but Headmaster Dumbledore didn''t care about such trivialities when he was in post, and he allowed the students to choose their own tunes, thus somehow someone started to sing off the key and the whole thing ended up turning into a funeral march and the atmosphere was extremely awkward.


    Harry was impressed by Professor Hap''s ability to reason about how "magic is not bound" without blushing.


    "Anything more interesting?" Colin Creevey asked, clutching his little notebook.


    "Oh, yes!" Harry said as if something had suddenly dawned on him, "The Professor said that he is planning to go to the moon to look for ancient wizard relics!"


    ------------


    [Author:]


    After much deliberation, I decided to play down the content of the conflict between wizards and religion. The mention of religion inevitably involves a lot of dark parts of history such as witch hunts, and in the Harry Potter world-view, not many actual witches were put on trial; those on trial were ordinary people who were falsely accused. This goes against the main tone of the book. However, for the sake of plot integrity, it may be mentioned subsequently, but mostly simply in passing.


    -----


    #Austin and #David Pokora, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 694: Counterfeiting (2 in 1)

    A wizard is preparing to go to the moon! A wizard claims that the moon contains the relics of an ancient wizard!


    A wizard is preparing to search for the relics!


    As soon as these three bombshells of news spread, they instantly blew everyone off their feet like a whirlwind.


    The wizards were sceptical, and The Quibbler was the first to appreciate the idea; Xenophilius Lovegood, who is editor-in-chief of that magazine, had long published a similar article on the subject, about a wizard who claimed to have flown to the moon on a Cleansweep six broomstick and brought back a bag of moon frogs as evidence.


    But no one believed this story at the time, and they didn''t expect him to bring it back up as evidence again. Perhaps the description of the moon frogs will also appear in the Muggle newspapers sometime in the future; after all, Luna has gained a number of loyal readers with her unique style of writing.


    Unlike the buzz in the wizarding newspapers, there was a rare collective silence from the non-magical community, no mockery was thrown at the idea - that a wizard actually wanted to go to the moon on his personal power, and his claim that it had already been done by someone before!


    Come on, how much effort did scientists put in to get to the moon? The sweat of an entire generation, plus it became the final nail in the coffin that weighed down a superpower nation.


    Two days ago, this whimsical idea would have been met with countless jeers and ridicule, dismissed as proof of Wizard''s backwardness and arrogance.


    But things are different now, and the impact of the Wizards'' first visit to the British Houses of Parliament is spreading little by little.


    They are being reminded at length in newspapers, television programmes, and in a series of broadcasts that it is not a dream. The trend has naturally turned to the fact that if wizards can change the weather of a country in an instant, why can''t they travel to the moon?


    The effect of the illumination cast by thousands of wizards working together was earth-shattering.


    Ordinary people were still feeling a sense of disbelief and awe at such a spectacular sight, while those organisations and government agencies that had taken wizards as their imaginary enemies were completely sleepless.


    The wizards have demonstrated their ability to ''manipulate the weather'', but the government bureaucrats and think-tanks don''t think that''s all they can do, they feel a strong sense of threat, whether the massive light bulb that has been lit above their heads today will turn into something else if negotiations break down tomorrow.


    Such fears are not unfounded, because wizards do have a class of spells - a category of wide-rang spells that they named Weather-Modifying Charms ...


    There were some dissenting voices from MPs and public figures in the first two weeks of the exposure, expressing their concern directly or tactfully about wizards being outside the control of the law, but now those voices have all disappeared, and those MPs who were banking on gaining the support of voters in their wards by hyping the wizard threat have been given a stern warning by their respective parties: shut the fuck up or go home!


    At such a time, Rita Skeeter, who had the insider''s information, published an article based on the idea that ''magic is the science of wizards'', and the way she talked about herself was a big turn-off. But it didn''t prevent it from attracting eyeballs. Various media outlets have reprinted and extracted parts of that article, in which several passages are repeatedly quoted.


    "I was given the opportunity that countless journalists have dreamed of, to dance with Mr. Felix Hap at the Queen''s social ball." Skeeter said with a big smile, "He danced so well, it was quite a wonderful experience, and I''m sure he trained hard behind the scenes."


    And so the unknown number of people in the world either read her lengthy, ambiguous description of the ball with patience or interest before she got to the point.


    "Yes, I without a doubt questioned him, as it''s the instinct of a seasoned journalist. Needless to say, there wasn''t much time on the floor for you to polish your thoughts, and the opportunity was hard to come by - I asked a seemingly vague, but straight-to-the-point question: what is the biggest difference between a wizard and a normal person in their upbringing? You know I''m not referring to magic ..."


    "As a professor at the only school of magic in the UK, Mr. Hap was quite vocal on this matter, and he happened to use science as an example."


    "We were swaying around on the dance floor limberly, and in that ambiguous atmosphere he spoke out his answer close to my ear: about the importance of imagination. He further explained that many great wizards had created practical spells that were good enough to pass on to future generations based on instinct alone; they might have been working on something for a long time and had a burning desire in their hearts, or they might simply have been lying in a rocking chair on a pleasant afternoon and had a sudden flash of inspiration. In this whole process, the wizard''s keen instinct for magic plays a huge part."


    Rita Skeeter is outspoken and much bolder. She uses suggestive and provocative language to make people think, but when other journalists asked for more details, she kept her mouth shut. She feared Hap would come to her door in the middle of the night and burn her to a crisp. Then, she went on to share the insights she had heard -


    "Magic is the transformation of the impossible into the possible, a combination of imagination and magic."


    "Successive Hogwarts Headmasters have basically followed a principle of never trying to stifle the imagination and creativity of young wizards. A certain Headmaster unknowingly made a mistake in this regard by setting up strict rules in the school, and he alone created over a thousand bans, so he became the most unpopular Headmaster in history."


    "Of course, I don''t mean that wizards are a bunch of crazy, forward-talking, unorganised guys; everyone is different, what I mean is their attitude towards magic. In the crown of science, mathematics and logic are undoubtedly an extremely bright jewel, but as far as I know, many scientists have weird quirks ..."


    "Scientists, through learning knowledge, construct a sound and vast system in their minds and use this system to research all sorts of breathtaking results; while wizards learn and digest knowledge as a process of stimulating their own potential, they themselves are shaped by magical knowledge."


    "To sum up, scientists serve as carriers of scientific knowledge and wizards are the products of magical knowledge."


    From birth, a wizard has the most essential power of the magical world at hand - magic - after which the rest of his life is nothing more than learning how to harness it. Theoretically, every wizard has the hope of becoming Felix Hap, of becoming Dumbledore, Grindelwald ...


    ...


    The moon was fading in and out of the drifting clouds, it is still a few days away from a full moon, so it is not so round. A crowd of wizards stood in the courtyard, looking at Felix in the centre.


    "Are you sure?" Ms. Bones confirmed again and again, "The Muggle government has provided data to simulate the space environment ..."


    "Don''t worry, I made ample preparations." Felix said calmly, "If there is anyone in the wizarding world who can do this, I am sure that I have the most hope." As he said this, his face overlaid with patterns of fine runes.


    Hermione, Harry, and Ron were reminded of the night of Voldemort''s return: the first time Professor Hap had demonstrated his ability to transform into a rune. They gained a little more confidence out of nowhere.


    But this ability is in fact so consuming that Felix tries not to use it if he doesn''t have to.


    Dumbledore was good at a lot of magic, but naturally, his best was Transfiguration; he could even transfigure into all sorts of magical creatures in his human body, which would appear very implausible to other wizards, but it was nothing more than ''tricks'' to him; in its extreme, Dumbledore''s Transfiguration allowed him to return to the peak of his strength, to the point where he could even transform and strengthen tiny parts of his body like cells with the help of his transfiguration ability.


    Felix had learned about it from Harry, and so far he did not feel he could conquer Dumbledore in that state.


    Felix''s best skill is undoubtedly the Ancient Runes.


    And the ''Incarnation of Rune'' is a perfect display of the limits of his abilities and what he has learned in this field. Even just by transforming his skin into Ancient Rune, he could survive far longer than the average wizard in space, not to mention the other magic he had.


    With his Thinking Room, Ancient Runes, and Level 7 Shield Charm all appearing at once, Felix looked like a big, colourful butterfly to the others.


    He tossed Hermione a silver pocket watch, as it would be his first attempt, there is no way he could take Valen with him, he would find it easier on his own, and when he explored the effects of the space and lunar environment on wizards, he would be perfectly able to develop a series of targeted spells - just like he had done with transforming different emotions into Patronus.


    "A quarter of an hour." Ms. Bones said, somewhat nervously, "In a quarter of an hour we will activate the Portkey on you, which you can cancel if you succeed in landing on the moon; the Portkey works both ways."


    Felix nodded. The atmosphere became serious and everyone knew it was time, Felix glanced towards the crowd and disappeared from their sight with a twist of his body. Everyone knew that a major magical experiment had begun.


    And they would have to stay in the yard of Hogwarts and wait for the results.


    "This isn''t the Professor''s style, if he was really ready for this he would have probably been to the moon several times by the time he announced the results, but apparently today is the first time he''s actually done it." Hermione huffed.


    "Muggle and wizard negotiations are about to begin." Ms. Bones said hesitantly.


    "We have to trust Felix, he has performed many miracles." Professor McGonagall said in a lowered reassuring voice.


    ...


    High in the sky.


    Felix floated, he glanced behind him, thick clouds obscuring his vision, he checked the magic on his body one last time and then took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, he found himself in the middle of a vast, vast starry sky.


    "How does it feel?" It was empty around him, but a voice passed through his consciousness into his mind.


    Felix was not surprised, obviously already aware of this. He experimentally moved his arms and legs, then carefully sensed his body, "It''s cold, very windy, and something else is dulling the magic barrier, I think it is cosmic rays ... but it''s not a big problem, it''s not touching my skin."


    This is another trump card, one of Felix''s sources of strength.


    His doppelganger magic.


    This magic that he had learned from the Arctic magical creatures was different from the usual illusions used by wizards - Felix divided in two, and as long as the magic remained in operation, they could be considered as two entities. Felix transformed one of his entities into a virtual figure in the thinking room, just like how he had transformed the pots and soil of mandrake planted in the school greenhouse into simple lines.


    In case a problem occurs, and conventional magic fails to help him survive in space, and even ancient runes fail to help, he can still ''waste'' a body and travel through space without a care in the world, simply by manifesting the virtual figure hidden in the thinking room at the last second and cancelling the division magic to act as a substitution.


    The magical nature of the magic became apparent.


    Felix began to travel through the starry sky, casting Apparition one after another. Unlike in battle, where he disappeared almost instantly, he needed a little time to cast this magic on his journey, perhaps it only took a few seconds for each casting, but when the number accumulated to two or three hundred, it still inevitably became a lot.


    Almost ten minutes had passed. Felix looked back as he sat in space, the Earth in the distance turning into a tiny one, like a black glass ball with a pattern, floating through a starry sky with a pale white glow. When he looked up the moon was close at hand.


    After another half minute, Felix stood on the surface of the moon.


    "It''s like being under a levitation charm." Felix muttered wordlessly. He didn''t rush to explore, as he tried out some of the regular spells on the spot, and the effect remained largely the same. Then the blue pin at his chest lit up.


    It was Ms. Bones who had activated the Portkey. S?a??h th? Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix casually extinguished the glow of the Portkey and fell into deep thought. He had spent about twelve minutes on the journey, counting the time delayed by the testing he had done along the way, this time could be compressed further once he became skilled in the process, which he estimated to be around seven or eight minutes.


    If he could travel more widely with his Apparition, it might only take three or four minutes ... This is certainly good news. Felix began to cast his magic - a huge Bubble-Head Charm.


    The Bubble-Head Charm shattered as soon as it appeared like an upside-down fishbowl.


    "Tch, I knew it wouldn''t be smooth sailing." Without surprise, Felix flipped through the Book of Runes, and soon a runic spell modelled after the Bubble-Head Charm appeared. Two years had passed since that metamorphosis, and Felix felt significant improvement every so often, but the key thing was that the ancient runes showed great adaptability.


    "Maybe Grindelwald can do it too." Felix mused about the different areas of study of different people, even if they were the same Archmage. Grindelwald was particularly adept at dealing with the minute changes in magic, and he would be able to combine the properties of the Bubble-Head Charm with other magic to create a living environment in space atmosphere.


    It took him some time to complete a hemispherical magical barrier. He added a variety of protective magic, while simultaneously balancing the right temperature, light, and pressure ... Finally, Felix drew a large amount of air from his emerald ring, and a temporary shelter was built.


    Felix released the magic from his body and took a deep breath as the orb of illumination shed a soft glow.


    He slowly closed his eyes and pretended like he was a wizard from hundreds of years ago - it was easy, he had visited many famous wizarding destinations and the pace of wizard life had always been slow, with too many buildings still retaining traces of hundreds, if not thousands of years ago, dating back as far as the days when the Herpo the Foul was active.


    The light-coloured moon soil on the surface tumbled up, dark soil and various tiny particles of glass and rocky debris solidified into various shapes, pale earthy yellow rocks clumped together and burned, melted and shaped by the flames, and after a few minutes, Felix realised there wasn''t quite enough oxygen.


    "... It''s normal, ancient wizards couldn''t have brought everything with them."


    Felix carefully examined the loose ruins of the building in front of him and gained some insight into how to build a house on the moon. He took vegetables out of his ring again and crushed them up and mixed them with the moon soil.


    Finally, he held the soil mixed with the vegetable leaves and two vessels he had just crafted - one resembling a flower pot and one resembling a dish with an ancient pattern carved into it.


    "The next step is the most crucial one."


    Felix''s expression was solemn as a cloud of time energy floated out of his ring and wrapped around the floating moon soil and containers ... This time energy came from the Ministry of Magic''s Department of Mysteries, after solving Miss Granger''s long-distance time travel drawback, there was still some left to spare. It looked like it had been meant to be used for this current occasion.


    The colour of the soil and container gradually became deeper and more ancient, and Felix smiled in satisfaction.


    "What is false and what is true? When I stand here, it will be true."


    He counted the big lies he had lately spread, borrowing Grindelwald''s special identity counted as one, ''lighting up'' Britain with illumination could only count as half due to the perfect timing, but right now it definitely qualified as another flat-out lie, and he was so bold that he wanted to create a history out of thin air.


    Felix had no intention of forcibly creating a big gap between wizards and non-wizards, it wasn''t practical, and it wasn''t necessary. His idea was to get wizards (and non-wizards too) to turn their eyes to the vast expanse of the stars. If wizards had lived on the moon, what about further away? Like Mars?


    At least Felix wouldn''t stop exploring.


    At Hogwarts, the crowd waited anxiously as two hours passed, the expressions on their faces changing from calm, to worried, solemn, anxious, desperate, and finally just a little bit hopeful.


    Harry thought to himself that he is lucky to have Hermione here, to constantly reassure the students who were as agitated as he was around them.


    There was a sudden soft thud in the air.


    Felix appeared intact, smiling slightly as he glanced around, flicking the dust from his clothes and saying calmly and unhurriedly, "There was a shift in the landing point on the way back, and I had to-"


    A figure rushed by, and he was about to dodge, but after seeing who it was he mentally hesitated and stayed where he was.


    It was Hermione. She held on to his shoulder and kept sobbing on his chest.


    "Next time, next time please take me with you." She said in a shaky voice.


    Felix''s expression went dazed.


    --------------


    #Austin and #David Pokora, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 695: Another way (2 in 1)

    Felix''s vision suddenly blurred into a trance for a moment as he whispered. "Jane?"


    Hermione froze instantly, feeling a wave of giddiness. She took a step back and tried her best to keep her tone calm, "Professor, I''m Hermione, Hermione Granger."


    "I just called your middle name, isn''t it-"


    "Jane!" Hermione blurted out. She smoothed her hair, and her thoughts gradually became clear, "I once heard from someone working at the Ministry of Magic that Umbridge''s middle name is also Jane, and I particularly hated her, so I decided to change it." She re-emphasised, "Well, for now, I''m Hermione Jane Granger."


    "Oh, uh, that''s cool."


    A sudden, strange emotion welled up inside Felix, the emptiness he once felt after knowing that a certain friend he had kept in touch with for so long would disappear forever since he found out the truth and identity of that friend, filled up by that emotion. He was just about to speak when Sirius, Bones, Dedalus Diggle, the shorter Professor Flitwick, and Sprout, as well as Neville, Harry, Ron, and Seamus, came around.


    Sirius threw his arms around Felix''s neck.


    "You scared everyone, mate! We almost thought you wouldn''t make it back." He grinned widely, "Come on, tell us what you saw on the moon. The guys couldn''t wait in vain."


    "Yeah, Professor." Some students cheered.


    Felix glanced at Hermione, who had been squeezed to the back, and he held out his hand and waved it in front of the crowd''s eyes, and the moon soil and two containers appeared out of thin air. With another casual wave of his hand, a huge floating and stretching blue tumbleweed-like flame appeared above his head, allowing the crowd to see what he wielded.


    "This?" Ms. Bones said, holding her breath with doubt.


    "I brought it back from the moon." Felix said, and the crowd was quiet for a moment, seemingly trying to understand the meaning of the words, followed by a sudden loud cheer and enthusiastic applause, the noise drew a steady stream of students who had remained in the castle, and they flooded into the courtyard ...


    Harry clapped along with them, he felt very excited, it turned out to be true, there were really traces of wizard activity on the moon, Neville''s eyes lit up with excitement, "That''s amazing! I want to go to the moon too."


    He was among the many who thought like this. Harry had the same thought, and he even regretted a little that he had failed his O.W.Ls exam in astronomy. The boring star charts and tongue-twisting names of celestial bodies suddenly became vivid and graphic, and they were entrenched by the deep, cold starry sky, and it started to look fascinating.


    After the Moon, what will be Professor Hap''s next target?


    Mars?


    Titan?


    Jupiter?


    Harry looked around for Hermione to get her opinion, failing to spot her. He turned his head to look behind him and found Luna who handed Hermione a light blue handkerchief with a calm expression, Hermione took it and Luna stroked her back casually like she was tending to a sick little animal. Harry suddenly understood something.


    Harry looked back at Professor Hap who was receiving congratulations from the crowd, currently, it is nighttime and the blue tumbleweed flames illuminated the Professor''s face very clearly and brightly, the corners of the Professor''s mouth curled up slightly with a light smile, just as he usually did when giving lessons to his students, a smile Harry had seen countless times in Dumbledore''s Pensieve.


    On the contrary, all the people around the professor could only see one side of his body because they were standing around the professor.


    "He''s so dazzling, isn''t he?" Luna asked dreamily.


    Hermione didn''t say anything and simply handed the handkerchief back to her. So Luna stood quietly next to Hermione, and together they looked at Felix who was surrounded by people, "He looks so calm and brilliant, that''s what the wizarding world needs at the moment." With that, she hummed softly in a sing-song manner, "Wit beyond measure is man''s greatest treasure."


    "What are you trying to say?" Hermione asked stiffly.


    "You look a little upset," Luna said bluntly, "I think you need some comfort or something."


    Hermione rolled her eyes, she should have expected this, Luna''s reaction wasn''t quite like the average person''s, and she sincerely hoped that Luna''s article wouldn''t infect too many people. But she was suddenly feeling much better, and she asked, somewhat curiously, "Luna, have you never felt upset?"


    "Yes, I have." Luna said.


    Hermione pricked up her ears to listen, but after ten seconds or so there was still no follow-up, and she blinked, realising that in Luna''s perception, the question had already been answered. "I mean, how do you work through life''s troubles?" Hermione asked patiently, and she gave her own solution, "I usually look for answers from books, but right now I don''t think it would work."


    "Think about happy things." Luna said shaking her head, the little Dirigible Plum earrings dangling from her ears almost hurling at Hermione, "You can only do one thing at a time, when your mind is occupied with other things, your worries won''t come to bother you. I like to draw, and lately, I''ve got hooked on writing." She nodded affirmatively after saying that.


    "But the problem still isn''t solved!" Hermione exclaimed. She actually wanted to retort to Luna that her greatest hobby is to laze around alone, completely immersed in her own little world, but she had a feeling ahead of time that if she said that the conversation might immediately go off track and divert to some creature that existed only in Luna''s fantasies.


    She didn''t want to spend the rest of the day arguing about whether bubble snot monsters and black leopard army existed, Hermione glanced at Felix, and oh yes, the moon frog! She bet Luna would definitely be looking for an opportunity to ask about it.


    Luna''s light-coloured eyes gazed at her unblinkingly, her large, bulging eyes dripping with a calm craziness. "It''ll always work out in the end, though it might not happen in a way we''d expect-"


    "Like what?" Hermione raised her eyebrows.


    "I''ve been thinking about what I''m going to do after I graduate," Luna said with a straight face, "a normal job might not be quite suitable for me -"


    Hermione covered her mouth and laughed lightly, it became difficult for her to imagine Luna''s future job, compared to her, Fred and George were both considered mature, stable, and in line.


    "So you''ve found it now?"


    "I think I''m going to be a Magizoologist, running around the world." Luna said calmly, "I could spend my free time searching for undiscovered magical creatures in the local area, drawing them and documenting their discovery in writing. I already have my first target."


    "Where is it?" Hermione asked, in surprise.


    "The North Pole." Luna said perkily, "Felix told me that there is a miraculous ferret-like magical creature there that likes to eat hot dogs."


    "That can''t be right!" Hermione said flatly, "How could there be magical creatures that like to eat human food?"


    "Nothing is impossible." Luna asked unexpectedly and rhetorically, "Well, Valen could right?"


    "That''s different, Valen was raised by the Professor." Hermione said subconsciously, with a sudden urge to immediately drag the Professor over and question him about what exactly he had said to Luna.


    Luna froze and said vaguely, "I''ll prove it to you." Then she became dazed as if wondering what kind of hot dog to prepare, and then she snapped out of it and asked, "What about you?"


    "I - what?"


    "I heard you want to be Minister of Magic."


    "Oh, oh, yeah."


    "I hope you succeed." Luna said seriously, and she seemed to think of something and asked, "You don''t like goblin pies, do you?"


    "Luna," Hermione said softly, "there''s just no such food."


    The conversation plunged back into an awkward silence. Hermione decided to change the subject before Luna brought up Auror''s tooth-rotting conspiracy; perhaps she could make some small chat about that issue? Hermione considered herself to be something akin to an expert on gum disease, but she refrained from the tempting idea.


    "Haven''t you ever thought about joining the Ministry of Magic? To work in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures? If Ms. Bones hadn''t started a new department, I''d have chosen it after graduation - and you would be able to see a lot of old friends, Harry, Ron, Neville ... though they would be in different departments."


    "I am already friends with them." Luna said.


    Hermione knew that Luna would only talk to people on topics that interested her, and when she wasn''t interested she would get lost in her own world, appearing to be in a trance from the outside, or just like now, the conversation went off somewhere else - Hermione gave up on convincing Luna and stared at her as she excitedly snapped her fingers and named a string of club members. "... and Firenze, Hagrid, Grawp, Cloudber, Owo-"


    "Who''s Owo?" Hermione asked reflexively, "I know the others, I''m really surprised you and Grawp have met too, is it through Hagrid? And Cloudbur, I''ve seen him when I went to the school kitchen, he likes to work on recipes." She said under her breath like she was answering a question in class.


    Luna waited for her to finish before saying, "Owo is a Thestral, Hagrid calls him Uwu."


    Hermione mused for a while, "That seems to be the case, Hagrid mentioned it in class ... Oh yeah, did you find the king of the Thestral?"


    "Found it." Luna said.


    This was a really strange feeling. Hermione never thought she''d open up to talk to Luna one day (she felt inwardly that all the topics Luna focused on were too fictional), but when it did happen, she found it wasn''t so bad, like whispering to a Halloween pumpkin.


    Luna left and wandered off around the corner of the yard, at which point the crowd gradually dispersed, and Professor Hap handed Ms. Bones the Moon Soil and the two containers. "I''ll take them to the Gringotts for identification first, as it happens Bill came to me during the day about the Pan-Magical Alliance, goblins are being ambiguous." She shook her head.


    The Pan-Magical Alliance?


    Hermione''s eyes lit up. She chased after Ms. Bones in the direction she had left.


    Felix stopped her cautiously and hesitantly said, "Granger-" "I figured it out, Professor!" Hermione said, and she ran off in a huff. Felix froze a little, what was going on, could he have got it wrong?


    He stared at Hermione''s back as the moon in the sky and the torches in the yard created two shadows, which overlapped and then separated quite apart. Hermione made her way into Hogwarts Castle next.


    A few moments later. Harry sneakily pulled Ron along to look out in the entrance hall.


    "What is it?" Ron looked towards the door, "Neville has gone to the kitchens with Dean and the others to get food, they said they were going to celebrate."


    "Later." Harry said without much certainty. "By the way, are you and Collins still in touch?"


    "Yes, I guess?" Ron said after careful thought, "I saw her at the Ministry of Magic just two days ago, she''s now become a junior team leader ..."


    "Hmm." S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    A few minutes later, Hermione returned.


    "Ms. Bones promised!" She announced gleefully.


    "Promise - what -" Harry asked, in surprise.


    "I checked with Ms. Bones, and she said that the establishment of the Pan-Magical Alliance was going slowly, so I asked if I could help, and she said yes!" Hermione said as she headed towards the stairs, "The Ministry of Magic employees are caught in a deadlock in their negotiations with the Centaur and goblins. The former has no interest in an alliance, you know, they like to live their own little lives behind closed doors and don''t treat anyone well, and they prefer not to be in an alliance with wizards and vampires ..."


    "But the biggest problem is with the goblins. They want to remain neutral, but Bill has heard more than one voice within the goblins, and they could change their attitude at any time. This stems from many centuries-long histories of goblins and wizards getting along with each other full of conflict, it dates back to the earliest period of the school''s establishment-"


    "Why didn''t I know that?" Ron interrupted.


    "Gryffindor''s sword." Hermione said briefly, so Harry and Ron immediately understood that it stems from goblins'' sick view of ownership, and their insistence on believing that as long as something is created by a goblin, the ownership is theirs, even if the wizard paid for it. The goblins wanted to claim ownership of the item when the wizard died.


    The Gryffindor sword, on the other hand, was crafted by the goblin king of that time. Would Hogwarts hand over the Gryffindor sword to the goblins? There is absolutely no chance of it happening.


    "The Ministry of Magic would not approve of goblins claiming neutrality, because it actually means that they are detached from the wizarding world. This is especially necessary because they are responsible for our economy and has the right to mint money! We must prioritise an agreement with the goblins before we start negotiating with the muggle government."


    "Okay, I almost understand," Ron said slowly, "but what does this have to do with you?"


    "I wrote and drafted the earliest thesis!" Hermione shouted as if her tail had been stepped on, "I also spent a lot of time researching the cultures of the different races and their taboos, now all I have to do is find a set of statements that are acceptable to both sides ..."


    "That''s not easy." Ron muttered, "And it''s not like I have any say in this, so take it easy."


    "Yeah, Hermione, you''ve been a bit emotional lately," Harry interjected, saying half truthfully, "I thought you had fallen in love."


    Ron was taken aback, then he looked at Hermione with wide eyes, "Really? With who?"


    Hermione gave Harry a vicious glare.


    "It doesn''t matter." She retorted fiercely, "If you think I spent all my childhood, reading, learning magic, and enduring so much hardship just to fall in love with someone, you''re wrong! The situation at hand is far more complicated than what Voldemort brought us, and the slightest mistake could ruin everything we value. This is a change that hasn''t been seen in a thousand years since Hogwarts was founded, and we can''t expect the Professor to do everything by himself."


    "I talked to Luna, and she plans to become a Magizoologist in the future to search for hot dog-loving ferrets in the Arctic." Hermione said, Harry and Ron''s eyes widened, did they hear correctly? Hermione raised her volume, "Will that wish still be granted if the world is at war everywhere? Would she be forced to join the Ministry of Magic and raise her wand to fight muggles? And eventually, die in one of the conflicts?"


    Harry''s heart sank, he couldn''t visualise that scenario.


    Crazy, quirky, yet intelligent and kind, Luna Lovegood was always at peace with herself and nothing seemed to faze her, but if Mr. Xenophilius Lovegood died in a conflict ... he shook his head violently, not wanting to think about it any deeper than he did, he didn''t want to know exactly what would become of Luna.


    "Luna wants to be a Magizoologist, and there''s nothing wrong with that. I want to be Minister of Magic and be a part of the series of major changes in the wizarding world that will inevitably happen as we move towards peace, and you two want to be Aurors - it just so happens that we can protect the dreams of others while still fulfilling our own - "


    She suddenly turned her aim and looked at Ron. "Didn''t you once ask if we would be included in Professor Hap''s legend?" Ron froze, desperately trying to remember, "Well ... there is such a thing, and Neville said that there is more than one person featured in the storybook."


    "Actually there is another way." Hermione said.


    "What is it?" Harry asked in a rush.


    "Everyone -" Hermione pointed to Harry and Ron and then to herself, "You, me, everyone in the wizarding world, we''re all a part of this legendary story! "


    She said a few words from her heart.


    -------------


    [Author:]


    As the book draws to its conclusion, there is no way to turn a blind eye to the female lead issue, it has to be addressed in order to write a complete story. It''s either a single female lead or no CP. It is now confirmed that Hermione is the female lead.


    Some readers will remember that until near the end of the fourth-year storyline, it was uncertain who the time traveller was, and both Harry and Hermione were given the same amount of coverage as to who it could be. Because the author himself was not sure, it was not finalised until the last minute (if it was settled on Harry then the subsequent Lady Jane route would be scrapped).


    The whole sixth-year plot was an improvised addition, it wasn''t in the outline, and originally it was intended for Dumbledore to die in the battle with Voldemort before Grindelwald''s prison break and stirring up a storm in the world. Then why did it turn out this way? Because I couldn''t bear it and I didn''t want Dumbledore to die with his regrets.


    Hence, the sixth-year plot.


    This plot is actually slightly thin, so the retrieval of the previous foreshadowing, the intersection of wizarding society with muggle society, and the coming of age (growth) of the trio is a vital part of the plot.


    Because of some qualms, Hermione''s coming of age has been moved to the present.


    The author had previously commented that he would not write an ambiguous plot, and I certainly don''t think the last plot will be considered ambiguous, like writing about Ron''s character flaws in order to write about his growth.


    Of course, there is another reason, because with the confirmation of Hermione being the main female lead, it''s essential to structure some memorable points without hastily mentioning at the very end where it contradicts the previous story.


    Why did you choose the single female lead over no CP? It is because I couldn''t bear it. The protagonist is expected to live for many years, and everyone can predict him becoming a Headmaster, hiding behind the scenes, and exploring the stars, and overlooking the changes in the world; it would be too lonely to be alone.


    -------


    #Austin #David Pokora and #Aidan Ryan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 696: Gringotts Dragon Roar (2 in 1)

    At Future World''s headquarters, Felix, Sirius, and Lupin were scattered across the three corners of the office, Felix half-lounging on the couch, flipping through the newspaper, Sirius leaning against the door frame and constantly tossing a ball of wool, and Lupin sitting behind his desk, dealing with a thick stack of documents. "Is that what she said?" Felix read a ten-day-old newspaper with an obituary signed by Elphias Doge, his finger pausing in the centre of it.


    "You inspired her." Sirius said somewhat distractedly, his eyes fixed on the window, "That public display made Amelia realise the usefulness of school children, and she thought she could give it a try - the last time when she went with a group of Aurors, the goblins nearly released the dragon from the vault floor."


    "Is the situation that serious?" Lupin asked, looking up gravely.


    "I dare, they wouldn''t risk it, but the appearance of the Brotherhood of Goblins has complicated things." Sirius said with a grim expression, he had been involved in the negotiations last time and at one point the two sides had pulled out their weapons, "Their spokesman - that cock-eyed Bodrig or something - demanded a new Goblin Rights Bill and went on to talk about the great history of the Goblin kingdom at the negotiations and how a certain king had beaten the wizards down to the ground ..."


    The Goblin Kingdom? Felix thought about it for a moment, it is basically a term that exists only in books and test papers.


    In fact, Goblins existed as a group before wizards did because of the difference in appearance from humans. Although it is said to be a kingdom, it is not all that different from the tribes of Centaur and Merpeople, and in ancient times there may have been a dozen goblin kingdoms at the same time.


    But unlike the other magical races, the goblins were more progressive. Not only did they develop their own language and magic system, but they also took on the guise of superb metalsmiths to trade with wizards, learning and imitating wizards'' excellence.


    It was not all smooth sailing for wizards to reach their current dominant position in the magical world, and they have faced challenges from many races, some of which have even been lost forever in history. Of these, the goblins were the longest to resist, with rebellions breaking out until the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, only to die down in the last hundred years.


    In general, therefore, the absolute dominance of wizards over goblins has not lasted long, and it has much to do with the existence of the non-magical world - as productivity has increased, and the general population has experienced several population explosions in recent centuries, the number of muggle-born wizards has naturally risen too.


    ...


    "... There are quite a few such organisations in the magical world, quite a few of them are still established by wizards." Lupin said calmly, "For example, a witch called Heliotrope Willis came to the door to promote her Troll security services. She''s also the head of a Troll Rights Movement."


    "A Troll Rights Movement?" Felix asked curiously, "Can they read the constitution of that organisation?"


    "Apparently, that woman does it for them." Sirius let out a dog-like jeer, "All the Trolls have to do is stand behind her with their wooden clubs."


    "Or stand behind the goblin." Lupin picked up, "I turned her down, we have our own defence system, and she revealed that she would approach the Gringotts for a partnership next."


    "Good luck to her." Felix said, raising his newspaper, his light blue, penetrating gaze moving in the direction of where the Gringotts located. His eyes seemed to be the same colour as the sky.


    A few streets away from them, in the opposite direction from the Sword Castle, inside the Gringotts, Ms. Bones and a few students sat at one side of a large, long table, and on the other side, there were twelve goblins clad in suits and ties.


    One of the goblins was scrutinising an antique, crudely shaped plate with a magnifying glass.


    Ms. Bones had a flat expression, and to her left sat Hermione, her hand under the table trembling slightly from nervousness, her eyes moving back and forth between the goblins and the thick document in front of her. To Ms. Bones'' right was Harry, and surprisingly one seat further away was Draco Malfoy, whom Ms. Bones had forcefully selected when she had visited the school in the morning.


    Her reasoning was that Malfoy''s ancestors had mediated negotiations between goblins and wizards, and Lucius Malfoy knew quite a few hidden secrets that might come into play.


    They looked back at the window-like space, the area where there should have been a window was now empty, and it was completely dark outside, with a faint low growl pulsing from the underground that made their heads throb.


    "The craftsmanship is messy and unattractive," said the goblin with the magnifying glass, constantly picking out faults, "and it''s no match for our elaborate silverware - but, no doubt, it''s an antique of very old age. And there seems to be something special about the clay used ... Gringotts is willing to pay fifty galleons for it."


    "It''s not for sale."


    Ms. Bones said under her breath, and then she realised something, the saucer is genuine, the wizard''s relic is real. Her mind instantly filled with tons of courage. S?a??h th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "... It is strange that I cannot distinguish the origin," the goblin said doubtfully, "Soils from all over the world are recorded within goblins, but the soil used in this clay saucer contains certain special elements that are currently unidentified in the forge role - where did you obtain it?"


    Ms. Bones smiled slightly, "You are quite right, Nagnok. It was brought back from the moon by Felix Hap, who was lucky enough to discover the relics of an ancient wizard."


    The goblin Nagnok stared at her, "You mean this came from the moon?"


    Ms. Bones nodded haughtily.


    The goblins made whispering noises.


    Brodrig the Boss-Eyed said with a grimace, "I don''t believe it! Let me check it once!" He jumped up from his chair, and although the goblin stood short, his fingers were exceptionally long, and just as his nails reached for the saucer, Harry, who was sitting opposite, suddenly reached out, and the saucer moved away from the goblin.


    "Brodrig, don''t make a mess!" A goblin reprimanded angrily.


    Brodrig the Boss-Eyed caught a lump of air and sat reluctantly back in his chair.


    "Mr. Harry Potter," the goblin who had just spoken out to stop him greeted in a cold manner, "it seems like only yesterday that you first came to the Gringotts ."


    Harry carefully studied the goblin''s face; it seemed to him that all the goblins looked similar, can only be distinguished by their beards and hair, a bit like the mannequins sold at Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, well, a half-finished one without the hair glued on ...


    Since the goblin mentioned his first visit to the Gringotts - "Mr. Griphook?" Harry tentatively said as he searched his brain.


    Griphook nodded.


    Oblivious to the drama that had just unfolded, Ms. Bones said calmly, "We can get down to business, and you should be aware of the reason for my visit; although goblins and wizards are of different races and have occasional disputes, both sides are in fact mutually dependent and part of the same magical community."


    "Humph! Who knows if you guys have thought of some new deception?" Brodrig shouted.


    "It''s not impossible." The goblin sitting in the centre said, he seemed to be the oldest, and for goblins, older age meant greater Casting ability and higher status - probably one of the few systems the goblins had inherited from the goblin kingdom.


    "But we demand wizards to address the rights of goblins properly. This includes absolute equality of goblins with wizards in all contexts, the right for goblins to carry and use wands, and the right to settle and participate in the next muggle negotiations ...," the elderly goblin went on for a full ten minutes before stopping.


    "Oh yeah, and abolish that stupid Goblin Liaison Office!"


    Ms. Bones raised her eyebrows.


    " Well, I didn''t expect the last request as you guys always put in a dozen requests there, not to mention I thought you were satisfied with Dirk Cresswell''s ability to do his job." Dirk Cresswell is the Head of the Goblin Liaison Office, in charge of specifically initiating communication with goblins, Dirk Cresswell had been in charge of the last negotiations.


    "Goblins don''t need wizards telling them what to do in terms of economics." The goblin said matter-of-factly.


    Draco Malfoy let out a loud ''snort''.


    "Boy, I don''t give a damn about Malfoy," Brodrig the Boss-Eyed immediately spoke up and threatened, "I''ll feed you to the dragons."


    Draco''s face went white. He narrowed his eyes and trailed off, "My father once said that there is a blind Ukrainian Ironbelly ... locked up in the underground of the Gringotts, but you would never dare to release it."


    "I''m waiting for you to say something like this." The goblin said provocatively.


    "Sitting opposite you is the Minister of Magic, and if you try something funny it will mean war between wizards and goblins," Draco Malfoy said as a gloomy grin appeared on his face. "I would prefer for you to do so, as I guarantee that in less than an hour, the goblins here would instantly become history."


    The goblins yelled angrily and several of them pointed out their fingers at Draco, his face grew even paler, Harry remembered the house elf Dobby from the goblins'' movements, and with a whoosh he drew his wand, ready to cast a spell.


    Although he hadn''t been assigned any duties when he arrived, he had positioned himself as an escort during the negotiations.


    Hermione had spent the morning going through the piles of information she had gathered at the Ministry of Magic and had talked to Ms. Bones along the way. The specifics of the negotiations hardly required Harry to intervene - he was very self-aware, based on the results of his History of Magic O.W.Ls exams, in which he had basically got all the answers wrong on the questions relating to goblins.


    Harry was greatly surprised, that the ever-cowardly Malfoy dared to initiate a provocation on this occasion, and Malfoy stood up and approached the goblin who had spoken with an air of courage. But in the next second, the realization dawned on Harry.


    "Felix Hap." A name spat out of Draco''s mouth.


    That name seemed to possess magical powers, the glow on the goblins'' slender fingers faded a little, and the sight of it brought a winning smile to Draco''s face, he had bet on it, Dad was right! The arrogant, long-eared goblins feared the Professor.


    In the eyes of the others, Professor Hap is an extremely otherworldly being who has risen like a comet, and hardly anyone truly knows him.


    The dragon''s roar was still faintly heard from the crumbling window behind them, but the roar no longer fazed them. Draco''s words seemed to have produced a magical chemical reaction.


    Ms. Bones stifled the smile that was about to appear on her face; she had long been uncomfortable with the goblins'' arrogant attitude but had to put up with it for the greater good, only to find that these goblins had got ahead of themselves and used her toleration as a bargaining chip, which was evident from the fact that they had added a dozen additional demands.


    "Mr. Hap is occupied with many things," Ms. Bones said gently, "and I would not disturb him with these petty issues if I don''t need to. As you mentioned, the negotiations are imminent, and we don''t have much time left."


    She turned her head to look at Hermione.


    Hermione cleared her throat, "Gentlemen - well - Mr. Goblin, why don''t you listen to the Pan-Magical Alliance''s Constitutions? It regulates the obligations of each party, with greater interests, and once the Alliance is formed, the forces of the magical community will be united together, and not only will there be increased cooperation, but goblins will also enjoy a range of benefits if negotiations between wizards and the Muggle government are successful. Oh, and I have heard from a reliable source that silverware crafted by goblins is very popular even in non-magical circles ..."


    The goblins looked at each other.


    The negotiation continued and the attitude of some of the goblins loosened over the next two hours as Hermione rambled on about the benefits of the Pan-Magical Alliance to the goblins. Hermione took a short breath and continued.


    "The goblins have lost nothing, and this unexpected crisis has instead served as an opportunity to give wizards and goblins a reason to negotiate, and neither wants surprises at this critical time, so both sides must show their utmost goodwill - but if someone, or the goblins, are stubborn and cling only to their own interests," Hermione said with a raised eyebrow and a stern attitude, "goblins don''t fear war, and wizards fear war even less."


    "Do wizards want to destroy their own economic system?" A goblin said with a grimace.


    Hermione looked at Ms. Bones, who was leaning back in her chair and had no intention of speaking, so Hermione said seriously, "Maybe the wizarding world will be in chaos for a while, but the trouble will soon be solved, for example, Future World Corporation has over two thousand employees around the world, and they can take the place of the Gringotts at any time."


    "Not to mention, the goblins'' proud currency forging technology and anti-counterfeiting techniques - it''s only a matter of time for a true Archmage to decipher them."


    The goblins chided her loudly.


    "Goblins would never agree to the status of being equal to those wizard slaves!" Another goblin shouted.


    But instead of being shocked, Ms. Bones was pleased, it meant that the negotiations were entering a substantive phase.


    "House-elves are not slaves," Hermione said, "at least not legally anymore. The house elves of Future World and Hogwarts have agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance, and next, the Ministry of Magic will gradually clear out the house elves from the hands of the ancient families, they will be freed from heavy and menial domestic work and unfair treatment for more meaningful duties."


    "Those families are willing to surrender their slaves?" A goblin called out, looking at Draco.


    "The ignorant fools are in Azkaban," Draco sneered, "and those people will end up just like their Lord, Voldemort." Well, the Malfoys had to be separated from the Death Eaters. It took him a while to practice before he could say the Dark Lord''s name fluently.


    "What if a house elf doesn''t want to be set free?" The goblins asked, knowing all about the condition of house elves.


    "The Ministry of Magic will not impose this law all at once, they will give a wide berth to the families who are friendly," Hermione said, "but at least the newborn house elves will all be sheltered by the Pan-Magical Alliance."


    The goblins whispered, they could see that the wizard''s will to reform was strong, the fact that the Wizards were giving up a large chunk of their benefits, although the benefits would remain a part of the magical community, was still a shock to the goblins since they were taking food out of the mouths of the ancient families.


    At that moment, Draco stepped under the table and Harry turned his head sideways as Draco nudged towards an empty seat opposite.


    The goblin with the strange name was gone? Harry thought to himself, he had also seen Brodrig the Boss-Eyed leave halfway through and didn''t think anything was amiss, but for Draco Malfoy to remind him.


    The cold wind behind him made his hair stand up.


    Harry quietly approached Ms. Bones, his lips quirking, "There''s a goblin missing."


    Ms. Bones nodded with caution.


    Suddenly, a deafening dragon roar sounded from the underground to their ears and the room fell silent for a moment. Harry stared carefully at the faces of the goblins, who also seemed unaware of what was happening. Immediately afterward the tabletop began to shake and the rumbling of stone pillars collapsing and the roaring of a dragon mixed together chillingly.


    Harry was the first to react, jumping up and taking the vessel on the table in his hands as Hermione stuffed it into a small beaded bag. They then quickly retreated to the corner, Harry stood on the outer layer and propped up the magical barrier.


    There was a tooth-aching creak. Harry''s eyes moved to the chair he had been sitting in before, and he saw a cloudy pink eye. "Dragon, dragon, dragon ..." Draco stammered as the grey scales and spiked wings slid past their eyes, the walls squeezed out of shape and dust rose high in the air.


    From far away the panicked cries of the goblins were heard.


    The goblins in the room ran outside, followed by Harry and the group, and they made their way to the lobby of the Gringotts. They were dumbfounded by what they saw - a large hole in the high, exquisite ceiling, through which a huge grey dragon could be seen flapping its wings and kicking half the ceiling with a mighty kick, then without pausing, it let out a roar of excitement and spread its wings wide and shot towards the light blue sky.


    Some broken bricks and glass came crashing down.


    The goblins fell around like random potatoes on a kitchen counter. There were a dozen sharp goblin swords stuck in the ground, sharp enough to break through the dragon''s defences.


    One goblin was shouting in some strange language that Harry realised to be goblin language.


    "What''s going on?" One of the goblins involved in the negotiations asked in a gibberish voice.


    "Brodrig broke into the lowest level of the vault on his own and demanded the Clanker that controlled the dragon, and tried to free some of its restraints. But he got careless and the dragon rushed over and swallowed him in one gulp, after which it broke free of the remaining chains and flew away." A goblin reported.


    The elderly goblin''s face was so gloomy that water could drip off it.


    He instantly realised that Brodrig the Boss-Eyed intended to use the dragon to disrupt the peace talks; Brodrig certainly wouldn''t be stupid enough to have the dragon attack the Minister of Magic, but it was still entirely possible to create a disturbance to interrupt and delay the negotiations.


    At least on the bright side, the wizards couldn''t afford to drag their feet any longer. The more delay the more beneficial it would be to the goblins.


    "Why did the dragon suddenly go berserk? And how could it possibly break free of the chains the goblins had built?" Ms. Bones asked aloud.


    No one answered. The Gringotts even closed the bank for the day due to the reception of the Ministry of Magic, and the doors were completely sealed off, which basically ruled out the possibility of outsiders sneaking in. The elderly goblin found himself in an unbearable predicament.


    He is in no position to fight, nor could he, with all those threats still fresh in his mind; telling him it would be a foolish thing to do, and goblins would never do a foolish thing.


    Ms. Bones looked equally gloomy, standing in the hall and calculating the situation quickly.


    "If I''m right -" she took a deep breath, "the goblins were planning to use the dragon against us, only for the dragon to get out of control and flee?"


    "Nothing of the sort!" The elderly goblin denied it flatly.


    "How else did the chain break? Is it possible that your guards have no control over the vault? How does that make us trust you to guard the wizard''s property?" Ms. Bones pressed on.


    "The dragon has grown old, and we are planning to replace it with other creatures, which may have caused us to neglect its control." The elderly goblin said immediately, "But the Gringotts is still the safest bank in the world."


    "That line of rhetoric is completely insincere."


    "... At least this would not affect the negotiations that would follow." The goblin elder said as he stared at the crowd that had gathered from the street and pointed.


    ...


    Felix put the paper down and stood up from the couch, "I''m leaving."


    "Amelia isn''t out yet." Sirius said in surprise.


    "There''s been an accident at the Gringotts, but I don''t think it will affect the negotiations." Felix said, looking over at Sirius and Lupin, "Do me a favour, Severus will come to Sword Castle in a couple of days to preside over the simplification of potions and I don''t want to hear about any of you fighting."


    "You can''t tell this to just us!" Sirius barked.


    Felix shrugged, by which time the clamour outside had reached the inside of the Sword Castle.


    "How about I just put ''No Fighting'' on the back of every door?"


    ---------------


    #Aidan Ryan, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 697: The person in the portrait (2 in 1)

    The dragon flapped its wings happily against the air and rose higher and higher, an excited gasp escaping its mouth. "You want to fly?" Felix muttered to himself on the dragon''s back, "Then fly, I''ll show you where to go."


    His words were relayed to the dragon beneath him in a peculiar form, and the dragon let out an unrestrained roar high in the sky before flapping its wings and soaking up the golden haze above the clouds as it flew towards Hogwarts Castle.


    On the other side, the wizards of Diagon Alley hadn''t yet figured out what had happened.


    A few minutes earlier, a large hole had suddenly blasted open in the roof of the Gringotts, and a loud roar had instantly attracted the attention of half of the street, who had all shifted their eyes to witness an old, scarred dragon crawling out of the hole, it first poked its head out, then its bloodied wings and claws that were wrapped in chains, and finally, the huge dragon lay on its back on the roof, tilting its head and remaining still for a few seconds like a giant decoration of a whole alternative genre.


    Fred and George looked out from the first floor of Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes and made surprised noises.


    "Is that the dragon that guards the vault? Well, I''ve always wanted to see it in person."


    "Oh come on, our family vault has no chance of being guarded by a dragon - wow! It looks so cool, how about we find Lupin and rent the dragon magic lamp?" One of them suggested.


    "I like that idea," said another similar voice, "It has to be over twenty feet, I remember Professor Hap bringing it to demonstrate at the Quidditch World Cup, and we haven''t seen it after that, it''s a waste."


    More than thirty Aurors showed up, they had stood guard nearby for a while now, but none of them made a move. The dragon threw back its head and spat out a ball of flame, frightening the people in the street and causing them to scream in terror as they stumbled away, afraid of being caught in the crossfire. But the dragon stomped hard on its feet and used its strength to spread its bloody wings, flapping it hard to fly, soaring higher and higher as it turned into a black dot.


    It didn''t take long for Ms. Bones to emerge from inside, fully intact, calmly directing Aurors to take over the scene.


    The large hole that had been broken in the roof of the Gringotts was quickly repaired, and Ms. Bones returned back as if nothing had happened, except for the presence of two more Aurors at the entrance to the Gringotts Bank.


    Fred and George withdrew their satisfied gaze and made their way down the stairs. The shop was piled high with an array of merchandise and littered with noisy, moving knick-knacks, but there were no visitors in sight - the customers had all run off to see what all the fuss was about. The two men looked at the posters on the window, and remained quiet for a while, before speaking in unison.


    "A joint announcement from the Ministry of Magic and Future World-"


    "You think that notice -"


    The two men blinked and laughed.


    Early in the morning today the Ministry of Magic employees had delivered a notice to every shop in Diagon Alley, inviting all shopkeepers to the Sword Castle on the weekends to discuss important matters. But they had actually known the inside story earlier, when Penelope (whom the twins now loved and affectionately called ''Percy''s Secret Prober'') had revealed that Percy had recently been busy perfecting a lengthy report on the future of the magical world and the trading plans that would be available to muggles, with a list of goods ranging from potions, books, magical items, clothing, food, and many other categories.


    It was a massive plan, covering every aspect, with enough detail to make a first-time reader''s head turn in two.


    "This whole business cannot go around the Future World, and I applied to Lupin to take charge of this part of work," said Penelope grumpily, " otherwise it might possibly take a few years before I could meet your brother regularly ... Oh, are you asking me what will I do now after getting this job? Nitpicking his reports, for sure!"


    "Apparently, she enjoys it." Fred concluded.


    Since the wizard muggle negotiations hadn''t really started yet, right now it was only the first step in the whole plan.


    Outside Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, Tonks, Ron, and Collins entered following a few customers with a laugh.


    "The vigilante mission was cancelled," Tonks said matter-of-factly, looking at her bright pink hair, you can tell she was in a good mood, "Everyone was worried earlier, Scrimgeour advised Ms. Bones not to take any chances, but she still insisted ... good thing it turned out not too bad." She said looking around with great interest.


    "What''s the deal with that dragon?" Fred asked.


    "They said it was an accident, old age or something." Ron said.


    "That doesn''t sound very convincing." George said.


    "Well, it''s not like they had a fight in there, is it?" Ron shrugged and rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a wizard''s chess piece, letting it spin in his fingertips.


    Fred raised an eyebrow.


    "If I go check the shop for dancing wizard pieces now, I won''t find a knight missing, will I?"


    "Go ahead and look for it." Ron said, "By the way, I was just about to say that I learned Animagus and became one ... Did Ginny snitch about it to you guys?"


    "You became Animagus?" Collins remarked in surprise.


    Half a beat slower, Tonks fondly withdrew her gaze from a doll that could punch people and asked for confirmation, "Animagus?" Her hair was beginning to transition to dazzling violet colour.


    "Pretty easy." Ron said, pretending like he didn''t care much about it.


    "That''s a fair point," George said with a nod, "I know ... many of them who became Animagus individually," he turned his head to Fred, "How many again? Harry, Hermione, Neville, the little girl from the Abbott family, I can''t count them all."


    "I don''t know, but Cedric''s been holding on to Transfiguration Today a lot lately." Fred replied with a poker face. S?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The raised hair on Ron''s head drooped.


    "Will you guys stop demolishing your own brother down?" Ron complained in a small voice when Tonks and Collins were excitedly looking through the shop''s merchandise.


    Fred and George looked at each other and said in unison, "Sorry - no."


    Ron held up the wizard''s chess piece in his hand and muttered, "Did you see these two guys? Remember their hateful faces, I''m going to get my revenge back sooner or later, but I can only depend on you in this mission."


    ...


    The dragon flew all the way north, relishing its hard-won freedom. Standing on its broad back, Felix briefly healed the dragon''s bloody wounds with his magic, removing the chains one by one, before opening his eyes to look at the distant view of the clouds.


    He stroked the long spikes on the dragon''s spine with one hand, looking like a captain holding up a mast.


    "Fly a little steadier." He instructed.


    They swept past towns and fields painted in grey and green one by one, and soon the scenery became monotonous and repetitive. Felix called the Niffler out of his silver pocket watch to play cards. After having experienced flying carpet rides in the Arctic, Valen soon adapted, and ran around excitedly on the dragon''s back, the huge spikes acting like a pillar to her.


    "You''ve lost again, Valen." Felix said smugly.


    Valen''s dark eyes stared into the air in front of her, and the Niffler Phantom that had transformed from its wizard card was knocked off its feet by a single, plain spell, tumbling a dozen times and leaving a trail of smoke behind it. She smacked her lips, feeling that something was wrong, and she looked at Felix suspiciously.


    "I didn''t cheat." Felix said as he swore.


    Valen fumbled through the hand of cards, trying to find the flaw. It was a new deck, with some new cards added to the original, so what the Great Demon King used might be cards that added to increase playability. That was true, and Valen found quite a few cards from it that shone gold when they activated their effects, which she particularly liked.


    But even after playing it, her win rate plummeted.


    "Kee!"


    Valen couldn''t figure out why on her own, so she decided to find a chance to ask Hermione. The sun''s level lowered once again and the golden light on the clouds grew dimmer as the dragon began to descend, and Valen ran up to the dragon''s head, her weight was like a feather to the dragon and had absolutely no effect on it.


    Valen could spot a cluster of lofty castle buildings amidst the mountains.


    Felix patted the dragon''s spine, "Your identity is sensitive now. Er, not a lot actually, but to cut down on the hassle, I''ll cast a spell to disguise you before I send you to Charlie."


    The dragon growled, indicating that it understood.


    Do whatever you want.


    Then it began to shrink dramatically in size and Valen rushed her way back and climbed onto Felix''s shoulder to look down, the huge dragon, which was the size of a small plaza, shrunk from thirty or thirty-five feet long to half that, and soon it began to struggle to land on the ground.


    The dragon whimpered twice and struggled to keep its cloudy eyes open.


    "Don''t worry." Felix stood in the air next to it and casually reassured it, then gave an instruction, "Fold back your wings."


    The dragon - not quite a dragon now, it looked only twice the size of Valen, the shrunken dragon obediently folded its wings and then fell straight down, and was caught in Felix''s hand. With its wings folded, it looked even smaller and a little pitiful.


    Felix dropped towards the ground, and as he descended to a certain height, he made a few gestures with his empty hand, and the Hogwarts defences did not stop him as he continued his descent.


    Inside the castle, Professor McGonagall flipped through the documents, she had just been in contact with Madame Maxime and the two had exchanged information about the precautions and opening times of their respective schools, the British Ministry of Magic had been making one move after another for some time now and using it as a reference, the French and some European Ministries of Magic had begun to leave the International Confederation of Wizards behind and made their contacts with their local Muggle governments.


    She heard a knock on the window and looked up to see Felix waving at her from outside the window.


    "You''re now Deputy Headmaster, Felix." Professor McGonagall pushed open the window in annoyance and glared at him as he entered through the window from outside, Valen had jumped down first and stayed away from Felix, she didn''t want to be lectured along with him.


    Professor McGonagall led Felix over to the table, saying in exasperation as they walked along, "... What should I do if someone sees you like this, and what do you have in your hand?"


    "A lizard." Felix said calmly, as two sparks of fire erupted from the dragon''s nostrils.


    Professor McGonagall ignored his gibberish and lowered her head to carefully examine the creature that was half sprawled on the small table flapping its wings in confusion, then her two eyebrows knitted together firmly.


    "Is this a ... dragon? Still a Ukrainian Ironbelly one at that?"


    "Ahem, if anyone else asks, I''ll just say its a mutated lizard, which has some questionable origins." Felix said honestly, and Professor McGonagall glared at him with an expression that said she wouldn''t stop until she got an answer. "Well, it came from the Gringotts." He explained the situation briefly.


    Professor McGonagall frowned at first, then her eyebrows relaxed.


    "The Goblin Brotherhood, another goblin subversive group that operating in secret?" By subversion, she naturally implied subverting wizards.


    "Not really," Felix shook his head, "they at least operate quite openly and promote a philosophy that doesn''t advocate violence, at least on the surface." He said to Professor McGonagall, "That''s a rare thing to find anymore among goblins."


    Bodrig the Boss-Eyed didn''t want the peace talks to go smoothly and intended for the dragon guarding the vault to make some noise; of course, he didn''t care if a few wizards died in the process, it was all an accident anyway. Felix didn''t care much either.


    Professor McGonagall stayed out of the Ministry of Magic affairs and, knowing that it wouldn''t affect the negotiations with the goblins, she turned her attention to other matters.


    "Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are in a similar situation like us, their Ministry of Magic is secretly in contact with their local Muggle government and the word is not released to the public yet," she glanced at Felix with a small smile, "What you did the other day has affected not only the choices made in Britain but other countries as well. "


    Felix nodded, the results were not unexpected.


    At the beginning of the process, the Ministry of Magic, being to openly communicate with the Muggle government; then Hogwarts and the British Ministry of Magic had attracted the attention of the world, including the International Confederation of Wizards, who were watching every move made over here, waiting for the outcome of the first official negotiations to come out.


    If it is acceptable, then this negotiation may soon become the benchmark for communication between the magical and non-magical communities. Felix had spent the last two days at the Ministry of Magic meeting a number of visitors sent by other countries.


    "On top of that, Uagadou has taken a reference from Hogwarts and set up shelters around the school where some of the exposed wizards are temporarily staying."


    "Are they those semi-public mediums, soothsayers, and occult cultists?"


    "I''ve heard that even the magician muggles receive a lot of harassment." Professor McGonagall said oddly, "There are also some wizards who stay in the tribes, which are relatively exclusive and inaccessible to outsiders. The Castelobruxo School of Magic in Brazil has no need to worry for the time being as it has been hidden in the rainforest where conditions are harsh."


    "What about Ilvermorny? You left out this school."


    "Ilvermorny is not like any other school." A look of sadness spread across Professor McGonagall''s face, "It''s not a good environment for wizards to survive in - you know, their little wizards always act a little different, and the local muggles - they''re called as No-Maj -- have also launched a type of search to find wizards around them ..." she shook her head, "There are companies that openly advertise in the newspapers wanting to recruit wizards; of course there are those who oppose this idea in muggle communities, various large and small organizations, groups of a religious nature, popping up, both registered and operating in secret."


    "So the Magical Congress of the United States of America was compelled to order a full recall of all students to avoid accidents."


    Felix pondered for a moment, "The problem of the American wizards is hard to solve, and right now it is not the right time either. We have to wait for Amelia to reach an initial agreement with the Muggle government before promoting it under the name of the International Confederation of Wizards - the point of the Confederation''s existence disappeared for the most part with the complete invalidation of the Statute of Secrecy, and a new reason must have to be found for it."


    "What function do you want it to fulfil?" Professor McGonagall asked.


    "Well, it needs to be transformed from its previous function of concealing wizards to one that mediates between wizards and non-wizards and makes regulations that are tailored to pass around the world." Felix said.


    Professor McGonagall''s eyes flickered with a trace of uncertainty, she felt alienated about that future, and she glanced at the dragon that was struggling to adjust to its new size, the uncertainty in her eyes faded and grew resolute once again.


    Felix''s gaze turned to the portraits of past Headmasters on the wall in the office, and he walked over to a golden frame in which Dumbledore winked at him.


    "Can you utter a witty phrase or two now, one that I haven''t heard before?" Felix asked.


    "Not for this kind of challenge," the Dumbledore in the portrait smiled, "There are too many ways to slip through the cracks."


    Felix sized him up, "Also, would you like me to add a sweet shop to your painting?"


    Dumbledore laughed again. "Oh, not necessary, the little ones at Hogwarts - the students of the Magic Painting Club painted a huge Hogsmeade painting that featured not only the Honeydukes but also Madam Puddifoot''s Tea Shop and the Three Broomsticks Inn. That painting is hanging in the Trophy Room."


    Felix nodded as he thought about something and spoke.


    "... The Resurrection Stone was destroyed after you left, and what you gave to Snape is still in his possession, and he has a new job that may keep him busy for a decade or so."


    Dumbledore said with slight distress, "So, Severus'' retirement plans will have to be postponed?" But there was little sincerity in his expression, and he even looked a little pleased by the situation.


    "I suppose so." Felix said.


    "And another thing," he said, "Aberforth is planning to sell the Hog''s Head Inn when the school opens up, and Classroom Seven and the Slytherin Chamber will be reopened at the same time, which both will need someone to keep an eye on them."


    "I hope he sells the Inn for a good price." Dumbledore said.


    Felix smiled, "Not unless he cleans the place properly, I can smell the goat stench every time I pass by and the floors don''t look like they''ve been cleaned in centuries - so don''t get your hopes up."


    "Hope is a precious thing for someone who is going through a hard time." Dumbledore said calmly, his eyes turned to Professor McGonagall''s direction.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 698: The Moon Sand and Forest in Bootle (2 in 1)

    Later that night, Ms. Bones and a few students emerged from the Gringotts surrounded by a crowd of goblins, and reporters who had been informed early on immediately gathered around. Flashes of light flickered brightly. Ms. Bones announced to the public that negotiations had gone well and that a number of agreements had been made. The goblin spokesman of the Gringotts agreed and gave an explanation for the dragon''s escape not long ago.


    "That dragon was no longer fit for the task, and if you were well-informed you would have noticed that the Gringotts has been looking for an alternative recently, and yes, that dragon was moved elsewhere and awaits to be disposed of. In the meantime, Sphinx will be guarding the most important vaults. We have considered placing the trolls wearing goblin armour, which has a defence comparable to that of a dragon."


    When a journalist continued to press on about the reason for the dragon''s escape, the goblin spokesman replied stiffly.


    "The council of elders decided to move the dragon on short notice in order to not frighten our honoured guests. An unfortunate accident occurred midway. The person responsible for this was an outsider, unfamiliar with the methods used to control the dragon, Bodrig the Boss-Eyed has unfortunately died in this accident... No specific details can be provided."


    The temporary press conference ended, and Harry and the other students made their way out to meet up with Ron, who suggested that they should get together for a drink, so the group swarmed into the Leaky Cauldron bar, which was packed to the brim with wizards talking about the incident. Just as they were at a loss of what to do, Neville poked his head out of a dark, hidden corner and waved vigorously at them.


    "Harry, Ron - this way!" He yelled excitedly.


    As the group took their seats, Ron was unhappy that Draco Malfoy was sitting next to him. "I thought you would go home." He said with a frown.


    "The negotiations aren''t over yet, so of course, I can''t leave." Draco glanced at Ron contemptuously, causing him to glare a little. "Also, you were left out of the negotiations and don''t know anything, so naturally you''re not aware of the role I played in the process."


    Ron froze and looked at Harry, who nodded reluctantly, acknowledging his part.


    "Okay, err, so - can anyone tell us what happened in the middle of the negotiations? Why did a dragon escape?"


    Harry briefly described the entire negotiation.


    "Doesn''t sound like an accident." Tonks said, "Oh, thank you, Tom." She took the drinks brought over by Tom, the bar owner, and distributed them to the group, then she took a bunch of crystalline grapes out of her pocket that looked very tempting.


    "Oh." Tonks squashed her lips, "Got them from Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, you can try them, they''re called multi-flavoured grapes, a bit like Bertie Bott''s Every Flavour Beans."


    Neville picked one up, "Purple kale flavour." He said with a happy look on his face. Hannah picked one up too and flicked her ponytail, "Pumpkin pie flavour." "Spinach flavour, seems okay?" Collins said as he took a small bite. "Celery." Harry''s face scrunched up and when he finished it he grabbed a glass of water and rinsed his mouth. Hermione and Ginny didn''t even bother to touch it when they heard that it was something brought from the Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes.


    After the interlude, they remembered what they were talking about earlier.


    "It was definitely that Boss-Eyed''s fault," Ron said with certainty, "they tried to scare you guys with the dragon, but they miscalculated, as soon as Ms. Bones gave the signal, the Aurors outside would have rushed in immediately, wouldn''t they, Collins?"


    Collins nodded.


    "And after that?" Neville asked curiously, "You talked for another two hours after the dragon flew away."


    Harry turned to Hermione, "No more accidents after that. Most of the time it was Hermione talking, occasionally stopping to ask Ms. Bones'' opinion or answer the questions raised by the goblins. They often argued for ten minutes or even half an hour about a single word, and I had the feeling of being back in a History of Magic classroom again."


    The crowd laughed. Hermione rolled her eyes and pulled out a few pieces of meaningful information, and with her explanation, the crowd pretty much sorted out the main points of the negotiations.


    "We''ve avoided some tricky issues," Hermione said, "they''re dead in the knot over the wizard and goblin hostility, and it won''t be easy to untangle it. Maybe it will be necessary for the Professor to step in at the end."


    They mentioned the words of the goblin spokesman all over again.


    " ''Distinguished guest''," Ron gave a look of disgust, "I''ve never heard a goblin talk so eloquently."


    "If you leased the prized vault of the Gringotts and deposited a large sum of money in it," Draco Malfoy showed a mocking expression, "you''d get tired of hearing it."


    "How much money do you have? On your own?" Ron shot back, "I have over a thousand galleons at my disposal."


    Draco Malfoy''s breath caught in his throat.


    "Where did you get that much money?" He couldn''t help but ask, a thousand galleons would be a significant amount of money even for him.


    "I saved it up hard," Ron said without thinking, "prize money from the tournament, licensing fees for the tournament footage, fees for articles - and yes," he tapped his head "I still have a bunch of money held at the Muggle newspaper, if the negotiations come to fruition, I wonder if I could go to their door and claim it?" He said uncertainly.


    "You''ve fallen deep into the money." Ginny said.


    "That''s what I deserve." Ron said disgruntled, "Did I give you fewer presents each year?"


    Ginny pouted. Draco said smugly from the sidelines, "When we graduate, the family will give me a big chunk of money, a big chunk, you know? Tens of thousands of galleons at least ..."


    "Does that have a single Knut that you earned?" Harry asked in disgust.


    "Yeah, Harry got a ton of money in his vault too, but he never mentions it." Ron said immediately.


    "Oh come on," Hermione said impatiently, "since when did you guys start to compare this, I don''t think money is the answer for the problems we are facing-"


    "Small families certainly wouldn''t understand the benefits that money brings." Draco scoffed, "My father has made connections with quite a few distinguished healers - probably in a few years I''ll be the head of the first wizard muggle joint hospital."


    "Really," Hermione shot back with a sharp tongue, "so can the heir of the great and mighty Malfoy family enlighten me about why no one else has dabbled in this business if it is so promising? Is it because of the reputation of the Malfoy family? Or is it because of the money and power you are so proud of? Oh, I almost forgot, money is the only thing that Malfoy is left with."


    Draco''s face sank. Because Hermione was telling the truth.


    The Malfoy family''s wealth and prestige had shrunk dramatically after the war and their influence is not what it used to be. The only reason why no pureblood family had interfered with the Hospital they are constructing was because they all thought that the Joint Hospital was compensation that Professor Hap had given to Lucius for going undercover.


    But the truth is -


    Draco remembered his father''s words. "He never promised, and probably didn''t even care about it, the preservation of the Malfoys was the reward he offered me for going undercover." Lucius said in his study.


    "Then-"


    "Because of you. The wizarding world wasn''t exposed at that time, and you were the only one that showed an inclination to do so among the people he came into contact with, and he was happy to support you." Lucius analysed calmly, "The wealth that the Malfoys have accumulated over a dozen generations, and the network of connections linked to Muggles ... would make this easy, but remember, you weren''t the only candidate, which is why I tried to publicize this as much as possible, and secretly warned some pureblood family." He said with a sneer.


    "Noble pureblood families? Now purebloods are worthless and have become crippled-blood families."


    ...


    Over the next few days, the negotiations moved smoothly. With the best efforts of both sides, the negotiations reached a substantive level, breaking the barriers one by one, and as Hermione expected, only a few stubborn issues remained, such as the ownership of items built by goblins and whether goblins could possess wands.


    "Those are matters of fine details, and the details are irrelevant to me. What we are negotiating is whether goblins want to join the Pan-Magical Alliance - where most of the magical intelligent beings have joined." During another negotiation, Felix appeared and said as he took his seat.


    "Goblins could possess wands, but the acquisition must come at a price. The day that a goblin possesses the wand is the day that the goblin''s special method of forging metal will be made public." He turned his head to Hermione, "Put that in the clause''s footnotes."


    "Oh, okay, Professor!" Hermione said hurriedly, hastily adding notes on the margins of the parchment.


    There was an awkward silence. Neither the goblins nor the wizards present were too happy with the result, feeling that their side had lost out, but on reflection, it was pretty much the best way to get past the controversy. S?a??h the N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The goblins had been fighting for centuries for the right to buy and possess their own wand. This right, until now restricted by law, a law which prohibits non-wizards from possessing wands, has been broken to pieces today. But it comes with a staggering cost -


    What is the special way that goblins wrought metal?


    It has something to do with the goblin''s natural talent, something to do with the goblin''s special magic system. Once this is unravelled, goblins will no longer have secrets.


    If anyone else had said this, the goblins would have probably scoffed or even cursed, looking at the wizard with disdain in the process, because goblins are deeply proud of their magic and would never believe that anyone could possibly perform it. But when these words came from the mouth of an archmage comparable to Dumbledore, they would believe it.


    Especially - when that Archmage had a history of pioneering (or recovering lost) ancient rune systems almost on his own, and he is only twenty-six or twenty-seven years old and has probably spent less than a decade studying ancient runes, so his words carried a lot of weight.


    The goblins looked at each other and saw the hesitation in their eyes.


    And some of the more clever wizards had thought of this too. But they were not thinking in the same way as the goblins: the swords and armour crafted by the goblins could be regarded as divine weapons, and their silver wares are popular among the wizards, so if they could acquire the technology, they would be happy to barter.


    Previously, wizards simply could not replicate the goblins'' magic.


    Several wizards looked at Felix with fiery eyes. Faced with such huge benefits, they were tempted to start a war, but the greed in their hearts was instantly doused when they met Felix''s cold eyes.


    After another round of intense negotiations, the goblins agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance, if they could retain the right to speak within, with the promise that they would maintain the same tone as the wizards outside.


    "We will reserve the right to appeal, and we would only sign a two hundred years pact." The elderly goblin said, half relaxed, half resigned.


    Felix didn''t say anything, but the idea of building a magical floating city (island) grew stronger and stronger in his mind. The wizarding community is so intertwined with each other that pulling out a single thread could stir up the entire wizarding community, and Felix didn''t want to change the wizarding environment in a drastic way. That wouldn''t necessarily be a good thing. He just wanted to paint on a blank sheet of paper that could be wiped and smudged over and over again; the existing territory couldn''t stand the toss, and the best way to do it would be through finding another place ...


    In the meantime, the Wizards formally approached the Muggle government in the name of the Ministry of Magic, and they still didn''t talk about the main issues, the follow-up negotiation was equivalent to Felix''s first visit with students to visit the Queen last time; neither the Muggle Prime Minister nor the Minister of Magic showed up in the negotiation process, with each sending officials and representatives instead, albeit with a much higher standard in the name.


    In a context similar to a government report, both sides introduced each other at length about the history of their development, culture, ideologies, and technology (magic) in formal language.


    The senior official sent by the Ministry of Magic was Mr. Weasley, whose status had risen with the reorganisation of the Ministry''s departments. During the meeting, Mr. Weasley showed a keen interest in a range of technological products, and after learning that Mr. Weasley is the father of the wizard mentioned repeatedly in the ''Wizard Goes to School'' series of news articles which are currently hot in the newspapers, the government staff decided on the spur of the moment to present him with a box of spanners that came with various types of bolts and nuts.


    "Thank you so much," Mr. Weasley said enthusiastically, "I didn''t bring any personal gifts, but the Minister of Magic, Ms. Bones, entrusted me with two gifts for the Muggle government when I left-" The case opened to reveal a simple saucer, along with an ornate crystal vase.


    Inside the crystal vase, there is a miniature jungle landscape, which the government representative glanced at twice and then stopped paying attention to, as he turned his attention to the greyish saucer, which was covered with tattered and faded patterns that had no aesthetic appeal.


    "Uh," the government representative was a little confused, "does this dish have any special significance?"


    It didn''t look like a work of art. Their side had prepared a gift as well, a carefully selected artefact from a museum that would be quite valuable as a collection, both in terms of artistic and historical significance.


    "It doesn''t matter what it looks like, what matters is where it came from," Mr. Weasley said, "It came from the moon."


    The government representative''s eyes widened.


    "The mo-the moon?"


    "Yes." Mr. Weasley nodded and smiled, but for a moment, the government representative felt his smile grow with pride, which contrasted sharply with the vivid expression he had worn while listening to the report earlier.


    When the meeting was over, the government representatives immediately headed to a conference room to answer questions from the entire cabinet. The Prime Minister looked impatient, "Well? What''s their response?" He turned his head to a very unassuming person behind the representative, "You are the best psychoanalyst in the country, what are your conclusions?"


    The psychoanalyst looked out in a daze.


    "He may need some time to adjust to the psychological impact brought on by the magic ... It''s better if I do the talking." The representative opened the box and, just like him, everyone was fascinated by what it contained.


    "A Forest View in a Vase?" The Prime Minister glanced at the featureless dish, mentally judging that it is probably an artefact of some kind, and he focused his attention on the delicate crystal vase, lowering his head to examine it closely, "Interesting, I can see flying birds, and it moves - is it magic?" The others tsked in wonder too.


    The representative pursed his lips.


    "It may not be quite what you think, it is indeed magic, but it is also mixed with something else ..." he said with an odd expression on his face, "There is a real small forest inside, it was created using Undetectable Extension Charm -- which you can interpret as a magical equivalent of spatial extension technology."


    As if a pause button had been pressed in the conference room, the Prime Minister maintained his bending position and turned his head to glare at him.


    "The technology - err, I mean this magic is said to be quite mature in its application, but of course, the magic on this vase we have will only last a week. On their last visit, they heard that the government is planning to create a garden, so they gifted us with a ..."


    "Gifted us a garden in a vase?" One council member groaned.


    "It''s simple to use," the representative continued expressionlessly, though his voice dripped with a slight lack of confidence, "Within a week, smash this vase in the middle of the intended site and the magical garden will be restored to its original size, complete with trees, flowers, and a fountain. There will be no difference from the real thing."


    There was silence. The ministers in the room were silently thinking about what this magic represented, and the more they thought about it, the more alarmed they became. After a few moments, the Prime Minister forced himself to speak and asked, "What about the other artefact?" He found his throat a little dry.


    "The other artefact ..." the representative said hesitantly, and his attitude left the hearts of the others hanging, could this dish be unusual too, hiding some magic they didn''t know about?


    "That dish is rather ordinary, with an absence of magic, but the key is, the place it came from, it is claimed that, ahem, I am in no position to determine the truth, except to relay the words of the wizard," the representative cleared his throat, "Mr. Felix Hap went to the moon a few days ago and was lucky enough to find a wizard relic --"


    "You''re not joking, right?" The Prime Minister interrupted.


    "Perhaps the wizards were joking with us, but it is for you all to judge." The representative said, "This matter was widely publicised in wizard society, and Hap - the same wizard professor who last visited - claimed to have been ill-prepared for his first landing on the moon, and thus he only managed to search the perimeter haphazardly ... "


    In the midst of a crowd of blank faces, the Prime Minister suddenly jumped to his feet:


    "Get the best scientists together! Now! Now! Tell them to drop what they''re doing - and don''t we have a sample of moon soil? Find it, divide it into a dozen, and I want the most accurate analysis we can get!"


    "Sir Prime Minister, the moon soil is precious, and we only have a little." One of his advisors whispered.


    The Prime Minister pointed to the soily dish and roared at him, "Precious? If it is true, moon soil would rot in the streets, what do you think that vase represents? The wizard is telling us plainly that they are perfectly capable of hollowing out the moon!"


    "Where would they have enough room to pile up the extra soil?" One MP shouted.


    Everyone stared at him with the expression of looking at a fool.


    "That is indeed a problem." The Prime Minister said gloomily, "What do you think about piling it on top of our heads?"


    In the silence, the representative spoke cautiously, "On the plus side, it also means that cosmic travel will become possible. With all due respect, Sir Prime Minister, and Honourable Ministers, an ordinary crystal vase can carry a garden, and it is entirely possible for wizards to build a magical spaceship on their own if they give it their all - or of course, a meteorite could smash on top of our heads, depending on what we choose. If the wizard''s magic and our technology are combined, interstellar migration is highly likely to be possible within a few decades."


    "Despite my humble position, I sincerely remind all ministers that the only path to a future is cooperation!"


    ...


    "Word has come back from Kingsley that the Muggle government is ready to negotiate with us." Ms. Bones said to Felix.


    "Our strategy seems to have been the right one: avoid being impulsive, reveal valuable information to the outside world little by little, get the Muggle government to weigh the consequences of going to war against the benefits of cooperation by bringing it to both sides of the scale, and they themselves will weigh the pros and cons and come to the negotiating table. We''ve finally got past the most highly unpredictable phase."


    "It''s time to set our sights abroad."


    Felix looked in the distant direction, where a lighthouse stood, and he whispered.


    "How many will be able to decisively seize the opportunity and jump up after a new era that arrived abruptly and unannounced? And how many will be foolish enough to become hostile against a community that they are unfamiliar with and fall apart from it? Time will give us the answer."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 699: On the Right Track

    The last Saturday of July. In a spacious courtyard inside the Houses of Parliament, the Prime Minister and several ministers stood far away in a long corridor, silently watching a short, thin man dangling in mid-air. The man held a small, long-handled hammer in his hand, and all eyes converged on the blackened head of the hammer as they watched it approach the crystal vase.


    For several days scientists used various methods to try to figure out the inner mechanism of the vase without destroying it, but in the end, it was found that observation with the naked eye was the most reliable, because the more precise the measuring instrument, the more likely it tended to be significantly out of whack.


    Today is the deadline given for releasing the landscape in the vase, and the person responsible for the daily maintenance of the building''s interior has bravely taken on the task of breaking the vase.


    Drops of sweat rolled down his cheeks and into his neck. The short man stared straight at the ground, mentally gauging the distance. "Stop!" He suddenly shouted, the ropes around his body abruptly halted, and his body swayed slightly, but the man''s eyes were only on the crystal vase.


    The man swallowed and quietly cheered himself up. The crystal vase had a metal base specifically designed to hold it in place at the bottom, to keep it from being blown over by the wind and to prevent accidents, and the only thing he had to do was to crack the outer shell of the vase as he had rehearsed.


    The metal hammer head fell as a crisp shattering sound silenced the courtyard.


    "Pull me up quickly!" The man shouted, he was the closest and had the clearest view at the moment - if you didn''t count the small and large cameras around him - and as he watched, the crystal vase was first spread with spider webs like fine lines and then white light began to blossom from each one of the lines.


    The workers at the edge of the courtyard reacted and hastily pulled the ropes tighter, and the short man was pulled back by the ropes, but the man''s eyes stared straight into the centre of the field, the crystal fragments scattering into light, his pupils reflecting a palm-sized, life-like garden, which began to stretch out, first the soft, tender green grass, expanding outwards like a rising tide, faster than he was able to retreat, the glowing green colour seemed to spread and touch his raising ankles in the blink of an eye, and his feet were already on the soft grass when he took off the ground.


    Saplings rose from the ground, from far and near, and time seemed to lose its meaning, as it took only a dozen seconds for them to lush up, with branches growing off the saplings, and the man was lost in thought as he grabbed a leaf and stuffed it carelessly into his mouth, his eyes widening as the fresh sap and bitterness continued to hit his taste buds.


    After half a minute, peace returned.


    The Prime Minister and the ministers drew closer, and a few of the workers bravely approached, no one stopped them, all of them looked at the golden fountain in front of them with fascination, the sound of gurgling water seemed to fill their ears, and in the centre of the fountain, several ice sculptures stood, or perhaps crystal sculptures? They weren''t sure, but they could feel a faint coolness as they approached, and even their breath seemed to become damp. A few birds flew into the azure sky.


    Everyone was silent, staring at the courtyard for a few moments, before the Prime Minister finally said, "Call a press conference."


    The next morning, Ms. Bones led a dozen or so delegates from various sectors of the magical community into the Houses of Parliament, which not surprisingly included several humanoid magical races, and the guards at the gate tried their best not to look surprised, as if half-human tall goblins and four-legged centaurs were normal and not worth the fuss (thank goodness there were no trolls in the group). Felix watched them enter and the gates slowly closed. Meanwhile, the dozen or so Muggles hiding around the perimeter suddenly remembered their priorities and drove home in a hurry, clutching banners, shotguns, and the like, without making a ripple.


    A quarter of an hour later, Felix walked through the iron gates, stopping for a moment at the magical fountain as well, then made his way along the corridor to the left, where a flag flew high at the top of Victoria Tower, he made his way up the stone steps of the building where the important documents of the Council were kept, and as he walked his ears were greeted by the sound of voices.


    "We welcome the joint representatives from the Pan-Magical Alliance''s British Branch, and the Ministry of Magic - Ms. Amelia Bones to the meeting ..."


    Felix smiled faintly. The Pan-Magical Alliance came ahead, and the ''British Branch'' implied even more significance, although at the moment there was only one ''branch'', without even a glimpse of the General Council, but that didn''t matter, what mattered was that wizards had a reason to remain truly independent and free from the jurisdiction of non-magical regimes.


    There is more than one group of species, so why should they be subject to the bidding of the Muggle government? The arrogance and intractability of the goblins came in handy in the next few days that followed, and this time they were on the side of the wizards.


    Why all the trouble? Why facilitate the integration of wizards and non-wizards while trying to keep wizards relatively independent?


    There are too many reasons for that, and the fact that wizards won''t tolerate a strong and controlling government over their heads alone is worth the trouble, and it''s better to spend months on negotiations than on the battlefield. For wizards, even the most loosest Muggle governments were more binding on the population than the wizarding community. Felix had seen bits of the former senior official Umbridge''s vision for the Ministry of Magic and wondered if the non-magical community had inspired her to pursue a result strikingly similar to that of the outside world.


    In other words, for the wizarding community with simple social structures, every Muggle government out there could be comparable to Umbridge ruling them.


    The differences in terms of understanding and requirements for rulers between wizards and non-wizards are so great beyond belief that forcing them together is bound to produce problems. The current situation, which has turned into the one before us in less than a month, has proceeded very smoothly. But what appears to be smooth sailing is actually the result of Felix''s active avoidance of most of the options with pitfalls.


    Most hidden problems began in the smallest detail. Felix spotted them in advance, and made arrangements early on, before reaching out and giving them a push when he met the right person who was willing to solve the problem. The rest was just a matter of quiet observation, and as long as things didn''t get off track, the question of who would do the job was just a matter of circumstance; it was not a personal problem of Felix''s, it was a problem of the entire wizarding community.


    Did Dumbledore ever publicly been much active during the First Wizarding War? No, he stayed in school. But out of the public eye, he secretly established the Order of the Phoenix and secretly fought against Voldemort to keep him from storming into the Ministry of Magic and going on a killing spree, and that was enough, was he expected to stand guard like an ordinary Auror on duty?


    Felix had stopped some of the conflicts from happening, and he wasn''t going to publicise his actions, he had more important things to do.


    A little time passed and Felix emerged from a stone room with a thoughtful expression on his face.


    Yesterday afternoon the Prime Minister held a press conference at which he mentioned two important pieces of information, one naturally being the announcement to the public about the timing of the negotiations and the other was a response to the rumours about the discovery of ancient relics on the moon by wizards, which he had confirmed as truth.


    The latter rumour went viral for some period of time.


    The moon landing was considered highly incredible to those who did not know magic, and for ordinary wizards, it was considered a mythical achievement - when this news was announced, various Ministries of Magic delegates inquired about the truth of the matter but were brushed off by Ms. Bones until Felix''s successful return from the moon, when the news was transmitted by spies to all the countries.


    The British wizarding newspapers were among the first to receive the news, with journalists talking about it in a tone of awe, and even Rita Skeeter took half a day off to publish a passionate article in the Daily Prophet, which made Felix feel odd, but Ms. Bones was very happy. "The people are confident that we can tide over the difficulties."


    Felix smacked his lips and said nothing, but then he turned his head and made the most of his excellent Slytherin graduate nature by gathering the members of the pureblood family who had nominally defected to him. Felix had almost forgotten about them.


    In the last part of the war, these guys were terrified, no one knew how far the purge would go, and Amelia Bones'' attitude looked as if she intended to uproot some of the stubborn Purebloods (although she never intended to do so). At that time, Lucius, who was unwilling to be reduced to a marginal family, and Selwyn, who had managed to avoid retribution by betraying his fellow Death Eaters (he is now known as ''Mean Selwyn'', according to some gossips), brought together a group of out of favour Purebloods and came forward to offer their loyalty to Felix, who in turn offered a promise not to implicate the innocent and protect their Family members.


    Now is the time to use them.


    At Malfoy Manor, Felix met these men. The atmosphere was awkward because he had dragged Snape along with him, and in the living room where the Death Eaters had met, Felix sat in the chair where Voldemort had originally sat, with the dim light of the fireplace blazing behind him, as if Voldemort had returned. Some of the people who had arrived later entered the room slightly out of breath, almost blurting out their greetings to the Dark Lord.


    Snape took a seat to the immediate right of Felix, making it easier to communicate through the Thinking Room, which led to some sneaky eye contact in turn. Then Felix learned Snape''s position as a Death Eater, and he couldn''t help thinking that Voldemort must have hated his misjudgement before he died.


    Anyway, the meeting proceeded rather poorly, with Snape glancing at him as if he was worried that his next words would be an order to take over the Ministry of Magic, but the result was favourable, as the purebloods showed their family heritage by presenting their pacts with other magical races without any hesitation.


    These pacts, which date back centuries, are still in effect and played a huge part in persuading the different magical races in Britain to join the Pan-Magical Alliance.


    There was an interlude during the meeting. A pure-blooded wizard addressed him warily as His Excellency and asked him about the truth of the moon landing, and upon receiving an affirmative answer, he suddenly filled with enthusiasm and suggested for Felix to establish a wizard base on the moon.


    "Our cause would be unbreakable at that time!" He said excitedly, to which there were many echoes.


    Cause? What cause? Felix was puzzled, but he considered the proposal seriously. Although relations between wizards and muggles aren''t bad enough for them to settle on the moon, the idea of a moon base suited his taste, for example, he could easily build a secret chamber several kilometres under the school castle, which would make a great shelter, and the magic required for it didn''t seem that great.


    It really wouldn''t be difficult, Felix had given it some serious thought. Creating dozens of expanded spaces like the basement in Mr. Scamander''s house, combined with the farming magic Professor Burbage had developed, would be more than adequate for 20,000 to 30,000 wizards to wander the cosmos for quite a number of years.


    The only thing it needed would be regular maintenance.


    But again, for the same reason - situations weren''t that bad; Felix preferred to never resort to using it.


    ...


    The feat of landing on the moon was widely circulated on the radio by Ms. Bones in Britain, and those who were close enough to Felix asked him personally, but those wizards abroad were simply dumbstruck by the news.


    Even with all the incredible things Felix had done previously, the ministries of magic remained sceptical. Felix in fact could have done the same thing that the young Dumbledore had done, turning all doubts into incredulity through letters, academic publications, and meetings with wizards from all over the world to prove it, but Felix didn''t have that much time to spare.


    Felix''s next focus will turn towards foreign countries, and he will then confront even more difficult problems, ranging from prime ministers, government officials, the public, public opinion, the deterrence of force, and the lure of profit. ... Many countries'' ministries of magic have not solved even a single problem. The International Confederation of Wizards is on the verge of collapse.


    The only commendable thing was that these ministries of magic had long been bound by the Statute of Secrecy, so their instinctive reaction made them keep the entire wizarding population hidden, and from Vinda Rosier''s mouth, Felix was able to learn more valuable information - information that was not made public by the ministries of magic. Some things were more serious than they appeared. S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Although the wizards choose to remain hidden, skirmishes happen every day.


    Different strategies are required to face different circumstances. Once the results of the negotiations on this side were finalised, and if things proceeded smoothly, the ministers of magic from various countries would be the first to rush to inquire about the details, and then it would be time to begin the second step.


    As Felix wandered through the sea of documents and files in Victoria Tower, he recognized the issues that would be the focus of the negotiations between the two sides in his mind: autonomy for wizards, joint wizard and muggle law enforcement, areas of cooperation between magic and science, trade exchanges, exchanges and mutual travel between civil groups ...


    A file caught his attention.


    It was glued with newspaper clippings and analysis reports, large and small, including letters previously sent by Hogwarts students, the most recent flood of magical events occurring around the world, such as the activity patterns of Grindelwald. Felix blinked and unexpectedly spotted two half-familiar faces on it -


    The girl who had shown him directions in Paris; the pianist with the damaged fingers. From the analysis above, it seemed that they had recognised him, and actively mentioned the incident to someone close to them, and thus it was brought to the attention of government agencies.


    Felix made note of their addresses - they were both surprisingly in England at the moment, perhaps to get closer to magic? Or simply visiting? It did seem quite lively recently ... but it also gave Felix a heads-up about the fact that he still had some non-wizard friends, like Jim and Rebecca, and he might better ask them to keep their relationship hidden using magic if he didn''t want them to be followed around.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 700: Changes in Sword Castle (2 in 1)

    "I can''t believe you are actually one of the mythical wizards, I was shocked when I saw your face on TV!" Jim said excitedly. Felix shrugged.


    "Because I needed to hide my identity, I actually left the orphanage just to go to the magic school." He gave a brief account of his real experiences over the years.


    "Then your work experience-" Jim looked in doubt, it couldn''t be fake too, could it?


    "That''s genuine, I worked in London for two years after I graduated."


    "A strange hobby," Jim was baffled by this practice, "if I had a talent for magic, I would certainly devote myself solely to study it." After a moment the door opened from outside, and it was Rebecca, who almost screamed out in surprise when she saw Felix.


    "Wow, it''s really you! Are you truly a magician who can do ''real'' magic?" She pulled a carrot out of her grocery bag and held it up pretending it was a wand, and she said in a funny tone, "Dispelling the dark clouds all over the country with a single spell?"


    "A wizard, to be precise." Felix said, "And it was not just me that did it either."


    "Rebecca was asleep at the time, and she watched the re-broadcast." Jim stepped forward to take the grocery bag and turned his head to explain, " Well, she has been a bit drowsy lately and the doctor has advised her to exercise more." Felix looked at Rebecca''s slightly bulging stomach with some surprise.


    "Yeah, we got married." Jim said, "At the time we couldn''t reach you, and we thought you were abroad. Of course, now we know the reasons why."


    On that note, Felix thought about the phone he hadn''t used much.


    Rebecca sat down next to Jim after she had changed her clothes. "On the TV they said that some people would be invited to visit the wizards'' world, is that true?"


    "Yeah, do you guys want to come and see what a real wizards community would look like?" Felix asked. Whether it was a matter of securing two quotas or arranging it privately, it would be a very easy thing for him to do.


    Jim was somewhat tempted, but then he glanced at his wife and his expression changed to one of hesitant in a heartbeat.


    "Well, forget it," he said, shaking his head, "Rebecca is pregnant. I don''t want-" he turned slightly red, "well, I''m worried about having a mishap."


    Felix nodded with understanding.


    Right now, at this time, it wasn''t necessarily a good thing for ordinary people to get involved with wizards; If they could be with Felix all the time, they would be fine, but the possibility of him being with them every day is extremely low, and they might come under some degree of risk just by being his friends, which is why he stopped over here. After asking Jim and Rebecca for their opinion, Felix cast a complex spell to hide their friendship as a secret.


    After staying a while, he got up and left, leaving a card behind on his way out. "Wizards are particularly good at dealing with some situations, so if you run into a tricky situation, you can contact me. Just tear the card up."


    Jim accepted the card in all seriousness and walked Felix to the door.


    "The old dean''s not doing that well anymore." He said.


    Felix was silent for a moment, "I''ll go and visit him."


    "Hey! The due date is early January." Jim said loudly behind him and Felix looked back to see him wave the card, "At least we won''t have to worry about finding you this time."


    ...


    The next morning, in Hogwarts.


    The students finished dealing with that day''s newspapers and gathered in twos and threes to chat.


    "Was there any new organization born today that aspires to drown wizards like bloody rats?" Ron asked deliberately in a wicked tone of voice.


    "No," Harry said with a yawn, "but rather there were those who learned about the low employment rate of wizards and wanted to offer us jobs."


    Ron muttered, "They should mind their own business."


    Dean said half-heartedly, "I would love to give it a try later when the situation becomes stable."


    Neville raised his head at that and looked around with great expectation, "Is there any new progress in the negotiations? There''s nothing in the newspapers I''m in charge of."


    "Well, it won''t happen that quickly," Hermione said brightly, "It''s only the second day. But we always prepare ahead of time and try to get ahead of the game - do any of you want to go to Sword Castle?" She looked over at the group.


    "Do you mean that assembly of shopkeepers in Diagon Alley?" Harry asked perceptively, "You''re going to see it?"


    Hermione shrugged. Luna and Ginny walked by behind Harry, and Ginny put her arms up, circled behind him like a ballerina, and disappeared with a twirl of her heel. Hermione burst out with a puff of laughter.


    Harry looked at her in bewilderment.


    "It''s nothing." She answered at once.


    At that moment, Hannah and Susan Bones came over to join the conversation, Ernie and Justin followed wobbly behind them, both looking pale as if they hadn''t eaten breakfast, while Daphne kept stroking her hair on the right side.


    "It''s outrageous how some newspaper claims that wizards'' bodies have radiation on them, which would cause - what is that?" Hannah said indignantly.


    "Would cause some bad contagious genetic disorder or disease." Hermione said briefly. "Like Dragon pox?" Hannah asked. "Something like that." Hermione said, she then reacted, "Did the newspaper really claim that?"


    Hannah spelled out the mentions.


    Hermione said in disbelief, "I can''t believe they could make up a lie like that."


    "Next time try to check whether the writer''s family name is Dursley," Harry said dully, "It sounds like something my aunt would say, she always believed that wizards would pollute the environment ..." he looked up thoughtfully, "The newspaper shouldn''t have allowed too many swear words to be published, otherwise you can learn some new words."


    "And there''s one that says wizards correspond to the end of the world." Ernie interjected, turning his head to Justin, "They referred to one prophecy to make it look believable, I forgot the name of that prophecy though-"


    "Mayan." Justin muttered.


    "Do the muggles have diviners among them?" Daphne asked curiously.


    "I don''t know, the known information is that they were a group of ancient Native Americans with a very advanced level of civilization at one point and then that civilization declined abruptly." Hermione said, "Later generations have found some plausible prophecies from their remains."


    "Well, according to that newspaper, it''s quite likely for this to be true." Justin said with great fervour, "I read something similar when I was a kid, all written in a book with a particularly scary-looking cover - but then my mum confiscated it."


    "What did she say?" Hermione asked for a follow-up to that.


    "She said it was a waste of time." Justin scowled, "But she didn''t know about the divination course back then. After learning about the Divination course she took eggs from the kitchen on holidays to do the divination, by following what was written in the book ''Unfogging the Future''."


    "You still have that book, I thought you had thrown it away." Ernie said.


    Hermione was clearly not interested in divination, and although she admitted that Trelawney did do actual divination once or twice, she also stubbornly believed that Trelawney''s mind was simply muddled during normal times, or she was just a drunken mess most of the time from drinking loads of sherry. Once again she asked if any of them wanted to go to the sword castle. S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Finally, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Susan, and Neville decided to go and see what all this fuss is all about. "Where''s Ginny?" As the group walked towards the Transfiguration office, Harry turned his head to search for the redhead.


    "I saw her leave with Luna." Hermione said.


    They made their way to the Transfiguration office on the first floor, which had originally belonged to Professor McGonagall, but when she moved into the Headmaster''s office, it was left empty, and there is a fireplace attached in that office, which is available for students to use for their daily commute.


    The shops on either side of the Diagon Alley walkway were quiet and deserted, with temporary closure notices written in the windows.


    "Look over there, Harry!" Ron said with a sharp eye, pointing his finger at a certain place.


    Harry looked over, and his eyes suddenly widened; it was the location of Florean Fortescue''s Ice Cream Parlour, which had been closed when he had visited Diagon Alley before the start of his sixth year, but now it seemed to have reopened. He strides over to the door, which also has a closure notice on it, and he slightly composed himself, staring at the huge parasol that stood outside. Harry''s mind wandered back to the time when he had eaten ice cream here while doing his homework, he reached out and touched it, there wasn''t even a speck of dust on the parasol.


    His heart perked up, this implied that someone had cleaned it up, but Harry wasn''t sure if some other person bought it, and the place they were heading to might have the answer. He walked excitedly towards the sword castle, but he was stopped when he made it to the entrance.


    "Sorry, no visitors allowed today due to some important matter."


    "Clammy?" Harry looked in surprise at the witch who had stopped him.


    "Oh, it''s Harry," Clammy Vera said, greeting him with a smile, "These are your friends?" She looked behind Harry, some of whom she recognized and some of whom she didn''t.


    Hermione also looked a little surprised when she saw Clammy.


    "It''s a mess in there, I came out for some fresh air." Clammy explained, "Penelope''s still inside." "Is Eric back yet?" Hermione asked. "Not yet," Clammy sighed, "He''s gone on a tour to visit the Latin American branches and probably won''t be back for another week."


    As one of the first members of the ''Future World'' company, several other people besides Lupin had been entrusted with important responsibilities. Over the past few years, they had each assumed a part of the companies responsibilities according to their interests; Clammy liked to study the technical aspects, Penelope was more of a day-to-day manager, and for a while when Lupin was preoccupied with the work in the Order of the Phoenix, he simply relied on the two of them to keep the company running normally, and as for Erik - he had taken the responsibility of the branches abroad.


    "By the way, Clammy," Harry thought of the query that was born in front of the ice cream parlour, "have you seen Florean Fortescue?"


    Clammy thought for a moment, "The Ice Cream Parlour owner?"


    "That''s right!" Harry said excitedly.


    "He is here." Clammy gave a positive answer.


    "I thought he was captured and killed by Voldemort?" Ron asked from the side.


    "He is alive because he was lucky enough to escape from the fate of transforming into an Inferi." An unfamiliar voice interjected into the conversation between them and Harry jerked his head up to see an elderly man with grey hair, and he exclaimed in surprise, "Mr. Fortescue?"


    "Mr. Potter, I''m very pleased to see that you remember me." Florean said with a touch of emotion.


    "Of course, I will remember you!" Harry said, "But how did you escape?"


    "I didn''t escape, I was rescued by Aurors," said Florean, "The Dark Lord took a group of people who were experts in the history of magic, I was one of them, he also took some wand makers, I know of a fellow named Gregorovitch who was unlucky enough not to survive the torture. "


    Harry was vaguely aware of this. Voldemort had fabricated the rumour about the ''Top Ten Wands'' by torturing these people, and Mr. Ollivander had originally been one of the targets, but he had managed to escape the Death Eaters and after that, he had spread the rumour by pretending that he had run away to a foreign country, but in reality, he had been hiding in the basement of the wand shop, and he even deceived Voldemort.


    "Did you just mention Inferi?" Harry asked.


    "Yes," Florean''s expression turned grim, and he said with a bit of dread, "The Dark Lord tortured us according to our reputation, he wanted to know about some very secret things, I happened to know something about it, but luckily he changed his mind in the middle of the process and asked the better-known wand makers instead, I didn''t get tortured that much, but I was locked up for a long time ... I wasn''t sure I could hide the truth from the Dark Lord. The ones that were tortured to death were used to create Inferi."


    Harry felt mixed emotions. There was a mixture of hatred for Voldemort''s cruelty and also a puzzlement at Florean''s vague words, a realization only dawned on him when he saw Hermione''s mouth turning O shape. Voldemort had probably heard the legend of the Deathly Hallows, but even if he had, he would only be interested in the Elder Wand, and if Voldemort had tortured them one by one, Mr. Fortescue would definitely not have been spared, but with the rumour of Professor Hap''s possession of the Elder Wand, Voldemort''s attention may have shifted, his main focus of attention might have turned to other wand makers.


    "Anyway, I''m at least alive now and able to discuss what happened to me with you guys. The Auror who rescued me claimed that he had received some hidden clues, probably from a Ministry of Magic spy I guess, and I''ve been looking for ways to thank him." Florean talked about his recent experiences, "I took a few months off after being rescued from the ditch, and I recently cleaned up the shop with the intention of reopening it ..."


    Florean left after saying that.


    "Who did you guys think that informant was?" Harry asked when he had left.


    "Could it be Snape?" Ron guessed.


    "Or it could be Lucius Malfoy." Hermione said.


    "Or maybe Professor Hap had dug out the helpful information from Voldemort''s mind." Ron said.


    They walked into the sword castle and the main lobby was buzzing with life. A dozen tables were set up in the middle of the lobby, behind each of them sat a member of the Ministry of Magic staff, while across from them were the shopkeepers of Diagon Alley, discussing the situation with a piece of parchment in their hands.


    One of the witches near Harry said, "I''m just selling some beauty potions that will deal with tiny blemishes on a witch''s face, like freckles or sarcoids or something, I don''t think it will come in handy, any random healer can do pretty much the same thing ..."


    "Don''t say that Ms. Prim Parnell, your beauty potions work much better than the average healer''s magic." The staff member said patiently.


    "Really?" The witch stared at him sceptically.


    As they continued on their way, a young wizard looked quite impatient and yelled, "I run a wizard travel agency, listen - clearly- - it is a wizard travel agency, specialising in thrill-seeking trips for wizards, and no responsibilities will be taken for any dangers that occur during the trip!"


    The Ministry of Magic staff member opposite him persistently pressed on, "And do you think it would be possible to develop such a travel package exclusively tailored for Muggles?"


    The young male wizard looked at the staff member somewhat blankly, "I''m not 100% sure ... although we did domesticate a group of Inferius, we still left a possibility of accidents during the adventure to make it more realistic."


    "No Inferius." The staff member immediately said, "I mean, we need something more alternative and novel that will catch the eye."


    The male wizard thought hard for a while, and just as Harry and the group decided to leave, they heard him inquire behind them, "How about the Bermuda Triangle? But there was a wizard that went missing last year, and he hasn''t been found yet ..."


    Neville stopped with a sudden look of horror as he said quietly, "My granduncle wanted to travel there a while back, and I had to talk him out of it."


    The familiar voice of a group sounded from the front.


    "... Apparently no one cares whether you have one page more or less on your list of items because it doesn''t matter."


    It was Fred or George who spoke. They took two steps forward. In the inner part of the main lobby close to the hallway, Fred and George were sitting in the same chair, and opposite the pair was a grim-faced Percy. Harry stopped hesitantly; they seemed to have come at the wrong time.


    "Now that you mention the list," Percy said through clenched teeth, "I can tell you right now that half of your merchandise is not up to the standard-"


    "You can''t do this to us!" Fred shouted.


    "This is an abuse of authority for personal gain." George shouted back.


    "Oh, is that so? You guys can go to the Ministry of Magic and report me." Percy showed a winning smile, "Let''s see whose side they''ll stand behind. The nosebleed nougat that makes people bleed a litre, the spit-up candy that makes people throw up heavily, the coma floral candy that would suddenly make people pass out ..."


    Penelope peeked over from the next seat.


    "Your brother did the right thing. Muggles are fragile, they reportedly have to recuperate for months when they break a bone." She said sternly, "We need to rule out as many dangerous items as possible when considering trade lists."


    Ron grinned as he reached out and put both his hands on his twin''s shoulders, taking the opportunity to strike them while they were down.


    "I''ll be fair, even wizards can''t handle some of their products. It has to be strictly reviewed."


    Fred and George turned from left and right to look at Ron with expressionless faces, making him wince a little.


    Harry had expected this scene long ago when he found them, he glanced around to find something to kill some time in the crowd amidst the cacophony of voices that hadn''t stopped since he had entered the Sword Castle. When he looked up, he saw a group of house elves who were poking their heads out of the upstairs balustrade, looking down with excited expressions.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read 50 days or 100 chapters in advance on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 701: Negotiation Progress (2 in 1)

    House elves? Harry''s mind flashed back to what Hermione had said at the Gringotts, that the house elves of Future World and Hogwarts had agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance, and that the next step would be for the Ministry of Magic to gradually free the house elves in the hands of the ancient families, especially those who were experiencing abuse ...


    The surprisingly good spirits of these house elves at Future World Company might have something to do with the smiling faces of the visitors, or maybe it was because they were wearing clothes that were closer to a normal human aesthetic, with dresses that were easy to distinguish from tops, trousers and other small assortments of clothes that were totally different from pillowcases used in Hogwarts and other places. After a brief pause, Harry suddenly understood why Hermione had insisted on this for so long.


    He looked up at the lively little folks on the first floor, and tried to find a familiar individual among them; it wasn''t easy, and his eyes swept back and forth twice without spotting Dobby, and while he was wondering where he is, he felt a hand grab his trousers and yank it.


    Harry lowered his head.


    "Dobby?"


    "Lord Harry Potter! Hello!" A house elf looked up at him with big round eyes, dressed somewhat similar to Professor Flitwick''s attire back at school, it was none other than Harry''s well-acquainted house elf Dobby, whose eyes were shining with tears of happiness from a long-awaited reunion.


    Harry had a bad feeling in his gut when Dobby took two steps back and then he abruptly darted into his arms, his two long, thin arms wrapped around him, his long, thin nose poking him in the stomach, and it took Harry a lot of effort to break free, "Good day to you, Dobby." He said, with a gasp.


    Dobby took a few steps back and looked at Harry with a smile on his face. S?a??h the ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Lord Harry Potter!"


    Harry examined Dobby, who was in good spirits, his clothes reflecting his unique preferences in many details, such as the magenta jumper inside his outer coat, which seemed to have been given to him on Christmas Day one year ago by Ron; a tie wrapped around the outside of the jumper, embroidered with a green circle with two black dots where the tie clip would be, which Harry guessed to be the handiwork of Dobby, he just didn''t know what the design meant; and his feet wrapped with two thick socks of different colours that allowed him to walk without much sound.


    "Sir Harry Potter, please follow me."


    The house elf tugged on Harry''s hand and pulled him through the crowd and made his way up the curved, revolving staircase.


    "Wait, hold on, Dobby, I''m not here alone, I come along with some friends of mine, Ron, Neville, Hermione -" Harry said looking back only to find Ron being targeted by his twin brothers and Neville was with Mr. Ollivander, and it looked like he was having Mr. Ollivander examine his wand; Hermione had disappeared altogether, clearly she was there just a moment ago-


    "Dobby knows, it was Dobby who had sent to call Miss Granger away, and now Dobby has something to give to Sir Harry Potter!"


    "You called away Hermione?" Harry muttered in surprise.


    "Yes, Dobby followed Mr. Lupin''s instructions and Dobby was willing to help." The house elf who was walking ahead said as they were about to reach the first floor, "Dobby has prepared a coming of age present for Sir Harry Potter-"


    "Oh, um, thank you, Dobby." Harry froze for a moment, suddenly realising that his seventeenth birthday was not even a few days away; the past month had flown by like a golden snitch. But then he realised that Bill and Fleur''s scheduled wedding date would also be in the next few days, he just wasn''t sure if it would happen on time. And - why was Lupin looking for Hermione again?


    Harry''s mind revolved with all sorts of thoughts, but all doubts redirected at the sight of a house elf covered in a pink pillowcase with floral lace, "Dobby, is that Winky?" He recognised Winky''s big brown eyes and nose that looked like a squashed tomato, to be precise, he was more impressed with the latter feature though.


    But what really allowed him to tell her apart from the bunch of house elves was that she was among the few who still wore pillowcases over their bodies as clothing.


    "Yes, Winky is Winky." Dobby said. They made their way up the last few stairs to the first floor and Harry could see the rear heads of the people downstairs in the main lobby of the Sword Castle from high up.


    "But she''s still wearing her pillowcase, why? Isn''t she free?"


    Dobby''s pace slowed, "Winky couldn''t forget Mr. Crouch, Winky kept counting the days, saving up and counting at the same time, three years, two years, and now only six months left."


    So Barty Crouch had six months to be released from prison? Harry thought to himself.


    They passed a dozen doors along the way, on either side of which stood ten feet tall magic golems that proved invaluable when the Death Eaters attacked in droves, and a few of these golems were also placed in the lobby of the Ministry of Magic, and the more important corridors. They stopped in front of a door, which in particular had two door handles, one of which was positioned surprisingly low.


    The doubts in Harry''s mind were answered when he saw Dobby effortlessly twist the lower handle.


    Inside the door was a huge, spacious circular room, and after a quick glance, Harry thought he had got taller when he saw how it was divided into several areas, all of which were furnished with small furniture, except for two rows of small benches on the work area, and the place reserved for house elves to rest.


    He subconsciously looked back, and Hermione''s silhouette flashed in his vision on the fifth floor.


    ...


    "Professor, you''re here too?" Hermione was surprised to see Felix there as she closed the door from inside, Dobby had only told her that Lupin was looking for her and hadn''t mentioned anything else. So although the Sword Castle in theory owned by Professor Hap, she had little confidence in seeing the Professor in this place.


    Sometimes Hermione had the distinct feeling that if the Professor ever resigned his post at the school, he would probably hide away in a place where no one could find him (like the moon) to study magic, only to suddenly remember that he had a group of friends and come out to visit them after three or five years. The Professor, in fact, is not very good with people at all, and many of his responses are all thought out in advance and simply thrown into use whenever he needs to talk to stanger according to different situations. This secret could only be discovered by those closest to him. This, coupled with the fact that the Professor was never a very enthusiastic person in the first place, and that very few things could faze him, was why he gave the impression of being a laid-back person.


    Felix, of course, had no idea what Hermione was thinking at the moment, and he nodded towards her, gesturing for Hermione to come over. There were other people in the spacious office, and Hermione glanced over at them in turn, Lupin, Snape, and-


    "Professor Slughorn?"


    Hermione''s voice rose slightly in tone as she looked in surprise at the short, chubby old wizard balled up on the couch, his rounded figure cloaked in elaborate, flashy robes, his walrus-like moustache tilted up and down, he was none other than Hogwarts'' Professor of Potions, Slughorn.


    "Come over here, Miss Granger, we were just talking about the simplification of potions," Slughorn said amiably. Hermione picked a seat as he continued, "Felix mentioned that you had a similar experience, uniting students from four houses last school year, didn''t you? To handle O.W.Ls exams ..."


    "That''s not the same thing as what we''re going to discuss now." Snape said coldly, not forgetting that the source of those simplified recipes was a textbook he had used, the contents of which were essentially tricks, a process he had been very proud of in his early years but which he had subsequently abandoned because it was not helping with his potions advanced studies.


    "You are quite right, Severus," Slughorn said absent-mindedly, "but I think the cleverness of mind, as well as the leadership shown there, is worthy of recognition ... Of course, we have more difficult things to discuss, and my suggestion is to start with the easy part, it''s all written in the textbook!"


    Hermione listened for a while and realised that they were talking about how to enable ordinary people to use potions. Snape had warned in class not to try to get muggles to drink potions, as it was uncertain to determine which potions required the wizard''s own magic to be involved for them to take effect, and there were no potioneer currently keeping statistics for that either.


    Snape and Slughorn were casually exchanging small talk about potion theories that were not written in the textbooks, and Hermione listened with a sense of awe, wishing they would speak more slowly, so she could get a notebook to write them down. At that moment, she heard a soft laugh.


    Hermione looked at Felix woodenly.


    Felix lowered his head, which showed the corners of his mouth curving slightly. He coughed softly twice, and pulled out his silver pocket watch from his pocket, and said with his usual calm expression, "If you have no intention of pursuing further in the field of potions, there''s really no need to listen to them that seriously, I''ve summarised a list of spells and potions that show similar effects ... I''m looking for you today because of another matter, and I need to ask your opinion. Oh, I was the one who suggested you and thought you''d be suitable ..."


    Before Hermione could say a word, Snape suddenly looked at Felix and said gloomily, "The beauty of potions lies in the subtle differences between the finer elements, and it is natural for those who have given up on the discipline long ago to fail to appreciate the subtleties and the beauty of that which is enough to make one''s heart flutter."


    Hermione blinked, was this snape''s way of saying that Professor Hap didn''t know anything about potions? She looked at Professor Slughorn again.


    Slughorn, although wasn''t as blunt as Snape, he also expressed the same thing implicitly. Hermione''s tried and tested ability to generalize once again came into play and she concluded that both of them meant pretty much the same thing - don''t listen to amateurs.


    Felix rolled his eyes and popped open the cover of the watch, from which Valen bolted out, ducking her head to avoid the Great Demon King''s sinful hand and running up to Hermione, gesturing with her hands. Hermione''s mind flickered, golden cards? She looked at Felix, who turned his head away stiffly.


    At that moment, the door opened from outside and Ms. Bones and Mr. Weasley walked in. Both had tired looks on their faces.


    "You guys look tired, the negotiations didn''t go well?" Lupin asked in a gentle tone.


    Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and lowered his head to wipe the lenses with the edge of his shirt; his hairline was slightly shrunken, giving rise to a worry that in a few years he might have a similar hairstyle to Slughorn''s. Mr. Weasley grunted, "Tough sailing, the Muggle Prime Minister brought in a bunch of legal experts to pick all kinds of fancy words with us, all in all, we made limited progress through the morning."


    "We don''t have the advantage in numbers," Lupin said, "and that has led to us to fail to progress in many areas, such as the law. Of course, there is no need for it to be exactly the same. I''ve always believed that the point of the law''s existence is to articulate what we want this society to be in a limited number of words." He paused, then said, "We have a plan to deal with this situation, don''t we?"


    "Of course we do." Ms. Bones barely managed to muster a smile and cast an admiring glance at Felix, "They have no excuse to dictate the wizards because of the existence of the Pan-Magical Alliance, but they want to restrict our freedom through cumbersome laws. We caught them off guard by bringing up the concept of joint law enforcement and public exposure in due course little by little like opening windows first; we will continue the negotiations about these tomorrow."


    According to Felix and her thoughts, wizards would not be completely relax the access to their community as a whole for a long time and would be governed in their own way, with joint enforcement of the law only taking place where the two sides crossed paths, and they would not devise the do''s and don''t from the start, but would use a one-case-by-case approach, to build up the articles.


    Joint law enforcement would tackle unexpected situations, and both sides would need a steady window of communication with each other. There are currently two different types of communication windows available to both sides on paper, one is a marketplace that sells special products of wizards, and the second is a fixed venue where both sides can freely communicate and interact within certain boundaries, including but not limited to technological and magical collaboration, liaison, opportunities for ordinary people to come to contact with magic, etc.


    They chatted for a while longer and then Ms. Bones got down to business, "The law is the main focus of the next negotiations, it determines what both sides can claim, and I don''t expect it will be an easy negotiation. It just so happens that trade was mentioned this morning, and if there is still no progress tomorrow, I am prepared to negotiate that aspect first."


    "It''s good to let them see the possible benefits of magic, in favour of a better outcome." Felix nodded in agreement, then asked, "Has Babajide Akingbade contacted you?"


    Ms. Bones sighed. "No, he just dispatched a representative to request a daily record of the current negotiations held each day, and to be fair, he is a very capable man, but given that he is now dealing with a completely new territory and is responsible for dozens of ministries of magic, he cannot and dare not make decisions lightly."


    She shook her head, without the help of the others, she would also have been at her wit''s end if she had been put in this tricky spot.


    "You hit the nail on the head," Lupin pointed out, "he couldn''t figure it out on his own and was worried about making a mistake. Thus, the opportunities are delayed."


    "Find the right opportunity and invite him for a cahat." Felix said.


    "The right opportunity?" Ms. Bones thought for a while and seemed to think of something, "I''ll arrange it. There are two other things, the first -" she looked at Snape and Slughorn, "- has to do with potions, and then healing, where magic is quite superior."


    "I need manpower," Snape said calmly, "lots of it."


    "Can do." Ms. Bones nodded, "There is a temporary group of Potions masters living in Diagon Alley, I will extend an invitation to them in the name of the Ministry of Magic. Professor Slughorn, I know you are old and deserve a peaceful life, but at this time, we need your strength. Even if it''s just to offer a suggestion."


    "Oh, of course, that''s not a problem." Slughorn said, "I''ve been retired for decades and in the end, I realized that the school suits me the best, and I think I''ll stay at Hogwarts, but there''s nothing for me to do as a professor if the students aren''t in the mood to study at all."


    He said thoughtfully.


    "When it gets down to it, it was Dumbledore who reminded me ... alas, in his last days ... he said that the school was the most peaceful place to be and the best place to retire, if even the school lost its peace, the rest of the world would only be even worse."


    Everyone in the room fell silent as if they had suddenly remembered something in their minds. If there was one thing they all had in common, it was the fact that in the last few months of his life, on a few occasions, Dumbledore had approached them for a chat ... although the reasons he used varied.


    "The second thing is ..." After a moment of silence, Ms. Bones held up her monocle and continued.


    ...


    "A television interview?" Ron looked at Hermione in surprise, as if she was making some sort of nonsense out of the blue.


    "What''s going on?" Harry asked.


    "It could be interpreted as a way of increasing mutual trust, you should know that the Ministry of Magic is going to select some non-magical people to visit the wizarding community. The reasoning behind it is exactly the same." Hermione explained, "I''m not the only one, Mr. Weasley and Professor Slughorn are on the list."


    "My dad''s going to be on TV?" Ron said with a bit of excitement, "He hasn''t even told us about it at home, oh yeah, he''s been way too busy lately."


    "So I have to get ready, there aren''t many days left," Hermione said hurriedly, "I have to go to the library and look up some materials-"


    "The library shouldn''t have what you''re looking for." Harry reminded her.


    "How on earth could there not be? The history of wizards, the culture of wizards ... For sure there will be many books available about that." Hermione rolled up her sleeves and looked like she was going to do something big.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 702: Wizarding History

    The lights at Hogwarts were sparsely lit, tonight was not too different from yesterday or the day before, but it was still a sleepless night for many. The library was very quiet and Hermione was able to immerse herself in her current task.


    A thick stack of books lays in front of her, almost ten of them were open at the same time, but she didn''t read any of them, instead, she was biting her lip in deep thought, apparently after the statute of secrecy came into effect at the end of the seventeenth century, no wizard dared to openly active in the outside world, and if she intended to look for areas where wizards and muggles had interacted, it should have happened before that time.


    Hermione tried to recollect what she had read, occasionally pulling over a book and turning a page to read it carefully for a short while. Gradually, a picture of a thousand years of the wizarding community was outlined in her head.


    Even though the author of the History of Magic, Professor Bathilda Bagshot, had only written up to the end of the nineteenth century, Hermione managed to collect some valuable information.


    During the First World War at the beginning of the twentieth century, Archer Evermonde, then Minister of Magic, chose neutrality and passed legislation forbidding wizards of both sexes from participating in the war to avoid a massive breach of the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy.


    At the time Harry''s great-grandfather, Henry Potter, strongly condemned Evermonde''s decision, and as a member of the Pureblood and Wizengamot, his action caused an instant stir and was widely discussed.


    A few scraps of information that have survived suggest that the Potter family''s exclusion from the Sacred Twenty-Eight may well have had something to do with it. And while the pureblood families made their own choices during the war - they did not break the statute of secrecy or the laws of the Ministry of Magic by getting directly involved in the war - though the same Ministry laws did not stop the thousands of wizards who were neighbours to the civil Muggles from helping them in any way they could, with all due care and effort.


    Hermione recalled as she flipped through the book -


    In the nineteenth century, the Ministry of Magic agreed to entrust the Goblins with the responsibility of running Gringotts once again; in the 1850s a serious accident involving the Floo network occurred, and in the 1870s the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery was passed, after which Hogwarts students were forbidden to cast spells outside the school; at about the same time, the then Hogwarts caretaker attempted to trap and remove the Peeves from the castle, but his traps failed to produce any results and provoked fierce resistance from the Peeves in return.


    Because of the peculiar birth origin of the Peeves, the Headmaster of that time made a compromise.


    Idris Oakby, the founder of the Society for the Support of Squibs, was also born around this time, and it is suspected that her experience of being mistaken as a squib in her childhood may have prompted her to empathise with the real Squibs; Great Sasquatch Rebellion of 1892 happened in the United States when the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America was relocated to what is currently known as Woolworth Building; and in the last year of the century, Albus Dumbledore graduated with great distinction, and later due to the unexpected death of his mother he abandoned his graduation trip and met Grindelwald for the first time in Godric''s Hollow ...


    Apart from that, that century also produced some boring Quidditch titbits, and oh yes, Hermione remembered another incident closely related to her personally: the witch Eloise Mintumble used a time-turner to go back five centuries for an experiment and was trapped in 1402 for five days. Eloise died from that, whereas she was much more fortunate ...


    The concept of the Unforgivable Curse was first introduced in the eighteenth century, after the introduction of an act banning the private breeding of dragons.


    The statute of secrecy had been in existence for nearly half a century at that time, and this law was amended and made more and more perfect, but it also oppressed some wizards, thus attracting some opposition. Gideon Flatworthy founded an anti-Muggle extremist group, a group whose way of expressing their hatred, however, was to refuse to do physical work like a Muggle (it occurred to Hermione that there was some resemblance to the professor''s theory suggesting the everyday use of magic), and to do so they developed a range of practical techniques to cast summoning charm. But Flatworthy did not use the spell in the right way and misused it to steal, and when he tried to use the summoning charm to steal treasures from the Gringotts, he was exposed and had to flee in disarray to avoid being caught; the members were deeply dissatisfied with him and left him alone in a cave, and the group disbanded.


    It''s worth noting that Flatworthy didn''t end too well; trapped in the cave, injured and short of food, he made a daring attempt to summon the only source of food within his sight - a barn at the foot of the hill - and was killed by the weight of cattle and haystacks.


    Quidditch titbits were never lacking in the headlines, with two groups inexplicably fighting each other; the only thing of merit in that fight was the emergence of the Repairing Charm in front of the world''s eyes for the first time.


    Rappaport''s Law Officially Enacted ...


    The seventeenth century began with the Goblin Rebellion and the most important founder of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the witch Isolt Sayre, headed for America eight years afterwards; Mungo Bonham founded St Mungo''s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries during that century.


    The statement that ''the possession of wands was prohibited for all magical beings except wizards'' was affirmed by law, together with a code of conduct for werewolves, but apparently, no werewolf volunteered to come forward and admit their identity.


    The year 1692 was a very important year, it was when the International Statute of Secrecy was put fully into effect. Wizards went into complete hiding and "small communities within communities" took shape over the next hundred years; the Magical Congress of the United States of America was established.


    The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were relatively quiet, and many wizards had spontaneously stayed away from the world, pursuing new and exciting pastimes. The first Quidditch World Cup was introduced (Quidditch again), and with it came an all-time great collection of foul play, with over 700 fouls being used. There is a special book dedicated to documenting this, and Hermione can''t believe she was bored enough to look through it ...


    The fourteenth century was the source that gave birth to the Statute of Secrecy, with the Black Death spreading through Europe, everything concerned with or associated with witchcraft was ostracised and some wizards who operated openly and semi-publicly were expelled, and thereafter the hate grew stronger with the increasing number of death due to Black Death, the culminating hatred resulted in witch burnings in some places and many wizards were forced to hide their identities, and go underground or stray from the crowd.


    In the tenth century, Hogwarts was founded, and various schools of magic were established thereafter.


    ...


    As the night grew deeper, Hermione looked up as a soft voice sounded from behind her, and she suddenly looked back and was startled to see Mrs. Pince, the librarian, standing behind her.


    "Yes-s, sorry Mrs. Pince, are you closing?" Hermione said as she jumped up with a jolt of surprise. The stern, grumpy, vulture-looking woman had left a lasting impression on her.


    Mrs. Pince shook her head and held a cup of hot cocoa in her hand that usually held a chicken feather duster. She placed the cup on the table.


    Hermione stared at the hot cocoa for a moment, not even able to say "thank you" because she was too surprised, and when she realized the situation, Mrs. Pince had already left. Hermione sat down and went back to her work. She had tried to find a pattern in the history of non-wizards, but in the end, she had come up empty-handed and was a little discouraged.


    Hot cocoa energised her as she wandered between the huge shelves of books, looking for inspiration from them, her eyes sliding over the titles of one book after another, unaware that she had come to an area where she normally rarely ventured, the tall shelves were piled high with all sorts of decaying smelling notebooks, all left behind by Hogwarts students.


    Hermione picked one at random; it contained the observations of a Hufflepuff student on his travels, and because it was a bit old, the wording of the notes was rather difficult to read. She put the travelogue down and picked up another, this time it was a novel.


    She read with interest for a while, and startled by the passage of time, she then put the book down and sighed; now was not the time to read this. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    But then her eyes gradually lit up; she just seemed to have spotted the right perspective.


    --------------


    [Author:]


    I originally wanted to write the TV interview episode today, to try to write about some of the ideas of wizards from different perspectives, but my progress was so slow that I made up an impromptu chapter, a sort of overall review of the history of wizards to make up today''s release. The author has picked out a few interesting but non-plot-related elements that may reflect part of the wizard''s thought process.


    ------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 703: TV Interview (2 in 1)

    The news that the wizards would be interviewed hit the headlines early on, the promos were shown on television on a loop two days in advance, and by the scheduled time, countless people were waiting in front of the television for the live show to begin. The three guests were seated in order, with Slughorn sitting alone in a wide chair, dressed in a magnificent emerald green wizard''s robe, Mr. Weasley and Hermione right next to him, the former wearing a taupe suit with his thinning red hair plastered to his head, and the latter looking like a student who had just left the high school next door and had rushed right after, with a hint of constraint in her body movements.


    The host who was given the task of conducting today''s interview sat on the opposite side of the curved table, looking competent and energetic, gesturing and making last-minute communications with the audience, who whispered and gawked curiously at the trio, the audience was carefully selected from the thousands of applicants after tested to be free of extreme ideas.


    After the usual introductory remarks, the opening of the interview began.


    "... would like to thank the three special guests for their introduction, they belong to different age groups and assume different social roles - school teacher, government employee, and student, what kind of insights will they bring to the audience? Let''s start with Mr. Slughorn ..."


    "Hello Mr. Slughorn, what subject do you teach at school?"


    "Potions." Slughorn said. He briefly introduced the basic concepts of magic potions, which was very easy for him to do with decades of teaching experience. The conversation unfolded in a pleasant mood, and apart from the occasional unknown terms that popped up, which caused some confusion, the audience listened with great interest. Slughorn spoke eloquently, casually introducing the names of some simple potions, such as potions for boils, cold and flu potions, cheer and vitality potions, and then, at the request of the audience, he mentioned several more complex potions.


    "Potions that bring luck, bone-growing potions that help people to regrow bones overnight, baruffio''s brain elixir that sharpens the mind, beauty potions that make people beautiful ..." the host was somewhat lost in thought, but professionalism brought him back to his senses as he quickly said, "Well, I think the question on everyone''s mind right now is, can these potions be mass-produced?"


    "Not really, I''m afraid," Slughorn said with a slight frown, "Many potions require magic to be a part of the process. This includes the consumption of potions as well."


    The host''s expression instantly became as disappointed as the audience.


    "But - ahem - my student, Severus Snape," Slughorn said, "has been put in charge of the simplification of potions by the Ministry of Magic, with the aim of making some of them available to non-wizards. I''ve heard that Future World has done some early work on this project, but this sort of thing certainly needs to be left to the professionals ..."


    He spoke eloquently, trying to direct the conversation into territory he is familiar with.


    "... It may be slightly less effective, but it still retains the most magical properties. Severus is capable of modifying that, he was recently awarded the First Class Order of Merlin, do you know what the Order of Merlin is? Only the best wizards are awarded this honour, and I have had the pleasure of teaching a few." He muttered a few names triumphantly, eyeing the host as if waiting for him to follow up with a question about what they had achieved, and it took a few moments of silince for him to continue once again.


    "Of course, I personally will offer guidance, limited to theoretical and directional discussions - after all, age is not kind, and I am more than a hundred years old now, so my energy cannot catch up with the young."


    This statement gave the impression that if he were twenty years younger, he would be able to solve all the problems by himself. The eyes of those present sparkled.


    "You''ve lived past an age of a hundred?" The host asked in amazement, "It doesn''t look that way at all."


    "I usually take better care of myself." Slughorn said, "I have quite a few secrets in this respect, even Dumbledore has asked me for tips ..." he sighed, "Living too long has its own downside, there are fewer and fewer familiar faces, a common problem among the elderly. "


    "Excuse me - I would like to know, do wizards generally live longer? It was said that Mr. Dumbledore was over a hundred and ten before he died ..."


    "One hundred and sixteen," Slughorn corrected, "Wizards of his skill generally live even more longer, and I suspect given his and Nicolas''s achieem-" he violently coughed, "I mean - I suspect he was badly wounded when he took on the two Dark lords, otherwise he might have lived past two hundred years. Well, do you know Felix? He is destined to live an exceptionally long life, which is a lucky thing, both for wizards and ordinary people."


    Slughorn took out his handkerchief and wiped his sweat.


    He had just almost uttered Nicolas Flamel''s name, and the secret concerning Philosopher''s stone is a myth even in the wizarding world. At that thought, he realised with a start that Felix Hap had inherited all of Nicolas Flamel''s knowledge of alchemy and that even if he started from scratch right now, with his talent he could hopefully create a brand-new Philosopher''s stone before his life span ran out, not to mention the fact that he is a top alchemist at the moment - a title Felix himself doesn''t care much for.


    "You mean Mr. Felix Hap?"


    "It''s obvious, isn''t it?"


    The host, keenly aware that there were some secrets to be mined, but he was warned before the interview that today''s guests are not some third-rate celebrities, nor he''s scavenging for tropes, so he decisively broke off the topic and turned to Mr. Weasley.


    "We know that Mr. Weasley had participated in previous negotiations, in Minister Bones'' team, do you have anything to share with us?"


    Mr. Weasley''s mouth dropped open, and his ears flushed a little, a sign of the pressure he was feeling.


    Merlin, two years ago, he had just worked in a two-person office and spent his days dealing with the Nose-Biting Teacup, posters, bags, and clay sculptures that flowed into Muggle society and could only scare people who brought magical items to the muggle community. But with Ms. Bones taking power, his division has risen significantly in importance, and this time he''s participating in the negotiations as an expert because of his experience in compiling laws. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well ... I have to say that those things called technology really opened my eyes, yes I would say my eyes were opened." Mr. Weasley said seriously. "So refined, so intriguing, I''m still not sure how the slot machines work, it''s hard to imagine how some pieces of plastic and metal combined together can do such wonderful functions ..."


    The host was compelled to remind him. "I think it might be because of the use of a computer(chip)."


    "Compater?" Mr. Weasley blinked, "does it hide people who can count?"


    "Oh no, no," the host laughed as he repeated the pronunciation. "It''s a device, some people describe the computer as the greatest invention of the century, and although it can also be used for counting, we have the ability to make it do more complex operations, like controlling machinery, using it as the personal computer, in a mobile phone ..."


    Mr. Weasley listened with a smile on his face and when the host had finished, he said frankly, "It''s remarkable, I''ve only ever had access to a mobile phone once. One of your ministers was kind enough to give me a demonstration."


    The host seemed to show a keen interest in Mr. Weasley''s family for a long period of time, and the two kept asking and answering questions. At first, Mr. Weasley was worried that he would misspoken some confindintial information due to tricky questions, but finding that the questions were about trivial matters, he gradually became chatty. But little did he know that the things he found trivial were exactly what the average viewer was interested in. The ratings kept rising.


    At that moment, a TV crew member handed the host a stack of cards with writings all over them. The host flipped through it and said.


    "A number of viewers watching the television programme have dialled in the hotline, from which our call taker has selected a number of questions, would you like to answer a few, Mr. Weasley?" Mr. Weasley said cautiously, "I suppose I can. But -" "Great." The host selected and took a card and asked, "Mr. Lincoln, who lives in Surrey, asks why the life of a wizard seems primitive?"


    The host cleared his throat, "I think the viewer is referring to the fact that wizards still use owls to mail letters and parcels - that''s a real surprise, all things considered, have wizards ever thought of introducing advanced technological products, such as mobile phones?"


    "That''s just a preconceived notion," Mr. Weasley said seriously, "Wizards don''t live a primitive life, it''s just a matter of two different attitudes to life, we do use owls to mail letters and parcels, but we also exchange information through other means, such as floo networks, apparition, knight buses, etc. And in recent years there have also been similar items like mobile phones available which goes by the name Communication Mirror."


    Thanks to the fact that Hogwarts students were constantly writing letters to the Muggle press, and that government spokespeople would occasionally disclose some of the wizarding information, the audience was able to understand Mr. Weasley''s words in general, and many were impressed by the Knight Bus, which could travelled across the country and avoided every obstacle in its path, so they hoped to experience it by themselves, while some were still sceptical, believing that no vehicle would be capable of jumping dozens of kilometres at a time could exist.


    "A communication mirror," the host repeated in surprise, "you mean something that functions similarly to a mobile phone?"


    Mr. Weasley nodded.


    "It was invented by my two sons, Fred and George, and it''s really easy to use."


    "Er, your two sons? Name-" the host frowned, "Fred and-"


    "George." Mr. Weasley said patiently, "They''re twins."


    The host looked at him incredulously and asked a question that everyone in the room was curious about, "How old are they?"


    "Just turned nineteen three months ago," Mr. Weasley puffed out his chest proudly, "They''re my fourth and fifth sons."


    "That''s incredible," the host said, as he turned towards the audience, "It seems that magic and technology work on completely different principles, and it''s hard to imagine this sort of thing happening in reality. I don''t know if you''re looking forward to seeing the real thing ... Let''s read the next viewer question, Mrs. Beverly asks why magic seems to be capable of everything, but wizards still have the same troubles as ordinary people?"


    Mr. Weasley said seriously.


    "Magic is not omnipotent. We need lengthy periods of study to master specific spells, and from what I''ve observed and learned so far, the lives of wizards and muggles are pretty much the same - except for the magic. We both need to study and work, have families and friends, worry about money and various life chores, there is no essential difference." He concluded with another emphasis, "Except for magic."


    "... Another question from our viewers is, what is the Statute of Secrecy that you have repeatedly mentioned, what is its standing, similar to the constitution of a country? If so, wouldn''t that mean that wizards all over the world share a common set of constitutions?"


    "I don''t know how constitutions are defined, but I understand that the Statute of Secrecy is more about limiting the presence of magic in the public eye than it is about restricting wizards. We have a special division, Improper Use of Magic Office ..."


    Almost an hour had passed when the host turned his attention to Hermione, who had a slightly stiff expression on her face.


    "Miss Granger, I''ve read your name in the newspaper, may I ask if you are currently a student at school?"


    "Yes, I''m still one year short of graduation from school." Hermione said with some formality.


    "Oh, I think you must be exceptionally brilliant to have been chosen for this interview."


    "I, er," Hermione shook her head a little, "I''m not the best, I think it might have something to do with the fact that I''m good at the history of magic - that is, the history of wizards - and it also related to my identity-"


    "Identity?"


    "My parents are both muggles, which means they''re ordinary people."


    "Wow. So you didn''t know magic existed before you went to school? Then how did you come to accept that magic is real, I mean, a typical person might think they might have met a fraud, no?"


    Hermione pursed her lips as if she had thought of something funny.


    "I did think of it that way for a while, but something strange happened to me when I was a child, and I remember it well enough to write a letter to the school, which later proved unnecessary, as the professor from the school would visit young wizards from non-wizarding families on their own initiative."


    "And that professor convinced your parents?"


    "Convinced me." Hermione corrected.


    "What exactly did they do?" The host glanced at the reaction off the stage and realised he had captured another topic of popular interest.


    Hermione looked at him hesitantly and the host said encouragingly, "It''s okay, our audience is curious - no one will be able to predict if one of their children at home will become one later."


    Hermione held out her hand and the mug on the table instantly turned into a palm-sized beaver, she didn''t even use her wand, there might be no one in the world who knew the structure of this creature better than she did, as no wizards would spend half an hour a week turning into a beaver to move around.


    Everyone stared unblinkingly at the quick-witted and dexterous creature on the table, as they tried to tell if they had been blindfolded. The host held out a hand, which the beaver deftly dodged. It reverted back into a cup.


    The host raised the cup and examined it, visualising how it could run and move. The crowd moved their eyes with the movement of his arm.


    "I think this is one of those disciplines of the magic form called Transformation, Transform-"


    "Transfiguration."


    "That''s right, are there any other subjects besides Transfiguration?"


    "Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Ancient Rune, Care of Magical Creatures Class ..."


    "The magic the other day outside in front of the Houses of Parliament falls under-"


    "An introductory level of Ancient Rune magic."


    ...


    The topics became more specific, and the host, with his lengthy tongue, kept asking all sorts of questions as he gradually noticed the differences between the three. Slughorn liked to talk a lot about social connections, and the audience could weave a huge web in their heads based on his words; but the old man was also a bit of a braggart.


    Mr. Weasley is familiar with the Ministry of Magic, but he only likes to talk about topics that aren''t confidential, such as family and friends; the host understands his concerns and deliberately steers the conversation in that direction, and the two men become very comfortable with each other.


    Hermione Granger, who is a student, surprised the host most, as she spoke for ten minutes in one breath about the history of wizards, and she seemed to have anticipated ahead of time the fact that not many people in the audience might be good at the history of the world and timelines, so she thoughtfully supplemented a paragraph with a history of England from the same period.


    Like the fact that Henry VII had actually recruited real wizards as court mages. Of course, both sides maintained a tacit agreement on the issue of witch hunts and no one started a conversation about it. The host secretly felt that when information about witch hunts is disclosed, anyone in their right mind will have doubts about the history.


    How many actual witches were killed by fire in history? That ratio would make many people despair, and the collective silence of the country''s religions might have something to do with it.


    "Miss Granger, how do you feel about wizards being exposed to the world? As someone who knows something about both sides, which side do you personally lean more towards?"


    "I am in favour of resolving the issue through means of negotiation and both sides living peacefully together." Hermione said evasively.


    "But now that the negotiations have reached a deadlock and the wizards are unwilling to abide by the laws that are common in modern times, you should be able to understand the risks involved, right?" The host asked, he wasn''t being deliberately difficult, but the young girl opposite showed a keen sense of politics.


    "Wizards have their own laws that function well to this day." Hermione said emphatically, "Now that new laws have not come into being, it is necessary for the old ones to continue. And new laws need to be made without siding with any particular side, they need to be convincing and agreeable to both sides - there was a professor who taught me in my third year said this - well, the point of the law existing is to clarify what we expect from this society in a limited number of words. "


    Hermione said, word by word:


    "From my point of view, laws cannot fully calculate human behaviour and there will always be new challenges, such as the situation we are facing at the moment - they are difficult to solve in the short term, but the link between the two must not remain stagnant, and the best thing to do now would be to stop and think carefully about what we really want, whether it is conflict or peace? If we can''t figure it out, even if a thousand or ten thousand laws are drafted, it won''t help."


    "This is a collision of two different concepts."


    Hermione finished with a deep sigh, it was her most genuine thought, and now she finally said it in one breath. The audience was silent, she subconsciously looked at the audience''s reaction, and suddenly her eyes widened, and her heart almost jumped to her throat - a familiar face was sitting among the audience.


    It was Professor Hap! He was dressed in a bright blue suit, with straight, pin-stripped pants that looked great together, and he was smiling and applauding as if saying, "Good job."


    She looked around quietly, and no one noticed anything unusual, and instead, as if infected, they applauded along. The host asked another question, but she didn''t pay any attention whatsoever.


    "Miss Granger? Miss Granger?" The host called her.


    Hermione hurriedly retracted her gaze and whispered an apology: "Sorry, I didn''t catch that?"


    The audience offstage broke into a soft laugh.


    "Oh, my question is, you seem to be very confident about the future?"


    Hermione looked a little embarrassed by her earlier panic, but her heart was surprisingly calm, she subconsciously stroked her hair, and after a few seconds, she seriously replied.


    "... Yes, I think it is a foregone conclusion. There are several periods in history when ordinary people and wizards were inhabited together, so we are not creating a new history, but taking a section from one of the many eras to inherit. The question is whether we choose a hard path or a more rewarding one, even though both are filled with thorns. My friends and I are ready for the journey. ..."


    Felix was lost in thought for a moment. He wondered how many people could realize that older people always remember the past, and it is the young who fantasize about the future because the young themselves represent the future. Magic is the power that goes straight to the soul, and how many wizards will stand out in this turbulent era?


    He seemed to see the curtain slowly pulling open, and it would not be a one-man drama.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 704: Intermission

    The next day, as expected, the television broadcast created a buzz. A series of fresh news bounced out of the press like slices of freshly baked bread, eagerly waiting to be buttered and jammed and stuffed into people''s bellies. Fred and George''s private radio station was once again put to use, picking out interesting news to broadcast each morning after reading newspaper clippings for "those who still have a child''s heart".


    Fred reads "Utopian Society: Progress or Backwardness?" After reading the news article, Fred asked his listeners for help: "Does anyone know if utopia is a swear word or not? I can''t figure it out after reading the whole thing. This guy who calls himself an anthropologist thinks that wizards are a bunch of freaks who practice some big social experiment in accordance with some philosophy of theirs, which gives me the illusion of working for free. Listen to this: when there is great material abundance and individual survival reaches its peak, the social structure of humanity will inevitably move from strict to loose, at which point the concept of the nation will be weakened and individuals will come together because of commonly shared beliefs..."


    Naturally, no one responded to him. After George had read out an exclusive advertisement for Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes, it was left to Lee Jordan to introduce the audience to the world outside Britain as he had heard it from relatives abroad.


    "It''s not promising." He said on his latest radio show, "My cousins of who knows how many generations back have scoffed at my haircut, and their family loved to look at people with their nostrils instead of their eyes, which gave me the bad impression that people like them would never seek out their poor relatives and choose to live under their roof unless they absolutely had to, and I happen to have ample sources of information to prove that people recently fleeing from their countries --I believe the term "sojourners" -- is becoming more and more common."


    "I would also like to remind you young listeners that if you happen to have strangers in your home, but your parents insist on claiming that you are related to them, you must persuade them to register their presence at the Ministry of Magic and comply with local laws; offenders will pay a hefty fine and an occasional Azkaban Experience package - -given the number of Death Eaters already packed in there, this is really not a good time to show your individuality or courage."


    Harry, Ron, and Hermione''s voices occasionally appeared on the radio, and Ron found pleasure in this, appearing so happy about getting his voice across that he even forgot the real purpose of his return to the Burrow.


    "The wedding, Ronald Weasley, your big brother''s wedding!" Mrs. Weasley glared at him intently, "I didn''t call you back to loiter."


    "Mum, I''m doing important stuff - I have every right to do that." Ron protested loudly.


    "Yeah, but you have a right to do household chores too," Mrs. Weasley said slightly snarkily, "Now go clear the gnomes from the garden, they''re getting bolder and bolder and one day they''ll climb up on the dining room table and demand for me to switch the magic radio channel."


    "Which perfectly proves one point," Ron said, in a hushed voice, "everyone would get tired of listening to the same song all the time."


    With that Harry and Ron went out to the garden and bent down to search through the grass for gnomes, a creature that looked like mutated potatoes and had inherited the same intelligence as when it was still planted in the dirt, so it was purely a physical task and Hermione was invited to go with Ginny to pick out colours for presents, ribbons, and flowers for decoration, but of course, the flowers currently hadn''t brought home yet since Mrs. Weasley had left that task to Fred and George.


    "You went back to Dursleys last night?" Ron questioned with surprise in the garden, "Tell me more details!"


    "To get something." Harry said with mixed emotions, it was hard for him to put into words the visit with the Dursleys, it was the first time he had visited them since the wizarding world had been exposed, he had previously only sent letters, to which the Dursleys were clearly dissatisfied.


    This dissatisfaction festered over time and exploded fully the first moment he appeared, Uncle Vernon hollered like a giant frog, questioned loudly the purpose of the Ministry of Magic casting spells in his house, and claimed he hadn''t slept well for a month, and when Harry asked him why he hadn''t asked the Ministry staff while they were still present, Uncle Vernon''s expression looked like he wanted to rush over and punch someone.


    "It''s for your protection, and with that protection the neighbours around here, while they''ll still remember that you have a nephew who lives at boarding school -" Harry paused and said with a grimace, " but will subconsciously ignore my face, and my name. That''s the reason. Basically, all students from Muggle families are protected in this way."


    Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia exchanged a look, this answer evidently cleared up a long-standing doubt in their minds about the reason why no neighbours came to their door to harass them despite Harry''s attendance at the Queen''s afternoon tea. They prayed from the bottom of their hearts that their neighbours would become delirious - though the hope was slim since their neighbours all shared Petunia''s natural keenness for trend-setting topics and willingness to spend vast amounts of time probing for details.


    They thought it might be because the neighbours'' attention had been drawn away by the wealthy wizard professor who led the students. Thinking of it they became secretly glad about that for a while.


    "So ... you''ve given up and returned now? How long will you be staying this time?" Uncle Vernon asked in exasperation.


    "I didn''t return to stay," Harry said, "I came over to pack up my things." The pan in Aunt Petunia''s hand fell to the floor, the hard metal put a small pockmark on her favourite wooden floor, and Dudley, who was on summer holiday, grimaced as if trying to think through the complexities of why Harry had to pack as soon as he returned.


    Harry could almost hear Dudley''s rusty brain struggling to function. Harry tried not to look at him, if any member of the family made him feel the slightest hint of a refreshing change in the last few years, it was Dudley who seemed to have developed a slight interest in magic.


    Uncle Vernon sprang to his feet, startling everyone, and frowned as he paced around the living room, occasionally sizing up Harry with a witty, deep gaze that made one wonder if he had studied Legilimency.


    "Is there anything else?" Harry asked impatiently as the two pairs of eyes met once more for a moment, and then he made his way to leave.


    "Don''t be in such a hurry to leave, I still have something to ask!" Uncle Vernon said, and Harry stopped to look at him, but Uncle Vernon became hesitant again, the colour on his face constantly changing, which made Harry click his tongue in wonder. Finally, he spoke up before he got himself suffocated alive, "Is there a war coming?"


    "Vernon-" Aunt Petunia shouted shrilly.


    "Don''t interrupt, Petunia." Vernon growled. His face turned a saucy purple.


    Harry stared at him, even though they had lived together for eleven years and spent a few more summers together, he couldn''t understand what was going through Uncle Vernon''s brain at the moment.


    "What makes you assume that?"


    "Why else would you suddenly decide to move away?" Uncle Vernon said, and his small eyes shone with a sly gleam, "You must have known something in advance, didn''t you? The negotiations weren''t going well, yeah, that''s right - it was all over the newspapers, I should have seen it coming." He pounded his fist, his expression turned bitter.


    "Boy, we''re your relatives, you shouldn''t run away alone!"


    "You guessed wrong, that''s not the reason." Harry said stiffly.


    "Then it''s because of what!?"


    "I''m an adult." Harry said, feeling a pang of relief inside, "I''m an adult!" he repeated, with a slight rise in the tone of his voice, "so I''m moving out of here and none of you will have to worry about me showing up at home and causing gossip in the future, you''ll just have to tolerate an occasional card from an owl for something like Christmas Day ..."


    There was an eerie silence in the room.


    "Well," Uncle Vernon mumbled after a moment, "since that''s the reason -"


    "Wait, you''re not an adult yet," Aunt Petunia said with a certain shrewdness in a tone that she has honed while bargaining with people in shops, " there are still a few days to go."


    "It doesn''t matter anymore." Harry said.


    He looked at Petunia, expecting her to say something else, but her mouth was tightly pursed together, so Harry shrugged and went upstairs to pack his things, and not long after, he came back down with a suitcase containing all traces of his life in this house. He took one last look at the Dursleys, who looked at Harry with an odd expression, and Harry whispered, "Goodbye." With that, he walked towards the door.


    His hand gripped the doorknob tightly, the glare of the sunlight through the window was a little harsh, and behind him, there was a sudden creak of a sofa heard, as if a giant beast had awoken from a deep sleep, followed by the sound of footsteps, and Harry turned slowly as Dudley stood in front of him, hesitantly extending a hand.


    "Did those magic books change you this much?" Harry looked at him in amazement.


    "I don''t know," Dudley whispered, "Goodbye, Harry."


    "Okay." Harry shook Dudley''s hand, "Bye, Dudley."


    Seeing Dudley struggle to squeeze a smile out of his face, a thought popped into Harry''s mind, one that turned very tempting as it went round and round in his head, he knew what he was about to say would provoke a violent response from both Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, but he couldn''t resist the urge to say it, in half jokingly and half seriousness


    "Hey, Big D, if you ever fail to find a job that appeals to you, you might as well consider selling magical merchandise aimed at ordinary people. What if your future children turn out to be wizards, we share part of the same bloodline, so you can''t rule that out ..."


    "Shut up, boy!" Uncle Vernon yelled grumpily. "How dare you-" it was Aunt Petunia''s voice. Harry pulled open the door of 4 Privet Drive with a pleasant background sound, the sunlight showered down on his face and Harry turned his head and shouted, "Oh yes, Dudley, I''ve left something in a place we both know, you would probably like it!"


    There was another flurry of sound like chicken cope heard from the house as Harry closed the door and walked towards Sirius who was waiting at the junction smiling at him.


    "So this is how you said your goodbye?" Fred and George asked with interest, both of them leaning against the fence, not bothering to come over and help at all. In their words, they had managed to finish the task they had been given, and now it was their break, and they just happened to pass by as they were about to find Cedric when they saw two oddly shaped bottoms and came over to take a look through the fence.


    "Well, what do you guys expect me to do?" Harry muttered without enthusiasm, and the twins threw up their hands in surrender, the corner of the rag they were holding dangled down, shaking out dust that made it hard to keep one''s eyes open, Harry was choked and backed away, Ron was unfortunately caught in the middle, so he cursed loudly.


    "Mind your tongue," Mrs. Weasley said angrily as she followed the voice and came over just in time to hear Ron cursing, "I''ll have your mouth glued shut if I hear any more of that - and you two! " She crossed her arms towards the twins and asked, "Are the chairs all polished?"


    "Wiped clean." Fred said, raising the rag in his hand again.


    Mrs. Weasley stepped back, covering her nose and looking at them with a suspicious look on her face, "You two were able to resist not using magic? Where are the flowers?"


    "Ready too. We searched the nearby woods for them." George said with a groan and as the four watched Mrs. Weasley leave, he added in a whisper, "We did search the nearby woods until we met a florist in the village."


    Harry looked up in shock, "How did you get the shopkeeper to agree to sell you flowers? You guys have money at hand?" Of course, he was referring to Muggle coins.


    "Oh, the shopkeeper was a pretty girl, a little too young to be easily persuaded, so we decided to sell our three inches -" Fred said.


    "Ended up trading a gift bag of snacks from the joke shop for enough flowers." George said.


    " What kind of snack is that?" Ron''s eyes widened.


    "There''s no risk, is there?" Harry said worriedly.


    "Don''t worry, it''s all stuff that''s passed the vetting process at the moment." Fred said, "You should trust our eyes-"


    "Or Percy''s vision." George said.


    "Anyway, we lied and claimed to have picked up a package left by the wizard, which contained some multi-flavoured grapes, floating fruit drops, Voldi candy, daydream caramel pudding, vampire pudding, canary biscuits, sticky tongue lollipops ..." Fred counted on his fingers.


    "In a word, it''s all harmless, friendship-enhancing stuff." George made a summary.


    After the two men left, Harry turned to Ron and asked, "What''s a Voldi candy?" He didn''t feel any semblance of fondness for the name.


    "The weirdest Muggle candy-like thing they''ve ever invented, supposedly inspired by Voldemort." Ron explained, "alternating between bitter and sweet flavours on a single candy bean, you can imagine one second it''s full of sweetness and the next it''s bitter as hell ... wrapped in thirteen layers in total."


    Harry couldn''t help but shudder as he imagined it in his head.


    The morning of the wedding. In the orchard at the back of the Burrow, Felix and Bill were nominally entrusted to check out the wedding venue, but in fact, they were just walking around the premises. The two saw Hagrid approaching from the distance carrying two logs, followed by the even bigger and larger giant Grawp, like some kind of ugly summoned creature.


    "The wedding will be held in the afternoon and Fleur is in the house doing a final check on the guest list," said Bill, "she decided to do this herself, adding a few invitations she had previously missed by the way, and handing them over personally ... "Seeing the look in Felix''s eyes, he added, "It wasn''t just Hagrid''s brother, Sirius brought over a list of some big names too. We didn''t dare tell Mum, her nerves were on edge. You know, because of Fred and George''s proposal." S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Felix''s gaze swept over with a hint of weirdness - well, just last night at Harry''s birthday party, Fred and George had proposed to let Grawp steal Fleur at the wedding, where the groom, Bill, had to show his bravery by playing hero to get his bride back.


    Just like some ancient wizards captured the evil-doing dragon with their own hands.


    Naturally, Mrs. Weasley rejected this proposal unceremoniously and threatened to turn the two brothers into statues at the door if they dared to say one more word on this subject.


    The newly arrived Delacour'' were quite excited about this imaginary heroic play but were shocked and dumbfounded when Ginny pointed out the giant that temporarily lived in the orchard to them through the window.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 705: During the wedding (2 in 1)

    Felix and Bill stood in front of a towering wooden house not far from the wedding tent. The house towered twenty or thirty feet high and was built from a tree trunk trimmed with excess branches on every side, the trunk only retained the top part of the canopy and the overall appearance resembled a green mushroom. It was a makeshift house prepared for Hagrid''s brother, Grawp, but now there was a large hole punctured in this little house.


    "Little Grawp couldn''t find the door when he woke up from his morning nap." Hagrid said without much ado as if that one sentence would suffice, knocking and tapping to remove the broken wood and replace it with a new round log. He tied a handkerchief the size of a tablecloth around the edge of the door and pointed it to Grawp.


    The giant reached out with two fingers, pinching the handkerchief and pulling it back and forth as the door kept opening and closing.


    "He''s quite clever." Bill said.


    "Yeah," Hagrid said proudly, "little Grawp can count to twelve already."


    Grawp''s thick fingers flicked the door as he counted one by one in a jarring voice, "One, two, three ... ten," and when the count reached ten he counted two more, "Grawp eleven, Hagger twelve. "


    He rubbed his head and giggled.


    "Not bad, Hagger." Felix said, "He still has a lot of potentials to explore. But we''ll have to move the house first now."


    "Move it," Hagrid said briskly, "I think we can make little Grawp count to seventeen with the method of linking names to numbers, any more than that won''t work," he grimaced, "it''s easy to miss a name or two. "


    The giant suddenly stepped out of the house and yelled at them, "Grawp! - Wants! - The house!"


    "We''re just temporarily moving it!" Hagrid responded back loudly, "You''ll get it back tonight." After that he looked uncertainly at Felix, "You can use that - that magic that shrinks objects, can''t you?"


    "I''m going to use another magic." Felix said vaguely, "It''s easier to carry and certainly more fun." He looked over at Grawp, "Excuse me, please move aside." The giant froze for a moment, reminiscing about what had happened to the three-headed big dog, and he reluctantly moved out of the way and sat down on his butt.


    The ground trembled hard.


    Felix circled the house, looking for the right angle, and then the thinking room spread out like a silver veil. The colour of the wood became indistinct, and the lines on the edges became more and more prominent as if it were a three-dimensional painting. He reached out and nudged it, and the three-dimensional painting was compressed into a flat surface and floated down into Felix''s hands, which he rolled up and handed to Hagrid.


    Hagrid froze as he unfolded the painting, and Grawp''s eyes went wide, his head resting on Hagrid''s shoulder, his mouth stammering.


    "You can do this level of magic now?" Bill asked in amazement.


    "Ancient Rune with other magical applications is quite interesting, isn''t it?" Felix asked.


    "It''s like my memory has gone faulty." Bill said casually, "When I was at school I didn''t think ancient rune would ever become like this at all - do you and Professor Babbling still keep in touch?"


    Felix hesitated, "She says I''ve made an otherwise leisurely holiday busy." But this Professor of Ancient Rune before him did praise Felix for bringing the Ancient Rune Society under his wing and felt it would help her out.


    "That old man is avoiding me now." She wrote triumphantly in her letter, and Felix wasn''t sure if she was referring to Clammy''s grandfather or the president who had preceded him - or possibly both.


    Felix magically conjured a big spinning top for Grawp to spin around, and then they walked back towards the Burrow on the soft lawn, with Hagrid constantly waving at Grawp as they walked, clutching the irregular canvases folded into a scroll in his hand.


    "Be careful, Hagrid, it is possible for the magic to destroy its structure." Felix warned him. Hagrid''s brash movements lightened up considerably. S?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    As they passed through a patch of fruit trees, the Burrow appeared in their sights, and Bill hesitated.


    "Felix, I have something to tell you, and it''s about goblins."


    Felix looked at him and waited for his next words.


    "I worked at the Gringotts for a while, and I know them well, or I thought I did. It is still possible for wizards and goblins to be friends when some sensitive issues are not involved, they are just as different as wizards on an individual basis and have both good and bad characters."


    Felix knew that wasn''t what Bill intended to say, "It''s no surprise, intelligent creatures always have more diverse personalities and emotions."


    "True," Bill agreed and continued, "A goblin friend of mine told me that the goblin brotherhood had elected a new leader and resented how easily the goblins had agreed to join the Pan-Magical Alliance and also resented the wizard''s threat to disclose the secrets of goblin magic. Furthermore, the goblins are not unique to Britain; the Gringotts are spread across the world, and so are the goblins, they have balanced their differing opinions through a council of elders, with only nearly a third of the goblin elders involved in the previous negotiations."


    "You mean they are not in agreement and there is a clear trend that it would go the other way?" Felix pondered for a moment and asked, "Are they planning to do anything about it in the near future?"


    "Nothing as far as I know," Bill said, "but by the time our negotiations with the Muggle government are over, they ought to do something."


    "Then keep an eye on it," Felix said, "even if it is a powder keg, it will only explode in the future. Unlike the ongoing government negotiations, the goblins have joined the Pan-Magical Alliance, and Dirk Cresswell, the head of the Goblin Liaison Office, will keep them at bay. I can''t take time out at the moment - if nothing else, I''ll be going abroad when your wedding is over."


    "Abroad?" Bill and Hagrid called out at the same time. Bill''s eyes flashed thoughtfully, "Something to do with a couple of guests Sirius has suddenly added to the party? They''re from the International Confederation of Wizards ..."


    "Well," Felix didn''t elaborate, "the trouble that the goblins pose pales in comparison to the issues abroad - it''s not that the goblin problem can''t be solved, it''s just difficult to solve overnight; we can threaten to clean up their whole monopoly at the negotiating table, but the practical implementation is bound to be accompanied by turmoil and chaos throughout the wizard community, and it''s not cost-effective at this point in time."


    He was in fact implying only one thing, which was to distinguish the main and the secondary priorities, and it was clear that the goblins belonged to the latter.


    The three of them walked back through the garden, which seemed to be watered through. Mrs. Weasley stood at the window with a long list of items, her sharp eyes scanning back and forth. When she heard the door being opened, she offered to welcome them, and said anxiously, "I have a feeling that something is still missing."


    Bill opened his mouth, but a white shadow brushed past Mrs. Weasley and swooped into his arms; it was Fleur, who took a step back and spun in place, her white dress unfurling like ripples in the water twice, and her long silver crystal hair appeared like a painting.


    "Do I look pretty, darling?" Fleur asked.


    "Beautiful." Bill said, and Fleur burst into a smile, while the smile on Mrs. Weasley''s face narrowed. Felix looked around and pointed to the banner floating high above the ceiling as well as the purple lanterns stacked in the corner and said, "I think it''s because of this, Molly, some of the stuff from Harry''s birthday party last night didn''t get packed up."


    "Oh, yes, you''re right." Mrs. Weasley said in a panic.


    Hagrid cautiously followed Felix as the two walked into the living room, which was packed. "Hello, Charlie." Hagrid said warmly, Charlie is the Weasley''s second child who works in Romania studying dragons. Hagrid liked him quite a bit, probably because Charlie had done him a big favour once.


    "How''s Norbert?" Hagrid asked.


    "Norbert?" Charlie laughed, "We call her Norberta now."


    "What - Norbert''s a girl?"


    "Yeah." Charlie said, "It''s not easy to tell the sex of a young dragon, but it''s a bit easier when they get older, like a Ukrainian Ironbelly I got recently, it''s as big as a bloated balloon ..." He looked over at Felix who waved at him and sat down next to Lupin.


    "They do grow fast when they''re little." Hagrid whispered, remembering his own experience of raising dragons.


    When Felix sat down, Lupin leaned over and whispered slightly eagerly, "When the wedding is over, can you find some time to come to my office? It shouldn''t take too much time."


    "Sure, for what?" Felix asked in the same whisper.


    "I think ... it''s finished." Lupin seemed to be desperately trying to conceal his inner excitement. The Delacour'' were rather taken aback, but their attention was immediately drawn away by Mr. Weasley''s brilliant joke.


    "What did finish - oh!" Felix looked over at Lupin. To which Lupin mouthed something.


    "The ancient magic to master ''werewolf to human transformation''." Lupin said with a slight tremor in his voice, "It might just be the alcohol, I had a strange feeling welling up inside me last night after Harry''s birthday and when I got back to the Sword Castle, I tried it once, and it went exceptionally well until the final step, but I was afraid to go any further."


    "No problem, let''s give it a go tonight." Felix murmured. He felt happy for Lupin on his behalf, after five whole months had passed, Lupin had finally seen the light of hope, and he even knew quite a bit about ancient runes because of his work, which showed how difficult this magic is.


    He could also understand Lupin''s impatience - normally, testing it on the night of a full moon would have been the best option, but half a month''s wait would be too long when the significance of this magic was too great for him.


    ...


    Mr. Weasley let out a hearty laugh as if he was the one listening to the joke.


    Mr. and Mrs. Delacour are not very fluent in English, so praises for the joke were showered in French. The youngest daughter, Gabrielle Delacour, was sitting between her parents looking left and right, she looked like a replica of Fleur, despite being only 11 years old, she was a total beauty. She and Ginny are the bridesmaids for today''s wedding.


    Gabrielle suddenly jumped up from her seat, her little face pressed against the window as she chirped, "Mummy! Someone''s here, are they wedding guests? Is the wedding about to start?"


    Mr. Weasley also got up and went to the window to look out at the situation. "It''s Percy and Penelope, and someone else - it''s Sirius!" He glanced at his watch, then his eyes searched the room for a moment before finally settling on Charlie.


    "It''s certainly about time, Charlie, you go and fetch the few little ones staying in the garage -" Charlie stood up in response, "Yes, Dad." "-and by the way, help me see if they''ve made a mess of the garage."


    "Let Gabrielle go." Mr. Delacour said good-naturedly. His wife stood up, the couple''s heights seemed to be reversed, with the wife being a cut above the husband, slender, tall with brilliant blonde hair and the husband being short, chubby with a black moustache.


    Gabrielle bounded to the door, pushed it open, and disappeared from their sight in the blink of an eye. It was like a signal, and everyone in the house moved.


    On the other side, earlier in the day -


    The adults stayed in the living room talking as the children (those who were still considered children by adults) huddled in the Weasley''s garage, relaxing and chatting. Ron had been fiddling with the radio equipment that the Weasley twins had brought home.


    "I''m going to get one of these when I can." Ron said.


    "You''re not going to be an Auror anymore?" Fred raised an eyebrow.


    "Of course I am," Ron said, "but it doesn''t stop me from having a personal hobby."


    "Our brother is interested in jamming his rough voice into other people''s ears," Fred said to Cedric. The two families had moved nearby to look after each other because of the brief threat of Voldemort, and the Diggory'' hadn''t moved back when the war ended, deciding that it would be nice to stay and visit each other from time to time instead.


    "Don''t tell me you guys don''t like the idea." Ron pointed out.


    "Yeah, we were just giving a heads-up," George said in a threatening tone, "if you''re planning on sharing some funny family stories too, you better not bring us along, for your own personal health."


    "You mean the interview with Mr. Weasley?" Hermione asked the twins.


    They didn''t respond positively. "The Daily Prophet quoted part of the Muggle interview in an article, and now I feel like I''m standing naked in the freezing cold." Fred said in a sullen tone.


    "Parents are such horrible creatures, they remember every moment you''ve been embarrassed since birth." George said, with a deep sense of resignation too.


    "-and are happy to share it."


    "I originally thought that was Mum''s hobby!"


    "Who knew it would be Dad who would give us the fatal blow from behind."


    "We were too scared to go out and meet people."


    The two said in unison, but Harry didn''t see much embarrassment on their faces, and Mr. Weasley didn''t mention anything unpleasant too; anyway, Harry did solve one of mystery he had in his mind through that article - the Weasleys had distinguished the two identical babies in swaddling clothes by putting marks on the twins'' bottoms.


    "Hey, I saw a bunch of gnomes glancing this way." Cho Chang said looking through the window.


    "That''s odd," Ron said in wonder, "normally they''d only show up a day or two after the clean-up, it takes time for them to work up the courage."


    "I know why." Ginny said, "Dad thought every member of the family should share some happiness, so he quietly took some candies and gave them to the gnomes."


    "Every member of the family? The gnomes?" Ron''s jaw dropped and after a moment his face showed a look of realization, "I now know why Dad give the ghouls in the attic new clothes, I thought he was infected by Mum ... right Harry?"


    "Stop it." Harry said with distress, he had accidentally squeezed a few pus sores while grabbing the ghoul''s arm and the stench was so bad that it could make a person faint. Hermione, Ginny, and Cho Chang laughed heartily while Cedric looked away, he was having a hard time holding it in.


    At that moment, a little girl with silvery hair like a waterfall appeared in the doorway, "Hello there! They''re calling you over! The guests are turning up!"


    "Got it, Gabrielle." Hermione said softly as if she wasn''t the one who had just been laughing very loudly, "Let''s go."


    They came out just in time to meet a group of people coming out of the Burrow and Mr. Weasley handed Fred and George the seating chart, "Help out, boys." Then turning to Ginny, he said with a stern face, "If you don''t want to hear your mum shouting your name through a Sonorous Charm, you should better get back and change your clothes quickly."


    Ginny yelped, "Oops," and rushed back. Gabrielle trailed behind with light footsteps.


    "Where''s Amelia and Tonks?" At the back of the crowd, Felix and Lupin walked together and asked Sirius, who had just appeared.


    Sirius glanced at his watch.


    "There''s an hour before the wedding starts, and she probably will turn up a quarter of an hour early. She is probably inspecting Diagon Alley now - for the reception of the muggles who would come soon. She has Tonks with her, and they sent me over to explain the situation first; it was said that the guest narrator was a tour guide from a travel agency, I don''t know who came up with this stupid idea."


    "It was me." Felix said absent-mindedly, "I mentioned it in passing."


    "Very insightful." Sirius grinned, "I don''t exactly know that wizard, but when I was at school, this travel agency seemed to make it their mission to make more wizards ''disappear''."


    "There will be Aurors watching from the shadows at that time." Felix said, "On the other hand, the people from the International Confederation of Wizards, when are they arriving?"


    "Already here," Sirius said, "Amelia asked them to rest at the Ministry of Magic, they would join Amelia when she come. Akingbade was in a bit of a bad state."


    At exactly three in the afternoon, Harry, Ron, Fred, and George stood outside the huge, cream-coloured tent in the orchard, with seating charts in hand, waiting for the guests to arrive. Purple carpet stretched from their feet to the end of the tent inside; the golden chairs were neatly organized, and the pillars and tables were carefully decorated with flowers that Fred and George had traded from the village. Hermione and Penelope went to great lengths to place various small gifts in the centre of each table.


    Mr. Weasley disappeared for a while and then appeared with a squad of attendants and a band, each doing their own job, and gradually the tent became more and more crowded.


    Grawp couldn''t get into the tent; he had no trouble removing the flags stuck in the top to see inside the tent just by standing. As the only pureblood giant in Britain - though it probably had nothing to do with it - Grawp was also given his share of the task, clutching a handful of balloons in his hand and handing one over whenever a guest passed by. But the only thing it did was scare the hell out of the guests.


    But there were always the brave ones who were brave enough to give it a go.


    With nothing else to do, Felix kept surveying the guests who had arrived from afar.


    After watching for a while Felix pulled out a magic camera and handed it to Mr. Weasley. Mr. Weasley was overjoyed and left with the camera in his arms. When Felix looked outside again, he found Percy standing in front of the giant, holding his camera up and taking pictures of the guests who were jumping up and down in an attempt to show their courage.


    When a group of girls who had arrived from France and were suspected to be Half-Veela courageously took their pictures, this occasion seemed to turn into a special wedding event, and those who managed to succeed looked as if they had returned victorious from battle, even their posture was more straightened.


    Finally, the man Felix was waiting for arrived.


    Upon seeing Babajide Akingbade, Felix knew that Sirius had previously understated the situation; Akingbade was not in a bit of bad shape, but so haggard that he seemed to have aged a dozen years in just over a month.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 706: Akingbades concerns

    "We meet again, Mr. Hap." Akingbade said wearily, extending his hand to shake Felix''s, "Can we find a place to talk? I spoke briefly with Amelia before coming here, and I was informed by her that you guys are doing a great job." Felix was about to nod when a deep voice interjected, "Excuse me, would you mind adding me?"


    "All together then, Horace." Akingbade said, seeing that Felix had no objection. "Horace is the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America and has only been in office for less than a year." He added, and Felix heard a hint of sympathy in his words.


    They were both caught up in an unforeseen historical crisis not long after taking up their posts, and both were facing the most difficult situation in the crisis - the former Akingbade realized that the rules that had worked for hundreds of years were no longer in effect, falling apart like a box full of tiny wizard puzzles on the floor, each piece shaped differently, and it was difficult to put them back together again.


    The latter represents the most completely shattered pieces of the puzzle, which may have been crushed by someone who stepped on them.


    "Hello, Mr. Hap," the President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America said, "Horace Grimsditch."


    "Hello, Mr. Grimsditch," Felix mouthed the family name of a man prominent in American magical society, not surprisingly this man is also a descendant of the Original Twelve Aurors, "You two come with me."


    He looked past the two men and glanced at Amelia Bones for a moment as he turned around. She was congratulating Mr. Weasley, and two familiar but unfamiliar faces stood not far away from them, Felix could not remember who they were for a while - not Tonks, she was staying with Lupin - as he led the way through the gap between the golden chairs, he suddenly remembered the duos'' identities, they were the French and Bulgarian ministers of magic.


    Behind the huge pillar, the three stood near the end of the tent.


    Felix observed the two without moving, just like the other two had done.


    It goes without saying that Akingbade, whose dark skin could not hide the deep wrinkles on his face, had a shaggy beard and did not seem to have slept well for some time. From what Ms. Bones said, he dispatched a special staff to request a copy of the negotiation minutes every day and probably spent most of his time studying the feasibility of such strategies. In contrast, Horace Grimsditch, clad in a purple wizard''s robe with gold trim, seemed to have come prepared for the wedding. The President of the MACUSA appears to be in his fifties or sixties, but his real age is probably much older, his eyes are small with wrinkles around them, his gaze is firm, and his facial features are rigid, giving him a serious, old-fashioned look.


    At a rough glance, Felix sketched out a simple character outline in his mind. When facing Horace Grimsditch, an image of Barty Crouch Sr. came to his mind.


    Felix had no doubt that even with the Crouch Jr. mess, once Voldemort''s return was announced openly, the Crouch Sr. would have immediately become Amelia Bones'' strongest rival on the road to the Minister of Magic. During the war years, the public is always yearning for strong political leadership, and Fudge''s weak image does not help at all - which is why he tried to avoid acknowledging that Voldemort was still alive.


    But the problem that the people are facing right now could not be solved by a strong will alone.


    "Let''s cut to the chase, Mr. Hap. The situation is serious, the wizarding world needs your wisdom. I think you also have some plans regarding this, right? You are an expert in this field, predicting the inevitable exposure of the wizarding world well in advance, and the recent series of moves by the British Ministry of Magic have all been influenced by you."


    "I do have such plans." Felix looked straight into Akingbade''s eyes and said, "I''m sure you both reviewed all the reports available."


    "To be precise, I reviewed it more than once. At the beginning of this month, it served as the only expert proposal that seemed to predict the future direction of the situation." Akingbade said, as for the second half of the month, naturally, the British Ministry of Magic attracted the world''s attention with a dazzling series of actions on the outside world.


    Everyone waiting with bated breath for a result.


    Akingbade hardly could breathe under the enormous pressure and sudden burden of responsibility on his back, and he did not dare to make a decision lightly, the only thing he was able to do was ordering the ministries of magic, in general, to hide locally and try to make contact with local governments in order to reach a new agreement. He himself asked his assistant to find all of Felix''s previous works and finally came to the conclusion that Felix did indeed have real expertise in this area.


    "... Some of the findings mentioned in my previous articles have been proven. We have ignored the rate of Muggle progress, and hiding the existence of magic has become increasingly difficult, as evidenced by past data. Compared to a hundred years ago, the world''s population has tripled, and they have taken over large areas of land, making the range of wizards'' activities severely limited."


    "The increase in population has brought more than just that." Felix said, "The number of wizards also rose along with them, which made all the problems mentioned before more acute and prominent. Of course, there are some benefits as well - wizards have completely dominated the magical world, and viewing these results from a higher perspective will let us see the silent synergy between wizards and non-wizards."


    Horace Grimsditch, who was standing on the side, opened his mouth slightly; he had never thought of it that way, but it did make some sense when he thought about it carefully.


    That''s how goblins declined. They have done nothing wrong, but their influence is getting lower and lower.


    One hundred years may be somewhat short, but when the time scale is broadened to two hundred, five hundred, or one thousand years, the trend would appear extremely conspicuous. He felt the need to go back and look over the past statistics to see if the number of wizards of muggle origin showing increase year by year.


    Akingbade had recently read a lot of records and agreed with this statement by intuition with just a slight recollection. He concluded, "So the more the muggles develop, the more the population grows; the more the population grows, the bigger the place they occupy. At the same time, the number of wizards is also climbing, and all of these fall towards one result: contact between the two sides is inevitable."


    "It''s just a matter of sooner or later." Felix nodded.


    "Excellent insight." Akingbade praised, and then asked, "You intend to duplicate and replicate what you did in the British Ministry of Magic? Pan-magical alliance, joint law enforcement, exclusive wands, squib groups, wizarding commerce, and some plans that are still on paper; I also found from the recent negotiations that you have taken some of Grindelwald''s ideas and made modifications to make them less harsh ... which can be described as bold and shocking, but considering from my position, all the countries are not a single entity, there could be some kind of terrible chain reaction may happen when it involves the whole world."


    That''s Akingbade''s biggest concern - Bones and Felix messing around will impact only one country at worst, if he messes around it will affect all the wizards.


    "That''s not true, the first step is always the hardest." Felix said.


    "But other regions are different from Britain, like," Akingbade gave Horace Grimsditch a look, refraining from citing America where the situation is most dire, "like - well, Africa. The problem in Africa is the lack of a strong law enforcement presence, and with the unexpected failure of the statute of secrecy, the long-standing suppression has given the wizards in that land a tendency to take the wrong path, and the sight of wizards there are becoming more and more common."


    "Our problem is just the opposite." Horace Grimsditch said seriously.


    The existence of wizards in Africa, America, and England (or Europe) is well worth putting together for comparison, the British Ministry of Magic has largely enforced the statute of secrecy in a relatively comprehensive manner, and America is more strict in this respect, without any connection with the local government, which may be related to several serious disclosures in history. As a result, the two sides now have a very strong smell of gunpowder, and public opinion is not on their side at all, and they simply can only watch the situation deteriorate little by little; the conditions in Africa were the most relaxed among the three, and many wizards secretly had a ''side business'', doing some fortune-telling and spiritual medium work. Felix thought of the young girl, Refitin, who disguised herself as a gypsy witch.


    But it''s not mean that African wizards are all happy.


    Wizards are a group with outstanding individual capabilities and flexible means, and when they purposely dive underwater, they only leave behind a colourful bubble that looks like something else, but when they surface, they are bound to stir up the storm clouds and set off a flood of waves. They will no longer face the ordinary people at the bottom who are more than happy to accept the mysterious power, but the people in authority who are trying to control this power. The play of solicitation and division, attack and union will be staged in turn, and it will become more and more chaotic as time passes.


    "The authority of the International Confederation of Witches must be re-established." Felix said.


    Akingbade shook his head sadly.


    "The authority of the International Confederation of Wizards was built up little by little with the common view to conceal the magic community back then, but now the foundation of the organization''s existence has disappeared."


    "Then find out the new meaning." Felix brought over what he had said to Ms. Bones and said it again.


    Akingbade was somewhat moved; the International Confederation of Wizards is on the verge of collapse at his hands, and he wishes to restore its former brilliance more than anyone else, no matter what the cost is. But he also knew that everything had changed, and he still occupied this position because he and Grindelwald had made an unbreakable vow, which to a certain extent had restrained the fall of the already chaotic wizarding world into an unpredictable abyss.


    "By the way," Akingbade seemed to remember something, "there is another huge-hidden problem in Africa."


    "What is it?"


    "Grindelwald!" Akingbade said in a deep voice.


    Felix looked a little surprised and asked in a hurry, "What''s going on? He doesn''t seem to have made much fuss in the past two weeks, no?"


    "That''s the problem." Akingbade said, "I have seen his crafty nature, he will never sit back and wait for defeat, previously I was worried that he would intervene in the British peace negotiations, but that would mean standing against the vast majority of wizards, I have thought it over and over again since he is not in Britain, not in America, the biggest possibility of him hiding in would be Africa."


    "Where is the ... evidence?"


    "He has appeared in the Americas only a handful of times, at least publicly, compared to the surprisingly large number of times he has appeared in Africa. His excuse was to provide a sanctuary for wizards in crisis, and he did save a number of them, including a group of Uagadou students, gaining a massive reputation there - not to mention the fact that the place where he first proposed the Ten Rules of Wizardry was in Africa."


    Felix blinked as he asked tentatively, "Perhaps it was only because Africa was truly chaotic during that time?"


    Akingbade flatly denied it.


    "He is a true demon, drawing his power from chaos." He looked at Felix with a heavy expression, "Some have speculated that he wants to make Africa a new source to acquire acolytes."


    Felix looked at the two men with some bewilderment and muttered, "Yeah, it simply makes too much sense, if anyone has any hope of unifying the magical regime there anytime soon, it would be Grindelwald. Plus the rest of the world was busy minding their own business, so it would indeed be a good place to establish a stronghold - assuming he does intend to return to his old career."


    Horace Grimsditch interjected, "I''ve heard something similar in the Muggle newspapers--" The other two stared at him in unison, and he stared over in surprise, "We certainly can''t afford to play dumb when something like this happens. Pretend to be deaf and dumb."


    "What did they say?" Felix asked.


    He was missing something in that content. Bones had sent some Aurors abroad to gather information, but the results were limited and could only provide a general picture; Felix was still relying on Vinda Rosier''s intel.


    "Some of the muggle politicians think," Horace Grimsditch said with disgust in his eyes, "that the exposure of the magical world has left the wizards of all nations scattered, and that this is the perfect opportunity to get wizards to do their bidding, and some of the more radical rhetoric... ..." S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Well, what I mean is, their judgment of Grindelwald." Felix rephrased.


    "Grindelwald destroyed an underground experiment facility and made such a big fuss about it that it had brought very negative repercussions at the time. A lot of people clamoured for the death penalty to be reinstated or for him to be strapped to the stake - and we all know the chances of that happening are close to none. The more critical media outlets reported pretty much the same thing as Mr. Akingbade''s analysis, except that they also mentioned you."


    "Me?"


    "Yes," Horace Grimsditch said with an odd look on his face, "they think you two are bound to have a battle and if necessary you would help them."


    "Would I ...?" Felix wasn''t sure how to think of such news, would he fight with himself?


    "You will." Akingbade said, "If Grindelwald intends to assassinate a few politicians, no one cares, the crime will be held against him anyway; but if he wants to destroy a city, we must do all we can to stop him, otherwise he will destroy the future of the wizards. Especially since we''re still in the middle of negotiations."


    Felix pondered quietly. At that moment two wizards dressed in bright gold walked some distance from them; it was Luna and her father, Xenophilius, with a huge sunflower headdress on Luna''s head.


    "Well, perhaps the current peaceful conditions have given you the wrong impression - what if, I mean what if, one side insists on starting a conflict?"


    Babajide Akingbade and Horace Grimsditch looked at each other, this is a question they tried their best to avoid, they came on this trip to find out about the miracle the British Ministry of Magic was going to create, and couldn''t wait to see if the miracle would still follow to the other places - this ''miracle '' has affected more than two hundred countries around the world, not a single country has declared war on wizards, and not a single country has caused an irreconcilable armed conflict between wizards and non-wizards.


    "If necessary, some countries can be abandoned." Akingbade said with difficulty.


    "What about the wizards living there?"


    "Arrange for evacuation." Akingbade said.


    "What about those who do not want to relocate, would you let them fend for themselves?"


    Akingbade was speechless.


    "Also, what about the newborn wizards from the muggle populace in that country?"


    This was an equally unanswerable dilemma.


    ...


    "Akingbade''s face is pretty awful, what did you say?" In the golden chair, Ms. Bones leaned over quietly to inquire.


    "Some truth."


    Bones glared at Felix.


    "The wedding has begun." Sirius said with a couple of coughs.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 707: Unexpected Visitor (2 in 1)

    "... I now pronounce you to be companions for life." At the announcement of a small, thick-haired wizard, Bill and Fleur clung to each other as a large silver cluster of stars surrounded them, highlighting them more and more radiantly. Charlie, Ginny, and Gabrielle, who were closest to them, applauded excitedly, smiling brightly. Sobs of joy rang out off-stage from Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Delacour.


    "Ladies and gentlemen! Please stand up!"


    The guests stood up. The white tent canvas was rolled up and the golden sunlight shone in through the orchard, seemingly turning the whole air into a fruity smell. Under the effect of magic, the tables and chairs were grouped together in the corners, and a puddle of molten gold slowly spread out under the couple''s feet, forming a golden dance floor. The band sang and danced, and the attendants, carrying trays full of food, poured in with a rush, weaving nimbly between the empty space and the colourful confetti and bells floating in mid-air.


    Felix picked a glass of champagne off the tray in the attendant''s hand and walked over to a table.


    "Mr. Elphias Doge, may I sit down?"


    "Felix Hap?" The old man wearing a Turkish hat looked up in surprise, a few strands of soft, thinning hair exposed, "Sit down, boy! I''ve been trying to get a chance to talk to you, but the timing wasn''t right last time ..."


    Felix knew he was referring to the time at Dumbledore''s funeral when the two had the opportunity to talk, but then the great matter of the wizarding community being exposed occurred. Felix had known him from very early on; Doge was once a member of the Order of the Phoenix but had now retired.


    He and Dumbledore had been very close personal friends, the two had enrolled in the same year and had immediately become good friends, a friendship that had lasted for a century.


    "Mr. Doge--"


    "You can call me Elphias if you don''t mind." Doge said briskly.


    Felix paused, "Elphias, I read your obituary for Dumbledore, it was very touching--"


    "--Yeah, I think I''m obligated to write one; Since I have known him the longest."


    "-you refuted Grindelwald''s claims very hard in your article."


    "That''s exactly the point!" Doge said immediately, the soft and even somewhat transparent hair on his head floating in the air because of the agitation, "Do not believe him, from the first day I knew Dumbledore, he has been very sympathetic to muggles, his noble character can''t be slandered--"


    "As far as I know, all that claims were mostly true." Felix said calmly.


    Doge fell quiet as if he had been under a curse, and his expression became distressed.


    "Alas, I too once had my doubts, we had the most minimal contact during that period in our lives. I went on a long journey at that time, and when I returned again he had changed a great deal." After a good long while, Doge said in a sullen tone, as if he had been hit hard, he had undoubtedly been an admirer of Dumbledore - admired his ideals, admired his personality, admired him for his ability to save the world.


    " - maybe once he did support Grindelwald''s cause, but I think it was only for a brief moment of stupor, he was confused because of his mother''s loss. I can assure you that, as I said in my article, that painful experience nurtured his genuine ideology, along with a big, benevolent and compassionate heart."


    "You don''t need to convince me." Felix said seriously: "Just as your obituary is limited in space, and you can pick only one or two things to mention, Grindelwald is no different. Besides, he had only really been in contact with Dumbledore for a mere two months, with obvious subjectivity and bias, and I think you''ll agree that his words were somewhat misleading and that some people, therefore, concluded that Dumbledore had been obsessed with dark magic--"


    "Who?" Doge reddened in anger as if he had been insulted.


    "It doesn''t matter." Felix gently uncovered the topic, "What is important is that there have already been signs of such a remark slowly spreading. Dumbledore delving into dark magic, Dumbledore harbouring hatred for Muggles, Dumbledore trying to gain fame by playing hero, and it even extended to his family by saying that his mother imprisoned her own daughter in order not to bring shame to their family ..."


    Doge''s face became increasingly red with rage.


    "... Someone must come forward to make some clarification." Felix finished his sentence.


    "That''s right, someone has to come forward!" Doge repeated in a loud voice as he eyed Felix, "My dear boy, I think with your reputation-"


    "I can''t." Felix shook his head, and before Doge could show the disappointment in his face, he turned his head to the side, "There is someone who is able to, who knows Dumbledore better than any other man alive in the world, and fully counts as an inheritor of his outstanding ideals."


    Doge followed this gaze through the crowd and saw a dark-haired young man clutching a sandwich and chewing on it.


    "You mean to say that person'' ... Harry Potter?" The old man stared at Harry and muttered in a small voice, but it was more like he was talking to himself, "It''s very conceivable ... I have read in the newspapers ... that that child could take on a dragon all alone... ...At his age, so surely someone must have taught him."


    Felix didn''t refute the notion. Part of magic originated from the mind, and from that perspective, Dumbledore gave Harry support like never before. He struck while the iron was hot and said.


    "So, do we have a deal? Will you two collaborate with each other to create a biography of Dumbledore? I know I might not be in a position to ask you, and I''m not sure if you can even able to spare some time, but I can feel the sincerity welling up inside you just through your words, and if you are open to the idea --"


    "Of course, I would like to!" Doge said eagerly, "It would be my pleasure!" He then became hesitant, "Have you spoken to that boy, and would he agree?"


    "I was just about to tell him."


    Felix stood up, at which point Doge called out to him. "Mr. Hap - Felix, can I ask you the reason you are doing this? I know you have been occupied with great issues affecting the fate of the entire wizarding world in recent times, so what made you bother to take the trouble to arrange all this alone -"


    "Dumbledore has taken good care of me. And objectively speaking, Dumbledore has actually become an icon that represents wizards; he may have made many mistakes, but they shouldn''t be portrayed as pure evil. Of course, the effects of the rumours are not obvious yet, and it is perfectly fine to delay it for a while - I am doing it because of another person."


    "Harry Potter?" Doge guessed, pronouncing this name for the second time tonight.


    "That''s right." Felix said with a nod, "He doesn''t know yet what a great fortune he has acquired, and I had to give him a reminder. Lest he forgets." He said stepping onto the dance floor and moving through the cheerful crowd.


    On the other side, Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione were huddled at a table, watching Luna and her father dance around while gorging themselves on food. It was obvious that they were starving.


    "Hurry up and eat, we have to dance after that!" Ginny said, her thoughts all written on her face. She looked at the noisy crowd, her eyes suddenly froze, as she whispered, "Oh, look-" S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Several people turned their eyes away from their food and looked at Professor Hap who was walking toward them. Hermione choked on her glass of champagne, she quickly wiped her mouth as she put down her food and sat much more upright.


    "Miss Granger." Felix nodded at her, and sat in the empty chair next to her, telling Harry the reason for his visit.


    "Do you want me to write a biography of Dumbledore?" Harry said blankly, as he thought of his unfinished book. The others also stared in disbelief.


    "It''s both you and Elphias Doge." Felix raised his chin in the opposite direction.


    Harry looked in the direction the professor was showing him and saw an old man with a small round hat stretching his neck and looking straight and fiercely in their direction.


    "... you just need to provide some information, tell him exactly what happened, what you saw, and how much you wanted to disclose, but just be mindful of the truthfulness of the information you are going to provide. It will probably take a year and a half, and it may not be able to make it in time to get in the first list of books that will be used for the exchange( to learn each other''s culture) - the Ministry of Magic thinks it''s best to pick out a list that will represent the wonders of magic - but the whole thing is quite worthwhile in itself."


    "But, Professor," Harry thought of something else, "I have heard that the negotiations are not going well?"


    "Oh that, well Harry, you need to look past the surface." Felix said with a smile as he looked over at Hermione. Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Professor, do you mean that the recent slow progress is just a negotiation technique? Or perhaps we are stuck on a key issue?"


    "Pretty much, and another reason is that some of the government officials are being influenced by the countries outside England, and I will be addressing that trouble soon." Felix said politely, "Let''s not discuss such a serious topic at a wedding, I think-" He stopped talking abruptly and stood up agilely, his eyes cast outside.


    "What''s going on, Professor?" Harry asked, as Ron, Ginny, and Hermione looked uncertainly around but didn''t notice anything out of the ordinary.


    "We have an unexpected visitor, it''s not a big problem though, I''ll go check it out." Felix said as he got up and walked towards the orchard outside the tent, Hermione thought for a moment and also followed behind.


    The fruit trees shimmered in the brilliant sunset, and the tent was surrounded by a pleasant, idyllic landscape. Hermione walked through the crowd and looked around the edge of the tent for a while to find Felix returning with a strange girl, and the two were talking about something as they walked.


    "... you will have to treat it like a dream, deal?"


    The girl nodded and looked up timidly and longingly at the tent. Felix pointed toward her and her dress immediately turned into a beautiful gown-length dress.


    "Go on." Felix said encouragingly, the girl rushed into the tent while holding her dress, and stepped onto the golden dance floor to look left and right. A bottle of champagne and an empty glass pushed in front of her with a tinkling sound, and she poured herself a small glass with interest, then searched the crowd, then her eyes lit up, and she strode off in one direction.


    "Professor, is she ... a muggle?" Hermione uttered in surprise.


    "She lives in a nearby village and her parents run a flower store." Felix said, "Just a few days ago, Fred and George traded a bunch of snacks for flowers that were used to decorate today''s wedding, and this clever girl was able to spot their lies and kept an eye on the village entrance every day. The Weasley house was protected by a spell though, so no ordinary person could find it - but she was quite persistent and kept on watching for several days, and today she unexpectedly saw guests arriving using their Portkeys on the far side of the hill."


    "Oh." Hermione looked back at the girl who had disappeared behind the phoenix shaped cake, and no one at the wedding had noticed the mix-up of someone who couldn''t do magic. She turned around and quietly gathered her courage and was about to ask when Felix cleared his throat, "Um - Can I have the honour of dancing this set with you?"


    Hermione looked at him in surprise.


    "If you put it that way." She nodded her head shyly and held out a hand as the two walked to the dance floor.


    "By the way, I always wanted to ask, what did you see during your time travel?"


    "Why did that question suddenly come to your mind?"


    "Purely out of curiosity."


    "A cave full of stalactites-"


    "Ahem, let''s not talk about it." Felix hastily stopped her, that was where he secretly practiced the Killing Curse.


    ...


    At night, the lights in the sword castle were still on.


    "Are you ready?" Felix asked, and Lupin nodded without a word, closing his eyes and preparing for the judgment of the fates. Tonks stood at one side, with her fingers twisted tightly together.


    Felix opened his hand, and countless tiny ancient runes danced in mid-air, then returned back like tired birds returning to their nests, and before the other two could react, they turned into a cloud of silvery moonlight, which seemed to emit a haunting growl.


    Felix put his hand on Lupin''s shoulder.


    A strange feeling surged through his body in a flash, he was no stranger to this feeling, since he had been experiencing it once every full moon night since he was only five years old. Lupin opened his eyes with a jerk, his pupils dilated, as if they had been painted black. But this time was different from all the previous times, he had just used his not so skilled ''Reverse Werewolf Transformation'' magic on himself - although it had failed several times.


    Lupin''s head began to deform, his body was stretched, the dress he hadn''t had time to change out of couldn''t handle the strain, and he let out a low growl, revealing his sharp teeth - Tonks covered her mouth and couldn''t resist taking a step closer - but immediately afterward the disharmonized parts of Lupin''s body all shrunk back, reverted to human form, and when he looked up again, his eyes once again seemed to show the same honesty and reliability.


    Tonks trotted over, and with great interest, she pulled up Lupin''s hand to look at it repeatedly, with great relish, she then rolled up his sleeve and confirmed that the stiff brown hairs that had previously grown out of his arm had all disappeared completely, and only then did she breathe a loud sigh of relief.


    "We did it? Did that magic work?" She asked, swallowing saliva.


    Felix said cheerfully to Lupin and Tonks, "It worked without a doubt."


    "How long the effect of the magic will last? Would it last through the night of the full moon?" Tonks'' voice dripped with something unnatural.


    "It should be fine if we don''t forcibly break it." Felix said.


    Tonks let out a joyous cheer, and Lupin looked at her and smiled softly. "Now let''s see what mommy has to say!" She muttered in a small voice, as she made her hair turn in to dazzling golden colour.


    Lupin was able to remain calm amidst his great joy as he calmly said, "I just completed the first step, the next is to master the werewolf transformation magic, which involves being transformed into a werewolf even during the time that is not a full moon. With the previous foundation, I think I can master this magic in a month or two."


    "Why do you want to learn that?" Tonks stopped to ask in disbelief, "Why do you want to actively turn into a werewolf?"


    Lupin looked at Felix. Felix explained, "Let''s put it this way, the effect of werewolf poison varies from person to person. If an ordinary person was bitten by a werewolf, the wolf poison would kill that person; but if I was bitten by a werewolf, the wolf poison wouldn''t do me any harm at all, at most, it would be some minor annoyance ..."


    "... Dumbledore is the same. Our bodies and magic have undergone peculiar changes and have become more closely connected to each other, I call it magical biologization, a significant indication of this is that no matter how the body changes, the magic can be perfectly adapted to the current state. This is very different from the wizard''s Animagus."


    "The werewolf''s transformation is somewhere in between - beyond the average wizard''s ability and difficult to control, yet not completely killing the wizard."


    "If Remus mastered both werewolf transformation and reversal, he could constantly familiarize himself with the process while in a lucid state, which would help him master the most subtle changes within his body, thus helping him to overcome obstacles in learning advanced human transfiguration, with the final effect of fixing this transformation state for a long time."


    "You can understand it as a human Animagus transformation specifically targeting werewolves."


    "After learning all three steps, the werewolf identity will no longer have any consequences. The only drawback is that this method is very difficult to promote on a large scale, and it is slightly better to expect those potion masters to create a potion that will completely eradicate werewolf poison." Felix said calmly, although the ancient runes have strong adaptability, but they certainly can not replace all magic.


    "I asked Belby," Lupin said, shaking his head, "It took him many years to develop the wolfsbane potion, but the final result was just barely suppressing the werewolf poison, allowing werewolves to keep their sanity while transforming, it is very difficult to eradicate it completely... ...I plan to go through the whole process myself, and if it goes well I might as well select some qualified werewolves to teach them this mag-"


    He looked hesitantly at Felix, who shrugged at him.


    "What you want to do outside of work is none of my business. The key to the problem is already in your hands now anyway."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 708: Speed up (2 in 1)

    The sky overhead was bright with stars, and as Felix was walking through the streets of Cairo, Egypt, his body shape gradually changed but no one seemed to have noticed it. He entered a wizard tavern, and with his presence, the crowd, which had been boisterous, fell silent, and a sense of unease spread through the crowd from near to far, like wheat falling in a field. The people were aware of his infamy from half a century ago, but there was a slight curiosity mixed with their fear.


    "My brothers, my sisters, my fellow wizards," with a hint of hoarseness an old voice echoed in the tavern, and Grindelwald opened his arms wide, "I will put an end to the chaos in this land- "


    "In the name of the Grindelwald Code!"


    ...


    The next day, Harry woke up in a daze from his bed in the Burrow. His head was dizzy, and he fumbled around for a long time before finding his glasses in his shirt pocket, and after putting them on, he looked through the window to find that the sky was already bright, and the sun was a bit glaring.


    He pushed one of Ron''s arms away and jumped out of bed, and looked at the time on the old watch on his wrist - a birthday present from Mrs. Weasley, the original owner of this watch was her older brother who had died heroically in the war.


    "Noon." Harry spat out a word, feeling a little dry in his throat and a little nauseous, which he guessed might have been from drinking too much champagne last night. He walked slowly downstairs, memories of the wedding surfacing bit by bit, Harry couldn''t help but smile, it had been a fabulous night.


    It had begun with Professor Hap informing him that he would be working with someone to complete a biography of Dumbledore, and then the Professor and Hermione had left one after another before showing up on the dance floor; at that time Harry had been talking with Elphias Doge for some time, and after recalling the content of the obituary Doge had written, Harry had grown fond of him.


    The two had a good talk, but when Ginny had passed in front of them for the third time, Doge raised his glass and urged him to enjoy a good time promptly, which Harry accepted instantly, and then he hastily made an appointment with Doge for the next time they would meet, after which he pulled Ginny, who was waiting impatiently, to dance - and what happened after that?


    Harry knocked his head gently, and when he passed Ginny''s room on the second floor, he resisted the temptation to go over and knock on the door and made his way to the kitchen. He immediately felt grateful for that thought; Ginny was sitting at the table, eating breakfast (or was it lunch?) in a listless manner.


    "Harry, you have woken up already?" Mrs. Weasley said with great enthusiasm, which interrupted the sweet whispers of Bill and Fleur who were sitting facing each other. In Harry''s eyes, the married pair seemed to have become joined up as one, they started to share the same set of cutlery, as if Weasley''s financial situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse.


    "Yes, Mrs. Weasley, I just got up." Harry muttered.


    "Allie!" Fleur greeted him warmly, in line with her usual French tone, "We''re discussing vacation destinations, come over here and help us out."


    Harry sat down next to Bill and looked down at the picture book that was handed to him, which was printed with pictures of various scenic locations. He flipped through two pages, and said, pointing to a cliff adjacent to the sea, "This looks good."


    "Yeah," Fleur read the small words at the bottom of the photo with a thoughtful expression, "In Cornwall ... I have never been there, it says that there are wild roses blooming all over the place in summer, what do you think? " She turned her head to look at Bill.


    "Honey, we have plenty of time to go to all the places." Bill said gently.


    Mrs. Weasley served Harry a plate of food, the plate rattled loudly against the table, Harry felt she was in a not-so-pleasant mood and subconsciously glanced at Ginny, who made a face at him.


    "Where''s Mr. Weasley?" Harry asked.


    "Left for work," Mrs. Weasley said absent-mindedly, "Percy and Penelope couldn''t stay last night, there''s not enough room in the house ... I was wondering if we ought to build an extra house around?"


    "Mum," Bill said, "even if we move out, Fleur and I will come over to visit you and Dad every week."


    As if her little thoughts had been exposed, Mrs. Weasley waved her rag in some panic and said, "Oh, yes, well, I just thought - there will always be times when the family will get together - like yesterday''s occasion, it will certainly be used if we built it now. "


    The meal was a heart-breaking one for Harry, but the atmosphere had long since settled down by the time Ron came down, gorging himself on fried eggs and pie.


    "Any champagne left from yesterday?" Ron asked expectantly.


    "No." Mrs. Weasley said with a stern face.


    After their meal, Harry, Ron, and Ginny moved to the living room while Bill and Fleur went out for a walk, and the three listened to the tinkling in the kitchen until the moment when Ron asked, as an afterthought.


    "What''s wrong with Mom?"


    Ginny sighed, "Bill and Fleur want to move out and live alone, it was already discussed and agreed upon, but Mom wants to struggle a little more."


    Ron made a praying gesture.


    "Merlin bless her."


    "By the way," Harry asked Ginny, "how come I haven''t seen Hermione? She wouldn''t still be sleeping, would she?"


    Ginny rolled her eyes.


    "What are you thinking? She went to Diagon Alley first thing in the morning, and the radio said some muggles were invited to get a closer look at the wizarding community - kind of courtesy. Hermione was on TV a while back, and I thought she might be able to help." She said uncertainly.


    Near the end of the evening, Hermione returned in high spirits, and she happily announced to the crowd that the activities of the day had been a great success.


    "I kept an eye on them throughout the day, apart from a freckled woman who stayed in the beauty potion store and refused to come out, insisting on trying the potions inside, everything went well - no out-of-control little creatures ran out of the pet store, no books bite anyone in the Flourish and Blotts Bookseller, no goblins in the Gringotts yelled at the customers for being thief, no Bludgers in the Quality Quidditch Supplies knocked someone''s head to hell ..."


    Hermione said a lot of dangerous things in one breath and ended with a long breath of relief, making Harry wonder if those people went to the same place as he had imagined they would at all.


    "Yeah, well, they were pretty lucky." Ron said with a sarcastic sneer.


    Hermione ignored his sarcasm and continued, "I talked to one of them when she was standing idle--you wouldn''t believe it, she''s from France! And what''s even more amazing is that she knows the Professor, but they didn''t get to meet up today."


    "Why?" Harry asked.


    "Don''t you know?" Hermione gave Harry a surprised look, "The Professor has left England and gone to the Headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards."


    ...


    The Headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards is located in an unmarkable place on the northeastern border of France, in the middle of the wilderness, and has been protected since its early inception with almost all the known protective enchantments, with unquestionable security and secrecy. The only problem is that access to it is very troublesome and somewhat behind the times. Felix only visited this place once, and was dazzled by all the bright, nested layers of magical splendour, and was then taken to the neighbouring northeastern city of Strasbourg.


    Strasbourg is the largest border city in France. This city is located on the west bank of the Rhine. It is bordered on the west by the Vosges Mountains; on the east by the river that runs between the German state of Baden-W��rttemberg and the German Black Forest at a distance of 25 kilometers; on the north by the forest of Agno, and on the south by the Rhine plain.


    Felix and Babajide Akingbade walked for some time along the scenic riverbank and passed through a small area of wooden truss houses with medieval features and baroque sandstone buildings, then disappeared over a stone bridge.


    The two men''s footsteps were constantly echoed and amplified by the walls on either side of the spacious descending golden staircase, which echoed back to their ears all over again. Felix carefully examined the various reliefs carved on the walls.


    "That''s a scene from the first General Assembly of the International Confederation of Wizards," Akingbade said, pointing to the relief, "the Supreme Mugwump at the time - also the first Supreme Mugwump, Pierre Bonaccord, was a Frenchman, and he picked this as the venue for the General Assembly."


    Felix was mildly surprised.


    "I thought that the assembly would be held at the Confederation''s headquarters."


    "At that time, the headquarters was yet to be built, and the conditions were very rudimentary, so an open plaza was temporarily chosen. Goblins originally wanted to attend, but were driven away, oh, Wizards from Liechtenstein also did not attend."


    "I seem to remember it was because of the trolls?"


    "Yes, it was because of the trolls." Akingbade affirmed, "The wizards there had a tense relationship with some particularly vicious tribes of mountain trolls. They originally wanted to besiege the trolls with the help of the Confederation, but Pierre Bonaccord refused to help them."


    Felix nodded.


    Just by looking at the name, he knew that this wizard organization was originally established to promote cooperation between various countries of wizards in the wizarding world, and no other race had anything to do with it. The Supreme Mugwump of the Confederation generally played the role of a mediator to reconcile the conflicts between different countries, with extremely limited powers, until the end of the 17th century, when the concept of secrecy became more and more popular among the wizards at that time, and after several weeks of intense discussions, the Statute of Secrecy was developed.


    In the end, the important task of monitoring the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy was taken up by the International Confederation of Wizards, which was rapidly expanded afterward, establishing subordinate departments to communicate, liaise and monitor the implementation of the Statute of Secrecy among wizards.


    "Theoretically this was just an office of the Confederation," Akingbade said, "but later people realized that they preferred to work here rather than in a damp, deserted place, so a certain Supreme Mugwump of the Confederation bought this place, and buried the whole plaza where the meetings were held, and the staircase under our feet is part of the plaza...." S~?a??h the N?v?lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The city has been through several wars and chaos, and the Confederation of Wizards members have returned to their true headquarters while leaving wizards from nearby countries to stay and conceal it, but of course, we couldn''t care less, as long as we don''t expose the presence of magic."


    They walked through a circular hall with a very obvious ancient Roman style, luxurious, magnificent, with a spacious interior. Equally spaced individual doors were lined up on the walls of the circular hall, with each door seamed to face the center of the circle in the middle of the hall, as if invisible thin lines of light were radiating outward. On both sides of the door stood tall stone pillars and arched porch tops used for decoration.


    Along the way, Felix only spotted two or three people as they walked from room to room, looking tired and weary.


    "There are a lot of people who were listed to stay here, but most of them have their own mess and only come together when they need to, even I don''t come here often myself, the general approach is to pick a place near to host a meeting when there is a problem." Akingbade said somewhat glumly: "A few weeks ago, there were still a number of representatives frequenting here to discuss plans; much earlier the Auror squads responsible for capturing Grindelwald also assembled here, but now the numbers are much smaller ..."


    Well, why has it become like this?


    It happened because the Confederation couldn''t come up with a practical solution, and everyone left to take care of their own problems, so they didn''t respond to the summons, and the Confederation immediately became an empty shell.


    "What do you have in mind?" Akingbade asked Felix.


    "The first step is definitely to regroup the prestige of the Confederation." Felix said thoughtfully, "I''m going to travel around the world first, so arrange a Special Envoy title for me, though I may need to spend a few days here first, going through the information and learning about the history of different countries'' ministries of magic."


    Felix stood in the empty hall and glanced around, looking hesitant. Akingbade immediately believed what he said a few percent, but if he knew what Felix was really thinking inside at the moment he probably wouldn''t be all that positive.


    ''I can speak a lot about the information of the black market all over the world, but if someone asked me about the history of all those countries - I definitely would have filled in that part of my knowledge if I had known that such a day would come.''


    Well, Felix''s thinking room didn''t contain much useful information about the history of the world, and even if he had once read it, he had long since tossed it aside like a piece of rubbish.


    ...


    In the middle of August, Felix, who had been out wandering around for half a month, made a trip back to school. In the headmistress''s office at Hogwarts Castle - "Three students have refused to enrol in the school." Professor McGonagall said seriously.


    "Has this happened a lot in previous years?" Felix asked.


    "It probably only happens once every two or three years." Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment and explained, "You know, to a great extent the ancestors of the little Muggle-born wizards, even if it''s dozens of generations back in the line were highly likely to be wizards, so these families are unlikely to have a strong aversion to magic in their blood ..."


    Professor McGonagall grunted under her breath, "It''s not like we''re in America, where Scourers exist."


    "They may have been affected by the recent news," Felix said with some headache, "Hogwarts doesn''t force students to enrol, so if they are adamant about not agreeing, then let''s cast some protection and monitoring magic in secret, in case they became Obscurial."


    During this period of time, there was a lot of turbulence happening in the outside world, with many major incidents, of which many were related to Felix. Newspapers around the world - both magical and muggle newspapers - have featured his name.


    For example, the following happened most recently.


    A week ago, the descendants of the American Scourers approached law enforcement and handed over twelve children with magical gifts, and implored the authorities with great malice to research the secrets of the wizards. The children were immediately locked up under heavy protection, guarded by three hundred soldiers of great military force and layers of modern technology.


    The day after this happened, a wizard dressed in a black wizard''s robe walked up to the entrance of that particular facility and stood quietly in place for a while, then the door opened on its own and a group of soldiers voluntarily handed over the children to him, who then threw out a card and disappeared with the children without saying a word from the beginning to end.


    The four soldiers in charge of guarding the gate turned a blind eye to them throughout the whole process. Apart from the footage captured by the surveillance camera, the only clue was the card left by the mysterious wizard. The logo on the card was later identified as the logo of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    The Footage taken by surveillance cameras was naturally studied repeatedly.


    Experts soon discovered that the mysterious wizard acted totally different from the information available, wearing a hood, not saying a word during the whole process, not reciting a single incantation, not pulling out a wand, not making a gesture - he even glanced at the camera before walking away, seemingly intentionally leaving his side profile.


    God knows how many people gawk at Felix''s straight nose and smooth jawline these days.


    Seemingly under pressure from the outside world, the British Prime Minister issued a query, but it was strongly countered by Amelia Bones. Her reply repeatedly scrolled in text form on the TV news: the wizards are willing to cooperate and sign a treaty to prompt the accelerated birth of a new age, for which we have voluntarily extended goodwill, but if it comes at the cost of harm to the wizards - the wizards would prefer war.


    On the same day, twenty-seven descendants of the Scourers died in twelve different locations in a bizarre manner, and the police could find no evidence of an invasion; also on the same day, the Acolytes, who had remained inactive, assembled in Africa from all directions.


    If any scholars of later generations had studied this history, they would have found this event to be an extremely important turning point, marking the opening of a new page in the relationship between the two sides. For the next two days, in an eerie atmosphere, some people in the outside world raised a ruckus, but the authorities chose to remain silent, and the negotiations between the two sides coincidentally picked up speed.


    Some issues that previously required hours or even days of debate became irrelevant at once, and there was a tacit agreement reached between the two sides to make concessions. Some journalists who have snooped on insider information said in an article that the public is expected to see the details of the draft contract between the two sides within a month.


    In what seemed like the blink of an eye, September first arrived.


    The opening day of school was here.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 709: Seats (2 in 1)

    At ten-thirty in the morning, Sirius took Harry to King''s Cross Station in a cab. Harry was quite surprised to see Sirius skilfully glance at the meter and then pull out a bill to pay. "I''ve lived in Muggle society for at least a year." Sirius said as they walked into the station with their luggage, laughing and joking, and then Harry felt several glances from different directions, he immediately became alert and grabbed his wand in his pocket.


    "Someone''s watching, is it Auror?" He asked in a whisper.


    This time it was Sirius'' turn to be surprised. "You found out? Oh, it wasn''t just Auror, there were some Muggle security guards too. They were the first members of the Joint Law Enforcement Division, even though the division doesn''t even have a name at the moment ..." he muttered, "How did you find out?"


    "Our professor taught this in class." Harry said as a mixed emotion arose in him because this knowledge came from Grindelwald.


    The station was crowded, they did not linger too long, and nimbly walked through the wall between platforms 9 and 10, and the next second a crimson train came into view. Harry stopped in his tracks, usually, he could board the train directly, but today there was a bearded Auror there.


    "Name?" The bearded Auror stopped them and looked down at the thick list.


    "Harry Potter." Harry said, while curiously glancing at the list in Auror''s hand. Because the handwriting was upside down, he struggled a bit to read it, but he still easily managed to grasp the plain fact that only two-thirds of the list was ticked off on that sheet of parchment.


    Harry looked up at the time, it was 10:49, this is obviously not normal.


    The bearded Auror mouthed the words, "Harry Potter, the P-word ... Oh, dear!" He seemed to have just reacted and looked up to stare intently at Harry.


    "Brian, the train is about to leave." Sirius spoke up to remind Auror.


    The bearded Auror''s eyes shifted to Sirius and his expression relaxed, "Black? And yes, Harry Potter is your godson." He ticked a box on the parchment, "That''ll do."


    "Are there still quite a few people missing?" Harry asked from the sidelines while he had the chance.


    "Yeah, some of the students went to school through the fireplace," the bearded Auror said, nodding his chin in the direction they had come and mumbled, "New initiative, huh? There''s always someone with suspicions. ..."


    "Come on, Harry." Sirius said.


    Harry looked over at his godfather as he followed some distance away, "How come I never heard of this?"


    "What, you want to go to school through the fireplace too? That won''t do, you''re the student body''s Head Boy," Sirius grinned at him, before showing a thoughtful expression and said some words that Harry never imagined would one day come out of Sirius'' own mouth, "-you have to take the lead and set an example. "


    "Like my dad?" Harry said sullenly while rummaging through his pockets for his Head Boy badge.


    "You can also choose to be like your mom, she has done a pretty good job." Sirius grinned. "Actually, James didn''t exactly perform badly, we all would admit that Lily changed him, but the Head Boy post was also a part of the reason."


    These words comforted Harry, and he put on his badge when Hermione''s shout was heard behind him, and Harry turned his head to see her jogging over, followed by Crookshanks. She stopped in front of Harry, out of breath, "Fortunately, fortunately - not too late."


    "Traffic?" Harry guessed, otherwise he couldn''t really think of a reason why Hermione might have been close to being late.


    "Oh, no," Hermione gasped, and when she realized that both Sirius and Harry were still staring at her, she said reluctantly, "I was recognized when I walked into the station, and someone asked me for an autograph, luckily I didn''t let Mum and Dad follow me in... ..."


    "That''s pretty insane." Harry muttered.


    The train let out a loud roar.


    "The train''s about to leave," Sirius urged, pointing in one direction, "Is that Ron? I can see him - the one that''s waving, in compartment six."


    Harry and Hermione hurried towards compartment six with great strides, he was tired from carrying large luggage, so he looked a little indignant when he saw Hermione only carrying Crookshanks. "I put everything in the beaded small pouch." She explained, smoothly picking up Hedwig''s cage.


    As they walked to the door of the compartment, Ron helped Harry carry the trunk on board and put it on the luggage rack in the adjoining compartment. Neville and Ginny were also there. They said hello and walked in the direction of the engine.


    "Somehow, it is easy to find an empty compartment." Ron said.


    Harry told him about the conversation he just had, and it dawned on Ron, "So that''s what happened, I figured why no one at home warned me - I''m the Prefect. Well, excuse me, Head boy and Head girl, can we have a little less instruction time later, I haven''t eaten this morning ..."


    "No problem," Harry said immediately, "because I can''t think of anything to say."


    According to the letter, the four house prefects need to respectively receive instructions from the Head Boy and Head Girl of the school. Still, both Harry and Hermione felt there was no need to do it separately, so they simply gathered all the prefects together.


    "... only one thing worth noticing, four Aurors are stationed at the front and back compartment of the train respectively, so in case of emergency, you can contact them. Of course, if there is really an emergency, they may know about it before we do, and all that needs to be done is maintaining order and occasionally patrolling the corridors ... That''s it."


    Hermione finished and looked at Harry, Harry shook his head, to express that he had nothing to say, so Hermione decisively announced the dismissal.


    When they returned to the compartment, they talked about their respective experiences during the last part of the summer, after Bill and Fleur''s wedding, Hermione returned home to spend time with her parents, and Harry chose to stay in the Burrow since Black''s Old Manor was too empty and boring for the most part.


    "Well, you were away for a few days." Ron recalled, "Like for a check-up or something."


    "Yeah," Harry said slowly, "two Ministry of Magic staff showed up at the door to register the house elves in possession - and there was a little accident halfway through."


    "What kind of accident?" Neville asked curiously.


    "Was it fabulous?" That was Ron''s question.


    "Absolutely fabulous." Harry snapped, glaring at Ron for a few seconds before recounting that day''s events.


    "In order to prove that Kreacher was in good shape for him to continue his service, Sirius and I racked our brains and wasted a lot of breath convincing Kreacher to change into a dress that met human aesthetics and standards ..."


    "That''s a good thing, it means that the Ministry of Magic is gradually implementing the legal guidelines." Hermione interjected.


    "You sound just like Percy." Ron said. Hermione looked insulted and Ginny snickered. Harry hurriedly continued his story, and thanks to the frequent correspondence with Elphias Doge during this time, Harry felt that his ability to retell the story improved quite a bit, and soon, everyone in the compartment was hooked -


    According to Harry, the three of them, he, Sirius, and Kreacher made some emergency renovations to the old Black Manor and scavenged a number of suspicious magical items from around the corners.


    " This is the reason why I desperately want to cut ties with the family when I was at school," Sirius said seriously. Harry knew that the members of the Black family were a bit ''crazy'' and they would not think quite the same as normal people.


    "But now this family is completely in my hands!" Sirius said cheerfully, waving his hand widely, "We''re going to leave a good impression on our guests, and the first thing we''re going to do is let my elders get a good night''s sleep!"


    But apparently, the portraits that lined both sides of the entrance hall corridor didn''t want to sleep. They were all ancestors of successive generations of Blacks, who had passed their most stubborn memories on before their deaths, and were therefore extremely difficult to convince, so Harry and Sirius had to resort to a few small tricks.


    "Bad master! Bad young master!"


    Kreacher jumped around anxiously, trying to stop them, but unfortunately, his strength was not enough - a red light of the stunning spell flashed, and the long corridor once again regained its tranquillity, Harry and Sirius looked at their results with satisfaction, apart from drooling from the mouth of one or two portraits, and their wigs crooked to one side, the rest looked just perfect.


    "You guys did an emergency purge?" Ron asked, grumbling in the compartment.


    "It''s not over yet." Harry said. Then he continued.


    When the staff came to the door, Sirius welcomed them in with a smile and led them toward the living room. A layer of shadow suddenly clouded Harry''s mind, and he felt he had overlooked something, so he stopped where he was and tried to think about exactly what he had overlooked ...


    All the Black family members are crazy ...


    Exaggerated screams echoed through the hall. Harry rushed off, remembering the scene of his first visit to this ancient manor, the wall on the side of the stairs reminded him of something that he was now accustomed to, and now by default he would not look in that direction when going up or down the stairs.


    A short wizard rolled down the stairs with a horrified expression, and Harry followed his line of sight - and was surprised to see a row of crumpled house elf heads attached as decoration on the wall. Everyone in the room froze, the smile solidified on Sirius''s face, which gave Harry time to recall his godfather''s words from three years ago when he introduced him to the family tree with a disgusted look on his face.


    "... and dear Aunt Elladora... she started the family tradition of beheading house elves when they got too old to carry tea trays..."


    The train drove through a field, and Ron pressed for details with gusto.


    "And then what happened? Did they run away immediately and bring back a group of Aurors a few minutes later?"


    Harry rolled his eyes.


    "No, Sirius and I managed to convince them with great difficulty, literally convinced them only using words." He emphasized the sentence as if to make it clear that no spell like the stunning spell was used. "Those two put Kreacher''s name on the register, and when they were leaving Sirius swore that he would take those heads down ... Well, I''m not sure what to do about the Permanent Sticking Charm, probably have to demolish the whole wall."


    "That''s a lot of work."


    Laughter broke out from the compartment.


    ...


    A few hundred miles away, at Hogwarts, Professor McGonagall wore her boxed glasses and looked down at the articles in Transfiguration Today, occasionally taking out her quill to cross out errors.


    After correcting an article, she looked up diagonally at Felix and the Sorting Hat, the former was holding the latter in his hands and spinning it around, and the Sorting Hat was dazed by the spin and couldn''t help but yell, "Give him a piece of mind! This man is destroying the most important historical artefact in the school! What did I witness? A shameful behind-the-scenes deal where the deputy headmaster bribed the current headmistress -"


    Professor McGonagall raised her eyebrows from her seat.


    "Poor Sorting Hat, you''re not a real person after all." Felix grinned, bringing the cracked slit of sorting hat to his face as he said smugly, "Even if I gifted the footage of the Montrose Magpies'' last twelve games, that wouldn''t be considered a bribe because they''re just freebies, they were included with the purchase of the magic projector ... although it''s a year delayed, It''s still a giveaway."


    "It has nothing to do with that." Professor McGonagall glared at Felix, whose explanation sounded more like a cover-up, and she pursed her lips and said, "Felix convinced me that if I could allow his magic to become one of the cores of the school''s defense system, the student''s safety would be greatly improved."


    "No!" Sorting Hat hollered. "That''s a privilege that only the four founders had, and even the Headmasters after them could only tinker with the original foundation."


    "That''s why I approached you," Felix said kindly: "The four founders may not have thought about it this far, so why don''t you open your mind and let me have a good conversation with them, maybe we''ll have a good chat?"


    The Sorting Hat remained eerily silent for a while.


    In previous years, it had always read the students'' thoughts and sorted them into different houses according to their different traits, and this was the first time it had heard someone want to read its thoughts - well, the thoughts of the four founders that they had infused into his mind a thousand years ago.


    The Sorting Hat asked oddly, "You think you will be recognized by all four of them at the same time?"


    "I see no issue," Felix said with a straight face, "If you don''t believe me, we can try."


    "... But I''ve heard that you''ve advanced your memory magic to an unknown level?"


    "Rumours, they''re all rumours, I still have a lot of room for improvement."


    The Sorting Hat was silent again, this time for a longer time, then it twisted and turned, the slit at the side of the hat opened to the maximum, and Felix seemed to feel a stream of air sucked into the slit, like a person planning to open his mouth and shout, then the Sorting Hat shouted out -


    "Come and help me! No matter who it is! Minerva McGonagall, you''re the Headmistress! Dumbledore, look what you''ve done!"


    In the golden frame on the wall that belonged to Dumbledore, Dumbledore looked like he had fallen asleep, though Felix clearly saw that he had been watching them with the other headmasters previously with interest the whole time, and even winked mischievously - there had been a time when Felix had also shown a strong interest in the sorting hat in front of Dumbledore.


    After a lot of bickering, the Sorting Hat still refused to agree and threatened not to attend this year''s Sorting Ceremony, and Felix had to regretfully take the Sorting Hat off his head.


    "You seem very keen to talk to the Founders, Felix?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply, "Is the pressure recently getting too much?"


    Felix shrugged and said in a relaxed tone.


    "I just can''t make up my mind - especially when there are multiple options available before me. As of now, I believe we''re still on the right path. But that''s why every step of the future choice is even more important."


    He said lazily.


    "I can sort of understand why Babajide Akingbade is doing nothing, if there are six billion people and two million wizards weighing down on the other end of the scale, anyone would be out of breath-" he paused thoughtfully, "Maybe I should talk to Trelawney, every time I see her rant, it makes me feel confident about the future."


    Professor McGonagall looked somewhat odd, "Don''t say that to her face, she''s not in a good mood lately."


    "What''s going on?" Felix asked with interest, "Oh, I figured it out, is it about the new professor this year?"


    "That''s right, that Centaur Firenze." Professor McGonagall said, "He previously accepted Dumbledore''s offer to teach and officially joined this year."


    ... s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    In the evening, the crimson Hogwarts Express slowed down spewing white steam, and approached Hogsmeade station.


    Harry and the others greeted Hagrid, but they didn''t get to talk much because Hagrid still had to take care of the first years. They walked in the direction of the carriages and Hermione pulled a piece of parchment out of her pocket, "Harry, we are supposed to head to the front, one of the duties of the Head boy and Head girl is to lead the students into the castle ..."


    They quickened their pace and passed one student after another, stopping at the very front carriage. The two then waited with an authoritative gaze for the students behind them to get into the carriage.


    "Almost there." After some time, Hermione said. The two entered the carriage, Harry very affectionately reached out to pat the Thestrals thin bony back, and the Thestrals meekly looked back at him, before moving forward.


    Wheels rolled, then the carriage behind them followed suit, they formed a long line as they passed through the darkness of the night.


    Finally, the carriage stopped at the stone steps leading to the castle oak door, Hermione immediately jumped down, and Harry followed her. When almost half of the students got down and gathered towards them, Harry and Hermione led the way into the castle.


    The great hall was brightly lit, and when Harry entered, there were already a number of students inside, all of whom had come to school through the fireplace. Harry saw quite a few familiar faces, some sixth and seventh years sitting together at the long dining room table, chatting happily just like they had done after dealing with the newspaper clippings of the day during the summer holidays.


    Harry froze and stopped in place. "What''s wrong?" Hermione also paused as she asked in a whisper.


    This blocked the doorway for students at the back, and they continued to ask what was going on when they couldn''t get in. Meanwhile, the students in the great hall heard their footsteps and noise and looked toward them. Harry''s arrival made these students realize that school had started, and they stood up sparsely from their benches, ready to go back to their own house tables.


    Harry went straight toward the Hufflepuff table.


    Hermione hesitantly followed him, but Harry''s direction became more and more clear and revealed the mistake. "Harry, you''re going the wrong way." Hermione reminded him in a whisper. "That''s right." Harry said in a calm tone, even though his heart was beating fiercely at the moment.


    He took a seat next to Cadwallader, the Chaser of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, whose eyes went wide. With a look of seeing a ghost coming back to life.


    Hermione reacted at the last minute, and she turned around the corner next to Harry and sat at the Ravenclaw table.


    "Hello, Hermione." A dazed voice sounded in her ear.


    "Oh, hello, Luna." Hermione replied back, before looking nervously behind her, the people behind her seemed a little confused, "Everyone - everyone feel free to sit down." She cleared her throat and said, which brought the crowd back to their senses, and they picked their seats in twos and threes, and the students who had stood up also sat back down in the same place and continued their previous conversations.


    But the expressions on the faces of the crowd were obviously a little strange, as they exchanged a look of excitement and fear with each other, along with a little surprise. In their impression, this is absolutely unique.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 710: New Changes

    "You''re really brave." Neville said with heartfelt admiration as he gave Harry a thumbs up and sat down next to him, with Hannah and Susan Bones sitting next to them. "I thought of it on the spur of the moment, too." Harry mumbled as he felt his face begin to heat up. He really hadn''t thought all that much about it or even intended to ask others to follow his example, which was why he didn''t say a word, and it was Hermione who realized his intentions in time.


    "That''s great man, you''re leading an example." Ernie Mcmillan said aloud, leaning over and patting Harry on the shoulder, looking at the badge on Harry''s chest with an envious look.


    "By the way, I wonder what changes have been made in the faculty this year?" Harry said hurriedly, trying to change the subject.


    He looked in the direction of the professor''s seats - they were not fully occupied yet, but Snape and Professor Slughorn could be seen sitting together, Slughorn looking at Harry with undisguised approval, with his hands clasped together; Snape, on the other hand, had vacant eyes, making it impossible to grasp his emotions. A few seats away, Professor Sprout and Professor of Astronomy Aurora Sinistra talked in whispers, with a distinct smirk on their faces.


    "Not all the Professors arrived yet... Well, I guess we''re a bit early." Susan stretched her neck and said, "But at least we can be sure that the posts for Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and Astronomy won''t change too much."


    "It''s quite strange that Defense Against the Dark Arts professor hasn''t changed ...." Ernie and the rest exchanged a meaningful look, and Harry knew that at the moment in the minds of the crowd, the names of the professors of Defense Against the Dark Arts who had come and gone over the years must have flashed through.


    But Harry didn''t find it strange in his mind, Voldemort was dead, so the shadow hovering over Hogwarts had naturally disappeared.


    "You guys, do you think that maybe Slughorn and Snape would actually swap positions with each other? Snape will teach Potions class and Professor Slughorn will teach Defense Against the Dark Arts?"


    "Not likely." Harry said immediately.


    "Why?" Hannah asked curiously.


    Harry''s gaze froze, yes, why am I so sure? He couldn''t give conclusive proof, he just simply felt that this kind of thing wouldn''t happen. He couldn''t help but suspect it was due to his recent frequent recollections of what he had seen in the stone Pensieve. "What''s the point of asking? He must have got the inside information." A voice interjected.


    It was Mafalda, she clutched a small notebook, along with a ballpoint pen that could only be bought in a muggle store in her other hand, her eyes twinkling as she sized him up, seemingly catching a whiff of the scoop.


    "Come on." Mafalda said with an inquisitive look on her face, "I think the most likely changes are going to be in the Ancient Runes and Transfiguration class. Professor Hap was assigned as a special envoy of the International Confederation of Wizards some time ago, and he has visited more than a dozen ministries of magic due to it, so he might not have much time to spare in the coming days; the latter - Professor McGonagall probably won''t be teaching the students this year, since she is the Headmistress now, isn''t that right?"


    She rattled off what she knew, then looked at Harry with a probing gaze.


    Harry stared back at her, probably realizing that every word he would say next would appear on the Wall of Riddles tabloid, so he decided not to say a word - and he really wasn''t sure of the answer, but that didn''t stop him from making up plausible rhetoric.


    "You''ll soon find out, let''s keep it a surprise." He said in a vague, almost know-it-all tone. The next second Harry realized he was mimicking Trelawney''s speaking pattern, which made him slightly uncomfortable.


    Neville obviously took Harry''s words as a clue and thought hard for a moment.


    "Who could it be?" He frowned and looked at Harry carefully and said, "It should be someone I know, but not someone I can easily associate with enough to make it a surprise ..." Harry looked at him a little nervously, fearing that when the result came out later his big lie would be busted, but Mafalda is present, he could not make a reminder.


    At that time Harry thought - this distant relative of Ron''s is not here to study, she''s always carrying around a sketchpad, like some painters, whose purpose is to collect useful material that can be put into their artwork.


    "Could it be Mr. Longbottom? If so, it would be quite a surprise ..." Hannah Abbott speculated.


    Harry''s mind started to think about the possibility of it.


    "No," Neville said with certainty, shaking his head, "because Professor McGonagall really did contact my father about teaching at the school."


    "Professor McGonagall invited Mr. Longbottom?" Harry asked in surprise.


    "Yeah, but Dad refused, he didn''t want to be away from Mum and the two of them are now working together to choose a site for a new wizard town." Neville explained.


    After being healed by Professor Hap, Mr. and Mrs. Longbottom first travelled abroad, and when the Wizard War broke out, they immediately decided to contribute their part, and when the war ended, they had no desire to join the Ministry of Magic, as they preferred to open a small store and live their own little lives. It was only recently when the major incident that exposed the wizarding world happened, they were once again invited by the Ministry of Magic to work as special Aurors. Recently, they were involved in the black market and smuggling trade sweep within the United Kingdom, but it was the first time that Harry heard of what they were recently doing from Neville.


    "A new wizard town - what''s that?" Mafalda asked with a sharp look on her face as she looked up from her little sketchbook.


    Harry thought of the recent hot news, if both wizard and muggle sides wants to trade, they must need a fixed location first, could it be related to this? But he quickly realized he was sidetracked, "It''s to settle the foreign wizards who recently relocated here." Neville said.


    "It was indeed mentioned on the radio ...," Mafalda mused.


    "Auntie had a headache over them." Susan Bones interjected, "The number of registrations has surpassed three hundred, and the ministry has urgently deployed a group of officers to prevent them from causing trouble."


    "That''s not uncommon, those people are more or less related to the wizards on our side." Ernie Macmillan said unconcernedly, "My father said - a number of people had fled to abroad during the first wizard war, but now the situation has been reversed, I believe there are quite a few familiar family names among them, such as Shafiq."


    "I was under the impression that they had returned before the wizarding world was completely exposed." Hannah Abbott said slowly.


    Ernie shrugged.


    "I didn''t pay much attention to them ..."


    Mafalda left contentedly, after which she flew like a hard-working pollen-gathering bee to a different bush - Hermione was chatting with Luna and Ginny, as she looked at Mafalda''s back, Harry saw Ron looking listlessly over, with a dumb expression that suggested he wanted to come over.


    The disorganized state of seating in the great hall was keenly noticed by Felix and McGonagall when they showed up together and took their seats in the wide chairs, they swept their serious and probing gaze across the four long tables like a lion and a snake on patrol through their territory.


    "Are you satisfied with the surprise that the newly appointed Head Boy has brought us?" Snape asked quietly, his tone sounding like someone had broken into his private storeroom and repositioned all the familiar vials of potions.


    "I do feel satisfied, Severus. I am glad to see this change occurring in my tenure." Professor McGonagall said with joy, then she looked at Felix with an odd expression on her face, "But Felix - I must remind you that you have an important task on your shoulders today, so don''t act like nothing is wrong."


    Felix who was talking with Slughorn about the progress of the improvement of the potion formula turned his head upon hearing this and looked at her rather innocently.


    "Sorting, Felix, sorting." Professor McGonagall reminded him.


    "Oh, I almost forgot I had to preside over the Sorting Ceremony - thanks a lot, Minerva." Felix stood up cheerfully and stretched his hand to retrieve a dirty hat out of the thin air, and shook it off vigorously before striding towards the entrance hall.


    Once he was at the door, he bumped into Firenze while waiting for Hagrid to lead the freshmen over.


    "Hello, Firenze." He addressed the Centaur, knowing that Firenze had put a lot of effort into persuading the Centaurs to join the Pan-Magical Alliance.


    "Ugh, I wasn''t going to show up," the Centaur said sadly, "I''m not used to eating human food."


    "Don''t worry, the house elf specially prepared fresh vegetables, completely natural." Felix said. He watched the Centaur go in, Firenze''s tail flicking, he didn''t know if it was from annoyance or nervousness, and then a few more minutes passed when he heard the sound of heavy footsteps.


    Hagrid''s tangled, tousled hair came into view, followed by a group of young wizards who looked at everything with curiosity, like bean sprouts that could walk on their own.


    "Is everything going well, Hagrid?"


    Hagrid froze for a moment, apparently, he had forgotten, just like Felix had before, about who would preside over the Sorting Ceremony tonight. "Oh ... it went smoothly ..." he cranked his head behind and shouted, "Don''t crowd, line up and come in one by one! Felix, I''m leaving the new students in your hands, all of them one by one." He said to Felix.


    "By the way, I''ve put that little house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, and little Grawp was quite happy about it."


    Hagrid was referring to Grawp''s temporary house that was built during Bill and Fleur''s wedding. When the wedding was over, Felix re-turned it into a painting, and it was brought back by Hagrid.


    Felix blinked and said, "That''s good."


    When Hagrid left, he took the first-year students to a separate room where they were introduced about the Sorting rules and the basic information of the four houses. Under the soft white light of the magic lamp, the excitement and anticipation on their faces were clearly seen. Felix smiled.


    "Sir?" At that moment, a freshman spoke in a somewhat trembling voice, "Excuse me, are you Felix Hap, I''ve read your name in the newspaper."


    "You can call me Professor Hap," Felix said gently, "even if you can''t take my class yet, you can still call me that. As for your question, I suppose yes, there is no second Felix Hap who has appeared in the newspapers more often than I have lately. So, what''s your name?"


    "Locke," the freshman said in a rush, "Locke Arwin."


    "... Oh, oh, yes, Mr. Arwin. You pleasantly surprised me, you happen to have a similar-sounding name as a friend of mine." Felix said, "I wish you luck on your sorting into your ideal house - I mean - have a great time."


    "There''s still a little time before the sorting begins, so you can get to know each other a bit well, as not surprisingly, you''ll spend seven years together."


    As the new students glanced at each other and introduced themselves, the great hall was overwhelmed by the succession of unfamiliar faces that appeared.


    First, it was a Centaur - "Hey, it''s Firenze!" Ron shouted from the Ravenclaw table. After a few more minutes, Castle Caretaker Filch led two men in, and all the students were baffled by the tall, thin old man in the lead, who wore a gray robe with wisps of metallic, gray hair and beard, along with glasses.


    It wasn''t until he got close that some of the students recognized that this man was actually the owner of the Hog''s Head Inn, and as a result they ignored the elegant and unsmiling witch draped in a dark green shawl behind him. But Harry would never forget her, and his eyes widened simultaneously with Neville, Ron, and Hermione, who were at the next table.


    "Surprisingly, it''s Aunt Emmeline Vance." Neville said with a soft intake of breath.


    Aberforth and Emmeline Vance selected a seat and the professors welcomed them. Aberforth chose to sit on the far side of the room, his face showed little expression as he casually picked up a fork from the table and tapped it twice, and Firenze, the Centaur next to him, rubbed his hooves on the ground in annoyance.


    "Am I bothering you?" Aberforth asked gruffly.


    "No." Firenze said politely and curtly, his keen sense of smell caught a faint stench of goat.


    At this point, the students below came back to their senses, and a lively discussion broke out. A number of them felt that if they had to pick one of the three as a professor of Transfiguration, they would prefer the elegant-looking witch with the classy demeanour - not many of them knew the identity of Aberforth. A few of them had previously suspected that they had been mistaken. But Harry knew better than that; there is no way Aberforth would be a professor of Transfiguration, because Transfiguration is a disciplined study of magic, and as far as he knew, Aberforth was not very good at classes that required patience. On the contrary, Emmeline Vance is a very talented witch, who is a few years older than Sirius and Amelia, and also, like the Longbottoms, she fought in two wars and survived.


    Felix led the new students into the great hall and stopped in front of the professor''s seats. He conjured up a small bench and placed the Sorting Hat on it, after which it began to sing, a process the older students were all too familiar with, except-


    "Why does this year''s Sorting Hat singing sound feeble?" Ron muttered. Of course, he was just casually commenting that, as the Sorting began, the enchanted ceiling overhead reflected the orbital trails of the stars - Firenze tilted his head to look up - and Felix pulled out a piece of parchment and read out the first name.


    "Locke Arwin."


    A freshman stumbled out of the crowd and put on the Sorting Hat, and after a moment-


    "Ravenclaw!" The Sorting Hat yelled.


    The Great Hall thundered with applause. The new student placed the hat down and hesitantly got off the bench when Felix said gently, "Just pick an empty seat and sit down. The House only matters when it comes to your class schedule." So Arwin ran to the Slytherin table and sat down, and Draco Malfoy, who is the Prefect, stood up and shook his hand.


    The sorting proceeded in an orderly manner without much incident. By the time the ceremony was over, Professor McGonagall, as the Headmistress, gave a welcome speech to the students and dryly announced several new appointments for this school year.


    "Professor Emmeline Vance will work as Professor of Transfiguration ... Professor Firenze, who has just got back from a journey, has shown great expertise in observing the stars and Capnomancy, and he will be teaching a branch of Divination class for students who have passed the O.W.Ls exam... ...and also, this year''s Ancient Rune class will be held in Classroom Seven. Classroom Seven and the underground amusement center will be available to students once again and the keeper of these two places will be Mr. Aberforth Dumbledore ..."


    Professor McGonagall''s serious gaze swept across the great hall, then she revealed a smile.


    "Once again, welcome back, in this current situation, I am very happy to see that we are able to unite together without division, which is our strongest weapon. That''s all I have to say, so let''s start eating."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!


    s?a??h th? N0v?lFire(.)n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 711: The Development and Expansion of the New Acolytes

    At the end of the dinner, Professor McGonagall stood up and said to the students, "The first-year students and Prefects please stay, while the rest of the students leave first, to avoid the risk of creating ruckus in the rush and running off to the wrong dormitories." The students slowly pushed back their benches and headed for the door. "Is it true that someone ran into the wrong room on the first day of school?" Harry asked curiously. "Oh, there were." Hermione walked over briskly and said, "But this mistake is easy to spot, each dorm has the name of the new student written on the bed."


    In the professor''s seat, Emmeline Vance, who had been quiet and hadn''t said much all night, suddenly spoke up, "We haven''t sung the school song yet." Several of the professors closer to her stiffened at once.


    Professor Flitwick cleared his throat unnaturally, "Ahem, it''s not like we have to sing it every year."


    The other professors whispered in agreement, "Yeah, right."


    A look of obvious disappointment appeared on Emmeline''s face, as if some wish hidden in her heart had been dashed, and she said calmly, "I know, it''s usually reserved only for important occasions. I only heard it once when I was in school, and that was when I enrolled ..."


    "That time because of what?" Felix asked politely.


    "Can''t quite remember." Emmeline shook her head slightly.


    Slughorn, who sat nearby, showed a reminiscent expression. "It seems to ring a bell ... I remember back then Peeves created a mess in the records room and some of the folders were destroyed in a fire, including the music score of the school song. It happened all the way back ... before that incident the school song hadn''t been sung for some years, I think at least seven years, because none of the students at that time knew it ..."


    "So the school song didn''t have a single tune since then?" Felix was a little surprised to learn about this.


    "Actually, there is one, we found the backup from the library a little later." Slughorn explained, "But when Dumbledore found out about it, he thought it was sufficient to just keep the words and that the tunes could be changed at will."


    Later in the night - Harry sat on the four-poster bed in his dormitory and took out the stuff from his trunk one by one. He lifted the top lid of the trunk and a thick stack of parchment spilled out, Ron picked up the one that fell in front of him and looked at it, and he couldn''t help but raise his eyebrows, "I didn''t know you developed a hobby of linking names, is there a pattern?"


    "They''re real." Harry said, "And I''m going to write to them one by one."


    Neville stood behind Ron, smacking his lips a little as he looked at the parchment.


    "Is it still about Headmaster Dumbledore''s biography?"


    "Yeah, to inquire about some details. Elphias Doge wanted the biography to be as good as it can be." Harry said. For the next few minutes, Ron and Neville were excited to chime in the familiar names they knew in the list, using it as a sort of game to compete to see who recognized more names-and when one got more names in the list, they felt that they got one up on the other person.


    Seamus, who was making his bed, peeked over and grinned, "Cormac McLaggen is going to go crazy with jealousy."


    Harry rolled his eyes.


    "Yeah, at the cost of puzzling over phrasing, considering grammar and expressions every day." In fact, he did much more than that, he also spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Dumbledore might have thought at different times, which was really not an easy task, Harry once experienced something similar - he spent some time in the mind of Voldemort to sense the other man''s emotions and guess what he was up to. Harry felt he was doing the same thing now.


    "Let''s think about something more serious," Ron asked, "what do you guys think Emmeline Vance will teach us tomorrow? I never knew she specialized in Transfiguration, I always thought she specialised in dueling, she gave us guard duty, remember?"


    "She''s good at quite a few different subjects," Harry said without thinking, "Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and she even invented a few simple and useful little spells. Dumbledore thought very highly of her."


    "That''s amazing," Ron said, as he carefully placed two wizard pieces on the bedside table before lying down on his bed, "and that Centaur - I noticed that Trelawney didn''t show up for the whole thing, she must have been pissed about it."


    Harry shrugged, and the image of Trelawney gritting her teeth in the mirror in her room came to his mind. He suddenly thought of Luna, who is in sixth grade this year, and she would probably take Firenze''s course.


    At this point, Neville, who was still sitting in the same place, hesitantly spoke up.


    "Harry, can you bring me along when you guys go to Transfiguration class tomorrow?"


    Harry looked at Neville in surprise, but immediately a flash of long-ago memory clicked, "Oh, I remember you applied for the O.W.Ls exam in Transfiguration last year, so that means you--"


    "Done!" Neville grinned.


    Ron sat up on his bed with a start.


    "What did you get on the test?"


    "E." Neville said quietly.


    A chorus of exclamations echoed through the dorm.


    "That''s great." Harry gave a thumbs up as others in the dorm gathered around Neville to celebrate, "So you can once again strive towards Auror?"


    "How did you pull that off, Transfiguration is probably one of the subjects you''re least good at, right?" Seamus asked him.


    "I think it was Animagus that helped me," Neville said softly, "During the practical test, the examiner said I would be able to make it to the front of the pack."


    "Is its effect really that dramatic? I want to try it now." Seamus was envious, and at the same time he felt somewhat motivated to give it a try; both he and Dean had mastered the Patronus magic which would greatly help in learning Animagus.


    "Neville also worked very hard himself and spent quite a bit of time." Harry reminisced, he kind of couldn''t remember what Neville was doing during that time, but he vaguely recalled him spending a lot of time with Hannah, and he even managed to borrow Hermione''s notes.


    "Honestly, it''s a little too late at this point, unless you''re planning on staying in school for a whole year." Dean''s tone was tinged with regret as well, and then they had a long discussion on this subject until they went to bed.


    "I remember a gorilla captain from a Slytherin team a few years ago stayed back in school, what was his name again?"


    "Marcus." Harry vividly remembered him since he had left quite an impression.


    "That''s right, that''s him. He ended up graduating from school with just one N.E.W.Ts certificate, I think it was Ancient Runes!"


    "Amazing, isn''t it?"


    ...


    For the next week, Felix stayed at school and had a rare leisurely time. As he mentioned while talking to the other professors at the dinner banquet, after a month of back-to-back actions, both he and Akingbade needed to take a breather; he wasn''t the only one in the International Confederation of Wizards, and even if he wanted to solve all the problems in one go, he couldn''t do it.


    Under Felix''s mediation, the various countries'' ministries of magic did not act rashly (they also wanted to wait for the results of the British negotiations to come out), but they still reached a consensus on two things, the first of which was naturally the formation of a pan-magical alliance in their region, following the example of the British Ministry of Magic. Felix spoke to Ms. Bones, and she immediately decided to send six experienced squads, and the local Future World Company branch would also cooperate with them as much as possible.


    The second matter was equally significant, that is, the preparation for the general assembly of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    Just like three hundred years ago when representatives of various countries'' wizards gathered to formulate the Statute of Secrecy, a new legal framework will be defined. In addition to the few remaining members of the International Confederation of Wizards who were working intensively on the preparations, senior officials from the various Ministries of Magic were also working on this.


    A week later, after a short break, Felix left the school. The memory body in the Classroom Seven would be enough to teach in his place by pretending to be real. Moreover, for wizards - especially for him - distance is not a concern, and he could even be able to return to school for lunch every day at noon.


    When he saw Akingbade again, he was staring with a sad face at the huge map of the world on the wall.


    "Here, here, and these places ...," he said, tapping a dozen times on the African continent area, "are all occupied by Grindelwald, who has managed to recruit a new generation of young acolytes locally to replace the former old ones, and some of the small groups of wizards who tried to resist or break away from the control were knocked out of existence."


    "The change over there was way more radical, it was like a firestorm." Akingbade said.


    Felix wasn''t surprised, because that was something he had pulled off personally. He extracted the Grindelwald Code from the ruins of history, picking out what could be still suited to this era, even if it was somewhat radical, and under his care, Grindelwald''s name is now very famous, and various kinds of reports about him are being placed on the desks of various muggle and non-muggle organizations.


    Meanwhile, as a representative of the wizardism (similar to nationalism) ideology, Grindelwald also gained a large number of fans, which made Akingbade fall into deep fear and doubt.


    "Grindelwald is smarter and more dangerous than we thought! Rather than watching from the sidelines, he tried to escape the confines of the ''unbreakable vow'' by choosing the most chaotic Africa in the name of saving wizards as a way to break the rules and regulations - I know what you''re going to say," he told Felix, "even if he is truly sincere and believes arrogantly that he is the Chosen One who will save wizards from destruction - one thing you can''t deny is that his power is expanding rapidly."


    "I won''t deny it." Felix said.


    "Then-"


    "Since we can''t take care of the situation there for now, why don''t we leave it to him, and don''t you also think some of his actions make sense? According to your analysis, Grindelwald''s real purpose is would be to combine more than two hundred loosely-organized wizard authorities into some twenty Ministry of Magic-like organizations ... In the future, the wizards in that land will be more united and easier to manage."


    "But he will use the unified army of wizards to fight against us!"


    "What about the vow that restrains him ..." Felix couldn''t recall how many times he had moved that reason, because he had said it too many times recently, but today Akingbade was staring at him without changing the topic, so Felix had no choice but to change his reasoning, "Well. If necessary, I''ll step up to make sure both sides are united."


    "How is that possible?!" Akingbade shouted.


    "The circumstances are rapidly changing, Mr. Supreme Mugwump. So anything can happen." Felix said seriously, "At this stage, Grindelwald has little influence on us, on the contrary, his presence can deter some people with bad intentions - more than I can."


    "Ugh, how good it would be if he stood on our side," said Akingbade with a sigh, his eyes showing an illusory glint, "he won''t just be the sinner who overturned the Statue of secrecy and heavily damaged the Magical World with his own effort, but, rather... ..." S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Yes, What is it?


    Akingbade was unable to describe it, and he said those words not to justify Grindelwald, but to lament and regret.


    After knowing that he had been duped, he could not wait to smash his fist all over that hateful and cunning old face. This kind of thought had been stuck in his mind for weeks, and when he learned that Grindelwald intended to make Africa his own territory, instead of withdrawing, it became even stronger. In his mind, this was an outright act of dividing and fragmenting the wizards, a bitter and ingenious plot of the ambitious person.


    Unfortunately, Akingbade was unable to do anything but watch. He could not even go back to Africa to personally see what was happening back home, as he feared that instead of receiving a welcome, he would be beaten by a few nameless men who believed in Grindelwald''s philosophy and brought in front of Grindelwald to be ridiculed by him.


    Felix, the only one who could protect his safety, strongly rejected the idea of going to Africa, and placed his attention on Europe and America, or to be more precise, he even left America aside for the time being, to which Akingbade had a lot to complain about, as he suspected that he was afraid of facing Grindelwald.


    But Akingbade also recognized a fact.


    From a utilitarian point of view alone, Felix''s way of proceeding has nothing to criticize, on the contrary, with the passage of time it has gradually shown its correctness. Instead of rushing into a conflict with Grindelwald and showing off his might (which Akingbade found hard to believe), and instead of wasting time facing the near unresolvable mess in the Americas in the short term, he raced to re-establish the prestige of the International Confederation of Wizards.


    In a single month, the Confederation is no longer an empty shell.


    The above is the opinion of Akingbade, as well as a part of the wizard community, and if it changed to Felix, his thoughts would be very different - it is because nobody can assume that Grindelwald and Felix are essentially the same person because they have two completely opposite nature.


    With Felix''s deliberate efforts, Africa has almost become an independent kingdom.


    He did exactly what Grindelwald always wanted to do, and even Vinda Rosier, the only one who knew the truth, sometimes wondered: whether it is Felix who is disguised as Grindelwald, or it is Grindelwald who is disguised as Felix Hap?


    At least as far as she is concerned, Grindelwald''s ideology is eating away the minds and existence of African wizards in a gentle way, and growing as vigorously as a wildfire in the past month.


    "If it wasn''t for his physical condition, he could very well shine in this era, but of course, if that really happened it would mean that he and I would be on completely opposite sides of the fence."


    Felix muttered with emotion. When he said this, he had just taken down a group of wizards who had ''taken advantage of the opportunity to grow in the chaos'' by his personal might, and over fifty of them were now collapsed on the ground, staring at him with their heads tilted up in anger.


    Felix waved his hand absent-mindedly as a new generation of acolytes took over the area with their heads held high in an orderly manner.


    "So exactly whose ideology do you favour? Is it Grindelwald, or is it Dumbledore?" Rosier asked in a low voice.


    "What ideology?" Felix asked rhetorically, "I''m here to solve some problems."


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 712:

    That day, Felix made a victory speech in Grindelwald''s face, a speech that would occupy all of Africa''s newspapers for the next two weeks, and would even spread to the non-magical world because of the unique chaotic situation in Africa. Afterward, Felix returned to the Confederation''s Headquarters, where Akingbade informed him of an announcement with a cheerful face.


    If there is no surprise, the International Confederation of Wizards General Assembly with great significance will be held in early October. Ms. Bones would be the representative who would systematically talk about the outcomes and significance of a series of initiatives over the past three months, as well as the results of their negotiations with the Muggle government.


    Naturally, the purpose of the General Assembly is to discuss the emergence of legislation that will take on the same significance as the Statute of Secrecy and derive various general guidelines for the various Ministries of Magic to implement the law accordingly. It may take a few weeks, but the merits are obvious -


    Wizards will reunite as a whole.


    And what gave Akingbade the most confidence that the law would be enforced was Felix Hap, one of the two archmages in the wizarding world who remained active on the world stage.


    In the afternoon Felix made a trip to visit the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic to meet with Madame Maxime as a school board member; they had actually met not long ago, at Bill and Fleur''s wedding, but Madame Maxime insisted on inviting him to Beauxbatons.


    "There''s no problem with the scholarship, is there?" Felix asked, he hadn''t bothered to check the inventory of Nicolas Flamel''s fortune in the vault, but just from simple estimation, it would last another century or two. S?a??h th? N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "The Gringotts goblins do transfer a sum of money to the school vault every year," Madame Maxime said with a not-so-pleasant expression on her face, "and they do mail the lists to you."


    "It may have been overlooked by me," Felix said without fidgeting, "There are simply too many people mailing me every year. So you didn''t call me because of this, right?"


    "Of course not."


    "Then what is the reason?"


    "Felix, you''re Beauxbatons Academy of Magic''s school board member, yet you''ve missed three board meetings and haven''t even shown up at the school since the beginning of the crisis." Madame Maxime said in a low voice, her chest beginning to rise and fall.


    "I haven''t forgotten about this identity." Felix immediately said seriously, "I have previously talked with you, and Nicolas simply did not bother with the affairs of the school, so like him, I have no intention of getting involved in the specific affairs of the school."


    "That''s a different matter, Felix." Madame Maxime protested, "Sieur Flamel has lived for hundreds of years, his sense of time is different from ours, and we don''t bother him lightly ... but you are only in your twenties, what do you expect me to tell the students? That the school board member doesn''t care about the school''s affairs in the wake of such a big event? "


    ...


    "So I stayed at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, walked around, and helped a few students with their academic problems, and ended up having a meal with everyone in the cafeteria - which went surprisingly well. The only thing that was a little awkward was that they called me ''Mr. Epp,'' but that is how it is." Later in the evening in the new Deputy Headmaster''s office, Felix said to Ms. Bones, "I can probably guess what Madame Maxime had in mind: they need a mascot to appease everyone. And they may also have the intention of asking for my help in case a problem arises."


    "She''s a responsible headmistress." Ms. Bones said, "It may seem a little trivial to you, but it is quite important for her to maintain her relationship with you. Why else would so many Ministries of Magic send people to the Confederation for your sake?"


    Felix hesitated, of course, he knew the reason, but he said jokingly, "I thought it was due to my excellent eloquence."


    The corners of Ms. Bones'' mouth curled up slightly as if she was amused by this statement.


    "Yes, Grindelwald took over a third of the African Wizarding Community, probably because of his excellent eloquence as well." After the joke, she said seriously, "Felix, now the Muggle Prime Minister is proposing to collaborate to finish an official dossier - there''s something besides letting the public know the details of our negotiating stage - and I want you to get involved. This will be the first document that will be jointly written and sanctioned by both sides, and it carries great significance. You have a great deal of experience in this area."


    Felix had almost forgotten that he also has a writer title, although his books weren''t bestsellers, but they were certainly on point professionally.


    He thought for a moment and asked, "How much progress has been made so far?"


    "The pace has accelerated considerably from what it was before," Ms. Bones said, "but we''re not just dealing with the somewhat stable domestic environment - there are oppositions, but it''s nothing serious; we can''t intervene in international public opinion, plus there are all sorts of conflicting organizations emerging, and all these factors can influence the peace talks. The tacit agreement we reached during this time period was to come up with something that both sides would feel satisfied with as soon as possible, to avoid complications ..."


    "As for the other issues, they will be written down in a memorandum to be polished later. You know, the Statute of Secrecy didn''t start out the way you see it now. ..."


    She briefly described the recent progress of the negotiations, and then extended the invitation again. Felix agreed.


    At night.


    Felix was at his desk reading the information left by Ms. Bones, which contained many important subjects originally drawn up by both of them, only as time passed, some of them had progressed and some remained unresolved, and he needed to know all the details like the back of his hand.


    The small golden clock on the desk pointed to twelve o''clock, and the office lights were still on. Felix looked up to find Valen dozing on her small desk, and with a small smile, he wrapped her up in the velvet quilt.


    In late September, a book with more than two hundred pages of thickness was publicly published. The media and publishers of both societies were in full swing, allowing the book to be placed on the desks of countless people as soon as it was released, to be studied over and over again. Some of its contents were summarized in concise terms in the newspapers, leading to rounds of heated debate, with each page setting off a wave of public opinion.


    But in fact, rather than being a negotiated pact, it was more like a political statement on witchcraft issued by the authorities - at least many journalists privately compared it to the government report. It represents the respective standpoints of the two sides, and mainly presents the facts and the results of the negotiations achieved so far, as well as the initiatives and expectations for the future.


    It is likely that some of the important statements in it will evolve into the groundwork for future initiatives by both sides, or be expanded into tailored legislation.


    " "Enabling the Exposure of Magic" is divided into three parts. The first part is subdivided into three chapters, which describe the significant collaboration between the two sides, a brief history of wizards, and the intersection that occurred between the two sides in history." Hermione said under her breath, running her fingers through the table of contents one by one, turning to a page and reading it for a while, then looking up with a complicated expression, "The people in charge of the negotiations must have put a great deal of thought into it, racking their brains for it-"


    "But it''s boring to read," Ron said, "I have the illusion that I''m reading a History of Magic textbook."


    "That''s the whole beauty of it, isn''t it? It''s as impersonal as possible." Hermione said, "But the real point of view is cleverly hidden, no, it''s shown to you in a straightforward way. But you are blind to it!"


    Harry looked at her, if it was two months ago he might not be able to understand the meaning of this sentence, but the recent frequent letter writing has given him a new sense.


    "Wait--" he took the book from Hermione''s hand, flipped to chapter three and quickly skimmed through the subheadings between chapters, and looked up thoughtfully, "I roughly understand what you mean, every word that appears on here is the result of the delegation''s struggle."


    Hermione let out a long sigh of relief.


    "What are you talking about?" Ron asked impatiently.


    "Look at this," Harry said, pointing to a page, "1917-" " It was during the First World War. " Hermione interjected. "- uh, that''s right," Harry continued, "a witch named Noel Leda sheltered the town where she lived, oh, and she was a bit special, originally an Englishman, then married into France ..."


    "Like Bill and Fleur?" Ron pulled a similar example out of his mind, "Only the relationship is reversed."


    Hermione warned him not to interrupt. Harry continued, "And then this, back then the Ministry of Magic repelled wizards from a rival country, which included taking control of an army of dragons, and hey, it mentions Mr. Scamander, who made a great contribution back then." He sounded a little excited.


    Ron gradually regained his sense, "It sounds like we made a lot of contributions? But aren''t wizards not allowed to be involved in the war between muggles?"


    "That''s true, but the Ministry of Magic also has a duty to protect the common people in their areas from the threat of magic." Hermione said, "Especially when some wizards and muggles have bonded, they are more inclined to protect their neighbours around them, something that is more common in times of massive social turmoil, and the Ministry of Magic has quite a few files - er, I mean records of violations."


    Ron rolled his eyes.


    "You mean, some wizards took it upon themselves to protect their neighbours during the war and ended up receiving penalties for using magic after being found out?"


    Hermione''s expression was also a little embarrassed, at least in this matter, the Ministry of Magic did not play any positive role.


    "The Statute of Secrecy was still in effect at that time. But when something like this happens, you will just be fined a little bit, and basically won''t be sentenced to jail, let alone sent to Azkaban."


    "Okay." Ron said reluctantly.


    "But all in all," Hermione raised her voice slightly, "the wizards featured on here are mostly presented in a positive light ... You know, there are quite a few who steal chickens and prank muggles, and all of them were eventually get punished by the Ministry of Magic. And their punishments speak volumes."


    "And that''s not all," she continued, "I think the most important thing about the first part of the book is that it presents two very important points in their entirety. The first point is naturally the affirmation of the role of the wizard, which mentions several kinds of magical disasters, which have been subsided by the wizard in the shadows. The second point - I don''t know if you''ve noticed, but all the ''wizards'' carry a word in front of them?"


    Harry glanced down.


    "British wizards? England?"


    "That''s right, all it discusses are about British wizards, and blurring out the fact that quite a few pureblood wizards have no nationality at all! Framing the discussion at an internal national scale, without worrying about outside voices-"


    "But the Pan-Magical Alliance ...?" Harry muttered.


    "Well, they''re different, Harry, very different." Hermione explained patiently, "Although essentially they are both designed to make wizards less constrained, they target very different audiences. The former - the term ''British wizards'' basically designed to exclude the intervention of other countries, or at least an excuse to refuse to bring this whole negotiation into international debate and drama; the latter, the Pan-Magical Alliance, is aiming for maximum autonomy for wizards internally. "


    "Sounds so complicated." Ron looked dizzy at the moment.


    "These are very serious political matters," Hermione said seriously, "even a tiny notification can bring a chain reaction, later on, this is why the Ministry of Magic has been postponing the formulation of various rules and regulations for some time now. Think about it, wizards don''t even have a profession like a lawyer ..."


    "Hermione," Harry said, "I know you''re right, but one thing you may have overlooked is the strength of wizards themselves. Do you know what I just thought of?" He didn''t wait for Hermione to answer, and stated the answer himself, "It''s Grindelwald, who is far away in Africa."


    "At the beginning of August, what we read in the newspapers about the situation in Africa was nothing but chaos - at that time the International Confederation of Wizards had not yet regained its prestige with the help of Professor Hap - and it all changed with the appearance of one man."


    "Harry-" Hermione said nervously.


    "A number of people predicted that in half a month at the most, African wizards would be involved in the regional dispute as an uncontrolled and dangerous force. Now two months have passed and instead of becoming more chaotic, the situation there has completely stabilized - and one of the most thrilling moments was when Grindelwald took down three hundred wizards in one night, relying on the power of one! Not even a single wizard died because of this, I don''t know if it was because of the restrictions of the vow ... Sometimes I have the illusion that Professor Hap and Grindelwald seem to have reached a tacit agreement with each other, to not interfere with each other for a period of time ... "


    "Some newspapers claimed that they are planning to duel in the near future, just like that legendary duel half a century ago," Hermione''s voice trembled slightly, "the two strongest people in the world, if they are not deterring each other, each can cause a horrible destruction effect on the other camp. "


    Ron also said uneasily, "All wizards are looking forward to it from the bottom of their hearts, it''s just not the right time yet."


    "It''s not just wizards who are looking forward to it." Hermione shouted pointedly.


    That''s right, it''s not just wizards who are looking forward to it, all governments have taken notice of it, and they all seem to be extremely wary and curious about wizards with the title ''Archmage''. The two men, Gellert Grindelwald and Felix Hap, the former seemed to be an ambitious man, an ambitious man who had failed once, but with his appearance in the wizard tavern in the Egyptian capital, his threat level continued to rise.


    As for the latter ... he seems to excel in magic called Ancient Rune, has also been to the moon, and his prowess in combat remains hidden in the mists, but at least his survival ability is beyond comparison.


    This kind of countermeasures and analysis comes entirely from instinct, and almost every regime does something similar, but it doesn''t mean that they intend to go to war with wizards, especially with their own.


    What they really have a hard time tolerating are guys walking around with nukes in their belts ... Naturally the fewer such people the better it will be; if there is a chance to reduce them, they would welcome it.


    In this process of analysis, they also found a strange fact.


    The power gap between wizards seemed unimaginably wide, and even though all those general abilities mastered by wizards made them feel extremely troubled - such as Apparition, travelling in flames, being able to create terrible fires that were hard to extinguish, folding space - nevertheless these seemingly ''powerful'' wizards were still dwarfed in front of ''Archmage''.


    They can only attribute this to the magic and trickiness of magic. Modern weapons are basically built on the foundations of science and physics, with many subdivisions, and everything seems to be in order. Unfortunately, it is still difficult to decipher the principles of magic with the current scientific theories. Just look at the scientists who are about to make themselves bald.


    "The second and third parts elaborate on ... respectively"


    Similar analyses were conducted all over the world. At about the same time, Grindelwald''s manifesto also spread with the previous two weeks of fermentation.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 713: Guessing

    From the beginning of the school year until now, Harry felt his attention seemed to have been broken into six or seven parts - Quidditch, Dumbledore''s biography, Head Boy duties, clubs ... The difficulty of the seventh-year curriculum had also increased over time, and the professors seemed to be waiting for this moment, intending to stuff all kinds of advanced magical knowledge into their heads. In the Charms Class, the excited short professor Flitwick shouted in an exaggerated tone.


    "I want to teach you guys all kinds of useful spells, but I''m afraid your barren little brains won''t be able to keep them all!"


    The students below looked at each other with a blank expressions.


    "But don''t worry," he said with a smirk, standing over a stack of thick books that were stacked up as usual. "I will teach you something much more practical, something closer to the essence of a spell ... such as the reserving spell, which allows you to launch two very different spells at once; and how to analyse and construct an unknown spell, which will certainly come in handy if you plan to invent one later; or other advanced spell casting skills, such as the sequence of different spells effect on the same target and how to reduce the interference ... and so on."


    The crowd was not spared in the Potions class either. Harry felt as if he was back in the first year - after the failure to make a Boil-Cure Potion in the first class, Snape had trained them for weeks on the most basic potion techniques -


    The students in the advanced class had to do their best to meet Professor Slughorn''s different requirements in each lesson, such as "using rose petals and toadstool to reduce the toxicity of wolfsbane aconite" and "how to maximize the effects of a potion with limited ingredients" ...


    Even Emmeline Vance, who has newly taken over the position of professor of transfiguration class, after familiarizing herself with the teaching task, has given her students new requirements: the seventh-year students should try to combine the theory of transfiguration with various complex types of models to synthesize them based on the continued study of the transformation of materials and properties. After that she transformed a feather into a bird, then the bird''s long beak flattened, the feathers fell off, and black fluffy fur grew out as it turned into a Niffler. The students were amazed.


    "It is just a matter of physical appearance." Emmeline Vance said, "My takeaway is not to stick to the previously learned transfiguration image, and figure out what results you want to attain with it."


    Snape''s attitude, on the other hand, is the most uncomfortable for students.


    Even if he switched to his favourite subject, his attitude has not changed much. In the recent Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Snape flipped the textbook with a clatter till the end, and the students traced his movements with their eyes, guessing which part they were going to learn, but when Snape reached the end, he simply tossed the book aside.


    "Today''s class would be an out-of-syllabus topic, and this lesson will not be part of the test at all." His dark eyes swept through the classroom, "This means that this class will not be very helpful to those who just want to get their N.E.W.Ts certificate, those who don''t want to listen or don''t understand it can come back next week."


    No one left voluntarily. Although everyone was irritated and had a feeling of being belittled. They secretly braced themselves to respond in kind. As a result, the students walked out of the classroom one by one with their heads down, apparently, none of them were able to meet Snape''s requirements.


    "You know what''s really irritating?" Dean yelled indignantly, "He actually suggested for me to use my free time to do something else ... like swim in Black Lake or something."


    "That''s not surprising," Seamus said, stifling a laugh, "you almost hit him with your Hair Loss Curse. Think about it-"


    "But the seventh-year classes are truly valuable, with a dazzling variety of defensive and dueling spells with advanced applications," Daphne Greengrass quipped excitedly, "You just can''t think about using ''Freezing Charm'' like that normally, it was like stopping time of opponent''s spell, how amazing ..."


    On the afternoon of the last day of September, Hermione walked out of her dorm room with a box in her arms and sat opposite of Harry and Ron. The two stared at the box with rapt attention, and Harry looked uncertainly and said, "Hermione, is it possible that there''s some kind of badge in it?"


    "-and it doesn''t have mockable acronyms written on it, right?" Ron added.


    Hermione raised her eyebrows.


    "Of course not!" She opened the cover of the box and emptied out the contents, a thick stack of newspaper clippings immediately piled up like a small mountain on the table. Harry and Ron moved over to look at the pile. "These are the ones I''ve collected over the past month of school, and now I have to reorganize them."


    "Are you going to sort them as you did over the summer?" Harry asked.


    "Hmm." Hermione said.


    "Any idea what''s going on?" Harry asked as he and Ron rummaged through the table, picking out what they were interested to read.


    Since school had started, the summer newspaper cutting work was gone, and the other students subscribed to one or two newspapers at most, except for Hermione - she ordered every newspaper and magazine she could get hold of, one by one. Every other week, the Grangers would send her a package containing as many Muggle newspapers as they could get their hands on.


    "The news is always lagging behind, but there is still some useful information to be gleaned, and I must say the changes are happening every day." Hermione said as she looked down and sorted, "Especially after the publication of the book "Enabling the Exposure of Magic" ..."


    "I know that without even reading it," Ron grumbled, "the whole world is changing, only Professor Binns'' class stays the same."


    Harry''s eyes stopped on a small newspaper clipping, and he looked down to read what was on it.


    ''The location selected for the new wizarding town is situated in Cornwall, and it will be called Rutherford. Two hundred wizards have already moved there, and it is known that Rutherford is adjacent to another wizard-muggle mixed settlement - known as Tinworth village, with the construction of the new town, the surrounding wizards will have more options ...''


    Tinworth ... Harry stared at the name blankly, then he abruptly asked Ron: "What was the name of the place where Bill and Fleur finally settled?"


    "Shell Cottage." Ron said casually.


    "No, I mean the exact location."


    "Oh, I think it is on a cliffside by the sea in Cornwall," Ron showed a reminiscent expression, "Bill wrote to me to inform me - on the outskirts of a village called... . What was it called?" S?a??h the Nov?lF?re .??t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Tinworth." Harry said with certainty.


    "That''s right, that''s the one."


    Harry nodded and continued to read the neatly printed font on the newspaper clipping, ''Rutherford will be the second all-wizard settlement in England, the first being the Hogsmeade village, and those involved in building the town including twenty-four workers and fifty-seven wizarding families have chosen to settle here, thanks to their contributions... ...''


    Harry saw Longbottom''s family name on a long list of names.


    The second news article featured in the Daily Prophet was a reprint of an interview from a Muggle newspaper in which a seemingly well-connected guy criticized the idea of doing business with wizards, saying that wizards should be banned from dealing with certain industries ... Harry put down the clipping, accustomed to seeing this kind of opposition pop up every now and then, and reached for another small, palm-sized piece of newspaper.


    The piece of newspaper was printed in small, compact letters about Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States receiving twelve children with magical talent, all of them were not old enough to go to school, the oldest being only ten years old and the youngest being only six. Harry read about how these children had been forced to take special drugs and required to cooperate with various experiments before getting rescued, and he was stunned for a moment before continuing to read the following paragraph, the second of which stated where they came from - ''the descendants of the scourers. The Scourers had once despicably betrayed their own kind, choosing to intermarry with Muggles to avoid punishment and abandoning any children who showed magical talent ... These people were ultimately punished.''


    A surge of both anger and relief rose up in Harry''s heart, followed by a vague whim popping into his head, but it was cut short before it could take shape.


    "Hey! Hear this," Ron exclaimed excitedly, "this Muggle newspaper praised Dumbledore for deterring two generations of Dark lords by himself, and they mentioned that now it''s Professor Hap''s turn to take the baton, and they''re curious who''s the strongest wizard-"


    Hermione grunted sarcastically, "They just want Grindelwald and the Professor to fight."


    "I''m kinda curious too," Ron read the news with interest, "they call Dumbledore the Sword Bearer, that''s a cool title, but he was holding a wand, not a sword ... not sure though, maybe they were referring to Gryffindor sword?" He gestured in the air with one hand, pretending to hold a sharp goblin sword.


    "How''s the biography coming along?" Hermione looked over at Harry, putting a stack of newspaper clippings in a small binder.


    "It''ll take a few months at least to finish," Harry muttered, "Mr. Doge is very demanding."


    Hermione shrugged, and received small clippings of newspapers from Harry, which she skimmed over as she glanced down, before sighing, "I hope these children will receive proper medical attention." But then her gaze froze, the sympathy in her eyes replaced by alarm.


    "No, it shouldn''t, it can''t be ..." she muttered to herself as she stared at the tabletop.


    "What''s wrong?" Harry asked.


    Hermione held her breath and asked quietly, "Do you think ... these children, they were the first ones? Is it just them? Will there be more people-"


    "What first ones?" Ron asked, stopping his movements.


    Harry''s eyes snapped wide open. The vague notion that had just been looming in his head became clear all of a sudden, but he preferred that it wasn''t true.


    "You mean there were others before them who might be brought under the control of the local government-" Harry couldn''t bring himself to say another word, his expression turned grave, this speculation is too awful.


    Ron looked left and right, and snatched the clipping out of Hermione''s hand as he read it quickly. His face gradually became pale and terrified as he combined it with what he heard. But he immediately thought of something, "I think - it probably isn''t as you think, Ilvermorny has similar magic like Hogwarts, any young wizard who shows magical talent will be recorded - well, these twelve children are just not old enough to use magic to leave enough traces."


    Harry and Hermione froze for a moment, Ron''s words seemed to make sense, and they couldn''t find a loophole for the moment. The two breathed a sigh of relief. After organizing the newspaper clippings, Hermione took out a book, "Enabling the Exposure of Magic" from her beaded pouch, but she seemed distracted for a long time, and she didn''t even have an appetite for supper.


    Eventually, Harry proposed to visit Hagrid, and Ron and Hermione had no problem with it; when they stepped out of the castle and stood knocking at the door of Hagrid''s hut for ten minutes without getting a response. They know there is no one inside. "Hagrid is not at home, probably went to patrol the forbidden forest." Harry said, "How strange, obviously the lights are on."


    "Or maybe he took Grawp for a walk - either way, we came for nothing." Ron said with a frown.


    They could only head back, and Harry turned back several times but did not see Hagrid, or a figure more massive than Hagrid.


    "Let''s come back tomorrow, Harry." Hermione advised.


    "Don''t forget to bring the Marauder''s Map, so we don''t have to worry about not being able to find them." Ron suggested.


    "Good idea," Harry said: "But there is no need to carry it with us, we can just make sure that Hagrid is at home before we visit, my copy of the Marauder''s Map can''t reach the depths of the Forbidden Forest - what''s wrong with you, Hermione? "


    Hermione suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes went wide with terror in them.


    "The Marau ... Marauder''s Map... can''t spot ...," she exclaimed, springing to her feet. "Oh, I suddenly thought of something very important - but it''s best to make sure of it first, I''ll find you guys later." Without waiting for Harry to raise a question, she ran into the entrance hall in a flash.


    "What did she thought of?" Ron asked, in bewilderment.


    "I don''t know," a shadow clouded Harry''s mind as he thought of those American scourers and all other heavy topics they had discussed during the day, but what could the spotting and the Marauder''s Map have reminded Hermione of? "Come on, let''s follow!"


    They ran towards the stairs, but even after climbing five floors in a row, there was no sign of Hermione. "She probably went to the library." They turned back again and searched the library for a while under Mrs. Pince''s sharp eyes, but they still didn''t find her. The two were forced to return to the common room and wait for Hermione to return on her own.


    On the other hand -


    Hermione came to the Ancient Runes office, which was similarly locked, and apparently, the Professor had not returned to school even at this late hour, and she hesitated for a while, unsure of what to do. At that moment a strange ringing sound issued from her, and she took out a glowing sneakoscope from her beaded pouch.


    "Is that Valen?" Hermione''s eyes lit up, if Valen is back, the professor must be here too.


    She took the Seeker - no, the Niffler Sneakoscope- and walked down the grand staircase, and soon returned to the entrance hall. She stayed in front of the House point hourglasses for a moment to identify the direction, and then walked down the underground passage with an odd look on her face, could they be in Professor Snape''s office?


    With this thought in mind, Hermione followed the stone steps to a spacious underground corridor, which was brightly lit on both sides, with vividly coloured portraits hanging on the walls and the occasional Hufflepuff student or two talking behind the pillars - this was not the way to the original Potions Professor''s office.


    "..."


    Hermione''s face became even more odd, "Well, it is not impossible." Finally, she stopped in front of a painting of a huge silver bowl filled with fruit. She took a deep breath, stretched out her index finger, and gently tickled the large blue-green pear. The pear squirmed and turned into a green handle.


    Hermione pushed open the door - the Hogwarts kitchen is inside - and her eyes swept across the spacious, neat room, which is as big as the great hall, with four long dining tables identical to the one in the Great Hall, and she walked quickly past it to where the kitchen really is.


    Hermione found the target at once. Originally her heart was filled with unease and dread, but now she actually wants to laugh a little. Felix was sitting on a small round stool, the kind that house elves usually sit on, with his hands on his knees and his eyes fixed on the huge fireplace. He was surrounded by dozens of house elves. She took a few steps forward, and she spotted a small black furry figure through the gap between the elves. It was Valen, who was also sitting on a small stool, hugging her knees and staring at the fireplace with glowing eyes.


    An enticing scent filled the air.


    "Gulp." Hermione couldn''t help but gulp, she hadn''t eaten anything all night.


    Felix turned over on his side on the stool, revealing a dozen or so roasted fish constantly spinning and sizzling in the fireplace, and his eyes flashed with surprise.


    "Granger? What a coincidence to run into you here - uh, I haven''t had a chance to eat dinner yet, you -" he scrutinized Hermione''s face, "you came to find food too, right? "


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 714: Dangerous Assumptions (2 in 1)

    She is not here looking for food to eat. Hermione thought indignantly - although her principles had long been polished to be extremely well-rounded and flexible by her successive adventures, she still often wondered how she was surrounded by people who considered breaking the school rules (and sometimes the law!) as simple as eating and drinking - She avoids breaking the rules (and sometimes the law!) and tries to behave honourably unless she has a good excuse.


    So she hesitated to say that she had once incidentally made a Niffler Sneakoscope, which was inspired by Grindelwald, who had given one to Neville. But the words stopped on the edge of her mouth, because, well, it kind of seemed like she had an ulterior motive ...


    "I''m not hungry--" Hermione opened her mouth to explain, but the next moment her stomach grumbled. Her face instantly turned red like fire.


    The fire in the fireplace was blazing. Hermione didn''t know how she sat down, it seemed as if the professor had just extended an invitation, and when she came back to her senses, she found herself sitting upright on a small round stool (provided by the house elf), staring at the sizzling roasting fish in the fireplace, her face felt hot from the heat.


    Hermione lowered her head and found Valen looking up at her, her little dark eyes twinkling brightly.


    "I have been rather busy lately, wasn''t often at school." Felix said, "I heard that the students kinda like being in Classroom Seven?"


    "Oh, yes. Professor, what have you been up to these days?"


    "Just wandering all over the world. Yesterday I dealt with another magical incident," Seeing Hermione''s surprised look, Felix explained: "By chance, a farmer found a wizard''s discarded Self-Stirring Cauldron, the magic on the cauldron was no longer effective, but there was still a residual Draught of Living Death in the cauldron, the farmer used the cauldron to prepare a dose of insect repellent. Thirty cows were found unconscious the next morning ... It was even reported in the news."


    "Was that discarded cauldron a mistake, or did someone leave it there on purpose?" Hermione asked with a frown, "I know some wizards like to tease muggles, Ron''s father dealt with many similar cases."


    "It''s hard to say," Felix said after thinking for a moment, "I guess it was just an accident. A number of wizards who have been living in muggle communities have returned to the wizarding world during this time, and Hogsmeade alone has expanded outward twice as a result of the relocation, so it was likely someone had left it behind when they moved."


    "Mr. Hap, Miss Granger." At that moment, a house elf wearing a wide white scarf appeared, holding a silver tray with stacks of small cookies and three goblets filled with pumpkin juice. "Thank you, Cloudbur." Felix took a cookie, Hermione also said thank you, and then Felix was keenly aware of the difference in addressing.


    "So, do you know each other, Cloudbur?" He asked. It was quite evident from the way he was calling her, as he called her by name instead of how they would call other students.


    "Yes," the house elf Cloudbur said respectfully, "there was a period of time when Miss Granger used to drop by frequently, Cloudbur and the rest were puzzled at the time, and many elves were upset about it, but then we understood - Miss was fighting for elves rights. "


    Hermione waved her hand repeatedly, gesturing to the house elf not to go on, so Cloudbur bowed deeply and left. In fact, Felix was quite curious to know what the house elves thought of the Pan-Magic Alliance, and he wondered what kind of perks and rights the Ministry of Magic had come up with for house elves; probably a few extra days of rest plus money to buy gifts for their masters.


    The kitchen was a little quiet for a while. Then Hermione heard the sound of metal clinking, she looked over and saw Valen pulling out a pocket knife and fork from her little pocket and tying a palm-sized emerald green handkerchief around her neck, when she saw Hermione staring straight at her, she hesitantly pulled out another red handkerchief and handed it to Hermione.


    "Kee?"


    "No, well, I-I don''t need one, and it''s too small for--" Hermione trailed off, when Felix chimed in, "Give me one, too." Valen grunted in displeasure and slowly took out a bright yellow handkerchief and shoved it into his hand. Felix waved it in the air, and the handkerchief grew larger magically with an additional layer of runes embellishment.


    He placed the handkerchief that was several times larger on his knees and turned his head to look at Hermione.


    Then Hermione took out her wand and pointed it at the handkerchief, which immediately transformed into a wide dining cloth, then the fireplace in front of them brightened up, with a dozen sizzling roasted fish floating in front of them, shiny and rich in flavour, looking very appetizing.


    Felix, Hermione, and Valen each took a grilled fish, the rest were given to the house elves, the house elves did not refuse, and they dutifully carried over three small tables, which were placed in front of the three. Then they went to the side to enjoy the food.


    This kind of behaviour that goes against the nature of the house elves surprised Hermione, but it did happen, so there could only be one possible reason: this same thing should have repeated many times, and the house elves know that it is hopeless to reason with them, so they no longer bother to make a protest.


    Hermione took a bite of the fish, she did not sense any fish bones, and could not help but praise the miraculous spell that extracted fish bones, in her heart.


    This late-night meal was extremely weird.


    The crowd was large, like a dinner gathering, but the house elves were basically silent, but judging from their contentedly swaying bodies, and tiny physical gestures, you can tell that they are in a very happy mood, which caused Hermione to have an illusion of participating in the festival of a mysterious tribe.


    Moreover, she also gleaned a secret from the movement of the house elves swallowing food - thanks to her sitting on a stool less than a foot high, she could clearly see - it is difficult for wizards to distinguish the gender of house elves through their outward appearance. But today Hermione figured out that male house elves had slightly protruding throat knots, while female house elves had softer, less noticeable lines on their necks. Exactly the same as humans.


    Hermione wondered if this secret was obstructed from being discovered due to the fact that house elves always talk with their heads down. Seeing how the plates started to become empty, and they had eaten and drunk their fill Hermione finally remembered why she came over.


    "Um, Professor?" She wiped her mouth with her napkin and said, "Those kids you saved from the U.S. government ..." Felix turned to her, his plate was long empty. "There was a lot of discussion in the ... newspapers, but all in all those comments were both positive and negative,"


    "Quite normal," Felix muttered, "when you put yourself in the public eye unless you are so bad enough to be disgusting, you will always receive both praise and criticism. But I don''t suppose there are many people who question the need to save those kids, are there?"


    "That''s right. With the publication of the book "Enabling the Exposure of Magic," a number of anthropologists and historians have already recognized ancient wizards as one of the early humankind, and the director of the British National Museum claims to have found evidence from the murals of primitive people: it is believed that wizards were first to appear out of two communities: primitive warriors, who gained their magical powers by fighting magical creatures, and rituals, for example, using the blood and bones to perform rituals ..."


    Felix was unconvinced by this conjecture; he had made similar guesses, but they were only guesses. The specific origin of wizards is so old that no one knows the exact truth. Moreover, there is no standard method of analysis. What exactly marks the emergence of wizards? Did the use of magical creatures to create ''magical artefacts'' and other things marked it? Or did the first appearance of mysterious powers in ancient humans mark the emergence of wizards? Or perhaps - is it only truly founded when magical knowledge was summarized and passed on to other gifted individuals?


    The significance of each of these three is quite remarkable. The first example represents an attempt by humans to harness magic; the second example means that magic is something that inborn in wizards from the very beginning; while the third example implies that magic could be imparted, and thus the mastery of magic went from an individual to a group.


    Or perhaps none of the above is accurate; why can''t magical creatures and wizards both emerge at the same time?


    Felix did not attach too much importance to the answer to this question, and when it was discussed, he asked for this "unproven history" to be included simply in terms of public awareness to avoid many questions.


    Hermione, after elaborating on the contents of the newspaper clippings, concluded.


    "The controversial part is about the tactics you use, Professor - they want to solve the problem through the law, not frontal confrontation, and there is a lot of debate about whether wizards have the right to investigate and enforce the law."


    Felix said in a low but firm voice, "They can discuss it, but I''m not going to compromise on this matter."


    Hermione bit her lip. But this was not why she was here tonight, beside Grindelwald''s approach was much more radical - he is promoting total revenge, believing that once a country or individual tries to steal a wizard''s power, a wizard can retaliate by any means, like how the witch who lost her daughter had burned the lab with a Fiendfyre did.


    "Are all those children fine?" She asked in a whisper.


    "Fine, except for a few frightened ones." Felix glanced at her, not elaborating on the inner details of the situation. "Ilvermorny''s healers will take care of them carefully, along with necessary examinations - magic is not the only way to modify memories, except for the fact that all means other than magic are more tedious and must be performed in a closed environment for a long time."


    "Therefore, I simply checked whether or not they had a locator device on their bodies." s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Locator device?" Hermione said in surprise: "Won''t those kinds of technological gadgets fail due to being close to magic? I read in Hogwarts: A History-"


    "With the other side''s intention to probe, expecting them to automatically fail would be too passive and incautious," Felix said, then paused as if hesitating to reveal more, but then he went on, "In fact, I suspect the local government knows some general locations of wizard gathering place. The relationship between the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the United States Muggle government is not good, as potential enemies, they will naturally try to collect useful information, and it''s quite difficult to keep it completely secret."


    "But--" Hermione''s face looked shaken.


    "You are worried that they might try to initiate a war since they''ve our locations?"


    Hermione nodded.


    "The chances of that are slim to none." Felix smiled and said, "All magical communities - especially schools - are shrouded in magic, at worst shielded by Muggle-Repelling Charm and Intruder Charm, with a huge range of coverage. Trying to breach it by purely technological means - I don''t know if it''s feasible, but it certainly would require a huge amount of time, and the wizards staying inside could be evacuated quickly; as for using heavy artillery weapons ... maybe there was a possibility of that at first, but it''s near completely gone now. "


    Hermione looked at Felix in confusion, and Felix waved his hand so that their voices could not spread out and could only be heard by the three of them.


    "Granger ... Since you decided that you want to be a Minister of Magic as your career choice, and you did show potential in that area, we can talk a little deeper on this subject. I don''t want this conversation to be made known to the public, not even a word of it can be revealed, even to Harry, Ron, and your parents ... are you okay with that?"


    Hermione agreed with some nervousness.


    "Very well, let''s take the United States for example, due to their history, they have a much lower percentage of wizards, almost forty to fifty thousand. Let''s discuss the most extreme scenario - these wizards suddenly suffer a devastating attack and lose a lot of people, but the possibility of half of them surviving is still quite high, and this is still the outcome when the Magical Congress of the United States of America would be foolish enough not to find any hints of attack."


    Hermione imagined the scene, she had seen documentaries on human warfare and had a clear idea of the horror of intense artillery bombing coverage, her body shook sharply, and her face turned pale.


    "But then what?"


    Felix said in a calm tone, "This is the beginning of the war, not the end. Once this happens, there will definitely be a mass fleeing of wizards, but there will also be a significant number of wizards who will stay and decide to fight till their death, because of the loss of their family, friends, and everything ... A person who has nothing but vengeful thoughts will turn into a reasonless beast, and at the same time the most tenacious warrior. We know from past history that weapons will be upgraded the fastest during the war years. Still, I''m 100% sure that wizards will only grow faster than that, especially if they choose to let hatred fill their hearts, war will make people cold and apathetic, and at that time, Fiendfyre would simply become the most merciful method of killing and destruction ... "


    "No, that''s horrible, we should never let that happen." Hermione murmured.


    Felix looked at her quietly and after a moment he said, "That''s what we''re doing. Well, forget about it. The above is just an academic discussion, a hypothesis, and basically will not happen. What do you think we''ve been trying to do all these months? You should go back, it''s about time for lights out."


    Hermione silently walked towards the kitchen entrance, Valen yawning and curled up in Felix''s arms. They came into the entrance hall, and Hermione suddenly said, "Hold on, Professor, I have something very important to tell you, and that''s why I was looking for you - I went to your office, but you weren''t there."


    She just received a huge mental blow, and almost forgot the real purpose of her trip.


    "What was it?"


    "When we were sorting through the newspaper clippings this morning, me, Harry and Ron discussed a possibility ..." Hermione said quickly what had happened during the day, and Felix shook his head slightly, "The Magical Congress of the United States will guard against this, they''ve already had some clashes over this with the Muggle government. As for the young wizards who are not yet enrolled, there is indeed a chance for it, but Ilvermorny-"


    "Professor, you want to say that the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has collected their names, don''t you?" Hermione said quickly.


    Felix''s expression grew serious, Hermione obviously wanted to say that there are loopholes that can be exploited ... a sudden scene flashed, it is the words that Professor McGonagall had said to him: "There are three students refused to enrol in the school."


    In fact, refusal to enrol is no big deal, he previously did not attach too much importance to it.


    The procedures are all pretty much set. When this happens, Hogwarts will send a few professors to communicate with the parents, and if the communication is unsuccessful, it will be reported to the Ministry of Magic, who will dispatch another person to deal with the situation (using the Obliviate if necessary), accompanied by years of supervision. This process generally lasts until adulthood (the later it becomes, the less it matters), which is 17 years old, meaning that those who give up on magic basically won''t be able to accidentally create damages due to emotional outbursts after that, and their magic will gradually become dormant due to long periods of unexercised magic.


    This is quite different from the Obscurial. Obscurials are children who have been physically or mentally abused, and grow to hate and repress their magical abilities, refusing to cast spells. They are basically unrelated to those who give up magic because the Obscurial hardly lives past the age of ten.


    Felix also only mentioned it to Professor McGonagall after learning what happened to Dumbledore''s sister and knowing that some rare Obscurial might live past the age of ten.


    "... The light in Hagrid''s hut was left on, making us think he was in the house the whole time, but in fact, he went out, and Harry''s Marauder''s map had a limited search range, so once Hagrid went deeper into the Forbidden Forest, there was no way to find him." Hermione continued, as her lips began to tremble, "But the point is, was he really in the Forbidden Forest at that time? And what happened? We don''t know all these ..."


    There is no need to say more.


    Felix fully understood her thoughts, and precisely because of this, his expression turned frosty like never before.


    If the young wizards had stayed in the country, they would not have been in danger, and even if they happened to be in danger, it would be quickly noticed, but what if one day their family decided to emigrate? Or any other reason? The endless sea is beyond the reach of the wizard''s magic.


    At this moment, as they speak, would there be a ship or two, or a submarine, carrying the little wizards wandering around? No one would know what had happened to them before they set foot on land. Naturally, this also includes the possibility of never docking.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 715: The Awakening of Memory

    After separating from Hermione, Felix returned to his office and entered Classroom Seven. The space in Classroom Seven seems to have expanded again, here both imagination and reality will intersect; you might have originally walked a few steps into a path in this place, then it would suddenly turn into a beautiful garden ... Felix deviated from the path that students usually use in class, and through the layers of mist, a small, humble village emerged before his eyes.


    Felix stood in front of a small, plain house and knocked on the door.


    It was Grindelwald''s memory body that opened the door. To Felix''s surprise, what he saw before him was not the image of a younger person, but the face of Grindelwald in his old age, but when he looked closer, his face seemed a little different.


    "I knew you would visit me, so I used this face to meet you. I have been waiting for you for a long time." The old man grinned and laughed. He was wearing a purple robe, his demeanour was calm and subdued, and there was no trace of hostility could be discerned.


    The two of them sat down opposite each other. "You have something to share with me?" Felix asked, and then gave the old man a curious look, "Are you complete now? I mean, your memories-"


    "Of course, of course." Grindelwald said, "At this moment when I''m talking to you, I''m more complete than ever. You know what? After staying for a while, I''m actually not very happy with this place."


    "Why?"


    "One reason: it''s too dull, and only two memory bodies in the whole space have the characteristics of life, which is equivalent to half a living person." Grindelwald said. This surprised Felix quite a bit, because although the memory bodies looked like they are alive, they are very different in the way of existence compared to real people, for example, their perception of time is very different.


    "You surprised me just as much by appearing to be no different from a regular person." Felix said as he looked at Grindelwald''s memory body with a probing gaze, and the other man smiled without speaking.


    "Other than the first reason? You said you were waiting for me, so it has something to do with me?"


    Grindelwald nodded slightly, then slowly shook his head again.


    "I did initially intend to talk something with you, after the funeral, I decided to leave the necessary information and talk openly, but you never came ... later those ghosts told me what you had done in the meantime, and I decided that there is no point in talking anymore, you have fully grasped my intention. "


    "Then today--"


    "It''s a sort of farewell. Or would you like to hear a story from my past? You know, it''s a strange feeling to meet them, but they don''t remember me like I''ve turned back time and everything starts over, but I''m the only one who remembers what really happened. My memory becomes a burden."


    "Do you mean Dumbledore, or his sister Ariana and nephew Credence?"


    "Aurelius," Grindelwald said slowly, "I prefer to call him that, that boy has helped me a lot."


    Felix made a gesture of listening.


    "Aurelius Dumbledore," said Grindelwald, "I remember ... well just seventy years ago. He chose to join my side during the underground rally at Lestrange Mausoleum, after my careful planning. You can''t imagine the importance I placed on him."


    "Because of his lineage?" Felix asked.


    Credence was Dumbledore''s nephew, but for a long time neither Dumbledore nor Aberforth knew of his existence, and it''s fair to say that it was a huge secret at the time, and it definitely took no small amount of research for Grindelwald to figure it out.


    "More than that, he was an Obscurial, an Obscurial who lived to adulthood. His potential was unimaginable, surpassing ninety-nine percent of wizards by sheer instinct alone despite never receiving a systematic education in magic - I had planned for him to follow my footsteps."


    Felix was taken aback by this statement, and he looked at Grindelwald, who had no need to lie, and Felix sorted out many scattered threads along the line.


    Grindelwald''s biggest obstacle at that time was Dumbledore, even with the Blood Pact standing between the two, as long as Grindelwald didn''t give up his dream of ruling wizards and muggles, they would surely go against each other as the whole world would force them to do so.


    In the end, even the most unbreakable blood pact proved that everything would crumble.


    "Rather than sitting back and waiting for Dumbledore to find me, my plan was to nurture a wizard who could rival Dumbledore and fight him on a number basis." Grindelwald said slowly.


    "Nurture an Archmage? That was a daring notion." Felix relaxed his breathing, he put himself in Grindelwald''s shoes at the time, and all he could think was that this plan was a thousand times harder.


    "A bit whimsical indeed, but I eventually found a solution - perhaps even the only viable solution, the Obscurial."


    Felix drifted off. Grindelwald was aware that the Obscurial couldn''t live past the age of ten, the proof was Dumbledore''s sister Ariana. Perhaps he originally had the idea of finding a young Obscurial, taking good care of him, and helping him subdue his own dark magic, the Obscurus, but he didn''t expect to accidentally pick up the lost child of the Dumbledore family. Credence.


    "A child who rivals the Archmage in terms of potency and emotionally constrains Dumbledore simply fits my requirements perfectly." Grindelwald''s memory body said slowly and thoughtfully as if he was personally sitting in front of Felix, talking calmly to him about past schemes and hidden secrets that were not known.


    "That rally also allowed me to grasp a crack in the Ministry of Magic as an Auror killed a common folk who came to hear my speech, which gave me a perfect excuse. It was not me who sought out violence, and from that point on, the Acolytes engaged in a full-scale confrontation with the existing hierarchy of the Ministry of Magic."


    "My power expanded rapidly. In the middle of this process, Aurelius and a woman who could read minds played a huge role. The former appeared all over the world while receiving my teachings, and defeated the Aurors in various countries; the latter - I remember her name was Queenie - used her innate talent to identify the spies placed in our ranks by hordes, and with the ability of Legilimens she was able to keep a check on bad apples."


    "Everything was moving in a good direction." Grindelwald said calmly. But Felix knew there was a twist coming, and sure enough -


    "I had kept the secret of Aurelius'' identity hidden, to use it as a killer, ready to use at the critical moment. But several accidents occurred one after another, on the one hand, a phoenix followed him everywhere on the battlefield and became famous. A phoenix -" Grindelwald clicked his tongue, "the Dumbledore family has a legend; when their family members are in dire need, a phoenix will appear. It was probably what drew Dumbledore''s suspicions; I was forced to reduce his appearances."


    "Good times did not last long, his body went out of order, and his ability became extremely unstable, I thought of some ways, but I still couldn''t do anything other than watching his body moving toward its collapse, perhaps this is the fate of Obscurial ... I was disappointed by this, I was sure he also realized this by himself, he volunteered to assassinate Dumbledore; but I refused, as he was totally not Dumbledore''s opponent at that time. Later ... later he brought over his little girlfriend, she was Maledictus, when they met again, her condition became serious, and most of the day she took the snake form. They stayed together all day until one day, Aurelius disappeared for a while and came back empty-handed ..."


    "Is that woman''s name Nagini?" Felix asked.


    "Do you know her too?"


    "I know her and even met her once, but in the appearance of a snake. I think it was Aurelius who set her free."


    "Set her free?" Grindelwald repeated in a low voice, "I thought she was dead."


    "Remember the woman I mentioned who could read minds? She had the same problem - well, it wasn''t about how her sister, desperately tried to bring her back, but something else - she had a muggle ... lover and wished for them to publicly stand together. But after so much time, there was no hope in sight, so her stance began to waver. I noticed her negligence, especially in the most important task - the assessment of Aurelius'' mental state and in the matter of concealing his origin. When I realized this, I knew that the original plan was not suitable anymore, and I had to speed up."


    "I decided to run for the International Confederation of Wizards'' Supreme Mugwump seat that year. In fact, no matter what the result was, I was ready to wage war against the Muggles, but there were many people opposed us at that point in time, and I wanted them to join my side."


    "I found a clue about the Qilin, which has unique magic that can increase the chances of my victory in the campaign, so I sent several small teams to look for it, and finally it was Aurelius who brought it back. I turned that newborn Qilin into a puppet, and also saw part of the future with the help of its blood ... saw Dumbledore. At that time I had a premonition, although I handed him the blood pact for several years, he did not find a way to crack it, but I did have a bad feeling."


    "It turned out to be just as I expected. I managed to get elected as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards thanks to the already dead Qilin, but that trick was foiled when Newt Scamander brought in another Qilin, and it turned out they were twins. It was all Dumbledore''s master plan, he had no idea what he had done. It wasn''t that I wanted to create division, but rather he was creating it. At that moment I finally made up my mind, I drew my wand, and Aurelius stood in the way ..."


    Grindelwald''s eyes became cloudy.


    "It was as if everything had happened just yesterday, me, Dumbledore, and his brother, three of us all at once fired out, while the defenseless Obscurial stood next to us, nevertheless the result was very different, Aberforth was irrelevant, my spell connected with Dumbledore''s, and the chains wrapped around his hands finally shattered."


    "I had a brief clash with Dumbledore, the first time we had fought in over thirty years, and when my hand contacted his heart, I could feel his heartbeat, but could no longer sense his inner thoughts. This meant that the Blood Pact was completely broken."


    "The plan was forced to suspend, and temporarily I couldn''t focus on waging war on Muggles, Dumbledore got in the way, even though I came the closest to success."


    "So the Blood Pact shattered because - " Felix asked.


    "I''m not sure, it was an accident."


    "It couldn''t possibly because of love, could it?"


    "Huh, maybe. The Blood Pact uses blood as a link, but it takes a strong emotion to solidify the magic into shape, and we''ve been bound by that emotion for decades, and we can''t break the bond no matter how hard we tried. The only thing that makes sense might be that Dumbledore used a stronger love to override the limits of individual emotions at that time."


    Grindelwald''s memory body stood up and walked to the door. S?a??h the N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Why are you telling me all this?" Felix asked all of a sudden.


    "Perhaps because, after today, this will become a permanent secret."


    Silver specks of light began to escape outside of Grindelwald''s memory body, then his face changed little by little, becoming younger, and his back regained its stature, his hair turned into a brilliant gold colour, and when he opened his eyes, his pupils were clear blue.


    As he said at the beginning, the memories of the past became a burden, and if he wants to start over, he must let go of unnecessary things.


    ...


    When the students came downstairs the next day, they found a white and cold fog covering the yard. As the trio passed the bulletin board in the entrance hall, Harry saw a group of people pointing at the bottom, and from the looks on their faces, the notice was a positive one.


    "Let''s go over and take a look." Ron said.


    "No need," Harry said, "I know what it is, if nothing goes wrong, it should be about the first Hogsmeade weekend schedule."


    Ron whistled lightly.


    "That''s great, I heard some new stores have opened in Hogsmeade, I''ll have to check them out." He said, "But how did you know that?"


    "I suppose," Harry flashed a smile, "probably because I posted it there myself."


    "Ron," Hermione said kindly, "If you look closely, you will also find the handwriting on the notice resembles the homework you usually use for ''reference''."


    Despite knowing this in advance, Harry looked ahead in anticipation to this short trip in three days, he simply wanted to go out and let off some steam and clear his head, even if it only consisted of having a drink with Ginny at the Three Broomsticks and spending two or three pleasant hours.


    "Hey Harry," Hermione said, "you could take this opportunity to ask Mr. Doge to meet you, didn''t you say you wanted to talk to him face to face?"


    Harry froze, and halfway through he muttered, "I''ll write to him."


    "Why don''t you guys use the communication mirror?" Ron asked, in confusion.


    "Mr. Doge isn''t used to it." Harry said, "He thinks writing letters will help him clear his mind."


    At that moment Neville came towards them, his face was flushed, and he seemed to be wider than usual, it was uncertain whether it was from the cold or from being overdressed. They went to the great hall together to eat.


    At about the same time, Felix appeared at the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Horace Grimsditch, President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, appeared not long after. When they were about to part, the expression on the other two men''s faces looked extraordinarily grave.


    "I will send Aurors to search and investigate," Horace Grimsditch said in a deep voice, "and the investigation will be conducted in secret, without affecting the next general assembly of the Confederation."


    The Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry also said, "If there are really young wizards in their hands, the most cost-effective way is not to imprison them or do all kinds of experiments, but to let them grow up - whether it is for the purpose of cracking the mysteries of magic or training a force of wizards of their own, both of them are better than Simply imprisoning them. What''s more, they can also send them to find out all kinds of information by using their wizard identity ..."


    They talked in detail for a while, and then Felix appeared at the headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards, waiting for the assembly that would be held in the afternoon. He had a vague picture in mind, and Grindelwald''s words made him realize that he was also creating a division between wizards as a whole, although this might not be obvious at the moment and seemed necessary - Grindelwald''s identity did make some of the problems easier - but there is no doubt that the two forces will eventually have to be brought back together.


    "It requires a perfect opportunity ..."


    ---------------


    [Author:]


    Felix and Grindelwald definitely need to meet, but meeting in reality, would not meet the expectations, so it was changed to Classroom Seven; also out of frustration with the new films, I took the plot of the last three films, and combined it with my own ideas to tinker with it and insert it into the book. I''ve always wanted to do this, but I didn''t find the right opportunity before.


    -----


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 716: The General Assembly that is destined to go down in history (2 in 1)

    At three o''clock in the afternoon, the general assembly was held at the Headquarters of the International Confederation of Wizards. It was a spacious room, comparable to a standard basketball court, but it was a bit crowded when more than four hundred chairs were placed there, not to mention an empty space in the middle, covered with a purple and gold-trimmed carpet for occasional speeches. In the front of the meeting space, there was a large seat that was specially cushioned, the seat of the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and near the Supreme Mugwump''s seat, there were some reserved seats that were allocated for the Deputy Supreme Mugwump, the Recorder, along with some unmarked seats, which were not permanently designated for anyone, as they were reserved for people who were invited according to the theme of the assembly, such as Amelia Bones.


    Some people followed Ms. Bones'' line of sight to the young man diagonally above her, the man''s expression was not as serious as hers, he carried a smile on his face, as he fiddled with a peculiar hat in his hand, and the two were having a quiet conversation. Felix Hap, it is unknown how many people recite this name in their hearts with awe, with Akingbade''s prestige alone, it is simply impossible to assemble these people all together, this current scenario is almost single-handedly brought together by him.


    Felix Hap is seated next to Akingbade on his right side, looking pretty radiant as if the pressure has been lifted from his shoulders. He was dressed in a layered and finely detailed robe and sat high on the platform. A ripple ran through the hearts of the delegates participating in the general assembly. The seat of Deputy Supreme Mugwump on the left side was currently vacant and seemed to be reserved for Felix Hap - it is not unprecedented in history to see the Supreme Mugwump ignoring politics and the Deputy Supreme Mugwump taking the helm of leadership.


    In fact, the last Supreme Mugwump Dumbledore did the same thing, except for the fact that he was the one who took the initiative to distribute his control.


    "You dyed your hair?" Felix asked with interest.


    Ms. Bones, who was in the process of checking the materials, gave him a blank look and hummed through her nose, "Hmm." "-and your complexion is much better, did you take a beauty potion?" Bones'' movements froze. Felix whispered, "If I look more closely, your hair seem--" "What happened to my hair?!" "-it seems to have grown longer, wait let me check through my memories-" After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and said with a definite look, "Yes, it has grown longer. "


    Ms. Bones who seemed slightly embarrassed, whispered, "Felix, this is a serious occasion today!" But she seemed visibly distracted, as she flipped the material in her hand over and over.


    "What occasion?"


    "You mentioned it that da--"


    "A happy occasion!" Felix said with a straight face, "The last time when we were at Bill and Fleur''s wedding, I saw Sirius posing like a little Love God Eros with a chicken leg, well, or maybe I was wrong, it was more like--"


    "Bah, shut up."


    ...


    When the current Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Babajide Akingbade tapped a small wooden mallet, the crowd gradually quieted down.


    "Three centuries ago, we formulated the Statute of Secrecy here, which worked splendidly until the wizarding world was completely exposed. Therefore, I would like to ask for all of your help to formulate a similarly guiding and forward-looking law with the same sense of historical responsibility."


    "I am honored to have Ms. Amelia Bones, who was involved in the whole process of negotiating with the Muggle government and smoothly reached a common consensus, the details of which are written in the book "Enabling the Exposure of Magic", which can be found right at your reach ... Mr. Felix Hap, an expert who was also deeply involved in the negotiations described the finer points of the book to me; no hasty sentences were allowed in the agreement, each line of text was carefully chosen to fit the moral tone of both sides, and you may notice that the second and third parts of the book were referred from time to time. He will assume the right to maintain order in this General Assembly and to mediate on controversial issues."


    Akingbade paused for a moment after saying this, and when no one objected, he looked to his right, "Felix?"


    Felix nodded and said briefly, "Amelia, you may begin."


    Ms. Bones'' calm, and collected voice echoed through the open conference hall. She wore her familiar monocle lens on her eyes, her face was half hidden in the light and shadow.


    " ... The second part mainly covers the progress and results of the negotiations between the Ministry of Magic and the local government, as well as a part of the unsettled segments of the negotiations; the last part covers the cooperation that has been initiated or soon going to be implemented, such as joint law enforcement, magic stores --oh, and we chose to include some books for sale together with complimentary products, assuming that this would facilitate a better start ..."


    "As you might have guessed," she said as she glanced at the chattering crowd, "I will do my best to offer everyone here support in terms of relevant background information and specifics." She sat down.


    "Thank you, Amelia, and thank you, Babajide." Felix said in a booming voice, as his eyes darted over each face.


    "We will formulate a far-reaching law that will rival, and in some places even surpass, the Statute of Secrecy."


    "It is not meant to only last a year or two, but rather, it will stand the test of time, just like the Statute of Secrecy. Because of this, we will not spend time deliberating specific by-laws, much less discussing trivial issues like ''how much should a drunken wizard be fined or imprisoned for blowing up a dustbin'' - that''s the sole responsibility of the Ministry of Magic, you can go discuss and negotiate with your local government, follow local customs, adapt to local conditions - what we need to determine is what is acceptable and what is not, in terms of emotion, in terms of belief, and in terms of principle."


    "It will become the common guidelines for the future wizarding communities, a shared belief in the hearts and minds of all, and once established, no individual or group, no subsidiary law can violate them."


    "Well, everyone is now free to speak, to offer independent opinions, or to ask your queries in response to Ms. Bones'' previous speech."


    The representatives from various countries began to speak after a period of silence, and as if to liven up the atmosphere, a witch with thinning yellow hair asked spiritedly, "Bones, why did you choose to sell children''s books, is it because you believe that those muggles are in dire need of additional common sense?"


    There was a low chuckle arose from the crowd, but many more choose to refrain from laughing.


    "For two reasons," Ms. Bones said calmly, "first, I and-" she glanced at Felix, "we believe that magic is mysterious in the eyes of the outside world, so in the first one to two years after the initial contact, whatever we come up with will attract huge attention, and we want people to understand the culture and concept of wizards more than about potions, food grown with magic and magic items with various special functions, and also to prove one thing: except for magic, there is no essential difference between wizards and ordinary people. "


    "The second reason - which is also mentioned in the book "Enabling the Exposure of Magic" - is that the wizarding community should be integrated into the outside world in a gentle way, with as little impact as possible on the existing systems and social orders on both sides; thus the logical reason behind why we did this is obvious; it''s no big deal for ordinary people to have an extra comic book at home that could automatically flip pages or story frames that moves, but if they have an extra invisibility cloak at home, something is likely to go wrong."


    The questions became too sharp for Ms. Bones to handle alone, so Felix joined in, looking as comfortable as if he were answering questions in a classroom - and the key point was that there was no one present who dared to be unreasonable with him.


    Some new Departments also took shape during the process of discussion. For example, the International Magic Technology Collaboration Review Committee - is responsible for reviewing collaborative projects between the two sides; the International Magic Trade Association - is responsible for transnational trade as well as the vetting and certification process for the list of Category 1, 2 and 3 items; the Emergency Issues Investigation Division -responsible for communicating and dealing with difficult and potentially high-risk emergent situations.


    The quill in front of the Registrar scribbled furiously.


    A red-haired wizard mentioned the Pan-Magical Alliance. "At the moment, there are many local branches being established voluntarily, and although the pace of development varies, they are all at least in the process of establishment, but not even a shadow of the Headquarters of the Pan-Magical Alliance is in sight."


    "Perhaps we can make it a subordinate division of the Confederation?" A wizard suggested.


    "Doesn''t that mean the other races would still live subordinate to the wizards?" The red-haired wizard objected, "We definitely need to concede some rights in exchange for their support to the wizards. The old way won''t work in this new era, and those races are our natural allies ..."


    "You mean to let the Pan-Magical Alliance reign supreme over the Confederation?"


    "I didn''t exactly mean that."


    "Then what do you mean?"


    "Well, at least I am not like you who only knows how to evade questions! Cowardly Diricawl!" The red-haired wizard spewed an expletive.


    "Beware of spit, you slimy ghoul!"


    Seeing that both sides were arguing fiercely and no one could convince the other, Felix cleared his throat and the crowd quieted down.


    "This issue will be noted down first, when the conference gets further in-depth maybe there will be an unexpected solution."


    After a few moments, there was a commotion outside the door. People who were in the middle of a heated discussion stopped and looked toward the door. Immediately after a sharp knock was heard on the door, Akingbade frowned, and waved his wand, layers of magical light converged, and a man pushed in the door with a panicked look.


    "What''s wrong, Claude?" Akingbade shouted at the man, "Didn''t I tell you to guard the door and strictly forbid anyone from disturbing?!" S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Claude stammered for a few moments before saying, "Gr, Grindelwald--"


    "He actually dared to come?" Akingbade''s face showed astonishment, and the conference hall was horribly quiet as if the pause button had been pressed. Then many people sprang up from their chairs with a look of panic, and the room suddenly became a chaotic mess.


    Felix frowned, realizing that he had overlooked the fact that the people attending the conference were not young, and most of them had witnessed first-hand how Grindelwald had reigned supreme and stirred up the entire wizarding world.


    Just when everyone was at a loss for words, a calm and loud voice hammered on their hearts like a drumstick -


    "Silence..."


    The crowd looked at Felix, who was sitting upright on the stand, then he stood up and calmly turned to Claude and asked, "Claude, finish your sentence."


    "Yes, yes, Mr. Hap." The man stammered, "Grindelwald didn''t personally show up, it was his men - I mean," his half-bald head was covered in fine sweat, "he sent a delegation, too, nearly twenty men, saying they are here to attend the conference!"


    The conference hall seemed like it had exploded.


    "Let them in." Felix said as he suppressed all the murmurs. The various countries'' ministry of magic delegates looked at him as if they had found their backbone, and then turned their eyes to the door again with an expectant expressions in their eyes. After waiting for a few seconds they heard messy footsteps, and then a line of people came in from outside.


    The leader of the group is a tall woman with dark skin, gray eyes, a few yellowish brown markings painted on her face, and her dark, brownish red hair neatly combed behind her head, held tightly by a spiked iron ring-like headband.


    "Leibert?" Akingbade said, looking at the woman in surprise.


    "Akingbade, it''s been a long time." The woman said, in what seemed to be a sigh of relief. The two people''s greetings indicated that they knew each other. She calmed herself and spoke aloud in a monotonous voice, a bit like a theatre actor reciting lines for the first time on stage: "Margate Leibert, Egyptian Minister of Magic, meet you all."


    "There is no Ministry of Magic in Egypt." Akingbade shouted in a muffled voice.


    "There is one now." The woman with the headband said, looking over at Akingbade and Felix and choosing her words carefully, "We were ordered by Gri... to attend the Confederation''s conference, and that man said that African wizards make up a tenth of the entire wizarding world''s population, and since it''s an international conference, we certainly should have to come along for the ride. "


    Akingbade said hesitantly: "In that case ..." he was a bit indecisive, his expression kept changing as if he was having a complicated mental struggle, then he froze in place for a while.


    Felix waved his hand, and a row of seats and desks appeared out of thin air, then he gestured with his eyes to Margate Leibert, "Welcome - perhaps there will be division among us in the future; but when our deeds incorporated in the world-historical database, we all will share the same common alias ''wizards''." Margate Leibert inhaled and walked toward one of the seats, exchanging glances with the people who had varying expressions as she passed along the way.


    The man behind the woman intended to follow suit but was stopped by Felix with a look.


    "Those who come in will need to state their names and identities in turn." He said calmly.


    Right behind her was a clean-skinned, short, chubby man who stopped with a jerk on his heels and introduced himself somewhat awkwardly, "Mu, Muto Tobias, Minister of Magic of Nigeria." After saying that, he carefully glanced at Felix, and when he saw Felix nod slightly, he quickly walked to follow her in front, and the crowd noticed that his clothes were already soaked with sweat -


    If Akingbade or Hap ordered these two dozen people to be locked up, there was nothing they could do.


    Well, if there were those who cooperated, then naturally there was also a rash fool, but that fellow had now turned into a painting, which was picked up and carried by the Confederation''s clerk who hung it on the back of a chair, leaving the man with nothing but a pair of dark eyes that turned from side to side in terror, which looked surprisingly rather comical.


    "What nerve." The old wizard next to him muttered, "He won''t be able to recover forever, will he?" As soon as the words left his mouth, the pair of black and white eyes turned even more. The old wizard sneered a bit and rolled up the painting on the chair as if it was a piece of paper.


    Another older witch reached out and touched it with her fingers, then hastily retracted her hand and made a disgusted sound.


    Felix looked at the first woman who sat down and asked as if nothing had happened, "Nona Leibert is your-"


    "Second daughter." The woman looked a bit flattered.


    "She made quite an impression at the Goblet of Fire." Felix said.


    "Oh, thank you-"


    When the group of people sat down one by one after introducing themselves, all of them present was a bit dumbstruck, not to mention anything else, just the extra two dozen Ministry of Magic in Africa was enough of a surprise, but some people also secretly exclaimed, if they were to hold a gathering previously, Africa was capable of sending over more than two hundred people as representative. But the question is, whether Grindelwald is actually sending them to the front as puppets, or is he really prepared to implement reforms and establish a new system in Africa?


    Akingbade froze for a moment and accepted Felix''s way of proceeding as well, and after they all settled down, he asked with a sharp look in his eyes, "What does Grindelwald exactly mean by this?"


    Margate Leibert shook her head, "No one knows what he has in mind."


    "Then will he abide by the resolutions made by the Confederation''s General Assembly?" Akingbade pressed on, and Margate Leibert proceeded to shake her head, and he sighed in disappointment. Despite expecting it, he couldn''t help but feel a sense of disappointment.


    "At least he''s willing to send someone over, which means he''s not planning to cut off contact with us completely." A wizard said. His words drew a low murmur of agreement. "No matter what, we are all wizards."


    These words had an effect, and those attending the conference no longer treated these uninvited guests as outsiders, but the next point of focus seemed to be off-topic, as the delegates from various countries began to ask about the situation of the African wizards living in the ''enemy-occupied zone''.


    "Mr. Grindelwald ... he brought together the originally loose autonomous organizations and gave us a clear division of authority, such as the Egyptian Ministry of Magic, which was forcibly united on the foundation of the previous twelve regional autonomous organizations; he also introduced the Wizard Code as basis guiding for ruling and management. I have carefully studied the content of the above, and it has many similarities with the book published by the British Ministry of Magic, except it is more sharply worded, and demands the prohibition of action on some matters ..."


    "Can you tell us about that part?" Felix asked coldly, "It might help with the topic of this conference."


    "Oh, uh, yes." Margate Leibert said.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 717: Subtle changes (2 in 1)

    Margate Leibert spoke at the Confederation''s headquarters. "... It is necessary to protect the wizards'' own heritage - well, I think he means the ones that are worth preserving. Otherwise, wizards will easily disappear like sand swept up in the sea and lose our footing, and the accompanying dangers will be deadly ... Some buffer zones will need to be laid down. Then there is also the matter of how to educate the young wizards ... over the violation of the rights of wizards as a whole when facing such violations ..."


    Gradually, these twenty or so African delegates also joined the proceedings, but few people realized that they were actually presenting Grindelwald''s views, or more accurately, some radical, intense opinions that, if nothing unexpected happens, will take root in some people''s minds and grow stronger in the subsequent years of implementation.


    At least Felix doesn''t have to worry about the Confederation becoming a pool of stagnant water after he let it go of his hands.


    ...


    Time passed, and the weather gradually turned chilly, on Saturday morning before heading to Hogsmeade village, Harry, Ron, and Hermione coincidentally chose to wear scarves to keep themselves warm, they met in the common room and then walked towards the school entrance with their classmates laughing and talking.


    "Surely it''s not that cold?" Ginny said in a somewhat surprised tone next to Harry.


    Several younger grade girls passed them, chattering and giggling excitedly, each draped in a pretty light-colored cape. Harry bet that these girls must be third-year students. He had only seen that kind of excitement on the faces of people who were going to Hogsmeade for the first time. In addition to the little wizards who had wrapped themselves up tightly, others were dressed very simply, with only a coat over them. Harry suspected they had got the seasons mixed up.


    "Parvati went through her trunk last night and complained she left her thermostat locket at home." Hermione said, which solved Harry''s doubts. "So I advised her to wear more, the temperature has been a little bit low lately, and there are a lot of people getting colds this time of year. Madam Pomfrey had prepared a batch of Pepperup Potion in advance."


    Ron sniffed and immediately tightened the scarf around his neck.


    Harry hurriedly handed his scarf to Ginny, who arched her eyebrows and smiled brightly. "You could use a warming spell, Harry." Hermione suggested, and Harry did exactly that, at which point he noticed Ron sizing himself up with a scrutinizing look, followed by a humming sound coming from his nose.


    "Very considerate." Ron said mockingly.


    It was probably due to the effect of the warming spell, Harry felt his face burn a little, like a furnace that refused to diffuse heat. Ginny, on the other hand, graciously took Harry''s arm and said as if no one was listening, "Ignore that vile hypocrite, he also writes letters to girls himself."


    Harry''s eyes widened. Ron turned red and defended himself desperately, "She wrote to me first! Asking if I wanted to join her squad after graduation-" he turned his head to Harry, "You knew about it, didn''t you? I even teased her with you for not blending in well ..."


    "Seems so," Harry said as he slowly recalled, "but I remember her birthday passed long ago, I did not expect you to still be in correspondence with her aha.."


    This time it was Ron''s turn to feel self-conscious.


    Hermione asked in confusion, "Who are you talking about?"


    "Collins." Harry said briefly.


    "Oh-" Hermione trailed off, remembering that both of them wanted to be Minister of Magic, "How''s she been?"


    "Not too bad." Ron muttered.


    When they arrived at the Hogsmeade village, their first thought was that there were more people walking on the streets, and many of them were unfamiliar faces. At the entrance to the village, there was a schematic map, and they went over to look at it and saw that two new streets had been built in the eastern and northern parts of the village respectively.


    Being the one and only - oh, now it has become one of the only two exclusive wizard villages in Britain, Hogsmeade has shown the wonders of magic and magical people of all shapes, sizes, and colours, and as they passed the bickering wizards of both sexes, Harry swore he saw a male wizard with vampire fangs.


    At that moment, an owl with snow-white feathers and black spots quietly descended from above their heads and landed on Harry''s shoulder. The owl gently pecked his ear, "Ouch - oh, Hedwig?" Hedwig haughtily stretched out a leg for Harry to remove the note tied to it, which he unfolded and read, before he looked towards the other three.


    "Mr. Doge will be here a little later, he told us to hang out somewhere for a while." Harry said. He patted Hedwig''s beak, "The dorm window is open, I left food for you there." Hedwig flew off.


    "Great," Ron said happily, "Let''s go to the Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes and Future World Company store first, there may be some new products available, and we can get a sneak peek - "


    "Good point, so where shall we go first?" Ginny asked.


    "It''s been a long time since I''ve seen Fred and George." Harry said so the group went to the Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes first, but Fred and George were not there, with only two sales clerks who were busy. Harry was a little disappointed, he also wanted to ask the twins if they had passed the Muggle government''s purchase list, although he seriously suspected that the prank products of the brothers would be returned mercilessly.


    They politely thanked the clerk for his help and strolled around casually.


    Fred and George''s store is as fascinating as ever, full of colourful blobs of light and all sorts of comical noises, and some strange gadgets sprang up from the shelves, corners, and ceiling every now and then to scare people. Harry repeatedly warned himself not to overreact, but when a spider with thick eyebrows dangled down from the ceiling using a web, he couldn''t help but laugh.


    He turned his head to show this to Ron when he caught a glimpse of Hermione reading a pamphlet and talking to the clerk. The look on her was not like someone asking questions about a new prank product on the brochure. He curiously went over - a small jellyfish fireworks exploded amidst the crowd, and then immediately a young boy was surrounded by a group of jellyfish of different colours - Harry heard Hermione asking the clerk: "Can I take one? "


    "Of course, you can, it''s a free distribution from the Ministry of Magic." The clerk said.


    "What''s that in your hand?" When the clerk left, Harry inquired. Hermione pointed to the box on the floor, in which there were neatly stacked identical pamphlets to the one she was holding, and on the outside of the box, it read ''Travel Guide - to get you through the Muggle world without a hitch. Provided by the Ministry of Magic.''


    "Wow." Harry said.


    "Well it looks pretty much on point to me, isn''t that so?" Hermione flashed a smile, "I''ve just read a bit of it, and it recommends for wizards visit the big cities if they want to, where they might feel more welcomed, for example, London has recently attracted a lot of foreign tourists, all of them are interested in magic."


    Ron and Ginny came over with a bunch of things in their arms.


    "Hey, look at this!" Ron said excitedly, carrying two colourful packages: "Weasley Boutique prank gift bag, it has all the best-selling classic products that have been available since the establishment of the store, with an additional free dark lord figure pendant; there is also a muggle special snack gift bag, the price is somewhat expensive, but it is barely acceptable."


    "Uncensored version -" Harry asked, pointing to the printed words on the package, "what does this mean?"


    "Well, do you remember that product list review at the Sword Castle? Percy eliminated some of the products for being potentially harmful to Muggles, but well--" Ron shot Harry a knowing look. Harry stared at the sticker of a boy gazing at the gallow on the package in a daze, wondering what this product corresponded to. At that moment, Ginny jabbed him in the waist with a finger, gesturing him to look at what she was holding.


    It is a translucent box, and through the packaging, you can see that it contains twelve small bottles, with a sticker of several males and female wizards riding a flying broom with fascinated and intoxicated expressions on their faces, accompanied by fierce-looking trolls and goblins. "It''s not some kind of prohibited item, is it?" Harry asked worriedly, and Ginny moved her thumb aside, so he could read the name of the product, which read - "Daydream Charm, Quidditch Exclusive Set."


    "Very interesting," Harry said dryly, "I can finally understand why even goblins and trolls can sit on flying broomsticks." The temptation of being able to play a game of Quidditch with goblins or trolls in his dreams appealed to him nonetheless, so he went to the clerk and bought two boxes as well.


    They then went to the Future World store, where a large notice was posted in the front window of the store, which attracted a lot of people to gather around. When the people in front of them left contentedly, the four of them immediately pushed their way to the front.


    "Recruiting business partners - whether you are a wizard who can''t find your way, a student who just graduated with no direction, or a werewolf, vampire, or goblin ... as long as you have a unique vision and actual talent, you can apply for subsidies as well as support from a professional team of over 300 people! Future World will help realize your dreams in its entirety ..."


    Harry clicked his tongue. "As long as I have a unique vision, the people at Future World would help me realize it?"


    "It''s not that simple," said Hermione, pointing to the small text below: "First of all, your idea must be practical, which requires professional evaluation - and it should not be illegal; secondly, you must personally spend a lot of time working on it, instead of being clueless about it. The Future World company would only help out if you found yourself stuck on some technical difficulty ...."


    They went for a walk all around, then after sometimes they decided it was about time, and made their way to the Three Broomsticks to wait for Mr. Doge.


    "I''m exhausted," Ron hollered, "after walking all day."


    While waiting for Mrs. Rosmerta to prepare something for them to drink, Harry looked around from his seat and sensed that there were more guests than last year. A little away from them, two tables were filled with gruff-faced adult wizards who evidently didn''t feel entirely comfortable with the student figures that appeared from time to time in the Three Broomsticks, and at the moment they were talking in gruff, clenched voices.


    "I don''t want those muggles to visit us, they''ve already occupied too much space, and now they are finally going to take on the last piece of wizard territory, are they?"


    "It''s up to the Ministry of Magic to decide, Dick." Another man absent-mindedly said as he stroked the pattern on the goblet, and seemed surprised that the goblet could be this clean; Harry figured he should have gotten used to drinking in places like the Hog''s Head Inn previously.


    The first man cursed an expletive.


    "That''s something-" Ron said.


    "Yeah, well, I suppose not everyone will be happy with the new policy." Harry looked back and noticed Ron was looking in another direction, and he followed his line of sight to a group of four Hogwarts students playing wizard cards, coincidentally, there was one student from each of the four houses among them.


    "Eleanor Branstone," Ginny whispered, standing up and saying hello to the person across the room before recouping her seat. S~?a??h the N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Who did you mention?" Harry asked.


    "The one in the bear hat, I think it might be a club party." Ginny said, "Her club is pretty famous, I don''t know where she got all those recipes with unique flavours, secret sauces, and stuff, but I guess since Luna brought her family''s recipes, they might also have-"


    Ron choked and coughed repeatedly.


    "I had just thought about checking it out at the next club event after hearing what you said about unique flavours." He said with a dejected look, "But, now I''ve lost all hope."


    "Don''t say it like that," Ginny looked at him reproachfully, then she said in what seemed to Harry to be a completely unnecessary heartfelt tone, "Bertie Bott''s Every Flavour Beans wasn''t well received by the public when it first came for sale either, just think of its current status."


    "Yeah, I can roughly guess what role Luna''s family''s recipes will play in that." Ron said snarkily.


    Mrs. Rosmerta brought over the drinks and Hermione stashed the pamphlet away and casually asked, "Hello, Mrs. Rosmerta, has business been good lately?"


    "Not bad," she said casually, "Didn''t they build a new wizard town in Cornwall to house foreign wizards, one by the name Rutherford?" Hermione nodded. "Some of them also moved over here, but they are not that many, most of the recently relocated people are wizards who have previously lived in Muggle communities."


    She also mentioned one person.


    "Well, you guys know a witch named Carlotta Pinkstone, right?"


    Hermione nodded again, "Yes, she campaigned for the abolition of the Statute of Secrecy, I think she must be overjoyed right now."


    "She got locked up again." Mrs. Rosmerta said with a scowl.


    "What?!" Harry exclaimed with incredulity. The other three were also surprised, Mrs. Rosmerta explained: "The day after the complete exposure of wizards, she cheerfully checked out of her room, saying that she was going to do something big, and during that time didn''t the Ministry of Magic asked everyone to stay concealed in their place? But she just went and showed off some magic in front of the Muggle crowd, and was taken away by Aurors in less than ten minutes ... Nevertheless, now that the peace agreement has been signed, it is estimated that she will be released soon. Maybe she might have already been released." She added another sentence.


    Then Mrs. Rosmerta recommended new dishes to them, but when Ron brought that package of snacks he bought earlier to the table, she turned around to greet the other guests. Harry and the gang began to try each of the odd treats that Fred and George had so carefully created.


    "That woman asked for it." Ron said with a mouth full of treats, "There are always some people who want to be unique and stand against the rules, you guys have no idea how much overtime Dad had to work during this time. I heard a family of wizards cast a Weather-Modifying Charm on their muggle neighbour''s house before they moved out, and the water pooled three feet deep ..." He picked up a pale yellow grape and stuffed it in his mouth, "It''s okay, orange flavoured-- -What are you guys laughing at?" His face unknowingly turned the colour of grapes as well.


    Harry stifled his grin, Hermione and Ginny slumped over the table as their shoulders twitched, and Ron pressed hard to ask what was wrong. After a while, Ron, who had managed to figure out the whole situation, forced Harry to eat a plump, unappetizing-looking multi-flavoured grape, which turned Harry''s face bright red.


    "An upgrade, huh? Kinda funny." Ron huffed, pushing the remaining half bunch of grapes aside.


    When everyone regained their composure or at least didn''t laugh out loud out of breath, Hermione waved the pamphlet in her hand, "So the Ministry of Magic advises wizards living in Muggle communities to conduct themselves better, with joint law enforcement coming into effect now, every single case judged will influence them for years to come," she finished with a smile on her face, "I think the name of Carlotta Pinkstone will certainly appear in the files of new law enforcement division..."


    "And the guy who turned his neighbour''s house into a swimming pool will certainly be mentioned in the History of Magic textbook." Ginny said.


    "I''m not that sure about that, it''s pretty hard to get Professor Binns to change the content of the textbook." Harry said. Then they laughed together.


    The door pushed open from the outside and Elphias Doge strode in, Harry stood up and waved at him, and when Doge sat down, the group noticed that he looked slightly tired, with sunken eyes and an angry look on his face.


    "I''m sorry kids, I''m late." He said apologetically.


    "Wh-what''s wrong?" Harry asked, perceiving his mood.


    "It was nothing," Doge said immediately, but the four people at the table stared at him so hard that he said with a sigh, "Well ... I ran into a crazy old hag on the way and argued with her for half a day." He said with an exasperated voice.


    "Over what?" Ginny asked.


    "Some rumours, conspiracy theories, and whatnot. I''ve been collecting details for Dumbledore''s biography for a while now, since Harry couldn''t leave school, I visited some people door to door alone ..." He shook his head and his few strands of hair fluttered up from one side to the other.


    The four people stared at him blankly, he glanced at the customers a few tables away, then lowered his voice, and said: "You know, the wizarding world has recently undergone a lot of changes, which would not have a big impact separately, but together they made people feel uncomfortable ... So, it''s natural for them to want to vent their frustrations, and all the influential people have naturally become the target of anger, even Dumbledore ..."


    "But Professor Hap and Ms. Bones, as well as the Ministry of Magic officials, the Order of the Phoenix members... are all trying their best to bring out the best possible solutions for all wizards - don''t the disgruntled people realize that these measures could avert hundreds and thousands of conflicts in the future?" Harry said with exasperation.


    "Obviously, they don''t know that." Doge said calmly.


    He explained with understanding, "They only know that their lives will become something different, something that will alter their lives for the better or for the worse, and they are filled with fear about their future."


    Harry and the group exchanged silent glances.


    "But, Mr. Doge, we rarely hear such views in school and newspapers." Hermione asked in confusion.


    "Ah, I think it''s because your minds aren''t made up yet, and as for the older ones," Doge said slowly, "many of the old wizards who are actually still alive, are no different from dead, they will only come out of their houses once or twice a year, and their minds will long be out of date."


    "That''s understandable, just like our Aunt Muriel." Ron said to Ginny.


    Ginny rolled her eyes.


    "I don''t want you to remind me about her, she warned me after Bill and Fleur''s wedding that if I ever wanted to borrow her tiara when I got married, I had to follow the ancient rituals."


    Harry gasped audibly.


    "What did you reply to her?" Ron asked.


    Ginny smiled and waved her hand, "I told her not to bother, as I intended to arrange the wedding up in the sky above, and then we''ll distribute a flying broom to each guest ..."


    Ron looked at Harry with an odd expression on his face, then stuck out his thumb with a look of admiration and said, "That''s awesome! I can''t wait to see it."


    Doge said smilingly, "If that''s the case, do remember to invite me, I want to see it too." Then he noticed that the four people present were staring at him with unblinking eyes, and he asked in confusion, "... did I say something wrong, although I''m over a hundred years old, I also occasionally fly around the yard for a while on my broom ... "


    "Well, Mr. Doge?" Hermione asked carefully, "Did you just eat the grapes on the table?"


    "Oh, yeah, I took one ... what happened?"


    The four people hastily shook their heads sheepishly. Hermione whispered and uttered a word, "Fifteen minutes." The other three immediately snapped out of it, knowing that she was talking about the expiration time of the multi-flavoured grapes that could change the colour of the skin, "Mr. Doge, let''s talk about the biography," Harry said hurriedly, "I''ve written two more draft chapters, but I think some parts are easy to misunderstand... ..."


    He gestured at Hermione to take out the manuscript from the beaded pouch and tried his best not to look at the green, wrinkled face.


    Doge grabbed the thick parchment from Hermione''s hand and looked down to read it. He said while reading: "I admire Mr. Hap greatly, he is very visionary, particularly in Dumbledore''s biography matter, what is the saying: know and anticipate your enemy, at first I had some doubts ..."


    The rest of October was mostly cloudy and drizzly, with the winter creeping in and blanketing the country for the next two weeks, bringing the temperature close to freezing. It was only when the Halloween season approached that the air finally stopped being damp all day.


    The various governments paid more attention to the ongoing activities of the international organization of wizards, which is said to be comparable to the United Nations but with more effective law implementation, as they had enforced the Statute of Secrecy alone for three hundred years, which is even longer and older than most of the countries in the world.


    On October 27th, the Headquarters of the Confederation finally showed some movements.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 718:

    A Law with a long name and relatively short volume, but with great significance and far-reaching implications, has circulated, fully known as the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and the International Pan-Magical Alliance. This Law, which was born under a special circumstance, had its own unique charm. In addition to Regulating the responsibilities, rights, and obligations of all wizards, it also specified how to address a series of issues such as the relationship between the magical and non-magical communities, short-, medium- and long-term goals, and rationalizing the management boundaries of both sides.


    This was also the first time that the ''International Pan-Magical Alliance'' officially appeared in a legal article-


    The implications of this are far-reaching, representing the fact that the Pan-Magical Alliance branches that are currently established spontaneously in various countries are no longer loose regional organizations, and it almost announces to the world that the International Pan-Magical Alliance will have a key significance in the future.


    An official order was issued together with the Constitution of the International Confederation and Pan-Magical Alliance, which was issued directly from the Headquarters of the Confederation: a copy of this Constitution should be distributed to all wizards. Even those wizards who were hiding in the nooks and crannies of the world were able to get a copy delivered to them either through their friends or by the local Ministry of Magic staff.


    At school, Harry held a club event just in time before Halloween, and they ate and drank while talking about the contents mentioned above.


    "Quite a few dark wizards have suffered." Ron said with a grin, "They have been really unlucky lately, getting sifted through like lice over and over again."


    "I heard Mom say they have to read it while even inside the prison." Neville had an excited gleam in his eye that Harry perceived as gloating, but it was truly rare for such emotions to appear in Neville.


    "It''s true, and the order was enforced much more rigorously." The corners of Susan Bones'' mouth curled up.


    "It makes me recall the hectic times of the O.W.Ls exams, it''s kind of refreshing to hear." In contrast to Neville, Daphne Greengrass smiled brightly.


    "Dad is thinking about illustrating every single article of the law." Luna said.


    "Well, I will buy it for my collection, Luna," Hermione said, holding the pamphlet and reading it aloud, "Apart from the preamble and the conclusion, the Constitution of the Confederation and Pan-Magical Alliance is divided into seven chapters in total, each corresponding to a major subject. These seven chapters are -


    The general conventions in the magical community;


    Procedures concerning individual (family) interactions between the magical community and the non-magical community;


    The rights, responsibilities, and obligations of the Ministry of Magic and other social organizations;


    The regulations concerning magical creatures, ghosts, and other magical entities;


    Rights, responsibilities, and obligations of humanoid races;


    Draft proposals on cooperation with the non-magical community;


    Disputes, conflict resolution, and necessary measures - all of them are short and concise, covering almost every aspect. And for the record, I noticed that the new legislation incorporates some of the provisions from the Statute of Secrecy ..."


    This is natural, the complete exposure of wizards and magic does not mean that all the original laws are no longer applicable. For example, the requirements for wizard dress code; since the wizards no longer have to disguise themselves in the same way as before (although most wizards never cared enough to do so, and improper dress is one of the most common offences that have been committed since the Statute of Secrecy came into effect), this section has been greatly toned down, and only two clauses have been retained: the prohibition of exposing the lower body in public; and the prohibition of wearing clothes and accessories that could easily lead to misconceptions.


    Harry stared, wondering who suggested retaining this part of the article, do wizards still have a fetish for nudity? But then he couldn''t help but think of an old wizard in a skirt he had met during the Quidditch World Cup ...


    "What are clothes and accessories that could easily lead to misconceptions?" Justin was a little confused.


    Hermione was just about to speak when Ernest Macmillan interjected, "Wait - I seem to have some recollection about it, my uncle has mentioned when he wrote me a letter ... Last week when a male wizard was being interviewed on the muggle street, the reporter asked whether the pumpkin he was wearing is some kind of peculiar fetish or not, and he said it is for Halloween preparation -"


    "That sounds pretty normal." Justin said in bewilderment.


    "It''s not over yet -" Ernie said, stifling a laugh - "That guy gave the reporter a demonstration that resulted in a bunch of live bats flying out of the mouth of a spooky pumpkin he was wearing, scaring the reporter and the cameraman." Several students burst out laughing, and only Hermione said with a stern face, "The follow-up procedure to deal with was quite troublesome, as Muggle animal welfare organizations accused the wizards of animal cruelty."


    At that point, Hannah Abbot stared at the pamphlet and asked, "But Chapter 2, Article 13 mentions that you can demonstrate magic to muggles."


    "-on-premise of being asked, or in special venues, such as New Diagon Alley, otherwise wizards should try to be inconspicuous when casting spells near muggle communities." Hermione added, finishing with a shrug of her own, "I actually find that many of the laws of wizards are not that strict, as we judge the crime based on the gravity of the situation and the actual circumstances involved, and if I am displaying magic spells to my parents at home, I am sure there will be no real issue at all."


    But all the students in the room were attracted by another word that came out of her mouth, and Luna hummed a quirky little tune and said, "O New Diagon Alley, I would love to visit it."


    ...


    Back in her office, Amelia Bones looked at the files piled high on her desk and her eyes bugged out - there wasn''t even a palm-sized surface of the table visible. She was so baffled in place that Felix thought she seemed to be suffocating. Luckily, that was when Mr. Weasley came over to deliver some materials and told her that only a small portion of the files needed to be processed.


    "The rest are all the ones that we felt necessary to let you know about." Mr. Weasley explained.


    Ms. Bones rolled up her sleeves and rummaged through her pockets for her monocle, seemingly ready to have a go.


    "It''s nothing more than a few hours of work, Amelia. It shouldn''t be about anything serious like the sky falling, should it?" Felix looked at Mr. Weasley, who immediately said with understanding, "That''s right, moreover the Minister has just found some time to come back in her tight schedule, and if there''s something particularly urgent we''ll report it without delay."


    "Let''s have a drink together." Felix summoned a bottle of wine out of thin air, and they sat down on the sofa used for the reception and drank as they chatted. Mr. Weasley took off his glasses and rubbed his shiny forehead, and Felix noticed that his hair had noticeably decreased in thickness.


    Bones sat on the couch, took a small sip of wine, and shook her glass, as she said, "Arthur, how''s the new department under you faring?"


    "All good." Mr. Weasley said, "Not counting Scrimgeour''s side, just us alone has carried out a few cooperation with the Muggle government, the Muggle Prime Minister specially allocated a small piece of land in the downtown area, and I worked for three days with my new colleagues to build up a small Diagon Alley avenue, and a steady stream of tourists visited the place. Some events - like new book launches, giveaways were held there, and several organizations responded to the Ministry of Magic''s call, like the Daily Prophet and The Quibbler, who gave out thousands of free newspapers and magazines to visitors -"


    Felix guessed from the heartfelt expression on Mr. Weasley''s face that he had probably come into contact with more people in that time than he had in his half-lifetime before.


    "You mean they have distributed them to tourists for free? No money was charged?" Ms. Bones asked curiously, "I don''t know much about Lovegood, the editor-in-chief of The Quibbler, but the Daily Prophet ..."


    "It''s all old issues of newspapers or magazines that didn''t sold out, and it doesn''t affect them much." Mr. Weasley explained.


    "Well, as for the new Diagon Alley, are there any businesses moving in there now?" Felix asked.


    "Not yet, but some advance preparations have been made." Mr. Weasley said, "We contacted the parents of young wizards from Muggle families individually to ask if they are interested in opening a store in New Diagon Alley, in fact, quite a few of them are Squibs - or something like that, according to what Mr. Ollivander told me - - they were at least capable of using exclusive wands and could assume the job with a little training."


    "Have you guys got in touch with anyone from the Society for the Support of Squibs?" Ms. Bones asked, "They might be interested."


    Mr. Weasley nodded, then shook his head. "We reached out to them, but their interest is not exactly strong." Seeing the slightly surprised looks on the faces of Felix and Ms. Bones, he smiled for the first time, "Most of the people who we are aware of as Squibs, all have surviving relatives, and many of the families are happy to take in their children who now have a chance to use magic."


    "Any more news?"


    "Let''s see ... After the treaty was signed, a dozen or so anti-wizard marches broke out one after another, but none of them gained much momentum, and our protection magic ensures that people with malicious intent can''t get in and muggle firearms will be disabled."


    "It''s a good situation." Ms. Bones said with some leap of faith.


    "There have also been a few mishaps," Mr. Weasley pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his sweat with slight embarrassment, "Two of the exclusive wands were accidentally lost during an event."


    "What happened?" Ms. Bones asked with a serious expression as she sat upright on the couch.


    "Wasn''t we previously planned to roughly estimate the number of Squibs? Three days ago we hosted an event where visitors could try out the exclusive wand. Mr. Ollivander further improved the exclusive wand, I don''t quite understand the principles he said, he said that he used some magical creature materials to enhance the sensitivity of the exclusive wand ... Anyway, we obtained a relatively rough estimate, and the number was around two hundred to one ratio."


    Felix nodded slightly, rubbed his chin, and said: "So there are about 300,000 squibs all over the United Kingdom? No, that''s not quite accurately worded, most of them should have a much worse perception of magic and can''t even see normal magical phenomena, like ghosts and dementors."


    "That''s right," Mr. Weasley said with approval, "Mr. Ollivander thinks that even with the help of an exclusive wand, those who can cast spells successfully are in the minority. The Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries have proposed a possibility that magic is like a rising and moving tide, where magical capability would gradually decline starting from the first generation of squibs, and then a tipping point occurs in a certain generation, where the magic becomes more and more significant ..."


    "This conjecture is quite interesting." Felix said with interest.


    If this whole concept proved to be true, it would be possible for the parents and immediate family members of a young wizard of muggle origin to use an exclusive wand. But after all, they are not quite young, and the thin magic power present in their bodies (or within their souls) is nearly impossible to mobilize, so they can only use the exclusive wand to release set party tricks.


    "However, during the event, a muggle suddenly rushed out and snatched two exclusive wands from the hands of the staff - the muggle government law enforcement officers did not catch up, and our people were concerned about using powerful spells without permission that time, in any case, the thief escaped to a residential area. " Mr. Weasley said: "Scrimgeour and the Muggle government people are teamed up to track down this matter."


    "The exclusive wand that was brought for testing didn''t have a tracking spell attached to it?" Ms. Bones asked.


    "Sorry, we didn''t think much of it back then."


    Unlike Ms. Bones'' serious expression, Felix didn''t take it seriously, "Let them take their time, there will be more and more these kinds of things will happen in the future, we just need to close one loophole after another, whether it''s tracking spell or positioning enchantment to avoid such issues once again."


    At these words, Ms. Bones'' expression eased down, and at that moment a knock sounded at the door. Scrimgeour pushed open the door, his thick tea-brown hair intermixed with strands of gray ones, his face wrinkled with a deeper layer and made him look much older. Ms. Bones motioned for him to sit down as well, and sure enough, he had come to report on the matter of the exclusive wand.


    "That person was found, and the initial evidence suggests that it was just an unforeseen incident. The trial will be held in two weeks, and I will personally participate in the courtroom." Scrimgeour said that this would be the one hundred and thirty-second court hearing he attended involving both wizards and muggles who had violated the law - from minor complaints about prank magic spells to flooding an entire house or setting a tree on fire by not launching fireworks at the required venue -. The end result is basically a fine, but since it''s still an initial joint law enforcement cases, where the first conviction could potentially serve as a reference for future court hearings, he shows up dutifully every time.


    "Rufus, you can leave some of the work to someone else as well." Ms. Bones persuaded him to do so.


    "It will be good to be occupied for a while," Scrimgeour said curtly, "Amelia, I''ll give you a copy of each verdict, with the comments from the other Wizengamot members, so you should better read them over. By mutual agreement, if there are no objections, new laws will be ratified and take effect in the following year. Additional ones will be added each year if it is deemed necessary."


    "So the materials on the table-"


    "Ah, well, there are two stacks that are mine."


    "Rufus, you need a break, at least get some assistance, or your body will wear out." Ms. Bones said softly.


    "Someone has to do the work, I don''t feel comfortable leaving it to anyone else." Scrimgeour said coldly.


    Ms. Bones wanted to persuade again when Felix uttered a name: "Barty Crouch Sr."


    All three looked at him at the same time.


    "As far as I know, Barty Crouch Sr. is quite adept at dealing with matters of law, and he has been out of the public eye for almost three years, and if he has the will to--" Felix said slowly, "Well --I think he may be somewhat demoralized by the past events, but he''s a very strong-willed person, and if someone informed him that the Ministry of Magic needs him, I think he would not hesitate to say yes. ... The best candidate who could be a lobbyist should be someone who has a good relationship with him, someone he used to work with, or a good friend of, but that person''s attitude must be serious, firm, and a little bit strong... "


    The corners of Ms. Bones'' mouth twitched as she turned her head to look at Scrimgeour at the same time as Mr. Weasley. There seemed to be the perfect candidate right here.


    "Barty Crouch is still serving his sentence." Scrimgeour said in a deep voice as he stared sharply at Felix.


    The two men''s gazes collided in mid-air. For them, the former contradictions were long past, and no one would reopen old grudges - Felix even personally killed Crouch Jr. but he recommended Barty Crouch Sr. nonetheless - but their philosophical differences still existed, Scrimgeour is a seasoned veteran, and in a way, he inherited Crouch Sr.''s ideas and philosophy. s?a??h th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "It''s only a matter of two months," Felix said, "he can serve his sentence anywhere, and we can arrange for a separate room ... with pretty much the same environment, oh, and I can recommend someone who will serve him exclusively... ... a house elf, called Winky, I don''t know if you have any impression of her ..."


    The few people present stared and pondered the feasibility of such a practice.


    "... Under what title?" After a moment, Mr. Weasley asked in a whisper.


    "A consultant." Felix said without thinking. Ms. Bones rolled her eyes.


    Finally, Scrimgeour said dryly, "I suppose I can try to convince Barty-"


    "Actually, the ideal person I have in mind is Moody." Felix said in an odd tone.


    Scrimgeour''s hair and beard twitched, his knuckles made a crisp sound, and he seemed to be holding back with great perseverance from rushing over and choking Felix and shaking him. After a long while, he spoke coldly, "Then it''s a deal." After saying that he left in a huff.


    "Rufus is obviously glad in his heart, I can feel it." Ms. Bones said. When Mr. Weasley left, she asked curiously, "Felix, you really don''t care if Barty is released early - I mean, well," she sighed, "to work in a cell? "


    "It''s nothing more than a month or two sooner. Besides, will his release from prison have any effect on me - obviously, no."


    ...


    The issue of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance is not an end, but a starting point for a new round of negotiations, which will no longer involve petty disputes, but with the success case of the Constitution and the British Ministry of Magic, negotiations will be held in dozens of countries at the same time.


    And on the American side, for the past half a month, the Magical Congress of the United States of America found nothing, they even risked rummaging through the top-secret information within the government, but the results they yielded were virtually worthless. The president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America, Horace Grimsditch, mentioned a certain solution vaguely during the meeting, but he could not implement it until he returned. Felix hoped there would be no trouble.


    As for the rest of the magical community, the most popular topic right now is the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance, which is constantly featured in the newspapers, on the radio, and on Muggle TV programs all day long, with experts of all kinds taking turns on stage to analyse its contents.


    This general constitution, which acts as a sort of foundation law for wizards, is very diverse in its extensions, and also clearly states the bottom line. The penultimate chapter mentions a series of ambitious long-term goals - such as magic technology, joint hospitals, rapid farming, interstellar travel, extraterrestrial migration, and amputated limb regeneration ... - and the final conclusion is summed up in one word: full of goodwill.


    Although in Felix''s case, he could accomplish the above plan now, he would rather stretch the time to achieve it to thirty years, fifty years, or even longer.


    --------------


    #SHTC, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 719: Anticipated Conflict

    Felix returned to school and took some time to find Valen who was pleasantly walking around - Felix had left her behind at school due to the serious nature of the previous conference. After not seeing each other for a while, Valen''s temperament grew even wilder. Felix asked in a tone of prying insider information, "I heard that there is a flying Niffler roaming around the Forbidden Forest recently?"


    Valen shook her head repeatedly, indicating that she had no idea of such a thing. "Really?" She patted her chest and suggested with all seriousness that he could ask Hagrid who might know.


    "... There are many dangerous creatures in the Forbidden Forest." Felix cautioned her.


    Valen waved her hand carelessly.


    Felix followed her line of sight to the small bell tied in her scarf and reached out a hand to get it -


    "Confiscated - this is to keep you safe, not an adventure prop." Valen could only watch blearily as Felix''s hand shook, and the pretty silver bell uncoiled and turned into a silver bird.


    This is a Patronus magic specially designed by Felix. The main focus of this Patronus magic project is related to the fact that it has parts of the Mandrake''s rune circuitry hidden within it - in case of real danger, the Patronus can shout at the top of its voice to stun a few unsuspecting wizards. This trick also works on creatures in the vicinity of the Forbidden Forest.


    They walked towards the castle.


    "You like the Forbidden Forest? I know several particularly flavourful herbs ... Professor Sprout has hidden them well."


    The next day Felix woke up to a tempting aroma of roasted pumpkin, he stood in front of the windowsill with a feeling of being in a different world. The mountains in the distance wore white and silver blankets, and the black lake at the foot of the mountains had a thin layer of ice, just waiting for a big snowfall.


    He spent Halloween at the school and took time to reacquaint himself with his students. It was strange that no one distinguished him from the memory, as Felix felt that he was much more serious and attentive when giving lectures to his students.


    He even attended a party hosted by Slughorn with interest, where Snape still appeared out of place, with an unapproachable aura, despite his implicit mention of the ''tiny progress'' he had made in simple potions - Felix refrained himself from asking for details. That way the other party would have no chance to brag about it. Emmeline Vance, who showed no interest in the food at the banquet but enjoyed the classical music being played, asked Slughorn the name of the record, to which he said briskly.


    "You can''t find it anywhere else, I bought it from a muggle store ... Yes, it was specially processed to play using magic, I have some connections within the muggle government ... I can send you a copy... ..."


    After Halloween, Felix realized that he still had the title of Deputy Headmaster attached to him, so he went straight to Professor McGonagall to finish his duties - and had a chat with the Sorting Hat in the process, but unfortunately, that dirty hat didn''t appreciate it, and kept yelling and screaming, classifying Felix on the list of those who it would refuse to communicate with. Felix was a little resentful. The relaxed days did not last long, the critical phase is at hand, so after a week he returned to the Confederation headquarters, which acted like a large information transceiver, constantly receiving and sending all kinds of information, and there were times when a dozen different shapes of Patronus appeared in the hall of the Confederation headquarters at the same time.


    The days of intensive activity had brought very encouraging progress, and some of the countries with a faster negotiation process had already reached the final step, and the entire Confederation headquarters was revitalized. One morning, Akingbade returned from the United States with bad news.


    "The situation looks a little grim." Felix took a look at the headline, which stated in bright red letters that an Auror squad was sadly killed.


    After he put down the newspaper, Akingbade briefly explained what had happened. A three-man Auror squad that was investigating the local government''s secret control of young wizards had been involved in an accident, and there were no survivors.


    "There was an armed force involved?" Felix asked in surprise.


    "It was wizards, another group of wizards." Akingbade said, "It happened last night, the other squads received the final signal, but by the time they got there it was too late, and it was noticed by the reporters who were standing around the Congress ..."


    Half an hour later, Felix appeared in the headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America - Woolworth Building.


    Three bodies were laid out before him. Horace Grimsditch, the president of the MACUSA, the Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the Director of Magical Security, along with Jura his deputy, and several high-ranking officials of the Congress were all present, with very unpleasant looks on their faces.


    "Any clues so far?" S~?a??h the n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "There may be other wizard organizations involved," Horace Grimsditch said grimly, "I suspect they are descendants of the Scourers. I dispatched a large number of people around Halloween to monitor the suspicious-looking people passing by - it''s perfectly feasible in theory, many wizards would make their purchases during the holiday season, and I figured someone would take advantage of the opportunity to fish in the muddy waters ..."


    This is the plan he mentioned to Felix. But the plan only succeeded partially, the Aurors did find the anomaly, but they didn''t come back alive to report the situation.


    Felix did not dismiss the speculation about them being ''Scourers''. The Scourers had played the role of extremely infamous wizard traitors throughout history, similar to mercenaries who took money to do certain tasks, and at one point the American wizards treated them with disgust and hatred. When the Magical Congress of the United States of America was established, these people were immediately purged, and only a small percentage escaped punishment and were hidden within the muggle populace.


    They were powerless to retaliate against the Congress, much less dare to use magic, and for this reason, they even actively abandoned their magically gifted children, and judging from subsequent developments, these people did not choose to cooperate with the government for a long time - as the former murderers who had sold out their fellow people for money to the Puritans and official radical groups, they knew too well what they would be subjected to, and their fear and hatred for the Magical Congress had been passed down from generation to generation.


    So the incident with the twelve magically gifted children some time ago was really an accident. No, maybe it wasn''t an accident. Felix thought sharply, what if the last time was a probing by some people? A test for wizards and public opinion? Suppose those children had constantly been subjected to the surveillance of a small group of people, and when the time was right they would be shipped to the unmarkable sea base, as a ''regular quota'' that would be delivered every year, only this year it was used for other purposes ...


    Felix carefully examined the remains of the three victims, and after a long pause, he looked up.


    "I think these three Aurors came across the people we''ve been looking for, except those kids are now adults and even more importantly, they''ve become our enemies."


    This was pretty much the worst-case scenario.


    "Could it be that this secret plan has been going on for decades ... but even so, there''s no way they could possibly confront formally trained Aurors, and those people didn''t even receive a complete magic education." A bearded wizard on the scene - who is the Director of Magical Security - yelled out in disbelief.


    "There''s no need to get a complete ''schooling''." Felix corrected, "It''s true that they would have difficulty in receiving proper magical instruction, but that doesn''t mean they have to figure it out from scratch. The easiest thing to do ... just by gaining the trust of any random wizard, they can enter and leave the magical world at will, and easily buy publicly published magical books and potions, and they can even buy second-hand wands at black markets ..."


    "As for whether or not their true level exceeds that of the Auror ... I can''t discern, for the time being, there are multiple possibilities of what truly passed, such as these Aurors being careless, deceived, or really not skilled as expected, but one thing is for sure... ...their opponents were not ordinary folk, but highly trained and carefully groomed professionals."


    A blurred portrait emerged from Felix''s fingertips, and he leaned in close to examine the faceless face closely and whispered.


    "No magic school is built to train undercover agents, assassins, or killers - we were educated to better control magic, as well as to develop and strengthen the wizarding community or at least to avoid decline. So wizards moved from the earliest days of homeschooling and mentorship to schooling, creating communities and branching out into many professions that seem dispensable to me, all for the betterment of wizard communities. But that''s not how the antagonists hiding in the shadows think; they just want to squeeze as much as they can out of one aspect of their skills in the short term."


    "It is worth an attempt to outline the environment in which those people grew up. Disregarding the ones who died due to various accidents, they generally left their parents before the age of eleven and have been drifting at sea for years since, undergoing various experiments, brainwashing, training ... and so on; when they get a little older, they come out on missions, so what are those missions?"


    Horace Grimsditch felt a burst of chills, his mind worked quickly, then he suddenly turned his head to look at one person and said urgently, "Jura, immediately lead some squads to visit the common magic store to ask those shopkeepers whether they have received young wizards, their common characteristic is that they have more than once bought a variety of magic materials in bulk, and - -" he said with some difficulty: "Investigate those wizards who have lived away from the community, and find out if anyone has disappeared for unknown reasons in recent years?"


    Jura''s expression turned grave as he hurriedly left.


    Several people present wore different expressions and did not speak for a long time. Finally, it was the Headmaster of the Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry who spoke out to break the silence: "Mr. Hap, according to this speculation, is it possible that the other party has trained powerful enough wizards?"


    Felix pondered for a moment and then dismissed this possibility.


    "Those people''s overall quality can more or less be at the level of an average good Auror at the limit, and they are still only comparable in one aspect, there is no possibility of going further, let alone exploring the true meaning of magic ... As for the evidence, from the wounds left behind, they all casted regular spells with obvious Dark magic characteristics, this is not an indication of how profound their magical attainment is, but a reflection of magic imbalance; moreover they can''t get advanced magic knowledges that are inaccessible to the public"


    "From this, we can also conclude that no matter who the other party is, the time span in which they are doing this will not be too long, definitely not more than thirty years."


    "Why are you so sure about that?"


    "- Any longer than that, these people themselves will suffer a backlash, you know, the magic power of a wizard is directly connected to the soul and will directly reflect on the personalities and characters ..."


    After a long silence.


    "What''s next?"


    "The negotiations will continue as usual. I have a feeling that the next step of the negotiations will not go too smoothly, the hidden forces will try to obstruct the signing of the treaty by all means ... However, someone will show up voluntarily, which will help us find the key players. In addition, I also need to create a pair of maps."


    ...


    The entire month of November was passed in a disturbing atmosphere. Although a dozen ministries of magic and local governments around the world who signed treaties recognized the status of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance, there were many people who openly questioned the validity of this law, believing that organizations like the International Confederation of Wizards, which overruled various countries'' ministries of magic and even the will of their governments, should be illegal and deserved to be banned.


    In particular, some of its clauses are simply inconvenient to the various organizations and governments of some countries.


    The delegation from the Magical Congress of the United States of America held three rounds of negotiations with the local government, but as the negotiations progressed, some issues of principle surfaced and proved to be irreconcilable contradictions between the two sides, and the negotiations once again reached a deadlock. Some tough voices appeared openly in the news media: an anonymous congressman from a remote state proposed that the government should fund the establishment of a special school to create and take over the magic community of America. These remarks immediately gained the support of pharmaceutical companies and military groups, who expressed their willingness to make donations to this great cause.


    But the next day the congressman cried in front of reporters about the "evil crimes" he had committed, and this almost immediately became evidence of the wizard''s ability to control people''s consciences, and a series of vicious events that had happened in the past was ''indirectly'' linked to the wizard, and the delegation of the Magic Congress who spent most of the month negotiating, found that the public sentiment in the outside world had completely changed.


    The cold reception given to the U.S. Magic Congress delegates, the boycott imposed on the International Confederation of Wizards, and the gradual spread of public opinion around the world all led to one conclusion - and this is exactly what many government think-tanks had agreed upon - that a head-on conflict would be inevitable.


    In a way, it was even the outcome everyone was hoping for - provided it didn''t happen in their own country - and for many, it seemed incredible that it took so long, making one wonder if magic was at play.


    A group of more than two million people hidden beneath the surface, at odds with the world order, and wielding powers that exist only in books and fairy tales ... yet as of now, it is so strange that no conflict of a certain volume and scale has never been broken out as if everything was planned.


    The shadow of war is never far away, initially some people in the United Kingdom began to parade, but as the situation in the United Kingdom stabilized, the eyes of the various countries turned to the most chaotic Africa, but although Africa is chaotic, skirmishes have repeatedly occurred, it has never really got out of hand, some people waited and waited, and the result of waiting arrived in the form of "Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance", followed by drastic dozens of countries simultaneously carrying out negotiations ... how things have developed to this point is simply a wonder.


    But some things can not be avoided, other means will only serve to delay and deter the inevitable, disputes that happened only on paper aren''t enough to reflect the strength of the two different communities. Only after a real battle will the darker and more fickle minds will sink back into the decaying mud and acquiesce to the birth of a new order.


    What caused disagreement among the wise men of various countries was when and where the conflict would break out, who would start it, and - in the end - how many people would be killed or injured, and could it be contained within certain limits?


    The bad weather of November extended into early December, and with a group of people holding their breath and waiting with bated breath, the time came to the last month of 1997, and finally, Babajide Akingbade, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and Felix Hap, the first President of the International Pan-Magical Alliance, issued a serious statement to all the wizards.


    A stone has stirred up a thousand waves!


    --------------


    #SHTC, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 720: Declaration (2 in 1)

    That statement is very long. First, it disclosed a series of deeds done by the US official government one by one such as secretly and illegally imprisoning and controlling young gifted wizards, stealing confidential knowledge, and secretly hunting and killing solitary wizards, and then it also reviewed the recently incited and growing anti-wizard thinking and violence in all social classes, and finally - "... many things they have done so far are considered as serious violations of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance, and if we do not stand up against them now, the rights of wizards will not be protected and our children will meet a fate even more cruel than that of the Middle Ages."


    "This country is in fact already become a place that is no longer suitable for general wizards to operate openly."


    "For the above reasons, the International Confederation of Wizards and the International Pan-Magical Alliance jointly issued a general announcement to suspend all communication links between other regions and America, including but not limited to travel, visiting friends, graduation trips, participation in international magic events, hosting communal events; suspending the creation and distribution of cross-country Portkeys to that country; disconnecting the floo network; aborting negotiations, and suspending all cooperation between the two sides; Wizards of America will be moving to secret locations, to conceal their identities in accordance with the former Statute of Secrecy; the International Confederation of Wizards and the Pan-Magical Alliance reserve the right to raise any further objection, announcement and to take necessary measures ..."


    The news announcer on the TV did his job, outside the window was a fierce wind and rain accompanied by snow, and the induction stove in the house was beeping. Vernon sat slumped on the couch, his fat body immobilized, and his weight flattened the couch like a huge stone, the remote control in his hand constantly switching the channels - he couldn''t remember how many times he had heard the same kind of news on TV this week, probably more than two hundred times if he added the ones he glanced at in the newspaper and heard from his colleagues.


    "... White House spokesman claims that the officially brainwashed wizards do not exist, on the contrary, it has further proven that the Magical Congress of the United States of America has infiltrated the internal government, according to the declassified information, there were extremely serious and vicious incidents happened in the 1920s, and it is reported during... ..."


    Switched the channel. "The United States has submitted a ''Wizard Management Control Draft'' to the United Nations, to which the Magical Congress of the United States of America has responded very aggressively, ''There will be no compromise.'' And demanded the other side to hand over the perpetrators..."


    Switching the channel again. "The International Tribunal has issued a statement-"


    "Ahhh...Everywhere they are all constantly talking about Wizards! Wizards this or wizards that."


    Vernon muttered repeatedly under his breath as he switched the channel again.


    "The International Court of Justice of the Confederation elaborates on the provisions of Chapter VII of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance ..."


    There was movement heard at the door, followed by a sound of pushing and footsteps, and Petunia entered the room shivering, carrying a net bag full of vegetables and groceries, her lips frozen blue, her cheekbones sharply raised, snowflakes caught in her hair, her long neck wrapped in a collar and hunched into her shoulders like a giraffe forced to spend the winter in an area shrouded in snow.


    She walked in, glanced at the TV, and her lips immediately pursed together, but she made no comment. She walked briskly into the kitchen, and after a half hour, Petunia called from the dining room, "Dinner''s ready." "Coming." Vernon grunted and just when he was about to turn off the TV-" An urgent breaking news broadcast!"


    His hand dangled in midair.


    The news announcer fumbled in a hurry, and it took him more than ten seconds to regain his composure.


    "... At 2:40 p.m. local time, more than a dozen wizards appeared out of nowhere in New York Harbor, the purpose of the group is unknown, and there is a large influx of reporters and onlookers arriving at the scene. From the footage sent back by high-precision cameras, these wizards are wearing the symbols of the Magical Congress of the United States of America and the International Confederation of Wizards, are they going to do something on the biggest harbour in the United States? But they all turned their backs to the harbour and looked solemn ....Wait!... There''s something under the water, turn the camera over quickly!"


    Vernon was so glued to the TV that he didn''t even notice Petunia coming out of the kitchen.


    In the afternoon the shining water in front of the harbour suddenly rose up with a huge swell, and a massive black shadow gradually surfaced, like a silent and inky blackfish, with its head raised up, it became clearer and clearer. It was a submarine.


    A black massive submarine appeared in New York Harbor. " It''s a bit unbelievable how it seems to have appeared out of the blue, the Coast Guard and the crews on shore gave no warning - the submarine is already a little bit exposed and my colleagues are currently working intensively to verify the submarine number ... from the revealed shape and pattern, it may have been used for marine science experimental purposes - oh, my God!"


    Vernon''s eyes widened, and he couldn''t be bothered to complain about the fuss the host was making as he sat back on his butt on the couch with a guttural groan emanating from the springs. His mind went blank -


    The black submarine''s front section jolted up unnaturally, like a lifeless dead fish, but it was so big that it had a strong sense of oppressiveness, and the camera swept across the harbour, people''s eyes dead on the water, the submarine''s arc was as big as a rocket poised to launch, it rose steadily through the air, its black hull bursting out of the water and curling up a huge vortex, it was completely taken out of the water and suspended in midair.


    Then with a loud bang, the submarine hit the ground. A big crater was smashed on the ground of the harbour.


    All the people who saw this scene seemed to have their hearts smashed out like the concrete floor with spiderweb-like cracks, and couldn''t help but inhale heavily. In the distance came the roar of propellers, and the local law enforcement agencies finally responded.


    A dozen or so wizards standing by the shore suddenly moved, holding their wands like precise surgical scalpels, and with an unpleasant "creaking" sound, the submarine''s shell was peeled off, revealing its inner appearance.


    As we all know, the space inside the submarine is relatively narrow, and the area near the middle is very empty in comparison, which shows its importance. This modified area is divided into three spaces, with the connections separated by steel and thick glass doors, so that the inside can be vaguely seen. Only a narrow passage has remained on the outer part. The wizards continued to efficiently disassemble the submarine, then a stream of spells flashed, and steel pipes and valves fell off one after another as they passed by. They tore open the walls made of special material as if they were ripping open the wrapping cover of a bag of chips, presenting the interior layout to the crowd. The first two spaces were equipped with large and small instruments, which were shown by the wizards in such a way that even the most ill-informed person could find the corresponding prototypes from TV programs - a small laboratory-like place.


    The wizards continued to wave their wands, the range of their movements began to increase, as if they were in a hurry, and their movements became rough, the steel and piping were moved aside, including those who seemed to be encased in amber - six or seven of them were wearing white coats - and after half a minute the last thick metal plate was swung aside.


    From inside a young man with black hair and blue eyes walked out. It was none other than Felix, and many people recognized his identity instantly - thanks to the overwhelming publicity in the North American news media, some people viewed him as a cult leader-like being. Miraculously, he also gained quite a few supporters, mostly from young people.


    Felix tugged his hand behind him, seemingly tugging at something, and soon those near the harbour could see that it belonged to a child in a hospital gown. Through the high-definition camera, the boy''s pale face could be clearly captured, it was kind of abnormally ghastly white as if he hadn''t been in the sun since birth.


    The second one to come out was a little girl, wearing a sleeveless dress, with evasive eyes, seemingly unaccustomed to so many people, desperately trying to hide her body behind an adult. Her arms were densely dotted with pinholes, half of her hair was bare, and her eyes were narrowed with clear photophobic characteristics.


    There was silence at the harbour. At that moment, half a dozen helicopters flew over, hovering over their heads, a machine gun aimed downward. "Warning! Warning! Drop your weapons, drop your weapons, and immediately surrender your weapons-" S~?a??h the N?v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The words came to an abrupt halt. Naturally, they had no idea how far the thinking room covered or what it meant to enter that range. The others on the shore tilted their heads up and looked at the thin paintings floating and being swept around by the wind through the sky, like film posters floating down from the sky.


    ...


    A total of four children walked out of the submarine. Afterward, Felix faced the reporters who arrived for a short temporary press conference.


    "Magic and science are two excellent systems that exist to complement each other, and I notice that there are already scientists who call magic the engine ... or key to the next technological revolution, and they are pumping their fists and preparing to update the existing basic scientific theories... ... If it''s true, unfortunately, some countries will probably have to miss out on that."


    "The International Confederation of Wizards and the International Pan-Magical Alliance will defend the interests of wizards and magical beings as a whole. We respect the laws of every country as we respect the laws we make for ourselves. The Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance highlights this, and we have agreed to come together to talk calmly only when the laws of the two sides conflict with each other, but for the past few months in the past, we have been treated like fools and given a blank check ... Conflict? We''ve tried to avoid conflict as much as possible, but that doesn''t mean allowing our own children to be put on a lab bench to have their blood drawn and tested; calm? The fact that I can still talk calmly and clearly instead of unleashing a Fiendfyre all over the country is proof that wizards still possess sufficient sanity. But as long as this kind of thing is still happening and the perpetrators continue to get away with it, there is no way for the peace negotiations to go on ... Maybe your perception is not quite the same as ours?"


    "What happened today only proves the validity of our previous warnings that this land is in great danger and no longer suitable for general wizards ... The Wizards'' Confederation and the Pan-Magical Alliance will do what we can to help needy wizards stay away from this land that harbours evil. I guess they should not have felt any risk in doing this, don''t forget the fact that the current wizard regime was established centuries before the current non-magical regimes. We have grown organized and strong compared to centuries ago after the establishment of a current wizard regime."


    "Running away in disgrace? No, they will leave openly and honestly ... The evacuation will take place in about half a month, and the location ... I think this place is just fine, spacious and open, can easily accommodate more than 100,000 people ... Hehe, even as a battlefield it is very suitable."


    This is undoubtedly a declaration of war.


    The reporters in the scene have heard the meaning behind the message, not that the two sides have not clashed before, but they were all of an incidental nature, but this time is very different, the time and place are determined in advance, giving the government enough time to mobilize the army, this is going to be a big head-on battle.


    Absolutely big news! The follow-up to this incident happened half an hour later, a group of heavily armed officers took over the harbour, but despite all their efforts, they couldn''t move any of the equipment in the submarine, it was like it was stuck to the ground. In the end, they could only leave with amber with people with crooked mouths and eyes on the ground along with a few realistic-looking helicopter posters.


    American Magic Hospital.


    Felix handed over the few children to the healers, and fellow participant in the rescue operation, Horace Grimsditch, whispered, "According to the memory of that councilman earlier, we followed the trail and rescued twelve groups of young wizards, as for the rest, even if there are still any, they will be completely hidden from our sight."


    Felix nodded slowly.


    Horace Grimsditch hesitated for a moment and said with a hesitant face, "Mr. Hap, I''m not opposed to having American wizards go into hiding, anyway, it''s not much different from before, but a head-on conflict ... our wizards may not have an advantage."


    "What are you thinking? I don''t need you guys, I was just borrowing your name."


    "Are you going to use the Confederation''s manpower?"


    "Don''t worry about it. The Magical Congress of the United States will be responsible for maintaining order, I know you will stay, and even a large part of the wizard will choose to stay, but there should certainly be those who want to leave, so they will have to be prepared in advance."


    Time passed day by day, and the whole world seemed to quiet down and surveyed that part of America with static eyes, for the first time in half a century, they felt the shadow of war so close, the formerly prosperous cities seemed to enter the Great Depression in advance, countless people fled in their cars, the ships moored at the harbour disappeared without a trace, only a few security ships floated listlessly.


    The doors of the Capitol Building were closed, and no one knew what heated debates were going on inside. Even the British magical community, thousands of miles away, was affected, and constructions on the new Diagon Alley were forced to suspend - of course, the external excuse given for that was the influence of the blizzard.


    In what was probably the last quiet moments before the Great War, Felix suddenly found himself with nothing to do, and all negotiations were temporarily put on hold as everyone seemed to be waiting for the outcome of the conflict. He returned to school, had a good night''s sleep, and woke up to meet the amazed eyes of his students and professors. Professor McGonagall was the first to appear to lead him away.


    In the Headmistress''s office -


    "Is there really going to be a war?" Professor McGonagall asked with a serious expression.


    "We don''t want a war, but there is no choice." Felix said, "If we give in on such a major matter of principle, not only the American wizards - the entire wizards'' survival environment will be extremely poor, and at the same time, it will cause division ... Don''t take things too simply, the other party won''t start a full-scale war if we let them take the initiative, at least they won''t target all the American wizards, because they are very proficient at pulling strings, spying, and provoking .... If they succeed, the American wizarding community will see the biggest division ever. And that would lead to a series of chain reactions."


    "Is there no way to stop it? Once a war starts, it won''t be so easy to stop it."


    "Don''t ask me, I don''t know." Felix shook his head slightly and said, "There are too many factors involved in this matter, and neither Akingbade nor I want to let things grow, and it''s best to limit it to North America, one part of America to be precise. Looking at the big picture, both the wizarding and non-wizarding communities are expecting a conflict like human life isn''t worth anything ... before there was Grindelwald, a lot of people might still have expectations - I mean, in those people''s minds, maybe I''ll fight him and end up dying together. But with the issue and implementation of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance, the likelihood of them waiting much longer is very low -"


    "The establishment of a new order will inevitably be accompanied by bloodshed and conflict, and it will face all kinds of challenges. If we break through, the whole world will usher in a period of peaceful development, but if we don''t, it will definitely affect more than just the living environment of the American wizards - it might even flatten out the previously signed treaties. Fortunately, we have laid enough groundwork in the past few months ..."


    "We must fight while we have the advantage of information, face to face, head to head, to dispel all the unkind eyes at once."


    Professor McGonagall was silent for a moment and said, "Felix, I called you here because of another matter."


    "What is it?"


    "Didn''t you always daydream about having a long chat with the Sorting Hat? It agreed."


    "I wasn''t exactly daydreaming about - what did you say, Minerva?" Felix tore his eyes away from the ceiling over the couch and looked at her in surprise. Professor McGonagall rose from her seat, her eyes moving along the portrait of the Headmaster on the wall.


    "Not even Dumbledore knows all the secrets of this castle, let alone me, but I think if the four founders did leave the key to unlock the secrets, the biggest possibility of it being in the Sorting Hat is very high ... I hope it will help you."


    After saying that she left, leaving Felix alone in the Headmistress''s office.


    Felix stayed stunned for a moment, then looked straight at the Sorting Hat in the compartment. He stood up swiftly and went to the compartment to closely look at the dirty, gray hat, which did not budge, then he picked it up and shook it off, and returned to the couch with a surprisingly nervous expression.


    After sitting quietly for a few seconds, he put the Sorting Hat on his head.


    --------------


    #SHTC, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 721: The Journey of the Sorting Hat

    Felix, after wearing the dirty, crumpled, and patched Sorting Hat, asked in a whisper, "You have something to tell me?" As he spoke, he stole a passing glance at the portrait frames on the wall, and the portraits immediately closed their surveying eyes and snorted. "I have nothing to tell you, you''re the one who keeps coveting me." A subtle voice rang out in his head.


    "I am just curious about your method of existence."


    "What''s there to be curious about?"


    "You''ve existed for too long, and your material is too ordinary-"


    "Think about the Headmaster''s portraits on the wall, and then think about the Peeves Ghost." Sorting Hat said in a mellow tone.


    "Portraits? Peeves Ghost? They-" Felix''s expression froze, "Wait, you''re part of the school?"


    "That''s right, as long as the school exists, I will continue to exist, even if I''m just a hat made of ordinary material."


    Having cleared up a long-standing puzzle, Felix was somewhat relieved and also a bit lost, and after thinking about it, he calmly asked in his mind, "By the way, why did you assign me to Slytherin in the first place?"


    "Oh, let''s see - calm, level-headed, worship of power, ambition to reach the top of the wizarding world on the first day of school, and - with all due respect - a clear awareness of the dark side of human nature at a young age, and adequately prepared, all these are very rare to come across entirely in one person throughout my sorting career."


    Felix smacked his lips, "So I perfectly matched Salazar Slytherin''s philosophy of selecting students?"


    "Philosophy, what philosophy?" The Sorting Hat asked with a wide grin.


    "Of course, the ideology of the four founders of the school-"


    "So you think I have a little slip of paper with lots of rules and regulations printed all over it sewn up in my lining?"


    "I thought there would be something like that." Felix said calmly, "Like a fixed pattern of thinking, or a standard process." Sorting Hat interrupted him indignantly : S~?a??h the N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "--then wouldn''t my job is to hide behind the student''s mind and tick off the notes one by one?"


    "Well, have you got a different opinion about that."


    "Of course I do! Yes! My job is much more important and complicated than you think," Sorting Hat yelled loudly, "and although I''m just a hat, I have a mind and a personality of my own. I''m smarter than most people, yet I don''t have human flaws, I don''t have to eat or sleep, my mouth is just for conversation without any other purposes mixed in - I''m also hell-bent on useful thinking, and well, most of the time I reminisce about the past and compile new songs ... "


    "It''s amazing." Felix said although he wasn''t quite sure what there was to reminisce about, could it be about all those years it spent in the Headmaster''s office at Hogwarts, spying on the affairs of successive Headmasters? But is there any sense of involvement in that? Or savouring the memories of nearly 1,000 sorting ceremonies all by itself, but the question is will it really not get confused ...


    The Sorting Hat seemed to choke for a moment, it remained silent for a while and said, "I''ll show you personally."


    "Okay."


    Felix closed his eyes and waited, and for a good deal of time, the Sorting Hat did not make any move. He was surprised.


    "Remove the defences from your mind." Sorting Hat said sullenly, "I can''t see anything other than surface thoughts, it''s like bumping into a thick wall of stones ..."


    "S-sorry." Felix mumbled as he withdrew his shielding, and after a few more seconds, he felt an invisible force tugging at the top of his head and lifting it upward, as if to pull him up to the sky, or into the hat, which reminded him of how the thinking room worked, and he didn''t resist.


    A blur appeared in front of his eyes, and he materialized in the darkness. Gradually, colours appeared in the darkness, and Felix stared at a string of lights that appeared out of nowhere and crashed down, splashing out sparks of gray-green and silver-white, which formed a long, muddy pool of silvery light and green foam that stretched into the distance.


    A solitary figure waded through the murky shallow water.


    Salazar Slytherin, holding a wooden pathfinder stick, walked past Felix at an unhurried pace. When the two passed, his expression did not change, his simple robe seems to be tied with a whole piece of black cloth, and several small snakes followed him.


    Light and shadow flickered, this time transforming into a wilderness. Felix saw a young man walking on a country road, straight back, with brisk footsteps, and red hair flowing in the wind. Young Godric Gryffindor jumped on a boulder, looking back at the small village from which he came, and then resolutely walked towards the distance.


    He naturally did not know that his hometown would later be named after him.


    On the tranquil riverbank, Rowena Ravenclaw quietly gazed at the flowing river, which reflected the blue sky, where an eagle streaked across the surface.


    In the golden valley, Helga Hufflepuff twisted ears of wheat that glittered in the sunlight, and the ears of wheat blossomed into a small flower.


    It dawned on Felix that this would be the memories of the four founders of the school, and then new doubts rose up, according to what the sorting hat had said at previous sorting ceremonies, they had collectively infused it with their thoughts, and Felix had always assumed them to be ideologies, but ideologies would inevitably become outdated, medieval moralities would not necessarily fit the modern era, but the work of the sorting hat never ceased.


    Now he kind of got it, the four founders did inject their thoughts into the Sorting Hat, but it''s not some shallow concepts, but rather the footprints they walked on.


    Felix shuttled through the darkness, every minute there is a new scene, slowly, he grasped the pulse, and peeked into the hidden corner of history - why Gryffindor and Slytherin were able to become good friends? Because they both seek great power; why did they ultimately go their separate ways? Felix had a vague answer in his mind when he saw Gryffindor learning swordplay from the Muggle knights and Slytherin relentlessly eradicating the threats in his way.


    Such a vague understanding became even keener when he met Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.


    As the best witches of their generation, and a pair of close friends, they have travelled together through many places, joining hands to help the weak. While Hufflepuff has a loving heart, treats everyone equally, and is always willing to look out for the underserved, Ravenclaw is clearly more comfortable dealing with someone who is flexible, as it assists in solving issues quicker. The two worked well together, with the former neutralizing a lot of unnecessary strife and the latter being good at coming up with ideas to solve problems once and for all, such as building a windmill.


    Felix saw the culinary magic of the future Hogwarts kitchens and the beginnings of the castle''s architectural structure in the travels of these two women.


    Naturally, the experiences of the four school founders when they were young also laid the groundwork for future disagreements.


    Of the four, Salazar Slytherin was the most radical, or rather - the most withdrawn, living a life closer to that of a monk, walking alone through the chaos of the world. He sought power like Gryffindor, but he was more unscrupulous; like Ravenclaw, he was aloof and indifferent, but he was also more indifferent to himself; like Hufflepuff, he was sympathetic to the young wizards who lived in poor conditions, but this sympathy was extremely stingy, and he never shared a single bit of it with unrelated people.


    These four best male and female wizards of the same generation met, and having heard of each other, they exchanged their knowledge of magic among themselves. To Felix''s surprise, in the beginning, except for Hufflepuff, the three were clearly more talkative, and Slytherin was not shy about pointing out that the magic Hufflepuff studied as "worthless and useless in a chaotic world." Fortunately, there was a calm Ravenclaw and enthusiastic Gryffindor to mediate between them, coupled with Hufflepuff''s usual good temper, this conflict did not become a storm.


    As their exchange progressed, Hufflepuff proved herself to be an excellent witch, who not only excelled at cooking magic but also at identifying herbs and mixing potions.


    Finally, the four decided to build a school of magic together.


    They travelled to the Scottish Highlands, a remote, untouched, and inhospitable place, with ancient rocky shores cleaved by water and glaciers forming ravines and streams, where Ravenclaw picked out a cliff with a lake, encircled by emerald slopes, wearing white snow caps, with a deep ravine running below, and a lake bordered by dense woods.


    The four men unanimously agreed that this would be an ideal place to build a school.


    Among them, only Ravenclaw had the experience of building a house with her own hands (with magic), and she designed the school''s floor plan, especially the main building''s flexible and movable revolving staircase, while the two guys brought in all kinds of materials, and Hufflepuff searched for flowers and greenery to decorate the school, and accidentally found a wild Wiggentree in the nearby primeval forest.


    The castle gradually took shape, and the four worked together to arrange the most tightly organized defensive magic for the school at that time, and when they considered that the castle would be filled with students in the future, they even came up with a genius idea - a unique innovation at that time - to rely on the castle to collect the escaping magic power, which would function as the most important part in maintaining the magic supply of the castle and strengthening the defense system.


    Felix watched the scene with rapt attention.


    He didn''t expect to get advanced magic knowledge from the Sorting Hat, at first he was just curious about its state of existence, and later he wanted to talk to the four founders inside the Sorting Hat, provided that it would be possible. But an unexpected surprise came out of the blue -


    The four founders of the school unreservedly and enthusiastically worked together to create something which allowed them to demonstrate what they had learned. The secrets of Hogwarts Castle unfolded in his eyes, and Felix''s eyes followed the movements of their hands, and the Book of Runes hovered close to his chest, automatically turning the pages. With him at the center, waves of rune symbols spread along the ground in all directions, climbing up the walls, burrowing through the doorways, and extending outward ...


    The magic channel inside the Headmistress''s office revealed itself clearly through the air and received the power of the ancient runes, and soon this new power flowed throughout the castle like gushing blood along the magic channels. After passing through Myrtle''s abandoned lavatory, it split off into a new fork and headed straight for the Slytherin Chamber.


    In the Charms classroom, Professor Flitwick just made a wonderful demonstration for the students below, then he suddenly paused, reached out his hand, and flicked his wand in the air, the tip of the wand brought out a chain of golden rune symbols.


    The students looked up, the walls and floor looked like small billowing ocean waves, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to calm.


    Professor Flitwick cleared his throat, "Students, let''s continue the lesson ..."


    In the school kitchen, the house elves worked busily to prepare lunch for the students, when a breeze passed by, they seemed to sense a friendly gaze, the house elves looked around but found nothing. In the kitchen, there is a plain portrait of a woman with a benevolent gaze. This painting is not connected to the school castle, nor does it have any semblance of magic, rather it simply has been passed down from generation to generation in the house elf community.


    Every house elf has heard an ancient legend for as long as they can remember: "It was Lady Hufflepuff who brought them into Hogwarts, gave them shelter, respect, and work, and taught them culinary magic personally ..."


    Felix opened his eyes with the last scene still lingering in his mind, that of the four founders standing together, infusing their thoughts - their life paths - into the Sorting Hat, with Slytherin wearing a locket, Gryffindor holding a sword, Ravenclaw with a diadem on her head, and Hufflepuff with a golden goblet in her hand, at the last moment, their gaze held a relief.


    Felix slowly stood up and placed the Sorting Hat back in the compartment. His eyes lingered on the glass case next to him, which held the pendant, the sword, and the golden cup, with the exception of the Gryffindor sword, which shone brightly, the other two relics of the founders were somewhat dull.


    Felix took the Ravenclaw diadem out of his ring and gently placed it beside the other relics.


    ---------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 722: The Eve

    Professor McGonagall appeared after a while. She was not surprised by the commotion that Felix caused from time to time, since they had long discussed the possibility of incorporating Felix''s magic into the school, it''s just that they had not been able to convince the Sorting Hat at that time. So she first calmly pacified some of the frightened students and faculty before returning to the Headmistress''s office. Felix sat on the couch, appearing as if he hadn''t even changed his position - except for the additional Book of Runes that he held in his hand and read with great interest.


    Professor McGonagall looked at him with a critical eye, then asked, "A great harvest?"


    "Yes," Felix said with a smile, "It broadened my horizons a lot, and I gained a lot of insight. Although I didn''t end up speaking with the four founders, it seemed as if we have actually travelled together." He paused, and said with slight embarrassment, "Minerva, there''s something that you should better know ..."


    "You took a third of the school''s magic?!" Professor McGonagall shouted. Felix nodded good-naturedly, indicating that she had heard it correctly. After double-checking, Professor McGonagall had to accept the reality and asked calmly, "Did it have an effect on the school?"


    "A little, but it won''t interfere with the daily magical operations of the school, ahem, I think - the armour and statues in the castle will be silent for a while, sorry to spoil your Christmas plans ... "


    Professor McGonagall''s sharp gaze swept over, but her words stuttered, "You know?"


    "''The Stone Dance Troupe'' is a good name, it just happens to match with the spell that controls them."


    Professor McGonagall looked at him expressionlessly, mouth tightly pursed, the constant flexing and stretching knuckles showed that she was by no means calm at the moment, it seemed like she might rush over and choke him desperately at any moment.


    Felix who noticed her mood hurriedly said.


    "... is not intentional, it was just a passing glance when I put the sorting hat back, I believe regardless of who it is, they will give two more glances when they see a comic strip in the pile of documents on the table ..." Then he said with a smile on his face: " Minerva, this is the first time I know you can draw. If I can evaluate it, I would say it is very vivid."


    Professor McGonagall opened her mouth and decided not to dwell on this topic. She stared, and then asked, "You need a lot of magic power? Is there not enough magic power now?" As she spoke, she briefly glanced at Felix''s Book of Runes, the thin pages of which surged with palpitating violet and ice-blue magic, with a small, pocket-sized snake swimming around happily, as its silvery, transparent body floated in and out of the pages.


    "If it''s just about fighting this battle, my magic power alone is barely enough, but I''d like to do something more along with it," Felix said thoughtfully, with his hand on his chin, "I''m not sure whether it''s going to work, after all, it''s not exactly going to be a massacre."


    "Do something else? Is that--"


    "We''ve drawn so many big pies, we need to make at least one of them happen, and at the same time it''s a way to prove to the world that wizards have a way back at all times, and the things they value are far less significant than they think."


    "You mean?" Professor McGonagall asked in a low voice.


    "The land."


    They remained silent for nearly a minute before the portrait of Phineas Black on the wall stroked his goatee and said, "I can kind of tell that you want to be a hero all by yourself."


    "So what do you think?" Felix asked politely.


    "I have no great opinion, but I have a lot of humble advice to offer," said the portrait of Black snidely, "to eliminate the process of demonstrating that you are a fool, I will directly say the conclusion - " he suddenly grabbed the frame and yelled vigorously, "boy, you are not capable of being Hero! You''re the most powerful Archmage after Salazar Slytherin from our House!"


    "Speaking of Archmage, Tom Riddle was-"


    "Tell him to get lost!"


    "And Merlin-"


    "Screw Merlin!" Black portrait rudely said: "Being a Hero is something that Gryffindor should do, you are Slytherin. We are brave, but not stupid, got it? There is no need to risk it alone, or at least drag a group of people, such as the group of reckless Gryffindor and silly Hufflepuff..."


    Those words immediately drew protest from several other previous Headmasters of the school. Felix was deeply concerned that if he ever had to hang his portrait on the wall, he would naturally be in the same camp as Headmaster Black. Thinking of this horrific scenario, he hurriedly said, "No one should know better than me what the four founders originally had in mind, and I just talked to the Sorting Hat, remember?"


    The portraits of the Headmasters paused and looked at him with rapt attention. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Is the Sorting useful? It is useful because it allows us to better find companions and discover the noble qualities within - there is certainly more than one quality that can be called noble. In general, some people will succeed, and some will not. And by the time our seven-year academic life is over, we will be tempered to face a far more complex environment than school."


    "Don''t forget that people change, and think about how many seven years there are in life - and if you still have the opportunity to wear the Sorting Hat when you''re 100, what will it sort you into? Of course, personally, it wouldn''t mean much to you at that time."


    The portraits look at Dumbledore, if anyone has had a sorting experience after the age of one hundred, most certainly it''s none other than Dumbledore.


    "It does mean very little," Dumbledore said from the portrait, "when you are young there are infinite possibilities, so with the help of sorting, we can regard one of Salazar Slytherin, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, Godric Gryffindor as a target to strive for, and when we are old, we will simply become ourselves ."


    The circular office went quiet for a while. Professor McGonagall blew her nose, "Well, well, I will leave time for you to debate, Albus, there are some things you should have told me while you were alive ..."


    She recomposed herself and said seriously to Felix, "We have to prepare as thoroughly as possible and give it our best shot, there isn''t much time left for us, and I''m sure you''ll need some time to digest ..." she said, striding over to her desk and taking out a picture album from the drawer.


    Felix looked at her with wonder.


    "Don''t you need magic?" Professor McGonagall explained as she flipped through the pages, "What better place to get it than other magical schools that are also world-famous? Thanks to this album, I know enough about other schools for me to be aware of some that happen to have similar defences to Hogwarts, such as Beauxbatons..."


    Professor McGonagall looked up at Felix, who stood stumped, and asked, "What''s wrong?" Felix jokingly said, "Minerva, I really want to give you a kiss." Professor McGonagall glared at him with a red face.


    ...


    In mid-December, it snowed a few times at Hogwarts School, and Black Lake was covered in thick ice. Some students were trudging through the snow on the grounds to get ready for their Care of Magical Creatures class when they saw Professor Hap in the cabin built by the lake from afar.


    There was lots of speculation about it floating among the students, but none of it was confirmed, and the Professors at the school were tight-lipped. The more widely circulated theory is that Professor Hap is working on a strategy for a drill a week later - yes, it''s not clear where this word circulated from, but people are calling the war that is visible to the naked eye a ''drill''.


    "It''s actually just a cover-up." One boy said with a serious look, "My dad wrote to tell me that anyone with a brain should support Professor Hap, the International Confederation of Wizards, oh, and also the International Pan-Magical Alliance-"


    "So you placed a bouquet of flowers at the Professor''s door?" Another student said teasingly, "Not only did you get detained, you even got beaten up by a Niffler, no?"


    The boy turned red, "I placed a greeting card! Greeting card!"


    The students around him laughed and joked, but they all looked at the cabin by the black lake with reverence, but the reverence didn''t last long as a round, furry, black-skinned Niffler rushed toward the students, waving a small, glowing wooden stick in her tiny hands and babbling under her breath.


    "Run!" One student shouted, dashing off, the rest quickly following. But there were some who stayed behind, mostly girls, who looked eager to give it a shot.


    Valen blinked her dark eyes, a bit thrilled. This week the Great Demon King was busy with serious matters and did not even have time to play cards, only Harry, Hermione, and Ron would purposefully come over, and there is also Luna, but even Valen did not know if she had got lost. All in all these days were very boring, and it is good that she has found a new pastime for herself.


    Valen, draped in an exquisite cloak, stood on the boulder by the lake, and with a very imposing wave. The snow tumbled and a crystal white snowman Nifflers hopped out and followed Valen forward, the students who stayed in place before had long been on guard as they waited, their eyes glittering with excitement, and soon both sides engaged in a short fight, with snowballs flying around everywhere along with laughter and swearing.


    Ten minutes later, the burly Hagrid stood in front of his hut and yelled at them.


    The battle was halted, and each side put on an air of victory and agreed to fight again another day. With a majestic, vigorous stride, Valen walked toward the black lake, and as she did so, she found herself lifted by someone from behind.


    Valen turned back and opened her beak at Hermione, who was inching her face closer, revealing a smile.


    "Come on, let''s go to class together, Professor Slughorn is missing you."


    "Probably because he found a Niffler with more snacks in her pocket than he did." Ron muttered in a small voice and Harry grinned, "But we have to admit, Professor Slughorn always finds the right excuse - what is it this time about?" He turned to Hermione and asked.


    "Oh, I heard he found two hibernating mice lying in a flower pot." Hermione replied with a smirk.


    "What, does Valen want to take them in?" Harry asked in surprise as Valen flared her claws at him.


    They walked towards the castle, occasionally stopping on the stone steps to look at the snow-covered cabin by the Black Lake, and silently stopped talking. At the entrance to the castle, Harry suddenly said, "I''m going to listen to Mr. Doge''s advice."


    "What?" Ron asked immediately afterward.


    "A graduation trip."


    "Oh, you mean that one," Ron said slowly, "I''m not sure ... it should be okay if it''s just for a few months, but ... Hermione, what about you? "


    Hermione shook her head.


    "I would go straight to the Ministry of Magic, as soon as I graduate. Ms. Bones said there is a shortage of staff - who knows both sides well, and my plan is to stay in the Ministry of Magic for a few years, and then find an opportunity to travel abroad for a while. The Constitution of the Confederation and Alliance mentions a lot of departments that are still in the process of being established, and I think the post of Pan-Magical Alliance inspector would suit me just fine ..."


    Ron rubbed his chin.


    "So one of you going abroad before returning, and one of you prepares to go abroad for a long stay in the future."


    "That''s an accurate summary." Harry said.


    No one mentioned the possibility of an unexpected development, as if they are fully confident in the future, they walked into the castle and glanced inside as they passed the great hall, where the fires for warming blazed, and twelve Christmas trees stood tall and firm. Harry glanced at the empty table, it would not be long before the table will be filled with plump roasted turkeys, mountains of roast meat and cooked potatoes, delicious small sausages, buttered peas, rich broth, and mouth-watering desserts ...


    And of course, there are Christmas poppers, Harry recalls the last Christmas Eve banquet.


    He and Ron had drawn sailor hats, which were far less impressive than the tiger and parrot hats they had worn themselves, and then he thought of the two people who are destined to be absent this Christmas, Dumbledore in his Antler Hat, smiling and urging people to eat more, and Grindelwald, who drew a red Santa hat when he was still disguised as Professor Bagshot...


    ...


    Felix lay on a simple bed, in a state of almost half-awake, staring at a soft violet and ice blue glow in the richly coloured Book of Runes. A small snake swam around in the pages of the book -


    This is his new Patronus.


    ---------------


    #Book Two, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 723: Book Page (2 in 1)

    As Christmas Eve approached, the usual festive spirit of joy was diluted by a serious, solemn atmosphere, and everyone''s hearts sank as if they too were hanging in an invisible holly and mistletoe-draped ribbon just like those on the great hall''s Christmas tree. News and pictures of New York Harbor continued to multiply, ranging from traffic jams caused by the blizzard, to the presence of air, land, and navy battalions, as well as Marines and Coast Guard troops gathered in the harbour, and appeals send for calmer and more restrained responses on both sides from the United Nations headquarters ... all increasingly stirred the common people''s tense nerves. At first, the White House did try to glamorize the dispute as a peace ''drill'', to undermine and erode wizards'' morale to fight, by issuing statements like - "to help make the wizards recognize the situation and understand their place in the world." But it soon became clear that this kind of practice would not be going to succeed.


    With the sheer persistence and unity behind the extraordinary silence shown by the entire magical community, and the news that ''hundreds of young wizards have been illegally imprisoned and abused for up to two decades'' gaining momentum around the world, they had no choice but to quickly turn their guns and start violently attacking the legitimacy of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance.


    The White House started to claim to the public that wizards are all minorities and should follow United States law. But when the reporters pressed him for his opinion on the two-hundred-page lists of perpetrators along with evidence provided by the International Confederation of Wizards and the International Pan-Magical Alliance, the spokesman kept his mouth shut for good. And the federal courts, which represent justice and public order, collectively lost their voices at a critical moment.


    A certain public relations expert from across the ocean, who carried himself in the same manner as Luna, told the unpleasant truth in one sentence.


    "The secret of this conflict is written on the last page of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance."


    When people took up the magnifying glass to scrutinize the dense signatures on the document with great probing eyes, they were shocked to discover how simple the truth turned out to be.


    Next to the signature of ''Felix Hap'' - a name which is by now well-known to everyone, with over three hundred organizations sprang up in North America alone that somehow insist on being affiliated with him - a small line of dark green letters clearly states.


    ''The above laws and regulations are recognized and signed into effect by all representatives of the magical community, and the Archmage (Felix Hap) is authorized to guarantee their implementation.''


    It dawned on some people that a few days ago the spokesman of the International Confederation of Wizards solemnly announced to the public that Felix Hap had been authorized to transport the American wizards who are currently in grave danger; but a few days prior to that, he would participate as the only representative of the wizard community in - the spokesman said in a sneering tone - the so-called peace drill.


    "This is Monsieur Hap''s personal choice, and I do not wish to analyse his intentions in doing so in detail; all I can do is hope the best for him, just as we all waited for the outcome of that legendary duel half a century ago."


    In the following days, various tabloids unanimously used eye-catching terms such as "cruel" and "bloody", and some even directly put up the headline "Black Christmas".


    The morning before Christmas, the sun came up, and the world went silent.


    The early morning sky shone with a cold, dark blue hue, the weather was cold and dry, and dozens of battleships wandered like ghosts a few kilometers away from the harbour, the water splashes they made as they moved forward made the frozen harbour more and more tense and unsettling. At least hundreds of Earth observation satellites in the sky pointed their lenses at this area, which are powerful enough to observe centimeter-level frames.


    The atmosphere in an underground control chamber deep within the harbour was unusually heavy. Ten minutes ago, a satellite call came in and told them, "It''s on." Thus, an operation with the keyword ''hunting'' started in full swing. All of a sudden, there was an abnormal disturbance in a satellite feed.


    A group of people gathered in front of the satellite feed, which appeared abnormal.


    "What''s going on?"


    "It is not clear at the moment!"


    "What about the ground radar?"


    "No moving targets were detected except for the tagged helicopters, fighter jets, tanks, and military fleets."


    At that moment, a private officer raised his hand, "Report, a report, right now it''s similar to one of the situations in the manual that was issued to us."


    "Speak!"


    "Magic disturbance."


    The commander looked very confused, "Are you implying that there''s some wizard near the satellite?" One of the surveillance officers who had his back to the commander muttered in a low voice, "That man has once even been to the moon." What he subtly implied was that the distance of a satellite is nothing compared to the moon. The commander interrupted gruffly: "There is no evidence that he has been to the moon! Except for that little bit of dust--"


    As soon as these words left his mouth, a young face appeared on the monitor, and the corners of his mouth moved as if he was talking to himself, but unfortunately, his voice could not be transmitted. Then that frame fell into darkness.


    The commander gulped and asked, "Did anyone able to catch what he said?"


    There was silence in the control room. After a few seconds, a voice quietly whispered in the corner, "From the English pronunciation, I think he said ..." The voice paused and seemed to find it uncanny as well, "U... ...S...A..."


    In the next ten minutes, hundreds of frames segmented on the big screen went out one by one, those frames were like the flames that mankind first managed to harness when they first started their civilization, which now are being extinguished one by one, by invisible hands in the darkness. The temperature conditioning in the room seems to be completely broken, the temperature inside is as suffocating cold as the icy weather outside.


    After another three minutes, no more frames disappeared. Everyone breathed a long sigh of relief, at this moment there are less than half of the satellite feeds are still intact. In the time it took to catch their breath, the satellite phones in the control room rang in quick succession.


    "Shut those drunken sons of bitches up!" The commander yelled, "The target may have given up, immediately mobilize the remaining satellites, turn on the radar power to the maximum, instruct the helicopters, reconnaissance planes, and fighter jets to search with all their might-"


    Hundreds of fighter jets buzzed through the sky, trailing long white trails as the sky was divided into fine fractions by the ''white smoke'', like a crisscrossing chessboard, circling the morning star that had not yet been completely hidden.


    The early warning aircraft finally sent back a message when it climbed almost to 30,000 meters, "Target spotted! Should we initiate an attack?" Then the military radar, satellite positioning, and graphics gradually became clear, although only a rear view of the head was shown.


    "Attack." The commander coldly gave the order.


    Felix was restraining the urge to use magic, letting himself float down slowly like a feather. Although he could fly on his own. At the moment Felix is still in the mood to calculate in the midst of free fall, according to the current speed, he will probably land in about three hours ... which is really a long time.


    The orange-red fire streaks of light dotted into lines, which then intertwined to form a net-like format that approached him quickly from all directions like a swift storm. But with the thinking room that expands to dozens of kilometers into the distance, Felix knew even before the pilot in the fighter jet whether these machine gun bullets fired at high speed would hit their target - which turned out to be him. Because this is definitely a technical task, as he is individually too small compared to the size of the aircraft.


    After Felix symbolically dodged a few rounds of high calibre bullets, various types of aerial guns, air-to-air missiles, and laser-guided bombs started to fire at his appropriate location, and then the sky turned into a field of fireworks displays that began to flash wildly with the sound of deafening thunder. As another fireball with an explosion radius of more than two hundred meters exploded around him and tried to obliterate him, Felix somewhat stared into the empty air.


    When everything regained its silence, Felix carefully observed the nearby black smoke and the much brighter sky, where various fighter jets were trying to turn around in the distance, as if they wanted to do it several more times.


    "At this altitude, you should be able to see pretty well, right?" Felix whispered to himself. Of course, he wasn''t talking to the pilots or even the commander on the underground, but to the more than two hundred nations and regimes on the planet who must be watching this - he wants to make it clear that conventional weapons are ineffective against him.


    Felix held out his hand and said flatly, "Then let''s get it over with as soon as possible." Even If there was no time for preparations, he has far too many means at his disposal to handle most circumstances, not to mention now, when he has more than enough time to prepare.


    In a dazzling light green glow, a guttural cry that felt like a baby''s cry rang out, which gradually sounded clearer and louder, then it came to an abrupt end. Felix stood in the air, his face looked expressionless, as he lowered his arms. Within the enveloping range of the thinking room, many streamlined fighter jets suddenly went out of control and plummeted downwards at a skewed angle.


    The cry of the mature mandrake would kill people - a magic he had originally intended to hide permanently.


    It wouldn''t be long before the information about it would be on the desks of the leaders of various countries, and the magical effect and casualties it could create are comparable to that of a nuclear bomb - under the help of Archmages'' massive magical power, it could envelop a city almost without any side effects and create a dead zone in a blink of an eye, from which not even mosquitoes and cockroaches could survive. Felix suddenly felt like a merchant peddling death - the voice of death is now demonstrating the capabilities of the product to potential buyers, and in fear of customers will not know the products, it must be accompanied by an instruction manual.


    Felix knows that no one can hear him now, but he still wants to say something.


    "It is kind of inevitable for it to develop to this point. If it is not the United States, it will be other countries. As much as I thought and planned, even to the point of taking care of places as chaotic as Africa to avoid war as much as possible ... the more I ended up on the opposite side of the whole world."


    "Wizards, as a group that holds a lot of individual strength, should have been made accessible to all countries at the first moment of exposure, but I delayed this process for a long time, and as a result it made many people suspect that wizards are only strong on the outside. It is true that without my ... top battle power, wizards would either have fought back, compromised, or hidden deeper, and some places would have fallen into flames of war ... chaos that would inevitably last for years and decades, a process that would inevitably also allow everyone to make an assessment about wizards power that is close to the truth. A new order will be established through blood and fire, at the cost of countless lives."


    "I loathed chaos enough to single-handedly promote the formation of the Constitution of the International Confederation of Wizards and Pan-Magical Alliance, just as four of the most distinguished male and female wizards joined forces to establish Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry a thousand years ago. Come to think of it, I had foreseen this scenario as if I could glimpse into the future - well, somehow it was not wrong - and since I had seen this possible future ahead, it became my duty to ensure that such a future wouldn''t become a reality that is bound to happen."


    From this day on, everyone will know what it really means to be on the opposite side of an Archmage, especially an Archmage of the Ancient Rune Domain.


    Felix''s figure suddenly disappeared, and when he reappeared, he had already stood at the edge of the harbour, where he could smell the scent of the sea. He stretched out his left hand, with his palm up, where a book heavily covered in runes appeared out of thin air. He opened the Book of Runes with his right hand, brushing his fingertips over the pages, then one of which instantly fell off, floating in the air like a feather, without any kind of power at all.


    However, in the eyes of highly skilled wizards, this page carries an unimaginable amount of magical power that they could not even imagine.


    Felix''s body stood straight, and he raised his head unhurriedly, sweeping his eyes in every direction - in fact, it was something redundant, as the thinking room had long shown him that the nearest helicopter is still two kilometers away from here, about the cruising fleet outside the harbour even without him turning around, about the snow that is piling up in the distant city, and that the reflections of the glass and binoculars on the tall buildings are intertwined. In fact, he could even faintly hear the roar of motorcycles and the shouts of excitement.


    He could completely grasp all the surrounding details. The entire city in front of him has a total area of more than a thousand square kilometers, with close to eight million people living there. Of course, most of them had now temporarily evacuated the city, which had caused a major traffic jam before, but there were still small groups of people who unbelievably chose to stay and watch the spectacle. And the city''s empty depressed long streets also give these people the opportunity to vent their raw desire for violence in broad daylight, with steel, leather, motorcycles, muscle, and sweat seen everywhere...


    Felix estimates that this place could become a source of inspiration for a number of artists in the coming week.


    In the next second, the page fell to the ground.


    Ancient rune symbols fluttered like ice grains, and ice-blue magic suddenly curled up and merged with the biting cold wind around, blowing his clothes in the process. This magic is like a dye dropped into a pool, leaving a kind of colourful ripples - Felix has already used this magic before, even more than once, but the magic power consumed then was far less than a thousandth of what it is using at the moment - and the result of that is, with him as the center, all colours began to fade away, whether it was buildings, machines or people, all that remained behind were clear lines, and if you look closely you will see a light glow reflecting on their surfaces.


    This magic coverage was so wide that it was enough to cover all the troops, the command room, and part of the military fleet ... that were scattered along the coastline. Of course, all these people are still alive, but they will fall into silence along with the city for the next week, like moving from the middle of reality to a subplot in a comic book.


    After all this was done, Felix took a step forward and appeared outside the harbour. There was no sound around him, reminding him of his first experience in the space, and suddenly a bold idea popped into his head - to roll up New York City and hang it on the doorstep of the White House in Washington, D.C., as he had done with Grawp''s house in the Burrow, an idea which he even found to be too crazy. It is estimated that at this moment Akingbade and Ms. Bones'' side of every contact method that can be used would almost be blown up.


    The commotion transmitted through his thinking room also reminded him of the business that needed to be focused on, and as Felix stood high in the sky looking down, the sea seemed to have an extra clear line of separation, with half of the sea being realistic and half being in the shape of waves that could only be found in comic books. He looked at the city again, not everyone had been ''linealized'', he deliberately avoided the wizarding families hiding in the shadows, they remained intact and at this moment they stood out in a cluster of chaotic black and white lines.


    The most conspicuous of all these had to be the Woolworth Building, which doubled as the Headquarters of the Magical Congress of the United States of America and was nearly filled with several hundred wizards.


    As he watched Horace Grimsditch fly toward him on a broomstick, Felix suddenly realized that the people of the Magical Congress of the United States of America might be about to have their sixth relocation.


    -----


    [Author:]


    I can see that some readers in the community do not understand what Felix is up to and why he is doing this, so I will briefly explain the plot to you.


    Felix, the International Confederation of Wizards, and the Ministry of Magic people have always wanted the peaceful integration of wizards into the outside world, and they have done a good job, through a series of means to sign cooperation treaties with various countries one after another.


    But the biggest problem in the middle of this is: because of overly well-rounded planning, no large-scale conflict has broken out so far, which has led the world to doubt the war potential of wizards, as the wizard''s deterrence level only stayed on paper, various countries now unanimously, in fact, wish to see a conflict (as long as it does not happen in their own country), and it can be said that this is the last hurdle before moving towards peace.


    And Felix took this responsibility on his own.


    ---------------


    #Book Two, Thanks for all your love and support. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 724: Floating (2 in 1)

    In front of the harbour, Felix pulled out a silver pocket watch from his jacket and popped open the top cover to check the time. "Horace, have your men arrange the transfer as soon as possible, to be honest, I''m not sure if a big guy is going to appear over our heads in a few moments, it''s hard to figure out what those folks are thinking ... Seriously, I don''t like politics." He paused, "I could probably make a warning a minute earlier if there would be a real danger."


    Horace Grimsditch nodded with understanding, one minute is plenty of time to do a lot of things.


    A suitcase materialized in the air, and Felix handed it to Grimsditch. The latter looked surprised and asked tentatively, "I have heard that Mr. ... Scamander had a suitcase that could hold a remarkable amount of things when he was young?"


    "Ah, it''s based on the same principle, I asked Mr. Scamander for advice."


    Horace Grimsditch''s face suddenly revealed a look of reminiscence - after Seraphina Picquery, every president of the Magical Congress of the United States of America since the beginning of their term was told to be wary of magical zoologists who travelled around with suitcases.


    He made his way to the outskirts of the harbour in a rather mixed mood and fired off a safety signal with his wand. The Aurors and staff of the Magical Congress of the United States of America were the first to arrive, with incredulous expressions on their faces, as if they hadn''t yet woken up. They looked around in amazement as a young Auror stretched out his hand, and his fingers passed through the middle of the black and white lines of varying shades, unhindered by the old red fire hydrant that originally should have been in that spot, which still had a rat standing on it.


    "I''ve only seen a similar sight in comic books." The Auror said, in a state of fascination.


    Another male wizard in bell-bottoms cautiously looked in Felix''s direction and whispered with a look of awe, "What do you think - what does the world look like to Mr. Hap?"


    There was a short silence.


    "A book, perhaps?" The young Auror chattered away, "And still a comic book. Ugh - it''s terrible, it''s hard to imagine how he did it."


    "Mr. Hap should be able to beat Grindelwald, right?"


    "I think it''s feasible! At least Grindelwald couldn''t possibly do something like this." The young Auror said excitedly, looking around with frenzied and idolizing eyes.


    "But both of them are considered as Archmage." Another man said hesitantly.


    "There will always be a difference between the strong and the weak ..."


    At that moment Horace Grimsditch who walked over with a suitcase glanced at the speaker and said, "Archmages cannot be classified on the basis of strength or weakness, they are all outstanding figures who are far beyond their wizard contemporaries in one or more fields at the very least. Well, get to work." s?a??h th? N?velF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    One after another, wizards descended from the sky. These people brought their families with them, carrying large bags of luggage. Horace Grimsditch''s mood became as heavy as that of the Aurors present, but he could not say anything to stop them - they all basically brought their children with them.


    The situation of the American wizard might not continue to deteriorate after today, but there are no signs of improvements visible either. The bloody scars don''t heal that quickly, and the barrier between the two is like a chasm, so they will continue to conceal their identities for a good while.


    "President Grimsditch, all the members of the Revolutionary Society support your decision." Jura said in a quiet but firm voice, "We are the chosen generation."


    Horace Grimsditch opened the suitcase and several Aurors leaned to look down at the long staircase and wizards who had arrived from all over the country silently lined up in order to move to their new residences, which would be arranged by the Confederation and the Pan-Magical Alliance, with the first choice being the countries that had currently signed a peace treaty with wizards.


    Horace Grimsditch repeatedly told the families of wizards who went past him, "There''s plenty of food and water inside, with different scenery to see ... It''s like a train ride, nothing to worry about." As the daylight gradually brightened, the long line became thinner, and finally, only the staff members remained. Felix kept standing at a distance, pretending to look over the abstracted city, because when he glanced at the rest of the people, they immediately showed smiling and docile expressions. This struck him as odd. The bottom of the sea is visible at first glance, seaweed and algae remain floating in the waves, and schools of fish sketched by simple lines look like they are flying in the sky and lifelike - except that they are magically frozen.


    Finally, Horace Grimsditch approached and handed the suitcase to Felix.


    "This contains over a thousand wizard families." He said cautiously.


    "They will not be harmed in any way." Felix assured him, "There will be a chance to return later." He added reassuringly.


    "I know." Horace Grimsditch murmured to himself saying that just because a wizard''s identity information is not in the hands of the Muggle government does not mean that wizards can just relocate at will. If they have a choice, they would still prefer to stay in familiar surroundings unless they are forced to do otherwise - there was a massive migration of wizards in the British magical community back when Voldemort had been most brazen.


    After handing over the suitcase, Horace Grimsditch sighed with relief, as if the constant pressure had disappeared at once. For him, the next priority was to keep the rest of the wizards as concealed as possible, and he was even in the mood to joke.


    "I thought you would create a huge flying carpet; and never anticipated that you would use a suitcase."


    "Pretty much," Felix said with a straight face, "I said before when I spoke to the press that I would let them leave honourably, and now it''s only half done."


    "What''s the other half?" Horace Grimsditch asked curiously, and he suddenly glanced behind Felix, suspecting that something else might be hidden there, such as - as he put it - a flying carpet that could accommodate several thousand people?


    ...


    A few dozen miles away from the harbour and the coastline, Felix, Grimsditch, Jura and a few curious Aurors who had followed them stood in the sky, mentally marvelling at the sight. Beneath their feet lay a ground half the size of a Quidditch pitch, and - it really seemed to be a pitch - they tilted their heads, quite sure they saw poles with circular rings in the thin air fifty feet above them, sort of like the little plastic sticks children used when blowing soap bubbles.


    "The Hogwarts Quidditch pitch." Jura whispered, and it dawned on the others that this could be part of the same magic that had enveloped New York Harbor: the first part turned physical objects into vague virtual things, and right now it happened to be the exact opposite - bringing virtual things from memory to reality.


    Horace Grimsditch remained engrossed in great stupefaction.


    An island, floating island - not to mention the huge amount of magic needed for this kind of magic (after the earlier scene, he thought it might be nothing for Hap), just considering how to maintain the effect of magic for a long time is a big problem. In his own visualization, if the entire Magical Congress of the United States of America worked around the clock and cast thousands of levitation charms together, it would indeed be possible to pull up an artificial island several kilometers in circumference, but such a huge spectacle would last at most a week or two, which seemed somewhat superfluous to him ...


    Perhaps this is Hap''s purpose?


    Horace Grimsditch pondered, crossing a sea before the magic expires as a way to demonstrate the power of wizards, doing so is indeed very meaningful. Felix''s body flickered and appeared in the distance. His eyes glittered with a silvery hue, rune symbols dotted around his pupils, and his pupils reflected the shadow of the profoundly shaded Book of Runes...


    He opened his mouth slowly and recited an incantation in a low voice.


    In an instant, the daylight behind him seemed to be gradually swallowed up, breaking open a large dark green hole, as if someone had torn off the bright blue background while shooting a film, revealing the messy dark green curtain behind. Felix''s entire being then exudes an air of mystery and elusiveness. Lightning-like fine lines streaked across the background behind him, and then whether it was the dark green background or lightning traces, they all began to dent and distort, its shape became clearer and clearer - it was a giant serpent, with dark green representing the colour of its body and lightning representing the folds of its scales - after staying on the edge of the black lake for half a month, Felix''s new Patronus appeared before the eyes of the world for the first time. It measured a staggering thousand feet in size, and it is far from its limit.


    Felix never found himself as powerful and close to the essence of magic as he is at this moment, so close to the core.


    He is still an Archmage, and he didn''t feel that his understanding of magic surpassed Dumbledore''s, but every cell in his body is conveying one thought to him - even if all of the Archmages in history came together in one package, they couldn''t beat him at this moment. Just by virtue of the fact that he had brought together most of the magic power accumulated in eleven of the world''s top magic schools, which happened to be collected into the Book of Runes and released via the brand-new Patronus.


    Patronus ...


    Felix felt it a bit of bullying to call it Patronus anymore, as this magic had completely changed under his constant improvements, and if one researched it carefully, they would definitely smack their lips at the knowledge this magic contained: the memory nodes of Rowena Ravenclaw- the Memory Magic; Emotion Magic- the branch of Memory Magic; Ancient Runes; and the technique of constructing stable magic channels that he had mastered not long ago ...


    The giant serpent blended into the sea like a swimming fish, without making a single ripple. But Felix knew that it is ''drawing'' nourishment from the sea - melting the rocks underneath the reef and the soft seawater deposits into its body and strengthening itself.


    Almost a few minutes later, the entire surface of the sea began to shudder and bubble, water splashing, and swirling like overlapping nesting dolls, the eyes of those present fixed on the shadow beneath the surface of the sea, the huge black shadow approaching them. Finally, the black shadow poked its head out, they looked at the huge serpent head in terror and speechlessness, it grew several circles bigger out of thin air, and unlike its previous elegant head, its head is now covered by thick reefs and solid submarine rocks, the rough surface looks hideous, and from the holes between the rocks, rune symbols can be seen blooming!


    The giant serpent leaped out of the water, as a small piece of land abruptly rose. Even hundreds of meters of sea waves were insignificant in front of it, only compared to the rough scales of its huge body.


    It is difficult to imagine the impact that this giant serpent will bring. At least, it won''t just be Grimsditch and the surrounding Aurors going to be shaken up. When they came back to their senses, the giant serpent had already coiled itself into a rough circular-shaped figure, with its huge head hanging down and its tail sticking upwards, with its head and tail connected.


    "Rolled up into an ice cream roll." A female Auror stared wide-eyed, "Or a rolled ice cream with a bite taken out of it." The people around her couldn''t help but suck in their breath, and a bearded Auror growled at her in exasperation, "Nonsense, it''s obviously an Ouroboros Snake, although it looks a bit strange, like it has been pumped up ..."


    The others murmured in agreement, they were aware from the news that the Archmage had once chosen the Ouroboros Snake as a symbol of his identity, such unique symbols were not uncommon in the history of wizards, and if later that wizard became sufficiently famous, the symbol he had chosen in his youth would probably become a family crest.


    Moreover, there is one thing they did not say, the name Ouroboros Snake is much better than rolled ice cream, even if the latter is more fitting based on its shape ... Felix did not hear this inspiring discussion, he did not intend to do that, in order to make the magic channel flow through unobstructed, this is the most effort-saving way.


    The men quickly approached, and only when they boarded the floating island that had appeared almost out of thin air with the help of flying broomsticks and Apparitions were they surprised to find something unusual - the ground reeked with the smell of salty seawater, the terrain rippled and began to crumble and disintegrate visibly to the naked eye, a deep crack stretching backward from under Felix Hap''s feet and spread all around with a haunting "clicking" sounds.


    Everyone could see that something might have gone wrong with the magic. It was true too, the giant serpent had ''eaten'' too many underwater rocks and now had some indigestion ...


    Felix is standing on a raised platform, probably the flattest piece of diamond-shaped scale on the serpent''s head, the edge of which is about ten feet long. He stood motionless with his hand aloft.


    "Mr. Hap!" Horace Grimsditch shouted urgently, and the next second a deep voice suddenly rang in their ears, "Leave him alone." Horace Grimsditch was startled, he would never forget the owner of this voice - the one who had single-handedly caused the wizard''s exposure crisis, who had signed an unbreakable vow with Akingbade, who had toyed with everyone -


    "Grindelwald!" He shouted out of breath.


    He raised his wand subconsciously, his heart twisting and pounding, and the first thought that loomed through his mind was: It''s over, Grindelwald has spotted the opportunity and decided to strike Mr. Hap!


    "Don''t worry," Grindelwald said with a wide grin, "I''m here to help."


    The rest of the dozen or so wizards in the area gathered around, and they heard Horace Grimsditch ask warily, "How can I trust you?" For a moment, the situation became unclear. Grindelwald said nothing, other than raising his empty hand, and it became clear to everyone.


    If Grindelwald had been hostile, he would not have bothered to explain to them. Horace Grimsditch hesitated slightly and moved out of the way. ''Grindelwald'' walked unhurriedly towards Felix, and Grimsditch shouted at his back: "Mr. Grindelwald ..., don''t forget, we are wizards."


    ''Grindelwald'' paused slightly and repeated, "You''re right, we''re wizards."


    The whole crowd watched as Grindelwald and Felix stood side by side, he slightly turned his head sideways, and it seemed like they were whispering with each other, although they couldn''t hear what the two of them were talking about, the crack under Mr. Hap''s feet stopped expanding. They felt very mixed emotions.


    "Grindelwald ..." the crowd murmured the name.


    This drama is of course created by Felix. He had indeed gotten into trouble earlier - but not because of a lack of magic power, which he now had in terrifying abundance - but rather on how to divide his attention between the two tasks of maintaining the massive size of the floating island from collapsing while still building a solid magic channel, both of them equally tedious and important. But the solution is also very simple, splitting another thought to divide the work into two, which will dramatically reduce the difficulty.


    But when Felix was about to do so, he suddenly thought that he could take this opportunity to solve the problem of the merger of African magical communities that he had not been able to deal with before.


    At that moment, Felix and his other self looked at each other face to face.


    "What are we going to talk about?"


    "God knows, just act a bit friendly."


    "And ah, anyway, it is to show the outside world that the two sides have reached a reconciliation, and in the process, let''s give Grindelwald a positive reputation, this old man may have done a lifetime of bad things, but the recent ones have nothing to do with him ..."


    A silence followed for a moment.


    "Have you thought it over? This face no longer could be used to do bad deeds ..." ''Grindelwald'' asked seriously.


    "I thought it over, I can afford it."


    The sun was high in the sky, and the golden light shone on the sea. Grindelwald''s figure had disappeared, and Felix remained alone. He hesitantly looked over the sea, the distant stirred-up water mists refracted the sunlight to create a rainbow, which looked beautiful.


    After a difficult labour, the earth beneath his feet has shrunk by a circle, while the reef and submarine rocks are more closely connected to each other, so it is no longer scattered, and truly bears the outline of an island. Plus the most basic magic channel construction is now complete, and based on the magic he invested, the island can stay afloat for several years.


    Moreover, there will certainly be many wizards living on this island in the future, and their escaping magic will be collected - like the ancient defense system of Hogwarts - and used to maintain the existence of the floating island itself, forming a virtuous circle.


    The Sorting Hat was a great help ... Felix sighed in his heart, but would the future wizards living on the island be considered his subjects? It should not be regarded as that, at best he has the ownership. Felix felt extremely reluctant to think of himself piloting the floating island for the next few years, like a scavenger salvaging the right size reefs from the ocean to expand the landscape.


    Actually, there is no need to do it alone, this will become a real window of integration between the two societies ... Felix thought to himself as he watched Horace Grimsditch walking towards him, and with a smile on the corner of his mouth, he whispered. "A place where magic and technology can integrate."


    "What did you say, Felix?" Horace Grimsditch asked, having vaguely overheard.


    "I was thinking about the future of this island beneath our feet." Felix said with a straight face, his mind continuing to wander, the wizard - ahem, he is actually capable of creating an underwater city in the depths of the ocean, but after this idea circled in his mind for a moment, he shelved it for later - for reasons similar to not constructing wizards village on the moon. Both methods would alienate wizards from ordinary people and would defeat his original purpose.


    But it would be nice to secretly create a private holiday spot in the Marianas Trench ...


    Felix suddenly frowned and took the communication mirror out of his ring, where Akingbade was pounding the frame of his mirror desperately.


    "Babajide?"


    "Felix? Thank goodness we finally got through to you!"


    "What''s happened?" Felix asked calmly, then he thought of the other man''s current situation, "Didn''t we discuss the whole plan? You, as a representative of the Confederation, need to participate in the live TV broadcast and objectively explain from the standpoint of a wizard-"


    "The problem is, there are rumours going around that you are planning to create a big meteor and destroy the entire American continent!" Akingbade''s face got slightly distorted in the communication mirror.


    Felix listened in disbelief.


    "Who started this rumour, huh?" He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, there are still hundreds of satellites overhead gazing at him. After thinking about it, he casually found a reason: "Let''s say - well, the International Confederation of Wizards and the Pan-Magic Alliance are planning to hold a Christmas bonfire to celebrate the departure of the American wizards from evil clutches."


    ---------------


    #Book Two, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 725: Celebration

    When he put away the communication mirror, Felix couldn''t help but laugh; rumours always caught more attention than facts, especially when they were paired with a short, concise, and easily spreadable sensational headline. It would have been perfect if the rumour could creatively ''explain'' major events in history with complex explanations in three or two phrases. Not only will it most likely be popular at the time, but it will also gain everlasting vitality thereafter.


    To avoid being impacted by the unique charm exuded by these lovely rumours, it would be best to provide another topic worthy of being talked about, in addition to disclosing the truth in a timely manner. Thus -


    "I''m going to organize a Christmas bonfire." Felix said.


    "Here?" Horace Grimsditch was somewhat perplexed to hear this response, and he stomped his foot and turned around in place. "Oh, uh, good idea ..." he said reluctantly, but it didn''t take him that long to change his mind and begin to become deeply fascinated with this idea.


    "Christmas at sea! Bonfire night! Guys--"


    Grimsditch hunched over and shouted excitedly at the suitcase, which made the normally serious and old-fashioned man look a bit crazy. He turned his head sideways and explained, "People need to be happy." He remained hunched on the ground as he spoke, looking somewhat comical.


    Before anyone outside could comment, about seven or eight hands stretched out from the suitcase and dragged him inside without warning. After a few moments, a hollow echo came from the suitcase, like an old loudspeaker with dubious quality operating, but the squeals and cheers could still be clearly distinguished in the deafening clamour.


    Jura walked over to Felix.


    "Is it true that there''s going to be a bonfire?" He asked in a whisper.


    "Yeah, but it will take a while." Felix said. The others stood at a distance, and a young Auror tried to come over but was pulled back by his companion, who shook his head slowly but firmly and looked over with a serious expression as if the two were talking about some profound issue.


    "Will we be attacked?" Jura blurted out the most fearful worry in his heart.


    "That''s why we have to be patient," Felix explained, "until the ''drill'' is over, and we take control of the island to depart -- not now -- so in theory, yeah," he said in a relaxed tone, "there is an actual possibility that we could be attacked by deadly weapons."


    He stepped over and picked a dry rock to sit on, breathing the cold, biting sea air and tilting his head toward the azure sky. A few dozen kilometers in all directions are within his range of view, but he''s not actually paying attention to everything, as he just sat in silence. The huge magical power surging through the island seemed to be an extension of his limbs, and countless tiny runes flickered between the cracks of rocks and stones. He began to recall the experience of the past six months bit by bit, from the initial surprise to calm acceptance and active mediation, the role he played grew larger and larger, and now he finally placed himself on one end of the scale, tilting the weight of peace written on the other end high.


    He stood at the forefront of all the wizards, and any eyes directed at this group would inevitably focus directly on him and confront his presence.


    As the sun rose to its highest point in the day, Akingbade showed up, winded and dusty, with the happy news. "It''s over. Twenty minutes ago ... the spokesperson walked out of the White House ..." he talked incoherently with excitement, his face blossoming with a smile, "I used the Portkey in order to tell you the news personally."


    Even if he appeared to be very calm, when the dust settled and everything drew to a conclusion, Felix quietly felt a sense of relief in his heart, as if a weight had been lifted. He did not care what kind of heated play happened in Washington, hundreds of kilometers away from the coast in the past few hours, even when Akingbade told him that the other side extended an invitation, ready to restart negotiations he did not show any unusual expression, that is something for the future, all that needs to be done now is to welcome tomorrow''s Christmas, and after that, the New Year!


    Half an hour later, the floating island left towards the deep sea.


    The President in the White House, who saw this scene through the satellite transmission feed, sighed in relief and sat down in his chair, covered in a cold sweat. The senior officials and cabinet members around him also breathed a sigh of relief, as the stone in their hearts fell to the ground. Now there is no one in the world who knows more about the strength of the other side than they do, other countries can only rely on the satellite in the sky to observe and assess from a distance, while they are the party that experienced it first-hand, so they can do more, all kinds of complex probing equipment were installed throughout the port and surrounding areas along with the military a week ago.


    Of course, now all the equipment has failed and turned into some kind of state that is completely unexplainable by the existing scientific system.


    An hour ago, they were heatedly debating whether to use the ultimate card - a decision that is not so easy to make, and other countries have also politely conveyed their meaning through explicit and implicit means, once they use the nuclear bomb, the situation will most likely go completely out of control. That''s something all countries don''t want to see. Of course, the White House also does not want to see that. They have used all means at home and abroad to force the wizards to create a head-to-head confrontation, but it was not to pull themselves into the abyss of war. S?a??h th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    This was done with the foreboding that wizards would seriously damage their interests in the future, or rather, the higher the presence of wizards, the more threatening it would be to their worldwide voice.


    Since this is the case, it becomes necessary to suppress the most influential international wizard organization at the moment as much as possible.


    The best outcome they envisaged was to create a worldwide anti-wizard movement, while they themselves would adopt a strategy of soliciting and fighting against their own wizards, by using various political means to attract and divide the entire wizard community, under the pretext of either racial distinctions or differences in lineage ... but all these scenarios were based on one premise --The International Confederation of Wizards must disintegrate (the International Pan-Magical Alliance is just an empty shell in their view).


    They almost witnessed the rejuvenation of the International Confederation of Wizards, which was in decline.


    It was all because of one man, Felix Hap.


    His books about the non-magical world became the standard textbook for wizards to study the developments of the non-magical world very easily; the system of runes he created was made available for countless wizards to study; the negotiation strategy he formulated became a reality step-by-step - especially this part, which made countless people sigh with regret - If not for the image that wizards had laid in front of the world in the previous months, the current situation where everyone was watching and waiting on the sidelines would not have occurred, not to mention the tacit agreement about cooperation being the main focus and confrontation being secondary.


    Needless to say, Hap has personally shown an ability that is comparable to that of a god today.


    That is the key concern. In the eyes of the President and Cabinet, the construction of a floating island is not the scariest thing - on the contrary, it fits their fantasy of magic - what truly scares them is the seemingly harmless and fairy-tale magic that has enveloped the whole city, the effect of which is somewhat similar to that of a black-and-white drawing book that children use to practice doodling.


    The hidden message behind this magic made them give up on the idea of escalating the conflict any further, and it pretty much sealed the deal.


    An hour ago, a small unit of troops closest to New York quietly entered the city, and they detonated hundreds of small explosives, which didn''t cause any damage to the city, as if the two were not in the same world.


    What does it imply?


    The nukes probably won''t help, and there is a high probability that they might not even work. Even if they detonate in front of that person, the likelihood of them threatening the other party is infinitely close to zero. As for the what-if feasibility ... no one dares to gamble on the consequences, if it happens to fry someone he values, the whole country will be in the dust.


    A silence fell over the White House as the President read in a low voice the title he seemed to have given to another wizard in the newspaper, and it seemed as if it served as the best footnote to the conflict.


    "Archmage? The Sword Bearer?"


    ...


    A different scene unfolded on the floating island. One by one, the wizards in the suitcases stepped out of it, and gawked around like newborn babies with curious and timid hearts, the adults talked in twos and threes, and the children played and fooled around on the uneven reefs and submarine rocks, tirelessly pulling small fish, shrimp and seaweed out of the crevices.


    Felix and Akingbade avoided the crowds and strolled on the relatively flat ground.


    "You''re going to turn this place into a land where wizards and muggles can peacefully coexist? Let magic and technology merge?"


    Felix nodded lightly.


    "And also going to invite wise wizards, muggle scientists, and companies from all over the world?"


    Again, he nodded.


    "That''s a lot of projects." Akingbade said with emotion. After a while, he stepped down and suddenly asked, "Felix, what do you think about me relocating the Confederation headquarters here?"


    Felix looked at him in wonder.


    Akingbade smiled, the wrinkles on his face stretched out. "In fact, I have long entertained this idea. During the time when we managed to sign the treaty with several countries, and the circumstances were promising, I was thinking that the ... Confederation headquarters must not remain hidden, but I wasn''t able to think of a new destination yet, and it wasn''t the right time. But this thought popped into my head repeatedly, and I first considered Strasbourg, where some of the international muggle organizations are also located ... but what could be a better place than an island built by the wizards themselves?"


    "I don''t have any problem with that." Felix replied after some thought.


    At that moment a young Auror approached, looking at Felix with eyes full of reverence, he said to the two men, "Some people offered to renovate the surrounding area for the bonfire night, President Grimsditch sent me over to ask you guys ..."


    Felix and Akingbade exchanged a look, and they naturally had no objection.


    As a result, there was a flurry of activity. More wizards gushed out from the suitcase, and with great enthusiasm, they volunteered to assist in fixing the grounds and applying protective magic. Still, soon they faced the dilemma of not having enough materials.


    This problem was partially solved when Felix undid the magic in the suitcase.


    The two-kilometer radius at the center of the island got replaced by a camp, and then he contacted the headquarters of Future World Company, originally he was planning to ask Lupin to prepare some tents and campfire supplies for the bonfire, which he would personally retrieve. Sirius proposed a whimsical idea, which Felix considered feasible, and Ms. Bones agreed to provide manpower support, so the big event, which was repeatedly described by countless historians, was finalized.


    Hundreds of wizards stepped out of the flames, bringing all kinds of building materials with them, and with the wave of their wands, hundreds of houses of various shapes and sizes appeared out of the blue. More and more wizards arrived, and the scene quickly turned into a wizard celebration comparable to the Quidditch World Cup finals.


    Even Sirius, who came up with the idea, was shocked by the sheer size of the crowd, and he smacked his lips and said, "There might not be enough space, right?"


    "A crammed place could accommodate two or three hundred thousand people with the help of magic." Felix said with certainty, but when he spotted the vendors pushing carts and peddling their merchandise, he suspected that he had spoken too soon. Later in the afternoon, he saw sneaky Fred and George, who were peddling Weasley fireworks around.


    When they spotted Felix looking at them, they immediately smiled wryly and fled.


    Not surprisingly, there was a spectacular fireworks display at sea that night.


    The whole celebration lasted for half a month, and it was nothing like the solitary Christmas Felix had expected, even New Year''s Day was filled with noise, and the vast sea seemed to connect the wizards from the north to south.


    Every day he could see familiar figures. Dazed and seemingly carelessly wandering around ... Luna was hugging Valen and waved at him ... Hermione... managed to find Sirius''s new motorcycle, which Harry and Ron would occasionally borrow for a ride... ...former ancient rune professor Bathsheda Babbling ... Professor Burbage who is concerned about the soil of the island ... Delirious Trelawney ... Lupin and Tonks, Hogwarts students, Professors, Ministry of Magic officials, pen pals who he has never met, and even journalists ...


    Their story has only just begun.


    ------


    [Author:]


    Basically, the main story ends here, and the sequel chapters (epilogues) will be updated a day later.


    ----


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 726: Epilogue: Five Years Later

    [Emotional thread, please read at your own discretion :)] Five years have passed, and it''s yet another summer.


    "Time flies." On one side of the couch, Ms. Bones said with a smile. Opposite to her is Hermione, who has just returned from abroad, after finishing a two-year inspector duty in the International Pan-Magical Alliance, she is dressed in formal clothes, her hair is pulled together behind her head, and her body exudes a refined temperament.


    "How was your experience travelling around the world?" Ms. Bones passed her a cup of tea.


    "Great." Hermione said with a wide smile, taking small sips of the hot tea and groaning in satisfaction. Then she sighed and said, "I seem to have used up my lifetime travel quota, so unless it''s a hard-to-miss chance, I''m going to stay in our country for good."


    "That''s good news," Ms. Bones said in a jubilant tone, "you can come back and continue to work as my secretary. I got my hands full with lots of things to do while you were away."


    Hermione looked at her with a pout.


    "Am I only supposed to be a secretary?"


    Ms. Bones laughed.


    "Oh, you still want to be Minister of Magic, good drive, little girl, it more or less brings me some relief in the current situation ..." Looking at Hermione''s puzzled expression, she explained, "Scrimgeour is older and might retire earlier than me, and as Thicknesse, Crouch Sr. who serves as an advisor did - he adopted a half nephew last year, and has only made a handful of appearances in the Ministry since then; other senior ranking officials are only good at one field, such as Ludo Bagman, Phoebus Penrose, Arthur Weasley ..."


    "... Now the demands placed on the minister have grown so high that I have to spend every day studying and trying to deal with various sectors." She said with some annoyance, "A certain fellow stays in school and no longer makes a public appearance, and the few times I wrote to him, he sent me a perfunctory letter."


    "You mean the professor?" Hermione asked, perking up her ears.


    "He is the one," Ms. Bones said indignantly, then she gently rubbed her forehead and softened her tone, "I can actually understand Felix''s behaviour, he seems to deliberately isolate himself from the general public, just like Dumbledore after 1945... ...as the most important deterrent force in the present world, his private life gets blurred. The Sword Bearer, that''s what they call him."


    Hermione nodded slowly, recalling the last two years of experience, she now had a deeper understanding of Bones'' words.


    No matter where she went, people would zealously inquire about the professor''s private affairs, and when she cherry-picked and described the unimportant details of his life to them, these people would show complete shock and amazement, as if the myth had shone into reality. Hermione was deeply impressed by a response from a particular person.


    "Is what you have said true? Mr. Hap sat down to eat with you? Won''t you feel pressured ... still have a glass of wine once in a while? He is also very skilled at dancing? Oops, I always thought he would be a, a-" He gestured with his finger in mid-air for a while, and then he failed to elaborate his thoughts. The man said with an apologetic smile: "Sorry, I''ve only seen him on TV and newspapers, well, I also collected one copy of a magic newspaper, which reported about the bonfire night on the floating island, which has now been turned into a small city ..."


    But Hermione is well aware: in the mind of that person - or many people, the name Felix Hap has long ceased to represent a specific person, it has become more akin to an abstract symbol, a law, or a rule, such impressions will become more and more solid with the passage of time.


    Five years ago, when the grand Christmas bonfire at sea on the floating island ended, everything returned to tranquillity, and since then, the magical and non-magical communities began to work together in an orderly manner, with occasional twists and turns, but there are no more major conflicts. Everything went on smoothly. Six months later, their class graduated from school, when Harry and Ron chose to travel around, and she dived into the heavy workload in the Ministry of Magic.


    There were so many things that needed to be sorted out.


    Politics, Economics, Culture, Law, Education, Art ... Yes, Art. One of the first things Miss Granger did after joining the Ministry was to host an International Art Exhibition in England - an exhibition of works that originated after being inspired by the super magic Professor Hap left behind in New York Harbor. Although Hermione had long seen the relevant pictures in the newspaper, still she had to admit that those artists picked a tricky enough angle, she had stopped in front of a six-meter-long panoramic overlook photo gallery called ''The Art of God'' for a long time, and the description on the nameplate stated that the work was made up of thousands of photos which encompassed both broad views of the city and cleverly integrated hundreds of details.


    It is even accompanied by the artist''s comment about it, "If there is a God, he appeared on December 24, 1997, to turn the helm of human destiny gently in a new direction."


    But Hermione knew that ''God'' has his own worries. Such as grading student test papers, shortlisting the list of the first batch of scientists to join the floating island, selecting birthday gifts for Muggle friends -


    Hermione, who recalled this, took a sip of tea to suppress the urge to roll her eyes.


    It made her think about what the professor said at the time.


    "I''m not very good at this, I have asked Sirius, Remus, and even Harry, but they have no idea of what gifts they would like to receive for their first child, let alone Severus ... so help me out, Miss Granger."


    This happened not long after the New Year, and the targets of the questions were all busy, none of them planned on having a baby in the near future at that time, especially Harry, who must have been baffled when he was asked - he and Ginny wanted to get married by the end of this year (2003).


    "How''s little Rosalie?" Hermione asked.


    "Good as gold," Ms. Bones grunted through her nose, "Sirius often carries her to visit Harry and Lupin, and every day before I leave the office I have to use the communication mirror to check where my husband and daughter are, and frankly, I''m not quite accustomed to house elves calling me ''Your Honourable Lady'', Sirius isn''t used to it either, but he seems to think it''s funny ..."


    Hermione pursed her lips and smiled lightly. Rosalie is the female version of Sirius'' brother Regulus'' name, who was born three years ago around the same time as Lupin and Tonks'' first child, and together with Bill and Fleur''s child, who is a year older than them, the three little ones fit perfectly as playmates.


    When she stepped out of the office, Hermione breathed a sigh of relief.


    Ms. Bones gave her a month off, "A lot of people you know, and many familiar places have changed a lot, take a look around, and then come to work in good spirits, the position of Chief Assistant of the Minister''s Office is reserved for you."


    She wandered over to the Auror office, and along the way, all the staff showed surprise and welcomed her return.


    The office in question is divided into many cubicles, the outside of which is labelled with Auror''s name along with the nature and scope of the work they''re responsible for, while the interior walls are covered with portraits of wanted criminals, posters, photos of family members, recent news clippings that correspond to their personal interests and other things that look eye-catching and diverse.


    Hermione quickly found Harry, Ron, and Neville''s space based on her memory, but all three seats were empty.


    "Potter and Weasley have been rotated to the floating island post, and Longbottom is in charge of investigating a case of potion material smuggling." Nearby Auror said to her, he had a long beard and looked like a scaled-down Hagrid. "You know, as the list of magic potions suitable for ordinary people''s constitution has become longer and longer, the smuggling in that aspect has become more and more frequent ..."


    Hermione nodded slightly, she was aware of the smuggling problem mentioned by the Auror, which has become a common headache for all Ministries of Magic, but the place where the black market trade is most rampant is certainly America - sort of one of the follow-up impacts of the ''Drill'' incident back then.


    Then there is Future World Corporation, whose Headquarters was moved to the floating island a long time ago, earlier than the relocation of the Confederation''s headquarters - which has now also served as the International Pan-Magic Alliance headquarters as both of which completed their merger six months ago with the retirement of Akingbade and the take-over of Professor Hap. Over the years, the number of people on the island gradually increased, and various Ministries of Magic regularly sent Aurors to maintain order on the island.


    "Where''s Tonks? Oh, she should be on the island too, along with Lupin and Collins?"


    "Tonks applied for permanent duty on the island six months ago, after all, her family is there, and as for Ms. Foley," The bearded Auror revealed a smile that only he could understand, as he said seriously: "I''ll just describe what happened to you, Weasley originally did not have to join in the routine patrol, but he blurted out something at the last party, saying that Collins had taken the initiative to court him ..."


    "Uh." Hermione held her forehead, she could totally imagine what happened after that - Ron running away in a panic, with Collins chasing after him with a knife.


    Her eyes went over to Harry''s space (where there is a picture of him and Ginny together, both riding on broomsticks, with Ginny in her Holyhead Harpies uniform), two separate pictures pasted on Ron''s cubicle, and papers scattered on the desk that seemed to have been haphazardly pushed into the corner to make room for the chessboard in the middle before he left. It turned out to be a wizard''s chess set, with the pieces bouncing around so lively that if it weren''t for the fishbowl-like glass shell holding them inside, they would have run out and bounced around. A piece of paper was stuck on the outside of the glass shell, which read: Dangerous items, avoid contact.


    Hermione''s pupils flashed with a silver glint, and she could see that the pieces are densely woven with rune symbols.


    "He hadn''t finished when I left." She said with a sigh.


    "What? Oh!" The bearded Auror said with great interest, "The famous ''Knight'' Weasley, the ''Stag'' who shares common traces with Floating island''s Ouroboros Patronus, Longbottom who can enter the dream world, Malfoy who established the first Joint Wizard-Muggle Hospital, Lovegood ... who discovered many kinds of magical creatures in a row, and of course, there''s also you, Miss Granger, there are really a lot of talents emerging these years."


    He then lowered his voice and said, "You''re back just in time, I''ve heard some gossip: Ms. Bones is planning to step down as Minister, and she might spend the next few years looking for new Minister candidates ..."


    Hermione raised her eyebrow.


    "It''s true!" Bearded Auror said hurriedly, "I heard Potter will soon be promoted to Head of Auror''s Office post, Weasley will be reassigned to Muggle Liaison Office, and Longbottom will solely take over the responsibility for smuggling cases, but it was rumoured that he has other plans, and has recently been frequenting Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade ..."


    "Thank you, Tuttle." Hermione said, "I think it''s too early for me to think about that, Kingsley is an excellent wizard."


    "Oh, Kingsley ..." the bearded wizard said, somewhat lost in thought, "You''re right, he''s a good fit in every aspect."


    After leaving the Ministry of Magic, Hermione strolled through the streets of London, where the traces of magic seemed to unknowingly occupy their place in the city as if they were originally meant to do so. She pushed the door into a bookshop, and on a separate shelf, Dumbledore''s caring face watched her - a biography jointly authored by Harry and Elphias Doge, with a purple ribbon-bound cover that read "Bestseller for three years in a row".


    But today, there was another wizard book placed in the center, and Hermione stared at the title on it with an odd expression on her face: ''Harry Potter'', and the huge poster next to it explained everything, with the young face of Mafalda Prewett printed on it, with a wide smile.


    ''An EXCLUSIVE unravelling of ''Real Student Life'' on a ''School of Witchcraft and Wizardry'', unveiling a glimpse into the curtain of Legend''s Saga from the perspective of Key Characters. Observed personally by the writer for three years to obtain first-hand information (fifth to seventh-grade content), combined with multiple interviews with the parties involved and those who experienced it to restore the Truth ... The first film under the same name will be released on June 25.''


    Hermione stared dazedly.


    Past memories came back to her mind, oh my God, Mafalda actually wrote about Harry in a book, he must be pissed off ... I wonder what he looks like in the film? She glanced at the calendar next to her, today happens to be the twenty-fifth.


    She picked up Dumbledore''s biography and Harry Potter (she had read the former many times), and hesitantly touched the book with the title ''The Lion and the Firebird'', authored by Sybill Trelawney as she moved her fingers in between. She was not interested in Trelawney''s book, and did not question why this Divination book had been placed in a Muggle bookshop with such prominence - perhaps it was because she did occasionally display the gift of the Seer, Hermione reasoned with herself.


    What really intrigued her about the book was the testimonial on the cover.


    ''Mars has been Historically known for its association with War and Conflict. When it moves closer to us, those who are gifted and sensitive by nature will be the first to be affected - Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, Tom Riddle (Voldemort), Felix Hap, including the author herself - their birthdays all validate this law, and now that this day has come again, what changes will it bring to us?''


    "Mars." Hermione chewed on this word, and after a short time she muttered, "old fraud."


    But she still took that book to the counter and paid for it, and stuffed the three books into her beaded pouch, to which the shopkeeper asked with interest, "Wizard?" "Hmm." "Can you do me a favour?" The shopkeeper immediately added, "I will give you a 20% discount."


    Hermione stared at her blankly in surprise.


    "Well," the shopkeeper said with a smile, "my daughter, Lily really likes the Little Wizard Mick''s Adventures, can you please just cast a random spell to let her see it personally." S?a??h th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Hermione hesitated for a moment and asked, "What is her favourite?"


    "Anything, ma''am." The shopkeeper instantly said, "Little things that girls like, bows, dolls, kittens ..."


    Hermione bit her lip, then held out her hand, and gradually, a pair of beautiful butterflies outlined in the air, then they flew in the air and landed in the shopkeeper''s hand.


    "They are bows when they are not moving, and can also accompany your daughter to play together."


    "Thank you so much."


    "It''s nothing, well, do you know the nearest cinema?"


    "Sure! There''s one right around the corner."


    Hermione said thank you and walked out of the bookshop, where she followed the directions given to her by the shopkeeper and found the cinema on the adjacent block. As a result, she was a bit dumbfounded - there was a curved queue from the entrance of the cinema to the back door, and all these people seemed to be here for the first Harry Potter film. She looked around, then slipped into an alley when the others weren''t looking, and the next second, she appeared a few kilometers away.


    It took her three cinemas in a row to find a place with fewer people.


    There was only one person ahead of her in line, and that person was wearing a long trench coat, carrying a small suitcase in his hand, with short black hair, and that day''s newspaper in his other hand.


    "A ticket to the ''Harry Potter'' film," the man paused, seemingly finding it very intriguing, "Heh, I''ve been looking forward to this for years."


    The ticket seller obviously didn''t take the ''years'' comment seriously and casually asked, "Got an inside scoop, huh?"


    "Sort of."


    Hermione''s eyes widened, and her heart suddenly beat faster. She approached the ticket counter, but the man had already taken his ticket and left.


    She bought her ticket quickly, and in the process, she couldn''t help but look around anxiously, and then she bent down to sit sneakily on the opposite side of that man, who reclined on the sofa armchair, unfolding the newspaper and reading it with great interest, and Hermione caught ''Earth and Mars Distance'', ''Moon Landing Plan'', and ''New Breakthroughs in Magical Science'', and other articles.


    "Uh, ahem." She cleared her throat.


    Even after a few seconds, there was no half-hearted response from the other side.


    She cleared her throat again, but this time she made some other sounds, after which she heard a "Kee?" "Didn''t finish reading? Your reading speed needs to be improved." The man said, and Hermione could well imagine the look on his face as he spoke, and the little furry, flat-mouthed creature poking her head out of a silver pocket watch near his chest.


    She caused the cups on the table to make a "tinkling" sound which already bordered on being noisy.


    The other side certainly should have noticed - Hermione''s heart leaped, and she thought about what to say first, when a long, white hand reached out from behind the newspaper, and tapped lightly on the table, then retracted.


    A silent spell, Hermione grated her teeth quietly, Professor you are already under suspicion of breaking the law!


    Wizards should try to avoid casting magic in public unless they have obtained consent - and that''s something he had personally defined.


    Hermione''s eyes flashed with a silver glint. Almost at the same time, an irresistible ripple of magic spread out from the opposite direction, and the somewhat dimly lit environment of the cinema faded off in colour while Hermione gasped for breath.


    "Granger-oh, Hermione?"


    Hermione regained her breath and saw Felix and Valen glancing at her past the newspaper, and the corners of Felix''s mouth curled up with a smile.


    "What a coincidence, you''re here for the film too."


    A pleasant atmosphere fermented and brewed in the air, gently exuding a wine-like aroma. Hermione''s heart beat faster, and she seemed to have forgotten how to breathe - even after two years of being an inspector at the International Pan-Magic Alliance, the two still stayed in touch, at intervals of about two or three months, and occasionally met up on the floating island, but Hermione felt like she had been transported to a different world, that why she hurriedly came back after only two years of being in post. If she counted carefully, they had known each other for a long time, from the second year in the ancient rune office listening to Felix teaching mysteries of ancient runes, no, it should be even earlier - when she was in her fourth year, he was also in the fourth year, they communicated through letters for as long as nine years once a long while...


    Hermione stroked her hair and said, "Long time no see, Felix."


    ...


    Outside the cinema, people were coming and going in the street. Felix and Hermione followed the crowd out, it was dusk, the sky seemed as if it had just rained, even the air was humid, and the puddles on the ground reflected the sky with the soft haze of the sunset.


    The two stood at the entrance of the cinema for a while, no one spoke. People who watched the film passed them by, discussing the plot enthusiastically as they walked.


    "It was fabulous!"


    "But how come Felix Hap didn''t appear?"


    "He''s going to be recruited in the following year, didn''t you see the Easter egg at the end of the film? That person who applied for the job should be him -" A girl commented her input: "I heard that quite a few famous actors have volunteered, even though the crew said his part is relatively limited."


    "Gee, I''d rather see him in an independent film, he''s a living LEGEND!"


    "What do you think about having Bradley Fitzgerald play Felix Hap?"


    "No!" The girl said with a fierce attitude, "His jaw is too round, and he looks like a blacksmith ..."


    The two talked and laughed as they left.


    Hermione pursed her lips a little.


    "Seriously, I''d like to see your independent film too."


    "You know I wouldn''t like it," Felix said, shaking his head slightly, his light blue eyes glued to her, "I''ve made very few public appearances in the past few years, basically staying in school. It''s due to both my personality and more practical considerations: I''m too prominent, so unless I intend to turn the magical world into my sole domain, it''s best to tone down my edge."


    Edge? Hermione thought of the conversation she had with Ms. Bones during the day, "The Sword of Damocles? The Sword Bearer?"


    Felix said with slight distress, "People seem to readily accept this term, and even took the liberty of placing me in the position of the second generation Sword Bearer ... but compared to other more exaggerated titles, I found it not bad, and it also contains an implicit expectation of the people: whether it is the Sword of Damocles or the Sword Bearer, it will not be easily shown to the people, and only used for intimidation purposes."


    "--but no one can ignore his presence." Hermione smiled brightly, but her heart did not budge as she laid a verbal trap. "Oh yes, I almost forgot to ask, how is Professor McGonagall?"


    "Minerva is fine, she still occasionally gives public classes to students; but she''s usually quite busy--" Felix said with a nod, Hermione looked over quickly with a probing look in her eyes as she stepped closer: "Truly surprising - I remember she was busy even when Headmaster Dumbledore was around."


    Felix said uncomfortably, "Ahem, Miss Granger--"


    "Call me Hermione."


    "Well, Hermione," Felix paused for a moment to find an excuse for his laziness, and of course to be honest. "That does seem rather odd. Perhaps there''s a way to explain this phenomenon: Minerva is so dedicated to her duties to the point where even the slightest hint of an issue draws her attention, whereas Dumbledore and I, well, we''re more than happy to watch from the sidelines for a while and let the issue be exposed more thoroughly, for example ..."


    "Just like how dad and mom fight over chores," Hermione continued his words, "it''s not necessarily true that one is lazier than the other, or inattentive, but that the two have different standards of judging ''cleanliness'' and fail to reach a common understanding." When she finished, she stared at him with a burning gaze.


    Felix froze, "That''s not the analogy I came up with, but it''s very good life wisdom."


    "It''s just you know too little about it." Hermione blurted out. After saying that, her face became hot, like the evening sun in the sky. She lowered her head, showing only a reddened forehead, and said in a weak mosquito whisper, "I only figured it out by watching my mom and dad, too, I think ..."


    Felix looked at her fixedly, as if looking at a difficult magic dilemma.


    "I am going to travel." He abruptly said.


    "What?"


    "A travel." Felix gestured at his suitcase and newspaper with his eyes, "The distance from Mars to Earth is at its closest during this time, and I''m going to go up there to see it." Then he asked in a soft tone, "I remember you once mentioned - well, I had just returned from the moon at the time - when you told me that if there is another opportunity, you would also like to tag along to space to see ..." He suddenly felt his mouth go a little dry and his heart beat faster.


    He could now command a magic that could envelop an entire city easily without any external help, but he still couldn''t figure out how to handle the situation in front of him, nor know the answer in advance. Then an irrelevant thought popped into his head: he must master time magic more quickly.


    He pretended to be calm and said.


    "... of course, so much time has passed, you may have forgotten it, many people, when they are young, have a momentary impulse, wild thoughts which will eventually fade away ... but if your thoughts have not changed, still willing ..."


    "I do!" Hermione looked up and shouted.


    "... I wish to ask you to accompany me."


    There was silence. Then a strong urge surged through his heart, and Felix took a major step in his life, embracing Hermione in the setting sun and brilliant haze, and their shadows nestled together. It was as if the whole world had gone quiet, and the rain drizzled, with a hazy rainbow reflected on the rain. For a good while, the two looked at each other and then smiled together.


    Passer-by sent their blessings. They looked no different from other lovers, except that the topic of their discussion was slightly shocking -


    "How far is Mars ... from us?"


    "About 60 million kilometers."


    "It sounds so far, with only the two of us-"


    "Kee!"


    "- Oh, and Valen."


    "It''s actually not that far, it''s only two-day travel ..."


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 727: Epilogue: Lovegood

    Luna Lovegood opened her eyes and stared at the ever-shifting clouds in the sky, the pure sunlight shining on her face through the gaps in the Brazilian rainforest, the air was fresh and refreshing. Her husband, Rolf Scamander, was taking photos of a plant two kilometers away. A small bug crawled on her. They had been in this rainforest for three months, looking for what the locals described as a "glowing bird that flies in a rainbow", which an eight-year-old boy claimed to have seen with his own eyes at the river, but unfortunately, it vanished in the blink of an eye. The source was absolutely reliable, but it was impossible to tell if it was true or not. It could be that the boy had a momentary lapse of vision and mistakenly made a link between a rainbow and some kind of beautiful bird he couldn''t name( such as a toucan), but they still showed up nevertheless, treating it as their honeymoon trip.


    They searched the nearby waters and ponds, and only found some beautiful feathers and a few blue gemstones. Now those feathers and gems are kept in a small box along with the dirigible plum earrings, cork necklace, and pebble diadem. In the words of Rolf, "you should accommodate the aesthetics of ordinary people and have one or two pieces of normal jewellery."


    Luna inhaled the rich scent of grass and earth and drifted off to sleep. Sometime later, she was awakened by the whistling sound of an Intruder Charm, and it was Rolf Scamander, who had returned carrying a camera and a thick book.


    "Found another endangered wild plant," Rolf said, "left a detector close by for the local environmental protection department to pay a visit." He looked at his wife who bounced up from the ground and couldn''t help but frown, "You''re lying on the ground again ..."


    Luna hastily took out the wand tucked inside the thick hair at the back of her head and pointed it at herself, a white mist evaporated from her dew-soaked clothes, as she spun around in place with great enthusiasm and bounced twice.


    "How about now?"


    "Fine." Rolf muttered in a small voice.


    The two began to pack their tent, today is the last day of their stay in the rainforest, and both were a little reluctant to leave this place. Halfway through packing their things, they sat down in the middle of their big bags and flipped through a thick photo album.


    "This is the local village and its residents ..."


    "I like them, they love to tell jokes." Luna interjected.


    "That''s right, one joke per three sentences. Here''s a picture of me playing football with them, and look, how happy they are! That''s a victory smile, I think if it had been Quidditch I might not have lost so badly ... you were studying their weaving techniques on the side ... so who exactly was taking the pictures ... anyway I feel it''s necessary to remind you that the locals use this technique to make fishing tools, not to weave vines onto their bodies ..."


    "At the Wizard''s Tavern, we met two new wizard friends from Castelobruxo and one of them insisted on cursing my little thumb, nice stunning spell back there dear ..."


    "A toucan wandered into the tent, but ended up getting scared off by a magic lamp."


    "Next several magical creatures unique to Brazil, all discovered by you first, how strange, it reminds me of our first meeting."


    He clicked his tongue and flipped the album forward, skimming over nearly a third of the wedding photos and stopping at the very first few pages.


    Two heads came together. Luna, a few years younger than she is now, is crouched on the ground, reaching out to pet a creature that looks a lot like a ferret, the little fellow munching on a steaming hot dog, with its eyes narrowed pleasantly. The background is a snowy, glacial landscape.


    "Seriously, I''ve spent two years searching the Arctic," Rolf said sourly, "and ended up with nothing, so I strongly suspected that my grandfather had omitted some crucial information ... Nevertheless, I didn''t exactly return empty-handed. "


    Luna hummed happily from the side a tune that sounded like a piece composed by the Weird Sisters twelve years ago - ''A Great Victory''.


    Rolf hummed a couple of lines along.


    Near noon, they walked out of the Brazilian rainforest with two suitcases, one large and one small. After Rolf handed over a thick stack of photos to a local wildlife preservation group, the two made their way to the border, where they registered and returned to England via a Portkey.


    "Wizards are truly born explorers." A cross-border patrol officer said.


    "We always have been." Rolf replied.


    "Hey, I''m talking about the one who landed on Mars." The officer teased.


    ...


    On the hills near the Ottery St Catchpole village, the grass was rippled by the wind in a large circle and a small house that looked like a tipped Rook was in sight.


    "My dear daughter! You are back."


    Xenophilius Lovegood ran out of the house to embrace Luna, who gently patted her father on the back. Xenophilius was dressed in messy clothes, his cotton-candy-like hair haphazardly tangled into one mass like a discarded bird''s nest, and his eye problem seemed to have worsened, so he used it as an excuse to pretend he didn''t see the man next to his daughter until Rolf took the initiative to greet him, and he reluctantly gave the other man an extremely perfunctory hug.


    "Sorry, I forgot your name, Rod, Roman--"


    "It''s Rolf." Luna said jovially. Xenophilius clicked his tongue, his one eye seemed to roll out of its socket, he gave his daughter''s husband a sidelong glance with his other eye, then without a word he took the suitcase from Luna''s hand and pulled her towards the black door with his other hand. Rolf Scamander shook his head and followed.


    This attitude is considered good.


    According to some journalist who sneaked into the wedding and was kicked out in the middle of the occasion, "The old widower Lovegood seems to have plotted to hex his son-in-law during the wedding ceremony and turn him into a big-mouthed coloured Plimpy. Too bad it didn''t succeed, or it would have hopefully contended for the biggest scoop of the week - in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Hap, Mr. and Mrs. Potter, the Weasleys, the Longbottoms, the Scamanders, and a host of other family and friends."


    But Rolf knows that was pure nonsense, or at least not entirely true.


    In contrast, he believed that Xenophilius originally intended to transform him into a horn of Erumpent, because when he first visited here as a guest, he had inadvertently broken the secret of the gift that Mr. Lovegood had given to his daughter - the gray-curved horn purchased from a smuggler''s hand, was not a horn of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack but a horn of Erumpent, which is extremely dangerous to keep at home ... then he paid the price for his straightforwardness.


    The interior of the house is a standard round shape, like a round pepper shaker.


    The kitchen is on the ground floor, with flowers, insects, and birds painted on the stove, sink, and cupboards. Up a cast-iron revolving staircase, the second floor is a more disorganized living room and studio, where an old printing machine occupies the best light and position, and the other places are scattered with miscellaneous items - it is clear that Mr. Lovegood is not in the mood to clean up the house during his daughter''s absence. A few palm-sized, animal-shaped magic lamps flew around the ceiling. Two staircases extend upward from this floor, leading to the bedrooms of Luna and Mr. Lovegood respectively.


    The three spent the afternoon sorting out the travel materials, with Mr. Lovegood still treating Rolf like air, but asking questions and caring about Luna, and showing a surprising amount of curiosity about all sorts of interesting details that happened on the trip.


    "Oops, is that so ... This seems to validate a certain theory."


    Luna''s observation skills amazed the two men present, and Rolf felt somewhat sorry that these brilliant perspectives would only appear in the unreliable magazine "The Quibbler", and be published alongside bizarre tales of flame elves, quivering maggots, and life on Mars.


    That last one doesn''t exactly count.


    When Mr. Hap and Mrs. Granger returned from Mars, the answer to this question did not matter, as people plunged into a wild fantasy, obsessing over the topic of possible immigration to an alternative planet in their lifetimes, and it took them a long time to realize that the next closest point of Mars to Earth would not be until 2018.


    In the subsequent years, six space stations have been established on the moon.


    Luna abruptly looked up at the ceiling.


    "We have about a thousand people above our heads." She said.


    "I''m really worried those people will fall off," Xenophilius said, "but if they can sit on a flying broom ..."


    In the evening, Mr. Lovegood was in a good mood and prepared to show off his cooking skills, when Luna suggested giving Rolf an opportunity to cook, "He has all the Lovegood family''s cooking recipes." "Then he has taken a big advantage." Mr. Lovegood muttered, "No one else has had a chance to see it yet, except for the Gnomes in the Garden."


    He began to talk about the last time the Haps visited the house.


    "Felix Hap ... is a good man, both knowledgeable and humorous, I interviewed him about what he saw on Mars, and about the Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, he said he owns two of them; on the contrary, his wife has no sense of humour... ..."


    Rolf worked for a while in the kitchen downstairs and peeked out from under the cast-iron stairs when Luna questioned him with a wink. "A few spices are missing, but I think I can find them all nearby." Rolf said confidently.


    After dinner, Mr. Lovegood, who had become much nicer to Rolf, said vaguely, "I can taste Pandora''s cooking after all these years, maybe it''s an illusion ..."


    "Mom had her vegetable garden." Luna said in a trance.


    Early the next morning, Luna and Rolf arrived at the Daily Prophet headquarters. Both of them previously penned articles for the Daily Prophet, but then Luna completely went back to the ''family industry'', while Rolf wanted to focus more attention on the survival of magical creatures, just like his grandfather.


    After exiting the editor-in-chief''s office, the two ran head-on into someone in the hallway - Rita Skeeter, a journalist who is passionate about writing articles of a defamatory nature.


    Rita Skeeter glanced at the two from above her jewel-encrusted, rectangular glasses, "Let''s see ... Luna Lovegood, Rolf Scamander, rising stars in the magizoologist community, worked together brilliantly even before they got married ... the wedding was so rushed, that I haven''t had a chance to congratulate the two of you."


    "That''s because you came uninvited and were evicted." Rolf said seriously.


    "Good materials are hard to come by." Skeeter waved her hand, "The big shots gathered, so of course, I had to find a way to blend in. The last time I had this opportunity was two years ago, but that time I didn''t dare to make a small move ... have you heard of it?" S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Heard of what?" Rolf asked with confusion.


    "The big events that I have been eyeing in the recent years were just too dull, but��the." Skeeter''s face reddened slightly, her long nails piercing into the crocodile leather purse in her hand.


    "The Quidditch World Cup." Luna abruptly said.


    Skeeter glanced at her, "That''s right, the 426th Quidditch World Cup held on the floating island in July 2010. But I''ve dug up something even bigger, something that will absolutely blow everyone''s mind, more explosive than Felix Hap marrying one of his former students." She deliberately lowered her voice in the last sentence and when she finished, she furtively looked around the hallway, as if she was afraid of being overheard, and then she warned them, "This is something that should not be discussed outside of this area."


    "Is there anything that I can''t discuss?" Luna asked curiously.


    Rolf tugged on his wife''s sleeve, and Rita Skeeter grunted twice, her sharp eyes flicking over her, landing on the food box in Luna''s hand. She said provocatively, "If I have to be honest, to become Luna Lovegood''s husband you first have to have a stomach of iron, and according to the reliable information I have obtained, her nickname when she was in school was ''Loony'' She was also happy to feed Centaur and Acromantula."


    "That''s false information," Rolf Scamander said seriously as he stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his wife like a real man, "Luna didn''t show any special interest towards Acromantula, and, most of the time, I''m the one who cooks. Do you want to know the secret ingredient?"


    Rita Skeeter stared at him without speaking.


    "Just keep a few special spices on hand, I discovered this when we first went to her house, because it just so happens that I like it too."


    Rita Skeeter left on her high heels, looking furious. A smile appeared on Rolf Scamander''s face as he looked down at his wife and found her looking at him, unblinking and straight.


    "So Mom put spices in it when she cooked?" Luna asked, "Dad tried to make it many times, but it didn''t work."


    "I guessed that, after seeing it in the garden when I visited our house back then, and your family is very tolerant of weeds." Rolf Scamander said. He gazed at the slightly bulging light silver-white pupils and asked softly, "Luna? Has anyone ever told you that you have beautiful eyes?"


    "Yes!" Luna affirmed, "Papa, Mama, Ginny, Firenze, Vanity, Sandra, Teresa ..."


    "Wait, who are all those names in the latter row?"


    "They''re all Centaur."


    Rolf choked for a moment, suddenly understanding how Rita Skeeter felt.


    "You can compliment me about my hair." Luna said understandingly, and Rolf couldn''t help but advise when his eyes strayed over his wife''s dishevelled, dirty blonde hair, "Honey, I think it would be a good idea for you to take care of your hair as you did at the wedding, that looked great, like flowing gold ... Of course, I am not talking about that dress!"


    "Which one?"


    "The one with rainbow, glitter, and a silver unicorn antler diadem."


    "But I like it a lot." Luna said with some distress.


    "Ahem, it can be worn at home, but if it''s a particularly grand occasion ..." Rolf said with some hesitation, his heart clenched when he saw his wife''s eyes wander... The Quidditch World Cup! Tens of millions of people! Merlin ah! O Hap! He rushed to speak.


    "Honey, I''ve come up with a great idea, we should make a custom costume for the World Cup opening celebration."


    "We?"


    "... Yes." Rolf''s expression looked very miserable.


    Luna frowned briefly, then she said with a grin on her face, "But, you have to dress formally - according to the general view, yes, that''s right."


    "No need, I''m determined!"


    The two walked hand in hand out of the Daily Prophet headquarters building.


    "Let''s go back to school sometimes." Rolf''s voice said.


    "Yeah, I miss spending time there."


    "I think If I wear the sorting hat one more time, I might find myself with Gryffindor potential ..."


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 728: Epilogue: Malfoy

    In the bright glow of the deep blue sky, three owl messengers flew over the heavy cast iron gate into the imposing Malfoy manor with three copies of that day''s Daily Prophet in their beaks. The Malfoys were having breakfast. "Daddy, I want to read it too."


    A little blond boy, about five or six years old, said with a hopeful look on his face. He stretched his head up to talk, even though he was sitting on a stack of thick cushions, and the armchair underneath was considered quite tall, as he was too short.


    Nothing in the dining table seemed handy to him. The silver knives & forks and dinner plates, for example, were too heavy, which made it hard for him to eat. The others had almost finished eating, and he still had a third of the food left on his plate.


    Draco spread the newspaper on the table and showed the little boy the moving pictures on it. Lucius and Narcissa looked up from their Daily Prophet and watched the scene in silence.


    "Little Scorpius don''t know how to read yet?" Narcissa asked.


    Draco opened his mouth to answer. "I can read, Grandma, I can spell a hundred words." When the little boy looked up, inhaled, and interpreted, "Mommy showed me The ''Amazing Adventures of Mick the Wizard'' comic, and she tried to get me to make friends at daycare before she got sick."


    The temperature in the dining hall seemed to have dropped by ten degrees, or perhaps it was Lucius''s gray eyes that dampened the mood in the hall.


    "It was merely an idea," Draco said cautiously, "to drop him off in the morning and pick him up in the afternoon. Little Scorpius can play games with the other children, listen to stories, learn counting and spelling, and continue his magic education when he gets home."


    Narcissa and Lucius exchanged a look with each other, and Lucius said coldly, "The Greengrass family has raised a good daughter."


    "Father, aren''t you also very sociable?" Draco said defiantly, "Right here! This very table! Hosted more than one group of high-ranking government officials. Every year you allocate at least half a month to prepare decent gifts and make door-to-door visits ..."


    "That''s not the same." Lucius said impatiently to which Narcissa gave her husband and son a stern glare and turned to the boy, "Scorpy, are you done eating?" "Finished up." "Come to Grandma, little one. Haven''t you been trying to sneak into the study and wreak havoc? There are quite a few portraits of our family members hanging there, and some of them will even talk with you."


    "Really?" Scorpius''s eyes lit up, and he hastily wiped his mouth with his napkin and wiggled himself off the cushions, "Is Grand Uncle Regulus there? I''ve heard all his stories, the warrior who faced the inevitable darkness alone!"


    The corners of Narcissa''s mouth pursed tightly, "There is, one in the other room, I''ll show you."


    She led the little boy away, and then the dining hall quieted down as Draco and Lucius, both father and son, sat at opposite ends of the long, elaborately decorated and patterned table, silently observing each other as if they were engaging in some sort of silent contest and confrontation.


    "You should stay this afternoon when we have guests at home." Lucius said, as a few extra wrinkles creased on his pale, sharp face.


    "Another get-together for networking?"


    "Don''t forget, you''re a Malfoy!"


    "That doesn''t mean anything, I shouldn''t have come back, I''m going to visit Astoria in the hospital."


    There was a long silence, and the fire behind him splintered. "Fine," Lucius suppressed his anger, "you are now the director of the joint wizard-muggle hospital and have a lot of responsibility. Regarding the education of little Scorpius-"


    "Don''t worry about it, you seem to have more important things to care about." Draco said stiffly, "I would never let my child live in a room that is twelve corridors away from me. I miss that cramped safe house more than the manor I grew up in."


    The safe house he spoke of was originally owned by Nicolas Flamel and later inherited by Felix who lent it to the Malfoys to hide from Voldemort. Draco also lived there briefly, and after the war, their family naturally moved back to the luxurious Malfoy Manor, but Felix did not reclaim that house yet.


    Lucius looked a little dazed, back then when Selwyn was arrested and brought back into custody by the Ministry of Magic, in order to get a pardon, he voluntarily confessed a list of members of the Death Eaters, which included him, but then Hap openly admitted that Lucius was an undercover agent he had placed among the Death Eaters, in order to allow Snape, who was also a spy, to hide more deeply.


    His attitude softened.


    "Astoria ... How is she doing?"


    "Same as usual," Draco said immediately, "I have been casting a healing spell on her once every week or two, but it doesn''t take long for it to recur back, and it''s gotten more recurring since Scorpius was born."


    "That snakewood wand you''re holding -" Lucius said with a serious look on his face, "is a wand that every healer dreams of, taken from a branch that branches off from the wand of Salazar Slytherin, and even it can''t eradicate the blood malediction?"


    "That curse is extremely potent, a curse that was imposed on an ancestor, passed on for centuries through the bloodline of succeeding generations of family members ... has manifested itself on her, and in recent years I have mobilized the most outstanding minds of both muggles and wizards, exhausted all sorts of methods, and have yet to completely conquer it. "


    "I have advised you long ago to stay away from the woman of that family!" Lucius exclaimed.


    "That''s not what you said at first!" Draco snapped back. "You and Mother had such high hopes for her: fellow Sacred Twenty-Eight, equally powerful family, only to later find out that she had no interest in the whole bloodline crap. The incurable terminal illness did not break her, but rather gave her the qualities of cheerfulness, optimism, and compassion that the Malfoys lacked ... I think it''s pretty damning that you''re still pulling that clique crap."


    "That''s enough!" Lucius shouted. He glared at his son, gasping for breath, "That was necessary rhetoric to win the hearts and minds of our allies, not to mention that Selwyn has been coveting my position at every step, so I had to fight back."


    "Even at the expense of standing against that man?"


    Draco asked pointedly, "You know his attitude, as far as I know, he has never actively investigated his origins, no one knows who his real parents are - whether they are muggles or wizards, it makes no difference in his eyes."


    His son''s words woke him up, Lucius burst into a cold sweat, and the image of a polite young man came to his mind.


    No, a middle-aged man. It is also wrong, age seems to have no meaning to him. Lucius once again recalled the wedding two years ago, only a few close people were given handwritten invitations, and judging from the size of the crowd, no more than a hundred invitations were handed out.


    Today that invitation is placed in the Malfoy family vault.


    Unlike others who were quite vocal - such as the small group that did not receive an invitation, consisting of some of the purebloods who escaped liquidation - Lucius witnessed the smiles ( with a hint of bashfulness ) on the faces of the newlyweds, would like to raise both hands and feet in support of this wedding.


    In his mind, such a situation would become only worse for him if Felix Hap were to choose a mate from a Pureblood family.


    This attitude stems from Lucius''s reflection on his family''s fate.


    After experiencing Dumbledore''s era and the two chaos brought by Voldemort, the Malfoys naturally were inclined to prefer order and, ideally, establish a solid bond with those in power. While people cheered the arrival of a new era, Lucius was deeply troubled, realizing that the Hap era was not stable and that people can change, just like the former Dark Lord. After the war, Hap was like an untethered kite, flying higher and higher, soon going to be hidden in the clouds, who knows when he would get bored with the existing life and suddenly disappear?


    That''s when a hand pulled the kite, and in the foreseeable future, more and more hands will pull the kite if they choose to have offspring.


    Few bits of news could have cheered the Malfoys more than this. With Lady Bones out of office and Kingsley in power, Lucius'' heart came alive again, and he cautiously reached out his probing tentacles, but he found himself an additional adversary - the Selwyn who hadn''t hesitated to betray him in the courtroom, both of them vying for the support of the pureblood remnants.


    "I''ve received a heads-up," the sobered-up Lucius said slowly, "that Mr. Hap intends to leave the floating island in Harry Potter''s hands."


    Draco frowned.


    "I was under the impression that Potter had spent nearly half of his career stationed on the floating island for several years, due to the fact that basically most of his relatives and friends were staying there."


    Lucius did not speak out loud, rather he mumbled something almost to himself, "In order to take over the floating island, first, the philosophy needs to be in line with Hap, and second, the ability to meet certain requirements, he is now the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so there is no doubt about his basic management skills, and in terms of personal strength ..."


    "Then there is even less need to concern." Draco said with complicated eyes.


    "You''ve seen--" Lucius stared at Draco, then nodded, "It seems that information is true." He gestured to the newspaper on the table, "I guess it''ll be announced during the Quidditch World Cup, his birthday is at the end of July, right? That''s young, not even thirty yet ..."


    Later that day, Draco showed up on the floating island with Narcissa and Scorpius.


    Narcissa, who had spent the past two years only on her family''s territory, at the moment gazed at the sight before her with some surprise: they were standing high up on a floating island, with hundreds of fireplaces lined up all around the perimeter, but they were quite different from ordinary fireplaces, except for the four corners, which were made of pure white stone, the rest of the building was empty, like large and small stone arches, with a flame burning in the air in the center of the arches. She glanced backward and the fireplace behind her looked the same, except the flame colour was changing from green to red.


    In just a blink of an eye, two wizards stepped out of the flame, and after identifying their direction briefly in the same place, they headed towards a small white building.


    "That''s a registration office," Draco introduced: "First-time visitors have to specify their purpose of arrival and leave a wisp of magic. Originally there was no such rule, but the number of settlers has increased over the years and a new procedure had to be added for ease of management." S?a?ch* Th? ??v?l_Fir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Narcissa didn''t say anything, her attention was drawn to the row of flying brooms that streaked across the sky, all of them painted blue.


    "Those are public brooms, slower than normal flying brooms with height restrictions, but the good thing is that both wizards and muggles can use them. It has a special enchantment on it that keeps people''s butts glued to it to prevent first-time riders from falling off." Draco said with an odd look on his face.


    "I know! That''s a Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes innovation," the little Scorpius yelled excitedly, "I love going there!"


    Narcissa glanced at Draco, who looked away with an expressionless face.


    They left the fireplace area, then Apparated to a street where Draco dutifully acted as a tour guide.


    "The hospital is nearby, you and Dad used to come here a lot before, but it''s changed drastically in the last few years. In a physical sense, the floating island is bigger than it was two years ago, and by Muggle standards, it''s considered a large city, with a capacity to accommodate over ten million people, but currently, there are only about a million inhabitants, which is pretty lively for wizards. Oh, and almost a third of those people are wizards, the others are scientists and their families who preside over various large-scale projects; government employees, corporate employees ... it also includes a certain number of tourists."


    At that moment there was a deafening thump sounded in the air and a three-story-high bus appeared across the road. "A Knight Bus?" Draco was non-committal, leading the way through a sea of oddly shaped houses that bore the hallmarks of wizards - unconventional in detail, often violating certain laws of physics, and varying in appearance.


    They passed through a low patch of rain clouds, their hair nearly brushing the black clouds at the nearest point, and yet the sun was shining brightly as they turned a corner. A grand white building appeared before them, this place is the first Joint Wizard-Muggle Hospital, with the simple name ''Joint Wizard-Muggle Hospital'', without any prefix. The hospital logo is a winged-wand coiled by two snakes - whether it is a muggle society or a magical society, this logo can be associated with medicine.


    Of course, if you look closely, you will find that the wand is a magic wand, and the snakes on it are similar to the giant ouroboros snake wrapped around the exterior of the floating island.


    Across the street from the hospital, there was a concentration of unique magic stores from all over the world, and as the Quidditch World Cup approached, a steady stream of tourists arrived at the island in giant ships. Draco saw a familiar face among the group of women. Luna Lovegood was dressed in an eye-catching outfit embroidered with various magical creatures along with an oddly shaped blue brooch at her collar that looked a bit like a broken eggshell, the woman and children around her shouted excitedly.


    A brown-haired man with a camera jogged over ...


    Scamander?


    This thought wandered around in Draco''s head for a moment, then it was tossed to the back of his mind. They walked into the hospital, and along the way, muggle doctors and wizard healers greeted him, to which Draco responded with a nod. Narcissa watched all of this silently, with pride spreading across her face.


    It was true that she and Lucius had financed and contributed to the construction of the hospital in its infancy, but within a few years, her husband had once again become obsessed with the game of power and moved back to England, where she could only hear about their recent breakthroughs on tenacious diseases and selections of the best treatments from newspapers and family gatherings during the weekends. It was obvious to her that she was a little out of step with the times.


    They arrived at the entrance of the advanced ward on the fifth floor.


    A woman dressed in a nurse''s outfit strides over and said respectfully, "Mr. Malfoy, someone from Future World Corporation has sent a letter stating: Fourteen more high-precision instruments have passed the magic test, and their accuracy is guaranteed. We need your personal signature before we can collect them."


    Draco signed the document quickly.


    He was about to push open the door of the ward, but the assistant pulled out the memo like a muggle magic trick and tore off a page, "One more thing - Mr. Potter dropped by this morning and said he had something important to talk about, but you were not at the hospital at that time."


    "I see, I''ll reach out to him." Draco took the note and walked into the hospital ward.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 729: Epilogue: Snape

    Snape and Harry stood by a neatly trimmed hedge, not far from a very picturesque manor house. Behind the two men were a few Aurors and a dozen Hit Wizards, which was less than the number of people on the other side from what they had learned from their intel, but all those present looked very relaxed without even a hint of worry. "I really don''t want to find Draco Malfoy in there." Harry whispered.


    "Maybe he is not a part of the group." Snape said.


    "But when I went to the hospital this morning, his assistant said he had gone home." Harry said in an anxious voice. Snape gazed at him coldly, "I don''t know when you got this extra indecisive nature."


    "Oh, well, I think it''s because I''m busy taking care of my little girl." Harry said without a second thought, "She is getting too naughty, more rowdy than the other two when they were younger, and Ginny and I are getting a bit overwhelmed." Not surprisingly, when he finished this sentence, he noticed that Snape''s expression became quite inscrutable.


    "Ginny and the children are on the island." Harry added.


    "I will visit," Snape said with a grimace, "with presents."


    As Snape made his way toward the cast iron gate, Harry was still thinking about the relationship between the two. Their contacts should have been totally cut off after graduation. In the next few years after graduation, as he had expected, they had only met a few times on the floating island, but he had no idea what had gone through his mind when his third child was born, that he had to choose a professor with whom he never had much of good relations when he was at school as a godfather for his youngest daughter - in this manner, each of his three children got to have one godfather respectively.


    Perhaps he did this because he ran into him when he visited his family''s grave.


    It was then that Harry realized that Snape had never let go of his past, even though he had achieved such great accomplishments he still stubbornly continued to stay at the school rather than choose to give up the teaching duty or take a short break, because nearly all the memories of his life were there, whether they were good or bad.


    Even Hagrid would leave Grawp behind every summer and disappear for a month or two, and likewise, the whereabouts of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic Headmistress were also unknown during that period. But Snape remained all alone. According to Neville, Professor McGonagall seems to have intended to set him up with Emmeline Vance, but history always goes round and round, and both of them have inherited the desire to win glory from their Snake and Lion Houses, and have fought very hard for the House Cup in recent years, with no chance for any sparks at all.


    Young Rosalie is going to enrol in school next year. But Harry was thinking of Sirius'' second child, the one who nearly stole the name "James". Fortunately, his and Ginny''s first child was born two months prematurely, to which Sirius held a grudge and eventually insisted on being a godfather of "James".


    Harry waved his hand and the Aurors and Hit Wizards assumed their positions. s?a??h th? ?ov?l?ir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    ...


    At the moment, the drawing room of Malfoy Manor is bustling with activity.


    A group of people in black robes sitting crookedly at a long table, complaining about the injustice they have suffered over the years, such as the difficulties of daily necessity (extravagant needs), etc�� The lighting in the drawing room was deliberately dimmed to the lowest level, to make the atmosphere similar to that of a gathering of Death Eaters back in the day, with the fireplace blazing in the background, though the seat right before the fireplace was left unoccupied.


    Lucius Malfoy sat with a stiff expression on the left-hand side of the main seat, looking at Selwyn who was sitting across from him and chatting with two large, stout, pudgy male wizards.


    "What, Lucius?" Selwyn called out, "There has to be fresh blood brought in, or else the whole community will become rotten, and none of us here are looking for personal gains, we are here to discuss something as important as the fate of all pureblood families, so won''t it be better if more people join us? Isn''t that right, Vincent, Gregory?"


    Lucius looked at his son''s former best friends with a complicated look and simply nodded his head.


    Thus, Selwyn looked smug.


    "Let the young ones see the big world. Old friend, so why can''t we see Draco?"


    "He had something to do and couldn''t make it." Lucius said. "Something to do," Selwyn repeated so that everyone could catch it, and then he gave a puzzled look, "What''s so important than our cause? Let''s see - oh yes, he''s a ''Big'', influential man now, with a busy work schedule, and countless people are counting on him to conquer one or two more muggle diseases so that those dregs who can''t even use magic can live as long as wizards ... while some of our loved ones and friends are left to die rotting in Azkaban ..."


    Crabbe and Goyle''s naive faces immediately burst with hatred.


    Lucius narrowed his gray eyes and said coldly, "I think you have a part in all of this, Selwyn." "Oh, don''t be ridiculous," Selwyn immediately shot back, he was obviously well-prepared, "Let''s not mention the best concealed Snape, how many hidden secrets have you revealed just by yourself Lucius, ah, compared to you two, what I did was really insignificant."


    He stood up and walked around, his body close to the back of the chair facing the fireplace as if he was going to sit down, all eyes widened - that seat has remained unoccupied for twelve years, did Selwyn intend to lay his hands on it?


    All eyes in the drawing room were darting and panicky.


    But Selwyn just stood next to the chair, raised his volume, and said: "Twelve years ago, we made a deal with Mr. Hap in gratitude for freeing us from Voldemort''s enslavement," he said while bending slightly toward the chair, "and over the years we have tried to keep our presence as low as possible and stay out of trouble. But what was the result? I have seen a look of contempt too many times ...everyone looks at us as if we are the outcasts of the wizarding world. ... Now it is time to unite and make an impact! Gentlemen, more than one Dark Lord (Archmage level wizards) have existed and perished, nevertheless, the Pureblood families have survived and lived at the top, all ages!"


    Lucius smelled some kind of danger signal and quietly leaned his body against the back of his chair.


    Selwyn''s speech poked a lot of people''s sore spots, and they couldn''t help but recall their past glories, at that moment Selwyn placed his hands down a little loudly on the main chair and the crowd immediately quieted down. He smiled in satisfaction.


    "Pureblood families are above the reach because we have signed one magic pact after another over a long period of time, of course, now most of it has been transferred to the Ministry of Magic, and I do not intend to ask them to be returned, there are many other ways to get rich ...," he said vaguely. "But using this to negotiate with the Ministry of Magic, to ask for a piece of the pie will not pose much of a problem. I''m going to talk to Kingsley about it ..."


    "Also, there''s something more--"


    "I managed to establish a connection with one of the Queen''s stewards, and Mr. Edwin revealed that the Queen has been thinking about re-establishing the Court Mage system lately - I suppose I don''t need to tell you what that means, gentlemen?" Selwyn swept his eyes around, and at that moment even Lucius'' eyes blazed a little, that is symbol of knighthood, noble status, and unique position.


    But immediately after that Lucius recalled the conversation he had during breakfast, his heart calmed down instantly as if a scoop of cold water had been poured on it. While Selwyn was still making his speech, his mind wandered elsewhere. He seemed to hear the faint sound of footsteps, his eyes turned to the heavy wooden door, and he rubbed his eyes as the bronze handle seemed to be turning to open bit by bit.


    "Click."


    A gust of wind flowed in, and Selwyn looked up in confusion as he spoke. There was a figure standing in the doorway, the hem of his black robe fluttering along with the wind that just blew. The figure did not move, as if he was adapting himself to the dim light of the room, but all the people in the drawing room could immediately recognize his face, and there was a flood of murmurs.


    "I never except that Snape would show up!"


    "Isn''t he teaching at the school, and researching muggle potions ..."


    "I heard that he had defected to Potter."


    Snape walked in with big strides and gazed all around before looking at Selwyn. Selwyn snapped back and put away his surprised look as he posed a smiling face and greeted, "Severus! Severus! Haven''t seen you in a while, I heard that you became someone''s godfather, haha!"


    Snape''s face remained expressionless, without a trace of a smile on his face. Other people in the drawing room also did not smile, their gaze moved between the two, and then they all collectively looked at Lucius Malfoy, he seemed equally surprised by Snape''s arrival, but they were not sure if it was an illusion, the face illuminated by the fire was actually turned a little pale.


    Snape walked in front of Selwyn. To be precise, he stood in front of the chair that had its back against the fireplace. He pulled out the chair and sat down. The drawing room instantly fell silent, some people were frightened, and their mouths widened slightly as they made unconscious hissing sounds.


    Snape sat upright on the main seat, and looked at the expressions on everyone''s faces for a while, before he spoke, "I have brought a message."


    "What is it?" Selwyn asked subconsciously.


    Snape''s eyelids lowered as he said, "It has nothing to do with you."


    "How come it has nothing to do with me?!" Selwyn exclaimed, and then he saw something from Malfoy''s pale face, fear soaked through his body gradually as if a drowning man kept sinking down, he eventually could not control his lead-like legs and stumbled back to the seat next to him.


    "Are Aurors waiting outside the door, or ..."


    Snape did not make any response.


    Selwyn stared with wide eyes, his lips trembled for a moment, and he violently sprang up and knocked the chair down to the floor. Then he turned on his heel and ran towards the door, with several people following Selwyn in a panic as he bolted across the long table.


    "If I were you guys, I wouldn''t choose to run." Snape''s eerie voice spoke. But in his current state Selwyn was not able to listen to these words, he was the first to rush out of the drawing room - he did not use the fireplace, because the fireplace may be under surveillance of the Ministry of Magic, he rushed out of the drawing room and dashed towards the rear of the manor, where there is a fountain, the vicinity of the fountain can be used by people to Apparate.


    A few of those who followed Selwyn paused at those words, the expression of a short fat man who was currently a few steps away from the door started to change repeatedly, his mind was in a mess, not knowing whether to listen to Snape''s words or not, with all those things he had done, he would be locked up for at least ten years.


    Then the entire drawing room atmosphere seemed to have frozen, including the short, fat man with a desperate face at the door, beads of sweat on his forehead solidified all over his face, then a circle of silver light passed through his body, and brushed over everyone present like a silver veil, who immediately felt a throbbing headache.


    "Do not resist." Snape''s voice stated.


    Lucius was the first to obediently give up resistance, no matter who is coming, whether it is Auror or Hap, he does not have any desire to resist, and that is not something he is good at. Not to mention he still has to think about Narcissa, Draco, and little Scorpius''s future if he were to resist. The next thing he knew, he was like a drowning man surfacing and taking a breath of fresh air, slumping back in his chair, panting heavily, realizing as an afterthought that his clothes were already drenched in a cold sweat.


    Silver ripples spread like a tidal wave, and Lucius'' heart inexplicably flooded with courage, but this courage is not to resist and fight, but to work together with the owner of the silver aura to fight evil ... what a strange task, the Malfoy family does not need to do something like that.


    When the fourteenth wave of silver ripples swept through the drawing room, the door was rudely pushed open from the outside, and three Aurors who were bracing up a shimmering magical barrier carried away the man at the door, leaving no word from the beginning to the end.


    "Is that ... Potter outside?" Someone asked warily.


    Before Snape could speak, the door was pushed open for the second time, and everyone sucked in their breath when they saw the man''s face clearly, it was Harry Potter, and surprisingly, he was personally leading the team. A silver solid Patronus loomed behind the Auror squad, and then they seemed to hear the "da da da" sound of hooves.


    Harry was slightly relieved when he didn''t see Draco''s face, then he spoke calmly: "By the order of the Minister of Magic, Selwyn, Parkinson, Nott, and Rowle who reportedly committed serious violations of the law, will be brought back to the Ministry for further questioning."


    All of them lowered their heads in fear.


    After an unknown amount of time, with a "bang", the door closed from the outside, and everyone showed the expression of surviving a disaster.


    Snape said calmly: "The Slytherin snakes should not crawl in the gutter, but fly in the sky. In case you don''t understand--" He paused and pulled out a few sheets of parchment from the pocket of his black robe.


    "I have prepared some materials."


    With that, he dryly read the contents on the parchment, as if he was reading a lengthy report. Despite the fact that his mind was no longer here, Snape found in a trance a hint of familiarity, many years ago he once read a few boring reports like today, but then it was in the drawing room of Black''s old mansion.


    No one interrupted him. The fire in the fireplace behind him burned brighter, the woods cracked occasionally, and sparks burst out to illuminate the area behind him. Everyone sat upright, trying their best to hear something useful from the report without a hint of emotion.


    For some of them, the scene was equally familiar.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 730: Epilogue: Potter

    It wasn''t until nine o''clock in the evening that Harry got rid of the back-to-back drinking, there was no way around it, it was his last day on duty, so all his colleagues were enthusiastic, the last scene he remembered was Hermione looking at him with a small smile, which was followed by a constantly increasing goblet of wine shoved under his nose, it WAS Ron! Harry thought with gritted teeth, red hair, and grey freckles, there was absolutely no mistaking it. "Mr. Potter, are you sober? Ms. Granger asked me to drop you off on the island." A voice said, and Harry jerked back as two staff members stood behind him. "Oh, thanks." He muttered while rubbing his throbbing forehead in the process.


    "You''re welcome, we happened to head to the island for some business." The man said, and they immediately left with him.


    Harry walked aimlessly along the lane, passing along flowering shrubs and tall trees, thanking Professor Burbage, and all the herbology professionals involved in planting greenery ... After walking for a while, he sobered up a little and came to a public broom stall under the soft glow of a magic lamp. Ten minutes later, Harry knocked on the door of his home on the floating island. The door opened and Ginny glared at him with crossed arms.


    "Who am I supposed to seek revenge on?" She asked, like an angry female cat.


    "Ron." Harry said achingly and Ginny appeared to be exasperated, "I knew it." She welcomed Harry in and sat him on a couch, Harry saw a half-written press release on the table.


    "... The now-retired Viktor Krum, who will not be competing in the 426th Quidditch World Cup, has said in an interview that he will regret missing this event during his career."


    Harry took a sip of tea as he read. Clanking sounds rang out in the kitchen, and before he could finish reading the article, Ginny came out with an omelette and grilled sausage, "Thanks, dear!" Harry immediately wolfed them down.


    "Are the kids asleep?"


    "Yeah."


    "Krum couldn''t make it to the game?"


    "Yeah, his scores have been dropping badly in the last few years, I guess his body got strained down by intense training and back-to-back games, I''ve analysed all his footage - his desire to win is too much, it''s probably good for him to have a few years off." Ginny judged with a professional eye, having made it into the Holyhead Harpies right after graduation as a professional Quidditch player and later became a Quidditch columnist for the Daily Prophet, her judgment is quite accurate.


    "By the way, guess who I ran into during the day?" Ginny asked.


    "Ahem," Harry asked with some concern as he choked on his omelette, "It''s not Snape, is it?"


    "What made you think of him?" Ginny gave Harry a friendly pat on the back, and after feeling the force on his back, Harry decided not to reveal the fact that Snape might be coming to Lily''s birthday party for now (Snape many times called her a stupid girl).


    "It''s Luna, Luna!" She giggled, "She''s busy tending to little babies."


    "What?" Harry said in disbelief, spitting out the half-bitten sausage, then he thoughtfully mused, "Magical creature cubs, I guess?"


    Ginny cleared her throat.


    "... In the end, they brought back a couple of blue gems and unknown feathers from the rainforest, which turned out to be the eggs of some unknown magical creature ... Well, not that they have noticed it earlier, actually, Luna embedded one of the gems in her dress, I heard It was Rolf''s idea. Probably because of the relatively great magic fluctuations on the island, the bird''s egg hatched itself while they were shopping."


    Harry listened with amazement.


    "That''s quite a pretty bird, it gives off a colourful glow," Ginny said with a wide grin, "You might keep an eye out for it, Luna changed the eggshell into a brooch, I think it just matches her one-of-a-kind dress ... "


    Later that night, Harry stood at the bay window, looking out at the night view of the island.


    Ginny hugged him from behind. They just snuggled together in silence, enjoying the tranquillity of the night. There are several buildings with shimmering lights in the deep blue sky, shining brighter than the stars in the sky at sea, and Harry knew that one of them belonged to Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes.


    "What''s on your mind?" Ginny asked.


    "Headmaster Dumbledore." Harry gave an unanticipated answer, Ginny looked up in confusion and Harry sighed, "I only now started to realize what a valuable thing Dumbledore left me back then." He said discreetly, "It''s the memories."


    "Memories?"


    "Hmm." Harry murmured, "Professor Hap had reminded me of that once, but I didn''t pay much attention to it before, I just thought about finishing Dumbledore''s biography as best I possibly could. On my graduation journey, I went to the place where he and Grindelwald dueled back then, after that I have travelled to Brazil, to the United States, to Nepal, following the footsteps of the legend along the way ... Its effects have only become apparent in the past few years, Professor Hap said that some of my magic is approaching the level of an Archmage now, not only the Patronus which I have often got a flash of insight during my training ..."


    "Let''s go back to school sometimes," Ginny said softly, "Luna told me that quite a few of the professors are planning to retire."


    "Well," Harry paused hesitantly, "it''s best to wait until the conclusion of the World Cup, I won''t be able to make time for it for a while in the near future. Professor Hap said that there might be some people who would attempt to disrupt the opening ceremony."


    "What do you mean?" Ginny lost her tongue, "But - how is it - is this intel true? The floating island has never been subject to an attack before."


    Harry was equally confused, but for some strange reason. He recalled the small note that the Professor had given him, which had precisely recorded the coordinates of twelve locations on the floating island, which included the Joint Wizard-Muggle Hospital, the Headquarters of the International Pan-Magical Alliance, the Headquarters of the Future World Corporation, the Lunar Support Center, and several other iconic buildings.


    "It might be possible that these are the locations where the riots will be caused on the opening ceremony day." The professor said vaguely.


    But just like Ginny put it, how did the professor know such detailed information? Memory magic? But this is something that hasn''t happened yet, and with such detailed information, surely it can''t be prophesied, right? The ride on the broomstick around the island just now had provided Harry with some inkling - or perhaps it was because he had thought about Hermione - that he suspected that the professor might secretly possess a time-turner, but the problem was, that thing could only let you go back in time, not to look into the future.


    Well, at least judging from the professor''s attitude, it ain''t much of trouble ...


    "Probably, he might have spotted some clues," Harry shook his head, without voicing out the doubts in his mind. "He put me in charge of this whole mess, it seems like a test. I''m just concerned about the lack of manpower, there are over two hundred Aurors and a thousand Hit Wizards on the island, but this number is still far too low compared to the influx of visitors who would be coming in during the Quidditch World Cup."


    Ginny racked her brain and then her eyebrows gradually relaxed.


    "How come there won''t be enough, this is your home turf."


    "My home turf?" Harry repeated, and mused, he didn''t know if Ginny was referring to the residents of the island, but they are not warriors, warriors ... a thought flashed through and Harry''s eyes lit up a bit, "Hogwarts! The Frontline Lookout Club and the Ouroboros Club!"


    Ginny pursed her lips as she added.


    "And the Order of the Phoenix. Didn''t Sirius whine about retirement being boring?" "He''s enjoying it," Harry said on the spot, "He even turned down the offer of an Exclusive Wand Academy, not even willing to become the Headmaster."


    "But I don''t think he would turn down a surprise adventure, would he?" Ginny said with a raised eyebrow, and Harry who thought of his godfather''s character, nodded in agreement, "That''s true."


    The Exclusive Wand Academy is the only place on the island where magic is taught, but its students are somewhat unique - it enrols wizards who are unable to use their magic properly (commonly known as Squibs), both children and adults. Compared to other magic schools, the floating island has a unique advantage: it has the highest density of wizards in the world, and with the floating island''s ability to collect escaping magic, it can better replenish the consumption of magic within the exclusive wand, but due to the increasing demand, the number of students enrolled in this special school is limited to no more than two thousand people from all over the world each year. This school was established with the objective of helping squibs to acquire the most basic spell-casting abilities.


    "So don''t worry, I''m sure you can do it." Ginny encouraged, "You''re a hero who conquered the Dark Lord."


    Harry touched his nose, finding his nose a little itchy, he muttered in a small voice, "not many people would believe that and that happened when Voldemort has terribly weakened--" Ginny blocked his mouth, and only after a long time did she free her hands.


    "Well, I even went to visit Astoria in the hospital." Ginny said under her breath, both arms slung around Harry''s neck.


    Harry barely managed to calm his pounding heart and asked in response to Ginny''s words, "Is she okay?" He had seen Astoria once last year, and her face showed a tendency to transform toward the pale colour that is unique to the Malfoys.


    "Kind of bad," Ginny said, "It''s a peculiar curse, there''s no way to tell exactly what it is anymore, apart from the fact that it is tied to blood and magic, moreover the curse is invisible and shapeless, ingrained deeply throughout the Greengrass family bloodline, and it just happened to... ... have chosen her, her sister Daphne is just fine."


    Ginny tightened her grip and Harry gasped a little, but he could feel her dread. Harry couldn''t help but think of a young girl who attended school two years behind him, and he found himself most impressed by the image of Astoria standing on a golem snake, the prize she had won from a dueling tournament, which she used to slither around the Black Lake. She was very outgoing and cheerful, simply very different compared to her current weak appearance.


    An incurable curse, Harry mentally mumbled slowly, some unformed thoughts swirled in his mind, the Greengrass family, Malfoy, Professor Hap ... At this point, Ginny hesitated and said, "Albus has made a new friend."


    "You mean little Scorpius?" Harry was thinking about something on his mind when he blurted out right now.


    Ginny shot him a suspicious look.


    "I don''t know when you guys got so close?"


    ...


    As he lay in bed, Harry mulled over in his head what he needed to do tomorrow. S?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    First of all, he had to report at the floating island headquarters, although the official appointment would not be announced until some time later. Still, with Professor Hap''s throwing away tedious hassles attitude, he needs to start his duty in advance. The good thing is that after all these years he is already familiar with the island environment, but at least, he needs to meet the foreign Aurors who have been rotated over this year; in addition, he needs to make a trip to each of the twelve locations mentioned in the note ---- Today the first place he went to after returning from the hospital without success was Lupin''s house. Little Teddy was very likeable and much more well-behaved than his own two brats; after that, he went to the Lunar Support Center, where someone seemed to have mentioned to him some kind of space island project, was it about creating an island in space? But he was immediately called back to Britain to take charge of the last operation before leaving his post, so he didn''t hear much.


    Harry''s thoughts began to stray.


    At the farewell banquet, Ron said he did not want to be promoted, although it would be nice to be the head of the department, he did not want to work as hard as Percy, who took the ''earning minister of magic position'' as his family mission; due to overwork Percy already have gray hair. The discerning eyes can see that Hermione who is a senior deputy minister has greater hope than him ... Harry thought of Malfoy and Astoria, in a half-asleep state, he made a decision in his mind to find Professor Hap to talk, no, it is better to ask Hermione ... Professor''s current state is a bit scary. Harry''s body trembled. If he did not know that no one in the world can hurt him, he would have suspected that the professor at some point became a ghost.


    He muttered a couple of grunts and brushed the outrageous notion aside. A baby''s babbling was heard in the corner as Lily Potter rolled over. Harry sniffed the scent of Ginny''s hair and drifted off to sleep.


    The next morning, Harry was awakened by the sound of a baby crying, he yawned, put on his glasses, and saw Ginny attending to his baby girl in her pyjamas, "Look at that." Ginny said happily, and Harry saw the little baby moisten her lips with saliva, then opened and closed her lips like a little fish and spat out a bubble. She giggled on her own.


    "That''s cute." Harry said, "Reminds me of the merpeople in the Black Lake."


    At breakfast, the family sat together and watched the magic TV while they ate. A very passionate voice was announcing the morning news, "Eight million people are expected to come to the island! It''s difficult to imagine this, although the floating island has been receiving tourists from all over the world, it''s the first time that it has been opened to the public on such a large scale. Imagine, on average, a square kilometre will be packed with 10,000 people, I heard that this is common in large cities, so are they living in a sandbox?"


    It was Lee Jordan, Harry lamented as he watched the TV host, who had barely changed.


    Lee Jordan was in the second group that landed on the island - the floating island has undergone several important changes over the years, each phase adding significant and far-reaching initiatives. The first phase started when Professor Hap built the island when one-third of the thousand American wizard families remained together with those wizards who chose to stay after participating in the Christmas bonfire night which made up the first inhabitants of the island.


    The second phase was marked by the relocation of the Future World Corporation headquarters when a large number of scientists were invited to study a way to combine magic and science in a cooperative manner. In this process, some spells shined, such as the Permanent Sticking Charm. The way in which the scientists used magic spells innovatively to create machines was an eye-opener for the wizards. As the headquarters of the International Pan-Magical Alliance settled along with various large corporations and national organizations appearing on the island, there was a serious shortage of wizards, so the wizards were recruited from all over the world to settle and work on the island.


    It is worth mentioning that there were many squibs among them.


    But they prefer to call themselves "Magic-insensitive Wizards", the most famous representative of this group is Winnie Valentine, one of the teachers of the Exclusive Wand Academy, who came up with this term and whose teaching philosophy is "to integrate wizards into all walks of life", and she is expected to win next year''s ''Dumbledore Award''.


    "... flim has sparked a new wave of cinema watchers throughout the entire wizarding community, I think there is no need to mention which film I am referring to, yes, it is Harry Potter." The two kids at the table immediately perked up their ears. "Mafalda Prewett is four years younger than me and there were rumours floating around about how she didn''t get an invitation to Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley''s wedding, but my good buddy informed me that this was nonsense, and she just couldn''t make it to the pledge session because of a sudden nasty ailment that prevented her from riding her broom ... "


    Harry and Ginny looked at each other and smiled.


    Six-year-old James looked left and right and exclaimed incredulously, "So it was you guys who did that? Or was it, Uncle Fred and George? Gosh, I keep telling Teddy that I adore her-"


    "It''s no big deal," Ginny said absently, "you just adore the story she wrote, and the story was written about your father." She leaned over to look at the crib, the baby inside blinked her bright eyes and stared at her. Ginny, however, frowned, "That''s weird, the milk in the bottle hasn''t decreased at all."


    She took the bottle to give her a taste, but the baby kept avoiding the nipple, with two small eyebrows furrowed tightly together while her limbs were kicking and thrashing. Ginny shot a suspicious look at James, who is undoubtedly the naughtiest and most hyperactive in the family - as if he''d been infected by his godfather.


    James swore. "It''s not me!" The eyes turned to Albus. "I heard Albus saying he missed the taste of the milk bottle." James grinned and mocked, which in his mind apparently a sign of lack of maturity. On the other hand, Harry''s mind drifted off, the reason was found, he wondered if this is considered a talent of Potioneer? But maybe it can be used to persuade Ginny ... Five-year-old Albus immediately lowered his head in embarrassment as he put down his fork & knife, and whispered, "I, I''m done eating."


    "Can I go play near the hospital?"


    Harry and Ginny exchanged a look, "To meet a friend?" "Um, yeah." Albus said evasively. "Come back early in the afternoon, we''re going to Lupin''s house for a visit."


    "I don''t think he''ll have time for us," James said with a straight face, "he''s too busy taking care of all of his fluffy do..." When he saw the look in his mother''s eyes, he covered his mouth with both hands and mumbled through his fingers, "I mean, his little problems."


    Harry couldn''t help but smile. He took out his wand and flicked it, a thin golden thread wrapped around the hem of Albus''s shirt. Then with another flick, a second thin thread wrapped around James.


    "What is this?" The two brothers asked in unison.


    "Trace magic." Harry replied.


    "Cool!" James gave a thumbs up.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 731: Epilogue: Valen

    Exclusive Wand Academy is located in the northeast corner of Floating Island. In addition to the normal teaching facilities and buildings, what is more unique about the school is a group of statues on the main compound, dedicated to the first people who got their exclusive wands and changed their destiny. One of the most striking statue is a wand-wielding Niffler, better known as Valen. Speaking of Valen, she is arguably the most famous Niffler or even magical creature in the Academy. Because at the beginning of the establishment of the school, Valen cooperated to record a series of ''teaching footages'', thousands of magic-insensitive wizards learned from a Niffler when they tried to systematically understand the functions and applicability of their exclusive wands.


    "I''ve seen Valen a few times," Winnie Valentine said in class, "and she has used the exclusive wand to do things I have never thought of before, which has greatly expanded the scope of use and value of the exclusive wand."


    "There are no less than ten worldwide research topics developed due to her or inspired by her. The most significant research is ''Magic Reactivation Theory'', which studies the possibility of dormant magic being reactivated to make us normal wizards through learning and practice! There are rumours that Valen has gotten rid of the restrictions of exclusive wands, but of course, it has not been confirmed ..."


    "What if it is proven?" A student asked.


    "It means she may well be the smartest Niffler ever, at least surpassing the twelve thousand magic-insensitive wizards involved in the research in a broad sense ... Well, if you don''t mind, let''s get on with the class. By the way, Valen also knows more words than any of you, and she even penned an article for the Daily Prophet, which was rejected, but that article was later published in The Quibbler, which you may have already heard of, ''Diary of Life on Mars''."


    The bamboo forest behind the Academy houses a nest of Nifflers, born from the siblings of Valen, and every week scientists in white coats will drop by and trade golden, shiny little objects for ten to twenty minutes of time to study their lives, but unfortunately, these Nifflers don''t exhibit intelligence beyond the ordinary - except for the fact that they are all very good at Playing Exploding Snap or any other cards.


    Today, two uninvited guests showed up at the school.


    "Albus, I have a secret to share with you." Scorpius said as the two stomped through the wet mud with crisp birdsong coming from the bamboo forest.


    "I''m all set to hear about it." Albus said.


    "Dad''s been a little bothered in the past few days-" "Oh," Albus said softly, as he lowered his head and scraped his toes on the ground, "I think it''s because of what my dad did, he raided Malfoy Manor ..." "It has nothing to do with that." Scorpius said, "It was about a bloke with the name ''Nott'', Dad had been distracted after he heard he had been arrested, and his home was searched by the Ministry of Magic ... I found this in Dad''s office. "


    He pulled out a small golden timepiece, and Albus stared blankly at the delicate hourglass embedded in the center of the timepiece.


    "What is this?"


    Scorpius took a deep breath, "A Time-Turner."


    "Time-what?"


    "Well, it will let us travel through time," Scorpius said with excitement, "but the last Minister of Magic suspended all research and sealed all records kept in the department whose name I don''t know. I read all of this in Dad''s notebook. I guess if we can find and defeat the person who put the curse on Mom, she''ll get better."


    "But we''re only-" Albus counted his fingers, "five years old."


    "Yeah," Scorpius said dejectedly, "we can make a promise and wait until we are powerful - like ten years from now - and then use this thing to travel back in time and find the man who put the curse on the Greengrass family to defeat him."


    "It''s a promise." Albus said.


    Two fingers hooked together, both of them giggled contentedly, and then they heard distant chattering sounds, which didn''t sound like humans, but rather like some kind of magical creature.


    Albus and Scorpius exchanged a look and walked cautiously in the direction of the sound. The two opened their mouths in amazement when they saw an alcove in their field of vision, after parting off a shrub that appeared very tall to them. They seemed to have trespassed into a nest of more than a dozen Nifflers, some smaller ones with pink and gray fur, playing on a field full of bamboo leaves. In the center of the nest stood a small table ( is it a table?), where three Nifflers were playing cards with three big piles of shiny things beside them.


    "It''s wizard cards." Albus said as he stared at the virtual figures rising above the table.


    "The gameplay is the famous Dark Lord battle that has become popular in recent years... Look, two against one." Scorpius said.


    The two sprawled on the ground and watched with great interest, they are only five years old, so their minds are far less complicated, "A good card from Great Demon King set!" "Which one?" "The one with the fluffiest fur, like velvet satin." Albus said, then he suddenly felt that something was not right, as if the light overhead had become brighter.


    The two looked up to see a freshly awakened Niffler cub ruffling the leaves, yawning halfway through and staring wide-eyed at them, no, at the small glowing timepiece in Scorpius'' hand, to be precise.


    "Oh no." Scorpius said.


    "What to do?" Albus asked.


    "Run!"


    At the same time, the Niffler cub squeaked, and all the Nifflers stopped playing and looked to the side in unison, even the ones who were burrowing in holes also poked their heads out - did they hear it right? Baby (treasure) has come by itself? All the Nifflers - except for Valen - looked at each other with glowing eyes, they are very poor, especially whenever Valen comes to visit them.


    Valen turned her head around unhappily, she was about to win again, for the hundred and forty ... forth time (?). The feeling of winning your two brothers and looting them is too good to be true. After the looting, she will organize a treasure contest to give them some of the treasure that she looted, and the two silly brothers will not hold a grudge or fight.


    In her line of sight, two small children who are not yet as tall as the bushes stumbled towards the slope, one of them holding something shiny in his hand.


    A real baby? Valen thought with a tilted head, it looks a little familiar.


    Albus and Scorpius ran some distance away, huffing and puffing, but instead of disappearing, the subtle trembling of branches and the sound of bamboo leaves behind them drew closer, and Albus''s eyes caught a glimpse of a black shadow outrunning them.


    "What to do?"


    "Go up the tree!"


    The two kids didn''t have time to think about whether this would work, but neither of them wanted to run any further, so they selected a roughly one-foot thick, knotted holly tree and climbed up it, pulling each other up, and by the time Albus reached the nearest branch with Scorpius'' help, he was too tired to speak.


    Scorpius poked Albus, and the two looked down together.


    A dozen Nifflers with black fur stared intently at them from under the tree, and then a particularly conspicuous Niffler that stood separately from the others, strutting under the tree and looking up at Albus and Scorpius.


    That particular Niffler was naturally Valen, and she stared at the time-turner in Scorpius''s hand, her flattened mouth opened wide.


    "They''re trying to snatch the time-turner!" Scorpius shouted.


    "Don''t worry," Albus said, "I have a trace on me, so Dad will come looking for us. Theoretically, all it will take would be hiding in the tree until the night-"


    "I''m not as optimistic as you are," said Scorpius, "for example, I''m not quite sure whether Niffler can climb trees or not?"


    Baffled by the question, which he hadn''t thought about at all, Albus said hesitantly, "I don''t think so--" The next moment he saw a brownish-red Niffler cub wiggling its round body up a tree, and he immediately shut his mouth, the expression on his face became terrified.


    Valen patted the little Niffler and shoved a piece of candy into its hand. Then she made a thoughtful expression, and after a while, she pulled out a mirror from her pocket, and several Nifflers came over curiously, staring at the glowing mirror with their eyes dazzled, while Valen squinted her eyes with a small wooden stick in her hand, as if she was going to swing it over.


    When the mirror was connected, Valen chattered a lot and hung up the mirror with satisfaction. After doing all this, Valen stared at the two children in the small tree in a daze. Somewhat in boredom ... she pulled out a jar of candy, to which Albus and Scorpius in the tree gulped.


    ... S?a??h the N0v?lFir?.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Here." Scorpius said, agilely catching a candy in the air and shoving it to Albus.


    "No, it''s your turn to eat." Albus said. He eyed Niffler under the tree, which was so hateful, tossing candy into the sky one after another to tempt them to climb down the tree, he was so distracted that he didn''t even notice the appearance of a man not far away, who appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and both were startled when he spoke.


    "You can come down now, it''s easier for everyone." Felix said.


    Albus almost fell off the tree, Scorpius'' throat was stuck by candy in his mouth, and his face turned red with urgency, Felix reached out and pointed, his expression quickly eased, Albus patted Scorpius''s back while asking, "Who are you?"


    "Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. Felix Hap." Felix said, tracing his finger down in the direction of the holly tree, "A common problem of those who become famous, subconsciously assuming that everyone will know who I am."


    Of course, Albus and Scorpius had heard of this name a lot, they just failed to react due to surprise, but they were unable to care about the surprise, as the holly tree under their feet bent towards one side, and with it, they also tilted, the rough bark became smooth, like a slide, then the two of them slid down uncontrollably, and as they approached the ground, hundreds of branches grew wildly, twisting and intertwining with each other to form a bench. Felix sat on one side, looking down and talking to Valen.


    "Oh ... is that so ... well-."


    A big and small pair finished their exchange and looked in unison at the somewhat uneasy Albus and Scorpius. Albus bravely asked, "Hello? Are you really Hap--er, Professor? Sir? Headmaster?"


    "Call me sir or professor, Albus." Felix said calmly.


    "You know me?" Albus asked in surprise.


    " Yeah," Felix suddenly got a little embarrassed, "but you may not remember much about me, I got married the year before, so I spent some time cleaning up the ocean trench to work on my marriage venue... but all in all, I''m no stranger to you. " He looked over at Scorpius, "I know you too when I sent a wand for Draco and Astoria''s anniversary (belated wedding gift due to the time it took to create the wand)."


    Scorpius'' eyes widened.


    "The wand that made of snakewood and basilisk horn wand core!"


    "That''s right, I initially had my eye on unicorn hair, but Mr. Ollivander told me that it wouldn''t fit, that was when it occurred to me that I also had a collection of some basilisk materials ... which failed a few times in the middle, and I don''t have to guess why. But all these are irrelevant." Felix said, "So can you show me the little timepiece you''re holding? It seems better than the one that the Nott''s have hidden away ... It should be one of the last two that are still left outside."


    Scorpius hid his hands behind his back warily, tears welling up in his eyes in worry.


    "You want to take it away? No, I can''t give it to you-"


    "Well, you can keep it for now." Felix said thoughtfully, "Normally I should have known about it three days later, from my wife after Draco informed her ... but it''s hard to predict, as I am not likely to see everything. I didn''t pay much attention to this, being distracted by another matter ..." he paused, "Draco had asked for my help, but I wasn''t sure at the time, and now it''s time to fix that."


    Albus and Scorpius looked at him in bewilderment.


    Felix blew his breath into his palm. Then countless tiny runes scattered like flower petals and pieced together a mirror in the air. But there was only a frame, the mirror part remained empty. Then Felix rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a thumb-sized glass vial, which he shook gently, and Albus and Scorpius saw that the vial contained a few wisps of golden mist.


    "Recently I have consumed a little too much, it is not easy to collect."


    Felix muttered to himself as he unscrewed the cork and picked out a wisp of golden mist with his pinky finger and flicked it toward the mirror frame floating in mid-air. The wisp of gold mist quickly filled the empty part of the mirror as if it was alive, then tiny runes illuminated from the outer edge towards the inner side layer by layer, and the golden mirror surface became flat and smooth after a few seconds.


    "Let me think ... Astoria ... no, it should be Greengrass family." Felix said seriously.


    The image in the mirror kept flickering, people and space were changing rapidly, and it was dizzying to look at, like wearing a pair of dirty, handprint-covered glasses to read a dictionary with small, dense handwriting.


    Felix took a moment to explain to the two children: "I will not travel through time, the cost is too great, and I also don''t want others to cause interference in time, but there are many things that can be done, such as the curse of the Greengrass family, it is not really necessary to go back in time, as long as I can see everything that has happened once before my eyes ... I was not able to do such a thing during the first few years when I studied time, the energy alone caused a major headache. Found it."


    Albus, Scorpius, and Valen all looked into the mirror, the reflection in the mirror fixed in one place, and the scene became somewhat clearer, what appeared to be a thin, pale-skinned gloomy man with a mouse mustache, reciting something under his breath, blood flowing down his nostrils which curved and clotted in the air, before transforming into eerily throbbing black symbols at the sound of the incantation. The scene was a bit creepy, but Felix watched it with great interest, nodding his head as he watched.


    "So that''s it. Somewhat similar to the curse that was once placed on Hogwarts'' Defense Against the Dark Arts class. It is not directed at a specific person, but at the Greengrass family, and as long as the bloodline of this family remains, the curse will not die out, unleashing its accumulated power every few decades. Knowing the principle behind it makes things much better."


    "Much better?" Scorpius asked blankly.


    "For example, a spell could be designed to make the curse assume that the Greengrass family has already perished naturally ... Of course, it was just an example, I actually have a better way." The mirror shattered, and Felix carefully collected the visibly faded wisp of golden mist into a glass vial and then got busy.


    Valen watched for a while, taking various snacks out of her pocket and distributing them around to Nifflers, and the two children, Albus and Scorpius had long since found themselves hungry and ate with great gusto. "What''s that?" Scorpius asked, pointing to a jar in which he thought he saw tentacles wriggling.


    "Don''t touch it, it''s just a pile of cockroaches." Albus said with great experience as he looked at it. Scorpius looked at him oddly, and Albus said reluctantly, "If you have a brother who likes to pull pranks too, you might know."


    "There''s not much hope," Scorpius said glumly, then became happy, "but maybe I''ll have an extra little brother or sister."


    "It''s all over." Felix said, smoothly snatching a piece of lava cake from Valen''s hand and stuffing it into his mouth, "Don''t be a stranger -- Valen has the Honeydukes'' lifetime discount card, which even I don''t have." Valen yelped twice in dissatisfaction beside him, didn''t you use my name for that card?


    "The curse ... gone? Mom is well?" Scorpius asked with a blank look, he tried to move his arm, hoping to experience a feeling like ''a lighter body'', but nothing happened.


    Felix nodded and shook his head again.


    "The curse is indeed gone, but Astoria''s body still needs to recuperate for a while, I hope she can make it in time for the World Cup. Well, you guys have been out too long, it''s time to go back." He waved his hand, and Albus and Scorpius disappeared from sight.


    Felix slumped on the holly tree bench, his fingers fiddling with the glass vial containing golden time energy, his breathing slowed, and his body grew transparent. As if isolated from everything. Valen picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at him.


    Felix rolled his eyes.


    "Hermione has totally bought you off, actually if you can change it to candy, I''ll feel better ..."


    Valen immediately pulled out a brown wig from her pocket, which she wore on her head, and then leaned forward, looking like a certain someone. She clasped her hands over her chest and sneered (if she could) as she thought: Hmph, despair, Great Demon King, our alliance was formed a decade ago, a solid friendship forged while walking around the castle under the moon, nothing can destroy it, nothi ...


    Valen craned her neck and sniffed at the air.


    "Deep-sea fish, some species that probably have never been found before, I wonder how they would taste?"


    "Gulp." Valen gulped, feeling her unbreakable friendship being challenged, followed by the sound of another gulping of saliva in unison, as a group of Nifflers eyes looked over ...


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 732: Epilogue: Granger

    As the month of June came to an end, the heat in the air became so intense that you could even feel it inside the British Ministry of Magic, which was built underground. Hermione presumed that her bad mood during this period was caused by the approaching competition. All kinds of news related to the floating island multiplied all at once, and Mafalda Prewett, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Wall of Mystery", which emerged out of Hogwarts, commented on the phenomenon by saying: ''No matter what time of year it is, you can at least spot a guy riding a public broomstick and carrying a camera around the island, and needless to say, that''s my lovely peer.''


    Rita Skeeter, another journalist with a sharp tone and penchant for snarking remarks, after covering topics such as ''Hidden Smuggling Families'', ''Excellent Naturalists?'', ''Bad Fashion Designers'' and other trending articles, she set her sights on the tourists who came to the island. But this time she almost put herself all over the news; when she was asked about her sources, she hinted about bribing the island staff to get a list of famous people in advance, including some members of the Order of the Phoenix, members of the Frontline Lookout and the Ouroboros Club, along with muggle politicians, celebrities, pianist, musicians, and the tennis player who ranked second in the world last year. But most important of all is the chain reaction caused by her recent gloating articles such as "Alternation of power behind the World Cup" and "Panicking People."


    Journalists from other countries are also not that far behind. This seems to reinforce the point Mafalda was trying to make, "There are more journalists on the island than tourists." This is of course an exaggeration, and Hermione, who is a senior deputy minister, could not be more aware of this as she is currently approving new applications to visit the island.


    "There are about 120 people signed up this morning, and if you include the information synced over from the Muggle government, that number is going to increase by ... two thousand. And that''s just one day worth of quantity!" Hermione rubbed her forehead, "The Portkey is totally inadequate, and the number of people who can access the fireplace each day is limited, moreover, it is necessary to ensure continuous accessibility for critical moments ... Didn''t we remodel a passenger ship for the British government?"


    "The Prime Minister wants that ship to be used as a private vehicle for the Queen and her official entourage to travel." A man from the Department of Magical Transportation replied.


    Hermione opened her mouth as if she wanted to mock a couple of things, but in the end, she didn''t say anything.


    "I can only provide twenty more temporary fireplaces, whose coordinates are located on a small island 30 nautical miles away from the floating island. Let them arrange the pick-up and drop-off boats if they agree, otherwise let them figure out their own way." She wrote down her suggestion and added her name at the end of the document, "Give it to Kingsley." The office fell silent.


    Hermione glanced at the time, the hands of the clock seemed to have stopped moving at four o''clock. She went through the list of files in her hand again, the newly legalized articles, the simplified magic potion list review, the private flying broom licence, the opening date of Wizard Town, the draft Anti-Space Smuggling Act ... after confirming that they were all taken care of one by one, she began to stare at the photo on her desk, which she had taken with Felix on Mars, the two of them were sitting on the reddish-brown rocks with desolate dunes and gravel in the background; a sandstorm coming up in the distance with an exotic haze behind them; Valen jumping around with great interest with a Bubble-Head Charm covering her upper body ...


    A slight smile of reminiscence appeared on her face as her fingers unintentionally brushed the photo frame. The past few years flashed through her mind.


    As an official assistant of the last Minister of Magic, Ms. Bones, her entry into the Ministry of Magic started from a very high position, but there is nothing surprising about it: the Minister of Magic has a number of assistants. There is a special office, the Assistant Minister Office, which is dedicated solely to serving the Minister of Magic. The number of assistants ranges from one to a dozen, and these people normally assume both the role of secretary and advisor, but of course, occasionally there will be a few guys who just get paid to do nothing, will also be included in the ranks.


    But Hermione received a full range of work experience here.


    From the initial responsibility of reporting information related to Muggle affairs to the gradual exposure of specific affairs of the Pan-Magical Alliance, and participation and development of the rules and regulations for liaison between the various magical races with the Minister''s assistant status and government contacts, in which her talent in politics was shown. Three years later, Hermione applied to become an inspector of the International Pan-Magical Alliance, and in the following two years, she went around the world and wrote a series of observation reports that incorporated the local magical circumstances with an international perspective, which provided the headquarters of the Pan-Magical Alliance with a thorough and detailed analysis of the situation, together with the findings of other inspectors.


    As far as Hermione was concerned, her perspective was further broadened there.


    When she returned to the British Ministry of Magic, she was only 24 years old, but she had been through far more challenging situations than her peers, so much so that she became the Chief of Staff of the Assistant Minister''s office after an interview that went so harmoniously that it could not even be considered an interview. Theoretically, she could give orders to Felix back then, who still held a staff position (Felix so far still didn''t understand the interrelationship between these posts, and no one had dared to command him).


    If she follows the same pace in her political career, she is likely to go further and further down the path of promotion, eventually becoming the Minister of Magic. But her magical path will also become narrower and narrower, and in fact, unlike Harry''s smooth path, she would have experienced her own limits much earlier. Although her abilities far exceeded those of the average wizard, she recognized that she might never become an Archmage, with an invisible wall in front of her. This wall has trapped an unknown number of outstanding wizards.


    It was the trip to Mars that brought about an unexpected transformation in Hermione''s path and life, and in the words, she summed up afterward.


    "The transformation of every wizard''s magic is inseparable from the great mental transformation, and for me, it happened during the month I lived on Mars. I didn''t have to think about all the real-life implications, and I completely left behind all the constraints and concerns. ... Compared to the vast universe, people are extremely insignificant, but when I did my best to light up a small piece of the starry sky, I was able to feel the shock and grandeur from the bottom of my heart, as if all my past perceptions had been overturned."


    When she returned from Mars, she wrote a dozen articles exploring the nature of magic, which are mostly conjectures, but they are enough to prove that she has a new understanding of magic, and Felix picked one of them and suggested her to publish it publicly, which was later considered to be a perfect argument for the puzzle of ''the adaptability of magic under extreme conditions''.


    In her office, Hermione said to herself, "That feeling was really amazing."


    "What''s ''amazing''?" A voice interjected. She looked up just in time to catch Harry''s odd expression on his face, and Hermione said teasingly, "The scene where you perform the Wronski Feint at the wedding in public."


    Harry coughed unnaturally twice. He was getting married for the first time, so some exuberance was inevitable, plus he and Ginny had taken their vow in the sky, and by the time they finished their vow Fred and George had shouted out at the top of their lungs to give them a show, and with masses of lively guests swooping downwards on broomsticks, he couldn''t stop himself from doing it ...


    "By the way, what brings you here?" Hermione intentionally changed the subject, "I thought you would be too busy to come out at all for a while."


    "Pretty much," Harry muttered, "I''ve missed at least three family dinners, and little Albus is upset with me, there''s so much to deal with, it''s a city populated by millions of people, bringing together most of the world''s nations and authorities, with complex relationships... ...To be honest, I''m a little overwhelmed."


    "Perhaps you should learn from how Felix handled it?" Hermione suggested.


    "Good idea," Harry said: "dividing every little task to others, occasionally showing up to solve a problem or two, and then in the process, you need to get rid of all the guys who have caused that problem ... I have seriously thought about it, but this style does not suit me. "


    Hermione raised an eyebrow.


    "Did you come looking for sympathy, or did you come to complain?"


    "Neither," Harry said with a straight face, "it''s because of another matter."


    Hermione looked at him from across the table.


    "The Ministry has recovered a time-turner during the search in the Nott house, haven''t they?"


    "How did you-"


    "You tell me first." Harry said.


    Hermione thought for a moment. "That''s right, the Ministry has been working on a project to recover time-turners that have been lost through the centuries, damaged or not; this whole thing started well over a decade ago when Ms. Bones was still in office. Because ... well, you know exactly why."


    "Oh, I understand ..." Harry said slowly, one of the two people in this conversation happened to experience time travel and travelled far beyond what the Ministry of Magic allowed, indirectly contributing to the Ministry of Magic''s Department of Mysteries getting breached, when someone stole a lot of time energy and the hourglass of the time-turner; who that person was, the two knew by heart. s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Ms. Bones deemed it necessary to conceal the existence of the time-turner, especially at this particular juncture when the magical world is heading towards openness." Hermione explained to him, "It was Headmaster Dumbledore who applied to the Ministry of Magic in the first place, and now this policy has ended with his loss, the time-turner will not appear in the school or in the public eye, and Kingsley and I both agree with this policy."


    Harry pondered about Dumbledore''s attitude towards time-turners, about the silverware that always littered the long-legged table, and then he pulled a small golden timepiece out of his pocket and placed it on the table.


    Hermione''s eyes widened for a moment, then the look of surprise faded from her face and became thoughtful.


    "This can''t be yours." She said.


    "It''s the Malfoys''," Harry confessed, "Draco was originally going to give it to Professor Hap, but he wasn''t sure what he would think, so he compromised and entrusted me to send it to you. He said, uh," Harry scratched his head, "that Astoria is getting well enough to make it to the World Cup opening ceremony in perfect health."


    "That''s good news." Hermione broke into a smile.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 733: Epilogue: Longbottom

    Today, the Floating Island serves as the largest wizard transportation hub and transit point, linking wizard settlements in major regions of the world together, and inadvertently connecting the entire magic world in the process, greatly easing communication between wizards. The cross-country shipping business on the floating island is also very prosperous. Any ambitious company would find a way to establish an office here, a phenomenon that can be explained by the popular saying: Here, the world is within your reach.


    But there is also a piece of advice that comes along with it: make sure you have your clearance paperwork before you cross the flames, otherwise, you will be kicked back without any ticket refund and will even receive a summons in addition to a footprint on your arse. But don''t worry too much, the government departments stationed on the floating island are set up specifically to deal with such troubles.


    After a few years of running to court, at least you won''t have to worry about conflicts due to language differences.


    A week before the World Cup opening ceremony, Neville got a letter from Harry. He was washing up upstairs at the Leaky Cauldron when an owl flew silently into the second-floor window and landed on the sink holder, startling him.


    "Hello, Hedwig," Neville said with a mouth full of bubbles, stretching out a hand.


    Hedwig raised her wings and bounced back two steps, thus avoiding the wet hand as she raised her leg with the letter tied to it. Neville carefully opened the letter and quickly skimmed through it, his eyes gradually brightening.


    After a few minutes, two heads came together.


    "There''s plenty of time for us to leave with the other professors." Hannah said. "I''ll write back to Harry right away." Neville said, as he excitedly searched the room for a paper and pen.


    The two got married a few years ago, and after Neville left the Ministry of Magic, he took over the Professor Sprout post and became the Herbology Professor at the school, while Hannah took over the Leaky Cauldron and became the proprietress. This combination of the two made the students think it is quite cool.


    Two days later, at dawn, the early risers in Diagon Alley noticed a sign on the door of the Leaky Cauldron with a ''Closed during the World Cup'' sign along with a lock. No one was surprised; this year''s World Cup attracted so many people who wanted to join in the fun even if they had no interest in Quidditch. It was rumoured that there would be plenty of new and interesting merchandise made available during the tournament.


    Neville and Hannah arrived at Hogwarts through the Diagon Alley fireplace; it is summer break right now, so not even a single student is present, and Professor McGonagall is standing in the middle of a group of professors, wearing a feathered hat and matching slender, dark green robes, looking as elegant as Emmeline Vance beside her.


    Pomona Sprout was waving at the two of them, and Neville waved back in return. Professor Sprout was retired and usually lived in Hogsmeade, although she would often drop by the school to visit the little darlings she kept in the greenhouse, and to give Neville many pointers during his induction, especially teaching him how to deal with Professor Snape.


    "Well, we don''t get into serious scuffles, but ... a lot of herbs are needed to brew potions."


    This kind of advice helped Neville a lot.


    Professor McGonagall nodded toward Neville and Hannah, "Is it just you two? What about Frank & Alice, and Hannah''s parents?"


    "They''re already on the island," Neville said cheerfully, "and they even sent us a bunch of photos together with Luna, Seamus, and Dean. Grandma''s staying home, she''s not interested in Quidditch." Professor McGonagall huffed.


    "My parents couldn''t spare free time." Hannah said, shaking her head.


    "Well," Professor McGonagall said, glancing at the others, "Emmeline, Pomona, Sybill, a total of - oh, sorry, Filius, exactly the right number. Our Deputy Headmaster is unsurprisingly absent once again, though this time he can be slightly excused; according to the Daily Prophet, he seems to be in the middle of a power transfer (floating island power) ... which I deeply doubt. Let''s go."


    "I wonder how Professor Burbage is doing now." Neville whispered, this professor had helped him a lot too.


    "Well, she''ll be just fine in the sky." Hannah said in a quiet voice.


    Neville nodded, and at that moment Professor McGonagall''s eyebrows knitted hard as she passed by the two and overheard their conversation.


    "Professor Burbage was just invited to go to the moon to do research, she''ll be back." She couldn''t resist the urge to explain.


    "Well, I really hope everything goes well for her." Hannah said sincerely.


    "If it had been me, I wouldn''t be so sure," Trelawney interjected, "I made a deliberate attempt to observe the stars before I travelled and judging from the angle between the Moon and Mars, it''s not a good idea to travel for some time in the near future, it''s prone to unexpected misfortunes."


    "Thanks for the warning, Sybill." Professor McGonagall said, "Felix happened to have been to both places you mentioned, I will ask his opinion about it for you." She led the way and walked on.


    "I never knew Professor Trelawney would be interested in Quidditch." Hannah whispered.


    "I didn''t know that either," Neville replied in a whisper, "but the other Divination professor at the school made it clear that he didn''t like Quidditch, so ..."


    Trelawney, who wore a half dozen scarfs over her head, suddenly turned her head as if she had heard the two whisperings, startling them into shutting up. Emmeline smiled at them. A group of people appeared in Hogsmeade Square, where a temporary fireplace could be seen erected in the midst of the messy crowd. S?a?ch* Th? ???el F?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "Everyone don''t crowd! Come in order, the entrance of the Three Broomsticks Inn is the Portkey storage center ..." a somewhat sheepish Auror shouted to maintain order, in front of wizards jumping into the flames one by one in turn and disappearing, soon it will be Neville''s group turn.


    "Designated location, Pacific Ocean - thirty kilometers west of the floating island, Ingersoll Island -" Auror shouted out of habit as he looked down and checked Professor McGonagall''s ticket, then only to get startled when he got a good look at the members of the group, "Principal McGonagall? And all Professors? You are perfectly free to apply to go directly to the island without a transit."


    "We''re not in any rush," Professor McGonagall said, "and we will be able to see some scenery along the way."


    "Well, then, have a nice trip, everyone." The Auror said.


    The swirling green flames carried Neville through one archway after another, followed by a period of monotonous dizziness, it was more uncomfortable than any other past experience of using the Floo network, and then he finally felt his legs settled on the ground. He stood on a sandy beach, the sea breeze, and dazzling sunlight hit his face, with footsteps and talking coming from everywhere around him. Neville looked around and froze for a moment: unlike the desolate island he had pictured, there is a lively beach in front of him.


    There should be at least a thousand umbrellas on the beach, people surfing in the sea, paragliders and flying brooms soaring in the sky, a little girl walking past him clutching a purple flying carpet on which a middle-aged man with a round belly was dozing.


    "Whoa, did we come to the wrong place?" Hannah, who had just arrived, asked, she nearly fell when her foot stepped on the soft sand, and Neville rushed to support her.


    "No." Neville said brightly, pointing in one direction, the sky over the sea was clear, so he could clearly see the island hovering above the sea in the distance, and Hannah abruptly laughed, "It does look a bit like a rolled ice cream. What are those little dots next to it?"


    "If you look closer, they don''t look like that," said Neville, "those dots are probably wizards on broomsticks, probably detecting the weather and watching out for storms at sea, or they could simply be playing a dueling game, you know, riding on broomsticks and aiming for a knockdown, either one-on-one or in a melee, but only a specific spell can be used, and this sport was trendy among the Aurors for a while, and I forget whether Harry or Ron came up with the idea."


    Hannah looked at Neville.


    "Umm, well, I''m not very good at Quidditch," he said, somewhat sheepishly, "Professor Sprout also believes that as a Professor of Herbology it''s best to keep my feet on the ground at all times."


    "I did say that," said Professor Sprout, emerging from the flames, exuding a cheerful vibe, as her soft gray hair blew back high in the sea breeze, "Have you ever been to classroom seven? I always thought the other me is kind of wild-natured, but it''s pretty cool."


    "I''ve interacted with everyone in there and benefited greatly." Emmeline Vance said.


    Several professors stood on the beach with Neville and Hannah, looking over the golden sands and endless blue waves, the floating island seemed to be slowly turning, the sunlight shining on it, faintly reflecting the scales of the giant snake coiled around the bottom base of the island.


    Twenty feet away, two staff members under the umbrella waved a small flag. When they stepped within range of the umbrella, they were surprised to find that it was much cooler underneath.


    "Special perks." One staff member said, "Worrying that we would suffer from ''crowd-phobia,'' there are tens of thousands of people here."


    "There are that many people? Are they all tourists?" Professor Flitwick asked in amazement.


    "Yeah, there''s always some people who would worry about the floating island falling down, even though it''s been floating on the sea for twelve years. Those kinds of people can be found in both wizards and muggles, for that reason they would choose to come to this island to spend their nights in tents." Another staff member said, casually handing them a form, and Neville wrote the names of the group.


    "What about the opening ceremony? It was at night, no?" Emmeline Vance inquired curiously.


    "Maybe they will get themselves drunk." The registration staff said humorously.


    From his mouth, Neville and the group learned that the passenger ship to the island would come every hour, which gave them almost half an hour of free time. They wandered around and ran into acquaintances along the way. It was Bill and Fleur, both dressed very coolly, Bill was wearing a beach pant, with sunglasses and a silver earring on his left ear that just happened to complement with his wife''s moon feldspar earrings, while Fleur looked dazzlingly gorgeous in a one-piece swimsuit with a silver waterfall like hair draped behind her head, and there was a similarly gorgeous looking young girl standing next to her.


    "This is Gabrielle, my sister." Fleur said in a somewhat whispery voice.


    Neville and Bill exchanged a look, then the two walked to the side.


    "You got the letter too, right?" Neville asked.


    "Yes," Bill said briskly, "the island is short of manpower, we are happy to help, the children can be left in Gabrielle''s care," he whispered, "do not let her hear this, she still thinks she has been assigned to a great task."


    Neville glanced over to where the girls in question were giggling and chatting happily, and he heard Hannah point to an African witch and say, "Lee Jordan courted her." Neville blinked in confusion at the sight of a tall, dark-skinned girl, and it took him a few seconds to barely recall her identity - the participant who had represented Uagadou in the Tournament of Champions in his fourth year, Nona Leibert.


    "We''re waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, they will be here pretty much today or tomorrow." Bill said, "Except for the duo of Ron and Percy, both of whom are working at the ministry to coordinate this big event and probably won''t be able to get a day or two off until the opening ceremony. We have already stayed overnight, the Fiji wizards rushed over with their mascot Dakuwaqa, a distant kinsman of merpeople who can transform into sharks. Oh, there was a dragon too, Charlie would have loved it."


    Half an hour later, Neville''s group and Bill''s family parted after one last sentence from Bill-- "Sirius and I have formed a band called ''The Furry Boys''!" -- the passengers boarded the ship to Floating Island. The huge ship parted the sea waves, seagulls followed on the side, and the people on board stood on the deck talking and laughing with anticipation in their eyes, but as the ship approached the floating island, the sound of talking became sparse, as if all of them were struck by a silencing charm and fell completely silent. A seemingly upside-down mountain stood in the middle of the sea floating in the sky, casting a huge shadow that covered the passenger ship from a long distance away. They made their way through the shadows for a long distance, surrounded by the tranquil sound of the ocean, and finally came under the island. Suddenly someone shrieked, and Neville looked up to see an impossibly large snake''s head facing them, its rough scales spreading upward to form a rocky forest-like landscape, its mouth containing its tail, its long body wrapped half a dozen times along the island''s inverted base, nearly merging with the island itself.


    The ship anchored at the bottom of the island. Everyone leaned over the railing to look around when something glittered in the distant shadows.


    Then they heard the sound of hauling ropes and motors, and after a while, a glowing mass came toward them, hovering steadily above the water, linked to the ship''s ladder. The glowing mass became visible as well, a lift, with a magic lamp hovering at the top of the lift.


    The people on the ship looked at the phone booth-sized lift and gaped.


    "Get in line! Prepare to disembark!" At that moment the crew shouted, "The interior space of the lift is very limited, it can only carry one hundred people at a time, please do not crowd."


    The atmosphere froze for a few seconds, and one man yelled, "It''s magic!"


    "Yes, it is indeed magic." The crewman said grimly.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 734: Epilogue: Weasley

    The lift opened in the central area of the floating island, and the people inside came out in a heap, and Ron laughed: "Floating island, I''m back." He was followed by a short-haired witch, who held a small red-haired girl in one hand. "Stop it," Collins smacked Ron on the back as she looked around and asked, "Do we need to meet up with our families first?"


    "No worries," Ron whispered rubbing his shoulders and picking up the little redhead, "Percy won''t be here until this afternoon, so let''s stroll around first and then go to the hotel, I heard that lots of old friends are staying there and there will be a party in the evening."


    The three of them stopped by the busy street and watched the passers-by.


    "It''s a shame that little Hugo couldn''t come with us, but one is more than enough to suffer." Ron said happily, "Let''s snap a few more pictures and tell him about it when we get back."


    "Didn''t you say it might get dangerous?" Collins said without a smile, "That''s why I left him in my mother''s care."


    "That''s what I said, but it''s not like we''re the ones in danger." Ron puffed out his chest, "You guys can go wherever you want, just don''t forget to use my name."


    Collins was suddenly tempted to roll her eyes.


    "So can I go play in Knockturn Alley?" The little redhead asked, sucking on her finger.


    "Rose, we''re thousands of miles away from Knockturn Alley, and it''s da ... well, of course, we can," Ron said without thinking: "The next time the Ministry searches for prohibited items, let''s take the opportunity to blend in with the Auror squad -- Wait, your mother is in charge of that area." Rose looked expectantly at Collins, trying to find the slightest possibility of favouritism in her mother''s face, and then she silently withdrew her gaze and stopped talking.


    "Can you two stop talking about illegal practices all the time and trying to make it look like I am the bad one." Collins complained.


    "Well Rose, let''s talk about something else, who made you have a Head of Auror office as a mom." Ron said, "Your aunt raided the Malfoy place some time ago - that''s our family''s arch-enemy, O Merlin, Harry must have wanted to topple the Malfoys as a major step in his career, but unfortunately only a few minions were taken away at the end, but I guess old Malfoy might have been scared enough ... he has a popular and influential son. When we went to school, we did not have a good relationship, your father''s grades always crushed him every time -"


    Collins looked at Rose, who was listening intently with an adoring expression, and Ron, who was describing it in graphic detail with squinted eyes.


    "Are you sure, it''s true? If not, let''s ask others... ..."


    "Ahem, I mean, I suppressed him in certain subjects," Ron revised his words at light speed, "It absolutely really couldn''t be any truer, Harry will vouch for me!"


    The three of them wandered around the narrow streets aimlessly, sometimes walking to find a wall in front of them and having to use magic to make a narrow stone path; on the island, you can immediately distinguish which plots belong to wizards and which belong to muggle government institutions and research institutes. Like right now - it is obvious that it is not well-planned to normal people''s eyes, but Ron and the group found these obstructions quite entertaining, and they went quite well with the different styles of houses and the wide range of stores around them.


    "Four square, perfectly sized, everything required to be symmetrical and measured with a ruler like Crouch Sr.''s beard is actually quite intimidating."


    This is the central area of the floating island, it is believed that the bonfire was held in this vicinity, some iconic landmarks are preserved, such as a group of statues standing in the center of the fountain, each holding a burning torch that will not go out; everywhere you can see magical creature-shaped rubbish cans, just knock on its head, it will open its mouth and eat the rubbish into its stomach, some weird monsters will also burp in a bizarre manner.


    In addition to the stores and street view, there are a number of small mobile vendors pushing carts. Ron fell in love with a set of simple scuba gear in front of a stall, "Your grandfather will absolutely love it, but he probably might have already bought it. His personal garage has expanded fourfold since he retired!" In addition to scuba diving gear, they even found merchandise of Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes.


    "Are they selling well?" Ron inquired the vendor.


    "Excellent, especially these two items. There''s a discount for buying them together, sir, ma''am." The vendor enthusiastically promoted the two items to them, one being an underwater firework, while the other being some kind of smoke cloak, which by the logo appeared to be a collaboration product between Weasleys'' Wizard Wheezes and Diggory. Ron paid and asked Collins as they walked away, "I heard Fred and George talking about working on a firework designed to be used underwater a long time ago, but since when did Cedric enter the trick market?"


    As a fellow Tournament of Champions team member, Collins has maintained a good friendship with Cedric and Roger Davies and knows more about their recent developments.


    "He didn''t. He and Cho Chang." Collins said, "The two of them have focused on public welfare in recent years, Cedric invented the transfiguration smoke for extensive utilization in the medical field, and for various functions in magic dolls, though later he joined the ''Floating Island Commercial Security Agreement'' to ensure that his research results will not be used for military or illegal Use, which is guaranteed by the two thousand investigators of the International Pan-Magic Alliance around the world."


    "There are goblins in there!" Their daughter Rose shouted.


    "There must be hundreds of goblins here, you know, they take their property very seriously." Collins explained to her daughter, "It''s said that many Muggle doctors are proud to own a set of goblin-made scalpels, though I''ve heard they''re relatively uncommon ..."


    "Why?" Rose asked.


    "This, well, it falls under the controversial issue of ownership. The Alliance allows goblins to keep their own racial traditions, but when trading with other races, they must make a written notification about this point, otherwise, the trade will not be protected; and goblins are known for their stubbornness."


    "Don''t be fooled, those goblins are smart," Ron interjected: "I have dealt with a batch of prohibited items, which includes a few pieces of silver jewellery made by goblins, but the goblins refused to admit it because those pieces are not marked!"


    Collins was a little surprised, "This is completely against the goblin''s concept of ownership, are you sure it''s a goblin creation?"


    "Of course," Ron affirmed, "just look at the look in their eyes. Think about it, when their addiction to money-making and traditional concepts clash ... it''s not surprising for a group of goblins to decide not to inscribe their names and sell their products on the black market; what a bunch of sneaky guys! But sometimes goblins will deliberately carve some mean words on it, I remember a doctor mentioning it in a newspaper some time ago, he was holding a scalpel inscribed with ''Scrooge'' ... or maybe the goblins'' naming style has changed, all I know is one long beard and grubby goblin." He added.


    Collins and Rose laughed out loud and at that moment, Ron''s attention was suddenly drawn away by something, and Collins followed Ron''s gaze and saw a tall, broad-chested man at a stall that sold hats not far away.


    Ron withdrew his gaze and grunted, "Might have mistaken, I don''t even remember much about ..."


    "Who did you have in mind?"


    "Harry''s cousin! The one who sent a gift at Harry and Ginny''s wedding."


    Collins immediately gave a look of realization as she looked once again at the hat stand, which was already swarmed with crowds. They walked in the opposite direction and saw huge posters in front of a theatre. "Fran?ois Clutoy special recital," Ron read the words on the poster, "Would you like to give it a try?" Rose nodded repeatedly.


    Collins pointed to the date of the recital on the poster, which was yesterday.


    "Oh, crap." Ron and Rose said at the same time. Ron looked for a reason and tried to change the topic, "Actually, it''s good that we missed it, we can save our energy for the mascot show, but unfortunately, there''s no Veela this year, I saw it once a long time ago, and the feeling--"


    "Ron!"


    "Ahem, nothing to see." Ron said with a straight face to Rose, who was blinking curiously, "You''re a girl, if your brother had come over-" "Her brother is only three." "-- Oh, yeah, you reminded me ... want ice cream?" He hastily changed the subject, and Collins'' eyes were on the verge of spitting fire.


    The family of three exhaled as they stood in front of a mobile ice cream truck.


    "How''s business?"


    "Not bad."


    As Collins and Rose selected their ice cream, Ron chatted with the store owner, and within two minutes they were talking about the price of the ice cream truck. "I''ve always wanted one." Ron said with some envy, and the vendor replied to him, "Five hundred galleons. But you can rent it for just two galleons a day by registering on the island."


    Ron''s eyes lit up, by which time Collins had already picked her choice, "One strawberry and peanut butter ice cream, and one floating island chocolate & nut ice cream. How about you, Ron?"


    "I''ll have the chocolate one." Ron said, Collins pouted and glared at him, so he hurriedly said, "We can switch."


    The vendor got busy, and he pulled out his wand - Ron looked at the row of gems on his wand and couldn''t help but let out an audible gasp - "I''m a magic-insensitive wizard." The shopkeeper said with little to no interest, then the gems on the wand lit up one by one, he waved his wand and soon three ice creams were made, the strawberry one looked like a flowing volcano, the chocolate one looked like a full ice cream had been slapped flat with some flowery candy particles sprinkled on top, but there is one key feature: a little chocolate snake spitting its tongue and glaring at them.


    "I kind of understand, the little chocolate snake, but it didn''t bite its tail - what''s that?" Ron asked, pointing to the splattered debris.


    "A house on a floating island." The vendor said, "The little snake does not bite the tail because it has another purpose, it will compete with you to grab -" he stopped talking abruptly.


    "What did you say?" Ron asked as he handed one chocolate ice cream to Rose, and bit off the snake''s head in the process.


    The vendor was speechless.


    Probably sensing the vendor''s inner turmoil, Collins took the initiative to ask: "The wand you''re holding is a custom-made one? I am referring to the magic on it, your spell casting is very smooth and instant ..."


    "Ah, yes," the vendor said with a sigh of relief, "Future World offers a custom order service, but now they have distributed this business to several other companies, there are some wizards who specialize in this, what do they call, call it ... Magic Path Design, which uses a limited amount of magic to achieve a series of complex effects. It''s not just ice cream making, you can create one for all walks of life. It''s very impressive."


    At this point, there was a sudden clamour in the street, and a large group of people gathered around there.


    "There''s a fight going on!"


    The ice cream truck owner calmly pressed the red button on the truck in front of Ron''s family, and then said with no small amount of satisfaction, "This is a locator-cum-alarm device, it will only take twenty seconds for someone on duty to come - what are you doing?"


    Ron and Collins raised their wands high at the same time, ready for battle. But after a few seconds, they realized it seemed to be just an ordinary drunken fight.


    "Leave it to me." Ron said confidently as he lowered his wand, a black chess piece somehow appeared in his hand, and after aiming in that direction he threw it towards the crowd. The ''knight'' piece came to life in mid-air and became larger and larger - "Bang!" The knight landed heavily with his horse, smashing a deep crater; the obsidian-like tall horse excitedly grinded on the ground, half of its body was protected by the extension of the knight''s steel armour, which was 12 or 13 feet high, and everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of this big fellow.


    "Unrelated individuals - Retreat!" The knight shouted majestically from his horse.


    The surface of his armour shone with a metallic sheen, and then the mask of the knight''s helmet popped open, revealing a face that looks similar to Ron''s face inside. The crowd gave space and two drunken men stared dumbfounded at the black knight approaching them on his horse, as they shivered in place - the broadsword in the knight''s hand looked like a huge door plank, seemingly capable of slapping the two men flat in one fell swoop, he walked slowly, but no one doubted how violent the force would be when the knight launched his attack. S?a?ch* Th? ??v?lF?re.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Both troublemakers sobered up completely and loosened up their hands at the same time.


    "Look." Ron said smugly as he walked over and just when he was about to speak, two wizards descended from the sky.


    "What''s going on?" One of them asked in a serious voice, no one in the crowd of tourists said anything, instead, they looked behind him in silence, the male wizard turned his head a little stiffly, "Hiss!" He took two steps back and fumbled to pull out a walkie-talkie-like gadget, ready to call for backup.


    "Don''t!" Ron and the other wizard shouted at the same time.


    A few minutes later, the knight disappeared with a bang, reverting back into a chess piece, and Ron and Tonks walked together, though Ron''s expression was a bit downcast.


    "Let''s see if you will keep showing off blindly in the future." Collins lectured.


    "He did sort of help," Tonks said objectively, and Ron raised an eyebrow in disbelief when he heard Tonks continue, "At least he didn''t throw out a full set of wizard''s chess pieces, from that point of view ... "


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 735: Epilogue: Lupin

    "Can you tell me why you''re here?" A short male wizard sat restrainedly in a chair. "I came here on Wolfmann''s recommendation. He said you are a very wise man, who runs the largest multinational corporation in the world, and the most trusted person of that gentleman; more than that, you are still, still ..."


    He stole a quick peek at the person across the table with his eyes.


    "Still one of your kind." Lupin added. "Yes, yes." The man said. Lupin looked kindly at the short male wizard, they are meeting for the first time, but a familiar feeling welled up in him, perhaps it was due to the other man wearing a torn and patched robe, cloak and scarf in which he wrapped himself, with a sickly complexion, interspersed with white hair and eyes full of insecurity. How similar he was to him back then.


    "Mr. Lupin," the man gained a bit more assurance from Lupin''s gentle eyes, and spoke much more smoothly, "I have been living isolated from the community, living in the wilderness for more than ten years, and only recently I heard from a group of explorers about what is going on out there, it''s incredible, it''s like a dream for people like us who are on the edge ..." he spoke and explained everything very quickly.


    When he finished, Lupin gave him a brief pause to catch his breath, then nodded approvingly and said.


    "I''ve seen a lot of cases similar to yours, they all came in with a belly full of worry and sorrow, probably with the most helpless look ever, overwhelmed by the changes in the world, but after a period of communication, they left contentedly to start a new life. As far as I know, they''re living quite well now."


    "That''s right!" The man said hurriedly, his eyes revealing his hope, "Wolfmann said the same thing! He said that you have a very good way to make werewolves reborn."


    Lupin laughed.


    "I don''t remember having any miraculous way to make a werewolf reborn which I must keep secret. I did isolate some practical techniques derived from werewolf transformation magic, which I pretty much handed out to every single werewolf community to facilitate their mutual support and learning; I also founded the Werewolf Rights Association, where you can receive a monthly wolfsbane potion for very little money as long as you follow the rules and regulations stated there; by the way, the association is currently training its own potioneers, and we have mastered the production methods of four of the seven types of wolfsbane potions. These benefits are open to everyone, and you don''t need to meet me to get them."


    The man looked at Lupin blankly, looking confused, and he couldn''t help but lean his body forward slightly and ask tentatively, "But I guess there must be something special about you, right? Why else do all the werewolves respect you? Uh, well, you totally deserve respect just for being on top of most people, but the ''respect'' I am talking about is very different, I can sense the difference."


    "Oh," Lupin smiled lightly, "I feel honoured by your belief. I do have some stories and a few suggestions that might help you fit in better in the outside world, but in the final analysis, there is nothing special. On the contrary ... I would love to hear your story."


    When Tonks came in from outside she just happened to see Lupin and the male wizard coming out of the study, and just as it had happened countless times before, the strange visitor walked with ease on his feet, as if a heavy burden had been lifted.


    Lupin handed the man a business card.


    "You can contact Miss Temple, she will settle you down properly, there is no doubt in her ability to carry out her task."


    "Thank you, Mr. Lupin, thank you so much." The male wizard said gratefully as he looked over to Tonks who approached him, "You must be Mrs. Lupin, right? A lonely person like me has been told about the love story between the two of you, how enviable, Mrs. Lupin seems to be a kind-hearted person just from the first glance ..."


    "I kind of found out," when the male wizard left, Tonks raised an eyebrow and said, "the comments I get from your side of the friends all carry a ''kind heart'' as if I''m with you because of kind heart! "


    "I know. It''s because of love." Lupin said seriously, "But love is a luxury in the eyes of other werewolves, let alone having such a beautiful, intelligent witch as a wife."


    Tonks grunted twice in delight.


    Lupin opened his arms and held her as he had done at the wedding eleven years ago, without a single change. He felt content with what he has now - a smart and considerate wife, a healthy and active son (without any werewolf features, other than the transformation brought by Metamorphmagus ability he inherited from his mother), a godson (Harry''s young son Albus), a bunch of relatives and friends, a respectable career and social status, there is nothing more to complain about.


    He felt incredibly glad that he accepted Dumbledore''s offer.


    Because since then, he has been constantly getting many good things. His heart felt incredibly fulfilled, which is why he still has the energy to do something for his kind over these years - both in terms of the Werewolf Rights Society and simplifying werewolf transformation magic, as well as in terms of the almost once-a-week conversations in the study.


    Every year over the past decade, werewolves have found the courage to emerge from the mountains, the jungles, and the wilderness to observe the unfamiliar surroundings with timid and wary hearts. And as probably the most famous werewolf in the world, Lupin has helped and reassured countless people.


    The warm moment didn''t last long as a ten-year-old boy came running in with a breeze, stomping on the stairs with a thud. Lupin and Tonks exchanged glances and looked at their child.


    "Dad, Mum, Sirius asked me to check when you''re going over there!" Teddy Lupin shouted.


    "Right now," Tonks glared, "if you didn''t have disrupted our conversation."


    "But if I didn''t make a sound, you guys surely would be hugging each other without a break!" Teddy called out.


    Tonks pouted, her eyes darting up and down at the little boy as if she was finding a fault.


    "What''s wrong with your hair?"


    Teddy''s hair shone fiery red dazzlingly, different from the ginger colour he had at breakfast. But he had inherited his mother''s ability to change his appearance at will, which naturally included adjusting his hair colour, so his mother''s words were akin to picking a fight. He shook his head smugly, "I met a little redhead girl, a silly one, and I told her I am a relative of the Weasleys!"


    Tonks and Lupin looked at each other.


    "What was that little girl''s name?"


    "It wouldn''t be Rosalie, would it?"


    "How could it be?" Teddy had an incredulous look on his face, "Sirius brought her to our house to visit a few times at least once in half a month, and on the other hand, we met her at Godfather Harry''s house-"


    "Is it Victoria?" Lupin asked.


    Teddy thought hard for a while and said slowly, "I think that''s the name."


    "Gosh," Tonks said, "that''s Bill and Fleur''s kid, you guys used to play together when you were kids."


    Ten minutes later, when Lupin came out of the living room, he saw Tonks and Teddy, mother and son, staring wide-eyed at each other in the hallway, their hair changing colour like a traffic light. This is Tonks''s speciality, but Teddy is no slouch either, as its being the first skill he learned after birth, even before he uttered his first word.


    Lupin leaned on the windowsill, incredibly content to appreciate the scene. After another ten minutes, Teddy was defeated, his hair reluctantly settled on black. In contrast, Tonks looked smug.


    "Let''s go." She said gleefully.


    The sun was shining outside, the hotel was packed with tourists, and they made their way to the third-floor ballroom. At the entrance, deafening music could be heard even before they entered. Lupin was a little stunned, and an uneasy feeling arose in his heart, which was confirmed in the next second.


    Sirius was singing happily on stage, holding a guitar in his hand, dressed in a hippy outfit; behind him was Bill, his fingers brushing the keyboard like a flowing river, his ponytail swaying from side to side, the small flapping earrings on his ears appearing and disappearing; Rolf''s drum beat was obviously a bit out of rhythm as if he was in a hurry, and Lupin guessed that if he had come a bit earlier, he would not be the one sitting in that seat, and it was more likely for him to hold a saxophone; Neville looked around with saxophone as if he had bought a standing ticket to the stage.


    Lupin suddenly had the impulse to close his eyes.


    It is a Sirius band with the name ''Furry Boys Band''. To make the matter even more unfortunate, he came to realize that he too had become a member of the band (forcibly). Even the name of the band was chosen by Sirius to tease him about his new nickname ''Furry King''.


    The audience offstage wore a wide range of expressions. The performers'' family members all looked like they wanted to laugh, except for Luna, who perhaps genuinely enjoyed it, her head nodding along to the rhythm as she held a bird with rainbow feathers in both arms; the Weasley family sitting together with focused expressions, Ginny desperately holding back the boy, James, trying to stop his growing desire to perform; Mrs. Weasley and Fleur simultaneously staring at Bill''s flopping ponytail, but Lupin dared to bet that the two were thinking very different things - it was written all over their faces! Severus sat in the corner, his mouth slightly open; the pot-bellied Slughorn beside him chatted smilingly with Draco and Astoria; the students Sirius had taught whistled enthusiastically at the next table.


    "To be fair, it isn''t that bad." Mad-Eye Moody near the door, asked in a jarring voice, "What are they singing?"


    "A great victory." Lupin subconsciously blurted.


    "That''s right, that''s it." Moody laughed and hummed along with the melody, with his hoarse voice as a contrast, Lupin could also hear the beauty of Sirius''s singing voice.


    When Harry, the organizer of the party, appeared and saw the crowd singing in chorus, Sirius and Bill''s stage play got even rougher, leaving him a little baffled. Does his own godfather really have a talent for singing? Didn''t Amelia say that only Kreacher had complimented him?


    Harry interpreted that as ''unprincipled flattery'', like if he had asked Dobby, he would definitely think he had a wonderful singing voice.


    --------------


    Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!! s?a??h th? ?0velF?re.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

 Chapter 736: Epilogue: Dursley

    "Welcome to the midday news," a host with rimmed glasses appeared on the television screen, "A month ago I was thinking about the Quidditch World Cup as if it would happen in the next century, but in the blink of an eye the time has come." "A lot has happened in the meantime, starting with the appearance of various national dignitaries on the island, and we''re evidently short of reporters."


    "The Queen of England lives in the British palace on the island, but a greater number of politicians and celebrities choose to experience the Wizard Hotel, Prince Charles and Camilla stayed in the ice town which has quite the opposite environment to the present in a low-key manner; it is worth mentioning that the former Princess Diana lives in a botanical garden at the other end of the island, she has spared no effort to promote magic farming over the past years, and has a personal friendship with Charity Burbage who got invited to go to the moon for research."


    "Fran?ois Crutoy, the renowned composer and pianist, has just finished his recital, in which he revealed in an interview that he would not stage any more performances for the next month and the ''a feast is close at hand.'' He said. Crutoy has a deep emotional attachment to magic, and since his hands were healed and his masterpieces were created, there is no doubt that magic is his muse."


    "The Ancient Rune Society has published a new almanac, which expanded the original Ancient Rune Laws to twenty-two;"


    "There were concerns about an incoming storm, so our weather team went out three days ago and tilted the storm in a different direction, making it eventually pass us by;"


    "The Selma Lake Monster Cub from Norway has suffered a bout of malaise, Magizoology Luna Lovegood and Rolf Scamander found the creature in a state of depression due to the lack of freshwater habitat available on the island and the refusal of the seawater purification department to give up one of its freshwater reservoirs, two days later a spokesman said the problem had been properly resolved, ''We kept it in a bathtub. The new problem is that it has now become a little afraid of living beings, in particular of flat-mouthed, black-furred creatures.''"


    "... Red-haired Curupira from Brazil clashed with an Irish Leprechaun, then the American Ilvermorny Pukwudgie made their appearance wielding small axes, the only saving grace was that their bows and arrows were confiscated because they were reportedly poison-inflicted; apparently the island''s acting governor quite busy focusing on the eight million or so visitors along with his own young daughter''s birthday party, and someone suggested allowing Future World''s house elves to supervise the restless bunch, which may be a good idea, but it might spark an even more disastrous consequence."


    "Today during the first light of sunrise, a small boat approached the floating island, with a big burly man on board who knocked out more than half of the Fijian mascot Dakuwaqa (some kind of shape-shifting creature that can change between shark and humanoid forms) that was released in the surrounding waters, and his roar drew the attention of the island''s patrol when the former claimed to be Hogwarts'' Care of Magical Creatures and the gamekeeper and Keeper of Keys and Grounds. He was accompanied by an elegantly dressed, unusually large woman; he claimed that they were supposed to have arrived a week ago, but got lost on the way, due to a sudden rainstorm ..."


    After a bit of babbling, the host glanced up, "Let''s switch our focus to the visitors to the island, Tus, can you hear me?"


    The screen shifts to an outside shot and a middle-aged man appear on the screen, his bald head looked like it was waxed, glistening in the sunlight, giving the impression that he was energetic and loquacious.


    "Hello, Reid."


    "The place where I am now is one of the most visited attractions on the floating island the Memorial Hall, which records the documented history of magic from all over the world. The in-house collection of books and various visual materials is so rich that it takes two or three days to just skim through it, while there is a free canteen built in, but I don''t think anyone would walk in for a free lunch; it''s worth noting that things about just Mr. Hap, his colleagues and students alone occupy one floor of the gallery - this gentleman, can I have a little of your time? "


    Dudley stared blankly at the reporter, the souvenir hat in his hand fell to the floor - "Pick me up off the floor! Boy." The hat shouted - he''s not as fat as he was as a kid, and his boxing experience in high school didn''t make him a great boxer, or rugby player, but at least it curbed the non-stop crazy weight gain.


    "... Listen, I''m not going to spend a penny more than I already have ... What''s the matter, Dudley?" Vernon and Petunia approached, Vernon''s mouth was greasy, so he was wiping it with a tissue, and then he froze in place when he saw the reporter and the camera.


    "You guys are together? A family?" The reporter averted his interested gaze from the hat that kept screaming on the ground, "Excellent, there is no doubt that you are all interested in magic-"


    "What?" Vernon growled with wide eyes, "Oh, cough cough cough, yes ..." he said vaguely, pulling Petunia with one hand and tugging Dudley with the other as he prepared to leave, but the reporter had already passed the microphone to Dudley, who was closest to him, "Care to answer a few questions? It won''t take up too much time."


    Dudley stammered, and his eyes darted around, but the reporter said, "Great."


    "Where are you from?"


    Dudley froze for a few seconds and muttered, "England, I guess."


    "England?" The reporter''s eyes lit up, "I interviewed Andy Murray last week, who last year became the first Brit to win 14 titles in the Open Era, but went through a bit of a slump in the first half of the year, switching coaches and inviting a former St. Mungo''s healer to join his crew, and he and his girlfriend are settled together on the floating island- -Not paying attention? Not interested in tennis? That''s a shame because that coverage was my best work, which included his relationship with a controversial journalist."


    He smacked his lips, a little disappointed by the Dursley family''s reaction, but he quickly recovered, "Well, well, let''s move on with ... Since you''re from England, you must have gone to the third level of the Memorial Hall? That''s the main attraction."


    "Well ..."


    "Which ones are you interested in? The two Archmages, or the current Headmistress, Ms. McGonagall, who promoted the exchange student program between the eleven magic schools? The mysterious and controversial Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts and Professor of Divination, or another pairing - the amazingly sized Professor of Charms and the Professor of Care of Magical Creatures? The gothic, long-sleeved Professor of Potions, and the Professor of Herbology who retired from Auror-"


    Dudley racked his brain to think of something to say, but he was flat-out unable to interject.


    "Of course, I think you might be more interested in another group of individuals who have made such a profound impact on our lives - the Weasley brothers, the most popular magic merchants who have spread the idea of mischief to over seventy countries; the Diggory couple who have made their mark in the medical and charity fields; Mr. Malfoy, the founder and head of the first Wizard-Muggle United Hospital; Clearwater, who is in charge of the ''Future World'' Corporation''s thousands of branches operations; Clammy Vera, who is in charge of two thousand R&D teams ..."


    "Harry Potter." Dudley said.


    "Harry Potter!" The reporter shouted dramatically, showing that he had intentionally kept the name just for this moment. "That''s right, this name has been mentioned quite often lately, and the public watches him with scrutinizing eyes. He is also quite legendary and played an important role in the downfall of a certain Dark Lord, I think his name is Voldemort? Sorry, I''m not familiar with foreign names ... It is said that during his time of great terror even his name could not be mentioned, and he was called You-Know-Who instead ... he slaughtered many people, including Potter''s parents - -"


    Petunia''s expression slightly became erratic, Vernon tightened his grasp on her hand.


    "But all of this can be seen in Harry Potter films, haha, I remember some of the film footage being used in the Memorial Hall, because some people are not happy to disclose the photos." The reporter said with some emotion, "I wonder about the relationship between Mr. Potter and his Muggle relatives. You know, people generally think his aunt and uncle are irredeemable but expect something from the cousin who seems to be suffering from obesity ..."


    The "irredeemable" Vernon''s face turned a vivid purple, Aunt Petunia''s lips were pursed tightly, and her eyes flashed a hint of panic.


    "I think - uh well, their relationship would be pretty good," Dursley said at the first chance he got to speak, for the first time since the start of the interview. "Their kids would play around while they sat together having a beer and watching the games and stuff -- Boxing, football, Quidditch ... and talking about the Chocolate Frog cards of Felix Hap and Garrett Grindelwald''s being the hardest to collect, which Ron Weasley having a flood of them....." he rattled on, Vernon who had been mumbling was stunned in place and Petunia looked as shocked as he was.


    The reporter froze, then smiled and said, "That''s not a bad one." He faced the camera and jokingly said, "Film crew, if you are planning to respond to fan requests for a sequel, you might want to take your paper and notes out." With that, he handed the microphone to Vernon, "This gentleman, I can tell you''ve been wanting to talk and can''t seem to wait to--"


    Vernon clenched his fist, so tightly it turned purple, and the reporter cowered and took a step back.


    "Can''t wait? That''s right!" He yelled, spluttering, "I''m thrilled! I love magic, our whole family loves magic! Satisfied? ..."


    The feed shifted from Memorial Hall to inside the studio. "Thank you Tus for bringing us this live coverage," the host said calmly as he held up the frames of his glasses, "Next we will have a short segment featuring a group of celebrities who have enthusiastically sent their best wishes for the opening ceremony of this World Cup."


    In front of the TV, Ron asked Harry.


    "You guys really drink beer and watch the game together? Also discussing chocolate frog cards?"


    Harry shrugged.


    "Well," Ron muttered, "I do have two Grindelwald cards, but don''t expect me to trade them to him." S~?a??h the N?v?lFir?.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    The two walked into the meeting hall and Harry took a deep breath, looking at the hundreds of familiar faces in the hall. It seemed like he was back in school, but now he is facing a much more complicated situation.


    Fred and George squeezed their eyes at each other and took off their dark lord bowler hats, "Hail to the Honourable Lord of the Island." The two men looked quite cheerful in their brown suits with yellow stripes and a colourful polka dot tie.


    "Oh, don''t mess around." Percy said. But the interlude just now quickly calmed Harry''s tense heart. His eyes moved slowly over Sirius, Ms. Bones, Lupin, Tonks, Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, the Weasleys, Ginny, and especially Dobby ... They all gazed at Harry with soft, trusting eyes, and a warmth welled up in Harry''s heart.


    He reached out and knocked on the wall behind him, the crowd let out an audible gasp, as a giant map that seemed to have blended in with the wall slowly emerged, presenting the outline of the floating island and the thousand square kilometers around it to the crowd, with dense ink marks moving around on the wall.


    "The situation is like this ..." Harry spoke.


    "How come I can''t find Hermione?" Percy''s wife, Penelope, asked Luna quietly, who said briskly, "The Grangers are here."


    Penelope was a little taken aback.


    "As it turns out," Fred whispered, "even the greatest wizard can not escape the pressure brought by the in-laws, I wish I am there to take on the job of livening up the atmosphere ... I personally think Professor Hap is not good at telling jokes. "


    "Felix has quite a good sense of humour." Luna said unbiasedly.


    --------------


    ??Happy Christmas ???? ??


    #Giant Sloth, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 737: Epilogue: Hap

    Fred''s expectations were not far off, but there was someone to liven up the atmosphere. Of course, Valen herself was unaware of this, and thus she enthusiastically led the Granger couple around the various rooms. "I remember the last time I visited the house was built on a cliff." Mr. Granger said thoughtfully.


    "That was an oversight," Felix recalled, "There were a lot of seabirds nesting down there."


    "I thought it was because the front door was facing the cliff outside." Mr. Granger said. It wasn''t, Felix thought to himself, that was the best part of the design. He specifically made two couches at the main entrance, facing the sea, but unfortunately, cleaning up bird droppings was a big problem. There were just too many anger-inducing birds.


    Mrs. Granger stared at Valen''s cradle bed, which was filled with Valen''s all kinds of necessary equipment, a small hat, a travelling cloak, an exclusive wand, and a bedtime storybook.


    "How well-prepared." She said with an odd look on her face.


    Hermione said in a more positive tone, "There was a fish tank before--" "With little fishes?" Mr. Granger asked curiously. "Oh, uh," Hermione suddenly panicked a little, "you know about the Selma Lake Monster, right? It''s pretty much the same kind - just a little smaller ..."


    Mr. Granger muttered in disbelief, "I read in the paper that it was depressed due to lack of freshwater."


    "Maybe it''s homesick, Norway''s a pretty long way from here." Felix smacked his lips.


    "Makes sense." Mr. Granger said.


    Over dinner, Felix and Hermione told the Grangers about many of the island''s attractions, and the Grangers mentioned the recent changes in London, "Quite a few people waiting for the telecast." "It''s the same on the island. Even after several renovations of the tournament venue, it can only hold up to half a million spectators, and that''s still with magic involved. So some people will only get to watch one or two games, though it''s certainly possible to hold a good carnival at the end of the World Cup ..."


    The four of them along with Valen ate and drank their fill while chatting leisurely, Mr. Granger got up from the table and went to the window in the drawing room.


    "What''s this?" Mr. Granger examined the beautifully shaped, thin-mouthed bottle on the shelf with shallow layers of fine sand at its base with interest; he thought the silver grains must be laced with some interesting magic; they seemed to breathe.


    "It''s a memory." Hermione came over to say, motioning for the fine sand to come out of the bottle, the cork spun open automatically, and the silver grains of sand slid down the neck of the bottle, flashing the silhouettes of Felix and Hermione.


    "You went to visit a tomb?" Mr. Granger asked in surprise, he vaguely saw a headstone but failed to read the words on it.


    "Hmm." Hermione said softly, "To meet a ... very complicated person."


    It was the place Grindelwald had selected for his final period of seclusion; one day when Felix was studying time magic, he saw a glimpse of Grindelwald''s final period in the mirror, so he and Hermione made their way over to see it. The surrounding scenery was picturesque. The two of them erected a stone monument and headstone, and then the stone monument was hidden away using magic.


    Hermione and Mr. Granger returned to the dining room, bringing back some desserts on the way, while Felix and Mrs. Granger were still chatting, Hermione sat down next to him. "What are you talking about?" Mrs. Granger immediately shut up. Felix grabbed Hermione''s hand and wrote on her palm. Hermione struggled to decipher it, the first letter was B, the second letter was A, and halfway through the third letter, her cheeks turned scarlet.


    "We are not in a hurry to have a child, it is not too late to have one at sixty." Felix said with a straight face.


    The Grangers sucked in their breath in shock. Hermione glared at him, "Of course, we won''t wait until we''re sixty."


    "We can help to look after the baby." Mrs. Granger said hastily, a dreadful voice still echoing in her head ''sixty ... sixty ...'' She quickly poked her husband in the ribs with her elbow, and Mr. Granger seriously said, "Yes, since you are relatively busy in general ..."


    "Hermione and I discussed this matter very seriously, only a few days ago." Felix said. s?a??h th? N?v?l(F)ire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    "But there isn''t even a parenting book in the study." Mrs. Granger inquired.


    "Actually, there is." Felix said, giving a wink, at that moment Valen yelped from the couch, rummaging through her pocket and pulling out a Parenting Book, and then pulled out a glass for herself as she pretended to read through it.


    The Grangers'' were dumbfounded.


    "You guys - are you planning to leave your baby to be raised up by a Niffler later?"


    "... that''s wrong." Felix said seriously, "Valen will just impersonate, I don''t know if you realize, that the size of Valen is about the same size as a baby; Hermione sometimes practices with her, I''ve secretly watched ..." He stopped talking. Hermione''s fingers already carried ''bison power''.


    "An after-dinner drink!"


    Felix snapped his fingers cheerily and four cocktails and a glass of juice immediately appeared in the air, he pushed the juice with a straw to Valen, then asked with interest, "Anyone wants to add cherries or lemon slices?"


    "I like cherries." Mr. Granger''s attention was drawn away, "Can I get a little spoon to scoop them up?"


    ...


    After settling the Grangers down, Felix and Hermione lay on the bed, the scene in the room changed the moment the two of them slumped down, they were pillowed on the soft grass, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, with the breeze blowing against their feet.


    "So tired."


    "It''s okay, everything was taken into consideration."


    "Including The Parenting Book thing?"


    "Ahem, my common topic with them would be you, in our first official meeting we talked about your childhood and school days, the second meeting revolved around the dental health of wizards and magical creatures, and that one turned out to be the best ... because I gifted a pair of movable dragon skull to your father, who seemed to have liked it ..."


    "Yeah, he loved it so much that he couldn''t bear to sleep without it at night," Hermione said with a smile, "although Mum was less than pleased about that."


    "That tells us one thing, that you have to give up something to get something." Felix said with a poker face. Hermione laughed a little too hard, that her hair got messy, when she had laughed enough she pulled her hair back together and found Felix staring at her earlobe.


    "Does ... it looks good?"


    "As good as the Book of Rune."


    Hermione winked.


    "Is it my Book of Rune, or yours?"


    "Well ... this one."


    A falling leaf fell from the sky and Felix reached out to catch it, turning it into a pair of earrings and putting them on Hermione.


    "... Well there''s nothing to compare when I am yours, and you are mine."


    Hermione put her one hand on Felix''s chest, brilliant runes spread at her fingertips, Felix''s home clothes turned into a tuxedo, and she pulled Felix up from the grass with one hand, "Wanna dance, Professor?" She asked as the illusion shattered as the couple stood by the bedroom bed.


    "It''s too small here." The next second the two disappeared from the room.


    A few moments later, Valen bounded in on her short legs and stared at the empty bedroom. The two guys had run off again, and this time where had they gone? A series of secret base names flashed by, desert, rainforest, under the sea, the moon, inside the floating island ... but it depends on what they want to do, if it is a fight, the archmage and near archmage level wizard has a fewer range of options, the desert, the moon and space are all okay.


    Felix and Hermione''s month on Mars was not all stargazing or dry discussion of magic, as the world''s only two wizards with the Book of Rune, one of them still treading on the threshold of enlightenment, the only way to verify magic is: unreservedly wielding your magic hundreds and thousands of times.


    Exasperated, Valen sat in the doorway, pulling out the parenting book, and began to take notes.


    Hogwarts.


    Hermione, dressed in a bright goose-yellow evening gown, looked around wide-eyed; Felix was no longer there. She walked along the stairs, and a "poof" sound emitted, then a dwarf levitated in the air, it was Peeves Ghost, Hermione could not help but smile when she saw his appearance.


    It seemed like Peeves had been forced to change his clothes, a bit like the butler''s outfit Dobby loved to wear, Peeves looked downcast, his dishonest black eyes trying to shine with sincerity, as he held an invitation in his hand.


    "Beautiful Lady, are you lost?" He read the lines.


    "Oh, um-" Hermione said jovially, "Yes."


    Peeves cursed in a small voice, then immediately put on a surprised look, "What a lovely coincidence, there''s a ball around here, if you would like to--" Looking at his expression he was obviously expecting Hermione to say no, but Hermione smiled and said. "Thank you, Peeves, please lead the way for me."


    Peeves bounced down the stairs and Hermione pulled on her skirt to follow.


    As they approached the great hall, the melodious music was faintly heard, and Hermione took a deep breath and walked in. The room was filled with people.


    "Professor Dumbledore?" Hermione blurted out in surprise.


    "I don''t know if I can agree with that," Dumbledore''s memory body said cheerfully, "I was listening to chamber music in classroom seven when Felix suddenly appeared and asked if I wanted to attend a ball."


    Hermione seemed to see a wise, white-bearded old man through the young face, and she wore a reminiscent expression, "In any case, you gave me the most important advice, and it proved to be an incredible treasure for me."


    "Hmm?" Dumbledore''s memory body tone of voice slightly turned curious.


    "You told me that mastering my magic is just as important as recognizing myself and that I should follow my heart." Hermione said softly, and Dumbledore smiled, "Where the treasure is, there the heart is." "Exactly." Hermione walked toward the center of the great hall, which now looked completely new, with a golden dance floor stretching to the feet of every guest from Classroom Seven, who stepped through it with curiosity.


    Two ghosts floated through the air.


    "I heard that the 426th Quidditch World Cup is under preparation outside."


    "How enviable, I''ve been to the 322nd ..."


    Felix and Hermione looked at each other through the shadow of the ghosts, and Felix reached out a hand and led Hermione to slide on the dance floor. Hermione was in a bit of a trance, and it wasn''t until the two were dancing on the ball floor that she understood this feeling of d��j�� vu - at the fourth-year Tournament of Champion''s Ball, at Bill and Fleur''s wedding, on Mars, and at their own wedding two years ago, each dance represented a further step in their relationship.


    "How long can we dance?" Hermione asked in a whisper.


    "About a thousand years," Felix said, "I guess."


    --------------


    #Giant Sloth, Thanks for all your love and support.


    Read advance chapters on P@treon. If you have some extra pocket money, Support me at P@treon: www.p@treon.com/Crazy_Cat.


    Happy Reading!!!

 Chapter 738: Epilogue: The Prosperous World (finale)

    It was just after midnight, dawn had yet to arrive, the moon and stars still hanging in the sky, and a faint grey-green colour appeared on the distant sea surface. It was early in the morning, the time when people are most asleep, Harry rode on his broomstick, breathing the cold sea breeze, over and over again as he rehearsed the operation plan in his mind. Today is the day to close the net, the last group of mercenaries along with the tourists blended into the island.


    The huge floating island gradually dismantled piece by piece in his mind, which was replaced by a dense traffic map: thousands of Floo networks, more than two hundred knight buses, tens of thousands of low-altitude tourist brooms, as well as not very popular flying carpets, hover cars and other magical substitutes ...


    Then there are also Apparition and Portkey shifting hubs.


    The governing body of the floating island has relatively comprehensive regulations for wizards to Apparate on and off the island. Usually, only the external defence is maintained, that is, outsiders are prohibited from directly sneaking onto the island, and in turn, wizards are not allowed to leave at will, but there are no internal restrictions; during the World Cup, it is much stricter, and a series of no-apparition zones are announced in advance, except for a few places - -such as the stadiums and their surroundings, which could accommodate 500,000 spectators, and the strongholds controlled by Aurors, all other areas were strictly banned for wizards to apparate at will.


    The latter - the Auror stronghold - is one of the main reasons why the floating island can cope with most emergencies with less manpower, and Harry has even temporarily formed a dozen elite wizard squads to provide support in case of emergency.


    At that moment a figure rushed over, it was Ron, he pushed the broom handle to suspend in front of Harry.


    "Everyone''s ready. When are we going to move?"


    "Now."


    "Cool!" Ron gave a thumbs up, "See those Billywig insects? I can''t wait for them to get a good shot of my wizard pieces charging ..."


    "Don''t wake up the whole island." Harry cautioned.


    "I really would have liked to," Ron trailed off with a bit of regret: "Too bad you deployed a group of people dedicated to casting the quietening charm and repairing charm."


    The two descended to the ground on their broomsticks, and one by one the heavily armed figures disappeared from Harry''s sight. Harry tightened his wand, they are his family, classmates, friends, and comrades, who did not hesitate to answer his call, so he must do everything possible to protect their safety.


    The battle was fought before dawn and ended before dawn. Harry''s Patronus pierced through the darkness, near the stadium, his close range continuous apparition was a nightmare for all enemies, and he barely faced more than a decent resistance; in many cases, the battle was over before Harry rushed to support, and Harry heard the Creevey brothers whispering that they hadn''t even caught a single enemy.


    "I knocked down seven!" Sirius walked around excitedly, "Make sure you let little Rosalie know that, oh, and little Edgar! Grandfather Phineas who loves to yap!" Harry grinned, Little Edgar is Sirius''s second child, the one who was almost named ''James'' and later inherited the name of Ms. Bones'' brother.


    As for the Grandfather Phineas that Sirius spoke of - it is actually the portrait in the Headmaster''s office at Hogwarts, which Sirius has often gone back to visit since he had a child, and he loves to give advice.


    Harry walked to the back corner, Hermione was yawning a bit, she danced all night, and when she returned, she learned that the operation was imminent and rushed over, she was so sleepy that she couldn''t keep her eyes open. She barely said hello, "Oh - ha - Harry, anything else? I''m going to go back and catch up on my sleep ... and come back when I have time."


    "Um, okay." Harry said hesitantly, he still did not say the words of thanks - since Hermione is here, it''s given that the Professor also came over, but he only did not show up. Today''s operation is expected to have some of his pushing factors to build up momentum for him.


    Hermione smiled and waved her hand, "Come on, Harry!" She turned into a shadow, Harry seemed to see the professor smile and nod at him, and then they both disappeared together. Harry took a deep breath, he still has a lot to do, when the World Cup is over there is plenty of time to talk with Professor Hap.


    Early in the morning, the sleeping city reawakened. When you look down from high above, you could see little ant-like people pouring out of the hotels and merging into the various main roads. Today is the day the Quidditch World Cup begins, and although the opening ceremony will not take place until the evening, the atmosphere in the air is already pulsating with excitement.


    Many tourists had only learned what had happened in the early hours of the morning from the newspapers, and a large group of kindred spirits had gathered in the pub to talk about how more than three hundred organized and premeditated criminals had been caught unawares while they were sound asleep.


    "It wasn''t like there was no movement at all," said one man, "I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and vaguely heard someone shouting ''charge'' and ''give us some! '' Or something like that, but the volume was so low it wasn''t as loud as the sound of peeing."


    "It''s a quietening charm, some law enforcement officers have cast a quieting charm nearby." A wizard cried out, "That means the battle was under control from start to finish."


    "I suppose that means the young chief of the island is quite a talent, huh?" Someone asked a question.


    "Cough cough cough, it''s the island governor," the wizard coughed violently, "Harry Potter is not young, he''s very famous in England."


    "Yeah well, but compared to Hap ..."


    The male wizard stopped talking, it was undisputed, no wizard could match Felix Hap''s influence now, not even close, but then again, governing the floating island isn''t that demanding.


    These people soon diverted the conversation elsewhere, discussing the evening''s opening ceremony, arguing about which country''s team would win, and soon two drunken, cranky guys with flags painted on their faces were fighting at the pub as people around them cheered with gusto.


    The pub barman ignored this and simply turned on the TV, where the morning news was being broadcast on the screen as follows.


    "...327 criminals were arrested, and after interrogation, it was ascertained that these men were from twelve prominent anti-wizard organizations, and enchanted guns and materials used to make magic bombs were confiscated from their hideouts, which had been planned for over three months... ..."


    The people in the pub watched the footage of the subsequent battle in awe, most of them - including the male wizard - were seeing the standard wizard squad in action for the first time, which completely overturned their past perceptions: silent invasion after using bewitched sleep spell, transfiguration magic which could turn walls into open doors, the quietening and disillusionment charms to block sound and sight, besides the smoke that enveloped half the neighbourhood, the ten-foot-tall magic golems ... and no one thought that the fully-armed equipment on Aurors was just for show, probably they didn''t even have the chance to operate it during the battle, or it was working, but they were unable to tell... ...


    Of all these, the silver stag Patronus was quite impressive, whenever it appeared, it basically meant the end of the battle within seconds.


    Nearly noon, Valen sat up in her cradle bed, a little dazed, she only remembered that she was sitting at the door of the Great Demon King''s bedroom yesterday ... Valen fully woke up with a jolt, jumped down and ran into the bedroom, the scene before her eyes made her angry, those two guys were lying on the bed snoozing, and she didn''t even know when they came back last night, and now they both, both --She tilted her head and glanced at the time, 11::59; Valen smacked her beak and waited quietly for a dozen seconds, and when the needle jumped to 12 and continued to go down, she immediately hopped into bed and shook the covers hard. Ahhhhh, it''s already past twelve! You guys are too lazy!


    Felix reached out in a daze and glued Valen to the bed, and after a few seconds, he opened his eyes and met Niffler''s glaring eyes.


    "Why did you glue yourself on the bed?" Felix scratched his nose absent-mindedly.


    Valen froze for a moment, then struggled hard, "Kee-!!!"


    By the time Felix and Hermione had eaten, it was afternoon, and the television was still dutifully broadcasting footage of the wizard squad''s heroic battle, with a number of interviews thrown in, such as Rolf, who was gushing about his wife''s skills, and the reporter who interviewed Seamus and Dean, failing to notice the scene of Ms. Bones lecturing her youngest son at his back, "Grawp knows more words than you do! You and your father should be ashamed of it for once ..." Felix and Hermione, who were playing wizard cards, turned their heads just in time to see Sirius picking his nose.


    But after 6 p.m., there was plenty of news from the stadium, and the two changed clothes and appeared in the stadium with an exasperated Valen. The stadium was packed. Their seats are at the very top, and they exchanged greetings with various people who they didn''t remember much along the way, before entering the private booth.


    Felix was quietly relieved that it was packed with familiar faces, in addition to a bunch of Hogwarts professors, the Longbottoms, Lupin and Tonks, Luna and Rolf, Sirius and Bones, the whole Weasley family, Draco and Astoria, and a dozen small children of various ages.


    He and Hermione sat in the first row, next to Professor McGonagall.


    "Felix," Professor McGonagall nodded at them, "Madame Maxime came by and talked to me about the matter of opening a magic school by working together with other magic schools on the island, you know, studying common disciplines where magic and science coexist ... "


    "It would be a good idea to add Muggle Universities." Hermione interjected.


    "We do have such plans," Professor McGonagall said, "but it is still in preparation, we have to reach a mutual understanding with Beauxbatons and Durmstrang first, and it would be better if we could add Ilvermorny and Uagadou-- "


    "To prepare for another Tournament of Champions?" Felix asked with interest.


    Professor McGonagall froze, "It''s not impossible if we can ... before I retire"


    The advertisements on the circular curtain around the stadium disappeared, and the lens shifted past each prominent VIP and made its way to the top floor where Harry''s back was followed all the way to the top booth, and then the crowd cheered as footage of the daytime battle began to play.


    Harry sat next to Ginny.


    "Where are the kids?"


    Ginny sighed, "James went to find Teddy, Rosalie is with Victoria, Albus-" she raised her chin and Harry looked over, Albus and Scorpius were exchanging souvenirs with each other and Draco nodded towards Harry.


    "Harry." At that moment, Sirius waved at Harry, and Harry went to sit over. He took Harry by the shoulders and pointed to the Patronus on the screen, "How does it feel?" The meaning was obvious.


    Harry scratched his head, "There are a lot of things I haven''t had a chance to learn more about--"


    "Find him!" Sirius nudged towards Lupin, "He knows the best."


    Harry blinked and looked over at Lupin.


    "Sirius got it more or less right, Future Worlds does have an obligation to help you with this, and what we''ve done over the years would be very informative for you to manage the floating island." Lupin said, "We have to do only one thing, or rather aim for one objective: to make magic integrate as much as possible into all the fields it can access! After more than a decade, it''s finally starting to pay off ..."


    "Initial gains?" Harry asked.


    "Exactly." Lupin explained, "Magic and science are becoming more and more closely integrated, truly becoming part of what keeps the world going, and no one person or group has the ability to force them apart - and that means huge changes in existing life."


    Harry received a tremendous shock inside. Then he felt a heavy weight on his heart.


    Lupin smiled slightly, "It''s a big responsibility, but don''t stress, you''ve already proven yourself, and there are many opportunities ahead. Plus we''re all here. Felix is here too."


    He knew the world is changing for the better and is on the right path. Those who used to climb the mountain would not be easily hindered by a boulder or two.


    "We are in the midst of an unprecedented era of prosperity." He said in a strong, confident voice.


    It was as if in response to Lupin''s words, Felix who was having a small talk with Professor McGonagall in the top booth found the stadium gradually quieted down, and Hermione at the side quietly nudged him, as a giant screen made up of countless curtains projected Felix''s face on it.


    At the same time, his face appeared in the floating island''s pubs, and open-air venues, as well as on Tv screens all around the world.


    Felix stood up to his feet and opened his arms - people held their breath, the Quidditch World Cup had attracted the world''s attention, so for a few seconds, it was as if the entire floating island, and even the world outside, had gone silent by a dozen decibels. His voice carried clearly through every corner of the stadium with the help of magic and appeared on every screen.


    "Everyone - Welcome to the opening ceremony of the 426th Quidditch World Cup! Ladies and Gentlemen Welcome!... Let the carnival begin with a bang, the festivities will now-"


    "Begin!!!"


    Millions of arms waved enthusiastically in the air, flags of all colours fluttered over the heads of the crowd, creating a sea of joy; then came an even more dazzling sight: countless fireworks burst and condensed into brilliant patterns above the night sky, the sky turned into a larger colourful canvas than the stadium, and a tidal wave of excited screams pierced through the thick clouds and echoed in the ears of tourists for a long time. Everyone''s face was filled with unquenchable joy. S?a?ch* Th? N???lFire.n?t website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.


    Prosperity is just around the corner.


    -----


    [Note:]


    This is where all the bonus episodes come to an end. The overall framework of the bonus episodes is Quidditch World Cup, but the World Cup itself is not important, rather its role is to just provide a stage for the story to be framed in the most vibrant possible context.


    The main characters'' families, careers and living conditions are introduced through individual episodes (rather than dry textual descriptions), which is the main purpose of the bonus episodes; some of them I have found difficult to keep as a stand-alone episode, so they are integrated into other people''s stories.


    Thank you for your support and company till now, but this story is truly going to end here.


    Thank you all!


    Very Big Thanks for all the support you guys have given me, every comment, likes, reads, power stone and financial support has motivated me; Thank you.